Covenside

Covenside
Region	French Hill
Kingpin	Vireo Victoria

Attitude: Wary
Mental	+1
Physical	-1
Social	+3
Modifiers
Feeding Pool	4
Access	-1
Safety	-1
Information	-2
Ignorance	+3
Prestige	+2
Stability	+1

Places of Interest

The Subterranean Mansion (Housing)

The property of the Subterranean Mansion is surrounded by a thick hedge. It's roughly 9 feet high and carefully trimmed such that the pointy ends of the steel railings hidden within jut out at the top. Security cameras cover the area. The obvious point of entry is a wooden gate, wide enough for two cars to pass through at the same time, and with a crowned crocodile on each wing. The video intercom system is integrated in a little stone pillar on the side.

When the crocodiles part, it becomes obvious that the gate is actually made of metal. A driveway leads through the beautiful 0.3 acre garden and ends not at a house, but at two elevator booths made of stainless steel, one for people and one for cars, with fingerprint readers instead of the usual call buttons. The centre piece of the garden is the upper half of what looks like a huge sphere made of metal. Behind the dome is an outdoor jacuzzi the size of a pool with a couple of swimming canvas chairs chained at the brink of it. Flower arrangements make this place look quite idyllic.

The first floor runs around a cyclindrical cavity with the metal dome at the ceiling and a jacuzzi at the bottom of the second floor. A railing prevents people from falling down while opening the view to the whole floor. There are no walls or doors but rather three open areas: a conference room, a lounge with black leathery chairs and couches, and a bar. The whole area is well lit by some luminous source within the dome that seems to emulate natural light, but without causing sunburns. There is also a master bedroom with a generous en suite and shute to the pool on the lower floor and a walkable cloakroom, but those are separated from the main area via a door. The staircase to the second floor has a slide next to it, in case you want to get down quickly.

Hellfire (Location)

The Hellfire is located in a refurbished gothic church. Booths string together on both ground and first level with a good view on the dancefloor in the middle. Everything is lit in red light, turning the former church in some kind of ecstatic limbo, with the stained-glass window behind the altar being the gate to hell proper. Prices are relatively cheap, considering how hot the club is amongst Kingsmouth's youth, and how much money has been put into marketing lately.

Cinder Pit (Location)

Rough concrete pillars separate a track of rough wood floor from the warehouse's open-beam ceiling. The fighting club is a spartan, cavernous affair stripped of excess, if a coat of paint and places to sit counted as opulent luxury. Spectactors gathering for a good beatdown crowd around a sunken ring, the total disregard for trash or hygiene evident in the accrued dust and crushed cans lying around. Cinderblock slab walls muffle any sound from a rowdy fight and a droning old industrial air conditioner blocks the lone window in the corner. Wires track in squiggled black lines overhead to a set of industrial lights blasting an eye-watering glow down onto the arena proper. A scuffed white circle marks out the fighting ring where the concrete replaces the floorboards. Dented metal drums grouped on a brick platform provide additional ambiance when set aflame, the metal interiors blackened beyond recognition.

The Warehouse (Brawl/Weaponry 2 Site)

A few years ago the Southside gym was just another seedy boxing gym with equipment decades old at the verge of bancryptcy. That was before it was bought by a young woman known as Vireo Victoria with more money then wits and a passion for fighting.

Now the Southside gym is still at face value a seedy boxing gym but it's now reputed to be the best one in Kingsmouth and constantly full of people pouring their heart into the art of fighting with the sound of punched bags sometimes echoing down the street. A particularly odd feature of the gym is the archaic weapons lining the walls and the regulars will tell you that the owners passion for fighting goes well beyond just using your fists.

At night after official closing time passers-by can sometimes still hear the sounds of combat coming from inside where the curriculum has changed from modern day MMA to combat with all sorts of archaic weaponry sometimes lead by the proprietor herself, an outmost expert in the field.

Pierce Convalescent Home (Feeding Grounds 2)

Pierce is a long-term care residence and hospice for the elderly and infirm. Too often it is the last earthly residence of the lonely and forgotten, left here by families that cannot or will not take care of them. Amongst the soon to expire and forgotten members of society, it is quite easy to slip in and feed, particularly if the body is to be left cooling. Those who wish to preserve their humanity feed more shallowly, as the residents are frail with age. The staff tries valiantly to keep up the spirits of its residents, with varying degrees of success.

Salandino's Restaurant (Streetwise 1/Socialize 3 Site)

Salandino's is the one place to go in the neighbourhood with a dash of quality. It serves fine Italian cuisine, with take-out service, from 4:30pm - 10:30pm (Friday and Saturday until 11:00pm). Street crime is rare around Saladino's as the kitchen staff is a tough bunch from Boston's North End and take harassment of their restaurant patrons very seriously. A small lot behind the restaurant offers safe parking, as the rear entrance from the lot to the kitchen is usually left open for ventilation on all but the coldest nights. Would-be car thieves or hooligans in the lot are chased away by angry prep chefs with cleavers, and the cops get called. Rumor has it that the mafia owns the eatery.

Scrub-A-Dub Laundromat (Streetwise 3 Site)

This 24-hour Laundromat is a well-known spot. Bright sienna formica counters inside run along two walls, with driers stacked three high along the other, and a huge glass window, mangy and covered in old posters and postings taking up the front. One of the lights terminally flickers in the back corner, and the one beside it is burned out. The place will forever smell of spilled fabric softener. Two vending machines cling to the wall, all in old white steel: one for detergents, and one for condoms. Many drug connections are brokered here, and deals completed in the parking lot. Arkham police are beginning to drive by here a lot more frequently.

Freewheeler Bike Shop (Location)

The Freewheeler Bike Shop does sales and repairs. They live and breathe everything on two wheels, the walls lined in two tiers of bicycles mounted on metal frames. Dangling hooks suspend expensive titanium frames and rickety old ten-speeds with worn canvas saddlebags overhead. All sorts of related paraphernalia fills the corners and front display, from an amusing pile of helmets made to look like skulls to pedals on a spiderweb. The slightly macabre feeling is leavened by a lot of humour. Three back racks cater to cycling wear for all ages and a selection of fancy biking shoes with carefully constructed pegs to go with pricey pedals up front. Several tattooed hipsters work on bikes in the workshop behind the counter, a place where the least known bands are piped through their iPads.

Orne's Gangway (Intimidate/Streetwise 1 Site)

This narrow, dark alley leads to a small courtyard behind several buildings. Dirty and filthy with trash, it is rarely frequented by anyone with a good purpose.

Eye of Amara Society (Location)

The Eye of Amara is a beautiful but aging Victorian house that until recently housed a small, openly occult society. Its members were revealed to be involved in a child kidnapping ring, which led to FBI arrests and the collapse of the Society.

The Witch House (Creepy Location)

Arkham’s oldest home once sat on this spot, until its demolition by workmen back in 1931. Known then as "the witch house," the decrepit place originally was the home of infamous Arkham witch Keziah Mason. By that time, the witch house was so dilapidated from age, weathering, and lack of maintenance that it had to be destroyed. Workmen tearing the place down were shocked to discover a hidden crawlspace filled with skeletal human remains. So disturbed was the landlord at this grim find that he had the local priest – a Father Iwanicki – bless the lot after the timber and debris had been hauled away. Upon the landowner’s death, the lot was willed to the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The Archdiocese held on to the land for many years, eventually selling it off just a few years ago as one of many property divestments to raise funds in the wake of the clergy sex-abuse scandal that has rocked greater Boston’s Catholic community. Kingsmouth Independent Real Estate picked up the property and in turn recently sold the lot to game designer and California transplant Peter Sandison. Following the guidance of his "personal spiritual advisor" and hiring a very patient architect, the designer soon erected a dwelling uncannily similar to the old Witch House. The resemblance startled some of the old-timers still in the neighborhood, who make the sign of the cross when walking by the place.

Arkham Supply & Service (Crafts 4 Site)

Arkham Auto Supplies is a modern-day temple to the American religion of automobile-worship. Parts and accessories, tires and wheels for all your automotive needs are stocked on ceiling-high shelves. Attached to the retail store is a full service repair and collision center for those lacking the requisite skill to install parts, repair damaged vehicles, etc. A full-detail car wash and cleaning service rounds out the automotive offerings.

Arkham Auto is a success with the subset of Arkham’s young males who own and take great pride in their vehicles, transforming production-line models into custom street machines. The store also has a very good relationship with the Arkham police, reporting any suspicious damage to motor vehicles or any vehicle-related activity that raises an eyebrow of dubiety.

Covenside Bed and Breakfast (Location)

Bed&Breakfast — Covenside Bed & Breakfast

Built in 1721, this lovingly restored Colonial home is located in the heart of old Arkham and offers private baths and full in-room breakfast. They do a good business offering "romantic weekend getaways" and "midweek, stress relief" specials for harried couples on the North Shore. Tourists looking for lodging with ambiance while sightseeing Arkham and vicinity's colonial past find Covenside most agreeable. Rates are higher than most chain hotels, but the rooms have "character." One of the rooms on the first floor has a sign on the door that says 'Private'.

Arkham House of Pizza (Location)

Steaming hot pizzas are made to order, with a huge variety of toppings at the House of Pizza, which more than lives up to its name. The menu famously carries an 'Elder Pizza', with baby squids, squid-ink carbonara sauce (a weird greenish grey) and avocado. This old favourite of the Italian minority around here has served Arkham since 1968. Open daily 11:00am - 11:00pm. Minimum of ten dollars for delivery: debit, credit cards and checks accepted. Delivery guys may speak broken English.