The players are all in some way associated with Glasgow University, and are play in
or are friends with people who play in Glasgow Universitys Gaming Society. The
GUGS Annual General Meeting was today, and the elections were reasonably
uneventful: only one person stood for each post, with the new President taking over
from Omar Koojeh (a 3rd Year Computing Science student, often referred to as
Ohmz or The Arab) to Jamie Wakefield, the outgoing President of the QMU. His
duty on the sabbatical post stops on the 1st of July and he has made much about
looking forward to having a break from the job and the vomit. Every-one has met up
at Jims Bar (the bar on the first floor of the QMU, recently renovated and seen as
quite a trendy place) for a drink. Other friends of theirs might be there as well, to help
stress the real-life nature of this meeting: no one is suspecting anything odd is going
to happen, except perhaps the occasional drunken mistake with a random woman.
Jamie and Omar are here, as is anyone else dramatically required to be.
At around 11pm, Jamie tells everyone that he fancies an early night, he didnt have
any proper sleep last night and he needs to be alert tomorrow when hes on duty at the
QM. He says his farewells and leaves. A few minutes later, there are screams and all
hell breaks loose in the lobby. Cries can be heard from the front to call the police and
an ambulance. People start to drift down and when the players inevitably join them
and they squeeze through the crowd they will see a fight has taken place. Jamie is
lying face down, bleeding on the floor. Two bouncers are also injured; one slumped
against the doors in and the other lying on the floor in the shop. Three other bouncers
have jumped and restrained someone and have blood splattered across them, as it
everywhere else in the room. Seeing all this violence, gore and their own friend
involved has a bad effect on the players who must take a San Check 0/1d4.
Very shortly, the bouncers stop holding whoever it is they are holding and shout to the
staff member on the phone to tell the police that the attacker is dead now, and they
seem very confused about it: We were just holding him down, he just died, we were
just trying to restrain him. The body seems a lot greyer and lifeless than the others,
with ragged clothes and his hair slightly balding despite looking as if he isnt much
over 20.
Interview Witnesses At The Scene Of The Crime
The players can ask around to try and find out what happened, but people are a bit
confused and so might not give very exact answers. A Diplomacy check (DC 15) is
required to calm down the onlookers enough to get them to explain events to you,
while the staff, board members and bouncers are too busy doing official business to
talk to anyone: even if they know the PCs, they will tell everyone (including the PCs)
to back off and give the injured room to breathe.
If the players get someone to speak, they will explain that the pale gent barged in,
forcing his way through the bouncers that tried to grab him, and struck Jamie in the
stomach as he was trying to leave. The man didnt enter until Jamie was coming
down the stairs, and after hitting him he tried to get rid of the bouncers on top of him.
After tossing the two injured ones off him, more came in and wrestled him to the
ground.
Shortly after the players arrive, the emergency services arrive and take Jamie away.
They check the other three bodies and just say, Nothing. They take them away as
well, while the Police start to take interviews and get people out while they examine
the scene.
The Night Passes
The players should be reminded they have been drinking for some time at the bar and
after all the shocks, probably could do with trying to get sleep. Certainly, everything
is too chaotic at the QM to do anything else there tonight, although the more
determined players could carry out some of the other research options below.
The players may have trouble sleeping or have somewhat disturbing nightmares,
using their sanity loss from the sight as a guide. Dreams will probably be along the
line of seeing Jamie getting stabbed, punched, run over or some such thing while they
just stand and watch. If any players have the Sensitive psionic feat, then that night
they have slightly more specific problems: they dream of Jamie lying in a hospital
bed, with many cuts and bruises, and they are visiting with the rest of the party. After
talking about how terrible it is to the rest of the group the player suddenly sees a glint
around Jamies neck and examines it to see a necklace, with what seems to be a silver
key around it. The player takes it off Jamie, and suddenly all his wounds start to heal
before the players very eyes. Then, suddenly, they feel an itching sensation in their
hand, then their arm, then all over. Their friends start to panic, so the player runs into
a toilet and looks in the mirror to see they are covered in sores, dripping green pus
from their wounds and with blood slowly trickling from their nostrils That player
must take a San check 0/1 from the vividness of the dream.
If no player has the Sensitive feat, then you may choose to randomly subject one
player to the dream anyway, if only to make it clear something very, very odd is going
on here.
After the players wake up, feeling somewhat fresher (if a little hung over) from the
night before, they can choose to do research on the event in various ways.
Interview People At The QM
The next day, the QM is open as per usual although everyone is a little shaken from
yesterdays events. Now the players might be able to interview the staff and the
board: depending on what time they go in, certain board members might not be in and
only later on will there be any bouncers in. The specific Diplomacy DC can vary, but
is around 15. After talking to people, they will start to pick up the specifics: that the
attacker was waiting outside for around twenty minutes, and looked just as ragged and
pale then. He didnt come in until Jamie came down the stairs to the lobby, and then
he moved straight to Jamie.
No one recognises the attacker, although they did see the police check his body for ID
and found something. They know that Jamie is currently at the Western Infirmary,
and that last they heard he was critical but stable. The two bouncers and the attackers
condition is less sure, but they dont seem very sure.
Most people in the building will say no variation of the above, except for a single
board member who can be found on the premises from 9:30am until around 5:30pm,
with a 15% chance hell be out if you go after 12pm and a 5% chance before: that
man is George Francis Ninian Quail, who no matter who the players are will no doubt
know them or be a friend of a friend. As well as the above, he knows that the two
bouncers and the attacker are dead and currently being held at Partick Station. An
additional Diplomacy check, DC 20 (with a +10 circumstance bonus to any female)
can get him to tell the players that he thinks he recognises the attacker: it looks an
awful like a man called Brian Sinclair who he used to know at Secondary School and
he last heard had joined the army. Despite looking older and paler, it was a pretty
clear likeness.
If they ask him about who would do such a thing, then he will respond, Unless
theres a really big cartel trying to keep their coffee profits up, I doubt it. Apparently,
Jamie has been looking into selling fair trade coffee at LARP events (Bekki gave him
the idea of calling it Fairs Fair At The Fair, which apparently is a French joke.) and
not much else of a truly epic nature. George mentions that its too crazy even for the
GUUers, they prefer throwing vomit than punches on our property.
If asked about the state of the surviving staff, George will comment that some of them
have phoned in and arent coming in today: interestingly, some of them arent doing
this out of shock but because they are genuinely feeling sick. George thinks this a
pretty big psychosomatic reaction, or some crazy psyche crap like that.
Enter The Executive Office
If the players want to get into Jamies Office in the QM, they will find this difficult.
Cracking the lock (a combination one with 16 buttons and many combinations, as no
player knows how many it should be) is incredibly complex, an Open Lock DC 30.
Diplomacy DC 30 will get the other members of the Executive (Katie McDonald, the
Honorary Assistant Secretary, and Mark Bryers, the Honorary Secretary.) to let you
into the office to have a look about. (A bonus of up to +5 can be gained if the player
has a good relationship with the Executive member or is well known as a friend of
Jamie.) Breaking down the door (a wooden effort) isnt too hard, but the room is
often occupied by at least one board member and the situation at the QM is so tense
that the response to such attack will be fierce.
It might be possible to get George (or another board member) to act as an
intermediary between the PCs and the Executive to get into the room, by official or
not so polite means. Improvise this as required: George is probably the best person to
help out in picking the lock or in accessing Jamies computer.
Inside, a Computer Use check DC 20 to get his password (masquerade) will allow
them to look around his files and notice hes been speaking to Archimedez Web
Design about helping with the QM web site: he has been emailing Alistair Hopkins,
who works for the company and is a former friend of Jamie from GUGS. Jamie has
also been investigating buying an ice-cream van, and talking to any board member
will let you know that this is because he is planning on running a fair trade coffee
stall at the Gathering. (A large LARP event in Britain.)
If the players feel the urge to rifle through Jamies stuff, they will find nothing
incriminating: lots of physical correspondence between himself and the various
university groups, (especially the SRC and the University Court) some letters from
private companies asking about sponsorship and the like, the core rules and several
add-ons for Vampire; The Masquerade and a bag of a fine, black powder: analysis will
show it to be tea of some description.
Visit Jamie At Hospital
Almost all of the staff, board and such like at the QM know that Jamie is in Ward 7B
in the Western Infirmary, and although there is quite a lot of machinery around the
man he seems to be fine. He is completely unconscious, occasionally grumbling or
snoring, and the players are unable to get him to respond. There is a good chance
another friend or family member of his is by his side at all times.
Anyone who examines him (Spot DC 10) will see that his stomach wounds appear to
have been bleeding pretty heavily for a punch, and that it would seem more likely that
a sharp object of some sort was used. If you can get a hold of a doctor or nurse (or a
family member who has already asked about such things) they will confirm this: he
appears to have been stabbed by a knife of some sort, slightly curved and not at all
clean. Jamies wounds are therefore dirty and will take a while to heal, but will not
kill him.
On his bedside table there are already some flowers and cards on top. The cupboard
in the bedside table is open and inside is what appears to be what Jamie was wearing
when he came in: he is currently in a simple hospital gown. If the PCs rifle through it
(Search DC 10) then they will find some other things, including Jamies wallet (which
has little of interest unless the PCs really want to steal sixteen pounds and sixty-eight
pence) and a silver locket on a chain. The small latch that keeps it closed is very
fiddly (Dexterity DC 15) but once opens clearly has a picture of an man in a velvet
waistcoat on the right (looking very much like an English gentleman straight out of
Sense and Sensibility) and a very ornate carving of growing flowers on the left: a Spot
check DC 15 shows that there is very odd random pattern, almost like Arabic letters,
on the top of this carving. If they can be read (which will require examination under a
magnifying glass at least, a microscope to be more comfortable) and translated, they
read:
Sleep forever, Great (indecipherable), in the name of the might of Ishtar. Till all of the
Council of Five let their keys to your (indecipherable) burn to the (indecipherable,
you shall wait for all eternity in the Dreaming (indecipherable).
Arabic is a language that has changed little over the years, and so if the players can
find someone who understands the language (which should be every practising
Muslim) then they can read it, except for those words that are indecipherable due to
being scuffed or simply not making sense. No one will be able to shed any light on
the meaning of this, or its source: no one knows why Jamie would have it and have
never seen it on his person before. It will be relatively easy to pocket this small object
if the players want to take it away to study: certainly, if they ask any of Jamies
friends present, no one will object since they have no idea where its from. They are
welcome to try and sell it and will no doubt get several hundred for such an
interesting piece: it is, however, not in their best interests and hopefully the players
will instead take the hint.
Research Archimedez Web Design
DC 10: All the information about this place can easily be found at
www.archimedez.co.uk. Based in 130B St Vincents Place, very near King Tuts, this
small company has a small staff with only three programmers: Julius Townsend,
Alistair Hopkins and Katie Uxbridge. Julius has ran this small business since starting
it four years ago and currently lives in a flat in Bearsden with Katie, who he has been
engaged to for nine months. The company website itself has little incriminating on it,
just lots of quotes for expensive but very nice help in designing and running corporate
web sites.
Visit Archimedez Web Design
This building is exactly what it says on the tin, but Katie and Julius are hardly ever in.
When the PCs visit, only Alistair is there, but he is very helpful to them once he
realises this is to do with Jamies trouble. He doubts very much that his colleagues
have anything to do with this, since they seem pleasant enough. Extended enquiries
about Julius reveal he and Katie are taking a week off to celebrate the two-year
anniversary since they first met, which Alistair considers to be sweet. Alistair will
not give out personal details, saying that they should put all such matters through the
police and that it would be unfair to impinge on Julius privacy because of some odd
coincidences. This could become really weird porno sites if the printout of
Blackwells Site (below) is shown to him.
Research Julius Townsend
DC 10: Julius is 29, born in Edinburgh and brought up in a suitably posh background.
He has been dabbling in business for many years and is often behind something new.
He currently has a flat near Bearsden train station.
DC 15: Julius lives in 27 St Germains, Bearsden: a block of flats generally inhabited
by the elderly that borders St Germains loch. He has popped up in the tabloids every
so often when the police have tried and inevitably failed to pull him in for the many
crimes they believe him to be responsible for. He is thought to use many companies
as covers for his work: Blackwell Funeral Services and Sir Thomass Jewellers are
two groups that have been under investigation before.
Visit Julius Townsend
Julius is a busy man, and with his line of work keeps himself well defended. Not only
is his flat in a very secure place (covered in civilians and security cameras) but he
himself always has a thug or two on site and could easily call in more. Phoning or
visiting tends to lead to requests from burly gentlemen for the PCs to sling their
hook and they arent adverse to breaking some bones to emphasise this.
The neighbours wont say much about Julius, since he tends to stay buried away in his
flat or go out traipsing around the city, but they do acknowledge that he doesnt
cause any trouble and so wont appreciate random insults about him being involved
in zombie cults of pestilence gods.
If the players are foolish enough to launch a full-on assault, they will have several
burly gentlemen armed with guns to deal with, as well as the police who will respond
very shortly to the totally unprovoked attack. Worst of all, if things get really bad,
Katie might make her presence felt: she is a FeyRi, a demon with some mortal blood
in her who is disguised as a human while she works for Julius in his evil contract with
Motarion. She and Julius alone could probably down several players, so if they try to
be heroes and do a full assault they will die horribly. This is the way of the world.
Research Blackwell Funeral Services
DC 12: With outlets in Maryhill, Hamilton, Clydebank and Edinburgh, Blackwell
Funeral Services is a very fast-growing business. If the players are looking for dirt on
Julius, they will not find his name mentioned her: instead the owner is referred to as
Antoine Berliner. If they are aware of the Arsenic Cakes and Antoine Quail, they
can make a Sense Motive check (adding their Speak Other Language (German) bonus
if appropriate) on a DC 20 to notice that Berliner is German for Cake and to notice
an odd connection.
Whammy: While researching this place, the player will probably visit the official
corporate website, http://www.bfs.co.uk. While browsing their, looking at the
somewhat low-class arrangement (the thought of having All You Need Is Love played
as you are cremated is an odd one to anyone who has seen The Prisoner) they stop as
they seem to come across an unlisted link, in a picture of Dr Grant Steel (who
apparently is the practical head of the group, using his expertise in medicine to help in
the day-to-day running of the place) posing with several men in suits at the opening of
the Maryhill branch. The player thinks it is just a biography page for Dr Steel or
some such and so clicks on it, but is taken instead to a page full of strange ASCII
characters arranged in what seems to be gibberish, perhaps machine code. (Computer
Use DC 10 identifies it as having a pattern enough to be code, but its totally
indecipherable to a man) One of those annoying MIDI files on some websites kicks
in: it is the Beatles All You Need Is Love. The player scrolls down, confused as to
what they have seen, and come across several rather graphic pictures of human bodies
in various stages of decomposition, except the ordering is reversed: the top one shows
the truly revolting site of green flesh barely hanging onto almost entirely exposed
skeleton, the bottom one looks like a human face that is pale, but still all together. As
the pictures show the reforming process, it becomes clear that the face is that of one
of the dead QM bouncers San check 0/1d4.
After that, the players computer crashes and they can never again get to that website:
the link is gone and even if they make a note of the full URL they cannot get to the
pictures. If they are smart enough to print out a copy, that is still intact, but there is
nothing to link it to the investigation
A Computer Use (DC 20) check will allow someone to check the web logs of the
computer and prove that it went to the URL listed and got the page down, although
even then that doesnt prove too much: it will get the police more interested, however.
someone was walking across a mountain of faeces, with every single sound
excruciatingly exact in its epic vileness. A deep, monotone voice speaks over this:
I hate sound. I can hear so much now, since I got my money. I can hear rats
scurrying away as I approach their hidey-holes, every footstep and every nail
scratching against the floor. I can hear the sound of maggots nibbling through my
skin, as bruised flesh and empty arteries give way to their maws