Al

That evening you wake up in the ground. I assume you go to the surface, but what do you want to do next?

I wake up, brush the dirt off then walk around to the front of the house to see if it looks like people are hanging out at Justain's again. If it doesn't look like the gang is here (aka no cars in the drive, no lights on) then I head back to my place to check my mail and answering machine, get cleaned up, etc.

On your answering machine you a somewhat nervous sounding message from one of your vampire buddies. "Hey Al, um, could you come by tonight? There's some creepy stuff going and you'll probably want a heads up. Uh, be careful on the way, alright?"

So I think think this sounds a bit odd but decide I'll stop by the haven (btw, i've been thinking more about my vampire buddies, I'll run some concepts by you in a bit). I bat out and fly over because I figure its safer than driving. (for the moment let's just call the guy who called me Joe).

"heya Joe. I got your call. So, unusually creepy stuff is going on huh? Y'know, besides the usual creepy stuff. What's up?"

In a surprisingly familiar scene Joe and his friends are once again frantically boarding up windows and doors at their home. They cheer when you arrive and a few of them shove boards and hammers at you.

Joe shoves through the group to talk to you. "I glad you made it, man. This isn't a safe time for you to be alone. Remember those hunters that chased us after the hospital show-down? Well apparently they're back and even worse than before. We got a visit from someone from the main vampire court. She told us that these guys have been going after every they meet who's on his own. They've been picking us off left and right! The court doesn't even seem to know what to do about them since they keep disappearing after every attack."

"Holy Cow! How many of these hunters are out there? Anyone I know gone missing?" Al looks around at them boarding things up. "If they're only going after individuals, you don't think they'll come after the bunch of y'all here do ya?"

Joe shrugs his shoulders. "It's hard to know who they've gotten and who's just gone into hiding, but a few folks I know are missing. We're hoping they won't attack us here since we're a group, but we're also kinda well known. They may get backup or something and we can't stay holed up here forever...."

Suddenly a firm knock sounds at the door. Someone takes a peak out of one of the cracks between the boards on the window then comes over. "Um, the police are here."

to Joe "Well I don't want to hole up at all"

to the knocking "The Police? Let me see, might be someone I know" All walks over and looks out the same crack.

Outside you can see two police cars with their lights flashing. Immediately outside the door is an officer you don't recognize, but if you roll one wc success you see Cathy among several other officers by the cars. They all look very serious.

I only rolled one success so i"m assuming that I don't see Cathy, right?

"Uuum, I don't recognize any of them. That means one of two things. One, someone messed up royally and they are here to investigate something very bad, or two, these are part of those fake cops that I ran into a while back. They were working for some sort of evil Avon conspiracy. Shit, everyone look... normal." Al scans the room looking anything that might give them away or that looks just out of place.

(No no, you DO see Cathy. I said you only needed one success for that.)

Looking around you can see that the room is a bit sparse, but the most notable oddity is in the corner where floorboards have been moved aside to expose the earth below where they sleep during the day.

Ooops. My bad, I guess I misread that. In that case, this is what happens.

"Um... yup, those are definitely the police. My daughters out there. This could get awkward." Al looks around and sees what you described. "well, at least no one has left a snack lying around."

Al opens the doors. "Evning. What can I do for ya'?"

The officer takes a step back when he sees how big you are then scowls and says, "We've been given a tip about this location. I'd like to have you and anyone else who's here come outside while we preform a search."

"A tip huh? Now I don't want to seem unaccommodatn', but don't you need probable cause and a warrant for something like that?" (Al does have a police-woman daughter and did work next to the precinct after all) Even though Al didn't see anything out, he hopes that the guys didn't stash something incriminating.

"We have a warrant pending, but I'd hoped we wouldn't need to wait for that formality. If you refuse to cooperate though, I'm afraid we're going to take you and anyone else who's here downtown for questioning regarding the disappearances of *lists off a looooong series of names*." Make a wits plus intelligence roll.

"Well" (Al scratches his chin) "It would be a hassle to go downtown. But as to searching the place, you're gonna hafta get Bernard's permission since it's his place." Al turns around to the room. "Hey Bernard, they want to search the place or bring us all in for questioning."

I rolled 4 successes wit+comp

(Because of your successes you recognize a few of the names the officer mentions as being those of some of the ghouls you and your friends have hunted in the past.)

Bernard comes forward, gives the officer a 'one sec' gesture and pulls you inside. "I don't really like either of those options. You've worked with cops; how tough are they? Do you think we could take them down and make a getaway?"

"well, hell Bernard, my daughter is out there and I've been trying to convince her that I'm not some monster. Is there anything evidency around and if so, can anyone around Obfuscate it?" (any vampire with at least a dot in obfuscate can allow a vampire to conceal small items on their person. five dots allows the vampire and others to disappear, even when someone is looking at them) "besides, it would be a lot more difficult to prove our whereabouts, you know, like every day. Unless you want to pretend to be a club for people with sun allergies."

Bernard considers this. "Man, we've been living here for a while. There's going to be evidence like hairs and small bloodstains that we won't notice until it's too late if those cops really start looking. I think we should go out and while they're searching there won't be as many folks to guard us. That's when we make a break for it."

"Ok, fine. I guess we'll just have to rebuild somewhere else. Shouldn't be that hard."

I'm guessing at this point Bernard tells the cops that he'll let them search the shack and we file out.

Once you all go out and most of the cops go in is when Cathy finally notices you and her eyes bug out. She comes up to you. "Dad? What's going on here? What are you doing here?!"

Simultaneously Bernard punches your arm and says, "Now!" The vamps begin to run.

Horrified, Al looks at Cathy "Sorry, girl." and takes off with Bernard. As soon as they get into the woods and out of sight, Al bats out but tries to keep follow Bernard, since he knows he can't really go home.


(also a heads up, I'll be traveling a bit for the next 5 days, so I won't be on as much)

As you fly the others run through the forest. However, in the panic of the moment the get spread out. Bernard winds up a bit behind the others and suddenly falls over. He immediately gets up again but is now running more slowly and seems to be hurt.

Al thinks this is strange because unless he was very seriously injured (aggravated damage), then he should be able to use some vitae to heal. Either way, Al flies closer to Bernard and chirps out encouragement for him to hurry up.

What's your defense in this form?