~NARRATION~
The Seneschal and her entourage walks in and looks to Karsh and his gathered guests......
When Karsh sees the Seneschal he stands and bows his head, and whispers, "You honor me with your Presence. Are there any needs that your group needs taken care of?"
Well, I guess that answers the question of whether or not we were being discreet.
People began to enter the room, and Asa was glad to be sitting, as his Beast started to snarl and attempt to take control of him as more and more Kindred came in. He managed to cage it, and the tenseness of doing so made his arm throb anew.
Asa stood and bowed to the Seneschal as well. Noticing Erika with Twist, he was slightly surprised. Looks like she found something that interested her. Considering Ishani's statement moments ago, he didn't go out of his way to greet her.
After the greetings, Asa found Neil, and drained the bottle, knitting flesh and repairing damaged muscles and tendons in his arm.
Pointing Coda out to the Harpy, Asa told him, "This is the one I told you about, with the visions."
Glad to have found Asa Neil gives a slight bow, "I brought the one who had the vision but it was hard to keep hold of him he is around here with a girl" Neil thought for a moment before he continued "Pardon my bluntness but what the hell was the plant thing in the trunk of the car out there?"
Erika led Coda in with the others, making sure to keep him a slight distance from those she moved him from in the first place. They are currently standing in the back of the crowd, and Erika releases her loose hold on him.
Having taken all of it in, Ash walks up to the Seneschal:
"I would like to speak to you and Karsh if possible. This is epidemic. On my way here I saw a similar attack. 4 kindred in robes who killed a young woman in the streets, with a similar bramble that grew out of her. I need advice, but point me in a direction where you think I would be most useful. Oh, and one more thing. They chant to achieve this effect. I don't know if that helps."
Karsh hears everyone speaking at once and looks to the Seneschal wondering if she will infrom them all of what is going on or not?
We will get to all the issues at hand as soon as we can, please remain calm while we sort this out.
*Well this is a disaster* Twist thought briefly about both the attacks and the multiple people talking about multiple things.
"The Harpy is correct- if everyone could please give me a chance to explain what I believe is going on. It should answer a number of questions." She waited for everyone to shut-up and then continued.
"Earlier this evening my theater was attacked. My staff found two bodies, I am assuming kindred but I did not imediatly recognize them. They had been staked and two plants were growing from their mouths. I took a few seconds to try and get a closer look- I found that the bodies were connected in 7 places. While I may be overreacting, I am not going to brush by the fact that it was this number and I am working on the assumption that we are facing an attack by VII." She held up a hand to forstall any questions or outcries that this statement may have brought. "I was unable to lift both bodies myself but Erika- " she motioned at the girl standing toward the back, "-was quick to assist me. We removed the two bodies outside where we then burned them. The effect was quick and immediate."
She paused and then continued.
"Now, I have informed the Sheriff of my assumptions. She in turn told me that the Church of Creation had been hit as well. A third attack was made on-" she glanced at Tombs, dredging up his name. "Tombs's car. This plant had grown much larger than the one I dealt with at my theater. I am assuming that this is due to the length of time it was allowed to grow. We torched this plant as well and Davis is currently outside making sure that it is fully destroyed." She glanced at Karsh, "I am sorry for having to make your parking lot a temporary firepit."
"Now- that is three attacks. Ash has just informed us that there was a fourth attack. Unfortuanatly he left it and that means that there is a VII plant growing unchecked in the city. I do not know if the plant dies once the host is fully destroyed but I do know that the plant is sentient enough to reach out for more sustainence for lack of better word. Therefore- Ash, I want you to take a number of kindred who can handle their beast under threat of fire to where you saw this event. Burn what is left to the ground. Go now."
"No problems." Ash looks around at the crowd. "Any volunteers to go with me?"
Tombs was full of anger and wanted revenge on these robed kindred. They were crafty vamps and for that Tombs was even more furious. "Placing a body in the trunk of my car that some damn killer jungle plant grew from. Damn cowards!" he thought as he stared off from the crowd.
Refocusing when he heard his name from the seneschal, he bagan to nod in concurrence to what she said about his dealing with the plant.
Tombs turned to ash "If you'll have me, I gladly put that freakshow plant in blazes. Who knows maybe we'll get the chance deal with those sneaky little robed bastards" Tombs smiled at the idea of payback.
Ash smiled. "OK, one in, need one more. Who's with us?"
Conner enters hearing the tale end of the conversation. "I volunteer" he says immediately with a bow to the Sheriff, Twist and Asa.
"Then let's do it. You have a car? I rode here in a cab, and I doubt we are going to want for a cabbie to see what could break down"
Ash looked at the Sheriff and the Seneschal. "Could I get a contact number from one of you to report our progress?"
Twist pulled a small card from her purse and handed it to Ash. She hadn't used to carry around cards but after seeing a few people trading them, she had had some printed up. This was the second time they had proven useful.
~Myah Torsione. Ballo Della Notte. 555-###-####~
"Be wary Tombs- if those robed figures where indeed VII members you may be bitting off more than you can chew. So if you do get in an altercation- be ready to fight dirty." She doubted they would actually run into them, it was very unlike the VII to stick around in plain sight once they had struck. Besides, she had a sick feeling that the three leaving would have more than enough to deal with when they found the plant.
"Now- I know the church was hit. Can I get some more details on it?"
"HEY!"
Ishani yells this from the front of the room, her voice booming over the others talking.
"Stand down, all of you, now." She turns to Twist. "I apologize Lady Seneschal, but I cannot allow you to send people out half cocked and with very little information."
She turns to the rest of the room. "Are we still waiting on others to arrive? If so, then we will wait. We have next to no information here other then what we have already seen. For all we know this other plant is a set up to start taking out the smaller groups sent first and cull our numbers. As Sheriff, I cannot allow that. Therefore, that order is belayed and everyone needs to sit your ass down, calm down, and let us gather some more intel."
Ash nodded to the Sheriff.
It's nice to see that someone isn't wanting to set us up for failure
He sat down and waited to see how everyone else reacted. He had never seen anything quite like this before himself, and had no problems having someone quell his bullheadedness.
Karsh listens to everyon and watches the Seneschal get her order shot down, well sometimes the Sheriff is correct and this might just be one of them. He looked to the Sheriff waiting for everything to begin but a thought hit him...the parkinglot?
Excuse me why is my parking lot being used as a bonfire again? And since the Seneschal has already told us that the two from her place were not recognizable by her did anyone else recognize the one at the church or even in the Car?
In truth Tombs was intimidated, all the huffing and puffing he did was a means to conceale his true feelings towards VII. He knew he was at a disadvantage against hit and run types. Head on shoot out brawls were his bread and butter not hiding in the shadows waiting to strike.
Tombs agreed with the Sheriff and took a seat. "So, if you guys don't mind me asking who the hell are the VII" he asked in all seriousness?"
Mrs. Scotts runs into the Grindhouse, after throwing some vague approximation of $300 at the cabdriver as she runs inside the Grindhouse.
"Theres a staked something in my house, growing a plant. Icarus sent me here." She says not-quite-calmly as she enters. "The house is in West Sacramento, just across the river."
Conner stops, Looks at Sheriff Naetesh and says, "Yes Mistress forgive my eagerness."
Conner then moves to the back of the room and listens. Pulling out a small note pad to take some notes, Not that he really needed to but, It never hurts
Erika stands in silence, watching the exchanges and doing what she does best: silently observing. She flinches just slightly when the Sheriff overrules the Seneschal, but quickly recovers and leans back against the wall.
When Ms Scotts rushes in, Erika frowns, and finally speaks, "Well, unless there are more to be found, that would certainly match with the current hypothesis."
Asa spoke in the awkward silence, "He," pointing to Coda, "saw seven attacks. The churches, Ballo Della Notte, the ones witnessed by Ash, Tombs, and Ms. Scotts make six. Unless I'm missing one? Seven attacks also support the Seneschal's theory."
Looking towards Coda, Asa continues, "Can you give us any more information?"
Looking up Coda shakes his head no. "No I said I saw Seven Dead faces and then plants..... Have we found out who any of the victims are yet?
Erika steps up, offering information in place of Coda,
"There were two bodies at the Theater. I can't say who any of them are; but it would be nice to be able to live long enough to touch them and use certain..abilities. That doesn't seem possible, though; they're rather proactive creatures."
"The woman who was staked convulsed when I arrived, and the brambles started growing rapidly. Her eyes were gouged out, and she had dowls in her ears. I also will clarify that she was in my bed," says Ms. Scotts.