The Second Chapter of the Current History of the City

Metamorphoses: St. Louis

Chapter Two: Temporary Demons, Momentary Gods

Session Five
Session Six
Session Seven
Session Eight

On Saturday, May 14th, the Kindred of St. Louis gathered at the Harrisburg Showcase Elysium (also known as the "Gallery Elysium"), gathering together on an oddly tense night. The day before, a group of neo-Nazis had run rampant at local Buddhist temple in an obviously racially motivated conflict. Thankfully, most of the violence was confined to the temple itself, but unfortunately, one of the monks at the temple had been critically wounded in the fighting and had died during the day while the Kindred slumbered. So it was in an atmosphere of violence and death that the Kindred gathered at the gallery, only to be confronted with a pair of new artworks by Mary Might, the Sabbat Malkavian who lived, trapped in that Elysium -- and Mary's new pieces did little to ease the tension caused by the day. As Seneschal Valorian had stated that he would be making a few announcements later that evening, around 11:30 pm, several of the Kindred gathered at the gallery decided to make use of the intervening time before then to take care of other matters.

Several of the Kindred elected to visit the Buddhist temple where the fighting had occurred the day before, hoping to attend a vigil taking place outside the damage temple and possibly to look around the scene before the police placed the area under a well-announced curfew. Several of the Brujah and one or two Gangrel, after visiting the temple, decided to go after several of the neo-Nazis who had been involved in the fighting there -- it turned out that the Brujah had been aware of the potential for racially-motivated violence in the neighborhood where the temple was and had been keeping an eye on several of the neo-Nazis who were involved. The quest to give the neo-Nazis a little "payback" ultimately led several of the Brujah over to Belleville, Illinois, where they ultimately assaulted a gathering of the "White Knights," the neo-Nazi group who had attacked the temple.

While the Brujah were out attacking neo-Nazis, things were still happening back with the gathering at Elysium. Several of the Clans opted to have small, private Clan meetings to discuss events of the day, and the Seneschal met with many of the various Primogen that were present to talk about recent events -- most notably the ongoing investigations into a company illegal dumping toxic chemicals and the situation regarding the costumed vigilantes who had been active in the area -- and how they were being handled by the various Kindred of St. Louis. There were also a handful of visiting Kindred and one or two Kindred returning to town after long absences; these folks were "caught up" on what had been happening in the St. Louis area. Further, Father Azrael Knight, one of the Assistant Harpies of the city, was spending a good portion of the evening before the Seneschal's announcements by asking people about their various Status -- how they got it, from whom, and so on. Finally, several other Kindred, most notably the Tremere and one or two Malkavians, became involved in investigating the situation at the Buddhist temple where the violence had occurred the day previously, attempting to ascertain the extent of the damage and any potential "supernatural" reasons for the fighting.

At one point in the evening, the Seneschal, Sheriff Fairbrooks and Keeper Bedavere broke off from the gathering, along with Primogen Aphra of the Nosferatu Clan, to meet with John Trent, one of the Anarch leaders, and his associate, John Van De, in order to continue discussion regarding events that had unfolded over the previous few months. It is specifically believed that the Triumvirate (as many people have taken to calling the Seneschal, Sheriff and Keeper) discussed the possibility of making a more formalized agreement between the Camarilla and the Anarchs, instead of the "Gentleman's Agreement" that the two sides had been operating under since Prince Shannon Robertson met with several important Anarchs back in 1996. It was later revealed that Prince Robertson was also present at this meeting, but merely as an observer, not as someone actively taking place in the arrangements.

Shortly after the meeting between the Triumvirate and the Anarchs occurred, the Primogen held their own meeting. While that was occurring, Bobby Martin of the Ventrue got into a rather heated argument with several of the Kindred in Elysium -- mainly a handful of Anarchs, the two Sabbat and one or two other members of the Camarilla -- about the "worth" of Caitiff. It seemed that Mr. Martin was not a fan of the Clanless and advocated their exclusion from the Camarilla and possibly even their destruction; his point of view was not widely accepted by those gathered and even derided once or twice. By this time, most of the Kindred in town had finished their own private matters and various meetings or investigations, and it was time for the Seneschal's announcements.

The Kindred gathered in the common space of the gallery, and were joined by Prince Robertson, making a rare public appearance. The Prince did not have any announcements to make, and merely sat back while the Seneschal took care of matters, firstly handling matters of Status. It seems that Seneschal Valorian felt that Primogen Hicks of the Gangrel should be granted the Status of Adroit, while Primogen Aphra felt that her clanmates Pa and Muzzle should be viewed as Feared, while Primogen Griffin of the Brujah felt that his clanmate Mark Bateman was Dedicated. After those matters were handled, Seneschal Valorian allowed a visting Kindred known as Vittorio Moldano to address the gathering. Mr. Moldano spoke simply, stating that it was a pleasure to visit a city that he had heard so much about, and that he had brought a pair of gifts with him. With that, Mr. Moldano presented Prince Robertson with a large flattish box, and also gave John Trent of the Anarchs a small, wrapped container that sloshed slightly when handled.

Vittorio's presents handed out, Seneschal Valorian moved on, announcing that he was lifting the moratorium on actions within East St. Louis that he had previously placed upon the Camarilla -- while Kindred were indeed allowed to freely act within that city without first notifying either the Seneschal or the Sheriff, Seneschal Valorian did ask people to be respectful of the Anarchs there and remember the agreements made by the Prince and the Anarchs. During this announcement, Prince Robertson idly opened Vittorio's "present," and became immediately distraught. The Prince interrupted Valorian momentarily, and firmly stated that Vittorio's presence was requested in another room, where they could talk about the present without disturbing the gathering. The two Kindred left the room and rejoined to another chamber; those closest to the chamber could hear the Prince and Mr. Moldano arguing, although no one was certain entirely what the discussion was about.

During this, the Seneschal moved on to other concerns, turning matters over to Keeper Bedavere, who announced that he was adding an additional statute to his Rules of Elysium, essentially forbidding the deliberate use of Disciplines to cause disruptions -- while allowing for accidental uses of Disciplines, within reason. Of course, even accidental uses of Disciplines to cause disorder within Elysium would be punished; it would just be punished less severely than deliberate, conscious uses of Disciplines to create problems. It was at this time that Primogen Aislin of the Malkavian Clan interjected, reiterating her displeasure with how the Keeper had handled an earlier situation concerning the Malkavian Casper, the Malkavian antitribu Mary Might, and the supposedly "accidental" use of Dementation and the aftermath thereof. Nothing was resolved concerning that matter, and the Seneschal's announcements essentially ended at that point, just as Prince Robertson and Vittorio Moldano returned.

At this point, many of the Kindred went their own ways, taking care various matters. For instance, while the Brujah continued their investigations into and recriminations against the White Knights, the Tremere continued their investigations into the Buddhist temple (having determined that something exceptionally powerful had occurred there, causing ramifications on the "spiritual plane), Mary Might got into a discussion about Vaulderie (and even asked Prince Robertson and the Keeper if she could stage one in the Elysium; the Keeper turned her down) and several of the Anarchs proposed granting Reputation to Pa and Muzzle. Pa had to decline the Anarchs' generous offer of Reputation, pointing out that, by the "rules" of the Camarilla, he could not officially accept any Anarch Reputation -- aside of Sympathizer -- without jeopardizing his own standing within the Camarilla. Thus rebuffed, several of the Anarchs went off to meet among themselves and decide what to do with Mr. Maldono's present to them. The ramifications of Mr. Maldono's present became more apparently late in the evening, when several of the Anarchs, including two new Anarchs and Joseph Kerr, who was supposedly in Torpor, returned to the gallery Elysium, quite angry. It seems that Mr. Maldono had given Mr. Trent a portion of vitae powerful enough to waken Joseph Kerr from Torpor, but given that Joseph was now referring to himself as "Jack," and discussing open warfare with the Camarilla over insults paid to him when he was placed in torpor, several people questioned the quality of the vitae Vitorrio had provided Mr. Trent.

Regardless, Jack held an impromptu court within the gallery Elysium, talking to many of the Camarilla and Anarchs present about how relations between the two sects had broken down and that war was immanent. Several people, including a handful of the Anarchs, attempted to dissuade Kerr from his cause; at one point, when Jack explained the reasoning behind his decision, Prince Robertson literally appeared from nowhere in the middle of the room and pointed out to Kerr that by the logic he was espousing, Kerr's own life would be forfeit, as Kerr had broken the Masquerade within St. Louis proper, within the territory controlled by the Camarilla. Prince Robertson urged Jack to rethink this logic, and then vanished, while the other Camarilla and Anarchs discussed matters further. It should be noted that there were two new Anarchs present at this gathering -- both of them were Acknowledged to move freely within St. Louis proper by Seneschal Valorian; it should be further noted that Jack was summarily un-Acknowledged by the Seneschal as well.

In any event, after several more moments of discussing the possibility for hostilities between the Anarchs and the Camarilla, Kerr and his associates -- including a very puzzled John Trent -- left the Elysium. Shortly after the Anarchs left the Elysium and headed back towards East St. Louis, many of the Camarilla, noticing the approaching time of dawn, also left the gathering and went their own ways, taking shelter before the coming of the sun....

Of course, what's written above is only one particular view of events; it leaves out elements that not everyone would know about and focuses mainly on communal knowledge. Naturally, other things occurred this evening, and some people are talking about things. The following summaries and comments are considered to be "in-character;" one way or another, you'd hear people talking about these things -- perhaps straight from the source, or even from a second-hand report. There are, unsurprisingly, more private reports on the events of this evening, but you'll need to pry around to find those out....

And, as always, there are things happening in the world outside of the proceedings mentioned above; the world doesn't stop when the Kindred aren't around, after all.... If you want to know what's going on outside of just this evening, feel free to read the downtime news about what occurred between May 14th and June 11th....

Session Six - Knockin' on Heaven's Door:

On Saturday, June 11th, the majority of the Kindred of St. Louis gathered at the State Theater Elysium to discuss important matters happening in the city, circulate, socialize and generally be together. Some of the tensions of the previous month had diminished somewhat, but there was still a certain frisson in relations between several members of the Camarilla and the Anarchs that had not ebbed. Additionally, hostility between the two Lesser Harpies of St. Louis -- Azrael Knight of the Nosferatu and Ted Reynolds of the Tremere -- had erupted before the gathering on Saturday; Knight had apparently taken umbrage to Reynolds being made a Lesser Harpy, and the two Kindred had engaged in a very public and very bitter argument in which many things were said and many hackles were raised. In fact, at one point in the arguments, Knight openly stated that the Greater Harpy of St. Louis -- Lionel Bradford of the Gangrel -- was not fit for the position, and even implied that Bradford should be removed from his Office. Accordingly, this raised the level of stress among several members of the Camarilla, and put many people in a sour mood before the gathering at the State Theater Elysium.

Seneschal Valorian made no official announcement as to when there would be any "formal" announcements -- in fact, one or two Kindred overheard the Seneschal comment that he needed to be somewhere else early in the evening, and wasn't planning to stick around Elysium very long -- so as the evening progressed, most people started to take care of personal or Clan matters. For instance, several of the Gangrel, supposedly distraught over the results of a recent EPA investigation into a chemical polluter in the area, went off to investigate matters further on their own. Similarly, the Tremere also stepped out of the State Theatre to handle some concerns of their own; even some of the Anarchs went off to take care of a private matter. However, most of these matters were dealt with relatively quickly or quietly, as the Primogen of the city wished to hold a small meeting with the Seneschal, the Sheriff and the Keeper of Elysium (or the Triumvirate, as many people in the city refer to those three Kindred).

As it turned out, the small gathering involved a good number of Kindred -- the Clan Whips were also invited in to the meeting as well -- and went on for quite some time. While the exact details of the discussion between the Primogen, Whips and Triumvirate were never made fully public, most people were under the impression that the powers that be discussed the situation concerning the Harpies, along with one or two other matters -- such as the continuing displeasure several Malkavians had concerning the Keeper's handling of Casper. It is known that, at one point during the conversations, several of the Primogen grew frustrated with talking to Seneschal Valorian about some matters, and asked to speak with Prince Robertson directly. This became public knowledge because, some time after the Triumvirate stepped out of the meeting the Primogen were having, Prince Shannon Robertson arrived at the State Theatre. After only pausing to say hello to one or two Kindred, the Prince entered the room where the Primogen were meeting, only to emerge a few moments later, visibly angry. The Prince immediately sought out the Keeper of Elysium, and when finding him, ordered Keeper Bedavere to go back into the Primogen's meeting and "slap some sense into [the Primogen.];" the Prince even reminded the Keeper that he had the Right of Destruction as he re-entered the meeting with the Primogen. With that, the Prince left the Elysium.

While the Keeper and the Primogen (and the Whips) continued their meeting, other Kindred took care of more personal matters -- some Kindred, expecting that there would be some sort of official announcements that evening after overhearing the Prince's outbursts, stayed close to the room where the Primogen were meeting, hoping to overhear something. In the meantime, Sheriff Fairbrooks, the Seneschal and select few other Camarilla Kindred met with several of the Anarchs to continue their discussions from the previous month about what to do regarding the conflict between the two Sects. While all this was going on, a midget dressed in white tie and tails paid a visit to the Elysium, bearing a package for Tatiana of the Ventrue. Unfortunately, Tatiana was occupied in the meeting with the Primogen (as she was the Whip for the Ventrue Clan), and Douglas Mortimer, the Assistant Keeper of Elysium took receipt of the package for her. While checking to make sure that the package wasn't a explosive or other such threat, Douglas looked inside and discovered that the box the midget had delivered contained a dozen long-stemmed black roses. This set off discussion among many of the Kindred present, as they attempted to determine if a black rose was a threat or some other symbol of hatred -- or even of the Jyhad itself.

By this time, the meeting between the Anarchs and the Camarilla had ended, and many of the Kindred involved in that meeting began filtering back into the public spaces of the Elysium. It was at this time that the Primogen meeting, which was still going, had moved on to other matters, the extent of which became public knowledge later. It seemed that there had been some question about the lineage and "generation" of the Malkavian Casper, and a suspicion had come up that Casper was potentially a diablerist. As such a criminal could not be allowed to reside within St. Louis (or even to exist), several Kindred got involved in attempting to determine if Casper had indeed committed the vicious crime he was suspected of. Accordingly, the Tremere got involved in the matter, and performed a number of Thaumaturgical tests on Casper's vitae, only to ultimately determine that Casper was indeed innocent of the crime of Diablerie. Accordingly, these tests left Casper critically low on vitae, so Vadim of the Toreador Clan was tasked with getting Casper a light snack to refresh him. After Vadim provided a vessel to Casper and Casper fed, the Primogen meeting ended and all involved rejoined the main group gathered in the Elysium.

Unfortunately, as people rejoined the group, hearing about such matters as the midget and the black roses, Casper grew increasingly agitated and terse, and began getting into an argument with Sheriff Fairbrooks. The argument quickly escalated from shouting into action, and violence erupted. As the Sheriff and Casper fought, other Kindred rapidly got involved, in an effort to end the fighting; among the Kindred stepping in to attempt to break up the Sheriff and Casper were Mikhael Romanov of the Toreador, John Trent of the Anarchs, Silas George of the Gangrel and even Matthias Griffin of the Brujah. Unfortunately, the Sheriff and Romanov tipped into Frenzy during the fighting, and it became increasingly difficult to restrain them and prevent them from fighting.

It was at this time that Prince Robertson entered the main area of Elysium; while no one was entirely certain why the Prince had arrived at that time, the fighting quickly died down after Shannon appeared on the scene. Within a few short moments after the Prince's arrival, Casper had been staked with the wooden sword the Prince constantly carried (the Prince struck hard enough to effectively secure Casper to the wall) and both Romanov and Sheriff Fairbrooks were talked out of their Frenzies (the Prince merely asked Mikhael to stop, and he did so; it is believed that the Prince used a Discipline to calm down Willamina). It was at this time, as the fighting came to a stop, that Silas George announced to the Prince that he was formally leaving the Camarilla. The Prince, essentially ignoring Silas' statement, began attempting to establish order. Once calm had been restored, a very agitated Prince Robertson demanded to know what had happened and why violence was occurring within Elysium.

The fact that Casper had been tested by the Tremere and then fed vitae afterwards quickly came up; the Tremere even managed to gather a portion of vitae from the vessel Casper had fed from, and determined that Casper had drunk drugged blood, and that it was likely that the drugs had agitated him and led to the fight with Willamina. The Prince, obviously disturbed by the violence, demanded to know more, wanting to know whom had gotten the drugged vitae for Casper and so on, and in the end (after belittling Vadim's music and declaring that Casper was a child molester, among other insults) enforced a number of boons between people such as Vadim, Mary Aphra, the Sheriff and the Keeper to make amends for the damages caused to the physical Elysium itself and the reputations of people involved in the fighting. Casper was to be "boxed up" and delivered to the Prince for further punishments -- the extent of which were left unspecified. At that point, after having meted out punishments for the violation of the Elysium's peace, Prince Robertson asked to meet with the Anarchs, since it appeared that the Anarchs had previously told Seneschal Valorian that they wished to speak exclusively with the Prince concerning arrangements between the two Sects.

The Prince, the Anarchs, the Seneschal and several other members of the Camarilla went off to have a private meeting. While the exact conversations the Prince and the gathering had aren't known, it is known that the Anarchs did push for the creation of a true "Anarch Free State" in East St. Louis, while the Prince asked for more time to consider the matter. No true consensus on the matter was reached, but for the moment, it was agreed that the "Gentleman's Agreement" which had been in place between the Camarilla and the Anarchs since 1996 would remain in place. Further, after the meeting ended, the Seneschal informed the Camarilla that the Anarchs requested that all Camarilla influence in East St. Louis be removed; the Seneschal urged the Camarilla to comply with this request.

In any event, after the meeting between the Prince and the Anarchs ended, most of the Kindred left the Elysium for the evening, going off in their myriad ways to take care of last minute affairs and reach the sanctity of their private refuges before the night ended and the sun rose.

Of course, the retelling of events written above only touches on select things; it is essentially the common knowledge about what happened and doesn't get into things that not everyone would know (like the content of private meetings or so on). Other things did take place this evening, and people are talking about them -- the summaries below are considered to be "in-character," and people have publicly said them and you have all heard them, one way or another. There are people out there talking about things privately -- but you'd have to specifically seek out that knowledge; it is not offered here....

And, logically, there are things going on in the world that don't explicitly involved the events of this evening mentioned above -- there's always something going on in the city, somewhere, and you never just know when something happens that might end up being critically important later. So, if you want to be "in the know," you might want to read the downtime news on what happened between June 11th and July 9th. After all, it's always easier to figure out a course of action if you know where problems might be coming from, right?

Session Seven - Beyond the Door:

On Saturday, July 9th, a larger number of the Kindred of St. Louis gathered together at the State Theatre Elysium, mainly coming together to socialize, be together, discuss matters of state and so on. The tensions of the previous months appeared to have mostly disappeared, and most everyone present at the Elysium were in generally jovial moods, despite things like the explosions that had rippled through town earlier thanks to improper handling of flammable gasses at a chemical processing plant. There was still some minor anxiety concerning the situation of the Harpies of St. Louis, but even with that unpleasantness still unresolved, the mood of most was light.

There was a new Kindred in town, a Brujah named William Parker; he met with several members of his Clan and generally introduced himself around Elysium. The Malkavian known as Casper was spotted in Elysium as well, looking no worse for having apparently been held by Prince Robertson after the events of the last gathering in June. Shortly after the majority of Kindred had arrived at Elysium, the Primogen of the various Clans went off to meet; while that was going on, a good number of Kindred wandered in and out of Elysium, taking care of personal matters. For instance, it is known that the Ventrue Tatiana went off with one or two of her associates to take care of the matter of the long-stem black roses that had been delivered to her last month; several of the Anarchs (including the two "new" Anarchs, Silas George and Sheryl Daniels) met to privately discuss matters; several of the Tremere went off to investigate an occult matter or two that had been puzzling them, and so on.

When the Primogen were done with their meeting, they gathered in the main meeting areas of Elysium and announced that the Council had decided that Lionel Bradford, the Greater Harpy of the City, was no longer to be considered the Harpy for St. Louis. Further, the Primogen announced that they had selected Azrael Knight, one of Bradford's Lesser Harpies, to be the Greater Harpy now. Unfortunately, neither Bradford nor his other Lesser Harpy, Ted Reynolds of the Tremere, were present to comment on this turn of events. Harpy Knight announced that he had already selected Douglas Mortimer of the Malkavians to serve as his Lesser Harpy; Douglas agreed to do so, notwithstanding the fact that he was also an Assistant Keeper of Elysium. The Keeper of Elysium, James Bedavere, took advantage of this time to announce that he was naming Mark Bateman of the Brujah as an Assistant Keeper of Elysium -- but only temporarily, a payment of a boon owed Bateman. The Keeper hinted that if Bateman performed well in the temporary role, he would be made an "official" Assistant Keeper, but nothing further on that matter was brought up.

After these scant announcements were made, a number of Kindred left the Elysium to take care of further matters -- some personal, some intra-Clan matters. While the exact make up and disposition of these various sorties were not known, it is widely believed that several Brujah and Gangrel looked into a gang-related matter in town, while a number of the powers that be in St. Louis (including the Keeper of Elysium and the Sheriff) investigated one or two matters involving the Wat Phrasriratanaram Thai Buddhist Temple which had cropped up prominently in the news over the last several weeks. It is known that the Seneschal and Primogen Aphra of the Nosferatu met with John Trent and one or two other Anarchs to further discuss the situation between the Camarilla of St. Louis and the Anarchs of East St. Louis and their desire for an Anarch Free State; the exact content of that discussion is not fully known, but it is widely believed that the "Gentlemen's Agreement" which had been in place between the two sects since 1996 would remain in effect for now, although a Free State could possibly be created at some point in the future.

The evening remained relatively pleasant for those Kindred within Elysium, and aside of one or two minor moments of unpleasantness, mostly involving heated conversations between the Anarch Silas George and one or two members of the Camarilla, but nothing compared to the violence and mayhem of the previous month's gatherings. Unfortunately, there was a great deal of unpleasantness occurring outside of the Elysium, at a fine arts storage archive in town, and great many of the Kindred left Elysium to investigate matters and see if they could figure out what was going on. With the majority of the powers that be otherwise occupied, most other Kindred simply went their own ways, leaving the Elysium and heading for the sanctuaries of their own personal havens before sunrise....

As usual, the events related above are just the commonly known events of the evening; only selected things that almost everyone would know are discussed -- obviously, many more things occurred than the scant items listed above, but they aren't known to the vast majority of the hoi polloi. Some Kindred of the City are, however, openly discussing matters that took place -- the summaries below are considered to be "in-character;" they've been said openly and people would have heard them. Of course, there are other things being said, in a more private fashion, among select circles, but you'd have to specifically seek out people and talk to them in order to find out what they're saying; it's not as universally known as the items below....

Not surprisingly, there are things happening in the world that don't specifically involve the Kindred or the events of the evening discussed above -- the world just doesn't stop existing when the Kindred aren't meeting, after all. There's always something going on, somewhere, and you never know when something might happen that ends up being of great magnitude afterwards. So, if you want to have an idea of what's going on that might be important to know, you should check out the news of the city, first in the downtime news and then maybe at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After all, proper planning does require proper intelligence....

Session Eight - As Far From God/As Heaven Is Wide:

On Saturday, August 27th, a majority of the Kindred of St. Louis met onboard the Faded Rose Riverboat Casino Elysium, as they had several times in the past. Although, in the past, gatherings such as this had mainly been occasions to socialize, come together in camaraderie and discuss events of the day, the events concerning the break-in at the Voeller Garwood Fine Arts archive in early July cast a pall on the mood of many of the Kindred present. Other incidents, such as the members of the Malkavian Clan all hearing rain on a specific rain-free evening, or the blackouts that affected St. Louis in early August also dimmed the enthusiasm of many of the Kindred, changing the tenor of the gathering from a friendly social club to something close to a burgeoning vigilante group looking for a target.

Still, despite the dour mood affecting many of the Kindred present, there were a few new Kindred in town -- a Malkavian named Irina Caern and the Nosferatu Primogen of Kansas City, a gentlemen who went by the name of Rodgers -- and their presence lifted the dour mood somewhat. Still, the majority of Kindred were concerned about the events at Voeller Garwood and how they would play out in the media, as the few hints of what had happened that had already become public knowledge disturbed many of the Kindred in town. Most members of the city expressed a desire to question members of the Nosferatu Clan who were supposedly involved in the break-in, but the majority of the Nosferatu were not present at the gathering, much to the dismay of the majority of the city. Additionally, Primogen Rodgers stated that he had come to town specifically to talk with Primogen Aphra of the Nosferatu, so her absence from the gathering was keenly felt.

Seneschal Valorian, Sheriff Fairbrooks and Keeper Bedavere had several closed-door meetings with the Tremere Clan; while the exact content of those meetings was not widely known, although it was later revealed that the meetings primarily concerned the Voeller Garwood break-ins, their aftermath, and Tremere involvement in the incident. The Sheriff and Seneschal had several more meetings with select members of Kindred society behind closed doors -- again, while it was not publicly known what the conversations were about, most people presumed that the Sheriff and the Seneschal were discussing the Voeller Garwood incident and any cover-ups involved with it.

While the meetings with the Tremere and other concerned members of the city took up most of the time that the Seneschal Valorian and Sheriff Fairbrooks spent at the gathering, many of the other Kindred were involved in further activities, unrelated to the Voeller Garwood incident. The Primogen, for example, met among themselves (minus one or two of the Primogen) to discuss their own matter. Several of the Clans had their own private meetings -- for instance, Primogen Harcourt of the Ventrue announced to his Clanmates that he would be leaving town for a period of time to take care of business elsewhere, and that Tatiana, the Clan Whip, would be in charge of Clan matters until his return. Also, several of the Brujah consoled Primogen Griffin, who was distraught that he had recently lost some members of a street gang he had been working with -- especially since their disappearance seemed to coincide with the blackouts earlier in the month.

In fact, while Primogen Griffin was playing a game of chess with John Trent of the Anarchs and commiserating about his losses, it seems that the Toreador Vadim taunted him about his missing "pawns." Primogen Griffin did not react well to Vadim's veiled insults and attacked him. Thankfully, due to the actions of other Kindred in the room, Griffin and Vadim were separated and subdued; Vadim was further escorted out of the room under the watchful eye of Mikhael Romanov of the Toreador while the Keeper of Elysium pondered what punishments would be appropriate for disturbing the peace of Elysium.

Eventually, all the various "closed-door" meetings ended, and Seneschal Valorian gathered everyone to make announcements regarding matters of state. The announcements were few and brief; the Seneschal primarily noted the new arrivals in town, briefly discussed the new treaty between the Camarilla and the Anarchs which would be going into effect soon, and only mentioned the Voeller Garwood incident in passing, saying that it was being taken care of. The Nosferatu were mentioned as well, and it was hinted that some punishment of some sort would be applied to those Kindred involved in the Voeller Garwood event, but since the majority of the Nosferatu were not present, the details and arrangements of these punishments would be discussed at a later time.

The Seneschal then turned matters over to the Keeper of Elysium, James Bedavere. Keeper Bedavere announced that he had investigated matters concerning the incident between Vadim and Primogen Griffin and had determined that Vadim was the instigator in the affair and therefore at fault. As punishment, Vadim was required to remove five of his own fingers and refrain from regenerating them for a month. Primogen Griffin was also chastised for losing his control, but no additional punishment was assigned to him. Both Kindred acquiesced to their penalties without complaint.

With that done, the announcements were ended and the majority of Kindred split off into their own groups. Several more closed-door meetings were held, and Primogen Griffin and several of his associates went to East St. Louis to attempt to find out what had happened to the mortal gang members under his control. It was rumored that Primogen Griffin later got into a melee with gang members in East St. Louis, but the exact extent of that gossip was undetermined.

Furthermore, shortly after the Riverboat Elysium docked, it was rumored that one or two members of the Nosferatu Clan -- specifically the Nosferatu known as Pa -- presented themselves to the Sheriff, Keeper and Seneschal, even bringing a small bag with them. The final disposition of the Nosferatu was not known, and it was believed that they were kept within the Riverboat Elysium to be dealt with another night. Several other Kindred also observed Sheriff Fairbrooks leaving the Riverboat Elysium with a small bag, rendezvousing with a car widely believed to belong to Prince Shannon Robertson, driving away and returning later, without the bag. It was shortly after this mysterious event occurred that many Kindred, noticing the approaching dawn, left Elysium, going their own ways and taking shelter before sunrise.

Of course, as always, what�s written above is just one point of view on the events of the evening; it�s what�s commonly known. There were lots of closed-door meetings, lots of private conversations happening, and not everything that took place on August 27th is openly talked about. However, some people are talking about things -- the summaries below are considered �in-character;� they�ve been publicly discussed and so on. There are still events that these summaries only hint at -- but you�d have to ask around to find out the truth alluded to by gossip....

As always, the world does not stop between gatherings of Kindred; there is always something happening, somewhere, that will impact things. Normally, this would be an excellent time to segue into the downtime news from between session -- however, in this instance, the downtime news was never written, due to the sudden end of the game....