After a short time spent investigating what few leads you had into the location and wherabouts of Lucas del Sol, it has been decided that there is no way for any individual among you to singlehandedly accomplish this task. It is simply of such scale that a coterie is necessary. And besides, if it comes to confrontation, whether informing the Prince of Lucas's death or confronting Lucas himself in the event that the missing Sanctified still walks among you, who really wants to be alone in that situation?

To that end, a neutral meeting ground is chosen. A mid-high end italian eatery, known to be under the influence of an unaligned Mekhet elsewhere in the region. The proprietor's only rules: No violence, and be nice to the staff. The restaurant has become a quite popular location for private meetings and the like. Those with heightened senses hear an extremely high pitched, fluctuating sound that is so horribly loud you sometimes wonder why the others can't hear it. It is here, amid the red checkered tile and brown and black leather decor that the meeting takes place.

((OOC: Anyone who kicks up heightend senses in here is considered stunned for a round as ultra high frequency sounds bombard their ears, a sound which only they can hear))

They came into the club together. It wasn't too crowded this late in the night, so getting a late table in the back wasn't hard. Adrian took a seat with a clear view of the door. He kept a nervous eye on it while Angie was going back over the information they (she) had gathered. To be honest, Adrian was good at recognizing the clues but it took Angie's big, bulging brain to make sense of what they had found. That had worked surprisingly well together their first time out.

The others would be coming soon. They had waved off the waitress who seemed to catch a hint they, and their guests, didn't want anything off the menu. She made herself scarce.

"The homeless deaths are going to hard to track," Adrian, "but we might be able to makes sense of the others. Do you have a plan?"
He asked with sense of both hopefullness and dread. He hoped they could solve this case and dreaded meeting the Vampire at the center of it.

Antoine and Ashe arrived on time suprisingly. Being an Italian place Antoine had decided to dress the part putting on a black and grey pinstripe suit. He held the door for Ashe and then followed her in ducking his head to avoid the frame. Seeing the table he shook his head and too a seat on the outside his long legs and huge form requiring the extra space. Looking around Antoine noticed a couple of the waitresses looking at him, A shame that I can't get a bite to eat, but I'm probably in enough shit already, better play nice and be good.

Ashe entered the restaurant with an inhuman stride approaching the table where Adrian and Angie where sitting disregarding the staff. Whatever caused her vexation it directly reflected in her eyes... maybe it was just lack of blood and she was hungry.

Ashe wore a breathtaking black dress that perfectly matched Antoine's elegant style. It bared her right leg almost up to her ass and flowed down her toned body. Her makeup accentuated her hispanic features with complimenting colors.

Taking a seat her eyes wandered over Adrian's and Angie's face asking questions without saying anything.

Eric comes in, most of his body covered in some form of material or other. He wears his familiar dark brown cloak wrapped around him, but beneath it, he is wearing finer, if dated, clothing. When he gets closer to the table and pulls the hood of it back and you can see his face better, you are reminded why he takes liberties to disguise himself among mortals as many of his features are barely human. He could probably pass as human if he put some effort into it.

Eric takes a seat at the table across from Adrian and Antoine.

"This isn't all of us, is it?" Eric says, the barest hints of a scandanavian accent noticeable. "I am normally a late riser, and expected to find more of us here already."

Adrian looked up when he came in and then hurriedly looked back down. He did this to everyone who came in the restuarant.



Adrian looks up a little concerned by that train of thought.

"It shouldn't be. Galiana and the Rabbi are together. They should know the ETA of Sir Robyn."
Adrian wasn't too sure about the Rabbi having the stones to see this through, but you never knew.
"Larry Peat was working with Antione and Ashe, so they would have a better idea on his were-abouts."

Erik nods. "Good, hopefully they are all just later than us. Unless they already found the missing elder, in which case I suppose there are probably other things to be worried about."

Erik shows a toothy smile, which is possibly the only indication that he was attempting to be funny. However, the whole manner appears more disturbing than it does relaxed or funny for that matter.

Antoine shrugged his great shoulders, "We parted ways with Larry an hour ago, I'm sure he'll be along though. Since we are clearly not here to eat perhaps we should just start without them? I would rather we go over what we have more than once than sit here staring at each other while we wait."

"It is rude to start without all your party." Galiana had slipped up on them, probably not surprising the most astute but certainly annoyingly quiet. She was swathed in cloth again from her crown down, right to the black veil that clouded her face and hid her scar. She was a walking shadow, a creature of faceless, featureless darkness.

She pulled out a chair and sat with her back to the room. Only when her face couldn't easily be seen by mortals did she pull aside the veil, revealing her dark eyes and her face-twisting scar. "Robin will not be coming; she was called to covenant business. The rabbi... will be along."

[OOC: 4 dice for sneakin' about - if you want to see her coming, feel free; she just likes scaring people - putting the fear of God into them, if you will]

"We haven't really started yet," Angie tells Galiana after wincing at the momentary surprise she'd given her. "Hopefully the rabbi won't be too long though. I think we have a lot to go over and decide."

"Well, if the good Rabbi will be along soon, I suppose we can wait a little longer."

Erik looks around the table at everyone. For a moment as his eyes pass over you, it feels like you are being watched by a large snake, waiting for the perfect opportunity to dart out at it's prey. Maybe its his odd eyes or just how he holds himself, but the feeling is undeniable.

[OOC: Erik's eyes are yellow-ish and they don't quite look right at a distance, but if you look real close, you notice that they look more reptilian than human.]

Galiana didn't surprise him, but that didn't diminish her scary factor by much. She always seemed to him to be looking right through him. The loss of the Elder Robyn kind of sucked and now perhaps Larry wasn't going to show either. The Rabbi was needed, but now any physical option was just about vanished.

There was nothing to say. They would wait a little longer, plan out some strategy, and then the real risks would begin.

Had someone killed Lucas? Was it his bodyguard? What was up with the killings? Could they catch the possible killer?

Ashe looked around half bored and annoyed obviously waiting for something. Galiana's little game brought a smile to her face and it reminded her that she liked to play it too. Especially on fellow kindred.

Without looking at anybody she suddenly asked, boredom still in her voice, "I'm asking myself why we even bother finding him. Are we in any obligation? Even the Elders don't seem to be much interested in pursuing this stupid task."

"I admit, I'm at a loss," Angelina says heavily. "There's evidence SOMEthing is happening, but I don't see any connections between it and these deaths. My first thought was that the...missing person might have succumbed to his," she makes scare marks with her fingers, "'Beast.' And that he's behind the killings. But the deaths don't match what I'd expect from that. They're too careful and considered, and the targets are too selectively chosen. At this point, unattractive as it is, I have to say the disappearance we're investigating and these murders may be coincidences."

Adrian struggles to say anything at all. He's hardly a fan of the current hierchy, but there is also this fear he has.

He shrugs weakly then responds to Ashe,
"We told the Prince we would and for some of us, her displeasure is something we could do without. I'm not old enough, or established enough to live without the aid of my Clan and Convenant."
Adrian is obviously unhappy to admit this.

He looks to Angie and shakes hhis head slightly.
"I disagree. I think there is a pattern we can follow here, given the right 'Predatory' mindset."

He gulps and looks nervously toward Galiana, "I think we found a pattern in Sir Lucas' hunting, as well as an anomylous pattern. First off, a number of upstanding pillars of the community have been slain recently - execution style. A few told family and friends they had a sense of being watched. These people were nurses, teachers, and the like - people that helped other people in need. Now they have been killed and the police have no leads."

"The anomylous killings have been amongst the homeless. They have been blamed on a pack of wild animals - cougars, I don't know - but they have picked up in recent weeks."

"The executions are all over the place, but we might be able to track the homeless deaths."

"And, of course, we didn't find any staked kindred," he ends with as a pathetic joke.

"I just don't see anything concretely linking any of that to Lucius," Angie points out. "I'm not saying I don't care about it, but nothing about those deaths seems relevant to what we're supposed to be doing."

"No matter what, isn't that a matter for his Covenant? The only thing interesting for all of us would be if he endangered us all by breaching the Masquerade. Those murders if not random are surely on some poor detective's desk - likely unsolveable since he is looking for a human killer.", Ashe shrugged.

"And don't look at me like that when you say 'Predatory' mindset.", Ashe flashed at Adrian.

"Because my dear, if we do not at least try I will likely be sporting a rather extreme body piercing by week's end." Antoine looks frustrated, this is hardly the kind of work he is used to. "I don't suppose connecting those dots shows any obvious pattern does it?"

"The only pattern I can see is that there's two different kinds of murder happening, and two different vampires missing," Angie says woodenly.

She grimaces and asks, "Galiana, you know Lucas. Do you know his bodyguard? Maybe we'll have better luck with him."

Ashe raised an eyebrow at Antoine's comment. "That's something we should discuss with the Ordo. From what I take its unacceptable. You can't take that prick of a Carthian seriously, that's way out of his line."

If Adrian's jaw could have detached, it would have done so and made a resounding thud on the table.

"Wha ... wha ... what did you just say?" he stutters to Ashe after he manages to regain control.

He wants to say something vaguely supportive and holey untrue in support of the Prince's Man, but he can't. Not only does the Gangrel scare him, he really can't stand the Kindred in question himself.

Not managing to find any words, he looks to Angie for support.

"I said threatening Antoine just because the Prince can't find her favourite lapdog is way out of line for Nathis. Gangrel Priscus or not. He can do whatever he damn pleases but that's just crossing the line.", Ashe spoke every word slowly and clearly pronounced as if Adrian was a little boy.

"Think about it. Where does this lead to? What comes next? Unacceptable. We need to find out the truth about his mysterious demise... or make something up. Whatever suits us best."

"I don't know about you guys, but honestly I'm not happy knowing we've either got a pair of rogue vampires out there killing people, or something else that's powerful enough to stop a pair of experienced vampires and possibly kill them. And on top of all that, we'd piss off the Prince and every vampire who's loyal to the Prince. Failure is one thing, saying we'll do it, and then not doing it...that's just a bad idea."

Antoine sighed, "I would rather not bring the Ordo into this. Better still to heed Angie's advice. It hurts us not to try." Antoine's expression is sour despite his words being calm. He puts a hand on Ashe's and continues, "Besides which if we succeed we could be the ones owed a favor and not the other way round. Or at the very least we will be off the shite list."

"I still don't buy it. It smells like a trap and more so like something to keep us busy. And maybe someone dies on the road or we tear each others throats out... but I'm willing to try it your way. Just don't blame me afterwards if I was right."

Ashe had her hands on the table and slowly retracted them to turn her attention to Antoine. Her eyes still spoke of boredom and annoyance but he seemed to keep her temper somewhat at bay.

"Whatever," Adrian whispers.

He clears his voice and continues,
"What we need to do next is find the guys ... umm, Sir Lucas' haven. Maybe there will be some clues as to what's going on with his mind."

With obvious reluctance, Adrian meets Galiana's gaze.
"The head of your Covenant probably knows and we need to know."
He sighs because he so hates any kind of confrontation.
"Or we can take what we know to the Prince and point to were the trail leads and leave it at that."

"Personally, I don't like the way this case is going, but I live in this city and the thought of someone doing something to Sir Lucas and getting away with it is disturbing."
Almost as frightening as the thought that its Sir Lucas and his bodyguard who have lost their minds.

"Perhaps young Adrian is right. There has to be clues about what is going on with his mind, however I don't believe we will find them at his haven."

Erik pauses a moment, seemingly collecting his thoughts together to form a cohesive sentence.

"There is a museum of naturally history in the city, and I have a feeling there might be some clues to what is going on there. And Ashe, you are probably correct in assuming this is a trap or a setup, but I think we may be the targets of it, so we'll have to proceed with extreme caution."

Erik reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out what looks like a burnt chunk of fossilized wood. When he lays it down on the table, it is much more obvious it is a perfectly smooth stake rather than some mundane piece of art.

Erik looks at the stake and looks around at everyone else and before they can react Erik speaks up again.

"Calm down, this stake isn't for any of you. It was delivered to me. I assume it was a message for us...probably that we are digging into things we shouldn't be."

"But we haven't even started digging yet," Angie complains, annoyed. "I think Adrian's right. The haven is the next logical place to go."

She glances at Galiana, but addresses her comment to the group. "So if anyone has any connections or way to find out where it is, this is the time."

((Auspex Rolls, go ))

Erik looks slightly annoyed at Angie's comment. Erik speaks, his voice barely higher than a low growl. "I thought I just gave advice on where the next logical place to go was. I am a member of the Circle and our divinations are quite often accurate. I saw him in a museum and I think that is where we should head."

Erik shakes his head. "But if you do not wish the Circle's wisdom in this matter, then I will stand silent. I have offered up my visions and I have offered this piece," Erik waves his hand towards the petrified stake on the table "to be investigated. If we want to start digging, I suggest we start at the museum. Rushing off to his haven would be akin to suicide at this point if he is expecting us."

(er...what dice pool? Heightened Senses doesn't usually roll unless it's for countering surprise, and Aura Perception is a declared action...)

Wits + Investigation

((BBCode 8d10.extra(10) (1d10=6, 1d10=8, 1d10=5, 1d10=4, 1d10=8, 1d10=5, 1d10=1, 1d10=8)

So, that looks like three successes!))

(fail: got a 5, 4, 6, 2)
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1654178/

(sigh :))