Map of area surrounding Domain of Manassas. January 8, 1995 CE
Locations
1) Farmstead. A mortal couple lived quietly at a mundane farmhouse and cornfield in rural Prince William County until the Giovanni Expedition arrived in late 1994 and wiped them out. The Irad had landed at the farmstead some time before the expedition had arrived, but remained Obfuscated beyond the ability of the mortals living there to even notice. Two other Gateways of Gehenna and the Prophet of Gehenna were drawn to the Temple where the Gateway of Death led the Giovanni Expedition. This coterie, several on the run from various factions of Kindred, made the Temple grounds their base of operations, taking in an ever-growing army of Kindred and other supernatural creatures. By January 8, 1995, the Temple grounds at the farmstead had already been attacked by the Cult of Hirut. The attackers were unsuccessful, but the Giovanni Expedition took many casualties. The surviving Giovanni burned down the remains of the farmstead. The Temple had been piloted into the Plane of the Dead and back. On January 8, 1995, the first night of the Sisterhood Gather, the farmstead was deeply cloaked by the Sisterhood’s spiritual flame. The flame was tended to inside of an earthen hutch built by the thinbloods and expanded by the Sisters. The farmhouse and barn were but cinders. The Temple remained in obfuscation in the center of the field. A mobile command center comprised of three giant trailers is parked on the property with several armored vehicles. A small country dirt road leads to the farmhouse and has been marked as closed.
2) Relocated OTCAL. Joan, Nikoli and the rest of the OTCAL cult moved their operations to the quaint town of Clifton, Va. The torpid body of the ancient Samal was transferred to the new facility from the compromised Old Town Alexandria facility. Hirut attacked the new OTCAL, but Joan distracted her. Joan hid below an underpass for a time as Hirut hunted her. Joan then made her way to the train bridge across Bull Run (10) and crossed the Tremere Wall of psychic energy with the help of a demon’s hand and the interference of a rogue Mekhetim, Marcus.
3) Ryon’s Dam. On January 4, 1995, Rose flew to meet her ex-girlfriend at a place far enough away from her coterie that she thought safe. In her scouting about to find nodes in the intersections of ley lines, Rose came upon an old dam. The gatehouse of the dam was boarded up and seemed abandoned, but Rose could sense a node there. She stood by the water’s edge for some time and then took out a small abandoned canoe to wait. Jinx indeed came and the two had a reunion of sorts, though their issues could not be overcome.
4) Potomac Mills Mall. The Malkavians used Potomac Mills as a hunting ground on January 7, 1995. The sprawling discount mall is open until midnight and is located outside of the Tremere bubble and only a 45 minute drive from the Temple grounds, making it an ideal feeding location. The Malkavians were fairly discreet, aside from Comet’s pilfering, and didn’t run into any local Kindred or complication.
5) Old Town Manassas. The colonial-style downtown of the historic city boasts a number of bars, clubs and restaurants. Old Town is the area of the Domain most frequented by the creatures of the night as well. The Camarilla Kindred of Manassas had carved out a Domain for themselves as a colonial satellite state of the Potomac Empire of Alexandria. Their little barony served as a buffer zone to Lupine attacks or Sabbat incursions from the south. Though, as the Tremere Wall went up along Bull Run, Manassas was cut off completely. It didn’t take long before a powerful group of Kindred muscled into the wider Domain: first, agents of the Tremere, then a Giovanni expeditionary force, followed by the arrival of a veritable Kindred army of followers of the Gateways and Prophet of Gehenna. In Old Town itself, one of the main feeding grounds is the Toreador Letitia’s Crossroads Tavern. There are other bars in the area as well. In one of which, Gwen and Rose had created a scene leading to a triple homicide. The diablerist Tremere George/Number 7/Alazar maintained a haven in Old Town, as had Number 3 (one of George’s victims) before him. The Giovanni maintain a safehouse in Old Town with the Milliner ghoul stationed there to run logistics. It is known that most of the Manassas Camarilla Kindred make their havens in (or below) Old Town. There was a confrontation between the Tremere and the Gateway coterie at the Crossroads Tavern, but unauthorized Disciplines were not used. Nonetheless, the sleepy town is gaining a reputation for danger, even in these fearful times of martial law, meteor strikes and terrorist attacks. The local Kindred cower in their havens as powerful forces beyond their reckoning threaten to bring the end of the world to their doorstep.
6) Manassas Battlefield Park. The park has been visited a number of times in the campaign by Kindred in search of the Mekhetim Temple, or the Prophet of Gehenna or any number of other things. While none had yet found what they were looking for at the site. Zachary has used his abilities on a security guard there, Number Seven spent many nights searching the place, Gwenevieve noted its potential in spiritual recruitment, but none have yet found whatever they were looking for at the old battle site.
7) Sibly Cemetery. The old cemetery is one of the smaller ones in Manassas, but the veil is particularly thin there and it is far from the heart of the city, making it an ideal location for the Giovanni’s nascent transportation network. Gwenevieve and Rose have both travelled through the Sudario there. The Temple coterie used the location as a trap for George/Number 7. Unfortunately, he did not fall for it and sent a hapless mortal, “Wally,” to carry out what was rightly assumed to be a fraught conversation. Wally was murdered by Gwenevieve, but has since become her willing spectral servant. The Temple coterie also met the Nosferatu “Birthday” at the cemetery. He had been in Obfuscation, following the newcomers to determine their intent. He was caught by their powerful Auspex and at first thought to be a part of George’s schemes. It was soon determined that he was not a part of the rogue Tremere’s schemes, and rather was one of the Manassas Camarilla Kindred. Though the coterie had let Birthday go after their encounter, it was determined later that George was watching the affair and diablerized Birthday shortly thereafter.
8) KOA Campground. A “bear attack” led to the death of a pair of camping hikers at the KOA campground on Friday night, December 30, 1994. If the local news hadn’t been flooded with stories of terrorist attacks and meteor bombardment, there might have been more concern raised. In truth, the Giovanni Gwenevieve Rossellini and Rose of the Sisterhood “let off some steam” while feasting on the local populace. The feasting pair of vampires cover their tracks, but Rose inches ever closer to the Wassail.
9) Franklin’s Pub. The old Irish pub in the heart of Old Town Fairfax serves as the primary office of Brujah Primogen Jeremiah Banks and is thus an oft-used political gathering place for the Alexandria Brujah. The back room serves as Banks’ private office, often guarded by Bozwell and other loyal Brujah. Members of the Clan and other dissidents gathered at the Pub on December 8, 1994 to decide what to do following Prince Elaine’s potestas edictum requiring blood from each Kindred citizen.
10) Train bridge across Bull Run. A train bridge crosses Bull Run from Fairfax into Prince William County. The Tremere have erected a psychic ward “bubble wall” around the Potomac Empire of Alexandria. The ribbon wall, while undetectable and harmless to mortals but deadly to vampires, undulates in the center of Bull Run, bisecting the train bridge. It was here that the Temple coterie rushed to meet Joan. Joan was fleeing the ravening ancient, Hirut, and attempted to use the severed hand of the demon Xaxil to allow her to cross the ribbon wall. She was caught by Hirut and failed, but Marcus of the Mekhetim intervened and altered time. Hirut then jumped into the air and violently smashed into earth, creating a crater where the Fairfax side of the bridge once stood. Joan survived, but a temporal laceration was created. The area has since been quarantined by the government.
11) H&H Ranch. The Brujah Thaïs’ personal haven and domain was located on a tract of land on the far reaches of the Potomac Empire. She had horses and a large hay field. When the Tremere bubble wall went up following the attack in Georgetown, it appeared just at the edge of her property. Thaïs and her Toreador friend Desirée used the place as a fall-back base when the Empire began its nights of instability. The pair hid the Malkavian Zachary and Salubri Asa in the ranch for a time. On December 10, 1994, Thaïs dabbled in Infernalism with a demonic ritual to send Zachary and Asa across the Wall with the ghoul, Benjamin. Zachary, Asa and Benjamin appeared many miles away and several days ahead inside the Temple (1). They had the “hitchhiker” demon Boxcar with them along for the ride. For, it had been Boxcar who had planned this event for many years and was now inside the Temple. Back at the ranch, Desirée and Thaïs wrapped up their business and set out in further schemes, one of which resulting in the death of the Ventrue ancilla Barnaby Wilcox.
12) Industrial Park. This is one of many industrial parks in Fairfax, but one particular warehouse is owned by the Brujah Nikoli and serves as a suitable meeting spot, as well as a stop in his smuggling operation. It was at this warehouse that Zachary first met Nikoli on December 3, 1994 through his associate Thaïs. Nikoli pledged his service to the prophet and revealed himself as a member of the shadowy OTCAL cult. The cult’s purpose was found to be to protect the body of the ancient Samal and to aid the Prophet of Gehenna in whatever way was possible.
13) Southern Ranger Facility. The Imperial Government of Alexandria maintains a covert base of operations for the Rangers just on the far side of the bridge from Fairfax County into Woodbridge. The “hydroelectric substation,” is behind fences and has plenty of mortal surveillance and security. Behind the facade, however, is a major security installation fit with monitors with feeds from throughout the Empire, state-of-the-art weapons and equipment, and a retinue of several ghouls and Kindred. The place had been attacked on a few occasions, but the Camarilla was able to retake the location. It was abandoned of Kindred forces, however, with the raising of the Tremere bubble wall of psychic energy: a ward which does not permit the crossing of vampires. It can be assumed that loyal ghouls continue to monitor traffic in and out of the Empire, looking for heat signatures in the cars crossing the highways uncommon for mortals.
14) Burke Lake Park. Hirut made her temporary haven at Burke Lake Park in a small maintenance shed in the woods. She gathered her strength and fed, and prepared her next moves. Hirut had taken the Rossellini ghoul Giuseppi and bound him in the shed. She made him her childe and blood bound him to her. After sufficiently gathering her strength, Hirut moved on.
Nodes
A) First Contact Node. This node has been the host of The Irad for months in late 1994 and into 1995. Marcus of the Mekhetim had piloted the Temple to that spot in that time from thousands of years previous (stopping a few times along the way). The node rests in a cornfield in rural Prince William County, Virginia. A mortal couple had farmed the land, yet were unaware of the Temple: it being in heavy Obfuscation and they being but mortals. The Giovanni Expedition arrived in December of 1994 and slew the couple, overtaking the land and the node upon it. The Gateways began to be drawn to the Temple, and soon began delving into its secrets. Other interested parties began searching for the place, with a demon and cabal of Malkavian cultists attacking the Giovanni and nearly overtaking the Temple. The Gateways maintained control of the node, however, and were able to fend off their rivals. Members of the Sisterhood began to congregate near the node in preparation for their fateful Gather to be held on January 8, 1995. The Sisterhood’s founder, Kahenta, had been slain near the node protecting it from the forces of the demon, yet had somehow “passed into spirit” upon death. The Sisterhood oversees a spiritual fire which cloaks the area surrounding the node in an obfuscating smoke, making Tremere scrying impossible. The Tremere are actively hunting for those hiding near the node.
B) Waterfall Node. Rose could sense a node along Little Bull Run in rural Prince William County. While she didn’t explore in depth, she could see that the area around the node is cloaked in a thick forest with a stream cutting through it.
C) Node at Ryon’s Dam. A node, undetectable to human eyes, hums in the abandoned gate house of Ryon’s Dam on the Prince William side of Bull Run. Rose met Jinx in the river next to the dam (and node) on January 4, 1995.
D) Woodbridge Node. Rose could sense a node inside a building in Woodbridge. The area surrounding the node is an urban office park.
E) Aden Node. Rose could sense this node deep in the woods. The closest hamlet is Aden, but it is a tiny unincorporated village. The node is in a thickly forested area.
