OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL-ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 7 NUMBER 7 JULY 2004 ******************* In this Rooneymania-and-Wimbers-free issue ...... FICTION: The House of the McNabs chapter 4; Landfall [more transcribed CoC d20 adventures from Legbiter Hall]. DECKS: First Steps in Gehenna [3 new decks [ab]using Gehenna cards]. ******************* FICTION: The House of the McNabs chapter 4; Landfall [more transcribed CoC d20 adventures from Legbiter Hall]. Back at Monifieth seaplane base the two survivors of V106 were helped ashore where hot beef tea, blankets and a wee dram soon restored their physical equanimity. Llewellyn and O'Keefe wrote a report on the mission, which O'Keefe volunteered to deliver personally to staff in Dundee. For this purpose the station car and a driver were provided, with a promise to send Colum's pony-trap back separately, and off he went. Back in Dundee, Colum found a telegram from Shona on his desk: IMPERATIVE YOU MEET US AT PITKERRO MEARNS. LONG MAN IS BACK. The telegram had been sent very early that morning, but not early enough to forestall Colum's golfing trip. Its genesis lay in the events of the previous evening, which began when Jack reached the lounge-bar of the Cat and Serpent. "Hullo, Shona! Horrid business about the curator, but at least i can offer my professional expertise. Lead the way!" The Chapel of Scriptural Revelation lay just across the street, and was now guarded by a burly policeman. Presenting their credentials they were allowed to pass, and were shown to the curator's rooms where the unfortunate fellow lay under a tarpaulin in a pool of his own blood. Lifting the sheet it was obvious to Jack that the victim's throat had been cut, probably with a sword-bayonet, and that he had died some two days previously. "So what about these missing stones, old girl?" "You can see where they were, by the dust-free spaces left when they were removed. In the cellar, just down these stairs." They lit a torch and descended. Indeed, several large objects had been moved. Furthermore, there were footprints in the dust. Jack inspected these thoughtfully - the prints of hiking boots, approximately size 9. "i think i saw the brute who did this - blonde fella, hiking past the sanatorium this afternoon with a big load on the back of a little cart." "Going in which direction?" "West." "That's very bad! We must get a move-on!" "Agreed, but first let's see if anything else is missing." Searching the curator's office they found no other evidence of disturbance, but they did find a large portfolio full of tissue-paper. Unfolded, these turned out to be rubbings of the various graves and brasses in the chapel. Shona gave an exclamation. "Heuch! These ones here, they're of the missing stones! i need to take them back to my library, we should be able to reconstruct the whole text there." This library of Shona's was not the one in her house, but a research library at the Dundee Institute of Technology. So it was that the two friends were soon scurrying through the darkened streets of Dundee, dodging drunk munitions workers and Jute millers. "i swear, something needs to be done about these bloody drunks, no wonder all our flipping shells fail to burst. The Government should shut the pubs at ten, that's what." But drunks aside, they reached the library safely, and began to piece together the text. After a couple of hours, Shona raised her head. Under the veil her face was grey. "It's a summoning spell, and i think i know what is being summoned - the awful thing that the Sinn Feiners were trying to raise up, using Robinson as bait - the Long Man of Windhover Hanger." "i thought we dealt with that little lot in a fairly terminal way?" "No, not all of them. One of the survivors of the attack on the house turned out to be a German Naval Attache, so he had diplomatic immunity. Youngish chap, and now that i think of it, strikingly blonde. i wonder!" Just at this moment there was a thump on the library door, followed by growling and scratching. Exchanging glances the two friends drew their revolvers, and then Jack carefully unlocked the door. A naked man fell through it, twitched a couple of times, and then was still. Jack felt for the neck-pulse, shook his head and made to close the man's eyes. Then he started back. "Egad! It's your neighbour, McNab!" And so it was, scratched, battered, burnt, stabbed and multiply-shot, but unmistakably McNab. "He's ... tattoo'd ...." Indeed, the body of McNab was covered from neck to wrist to ankle by an enormous network of blue tattoos, which Shona recognised as of an ancient Pictish type, related to the writing on the stones. And what she read there increased her sense of foreboding. Thus it was that the telegram was sent to Colum, and the two friends went to make their preparations at Pitkerro Mearns. ..... to be concluded ....... ****************** DECKS: First Steps in Gehenna. Once i had put the cards i needed for the collection into their sacrosanct folders i began to build decks. 3 decks. Here they are, and they are all VERY fearsome - between them they have had five outings, and EVERY SINGLE TIME they have swept. DECK NAME: The Were-theres of Young Sorrow CREATED BY: Legbiter, from an original idea of Chris Boget [Sorrow] CONCEPT: Updated version of an old favourite, taking account of some rules changes, correcting some weaknesses and making use of Revelation of Desire. i corrupt your vampires. If they are small i take them over. If they are big i subsequently burn the corruption counters for massive unbounceable bleed if you fail to block, and if you do block i use Venenation/Change of target to pile up the corruption counters until you get taken over anyway. CRYPT [12 vampire cards, group 2/3] 2 x Lalitha ser 2 Celine Chevalier obf ser 3 Khalil Anvari pre ser 3 Nepata pre obf ser 4 Count Ormonde dom pre ser OBF 5 Dedefra nec obf SER special 5 Sir Marriot d'Urban aus obf ser PRE 5 Aisha ani aus ser PRE special 6 Ezekiel, Lord of Montreal obf pot PRE SER 6 Hesha Ruhadze ani obf pre SER 6 Samat Ramal-Ra, Archon pre ser tha OBF special 6 LIBRARY [90 cards] MASTER CARDS [15] Blood Doll Information Highway Khobar Towers, Al-Khubar Opium Den The Path of Typhon Serpentis x 3 Temple HG Tribute to the Master x 6 MINION CARDS [75] ACTIONS [20] Corruption x 13 Enticement x 4 Form of Corruption Temptation x 2 ACTION MODIFIERS [47] Change of Target x 17 Revelation of Desire x 13 Venenation x 17 COMBAT [4] Majesty x 4 COMBO [4] Form of the Serpent x 4 Comments: This is the deck that only got played once so far, where it swept a 3-player. Maybe a couple too many Revelations of Desire, but is a really good deck. DECK NAME: I Wannabe Anarchy! Get Pissed! Destroy! CREATED BY: Legbiter CONCEPT: This [1-cap computer hack anarch revolt] is a decktype which i dislike, but believe has grown more powerful and effective recently, because of Kaymakli Nightmares. As for the name, it's efficient and forgiving so you can play it whilst Pissed. It contains Anarchs and it Destroys tables. Played twice in this form, swept twice [4-player and three-player]. Not a huge amount of fun to play unless ALL your fun comes from winning, but IMO everyone should have a deck like this in their collection, if only to test their other decks against it. CRYPT [13 vampires, all the group 1/2 1-caps]: Angela Decker Antoinette DuChamp Basil Franciscus Hasina Kesi Huang, Blood Cultist Igo the Hungry [!Gangrel-bait, so highly on-topic ;-)] March Halcyon Navar McLaren Nik Royce Smudge the Ignored Uriah Winter LIBRARY [60 cards] MASTER CARDS [33] Anarch Revolt x 9 Anarch Troublemaker Antediluvian Awakening Archon Investigation The Barrens Brothers Grimm Direct Intervention Effective Mangement x 4 Humanitas Information Highway x 2 Jake Washington, Hunter Kaymakli Nightmares Life Boon Misdirection x 6 The Parthenon Pentex Subversion MINION CARDS [27] ACTION [15] Computer Hacking x 15 [some of them from Sabbat/Sabbat War, with a flavour text that is highly on-topic for this newsletter. Ahem.] COMBAT [11] Dodge x 11 VOTE [1] Ancient Influence DECK NAME: Events, dear boy, Events. CREATED BY: Legbiter CONCEPT: Abuse Gehenna events so as [a] to overload opponents' brains with information, and [b] erode their decks so that their vampires become as feeble as allies [around which YOUR deck is built]. Have allies use concealed Flash grenades on blockers to tap them next turn. Use Servitor of Irad and Storage Annex to make up for lack of ability to discard in normal phase. BTW for non-brits the title is a quote by Harold MacMillan, a former Tory prime minister - asked what could possibly go wrong, he replied as above. CRYPT [12 vampire cards, groups 3/4] 4 x Afifa the Herald 1 [Would LOVE to know the story behind the artwork on this one] Almiro Suarez 2 2 x Diana Vick 3 Martin Frankel 3 [should be another Almiro or Masika] Masika St John 3 3 x Saiz 3 LIBRARY: [74 cards, 29 from Gehenna set] MASTERS [13 cards] Blood Doll Dummy Corporation Fortschritt library Jake Washington, Hunter Momentum's Edge Powerbase: Mexico City [see events for why] Servitor of Irad Storage Annex x 5 Tribute to the Master MINION: [59 cards] ACTIONS [11] Computer Hacking x 11 [including more wisdom of Sinner-G, City gangrel hacker]. ALLIES [12] Akhenaten the Sun Pharoh, mummy Mylan Horseed [Goblin] Nephandus [Mage] x 2 Order of Hermes Cabal Outcast Mage x 3 Political Ally Succubus x 2 Thadius Zho, Mage COMBAT [12] Concealed Weapon x 12 EQUIPMENT [13] Flash Grenade x 12 Tapestry of Blood EVENTS [12] Absimiliard's Army Anthelios, the Red Star Blood Trade Blood Weakens Fall of the Sabbat [GREAT combo with Powerbase Mexico City] The New Inquisition Recalled to the Founder The Slow Withering Torpid Blood The Unmasking Veil of Darkness Wormwood RETAINERS [1] Tasha Morgan COMMENTS: Played two 4-players, swept both. Depressing to play against but quite challenging to play with, you have to keep your wits about you and not forget things. Space and opportunity for a dominate module, should that seem desirable - but don't dilute the concealed flash grenades! ************** And that's it for July's NL! Rereading i notice that it's apparently a bit thin on !Gangrel content, even by my standards. However, this really is an illusion, as i will demonstrate in August. See you then! Address for correspondence: james"dot"mcclellan"at"port"dot"ac"dot"uk