cleostsebastian
Daughter of Darkness
Posts: 112
(3/20/06 7:29 pm)
Reply
|
Game Forty-One 03/12/06
August 23, 1995
The Rise to Power
Cleo woke and readied herself for her meeting with pontifex, Peter Dorfman at the Alexandria chantry. Cleo arrived at the meeting place which seemed to be devoid of any other Tremere. Cleo waited around for about 5 minutes when a series of black limousines pulled up to the Washington monument in Alexandria.
A man, holding a box, stepped out of one of the car’s and approached Cleo. She recognized him as Prentis Rathmore, Peter Dorfman’s assistant and Regent of the Silver Spring chantry.
Prentis placed the black lacquer box beside Cleo. She wondered if this was a Tremere weapon. She worried that maybe she played her hand too far when dealing with the Tremere. Could this be her final moments of unlife? Could she be capable of defending herself?
Cleo asked Prentis where the others were. He told her that they would arrive shortly and that the pontifex was detained on other matters at the moment but would arrive momentarily. They waited what seemed to Cleo like hours, but as she looked at her watch she saw that it had only been minutes. She seemed preoccupied with thoughts of what to do about the fact that her great grandfather had requested her return to the Monçada palace. Cleo feared that she would soon have to make a decision on what to do. Was she Sabbat or was she Tremere? Or had she become something else altogether?
Just then, the pontifex arrived at her side. He apologized for his lateness. He then asked her questions to see if she was up to being Lord of the Southern Potomac chantries. He asked her what she thought the prince’s greatest mistake was. Cleo responded that she thought both the Prince and Vittorio were working for their own selfish interests and not for the betterment of the Tremere clan. Also that the Prince didn’t get her hands dirty very often as she used others to do her bidding, while she was in safety from attack most of the time. Peter then asked what changes the Tremere needed to make to build their strength and number. Cleo responded that the Tremere’s biggest mistake was in making the other clans fear them. She thought that instead of this method that they should ingratiate themselves into the other clans by making their knowledge of the arcane magics useful to each of the houses in the various clans. Dorfman seemed pleased with her responses and then asked her to hold out her left hand, he then carved a mystical symbol into her left palm and told her not to heal it for 24 hours.
He then asked her if she was ready to help him open the doorway, Cleo agreed, She saw him pull two large triangular keys from his pocket. He held out his hand and told her to take one of the two keys. The pontifex held out his arm — facing towards the front of the monument and told her to do the same. Suddenly a void opened up and he asked her to proceed into the inner chambers of the chantry.
Much had remained the same since Vittorio Ghiribaldi had stayed here, especially the Victorian aesthetic.
Prentis entered and Peter instructed him to call forth the others as he was ready for them to enter. Cleo asked the pontifex what the box was and he told her that it could only be opened by her own blood which activated the locking mechanism.
Inside the box was:
• A ceremonial knife which was first used in her investure ritual. The knife can be used for numerous ritual purposes and bears Cleo’s mystic symbol. Not ideal for combat, more of a trophy/degree of her status within the Tremere clan.
• Signet Ring of Lordship that notes in sigils and imagery that Lord Cleo St. Sebastian is the representative of Tremere in the Southern reaches of the Potomac Empire. The ring, when pressed against mystical letters reveals content and can seal letters so that only Tremere clanmates may unlock them with their blood.
• Stoll of Power is purple and long, wrapping around the back of the neck to below the knees. There are spaces allocated for many sigil glyphs. The stoll is for formal occasions of clan business and amplifies the power of the Magus.
• Chantry Key, a hefty and multi-pronged, silver key to the Lighthouse of Alexandria Chantry that bares many mystical symbols and wards. It allows entry and control of the chantry in its astral space located on the 14th resonant layer of the Umbra.
• Chantry Transport Charm is Cleo’s first sigil glyph, a charm to be worn beneath the clothing, or anywhere on the Tremere caster’s body, but is most effective when used on the stoll. The golden glyph, when Tremere blood is pressed into it (1bp) and the caster concentrates on the location of the chantry (self-control+recall) and can then warp from any location to the Lighthouse of Alexandria Chantry, the South Point Chantry, the Chantry of the Postulants, the secret War Chantry of Falls Church and the Silver Spring Chantry. The glyph creates a momentary desmasome in space-time, allowing for quick passage between the astral interstitial space of the caster’s current position and the receptor area at each South Potomac Chantry (and the motherhouse in Silver Spring).
Cleo was now in the 1st Revelation of the 3rd Circle of Mystery, a revelation that was given during her investure as the new Lord of the Southern Potomac Chantries.
Cleo had remembered during her investure that the pontifex had said that she needed to protect the blood of the seven as many wanted to seek the powerful vitae for their own nefarious reasons.
Dorfman next told her that she would have eight vampires beneath her. Suddenly as if on cue, Alexi Petrunich entered the room, along with Pauline, the Matron and Shamus, the Ruddy. Cleo had thought him dead as Vittorio had sent him to Maryland near the Sabbat territories where rarely any Tremere survived. She was glad to see him again.
Five other female vampires entered the room.
The pontifex stated that all these vampires would be working underneath her for the power and glory of the Tremere. The five vampires were not to exit the chantry, while Alexi, Shamus and Pauline each had their own chantries to upkeep. Dorfman bid Cleo adieu as he had other pressing matters to contend with. He exited with Prentis.
Cleo turned to Alexi, who asked what they were to do next as if to catch Cleo off guard. Cleo asked for her to give her a rundown on all powers, rituals, abilities and names of the vampires that would be staying there at the chantry. Cleo then looked over at Pauline and said that she would be discussing with her later on how she would be of use to her. Cleo talked to her as if speaking with hidden meaning and Pauline picked up on this and wished her Lord well and left to the Chantry of the Postulants.
Cleo then mentioned that she would need to be going to the Masquerade party at the Alexandria Elysium that night and would need an escort. She asked Shamus who seemed unprepared for such a task. She reassured him that he would do fine as she remembered that he would frequent the church in Georgetown and seemed quite capable of handling himself in social settings. She inquired about a phone and he directed her to a phone outside. They both exited the back of the chantry where they saw a guardsman looking up at them on the second floor. He gave what seemed a signal of approval, then the two made their way to the bottom so she could contact Dané about attire for the event.
Dané was happy to hear that Cleo was still alive and about as many had thought her deceased as she had been gone for several years. She asked if it was OK to drop in to get an outfit for the Masquerade that night. He agreed.
Both Cleo and Shamus took one of the limos to her and Dané’s shop in Georgetown. While there, she picked up a nice red outfit and a tux for Shamus. Dané then gave her two masques, one of a mermaid and an older one. a medusa. Cleo chose the mermaid one for herself, giving the medusa masque to Shamus. They both thanked Dané and Cleo told him that she would catch up with him later that night.
May 23, 1995
Belle of the Ball
Cleo arrived at the Masquerade Ball with Shamus in tow and entered the Elysium where she ran into a venture that she had met before, but seemed to know who she was. His name was Desmond Faerber and he seemed to enjoy having her at the disadvantage of not knowing who he was.
She then entered the stairway, where she was greeted by the page who announced her arrival as she descended down the stairwell. She could see familiar faces in the crowd. They were gasping as they probably thought she had died as she had been away for so long.
When she landed at the bottom of the stairs she entered the line of greeters which included the now Prince of Alexandria, Pierce De Lacroix. Cleo acknowledged remembering from the encounter when she first arrived in Alexandria all those years ago. He told her that he did not forget her either. She complimented him on what he had done for the city and eventually made her way out of the line where she was greeted by various kindred:
Toreador: Melsand Grainger, Phillip, Jacob McCaffrey, Basil, the pianist and the Virginia Woolf
Malkevian: Emmanuel, Comet, Cylus Pyne, Lucy, Joan
Ventrue: Taggert, Primogen Roman Pollock, his son Albert, his childe and grandson, Brandon, and four others.
Broujah: Nikolai, Nadia, James Nash, Jason Lei, Ryan
Tremere: Lord Cairns, Dr. Olive Palmer, Crenshaw Abbot, Madison Renault
Gangrel: Sampson
Nosferatu: Cyril Pyne, wearing a red robe.
Cleo then ran into Lucas, who had desperately wanted her to meet up with her Sabbat grandfather and was sore that she had interfered with his attempt to destroy Peter Dorfman and Alexi in the helicopter. He complimented her on her new position but told her once again that it was important that she met up with Monçada. He stated that she was playing a dangerous game by continuing to pretend to be something that she wasn’t She returned the repartee by stating that Lucas wasn’t what he seemed either.
They then met up with Desmond and Julius and were talking when the Prince made an announcement that both Comet and Damien Luther Adams were to be victims of a ‘bloodhunt’ and that anyone who refused would also have to forfeit their lives. Cleo went with Lucas who seemed too eager to destroy Comet, which he told Cleo was someone he was told to find and bring back for failure to perform his Sabbat task. They entered the pool room where Comet had stated he wanted to go for a swim. She could see the water parting as if someone were in the pool. She knew he was there and probably using obfuscation. Lucas was preparing to strike. Would Cleo be forced to now choose sides?
The chess game she was playing with various kindred might finally force her into sacrificing players sooner than she had anticipated …
|
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies