"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]