Vampire:The Eternal Struggle
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
The Baltimore Epilogue
Greed and distrust drove the in-fighting and factionalizing that threaten to destroy the Sabbat's fragile hold on Baltimore. The Camarilla and other clans watched with great interest, waiting for a weak moment and a grand opportunity. The internal and external pressures mounted and the arrival in the New World of the mysterious Kindred Semsith signaled an inevitable tugging on the strings of power.
The brackish sea scents adequately covered the odor of decaying flesh aboard the Lionel Blaire. Stowing-away on the container ship for the duration of the Atlantic crossing, Semsith butchered her Cockney crew upon their docking in the Port of Baltimore. For three straight rainy night Semsith returned unnoticed to the ship, always soaked to his waist in blood and foul water. On the final night, however, his covert mission was especially rewarding. Semsith achieved a full and proud sneer as he savored the perfume of the greasy smoke clinging to his overcoat. He rested in the Captain's quarters, racing toward sleep, warmed equally by the sight of the dawn sky aglow with fires set by his hand and by the promise of rewards for that which he had set in motion.
It took nearly twenty days for the great fires to be reduced to thin passionless wisps of smoke hovering over warm ash. Not surprisingly, the city shrugged-off the loss of the abandoned buildings, eager to believe their only purpose was to shelter the drug-addicted and the insane. The arson investigator's examination failed to note the bright white flames and the fire's violent reaction to the dousing it received. The uninspired inquiry raised no eyebrows and the matter was quickly forgotten by the few who even noticed the perfunctory motions being carried out.
The Ravnos who betrayed the location of Isaac Goldwin's haven naively believed the fire would not be set until after he left. His ashes now mingle with burnt timbers and blackened red brick.
Under the chaos of smoke and flame, and the panic it instilled in the Cainite population, hard facts were slow in coming. The majority of the reports that circulated, however, shared a theme: that there were Ravnos in the city reducing even the most carefully hidden havens to cinders.
Malachi, Lladislas, and Victorine Lafourcade each longed to move to safer areas of the city but feared leaving each other's company even more. A shredded corpse and yet another disappearance, the suspicion and distrust canceling at conception any thought that the source of these horrors might be from outside their ranks.
Before the last hot spot had been extinguished, Pier 13 received her precious cargo. From the shadow of a nearby warehouse Semsith emerged, seemingly followed by a darkness that was reluctant to leave his side. He greeted the elder Gratiano, confident that, with the controlled chaos securing the Lasombra grip on Baltimore, he would be more than satisfied.
Rev. March 27, 2002
The Baltimore Storyline Event, Baltimore Results