Sunset brought with it a brand new night, and a chance to get further from the horrible memories of yesterday. The Boys weren't in the mess area, but Liam only had to follow the roar of Hasan's smelter to locate them. Hasan and wasted no time this evening getting to work. The pair were in Hasan's workshop. It was fairly spacious for a subterranean workshop, if somewhat stuffy. Liam has little doubt that a mortal would die from the fumes of the poorly ventilated blast furnace. Hasan was observing the smelting process through the exhaust port. Jacob was across the workshop, kneeling by a large box of tightly-packed sand.

Jacob nodded to Liam as he entered. "You're looking a little better," he said over the noise. He was busy removing what appeared to be standard hardware store t-bars from the sand, leaving behind a casting impression. The bars had been cut and notched at precise angles.

"A little," Liam agreed. "It was hard to wake up this evening. I don't much feel like doing anything, though I haven't got much of a choice."

"You two have been busy," he observed.

"I wanna get these done for Tart 'n' Tiny before we go," Hasan said, quite loudly in order to be heard. "Y'know, just in case." He flipped open a port, and dipped a piece of wedge-tipped rebar into the mouth of the furnace. It came back with a glowing spoonful of slag, which he dumped unceremoniously on the dirt floor.

"I'm going to finish them up and deliver them while you're away," Jacob said. "And then I'm going to visit the Gangrel. The plans have changed, as you can imagine." He sighed.

"Lots has changed," Liam concurred. "I sincerely hope for the better, but we've got hell to go through first."

"What is it you're working on?"

Jacob gestured to the work table. A series of detailed sketches illustrated the precise measurements and angles of the t-bars, and a mockup of a large polyhedral frame - about three metres tall - they assembled into. "That," he said. "Whatever it is. Judging by the notches and grooves that don't slot into something, that sketch isn't the completed design."

"We were hoping you knew," Hasan added. "'s why I asked."

"She was working on it with Pockets two nights ago," Liam said with a shrug. "You were on the phone when I came into the office. It was after Mickey released you. I came to get the serum for the base."

"I figured all three of you were planning something and I was in hurry to get back before sunrise."

"Not that we're suspicious," Jacob said.

"But we're suspicious," Hasan interjected.

"We're concerned about what she's up to, and whether she's being influenced," Jacob said. Hasan cut the gas flow, and after an audible pop, the room was quiet again.

"I've been studying metallurgy since the 10th century," Hasan said. "And Eversteel for more than a decade. She dropped the formula in my hand like it was her pocket lint. It was written on a post-it note for chrissakes. And from what I can tell, she doesn't even own a forge."

"And now here we are, using our very first batch to make... Whatever this is," Jacob said, stepping away from the mold while Hasan fished a massive crucible out of the forge with a long pair of oversized tongs. The crucible was glowing from the heat, and Liam could feel warmth on his face clear across the room. "Given the origins of the material, you can understand why we're apprehensive about it being used in some kind of magic."

"I'm not saying we need to turn on her or nothin'," Hasan said. "Not yet, at any rate. But keep an eye on her, and who she's talking to. And if you catch her making any overtures towards releasing that thing in the ruins, we know you'll handle it." He carefully poured the glowing liquid metal into the molds, and the sand began to smoke and burn. The glowing faded as the metal began to cool.

"Alright," Liam replied. "I can keep an eye. I hope to be around more than I have been, after this. I still owe Deluca a call but other than that I've got nothing to pull me away from the city."

"I think we've all earned a short respite," Jacob said with a nod. He grabbed a smaller set of tongs, and moved the bars one by one into a long trough full of a viscous oily substance. It hissed and bubbled, boiling as it cooled the bars.

"Yeah,I've got plenty of projects in the forge, now," Hasan said. He put the crucible back in the hot furnace, and doffed his gloves. He reached into the oil, and produced a quenched bar. Even unfinished, it gleamed brilliantly. Hasan held it up to inspect the straightness, and flexed it slightly, with considerable effort.

"If that's not Eversteel, it's a damn good knockoff," he said with a low whistle. "I can't wait to get cracking with this stuff." He looked back over his shoulder at Jacob. "Make that suit of yours look positively austere."

"Is it hard to make?" Liam asked, genuinely curious. "Now that you've got the formula?"

"I mean, steel smelting is a lot of work," Hasan said. "And forging wise, it's a difficult metal to work with, but to be honest I'm kinda mad at how simple it was. A lot of common and a few not-so-common metals and unconventional impurities in the right proportions, a simple cantrip, and voila. The niobium is pretty pricey but she got me enough to last a while. Pretty much anything I could make outta steel, I can make outta this. Only it's going to be a hundred times more resilient."

"Well now I wish I also had an order to place for the forge," Liam said with a lopsided grin. "I don't tend to rely on steel for much though, so harder steel is probably wasted on me."

Liam possessed an eversteel blade and it had never seen use. Even the sharpest iron was no match for his own claws.

"Just as well," Hasan said. "My first order of business is a set of mail for Pockets. Seeing as she's... squishier than she used to be. But if you think of anything, you know how to reach me."

Jacob had finished quenching the bars, and now busied himself stacking them on the workbench. They were rough and unfinished, but he'd soon see to that.

"I guess I should go get ready," Hasan said with a smile. "Can't be sneaking around in my sooty smith's apron."

"Are you going straight there," Jacob enquired as he fitted a round brass brush into the chuck of a hand drill. "Or do you have a disastrous stop-over planned first?"

"Nothing planned," Liam replied. "This is it for tonight. Although with the way my luck has gone of late it could still be disastrous."

"Let's hope it isn't," Jacob said. "You've assembled quite a team, and I see no reason for this to go sideways."

Hasan was changed promptly, and came back dressed in form-fitting black. He was positively giddy to be back in the saddle. "Ready to go?"

"Best team in the business," Liam concurred, but he was still mistrustful of fate.

"If you have blood in the fridge I'll top off before I go. Otherwise I'm ready."

"No rush," Hasan said. "We'll be the first ones there. There's still a few pints from the last bloodmobile we hit, so go nuts."

After a leisurely breakfast, the two made their way to the rendezvous. The underpass where the storm grate sat was low and dark; there was no need to Obfuscate themselves from aerial patrols while they waited. If Corr's men had drawn a bead on them, they'd decided to leave well enough alone.

The two had time to exchange only the briefest of small talk before Cal and Mickey arrived. The two were dressed in black light tactical gear, complete with full face masks. It took a moment before Liam could tell the two apart.

While they waited for Pockets to arrive, Cal reviewed the plan moving forward.

"Okay, so first we're making our way down the storm system. We're a ways from downtown, so it should be fairly light in terms of resistance until we're right on the Alhambra. From what Mickey tells me, they've tightened up the perimeter, at the cost of shrinking it down. From there, Hasan is going to, if I'm getting this right, make us invisible."

"Pretty much," said Hasan.

"Some of the guards down there are trained in Auspex, so it's not going to be entirely bulletproof," Mickey added. "We'll still need to move carefully."

"Your hole in the wall isn't going to fit any of us," Cal continued. "So we're heading around the perimeter to the old docks access. It's warded as hell, but we've got that covered, too. Once we're inside, first priority is to get security access to the Alhambra. Once that's taken care of, then we go wake up your friend in the server room."

"We can also split up, and hit both objectives at once," Mickey suggested.

"Then we bug out, and cover our tracks on the way back out," Cal concluded. "That sound about right to you?"

"Hey, my plan had been to bring down the wall but if you have another door into the warrens that we can close behind us with no one the wiser then I'm all for it."

"Just remember that the Nos booby trapped everything before succumbing, so conduct yourselves accordingly. I took a blast from a shotgun on my last romp through, and managed to defuse a live mills grenade."

"We wanted to keep a way back in that wasn't connected to the Alhambra," Mickey said. "They welded the door shut and warded both sides pretty thoroughly. Normally, it'd be impossible to crack the door open without tripping the wards. But I know how to deactivate them. As long as nobody physically comes down to inspect the door for tampering, they won't know we were there."

"Brass is worried that the Tremere will take any signs of break-in as coming from us," Cal said. "And retaliate with more killings. If we can avoid leaving a trace, we'd better do it."

"That makes a load of sense to me," Liam concurred. "Glad I waited to do this job until we'd spoken about it. I didn't know about the other entrance, and I can't imagine I would have stumbled across it by accident."

"Well, that's what you get for bringing me on board," Mickey said with a smirk. "That and my winning personality."

"So are we planning to split up, and if so, who goes with whom?" Cal asked. "I'm going to be going with your hacker, as that camera's my primary objective down there. And unless you want to carry the blood pack, Mickey's going to have to go after your sleeper."

"I'll need to open the vault from the inside. Its sealed tight. Mickey and Hasan can meet me at the door. You and Pockets handle the feed."

"I won't be able to hear you while I'm in the conduit, but otherwise we stay in radio contact throughout."

"As long as we stay in range," Cal said. "From what I understand, it's pretty heavy brick and earth down there."

"And it's a labyrinth," Mickey added. "Might take us a while to find the vault from the other side. There's a partial map in the Alhambra, but that doesn't do us much good."

The quiet crunch of tires gave away Pockets' approach. She coasted up on a bicycle, and rested it on the wall of the underpass.

"And here's our hacker," Hasan said, by way of an introduction.

Pockets' face was obscured as well, and she eyed Cal and Mickey warily.

"He knows what you look like," Mickey said. "I gave him your dossier. So you can relax."

"You hand my info over to the feds and then tell me to relax?" Pockets said. "You're lucky I don't kick your ass."

"I'd be offended if that wasn't so cute," Mickey replied with a chuckle. "You're welcome to try."

"Why don't you both put your dicks away 'til we're not in the middle of a stealth operation?" Cal said, moving between them.

"You'll have to forgive them," Hasan said. "Until a couple weeks ago, they were trying to kill each other."

"No one is kicking anyone's ass tonight," Liam said. "We're on the same side now. As incredible as that is to believe."

"Pockets, this is Cal," he said, finishing the introduction Hasan had started. "Once we're inside he'll be helping you with the cameras. Mickey and Hasan will meet me at the vault. We grab what we need and get out, no mucking about and hopefully with nobody the wiser."

Pockets grunted, nodding curtly to Cal.

"We've got a long walk ahead of us, kiddies," Hasan said, lifting the storm drain cover. "Better get moving."

The walk to downtown was long and cramped, and they proceeded single file. Fortunately, the storm waters had abated, so it was a great deal drier than last time. Liam took point, and Mickey brought up the rear.

"You got a phone that works?" Pockets said to Cal. She held out a hand over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Cal said, handing it to her. "We set up a private band out where we cut the hardlines."

"Well, now it's a modem," she said, plugging a small dongle into the charging port and cycling the power.

"That's a military phone," Cal said, looking over her shoulder. "You're not gonna be able to just- uh, what the hell?"

"It's a military phone," Pockets said matter-of-factly. "Your hackers are dogshit."

The narrow tunnel widened as they approached the downtown perimeter. They steered well clear of the Alhambra, and Mickey directed them away from the warded sections of the tunnels, until they were near the docks exit. Hasan's keen ears picked up the sound of conversation, and he directed everyone to conceal themselves. A chill blanket of air fell over the group as he concealed them from view.

"Two men," he said. "In the junction up ahead."

With Liam's intimate knowledge of the sewers, he knew that the southern entrance was minutes away, and that going around this junction would add another hour to their journey. While they still had plenty of time, there was the walk back to consider.

Liam smiled without turning as Pockets cavalierly circumvented the government protections. CSIS would love to have an operative like her amongst their ranks, but he couldn't imagine Pockets would ever agree to be recruited.

At Hasan's instruction, Liam drew up short and paused to listen.

"They're right in our path," he whispered. "We could go around but it'll add an hour."

"What are they doing? Can you tell? If they're passing through we may be better off waiting them out."

"They're just... shooting the shit, really," Hasan said. "Bitching about the post. They're anxious."

"Sewer duty is a shit detail," Mickey said. "But they're still on high alert. They're probably not the best of the best, but don't count them as total incompetents. They may be able to spot you through obfuscation."

"I've never needed magic to sneak past a couple meatheads," Cal said. "And a magic vampire meathead's still a meathead."

"They're moving around," Hasan whispered. "Pacing up and down the corridor. Fidgeting. But they're sticking close to the intersection."

"If we need to get through that intersection to get to anything interesting, that's probably why they're down here," Mickey added. "So I don't think waiting's an option."

"If we're going through, I'll cover us 'til everyone's across," Cal said, pulling out a sidearm. Liam was not familiar with the gun, but it appeared to be large calibre with a very long breech and a heavy suppressor. "If things go sideways, I'll take down the furthest one out. If you're gonna make a move on the other one, make sure it's quick and quiet."

[Dex + Stealth DC7 if you choose to sneak past, no autos. Whole party will need to roll but they all have big diepools.]

Liam pursed his lips in thought. They could spare an hour now certainly but there was no assurance they wouldn't run into further sentries elsewhere in the sewers. They could march for an hour and end up in the exact same position on the other side.

They needed to get around this junction. His gaze slid across each of his companions in turn. Hasan was as silent as a shadow, and Pockets was light enough on her feet even without her Disciplines. He'd witnessed just how stealthy Cal could be. The only one who couldn't vouch for was Mickey. But if his OSS training meant anything, Mickey was likely at least as good as Liam himself.

"Fuck it," Liam said. "Lets do it. I'll go first. Lets not fuck it up."

He took a moment to ready himself, dropping into the guise of a rat and heightening his reflexes.

Once he was safely on the other side he turned back so that he would be in a position to help if things went awry. Cal had claimed the furthest one. That meant Liam - and anyone else in position to do so - had to take down the second.

Liam is through. Already spent the BP on protean. Buffing dex +2 for the scene.
13:56, Today: Liam O'Farrell rolled 7 successes using 12d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,6,6,8,10,9,9,6,7,7,2,3.  Dex + Stealth.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:01, Sat 18 Dec 2021.

The crew grew blurry and vague the further Liam strayed from them. Then, one by one, they crossed the gap, snapping back into focus as they drew near. First Pockets, then Mickey, followed by Hasan. Hasan had to rush across the gap as the pair of sentries suddenly wheeled around and faced the intersection again. Cal had to wait for a few minutes for their pacing to lead them further back.

Not a word was spoken until they were well away from the watchmen.

"Not bad, kids," Hasan remarked.

"The entrance is just up ahead," Cal said, checking his map.

The way to the entrance was free of further resistance. The tunnel in question appeared fully collapsed, but Mickey waved a hand at the wall of stones, and suddenly Liam was able to see the rubble wasn't nearly as dense as it appeared. The lip of steel sled held the pile in place, and with enough muscle, it could be pulled backward.

"If you please, Liam," Mickey said, maintaining his gesture in order to keep the illusion - a d likely, the wards - pulled aside.

[Str+potence, DC 7, autos allowed.]

Liam nodded and rolled up his sleeves. Taking hold of the sled he heaved the pile backwards and out of the way of their continued progress.

Taking the auto here.

"Jesus Christ," Cal exclaimed as Liam shifted the pile of rocks without visible effort. "I hope you know this means I'm drafting your ass the next time I hafta move."

The rock pile shifted out to reveal the intact niche. To an untrained eye, it looked like nothing but a recessed brick wall. But steel weld marks in the grout betrayed the concealed door. Hasan went to work, his eversteel katar cutting through the welds like a hot knife through butter.

Liam could see the telltale shimmer of multiple wards on both sides of the door. The air sang with their restrained power as the group made their way through. Liam was the last to cross, pulling the sled back into position as he did so.

They were well clear of the door when Mickey released his hold on the wards. As Liam acclimated himself, he quickly became aware of a problem: He was entering the labyrinthine complex from a different entryway. He would need to find the conduits all over again.

As the group parted ways, Liam could sense the unease in the room. Pockets didn't exactly relish the idea of being alone with a government spook. And the last time Mickey and Hasan were in tight confines, one wound up bound, and the other had a gaping chest wound for his troubles.

[Int+inv DC 7 to find another conduit access, once you're ready to split up.]

"Good job everyone, so far," Liam said before the group parted ways. "I know these are hardly usual circumstances."

"Lets finish up clean and meet back. Remember, the Nos left some boobytraps before they fell apart so keep your heads up. I'll be in contact as soon as I'm out of the conduits."

As the group spread out he kept an eye on the walls along with his path. He'd scratched some markings the last time he was here to help him find his way back to the hole in the wall. It was anyone's guess if he'd happen upon one of them again but it was better than nothing.

I'll take the auto, mercifully

Mickey and Cal were both busy attaching fishing line to the door handle, providing a convenient way to retrace their steps without leaving a mark.

"We'll be, uh," Hasan said, blowing air through his cheeks. He looked down the corridor in one direction, then the other. "We'll be along." He said finally.

"I spent some time down here," Pockets said over Hasan's shoulder. "The trick is not to lost your sense of direction. They gotta live down here. The path to anything useful is gonna be more or less direct. If you feel you're being led in circles, you are."

It was an aimless wander through the labyrinth for several minutes. Liam was ready to declare himself lost when he came upon one of his own markings. It was a simple matter to return to the conduits from there.

By the time he'd figured out the vault door's complicated latching mechanism, Hasan and Mickey were standing outside.

"Told you this was the right one," said Hasan, stepping through the the door. He turned around, taking in the banks of sleeping machinery.

"This must have been impressive back in the day," Mickey remarked. "I wonder how much less space this'd all take up if it was built today."

"I elected not to touch this one," Liam confessed. "I kind of blew up the first computer I stumbled across by mistake," he added sheepishly

"She's over there in the corner," he said, hitching his thumb over his shoulder. "I missed the motion sensor trip for the shotgun behind the curtain and took a round in the back. I found the mills grenade pinned between her legs in a deadman's grip and took it away from her. Its over there on the table. I couldn't find the proper pin so I trussed it up with some wire. Careful not to jostle it too much."

"I trussed her up as well in case she frenzied, but in the end I chose not to wake her until I had a plan to get her out."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Thu 23 Dec 2021.

"How, precisely, does one accidentally blow up a computer?" Mickey asked.

"Stuck a USB cord in a fan intake," Hasan murmured. Mickey guffawed.

Hasan inspected the dismantled trap and whistled to himself. "She's no dummy when it comes to tech. I'm stealing this."

"Might even be one of the admins," Mickey added, looking around the room. "Mighta already been in here when the shit went down."

Hasan plucked the control board and motion sensor from the trap, and stuffed them in his pack. Then he turned his attention "Decent job on the trussing," he said. "But just in case." He produced two zip cuffs from his pack, and set to work binding her wrists and ankles.

"So who's gonna do the honours?" Mickey asked. He hoisted the full camel-bak on his back. "I guess we could dump this in her mouth but that seems like a waste of a blood bond."

[Contested strength roll if you feed her]

Liam looked from man to man and then shrugged. "I'll do it," he said, rolling up his sleeve again. "She's not going to be well disposed towards any of us, least of all to Mickey. Get ready to pull me off of things go bad."

"And maybe move the grenade," he added as an after thought.

Counts as 5 successes against DC 7 or less, presuming autos from Potence. I also presume she has Potence, so they may just end up canceling each other out.

22:49, Today: Liam O'Farrell rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 with rolls of 9,4,7,3.  Strength Check, Potence 3.

[She also scored 7 successes total, out of dumb luck.
* Storyteller rolled 4 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 with rolls of 8,9,10,7.  Contested Strength (+3 potence)]

Hasan deftly pocketed the grenade, taking a moment to inspect the makeshift pin. He stood close by in case the struggle got out of hand. Mickey reached for it, too, but Hasan was quicker.

"I'll just keep quiet, then," Mickey said. In his stealth garb and face mask it would be difficult to identify him at all.

The moment Liam's vitae slid down her desiccated throat, the mummified form sprang to life with a sickening crunch. The cables snapped almost immediately, and she slid her cuffed hands underneath her body, dislocating her shoulders for a moment in the process. She wrapped her dusty fingers around Liam's arm, and clung to him like a limpet. When he had given sufficient vitae to begin abating her feeding frenzy, he found it difficult to wrest his grip from her. Indeed, she had taken more than her fill by the time he pried himself loose.

Mickey immediately offered him the drinking spout from the camel-bak. It was warm and close to spoiling, but he wasn't picky at the moment.

[-7 BP. There are 5 BP in the pack.]

When Liam had replenished himself, the Nosferatu's mind had cleared. She looked around at her masked captors, utterly unafraid. "Let's have it, then," she said dryly.

"It's 2020 (2021?)," Liam began. "You've been torpid for a decade, give or take. Kiesinger still controls the city up above us but the walls are closing in a little tighter every day. The masquerade is dead. The mortals know about us, or at least enough do that it doesn't matter any more. The fugue has been upended by a worldwide pandemic and the Tremere are looking to cut and run."

"Why don't we start with that."

"My name is Liam."

[Roughly August 2020]

Her face was expressionless as Liam spun his tale, but his first name clicked in her head and her eyes sparked. She studied him a moment. "I know who you are, Liam O'Farrell," she said finally. "I'd be a pretty shitty intelligence officer if I didn't. I'm Petunia Fong, but everyone calls me Petty."

"I'm also pretty sure you're telling the truth," she added. "Because I know you're a better liar than that. So let's pretend for the moment that I believe you. Why're you coming all the way down here to wake me up?"

“I didn’t,” Liam confessed. “At least not initially. I came down here looking for Lloyd Douglas. Lloyd was a friend.”

“I didn’t find him though. But I did find you.”

“That was a few nights ago. It took me some time to figure out how to get you out. You weren’t going to fit the way I got in.”

“As to why I came back - its simple, really. I want you to tell the Nosferatu what happened here, what the Camarilla did to you. Lloyd deserves that much. But more to the point I want the Camarilla to finally pay a price for their crimes. They’ve run up quite the butcher’s bill over the years and I intend to call in the tab.”

Petty frowned a little, and shrugged. "Lloyd and I didn't get along," she said. "Up until I lost the cameras, it was pretty chaotic. I don't know what happened to him; I'm sorry."

"So the Nosferatu don't know what happened here?" she said incredulously. "That's quite a revelation. I'm nobody important, but I think they'll listen to me. Especially if I can access the camera archives."

She looked at the hulking computers, now silent. "Any chance we can get power to the servers?"

It'd be a short trip through the conduits back to the breakers. He'd switched them off to cover his tracks on the last trip, but he knew exactly where to go.

"So far as I know, the Cams fed them a lie. You're the only witness. We found the footage and started uploading it last time I was here. I can get the power back on."

"I ah, also found your ipad. I took it just in case I couldn't get back before they sealed the tunnels. You can have it back."

He looked at Hasan and Mickey. "Is turning the power on going to cause a problem for the others, do you think?"

"The official story is that Jacob Holloway and Hasan Al-Rashid infiltrated and bombed the Warrens, killing everyone inside," Mickey clarified.

At Liam's question, Mickey shrugged and looked at Hasan. "Don't look at me," Hasan said. "They didn't tell me shit about how they wired this place."

"Unless they're working on these computers, they shouldn't even notice," Petty said helpfully. "They're on their own breaker. But if you've got the footage already, we can skip it. Once upon a time, I could control the entire compound from here. But most of those hardlines are cut now, so there's not much I can do that might be helpful down here."

"We were transferring it out over a cellphone," Liam offered. "It was slow going. I can't speak to how much we data we managed to upload before we powered down. I'll get the power on and then make my way to the other team. The radios may be shit in the tunnels, but with the stone we can stay connected. Hopefully they're making equally good progress and we can get the hell out of here soon."

"Nice to meet you properly, Petty."

"Likewise," Petty said cheerily. "I'd shake your hand but some jackass tied me up."

"Oh," Hasan said absently, producing his katar and cutting her bonds.

Free of her cuffs, Petty stretched, and ran a hand over her bald head. "Do whatever it is you're doing, and let's get the hell out of this place, eh?"

"I'll be a few minutes. Sit tight."

Liam took a breath (largely unnecessarily) and let go of his form altogether. Moments later he was coasting through the conduit along the long, largely featureless path back.

Cal and Pockets had found the pillbox. When Liam materialized, only Cal was visible. He was braced against the open half-wall, with a taut climbing rope around his waist. One end was tied securely to the heavy control panel, and the other stretched over the wall and down towards the camera. Cal regarded him silently, sweat running down his brow.

When Liam looked down, he could see Pockets suspended upside-down, working on a tiny hole on the rim of the camera's housing with a pair of slender tools. It looked like incredibly delicate work.

"Do... you want me to take the weight off?" Liam offered quietly. "I can hold it."

Cal shook his head. "Can't risk jostling her," he whispered.

They stood there awkwardly for a painful half-hour, watching Pockets work. From this perspective, Liam couldn't see much, but finally Pockets put away her tools, and silently hooked the wires that now trailed out of the hole into the port on Cal's commandeered phone. Finally, she took a tube of industrial adhesive, and affixed the phone to the wall just above the camera. Then, she signalled for Cal to haul her back up.

Finally, Liam was able to lend a hand, and hoisting her up was a quick and smooth affair. With her feet back on solid ground, she shuddered jerkily, and gave a thumbs up.

She addressed Cal first. "I'll give you losers the instructions on how to patch in, and I'll be sure to use small words. Reception down here is dogshit, so don't expect good bandwidth. If you want a stable feed, stick to one camera, capische?"

Then, she turned to Liam. "Well, that sucked ass, but it's a good thing I'm awesome. Ready to get the fuck outta here?"

Liam grinned. "We're all good here," he said through the stone beneath his tongue. "Pockets and Cal are done."

"We'll meet you back at the entrance if Petty has everything she needs. I'll take the long way back with these two."

"She put some stuff on a stick, and then hit some sorta killswitch," Hasan said. "Hard drives are all fried. We're already headed back." There was a pause. "She says don't forget to kill the power."

After a short trip back to the breakers, Liam was ready to follow the pair back to the exit. This would be a simple affair, as all Cal needed to do was reel in the fishing line to retrace their steps.

"We didn't run into too much trouble on the way here," Pockets said. "Most of the traps had been dismantled for weapons a while back." As they walked, she gestured to a dismantled explosive trap in the rafters. "We, uh, came upon some pretty grisly scenes down some of the wrong turns."

"I expect," Liam said grimly. "I admittedly didn't spend much time in the halls once I found my way into the conduits. I don't think its likely I'll ever find out what happened to Lloyd, but at least their story will get told."

"When the fascists are out of power I'm coming back down and going through this place with a fine-toothed comb," Pockets said. "Provided I'm allowed to." She glanced meaningfully at Cal.

"Don't look at me, kid, I only work here," Cal said. "That kinda decision is waaay above my paygrade." He turned his attention to Liam. "How'd it go with your VIP?"

"Her name is I'm Petunia Fong. She goes by Petty. We bonded her as a precaution, but she seems pretty willing to assist us without the added motivation. She pulled all the data she could off the servers and killed the rest."

"You haven't seen a nosferatu yet. At least, not one that wasn't a pile of ash. They look... different. Becoming a vampire twists their bodies almost beyond recognition. It can be a jarring experience for first introductions. But she seems pleasant."

"Mickey warned me already," Cal said. "They're Max Shreck-lookin' ghoulies. He also said they're pretty mistrustful, especially of authority. Does she know you're working with the government yet?"

"I left soon after waking her. We started the discussion about all that had come to pass during her torpor but we're far from finishing it. I don't know what Hasan and Mickey told her besides, but I'm guessing not much."

"Plenty of us are gonna work for the government by the time this is all over," Pockets said. "But if she doesn't know you were the one who killed the Masquerade, keep it that way. Even if she doesn't mark you for it, there are those that will. Especially when things start to get messy."

"Y'think things're going to get messier than this?" Cal said, gesturing around him.

"Bet on it," Pockets replied.

"You have no idea," Liam concurred.

"I'll keep that close to my chest for now, though. You're right. Very few Kindred are going to agree with my decision, at least at the outset." Rick certainly hadn't.

"They've been living this way too long. And in our world you don't get old by blindly putting your trust in other people."

"Hopefully I change some minds along the way."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Sat 01 Jan 2022.

"For what it's worth," Cal said with a smile. "You're nothing like what I expected. If vampirekind was gonna make a first impression, they'd be hard-pressed to do better."

"Mind the tripwire," Pockets said, pointing it out as they rounded the corner. It was easy enough to step over.

Liam chuckled. "I'm not sure if that makes me a good vampire or a bad one, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same," he said, stepping over the wire.

It was a short walk back to the meeting point. With the Tremere illusions in place, it looked as though the tunnel was caved in, even from this side of the door.

Petty, Mickey and Hasan weren't far behind. Petty looked at the exit with disbelief and shook her head. "We're never gonna get out this way," she said. Mickey stepped past her and raised his hand. "Not without excavation equipment and a hell of a lot of bracing-" She cut herself off as the rocks began to melt away.

"Son of a bitch," she remarked. "This whole time..."

"This actually takes considerable effort," Mickey said. "If you please."

One by one, the group stepped through the door. Once safely on the other side, the door was closed and sealed, and the rocks shoved back into place. To a casual observer, it was as if they were never there.

Petty sized Mickey up uneasily, but said nothing. Cal met Liam's eye.

"We can go back out the way we came," he said. "But the fastest exfil is probably to hit the channel. I can call us a lift."

Liam paused and turned to Petty. "This is going to take a lot of explaining. You've... missed some things, much of it rather recently. I'm asking you to trust me. I know that's not an easy ask."

"Mickey is Tremere, but he isn't part of the Pyramid anymore. And Cal isn't a ghoul. He's mortal. He's with the armed forces."

He paused here to let this sink in.

"You're safe. I promise. And we'll figure out where you sit in all this mess after we get you out."

Petty backed away from the group. "So it really is over, then," she remarked. Her eyes darted between them. The Nosferatu, more than any other clan, were conditioned to stay hidden from mortals at all times. No doubt she was feeling exposed.

“It is,” Liam confirmed. “But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The old ways had to end eventually. We’d seen it coming for years. And the plan the Camarilla had concocted to get around it - well there was no place in that world for people like you or like me,” he said gesturing back towards the warrens. “It’s why they sealed you in. You weren’t part of the plan anymore.”

“And I - well I haven’t been part of the plan for a long time.”

“The good news is there’s room for people like us in this new world. We just have to find our place. And you don’t have to do it alone.”

Liam smiled and held out his hand.

“It’s okay if you’re not ready to step out into the open. I get that. Old habits die hard. We can take you to a safe house in the city if you prefer -“ he said, looking to Hasan for confirmation. “But Cal is right. Fastest, and safest way out of here is with their help.”

“The Tremere are watching the sewers. The real Tremere. We side stepped one of their patrols on the way in and the whole place is warded to the nines.”
This message was last edited by the player at 01:38, Sun 02 Jan 2022.

"He's right," Mickey said. "Why do you think you were still living down in the Warrens? After the town was ours, and nobody woulda batted an eye if you walked down the street. They're working with Nazis. What do you think their opinions are on the purity of your bloodline?"

Petty looked scornfully at Mickey, but took in his words. As Liam offered his hand, she reached out. When she first touched him, her hand recoiled like she'd been shocked. She hesitated a moment, then took it.

"If we go south, we'll be spending a night on a frigate," Cal said. "And a chopper will take you wherever you want to go tomorrow. But I promise nobody's gonna fuck with you. They're all scared of me."

"My place is safe enough that you guys were never able to find it," Hasan offered. "And I promise these two," he jabbed a thumb at Mickey and Cal. "Won't be there."

Petty looked between them, weighing her options. "I know what I'd prefer," she said finally. "I'm not worried about dodging the Tremere, but how confident are you?"

Stealthwise, Liam was the weakest of the crew. The question was whether her comfort was worth the additional risk.

Liam smiled as Petunia took his hand. He suspected it had been a long time since she’d done anything like that - far longer than the ten odd years she’d been asleep for. He had said at the beginning that it was his hope that kindred should be allowed to step into the light on their own time. For some that would take longer than others.

“It trust you Cal,” he said without turning away, “But Petty’s had a rough awakening tonight. We’re going to layover at Hasan’s.”

“Good news is the infill went smoothly so we’ve bought ourselves some time. We know where the one patrol is and we’ll avoid it.”

No one living knew the sewers as well as Liam did.

[Roll Wits + Streetwise DC7 to determine your route home. No autos.]

(Spent the WP to bring us home safe. 3 successes.)

13:45, Today: Liam O'Farrell rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,3,3,3,5,7,4,10.  Wits + Streetwise + WP.

With much of the night left ahead of them, the group could afford to take the long way through the sewers. Several times, they ran afoul of patrols, but Hasan's keen senses along with Liam and Petty's combined knowledge of the sewers, they were able to double back and avoid close contact altogether. It was an hour before dawn when the group finally arrived back at the storm drain under the overpass.

"We've gotta make tracks if I don't want to get caught in the sunrise," Mickey said to Cal.

Cal nodded. "Petty, nice meeting you," he said. "When you're ready to leave the city, come to the airbase. I'll make sure the front gate is expecting you."

Then, to Liam. "Nice work down there," he said. "I'll be in touch tomorrow, but just in case we miss one another, do you have any plans to head into the city?"

"The city? No." Liam shook his head. "What I'd like is to take a couple of nights off if its all the same. Between the airbase and the camera uplink I'd like to think I've earned it," he added with a wink.

"But I'll come by the airbase tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," Cal said. "Let me know if anything changes."

After a quick goodbye, the two were off back to their fortress. Pockets shrugged a little. "I'm not gonna make it back in time," she said. "So I guess I'm crashing with you."

"Plenty of room at Casa Hasan," said Hasan, leading the way. They had masked their infiltration well, but caution was still warranted. They kept their heads low as they made their way through the Iron Graveyard.

"Safe travels," Liam said as the two groups parted ways. He kept a wary eye about him the whole way back until they were safely within Hasan's walls before heaving a sigh of relief and directing a weary smile towards his peers. "We did it. And no one the wiser."

"Not much time left, but I'll join you for a nightcap if you're up for it, Old Man. I think we've earned it."

"Oh, I think we've earned it," Hasan said, leading the way to the mess. Petty looked unenthused.

Pockets looked at Petty, then at the others. "Count me out," Pockets said. "I'm beat. C'mon toots, let's find you a bed."

Jacob, having heard their return, found his way to the mess as Hasan was pouring the whiskey. "Is this a victory drink, or a consolation drink?"

"You know I never lose," Hasan replied, setting up a third glass. "Bug's been planted, the Nosferatu is rescued, and they're none the wiser. Couldn't have gone better."

"I'll drink to that," Jacob said, taking his drink. He raised his glass to the pair of them. "Our girl got her delivery. She was pleased with the results." He took a sip. "And I don't think she's afraid of us anymore."

Liam waited until the third glass had been poured before reaching for his own and raising it up. "Slaintѐ."

The whiskey burned pleasantly all the way down his throat.

"Was she ever afraid of us? I seem to remember her punching you in the mouth," he said with a grin.

Hasan chuckled, and Jacob rubbed his jaw. "Oh, she still hates me," he said. "But when we first met, she gave me her full attention. The first time I visited her woods, I felt watched the entire time. And she threatened to curse me if I ever set foot there again. Last night, she let me carry those poles into the very heart of her defenses, and let me find my own way out. The feeling I got from her wasn't one of trust. I'd say it was overconfidence, or maybe just confidence."

"Like she could take you in a fight," Hasan concurred. "I get that feeling from her, too."

"Maybe she can," Liam replied. "Wizards might be mortal but they're no less formidable for having a pulse. Mickey said that the thing to remember about fighting wizards is they're unbeatable if given time enough to prepare. Granted he was talking about our kind of wizards, but I expect the principle is pretty broadly generalizable."

"Plus she has the home turf advantage and a family of werewolves squatting in her backyard. I've seen Moira angry. It isn't pretty."

"From what I know of hedge wizards," Jacob said. "No, they generally aren't. Tremere stole power from the kindred because hedge magic was so weak."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you here afraid of her," Hasan said. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes weren't.

"No, not of her," Jacob replied. He drained his glass, and snatched the bottle, pouring another. He paused, staring at it.

"The creature," he said at last. "It's restless." He rubbed his chest lightly. Though the wounds that Judas' disciple had given him - the corruption-imbued Claw marks sent him into a torpid Fugue so many years ago - had disappeared without a scar long ago, on some deeper level they had never truly healed.

Liam looked down at Jacob's chest automatically. After a moment he tore his eyes away and held out his glass to be filled. "This is a rather depressing way to end the night," he said once he had his drink back in hand.

"What do you think we ought to do?" Liam had already agreed to keep an eye on Robyn earlier that same evening.

"It's not just her I'm worried about," Jacob said. "Noonian's back is against the wall. He's desperate, and looking for ways out. I don't think he knows what's down there yet, but as soon as he does, he's got an army of blood mages. It won't take them long. And let's not forget the Canadian government." He met Hasan's eyes, and the Assamite nodded.

"We won't need those explosives to disable the airbase anymore," he said. "Think it'll be enough?"

"It'll have to be," Jacob said.

"Which explosives?" Liam asked. "The ones Deluca was supposed to deliver? He backed out when the embargo went up. I've got a half brick of C4 and a Mills Grenade without a pin," he said, gesturing at Hasan. "We're not going to blow much up with that at all."

"Definitely not enough," Jacob said. "Damn."

"Better get him back on the phone," Hasan said.

"He still needs payment for the last job," Jacob said. "So we need to meet with him anyway. Getting past the cordon is going to be a problem, but not as much as bringing the explosives back."

Liam nodded and glanced at his watch. "I was planning to fly out to him tomorrow anyway. I'm surprised my phone hasn't been ringing all night as it is."

"Want me to call him now?"

Jacob shook his head. "No, you've done plenty this evening," he said. "Especially if you're planning to meet anyway."

"We'll keep an eye on the ruins 'til it's done," Hasan assured him. "As much as we can."

Liam nodded and drowned the rest of his worries with what remained in his glass. "Until tomorrow then," he said, setting the glass down on the counter. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"I think you've earned it," Jacob said.

"We all have," added Hasan.

[3 xp plus 2 WP for the scene]