Ye Olde Church

When they arrived at their destination, the four investigators were immediately greeted by a man, who they assumed to be Malik Quina. He was rather tall, and his dark skin complexion was enhanced by his huge bald head. On his chest he flaunted a similar insignia than the one that the guy in military clothes, who they had encountered only moments ago, had been wearing on his hat. The impressive structure behind him was several centuries old and stood out amongst the modern architecture around. The old church building had really been turned into a club and created an interesting and compelling location for Goth and Punk fans to celebrate at. Quina, who was to David’s surprise wearing some kind of a long black leather skirt, had a stressed look on his face as he welcomed them, “Mr. Taylor has called to let me know that you were coming. Please follow me and I will show you to the room, where the incident took place.” He immediately rushed off towards the back of the building and didn’t even give the four vampires a chance to introduce themselves. When he finally stopped in front of a large metal door, surrounded by two guards, he turned around and spoke calmly, “What happened behind these doors is a complete mystery to me and my men. I hope you can make something of it. And please keep it all calm and quiet, I don’t want my customers to be disturbed in any way.” As he said the last part he looked at Ian, who seemed to take the hint. David was wondering if there had been some kind of an incident between the two vampires, prior to this meeting. “If there is anything else, I’ll be inside. Boys, open the door for them and stay put!” The two musclemen sprung into action and with, what seemed to me an enormous effort, slowly pried the huge metal door open.

The sight that presented itself, when the four entered the backroom, was even worse than at the mall. Once again there was an air of burned flesh and fire lingering about, but in this confined space a small odor of sulfur was also faintly distinguishable. The four investigators split up and each of them looked at another corner of the room to gather the evidence quickly, as the horrible smell was burning in their noses. This time they found not one void on the walls, but three. Three vampires had perished in there, without leaving a single shred of evidence of their existence, except for the two white circles on the walls and the bright stain reaching over the counter of the small bar in the left corner. ‘This one must have been thrown against the bar and ripped into two by the blast’, David thought to himself. When he found no other evidence at the counter, he turned to his friends and noticed that they had gathered around a small window on the wall with the metal door. As he passed the frame of the huge entrance, he noticed that the door had melted and was deformed from the inside. The fire must have been incredibly hot to singe the massive iron construct. The young man made a mental note and proceeded towards his companions and saw what the fuss was about. The small window had broken and there was blood on one of the shards. Victor was examining the scene and after a while concluded that the blood was neither human nor vampire. There were no other clues in the room and so they decided to present Quina with what they had found out.

When they entered the club through the main entrance they were almost swept of their feet by the loud music pumping through the speakers. The room was packed with people dancing to the Darkwave music and frolicking about. They found the owner at the bar, where he was giving orders to his barkeeper, “… and one third tonic water. How many times to I have to tell you this? Oh, you are back already? Please follow me to my office so we can talk.” The office space was extremely well isolated, as the music died almost instantly when David closed the door behind him. The room was rather functional, but a few artifacts had been placed around the place to give it a mystical touch. On one of the walls were also several medieval weapons, and shields sporting the same symbol that the man was wearing on his chest. The four told Quina all they had found out and concluded that it would have been impossible for his guards not to see the assailant, as he must have passed them, when he or it got out of the window. As he heard this, the massive vampire hit his forehead with his left palm and beckoned them to follow him outside to the two guards. After a few angry words, their fears were realized as the two guards had really left their post shortly on the day in question, giving the killer an amble opportunity to sneak out undetected. “This will have consequences you two bozos! As for you, I thank you greatly for your help. Please tell Seneschal Taylor that I’m impressed with your work. Furthermore, if you ever should like to shake it up a bit, you are always welcome at my club, free of charge!” With this, Quina bid farewell to his four guests and returned to his duties as a host. David and the others concluded that it was time to get back to the Haven.

When they entered the large ballroom back at the Prince’s lair, they saw that Taylor was hectically talking to his men, running from one side of the room to the other and bellowing orders in an almost hysterical tone. As soon as he saw the quartet, he hurried over to them and, after catching his breath, divulged, “Good that you are finally back, something has happened!”