Let's Play: Vampire: Bloodlines

[Damaged]

My silly mind keeps being tormented with the missing sewer worker from an early chapter. Might have just been a brief bulletin... might be to no affect in the game itself... but what happened to the poor guy?

I see nothing serious skipped, regardless, and am most pleased with the dialogue. Things are good the way they are. I can hardly wait until I finally iron out the bugs (some of which are fatal) in my own copy of the game. Until then, I'm on the edge of my seat. Is Helen in some crazy underworld?

Won't Heather think her sugar momma is missing, dead or captured at this rate?

Are we soon to meet friends, or more foes like that fin-headed vampire?

[Youwantmilliondollar?!]

Thank you THANK YOU for skipping the sewers.

Hate them so much.

[tzimisce]

Originally Posted by DFM

Yeah, by that second post my brain was basically non-functioning. I thought about saving the sewers for when I had more coffee in me or something, but just the fight with Red seemed pretty short. If y'all want I can re-do that bit (without no-clipping through the sewers this time) in more detail with actual, like, words.

I'd love that. Maybe it's time for another vote, people?

[Damaged]

Originally Posted by tzimisce

I'd love that. Maybe it's time for another vote, people?

The responses after DFM's post concerning the grueling sewers will count as a vote, more than likely. I doubt anyone is going to change their minds on the matter. If you do want a more detailed run-through of the sewers, I might soon be able to provide it, myself, however. That is how uncharacteristically content I am with life lately, because...

It just arrived in the mail. Vampire The Masquarede: Bloodlines is now part of my essential gaming collection in a bug free, working copy. I'd like to thank DFM for letting me know the game was worth getting.

[tzimisce]

I'm not asking that he goes through all four levels in excrutiating detail, just that some of the meatier stuff, like the dead sewer worker and the logs found in the offices, gets included.
No worries, though, I can live without it.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Damaged

It just arrived in the mail.

You could have just got it on Steam.

As for the sewers?

Fuck the sewers. I always enjoy Helen's interactions with actual characters. The mutants are kind of entertaining, but I just don't see an entire sewer maze of them being that great.

[DFM]

Boss



A pier right out of gray scale detective movie juts out into the underground lake, powered lamplights shining down through the darkness. I grab onto the edge of the wooden dock and pull myself up, soaked in chemicals and liquid manure. I don't bother trying to dry off. I'm a million miles underground in some kind of mutant rabbit hole, I can think of bigger problems than being literally drenched in shit.



The dock leads to a network of caves, no idea if they lead to the Nosferatu or if there's a right way or a wrong way, but fuck, LaCroix throws me into the viper's nest without even a map, he's going to get what he gets. I pick a tunnel and walk inside.



Not a natural formation, but it could have washed down here from what ever reservoir people are dumping their trash into these days.



Alright, a powered neon sign hanging on the wall is a little less plausible. I walk towards the window frame planted awkwardly in the rock wall and stare into the black lake outside.




Something floats past my ear.

You're hurting her.

I child's voice. A little girl's. I turn around, not sure what to expect.



Nothing. I love this place already.

I trudge further through the tunnel, passing mounds of debris and junk piled carelessly on top of each other.



She doesn't understand.

Wonderful. I don't know if it's these tunnels or if I'm finally going crazy because of all this shit, but if I have to listen to a little girl whispering gossip into my head for the rest of my life, some asshole is going to burn.



You know.

The passages continue to branch and diverge, sometimes doubling back on themselves and sometimes opening to entirely separate chains of the rock carved labyrinth. I struggle in silence up near vertical passages, around corkscrew bends, over tattered shoes, around half-rotten ships and past can after rusted can of forgotten ceiling wax.

You know the father.



So cold...

There's more than one voice now.

...it goes on forever.



Now there's bodies. As decent as Bertram was, I don't think he's going to make up for this shit. The voice starts to speak again, right beside my ear.

You betrayed me




I wander further into the maze of caverns, the voice hounding me around every twist, every tunnel bend.

They'll never let you live

The voice is talking faster, now. Louder. I don't like this.

Had the city in your hands...



The narrow, claustrophobic passages open up into the underground lake I'd seen earlier, edges bordered by walkways and Christmas lights.

You should have stopped him...

I cross carefully across the wooden planks, neon lights dancing in the water below.



...now you'll never get the chance

I keep moving forward, crossing over the lake again and entering a very narrow, very cramped passage that meets a very dead end. There's a pile of boxes in the corner, something stamped across the side of most of them. I step forward to get a better look.



Gi-











Gimble.




My god.



I can smell something rotting away inside. Red stains. There's blood all over the boxes. It's seeping through the cardboard, soaking into the rock underneath. I frown, picking up a box an sniffing the air around it. Definitely blood.

Whatever's inside is a few days old.

Organs. Maybe limbs. McGee's in at least one of these things. Gimble must have shipped them down here just before I ran into him. What would the Nosferatu want with a bunch of body parts? What are they doing down here?



I suppose I came pretty close to being in one of them.

I toss the box onto the ground and hits heavily, rolling onto its side. I was a kid when I met. More of a child than I'd been in thirty years. Scared, lost and confused with nothing to my name but a tattered dress and a thirty eight special.

"You should see me now." I hiss to the pile of boxes, the closest I'll ever come to putting the fear of God in him. I turn, leaving the boxes to fade into the darkness behind me.



There was a seperate path just before the bridge, might as well see where that leads. Not like I've got any idea where I'm going.

We rot...



The tunnel ends in a set of giant double doors. Ornate and so out of place they might as well be a portal. I walk towards them, the air around me settling into an uneasy stillness. I press a hand against the door.

Don't open it.

The door groans on rusted hinges, the wooden slab making a slow inward swing. Heavier than I expected. I put my shoulder into it and push the door the rest of the way open.



Decayed bodies served decaying rats on a elegantly crafted mahogany table, candelabra glowing in the center. The air is as dead and still as the dinners. Nothing's moved here in de-

"By clack-smack cracking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." The voice is deep and rough, echoing all around the chamber. It sounds like whoever's doing the speaking has gravel in their throat. "I don't remember seeing you on the guest list for the dinner party. Wrap up for The Misfits, about forty years late. Cast and crew only..."

The voice shifts, coming from the wall near my right.

"...Boss."

I walk forward towards the table, glancing briefly at where the voice had come from. Empty air.

"I'm sure you were having a wonderful evening. Are you a Nosferatu?"

The walls themselves shake with a low, chuckling laugh.

"Oh, Boss. There's worse things than vampires down here."



Coming from the ceiling now. Damn.

"If you're not a vampire, what are you?"

"Maybe I'm a ghost." It shifts again, shouting just beneath my feet. "People don't just wander down here, Boss. What do you want."

"I want to talk to the Nosferatu primogen."

"Gary?" The voice lowers, laughing to itself. "And what would you want with Gary?"

"That's... confidential."



"WAKE UP, BOSS." It's right in front of me now, almost hitting my face. "Who do you think you're dealing with? I know why you're here."

I glare at the empty space in front of me. What the hell?

"Then why are you asking?"

"Because I like the sound of my own voice. Because I'm lonely." It's a whisper now, almost inside my ear. "Because I want to hear it from you."



"...The Ankaran sarcophagus was stolen from the Los Angeles Natural History museum earlier tonight. Gary's the only other person who knew it was there. I'm going to find out where he's taken it and then I'm probably going to kill him." I frown, staring at the table. "Hopefully in that order."

"Really?" The voice is coming from the table. "Gorgeous Gary Golden? How do you even know he's still around? Walking footballs and bloated Nix fans aren't all that Tzimisce could make."

I take a step backwards, hand wrapping around the forty four holstered in my jacket.

"...Where are you?"



"Maybe I'm in your head." The voice shifts again, but it isn't talking anymore. It's... thinking. I can hear it thinking. Uh oh! You might have picked up one of those psychosis so common in new vampires. A lot of them crack in their first few nights, you know. The trauma of such a mental jolt. It ain't easy being dead, Boss.

I pull out the magnum, circling backwards another step.

"I'm not playing around. Where are you?"

The room laughs before the voice speaks from the ceiling.



"I'm over here."



"Or maybe over here! Or maybe I'm BEHIND YOU with a hatchet in my hand!"



I twist back towards the open doorway, leveling the hand cannon.

Nothing.

I should have-



Something hard hits the back of my head, sending me sprawling forward. I smash into the rock wall, landing in a pile next to one of the fine china cabinets. I scramble to untangle myself and manage to point the gun at the empty air where the blow came from.

"Pretty slow, for the Prince's new left hand." From across the room now. Jesus, my head. "That's right, Helen. I know who you are. I know where you live. I know Heather, and LaCroix and Samantha and Velvet. I know what you were, Merchant. Well." The voice pauses before it speaks again, darker and sharper than before. "I'd be careful, Kindred. You're a long way from home." It's a little closer now, further left.

"And neither the prince..." Closer, almost near the ceiling.

"Nor Isaac..." Closer, somewhere near the grandfather clock.

"Nor Nines... have any domain down here."


A whisper in my skull.

Tread. Carefully.

I point the gun uselessly around the room, the voice coming from too many places too quickly. God, my fucking skull's on fire.

"I'm not here to fight you, I just want to talk." It's right in front of me.

"We ARE talking, Boss! But you're not listening."

I pause, glancing around the room before I lower the gun.

"...What do you want?"

"A favor for a favor." It's coming from the table. "I can get you better than Gary, I can get you the Sarcophagus. And all I want is one teensy little errand. You ever gone up against a Kuei-jin, boss?"

I holster the revolver as I stand, rubbing the back of my head and scowling. "Once, in Santa Monica. Kind of a pushover."



"Oh yes, Tung's friend, that's right. You should be right at home, then. You see there's an old buddy of mine in Chinatown, fellow by the name of Barabus, supposed to be my eyes and ears, but he hasn't been calling lately..." And it's breaking my heart.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Simple, Boss. Head to Chinatown, bring back my boy and I'll lead you straight to the old mummy and his pretty box. That's the going rate of my information."



"Where should I start?"

"The Golden Temple right there in Chinatown. Piss poor copy of the real place, looks like it came out of a theme park. That eyesore is where you'll find the leader of the LA Kuei-jin."

Ming-Xiao.

I circle around the room, still rubbing my head.

"And she'll just tell me where Barabus is?"





"...Hello?"



God damn it.



There's a second door at the far end of the room and I decide it's a better bet than doubling back through the caves with that little girl.



Someday I'm going to find out what that was, and I'm going to kill it.



The door leads off into more tunnels, but these aren't crazy like the ones by the warrens. They're stiffer, more natural, no crazy angles or useless debris scattered inside them.



As long as it's not a ladder going down.



At the top of the ladder is a tunnel I can just barely squeeze through. Thank god I was never claustrophobic. There's a dim light at the end of it, a few broken bars. Probably leads into somebody's basement. I crawl out of the whole, covered in dirt and drying shit. At least nothing's eaten a hole in the jacket.



I mean, yet. I take a look around at what I just crawled out into.



...The Hollywood mausoleum.



Short update this time, but I needed to use up what I had left of last time's playthrough. ALL NEW STUFF next time.

[Navilee]

Superb writing as always; if you ever wanna drop a few grams of talent, I'm always open for it, remember. ^^

I always forget what exactly happens in those tunnels other than 'creepy shit' but you managed to capture it. Again. As always. So kudos!

[Damaged]

Originally Posted by Krylo

You could have just got it on Steam.

I'm pretty sure I recall stressing that Steam won't work out here. I'm not going to wait several months just for Steam. I'm bored now, not later.

As for the encounter in the caves, it was pretty creepy, but a bit of a let-down. I wanted to actually see some Nosferatu, but I guess they're still in hiding for good reason. Maybe they'll warm up to Helen after she brings their prodigal "son" or something like that. Still, the emphasis on Gimble... creepy as ever. I'm starting to think those body parts were meant for old fin-head (Red) to play with...

[Mirai Gen]

I always wondered how Helen was going to talk to Gary and, more importantly, how he would react to her. Good writing as always. Glad you've got the good LPs going.