(The Dark) Charred Green Belt

[Takeda Katsumi]

Ah. So, the Prince, for all her talk of caution, had been particularly incautious in permitting the artist to play at investigator. Was that because the Prince did not like her Priscus, and was hoping to get her killed, or was this because, at the time, there were no other Kindred of worth to call upon.

If nothing else, though, Takeda did have admire the bite the artist had when it came to politics. Thankfully for her, however, Takeda had asked Krieg and Goto to be here, tonight, in part to act as a reminder that it must stay at politics. It was too tempting to simply remind the painted woman that it would be wise not to give Takeda a reason to take her head.

"We will proceed in the following manner: while breathing. We must act as the kine. If the Hunters are here we will capture them alive. If the Brood are present, we will make them ash upon the wind. However, if neither are present, our secondary objective will be to search for information on either of these groups."

So saying, Takeda took a moment to reminder flesh that needed to breather, that her eyes needed to blink, and that it had once been alive. Then, she strode towards the burnt junkyard. Yumyumcrow

[Izayoi Goto]

Oh, how delicious.

Izayoi's assumptions are proven incorrect as the Takeda proves her tongue as sharp as any blade.

The bite the heavily makeuped Nosferatu returns shows more then she might have liked to reveal before this demon's eyes.

Two sides of an airborn coin.

Did the Prince trust the Painted Priscus more then her Reeve?

Or,

Did the Mafioso wish to see the ashen results if failure?

A snake, perhaps cruel smile plays upon her lips as the Vitae moves to offer a simulacrum of life upon her undead flesh.

Keen eyes stay sharp and her hands don't stray to far from her shadow hidden daisho.

  Perception 3 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-21 16:22:03		Izayoi Goto rolls 6 to Perception (wits 4 + composure 2) (10 Again)		6, 10, 7, 6, 2, 10, 5, 9		3 successes

-1 Blush, Activating Hightened Senses

[Yumyumcrow]

The Old Maitland Junkyard was a scar on the landscape. Squat walls of corrugated metal; tottering towers of scrap and decaying car bodies rising to the sky like towers or perhaps piles of sacrificial bodies. The gates were still open, barred only by yellow tape. Further in and a burned out hulk of an SUV marked where part of the fight had taken place. To the right of the gate there was the burned out remains of a wooden building - an office or house of some kind.

The wind was too low to moan through the twisted piles of scrap; the void was filled by a still worse sound - the ambient creak of metal and the high pitched flapping of plastic. And silence. Beyond the street lights there was only darkness.

Even to Izayoi Goto with her attuned senses, the place appeared devoid of life.

Their feet scraped on concrete, gravel and dirt.

[Takeda Katsumi]

"In case we are indeed not alone, I believe we should move as a group. I will act as our guard. Please work together to see what information we might glean from what is left," the Reeve ordered after a moment, unsure whether to be relieved or disappointed that, for the moment, it seemed that they were alone.

  1 success perception

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-22 22:09:01		Takeda rolls 6 to Stand Guard (wits+comp) (10 Again)		3, 7, 4, 8, 3, 4		1 success

Takeda will also activate Heightened Senses

[Cynthia Weiss]

The Priscus looked a bit puzzled by Takedas orders before looking at the Junkyard. Did the woman pay any attention to her spiel? Or had bloodlust clouded her judgement? It mattered little to Cynthia. So long as she could do what she came here for, She could suppress the outrage.

She felt the blood leeched away from her veins as she too on the appearance of faux life, barely noticed underneath the pale makeup. Instinct told her it was a waste, but the last thing she needed was to antagonise the Reeve any further. She crouched under the police tape and slipped inside, eyes darting around as she stayed near the gate. "Keep an eye out for anything out of place." She said in a low voice. She had to hope that something survived the fight and missed the investigations of the Kine. Her attention drifted towards the SUV.

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-24 07:51:12		Cynthia Weiss rolls 5 to Perception (10 Again)		4, 9, 1, 9, 9		3 successes

[Izayoi Goto]

The only voices Izayoi hears are their's. The only steps that echo in this desolate space are their's. Commands are said and repeated, and Izyaoi knows not if this is a test deviced by the Painted Priscus, and the Reeve to witness how she and the behemoth react, or if their petty squables and intrinsic vampiric natures where leading them down the garbage leaden road to ruin.

As they move as group, but not a unit, obviously in view, the bait to the simplest of traps, Izayoi's keen mind, categorizes their suroundings and attempts to spot what might not belong.

  Investigation 2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-04-24 12:31:10		Izayoi Goto rolls 7 to Out of place? (Wits 4 + Investigation 3) (10 Again)		5, 4, 9, 10, 5, 7, 1, 7		2 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

The junk yard is dead and inert. There is no hidden danger; no ambuscade laying in wait. There is only rusting vehicles, a burned out building, and the scent of stagnant oil with a hint of charred wood.

That is not to say there are not things to learn. Krieg and Cynthia confirm that the burned out car was probably the site of a pitched battle; one with casualties, judging by the white-tape outlines of figures on the ground. Takeda with her amped senses can deduce something else - that the fight was not all one way for there are still remnants of ash staining the ground.

Izayoi Goto ascertains the relationship between the burned out building and the burned out vehicle. The vehicle and its attendant skirmish was a lure and most likely occurred first, drawing out the Brood from their hidden holes. To her trained eye, it would appear that the building was protected. The fire then, would have occurred while the Brood's attention was focussed on the fight. It goes without saying that such an event would have caught the Brood by surprise.

Given the charred state of the building, it is too difficult to make an estimate on numbers. There was a body found in the building, obviously (Goto finds the police markings where a corpse was found near the building's back entrance) but ash is ash.

If the Brood was still holding out here, they surely would have made a move by now.

[Takeda Katsumi]

The Reeve suppressed a sigh.

This was going to be far more complicated than she had originally intended. The way she saw it, there were too options.

Option one: begin an in depth investigation, utilizing every mortal resource that could be turned to their disposal upon tracking the Hunters.

Option two: attempt to lay a trap for the hunters, just as the hunters had laid the trap for the Brood.

Both were problematic. One option would require a tremendous expenditure of resources. The other would potentially expose them to unwanted attention. Both, in Takeda's opinion, were equally untenable. So where did that leave them?

"I would like to know your preliminary thoughts," Takeda said once they had all converged and shared the little information that they had been able to glean.