Summary

Providing an overview of all the choices that can be made in the Prologue of Nighthawks. Going over the various options of: Sire, Origin, Gift, and Knowledge.

Prologue Walkthrough

Choose a name

The very first step, and the least important. Either choose a name of your own or use the die icon on the right-hand side to have a random one offered.

Choose a Sire

“Everything began with the stranger. They took you into their life, and then they took yours. Their blood now runs through your veins, and you carry their memory in your flesh. But who were they?”

There are 5 Sire choices. Each has a unique benefit to them. This has a solid impact on the game as a whole.

The Warrior

• “An iron soul forged into a blade by centuries of strife. Their training would have killed you, had such a mercy been more than a memory, but you emerged stronger than you ever thought possible.”
• Benefit: You can wield any weapon like an expert

The Aristocrat

• “A wolf amongst sheep; the privilege of wealth and power sharpened to the finest point. For a while, you wanted for nothing. Then, just as quickly, your novelty faded.”
• Benefit: You develop Suspicion and Infamy at a greatly reduced rate

The Scholar

• “The wisdom of centuries, stalking through a labyrinth of dusty tomes. You learned much under their rarely patient tutelage, in padded safety that was at best a prison, and at worst, a cage.”
• Benefit: You develop new skills at a greatly increased rate

The Shadow

• “A drifter. A rumour. They moved from town to town, fading like a bad memory. Why did they choose to bring you along? That was their secret to know, just as yours is why you parted ways.”
• Benefit: Your hunting skills are unmatched by your peers

The Hedonist

• “Passion and torture, love and depravity. They delighted in testing your every limit and teasing your conscience past them until nothing remained but a hunger for ever-greater excess.”
• Benefit: Your skills are unaffected by drinking Tainted Blood.

Choose a lineage

“Your new lineage is one of pain and potential stretching back centuries, from the darkest legend of every corner of the world where people have had cause to fear the night. What is its story?”

There are 5 lineage choices. Each piece of Lineage offers a unique advantage. Each will have an effect on the story and your available choices.

Continental

• “From the Eternal Dynasties of Europe to the solitary loners of quiet peasant hamlets, Continental vampires are know for their ability to move through human society with both ease and arrogance”
• Benefit: You are an expert at seduction and manipulation

New World

• Children of the night who see their past in modern fables and Hollywood lore. Particularly prevalent in the United States and Canada, but found worldwide.
• Benefit: You gain more benefit from your Companion’s skills

Old Country

• “An echo of tragedy from the depths of dark forests and forbidding swamps. The victims of long-dead horrors still carry the blood of their murderers, condemned to pass it to each new generation.”
• Benefit: There are few you cannot intimidate with your presence.

Mandarin

• “The legacy of jiang-shi sorcery is said to flow through your veins, although that claim is… controversial. So too is the rumor of a great sacrifice that all who share the blood must one day make.”
• Benefit: Your natural talent allows you to use your Gift more regularly.

Imperial

• “Hailing from the alchemical heritage of Britain, the original Imperials whispers in the ears of nobility and traveled throughout the Empire on their black ships, leaving tragedy in their wake.”
• Benefit: You gain Wealth and Prestige at a greater rate.

Choose your gift

“Everyone knows that vampiric powers are a myth. Propaganda. Fantasy. Everyone is wrong, as you learned shortly after your awakening. But what new power awaited on the edge of possibility.”

These are Vampiric powers that you will be able to use a various points in the story. Use will take blood, which will have to be carefully managed for you to be able to use more often. Some are fairly situational, some are more broadly useful. All can be powerful through the story.

Mesmerism

• “You wield the puppet-strings of hypnosis and domination. Weaker minds are yours to command… to a point. The effect soon wears off, and even they balk at actions too contrary to their nature.”
• Other vampires are immune to Mesmerism

Beast Within

• “Something claws at your soul, begging to be let off the leash. When freed, you feel your bones cracking, sharpening… taking you to primal perfection and beyond.”
• Your blood may kick in to turn the tide of losing battles.

Natural Domination

• “Rats, cockroaches, spiders, flies… the denizens of the night flock to your call and obey your commands. Cats, of course, keep their own counsel, and will not be swayed by a mere vampire.”
• This allows you to see through your minion’s eyes.

Tenebrous Form

• “Shadows are your cloak. You can shift into darkness at will, to evade your enemies or transcend the limits of physical flesh. It is a power that few have even heard of, let alone mastered.”
• As a fledgling, you can only shift for brief periods.

Corpsetalking

• “Dead men tell no tales? That depends on how you ask. Echoes of life linger around corpses and the scenes of trauma. You know their language, and can call on them for their secrets
• This enables you to witness echoes of trauma and the recently deceased.

Choose your Knowledge

“Life and death taught you many things, but what is your primary sphere of knowledge.”

There are 5 primary sources of knowledge. It can easily run a bit contrary to some earlier choices, but it does play out fine. This determines a base for your character to work from: what did they learn in life and into their unlife. It can influence aspects of the story and gives a particular flavor of people that you could have an affinity with.

Occult

• “What others consider forbidden arts, you think of as light reading. You may or may not have picked up much from the practical, but your mind is a codex of stolen secrets.”

Culture

• “You are well versed in all of the arts. From painted masterpieces to classic opera. Perhaps you have even been able to create your own works, and earned a measure of acclaim.”

Street

• “You have learned the language of the gutter and the lessons of experience. You hear the unspoken words of the street, and know all the steps of its complex dance.”

Technology

• “From scientific discoveries to fixing computers, there is little in the modern world you cannot master, or at least, turn off and on again until it works.”

Academia

• “You always excelled at scholarly pursuits. Somewhere, perhaps, your achievements hang upon a wall as testimony to all that your teachers had to impart.”

Finalizing Your Choices

“Very well. These are the cards that fate has dealt you. Do you accept them?”

Having made the 4 choices of Sire, Origin, Gift, and Knowledge, you are given the chance to change any of them.

Making “good” choices

There are no bad choices nor good choices in this style of game. Each allows for a slightly different story to be told. It lets you see the events through different lenses and experience variance in each playthrough.

Last Known Address

“Another night. The same thirst. Rain pours down onto the naked city, as cold and oppressive as ever. The night is no longer quiet, and never still. Not since the veil fell; when the world learned that there were monsters living amongst them. Monsters like you, no longer protected by the shadows.”

• After completing the prologue once, you can skip the prologue on its first screen.

You have 1 choice here: “Knock on Elijah Morrow’s apartment door” with the description: This is the place, deep in the tenements of Cradlebridge.

Your character has been looking for Elijah Morrow. They hold something, a trinket, that was important to you in life. They were also a Vassal to your Sire. Amazingly, Elijah has broken out of your master’s service and is running away.

A Traitor's End

You have just 1 choice: Knock on his door. There will never be an answer.

You will then have 2 choices:

1. Force the door open: Uses Intimidation
2. Attempt to pick the lock: Uses your Thief skills

It seems like this is a very easy to succeed check, you will always get inside the apartment at this point. Enter and begin exploring.

Inside the Apartment, you will have a few options after the initial scene is set: “Morrow’s apartment is a temple to filth and decay. The foul smell of standing water hangs in the air, seeping out from the small bathroom towards the tiny bed and its bare mattress. Every mirror is broken, as is most of the furniture.” Make your next dialogue choice.

A Traitor’s End

“You closed the door behind you, not that it will ever shut properly again. This is the last lead you have to Morrow’s location. And the reason for your pursuit…”

You get to make a choice. Elijah Morrow took a trinket that meant something to your character:

• A watch: “Carefully engraved with a dead person’s name.”
• A gold ring: “A memory of a relationship that is no more.”
• A locket: “It hides a face you refuse to forget.”

This a bit of flavor, giving some personal stakes to your character plus that of the character’s Sire. The motivation of this theft is unknown to the character, but something you could learn about in the future. Choose the trinket that sounds interesting for your story.

Now, you have the apartment to search. There are 3 places to search: The Bed, the Desk, and the Bathroom.

The Bed

Searching around the bed, you will have 3 places to look: inside the pizza box, checking the clothes, and looking under the bed.

• Checking the pizza box, you will just encounter a rat. With Natural Domination, you might be able to get something out of it. It is unlikely through, even the state of the apartment.
• Checking the clothes, you can find a useful item: a wallet with Elijah Morrow’s expired driving license. Be sure to take this. It gives you a useful tool to ask around about this vanished person.
• Checking under the bed, you can find a shoebox. Inside are tools for an injectable substance. Nothing you can take. It more just gives a clue to the person you are looking for.

Each gives you something about Elijah, but not clues to his whereabouts.

The Desk

This small desk has 3 drawers that you can investigate.

• Top drawer: Locked, can be forced open with Intimidation. This drawer contains his diary. The last entry talks about getting something out of himself.
  • If you have found the key prior, you can use it to unlock it
• Middle drawer: Empty
• Bottom drawer: It contains wax and your Sire’s seal. Nothing important for your investigation.

The Bathroom

There are 4 things to investigate in the bathroom: the tub, the toilet, the Medicine Cabinet, and the Echoes.

• The Tub: requires Detective Skill. You will always find traces of old blood here.
• The Toilet: Empty of anything in the cistern. The bowl could use a flush though...
• The Medicine Cabinet: This holds the key to Morrow’s desk.
• The Residual Echoes: Requires Corpsetalking. This lets you find out what Morrow has been doing before he left in the tub.

Leaving the Apartment

After searching the 3 locations, you will be confronted by the Neighborhood Watch, an older woman with a shotgun. There is a Difficult skill challenge: Intimidation, using the Grifter’s Gifts, Mesmerism.

If you use a Gift to fend off the threat of the woman, you will have the prompt to feed off her. It’s your call. If you feed off her, you will lose the trait: Consensualist. Otherwise, you will retain it.

This will open up the obligation: “The Trail of Elijah Morrow.” The trail you had has gone cold unfortunately. After that, there is a complication to deal with.

The New Face Of The Night

“Two figures in leather watch from the depths of an alleyway. They see you walking alone. They see that even in the cold of the night, your breath leaves no clouds. You pass them, trying to avoid eye-contact. It has been many days since you fed properly. The old woman’s weak blood barely even scratched the surface of your thirst.”

You will encounter a pair of thugs that will move in on your character. They will put on white masks and attack. With at least Tier 1 Brawler skill, you can stand something of a chance in the fight.

As the fight wears on, you will have options if you do well in the first few checks. This will let you use Tenebrous Form to avoid the blows, Beast Within can be used to end of the fight, and your Thief skills can be used to simply avoid the attacks. With some luck, you can navigate the fight and at best, chase off the thugs. Otherwise, you will get beat up.

This will finish the Prologue. This will begin Act 1: The King of Cradlebridge.