⇨ VAMPIRE MASTER POST

[ringleaders]

DRACULAS 101↴ As indicated in the Celebration setting post, vampires are about to become a thing again. As such, a want to go over some of the basics with you, so that you will be able to plot with and NPC them for yourself during the masquerade event. The vampires that the carnival has been having trouble with are of a demonic variety - a new vampire is created by infecting the freshly dead or dying body of a victim with the blood of their vampiric killer. This is accomplished by drinking from them, and then orally feeding them your vampire blood. This will infect them with the vampire curse, fully killing the victim and then resurrecting them unto a kind of undeath, that is not quite living and not quite dead. Any creature with blood is capable of being given this infection - but it has to be something that actually serves as blood, and not just oil or fuel. Most robots or inorganic creatures will be excluded, with a few possible exceptions. Once transmitted, the infection corrupts the soul of the victim with demonic energies - something almost like a possession, from a second spirit that they will come to know as their "beast." This demonic beast spirit will fuse with the victims, and though it is possible to separate them after the fact, it is magically rather difficult. This demonic spirit contains most of what one would consider to be vampiric instincts - the lust for blood, animalistic tendencies, and a violent nature. It can be combated against by the host, but how much success they will have depends on the strength of their own spirit. A vampire's power increases as they age, marked by the advancement of their demonic infection. A new vampire will be far less powerful than an elder vampire. As they develop, they will gain new abilities while still retaining their old ones. ► NEONATE A freshly made vampire - that is, still within the first year or two of their undeath. Neonates are the most numerous stage of vampire, as whether or not they survive this stage tends to be a right of passage towards becoming a full adult. While a terrifying enemy against regular mortals, those with strong magic or enhanced combat abilities will find it possible to take them one on one, or even one on two if they are feeling spry. About 80% of the vampires that attacked the carnival months ago were neonates. Neonates tend to be less graceful than adults, and also struggle to control their bloodlust. Neonates will be available for anyone to NPC during the masquerade. Physical Power: A neonate vampire could lift a half-ton truck, and can move with speed just beyond peak human physical capability. Supernatural Charm: New vampires immediately begin to exude a kind of animal magnetism, that will subconsciously draw in humans and other like-minded creatures. Those near them will find it difficult to say no to their demands, and will find it tempting to get close to them, due to a mixture of intimidation and seduction. They may or may not realize that this is an irrational compulsion. Paralytic Saliva: Their saliva can cause numbness in areas touched by it, as well as causing victims to lose control of their motor functions with prolonged exposure. This is a magical affect and not a chemical one, so it will work on any creature that would be susceptible to alchemy based poisons. ► ADULT A fully matured vampire, this stage will have developed additional powers and physical capabilities, and will gradually grow in strength with them as they age. Depending on a vampire's sire, it may take anywhere from a couple months to a few years to reach the state of being fully mature. This means that an "adult" vampire could have been undead for anywhere from a few months to a few centuries. The remaining 20% of attackers were mostly adult vampires. Adults can be NPC'd by players during the masquerade, but only if get permission from the mods first and give us an idea of what they'll be doing, so we can keep track. Physical Power: By the time they are an adult, a mature vampire's strength and speed will have approximately doubled from how they were when they were a neonate. That means about 1 ton lifting strength and the ability to move twice as fast as any human. Hypnosis: At this stage, vampires will have learned how to use their magnetism to fully hypnotize susceptible victims, based primarily on the use of eye contract and voice. Though outside interruption can break the hypnotic trance, while in its sway a vampire can use it to control or break down a victim's will or even convince them to forget or missremember information. With enough time and exposure, a victim's memory and identity could be completely warped by this power. Beast Control: Vampires can use their own "beastial spirit" to control or intimidate animals. Predators and scavengers will be inclined to obey their will as if a member of their "pack" and prey animals will be instinctively terrified of them. This effect may work on those in the carnival with animal instincts, whether they be from fae effects, a part of their species, or otherwise. Shadowalk: Not quite teleportation, not quite invisibility - vampires can blend into the shadows and pass through crowds without drawing attention. If there is any shade present, they will be able to blend into it and go unseen by human eyes. In crowds, this will make them completely indistinct to people's notice - they may realize there is a body there, but its relevance will be completely suppressed until they strike. ► ELDER The longest lived of all vampires, elders are usually at least a thousand years old if not older. They are the most loyal servants and right hand men of their demonic overlord, and can bend the wills of most mortals with ease. Elders are not available to be NPC'd by players, and will be exclusively under mod control for plotting purposes. Physical Power: This is where you get to the level of being able to shove semi-trucks around and moving so quickly it may as well be teleportation. Wounds will heal within minutes if they haven't been dealt by silver or holy magic. Damaging the heart can prove to be difficult, as even getting through an elder's outer skin is a challenge. Elders are also more or less immune to damage from heat or cold. Mind Control: Straight up mind control, without the fragility or hypnosis. Elders can erode the will of humans just by being around them, and can control multiple individuals at once, to varying degrees. Transformation: Elders can turn onto smoke, thus becoming mostly immune to damage, and can also grow bat wings and other devilish features at will. All stages of vampire are vulnerable to silver, particular forms of holy magic, and damage done directly to their heart. They are not more vulnerable to fire than average. Most other injuries can be healed within days or even hours, provided they are able to feed and recover. Destroying a vampire's heart will destroy the demonic spirit's hold on their body, thus effectively killing them. BECOMING A VAMPIRE↴ Since the villains of this plot are vampires, there is going to be the potential for carnival members to be turned into one during the attack - provided they have the necessary blood, of course. This transformation will not necessarily be permanent, as the Ringmaster will be capable of potentially removing the infection with enough time and care, and so your character could be expected to be in that state for as little as a week, or up to as long as 'indefinitely', depending on your narrative preferences. That is, after things have been settled and they have been brought back to the carnival in one piece. Being turned into a vampire will mostly occur during the masquerade, during which vampires will be using stealth and seduction to turn or capture members of the carnival. The primary focus of kidnappings will be on the supervisors, or order to most effectively disorganize the carnival's ranks, but being turned could happen to just about anyone. Once a character is turned, they will be compelled to obey their sire, and follow the bidding of the vampire's overlord - this effect will last until these characters are subdued or rescued from the vampire's clutches. Special situations asides, all captives and newly turned vampires will be stolen back to the vampire's home dimension before the masquerade is over. New vampires will, by default, start with the abilities of a neonate - however, if they are turned by a particularly old or or elder vampire, they will potentially get a head start on developing adult vampire abilities. The older the vampire the sire, the more powerful their progeny will be. The purpose of turning carnival members is mostly to corrupt and confuse their command structure, and also to be as huge of dicks as possible.

Comments

⇨ QUESTIONS

[ringleaders]

Please ask any questions you have about vampires or their involvement in this plot here.

[ophidiarex]

You mentioned that you pull from BTVS, Dresden, and WoD, but what physical traits do they express? Do they go monsterface? Red eyes? Hidden forms? All bodily fluids become blood? What will a turned character notice changing about themself physically, basically.

Also do vampire snakes need less blood than vampire humans? I can't believe I'm asking this but it MIGHT BE RELEVANT.

[perverses]

So if a character has an ability specifically geared towards purging demons and possession from souls, would you prefer it just be able to not touch this particular variety for the sake of the plot? And would the NPC vampires have a really bad day vs (as the ability in question) black hellfire?

[control_freak]

Since Foster's necromantic magic is literally all about the creation and control of undead bodies, would that be considered to apply to vampires as well? With... significantly reduced returns the older the vampire is?

Zombies like him are a lower order of undead than vampires, I would assume, so like... adult vampires would presumably be a lot more difficult/resistant and anything especially old would just probably find him annoying at best.

Y/N/potato?

[spaghettimonster]

rumor has it that VAMPIRES SUCK, can you confirm?

[dorkypantsuit]

1st Question: How long will the vampires have their newly turned hostages? Will the kidnapping last for a few hours, a few days, a few weeks? Just wondering how long Lauren will be separated from his bro. :)

2nd Question: How aware are the new neonates of the control their vampire sire's have over them? Are they completely aware and helpless to stop themselves or do they think they've always wanted to obey?

[periphrasing]

So for characters who get kidnapped but physically cannot be turned, what's the extent to which we can mindfuck them? Is full on Elder level mind control potentially on the table?

[destiny_key]

Probably a stupid question, but

Are vampires able to sense if someone's a vampire, or are they running on 'this person looks human, they must be human' logic? The reason I ask is Sora looks semi-vamp-ish right now, so would they be able to tell he's human?

[whattaprick]

Iiiits vampire-fighting time!

Lambert's got a few doses of a potion that can temporarily render the drinker's blood toxic to vampires (either ingestion or exposure, but user has to be wounded first) -- would it be safe to assume hurt these vampires too? If it helps clarify its properties at all, it's made largely of dead person blood.

This is probably going to later down the line (or not at all since he won't have time to prepare it/gather ingredients unless they go back to the carnival) but he can make a 'vampire oil' meant to coat weapons to make them temporarily more effective against vampires! Will this be something he could make for general distribution/will it be effective against the creatures?

Is silver readily available around the celebration in the form of household objects/jewelry if our characters don't have silver weapons on their person?

Do the vampires have reflections or not?

Can we NPC killing the vampires (assuming mostly neonates, and within reason) at the Masquerade if they attempt attacking other characters? Will this result in repercussions from the Host?

I had some more questions but I think they're more generally Masquerade-specific and things that'll be answered when the post goes up, but these are the big ones for me!

[detonarrator]

So if Party City is still providing things that people desire, could an armory of silver/holy weapons pop up during the attack?

[whattaprick]

Specific-ish inquiry time:

Lambert's going to want to pin down and interrogate a vampire -- ideally an adult -- in an effort to find out more about what's going on, motives behind the attack, basically get some clarity beyond what the supervisors have been able to spit out. He'll try to recruit other characters to assist in the take down, but he's gonna be pretty direct about the interrogation itself bc of time constraints -- bind 'em with silver, feed them poisonous blood to weaken/disorient them, and then try to use his ~Witcher magic~ to persuade them to cough up info.

Obviously this is a bit involved, so questions:

1. Would this effort be successful? If so, what kind of info could he find out?
2. Logistically, do I need to make up a personality/information bit about the vampire, like I would if I was getting a character turned, and NPC that vampire?
3. Barring intervention by characters, Lambert would kill the vampire at the end of his session, because that's how he rolls -- would that be okay?

⇨ TO VETERAN CHARACTERS:

[ringleaders]

Where you present for the original vampire attack? Did you fight and kill lots of vampires? If so, please post here, for reasons.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora was present, but did very little damage to vampires during that attack -- she was healing people instead.

WELP

[dorkypantsuit]

I wanted to say NOT LOTS but his attacks are pretty large as far as effected areas goes. So yeah, I guess "lots" might be more accurate.

[osteothropy]

As a member of the security crew at the time, Sans did indeed kill quite a few vampires.

⇨ Joker, Stage Manager

[pipers_son]

Were you present for the original vampire attack?

HE SURE WAS and boy is he still not happy about that little event.

Did you fight and kill lots of vampires?

Joker didn't necessarily kill lots of vampires, but he was certainly in the god damn way a lot. Joker's primary objective was to rescue anyone that was in Performance at the time (as new Stage Manager), and so mostly he did a lot of hit-and-runs where he just knocked out anyone hypnotized to drag them to somewhere safe where they could be tied up. He also tried to rescue people who were in tight jams.

However, while he wasn't a direct vampire killer, he absolutely acted as bait for some of the more combat-savvy carnival workers at the time (most who have long since left the carnival probably), and is probably notable for that since he is a flashy bastard eternal.

...He also may or may not have punched someone in the mouth, because TRY BITING WOOD, FUCKERS. (fun fact: there is absolutely blood and not sap in his wooden arm, but does anyone want to do that? No.)

⇨ I WANT TO BE THE DRACULA

[ringleaders]

Please post here if you are considering being a dracula. Just so I can keep track of numbers.

I AM THE NIGHT

[mylastchance]

Guy whose life is dedicated fighting the undead say WHAT?

DEFENDER OF THE NEWBS

[dorkypantsuit]

Psionic is a powerful psionic.

Psionic feels a strong compulsion to protect people

Though Psionic is going to be fucked up from "Party Fever" once shit begins to get real he will be using his powers to protect whoever he can. This means:

Do you need someone to save your character at the last minute?

We can plot something! Let me know!

Once he's in vampire jail he will do his best to keep up team morale. He will do this by:

Trying to break hypnotized characters from their trance.

Trying to be generally cheerful and POSITIVE.

Will this annoy your character? Will they be controlled into attacking Psi? Will they want to hurt him? Will they try and help him? Again, let me know.

This is a general Psi plotting post for this event!

This is her day job.

[detonarrator]

Sophie Welman is a) a vampire already, and b) works as an assassin, specializing primarily in killing other vampiric targets. Most of her GEAR is back at home in her world, so she's gonna get caught with her pants down a little here, but she is well versed in how to get through a rib-cage quickly and effectively with a variety of implements.

ADDITIONALLY she has been briefed of the previous vampire bullshit, and has a real bone to pick with these guys for murdering some of her friends from the last time she was at the carnival. Also she hates vampires on principle for a lot of personal reasons. So she is going to take this opportunity to vent as much of her frustration and anger as possible and will be throwing herself eagerly onto the front lines for anybody who needs rescuing.

She's also no stranger to sire loyalty, although it works somewhat differently in her world, and will be highly sympathetic to anybody doing things under orders, and will eagerly help conk people out and break any cases of hypnosis she finds.

[whattaprick]

Lambert is an asshole, but he's a good guy to have on your side in a fight!

He's still half-addled from the effects on going on a mad celebration binge, but once he catches on to what's going on he's going to pretty quickly be ready to get into fights and jump in if he catches any trail of blood and whatnot. He will be:

- Grabbing silver from the tables as improvised weaponry, unless someone can give him something more deadly. someone, anyone, please give the man a blade before he resorts to gutting vampires with a steak knife.
- Armed with bombs and vampire-toxic potions (potentially with magical side-effects for the user).
- Armed with minor spells to slow down supernatural creatures, set em on fire, or shield from most physical attacks.

He will probably be getting attacked by vampire directly or have to catch someone being attacked to shake him out of party mood.

He'll be looking more to round up his fellow fighters/nightriders to start, but he won't ignore someone in direct distress/outnumbered so i'm 100% down for team-ups, rescues, all those good shenanigans!

[mildwildchild]

Stupid here is getting turned, preferably by an adult vampire if that's acceptable. Immediately afterwards he's going to go nuts with bloodlust and try to attack and feed on someone, or multiple someones. Do you want a goat-eared baby vampire to try to eat you? If so, comment here!

[ringleaders]

What are you going to have the vampire doing besides turning Jamie? If you use an adult vampire, the exchange is that you need to give them a name and a bit of a personality, and ideally NPC them outside of just that turning instance.

[kingsroads]

so who wants to be the person to say "no dude, it's okay, vampires are awful to begin with" after Strange turns one of the neonates into a bird or something and feels really bad about it later.

ftr, he'll only be able to mess up one of the vampires via transformation because that takes effort and transformation magic sucks and power nerfs are a thing. other vampires'll be dealt with by like, using good ol'fashioned mist as cover and then just getting the hell away from them, somebody get the magician a gateorade so he'll be back at top form.

[osteothropy]

Sans definitely wouldn't blame him after this all goes down considering how hellish it will be.

You didn't even kill them which is a step up from what he would do.

Adult npc request?

[otoko]

So Gon has been on high alert most of the event, even receiving strong incentive to avoid paths of pleasure even more than before! And now this dance comes, and well go figure, parties aren't really his thing. Worse, his doggie senses are going haywire, and if he leaves the mask off too much, he gets told off! Rude.

So suffice to say, the neonates have some trouble trying to lure him off. Heck, after a point he seems to even give folks a stink eye for trying! (Which hilariously has zip to do with suspecting a vampire and everything to do with being too doggy to quite fall for people magnetism, deliberately avoiding paths of vice, and something something '14'.)

So that's hopefully enough to get and adult in the shadows peeking at him, but then it gets...interesting. Gon basically being some kind of giant predator, when he feels a pull from the shadows, he starts following. His mind logically tells him that maybe something is there, something he needs to deal with...he IS patrol after all, even if off duty.

Unfortunately, there really is something in the shadows, and they wanted him to follow, because that means he'll be nice and alone! Oops.

If that kind of set up works, I'd love to get an adult npc in there! ...otherwise I can figure out the neonate system for backup.

OKAY AND NOW THE ACTUAL NPC

[otoko]

HERE HE GO-

'Allegro'

A fairly tall, deceptively friendly seeming individual. He dresses as one would expect a stage magician to, and seems familar with the entertainment industry, or at least enough to know his way around a few scarf tricks. Bearing a particular amount of curiosity for the Carnival, he's made absolutely certain that all of the neonates he's currently sired have one goal and one goal only; bring as many turned carnival goers back as they can.

Oh and have fun. They should have fun while they do it, obviously, because what's the point of living the high life if you don't have fun? He's all about that bit. Super strength, shadow walking, mental influence? You need to have fun with it, put on a bit of a show if you can even. Entertainer that he is, his actions at the Celebration obviously imply some sense of control. He knows very well where stealth is necessary, and he is, more importantly, a damn good actor. It's rare that he shows absolute seriousness; he tries to keep a positive air about things. This includes turning someone. Look, it'll be fine, you're going to love this it's great.

His bitten neonates are therefore...somewhere between his family and his students. They have so much to learn after all! Especially if they expect to last. (You wouldn't BELIEVE how many he's lost. He's lost a lot. It happens. Look just go out there and let loose, you'll be fine.) And, well, as for anyone he doesn't plan on turning and just has to kill...

Well, let's just get that over and make it look Really Great at the same time. Might as well make it enjoyable!

Turns out skeletons are immune to being vamped!

[spaghettimonster]

But that doesn't mean they're immune to being dusted. Fortunately, he's very tough for a skeleton monster, and isn't dying anytime soon.

Papyrus is starting the party off still seriously affected by the party vibe. It'll take getting bitten and hearing alarming radio chatter to make him realize something is up.

He's not actually getting turned, or captured (you'd think the janitor would be important for ruining carnival morale, but SOME vampires have their priorities all mixed around! rude)

Instead, he'll be running around to offer dancing walls of bones, concern for others' wellbeing, and maybe a blaster or three. And trying to knock vampires out, because he's all about that nonlethal damage. Lemme know here, on plurk, or on discord if you specifically want a buddy in a brief fight scene! Mostly, I'm going to tag around.

Murder Attempt beep beep

[pipers_son]

Just as a heads up- Joker will be trying to murder an adult vampire in a thread me and Aki are going to do. (Aki doing the NPCing of said adult vampire.) NO TELLING IF IT WILL SUCCEED we play fast and loose around here in bullshit country

but now the mods know