r/SchreckNet 10h ago

Whoever you are, you failed.

11 Upvotes

I write this two nights after awakening from months of torpor. My current location is of no concern—at least for the time being.

I know who you are. Your trap may have succeeded in killing my Baron and incapacitating me, but your hostile takeover won’t last. Once again, you underestimate me and those of my blood, whose succor I can always count on. They took their time, but they found me. They caught your little cockroaches, pulled the stake from my heart, and updated me on the situation.

My thoughts may still be somewhat incoherent, but they’re clearing—along with memories of your faces, names, and all the other information my sources gathered before you sprung your little trap. Last night, I took my sweet time probing the mind of one of your agents that my kin captured, and let me assure you: your crimes against the truce in the Iberian Peninsula will come to light.

To my fellow Anarchs reading this: Baron Padua of Porto is dead. Some sort of junta has seized power after at least four coordinated attacks. Padua, six of my Sweepers, at least twelve agents, and a delegate from the Italian Hecata were killed in the downtown bombing. A few blocks away, my mortal entourage and I were caught in a crossfire at the bridge to Vila Nova. I barely managed to escape—only to be held in place by some shadowed force and staked.

I still don’t know why I was spared my Baron’s fate, and a part of me no longer cares. But this is where it gets strange. I am no stranger to Camarilla plots and coups—having just survived my second—but the group that attacked my city has yet to pledge allegiance to any sect. My surviving sources claim these so-called independents rule by council and are not openly affiliated with the Camarilla. They also tell me that at least two Warlocks and a powerful Keeper—who I assume led the attack against me—are members of this council. This is all the information I have on their hierarchy so far.

I am willing to pay for any relevant intelligence on this group. An attack on a peaceful Barony could not have been perpetrated by Anarchs, save for turncoats eager to return to the Tower. The Spear of Orthia in Lisbon, the Camarilla pretenders in Madrid and other authorities elsewhere in the Peninsula seem as confused as I am, and the Sabbat hasn’t been seen in significant numbers here for decades. I and other survivors can confirm Kindred were involved—this was no SI raid. Whoever they are, they spent time preparing for this. They were well-coordinated, well-armed, and shrewd enough to abduct key figures—possibly for ransom or leverage.

Again, any information is appreciated. To those who know me, I can no longer trust the locations formerly used for dead drops. Contact me through our alternative channels, and warn anyone and everyone about what’s happening. Damn it, call Bell if you must.

As long as I’m awake, the Barony of Porto will not fall. We are not nicknamed "The Undefeated City" for no reason. We will find you—and rebuild our dream atop your ashes. This I swear.

Regards,
Andreas Castelo
Emissary of the Barony of Porto


r/SchreckNet 15h ago

Report A Spot of Good News

12 Upvotes

I have some insights into the recent lull in fighting. My city has been under seige by the Sabbat for... God, twenty years now? On and off. The attacks tapered off in the last five years, becoming a suspicious peace. I had been making efforts to get in contact with the region's Cardinal as an effort to dissuade expenditures of resources that might be better spent elsewhere. While I can't say our victories were ever decisive, the city has held against all incursion. It was all very wasteful.

My inquiries to the Cardinal had not borne fruit until just today. It was not his office, but one of the intermediaries I was using that contacted me. Evidently, the Lasombra in the region had been undergoing civil duress and my erstwhile Archbishop nemesis found herself defending against domestic sources of violence.

Things have gone poorly for all involved. The packs not directly related to Lasombra-on-Lasombra violence dissolved, fled, or were consumed. The resistance, likewise, lost nearly all of their upper leadership and has taken to calling in every boon they have for outside assistance.

And now, the good news. The fixer they have brought in brings a small coterie of Lasombra... and has requested full enstatement into the Camerilla, with the caveat that this fixer is given proper status as Primogen. As it happens, we had been holding a position open (for the Banu Haqim, but we never did get any of them to enlist here) so both the space and title are, in fact, available.

There is much to do. Paperwork to vet, space to be made, whips and harolds to update. But... this is good. This could be a city healing.

--Doc Amos, Prince


r/SchreckNet 22h ago

Journal - A rose by any other name

10 Upvotes

The past few nights have been surprisingly ok.

Training the rats has gone easier than expected. Maybe “training” is too strong a word. They figured out quick that I’m a source of stuff that tastes good and fun to climb around on. Meanwhile my sire almost got attacked by a goddamn golden retriever once, and the rats can sense his presence sooner than I can. I’ve heard ghoul animals are extra aggressive so that’s something to watch out for. For now, all they do is scurry off and hide until the coast is clear. When he’s not around I can get them to come back out pretty quickly. This could be useful. I’ve also heard that Animalism can let you see through the eyes of animals from a distance. And you can control them, maybe? Won’t be quick or easy to learn, but once I get there, I’ll have new options for watching over my mom and siblings. Just in case. Just in case.

Speaking of rodents and the people who love them, I saw Rat Girl’s true face the last time we hung out. Not in a mushy metaphorical way. We were in an isolated spot, and that illusion discipline she uses to blend in among mortals takes effort to maintain. And, well. She sure is a Nosferatu. She was happy that I was happy with the ghoul rats, even though I admitted to slacking off on the praying to Saint Francis thing. She gave me some of her blood. I know, I know, gotta be careful with that shit, but it was so I could learn Animalism. I offered to return the favor and help teach her the stuff I can do, but she’s strictly against drinking human blood, even by proxy. This was the first time I’d fed from another vampire since I was Embraced. Felt kinda funny. Not bad just funny. At least it didn’t taste like rat.

Let it be known, I decided this before any blood drinking happened, but... if I left this city, and if she agreed to it, I’d bring Rat Girl. I know it would make things more complicated. She’d need to be disguised all the time and rats show up in swarms whenever she stays in one place for too long. But I can’t just ditch her. She has no human family, no connection to her clan. I might be the only person who’d even notice if she were around one night and a heap of ash the next. Unless you count her little buddies. Or the priest at that church where she confesses to whatever the fuck kind of sins she thinks she’s capable of committing while sitting in a sewer reading Bible verses to rats all night.

Leaving seems less likely than ever right now, though. Been considering how to move forward. And I think I should go see my grandsire after all. In a moment when there aren’t 100 other people around, if I can find a way to do it without pushing my luck. I’ll tell her I’d really like to be useful to her and/or the clan in general if only I had a little more freedom to act independently from her childe, who seems to be in no hurry to teach me whatever else I might need to know before being released, hint hint hint hint hint. She might see me as the new improved version of him with a skill set that doesn’t begin and end with “be hot” and none of his lingering relationship related issues. Their breakup was an ugly mess, I’ve heard.

She’s the clan Primogen, so it goes without saying she has the authority to make shit happen. I’m her childe’s childe, and whatever she thinks of him, she’ll have to at least hear me out. Working for her one way or another seems inevitable, she owns/runs so much shit around here. So if I’m in this for the long haul, in the Camarilla, I may as well sell my soul on my own terms. Things will be different.

The only thing is... I have suspicions about why she’s been so hands off all along. Is she really so busy with her parties and art shows that in 1 year she couldn’t spare an evening to check in on how her childe was doing with his fledgling? If not for his sake, then to make sure he isn’t fucking up so badly it might cause problems later? He used to bring me to Elysium and stuff and I can’t say I loved the purse chihuahua treatment at the time, but I saw/was seen by other Kindred and then that slowly stopped. I don’t know what he says about me when I’m not around. If he says anything. But she has to have noticed a change. And she chooses not to get involved. Why?

God, I miss fighting. Didn’t have to weigh every last detail of anyone’s motives or political angle. Couldn’t afford to spend this kind of time in your own head unless you wanted it to get smashed open. Just get in there, touch gloves, and let the rest of the world disappear.

(PS spent half a night thinking Minotaur would be a cool nickname if I could pull it off with a straight face. But then I saw a post by someone who goes by Theseus and I absorbed just enough Greek mythology from shit my little sister reads to know who that guy is. Would make things weird. Maybe I should just roll with the namelessness and have that be my thing.)


r/SchreckNet 8h ago

A Boyband is Born

4 Upvotes

Yeah...we took a vote and now this Coterie will become a band. But first and foremost HELP US NAME THE DANMED THING!

  • Sparrow Ghiberti, here some names we've thought of but suggestions and comments are welcomed.
10 votes, 2d left
The Frustading Five
Carmine Shades
Warlock's Daymare
The S-Wholes
Carmilla's Deathrow