UnnaturalVania

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St. Anne, TX

St. Anne is a small town near Houston, choked and dying beneath black oil refinery skies. The population wasn’t large to begin with and has dwindled to 92. The mostly senior population is pessimistic; they know their community, situated in the wastelands where prairie meets bayou, is in its death throes.

Recently, St. Anne became the subject of national news. Over the period of a month, 12 children – everyone in town under the age of 16 – have gone missing. Authorities assume the worst, but what they don’t realize is there are more dead than just the missing children. For in St. Anne, the dead walk among the living. St. Anne has a monster.

It slipped in under their noses. It floated in on a white fog. It infiltrated their families and their minds. And it demands their blood. Every last drop.

The Hunger

The creature called the Hunger was once a human sorcerer who transcended his mortal form to become a being that sustains itself on blood. A vampire. Over the centuries, it lost its ability to maintain a material form for long. After feeding, it can temporarily assume the form of a human, a wolf, or a bat, but most of the time it exists as a formless mist, piloted by a sadistic and unhinged, disembodied intellect. It rarely relies on brute force. Its tools are seduction and deception, which it uses to lure prey into its fangs. The prey then become vampires themselves, though more material and less powerful than the Hunger, and slaves to its strange commands.

The Hunger’s pull is nearly irresistible. Its presence is intoxicating. It is pure malice, sex, and gluttony. The only thing it needs is blood. The only thing it wants is everything.

The Opera

Agents are likely already aware of the missing children. It’s big news. The latest one disappeared last week. Their instructions are to determine whether these disappearances are Unnatural in origin, and if so to locate the children (alive or dead) and eliminate whatever it is that’s taken them. All covertly, of course.

Agents are free to decide their own disguises. The town is desperate. The people are eager for both help and attention. Law enforcement is at the end of its rope. They’ll be easy to fool.

Investigation requires exploring town and interrogating citizens. Feel free to stretch it as much as you’d like. Invent characters not listed here, create red herrings and wild goose chases. But at the end of the day, all roads lead to the Cave.

Infection

The Hunger has fed on 39 citizens, all in various states of vampirism. 3 bites are required for a full transformation. The Hunger prefers to savor its victims over a period of days, but when pressed it can bite 3 times in succession.

First Bite

Victim is averse to daylight and sexually aroused by blood and the thought of drawing blood from another living creature. They experience vivid dreams of basking in twilight, running naked with wolves, ripping the throats from shadowy figures, drinking from and making love to the wounds. It’s intensely erotic in a repressed way, like the first wet dreams of puberty. The first dream costs 1/1d10 SAN, all subsequent 0/1d6 SAN.

Second Bite

Dreams increase in frequency and intensity. Victim is wounded by daylight (1 HP per round), casts no reflection, and must ask permission before entering a residence. They are functionally a vampire, minus the need to feed on blood. Note: real vampires have no aversion to Christian symbols. A stake still does the trick, and garlic repels them, as does the Elder Sign.

Third Bite

Victim appears to “die” for 2d12 hours. The Hunger tries to hide its new thrall during this period. When it awakes, it's a slave to the Hunger. At this stage, the victim rests during the day inside a box containing uprooted earth. This impulse is purely symbolic; they are closer to the grave now than the world of the living.

At night, they hunt. The sensation of hot blood on their face and in their throat gives them a wholeness and euphoria that is far better than sex or religion. But it doesn’t last long, and they always want more.

So long as they are useful to it, the Hunger will let them lick up its scraps.

Places to Be, People to Suck

Local Law Enforcement

Chief John Potts and a single officer, Eli Renfro. Potts was bitten twice, Eli once, neither with any memory of the occurrence.

Potts is only reachable after dark. He believes he’s a vampire and will hide it at any cost. Panicky and paranoid, his rotten dreams have made him bellicose. He suspects he lost his humanity at the Cave and wants to investigate if he can do so without the Agents or Renfro noticing. He keeps a list of evidence, experiments he’s done on himself. “No reflection. Crosses fine. Garlic hurts. Stakes…?”

Renfro wears a wide hat and sunglasses to block the sun. He’s forthcoming to the Agents and willing to aid them. He craves iron, and has begun killing and eating the town pets, raw.

Neither cop knows the other is infected.

The tiny police station has a jail and an armory containing some rusty shotguns.

The Historic Edelweiss Hotel

Moldy and roach-infested,  it’s the only lodgings in town. It’s owned by a couple, Charlie and Violet Logg. Charlie is a vampire, and Violet protects him. She keeps him chained to their bed lest he be tempted by fresh blood in the hotel.

Pastor Ezra Oakly

Can be found in his cluttered trailer or St. Anne’s small, tin-roofed church. The Hunger’s grooming him to be its human servant, someone who can move about in daylight. Oakly’s temporarily canceled all church services and converted the sanctuary to a workshop where he builds coffins for the Hunger’s thralls.

Totally deranged, Oakly thinks the white mist that enters his church at night is a manifestation of God, and he serves it obsequiously.

Impersonating the vampires, he eats bugs and snaps the necks of rats for their blood. He gains no benefit from doing so.

The Thibodeaux Family

Lives in a dilapidated estate near the bayou. 5 of the missing children come from them. All 9 remaining members of the family, from grandfather to granddaughter, are in various states of infection. The only full vampire, elderly matriarch Corabeth, whispers in their ears at night and turns them insane.

Consciously or unconsciously, they all serve the Hunger and will become violent if provoked. Hank, a once-bitten son-in-law, is a pyromaniac.

Every night at 3am, Corabeth sneaks off to the Cave to play with her great-grandchildren.

Bats, Rats, and Bugs

They are the Hunger’s spies. At any time, Agents may notice a creature of the night following them.

The Fog

Drifts throughout town after dark. It sings to passersby and promises them bacchanal delights. It lures them to its core, where it enters their mouths and noses and drains them of their life-blood.

Note: it’s exceedingly difficult to destroy the Hunger in town, even in its material form. It will immediately flee to the Cave.

The Cave

The Cave is a yawning black abyss near the bayou. It’s swampy and damp and smells like rust. Agents must pass ALERTNESS to notice Pastor Oakly’s tripwire, which sets off a grenade and alerts the cave’s residents to intruders.

Descending the cave reveals pools of blood, swarming bats, exsanguinated animal corpses, and 3-5 nude vampire townsfolk lost in the ecstasy of the Hunger. 12 vampire children are there as well. The Hunger loves children the most. It makes them torture each other for its amusement. They do so happily, and lap up each other’s infected blood.

As Agents approach the bottom of the cave, they feel the Hunger’s presence. It’s gluttonous, sensual, and carnal. It wants them. It wants to love them. When they’re even closer, the Hunger speaks to them. It promises them eternal life and limitless fun. It shows them seductive visions of blood and twilight.

At the bottom of the cave are rows of coffins and a billowing, pale mist. The mist is the Hunger. Once it has fed, it can take material form, which makes it more dangerous but also more killable. It can become a wolf or a bat, but its true form is a man, tall and dark and tantalizing, with muscular limbs and burning eyes.

If the Hunger is killed in any way except a stake through its heart, it returns to mist and must feed again before it can be damaged. Bitten Agents are susceptible to its mind control (see [[[#h.3q4u62263uiy | Command Thrall]]]). Once bitten three times, an Agent becomes a permanent slave to the Hunger.

Aftermath

When the Hunger is destroyed, every partial vampire is cured. Every full vampire dies. The people of St. Anne are confused and traumatized. So many of them are dead. This will be a doozy to cover up.

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STATS

The Hunger, Mist Form

INT 19  POW 21  CHA 19

HP 25  WP 30

ATTACKS: Feed 90% (see Feed)

SKILLS: Command Thrall 75%, History 50%, Persuade 60%

FEED: The mist enters the nose and mouth of its target and drains some of their blood, dealing 1d4 HP damage and healing the same amount. This counts as a single bite. (See [[[#h.7t0k3frz3v3 | Infection]]]). After feeding, it becomes fuller and redder and gains the ability to Transform for one hour.

COMMAND THRALL: The Hunger targets someone who has been bitten by it at least once. If the Hunger succeeds an opposed POW, the target must do as the Hunger commands for one turn, no matter what the instruction is.

DARK DREAMS: The Hunger causes the target to see a brief vision of anything the Hunger would like. These visions are erotic and typically involve twilit landscapes and bloody orgies.

INCORPOREAL: The Hunger cannot be damaged by any means whatsoever when it's in its Mist Form, except for daylight. Furthermore, it has no means to touch or harm others outside of feeding. It has no natural voice, but can speak telepathically.

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT: While in its Mist Form, the Hunger can control and see through bats, rats, and bugs. They are its spies throughout the Cave and St. Anne.

TRANSFORM: After the Hunger has fed, it gains the ability to transform into a wolf, bat, or man. This happens at the beginning of its turn, and the Hunger can then act in its new form. It retains its Transform ability for only one hour after feeding.

FEAR THE LIGHT: So long as the Hunger is exposed to daylight, it takes 1 HP damage per round. It cannot permanently die this way though; only a stake will truly kill it.

SAN LOSS: 1/1d6 for experiencing Dark Dreams. 0/1d4 for seeing the Hunger transform for the first time.

The Hunger, Man Form

STR 18  CON 16  DEX 18  INT 19  POW 21  CHA 19

HP 25  WP 30

ATTACKS: Unarmed Combat 90%, damage 1d8+1

Bite 90% (see Bite), damage 1d4

Psychokinesis 80%, damage 1d10

SKILLS: Command Thrall 75%, Dodge 50%, History 50%, Persuade 60%, Sneak 50%

BITE: The Hunger bites a target, dealing 1d4 HP damage and healing the same amount. This counts as a single bite. (See [[[#h.7t0k3frz3v3 | Infection]]]).

PSYCHOKINESIS: The Hunger is capable of using psychokinesis to move anything it can see that weighs less than 450 lb. Throwing a target this way deals 1d10 damage to it.

COMMAND THRALL: The Hunger targets someone who has been bitten by it at least once. On a failed POW, the target must do as the Hunger commands for one turn, no matter what the instruction is.

DARK DREAMS: The Hunger may cause the target to see a brief vision of anything the Hunger would like. These visions are erotic and typically involve twilit landscapes and bloody orgies.

TRANSFORM: The Hunger can transform into a wolf or a bat, or return to its Mist Form. Any damage it took crosses over. This happens at the beginning of its turn, and the Hunger can then act in its new form. It retains its Transform ability for only one hour after feeding.

VAMPIRE BIOLOGY: The Hunger casts no reflection, and it must be granted permission before it enters any residence. It is also repelled by garlic and the Elder Sign.

FEAR THE LIGHT: So long as the Hunger is exposed to daylight, it takes 1 HP damage per round. It cannot permanently die this way though; only a stake will truly kill it.

IT TAKES A STAKE: The only way to permanently kill the Hunger is to drive a stake through its heart after (or while) reducing it to 0 HP. Otherwise, it will return to its Mist Form with half its total HP. It must feed again before it regains the Transform ability.

SAN LOSS: 1/1d6 for experiencing Dark Dreams. 0/1d4 for seeing the Hunger transform for the first time.

The Hunger, Bat Form

STR 8  CON 8  DEX 19  INT 19  POW 21  CHA 19

HP 3  WP 30

ATTACKS: Bite 90% (see Bite), damage 1d4

SKILLS: Command Thrall 75%, Dodge 70%

BITE: The Hunger bites a target, dealing 1d4 HP damage and healing the same amount. This counts as a single bite. (See [[[#h.7t0k3frz3v3 | Infection]]]).

COMMAND THRALL: The Hunger targets someone who has been bitten by it at least once. On a failed POW, the target must do as the Hunger commands for one turn, no matter what the instruction is.

FLIGHT: While in Bat Form, the Hunger can fly 45 ft in any direction per round.

TRANSFORM: The Hunger can transform into a wolf or a man, or return to its Mist Form. Any damage it took crosses over. This happens at the beginning of its turn, and the Hunger can then act in its new form. It retains its Transform ability for only one hour after feeding.

VAMPIRE BIOLOGY: The Hunger casts no reflection, and it must be granted permission before it enters any residence. It is also repelled by garlic and the Elder Sign.

FEAR THE LIGHT: So long as the Hunger is exposed to daylight, it takes 1 HP damage per round. It cannot permanently die this way though; only a stake will truly kill it.

TRUE FORM: If reduced to 0 HP while in Bat Form, the Hunger transforms back into a man or a mist, minus 3 HP for the damage it took. However, if a stake through the heart is used to reduce it to 0 HP, it dies.

SAN LOSS: 0/1d4 for seeing the Hunger transform for the first time.

The Hunger, Wolf Form

STR 16  CON 14  DEX 16  INT 19  POW 21  CHA 19

HP 6  WP 30

ATTACKS: Claws 60%, damage 1d6

Bite 90% (see Bite), damage 1d4

SKILLS: Command Thrall 75%, Dodge 60%

BITE: The Hunger bites a target, dealing 1d4 HP damage and healing the same amount. This counts as a single bite. (See [[[#h.7t0k3frz3v3 | Infection]]]).

COMMAND THRALL: The Hunger targets someone who has been bitten by it at least once. On a failed POW, the target must do as the Hunger commands for one turn, no matter what the instruction is.

TRANSFORM: The Hunger can transform into a bat or a man, or return to its Mist Form. Any damage it took crosses over. This happens at the beginning of its turn, and the Hunger can then act in its new form. It retains its Transform ability for only one hour after feeding.

VAMPIRE BIOLOGY: The Hunger casts no reflection, and it must be granted permission before it enters any residence. It is also repelled by garlic and the Elder Sign.

FEAR THE LIGHT: So long as the Hunger is exposed to daylight, it takes 1 HP damage per round. It cannot permanently die this way though; only a stake will truly kill it.

TRUE FORM: If reduced to 0 HP while in Wolf Form, the Hunger transforms back into a man or a mist, minus 6 HP for the damage it took. However, if a stake through the heart is used to reduce it to 0 HP, it dies.

SAN LOSS: 0/1d4 for seeing the Hunger transform for the first time.

Vampire Thrall

STR 18  CON 16  DEX 17  INT 8  POW 12  CHA 8

HP 11  WP 12

ATTACKS: Shredding claws 55%, damage 1d6

Suck Blood, 55% (see Suck Blood)

SKILLS: Disguise 50%, Dodge 40%, Persuade 50%, Sneak 50%

SUCK BLOOD: The Vampire Thrall grabs a target by its neck and begins to drink its blood. This turn and every subsequent turn, the target loses 1 point of STR, until it manages to escape the Thrall’s grasp. Unlike the Hunger, a Thrall cannot turn other humans into vampires, but it can still drain them.

VAMPIRE BIOLOGY: A Vampire Thrall casts no reflection, and it must be granted permission before it enters any residence. It is also repelled by garlic and the Elder Sign.

FEAR THE LIGHT: So long as a Vampire Thrall is exposed to daylight, it takes 1 HP damage per round. It cannot permanently die this way though; only a stake will truly kill it.

IT TAKES A STAKE: The only way to permanently kill a Vampire Thrall is to drive a stake through its heart after (or while) reducing it to 0 HP. Otherwise, it will return 2d12 hours later, fully intact.

SAN LOSS: 0/1d4 the first time a Partial Vampire or Vampire Thrall makes it obvious that it is indeed a vampire.

(Killing a child Vampire Thrall for the first time costs 0/1d6 SAN.)

Partial Vampire (Twice-Bitten)

STR 14  CON 12  DEX 13  INT 9  POW 11  CHA 9

HP 9  WP 10

ATTACKS: Shredding claws 45%, damage 1d6

SKILLS: variable

VAMPIRE BIOLOGY: A Partial Vampire casts no reflection, and it must be granted permission before it enters any residence. It is also repelled by garlic and the Elder Sign.

FEAR THE LIGHT: So long as a Twice-Bitten Partial Vampire is exposed to daylight, it takes 1 HP damage per round. It cannot permanently die this way though; only a stake will truly kill it.

IT TAKES A STAKE: The only way to permanently kill a Partial Vampire is to drive a stake through its heart after (or while) reducing it to 0 HP. Otherwise, it will return 2d12 hours later, fully intact.

SAN LOSS: 0/1d4 the first time a Partial Vampire or Vampire Thrall makes it obvious that it is indeed a vampire.

Partial Vampire (Once-Bitten)

STR 12  CON 10  DEX 11  INT 11  POW 10 CHA 11

HP 9  WP 10

ATTACKS: Unarmed Combat 40%, damage 1d4-1

SKILLS: variable

IT TAKES A STAKE: The only way to permanently kill a Partial Vampire is to drive a stake through its heart after (or while) reducing it to 0 HP. Otherwise, it will return 2d12 hours later, fully intact.

SAN LOSS: 0/1d4 the first time a Partial Vampire or Vampire Thrall makes it obvious that it is indeed a vampire.

Pastor Ezra Oakly

STR 8  CON 10  DEX 12  INT 12  POW 12 CHA 16

HP 12  WP 12

ATTACKS: Unarmed Combat 40%, damage 1d4-1

Shotgun 30%, damage 2d10

SKILLS: Firearms 30%, Occult 30%

Credits

UnnaturalVania was written by Harrison/Gnomepunk for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kx0AiwLW05L2V8V8TS_aLQ4eGiREtmuEBwikEHgDoBo/edit