"The Book of Going Forth By Night" OFFICIAL VEKN BAALI NEWSLETTER Tome 1, Prologue February, 2005 --------------Fiction-------------- Redemption "From the back of the chapel, in a deep basso voice, someone called: -Come in, dear. Here you are safe, and we’ll keep it that way. The thumping of heels on the ancient stone floor was flattened against the huge dimensions of the chamber. The young woman making that noise was certainly scared, though she grew more confident with each step. When she startedaising her eyes to see her host, that same voice sounded once more: -I advise you not to attempt that, child. There are things best left to shadows and dreams. I know it’s not usual for one such as yourself to be placed in this position, and I cannot thank you enough for allowing me this small quirk. Please, take a sit by the altar, and we shall talk. While the few steps that separated Isabel from the assigned seat were taken, she felt the air grow colder, and the knocks from her shoes against the floor echoed farther and louder. When she finally sat, her interlocutor once again spoke -I am well aware of the dealings some of your kind arranged between our lines, but I still cannot see what brings you to this temple, Isabel. You wanted to meet me, and yet, when the oportunity showed itself, you had second thoughts. - I was only.... - Do not interrupt me, if you be so kind. You are well aware of the protocol which I follow, and so i demand you to follow it as well. As I was saying, you seeked me, and yet you were not certain of your intentions, am I wrong? No, i’m not. You may think I am little but a Devil, but you’re more like me than you can imagine. So, please, tell me, what it is that you want me to do for you? Thunders roared in the outside of the church at mention of the Devil, and Isabel shrugged when the flash of lightning let her take a quick look at the other vampire." -------------------------= ---------- YES! This is the first Clan Newsletter I write - there are a few about the Baali, but they’re from 2002 - I’d check them if I were you - and as so I hope ou will all forgive me for any misshap that might take place (i’ll do my best to correct them whenever they’re pointed out, and also for them not to happen too often). So, now i’ll cut to the chase and talk about our little F(r)iends, the Baali. See, ever since Bloodlines came out I thought about building a Pure (or at least Storyline Legal) Baali deck. I finally made it long before the rumors about our Pre-Con being released with KMW, and actually before the Infernal Plague Storyline was put on open for us all to see. In this first Newsletter, I’m going to do what i feel safe enough to do, that is, talk about my experience with the clan, and perhaps share a bit of it with you fine folks. -- Also, on side note, I’m writing this Newsletter before KMW Pre-release events, and i plan to publish it before the same events, so that i’ll have a bit more insight in this whole task when it finally comes to deal with some Major (yes, a capital M to this) changes and upgrades for the infernal lot.-- This Volume will deal with: Fiction: "Redemption" (written by me up to now, and a new piece of the story will join this first with each newsletter. Cooperation appreciated!) Vampire of the Month: Sargon Deck/Strategy of the Month: The Updated Infernal Rule and It’s Impact on Playing Baali. Vampire of the Month: --------------------- Let’s take a closer look at Sargon, shall we? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sargon 5 cap, dai obf pre cel Independent. Whenever Sargon successfully performs an action=AD, you get the Edge. +1 strength. Infernal. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Obviously, being the only Baali in the Bloodlines set without DAI makes you think twice when you’re trying to bring the full force of evil into your deck. A Sanguine Instruction (or perhaps some new card we might get in the Kindred Most Wanted set?) will correct that. His extra strength doesn’t hurt - but doesn’t help either - anything the Baali are really good at, and then we have a special that probably makes him extremely worthy. First of all, no Baali up to now has votes (afterall, Maureen is not yet released), and so having the edge might prove very useful every now and then, when trying to save yourself through some votes (i’ll talk about Evil Politics on a later issue), be it an Ancient Influence/Reins of Power when you haven’t controlled Huitzi yet or an attempt to vote off an Anarch Revolt. Another nice way to enjoy the full effect of sargon’s "I hunt and I get the edge" ability is when you put him in a setite deck. Obviously having obf and pre helps a lot, and a Serpentis skill is nothing but useful to him. and then you can entice twice each turn, if you’re lucky enough to have enough copies of Enticement in your hand and deck. All in all, he’s also the smaller capped Baali, and if you’re lucky enough to go first in the table, you’ll probably bring him into the game at the same time other people will get their minions out, or maybe even before. Strategy of the Month: ---------------------- The Updated Infernal Rule and It’s Impact on Playing Baali. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Before KMW, the infernal penalty was paid to avoid tapping the infernal vampire in the untap phase. Now, as of KMW, the infernal penalty is paid to untap the infernal vampire (who now doesn't untap as normal). So if the vampire is untapped already at the start of your turn (either because he didn't tap or because he untapped some other way via Majesty or Change of Target or the like), you don't have to pay to keep him that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Now at least the turn after they’re influenced out, all Baali will act without spending that precious pool. And this is a good thig after all, it was terribly frustrating to get Sargon out and leaving him tapped in the first turn you could do some of the good uses described above. or even worse, waiting several turns until that Blood Doll, Path of Evil Revelations or Minion Tap to get to your hand later in the game so that you could untap your minions and do something to finally give that coupe de grace in your prey. Also, some of the underrated cards that were useful to Baali now are to be considered major help, such as Concordance: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Concordance [BL:C1] Cardtype: Action Cost: 1 blood Discipline: Daimoinon/Serpentis +1 stealth action. [ser] (D) Bleed. If more than 1 pool is bled with this action, ignore the excess. [dai] Requires an infernal vampire. Put this card on the acting vampire. This vampire treats aggravated damage as normal damage and has +1 strength and -1 stealth. [DAI] As [dai] above, and this vampire has flight and may burn 1 blood to untap during your influence phase. ------------------------------------------------------------------- See what i’m talking about?? at [DAI], Concordance gives you the ability to untap at the end of your turn, and so you’ll be able to block those nasty votes that usually people use to put the Evil Clan in danger. with some help from permacept and maybe a corruption counter or two, even a steath-bleeder might get caught. And, if you don’t need/manage to block anyone, well, you at least exchanged a pool for a blood, and your baali is ready to act in te next turn. Also, a already extremely useful card for the [PRE] wielding Baali now becomes even better. I’m talking about Majesty here. Afterall, you can try to block every now and then (and if you get some setites, or if you’re using Contagion to boost your intercept with Sense the Sin) the free untap you get from the s:ce will prevent your spending even more pool to act the next turn, so i’d advise in pacing a few of those just in case you need to block, or someone rushes you (Angra Mainyu is a common target, btw). And then, another little trick we get is that since Infernal minions already don’t untap as normal, effects that would prevent them from untapping (such as being targetted by Rotschreck, Mind Numb and even the vile Sensory Deprivation) will do nothing to them!!! you can still pay your pool to untap, which i think to be a better choice than having a useless vampire (in the case of a Ravnos predator, usually) in your table. So, i’ll talk more about this after i get to play under those rules, and check the true effect it will infuse in our everlasting crusade to bring havoc through the demonic forces of the Baali. I hope you all enjoyed this first attempt of mine in translating to words the experience i got from playing this awesome clan, and hope you all want to check back on the next chapters and tomes of our little black book. As I said before, the next Issue will bring the Baali starter deck reviewed, and an overall impression of whatever it is that KMW will bring for us, players of the Infernal Lot. You can contact me with Questions, Tips, Fiction, Decks, whatever at the.baital@gmail.com. make sure you put "Baali Newsletter" in the subject of your message, so i can sort it out soon, and reply asap. Thanks a lot for reading this far in our Prologue, and wait until the week after the 20th for the first real edition of the Baali Clan Newsletter to come out of my hands, dealing exclusively with KMW. CHEERS! Luciano "Baital" de Sampaio VEKN Anarch Baron de Curitiba VEKN Baali Clan Newsletter Editor