After a long while, it is time to continue the adventures of Mark Flavian in this look at Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Last time, Mark was busy infiltrating the Society of Leopold in order to rescue Professor Johansen from said society.
As seen here, Mark has found a set of steps leading further down..
And now for a brief reminder for the reader.
Now to move onto the next area.
Here, Mark finds a new set of tunnels.
Climbing down, he sees that the tunnels are patrolled by more hunters.
Good thing Mark knows Vision of Death.
With his companion dead, the remaining hunter goes on high alert. Unfortunately for him, Mark can use Obfuscation.
Leading to Mark draining the poor hunter dry.
Now to move along.
Ahead, Mark sees two paths, each leading to a generator.
For now Mark heads to Generator 1, overhearing a conversation as he does so.
Looks like they are hinting at an underwater route into this place. Useful for Mark...
Now to deal with them. One Vision of Death.
And another Obfuscation-drain combo.
The cave chamber also happens to contain holding cells, including a familiar figure.
Ash! What did they do to you?!
Now I suddenly feel no guilt for slaughtering them. Cold blooded torture on a harmless vampire like Ash is pushing their righteous crusade against the horrors of the night into bigoted zealotry against any who happens to fall under the right categories.
Sadistic bastards. Knowing this would ease whatever guilt or qualm Mark would have had for slaughtering all those hunters in the previous part.
Being a friendly madman, Mark offers Ash a blood pack. From those crosses burnt onto his face, he will need the blood.
Now to pick the lock.
After a quick use of Bloodbuff.
Seeing as Mark is still a madman, three guess on what I picked for Mark to say.
Now to move on to the chamber where Generator 2 ought to be.
Based on this conversation, it would seem that the hunters have a lot of faith in Bach and that there are plenty of stories about him.
Once they are done, it is time to inflict some Visions of Death.
Note that most of the ammunition crates found in these caves tend to be for the Ithaca shotgun.
Which Mark will not need to use on account of Obfuscation.
And a couple of neck-snaps as well.
As the reader can see, there are a lot of hunters to deal with and all of them patrol close to each other.
Take note of the little dinghy to the right. This is rather important.
The guard nearby however is not. So, Mark deals with him.
As for the rest, Mark kills them in a variety of ways.
Getting spotted, the hunters open fire with rather powerful weapons.
Despite that, those weapons are no match for bloodsuckers.
Looks like there is only one more way forward.
The key for Ash's cell can be found on the crate in the foreground. The key is listed in the key ring entry.
With better armor equipped, Mark heads in.
Bach does not like this intrusion one bit.
Not at all.
Bach seems to think that he is someone LaCroix has actual regard for rather than the occasional prick at his side. He should feel lucky that LaCroix even recalls who he is.
Asking about the professor nets this response. Looks like Mark will need to get violent to rescue him from this zealot.
The large arena-like cavern and cover are to set up the boss encounter with Bach who uses a combination of firearms and holy abilities. As mentioned by Jack a while back, some hunters are capable of summoning so much faith that they can manifest actual supernatural abilities which can hurt vampires. Bach is one of those hunters so this encounter will be a tough one.
Were it not for the fact that Mark begins using Obfuscate before sneaking his way towards Bach.
Bach does use some form of holy power (or more likely bombs) at the stairs to damage Mark, necessitating the use of the Chalice.
As the reader can see, his A.I is reacting to Mark but due to Obfuscation, he cannot do anything as he is unable to see Mark.
For all of the set-up for the boss fight, Bach can be easily dealt with by torching him with a flame-thrower. The damage is so immense and rapid that it bypasses the usual boss health bar appearance and immediately kills him. I am not sure if this is a bug or exploit but I have seen this work with other playthroughs (though those primarily rely on player characters with Celerity that are fast enough to reach Bach before he can react).
With Bach down (note that the journal does not update yet), it is time to loot the hunter for new weapons.
Like this actual sniper rifle.
Nice of Bach to leave a spare flamethrower lying around.
Now to rescue the Professor.
Poor Johansen, held against his will by crazed zealots. Mark however needs information so he will use his powers to loosen the Professor's lips.
Seeing as Mark is a kind madman, he will acquiesce to the request.
Now to get some exposition, I mean, explanations on the sarcophagus.
Hmm... I can't say my high school covered Assyrian mythologies.
Only one? Go on...
Yeah... Dracula... He is also a character in the World of Darkness too. Look him up, reader.
Hmm... looks like there may be some truth to the dark rumors surrounding the sarcophagus...
Ah... looks like there is a key to the sarcophagus. A missing one.
Mother of vampires... Interesting... Any relations to Lilith?
There is?
I wonder if that is true...
Yeah... those maniacs... Good thing they are all dead now...!
Ah... looks like he is hiding something about how he found the sarcophagus...
Oh, Mark insists.
Now to get the truth out of him.
A package? With a message and key? Looks like someone was setting all this up.
Hmm... a sarcophagus filled with gummy vampire mummies would be quite the sight.
And there is the Lilith connection!
Looks like Mark will have good and bad news to report to LaCroix.
Time to check if there is a spare.
And of course there is none.
Time to get the professor out of heer.
Please do. Mark does not need the attention though I doubt anyone would believe someone like Mark exists.
I mean who could believe that a pale-skinned man in a pimp coat with a crazy top hat even exists let alone walks around in public.
Well, looks like Back survived his brush with the flames.
Seems like he has a parting gift though.
Killer Queen! Oh, wrong series but essentially, things will go boom.
With the detonator pressed, the timer starts and Mark now has to flee. This process of fleeing is made harder by needing to ensure the Professor can keep up.
He even follows Mark through the area transition.
Remember the dinghy from before? This is where it comes in handy.
Ensuring the professor remains close will guarantee that he escapes from the caves. With that done, now to return to LaCroix.
Or maybe not... Looks like the tower has taken a beating.
Mark still needs to report in despite the damage done.
But before that, it is time to replenish Mark's supplies. Of blood.
And money.
Also, it is time to check in on Heather. I wonder what she has been thinking of.
Uh oh.. Looks like she has been having ominous dreams. The fact that she is a Malkavian ghoul does lend further weight to such a dream...
Looks like this tryst has to end. Mark cannot risk Heather's life like this. The only thing he can do is to make her forget about him. I guess Mark and the Tenth Doctor will have something in common now.
She may not have wanted to forget Mark but at least Mark can give her life back to her now. It may be wrong to force this decision onto her but at least with Mark's powers, she will be able to return to her normal life without the Blood Bond's call. At least now she will not be burdened by her separation. Everything she has been through with Mark will be nothing more than a dream... but at least, she will be safe...
Farewell, dearest Heather. You will be missed.
With that, Heather is gone from Mark's life... Or un-life... This is depressing... I hope no one else is gone from Mark's life...
CHUNK!!! NO!!!
They got Chunk too... Looks like this attack did quite the number on the human guards.
All the way up to the elevator.
Not high enough to reach the penthouse though.
Looks like the Sabbat were involved. Time to check in with LaCroix.
Uh... kindly start at chapter 1 please...
Looks like the Sabbat launched a suicide attack on the building but clearly did not get far.
Diablerie? Them too?
Yet one clan in the Camarilla happens to sired by a diableriest. You may look it up too.
Looks like Mark is getting a new task. Or he could get the Sheriff to handle a job for a change?
Or maybe not.
Seeing as Mark does not have money at the moment, it is time to start asking for monetary rewards.
Looks like Mark has a new quest; go to the Hallowbrook Hotel and kill everything there.
Time to trade info for cash.
Perfect, now to reveal that this lock has a key.
Would a keyblade count for this lock? But time to reveal what happened to the Society of Leopold.
True... And thanks for the toast.
Gotcha. Anything else?
Guess not.
Now to check things with Beckett.
Hmm, so who is Beckett aligned with?
That makes sense. Mark ought to consider such a thing.
Time to go into detail. After all, Mark did get a lot of information out of him.
Cool. Time to divulge more.
And now to reveal more.
Indeed. The Lilith connection does seem to suggest at bigger details.
The reward for being able to divulge all this is an extra experience point as seen above.
Time to follow upon other topics.
True. There are plenty of people who know that the sarcophagus is here and if there is an ancient vampire here, any potential diableriest would be having a field day.
Looks like Beckett agrees with wiping out the Sabbat of Hallowbrook. I wonder how far is it from here.
And it is literally a short walk away. LaCroix was not kidding about the Sabbat being under their noses. Wonder what is the point of the Sheriff if he is not used to handle Sabbat hives like this.
The window cleaning elevator seems to provide a way into the hotel. So with the way inwards at hand, this seems like the best place to end this look at Vampire the Masquerade. Mark's adventures into the night will continue.
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