The Previous Chronicle – (Spoilers for The
Sacrifice, adventure from Chicago by Night)
The Prince of Chicago, Kevin Jackson asked you to do a favor
for him. He sent his sheriff Damienn with an assignment. Fundamentally all it
came down to was picking up some people at the airport. There were a few
problems with this though, namely that there were more than a few licks in
Chicago that like to make trouble. You took care of those licks. One of them
was a thin blood with an oddly large amount of influence over the airport of
all things who goes by Flyboy. There was Nosferatu arsonist named Crook.
Another was an obnoxious Bruja Edgelord named Genghis. You set his condo on
fire for reason I don’t entirely remember and also got into a barfight. It was
then you became involved in a greater game. The two people you picked up from O’Hare
were emissaries from the Sabbat. In particular, they were members of clan Lasombra
who wished to defect to the Camarilla.
One was a consummate professional and diplomat seeking peace,
named Sierra you eventually killed her. The other was a scumbag, you would
eventually spare him. What that scumbag Elder Malenkov did not know was that
the plan of the ones who sent was for him to be ritualistically sacrificed as
an offering to the Camarilla. Malenkov got away for a while, got up some
mischief. You got attacked by some licks from Gary Indiana and Algernon
diablerized one of them. You never solved the mystery of where the assailants
came from but Algernon was able to determine that the one he diablerized was Malakavian
and had memories that led him to Lakeshore mental hospital.
You did not follow up on that lead. You didn't see or do a
follow up investigation on whatever Malenkov was up to while unaccounted for
but the mischief but it was pretty mischievous. Eventually you were able to
track him down to a brothel. He murdered most of the women who he rented the
services of and decorated the walls of the bedroom with their entrails for no
other reason than fun. He was able to manifest fairly high-level oblivion
powers conjuring tendrils of shadow from nothing. You were able to subdue him.
You three were confronted by members of the anarchs who you
were much more loyal to, including Anita Wainwright. Rather than bringing the Lasombra
into the Camarilla which would not be in the interest of the anarchs as it
would increase the number of Camarilla bootlicking kindred, they suggested you
give the staked and torpid body of Malenkov to them. His elder blood is very
useful. In addition to potential Diablerie, they could also use his elder blood
to free defeated anarchs in torpor from torpor.
Erin, Barbara, and Algernon agreed to the exchange against
the wishes of Sierra. [1]
They go to the meeting point where a bonfire is being
prepared. Kevin Jackson and the Primogen are there. There is a debate about
whether or not to welcome members of the Lasombra into to Camarilla. There was
supposed to be a sacrifice but Malenkov is nowhere to be found (because our
heroes gave him to the Anarchs) The heroes contrary to the canon outcome of the
module actually persuade the Cam not to welcome Lasombra in the city an
Lasombra are kill on sight.
Sierra is a Lasombra.
Sierra is sacrificed on the pyre at the suggestion of Erin.
Sierra, the peaceful diplomat meets her final death, and a
message is sent back to the Sabbat defectors.
Malenkov’s torpid body is kept in Anarch custody at Rays Bar
in East Chicago Indiana. Labyrinthine tunnels connect the bar with old disused
factory buildings. The anarchics periodically dress up Malenkov in absurd
costumes such as tacky Hawaiian shirts or in drag.
Intervening Events: They picked the wrong person to
be a Shovelhead
A series of Masquerade breaching murders near the Tremere
chantry tips you off to something very wrong on campus. Hunters were already
involved. Some stuff I don’t remember very well happened and you were
eventually drawn in to stopping a Latina grandmother from being abducted by
fake INS agents. The woman was the grandmother of the alleged perpetrator of a
brutal murder in a dorm where a young college student was dismembered. Despite
her close ties with Little Village and humble lodgings. She is actually, not
only quite well off, but a US citizen, and a major shareholder in a Spanish
language radio, newspaper and television company. Why does she live where she
lives? She’s very frugal and hardly buys anything despite her wealth. She also
wants to maintain connections with the streets she came from.
COVID shut the game down here so here was what was *going*
to probably happen.
You were able to track down a Lasombra neonate named Araceli
Riviera who nobody told was a kindred. She was unaware that she needed blood.
She sought help from her roommate from this unexplained sickness, fatigue, and
burns from even indirect sunlight. Her hunger frenzy surfaced and she killed
her roommates Liv and Eve. Because
Lasombra are kill on sight in the city, her cover is that she is a Caitif while
in Chicago and the Anarchs have taken her in. She has connections with Spanish
language media. Damien has demanded to know who her sire was but the Anarchs
will not cooperate with his investigation.
Ominously she says she woke up in this undead state having
dug herself out of a shallow grave in a park. The person who had kidnapped her
and buried her alive got into some kind of confrontation and left the grave
unattended and she got away. The park featured a strange wide hole in the
ground but no other bodies.
Recent news
There has been an odd spike in disappearances around the
city.
The Tremere Chantry on the campus of the University of
Chicago was raided. Abraham duSable is missing and has been for months. He has
been communicating with Barbara only through dead drops. Tremere in general are
being snubbed and uninvited from events and Tremere havens have been getting
raided. While the Kindred usually get away grimoires have been confiscated.
There has been a significant decrease in the number of
homeless seen around the city and people are praising Lori Lightfoot’s
leadership on the issue. The eviction rate has not gone down but there are also
fewer people applying for low-income housing. Rumors among the remaining
homeless are of horror stories of being picked up or preyed upon by monsters or
dragged into vehicles in the night. Refugees have been getting snatched up as
well.
The Cast of Characters
Returning from the previous pre-COVID
chronicle
·
Erin Atkins,
Toreador. A night club owner. Played by Alex
·
Barbara Fullerton,
Tremere, owns an art gallery, occult expert, seeks knowledge of necromancy.
Played by Mollie
·
Algernon,
Nosferatu, drunk dealer, runs a methlab underneath the nightclub. Committed
diablerie on a random nobody during The Sacrifice.
Played by Mykell
New Characters
·
Faye, Bruja,
played by Luna. Hound, primarily interested in protecting the kindred and queer
community first and foremost from all threats irrespective of politics. Played
by Luna
·
Solasa, thin-blood,
blood alchemy expert, played by Inara
·
Kira,
Toredor, childe of Erin Atkinson, played by Riley
·
Windel, Bruja, engineer, Algernon’s
friend. Wasn’t in the story that much tbh
·
A certain problem player who
was retconned out of existence, was kicked out during session zero, and never
actually appeared in the story.
Chronicle: Advent Of Blood
Damien has gone missing. He was
investigating potential breaches of the masquerade and was on to something big.
He knew that Malenkov was still alive out there and wanted to track down where
the anarchs were keeping him. A Banu Hakim named Scarletfang (living name is
forgotten but it was Hassan Yousef) sent him some messages through media
contacts baiting him with the location of Malenkov. Ambushed him and Damien was
up until recently, in Sabbat custody, staked.
The city over the course of 2020 has
been plagued with disappearances since March, 2020. An all-human doomsday cult
called the Obliviates unleashed a chemical attack at Jackson station during
rush hour before a mass suicide. 2020 has been a rough year since many people
voluntarily staying home out of fear. Missing posters line the walls all over
the city and mortal police forces have been activated since the spike in
disappearances. There are routine checkpoints on the CTA and random searches.
In his most recent Elysium, Prince
Jackson has reiterated and made it known that no further embraces are to occur
as “interested parties” are looking in to the troubles and emphasized everyone
is to stay out of the way. The Kindred of Chicago were just as baffled by the
cult attack as anyone else, as no Camarilla or Anarch had any connection to the
Obliviates. Nevertheless, Prince Jackson has pointed fingers at both the
Tremere and Anarchs, with the latter being accused of embracing poachers and
the former being accused of spreading occult knowledge.
[1] Divergent Timeline – The module as
written was steering the PCs towards siding with the Cam with the assumed
ending being that the Lasombra join the Cam.
