Watchstanders: The Lion's Den

[Seryna]

Elisa considered Otto's question by looking over Liam.

"Yes," She decides quickly. "- you know one another and having a rapport is important. I hope that you have built trust with one another." The mortal states. "We will be traveling to a hotel that is around twenty minutes away. Could you join me in my car?"

The three work out logistics. Otto finds Liam and himself are driven in a mid-range sedan by Elisa away from the bustle of the popular hotel. The street traffic outside trickles and eventually becomes only a single rough looking person drinking

The sedan is driven to a run down and dingy looking hotel in what Otto is quite certain is the Barrens. It is isolated. Quiet.

A faded sign reads The Ridge Motel.

The mortal pulls out her phone and pushes a button.
"There must be some way out of here." She states. She listens for a moment.

"I am bringing in two possible assistants. There is some out of the box thinking. The more assertive man is Simon and his friend is Liam."

The call is ended and Elisa steps outside of the sedan. Otto and Liam will become aware of a heavy set man standing outside of a hotel room door. He is watching the people exit the sedan.

The man gives a familiar nod towards Elisa.
This man stands at 6'0", is about thirty pounds overweight, has professional cut dark brown hair and wears an expensive communication ear piece in his right ear.

"Hey Jake." Elisa greets. "I want these guys to meet Kristen."

"The wind begins to howl." The man responds, watching her expression closely.
"There must be some way out of here." Elisa responds smoothly. The man nods and knocks on the door, then opens it.

"I think the guest is a little antsy."Jake states. He glances at Otto, and his eyes move over the surrounding area.

There is only one late model van present in the parking lot.

Elisa pauses beside the open hotel room door and looks expectantly at Otto. This could be a very delicate situation. It is quite possible that Otto's skill in his Family Blood Gifts can make this clusterfudge into a smoothly recovered problem.
Yet he recognizes that he is now outnumbered by mortals. What do they know? What will they do?

[Otto Schneider]

Otto was busy repeating catechisms and prayers in his head as he was swept along with the mortal hunters. He wasn't angry, and he managed to keep calm enough that he wasn't panicking, but he certainly wasn't in a good mood. This is not exactly how I saw things going. The Ventrue cast a sideways glance at Liam before staring ahead for the rest of the car ride. As discreetly as he could manage, the Priscus nudged the other man's foot with his own before muttering, "Make sure your family knows you might be out late." He hoped that the Ghoul was savvy enough to understand what he meant.

As they exited the vehicle, the Reverend remained quiet but tried to put on a curious expression. As Elisa exchanged code phrases with the doorman, he made a point of committing them to memory. Seeing her wait for them, he sidled a little closer and half-whispered. "So, I don't doubt that your friend can hold his own, but do the rest of you have some kind of... protection? C'mon, you can tell me." He invoked his Clan's Discipline to try to ply the woman for a bit more information. Regardless of her response however, he would enter the room with Liam in tow.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2025-12-03 18:49:49	Otto Schneider rolls 7 to Command (Intel + Intim + Dominate) (10 Again)	3, 9, 7, 4, 5, 6, 5	1 success

[Jennifer Hazelton]

Liam had been directed to be responsive to Priscus Schneider by his regnant, Jennifer Hazelton. The fit ghoul noted Priscus Schneider's foot and gave a bare nod to him. "I will let my sister know." He states, barely audible. He was trying to escape attracting Elisa's attention. He pulls out a phone that only had two contacts - Jenna and Mark. He turns his phone slightly so that Otto would be able to see and read the phone display. Otto did notice that the phone number for Jenna was not the official phone number for Jennifer Hazelton.

"Relocating with Simon and Elisa to hotel twenty minutes away." The first text was sent. As the car parked, a second text was sent 'Ridge Motel.'
The phone was tucked into a phone case clipped on his belt. Liam moved beside Otto as the group relocated towards the hotel room. He remained silent as he stepped into the room. Liam remained within two feet of the hotel room door.
"Hey. I am Liam. Friend of Simon's." He stated simply to those within the hotel room.

[Seryna]

Kristen stepped over as Elisa looked within the hotel, looking at Kristen for guidance. Kristen listens attentively to Otto.

6 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2025-12-03 21:36:58	Storyteller rolls 9 to Kristen's Resistance (10 Again)	10, 4, 9, 10, 7, 10, 5, 8, 10, 7, 4, 7, 5	6 successes

"What do you mean by protection?" She asks Otto, earnestly. Her eyes move over Otto for a moment, taking in details. "You say these people are Simon and Liam?" She confirms in an aside to Elisa.
"Yeah, he came up to one of the patrols." Elisa stated. "Ryan agreed that he should come talk to you as Simon has concerns on if this is just a regular person."
"Come inside so that we can talk about this." Kristen states matter - of - fact. She strides into the hotel room. As Otto and Liam enter the hotel room, they note that Mr. Jake is sitting at a desk within the hotel room. He looks exhausted. As he sees Otto, his eyes light up. Mr. Jake quickly looks away and down, not looking at Otto. Mr. Jake is in a dress shirt and dress pants, both rumpled. A suit jacket hangs from a hanger in the corner from a second chair. Two chairs are arranged to be sitting facing Mr. Jake's chair.

Kristen moves over and stands next to one of the chairs facing Mr. Jake. She gestures for Otto to take the second chair. Elisa stands by the hotel room door, which she closes and flips the lock.

"So Simon," She states with emphasis. "- it is always a good thing to verify who we are talking with. This person who says his name is Mr. Jake is on our radar as a possible creature. He has been observed in the same vicinity as two people who have lost time and when we took them to the hospital, were reported as anemic. This is evidence that he could be a vampire.
When you say protection, what do you mean? We are using a process of checks with one another."

"This is crazy." Mr. Jake protests.

[Otto Schneider]

It was some small comfort that Liam had understood what Otto had meant in the car. At least now if things fall apart, it won't be a total mystery to the Domain. The different phone number didn't provoke any sort of reaction from the Priest. It would hardly be surprising for a Ghoul to have a separate line of communication to their regnant.

Otto was mildly frustrated that his attempt to exert his will over the kine had apparently failed, but nothing more. It wasn't an infallible technique to begin with, and it wasn't truly essential to have the answer to that particular question. He was about to respond to Kristen's question, but the pace of the conversation moved faster than he had expected. Seeing Mr. Jake in the flesh only confirmed how dangerous the situation was. The Priest mentally made a silent prayer of thanks that they'd met in the past; the possibility of either of the Beast driving either of them to frenzy would have been yet another layer of unnecessary difficulty.

As the lock clicked into place, his mind raced and the possibility of taking action immediately occurred to him. Between himself, Liam, and Mr. Jake, there was actually a chance that they could simply overpower the hunters. Not yet. It was tempting, but there were simply too many unknown variables at the moment. "Protection as in weapons." He answered plainly, lazily mimicking the shape of a pistol with his right hand for emphasis. "Because, assuming you have a vampire in the room, which... well, let's say I have a healthy sense of skepticism, but assuming you do, you're not seriously planning to try to take him on bare-handed if he gets agitated, right?"

He glanced at Mr. Jake before taking the offered seat. The Priest made a show of scooting it back a few inches to put a little more space between himself and the captive Kindred. "I already said I'm willing to take your word that blood-sucking monsters are real, but... what you're saying about him sounds really circumstantial. I mean, there's the old saying, 'once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.'" He shrugged before looking at Kristen, curious for the hunter's response.

[Jennifer Hazelton]

The ghoul looks briefly alarmed at the situation. He aligns his body so that he is not directly looking at Mr. Jake. He gives his eyes to Otto as he awaits the answer from these mortals.

[Seryna]

Kristen looks over towards the younger woman, Elisa, as Otto makes his explanation.
"Can you address Simon's concerns?" The Mortal poses. Elisa considered in silence for several long moments.
"Yes. One of the beliefs regarding these creatures is that they have superior strength." She states as she looks towards Otto. "We have to be very careful in what we bring. Kristen has read different studies and spoken to police officers. Many weapons people buy for protection are used against them. This would only serve to arm the forces attacking this town.
Therefore, we only utilize specific weaponry and bring those in when we need to use them."
Kristen gives a small nod.
"This is a good explanation, Elisa." She looks to Otto. "This is why I have only one weapon on me - which is technically illegal in the Capital. Jake holds additional items that we will use when necessary.
I am a bit curious, Simon," There is a definite emphasis on the name. "- about your interest. We have our reasoning and we hold that we are correct.
I know that there might be some confusion because you do not have all of the information that we have. Yet as you have not earned our trust, we cannot share everything.
Do you have an idea that could be helpful?”
“I have an idea that can be helpful.” Mr. Jake states. He looks weary. His normally rich, dark skin has become a shade paler than the last time Otto saw him.

“You have kidnapped me. You are holding me against my will. I need you to let me go, as my sleeping disorder cannot be addressed here.” He speaks reasonably. “Let me go, and I will proceed a civil lawsuit. I will have restitution and you can continue your neighborhood watch program, because honestly, there have been strange situations. I read the papers. Yet otherwise, I am going to insist on going to the police immediately.”

"Which is another piece of evidence against you." Kristen spoke reasonably. "You are physically suffering although you have been offered to eat and drink freely and use of this bed. Why is that?"