Walter+Clyde's+Personal+Notes


 * Entry 1**

Been stuck on the Amity for a couple months already, and I feel like I could gouge out my eyes from the boredom. Pretty much everyone down here has no money whatsoever, so a few games to pass the time is pretty much irrelevant.

Burbage and Fletcher’s little “display” cost me Burbage’s crew privileges, as well as my extra deck time! On the bright side, they dropped their 20% demand, but on the downside, this mistake of theirs cost me a fair penny to smooth over, and I wasn’t planning on giving them the full 20% in the first place. Thankfully nobody got too wise, though a couple of the nobles almost went and stuck their noses where it didn’t belong. However curious my business may be to them, at least they consider the idea of snooping around to be beneath their station. Frenchie on the other hand, he’s been going downstairs pretty often to visit that Negro in the hold. This is the second time he’s gotten inquisitive. Still, if he was going to take a look through my stuff, he would've done it by now. Can't really do much about it at this point on such a small ship without it coming back to me eventually. At least the first mate’s still got a crewman down there to make sure everything stays sealed. As long as he does HIS job right, there shouldn’t be any further problems. Thankfully, the boys have stopped trying to push for a larger share. If they tried any funny business at this point, they’ll be sabotaging themselves, as they won’t be collecting anything if the cargo is confiscated, and they’ll be putting themselves out of a job once we get to America. It’s not like they know anyone over there, so they’ll pretty much be stuck at the bottom of the ranks for some gang if they turn on me at this point.

Wish I had got a piece of that 5,000 pounds before we left. Being stuck down here in the cesspit with everyone getting sick and dying all around is starting to get to me. After all I’ve been through, getting everything across the Atlantic, this deal had better be on the level. With money like that on the table and the stuff I’m dealing with, Mr. Burbage and Mr. Fletcher may not provide me with the physical leverage necessary to keep ‘em from deciding to keep the money and my goods. I’ll need to play it safe. Can’t have them pulling a fast one on me at this point, what with Chadwick and Clyde’s still being up in the air.


 * Entry 2 (Internal Monologue)**

Bloody nightmare! I must be dreaming this all up somehow. It's just can't be possible that I'm being hunted down by murderous madmen in some twisted game of cat and mouse! But I can't wake up, and i can feel everything, and think clearly. (well, as clearly as I can in given that I'm fighting for my life, but still, normally, I can wake myself up when I find myself realizing that I'm in a dream. Could be that this all is an intense fever dream brought on by stress and pneumonia, and my cargo is still intact. Still, don't recall hearing of fever dreams feeling this real.

I don't know how, but one of these men was even crawling along the ceiling, and the other, well, he's probably the scariest bloke I've ever seen. What sort lunacy or disease could distort a man's appearance to resemble that of a wild animal. Those piercing eyes and razor sharp teeth look more like something belonging to some sort of wild animal like a wolf than to a man. Have they been hiding out on the ship all this time, or are we already close enough to port that they were able to sneak another boat up to the Amity and board us without the crew catching wind?

In all this, both Burbage and Fletcher have somehow finally done a brilliant job of following orders and laying low. Now I can't even find where they are on this damned ship. Suits them to have finally done something right the one time I needed them to have not.

Speaking of not being around when I need it, I haven't seen that Israel Lewis gent for the past twenty minutes or so. We had managed to rouse a decent rabble, but it seems he's gone and disappeared at about the same time I tried to shift a bit of the mob down his way. I wonder if the lunatics have already found him and killed him in some horrific way yet. Probably shouldn't have gone and done that in retrospect. Now he's nowhere to be found, and I've got no one to back up my story. Everyone we had searching the ship has now gotten fed up and gone back to sleep, the useless gits. The least they could have done is to at least have stayed up to give me a crowd to blend into. I'm pretty much left skulking along walls and peeking around corners. So far I think I've been able to keep ahead of that wolfish one in the blue coat, but I swear he spotted me that last time. Though I haven't spotted him in the past couple minutes, it feels like I'll bump right into him at any second. I just need to bump into Burbage and Fletcher first, and I might be able to actually reverse this bloodsport of theirs.


 * Entry 3**

I'm really tired of living on boats. While the experience of waking up to find yourself a blood drinking monster is definitely a way to cure boredom, I'm still feeling as claustrophobic as ever. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that I have the instinctive urge to kill the ship's master and feast on his crew. Not a good thing, considering how quickly he was able to dispatch Mr. Lewis, even after the feat of growing a set of claws on his hands. I've managed to keep at least that part of this "beast" in check for the most part, aside from making the odd snide remark at him. Not the best idea considering he could quite easily tear me apart with barely an effort. I did not do quite so well at not eating his crew, right at first, but it's really his own fault for spilling the man's guts all over the place.

I'm not sure whether or not I like this whole "blood" aspect of kindred life. Sure, it tastes like the best thing ever, but I don't recall liking the taste quite as much back when I was a kid with a cut on his finger. Little Miss Vane and Mathieu seem to be be taking to it quite well. Though it may be easier for them to romanticize this little condition of ours. Now, Lewis and I. We've seen what happens when Vampires listen too closely to that monster inside us. As much as I dislike Mr. Dresner, he knows what he's talking about. We're monsters, and if we try to ignore that, we're going to become bigger monsters. I don't plan on letting that happen. I'm not going to play the "Savage", as Mr. Dresner claims me to be. I won't become the endless rage and hunger that keeps gnawing at my insides. This Beast may be strong, and could have it's uses in a desperate situation, but the beast, like Mr. Burbage or Mr. Fletcher, is an thuggish unthinking cudgel. While a cudgel may get me what I need to survive, It takes tact and wits to get much more beyond that. I'm not going to become a sadistic attack dog like my sire. If I'm going to have to be a monster to survive, I'm going to be my own monster.

On a more cheery note, vampirism comes with some... benefits that I've managed to pick up on. It seems I've obtained such a mastery over the art of illusion that could put any ordinary magician to shame. The ability to make almost anything, even myself, apparently vanish to the eyes of others has almost limitless potential for profit. I wonder how many other of these kindred have this sort of talent. So far, none of my "peers", not even my fellow "savage", Mr. Lewis have so much as made a coin disappear, though they may be hiding some of their capabilities from me.

Little miss Arabella Vane is an unusual sort. She seems to be enchanted by the intriguing, unusual, and even grotesque. According to her, she willingly gave herself to the embrace, and even now, she seems to have a romanticized notion as to what it is to be a vampire, as she has a tendency to draw grand and wild theories of vampiric history out of thin air. That girl has obviously been reading way too many books for her own good. It'll probably be up to me to be the voice of reality around her, as she has a tendency to share these wild ideas of hers, and Mathieu especially may start believing them. I should consider sticking around to keep her from deluding herself into believing in the "inherent beauty of diablery" or some shit. She was also the first to point out the scales that popped up above my eyebrows, and for some reason felt the need to come up and touch them for herself. A typical person of her class would usually be horrified to even be in the same room as someone who has what could only rationally be described as a skin condition. Despite her naive curiosity, she has a fair amount of brains on her. I think we could get a lot done, working together, as long as I can keep her grounded in reality.

My new "cousin", Mr. Lewis, could potentially prove to be a valuable business partner, if I can get him to agree to it. He's got an aptitude for violence, that likely surpasses my boys, but our shared experience in meeting the brothers, combined by the crash course in vampirism from Mr. Dresner has given him a healthy dose of fear of letting the beast run away with him. On the other hand, he's shown some reluctance to explore the benefits of vampirism, and refuses to even try to repeat that trick where he grew a set of claws, out of fear that it may somehow cause him to go berserk again. I think he's planning to go on some sort of wild adventure out on the frontier, even now that he's got himself a really bad sun allergy. I should see if I can get him to hold off on that for the time being. Going out into the frontier and living like a beast, doesn't strike me as the best way to keep the beast in line. He probably won't be particularly interested in the prospect of working together with me, but I can provide him with enough reasons, especially if my future business involves going up against the Invictus, which may be quite likely, seeing as they owe me 5,000 pounds.

Mathieu seems to have taken something of a dislike towards me for some reason, and I have absolutely no idea what he can do. Of course, being able to make myself unnoticeable means I won't have too much trouble finding out. He seems to have a thing for the lifestyle and glamour of the nobility, as he seems to enjoy chitchatting with Lady Vane and Mr. Lewis. If I can get the two of them to see the benefit of my company, he will most likely fall in with the rest of them.

Not really sure yet, how much of my plans will need to change once we finally reach New York. My best bet at this point is to retrieve my possessions left on the Amity, as well as find Mr. Burbage and Mr. Fletcher if they are still alive at this point. After that business is over, I'm going to have to introduce myself to this Carthian group of Mr. Dresner's, and see what they'll want with us. If I make a good enough impression, I should be able to go about resolving my unfinished business from there.


 * Entry 4**

I love America! First night in town as a Vampire, and it looks like Mr. Lewis and I may have gotten ourselves our very own street gang. Yet to find out if we can really get these thugs under our boots, or if they'll end up trying to stab us in the back, but if that turns out to be the case, Mr. Lewis and I will be able to handle them. Michael is too afraid of us at the moment to try and pull anything just yet, and as long as I can ghoul him into submission before he thinks to try pull anything, he won't causing any problems in the foreseeable future.

Isn't it nice, how the Carthians felt the need to speak more with Miss Vane, while Mr. Lewis and I were left to scrounge for a sleeping space in the slums. Guess old habits die hard, because it seems the lords and kings are still the ones going to the fancy parties and are given their blood on a silver platter, while the us lowly savages are still scrambling in the dark to feed off rats. Sure, they're very good at dressing it up like they're giving us prime real estate, but it seems they're giving us space that nobody else really wants, considering they have such a strong hold on this city that they are using the city hall during nights. They'll probably pass the territory off to some other new-blooded vampire as soon as we turn this place as soon as we can get a steady enough income out of this place, though perhaps they'll have us share this space with the rest of the Hand's offspring once they've completed their business with Lady Vane, and rounded up Monsieur Dubois. Let the soldiers take the castle so that the lords may feast in it. I can't wait to see Arabella's reaction when she see's our new abode. I'm guessing she'll either immediately fall in love with the place, or go running in horror back to city hall. It's hard to tell which side will come out on top between her noble sensibilities or her childlike fascination.

What's also interesting is this law that the Carthians have. I'm really interested in finding out the details of how it works. Would have been nice to have known a bit more going in. Never felt such a strong urge to run away from something as when I saw the Tribunal for the first time. Still, I was able to keep a lid on my instincts, and made a good enough impression on the lot that they decided to allow us in on some sort of trial period. They still have some reservations on letting us in as full members, due to suspicion of us being Invictus spies. The ugly one, Barbas, I think his name was (almost looks like some sort of goblin or troll), he seemed particularly interested in me, and particularly suspicious too. From the sounds of things, he'll be paying close attention to what I'm doing, which mean's I'll be more likely to be running into him in these dark alleys than anything else. Let's just hope that I can get him to see me as being more of a valuable ally than a potential threat. I have a feeling that whether the Carthians will be helping me in getting my money back or getting in my way depends on how he views me.

On the topic of how people view me, I seem to have grown yet another disformity. Now I'm starting to grow webs across my fingers, like some sort of frog. It's not really all that noticeable at the moment, but the fact that I can actually see these things when I put my hand in front of my face... It's unsettling. I have a hunch that something like this will happen every time I lose my wits to the little savage inside my head. I've found he gets harder to control when he's hungry, and he gets hungry when I draw power from the blood. It's tricky, though, not to use this power when you have it. I found that I can use this vitae stuff to make myself stronger and tougher than Burbage and Fletcher combined! I ought to find a reliable way to get blood without having to fight for it soon, or I'll become just like that White Wolf guy. Come to think of it, after tonight's events I'm not sure if we're all that different already. Israel seems to be doing a better job at keeping his wits in a fight. I should see if I can get him to handle most of the direct fighting, if I can convince him that I have his back, even if I'm not actively fighting at his side.

Well, I've got a lot of work on my plate if I'm to get ahead. I've got to get this gang up and running in a way that I won't have to do all the dirty work myself. I should try to get Burbage and Fletcher in on that as well, assuming that I can find them, and the brothers didn't drink them dry, pick up my hat and luggage while I'm at it. I've been wearing the same suit for far too long. I should see about making some headway into the political framework of the city. Arabella might be able to help with that, seeing as I've displayed enough gentlemanliness and charm that she is not altogether against my company. If she doesn't end up sharing territory with us, she'll probably be staying with those Ventrue neighbors that Kiran mentioned. Either way, I should also get to know the rest of the neighbors, and get formalities out of the way. Making nice early on will should help to avoid rivalries down the road. The $5,000 pounds will probably have to wait, what with Barbas keeping an eye on me, it may give him a false impression as to my relationship with the Invictus. Best to save that business for when I've made some friends in the area, though having that much capital at hand could really help fix this place up.


 * Entry 5**

Things took a pretty irritating turn for the worse tonight. Little Miss Vane shows up in a frenzy and practically tears our whole operation apart. She outright drained our little gang's bookkeeper, and nearly drained me too while she was at it. Lewis and I, needless to say, were unimpressed with this. She was unapologetic, or perhaps clueless about our reasoning for our frustration. Still, in the future, we should make a point to eat first before coming calling on other vampires. A few hours mingling with the Tribunal, and she's already fitting us under the labels of our clans. She's just as savage as we are, but she just doesn't fully realize it.

I'm starting to see that this beast we have is kinda like having a giant dog on a leash. If you don't feed it, it's going to go running after anything it sees. Because it's your dog, you're responsible for keeping it properly fed. If your dog ends up eating the neighbor's cat, you're still expected to be held accountable for it. I'm not speaking on a moral level, really, but more on a legal sense. I'm getting the feeling that we should establish a set of rules for our little "coterie" regarding this to make things go more smoothly. I like it when things go smoothly.

Another irritating thing is just how much blood I need before I really feel satisfied. I still haven't really drank enough to feel full yet. On the bright side, I managed to feed my beast enough that he isn't breaking out every time I drink. Last person I fed off was even still alive when I left him. Good thing, because if we keep killing every person we drink, we soon won't have anyone left to feed on. Still, I wonder how much I would need to drink before I actually get full.

I'm really beginning to enjoy my little disappearing trick. Getting to see Israel flop around with his negotiations nearly had me going into hysterics. Israel seems to find it irritating when I use it to disappear in the middle of a fight, but he's going to have to get used to it if we're going to be working as a team. While his powers may make him far tougher than the average vampire, he's already got far more strength than I do. The only way that I can fight in the same way as him is through the expenditure of blood, and blood is a commodity that I am finding myself less keen on parting with if I aim to keep my wits about me, and keep him off my back about stealing his food in the middle of a fight. My specialties favor the element of surprise and being able to retreat as I will. Given the choice between retreating and getting my blood drained by little Princess Bloodrage, I'm going with the choice to save my own skin. She didn't really seem to have any interest draining him, anyhow.

While It feels great to have my two bruisers back, I'm wondering if it is still too early to have them start working for me. After the little princess's rampage earlier, I'm worried about having them around as walking barrels of blood among a group of vampires who haven't quite managed to get a good leash on our monsters. I may not even need to keep them around at all times just yet, however, as they have already gone and gotten themselves a nice place of their own, in an amusingly similar way to Mr. Lewis and I. They seem quite eager to see to retrieving our compensation, but I'll need to see how much will need doing before we can get going down that route.

The newest member of our coterie has changed considerably since we left the amity, but then again, so have I, though not necessarily in the same way. I am intrigued by his proposition of using our new abilities as a means to punish those who are deserving of punishment, though I'm thinking we may not see eye-to-eye on who may be deserving. I'm not quite certain whether his grudge towards my two employees extends towards me as well, though I am trying to mend the fence between us. He really should be a bit more grateful towards me, considering I was the one who called them off him and financed his medical recovery. He also has an unusual way of relating his beast, that seems a bit... unorthodox. Despite this, he did an unusually good job at managing it, even during his first feeding. Too good perhaps. He also doesn't seem to have quite the same level of hostility towards our sires as compared to Israel and I, which has me more concerned, as the Carthians are actively watching us to find Invictus spies. If we're not careful with him, Barbas may find himself with a legitimate reason to come down on us. Perhaps I should voice my concerns to Barbas before the tribunal feels the need to voice theirs to me.


 * Entry 6**

A new morning, a new opportunity. Kirin brought us a Carthian friend who was having a little trouble with ghouls messing with his supply line. I expected that something like this would be expected from us for the "complimantary" territory. I of course was happy to oblige. I've picked it up pretty quick that the Carthians here pretty much have a favor based economy, which is something that I could get to like if I play my cards right. Doing this little bit for the community should scratch more than a few backs around here, which means we'll have a bit more pull in these parts.

The situation with Burbage and Fletcher is that they pretty much won't work until I have something to offer them. Also, they've gotten a little suspicious with my new compatriots, making getting them to work for me even more difficult. I'll either need to acquire some capital beforehand, or find some way to dupe them into an easy ghouling.

I've moved past my initial issues with Monsieur Leon. I figure the amount of control he has mostly comes from his former career, and his current perspective is probably largely due to him having the most to gain from our "condition", and having even less of an idea of what's going on than the rest of us. I'm sure he'll get over it in time. In the meantime, he's interestingly insightful, and despite this is surprisingly willing to work with me, though not in any capacity that would put him directly in my debt. He's willing to work with me for the time being, as long as I can keep my boys in line, so we seem to be off on a better foot than I had originally thought.

Another interesting thing about Leon is that we share at least one gift that the others seem to be lacking. Pleasantly enough, it allows for us to work better together without the beasts inside us wanting to tear each other apart. I wonder if he can make himself unseen in the same way I can. He says that he doesn't know if he can at this point, though it may be something he can be taught. Not sure how smart it would be to do that though. While he's somehow able to see me even when invisible to everyone else, I don't know for sure if I can do the same when he does. Still, if we're supposed to work as a group, we'll need to be able to do some things on faith, rather than expecting the a stab in the back at the first opportunity.

Aside from our first encounter with the Black Hand, all we really know of the Invictus could pretty much be Carthian propaganda. Still, it sounds like their political system is outdated by a good century or two, with the fresh blood newcomers like us getting an even shorter end of the stick than what we have here. It would still be a smart idea to get an outside perspective on them rather than simply taking the Carthians' word for it.

We've got a pretty interesting schedule lined up for us for the next few days. Hopefully we can fit a visit to Leon's plantation in there before dealing with our friend's ghoul problem. In the meantime though, it seems our dear Miss Vane has gotten herself lost again. Hopefully she didn't do anything stupid last night like stay up too early or piss off the wrong vampire. She'd better not be in a feeding frenzy this time, if and when we find her.

**Entry 7**

Everything's suddenly gone to hell in a rusty wagon. Princess is torpid in a box, Israel is now either just like her or dead-dead at this point, Leon hasn't been seen all night, and we lost our haven to a pair of bigger and badder vampires. I don't know where the hell these blokes are coming from but I'm in some serious shit at this point. To top it all off, I'm already feeling hungry again. The constant gnawing hunger is really what makes being a vampire an irritating deal. Only options I really have at this point is going to see one of the Carthian higher ups and see if they can be bothered to help me out here. Of course they don't have much reason help me with this, especially not at this point, as I haven't done anything yet to make it worth their while. Still, it should probably irk them enough that they've got Vampires who aren't respecting the Carthian boundaries in town, and may be willing to help me out if only to assert their control over the city.

If the tribunal won't be lending any help, I'll need to think up a backup plan. I suppose I could handle some of my own affairs, such as getting Burbage and Fletcher working for me again. I t would have been good to have pocketed just a little bit more of Miss Vane's fortune prior to being run out of house and home. Also, I could see about getting control over old Chadwick and Clyde's back again.

Would have been great to have had some proper backup around here. Leon's gone and disappeared on us, with barely so much as a goodbye. Hope his absence isn't due to these mooks coming in and taking our block.

It's a shame having to leave Mr. Lewis behind like that, but I had to save my own skin in a situation like that. I mean, if we weren't horribly outmatched I would have stuck around and helped out, but I really wouldn't have been of any use to him at all if I were to stick around. At least this way, I can go and get some help. Even if they did finish Israel off, I still may be able to get Arabella out.

If I do get her out, she's going to have a fit when I tell her her little brother set her up. Of course, what with the situation as it is, that could have been seen coming a mile away. Hopefully those two back at the big house don't find Sleeping Beauty in her box and finish her off while In my absence. Don't want to have given her that blood for nothing.


 * Entry 8**

When a door closes, a window opens. Ran into a chap named Decker. He's got some of his own problems and a weird history to him, but he's going to be helping me out with business until I can get the gang back together. He seems to be fine with this for the time being, as it gives him a way to vent his frustration while he searches for a lead to his missing... relative. He seems to have been in the know for a while, even before becoming a vampire from the sounds of things, so it might be worth it to see how he gets things done in this city.

Now that I finally have Burbage and Fletcher in my service again, things should get a lot easier. They took to the blood pretty easily compared to Michael. It's going to be a bit easier for me to get things done without getting hungry as long as I get back to using them to do the muscle-work rather than my own blood. I don't think I would have gotten through this if Decker hadn't gone and lent me a fang.

My head feels a lot clearer at this point. I must have spent that drunk's blood in the fight. Good to know there's a nice and cheap way for the dead to get hammered.

Even with my current company, it's going to be tricky getting the old place back. I'm going to need to start thinking again if this is going to go over right. I should be able to sneak back in on my own, to take a gander and see if Miss Vane is still out of commission, and get a clearer idea of what these thugs are up to, and whether I can find something to turn the conditions in our favor.