Down in a Hole

Location	Sacramento
Date Began	2012/05/25
Storyteller(s)	Steven
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Two groups, both looking for a different set of law breakers, find themselves in the same location, looking into the eyes of one of the domains most dangerous men. Arnold Culler.

Happenings

This plot started as two seperate lines that converged, and was chronicled from November 5, 2011 to June 8, 2012.

Subplot 1: Hart's Herd

Roxie Hart summons help to assist her in finding out who attacked her Herd.

Wanted: Herd Killer

Posted in the Avalon Underground was a notice from Regent Roxie Hart, who was seeking assistance in finding the individual(s) who were responsible for the kidnapping and killing of several of her herd members.

Those who were interested were instructed to attend the Seven Stars Motel for details.

Working for Roxie

A team of Kindred comprised of Adam York, Castor Drake, Aodh, Susan Vera, and Joseph Hartman met with Roxie Hart at the Seven Stars Motel to discuss the matter further.

Roxie very eloquently informed the team that they were to find out who raided her herd and bring them to her for her... kind ministrations. She sent gave them a DVD of camera footage and sent them to Room 201 in the hotel to plan.

Upon viewing the DVD, the team sees a van pull up to the front of a building, views three men going in, hears gunfire and screaming, and two men exiting the building. They then take their van aroudn the back, where a third man assists them in throwing bodies into a van. They come to the conclusion that they should attend the scene and do some investigation. They find a license plate in the video. When they arrive on the scene, they notice no police tape, and a homeless man nearby. This scene is being left alone. Adam speaks to the homeless man and is told (after plenty of $10 bills) that the group was looking for a 'blue-haired bitch'.

Meanwhile, inside, the group is forced to roll for a hunger frenzy, and Castor Drake loses control to the Beast... and goes outside and attacks the homeless man, right before Adam's eyes. The team uses a variety of powers to subdue Castor, but the homeless guy is bleeding out from a huge wound in his neck. Aodh provides first aid and the team flees, struck by defeat.

Updating Roxie

Adam reports to Roxie Hart that a witness told them that the men were looking to slight Jillian Malloy... and that he was eaten. And they had lost some investigators; only Adam and Susan remained.

Roxie was unimpressed. Very unimpressed.

Roxie Redux

Enter new help a couple of days later: James Calloway, Robert Swift, and Jose Matias, Gangrels all, there to assist the remaining investigators, Susan Vera and Adam York, in continuing the investigation. Susan leaves the scene shortly thereafter and the Daeva runs the Gangrels through the surveillance tape.

The team decides to split up. Jose Matias heads around the outside to the back, and the other three enter the building, clearing it and successfully resisting the urge to rip someone's throat out and drink their blood.

The group inside finds a door with a scary scraping noise coming from behind it, and breaks the door down. Meanwhile, Jose enters the alleyway alongside the building...

And both are ambushed. Jose, by a trio of nerds, and the boys inside the apartment by the cutest puppy named Jeff. James wants to keep the dog, but cannot. Jose subdues the nerds with epic capoeira skills and brings the nerds inside.

The team, after investigating the apartment and harshly questioning the nerds, learns two things: first, that the apartment they broke into was Jillian Malloy's (and the dog was hers), and that they would find what they wanted at Paradox Comics. Angry as hell at the nerds, the group makes their way to the Comic Shop.

Vampires, to the Comic Shop! Seriously?

The team enters the comic shop, and finds themselves quickly chasing the owner through the back room doors and into a trapdoor... where they are trapped in a huge, room-sized EZ-Bake Oven that threatens their lives. Fortunately enough, Swift found a trapdoor to jump through, and the group was able to escape the threat of being ashed by the clever and devious trap.

They find themselves in a man-created tunnel beneath the shop, and chase a set of tracks through to a hole that had been cut into the sewage system beneath the city.

In tracking the man by following the signs found by Jose and WolfJim's perceptive tracking skills, the group ends up running into Deputy Dillon Connery, Emma French and Charles Black, who, for some reason, are tracking someone in the sewers as well.

Subplot 2: The Park

Deputy Lance Rayner leads a group comprised of Maggie Xiao, Francesco Giovanni, and Charles Black to Howe Park to investigate missing persons.

The Missing in Howe

After meeting and discussing the plan (and informing Francesco to lose his armor and weaponry), the group goes searching for people who are vanishing with no signs of violence. The primary clues were that there was always a pile of clothes and personal effects left in the park.

The park is almost deserted at night, except for the occasional jogger, and as the group proceeds, they find their way to a gazebo... where there are eight scratch marks, like someone dragging their fingernails. They investigate a trail possibly made by someone being dragged and find their way to a nearby lake.

After finding nothing further, Francesco, Lance and Charles return the next night to find two people against a wall... making out. A Dominate attempt later, they realize that the young lovers don't know anything about the missing people. The pair of humans leave... and a couple of minutes later, a scream is heard.

As they sprint toward the direction of the scream, they see the two bodies disappearing into the ground, with a female figure standing over them in the distance.

With that, Charles Black finds himself alone, unable to assist further. He has lost Lance and Francesco, and goes to find new backup.

Late Night Hunt in the Park

Deputy Dillon Connery takes over the investigation for Deputy Rayner, and leads Charles Black, Yekaterina Alexandrovna and Emma French to Howe Park to continue the investigation. After greeting one another and being filled on by Charles about what he saw on his last time out here, they get right on the hunt and find their way to the location where the figure and youths had been seen.

Continuing their investigation requires some creativity. Dillon Connery provides it; he becomes a wolf, using the signature power of his Family, and begins to track, with Yekaterina trailing him. Meanwhile, the other two Kindred pair up to look around.

Dillon finds a blood trail... and a small cave, where the water meets a hill, and Yekaterina recalls the others to join them. Emma wisely grabs a flashlight, and notices using the light that the hole has a downward angle with marks in the sand, as if someone had been pulled in.

Emma is lowered into the hole with a rope held by the super-strong Dillon Dog and the rest of the team... and finds herself in the sewers, feeling the Beasts of the Hart's Herd group. The remainder are notified and join her... and the two plots combine.

Combined Plot: Down in a Hole

The teams combine to meet Arnold Culler and solve the mystery of what has been going on. After meeting and exchanging a bit of information in Vampires! To the Comic Shop, the combined group finds their way to a ladder going deep into a dark hole...

Bottom of the Barrel

...where Jose Matias detects something beneath them, and proceeds to let go of the ladder, intending to ambush it.

Too bad the hole was so deep he was crushed into torpor by the fall.

The rest of the combined unit climbs down the ladder more cautiously, realizes what has happened, and are suddenly blinded by a flash of light... where they realize where they are. The Necropolis. And the booming voice of Arnold Culler is there in the room, demanding that they explain their presence.

The group hunting the Howe Park kidnapper is represented by Dillon Connery, who explains what they were doing; looking for an individual who was taking humans. The other group, represented by all three of its members, explains that they were looking for the people responsible for attacking and taking members of Roxie Hart's Herd.

The lights go off, and a female archer is pointing a bow at the team. Sunshine is there too, creepy as always. Arnold Culler accepts their story, heads into the darkness... and returns with the manager of the comic shop, who has been staked. Apparently, he was a Kindred all along with Obfuscate.

Offering the assistance of 'Shepard' to help Regent Hart rebuild her herd, Culler sends the team on their way... and allows Sunshine to take the torpid body of Jose Matias into the depths, much to the chagrin of some of the members of the investigative team. Dillon Connery's group heads home with their information, and Regent Hart's team goes to report in with their prize.

On a Stick

The team assigned to investigating the attack on Regent Hart's herd, minus Jose Matias, heads to the Seven Stars Motel with the staked Comic Shop Guy in tow. They report their findings, and Roxie notes Culler's involvement.

For their hard work, Adam York, James Calloway, and Dr. Robert Swift are granted feeding rights in South Sacramento... at least until they piss off Roxie again.

Scene List

• WANTED Herd Killer
• Working for Roxie
• Updating Roxie
• The Missing in Howe
• Roxie Redux
• Late Night Hunt in the Park
• To the Comic Shop
• Bottom of the Barrel
• On a Stick