Gentle Manners

With The Masquerade and their safety both in jeopardy, the coterie regroups after a deadly encounter with the Camarilla. Do their new Tremere allies hold the answers to survival?

## Gentle Manners

"*Full bellies breed gentle manners.*

*The pinch of famine makes monsters.*"

-Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies

## Plot Synopsis

### Part One

It has been two days since “The Grove Incident”. Anabelle, Jasper, and Victor convene. Anabelle questions Nelli G’s absence but Victor assures her she is fine. Jasper and Anabelle confront Victor on his bad communication skills and telling their secrets to others. Victor agrees to be more open and proves it by letting them listen in on a call with Florenzia. She informs them that Marcos was not technically the Sheriff but killing him has shown their strength. The next Sheriff will not be so weak.

Eva arrives and gives everyone a flower. She gives Jasper a rose. They discuss what went wrong with bringing the Wyrd Sisters in. Eva suspects Baron Therese may have betrayed them. She was the only other person Eva told they were coming. Victor has heard rumors she has been receptive to Carmarilla presence in the city.

Anabelle asks if magic is real and the whole group briefly goes over what they know; Magic is very secretive. The Tremane can do it and they can teach others to do it. However, this is uncommon. They fear that if magic knowledge becomes too widespread they will lose what little power they have. They are the only current experts. There are different kinds of magic. Most are based on blood and vitae. For example, Eva can ward them against lupine, ghouls, and other kindred. Jasper emphasizes the ward against Kindred is difficult and would be a major boon. Victor is interested in warding his new club in the Valley.

That is not the only news on the Tremane. Victor shares that after Prague there was a shake up in their structure. Eva confirms this, stating that the dominant house was House Tremere. She and the Wyrd Sisters are House Carna. She wanted their arrival in LA to be on the down low to hide from other Tremane. House Carna is all about free will and fighting against oppression. House Tremere is not as open to free will and wishes to oppress those under them. They are a patriarchy (Anabelle: “Fuck the patriarchy.”) Eva states that if the Camarilla come to LA they will destroy her. Victor offers her his protection to prevent that.

They discuss the possibility of a rogue Tremare/House Carna teaching magic in LA. Both Nelli G and Marcos know magic and are not Tremere. House Carna is more open than other Houses to teach, but Eva does not know who it could be.

The group brings up their run-in with Petranella and Anabelle reveals she knows who she is. When Petranella haunted her and X, she did a Wiki deep dive on Ms. Feliz. Petranella was to inherit the many acres that are Griffith Park. Don Antonio, her neighbor, instead sold it. The land became “cursed” No private ventures were successful on it; Only when the land was donated and became Griffith Park did the bad luck end. She asks Eva if curses are real. Eva does not know. Victor is grateful for the information, but decides to wait until Nelli is back to act on this.

Kyoko joins them and magic is discussed further. She explains that her fire magic is experimental. Most Tremere can not do it as the knowledge has been lost to time. Victor asks if she also experiments with Blood Alchemy. He explains the blood drops they found. Kyoko confirms thinbloods are practicing Blood Alchemy in San Diego. She had a thinblood friend that made a hovering potion. Victor offers her, and other thinbloods safe haven should they flee to LA. The thinbloods in SD have recipes/instructions for these potions. Anabelle wonders if the thinbloods here had one as well and if it was stolen by Carver. Kyoko reveals Craver has been in San Diego talking to the thinbloods there.

### Part Two

Mr. Lam arrives. He delivers a handwritten letter to Victor. He reads it to all those present. Miranda is trying to rebuild the Le Chat Noir club in the valley. However, after “The Grove Incident'' all progress on those permits and permissions have been cancelled by the city. Victor blames the Caramarilla saying that is a classic tactic of theirs. Victor asks Mr. Lam to convey to her he will do everything in his power to fix this.

Anabelle is concerned. They can fight goons, but not the intangible like foreclosed mortgages.

A rat starts picking up the flower petals that have fallen to the floor. Eva is curious as to what it’s doing, looks at it closer and realizes it is a ghoul. Victor explains about their Gangrel friend that controls them. Ramona, after a quick text, calls in. Victor confirms she can see through the rats. This surprises Anabelle as she thought she just talked to them. He at this point mentions Eva is also in the room listening to this conversation at which Romona hangs up. To Jasper's displeasure, Victor lets loose another secret; that there is someone under Griffith Park (Anabelle: “We JUST talked about this”). Jasper comes clean to Eva that he lives in the l abyrinth under Griffith Park.

Abrams arrives to yell at Victor. Eva elects to stay and see how this plays out. The coterie debriefs with Abrams. He dumps a history lesson on them about past kindred factions fighting in LA in the 1940s and way back in 15th Century England. This is an old beef being given new blood. The Barons will have to meet soon to plan. Even if the Anarchs of LA were to bend the knee to the Camarilla, their freedoms would be extremely lessened. Eva is familiar with this and does not want to go back. So the Anarchs will fight. War is coming

### Endcap

A confused and scared X asked Baron Therese why she ordered him to come back to Santa Monica instead of helping the coterie at The Grove. Therese told X that she needed him for the upcoming conflict. She reminded him of "their arrangement". She pressed him for more information, revealing that X has been spying on the coterie for her. Therese then told X to set up a meeting between her and the coterie.

## Featured Characters

### Valley Coterie

* Annabelle
* Jasper Heartwood
* ~~Nelli G~~ (absent, mentioned)
* Victor Temple

### Returning

* Eva
* Fiorenza Savona
* Kyoko
* Isaac Abrams
* Lam
* Ramona
* Therese Voerman
* X

### Mentioned

* Garcia
* MacNeil
* Maximilian Strauss
* Marcos
* Miranda
* Petranilla Feliz
* Tara Kearney
* Vannevar Thomas

## Cast

### Core Cast

* Jason Carl *as the Storyteller*
* Erika Ishii *as Annabelle*
* B. Dave Walters *as Victor Temple*
* Alexander Ward *as Jasper Heartwood*

### Guests

* Xander Jeanneret *as X*
* Josephine McAdam *as Eva*
* Whitney Moore *as Baron Therese*