(Alien Call) The Alchemist's Return

[Yumyumcrow]

Time and tide, as the saying goes, waits for no one. This adage also holds true for the Undead.

The night of the prearranged meeting has come around. At the time the agreement was struck the summer nights had been free - but then came the discovery of the Brood, the "rescue" of a former Reeve, and the inevitable clash with the main body of the Brood activists. All of that was in the recent past now.

But the wounds remained. Bodies needed mending. Souls needed soothing.

Robert Longstreet lay in Torpor, protected by the walls of the Necropolis.

And it was too late to make fresh arrangements with the Alchemist...

Joe's Garage has a light in the window now: a non-so-subtle sign that people wait within. The streets remain deserted at this unearthly hour, when the balmy summer night holds the city in its fleeting grasp. This early in the summer, the airy darkness is pleasant. The last heat of the day is still radiating from the concrete, but its a homely feeling that creates an impression of safety even when there isn't one.

Come! The Alchemist awaits. Who knows what his unusual proposition means for the Kindred?

[Robert Cross]

Given Longstreet's current state, Cynthia had been recruited in his place. A lucky thing: Cross feels more comfortable having another Kindred aside from himself and Alice along for this task. Also, it's a chance to see what this new Family member might bring to the table.

And so, after making sure Cynthia understood the situation, he'd shepherded the two other haunts into his Town Car, Alice in the front and Cynthia in the back, and driven them to Joe's Garage, parking a little up the block from the location of their meeting. "We're here," he announces.

He'd kept quiet during the drive, occasionally glancing over at Alice. But now, cutting the headlights and the engine, he turns in his seat, so he can look between both of his passengers.

"So--how should we go about this?" There's no sense in rushing in there without a plan of some sort. The Burned Man has his own ideas, but he'd like to hear what Alice and Cynthia are thinking before giving his two cents.

Equipment: Cellphone on silent, 9mm, hunting knife

[Alice Hart]

Alice was hustled into the Town Car, not by Robert finding her Below but him seeing the Dolls steps away from the Haven Above. Alice, of course, had been doing what she dose every moment she is able. Picking the Barrens bare. Tonight she was successful. Or more successful then she had been previous.

Poor little rat. She still had fur in her fangs.

She'd been picking it out - or at least trying to during the otherwise uneventful car ride.

"I want to know what the Alchemists will do, or say when they don't find their things." It was too bad that all the Dragon but Asa had fled. The could use quick access to their archives, or a lab. To test the things they had gathered. "One of you will be Cloaked. Cynthia, do you know how to-never mind. They haven't seen you while they have seen Robert. I told them I was bringing someone new. So it would look weird if I showed up with just Robert...would you be okay with being visible?"

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-06-02 22:03:21		Alice Hart rolls 4 to Feeding (Strength 2 + Subterfuge 2 -3(blind/barrens) + WP) (10 Again, WillPower)		9, 3, 3, 1		1 success

Equipment: Knife, Leather Jacket (Reinforced Clothing), Cell on silent, running shoes, sunglasses, folding cane

[Cynthia Weiss]

She had offered her help to the Seneschal on her first night here. Cynthia was not expecting her to cash in on that so quickly. Still she came along with the two, only now aware of what fate had befallen Longstreet and only a brief overview on what strangeness she had been dragged into. Clothing was just as plain as it was when she appeared at the Necropolis not long ago.

The car stopped. She listened to the two kindred talk. "I can vanish. Not big of a problem if I have to be visible for a little while." It was a bit troubling to be visible before an unknown like this though. "How much trouble are you two expecting exactly?" There were still some details that were missing that she could use.

Equipment: Brass Knuckles. Leather Jacket (Reinforced clothing) Smartphone on silent.

[Robert Cross]

Alice's plan mirrors his own. Obviating the need for him to explain his own method of approach. He likes it when that happens, makes things easier.

"Understood," Cross responds after Alice explains. "I'll be the one who goes dark." He looks to Cynthia, while pulling his 9mm. He keeps the gun low, in his lap, below sight lines from the street. "I don't know exactly what we will find in there. But if things go wrong, we'll take care of it." He looks down, checking the clip, making sure there's one in the chamber, that the safety's off. The movements are smooth, automatic.

His eyes return to Cynthia, "After all, they're only Breathers. Right, Seneschal?" He sounds maybe a little more confident than he feels, but he doesn't want to spook the New Blood.

[Alice Hart]

So Cynthia could Cloak too, at least Alice knew that Longstreet couldn't. If every Haunt in the Domain could Cloak and the Clan's Priscus couldn't...

Alice nods her strings pulled nod. She's assumed that Robert would volunteer to be her shadow, but she wanted to give choice and not issue orders. "We will," Alice reinforces the statement. The press of her little fang at the small of her back a reassuring one.

"Right Whip Cross." another nod, "Only kine. Kine who think we're some sort of monster that we're not. So they don't know what we are and they're not prepared for that." Alice offers for Cynthia.

The Doll makes sure her sunglasses are right where they need to be, and that her folding cane is in reach for her to use as a prop, "Are we ready? Or is there more you want to discus before we get going?"

[Cynthia Weiss]

There was the question as to whether this counted as a Masquerade breach. It looked like something borderline or at least too strange to tell right away.

Cynthia shrugged. "Well, if you two know what you are doing I'll just follow your lead." Rolling with what happened was how she survived this far. She fished through her pockets and tightened her grip around two chunks of polished, machined metal. Simple weapons gave her some comfort. Did little against kindred. But some weirdo mortals on the other hand...

She looked back at the other haunts. "Think I got an idea of whats going on. Ready when you are." She was not in all honesty. But then few would be in her position and a brave face was best among predators.

[Robert Cross]

Something seems to occur to Cross in the half-dark of the car. He holsters the gun under his jacket before speaking: "There's the matter of a book...a very interesting book. Could prove a threat to the masquerade. It's in the possession of the little one, the hunchback. I heard about it from that slippery new Pale, Marvin Stax. Anyway, he was trying to sell this thing on the black market. Now may not be the time to mention it to them. But since I won't...be there, if you think the conversation warrants it..." He shrugs, a gesture that will be audible in his tone to Alice, given how well she knows the Burned Man's voice. "I can always bring it up with them," his scarred lips twist into a smirk, "another time."

Moving on, though: "Other than that, I'm fine with the approach. Let's see what this is all about. After we get out of the car, just give me a minute." He nods to a nearby alley, "I need to make myself scarce."

If everyone is ready to get moving, Cross will lock the vehicle after they're all out and then step briskly into the alley, making sure no one is around to witness his little trick. The gun he leaves holstered for now, but he does pull the knife. Just in case. Then, he wraps the shadows about himself. Quickly, walking to rejoin his fellow Haunts as they move toward the garage.

  CoN, 1 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-06-03 15:15:51		Robert Cross rolls 6 to CoN Intel2 + Stealth1 + Ob3 (10 Again)		6, 1, 10, 5, 7, 5, 5		1 success

[Alice Hart]

"We have some idea what to expect," Alice gives the goth a strings pulled nod, "They deal in strange, so try to expect weird. If there was more time, I'd regal you with all the weird we've seen, but we don't. So...try to steel yourself against the worse Haunt you've ever seen. Maybe it'll give you an edge...over what to expect."

Alice's head jerks sharply, "Book?" this was the first she'd heard about a book. Alice frowns, Marvin Strax. She didn't like the slimy daeva. "If I can direct the flow of conversation towards it, I'll bring it up. Maybe if they think I'll pay more then what they'd get on the black market...either way, if it'll cause a Breach we need it. I can always tell them I had an ear to the ground, heard about it that way."

Alice shakes her head. Time to go.

Robert slips out of the car and disappears. No sound or scent of his could Alice detect.

Alice whips her folding cane out and using it to 'lead' her towards the garage. The scent of sulfur and cyanide wafting up from the goth next to her.

[Yumyumcrow]

The Haunt's set off. Cross heads out first and vanishes into the shadowed streets - quite literally. Alice and Cynthia take their time. Joe's Garage remained unchanged and there was no sign of immediate danger. The heavy back door was ajar and rimmed slightly by the ambient light.

The Alchemists have established themselves in the garage proper, setting up a lantern for illumination. Shadows play along the ruined walls and in the gulfs formed by the remains of rooms. The two mannikins have been left completely alone but someone has made an effort to gather together the remaining lab materials - if only to sort through them better.

"Do you think they will come?" The voice is unfamiliar to Alice. Female.

"They contacted me. I'm sure they will show."

"You should have chosen a better place. Its too dark..."

"This is the only place they know. Its complicated."

"Well. Those mannikins freak me out. And who'd want to ransack this dump?"

"You'd be surprised at what people can scavenge. Now quiet! I hear something."

Alice threads easily through the... familiar space. Cynthia follows. The ground floor is as ruined as ever and now the floorboards creak ominously under their weight, as if the old building is finally protesting the passage of feet that it has been subjected to over the recent months.

The garage would have taken up at least half the floor space but it seems much more given the dilapidated state of the building. The tall, thin, Alchemist is waiting for them. He is waring a shirt, jeans and boots tonight. His companion is an unknown face: a plump woman in a hoody, jeans and tall boots; she has a face that is ready to smile but the grim ambience of the building has reduced that to a concerned line. Her face becomes a mask of quiet surprise when Alice and Cynthia emerge from the gloom; the Haunt Priscus catches a whiff of Chanel coming from her direction.

"You bought another?" The thin Alchemist's voice carries a mix of fear and wonder.

The Alchemist's female companion backs up a little, her foot scrapping on the uneven floor.