Brujah elder Saul, who had been a major troublemaker for the city's leadership, had quit stirring up the hornet's nest, if you will. The Anarch leader Grendel was even quieting down. When a gathering was announced at one of Saul's havens, everyone felt an overwhelming curiosity -- what was Saul up to?

Saul was up to being dead. His ashes where found in the backyard.

The Giovanni elder, Juliet, was present, and she was asked to read them. One of the last things Saul apparently saw was Randolph Carter. Randolph Carter was one of Benedict's children: the eldest and most powerful. While Carter might have had the authority, at one point, to take down Saul, he did not have the permission of his Prince and sire. Carter was flabbergasted -- he hadn't seen Saul in almost six months, or so he claimed.

Benedict had another bombshell to drop -- he was stepping down as Prince. He had become Prince in order to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the Sabbat, as well as to establish some permanent Camarilla leadership in New York. Apparently, he felt that the time had come for him to hand the reigns of power to another.

Of course, everyone in the city had some opinion on who was to become Prince. Elijah Hightower, Veronique, Wilhelm Gearhart, Angelique Montgomery, Scarlette, and even Grendel (!) were all names that were thrown around. Although some suspected Randolph Carter might've had some interest in the position, his recent accusation of murder pretty much made that irrelevant. Some of the more powerful elders realized the possible advantage of being a strong Primogen behind a weak Prince, and the most powerful Kindred decided to support someone else. The two names that eventually surfaced as the candidates for Prince were Veronique and Scarlette.

A Toreador, new to New York, presented his work to the established Toreador gathering present. Little did they know, Warmaker's work involved the systematic (but artistic) destruction of a Kindred as captured on videotape. It was well enhanced with mood lighting, a riveting soundtrack and blood-squiking sound effects.
One slight problem: the Kindred depicted in the video was one of Persephone's childer. After watching the video, Persephone turned to Benedict and said "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to have an outburst, and Warmaker may die. Benedict knew better than to get in Persephone's way on this issue. Warmaker soon became a smudge on the wall in the bathroom.

The Tremere Derek Fleming struck up a deal with a dark shadowy entity called "Metolicious". After the conclusion of the night, the Tremere from the nearby Connecticut Chantry were no longer able to enter New York City -- any attempt to do so resulted in intense pain. It was this way for another year.

Saul had been in posession of the Pleasure Yacht -- an infamous boat which was one of the city's most high class prostitution influences, and played a key role in control the city's underworld influences. Grendel was able to find the deed and the controlling influences to takeover control of the Yacht. This would turn out to cause him no end of grief.

Shortly after midnight, Benedict announced that the vote he had put in place was won by Veronique. The Brujah cried foul -- they claimed the system had been rigged, and nobody had been explained the exact rules. A Malkavian made a joke nobody really understood that involved Palm Beach county.
Regardless, when Scarlette protested, Benedict stared deeply into the Brujah elder's eyes and stated "Veronique is the choice of the people and therefore, I support her. Do you wish to argue with me further?"
Backing down was perhaps the smartest decision that Scarlette ever made. And Veronique became Prince.

Virtually simultaneously, it was discovered that a Ravnos elder, Chandra, was responsible for the murder of Saul. She was hiding in the guise of Juliet Giovanni, who had been murdered the previous week.

Benedict deferred to Veronique, who made an odd decision. There was no question that Chandra was the physically toughest vampire in New York, so rather than risk her own life and that of multiple other vampires, Veronique exiled her from New York.

Notable amongst these opponents of this plan was Randolph Carter, who revealed that he was to become the next Justicar of Clan Malkavian, but to prove himself he had to catch the blood hunted Chandra. Veronique stood by her guns, however, threatening Chandra with death should she find her again. Chandra scoffed at the notion, but left.

She wouldn't return until 1998.

Forward to Recap of 1996 game.