Nosferatu Meeting

[Premsyl]

Thanks everyone for being patient with me

Arnold smiles when no objections are made, nodding to the Mother Superior when she compliments him. His smile does slip imperceptibly when Dirge speaks her mind about the issue. He couldn't blame her if she didn't know that O-Yama's primary act serving as Priscus was getting his ass kidnapped, and that the reason why there had been no problems with the way the clan was represented was because of Arnold doing the job.

Anyway, that was one obstacle he'd been meaning to take care of now out of the way.

"The matter is settled, then. On to further business. I'd like to touch now on an issue that is a concern not just to our clan but to the entire Domain. It seems that the local homeless population has rallied behind a too-keen mortal who has dubbed himself the Rev'rend."

"The reason I bring this up to you all is because the Nosferatu is a family that cherishes strength, subtlety, and fear and I think that these are necessary tools for infiltrating and destroying this insurgent group of Kine."

"I will ask for volunteers, but first hear the case before making a decision whether or not to contribute." He turns to gesture to Dirge "Late last year I sent Miss Dirge of the Circle to investigate the matter further. I believe she found the homeless in question to be more crafty than originally anticipated."

"Miss Dirge, would you like to share what information you did find?"

[Dirge]

Dirge nodded to the Reeve as he asked her to give a briefing. She had not brought it up because she was not certain he wanted it brought up here. "I apologize for not reporting in full sooner and I would have called for assistance, but Lady Pia had made it clear that she did not want help but wanted to solve it so you wouldn't have to worry. I contacted you as soon as her involvement with me ceased." After pausing for a moment she continued by picking up where the Reeve left off.

"They have been exceedingly troublesome. Far more evasive and persuasive than we first thought. I hit up a number of contacts around town and at Squattaville. The Rev'rend is a middle aged black man who is blind and travels with a large mean dog. He has witnessed atleast one attack by an unknown kindred against a homeless man named Jimbo. He helped Jimbo to the emergency room afterward as well. I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that while the Rev'rend is blind, he has a way to detect Kindred. He says it is a gift from God, the only thing I can think of either he uses his dog, or he is kindred, perhaps a blind vampire that shares my own bloodline. We already know about rogue kindred elements in the city with Cutter the Norwegan or Scandinavian kindred so while this is wild speculation it is a possiblity."

"The local homeless have been very protective of this Rev'rend. It is impossible to get a meeting with him and I don't even know his real name. I have tried to arrange a meeting through my contacts, but I think the only way to do so would be to join the crusade and with as zelous as these guys are it would be far to risky for kindred. Perhaps a ghoul could join and give us inside information. He also has layers of security and people sheltering and hiding him. He has a gang of usually about 3 or 4 that travel with him for protection when he is out and about preaching his message and I was able to get a list of specific shelters and soup kitchens he fequents to recruit soldiers. I hit up one location but never ran into the Rev'rend only one of my other contacts Jimbo. He was preaching the story of his attack and he even brought an emergency room nurse to the shelter to back up his story. I estimate he had a crowd of about 8-12 and despite me trying to discredit him it sounds like he was quite persuasive. He is also a threat and needs to die too."

"I found out one of my contacts in Squattaville is working closely with the Rev'rend and we can try to apply presure to him or perhaps have him watched to see if he can lead us to some of their safe houses and some of those protecting him. The homeless are organizing and becoming a roving street gang looking for vampires and monsters that prey on the city's homeless. While they may not have many conventional weapons due to lack of resources, they are making up for it in numbers, and many homeless have ready access to fire so torches may be expected. It is already be too late to deal with it and keep the masquerade among the homeless."

"We should also try to do something about the hospital emergency room staff if they are really supporting this vampire crusade. Our only saving grace has been that not a lot of people or police take anything a bunch of drunk bums say seriously. If we can't eleminate the problem we may need to try and see if we can create enough public outcry to force the city to have the homeless relocated to a new city after we purge certain key leaders and charismatic homeless speakers. We can mask it as a city beautification project and try to pressure the police to break up homeless camps. Then the leaderless rabble could be sent to another city and domain to become their problem and without funds to get back to Sacramento that should reduce the risk to us for some time. The remainder could be delt with as we see fit."

"My investigation stalled because I lack any manpower to proceed, I think we will need calculated and sergical applications of force after tracking down some safe houses and finding the Rev'rend's movements."

[Heathcliff Staley]

Heathcliff listens attentively to Dirge's summation of the homeless problem. Of course, the Seneschal had already been appraised of the situation, but Dirge had first hand knowledge. He can't help himself but snicker at her proposed solution to bus the entire homeless population out of Sacramento. "Oh, I do apologize for interrupting, but...really? You realize how difficult such a solution would be to implement, don't you? First, the city doesn't have that kind of money. The state, and city by extension, is in a financial crunch as it is. Second, popular outcry against such a heartless attitude toward the less fortunate will be so deafening, you won't be able to hear yourself think in your own Haven. Last, even if you had the money, and support, the time it would take to move that many political gears is years, Dirge." Heathcliff pauses to think for a moment. "No, what you must do is discredit these men among their peers..."

[Michael Hall]

Michael listens to Dirge and at the mentioning of a "beautification project" he gets slightly angry, for once his facial expression matching his emotions.

Of course let's just get the city to rub out the poor underprivileged because 'they're too lazy to find jobs'. Daniel would be all excited about this if he was here right now. Then again, if this Reverend can see Kindred, I can see why they'd view it as a problem. Fuck, just when I think I'm past dealing with the power structure of the elite, problems with homeless kine bring me right back into it.

He's relieved when Staley steps in and disproves the theory.

Just when I thought he'd be the likely candidate to give the thumbs up to such an idea, oh no wait, that would've been Lady Pia or Miss Stamford.

"If I may." he said after Staley was finished. "If you want to discredit this man, feeding the cities fear on the unfortunate would not do. Now, feeding the fears of the ignorance and prejudice, there you may have something."

How many times did I have to listen to Daniel bitch about the immigrants conspiring to take all the jobs from the working class?

"If we could feed the fears of say, a youth gang of skinheads or another hate group that this "black" he says as he looks to dirge "man is raising a ruckus. It may be enough to get these mortals involved in a less public way."

[Yog-Sothoth]

"Seneschal I understand your hesitancy in this, but I'm merely offering a suggestions that other cities have used. Including San Francisco the city I came from. Busing out the homeless is controversial, but it is one option."

"Public outcry can work in our favor too. If we can get evidence of these homeless attacking citizens we can wage a PR campaign against them. You could get the news papers involved, and when decent law abiding citizens are being attack on the street or bums start fighting and killing each other the people will demand something be done. There were even people in other cities who were paying homeless men to fight one another and tape it so they can watch it for sport and sell it. There were large crack downs over this among the homeless and it gets media attention. I'm only offering options so that a decision can be made."

After thinking for a moment Dirge continued, "You are correct though Seneschal, we need to find some way to deal with the ring leaders first and foremost, the people rallying the others. The rabble will be difficult to deal with, they are great in numbers. But they will not be as big a problem without their organization. They will still be a thorn for quite some time and we may need to try to manipulate the city into solving it for us in the long term to end it. However, forbidding the feeding on of homeless in the mean time may help control the spread of further rumors."

[Premsyl]

Arnold listens to the suggestions flying around. This was what he had hoped for by bringing the situation to the meeting's attention.

"Fear. The acquisition and manipulation of information. These are the trademarks of our clan. If we can build on these ideas - form plans - then we could be in business to solve this problem."

"Recently Deputy Regina Pia and myself were answering a call and found ourselves in combat with two of these homeless crusaders. They attacked us with road flares, and seemed to know our nature. We killed one of them, but I took the other alive - escaping right before reinforcements arrived."

"I will soon be contacting some friends of mine in the city who are skilled at extracting information from an unwilling mind. Though I am skilled with coercion, information gained under torture is not always the most reliable so I have refrained from indulging myself."

"It is my hope that this man can lead us to the group's leaders allowing us the opportunity to kill or corrupt them as need be. The best case scenario would be that perhaps this man can be ghouled or enthralled and turned against his homeless friends."

[Heathcliff Staley]

Heathcliff highly doubted Dirge's assertion that other cities had bussed out their homeless - what other city would have accepted them? Jailed, yes, if they were causing enough trouble, had enough organization that the city felt they were a threat, but even then, they wouldn't get all of them. However, his previous argument was succinct and still stood - there was no money in the city coffers for this enterprise, and the timeline was egregious. So he says nothing more about it.

Heathcliff had an uneasy feeling in his gut, especially after hearing Arnold's story. Suppose the Rev'rend really did hear God? Suppose he was under divine mandate, with all the protections thereof? Attempts at corruption, at violence against this man might meet with such resistance. Perhaps he was being too jumpy, the ceremony wherein he was officially Sanctified gotten in his brain. "The thing to do with a man of God," Heathcliff says confidently, "is not to corrupt him from without...but to provide him with everything he would require to corrupt himself."

[Fractured]

This thread needs to wrap up no later than Monday, guys.

[Michael Hall]

Michael turns to Staley, Definitely more subtle than a slasher film. I wonder how he'd go about handling this scenario, will he take his role as Seneschal and go his own way or will he look past that and go with the Reeve even if that means going against his politics?

Turning back to the Reeve he asks "What would you require of us then? I imagine all of us going in our own direction in attempting to corrupt this man would be antiproductive. I could start work on what i had mentioned before but I won't do so if there are better methods and it seems like you have a clear cut plan already Lord Culler."

[Heathcliff Staley]

Heathcliff's thoughts found themselves caught in a loop of a troubling passage from his recent Bible study as he waited for Arnold's decision...whoever causes one of these who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a millstone fastened around his neck and cast into the sea...

Not it, he thinks emphatically.