This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.
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It takes Jack and Ronnie a bit over a minute to get going from Taylor's place, a little under 5 minutes to get to the nearest gas station without running stop signs, and a few more minutes to gas up. Then they are on their way... with just under a half hour to get out of town before the Blood Hunt is called down on them.
Time Clock: 30:15
It is 1:37 am.
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We're already on the north side of town, we need to keep going north so we can be out of the domain as soon as possible. She plots a course on Highway 99 north.
Ronnie looks at her watch. I figure we can get to the junction of Highway 99 and Highway 70 in the time we have left before the Hunt actually starts. I mapped trips for my Dad and me all the time, I was his navigator. I hope you don't mind.
Just past Olivehurst, we'll start going east. I figure we can make Truckee before we have to stop. Then we can go to Reno or Carson City if you want. Ever been to either place before?
Jack was not much for geography, but it did seem to be a good route, assuming they could get there before the sun rose and did the bloodhunts job for them. "No, I haven't. Kindred tend to gather in cities with large populations. Makes hiding easier. As for Reno and Carson, never been."
Ronnie smiled. Good, he'll let me lead for now. Ok, let's start our date over. Tell me about the real you. How long have you been around? What's this Carthian stuff? And- did you know this was going to happen when we went to the Prince?. I have to say, I'm not much liking the idea of royalty anymore. She reached out, and took Jack's hand in hers, leaving one hand on the wheel.
Jack had to laugh at that one. "Very few actually like the princes that run their domains. Most Kindred spend their spare time plotting to overthrow him or her."
"Anyway I'll start with me. Truth be told, yes I'm Australian and yes I was born there. Only difference from the bullshit I fed you when you were alive was by the time I was this age it was the First World War and I was shipped off to gallipoli, Turkey with the Australian New Zealand Army Corps. Ran into my sire in Ciro after that and here I am."
"The Carthians are one of the groups, Covenants, I was talking about before we ran into the prince. They were About political change in a stagnant system and helping backup your coven mates....Clearly McCoy didn't get the message.."
"As for the Prince, I was taking us to the Senchal to avoid him. He can force you to tell the truth If he caught anything amiss so we would have been screwed anyway. If the prince hadn't shown up, I would have lied for all I had and staked Taylor before he blabbed about anything that would have shoved us in this situation." For one brief moment, he wondered how the night would have turned out without the Prince in the senchals presences...
Were you and Taylor good friends? Ronnie hoped not, that Taylor's betrayal hadn't been that of a close friend. He...she...helped you, just to backstab you like that?
"Not really. I was the head of The Carthian Movement, he was only a member. I will make sure he gets what's coming to him once we are out of here." Jack said, mind already at work for such a thing.
Ronnie shivered, although she had been thinking about revenge as well. The things Ronnie had been contemplating probably weren't at all what Jack was thinking of, though.
What will you do?
"Right now? Not sure. But it will take some time before I do anything. We do have very long lives and plenty of time on our hands to work on the details, assuming we can get the hell out of Sacramento first." Jack said with a shrug.
"Better find some way of getting my rifle back too. Had it for so long."
Yeah, I wish I had my laptop at least. But it was better to get out as quickly as we could. Stuff can be replaced. But...you can't, she said, glancing over at Jack, with a shy smile.
Ronnie relaxed a little, as she realized they were putting more distance between themselves and the Sacramento Metro area. We'll make getting you a gun top priority, she said. Do you have access to any money at all?
"Thanks." Jack said with a smile in return. Tension was still there, but hopefully they wouldn't run into any kindred yet.
"I had money before, but I had to drain my accounts into organising Court, which is a meeting of the city's Kindred. Seeing how things have gone, it was a huge waste of money." He was still annoyed by this fact. He was at least grateful his Childe could support him for now. He would need to pay her back though.
I have some saved, so we should be OK for a bit. What do you do to earn money, then?
"Right now, not sure. Usually get some small time business under my control and take some of the profits for myself. With some planning I can get large ones under sway." It was very invictus, but he knew no other way. Well, stealing from hookers was always an option, but that was distasteful.
Under your control? How? Ronnie is confused, and beginning to feel a little fuzzy-headed. She checks the map. Truckee wasn't too much farther.
"I don't feel like elaborating on everything right now, we still have Sacramento after us. But I can tell you that our blood is addictive to everyone, human or kindred." How much longer was it till Dawn? He hoped it was still way off. He wasn't ready to meet the sun, not by a long shot.
My phone can go online. I want you to search lodging and location for Reno. Look for a place that has underground or garage parking.
Jack nods and gives a stressed smile and grabbed her phone and started trying to work the damn thing. He was familiar with phones, but this (Black berry was it called?) Was an annoying little thing to use. It took him a few tries, but he managed to start looking through the hotel listing via the net. "Harrah's Reno Casino and Hotel.....Open 24 hours a day...Free parking, garage..." Jack said as he looked up. "Sound good Darl?"
Ronnie nearly cried with relief. YES! Call the number and book us a room, my charge card's in the purse. Jack rummaged through her purse quickly, and rang the number..
A minute later jack hung up. "And done. One room booked. So long as we don't hit any traffic along the way we should be there before the sun rises. We should be golden."
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As Jack and Ronnie are approaching Truckee, a car in front of them slows down to take an exit. As they approach, the lights of their car reveal the driver of the car ahead well enough for their Beasts to recognize him as Kindred. Jack understands this automatically, while Ronnie mostly feels overwhelmed and frightened, remembering feeling that same way in the presence of the Prince.
Ronnie felt a deer-in-the-headlights moment and immediately slowed the car and switched to the far lane, hoping to avoid notice. She continued to pilot the car straight ahead on Highway 80. As soon as the exiting car is out of sight, she sped up again and watched the rear-view mirror for signs of pursuit.
Jack? she asked, with a frightened voice. Do you recognize that car?
Who is it?2009-09-11 09:26:18Jack rolls 4 to Perception (10 Again)5, 2, 5, 2 failure
Jack felt the tremors of his beast rise up and take notice. He had hoped they were quicker to escape Sacramento, but if they were lucky, they didn't know about the hunt...yet.
When he heard Ronnie speak up, he focused on the car, trying to see if he could recall anything. In the end, he shook his head. "I've got nothing Darl, sorry. Try not to speed up too much or else they are going to feel our Beasts."
After the near run-in with another vampire on the highway while passing through Truckee, Jack and Ronnie's trip is uneventful. Eventually they wind down from that incident as they continue eastward, and as they cross into Nevada and near Reno, they figure they're safe for tonight.
If Jack could breathe, he would take a sigh of relief. They were beyond the boundaries of Sacramento and only the most determined would try and hunt them down from this point on. Though the most determined were often the most dangerous.
Though there was still the problem of encroaching sunlight. But that offered them some extra protection from the Kindred of his now former city. 'nother one for the list then...
"Darl, lets head for the hotel. Once we get comfortable, I'll let you ask a few questions about your new existence. Sound good?" He said with the most charming smile he could muster, considering what they are going through.
Ronnie nods her head wearily as she pulls her Lexus into the hotel's parking garage.
__________________
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Timelline of flight, pursuit and escape
Figuring out what happened here took some math, and honestly gave me a bit of a headache. Map programs also turned out to be plenty useful. First step, I had Bo map out what route Ronnie and Jack were taking out of town, and figure out at approximately what time they would be where along the route chosen.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=El+Centro+Blvd+%26+Elver ta+Rd,+Sacramento,+CA+95836&daddr=olivehurst,+ca+t o:smartville,+ca+to:grass+valley,+ca+to:Troy,+Cali fornia+to:truckee,+ca+to:219+North+Center+Street,+ Reno,+NV+89501+(Harrah's+Reno)&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3 B%3B%3B%3B%3BCZBNzL7sw645FVwlWwIdWs7b-CFJ6OjYufgg6Q&mra=pe&mrcr=5&sll=39.121043,-120.677421&sspn=2.028508,3.510132&ie=UTF8&ll=39.92 6588,-121.014404&spn=4.010081,7.020264&z=7
Then, using the departure and arrival time estimates given by Frost, Twist, BC and others, I tried to figure out who was where at what time.
Now, interestingly, if Ronnie and Jack had just gotten onto I-80 and taken it straight to Reno, they would have been completely out of the area well before anyone else got close, due to their having the head start Asa gave them. But, they didn't take that route. Instead, they took that Hwy 70, Hwy 20 and all that for a while, before joining onto I-80 at or near Yuba Pass.
As a result, they were all going to be at or passing by Truckee at approximately the same point. So, the key was to figure out who was where on I-80 at what time. Specifically, the key was to figure out where everyone else when Jack and Ronnie hit I-80.
So, then I plugged the times in. Twist was further north than most of the vampires when the rush started, and had the earliest ETA in Truckee of anyone. She ended up passing through Yuba Pass well before the others, and well before Ronnie and Jack were there.
Ishani and Jayant and his crew also passed by Yuba Pass several minutes before Jack and Ronnie got on the Interstate there. So, they all went to the airport without realizing Ronnie and Jack were a few minutes behind them.
However, O-Yama was running a few minutes behind Ishani and Jayant ... and, in fact he and Ronnie/Jack were going to be arriving at Truckee at approximately the same time.
Adding to the problem is, Bo didn't get me the map right away, and I didn't run the numbers until the point in-thread at which the vampires were arriving at Truckee in-game. So, trying to figure out where they were in relation to each other, I just rolled randomly and determined Ronnie and Jack were behind O-Yama on the interstate, probably having exited onto the interstate as O-Yama had gone past. If the roll had gone a different way, O-Yama would have been behind them.
That being as things were, including when I got around to doing all this, it looked like Truckee would be the key, since the thread's action was already going on there. So, with Ronnie and Jack beyind O-Yama, and neither having noticed the other to that point, I figured it would come down to what happened when O-Yama slowed down to take the exit to Truckee. I had BC, DS and Bo all roll Perception checks for their characters, with the idea that if O-Yama got more successes, he'd see them regardless what they did, and would be able to pursue and alert Ishani, Twist and the others at the airport.
All three players got 1 success on the first roll. Given that, it made sense that since they were behind O-Yama, the'd get a chance to detect his Beast before he would theirs, so I asked them what they did. Bo, playing Ronnie, who was driving, said soon as she recognized a vamp in the car ahead, she slowed down a bit and shifted lanes, so they wouldn't pass the exit until the other car was past. That seemed a reasonable enough precaution to apply a penalty to O-Yama's Perception check, so I had him roll again... and he blew it. So, he took the turn-off and headed to meet the others at the Truckee airport, and Bo and Jack continued on to Reno.
If it had gone otherwise... well, I imagine a big car chase, with O-Yama pulling back onto the interstate from the exit lane, then calling the others, who would be on the interstate within a couple minutes at most, and Ishani at least in a very fast car.
So, now you know ... the rest of the story.
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((Wow, more convoluted calculations that I expected Daeva))
"Ugh..." Jack had to shake his head. Damn day-sleep, can't believe we misjudged the time. "Better save the Q&A a little later then." He mumbled as he fumbled with the seat belt.
Creature Lives
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