Almost like magic, Aless produced murder scene clean up supplies.The coterie scrubbed furiously.  We were able to use the supplies to wipe up any evidence there was a murder here. The coterie got 5 success margins - not to mention a critical. Squeaky clean. It even looked better than it did before, like magic, but we all knew magic wasn't real. Even with deterring wandering mortals, for a -1 success margin, we still passed the DV of 3. 

Now it was time to deal with the body itself.

With help from Aless, Misha knew where to chop. It took a little willpower to get the cut points correctly, but with help, she was able to do it. We drove fast and found a place in the woods that would be far enough secluded to bury a dead vampire - whom we staked for good measure - and we dug. We dug deep and hard. We were a bit nervous, it was showing on Misha, but with some more willpower she pushed through and dug a huge hole with Victor - Aless provided moral support. 

That was the end of the first night.

CHALLENGE: FLASHBACK

Victor: Your sleep was haunted by the Beast. It just wouldn't let you forget. Bloody images, animal snarls, and desperate screams picked at your humanity. You feel hands pulling on your clothes in your nightmare, trying to lift you off his chest. Your hand is on his face, pushing his head back and down, against the concrete wall. His eyes flutter under your fingers. You can't hear him snarling anymore - not once his throat splits and gives like an apple rind, gushing blood through your teeth, out over your lips, and down your chin. You move down to catch the falling flow and skin peels away, down his neck, following your fangs. 

You hit the slab at the bottom of the stairs with the army jacket in your grip and slide him across the floor with it. The shrieks echoing off concrete sound like a zoo. His head strikes the wall with a heavy clop. His face is scratched and pocked with black holes from your fangs. You feel yourself sway and your weight give way. You're spinning away from him, toppling over the metal railing. The spiral of the stairs wobbles below you. You scramble, get a fistful of green jacket as he's lurching for the door, and you both fall, calttering off railings and stairs.

Banging on metal. Human screams. Your shoulder, your head, your fists clatter on a metal door. You get one foot through the crack when your weight hits the door, then your arms, then you're inside, biting at flailing hands and a screaming fanged face. You wake up at dusk from this terrible nightmare, frightened and exhausted, even though you might think you're hardened to such emotions. 

Everyone: Everyone who spent Willpower can now recover it. Everyone must Rouse to awaken this night.

Victor: Make a Resolve + Composure roll vs DV5. You cannot use Willpower to reroll this roll. If you get at least 1 margin of success, you are able to shrug off this horrible nightmare for now. If you fail, your dice pools for today cannot exceed your current level in Humanity for the night.

Victor thanked his friends for their aid in cleaning up and disposing of the body. When he got back to the castle, Victor disposed of his clothes and took a long shower, working to get rid of the evidence that was on his body. His sleep that night was unrestful and he didn't look as good as he usually did in the morning.

(He didn't pass)

Disposing of the dead body last night definitely made Alana hungry in the morning. 

Waking up decently early, she pampered herself in a short black skirt and corseted top, throwing a jacket on overtop before making her way to the kitchen to relieve the beasts hunger with some blood wine. She'd greets everyone as they came downstairs for breakfast calmly and happily

Alessandra had made sure everyone had taken hot showers that night, including Lup for precautionaries sake. She rose from her slumber hungry (as hiding a dead body did that to you, apparently), throwing on an extra ass robe (photo on discord) prior to heading downstairs and indulging herself with some blood bags. The older vampire greets Alana as she sits down across from where she is and looks through some of her social media apps and decides she should probably post something...

With Alana right there, she snaps a quick candid shot and uploads it with a cute caption regarding how pretty she was, and not a second passes before her phone blows up with notifications. As Victor enters the area, she sets her phone aside and states the obvious. "You look like shit."

Victor is pulled out of his thoughts by Alessandra's rather blunt observation of his current state. "I feel like it too. I was hoping that I might be able to at least look good today. I didn't have a good night's sleep, let's just leave it at that. You look gorgeous, though." He said when he saw her dress, trying to sound happy.

"Nightmares, hm?" She questions, her tone light as she pours blood into a glass. "Understably so. Thank you for the compliment, my dear, and, ah, apologies for my bluntness. It isn't like you to look like..." She gestures to him. "This." The older vampire takes a drink from her glass before setting down the cup. "You'll be alright, Victor, try to not think too much about it.. Anyone have any plans for the day?"

Victor takes a seat near Alessandra, but not before trying to straighten himself up, fix whatever is wrong with his current look. "I don't mind your bluntness, really. I trust that I'll be alright because I have you guys here to help me. Could you pour me a glass too?"

"Of course," Alessandra answers smoothly, getting up from her place to retrieve another glass and bag. Within a few seconds, the blood is poured and the cup is slid over to Victor, Alessandra taking a moment to dispose of the bags prior to sitting down in her seat. "Have you gotten into contact with Lena at all? How is she doing?"

Victor takes a sip from the cup Alessandra poured for him. "Thank you. With everything that's been going on, I've only had the chance to send her a text. She's feeling better, but is still a shaken up mentally. Once this is all done, I'll try to stop by her shop and give her a visit."

Misha walked downstairs and entered the kitchen where everyone else was. She was wearing running shoes, tight form fitting jeans, and an athletic workout half top. She was about to have breakfast when she noticed Victor look like hot garbage, but given the situation over the last night, she didn't say anything about it - especially because Aless and Victor were talking. She did, however, make a very approving look as she passed by Aless - that outfit made her look delicious. Even more so. When they looked up at her while talking, she nodded to them both but kept quiet, as not to interrupt the conversation.

Misha didn't have an Instagram account, a Facebook account, or anything along those line. Those things were beyond her. If she had any peers, or contacts, it was at her job. She did, however, check her appointments tonight, and much to her surprise and delight, she had none. Good. An extra day to let this incident blow over.

CHALLENGE: INVESTIGATING

Goals: The coterie needs to probe the domain for information about the identity of the victim, as well as his allies, coterie-mates, and loyalties. What does everyone else know that we don't? Another vampire group this close to our domain can only mean bad news - and why are they here in the first place? This is OUR turf.
How: The key actions below involve a simple investigation with the mortals in our domain, asking around the vampire culture, veiled questions at clubs and bars, and eavesdropping on conversations.  
Mechanics: The coterie can take actions listed below. Note how many success margins you get. As a group, you need to achieve 15 margins of success total within one evening in order to move on to the next scene. Each action took, whether independently, or helping each other, takes one hour worth of time. You have a time limit of six hours. (So, six tries.) Anyone can attempt the actions below, and you can try any or all of them. Depending on how many success margins you get, the next part of the Challenge will unlock. 

Actions:
Eavesdrop: What clues can we find quietly? Roll Manipulation + Persuasion or Socialize vs DV2. Margins of failure reduce margins of success towards the goal. 
Gossip: Talk among the mortals in our domain whom we trust. Roll Manipulation + Persuasion or Socialize vs DV2.  Margins of failure reduce margins of success towards the goal.
Strong-Arm/Intimidate: Muscle the information out. Presence + Intimidation vs DV4. Margins of failure reduce margins of success towards the goal.

Alana does what she knows to do best, find gossip and chat with mortals. Activating her awe, she talks among the mortals calmly and naturally, seeing what she can dig up. 

(5/15 successes)

Alessandra keeps to the bar, activating awe to gather a crowd about her and eavesdrop in on their conversations.

(6 margins, 11/15 :D)

Eavesdropping was easier than gossiping. People wanted so badly to talk about other things, but Alessandra kept pressing for more information.

(4 margins, 15/15 uwu)

CHALLENGE: INVESTIGATING, PART TWO

Goals: Through supernatural means and overhearing, you have discovered enough information to lead you to the haven of the vampire Victor murdered. Now it's time to infiltrate and see what we can find about this kindred without attracting any attention.
How: The key actions below involve gaining access to, and snooping around a vampires haven. What can we find out about this guy?  
Mechanics: The coterie can take actions listed below. Note how many success margins you get. As a group, you need to achieve margins of success total within 30 minutes in order to move on to the next scene. Each action took, whether independently, or helping each other, takes 10 minutes. Anyone can attempt the actions below, and you can try any or all of them. Pass, and the next part of the Challenge will unlock. 

You arrive at a condemned office building where you find, hidden behind a fire door blocked by a pile of metal desks, a secret storage room in the basement. The cinder block corridor ends in a pile of metal desks and deformed folding chairs. A gap underneath one of the desks leads back behind the pile to a metal door. Waterlogged newspapers are stacked two, three, and four feet high around the desks. Inside, the place feels like it should hold a water heater - it's not suited for much else. A naked bulb hands on a cord from the ceiling. Three stained mattresses are stacked in the middle of the room. A wood-colored mini-fridge sits between them and the wall. The concrete floor wears a curled, moldy rag of carpet like a bad toupee. There are three items of interest here.

Actions:
Lock box: Inside the mini-fridge is a lock box. What could be inside? Roll Dexterity + Larceny vs DV3. This is an extended task. You can keep rolling to achieve additional margins towards the goal. Margins of failure reduce margins of success towards the goal. Each attempt takes 10 minutes.
Ledger: There's a ledger here. It's vague and cryptic, but what could it say? Roll Intelligence + Academics vs DV3. This is an extended task. You can keep rolling to achieve additional margins towards the goal. Margins of failure reduce margins of success towards the goal. Each attempt takes 10 minutes.
Notebook: A composition book is on the floor. This could be important. Intelligence + Occult vs DV3. This is an extended task. You can keep rolling to achieve additional margins towards the goal. Margins of failure reduce margins of success towards the goal. Each attempt takes 10 minutes.

Alessandra takes it upon herself to crack open the ledger and get to figuring out what it says.

(3 Successes no margins)

Sorrin gets to work on the notebook, trying hard to recall the few pieces of knowledge and advice he had heard his sire speak of back when he first met her.

(3 successes, no margins)

Inside the lock box is $5000. Misha looks at it and hands it to Aless as if she didn't know what to do with it, or didn't need it.

The ledger is a record of appointments and cash transactions written from a person named "Hooper" to a person named "Sol". It appears to be tracking scheduled meetings and payments - as if someone is paying for 1 and 2 hour sessions with..someone. It's not coded, but intentionally unclear, so that's the best you can make out of it.

The notebook is a common, blank composition book with handwritten notes and thoughts in a clean, bold style. Parts of it seem like a dairy, recording experiences with "visions" and "images", but other parts are more analytical and speculative. It's not written in the same writing as the ledger. It appears to be notes on someone trying to learn Disciplines in Auspex. It's riddled with experiences seeing the world through the discipline - some of it a little haunting.

Sorrin strokes his chin as he reads the book, intrigued, "Looks like our man here was a wannabe prophet. The future seeing kind, not the biblical version."

Victor looks around the area. "Well, it doesn't look like his prophetic pursuits helped him obtain a decent place to live."

"Got a nice bit of cash though," Alessandra murmurs, pocketing away the $5000 unless someone objected. "The ledger has two names of interest; Hooper and Sol. Hooper seems to be the writer here though. Maybe he was paying for future seeing sessions, can't make out with who though..."