Pyros Diary: Tales of Power and Deceit

Browsing my notes, I noticed that I don't know the name of the Kindred that came with us from the Night Club. For one reason or other, we never managed to ask him his name, and he didn't want to give it to us.... I respect that. Given that when asked who he was he said "no one of importance",  I will call him Nowan.

We meet with The Boss, and he told us that they have found Mandy's house. We agree that I, Viktor, Nowan, Andrea, Willy, Otto and two Brujah are going to Mandy's house.

The house is a normal house in a normal neighbor: Two stories, white picket fences, the typical American house.

Her mother opened the door. She seemed to be a normal housewife, albeit a little sad. She told us that Mandy is not at home, and that she don't know where she went. She is very worried about her.

Andrea started to ask the mother about Mandy. She told us that after the dead of Mandy's her grandfather has been helping them. She also told us that Mandy has been missing for two days now.

I left the others to talk to the mom and went upstairs, to Mandy's room. Again, it is the typical room for the typical teenager. As there was nothing unusual in the room, I rest myself in her bed, and concentrated....

Images of "unusual" manifestation came to my mind: Mandy burning in blue fire while sleeping, she talking with people that were not there, objects moving around here "without any explanation", she talking with people that is not there, or in a language that she shouldn't know.. Obviously, she is anything but a typical teenager. Very curious... in my first vision I saw her as a Kindred... could it be that she manage to keep her powers after being embraced? or is she a new kind of supernatural entity?

Two other images where also interesting: she (accidentally) killing her father, and an old man that is comforting her and talking to her several times. He must be the grandfather.

I returned where the mom was, just in time to hear that the "grandfather" not related to the family, but tried to help them when the father died. Curiously, there are no pictures of the father or the old man. The last time they saw the old man was about a year ago. When I inquired if anything unusual happens around Mandy, the mom turned pale white, and confessed that she is afraid of her.

I think that it was out of pity, but before leaving I modified the memories of the mom so she think that Mandy is ok, just went out with some friends and would be home soon.

Once we were outside Mandy's house, Nowan told us that Mandy's father was killed by her. How he knew that is beyond me... there is more of this guy than meets the eye.

When we were about to leave to the Elyssium, I received a very distressful vision: A house, apparently abandoned... A little Kindred girl... immortal fear... I know they come from her.... I know where this house is...

I asked the group to go to that mansion, just saying that the Tremere Regent is in danger. They must be used to our "tremerish secrecy" because they all accepted to go without any complains.

On the road, I called Mike to the hospital asking him for the birth records of Mandy, and asked Otto to produce a picture of the little Kindred girl. According to him, she came to the city not long ago, introduced herself to the Prince and went to hunt Sabbats. Nobody has seen her since.

Just before we arrived, Mandy's mother called and say that she has returned home. I phoned Viktor and told him that, so he can send a squad there. My mind was focused on the house, I was very worried about Bel. Has she being kidnapped? Is it possible to trespass the Chantry?

We reached the house, a three stories tall Victorian house outside the suburbs. My heart was racing in anxiety (Yes, child, as is normal for the first embraced, those that came before the power of the Tremere blood became diluted, I keep some humans traits like beating hearts, bright aura and eating food, even if it doesn't nourish me). Something bad, very bad, is happening.

Cautiously we entered using the kitchen door. My mind eye showed "psychic static" in the vision of past events... Almost intuitively I ran to the basement, and to my surprise I found the lab where the policemen and the Garou got their implants. Obviously, the lab is abandoned.

With a little carelessness, I started going up the stairs... I didn't know if they were following my steps, but I didn't care anyway. There where no signs of Bel.

I finally reached a room where there is only a mirror and a broken window. How cliche.... The mirror has nothing supernatural. I started to check the room, and that's when the torrent of images flowed into my mind:

Bel is in one corner of the room, rolled into a ball, bleeding, fearful. In front of here, the little girl with hate in her eyes. Finally the little girl turned and flew through the window. Another female figure appeared from the shadows, grabbed Bel by the hair, and dragged her to the stairs, leaving a bloody trail....

When I wake up from the visions, I'm standing on top of the stairs looking down. I had no chance to say something, because Nowan said that "something" was going down the stair. We ran down the stairs, and split to search whatever it is that was downstairs. It was then that we heard the gunshots from the group outside the house.

We all went out, and saw one of our partners being impaled by several metal pikes while he frantically shoot behind him. With no effort I managed to separate him from the spikes, and put him outside the danger. Now we could see clearly the attacker: A female figure that was half-ghost, half-real.

Nowan ran to fight her. It was a very weird fight: Nowan shoots didn't harm her most of the time, but just before she attacked she became material, and she received damage. Another curious thing is that she looked like there where several metal plates on her body, which she could mold at will to form anything, from spikes to swords.

After a very intense battle, Nowan managed to kill her. And as soon as she hit the ground, she started to burn with black flames.

Knowing that it was not me (my flames are the usual bright yellow), I scanned the area and saw a figure far from us, leaving. I tried to pull him with my mind, but somehow he resisted.
This does not bode well... unless it is a new kind of supernatural creature, or a Mage construction, there are Baalis involved... and that is never good.

Before I could alert the group Viktor called me, but I could only hear the sound of a very, very intense fight. I notified the Princess and started to go to Mandy's house. Otto and Willy decide to call it a night, and disappear in the darkness. That was another proof of the Nosferatu's wisdom: Viktor clearly fell into a trap, and we were being lured into it.

Also, a stranger called me saying "I work for Helsing", and before he could say more I told him "then, if you're not at her house, you're not doing your job", and hung up. I was really, really pissed of at the time.

When we arrived at the house, there were two people outside getting down from motorcycles, one of them walking to the house. Viktor's car is nowhere to be found. Just in case, I called The Boss to validate if he sent two people to help us. It seems so.. let's see how good they are. I called the one that called me before, which confirmed me that these to people are the helpers from Helsing.

While the others get down from the vehicles and start walking towards the house I projected my consciousness inside to find.... Mandy's mom sitting in the Living room, drinking tea. Quite strange.. where was the fight? Viktor was supposed to be at Mandy's house...

In the meantime Nowan reached one of the mysterious helpers, point at him with the gun, and ask him to stop and identify. The "helper" foolishly ignored him, so Nowan naturally gave him a lead treatment against the lack of intelligence. The other ignored the bullets (a definitive symptom of lack of intelligence) and smashed the door... that was too much foolishness in less than one minute so I sent him flying.

The other helper and Nowan get into the house through the smashed door. Shortly after, Andrea jumped out one of the second story windows, entangled with what appeared to be an animated corpse. She had everything under control... except for the other corpse that jumped out the windows after her. At the end, two corpses are by no mean a challenge for a Kindred, so Andrea finished them off.

One of the unknown kindred, the one that didn't reply to Nowan's query, approached our car, so the two Brujahs steeped down, pointed their guns and commanded  him to stop. He (again) choose to ignore them, so it came to the logical conclusion: A quick and savage battle, with the end result of one Brujah down and the unknown kindred subdued.

Suddenly, a big 'ball' with tentacles emerged from the house. I seemed that the ones inside would need my help, so I leave the Brujahs to pick the ball.

I entered the house, and found one of the unknown Kindred in front of a room. Inside the room there is a pentagram, and in the floor there are several figures... Viktor, one other kindred (Brujah, if I recall them correctly), Mandy's "Grandfather" and... Bel. In the middle of the pentagram is something that looks like a clown marionette, dotted with blood.
The marionette rises and started to fight with us. I notice that from time to time some dots disappeared... could it be that it is a blood repository, and it is using the vampiric blood to move?

A battle starts, with Nowan and the two unknown Kindred trying to hit the marionette. With powerful blows, it throws the three of them out of the room, but they manage to damage it enough so I can deal the killing blow. It seens that electricity is very effective against marionettes.

When the clown is dead, somehow the wraiths in the house manage to immobilize us. Again, electricity is effective against materialized wraiths, so they jolted and freed us.

I checked the room. Using my powers I saw the little girl making the pentagrams. It is a ritual of Dark Thaumaturgy to summon a Demon... where did she got that ritual? I saw her leaving through the pentagram, with a strange black ball and Mandy's mother.

In the pentagram, only Bel, Viktor and the Brujah remained. From the old guy, only the clothes.
The kindred are burned in their back, and Bel was cut in half... she only have the upper torso... her arms and everything below the waist is gone... what kind of foul sorcery did that?

I took all of them to the car. I hope I'm able to help Bel.
Outside, I notice that the two Brujahs are not there... I asked the car, and saw that the ball of tentacles took them... somewhere...

I went back to the room. From the deeps of my consciousness I notice that there is something missing in the old man clothes: The beret... I heard a a noise outside, but saw nothing.

And then in happened: All the inhabitant of the houses around Mandy's house went out and started to run towards us. They were dead, moved only by the force of Thaumaturgy... it is quite a feat, to animate this many corpses, but it was not difficult to counter. When all the copses collapsed, I checked them. The only thing in common is that all of them saw the little girl before dying.
Enough was enough, I called the Princess and told her what happened.

I went back to the others. They have a boy, who happens to be the grandson of Mandy's Grandfather. He has the beret and a amulet of True Faith... good thing that I have saw them before, and they don't affect me that much.

I  proceeded to build a compass to locate the little hag. After I finished the ritual, I heard an explosion outside. It seems that someone put some bombs in our cars.
Somebody must have called Helsing, because soon afterward two "cleanning" vans were arrivin to the scene. I told the others to see me tomorrow at Helsing HQ. They must take Bel with her, I'm not sure that the chantry is secure enough and I can only protect myself tonight.

I then hide in the shadows, and start flying looking for the girl. I reached the ocean, and after some time i decide to go back to the chantry: She must be at the other side of the Atlantic.

As soon as I arrive the Chantry, I informed to the other Tremeres that the Regent was attacked, she is very injured, and that they must not leave the chantry until further notice.

I also informed Vienna, and asked if the little girl is a Tremere.

I will sleep in my lab, the most secure place in the whole chantry. I hope that tomorrow is a better night. I hope that I can restore Bel...

I will destroy that little girl.

I received a call from the Senechal, to go to investigate a case of Masquerade rupture at a Night Club. I went to the scene, rendevouz with my coleage (Luigi) and get into the scene of the crime.

To say that it was a massacre would be an understatement. Everything was covered in blood, and there where people in pieces all around the club.
First things first, I searched around looking for supernatural beings. I didn't find any "dead" Cainite, but found two interesting bounties: a dead Mage and a dead Lupine.
Searching the dead Mage, I found a very curious necklace, which I slipped into my pocket.

Using my powers I managed to reconstruct the whole scene:
There were two too-young-to-be-here girls drinking a the bar. One of them (long haired, with a white shirt and a skirt, named Mandy) was very nervous, and the other was trying to cheer her up. Suddenly Mandy saw two males approaching. To the disgrace of her friend, Mandy was a vampire, and got into frenzy almost immediately, killing her (I bet it was unintentionally).

She then focused her attention on the two males, and started running to them, slashing everyone in her path.
One of the two males, wearing a long black coat (the Mage) removed the necklace I found from the other male and ordered him to attack. The other guy (the Lupine) got into Krynos form and ran towards her.
But instead of a dead Mandy, the result was a dead Lupine. Mandy killed him with but one single slash from her claws, without even stopping her march towards the Mage.
The Mage, after seeing this, threw some fire ball towards her, but she didn't suffer any visible injury. And shortly the mage was a corpse.
After all the killing, she just went out using the front door.

I also discovered that the necklace can be used to suppress the Lupines, to prevent them from transforming and make them docile. I wonder if it can be used on vampires to the same effect.

I called the Seneschal, the Princess and the Regent to inform what happened here (I "forgot" to mention to the Princess and to the Seneschal the necklace that seems to pacify Lupines).

Then, out of nowhere (actually, from the first floor) an Obfuscated Kindred fell down the ceiling. I think that she was a writer here not long time ago. She told us that there were some "intruders" in the building.

Just a second afterwards, two lupines appeared in the scene. The first one was not a problem, as it just floated upside-down in the middle of the club. After making sure that a vast supply of water was available (throught the fire prevention system), the second one was soon trapped in a water cage. The "dead" lupine started to move (obviously it was not dead enough).

I started to flex my muscles to test the necklace, but (Luigi) appeared and killed all three lupines. You can always count on Gangrels to do the things in the most primal way possible.

(Luigi) and the other kindred went up to see if there were more of them, but if they were, they left.

The "reinforcements" arrived, and at that very time a La Sombra did his entrance, obscuring everything, removing the bodies and fleeing, killing several humans in the process (due the cloud of darkness).

After this little scene, the Gangrel primogen unmasked an Obfuscate Kindred (well, unmasked to those of us with the proper level of power), and demanded him to present to the Princess. He "gently" offered to escort him personally. An offer the stranger could not refuse.

We all went to the Elysium to talk to the Princess. On the road, I called the Regent to suggest her that it was the interest of the Chantry for her to be present.

We arrived to the Elysium, went through the usual procedures, and ended up in the Princess private offices. I feel rather proud with the design and building of this structure: Tremere Thaumaturgy at it finest to guarantee the Princess security, second only to the protections of the Chantry in Vienna.

The Princess introduced us to a very peculiar person: He called himself "Boss", and is supposedly the head of an organization that overwatches the supernatural beings to prevent them from overruling (or destroying) the world. Remembering some of the big botches made by mages, the massacres made by Lupines and the continuous "parties" made by the Sabbat (not to mention the very existence of the Midnight Circus), I can see that they are a very "effective" organization.

Afterwards, the Princess asked me (who else) what happened, so I gave her a nearly complete recount of the events, and asked her to bring someone to make a spoken picture of Mandy. Then the Boss told us that we will work for him now (no choices given) and that our first priority was to find and perhaps neutralize Mandy. We will move and live in the organizations headquarters from now on. Also he told us that they retrieved a Lupine corpse from the scene, so I will have the chance to check it out. Nice.

As a sidenote, the organization is called "Helsing". Did these human have absolutely no creativity?

Anyway, short afterward the Nosferatu Primogen, came by along with his "sidekick", Otto (both as ugly as ever... Sometimes I wish I was not this powerful so I could be spared of that vision). Otto ended up being a top-noch artist, and with a little telephatic sending he draw a perfect picture of Mandy. The  Senechal and the Nosferatus will work based on that picture to  locate Mandy.

Where is my Childe? She should have been here by now.

When we went out something felt very, very wrong. As soon as the first of us went out, we where ambushed: Outside where four police cars and a black car, plus a dozen of police officers pointing guns at us that started to shoot. Given that the Seneschal, the Nosferatu Primogen and our newly arrived vampire are quite good at combat, I concentrated on the car. It was not difficult to project my mind there, and I saw to bald figures with snakes tattoo. My first though: Setites (man, I hate them nearly as much as I hate Assamites or Baalis). But as I was preparing to kill them both, our new arrival and the reporter took care of them (you got to admit, Celerity is a handy discipline to have). Predictably, all the police officers were also finished.

But then, something very curious happened: The police officers started to rise again. Ghouls? I really didn't care too much at the time, and I was a little upset, so they burned. And burned. And then burned some more.
When the fire was extinguished, I noticed that the skeletons of the officers had metal plates in them, and a clock-like thing in the belly. This doesn't look good.

From time to time I called my Childe, but she never answered. I couldn't locate her with my powers, so she must be in the Chantry. Or is she?

We then went to "Helsing" HQ. A subterranean complex.. I would have never imagine...

Inside the complex, there are a lot of other supernatural creatures. I hope none of them try to demonstrate "who is the best".

Finally, I had the chance to examine the corpse of the Lupine. To my surprise, I found the same kind of metal plating and clock-like mechanism. After a little sensing of the plates, I saw that they were implanted in a very crude... surgical room. I felt anger and frustration. But I can not discern where this room is.

This does not bode well. Whoever is implanting this things may control any supernatural creature. And they have the means to subdue a Lupine.I'll need to talk to Vienna on this.

I tried again to contact my Childe. Still not responding. I'm starting to worry.

Last thing I tried was to locate Mandy. I could not. There are only two possible explanations to that: either she is in an untraceable place, or she is by herself untraceable. Both explanations are troublesome.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Today I have received a letter from my Childe. The council has asked her to go to New York. It seems that the old Regent had an... argument with a Garou, and the Garou arguments were more convincing. Given that she is one of the Kindred with the ability to heal wounds (a Thaumaturgical Path that is nothing like the wonderful Salubri ability, but without equals among the Kindreds and which I spent decades developing), they want her to attend him.

She asked the Council for me to go with her, because the lack of a healthy Regent calls  for a powerful and  cunning Tremere for to keep the situation under control and I am the oldest of the Tremere in the continent (actually, I'm among the oldest in the Clan, one of the last survivors among the Magus from the House of Hermes that where in the birth of our glorious Clan). That was her argument: perfect, implacable and uncontestable.But I know she has another reason...

I know how much she suffered when I left her 50 years ago in Vienna, after 150 years roaming around the world but it was needed for her training that she severed her ties with me... or perhaps I was affraid to care too much about her. We live in a harsh world, in an even harsher society that seems refined and civilized but is, at the end, controlled by the Beast we have inside. She has to learn to survive without me... I have cheated dead for more than 1000 years, the time must  be coming for me to have a fatal face to face encounter with the Reaper.

At the end, the Council agreed with her (did they?). Tomorrow I leave this god-forsaken city, to New York.

I'm back in New Orleans. It has been a year since I arrived to the city for the first time. I would have never imagine that what I though at first to be a simple mission to consolidate the Tremere influence in the city would become a  frantic search around the world, following the shadow of a long forgotten myth. the Midnight Circus. We almost lost our existence, our very essence, almost becoming slaves for all the eternity. I still have daymares about the horrors and terrors that I witnessed, suffered and lived.

The idea of spending the eternity as a slave of the circus makes the prospect of having a sunbath at noon to be tempting and pleasurable.

I consider that my mission was accomplished: The Tremeres have improved their image at the Prince's eyes (which does not means that he trust us... nothing farther than the truth), we established several powerful "allies" that may prove to be be useful in the future, and the Vienna Chantry will send two Tremeres to help Alexandra strengthen the local Chantry.

Anyway, I long for the day I leave this city. There are very few kindreds, there is a very tense relationship with the faes, the Baron Samedi completely controls the (???), the Sabatts are always coming and going, waiting to perform a new strike, and so are the Garou. It's a disaster in the making.

I cannot perceive an interest in the other clans to strengthen their presence in the city, and that is understandable: the whole city smells decay. Old. As if the Time itself has trouble to go forward.

In short. the kindreds of this city are on their own, and the future is gloomy.

I reported to Vienna the existence of Immortals, and the existence of a Fairy Court in New Orleans.

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The night is still young.

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Today Melissa steeped over the line. She showed her powers in public to bully Mona (the youngest Kindred in the city) in front of the chantry. The end result is that Mona will now talk to the prince and accuse her of breaching the Masquerade, of course following my subtle "advice". I doubt that the prince will burn her for that, but will put her off-balance in this game of power.

I talked long with Alexandra about Melissa's behavior, and I know for sure that she talked long with Melissa about it. Now it's only a matter of time.

I tried to find Alex and the immortal, but I'm still new to the city. Definitively I have to expand my influence somehow.

Today I learned that there are another kind of supernatural creatures in the world: They call themselves Inmortals. They have true immortality, not like our curse. Their aura has very bright colors, and is swirling with energy.Had we found them before, we Tremeres would not be cursed by the beast.

I need to capture one of them to study, or send him to Vienna.

Another vampire was killed. The crime seems to be related to the one last night. Who killed them is still a mystery, but there are several hypothesis. It could be a personal vendetta against the city Brujah's, an immortal demon hunter, or one of the fairies.

That last possibility send chills down my spine. I remember very well the elfs with their flaming swords and portentous presence. They're not a lot to be taken easily.

Today a vampire was killed. Who killed him is a mystery. The images collected by the Prince are those of a "Demon" with a "Flaming Sword"