A Tabloid Article by Marcus D. Bone

Living in the world of Dark Conspiracy is not an easy proposition; aliens dominate society from dark towers of glass and steel, creatures of nightmare lurk in every alley, and wielders of powers beyond belief hide among the thronging crowds. Sure a few – The Minion Hunters – stand strong against these threats, but what must life be like for the normal populous?

As is well documented, events of great stress manifest in different ways to different people. On the outside these individuals seem to go about there normal lives. making the best of what they have… But what happens when behind this veneer madness resides?

In this story seed we explore what has happened on one of those forced to witness horrors thought impossible, and the consequences of such an encounter.

The Facts

The Minion Hunters find themselves joining a hunt to track down a killer. Over the last week or so a pattern has appeared in a series of murders in the heart of New Boswash – attacks with the same modus operandi that stand out against a backdrop of death and crime. Each of the victims of this killer – now dubbed the Boswash Vampire – has been drained of their blood.

But where, as the Minion Hunters well know, other blood-leeching creatures consume with relish the life force of human, in this case each of the 14 victims has simply be bleed out; the teeth marks still appear on the victim’s neck, their jugular ripped open, but the blood seems to have left to flow freely. If this fact along was not enough to connect the crimes, all of the victims have been attractive young women who have all been ambushed at night after leaving clubs or travelling alone in the darker parts of the city’s heart. Oddly perhaps, apart from the gruesome nature of their death, the women have been otherwise been physically left untouched, their possessions found where they fell.

The murderer is one Graham Hartley … and he thinks that he is a vampire.

You see, about a month ago, Graham encountered something in his apartment building’s basement, a creature that he could only comprehend as being a ‘vampire’. This thing attacked him and left him for dead, a gouge in his neck where the creatures claws swiped him aside. That strike should have killed him, but as luck would have it, the blow missed anything vital, and while the wound was messy, it was able to readily heal.

Driven half-mad by this encounter, and unable to comprehend how he was able to so swiftly recover from the seemingly fatal wound, he began to believe himself the protege of the thing in the basement – a vampire!

Options

There are a number of way that this scenario could play out, and below are just a few ideas.

He is a Vampire

The most mundane option is that he really is a vampire… it’s just taking Graham time to adjust to his new ‘state’. Over time, the attacks will increase, and he will begin to learn to feed; not only on young women.

  • This could make him a Lesser Vampire and the creature in the basement as a Bloodkin Vampire (see page 214 of the Dark Conspiracy 1st edition Rulebook). Using this approach, Hartly would become the start of a coven around his master, slowly but surely growing the cult until it infects the entire neighborhood.
  • He could be a more traditional form of night creature, and over time he will build his own followers and hangers-on – all looking for whatever power a monster like Hartley can offer. This might have the Minion Hunters battling against a horde of vampires that look to feed at night, ever growing their numbers.

Insanity in the Street

The creature in the basement is a Boogey Man (see page 12 of the Dark Races – Volume 1 Compendium) which has started haunting Graham’s building. And where a Boogey Man treads madness follows.

While Hartley’s insanity has manifested itself as his belief that he is a vampire, others in the apartment, and then the street are effected in other ways. This could range from obsessions through to mental disorders, and over the weeks that follow this madness increases. Soon the entire neighborhood becomes a mad house, and the Minion Hunters will find their own sanity threatened as they attempt to separate the innocent from the guilty.

As for Graham himself, the wound he carries harbours its own secrets. Infected he will slowly, but inexorably, become the very creature he fears the most – a Boogey Man! This adds another level of challenge for the Minion Hunters… especially if they encounter two such creatures.

Serial Killer

Graham’s encounter with the creature in the basement simply triggered his hidden insanity. Hartley isn’t any monster, well not in any supernatural sense, rather he has always harboured a hatred for his fellow humans, one that is now unleashed. This story will be more of a traditional investigation, rather than a creature hunt, yet it still provides a number of challenges.

Hartley is no fool, and he uses his method of attack to ensure he is not suspected, and will do everything in his power to make it seem as if others are the guilty party. This should include others in the city – perhaps a rich, reclusive business man or a local gang that claims the nearby streets at their ‘hood’.

Final Notes
The illustration of The Terror was drawn by Vinh-Laun Luu, for The Gamers’ Conglomerate’s edition of Dark Conspiracy. Vinh was the lead artist for this project and delivered a much more dramatic vision of Dark America than had ever been seen before…