CbN021: Big Bad Wolf Lake
General Summary
Rough Awakening
October 5th, 2017 The nights are getting colder in the city of Chicago. Big gatherings of vampires are still not permitted, but in The Confessional, mortals dance to the rhythm of the music and do their best to get drunk on watered down drinks. Rosa Hernandez enters the club and catches Liliana’s eyes. Liliana leads her to the office on the second floor and once they’re alone she takes note of how disheveled Rosa looks; her pants are muddy, she has some leftover blood on her arms from healed cuts and her clothes are a bit torn and tattered. After taking a long unnecessary breath, Rosa tells Liliana there’s been a recent attack at The Big Marsh. This is the same area she had mentioned before, where reports of an animal attack had been circulating on the news a few weeks ago. She wants Liliana to go check this out ASAP, before the police take away the evidence. She warns Liliana that if they find out it actually is a werewolf involved in these attacks, they need to be very careful. “If it’s just one and you feel confident, take them down. But if it’s a pack? Run.” Rosa will be away dealing with other important matters at the airport, but she’ll come back to hear from Liliana soon. Liliana gathers the rest of the coterie who agree to go with her to investigate. Mary is very knowledgeable about werewolves, and along with Liliana she points out that they need to somehow cover their scent because werewolves are supernaturally good trackers. They’re very strong, very fast and very resilient. A werewolf has three forms: human, hybrid and wolf, and during full moons they are notoriously worse at keeping it cool and returning to human form. And would you look at that - today’s a full moon.The Big Marsh Park
Uncomfortably close to Gary, the Big Marsh and Wolf Lake Park are a chaotic merge of golf fields and country clubs, cement parks, marina and an extensive marsh land that is cut sharply by railway tracks. The place is home to a variety of wildlife, but reports of attacks are extremely rare. They drive to their destination smelling strongly of perfume and other dubious substances and immediately notice police cars nearby, with a few curious people standing behind the classic yellow tape. Mary decides to stay back in the car with Kim while the rest head straight to the police officers. “I’m telling you, there’s no way this was a coyote,” an officer says to their partner, seemingly very put off by the situation. Maude looks at Clem who nods and follows closely. They approach the officers and pretend to be a hired investigator called by Animal Control, Clementine helping to sell the lie. The police officers buy it and allow the three of them to move forward. As they approach the scene of the crime they find two bodies: One is a man that has been slashed across the chest and dragged to the top of a fountain with no water. The other is a woman, similarly maimed and facing down, a pool of blood gathered around her. Liliana approaches the woman and looks closer. She identifies that she seems to have been attacked by a large wolf, not a coyote. She tampers with the body to make sure, and confirms that this is most likely a werewolf attack. The attacks are erratic, there's signs of feeding but also of pure brutality and recklessness. Liliana knows that most lupine packs operate to the West (Oakland Parks) or East over at the Indiana National Dune Park. This is too close to the city for comfort. As Maude notices a trail leading further into the woods, they ask Clem to tell the policemen they noticed someone might have tampered with the bodies, covering for Lilliana. Clem successfully seems to fool the policemen and then she heads back to retrieve a reluctant Mary before the rest of them make their way through the woods in search of the killer.Decomissioned Missile Site C-44
Maude takes the lead, using their high investigation skills to track down whoever attacked the hikers. After a while they reach an old fenced area that has a “Do not enter” sign. Mary is very hesitant to go any further, pointing out that this might be good enough evidence for Rosa. However, the others want to move forward so against her better judgment and not wanting to leave her friends alone to face their doom, Mary follows. They proceed cautiously through the cemented area and find an old metal sign that reads “Missile Site C-44”. Further ahead is an old silo and as they approach they can hear the echo of someone talking to themselves. “I’m sure he’ll come back. I just have to wait. Oh, I did such a bad thing…” the voice says. It sounds very raspy and out of it. Clementine extends her shadow and uses it to look through it. She makes it go into the silo and finds what seems to be a campsite: a bunch of empty cans and syringes litter the floor. Further in she finds a man that looks very malnourished, his eyes are bloodshot and sunk in, his skin is covered in red spots and blood, and he’s scratching himself constantly while he paces. Mary and Maude point out that this seems like similar symptoms to the guys under the influence of the Blood Meth they found in warehouse 69. They decide to lure him out and attack immediately, convinced that this must be the werewolf. Mary and Maude go up the trees and wait far away, hidden. Clementine hides nearby on the ground while Liliana stays right in the middle, near the silo. As they all hold their breath, Liliana shouts “I have what you need.” At supernatural speeds, the man appears right in front of Liliana, his shriveled shape getting taller as he straightens up and looks at her with confusion before… WAM! Liliana delivers a powerful haymaker. Or she would have, if the guy didn’t dodge incredibly fast and punched her instead. As Liliana recoils back, Clementine jumps in and lands a hit on the wolf who immediately snarls and punches her as well. From the treeline Mary comes out of her hiding ability and takes aim, hitting the werewolf straight in the chest as his skin is just getting hairy and his teeth are growing longer. The impact of the bullet sends him flying backwards, yelping in pain and falling unconscious. Mary and Maude come down the trees as Liliana feeds from him. Turns out, werewolf blood? Kinda nice, especially when they’re high. Liliana feels very strong, but very out of it. After the werewolf is dead, Clem cuts off his head to take back as proof. Maude points to the silo, wanting to go check it out. Mary decides to stay outside to look out in case the person the man was talking about comes. Liliana and Clementine follow Maude inside.The Monument
They see the same camp Clementine had seen before, and as Maude looks closer, they find the samples left by Samson, the inspiration for the werewolf’s attacks. Apparently, the werewolf man wasn’t able to control himself well enough to replicate the drugs. As they leave the campsite and move further inside they see chains hanging from the walls covered in what seems to be pieces of human skin which lead to a humanoid figure. A person is held aloft in the middle of the empty Silo by the chains attached to his back, his skin pulled back and exposing the back of his ribcage in Blood Eagle fashion. They all can tell that this much amount of skin cannot have come from a single person. As they all look aghast at this display, they feel provoked to cause violence, to torture victims, to shred and cause pain. Liliana and Clementine are taken aback by this feeling and voice that they should probably head out, but Maude is entranced and wants to check further. They activate their Auspex powers to see the unseen and notice markings all over the walls. Immediately they recognize the carved out number II along the back side of the hanging man. They also find out, to their horror, that the man is barely alive, his exposed lungs moving slightly. Finally, Maude sees the words:Mark my Revelations, For I am the Last Judge Mark the Dragon that Rises, The Moon-Beasts will grow uneasy, and die out a sick wolf, and they will fight rather than die sick, and so they will find us and they will bring Death. Mark ye well, the Clan of the Beast! For they will hold the key, they will make the way of protection, they will make the way of trickery, they will make the way of peace. Father grants me the strength to bring down their columns and collapse their temples. Mark the Dragon that Rises! 13:1“Maude…” Clem says worryingly as her friend seems to be staring at the wall intently. Maude turns around faster than they have ever been and jumps on Clementine, sinking their teeth into her flesh painfully. Clementine immediately jumps out of the silo, Maude still latching at her throat, “WE NEED TO GET THEM OUT.” She yells as Liliana hurriedly follows. They fall outside next to a shocked Mary, who immediately tries to reach Maude through the cobweb but only receives aggressive images of the message they saw inside the silo along with the image of a burning Chicago. Maude tears at more skin before Liliana finally has the chance to pull them away from Clem and lock them in a strong shockhold. “WHAT THE FFF-,” Mary exclaims as Clementine finds a sturdy branch and stakes her friend right in the heart. Maude falls limp, absurd amounts of lake water falling out of their mouth and onto Liliana and the cemented floor. They call Kim to help them set the place on fire and clean up. As the silo burns they hear a high pitched scream coming from deep within. They make their way out of the woods and head back to The Confessional, entering through their backdoor with a still staked Maude. Clementine leaves the room as the rest un-stake Maude and explain what happened. They don’t seem to remember anything after reading the message, other than the feeling of drowning and darkness and the strong urge to not look down. Mary suggests they should talk to Clem, but she has already left to go feed. Left alone in the crypt, Maude siphons a few stray drops of blood from the decapitated werewolf head into a vial.
First Clout Points
The next day, Rosa comes to The Confessional and Liliana explains all that happened. She seems very shocked and surprised by all these new revelations, but ultimately tells Liliana she’s very impressed and will remember this.The Coterie gets 3 out 10 “party points” needed to get the support of the vampires in the city to accept them as Ancilla.After this, they decide to talk to Wauneka about The Monument they found at the silo, protected by a werewolf. They make the connection to Kanker who was III and this new person, II. Wauneka is grateful for this information and upgrades their Trivial Boon to a Minor Boon. As the curtain closes underneath the city a society of vampires move in the dark, unseen and overlooked. Might be a good time to pay the Nosferatu a visit.
Report Date
13 May 2023
