Ten times removed I forget about where it all began Bastard son of a bastard son of A wild eyed child of the sun And right as rain, I'm not the same but I feel the same, I feel nothing Holding back the fool again Holding back the fool pretends I forget to forget nothing is important Holding back the fool again I sensed my loss Before I even learned to talk And I remember my birthdays Empty party afternoons won't come back Holding back the fool again Holding back the fool pretends I forget to forget nothing is important Holding back the fool again I forget to forget me I forget to forget you see Nothing is important to me I knew my loss Before I even learned to speak And all along, I knew it was wrong But I played along, with my birthday song Holding back the fool again Holding back the fool pretends I forget to forget nothing is important Holding back the fool again
Spending the day awake is never a pleasant experience for a vampire, but when it is compared to the prospect of being killed as you sleep, it suddenly becomes tolerable. Hercule is unwakable, but Exclamation Point, Red Lonewolf, and the Rat take turns watching for any danger during the day. As they do, they watch Hercule's hand regrow, and they feel the silent darkness all around them. They listen, as, somewhere, they hear the sounds of a great machinework functioning. For fragments of moments, vertigo sets in and vanishes.
Night sets in, and after a bit of struggling with the very sleepy Hercule Samson, the party sets off down the tunnel. They find that the ambient, sourceless light that had illuminated the beginning of the tunnel now stays with them. They reach the end, and find a block of differently colored flooring, and a lever. After some experimenting, the lever is pulled and all four of them experience a great swoosh of vision, and hear a great machinework, as if watching a swish pan in a film, and they find themselves again in the tunnel. They set off again, and this time, encounter a woman whom they have never seen before. She is rather incensed, and explains to them that the direction they are currently walking is, in fact, down. Straight down. Gravity had been reworked for them to stand upright, and they were walking straight down. Together, the five of them continue to find another lever, and pull it, and then set off the way they came, only all of them knowing that they are again going down.
As they travel a bit further, the woman suddenly becomes very apprehensive. Along the way, Red Lonewolf attempts to trick the woman into admitting that she is, in fact, Blurry, but this fails. Soon afterward, they begin to feel water at their feet. The group almost slows to a halt as the woman warns them that "Immigrant" will pose a threat if they continue. The Rat, Exclamation Point, and Red fall back a bit upon the warning, but Hercule grabs the woman and sloshes forward through the thigh-deep water. Suddenly, flying at Hercule is a furry, toothy, clawed, roaring thing that can only be Immigrant. Hercule throws the woman at Immigrant, but the beast tears through and she falls to the water. Immigrant rips apart the group, particularly sinking it's teeth into the Rat, even as the rest of the group fires shot after shot into the creature. Finally, it takes off after the Rat, down into the darkness, and as they pursue, they find only her body, and not Immigrant. The other woman is gone.
Picking up the Rat, the party continues until the tunnel opens into a massive cavern. They are standing in a body of water surrounding a great platform upon which a city is set. The city is an ugly, motley conglomeration of every style of architecture imaginable. High, high above the tallest building is a roof of the cavern, but it is so distant that the lights of the city can hardly touch it, and if one chose to, she could utterly ignore that there were a roof to this cavern at all, and assume that the blackness above was a starless night sky.
Upon entering the city, the group is approached by several of the ugliest people imaginable. Misshapen limbs. Foul stenches. Fluids dripping and oozing. Bones protruding... Lovely. However, they don't seem terribly unkind. In fact, they are fairly generous and lead the group to the blood banks, which is basically a large room in which dozens of mortals hang from ropes and bleed into huge pits in the ground. After a bit of negotiation, the group is allowed to take their fill. Most of them are healed, but the Rat is beyond the aid of simple blood. The group heads off, seeking Wesson, the prince of the city, seemingly the only one who will be able to help the wounded vampire girl.
Red Lonewolf chases something. The filthy mist in the air impairs even his immaculate perception, but still he chases it. That hint of golden white flitting by. And he finds her. He finds Gold Dust.
The group reaches the house. Hercule seems to have learned from his mistakes, and cautiously knocks rather than breaking in. The door opens to quite possibly the oddest-looking man they have encountered thus far. His body is contained within a metal exoskeleton that seems to be the only thing keeping him from collapsing to the ground, as his body seems to lack bones. Despite his terrible appearance, he seems inviting and welcomes the group into his home.
Red Lonewolf and Gold Dust talk briefly in the city before realizing that they are being watched by angry Nosferatu, and head for the tunnels. They talk their way through a group of Nossie punks, then reach the back tunnels outside of the city.
Exclamation Point lays the Rat upon a dingy table under a bright light. After a thorough (thoroughly painful) examination of her wounds, Wesson decides he can help her. He feeds her a vial of blood, and she is able to heal her wounds as if they were from mere guns or knives rather than the teeth of a hell hound. She does so, and is now rather hungry.
Wesson tells them that all he wants in return is some time to speak with the Rat. The others stay as well, and they all come to realize that this conversation benefits them rather more than it does Wesson. They learn things that would make Red Lonewolf, Navidson, and Alabaster drop their jaws simultaneously. Wesson tells them a great deal, about the clan Ravnos and their origins and purpose, about Gehenna, about Black, and it is topped off by a parchment Wesson gives the Rat that he had acquired from a Malkavian named Sebastian who fancies himself a prophet. The gears in their minds all turn and turn and epiphany after epiphany comes over them. They now know several things. The Three Children Of Time were clearly the Ventrue Prince Donovan, who is now dead, the Toreador Gold Dust, and the Ravnos the Rat. According to the parchment, the Rat is to be the savior. They realize that Alabaster's elysium was attacked by werewolves in the same manner that Donovan's elysium was attacked, when he was killed. They decide that clearly, at least on some level, the werewolves and Black's mercenaries were working together. The question that is left is how the werewolves, or Black's Sabbat vampires, found either elysium in the first place.
They spend hours with Wesson, and aside from the realizations they come to, Wesson bleeds the Rat to make both Exclamation Point and Hercule drink, such that they are bound to her and will do her no harm. Wesson then gives them a map to aid them in the action they've decided to take. That action is to first find Gold Dust and Lonewolf, and then to take a tunnel out of the city, away from Chicago, and to a town near where Sebastian dwells. They feel he is the only one to give them answers on just what the Rat is meant to do.
Lonewolf and Gold Dust speak at length, for the most part, about the Malkavian himself. After a time, he realizes that what he wants, after revenge, is atonement. Gold Dust says that she can help him atone, and he agrees to work with her upon leaving the city. They don�t have much time to discuss details, however, as they realize they are being followed. They make their way through the tunnels, eluding the Nosferatu and making every attempt to remain unnoticed. However, as they do so, of course, they become lost.
Upon leaving the house, the group decides on another course of action, as the Rat suddenly begins to feel just how hungry she is. The first solution to present itself is unexpected. The woman they met in the tunnel now approaches them, and reveals herself very clearly as Blurry. After some initial hesitation, they go with her as she promises to help the Rat find blood. In one of the tunnels just past the city, Blurry teaches the Rat to speak with those of her namesake. They lure out rodent after rodent and feed, and the Rat now realizes that she can speak with animals.
While the Rat is still digesting the rodent blood, Blurry talks to the Brujah. Slowly, their dislike of Blurry melts away as they talk of anarchy and destruction. Hercule begins to realize that for there to be anarchy, no rule can be obeyed, even the rules of other vampires. His effort toward anarchy will be to aid Blurry in her next diablerie.
There is little discussion beyond this, as suddenly, the sound of clicking gunmetal can be heard from down the tunnel. They all run as they realize that there is only one man they have seen with a gun that big, and that gun never seemed friendly. It is confirmed as they hear Bismarck's cries of rage, and grenades fly by, blasting apart the tunnel around them. There is merely a brief exchange of fire before Blurry ducks into a tunnel and scampers away. Bismarck is wounded and drops to the ground.
The Rat, Exclamation Point, and Hercule approach, and Bismarck curses them for helping the diablerist escape. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, they all begin to realize how lucky they are that he was not shooting at them, but at Blurry. They realize that he likely could have killed them, and that without their aid, Blurry would likely be dead. Lonewolf hears all the commotion, and then his friends voices, and sets off toward it. However, after a few twists and turns, he rounds a corner to stare five rifle-bearing Nosferatu in the face. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
They continue to talk to Bismarck until suddenly his head snaps about, stares down the tunnel and whispers, "Did you hear that?"
At the end of the staircase is a door leading them out above the Nosferatu city, onto a network of piping that hangs in the cavern, hundreds of feet high up. They venture out and fight their pursuers, shooting and slashing and blasting as they leap from pipe to pipe and sending their enemies falling to the ground far far below. Their situation becomes complicated further when grenades begin flying up from below, where Bismarck stands upon a lower pipe, and blasting apart the pipes they stand on. But they continue to fight and avoid the explosive blasts until all of their enemies are dead.
The group has rejoined. They move as they talk, catching Red Lonewolf up on what they learned at Wesson's house. They move back down into the city and out into the tunnels once again, this time following the map that Wesson gave the Rat. Gold Dust and the Rat speak briefly, knowing now that they have the same purpose, and neither of them knowing how to fulfill that purpose. They continue as the torches around them cease to fill the torch-holders and the ambient lighting follows them again. Sound warps and is strange, echoes sounding where they shouldn't, but they walk onward still.
They begin to hear voices not their own. Coming from somewhere in an adjacent tunnel, they hear the voices. Angry and screaming. They hear the voices of Blurry and Bismarck arguing, which doesn't end until the sound of explosives ends it, and they know the battle has begun. The group begins to try to make their way toward the battle, with little success.
Red Lonewolf is hearing a different voice now. Young, a child. He sees his son at his side, tugging on his shirt. It is his birthday. The torch holders are filled now, not with torches, but with massive birthday candles. Red walks in a daze, following the group until it stops. Then, Red's son tells him not to give up� that this is his chance. Suddenly, Red realizes that the birthday candle torches are not everywhere, but leading in a very specific tunnel. He follows it until the group nears Bismarck, who is throwing Blurry over his shoulder. Bismarck reaches a new junction in the tunnels. At this intersection, one may walk through a door, back through the tunnel that Bismarck and the group came from, or into either of two halls, both of which hold doors into a chamber, or can be followed until they join, and lead in the direction that the group needs to go.
The Rat and Gold Dust wait in the tunnel, not wanting to be noticed. Red Lonewolf huddles closer to the intersection, also unnoticed, but the pair of Brujah walk right in. Bismarck greets them and seems to be in a rather good mood, relatively. Blurry lies on the ground, scorched and very much injured, but alive. Bismarck makes a phone call, and shortly after, the door opens, and Alabaster walks in. Unlike before, he seems very serious and grave. Bismarck tells him that he has caught the diablerist, but Alabaster seems hardly to care. In fact, he decides that things in there are getting too complicated, and tells Exclamation Point to take Blurry away, that he will kill her later. Exclamation Point grabs up the wounded girl. Bismarck goes to stop her, but suddenly, her eyes glow a fierce red, staring up at the man towering above her, and suddenly, Bismarck backs off, gripping his grenade launcher like a child grips a blanket. Hercule stays. Bismarck seems bewildered, shocked, and thoroughly unstable. Alabaster merely says, "You've betrayed me, Bismarck, now you'll die," and then, Alabaster grips his mind. Glaring into the man, Alabaster takes the case off of the clockwork that is Bismarck's brain, and begins to fuck with it.
Red Lonewolf realizes that Bismarck's mind is now open to be fucked with, and walks out to do his work. He reaches into the Brujah's mind even as Alabaster does, and they fight over control. Bismarck jerks and spasms, wailing and occasionally speaking in very different voices, those of Alabaster and Red Lonewolf. Red Lonewolf manipulates the Brujah's emotions until rage and hate dominate, and there is nothing else. Alabaster tries to turn Bismarck's mind to mush, but instead, Lonewolf sharpens it into a blade. Alabaster reverses the tactic and makes Bismarck turn against Lonewolf. But in his final attempt, Lonewolf takes all of the resentment and anger in him and thrusts it upon Alabaster. Bismarck turns toward the prince, and fires.
The explosion shakes the entire cavern, and Red Lonewolf instantly loses his connection and flees. Hercule doesn't even stay much longer, and runs as well. Bismarck darts down one of the shorter tunnels and retreats into the chamber. Lonewolf and Hercule meet back up with Exclamation Point and Blurry, who have returned to the Rat and Gold Dust. They all converse over the sound of intermittent grenade blasts as Bismarck fires wildly at them, even though they are out of range. They all know that to follow their path, they must pass Bismarck.
Now, there is a sound besides the explosions and the voices of the party. All of them hear a low, thunderous growl� all except for the Rat. The Rat hears and slow, tired voice. It is Immigrant. Even as the rest of the group prepares for battle, prepares for death, the Rat is speaking, calling into the darkness, talking to the hell hound. She manages both to convince the hell hound to help her and to convince the rest of the group that it will not kill them, and Immigrant strides out. All of the vampires step aside as the mammoth thing steps to them, between them, and pauses. It turns to give the Rat a wink, then lets out a terrible roar and sets off toward Bismarck.
They watch as Immigrant is struck full on with a grenade in the tunnel. The hell hound pauses, then stands again and rushes to the room. It doesn't bother with a door but rather breaks through the wall, and the group can no longer see what happens. They can only hear the screams and roars, the explosions and the crashes. And then, all is silent as a cloud of dust wafts their way� Silent until they hear the clicking of gun metal, and know that Bismarck is alive.
Lonewolf and Hercule step up now, knowing that this is their chance, and that Bismarck cannot possibly cover every entrance to that room at once. They charge. Hercule darts across the hole in the wall of the chamber, a grenade flies, and he leaps out of the way as an explosion send chunks of stone raining around him. Red Lonewolf rushes past the door, firing his weapon as he does, and a grenade flies, blasting apart the door, searing him with fire, and sending him to the ground. Hercule reaches the door opposite Lonewolf, and Bismarck's back is turned. Knowing this is his only chance, he charges with his knife, flies, and digs it into Bismarck's spine. He falls, but holds the knife inside, tearing through bone, breaking vertebrae on the way down until with a final glorious crack, the man turns to a cloud of dust over the young Brujah.
The group reconvenes in the broken chamber. Immigrant is there. He stands up, gives a nod, and lopes off, wounded, for his home. The vampires stand, all but Blurry, who is still slung over Exclamation Point's shoulder. There is the expected period of time during which all are thinking, "I can't believe that just fucking happened." After that time, the planning begins. For the most part, everyone knows their path. The question on their minds is mainly what to do with Blurry. The Rat is very much in favor of killing her here and now. Hercule seems to wish to stay out of it, simply stroking the grenade launcher he now possesses, but Exclamation Point argues for Blurry, saying that they should take her with them. The argument continues, but in the end, it is decided that they are all going the same way, whether it is together or not.
And so they left the place where Alabaster and Bismarck fell, likely never to return.
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