Sterling Disjointed, Frenzied Rue

[West]

Continued from Sterling Anointed, Created Anew

Danny Nunn Park.

In the dew-wet grass, Josephine Sterling finds herself.

Naked. Shivering.

A fiery ache spears through the Sanctified's chest, and she tastes blood on her tongue. There's blood everywhere; all over her, a crimson raiment with a silver bracelet that used to be handcuffs.

The cobwebs of the Beast's grip slip away from her conscious thought... but the Beast isn't silent. Not yet. It howls at the dull ache of need within.

She's starving.

We now resume our regularly scheduled posting by @Cayce for @Josephine Sterling ...

Josephine Sterling is at zero Willpower and zero Vitae...

[Cayce]

At first all was blackness, then the deep grey which wavered as the eyes grasped for some measure of the surroundings while starving for light. Starving like the Mouth of Hell for new souls. Starving like the Pit inside her, that infernal hunger that demanded so much more than blood, but rather what was carried inside it. The energy of life. That sliver of the soul. Fangs descended from her gums, her maw becoming that of Hell as every breath carried a bouquet of saccharine mixed with the tang of iron and copper, and something far richer besides. She brought a hand to her mouth and forced the fangs away so that she could imbibe the lavish crimson upon her flesh.

Her mind cleared as she sucked and licked a brief spotlight of clarity burning through the red mists of desperate need which fogged up the insides of her skull. And, just as a hint of inner clarity returned, so did the clarity of her vision. Things soon fell into focus. A colorless lens slipped into place, and she saw he was in a park. No, not a park, a glorified field of shabby grass with only a few sparse smatterings of trees along its edges.

This was not where she should be. She was not how she should be. She was branded, this she knew all too painfully, but it was clear the rite had most horribly gone awry. Or, perhaps, it had only gone awry in the face of their conceit and expectations. Clearly the abasement of her form and her willingness to subject herself to the abject, self shattering confrontation with her demonic soul was not enough this time. Galilei might not have demanded more, but ultimately it was not he who would accept her back into the fold. A far grander Master resided above them and it had found her wanting. Galilei as well. Otherwise this would not have happened and she would not have found herself here, at this crossroads of temptation and the peril of the Masquerade.

All of her ambitions, her reputation, her very life, all were in danger of becoming but ash upon the wind. She had sinned and then she had reached high, and now the hand of the lord was slapping her back down, forcing her into the one position which would lend insight back into her true purpose, and her true nature, and in ways that simple fire and prayer never could. The fist of the lord had not been cruel this night, even if it had been harsh, and she knew that if she were wise and if she were faithful she would find her way through this trial and emerge back among the Sanctified and the respected of the Domain. If she failed, it would but prove that she had strayed too far and that her purpose did not lie where she had placed it. Perhaps it would not even lie in this life. And, though bloody tears of shame and terror fell at the thought, and the fog of her mind and the pit within her ate at her, she could not yet give up. Not when Providence had lain such a chance for redemption before her.

Easing into a crouch, Josephine Sterling, Priscus of lords, scurried naked across the park, searching for some form of cover, some place where she could find her surroundings and then plot her hunt to ease the thirst for souls which burned inside.

Josephine activates Heightened Senses for sight. Also, Josephine is at 1 agg? And does she remember the frenzy, or does her memory stop as soon as the branding began?

  Identify the blood, before penalties

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-10 03:00:58		Josephine rolls 8 to taste the blood (wits3+med1+spec+lordly palette3) (10 Again)		3, 6, 10, 6, 5, 1, 8, 8, 6		3 successes

  Check surroundings, 2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-10 03:02:11		Josephine rolls 6 to check surroundings (wits3+comp3) (10 Again)		3, 3, 8, 8, 3, 2		2 successes

  Not hidden

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-10 03:03:15		Josephine rolls 5 to hide (wits/dex+stealth) (10 Again)		5, 4, 2, 5, 6		failure

[West]

As Josephine tastes the Blood, the Blood of a Kindred --the Blood of the Clan she is Priscus of, the visceral reminder evokes memories of tearing into Thomas Galilei with her fangs.

With her sanguine awareness, the chill of the night air is scrapes across her skin and wet dew drops gropes at her ponderously.

Fortunately, she is alone.

  Almost!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-10 06:52:24		Leavin' it up to the Dice! (A One Is Bad) rolls 1 die for initiative		2

[Cayce]

Ah, poor, proud Galilei. With all his talk of possessing the favor of a Mighty God, one which would allow him to remove iron pounded deep into concrete, she had made a grave assumption and trusted his strength rather than that of a steel bar, not to mention more shackles. It was a mistake she would never allow to happen again. Thankfully, it was he who was punished this night and not them both. For, again, hers was a trial, not a punishment. A test of her worth, and of her dedication to her faith. So be it. She would not fail.

Setting off across the park, she headed south. There were large trees there and no road beyond them. Other structures, it seemed. Houses, hopefully. May Providence guide her to the right one...

  she visible

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-12 21:17:38		Jo rolls 5 to sneaky sneak 2.0 (dex+stealth) (10 Again)		4, 4, 2, 5, 3		failure

  2 successes to basic investigation on the houses

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-12 21:22:20		Jo rolls 6 to find da right house (wits+invest) (10 Again)		8, 9, 7, 5, 7, 7		2 successes

[West]

It's quiet, and dark. In this part of town, there aren't massive lights illuminating trees, or fancy landscaping. Or the park. She's lucky there aren't any kids smoking, or finding religion in one another's pants. Then again, that ravenous ache within might disagree.

Backed up to the park, the row of houses are mostly dark, and mostly quiet. Somewhere, a dog parks. Cats scream at one another. A wailing screech can be heard from the sound of a circular saw from That Guy who does That Shit in the middle of the night.

More importantly?

There are fences. Six foot tall boards in an impenetrable row stare mockingly at the newly anointed Spear, mocking her.

[Cayce]

Her need did not give her strength, and her determination was shriveled in the wake of her demonic self manifesting itself. Her fingers and toes grasped at the boards, attempting to conquer them, to climb them, but she slipped down the wood, nails breaking, slivers driving themselves into her flesh, skewering the sensitive skin beneath the nails that remained, and the beds which now had no shelter. She hissed in pain, and impotent rage, and picked herself back off the ground.

She would have to go around. These were not battlements, just simple wooden walls for part of a yard. There would be an opening, and she would find it.

Unfortunately, it was hard to walk with shredded toes, and she found herself unable to find much concealment on her way around the fences...

  Torpored toes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-12 23:11:10		Josephine rolls 1 to conquer the fences! (chance die) (10 Again)		7		failure

  she no sneaky

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-12 23:18:53		Josephine rolls 5 to sneaky now? (10 Again)		4, 3, 3, 3, 4		failure

[West]

To the west, is an open road. To the east, she can't tell. Her fencemy mocks her, the wooden barrier extending in both directions. Eastward has more options, and she works her way down it. It begins to curve, and beyond that curve... a small building.

And playground.

During the day it's surely full of laughter and sunlight on innocent children. In the darkness, Josephine's world, the miniature edifices of revelry are more akin to freakish sculptures whose rounded corners and moonlight-washed neon colors look like balls and jacks abandoned by some giant.

Golden light spills from a window in the building.

[Cayce]

She limped closer, attempting to move just far enough to get a glimpse inside the lit room, and hopefully remain protected by the darkness outside...

[West]

The single window that golden light spills from reveals a small office. If not for the desk and chair, a more appropriate description of the room would be 'closet'. An aging, squat CRT monitor displays white text on a blue field -- names and numbers. These names are used by the tired, middle-aged woman staring at it to fill out form letters which she then carefully folds, seals into an envelope, addresses, and adds to a surprisingly tall stack of completed envelopes.

Past due accounts.

Fortunately, Josephine's glimpse into the tedium of the woman's existence goes unnoticed -- the window is behind the diligent worker.

For decades, corporations have exploited these: the backbone of industry; underpaid, overworked, the first and largest minority -- women. Exploitation suggests a single incident. Parasitism would be more accurate. Corporate hunger, slowly draining them, feeding, growing fat and content.

Will Josephine Sterling?

[Josephine Sterling]

It was a feast bathed in golden light, as tempting as it was pitiful. Not in the size of it's portion, but in the condition such a portion was subjected to. Like many kine, Josephine preferred her meals to be free range rather than confined to a cage. Alas, she would not turn down that which Providence had placed before her. Yet, though the barrier between her and the woman was thin and insubstantial, it might be more than enough to stop her. As the fence had proven, she was not mighty, nor was she a match for anything requiring force tonight.

The question was, could she be crafty? Could she accept this bounty in a way befitting of a Wolf, or would she transform it into a peril which she must flee from?

She must try, lest she face a sleep deeper than any she had felt before.

She crept closer to the window, crouched so just her face would be visible lest the woman turn around, and then tried to ease the window open. If it should be locked, she would have to stop her attempt and engage the woman more directly.

  4 successes to stealthily open dat window

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-16 01:17:09		Josephine rolls 5 to dracula that window (dex3+larc2) (10 Again)		2, 10, 10, 2, 6, 10, 9, 5		4 successes