Create-your-own-storyline Tournament 
"Rise of the Palladium"

by x5mofr@gmx.de (Decebalus)


Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
Create-your-own-storyline tournament "Rise of the Palladium"

In this storyline tournament every player plays a Gehenna cult, that
tries to follow its own path against rival cults and to eliminate his
adversaries while the end approaches.

When: Sonntag, 12.12.2004, Beginn 10 Uhr 30.
Where: Bürgerhaus Dreieich-Sprendlingen Fichtestr. 50, 63303 Dreieich
(ca. 15km south of Frankfurt, Germany)
Entry fee (for the convention): 5 Euro
Info: www.dreieichcon.de/ 
Contact: x5mofr@gmx.de

Many thanks to Dan in Baltimore, who helped me with the translation.

Fiction.

Edward Scott, known as the Black Prince since his human times, was
painfully aware that the Sabbat was near. He also knew that he had to
defend his city. Conversations with his red haired companion, Jazz,
had
led him to the garden of a suburban house. He advanced with his sword
drawn.  Jazz, his clan brother, was on his flank and his offspring,
Leon, was covering his back. Scott felt a sense of threat while
searching the foreboding garden. He turned around, as Leon cried out,
hit by the blade edge of an invisible enemy. The opponent stepped out
from the shadows. The assailant wore black mêlée garments, but his
features were that of a California surfer; long blonde hair, the face
of a movie star, and dark, almost tan skin, very unusual for an
undead. Scott's sword targeted the enemy with supernatural speed, but
the intruder was as quick and was able to parry with his sword and
thwart an almost certain death. In that same instance, the Black
Prince saw from the corner of his eye the glint of Jazz's cold iron
blade as it raised overhead and struck down, severing his weapon hand
from his arm. Scott stared at his twitching hand on the ground. It was
as if it was still trying to grasp his fallen sword. The thought of
betrayal mingled with an incredible pain. Scott, in a moment of
magnificent sacrifice, attempted to paralyze his opponent's heart with
his commanding aura. Before he could call his powers to full force,
however, he felt the horror of a wooden stake. As his followers were
subsequently and methodically butchered, the corpse of the titled
vampire was already paralyzed by the stake.

Was that the intent of the Palladium, Raphael thought, looking at the
frozen face of their leader?  Marc, the Assamite, who had survived the
merciless strike of Scott by relying on his assassin skills and a bit
of good fortune, was arguing with Jazz. It was a strange contrast; on
one side the strong blonde with half pulled out fangs and an
indomitable spirit and on the other side, the short red haired, calm,
and withered, wrapped in an aura; an aura in which Raphael could sense
death.  The argument was not whether they should diablerize Edward 
Scott – that had already happened. Marc wanted to have his part and
did not agree.  Jazz had drunken the blood of their enemy without
consultation. Raphael turned his head and corrected his scarf that
covered his forehead. The Palladium was founded to postpone Gehenna,
the end of the world. At the moment its members were arguing with
lust. Jazz could implore as long as he wanted that personal power was
the only opportunity to stop the awakening of the antediluvians.
Raphael had learned to look into the soul of his opposite. He knew
that their attack has only served to fulfill the personal revenge of
their leader.

As Carolus left the room, Sascha Vykos turned to the big, golden
framed mirror. She looked at her even features, which were too regular
to be done by the chance of nature. Carolus could have the title of an
Archbishop. He had made a good move, by occupying the leaderless city.
Sascha, who had read 800 years worth of discussions and prophecy about
Gehenna, could only despise the beginners. Their entry had weakened
the Camarilla, had removed the prince and resulted in the Sabbat
conquering the city.  The Palladium, as the called themselves, had
good fighters, but independent of the big sects, divided by personal
lust for power and without any comprehension of the greatness of their
task; they would only be the playthings of others. It was the "others"
who would be important. As Sascha continued to gaze into the mirror,
little mouths at the side of her neck opened and began to quietly hum
a song, a familiar song that was sung in the streets of Constantinople
before every execution.

The wheel of times would change. Although the Dragon lay deep under
the earth, he saw it all. The end would come. And all who tried to
hinder it, would in reality turn the wheel a little bit more. In the
end his brothers and sisters would be destroyed. And the new beginning
would see him as the victor; he who had survived all others. The
Dragon laughed – no audible laugh, but a rumble in the void that made
the birds silent one mile around.


Special Rules

Permitted decks: 
Every player has to bring a tournament legal deck. The decks must
conform to normal constructed tournament deck rules
http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/veknRules.html, including grouping.
Each crypt must have at least 12 vampires, therefore, and each
library, 60 to 90 cards. No Gehenna cards are allowed in the deck.

Gehenna Pile: 
Every player has to bring two cards for the Gehenna pile, in addition
to bringing a tournament legal deck.  These two cards have to be
Gehenna event cards or the Master card "Antediluvian Awakening". You
may bring two of the same card.  At the start of every game the two
cards from every player are used to build the Gehenna pile. X counters
are put on top of the pile, where X is the number of players in the
game.

Gehenna is Coming:
In every discard phase, the player burns one pool, reflecting his work
to hinder Gehenna; or he burns one counter on the Gehenna pile. If
there are no more counters on the Gehenna pile, the top card is
brought into play immediately and X counters, anew, are put on top of
the Gehenna pile, where X is the number of remaining players.

Gehenna cards in play: 
Cards from the Gehenna pile are treated as if played by a player, but
they are uncontrolled.  So the "no replace" effects of Gehenna cards
will target no one. Cards played from the Gehenna Pile do not contest;
if a card would
contest, it is burned instead.  In the event that the playing of a
card would be illegal, the card is burned with no effect. That
happens, for example, with the play of "Fall of the Camarilla," when
there are not three other Gehenna events in play.

The Outbreak of Gehenna:
Gehenna occurs, if all cards from the Gehenna pile are played. The
game ends immediately. Every player gets 0 VPs.  VPs previously won in
that same game are canceled. The game also ends with a Gehenna result
if the game times out.

Time Limit:
The two hour time limit per game will be enforced.