Evening Underground Tours

[Kenneth Gilroy]

I've never been on this tour so please forgive me any mistakes. To avoid calls of plagiarism I also admit to stealing somewhat shamelessly from Vassagon's previous thread. Which oddly enough I didn't realize existed until I saw the suggested link at the bottom of this thread :P

Thank you dears," she said after all that had been sorted out. She began to usher them around the outside of the museum.

"As I was saying, I'm Miss Odessa and I'll be your tour guide and historic hostess this evening. I arrived in Sacramento City on the steamboat George Washington from San Francisco on Aug 16, 1849 at the age of 38 vowing never to marry again. By that time I had married three times but had sadly buried three husbands. I married the first time with my heart, the second time with my spirit and the third with my mind. If only God had seen it fit to put all of these traits into one mortal my life's journey would have been very different. As it was I had learned enough to make a very good match maker if I do say so myself."

They rounded the corner and came upon a large red door. When the woman opened it, a flight of stairs was revealed leading down.

"If you'll follow me honey, " she said to the Haunt following behind her before she started down the stairs. The rooms she takes them to has red brick walls and is cooler even than the summer night above, though the air is damper. Wooden supports are placed at regular intervals and there are several informational placards scattered around. The Kindred are able to wander are a little if they want and even converse. Miss Odessa continues to speak and doesn't seem to find any side comments offensive.

"Of course in 1849 Sacramento was a much different place. It had only just adopted a city charter. Hadn't even been recognized by the state legislator and barely even a couple years old. The town had practically appeared overnight because of the Gold Rush, bringing miners and businessmen to the Embarcadero. And my, with that many miners and businessmen other enterprises sprung up short thereafter. Matchmakers for single men," she said indicating herself "and...," she gave a wink to Sergei "other types of matchmakers for lonely men."

"Gracious, those first years were wild," she said fanning herself some more. The stink was harder to ignore down here "And not just because of the occasional shoot outs. You she the city founders didn't realize that by building at the river junction they had made themselves ripe for flooding. The waters spilled the banks in both 1849 and 1850. An effort was made to build levies and dams but between storms, the cholera and then a fire in 1852, the city was nearly torn to the ground. Of course, holding true to to the American spirit, the townsfolk decide, rather than move, they would simply rebuild out of brick and then raise the city up so it couldn't be flooded. So in 1853 thousands of cubic yards of earth were brought in on wagons. The old courthouse alone took 300 men armed with wheelbarrows and jackscrews which they turned, lifting the building perhaps inches a day."



Kenneth walked over to one of the informational boards that detailed to early attempts at law enforcement within the city. He only scanned it though. He was still stunned at the shear expansiveness of the underground. To be honest he had been expecting tight squeezes and low ceilings and narrow corridors. When he had read that the tour was of the old buildings left behind after Sacramento was raised nearly ten feet, it hadn't quite clicked that the old city was still very much underfoot. He should have started his search here. After months of trudging through sewers this was a type of luxury.

"Amazing," he whispered.

[Garrick Marlon]

White eyes behind sunglasses take in the underground. "..Woah."

"There's a town below the town then?" A hugely large space underground. Free from the sun. So much space that could be explored and turned into a nest. Garrick smiles to himself at the thought. Where a better place to make a bolthole than the underground that others will assume is the territory of the Haunts. The Prince would have to give approval..well safest bet probably.

"How far does it go out underground?"

[Kenneth Gilroy]

"Oh, it varies, honey. In general the entire downtown area was raised ten to fifteen feet up," Miss Odessa said, replying to Garrick's question. Gesturing with the umbrella, she ushered them further into the undercity's depths. "Excavation is still continuing though, so it's very well possible it might go deeper. It's slow going though. People left behind so many interesting things as the dirt was piled on."

They came to a room where the wooden floor turned into a walkway over a dig site. There were more displays but this time they were of a variety of old time objects. Furniture, utensils, perfume bottles, and cut throat razors.

"The area around Hall and Luhrs building especially had a lot of very fancy combs and glassware. Not what you might expect from a place that initially acted as a hospital. Luckily I'm partial to listening to interest gossip and I can say with some certainty that the soiled doves often roosted at Hall and Luhrs." She gave a coy smile "Brothel workers. Women of the night," she explained with a lurid flourish.

Kenneth followed up behind the group.

"A brothel in an underground town," he chuckled to his fellow Haunts "Not my first idea of what I would need living beneath Sacramento. I'd much rather have a spa." No reason he could test the waters a little. "How about the rest of you? What would you want most in an underground city?"

[Garrick Marlon]

A gun range would be nice. But Garrick clamps down on that idea. Can't raise questions, not after earlier. Instead he checks his phone, yep nothing.

"Internet would be good. Maybe good solid door or two also. I imagine there's quite a few entrances around town?" History means money and that means someone is probably poking around quietly.

[Kenneth Gilroy]

Kenneth nodded at the other's suggestions. "Connectivity is certainly a very integral part of modern day life. Of my computer expertise is limited and I doubt you could exactly call in tech support if there were network problems. Any of you have electronic maintenance background?" Kenneth's tone remained light and joking. This was supposed to be small talk after all and not serious discussion.

Miss Odessa handled the rest of the comments, laughing along with Martel's joke.

"Ah honey, I'm afraid my expertise lies in recommending suitors more than realtors. There are some buildings that connect into the under ground though. In fact the taphouse at the end of the tour where you can redeem your coupons is one such place. Most are in the downtown area near where the rivers meet. However, much of old Sacramento still remains unexplored and unexcavated."

She continued to lead through the dank town hidden from the sun. Pointing out bits of interesting history and providing anecdotes of what life was like back then through the eyes of a matchmaker and serial gossip.

[Garrick Marlon]

Unexplored catches Garrick's ear. Unexplored means somewhere that can be built up. "Never would have thought to look for a place like this. It's not common right?" The question is asked to the group as a whole. Being young has its downsides.

"How often are these tours given? There can't be many people who know of all this." It would be fun to explore down here. Find good places to make a nest. I wonder how many other Nosferatu have made nests in the underground.

[Kenneth Gilroy]

"Tours run every almost weekend from April to December and are fairly popular," replied Miss Odessa as she moved on "though I must admit that there are some folk I've talked to that have lived in this great city for years and never visited because they didn't know it was here."

Despite her continuing upbeat speaking and smiles, their tour guide was starting give them odd looks. They're questions and demeanor seemed off. She could brush off that they weren't asking about history in favor of what it would be to live in Old Sacramento but it was more than that. Maybe it was the fact that Garrick continued to wear sunglasses despite the gloom. Perhaps it was that whatever patch of soil smelled like grave dirt seemed to be following them. Or it was just the urge to finish the tour early as possible to get away from the disgusting wretch. Whatever the case, when they arrived at the end of the tour she was more than happy to be rid of this particular tour group. With a smile of course. She was professional after all.

"Here is the Saloon were you can redeem your coupons. I hope you had a good time exploring Old Sacramento. You dears are welcome back anytime." And with that she left in more hurry than she intended. The men had creeped her out.

Perhaps Sergei sensed how close they were to tipping their hand because he left straight away, leaving Kenneth with the new arrivals.

The worm-like Haunt cleared his throat. "So I get the feeling you both might be interested in learning more about the Sacramento Underground, correct?" it was mostly rhetorical given their previous comments. Kenneth fished in his wallet. He'd gotten cards for just this purpose.

"I've been doing my research on... leasing and excavation. If you're interested call me and I'll provide an address to meet me at."

Three days till the month mark. Wrap up as needed.