Activity Log, February 10, 2001 After the previous evening's excitement, it seems that the subjects did not have the time to consider the ramifications of their actions. Of the four subjects present at the church on the previous evening, only Cliff approached Ari, explaining that they had a small accident involving the Masquerade. Fortunately for the continued existence of the group, the two of them decided to attempt to rectify the situation. They called Parker, who told them that he was involved in other things, but he had been notified of a meeting the group should attend at midnight; they attempted to involve Ethan as well, but evidently he was at a rehearsal of Hannah's and could not be bothered to assist them. They were obviously unable to reach Nathaniel. Ari and Cliff proceeded to the hospital where the two individuals Ethan and Hannah had fed from were being held. When they were escorted into the hospital room, they found Alice already there, reworking the memories of the people. She seemed rather upset that she had to cover up after them, claiming to be extremely busy with other matters, and even more upset that Cliff had not told Julia of this. Instead of punishing them, she simply asked for their aid in convincing the police involved in the incident. They had explained that Vassily had captured Nathaniel, and that they planned to find him and save him. This may have been one of the factors in her leniency toward them, as she seemed to approve of their loyalty quite strongly; however, she did point out that it would be quite risky for them to obtain any official aid from the Prince or Julia about Nathaniel because it would involve mentioning this breach of the Masquerade. She did seem quite a bit more angry about their breaking their word, and explained to them some of the ramifications of being known in vampiric society as an oath-breaker. Evidently these debts are the only currency of import to vampires, and they can be traded and bought and sold, so any breach to the system threatens the accumulated value of hundreds of years of bargaining by the elders. Quite interesting, really, in its parallels to the accumulation of power in medieval society and to certain economic models -- I shall have to write Thomas about this, as the sociological domain is more in his field of study. The group should be quite grateful to her on the whole, however, as she agreed to help them keep this Masquerade breach relatively quiet and away from the ears, I assume, of any elders who would have cause to injure them. She asked them to have Ethan get in touch with her, as I believe she blames him for a large portion of the incident, and told them that they should shape up quickly or they could get into more serious trouble. I do believe that on the whole she is fond of the group, though, and she seems to have some special fondness for Nathaniel. If he is returned to the group soon, her favor to them will likely continue. At about midnight, Ethan and Parker joined Cliff and Ari in a quite unsavory area known as Jackson Heights. According to their talk, this was the feeding grounds of a vampire named Slant, of the Brujah, who wanted to talk to them about a matter of mutual interest. They met him in a ruined building, along with his Nosferatu companion, Hill. (I must say that I wonder whether Hill is there at the behest of the Nosferatu, or whether he is truly as disaffected as he acts. I shall consider ways to investigate further.) Slant told the group that he had seen at least four Sabbat in his territory, and that he suspected there were more around. Evidently Hill had been following them, and so they provided the group with descriptions. Slant claimed that the Prince had no interest in helping them with the Sabbat, and so he wanted to discuss sticking together to help keep their territories safe. The subjects seemed quite receptive, which I thought quite wise of them, especially given the tendencies of the Sabbat to make childer until they can overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. Though there was some tension when Ari revealed that he knew that someone named Max was Slant's sire, a sharing of information all around resulted, and I believe that it actually augmented the trust within the group. The six of them discussed the possibility of working with the Giovanni. Slant mentioned that he knew the Giovanni had been around while the Sabbat were, and so there was a chance that they could be working together, which effectively scotched that plan. They were unable to devise another, other than to watch the Sabbat, attempting to figure out what they want and where they go. They agreed to meet again formally in five days, but Slant suggested that the group might want to involve themselves with the social doings of the other neonates. Evidently they have garnered a bit of a reputation as friends of the elders, which has hurt their social standing among the younger vampires. Hill seemed especially hostile on this point, but Slant seemed quite friendly. Slant especially seemed to like Parker, commenting that he had heard Stanislaw telling the story of Parker standing up to Mobea and surviving, and that made him think of Parker as a decent individual. After leaving Slant and Hill, the group briefly discussed what to do next. Cliff decided to remain with Ari's car and make some telephone calls he found necessary. Ari and Ethan left together to explore the area, hunting Sabbat, and Parker decided to explore on his own. A rather uneventful half hour passed -- I admit that I started to doze -- but I was quickly awakened by a large explosion. The rear end of the car Cliff sat in was burning quite merrily. Cliff fled but was accosted by three individuals: a Nosferatu, a quite lovely, if odd-looking woman, and a muscular man in a leather jacket. They seemed to know that he was the Sheriff's childe, and I certainly wonder what the source of that information is. Do they have a source inside the Camarilla hierarchy? They seemed to want to capture him, as they attacked with stakes and fists rather than with fire or claws, and they mentioned bringing him to someone named Brick. Though Cliff fought valiantly, he was unarmed, and they had nearly managed to subdue him when his friends arrived at a run. (I was quite relieved on Cliff's behalf!) Technically, Ethan and Ari arrived in a car, which sped over Cliff's supine body and scattered or smashed the Sabbat attacking him. Their car was also exploded in short order, but they had managed to leave it before the flames reached them. The woman was incapacitated from the car blow, lying in the street; Ethan moved for the burly man and Ari ran toward the Nosferatu with his shotgun at the ready. Ethan and Cliff, who had regained consciousness, managed to stake the burly man while Ari covered the Nosferatu with flame. Parker's arrival only sealed the Nosferatu's fate, but they looked up just in time to see the woman disappearing into an alley. They dragged the staked body into a car they stole and called Julia to find out what to do with it. She told them to bring it to her at the Battery, but as they started the engine, the woman returned with eight or ten more Sabbat. Parker accelerated, but the Sabbat blew out his tires with grenade shrapnel and the car crashed. They disentangled themselves and started running, but the Sabbat were closing in quite quickly. I was becoming concerned that I might have to intervene or lose some of my subjects! Fortunately for my objectivity, as the group rounded a corner, they heard the growl of motorcycles. Stephen and Jamie had arrived and smashed into the Sabbat, taking down a number of them on the first pass. Leaving Cliff with the captive, the rest of the group joined the fight and put the Sabbat neatly to rout. I counted at least four survivors, but there were at least that many piles of ash accounted for by my subjects. Really, I was quite proud of them. Upon speaking with Stephen and Jamie, the group agreed not to mention their presence to Julia. It seems that the two Gangrel are in the city independently; though they are not anarchs, at least according to their claims, they do not wish to present themselves to the Prince, and I hope their stubbornness will not be their downfall. In any case, the group quickly proceeded downtown and delivered the body to Julia. Julia seemed quite harried, but took the time to speak with Ethan concerning his behavior of the night before and his obvious breach of the Masquerade. As a defense, Ethan claimed that he had not been trained properly. While this unleashed Julia's anger -- she nearly attacked them, I believe -- it also turned it against Sophia rather than himself. Quite neatly done, really, and provoking Julia provided me with quite a bit of useful information. It seems that she sees herself as Jan's major supporter, but that since she is busy covering Masquerade breaches and the like, she does not have the time to deal with the Sabbat as she would like to. She seemed stretched rather thin; if this means the defenses at her haven are equally thin, perhaps I could put the rituals directly on her and drop these poor intermediaries. I shall have to have Elizabeth investigate. After leaving the Battery (in disgrace, I might add), the group repaired to Pitt's. In its first week as Elysium, Pitt's seemed to be doing a booming business. I noted that Sanchez, Stanislaw, Kate, Clay, Zero and at least four others were present -- quite a respectable turnout! The subjects told Pitt that they had found Sabbat in Queens and had fought them. Pitt was quite sympathetic and fed them freely, at least until Ari attempted to use his powers of the mind on one of the patrons of the bar. Pitt insisted that he would not be giving away any of his prerogatives as a Keeper and nearly expelled the whole group. I hope they will avoid such foolishness in the future. The group then went to visit Angel, who as usual seemed extremely well-disposed to them. It seems she had requested their presence to discuss some social matters with them. She will be throwing a party at the Guggenheim for the elders of the city, and since the Gangrel owe service to the Prince, protecting Elysium in return for their grant of feeding grounds, she thought to ask Parker if he would like to attend the party. By inviting the whole group as a favor to them, she thought they would be able to use their presence as 'security' to hobnob with the elders and possibly regain some of the credibility they lost over the Dimitrios affair -- "spin it", as I believe these Americans say. She pointed out that the revelation of Dimitrios's death was extremely bad politically for Jan, and their status as the agents of that revelation might cause people to make assumptions about their political positions. She thought they might want to use the opportunity she was providing to make their allegiances clear, whatever those allegiances were. She did mention that due to their past behavior, she would have to take a debt from them to ensure their good behavior at the party. However, they would not be responsible for actual physical security -- merely to be her eyes and ears, and prevent her from social embarrassment. She took responsibility for teaching them some basic manners and ensuring their good grooming, to the point of allowing them to use her tailor! I am quite impressed with her patronage of them, and I am not certain how they have deserved such good fortune. Quite difficult to complain, though, quite difficult indeed. The group retired to consider Angel's offer. Parker and Ari both seemed very pleased with it, for the opportunity it would give them to stand with the elders of the city. Ethan thought that they should be sure to make whatever choice they did as a group, to reinforce their known cohesion. Cliff, however, seemed rather more unsure. He did not want to appear to be a bootlicker, perhaps because of the treatment he had received earlier from Slant, Hill and the Sabbat. However, his friends were able to convince him, and I must say I am most glad about it! After informing Angel of their acceptance, the group separated for the evening and went their separate ways. Transcribed and maintained Elizabeth Kent