Skirmishes in the Dark : 23-02-2010

23rd February, of the year 2010, Paradigm Infinitum.

Another busy night at PI playing Vtes. Dan is back in town (finally) and of course he managed to upset all his allies~ :) way to go Dan! We love you, totally loving bleeding you to death!

Anyway, I managed to have 3 games, and the majority of the games are quite weird.

Here we go!

Game 1's random seating -

G1's Kiasyd bleed, bleeding

Ben Sum's Lasombra bleed, bleeding

BK's Salubri Serene deck, bleeding

My Howling, bleeding

Bann's Guruhi many equipment deck.

This is the first time I'm using my newly tuned Ahrimanes, and my opening crypt is quite sad. Although I did have Howler (2 Howlers actually) in the opening crypt, the other 2 are 2 of my 3 Animalism weenies. Nevertheless, I quickly influenced Howler onto the table, supporting her with Bobby Lemon and Dani. A timely Muricia's Call (my only piece in the deck) allowed Howler to recruit a Murder of Crows (again, my only piece in the deck) and she soon had a Raven Spy on her as well. Combining the Aranthebes and the Guardian Angel, Howler is a literal wall against bleeding.

My predator influenced Serenna the White and started her Lord of Serenity thing, but the Lasombra stealth bleeder soon depleted his pool to a degree where he cannot bring out any other vampire. BK was therefore forced into a very defensive position. Meanwhile, my prey managed to summon Nana and Nangila and was having fun stacking stuff like Kerries, Kevlar Vests, Well-marked and so on on his vampires. I blocked a few, but didn't manage to kill of his vampires.

Soon Ben eliminated BK, but a Narrow Minds played by Bann stopped him from defending too well against G1's Kiasyd bleeds, putting him at a dangerously low pool despite the gain he got from BK. I blocked one of his final bleeds at BK with a Falcon's Eye and managed to torpor that vampire, and my intercepts proved too much for him to come through with his remaining vampires without a Path of Night.

Bann killed off G1 eventually with his bleeds and proceeded to eliminate Ben. I was too exhausted to carry on the fight and yielded the game to Bann at that point.

Final VP Count -

Bann - 3 VP plus GW

Ben Sum - 1 VP

Game 2 was a pretty broken down table - randomized seating as below -

Keith's Grenade Zombies bleeding

Ben Chia's Lutz Vote, bleeding

My Howling, bleeding

Dzaki's R&B Gangrel, bleeding

Ben Sum's Lasombra bleed.

I had Howler as usual on the table after Gillian was out to earn me a pool from the edge. But the table collapsed the moment my Howler's attempt to block Dzaki's Homonculus ended up with her in torpor by a Kiss of Ra, which in my opinion was completely unnecessary. Ben proceeded to diablerized her and I was immediately out of the game.

Another attempt by Nettie Hale to employ a Raven Spy to block Ben's votes was again blocked by Dzaki, which again was just spelling his own doom since he committed me to full time attack against him.

This was when something interesting happened. Ben called a Temptation of Greater Power and targetted Dzaki's Randall. Since I was already out of the game I wagered that helping Ben sweep the table was my best option. I bid 12 pool and took over the vampire, leaving Dzaki with only a single vampire to deal with Ben. Taking this opportunity, Ben called a Reins of Power and eliminated me and put pretty much everybody else's pool to a low level.

Ben's predator, Keith, was having a great time fending off Ben Sum's Lasombra bleeds. He was down to 2 pool after that, though his Shambling Hordes did went in to punch out all but the Secure Haven-ed Lasombra into torpor. A Fame played by Dzaki ended up as Keith's primary weapon against Ben Sum, sending and rescuing that Famed vampire 3 times to remove the Lasombra's chances of winning.

At the end, of course Ben won the game~ it was all very interesting~ :)

Final VP Count -

Ben's, all Ben's

The last game's randomized seating -

Jeff's Slave Gargoyles, bleeding

Dan's Malkavian Derange, bleeding

BK's Salubri Serene deck, bleeding

My Air Rock, bleeding

Bann's Blood Sisters.

All went well for me in this game. I had Ferox as my first vampire, and he quickly hatched a Hatchling. With a Vessel and a Razorbat on him quickly he proceeded to remove Bann's Blood Sisters' attempts to get into the game. One of the Sisters with a Potence discipline card's hunting attempt was blocked and sent into torpor, and another one was Dived Bombed and removed as well. Bann pretty much gave up at this point and stopped doing anything after this, leaving 21 pool for me to bleed through.

Meanwhile, my predator had Serenna the White as usual, with 2 Lord of Serenity and 3 Vessels, making him the ultimate bloater. He influenced Matthew as well and was starting to enhance him when Dan started to send bleeds his way. A Deranged was put on Serenna but she sent it to my Hatchling, and I promptly transferred it to one of the Blood Sisters, much to Bann's annoyance.

I soon had a Stone Dog, a Guardian Angel and merged Ferox, making him an impenetrable wall. With Vessel on him and Erinyi, combined with 3 Hatchlings, I embarked on the long and tedious path of bleeding Bann to death. On the other side, Jeff's Rock Cat and a multitude of Slave Gargoyles were starting to have a profound effect on Dan's poor Malkavians.

About now BK made me a deal that he'll help me get 3 VP and I could then give him one. I find it a reasonable deal (though honestly I didn't really needed it at that point) and said yes. My Army of Rats soon eliminated Bann, giving my vampires all the time I needed to deal with Jeff. A Famed Tremere was sent into torpor, (his only master vampire) rendering his Slaves ineffective, and I bled him to death in the same turn, gaining 12 pool in that single one.

Dan's remaining defense wasn't enough to fend off my 7 Gargoyles at that time, and I soon ousted him too. Ooo, feels good ousting Dan~

I then withdrew from the game and gave BK his VP.

Final VP Count

Me - 3.5 VPs plus GW

BK - 1.5 VP

(o.o)