The Winter of Despair
Kindred from London have been going missing since around March 1889, at a steady pace, the most recent and noteworthy being that of Marcus Darius, the Gangrel Primogen for the city. Had it not been for at least one of these disappearances being one of Fagin�s own, the finger of suspicion would be firmly pointed at the vampires of the East End. But the mystery remains as yet unsolved. Adding to the disappearances is the astonishing case of William Savoy, a West End Tremere who had gone missing in March of 1890, but who was spotted six months later, with the pallor, aura and demeanour of a mortal.
Chapter 1: The House of Nightmares
The coterie of neonates to which Thomas J Parkin, George van Cleaf, Don Ciccioso and Nel belong, was despatched to investigate Vis Manor, a �haunted house� on the outskirts of London, which had been the recent location for sightings of some rather grisly and deformed corpses � apparently murder victims. Valerius, believing it to be a Sabbat nest, ordered the coterie to survey the mansion only, but not to engage in any encounter with the Sabbat, if they were indeed there. At Vis Manor, the coterie were soon split up, each getting caught up in their own private nightmare within its eerie walls. Finally, they met up in the catacombs beneath the mansion, where they encountered a mass of human bodies, all stitched or melded together. Beyond this terror the coterie met with the seemingly ancient Armin Vis, of Clan Tzimisce, who it appeared had not moved from his throne in centuries if not longer. Vis gave them a cryptic warning, to �beware of the red dawn�, and the coterie then left, as dawn was indeed approaching. When they later returned to the mansion, Vis was gone.
Chapter 2: Return of the Ripper
Investigating the murder of one of Eleanor Vandegard�s ghouls, the coterie found themselves uncovering the workings of a serial killer, the only connection between the victims being their links, although some being rather tenuous, with local bank clerk and private accountant, Walter Graham Scott. Meanwhile they also met with two new Kindred in the city, the freakish and disturbing Gynander of �the Clan of the Rose�, and the brutish and rude Ash, of Clan Brujah. Pursuing the killer, and trying to anticipate his next victim, the coterie was led to expert criminal psychologist Dr Seward of the Carfax District Lunatic Asylum. Here they met with his most disturbing and intriguing patient, one R. M. Renfield, who not only claimed that �his master is coming�, but also appeared to have power over life and death; after snapping the neck of a kitten, the animal soon recovered. Together with the �assistance� of Inspector Abberline at the Yard, the murder case came to a rather unsatisfactory close when the coterie found Scott laughing maniacally over the bloody corpse of his wife. Abberline and the police were assured of his guilt, and he was taken away, to Dr Seward. Scott did not ever make it there, however, as men in black robes ambushed the police carriage he was in, and Scott was abducted. Ash meanwhile, unimpressed with London, resolved to return to where he had come from: York. Still unconvinced of the clear-cut answer to a messy and contrived case, the coterie continued their investigation, and found out that Scott had recently returned to York, as had another man related to the case, legal clerk Ron Thompson. It was clear, therefore, that York required the attention of the coterie.
Chapter 3: Just Another Night
Summoned to an Elysium meeting at the British Museum, in which the reclusive Prince Medwyn was to address the Kindred of the city, the coterie found themselves embroiled in a plot to assassinate Valerius. However, due to the powers and nature of Elysium�s patron, the mummy Dr Gregory Wildham, severe violence is impossible in the building, and thus the successful assassination of Valerius at the hands of Janaslev, an Assamite, triggered a time-loop in which bizarrely only van Cleaf and Parkin found themselves aware of. After many numerous unsuccessful attempts to stop the assassination from taking place � occasions when Janaslev was destroyed continued to trigger the loop, as it was still an example of extreme violence � the two neonates, with the help of Cleopatra and Godfrey Willet, were at length able to solve the puzzle. Directing the incident outside to a back alley � an area not covered by Wildham�s protective ward � Janaslev was destroyed by his intended victim, Valerius, and the loop finally ended.
Chapter 4: York
Van Cleaf, Ciccioso and Parkin journeyed to York, still pursuing the Scott case, but without realising that York is not only a Sabbat-held city, but in fact the heart of Sabbat interest in the country. But their puzzlement was only just beginning, it seemed. After trying to pose as Sabbat fledglings to a resident vampire, their host revealed himself as Lord Christopher Byrant Durrel, an undercover Camarilla operative from Leeds, charged a decade ago with destroying Beauty, the hideous Archbishop of the city, but apparently forgotten by his Camarilla superiors in his own city. Durrel also informed them of Ash�s Sabbat allegiance, and his tendency for brutal killings � placing the culprit for the Scott killings squarely on him. Ash, however, spotted the London coterie, and so the neonates decided it best to leave. Prompted to go to Leeds before returning home, the coterie presented themselves to that city�s ruling vampire, Prince Mallrat, who told them she had never heard of Durrel, despite having been Prince of Leeds for almost half a century. Returning to London, Prince Medwyn cast the coterie out of the city for the time-being, lest Ash return to hunt them. It was also revealed that nobody, not even the ancient Medwyn, has ever heard of anyone called Mallrat, even though she had told the coterie to pass her greetings on to Lady Anne of London. Bewildered by this complex deception, the three Kindred agreed to leave London temporarily, stopping off first to find the fourth member of their coterie, Nel. However, they found Nel�s home broken into, and no sign of the Malkavian at all, the only clue being a symbol of a rising red sun on a black piece of cloth.