Last year, Bishop Tara decreed to all of San Diego county, that no hunts were to take place on Halloween. In previous years, the Masquerade had been jeopardized by sloppy, anxious, and some times viscous hunts by Kindred (on this night) with little respect for Tara's authority. 1998, however, would be the year her wishes would be respected - an archon of the Camarilla was coming and any indication that she did not control her city would be firmly stamped out. The disappearance of seven children in one week would not be tolerated.

The disappearances of these children are part of a large plot that comes to light as the PCs investigate all three chapters of this story. On a smaller scale, the rogue Nosferatu Athox envisions his actions in a different light. Unsatisfied with the attempts of San Diego's Baron (Tara) to become a Camarilla prince, Athox has abducted six children in an attempt to endanger the Masquerade - this while a visiting Camarilla archon is in town on other business. By demonstrating that Tara and her city hold the Masquerade in little regard, Athox hopes to keep San Diego an independent region of the Anarch Free State. Of course, Athox is clever enough to understand his own importance in these plans and is not willing to sacrifice himself for this goal. Therefore his implication will be minimal.

Valuable information

Numerous Kindred in the city have ties to the police, giving them an "inside track" on the week's events. Characters with Camarilla ties may seek to interview the Bishop Tara and find out what she knows. Other Kindred, like Gutierres and Shay, have ties in San Diego and aren't particularly sect-specific. They will talk to anyone as long as they have something to gain.

Once the characters have been introduced to the background events, the police contacts will relay information to their benefactors concerning a recent car-jacking in Escondido. How the players get this information is up to the GM. Characters with Police Influence, or Contacts/Allies in the department, may find this out themselves, while other characters may need to turn to Kindred who have such sources.

According to the police report, a monster stole a Dodge Minivan from a young college woman (Kara Williams) at a quiet Escondido intersection. The physical description given for the thief indicates that Kindred forces are at play - with further evaluation it would seem a Nosferatu is responsible. The victim was ripped from the vehicle and hurled across the street and into a mailbox... left for dead. The woman clung to life, however, and crawled to a pay phone, where she called the police.

With a little persistence, characters may obtain police sketches of the thief (though unless the coterie thinks of this, no one will offer). The sketch identifies the villain as Athox, a particularly violent Nosferatu anarch. Those without knowledge of San Diego's Kindred may not necessarily recognize this individual. Some research into the vampire population will turn up the fact that only two Nosferatu (barring any players' characters, of course) make San Diego their home - Federico di Padua, and Athox. Crafty GMs may wish to lead the players astray by pointing at Federico as a (very) possible suspect.

Bloody Red Herrings

Athox' next step is to take his stolen van and load his victims for transport. He maintains a temporary haven on the docks of Mission Bay under the old offices of an abandoned freight-management company. He has kept the kidnapped children there - bound and gagged - feeding them nightly in preparation for their trip south of the border. Athox has no long-term plans for the children after turning them over to the Sabbat vampires; his concern is that the children vanish. As far as Athox is concerned, whatever the other Kindred want to do with them is fine, so long as it happens somewhere else.

Unless the characters' coterie somehow trail Athox' stolen van or know where he maintains this makeshift haven (unlikely), there is no reason for them to ever confront the rogue Nosferatu here. Storytellers who wish to throw a bit of action into the story are encouraged, however, to let the characters get close to the haven before being set upon by ghouled dock-hands. In the tray, Athox escapes, continuing his plan as normal, but the characters may savor being so close...

Characters who don't track down Athox' dock haven shouldn't just put their feet up until he shows up again, however. Storytellers should throw a few red herrings in their path to divert them from the true plan until another sighting of the stolen van occurs. Some suggestions are:

• Inquisitive police may wish to interrogate any Nosferatu characters in the coterie.
• Work quick favors for Javier Gutierres or Shay in return for access to their police contacts.
• Conflict with "seedy elements" (should the characters look for Athox) and the children among porn rings or slave-trade circles.
• Clashes with police who are working on the case in an official capacity.
• Altercations with Kindred from other sects who resent the characters' involvement.

Depending at which point in the evening the PCs begin their investigation, all of this should only take up enough time before Athox makes his presence known again.

Is Athox really this stupid?

Of course not.

Athox is operating under the misconception that the Kara Williams, the woman from who he stole the van, died. Unbeknownst to him, she isn't, and his trail is frighteningly fresh. If the woman had died, he would have had at least a 24-hour head start.

But Athox isn't stupid. Once he catches wind of the characters on his trail he'll go to ground or disappear altogether. The characters should handle Athox with kid gloves - if they return to their superiors empty handed, they'll look like incompetent fools.

Storytellers should feel free to embellish this to fit the tone of their chronicles - let Athox evade the characters (should they chase him down) until a final showdown, let the coterie catch him outright, let him escape completely, or even have the coterie miss him outright.

This story is intended as a brief interlude for a Vampire: The Masquerade Chronicle, but more importantly ties into an ongoing plotline for Conspiracy X and Call of Cthulhu in future issues of SHADIS. Keeping those ideas in mind, do what's right for the story as it relates to your troupe.

I'm With the Band

Recent months have seen a rise in popularity for the shockabilly band The Wifebeaters, and the trio is slated for a Halloween-night concert in the touristy Gaslamp district, located in downtown San Diego. The band is scheduled to take the stage at one am, and they have decided to take a tour of the bars and, nightspots downtown to kill time (among other things).

The band is actually a nomadic pack of Sabbat. They are on a reconnaissance mission in San Diego; sent there by superiors in Tijuana to monitor the state of affairs in the city and determine if the time is right for a Sabbat coup.

The band has struck up a tentative relationship with the Nosferatu Athox, who wants no part of Tara or her scheme to affiliate San Diego with the Camarilla. They have commissioned Athox to kidnap the six healthy, young, white male, children and intend to return to Mexico with the children hidden among their musical equipment. To that end, Athox has driven the chidren in a stolen minivan to the venue that is hosting The Wifebeaters' Halloween concert - the Headstone in the Gaslamp district. It is there that beat cops sight the van and call it in; information that reaches police contacts in a matter of minutes.

However the characters determine this, the information should give them impetus to travel to the Headstone and confront Athox.

Mere minutes after the stolen van is sighted, another incident occurs nearby which may garner the PCs attention. A small-scale riot has broken out just down the street from the Headstone. Should the characters investigate, they will reach the altercation as it spills into a pool hall facing the street. The Wifebeaters, excited by their last night in San Diego, have apparently decided to sow their (brutal) oats before taking the stage at the Headstone. The plan was simple: head to a different bar, pick a suitable group of frat-boy patsies, and started swinging; as a lark. To their surprise, however, the fight grew as other bar patrons joined the fray, and soon the fight took on a monstrous consciousness of its own; spilling into the streets, and rumbling up the road.

At this point, Storytellers should once again consider the preferences of their players' coterie. Intrigue -oriented characters may choose to ignore the brawl and pursue Athox through the Headstone, confronting him after he has managed to load the children into the band's van. Should they catch him, Athox refuses to divulge any of the details of his plot, and will try to escape captivity. Characters must locate the children before 1:00am, or they will be en route to Baja Mexico (see "Wrapping Up," below).

Characters of more physical orientation (or those that recognize that the Masquerade is in danger) may wish to follow the fight. While in the pool hall, The Wifebeater known as Big Mike has taken a broken pool cue to the heart, staking him - Storytellers may wish to let one of the PCs do the staking. Naturally, this is quite gruesome, and renders Big Mike immobile.

At this point someone in the melee should administer the coup de grace. The whole brawl grinds to a halt as the vampire crumbles to dust before the eyes of the assembled mob. Police take the opportunity to place the entire mob under arrest, including The Wifebeaters and any involved characters from the players' coterie. This should all culminate in a grand breach of the Masquerade - a great follow-up story.

Wrapping up

Drawing a close to "Halloween" requires resolution to a few loose ends.

Unless the characters managed to capture or defeat Athox, or tie him to the crime without his knowledge, the Nosferatu will vanish for a good while, lying low. Players may be thanked by Tara and the archon, or they may be berated as buffoons, depending upon their degree of success.

Regardless, those who pursued Athox have gained an enemy, and maybe more if they bungled the operation.

Concerning The Wifebeaters, the Masquerade has been blatantly broken. The remaining vampires' lives are forfeit, and a great display wilt be made by Tara for the archon's benefit. Her agents will post bond for any vampires caught in the fray, and PCs may have to do some significant fast-talking to keep themselves from receiving the Final Death. [Also, the Storyteller may wish to make any time in jail suitably hellish for the characters.] Of longer-term import is the repair of the Masquerade, which is left to Storytellers and their individual troupes - Storytellers may wish to spawn a later chronicle based on these loose ends.

Finally, what about the children? As mentioned before, this story is but part of a greater trilogy. For the sake of the overarching plot, the van with the children should make its way toward Tijuana. As to the mystery of who is driving it and to what purpose the children are put, those secrets shall be revealed later...

Getting Involved

Storytellers may have a bit of difficulty introducing characters to the events of "Halloween", depending upon what type of troupe the chronicle involves. What follows are a few ideas for bringing almost any coterie into the drama.

Camarilla

They are asked to help solve the issue by agents of the hopeful prince, Tara, or the archon visiting her. Few Camarilla vampires make their havens in San Diego, and the players' coterie has enough savvy and contacts to get to the bottom of the mystery. They may rest secure in the knowledge that their efforts serve to help put an end to the anarch menace - or so the "prince" and her agents maintain. Let's not forget that the Camarilla are also helping to maintain and protect the Masquerade.

Anarchs

They catch wind of Athox' depredations through the rampant anarch rumor mill (though only enough to cause them to suspect Kindred involvement). It's just these kinds of antics that may cause the Camarilla to ride in on their white horse and put some actual power behind their figurehead "prince," or to pave the way for a Sabbat incursion from the south. Neither of those, of course, is conducive to the neutrality of the Anarch Free State. As anarchs they may find Athox difficult to persuade and/or battle.

Sabbat

They've nominally been sent in to take over for a nomadic pack and they run afoul of Athox' little plot as they make it into town. Comparing notes with the other pack informs them that the other Sabbat are involved somewhat with the scheme, and there may be an opportunity to "convert" a talented Kindred, if they can just find out who it is.

Kuei-jin

Keeping tabs on the Kindred of San Diego should be priority for them anyway. One cannot best the enemy without knowing him intimately, and this may prove an excellent opportunity to set the Kin-jin society against itself.

Others

Werewolves, mages, changelings or the like; solving this mystery of the vampire community may give them an edge over the Kindred. Whatever powers that be are likely to appreciate an end to the terror haunting the city, and may repay help with other favors.

Factions

NPC factions that the PCs are not part of may also be concerned about recent events. GMs are encouraged to "race" the NPCs against the PCs in solving this adventure.

Although it is not necessary to play this adventure, the LA by Night sourcebook is an invaluable read.

Humans

The Hunter Books from White Wolf provide details on mortals taking the fight against the World of Darkness terrors. Project Twilight allows the PCs to play members of the Federal Government. Hunters, Hunted and the Inquisition introduce vampire hunters to the mix. Halls of the Arcanum is the addition of Mage research from unenlightened sleepers. Very cruel GMs may want to start their chronicle at the beginning of the week, and allow the PCs to play the befuddled police tripping over useless testimony, eye-witnesses, and red herrings. SHADIS obviously does not encourage this level of play, and is not responsible to harm coming to GMs choosing this course of action.

Gamemaster Tips

GMs interested in running all three parts of this adventure should bear in mind that the children must get away. Athox is the seed in a much bigger puzzle. In order for each adventure to tie to the next, certain pre-set events cannot he altered by the players. Like any adventure however, GMs are encouraged to change anything they choose. PCs that retrieve the children may have other incentives to play part 2 and 3. Have fun!

Scenario 1: Vampire The End of Time Begins Here

Introduction
The Story Unfolds
The Cast of Characters