Assignment - Part 2

**Assignment - Part 2** is the second part in a *Vampire the Masquerade* mini-series on *Another Bad Side Quest.* The Montersang Coterie continue their investigations into the missing people of Monstersang.

## Assignment - Part 2

### **Synopsis**

#### Pre-Show Shenanigans

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### Summary

Aisling entered Scott’s apartment and found it as she often had, with a new canvas up on an easel. with a cup of water nearby, which would have been the practical portion of the paper he had been working on. Aisling focused and activated *Heightened Senses* to enhance her sense of smell to try to suss out how Scott was feeling when he was last here and found the usual scents of him living in the space, but also learned he seemed distressed when he last left. She checked to find he took his shoes, wallet and keys and decided he likely left of his own accord. Aisling left the apartment as she noted she knew him not to be stupid and that this better be good, before she headed for the university campus. After checking his usual spots, Aisling did not find Scott, but learned his classmates had also noticed he had been gone for a day or two now. Aisling then went to the police station and filed a missing persons report before making his way to Addo's shop with her car.

Addo returned to *Whodunnit* and finding Adrianna still behind the counter told her he would be too busy to give her the quotes tonight, but would tomorrow, though he did ask if she would stay to help for an hour or two more. Adrianna agreed as Addo wandered around the shop, pretending to be busy, before he mentioned he overheard there had been disappearances. Adrianna said she has noticed some people missing, but assumed the stress of finals and maybe a wave of sickness had just swept through and didn’t think much of it. Addo took that in and looked out the shop windows to make sure the shopkeeper across the street, Chris, had closed up and left for the night, which he had. Addo lets Adrianna go for the night before he closed up the shop, got on the bus and headed uptown to check on a woman named Lydia and see if she was ok.

Elvira, realizing it may be odd to show back up to work after feigning sickness, slipped a ring off of one of her fingers and put on a mask as she entered the hospital. Elvira went to her usual desk, flipped through some papers hoping to identify a patient related to gang activity or anyone documented as anaemic and found from the two lists, after cross checking anyone who appeared on both lists, and found one person of interest and noted where they where. She left the desk and headed for that area when she ran into Jessica who was concerned at her return. Elvira quickly explained she lost a ring, thought she might have left it there and had to find it as it belonged to her grandmother and Jessica, accepting her excuse, left Elvira to her search.

Elvira easily found the man she identified from the list in the ER, grabbed a blood pressure cuff and tapped the man awake as she started to wrap the cuff around his arm. Elvira picked up the scent of her preferred flavor of blood from him and smiled as she apologized for waking him and took the opportunity to ask about his two bullet wounds. The patient mentioned running with bad people and Elvira jovially warned him off of heavy bleeding in the future as he appeared to be anemic. The man mentioned his memory had been fuzzy and that it had been like that for a few days. Elvira asked where he might have gotten sick and he mentioned having friends in the French Quarter near the university, but also hang out at a new club that just opened called *The Bottom of the Barrel*. Elvira wished the man a good night, took a final smell of his blood before she left the hospital and headed on the bus to Addo's shop.

The view comes back to Alexander as he headed to Grover's home just as Louis called. Louis told him several of their associates had gone missing over the past three days, notably at night, and near a park they frequented. Louis offered to keep digging and Alexander agreed, asked for broad strokes for now and would call if he needed something more specific. Alexander arrived to Grover's ranch style home made in the ‘80s, saw all the lights are off and Grover’s car was in the driveway. Alexander approached the vehicle, activated *Heightened Senses* to focus on smell and found a scent of blood, faint as if it had been cleaned off, but still lingered under the car’s door handle. Alexander tried to detect if there was a scent of Kindred or Ghoul around and found the faintest traces of cologne that smelled of pine, fresh dirt and earth, which he knew wasn't Grover's. Now more concerned, Alexander deactivated *Heightened Senses* before he put his hand on the car's glass, activated *Premonition,* failing to fight back the Beast’s hunger as he roused the blood for his attempt, and forced a brief vision of Grover and his wife as they stumbled out of their home as if in a trance, brushing their hands past the car as they walked down the driveway as they did, and headed east, while a shadow followed not too far behind. Alexander deactivated *Premonition*, sent a text to Elvira, as she seemed to be the most genial of the three Kindred, and let her know he was on his way to *Whodunnit* with some information and snuck his way on a bus to make his way there.

Aisling was the first to arrive at the shop after stopping by the police station and Addo, who returned back after checking Lydia was fine, noted she was early. Addo asked if she knew where “the kid and the nurse” were and when Aisling snappily replied she didn't meanly teased her about not being texted despite swapping numbers. Addo’s desk phone rang as Elvira called to let him know she and Alexander were on their way and to leave his door unlocked. While he and Aisling wait, Addo activated *Eyes of the Beast,* hunted through the shop for rats, managing to find a few in his attempt and proceeded to eat his captured prey causing Aisling to gags as he did. Alexander entered the shop after knocking and the trio waited for Elvira in awkward silence. Alexander texted Louis to let him know when he could call and also texted Elvira just as she had stepped off the bus, though she did pause just a few yards from the door to text back that she was here, along with an unironic use of an emoji and entered the shop. Addo questioned that Elvira said she and and Alexander had information and she confirmed that they did. The pair got stuck momentarily in a loop of politeness and when Aisling demanded someone started talking Elvira stated she wouldn't take orders from Aisling.

Alexander mentioned what he had learned from random passerbys on the street, from Amelia at Grover’s shop, the smell of blood he picked up at Grover's home, along with the earthy cologne, and the *Premonition* he had at Grover’s home. Elvira asked which part of town he was in and Alexander replied he was in the northern part. Elvira noted it was interesting as she had several people in her hospital with symptoms of anemia and complaints of memory issues and assumed someone was feeding and not being careful about it. Elvira went on to mention about the gang related issues in uptown and that the man she talked to mentioned a club, though she didn't entirely remember the name. Addo noted he didn't leave the store much and Elvira noted while she did try that she hadn't been there and it might be a good place to start. She added that the person she spoke to said they also liked to hang around the artsy university in uptown, also liked frequenting new bars and that they could be connected. Aisling mentioned that Scott went there and hadn't been seen in a few days.

Alexander mentioned that he picked up a little more info from his “help from the Baron”, then checked his phone and found a text from Louis saying he was ready to take a call whenever. Alexander called Louis and put him on speaker phone for everyone to listen and asked him to say what he told him for the others. Louis recapped what he had told Alexander earlier, and also told the group some new information he had come across, including that it appeared most people who went missing had last been seen in the French Quarter and Industrial District. Alexander asked if any of that information connected any dots for them, but nothing came to mind for anyone, though Aisling noted there only lead was the club. Alexander asked what the club's name was and Elvira said she still struggled with the name, but said Google could help. Alexander asked Louis before she even found the app on her new smartphone and Louis said the bar was called *The* *Bottom of the Barrel* and was known for its ‘90s rave themes, which seemed to displease Aisling and Addo, but the group agreed might be a good place to check out. Aisling wondered if Alexander could even get into a club due to his appearance and Alexander said he could usually finds quieter ways in. Addo asked if he had a friend with a trench coat, with Aisling wondering if he was usually the one on top and Alexander chuckled while calling the jokes cute.

As Addo shooed the group out of his shop Alexander asked Louis to let him know what he found and started to end his call with Louis . Elvira wondered if Louis was any good with social media and while Alexander was unsure if he did Aisling offered that she had an assistant that dealt with it as she found it very complicated. Elvira wondered if checking the missing people’s social media might show them at a place like this club and when the rest thought it might be a good thing to check. Alexander asked Louis to check for him if he could and Louis said he could if he liked, but also noted he was a couple blocks from the bar and couldn't scan the whole place on his own. Alexander and Elvira noted they were headed on the way and Louis said he would see him soon before ending the call. Elvira commented that she liked Louis and Alexander affirmed that he was very useful.

The group prepared to walk to the club when Aisling sat in her car parked out front and had a quiet moment of deliberation before she unlocked the doors to allow the others in. Elvira called the car very nice before opening the passenger door to the front and sitting inside, while Addo and Alexander sat in the back. Alexander complimented the vehicle and Aisling noted she hoped to one day hire a chauffeur and not be one. Alexander offered to drive and Addo noted his feet probably couldn't reach the pedals. Aisling added that she would only do so if she planned to get them pulled over for letting a minor drive and Alexander cheekily replied there were ways around that with a wink. Elvira, citing Alexander's comment, explained her patient earlier was complaining of a cloudy memory and believed someone else was messing about with memories. Aisling commented that “anaemic with the memory of a goldfish” sounded like Kindred and was messy and Elvira replied they would need to be careful.

The group drove into the seedier part of the downtown area just as a sign could be spotted in the distance which read *The Bottom of the Barrel*.

**That is where we leave Episode 2!**