Keys and Two Smoking Barrels

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Session summary

On the night of the 17th of May, the Elysium was held at the Old Postal Building on invitation of Prince Willem Van Heyne. The Kindred who answered the invitation of the new Prince noticed soon that there was a lot of commotion outside on the street. Kine were demonstrating their displeasure about the fact that the city council wanted to close the Old Postal Building. It was clear that the Kindred society had to be very careful not to make a breach in the Masquerade tonight. Jean Vermoote arranged the security to protect the gathering against any harm.

After a short time, a young woman accompanied by 2 heavily armed goons arrived at the Old Postal Building. The woman, who listened to the name of Vanessa Aspeslagh, informed the Keeper that she was sent by the Golden Key organization. The Keeper had no trouble to realize that the woman in front of him was still mortal and he told her that weapons were not allowed during Elysium. It was clear that the woman never had heard of the word Elysium and she pointed her finger to Sergeï Zhivanevsko. She told the Keeper that she didn’t feel comfortable or safe in the presence of people like Sergeï. In the end the woman managed to convince the Keeper to allow her armed bodyguards inside. The keeper brought the delegation to a small room where she made clear that she wanted to have a conversation about “business”. Jean decided to give every member of the Kindred Society authorization to bear arms with the warning they should only use them if there was real danger.

The events of last month drew the attention of the Court of Mechelen, one of the oldest Domains in Flanders. Prince Maximiliaan, the Elder Nosferatu who has been ruling Mechelen for a couple of centuries, send an envoy to Ostend to talk about business. Jozef Boddaert, Seneschal of Mechelen and Ancilla of clan Ventrue accompanied by Jelena, Keeper of Elysium and Ancilla of Clan Malkavian were welcomed by Eldwin Falckeauge. The delegation of Mechelen asked Eldwin to introduce them to Prince BelleFleure and were very surprised when they learned that the Gangrel Willem was now the Prince of Ostend. Both respectful Kindred greeted the new Prince as told by the etiquette. Jelena also insisted to greet her colleague Keeper of Elysium and they had a chit chat about the rules in Elysium. There were also a few other new faces that night. Melanie Verbert brought her ghoul Kitt with her to the Old Postal Building. As a trusted servant Kitt sat next to her Master obeying her wishes. John Stuyvesant, a Neonate of Clan Brujah who is befriended with the Beryn’s accompanied them from Bruges. Jan, an Ancilla of clan Nosferatu, was also a new face at the Elysium.

Michael from Clan Assamite was the first one who had a conversation with the delegation of “The Golden Key”. Under a false alias he pretended to learn more about the organization but he didn’t have much success. Aspeslagh only threatened him that “The Golden Key” was too strong for them to resist and that they had only showed a small part of their influences. She demanded the Ostendian Kindred to surrender, otherwise there would be unpleasant consequences. The woman also suggested to have a few words in private with the victims of their activities to find something that would be interesting for both. A few Kindred like Alexei Kiriloff, Jean Vermoote and even Miss Verbert talked with the representative of the organization. It was strange that the leader of The Golden key delegation recognized them while none of them had ever had an encounter with this mysterious lady. In the meantime, The delegation from Mechelen made contact with a few of the Ostendian Kindred. Jelena, who hailed from Russia and only speaks Russian and English, had a good conversation with a few Kindred who also hailed from the ex Sovjet-union. Jozef Boddaert learned a few interesting things about the situation in Ostend from his clanmember Jean Vermoote. When Jelena spontaneously started to talk in Dutch and pretended to be Babette, everyone was confused. They learned very soon that the Mechlian Keeper suffered from Multiple Personalities. Babette also demanded to present herself to the Prince of Ostend.

Later that evening, Prince Willem assembled everyone and informed them about the fact that Melanie Verbert would be known from now on as Head Harpy. He also appointed a new Court. As everyone expected, Eldwin Falckeauge, Ancilla of Clan Tremere was appointed as his seneschal. He chose Allesandro Giovanni, Ancilla of Clan Giovanni to act as Sheriff of Ostend. Jean Vermoote, Neonate of Clan Ventrue again held his position as Keeper of Elysium.

Afterwards Eldwin and Prince Willem went to Vanessa Aspeslagh with false aliases and tried to learn more from her. When the Assamite came back, the Ostendian Court learned that they lost their influences because the Organization had a feud with one of the Kindred. After a lot of pressure from Michael, violence started in the small room breaking the rules of Elysium. Shots were fired between Michael and the 2 bodyguards and a few seconds later the 2 mortals lay dead on the floor. The head of the delegation looked the Assamite in the eyes and shouted out “Why … U are working for us??? …” The whole Court was present at the time of this display, but no one seemed to take notice of the statement … except Jean Vermoote. Allesandro, the new appointed Sheriff, slashed with his sword and Vanessa lost her arm. Michael sneered at her to give them the name”. Just before passing out, she pronounced the name of the former Prince of Ostend, Bellefleure. Willem gave the woman enough blood to survive and at the same time the Seneschal used his magic tricks to put her left arm back in place. Both the Prince and his Seneschal were left behind in the bloody mess, and started the interrogation again. After they learned more from Vanessa, she was destroyed.

Melanie Verbert also took the opportunity to have a few words with the Mechlian delegation. She learned that there was a second reason for their arrival. They told her about the fact that Prins Maximiliaan had called a Bloodhunt upon Stefan Van Poucke, a Brujah Anarch, who terrorized the Mechlian kine. Stefan was a sex-offender who had brought the Masquerade in danger 2 times already. He was HIV-positive and therefore a threat not only to the mortal population but also to the Kindred. In his frenzy the Anarch had one time forgotten to lick the wounds of his victims, but by the efforts of the Seneschal of Mechelen this had not gone public. During the Bloodhunt, they had found a track that lead to Ostend and they hoped the Kindred of Ostend would help them with their hunt.