Let's Play VtM: Night Empire

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Screw this. First we kidnap a baron. Then we diablerize her and fake our capture by hunters or aliens or whatever. Then I say we find Griddle and diablerize the little bastard. Then we find Erika and start make'n vampire babies. Then we...

*cough*
So my vote's still B + negotiate w Vogler for more info etc & (P) Costello to do an in-depth investigation of him & his contact.

 

[Hellraiser]

I'm voting B) & (P) Costello as well.

 

[Storyfag]

I'm voting B) & (P) Costello as well.

This.

 

[Computer Gamer Refugee]

Well, I'd say you're a voice of caution at least. Again you have a some very good points. I was just throwing out a counter argument. Not saying you're wrong or that I'm right. Ultimately everyone will vote one way or the other.

I can't (or don't know how) brofist, but I agree that the Reichstag idea is certainly aggressive and could be pretty awesome. I am playing this like a roguelike. Once you die, it is game over and you have to start again. I guess that makes my risk tolerance pretty low.

 

[SCO]

No one dares to comment on my "new" idea? Wouldn't you like to bloodbond Eanes?

Or maybe... if we get Erika or some others... vaulderie?

 

[Storyfag]

Do tell what boon would Prince Vogler owe us? Once "dead", we can't be the architect of his ascension. And I'd much rather get our fangs into Eames throat, then her into our wrist. Vaulderie specialists can be found on the southern bank of the Thames. Have fun asking them for advice. Especially after we killed Angelos.

 

[SCO]

Do tell what boon would Prince Vogler owe us? Once "dead", we can't be the architect of his ascension.

We'd have given the idea and the means (the hit on the second baron). I agree he's not trustworthy, so we need some hold. He doesn't need to know about the Aramanth.

And I'd much rather get our fangs into Eames throat, then her into our wrist. Vaulderie specialists can be found on the southern bank of the Thames. Have fun asking them for advice. Especially after we killed Angelos.

After eating the other baron, i suspect she'd be more useful alive than dead. Disregarding the possibility that we'd be at the same or lower gen already, she has knowledge and abilities we want on our side/can teach us - maybe even how to disguise auras, blood rituals, or how to perform a vaulderie - we can sell the bloodbond as a alternative to being eaten at first, and then if she behaves maybe even include her on one (since she'd eventually try, if she knows that it breaks bloodbonds).
More : she knows she can't return to the Tremere if she took this step (or even if she was bloodbonded - this is if they don't try to kill her right away, as a exiled Infernalist Tremere ex-primogen is quite a fucking risk for the pyramid). She could even be our agent on the Sabbat then.

Resuming: more worth alive than dead.

There is also a alternative: instead of Vogel exiling Eanes publicly, things proceed as normal, then we eat the baron, and bloodbond Eanes and hide her - she's "dead" to the Tremere, the aura is "normal" and we get a hidden ally teaching us stuff/spy for us among the sabbat and we don't need to hide anyway (not sure if it is feasible to deceive Vogler. Will he want to watch? Ewww).

 

[Esquilax]

Holy shit, forget Eames. She's not even relevant. This is all needlessly complicated and nonsensical.

I can't (or don't know how) brofist, but I agree that the Reichstag idea is certainly aggressive and could be pretty awesome. I am playing this like a roguelike. Once you die, it is game over and you have to start again. I guess that makes my risk tolerance pretty low.

Honestly, I prefer critical posts over supportive ones when it comes to forming a comically elaborate, megalomaniac scheme. Pointing out mistakes and oversights is pretty much necessary - Sommers' plot to blow up Angelos had a huge number of ways that it could have gone wrong until some brilliant and no doubt devastatingly handsome gentleman came along and thought up the idea of having Sommers fake his own death. It was only then that it began to coalesce into something that seemed like it could have a good chance at working out.

Now that I've had time to think about the situation, it's occurred to me that it's retarded to go through all the trouble of using ourselves as bait to simply get a trinket off a Hunter, then go through even more trouble to gain knowledge on our target and hit them with our ghoul squad all without anyone being the wiser. It's insane, and it's almost impossible to pull off. Nevertheless, I think that there's potential for it, but we need to streamline it to remove a lot of the moving parts that could cause things to fuck up horribly.

If we could somehow mislead the Hunters/Sabbat into doing the dirty work of taking out a rival for us without lifting a finger ourselves, we wouldn't even have to fabricate anything. That would be ideal, but I wouldn't even know where to begin in devising such a plan. Maybe an opportunity will present itself.

 

[SCO]

Holy shit, forget Eames. She's not even relevant. This is all needlessly complicated and nonsensical.

"Not even relevant"? How are you planning to lower generation and not be blood hunted by Mr Cripps then?

We can always call Dubrik - now convincing him, that's another question.

It occurred to me that the hunters might want to torture a higher up for information too, so they might not even kill them right away, if they manage to capture it on daytime. I'm not very up on the daytime torpor mechanism, are they completely insensible or just very sleepy?

 

[Storyfag]

Holy shit, forget Eames. She's not even relevant. This is all needlessly complicated and nonsensical.

"Not even relevant"? How are you planning to lower generation and not be blood hunted by Mr Cripps then?

By doing it legally, FFS? You know, during a blood hunt, or something? It'd be best if we could get a legal permision to diablerise Eames (if she is still intact, that is). Our aura would be tainted, but everyone would know why and that it was done legally. THEN we could diablerise someone of even lower gen. The diablerie of Eames would mask that other one.

It occurred to me that the hunters might want to torture a higher up for information too, so they might not even kill them right away, if they manage to capture it on daytime. I'm not very up on the daytime torpor mechanism, are they completely insensible or just very sleepy?

Just very sleepy and weak. Vampires can operate during daytime, while underground, in buildings, etc.

If we could somehow mislead the Hunters/Sabbat into doing the dirty work of taking out a rival for us without lifting a finger ourselves, we wouldn't even have to fabricate anything. That would be ideal, but I wouldn't even know where to begin in devising such a plan. Maybe an opportunity will present itself.

This. We must learn all we can about our potential rivals. Then we can tip Dubrik off, or something. Too bad about Wilkinson, we could have used her to feed him the info. I'm also thinking about a certain group of Anarchs who had a thing for kidnapping Camarilla Barons. Griddle tried curing them from that ailment, but I'm not sure it worked. Caine forbid we ask Costello to investigate hunters. We need to do so ourselves, as secretly as possible.

 

[CappenVarra]

Screw this. First we kidnap a baron. Then we diablerize her and fake our capture by hunters or aliens or whatever. Then I say we find Griddle and diablerize the little bastard. Then we find Erika and tastefully diablerize her too!

fixed

 

[Smashing Axe]

Why don't we diablerize the representative from venice as well? I'm sure they'll be sufficiently low generation enough to bring us down a fair bit. Then we can start hunting methuselah.

And apologies to laclongquan for misrepresenting him.

 

[laclongquan]

@_@
Go on, just keep going. This trainwreck is amusing.

 

[Excidium]

I leave the thread for a few days and when I return people are going completely out of control with their crazy plans, did Esquilax fail his Presence roll or something?

 

[Hellraiser]

At this rate one of the mods will have to edit the topic title to "Let's Play VtM : Night Empire - Anthony Sommers: diablerist extraordinaire! M:"

 

[Erebus]

Diablerie has officially become the main running joke of this LP. The first time it was suggested was almost exactly a year ago, on this page : http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/lets-play-vtm-wild-nights-chapter-10.56987/page-5

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

ITT we discuss eating ppl.

 

[Esquilax]

Diablerie has officially become the main running joke of this LP. The first time it was suggested was almost exactly a year ago, on this page : http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/lets-play-vtm-wild-nights-chapter-10.56987/page-5

I thought it was THE VASE. Cannibalism vs Pottery: Which is better and why? DISCUSS!!!

Phoning Costello is a terrible idea. If it turns out that the contact is actually a very powerful individual who can do a lot for us, outing that person will piss Vogler (and more importantly, his contact) off very much. Worse yet, we'll owe Costello a favour afterwards since we are clearly on neutral terms at best. Don't do it, fellas - there is no good reason to call her. Vogler is offering us a position as his running-mate and has come to us in person - if we simply speak to the man, I am confident he'll just tell us who his mystery contact is, as his actions have shown he has put some measure of trust in us. That individual is likely the only was Vogler has a shot at becoming Prince.

Remember; it doesn't matter how popular the candidate is, how much people like him, etc. because in the end the Inner Circle is going to pick who the Inner Circle wants. If we decide we want Vogler in there because he has the best offer and will owe us the greatest debt if we do get him in*, it will be because we've managed to convince Camarilla envoy to choose him over candidates like Tarquin and Palomides. Popularity helps, it can even help a lot, but it won't seal the deal.

* Since diablerie seems to be what we all want if we could get away with it, getting an unlikely candidate in as Prince is the only shot at that. In return for doing our part to make a guy like Vogler (for example) Prince, they must offer up a Kindred of potent blood to increase our power, and a Tremere who can perform rituals to clean up our aura after the act. That's pretty much the only way I can envision us getting away with diablerie.

Anyways, I flop to Negotiate with Vogler + D. This is the best offer we're going to get, and the sooner we mobilize to making this guy Prince and committing, the higher our chances of success. Furthermore, unlike our underlings, if we share the specifics of pulling off a Crazy Ventrue Scheme (tm) to drastically improve his chances, he will be 100% committed in helping us because we have a common goal. Eddie could rat us out... Cripps could rat us out... Vogler won't. He fucking wants this every bit as badly as we do, and he'll do whatever the fuck it takes to make it happen. I am positive that he has a few contacts in Swansea that can be of use to us.

Computer Gamer Refugee and Kalin have shown me the shortcomings of the zany scheme I cooked up. We simply don't have the resources to pull such a thing off. HOWEVER, if we pool our resources with another Kindred, one who is 100% committed and united in their goals (which Vogler is), I am certain we could have a lot more options and methods in order to make a devious scheme far more likely. Gentlebros, we can't do this on our own - I really want to pull a scheme off, and I really want Tony to become a feared and powerful Kindred, and I think the way we do that is by combining everything we both have.

Think back to the Angelos plot: it took Karthik's Caecilian, Donnie, Erika, and Tony all combined to make it work. This is no different - if we want to have a chance of pulling off a bold and risky plot, we need Vogler in on it.

 

[ironyuri]

Esqui-bro,

Alright, I'm withdrawing my suggestion to (P)hone Costello about investigating Vogler's backer. We need to convince Vogler to tell us ourselves, in order to do so, I contend we use:

Presence, manipulation and charisma in order to convince Vogler that he wants to tell us before we help him. If Anthony's innate skills don't work, we should activate presence and really turn on the charm.

I still think B is the best option at present. We have a few nights. We can take Vogler down to Whip'Lash another time. We've just met him, let's not be too hasty. He has to give us what we need before we can back him 100%. I trust he's not Sabbat now, which is good, but if he has a friend in Venice then we need to know how powerful that friend is and how much influence he has, because the struggle for Prince won't be played out in London. Venice will decide, and I'm sure several candidates (Palomides and Tarquin especially) will have friends in high places. We need to know that Vogler's friend has more influence before we start shopping him round to the city's kindred (who have no influence on the decision).

I don't think B excludes----------- Oh derp. Ok, so D is not E. It's been so long I just got mixed up.

Ok, I am flopping to D, encourage Vogler to organise a private meeting with the Venetian envoy, after we negotiate with him. (The next Prince will be decided by Venice, not by any one London kindred, we need them to support Vogler and we need his Venetian contact to exert his/her influence.)

Otherwise, I suggest we still use our phonecall, and in that case I will suggest we:

(P)hone Edgar Fellowes and organise to touch base with him, if we're making a run for Vogler-Prince, Sommers-Seneschal, we'll need Fellowes' support. If we win, he could become a Scourge, or would at the very least be elevated in power well beyond what jumping ship to one of the other Barons could offer. If his loyalty is in doubt, we need to make sure he knows we offer advancement; perhaps once he's met Vogler at a later date, we can send him to whip up support among the Toreador. Basically, I'm saying, if we go D, let's keep Fellowes in the loop (our commitment is his commitment).


I'm not sure how it would work, since we're still drinking with Vogler, but I imagine the phonecall would take place *after* our meeting has ended, but before we return to the haven to rest. (I vote for the phonecall only if grotsnik is making it a possibility this voting round).

 

[Esquilax]

B is cool and we might get a good offer (though likely not anything this good) from another candidate like the Tremere monk. It's certainly more prudent and low-risk; I am cool with B, but I still think calling Costello is no good. D luckily only involves a minimal investment, but committing with Vogler further means that we would have to start scheming like mad to have a good chance of getting him the crown.

I say that if things don't work out with Vogler, we can still milk him for his contact - a guy like that might be good to have on our side. If we like another candidate better, perhaps we can convince the Venetian contact to throw their weight around that individual instead, and reap the rewards. Anyways, here's a tally after the many pages of DISCUSS!!!:

Ohera E
Esquilax D + (P) Eddie
SerratedBiz C or D
CappenVarra D
Kz3r0 E
Computer Gamer Refugee B
Sergiu64 D
Erebus E
ironyuri D + (P) Eddie
Lambchop19 B + (P) Costello
Storyfag B + (P) Eddie
laclongquan D
Hellraiser B + (P) Costello
Kalin A or B
Gondolin D + (P) Eddie
SCO (?)

So it amounts to 6-5 in favour of D, along with very strong support for negotiating with Vogler as to the identity of his contact. Correct me if anything is off.

P.S. I'd love to contact Eddie if we had something important to say, but I'm not sure what we'd tell him. "Eddie, buddy, long time no see! Listen, I want you to help me campaign for this guy who has basically no chance of winning, so can you head over to some party where you can butter up a few of your faggy Clanmates to show support for a candidate that they likely haven't heard of?"

EDIT: ironyuri has convinced me. Let's (P) Eddie.

 

[ironyuri]

B is cool and we might get a good offer (though likely not anything this good) from another candidate like the Tremere monk. It's certainly more prudent and low-risk; I am cool with B, but I still think calling Costello is no good. D luckily only involves a minimal investment, but committing with Vogler further means that we would have to start scheming like mad to have a good chance of getting him the crown.

I say that if things don't work out with Vogler, we can still milk him for his contact - a guy like that might be good to have on our side. The rewards are less with other candidates, but we'd be putting our eggs in more baskets at least. It's a tough call. Anyways, here's a tally after the many pages of DISCUSS!!!:

Ohera E
Esquilax D
SerratedBiz C or D
CappenVarra D
Kz3r0 E
Computer Gamer Refugee B
Sergiu64 D
Erebus E
ironyuri D + (P) Eddie
Lambchop19 B + (P) Costello
Storyfag B + (P) Costello
laclongquan D
Hellraiser B + (P) Costello
Kalin A or B
SCO (?)

So it amounts to 6-5 in favour of D, along with very strong support for negotiating with Vogler as to the identity of his contact. Correct me if anything is off.

P.S. I'd love to contact Eddie if we had something important to say, but I'm not sure what we'd tell him. "Eddie, buddy, long time no see! Listen, I want you to help me campaign for this guy who has basically no chance of winning, so can you head over to some party where you can butter up a few of your faggy Clanmates to show support for a candidate that they likely haven't heard of?"

Looks good to me, bro. Also, check what I said about phoning Eddie. We're not asking him to campaign yet, just touching base. He can do the rest at a later date ONCE we know that Vogler's contact in Venice is solid. Until then, I think we'd do well just to give him a call and say "HI, Eddie, bro, how about you come over and we discuss the progress of Op. Wistman and mayhaps let me tell you about recent developments."

edit- basically I'm a sucker for doubling down on action-per-update. We so rarely use the phonecalls we get, that I feel like we're missing out on a huge range of possible extra-actions that will advance us that extra 0.2 steps towards our goals.

 

[Gondolin]

Okay, let's go with D and a phone call to Eddie.

 

[Storyfag]

I feel like a sheep. Flopping to D and phone Eddie.

In the future, however, I would like to contact Shaul Artzi, the new Tremere Primogen, and offer our full support. And try to convince him that Prince Vogler would be fair to his Clan. While Brother David might turn out to be fairer, he doubtlessly would rile up everyone else after Eames' antics.

 

[laclongquan]

(P) Edgar Fellowes: Status of the combat group, His own perception of the way winds go, Update Anthony's status regarding to Vogler.

 

[ironyuri]

I'm glad bros are getting behind calling Eddie. I figure it this way:

If we're going D, rather than B, that means we're committing to Vogler in some way that is more than just saying: "yeh yeh, ok cool, so you're a gangrel whatever bro, let me just go call some other bros who want to be Prince and if they say no than we can dance loco!", with D what we're saying is, "Vogler, good bro, call your man in Venice, let's get a meeting with the big cheese and see if we can make you a real contender ASAP".

If we're committing to Vogler with any seriousness, Fellowes has to join us on the ground floor so he can ride the elevator to the top. If we get halfway there and then tell him to take the stairs, he'll probably say "you know what? you cut me out of the loop. fuck you. fuck vogler. i'm taking wistman to the highest bidder, then we can see how you'll do as seneschal."

We can't dangle any carrots yet, or even ask him to start drumming up support, but the least we can do is let him know our plans, because as long as he stays loyal to Sommers, our future is his future. If he doesn't like how the future looks, he'll find someone with a rosier view. To that end, touching base keeps the levels of BRO strong.

Edit (Forgive me bros)


I guess what I'm trying to say is: Who needs a Blood Bond when you've got a .....



BRO BOND