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Neutral or friendly humans
Humans met in Santa Monica
Arthur Kilpatrick
Voiced by: J. Grant Albrecht
I used to do some bounty huntin' myself back in the day. Takes a solid set o' brass balls to make a good bounty hunter, I'll tell ya that much.
A bail bondsman operating from Santa Monica, he hires the Fledgling to look for Carson, a missing bounty hunter working for him. Once you handled this for him, he will also offer you the opportunity to do some bounty hunting for him as well.
- Benevolent Boss: In contrast to your Kindred superiors, Kilpatrick appears to be rather nice to the people he hires; he is reluctant to just replace Carson after he has gone missing due to having known his father, is polite with you, and pays you rather well for your services.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Acts somewhat sleazy towards a Female PC, but he's generally friendly.
- The Cynic: Downplayed, but if asked about his opinion regarding Santa Monica's terrible state, he'll admit he's actually fine with that, since that just means more business for him.
- Nice Guy: Considering his job, the world he lives in and his attitude about it all, he's remarkably affable, if rather shameless, to the player. He's also nice to a Nosferatu PC. While startled, he asks if something have happened to you and thanks you for not taking offense for asking.
- Retcon: The Camarilla book for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition has Nick Kilpatrick (a former bail bondsman in the family business), who has been embraced by his brother Arthur, even though Arthur himself is treated as a human in Bloodlines, as he can be fed upon and can be affected by any discipline.
- Retired Badass: Implied; he mentions he used to be a bounty hunter when he was young.
- Sunglasses at Night: And indoors, no less, in what might be an attempt to look a bit cooler than he can quite manage.
Carson
I'm tellin' you… I've been on some weird cases, but this one takes the cake.
A bounty hunter working for Arthur Kilpatrick who went missing while working on a case related to a man named McGee.
- Apocalyptic Log: Subverted; while searching for him, you do find a log he left behind describing his progress on the McGee case. However, you do arrive in time to save him.
- Career-Ending Injury: The loss of his trigger finger means he can't be a Bounty Hunter anymore.
- Distressed Dude: This turns out to be his situation when you find him; Stanley Gimble had him prisoner and was mutilating him and McGee limb by limb. Fortunately, you arrive to save him before he suffered too much.
- Fingore: Gimble has cut off his finger by the time you reach him; and had you come later, he probably would have lost more.
- Hopeless with Tech: Implied; in his Apocalyptic Log, he clearly isn't comfortable with the recorder, and complains about how he "hates these things".
- Informed Ability: Kilpatrick describes him as a really good bounty hunter, but when you do find him, he has been kidnapped offscreen by a psychopath, and the ensuing mutilation forces him to retire from bounty hunting, meaning you never get to see him in action. Admittedly, it's entirely possible he was caught by surprise.
- Never Heard That One Before: A Malkavian will, upon meeting him face-to-face, open the conversation with "Heeeerrre's JOHNNY!". Carson is not amused.
Chunk
Voiced by: Daran Norris
Ah, you know, I'm keeping the undesirables out, and the innocent safe and secure. I'm the thin blue line that separates the crazies from the hardworking decent folks. Yup, long as I'm around, Mr. LaCroix's got nothing to worry about.
A fat security guard initially assigned to guard a Santa Monica art gallery — up until you break in and vandalize the paintings. He's then reassigned to guarding the Venture building for Prince LaCroix.
- Abhorrent Admirer: If a female PC seduces him during their first encounter, he'll spend the rest of the game with a hopeless crush on her. She can either play along or act indifferent, and play this trope completely straight by finally snapping and verbally ripping into him towards the end of the game.
- Apologetic Attacker: Chunk is the PC's first obstacle during their final assault on Venture Tower. He'll regretfully ask you to leave and not force him to use violence. Considering your Implacable Man status at this point of the game, his threats come across as deeply ironic. It is, however, possible to use social skills or disciplines to get him to give up and cower instead of fight. Or just ignore him and go after the guards on the other side of the floor.
- Backup Twin: Kill him during your first encounter, and his identical twin will be manning the desk at the entrance to the LaCroix building.
- Big Fun: Very jovial, as a PC with Dominate can show by sending him off to the Asylum to show off his dance moves.
- By-the-Book Cop: Blocks the PC's way while spouting very specific regulations. Can backfire on him if the PC has a high enough persuasion rating. By persuading him, it becomes obvious Chunk has no idea what he's talking about and is just pulling out random regulations to sound smart.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: He is a very silly man, in a lot of ways, and likes a lot of very strange things.
- Dogged Nice Guy: As well-meaning as he can be and as much as he tries, his odds of getting with a player who seduced him are somewhere in the negative numbers.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: He doesn't discriminate — he's just as fond of bear claws, another deep-fried pastry snack.
- Dumb Is Good: One of the least morally-ambiguous and most well-meaning characters in the game. Not coincidentally, he's also probably the dumbest.
- Fat Idiot: Bless him, Chunk is just not very bright.
- Good Is Impotent: Chunk is a sweet guy, but he's brainless, powerless and helpless in the World of Darkness.
- Hidden Depths: In a minor way, if Dominated he can be told to go away while the Player takes care of business. Where does he go? He hits the Asylum and starts dancing up a storm. Note that he'll do this even if the Player doesn't directly tell him.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He can tell his new boss LaCroix is a bit of a weirdo, but pursues the line of thought no further and considers him a perfectly Nice Guy. Similarly, he never catches on that the Player Character isn't human, nor that they are anything more than an ordinary working class professional like himself.
- Inappropriate Hunger: When you speak to him when going back to meet LaCroix after escaping Grout's Mansion in flames, he'll notice the smell of charred flesh and express a sudden desire for some hamburgers.
- Killed Offscreen: Possibly. One of the things the Sheriff throws at you as an attack during the second half of your fight is a corpse that looks a whole lot like Chunk, regardless of if you killed him when you entered the building or not. Granted, he's not the only NPC who uses his character model, so it could also be some other random cop from elsewhere in the city, and even if it is him, it's entirely possible to end the fight before that attack is ever used.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: He has six brothers, all of them in law enforcement.
- Meaningful Name: He's rather chunky.
- Minnesota Nice: The nicest character in the game, and has the thickest Minnesota accent this side of Fargo.
- Nice Guy: There's no real malice in the guy at all. If he meets a Malkavian player for the first time, he gives them some money and tries to help them find a homeless shelter. The only exception is his attitude toward the Nosferatu PC, whom he'll urge to leave the building immediately, forcing them to use a special sewer entrance to an elevator. Though in that case, he is very obviously and understandably scared out of his wits.
- Not Worth Killing: The player character can simply ignore him and go straight for the guards on the other side of the floor.
- Plucky Comic Relief: The man uses his security system to spy on people eating donuts and his completely obliviousness to the nature of his employer is a source of much comedy.
- Potty Emergency: One of the times you meet him, he tells you that he couldn't go to work the previous night because he suffered from a bad case of diarrhea after eating some tainted junk food bought in the street. It saved his life: it was the night when some Sabbat mooks made a raid inside Venture tower.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: He definitively leaves the game when the player characters enters LaCroix building for the final fight, either killed or persuaded/hypnotized to leave the place. Alternatively, if a female PC played along to his crush and let him believe they were in a relationship, he plain won't be there when you storm LaCroix's tower.
- Shoot the Dog: Even if a player provokes him into trying to fight them in the final level, killing him directly nets the player a Humanity loss (the last one possible in the game, actually). He can still be killed by the player without the loss if caught in the blast area of Blood Boil or if you're a Nosferatu.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: While normally a rather likable fellow, he really doesn't get along with a Nosferatu PC, outright refusing to let them into the elevator to see the Prince, forcing them to enter through the sewers. How much of this is due to fear is debatable.
Trip
Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes
Santa Monica is dead. I don't know why anyone comes out here any more.
Owner of the pawn shop below the Fledgling's Santa Monica haven. He sells weapons to you on either Mercurio's, Kilpatrick's, or Knox's word.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Night shifts at the pawn shop have left him with prominent shadows under his eyes.
- Friend in the Black Market: He'll sell you weapons and armor under the table if someone vouches for you or you make it worth his while. He's annoyed with Knox's indiscretion on the subject.
- Nice Guy: Trip is actually a pretty cool guy, making friendly conversation with the player character — even a deranged or horrifying one — and offering some useful information about the Santa Monica night life.
- Nightmare Fetishist: A Nosferatu player character's appearance usually causes anything from violent revulsion to heart attacks. Trip, meanwhile, has nothing but compliments for what he thinks are some awesome body modifications.
- Safety in Indifference: He has a working relationship with Camarilla ghouls (Knox and Mercurio) and works the night shift in a vampire-infested city. There are hints that he's at least somewhat aware of the supernatural forces dragging LA down the tubes, but chooses to remain an Apathetic Citizen.
- The Stoner: Implied. He's got the typical stoner drawl, and if hearing a Malkavian Fledgling refer to Killpatrick as "the Keymaster", he'll ask what kind of drug you're one and where he can get some.
Humans met in Downtown
Fat Larry
Voiced by: Phil LaMarr
You can call me Fat Larry with an F-A-T, cuz I know I got a weight problem an' I just don't give a fuck!
An enthusiastic black-market salesman, he operates out of the back of his truck, selling just about anything to anyone - though getting to his special stock may take a few favors. He's a friend of Venus Dare's, and will put in a good word for you with her if you help him out.
- Affably Evil: He's a black market salesman, but he's generally friendly.
- Big Fun: Once the player character gets on his good side, he'll happily invite them out to dinner.
- Fat and Proud: The Malkavian will even call him "Fatman" without Larry so much as reacting. He also introduces himself to the male Fledgling by declaring he knows he has a weight problem, and "doesn't give a fuck."
- Friend in the Black Market: He sells guns and armor out of the back of a truck.
- Hidden Depths: He appears to be a simple black market salesman, but he will send you an email telling you that he has upgraded his stock after you've helped him. Why is this impressive? Because he, a mortal, is able to acquire the email to a member of a secret society in a short span of time. This speaks volumes of his connections.
- Honest John's Dealership: Subverted — Larry may seem like this at first, but his wares are perfectly serviceable. Plus, he gets very irritated when you suggest it.
- Large Ham: His sales pitches are quite grandiose.
- The Nicknamer: He's got some imaginative ones. Memorably, he refers to a Nosferatu fledgling to Venus as the "Halloween-looking S&M gremlin"
- Plucky Comic Relief: By far one of the quirkest, funniest characters in the game.
- Shout-Out: In order to gain access to his special stock, you have to retrieve a mysterious briefcase — the contents of which Larry only describes as "beautiful". Doubles as an Actor Allusion to his voice actor.
- Soul Brotha: Just barely avoids being a Jive Turkey too.
- Sunglasses at Night: He wears sunglasses despite working outside in the middle of the night.
- Visual Pun: He's a black marketeer.
- We Sell Everything: In addition to weapons, his voice lines have him advertise very strange items, such as "dinosaur eggs" or "koala ears".
Hannah Glazer
Voiced by: Debi Mae West
Well I think... I got sick from one of my... clients. [coughs] I was feeling fine until I... I uh... I saw her a few days ago.
An escort girl living at the top floor of the Skyeline Apartments. While she'd fallen in love with Paul, an Anarch ghoul, their romance is cut short by a sudden disease.
- Almost Dead Guy: She's bedridden with an Incurable Cough of Death when the fledgling finds her and dies right after revealing that she contracted the disease from Jezebel Locke.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She fell in love with Paul because he was the first man in years to treat her like a person instead of a sex toy.
- Boy Meets Ghoul: Literally; she was in a relationship with Paul Anderson, an Anarch ghoul, but didn't learn about the Masquerade.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Her appointment book lists several other characters you meet in the game.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Downplayed. While she is an escort girl whose main contribution to the plot is getting killed as part of the Brotherhood of the Nine Circles questline, she's a genuinely sympathetic character who talks about her relationship and about doing her job to pay for college, and her death is played as tragic.
- Video Game Caring Potential: The fledgling can lie to her that Paul is well and sent them to help her, which gives her some peace and happiness in her final moments. A Malkavian can use their powers of Dementation to make her think s/he is Paul, and give her a loving sendoff.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: The fledgling can also break the news about Paul's death with Brutal Honesty — or, for low humanity characters, petty cruelty — leaving her to die in complete despair. Malkavians in particular have the option to string her along with the mad vision of her lost love, only to tear it away at the last moment.
Simon Milligan
- My crew... my crew, w- we were... we were here shooting for my show. I'm a parapsychologist — Haunted LA? Oh god, it was right behind me. We've got to get out of here!
The producer of Haunted L.A., a TV show investigating the paranormal. In truth, his show is a scam — he and his crew just go to creepy locations and make up stories. Unfortunately for them, the last location they visited, an abandoned hospital, happens to contain a real supernatural creature — namely, a flesh-eating vampire named Pisha. By the time you meet him, he is running away after seeing his entire crew getting slaughtered, leaving it up to you to prevent him from talking about what he saw and breaking the Masquerade...
- Accidental Truth: All of the Haunted L.A. episodes you can hear about are actually true to some extent, as you can find out in gameplay. There's a werewolf in Griffith Park, an undead entity (albeit not a ghostly nurse) in the abandoned hospital, and the Hollywood cemetery is full of zombies.
- Jerkass: You don't get to see him in action due to him being terrorized when you meet him, but Hannah's appointment book describes him as rather unpleasant. His computer also suggests he is rather cynical about his job being a con.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Pisha asks you to bring him back so she can eliminate him and make sure he won't talk about what he witnessed. While this is indeed the easiest way to complete the quest, it is possible to spare him if your Intimidation/Dominate/Dementation is high enough.
- Nervous Wreck: In every scene the player meets him, he looks as though he's about to have a heart attack at any moment. Given he's currently being hunted by a flesh-eating vampire that just killed his entire crew, this is more than justified.
- Phony Psychic: A Phony Parapsychologist, whose show consists of visiting creepy places and making up stories about ghosts and other supernatural creatures to entertain viewers.
- Screaming at Squick: If he meets a Nosferatu player, they won't even need to explain their appearance because Milligan will be too scared to get a word out.
- Skepticism Failure: Milligan doesn't believe in the supernatural, and his show is by his own admission "all bullshit". Unfortunately for him, he's in the Old World of Darkness, where there's a monster behind every corner. Considering his next episode was about the Hollywood cemetery, which has a chronic zombie problem, and a previous episode claimed there were werewolves in Griffith Park, which is true, it's a wonder this didn't happened sooner.
Venus Dare
Voiced by: Kat Cressida
Everybody comes in here's got to have to a shot - house rules: inhibition's the first thing to go. Two more of these, and you'll be telling me your nastiest, dirtiest stories; I am your Beat Priestess and it's time to confess.
The beautiful owner and bartender of the Confession Nightclub. Having started her club with the aid of a local Russian Mafia boss, she's gotten sick and tired of paying her benefactor with sexual favors, and needs an assassin — you.
- Accent Slip-Up: She normally speaks with a rather posh English accent, but it lapses a few times when she's particularly angry about something.
- Dominatrix: Her emails reveal that she plays this role for Fat Larry, though whether they're dating or just Friends with Benefits is unclear.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Shouts to be heard over the loud music in her club.
- Dude, Where's My Reward?: Only the first time. After her second quest you can become co-owner of her club (and gain a constant flow of money).
- Fake Brit: Boris calls her "the American bitch" several times, and she sometimes drops the accent when she gets mad.
- Good Pays Better: Assuming you're not about to finish the game, killing Boris for her (or convincing him to stop bothering Venus), will end up giving you more money than Boris promised for killing Venus.
- I Am Very British: Possesses one of the few non-American accent in the game, and it's incredibly plummy. Invoked, since she drops it when she's serious.
- In-Series Nickname: The Malkavian PC calls her "Love Goddess".
- Ms. Fanservice: Flirts with her customers to sell drinks.
- Precision F-Strike: She drops one regarding Boris. In this case, as a literal reference to the non-consensual Sex for Services arrangement he's roped her into.
- Sophisticated as Hell: She's good at weaving together profanity and clever wordplay.
- Stripperific: As part of her persona, she wears a tight t-shirt with a Cleavage Window and tight cutoff jeans.
- Vampires Own Night Clubs: Subverted in Camarilla Edition and Final Nights. In the new content, you find a computer belonging to some vampire hunters, which contains data stating that they suspected her to be a vampire until they spotted her walking outside during the day with Fat Larry. However, she was supposed to be the ghoul of an unnamed vampire during early development. Played straight in that when you complete her quests, you become her silent partner and she keeps a cut of the profits for you to pick up.
Tin Can Bill
Don't want to go back to the bad place, friend. [multiple coughs] Don't let the monster come back and take me there...
An old homeless man who was one of Brother Kanker's many victims to suffer the plague. The Fledgling ends up asking him for information during the Brotherhood of the Nine Circles questline.
- The Alcoholic: He clearly has a taste for alcohol, and if you agree to pay him for his info, he openly states he will buy himself some more. For medical purpose of course.
- Incurable Cough of Death: The Plague has left him on the verge of death with a heavy cough.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: You only get one conversation with him to learn about Brother Kanker. He then promptly dies regardless of your actions as a result of the Plague.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As a result of his encounter with Kanker, he is understandably terrorized by Nosferatus; if the Fledgling is a Nosferatu, he mistakes him for Kanker and immediately freaks out.
Humans met in Hollywood
David Hatter
Writer's such a tarnished term, you know what I mean? It's like... like, every other guy says he's a writer, right? You write a letter, you're a writer, you know? I-it's like... What I do, that's like, that's screenwriting, like, I encapsulate the essences of excellent film in my scripts, alright? Like, I'm a a- I'm like a blackmsith with pens, right; I'm a welder of montage.
A night clerk working at the Lucky Star Motel, friend of Velvet Velour, and an amateur writer who hopes to make his success with a screenplay he is working on. Unfortunately for him, said script happens to be an accurate depiction of Kindred Society. Velvet tasks you with getting your hands on his screenplay — preferably non-lethally — and destroy it to preserve the Masquerade.
- Boy Meets Ghoul: Unknowingly and platonically. He's not in on the Masquerade, but Velvet considers him an important friend all the same.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: For all his talk about how his work is "film genius" that will revolutionize Hollywood, he's a lonely, unsuccessful guy who has to buy most of his company and jumps at the chance to be recognized.
- Platonic Prostitution: Not prostitution, per se — he's a regular at Velvet Velour's strip club, but mostly goes to talk to the girls about his stories and his dream of becoming a professional writer. Zigzagged since he also hires Hannah for escort services involving some odd Noodle Implements.
- Shoot the Dog: While you thankfully don't get to see his reaction, you have to destroy his screenplay, thus obliterating his dream as a writer, to complete his quest. Unlike most of the other situations where you get to hurt people however, this one is fairly justified given the context.
- Shout-Out: His name is a play on screenwriter and voice actor David Hayter.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He's not been very successful, and since Julius has been helping to ghostwrite his work Humanity Versus the Vampire Lords simply because he knows it's all true, he doesn't seem to be as creative as he thinks he is. That said, he's surprisingly sympathetic, as noted under Inferiority Superiority Complex.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Just like Julius, the Thin-Blooded vampire who gives him ideas, he has no idea his work is a Masquerade breach. As far as David is concerned, it's nothing more than a really cool vampire story.
- Waiting for a Break: He works nights at a seedy Hollywood motel while he waits for his self-proclaimed screenwriting genius to be recognized.
Flynn Boyle
Man, we got everything you'll ever need. Soft-core, hard-core, gay, straight, farm or furry. We got shockers, shiverers, self-lubricators and strap-ons. Chains, crops and canes are in the back next to the triple-ripples. Like I said, we got it all.
The sleazy owner of the Sin Bin, an adult store in Hollywood. He employs the Hunter Chastity as a peep show dancer and can also give the player information about the mysterious snuff film sought by Isaac Abrams.
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Flynn will make you cough up an outrageous price for the Guy Magazine edition with Imalia on the cover. In addition, the pages are stuck together.
- Appropriated Appellation: The Malkavian player will call him the "Prince of Porn", much to his delight.
- Casanova Wannabe: He dresses and speaks in a way that positively reeks of this trope, greeting most female PCs in the most sleazy way by asking what he can do to her.
- Chivalrous Pervert: In spite of being a grade-A sleazebag, he seems genuinely worried about you when you declare your intention of tracking down Death Mask Productions, and all but begs you to back off.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Flynn is an unashamed pervert and has Seen It All, but even he is disturbed by the rumored Death Mask Productions' snuff film and doesn't even want a copy anywhere near him or his store.
- On a more humorous note, his PC reveals that while he's not too disgusted to sell the stuff in his store he thinks that a colleague who keeps going back to making what's either bestiality or extreme furry fetish porn "needs help."
- The Magazine Rule: Some of the press available in his store is very strange, to the point where it seems to be catering to completely random fetishes.
- Mr. Vice Guy: The guy runs a sleazy sex shop with peep shows and is very proud of his choice of work. He even comes off as kind of a creep. But he expresses genuine concern for your safety, and is even so accepting that he doesn't give two thoughts about the appearance of a Nosferatu.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His name and behavior make him come off as a stand-in for notorious pornographer Larry Flynt.
- Seen It All: To the point where he finds a Nosferatu PC's appearance not even worth commenting about, despite having absolutely no knowledge of the supernatural.
Samantha
Is it drugs? Something like that? Look, let me make a call — we'll get you some help. Nobody's judging you. They'll be happy to know you're alive!
A friend of the player character from before their Embrace that they unexpectedly meet in Hollywood.
- I Will Find You: Samantha and the PC's friends have been searching everywhere for them since their mysterious disappearance.
- Identical Stranger: What the player character can pretend to be for the sake of getting Samantha off their back, to her heartbroken disappointment. Unless you're playing a Malkavian, in which case you can use Dementation to convince her that you are her childhood pet turtle.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: If you're a Ventrue or Tremere, one possible way to stop her from talking is to use Trance on her before she makes the call, which apparently erase your encounter with her from her memory and completes the sidequest.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Another possibility to shut her up, losing the player one point of Humanity.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She have looked for you for days, if not weeks, she clearly cares about you and doesn't care if you've been doing drugs when she suspects it. That's really sweet. Too bad you're now a member of secret society and might have to kill her for knowing that you're still around.
- Secret-Keeper: Heartbreakingly subverted. No matter what, you can't admit to her who you are without her making the call.
- The Unreveal: While the interaction with her makes it clear she was close to the Fledgling when they were alive, we never find out exactly if they were friends, siblings, or love interests.
Slater
Voiced by: Josh Paskowitz
S'up? ... Oh. ... Welcome to Red Spot, home of the Monstro-Chug, 72 ounces of your favorite beverage for 89 cents, blah blah. You need some help or something?
The cashier at the Red Spot convenience store in Hollywood. A bored teenager looking to pay for his musical expenses, Slater also sells black market weapons if you ask him about "the special".
- Garage Band: His band, "Ebola Cereal".
- Ignore the Disability: He tries gamely not to react to the Nosferatu player character's horrific appearance. It doesn't work."Whoa! Uh, welcome to the Red Spot, home of the Monstro Face — I mean, Monstro Chug..."
- Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness: The Red Spot is the first store in the game to sell some of the most powerful ranged weapons available, compared to the much crappier guns available at the earlier stages.
- Soul-Sucking Retail Job: He is rather apathetic about work at the Red Spot.
- Totally Radical: He talks and acts like a stereotypical teenager.
- Unusual Euphemism: "The special", an unusually expensive drink that comes with a free weapon on the side.
Tawni Sessions
I mean, just look at her! Too fat, big teeth, and her complexion! Does she wash her face with a cheese grater?
— Imalia
A former "fluff girl" who, after Imalia's Embrace, replaced her as a celebrity and model, much to the latter's rage. Imalia tasks you with placing cameras in her house so she can get dirt on her and ruin her image.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: After your completed her questline, she turns out to have threesomes with her boyfriend and a Llama.
- Driven to Suicide: Completing Imalia's quest about her results in her being caught in a scandal and committing suicide as a result.
- Unknown Rival: She doesn't have a clue that Imalia is lurking in the sewers, hating her for her success. She had her modeling debut after Imalia's apparent "death", so they were never even direct competitors in the industry.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: You only get to interact with her for one quest, and never get to talk with her, since said quest requires her not to notice your presence. She then commits suicide, thus ensuring you will never get further occasions to talk to her.
Tommy Flayton
Maybe if I reviewed more Pancake Huts, you'd know me.
A self-important food critic who needs to be convinced to pan a particular cafe.
- Caustic Critic: Both in his disposition and in his reviews. In some dialogue paths, he's almost gleeful at the thought of savaging the Cavoletti Cafe in his column.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He opens the conversation with a long list of demands without bothering to check whether you're actually a waiter, and doesn't get any better from there. If you introduce yourself as a fan, however, he'll immediately change his stuck-up attitude and show some more courtesy to you.
- No-Sell: His many flaws notwithstanding, he cannot be successfully Intimidated into giving a bad review.
- The Prima Donna: He's at least significant enough to have an impact on the Cafe's business, and Recognition Failure from the player character provokes his absolute scorn, but his ego is fragile enough that he'll pan the restaurant just to prove that he's not going soft.
- Put Off Their Food: One way to complete the sidequest. Any player character can invent a horror story about the cafe's bad kitchen hygiene, a Malkavian can convince him that there are maggots in his food, and a Nosferatu can show off their boils (or just claim to be the chef).
- Straight Gay: A male player character can complete his sidequest by seducing him away from the table.
- Unwitting Pawn: You manipulate him into giving a negative review of the cafe in order to help LaCroix buy the property.
Death Mask Productions
I don't want any part of that scene. I hear people seein' that tape ain't been comin' home for dinner.
— Flynn Boyle
A Snuff Film company in Hollywood responsible for publishing a mysterious, disturbing video tape that terrorizes everyone and seems to be related to the supernatural. Isaac tasks you with recovering said tape for him.
- Asshole Victim: Snuff filmmakers preying on those in poverty to film their wares, themselves subjected to gruesome deaths. You even get a dialogue option about how karmic their fate is.
- Everyone Has Standards: On the receiving end; Isaac Abrams, a vampire, has nothing but disdain for their business, and the tape they made get horrified reactions from even people familiar with this type of movie.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Andrei has them slaughtered by his creations to make sure they don't blow his cover any longer.
- Snuff Film: Their stated business. As seen in their studio, their usual work involves porn sets, weapons, and torture implements, and that's before they find the Tzimisce's tape.
- Spanner in the Works: Them publishing a video showing Andrei's experiments are what indirectly causes Isaac to find out about the Tzimisce and send the Fledgling after him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: They had no idea about the Masquerade or the existence of vampires; they just found the tape without knowing what was on it and decided to distribute it while taking credit.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: By the time you make it to their studio, they have all been slaughtered but one, who survives just long enough to give you exposition before being killed as well.
Humans met in Chinatown
Ji Wen Ja and Lu Feng
Ji Wen Ja
Lu Fang
Voiced by: Keone Young (Lu Fang), Brian Mitsoda (Ji Wen Ja)
You want your fortune read? You give me five dollar, I give you "secret Chinese enlightenment"! Only stupid person not want to know future!
— Ji Wen Ja
Let me tell you something - you come closer so can hear - let me tell you something. Kids. Kids don't know nothing. Because... because you see them... you see them running in the street. They do crime, but not... not... not crime not organized! Just thugs! Just... shoot — bang! — and steal. It just a mess. Not so organized... hmmph.
— Lu Feng
Two NPCs involved in a Chinatown sidequest. They are former friends and retired Tong hitmen, who hid a pretty amount of cash (the bounty of a difficult contract they executed together), stored in a box with two keys (each being held by one of them). Each of them tries to hire the player character in order to kill the other and steals his key, then share the treasure with the player character.
- The Alcoholic: Lu Fang spends his time walking between the Red Dragon bar and the toilets.
- Artificial Atmospheric Actions: Lu Fang's action solely consists in looping between the bar and the toilets. From a gameplay perspective, it serves to provide a safe spot in which the player character can stealthily attack him without turning the whole bar hostile.
- Bilingual Bonus: Lu Fang, voiced by native speaker Keone Young, peppers his dialogue with authentic Cantonese. (Ji Wen Ja, voiced by the non-Chinese-speaking Brian Mitsoda, does not.)
- Contract on the Hitman: Each of them tries to hire the fledgling to kill the other, fearing for their life.
- Con Man: Ji Wen Ja makes a living by giving out fortune-cookie-like gibberish while pretending to be a fortune teller.
- Deadpan Snarker: When Ji Wen Ja begins to explain he wants someone to disappear, you'll have the option to ask him if he is talking about committing a murder. His answer:"Why don't you say it a little louder, so people on next block can hear? Yeah, that's what I mean."
- Even Evil Has Standards: Each of them will give you some dirt on the other. Ji Wen Ja tells you that Lu Fang used to kill women, children, and puppies, whereas Lu Fang will claim that Ji Wen Ja is a child molester. It's never made clear if either of them is telling the truth, but they both use these accusations to motivate you to kill the other.
- Flipping the Bird: The only time they spoke in 25 years was when Ji Wen Ja insulted Lu Fang while giving him the middle finger two weeks before their quest happened.
- Fortune Teller: Ji Wen Ja makes a living telling "phony-baloney fortunes", which he is the first to admit are total nonsense.
- Hypocritical Humor: Each one insists he couldn't trust the other to keep up his word - after all, that guy kills people for a living!
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Lu Feng will refer to the player as "Quiet Lady/Guy". Given that the player has several dialogue options and contributes quite a bit to conversations for an RPG protagonist, the nickname makes no real sense outside of referencing the meta fact that the PC is unvoiced.
- Red Baron: According to him, Ji Wen Ja is Chinese for "underworld travel agent"; vaguely equivalent to "Charon" in the West, doubling as Names to Run Away from Really Fast.
- Retired Badass: They both assure the player that they were quite apt at their jobs.
- Retired Monster: Neither of them seem all that broken up about the people they assassinated.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Ji Wen Ja is pretty rude to the fledgling for someone who thinks they're a Professional Killer. He'll even brush it off if a Nosferatu warns him to watch his mouth.
- Shout-Out: Lu Fang's name may be a reference to Fu Leng, though the two characters have little else in common.
- Take a Third Option: You are supposed to kill one of them and bring his key to the other, who then shares the treasure with you. With a high enough level in persuasion, it is instead possible to convince then to become friends again and share the money, which grants a higher XP reward and a Humanity gain (albeit no money, not that that should be much of a concern at this point).
- The Triads and the Tongs: Retired members who lament the Villainous Ethics Decay of the modern-day Tong.
- We Used to Be Friends: Before greed and paranoia got in the way.
- You No Take Candle: They both speak like this, though Lu Fang does it to a bigger extreme.
Tseng
Voiced by: Keone Young
The merchant in the Chinatown area, Tseng inherited his family's herbal medicine store and is more than happy to help you with good herbal remedies for all your Tong-related problems. He has most definitely never been involved with the Chinese Army.
- Bad Liar: He is a terrible pharmacist.
- Deadly Euphemism:Tseng: Hold on please! [the shelf behind him turns, revealing an arsenal worth of guns] These are good remedies for many problems. No credit cards.
- Eyepatch of Power: As seen in the above image.
- Friend in the Black Market: No, Tseng only sells medicine, not illegal weaponry.
- Insistent Terminology: He deals exclusively in herbal remedies. Such as those currently mounted on his rotating shelf. High caliber, well-oiled, fully automatic herbal remedies ready to dispense their, ah... curative powers downrange.
- Large Ham: He does nothing by halves.
- Averted if a Nosferatu player greets him: he starts like usual only to get so shocked that he softly skips his dialogue and gets right to the point.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: He is dressed in a People's Liberation Army officer uniform, speaks in a very martial tone, and has a bit of trouble with his cover story:Tseng: Selling remedies is honest work! I came to America after discharge from Chinese Arm— uh, herbal remedies forces, to help ageing parents with store! Definitely I am now American citizen! God bless the allegiance flag!
- Overt Operative: No telling if he's still an operative, but no one is fooled for a second.
Wong Ho
Voiced by: Michael Yama
For a long time, I have been trying to clean up Chinatown. It was a difficult job, but the community came together and we started to take back our streets from the criminals like the Tong. Businesses re-opened, families moved back into their homes. [...] I thought that the Tong were almost gone, but then something happened. Their numbers began to grow and suddenly they had a lot of money to buy weapons. With them followed the drugs and the violence. It is almost worse now than before.
A Chinese immigrant/businessman and pillar of the local community in Chinatown. His honest nature and desire for a safe, crime-free environment put him afoul of a local gang.
- Actual Pacifist: Despises violence, and asks you to try not to use it on his behalf during his quests.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: Averted. Wong Ho has an accent, but it makes him sound like a real immigrant rather than a caricature. Notably, his diction is eloquent and he's entirely fluent in English.
- Broken Pedestal: Respects and trusts Ming Xiao immensely, and at first, he will angrily refuse to listen to the fledgling speak ill of her. Later on, with a little bit of persuasion and irrefutable evidence that she is trying to kill him, you can finally convince him that Ming Xiao is, in fact, a dangerous and evil person. He flees Chinatown with his daughter and goes into hiding.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Owns a lot of real-estate in Chinatown, but he's very clearly on the side of law and order.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Believes Ming Xiao to be a holy woman and won't hear a word against her. This is a shame, as she is behind the various attacks on him and plotting his death. Finding out and warning him can save his life, though he still has trouble believing the truth.
- I Have Your Daughter: His daughter, Kiki, is kidnapped by a local street gang during the Chinatown quests, and he agrees to help you in return for her rescue.
- Killed Offscreen: If you lack the persuasion skill needed to convince him that Ming Xiao is bankrolling the Tong and plotting his death, he will hesitate to leave town with Kiki and instead go to confront Ming himself; the newscaster will later report his death.
- Nice Guy: Wong Ho is one of the small pool of genuinely moral people in the game, and, assuming you aren't a monster yourself, he never fails to give you thanks and respect for your actions.
- Non-Action Guy: Well, he's a mild-mannered middle-aged business man and his enemies are a gun-toting street gang, an army of corporate mercenaries, and a Kuei-jin and her violent cult of killers.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: An honest businessman who works to keep his community safe, clean, and weapon-free; he's set upon by the sinister Ming Xiao's kuei jin and their catspaws, the criminal Tong.
- Spoiled Brat: Not him, but his daughter, Kiki. He loves her very much, but she's got a rotten personality and no qualms about expressing it.
Yukie Ogami
A Japanese demon hunter who works in a noodle shop in Chinatown, currently searching for the demon who murdered her sensei.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: In the patch, she'll show up to help you storm Ming Xiao's sanctuary at the very end of the game.
- Action Girl: She is a hunter, and actively takes part in the fight against Zygaena.
- Artificial Limbs: Her left arm is a prosthetic, though obviously a very advanced and meticulously decorated one.
- Demon Slaying: What she believes to be her profession. Technically, they're something else.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: She wears armor on her left arm, the arm she doesn't hold her sword with.
- Foreshadowing: A random computer in Hollywood contains e-mails from a classmate who wonders what she's up to in America.
- Gratuitous Japanese: She randomly inserts Japanese words into her dialogue, such as "Arigatou gozaimasu" ("Thank you very much"). She also pronounces Los Angeles as "Rosu Angeresu", despite not having any trouble differentiating between L and R at any other point. Her pronunciation of "Los Angeles" is also completely different from how Japanese normally pronounce it (Rosanzerusu). It is possible she does it intentionally to play up the stereotype and get people to underestimate her.
- It's Personal: She's come to America to hunt the Hengeyokai Zygaena, who devoured her master.
- Hunter of Monsters: Was trained in the "Demon" slaying business by a master whom she has come to America to avenge.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Wields one in combat, and it's one of the better melee weapons in the game. Hers is apparently an heirloom from her master.
- Knight in Sour Armor: After helping her kill Zygaena, if you've proven to be a jerk Yukie will give a somewhat cynical farewell."Defy your nature, demon, man can suffer without your help. Sayonara."
- Little Miss Badass: A young, rather cute japanese girl in a miniskirt... who also happens to be a katana-wielding demon hunter capable of identifying you as a vampire on sight.
- Odd Friendship: Downplayed in that you don't have quite enough interaction with her to form a particularly strong form of bond, but if you help her in her quest to find Zygaena, she comes to respect you enough that she will wish you well. When you first meet her, this actually gets lampshaded by her pointing out how strange it is for a hunter like her to casually chat with one of the very beings she is supposed to slay. With the patch installed, she shows up again at the end of the game to help you attack Ming-Xiao's stronghold.
- Shout-Out: To the "teenage girl hunting monsters" genre of anime.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Averted. Aside from being the only hunter to not attack you on sight, Yukie says that her culture differentiates between good and bad demons, and if you prove to be the former she wishes you well after you help her kill Zygaena."May you find your path, demon."
Zhao
I am a man of my word and I owed a debt to Wong Ho. By paying that debt, I have made an enemy of the Tong, who I once belonged to.
A friend of Wong Ho who is well-informed about the Tong, and reveals to him where they are holding his daughter captive when she is kidnapped. Wong Ho later directs you to him in order to help you find Barabus.
- The Atoner: He once was a ruthless Tong leader, until Wong Ho befriended him and helped him reform.
- Dark Secret: The reason he knows so much about the Tong is because he used to lead them, and was quite ruthless at that. He eventually retired and became a nicer person.
- Face Death with Dignity: He knows perfectly well the Tong is coming for him after is betrayal, yet takes it very calmly and grabs a gun to make a last stand.
- Honor Before Reason: He knows full well that helping Wong Ho will mark him as a traitor in the eyes of the Tong and cause them to come for him, but decides to do it anyway because of his debt toward the man.
- I Owe You My Life: It's unclear if it's really his life that he owed, but he apparently had a debt toward Wong Ho, which is the reason he helped him.
- Killed Off for Real: Very likely his final fate once he has given you the information you needed. It is possible to save him if you are able to focus all the Tong Mooks' attention on you rather than him and if you are combat-oriented enough, but this is very difficult.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He helps save Wong Ho's daughter by providing him with the location where she is held captive, and later gives you a lead to find Barabus. Unfortunately for him, the Tong quickly figure out he's the one who betrayed them and launch an assault soon after he gives you the information, which very likely results in his death; and even if he does survive, he'll have to move away and make a new life somewhere else.
Other humans
Dr. Ingvar Johansen
The sarcophagus? You went through all that trouble for the sarcophagus?
The archaeologist who discovered the Ankaran Sarcophagus. This makes him the most likely to open it — which, unfortunately for him, means he ends up kidnapped by the Society of Leopold under the pretense of "protection", with the intention of using him as bait for LaCroix. The Fledgling ends up tasked with rescuing him and learning whatever he can from him.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Averted; he is a pretty normal archaeologist who is ill-fitted for adventures, and when asked about the details of his work, he insists it's mostly boring to talk about.
- Dark Secret: With high enough persuasion you can convince him to divulge his: he only discovered the sarcophagus in the first place because an anonymous source, assuredly Jack, revealed its location to him. He's convinced his career would fall to ruin were this made public.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not much, given the stressful situation he's in, but if the player character claims to have the same disease that caused ancient nobles to drink blood, he dryly tells them that there are iron supplements for that sort of thing nowadays.
- Irony: He'll scoff at the concept of vampires existing to you, a vampire.
- Locked Out of the Loop: He is completely unaware of the existence of Kindred, and presumes the Society of Leopold are mad men who kidnapped him. When interrogated about what might be in the sarcophagus, he makes it perfectly clear he doesn't believe for a second a vampire might be inside.
- Nice Guy: Aside from being understandably annoyed and scared about his kidnapping, he is a pretty kind man, and will warmly thank you if you rescue him.
- Skepticism Failure: As noted above, he doesn't believe in the supernatural, and openly mocks the idea a vampire might be in the Sarcophagus. Subverted, in that while vampires do exist in this setting (something he never finds out), he is correct about the Sarcophagus containing nothing more than a mundane corpse, albeit a very important one to him as a research specimen.
- Stock Foreign Name: Ingvar Johansen is a common Norwegian name, though the first name is largely falling out of use. He also has a notable Norwegian accent.
- Unwitting Pawn: If pressed, he will admit that he was mailed a mysterious package with information that let him find the Sarcophagus and its key. He knows something was fishy about it, but has no idea of its significance behind the Masquerade.
- Video Game Caring Potential: You can choose to carefully lead him to the escape boat (which will make the timeframe of getting to the boat before the place explodes much tighter).
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Or you can just leave him behind.
