De la Pour Family

## **History**

The background of the De la Pour family stretches far back into British history. What is known is that they were followers of the Old Ones, and lived in an underground city, deep in a cave. Their they fed on human flesh and made sacrifices to the Old Ones.

As time passed, other groups that came to Britain, such as the the Romans, the Saxons, and the Normans, had people among them who became part of the cult.

At some point, the cult became the De la Pour family. In the 13th Century, they built Exham Priory over their underground city.

This continued until the 1600's, when Walter De la Poer, he killed his entire family in their sleep and then fled to the New World. After which he changed the spelling of the family name to Delapore.

In 1923, William Delapore, the last known descendant of the De la Poer family, moved from the United States to Britain, a few years after the death of his son, Alfred, in the First World War. He restored Exham Priory and moved in. Soon after, Delapore claimed that he and his cat frequently heard the sounds of rats scurrying behind the walls.

Upon investigating further, Delapore discovered the underground city beneath Exham Priory. Delapore, along with a friend named Edward Norrys, and a few other men, made their way into the underground city and began to explore it.

During said exploration, Delapore learned the secret of his family's dark past, and that apparently drove him mad. This, along with lingering anger over his son's death, caused Delapore to attack Norrys and the kill him. Delapore then began to feed of him while rambling in a mixture of Middle English, Latin, and Gaelic. Delapore was subsequently subdued by the other men in the group and placed in a mental institution, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Exham Priory was blown up by the locals not long after.

## **The Inner Circle visits**

In May of 2018, Rex Buckland and Hannah Webster, were asked by Dean Richard Pickman to travel to the ruins of Exham Priory to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Professor Nathan Howell and David Abbott, the graduate student who had been assisting him. Both men had vanished while excavating the ruins of Exham Priory. Upon further research, it was revealed that Howell had badgered Miskatonic University for years for a grant to pay for a dig at Exham Priory.

Before leaving for Britain, Hannah provided Rex with the background information concerning the De la Pour family and the dark legacy it had left behind.

Rex and Hannah, along with Randolph Carter and Staci Clarke, arrived at the ruins and discovered the entrance to an underground cave.

Before long, they discovered the underground city. Rex noted that the city had been constructed over the centuries, with Druidic, Roman, Saxon, and Norman bits all added to the existing city. This confirmed that the grim events they had read about had been going on for centuries.

Soon after, the group had split up, and Rex and Hannah soon discovered the corpse of David Abbott, which looked like it had been partially eaten.

Meanwhile, Randolph and Staci discovered a statue of Cthulhu, deep in the city. It was at this point that Professor Howell appeared, much to the surprise of Randolph and Staci, and began to admire the statue.

At that point, Rex and Hannah arrived and told everyone about finding the body of David Abbott. Howell seemed unconcerned about the death of his graduate student and soon dropped a bomb on the group. His full name was Nathan Howell De la Poer, a descendant of an illegitimate son of Walter de la Poer. Howell had investigated his past and soon uncovered the dark secrets of his family. This led to an obsession for him, making him convince Miskatonic University to give him a grant to explore Exham Priory. He had been consumed by the same madness as his ancestors and sought to reclaim what he saw as his family heritage.

At that point, Rex accused Howell of murdering David Abbott. Howell confirmed that accusation and told the group that he planned to resume his family's cannibalistic rituals, all in service to the Old Ones. He planned to kill Rex and Randolph, while saving Hannah and Staci as breeding stock for a new branch of the De la Pour family.

However, Howell was unaware of Hannah's powers, and she morphed into a lion, and pounced on Howell, knocking him unconscious.

After turning Howell over to the proper authorities, Rex, Hannah, Randolph, and Staci returned to the U.S., after having arranged to have the entrance to the cave, and the underground city, permanently sealed.

## **References**

*Rex and Hannah Chronicles Story No. 49: Into The Catacombs*