You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For: Two

Vampire: The Requiem

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For

Two: Some kind of spark

One

"You're not human, are you?"

Daniel flinched away, knowing she'd seen too much to believe a simple explanation. And seeing that she was frightened... but also sympathetic.

"I'm human. But... not human like you."

And then he was gone, into the dark.

But staying close, in case the other vampire came back.

...

The next night, he waited for her near the bookstore near campus.

Again, she was afraid, but not like she should have been.

"You came back."
"I thought he might."
"The vampire...?" She paused, as if saying it out loud made it real. "The other vampire."

He looked away, ashamed.

"How... How long have you been like this?"
"Not long. Months. It was an accident... she said."
"Is she still around?"
"No."
"Are there more of you?"
"Some. Not many."
"How do you - ?"
"The donor center. Animals sometimes, but I can't do that for long."
"Have you ever...?" Her voice trailed off as she thought of the other vampire's fangs.
"No. But I've come close."
"Why are you telling me?" She felt a chill of fear again.
"Because... now you need to know."
"Is he gonna come back?"
"Maybe. It's... easy to hunt here."
"Um... Thank you."

He looked surprised.

"Uh, so, what's real? Sunlight, stakes...?" She glanced at the window of the bookstore across the path, and saw his reflection there. "Not mirrors."
"No. But sunlight, yeah. And stakes, apparently. But not being invited in."
"Shit. that woulda been helpful."
"Yeah."
"Um. Since we're sharing information, I'm Sarah."

He hesitated. He hadn't told anyone his name since he died.

"Daniel."

...

They sat in the bookstore. She sipped her coffee. He held his to warm his cold hands.

"So... God, I have so many questions."
"I did too. I didn't get many answers."
"Umm, well. What else is there? Are there ghosts?"
"I don't know. Sorry."
"Oh, uh, that's fine. It's better than 'there's one right beside you' or something."
"Yeah." He smiled, just for a moment. Then he looked back at her. "You're taking this very well."
"You saved my life. That buys you a little cred."

He nodded.

"Oh, how's your friend?"
"I don't actually know her. She'll be okay."
"Good."
"But she needed a transfusion." She looked at his reaction.
"I, ah... I need to work on that."
"Yeah, you do." Her hand went to her neck instinctively.

He stood up.

"I should go."
"Will I see you again?"
"... If you want to."

The Forgotten: Four

The new member of Lake's gang goes by Grey. She's thin, with short messy bleached hair, but more intimidating than she should be in that way vampires sometimes are. Samuel peers at her, trying to figure out what she might be. She stares back, with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

"Now now, we're all friends here..." Lake says, moving to put himself between them.
"We are?" Danni asks. "When did that happen?"

David puts his hands up for calm.

"Seems there have been a lot of us coming into town lately. You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you?"
"Might," Grey replies. "Town's getting busy. Probably gonna get busier. Should get your family somewhere nicer."

David's eyes narrow. Lake smirks slightly, seeing that button getting pressed again.

Mia puts a hand on David's arm, gently. He stops clenching his fists.

"It's not exactly ideal," Lake says, "but it probably won't be for long, so let's make do."
"Why won't it be long?" David asks suspiciously.
"Things to do. Places to go. Nothing you kids gotta worry about."

...

David walks out quickly, then paces the club's parking lot.

Jessica steps out, staying by the door as she sees him trying to calm down.

"Nobody ever means that."

...

Mia checks her hair before reluctantly opening the door to a private gallery in midtown.

Elysium. Somewhere she only goes if she has to.

Monica Brava, seneschal to the Prince, smiles icily as she sees her.

"Now what brings you back here?"
"I think Lake and his gang might be planning to move against you."
"I'd be disappointed if they weren't. Anything specific?"
"New... relatives in town. One with them, girl called Grey. Another... a man called Danton, I saw him around town."
"Danton? Really. Haven't heard from him in a while."
"Who is he?"
"Not somebody you should be trusting, let's just say that." Monica opens her purse, takes out a business card and writes on the back: LEWISTON. The name of a city less than a hundred miles away. A city with a Prince who hates Barrett, Prince of Lawrence.
"I... see. And the gang?"
"Probably looking to gain from a war. Now, what do you think of this? I'm not sure about the color scheme..."

...

Jones is out hunting when he sees another unfamiliar vampire at the edge of the Rack. He starts to follow, and she notices and runs. He chases her through back alleys, the small yards of apartment blocks, across a side street, to the subway, and loses her as she gets onto a train just as the doors close. She blows him a kiss as the train rolls away.

...

David slumps into his usual seat at a bookshop cafe near campus. The place he met his sire, who abandoned him and the city a year ago.

He senses someone approaching.

Grey. She comes and sits across from him, smiling placidly.

"So, you told your sister about us. That seems a little dangerous."

He scowls.

"Sorry, sorry, I don't mean it as a threat. It's just..." She leans closer, and drops her voice to a whisper. "I don't think our sire would be pleased." She looks back to see he caught her saying 'our'.

"I'm your sister too."

The Forgotten: Three

Mia introduces herself to the stranger, a vampire who calls himself Danton. He says that he's visiting from a nearby city because his sire's sire resides here. She has no reason to doubt his word - and no reason not to.

...

Jones tracks Mac to a run-down tenement building, where the Caitiff locks himself in the basement boiler room. Seeing it's close to sunrise, Jones heads out - making sure he isn't followed in turn.

...

Samuel calls on Broughton, the bookseller. He says that there are more vampires asking about where to avoid hunting. Newcomers, perhaps - but then why not ask the Kindred?

...

David and Jessica break into the campus teaching hospital for some blood. He tried some separated and treated blood after being turned, and could barely finish it - it has to be whole blood, which means going to the donor center. And having Jess there as a spotter keeps him from going overboard.

...

With no human family around, Mia hunts quite casually, until she sees Danton around again.

...

Jones emerges from his own hiding place to find no sign of Mac, and loses his scent around the subway.

...

The gang is back at the Vault, with a new member...

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For: One

Vampire: The Requiem

You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For

One: They don't burn like we do

Her name was Sarah. She made him feel alive.

She was heading out of an evening class the first time he saw her, tired and alone. 

He was leaving the university teaching hospital after stealing a few nights' worth of donated blood. He felt bad enough about that, but he didn't want to consider the alternative.

And he wasn't the only vampire there.

He sensed another of his kind, following a student walking home, ready to strike. But then Sarah heard the victim call for help, and came running without a moment's pause.

And he found himself running to help as well.

The vampire's teeth gleamed as he smirked at Sarah. Before she pepper sprayed him. He snarled and lunged.

And someone leapt in the way. They stared, circled each other, and the wild-eyed man ran.

"Are you alright?" the stranger asked. He paused as he saw blood on the victim's throat, with a queasy look before turning his head, and moving to support her. Sarah took her other arm and they walked her to the hospital's ER.

"She was lucky you helped..." he said as the staff took the victim away.
"I was lucky you helped." Sarah looked at her pepper spray for a use-by date. Then she looked up, and saw something in his eyes.

"You're not human, are you?"

...

Sarah Collins, history student, brave and smart and possibly braver than is smart.

Daniel Burton, Daeva vampire, too humane to hunt with impunity.

Affairs Of The Guild

A one-off Vampire: The Masquerade LARP in New Orleans, just two weeks away. Perhaps related to Tampa By Night moving venue and shifting size?

Sounds fun (although, ew, Setites) and I'd like a chance to play something like this a little closer to home.

The Forgotten: Two

David is a social Brujah, but still a Brujah, and Lake just threatened his sister. His knuckles whiten.

Then Jones walks up behind Mac, the Caitiff in Lake's gang, and grabs him by the collar, pulling him back and off balance.

Mia approaches sideways, putting herself between Jessica and Bats (another Brujah, not a Gangrel) and giving him a faux-placid smile.

Danni (a Gangrel) turns and gets the drop on Simon before he can intervene.

Lake looks at the numbers and sneers, backing off rather than backing down. He looks down at Jessica and hisses "Remember we're not all nice."

Jones follows David and Jessica out.

"Why did you help us?" David asks.
"I don't like them."
"I didn't think you liked anybody."
Jones shrugs.

Mia strolls out nonchalantly. Samuel strolls out a bit less nonchalantly.

"What was that about?" Jessica asks.
"Good question." Mia glances back at the door. "They're up to something."

...

David and Jessica discuss her getting out of town. She decides against it. (This is session two, after all.)

...

Jones skulks around the Vault, looking to track one of the gang home. Probably Mac, who he perceives as the weakest.

...

Mia goes dancing on the other side of the Rack, and notices another vampire on the hunt, one she doesn't recognize.

...

Samuel arranges to meet with a contact, a human occultist who might know if something strange is going on.

The Forgotten Ones

Vampire: The Masquerade - The Forgotten

Chapter One

The city of Lawrence. Held by the Camarilla for decades, but that may be about to change.


David Harper. Brujah, history student turned by a 60s activist anarch who has since left the city.

Jessica Harper. Human. David's sister. She knows what he is, just enough to know to keep quiet, and to worry.

Jones. Gangrel, moody loner, abandoned by his sire years ago.

Mia Courtland. Toreador, clubber and neglected childe of a harpy.

Samuel Marks. Tremere, researcher turned outcast after his sire's suspicious death.

The Harpers know Mia and to a lesser extent Samuel. Nobody really knows Jones.

...

Younger and less welcome vampires in the city tend to stop by in a Rack club called the Vault. It's dark, crowded, noisy, and full of sickly-looking people wearing a lot of black.

Mia lures a Blood Doll to a secluded spot. David tries to keep Jessica from noticing. Samuel tries to make light of the situation. Jones broods in another corner.

Tonight there's another coterie there, an anarch gang known for being all talk. But instead of getting boastful when David and Mia get closer, they get quiet and cagey.

Since the Vault is part of the Rack and nobody wants a mess, Mia agrees to keep an eye on them while David sees Jessica safe home. But they haven't made it out before the gang leader, Lake, gets in their way.

"You know the rule. We're your kin now."

The rest of the gang surround them...

The Forgotten Reminders

NPCs. (A running list, hopefully.)

I am a cardboard vampire

I used to have this hair in New Bremen. That's embarrassing.

VtR: You're The Only Thing Worth Dying For

A vampire and a human fall in love. I don't think it will end all that happily.

So this is the side game, probably every fortnight, two players coming back from We Are The Night for a smaller character-centric Requiem game about a mortal and a new vampire who has her as his Touchstone. He'll try to be a buffer between her and the other vampires in the city, and they'll get into various other kinds of trouble as well. She has friends too, for one thing.