Alien Hunger By Jeff Berry. 1 Credits Special Thanks to: Written by: Jeff John “Bilbo” Bridges for his suggestions on what we could do after messing up his name in Succubus Berry Developed by: Andrew Greenberg Club. Interior Art: Janet Aulisio, Josh Timbrook, John Mark “Monkey Boy” Rein• Hagen for his superb Cobb, Darryl Midgette handling of adversity. Cover Art: Clark Mitchell Stewart “Artful Dodger” Wieck for not becoming Scene Photography: Eric Krosnes the human target. Layout: Sam Chupp Wes “Good King” Harris for his inability until he Production: Josh Timbrook gets there. Cartography: Chris McDonough Josh “Bloody Pants” Timbrook for showing true grit (and lots of leg). Back Cover: Chris McDonough Sam “Proud Papa” Chupp for, well, you know. Logo: Chris McDonough Travis “No Wheels” Williams for learning what Vampire: The Masquerade, Alien Hunger, and happens when you lend things to relatives. White Wolf are all trademarks and copyrights of White Wolf. All material printed in these pages is Chris “I’m Outta Here” McDonough for showing the exclusive property of White Wolf unless prior those old fogeys where it’s at. arrangements have been made with the author/artist. Kelly “Recession Blues” Norwood for taking the None of the material may be reproduced in whole big M gig. or in part without prior written permission from the publisher. Special, special thanks to: KC Lancaster for the original illos of the V-Team. DEDICATION I am deeply indebted to the V-Team (Mark Matthews-Simmons, Chris and KC Lancaster, Guy Wells, and Gail Starr), without whom there would be no adventure because there would have been no one to play it. Hi Mom. Contents Introduction 7 The Story 15 Locations of Interest 33 Characters 39 Players 55 “Graves at my command have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ‘em forth by my so potent art. – Shakespeare, The Tempest • • • Jacob Prestor lay on the floor. With both legs and arms broken, he could do naught but watch as the flames danced and flickered around him. “Why now?” he thought, “Why now of all times? The fledglings, what will they do?” His thoughts turned to the base- ment, which his assailants had overlooked in their haste, and to those who would soon waken therein. He held that picture in his mind’s eye as he mercifully slid into black- ness. Heedless, the flames continued their mad dance around his prostrate form... • • • 5 Introduction A Jump Start How to Run This Story Mood is everything in this story. Try to catch your players Alien Hunger was designed so new Storytellers, or up in the drama unfolding in their characters’ lives. A solid even experienced ones new to Vampire, may run it with sense of atmosphere throughout the story is what will make a minimum of effort on their part. It is intended to “jump it stand out in your players’ minds. In each of the scenes, start” you into a Chronicle without requiring you to design there are descriptions of the mood you can try to achieve, a setting or plot. Characters are provided so new players as weU as hints to help you pull it off (music you can play may also jump right into the playing of the game without during the scenes, actions of the villains, etc.). having to spend time creating their own. Maintaining the mood may be difficult at times. You will Bearing that in mind, a great deal of emphasis is placed fmd it impossible to accomplish without the cooperation on things like mood and hints on Storytelling. The very of your players. You cannot force the mood onto your structure of Vampire does not lend itself to the cliched players; you can only work with them to create it. Bearing “slay the evil one, save the maiden” type of story commonly this in mind, you will need to lighten the mood every now found in roleplaying. A Vampire story works on a more and then. The contrast will not only provide a relief from subtle plane, where the crisis is that of an ever-dwindling what are, hopefully, moments of tension and drama, but humanity, a loss which the characters must always fear. In will also provide a contrast for those moments and keep such a situation, mood plays a more important role than them from becoming a constant presence, and thus dull any enemy could in generating story sessions that will be and monotonous. long remembered. That aside, there are things you can do to try to achieve a Since the story is meant to be run by a newcomer to mood. The first is to maintain control yourself. If you laugh, storytelling, it is designed in a linear fashion. That is to everyone laughs. On the other hand, if you stay focused on say, the Storyteller can, if she wishes, guide the players the story before you, it makes it that much easier for the along a straight scene-to-scene progression. If you are a players to do the same. complete beginner, this is probably the best (and easiest) way to use this story. The second is to be descriptive. Some suggestions are made in the course of the story as to descriptions, but you The story may also be run in a much more free-form should improvise and add as much or as little detail as fashion, with only a few key events being placed in any you and your players need to get a grasp on the person or sequence and the rest falling in an order determined by place being described. Drawing on common experiences the players and your own sense of drama. This style of play of the group is a technique that can be very effective. For requires a great deal more effort on your part, as you must example, describe a bar as being very similar to a local one, keep track of all the loose ends and dangling subplots. then mention the differences. That way everyone has a As a result, the story is highly detailed and full of state- common frame of reference. ments like “If the players do that, you can respond like The story will flow more smoothly if the characters’ lack this.” The intent is to bring a group of new players and of knowledge is mirrored to some extent by the players’. Storytellers to a mutual understanding of the genre. They By limiting the information given to the players, the are crutches, and if you do not need or want them, then mood of the story may be more easily sustained. One way cast them aside! to accomplish this is for you, the Storyteller, to make the If you do not want to be the Storyteller for Alien Hunger, die rolls when they concern the gaining of information: do yourself a big favor and do not read any further. If you search rolls, investigation rolls, rolls involving the Auspex read information meant for the Storyteller only, you’ll just discipline of Psychometry or Aura Perception, and the be ruining the story for yourself. like. When botches occur, do not hesitate to give false Introduction 7 information. If possible, give information that contradicts different from the one they left, with all the powers of something else they think they know, so at least they will darkness chasing after. have some idea that one of their sources of information Their Sire, Jacob Prestor, is slain before they awake for is wrong. their frrst night among the Undead, so they have no one Also, take copious notes. The players will be off-balance, to guide them in their new unlife. To complicate matters especially in the early few scenes of the story, with little time further, the assassination of Prestor was arranged by the to think. This is the critical time when they will be leaving Prince of Denver. When this powerful Cainite becomes clues for the police to use later in their investigations. Even aware of the characters, he wants them dead as well. The in the later scenes notes are important. The timing of an Prince has been duped, however, by an ancient Vampire event can alter its meaning dramatically. named Thaddeus, adding another layer to the confusion to that which the characters already suffer. Concentrate on the little things as well. This story is designed for characters who have just been “gifted” with The most-immediate crises facing the players, therefore, Vampirism. Keep this in mind and try to remind the char- are how they will deal with their new state unaided and acters of the little day-to-day things that have changed for come to some resolution with the Prince of Denver. them forever. For example, mention to the male characters It is worth mentioning that several of the pregenerated that they still have to shave, although their hair no longer characters, and probably several characters in any group of grows. Remind them of how warm the living are compared new Kindred. will wish for revenge on the party responsible to them. Catch them at odd moments with comments for their Embrace. Discovering who is truly responsible is about how appealing a random person looks, in a food- a challenge in this case. Prestor gave the Embrace, but like sort of way. thought it temporary. Edward ordered the hunt against In addition to the awareness of their new inhuman nature, Pres tor, but at the instigation of Thaddeus. Who is guilty? also remember to hammer them repeatedly with remind- Prestor, Edward. Thaddeus, someone else, no one? ers of their new “alien hunger.” The hardest, but perhaps Chapter One: While still mortal, the characters fmd most satisfying, job as Storyteller is to try to instill in the their nightly routine interrupted by a bearded wildman, players a strong sense of the urges tearing them apart and who assaults them and brings them to his lair. They awake show them that the role playing choices they must make in the basement of a building being quickly devoured by are difficult. For example, it is easy to feed non-human flames. They escape the fire only to find themselves the blood in the Denver area (See cow tipping, pg. 13), but captives of strange, nightmarish urges. try to convince the players cow blood is boring and un- appealing. When your players start deciding to do things Chapter Two: As the characters try to come to terms just for effect, and that have no effect on the game itself, with their new state, they find resuming their normal then things are rolling. To continue the example, when lives exceedingly difficult. Reported missing by friends they go out of their way to find human blood since cow and families, the characters find themselves the focus of a blood is unappetizing, you have accomplished something. police investigation and the targets of the same Vampires If they agonize over this choice while doing it, then you who slew their Sire have achieved a triumph. Chapter Three: The characters are given the chance to Since the characters are neophyte Vampires, you get seize the offensive as they fmally begin to gather critical the extraordinary pleasure of running them through their information regarding their condition. With new knowl- first taste of blood. Make the most of it. Describe in de- edge of who and what they are, they are able to find out tail the flavor and sensual pleasure that can be had from something about their Sire and discover that the possibility the Vitae. If it is human blood, then go full out. Stop at for a cure exists. nothing to convince the players their characters can not Chapter Four: The search for a cure brings them into live without this. contact with a powerful mortal who has been living on If it is animal blood, tell them that it tastes good, but be Kindred blood for more than a century. He not only holds sure to keep reminding them human blood is exceedingly the key to giving the characters back their mortality, but he tempting, and make it obvious that their less-principled also has critical information regarding why the characters companions are eating much better. were turned into Vampires in the first place and about an ancient evil which may soon be hunting them. Plot What’s Really Going On In Alien Hunger, the characters have to deal not only with the maddening transformation from mortal to im- Possibly the most famous chemist of all time, Louis Pas- mortal, but with the even more insane paranoia of the teur was born in France in 1822 and was educated at the Kindred community. Created by a Cainite believed obsessed Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, graduating in 1847. with power, they fmd themselves cast adrift in a world far He served as a professor at many universities for the next 8 Alien Hunger 20 years,generally teaching chemistry, but occasionally The next night he lived again ... in a fashion. He allowed teaching physics as well. himself to be buried,only to escape from his own grave. He fled his old life, taking with him only those notes he During these years, Pasteur made great advances in the deemed vital to his research. He began again seeking a field of microbiology. He disproved the theory of Spon- cure for Vampirism. taneous Generation, which held that lower life forms could originate from nonliving matter, and popularized This research eventually drew the attention of the ancient pasteurization. In 1857, he presented a paper which claimed Cainite Thaddeus, who saw in it the end of his way of life, differing sorts of microbes were responsible for the various and possibly the end of his race. Thaddeus began to harass kind of fermentation which take place, and that microbes Pasteur, even attempting upon occasion to destroy him. were also responsible for many illnesses. This paper laid Pasteur was forced to move often and take a variety of names the groundwork for one of his to evade this ancient threat. greatest contributions to the Constant travel, combined scientific world — the germ with the unexpected difficul- theory of disease. The germ ty of his task, kept him from theory of disease was refined making much more progress in work in the late 1870s and in his research. He did make early 1880s, resulting in the a number of allies through the discovery of the science of years, and managed to use their immunization. It was his work blood for more experiments. with rabies which provided Unfortunately,all his old funds for the founding of the friends have been killed off by Pasteur Institute. the fiend pursuing him, and Pasteur has be gun to dread The Pasteur Institute was making new allies. founded in 1887 with Louis as its first director. It was at Eventually, Pasteur arrived the Pasteur Institute that the in Denver, where he took the great scientist met Georges. name Jacob Prestor. Thadde- Georges held special interest us followed,and used a new for Pasteur as a scientific tactic: he insinuated himself curiosity. Georges seemed to into the court of the Prince of possess a natural immunity to Denver, a Vampire named Ed- disease, which Pasteur hoped ward, and convinced Edward to be able to replicate. that Prestor meant to make a bid for control of the city. For his part,Georges hoped Edward, a naturally paranoid Pasteur would be able to aid being,was swayed by Prestor’s him in his search for a cure secretive nature and stepped to what he thought of as the in to assassinate Prestor. Thad- disease that afflicted him — deus, his purpose achieved, disappeared, pursuing other Vampirism. In 1890,he confided in Pasteur, and they began interests elsewhere. to research the issue of Vampirism under a veil of secrecy. Prestor had discovered Edward meant to kill him, so, For the next few years they experimented. Pasteur, against his will, he felt forced into the creation of allies in though partly paralyzed by a strokein1868, believed he the form of more Vampires. He salved his conscience with was making great progress under the masterful direction of the conviction that he would succeed in his research, and Georges, now employed as a lab assistant at the Institute. that the Vampirism of his allies would only be temporary. Together they developed a serum, derived from Georges’ blood, that could induce Vampirism. This serum was the Unfortunately, after creating his fledgling allies, but first step towards developing an antidote to cure those before briefing them as to theirstateand his plans, Edward’s so afflicted. assassins attacked Prestor, and gave him the final death. By this time, however, Pasteur’s health had truly begun to fail. Georges surrendered hope when it became apparent Theme that Pasteur was soon to die, and disappeared. Pasteur, driven by the thought of the work only he could do, did The truism that the only constant is change does not, not give up hope. On September 28, 1895, he injected at first glance, seem to hold true for the Undead. Immor- himself with the serum he and Georges had prepared. That tal beings who rarely need to fear death, many Vampires night, he died. Introduction 9