(Duck’s notes: Due to the many plot threads, I’m colour-coding them. The main Asmodeus investigation (and introduction of the S.C.) will be in black, the Robinson investigation in red, the arson investigation will be orange, any mention of the Poet will be yellow and the Helm tab will be in green.)
TBE01 - 6/24/01: 8/Black Coffee (Jennifer Hepburn.) manages to survive an arson attempt on the Cafe, most likely caused by Astoria. The former Cafe members have all either joined up with Astoria and its sister organisations (F.C. 44, Nick Langley; F.C. 17, Sahir Bali; F.C. 62, Salenna Whitaker), gone missing (F.C. 53, Alex Galves; F.C. 26, Aelan Amalu) or quit (F.C. 1313, Nicole Langley; F.C. 71, Felix Blackwood). The other employees' locations, if there are any, are currently unknown (though its probably mentioned in death of 8 and Indigo Wars.) Black Coffee decides to restart the Cafe, with all-new members - they do have a co-owner and an investor, but both are more passive.
TBE02 - 6/25/01: The co-owner checks in. It's Galao/Lucifer, mentioned briefly in Open Doors. She gives us a brief look into what/how the Princes of Hell are doing: One of them, probably Satan, is missing, creating a power vacuum. Asmodeus, on the other hand, seems to be setting up a power base on the west coast of the USA. Lucifer also suspects that it may not have been the Indigo Organisations who burnt down the Cafe, but rather some remnants of Satan’s group.
CD-TBE03 - 6/26/01: 'S' (Sophie, aka Red Eye/Belphegor), the investor mentioned by Black Coffee, is attempting to recruit others to the new Cafe. It doesn’t go well, but she manages to come up with 7 candidates in total. Regarding the former First Cafe people - apparently both Nicole and Felix are out, since it would be REALLY awkward with Nicole and Felix is apparently…complicated. The others are all also where they need to be, so no use recruiting them.
TBB01 - 6/27/01: Lungo (Shaka), one of the new recruits, upgrades the CaDComs. He lists the new codenames of the members: Galao (Lucifer/Lucy), Red Eye (Belphegor), Espresso (Ned Langley), Doppio (Nancy Langley), Carrajillo (Julius Mendoza) and Americano (Nick Langley).
TBB02 - 6/28/01: Espresso/Ned Langley leaves a message. He rambles on for a bit, before discussing the cooperation between certain members. Espresso, Black Coffee and Doppio are all apparently familiar with each other, and are linked to Lungo somehow. Either way, things aren't looking that good for the new CaD, really, and Lungo and Red Eye seem to be very suspicious.
TBB03 - 6/29/01: Doppio makes notes of the CaD's enemies: Astoria, the Dark Mistress/Asmodeus and the remnants of Padre Santos's Church. Doppio and Espresso have the church handled, with Astoria being the most urgent threat and Asmodeus next. Both Doppio and Espresso also have to deal with ‘two worlds’, whatever that means.
CD-TBB04 - 6/30/01: Americano sends an encrypted receipt. He’s currently infiltrating Astoria, soon to join Division Hotel. Americano also says to not expect much contact while they finish basic training, and mentions some 'big secret everyone's worried about', before advising the CaD to focus on Asmi and the Church for now. Also, Division Alpha of Astoria can apparently read minds, and Bravo does some sort of test.
DWD01 - 7/1/01: Black Coffee notes that the Mistress (Asmodeus) should be watched, and tracking ‘the Poet’ is a main priority (probably Jean, the First Cafe’s 8). It’s very likely he ended up in the Necropolis, since Mayda, Infernus, Hauntaurskald and Esterskald would be incredibly unlikely for him to end up in, and Galao and Red Eye would have found him if he was in either of their Planes.
C-DWD02 - 7/2/01: Galao says that Asmodeus basically took over the part of the Otherside, the Amaymon/Necropolis, where the mortal souls go to. Apparently, the Otherside is layered for souls to go upwards and eventually reincarnate, but Asmodeus stopped that at the Necropolis, so. Beelzebulb and Red Eye are still trying to do the whole reincarnation thing, but not much progress there. Galao’s worried that Asmodeus might try to take over the Flipside to make space for all her hoarded souls.
DWD03 - 7/3/01: Black Coffee checks back in again, talking about how Asmodeus has been taking over nightclubs and stuff in probably-los-angeles. She and some others also checked up on Mrs. Weyer, a ‘manager’ of Asmodeus, who said the nightclubs’ visitors (demons)weren’t going to stick around. Also she’s like the security head for Asmodeus or something idk.
WKF01 - 7/4/01: Carrajillo claims Asmodeus is irrelevant and talks poetically about the arson of the F.C., then decides to ditch the whole Asmodeus thing and instead go find the arsonist.
JFB01 - 7/5/01: Doppio and Espresso decide to seek out Mr. Robison (possibly an Elder) in Sin City in the hopes that he can give the CaD some insight into Asmodeus’s plans, and expect to take a weel or so. Doppio also mentions to Carajillo that Asmodeus is very much a threat what with her being one of the 7 princes of hell. She also suggests finding a more permanent place for the CaD.
CD-JFB02 - 7/6/01: Mr. Robinson turns out to be a Janitor, more official name a Gilzer. Essentially, they’re caretakers of the dead, cleaning up tricky souls that refuse or have found exploits to remain. They’re also older than angels, being an Elder race. The Janitors are affiliated with Asmodeus, since her library has a book called the Chronicles of the Dead, basically a list of the souls supposed to be in the Necropolis. Presumably the Janitors use that to cross-reference. With a Janitor being involved here, Espresso thinks the Poet isn’t actually in the Necropolis, saying too many things don’t add up with the death of 8. Also, interrogating the Janitor will help them gain intel anyway.
DWD04 - 7/7/01: Black Coffee decides to split the CaD to investigate everything. Red Eye and Galao went to ensure Asmodeus doesn’t try anything, Espresso and Doppio were sent to track down Mr. Robison, and the Owner and Carajillo went to go research Asmodeus’s nightclubs. Investigating the arson of the F.C. was put on hold.
C-WKF02 - 7/8/01: Lungo returns and suggests that he brings Carajillo to investigate the F.C. arson, since he’d be able to ensure Carajillo didn’t do anything off. He also suggests that he investigate the Poet instead if Black Coffee didn’t want to investigate the F.C. Also, probably inconsequential, but he describes Carajillo as having a yellow flame.
CD-DWD05 - 7/9/01: Red Eye informs us of Asmodeus’s plans. Basically, her plan is to benefit from some sort of mass extinction event that she didn’t create. The issue with stopping her is that she rules the Necropolis, which would cause a pretty big power vacuum. Instead, they’d have to ‘make it so she can’t do anything but paperwork’.
C-WKF03 - 7/10/01: Lungo returns and reports on the F.C. arson. It happened on October 31, 1997. Lungo and Carajillo both suspect that the (F.C.) Owner caused the fire while he was still inside, and may have escaped. Carajillo also describes it as a ‘pure fire’, meaning it was probably caused by the Blight (and by proxy the Wicked).