Tracking

[Marcus]

Hi all,

I'm playing a Requiem chronicle as Master and players of mine have come across a Werewolves pack. They managed to escape by using a car and now the pack is tracking them down.
The mechanic of tracking is quite clear to me. What I'm struggling to achieve is how to explain or justify, narratively speaking, how would be any human being (because the tracking system seems to apply also to no werewolf being) without any supernatural mean, able to track down a car in a huge city.

I know werewolves have supernatural power which could be used to justify this, but I'd like to have from you, which are more expert than me on this mechanic, a generic explanation, also from a human point of view (or without involving gifts at least. This way I could use the same mechanic also for my players when they want to track down anyone.

The point is: yes, car is leaving or could leaves tire tracks around the area where they lost their hunters. But then, back to the city, there would be tons of same kind of tire. Also, vampire are not trackeable by blood smell as they do not have their own smell as per the book. They smell of what is surranding or has sourranded them. Their blood is the blood of may victims, and so on.

What kind of tracking example could I provide?

Isn't in general too easy the traking mechanic? Especially if not contested? Seems they can try as much as they want even if a roll is failed.

Other extreme example: One of them is taking the car to a river, sinkin it, than litterally fly away as crow. How could I justify him being tracked down?

[nofather]

The werewolf tracking mechanics do seem to be built around werewolves, so the rules seem to use supernatural justifications.

And while a vampire might not ping off the ability to track a quarry's blood when tasted, they would still have a scent that would be recognizable from one place to another.

So, knowing the car they escaped in, you would have marks from the tires, the passing of the vehicle through intersections, being caught on the variety of security cameras that exist through the city, the car and its occupants having a scent that leaves a trail through the city, the variety of witnesses one could ask, and the presence of minor spirits of flight and pursuit around prey and spirits of death and blood and hunger that might be around vampires.

As for justification for harder searches, there's always the Impossible Spoor gift, which costs 1 Experience. 'All Uratha are superb hunters — those with this Facet surpass their fellows. The Uratha’s senses are attuned to unusual or otherwise impossible traces. The lingering photons disturbed by the prey’s shadow; the slowly settling ripple of air currents disturbed by the prey; the electromagnetic handshake of the prey’s smartphone with a wireless hotspot — all leave a trail this werewolf can follow.'

Keep in mind there's all manner of modifications you can add for the prey's side of things, but if they're not actively trying to eliminate traces of their passing they'll probably be found at some point. People can be found even in a city, and vampires are easier to pick out in a crowd with certain abilities.