After Arundel (OOC)

Yeah, I think that’s fun :) As far as I can remember, the only private residences we’ve seen Benji enter so far (other than his own) are Bev’s (who explicitly invited Benji and Rhiannon inside) and Lizabeth’s (who we can assume invited Benji into her home at some point before the story began) so I think it works with the story thus far too.
Benji only promised to call Teddy back if he found Elliot, right? Since he didn’t find Elliot, I didn't think there was any need to call Teddy back… Unless you were referring to a different promise that I’m completely forgetting about :P

Yes, that was deliberate to allow for this lore.
Makes sense that she would have.
Nope. That's the one. And agreed, no need. Hence all the qualifiers and quotes.

We do already have an Alasdair [ref]. It might become confusing to have two... but I get the feeling this one may be temporary... and a fake name. Anyway, he prefers to be called Sinclair, or just Sin... for reasons he thinks are 'ironic'.

Are you sure you want to do that? They are a gentlemen's club and, even in 2024, women are not allowed to be members, and it has been made pretty clear to Emma that they expect her not to speak until spoken to. Being 'disruptive' is more likely to get you tossed out (in the rain) than to miraculously get them on your side.

If you choose to keep this reaction, roll Keep Your Cool to avoid ending this meeting prematurely. (We will provide another avenue for you to learn something if we have to.)

On a Miss you offend them enough that they have you removed (or attempt to, you can, of course, resist (and they can, of course, call the cops if you do)).
On a Hit they are offended, but you apparently have enough value that they make concessions for your lack of couth and speak to you more.
On a 10+ ... I don't know... what do you think Emma is offering them? What value would they gain from allowing your rudeness and disruption to their club? You may still have to smooth things over (with a Persuade, maybe) before they would let you stay and berate them in their own club, or one of the men (you can choose which) may take you aside (as the women tried to do) and speak to you privately.

You are not in a position of power here, and are being rude. :)

What Benji is trying to do feels like it could be Mislead, Distract, Trick maybe but I'm not sure so I wanted to check if that seems right before I make a roll

Nice. I can't respond right now, but do you have a preference about what happens next? It seems like you want to stay here and have them begrudgingly let slip answers?

That could work.

The challenge is that they are, apparently, quite good at their job, remaining unseen so far, but maybe they did not factor in your vampire sense, or there is a new shift on duty, or something that allows you to expose a weakness and create an opportunity for you to catch them in the act.

Mislead, Distract, and Trick won't reveal much, by itself, you will need to exploit the weakness or opportunity to really learn more. No matter what, a hit will confirm that you are being watched, and probably confirm that Lizabeth is the primary target.

Roll it. On a Hit (7 or above) make your choices if you can, and narrate what you do to use the weakness/opportunity/whatever to learn something. Provide as much as you want, I will be back later and can take over. If you want to talk over the implications of the choices (you don't have to make them all at once, and exploiting one may lead to the other(s)) we can do that before you post.

I rolled a seven! I'm inclined toward 'you create an opportunity' and 'you expose a weakness or flaw', as neither of the other two make much sense to me in this context. I would think that Benji is going to be 'further entangled' with whoever is spying on him no matter what, since there's no reason that luring them into following him would stop them from continuing to watch him.

'You confuse them for some time' doesn't make much sense either... Maybe not selecting it means the opportunity created is short-lived and must be acted upon immediately?

I would like the opportunity to be an opportunity to confront them, if possible. Maybe 'expose a weakness or flaw' means he gets them in a relatively vulnerable position or else he notices something about them that gives him an advantage. Would that work with your understanding of the situation?

Agreed. Sometimes we don't get to select the full number if they don't make sense in the fiction. In this case those two are the main ones and feed into each other.
Um... it is futher entangled. :)

It is not about stopping what is already happening, it is about preventing more from happening. This will depend on the what you do, but could have been used to avoid having the scene turn from surveillance to capture, but I don't think that is really an issue here, anyway... depending on what you do.
It could give you more time to act and study the opposition. If you want to take it slow (not get answers now, but possible get stronger answers over the next few days/hours of watching) then this might be worth trading for one of the others, but the chosen two are sorta needed for what you want, so this could have been good third option if you had it.
OK. So you would rather it be direct than allowing you to observe and watch your watchers?

We can do that.

The benefit of a slower approach is that it could reveal information about who they work for rather about them. But has the risks of revealing less if your long-term play fails. You can always leverage what you find here towards finding deeper information.

If you want to narrate your catching a glimpse of 'them' and how you react (give them the slip, watch them, corner them and threaten them, ...) and include as much detail about who it is you catch as you want, you are welcome.

Else, let me know if you want a clandestine discovery, or a chase and capture, stalk and capture, or something else.

This is probably a Persuade, with threats, to get him to talk.

It sounds, from the description, that this guy is Moratilis? But he could be a different Circle (the fact that I need to ask is not just that I don't plan these details, but may be that I also, sometimes, do plan, and there may be more than one Faction watching you:), the one you caught could be anything you want.

Do you think Benji might recognise him? Do you want to Put a Name to a Face?

Would I roll now? The threat isn't quite explicit yet (other than physically preventing the guy from leaving which is a bit threatening for sure). Is that enough to count?
I don't have a preference but yes, I was also thinking Mortalis. Happy to be surprised though! :)
No, I don't think Benji knows him

I don't know how threatening it is to have a vampire corner one in a dark(ish) alley. :)

The intent to threaten is implicit in the desire to get answers, you both know this. If you think it is clear enough, then roll and we can assume it was enough (either way), else we can establish it a bit more.

On a Miss you still threatened him, and he will 'respond appropriately'. You will get an opportunity to avoid a confrontation, if you want (with Cold-Blooded, maybe?).

Oh, yes, agreed. That was very much my intent. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting ahead of myself. I've added the roll to my post :)

If he knew these were included, he may well have read your columns, but he didn't ... :)
Is there a chance he does not know about the book?

It is silly, but my first thought was: "You wrote a book‽" :)