History of Santa Cruz County

[The Frog Journals]

These are excerpts from a few different documents outlining the events that occurred in Santa Carla, California during the summer of 1987.

“Met this new kid at the comic book store. Seemed like kind of a freak. Good taste in comics, though.

New kid’s name is Sam Emerson. Has an older brother, Michael. Haven’t met him. Also sounds fairly freaksome.

Locals have struck again. H.V. still unknown.”

– from Alan Frog’s Journal by A. Frog

“Sam Emerson is proving to be more badass than we thought. With a little training he might shape up to be a decent hunter.

Contact! David’s group, for whatever reason, has targeted Sam’s brother, Michael. Good thing he called us, or it might have been too late to save him. The good news is Mikey hasn’t made his first kill. If we can find the Head Vampire before that happens, we can save him.”

– from Santa Carla: Haven for the Undead by E. Frog.

“Sam’s brother has been compromised. Told Sam to stake him before he gets his throat ripped out, but he didn’t go for it. What a freak.

Sam’s mom’s dating the H.V. This family must have a deathwish.”

– from Alan Frog’s Journal by A. Frog.

“We thought Max was the Head Vampire, but after conducting the standard tests, we’ve concluded that is not the case. The next logical course of action: Kill them. Kill them all.”

– from Santa Carla: Haven for the Undead by E. Frog.

“When you read this, you're gonna think I'm crazy, or say I have an over-active imagination, or I should be on Ritalin. Whatever. I know the truth, okay? And the truth sucks! Wow. No pun intended....

...First we thought the Head Vampire was Max, but we were wrong... or, we thought we were wrong. He passed all Edgar and Alan's tests at dinner, but I'm starting to think these guys don't really know what they're doing...

...Edgar and Alan decided we should go find David and his group during the day and stake all of them. I'd like to say, for the record, I was not down with this plan, and I had a feeling the whole time it would end badly, and I was right! They just ran in there and started stabbing. What the hell kind of a b.s. strategy is that??...

...Anyway, it turned out I was right about Max all along. Apparently if you invite a vampire into your house the normal tricks don't work on them: Holy water, crosses, mirrors, garlic. Yeah, that would've been nice to know BEFORE the guy tried to rip Mike's throat out and turn my mom into, like, Queen of the Vampires or whatever...”

– from How I Spent My Summer Vacation by S. Emerson.

“I never killed a man before. I never thought I would. I keep telling myself it was the right thing to do, that there wasn't any other option. It was him or me. But it doesn't change anything. It doesn't make me any less of a killer. It doesn't stop the nightmares...”

– from a letter written by Michael Emerson, but never sent.

“Just as I suspected, the Head Vampire was Mrs. Emerson's boyfriend, Max. Although he threw the others off by passing our vampire tests at Sam's house, I always knew he was the one. Of course, by inviting him into the house, we rendered all the tests null and void. That in itself was a test to see if that theory was true. I can now say, after conducting that experiment, that it is...

...After we gave Twisted Sister a death-bath in some garlic and holy water, we were able to kill the Head Vampire by jamming a large log right through his heart. It's officially the most difficult kill Al and me have ever had, but we did it. We are awesome monster bashers. Truth, Justice, and the American Way once again triumph!”

– from Santa Carla: Haven for the Undead by E. Frog

“...I'm caughing up soot, I smell like garlic, and I almost pissed myself so many times today. But, damn, it was a good time!

...Edgar and I killed the blond one in the bathroom. We filled the tub with garlic and holy water and shoved him in. Well... us and the dog. Sam nailed the one with the long brown hair downstairs with a bow and arrow. Took out the stereo, too. Not sure how that happened...

...Michael and David had a showdown. David lost a fight with a pair of antlers...

...Sam's crazy, awesome grandpa drove through the side of the house and sent Max flying. Michael came out of nowhere and shoved Max in front of this huge log, and bam! Max went out in a blaze of glory. The fireplace just went nuts! And we had the best seats in the house!

...Michael, Star, and Laddie all seem to be cured. Max must've been the Head Vampire. Case closed.”

– from Alan Frog’s Journal by A. Frog.

[The Watcher Diaries]

These are excerpts from the diary of Rupert Giles chronicling the events that occurred in Sunnydale, California surrounding the Slayer, Buffy Summers, and all those associated with her.

“Upon beginning her sophomore year at Sunnydale High School, Buffy befriended Alexander Harris, known informally as Xander, and Willow Rosenberg. Although a great effort was made to keep Buffy's identity as Slayer a secret, Xander and Willow soon learned of her true nature. Both have proven quite helpful in the area of research…

Several people were abducted and held captive by the Order of Aurelius as part of a ritual known as The Harvest, which was meant to release The Master from his mystical prison underground. With the help of her new friends, Buffy prevented this ritual from being completed and, thus, resumed her duties as Slayer...

...I recently learned of a prophecy in the Codex which stated that Buffy would face The Master, being led to Him by a vampire known as The Anointed One, and she would die at His hands... This turned out to be only half-true. Buffy did face The Master, and He fed from her but rather than draining her, left her to drown in his lair. Fortunately, He did not count on Xander and a fellow ally named Angel finding and reviving Buffy... She then found The Master and killed him, leaving behind his skeletal remains, which we buried in consecrated ground...

As she entered her junior year of high school, we learned that the remaining members of the Master’s Order were attempting to resurrect The Master using his remains in a ritual. This attempt was foiled and Buffy ground his bones to dust to prevent it from happening again…

…As a result of Buffy’s death – as temporary as it was – a second Slayer named Kendra Young has been Called to Sunnydale. I am currently functioning as Watcher for both girls.

…Angel, a vampire formerly known as Angelus, has somehow lost his soul and become the evil, murderous creature he once was. He has allied himself with the vampires Spike (also known as William the Bloody) and Drusilla and they plan to awaken the demon Acathla, who will pull the world into Hell…

Willow is going to attempt to restore Angel’s soul before he completes the ritual that will awaken Acathla. There is no guarantee she will succeed, therefore I must prepare Buffy and be sure she’ll be able to kill Angel to prevent the destruction of the world, should he begin the ritual as he plans.

Unfortunately, Angel’s soul was not restored, which had disastrous results to say the least. Kendra was killed, Willow suffered a severe head injury, Xander was injured, and I am quite the worse for the wear. But, Buffy did succeed in killing Angel, and the world remains intact for now…

After being expelled from Sunnydale High School, Buffy moved to Los Angeles. However, she returned to Sunnydale shortly to resume her duties.

As a result of the death of Kendra Young, another Slayer named Faith Lehane was called to Sunnydale. I will be acting as Watcher for both Faith and Buffy for the time being.

The Council has sent a young watcher named Wesley Wyndam-Pryce to train Faith and Buffy now that I have been dismissed from the Council. He’s very green to say the least.

I’m afraid Mayor Wilkins may have something sinister in mind for the town. We also have reason to believe that Faith has been working for him for quite some time.

Buffy has managed to prevent the Mayor’s Ascention. He apparently planned to become a very powerful demon. Unfortunately, preventing this from occurring resulted in the destruction of the high school, and Faith was put into a coma. Angel has left Sunnydale and moved to Los Angeles.

Having graduated high school, Buffy and Willow have enrolled in the University of California.

I have recently purchased a magic shop in Downtown Sunnydale, which has become our new base of operations. Former Vengeance Demon, Anyanka, is a trusted employee.

Spike has returned, but he was apparently captured by some sort of military organization. He had a microchip implanted in his brain that causes him great pain when he attempts to harm an innocent. This could very well turn Spike into a useful ally.

The military group that captured Spike is an organization known as The Initiative. They apparently fight supernatural forces.

Faith has awoken and escaped to Los Angeles. This presents a problem for us all. Finding her is of the utmost importance.

Professor Maggie Walsh, the head of the Initiative, has created a Frankenstein-like monster called Adam. After performing a ritual to give Buffy heightened power, she was able to defeat Adam and the Initiative was destroyed.

A dangerous woman called Glory has made an appearance. She has taken an interest in Buffy’s sister, Dawn. We must find out what her purpose is, and what she is, precisely.

Glory, also known as Glorificus, is actually the God of a hell dimension. She seeks a mystical key that will break down the walls between dimensions. This will cause a breakdown in the universal make-up, which would cause the end of the world.

All has become clear with the discovery of a very important piece of information. Dawn has not always been here, though, to us, it seems she has. Dawn was placed with Buffy just a few months ago by a group of monks, who took the mystical key and made it into a human, placing it with the Slayer to hide and protect it.

Glory has captured Dawn in order to bleed her in a ritual, which will break down the dimensional walls around us.

Buffy was able to defeat Glory after weakening her with a troll’s hammer. Glory reverted into her host vessel, Ben, and I killed him to prevent her from returning. However, the ritual had begun and Buffy sacrificed herself by leaping into the open portal to close it.

I recently returned home to England, only to discover that Willow, using a powerful spell, has resurrected Buffy. I must return to Sunnydale.

Buffy seems to have formed a strange relationship with Spike. This is quite possibly a way for her to deal with her resurrection.

A trio of familiar faces has formed, aligning themselves against Buffy and attempting to become her arch nemeses. This is presenting a problem.

I’m afraid Willow may be dealing with some addiction problems involving her use of magic.

We’ve been struck by much tragedy of late. Willow’s girlfriend, Tara, has been killed, resulting in a bizarre change in Willow. She has been consumed by dark magic and hatred, and seeks to destroy the world to end all of its suffering.

Thanks to Xander, Willow has been stopped. Buffy has proven herself to be more than capable of performing her duties unguided.

An entity known as The First Evil has manifested itself in Sunnydale, taking the form of those who have died. Even more disturbing, several young women are being brutally murdered, no doubt for some dark purpose.

The Council has been destroyed, and we’ve begun gathering Potential Slayers to protect them from The Bringers, who are trying to destroy them all.

A breed of old and powerful vampires known as the Turok-Han have formed an army in the Hellmouth. Buffy must use an ancient weapon known as the Scythe to defeat The First.

Willow has completed a spell that has activated all of the Potential Slayers, and they will fight alongside Buffy at the Hellmouth.

The Hellmouth has been closed, destroying Sunnydale. Now there is an entire population of Slayers to combat the Forces of Darkness, and The First has been defeated."

[Whistler]

After Angel left Sunnydale, a lot of major stuff went down in L.A. I’m just going to give you a rundown that probably won’t be short and sweet.

When Angel got to L.A., he met Alan Doyle, a half-Brachan demon sent as a messenger from the Powers That Be. He also ran into Cordelia Chase, one of Buffy’s pal’s from High School. The three of them started a detective agency designed to help people who had some supernatural issues. They ended up moving into the Hyperion Hotel and using it for their base of operations.

Right before Doyle fell on the sword and sacrificed himself, he kissed Cordelia and made her the new messenger for the Powers. That didn’t go so well for her. See, humans aren’t really meant to be Messengers. They’re not really strong enough for it.

At some point, they ran into Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who was a Watcher in Sunnydale before the Council got blown to bits, or whatever happened to it. Apparently Wes decided to devote his time to hunting demons, and being really bad at it.

Now, being a vampire, it stands to reason that Angel’s not gonna get a warm fuzzy welcome from everyone he tries to help out. He came across a vampire hunter named Charles Gunn, who wanted to dust him in a big, bad way. Lucky for Angel, Gunn realized Angel was one of the good guys, and joined Angel Investigations.

Wesley embraced his research skills and managed to translate the Shanshu Prophecy, which told of the coming of a vampire with a soul that would play a pivotal role in the apocalypse. Who didn’t see that one coming? Supposedly, after the final battle, Angel would become mortal and live out a human life.

Meanwhile, the law firm Wolfram & Hart managed to resurrect Angel’s sire and old flame, Darla.

Wolfram & Hart had intended to use Darla as a weapon against Angel, but there was a flaw in their plan. When they brought Darla back, she was a human – not a vampire. And, as a human in her hay day, Darla was dying of syphilis. They ended up recruiting Drusilla, a vampire Angel sired back in his evil days.

As Angel sunk into a depression, he distanced himself from his team, and got closer to Darla. A little too close, apparently, since he wound up sleeping with her. This guy needs to just accept the fact that sex never ends well for him.

At some point, Cordelia got transported to Pylea, an alternate dimension dominate by demons where humans were treated like pets, or slaves. While trying to rescue her, they met a Deathwok Demon named Lorne and a highly intelligent woman named Winifred Burkle. Apparently Cordelia wasn’t the first chick to stumble down the rabbit hole and end up in a hell dimension.

Angel and co. ended up overthrowing the Pylean government and freeing the human slaves, taking Winifred, Lorne, and Cordelia back to L.A., where they learned that Buffy had died in Sunnydale.

After taking a time out in Sri Lanka, Angel came back to L.A. to find out Darla was pregnant. This was kind of a big deal, since no vampire had ever gotten pregnant. They learned through a prophecy that the birth of this kid would cause a death. Darla ended up staking herself during child birth so she wouldn’t kill the baby. See, Darla shared the kid’s soul while she was carrying him, but once he was born she would’ve been a bloodthirsty vampire.

As Angel Investigations tried to figure out how to raise this baby, Connor, Wesley found a prophecy that implied Angel would murder his son. His brilliant plan? Kidnap Connor and hide him someplace. What he didn’t know was that Daniel Holtz, one of Angel’s enemies from way back in the day, had other plans for the kid. Holtz took Connor and fled to a hell dimension called Quar-Toth. As the gang mourned the loss of Connor, a rift formed between Wesley and the group.

To everyone’s surprise, Connor returned a few weeks later, only something seemed a little off since he’d aged about eighteen years. See, time passes faster in Quar-Toth, so to Connor he’d already lived eighteen years, being raised by Holtz. Unfortunately for Angel, Holtz told Connor that Angel was still an evil vampire, so Connor spent a lot of time gearing up to stake him.

After Holtz got one of his buddies to kill him and set Angel up for the fall, Connor trapped Angel in a casket and threw it into the ocean. Meanwhile, Cordelia disappeared, being sent to a higher plane of existence by the Powers. Lorne went to Las Vegas and Fred and Gunn were left to keep Angel Investigations running.

With the help of Wesley, Angel was brought up from his ocean-floor resting place. Angel had an awkward meeting with Connor at the Hotel, and refused to forgive the kid. Angel, Fred, and Gunn ended up having to rescue Lorne from Vegas after finding out the poor guy was being held captive at some hotel and casino.

This is where things get a little screwy.

When they came back from Vegas, Angel and co. found a very confused, memory-wiped Cordelia. She ended up hanging out with Connor for a while before they restored her memory with a spell. Then this Beast came to earth, blocked out the sun, and caused fire to rain from the sky, obliterating Wolfram & Hart. Thinking it was her last night on earth, Cordelia shacked up with Connor and got pregnant.

See? I told you it was going to get screwy.

After getting some weird visions from Cordelia that led the group to believe Angelus was the only one who knew how to get rid of the Beast, they took Angel’s soul. If you’re thinking that was probably a bad idea, you’re right.

Angelus didn’t give them any helpful information, and the others ended up recruiting Faith, the more unstable of the two Slayers, to help wrangle him. Then cavalry came in the form of Willow, and she restored Angel’s soul and took Faith back to Sunnydale to help in their fight against The First.

As the gang started getting kind of suspicious of Cordelia, she was able to convince Connor that they were evil and afraid of their love and their unborn child.

See, it turned out the Cordelia that came back wasn’t actually Cordelia. One of the Powers – who’s a few cards short of a full deck – hijacked her body when she took her little trip to the higher plane, and started doing a whole bunch of stuff designed to bring her to earth. This Cordelia imposter was controlling the Beast the whole time and used Connor to impregnate her so she could give birth to herself.

As Angel tracked down Connor and Cordelia, planning to kill her to prevent the birth, he was too late and Jasmine sprang out of Cordelia’s womb, leaving Cordelia in a coma.

See, Jasmine had this ability to entrance everyone she encountered into believing they were happy. Blissful, really. This created world peace, but it also came at a price. She had to enslave and feed on people in order to keep this up.

When Fred came in contact with Jasmine’s blood, the spell over her was broken and she ended up being kind of an outcast – the only one who could see what this world peace really was. She was able to break her friends out of the spell and they found out that saying Jasmine’s true name would destroy her hold on the world. Angel took a jaunt over to a demon dimension to find her name, came back, said it, broke the spell, and Connor killed her. Talk about a father-son bonding moment.

As a reward for their actions, Wolfram & Hart gave Angel and the gang the L.A. branch. Sound like a trick to you? That’s probably because it is.

Angel also got an amulet and was told to take it to Sunnydale. Meanwhile, Connor pretty much lost it and tried to blow himself up, along with a chunk of the city. To save Connor, Angel made a deal with Wolfram & Hart to give Connor a normal human life, wiping all the memories they’d need to from everyone except Angel.

After getting some kind of wacky procedure done, Gunn became a brilliant lawyer and the rest of the gang settled into their new base of operation, Wolfram & Hart. Angel got a package that held the amulet he’d sent to Sunnydale, which Spike used to destroy the Hellmouth under Sunnydale and sacrifice his own life.

Apparently self-sacrifice is the thing to do these days.

Attached to the amulet, Spike ended up wandering around the law offices as a ghost for a while until another package shows up and turns him corporeal again.

Remember the Shanshu Prophecy? You know, that thing where a vampire with a soul who was important to the apocalypse would be rewarded with a human life? Well, now Angel wasn’t the only vampire with a soul hanging around, so him and Spike fought for that title for a while.

An old enemy and former employee of Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey, showed up to guide Spike. But, Cordelia came back to warn Angel that Lindsey was actually trying to let some big bad monster out of some cage – there’s always some big baddie in a cage – and use it to kill Angel. But, the Senior Partners weren’t too cool with Lindsey doing that, so they captured him. Angel then learned that Cordelia had died without waking up from her coma.

Fred received a sarcophagus and it infected her with a demonic virus, which allowed an ancient demon named Illyria to take over her body. People just shouldn’t open any packages in L.A. I mean, seriously.

So, Illyria tried to raise an army and, surprise, destroy the world. Too bad her army was, like, really really dead.

Angel, Spike, and Gunn went to find Lindsey in yet another hell dimension. They freed Lindsey and Gunn agreed to stay behind in his place. Meanwhile, a frightened couple went to Wesley and asked him to help their son, who seemed to have supernatural strength. Wesley sent them to Angel, and ended up being the human parents of Connor.

It turned out there was a Prophecy that told of Connor defeating the demon Sahjhan. The sorcerer that built Connor’s new life wanted Sahjhan killed, and apparently Connor was the guy for the job. Connor took the challenge, but the fight wasn’t exactly going in his favor until Wesley jumped in and smashed the jar that held his memories. With all his old training restored, Connor defeated Sahjhan easily. Retaining both sets of memories, Connor went back to his human family.

An unstable Illyria freed Gunn from his prison and planned to kill Angel and his crew when Wesley weakened her by draining her of most of her energy, which let her stay in her human body.

Through a series of weird events, Angel ended up joining the Circle of the Black Thorn, a secret society devoted to… come on, you know this one by now… bringing on the end of the world. Thinking he’s gone darkside, Wesley, Spike, Gunn, and Lorne attacked Angel, who explained his side of things. See, before Cordelia died, she passed her visions to Angel and he had one about the Circle of the Black Thorn. Angel and co. destroyed those guys, which pissed off the Senior Partners.

Pretty much, all you need to know is that things have kind of a pattern around here. It goes: Prophecy, big bad released from someplace, end of the world, self-sacrifice. Have fun.

[The Informant]

Welcome to the New World

Welcome to California. As you take a look around, you might realize something’s not right.

You are standing in an alternate dimension, which contains a version of the state of California. All the cities you’re used to are present, but most of them have been altered. Sunnydale, which should be a crater in the middle of a desert, is still standing. Santa Carla, once a thriving resort town, is now run-down and over-run by supernatural creatures. Los Angeles has been taken over by Wolfram & Hart. Nothing happens in the city or its surrounding areas without these guys knowing about it.

As if that’s not strange enough, seemingly random people have been sucked into this dimension without knowing how they got there or why. In addition, some people thought to be dead are alive and well here, and some people are being pulled out of completely different years and eras.

No one knows where this dimension came from, or how they ended up here, and no one can seem to get out of it. Whenever people leave the state, they find themselves in abandoned, run-down ghost towns with no electricity or running water. Whenever someone tries to leave the dimension through supernatural means, they always seem to wind up right back here.

No one knows what brought them here, and no one knows how to get back to where they belong, but new people show up every day and everyone is looking for answers.