Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York Walkthrough

Welcome, children of the night, to the world of Vampire: The Masquerade.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York (usually abbreviated SoNY) is a visual novel set in the rich world of Vampire: The Masquerade. You’ve probably heard of the series at some point, but if you haven’t, it’s about the secret lives of vampires that live just out of human gaze, and how the many vampire clans have distinguished themselves since the beginning of recorded history.

The game has been available on PC since 2020 via Steam and recently, on the Google Play and the App Store for mobile devices. Note that while Shadows of New York is an expansion to Coteries of New York, you don’t need to have played the previous game to enjoy this visual novel, nor do you need any background in the series as there’s a helpful dictionary that pops up – I’ll also chip in on dictionary terms to help you get up to speed with the terminologies of the series. I should also add that the game is intended for mature audiences.

In Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York, you’ll be playing as Julia Sowinski, a Polish immigrant and journalist whose life never works how she plans it to – for good reason. As a new member of Clan Lasombra in the midst of COVID, you’ll need to work to earn your place in vampire society not just by performing vampire bureaucracy (yes, really) but also by solving a murder and delivering justice to those responsible.

A few notes before we begin:

• This Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York walkthrough will cover the entirety of the visual novel.
• I will add optional spoilers for the consequences of certain choices. And since I hate spoilers…
  • Spoilers will be written in white text – like this – so that you have to go out of your way to see them. Depending on your browser or device settings, you may need to paste the spoiler text into a word processor to see them.
  • But just in case. I’ll also add “!!SPOILER WARNING!!” before a spoiler, so if for some reason you can see white text, you can skip ahead. In that case, jump ahead to the “!!END SPOILER!!” text.

And without further ado, let’s begin.

Night 1

You’ll start with the main character monologuing about the moon and their present situation, which is watching people at the Big Beat Burger – a pretty crummy place that doesn’t exactly have the most outstanding clientele.

You’ll pick up a few things about your character: her name is Julia, she’s a journalist, she’s been doing this (people watching at the Big Beat) for a long time, she’s seen a lot of things, and she’s got a meeting tomorrow morning – which, for some reason, she thinks is not going to go the way it should. Call it impending doom syndrome.

The next scene will be at the Lodestar, a washed-out magazine whose writers have left for greener pastures, and the old guard is set on publishing the same old regurgitated crap every month. Unfortunately, this is where Julia works.

Julia will be talking to Brian Ng, the editor-in-chief, and you’ll be presented with your first choice, without any context.

No matter which option you choose, Brian will tell Julia that he has no choice but to axe her exposé. Julia will accuse him of doing it due to bribery, though Brian will say that it’s because the Lodestar has already been threatened with legal action, and the paper can’t afford that cost.

Brian will also drop Julia’s last name – Sowinski – and they’ll argue over the refusal to publish her findings. You’ll also discover that the article is about one Jesse Montgomery. Brian will admit that he personally agrees with Julia’s findings, but he can’t publish her article because he needs this job. You’ll get another choice where you can condemn Brian, forgive him (in a sense), or leave the question open.

I chose the middle option – it’s a matter of practicality, not ethics. However, that’s not the end of it. Brian will also fire Julia at the end of their conversation. You’ll get to choose again:

Brian will reveal that he’s being coerced to fire Julia, with external forces threatening dire consequences should the Lodestar ever print her work again. Probing deeper will reveal that this decision came from upper management, with orders to give them her head on a silver plate. And despite the loophole of Julia never being a full-time Lodestar writer, Brian can’t run the risk of hiring her under a different name – even if she makes it known that she’ll spread the word after she gets fired.

You’ll get some more backstory between Brian and Julia, mainly that Brian supported Julia’s coverage of the Montgomery article, that the payment for the piece had already been negotiated, and that it was Brian who set Julia on the path of investigative journalism, making him her teacher. Granted, she didn’t want that career path but was surprisingly good at it.

When it rains, it pours. Julia will answer her phone to see that other people involved in her investigation – Mila Lopez, Mike Antonoff, and Jared Rivera – were all fired from Double Spiral, Montgomery’s company. This was despite the amount of security that Julia used…which means that Brian squealed. Wow. You’ll get some choice words for Brian.

And that’s the end of Julia’s journalism career. June 2019 hasn’t been her month, after all.

The strange thing is that all of this seems so coordinated. Like someone is deliberately messing up her life. She’ll enter a period of self-reflection, only stopping once someone enters her peripheral vision… and that’s the last thing she’ll remember.

Julia finds herself in a dark alleyway with a gun in her hand, with a strange woman staring at her and the body of Mike Antonoff – one of her sources for the Montgomery story – filled with bullet holes.

You’ll have three choices to pick from, but the fact still stands that Julia blacked out in the subway just after seeing the woman from the side of her vision. It’s perfectly reasonable to conclude that the woman has something to do with this, something that she’ll subtly agree with. Lastly, she’s going to kill Julia.

This is a do-or-die moment, and refusing to shoot the woman will end in a game over – and this is the only premature end in the game. Firing the gun will result in the woman rushing behind Julia and biting her neck. Congratulations, you’ve survived whatever sick trial she’s cooked up.

Perhaps it’s better to be a monster after all.

Night 2

You’ll gain access to the map interface after Julia wakes up. For now, the only available option is to reset until the next evening.

Julia will be back in the Big Beat Burger, but something has changed, and it’s not just her outfit. Over the past two nights, she’s gotten used to her new existence as a vampire, and you’ll get some exposition to cover this. Note that terms in blue are lore-relevant ones and can be reviewed at any time by tapping on the book icon on the upper right.

From the inner monologue, you’ll pick up that the name of the woman was Caren, and that she’s now your sire, or vampire parent. She’s also been a surprisingly patient mentor – the past two nights, she’s been teaching Julia the basics of vampire life. Sucking blood, manipulating humans, lurking in the shadows, that kinda thing. You’ll also learn more about the titular masquerade of the series: namely, vampires have always existed but have had to hide their existence out of self-preservation.

Julia will also finally get the confirmation that someone has been wrecking her life – it’s the Camarilla, essentially the vampire government that’s devoted to upholding the masquerade. At least their tests are done, right?

Julia will finally leave the Big Beat Burger for good after a few moments.

Let’s recap the dictionary terms before continuing as I’ll be using them liberally from hereon out:

• The Embrace – the term vampires use for the process of turning a human into a vampire. Pretty gross, so don’t think about the details.
• Sire – your vampire parent. The one responsible for turning you into a vampire.
• Childe – refers to vampires embraced by a sire. Usually used to remind someone of their place.
• Kindred – a term used to refer to vampires collectively.
• Camarilla – local vampire government. Committed to upholding the masquerade.

You’ll get a chance to try out Julia’s new vampire powers at three places: an unfortunate Tinder victim, a meathead bully, and the Danse Macabre, a vampire club. You’ll be able to play two of the three scenarios.

Let’s start with Tinder guy. As the game describes him, he’s a desperate pseudo-intellectual. Good, let the meal come to us.

Listen to him ramble on for a while and just agree with him. Finally, once he’s drunk enough, Julia will leave with him, pull him into a dark alleyway, and drink some of his blood. No, vampires don’t drain people dry in this setting – that would mess up the masquerade.

Next, let’s go to the meathead. The scene that unfolds will show a thug beating up an old man, claiming that his wallet was stolen and demanding “recompense” for that stolen money. When the old man taunts the thug, the situation escalates from a robbery to a potential murder.

Luckily for the old man, Julia’s testing out her new strength tonight. And despite the thug having some skills to back up his bravado, he’s no match for a superhuman who can manipulate human minds. After he flees, the old man will thank you – and luckily, he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

If you go to the Danse Macabre, you’ll get a glimpse of the world behind the masquerade – ghosts, vampires, and other beings.

No matter which places you choose, the night will end with Julia atop Times Square, ruminating on her vampire powers and strangely, how everything’s looking up again after she got turned into a vampire. Tomorrow’s task will also be revealed – Caren will introduce Julia to her duties, and if she succeeds, she’ll be the New York representative of Clan Lasombra.

Before we end the night, a few dictionary terms to go through:

• Clan – a vampire’s “family”, determined by their sire. Each clan has its own philosophy and approach to life (or unlife) as well as its own strengths and afflictions.
• Sect – a group of vampires who share a common goal. Its members do not necessarily come from a single clan.
• Lasombra – one of the clans. Caren came from this clan, so Julia is now part of it, too. Masters of shadow and manipulation. Had bad blood with the Camarilla until fairly recently.

End the day by resting.

Night 3

Hope you’re ready, as this chapter will deal with a lot of vampire clans, meaning a lot of dictionary reading.

The scene will begin – ironically – at the Big Beat Burger, where Julia will reflect on how she always falls back to the same old habits even after ascending to vampirehood. People, even ex-people, are creatures of habit, it seems, and for Julia, it seems that being depressive and low is her natural state.

It’s now March 2020, meaning that nine months have passed since Julia was turned into a vampire. As mentioned in the previous night, Julia is now the representative of the Lasombra clan, also known as the Night Clan, who can manipulate shadows and conceal their presence from modern tech. Pretty nifty.

You’ll also learn that the Lasombra used to be part of the Sabbat, the enemies of the Camarilla, though a recent discovery has led to a truce between the two, though not without concessions – namely, a Lasombra vampire must die for every Lasombra vampire allowed into the Camarilla. In Julia’s case, the vampire who gave her unlife was Hester Reed, a Sabbat hardliner.

After Hester Reed’s death, Caren set out looking for a candidate who was much more than they appeared on the surface. These candidates – Julia included – had their lives systematically ruined by the Camarilla, though Julia passed the test by showing that she would continue fighting back even to the bitter end.

Just so she could do some vampire bureaucracy.

As the Lasombra representative of the New York Camarilla, it falls to Julia to deal with the terrifying mundanity of serving as the local vampire immigration officer, since pretty much every vampire from Europe and Africa passes through New York. And unfortunately for Julia, the local Camarilla is obsessed with keeping tabs on all travelers. She doesn’t even have a proper vampire office for the job.

You’ll get some more terms for your dictionary:

• Court – vampire government hierarchy. A Prince is at the top, followed by a Primogen Council, and so on.
• Prince – head of the local Camarilla. A gender-neutral title. The current Prince of New York is Hellene Panhard.
• Primogen Council – the Prince’s advisors. Ideally, they represent the interests of the vampires/kindred in their area of responsibility.
• Sabbat – an extremist sect that scoffs at the traditions of the Camarilla and holds humans in contempt. Believe in an apocalyptic event called the Gehenna War. Clan Lasombra used to be part of the Sabbat, and it’s this switch of loyalty that causes most Camarilla kindred to distrust the Lasombra.
• Sheriff – the local court’s enforcer. Usually deployed only for the most severe violators of vampire law.
• Elysium – a neutral gathering place for vampires that often serves as a courthouse. Often hidden in plain sight in highly visible public places.
• Ivory Tower – a derogatory term for the Camarilla, just like in the idiom.
• Final Death – dead, for real this time. Turning into a vampire counts as dying, dying as a vampire is final death. When a kindred dies a final death, time catches up to them – killing a newly-turned vampire, for example, would just lead to a regular dead body. Killing an elder, though, would result in something like a mummy – or even just dust.

The last of Julia’s clients for the night will walk in. Speak to her to get her travel information – her name is Katherine Wiese, and she owns the Art Hole, the headquarters of the New York Camarilla. Also described as “weird” by her peers, and has a reputation for not being fully loyal to the Camarilla. She’s a big shot but is doing the Prince a service by processing her travel records in person. You’ll also find out that, despite doing the Camarilla’s work, the Prince didn’t approve the funds that Julia needed for her rent. Yes, there was bad blood, but come on!

Continue talking to Katherine to discover that she’s here to meet with the Prince. She’ll also reveal that there’s a big party happening tomorrow night, and of course, the Lasombra (and Julia) aren’t invited. Finish documenting Katherine’s travel details and head to Qadir, the sheriff of New York City.

He’ll be incredulous at Julia’s claim that Katherine held her up, but he’ll believe her once the travel documents have been submitted. Seems that Katherine has a lot more influence than meets the eye.

You’ll see some important people leaving the party preparations:

• Addison Payne, an elderly, disabled vampire who has connections to the government and Wall Street.
• Aisling Sturbridge of Clan Tremere, a hero who attempted to call a blood hunt on Katherine.
• Thomas Arturo, a herald and known as one of the Prince’s harpies.
• Samira, a member of the NYC Primogen Council and part of Clan Banu Haqim who hasn’t been a total jerk to Julia.
• Carter Vandweyden, a Malkavian primogen. Has a perfectly cultivated personality that seems like it might crack at any time.
• Hellene Panhard, the Prince of New York. The big cheese herself.

Some more terms before we continue:

• Clan Tremere – a clan dedicated to the study of magic. They need fresh blood to do their thing.
• Warlock – a title used to refer to a member of Clan Tremere.
• Chantry – basically magic school for members of Clan Tremere.
• Blood Hunt – sentencing a vampire to final death. Capital punishment.
• Harpy – a kindred who has dirt on everyone and is willing to use their information as currency, not unlike a regular human.
• Clan Banu Haqim – a new addition to the Camarilla’s recognized clans. Formerly assassins for hire, they’ve rebranded their image as bounty hunters and enforcers of the law. Tied to the Middle East.
• Clan Malkavian – a clan whose members are both blessed and cursed with insanity. No one can tell if a Malkavian episode will yield some genuinely useful insight or just break something.
• Kine – a derogatory term used to refer to mortals. “Muggles”, if you will.

As Katherine suggested, the Prince seems pleasantly surprised to discover that she’s in the city and will be attending the party. Qadir will close up the Art Hole while Julia heads to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

At the cathedral, Julia will meet with Benoit Segal, a member of Clan Toreador who restructured his entire life around Catholicism – which, for some reason, involves proselytizing to Julia and trying to turn her into a force for Christianity within Clan Lasombra. Julia will steer the conversation to Sophie Langley, Benoit’s sire, who became his artistic patron after World War II and eventually embraced him. However, his newfound wealth as a member of Clan Toreador changed, and he began to produce art that no longer aligned with his worldview as a veteran, until eventually, Sophie stopped seeing him. Benoit ends his tale with a warning – don’t trust the vampire elders.

However, Julia will continue probing into Benoit’s story. Old investigative habits die hard. Rumors have circulated that Benoit killed Sophie, a claim that Benoit denies. Instead, he believes that Sophie simply vanished.

The conversation with Benoit will be cut mercifully short by the arrival of Father Leonard, her liaison. You’ll also discover that Clan Lasombra has deep ties with the Catholic Church, who provide the clan with an information and communication network. You know, since Lasombra vampires can’t really use computers or smartphones. Father Leonard also did Julia the favor of checking on her parents, since she can’t see them again – and he has good news to share.

Dictionary time!

• Clan Toreador – a clan that values the arts and creativity, whose members comprise artists, painters, musicians, and even modern influencers. Not all of the clan’s “investments” have panned out, though they won’t admit this.
• Noddism – religious belief and studies about Caine, the original vampire, as well as the origins of the kindred.
• Elder – ancient vampires who have survived at least 200 years of unlife. Time and the reality of vampire life have changed these beings, and it’s not unusual for them to plot grand schemes that span centuries. Elders play the great game of Jyhad, or the Eternal Struggle – a secret war between ancient undead whose motives and goals are inscrutable.
• Second Inquisition – what happened when the US government found out about vampires, now a global anti-vampire initiative. Strikes are conducted on kindred and their gathering places, with them being labeled as “terrorists”. Usually, the agents dispatched have no idea of the true nature of their targets. Shortened to “SI”.

Time to head home, where you’ll discover one of Julia’s secrets – her “friend” on the train home, Dakota, is her lover, and worse, Dakota knows about Julia’s vampirism. This is probably not going to end well.

End the night.

Night 4

It’s party night. Julia wasn’t invited, but hey, she’s the main character. She’ll get caught up in it somehow. But for now, your only objective is “don’t show up at the Art Hole.” We can probably manage that.

You’ll need to kill time. There are two choices here: head to the park or Coney Island.

• At the park, you’ll run into a jogger whose son has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Despite going there to feed, Julia will back off. She knows what it’s like to kick someone when they’re down. Just because you’re an immortal monster doesn’t mean you have to be a monster all the time.

• If you head to Coney Island, you’ll be accosted by an undercover cop, who’s doing a really bad job. You can either just ignore him or use your vampire powers to make a fool of him.

After clearing either scenario, Julia will head to the Big Beat Burger, where she’ll sink back into her sadness – mostly about not being at the party and how small she is.

Fortunately, Julia won’t be alone for long. Qadir will come in looking for her. And despite Julia’s usual sarcasm and snarkiness, Qadir doesn’t react. Something bad must have happened.

As Qadir drives, he’ll brief Julia: Six weeks ago, he was sent to parlay with the Anarchs, which didn’t go too well. One of them, Baron Douglas “Boss” Callihan, was especially rude to both Qadir and Julia.

And tonight, someone brought final death to Boss Callihan.

• Anarchs – a sect of kindred that don’t like the Camarilla and want to change it with their own vaguely defined governance.
• Baron – a high-ranking member of the Anarchs. Usually get their way by force.

Honestly, we’re probably better off without him. Still, as members of the Camarilla and a subordinate of Qadir…we need to solve this. But despite all this, the Prince’s party will continue, and we’re going there. Looks like it’s party time after all. Enter the Art Hole.

Fortunately, we’ve already been introduced to the bigwigs of the NYC Court in the previous chapter – the Prince, Thomas Arturo, Samira, Aisling Sturbridge, and Mr. Payne. Over the course of the meeting:

• Thomas will insist that the situation is under control and that the council is safe. However, he’ll confirm that Boss Callihan was murdered in his office.
• Talks with the Anarchs are underway, and they’ve confirmed that Callihan is dead.
• The Prince says that the Court is not responsible for Callihan’s death. Whoever killed him did it to serve their own agenda.
• Naturally, the assassination will cause kindred to be suspicious of the court – what better way to silence the opposition than taking out one of its lead figures? To assuage these doubts, the Court will be assisting the Anarchs in their investigation.
• Mr. Payne will protest, as the Anarchs do not respect the Camarilla’s traditions, though both the Prince and Arthur will counter with the idea of “controlled opposition” – essentially empowering the most moderate of the Anarchs to keep the rest of the movement in check. There’s already one such person.

As an aside, the traditions that form the basis of vampire law are:

1. Never reveal your true nature as a vampire.
2. While in your domain, your word is law.
3. Siring new vampires is only done with permission – usually from the Prince.
4. Sires are responsible for the misdeeds of their vampire children.
5. Respect the domains of other vampires.
6. Vampires may not kill one another without an Elder’s permission – again, usually the Prince.

Back to the meeting:

• Qadir will volunteer himself to spearhead the coordination with the Anarchs, but surprisingly, the Prince will turn his offer down, as they need his 100% on everything. If he takes on the Callihan case, he’ll be spreading himself too thin. The Prince also wants him to focus on keeping the party – it’s a very long party – safe.
• Aisling Sturbridge will correctly point out that the timing of the murder is impeccable. The Anarchs will likely be tempted to accuse the Court of celebrating Callihan’s murder.
• Thomas will add that while they can’t send too big a name (as that will make it look like the Court is coming out in force to suppress the investigation), they also can’t stand by and do nothing. The best bet is to send a low-ranking official to the Anarchs. Care to guess where this is heading?

I guess Brian’s investigative journalism lessons did amount to something, after all. Samira and Qadir will voice their support for Julia – with some reservations – so that’s that.

Before we set to work on the Callihan murder, Thomas will summon Katherine Wiese as an impartial body to ensure that both the Camarilla and the Anarchs are happy. Remember that snippet where Julia recalled Katherine’s loyalties? This is why.

The meeting with the Anarchs is in an hour, so off we go.

Fortunately, even Qadir seemed reassured by Katherine’s presence, so we’re probably in good hands. However, she won’t sugarcoat the fact that Julia is an expendable pawn in this whole affair. Thanks for the honesty, I guess. She also won’t hide that this is a test of sorts, for her.

You’ll have time for one more question, but good luck getting a straight answer out of Katherine. This is her world now.

Soon enough, your Anarch contact will arrive – Mia Morgan. They’ll also namedrop someone named Torque, who found Callihan’s body and is probably going to take his place as head of the NYC Anarchs. That gives him a motive – and indeed, it’s probably what most of the Primogen Council feel. Let’s not jump to conclusions though. Unfortunately, Torque is “busy” right now, and the earliest we can speak with him is later in the week. Mia will, however, take you to the crime scene.

The investigation in Boss Callihan’s office will reveal the following:

• The body looks like a mummy, so that’s definitely Callihan.
• There’s no obvious damage on any of his clothes.
• There’s only one door leading to the office. The windows – automated metal shutters – could only be opened by Callihan himself, and they don’t let light or air through.
• The door wasn’t open. Torque had to open it to find Callihan’s corpse.
• There’s a bunch of glass shards on the floor. Mia checked the window from the outside – they were not from the window.
• There’s a portrait on the wall. Mia doesn’t know who’s on it.
• There’s a wall safe. It hasn’t been touched. If Mia knows the code, she won’t give it.
• There’s an empty envelope on Callihan’s desk.
• Every drawer is empty. Mia doesn’t know if they were empty before Torque arrived.

Thanks, Mia.

There’s not much to go on from the preliminary investigation, but let’s hash through what we got:

• There might not be signs of a struggle. There’s no damage on Callihan’s clothes – though the glass shards are suspect. Where did they come from?
• The envelope is empty. Did something in the envelope kill Callihan?
• Again, Torque is the most likely suspect. Is Mia being truthful about Torque finding the door closed and the drawers empty?

Fortunately, the supernatural will come to our aid.

A flickering figure that Mia can’t see will prompt Julia to investigate Callihan’s clothes in closer detail. Her search will yield something – a card, almost imperceptibly hidden in the fabric of his clothes. On it are four names: D’Angelo, Hope, Agathon, and Tamika. Naturally, Mia is not going to help Julia identify these names. At least we know we can rely on Qadir, so we can shelf this for tomorrow night.

Another thing we can do is try to get Mia on our side. You’ll have the choice to disparage your loyalty to the court:

This will be your first trait choice, meaning that whatever you choose here will mark you and potentially affect the story down the line.

Spoiler ahead: if you might not want to play through the game again, you can read about the consequences of your choice here. If you’d rather keep it a surprise, go ahead and close your eyes and scroll down, or jump straight to “!!END SPOILER!!”

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

If you want a spoiler for the consequences of this choice –

• Questioning your loyalty with the Camarilla earns you one trait for the “good” ending.
• Remaining loyal earns you a trait for the “bad” ending.

These aren’t clear-cut “good” and “bad” endings and they’re open to interpretation.

!!END SPOILER!!

Back to it.

• Expressing your disdain for the Camarilla (why not, they don’t exactly respect Julia) earns you the “Loyal only to myself” trait. Mia won’t open up to you just yet…but she says she’ll keep your loose loyalty in mind.
• Passing on this earns you the “Loyal to the end” trait.

You can check all of Julia’s traits by tapping on the log icon – the two dialogue boxes on the upper right of the screen.

Either way, the investigation is at an impasse and the dawn is almost here, so it’s time to head home. Dakota will try to talk to Julia about work. Rather understandably, Julia will be too tired – and too overwhelmed – to talk about her troubles.

Rest to end the night.

Night 5

The chapter will start with Dakota doing Julia’s makeup. Kinda hard to paint your face if you can’t see your own reflection, after all. We’ll also get more details about their relationship: while other vampires prefer to create ghouls, Clan Lasombra doesn’t like the idea of owning people. And while human companionship is a huge breach of the masquerade, the rules for kindred who work at the Court – Julia included – are thankfully a bit looser. Long story short, Dakota is safe.

• Ghoul – when a vampire embraces another human but doesn’t fill them with their blood, a ghoul is made. Ghouls are enslaved to their masters by their addiction to blood.

Enjoy the lighthearted banter between the two before we get back to business. Before Julia reports to Qadir, she’ll need to get some blood first. Pick two of the three victims before getting back to business.

• Samira’s reservation (the middle) requires Julia to remind the manager of an upper-class restaurant of his place after he insulted the Camarilla. Deal with him non-lethally, and you’ll find that something inside Julia just snaps as he pleads. Is this what Caren felt before we shot her?
• Diva’s Delight (the left) will have Julia visit a club. She’ll be accosted by some guy, so use her vampire powers to either break his hand or get him into trouble. Before Julia leaves, the purple-haired girl will stop her and ask for…a bite. Someone broke the masquerade for her. You can choose to feed on her or tell her to stop chasing the high – I choose the latter.
• “Bunny as a Reporter” has Julia reconnect with Nigel Woods, one of her contacts while she was still a journalist. He’s digging into Double Spiral, the same company Julia was investigating before…well, this. However, this will be unexpectedly useful, as Nigel will mention that a computer whiz named Hope supposedly has some close dealings with the Montgomeries. Probe deeper and Nigel will say that he doesn’t know much about Hope other than she streams for an exclusive audience and is into crypto. You also have the option to just let him go or delete his memories for his – and Julia’s – safety. Probably for the best, yeah?

Dictionary time:

• Vitae – an archaic term for blood.
• Vessel – a polite term for a bloodbag human.

Meet with Qadir and discuss the names on the card. Julia will also make note of the strangely clean crime scene, which Qadir agrees with. He can help, thanks to the names on the card, but he’ll need time to set things up. As it turns out, he knows the four people on the card, though they live off the grid, so good luck meeting with them. He’ll advise Julia to focus on finding one person each night. Finally, he’ll also warn Julia that he suspects that the Court will request her findings in four nights. Qadir will urge Julia to unearth enough info to not look like a fool – even he doesn’t think he could solve such a case in just four nights. She’s been set up to fail.

While Julia is understandably angry about the Court, she does have some reservations about going totally against it, as there are genuinely kind people she’s met there, such as Qadir and Samira.

Fortunately, luck is on Julia’s side tonight as Qadir will be driving Aisling to the art hole, and her protégé is Agathon. Or…was.

At the chantry, Julia will speak with Aisling about the whereabouts of her former student. She claims she has no idea what happened to him, nor does she know about D’Angelo, Hope, or Tamika, as she kept their relationship purely professional except for one instance – the so-called “Juno case”. She’ll also mention that Agathon was an extremely talented student, but she doesn’t particularly care about what happened to him. It’s just a researcher’s pragmatism.

She’ll allow Julia ten minutes to search the premises. Ten fruitless minutes…or so it would be if our strange spectral friend didn’t show up. One of the bricks in Agathon’s quarters is loose, and inside it is his diary.

Go through Agathon’s diary to discover:

• There are three women he frequently wrote about – his teacher, Aisling, his ex-lover Juno, and his mortal grandmother, Silvia.
  • Agathon wrote nothing about the nature of Aisling’s research. Even in his private thoughts, he respected her request for secrecy.
  • Agathon and Juno had a fight, in which Aisling was involved. Agathon chose Aisling, and that seems to have ended his relationship with Juno.
  • Silvia raised Agathon after his parents died in a ritual murder. Didn’t expect that last bit. Agathon’s family used to serve a cruel vampire in Mexico, and Agathon kept her alive with his knowledge of magic, but alas, her heart gave out, and Agathon blamed his skills for being insufficient.
• Agathon makes some vague references to an incident that happened in 2019. There aren’t many details, but he keeps mentioning a person who “made him fly too close to the sun”.
• This, combined with his grandmother’s death, seemed to have sucked all joy out of Agathon’s life. Julia will note his body language in the picture – he seems to be bidding farewell to New York.
  • On the page with the picture, there’s a single black feather.
  • Beside the picture is a handwritten copy of Marie Laurencin’s “The Sedative”, a rather sad poem that would likely resonate with his mental state at the time.
• The last few pages of the diary are torn, but what’s left makes it clear that those pages were never used. The pages before the tears are empty as well. If there was nothing on those pages, why did Agathon tear them out?

Before closing the diary, Julia will get some help from another one of those strange shadows, telling her to bleed. By pouring some blood onto the pages, we see…

And by writing into the pages, we can change Agathon’s emotional state in the scenes that unfold. We won’t get the truth – not exactly – but we can work with this. From the memories unearthed by using blood, we discover that:

• Agathon and Callihan met on Ellis Island (where the Statue of Liberty is) to discuss something. According to Callihan, Ellis Island does something that makes blood magic go haywire.
• Agathon was part of an experiment, and Callihan mentions that it’s not Agathon he distrusts, but rather, “that devil woman”.
• Agathon will question Aisling’s research, saying that, “I always thought we were busy with science, not politics.” It seems that they had a disagreement about this.
• Agathon was furious with Thomas Arturo, for some reason.

Choosing different emotions nets you different dictionary terms and more pieces of the puzzle, but it’ll be an incomplete picture, regardless.

After you see the scene with Thomas, the memories will end and you’ll get another trait choice here. Of the two choices:

• Choosing to believe that Agathon is alive gives Julia the “Glass half-full”trait.
• Choosing to believe that Agathon is dead gives Julia the “Glass half-empty”trait.

If you want to, here are the consequences of your choices.

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

The consequences of this choice are:

• Choosing “glass half-full” (Agathon is alive) gives you a trait for the “bad” ending.
• Choosing “glass half-dead” (Agathon is dead) gives you a trait for the “good” ending.

!!END SPOILER!!

From Arturo’s memories, we have an inkling of what happened: Agathon was involved in some kind of scheme involving both Aisling and Thomas. From how Agathon reacted in the memories, it also looks like he didn’t want any part of it. Regardless, we now have a lead. Head back to the Art Hole to speak with Thomas.

It’s nice to see Thomas squirm. He’ll deflect Julia’s statements, claiming that what he and his co-conspirators did has nothing to do with Callihan’s death, and that Julia should back off, even name-dropping the Prince as an intimidation tactic. However…he does have a point in that we don’t have any evidence. Yet. We need something more damning than a ghost in a diary.

Nothing more we can do here. Head to St. Patrick’s to file the nightly reports, then head back to Dakota’s place to end the night.

Night 6

Three nights left. At least we have a lead off the get-go: Qadir wants to meet in Queens and to be ready for action. And to do that, Julia needs blood. You know the drill by now.

• “That’s My Table” has Julia return to the BBB, where someone has taken her usual seat. The woman is obviously trying to get under Julia’s skin, but there’s more than meets the eye – she’s been assigned by a “special friend” to monitor Julia. There’s no point fighting her as she’s much stronger than Julia.
• “Hide and Seek for Dummies” has a stalker tailing Julia. He isn’t doing a very good job, and he’ll get into trouble. If you help him out, he’ll reveal that someone sent him to stalk Julia, but the stalker isn’t familiar with the Camarilla. Montgomery?

Finish one of the above scenes to continue the story. Meet with Qadir in Queens, and…

The good news: he’s found Hope. The bad news: she’s inside a Double Spiral building. You know, the Montgomery case that Julia was working on before everything went bad. She’s not just some worker either: Hope is the acting CEO of Double Spiral after Cara Montgomery left on a “sabbatical” some time ago. Cara is…was a vampire, as it turns out, and Qadir admits she may have experienced a final death.

You’ll also find out that Hope is the childe of Carter Vanderweyden, the Malkavian lawyer who’s been missing from the Art Hole parties. That’s 2 of our 4 names leading back to the Primogen Council…

Qadir will also inform Julia to head straight to the lowest floor of the basement and to watch out for all the ghouls. Yes, Double Spiral is that low. Hope is in room 507. Good luck.

You’ll need to make your choice of approach. This is another trait choice.

• Choosing “It’s time to be aggressive” gives Julia the “A little abuse of power never hurt nobody” trait. High time to show others – and herself – that she’s not going to be kicked around.
• Choosing “Better stay covert” gives Julia the “Not into a bad cop shtick” trait. Sometimes tact is needed to solve problems; this is one such time. The Lasombra clan’s ability to mess up electronic devices and manipulate shadows should be useful here.

As this is a trait choice, I’ll add spoilers for the consequences of this choice here.

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

The consequences of this choice are:

• Choosing to keep on the down low (“Better stay covert”) gives you a trait for the “bad” ending.
• Choosing to be aggressive (“It’s time to be aggressive”) gives you a trait for the “good” ending.

!!END SPOILER!!

Whichever approach you choose, getting to room 507 won’t be much trouble. After a minute or so of polite knocking or yelling, Hope will agree to speak with Julia.

Hope will dismiss Nastya, her head of security, before talking to Julia. Before all this, though, Julia will finally get the closure she’s been looking for, as Hope reveals:

• Hope basically confirms that Cara Montgomery won’t be coming back, and that Cara was a rotten person through and through.
• Double Spiral has severed all ties with the Montgomery family.
• Internal audits are underway, with disciplinary measures being taken against those responsible for the previous abuses of Double Spiral.

Kind of anticlimactic, but that’s life, right?

To business, then. Hope will deny knowing or even ever seeing Callihan. But when Julia brings up the three other names – D’Angelo, Agathon, and Tamika – Hope will freeze for a moment. According to her, those are the names of promising unaffiliated kindred in NYC making the rounds some months ago. Hope will note that she knew that Sophie Langley also had that calling card, as well as some of the Primogen Council.

More helpfully, she’ll tell you who prepared the list, after some persuasion – it was Carter Vanderweyden, who aspires to the position of Prince of the NYC Court. By sharing information, Carter seeks to make friends in high places. In particular, Carter must have sold Callihan the card with the names on it.

A bit more prodding will reveal that Hope didn’t particularly care about being used as a pawn in Carter’s schemes – if someone hired her, she’d both do the job and feed information back to Carter – though she doesn’t seem to like him much.

Hope will reveal the true nature of Double Spiral – it’s a media network that steers public opinion towards beliefs that will benefit the Camarilla. And as an early Internet kid, when the net was the Wild West (now I feel old), Hope resents the position she’s in.

For the next step of the investigation, we’ll need to talk to Carter himself, with this information that Hope insists we discovered on her own and totally, 100% without her help. And if he asks, tell him that Kaiser sold Julia the info.

Time to meet with the lawyer man himself.

Julia will meet with Carter, who’s in the middle of speaking with Addison Payne, who’s also in the room. A bonus, perhaps.

As Carter wasn’t present at the Art Hole the night of Callihan’s murder, we’ll need to establish his location. According to Carter, he was working in his office the night of the party but has no solid alibi. Confront him with the card to cut past the crap. Carter will call Julia’s bluff, so she’ll mention that if he has a problem with the information she’s presenting him with, he can take it up with Kaiser.

At this last statement, both Carter and Addison will be taken aback.

Carter will recover from his shock and categorically deny everything. Mr. Payne, on the other hand, tells Carter that he certainly hopes it’s just a baseless rumor. Seems that associating with this Kaiser is a huge no-no.

Carter will admit that yes, that is the name of his long-estranged childe on the list, but he has no idea why anyone would think that list is his. Julia will inform him that, as of the moment, Carter is the number one suspect in the murder of Boss Callihan. Carter, for his part, will swear to clear his name as soon as possible.

The last stop, as usual, is St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Since Benoit isn’t around, Father Leonard will take the opportunity to ask Julia about her spirituality, and Julia will tell him the story of how a prominent gay actor in her native Poland tried to come out to his parents and how his life was destroyed. It’s a pretty sore spot in Julia’s life, and while she doesn’t want to recount it ever again, Father Leonard will understand her a little bit better.

Before leaving, Father Leonard will ask Julia about the crucifix necklace she wears. Is it something more, or…?

Answer however you want, but Father Leonard will respect Julia’s privacy.

Head home to Dakota, where Julia will finally give a voice to all the pressure she’s feeling from the case. No solid evidence, no witnesses, and all dead ends, in terms of leads. At least Dakota’s caring.

End the night by resting.

Night 7

Two more nights to Julia’s D-day. No biggie…right?

The day will begin with another note from Qadir, this one warning Julia to lay low for tonight, but he’ll get her a meeting with D’Angelo tomorrow evening. However, Qadir will also add that nobody knows where Tamika is and that she’s in a lot of trouble.

Once again, we’ll need to clear a scene before continuing with the main story.

• “Camera Shyness” will have Julia accosted by an interviewer trying to spin a COVID story – made especially dangerous by the Lasombra ability to mess up cameras. Stop the interview with your vampire powers in any way you please.
• “Prince of Cats” has a forbidden boyfriend trying to sneak into his lover’s apartment, despite the protests of the girl’s father. Sure could use some of that spark in the relationship with Dakota.

After finishing one of the scenes, Julia will be engulfed by darkness, kind of like a sleep paralysis nightmare.

The shadows will spout some disjointed speech. Once Julia snaps awake, she’ll find herself in a place she doesn’t recognize, along with a woman, who’ll ask Julia to identify herself. After Julia says she’s a Camarilla representative, the woman will ask if Julia is there to arrest her, Julia will clarify that she’s an investigator in the case of Callihan’s death – to which the woman will react positively.

Surprise, surprise, the woman is Tamika of Clan Gangrel.

• Clan Gangrel – a rogue, almost feral vampire clan that owns few domains and respects no Prince. Their kindred are formed by warriors and survivors, who struggled against horrific odds yet survived. Outlander is one of the titles for their members.

Julia will recover her senses and find that she’s standing in the aftermath of a failed Firstlight raid – one of the arms of the SI.

Tamika will ask how exactly Julia managed to find her; understandably, Tamika finds it hard to believe that Julia would just stumble upon an alleyway where Tamika just killed a Firstlight task force. Julia will give Tamika some of the information she’s gathered, namely that Callihan is dead, he had a card with her name on it, and the other names on the card are D’Angelo, Hope, and Agathon.

Tamika will reply that she only knows the other three passingly. However, she does have a theory as to why Callihan had a card with all their names on it – and it all ties back to Torque, the “moderate” Anarch and successor to Callihan. The same Torque that Mia said she’d get us a meeting with. Still waiting on that.

However, Tamika won’t part with that information for free. With all the Firstlight agents she’s killed, New York is no longer safe for her, and she needs a way out. Fortunately, Julia does know a way out, thanks to a Clan Nosferatu criminal group offering her a huge amount of cash to reach a deal on illegal travel.

Would you look at that – being a vampire immigration officer was surprisingly useful.

• Clan Nosferatu – a vampire clan whose curse is hideous deformity – think Count Orlok turned up to the max. Their frightful appearance forces them into a life of secrecy and subterfuge. Ironically, Clan Nosferatu vampires tend to be more human than other kindred, offering help to the downtrodden of society.

Tamika will reveal that some months ago, she and Torque were together, and during that time, she gave him a ring. Now, Tamika is a very sentimental woman, and while she and Torque are no longer a thing, she figures that going up to the Anarchs and asking Torque for her ring back should be good enough to force a meeting with him. Everybody wins!

Before sending you off, Tamika will reveal that the reason she split with Torque is that she was just a display piece for his political plays. With a radical girlfriend, Torque could get the best of both worlds – support from both hardliners and moderate Anarchs.

Leave for Torque’s office.

Torque will introduce himself, and will willingly submit himself for questioning once Julia reveals her position as investigator. Grilling Torque will yield the following information:

• Torque admits to knowing Callihan.
• Torque had a low opinion of Callihan, calling him “a racist clown mentally stuck in the 19^th century”, and is also glad he’s gone.
• Torque says he was the first kindred who found Callihan’s corpse, but also says that Callihan’s ghouls found the corpse first and some of them tampered with the crime scene. The offending ghouls have been punished.
• Torque admits he has no alibi for the night of Callihan’s murder as he was running around town.
• Torque knows nothing about the other people on the card. Regarding Tamika, he knows that she and Callihan never met.

Fair is fair, and now it’s time to talk about Tamika. It seems that the ring wasn’t just an excuse Tamika cooked up – once the subject is brought up, Torque’s manner changes, and he refuses to part with the ring unless Tamika shows up in person.

Trait choice time!

• Choosing “Be brutally honest” gives Julia the “Honesty is the best policy” trait. Torque will refuse to give you the ring.
• Choosing “Lie through your teeth” gives Julia the “You can’t be a writer and not lie” trait. You’ll also successfully get the ring from Torque.

And, as usual, spoilers for your choices here:

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

The consequences of this choice are:

• Being honest gives you a trait for the “bad” ending.
• Lying gives you a trait for the “good” ending.

!!END SPOILER!!

Regardless of how the meeting went, Julia will meet Tamika in front of the Jewish Museum afterwards. No matter how things went down with Torque, Tamika will say that you’ve kept your part of the deal, and now it’s her turn.

Last year, a fledgling attempted to build a coterie. The list of names on Callihan was the same list that that vampire was using. After contacting the four kindred on the list, the fledgling got caught up in some deep trouble from almost everyone – SI, Kaiser, Sophie Langley, and other players – before disappearing.

Tamika will also explain that that incident is how she met Torque, and that he was a very different man then. But something changed him rapidly and mellowed him out. One night, Tamika followed him to the docks, where he was talking in secret with Callihan. This led to an argument,which in turn led to them breaking up.

Before Tamika goes on her way, she’ll give you a hint on what path you’re on, which will determine the ending you’ll get. If you want to read about it, I’ll put it in spoilers below.

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

Tamika will read your aura before leaving, and there are two possible results.

• If she says, “Somehow, I have a feeling that you’re a surprisingly decent person”, you’ve made more “bad” trait choices than “good” ones and are en route to the “bad” ending.
• If she says, “I smell a penchant for ruthless opportunism”, you’ve made more “good” trait choices than “bad” ones and are close to achieving the “good” ending.

!!END SPOILER!!

Once Tamika leaves, our night is done. Head back to Dakota’s apartment to unwind and unpack.

Rest to end the night.

Night 8

This is it – the last night of our investigation. No matter what we find here, we need to wrap things up and find Callihan’s killer. And unfortunately, the BBB is closed. COVID finally got to it.

As usual, you’ll need to finish one of two scenarios to proceed with the story.

• “An Aristocratic Taste” will have Julia considering visiting a hospital to see the effects of COVID firsthand, but with how much activity is going on, she backs off. Instead, she’ll visit an abandoned hospital, which turns out to be the haven of another vampire. While eccentric, Julia’s gut feeling tells her that Princess is not somebody to be trifled with, and you’ll need to placate her with some “low art”.

• “A Familiar Smile” will see Julia reveling in the “Last Man on Earth” atmosphere that COVID brought about – deserted streets, everyone indoors, no noise. Not a bad time to be undead, honestly. However, a familiar face will show up – Charlie, an old friend. Catch up with him a bit, then leave.

Back to business. It’s time to meet with D’Angelo, with Qadir’s help. Qadir will brief Julia on a few things: that D’Angelo is a Nosferatu (“Clan of the Hidden”), that he’s a very serious private eye, and that he likes acting like a noir detective. Maybe the theatrics help him cope with his condition.

After investigating a strange rat, Qadir will locate D’Angelo.

Qadir will also drop that D’Angelo has made quite a few enemies (no surprise) and, while his place has been repeatedly raided, no one is claiming responsibility. Curious. D’Angelo will also make it known that he’s happy Callihan is dead. No one misses the guy.

Because of the huge target on D’Angelo’s back, he’ll help with the Callihan case on one condition – get him some protection. Qadir will reluctantly agree, though he’ll caution D’Angelo that the protection he offers can only extend for three months, or until the Prince calls it off.

D’Angelo will reveal what he knows so far.

• He went into hiding once he noticed that Agathon was presumed dead, that Tamika had gone missing, and Hope stayed in the Double Spiral bunker under Vanderweyden’s eye.
• He’ll establish the connection between the four of them – last year, they were in great demand. Someone even tried to get them to join a coterie.
• All the work they did made D’Angelo realize that there’s a secret alliance of sects in New York.
• Once he figured out that they were setting the stage for something huge, the four of them came under fire.
  • Agathon “sniffed something in his own backyard”, but vanished.
  • D’Angelo lost contact with Hope and Tamika once he went into hiding.

However, D’Angelo isn’t aware of the card on Callihan’s body, so clue him in.

Thanks to D’Angelo’s experience, we can conduct a more thorough investigation of the crime scene. Bring him along to Callihan’s office. He’ll unearth some more information, but not all of it is useful.

• The portrait in Callihan’s office is of Lord Castlereagh – a real person, and quite controversial in English politics and history. The short version is that while Castlereagh built the alliance that defeated Napoleon, he was also rabidly against reform and liberalism, especially in his native Ireland. He took his own life in 1822.
  • Funny how even 200 years later, the same system of organized oppression is still in play, no matter who’s at the helm. Camarilla, Anarch – it’s all the same.
• He’ll confirm that somebody has majorly tampered with the crime scene.
• D’Angelo will also go through the possible murder weapons. He’ll also note that staking a vampire through the heart without damaging their skeleton can be done.
• D’Angelo will crack open Callihan’s safe. Unfortunately, there’s nothing of value inside. However, D’Angelo will say that the safe lock has obvious traces of manipulation. It’s not a stretch to say foul play was involved.
• D’Angelo will reveal, via paper, that the entire crime scene is wired. For Julia, this isn’t a problem thanks to the Lasombra thing with electronics, but D’Angelo can’t speak freely.
• He’ll pass another note – the wiretap is a chip on the broken glass bottle on the floor, and he’s 100% sure it belongs to Kaiser. Ah.

We’re done here. Time to confront Kaiser with the help of a random bystander.

Kaiser will be visibly angered by Julia’s presence, even confirming that she was set up to fail from the very beginning. He’ll be so mad he’ll even reveal that there’s a secret system in place in NYC, and Julia’s investigation and unexpected success have been messing up that system.

Cut through his rants and tell him that only one question needs to be answered – who’s pulling the strings?

Of course, things aren’t going to go as planned. Thanks to the shadows, Julia will be forewarned of the coming attack. A fight will ensue, and, thankfully, pepper spray still works on vampires.

Even after thrashing Kaiser for a while, he’ll refuse to talk. You’ll have two trait options here:

• Choosing “I will do whatever is necessary” gives Julia the “The ends justify the means” trait.
• Choosing “This is a barrier I won’t cross” gives Julia the “No more human, still humane” trait.

This choice not only has consequences but has a huge lore drop ahead, depending on what you choose. Consider yourself amply warned.

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

Note that this is the final trait choice, and your ending will be determined by how many “good” or “bad” trait choices you made. As there are five trait choices, you can’t have an equal amount of both. The aspect of Julia that Tamika comments on will warn you of which path you’re on, so if you’ve made an equal amount of both “good” and “bad” choices, you can change your ending with this choice.

The consequences of this choice are:

• Choosing not to cross this line gives a trait for the “bad” ending.
• Beating up Kaiser until he squeals gives you a trait for the “good” ending.

!!END SPOILER!!

In addition, continuing to beat Kaiser up will reveal conclusive evidence about the case. I’ll cover them in spoiler text, in case you accidentally stumbled upon this part and aren’t ready yet.

Spoilers in three…

Two…

One…

!!SPOILER WARNING!!

Continuing to attack Kaiser will have Julia break his leg, and he’ll tell you who was in Callihan’s office when he died: EVERYONE. Vanderweyden. Sturbridge. Arturo and the Prince. Torque and Mia. Everybody had a reason to kill Callihan. Callihan tried to play everyone against each other; unfortunately for him, they collectively decided the easiest way out was to kill Callihan.

• Kaiser doesn’t know who dealt the killing blow. Does it matter at this point?
• Kaiser will also tell her that everyone has been feeding him information, and giving her wrong info. When all theories are equally valid, coming to a conclusion is impossible.
• Kaiser will also tell Julia that “they’re shutting you up tomorrow”. Lethally, maybe?

!!END SPOILER!!

Qadir will rush to Kaiser’s aid. He may have it out for Julia, but he’s still a highly respected elder. Time to go home.

It seems that Dakota has been living vicariously through Julia – an emotional vampire, if you will. The two of them really need to sit down and have a long heart-to-heart if their relationship is going to survive. They’ll have a shouting match, and Dakota will run out of the apartment.

Sleep to end the night.

Final Night

Judgment day. And if you read the spoiler (or chose to rough up Kaiser), you know what’s coming. Julia will start the night with a series of visions. You’ll see some familiar places and faces. And no matter what happened last night, Julia’s investigation can only be deemed a failure – no solid evidence, no testimonies, all hearsay with no truth. All the Primogen Council wanted was a…

…writer. Wait, there’s something here.

Instead of wandering the streets, Julia will head straight to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Benoit will accost Julia, and she’ll have some choice words for him. Not tonight, Benoit. However…

As it turns out, Benoit isn’t really a Catholic; it’s more that he loves the comfort that a belief system represents.And that he believes that Julia needs this kind of direction lest she be destroyed by her inner loneliness. She needs to strive for something higher.

The confrontation will be interrupted by Father Leonard, who will scold Benoit for his lack of empathy. Yes, Julia needed to hear that, but he could’ve been gentler.

Back to reality. Father Leonard will inform Julia that four hours from now, there will be a big meeting in Elysium and that they’re counting on Julia to not show up due to her failure. Since Julia won’t be there, Qadir will present her findings – what little they are – in her stead. This information came from “a good friend, a cautious friend”, but speaking more of that would be dangerous.

Now, the moment of truth.

The Art Hole, maybe for the last time. Qadir will express shock at Julia’s return, warning her that Kaiser will do everything in his power to destroy her after what she did last night, and he will likely succeed. That doesn’t matter now. Julia – for better or worse – needs to close the investigation on her own terms.

Everyone is here. Not just the Primogen Council, but Torque as well. Qadir will step forward to begin the conclusion – as always, he’ll be looking out for Julia by overselling her achievements, though I doubt anyone buys it.

The facts of the case will be laid out as such:

• Callihan’s remains were found in his office by one of his ghouls; Torque was the first kindred to find the body.
• There is no murder weapon, no testimony, and only circumstantial evidence.
• Julia tirelessly explored every possible lead, but all of them served only to muddy the case, not clarify it.
• Callihan’s power was crumbling. Seeing as there was no way out to redeem himself and reinstate his power, the case is a clear-cut suicide, and Callihan used sunlight to finish the job. He turned the windows up and watched the portrait of Lord Castlereagh until he burned up.

As there’s no reason to dispute the story, the council and the Prince will accept it. It fits a little too neatly, no?

That’s it. That’s the end. Unless, Katherine adds, anyone has anything left to say?

The results of your trait choices will determine which ending you get. As this is the end of the game, all spoilers will be off, so if you have anything left to do or any scenes you’d like to go over, now’s the time.

Once you’re ready, let’s end this investigation.

The “Bad” Ending

The “bad” ending is achieved by having more humane choices than ruthless ones. These choices are:

• Stay loyal to the Camarilla when talking with Mia (Night 4).
• Choosing to believe Agathon is alive (Night 5).
• Staying low and covert when entering Double Spiral (Night 6).
• Tell Torque the truth about why Tamika broke up with him (Night 7).
• Don’t continue beating up Kaiser for info (Night 8).

In this ending, Julia will have nothing to add to the investigation. Whatever tension was left among the council has vanished. That’s all, folks.

Once everyone leaves, Julia will speak with Katherine, where she’ll reveal that while in Kaiser’s info limo, she got some information on the one wildcard in NYC. The woman she’s speaking to isn’t the real Katherine Wiese. The real Katherine – known as Ecaterina the Wise and the Agitator of Prague – isn’t in front of us. This woman is Hana Urbanova, an unfortunate immigrant who was magicked into becoming Ecaterina’s body double. And it’s worked all too well. Hana Urbanova, for all intents and purposes, is dead.

And in reading about Hana Urbanova’s sense of self, Julia decided not to say anything. The parallels between them are uncanny.

The two women will step out of the Art Hole to discuss how to get Julia out of New York. Kaiser’s out for blood, after all. Katherine will bring up the issue of Dakota and convince Julia to talk it out with Dakota. Ask her why she did it. Maybe it was a moment of weakness. Maybe it was a one-time thing. Maybe their relationship can still be saved.

Katherine will bring up the topic of Carthage, where, according to vampire myth, the Romans didn’t sack the city because humans and vampires existed in harmony. And in Julia and Dakota, she sees a spark of that beautiful dream. So she bids Julia to take Dakota and run far, far away, to the Anarch Free State of California, where that hopeless dream might be able to plant its roots.

Who knows what will happen?

Go home to find Dakota to finally have that heart-to-heart. The two will make up, and Dakota will be deeply sorry for what she did.

One more shot, then. Julia will inform Dakota of the imminent danger on her own – and by extension, Dakota’s heads – and that the only way to survive is to go cross country. In the middle of COVID. And, despite knowing the risks…Dakota will agree.

No more psychos dancing on Callihan’s grave, no more opportunists, no more politics. Despite the uncertainty of the future, it will definitely be better than what Julia left behind.

The “Good” Ending

Conversely, the “good” ending is achieved by having more ruthless choices than humane ones. These choices are:

• Downplay Julia’s loyalty to the Camarilla when talking to Mia (Night 4).
• Choosing to believe Agathon is dead (Night 5).
• Brute forcing Julia’s way into the Double Spiral (Night 6).
• Lie to Torque about Tamika (Night 7).
• Continue beating Kaiser up to make him talk (Night 8).

No more getting kicked around.

Julia will invite the Primogen Council to a little thought experiment. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that Callihan did commit suicide, and that he really meant to send a message with the portrait of Lord Castlereagh. However, Castlereagh ended his life as a result of a conspiracy against him. Surely Callihan wouldn’t forget that – especially if Castlereagh’s dying words implied that he was being cornered by political rivals. So what does the portrait in the office mean? Foul play, most definitely.

Yes, it’s a stretch, but it’s getting the effect that Julia wants. Julia will keep up the offensive, asking the Camarilla if the suicide story is the propaganda that they want to run – especially considering that a little pressure is all it takes to unnerve them. Mr. Payne will acquiesce, telling Julia that he’s open to a better pitch.

Julia will reveal her trump card – rather than focusing on the investigation of Callihan’s death – she wrote a piece about all the information she’s sniffed out during the course of the investigation. Except it isn’t exactly information as much as disinformation…such as Aisling’s quarrel with Agathon being about forbidden blood magic, who targeted Callihan. Or maybe an exposé about how Torque lied and manipulated his Anarch followers just to get into a place of power, and how the Prince, seeing an opportunity, used the chance to get rid of a less pliable opposition leader?

Everybody loves a good scandal, after all, and what Julia cooked up will rock the Court to its core.

Qadir will attempt to call Julia’s bluff…except she claims that she’s already included everything in her report to the Lasombra elders in Chicago. Among ten other places. Even if the council got rid of her now, it would only serve to reinforce the “truth” that Julia is selling.

Now it’s time for the counterproposal. What can the NYC Court possibly offer Julia to buy her silence?

The Prince will be skeptical about what Julia can bring to the Court, but she’ll present her solution: an even better, more morally sound, and most importantly, more convincing story that the council can use to sweep their sins under the rug. And it’s a simple one, too – the simpler a lie is, the easier it becomes to sell it. And the simplest way to spin the story is to pin everything on one person.

Just so happens we have Carter Vanderweyden with us, who, if you need a reminder, aspired to become Prince, and regularly brokered intel for both sides. Friends in high places, as Hope said. Carter operates Double Spiral and a massive law firm, both of which serve to push his agenda. So why not use this opportunity to get rid of a potential traitor as well?

One falls, so another may live.

With Carter dead and with Addison Payne’s support – and a conspicuously absent Primogen seat – the Prince agrees to give Julia what she wants

There’s one more loose end that needs to be tied up, though. As a Primogen, Julia is expected to strictly follow the rules of the masquerade. No one can ever know what she is, including Dakota.

Stories will be told about Julia’s meteoric rise to power, and within the privacy of the council, they’ll never live down how this nobody that they set up to fail managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat when they thought they had her cornered.

At long last, life is good. Even if the shadows haunting Julia have grown thicker and more numerous…

Dawn Comes at Last

And that concludes the tale of Julia Sowinski. Whether she chose to remain in touch with human decency or fully embraced the demands and position of Clan Lasombra, the story is over.

That concludes this walkthrough of Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey!