2026-03-18 10:07 - X PST
You could hear a pin drop in the ballroom. No one moves a muscle, save to look upon this new guest. What do you all do?
Our newest guest breaks the silence, removing the cheap red mask from his face. “Not one for humor, I see.” The man’s face is just as emaciated and as withered as his hands. His face drips with black bile and phlegm, emitting an odor.
In the meantime, Francesca Pisanob speaks up, addressing the man: “Who are you?”
Speaking of, Ernesto Giovanni passes through the velvet curtain and approaches the balcony, declaring: “What is the meaning of this?”
The man looks up at Ernesto and smiles, revealing a full row of black teeth. He speaks with all the gusto he can summon, despite the rasipness of his voice. “Ah. Ernesto. Lovely to see you, old friend.” He then looks toward Francesca. “I am a guest. I am Mazhar of Cappadocia. Grandchilde of the slain Cappadocius. Husband of Ravza, the last of the slain Lamia. I come to partake in the festivities.”
Toby Dunsirn lets out a bit of nervous laughter. The laughter spreads throughout the ballroom, not in mirth, but in a collective attempt to release the tension. Ernesto speaks up: “Mazhar, my old friend, of course. I hope you have been well, and we all appreciate you coming to my gala. Don’t we?” Ernesto speaks in the tone of a host speaking to an uninvited guest. He looks to the Giovanni guests throughout the room, who seem to catch his signal and express their own half-hearted affirmations.
Mazhar responds, genuine mirth pouring from his voice. “I come bearing news and gifts.”
Ernesto responds, a bead of red sweat forming on his forehead. “By all means, friend.”
Mazhar clears his throat before he speaks. “The news is this. Augustus Giovanni is dead.”
“The gift is this.” Mazhar suddenly reaches forth to grasp the throat of a well-dressed Giovanni, vitae dripping from Mazhar’s palm. The vitae burns a hole in the man’s throat as Mazhar squeezes, and the Kindred drops to the floor, reeling. “The guest who helps me slaughter the most Giovanni this evening will receive my favor, my aid, and my wisdom, without conditions.”
The crowd begins to back away. Hidden blades are drawn from boots, thaumaturges ready their magic. Yet one voice, giggling, conjures a silver sword from thin air. In a swift, fell motion, she swings the blade toward a, unsuspecting Giovanni woman, embedding it into the back of her neck. “Deal, new best friend!” Irene grins. “Let’s get the real party started!”
All hell breaks loose. Gabriela sees Marouth lunge toward Francesca, claws tearing at her throat. Irene charges for Toby, giggling. “C’mere, piggy piggy!” Other guests amongst the crowd brandish their revealed or conjured weapons and fire their thaumaturgic spells at the nearest Giovannis. A mote of flame soars past Ernesto’s head.
kaveh turns to neres “well Ms.neres, it seems our dance is gonna be cut short tonight huh?” he conjures a big Warhammer “I trust that you can keep yourself safe while I guard some of the giovanni?”
Mark Sterner is amongst the crowd, which surges away from Mazhar. Neres says to Kaveh. “Until next time.”
Thalia sees Javier grow his claws and stare down the nearest fleeing Giovanni, starting to move after her.
Thalia’s eyes flare as she looks at Javier and any other anarch who looks like they want to do something. “Anarchs! We are not barbarians, we do not collaborate with the Sabbat, or whoever this fucking person is. Stand the fuck down. Protect the people here!”
Mazhar begins to dash towards the stairs leading up to the balcony, where Ernesto scrambles to get away. Two Giovanni bruisers move to defend the Anziani, getting in Mazhar’s way. Mazhar presses his vitae-soaked thumbs to their foreheads, promptly disintegrating their skulls.
Jackal lines up a precise shot. The bullet whistles towards Mazhar’s skull…and smashes into bits upon impact.
Fiora Milliner attempts to prepare a hasty ritual of sorts, but it’ll still take more time than she has. Kaveh sees a man with a knife, lunging towards Fiora.
Jackal appears besides Vale, staying clear of the Arms of the Abyss.
“Did more damage to the bullet than I did him. Can you cover me? I can try to run interference…”
Vale hearing the voice beside him nods. His eyes glowing with the light of the abyss he smiles at Jackal’s direction. “I can, I’ll be focused on restraining foes, but as soon as needed I can cover our escape.”
She wedges the knife into Irene’s grip, taking advantage of the fact that she didn’t expect someone to try and do that-especially not her. She grabbed the sword, and says- “Sorry. Gotta go stop the Ancient. Help me and I’ll let you borrow the knife-” And she takes off towards Mazhar.
Kaveh bashes Fiora’s attacker, sending him reeling and almost into torpor. It’s enough to deter him and convince him to seek an easier target.
Calimastia manages to disarm Irene, who pouts. “What’s a girl gotta do to get an Ancient’s favor around here?”
Gabriela interposes herself between Marouth and Francesca. The combination of her knife skills and her sudden appearance before Marouth gets her to relent. “Gabriela, what are you doing?!” She hisses.
Kiryu reaches into his vest, looking for his gun… Security. A no weapons gala. Kiryu doesn’t have his gun, he couldn’t conceal it. But he was able to slip in a knife, which the lax Giovanni guards failed to identify during the patdown.
Javier snarls, glaring at Thalia. “And we let this chance escape? The help of someone with no strings attached?”
“I’d let you make enemies of the biggest mafia family in the fucking world,except for the fact that it puts a target on all of our fucking backs! Think! One persons help is not worth getting hunting down by the fucking Giovanni, Javier!”
Javier howls, and he and his Gangrel start booking it towards the exits. That’s when someone appears behind Thalia, a person clad in leather armor, a shadowy cloak, and a featureless face mask. The Talon tries to embed their dagger into Thalia’s back.
Thalia opens her mouth to respond back, then gets stabbed in the back. And goes down.
“Let’s see if you’re the one who killed my scourge.” They whisper.
Francesca attempts to strike Marouth with a potence-fueled uppercut, before creating distance between them.
Francesca leaves barely a glancing blow, trusting Gabriela to keep Marouth at bay. “Gabriela, don’t do this.” Marouth says.
Irene, left without a weapon, shrugs and just taps a different Giovanni on the shoulder. “Hey there, hot stuff.” Casting Cauldron of Blood. Irene frowns, as only SOME of the blood in the Kindred’s veins erupts in flame.
Mazhar catches up to Ernesto Giovanni, the Anziani stammering: “You don’t want to do this. The whole clan will blood hunt you.” Mazhar holds up a finger. “Let them.” He reaches out to grab Ernesto’s shoulder.
His resistance futile, Ernesto struggles in Mazhar’s grasp. Ernesto’s potence fails to break Mazhar’s grip. Mazhar brings Ernesto in close, and Ernesto closes his eyes to brace for the worst. “Mazhar, please. I’ll give you everything.” He mutters meekly. Mazhar shushes Ernesto. “You can’t give my family back. But I can send you to yours. Say hello to Augustus, for me.” Ernestio Giovanni, Anziani of the Giovanni family, is Anziani no more, crumbling into dust in Mazhar’s grasp.
Vale sends tentacle after tentacle towards Mazhar. The black bile on the Cappadocian’s skin secretes bile, dissolving three of the arms as they make contact. He evades three more, but three grab him. They do not seem to hurt, but they keep him in place. “Childe of Lasombra, do you fear what you don’t see in your reflection?”
While this is happening, one more person moves to act. Javier, having been close in proximity to Thalia, sees the Talon manifest from obfuscation. As Thalia goes down, the Gangrel snarls. “She’s mine, wartface.” He pounces towards the Talon, who quickly forfeits their action to avoid being mangled by Protean claws.
As Jackal strikes Mazhar, knocking him down, the black bile he secretes burns their flesh. Meanwhile, Kaveh sees two more goons approach, one with a sword and another with a mote of flame ready to fire at Fiora.
Jackal surges forward up the stairs. Their 9mm pistol discarded as they dive forward, swinging they’re legs out to scissor Mazhar’s legs out from underneath him. The black bile of endarkened vitae burning through the Kindred’s suit and flesh. The Jackal grits their teeth and endures, watching as Calimastia charges up after them.
“Whatever our history, our enemy is currently aligned. Strike him down, warlock.”
She expects this body to function normally-common mistake. She won’t make it again.
Calimastia strikes what seems like stone, a crack forming in the blade. “You play a futile game. The traitor is no more. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
“His family yet lives. Why would I scorn a clan for a corpse like you?”
“For how much longer?”
Kaveh attempts to repel the swordsman’s strike, but the blade strikes its target true. Fiora gasps as she’s struck, thankfully not by a killing blow. Kaveh knows the fire will likely finish the job. Kaveh stands before Fiora as the thaumaturge unleashes the mote of flame, impacting his chest and burning his skin. He’s had accidents in the forge, but the flame he feels now hurts more than any flame that’s touched his skin.
Fighting through her injuries, Fiora speaks the last of an incantation. Kaveh sees an ash grey rift appear in the floor and extends her hand. “This way.”
kaveh grabs fioras hand, his body hurting from the fire, but its not something that he isnt used to, he’ll live
Fiora yanks Kaveh towards herself and falls backwards. The two pass through the floor and vanish from sight.
Marouth pushes past Gabriela, digging her claws into Francesca. Francesca collapses to the ground. She says to Gabriela: “Let me finish the job.”
Describe what Thalia experiences as her consciousness begins to fade. She catches glimpses of two people fighting atop her. She feels herself lifted. Is she being kidnapped? Is she being rescued?
Sim grasps his medallion, running through the crowd to safety. Bullets whizz past his head, but he’s able to move without being struck.
This isn’t the first time she’s been knocked into torpor, but this is probably the first time she didn’t see it coming. Blood pools in her mouth, and she is able to swallow it back down in one last force of effort. Her vision swims- she hopes she’s not being kidnapped. She really does. She just wanted to help everyone, she didn’t want the anarchs to start ripping people apart, she didn’t want more death, and blood, and- she really, really hopes she made the right choice. Her last thought as everything fades, is not that though. Her last thought is Luke fucking Grayson, and how she really hopes she doesn’t have to make that meeting tommorow.
Kingsnake and Neres run for safety, though Kingsnake sees the prone body of Thalia amidst the crowd. Javier and a masked, leather-armored figure do battle nearby her body. In the midst of their fight, Kingsnake may grab Thalia if she chooses.
Like Calimastia’s sword, Kiryu’s knife just about snaps when he tries to strike Mazhar.
As the cloud of filth surrounds, Jackal, Kiryu, and Calimastia, they are overtaken by a deep, profound despair. Why are they taking arms against an Ancient, seemingly impervious to their blows? What is the purpose of their continued defense of a dying, decapitated clan? The despair is too great to withstand. Yet one stands, amidst the filth and the bile. Vale. Mazhar looks surprised. “Wonderful.”
Vale hums sounding slightly dissappointed. “I figured they would be better at this. They seemed confident…” As he holds his hand up and opens the pits of the abyss centered on Mazhar and lets it flow out further than he planned, while using the remaining tentacles he has to begin moving his battle companions with him to the exits. Still shroud of night, but not shrinking it anymore whatever I roll is how much it flows out, and using the tentacles to pick up the torpor’d kindred and leaving. or trying to.
Mazhar does not stop Vale, they are able to release their grasp on Mazhar and retrieve the fallen Kindred. “Childe of Lasombra. Find me.”
Vale smiles and seeing as Mazhar is allowing their leaving bows. “Very well Lord Capadocian.” Using the shroud of night as cover to leave taking his new “allies” with him.
Marouth towers over Francesca, looking to Gabriela. “I can’t let you take her.”
“She’s not on speaking terms with the most important Giovanni left in Sacramento. She’s useless to you.”
Gabriela picks up Francesca and runs, surprising Marouth. She wouldn’t be able to outrun Marouth, had it not been for a rapidly spreading darkness beginning to obscure everyone’s sight. Gabriela gets lost amidst the darkness.
Kindred pour from the Palazzo Giovanni in droves, as darkness consumes the entire estate. Our Kindred have, barely, survived a Methuselah’s attack, at a gala turned bloodbath. With the death of Ernesto Giovanni, what might Mazhar aim for next? What is the state of the Camarilla’s deal with the Giovanni? Where has Fiora lead Kaveh? All to be answered in time…