Pisha's Museum Quest

[wewak]

Hello, Kindreds! New to this game. Would like to ask a question regarding a quest.

I had two active quests where the objects I should retrieve where both located in the museum. The sarcophagus (Lacroix's quest) and an unidentified object requested by Pisha (a female flesh-eating vampire that lives in the abandoned hospital downtown).

However, once I've located the place in the museum where the sarcophagus should be a cutscene kicked in and I was forced out of the museum afterwards, unable to retrieve Pisha's object.
Now the museum is no more an option in the map, so apparently I cannot finish Pisha's quest anymore.

Is that how is it supposed to be or am I missing something.

I really want to complete Pisha's quests because I assume that by doing so she will give or sell me books that will improve my mental attributes (the very essence of my char) since she seems to be a scientist/scholar/ocultist of sorts.

Thanks.

[VioletShadow]

You are supposed to find Pisha's object before getting to the sarcophagus. It's in one of the rooms, can't remember which now but it's easy to find a walkthrough that will point you in the right direction. At this point your only option is to reload an earlier save if you want to get it. Otherwise, no way to go back. You get a seriously nice reward for getting her the object.

[wewak]

I'll do that. Thanks a lot!

[Munin VonGoodykoontz]

Yeah, unfortunately once you've completed the mission that zone is locked; if you didn't get Pisha's item you need to replay through the museum (something I just had to do a couple nights ago because I didn't save mid-way through the museum...)

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Escrito originalmente por Munin VonGoodykoontz:

Yeah, unfortunately once you've completed the mission that zone is locked; if you didn't get Pisha's item you need to replay through the museum (something I just had to do a couple nights ago because I didn't save mid-way through the museum...)

That and the mansion you come across later in-game are the only two places you can't come back to, from my knowledge.

[Touch of Oblivion]

Escrito originalmente por -3xA'Lu©κy:

Escrito originalmente por Munin VonGoodykoontz:

Yeah, unfortunately once you've completed the mission that zone is locked; if you didn't get Pisha's item you need to replay through the museum (something I just had to do a couple nights ago because I didn't save mid-way through the museum...)

That and the mansion you come across later in-game are the only two places you can't come back to, from my knowledge.

You also can't go back to the Tzimisce's house and Grout's house(the Malk primogen the Prince sends you to find)

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Escrito originalmente por Touch Of Oblivion:

Escrito originalmente por -3xA'Lu©κy:

That and the mansion you come across later in-game are the only two places you can't come back to, from my knowledge.

You also can't go back to the Tzimisce's house and Grout's house(the Malk primogen the Prince sends you to find)

Right you are.

[virpyre]

The first artifact you'll be looking for will be the Fetish Statue in the museum. However, you will not be able to enter the museum until you've completed the Calling Dr. Grout quest. Once you've been given access to the museum.

Next, you'll be tracking down the book from the Giovanni Mansion. Unfortunately, you will not be able to visit the mansion until late in the game during the Italian Dinner quest. When you finally reach that point, though, the Giovanni Book can be found on a counter in the embalming room. You can reach the embalming room through the secret door in the library.

[CrackeR]

Pisha's Museum Quest item is in a room you can only get in by breaking the glass, crouching and jumping in...at least thats the only way i found to get in :)

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Escrito originalmente por Cracker:

Pisha's Museum Quest item is in a room you can only get in by breaking the glass, crouching and jumping in...at least thats the only way i found to get in :)

Yeah that's the only way.

[The vintage feeling]

Greetings Arabesque,

I just wanted to add, for the shake of lore, that Pisha belongs to the ancient clan of Nagaraja (commonly known as Flesh-Eaters), which are associated with a death cult in Middle East that ritually consumed human flesh and opened gateways into the lands of the dead. Thus came Nagaraja's weakness: they must consume raw flesh in addition to blood to survive.
Nagaraja don't belong to any of the major sects (Camarilla, Sabbat, Anarchs) and their disciplines are Auspex, Dominate and Necromancy.

Hope it helped,
Vintage

[wewak]

Escrito originalmente por The vintage feeling:

Greetings Arabesque,

I just wanted to add, for the shake of lore, that Pisha belongs to the ancient clan of Nagaraja (commonly known as Flesh-Eaters), which are associated with a death cult in Middle East that ritually consumed human flesh and opened gateways into the lands of the dead. Thus came Nagaraja's weakness: they must consume raw flesh in addition to blood to survive.
Nagaraja don't belong to any of the major sects (Camarilla, Sabbat, Anarchs) and their disciplines are Auspex, Dominate and Necromancy.

Hope it helped,
Vintage

Thanks for the info, Vintage, but unfortunately (or fortunately) Pisha is not a member of the Nagaraja clan anymore. Upon completing her fetching quest and getting me some exquisite items in return, I decided to show my gratitude by cold bloodedly murdering her. And I did it even before her little friends could even touch me.

I confess I was expecting to gain some humanity out of it - to no avail of course. Well, the humanity mechanics is just silly anyway. If vampires have humanity, what sets them apart? They're just humans with big fangs and X-men like powers, right? [Nevermind me. Just a silly, out of place rant]

[scintillating luminescence]

It appears like you view Humanity "from the top" - as in, how close you are to being human. Instead, view Humanity "from the bottom" - as in, how close you are to the Beast.

It is normally very hard to gain Humanity and very easy to lose it. Over a long unlife, a vampire on the Path of Humanity will eventually lose most of it through the course of time. The level of Humanity also has several other side-effects; for instance, a vampire with less than Humanity 7 can be sensed by Werewolves pretty easily, the Humanity rating also determines how long the vampire spends in Torpor, and it's also used for Frenzy checks (see: how close you are to the Beast)

There are other Paths besides Humanity, but in general, non-Sabbat characters are almost always on the Path of Humanity.

[wewak]

Escrito originalmente por AJ:

It appears like you view Humanity "from the top" - as in, how close you are to being human. Instead, view Humanity "from the bottom" - as in, how close you are to the Beast.

The same thing could be applied for humans themselves. At least the way the game presents it. That is, as we commit ourselves to unnatural, inhuman acts we lose our humanity and, as a consequence, get closer to the "beast within". So this is a mere transfer from a human concept, i. e., that our nature is dual, or better said, vertical (divine [top]/bestial [bottom]).

And that is exactly where the modern vampire lore loses all its charm in my opnion. The vampires are just...humans with superpowers.

If I create, let's say, a character who is an ogre and estructure it in such a way that he resembles in every aspect but his appearance a human being, it would be just an arbitrary use of a preexisting symbol to convey a certain message in a story. Shrek is an ogre in his appearance just for the sake of telling a story whose motto is basically "how one looks is not what one is".

But Shrek does not try to redefine what an ogre is, i.e., a giant monster who is fond of eating human flesh. It just borrows from that preexisting image to better convey the moral of the story, completely removing it from any undesirable aspect and turning it into a human with the appearance of an ogre.

The same cannot be said, apparently, about the new vampire lore, because it is at odds with the old lore in many ways. It expands upon it, with a fully-fledged origin story, but also departs from it and seeks its own path.

Thus the new lore tries to redefine itself by borrowing from a preexisting imagetic form, the vampire, while at the same time getting rid of most of the undesirable aspects that plague its counterpart. Specially the fact that a vampire is not human being because it has lost its soul. It is evil in nature, like a demon.

By creating a being who is essentially a human with prominent fangs, the vampire ceases to be a symbol to become a mere fetish. There is no more horror and despair in being turned into a souless being condemned to walk the earth in ethernal darkness and feeding on the life essence of other humans, because there is no more darkness and you can keep your soul intact in the form of a humanity gauge. The meaning and the symbolism are lost. Now it's cool to be a vampire. With the added bonus of having super powers.

With such big an overhaul on what a vampire is, it is only natural that things like Twilight would sooner or later come up. After all, what sets now the vampires apart from humans except for a few incidental physical traits?

Side note: Please, make no mistake, I'm not trying to offend or troll the VTM community. I'm just honestly presenting my assesment on this particular point of the lore, the humanization of the vampire. That's all.

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Escrito originalmente por arabesque:

Escrito originalmente por AJ:

It appears like you view Humanity "from the top" - as in, how close you are to being human. Instead, view Humanity "from the bottom" - as in, how close you are to the Beast.

The same thing could be applied for humans themselves. At least the way the game presents it. That is, as we commit ourselves to unnatural, inhuman acts we lose our humanity and, as a consequence, get closer to the "beast within". So this is a mere transfer from a human concept, i. e., that our nature is dual, or better said, vertical (divine [top]/bestial [bottom]).

And that is exactly where the modern vampire lore loses all its charm in my opnion. The vampires are just...humans with superpowers.

If I create, let's say, a character who is an ogre and estructure it in such a way that he resembles in every aspect but his appearance a human being, it would be just an arbitrary use of a preexisting symbol to convey a certain message in a story. Shrek is an ogre in his appearance just for the sake of telling a story whose motto is basically "how one looks is not what one is".

But Shrek does not try to redefine what an ogre is, i.e., a giant monster who is fond of eating human flesh. It just borrows from that preexisting image to better convey the moral of the story, completely removing it from any undesirable aspect and turning it into a human with the appearance of an ogre.

The same cannot be said, apparently, about the new vampire lore, because it is at odds with the old lore in many ways. It expands upon it, with a fully-fledged origin story, but also departs from it and seeks its own path.

So it seeks to redefine itself while at the same time borrowing from a preexisting imagetic form, the vampire, and getting rid of most of the undesirable aspects that plague its counterpart. Specially the fact that a vampire is not human being because it has lost its soul. It is evil in nature, like a demon.

By creating a vampire that is essentially human with prominent fangs, the vampire ceases to be a symbol to become a mere fetish. There is no more horror and despair in being turned into a souless being condemned to walk the earth in ethernal darkness and feeding on the life essence of other humans, because there is no more darkness and you can keep your soul intact in the form of a humanity gauge. The meaning and the symbolism are lost. Now it's cool to be a vampire. With the added bonus of having super powers.

With such big an overhaul on what a vampire is, it is only natural that things like Twilight would sooner or later come up. After all, what sets them apart from humans except for a few incidental physical traits?

Side note: Please, make no mistake, I'm not trying to offend or troll the VTM community. I'm just honestly presenting my assesment on this particular point of the lore, the humanization of the vampire. That's all.

Good post. I definetly agree with the human comparison (in regards to humanity) and I think that's certainly valid.

[The vintage feeling]

Escrito originalmente por arabesque:

Specially the fact that a vampire is not human being because it has lost its soul. It is evil in nature, like a demon.

An excellent point there, Arabesque; well said.

Concerning the humanization of the vampire as well as the role that Humanity trait plays in Vampire the Masquerade universe, I'm posting an interview of Mark Rein Hagen (the creator of Vampire the Masquerade role playing game). The part which concerns us the most starts at 1:10:00, although the video is very interesting in its whole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_atSHNVufk