Encounter-a-Day

The setup: This encounter requires the characters to be wronged by a powerful, well-connected vampire, such as a Ventrue, especially in the context of political maneuverings.

The hook: One of the characters receives a cryptic note stating that, if they wish to put Morris (the Ventrue who wronged them) in his place, they should show up at Dinah’s Diner at quarter past midnight tomorrow.

The encounter: When the PCs walk into the diner, a trucker in the corner catches their eyes and subtly gestures them over. She’s wearing a baggy flannel shirt, thick jacket, and one of those hats with the flaps covering her ears. Her eyes have a very slight almond shape to them, like a cat’s eyes. It should be pretty obvious to anyone who’s met one that she is a Gangrel.

She introduces herself as Ann-Marie and, despite her appearance, is extremely well-spoken. She explains that she’s familiar with Morris’s operations, and can help the PCs to confound him and gain a leg up on him. If pressed, Ann-Marie will only say that she used to work for Morris.

In fact, Ann-Marie was being groomed by Morris to become his childe. Morris taught her all about the politics of the kindred and, though he didn’t say much about his own business, she picked up quite a lot under his tutelage.

Morris, of course, had his fair share of enemies, including a particularly vindictive Gangrel whelp. Knowing that he could never hope to actually challenge the elder vampire, the Gangrel instead managed to trick Ann-Marie. He lured her out of Morris’s protection and, as soon as she was out of sight, embraced her and fled.

Morris managed to catch him and had him killed, but the deed was done. Ann-Marie was now a Gangrel. Disgusted by her though he was, Ann-Marie convinced Morris to be merciful and not kill her. Now her Gangrel blood makes her ill-suited for the social politics which she was raised to be a master of.

Thus, she seeks out the PCs, hoping that she can put her expertise to good use coaching them on how to bring Morris down.

Adaptation: This could be adapted with relative ease to almost any genre. For example, Ann-Marie might be a debutante in a beauty-obsessed culture who is physically scarred by an enemy of her father. Her father, a minor politician, disowns her as her ugliness would now bring shame to the family.