First Impressions

With the situation in Verdant Falls cooling down, Skye is finally permitted to go out on the town. She follows Luc's recommendation and visits the Lantern, a local nightclub run by a Toreador autarch. She makes her way into the Kindred-only VIP section, and there she meets Pockets. Never having encountered a Malkavian before, she doesn't quite know what to make of her. Her Brujah sensibilities take over, and she nearly loses a hand when she makes a grad for Pockets' laptop.
Meanwhile, Rick has recovered, and he is busy making an inventory of the weapons they won from the hunters. Jake claims a new handgun and an assault rifle, but the more important business is to sneak into the airport and make a check at customs in order to secure his alibi.
After Hasan arrives and reunites him with Susan, Jake insists on going to see Pockets. He arrives just in time to miss Skye leaving, and encounters Pockets in an absolutely foul mood. However, the return of her partner in crime is enough to lift her spirits again.
Jake tells Pockets of his encounters in the woods, and expresses a wish to become like the Garou. Pockets offers to attempt to hack Jake's stats and try to make him a werewolf. As she works, Jake has a very powerful hallucination wherein he believes himself to be a Garou, and he becomes aware of a thick cloud of darkness bleeding over the city.
When he comes to, he describes his vision to Pockets, and is alarmed to learn that she has been aware of the phenomenon for quite some time. She refers to it as the "Bad Code" and believes that some day it will cause the entire server to crash. Jake resolves to investigate the phenomenon at its source, the ruins of the old colony of Verdant Falls, known by locals as The Graveyard. However, this is Mr. Seavers' territory, and they've been around long enough to know not to go treading there uninvited.
Instead they opt to visit Smythe & Seavers Rare Books, where they encounter Gregory Smythe, the Kiasyd's ghoul. He becomes visibly shaken when they mention the darkness, but insists he knows nothing about it. They are joined shortly by the Sabbat Cardinal, who claims to have simply been in the neighbourhood to pick up a book. She informs the pair that they are being followed by a Tremere agent.
Now fearing for their unlives, Jake calls Susan and requests a meeting with the Prince at the nearby Camarilla hangout, Nox. He informs the Prince of the strange black cloud, and of the Sabbat, and the Tremere tailing them. The Prince explains that Pockets has been under observation from the Tremere since their interview, and it had nothing to do with what he was investigating. After a quick check by Hasan, it is also discovered that Chianna was, indeed, simply in the neighbourhood to pick up a book from Smythe.
Jake feels rather embarrassed by calling up the alarm for nothing, and in his state he fails to observe that the Prince did nothing to dismiss his fears of the crawling darkness over the city.
The lecture from the prince did little to quell Jake's curiosity, and Pockets suggests they visit the head Malkavian of the city, a dangerous psychopath permanently imprisoned in the Alhambra. After picking up their weapons, they pay the Malkavian a visit.
McCullough is cryptic and nearly nonsensical, but in his ramblings there is a startling clairvoyance. He speaks of the darkness as a great maw, preparing to swallow the city whole. He welcomes the desctruction, however, and offers Jake no solution as to how to stop it. When they press the question, McCullough tries to poison Jake's mind and drive him to a frenzy, but he fails.
Finding little help in the company of madmen, Jake returns home, only to find an embossed invitation from Mr. Seavers in his mailbox. Seavers requests Jake's company in the ruins of the Chapel in the Graveyard tomorrow evening. Jake calls Mr. Smythe to RSVP, and Smythe hints that he should study etiquette before their meeting. Jake receives a crash course from the Prince's ghoul, and learns that he must bring a gift of some importance if he wishes to remain in Seavers' good books.