Our Vampire: the Requiem game has been going on for several months now, and a lot has happened to our fair, little crew since our GM’s first post entitled Undead in Chicago, First Meeting ^[1]. My character’s name is Lavender Ashe, a Daeva who was embraced in the 1920s in New York City. She’s a diva (literally, she sings) and she knows a lot about ghosts. Half of her coterie is off on a secret mission in Milwaukee; the other half (namely the Kindred formerly known as Anton who is now “Blake”) is working with her to develop an occult business and track down some rogue Kindred that decided to diablerize the Regent of the Chicago River.

Let’s see what she’s up to in this week’s episode…

Lavender is waiting to hear back from Blake and her mentor, a Nosferatu by the name of Czarnecki, about Lance. Lance was one of the River Rats that had asked for their help investigating the disappearance of Regent Serbetzia; in a terrible firefight, Lance was double-crossed and everyone took a couple of bullets. Lance was hurt the worst.

Blake (who was formerly known as Anton in real life) and Lavender are meeting at Bar Chicago to exchange pleasantries. Lavender tells Blake that someone (a Kindred) was looking for her at the Pink Lady, a theme bar that she often performs at. She asks Blake if she knows whether or not Lance is okay, and Blake told her he’s not sure he’s ready to talk but he is able to hunt. Lavender asks Blake if he’s interested in going on the blood hunt, but he’d prefer to hunt if we actually had a lead, and the trail is pretty cold. Agreeing, Lavender thinks that’s a good idea. Then, she launches into a rant about her “roommate” (a fellow Daeva named Kyle) taking over her apartment. Blake, the Ventrue, expresses that he’s suggested to Kyle to get his own place. Apparently, Kyle is “very happy” where he’s at. Lavender says, “Well, we shall see.”

We scan the crowd a little bit to ensure that we’re alone. Bar Chicago is pretty busy for a Friday night. Lots of activity, but also pretty mellow and superficial. Lavender brings up darker matters, because there’s something that’s still bugging her about the Regent’s demise. Is her death “just” a Kindred matter? Or is there something else occult-related involved? Previously, we had learned that the Chicago River’s natural flow was changed, which affected the ley lines. Sasha, the Kindred responsible for Serbetzia’s death, was a “transplant” who wasn’t native to Chicago. Lavender expresses an interest in finding out more about him; not necessarily confronting him directly. Her concern is that Sasha may not have been acting out of his own self-interests.

Blake brings up the connection between Sasha and the Carthians; he recommends talking to Deuce Carter. Lavender agrees. Of course, they’re not sure Carter will talk to them. Frequently, they’ve seen him as a guest of Brad Kerwin, who’s had a few problems with Prince Maxwell (of the Dominate kind). Our Storyteller also reminds us that we know Bobby Warner, a Daeva Carthian. Blake puts in a call to Johnny Piano, to see if Bobby is available. One of Lavender’s fans shows up; she puts the whammy on him and tells him that he should walk her out to her car. Once outside, she pulls him in the alleyway and fills up her tank with a point of Vitae. Blake waits patiently for her to finish, and told her that Johnny had no idea where he is. (Lavender is shocked, shocked I tell you.) After mumbling about Kyle, Blake mentions that he was surprised he hadn’t tried to hit up Jessica. (A mortal “psi-vampire” that Lavender can. not. stand.) Blake advises Lavender to put her foot down, because Kyle is taking advantage of the situation. Lavender rolls her eyes. Then, Blake recommends they go to the “floofie pagan bookstore” where some of the Crone and werewolves have been known to meet.

Lavender thinks that it might be a good idea to take a night off from clubbing, so she decides to “play.” For now. “All right,” she says. “Let’s go get into trouble.” At which, Blake says that they could go werewolf-hunting. (This is the part that Lavender tries to be polite, by not laughing at the delicate Ventrue who feels the need to buy a bullet-proof vest.) Blake is idly speculating about where the werewolves (and Kindred outside of Chicago) might be as we drive down to Cassandra’s Visions. Caught in traffic, we talk about Filthfoot, a Nosferatu who helps us out from time to time, in exchange for our putting a good word in with the Prince.

After arriving, we scan the inventory and see a lot of mainstream published crap. A few self-published “rare” books, like one written by Chicago author Weber Wormwood about ghosts. There’s another one about the “hell house” in Chicago, a serial killer that killed a bunch of people during the World’s Fair in the late 1800s. (Monica’s note: There actually is such a place…check out Weird & Haunted Chicago ^[2]) Lavender isn’t looking for anything in particular; she’s taking a pretty generic overview of things…until she remembers…the ghost rock! (Crap!) Lavender realizes that she’s got a shiny artifact to explore. Blake was looking into a polo shirt-wearing ghost that seemed to pop up at the appropriate time. She finds in a book that supposedly there’s a lot of “ghost rock” in the Chicago area. Lavender records the name of the local author (Kelly Frost) and mentions to Blake that they should track him down. (She notes to herself, that she should probably talk to Andrew Reynolds about this, too.)

Kelly Frost is a ghost hunter who believes that there’s a lot of paranormal activity in Chicago because of the volume of tragedy and the number of people. Murder Castle. High crimes and mobsters. Chicago Fire. Lavender is anxious to look up anything she can, because she doesn’t want to lose her artifact without exploring her options. While gazing at the pretty items by the cash register, Rowen, the head of the Circle of the Crone walks through the door. Lavender flashes Blake a smile, who recommends that they exit, stage left. The clerk appears to know that we’re Kindred. Lavender is a bit unnerved by that and decides to keep her mouth shut for a couple of seconds. Carefully, she asks the clerk about the Chicago River and ley lines. There’s some off-handed discussion and Blake takes a business card from the clerk, who is very interested in the “death” condition.

We leave, and Lavender points out that the clerk was creepy and may want to do other things besides talk. Blake realized that. Then, the Ventrue recommends that we go clubbing to (*coughs*) Excalibur. Lavender is a little reluctant. (And by reluctant, I mean tries not to gag.) In the end, they decide to go to the Palmer House Hotel because they’ve never been there before. There’s two bars in the hotel; they head towards the more casual of the two. The Sheriff (not of Nottingham) and two of the Prince’s childer are in the bar. We run into Persephone and have a chat about how the rumor mill has been pretty quiet. We take a table not too far from Norris and his cronies. After we get a little comfortable, we decide to head over to talk to the scariest man in Kindred society.

We find out that Mr. Baines (our arch-nemesis, a Hound with an attitude) and his cronies ran into an “unaligned” Kindred who was giving them a hard time. The Sheriff is interested in setting up a meeting with Kyle and his childer, Helen Gambieu. Lavender obliges, then is a little surprised that he is interested in having a conversation about Lavender’s “bright” idea, an all-Daeva meeting. He mentions quite a few Kindred that are interested in showing up, including *dum, dum, dummmmmm* Brad Kerwin! After inquiring about Lance’s condition and a few other pleasantries, we politely excuse ourselves and go back to our table. (We take a quick break, and our kitty decides to join in the fun by rolling the dice.)

I send a text to Kyle to arrange a meeting tomorrow night. “H.G. wants 2 meet w/u tom.” (When. Where.) “Pink Lady. Tom night. Ur grounded.” (Yes, mom.) Blake recommends mentioning to the Sheriff the time and place; Lavender goes off on a rant how Kyle will do what she tells him to because he’s taken over her apartment. After all, Blake suggested to be more “assertive.”

Blake is going off on a brief tangent about Rowen; Lavender isn’t really interested in psycho-analyzing the Crone. Rowen really doesn’t hold an interest for Lavender, but she doesn’t want to get on her bad side either.

And with that…we call it for the night…