Young Jimmy Thiess, student and member of the Hounds of God, has been murdered, leaving behind few clues to follow. Fortunately, Jimmy’s friends know who killed him, but now they intend to take matters into their own hands. The players will need to work to uncover the secrets behind Jimmy’s death, and beneath Singer Lake itself, if they are to prevent the situation from getting worse.
(As usual, this is a fan-made module, and I am in no way associated with Onyx Path Publishing, White Wolf Games, or the creators of World of Darkness or the Chronicles of Darkness storytelling system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, rather sanitized gang activity, police, child neglect and potential endangerment, proselytizing.)
Last time, the player characters stumbled upon the scene of the murder. The body of Jimmy Thiess, twenty years old and beloved by his community, was found on the quad of the local technical college. He was lying in the center of a circle of red paint with a pentagram carved on his chest. The detective on the scene of this apparently occult murder was Samara Rezai, who carries a strange trinket and has given the players a brief vision of the quad as a gaping hole into the void, from which a mysterious dark shape emerged.
The Hounds of God
The Hounds of God are a local motorcycle club, and it’s no secret that Jimmy was a member. He wore a jacket with their emblem and frequently sketched it in his class notebooks, he maintained a bike that he worked on himself, and he was working at Samson’s Auto Body (owned by Samson Kaltenbrun, the Hounds’ current leader) while attending the college.
The Hounds have been in Singer Lake for decades. They frequently hold noisy gatherings at ungodly hours of the night, but they haven’t been associated with drug traffic and keep other gangs out, so they are mostly tolerated. Membership is often passed down through families; new members are otherwise recruited according to requirements that are inscrutable to outsiders.
This is because every single Hound of God is a werewolf.
As such, they are tasked with keeping the boundaries of the physical world and the ethereal one. Their disorderly gatherings are cover for rituals that strengthen the veil, which in Singer Lake is particularly weak and patchy.
If players go to any of the locations listed in Jimmy’s notebook found at the scene, they will find several Hounds with their bikes parked nearby, grimly watching the area. At the Youth Housing Ministry, there will also be a squad car a polite distance away, with the cops and the Hounds watching each other warily. The quad remains taped off, with officers at each corner; the Hounds are also maintaining a perimeter a few blocks out.
The list is of locations where Jimmy’s killer had been seen before the murder. The Hounds know who did it, and they are looking for vengeance. While investigating, players can overhear a few details as the Hounds talk among themselves:
- This person came to Singer Lake from Portland, Oregon about a week ago, though the Hounds don’t know why.
- She (the killer is female) was staying at the Youth Housing Ministry.
- The Hounds want to deal with her first before addressing the problem of the “tear” on the quad, believing that she will rip open more holes in the veil if she isn’t stopped.
- They are speculating whether anything has come through the tear yet. Eventually, they believe, something will—it’s only a matter of time.
They will rebuff any direct questions about the case, unless a PC makes a successful social check. In that case, they will say, “We know who killed Jimmy. Charlie Palmer killed Jimmy, and she’s not going to get away with it this time.” They may also mention the Housing Ministry again as Charlie’s last known residence.
Their leader, Samson Kaltenbrun, spends his days at his auto shop. He will refuse to answer questions from player characters he does not know, but will otherwise be friendly enough. In the evening, he will go to Hackett’s, a bar on the edge of town known primarily for being a haunt of the Hounds and secondarily for having an axe-throwing setup that patrons can pay a small fee to compete on, individually or in teams. A few of the Hounds patrolling the town will go with him, and the PCs can follow them from wherever they happen to be.
Samson Kaltenbrun, leader of the Hounds
Virtue: Paternal Vice: Rigid
Intelligence 2
Wits 3
Resolve 3
Strength 5
Dexterity 2
Stamina 4
Presence 4
Manipulation 2
Composure 4
Skills:
Crafts (mechanics) 4
Investigation 1
Medicine 2
Politics (supernatural beings) 3
Athletics 3
Brawl 4
Drive (motorcycle) 4
Survival (Colorado mountains) 4
Animal Ken 3
Empathy 2
Intimidation (pack leader) 4
Persuasion 5
Streetwise (Singer Lake) 4
Merits: Danger Sense 2, Indomitable 2, Hardy 3, Stunt Driver (motorcycle) 3, Allies (Hounds of God) 5, Close Quarters Combat (back-alley brawler) 3, Defensive Combat 1.
Size 5
Health 9
Speed 12
Willpower 7
Defense 5
Harmony 7
Primal Urge 4
Armor 1/0
Initiative Mod 6
The Storyteller is free to assign Samson his Auspice, Tribe, and Gifts as they see fit, and how they want to play the Hounds going forward.
Hackett’s Tavern
Detective Rezai will meet Samson at Hackett’s and encourage him to call off the hunt for Charlie Palmer. “She’s a child,” Samara says, “and you don’t know what kind of state she’s in. And you have bigger problems that need your attention right now.”
“You know what she is,” Samson replies, just as cryptically. There is a beat as he looks at the detective suspiciously. “You’ve found her?”
Samara nods. “She’s hiding out near Thompson Park. I’ve got it locked down—keep your people away.”
“You can’t protect her forever,” Samson responds.
What the PCs do with this information is up your players. We will visit Thompson Park, and have a conversation with Samara, in part three.
Singer Lake Youth Housing Ministry
The Housing Ministry is a subsidiary of Life & Family Ministries, and is located in a modern building in a nicer part of town, close to the lake. It is a group home for “troubled teens,” and has two dormitories (segregated by gender), a cafeteria, a common room, and a “sanctuary” for religious services—essentially a chapel with a low stage and rows of pews. There is also a small office for the pastor who heads this facility, Hank Marshall.
Pastor Hank will greet the players in the lobby, in front of the rack of flyers for various Life & Family services—including stacks of the “God’s Plan for Your Life” flyer found on the quad. He is much more forthcoming than any of the Hounds, and is happy to chat.
- Charlie Palmer (he calls her “Charlotte”) was transferred here from a group home in Portland a week ago. Dr. Dennis Cleary, a psychologist in the employ of Life & Family, authorized her transfer. Her parents are no longer in the picture; Hank doesn’t know what happened to them.
- She then went missing two days before the murder. Pastor Hank reported this to the police after “Charlotte” didn’t return for several hours. Residents are not allowed to leave the building without supervision.
- Hank has not connected Charlie to the murder, though he does comment that “these are dark times” and one has to be careful.
- He segues from this to ask the players if they’ve “found their church home,” and invites them to services next Sunday. If they are young enough, he’ll invite them to join the residents here; otherwise he’ll offer the nearby Green Hill Church.
- Pastor Hank closes the conversation by saying he will be praying for Charlotte, Singer Lake, and the PCs.
A Spirit of Fear
The thing that crawled out of the hole in the college quad is a second-rank spirit of Fear. It works to cause fear, particularly that borne of ignorance, in order to feed off of it and regain its Essence, and is usually invisible. The terror surrounding the murder gave it enough power to escape into the physical world, where it is now lurking unseen.
I believe I based this spirit on a Greater Gaffling, and it should have the corresponding stats.
Power 6
Finesse 3
Resistance 5
Fate: incomplete
Size 15
Corpus 20
Willpower 8
Initiative 8
Defense 3
Ban: flees from places/collections of knowledge (fled the college immediately)
Bane: sunlight
Spends 1 essence per day to survive, and falls into a slumber if it runs out until it somehow gains more.
Trait boost: spend 1 essence to increase Power, Finesse, or Resistance by 1 for one scene.
Spends essence equal to its rank (2) per hour it remains in Twilight in the material plane, unless it has a host or Fetter. It is currently seeking these things to maintain its place in the world.
Gains 1 essence per day spent near things that reflect its nature, such as sources of misinformation, people experiencing fear, and unlit places where visibility is low.
The spirit will begin causing noticeable trouble in part three, and we will also learn about Charlie Palmer and why she killed Jimmy Thiess.
Thanks for reading! See you next time, when secrets will be revealed and various dots will be connected.
Edited September 15, 2021, to change a couple names.
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