Project: Vardukar - they walk among us...

© Copyright 1996 - 2003 Eoin Connolly, Rob Brennan and Eric Nolan. All rights reserved.

A game of modern horror set in the world of PHASE I

Published by Wasteland Games

Background Design: Eoin Connolly, Steve Blair.

Vardukar: Eoin Connolly, Rob Brennan, Eric Nolan, Steve Blair.

Special thanks to: All Wasteland Games staff

First Edition ­ Version 1.00

Dedicated to Commander X, long may his fight continue.

Playtesters: Chris McCormack, George McConnon,  Ultan McDonnell, Peter Mathiews, John McHugh, emmy Clarke, John Hennessy, Eric Nolan, Tony Maguire, Gary Bingham, Tony Walsh, Eric Nolan.

The contents of this book is protected by the Copyright Laws of the Vardukar Masters. Any attempts to rip them off will mean that you'll wake up and everyone uou know will be changed. And then they won't be quite so nice anymore. Oh yeah, and they'll suck your brain out and eat your insides for desert.

Introduction

'That schlupping sound would live with him to the end of his days'

William Burroughs, The Naked Lunch

Vardukar: Corruption (common) of vardøger, from the Old Germanic word for a doppleganger or double. Used by D801 scientists after they discovered their first examples of replicated humans.

For decades, unknown to us, there has been another threat to humanities survival on the Earth. While the Grays played mind games and performed esoteric experiments another, more sinister, force was preparing the way for invasion. Unlike the Grays, the Vardukar have no pseudo altruistic goals, their plan will result in the extermination of all indigenous life on Earth. They intend to conquer , subverting us from within, eventually taking our planet for their own. Originating in a parallel dimension to ours the Vardukar are many times more alien than we can imagine. Their plans are laid. Their silent invasion has started and the majority of us don't even realise it.

This book gives all the information referees need to run scenarios or campaigns featuring the Vardukar. Inside you will find details of their motivations, capabilities and plans. It also explains how other groups are reacting to this threat. It is the second STOCS lite background book set in the PHASE I world. The first book, MAJI, dealt with the aliens known as the Grays and also gives additional information on Department 801.

Ownership of MAJI or STOCS lite are not required to use the information presented in Vardukar. Throughout this book, you will find boxed scenario ideas involving the Vardukar. These will have to be fleshed out by the referee but will provide numerous plot hooks for your campaigns.

The Vardukar Masters

The Vardukar are not a race, but are instead a collection of powerful beings and their servants. These beings are known as the Vardukar Masters. Their physical size, intellect and powers are all enormous. The largest thing about them though is their driving desire to expand their domain. By invasion and conquest.

The invasion by the Vardukar Masters did not come from outer space. They were not attracted to Earth by the radio signals we had been foolishly transmitting to the silent heavens. They didn't come from the stars, but from a dimension existing alongside our own. This invasion originated on a world which may once have been much like our own. A world which used to have an indigenous life-form, before their planet was altered to the Masters very particular requirements.

Inside the mind of each Master is a multidimensional organ. This allows them to sense multiple realities or dimensions, essentially making their perception of reality far deeper than ours. Time and space are different to them, more malleable. Occasionally conjunctions occur between a time and space inhabited by the Masters and another space. During these conjunctions, if the alignments are close enough, the Masters can open portals or gates between the two spaces. Allowing them to send their servants, essentially extensions of themselves, through.

The servants are incredibly diverse in form and in function. They are grown within the bodies of the Masters for specific purposes, maturing quickly and separating to perform their assigned tasks. They are reabsorbed into the mass of the Master when their task is completed. At any time the body of a Master is like an insect nest, servants crawling everywhere, cleaning and tending to their Master's every need.

When the time comes to open a gate to an unexplored place the Masters grow special-purpose servants called Samplers. Able to live apart from the Master for a limited time, their job is to collect information, acting as eyes and ears in the new dimension before returning through a gate to be reabsorbed. Testing for life, sampling anything they find their real goal is to find an intelligent life-form capable of changing the world to the Master's liking.

Intelligent indigenous life is necessary for the Masters plans. The artefacts required to convert the planets atmosphere are complex, each world requiring slightly different configurations. To build these within the time-frame of the dimensional alignment needs the industrial base of a machine building society and the knowledge of how to use these industries contained within the minds of the inhabitants.

Timeline of Vardukar Activities

The gates the Masters opened appeared on Earth like beams of light extending into the sky. Lasting only a microsecond, they left behind the smell of burnt air, a perfect circle of charred ground, and a small creature. These were the first invaders. They were not here to kill mankind. Their purpose was, on the surface, more benign (like a disinterested vivisectionist), they were here merely to observe and to sample the minerals and life of our world.

As the gates were randomly distributed across the surface of the Earth, hundreds of Samplers were lost. Some ended up at the poles and could find nothing but frozen water. Most landed in the sea, washed by the ocean currents they could not return to the gate site.

1949

The first Vardukar Samplers came across the dimensional rift in 1949. They were small, hard-skinned creatures with legs that doubled as scoops and grabbers. They came through the gate and worked fast. These early Samplers had less than one minute to collect material and get back into the burnt circle which indicated the gate's location. They defended themselves viciously if attacked by anything, cutting and hacking off sections of the attacker with their multipurpose limbs, keeping these grisly trophies within themselves as data for their Masters. Their two goals were to collect matter and to return with it. To prevent the samplers being examined in the event that they could not return through the gate, they were engineered to destroy themselves if they missed the return gate (see further details on Samplers later).

Scenario Idea: A entomology professor has obtained a sampler, one which was found by a butterfly collecting team in the Amazon in the 1950's. The sampler was caught in their giant nets and preserved in formaldehyde. The professor has had an attempt made on his life and has perhaps made the link to the mysterious item he has received.

When the gate reopened the creature was returned to its Masters. Its findings were then examined for the signs the Masters were looking for. They quickly learned that Earth had the life required but further investigations were necessary to determine if it had sufficient technology.

Great Sandy Desert, Australia June, 1949

It came through and immediately started working, scooping up soil samples from the arid desert floor and stuffing them into the gaping mouth. It moved fast, its multiple limbs reaching out in all directions, the dust being thrown up as it ate all around it. In less than twenty seconds it was finished, its soil sac filled to bursting with desert sand.

1958

The new generation of samplers were designed to search for one thing: intelligent life. A species that had the technology to create the machines that the Masters needed. These Samplers were programmed to recognise the characteristics of possible intelligent behaviour and the duration of their missions was increased to around ninety minutes to allow them to search over a larger area. In 1958, they got their first example of a higher life form.

It moved slowly back towards the charred circle and as it did so, a lizard lying in wait struck out at the mysterious visitor. When, like a bright beam, the gate returned, the visitor had half of the lizard in its mouth. The other half twitched nearby, its intestines trailing out of its body ending at the mouth of the hard-shelled creature. After 1000's of attempts, the Masters had what they wanted. Proof of life.

The next stage of sampling was to begin.

As the years progressed, the Samplers were refined, becoming more suitable for the Earth's environment. As a template the Masters used forms which resembled the animals which they had 'sampled'. The new Samplers were duplicates of terrestrial life in only the vaguest sense. They were still capable of carrying out frenzied attacks and absorbing sections of any creatures they could catch. Over the course of time, the Masters gained valuable knowledge regarding the physical surroundings of each gate.

For forty years the sampling operation continued. The Masters had to take as broad a range of samples as possible so that they could be certain they targeted the dominant life-form, the one most likely to have the technology that they needed.

1987

In the Summer of 1987, the samplers finally achieved their goal...

It was a damned hot day, the air-conditioning on the motor had packed in. Air Force sergeant Phillip Lyle was already five minutes late after his weekend leave. As he drove down the desert highway, he cursed his car, the air force and the lousy wake-up call that came two hours late. He was busy hitting the defective cassette player when a bright beam of light shot up from the sand less than one hundred metres from the highway. The stereo stopped chewing his tape, the car engine cut out and all he could hear was the desert wind as the car slowly rolled to a dead stop.

He got out of the stalled vehicle and looked back at the flurry of dust and sand blowing away from where the beam had hit. He checked his watch. It had stopped. He started walking cautiously towards the dust cloud. He was ten metres away when he saw a dark shape, moving around in the dust. It was about as big as a dog, and as Lyle watched, it stopped and seemed to orientate itself towards him. Lyle took a step backwards and it came at him, covering the distance between them before Lyle could even start to react.

Attaching itself firmly to Lyle's leg with its many appendages the Sampler proceeded to tear out large chunks of flesh and bone from his thigh, using its digging and cutting limbs. Stunned by the attack and rapidly going into shock from blood loss, Lyle passed out allowing the Sampler to finish its job in peace. The sampler methodically 'sampled' Lyle, removing skin, coring out his rectum, taking the brain and one of each sensory organ from his head. On his wrist it found his wristwatch. This too was absorbed for examination by the Masters. This example of a simple machine would be all the evidence they needed. They had their intelligent species.

After several such incidents, the Masters had enough biological samples to refine the next set of Samplers, ones programmed to seek out humanity. They had a longer life span than the previous Samplers, but by necessity were much larger. Large enough to internalise an entire human being. Their senses were vastly increased and they avoided anything other than individual humans. They were sometimes accompanied by smaller Samplers acting as additional eyes and ears, providing information to the Masters in the event that the large Sampler did not return. Slower than their predecessors they were equipped with 10 meter long, tentacle-like, whips. They operated by hiding themselves in vegetation, luring people closer by making small rustling noises or using other Samplers as decoys. When a lone human was within range the whips lash out, wrapping around them, and then inexorably drawing them into its maw.

The human tailored samplers operated more aggressively than the previous models. It wasn't long before hunters and rednecks began talking of the big 'thing' that was living up in the woods, killing anyone careless enough to get too close.

1990

By 1990, the Vardukar Masters had enough biological information to begin creating the creature which would be capable of duplicating any human being it came across. The prime sites were selected and the replicators were sent in. Lightning fast, with a life span of 6 hours, these creatures would be able to latch onto any human being, and over a period of hours, turn themselves into an exact copy of that person. The Replicators would be the Masters' main tools for taking control of the Earth.

It was Fall and Joe was out in the woods. There was a bright flash ahead of him, visible even in the evening light. He walked towards the light, curious but not worried. As he got closer, he heard the sound of something running towards him. He stopped and, as he listened, a thing like a skinned man rushed straight for him. Joe turned to run but it was too fast and caught him easily. Wrapping its arms around him they struggled, Joe felt something force its way past his gritted teeth.

The next day Joe took his girlfriend to that spot in the woods. As he knew it would, the light came again and this time, he held the struggling girl in front of him.

The next day they led Joe's father up into the woods. In less than one month no one in Peter's Point remained human. The Vardukar Masters had gained their first beachhead on an alien world.

Vardukar Physiology

All of the Vardukar servants on Earth (with the exception of the converted Replicators) have two characteristics in common.

The first is built in self destruction. So that these servants cannot be examined their life span is timed to the duration of their mission. If they have not returned through the gate to the Masters by the allotted time they are destroyed. The material which makes up their bodies reacts with an enzyme to form a corrosive acid. This enzyme is contained within special glands inside the servants' bodies. If the servant misses their rendezvous or is killed (or badly damaged), this gland reflexively opens and the chemical is released. Immediately the surrounding tissue transforms into a powerful acid, eating through interior walls and forming a corrosive gas. The gas builds up to a high pressure inside the carapace until the pressure causes an explosion showering the surrounding area with fragments of shell and acid. Anyone within range will take damage and most likely receive nasty scarring. Only small fragments of shell and flesh remain when this is finished, everything else is either converted to acid or eaten away.

The second characteristic is their lack of reaction to damage. As simple biological machines, mere extensions of the Masters, they do not fear for themselves. They never check for either Panic or Unconsciousness. Damage to their internal organs can result in Eventually Fatal wound, in which case after 1d10 rounds the self-destruct mechanism is triggered.

Samplers

Small Sampler (EXO-Strain-Zero)

Aptitude: 12, DL 5, DB +2, AV 4

Description: These Samplers vary in size from the size of a man's fist to the size of a football. They vaguely resemble crabs due to their hard exoskeletons, their low profile and the fact that their limbs are positioned around their body. They have up to thirty limbs, varying in length, shape and purpose, all of which allow them to cut and scrape and dig to get their samples. The underside of the creature houses a mouth which serves as an entry to the storage areas within its body. All of its limbs can reach the mouth and all samples collected are deposited there. Thus after sampling the body tends to swell slightly, as its armour plates slide apart.

Special Notes: The Sampler gets two attacks per round (1d10+DB). Successful attacks will always tear or cut free something which is then moved to the mouth. Its tough exoskeleton gives it 4 points of natural armour. Despite its small size, it is surprisingly strong and is a small fast target (-10 penalty to hit). They will generally attempt to hold smaller creatures in their limbs, examining them and using their cutting limbs to slice the creature up into sections which can fit through the mouth. With larger creatures, the Sampler will cling to what it can reach, cutting and digging from there.

This strain's self-destruct mechanism is the least powerful. When the carapace explodes anyone within 1 metre will take 1d10 points of damage to one location and on the subsequent round will take another 1d10 points to that location from the acid. This should be modified based on circumstance. If a person has the Sampler in their hand and are holding it up to their face for a closer look, damage should increase significantly, and they could loose fingers or be blinded.

Medium Sampler (EXO-Strain-One/Two/Three)

Aptitude: 15, DL 5, DB +5, AV 6 Description: Three different types of medium Sampler have been identified by D801, in reality these are all basically the same, they merely have different shapes. Ranging in size from that of a cat to a large dog they are vaguely similar in structure to an Earthly animal, usually having four larger limbs used as legs to cover large distances and a maw at one end, placed on a wide neck for flexibility. They still have an array of other limbs in addition to the larger four, used to cut, scrape and core out just like the smaller Samplers.

Special Notes: This sampler is just as fast as its smaller cousin also getting two attacks per round (1d10+DB). Its larger frame can support a thicker carapace giving it 6 points of armour, but makes it somewhat easier to target, with only a -5 penalty to hit. This type never takes examples of dirt or vegetation being designed to target only mobile life-forms. It commonly attempts to knock over or immobilise its victims before using its special purpose limbs to rip out and store interesting parts of them.

When this strain self-destructs anyone within 3 metres will take 2d10 points of damage to three separate locations. Acid damage continues for the next three rounds, causing 1d10 points of damage per round, unless the affected areas are quickly cleaned off.

Large Sampler (EXO-Strain-Four)

Aptitude: 15, DL 6, DB -2, AV 10 (Torso), AV 0 (Limbs)

Description: This is a larger, less mobile version of the other samplers, which has been designed solely to capture humans. Its body section is large enough to store an entire human being, and its limbs are primarily geared towards forcing the person down its maw. It has internal grabbers which come up inside the throat to drag down unwilling meals. It also has up to ten tentacles, each one up to ten metres long, which it uses to snare victims that pass close to it. This is done by whipping the prehensile tentacles towards the victim to wrap around the arms, legs and neck. The hooks which line the tentacles ensure that they cannot easily be pulled free. It can move under its own steam, but does so very slowly, less than 1 metre a round.

Special Notes: It quickly conceals itself upon arrival, preferring to wait for prey to come within range before acting. Lying motionless it looks like a rock or a log concealed in the underbrush. This is usually a Very Hard Perception task to spot some sign, movement or other indication that it is there.

It can effectively strike up to 8 metres with the tentacles, but it prefers to wait until the victim is within 4 meters before striking. Each of the ten tentacles strikes with an aptitude of 15 and any which hit do damage (1d10+DB) and grab hold with a strength of 8. Any which miss are withdrawn to the main torso during the next round ready to lash out again on subsequent rounds. A successfully grabbed person is dragged towards the main torso at one metre per round using the combined strength of the tentacles (8 each).

Once the victim has been dragged to the Sampler's torso it will consume it in less than one minute, forcing it down its lubricated mouth, coating the victim's body in a viscous slime.

The tentacles are not armoured in any way and are Normal difficulty to hit, however AAM's applied to the tentacles just reduce the strength of that one tentacle and do not affect the Sampler as a whole. An AAM of -3 (ie: 18 points of damage) with a cutting blade like a knife or an axe will sever the tentacle at whatever point the hit was made.

The main torso is a large target (+5 to hit) but has a thick carapace (10 armour points).

If a large Sampler self-destructs the main torso will explode violently showering everything within 5 metres with shrapnel and acid, 2d10+20 points of damage to 3 random locations. The acid will continue you cause 2d10 points of damage per round for three rounds, unless it is cleaned off, diluted or neutralised.

Replicators

When these creatures are transported through the gate to Earth, they are briefly stunned. This lasts for one combat round. They then become lightning fast killers. If any humans are standing nearby the replicator will attack them instantly, moving as quickly as a feral cat.

If there are no humans nearby they start to run in a random direction. They have a very limited time in which to find a human being. All of their senses are incredibly acute and if you're close enough to see it unaided, it's probably coming right at you.

Replicator (EXO-Strain-Six)

Skills: Attack - 25, Perception - 25

Description: The Replicators that the Vardukar Masters send through to our world outwardly resemble skinned, powerfully built human beings of indeterminate gender. They have no skin tissue and the muscle structure (identical to that of a human) is clearly visible. Externally, the only things that differentiate a Replicator from a normal skinned person are a lack of genitals and their eyes. The Replicators eyeballs are blood red in colour with a black iris, a reflective coating inside their retina makes their eyes shine similarly to a cats. They vary in height from about 5'10 to approximately 6'2. The main physical difference is the presence of a proboscis about forty centimetres long which lies in the mouth in place of a tongue. They also have a much higher metabolic rate having been designed to only live for five or six hours in their active state. The external muscle tissue is covered by a thin layer of a gelatinous liquid which has a sharp repugnant smell, like ammonia.

Notes: The substance which coats the Replicator acts as a neurotoxin, causing paralysis in humans. Contact with the skin requires the victim make a Very Hard CON roll every round they are exposed, failure in this results in a -2 AAM which manifests itself as a numbing and stiffening of the limbs. If the AAMs gained from the toxin reach -10 then the respiratory and cardiovascular systems are paralysed and the victim will require continuous CPR and Artificial Respiration to live. The paralysis effects last 2 hours.

The smell of the fluid coating acts as a repellent to other Replicators, which means that a group of Replicators will always split up and head in different directions.

Like other Vardukar the Replicators do not need to check for panic, or unconsciousness. They are very fast, capable of covering 10 metres in a single combat round from a standing start. When running at top speed, they can cover 20 metres per combat round and can keep up this speed for several minutes. Their average travelling speed on good ground is about 40 kilometres per hour, which they can keep up indefinitely, at least until they die.

If the Replicator does not find a human being during their six hour time limit, their body begins to consume itself to feed their overactive metabolism. Within ten minutes of this starting, they are incapable of any movement and their internal organs begin the transformation into acid. Since they do not have a hard shell which would allow pressure to build up they do not explode, they simply dissolve. Within twenty minutes the only remains are some fragments of tissue and sticky gelatinous slime.

Similar to the Samplers, the self-destruct mechanism is triggered if they receive a Fatal or Eventually Fatal wound. Within 1d10 rounds of this happening the Replicator is incapable of movement, if not so already, and slumps to the ground. Twenty minutes later they have dissolved completely.

The Conversion Process

Unlike the samplers, which attack any living thing, the replicators will only attack human beings, all their senses are very sharp and have been optimised to detect humans. When attacking, it will come at you fast and hard. In the last second, its hands sweep up and it tries to grab either side of your head (Melee attack with no damage inflicted). If it is successful the fluid coating their body initially burns like acid (1d10 points of damage). If the victim's clothing/armour has been penetrated, they must make a Hard (-5) CON rolls every round of contact. Failing this roll means that the neuro-toxin in the fluid induces total paralysis. If the victim survives the attack, the paralysis wears off in 1d10 hours.

Once the victim's head has been grabbed (STR vs. STR to break free), the Replicator's proboscis shoots out from its mouth (2d10 points of damage, ArmX 2), entering through the eye, nose or mouth. If it penetrates any armour worn, it punches through flesh and severs the brainstem just above the spinal cord (death occurs within five minutes). At this point, thousands of microscopic tendrils snap into the brain tissue and spread out through the entire brain.

After the victim's brain has been penetrated the Replicator will change its grip to wrap its arms around the victim. Hugging the person close, it will move into the best cover immediately available and start to transform. Fluid flows from its pores, covering both bodies with a sticky mucous. Inside this cocoon the absorption process takes four hours to complete, the bodies moving and writhing, trapped inside the translucent, gelatinous shell. The proboscis injects the human body with fluids which help break it down to feed the replicator's metabolic change while the tendrils extend throughout the entire body, mapping it out for perfect imitation.

When this process is completed, a form breaks out of the cocoon, stretching the mucous to breaking point and falling, naked as a baby, out of the slippery mess. The person which exits the cocoon is an exact duplicate of the victim, including personality and most memories. The remains of the victim lie inside the rapidly drying, and shrinking, cocoon, their body a withered husk, empty of substance; a skin bag with a face.

At this stage the likeness is not perfect. Its face is unlined, the flesh smooth and unmarred. Over the next two hours, as the replica dries out, the skin begins to age and wrinkle. Within six hours it is almost perfect.

The mimicry is not just physical. Within five hours of the proboscis being inserted the new human knows everything the old human did. Exceptions to this are surface thoughts and unimportant events that occurred up to seven days prior to the conversion. So while the new human is no more-or-less likely than the old to forget family's birthdays, it will probably forget that it had to pick up the dry cleaning or that the car was due for a check-up.

Despite the almost perfect likeness, there are still subtle differences between the Vardukar and the original human. Small details such as fingerprints, skin blemishes and small scars can take up to an additional eight weeks to appear.

The most important difference is that its skin remains quite fragile for up to one month after the conversion process has taken place. During this time it can be easily torn by rough contact. Although the transformed Replicators healing abilities are greater than a normal humans (the torn skin can be re-attached and will bond in seconds) this is when they are most vulnerable to detection. Signs at this stage include a dislike of physical contact (including an apparent loss of sex drive) leading to the 'snatcher flinch'. Once this period of time has elapsed they are completely human in appearance both to external and internal examination. They breathe like a human, they sweat like a human, they age like a human and when their personal task is completed, they die naturally like a human. Snatchers in this tertiary stage are almost impossible to detect and pose the greatest danger to humanity.

How the Replicators are used by the Vardukar

Initially the Replicators are sent through without any support. They will spread out and randomly attack the first person they come across. After the first converts are made these new Vardukar will bring the Replicators into contact with specific people that they wish to convert.

One of the ways that the Vardukar increase the usefulness of the Replicators is by synthesising a fluid which combines with the toxic gelatinous coating, immersion in this fluid causes the Replicator to relax and enter a state of hibernation. This drastically increases their life-span from six hours to over three months. If removed from the fluid, they take 1d10 combat rounds to reach full activity. Once sealed in a fluid filled container the Replicators can be transported to more convenient locations.

Since the Replicators cannot tell a Vardukar convert apart from a real human any more than anybody else can, the job of handling Replicators is a delicate one. The only advantage they have is that they know how the Replicators operate. They know to be quiet, hold their breath and cover their scent with something stronger. A panicky or running human makes a much more likely target for the Replicator.

I watched the group carefully approach the clearing. They were a strange lot to see out in the forest in the middle of the night. There was a suit-and-tie man, two workmen and two kids, big teenagers wearing T-shirts, all dragging a large handcart with a barrel and rods on top of it.

When they reached the clearing, they took the poles from the cart and I saw that all of them had a noose on the end. One of the kids took the top off the barrel, and even from thirty feet away the overpowering ammonia stink nearly took my head off. Then they just stood there, the noose-sticks at the ready, all looking at the centre of the clearing. Without any warning whatsoever the entire clearing lit up so bright, and so quickly, that for a few seconds, all I could see was the clearing and the men no matter where I looked. I could hear the sounds of a struggle and a hideous sound, like something that couldn't shout and was just forcing air through its mouth.

As my sight returned, I saw three of the men forcing a skinned man into the barrel with the nooses around his neck. The skinned man was struggling like a wildcat and at one stage, it looked like he would get free. But with one final effort, they got it into the barrel. The ammonia spilled everywhere, but as soon as the creature hit the liquid, it immediately stopped struggling, bringing an instant silence to the forest.

I assumed it was dead and got ready to take some pictures when I slipped and fell. The men all turned and looked right at me. They reached into the barrel and threw handfuls of stinking ammonia over themselves. I started running. Within seconds, I knew something was after me. Images ran through my head of that thing in the barrel coming after, making me run faster than I ever have in my life. The last thing I saw after I tripped was a spear-point of razor flesh coming right for my screaming mouth.

Scenario Idea: The characters obtain a sample of the Replicators' fluid. They may send it to a lab to get it analysed. From the lab reports that come back, a Hard(-5) Science(Chemistry) roll will give them enough information to synthesise it. If they start looking for companies which make the substance, they will eventually (Hard Research roll, taking four weeks), come into contact with the Hoëgar Chemical Corporation. This will lead the characters on a wild goose chase, following shipments around America, chasing leads that go nowhere. Hoëgar Chem-Co has been infiltrated by the Vardukar and key personnel have been replaced, including its major shareholder, Charles Edgar Marks (50) who lives in Chicago. The documents detailing the true shipments will never be found in their paperwork, but careful interviews of shipping workers might reveal some facts...

The Vardukar converts refer to the replicators as cousins. This allows them to mention them in everyday conversation without anybody really understanding what they are talking about. Only the Cousins can convert human beings. Once a human has been replaced, they become physically human and lose the ability to convert other people.

When a Cousin has emerged from the cocoon in their new form, they await their orders. A newly-converted Vardukar knows that they are no longer human. They know that they must Pave The Way for the Masters. Their instinct is to bring other humans back to the location of their own conversion, hoping to bring hosts for other Replicators. If a fresh Vardukar does not get the responses that it needs from the first people it meets, it will simply do nothing, acting the part of the person they have replaced. Vardukar agents planning conversion operations adopt the same precautions as criminals or undercover operatives. The one thing they rarely have to be careful of is having a traitor in their midst.

When a Cousin has replaced someone, it's more or less perfect. They are not telepathic and their accents are not just for show to fool the humans. It is how they talk. Put two Vardukar in a room together they will not suddenly start talking in monotone saying 'bzzt, the earthlings are getting too close, they must be stopped'. They will talk just like the person they have replaced. The mask never comes off as the personality they show is the only one they know. The Cousin itself has no real personality when it comes through the gate. It just knows that it must find a human being and replace it. Psychological testing of Vardukar and comparing the results to previous psychological tests will prove ineffective. No Vardukar can be forced to betray his compatriots. They are not human and can take any amount of pain. No truth drug or disorientation medication will force them to divulge their secrets.

The Vardukar are not telepathic, they cannot tell human from Vardukar. The disguise is perfect. This means that only an overall structure keeps them from attempting to convert people already converted. However there isn't a list somewhere with the names of all the citizens replaced. Secrecy means compartmentalisation, such as exists in Department 801 and terrorist cells. Also some groups might only target certain types of individuals. But this internal secrecy means that player characters could pass as Vardukar in certain circumstances. Of course, a detailed questioning would show that they were lying but they could get away with it in the short term.

REPORT NOTES BY: Maj. C. Franchetti MD

NOTE: Expand on the investigation of Subject C's contacts. This field work is to be given top priority and full authorisation for all necessary wetwork. Suggest psych. review of medicall personnel involved in PROJECT FROZEN PALMS. Major Franchetti's breakdown and suicide has lost us valuable time and her much-needed insight. Further security lapses will not be tolerated.

Authorization: J-3 (AOE)

Vardukar Methods

Plans and Objectives

The Replicators sent through the dimensional gates into our world are not the true aliens. They are biogenetic creations specifically designed to replicate any human they find. The true aliens wait in another dimension while the replicators convert people into Vardukar. The Vardukar's job is to prepare Earth for their Masters.

The world was beginning to die. Deep within the planet all resources were dwindling. The seas were covered with metres of floating black ash and the ground was charred and ashen. All over the world, black pyramids belched out smoke and filth into the thick atmosphere as unnatural winds tore across the surface. Giant domes covered hundreds of square kilometres of the world's surface. Inside the domes, each of the Masters lived alone, their gigantic bodies writhing with feelers, covered with the slime and ash of the dying world. Over their twisted flesh smaller creatures, their servants, extrusions of the Masters themselves, scurried through the cracks in the meat, cleaning the thick epidermis and depositing lubricating slime around the drying tentacles.

The Masters knew this world would soon cease to be of use. Through the cloying atmosphere, flashes of light were visible as gates were opened to other worlds. The Masters created of their flesh and sent parts of themselves through the gates. When the parts returned, the Masters re-absorbed them, instantly seeing what they had seen, tasting what they had sampled.

The Masters need a constant supply of new worlds to keep themselves alive. As each world dies, they prepare to move to a new one. They send through their Samplers and eventually, if the world has a species sufficiently advanced, they send through the Replicators. The Masters need the species to create the machines that will change the world. They are incapable of doing so themselves, incapable of working with anything more than their own flesh. As each species gets replaced, they become their own destruction as they prepare the way for the Masters.

It had once been full of life, the land covered with cities and greenbelt, the seas swarming with marine life. Vast forests had died as the world changed, turning into a layer of decaying matter, a sludge which eventually diminished and hardened as it was covered in ash. The cities were areas of rubble, most of which had taken away and cemented with the black mucous to form the domes for the Masters. Through the ash, small creatures moved, repairing the buildings and the generators as they burned the inside of the world.

The opening of the dimensional gates is an ability all of the Masters possess. The gates are their means of leaving the world they are on and moving to a freshly prepared one. When they are in the process of taking over a fresh world, they always operate quietly, using stealth to accomplish their objectives. The Masters are not capable of fighting wars by themselves, the only weapons they are capable of creating are those made from their own massive bodies. If the Masters were to transport themselves to an unprepared planet, they would die quickly and in agony in the alien atmosphere. Even if the atmosphere did not kill them, any species with a reasonable level of technology (and sufficient numbers) could kill them easily.

When taking over a planet, the Masters split the assault into general three stages. As adapted for Earth these stages are listed below.

Stage 1 : Obtain a foothold on the planet.

The replacement of one single human being initiates this stage. The Vardukar replacement is then able to convert others by bringing them to the gate and letting the replicators take them. When the areas around the gates are secure, the Vardukar can begin to expand out into the world, setting up cells which target the upper echelons of the ruling classes.

Stage 2 : Total world domination.

With the relevant leaders of the most powerful nations replaced by Vardukar, they are ready to proceed with the second stage of their plan. Massive holding centres linked by rail to major cities will begin the terror. The military industrial complex, for years their unwitting allies, will be entirely replaced. Countries will be placed under martial law. The media will be the mouthpiece for the New World Order. Shows of resistance will be crushed. A holocaust to rival the camps of Nazi Germany and the pogroms of Stalin will take place on the soil of democratic nations. Any centres of resistance that object to this genocide will be cleansed with nuclear fire. In countries which are co-operating like good servants, huge factories belch black smoke into the atmosphere, building machinery never before seen on Earth, their designs unknown to Earth science before the take-over.

Stage 3 : The changing of Earth to suit the Masters.

The science-fiction writers called it terraforming but never dreamed that the atmosphere of Earth would be changed to suit another race. The process would take seven hundred years. Within fifty years of the first factory being built what remained of Earth's atmosphere would not support any terrestrial life forms. Generations of enslaved humans, overseen by Vardukar converts, live and work in chemical warfare suits. Within four hundred years, the Earth seen from space would have black seas and grey land masses obscured by boiling dark clouds. Earth cities are levelled and in their place the pyramids and domes of the new masters are erected, waiting to be inhabited. Seven hundred and fifty years (by human reckoning) after the first sampler landed on the planet, the first of the Masters surveys their new conquest and finds it to its liking.

And on one continent, the pyramids built by the planet's previous occupants were slowly being dismantled. The warning had not been understood and mankind was dead.

Strategic Concerns

The Vardukar's prime aim here on Earth is to take over the planet and transform its biosphere into one that would be suitable for the survival of their Masters. This planet would be uninhabitable by humans. Thus the Vardukar are fundamentally hostile to humanity. Due to their origin as constructed beings, they bear no malice in the conduct of their mission in fact they are more like ants or robots in their blind, unthinking pursuit of this goal. Humanity is a tool and sometimes an obstacle, but never an enemy to be hated.

In order to achieve their long-term goal, the Vardukar require control of powerful entities on earth such as superpower countries and large multinational corporations. Thus they are actively seeking to "recruit" powerful individuals at the highest levels of politics, business and the military. Due to their relatively small numbers, the snatchers tend to operate tendrils of power, with occasional strong points where they want to ensure their continued influence. It is useful to think of them as targeting organisations rather than individuals. If they convert a General who is on the Armed Forces appropriations committee they are, in reality, targeting the Military Industrial Complex. As their influence and their power grows these tendrils will reach further and become stronger. Eventually they will have a strangle hold that will be impossible to break.

The Vardukar are still in the early stages of their plans. They control a number of powerful figures, they have infiltrated some military and corporate power structures and they have totally taken over a handful of towns. The important fact for those who resist the Vardukar to remember is that the majority of people are still human. We still have a chance to root out the parasite that is growing amongst us, preparing to steal our light.

Scenario Idea: A key political figure disappears for a few weeks, aides explain that they are in a sanatorium, after they return they immediately start to follow a very different political agenda. The players may wish to investigate when the politician announces a major new development by Hoëgar Chem-Co in his constituency. Perhaps the illness was feigned and the Vardukar have another convert, it is also possible that the illness was real an in aide has been converted and is influencing policy in the weakened politician.

Operational Concerns

Normally the Vardukar are very secretive in their pursuit of power. They have to be, they are stranded on an alien world full of hostile and unfamiliar beings. Although they quickly acclimatise due to their gradual re-awakening of their host's memories, if they have been in contact with other humans they will not be sure if they haven't given themselves away in their first, confused hours. An obvious way to combat this problem is to withdraw from human contact for the first few hours after conversion. This is not always possible.

Typically at least one other already acclimatised Vardukar is present when a newly converted Vardukar awakes. This contact will quickly gain the trust of the new-born by showing friendship and frankly discussing the Vardukar invasion with the individual. This contact can also give instructions from the Vardukar authorities. New Vardukar can be divided into two main types, planned "converts" and victims of convenience. If the victim was a planned conversion there will already be a set of detailed instructions (which could range from "continue on with your humdrum life" to "assassinate the president") awaiting the new Vardukar agent.

Scenario Idea: A minor newspaper item reports that local police have discovered a corpse, but are at present unable to identify its sex or time of death. Perhaps it is a Vardukar Replicator.

Planned conversions are carefully worked out well in advance of the actual attacks. Typically the long term planners of a cell will come up with a goal, for example to gain control of a large investment company. They will then learn as much as they can about this company, who makes decisions, what their habits are, their schedule and the layout of locations where they might be found. Some of this research can be done by normal investigative means, however generally the plan will involve the eventual conversion of a trusted and knowledgeable individual in the target organisation, although not someone who is too important or high profile.

This person will be someone who can be easily lured away and can be 'sick' for a few days without arousing suspicion. This convert then gives much more detailed knowledge of the target organisation and may allow weaknesses in the plan to be removed. At this point the plan is finalised. Who the key individuals needed to take control or the organisation are and how these conversions can be accomplished has been worked out. The final attack may require the conversion of more people; the security guard who controls who comes in or out, the secretary who tells the director when his next appointment is, or just four or five low level employees who can be used to keep watch or act as muscle.

The number converted depends on a couple of factors. Firstly the importance of the objective, many cousins will not be used up if the objective is not important enough, although the planners will not stint with Replicators if it won't hurt their security. They will not undertake, or will abandon at an early stage, any plan which has costs or risks higher than the potential gain. The other factor is the increased risk as more converts are made. If a man sees everyone of his subordinates undergo slight changes there is a much higher risk of his becoming suspicious. With this level of careful planning and attention to detail it is rare for the plan to go wrong, although rarely it does. If you are a planned target of the Vardukar, you are as good as dead.

Victims of convenience are a different matter. Every person unlucky enough to come close to a Vardukar is in danger of being snatched. A number of factors affect the Vardukar decision to act. What type of person it is. What stage the cell is at in its penetration of the locale. How risky the person will be to take and how many close human contacts they are likely to have. Close human contact is a danger to the new convert since friends or family may notice strange behaviour in the early stages. Finally the number of Replicators available is a big factor.

Scenario Idea: A salesman has recently been converted by the Vardukar by coming into contact with one of their communities while out on the road. After returning home he is reclusive, claiming to be depressed as he couldn't make his sales figures. The change is noted but not commented on by friends an family, until one day someone stumbles on something they should not have seen. Barely escaping with their life they contact the authorities and are put in contact with D801 agents. Either the players are these agents or they learn of the investigation (perhaps through a contact in D801).

If the cell is small they will want to 'recruit' almost any type of person. Initially they want low-risk targets since they do not have the infrastructure required to be effective. Homeless vagrants are useful for various things and, as an added bonus, they are ignored by the majority of society. They tend only to be converted very early in the cell's life since they are low-risk manpower but have limited contacts and abilities. People connected with the underworld are also good early stage targets. They often have good street contacts, skills and info, they can get useful things, such as illegal firearms and stolen cars. Organised crime is a good fall-back cover in case something happens to cause suspicion.

Established cells will be willing to go after medium- to high-risk targets. Low level targets in the police, business, military and media will be converted, with a view to opening the door to more useful targets later on. Eventually cells will have tentacles in many areas and dozens of converts. At this stage they will generally take very few convenience victims, the majority of converts being part of a greater plan. Unplanned targets will still be taken, either to remove potential threats to security or simply because the target is just too juicy to pass up. Telling a Vardukar convert that you are the press secretary for the White House alone on a two week road trip to see the southern states, would be a mistake you would not have long to regret.

When a person is to be converted they are usually taken away from all other humans, to a place that is safe. Somewhere that is secure from casual intrusion and prying eyes, preferably sound proofed or distant from other habitations. This can be either by trickery, lured to an attractive person's house for a night they certainly won't forget, or simply by being shanghaied. Since a Replicator is an obvious alien, and a menacing one at that, it is vital to the secrecy of the specific cell and overall plans that no human ever sees one and lives to tell the tale. If a person escapes before seeing the Replicator damage limitation indicates that the cell try to recapture or kill them without causing too much fuss the more they have seen the harder they will try. If this is not possible, it is not a disaster, people are kidnapped or attacked every day... If the victim has seen the Replicator and somehow managed to get away (a very difficult feat) the Vardukar will stop at nothing to kill or recapture them before they have a chance to talk to anyone. While the media and the public at large will never believe stories of tentacled alien attackers, the Vardukar know that government agencies will eventually correlate stories like this with other evidence and begin serious investigation.

The Vardukar's task is made even more difficult by the fact that the Replicators are so difficult to control once they have been taken out of the calming fluid. It is a delicate operation to get the Replicators out of the fluid and onto the intended victim without being attacked yourself. Preferably there will be two or three Vardukar converts available to assist with the Replicator and the victim can be placed in a room with it and locked in until the deed is done.

Example Infiltration - The First Church of Freedom

There are varying degrees to which an organisation or a town can be infiltrated by the Vardukar. At the lowest level only a couple, or even just one person is a convert. This can either happen by chance, because of random conversions or by plan because the planners decide that it might, at some point, be useful to have one or two agents in, for example, an airline.

At the next level the Vardukar control the decision makers of an organisation or town. This is useful since it effectively gives them control, however they still have to be circumspect since particularly odd decisions or orders may be questioned and there is always the chance that a human might stumble across some damning evidence.

The highest level of control, and the most infrequently used method, is total conversion of all humans in the organisation or town. This is done to make a stronghold, where the Vardukar can do what they like, operating openly within the confines of the structure. This allows them the greatest freedom but has a high cost both in Replicators and in risk during the conversions. Of course organisations may be in a state of transfer from one level to another, leaving the possibility of a place being discovered which does not fit in to any of the above models. For example a town which is ninety percent converted, with only a few people remaining human would be an example of a level two infiltration approaching level three.

One Vardukar controlled organisation is the First Church of Freedom, a typical fringe religion, preaching tolerance and personal development through personality training. The Vardukar decided that it could be a useful tool, because of its strict hierarchical authority and the fact that most people expect fringe religions to act strangely. Another reason was that the religion attracted many high profile and influential people disillusioned with conventional society.

Once subverted this church provided a good cover for a widely distributed network of cells. The religion has several chapels in a number of cities, these are usually large buildings in their own grounds with significant security, which are obviously ideal for covert activities. The church has a couple of other advantages for the Vardukar. Since the church fathers will have some political influence and wealth, they will often be invited to social gatherings of the rich and famous and the accumulated donations of their members adds up to a very substantial yearly income for the Vardukar organisation.

'For one who is said to have a progressive stance on social issues you have a very closed mind towards the First Church, Senator. Why don't you give us a chance, come along to our retreat centre in Aspen for a weekend sometime soon. You may be surprised at what you find.'

Not every initiate to the First Church is a Vardukar agent, some are merely dupes who provide services and financial support. All of the authority figures in the church are converts, and any member who either live in or is staff in a chapel or church building is a Vardukar. This effectively makes all church buildings Vardukar strongholds.

Ordinary initiates to the church go through a number of phases. Firstly, people who are interested in the church start to change their behaviour. They no longer drink to excess or party all night, they begin to eat health food (often becoming vegetarians), they no longer watch trashy TV programs or listen to rock music. They also tend to preach their new values to their friends and families, always tending to redirect the conversation to discussion of philosophical values. Next they begin to alienate themselves from their family and friends, having developed a new circle of friends among church members. Their only external contact is directed towards evangelizing the church, pointing out the flaws in other peoples lifestyles and attempting to convert them to the new way. Progress in the church hierarchy is by invitation only. The only way for an ordinary member to become a Visionary (the first order of church leader) is for the real controllers of the church to decide that they should be 'converted'.

Scenario Idea: The characters are either asked to help recover a new member of the First Church or discover that someone they know has joined. They are given the brush off by the head of the local church and if they attempt to take the person by force or break in they may be very surprised by what they find.

Of course their are some members that are specially treated. These are the movie stars, politicians and authors that the church wants to attract. Generally they are either specifically approached by church leaders or happen to express an interest. They are then invited to a two week retreat during which they are 'converted' and given time to acclimatise themselves before having to go back into the human community. Since the real usefulness of these people to the Vardukar is in their contact and position these people will act basically the same as they did before, perhaps evangelising somewhat, but not alienating themselves.

Scenario Idea: The players infiltrate or are invited to one of the two week retreats. Once inside the Vardukar stronghold they must realise what is happening and escape while they still can.

Normal people's reaction to the Vardukar

A lot of people have noticed the silent invasion. Not in a big way. Little things. One of their friends has no time for them any more, they're too busy doing something else. Their boss doesn't listen to their ideas anymore, they want to take the company in a new direction. Suddenly they feel left out, like everyone they know has joined a secret club together and won't let on. Their partner leaves them and the kids, with no reason, note or warning.

No one in their right mind leaps from this sort of evidence to alien invasion. Of course incidence of paranoia and other psychoses are rising. Most people however think nothing of it. That's the way life is, everything doesn't have to have a reason behind it.

Weaknesses of the Vardukar

It is easy to see the Vardukar as an unstoppable force, however they have a number of weaknesses that can be exploited by the characters. Secret Organisation The Vardukar have a relatively young and small organisation, this is vulnerable if its centres can be found and eradicated. The Vardukar are aware of this and so they operate with a cell structure like a terrorist organisation. However they are trying to infiltrate further but the governments and corporations of the world have had a lot of experience dealing with espionage and have developed effective counter espionage tactics. The element of surprise is the Vardukar's real advantage. Once people in authority are aware of the special abilities of the Vardukar they can begin to fight them. Phones can be tapped, rooms can be bugged and people can be followed. The Vardukar cells are not immune to routine surveillance techniques.

Physical Characteristics

In addition to traditional interrogation and investigation methods, there are a number of ways that a Vardukar may give themselves away to a vigilant observer:

Due to the after-effects of the conversion process, new converts tend to become reclusive until their conversion has completed. Vardukar flesh is fragile and tends to rip for a long time after the conversion, this leads to the 'snatcher flinch'. Despite the fact that the Vardukar adopt the personality of the person they replace, they do not feel the need to act socially when they have no need. If long removed from normal human interaction, they may begin to deviate from 'normal' behaviour, becoming lethargic when they have no immediate objective to accomplish. Their diet becomes less varied and is aimed at sustenance rather than satisfaction.

Dental work is something that eludes all but the best established Vardukar groups, hasty or less well organised conversions will result in individuals that have all the cavities and deformed teeth, but no fillings or other dental work. Well organised Vardukar groups will have their own dentists that replace all missing dental work before an individual is sent out into society. Obviously surgical replacements or implants are a similar problem, but these are much more difficult to check for ("bring the portable x-ray machine, we might want to see if he still has a hip replacement").

Vardukar Villages

The first sites that successfully yielded human hosts for the Cousins were in rural areas. The remoteness of these settlements and their small size made it easy for the Vardukar to completely take over the villages, replacing entire populations with Vardukar agents. These villages formed the Vardukar beachheads on this alien world.

Once all the people had been converted to the Vardukar cause, the new populations set about altering the villages to suit their own ends. They instigated watches and patrols of the surrounding areas and created warning signs and alarms which would alert the village to the presence of outsiders. The patrols around the village would seem to be innocent affairs; a family out picnicking, a boy out with his sweetheart or a group of farmers out hunting or wood-clearing. The bell in the village church/town hall was only rung in times of danger but if it rang on the hour, the villagers knew that outsiders were present but were not a threat.

Alterations were made to certain buildings which gave them the space and facilities to store Cousins which were not immediately needed but, in general, the villages remained overtly unchanged from the originals.

We were heading back to Chicago, just me and my wife, when we took the wrong turning off the interstate and got ourselves thoroughly lost. I took most of the blame for that as it was my navigation that had made her take the 'short cut' that landed us 200 miles out of our way.

It was getting dark in a hurry and we needed to find a motel but we were in the middle of nowhere. We hadn't seen a gas station for the last hour. In fact, we hadn't seen any damn buildings for the last hour. I didn't know where we were and, as Hannah continually pointed out, we could easily be going around in circles.

A blazing row, one which had been simmering for hours, broke out on the spot. We were shouting with such enthusiasm that we nearly didn't see the little girl walking at the side of the road. At the time, I was so happy to see another human being that I didn't ask myself the obvious questions - just where was she walking from? And just why was a ten year old child out so late on her own?

Peter's Point

Picture a small town, only about two hundred people live there with less than a hundred living in the outlying farms, pig farms mostly. There's a hardware store, a diner and a rooming house. At one end of the village is the church which doubles as a town hall for meetings. People walk through the town, going about their everyday business; saying hello to their neighbours, going into the hardware store to buy supplies for the farm. Once a month, they all go into the town hall to discuss town problems. The local sheriff and his four deputies commend the villagers and farmers on the prosperity of the town, and the people commend the sheriff on the lack of crime. It's a pleasant village, unless you're an outsider. Nobody is exactly rude but they're not overly friendly either. The rooming house will overcharge you and will never provide any service. The hardware store will tell you it's run out of gas and there'll be none till the following Monday. The diner will make you eggs and coffee, but the eggs will taste of salt and the coffee will be rancid, the sweetener congealed to the bottom of the cup.

We calmed down the argument and pulled up alongside the kid. She was wearing a faded cotton dress and carrying a beat-up little Polly doll in her arms.

"Are you lost, mister? You must be as all we get on this road are lost lambs and sinners." She was a weird kid, smiled a bit too wide but when we asked, she told where to find the nearest town. Typically, it was only five minutes away, straight down theroad - hell, calling it a track would be closer. As we drove into the town, a fat man wearing nothing but a set of dungarees watched us from a porch. Hannah wanted us to keep on driving but I got my way and we pulled up at the town's only hotel. I didn't want to stay any more than Hannah but I was damned if I was going to back down now. I vowed never to leave the Interstate again.

It takes some people a few hours to realise what makes the Point (as the locals call it) so damn strange. It's not the people quietly walking down the street, nodding to each other as if they all share some big secret. It's not the bad food or the fact that half the men are wearing dungarees and the other half are wearing hats. It's not the old cars and trucks that they drive. It's the complete lack of laughing children. What children there are in the village walk about very solemnly. There are no groups of children running and playing. Occasionally a child can be seen playing in the dirt, building a pyramid out of sand. If you try to talk to any of them, they will look you straight in the eye and tell you that they're not allowed to talk to strangers. Then they will walk on, walking the slow careful step of the child on her way to the school principal.

The village will let you stay the night. They'll even let you leave in the morning. But if you start asking questions or see something you shouldn't then you'll end up buried in the graveyard outside the town. And that's one of the better things that could happen to you.

Inside the hotel, the woman at the desk was cold and unfriendly. She only perked up when we registered. My wife was explaining her job, she's a legal aide to Senator Harris, and the woman seemed really impressed. She offered to bring coffee up to our rooms despite initially telling us earlier that the kitchens were closed. Her attitude changed so much that I began to feel better about spending the night in the town. Maybe once they knew you, they began to loosen up.

We had to leave late the next day. It was a long drive and we had a job to do. The Point had a specially built holiday cabin by the lake. Hannah was going to give the keys to Senator Harris. He had been working hard lately and a weekend in the country would make a new man of him.

The Spawning Pool

There is a gate three miles to the north of Peter's Point. At least once a week, a fresh Cousin comes through this gate. The people in the town somehow know when the gate is going to be used next and a group of men go out to collect the Cousin. The cousin gets placed in the ammonia-like calming fluid and brought back to the village under cover of darkness.

Under the town hall, sunk in the floor of the sub-basement, is the spawning pool. It is over five metres square and three metres deep. Inside it lie dozens of Cousins, all floating around in the foul-smelling fluid, their bodies sliding over one another as they sleep. The villagers keep the pool covered with a sheet of transparent plastic. Around the pool are strewn the large plastic barrels used to transport the Cousins to their destinations. Several noose-sticks lie in one corner and are used to manoeuvre a Cousin in the pool into a barrel. A simple block and tackle is then used to pull the barrels out of the pool.

The spawning pool also serves another function. For one day each month, in a constantly rotating pattern, each villager lies in the spawning pool. This slows down the ageing process and eliminates some of the dangers of a large, static Vardukar population, such as new progeny. The children of Peter's Point have stayed the same age for the last four years.

The Hastings Lodge

This is a large, well-kept building on the main street. It is run by Beth Hastings, a well-kept woman in her mid-fifties. She spends most of her day behind the reception desk watching soap operas and knitting baby clothes. The Lodge has been open since the twenties but business died down after the new interstate was opened.

As the characters come through the front door, they will see Beth sitting there watching the TV, another small pair of baby boots (always blue) taking shape. The entire building is unheated and damp stains crowd over the old wallpapered walls. An printed sign over the desk, that looks older than Beth, announces that there will be No Swearing, Spitting, Alcohol or Whores allowed in the hotel. Beth will be quietly unpleasant to the characters, telling them that long-term stays are not permitted and that food and hot beverages are obtained from the Eatery across the street, and they are not to be brought into the hotel.

When she takes out the register, she writes the current date at the top of the first page and turns it around so that the characters can sign their names, ages and occupations. The register is open at the first page, all earlier pages have been removed. The rates are $20 for a single and $40 for the one double (and only if you're a married couple). Checkout time is 8am and the hot water is currently not available.

The rooms themselves are adequate, if cold and damp. The is a bathroom adjoining each room, containing the usual amenities and a very large cast-iron bathtub with a dense shower-curtain surrounding it. There is no shower attachment. The bath has obviously been well-cleaned with an ammonia-based cleaner as it reeks of the stuff.

The preferred tactic if anyone staying at the hotel is to be replaced is for Beth to relent on her hot food rule and bring them up a cup of spiced, hot milk and cookies. Then, once the drug has taken effect, they enter the room and two men hold down the drugged victim while a third sticks a long needle into the person's abdomen. This ensures that they are actually drugged and not faking. They then carry up a Cousin in a plastic barrel and tip it into the bath. They then leave the victim lying on the floor of the bathroom, pull the plug on the bath and leave the room quickly. They return in the morning to witness the emergence of the new agent and to deliver their instructions.

The Town Hall

This large, single story, wooden building acts as the church and meeting place for the town's residents. There are steps leading up to the oversized double doors at the front. These doors are always kept locked. The windows are always covered with wooden shutters and the side entrance is also securely locked and padlocked. The side entrance is the easier of the two to gain entry by. Picking each of the two locks is difficulty 15, opposed against the character's Burglary skill. If a roll is failed by 5 or more, scratch-marks will be left on the padlock or the lock surround on the door.

The Sheriff, Hoyden Van Ester, and the mayor, Sherman T. Franklin, are the only people with the keys to the building.

The ground floor of the building is one large room, with a raised area at the back of the room, from which the mayor, Franklin, can address the town on both civic matters and religious ones (he is also the town's pastor). The platform is covered with a thick green canvas sheet, on top of which are piled old gym mats bought in cheap from a school in the east. The gym mats stink of old sweat but they help to mask the ammonia odour coming from the basement.

Under one of the gym mats is a trapdoor, but to gain entry most of the surrounding mats have to be lifted and the canvas has to be rolled up (characters who don't care about leaving traces could just slash the canvas with a big knife).

Underneath the trapdoor is a shaft which goes down to the basement, about five metres into the earth. The stench of ammonia coming up from the shaft is overpowering strong and any character standing over the opening must roll straight CON or collapse. There is a 50/50 chance that they will fall into the shaft itself. A few seconds acclimatising to the stink is needed, but all characters inside the basement are at -5 to all activities and remain at -5 for 1d10 minutes after they have left the basement. There is no obvious way down the shaft.

There is one item of security on the shaft which characters can easily miss. An electric eye system has been placed half-way down the shaft. Even if the characters have a light source available, spotting the eye is a Very Hard (-10) Perception roll. If the beam is broken, an alarm goes off in the sheriff's office, the hardware store, the hotel and the Eatery. The alarm is a quiet beeping, which is subtle enough not to draw attention to itself, but audible enough to wake folk up and let them know what's happening.

In the basement is the Spawning Pool, filled with floating Cousins and if the power switch at the bottom of the shaft is pressed, the light at the bottom of the tank turns on, illuminating the skinned bodies and casting twisted, writhing shadows on the panelled walls.

If the characters have set off the alarm system, they will emerge from the town hall, to find most of the town waiting for them. Sheriff Van Ester will be out in the open, with a powerful torch and his Winchester rifle. He is the most overtly visible, his deputy, Harold, is some distance back with his scatter-gun. Hidden in the woods and buildings are the rest of the villagers. This being small-town USA, no household is without a shotgun or rifle. The villagers will try to take the characters without a fight, but they will quickly kill them all if necessary. Captured characters are converted if they of any use to the village. If they are not, they are killed and buried in an unmarked grave to the south of the town.

Logan's Eaterie

Herbie Logan owns and runs the towns only diner, a dirty cramped establishment with posters of 1950's screen goddesses on the greasy walls. The wooden furniture and faded tablecloths have all seen better days and the menus on each table are over ten years old. Herbie serves three things; ham, eggs and coffee. His wife used to make the pie and pancakes but she's been dead for twelve years. The food is unpalatable, the ham tastes like plastic, the eggs are runny and powdery and the coffee is a bitter, grainy taste experience. Herbie serves no other refreshments, not even water or milk. He is a gruff, surly man who wears a soiled, off-white apron and constantly runs his fingers through his greasy hair.

The Hardware Store

This store provides the town with all its supplies, from milk and bread to lumber and gasoline. All of the food on the shelves is past its sell-by date, still edible, but not very pleasant. The store-owner, Joe Haber is polite and well-spoken but seems to be a bit simple as he will refuse to take affront at any insults to his merchandise.

The Sheriff's Office

This is a two room building in the centre of town. At any time, either Sheriff Van Ester or his deputy, Harold, are in here, keeping the peace and catching up on unnecessary paperwork. The back of the office is barred off to provide a cell for keeping drunks (not really a problem as the entire town is dry) or outsiders that start making a fuss. Van Ester is a big man who makes clear his dislike of outsider, believing that they 'disturb his nice, quiet town'.

The Rest of the Village

The other villagers keep themselves to themselves, giving strangers the cold shoulder. After so much time on their own without any need for small talk or social interaction, the mask has begun to slip a little. Their behaviour has begun to deviate from their psychological norm. The villagers know they have a job to do and that job is to get the Cousins out where they are needed - to the Vardukar cells.

Department 801 and the Vardukar

Department 801, introduced in MAJI, is the powerful US government agency dedicated to containing the threat posed by the extra-terrestrial creatures known as the Grays. In addition to dealing with the Grays, it is involved in subverting or eliminating anyone who attempts to find out the truth. It is essentially the field arm of MJ-12 performing whatever tasks that body sees fit. As a black organisation it is unaccountable to Congress or any other government body. Its funding details are secret and both the population at large and the majority of the government do not even know of its existence. Although a secret body, it manages to represent much of the power behind the scenes in Washington.

D801's Knowledge of the Vardukar

As revealed in the timeline presented in MAJI, Department 801 has been aware of the Vardukar threat since 1992. Their knowledge is still limited, differing even from one section (called Chapters in D801) to another, but they are attempting to find out as much as possible as quickly as they can.

Scenario Idea: D801 officials have discovered what they think is a Vardukar cell, they are ruthless in their pursuit of its members. In fact the cell consists of a group of normal humans involved in some sort of secret activity. A couple of the cell members escaped D801's initial arrest attempt and are now on the run. One of these escapees approaches the player characters for help, claiming persecution by unknown government authorities.

When the first immature Vardukar cousins were uncovered within the ranks of D801 by a combination of QCIC (the internal security chapter of D801) vigilance and Vardukar impatience, D801 frantically began research into this new threat. Given these first subjects and three years of investigations, D801 managed to trace them back to their source in a tiny mid-western town. To their horror, D801 discovered that everyone in the village had been converted. In the village they found their first examples of Vardukar cousins. No Vardukar convert ever broke under interrogation although many committed suicide.

The cause for most concern within D801, was the apparently mistaken release of perhaps 10% of the detained townsfolk. This pointed to more infiltration of D801, QCIC immediately investigated and a group of mid-level administrators were liquidated. Other elements in D801 dismissed this group as patsies and immediately began to second-guess all QCIC activities. Perhaps QCIC had been compromised, perhaps it was just calculated paranoia on the part of the other D801 Chapters who had long been jealous of QCIC's special position as the internal police of D801.

D801's continued investigations showed that the village had been a focus of paranormal activity (for example cattle mutilations, flashing lights and abduction reports) since the 60's. By collating all previous reports, D801 found they already had a lot of information about Vardukar activities. D801 scientists have now identified the existence of several types of Vardukar, all with a similar genetic makeup. For this reason it refers to them by strain numbers, with more advanced types being given higher numbers, e.g. Exo-Strain 6 refers to the Vardukar cousins and different types of samplers have been given strain numbers ranging from 0 to 5. This work continues in the SADO facility (D801's main research and control centre).

D801's Reaction to the Discovery of the Vardukar

The doctrine of Secure Compartmentalised Information and the atmosphere of paranoia and distrust that generally persists in D801 is crippling their ability to formulate a coherent strategy, although it is helping to slow the process of Vardukar infiltration. Different Chapters are working at cross-purposes. The politics of power, the changing whims of MJ-12 and the betrayal of the Grays have all contributed to the somewhat erratic behaviour of D801. However the lucky discovery of several immature replicators within their ranks has turned D801 on its head. Suspect departments have been liquidated, potential allies have been deported, entire operations have been cancelled and almost all normal procedures have been changed in an attempt to protect the organisation from the Vardukar menace. Chapters no longer share information in an open manner, each suspects their opposite numbers of being compromised and therefore conceals facts and sows misinformation. The common rank and file of D801 is kept in the dark as much as possible, some operatives know practically nothing while others are fairly up to date with their particular chapters knowledge.

Scenario Idea: A mix-up in D801 procedures leads to the PCs coming into possession of valuable documents or physical evidence. After some time, D801 realises its mistake and sets about trying to recover its possessions. Meanwhile the PCs may have either learnt something from the parcel or they are contacted by agents of another authority (e.g. another government agency, the Vardukar, the cuckoos or the UFO underground) that desires the parcel.

D801 has determined that it must first root out the invader within before it can meaningfully carry out counter strikes at Vardukar operations. After all, if you don't know exactly who's ordering the operation, can you be sure that it's really having any effect on the Vardukar's plans? MJ-12 has retreated somewhat into the background in order to remain uninfected, leaving the way clear for rumours that it has set up a rival agency to carry out D801-type operations. At the heart of D801's strategy for clearing itself of Vardukar personnel is to use Chapter13 (QCIC) to continue its investigations into all D801 staff. These investigations have increased in frequency and thoroughness, all D801 members are now regularly debriefed by QCIC personnel. Failure to attend these debriefings can be sufficient reason for QCIC to believe that the operative in question has been compromised. This is especially true if the operative has been involved in Vardukar related investigations. Of course, QCIC is not itself immune to Vardukar infiltration and for this reason many D801 field operatives avoid all contact with QCIC members. This leads to an ever-increasing list of individuals and groups that QCIC regards as compromised.

Vigilance is effective against new Vardukar converts, however any long-term infiltrators within the organisation require a different approach. Constant surveillance will either neutralise or eventually catch out any Vardukar agent. As QCIC has limited resources, only the most important personnel are subjected to this treatment. Of course many of these individuals would resent (and have the ability to stop) QCIC intrusion of their privacy, so QCIC is forced to perform many of these operations covertly.

Case Ref: F/KR045043830

On the 20th of March 1992, Section Chief David Sands was knocked over by another agent rushing through the corridors of the SADO facility. As the agent apologised, he noticed that a large flap of skin was hanging loose from Sands' forehead. Chief Sands reprimanded the agent and went to the bathroom clasping his face. Leaving the bathroom, two QCIC operatives were waiting for him with pistols drawn. While escorting him to an interrogation room, Sands attempted to grab a gun and was killed instantly. A post-mortem examination found that Sands' fingerprints had partially dissolved and that his skin elasticity had deteriorated significantly. QCIC investigated Sands' movements and determined that a meeting between Sands and a CRUCIFIX operative, Matthew Higgins, three weeks earlier bore further investigation. QCIC surrounded the field agent's known hideouts in a co-ordinated operation two days later. They found no sign of Higgins and discovered that all records had been destroyed. News of the so called 'Sands incident' spread through 801 and began the investigation that was to discover the Vardukar's silent invasion.

Notes on Individual Chapters

Chapter 2 (ICARUS FALLING)

Due to the military nature of Chapter 2's organisation, a few conversions (of high-ranking officers) were all that was required to ensure that this chapter was the most heavily influenced by the Vardukar. This fact is known or suspected by the other D801 Chapters and hence Chapter 2 is gradually being distanced from the main thrust of D801 operations. Practically no information is shared with them and steps are being taken to reduce the threat that they pose.

Exceptions to this trend are PROJECT EGO personnel. The project is a part of the Prometheus plan and involves research and development of remote viewing. They have been very successful at avoiding operations that brought them into contact with the Vardukar. In fact Project Ego personnel have been moderately successful at locating some Vardukar infestations. In general these have been concentrations of Vardukar close to their gates. Chapter 2 has noticed that these areas are unusually radioactive and is currently pursuing a theory that remote-viewing is in fact more effective when a psychic disturbance is coupled with radioactivity (hence the successes of the 60's in locating Soviet missile bases). In fact the conversion process practised by the Vardukar cousins creates a very strong modulation in psychic energies due to the disappearance and re-appearance of many personalities in a limited cross-section of time and space.

Scenario Idea: Project Ego personnel have located a possible Vardukar nest. The PCs are sent to check out the location. All they have are a set of cryptic characteristics divined by the project Ego personnel and their wits to scout out the location.

Chapter 7 (LOKI)

Members of this chapter continue to perform their usual role in deflecting the public and other government agency's attention from evidence of the Vardukar presence on Earth. Their extensive network of agents within the media and the rumour mills has given them a lot of information on Vardukar related incidents. They can also see that in many cases this information is being suppressed by another agency which they correctly assume to be Vardukar infiltrators. They are now using their agents to build up their database on the Vardukar while eliminating any infiltrators they suspect within their own ranks. They make some, but not all of their data available to the other chapters.

Scenario Idea: One or more of the PCs witness a Vardukar accidentally rip its flesh in a public place such as an airport. D801 personnel following the Vardukar intervene and roughly take the Vardukar away. All present are herded together, detained and given medical examinations. They are debriefed and it is explained to them that the subject was exposed to the product of a deadly bio-warfare experiment. They are warned not to discuss the incident "in the interests of national security" and are eventually let go. There is no mention of the incident in the evening news or papers.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 has largely been responsible for the rooting out of snatcher victims within and without D801. Although their 'better safe than sorry' method has resulted in a lot of unnecessary 'removals'.

Chapter 10

Accidental conversion is really the only way that members of this chapter are likely to be assimilated by the Vardukar. Of course since many members of this chapter are already disloyal to central D801 and MJ-12 authority, the net effect on the chapter's operations is probably minimal.

Scenario Idea: PCs who are already in contact with D801 are mysteriously contacted by someone who seems to know all the details of their role. They are given a mission (should they choose to accept it) that directly puts them at cross purposes with their normal D801 contact. The new patron could be a rogue Chapter 10 operative with access to sensitive D801 information, a Chapter 10 operative that has been converted by the Vardukar or a trusted chapter 10 operative that has been entrusted with the goal of disrupting the operations of the PCs normal contact as senior MJ-12 officials believe that he has become "compromised".

Using D801 PCs

Department 801 is at once powerful, paranoid, factious, well resourced, knowledgeable about alien activities and deeply involved with the Military Industrial Complex. This makes them an ideal focus for player-character groups, either manipulating events behind the scenes or as a known patron. In fact just about any activity can be sponsored by elements of D801 due to the large number of possible factions within the organisation. For example, D801 has many competing Chapters, each with its own goals, both long and short term. In addition break-away factions within such an organisation are always rife, misinformation and deceit always abound. Some of these factions may be operating without any mandate, "beyond positive control", others may be in fact be under deep cover pursuing the hidden goals of MJ-12. This can provide a referee with any number of scenario hooks while keeping the players guessing ("Well we know that our contact is a representative of the government, but why is he insisting that we avoid all contact with the FBI?").

Scenario Idea: The PCs investigation of UFO or paranormal activity gets them noticed by D801 personnel that are on the case. Impressed by their knowledge, D801 decides to recruit the PCs but they have to prove their loyalty first. The PCs are approached by D801 agents and quizzed on their activities, if strong anti-government sentiment is voiced then they will be watched but not recruited. PCs that seem to be responsive are fed some more information and given a task.

Some groups could act as actual D801 personnel with full government authorisation for their actions, others could be the unknowing dupes of some Chapter's schemes. Alternatively D801 can act as a check on player-actions, always turning up at the wrong time and destroying any evidence or arresting any player-characters too close to the action.

Note that most groups of D801 PCs will only know a fraction of the information revealed in this book. A referee should be very careful what background is revealed to beginning D801 characters. Much of the information on D801 activities is common knowledge, but details of the Vardukar threat and D801's reactions should be revealed through game play, rather than read out to players. Distribution of rumours and misinformation is of course encouraged. Examples of these are as follows:

• Some elements of D801 have gone rogue and that is why QCIC is investigating various senior members of the organisation.
• The Vardukar are a result of D801 experimentation with captured Gray equipment.
• The Vardukar have a telepathic link other Vardukar agents allowing them to communicate easily.

Reactions of other Groups

The UFO Underground

The UFO Underground was previously introduced in MAJI. It is not an organisation but an overall term for the disparate non-governmental groups that are interested in Ufology or the paranormal. It is another ideal background for player characters. The UFO Underground is even more divided than D801. Of course since there is no real, formal organisation this is only natural. Unlike D801 these groups hardly ever work against each other, they just don't have much co-operation. The overall structure is that of a collection of separate organisations, all of which have similar basic goals. Information is passed between some of these groups but actual co-operation is rare. The nature of the Underground is both a strength and a weakness. Their lack of communication and organisation means that individual cells can be compromised either by D801 or by the Vardukar without too much risk. However taking over a single group does not significantly benefit the Vardukar, a group of annoying, potentially dangerous, subversives has been eliminated, but that is all. Other groups exist and they will have to be taken care of completely separately.

Scenario Idea: The PCs are either members of or friendly with a UFO underground cell and one of its members disappears while investigating some phenomena. The players should be encouraged to investigate. After a while the missing person reappears, but are they really themselves?

The Underground certainly knows about D801, although the majority do not know details like the chapter organisations. They are suspicious of new recruits in case they might be D801 infiltrators, and take quite a bit of care to avoid becoming unwitting tools of MJ-12. In spite of this a significant percentage of the Underground are either knowingly working for D801 or unknowingly following D801's plans because their contacts are feeding them information at the instructions of one of the Chapters. They are generally aware that something is ocurring within D801. The internal strife cannot be completely concealed and the Underground realises that something is causing divisions at the most basic level.

'Listen, I can't talk long . . . . is this line secure? . . . . It is vital that you have no further contact with Samuel Kelly. . . . . . Don't be so surprised, you should know you can't keep anything secret from me, I know everything, you can't play us off against one another. . . . . You had better listen to me, do not make contact with Kelly ever again. If he tries to set up a meeting, inform me by the usual method. If he gives you any information, you will pass it on to me. You better believe me, Kelly has been compromised in the worst possible way. You will do what I tell you. Trust me, it's for your own good.'

Members of the underground that are aware of the Vardukar threat are handling the Vardukar attack pretty badly. Many of these members are pretty paranoid as it is, finding out that body snatching aliens are living amongst us, pushes a lot of them completely over the edge. Being utterly paranoid makes them completely ineffective and fairly dangerous to know. The majority of underground cells are still unaware of the Vardukar threat.

Scenario Idea: If the PCs have somehow got hold of evidence of the Vardukar, presenting this to an Underground cell could gain the PCs much goodwill. However there will be members of the cell that doubt the PCs intentions, perhaps some of these doubters are in fact representatives of another organisation e.g. D801. This outside organisation may attempt to discredit the PCs or even try and recapture the evidence. A desperate pursuit may ensure, with the PCs trying to prove their claims or get the information out to other underground cells.

The lack of any real security procedures within the Underground means that as soon as a group starts to go, it will go quite quickly. Some members will probably avoid being converted, but their paranoia, their vague stories of people acting 'funny' and the fact that most of their contacts are gone means they are no real threat to the Vardukar.

Luckily for the Underground's members, the Vardukar planners have decided that as a group they are not a significant threat and because of the distributed nature of the organisation they would require excessive resources to take over completely. However during the initial stages of growth of any Vardukar cell they may take control of local underground members, because this gains them some knowledge of local D801 operations and it will act to cut off the escape route of anybody they may be pursuing. Of course anybody who is pressing an investigation into Vardukar operations stands a good chance of being converted or eliminated.

Perhaps as many as 5% of the UFO underground members have been converted, the majority of these conversions being in cells that are completely taken over. Converts that are a part of underground cells primarily still composed of humans will obviously watch out for people that seem to be investigating Vardukar activities. In fact the Vardukar would much rather eliminate threats long before they know enough to be threatening.

Scenario Idea: The PC's underground cell is contacted by a member of another cell, they are scared and paranoid, making wild claims about their cell's conversion to another cause. Either this person has slipped too deeply onto paranoia and nothing has changed (except in their head) or their cell has in fact come under the influence of the Vardukar. Of course it is possible that both are true, making the PC's investigation very difficult e.g. their informant will only contact them through complex espionage-style methods such as dead drops etc.

The Grays

One of the most fundamental differences between the Grays and the Vardukar is the speed at which they operate.

The Grays are slow and methodical. They never take any action before considering all the possibilities carefully. If something happens that surprises them or upsets their plans they will always allow the situation to develop unchecked, while they assess the situation and adapt their plans. This way of operating means that it is extremely rare that something does surprise them. The Vardukar surprised them completely.

The Vardukar are different. They act on instinct. They do make plans and they would prefer to stick to them, but they're not afraid to change them if the circumstances change. Their policy is to keep their opponents off balance by hitting them fast and hard, taking over before anyone even knows there is a snake in the garden. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

The Grays first noticed the silent invasion when one of their cuckoos was converted. The nascent hive mind was able to communicate the basics of what was happening up until the moment of conversion. After the conversion the cuckoo was no longer a part the hive mind and the Grays began to investigate. They quickly figured out that somebody was moving in on their territory. Within weeks they had discounted the possibility that it was D801 or any other human organisation. Observation from disks in orbit isolated the locations of some of the Vardukar gates and they correlated this with movements of vehicles to nearby towns and thence on to big cities. Since gathering this data, somewhat more than D801 has been able to do, they have been working out how to integrate these developments into their long term goal. This analysis phase may take some time, perhaps several decades. Until this has been completed they are continuing with their previous course of action, although they are avoiding contact with Vardukar converts, keeping disk activity away from Vardukar installations that they have identified and attempting to keep the cuckoos out of the Vardukar way. They do not yet know the true nature of the Vardukar Masters' long-term plans.

Scenario Idea: The PCs are interviewing a person that claims to be an abductee, they claim that during the course of the abduction the Grays revealed to them that humanity is under threat from within.

Scenarios

In these Vardukar scenarios, the characters are assumed to be members (or dupes) of Chapter 10, a sub-section of Department 801. They do not have to be fully-fledged members of the organisation as Chapter 10 is not averse to using underground cells without their knowledge.

Plot Overview

The scenarios start in the winter of 1996 with the search for a vagrant who knows too much. Over the course of the mini-campaign, the characters will be present at every stage of Vardukar development, giving them practically as much information as all of D801 combined. The mini-campaign briefly described below is left open-ended to give the players and referee the chance to fully explore the possibilities of a world where not everyone you know is human.

The characters in the following scenarios are working under the patronage of a man known as Frank Wells. A full description of Mr. Wells, his organisation and means of drawing characters under his wing are described below.

Mr. Wells
Aptitude: Stats 14, Skills 16 (Contacts 18), DL 6

In the early 1980's Frank Wells was a criminal who accidentally got in the way of a D801 operation. Instead of killing him, D801 gave him the Option and began using him as a front for their other operations. Wells was paid handsomely for his contacts and his organisational abilities. He is kept in the dark by the Department and mainly acts as liaison between some D801 Chapter 10 teams and his control, the man who calls himself Jason Fargo. Wells is a ruthless man who has managed to keep on top of his criminal activities (mainly money-laundering and arranging for 'accidents') while co-ordinating the activities of four D801 teams at any one time. He intensely dislikes people in the field ringing him and asking him what to do next (he gets very patronising if they do this), but he does like to be kept informed of what is going on in his operations.

Introducing Experienced Characters

If the characters are currently members of an Underground cell, Wells will approach them, offering to give them information and leads to other examples of alien activity (abduction victims, crash sites, cuckoos etc.). The referee can use Wells as an information source for an ongoing campaign before using him as the plot hook for this campaign. Eventually, Wells will arrange for a meeting where he will give the characters the Option to join D801. Of course, the characters should realise that they will not be allowed to live if they turn his generous offer down. He will begin by tactfully explaining that the work they will be doing for D801 will not be that different from what they are currently doing (investigating alien activity). As a Chapter 10 cell they will have a reasonable level of autonomy and they will receive one credit card between them with a $2,000 a day limit. Wells can supply them with equipment through his warehouses and he will even arrange for new identities (within reason) and a clearing of any outstanding warrants. During this meeting Wells will carry what looks like a panic button. It is in fact a dead-man's handle connected to three kilograms of plastic explosive wrapped around his waist. Any overtly violent gestures on the part of the characters and Wells will make the danger clear. He has no desire to die but he has no real desire to be tied to a chair and cut open with a masonry drill either. Outside the meet a team of twelve Chapter 2 operatives (Aptitude 16, armed with G-3 assault rifles and MP-5k machine pistols) will provide security for Wells and ensure the elimination of the characters should they turn down the option. The characters should be warned of this possibility before entering this situation.

Introducing New Characters

If players are creating new characters, have them recruited directly into D801 - straight from whichever service they were working for before their induction. The Department takes in all types of people: ex-CIA, FBI, DEA, NSA, Secret Service or ATF agents. They will also recruit criminals, gang-members, murderers, thieves and drug-dealers. What a person did in their past life is unimportant to the Department. An operative must be intelligent and capable of taking care of themselves in the field. CRUCIFIX (Chapter 10) operatives work in the cold and require both initiative and the determination to finish whatever tasks they have been set. Department operatives are well-paid and, as they find out more about their job, are generally highly motivated. In this case Mr. Wells will act as their control in the field, passing on information, resources and operational directives to the group.

Scenario One: The Search for Grico

In this introductory scenario, the characters must find Grico, the transient attacked by a Sampler in the Testimony of William Tzientze on page 6. This is ideal for a first case for the characters as it is technically a humanitarian mission. Wells wants the characters to locate Grico and bring him back alive. He provides the characters with a description and known haunts of the vagrant (along with a very poor artist's impression of Grico). The referee might want to hand the players the Testimony at this stage, permission is granted to photocopy. It is best if the handout is photocopied 150% size on a bad photocopier (hold up the edges to increase the effect of the handout).

Background: Grico was last seen by his friend, the now-dead Ernest Gallo, in Central Park in New York City. The body of Ernest and effects found at the scene are now held by the Department and the case is considered closed by the NYPD. Grico is a well known character in the area but his associates are unlikely to give any information to obvious authority figures. Hard(-5) Streetwise rolls and careful interaction will be needed to find out Grico's location within the city.

It is December 1st in New York City and Grico is more than a simple transient. He was working as a runner for the drug-dealer Falko Rice. At the time of the incident at Central Park, Grico was carrying a bag containing over ten thousand dollars of Falko's money. In his panic to get away, Grico left the bag at the scene. The police handed over the bag to D801 operatives when the body was transferred out of their jurisdiction (they thought they were giving it to the FBI). Grico managed to hide out for four days, his foot slowly turning gangrenous, while Falko hunted him down.

On the fourth day, Grico was found and Falko has taken him back to his favourite execution site, the top floor of an abandoned office block. It is there that Grico is being tortured for the location of the bag of money. Obviously Falko doesn't believe that anybody would be stupid enough to leave his motherfreakin' money behind so they must be trying to rob him. And for that crime his penalty is a very slow and painful death.

Finding Grico: It should not be too hard for the characters to get one of Grico's associates to tell where Grico currently is. The entire neighbourhood know what is being done to Grico and where it is currently being done. Offering money might work if they manage to get someone on their own but most of Grico's friends have no great love for Falko and would quite like to see someone pop a cap in his big fat ass. The main thing working against the characters in finding out this information is the local's fear of Falko who, despite the fact he's strictly small-time, is a violent gun-loving bad man.

Finale: When the characters turn up at the disused office building, they will find Falko, arms red to his elbows, working on Grico with five of his buddies watching the fun; drinking beer and taking bets on how long Grico will last. Grico is tied naked to the chair while Falko cuts, saws and drills away his pent-up aggression. If the characters try to leave with Grico, everybody in the room (apart from Grico) will go for a gun and begin shooting. The most dangerous thing at this time is that Grico could get hit in the cross-fire.

Falko:
Aptitude 14, DL 6, Firearms 10 (.357 Magnum)

Falko's Buddies:
Aptitude 10, DL 5, Firearms 6 (miscellaneous pistols)
Falko's gang are armed mainly with pistols (cool ones like Glocks and other nine millimetres - one even has a magnum) but Falko's right hand man has a mini-uzi. They are all appalling shots but they compensate for their lack of accuracy with a remarkable enthusiasm for firing quickly.

If Grico lives and the characters manage to get him back to the drop-point (a safe house in Queens), Wells will take the battered transient and thank the players for saving the man's life. Of course, any characters who have read the handout will make their own assumptions about what will happen to Grico, but if you reckon your players are that soft-hearted, let them see the handout well after Grico has been 'recovered' and the scenario is long over.

Scenario Two: Something is in the Woods

After the previous scenario, Wells has very little work for the characters so they're mainly left to their own devices for a couple of months. Wells will insist that they ring in every day so that he can get hold of them if he needs them. They still get to keep their credit card (it is their only means of income - and also allows Wells to trace their movements) and Wells will not ask that they hand in any weapons issued. He might get them to do simple courier jobs: picking people up from the airport and taking them to safe-houses, taking packages across the states and handing them over to hard-faced men and women in the desert and other such tasks. It is even possible that Wells will use the characters as back-ups for his own criminal activities, but in these situations Wells will pay them additional money on top of their standard pay.

These menial jobs will be an excellent chance for the characters to get to know each other. None of the jobs might be particularly dangerous (of course, player characters tend to make their own trouble) and they also give the players the chance to learn more of Mr. Wells as well as the real power behind the throne, Mr. Fargo.

The next big job that Wells has for them will seem, on the surface at least, like a slightly weirder version of the work they have been doing for him for months.

Background: A large sampler (EXO-Strain 4) has arrived in the woods, right in the middle of hunting season. It is the second one to come to the area. The first had tried to sample a hunter but was injured in the struggle and destroyed itself. Now, three days after the death of the hunter, another Strain-4 has come through the gate. The area has always been a rich source of animal life and the Masters feel that given the chances of encountering intelligent life, it is worth sending another sampler.

Introduction: The facts, as Wells explains them, are few but easy to understand. A hunter has gone missing near the sleepy town of New Falls in the boondocks of upstate New York. Two witnesses to the death of their friend will only say that he vanished into thin air. The local police are holding the two witnesses as they suspect that they killed their friend and made up the ridiculous story to cover the murder. The fact that other hunters talk about hearing noises and seeing lights in the sky, and something has spooked all the game, has passed over the heads of the local cops. They have their murder suspects and as soon as the two creeps confess the sooner they can get back to their donuts.

The Department wants the characters to investigate. Wells will give the characters FBI identities for the duration of the investigation. They will be issued with drab suits, Federal Identification and a sensible car while they check out the case. He will also give them camping equipment and heavy calibre semi-automatic rifles for their own protection in the wilderness. The local police have been notified that some Federal agents will be arriving to help with the investigation and they aren't too happy about it. Wells will warn the characters (those that aren't ex-FBI anyway) to be on their best behaviour in front of the local police. They are advised to be very polite and serious at all times. They must also be careful not to stretch their identities too far. They all exist as field agents on the FBI computers but it is recommended that they don't mingle too much with the local law as their lack of legal knowledge could seem suspicious (when the Sheriff talks shop, it takes an Easy Arts(Law) task to talk convincingly). Their identities are good enough for them to use federal facilities such as phone records and IRS checks but if the characters shouldn't push the forgery too far. A careful check of their identities (if say, they shot somebody and got arrested by the police) would reveal them to be fake. If that was to happen, Wells would have to abandon them, cutting all ties with the compromised individuals.

Sheriff Dvorak: Stats 12, Skills 14, DL 5
Johann Dvorak is a heavy-set, red faced man in his late fifties. His gruff demeanour and his curt way of dealing with 'civilians' are legendary among the police in New Falls. Like most county level police officers, he feels that the FBI receive the lion's share of the law-enforcement budget and all the honest civilians ever see out of that money is some bad suits and a polite attitude. The Sheriff and his two deputies are obliged to assist the characters, but as far they is concerned it is an open and shut case. Any talk of heading off to the hills will be met with scepticism (but they won't stop them wasting their time).

Interviewing the Witnesses: The two hunters (Wallace Boyd and Dan McClellan) will tell what they can, continually insisting that they did not shoot their friend. They can't say what killed him. Their story is that Joe had gone out on his own early in the morning. They were just brewing up the morning coffee when they heard shots. Joe never came back and after searching for him until dark, they came down from the mountains to get the police to help. Joe was an experienced hunter and there are no bears in the area, so what was he shooting at? The location of the camp is recorded in the police files.

Entering the Woods: The characters will probably go into the woods on their own. The local police feel that the easiest way to find Joe is to get the two hunters to say where they buried his body and are unwilling to go with the characters into the mountains. Finding the remains of the missing hunter is a Survival(Tracking) task taking six hours. If the characters split up, they can all make individual rolls, otherwise use the best Tracking skill in the combined group.

The remains, by this stage, look like a burnt patch of organic matter, nothing left that remotely resembles a human being or a creature from another planet. The only clue that the mess was once a hunter is the twisted remains of Joe's hunting rifle - the metal pitted by the strong acid generated during the Sampler's death.

At any stage after the discovery of the remains, the characters will come into contact with the second Sampler. It is unlikely that the characters will have any physical evidence to bring back after their encounter (if they live). Their eyewitness statements and reports will be invaluable for D801's further understanding of the Vardukar activities. By this time the Department have ceased their autopsies of any who have come into contact with the samplers so the characters don't have to worry about being cut into thin slices when they get back to civilisation.

Scenario Three: The Killing House

This scenario takes place some time after the characters' escapade in the woods. At least give them enough time to heal after the EXO-Strain 4 encounter. Wells needs them to investigate a double homicide which has attracted the attention of the Department. Their cover identities will be those of FBI agents who investigated a similar case in Wichita in 1993 (this is a similar case - a father slaying his family saying they were space aliens - but there is no link).

The Case: Wells explains the facts of the case. A NYC store manager shot his wife and ten year old daughter before turning the gun on himself. Fortunately for him, the gun had jammed after he killed his daughter and the police were able to disarm and arrest him before he could kill himself. He alleges that the woman he shot was not the same woman he married. The characters are given no further hard information and their instructions are simply to get to the bottom of the killings.

The NYPD are unhappy at the intervention of Federal agents in an open and shut case (and an unpleasant one at that). They will of course extend every courtesy to the polite agents that have joined their little community.

The man, Jesse Bostok, is an Vietnam veteran who has suffered in the same small-time job for fifteen years while he watched his wife go back to college and rapidly rise through the ranks inside local government (she was a research assistant to Senator McKinney). They had problems within the marriage due to the different social circles that each moved within, but these were nothing that the marriage couldn't handle. His wife went on holiday alone two weeks ago with a new friend and she came back... different. She wouldn't let him touch her and she looked different, sort of 'fresher'. Then on Wednesday morning, as his wife was getting ready to go to work, she banged her head on the door. A flap of skin came free from her face. She quickly held it back into place and, inside seconds, was acting as if nothing had happened. For Jesse, this was the final truth. He snapped and took out his old service automatic. He shot his wife seven times and his daughter took five bullets from the second magazine.

The autopsy of the wife throws up some interesting anomalies. The first is that she lacks fingerprints of any description, the second is that she has had extensive dental work done inside the last month (but the condition of her teeth fit those of her dental records). The last is the effect that Jesse witnessed, her skin is as delicate as tissue paper and can be torn easily just using finger pressure. The lack of fingerprints is not a genetic abnormality as Jean was fingerprinted as part of the background check prior to working for the Senator. If the characters check with her dentist, he will reveal that they recently had a break-in but nothing was taken.

Jesse alternates between periods of deadpan calm and abject, suicidal misery. He is convinced that the woman he shot was not his wife. He says he shot his daughter to make sure and then turned the gun on himself, only to be foiled by a split cartridge. He will deny any guilt in the killings and will ask investigators to locate his real wife and daughter. Mr. Wells would like the characters to progress along those lines as well.

Jesse wants the characters to aim their investigation at Jean's new friend. All he knows about her is that her name Sandra Moss and that she works for a big department store in town. The police can easily find the exact working place of Ms. Moss for the characters (they are always useful for legwork if nothing else).

Background: Jean Bostok was befriended by Vardukar agent Sandra Moss. Jean was invited to a friend of Sandra's house and was replaced in that house during the night. The next day Jean wrote a note for her husband telling him that she was going away on holiday. She spent the week being given her instructions by the cell leader, Michael Fowler. She was to use her friendship of Senator McKinney to give him the keys to a holiday cabin 'belonging to a friend of hers'. McKinney has been working very hard lately and desperately needs to get some time along with his mistress. The holiday cabin will be perfect for his needs.

The cabin has been built by the inhabitants of Peter's Point. It is intended for conversions where a large exchange of information is necessary. The town will replace McKinney and his mistress and will then use McKinney to get access to other high-ranking officials within the US Government.

Investigation: The new friend will claim nothing more than a friendship with Jean. They spent the week together in New York, Jean needing time away from her husband, who was getting violent and obsessive. After her interview with the characters, she will make a phone call form a public pay-phone. If the characters have kept tabs on her, they will be able to check with the phone company and get the number dialled from the phone. The number is a large house in a respectable part of New York. She will then set fire to her own apartment, hoping to die in the blaze. A nice neat accidental death, purely to protect the existence of the cell.

This house she phoned is the location of the New York cell's headquarters. It has a Cousin in a plastic barrel in the securely locked basement. Other barrels lie empty beside the floating, skinned man in the translucent container. Michael Fowler is the registered owner of the house. Unfortunately, he wasn't home when Sandra phoned so the spawning pool, complete with single cousin is still in the house if the characters get over there before Michael gets home and hears the warning code on his machine. If Michael does disturb the characters in his house, he will take out his concealed pistol and start shooting. If it looks bad, he will simply put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger.

If the characters contact Wells for additional instruction after they have found the Cousin, he will tell them to get it to a safe-house of his in New York as soon as possible. If they have Fowler's body, Wells would like that as well.

The Senator: With the deaths of the two cell members, the characters will find themselves left with their one possible lead, Jean's friendship with the Senator. By the time they get to the Senator's office, it's too late. He's already gone on holiday. The characters will have to be very careful in how they approach getting the Senator's whereabouts from his staff. His secretary is the only one who knows the exact location but his discretion will prevent him revealing this knowledge unless the people asking for it have a very good reason (such as a group of FBI agents with evidence of a plot on the Senator's life). If threatened with physical violence outside of his work-place, he will fold like a bad shirt and give up all he knows.

Getting to Peter's Point will take over five hours by car. The Senator has already been on holiday for two days. By the time the characters get there, the Senator and his mistress have already been replaced. They are so fresh, their skin will rip like wet tissue. What the players do next is up to their personal judgement. Wells will tell them to make the decision themselves. He will back any call they make.

Senator McKinney: Stats 10, Skills 16, DL 4
McKinney is a small, overweight man who do his damnest to avoid being touched by the characters. He dislikes physical violence, preferring to attack his opponents with his razor-sharp mind. If the characters encounter him just after his conversion, his skin will be smooth and shiny, nothing like the liver-spot, wrinkled features of the real Senator.

Sarah Dane: Stats 12, Skills 14, DL 5 (9mm pistol)
Sarah is a Secret Service agent who also happens to be the mistress of McKinney. If the characters act suspiciously around the cabin in Peter's Point (sneaking around and/or trying to break in) she will draw her service pistol and prepare to protect the Senator from the characters.

Continuing the Campaign

By this stage of play, the characters have several leads that they can follow. They are right beside a town full of very strange people. They have samples of the fluid the cousin was stored in. Wells could get them to follow up that lead which brings them to the Hoëgar chemical company which in turn, if they are careful, will lead them to other Vardukar cells throughout the United States.

They will have to hunt these cells down and eliminate them, deal with attempted replacements of prominent figures and work out what to do when they find out that certain people in the public eye have already been replaced. As the investigations continue, Wells will become increasingly scared with the turn his work for D801 has taken. Eventually both he and Fargo will be eliminated by the Department and the characters will have to deal with D801 as a hostile entity, having to prove their own humanity to QCIC. Months later, the characters could be contacted by a man they thought dead. Fargo is still alive and he has some very interesting information for the characters...