Saturday, July 16
Benesj arranges for Baron Ognyan to receive support from Andrev, Erin, and Milan (now masquerading as the neonate Gangrel Favyo). With the help of Benesj's necromancy, the four track the Malkavian Basia to a soviet era bomb shelter in the basement of one of Pazardzhik's municipal buildings. Benesj has effectively incapacitated her with necromantic curses, and her hastily-scraped-together forces put up a minimal fight. However, her apparent ally, an apparent Settite flees the scene. Ognyan easily dispatches Basia, and the group flee the building before it explodes. With a Settite running loose, Ognyan decides to withdraw to nearby Sliven, and the group heads back to Gabrovo.
Meanwhile, Benesj feels uneasy about his position in Gabrovo. He uses auguries to determine that he will be attacked when "his enemies believe that he is alone." He withdraws into the shadowlands, only to feel that someone close to him is in danger. He begins looking around, and determines that his pawn in the police department has been blatantly murdered by a Vampire who used Potence, Celerity and Sorcery. He sorcerously follows the trail of the artifact, and finds another murder victim - one of his pawns in city government. Benesj is able to get enough from the politician's dead memories to determine that a group of Vampires is using a sorcerous artifact to find his minions, and guesses that it homes in on his blood. He contacts the group (now about 45 minutes outside of Pazardzhik and still about two hours from Gabrovo), who each use sorcery to appear in the Volos Building. Benesj meets them there, and shortly later, several large SUV's drive up and begin disgorging people. One of them spots Benesj watching from the top floor, and the group hurries into the building.
Andrev fills the building with darkness, and Benesj activates the security system, closing security doors all over the building. The Vampires begin smashing their way up the stairs accompanied by a large contingent of mortal bodyguards, only a few of whom were panicked by the Obtenebration. The two groups confront one another on the sixth floor, and by dint of sorcery, superior position and the confusion caused by Obtenebration, the characters are able to drive the invaders off, killing two Vampires and several ghouls. The survivors pile back into their vehicles and drive for the hills.
At this point, concern turns to the Masquerade. Someone killed a police captain in his office, and smashed his way out of the building, through three heavy steel doors. The group arranges for an elaborate distraction - a smash-and-grab raid on the station's evidence locker while the police are still struggling to get the security system to accept that the main doors are gone - so that Mac can sneak in and replace the three doors with replacements doctored with plausible pry marks and blast damage. Meanwhile, the chief of Gabrovo police calls Benesj in to a secondary police station to answer some questions - He is one point bound to Benesj, and so is willing to extend the benefit of the doubt. The police chief knows that Benesj's "people" were targeted in a series of assassinations and firefights throughout the city, and that the Volos building - their headquarters were attacked. He also knows that the murdered captain was in Benesj's pocket. He asks for answers, and seems to accept the answers he gets, though he does demand to interrogate Benesj's survivors. He intimates (unsurprisingly) that the federal police are sending people to take things into hand before he takes a phone call and rushes out.
This is where things stand as the group must take to their havens.
