OFFICIAL VEKN LASOMBRA NEWSLETTER -- AUGUST 2004 by Eric Manch FICTION: Montreal, 11:27 pm The squeegee men seemed a little more irritating than usual. Downtown Montreal was teeming with them, unctuous, unwashed junkies with punk haircuts and bad attitudes. Some Sabbat packs fed them vitae and employed them as scout-lackeys, which only made them louder and more dangerous when they needed a fix. One such ghoul, a filthy, flaxen-haired woman in red overalls and a Von Dutch cap, spotted Talley. Her bloodshot eyes widened. She could smell his blood, and she was so crazed with withdrawal that not even loss of limb or internal organs would slow her down. Talley sighed. He hated to be late. He closed his eyes and heard the ghoul's breath behind him. His heightened senses allowed him to see her even as his eyes were shut. She lunged at him. He willed two bare licks of shadow to envelop her legs. No need to attract too much attention, he thought; best to make this look like an accident. Already off balance, she tumbled face first onto the ground. Talley stopped briefly, then brought his foot down hard on her head. Satisfied that she would not rise again, he hastened to meet his appointment, not even pausing to notice the blood trickling from the ghoul's mouth. -- Ezekiel stood at the bar. The newly-coronated Archbishop of Montreal, dressed in white on black with jeans, held an empty glass in his hand and two college girls in his thrall. Though he looked scarcely older than sixteen, his steady mouth and confident gaze held a "fuck you" in reserve for anyone who questioned him. The perky coeds at his side had no idea that he had Montreal by the balls. Seizing power in a bloodless coup when Archbishop Benezri vanished, Ezekiel mustered just enough violence to put himself in charge – thanks in part to Talley, who had been dispatched secretly by the Friends of the Night to oversee the change in power. Ezekiel was the confidant of Tobias Smith, a Lasombra and longtime Montreal power broker who had his hands in kine politics. Without Tobias and Talley, Ezekiel never would have seized power. But Talley would never be so boorish as to mention this overtly. "Talley. Nice to see you again." Ezekiel bowed at the tall Englishman. "It's not like you to be late." "Tell me, Ezekiel," said Talley, "have you noticed any unusual behavior among the squeegee men of late?" "Beyond the usual?" Ezekiel laughed. He paused, almost as though he was considering the implications of his answer. "There have been a lot of riots lately. Crime is up. Can't really say if it's all due to the squeegee men, but the city has been…restless." "You look uneasy." "I have heard disturbing news from our friends in the States," Ezekiel continued. "Some peculiar manifestations in upstate New York. There are some who would say that they portend dire events for our kind." Talley wondered why Ezekiel spoke so obliquely. Talley knew Ezekiel was Black Hand; hell, it's the threat of Hand bogeymen that allowed Ezekiel (and Tobias) to take power so easily. And he knew that Hand agents never tired of talking about Gehenna and its portents, so much so that his fellow sect members often joked about them. Never to their face, of course. But could it be that the Hand was actually afraid of Gehenna? "We dispatched an agent to Buffalo to stop a nascent counterattack from the Camarilla. Our goals were twofold: first, to assassinate the leader of that counterattack, and second, to test the loyalty of our agent. We now have reason to believe the loyalty of the agent has been…compromised." Talley smirked. "What is the name of this agent? Anyone I know?" "Henri Lavenant. One of your clanmates." That old pisser Lavenant, he thought. A supremely competent agent, but an opportunist and scoundrel – or so his superiors viewed him. Above all, Talley knew that Lavenant had a gift for survival, and for picking the winning side of a conflict. He also lacked the religious fervor that drove so many members of the Hand, the fervor that he found so distasteful. If he had to destroy Lavenant, he could, but he might also divine some sense of what he and the sect were up against. And maybe learn just what had made the Hand so terrified. "We know your loyalty lies with the sect leaders, and not to the Hand. We want you to follow Lavenant's trail and assess his loyalty. If he has turned, you shall destroy him." Talley nodded. "Does this order come from the Hand, or from…" "I wouldn't call it an ‘order.' Consider it a note of praise that your skill is praised so highly, and as a humble request from a well-placed ally." "You humble me, Ezekiel," returned Talley with the barest hint of irony. Talley knew he needed no favors from a puppet ruler like Ezekiel, but it couldn't hurt to put himself in the Hand's good graces. Besides, he saw this assignment as a chance to pay a visit to an old friend. "I will call on Mr. Lavenant, as you ask. He's a good soldier. Pity to see him go to waste." "Don't let your sympathies come before your work, Talley." Talley betrayed a slight hint of a smile as he turned away. "Don't worry," he paused, turning his head. "I never do." STRATEGY: Gehenna Lasombra Blowout! August's Card of the Month section is a special one. This month we will examine a trio of Gehenna cards that are conducive to Lasombra strategies. The Slow Withering Card text Most Lasombra voting decks rely on titles to pass their votes. Even those that use Presence for push/bloat tend to fall back on titles for vote support. The Slow Withering can be a powerful asset to these political decks. True, Obtenebration is a costly discipline and card costs can quickly add up once this card is in play, but careful deck construction can minimize this cost: try using Shroud of Night or free Obfuscate stealth (think Gratiano, Guido, and Angelica). Or include some copies of Path of Night to defray your costs. Blood Weakens Card text Another excellent card for voting decks, particularly those based around the Lasombra Princes: base Marcus Vitel (a VINO: Ventrue In Name Only) and Giangaleazzo. Neither has anything to fear from this card when calling their votes and playing Second Tradition to block. Although this card will have some impact on you as well once you start playing your stealth, combat decks – the decks that pose the greatest threat to your dominance of the table – will suffer far more. Fueled by Heart's Blood Card text A perfect fit for the Baltimore Purge deck. Monçada clearly benefits the most, as he is merely one skill card (or one event card away, if the Fueled By Heart's Blood event is in play) from being able to take advantage of free diablerie. This is a specialized card that shouldn't find its way into any deck that isn't prepared to take full advantage of it. For Lasombra, this means its use will be confined largely to Purge decks, or those that use Protean or Entombment to torporize large numbers of vampires. Expect to see a deck featuring several of these cards next month once I've worked out some kinks. -- CARD OF THE MONTH: Descent into Darkness, Entrenching Lasombra political decks used to be at a disadvantage with respect to other decks in the area of pool gain. Without access to cards like the Fifth Tradition: Hospitality and Voter Captivation, players had to resort to creative alternatives, such as The Lasombra's mass Embrace-Power Structure-Consanguinous Boon combo in his Lasombra Embrace the Austrian Nationals deck: http://www.thelasombra.com/decks/The_Lasombra_Embraces_the_Austrian_Nationals.htm (note that this deck no longer works as intended thanks to current errata on The Embrace). The Gehenna set provides a cornucopia of new pool gain options for Lasombra vote decks. Group 4 vampires such as Giangaleazzo and Shawnda Dorritt provide new angles for decks featuring Presence, and two new library cards – Descent into Darkness and Entrenching – offer some brand-new bloat tricks. Descent into Darkness Action, Obtenebration, 1 blood +1 stealth action. [obt] Turn the acting vampire and any cards on him or her face down, out of play (breaking any temporary control effects). Put this card on him or her (in play). During your influence phase, move 2 blood to this face-down vampire from the blood bank, and you can choose to burn this card to return the vampire to play, tapped. [OBT] As above, but the vampire is untapped when he or she returns to play. pallando at rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad has already written an excellent strategy article covering Descent into Darkness in depth. Read it here: http://www.thelasombra.com/sc/descentintodarkness.txt. Note, however, that its use should not be confined to trick decks. Once you've brought a few vampires and have a surplus of transfers, you can have one of your small-cap Obtenebration minions Descend and turn themselves into pool-gain machines. Alternatively you could have one of your larger vampires Descend for a few turns after a Minion Tap. Even if you choose only to keep him out of play until your next influence phase (that is, after the minion phase in which you played the Descent into Darkness), your vampire gains a net one blood and stays untapped to block, bounce, or play Obedience. It's better than hunting! Descent also has some interesting cornercase effects. Note the parenthetical text on the card: temporary control effects are broken. So if your vampire gets Mind Raped, Descent into Darkness will stay the transfer of control. Plus, if something else really nasty happens to your vampire (say, a Sensory Deprivation), Descent offers you a way to recoup your investment. In short, Descent into Darkness is an outstanding, multifaceted card, one that will see considerable use in the future. Entrenching Action +1 stealth action. If this vampire has 4 or more blood, he or she gains 4 blood. Entrenching is more straightforward. It's a Fifth Tradition that benefits the acting vampire, usable by any vampire, provided that vampire already has four blood. Like Descent into Darkness, it is an excellent way to recoup the blood loss on a vampire after a Minion Tap. Entrenching is a particularly important card to decks that forego Presence as a means of pool and blood gain. With the advent of Descent and Entrenching, Lasombra voters need no longer bolt Presence onto their decks for bloat purposes, thus expanding their crypt options considerably. VAMPIRE OF THE MONTH: Tobias Smith Tobias Smith is an underused vampire. Until the Gehenna set there was good reason for this: he simply wasn't that great when measured against other, comparable vampires. Why use Tobias, a 7-cap with no title, when you can just as easily choose Jessica (!Toreador, bishop, AUS CEL OBT PRE) or Sela (!Brujah, bishop/archbishop, POT PRE cel obt), both of whom have advanced versions plus other bonuses? But now Group 4 is here and we must draft Tobias out of necessity for our group 3/4 OBT/PRE decks. Forget his cornercase special; Tobias is a solid support vampire in the OBT/PRE crypt. Superior Dominate gives him bounce and bloat, and his capacity makes him a target for Cardinal Benediction. But if we run him with Giangaleazzo, Cardinal Benediction doesn't look so appealing since Giangaleazzo can't vote in the referendum on account of his Camarilla status. Crusade: Berlin looks like a decent substitute though. Expect to see a deck utilizing Tobias in a complete 3/4 crypt next month once I've had an opportunity to test some ideas. In the meantime, here's a deck from one of our readers in the UK, Dave Knowles. The following commentary comes straight from Dave's mouth (so to speak). DECK OF THE MONTH: A Penny For Your Thoughts Created by: David Knowles Overview: Lasombra Vote with Presence. This deck has a reasonable success record, and is designed to be able to function in big vote environments, hence the apparent overkill in extra vote. In a low vote environment, the Bewitching Orations can be exchanged for Iron Glares. The Creation Rites vampires are used to get in the way, or 'armed' with a Blood Doll, in the familiar - Doll, hunt, Doll, hunt cycle. Their Obtenerbration also allows them to be a pain, bleeding and wasting opponent's Intercept. The Govern the Unaligned is equally multi-role, for Bleed, Pool Gain or (most often) to help bring more Minions out. The inherent bleed in the crypt creates pressure, without having bleed cards available. Cardinal Sin can really spoil someone's day, as can Entombment then Amaranth, made even better by an Arms of the Abyss. All of the Vampires are very expensive, so the 2x Eternal Vigilance, 3x Majesty, 4x Leathers Jackets, 6x Wake with Evening's Freshness and Moncada's special (if he comes out) go some way to allowing all your minions to act every turn, and to make sure you can use Obedience or Deflection. I have found having no Intercept a real problem at times, and therefore choose to include a little, though, in truth, I'd rather have more useful cards to 'play' rather than react with. Crypt: 2x Gratiano: Lasombra 8. Sabbat Priscus. Gets 1 extra Priscus vote, +1 Bleed. OBT, DOM, obf, pot 2x Alvaro: Lasombra 9. Sabbat Archbishop. Gains 2 blood if he abstains from voting, +1 Bleed. POT, OBT, pre, dom 3x Ambrosio Luis Moncada: Lasombra 10. Sabbat Cardinal. Can't block, can untap another Lasombra during discard. PRE, POT, OBT, DOM, for, aus 2x Francisco Domingo de Polonia: Lasombra 9. Sabbat Archbishop. Burn blood to get +1 Bleed. PRE, POT, OBT, DOM, pro 2x Marcus Vitel: Lasombra 10. Advanced Sabbat. Brujah can attack him as a D action. PRE, POT, OBT, OBF, FOR, DOM 1x Tobias Smith: Lasombra 7. Sabbat. PRE, OBT, DOM, pot Library: 90 cards 3x Blood Doll 2x Minion Tap 1x Hunting Ground 1x Giant's Blood 1x KRGC News Radio 1x Creepshow Casino 1x Legendary Vampire 1x Powerbase: Madrid 2x Power Structure 2x Path of Night 1x Elysian Fields 2x Obtenerbration 2x Eternal Vigilance 3x Govern the Unaligned 2x Creation Rites 8x Shadow Play 1x Voter Captivation 6x Bewitching Oration 7x Kine Resources Contested 1x Ancient Influence 1x Reins of Power 1x Dramatic Upheaval 1x Political Stranglehold 1x Cardinal Sin: Insubordination 6x Wake with Evening's Freshness 8x Deflection 3x Obedience 2x Eyes of the Night 4x Entombment 4x Arms of the Abyss 2x Amaranth 3x Majesty 4x Leather Jacket 1x Chalice of Kinship 1x Mr. Winthrop -- At this point I am reluctant to predict what the next Newsletter will feature because my interests vary so greatly from week to week. If you have any suggestions, shoot me an email at sleeveboy AT hotmail DOT com. Otherwise, expect something worthwhile, though I can't promise what exactly. -Eric Manch