City of Sinners

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rivaan
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Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:47 am
Clan: Gangrel
Garou Tribe: Glass Walkers
Sabbat Clan: Tremere Traitor

City of Sinners

Post by rivaan »

It was a cold September night, the sound from passing cars was ringing in his ears as he walked through the streets. Rosefort or the town of sinners as they called it, was about the half the size of a city like New York, but housed almost 50 percent more people than a town registry stated. The place was full with people who didn’t ‘exist’ and just fell between the cracks of the system. Aside the homeless, the town was full of criminal organizations, plain street gangs and even some cults around which lot’s of legend like tales were floating. Needless to say, this place wasn’t the best to live. Many of those who couldn’t find decent work, just turned to the life of crime or sin in some of the towns many brothels, gamble clubs or speakeasies.

Jack sighed as he saw some barely dressed women waved at him from the other side of the street and a police car just passed along, not even paying attention to them. Even the law was already rotten in this place. Despite that, it still attracted people and the unofficial population just continued to grow, the whole place reminded him of the maw of a giant grotesque monster… you can enter, but never leave.

As he continued to walk along the street, many looked at him with curious eyes. People were wondering what’s a good looking student like him doing in this part of town. While the whole place was stagnating with corruption, crime and death, some parts of town were significantly better than the rest. The University area was one of the few places where the law was ‘enforced’ strictly. To put it simply, there was a lot of money being flown into the university by wealthy people from around town, so their children would be well protected. The police of course played the role of the guards. No one dared to do anything stupid there, as the law often used the saying: shoot first, ask later.

Jack was one of the few people who were in this town by their own choice. Long ago when his sister, studying here, died here under suspicious circumstances, he swore to find out what happened here. For that very reason he convinced his parents to send him here. They were reluctant at first, but eventually gave in to his request and offered their support. It’s been 7 years since his sister died and a year since he came to this forsaken place, but there was still no clues about her death. He visited the city’s library to check the newspapers of that period, but they just weren’t there. He tried to locate any of his sister’s acquaintances, but all records were impossible to find also. Everywhere he tried to go, he was met with walls that blocked his way. For a year he struggled alone in this, but without any results so far, he realized that professional help is needed. Using the little contacts he had created during this year, he began searching for a private investigator who would help in this undertaking.

That task too was a struggle as every PI he found was either corrupt as the police or required money way beyond what he could pay. Just as he was about to give up, his search paid off. One of his fellow university students with shady background, actually give him information about a certain investigator who’s services were up to negotiation depending on the job. According to his friend, the only way to get a meeting with the said person was to leave a message at a certain speakeasy and wait for him to send you an invitation. Turns out that was an adventure of it’s own, as it took Jack a few days to convince the barkeeper to take his message. Eventually after all that struggle, a small letter was waiting for him at his door at the university campus. How it was delivered he didn’t know and didn’t dare ask the guards if someone was spotted, for he knew he couldn’t trust anyone in this forsaken city. Now here he was, following the address given to him in the letter. He never visited this part of town before, but now that he stepped here, a shiver was running down his spine with every step. He felt that he was watched… and not the hookers or the gang members who were at every corner. What he felt was a presence that seemed to steep from the very darkness that surrounded him.

Finally after what felt as an eternity, he finally found the address he received in the letter. From the outside the building didn’t look like anything special. It looked old, very old, the front doors were made out of metal and the windows of the shop on the ground floor were covered with metal bars. Two things he noticed now that he stood in front of the front door of the building. First was that the gangs seemed as if they were keeping their distance from this place. All of the people around seemed to throw looks at him, but no one dared to even make a noise. The second thing was a number of strange symbols engraved in the door. With a gulp, the young man stepped through the door, leading into the building.
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rivaan
Antediluvian
Antediluvian
Posts: 1977
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:47 am
Clan: Gangrel
Garou Tribe: Glass Walkers
Sabbat Clan: Tremere Traitor

Re: City of Sinners

Post by rivaan »

The interior of the building wasn’t much different from it’s exterior. Everything inside was old too. Stairs were wooden and were creaking under ever step, the lights were barely present… there seem to have been electrical installation, but it looked ancient at best. None of the lamps seemed to be working. All light he had came from outside, through the windows around the stairs, so he barely was able to see where he was stepping. What he did notice was as strange as the inscription on the metal door earlier. On the pale light, that managed to sneak inside the building form the windows, some dark, strange symbols were distinguishable on the walls. Just as with the door, the whole place gave him a strange and unsettling feeling. It was as if the whole building was out of place… no that was wrong. The building was just in it’s place in this town. It was him who didn’t belong to this place of darkness.

Finally he reached the third and final floor. What took Jack about a minute at most to do, felt like hours, as every step brought more feeling of wrongness to the place. The third floor was different from the rest of the building it seemed. There was but a single door here, where the rest had 3 doors each floor. This place was also lighted by small lamp, the glowed with warm orange color. It’s calmness felt like a oasis in the sea of darkness that was this place. With uncertain hand, the young man reached to the door handle, but stopped right before he touched it. A doubt appeared in his mind. A inner voice in him, that screamed at him to leave this building and this town. Deep inside he wanted to leave this place and never return. After a minute or two of wondering what to do, he finally reached a decision. Despite all that sense of danger, he drowned the voice of his self preservation instincts. “I owe it to her…”He muttered and with sure hand opened the door, stepping inside. At first his eyes were blinded by a light from the inside, but after a few moments, he was able to distinguish what it was. The light source was a small lit candle, that burned with calming flames. Only now was he able to distinguish everything else in the room he was currently in. It seemed the front door of the place, let directly to what appeared to be an office of sorts. It had lot’s of drawers for documents and other peculiar items. There was a big window on the wall right in front of him, and before the window there was a big wooden desk, on which the candleholder was placed. There on a chair sat a woman with golden hair and piercing blue eyes. She was sitting there on a big armchair and reading some sort of very old book. Just as with the light at the staircase, the flame of the candle was calming beyond what one would normally believe. Jack just supposed that because all the darkness around, the light just stood out more. “I expected you to come sooner. “The woman said, not averting his eyes from the boy. He was still standing there, frozen, looking at her. She was beautiful in his eyes. It was hard for him to decide on how old she was as she appeared young, but she looked very mature. He suspected the woman was in her late twenties, but there was no way to know for sure…”So you are going to just stand there the whole night?”She asked him with a smile, tearing him away from his thoughts. With a panicked moves, he proceeded with sitting on the empty chair in front of the desk. “So it took you a while to come. I was almost expecting you to not come.”The woman said once again, while still not stopping reading her book.”I had some problems with the place I had to leave the message and to take it… They didn’t want to allow me to enter the speakeasy.”He explained and the woman just smiled again.”And yet you found a way to do it. You are standing here before me now and that’s says something at least. It seems like I will have to hear your request after all.” She said, finally closing the book and turning towards the boy. Jack wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. He expected to meet a big angry guy, but instead what he found was something well beyond his expectations.
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