A Look at Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines part 7

In the previous instalment of this look at Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Mark Flavian is welcomed into Downtown LA, visited the Last Round, got some explanations of the situation by the Anarchs, met the Tremere Regent, received quests from the earlier two, received an additional quest from a fat merchant and explored a hospital with a surprise in it. This time, Mark will attempt to finish some of these quests.

Also, I'll be taking down the previous parts from here since the pictures no longer work and are no longer available. Parts  5 and 6 will be re-done without the pictures.

Since Fat Larry's mission seems simple enough, Mark decides to handle it first. Past this guard is the parking garage where the gangs and the required briefcase are located. I will not post screenshots to show how Mark snuck around this place but I will say that it involved a lot of vents and some Obfuscation.

At the fourth level, the gangs are in the middle of a drop exchange. A prior conversation that the player can overhear reveals that both gangs do not intend to fulfil their ends of the bargain. The briefcase is found behind these two and with Obfuscate, Mark easily snatches it.

The deal quickly falls apart, allowing Mark to kill off any survivors and make it seem like everyone died because of a deal that went wrong.

As a result of Mark's discretion and people skills, Fat Larry grants Mark some cash and a discount.
The stat increase is what provides the discount, if I recall correctly. A free stat boost is always useful though. The promise of steak sounds nice and all but Kindred are unable to taste any food...

One last thing is that Fat Larry recommends Mark to see Venus Dare of a place called Confession for a job. Sounds like another quest for Mark.

With that discount in mind, Mark is able to buy the heavy clothing and a new gun.

This log contains all the quests Mark has collected so far. Time to make a dent in that list.

This church has been converted into a nightclub, namely Confession. The very place Mark is looking for.

The interior of the club. The woman on the left is another blood doll for this hub but for a quest, Mark goes to the woman on the right.

This woman is probably the ghoul Skelter sent Mark to get rid of. The fact that she is openly talking about vampires is a big giveaway.

Yep, this is Patty. She is a Masquerade risk with how open she is talking about vampires.

Typical Toreador, being fashionable and good looking. There are several ways to approach this but since Mark has people skills, lying to her is a viable option.

The first option sends her to Pisha while the second takes her outside where the player can kill her. The third is the Persuasion option and since Mark has his people skills and is kindhearted, it is obvious what option Mark would take.

That ought to get rid of her from LA. Not sure if this will get rid of her for good but it resolves the quest. Now to find Fat Larry's contact.

A bartender is the stereotypical source of info so Mark goes to her. Nastiest story, eh? Mark will have several.

Ah... this is Venus Dare.

Looks like Fat Larry gave Mark a title and everything.

Since Mark came here for a job, it is obvious what Mark's response will be.

Russian men asking for money that is not available. I'm sure this will not be a problem... at least for a vampire.

Time to kindly tell the Russian men that Venus does not have the money for the time being.

There they are! I'm sure they will not find it odd that a shirtless madman is suddenly talking to them about a club owner and her lack of money.

He seems nice...

Direct to the point then. I guess it is time for Mark to be honest with them.

Ah... Malkavian madness. How I love thee... Let's make a Russian man think he's a grizzly bear.

The final result is that the grizzly man killed one of his two buddies but the remaining one killed him. That one's reward is a kiss on the neck by one Mark Flavian. This is why I love Malkavian madness.

Her usual response when reporting back to her is that she cannot hear the player character and causes them to transition into her office, presumably for privacy and because club music can be loud.

Looks like she was aware that Mark would be attacked by the trio. Aside from that, looks like Mark has an opportunity to be a club owner.

So that explains why she owes money to the Russians. Taking a loan from a Russian mob boss is never a good idea on paper and in reality.

Looks like this Boris has been doing some deplorable things to Venus as interest for her debt. Time to become a club owner through homicide!

This sounds like a dangerous endeavour... for humans. This sounds simple for a vampire.
Before handling Boris, Mark goes to handle any quests that involve Skyline Apartments.

There is nothing much to the lobby of the apartments aside from the elevator and the door leading to the basement. It's so obvious which route should be taken...

The door to the basement! In all seriousness, doing so will grant the player easier access to the various apartments in the building.

In a room in the basement is a man-sized vent and a computer that belongs to someone who works in the building. Said person managed to rig hidden cameras in most of the apartments here and has made notes on said apartments on the computer which can be hacked.

Climbing the vent, Mark enters apartment 1 on the first floor.

As the quest log and business card from the previous part indicates, the man from the hospital, Simon Milligan, lives here. Here he is hiding in his closet. Also, the highlighted item on the table is worth noting and taking.

The Malkavian option here is fun but Mark would rather oblige Pisha. From the text, the reader can tell that the Malkavian player character would influence Simon to leap for the moon from the highest place he can reach resulting in his death.

With this lie, the Masquerade is preserved but at the cost of an innocent man's life. This probably hurts Mark's conscience a little since he is a kindhearted vampire and all.

Climbing up the vents, Mark arrives on the second floor. Recalling what Muddy (a bail-jumper) said in a previous part on where he would be hiding out, Mark goes to investigate the matter further by searching Muddy's apartment.

While Muddy is not home, he did receive a voice-mail on his phone. Apparently, he will be meeting with someone at a warehouse somewhere in Downtown.

Since there is no way to pursue that lead in the Skyline Apartment buildings, Mark climbs up further into rather fancy looking apartment with all this fancy furniture.

Judging from the available menu here, there must be something good here. Mark goes to hack though the first attempt does not go well since Mark's Hacking skill is rather low.

To remedy this, I add a point in the Wits attribute to improve the Hacking skill.

With a higher Hacking skill and a quick use of Auspex, the hacking is successful. Though the owner should have picked a better password though (I mean "jewels"... seriously?)

Here is the safe in question. Now that it is open, Mark is free to loot the valuables inside because while he is a kindhearted madman, he is in need of resources to survive each night.

A nice touch here is that once the player empties out the safe, it triggers some kind of silent alarm that causes this security officer to search the apartment for the intruder.

Skipping a floor because the vent leading into it is sealed off, Mark makes his way to the fifth floor. As Damsel mentioned in the previous part,  a ghoul of theirs, Paul, lives in the apartments. I wonder if he lives here.

I guess he did live here... Looks like Mark will have to be a bearer of bad news for Damsel. The phone call mentions one Hannah who keeps in contact with Paul so looks like Mark has to pay this Hannah a visit.

Hannah lives on the top floor of this place and unlike the previous floors, the vents into her room is locked. This means that Mark has to take the elevator and go through the door locked with a keypad.

In the phone call to Paul, Hannah mentioned the code to the keypad. The quest log even records the code: 1203.

Inside the apartment's bedroom is a dying Hannah. Seeing a stranger entering one's apartment is alarming so Mark needs to respond quickly and tactfully to avoid being even more suspicious.

As a nice touch, the Malkavian madness that is inflicted here is not a mean-spirited one like the previous ones. It changes Hannah's perceptions to cause her to view Mark as Paul.

One can clearly tell that Hannah likes Paul romantically (which is more apparent in non-Malkavian dialogue).

Though she may be a little loopy from having some Dementation inflicted on her.

Now we have the name of a plaguebearer, this Jezebel Locke.

Most likely the plaguebearer is a Toreador based on how she prominently recalls Jezebel's beauty.

Other friends who worked with her... This is worth a closer examination.

A Persuasion check convinces Hannah to reveal her actual occupation and how she came into contact with Jezebel.

Since Hannah and Jezebel would have had a private meeting due to Hannah's occupation, this line of investigation does reveal Jezebel's precise location. Since Hannah is close to death, Mark grants her some peace by letting her experience her last moments with a man she loved.

Rest in peace, Hannah. You will be avenged. Even Mark is lucid enough to give a respectful farewell to the recently departed.

After making sure Hannah is dead before taking her money (since Mark needs money for blood bags and ammunition) and taking her appointment book to confirm what she told him, Mark escapes via the vents and proceeds to leave the building.

Now to enter Empire Arms Hotel to finish off a Russian mob boss and a plague-bearing vampire. In the next instalment, Mark will attempt to complete all the remaining quests and report said completion to each quest giver before finally visiting LaCroix.

This post is also on my Wordpress site (https://threeheadedthoughts.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/a-look-at-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-part-7/) but I'm posting it here to ensure the pictures can survive.