This is one of my favorite horror adventures for the 2300 AD RPG. Andy does a more credible job adapting the now 100 year old fictional Victorian vampire myth to a science fiction setting than several authors, who shall remain nameless. My thanks to Andy for granting permission for me to host it on my web site. - Kevin Clark - Mar. 21st, 1998.

One of us Always Stays Awake

by Andy Slack

HTML entry/layout/editing by Kevin Clark
( kevinc AT cnetech DOT com )
Please report errors to me.

http://www.geocities.com/pentapod2300/mag/oneawake.htm

Disclaimer required by Far Future Enterprises: This item is not authorized or endorsed by Far Future Enterprises ( FFE) and is used without permission. The item is for personal use only. Any use of FFE's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, this item cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author ( Andy Slack).

INTRODUCTION

I'd been with Stanford and his crew a couple of months before I got the nerve to ask why we always stayed in adjacent rooms and took turns standing guard, even in the swankiest hotels. They didn't answer. Just got a kind of blank look that we used to call the thousand-meter stare on Aurore -- the kind you get from staring out of a foxhole over open sights for too long.

But these people were troubleshooters, not mercs. I figured I ought to know what they were running from, for their good as well as mine. I said as much to Chan one night, while we were alone and she was checking out the jacked 9-23 she slept with. I was ready for most possibilities -- the police, Americo, Provolution, maybe the Tongs, something like that. Her answer was a surprise.

"One of us always stays awake," she grinned tiredly, "in case of vampires."

The following is a 2300 AD scenario for a small group of troubleshooters or similar characters, set on Kwantung in the Chinese Arm. The referee will need the 2300 AD rules, plus the Colonial Atlas for details of Kwantung and the DNAMs used to prepare colonists for life on King.

No maps are provided, so the referee may design street setups or building interiors as necessary.

While resting between jobs on Kwantung, the PCs are approached by an old friend, Jim Harker, now an ecologist, who is convinced that a predator is eating local colonists. The authorities have dismissed his story as the ravings of an idiot -- now he turns to the PCs for help.

As the PCs investigate, they discover that all the clues point toward Harker's predators being vampires. The predators do, in fact, exist, but they are results of a Provolutionist experiment that went wrong.

The "vampires" try to kill the PCs and Harker to conceal their existence. Depending on the referee's wishes, the PCs can be allowed to wipe out the creatures, removing a menace to humanity, or some of the vampires can escape and begin a prolonged vendetta against the PCs.

HARKER'S STORY

The PCs are in a bar near Changpei spaceport on Kwantung, looking for work and sampling the local rum, when someone enters the bar. He sits down by the PCs and orders a large rum, looking somewhat harassed. Suddenly, both he and one of the PCs ( of the referee's choosing) recognize each other as old friends: Harker greets the PC by name joyfully.

"Am I glad to see you," he says. "I really need help." For the sake of their old friendship, the PCs should agree to at least listen to Harker's story.

The scientist is convinced a predator is eating local colonists.

Over the course of several drinks in a corner booth, Harker tells the PCs that he is employed in Changpei's Statistical Office to analyze data collected at farms and towns across the planet, and to monitor developments in the world's ecology. The hope is that agronomists will be able to centralize planning and improve farm productivity. Weather and insect problems will be predicted and forestalled by the scheme; tailored applications of chemicals and benign insects will improve crop growth rates and yields; and crops can be genetically engineered more precisely to take advantage of better knowledge of local conditions. The aim is to create a system which feeds all the population of Kwantung at minimum cost and effort.

Harker is especially interested in the energy flow from layer to layer of the ecology. He explains that plants convert roughly 10% of the energy received from the sun; herbivores use about 10% of the energy stored in the plants; and carnivores use about 10% of the energy stored in the herbivores' meat. Harker intended to trace the energy input from Tau Ceti through the food chain up to human consumers. This would highlight any shortfalls, wastage or overproduction for attention by the government.

However, the amount of energy reaching the human level of the food chain was larger than other figures showed that level actually used or needed. Trying to reconcile the figures, Harker had an inspiration: What if there were some predator living off the human population of Kwantung? The extra food energy reaching the human level would then be siphoned off by whatever is preying on humanity. Harker was disturbed to find that this theory fit the numbers precisely. His data indicates that there are several dozen of these predators on Kwantung.

Harker went to the authorities and the police with his theory, but no one believed him. He is convinced that the authorities know about the predator and are covering up the story to protect their own positions and prevent widespread panic. He is sure that he will soon be silenced for uncovering this conspiracy, either by the police or the predators -- hence, his hunted look.

He appeals to the PCs for help. He needs protection and he needs to prove his theories so that he can force the authorities to act.

VAMPIRE MURDERS

The PCs will probably realize that if there is something out there on Kwantung eating people, there ought to be bodies being found or people missing. The first steps should be to check for evidence of these. Several possible approaches are outlined.

The PCs may well suspect a government cover-up. In fact, there is none -- the authorities are simply not aware of the problem. If given sufficient evidence, they will be glad to investigate. All the authorities know so far is that a number of citizens are being horribly murdered for no apparent reason.

The PCs may well flounder at this stage. If they seem lost or too far from the right track, the referee should focus their attention by having a few vampires find out about their inquiries and try to kill them -- in which case, go to the section Night of the Vampires below.

Old News

The PCs may check for reports of bodies or missing persons in back issues of magazines, old newspapers and tapes of old news broadcasts in public libraries.

Task: To find evidence in old news reports ( uncertain): Routine. Information Gathering. 2 hours.
Referee: Success in this task gives the PCs the following information: First, there are an unusually high number of murders and disappearances in Changpei and other cities on Kwantung. Second, the bulk of the victims are attractive young men and women who seem to have been murdered late at night in a ritualistic way, the bodies being efficiently drained of blood. Third, the first such murder occurred three years ago, and before that the pattern of murders and disappearances was normal for a colony world.

The gruesome killings are referred to by the press as the "vampire murders," and the unknown perpetrator is referred to as "the vampire," due to the victims being drained of blood. There is no apparent motive for the killing in any of the ritual murders, but there is a pattern to the choice of victims -- each is a single person who disappeared late at night, often after leaving a singles' bar in the company of a tall, dark and attractive stranger.

A fumble on this task indicates that the vampires get word of the PCs' interest in this subject ( perhaps by a monitoring program set up in Changpei's computer net, perhaps by overhearing their conversations). If so, an attempt will be made on the PCs' lives that night. Go to the Night of the Vampires section.

Talking to Police

If the PCs decide to question police, they will get the same polite brush-off as Harker unless they can convince them that the case is serious.

Task: To persuade the police to get involved ( uncertain): Formidable. Eloquence. 1 minute.
Referee: This task will need to be successfully repeated three or four times with different officers before the PCs have worked their way far enough up the chain of command to reach someone who can make a decision. If the PCs fail at any stage, the police will promise to look into the matter and promptly forget all about it. If they succeed, the police will interview the PCs and Harker, taking the case off their hands and eventually arresting several vampires. Before that time, the PCs will probably get restless since they don't know what the police are doing and tackle the case themselves.

However the discussions with the police go, at some stage one of the officers should berate the PCs for wasting his time when he could be out solving the "vampire murders". If the PCs now repeat their search through old news reports, the relevant task become Simple rather than Routine.

Interviewing Relatives

The PCs may decide to interview relatives of some of the murder victims. This will prove a blind alley. Few of the victims were in close contact with their relatives ( this is one of the criteria the vampires use to pick a victim). Also, no one will be keen to talk to the PCs, and if they are persuaded to talk, they will not be able to provide any information of interest.

DOWN THOSE MEAN STREETS

Once they work out that the vampire attacks at night in cities, the PCs may decide to go around the backstreets at night inviting attack from the predator so as to capture or kill one and thus gain hard evidence. If they stroll around the seedy districts of Changpei at night, armed, they are likely to run into trouble one way or another. Some possibilities are:

Street Gang: A street gang discovers the PCs on their turf and attacks them with mayhem and robbery in mind. The gang may be composed of young toughs, criminals, travellers like the PCs down on their luck or Provolutionists looking for experimental subjects. They will be Experienced NPCs armed with knives and clubs. If the PCs lose this fight, they will be beaten and robbed, and possibly worse. If they win, but kill some of the gang in doing so, they will be held by police for questioning -- they should be released unless carrying suspicious amounts of weaponry ( say, more than a knife or pistol).

Street People: The PCs may be accosted by street people wishing to sell them various illegal drugs or show them a good time. If the referee is feeling mean, he may have the street people be undercover police who arrest the PCs for any interest they show in the illegal wares or services. Street people are Experienced NPCs with knives and possibly small pistols ( e.g. Arno 5-15).

Police Patrol: The PCs are noted by a police patrol which stops and searches them. If your PCs are anything like mine, this will be acutely embarrassing for them as a variety of hidden weapons and semilegal devices are exposed. If not, and if they have a reasonable cover story, they should be released with a caution to get out of the bad side of town before someone attacks them. If the PCs reveal their true purpose ( vampire hunting) the police will think they are being mocked, and immediate arrest will follow. An example of a believable cover story is: "We're new in town, and we're lost." The police are Experienced NPCs with hand communicators, Traylor M-57s and clubs.

NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRES

Eventually -- either because the PCs are with Harker and the vampires wish to silence him, because their investigations are floundering or because the vampires select them as victim -- the PCs will be attacked by vampires. At least one PC will be captured during the fight.

The vampires are Elite NPCs equipped with inertial armor, clubs and stunners ( they like their blood fresh and don't want to waste any of it). They are equal in number to the party. They are DNAM-modified, giving them Strength 16, Dexterity 8, Endurance 16, a Consciousness Level of 6 and a Life Level of 12. Treat hits on vampires as if they were PCs rather than NPCs, giving them the full benefit of their Consciousness and Life Levels; this alone will make them formidable opponents. Appropriate careers for vampires would be ground military, thief, academic or smuggler/pirate, reflecting their origins in Provolution and their intended use as biological terror weapons. They are as cunning as Kafers and know the area intimately, so they should be able to strike at will and vanish into the shadows.

PCs who are captured, or who track the vampires to their lair, will find the vampires who survived the attack on them, plus three or four more, masquerading as nightshift workers sharing a run-down house near the starport. All have AS-3s and clubs at hand, and those fresh from the fight will still be in inertial armor. The others are asleep, setting up transfusion equipment or just lounging around -- they are not expecting trouble.

Bound and sedated in the basement are victims being slowly drained of their blood. After binding their captives, the vampires take a small sample of blood from each ( anyone with First Aid or Medical skill will realize this is to determine the blood type), drain some blood from one of the less recent victims and disappear upstairs ( there they will use normal medical gear to give themselves transfusions, but the PCs won't know this until they've gained control of the house).

Some tasks which may prove useful are:

Task: To track the vampires to their lair after the attack ( uncertain): Difficult. Streetwise or Recon. 1 minute.
Referee: A fumble on this task means that any surviving vampires detect the PCs as they approach the lair and prepare an ambush. A failure means the PCs lose the scent, and the vampires start shadowing them the next night. The task becomes Routine if the abducted PCs say they want to mark their trail.
Task: To escape from one's bonds when tied up in the vampire's lair: Difficult. Dexterity. 2 minutes.
Referee: This task can be retried three times before the vampires notice the PC is up to something. A fumble indicates that a vampire notices the attempt. PCs who escape their bonds and search the room will find that only those kidnapped that night are in good enough shape to fight, the others being weakened by loss of blood. Most are drugged to keep them quiet, but the "evening meal" has been allowed to come out of sedation so the vampires aren't drugged when they take his blood. Clubs and knives can be improvised from materials in the room ( furniture, bottles, etc.).

Whether or not the captured PCs escape their bonds, the "evening meal" will engage them in conversation, providing the information in Logical Explanation, below. This man is Li Ta-Chao, an aging Manchurian biochemist who was part of the project which created the vampires.

LOGICAL EXPLANATION

The vampires are the result of a Provolutionist experiment. The intent was to produce a race of genetically engineered supermen by creating a virus with the same strength and endurance boosting effects as the DNAMs administered to King colonists, but without the effects those viruses have on the human respiratory system. The modified personnel would be strong and tough, without needing to wear respirators at all times in normal atmospheres.

Unfortunately, creating DNAMs by genetic engineering is difficult even for major government research programs. As a terrorist group working in hiding with less-than-perfect facilities, it was almost inevitable that the Provolutionist team would produce a faulty product. Their DNAM works almost as intended, but also affects the subject's genetic code in the areas concerned with porphyrins and pheromones, leading to two side effects: First, a subject's pheromone output is enhanced and altered so as to make them very attractive to those of the opposite sex. Secondly, undergoing the DNAM transformation triggers a condition known as Gunther's disease in the subjects.

Gunther's disease, also known as congenital erythropoietic porphyria, is normally transmitted as a recessive genetic disorder. Its minor symptoms include a reddish-brown discoloration of the bones and teeth, and enlargement of the spleen. The two main symptoms in game terms are anemia and blistering of the skin when it is exposed to light. There is no cure for porphyria; treatment is aimed at alleviating the symptoms and minimizing skin damage.

The vampires are unable to seek medical attention for their problems for fear of revealing their illegal genetic modifications. They have attempted to overcome their disabilities in two major ways -- by hiding during the day to avoid the painful and disfiguring blisters which would develop on their hands and faces, and by abducting people and draining their blood for transfusions to counteract their anemia. Since their enhanced pheromones make them almost irresistible to the opposite sex, they find easy prey in singles' bars.

The vampires have formed a breakaway faction of Provolution. They see themselves as the next step in human evolution, and they consider it their right and duty to rule all of human space, looking after the rest of humanity in the same benign way that cattle ranchers look after beef cattle. They believe the best way to do this is by slow infiltration of the local government, leading to an eventual takeover of Kwantung ( and later, other worlds as well). They intend to keep their existence secret for obvious reasons.

FIGHT

By this stage, there is at least one PC in the vampires' lair. He will probably contrive some way to signal his comrades, or they will successfully track the vampires home. If not, perhaps the PCs recognize one of their assailants leaving the house while wandering aimlessly around to pick up clues. Or perhaps a local drunk can be bribed with a shot of rum to reveal where the off-worlder was taken. Or perhaps another vampire hunter watching the house can direct the PCs in exchange for help in freeing her fiancee.

No matter how they find it, the PCs must now enter the house, clear it of vampires and release the hostages. This will almost certainly entail violence.

AFTERMATH

The PCs should have destroyed a nest of vampires, possibly as many as 25% of all vampires on Kwantung, and have enough evidence to persuade the authorities to act. There is no financial reward, but the PCs each gain one Renown point. They will acquire several useful contacts in Changpei, probably Harker and a detective in the local police, who can provide information and help in future adventures. The PCs may also acquire deadly enemies -- any surviving vampires, plus a senior ppolice official who lost face when the truth came out.

IMPORTANT NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS

Jim Harker

An old friend of one of the PCs ( probably one with prior service in an academic, contact or scout career), Harker worked for Trilon Industries as a biologist in a survey team and later achieved modest fame as a specialist in non-Terran ecologies.

Three years ago, Harker took an interest in the unique mix of Terran and alien life on Kwantung. He then sought work as an ecologist there, working for the Manchurian government. He is a Green NPC.

NPC Motivations: Club Queen: Harker is stubborn to the point of pig-headedness. His determination to uncover the truth makes him a thorough and methodical scientist. Spade 7: Harker is willing to take responsibility and wants to occupy a position of importance. He considers it his duty to see that action against the vampires is taken, for the good of mankind.

Li Ta-Chao

Li was part of the team which created the vampires. Once converted, however, the vampires made the remaining human members of the team their first victims, draining their blood. Li is the last survivor of the team and expects to die soon. But before he dies, he wants to tell the story to someone, and he will make the player characters promise to pass it on in the hope that someday the tale will be known.

NPC Motivations: Spade Queen: Li is utterly unscrupulous in his pursuit of Provolutionist goals, and he is quite content to see humanity become the pets or prey of the next stage in evolution. He hadn't expected to become one of the first prey himself, of course, but he has been here long enough to become philosophical about it -- he dies that his creations might live. Spade 4: Li is a braggart. While he is used to the idea of dying, he can't bear the thought that posterity might never learn of his part in making this happen. This is why he insists on telling the PCs his story.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

When I ran this adventure for my players, there was a sting in the tail: Some of the vampires really were vampires... I guess I'd been reading too much Anne Rice around then. The vampires took on more flesh over the years and became shadowy, recurring villains, hounding the PCs across space because they knew too much. Which is why "One of us Always Stays Awake..."
-Andy Slack

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Last Update: 1999 Feb 08
First Online: 1998 Mar 21
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