Princes of the City: Anyone Want to Bite?

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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Tag players. You're it.
Shady314
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Post by Shady314 »

Hermes showed us a blonde woman with a tattooed face. Does that match the woman Ia saw when scrying?
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Yes.
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Post by Ancient History »

<pokes players>
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

So, the dark circle thing confused me. Can you elaborate on that a bit for me?
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Right on. In a corner of Elysium that is normally empty, there is a cellphone. It is the cellphone belonging to "Erika" that the victim near the university campus had on her phone. Like the victim's phone, it is surrounded by a dark circle - the only exception being, that as the cellphone is propped up in the corner, the "circle" spills over onto the walls as well as the floor. There is no trace of a spirit in Erika's phone like there was in the victim's phone.

Clear as mud?
radthemad4
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Post by radthemad4 »

So, guys, what defenses do we have against a super werewolf? We've got SWAT teams, but apparently she can handle SWAT teams no problem.

I've been a bit concerned about Seth's complete lack of combat skills but, I don't think he'll actually need to go out much to help out with stuff. Also, any ideas for supernatural defenses that could be applied to make some sort of hacker cave?
Last edited by radthemad4 on Wed Jul 15, 2015 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Whipstitch
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Post by Whipstitch »

Re: super werewolves

We don't really have specific defenses against werewolves, because honestly, it's kinda impractical to try and defend against them specifically. White Wolf openly treats physically oriented characters with contempt but V:TM werewolves tend to get a pass because they're are explicit boss monsters. Ia and Max are probably rocking the best pools in a round of pure Mortal Kombat, but that's not really saying much--they're not combat specialists so much as they are characters designed to be generically competent and thus end up being pretty decent at killing fools virtually by default. Honestly, if Max were to try and murder a werewolf it'd probably be via explosives or some other indirect assassination attempt or by abusing diplomancy, since that's what vampires are good at.
Last edited by Whipstitch on Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Well, I have Ursula, but I don't know what her stats look like that. Our best bet is probably to expend some of our resources into a supernatural version of Alaska's favorite pasttime, hunting wolves from helicopters. We need several hundred thousand silver m16 rounds.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

Any opinions on how to corral the currently kowtowed co-ed cultists?

The party could take them straight to Eris at the dairy so as to deal with her directly. That would have them meeting around 10:30-10:45, which is probably the outside limit of Stan's Presence effect keeping the student ghouls from flipping out again. The Camarilla representative won't be too pleased if she were to find out the party is potentially hindering an investigation.

Instead, the group could subdue the ghouls to have them first serve as a goodwill gesture to the Cam. party arriving at midnight, and subsequently as bait for their mistress. I'm thinking a way to attempt that is, instead of having them get picked up from the alley in vans, to ostensibly shield them from the APB by having them ride to the dairy in the back of a tractor trailer, which if it were better lit would reveal Ursula crouching near the cab.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Or we could make them drink the mingled vitae of the group and blood bind them to all of us.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Post by Shady314 »

Prak wrote:Well, I have Ursula, but I don't know what her stats look like that. Our best bet is probably to expend some of our resources into a supernatural version of Alaska's favorite pasttime, hunting wolves from helicopters. We need several hundred thousand silver m16 rounds.
Or 12 suicide vests loaded with silver pellets. I kid. I kid.

Ia's defense against werewolves are his defenses against everything else. Flying away, teleporting away or turning insubstantial. If they weigh less than one ton he can try to puppet them via tk but I know nothing about werewolves in oWoD so I don't know how effective it is. Targets their Willpower. If I can hold the werewolf in place and everyone feeds on it (does the Embrace feel pleasurable to werewolves too or just humans?) or hacks it to pieces. If it's a pack though I think we're hosed.

What would happen if we hit a werewolf with a shitload of silver powder they breathed into their lungs and got in their eyes?? In the same vein luring them into a dust explosion or similar. Wolfies hate fire too right?

Ia can set up to 5 triggered magical effects involving teleportation(30 ft) or telekinesis the effect has to target an inanimate object or location and be pretty specific but it's also pretty MTP. Still we should be able to work something out.
Prak wrote:Or we could make them drink the mingled vitae of the group and blood bind them to all of us.
Yes you beat me to my plan. Stan or Max (forget which) already offered them some blood if I recall correctly and ghouls turning down vamp blood? Very unlikely. That should at least divide their loyalties. Hopefully they only fed once. If Max could spike it somehow (opiates would be best) then even better.

On the topic of the Cam, in character, fuck the Cam. Ia hasn't voiced his suspicions yet but I think we all know there's more to the story of why they want Eris and Ia would prefer not to hand them some dumb college kids. If we can give them Eris' head (She attacked us. We tried to take her alive. Scouts Honor.) that's plenty. He'd also be skeptical Eris would care enough for them to work as bait.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

I will say upfront that this is all based on playing Werewolf, and I don't know how Vampire handles Lupins specifically.

It is unlikely a werewolf will weigh more than about 1000 pounds. So TK should be viable, and willpower is tribe based, I think the highest base is 4, but of course nothing prevents them from having higher. Werewolves are basically allergic to the embrace. They see it as spiritual death and they basically get to attempt suicide during the embrace. If they are successfully embraced, they're form-locked (I believe) and lose all their wolfy-powers. This is why Vincent is a ghoul.

Werewolves can carry silver and it doesn't necessarily do much to them beyond lowering their Gnosis, one of their point pools for activating things. It does burn on contact, but I don't know that silver powder will necessarily do any damage. It may force them into their breed forms, though, which means that they aren't as strong, unless their breed form is Metis, in which case they're fucked*. Silver weapons deal agg. damage and, if I recall correctly, they can't regen agg. in combat. Fire deals agg to werewolves just like it does to pretty much everything.

Generally speaking, werewolves can't fly** so going copter hunting with silver is perhaps our best bet, especially for the plausible deniability.

*unless they have Silver Immunity, a seven point merit most STs won't allow
**If they have Owl as a totem they can get wings in crinos, I think, but that may only be in the Ubra.
Kel doesn't really care about the Cam either, and would like to get Eris' magic, since he's also a dirty feminist heretic who worships Lilith.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Koumei? Ping.
hyzmarca
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Post by hyzmarca »

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:Any opinions on how to corral the currently kowtowed co-ed cultists?

The party could take them straight to Eris at the dairy so as to deal with her directly. That would have them meeting around 10:30-10:45, which is probably the outside limit of Stan's Presence effect keeping the student ghouls from flipping out again. The Camarilla representative won't be too pleased if she were to find out the party is potentially hindering an investigation.
Instead, the group could subdue the ghouls to have them first serve as a goodwill gesture to the Cam. party arriving at midnight, and subsequently as bait for their mistress. I'm thinking a way to attempt that is, instead of having them get picked up from the alley in vans, to ostensibly shield them from the APB by having them ride to the dairy in the back of a tractor trailer, which if it were better lit would reveal Ursula crouching near the cab.
They're disposable. That's the entire point of ghouling locals instead of having her own permanent minions. It's very unlikely that their mistress will care enough to rescue them. She probably intends to kill them anyway.

The intel they have is time limited. If they aren't there in time, she'll know that they're captured and will probably just move on. That's not good. If we let them meet her, she'll also know because they will tell her, assuming that she doesn't have telepathy, which isn't the best assumption.

Using them as double-agents requires implanting a rather complex series of Dominate commands, in all of them, that doesn't leave any loopholes.
Since w e'll be fighting against ingrained loyalty to their Domitor, not easy or fast. It'll be more like computer programing than mind control. And that's assuming that she doesn't have Dominate herself. Verge is 13th Gen, and Eris has made a habit of eating other vampires, so she probably isn't anymore. She can override any commands if she has Dominate 2.

The safest thing to do would be to lock them up while they detox from Eris's blood, maybe feed them some of our own to get our own blood-bond. And rewrite their memories so that Eris is a crazy cult leader rather than a vampire. Which Verge can do if he has time.

I'd suggest using the cops. Cover story, they're on drugs. They get locked in cells, and Eris loses an asset unless she's willing to assault the police station. Verge can rewrite their memories later, and any ranting about vampires can be brushed off as drug-induced hallucinations. Giving them actual drugs in case they're tested couldn't hurt, either.
Prak wrote:Werewolves are basically allergic to the embrace. They see it as spiritual death and they basically get to attempt suicide during the embrace. If they are successfully embraced, they're form-locked (I believe) and lose all their wolfy-powers. This is why Vincent is a ghoul.
They lose any gifts, but can learn new ones from Banes. They can still shapeshift, but can't raise their Gnosis.
Last edited by hyzmarca on Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:51 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

hyzmarca wrote:If (the Daughters of Lilith) aren't there in time, (Eris will) know that they're captured and will probably just move on. That's not good.
That is the main issue, and the Daughters are simply time-sensitive leverage for such. The party has a brief period to establish a relationship with Eris before Camarilla agents arrive, and has to decide if they should attempt to capture/track/act diplomatically. The ghouls, while requiring an immediate response, are very much of secondary importance.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Well, as the resident Dirty Lilian Heretic and vamp interested in giant beasts, I guess that means Kel should go find out what she wants. We can always try to kill her later, might as well try diplomacy first.

If we're going to do that, Kel should probably not meet the Cam first. Or maybe he should. Iunno.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Life has intruded on Koumei, so Suzanne is going to become an NPC for the time being.
hyzmarca
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Post by hyzmarca »

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:
hyzmarca wrote:If (the Daughters of Lilith) aren't there in time, (Eris will) know that they're captured and will probably just move on. That's not good.
That is the main issue, and the Daughters are simply time-sensitive leverage for such. The party has a brief period to establish a relationship with Eris before Camarilla agents arrive, and has to decide if they should attempt to capture/track/act diplomatically. The ghouls, while requiring an immediate response, are very much of secondary importance.
Which is why I say to lock them up. If we bring them to the Dairy to meet Eris, that's 10 extra blood-boosted mooks we'll have to fight. Even with Presence, there's no way in hell they're going to sit around if their Domitor tells them to kill us. Individually, they aren't a threat. But 10 blood-boosted mooks making shitty unarmed attacks while Miss Kills Werewolves with her Bare Hands is going to town, that's a problem.
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Post by Shady314 »

hyzmarca wrote: Which is why I say to lock them up. If we bring them to the Dairy to meet Eris, that's 10 extra blood-boosted mooks we'll have to fight. Even with Presence, there's no way in hell they're going to sit around if their Domitor tells them to kill us. Individually, they aren't a threat. But 10 blood-boosted mooks making shitty unarmed attacks while Miss Kills Werewolves with her Bare Hands is going to town, that's a problem.
Locking them up is probably best. Since we know where Eris is we don't really need to take them with us. Get them in a sturdy car they can't unlock from the inside and give them heroin spiked blood (or alcohol which is surpringly potent and long lasting) and they should be out of it.

Do we have a good place to hold them?
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

Shady314 wrote:Do we have a good place to hold them?
My initial suggestion now being off the table, using the cops could work, but would likely be messy. None of the group's joint holdings were specified as being suited to mass imprisonment, and transporting them there would either reveal a hidden location or put people living near there at risk. The yacht is an option, fluffed as telling the ghouls that the meet has been rescheduled, then going slightly off-shore before awaiting the Camarilla.

Edit: AH, at what dock are the Cam agents meeting Suzanne? As the map stands now I just went with Harris Harbor, as the closest to Elysium. For reference, the yacht (Thunder) is at the adjacent Aurora Harbor.
Last edited by Nebuchadnezzar on Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

re: Mummy powers/flaws

I broke down and spent five minutes looking at this nonsense. Assuming one goes with Whipstitch's initial suggestion of a Mesoamerican mummy (and that the numbers on that link are accurate), after taking 5 points of flaws a starting character could have 1 dot in a regional Immu/Hekau/magic, and 5 dots in something else. For the culturally specific 1 dot Sarandu looks good, with having access to a couple of wards. For the 5 dot, since it's a NPC, with a possible crafting emphasis, that suggests either Alchemy, Amulets, or Effigy. It appears that Vampires can't use amulets, and Effigy below 6 dots requires the mummy to be there to control them. Alchemy for vampires, while being brewed as if the mummy has 2 fewer dots, is still totally viable, and has among its effects healing potions, +attribute potions, and poisons. Skill emphases would be Crafts/Medicine/Occult.

If one instead goes with an Egyptian style mummy, or focuses on region-specific magic, then 6 dots is possible, which opens up some more possibilities.

Are there any opinions on how to throw the group Supernatural Companion together?
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Ancient History
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Post by Ancient History »

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:
Edit: AH, at what dock are the Cam agents meeting Suzanne? As the map stands now I just went with Harris Harbor, as the closest to Elysium. For reference, the yacht (Thunder) is at the adjacent Aurora Harbor.
The vessel that the Camarilla team are arriving on is none other than your group's own Thorton's Misfortune. As such, it arrives at whatever dock you want it to.
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Post by radthemad4 »

Re: mummy,

AH said he already built one.
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

My mistake. There's five minutes I won't get back.
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