The Vanishing Plot Chapter 1: Shockwaves

[Connor OBrien]

"Understood." Connor said at the mention of taking Ale's car. Both his vehicle and the Prince's were classics and quite fast, but Connor didn't have the necessary contacts to avoid any legal trouble if it arose.

Once the Torino was moving the Haunt rode in silence, simply taking in every bit of information he could. Twist? Depending on the situation, this could quickly go from bad to worse.

"Shouldn't be an issue. Even enhanced, my strength can be explained away by an adrenaline rush. Though, it would be best if we avoided using our clan's gift unless it's absolutely necessary, Helen." Connor said in response to the Prince's warning.

[Helen Kingsley]

"Fair enough."

On the way to the car, Helen takes off her wristwatch and a necklace she's been wearing, puts both things into her bag and also pulls back her hair, although she takes the opportunity to make a sort of bun out of it. Not stylish, not very sophisticated, but it'll do. Once inside the car, she straps in.

"Men with bald heads and tattoos upending cars ?" Sounds like a gang or something to her, but then, she doesn't kno enough about Citrus Heights to know how out of place the guys are. What they're doing is pretty much causing bullshit, no doubt about that... If Twist does her stuff the way Helen's imagining it, people'll have to hose a lot of splattered folks off walls and sidewalks. Worst case, that is. "We'll see soon enough for ourselves, I guess."

"Rules apply as usual." she confirms. Not that that means the others will play by those rules if they apply, but hey, something's always awry. Case in point as O'Brien does... his thing again. Showing off what an important grown up he is now, just to impress his boss and suck up a little. For fucks sake...

"So in addition to following the rules, we're not using stuff that might break the rules so we're protecting the rules even harder by doing the stuff we're already doing even more, got it."

Hell, she even throws the most crisp military salute she can manage in the car's interior in for free, just to underline her point.

[Seryna]

The fine car cut through the chaotic night. You can see some sections of the town were less affected. Some people walk along the road together, appreciating one another in this fleeting moment. Other areas had fire trucks and emergency personal performing rescue operations. In the few minutes it took for the Prince to guide the car to Rocky's, the Kindred had some time to talk.
As you approach Rocky’s, an ambulance drives the opposite way of the Torino, siren blazing. Rocky's had quite a scene in front of it. There was an overturned car splayed across the sidewalk, which had narrowly missed the bar patio. There were no curls of smoke from the car. The streetlight nearby appeared to be damaged and was turned off. This cast long shadows across the street. Looking around the street show two people sitting on a curb about twenty feet from Rocky’s, slumped a bit. You see no police or tow tuck in the vicinity.
The bar itself was closed. You could see a burly man inside wiping down tables and closing the bar down. If checked, the front door to Rocky’s is locked. A glance upwards shows a camera facing down at Rocky’s entrance, yet the angle does not suggest it would film across the street.
What do you do?

You can choose to make a perception roll Perception: Wits + Composure
If you examine the scene, the roll: Examining a Crime Scene: Wits + Investigation +
equipment; extended action (3-10+ successes; one roll represents 10 minutes of activity) (p. 59)

[Alessandra]

The Savage was focused on getting to Citrus Heights, but she did pick up on bits and pieces of what was said. Especially the part where her words were understood.

This could be an emergency situation, but there was still the Masquerade to uphold. This would have been a lot easier if the fucking Reeve hadn’t skipped town. Goes to show you what happens when you try and trust someone.

Dark eyes still on the road, “Just try and not put yourself in a situation where it might have to be explained.” She was not in the mood this evening to deal with stupid bullshit.

One shoulder shrugs, “More or less. My soldiers didn’t really want to stick around to find out who or what they were, and sounded quite terrified.” A shake of her head.

“We’re going into this smart and not risking a fucking Breach out in the open. Kindred Basics 101.” She snaps, at no one in particular, “Think before you act.” She knew they weren’t stupid, Jenn vouched for both of em. Time to see if the Lady was right.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-21 11:20:17	Alessandra rolls 8 to Perception? (Wits+Comp) (10 Again)	1, 6, 10, 9, 1, 10, 5, 6, 10, 7, 7	4 successes

[Connor OBrien]

A raised eyebrow in the rearview mirror and a drawn out 'hmmm' was the only response to Helen's outburst. Now was not the time to engage, but this moment would be filed away for later.

Connor sat in silence for the rest of the drive, simply listening to any information and theories between the Prince and Helen. The Prince snapping was answered by a series of nods in a thinly veiled attempt to hide the primal fear he feels when reprimanded by someone with a much stronger beast than his own.

Upon arrival, the Haunt atempted to get a better look at the picture as a whole. Big picture was his thing, not the minute details of investigation.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-22 14:47:01	Connor OBrien rolls 5 to Perception (Wits 2 + Composure 3) (10 Again)	8, 3, 4, 3, 7	1 success

[Helen Kingsley]

Helen sees no need for any further comment. Sofia has made her point and in a way, when viewed from a certain light, so has O'Brien. The way Sofia talks about her folks makes her think Mafia, if thats good or bad they'll see, but at least going by the Mafia flicks she knows, these guys shouldn't be easily scared or terrified...

Damn, now she's actually curious !

Admittedly, she's been way too ready to write off the overturned car stuffs as exaggerations, but the car lying near the patio sorta dismantles that. No argument for the regularity of the thing, but at least one group of folks was happy to go and tip cars instead of cows. Well, at least it doesn't look too much like a slaughterhouse here, thats a plus ! She digs out a pair of gloves from the med pack and puts them on. Not really high priority, but doesn't hurt to be safe, right ?

"I'll go and have a look, see what's left lying around and stuff."

Armed with pencil, notepad and her MagLite, she exits the car and walks a little distance from the others towards the space between car wreck and patio. Once she's there, she starts a slow and methodical sweep of the area, looking for things that attract her interest or look either out of place or suspicious. If she has to crawl through stuff or into some tight spaces she reckons she might fit into, she does.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-23 11:15:51	Helen Kingsley rolls 7 to Crime Scene Investigation I (Wits+Investigation+Spec) (10 Again)	3, 4, 10, 2, 6, 9, 3, 8	3 successes

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-23 19:37:14	Helen Kingsley rolls 7 to Crime Scene Investigation II (Wits+Investigation+Spec) (10 Again)	4, 1, 6, 8, 6, 2, 10, 5	2 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-23 19:37:39	Helen Kingsley rolls 7 to Crime Scene Investigation III (Wits+Investigation+Spec) (10 Again)	1, 5, 1, 9, 4, 6, 3	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-23 19:38:02	Helen Kingsley rolls 7 to Crime Scene Investigation IV (Wits+Investigation+Spec) (10 Again)	1, 1, 7, 4, 5, 9, 4	1 success

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-07-23 19:42:48	Helen Kingsley rolls 7 to Crime Scene Investigation V (Wits+Investigation+Spec) (10 Again)	2, 6, 7, 7, 6, 6, 1	failure

[Seryna]

As Connor took ten minutes to walk around the scene, he notes that there is little damage to the exterior of the thrown car. It all but confirms that nothing struck this car to send it catapaulting into the air. On a second look, Connor spotted something by the left rear wheelwell. An indentation. It was a crumpled section of car exterior where Connor imagined was a nice hand hold for whoever had thrown the car.

The Nosferatu walks past Sofia and towards the eastern side of the road. The Kindred spots a small figure crouching on the opposite side of the street, looking down. The blue - white glow of a screen suggests that they were viewing something on their phone. There on the ground, Helen spots a matchbook on the ground. It is open and she notes three missing matches. Perhaps one should check it for a name, if it was an advertisement.
Helen walked back towards the car and past Connor. Her eyes moving over the ground, she notes a glint. Something reflecting the meager moonlight. A knife lay upon the ground, the martial sort.

[Alessandra]

Pausing before she steps out of the car, she pulls the oversized hood up. As she steps out, dark eyes watch the Haunts as they move about, checking the scene out.

Her main focus was going the direction she was told Twist, or someone who looked like Twist, went.

So she will give them a couple minutes to do their looking around before moving on. Was an overturned car worth looking into? Maybe…yes? But her focus was only on two things.

Twist.

Maintain the Masquerade.

[Helen Kingsley]

Moments like this, Helen realizes taking the pocket office with her could've been pretty convenient. Ah, well, most of the time, that thing is more of a hassle anyway !

Moving and crouching around leaves its marks, but it's nothing an hour or so at the laundromat won't solve, so she isn't particularly bothered by it. The figure at the eastern end is more of a curiosity, but for now, it doesn't look like he or she is going anywhere, so she focuses on the other things first. As is, she crouches down near the glint of metal in the light.

Hey, free knife !

Taking out the notepad she makes a rough, quick sketch of where she's found it and how its positioned. Probably not overly helpful for someone who hasn't been at the scene, but for her purposes, it's good enough. A few steps towards the curb, the car and the next lantern, she adds the number of steps to the dotted arrows on the paper that mark distance. If the Archon is out here somewhere, it might be one of hers, even though it's pretty clear that lady doesn't hold a monopoly on those things... As soon as she's sure she can find the spot again, she carefully picks up the knife with two fingers and inspects it closer. Anysumbstances on it ?

And wonders what to do with the thing. In the end, she rips a few pages off the notepad and wraps them around the blade. Should help to carry the thing and means it won't cut into her stuff immediately... As soon as thats over and done with, she walks back over to the east side to pick up and scrutinize the matchbook from all sides. Well, at least nobody had tried to use the car as some sort of Molotov cocktail, that's a plus. After she's inspected the matchbook, she puts it on her palm and pulls the glove off carefully, containing the matchbook within and slipping it into her pocket.

Leaves the person still busy with what looks like a phone... Or touching base with the others first.

Aw, fuck it !

So she walks over to where the figure is crouched down, changing the knife into the ungloved hand, holding it by the wrapped blade and giving the figure a good once-over.

You want/need any additional rolls, let me know !

[Connor OBrien]

Noticing that the other two Kindred were blushing despite the darkness and overall panic giving them cover, Connor decided to do the same; willing the prescious vitae to give his skin color and warmth.

With that done, he moved back to Alessandra. "Sofia, you might want to check this out." If followed, he'd point out the crushed part of the car. Definitely not something he would expect a mortal to be able to do. ​"Might give us an idea on what to expect."