2012.07.17.Tremere.Spy
| Tremere Spy | |
|---|---|
| Griggs and Mary follow a Tremere spy home. | |
| IC Date | June 17, 2012 |
| IC Time | Night |
| Players | Mary, Griggs |
| Location | Prospect |
| Prp/Tp | One-off |
| Spheres | Vampire: Sabbat |
Argent Institute - The Courtyard
The smell of LaVey often arrives long before the nosferatu itself makes an appearance, and this time is no different except for one small exception. The stench is accompanied by a soft, muffled whimpering noise. As the creature makes its way out of the Labyrinth, one can see that it is dragging by the ear a smaller man. The companion is bloodied and bruised with duct tape covering his mouth and wrapping his wrists together.
Griggs sniffs at the air, turning around from where he sits, at the bench near the fountain. A curious look is given to LaVey and his bloody cargo, then he stands up, pocketing his iPad. "What you got there?" he asks.
Mary heads out into the main area, dragging a backpack full of who knows what with her. She pauses when she sees the others, loitering and perhaps quietly watching. She looks curiously to the iPad.
LaVey continues to drag his cargo along until he stands nearby to Griggs. Then in one swift, brutal motion he rips the tape off the man's lips. New blood flows into the unfortunate's mouth as a large chunk of skin goes with the tape. "You are a ghoul for the Camarilla are you not? Sent here to spy on us by the Tremere, were you not?" the nossie demands in his harsh, gravel voice. The man whimpers something unintelligible. For his effort, he is rewarded with a sharp slap to the back of the head. Then he manages to mumble out, "Yes... yes I am, it's true...but..." Another slap silences him quite effectively.
Griggs' eyebrows lift as he is spattered by the ghoul's blood. He squats down on his hams to study the specimen more closely. "A thpy, hm?" he muses, reaching out with a gnarled hand to take the ghoul by the top of the head as he looks into his eyes. "Where did you find him?" he asks LaVey.
Mary kneels in close to take a look at the ghoul. "Mmm. An enemy spy." she comments. "Shall I prepare the south wing for interrogations?"
"I found him in the dungeon, attempting to release a conspirator," LaVey tells Griggs before giving the ghoul another slap for good measure. Then he looks at Mary and shakes his head. "No, I have wrung the relevant information from him, and I promised his suffering would be at an end soon." Somehow, this does not seem to make the ghoul any calmer. "As part of you initiation into the Sect, you will hunt him down and kill him. Griggs, if you would be so kind, chaperone her and make sure she does it?"
Griggs nods absently as he is busy staring into the ghoul's eyes as he holds him by the hair. "We thould bring it with uth ath a thnack," he says, standing, the ghoul's head not yet released. Reaching into his robes, he produces a length of leather, wraps it around the ghoul's neck with his free hand, then secures it with a slip-knot. "C'mon boy, thow uth to your mathterth!"
Mary kneels to the ghoul. "A hunt eh? I look forward to it." she strokes the ghoul's cheek. "May I keep his skin? I've started a ...collection."
"Do as you please with him when you are done, but make sure his master meets final death," LaVey says as he turns the prisoner over to Griggs' gentle care. The nosferatu begins to move off, but speaks back over his shoulder. "I must deal with what sabotage he has already wrought. I should be done by the time you return."
The ghoul looks absolutely miserable, shivering and bleeding all over. However, there is a brief glimmer of hope.
"Eathy there Unproven," Griggs warns Mary in a stern tone, pointing a crooked index finger 'at' Mary. He then waggles his eyebrows for effect before turning to nod to LaVey. "It will be done," he confirms. "Do you have any more informathion of relevanthe?" he asks, then tugs on the ghoul's make-shift collar. "Eathy boy," he chides, "You'll be taking uth back to your home thoon."
Mary tenses a bit. "Alright. Ready when you are." she strokes the ghoul's hair And smiles. "Show us the way."
"Please don't hurt me anymore, it already hurt me so bad..." The ghoul whimpers pathetically to Mary. "I'll show you were the Lord of Nights lives, I will. And then I'll serve you! Yes, as long as I am alive, I can serve you! My life for you, my immortal lord." The ghoul gets down on his knees and starts to kiss Griggs' feet. "He lives in the warehouses. Thats where he does his experiments," he continues, in-between boot licks, "Yes, disgusting experiments. Mostly on vagabonds, trash, throwaway people." The ghoul then crawls a few feet before standing up and leading the Cainites towards the Argent's gates.
The leather cord Griggs keeps the ghoul secured with is no more than three meters long, making for a rather short leash. Griggs keeps the other end wrapped tightly around his hand. He doesn't tug, instead issuing a verbal command, thank you Cezar Milan, "You will take uth there, and you will be quiet otherwithe. If you therve uth well, you may yet live." Cold comfort for the captive ghoul.
Mary nods "What he said." she says. "take us to your master." she follows the Proven securing his ghoul.
Griggs heads out with Mary, the ghoul in tow.
Prospect - Warehouse District
The ghoul leads them out of the Argent, wending and winding his way through side streets and back alleys. It takes almost an hour but the group finally arrives in the warehouse district. Groups of men in high-visibility jackets travel together up and down the streets amidst the occassional forklift or heavy truck. The ghoul apparently knows all the ways to move unseen as they pose no problem for the trio. Finally, after another hour, they stand in front of a run down and obviously abandoned building. "This is the one," the ghoul says, taking a few steps back and cowering behind the vampires.
Mary nods "Right. I think they may be expecting us." she says. "Im going to do a permimeter search, around the building. Make sure there's no traps before walking straight in."
Griggs shakes his head slowly, taking hold of Mary's wrist with his right hand. "Not yet," he says quietly, then tugs slightly on the leash. Pointing down the street, back to the more active warehouses he asks the ghoul, "What thort of thecurity doeth your mathter employ?"
"Oh, my master has no defenses besides a few ghouls and himself," the cringing man tells Griggs, "He is too confident in his own power to stoop to such silly things as mechanical traps. I swear, the building is empty except for him the servants!"
Mary is stopped by the handgrab and nods. "Right. He's missing you and expecting us, Im sure." she says. "ANyone have a flashlight? Preferably the UV kind?" she murmurs. "Note to self. When I can shop, stock up."
"That is what I needed to know," Griggs tells the ghoul in a low tone, then brings his index finger to his twisted and scarred mouth. Quietly, he continues, "Mary, go up on the roof, thlip in through a crack and get a headcount then report back here, yeah?"
Mary makes her way up to the roof, and starts to lower herself to the ground. She seaps into the cracks, drpping her way around hte ceiling. Once she gets a headcount, she reverses her pattern, dripping back out to the roof. She then trips her way down the building, reforming as she walks towards Griggs. "Four ghouls, baseball bats. Theres a trapdoor in the floor. If we can take them out without too much noise, I could seap my way in there."
Griggs nods to Mary upon her return several minutes later. "Good--we'll handle the ghoulth," he says, looking towards the ghoul at the end of his leash, a knowing smile twisting across his scarred features. He continues to Mary, "Be ready to theep down into that trapdoor after the ghoulth are gone."
The ghoul fumbles around in his pockets until he comes up with a battered looking steel key. He offers it out to Griggs, hand trembling like a leaf in the wind. "Here, this one unlocks the exterior doors," he whispers, terror filling his voice.
Griggs nudges the ghoul and points to one of the steel doors. "Here'th what you're going to do: Walk over there and bang on the door, athk your friendth to let you in. You managed to ethcape and need help." He reaches for the makeshift collar, undoing the knot, holding the ghoul by the back of the neck as he nods to Mary.
Mary also nods. "ALmost too easy." she says. "Lets do this." She says, cracking her knuckles.
The ghoul whimpers even more, but slowly walks towards the door. He knocks three times, hard, then stops. A second later two light taps. Then a whole series of complicated knocks and slaps. Eventually the door opens a hair and the ghoul turns to wave them forward.
Griggs is already slinking around towards the entrance, the cowl of his hood drawn low and a submachine gun visible in his hand. He comes up behind the ghoul at the door, taking him by the wrist, then cuffing him with the leather strap to one of the tall pipe standoffs not far from the door. "Thtay," he warns before moving towards the door.
Mary moves forward at Grigg's side, her face stoic as she prepares to take out the ghouls. Bones start to snap. "Easy way or hard way?" she asks, motioning at the guards. Perhaps her way of offering assistance with them before going down the door.
Whoever has opened the door obviously moved off, as the entrance is empty. It leads into a small office with the two interior walls mostly made out of windows for the foremen to keep an eye on his team. The door that used to lead in and out is gone. Looking out upon the warehouse floor, it is mostly empty except for piles of garbage, scrap metal, and general rubbish. The four ghouls are all standing around a large wooden door set into the concrete, smoking and play-fighting with their baseball bats.
Griggs keeps Mary from proceeding with a hand on her shoulder. "Thtay liquid and go thtraight for the trapdoor--I'll handle the ghoulth," he says, then pulls the door back all the way, stepping through the threshold. "Hey there fuckerth! You having fun holding your dickth?!" he calls out before opening up with his MP5, rounds exploding out of the barrel in a sideways strafe as he moves into the warehouse.
Mary continues to seap her way for the trap door while Griggs takes out the ghouls. Seap seap seap.
The ghouls instantly react to the intrusion upon their turf in a mob-like fashion. They raise their bats over their heads like primitive clubs and run screaming their heads off towards Griggs. The pool of intelligence vitae is completely ignored or completely unnoticed.
Within a split second, Griggs has nearly emptied his clip on the ghouls to little effect. Serves him right for relying on mundane weaponry. He starts backing off, popping off another three rounds at the closest approaching ghoul. though they don't even appear to slow him down.
Seeing the quartet of bat-wielding ghouls closing in on him, Griggs turns and bolts for the door, then steps just to the side of it, anticipating they will follow him out. He does not spare a glance for the ghoul he's left tied up behind him, instead, he trades out his MP5 for a Desert Eagle, keeping close to the door, but out of line of sight.
Like a mob of angry villagers chasing down... well a vampire, the ghouls run after Griggs screaming. "Get that fucker!" one shouts, "I'm hit! I'm bleeding!" another. The other two are so filled with bloodlust they manage only primal cries of the hunt. They tumble through the door in a disorganized mass, stopping a few meters from the entrance in a cluster. "Where is he?! Spread out!" yells the one in the lead.
Griggs slams the door shut behind them, then smiles. "All right fuckerth, let'th try thith again," he says, then begins to shift and transform into a truly massive beast! Boney protrusions issue forth from his joints as his robe is torn to shreds. His face is revealed to be little more than carrier for his maw of razor-sharp shark-teeth. Taller and larger still he grows, until he stands as tall as the warehouse! "NOW MINIONS OF THE CAMARILLA, TREMBLE BEFORE TRUE POWER" the creature bellows, taking a single step, causing the very earth to shake.
The ghouls turn around in slow motion like the characters in a horror film. When they see what is coming for them, all of them stand in shock at the creature that has appeared. Almost to a man, they drop their clubs and run as fast as they can in varying directions. One, however, remains. Whether he is braver or possibly just dumber then the rest does not matter. In one hand he holds his bat, in the other he holds his gut where blood seeps through his fingers. "My life for you," he whispers to his master, as though the vampire could hear or would care if it did.
The massive beast takes another step forward, shattering concrete with its enormous weight. "RUN ALONG, LITTLE MOUSE, BEFORE YOU GET SQUISHED," it says, then lifts a massive clawed hand in the air, makes a fist, and swings it slowly down at the little ghoul.
That... Well that is enough even for the most foolhardy ghoul. The bat is dropped, the gut is clutched tighter, and the man turns and makes a run for it. He doesn't seem to care where he is going, just so long as it is as far away from that warehouse as is physically possible. Perhaps Indonesia.
Behind the illusion, Griggs is carefully pulling the door open enough to slip inside, waiting to shut it behind him until the ghouls are out of sight.
While Griggs is opening the door and heading back inside, Mary reaches the trapdoor. It is an old and abused thing, the wood warped with age and moisture. There are plenty of cracks for her to drip through.
Griggs shuts and secures the door behind him, then pulls the clip out of his MP5, checks it, then switches it for a full one.
Mary drops down towards the staircase, leading towards the lab. She approachest the man from behind , reforming. She gives a nod of her head. "Good evening." she says in her deep slavic accent. "The Usurper, I presume?"
The man in the black robes whirls around, looking startled and angry at the intrusion. "Who the fuck are you?" he rasps as soon as he recovers. In one hand he is holding what looks to be a human heart. In the other is a scalpel he was using to cut it up.
Griggs pads over to the trapdoor, squatting over it, then putting an ear to it, before deciding if he should open it and start blasting.
Mary answers, her dark eyes focusing on the man "You have been compromised." with that, her body starts to creak and snap, as she prepares to go Zulo. "I bring you greetings. From clan....Tzimisce."
Hearing that, Griggs takes a step back from the trapdoor, lying down on his stomach, MP5 aimed at the door, getting ready for two zulos to bust out of it.
Smoke begins to roll down the stairs, seeping in from around the cracks in the trapdoor, accompanied by heat, and the characteristic smell of burning chemicals.
Mary reaches back her pimp Zulo hand of justice and smacks at the man in black. She cackles at the smell of heat and fire. "Come on down, Griggs! The party.. has just begun!" she growls.
With a growl full of fury at the Zulo, the cultist ignores the blow to his body and slashes out with his scalpel. It does nothing to the creature before him and serves only to make him more angry. Then he smells smoke, and his attention is distracted for a moment. However, there is a more pressing concern, which is the thing before him.
Mary starts to lunge at the cultist, ready to rip off his arms before he can get to a gun. She growls. "You know you cannot survive. Give it up!"
Mary starts to continue after the hooded man. But then the smoke and fire get the best of her. The creature jumps or the trap door, in full flee mode, snarling and growling as it tries to rip its way out.
The door gives way to the beast almost immediately, the elderly, damaged wood cannot bear the onslaught. With his prey rapidly getting away, the cultist abandons his chanting, drops the bloody heart, and chases Mary with the razor-sharp scalpel instead. The vampire pounds across the floor then up the stairs.
Griggs sprays two trios of bullets at the vampire as it chases after ZuloMary, but they have little effect. His mistake for using tiny projectiles against a corpse. He does not make the same mistake again. The MP5 is holstered, and the pack on his back brought in front of him. He pulls out a bottle of alcohol, uncaps it, stuffs a rag in it, turns it upside down, rights it, then looks away as he lights it, and holds it far away from himself, and only very briefly, before throwing it directly at the confusedly fleeing cultist.
The cultist barely makes it to the top of the stairs before the smoke and flame overwhelm him, driving him over the edge into frenzied fear. The creature howls like a lupine even as it is peppered with bullets from Griggs' MP5. Like a mindless animal it tries to run, but can find nowhere to go and winds up running in a circle. Then the worst thing that can happen, does happen, and it catches fire itself. REAL fire. That decides the creature as it bolts straight for where it thinks the door leading out is, flames or not.
Mary pulls back a large, chitenous fist when the cultist runs in her direction. SHe slams it as hard as she can into his midsection, with a feral growl!
The young cultist runs directly into Mary's fist and it goes in one side and comes out the other. The vampire croaks in agony, then falls to the ground having met final death. The thing's body slowly decays as the years of rot it should have experienced come rushing upon it in the space of a few seconds. Soon there is nothing but some dry skin wrapped tightly around a skeleton, mouth open in an eternal scream.
When Mary fells the vampire, all the flames suddenly evaporate, save those that burn among his ashes. Griggs stands up fully, looking to the Zulo. "Good work."
Mary shifts back "You too." she says. "Wanna see if he has any thaumaturgy books around? We could use his abilitites."
Griggs nods. "Of courthe. Let'th thcour the fuckin' plathe."
Griggs proceeds to scour the place, above and below ground, checking out nooks and crannies.
Unfortunately for the pair this looks like a neonate unable to put together any books or scrolls for a library. All there is in the warehouse is garbage and in the room below the components of an alchemical lab and the ingredients for occultist rituals.
Griggs takes as many ingredients as he can stuff in his pack, the more volatile, the better.
Mary takes ingredients as well, shoving it in the pack. "Great. Now let's light this place up and get out of here." she says. "One less enemy to deal with."
"Thounds good to me," Griggs concurs, then grins a crooked grin. Another molotov is assembled and handed to Mary.
