Activity Log, April 9, 2001 After the rather chaotic events of mid-March, the group spent some time pursuing their own objectives. If only it were not so difficult to observe them when they are not together! Fortunately for my research, just as I was beginning to despair of their ever gathering for important matters again, they received invitations to a party. After conferring for a bit, Cliff, Parker, Hannah and Ethan all decided to attend. This party was at a club in Williamsburg, called The Music Room. Checking my notes, I was able to determine that this club is an Elysium under the care of the vampire Hope Wilkinson, and I was quite surprised that the subjects had never gone there in the past. On their arrival, I was able to inspect the premises, and I was quite favorably impressed. A dance floor, comfortable seating, a small stage, wooden paneling -- it very nearly reminded me of the dance halls of my youth, though perhaps a bit better lit. The subjects seemed less impressed with the décor than with those present in it. As soon as they arrived, they wisely headed to Hope to find out what the rules of the club were. She explained that they were not to interfere with the acts, and that there were servers designated by a red ribbon on the left wrist who were available for feeding. Parker inquired about possibly being hired as bar security, but Hope claimed she had it well in hand. After this, they separated to pursue individual interests. Ethan immediately went to speak to the lovely Christine, who I must admit was dressed rather scandalously -- she seemed to be wearing little but leather and body paint, and stood out quite a bit in the more conservative crowd. She seemed upset about some article that she had been removed from, but Ethan was able to settle the matter with a single telephone call. She was most grateful to him, indeed. He also spoke to the attractive bassist of the group playing that evening, who seemed to like him a great deal less than Christine did, but who still spent some time flirting with him. A shame his blood runs cold; I am not so old that I do not wish I had his advantages. Cliff spoke with Michael Clay, who seemed to be in the role of "promoter" for the evening's events. It seems he was the ostensible host of the party. He explained that he had invited Cliff because of Cliff's Brujah blood; Clay would be inviting a new Brujah into the clan as his childe, and he wanted to have his friends to meet her. Cliff also talked to the radio personality Anna Fernandez about Robert Brooks and what had happened to him. Anna seemed to think that he had been fired, or at least claimed the FBI was giving out that story, but they were unable to learn anything new from their conversation. He also spoke with a young girl, no more than sixteen, named Daisy, but I found their conversation about journals and funding to be rather unenlightening. Parker spoke with a rather strange-looking young man named Howie about the online vampiric community and about the possibility of making contact with those who might not be comfortable being physically present in the city. (I can only assume he is hoping to meet the anarch contingent?) I must learn more about this. If there truly is some way that these computer machines can be used to learn more about my elusive quarry, I will have to have Elizabeth show me how to operate one. Parker and Hannah also spoke to Stanislaw, who seemed extremely morose. He told them he was upset because Sophia, Ethan and Hannah's sire, had seduced and taken his childe Larry. They discussed possible solutions for some small time, but they were interrupted by the entrance of Richard Mason, which immediately got Hannah's attention. Mason is, I believe, the individual she thinks killed her sire, which explains her extreme interest in him. Mason pushed his way through the crowd and sat at a table right in the front as the band played (quite unnecessarily loudly, in my opinion). Nearly every vampire in the club had an immediate negative reaction. I thought they would literally fall on him then and there; it was quite clear he was not welcome. However, Hope restrained the angry mob, explaining that there would be no trouble in her club if she had anything to say about it. Mason sat for perhaps ten minutes, rebuffing advances from Cliff (friendly) and Sanchez (angry), before leaving the club as quickly as he had come. Hannah pursued him out of the club, but she was unable to catch up with him. Back at the club, however, things were quite a bit more chaotic. Not more than two minutes after Mason left, the entire front of the club exploded in a mass of blood and flames! Under cover of the smoke, there was chaos. Most of the mortal patrons at the front of the club were immediately dead, except for a few who had been protected by pillars or furniture. The vampires present erupted; quite a few simply fled the flames, while others scented the blood in the air and rushed forward to guzzle the red liquid lying in still-warm pools on the rug. Cliff and Parker moved forward, despite their obvious fear, and began to aid the wounded. Hope tried to calm the crowd and manage things, assisted quite adeptly by Ethan. Clay, in the meantime, found his potential childe huddled behind one of the pillars, her bass still in her hand. It seems he had planned to choose her all along, but that he felt the explosion gave his need some urgency. He pulled her into a back room, and I was able to watch as his fangs pierced her skin. I have never been able to observe a Change before, and so I am most grateful to this young woman -- Jo, as they called her. Cliff had wisely thought to call Julia immediately, and so Alice arrived at nearly the same time as the mortal police. Alice took charge of matters, with Hope aiding her, and so the group stumbled out into the night air just in time to meet a very confused Hannah. Clay followed the group outside and pulled Cliff aside. He asked Cliff if he would mind keeping an eye on his childe, Jo, since there were other things going on that he had to deal with first. Cliff reluctantly agreed, though Jo seemed both confused and defiant. Hannah and Parker piled into a car with Jo to help search for Mason -- for it seems that the explosion was due to a bomb he had set -- while Ethan, Sanchez and Cliff took another vehicle. While Hannah and Parker explained the rudiments of being a vampire to Jo, Ethan called a mortal detective of his acquaintance, one Rita Cheng. She was able to trace the license plate of Mason's car: he was in a car belonging to Franklin Wallace, and Ethan's group went to check on Wallace. However, a second call determined that the car had been stolen, so they decided to pursue other avenues. Hannah called Stavros, requesting what she called "an APB" for Mason, and the location of his haven. The Nosferatu were happy to provide this information in return for some time off their debt to the party, and the entire group reconvened at Richard Mason's haven. The group decided to try to take Mason to find out what he knew, both about the death of Hannah's sire and about the bombing at The Music Room. Cliff burst in the back door of the apartment building as Jo and Hannah covered the front, while Parker and Ethan and Sanchez scaled the walls and inspected the windows. Eventually they decided the windows might be their best option, and so Parker kicked in one of the windows. This was immediately followed by a massive noise as the entire apartment erupted in a fireball. The three clinging to the wall were blown quite a ways into the air (and I admit that their expressions were rather amusing). Cliff dashed into the burning apartment, terrified, to see if anyone had been trapped there. While he saw no one, he was able to grab a double fistful of Mason's papers before he was driven back by the flames. As Cliff herded the inhabitants of the floor below to safety, Ethan and Parker examined Mason's papers. It seemed to be an account of favors owed, but it was written in some sort of code that they could not interpret. At this point, Ethan received a call from Mason on his personal telephone. Mason said he was waiting for the group at the Battery. Since they had decided that they felt responsible for hunting Mason down, they immediately started down to meet him and finish matters. When they arrived at the Battery, Julia was waiting for them outside. She explained that Mason was there, claiming he had been framed for the explosion at the Elysium, and that she and the archon Celeste were investigating the matter. She took the weapons from Cliff, Parker, Ethan, Sanchez and Jo and led them inside; Hannah could not relinquish her weaponry in Mason's presence, and so elected to wait outside. Those who entered found Jacob, Hope and Clay also present, likely as the senior individuals present at The Music Room. The group seemed to take an immediate and not-entirely-explained dislike to Celeste. Perhaps they were bitter because she outranked their ally Julia? I am not certain that I understand their motivations. Celeste told them that she would happily prosecute Mason if they could provide her with proof, but Ethan said that she would just clear him. He demanded to see the Prince but was told that Jan was busy with other matters. They appealed to Julia, who responded that she agreed that even though she thought Mason guilty, she would need proof in order to punish him according to the law. Ethan used his mental powers to show the provenance of the bomb fragments, claiming Mason had touched them, and of Mason's notebook, but this was deemed less than convincing. At this point, I can only assume that Hannah's frustration overcame her good sense. She fired her bow from outside the building, piercing Mason with multiple wooden shafts in the space of mere seconds. This flagrant violation of the law angered Julia beyond control. Julia leaped at Hannah, staking her quite effectively. Unfortunately, Jacob attempted to restrain Julia from further action and had himself thrown through a wall for his trouble. Things quickly erupted into chaos, though only for a few moments: Julia quickly staked Jo, Parker, and Mason for attempting to interfere, while Celeste staked Ethan and Sanchez, who were attempting to rescue their friends and kill Mason, respectively. At this point, Julia realized that she had caused trouble by instigating a fight in Elysium; while I assume she has the right to violence anywhere she likes, as the Prince's right arm, those she fought with could be prosecuted for this violation, including her grand-childe Cliff. Julia turned to Celeste to bargain for the safety of those she had caused to break the law. Celeste said that either the cases against all those present who had violated Elysium could be pursued, or they could all be dropped. After consulting with the group, Julia decided to simply drop all the cases, I assume in regard for the safety of the children in her care. As I might have guessed, this led to a confrontation between the group and Julia outside the Battery immediately afterwards. Julia talked to them about trying to be fair and support the Camarilla, that she had responsibilities to the Archons and to Jan and to the Camarilla as a whole, and that she could not simply set aside the law to do what she thought to be right, since the law was right in and of itself. She begged them not to hold the night's events against Jan, since he needed their help to be a good Prince. Unfortunately, while the subjects seemed somewhat receptive, Jacob seemed much less so. He exploded about the general unfairness of the Camarilla -- the same arguments of liberals everywhere, I suppose, about how the "little person" rarely had a fair chance against the general evils of society. I found it rather boring, though it seemed to bother Julia quite a bit. I was most interested, though, when he called her heritage into question: it seems that her sire, Marc, is a noted anarch sympathizer in Seattle, and Jacob was not afraid to use this against her. After Jacob stormed off, taking Clay and Hope with him, the group attempted to comfort Julia. She seemed somewhat receptive to their aid, but asked them to help her organize the neonates to quietly stand behind Jan. Unfortunately, the group -- especially Cliff -- was displeased with the idea of working counter to their own notions of what might be good for the neonates. They agreed to talk on this further at a later date, though Julia warned them that if Jan didn't get any help, there might not be much time for them to consider. Transcribed and maintained Elizabeth Kent