Vampire the Masquerade Live From The Succubus Club

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB9 9when she was Embraced by an older Toreador. Some get Embraced for beauty or revenge, but Liane’s sire just needed someone who could help him navigate a modern recording studio. She did as she was asked for a few years, but being a glorified servant didn’t suit her, so she escaped to found Pale Sunrise.Liane is the creative driving force behind Pale Sunrise. She’s a songwriter and the drummer, but she also makes sure the band keeps practicing, that they get to gigs on time and behave professionally with their industry contacts. She’s ambitious and believes that the bands that truly become successful are also able to do the work.12th Generation Toreador NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 8Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 6, Mental 7, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 7, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools: Brawl 7, Performance 8, Technology 8Disciplines: Auspex 1 (Heightened Senses), Celerity 3 (Rapid Reflexes, Fleetness, Blink)Appearance: An East Asian woman in her mid‑20s, Liane sports the same pale, eyeliner-heavy look as the rest of the band, but it’s rare she’s the focus of attention. She’s too intent on the music, happy to disappear behind the drums while others take center stage. Like many drummers, she’s quite fit and often dresses in a sleeveless shirt to show off her muscles. Her nickname comes from the wide smile she sports when she’s playing, feeling the perfection of the rhythm in her body.IN PLAY: Liane is the serious professional musician in Pale Sunrise. She can be a colleague to players’ characters who want to experience unlife among their musical peers. She’s demanding and asks the players’ characters to take their music seriously.LOCATIONS: Liane may be found playing a gig with the band or practicing, making sure that she stays sharp. She’s also interested in the business of music and sometimes that means taking serious meetings in offices.ON TOUR: Among the members of Pale Sunrise, Liane is the most likely to develop a positive relationship with the players’ band. She’s invested in Pale Sunrise, but she sees a broader future for herself, perhaps as someone who becomes a hidden power in the European music industry. She may see the players’ characters as potential pawns to further that goal.Asad SeddikiThe strutting sex symbolAnarchs (Pale Sunrise)The sad secret of Asad’s mortal life is that he was never particularly wild. He loved his electric guitar, and he wanted to get good. That required practice, and although he played in a few bands, he was too conscientious to be much of a party animal despite his easygoing charisma and good looks. When the others went out, he went to sleep.Asad spent his first months as a member of Pale Sunrise as a ghoul, recruited by Liane Wind because of his skill. Unfortunately, accidents happen. Cyfrin Pariah lost control and almost drank Asad dry, and in a panic, Liane Embraced him.The Embrace changed Asad dramatically. He realized that his unchanging body wouldn’t suffer from hangovers. His hands wouldn’t start trembling. He could go crazy every night and still be in shape to practice. His vampiric Hunger intermingled with the feeling that he’d lost so many opportunities to enjoy himself while he was still mortal.13th Generation Toreador NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 8Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 7, Mental 5, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Insight 8, Performance 8, Awareness 7Disciplines: Presence 3 (Awe, Lingering Kiss, Entrancement), Celerity 1 (Cat’s Grace)Appearance: A tall Arab goth in his early 20s, Asad was blessed even as a mortal with the kind of physical attractiveness he didn’t have to work for. He used to feel awkward about the attention, but as one of the undead, he’s learned to utilize it for maximum

Chapter Five: Sound and Fury 100effect. He knows that when he’s playing on stage, half the audience falls in lust with him.IN PLAY: Asad is an engine for random events. Trouble starts because he was chatting up the local Prince’s favorite childe. He himself rarely has any sort of a plan, but somehow chaos still follows him.LOCATIONS: Asad’s hunts have a habit of escalating into bizarre escapades involving jealous spouses, the police, and confused bystanders. He has everything he needs to make hunting easy, but his habit of following random chance means he can show up in surprising places when he’s not on stage with Pale Sunrise.ON TOUR: Asad can be a troublemaker, an ally, or even a lover, depending on how the relationship between the players’ band and Pale Sunrise develops.DumdumGod’s own foolAnarchs (Pale Sunrise)Starting as a blood doll following the band around, Dumdum joined Pale Sunrise after being Embraced by Liane Wind in the midst of a short-lived romantic liaison. Easily the weakest musician in the band, she plays the keyboards with modest skill now that Liane has forced her to learn.Accounts vary whether Dumdum was a drug dealer, a fan, or if she aspired to play in the band, but she has an inexhaustible supply of energy that makes her seem as if she was wired on something even when she’s completely sober. She has a way of making her own reality, where taking terrible risks and pulling dumb stunts is the reasonable thing to do.There’s a legend among Pale Sunrise fans that Dumdum once accidentally discharged a gun while on stage, hitting someone in the audience. There’s no documented evidence that this is true.13th Generation Toreador NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 6Standard Dice Pools: Physical 7, Social 6, Mental 4, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 7, Willpower 4Exceptional Dice Pools: Athletics 8, Brawl 8, Streetwise 8Disciplines: Presence 1 (Daunt), Celerity 3 (Cat’s Grace, Fleetness, Blink)Appearance: Dumdum presents an androgynous figure of indeterminate age, preferring hoodies and baggy clothes that obscure her wiry frame. She’s probably white, but it’s hard to be certain. Her style never quite matches the goth refinement Cyfrin Pariah tries to enforce in the band. There are too many tasteless tattoos and neon colors amidst the black.IN PLAY: Use Dumdum when you need something dumb to happen in the game. Someone invites all the enemies of the players’ band to the gig? Someone spikes the characters’ Herd with psychoactive drugs just before a gig? Someone tells the Archon that the best way to protect the Masquerade is to break it? It can always be her, and somehow she always seems able to shift the consequences of her actions onto others.LOCATIONS: Dumdum can be found anywhere, but the gutter is her natural habitat.ON TOUR: When things start to go wrong, Dumdum is either the first victim or the last survivor. She’s reckless enough that a hunter may find her sleeping during the day in a body bag in the Pale Sunrise tour bus. She may also survive a strike by a Camarilla Archon, who is determined to destroy all Kindred with a public mortal profile as Masquerade risks, because she was late to the gig.Other Recurring CharactersThese are supporting characters designed to have a potentially recurring role in the chronicle. The Storyteller is encouraged to use them according to their own and player interest. Players may also spend Experience points to buy Allies, Retainers or other Advantages which may then be tied to one or more of these characters. If so, the character then functions according to the Advantage. They may also be useful during character creation for the purposes of Flaws such as Enemy.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB101Leni KrollThe Blood-addicted tour managerAnarchs (Pale Sunrise or the players’ band)It’s a business, but it’s also a lifestyle. Leni has had a varied career in nightlife and the music business, from working as a bartender to booking bands for a festival. She’s had her ups and downs, with a string of estranged lovers and business partners to show for it.Leni’s problems with the industry she’s working in mean that she’s happy to take on a new but promising band in the hopes that they’ll strike it big and she’ll become successful, too. After all, the players’ characters represent bridges she hasn’t burnt yet.The first experiences Leni had with vampiric Blood occurred before she met the players’ characters, but she’s happy to become their ghoul. Whatever it takes to hold onto the rush of undead Blood!GhoulGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 7, Mental 6, Disciplines 4Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 6Exceptional Dice Pools: Drive 6, Streetwise 8, Finance 7Disciplines: Presence 1 (Daunt), Celerity 1 (Cat’s Grace)Appearance: A white German woman in her late 30s, Leni always has a cigarette in some hand and her phone in the other. Her affectations include dyed hair, a leather jacket, and €50 notes she likes to brandish at problems in the hope that they go away.IN PLAY: Leni is a lot more experienced than anybody else the players’ band works with. The Storyteller can use her to make the tour into a professional operation, even a modest one. It may be advisable to make Leni extroverted but essentially trustworthy to keep the chronicle on track and avoid time-wasting caused by having to second-guess your tour manager.LOCATIONS: Leni is often with the band when they’re playing a gig but may also have to travel separately. She has other business to deal with. Perhaps she wants to visit prospective venues to talk them into booking the players’ band. She can make things happen without the players’ characters present.ON TOUR: When using Leni, the Storyteller should decide if she’s a story element or part of the chronicle’s structure. As a story element, she can betray the characters, cheat them, or try to get them to Embrace her. As a structural element for the chronicle, her function is to remind the players’ characters of the realities of the tour and to get them to the next venue so the game continues on track.

Chapter Five: Sound and Fury 102Gary TupmannThe Duskborn tour managerAnarchs (the players’ band or Pale Sunrise)Thinking back on it, Gary had everything he could’ve wanted before he was Embraced. He’d made a name for himself in the music industry, and some of the bands he worked with then have gone on to make it pretty big. He had a partner he was crazy about and money enough that he didn’t have to worry about the bills. But he didn’t know how good he had it until he lost it.His Embrace cost him everything and gave him almost nothing in return. The position he was promised with the Kindred who took his life was withdrawn when he turned out fangless and powerless, and he got no help to handle either Hunger or withdrawal. It was shit for almost a year. Now Gary is back in business, a ruthless negotiator despite his toothless reputation, working to prove he’s every bit the killer that he ever was.15th Generation Duskborn NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 0Humanity: 7Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 6, Mental 7Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools:Intimidation 8, Persuasion 7, Finance 8Thin-Blood Merits and Flaws:Baby Teeth, Bestial Temper, Day Drinker, LifelikeAppearance: A wild-haired white Brit somewhere between 30 and 45, judging from his joyless eyes and sallow skin, Gary was never able to grow a decent beard, and after his Embrace, he hasn’t gotten fangs either. He’s rarely seen in anything more elaborate than jeans and a black t-shirt.IN PLAY: Gary knows the music industry well enough to see through most of the scammy glitz and empty promises newer managers would not. His recent leave of absence means he has a bit of catching up to do, and some of his old contacts are under the impression his “breakdown” or “full-blown alcoholism” had pushed him out for good — but that just means the players’ band can get an experienced freelance manager at a discount price. He’s as motivated as his band to make them big. He needs it just as much.LOCATIONS: Gary travels with the band or on his own. His minivan has everything he needs to protect himself and his identity, from sun-proofed windows to a mini-fridge of blood bags. When he isn’t on tour, he mostly hangs out in his downtown office, some crime show or other running in the background.ON TOUR: As the players’ band’s tour manager, Gary can structure the narrative and get the players’ characters to where the Storyteller needs them to go, but he can also provide challenges and twists. He might have old grievances with former bosses or the bloodline that rejected him. Make sure such elements serve the primary narrative to avoid getting sidetracked for too long. As the manager for Pale Sunrise, Gary might try to trick, cheat, outmaneuver, or sign the players’ band.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB103NohrThe inspired troublemakerNohr was on a trip with his class from Herlufsholm elite boarding school when he discovered freedom. It started with sneaking out for a late-night gig, where his eyes were opened, and now he’s on the loose. One of the teachers stayed behind a few days but finally had to hand the case over to the police and return to Denmark. Now, Nohr is a refugee from the silverspoon life, a migrant on the road, a hopeful settler in the land of rock ’n’ roll adventures.Nohr has discovered his first big love, and it’s the music of the players’ band. A dedicated fan, he follows them from town to town, not yet sure if he wants to be exactly like them or just get close to them.MortalGeneral Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 3, Mental 4Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 4Exceptional Dice Pools: Athletics 5 (Archery), Etiquette 5 (Upper-class society), Technology 6 (Programming)Appearance: 17 years old, Nohr can pass for 19 or 20. He looks like a privileged Asian jock, tall and handsome, with dark hair and a strong physique. He’s done his best to shed the private-school boy look by scuffing up his navy-colored slacks and donning a distressed jean jacket, but his posture and the way he talks make his privileged background easy to spot.IN PLAY: Things happen when Nohr appears. Full of drive and enthusiasm and with little in the way of caution, he is a natural trouble magnet. Proudly claiming himself a defender of the band, he might be the one to provoke a bar fight. He sneaks into areas where he shouldn’t be, leads the cops to the underground gig without knowing it, and has people looking for him all over Europe on behalf of his rich parents. But his family connections and diplomatic deportment can just as easily make trouble go away.LOCATIONS: The school excursion featured educational exhibitions and private mansions, but the new Nohr wants to be wherever he thinks his idols can be found. The more horrified his parents would be to know of his surroundings, the better.ON TOUR: Nohr can pop back up several times in a chronicle, having found a way to catch up to the band again — it’s not like they’re hard to find, they’ve got posters with their schedule on it. Inexperienced as he is at the beginning, he can develop into an ally or antagonist to be reckoned with if given a little encouragement. Enemies of the players’ band might give him that encouragement, too.

Chapter Five: Sound and Fury 104Hannah MarieWoman with a missionHannah was a diehard super fan, a rebel who followed her favorite band from concert to concert, celebrating their highs and raging at the world when it turned against them. She was loyal. She made dresses out of merch to wear at concerts, waiting hours at the barricades for every show just to support them. She sent birthday cards and got the signature on her tits tattooed. When she started getting invited to afterparties, she was fucking thrilled. Hugs from the musicians kept her high on love for weeks.Then, wonder of wonders, one sweaty summer’s night, Hanna and her idol melted together, tongues and necks and lips and legs. She doesn’t quite recall the details, but she’s sure that sex was had, and when she found herself pregnant about eight weeks later, who else could be the dad but her idol?Hanna hasn’t been able to get hold of the father of her baby-tobe just yet, or he doesn’t take her seriously, but she refuses to let him become a deadbeat dad. She’s looked up to him for years.MortalGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 3, Social 4, Mental 5Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Insight 6, Awareness 7, Investigation 7Appearance: Hannah appears to be in her early 20s. She’s white with pretty straw-blond hair she’s hacked into some sort of French bob and since ignored. She travels light, her life stuffed into a fat Fjällräven backpack. Having recently stopped smoking, her fingers constantly search for something to fidget with.IN PLAY: Hanna’s function in the chronicle depends on who she thinks the daddy is. She can be a fan of either the players’ band or Pale Sunrise, but either way, she’s incorrect in her assumptions, and the actual father is a mortal she hooked up with in a boozy haze that same night. Her memories about it all are a bit foggy.If Hanna blames a member of Pale Sunrise, the players’ band can increasingly become her new fixation. If she blames a player’s character, she’ll be doing what she can to make them do what’s right.LOCATIONS: If she isn’t somewhere in the crowd at concerts, absentmindedly rocking to the music as she keeps going over what on Earth she’ll do next, Hannah can be found buying mocktails in a dingy bar, working a temporary low-wage service industry job, or looking for help in places where she really shouldn’t.ON TOUR: Depending on how the players’ band treats Hanna, she can become a liability, an ally, or a threat as the chronicle continues. She might call in help from her friends from the fan community if she feels mistreated or disrespected, stirring public opinion in ways that could impact their band’s rise to further fame.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB105Osram AndersenProfit-hunting talent scoutOsram learned early in life that charm and confidence will get you further than genuine talent. He flunked out of a series of different degrees, finally gave up on making his mother proud, and hit gold when he discovered his talent for sales. Seriously, on a good day, he could sell shoes to a snake. And he would. Because Osram knows that in this life, you’re either running the hustle or you’re the sucker who falls victim to it, and he’s got big plans for himself.Nowadays, he works freelance as a talent scout, cooperating with a variety of European agencies. According to him, he could get a job with any one of them whenever he wanted to, but he appreciates his freedom too much.For the most part, Osram’s industry contacts consider him a necessary inconvenience. He brings in profit, and he does have a genuine eye for talent, but he’s just a little bit too pushy and eager to be anyone’s favorite person.MortalGeneral Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 3, Social 4, Mental 4Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 4Exceptional Dice Pools: Subterfuge 6, Finance 5, Investigation 5Appearance: Osram is a Danish man of Turkish or Arabic background in his mid‑40s, sporting a perpetual tan and slicked black hair. He favors patterned shirts with the top three buttons opened, merino turtleneck sweaters, white slacks, and mintcondition leather jackets in a way intended to make it look like he’s just stepped off the jet from Miami.IN PLAY: Osram’s primary function is to get the band in trouble, ideally while they’re still too inexperienced to know better. He offers them what appears as a quick ride to stardom, trapping them in an agreement they’ll come to regret and that likely blocks them off from better options. He uses trickery and temptation — and sometimes, a shady deal can be just the thing to get out of a sticky situation. The downsides don’t have to reveal themselves until a little later down the road.LOCATIONS: Osram can be found where the talent is, at gigs, clubs, music festivals, and even the occasional wedding or Bat Mitzvah. He also makes an effort to frequent the same locations as potential investors and key players from the music industry, including certain wellness centers, strip clubs, and tennis courts, so he can pretend to run into them on accident.ON TOUR: Osram has reason and motivation to appear in many of the same places as the players’ band. He can be treated as a minor recurring antagonist — perhaps he got some collateral on them early on he continues to try to use against them, or they’re still paying off a deal they made with him. He can also turn out to be an unexpected ally. He has a lot of intel on the industry, and if the players’ characters make it worth his while, he’ll be able to help them out against much bigger fish than him.

Chapter Five: Sound and Fury 106Julie BekhtiNo-nonsense roadieIt might not be obvious at first glance, but Julie’s past has not been easy. She was a slum child, never did well in school, had to run errands for wannabe gangsters, and from there, it only got worse until she hit rock bottom. She’s not the type to overshare, but the former inmate has made it through situations that make ordinary life on the road your basic picnic. She’s no broken doll, though. Julie came out on the other side, and it takes a lot to shock her. She doesn’t know exactly what the band is hiding, but she knows it’s none of her business and she also has stuff she doesn’t want coming out into the light. Partnership works best when everyone stays focused on their own lane.MortalGeneral Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 5, Mental 5Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Drive 8, Streetwise 7, Technology 7 (hardware, not software)Appearance: Julie is a stocky, Algerian woman whose sun-beaten skin makes her look older than the 30-something she is. She braids her hair to keep it out of the way and wears cargo pants for the storage space. She never loses a staring contest with anyone who physically needs to blink.IN PLAY: Julie is a reliable character whose presence helps structure the chronicle. A technician, mechanic, and fabulous driver, she keeps their engines running and their lights on. She’s also not above coming and getting the characters from their havens if they don’t show up to the gig on time. Of course, Julie has no interest in mothering anyone, and she’ll be surly and require extra pay, but she badly wants the band to succeed and is beginning to consider them with something akin to friendship.LOCATIONS: When Julie isn’t traveling with the band, she can be found working on something in her garage or in the back of her van or setting up on stage before concerts. She might on occasion have some old business with motorcycle gang members, smugglers, and the like that takes her to shadier areas, but she tries to keep that to herself.ON TOUR: Julie’s past can resurface, providing solutions or problems, but she’s created a new life for herself working with the players’ band and is ready to do everything she can to protect it.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB107Reggie (“Raptor”)Hit-piece hustlerCamarilla-aligned, but unawareReggie, or “Raptor” as he styles himself, is a traveling, freelance music journalist who follows different musicians around Europe, sniffing out sensational stories to sell to the highest bidder. He’s not the only tabloid hack mixing truth with outlandish theories, but he stands out by getting convinced by his own theories. Stories about Jayne Jonestown eating baby goats alive or a secret Wacken massacre might start out as hot headlines and spiral into obsession. His publishers don’t care, as long as his stories sell — and Raptor can churn out your average “cocainespeeding on the Autobahn and male strippers in the band wagon” stories just as well as the big front pagers. He doesn’t exactly fabricate from thin air, but a snippet of a rumor can trigger a chain reaction of ideas and confirmation bias that only another, bigger story can break.Ironically, Reggie is involved in an international conspiracy without knowing it. A group of Malkavians made him into their ghoul and use him to send messages to one another across Europe. Reggie thinks he’s running errands for an herbal multi-level marketing scheme. The herbal drinks he gets in return always work wonders for his joint pain.GhoulGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 3, Mental 4, Disciplines 3Secondary Attributes: Health 4, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Drive 7, Larceny 7, Academics 8 (Journalism)Disciplines: Auspex 1 (Heightened Senses)Appearance: Like a mako shark, Raptor feels a primal, biological need to stay in motion. Jittery, eyes scanning for threats, he’s nonetheless quick to smile and laugh. A Brit of indeterminate race in his early 40s, he has thinning mouse-brown hair and long thin limbs. Despite his eclectic style, which pairs ‘70s disco with Hawaii shirts and bargain-bin sportswear, Raptor has an uncanny ability to disappear in a crowd.IN PLAY: Raptor hunts sensational stories. The more successful or infamous the band becomes, the more interested he’ll be in them. He might first cross paths with them while covering another act. But soon he’ll convince himself that they’re hiding his next big scoop and start surveilling them for clues.LOCATIONS: Raptor stays a step behind his targets or a few stops ahead. He’ll be in the corner of the highway cafeteria they stop in, hat pushed down over a thick pair of tinted glasses, or checking into their motel room as soon as they check out. Or he’ll be parked outside their rehearsal space, doing the crosswords until someone exits he can follow.When between jobs, or when he needs to think, Reggie visits places like bowling alleys, horror cinemas, specialty museums, petting zoos, and public parks. A person’s life can’t be all work.ON TOUR: Raptor can feature as an ongoing annoyance and indirect Masquerade risk. He also serves as a kind of sleeper agent. His Malkavian masters need never enter the chronicle directly, but they can, if the Storyteller has use of them. Reggie can also realize the truth and seek the band’s help in breaking his Blood Bond.

Chapter Five: Sound and Fury 108Rudolf SchulzeThe God-touched seekerThere has been so much ridicule in Rudolf’s life. As a young man, he worked for a Christian religious youth organization, seeking to help those without a place to go to. He distributed flyers at railway stations and worked at the alcohol- and drug-free cafe run by the organization. During these years, he became convinced that there were monstrous predators seeking to literally consume the lifeblood of these poor, vulnerable kids.What’s more, these monsters were hiding in plain sight. Their messages were everywhere in music, television, comics, and movies. When Rudolf tried to bring attention to Satanic metal bands, he wasn’t taken seriously. The kids he worked with made fun of him. Yet the attraction of all these seductive, beautiful, darkly alluring bands was so real to Rudolf.A hesitant and lonely vampire hunter, Rudolf saw actual acts of vampiric predation when young but became distracted by all the dark imagery in pop culture. He doesn’t want to admit the fact that he finds such themes incredibly attractive and justifies it by saying it’s important to know your enemy.HunterGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 4, Mental 5Secondary Attributes: Health 7, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Academics 6, Investigation 7, Occult 6Appearance: A thin, almost emaciated white man in his 50s, Rudolf looks haunted, as if he saw somewhere beyond ordinary reality. His clothes are shabby, and he wears a perpetual stubble, but his voice is soft and kind. Unless the discussion veers into the topics of his obsession: vampires, Satanic forces, or music. Then his words gain an intensity that’s not entirely to his advantage.IN PLAY: For Rudolf, everything changes when he catches either the players’ band or Pale Sunrise at an awkward moment. He was right all along! Every single metal band out there is the spawn of Satan! The truth is in front of his very eyes! The role Rudolf plays depends on the needs of the chronicle. He may be a lone vampire hunter, demonstrating the dangers incurred by playing fast and loose with the Masquerade. Or he may fall to the charms of a vampire band, abandoning his convictions in favor of the seductive Blood of the undead.LOCATIONS: Rudolf can be found handing out Christian leaflets outside metal concerts. He’s resigned to the fact that nobody is going to thank him for it in this life. If his suspicions are aroused, he can follow the characters to their haven.ON TOUR: An easy use for Rudolf is as an antagonist in the early parts of the chronicle, before more serious threats like the Second Inquisition show up. If he gives into his fascination, his role can evolve into a regretful acolyte or even an ally.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB109Jan Willem EdenThe haunted ArchonCamarillaMany Kindred know the phrase “A beast I am, lest a beast I become.” As an Archon in the service of the Malkavian Justicar Juliet Parr, Jan Willem Eden sees it as a description of the Camarilla as a whole. His task is to uphold the Masquerade, and each horror he perpetrates in service of that goal is justified by the need to prevent greater horrors that would come were the secret of the Kindred to be revealed to the world.A Dutch sailor in life, Eden was no stranger to atrocity before becoming undead. Embraced on a lark by a Toreador who wanted to show that even an uncouth ruffian could become a courtier, in some ways the vampire Eden is more human than he was as a mortal. Power has made him believe that he can’t permit himself the license enjoyed by others.A courtier in the Dutch Camarilla, Eden was recruited by the Malkavian Justicar recently to serve as an Archon for the purposes of maintaining the Masquerade at the grassroots level. His task has been to eliminate mortal witnesses and execute guilty childer. He’s capable, but the task is destroying his cherished humanity.8th Generation Toreador AncillaGeneral Difficulty: 5 / 3Blood Potency: 3Humanity: 7Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 8, Mental 8, Disciplines 8Secondary Attributes: Health 8, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools: Investigation 9, Persuasion 9, Awareness 8Disciplines: Auspex 5 (Heightened Senses, Premonition, Scry the Soul, Spirit’s Touch, Clairvoyance), Presence 3 (Daunt, Lingering Kiss, Dread Gaze), Celerity 2 (Rapid Reflexes, Fleetness), Fortitude 1 (Resilience), Protean 2 (Eyes of the Beast, Feral Weapons)Appearance: Eden looks like a hard man who cultivates a forced atmosphere of gentle sophistication. The tattoos, the scar on his face, all tell of a different, more violent life than his fashionable, modern attire. A tall, angular white man in his 40s, he often appears ill at ease.IN PLAY: Eden is a persistent adversary who dogs the players’ coterie through the chronicle. He’s worried they’ll break the Masquerade, and he’ll be there to make sure they’re accountable. His desire to maintain his connection to humanity means that he’s more lenient than most Archons, but he also takes the Masquerade extremely seriously.Use Eden to clean up after the players’ characters if they make a mess that threatens to break the chronicle, such as an on-stage Frenzy. Doing so multiple times risks making the consequences of monstrous action seem minuscule, so it’s best done sparingly. If Eden needs to restore the Masquerade, the band hears of the death and disappearances afterwards.LOCATIONS: Eden is very good at using the Masquerade to protect himself. He appears surrounded by mortals, on the street or in bars, where violence against him would have many witnesses. He prefers upscale and expensive but somehow often ends up in the sordid and cheap instead.ON TOUR: As a recurring antagonist, Eden shows up because he’s tracking the characters. He doesn’t have to be overtly hostile at first so as to avoid forcing the players’ characters into paranoia. He’s just a Camarilla Archon who knows they exist. 

Chapter Six: On the Road 110

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB111Time to get this show on the road! For the following weeks or even months, the characters are going to spend their time in a tour bus, hiding from overeager fans, and making history on the stage. A tour is much more than just a string of gigs. It’s a chance to build a musical legend and make an impression on movers and shakers both alive and dead. For the first time, the characters’ aspirations have a chance to be tested in the cold fire of reality. Will they prevail, or are they going to be found wanting?This chapter contains the six stories that comprise the Sound and Fury chronicle. They’re written to a common template to make it as easy as possible to swap things around, adapt the stories to your own troupe, or mine the chronicle for scenes to use in other Vampire chronicles.Prelude (Optional)Sound and Fury is assumed to start with the players’ characters just about to go on tour. However, if you want to spend more time with the players’ characters and explore their entry into the world of the Kindred, one option is to use the introductory stories in Chapter Two of The Crimson Gutter, adapted to Berlin or another city of your choice.As presented here, Sound and Fury takes the characters through six stops. You can add three to six additional stops of your own design to the tour if you feel it should last longer. This makes the story beats in the main stops more space to breathe and gives the players a chance to roleplay their characters in less dramatic circumstances.You can use the scenes below to bridge the earlier activities of the characters with Sound and Fury. If you don’t want to spend time playing these scenes in full, you can discuss them in brief when putting the coterie together with the players.Scene: Signing Up for the TourThe players’ characters meet with their tour manager (by default Leni Kroll or Gary Tupmann) to sign contracts for their very first European tour. Glancing through the contract quick enough not to give their manager cold feet requires a nearly impossible Academics (law) + Wits test at a Difficulty of 5.Show a map with the planned route. It does not include the Mud and Blood festival (the second stop), but the charity gig at Vienna Zero, the site of the 2008 terrorist attack in Vienna (the third stop), is in there and is a key component of the economics behind the tour. Unless they have learned about the involvement of intelligence agencies in the strike, they should dismiss such claims as conspiracy theories.Chapter Six: ON THE ROAD

Chapter Six: On the Road 112I always thought this wasn’t so bad. Sure, I’m dead, but I got Embraced at my best. I’m in a band that’s finally going somewhere, I’m good at what I do, I like the songs we play.We had a couple of fans following us on tour. I guess the Kindred term for that is “herd.” It makes hunting pretty easy if you lean into it!We each had our roles to play. Cyfrin has an artistic vision. The Smile keeps things professional on the tour. I look hot on stage. And Dumdum does whatever it is that she does. I don’t know. Some stupid shit we have to clean up afterwards.This time it wasn’t Dumdum. It was Cyfrin, and it broke the dream of being a vampire rock star. The fantasy that as long as we worked at it, we could have everything: fame, success, artistic fulfillment, blood. Without cost.Cyfrin fucked up, but I don’t blame him. It was the Hunger, the Beast telling lies to all of us. All Kindred. We think its fine, and when it goes to shit, we only have ourselves to blame.The town where Cyfrin drank from that guy on stage was part of a Camarilla domain. Word travels. We were not quite as invisible as we thought we were.I suppose we got lucky that it was an Archon and not the Second Inquisition.She told us that we had two options. Either she’d clean up and we’d see the sunrise, or we’d take care of it ourselves. We chose the latter.Ten people in the audience, twelve if you count the staff at the venue. We were back there the very next night. Deleted photos and videos from people’s phones before they could be posted. That was the easy part.The difficult part was that they remembered. I guess if any of us had been good with memories, results would have been better. As it was, we were shit scared of the Archon.We killed them. We killed all of them. All twelve people, everyone, everyone who had come to see us.The Smile came up with the plan. An event at the barn, all the same people there, a fire, the doors were closed, everybody dead. A tragedy. Fire safety is so important. It worked.Only now when I go on stage, I keep wondering if I’m going to have to kill these people too, bash them unconscious, carry them to a barn and set it on fire. I can’t forget what we are anymore.Death on tour, regardless of the lies we tell ourselves.- The Toreador Asad Seddiki, lead guitar in the band Pale Sunrise, confesses to a member of a rival Kindred band

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB113This opening works especially well if the players’ characters have a problem they think will be solved by making it big, or they at least have something they are running from.This scene should allow the players’ characters to voice their concerns, get psyched up about their inevitable success, and allow them to express their personalities. They also get to inspect their tour bus, and one of them is handed the keys by their manager, signifying their role as the informal leader. The tour is about to start with a gig for the “true fans” at Kompromat in Berlin in a few nights, with a prestigious real opener at SO36, Berghain Kantine, or Lido.Berlin: The Light of a Dead StarA loss and a legendSocial, MentalThe players’ band are either native to Berlin or decided to make it the first stop of their tour, attracted by the vibrant cultural scene and cheaper rents than in many other major European cities. The characters dream of success and stardom, but an accident at their first gig threatens to end their dream before it has begun. Their fortunes change when a dead star, still smoldering in the backstreets of Berlin, joins them as a guest musician.Introduction“You’re kidding me, they said yes to the tour?”Ollie’s excitement can hardly be contained. He may be just a mortal, constantly begging you to make him like you, but he knows the scene.“We should do Kompromat first, say hi and goodbye to the OG fans before we hit the road to fucking Paris!”“What fans? You mean the 100 people who liked our album when we put it out for free? Or the 15 crazies always showing up to our gigs.”But there is a smile on your lips — a tour means something. It makes you a real band. The stale air in the coffin hotel suddenly smells like freedom mixed with the sweat of a beautiful blood doll.“Yeah, call ‘em and make it happen. We meet the manager tonight, so book the gig for this weekend?”The stale blood in your syringe whispers of catching fire, of finally getting a voice, of screaming guitars and thunder in your hearts. Somewhere in the backstreets of Berlin, something has heard your prayers. It’s your time. Your time to shine.GoalsThe purpose of this prologue is to introduce the players’ characters, the themes of the Sound and Fury chronicle, and allow you to feel out how you want to portray being on stage and behind it. The story itself will test your players’ characters dedication to the lifestyle they have chosen and make them think about what true success means for the dead. It will introduce them to some of the hazards of touring as Kindred, their rival band Pale Sunrise, and showcase how stories without any outspoken vampire politics or even any kindred characters can be just as fun, dangerous, and emotional to play as a night at Elysium.Supporting CharactersThis story uses the following characters:OLLIE: The clown with a heart of goldIn addition to the coterie, the band includes at least one mortal in a key role. Ollie is written to be The Rock (p. 70), a dependable backup who can fill in for a few gigs when the band needs him. By default, he’s a bass player doing backing vocals. Drums, second guitar, or keyboard work just as well. In a boy band, hip hop, or K-pop act, he is the quiet, dependable guy whose picture no one has on his bedroom wall, but who’s always there when the band’s setup doesn’t work without him.After Berlin he may return, playing in a cast or with a new prescription for anti-psychotics in his pocket, depending on what happens to him.General Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 6, Mental 3Secondary Attributes: Health 7, Willpower 4

Chapter Six: On the Road 114Exceptional Dice Pools: Brawl 5, Performance 6 (Ollie’s instrument)Equipment: Instrument, bag of legal weed, Markov light automatic pistol with serials filed offKIM DOUGLAS: The dead starKim Douglas is an alias for a famous dead star. The default assumption for the purposes of this chronicle is Jim Morrison, officially dead in Paris at 27. If he’s your choice for this chronicle, he survived his apparent death and is now one of the undead, forced to stay underground by the Masquerade. Like so many vampires, he pines for his mortal days, and sometimes works as a gig musician, working with different bands. He rarely sings, having instead mastered various instruments to make his stage presence less recognizable.Jim Morrison is just one option for Kim’s true identity. See the sidebar The 27 Club (p. 117) for other possibilities. The purpose of using a famous character is to demonstrate the problems of undead stardom. The mortal experience is bound by time, and as the years pass the unliving star’s existence becomes increasingly implausible. At first, mortal fans joke that their idol doesn’t seem to age, but after a while it starts to look uncanny and bizarre.Eventually, the character has to make the same choice as Morrison (or whoever you choose as the dead star in your chronicle). Try to keep going despite the increased pressure of maintaining a mortal Mask, or faking your own death. But if you do die in the eyes of the audience, what then? Can you truly be happy watching from the shadows when you used to occupy the spotlight? Can the world of the Kindred offer enough motivation and purpose when your artistic talent has shaped the world?10th Generation Toreador NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 5 / 4Blood Potency: 2Humanity: 7Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 8, Mental 7Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools: Perform 9 (vocals, Ollie’s instrument), Brawl 7 (bar fighting), Occult 8 (Tantric-Wiccan mashup), Persuasion 9Equipment: 1960’s version of the instrument Ollie plays

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB115Disciplines: Celerity 2 (Cat’s Grace, Fleetness), Dominate 1 (Cloud Memory), Obfuscate 3 (Cloak of Shadows, Chimerstry*, Mask of a Thousand Faces), Presence 4 (Awe, Lingering Kiss, Entrancement, Irresistible Voice)*Players Guide, p. 76NEVIN KUT: A local Anarch gang boss who likes to frequent Kompromat and fights over the city’s nightlife with several other gangs. She has survived both the city’s Anarch Revolt and the consequent Second Inquisition purge, leaving her scarred, suspicious, and cynical.13th Generation Ravnos NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 6Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 7, Mental 5, Disciplines 6Secondary Attributes: Health 7, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Stealth 8, Leadership 8, Streetwise 8Disciplines: Animalism 1 (Sense the Beast), Obfuscate 4 (Cloak of Shadows, Chimerstry*, Fata Morgana*, Vanish), Presence 2 (Daunt, Lingering Kiss)*Players Guide, p. 76**Players Guide, p. 77LocationsThis story takes place in Berlin (see p. 90). If they make their home there, these locations are familiar to the characters. The city is scary because the local Anarchs are disorganized and Second Inquisition agencies have cracked down hard in very recent memory, but this also means that if a vampire is careful and blends in with mankind, there’s nobody to tell them what to do.KOMPROMAT (P. 91): The players’ characters have played Kompromat before. It’s the kind of venue where a drunk punk in the audience can throw a beer bottle at the band but in a friendly way, you know?This is the location for the ill-fated gig where Ollie has an accident, making him unable to play their first real booking in Berlin. The venue is under the protection of Nevin Kut and the local Anarchs, but they will not reveal themselves to the band unless they have to.For the full gig at the end of this story, if they have screwed up their first real booking, they may play Kompromat again. Choose one of these as the location for the second gig in the story, booked by their tour manager. They will probably not fill them to more than half capacity unless they are PR maestros or make smart use of the gifts of Caine:SO36: A cult venue in what used to be a left anarchist squat back in the day, it has seen the likes of Exploited and Dead Kennedy’s on stage. Today, the large brick building with its chaotic art-garden hosts everything from hip hop to screamo bands. As long as you are loud and have an anti-authoritarian vibe, this is a good place for a concert with up to 700 in the audience.BERGHAIN KANTINE: A semi-public part of the infamously selective electronic music club, operating in the artfully refurbished shell of a former district heating plant. Located in the middle of the Bierhof Rudersdorf, Berghain is an imposing Brutalist block surrounded by decaying industrial lots and cracked asphalt. The venue holds about 200 people. Suitable for avant-garde acts, especially in techno and abstract noise genres. More commercial acts will get laughed out of the (always face to face) meeting with the Berghain collective’s headstrong representatives.LIDO: A legend among pop and indie acts, this storied venue reopened in 2006 and is labeled as a “living room couch” venue of Berlin. They are the coziest and most welcoming of the options, as suitable for K-Pop as for a weird a cappella act. It holds 500 people.ScenesRIDE THE LIGHTNING: We open on the band just as they finish a gig at Kompromat. Introduce Ollie by telling the players that he’s a temporary performer their characters hired to solve a problem in the show. You can ask them what kind of a problem it was. Here are a few examples:

Chapter Six: On the Road 116▪ The band needs a bass player on stage but doesn’t have one.▪ There are a few songs in the band’s repertoire which require a backup singer.▪ To make the band’s sound work, they need another guitar on stage.Once Ollie has been introduced, you can do a quick round of the players, asking them to describe how their characters feel when they’re on stage. Are they energized, do they look at the mortal crowd and see nothing but blood pumping to the beat, or do they focus on the music? The gig feels successful and this is an opportunity to see what that looks like.You can join in the round by describing Ollie. You can ask the players if they have an idea of what would complement the musical specialties of the players’ characters. Ollie is an ensemble player, always listening to the rest of the band and complementing the skills of everyone around them. He makes others look good.The applause is still going strong after the characters have already left the stage. Time for the encore, but they may have no real plan for it. They need to quickly decide what songs to play. Covers are great, as are obscure songs for die-hard fans.The encore (usually three to five songs) is a chance to demonstrate how your table will run gigs as a roleplaying challenge. See pp. 87–90 for suggestions.Unless you have opted for full immersion and are LARPing (air guitar style) or playing a livingroom gig, you can test each character’s Charisma + Performance (Composure + Performance for DJs, drums, or bass). The more successes, the better their individual contribution. The bigger the total success pool, the better the performance.Let the players have fun with the first few songs before disaster strikes. Here are several different options for ways Ollie could dramatically leave the band — avoid anything fatal, since this may send the players and their characters on a wild goose chase after “the killer”:▪ Electrocuted by microphone/amplified instrument after soaking himself with a water bottle or hugging a wet fan.▪ Ollie mishandles the gun he has stupidly taken to the stage, blowing his foot clean off.▪ Ollie runs off with a fan, declaring that they’re going to get married. He says he’ll see the band in Paris.The scene ends with the stage lights going off one by one. The crowd is stunned, and the applause is sparse.The presence of so many mortals makes using Disciplines or vitae to heal Ollie inconvenient. If the players’ characters manage to find a way to do it before the ambulance arrives, or visit Ollie in the hospital to do it, he still wants to stick to Berlin for now.DISINTEGRATION: Even a Kindred band in crisis needs to drink blood. The first hunt for blood or party night in Berlin lets the players show how their characters deal with loss and adversity.The accident is as much an inciting incident as an excuse for the players’ characters to go off the deep end, portraying the destructive behavior associated with many musicians. It’s time to flip out, go on a

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB117THE 27 CLUBHere is a list of alternative options for Kim’s true identity.The easiest switch is for Stiv Bators, the front man of the US punk pioneers Dead Boys and later singer in the UK Goth Punk band Lords of the New Church. Stiv also died in Paris (in 1990) and his ashes were scattered over Jim’s grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetery (after his mates snorted some of them). The official story is that he died from being misdiagnosed as a heroin addict after a car accident, dying from a cerebral hemorrhage in his bed after being told to just sleep it off.He (and the other dead stars) has the same stat s and Disciplines as Jim. He reads as what he is—a 7th Generation Toreador. Stiv also clearly has Fortitude 3—how the fuck else could he have survived all that car surfing?If you wish, the 27 Club is an actual sub-cult or even a single, globally dispersed coterie, consisting of as many or as few real-world dead stars you desire. Not all of the legends found on this list died at 27, but all of them died before 45.Perhaps they operate an informal network hidden within the music industry, helping artists that become larger than life achieve actual immortality, disappear, and continue their unlives in obscurity behind the veil of the Masquerade.▪ Pop: Amy Winehouse, Selena, Karen Carpenter▪ Punk: Sid Vicious, Stiv Bators▪ R&B or Soul: Nohr Redding▪ Electronic: Avicii, Stephen Samuel “The Spaceape” Gordon, (DJ) Mehdi Favéris-Essadi (dead in Paris)▪ K-Pop: Choi Jin-ri aka Sulli, Goo Hara, Kim Jong-hyun▪ Blues or Rock: Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Jeff Buckley▪ Rock ’n’ Roll: Jimi Hendricks, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Keith Moon▪ Metal: Cliff Burton, Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud▪ Rap or Hip Hop: Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., EinárRemember that as Kindred, these stars may have been able to change their appearance with abilities such as Obfuscate and Protean. Make-up and changing your style goes a long way, especially when nobody expects the star to be alive. Someone might say: “You look kinda like the young Bowie,” but they don’t expect you to actually be young Bowie. Still, old habits die hard. Every name on this list and their careers are easily researched, and the Storyteller should adjust the clues to their identity accordingly.Finally, one last option is that Kim is not Jim Morrison or anyone else famous. He’s just a vampire with a gift for deception and delusions of grandeur, seeking to pretend he was somebody important once. It’s up to you whether he believes his fantasies or if they’re a conscious deception meant to impress credulous neonates.binge, argue or even fight each other, and start internal band conflicts that will spice up the whole tour.The binge may involve dodging curious music influencers and hecklers, hunting their disappointment away in a Kreuzberg dive bar, or hitting the sex clubs for more powerful Resonances. This is ideally where they meet their rivals Pale Sunrise face to face for the first time. If you want to set up instant beef, have the enemy band make a tasteless joke about Ollie’s accident, possibly starting a (hopefully Masquerade-abiding) brawl.Replace Strength or another Attribute with Composure to pull punches enough to not be suspiciously deadly, or test Manipulation + Performance to make subtle Discipline use seem normal. Any Aggravated damage dealt causes Pale Sunrise to run and call the cops or involve Nevin Kut.Sometime during the middle of the night, the band’s tour manager contacts them. They want to end the tour unless the band can find a replacement for Ollie. Before sunrise. While fucked up and possibly nursing bruises or their hurt pride after the confrontation with Pale Sunrise.HEADHUNTER: Say what you want about Ollie, but he helped out at a key moment. Now, he needs to be replaced. Let the players’ characters Google a replacement, go to a bar, canvas night classes in classic guitar, or hit the clubs or concert venues. Try to get the players take charge here and make sure there are a few snags on the way. The first guy they find turns

Chapter Six: On the Road 118out to be a mythomaniac fraud, a potentially violent psycho, a hunter waiting to happen, an undercover cop, a hopeless junkie, or has some other fatal flaw and accidentally tips his hand.Example: Sascha Döhler is a loser for whom the addiction to Blood is just a natural continuation of other addictions. Sascha is a thin, disheveled man who looks as if he could have pulled off heroin chic a few years ago, before one too many nights puking his guts out on the curb somewhere in Leopoldplatz. An optimist and a music lover, Sascha is often seen in Kompromat trying to badger vampires he knows into giving him Blood in exchange for small favors.If they choose to recruit this clown anyway out of panic or convenience, their ill-advised choice turns out to be Kim Douglas wearing an unusually sordid Mask.Otherwise, the next guy they find is Kim Douglas. He’s good, and he sounds like someone who’s played on bigger stages before and wants to get back into the game, perhaps out of nostalgia. If asked, he says he’s just a working musician, playing with different bands as a hired hand.Kim will suggest drinking blood from a mortal tripping on acid on top of the Victory Column, called Goldelse by the locals. He will tempt them to stay until the first rays of sunlight touch the top of the column and then make his escape with the band, screaming in the extract moment they dodge God’s eye.10 CLUES TO KIM’S TRUE IDENTITYFor true masters of musical trivia:1. Before going on stage, he touches his lips with two fingers.2. When passing a faded mural of Jim Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Nico, Kim stops for a beat and frowns. If they ask, he just says. “They got the lips/eyes/chin wrong” and walks on.3. When another character lights up or they pass a dumpster fire, Kim can’t help but be mesmerized by the flame.4. During rehearsal or during the actual stage show, Kim puts his thumb out through his zipper and gyrates his hips. This is a reference to his legendary gig in Florida, where he got arrested for pulling this stunt.5. In a conversation about musicians they have played with, Kim is accidentally about to let the name of an old Doors acquaintance slip but stops himself at the last moment.6. He quotes an obscure line from one of his poems.7. His voice is a deep rich baritone, like the purring of a great wild cat.8. He holds the mic in an unusual way, gripping it in pawed hands, with an almost animal intensity.9. The way he plays feels like he’s purposefully trying to hide his true ability and style, instead adapting to whatever the players’ characters are doing.10. He wears an old leather jacket from the ‘60s. He says it’s a gift from an old friend. If researched compulsively, it turns out to be from Nico of the Velvet Underground.Other options include picking a fight with the cops or attending a fucked-up coke and blood ritual with a local mortal Bahari cult with a penchant for lizard imagery.If you have opted to make Kim another dead star, make sure the test fits their biography.IS EVERYBODY IN?: Now’s the time for the big gig in Berlin! The next evening, as the blood of the sun drips away into shadow, Kim shows up at the band’s tour bus or van, ready to rock. At this point, they - Heartbeats -Beating heartPulsing throatSweaty palmsWidened eyesGums itchLips partFingers twitchRelease a sighThe music -- The music -- The music’s almost there

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB119should not yet be sure of who the dead star is, and if they have already guessed, consider switching their identity to another member from the 27 Club (p. 117).You can see if the players figure out his identity based on their knowledge of music trivia instead of character-level Skill checks.The schedule for the night looks something like this:▪ 9:00 P.M.: Sundown, the band gathers at the venue to rehearse.▪ 9:30 P.M.: Break for refreshments and streamed interviews with influencers, and perhaps a meetand greet with a VIP fan or two. Dinner time? The fan has Sanguine Resonance. This could be very useful for the upcoming gig. Eating the streamer (Melancholic) may be tempting but is a bad idea.▪ 10:00 P.M.: Pale Sunrise or their fans attempt to cut the power to the stage, and the players’ characters may help security at the venue chase down and beat up the culprits. Kim enthusiastically helps out, showing little restraint to the iconoclasts.▪ 11:00 P.M.: Final soundcheck begins.▪ MIGHTNIGHT: The gig. Kim keeps his head down. The players’ characters are the stars of the show and he’s just a supporting player. However, observant characters may notice that he seems to be holding back, looking at the audience wistfully. Like Ollie, he too is a good ensemble musician, able to make the characters look good. His presence adds three dice to everyone’s Performance tests, in case you’re making them.▪ 1:30 A.M.: End of set. Unless the band has made a truly atrocious performance, they are clapped in for an encore.VariationsThe events of the prologue set the tone for the whole Sound and Fury chronicle. There are a few different ways you can play with that.THE HEAT: Berlin Anarchs toppled the local Camarilla but were hit hard by the Second Inquisition immediately afterwards. The threat of a Second Inquisition agency can be quite immediate for the players’ characters. In this variant, one or more of their havens have already been destroyed, and it’s obvious that they’re on a hit list somewhere. They’re heading out on tour to escape the heat in Berlin.The Second Inquisition agency in question hasn’t connected the players’ band with the signs of vampiric influence they’ve managed to detect, but the risk of getting caught increases every night the band stays in town.With this variant, it’s important to remember that if a Second Inquisition agency actually does figure out that the members of the band are blankbodies, the nature of the chronicle changes abruptly. The players’ characters can’t appear in public anymore without

Chapter Six: On the Road 120courting significant risk. This is why in a Sound and Fury chronicle, the Second Inquisition works best as a blind titan: mighty, dangerous, but too ignorant of the realities of the Kindred to understand how well they blend in with mankind.Music Festival: Mud and BloodMusic as a weaponSocial, Physical (optional)Desperate to get the characters booked for gigs, their manager or agent has accepted an engagement at a far right music festival in Germany. The event presents a non-political facade and maintains a pretense of being just an ordinary festival where people get drunk and bands play. This is what the band’s manager believes it is and the characters have no reason to assume otherwise until they’re there.Once the characters figure out where they are, they can play it many different ways. They can turn tail and run, or they can swallow their pride and play the festival like any ordinary gig. Or they can make a statement, building their own legend by saying fuck you to everything the festival represents.The characters are aware that if they choose to play the festival normally, it may have serious repercussions for their reputation. Being known as a Nazi band is rarely a good thing if you want to make it big. Being known for far right connections means that the band can’t play many venues and festivals, has difficulties with media attention and probably won’t be able to land a record deal unless it’s with a niche label. As vampires, some characters may hold onto their mortal politics while others have grown detached. One may be a committed idealist who believes that their music makes the world better while their vampiric depredations make it worse. Another could have come to see the audience as a pulsating mass of bloodbags thrumming to the beat. Still, this chronicle assumes that the band is not interested in being a far right mascot.As an added complication, the festival is held on a field and there’s been a lot of rain. As the field turns to mud, cars, vans and buses need to be towed into their parking spaces with tractors. This presents a problem if the characters need a quick exit.IntroductionMud and Blood! Embrace the soil of your ancestors with both fists and join thousands of other real Germans in a celebration of our proud national heritage. Forget the corrupt and decadent inner city, and embrace your rage at a full week of synthwave, industrial, and martial black metal music shows from Europe’s hardest bands, including headliners….“Guys. I think I just threw up blood in my mouth. Is that even possible?”“We sure as shit ain’t in Kansas no more. Back up the van Nohr. Oh, shit. we’re stuck in mud.”GoalsThis stop is about the connection between music and ideology. It showcases how easily messages are misunderstood and how hard it can be to stand up for what you believe in, especially when the people around you seem hellbent on branding you as something you are not. It will end with an opportunity for the characters to stand straight and take out their frustration on their enemies, using the power of music and violence combined.It’s inspired by the 2015 movie Green Room as well as the many times industrial bands have been mistakenly been identified with far-right movements.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB121Supporting CharactersThis story uses the following characters:FREDERICK AND KATRINE BUSCH: The smiling fascists.The couple running the festival are clean, hot, around 35, ultra-polite, and perfectly innocuous specimens of far right extremism. They have two kids and love showing zany photos of them on their devices.They are experts in doublespeak and will impress even a jaded PR expert with their slippery innuendo and firm denials even in the face of the most obvious red flags. They will never get offended or upset, never raise their voices, and absolutely do not use violence. There are plenty of festival attendants that are frothing at the mouth to do that for them.General Difficulty: 4 / 2Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 4Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 5, Mental 4Exceptional Dice Pools: Subterfuge 8 (deflection), Persuasion 7 (Assuaging Fears), Politics 7 (contrafactual discourse)RAGING CROWD: Full of hatred.They’re furious, drunk, eager for a fight, and there are dozens of them. They share one stat block:General Difficulty: 3 / 2Secondary Attributes: Health 15, Willpower 3 (but can’t be talked down)Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 3, Mental 2Exceptional Dice Pools: Brawl 6 (swamping)ARMED EXTREMIST: Description (see Gangster in Antagonists, Vampire, p. 370)LocationsThis story takes place in a field near Tangerhutte, a small, impoverished town in former East Germany.THE MUD AND BLOOD FESTIVAL: An outdoor festival outside in the former East German countryside. About 6000 mortals, mostly aged 16–35 are camping out in tents, temporary constructions, campers, and cars. It’s surrounded by a tall temporary fence and looks like an ordinary festival from the outside, but the further in you get, the more extremist iconography, music, and slogans will be heard and seen.There are three stages. The biggest is open air, and the smaller ones are in a tent and in a dilapidated barn. There are bars, a VIP area and a backstage area, as well as a field kitchen. Since this is a fringe festival for a special interest group, the schedule features cultish workshops, lectures, and self-defense classes.There are a few stalls of merch sellers, and vendors here carry some pretty outrageous items. If you look and act the part you may be offered WW2 antiques, controversial books, drugs, and even guns or DIY explosives.Walking deeper into the festival, the characters notice a separate area that’s a veritable fortress built out of circled caravans, reserved for members of the most extreme fringe. Only serious far right activists are allowed there. And festival organizers and their guests the performers, of course.THE COUNTER-FESTIVAL: About 200 meters from the main gate, on the far side of the parking lot, there is a much smaller camp set up. About 500 activists who want the fascist festival gone have gathered to protest. Banners, placards, and speakers declare their resistance boldly. It’s up to the players’ characters whether they want to find allies at the counter-festival or not.A couple of police cars and ambulances are stationed at a polite distance from both camps, ready to intervene in case shit truly hits the fan. They will not enter the festival under normal circumstances. A group of “nice cops” in reflex vests are in constant negotiation with the protesters and representatives of the festival organization. The goal of the police is to stop a violent confrontation from happening. If it happens, they’ll seek to arrest the leaders of the counter-festival first.MAHLWINKEL: A couple of kilometers drive south of the festival area lies the old DDR military base Mahlwinkel. You get there by car on confusing, shitty back roads that require a Difficulty 3 Wits + Driving test to traverse at speeds above 50 kph or by walking through fields and patches of gnarly forest. Mahlwinkel consists of a dozen or so larger tankhalls and infantry barracks where time has stood

Chapter Six: On the Road 122still since the base was abandoned to the elements in the early ‘90s. Some spaces have wallpaper made from old issues of Pravda, and the rusted bunk beds still bear the markings of the German and Russian servicemen that trained here during the Cold War. Enormous modern wind-turbines tower over the area, giving it a surreal post-apocalyptic vibe. It’s a perfect place to hide a band on the run and their tour bus, and it may serve as a temporary Haven for a coterie smart enough to scout the area.ScenesIS THIS THE PLACE I USED TO CALL FATHERLAND? The tour manager surprises the band with a “great opportunity” just as they are about to go on the road toward Vienna. They have been invited to headline at a “really nice music festival.” The event is called Mud and Blood and caters to the growing far-right movement while of course while claiming to be entirely apolitical.The band arrives at the back gate so they don’t immediately notice the protest outside and are met by the Buschs, who are a bit star struck but very German, efficient, professional and polite.Frederick and Katrine are dressed in slacks and powder-blue shirts with neon vests with “Orga” printed on the back. (It stands for Organizer.) They’re eager to show the band around the festival, carefully avoiding the areas where the most extreme festival-goers congregate.The tour bus or van is parked inside the secure VIP parking lot, surrounded by a wire fence to keep drunken festival-goers from pissing on the wheels. Because of the mud, it has to be towed into place with a tractor.ARE WE IN THE WRONG PLACE? How the players’ characters react as they start to realize where they are determines how they are treated over the next few nights.If they act as if all is cool they’re treated exceptionally well. A Composure + Subterfuge test at a Difficulty of 3 is required to hide their true opinions. Grant one to three bonus dice if they really get with the program and behave like they fit in. Unless they have appropriate Convictions, this could risk incurring Stains on their Humanity, depending on the Chronicle Tenets.If the players’ characters let their loathing shine, they will be treated to a series of passive aggressive attacks by the organizers, including talking shit about them online while they’re on-site. Word spreads like lightning and they’ll have a really hard time (minus 2 dice on all social interaction and hunting tests at the festival) unless they manage to Intimidate Frederick and Katrine. This is Difficulty 5 (4 if they are separated).During this scene, let them discover why the festival-goers love their band. There can be many reasons, and it all depends on what the players’ band is like. If they’re an industrial, goth, punk, neofolk or metal band, the festival goers assume they’re ideological fellow travelers based on creative interpretation of hidden messages in the band’s output. If the music is something else, the festival organizers have misinterpreted some aspect of the band’s lyrics or music videos to suggest they sympathize far right views.If all else fails, it’s even possible that the band was simply confused for another, far right band with a similar name.TAINTED LOVE: Depending on their choices in the previous scene, the next few nights should make the players’ characters feel like they are either ruling in hell or trapped in a paranoid nightmare.Surviving as Kindred at an open-air festival is hard under the best of circumstances, and these are certainly not that. Their vehicle is kept in the locked parking area, and there always seems to be someone nearby. If the characters are pretending to be friendly, they may get away with taking a groupie to see the bus and then feed in the privacy of their own vehicle.IN THE AIR TONIGHT: During their festival stay, the band discovers a major violent crime being planned by far right activists drinking and planning inside the hardcore fortress encampment.During the two nights they are there, they bear witness to the truth about the festival and its underlying ideology. The festival organizers have seriously downplayed the danger of the extremist groups that have gathered here, and some of them are violent and armed, clearly planning something.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB123It could range from an attack on an individual to full on terrorist attack depending on how much focus you want to give the players’ characters. If they have openly rebelled against the far right ideology, the crime being planned is not only targeting an innocent civilian group in town but also the band themselves. Feel free to give strong hints that they will get attacked as they go onstage.Let them discover clues as a consequence of bamboozling the festival into believing they are friends of the cause, or as they drink from one of the douchebags at the festival, who knows what is going down. If they hunt, they have plenty of appropriate drug blood as well as blood boiling with Choleric or Sanguine Resonance to feed from, but it may be hard to get at if they are under suspicion of being vibe killers or traitors to the cause. Will they overindulge?HERE COMES THE WAR: Unless the band makes a break for it before they are about to go on, they are in for one hell of a night playing on the big stage. A host of influencers is there, broadcasting everything online. Everything the players’ characters do has massive consequences for their reputation and may put them in immediate danger. But that’s rock ’n’ roll for you. It will end in blood and tears as the crowd reacts to their actions.This should be an epic scene as the band stands before the biggest crowd they have ever faced. And they probably hate it.Every screaming mouth is hungry for the confirmation of their darkest passions. They want to chant out their hatred of a common enemy together. If the players’ band has been open about their hostility to the festival’s ideology, the common enemy is the band. The audience hates them with a passion.If they have managed to hide their true allegiances at the cost of their Humanity, this is their last chance TABLE 2: THREE THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN IF THE CHARACTERS PLAY NICEBoons of collaboration.The characters are invited to a VIP party with the other bands, starting in the afternoon. Late arrival will be accepted but makes the organizers suspicious, possibly motivating them to test if the characters are really aligned with them.A couple of determined groupies try to sneak into their lodging during the day to stroke their egos and other parts. Unless they have put some safety measures in place, this may end badly.They are asked to host an AMA or interview in collaboration with an extremist influencer, streamed live from one of the stages.TABLE 3: THREE THINGS THAT HAPPEN IF THE CHARACTERS ARE HATEDThe price of resistance.The band wake up to find their posters defaced with neon markers proclaiming them to be parasites and traitors to the nation. All Social Difficulties at the festival are increased by 1, making their nights exceptionally uncomfortable.Tour bus vandalized. Requires an Intelligence + Technology (Mechanic) test at a Difficulty of 3 to fix the busted tires and ripped out wires or fuel hoses.A gentleman with a very loud voice and a megaphone starts following the band around, telling everyone when and where they will play. They get cheers and promises from a lot of festival goers that they will show up and show the band “how they party in Germany these days.” Add 2 to the Difficulty of the mob they will face during their gig.

Chapter Six: On the Road 124to redeem themselves by turning the tables on the crowd. See Turn the Page below.If they play along now, they will forever become known as a band aligned with the very darkest aspect of what the Mud and Blood festival stands for. They have trouble getting mainstream booking or a decent contract with normal labels, and some of their old fans abandon them in disgust.Performance tests for a sellout gig are less relevant than the angst of the scene. Who cares if they play well in front of the scum of the earth?TURN THE PAGE: If the players’ characters use their infiltration of the big stage as a chance to make a glorious last stand, they may yet save their careers from the stain of unfortunate association.If they aggressively confront the crowd with a carefully planned and majestically performed set of well selected songs, interspersed with insightful and passionate critique of the intolerant extremism the festival stands for, they may sow a seed of doubt in the hearts of their audience.Their old fans, in front of their flickering media screens back home or nestled in the back of the crowd, cry tears of joy and clench their fists in triumph as the band comes through for them — and they will never forget this moment.Even apolitical characters may wish make a show of it because it’s an opportunity to create a legend around the band among their fans.NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE: After the gig, it’s time to think about getting away intact.If the players’ characters have sold their souls and joined the particular cause of the festival, they get to lead a bloody charge through the counter demonstration and witness the death of some of their old loyal fans, holding placards with texts like “I still believe in (Band Name), but (Band Name) no longer believes in me!”If they have hewn to their true or pretended lofty convictions, a handful of true fans in the counter demonstration may help them break out and escape to hide in Mahlwinkel nearby.VariationsBAD MOON RISING: The festival is secretly called “Mud and Blood — Rage for Gaia” and the players’ characters only learn the last bit after they have had their van locked away. This variation is suitable for players with conflict-focused characters. Replace the attacking crowd with a werewolf or two. They care very little for preserving their secrets when Frederick rats out the band to them, stoking their uncontrollable rage.ENEMY MINE: Pale Sunrise arrives to play at the counter-festival. They help the players’ characters

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB125escape from Mud and Blood at the climactic end concert, towing their bus or van through the mud in an act of musical solidarity.Vienna: The I in the PyramidWill learning the truth change you, or will you cling to a convenient delusion?MentalThe band plays at a memorial concert at Vienna Zero, where a great atrocity in both the worlds of the kine and the Kindred was committed. They have a chance to glimpse something of the true events of that fateful night, although what they do with the information they’ve learned is up to them. However they decide to react, their findings are going to change how they view the great sects of the Kindred.“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist…”– Charles BaudelaireIntroductionGOALS: So far, the players’ characters have existed outside real centers of Kindred power and probably have little idea of major conflicts in the World of Darkness. This means that when a Camarilla vampire tells them what the great sect stands for, they might even believe it. After all, vampires must protect each other from relentless enemies like the Second Inquisition! Instead, they’ll discover that for a vampire, the world is even more dangerous than they’ve assumed.Supporting CharactersThis story uses the following characters:PARACLETE: Greek for Advocate or Spirit of Truth.Organization founded in 1918 to help victims of shellshock (traumatic stress) after the first World War. Today, it works to spread awareness and hosts charities for victims of war and acts of terrorism.NINE MILTON: The vengeful ghoul.Coordinator of the memorial event. Vengeful survivor of the Vienna attacks in 2008. Once a ghoul of Etrius, elder of the Tremere Council of Seven. A vitae addict since 1944, she has sustained herself on Cainite Blood procured by trading favors and selling pages from a singed 12th century codex looted from the Vienna Zero exclusion zone. She often has dealings with Ventrue of the University domain. She is tired of struggling and plans to pass her vendetta on to the players’ coterie, to stop chasing vitae and let time catch up with her. She may be the only survivor with a direct connection to the Council of Seven who has managed to avoid detection.General Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 5, Mental 6, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Occult 7 (The Goratricians), Persuasion 6 (Credibility), Science 6 (Hematology)Discipline Powers: Discipline Powers: Auspex (Heightened Senses, Sense the Unseen), Blood Sorcery (A Taste for Blood, Corrosive Vitae, Ritual: Blood Apocrypha*), Dominate (Cloud Memory, Command)*Book of Nod Apocrypha, p. 34Weapons: Swiss Army knife (damage +1)WHY THE PLAYERS’ COTERIE?The memorial concert is financed by the humanitarian charity Paraclete, a Christian values based charity organization that has been infiltrated by former Tremere Chantry ghouls. They seek revenge on the individual agents who took part in the raid, operating out of Life Sciences at the Vienna University. They want to use the coterie as a platform to start spreading the truth to young Kindred. They know at least one member of the band is a vampire, and their presence at the concert is not an accident. Since many of the other artists at the event are world-caliber stars, they may well be rightfully suspicious.

Chapter Six: On the Road 126JOHAN AND MILLE STRAUS: Victims of the Vienna blast.Renovators who got caught in the blast. Johan is still recovering from severe brain damage and has difficulty speaking. Mille lost both legs and has multiple spinal fractures. Their blood still echoes with memories from that day, and they are plagued by nightmares they do not understand.JOHAN:General Difficulty: 2 / 1Standard Dice Pools: Physical 1, Social 2, Mental 2Secondary Attributes: Health 3, Willpower 3Exceptional Dice Pools: Crafts 4 (Sculpting)MILLE:General Difficulty: 2 / 1Standard Dice Pools: Physical 2, Social 1, Mental 1Secondary Attributes: Health 3, Willpower 3Exceptional Dice Pools: Crafts 4 (Stained Glass work)Note: Both have a Dyscrasia: traumatic memories of Zero DayRUDOLF (P. 108): The lost agent.The disgraced former agent from a Second Inquisition agency has returned to the scene of the Zero Day attack. He and his team were told that the attack had meant the end of the blankbody threat. But he’s not convinced. Observing the players’ band on stage, he begins to suspect that his worst fears are about to be confirmed.LocationsThe story takes place in the university district of Vienna, a kilometer north of the old medieval city centre.VIENNA ZERO: On this location, there used to be a Romanesque basilica from the 9th century. When the Tremere Chantry was relocated here from Coeris in Transylvania following the Anarch uprising, the complex was north of the city walls. The university was founded by the alchemically inclined Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and grew south of the Chantry. The headquarters of the Tremere has masqueraded as first a cloister theology school, then as a hospital, and finally as a privately financed Biotech/Life Sciences campus.Now, the Tremere Chantry is little more than an exclusion zone, three blocks of ruins surrounding a hole six stories deep. For many years, the place was covered with blue tarpaulins and cupola-tent enclosures, and the shaft hidden was from sight. The memorial festival’s climax is the unveiling of the memorial light show and artwork, held back for a long time by bureaucracy and the needs of the terror investigation. The zone is still very much closed to the public, but it’s lost some of its ramshackle feel, as it was considered to be an eyesore. The central shaft at the west corner of the zone is now revealed, covered with a foot-thick slab of armored glass instead of concrete and tents. At night, the pit slowly pulses with the red light of 326 hidden lights, one for each victim of the terror attack.The central building was sometimes known as “Das Hexen Hause” by local students because of its weird façade sculptures and gargoyles.The Vienna Zero exclusion zone is under constant surveillance by ESOG (Entity Special Operations Group) agents stationed in the UN Office on Drugs and Crime: a rapid response team consisting of nine Delta Inquisitors (Vampire, p. 372) led by a Condottieri equipped with a relic sword (Second Inquisition, p. 84) — or use a Delta Inquisitor with +1 Melee and a Relic Zweihänder (it is the executioner’s sword used at the Stockholm Blood-Bath, later recovered by Theophrastus Paracelsus and donated to Rome), which is capable of causing +2 Aggravated damage to the children of Caine.THE STAGE: The concert stage uses the ruins of Vienna Zero as a backdrop. Tina Johansson, the Swedish artist about to reveal her work, is conducting visuals live from a booth suspended above the stage. She is using a swarm of drones to project poignant quotes, images, and some of the faces of the dead (including her husband, who died in the attack) onto the ruins. The stage is set up specifically for the memorial festival in the old parking lot of the institution and holds an audience of about a thousand people. The big-name bands are all booked in luxury hotels, and there is a VIP tent to the left of the stage, surrounded by an electric fence and protected by armed bodyguards. Here the players’ band wait to go onstage.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB127THE CARL JUNG INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN SCIENCES: A bunker-like complex in a Brutalist university building from the 1950s, a few blocks from the concert venue. The seminar before the festival is held in one of the smaller lecture halls, a circular amphitheater room with seats for 100 students.ScenesFACE TO FACE: Late at night before the concert, the Paraclete volunteers (who work as roadies and producers of the event) and the bands playing the at the memorial concert gather for a midnight mass in a nearby Catholic church, and they are then transported to the Institute for Human Sciences to listen to the stories of some of the few survivors.They are seated in a circle and each encouraged to talk about where they were when they heard about the attacks and how it has affected their lives. A few of the attending bands and artists (real world or invented) are there, doing their best to project solemn empathy.The Straus couple help each other relive the terrifying moment they were working to renovate a statue in the east wing when “armed masked men” appear in the park below and open fire, leaving them for dead. They crawled through a broken stained glass window and into the building, where they spent a nightmarish half-hour witnessing the participants, mainly students from a Saudi sister university, being herded together and slaughtered. Their memories are garbled and they clearly remember “Caucasian men” wearing street clothes.A Wits + Insight test catches suppressed sighs of disbelief from Milton. Why doesn’t she believe them? As the seminar wraps up, she asks the band to stay.Milton explains she was at the massacre in the Hexen Hause and that everything they have been told has been a lie. She doesn’t expect them to believe her. Why should they? Instead, she invites them to all feed from her and, in order to compare “sources” with the Strauses, relive the attack for themselves. If they refuse, she does everything she can to convince them or even insulting or even attacking them with her Swiss Army knife to provoke a Hunger Frenzy. She wants them to understand what happened and then take the story to new domains as they travel.In 2008, 37 minutes to midnight, 16 members of the radical ethno-nationalist group Magyar Arrow Brotherhood entered the Etrian faculty for Life Sciences, killing hundreds of local and international students gathered for a symposium and party. When surrounded by the Vienna police, they detonated a thermobaric warhead, destroying the 1204-year-old World Heritage basilica at the center at the beloved ‘Hexen Hause.’302 Students and Scientist, 10 firemen, and 14 police officers lost their lives in the blast and subsequent fire, destroying 11 more University buildings and the Amadeus Park.Not all bodies could be recovered, and the ground was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI the Easter after the attacks.May it ever remain and remind us of the void and violence that lives in hearts bereft of love.

Chapter Six: On the Road 128If they drink voluntarily, she survives but only barely. Otherwise, they kill her as they Frenzy. She dies with a smile, knowing the truth has been passed on.SHADOWPLAY: During the following day, the coterie will experience a vivid daymare. They are mortal technicians working in a sterile biochemical lab when the events detailed in the box below take place. They may act as if they are really there, but they have no Disciplines.Make sure they get a good look at least one of the ESOG agents during the attack. This is Rudolph Shulze, who will appear at the concert and follow them all the way to Copenhagen.Tailor the depth of the revelations to your players’ and players’ characters’ foreknowledge of the setting and the attacks themselves. The sidebar The Vienna Attack (p. 130) includes a number of revelations that may or may not be true.ON THE WIRE: The night after, the characters are still blood-drunk from Milton’s (or the Strauses’) blood. Visions of 2008 shimmer, overlaying with the reality of the present — crowds rushing through them, explosions, or fires spreading; weird lights zooming across the sky (drones), and from below, the barely audible chanting of five voices in unison. The language is ancient Latin mixed with Romani, Armenian, and Hebrew. Some of the people they meet appear to have grown an eye in their foreheads. This is going to be a difficult gig, but canceling their performance is not really an option.During the concert, you have the opportunity to add more scenes from 2008 playing out at Venice Zero, behind the band. The players’ characters are functionally trapped inside the hellish attack as they play and are at +1 to Difficulties on all tests. Milk the madness and horror for all its worth but avoid cheap laughs. This is not an acid trip but a moment preserved in blood, like a fly in amber. Make sure they understand that they are now the witnesses, perhaps the last ones, to the 2008 false flag operation killing scores of Kindred and hundreds of innocent bystanders. Whether they despise the Tremere or not, the sheer brutality and scale of the attack should shock them.During the last scene of the concert, they spot one of the attackers in the crowd. As their eyes meet, he tries to cover his face and fade away into the park on the outskirts of the concert and slink away. If they give chase (abandoning the concert), Shulze will set off a canister of Red Gas (Second Inquisition, p. 82) to cover his escape. They have seen the gas used during the attack to deadly effect, so they know what they are messing with. They may hurt Shulze, but he will get away. Entering the Red Mist will cause pain, confusion, and Aggravated damage.VariationsBLINDED BY THE LIGHTS: Milton is a liar. She is just dosed up with LSD and has “written” her conspiracy theory into her own blood to catch the band off-guard. When they wander the streets under

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB129the influence, she and two ghouls (for the stats see Vampire, p. 372) attack them to steal their Blood. The trip turns into a true horror show as they are taken into the culverts under the Carl Jung building and drained. Perhaps Shulze intervenes, killing the ghouls, giving the players’ characters a chance to escape before he gives chase.LULLABY: Milton and one of the players’ characters hit it off at the workshop, going to a club, probably after she feeds from them. She tries to convince them of her conspiratorial worldview and asks her love interest and the rest of the band to feed from her. When they do, they enter a dreamlike state where they feel as if they are mortal again and the whole world seems to conspire to tell them about what they have lost. Old friends show up on the dance-floor or in the audience, and they get to say the goodbyes the curse of Caine has denied them. Milton admits she wasn’t even at Vienna Zero, she just wanted the coterie to see that there is more to life than hate, violence, and blood. How will this affect the concert and the rest of the tour?THERE WAS NO SI STRIKE: The story about the Hungarian terrorists is true, and the players’ characters witness the atrocities as a large group of paramilitaries (many with the True Faith of already dead men — high on pain-killers and psychoactive drugs, like Ketamine and LSD) slaughter civilians while the Tremere look on in callous disbelief,

Chapter Six: On the Road 130THE VIENNA ATTACKHere’s a general timeline of the attack, as seen from the perspective of the Tremere ghoul lab assistants and the two mortal restoration workers on the scaffolding outside the east wing:There is a party on, celebrating the birthday of the legendary 9th century Alchemist “Etrian,” whom the facility is named after. This is, of course, Etrius – Tremere’s student, who tried to stop Goratrix’ plan to use Kindred Blood to achieve immortality. He failed and accepted his fate, damning the Hermetic House Tremere to suffer the curse of Caine.10:14 p.m. A B2 USAF Stealth Bomber passes over the site, decelerating from supersonic speed and descending from 50,000 to 33,000 feet. SOCOM team FL1 begins a HALO jump, targeting the blind spot in chantry defenses right above the central dome of the basilica. The bomber also releases three Predator drones to supply operational data and backup to troops. Hyper observant Kindred may notice a very slight pressure shift from the turbulence created by the rapid deceleration. The most humane Council of Seven member Etrius is awake and notices. He alerts his ghouls in the lab but not the rest of the chantry to make sure he escapes.10:15 p.m. In the lab Milton falls to her knees, blinded by a vision of fire. The dream selves of the players’ characters hear the voice of Etrius booming in their heads. Those with 4 or more dots in Academics (3 with the Specialty Ancient Languages) may get a clue to what is going on.10:18 p.m. At the party downstairs, an infiltrating BOES (the Brazilian Batalhão de Operações Especiais Secretas) squad, posing as exchange students from Hungary, use blades and fire-axes to destroy indiscriminately, causing panic in the mortal crowd, hoping they flee. All scream racist slogans in perfect Hungarian and German and make appropriate gestures to promote the image that they are far-right terrorists. A dozen mortals manage to escape into the park.10:20 p.m. Milton’s colleagues are possessed by Etrius and rush towards the party downstairs, motions eerily coordinated. Statues on the facade vibrate and crumble as ancient wards trigger. Doors to the main hall seal with impenetrable wards, shutting the 300 mortals in and sealing their fate. Only 50 or so have escaped into the park.10:35 p.m. Three squads of mostly Swiss and Italian ESOG soldiers use stolen civilian bulldozers and cement trucks to enter the park and surround the chantry by driving through the walls. Covert squads, including a young Ishaq Khan (The Fall of London, p. 23), are stationed in the three blocks surrounding the park, ready to snatch and bag any witnesses. Panic ensues in the area around the Hexen Hause park. Six people are trampled to death. An injured Tremere coterie enter the park to hunt down witnesses, feed, and escape.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB13110:34–11.05 p.m. HALO jump complete. Half of the SOCOM squad turns to blood mist before they land. The rest take out four aggressive blankbodies attempting to flee via the roof, using flamethrowers and phosphorous rounds. This is heard and seen through windows from the ledge and heard through the floor. Fierce fighting as ghouls take on the BOES team.11:15 p.m. Drones use ground penetrating radar to pinpoint the location of “Blankbody Central,” the resting place of the Council of Seven, and feed data to the bomber that starts turning back for a second pass. The drones pinpoint the location of the coterie in the park, informing the ESOG team who fight them, sustaining heavy losses. One of the drones is taken out by unexplained equipment malfunction and crashes into the west wing, killing 17 more civilians. The other drone starts losing altitude and releases munitions into the upper floors, appearing as if demolition charges have been placed. Friendly fire kills five SOCOM operatives, but the Tremere master operating the wards is destroyed, and the doors open.11:25 p.m. Remnants of the now decimated ESOG team rush in to “save” remaining civilians, shooting the remaining BOES operatives in a callous sacrifice to preserve the illusion of a terror attack. All civilians are checked with XScopes, but a single starved ghoul (Milton) makes it out by wearing the uniform of a downed SOCOM operative. If Etrius has succeeded in his experiment and turned mortal (see variants below), he escapes and remains undetected, perhaps to this day.Something old awakens. The remaining drone explodes, two ESOG teams turn into blood mist, and the SOCOM squad on the roof commits collective suicide. The operations envelop, hunt, control, and bag objectives have failed catastrophically. A Catholic priest manages to open a canister of Red Smoke, weaponized remains of the bones of saints and ancient myrrh, preventing Kindred from exiting. Some try to escape and melt as murmuring voices in Latin seem to emit from the gas. A neonate makes it through with severe burns.ESOG squads pull back, together with surviving SOCOM and BOES troops, performing a fighting retreat.11:37 p.m. The B2 bomber detects the Red Smoke and executes the fallback plan, dropping a 57A/B Massive Ordinance Penetrator, 5,000 lb bunker buster into the structure. The chantry and the chamber where the Council of Seven are buried in torpor is annihilated, leaving a six-story deep shaft and burning ruins.To make this loss acceptable, all surviving and heavily traumatized personnel are told the strike took out every significant, if not every single, blankbody on the planet. They are not proven incorrect until Ishaq Khan starts hunting blankbodies in London and supplies operational data that contradicts the elimination hypothesis.This is as close to an official truth about what happened there is. But it is not the full story.

Chapter Six: On the Road 132using the attack to attempt to escape. But it’s too late. SWAT teams arrive and the terrorists detonate their explosive ordnance. First, a huge thermite truck-bomb is detonated, molten metal eating six stories into the floor, then a dirty thermobaric truck bomb is set off. The terrorist act may be motivated by any number of regional political goals, racial hatred, or even incitement by the intelligence services of a larger state such as Russia with an interest in the area.Copenhagen: Trailed by the EnemyBetween two worldsSocial, PhysicalThe players’ band arrives in Copenhagen to play a venue in the anarchist commune Freetown Christiania. However, peace at Christiania is fragile, and the band’s arrival brings more to the scene than just tunes. Will they be able to protect the locals from the potential dangers following them into town?Introduction“Despite what you’ve been through so far, the tour proceeds according to plan. More or less. Potential Masquerade breaches are still a real concern, but it seems that you’re able to leave most other troubles behind as long as you keep moving. Every city is a new chance to shine.Your tour manager has made the necessary arrangements in advance, and it doesn’t come as a surprise to the dominant Anarchs of Copenhagen when you arrive. There’s no big welcoming committee, but no one’s waiting to attack you either. Two middle-aged hippies meet you at the gates to Christiania as your van rolls up, guiding you to a parking spot on the inside of the graffiti-covered wooden fence that shields the commune, and now you, from the rest of Copenhagen. Past sunset, the Scandinavian summer air is still full of bird song and fairly bright. A smell of earthy decay, tobacco, dog, and freedom assaults your nostrils. It smells like returning to the roots of what made you musicians in the first place.”GoalsThis stop showcases the danger the characters present to their mortal surroundings, not just as monsters barely controlling their Beasts but as beings at the center of troubles they can’t control, try as they might. Depending on the players’ choices, the stop can be more focused on mortal issues, or it can dive into the conflict between the two Kindred sects that share control of Copenhagen: The Anarchs under Rudi and other gang bosses and the Camarilla under Belinde.Upon arrival, the main goal of the players’ characters is first to wow their audience at Loppen and make some useful connections with the Copenhagen bookers. Quickly, this will be compounded by the goals of making sure they don’t cause too much damage to be welcomed back, and getting out of the city in time to make their next gig.Supporting CharactersThe story uses the following characters:MARIE MØLLER: A community organizer.A mortal anarchist, Marie has lived in Christiania most of her life and has her home and her family here as well. She’s the current chair of the board that manages Loppen. An ER nurse, she’s used to late nights and high pressure. The concerts she helps facilitate provide her with a nice distraction and a chance to dance off some excess adrenaline.General Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 5, Mental 5Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 5Exceptional Dice Pools: Animal Ken 6 (dogs), Persuasion 6, Medicine 7 (First Aid)JANUS WINTHER: An Anarch deeply embedded in mortal society.Another member of Loppen’s board and a longtime resident of Christiania, where he’s established his haven halfway under an old military bunker, Janus doubles as a trusted Anarch ally of Rudi. He’s the movement’s primary connection to the commune and Christiania’s protector. Janus dislikes unnecessary violence and recently took part in the effort to push organized crime out of the area. He hopes that by allowing more of a Kindred presence, it’ll help keep the motorcycle gangs and their turf war at bay.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB13313th Generation Brujah neonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 8Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 7, Mental 5, Disciplines 6Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools: Etiquette 8 (Anarch), Leadership 9, Streetwise 9Disciplines: Celerity 1 (Rapid Reflexes), Potence 2 (Lethal Body, Prowess)THE FAN: A hapless victim.At this stop, a fan will get caught in the crossfire. It can be a vulnerable local for maximum impact on the commune or someone who has made an impression on the band. Nohr (p. 103) or Hannah Marie (p. 104) could be used here or simply be in the crowd to complicate the situation further.RUDOLF SCHULZE (P. 108): A hunter with nothing else to fill his life.Rudolf has followed the players’ band from Vienna, careful not to get discovered. He’s intent on finding an opportunity to take down the vampire(s) among them now, even if it means doing something he’d never normally risk: putting civilians in danger.JAN WILLEM EDEN (P. 109): A reluctant enforcer of the law.Willem doesn’t make his presence known unless he has to. He’s followed the band into the city just to make sure they don’t bring too much attention to themselves.AGNETE ELLBRECHT: A Camarilla representative.Agnete is a Camarilla courtier based in Christianshavn — a mere 700 meters from Christiania but a world apart culturally. She usually spends the first part of her evenings pretending to sip coffee from her balcony overlooking the channel. It’s come to her attention that there’s a new coterie in Copenhagen and that no one’s thought to introduce them formally to the Court. She’s looking for an opportunity to right this wrong (but isn’t about to fight anyone over it).11th Generation Ventrue ancillaGeneral Difficulty: 5 / 4Blood Potency: 2Humanity: 6Standard Dice Pools: Physical 7, Social 8, Mental 7, Disciplines 8Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools: Etiquette 10 (Camarilla), Subterfuge 9, Academics 8 (Theology)Disciplines: Dominate 1 (Compel), Fortitude 3 (Resilience, Unswayable Mind, Fortify the Inner Façade), Presence 1 (Awe)LocationsThe majority of this stop takes place at Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, where the band either stays in their own wheeled accommodation or borrows a colorful container house with boarded up windows to sleep in. The mood here is relaxed and welcoming on the surface, but anxiety is easily stirred among the locals, as the neighborhood recently saw a series of violent conflicts between factions of drug dealers, resulting in the locals allying with the cops to shut down the drug trade and take Christiania back.If the story moves outside of Christiania, to Christianshavn or the inner city, the latent conflict between the official Camarilla rulers of Copenhagen and the de facto Anarch leadership might come into more focus.LOPPEN (P. 93): This venue’s motto is “Going out of business since 1973” because it’s dedicated to rebellious voices, angry music, and bands with a message — and the bookers don’t give a fuck if it pays. It’s a great place to establish yourself. Word travels far when a show at Loppen has made an impression.BADEHUSET: Christiania’s local mixed-gender bathing house has a sauna, a cold-water basin, hot showers, several huge bathtubs with absolutely no privacy, a café selling herbal tea and little cups of mud, and a dozen naked locals.MAGNOLIA (P. 93): This week, the Magnolia theater is screening The Duke of Burgundy and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Agnete Ellbrecht might be found outside chain smoking cigarettes she can’t really taste in the Danish summer rain while she waits for a screening to begin.

Chapter Six: On the Road 134ScenesPREPARING TO ROCK: The players’ characters need to settle in and prepare for their gig. They can chat with Marie or Janus, getting different variants of intel on the goings-on in the city. Janus will make sure they understand that if they need to hunt, this has to happen outside of Christiania. A Resolve + Insight test at a Difficulty of 2 reveals that he is nervous about hosting the players’ band. They can convince him he has nothing to worry about with a contest of Charisma or Manipulation + Persuasion or Subterfuge against Difficulty 5 or get him to relax by helping at the venue and getting along well with Marie. She doesn’t know anything about the supernatural, but she’s known as a good judge of character.As the band’s equipment is being set up, they have a chance to talk to the fans that have followed them and who are currently lingering around looking for something to do. A conversation with Hannah, Nohr, or a local enthusiast can help get the band psyched for their performance, and as it gets closer, more and more fans appear.Leaving Christiania to hunt provides an opportunity to run into Agnete, who will invite the band to join her at Magnolia to pay their respects before they leave town.IN THE ROOTS: The concert is for a room of some 350 people who have gotten the impression that something very special is about to go down. It’s hot and stuffy — not so crowded you can’t move, but the space close to the stage is packed — someone’s making out in the corner, people are smoking inside, and if the band hasn’t recently fed, they’ll probably be feeling hunger pangs. Will they manage to genuinely dazzle the audience or provide a mediocre performance that is nonetheless cheered with enthusiasm by onlookers determined to have a good time?Anyone with the Auspex power Premonition might feel that something terrible is about to go down just before it does. Others will notice the panic spreading through the crowd at the same time as they see the blood. Someone starts to scream, several silent seconds after the shot has rung out. From somewhere in the packed room, Rudolf has shot toward the stage, aiming for a member of the band with the silver bullet he’s had blessed by a Catholic priest.Rudolf might be aiming again, people are pushing and yelling to get out of the room, and someone — the fan the band interacted with earlier — is lying, bleeding on the floor. If the band members have to be held back from feeding on the fan, Janus is ready to do so, and Willem can appear to help as well, if for no other reason then to protect the Masquerade. Perhaps Rudolf tries to get in a second shot to actually hit the band member he was aiming for, but quickly, he realizes he needs to run and tries to get away.If Rudolf is stopped, Janus takes him into Anarch custody or Willem will take responsibility for dealing with him. They want to interrogate him and don’t trust the ability of the mortal police to find useful information. If he makes it outside, the police will arrest him and drive him away. The bleeding fan will be taken to the hospital for urgent care. For the band, it will be imperative to maintain control over themselves. Janus angrily tells them that he doesn’t want to see them until the next night, telling them to withdraw to their van if they know what’s good for them.COPENHAGEN UNDER LOCKDOWN:Shortly after Rudolf’s attack, word has spread in Copenhagen that the band has led hunters into town. As a reaction, the Anarchs shut down the city, banning vampires from traveling in and out of the city and from meeting in public. Janus coldly informs the band that if they want to leave, they’ll have to make things right the next night.The players’ characters can still make a run for it, but if they do, the choice may come to haunt them later if they want to keep touring in Anarch domains.HOT STEAM, COLD BODIES: The night following the violent incident at the concert, mortal members of the local Christiania community request a meeting with the band to clarify what went wrong. The meeting takes place in Badehuset, which has been closed to outsiders for the occasion. Before they go in, Janus informs the players’ characters that the majority of those present will be mortals who are under the impression that the band was the target of a member of a hate group, who tracked them from abroad. What they have to answer for is if they knew they were being

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB135followed, why they were okay with putting the locals in danger, and how much of their act is for real?If the band can convince the citizens of Christiania, and through them the Anarchs, that they cannot be held responsible for Rudolf’s actions and that he was most likely acting on his own, the Anarchs lift the lockdown.MEETING AT MAGNOLIA: As an alternative to talking it out with the locals, the band can sneak out to meet with Agnete at Magnolia. The Court doesn’t appreciate decisions being made without them and can be convinced to help the band out simply because they weren’t consulted on the lockdown. Bringing Willem along will provide band members with a +1 bonus to Social pools in contests with Agnete because it makes her feel more important. Leaving like this will sour the relationship to the Anarchs of Copenhagen, but the Camarilla Court will welcome the band back anytime.The band can also just wait for the lockdown to lift, but that’ll mean being late for their next gig at Le Botanique in Brussels, and no one will be very impressed with them — least of all their manager.VariationsOPPOSITE ALLIANCES: If it fits better with the story, or the band falls out with the Anarchs before their concert, reverse their alliances and have them play an intimate gig at Magnolia instead of their show at Loppen. Rudolf will still try to shoot at least one of them (and hit Nohr or Hanna), and it will be Willem who convinces the Camarilla Court that the lockdown is a good idea. The players’ characters will have to talk their way out — or they can seek help from the Anarchs through Janus, who might be convinced that it’ll be safer for everybody if they leave.PRISON BREAK: Once the shot rings out, the cops quickly arrive on the scene. They show up in riot gear expecting another gang war to be about to break out, and they indiscriminately pull everyone who doesn’t look local into the back of their blue van. If one of the band members gets snatched up, the story will have to briefly veer off, as the others have to bust them out. Going to the police station may also provide an opportunity to interrogate Rudolf and find out he was working alone and is very ill informed about the realities of what he’s hunting.ROCK VERSUS ROCKERS: It’s obvious to those with experience in shadowy business that the players’ band isn’t like any other. To the motorcycle gang and Swedish immigrant drug dealers who were recently thrown out of Christiania, the band looks a lot like fresh competition. A number of rockers wait for an opportunity to put them in their place. As soon as the band leaves Christiania, they attack, wielding hunting knives and broken bottles.The cops will stay out of it, and Masquerade breaches aren’t that big of a concern if they just happen in the dead of night with underground organized crime. This

Chapter Six: On the Road 136encounter can replace the attack by Rudolf if desired, creating tension in its stead, as the locals of Christiania will want an explanation. If it happens before the concert, the band might struggle to perform with too many broken bones.Brussels: Burn BrightGetting a taste of what’s it like on the topSocial, Physical (optional)There’s a gig waiting for the characters in Brussels, and assuming they arrive for it in time, it likely goes off without a hitch. In fact, the band receives so warm a welcome by some surprise fans, leaving the city may be difficult.Introduction“After what you went through in Copenhagen, the day drive down through Germany is thankfully uneventful, and your next night greets you at an orderly gas station stop in the woods a half-hour’s drive from Brussels. If you take the time to feed there or deeper in the Sonian Forest that surrounds the last stretch of the N3, you’ll notice that even the blood tastes cleaner in Belgium.Continuing straight to Le Botanique, you’re likely pleased by the venue. The historical orangery, all glass and domed oxidized roof, is something special, made more beautiful by the touch of time. Your manager jokes that you should be relieved you won’t be playing in the orangery itself but in the vaulted basement bar. It may be smaller and less impressive, but at least it won’t burn you to a crisp if you go over time.”GoalsAction doesn’t necessarily start off immediately in Brussels, so the Storyteller can take their time with arrival and the first concert if they want a chance to slow down or introduce some additional story elements. You can also skip straight to the end of the concert at Le Botanique, when the dangers of Brussels start to claw at the players’ band.This stop is about confronting the players’ characters with the malevolent, heartless workings behind the fame and wealth they idealize. Greatness comes at a cost, and you either pay it (and lose yourself in the process) or stay irrelevant. That, at least, is the ticket sold by the devils in the industry, and it’s as true for the star as it is for the vampire. The Beast waits in Brussels.The band will be cajoled and tantalized with flattery and gleaming mirages of a future on red carpets and album covers. Their goal is to prove themselves worthy of what they’re offered. And then, once they see the rotting core of it, they’ll have to perform for the chance to simply survive to another night.Supporting CharactersThis story uses the following characters:OSRAM ANDERSEN (P. 105): A predator of sorts.He was tipped off about the players’ band after one of their earlier concerts and is in the audience at Le Botanique. His job is to get them to come willingly with him to the Sonian Palace.LIAM ROSSI: Camarilla’s political power personified.Liam has the easy manner of a man who can solve any problem imaginable with a wave of his J.P. Morgan Reserve. Kindred in the know whisper that he’s the young heir of an anziani, stationed as a lobbyist working for the European Commission on behalf of his influential Venetian sire. But the players’ band doesn’t really need to know more than that Liam isn’t the kind of Kindred one refuses.Liam also happens to be absolutely mad about the type of music the players’ characters play.12th Generation Hecata fledglingGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 5Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 6, Mental 6, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 6Exceptional Dice Pools: Intimidation 7, Subterfuge 8, Finance 8Disciplines: Auspex 1 (Heightened Senses), Fortitude 2 (Resilience, Toughness)

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB137KEATON ALLEN (P. 46): Liam’s partner in sin.A special kind of closeness can be achieved between men who share vices so dark it makes them solitary travelers in a world otherwise inhabited by fools not in the know. The joy of death and destruction is hard to justify in polite society. This is why Keaton is currently semi-permanent fixture in Liam’s Brussels’ home, even though the two only got to know each other recently. Since Keaton never stops working, he’s eager to figure out if the players’ band would be worth investing in. It isn’t all about talent, it’s also about how far he can push them before they bite.MARYNA ALLEN: The neglected trophy.No one’s asked Maryna if she wants to be at the Sonian Palace or spend her time sweet talking Keaton’s business victims and associates. But no one ever asks Maryna anything. She does her best to charm the players’ band because she’s been told to, and it’s no longer clear to her where her wants end and her husband’s will begins.General Difficulty: 3 / 2Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 3, Mental 5Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 4Exceptional Dice Pools: Craft 6 (Design), Performance 5 (Posing), Awareness 6PALE SUNRISE (P. 96): The best vampire band in the world, in their own estimation.The rival band was the first to receive Liam’s enthusiastic attention, and it isn’t their first visit to his mansion. But now that he’s found out about the players’ band, his first favorites are in risk of losing their sparkle. The mortal staff still treats them with reverence, but the players’ characters may notice that Liam, the Allens, and other party goers seem to oscillate between admiration, distaste, and disinterest when it comes to Pale Sunrise. Cyfrin, Liane Wind, and the rest are split in reacting with slight desperation or determination to prove themselves. Depending on how interactions have gone with the players’ characters earlier, they may appear resentful or guardedly look for opportunities to work together.OTHER CLIENTS AND CALLERS: A crowd of insiders.When the characters are at Liam’s place, they may run into several famous and influential characters, as well as the disingenuous climbers trying to ingratiate themselves with them. Jayne Jonestown (p. 44) could make an appearance here for instance.SERVANTS, STAFF, AND MUSCLE: Here to make sure everything goes as planned.A guest’s every need is anticipated by the mortal staff working at the Sonian Palace. The band will also have an encounter with the private security guards hired to pick them up. Treat these guards as strong mortal antagonists with a Difficulty of 4 / 3. It’s not really the Difficulty that does it, as much as the firepower.LocationsBrussels is a civilized and incredibly diverse city, and the players’ characters feel welcome from the get-go. They won’t get any trouble for looking different here. But as they’ll quickly find out, there’s a hidden web of power structures crisscrossing the city. It’ll require care to navigate them wisely, and finding someone here you can truly trust can be a daunting task.LE BOTANIQUE (P. 95): The players’ characters have a scheduled gig at the vaulted Witloof Bar at Le Botanique, which has 200 standing places. Their manager is hoping to chat up the host enough to let them perform in the 300-person Rotunda instead.

Chapter Six: On the Road 138THE SONIAN PALACE: A 30-room historic mansion of 2000 m2, the Palace was built in 1902 and is privately located in a gated community at the edge of the massive Sonian Forest. Featuring a grand staircase, parquet or marble flooring in every room, a library with original woodwork, a wine cellar, a top-notch blackout system, an indoor pool and training center, a stunning rooftop glass pyramid, and a beautiful private garden, this place truly feels like a palace even if it doesn’t technically fulfill the requirements.THE SONIAN FOREST: Located at the southeastern edge of Brussels, the Sonian Forest covers 11,000 acres of land and consists mainly of tall European beeches and oaks. It’s home to boars, bats, foxes, deer, and a desperate and confused thinblood half-wight. Thought destroyed when it was discarded, it now roams the area feeding on hikers and trying to make sense of what has happened to it.ScenesTHE CONCERT AT LE BOTANIQUE (OPTIONAL): To slow down, start with the band’s arrival at Le Botanique. Do they arrive on time or do they have to go on hungry and a little late? Have any of their fans followed them from Copenhagen, and do they seem nervous? Either way, when they show up on location, their manager has an opportunity to get them upgraded to the bigger Rotunda stage. Another band (Pale Sunrise) is a no-show. If they accept, they get to play to an audience of 50 people who came to hear them and some 200 people who came for the other band — giving them a real chance to impress because the majority doesn’t expect much from them.THE INVITATION: Once the concert is over, Osram Andersen meets the band backstage. Depending how it went, his enthusiasm for them may seem somewhat over-the-top, but he wants them to know that he thinks they’ve got something special — that sort of something you run into once a decade, if that. Osram wants to introduce them to one of his collaborators. Of course, he can’t promise anything, but it’s a big chance. Not something they’d want to miss.Whether the players realize it, this scene is a kidnapping. If their characters go willingly with Osram — a successful test of Composure + Insight vs. Difficulty 3 reveals that he’s genuine although a little nervous — he guides them to a black stretch limo behind the venue. Here three or four suited and heavily armed security guards make sure they get into the car and provide them with an escort.If the players’ characters resist, Osram name-drops Liam Rossi, making the band manager go pale and insist it’d be best to follow — they’ve heard that name before and know that it isn’t a good idea to get into trouble with him. The manager is visibly nervous, whispering to the band that this might be their Copenhagen trouble catching up with them.The drive is just long enough to let the players’ characters stew in the uncertainty of whether they’re being summoned because of their star potential or because some Kindred power player has decided they’ve broken the Traditions.It’s possible for the band to defeat the guards and get away. It’s a question of whether they want to see if there’s something to be gained here, or if it’s better to just run.PARTY ON PLUTO: At the Sonian Palace, the party has been going on for days already when the characters arrive, and it’ll take them a while to find someone who can tell them something more meaningful than where the pool is. Asking around, they might find out that people are excited about “the big concert” later and a little bit of info about Liam, mainly that he’s very rich and very important politically.Some or all of these things can happen at the party:▪ The players’ band gets split up.▪ Some of them meet Liam, who turns out to be a massive fan of theirs. He reveals that he has their instruments and that they’ll be ready for them when they go on stage. He also hands their bassist a vintage, limited edition Les Paul Gene Simmons played in 1977, because “who doesn’t like Kiss?” It’s a gift, free of charge.▪ Maryna, introducing herself as “just another model,” attaches herself to one of the player’s characters, doing what she can to make them relax and feel good. She may even offer up a taste of her blood, taken directly from the soft flesh of one of her half-exposed perfect breasts.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB139▪ Osram pitches Ashflower Management to a player’s character.▪ Keaton Allen reveals that Maryna is his wife and that he feels very possessive of her.▪ Keaton Allen reveals that Maryna is his wife and that he just loves watching her with others.▪ Keaton Allen pitches Ashflower Management to several of the players’ characters, letting them know all the wonderful things that’ll be part of their future if they make a deal with him. He wonders: would they like to perform at Glastonbury or Coachella first?▪ A player’s character goes exploring and finds some members of Pale Sunrise stressing out about Liam’s expectations of them (and the gig they missed at Le Botanique).▪ Some players’ characters run into Jayne Jonestown, who might admit that while Ashflower treats him very well, he’s heard that it’s not the same thing for smaller bands. He smirks and advises them not to piss off Allen.▪ Liam makes sure the players’ band is invited to feed discreetly in the private underground spa, where every surface is conveniently tiled and the floors are sloped towards the drain. A pair of mesmerized, young blood dolls offer themselves up. Liam lets the band know not to worry if they kill them. There are more where they came from.PYRAMID OF FIRE: Late at night, the music suddenly stops, as Liam climbs up on a table with a microphone and announces that it’s time for the real concert! This is when the players’ band finds out that they’re not only playing, they’re competing against Pale Sunrise in an American Idol-inspired band versus band showdown, where the winner gets a record deal through Ashflower Management and the losers get to play in the in the pyramid-shaped glass atrium directly above the stage. Liam laughs as he checks his watch — it’s 90 minutes until sunrise. Just a bit of theatre to make it interesting!You can play out the battle of the bands as a three-round Social Conflict against Pale Sunrise. Each round has one musician go up against another, symbolizing guitar solos, stage presence, the singer’s vocal technique, or similar. Be generous with rewarding creative player input here.After the competition, Liam lets everyone have a break before gathering back for the final performance. There’s about 30 minutes until sunrise. If Pale Sunrise loses the competition, they might try to get away, but unless they get help from the players’ characters, they’ll fail. Their final epic song plays on the raised stage a good five meters above everyone else as the first rays of sunlight caress them, set them aflame, and send them scrambling desperately to reach any sort of cover. A smiling blonde compliments the special effects. The players’ band stays for the day.If the players’ band loses the competition, it’s time for them to run.BAND ON THE RUN: Time is of the essence, but either Maryna or members of Pale Sunrise feel bad for the players’ band and distract the hosts to buy them time. Fortunately, the band van is parked outside with the keys in the ignition, so all they have to do is get into it and then hazardously drive through the vast Sonian Forest that surrounds the mansion until they can find a safe and shadowy place to park. Liam’s guards may follow them for a bit, but the band can easily shake them. It’s almost like they’re letting them get away — because they are.CLIFFHANGER: The next night or a few nights later, when the band is already on their way to Paris, they get a call on their burner phone from a secret number. It’s Keaton Allen, who just wants to reiterate how much he’s looking forward to collaborating with them. He’s sure they’ve got a bright future ahead of them.VariationsIN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE: At any point, the players’ characters can run from the trouble they’ve gotten embroiled in and end up in the Sonian Forest. Of course, Liam and Allen might hunt them for sport if they do so, but the forest is large and easy to lose your prey in. Joggers, the sunproof wight, or Girl Scouts are just as likely encounters.AN UNLIKELY ALLY: If it feels like the players’ band has too many enemies to handle, they can gain

Chapter Six: On the Road 140an unlikely ally in one of the characters who has been following them, with or without their knowledge. Perhaps Jan Willem, the music journalist Reggie (p. 107), one of their fans, or even a reformed Rudolf steps up to the occasion.THE BAND DOESN’T GET AWAY: Should the players’ characters be the ones chosen to play in the pyramid of glass, the Storyteller can give them the option to finish the chronicle like Pale Sunrise if they wish to play that final epic gig rather than make their escape.Paris: Into the NightWhat will you give up for what you love, and will you still love it on the other side?Social, Physical (optional), MentalIf the players’ band has so far been able to keep their music careers mostly untouched by Camarilla politics, that time is over. There’s a Blood Hunt on as they drive into Paris, and if they’re not careful how they navigate the last part of their tour, they may become targets themselves.Introduction“You’re not the first band to have to claw your way through the last part of an international tour bruised and more than half-dead, and you won’t be the last. Forget about your other problems. What counts now is making it through the last stretch and standing tall in the stage lights when you play at the Bataclan. Paris has been good to struggling performers before and helped them become all that they could be, and it’ ll be good to you too, if you just play your hearts out. Show what you’re worth, show you deserve it. Don’t let everything you’ve gone through be for nothing.”Your tour manager finishes their pep talk as you drive onto the 35 km long ring road surrounding Paris. Before long, you’re in a queue that’ll trap you on the highway for at least an hour. It seems there’s been some sort of traffic incident further ahead. At least you’ve got another night until you’ve got to go on. You’ve got time. All you’ve got to do is get your shit together and stay out of trouble.GoalsParis is the final stop of the Sound and Fury chronicle, and it’s the time to explore the core questions. Do the players’ characters believe there is a future for them as stars in the mortal world, or is it better to fade away? As an example, they have Kim Douglas, the superstar who faked his own death and has yearned for the lost days of glory ever since. This is where the players’ band will have to choose what they want to become and what they’ll give up to get there.Will they reach for glory? Will they fight to stay something messier, but also more human, determined to keep their art true? Or will they hesitate to choose and perhaps go down as a cautionary tale?Supporting CharactersThis story uses the following characters:KIM DOUGLAS (P. 114): The dead star, dreaming of reigniting.After leaving the players’ band in Berlin, Kim made his way back to Paris. His interactions with them have awakened something in him that was buried for a long time, and he can’t easily put it down again. He’d been hiding out, drone-like, in some sort of waking sleep state, but the dream of really connecting with an audience again has been reignited. His life’s mission was always to tell the truth through music, and he no longer cares if it destroys him (for good). Life isn’t supposed to last forever; it’s supposed to mean something even if it’s the undead existence of the Kindred. Kim sees the players’ band as an opportunity to explore what he wants to do, and perhaps launch a new Mask and make his own bid for stardom once again. Meanwhile, he’s been giving intimate concerts around the city, playing covers of other people’s hits. It’s a question of time before he starts playing his own material and tries to come back as someone new.Whether that’s actually possible remains to be seen. After all, the world is full of aspiring stars. The fact that Kim made it once before is no guarantee that he’ll be able to do it again. Some say that the Embrace extinguishes the spark of genius in mortals, after all.

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Chapter Six: On the Road 142Kim’s provocations haven’t gone unnoticed. The Parisian Camarilla Court has grown aware that the dead star is in their city and is preparing to handle the situation. They’re worried that his bid for a successful return causes a blatant Masquerade breach as people realize who he really is. Hiding a famous face is hard, after all. Other parties may be invested as well. Kim skillfully avoids them, catlike in the way he manages to be in one place one moment and then disappear. He knows they’ll get to him eventually, but he’s so confident he can avoid them for the present that he doesn’t hesitate to be seen in public. He is free of fear and, for the first time in decades, full of glee.JAN WILLEM EDEN (P. 109): The sad face of authority.If Willem has recently interacted with the players’ band, it’s likely he knows that they were heading to Paris next, but they’re no longer his primary focus. He’s been called to the city to advise the ruling Court on the Masquerade threat they’re dealing with in Kim. He’s unaware of the full extent of the connection between the two issues but knows that since the problem creature appears to masquerade (poorly) as a musician, the players’ band might run into him eventually. If he trusts them, he might ask them to help him set a trap for Kim.SIMONE AMANDINE: A Hound.A childe of a former Sheriff of Paris fallen out of favor, Simone has endeared herself to the city’s Court by being something as charming as a contradiction. She is a Toreador with all the aggression and some of the natural abilities of a Brujah. Simone may be an enigma, but it’s no secret that she thirsts for influence, and the Court takes advantage by using her as one of their watchdogs. The lean, dark-haired woman travels the arrondissements by motorbike. A Hound, she has the authority to deal directly with minor crimes against the Traditions.10th Generation Toreador AncillaGeneral Difficulty: 5 / 3Blood Potency: 2Humanity: 6Standard Dice Pools: Physical 6, Social 7, Mental 6, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 7Exceptional Dice Pools: Drive 10 (motorcycle), Melee 9 (improvised weapons), Insight 9 (Interrogation)Disciplines: Auspex 1 (Sense the Unseen), Celerity 2 (Cat’s Grace, Fleetness), Potence 1 (Soaring Leap), Presence 2 (Daunt, Lingering Kiss)Notes/Other Traits: Simone is usually kept company by two long-haired metal heads, Guy and Angélus. Guy is a 12th Generation Toreador with a weakness for vintage Stratocasters. Angélus is an 11th Generation Brujah, who loves powerlifting and the band Ultra Vomit. But Simone won’t be introducing them. They both have a Difficulty of 4 / 3.ANDRÉ OUTRÉ: The talent scout.The owner of Hotel Elysia is personally responsible for introducing new performers to said Court on a regular basis. His buttery voice only partially conceals his unyielding temperament, and he isn’t about to let something as exciting as a Kindred band just travel in and out of the domain without testing if they’re worth keeping around.12th Generation Toreador NeonateGeneral Difficulty: 4 / 3Blood Potency: 1Humanity: 7Standard Dice Pools: Physical 5, Social 6, Mental 7, Disciplines 5Secondary Attributes: Health 5, Willpower 6Exceptional Dice Pools: Etiquette 8 (Elysium), Awareness 8, Finance 8Disciplines: Auspex 3 (Heightened Senses, Premonition, Share the Senses), Presence 1 (Awe)SECOND INQUISITION AGENTS: Slowly, the Kindred troubles surrounding the players’ characters may get complicated by the increasing appearance of mortal hunters. They’ll initially be in civilian, passing the characters by in the street without either party realizing. But if things get out of control, the agents may get fully armored and battle-ready GIGN (Groupe d’intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale, tr. National Gendarmerie Intervention Group) backup. Treat individual SI agents as mortal antagonists with a Difficulty of 3 / 2; 4 / 3 if they’re equipped for conflict.

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB143LocationsThe finale moves around between different locations in Camarilla-controlled Paris at a time when the local Kindred are itching for a challenge. The players’ band will be out of their depth here, and until they possibly accept the help offered by their local hosts, they’ll have to navigate the city much as normal travelers do: using maps and guidebooks, fending off scam artists, getting lost on public transport, and pulling themselves back up out of cracks it’s all too easy to fall into.LE PÉRIPH AND KILOMÈTRE25: Most people driving into Paris will do it via the Boulevard Périphérique, a wide, four-laned ring road with a speed limit of 50 km/h, which will eventually deliver you into the city center for the living nightmare that is Paris parking. The busiest road in France, Le Périph is continuously patrolled by four to eight police cars.While the road rage builds in the commuters queuing to return home, people gather below Le Périph in the open-air venue Kilomètre25, located half in an underpass, half under the open sky by the Canal de l’Ourcq. On summer nights, Kilomètre25 hosts techno and house parties, art events, and a night market. People go there to dance, make street art, get a new tattoo, or drown their sorrows in the sensation of the beat, at least for a bit.HOTEL ELYSIA: This five-star hotel on the ChampsÉlysées promises a subtle harmony of art, hospitality, and a premium experience — and it doubles as an Elysium for the Court on certain Sundays. The Elysia is also one of the few hotels worldwide that offer a fully realistic but vampire-safe sunlight experience in their presidential augmented reality suite.L’IMPRÉVU CAFÉ: Not far from the Bataclan, located in the historical Le Marais area, L’Imprévu Café is a friendly little bar with a surprisingly labyrinthine interior. One easily disappears between the deep sofas and the darkly decorated vaulted stone walls. This is a good place to sit and pretend-sip a warm beer for hours, bathed in purple disco lights, one’s voice drowned out by the murmur of many others.THE CATACOMBS (P. 96): A panicked corpse searching for a dark hole to hide might find its way down into the old, underground ossuaries. They’ll be in good company there. Kim Douglas has a hideout in the deep; he sings to the skulls. Normally, the majority of the city’s Kindred think themselves too good to descend underground — they’ll leave that to the Nosferatu — but with the right motivation, they’ll break protocol.BATACLAN (P. 96): The players’ band has a scheduled concert at the Bataclan, organized with the local Succubus Club (see p. 97). It depends on how the players’ band has conducted their affairs whether their tour manager knows that the Succubus Club is a vampiric organization and not just a concert and party promoter. The venue is packed and neutral enough ground that everyone they have unfinished business with can meet them there or observe from the floor.ScenesBLOOD IN THE AIR: The first scene opens as traffic on Le Périph has slowed to an excruciating crawl. Thanks to some special event, which can be a huge demo, the French Open, Tour de France, Bastille Day, or just malfunctioning traffic lights, there are far too many people trying to get into the city at once, and there’s been an accident farther ahead.After a while, they’ll notice a group of three leather-clad bikers weaving in and out between the cars as if looking for something. This is Simone and her backup. They know the band is incoming because spies looking into Kim Douglas has revealed it’s vampiric nature too. Once they know this, they just have to check the band’s tour dates to figure out when they’re probably coming to town.Simone wants to welcome the band to the city and make sure they behave. If the players’ characters don’t make an effort to hide, Simone locates them, presents herself, and has them follow her below the underpass to Kilomètre25. The characters can also find the club on their own, the electronic beat will be muffled but noticeable once they are out in the open — then Simone might find them there. A successful Wits + Insight at Difficulty 3 lets the characters understand (either due to their manner or by noticing their equipment) that the French Kindred are on edge because there’s something extraordinary going on at Court.

Chapter Six: On the Road 144Talking to Simone, the players’ characters learn that the Paris Court has been waiting for them — perhaps their manager called ahead, otherwise Willem warned them in advance. The Court is intrigued to welcome new artists into the city and will be making sure to send someone to see what they can do. They also get an invitation to stay at Hotel Elysia, should they not have made other arrangements. Simone is charming but strict: the band is on Camarilla territory now, and they’re expected to show loyalty to their hosts, or there’ll be consequences.THE LUXURY EXPERIENCE (OPTIONAL): The characters arrive at Hotel Elysia, where they’re greeted by André, who is intrigued by them and wants them to know there’s a future at the Court if they can be trusted. He hints at being able to further their careers and can be presented as an alternative to Ashflower Management. His argument would be that for Ashflower, the characters are just one band among many and wouldn’t get much attention, but with him, they’d get a real push. He can otherwise deliver the same types of messages as Simone, but he is much more eloquent about it. With the right successes, the characters can find out that the Court is worried that they’ll be a Masquerade breach and wants to keep them close to prevent this.HEART TO HEART: Once they’re alone again, Kim Douglas finds the players’ characters and invites them to the L’Imprévu Café. Like many others, he’s read their tour schedule from all the advertising and makes an educated guess about where they could be found. He’s delighted to see them and wants to hear all about the tour, their victories and struggles. If they’ve guessed his true identity, and he knows it, he can comfortably compare his own past experiences to theirs. Otherwise, he keeps his stories a bit more vague, but doesn’t hide that he used to have a lot more

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB145success than he does now. While Kim is open and relaxed with the band, perceptive characters may notice that he watches over his shoulder the whole night, as if he thinks someone is after him.Talking about the difficulties of balancing death and your passions, Kim asks the players’ band what it is that’s most important to them: the music, the message, the fame, or something else? He offers some advice, suggesting that if they do go for the fame, they need to be prepared to fake their own deaths before undeath becomes too obvious.This rest of the night can be played as montage scene. This means going through scenes quickly, presenting them more as impressions of situations where the players can make a few choices or say what their characters are feeling. You can give players agency by giving them the choice between different scenes: Do you get drunk on the blood of drunks together, or do you get a tattoo that’ll fade away?▪ The players’ coterie and Kim getting blood drunk together▪ Kim admitting that playing with them awakened something that he doesn’t wanna let go of again▪ Going to the tattoo parlor together to get something that’ll fade the next night▪ Swearing eternal loyalty to the fellowship of undead rock stars (apart from the assholes)▪ Agreeing to play another gig together▪ Making a detailed plan to fake their deaths▪ Feeling paranoid about some weird-looking tourists, running away, and ending up in some parkFeature as many Parisian sights as desired and let the whole night seem a bit hazy to the players’ characters in retrospect.The night ends with Kim staggering down a manhole to go home, promising the characters that he’ll see them soon again.The Storyteller can make a passive test for players’ characters with Sense the Unseen during the night to discover that there’s another supernatural presence watching them from the shadows.STAKES IN THE GAME: The next night, things have escalated and there’s a Blood Hunt in Paris. The players’ band gets pulled into it by one of their Camarilla contacts (Willem, Simone, or André), who seeks them out because they know the band has been in contact with Kim.If the players’ band hasn’t figured out Kim’s true identity until now, it’s revealed. A battle-ready Kindred holds up a sketch of his face and demands that the players’ characters help hold him responsible for his crimes against the Masquerade. Word has it the dead star has plans to become famous again, and the Prince of Paris knows the players’ characters have gotten close to him. They’re pressured to promise that they’ll help entrap him if they get a chance to. It’s a Composure + Subterfuge test at Difficulty 5 if the characters want to hide that they’ve seen Kim recently and have ways to help find him.For the most part, the hunt takes place in the catacombs. The players’ characters have a gig to get to, but they’ve got a few hours to spare. If they don’t at least pretend to take part, their hosts will see it as a sign that they’re on Kim’s side and as dangerous as he is.The catacombs are large, and there are plenty of nooks to stash a staked metalhead or hide. Kim knows the site better than most, and although the characters can find his hideout, he’ll have packed up his favorite poetry books and vanished by then. However, Simone or other locals might find the characters there, get the wrong idea, and things become tense. The characters have to de-escalate, or they can try to fight their way out.THE DEATH OF A GOD: When the band arrives for their concert at the Bataclan, any Camarilla contacts still in action are in the audience. So are the band’s most loyal fans, someone from Ashflower, and anyone else who might add value to the scene. Kim hasn’t been caught, and now the pressure is on the players’ band to show that they can be trusted.Surprisingly, in the second half of the concert, Kim shows up. He asks to play with the band, and mentions this might be his last chance now that the Camarilla is after him. If the characters agree and once he’s on stage with them, there’s no hiding that he’s there, but the Camarilla isn’t going to take him down mid-show if they can avoid it. There’s time for at least one more song. As long as they play better than they ever have before, the Toreador will let them keep playing. If they disappoint, someone will shut off the power, so business can proceed.

Chapter Six: On the Road 146Do the characters try to help Kim run, turn him in, or take him down? Do they run with him or stay to fight for him, giving their unlives to the spirit of rock ’n’ roll? This choice determines the end of the chronicle:KILLING THE GOD TO BECOME THE GOD: In addition to the usual diablerie rules and effects (see Vampire, p. 234), successfully drinking Kim’s essence permanently opens the perpetrator’s mind to a psychedelic miasma of colors and broken melodies that grants them strange visions. The players’ characters can have their pick of allies, and stardom will come to them easily. Although Kim was right, they won’t be able to hold on to it for long.HELPING THE CAMARILLA TAKE HIM DOWN: If the characters co-operate with the Court, they’ll get an invitation to stay in Paris for a season to play the local festivals and a handful of venue’s that André will arrange for them. It’ll pay well enough for them to turn down Ashflower and get started on another record. The Court will be loath to let them go once they have them, however.MAKING A DEAL TO ESCAPE: The players’ characters can try to escape Paris. They’ll have a hard time of it if they’ve made enemies of the Parisian Court, unless they get help. Luckily, they do have friends in high places. Ashflower Management is only a call away, and they’ve got a private jet that can be ready to take the band anywhere they want within 30 minutes. The band might even bring Kim along. He won’t want to, so he’ll slip away just as they’re getting on the plane.MAKING A RUN FOR IT: If the characters accept that Kim can’t be saved, they can use the chaos to escape Paris. They’ll stay small-time musicians who have to fight for what they get, for the time being. Depending what enemies they’ve made, they may have to lie low for a while.GOING DOWN FIGHTING: If the characters choose to give it their all, defend Kim, and perhaps even choose to play one of his old songs with him as the lead, they’ll have to fight their way out of the Bataclan, and their enemies will be so numerous that they’ll have no chance to make it. Final death or being staked and buried in the catacombs to be gnawed at by the rats will be their fate.KEEPING THE BAND TOGETHER: If you think you might want to continue the tour, and the characters survive, give them some wiggle room to keep their mortal Masks as well, since without them the band is obviously done. You can use Willem and Simone to help clean up after them if they’ve been revealed by SI agents as blankbodies, for instance. And if they’ve gotten stuck in a deal with the Court, Ashflower can eventually pull them out (and the other way around) — for a price.DENOUEMENT (OPTIONAL): After the final scene, ask the players what they think happens in the weeks and months following the incident in Paris. Is the coterie strong enough to stick together as a band, if they’re given the choice not to?MONTHS LATER (OPTIONAL): Depending how the chronicle ended, you might want to treat the troupe to an additional short epilogue set months or even a year after the end. You can use this to set up tension for a potential continuation of the chronicle or for further closure. Find some ideas under Epilogue Options.VariationsROOFTOP CHASE: The Blood Hunt doesn’t go through the catacombs but is a rooftop chase that crosses Paris from La Vilette to Centre Pompidou. The hunters must be careful not to get spotted, which gives the players’ characters an edge if they’re trying to help Kim escape.THE SECOND INQUISITION STRIKES: Instead of Camarilla representatives, it’s Second Inquisition agents from the Entity waiting for Kim at the Bataclan. They’ve identified him as a blankbody threat and want to use the players’ band to get to him. If it fits with the story, the agents are under the impression he was the one Rudolf Schulze was hunting and that the players’ band are mortals who have been manipulated by Kim and have no idea what they are dealing with. A couple of agents meet them outside before they go in to make the deal. 

LIVE FROM THE SUCCUBUS CLUB147EPILOGUE OPTIONSIF THE BAND ESCAPED ON THEIR OWNIf the players have romanticized a specific place and situation over the course of the chronicle, weave that into your epilogue. If they haven’t, here are some ideas for how the final epilogue might find them if they made it out of Paris without selling out:EXT. Beach in Croatia—nightIn the distance, somewhere on the other side of the mountain shielding them, the characters can hear the sounds of the busy nighttime party scene. Maybe they’ve got a gig planned there later in the night. But where they are, it’s peaceful. Their motorboat is moored a bit out in the water. A smiling fan waves to them from it. Where will they go next?INT. A little Welsh pub—a few hours before midnightNo one knows who they are here. Perhaps no one ever will again. A dour-faced barmaid delivers a round of shots that’ll get discreetly tossed. It happens to be a live music night and some elderly folk music band is waiting for their lead singer, who seems to be a no-show. That’s not the characters’ problem, though. What do they care if there’s music?EXT. A music festival—2 in the morningThe players’ characters run into each other at a festival a year after they left Paris. Which of them stayed in music? Which changed careers completely? Is one of them about to perform, and how do the others feel about it? While they’re chatting, an old fan recognizes them and comes up for an autograph. They ask if the band is getting back together.IF THE BAND SERVES VILLONINT. Hotel Elysia, Paris—4 in the morningWho knew that the undead needed so many different varieties of canapés? Playing for the Court was full of promise the first few months, but now, six months later, it’s clear the courtiers have tired of the players’ band. They still expect them to play at Elysium, though. André, who once couldn’t tear his eyes away from their performance, talks over them before they’ve finished the first three songs.IF THE BAND SIGNED WITH ASHFLOWEREXT. Shanghai Pudong International Airport—who knows, but it’s darkStraight-edged porcelain grins meet the band as they get off the third jet this week. Ashflower’s East Asian representative bows quickly and hands the first one out an info pack as near-identical suits steer them towards the waiting cars. They’ve got an hour until they go on the first talk show of the trip, and they need to learn their lines.IF THE BAND COLLABORATED WITH HUNTERS IN THE ENDINT. Known Venue—nightRevisiting a venue that they’ve played before or always wanted to play, the band is getting ready to go on. This time, there’s some hopeful up-and-coming band warming up for them. A desperate fan announces themselves with a shriek, barging through the door to the backstage, chased by security. As the security guard leads the fan out, he winks to one of the characters. He’s expecting them to lure out another suspected blankbody tonight, so he can rid the world of her.IF THE BAND MET FINAL DEATHINT. Treehouse—a hot late summer afternoonA kid, who’s at the age that their parents can no longer understand them and just enough of a weirdo that few of their peers can either, is excitedly folding out a threadbare blanket and checking the nails in the band poster on the wooden wall. A snaggletoothed, box-bleached kid joins them on the blanket, and they share a pair of headphones.“This band,” one says, sticking gum onto a tree branch. “Makes me think… maybe it’s worth sticking around.”The other one nods.Outside, there’s birdsong. Inside, the music plays.

Appendix I: Steal These Stories 148Appendix I: STEAL THESE STORIESThis appendix presents a trove of additional material, scenes, locations, characters, and other elements that can be dropped into any chronicle to flesh out an improvised scene in the Sound and Fury chronicle or another entertainment-related chronicle and bring the world of mortals into sharper focus.You can use the tables presented here to provide color when characters in Sound and Fury or another chronicle are on tour, arriving at a new town or going on the road.Recurring Scenes Here you’ll find a selection of mortal-centered scenes you can feature repeatedly in a variety of ways. They’re written with the musician’s journey toward stardom in mind, but you only need to change a few things to use them in other types of stories.