Night's Black Agents
Blood Cocaine
By Adam Gauntlett
I’ll grind your bones to make my bread. [folktale, Jack & the Beanstalk; sometimes linked to the German folktale The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs.]
A Night’s Black Agents Node which distributes Blood Cocaine and is linked to several smaller criminal syndicates which may or may not be part of the Conspiracy proper.
The agents are tasked with uncovering the secret behind a new form of tuci, a ketamine mix that’s become popular as a recreational drug. This mix, colloquially known as Blood Cocaine thanks to its unusual color, is taking off in a big way and law enforcement reports some very strange incidents associated with overdose.
It all comes down to the secret ingredient: bones. Someone’s raiding the cemeteries of Europe looking for a particular kind of corpse. Witches, for preference, but also suicides, murder victims, and similar unfortunates. Their remains are being reduced to salts which are added to the ketamine mix, creating a high that induces otherworldly visions.
The Node which created this drug isn’t doing this out of the kindness of its nonexistent heart. It gets one thing from the deal (apart from a steady flow of money): clues. Clues to ancient lore and treasures.
The Devil’s School, Harz, Germany
This is an abandoned school in a depopulated area in Harz, a mountainous region of natural beauty and long history. The closest populated area is Niedersachswerfen, a small village in the district of Nordhausen. There are running trails, cycling paths and a historic steam railway from Niedersachswerfen, and the school is visible (just) from the railway, though it’s not clear how you’d get there. The authorities would prefer that nobody visit the school and Keep Away notices are clearly posted. However, it’s also clear, from heavy use, that a lot of people use those walking trails to get to the school.
Party people gather there on the regular. Techno DJs promote it on socials. The school’s marked up with graffiti, animals stay away (exception: mountain lynxes, see below), and when things are really hot the noise can be heard in Niedersachswerfen. Rumour has it that the parties are protected from on high; how else could these people get away with it?
Within the Conspiracy, and to a certain extent outside it in the wider criminal networks, the school is known as teuflischen Hauptschule – the devilish trade school.
It presents as a rave spot but its true function is the manufacture and distribution of Blood Cocaine. It is the first such manufacturing base and the inspiration for several other locations, within and outside Germany.
It is led by Schulleiterin Schäfer, aka Alien Interference, a techno promoter and part-time DJ well known in the local scene. She controls the Node; she, with her alchemical partner Becker, began the Devil’s School.
Historical Background
Agents who deep-dive find that the location has a significant past.
From an unknown point in the early first or second century up till sometime in the 10th century it was the location of a notorious nunnery. Some historians argue that this was a proto-Waldensian movement but, whether there’s any truth to that or not, the nunnery was sacked and burnt to the ground, all inmates slaughtered. Allegedly this happened in a dispute between lords about ownership of a silver mine, though there are some 12th century records which suggest it was due to charges of heresy.
Schäfer, then known as Provost Agnes, dates from this period.
History then forgets this little corner of the world until the early 1600s, when it becomes the focal point of bloody witch trials and executions. Over 120 people were killed.
During 1936-37 the immediate locality was extensively researched by the Ahnenerbe (Himmler’s Ancestral Heritage organization) which attempted to find a link – a bloodline, according to the few records which survive – going back to the Romans, and possibly the Atlanteans. All their research, and the researchers, were purged; hardly any record remains to even show who the researchers were, never mind the results of their study. This purge took place in 1942, long before the Ahnenerbe saw a need to get rid of evidence which could be used in war crimes trials.
One of those researchers was Max Becker.
The school, a privately funded boarding school, opened in 1948. It closed abruptly in the 1970s after an abuse scandal and two suicides. Though there was talk of reopening, it never happened.
Schäfer and Becker took over in the early 2010s. They saw the school as a proof-of-concept; it’s since developed into a processing and distribution node for Blood Cocaine.
It has links with criminal groups involved in narcotics distribution, grave robbing, and financial crimes (money laundering). These groups may or may not have direct Conspiracy links.
It has since become the parent Node for several similar, smaller processing and distribution plants within and outside Germany.
Its product is distributed and sold throughout Europe. That wasn’t the original intention, but Blood Cocaine has become an in-demand party drug and profits are skyrocketing.
Blood Cocaine
Mechanically, this is cocaine with a heavy mix of ketamine and caffeine, a speedball that does not go well with alcohol.
Onset: inhaled.
Test: Difficulty 5 Health
Minor: +0 Damage, sensations of euphoria and limitless energy followed by depression, lasts for 3-6 hours. The damage is less from the drug and more from exceeding the body’s natural limits while high. Drinking alcohol ups the damage to +2 and guarantees a +3 Stability Incident.
Severe: After the onset 3-6 hour period, treat as Hurt. Potential 7-point Stability Incident. Addictive.
It is manufactured by cutting cocaine with, among other substances, human bones ground to dust. Becker believes these bones must be sourced from what he calls ‘special graves’ – witches, possibly suicides. Schäfer takes the view that any corpse will do, so long as they died violently. She prefers war dead and murder victims, being easier to obtain.
To look at, the powder is scarlet, hence the name.
As well as the effects noted above, it grants the user 1-3 points Aberrance. This Aberrance pool cannot be consciously drawn on or used to create effects, and if the user is not attuned to the drug (by virtue of their bloodline, Becker would argue) then nothing unusual will happen. Those who gain 3 points Aberrance without means of expelling it, through visions, are at high risk of overdose and death.
Those with links to what Becker would call the Ancient Past react differently to the drug. Director’s choice as to who that might be.
These unfortunates suffer Aberrant effects and are plunged into ecstatic visions, which they are compelled to relate. Some Aberrant effects can be mistaken for stigmata, nimbus, or similar religious iconography. Swarms of flies, of rats and other vermin have also occurred. The sufferer has no control over these effects or visions, and they won’t remember anything they said or anything that happened.
The original intent was to only use this in and around the Devil’s School in Harz. The visions, Becker believed, would help continue his work to discover what he calls the Sacred Line, sometimes the Golden Thread. Becker thinks this group carry, within their subconscious or group conscious, memories of ancient days which can be used to gain great power or find items of power. Schäfer, who subscribes to this theory for reasons of her own, was his promoter within the Conspiracy and got them the support they needed to start the School.
The idea was to only use Blood Cocaine at the School, which is a somewhat controlled environment where the visions could be recorded and followed up on.
However, the experiment left the lab. Blood Cocaine caught on as a party drug. The Conspiracy likes profits. The Devil’s School was encouraged to produce much more, for Europe-wide distribution. Currently there are two types, the stuff informally known as Grade A, only sold at the School, and the Grade B, sold elsewhere in Europe. The Grade B only grants 1-2 points Aberrance; the Grade A can grant 3. This cuts down on fatal overdoses, outside the School at least.
However, this means people outside the Harz experiment area are suffering side effects.
People completely unrelated to the Harz are having visions and spewing them all over – all over TikTok, their socials, and some more traditional news feeds. All this is drawing official attention and it’s only a matter of time before the School’s protectors within the Bundesregierung decide the heat is too much to bear.
When that happens there will be another scandal. Heads will roll. The police will move in and wipe out the School.
Before that happens, certain Agents might get involved …
Important NPCs and Guardians
Schulleiterin Schäfer, aka Alien Interference. Supernatural, potential vampire or similar entity. Forbidding, heavily tattooed, hands will not keep still. [potential clue to her past: she’s telling beads, all the time.] Never without two Bodyguards, who she calls Hansel and Gretel.
Max Becker. In appearance, mid-50s, gym rat, long white hair immaculately coiffured. Practices tai chi and has Cherry level Hand-to-Hand pool. Possible Renfield or similar power level. Has a mountain lynx pet, Minka.
Christian Jacob, Politician. AfD, cultivates hard man image, dark suit, dark shades, likes to give speeches and fancies himself a rhetorician with leadership potential. The political fixer. He too is never without a bodyguard but, as his bodyguard is supplied by the Conspiracy, he does not trust his bodyguard. Trusts his mistress Leena with his life, which is a mistake, since she is a Conspiracy asset. Likely to Flip if his political career is threatened or if he is offered protection.
Mountain Lynxes. Treat as Wolf, with a slightly increased Hit Threshold (5) and Alertness Modifier (+4). These have been biologically modified, thanks to Becker. The process started when he noticed their interest in the effluent runoff created by narcotic production. Regeneration: 2 points/round unless reduced to -1 or more Health. These are addicted to the substances Becker provides and hang around the School, like sins. While not quite the same thing as security, they are very effective at keeping snoopers away.