Skeleton Keys

Location	Avalon
Date Began	Spring 2011 - Presentwarning.pngThe date "Spring 2011 - Present" was not understood.
Storyteller(s)	West, Steven, Wolven Pryde
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Introduction

Skeleton Keys is a venue wide plot that has been going on for a long time, and a lot of Kindred have participated in it's many investigations, adventures and dangers. It has links to other plots as well, showing only how widespread the story is. 'The Prequel' on this page thus only shows us the last scenes of the Robbing a Bank plot. Because, as turns out later, it may have links to Skeleton Keys!

The Prologue: 2011

• The Low Places

2012

Meeting at University (Also from Robbing a Bank)

• This is a short scene where Regent Erika Brady meets with Max Heinz. She has an ancient text with her, written on human skin. It is what she retrieved from the Kindred that robbed a bank for her. She asks Max Heinz to study it. He is able to discern that the text is in fact written in an ancient Hungarian dialect. Then, to his surprise, she translates it before him.

"Today I came so close to completing the great work. I felt my curse begin to be lifted. I felt something in myself begin to evolve as I feed upon that fool Tamás. As his soul left his body, I feasted on it. My strength grew, and my chains weakened. Lucina was correct. She is so right, through this we can be free. I will join her and follow her path. Through the souls of my enemies, I will be free." - Erika Brady ^[1]

• Curiously enough, she gives him the text and a suitcase with a box in it. The box contains the old helmet. She trusts he'll take care of it.

Up In Flames (Also from Robbing a Bank)

• The same night that Max Heinz got the skin and the helmet from Erika Brady, he decides to destroy the text, and let the helmet sink to the bottom of a lake. The one who wrote the text was probably a Diablerist, and Max doesn't want anyone to become inspired by it. Or worse, he suspects that Erika Brady wants to say more by giving this to him. In any way, he prefers to hide the helmet and keep the text only safely in hidden in his memory.

Reeve Office Hours 12
Reeve Office Hours 13
Putting the team together
Aileen McFarlane calls Callum McCann
Tracking the Package
Skeleton in the Closet
A Skeleton and a Ford in the Key of E

2013

A gathering at Reverence

Nervous over who might be listening and having lost trust in Erika Brady, Martha Villiers sends a text message summoning a few trusted members of the Domain to her air. Under the guise of a research seminar, the group of Kindred investigate a mysterious torpid elder, dressed as a warlord, as well as an enigmatic metal puzzle box.

The group discover that both torpid elder and metal puzzle box carry with them the markings of an 11th century Spanish Kingdom of Castille. Further investigation of the coffin itself, proves potentially deadly. After Teodor Raluca notices that one side of the coffin is thicker than the others, Chris Wooding slides a knife into a thin opening... triggering a trap of razor sharp blades to remove the Hierophant's fingers.

Cowed by the apparent danger, the group turns to the metal lock puzzle. As this commences, Martha Villiers attempts to draw parallels to other happenings within the domain; bringing up Heathcliff Staley, and the slayings of Sarah LaFleur and Thomas O'Connor; and summarizing the events of Hotel Homicide. As she speaks, Martha, brings up former Princes Tobias Straiphen and Freddrick in tones of fear and awe and trying to wrest some common thread with all of these possibilities.

With this in mind, the Kindred agree to meet in two nights time, this time at Avalon.

A Plan of Action

Just after some of the Kindred depart Reverance leaving Chris Wooding, Callum McCann, and Daniella Sage remain to further mull over the mysteries in front of them. Callum and Chris agree that the best place to start, would be to track down the woman who attempted to steal the Torpid Elder from them. However, with most businesses close ideas to track her through her motorcycle fall apart.

Their second idea is to see the curator of the museum again. Using pull within the Academic community, the trio are able to secure a late-night meeting under the guise of philanthropy.

Grimm Tale

As agreed, two nights later at the Avalon Elysium, the investigative group comes back together. Dr.Swift came prepared with the book of Grimm Fairytales, found at the conclusion of Hotel Homicide. The good doctor explains that while the book is an English Translation, the message 'This to bares pain' was hidden in the text. While the book does not give up its secrets easily, Dr. Swift does notice that the book is bespoke and the suspicion that there is something else other than pages sneaks in. With this in mind, Dr. Swift convinces staff at a nearby University to allow him to use a laboratory.

Anthony's Package

Battered but alive, a group of kindred including Daniella Sage, Catherine Keys, Zach Griffiths, and Ricardo Rodriguez Reyes, recover a briefcase before Gabriel Marcus rams a plane into a building.

Once in Anthony Moroletti's car however, the Daeva makes his own play for the briefcase. Turning the car towards the inferno of the building, he threatens Daniella Sage and Catherine Keys with fire. Both women decide to jump from the car with wildly different results: Keys is rendered torpid by the fall, while Sage lands without a scratch while still holding onto the briefcase.

It's all for nothing though, as Anthony Moroletti's force of personality causes love to blossom in Daniella's mind causing her to willfully offer up the briefcase to the Daeva. With Catherine Keys torpid on the ground and sirens rapidly approaching, the Kindred allow their hard-won prize to slip off into the night.

Returning and Reporting
[1]
Skeleton Keys Academic Digging
A letter to Asa. [2]
Skeleton Keys - More Pieces More Puzzles

2014

SK - What's in the booooox
SK - The Abandonned - Causality
Keyhole
Skeleton Keys - Nursing Time
Skeleton Keys - The Summons

• The Enemy
• Skeleton Keys - Reopening the Case
• Skeleton Keys - Needful Action
• Skeleton Keys - Quest for the Kogaion
• Skeleton Keys - Few Return

2015

• Drones and Dragons
• Ill Tidings
• EC 1502 Reeve's Office
• EC 1502 Brady and Wooding
• Confluence
• The Brady Bunch
• Tangled Webs
• Lyke Wake Dirge
• Dark Water
• Cutting Gordian Knots
• As Above So Below
• Hunting Coturi
• Princes and Rabbit Holes
• Skeletons in the Closet