(Operations and Goons)

The garage is a single brick building 25 feet high whose only windows are in the faces of the four garage doors on the south side. The two bays on the west side are tall, oversized bays for servicing semi-tractors while the two on the east are normal sized, used for servicing cars and postal vans. The shop is full, equipped with the latest technology. Heavy rolling toolboxes, jacks, compressors, speed wrenches, emis signs control sensors, hattery-chargers and other gear populate the area. Lighting is accomplished through powerful florescent bulbs in the ceiling above.

Each bay has a hydraulic lift, sufficient for raising the type of vehicle it services. The semi-tractor lifts are big tender each lift is a dugout area, similar to what you see at an express oil change shop. This area allows the mechanics to get under a vehicle easily and do work to the undercarraige and engine while standing erect. There are tools and compressor lines down in these dugouts too.

The dugout undemeath the two smaller lifts is the critical section of this hunt. From here that that Vampire Starkin enters and exits his lair. He has an alternate escape route, mind you, but this is his front door.

The garage area is the gate to the vampire's crib. The garage crew is composed of his goons. Exactly how many goons and which goons your hunters will have to face will depend on when they hit the garage--and whether Starkin finds out they are coming.

By day, Starkin has two mortal flunkies: Adam White and Chad Kimmel. Adam is a rail-thin chain smoker with long, straw-blonde hair. He collects tattoos in the same way some people collect concert T-shirts, so the bite marks on his wrists are hard to see, even with his shirt off. Chad is a muscular, darkhaired, bespectacled man without humor.

These two work the day shift at the garage and serve Starkin like a lover--just keeping an eye on the place and making sure no one gets too close to the dugouts under the service bays. From time to time they bring back cigarettes, videos, CDs or fresh flowers--not just for Starkin, but for his "guests" when he has them.

They are forbidden to enter the lair, or even touch the door. Instead they leave their gifts or parcels down in the dugout. Every few days, they stay late and get to feel their master's kiss. These two will throw their lives away to protect the entrance to the crib by day.

By night, Rex Renolds and Andrew Mitchell come on the scene. These two are far further into their enslavement than White or Kimmel. They sleep most of the day, and their apartments are deathly filth pits. Their stats are far higher, and they have actually started to develop some vampiric traits. Rex and Andrew take "The Truck" out to Dulles to bring back Starkin's guests. They also shop for Starkin and drop off and pick up his dry-cleaning. Periodically, via the vampire's instructions, they take the truck across town to a storage facility, where Starkin rents a large locker.

Goons

Adam White (minor goon)

BOD: 2
AGI: 4
MIN: 2
PSY: 1
WILL: 1
Skills: Drive, Melee

Normal firearms and physical blows do only 1/2 damage. Full damage for silver or blessed weapons.

Chad Kimmel (minor goon)

BOD: 4
AGI: 2
MIN: 2
PSY: 1
WILL: 2
Skills: Drive, Melee

Normal firearms and physical blows do only 1/2 damage. Full damage for silver or blessed weapons.

Rex Reynolds (major goon)

BOD: 4
AGI: 3
MIN: 2
PSY: 1
WILL: 2
Skills: Drive, Dodge, Melee

Vampiric Trait: Strength

Normal firearms and physical blows do only 1/2 damage. Full damage for silver or blessed weapons.

Andrew Mitchell (major goon)

BOD: 4
AGI: 4
MIN: 2
PSY 1
WILL: 2
Skills: Drive, Dodge, Melee, Firearms

Advantages: Ambidexterity.

Vampiric Trait: Speed

Normal firearms and physical blows do only 1/2 damage. Full damage for silver or blessed weapons.

Locker

In the locker is a nondescript blue sedan. In the sedan are two police tasers and about 300ccs of thorazine. Using the tools Starkin has provided, Rex and Andy tour various parts of the Washington area and select likely young women from the herd. First the taser, then the needle. The victim is loaded into the car, taken back to the storage locker and transferred to the truck for final delivery to the vampire.

They don't do this all the time, only when the vampire requests it... or receives word via Email that he is about to receive a "parcel". Starkin's clients are well cared for.

Occasionally, Starkin leaves the lair for a night on the town. These nights, he kills about town--quickly. Victims brought to the lair sometimes last for weeks... More on that later.

Garage Map

Large version of Garage Map (slow: 25K)

The Truck: This is the Express Mail van with the dent in the right rear quarter. It is a normal van, save for the fact that under the rubber mat in the cargo compartment is a large plate that can be lifted out to allow a large man to slide down under the vehicle. In normal operation Starkin, (or his victims) go through this opening while the van is parked in the service bay.

1 ) Garage Office: A dirty desk cluttered with work orders and a filing cabinet with black, greasy fingerprints on the front. The garage manager's name is Tom Waite. He's a big black man in his late fifties. He knows of no unusual activity. By daylight, Waite will be here, smoking and filing the day's reports. He lets the boys do the young man's work. His workstation's name is Pygmalion but he has never turned the "damn thing" on.

2) Storage Room: Contains racks of coveralls and crates of 40-weight oil. There's also a coat rack for the employees jackets. Jackets are likely to have the employees' wallets in them.

3) Rear Entry: The area holds a few chairs and an old couch, also a coffee machine and a water cooler. The rear door lock had been broken for a very long time. Why lock it? We're open 24 hours.

The hallway in this area divides the office area from the main workshop. The west wall of the hallway has four big plate glass windows in it--ideal for the goons to throw the hunters through.

4) Main Workshop: A semi-tractor is up on the westernmost lift, but its engine block has been pulled and hangs about eight feet up by the chains of a ceiling crane that runs on tracks far above the floor. Dropping the engine block on someone or lowering the semi tractor down are both good possibilities for dramatic carnage in this area. Loose gunfire could puncture hoses (causing lifts to crash to the floor), explode compressed air tanks, or just plain start a gasoline fire.

The staff in this area will vary, depending upon when your hunters hit the crib. Daylight: Adam White, Chad Kimmel and two Burly Postal Workers. Darkness: Rex Reynolds and Andrew Mitchell. Or if you are really unfortunate... all of them armed.

5) Restroom: The mirror in here was pried off the wall a long time ago. Metal stairs down to the service dugour, is a secret door operated by a hidden latch. The latch appears as a simple 1/4-inch slot in the wall. If a long sharp object, such as a screwdriver is inserted in the hole and a good shoulder pushed to the door, it will slide quietly back into the darkness. This secret entrance is only 3 feet tall, so the hunters will have to crouch. Once inside the passageway widens and grows taller. It is unnaturally dark, and slightly cold...

The construction of the hallway here is unusual. The floor is poured concrete, and the walls appear to be painted drywall, but the corners are rounded--almost as though the hallway was a cross between a hallway and sewer pipe.

The fact is, the lair was built at the same time as the rest of the postal facility--it had to be, to be truly secure. The problem was that making a mass excavation without reason would attract attention from someone. The architect in charge found a unique solution. He buried a large number of undeground septic tanks, end to end and stacked on top of each other under the rear lot. After the ground was safely paved back over and the above-ground portion of the garage started, construction crews went back down to cut out the dividing walls between the tanks and complete the construction. Concrete and drywall give the insides a more pleasant shape, but the outer shell is bunch of plastic septic tanks.

2) Curtains for You: Four layers of heavy black curtains span the passageway as it turns the corner. They are thick and hung haphazardly, making pushing your way through annoyingly difficult. This is just a little precaution Starkin has taken to ensure no sunlight leaks in. If Starkin has heard your hunters by this point, he will most likely not attack. He'll let them in a little farther... he wants them all.

3) The Front Door: A heavy metal door closing off the hallway. The lock could be forced, but it will be noisy. If the hunters find this door unlocked, they should start to sweat. He's letting them in...

The passage slopes steeply from here. So steeply, in fact, that footing becomes uncertain. If a hunter falls, he will start to slide.

4) Starkin's House: The decor changes radically here. The passage opens onto a rail-less balcony fifteen feet above the floor. A simple elevator platfomm (also without rails) is marked by the "E" on the map. Starkin doesn" need it--he can jump that high in a heartbeat. The elevator platform is just a courtesy for his human guests.

Floor to ceiling, the chamber is almost 30 feet tall, with simulated wood beams pretending to hold the ceiling up. The carpet on the floor is a deep burgundy pile and the whole place is lit (dimly), by a massive, old western style chandelier. A heavy dining table takes up the center of the room and there is a matching desk and wardrobe in the northwest corner. No mirrors on the wardrobe.

Against the east wall are two mannequins dressed in authentic civil war infantry uniforms, complete with Harper's Ferry percussion rifles and bayonets. In the dim light, these mannequins might easily be mistaken for something far more threatening. Starkin owns a lot of very old books, on shelves all over the chamber.

Glowing dimly in south east corner is a 21" monitor with the ghostly images of an Internet browser ebbing from the screen. This is Athena.

The southwest corner is home to Starkin's leather couch, loveseat and entertainment center. Starkin' sound system is something to behold: full digital surround sound processing with everything on it.

When the hunters enter, the Vampire Starkin will try and make a dramatic speech and perhaps enthral one or more hunters. In one hand, he holds the remote control to his stereo-so that he can fill the room with your choice of light music. In the other hand he hold a pearl-handled Colt .45 Peacemaker (a favorite relic of his from the battle of Gettysburg).

If he is expecting the hunters and has some advance notice, he might try to have his boys bring in a few young ladies to use a hostages. However, if he gets a good idea of where th hunters are, and suspects that they are getting close, he will take the light to them, and try to pick them off one at a time in the open. If Starkin gets too wounded, he will try and make it to his secret escape tunnel in area 9.

Things to Find in Starkin's Crib

--On the coffee table in front of the television over $50,000 in cash.

--In the drawer of his wardrobe (which is stocked with some really nice suits) is a wooden box full of rings--wedding and engagement rings... some with inscriptions, most without. These are the only memorials to the families and lovers of Starkin's victim. Each one was somebody's baby, somebody's lover, somebody's wife; now only a great empty silence full maddening unanswered questions. "Where did she go? Is she all right?"

-- Starkin's bankbook is in the desk draw. According to his records, Starkin has deposited over million dollars into a numbered account at EastBank. His present balance is zero. The money from his little shipping business is definitely going somewhere.

He keeps his hard-drive clear of archived Email for the sake of security... so no good leads on the other six bloodsuckers he has smuggled into the country over the last 2 years. There is one good lead however... the bottom of the desk drawer: the stub from cashier's check for the amount of $100,000 made out to Howard Roarke. This is the critical hook to the next hunt, so it is imperative that your players find it.

5) Guest Room (Immortals) A lavishly appointed guest room with a sunken hot tub adjoining. There a no personal effects here. Again, no mirrors on the dresser and no lock on the door.

6) Guest Room (Mortals) Similar to area 5, but this one has a stout lock on the door. The Vampire Starkin is not simply a killer out of necessity, he quite enjoys it, and from time to time fancies getting to know his victims. Some women have been kept in his lair for weeks before finally being consumed and disposed of. Depending on his mood he would coddle and soothe and reassure his "guests", or amuse himself with their screams.

7) Cell: Used for storing victims. No light or sanitary facilities at all. A plain concrete room.

8) Cell: Same as area 7, except this one is occupied. Her name is Lisa Hayes and she has been down here for three days. She fits the classic description of Starkin's victims: mid-twenties and comely. She has gone three days without food, water, or a toilet. The vampire has not even looked in on her.

9) The Play Room: Entering this chamber is going to require some willpower checks on the part of the players. Flecks of old and new blood are caked on the walls. This is Starkin's private torture chamber.

There is a hook in the ceiling from which to hang bound victims, a table with leather restraining straps, and a vertical rack (also with straps). Against one wall is a plexiglass tank with two valves... one fills the tank with water and the other drains it. The entire top comes off so that a victim can be inserted and sealed in. Starkin refers to it as his "aquarium".

The crowning glory of the room is a 12 horsepower wood chipper just outside the north door. This is how Starkin disposes of his victims. The wood chipper sprays the remains down the north tunnel where they pool and eventually flow down the tunnel to the sewers. The tunnel is slick with blood and chamel, and writhing with worms and maggots. The soft, slippery squishing of their steps are broken only by the occasional shards of old bone.

After about 200 yards it simply terminates in a wall of bricks. The is a relatively new wall compared to the rest of the tunnel. If the hunters smash through it, they will find that it connects with a main storm drain line on the other side.

The reek of death in here is unbearable; any occultist who attempts to read the psychic emanations here is taking his sanity into his hands.

Remember, your hunters are not the first to try and get this guy. He has been around 100 years and then some--he's had time to learn some tricks.

That's all for this installment. Next issue: Building a Deader Tomorrow...

More Hunters

Player's Introduction
GM Introduction
Leesburg, VA
Main Facility
Garage and Vampire's Lair

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