The Dracula Addenda (1) – Sailor and Spelunker

Having completed our selection of New Legacies, here are some extra individuals for your Dracula Dossier campaigns…

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Sailor

Name: Olaf Frydenlund

Possible Role: HGD Shipping Employee

Description: Tall, Nordic, chapped skin from exposure.

Innocent: Frydenlund’s a sailor, from a long line of sailors. There’s sea-salt in his blood, and he’s got a restless soul. He’s an expert engineer and mechanic, but he can turn his hand to anything – he’s probably working on a HGD shipping (DH p. 145), but he might equally show up on a fishing boat operating out of Whitby, or a tender supplying oil rigs including HMS Proserpine (DH p. 169). Frydenlund’s time at sea gives him plenty of time to read – his odd area of expertise is likely something connected to the Agents, so maybe he’s a devotee of vampire lore, the Russo-Turkish war, or obscure geological theories. (Maybe one of his online contacts is the Retired MI6 Computer Boffin, DH p. 99).

Even as an Innocent, Frydenlund’s remarkably unflappable in the face of danger or supernatural threats. He exudes a quiet competence and good humour; a good man to have on your side when there’s a storm brewing. Optionally, he might be a relative of the Icelandic Diplomat (DH p. 119) or the Online Mystic (DH p. 126); he’s definitely a friend of Geerd Hoorn (DH p. 45) and is devoted to the older man.

He respects honesty – trying to fool him with cover stories just annoys him. If you want Frydenlund’s aid, you’ve got to trust him.

Asset: Olaf’s career is an excellent cover for a spy – he moves around a lot, travels light, and has a reason to carry all sorts of tools. If he’s Edom, then he’s a former HMS Prosperine marine who used the Seward Serum for a while (probably on missions during the mid-2000s in Afghanistan or Iraq). Officially, he’s retired from the military – he wanted to put a lot of running water around him, hence his life at sea – but he still has a way to contact Duke Iram (DH p. 51) if needed.

If he’s working for another intelligence group, like the German Vampire program (DH p. 75), then Olaf’s more likely to be a low-level asset sent to infiltrate a Conspiracy node like HGD Shipping/Axel Logistics/Leutner Fabrichen. In this case, he’ll try to use the Agents as stalking horses – he’ll pretend to be the good-hearted employee who gets the Agents into the secure warehouse/onto the vampire-haunted freighter, but he intends to double-cross them and grab the prize. In any case, Tradecraft picks up the little clues that this sailor’s more than he seems.

A thoroughly weird option: the Solomonari (DH p. 74) have the power to raise and quell storms, and Frydenlund’s zen confidence could actually stem from him being an enlightened mystic who’s studied under the Devil himself.

Minion: “…the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland the fighting spirit of which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their Berserkers displayed to such fell intend on the seaboards of Europe…” Frydenlund was a human monster long before he fell under Dracula’s control. He’s a predator – his modus operandi used to be “wait until my ship’s about to leave port, then strike”. He started with sexual assault, and moved onto murder. He used to take methamphetamine and use it to excuse his actions to himself (“I’m not a bad man, it’s just the drugs”) – now Dracula’s occult influence gives Frydenlund all the license he needs to rape and murder.

Frydenlund encountered Dracula (or some other Conspiracy member) in Varna, and was drawn into the worship of the dark master. Likely connections: the Drug Boss (DH p. 113, the Arms Runner (DH p. 102) or the Smuggler (DH p. 131).

Sometimes, he acts as psychically directed by Dracula, attacking enemies of the Conspiracy; at other times, he kills as a crude offering to the vampire. Criminology plus Traffic Analysis can tie a series of crimes to the movements of Frydenlund’s ship. Optionally, Frydenlund might be the current Red Jack (DH p. 73) and possible bearer of the Jewelled Dagger (DH p. 270).

Alternate Names: Manfred Muttlich, Tommy Swales, Ed Langston

Alternative Descriptions:

• Mid-40s, harried middle manager, moustache, thinning hair, very worried about just-in-time logistics connections. He’s got a cargo of garlic (DH p. 283) that needs to be in Rotterdam by noon, so to hell with your vampires.
• Mid-60s, ancient fisherman, speaks in a thick accent, prophecies doom no matter the situation
• Mid-20s, glasses, looks more like a computer programmer than a sailor, pockets full of anti-nausea meds

Defining Quirks:

• Always carefully lays out his tools
• Rolling sea gait
• Acts rather than talks

Investigative Abilities: Outdoor Survival

General Abilities: Athletics 6, Mechanics 8, Preparedness 6, Pilot 8

(Berserker Minion: Athletics 10, Hand to Hand 14, spend 2 Health for Vampiric Strength)

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +0

 

Spelunker

Name: Dana Matei

Possible Role: Your friendly local guide

Description: Early 20s, wiry and fit, short hair and nails, gamine grin

Innocent: Matei’s a graduate student at the UBB in Cluj-Napoca. Her degree’s in archaeology, and she’s specialising in the Zalmoxis cult of the pre-Roman era. To be honest, though, she’s been neglecting her studies (under the Medievalist, DH p. 122, or maybe the Archaeologist, DH p. 292?) in favour of her passion for caving – she’s a leading member of the university’s spelunking club, and spends most weekends up in the mountains, exploring the karst landscape of western Romania, although she’s also made trips to the famous Movile cave with its bizarre ecosystem based around thermal vents. She’s qualified as a diver, and works part-time as a guide for sports tours (possibly working with the Senior Park Ranger (DH p. 298) or Tour Guide (DH, p. 135)). If the agents are looking for a local guide – especially one who (a) knows the underground terrain (b) has plenty of caving gear and (c) won’t ask any questions if you pay her, a Network spend quickly turns up Dana.

She dreams, sometimes, of squeezing through some narrow tunnel and turning a corner, and her headlamp illuminates a vast and hitherto undiscovered underground temple. She’s seen it so many times, those black ziggurats rising out of the stagnant red lake. But it’s only a dream. (Hypnosis may dig up buried dreams; Archaeology might distinguish between dreams of a Zalmoxis temple and dreams of the Scholomance…)

Asset: About a year ago, Matei was invited to a history conference overseas (maybe by the Icelandic Diplomat, DH p. 119, or the Turkish Agent, DH p. 136). While there, she went to a seemingly innocent party at an apartment owned by another student. The place was raided by the cops, and they found drugs in Matei’s bags. A lot of drugs. The cops’ accents were hard to understand, and both sides were speaking in a second language, but she got the impression that she was in deep, deep shit. They left her to stew in a cell overnight – and then a nice man from the diplomatic service turned up, and said that he could turn it all into a misunderstanding. All Matei had to do was a small little favour…

So, since then, Matei’s been a coerced asset for… well, she doesn’t know who? It might be any of the Other National Vampire Programs, DH p. 75, or someone like the Chinese Agent (DH p. 110), the Chief of Station Bucharest (DH p. 109) – or just Elvis (DH p. 50). Every few weeks, a message shows up in a dead drop in the university basement, giving Matei instructions. Sometimes, it’s to follow a car, or stick a USB key into a computer in the archaeology department. Often, though, it’s to carry a package into the mountains and leave it in a particular cave. She doesn’t know what’s going on; all her contacts are through cut-outs. Tradecraft + Shadowing can turn the tables on her handlers.

Minion: Matei’s not wholly human – she’s the product of an experiment in creating Cernati hybrids (DH p. 66). She grew up in the Strasba Orphanage (DH p. 223). Her attunement to Telluric energies makes her, basically, a walking Red Room (DH p. 187 – if she goes deep enough underground, the space around her becomes a direct line to Dracula himself). Physics picks up that Dana’s hot, radioactively speaking.

Alternate Names: Adam Bowler, Suna Kertal, Gerhard Hutmacher

Alternative Descriptions:

• Mid-50s, balding, digging a tunnel in his garden to the alarm of his wife
• Mid-40s, Serious to the point of humourless, mining engineer
• Mid-30s, special forces type on extreme sports holiday

Defining Quirks: 1) Always behind on academic work, will get to it any day now 2) enthuses about thermal jackets and goretex outer wear 3) listens with alarming intensity, often closing her eyes

General Abilities: Athletics 10, Infiltration 7

Alertness Modifier: +1

Stealth Modifier: +0