- “Murder? Yes... the killer is dead. He moves soon and travels to the heart of the ángeles... and to the home of the stars... and then returns fulfilled... and empty once again.”
-- Rosa
The Southland Slasher is a character in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. He is the serial murderer of Los Angeles, a Gangrel vampire who has killed five people in a span of two years.
Biography[]
Early life[]
The Southland Slasher, whose real name is never mentioned, does not follow the laws set by the Camarilla, nor is he interested in their customs or rituals.
On an unspecified day in either 2001 or 2002, his wife and children were murdered by inexperienced criminals trying to steal their car. The family was killed for getting in the way. Since then, the Southland Slasher has followed the trail of individual offenders to kill them, and avenge his family.
Related Quests[]
Abilities[]
The Slasher is a powerful vampire and a very dangerous and vicious opponent. Even though he doesn't know anything about any vampiric laws or elements from their society, he managed to learn about Disciplines, mastering his clan's signature power, Protean, to an exceptional extent, being able to completely changing himself into a powerful monster. The Slasher also makes great use of his strength to throw objects as big and heavy as cars to his opponents.
Murders[]
In a span of two years, five people in Los Angeles were killed so brutally, that the bodies of the victims were described as 'broken'. The perpetrator of these murders is the Southland Slasher.
- Al Schmidt
- Between 2002 and 2004, Al Schmidt was killed in Glendale. No further information about his death is available.
- Mitch Iberson
- Mitch Iberson was murdered and dismembered in March 2002 in Long Beach. His remains were thrown into the sea and, in the third week of March, parts of his body washed ashore.
- Mike Mateo
- In October 2004, Mike Mateo's corpse was found hanging from a light pole on the Santa Monica Pier, with entrails spilling from his shredded abdomen.
- Sean Milton
- In October 2004, Sean Milton was killed and beheaded in an abandoned building in Downtown Los Angeles, located opposite of The Last Round.
- Mike Durbin
- In October 2004, Mike Durbin was killed in room six, in the Luckee Star Motel, located in Hollywood. Unlike previous victims, Mike was not destroyed due to the fledgling interrupting the killer.
Trivia[]
- The facts, the modus operandi and other information perpetrated by the Southland Slasher, closely resemble those of the serial murderer, Jack the Ripper.
- They killed a total of 5 people.
- All victims were dismembered.
- One of the Ripper's victims, Elizabeth Stride, was not dismembered due to an interruption; as with the case of Mike Durbin.
- The police could never solve the case.
- Although the Southland Slasher is never directly named, in his message to his girlfriend, Muddy Durbin instructs her to tell someone named Reno to meet him Downtown if he calls her asking for Muddy, as they "have something to discuss, apparently." The name Reno is never mentioned again, and does not belong to any of Durbin's known associates that the Slasher was targeting, but the slasher was around that same time calling Durbin and demanding to arrange a meeting with himself, Durbin, and Sean Milton at Downtown. It could be extrapolated that Reno is the name -- or at least the nom de guerre -- of the Slasher.
- The Southland Slasher can actually be encountered in the Surfside Diner early in the game, and you can even interact with him briefly. (The Plus Patch uses the audio from the answering machine in Mudd Hunt when you first enter the diner, implying that he is leaving the message at that moment.)
- The diner is a domain while the Southland Slasher is speaking on the phone, but reverts to a Masquerade location after he has finished his call. It can be easily discovered that he is Kindred if the fledgling uses Auspex (as a Tremere, Toreador or a Malkavian) while in the diner. Alternatively, the fledgling can attack him, which will cause him to activate his Protean ability. This is a hollow discovery, however, as at this point in the game the player character is to weak to take down the Slasher and will ultimately result in the fledgling's final death.
- His canonical fate is unknown, but the player may either choose to fight and kill him, or convince him to give up his crusade. If convinced to stand down in the Plus version of the Unofficial Patch, he can be found keeping guard for the Anarchs in front of the Chateau Marmont.
- If the Fledgling accepts Velvet Velour's quest and manages to deal with vampire hunter Chastity without drawing anyone's attention, police will suspect the Slasher in the stripper's murder.
- Other Kindred in LA suggest that the Slasher is a Caitiff; in this case, it's using the political meaning, of a Kindred who does not know their lineage or anything about Kindred society, rather than the meaning of a clanless vampire, whose blood contains no clan identifiers.[2]
- If not for the Fledgling's intervention, the Slasher might have ended as a "cannon fodder" for the Sabbat[2].
Dialogue[]
Gallery[]
External links[]
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