Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku
Hey, I just read that if you play in 800x600, all the special fonts are gone. From now on I'll play at 1024x768 and resize to 800x600.

gatz fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Jan 9, 2014

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Captain Oblivious
Oct 12, 2007

I'm not like other posters

Queen Fiona posted:

I didn't get it the first time through, and still thought they were separate people arguing, until the explicit Malk reference came in and someone pointed this poo poo out to me outside the game.

Before you think this is a one-off and I'm the stupidest person ever, I ended up buying the game for a friend, and he thought the exact same thing. Maybe it's the camera work, maybe we're BOTH dunces. I dunno.

But...there's only one person in the room. The game painstakingly lingers on that with the camera before the conversation starts, she is pointing the gun at no one. And the split hair-do. :psyduck:

Queen Fiona
Jan 8, 2008

Of all evil I deem you capable: therefore I want the good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.
I didn't say it made sense, just that it happened. And to more than me, or I wouldn't have brought it up. It's entirely possible I'm blind.

IMJack
Apr 16, 2003

Royalty is a continuous ripping and tearing motion.


Fun Shoe

Tehan posted:

An EMT with 'sanguinary animism' - vampire schizophrenia, basically, where they hear voices and receive impulses they believe to be from those they feed from for hours afterwards.

I was going to ask, has there ever been a Malk in canon who manifested a personality based on someone they drank to death? That's another theory you could apply to the sisters - they were real sisters, one of whom was Embraced and then drained the other dry.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




IMJack posted:

I was going to ask, has there ever been a Malk in canon who manifested a personality based on someone they drank to death? That's another theory you could apply to the sisters - they were real sisters, one of whom was Embraced and then drained the other dry.

Sanguine Animism is basically that - although it's presented as you manifesting what you THINK that personality might be. With enough guilt/insanity/Auspex/ST fiat it's entirely possible for you to get actual personality traits like that.

It's also entirely possible for a Kindred to manifest the personality of another Kindred they diablorized - usually these go away in a few days/weeks/months/years depending on the "strength" of the victim, whether that be differences in Generation, Willpower, certain Disciplines (Auspex, Dominate, and Presence), or mental Attributes/Abilities. In the Revised Edition, one of the interchapter fictions (or the closing fiction, I forget which) has a childe hear the voice of her Sire in her head after she ate him.

Or, if you're an idiot like Montgomery Coven the Assamite antitribu, you shoot from 11th Generation to 6th by devouring the life force of Mithras, the 4th Generation Ventrue Methuselah. Mithras would have none of that poo poo and is steadily taking control of the vampire's mind and body. One of the first thing that happened was Mithras going "what the gently caress is this Vaulderie poo poo? I ain't having none of that." and just outright rejecting it. I think that he was able to bond the schmucks who took part in the ritual with him, something that the Sabbat thinks should not have been able to happen.

Don't gently caress with Mithras. :black101:

Tyrone Biggums
Mar 5, 2013
As someone completely unfamiliar with this game (and really, WoD in general) I have to say I'm quite enjoying this thread. And Rasputin being a Mary Sue makes me giggle. What exactly is his involvement with Gehenna, if anybody feels like dumping more lore?

Josef bugman
Nov 17, 2011

Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund
I want to hear more about Mithras, he sounds spectacular.

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011

Tyrone Biggums posted:

What exactly is his involvement with Gehenna, if anybody feels like dumping more lore?

There was intended to be a cycle of oneshot scenarios. The first was a a group of caitiffs trying to hunt down and kill Rasputin (which doesn't stick if they succeed). The second is a group of Sabbat protecting Rasputin from the Camarilla. The third is a group of Elders, each from a different clan, each meeting Rasputin one-on-one and having him 'prove' to them that he's a member of their clan, and then convincing the group as a whole that he's Caine. The fourth is the characters from the first three oneshots banding together, with the players picking their favorite to play, and hunting down 'Caine' to ritually sacrifice him to end Gehenna before it begins.

Since Rasputin isn't actually Caine, but is pretty much mystically identical, his death delays Gehenna for a time as the universe tries to figure out what the actual gently caress just happened.

The reason that ragtag group has a chance against Rasputin is the one dissimilarity between him and Caine is that if a vampire drinks even a drop of Rasputin's blood, he becomes immune to Rasputin's powers - and all the characters did so at one point in their respective tales. The rules for fighting the genuine Caine are 'you lose'.

None of this made it into canon, mind you - this is all from interviews and Q&A sessions. But it didn't not happen because it doesn't fit with the Gehenna we know and love, but just because Revised moved away from using historical figures. So feel free to imagine Rasputin running around the end times doing a Caine impression, if it so pleases you.

Tehan fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jan 9, 2014

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.
The other difference between him and Caine would be that, since he's not in fact Caine, you don't suffer any injury you inflict on him sevenfold in return. That's one of the difficulties in a Gehenna scenario that ends with a fight with Caine, that landing the killing blow on him is suicidal (though the scenario also supplies someone who's eager for that very role even knowing that).

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
Yeah, Rasputin's just got the top-of-the-blood-pyramid abilities from his alchemical distillation of vampire blood. The Mark of Caine is unconnected to vampirism.

Tyrone Biggums
Mar 5, 2013

Tehan posted:

:wtc:

Holy poo poo. That's somehow worse than the guy who got turned into an ash tray. If it wasn't for the whole "7x damage reflection" thing Caine's got going on, could Rasputin conceivably go head to head with him?

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.

Tyrone Biggums posted:

Holy poo poo. That's somehow worse than the guy who got turned into an ash tray. If it wasn't for the whole "7x damage reflection" thing Caine's got going on, could Rasputin conceivably go head to head with him?

Probably not, even if we do say 'sure, Rasputin is as powerful as Caine' which is probably not strictly true. Caine still has had basically literally all of history and more to get good at not dying, he'd dice him to bits.

double nine
Aug 8, 2013

Josef bugman posted:

I want to hear more about Mithras, he sounds spectacular.

Was he the one that sired about a million different bloodlines during his journey to the east?

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
Plus Rasputin wasn't the most well-balanced of fellows to start with, and the second he drank his concoction he started getting CC'd on all of Caine's mail, which consists entirely of mind-breaking visions of the end of all things. So even though he has the raw capability he wouldn't be anywhere near as able to use it as well as Caine.

Plus Caine has all vampires being descendants of him, which gives him a lot of options that Rasputin wouldn't have.

In honour of all this Rasputinchat, here is a 100% historically accurate song about him.

Tehan fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Jan 9, 2014

Rogue AI Goddess
May 10, 2012

I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.
That was a joke... unless..?

Tehan posted:

The rules for fighting the genuine Caine are 'you lose'.
On other hand, if the Gehenna novel is of any indication, 'you lose' does not necessary equal Final Death.

(In fact, one of the characters that we'll be meeting later attacked Caine in that book and survived - Caine just knocked him out before he could do anything regrettable)

ForeverBWFC
Oct 19, 2011

Oh, the lads! You should've seen 'em running!
Ask 'em why and they reply the Bolton Boys are coming! All the lads and lasses, smiles upon their faces,

WALKING DOWN THE MANNY ROAD, TO SEE THE BURNDEN ACES!

Tehan posted:

Plus Rasputin wasn't the most well-balanced of fellows to start with, and the second he drank his concoction he started getting CC'd on all of Caine's mail, which consists entirely of mind-breaking visions of the end of all things. So even though he has the raw capability he wouldn't be anywhere near as able to use it as well as Caine.

Plus Caine has all vampires being descendants of him, which gives him a lot of options that Rasputin wouldn't have.

In honour of all this Rasputinchat, here is a 100% historically accurate song about him.

Not the Turisas version? For shame!

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


Ephemeron posted:

On other hand, if the Gehenna novel is of any indication, 'you lose' does not necessary equal Final Death.

(In fact, one of the characters that we'll be meeting later attacked Caine in that book and survived - Caine just knocked him out before he could do anything regrettable)

Yeah, Caine can in fact do whatever he feels like with you and may possibly be merciful if he thinks you had an okay reason or he's just feeling it that night. Note that he is also capable of being completely vindictive and has in fact personally cursed every single Antediluvian and their offspring, leading to the core of the clan quirks.

citybeatnik posted:

Or, if you're an idiot like Montgomery Coven the Assamite antitribu, you shoot from 11th Generation to 6th by devouring the life force of Mithras, the 4th Generation Ventrue Methuselah. Mithras would have none of that poo poo and is steadily taking control of the vampire's mind and body. One of the first thing that happened was Mithras going "what the gently caress is this Vaulderie poo poo? I ain't having none of that." and just outright rejecting it. I think that he was able to bond the schmucks who took part in the ritual with him, something that the Sabbat thinks should not have been able to happen.

Don't gently caress with Mithras. :black101:

Don't forget the moron who thought "Tzimisce? THE Tzimisce? Let's just get my diablerie on here :drac: "

DeusExMachinima
Sep 2, 2012

:siren:This poster loves police brutality, but only when its against minorities!:siren:

Put this loser on ignore immediately!

Shugojin posted:

Don't forget the moron who thought "Tzimisce? THE Tzimisce? Let's just get my diablerie on here :drac: "

:geno:

Sometimes you deserve everything that happens to you. Not that someone who was supposed to be very, very smart didn't get into a similar situation in the fourth Gehenna scenario.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




double nine posted:

Was he the one that sired about a million different bloodlines during his journey to the east?
That was Saulot. He's either Vampire Jesus or a huge flaming rear end in a top hat depending on which book you happen to read.

Josef bugman posted:

I want to hear more about Mithras, he sounds spectacular.
Not much to tell. He's either the literal Persian deity or he's a Ventrue that took on the appearance of it - wherever he went you tended to find Mithras cults showing up. May or may have been a Celestial Chorister. May have actually been an Earthbound demon in a human shell. Demon the Fallen involved lots of semi-retconning stuff that had happened.

Took over the entire British isles from the Brujah, who did their best to get it back but he wouldn't have none of it. He kept trolling Haardstadt for decades concerning the Camarilla until he went "I don't care what you call me as long as I rule London". Took the blitz to drive him in to torpor, and when he finally woke up he almost immediately ran in to a pack of werewolves which he still managed to take out, and when he finally paused to take a breath he got eaten only to go "gently caress this poo poo" and start taking over the body.

He was actually a pretty chill dude - Haqqim would meet with him, and one of the last spottings of the Antediluvian involved them playing chess I think. Mithras' almost pathological fear of the Tremere might have had something to do with that, as he was scared shitless at the thought of what happened to Saulot happening to him.

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.
Pretty much that. Insanely powerful, near-antediluvian aged vampires can be hazardous to try and soul-eat, even if you get lucky and stumble onto one after a werewolf pack slaughter.

I actually have the WOD book that first describes him; it's very telling that half the vamps in that book have "humanity 0" as a trait. They didn't quite have their systems fleshed out then...

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




OAquinas posted:

Pretty much that. Insanely powerful, near-antediluvian aged vampires can be hazardous to try and soul-eat, even if you get lucky and stumble onto one after a werewolf pack slaughter.

I actually have the WOD book that first describes him; it's very telling that half the vamps in that book have "humanity 0" as a trait. They didn't quite have their systems fleshed out then...
Technically true - he was on the Road of Kings after all.

But, yeah, those first edition books are a hell of a trip.

Vicissitude
Jan 26, 2004

You ever do the chicken dance at a wake? That really bothers people.

OAquinas posted:

Pretty much that. Insanely powerful, near-antediluvian aged vampires can be hazardous to try and soul-eat, even if you get lucky and stumble onto one after a werewolf pack slaughter.

I actually have the WOD book that first describes him; it's very telling that half the vamps in that book have "humanity 0" as a trait. They didn't quite have their systems fleshed out then...

That must be an older edition. Vampires with a morality rating of 0 fall completely to the Beast. They're called Wights and are just animals who hunt, feed, sleep, rinse, repeat. They may have some quirks of their old personalities showing through, usually related to their Nature (ie, an Autocrat-natured vampire would spend his time meticulously organizing his lair, pushing rocks into symmetrical piles and whatnot), but they're no longer capable of reason. There's no coming back from that.

The vampires in the book you got are probably on a Path or Road.

Rogue AI Goddess
May 10, 2012

I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.
That was a joke... unless..?
In the Victorian Age: London by Night book, he's listed as having Humanity 2.

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.

Vicissitude posted:

That must be an older edition. Vampires with a morality rating of 0 fall completely to the Beast. They're called Wights and are just animals who hunt, feed, sleep, rinse, repeat. They may have some quirks of their old personalities showing through, usually related to their Nature (ie, an Autocrat-natured vampire would spend his time meticulously organizing his lair, pushing rocks into symmetrical piles and whatnot), but they're no longer capable of reason. There's no coming back from that.

The vampires in the book you got are probably on a Path or Road.

Wassail!

It was the first "a World of Darkness" book that did some minor infodumps on vampires around the world. I don't think they had the idea of alternate Paths/Roads fleshed out yet (or at all) but they still wanted to convey that these were ancient creatures not bound by any sort of conventional morality; alien beings to neonates and humanity.

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


DeusExMachinima posted:

:geno:

Sometimes you deserve everything that happens to you. Not that someone who was supposed to be very, very smart didn't get into a similar situation in the fourth Gehenna scenario.

Well, if I remember the story correctly, Tzimisce had turned itself into a big immobile thing through fleshcrafting and found it easier to just take over someone else and start over again than try to make a new, mobile form and so may have mind controlled the guy into trying. Still, where Antediluvians are concerned, just knowingly going near one is a big enough mistake :v:

double nine
Aug 8, 2013

Shugojin posted:

Well, if I remember the story correctly, Tzimisce had turned itself into a big immobile thing through fleshcrafting and found it easier to just take over someone else and start over again than try to make a new, mobile form and so may have mind controlled the guy into trying. Still, where Antediluvians are concerned, just knowingly going near one is a big enough mistake :v:

not that that's ever stopped anyone.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




double nine posted:

not that that's ever stopped anyone.

D&D has the Head of Vecna, White Wolf has "slumbering elder that we promise will not take you over pinky swear".

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.

citybeatnik posted:

D&D has the Head of Vecna, White Wolf has "slumbering elder that we promise will not take you over pinky swear".

The Head of Vecna is still funnier, though.

Without going into elaborate detail it was a fake artifact someone came up with as an elaborate joke that got a significant percentage of the victims to decapitate themselves in an effort to replace their head with what turned out to be an entirely ordinary rotting head.

AnAnonymousIdiot
Sep 14, 2013

This may be late, but let's get them to make peace. Besides, we get more EXP for pacifying the both of them.

Tyrone Biggums
Mar 5, 2013

Feinne posted:

The Head of Vecna is still funnier, though.

Without going into elaborate detail it was a fake artifact someone came up with as an elaborate joke that got a significant percentage of the victims to decapitate themselves in an effort to replace their head with what turned out to be an entirely ordinary rotting head.

Please go into elaborate detail :allears:

Raygereio
Nov 12, 2012
When it comes to dumb player stories the tale of the indomitable gazebo is still my favorite, but the Head of Vecna is definitely one of the classics:

Steve Jackson Games’ Daily Illuminator in 1996 posted:

Mark Steuer <steuerm@nichols.com> recounts this tale:
Many years ago (back when we all were still playing D & D), I ran a game where I pitted two groups against each other.
Several members of Group One came up with the idea of luring Group Two into a trap. You remember the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna that were artifacts in the old D&D world where if you cut off your hand (or your eye) and replaced it with the Hand of Vecna (or the Eye) you'd get new awesome powers? Well, Group One thought up The Head of Vecna.

Group One spread rumors all over the countryside (even paying Bards to spread the word about this artifact rumored to exist nearby). They even went so far as to get a real head and place it under some weak traps to help with the illusion. Unfortunately, they forgot to let ALL the members of their group in on the secret plan (I suspect it was because they didn't want the Druid to get caught and tell the enemy about this trap of theirs, or maybe because they didn't want him messing with things).

The Druid in group One heard about this new artifact and went off in search of it himself (I believe to help prove himself to the party members...) Well, after much trial and tribulation, he found it; deactivated (or set off) all the traps; and took his "prize" off into the woods for examination. He discovered that it did not radiate magic (a well known trait of artifacts) and smiled gleefully.

I wasn't really worried since he was alone and I knew that there was no way he could CUT HIS OWN HEAD OFF. Alas I was mistaken as the Druid promptly summoned some carnivorous apes and instructed them to use his own scimitar and cut his head off (and of course quickly replacing it with the Head of Vecna...)

Some time later, Group one decided to find the Druid and to check on the trap. They found the headless body (and the two heads) and realized that they had erred in their plan (besides laughing at the character who had played the Druid)...The Head of Vecna still had BOTH eyes! They corrected this mistake and reset their traps and the Head for it's real intended victims...

Group Two, by this time, had heard of the powerful artifact and decided that it bore investigating since, if true, they could use it to destroy Group One. After much trial and tribulation, they found the resting place of The Head of Vecna! The were particularly impressed with the cunning traps surrounding the site (one almost missed his save against the weakest poison known to man). They recovered the Head and made off to a safe area.

Group Two actually CAME TO BLOWS (several rounds of fighting) against each other argueing over WHO WOULD GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! Several greedy players had to be hurt and restrained before it was decided who would be the recipient of the great powers bestowed by the Head... The magician was selected and one of them promptly cut his head off. As the player was lifting The Head of Vecna to emplace it on it's new body, another argument broke out and they spent several minutes shouting and yelling. Then, finally, they put the Head onto the character.

Well, of course, the Head simply fell off the lifeless body. All members of Group Two began yelling and screaming at each other (and at me) and then, on their own, decided that they had let too much time pass between cutting off the head of a hopeful recipient and put the Head of Vecna onto the body.
SO THEY DID IT AGAIN!... [killing another PC]

In closing, it should be said that I never even cracked a smile as all this was going on. After the second PC was slaughtered, I had to give in (my side was hurting)...
And Group Two blamed ME for all of that...
So let that be a warning to you - don't let your head get cut off unless you really know what you're doing.

Omobono
Feb 19, 2013

That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Tyrone Biggums posted:

Please go into elaborate detail :allears:

Vecna was... E:F,B

Make peace
When I played this game, I suspected double identity shenanigans from the first encounter, but there never was conclusive evidence until Therese claimed to have sired Jeanette, because Therese on her own is far too Ventrue to be a Malk.
The main elements that should raise suspicion are that two twin sisters got vamped at roughly the same time by two different sires belonging to two different clans, and the perfect balance of power the two have. There's no way in hell any bloodsucker would be willing to tolerate another one undermining them to that extent without declaring all-out war, sisters or not, so both of them being alive and on speaking shouting terms should give pause.

Queen Fiona
Jan 8, 2008

Of all evil I deem you capable: therefore I want the good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.
...which you would only really know if you'd already played oVampire at any point before picking up Bloodlines. Your average player is gonna have no idea about that, and Bloodlines is definitely geared toward the crowd that hasn't already memorized every book from the 1991 core to Gehenna.

...not excusing myself for anything, though. By the time this final event happens, you really should know.

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku
Sorry about the wait, everyone. BloodNet was released on GOG and I feel obligated to write a lengthy review of it so people know that it's not a very good game. It shouldn't be much longer.

Oh and about the Malk thing, honestly it's just too much work for me, considering I'm already going through the game once. I'm open to someone else contributing supplemental updates with Malk dialogue, if they want to, but with the very rare exception (onr coming in the next update), I'm not going to be showing it off.

gatz fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Jan 12, 2014

Lazyfire
Feb 4, 2006

God saves. Satan Invests

gatz posted:

Sorry about the wait, everyone. BloodNet was released on GOG and I feel obligated to write a lengthy review of it so people know that it's not a very good game. It shouldn't be much longer.

RIP another V:TM-B thread as gatz gets so caught up in the review he forgets this LP exists.

Joking aside, I'm enjoying the LP, but the side discussions really add a ton to the experience as the more WoD-experienced posters explain significant happenings or mentions in the updates that someone with my level of knowledge of the WoD (none) wouldn't get.

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku


We will set this house in order.



[Persuade] If you both want to continue to exist, you're going to have to live with each other.

She's a control freak! People, things, emotions - if she can't control something, she gets rid of it.

And you're a wild animal! You'll rub up against anything that'll take you in for the night, then, when you're stuffed and bored, you bite the hand that fed you.

[Persuade] Both of you have been working against the other. Together, you'd be a power.

I don't think that's possible. How could I ever think to trust her again?

Trust me? Who could trust you after what happened with Father dearest?

Father loved me. I was a good girl. I always did what I was told. You always hated that he loved me. You disobeyed him. You brought men home when he wasn't there. You were an awful daughter to him.


Father, the man in the portrait?

Part 8 posted:


It's not unthinkable that Therese had that painting commissioned. Or could it be that Jeanette actually was a real child?

[Persuade] That's all in the past. Forget about it.

Father came home drunk one day and mistook me for Therese, because I'd fallen asleep in her bed.

Don't listen to her! She's lying!




Remember this dialogue from the last part:

Part 11 posted:

You're one to talk, dear sister, or should I say Daddy's little girl. Do you want to know just how depraved the Baron of Santa Monica can be?

Shut up, Jeanette!

You'd love the world to think you're a saint. When you thought I was asleep, I used to hear father come in at night. I heard him whisper how much he loved you in your ear before he -

Don't finish that sentence or you're dead!

That's a lie! Father killed himself because of Jeanette. She made him miserable!

As I recall, he died with a smile on his face. :smug:


Wow.

No matter what happened, you two need each other to move on.



Most of these answers won't cut it. We'll choose the only one that works.

Think of how powerful you could both be if you worked together.

Therese doesn't like to share.

Jeanette's irresponsible. She's undependable. A venture like mine requires class and distinction, which is something a pig-tailed, face-painting harlot does not lend very well.

You do have a way with words, sister. You're right, I'm not in the same class, am I? I mean, murderers are so respectful these days.


Alright, now it's time for some dialectical give-and-take.

Therese, let Jeanette have more responsibility.

More responsibility? So that she can ruin every opportunity I give her?

Of course. You're the only one who can secure zoning permits and shake hands. I'd never be able to keep up!

Jeanette, stop sabotaging your sisters plans.

But I only do it for attention, and out of love.


The above line doesn't trigger properly with the unofficial patch installed, but I've added it in here.

You do it because you're vindictive and jealous.

And you deserve it!

If you'll call a truce and run this place equally, there's no need to kill each other.

If she would stop treating me like a child!

If she would start behaving like a rational adult!

You both must have gotten along at one time.



When I was a child, I didn't have many friends. I suppose Jeanette was the only one. We never did get to go out of the house much. Father wouldn't allow us.

He said we'd get hurt. So we stayed inside and we imagined our own worlds. And we spent so much time there, together, ruling over those places. Those were -

- happier times. Before we grew apart.


"Before we grew apart". Jeanette, which I think was the personality that was created because of Therese's reaction to being a victim of incest, may have originated as an imaginary friend, according to this line. An imaginary sister. I imagine they "grew apart", meaning became different personalities within the same body, when Jeanette was embraced. We'll discuss her embrace later on.

You don't really want to kill each other, do you?

No... I guess I don't. Jeanette: if I were to give - offer you equal control in Santa Monica, would you quit consorting with Tung?

I'll stop working against you with him... but since I've got him in my pocket already, there's no reason for me not to pay him a little visit once in a while, when he can be of use.

That's not a bad plan. There's just one more thing: I want to be in charge of Santa Monica - but only publicly. I want you to continue to convince others that our relations are strained. That way -

- we know who our enemies are. I agree.

Give me the gun, Therese.

Take it. I'd hate to look at it again and think of what almost transpired. I suppose now that Jeanette and I have settled our differences, I'll call off the feud with Tung.




We have also gained humanity. I think the plus patch actually decreased the amount of experience gained from this quest. In the original game, siding with either Therese or Jeanette (killing off the other in the process) gains you five experience points. Making peace with them both gains you six. Here, we get three.

Thanks. Goodbye.

Please give Santa Monica's regards to the prince.

And keep your tongue tied about what happened tonight or we'll have to -




Tourette. That's in bad taste, if you ask me.

Moving onto the subject of their embrace. When playing as a Malkavian, you occasionally have special encounters that make use of a Malkavian's "fabled insight". This is the dialogue when speaking to Jeanette for the first time:

quote:



I see before me a beauty who shares the madness of my mind.

What? Oh my! A Malkavian! This ought to be absolutely delicious! Two minds as crazy as ours, and who knows just what might happen.

Greetings, daughter of Janus.

Oh! But you've got it bad, little boy! Not sure exactly what is real and what isn't? Janus... let's see... isn't that a two-faced Roman god? Of course, you're right. You just happened to meet the prettier face first.

You are the Whiteness, she of alabaster and ivory.

Ha! Wait until Therese hears that! I am white to her black. She'll be absolutely furious. Of course, I won't be wearing white to any weddings, but... we can talk about that later.

From this, we learn that they are Malkavian. This is pure speculation (nothing else can be done), but I have a feeling that, when embraced, Jeanette, the imaginary sister, became Jeanette, the other personality haunting Therese's body. It's the Malkavian madness.

Back to Melissa. We're kicked out of the Aslyum, which we can revisit any time, but now we can visit Bertram Tung. Remember, we need to blow up that Sabbat warehouse with the astrolite we took from Dennis.





The abandoned gas station is straight down the street from the Asylum. It's been behind a lock up until now. We could have picked it with more dots in security, but Bertram wouldn't be there because the feud was still on.



Bertram Tung is a Nosferatu, that's why he looks so...



...scary.

You knew I was looking for you?

I've gotten good at knowing when I'm wanted.



The one and only. Don't bother with the introduction, fledgling; I know who you are.

You do?


[Listen] News travels down the Kindred grapevine like wildfire. And that courtroom spat between LaCroix and Nines Rodriguez is a juicy little morsel, and you in the middle... how interesting.

Nosferatu have voices just as strange as their looks. Good voice acting.

That's great. So you know I survived.

Oh you did, did you? Well, I wasn't worried. So why'd you need to find me? What did you need?


I like the dialogue in Bloodlines because it can be clever in places, like this. Compare that to Redemption, where all the dialogue was terrible.

I need to get that warehouse for Mercurio.

Hmm? Oh, nevermind. That warehouse though -


This line, however, doesn't make sense to me. Bertram Tung, the nosferatu with eyes and ears everywhere, doesn't know who Mercurio is?

**It turns out that this line is actually from a conversation with a Malkavian PC. The unofficial patch is not mistake free.**

I've been watching the place. The Sabbat has a bunch of lowlife humans working day and night to move stuff through there. There's some major staging going on.

The dialogue file for Bertram has a pronunciation guide for the voice actor, ex. "The Sabbat [suh-BOT]". It's weird that they included these things in the game's actual file.

Now, we know who the Sabbat are, but let's hear what Bertram has to say about them.

The Sabbat?

The Sabbat - geez you are green. It's like this: we're all monsters, like it or not. I'm not gonna say the Sabbat are the evil vampires cuz... none of us are the good guys here. But the Sabbat, they glorify their monstrous nature. They refuse to hide it, and go out of their way to show it. They're also brainless and reckless; they have a life expectancy of a vampire fruit fly.

But should I only expect to encounter humans there?

Yeah. The Sabbat like everyone to know just who they're dealing with. So if you get in there and have to bust a few heads... don't feel bad. Think of it as "upholding the Masquerade".


So these humans actually know that they're working for vampires.

Can you get me in there without being detected?



Before we do, let's wrap up a few things.

Let me get a few things together, first.

Hmph. Alright, I guess. Come back when you're ready to go. But don't be too long, fledgling; this isn't really something we planned around your schedule.

Whatever. See ya.


Our first stop is back at Gallery Noir.



This could be bad.



What's going on here?

An exorcism gone wrong?

Ah, some lunatic broke into the gallery and slashed up the paintings. Everyone's a critic these days, huh?

I just hope they catch the girl, uh, person who did this. Bye now.
.

Now back to our apartment.



We haven't watched television for a while. There's no news about Copper and his attempt at assassinating the president, but there is news about something else:

Our top story tonight: a derelict ship found floating ten miles off the Los Angeles coast earlier this morning was towed into the port of Los Angeles a few hours ago. The ship was spotted around midnight by fishermen, who contacted the Coast Guard after their attempts to hail the ship proved futile. Coast Guard officials are releasing very little information right now, but have identified the vessel as the "Elizabeth Dane". No word as of yet as to the whereabouts of the crew, though the Coast Guard are asking any ships that had contact with the Elizabeth Dane to assist them in their search. We'll have more on this story as it breaks.

Also some news about our own affairs:

A robbery gone bad at The Surfside Diner left several dead after the attempts by the would-be robbers were thwarted by a diner patron turned vigilante. Witnesses saw the vigilante run from the diner after they were alerted by the sound of gunfire inside. Police have stated that vigilantism will not be tolerated and that the party responsible will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

There aren't any new emails to read. By the way, we have a radio in our house, which let's us listen to that radio show, 'The Deb of Night'. Now's a good time to let you all listen to the second iteration of the show:



While the first show didn't have anything out of the ordinary, this one has a caller who speaks about "the final nights"....

Tehan posted:

For the record:

quote:

Deb: Caller, you're whiling away the evening with the Deb of Night.
Caller: Good evening, Deb.
Deb: Yes, I think that's implied by the title of the show.
Caller: *chuckle* Do you ever worry, Deb, that the world is going to end?
Deb: I haven't felt that way since Brad Pitt got married.
Caller: *chuckle* Do you have any idea how insignificant you are? When they start devouring the world, you will be but a bloodstain on their capes.
Deb: I bet you say that to all the girls.
Caller: There is a red star in the night sky. The blood of mortals and the blood of ages, all will be consumed. They are coming. These are the final nights.
Deb: Okay! Well, good luck in the next election, Senator! Apologies to all you night owls out there, but this girl's got something she's got to take care of for the next few minutes. Here's a little music to keep you up, if you get my meaning.

Sounds like the usual lunacy poor Deb has to put up with (usually from Gomez), but the Red Star is a heavenly body visible only to the supernatural that appeared in the lead-up to the Final Nights, known as Wormwood to vampires, Anthelios to werewolves, Telos to mages, the Eye of Balor to changelings, and the Eye of the Demon Emperor to various supernatural critters of Asia. That plus the whole shebang fits the common Sabbat perception of Gehenna, in which the Antediluvians rise to slake their thirst with the blood of younger vampires.

The only thing left before we head to the warehouse is to visit the blood bank, once again.



A few in the thread wanted to see this quest.

Say, where do you get your blood from now?

Now that you let that one go, I have to go out and find someone else to fill the chair. But it's kind of chilly out and now that my co-pilot's been devoured, I'm flying solo. I need a new body. Find another donor and I'll whip up a fresh batch.

Where should I look?




Vandal, ghouled by a Malkavian. No wonder he's a little out there. Speaking of Malkavian, there's an interesting encounter possible between a Malkavian PC and Vandal during the quest to free Lily.

quote:



[Dementation] Ha ha ha....

[Listen] Heh heh... hm, hm, mmm, hngh, hee hee hee....

A HA HA HA HA....


[Listen] A HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA! HO HO HO HOo.... AH! AH! Ha... hoo... ho ho... haa.... Oh, ho ho, ha.... What were we laughing about?

The price of the red nectar you were about to sell me.

Back to the Asylum.





There's someone else to talk to on the upper deck, someone else to trick...



If we seduce her, we won't be able to trick her into going to the blood bank. Probably because Melissa is just too attached to her. It will go to the blood bank! It might be the same reason that Vandal referred to Lily as "that one".

More so than you think.

Ugh, I thought coming to LA was gonna be more exciting than Arizona.... I didn't come all this way just for watered down booze.

Dude at the "blood bank"'ll fix you up. Just tell him you're there to "donate".



[Persuade] Oh. I'm sorry. I mistook you for someone who lived on the edge.



Hmm... Well, guess I'm going to the blood bank then. I had enough of this place anyway.


So are we.



Not right now. Goodbye.

A little disappointing of a quest, nothing more than a skillcheck. Now that we're finished with everything, we'll head back to Bertram.



But we won't go to the warehouse until the next update.

gatz fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Feb 21, 2014

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011

gatz posted:

While the first show didn't have anything out of the ordinary, this one has a caller who speaks about "the final nights"....

For the record:

quote:

Deb: Caller, you're whiling away the evening with the Deb of Night.

Caller: Good evening, Deb.

Deb: Yes, I think that's implied by the title of the show.

Caller: *chuckle* Do you ever worry, Deb, that the world is going to end?

Deb: I haven't felt that way since Brad Pitt got married.

Caller: *chuckle* Do you have any idea how insignificant you are? When they start devouring the world, you will be but a bloodstain on their capes.

Deb: I bet you say that to all the girls.

Caller: There is a red star in the night sky. The blood of mortals and the blood of ages, all will be consumed. They are coming. These are the final nights.

Deb: Okay! Well, good luck in the next election, Senator! Apologies to all you night owls out there, but this girl's got something she's got to take care of for the next few minutes. Here's a little music to keep you up, if you get my meaning.

Sounds like the usual lunacy poor Deb has to put up with (usually from Gomez), but the Red Star is a heavenly body visible only to the supernatural that appeared in the lead-up to the Final Nights, known as Wormwood to vampires, Anthelios to werewolves, Telos to mages, the Eye of Balor to changelings, and the Eye of the Demon Emperor to various supernatural critters of Asia. That plus the whole shebang fits the common Sabbat perception of Gehenna, in which the Antediluvians rise to slake their thirst with the blood of younger vampires.

Remora
Aug 15, 2010

gatz posted:

Also some news about our own affairs:

A robbery gone bad at The Surfside Diner left several dead after the attempts by the would-be robbers were thwarted by a diner patron turned vigilante. Witnesses saw the vigilante run from the diner after they were alerted by the sound of gunfire inside. Police have stated that vigilantism will not be tolerated and they know it was you.

"And they know it was you." Pretty sure that's the Malkavian-specific version of that story.

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku

Remora posted:

"And they know it was you." Pretty sure that's the Malkavian-specific version of that story.

Whoops, you're right. Edited.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

GrimRevenant
Mar 28, 2011

Je Reviendrai.
e:f;b

Is that little scene outside the gallery new to the Plus Patch? I could swear I've never seen that before.

  • Locked thread