By Peloquin (ka.vanadis@karlskrona.mail.telia.com)
He was running. Sweat ran down his face, mixing with the smudges of dirt and ink. How could things have gotten so wrong? He and two others had been out Hunting, searching for what that weirdo Malkavian had described as "the best trip in town". Damn Malkavians. Another reason not to trust them. Now Saul and Rio were dead, and -- god, what were these people? According to the old signs, this had been part of the old Acme buildings, that strange novelty company that went bust in the early sixties. Acme. Now where had he heard that name before...?
"Yoo-hooo? Mr vampire? Come out and play! We're sorry we broke your friends, really sorry -- okay? Please?"
That voice again -- like Death interpreted by Mickey Mouse -- oh, god, Mickey Mouse -- he had to get out of here. But how? This place was a maze, alleys that went nowhere, doors that led to steep 10 mile cliffs -- Escher would have gotten lost in this place. There -- was it a door? He had to! Had to get out of here! Slowly he got up, making a last blood-enhanced run for the doors. Thank Caine for Celerity -- and slammed hard into a nine foot blue giant in bloodstained battle armor. And beside the ogre stood that horrible, insane monstrosity with the squeaky voice, its bulging red eyes glaring at him. It pulled an oversized yellow glove from a four fingered hand, revealing -- a massive set of sharp, spinning sawblades.
"Noo, li'l vampie, you no leave here -- we wan's ta play wiv you." The screams echoed through the streets of southern Los Angeles, as another fool met his doom in the place once known as Toontown.
When cartoons appeared on cinema screens all over the world, children all over the western world asked their parents where those funny movies came from -- and the answer was almost always (USSR excepted) "In America, of course!" And the Glamour of millions of children created a city. A city populated with chimera of the most bizarre kinds. The city wandered the U.S. for a while, making Childling lives happier when it came to their towns, but soon, led by the beliefs of mainly American children, it settled outside of southern Los Angeles, near the cartoon studios of Warner, Disney and RKO.
The chimera inhabiting this place soon took the forms of known cartoon characters, and due to the massive belief fountain created by so much raw imagination, they gained the infamous invulnerability possessed by all (now gathered under the name) toons.
Unfortunately, Los Angeles was already in turmoil back then. The Anarchs fought the Camarilla and Sabbat both, trying to create their own little safe haven in the rigidly held California, and won. But the victory came at a cost. The Anarch leaders had been forced to make a deal with some of the more unsavory elements of the city, some not even human -- and the rulership of the Dreaming in the City of lost Dreams fell in the hands of the Shadow Court. Toontown began to grow darker and darker.
Soon, the cartoon studios had to cease their activity due to the increasing pressure of the now Technocracy-controlled Disney, ("Visit Epcot Center kids! And remember, magic only exists in cartoons! Which we create with computers, isn't technology grand?") and Toontown and their adjoining studios fell into oblivion. But late October nights, during Samhain, the Houses of the Shadow Court conspired and plotted, and slowly, but surely, turned the land of happiness and harmless violence into the nightmarish hellhole of misery and bloody gore it is today. Sometimes, they hold what they call "rabbit hunts", in which they pick suitable targets (neonate vampires and Autumn mortals mostly), enchant them, and then chase them through the pandemonium of everchanging Toontown, and then kill them in (what they consider) amusing ways.
And with the animated industry becoming more and more adult and violent (especially with the "Hellborn" show on Fox, originally created as a comic book by artist Rod McTarley, dealing with a man raised from the dead, forced to work for the devil), Toontown is becoming yet darker and crueller. the changelings of LA have a new name for it: Terrortown.
There are several places of power in Terrortown, most notable the Havoc Café, but there are others as well, mayhap not as powerful, but still dark and unsafe.
The place is run by Gerimed Kayunte, a Sidhe noble of unknown origins, who controls the place with his slick manners and his gigantic chimerical toon bodyguard gorillas. It is unknown what House Kayunte belongs to, but the rumors say he is Balor. Inside, the Havoc Café is a smoky, cartoon nightclub with dim red lighting and live chimerical toon strippers, one of which starred in a famous movie in the late 80's. The bartenders are giant toon spiders; the waiters are skeletal toon birds and the cigarette girls are sleazy, rundown versions of famous 20's and 30's toons. Beware the drinks. The Havoc Café is a Freehold of some power and any Changeling who actually spends more than an hour in the place regains one (1) temporary Glamour. Unfortunately this comes at a small price; anyone able to sense such things will sense the Wyrm in your clothes, but not from yourself. Also, keep away from the back rooms and the alleyways behind it -- you really don't want to know what's in there.
Toon Invulnerability
Chimera Point cost: n/a
Glamour: n/a
This Rede enables the chimera to be virtually indestructible, impossible to kill, really. Oh -- no wait. Not quite. there is one thing that can kill them, messily, noisily and cruelly. Dip. A mixture of acetone, turpentine and benzene, this substance dissolves the toon into the paint that once created them. Imagine being dissolved in acid and feeling it all the way down.
The invulnerability takes its form in amusing side effects. Being crushed by something almost always either flattens you, the limb in question or reshapes it in a mold after the crushing object. The head or limb or body pops into shape almost immediately afterwards, in likewise amusing ways.
Note that this power simply does not work outside of Terrortown, so any Toon Companions gained will be normal chimera outside it.
(Stats are considered average for all)
Attributes: Strength:3, Dex: 3, Sta: 3, Cha: 0, Man: 4 (Threats) App:1, Per: 3, Int: 4, Wits: 3
Abilities:: Alertness: 3, Brawl: 3, Dodge: 3, Intimidation: 4 (Overt violence), Kenning:3, Drive: 1, Firearms: 2, Melee 4 (swordcanes), Investigation: 3, Law: 4 (Toon laws).
Appearance: Magistrates are hybrid versions of toons: they look human but have toon abilities, they also have bulging red eyes and high pitched voices, their red hair has caused many to mistake them for redcaps, a mistake seldom made again. They wear yellow gloves over their hands, and have the ability to reshape their hands into lethal weapons, something they only use if they run out of Dip. The only true known Rede they use is Toon Invulnerability; they are, naturally, as vulnerable to Dip as anyone else.
Dip
This mixture of chemicals is in actuality a form of liquid Banality, like the Nocker gas Universal Solvent, but far more lethal. The liquid inflicts 7 Chimerical Damage per turn, and armor is quite ineffectual, the only thing one may use to soak is Glamour. (Diff:6)
Abilities: Alertness: 3, Brawl: 2, Dodge: 4 (Duck), Empathy: 3, Intimidation: 3, Kenning: 3, Leadership:3, Subterfuge: 4 (Straight face), Etiquette: 4 (Commoner), Melee: 5 (Broad swords), Stealth: 2, Gremayre: 3, Changeling Lore: 4 (Shadow Court), Politics: 4 (Intrigue), and a whole bunch of Lores and abilities too numerous to count here.
Arts: Chicanery 5, Pyretics 5, Sovereign 4, Contempt 4, Cronos 2
Other notes: He is best in the Actor and Fae realms -- it is also quite possible that he has a few Wyrm powers; see the appropriate books for advice on what to give him. Also, due to his Balor blood, he has a deformed left hand, which he hides in a black glove. Fortunately he is quite weak willed and tends to ask his Thallain advisors for council at more than one occasion. Ergo, the place is truly ruled by the nameless Thallain Bogie who work with him.