A summary of the October gathering of Newcastle's Kindred.

The court started as usual with the Prince absent, but the sight of both Sheriff and Keeper of the Elysium somewhat convinced people it was business as usual. However, Mr. McKay seemed even more on edge than usual and barked at people to sit down and discuss the domains problems as soon as they walked in. He was even more abrasive to the new kindred present and the Jake who he blamed for the press article concerning Joseph Kent’s disappearance.

Conversation soon moved from the Prince’s absence to the prophecies that Jake had found in the scrolls he took from the mage that had infiltrated the court last month. They seemed to indicate some mass ritual that would occur that night of such a magnitude that it would offend God and certainly be bad for the kindred. It was realised after a little research that the ritual was to take place in the cellars beneath the Faith to Faith meeting.

However, before the kindred could run off to deal with this another mage entered the court only this time as a suicide bomber. He insisted that Victor chop Vincent’s head off or he would detonate the bomb in revenge for some events that had previously transpired; that nature of these events was never fully explained. Losing patience the mage finally tried to detonate the bomb only to find Jimmy had removed the detonation cord. Angered, he went for his knife only to find the nimble fingered Keeper had taken that as well. As he no longer posed a threat the Sheriff dealt with him in a swift and deadly manner.

With the immediate threat neutralised a majority of the kindred headed off to Newcastle Civic Centre to deal with the ritual. Killing the mage who was on guard duty, they easily gained entrance to the cellars and interrupted the ritual that was in mid-chant. The fight that followed was short and brutal but things had obviously gone too far and the ritual effect occurred despite the kindred’s best efforts. As soon as the ritual was done the cultists killed themselves and there was a sudden calm. A few kindred tried to replenish their blood from the dead cultist, but the blood was useless to them. It was soon found that it was not just the cultists; all blood seemed to lack the power the kindred were used to. Whatever the ritual was, it had effectively stopped them replenishing their power.

The kindred returned to the court, which broke up shortly afterwards. A few of them decided to head to the Society of Antiquities head quarters to see if any of the Scroll Mages could help them, but nothing had been heard back from them as yet. The air in Newcastle is one of defeat and imminent doom. It had been a hard month for the fledgling domain.