and entrusts the fledgling with recruiting the anarchs to punish the Kuei-Jin for murdering Grout. The fledgling finds Nines hiding in Griffith Park, and they are then attacked by a werewolf, and Nines is badly injured. The fledgling escapes with Jack, who reveals that LaCroix has issued an execution on the fledgling for framing Nines on orders from Ming-Xiao. The ending varies, depending on whom, if anyone, the fledgling allies with. If the fledgling supports LaCroix or Ming-Xiao, each sends the fledgling to kill the other. LaCroix opens the sarcophagus to be killed with the fledgling by hidden explosives; Ming-Xiao betrays the fledgling, chaining them to the sarcophagus and sinking it into the ocean. Supporting the anarchs, or no one, makes the fledgling kill Ming-Xiao and maim LaCroix, who is killed after he opens the sarcophagus. If the fledgling opens the sarcophagus, they die in the explosion. If the fledgling is a Tremere, they kill Ming-Xiao; Tremere leader Maximillian Strauss replaces LaCroix, and the sarcophagus is stored. Each ending has Jack watching from afar with the mummy taken from the coffin and the enigmatic taxi driver who transports the fledgling between locations, who says, "The blood of Caine controls our fate ... Farewell, vampire." Development Conception The development of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines began at Troika Games in November 2001. The developers wanted to put a role-playing game in a first-person setting, believing that the genre had become stale. Troika approached publisher Activision with its idea; Activision suggested using the Vampire: The Masquerade license used a year earlier in Nihilistic Software's Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, which had experienced sufficient success to merit a sequel. Instead of developing a sequel to Redemption, the development team researched the White Wolf property, including the game's rules and storylines. Troika was a small game studio with five developers and a total staff of thirty-two (including lead writer Brian Mitsoda, who joined the team less than a year after development began). Although some preliminary designs and levels were completed, much of the work was abandoned or redeveloped. Troika wanted to make a 3D game but was uncertain whether to build a new game engine or license an existing one and whether to use first- or third-person. At that time, the Source game engine was being built by Valve. Valve employee Scott Lynch approached Troika about using the engine, and it was the first