Upon returning to the scene, this time at night, they met the three investigators. It was a tense meeting at first because one of the investigators was a larger hairy man who they had already met, under bad circumstances. He was the pack leader of the biker gang. His name was Cyrus Blackmoor. He protested Nightfall's arrival, but another investigator held him back.
She was Cynthia Towne. Her features looked feminine, and was shrouded completely by a cloak the entire time. Again, she looked and spoke as an adult woman, but with the voice of a child. She was the leader of this little group. Another accompanies them, Elisa Anne Shadows. A beutiful brunette, but a fierce gaze, had a shotgun slung under her arm.
These were investigators sent by the Fraternal Order of Hermes. A coalition of magical houses. Luckily diplomacy got the better of both groups, as they all realized that they may have a common enemy. Albeit an unknown one. They grilled Nightfall on what they knew of the case, which unfortunately wasn't much.
Hank had the confidence to try a spell of postcognition. One in which he could see the events of the past in this room. One of the investigators, Elisa, girl with the shotgun, offered to help him. Luckily Hank was adept enough to gather a detailed vision of the murder, and all that happened. It was surprising.
The vision was still garbled, unclear in certain parts. Like looking at cheap surveillance video at a convenience store. It showed John working in his office during late hours, which was normal for his practice. Elaine and Melody Lewis showed up for an appointment. John seemed anxious for this because this would be Nightfall's first unsolved mystery he would be getting back to. They had seeked him out because of Melody's visions. She spoke with John:
Mentions of her father missing.
Mentions of The Apocalypse.
Mentions of 'the tower', known to mundanes as Willis, or previously Sears Tower.
Mentions of 'the old one'
Mentions of Nightfall.
Hank couln't make sense of most of it because of how garbled it was. The girl knew her father was captured and alive, but feared his death soon.
Just as the vision started to clear up, it got grim. Two giants and a woman who looked like Kate entered the room. They wanted the girl, Melody, but John got in the way. Shots were fired, having no effect, and they picked him up and slammed him into the wall.
A strange figure broke through the outside window, a creature. Resembling a gargoyle in a black cowl and cape. It rushed in and grabbed Melody and her mother. One of the giants tried to grab the creature, but it adeptly dodged. It looked at John in the eyes, and there was a brief eye-to-eye communication. The giant with it's mighty fist slammed into the creature, but just in time it held its hand up, a protection spell glowing and inscribed in the palm. The spell protected it and the girls from damage, but the force still threw them through the window and outside. They disappeared into the night.
Back in the office, a helpless John was still pinned to the wall. The girl asked him what house he belonged to. He said none. She debated with the giant holding John. She considered recruiting him because he was not yet a Tremere puppet, he could be useful.
"Well, he is still a hollow, he cannot be trusted." the giant said.
She agreed and approached John. Coldly and effortlessly, she proceeded to kill a hollow the best way she knew. The giant slammed John against the wall, while she dug her fingers into his chest. He cried out in pain as she tore the rib cage open in a gory scene of violence. John's expression was to haunt Hank. The woman then gripped the exposed heart, and yanked it out as tendons and veins snapped free. In an instant John was lifeless, his corpse slumped to the floor.
With the heart still in hand, the three assailants left the room.
Hank awoke, head reeling with what he had seen. Elisa saw it all too.
They recounted it to the others. From Nightfalls proceeding conversations with the three investigators, many questions were answered. The powerful mage they had all met at warehouse 77 was the leader of house Tremere, and master of Cynthia towne. Once she had found out that it was they who attacked him that night, she advised the group to keep their distance from Tremere a while, and left the room. The rest of the group continued a conversation getting some more details of the various houses. Apparently Nightfall has been on the radar of the houses for a while now. Their actions have not been going unnoticed.
Meanwhile outside, Kody was still hanging out by the van. The shrouded lady visited with him. She told him that the creature that took the girls, Theo, the theologian, was not to be trusted, and he should be hunted down. She advised Kody to honor the memory of John, and find and protect the girls.
The rest of the group met up with Kody. They had one decision to make, two choices:
Find the girls and this theologian. They got a lead from the investigators that he roosts at a catholic building. But there were 2 buildings with the name that was given: an old hospital, and a cathedral.
The other choice was to find and hunt the two giants and the homunculus Kate-look-a-like as soon as possible. They had found that assassinations of this type were happening allover. All victim were hollow. When they caught up with the killer homunculus, they were too late, it would always reboot and forget its past. They had little time.
The group debated on which action to take. Much rested on this decision.
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