_ _
___ _ __ ___ (_) | ___ _ __ ___
/ __| '_ \ / _ \| | |/ _ \ '__/ __|
\__ \ |_) | (_) | | | __/ | \__ \
|___/ .__/ \___/|_|_|\___|_| |___/
|_|
By the time everyone returned to New Jersey they would have discovered that Tiernan had taken over the Ventrue clan. Tony, Silvio and Christopher are supposedly together in Florida but they had been killed off by some hired assassins by Tiernan. Philip remains and reveals that his full name is Theodore Philip and has been working on the sly for an aggressive takeover. Prince Edward Blackwood is unhappy with the situation but he can't pin anything on Tiernan. Nota bene: Matthew of the Tremere has been working with Tiernan hoping to make Tony sell with the threats of protests and other unpleasant measures. Dante lives outside the city limits and is petitioning the Tremere for patronage.
The Big Cheese feels like he's being isolated from the rest of the city and the situation is made even worse because overall the Tremere chantry is full of yes-men. Tony, Bobby and Cap'n Dan were some of his closest non-Tremere confidants and allies.
Petey is a young man of two natures. The real Petey is usually kept behind the scenes but the Petey who most people interact with is a 5th generation Nosferatu who manipulates his aura and blood to come across as someone who is exceptionally thin-blooded. Sextus's purpose is to maintain the peace for the Camarilla and to keep tabs on the Tremere.
So what the hell was the big deal with Nosferatu awakening in the missile silo and killing off all the Tremere? Gehennom. Yet it's more of a Tremere eschaton than one for all kindred. Upon the murder of Saulot, Caine became incensed and approached Tremere basically saying that he's the only one who is allowed to kill his brother and one day Tremere and his childer will pay retribution. Being the sneaky scallywags everyone loves, they perpetuated the myth of Gehennom to close ranks with others and hope the other vampires would protect them from the antediluvians. Nosferatu awoke, killed all the Tremere in Colorado and eventually moved eastward. Malkav awoke in the bodies of three little girls in California and set about destroying the Tremere over there in addition to their close associates. Tiernan does say that the werewolves took up arms against the kindred of Chicago but the truth of the matter is an antediluvian set about killing all the unwary vampires of the Windy City creating a minor diaspora of survivors.
The black woman who appeared in most dreams is an ancient bane mummy who was stolen from Egypt and was being shipped to the U.S.A. around 1798. Trapped in her sarcophagus relatively powerless she bided her time waiting for power to regenerate in her body, visit others in dreams and build a cult which would make her a force to be reckoned with in the New World. There are many cultists in Asbury Park, one of which was Bexley. Selena, the doppelgänger of T.J.'s Cindy, is a tool for the cultists. Selena is also sought by most kindred and Noddists because she has a birthmark of a crescent moon upon her which is a symbol of the advent of Gehennom. Of course Selena would have taken some to small concert in Greenwich Village where an ancient Egyptian song was to be performed for the first time in recorded history.
Recorded history because when it was performed back in the late twenties no one knew it was an old Egyptian hymn morseo because it was being performed by a jazz quartet in a speakeasy located in downtown New York City that happened to catch fire and kill many people. Just like the original fire, people would've gone insane, vampires would have to check for frenzy at a high difficulty and the game would be half over.
Everyone would've had nightmares featuring Queen Yse. Hints would've been dropped here and there in addition to Emma mentioning that there was going to be a wonderful reception at the Museum of Natural History in early September for a new Egyptian exhibit of previously unseen artefacts including a canopic jar of a heart(!). If memory serves, Selena mentioned her internship with the Museum of Natural History. There must be a connection here, somewhere!!!
Word gets around, turns out that there's going to be a heist the night before the reception and the Setites were behind the shenanigans. Hopefully everyone would've went into the city and using Janni's m@d skilz thwart the heist or maybe pull a heist of your own. Of course the alarms would've gone off or a security guard would've gone apeshit calling the cops leaving everyone stranded in New York City for the day whether it's in a sewer or at Elena's digs or a hotel room.
Everyone would have to check their humanity sometime in the early morning because there would be an enormous noise as if someone dropped a garbage truck from the Empire State Building. Anyone who awakens and turns on the news (LOL LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW FACE FULL OF SUNSHINE) would discover that a 767 had flown into the Empire State Building causing it to collapse and eventually a few other buildings would collapsed in kind. While watching the news the scene would cut away to another plane bearing down on Times Square and setting the entire length of Times Square on fire. In this continuity, which in keeping with DC/Marvel I will call it Earth 3883, 9/11 doesn't destroy the Twin Towers but causes so much more havoc and destruction.
Now it's time to Escape from New York!!! Everyone who checks their cellphone voicemails will have courteous yet urgent voicemails from Prince Blackwood asking them to return posthaste to Asbury Park as they are needed immediately. I would have left it up to the players to actually figure out how to get out of a militarized, burning New York City without being caught or blowing the Masquerade. Upon returning to Asbury Park it turns out that David, Moishe, Bobby, Esmerelda and Dante have been murdered at the Berkeley Carteret. Those two Assamites who have been the Prince's silent and loyal guards were associated with an organization which decided to add insult to injury on 9/11. One of the Assamites was killed but the other one escaped with lots of blood on his hands.
Blood hunt time! Catch and kill the Assamite who may or may not reveal that he was working for mortals rather than kindred and seeking to forward the Islamist cause. Petey, a.k.a. Sextus, figures it was the Sabbat and takes the head of one of the O'Brien brothers. Think I forgot about those guys? Tim O'Brien is a Lasombra while his twin Robert O'Brien is his ghoul and they cultivate themselves to look exactly alike to maintain their own personal masquerade. See Tim O'Brien in daylight? That's Robert. Meet Tim O'Brien at night and you're meeting the real deal. Did I mention they're very close? Not that close but as close as brothers can be without becoming delicious incestuous faggots. Now that Tim's dead, Richard's up shit's creek without a paddle because his source of kindred vitae is gone (LOL 125 Y/O) and Richard wants vengeance for the loss of his beloved brother.
Shit kicks up between the Sabbat and the Camarilla for the first time in a long time. In fact they've been trying to get the lupines on their side. What about Vlad? You know, the redheaded guy. Redheaded characters are a staple in my games and stories. See Dexter Norton a.k.a. Black Adder. The O'Briens had the Cardinal assassinated because they realized Asbury Park was being squandered and they could make a serious profit and expand their influence on the east coast. So they slipped a few hints and tips to the Tremere via Madame Marie (LOL SETITE) and the Tremere moved in, the Cardinal died and WHOOPS-A-DAISY the Tremere were more powerful than expected by the O'Briens. So the O'Briens told Vlad, the Cardinal's adopted son (pretty much), about who and how and why the Cardinal was dead, pointed in the general direction of Asbury Park and said "Sic." Had anyone been able to tell and prove the truth to Vlad he would've been an invaluable ally.
Nobody remembers but that's why I remember but there was a comet mentioned by an old professor type who was smoking a pipe in a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches that T.J. was trying to feed on one evening. He was observing Comet Nolan-Moyer. Turns out that Nolan-Moyer is approaching the Earth and over the course of months its trajectory and such has to be recalculated because it is a Very Unusual Celestial Object. Various ancient texts mention final judgement and a hairy star which will destroy the world. There would've been some exposition from a guy in a forgotten and abandoned insane asylum up in the sticks of North Jersey.
Yeah, I was planning on having a Silent Hill type episode in Asbury Park by night but as time went on I figured it would take too much time and really not get the actual feel and mood of Silent Hill. The whole reason for passing through this haunted town was to reach an insane asylum that had been closed for more than thirty years. A single man dwells in its basement, a hollow man kinda like the sequel to the Neverending Story with the Nothing. He's the only survivor of that fateful concert back in the twenties and he became an avatar of Queen Yse. Her aspect is hunger and the embodiment of her hunger has turned this man into an animated and cracking shell.
Finally there are sightings of people walking to the ocean at night and having bonfire parties in the middle of December. A spate of people dying of vicious fevers leaving them withered and decimated in its wake almost as if it's a plague. Just kidding, it's a plague. Vampires, except for Our Heroes, start withering away. One evening everyone awakens and discovers that the Tremere chantry at The Paramount Theater is empty. Everything's cleared out, cleaned up and no one is to be found at all. By now Comet Moyer-Nolan is twice as bright as the full moon in the sky. The government has been saying it won't hit the Earth but various scientists, who are quickly arrested and sent away, have declared the final days are upon us and there really is no hope because of the speed and size of the object.
A familiar redheaded man appears behind the group. No, it's not Vlad. It's Caine. He says that his job is nearly done and that yours is just starting. Caine urges everyone to go to the beach as quickly as possible while there's still time. Under the light of the comet and the full moon the Yse cultists are holding a grand ceremony on the beach with Selena as the final sacrifice. Queen Yse arises from the waves like Venus and all hell breaks loose. LOL BOSS FIGHT.
Those who survive the battle will notice during the battle there's a terrible roar, the moon is now surrounded by the coma of Comet Nolan-Moyer and has a red apocalyptic glow. The waters of the Atlantic are rough, fishes are leaping out of the waters hoping to find salvation on dry land or in the air. Caine calls everyone's attention to a glowing portal that he has opened on the sands.
"If you want to live, go through here. I'm staying, my job is done and it's time to begin anew."
T.J. ends up on a parallel Earth where everyone knows her but they appear to be one-off from what she knows about her social circle and whatnot. Everyone's saying she's a Daeva of the Carthians. LOL WUT?
Janni, beautiful Janni, I will send you to them as their savior and you will have Arrakis to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze. Actually Janni finds himself in a deep cold forest at night, ahead of him are two hairy men sitting around a fire and there's something very large and seemingly dead near the fire. As Janni approaches the cavemen scatter and the scent of mammoth blood is far too rich and potent for the spent Janni and he takes a long draught. In this world, Janni is the New Caine so to speak.
Finally Simon awakens in a large concrete chamber. Red banners are hanging from the walls. He's strapped to a vicious dentist's chair surrounded by glistening stainless steel implements of pain. In comes Cassius dressed in a dapper black uniform that would be the absolute envy of an SS Nazi Daddybear. "Where are your rebel allies" he asks with a strange accent.
Cassius finds himself on the same beach but there's no comet and the moon's just half-full. For the first time in a year he no longer feels the hunger which gnawed at his veins. A warm breeze is blowing off the Atlantic and he hears his little sister calling to him. "You gonna stay out here all night? We're gonna go play vidyagames at the Palace, Cass!" As he looks landward he spots Simon and T.J. silhouetted by the headlights of the minivan. T.J. looks much older, about forty-five, and Simon's a little older about fifty years old with gray on the temples and a loverly John Holmes mustache. "C'mon son, I'm buying!".
OOOOH! What's the shit with Janni being a Heinz 57 caitiff? Janni is not a childe of Caine. He's part of a super-soldier program by the Pentagon hoping to create a daywalker or at least grant some of the positive aspects of vampirism to soliders. So the Pentagon's eggheads decided to cause the ruckus that he remembers as the assault by Sabbat and werewolves. Father was simply a Technocracy operative who was overlooking Janni because he grew fond of him. Father wasn't a real vampire, he was just altered to look like one and had some gizmo that made him even more vampiric in the eyes of vampires.
WHAT THE SHIT WITH T.J. MEETING UP WITH DEAD PEOPLES??? LULZ, T.J. is part of a jati where she's constantly reincarnated with the souls of Elena and Cindy. If you don't know what I'm talking about read Years of Rice and Salt. Good book.
My additions to the backstory of Cassius and Simon are unnecessary except for the "Alvin, Simon and Theodore" meme I was doing for the lulz regarding Tiernan's offspring.