The Dante Club: Darkmatter D20 Modern Style {Newly updated to Chapter 3. 7/13/05}

Well this is my first foray into a story hour. A little background about the campaign. The flavor of the campaign is ala Dark Matter/X-files. The characters are members of an elite police unit based in Detroit. Their new assignment will delve them deeper into their own psyche and into the world of the occult. The victims:

1. Jake Matthews (NPC) Fast 2/Smart 2- Older than his age would let on, Jake began his career as a paramedic before his entrance into medical school. It was there he only lasted a year when he realized that he preferred the pulse of the street over that of the classroom. Now a member of the Detroit PD, he has taken his skill set to become a proficient albeit young crime scene investigator. His look includes torn jeans and Atari t-shirt.

2. Cyrus Vance (Quickbeam) Tough 3/Daredevil 1- One word, survivor. Cyrus is a former National Security Agent. Caught in the blast of a bomb that slew his family, he has been left with a scarred intimidating visage. The agency has assigned him to Detroit to help cool down and recover from his recent loss. Meanwhile, Cyrus is ever vigilante as he attempts to discover his family's killers.

3. Drew Zhong (JDyal) Fast 3/Gunslinger 1- Originally an army ranger specialist, Drew transfered to the CIA when his tour of duty was over. Dubbed as ecentric and blamed for a botched case he was the moved to the NSA. There he was not well received and his persistent ramblings regarding a cover up and the hiding of evidence that may prove the existence of UFOs landed him back working in his home state of Michigan.

For those of you that don't recognize the title of my thread I must give credit where it is due. The first adventure is loosely base on the novel The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. Here is a link to the book's offical website: www.thedanteclub.com

A Job Invitation

Dear Officer:

You have recently been recommended by your superiors, for a new position being developed for an elite team of police personnel. This multidisciplinary team will consist of members of local, state, and federal law enforcement and has been assembled to under the provisions established by the federal government and funding obtained under the Patriot Act. The state of Michigan has been chosen to pioneer this program due to its uniqueness and impact on a national level. Unfortunately, Michigan has come to the forefront of the national media. Detroit has been named the nation’s most violent city, this area’s large Arab population is suspected of housing sleeping Al-Queda cells, and the state is known as a proving ground for anti-government paramilitary activity. As a result, I have made crime my first and foremost priority in my first term as governor.

Through a collaborative effort between the FBI, ATF, INS, DEA, NSA, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Department of Justice, Michigan Attorney Generals Office, Michigan State Patrol, Michigan County Sheriffs, and local police departments we announce the establishment of M.C.O.P.S.; Michigan Coalition of Police Services. I am proud that we have entered into a new era of cooperation that can improve the safety of both the State of Michigan and the Nation.

This elite organization shall be given jurisdiction over any high profile crimes throughout the state. The focus shall be placed on anti-terrorist activity, high profile murder cases, organized crime, smuggling, and other well publicized investigations. The unusual team approach will allow officers to work hand in hand in an equal fashion with varying government organizations. Divisions will be appointed with supervisors from all branches. There will no longer be discrepancies between resources at the local, state, and federal level. We’re on the same team now!

If you’re interested in this rare opportunity please send your resume and include your service record, personal information, educational background, military training, and psychiatric evaluation to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for review. We look forward to your enlistment.


Sincerely,

Jennifer Granholm

Governor Jennifer Granholm

Chapter 1: A Fly on The Wall

Time on the job has been difficult for all those involved in the MCOPS project. There has been bickering between departments. Now jurisdiction is turned over to the MCOPS officer on the scenes. Homicide, narcotics, and vice squad have all had their glory stolen by MCOPS. Even the feds are getting edged out of the action.

A shrill chirp from a pager snaps Drew back to reality. Sitting at his desk drinking coffee his mind once again shifting from the cloudy period back in Australia where he "lost time". It had been another late night doing some "research". He wasn't sure why but something about a desert in Western China kept consuming him but it would have to wait.

Cyrus strolls out of an AM briefing, "What's up?"

Vance verbalizing his thoughts, "187. Looks like a homicide. Scene must be cold to get a page. Let's check it out. Give Jake a ring and get the truck rolling."

Rolling up on the scene to local Gross Pointe police have the area cordoned off. This is the residence of one Judge Michael Arthur. By the look of his posh residence he is clearly from old money.

Cyrus: "It's obvious we grew up on the wrong side of the law!"

Officers Fatima and Gilkey are actively questioning and counseling two distraught women out in front of the house. One tall, slender, elegantly dressed, slightly older stands sobbing violently. The other a short hispanic women in plain jeans and a shirt stands answering questions.

Jake notices a peculiar look from a neighbor as the truck pulls in the drive. The shadowy figure withdraws back behind the blinds. Officer Fatima approaches with the run down. It appears that Judge was to take a trip up north for fishing. His is car in the garage and it appears his fishing gear left untouched. Alicia Arthur, his wife had just returned from a weekend shopping trip to Toronto with her girlfriend. She didn't want to spend the weekend along so she left town. The house had been empty until this morning when she returned home. Valentina arrive around the same time and began her daily chores.

Alicia Arthur: "When I brought my bags up to the master bedroom to put them in the closet I heard Valentina scream downstairs to find her out back. Then I saw that thing. My god I hope that not Micheal".....she then begans breaking down.

Valentina: "Oh senior. I came this morning to start my work and prepare dinner for Ms. Talbot. I was hanging the rugs out back like I always then I noticed that smell. I went to look further and I noticed trash all over the lawn. Then I noticed insects swarming all around biting and stinging me. There was the body. I ain't seen nuthin like it senior. I moved closer and I swear Mother Mary it moaned. I just hope it aint Mr. Arthur."

Drew continues the questioning of the witness out front while Cyrus and Jake move out back. The lawn is litered with scraps of paper.....a strange jumble of letters cut into small squares. The stench is overwhelming. A mound of what could be a man lies not far from the beach.

Cyrus: "Come on Jake. Get on up here. This is your deal not mine. That poor fool ain't gonna get up and go Boo. I don't have all those fancy degrees, but I'll tell you he's sure hasn't been dead for 48 hours."

Jake: "Well I'll have to agree with you on that. Haven't you noticed these bugs. Some sort of fly. Not too surprising but look at this blue wasp. Haven't seen one of these before and they're all over. Hey, by the way did you notice the neighbor's strange reaction when we pulled up?"

Cyrus: "Don't worry I'll take care of the questions."

The two approach the corpse or what remains of it. Teaming with insect larvae the skin almost appears to crawl. Little is identifiable. Liquifactive necrosis has set in and the flesh is infested with bugs. The body has decomposed far to extensively to someone who has gone missing for only 48 hours. Jake bags and tags what little remains.

Meanwhile Drew has walked a fine line between hard questions and appearing compassionate. Alicia Arthur's story appears to have checked out. Here friend, Liz Harris, confirms the two were in Toronto for the weekend. According to Judge Arthur's fishing buddies he cancelled on Friday at the last minute but didn't appear distressed or concerned.

Cyrus moves to questioning the neighbor, Freddrick Laffey. Laffey is clearly evasive and has something to hide. Cyrus "leans" on him a bit causing Laffey to break down. It turns out he saw a vagrant wandering around the house the presumed night of the murder. Concerned that he could be blamed for the crime because he never reported the vagrant to the police, Laffey didn't want to come forward. A description is taken and an APB sent out looking for someone matching that description.

The invesitgation moves into the house. The crime becomes apparent. A bloodied tire iron is found in the back of the Judge's Range Rover. The crime occured in the master bedroom. Arthur appears to have been struck from behind, stripped naked, and drug from the upstairs through the kitchen to the back. Several things are evident. The killer attempted to hide the bloodstained carpet in the bedroom by covering it with bags packed for the trip. The kitchen floor was cleaned with bleach but the carpeted stairs were missed. Dirty towels were hastily stuffed in the laundry machine. The most gruesome details appears to be that the judge was alive when drug out of the house. His bloodied handprints line the sliding glass door to the outside showing signs of resistance.

Even more interesting is a possible motive. Judge Arthur is somewhat of a local celebrity in the area. He has held court over several priest abuse scandal cases regarding the Detroit Diocese. He's thought of as tough but fair, having sided in cases for both the victims and the church. As a result of his neutrality and own desire as a Catholic to clean up the local scandal, he as been appointed to a committee composed of lawyers, priests, and community leaders to address this problem on a local level. Numerious notes and newspaper clippings are found in the study detailing this.

FOLLOW UP TO THE CASE
Analysis of the insects reveals two predominent species:

Chlorion aerarium- A blud mud dauber wasp normally solitary in nature. Normally docile and not associated with corpses. It can be found in Michigan but not normally in these numbers.

Cochliomyia hominvorax- One of the subspecies of blowflies. Also known as the New World Screw fly. Unlike other flies it lays its eggs in fresh live tissue and not rotting flesh. The larva have hatched and developed on the corpse at a rate not normal in nature.

The strange letters strewn about the lawn spell out "I am the way to the city of woe."

Questions remaining to be answered???????
Who killed the Judge?
What was the motive?
What does the strange quote on the papers mean?
How could the body have rotted so quickly?
Where did these strange insects come from ?

Find out more in our next installment

Thanks for posting this Josh. A very nice start to the campaign, and a great lead in to the Story Hour. Maybe we'll even get to play session #2 soon so the fun can continue.

I'll post again JB, just for good measure

Presumably we'll have plenty more to post after we play again tomorrow...

Joshua Dyal said:

Presumably we'll have plenty more to post after we play again tomorrow...

Click to expand...

Or maybe not. My apologies for an evening at my home fraught with various interruptions.

Chapter 2 "It's not delivery......."

With seemingly little to work with Drew and Cyrus hit the streets working on leads. A missing vagrant, strange insects, and multiple motives to kill a judge add up to a whole lot of nothing. The investigation seems to run dry but then an unrelated case has obvious ties to the Arthur murder.

MCOPS is summoned to the scene of a highly publicized robbery/murder. A pizza delivery boy named, John Sampson took two shotgun slugs to the chest as a branch of Hungry Howie's Pizza was robbed. A couple of local kids hanging outside the store recognized the pimped out 1984 Chevy Caprice. Who could miss the metallic purple car with 20 inch tires on chrome spinner rims. That kind of flash belonged to the one and only neighborhood thug, Tyrone Wallace. Cyrus leaned into the local kids real hard for info. They were mute knowing what happened to those who ratted out Tyrone. Cyrus flashed his badge and laid some threats of doing hard time in the joint. Little Tommie began singing like a school girl. A few tears latter and the assault squad was ready to roll up on Wallace's crib.

The place was pretty low key and it looked like Tyrone was home. Car parked out front and not much movement. Cyrus was ready to do it the old fashioned way.....guns drawn and the door kicked in. Drew on the other hand took things with a little more grace. Sneak in through the back, assess the targets, and neutralize the threats. Jake was there to provide cover fire and back up.

Front door: Bam!!! "MCOPS! Nobody moves!"

"Screw you pig!" Famous last words. A couple of shots from Cyrus and the young punk paid his dues. Jake rolled into an adjacent room. A woman and child sat before him cowering under the drawn pistol. Drew, hearing shots was on the move. The butt of his shotgun smashed the back door lock revealing a landing up to the back kitchen and down to the basement. The shuffling of feet from below was met with, Kaboom! Kaboom! Two rounds to the chest and another ganger goes down. Drew and Cyrus had them in a crossfire. The punks continued to exchange shot but they eventually went down. Cyrus took a grazing shot to his shoulder. Jake's intincts took over. Patching people up was what he did best. Not many remained alive and no Tyrone. The only hood with half a brain, Clive Russel, quickly gave up. Wallace was at a crack house down the street, holing up until things blew over.

Drew, "Time to roll." The house was delapidated. Windows were boarded up, the roof gaved in, and the upstairs had previously been set ablaze. The only way in was through a hole in the boarded up front door. Guns drawn, the approach to the house was interrupted with a "chit chit chit" A large rattle snake sat sunning himself on the sidewalk. With quick thinking a box thrown by Jake minimized the roadblock.

Entering the house was a grizzly scene. A large python crawled from beneath the front door. Within the house hundreds of snakes slithered in and out of crevices. In the middle of the floor was the bloated body of a naked man. A constrictor was already trying to make him a meal having consumed half of his arm in one big gulp. The body was riddled with bites. His death hadn't come quickly enough. This was Tyrone Wallace. His accomplice was found around the corner, naked on the stairs, bound, gagged, and choked to death by a constrictor around his neck. Again thousands of scraps of papers littered the floor. "I am the way to eternal pain." In the kitchen was a bag with $1200 from the robbery, a few empty forties, some half eaten McDonalds, and the men's clothes neatly folded into piles. If the snakes hadn't got them the food surely would have. A few questions from the neighbors revealed that a black van had pulled up and several men got out. Soon they were unloading boxes into the house and they suddenly took off as fast as they came.

Questions remaining to be answered???????
How could the scraps of paper seemingly connect the two murders?
What was the motive for both crimes?

Chapter 2 Interlude: A Vagrant and A Cultist

While John Sampson's murder/robbery was being investigated, the local Grosse Point police had managed to round up a few suspects matching the APB put out for a homeless man seen in the vicinity of Judge Arthur's murder.

The disheveled man looked as if he had not seen food for quite some time and clean clothes for even longer. He sat silent to questioning. When he did speak it was only repetitive muttering under his breath. Drew thought he could recognize the Italian dialect and called for an interpreter.

"He keeps saying the same thing over and over." "Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create se non etterne, e io etterno duro. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.......Before me nothing was but things eternal, and I endure eternally. Abandon all hope, you who enter here." "I don't know what to tell you gentlemen. He doesn't respond to anything I say in Italian. Sorry I couldn't help furthur."

Cyrus, "Talk god damnit! I'll make you talk! I know you can understand me! Officer, get this peace of crap back to his cell."

Drew, "Cyrus, take it easy. He's obviously some crazy homeless man. He couldn't be responsible for three murders."

Suddenly a scuffle and the meager vagrant breaks free casting himself off a balcony smashing into a desk below. Jake scrambles to his aid and attempts to perform CPR but the man's last breath eases from his frail frame. Clutched in his hands is a strange trinket. A cross mounted upside down on a silver chain.

Records of the man's fingerprints eventually return. He is an Italian immigrant and priest hired at a local university to teach ethics and Italian. There was an alleged sexual realtionship with one of his students and he left under the pressure. He latter turned to the ministry were he was accused of molesting a child. He was quickly acquited as it was clear the charges were falsely filed, but he left his parish in shame and soon disappeared. No tax returns, paychecks, credit applications, etc had turned up in more than 20 years.

Research into the Italian phrase and the phrases from the two crime scenes seemed to point to Dante's inferno. All three are quotes from Canto III as the narrator is about to enter hell. What did this man have to do with the crimes? Why would both he and Judge Arthur be linked to molestation cases? All questions that needed to be answered.

Drew was a bit stumped as to the link, but knew what any good cop should do and that was follow his leads. There was a lot of those damn snakes. They had to come from somewhere. It turns out the Detroit zoo reptile section had been robbed as well as a few local pet stores. At the zoo someone had been cultivating the two species of wasps and flies found at the Arthur crime scene. Craig Carlson, zoo keeper and herpatologist had not shown up for work in some time. It was time to pay him a visit.

Cyrus as usual wanted to do the talking. He was getting tired of this case going nowwhere. A young unassuming man answered at the Carlson residence. Several man sat at a table behind him but what they were doing remained obstructed by Carlson's figure.

Cyrus, "We need to talk. Step outside!"

Carlson, "Who are you. I don't think so pal. I'm not going anywhere."

Cyrus, "It don't matter who I am. We got business and we need to speak. We can do that inside or outside. You decide."

Carlson, "This conversion is over."

He began to close the door but Cyrus reacted quickly wedging his boot in the doorway. Carlson began to reach for something under his shirt. Drew catching a glimpse reacted quickly drawing his own gun. "Freeze!" Carlson continued to move. Drew pulled off a few shots but they slammed into the doorway. Carlson quickly retreated back into the residence. Fire began coming from the table of men. "Rata-tat-tat-tat...." The sound of an Uzi made a distinct noise. Cyrus shot back. Drew dropped one of the men. Jake sprang into action grabbing his 12 guage from the car. Cyrus concentrated his fire on Carlson who returned fire hitting Drew in the leg. Jake then barged into the house laying waste to one of the men with a "THOOM." Drew followed his lead charging into his house and putting the final slugs into Carlson to take him down.

Carlson was quickly patched by up by Jake. He would be stable for the meat wagon to get him to the OR. He had purchased himself a long ICU stay. The house was searched revealing clues to these strange cases. On the table lay maps of the Arhur home, information about the Judge's personal activities, and newspaper articles regarding his work in previous molestation cases. In Carlson's bedroom was a red, leather bound manifesto embossed with an upside down cross. Within in was reference to indoctrination into the "movement", how to avenge the sins of the perpatrators, and various rituals. Within the book were quotes from Dante's Inferno. Next to the book was a long sword with a wicked blade. The tip was curved into a sinister hood and the hilt was in the form of an upside down crucifix.

It was obvious from phone records that Carlson was a close friend of John Sampsons. It was likely that the Wallace killing was a revenge killing. Drew knew they were very close to something. The lid was about to crack wide open. Some type of cult was intimately tied to priest molestations and this all somehow linked to Dante's Inferno. Clearly they were about to enter hell!

Chapter 3: Pimp Juice

With questions left unanswered about the Dante cult, things began to get more confusing. A quick call from the Dearborn police indicated that a recent murder had occured and had the same MO as the others.

Pulling up to a shanty motel several squad cars sit in front of room 34. Within the room hangs a man. His body is covered in hundreds of lashes. Two whips lie on the floor. Two local cops have guns drawn on a closed bathroom door. Sobbing of a young women can be heard inside. "Just leave me alone and go away." Drew calls of the locals and manages to call the girl out. Offering her a warm cup of coffee, a blanket, and seat in the suburban she starts to loosen up.

The sixteen year old runaway starts to spin a frightening tale. She was molested as a yound girl by her priest Father Funk. The girl ran away spending her nights on the street as a call girl. She picked up another trick.....the man hanging from the ceiling. Quickly realizing that fate had brought Funk back to her. She knew him and the hate inside her burned. He didn't recognize the girl he had taken advantage of. Frightened, she did not know what to do and tried to simply leave. Funk became angry and began to beat here.

Suddenly two men burst through the door and began beating Funk until he was almost incapacitated. They strung him up through the rafters leaving a noose hanging snuggly around his neck and Funk standing on his toes. If on the tips of his toes he could breath. As he relaxed the noose became tighter. The two men then beat him until his final ounce of strength waned and he slowly asphyxiated. They then scattered some scraps of paper around the motel room. A quick 911 call was placed getting help for the girl and they were off as fast as they had came. The paper reads, "I am the way of the lost." Another Dante quote.

Questions remaining to be answered???????
Who were these men?
How did they know to save the girl?
Carlson is dead. Who is orchestrating this new group of individuals?
What is the Dante link for?