Details about successfully completing the confrontation with the Hartford Chantry and Deneb Osborne in Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong, including how to reach the Hartford Chantry, what dialog options to pick, and what happens if you free the vampire prisoner.

How to Reach the Hartford Chantry¶

To reach the Hartford Chantry you’ll have to reach the end of Emem’s second scene (Scene 04 - Unknown), which requires you to progress through the scene until you perform your second Blink jump, which in turn occurs after recovering your first missing memory (while looking at the Jefferson Library sign). You should find yourself on a ledge with a well-furnished study across from some sundered stairs that lead to a tower. Use Blink to cross between the two sections of stairs and enter the tower, where you’ll find some grooved concentric circles on the floor.

You’ll now need to use the elevator in the center of the tower, which will require you to complete three different ring puzzles, one of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor. To activate the elevator on each floor you’ll need to move the concentric rings and line up their grooves, creating a channel from the pedestal (bottom of the screen) to the center of the lift. Once you reach the 4th floor you’ll be able to cross through a portal, beyond which you’ll encounter the Hartford Chantry, led by Deneb Osborne.

Be sure to complete everything else in the scene before you progress, as this is the point of no return. Various objectives you should complete include:

• Find all Emem’s memories.
• Obtain the Tremere Potion.
• Obtain the Tremere Brooch.
• Feast on every rat and vessel. Even if you don’t need to do so to lower your Hunger, it’ll rank up your Controlled Hunt, Beastly Hunt and Rat Eater talents. Waste not, want not…
• Free the vampire prisoner atop the tower.

How to Win the Confrontation with the Hartford Chantry and Deneb Osborne¶

As with all confrontation, you’ll have to progress through several stages of dialog and say the right things (it’s worth noting that the skill checks aren’t always the best options) to win enough stages to win the confrontation. In this case there are four stages to this confrontation, and you can miss twice, which is fairly generous, all things considered.

Respond to Janis Wakefield¶

Before you get to Deneb Osborne, you’ll have to deal with one of his underlings, Janis Wakefield, who is fairly aggressive and accuses the Prince of betraying the Hartford Chantry. This stage is pretty straightforward - it’s a simple Intimidation 1 check. If you don’t have Intimidation Rank I, or if RNG isn’t on your side, you’ll have to take the miss:

• Intimidation 1: “Defend”

It’s not too bad, though, even with Intimidation Rank I you can Focus up to Intimidation 2 and enjoy a 90%+ chance of success, with only a 10% chance that your opponent will Focus to match you.

Respond to Deneb Osborne’s Accusation of Betrayal¶

After dealing with Janis, Deneb will intervene and will mention the magic at work in the prison and its effects on you. You can attempt a Deduction 2 check, but your response here is largely unimportant.

Cut through the small talk and Deneb will also accuse the Prince of betrayal, although in a somewhat less hostile way than Janis. When you get a chance to respond you’ll have several dialog checks you can attempt, but there’s ultimately no need to bother unless you’re confident in ultimate success and have the Willpower to burn. Respond with the following:

• Psychology 2: “He knows there’s no way I can prove it.”
• Persuasion 2: “If I wanted to destroy them, I wouldn’t have come alone.”
• Rhetoric 3: “We would have never dared to attack them.”
• “Hazel spent months preparing for that party.”

You’ll get another dialog option after this, but it doesn’t affect the outcome of the confrontation.

What Were the Terms of the Alliance?¶

For the third phase of the confrontation, Deneb Osborne will decide to waste your time with trivial, demanding you state the terms of the alliance between the Hartford Chantry and the Prince… presumably to ensure you’re capable of negotiating in good faith? In any event, if you explored thoroughly in Scene 01 you should know the answer to this, and if not, you can always attempt the Persuasion 2 check:

• “The agreement about the blood trade.”
• Persuasion 2: “Of course I know it!”

Respond to Deneb Osborne’s Reparation Demands¶

Finally, Deneb will come to the heart of the matter - the Hartford Chantry suffered massive losses during the attack, and he’s keen to use the Prince’s security failure to extract better alliance terms. While the Education 2 option seems promising, it won’t achieve your goal, but if you can choose it, you might as well do so for the rank you’ll get in its relevant talent.

To appease Deneb Osborne and the Hartford Chantry you’ll have to radically overstep your authority and promise to give up what’s not yours to offer:

• “A neighborhood in Boston.”

Make the deal or purposefully take the loss if you won enough previous stages. Either way, should you have passed at least two of the four stages you’ll win the confrontation, which will net you around 25 XP when the scene ends.

What Happens to the Hartford Chantry if You Free the Vampire Prisoner?¶

If you solved the extra puzzles in the tower and freed the vampire prisoner atop of said tower, all the intricate negotiations mentioned above are moot, as the vampire prisoner - Kurt Densch - will render the Hartford Chantry quite incapable of demanding any concessions out of the Prince… or anybody else, for that matter.

While this definitely seems like a fail considering what Emem’s goals were (and indeed, the objectives to meet and negotiate with the Hartford Chantry will both be listed as failures in the post-scene debriefing) you’ll still get the full 150 XP for the scene, so at least as far as XP goes you’re not missing out on anything here.