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Table of ContentsCover Art ............................................................................................................................................. 1

Trancemission by Bill Ellsworth ............................................................................................................................................ 1

Editorial/Opinion .............................................................................................................................. 3Winds of Change by Marcus Bone, Mike Marchi and Geoff Skellams .................................................................................. 3The Origins of Halloween by Leanne Dempsey ..................................................................................................................... 4

Adventures .......................................................................................................................................... 5The Secrets They Keep Hidden by Marcus D. Bone .............................................................................................................. 5

Milieu ................................................................................................................................................ 12New Zealand in 2015 by Marcus D. Bone ........................................................................................................................... 12F.A.I.L. - Life in the North Sea Settlements by Lee Williams ............................................................................................... 13

House Rules ...................................................................................................................................... 17Men in Black by Mike Marchi .............................................................................................................................................. 17Unarmed Combat Damage by Ryan Rank ........................................................................................................................... 20

NPCs ................................................................................................................................................... 21Allen Whyte by Lee Williams ................................................................................................................................................ 21The Black Rain by Lee Williams .......................................................................................................................................... 21

Equipment ....................................................................................................................................... 22Extreme Ordnance by Steve King ........................................................................................................................................ 22New Vehicles by Lee Williams .............................................................................................................................................. 28Non-Lethal Weaponry by Chris Carpenter ........................................................................................................................... 29

Dark Races ....................................................................................................................................... 30Haunters by Eyal Faingersh ................................................................................................................................................. 30The Mapinguari by Lee Williams ......................................................................................................................................... 31The Natives by Ryan Rank ................................................................................................................................................... 32

Contact Information ........................................................................................................................ 31Looking into the Future ....................................................................................................................................................... 31

Fiction ...............................................................................................................................................34To The Circle That Binds It All by Marcus D. Bone ............................................................................................................ 34

The Loose Ends ................................................................................................................................. 41

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DEMONGROUND is a year old! We had no idea, when we first embarkedon this project in July of 1998, that it would be so well received. Until ourfirst issue appeared online in October 1998, we still weren�t sure if peoplewould like what we were doing. And since then, every two months, we�vepresented another volume in an ongoing evolutionary process � tryingeach time to produce an issue that blew its predecessor away in quality,content and design.

So in the same spirit of growth,we�ve dressed the magazine up in a newsuit of clothes. You may have alreadynoticed the title has changed slightly.DEMONGROUND: Reflections of aDarker Future. This is the first of manychanges you will see in this publicationover the course of our second year.

The magazine before you is the sev-enth issue of DEMONGROUND. In asense, it is also the last of its kind. Thiswill be the last issue that you will findexclusively targeted at Dark Conspiracy.The next issue will be something more.

We�ve already laid the groundwork.Not only will Issue #8 be the first issueof the new millenium; it will also repre-sent an expansion of focus. For over ayear now, DEMONGROUND has beenthe best resource for new Dark Con-spiracy material. Starting in January2000, it is our intention to turn it intothe best resource for the entire genre ofModern Horror role playing games.

We�ve made no secret of the factthat it has always been a dream of oursto take DEMONGROUND from its cur-rent electronic format and into hardcopy.There have been quite a few of you whohave expressed this wish as well. Whilewe are not quite ready to begin thatphase, there are certain evolutionarysteps we must take before that dream tobecome a reality.

First, due to the licensing laws thatgovern the gaming industry, our statusas a magazine devoted solely to one gamesystem actually prevents us from print-ing and selling the magazine without anagreement with the owner of the game.

Our second step is to make sure wehave a large enough customer base tosupport a printed magazine. At present,there are not enough subscribers to makethe move to hardcopy an option. Al-though the number of downloads con-

tinues to grow as wordDEMONGROUND spreads, it will takea long time for the numbers to reach thecritical mass needed to make the exer-cise worthwhile. We believe that we havea magazine that is good enough to com-pete in the RPG market.

It has been said in the past that thefirst edition of Dark Conspiracy was alittle ahead of its time. The market placewasn�t quite ready for the genre, andGDW lacked the financial fortitude towait for the industry to catch up. In thefew years that Dark Conspiracy was outof print, the number of modern horrorgames on the market increased dramati-cally. Games like Conspiracy X and DeltaGreen took advantage of the phenomenalsuccess of shows like the X-Files to builda following. Dark Conspiracy was res-urrected from the ashes of GDW becauseit still had something to contribute to thisphenomenon. Now, Wizards of the Coastis even joining the fray with a newAlternity Campaign setting, Dark�Matter.

Every two months, Dark Con-spiracy fans around the world downloadthe latest copy of DEMONGROUND.They are not alone. We know that thereare people who run other gaming systems,downloading the magazine, hoping to findsome material to adapt for their games.

In any evolutionary process, the abil-ity to adapt is the key to survival. That�swhat this is all about. Adaptation is a two-way street. If someone can adapt a DCadventure to work in a ConX game, thenit stands to reason that the reverse is alsotrue. The Modern Horror genre is ex-tremely adaptable. What is horrific in onegame is most likely horrific in another.

To that end, we have decided to ex-tend the boundaries of the magazine toencompass other role playing systems ofmodern horror as well. For the moment,we have decided to accept any other game

that focus on humans struggling againstconspiracies from unknown sources - bethey human, alien or supernatural in na-ture. We have already received the bless-ing of several other companies to sup-port their products. Eden Studios hasapproved our use of Conspiracy X, CJCarella�s Witchcraft, and the soon to bereleased All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Pa-gan Publishing has granted us access toDelta Green, and Wizards of the Coasthas allowed us to support Dark�Matter.

By expanding the subject matter, wewill entice supporters of other systemsto read the magazine. More readers meanmore opportunities to inspire people tosubmit articles and artwork. Having awider variety of materials will allow youto throw new things at your players �things that don�t normally appear in yourgame of choice � something that is quiteliterally, from another world!

We have also encouraged the othercompanies to keep an eye on our pagesfor upcoming industry talent, the wayDPI has done so far. We still believe thatDEMONGROUND is a great place forpeople to stretch their creative legs. Ifyou are willing to produce a quality pieceof art or an innovative game resource forfree, imagine what you�d do if someonepaid you! By having more material tochoose from, we can guarantee that wewill always be able to provide you, theDEMONGROUND subscriber, the verybest this Dark Future has to offer.

Your DEMONGROUND Editors,Marcus Bone, Mike Marchi &Geoff Skellams v

Editorial/Opinion

Winds of Change by Marcus Bone, Mike Marchi and Geoff Skellams

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If you mention Halloween to most people, they will immediatelythink of kids dressed up in costume, travelling the streets, trick-or-treating in search of candy. But, like most traditions, there are his-torical reasons for celebrating this event.

The original Celtic festival wasSamhuinn (pronounced �Sow-in�) whichhappens just at the point in the year whenthe season subtly clocks over towardswinter. The belief was that on this onefestival, the veil between this world andthe next was weakened sufficiently thatthe souls of those who died in the previ-ous year could return and check up ontheir families and friends. The denizensof the Otherworld were also known towalk the earth. This was because thebringer of life, the Sun, has just begunhis trip away from the Earth and meta-phorically, his back is turned. The Mexi-can �Day of the Dead� is a close cousin.Other cultures also have an equivalent atvarious times of year. A folk myth (pos-sibly Irish) says that the fairies travel fromfort to fort once a year at this time andthe deeply unpleasant Little Folk are agreat danger to encounter alone at night.Samhuinn was most notably the final dayof the pagan fourfold year. It�s essentiallya New Year festival.

The original festival was a party tohonour the recent dead by calling theminto their old homes and inviting them toshare the ceremonial feast. It was also tohonour the changing season and attemptto subtly encourage the Sun to continuehis trip away from the Earth towards theSolstice, and then back towards the Earthto continue the crucial crop cycle.

Before the festival, young peoplewould disguise themselves with masksand play elaborate practical jokes on eachother, on the basis that they could not berevenged (or recognised) during the sa-cred festival (hence �Trick or Treat�).Anybody still doing this on Samhuinn Evedeserved whatever trouble they got intowhen they were mistaken by evil spiritsas one of their own. Strangely enough,this is precisely the time that the currentHalloween festivities take place.

The night of Samhuinn Eve, bon-fires were lit in honour of the Sun and

part of the ceremonial feastthrown into the flames tobe consumed by the dead.An ember from the sacredfire was preserved to keepthe home fires alight in theoncoming year. Peoplewould make a �New YearResolution� by making upan image of some ill favour they wishedto avoid and burning it (probably a re-mainder of earlier human sacrifice). Fre-quently, oracles were consulted about theoncoming year�s successes or otherwise.There was a widely held belief that thenames of those who would die during thenext year could be determined by con-sulting the spirits, or through variousfolk-spells.

Great precautions were taken toavoid attracting the wrath of the spiritsthat would be haunting the earth. Theusual method was to do the solemn cer-emonies and then have a huge feast andget blind drunk, so that if a demonic crea-ture knocked on the door and demandedentrance, there would be nobody left con-scious to open the door and invite themin as custom demanded.

As soon as the Sun came up the fol-lowing morning (first day of the NewYear), wise people would rise and lookthrough the keyhole, and the first thingthat they saw would determine the fami-ly�s fate for the year to come. They would

always make certain to thrust a chickenor cat through the door first in case anylingering demons were waiting to snatchthe first living soul that came out. Theywould then get on with cleaning up themess and recovering from the hangover.

The Americans are the most enthu-siastic about the Halloween festival (wordtaken from All Hallows� Eve). They haveturned it into a childrens� festival of themacabre. In many parts of the UK, theystill celebrate Halloween with bonfiresand the burning of paper images followedby a feast, a strong reminder of the origi-nal festival. In Ireland they call itSamhuinn, in Scotland Houghmany. Pa-gans regularly celebrate it with New Yearfestivals. The Catholic and Anglicanchurches still have All Souls Day (alsoknown as All Hallows Eve) on 31 Octo-ber where they visit the graves of de-ceased friends and family, followed by AllSaints Day, a modified New Year mass,held on 1 November. The GermanWalpurgisnacht is a Halloween equiva-lent.

Jack-o-lanterns are a folk memoryof candle lanterns lit in windows to guidethe souls of the beloved dead. However,traditionalists could argue that the scaryfaces carved in them are likely to frightenthe souls of the dear departed away, at-tracting bad luck for the household dur-ing the following year.

In the Southern Hemisphere,Samhuinn is properly celebrated on theflip side of the year, in April, because oth-erwise it is seasonally irrelevant. v

By Leanne Dempsey

The Origins of Halloween by Leanne Dempsey

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by Marcus D. Bone

This is the fourth installment of the ongoing Vorceki Saga, startedin DEMONGROUND Issue 3. The saga continued with Parts 2 and3 appearing in DEMONGROUND 4 & 5 respectively. This penulti-mate adventure in the series should at last give the characters someidea about what is happening to the Vorceki and Terceki hybrids asthey attempt to chase down and capture Major Janice Reed and themissing gate components.

Non-Player CharactersRather than rehashing the same materialover and over as each episode in this se-ries progresses, the following is a shortsummary of the major NPCs that havebeen carried over from previous epi-sodes. You can refer to the adventure inDG Volume 4 for the detailed informa-tion.

� Dr. Karl West (human): Primary/Ini-tial patron - discovered alien DNA inhumans.

� Major Janice Reed (Vorceki hybrid):Hot-tempered. She is also obsessedwith finding gate components. To aidher in this quest, she has started a cult.Membership is restricted to Vorcekihybrids.

� Dr. Eagon Spangler (human): Aloner. Founder of �The Resistance�Contact with �the dark� caused himto dedicate his life to fighting it.

A Long Time Ago�Three and a half million years ago, anancient alien race known as the Vorceki(the people), achieved space flight anddiscovered an even more ancient, evenmore alien, teleportation network. Us-ing this network of gateways, the Vorcekicombed the galaxy in search of other in-telligent races. Failing that, they settledupon helping primitive, evolving races onthe road to more advanced development.

Around this time, one of the Vorcekiexploration teams discovered the biggestgateway yet - a super gateway capableof sending travelers not only to otherparts of the galaxy, but to other dimen-sions as well.

A team of highly qualified explor-ers was selected. They entered the gate-

way, and returned a short time later. Butthey were changed by the experience. Adark influence gripped their souls, turn-ing these explorers against their own peo-ple. They became known as the Terceki(ghosts) and set about trying to controlthe teleportation network to use towardtheir own twisted purpose.

Too late, the Vorceki realized whatthe Terceki were up to. The only courseof action available was to destroy the gatenetwork, in order to prevent the spreadof the Terceki�s evil influence. For themost part, they were successful, but theiractions left many members of both racesscattered and stranded forever on distantworlds.

In the process of its destruction, thegateway on earth blew apart into six seg-ments, which were scattered across theface of the planet. On earth, a few of theVorceki and Terceki survived the destruc-tion of the gate.

Realizing that they would not be ableto survive on the earth as the food sup-plies ran out and their equipment fellapart, both sides sought desperately fora way to survive and defeat the other. TheTerceki tampered with the genes of someof the proto-humans and embedded theirDNA into the genetic code of these crea-tures.

When these beings eventuallyevolved into intelligent life forms, thegenetic codes would become active, trig-gering genetic �memories� and �program-ming�. The surviving Vorceki learned ofthis plan when they finally defeated thelast of the Terceki on earth. The Vorceki,weak and dying, could not find and de-stroy all the infected proto-humans, sothey decided to counter by creating hy-brids of their own. These proto-humanswould bear in their genes the �memories�

they would need to continue the fight.

The Recent Past �Millions of years after the tampering ofthe Terceki and Vorceki, their horrificlabors have finally borne fruit. Some hu-mans, infected with now active Tercekiand Vorceki DNA, have set out to findthe parts of the ancient gate and reacti-vate it. This yearning is part of their sub-conscious, but is growing stronger.

The players were first contacted sev-eral months earlier by Dr. Karl West, aphysician from the Northeast UnitedStates who had noticed a disturbing in-crease in the recent incidence of birthdefects. His research had led to the dis-turbing conclusion that the defects werenot the result of a random mutation, butsome sort of genetic marker built into theDNA of the child�s parents, and passedon to the child.

They met Dr. Blake Lansing, a col-league of Dr. West�s who had the samegenetic marker as the deformed children,and claimed to be plagued by strangedreams.

Through Doctor West, the playersand Dr. Lansing met briefly with DavidBeck, a man who bore the active versionof the genetic marker. His body showeddisturbing physical deformities - oddlydiscolored skin, thick tentacles radiatingout from his torso, and in the center ofhis abdomen, a gaping razor-toothedmouth. David Beck exhibited a ratherpointed dislike for Dr. Lansing � and waskilled while trying to figure out which ofhis two mouths would do a better job ofgutting the good doctor like a fish.

With information found in Beck�shouse, and the help of Dr. Lansing�sdreams, the party found their way to

Adventures

The Secrets They Keep Hidden by Marcus D. Bone

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Florida, where they discovered a track-ing device of alien origin.

Here, they met Major Janice Reed,a military agent for the U.S. Governmentwho also appeared to have the alien DNAmarker, and also claimed to be plaguedby dreams.

She arranged for the tracking deviceto fall into the party�s hands, on the con-dition that they would inform her if theyfound anything.

Following the signals emitted by thisdetector, they made their way back toMaine, and discovered an enormous gatecomponent buried in the forest nearBeck�s remote cabin.

On the Hunt�The party, acting as a specialist teamaboard the STS Shuttle Orbiter arrivedquite suddenly and unexpectedly inWoomera, Australia. The orbiter hadbeen sent to intercept an alien spacecraftfound drifting past earth. Upon board-ing, the party was shocked to discovernot one, but two more components forthe alien gate.

After defeating the guardian robotsprotecting the cargo, they secured thetwo components aboard the STS and left.The orbiter was severely damaged by anenergy beam from the derelict starship asthey made off with their prize.

The orbiter plummeted to earth asa hurtling ball of flame. Only the tremen-dous skill of the pilot allowed themenough control over the crippled STS tomake an emergency landing at the Aus-tralian Space Center.

In the OutbackWhile they staying as guests of Jeff Cohen(the NASA Flight Director) at the SpaceCenter Dr. Lansing discovered, with theaid of the alien tracking device, that yetanother piece of the gateway was nearby.

Determined to find it and aid it thecomponents they already possessed theDoctor convinced the party to help himfind it. Enlisting the help and permissionof the Australian Space Program the partyalong with Bodyguard WolfgangZimmerman, Dr Lansing, and the crewof the Heavy Lift Chopper needed to re-

cover the piece, entered restricted air-space in the Australian Outback.With the tracking device the Gate com-ponent was easily found and althoughthey party discovered it was being usedas an �altar� by a tribe of native Aborigi-nes, they soon acquired it. However cir-cumstances conspired to stop the partyduring its greatest hour. First the arrivalof Major Reed and her Cult members, atthe Space Center HQ. Who taking stockof the situation confiscated all of the par-ties gate pieces at the base and then or-dered a vicious attack on the party stillrecovering the new component. Not onlydid this destroy the groups Chopper butalso killed Wolfgang and the pilot.

Although the party soon discoveredanother Terceki hybrid who had been at-tracted to the altar to aid them and pro-vide them with transport out, little didthey realize that the Aboriginal tribewhere in fact Vorceki, who would stopat nothing to recover their sacred arti-fact.

Through much trouble andtribulation the party at last made it backto the Space Program HQ, but not be-fore losing the good Doctor Lansing andhis fellow Terceki to continued Aborigi-nal Vorceki attacks.

Now the party must follow MajorReed and their gate component to Auck-land, before she can discover that lastsection and it becomes to late to stopwhat evil lurks behind that closed dimen-sion.

On to AucklandAlthough Jeff Cohen is on his way backto America with his damaged shuttle theparty still have the talents of Doctor Westand Eagon Spangler to call on. These twowill ensure that some sort of transportarrangements are made to get the partyto Auckland International Airport asquickly as they feel ready.

Remember though the party are stillunaware what motivation are driving theMajor to gather the gate components,except that they feature in many of theVorceki and Teereki hybrids dreams.Speed should be of an essence, as theparty must feel as though they are in a

race against time in stopping Reed andher cult.

Because the players will be flyingwith commercial airlines they will be re-quired to dispose of their firearms beforeentering any airport. Security is tight inmost, especially at Auckland�s (see be-low) and any weapon, including pocketknives will be confiscated by Airport se-curity, and some rather serious questionsasked of the person concerned.

To avoid these delays, Eagon willarrange a diplomatic package to be trans-ported with the characters, this containsnothing more than a few letters and notesaddress to the American embassy, but islarge enough to hold the players sidearmsfor entry into New Zealand.

Therefore, while the characters willbe unarmed during their flights they willstill be armed once at Auckland. Eagonwill explain that they will be met by aconsul of the American embassy in Auck-land and that while both Dr West and him-self will join the party as soon as possi-ble. They must remain at Woomera whilethe wrangle over the destroyed Helicop-ter is sort out.

If he is asked to explain, Spanglerwill just state that the Australia Air Forcedoesn�t take too kindly to the destruc-tion of a million dollar aircraft, and theloss of two of their most experience of-ficers. He will scowl and say that theyshould count their lucky stars that theyaren�t up on charges of reckless behav-iour causing death.

The flight from Woomera to theMelbourne International Airport (viaAdelaide) takes just over three hours andfrom there to New Zealand the trip overthe Tasman Sea take 4 more. The planeflight itself is pleasant and comfortablewith good service and great views of bothcountries landscape at takeoff and land-ing.

Upon landing in Auckland, the firstthing that the characters will notice is thesecurity. Armed guards are everywhere,one could believe that they are in Iraq orwar torn Bosnia. In fact, it is a quite op-pressive experience to enter through cus-toms; the players� bags are searched upto three times each at various checkpoints

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through the airport terminal.Eventually one of the characters,

preferably the one that has complainedthe most at the delays, should be detainedfor some �questionable� material. As withall bureaucracy, the wheels turn slowlyand after a long delay a senior official willapproach the party member in questionand ask them to follow him to an �inter-view� room.

Of course, discussion here may geta little heated, the character knowing fullwell that they have done nothing wrong,yet it seems as if there is little choice butto comply.

Just as things seem about to get outof hand the group is approached by awoman with short cropped hair anddressed in a dark suit. Producing someofficial looking I.D., she flashes it at se-curity guards and the party. She explainsthat she is with the U.S. embassy, andthat the players have been assigned �spe-cial attaché� status with the embassy.

As the Security official protests thewoman produces a multi-paged docu-ment explaining to man that he has noauthority to detain any of the party. Atthis his face visibility reddens and tellsthe party to �Get out of his sight!�

Serving as �SpecialAttaches�� NOT!The woman will lead the party to her car,a limousine, and inform the driver to takethem to the Sheraton Hotel. As the carpulls out of its park, the woman will in-troduce herself as Carissa Grooms of theUS embassy, liaisoning between thearmed forces of the USA and New Zea-land.

Explaining that she was asked by afriend to make sure they got into thecountry and received their �package,� sheproduces the diplomatic bag from be-neath her seat and will offer it to the char-acters.

However, before she lets go of it,she will make the characters aware of onething. In Auckland, they have no author-ity, in fact the whole �special attaché�spiel at the airport was nothing more that;a convenient way to get the charactersout with the least amount of hassle. She

explains the only reason that they aregetting her help is that she owed a favorto this friend; one that is now repaid. Shestates that she will no longer be of anyassistance to them and that they are ontheir own in the city. Only once the char-acters understand this, she will allowthem to take the bag.

The trip to the hotel takes half anhour, right on the outskirts of the CBD(Central Business District), where thelimousine will drop them off. Carissa willwish them luck on whatever their taskand will drive off.

The hotel itself is rather impressive,both inside and out. The characters findrooms booked for them under their indi-vidual names. Each room is large with adouble bed and all the amenities onewould expect from a class establishment.

After the characters have settled in,it is time to get down to business.

Searching the CityThere are a number of events that willoccur while the players are in the city.

First and foremost, they are look-ing for Major Reed and in turn the stolengate components. This is not such an easytask, as she really doesn�t want to befound. In fact it might be easier for theparty to discover what she is doing herein New Zealand, rather than returning toher native America.

Most forms of inquiry into Reed�swhereabouts will meet in dead ends. ThePCs simply don�t know anyone who theycould ask.

Perhaps the best way for the char-acters to proceed is to use the Alien

Tracking device again. Hopefully, one ofthe players has thought of this, becauseReed does have a number of the gatecomponents already. If the players don�tthink of this angle, have Eagon ring themto see how things are going and then asthey explain that they have no leads havehim suggest using the Tracking device.

When they do activate the devicethey are almost deafened by the immen-sity of the pinging it emits. Somewherecloser than they thought is part of theGate!

Following the DeviceThe device will lead the players to theheart of the city. Here, they will see thatthe city is in a state of tension; armed po-lice are every where to be seen and mostcorporate executives are escorted bybodyguards. Most other civilians thathave business in the city move aroundbriskly, as if they have no wish to remainhere any longer than at all necessary. Asthe players continue, they will notice thatmuch of the retail in the city is aimed atAsian visitors and residence, that is mostshops have signs in various languages,and have multilingual attendants.

But perhaps the most alarmingsights the characters will see is the loca-tion that the tracking device has lead themto. This is a huge building taking up somethree or four blocks in length and ten totwelve stories high.

Yet something seems not right withit, and after a few seconds it will dawnon the characters why� it is but a shellof a building. Almost all of its windowshave been blown out, and the groundfloor has been sealed up with thick

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boards. As the characters look aroundthey will notice a large sign stating (seethe previous page).

Entering the buildingThe characters will want to get into thebuilding and find out the source of thetracking devices target, as it is unlikelyto be Major Reed in there.

Unfortunately, as the building is wellsealed, there does not seem an easy wayin. In addition, the perimeter is patrolledregularly by security guards. All of theground floor is closed off and there is noway that the characters could get in dur-ing the day without being spotted.

As the characters contemplate theiroptions, they will be approached by a kid,not much older than 15, dressed in whatmust obviously be gang colours. Some-thing about him seems �not right�; thePCs will feel there is something strangelyfamiliar about him without being able toput their finger on it.

The boy will ask the party what theyare doing, saying he has watched themtake an interest in the Britomart build-ing. No matter how they answer he willwarn them that this is Terror Key terri-tory and they better watch themselves.He will then flash them his colours andthen back off eyeing them evilly.

Each character should make an Av-erage: Observation roll when they see thekids gang badge. If the succeed, they no-tice immediately that it looks like tattoosthe Aborigines from the previous adven-ture had on their stomachs.

Should, the PCs give chase, the kidwill get away in the back streets of Auck-land. If the PCs refuse to give up thechase, a policeman will stop them to �en-quire� what their hurry is.

The only way the characters aregoing to get into the Britomart buildingsafely is by setting up some sort of sur-veillance at night. Once they do so itwon�t take long before they get someresults.One of the characters will, with a Diffi-cult: Observation, notice that a group ofyouths are making their way down thestreet, using the shadows to avoid beingseen. The youths are obviously from the

The Britomart project was built in early in the 21st Century as Auckland�sgreat attempt to beat the growing number of commuters. Auckland�s traffichad increased at an extraordinary rate and the city could no longer cope.

Under pressure from the city residents and businesses, the Mayor wasforced to act quickly on the issue of transport. He was however limited in hisoptions; road rationing (where you could only drive on the roads on pre-scribed days or face a fine) would not work, nor could the increased use ofbuses (they too got stuck in the traffic).

The answer in the end was simple, to build a subway system. Fortu-nately, the city already had access to many underground tunnels built origi-nally around the late 1800�s when it was believed Russia would invade. Thekey to this �subway� was to have four lines all converging in the central city,one north to the other side of the city�s harbour, one south following theexisting motorway, the third west out to the poor sections of the city, and thelast east along the rich and exclusive bays. The idea was workers and shop-pers could leave their cars in designated locations and take an express traininto the city centre.

Although costing a huge amount of money, the Britomart Project wasopened early in 2002 and was fully operational less than a year later. Almostimmediately the effects ocould be seen, with traffic in the city cut in half. Themayor was hailed as a hero and ensured of another term at least.

For the next ten years, the Britomart project functioned perfectly, help-ing keep the traffic in the city to a minimum. Until almost a year ago.

With the rising political tension between the right wing government andthe rural Maori population, many historical and politically important build-ings become focal points for protests about equality rights and resourcesallocation. Many Maoris believed the new government was once again bendon repressing their culture and rights. As the clashes became more heated,violence broke out and many locations around Auckland and New Zealandbecame victims of a new type of protest� terrorism.

Early one April morning, just prior to the start of the first trains, a mas-sive explosion shook the Britomart building, starting an intense fire that quicklyspread through out the entire building. Three hundred people died that day,many of them Britomart employees, and many more where injured. Thank-fully for its neighbouring buildings, emergency services where quickly on thescene and only the Toshiba building was damaged.

The incident shook the nation. Thankfully, the explosion took place priorto rush hour, otherwise the death toll may have been much higher.

But the Britomart saga didn�t finish there. The council was unsure how(if at all) to proceed with the rebuilding of the Project. In the end, the deci-sion was made for them. With the increase of terrorism in the city, many ofthe city�s corporations moved out to take advantage of the government�s�Land to Own� scheme. Many of the city�s residents also moved away tosafer environments for their families. So many people moved, the BritomartProject was deemed no unnecessary, with the money spent on better things.

So now the Britomart building is but a shell of it former bustling self,home instead to riff-raff and street kids. One day soon the building will betorn down and redeveloped; the land too variable a profit to left much longer.Until then, it is a haven for those that wish not to be found.

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same gang as Ally; their colours can beseen. Just as they are about to get out ofsight, one of them stoops and lifts a manhole cover. The rest of the Nukids enterthe hole, disappearing one after the other.After they have gone, the characters willhave no difficulty following them enter-ing the sewers system.

Not too much further down thecharacters come across a large hole in theSewer wall. This leads to the subwaytracks and on into the building itself.

The inside of the Britomart build-ing is as much of a wreck as the outside.After the explosion, little work was doneto tidy any of the mess up and anythingthat was in any way valuable has beenlong since acquired by the buildings in-frequent residents.

With seven underground levels,there is a lot of ground for the party tocover to find the location of the gate com-ponent the tracking device has located.Eventually however the characters willbe attracted by light and sounds of theNukids camp.

The camp is stretched across a largeroom that at one time held one of themany generators that were required. Thelocator indicates that the Gate compo-

nent is present of the far side of the camp.Somehow, the characters must get acrosswithout being seen.

The camp itself is in disarray withthe Nukids each having a large area tothemselves. The walls are decorated withgraffiti and street art. Many of which havethe same motif as the Terror Keys gangbadge. If any of the characters stop andinvestigate these then the will see someof the pictures involve a large block,which is in fact one of the base compo-nents of the gate.

At the present time there are sometwenty Nukids in the room, most of whichare either sleeping or talking in groupsof two and three. They are fairly safe herein the building, so do not set any sort ofwatch.

Getting across the room should notbe much of a task, with two successfulAverage: Stealth checks being all that isnecessary.

The AmbushOnce the PCs make their way across theroom, they will see that there is a smalldoorway into a dark room beyond. Assoon as they enter this room the party isambushed.

From behind and in front, theNukids have been waiting. Ally has theClairvoyance skill and predicted thatthese outsiders would try and invade theirdomain. He and half a dozen fellow gang-ers have lain in wait for the characters,and although they aren�t armed with any-thing larger than knifes they will try todisarm the characters as quickly andsafely as possible.

If any of the Nukids are hurt, Allywill try to stop the fight and ask the char-acters why they are there. If the PCs askabout the block, he will show them and

will say that for some reason the TerrorKeys are attracted to it.

The block is at the back of this smallroom, which is full of pipes. The gateblock is easily recognised, the silver blackrock forms part of the wall at about waistheight and beside is inlayed a plaque (seebelow).

The block is well sealed in the wall,not that the Nukids will allow the partyto attempt to remove it.

The Phone callAround about this time the characters willget a phone call from Eagon Spangler.He is quite distraught and quickly ex-plains that something very bad has hap-pened.

While the characters have been offon their little adventure, Eagon and DrWest entered the country. However as DrSpangler will explain, they were inter-cepted by some of Major Reeds goonsas they left the airport. While the Spanglerwas able to make good his escape, DrWest was not so lucky. The last thingEagon saw was Dr West being loaded inthe back of a air force truck.

This is bad news for the party. DrWest is the only one of the party that re-ally knew what was going on with thehybrids and they should be aware that heis important to them if they ever wish tosolve these genetic mysteries.

Since there is also little chance thatthe characters will be able to acquire thepiece of the gate at the Britomart at themoment, they should now focus on res-cuing the good doctor.

Saving Dr WestBy the time the characters get back tothe Hotel, they are met by Eagon. He isin a foul mood knowing how important

The boy�s name is Alfred, or Allyto his friends, and he is a Nukid(see Referee�s Guide Master Edi-tion p121/Basic Edition p49). Heis part of a street �family� knownas the �Terror Keys� because theysay they hold the key to the city�sunderground.

The Terror Keys are actuallya group of Terceki Hybrids thathave come together by their ge-netic code. They have also beenattracted to the Gate componentsomewhere in the Britomart build-ing and have set up camp near it.

Use the stats for a Nukidfrom the Referee�s Guide.

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West is to the party; at the moment, he isat a loss to where West might be. He willmake sure the characters know how ur-gent it is to find West and to get him awayfrom Reed before she can learn too muchabout the Terceki and Vorceki Hybrids.

The characters will probably haveno idea where Reed might be, but grill-ing Eagon for any information he mightremember will result in the following.

� West was taken away in an air force

truck.

� The abductors where all dressed in

American Army uniform and spokewith American accents.

This may give the characters the idea toring Carissa Grooms, the US embassyattaché, as she has dealings with bothgovernments. The NZ government is al-lowing US army personal to operate inthe city. If the players don�t think of thisthen finally as a last resort Eagon willring.

After a short conversation, in whichEagon impresses on her the importanceof Dr West to their operation, she willgive up the location of Reed and her sol-diers � the Hobson air force base. Shesays that she will meet the party at thebase and gives them directions.

It takes about half an hour to get tothe air force base and Grooms is alreadywaiting them. Before they enter the base,she will state quite seriously that they arein no way to start a fight of any kind.The New Zealand government would notlook kindly on foreigners firing weaponson their military bases.

Tracking down Reed in the base isn�ttoo hard. Eventually, the characters willfind her in the mess hall with her fellowVorceki cult members. The hall is abouthalf full, most of which is New Zealandair force personnel.

As the party approaches the tableshe is at, they can feel the tension rising.A number of the cult members stand andready themselves for a fight. Reed her-self is a bit shocked; she doesn�t knowhow the players have tracked her downand she is a bit out of her depth here,surrounded by people she can not trust(the New Zealand air men).

Carissa will remind the party thatthis is no place for a fight, while Reedgets to feet and straightens herself up.She looks up at the party and smile.

�I thought you would never find me.But I guess we both know what you arehere for� don�t we?�

As the characters will more thanlikely start to ask some pretty incrimina-tion questions, Reed will take them out-side to continue the conversation.

During this conversation she is quitearrogant, knowing that she has the partyat a disadvantage, having now got overthe initial shock of seeing the PCs hereat the base. She is in her element;outgunned and out manned, there is lit-tle the PCs can do but listen to what Reedhas to say.

The conversation will go somethinglike:

She knows how important Dr Westis to the PCs, but he also needs to helpher and her fellow Hybrids understandwhat is happening to them.

She has learnt from her �discus-sions� with West that the PCs have dis-covered yet another piece of the gatewayhere in Auckland.

While the good Doctor is importantto their cause the gate component repre-sents a greater need at this particularmoment. She thinks that maybe some sortof exchange could be made, in which bothparties would be happy.

Of course the PCs will hopefully notreveal that they aren�t in actual posses-sion of the Gate block. In case they dosay something, have Eagon or Carissastop them. It would be better if they ar-range to bring the block to Reed some-time in the near future. She will agree tothis and arrange for the characters to meether, with the gate component at a largeprivate airfield north of the city.

Getting the Block freeIn reality, freeing the block from the wallisn�t all that difficult. Any sort of port-able power tool could be used to removethe block from the wall. As with the pre-vious piece they discovered, once thepiece is free, it seems much lighter thanit really is.

The problem however will be get-ting to the block without being stoppedby the Terror Keys. The party does havea few choices that would work, all ofwhich involve getting the Nukids out oftheir camp long enough for the playersto free the block.

The easiest way would be bribe theNukids, and give them each enoughmoney to get lost for a while. Thisshouldn�t be too much cash, seeing thata hundred dollars to these kids is morethan they will see in a month.

Another equally effect option,would be to attack one or more of theNukids in the camp. Remember these areall children really and they will flee at anysign of real violence. Although this ismorally wrong, it is perhaps the quickestway of getting access to the block.

In the end a combination of the twomight be the most effective, by bribingmost of them, and threatening those thatwon�t leave.

Any other sort of idea might workequally as well, so feel free to let the play-ers try. Eventually however the playersshould have there hands on the block andbe ready to head out to met Reed.Carisasa or Eagon can arrange transport.

The FinaleBy the time they get to Reed, she andher crew are all ready and packed on theairfield. The party will have no trouble atall finding her and her plane, as she is go-ing to leave as soon as possible.

The negotiation to get back Westshould be short and sweet, with Reedeager to get her hands on the second lastgate component. She will very quicklymeet face to face with the PCs and de-mand to be shown the block. As it is in-deed what she has been looking, she or-ders one of her cult members to bring outDoctor West for the exchange.

Just as the swap is about to happena war cry will echo from behind the PCs.As everyone turns to see what has dis-rupted the meeting, Reed will take ad-vantage of the situation, grabbing theGate component and dragging it towardsthe plane.

Almost immediately after the war

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cry is heard, a number of old run downcars coming squealing onto the runwayand come schreeching to a halt near bothgroups.

It is the Nukids, enraged that some-one has stolen their Gate component theyhave become even more wild as they havegot closer to their natural enemy, theVorceki cult members. They quickly dis-gorge from their vehicles and swarm toattack the soldier protecting the plane. Atitanic battle is about to take place.

Although unarmed the proximity ofthe Vorceki drives Nukids on. The cultmembers for their part are all altered bythis new threat, and driven by their hy-brid genes drop their guns to attack theirancient enemy face to face. The two sidesclash in front of the party separating themfrom Major Reed, who alone seems tobe able to resist the primal urges to de-stroy the Terceki attackers.

As the battle progresses it is clear,the shear numbers of Nukids is forcingthe Vorceki cultists back, despite thembeing only youths. The aliens genes thatmake up both side have come to the foreas each side tears and rips it way into theother. It is a horrible sight.

During this time, the PCs will prob-ably be at a loss about what to do. With

Reed having disappeared amongst thecombatants, they at least have no troublerescuing Dr West. The battle rages onhowever and then the whine of the planesengines can be heard. Then slowly butinexorably, the aircraft begins to roll for-ward; Reed can now be seen in the cock-pit piloting the plane.

The battle seems to freeze for a sec-ond as the plane makes its way down therunaway, the PCs are helpless to stopReed from escaping once again. Then likeit began, the battle is entered anew as boththe Nukids and the remaining Vorcekistruggle to kill the other.

Dr West is shaken by unhurt and willquickly suggest that they make a get awaybefore ether side begins to find them athreat as well. As the characters driveaway they will see the last of Reeds Cult-ist get cut down and the Nukids, nowaltered even more in body and mind raisetheir heads as one and howl to the sky.

What the Doctor knowsAlthough the adventure is techinally overat this point there are a few interestingbits of information Dr West can revealabout his time in captivity.

The main reason that Reed kid-

napped him in the first place was to con-duct a number of tests on the Vorcekei.It seems that they genetic code in theVorceki is replicating itself too quickly,and at the present rate will lead to totalcell break down in the hybrids within ayear. He also believes the Terceki will befacing the same genetic problems.

Dr West was unable to do anythingabout this, as mankind is yet to masterthat sort of control of ones genetic code.

This seems to also be the reason thatReed is so frantically trying to find thegate piece. She believes that by reassem-bling the gateway she will be able to re-join with the Vorceki on other worlds,and in turn be able to stop the degrada-tion of her cells.

She must be stopped from openingthis gateway at all costs. To allow fullVorceki into our world would mean theend of mankind as we know it.

Where the characters go from hereis up to them. But you will have to waitfor the conclusion of this saga to find outwhether Major Reed is successful.v

The complete gate consists of six components. The gatecomponents are made of a material best described as �super-dense matter.� Molecules that make up the components havebeen artificially �compressed,� allowing rapid energy trans-fer and a relatively small size. To offset its incredible density,each gate component creates an artificial gravity field. Thesefields prevent the components from plunging into the earth.This field also stabilizes the matter, preventing it from col-lapsing further (which could result in a nuclear reaction).

The gate�s components are best described as a �silveryblack.� Strangely, the gate components seem to �drink� light,while at the same time almost seem to sparkle. The compo-nents are impervious to everything short of nuclear weaponsor some other form of energy strong enough to destroy thematerial or cause the gravimetric field to collapse.

Furthermore, the smallest components, the two endpieces, are 5m tall and 5m wide. The gate is a sizable con-struct, although it is small compared with other Vorceki gates.

These gate components have no apparent instru-mentation. Their surfaces are not smooth; the surfacesare marked with various orderly, precise lines, circles,and raised surfaces. Direct mental contact operates thegates, and they are equipped so that even beings withrelatively weak empathy (in game terms, any intelligentcreature that has an Empathy score of at least 4) can usethem.

When all the pieces are within 500m of each otherand they are sent the combination signal, they will formthe gateway. In its entirety, the structure will seem toemit a faint, but powerful, hum, which can not be re-corded by sound recording devices. When the gate re-ceives an initialization signal, it will power up and presentthe user with a mental list of possible destinations. Afterthat, the user can cause the gate to open to any viabledestination. When activated, the destination appears asa �hole� in space time, between the main pylons.

Details about New Zealand in 2015 arein the Milieu section of this issue ofDEMONGROUND.

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by Marcus D. Bone

In the Cities of New Zealand, security is high, the penalties forbeing caught with a weapon higher. It is though the country isunder siege, and in some ways, that is right. No one knows who isa friend or who is the �eyes� for the other side. Grim faces arecommon place.Much has changed in New Zealand sincethe idealic days of the 1950�s and 60�s.In those years, one was never withoutwork and local and state funds supportedthose in their times of need.

Now however, the Government ofNew Zealand, like those in the rest of theworld, has faced the economic realities.No more free education, no more freehealth and most importantly, no morework. Today, only 8 in ten people workand most of those earning less than the�average wage�.

Unfortunately, for the country onceknown as �God�s Own�, there have beenmassive changes in the political structure.These changes are just a part of an on-going saga that first started when Eng-land claimed New Zealand, back in 1840.

At that time, a treaty was signed andit seemed that the local Polynesian peo-ple, the Maori, would be willing to livehand in hand with the increasing num-bers of Europeans flocking to NewZealands shores. The Maori where seenas a more �advanced� aboriginal thanothers encountered in the Pacific; theyembraced Christianity readily, acceptedEnglish rule and eagerly adopted the fire-arm. They also seemed willing to sell theirland to the Crown and settlers, for one-tenth its cost back in Europe.

But it was soon realized that theMaori looked upon the land as a resourceowned by all, not by an individual. Whilethe different tribal groups staked claimto different territories at times, the Euro-peans did not understand that the Maorisaw themselves as occupants rather thanowners. This lead to conflict between theinterests of the settlers and local tribes.

The arguments over what was pri-marily a land issue escalated to involvethe rights of sovereignty and freedom.What started as distrust soon became aconflict of arms. In the mid-1800s, twowars were fought over the same rightsand laws. Although the settlers had

�won� in the end, little was achieved bythe deaths of the soldiers and Maori. Bothgroups still distrusted each other and allknew that eventually both sides wouldclash again.

For the next hundred years, theMaori faired badly; their culture and so-ciety almost lost to the increasing numberof Europeans. As a race they almost diedout. However in the late 1970s, the Maoripeople received something of a boost, asthe treaty that they had first signed withthe Colonists was at last seen in theirfavor, after many decades of trying. Asthe decade rolled on, the Maori cultureagain became seen as important, beingtaught in schools and given access toskills and resources they had long beenlacking. The 80s and 90s continued thesetrends, with many of the tribal groups atlast being given financial recompense forland illegally confiscated off them duringthe wars a century before hand.

But as the world entered the GreaterDepression of the 21st Century, the goodtimes for the Maori were about to end.Harder economic times hit all, and withit cam the tightening of the government�ssocial and financial purse strings. To manyof the Europeans, the cultural and eco-nomic wealth the Maori had acquiredover the past decades should have beenreinvested into New Zealand as a whole.

As a result of this ill feeling towardsthe Maori, a new harsher government waselected. This hard line group of politi-cians was made up of both grim cam-paigners and fresh new faces that had anopinion they wanted heard. At the timeof the election, most New Zealanderswanted a change, but none were readyfor what this change would cost.

The new government went about itstask repairing New Zealand�s damagedeconomy, starting what has become aperiod of isolationism for the country.Spending was cut to the bone, importslimited with tariffs and duties and in what

was to be the biggest shock, the Maoriwere forced to return all the cash andassets given to them but years before-hand.

In an incredibly short amount oftime, the Maori when from a thriving cul-ture to almost extinction. This of coursewas not taken lightly, with appeal madeto the World Court and United Nations.This all was in vain. It seemed that therewas no option but for the Maori to re-turn to being the dying race they oncewere. But, as New Zealand was about tofind out, it was not going to go quietly.

What began as protests escalatedinto violence, and within a year the popu-lation lived in fear. New Zealand had be-come another Northern Ireland, this timenot over ones faith, but one�s skin color.Many speculate that if the governmenthad attempted to prevent things, the in-stances of terrorism would never haveoccured. Instead, they seemed more thanhappy to support those vigilantes, whilethe politicians focused on getting theeconomy back on track.

Today, it seems as if the violence isalmost at an end; the Maori people real-izing the war will lose them more sup-porters than it will gain. While the bomb-ings have stopped, the war continues; thistime in the private offices of the corpo-rations and politicians. Favors are gainedand called; people disappear in the nightnever to be seen again, and shootings arenow put down to the occasional �mad-man�. The War of New Zealand has en-tered a new and deadly phase, one inwhich neither side can predict the con-clusion.

On the streets the people have re-turned. The police are now armed withjust pistols rather than assault weapons.But under the surface you can sense thateveryone is nervous, just waiting for theviolence to start anew. v

Milieu

New Zealand in 2015 by Marcus D. Bone

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by Lee Williams

Somewhere east of Britain, out in the cold and stormy wastes of theNorth Sea, there is life. People driven from their homes by a harshtotalitarian state have found refuge amongst the rusting steel car-casses of some of the largest man-made structures ever built. This isa short guide to their world.

HISTORYThe rise of the Socialist People�s Partyhad many ramifications for the popula-tion and the corporations of the UK.

One of the most famous fallings outwas that between the SPP themselves andthe American/Japanese conglomerateConsolidated Oil Exploration Corpora-tion. Outraged at the plundering of theirfinances by the SPP�s Tax EnforcementDepartment, ConOilEx took the unheardof step of decommissioning all of theirNorth Sea oil and gas production plat-forms linked to the British mainland. Al-though nearly all of the pipelines actu-ally came ashore in Scotland, at that timethe London SPP government was exert-ing its authority over the whole of theUnited Kingdom. The board of ConOilExordered their rigs stripped of the expen-sive drilling equipment, and the platformswere shut down. This left thirteen of thelargest deep sea platforms in the NorthSea to rust, as the costs of dismantlingall the rigs at one time were astronomi-cal even for ConOilEx.

As the SPP began to tighten itsstranglehold on the population, a steadystream of refugees began to slip awayacross the North Sea to Scandinavia.These people mainly used the ports innortheastern England and Scotland,places where the SPP net was loosest.

The story goes that one of the refu-gees, Terry Sadler, was sitting on thedeck of a ferry bound for Stavanger inNorway when he noticed the shape ofBritannia Two, one of thedecommissioned platforms, in the dis-tance. An idea started to take shape inthe back of his mind and when he arrivedin Norway he began to contact Britishexpatriates, particularly those whoworked in the gas and oil industry.

As many of the refugees were fromScotland, northern England and several

others still worked for Scandinavianbased corporations, it was relatively easyto find out if it would be viable to founda permanent independent community onthese empty platforms.

At first, Sadler and his group treatedthis as a sort of grand intellectual exer-cise. Plans were drawn up for convertingparts of the platforms into such things asgreenhouses, dry docks, repair shops, re-cycling plants etc. Soon the �madness�began to spread, and those concernedfound themselves beginning to take theidea seriously. The plans were refined andword sent covertly back to Britain, bynow in the throes of a totalitarian regime.

Then, something completely unex-pected and unrelated to these plans hap-pened. A group of ex-oil workers hadwon a huge sum on the lottery retiredearly. They decided to slip out of thecountry and invest their cash somewhereother than SPP Britain. They bought asmall tramp-steamer ship, the Miyamoto,filled it with tools and supplies for a monthand sailed out into the stormy North Sea.Their destination was the Britannia Fourplatform, far out into the sea area knownas the Forties.

This original group, some thirty

strong, set about making the accommo-dation modules habitable once again.Word spread over the sea to Scandina-via, and soon Sadler and his expatriategroup of planners started to arrive in smallnumbers to assist. The two groups goton well, and after six months of intenivework, the Britannia 4 was ready for itsfirst residents.

Back in London, the SPP began tohear rumors about the platforms. How-ever, they had plenty of other problemsat the time. The platforms were outsidethe twelve mile territorial sea limit per-mitted by international maritime law, aswell as still technically belonging toConOilEx. The SPP would have been un-able to act to stop the platform settle-ments even if they were not under pres-sure from all sides. Consequetly, the plat-forms were all but forgotten by Tyler�sbesieged government.

Initially, there was plenty of spaceon the Britannia 4. The platform was ac-

�The night we first come oot here, the weather wasn�tso bad. Even if it had been, we would ha�come anyway.After the bloody SPP showed their true colours we had toleave in a hurry, no room for us except in the new relo-cation camps in Kielder Forest. So anyway, we found aboat and slipped awa�. I knew some o� these places wereabandoned so that�s why we ended up here. Just as wellwe did find it too, otherwise we wouldha� ended up inNorway, and I hate ski-ing��

Jimmy Seaton,Chief Engineer of the Britannia Four settlement.

F.A.I.L. - Life in the North Sea Settlements by Lee Williams

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tually made up of several rigs, each onehaving a specific purpose during oil andgas production. The total number of crewbefore the decommissioning has been wellover 2,500. The accommodation moduleswere situated on the opposite side of thecomplex from the production modules,for safety reasons. The first settlers tookup as much room as they liked, but asmore and more arrived, the controllingcouncil took steps to share space equally.

By the following October, Britan-nia 4 was essentially full and the inhabit-ants prepared to batten down for thestormy conditions of the North Sea win-ter. Word was covertly sent to those stillashore to hide until better weather came.

About this time, there was a prisonbreakout from Slade Prison in the northof England. Some of the escapees madetheir way to the east coast and stole aboat and some supplies, and headed outinto the night. Their destination was Nor-way, who had refused to sign a new ex-tradition treaty with the SPP governmentdue to the civil rights abuse stories toldto them by the British refugees.

Unfortunately for them, the NorthSea storm proved to be too much to han-dle, and the boat began to ship water.More by luck than judgement, they hap-pened to see the lights of Britannia 4 anddecided to try to reach it. This they justmanaged to do; the settlers took them inand gave them first aid and dry clothes.The escapees were thought to be merelyrefugees from the SPP and were madewelcome

The next day, the escapees wereuncovered. One of the settlers recognisedone of them as multiple killer Neal Calder,who had been incarcerated several yearsbefore after one of Britain�s biggest man-hunts. (Calder had been a star pupil atOxford university, but had been convictedof four murders he committed during theMay Ball. Strangely, he was never seento leave the ballroom even though thebodies were found in the corridor lead-ing to his quarters on the third floor.)

Calder and his associates producedweapons, and demanded the platform�sfastest vessel to be readied and turnedover to them. The Britannia�s small se-

curity team were unable to act, so theboat was loaded with food and tools.

Calder and his crew left immediately,heading south and were not seen againby the settlers for several months. Dur-ing this time, the Britannia 4 was mademore secure against hostile actions.

When the spring came, the originalengineering team who re-commissionedthe platform turned their attention to theBritannia 7. Located some 25 kilometerseast of the Britannia 4, Britannia 7 was asmaller but more modern platform. In itsproduction phase, it had housed almost2,000 workers and it was fitted with asea-level docking facility. This made itmore desirable for settlement, as it meantthat no special equipment was needed tooffload passengers and cargo. A smallsurvey party of 6 people was sent to Bri-tannia 7 to check its condition. They werenever seen alive again.

The Britannia 4 council were thencontacted by Calder, who warned themnot to send any vessels into his newlyclaimed territory. This warning was due,he said, to them helping him and his crewduring the storm. He said that so long asthe platform settlers steered clear of hisnew rig he would leave them alone. Anyother vessels were fair game for Calder�snew found interest in piracy.

Jimmy Seaton, chief engineer of Bri-tannia 4 angrily demanded why they hadfelt it necessary to attack the survey team.Calder replied in a surprised tone that hehad not done this, this message was meantas a warning, as his crew had not yet be-gun to raid shipping. Then, irritated bythe accusation, Calder cut the link.

Two days later, the survey team boatwas spotted approaching Britannia 4 atmaximum headway. As the boat neared,it became obvious that it was not undercontrol and could hit the platform. Aspeedboat was despatched with a board-ing party, who were were able to bringthe servey vessel under control and intodock safely.

The boat was in a horrendous con-dition. The inside of the wheelhouse wascompletely sprayed with blood, whichalso lay in pools on the floor. In the gal-ley, the body of a survey crew member

was found pinned to the wall by thecook�s knives kept on board. Anotherbody was discovered in the engine room,with its hand still on the emergency throt-tle control. The wheel had been tied andthe engine set to maximum revolutions,presumably to get home as quickly aspossible. No sign was found of the otherfour crew. A second team was sent toBritannia 7, this time with small arms.They completely vanished shortly afterboarding the rig.

It was then decided not to send anymore people to this platform, and insteadthe engineers and planners chose Britan-nia 2 as the second platform settlement.

The expansion onto the other de-serted platforms contined over the nextfive years, and with each one, the con-version process took less time. This wasdue to the increased number of workers,as well as the experience gained from theprevious projects. The expansion onto theother platforms also removed any threatof overcrowding from the Britannia 4.

Eventually all of the remaining Bri-tannia platforms were made habitable,and the councils of the individual rigsdecided to form a mutual aid group. Sev-eral names were suggested, but the onefinally chosen was the Forties ArtificialIsle League, or F.A.I.L. This acronymwas apparently chosen to remind the plat-form settlers that failure was not an op-tion. It also reinforced the concept of theplatforms being actual inhabited islands,rather than simply huge piles of prefabri-cated metal in the middle of nowhere.

CURRENT EVENTSElsewhere on the harsh North Sea, Calderhad been busy. In five years, he had gonefrom top dog in a bunch of escaped con-victs to a modern-era pirate chief.

After the escapees had left the Bri-tannia 4, they had sailed south-west to-wards the British coast. Off the Yorkshirecoast, they found an abandoned gas rig,never completed by the builders due tothe SPP government�s lack of funding.Calder realised that this platform wasclose enough to the shipping lanes thathe could actually make a living from pi-racy.

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This platform eventually gained aname; for reasons known only to Calderand his top lackeys the rig was dubbed�Tantalus�. His crews became more ex-perienced, and their numbers began togrow.

With the way the world was going,no authority wanted to claim jurisdiction,as anti-piracy operations are very expen-sive. Technically, as this platform wasoutside the twelve mile limit, the newBritish government could do nothing,even if they had wanted to. The UnitedNations could have cleared them out un-der international maritime laws, but theywere too busy with the increasingnumber of brushfire wars across theworld.

Calder�s organisation was left togrow, raiding civilian shipping at will.Their numbers currently are thought tobe around 600, with a number of vesselsranging from Zodiacs up to at least oneservice tender with a displacement of4,000 tons. Many of the newer recruitsare thought to be SPP enforcers; ex-criminals turned paramilitary police withbad attitudes. As most of them were of-fered amnesty by the SPP in exchangefor service, they decided to leave whenthey saw which way the wind was blow-ing.

Now that the SPP no longer holdany real power in the Republic of Brit-ain, the new government is beginning totake steps towards eliminating the piracythreat. Unfortunately, they consider allsettlers to be involved in these criminalactivities, and have even arrested thosewho have returned to the mainland afterthe fall of the SPP. This has made the Bri-tannia settlers feel angry and let down.

They now intend to stay on the platformsuntil the London government realizes thatthey are a world apart from the piracy ofCalder and his gang.

The government is putting fundsinto the development of the ES 001 pa-trol craft. This is a wing-in-ground-effectcraft, which will be armed, armored andcapable of accommodating a boardingparty. The ES 001 is also much faster thanany conventional vessel, able to reachaircraft speeds. The idea is to chase thepirates back to their bases, or until theyrun out of fuel. If the ES001s are firedupon, they will reply with heavymachinegun or even cannon fire.

The ES 001 has been so impressivein trials that several other European na-tions are interested in purchasing themfor their own use. The settlers on theFAIL platforms are not sure what to makeof this, as they feel the governments con-cerned might make a joint effort to evictthem with the help of these fast and agilenew craft.

The Britannia settlers face anotherobstacle to their continued freedom.ConOilEx and the other corporationswho own the occupied platforms aremaking overtures to the London govern-ment about starting their North Sea op-erations up again. As the government isstrapped for cash, as well as being morewell-disposed toward capitalism than theSPP this would seem to be a good movefor both parties.

This is bad news for thesettlers. If they don�t move,the corps are within their le-gal rights to evict them, evengoing so far as to cast themadrift in boats. This has hap-pened before in other parts ofthe world, and is a favouredtactic of the infamousConOilEx security force. Ifthey go back to the mainland,they could be arrested as pi-rates.

A n -other fac-tor is quitea lot ofthem donot want to

go anywhere, even if the governmentpromises not to lock them up. About aquarter of the FAIL population havetaken to life on the ocean and wish tostay. They built the whole thing up, andit�s been home for several years now. Whyshould they leave?

There is still the grisly mystery ofthe Britannia 7. Nobody knows what hasgone on there, and most people who areaware of what happened have no wish toknow. There are stories from the peopleof the closest platform, Britannia 5, ofstrange lights at night and eerie noises.Waterspouts and weird eddy currentshave also been seen around the supportlegs of Britannia 7, as well as occasionalfoul smells and what appear to be releasesof toxic wastes. Nobody from the FAILplatforms has been there since the com-plete disappearance of the armed secondsurvey team, possibly more because ofwhat they might not find than what theywill.

There have been a number ofstrange incidents in recent months thathave the FAIL council concerned. Theyhave received several strange radio mes-sages, apparently originating from eitherthe pirate platform or the Britannia Seven.These signals have all been garbled andbroken up by static, and they have disap-peared before the caller could be con-tacted.

Four pirate vessels have been foundadrift in FAIL waters soon after thesebroadcasts. Boarding parties have re-

�Roll on, thou deepand dark grey Ocean�

- Neal Calder,Leader of the

Tantalus pirate crew,misquoting Lord Byron

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ported that the interior of the boats havebeen stripped out, and the entire cabinwas coated in what looked like crystal-line spider web. The last vessel was dif-ferent in that it had a pirate crewman onboard. When the FAIL boarding partyfound him, he was delirious and incoher-ent. All the FAIL crew could get out ofhim before he died was �Don�t take meback. It�s there! It�s there!�

The FAIL council is unsure what tomake of these strange events and is re-luctant to investigate at this time.

OTHER INFORMATIONThe current total population of the FAILsettlements is a little over seven thousand.Supplying the needs of the people is afull time concern. The larger rigs havehuge hydroponic gardens, located deepinside the structures for added safety. Onsome rigs, the production modules havebeen removed, leaving large expanses ofdeck. These areas have been convertedinto greenhouses, which supply fresh fruitand vegetables during the warmer monthsand keep evergreen plants safe in the win-ter. Primitive but effective desalinationequipment gives enough fresh drinkingwater for all.

The council of each platform is madeup of a number of representatives pro-portional to the population size. The big-gest council is that of the original plat-form, Britannia Four. The head of eachcouncil is also the representative of hisor her platform at the weekly meetingsof FAIL. In general, all of the settlementsget along well with each other, althoughon occasion, friendly rivalry becomesmore serious. When there is any kind oftrouble, from drunken brawls to pirateattack, the security detachments arealerted. They are usually ex-servicemenor policemen, and they have a variety ofweapons and equipment at their disposal.They do not normally carry firearms ex-cept in alert situations.

Safety is paramount on the plat-forms. Strangely, given their location andthe unpredictability of the weather, aNorth Sea rig is a very safe place to be.The platforms are all raised high abovethe waves, and are anchored securely to

the seabed. In shallow waters rigs tendto have their support legs directly fixedto the bottom, whilst in deeper watersthe rigs are floated out to the requiredlocation and then anchored to the oceanfloor with many tethers. The smallest ofthese tethers is about two metres in di-ameter, and they are fixed to huge con-crete blocks weighing hundreds of tonnesthat have been sunk deep into the seabed.

Another safety aspect is the regularlifeboat evacuation drills. The Britanniarigs use the long drop style. Should itbecome necessary to abandon the plat-form, the crew make their way to the low-est habitation decks, where the lifeboatsare ready. When each lifeboat is full, thesteersman pulls the release mechanismand the boat drops some 40 metres intothe sea. The crew are all strapped in safelyand the boat is launched at an angle ofaround 30 degrees, which minimises theimpact when it hits the ocean. The spe-cially shaped extra buoyant hulls are ableto take the impact with no damage. Thissystem was developed after the infamousPiper Alpha fire disaster, taking on boardthe lessons learned from that tragedy.

A large proportion of the platforms�necessities and luxuries have come fromland and a number of �suppliers� bring inthese things for a small fee. Several havebeen arrested in the past as pirates dueto the number of firearms they carry,though the reason they carried the weap-ons was in order to protect themselvesfrom real pirates.

In general Calder�s pirate crews tendto stay away from FAIL seas, except foroccasional scouting missions in the win-ter. They will raid supply ships headingfor the platforms given the chance, butsince the end of the SPP era, the pirateshave been less active on this front.

Calder himself is rumored to be arecluse, staying in his quarters and issu-ing orders by radio. A pirate victim wasrescued by a FAIL security crew. He toldthe Council that his crew had been takento the pirate rig. Suddenly, the air wasfilled with the sound of Calder himselfchanting something over the pirate ves-sel�s PA system. The seaman said hethought it sounded like some kind of

meditation. While the pirates weredistractd, he took a survival suit and jumped overboard. The veracity of this storyhas yet to be proven.

What is true, however, is thatCalder�s boats and his platform are all inmuch better condition than would nor-mally be expected. This suggests thatsomebody is supplying either equipmentor money to the pirates. Certain elementsin the FAIL communities suspect thatConOilEx are secretly backing Calder,and that there may be a full scale attackagainst them in the offing.

Contrary to stories put about on theBritish mainland, no member of the plat-form settlements has ever been a mem-ber of a pirate crew. This work of fic-tion, first concocted by an SPP mediaspecialist, has been taken up by elementsof the new government. It seems thatsticking to this line enables them to lumptogether the actual criminals who oper-ate in the North Sea with the populationof the FAIL platforms.

The FAIL population is a group thatno department in the current Londongovernment wishes to claim responsibil-ity for. Social Security, Customs andExcise, even Environmental Health haveall refused to accept the platforms as partof their remit. Even in the new politicalclimate of the Republic, there are somethings that politicians would rather ignorethan investigate.

So at the moment everything car-ries on as normal for the platform com-munities. What the future may bring isunclear, but at least it should be interest-ing.

There should hopefully be a shortadventure to expand on this article in thenext issue of DEMONGROUND.

CREDITSThis article was inspired by thefollowing sources:Snow Crash by Neal StephensonMindstar Rising

by Peter F. HamiltonHammerheads by Dale BrownFreezone by John Shirley

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by Mike Marchi

One of the strengths of Dark Conspiracy, is the ability for it to modelany horror or conspiratorial story line. I have seen it successfullyused to run gothic horror, cyber punk, and X-files, as well as classicdungeon-crawl monster slaying. Lester Smith always said that DCis more a unifying principal than an actual game setting. In thatsense, it�s really more like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons thanShadowrun.

The strength of AD&D lies not inthe underlying system, but in the manyvaried campaign environments availablefor the game. The campaign books pro-vide flavor and ideas that the Referee isable to draw upon. Dark Conspiracy hasthat same potential. The rules are writ-ten so that any kind of horror or con-spiracy story can be worked into the mix.Even other gaming systems make thetransition fairly well.

As an example, the adventure I pro-vided in DG6, Sins of the Fallen was theSteve Jackson game of In Nomine,dropped into DC. Other examples of thiscross-pollination potential: TheHoffmann Institute of the upcomingDark�Matter game is just a well-con-nected empathic underground cell; as isPagan Publishing�s Delta Green group.The characters in X-Files work for theFBI. The characters in Men in Blackwork for yet another government organi-zation.

Of all these, it is the Men in BlackI�d like to focus on. We�ve all seen themovie. We�ve probably seen the cartoon,or the comic, or the role playing game.The premise of a super-secret govern-ment organization doing battle with al-ien invaders who are already here amongus is not outside the realm of DC. It is infact, smack at the heart of it! So, nowwe find ourselves with a great source ofmaterial and ideas to aid a DC Referee.Why not exploit it?

Men in Dark SuitsFirst of all, I should point out that thereis already an entry for MiBs in the DarkRaces section of the Dark ConspiracyReferee�s Guide (page 111). This is aperfect example we can use to demon-strate adaptation from another source.

If you look at the MiBs as listed in theReferee�s Guide, you will find an alienrace that is very human in appearance.The dark glasses they wear conceal theiralien features. Their function in the worldis to cover up evidence of Dark incur-sions.

Now let�s look at the movie. TheMiBs in the film are decidedly human, butthe organization they belong to is inun-dated with aliens! It stands to reason,that while K and J are humans, there mightbe other agents in the organization thatare actually humanoid aliens. The MiBslisted in the Referee�s Guide could bethose alien agents, working side by sidewith human recruits as well. The beautyof this interpretation is that it allows youto use the listing in the book, as well asthe bevy of material associated with themovie without contradiction.

Now that we�ve successfully meldedthe two concepts together, what does thatdo for us? There are several ways youcould use this material.

� MiBs could be used as implied in theReferee�s Guide. They are stumblingblocks - obstacles to overcome - foesto outwit.

� The players could be members of theMiB organization. While this idea hasits merits, I don�t think it is the areawith the most interesting applicationfor DC.

� The players are former MiBs.This last point is the use that I feel

has the most potential. It allows yourcharacters to accumulate the skills of thecareer, without forcing you to deal withthe problem of generating a MiB organi-zation and running a MiB campaign. Al-low me to explain�

Retired MiBsHow does one stop being a Man in

Black? We saw it in the movie. Twice.The same device that the MiBs use toerase the memories of key witnesses toextraterrestrial activity is turned on thewould-be retiree. S/He forgets everythingthat transpired during their entire tenurein the organization. The process is totaland irreversible.

If the character forgets everythingthey learned during the time period, whatgood is this as a career choice? I believethat while all memories of events areerased, the retired agent would still re-tain any abilities and skills they developedduring their service. They just wouldn�tunderstand why or how they know whatthey know.

Often, these former agents will ap-pear after years of covert service, backin the public eye. They are listed as comapatients who have miraculous recover-ies, or perhaps criminals or psychiatricpatients finally released after a long in-carceration.

Designing the MiB CareerMen in Black are an elite organization.Entry into this career is best described as�by invitation only�. Only the best andbrightest, or the most outstanding in theirfields of specialization are approached.Once selected, the candidate is tested.Failure means a visit with the Neuralizerand the candidate resumes his/her life asif nothing had ever happened. Success

House Rules

Men in Black by Mike Marchi

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means the candidate is welcomed into thefold and their old life ceases to exist.

During tenure as a MiB, the char-acter is exposed to many things. Theylearn new skills along the way. Oncelearned, skills are not lost. But, becauseof the nature of the job, some things windup a little different.

Entry RequirementsBefore a character is approached for

recruitment, s/he must be a specialist insome field. This specialization is repre-sented by possessing a skill level of atleast five in a non-combat skill. Combatstatistics are a dime-a-dozen. The MiBsdon�t recruit people for their ability toshoot a gun or wield a blade. They alsodon�t want people who are too old whenthey start the career. The job is very physi-cal. No character is approached for re-cruiting after the age of 30.

Secondary ActivitiesThere are no secondary activities al-

lowed for a MiB. The job is everything,so there is no spare time for other pur-suits.

MoneyThe MiB earns no salary or benefits.

The organization trains, feeds and clothesthe operative. Unfortunately, in the mod-ern world, things like salaries and retire-ment plans can be traced. The MiB or-ganization will not risk exposing itself byproviding such things for their retirees.Any cash accumulated from careers priorto entry into the MiBs, or cash earned incareers afterward are retained.

ContactsThe character acquires no Contacts

during the terms spent in the MiB career.Once retired, a MiB will have no recol-lection of anyone s/he has encounteredduring the terms of service. Therefore,there is no one to fill the role of a contactfor the player. Any contacts from termsserved prior to entry in the MiBs, or con-tacts earned in careers afterward are re-tained as normal.

There is one exception to the no-contact rule (depending on the cover

story assigned to the retiree). If the storyinvolves a medical excuse (i.e. coma, orpsychiatric care), it is possible that thedoctor or psychiatrist assigned to the casemay have some link back to the organi-zation. This is entirely left up to the Ref-eree.

Weapon ProficienciesThe MiBs, as seen in the movie,

have a vast array of alien technology andweapons at their disposal. The interest-ing thing about most of these weapons isthat they are so advanced and powerfulthat they actually require no additionalskill to use them. Either the weapon is asmartgun, with built-in sensors and track-ing mechanisms to aid in aiming, or theweapon is a death-ray, a weapon of such

devastation, that precise targeting is un-necessary.

Because of this, MiBs do not haveany Small Arms skills available to them.Any skills acquired prior to entry simplyremain at their predetermined levels.

First Term SkillsIn the first term of service, the new

MiB initiate is still undergoing training.The skills received in the first term arepredetermined. Note the Disguise skill.This is the only time a MiB gets this skill.It doesn�t take long to learn about darksuits and sunglasses.

Subsequent Term SkillsSubsequent terms are a little more

complicated. Each term beyond the first,skills are taken from each of four sets.

1. Physical - Being a MiB field opera-tive is a grueling job. As such, physicalstats and hand-to-hand skills will un-doubtedly improve over time. To simu-late this, the player must take one of thesephysical advancement skills. However,because the physical aspect is not themajor focus of the job, the character islimited to a single point of physical ad-vancement each term.2. Specialty � Some skill the charactersalready possess, brought them to theMiBs attention. The MiBs will want tocapitalize on that investment, by encour-aging the character to grow in that area.Therefore, one skill point each subse-quent term must be applied to that areaof specialization. Note, if the skill levelshould climb above the value of the con-trolling attribute, the standard rules ap-ply, each skill point will only accumulate½ Skill Level.3. Willpower � The longer one is in theMiB organization, the more strength ofcharacter one develops. Each term ofservice, the MiB receives one point ofWillpower.4. Other Skills � The work of a MiB isvaried. There is a great opportunity foradvancement in a number of different ar-eas. Therefore, up to four additional skillpoints can be taken from the subsequentterms Other Skills List.

A Final NoteYou may wonder why I have chosen tohave the MiB skills retained after thecharacter retires. Simple. If the skills wereerased by the Neuralizer, there would beno point to the career! The skill set pro-vided creates characters that are well-suited for life as a Minion-Hunter. Thisis balanced by the loss of Contacts andMoney for terms served in this career.

You may also wonder why I didn�tinclude any information about being anactive member of the MiB career. Frankly,I feel that is beyond the scope of this ar-ticle. There are entire RPGs that addressthis concept - for example, The MiB RPGor Conspiracy X. If the Referee reallywants to pursue this path with his DCgames, I recommend they consult one ofthose other systems for tips and details.

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Former MiBYour life had been going well. You�d managed to earn notoriety as a specialist in your field. Everything was great. Then ithappened. It doesn�t matter what it was. It may have been a tragic accident that left you in a coma for years, or perhaps you wereincarcerated in a psychological institute and your treatment left you with no recollection of the intervening time. Whatever youwere doing during that time, you appear to have little to show for it. No money. No contacts. But you have skills! Perhapsthey�re remnants of things you did during that blank time � but you have no idea what that was, where you did it, or why? All youknow is you came to awareness under a physician or psychologist�s care, and a lifetime of memories that stops short when ithappens, and resumes again a few days ago.

Entry:Age 21 - 30. Skill level 5+ (specialist) in a non-combat area � after all, you have to have some skill that brings you to the

MiB�s attention.Not everyone who wishes they were a MiB can become one. The Referee may require a Formidable �Luck� roll to simulate

the act of being singled out and allowed to begin this career.Not everyone who becomes a MiB sought that career out. There is a possibility of automatic recruitment. If the Referee

wishes, once a character satisfies the listed Entry requirements (age and specialty), a secret roll can be made to determine if theMiBs notice and attempt to recruit the character. A Difficult �Luck� roll would then be required for the character to passsuccessfully through the testing process for admission.

First Term Skills: Initial training provides one point for each of the following skills:Computer Operation Disguise Foreboding Melee(Unarmed)Observation Stealth Willpower

Subsequent Term Skills:Must take one (and only one) skill from the following list each term:

Agility +1 Constitution +1 Strength +1 Melee (Armed) Melee (Unarmed)

Must take one point in each of the following.<Specialty> The skill that got them noticed by the MiB in the first placeWillpower

A total of four levels from any one or a combination of the following:Acrobatics Act/Bluff Archaeology* Astronomy* Computer Empathy Computer OperationDemolitions Electronics Foreboding Forensics* Human Empathy InterrogationLockpick Medical Observation Persuasion Pilot PsychologyStalking Stealth Tracking Vehicle Vessel* These skills are outlined in DG5 � �Getting Jiggy With It� and are only allowed with Referee approval

Contacts:There is no such thing as an �active� character in the MiB organization. All characters that enter the MiB career will have to

be retired from the organization in their last term as a MiB. Retiring entails being exposed to a MiB Neuralizer (a small pen-sizeddevice that permanently erase a specific time span of the person�s memory). For each term of service in the MiBs, four years ofmemories will be erased. Since no character will be able to remember their life as a MiB, no contacts are earned during a term inthis career - except the last one. Although the character will not realize it, the doctor who will be caring for them upon their�awakening� will probably be an associate of the MiBs - assigned to make their transition back to a normal life run smoothly.

Special:� No secondary activities are allowed for a MiB � it�s a full-time job.

� No money is earned while serving as a MiB � the funds would be too easy to trace. However, any funds accumulated prior to

service will still be available in the character�s savings accounts.

� By design, no skill improvements are provided for Small Arms � considering the nature of MiB weapons, there is very little

skill required to operate them, and therefore, no chance to improve the skill. v

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By Ryan Rank

Many of us have wondered what is Unarmed Combat Damage (UCD).Is it points straight up, or is it a value of D6�s that we should roll?Unfortunately, from what I have read, the book never answers thisquestion.

Most of the characters generated have aUCD rating of 1. But occasionally wehave a Martial Artist or something simi-lar that has a UCD of 5 or so.

The straight point method is dis-cussed in this paragraph. The first dis-tinct advantage is speed. If there�s nodice rolling involved, there�s less math.The less math, the less time is taken upin combat. Very few people like long,drawn out combats. The second advan-tage is that it keeps the damage of a Mar-tial Artist type character down to arealistic level. 5 damage for a punchis plenty. But there are disadvantagesto this method, as well. The first oneis that any Joe (or Jane) off the streetcould probably do more than onedamage with a punch. A fistfight be-tween two characters can feasibly lastmore than a half hour of game time.In a boxing match, that�s possible be-cause the athletes are trained for that.Not most people, though.

Now for the D6 Method. Theadvantage of this method is that astandard character off the street canactually do some damage to someone,and a fight does not last nearly as long ingame time. At least if both combatantsare not horrible rollers. But where thismethod faulters is when there is a Mar-tial Artist involved. Very few guns havea damage of 5D6, no person should beable to outpunch a gun, unless that per-son has been a martial artist his/her en-tire life.

hence gets to try to pound on Bill first.Nickoli rolls a hit on Bill with a 7. Howmany steps of three did that make it? 14-

3 is 11. That one step. 11-3 is 8.That�s two steps. 8-3 is 5�well, notquite three steps. Only two steps. SoNickoli has the potential to do 7 dam-age (5 UCD + 2 steps). We know thathe does 5 base, but how much of thisextra two does he do? Nickoli thenrolls a 4 on 1D6. Checking againstthe table shows that he does 1 extradamage. So Nickoli does a total of 6damage to Bill (5 base + one extra).Ouch.

6 is the top of the scale. It has toend somewhere. There are physicallimits to what a person can do.

This is but one option to work onthe UCD dilema. I believe that it keepsthe ungodly damage of a Martial Artistin check, while letting someone get in alucky shot now and then. I think that itis a fixed enough number so that a char-acter that should win, will probably win.But it is open enough to where someonecan get lucky and beat up the martial art-ist. v

�You know, there�s something cathartic about beating the snot of outsomeone occasionally. It�s good for the soul.�

- Zena Marley(Early 21st-century mercenary/philosopher)

egamaDartxEspetS

snoisiviD6D egamaD

1 6-4,3-1 1,0

2 6-5,4-3,2-1 2,1,0

3 6-5,4-3,3-2,1 3,2,1,0

4 6,5,4,3-2,1 4,3,2,1,0

5 5,4,3,2,1 5,4,3,2,1,0

6 5,4,3,2,1 6,5,4,3,2,1

Here is my method. I�m going towarn you, this is not a simple fix, but it isa compromise. First, look at the amountyou made the roll by to hit. For every 3numbers that you made it by, you can doone more damage above and beyond yourUCD rating. Then you roll a D6 andcheck the table below to see how manyof those points you actually damage thetarget by. Huh? Here�s an example.

Take two characters ofmine�Nickoli and Bill. Nickoli is a

Martial Artist with a UCD of 5 and anUnarmed Melee Combat rating of 7 (14).Bill is a Criminal with a UCD of 1, andan Unarmed Melee Combat rating of 1(8). For simplicity�s sake, neither arewearing armor. Bill, meet Nickoli,Nickoli, this is Bill. Don�t like each other,huh? Bummer�

Nickoli wins the Initiative, and

Unarmed Combat Damage by Ryan Rank

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by Lee Williams

Whyte is a computer hacker and empath, who can be used to assistPCs if they have few or no computer skills. He has a certain amountof previous experience in dealing with Dark Tek systems, as well asmore mundane computer hacking and code breaking.

Originally the website designer for a smallBritish company specialising in businessskills training, Whyte was drawn into abattle between a minion hunter friend anda Dark empathic cell. He used his skillsto get into the Darkling system andscramble its memory cores, thus render-ing the Minions unable to escape throughtheir portal. Ever since, Whyte has beenactive in minion hunting circles.

It was through his contacts that helearned about empathy, and realised hiscomputer talents were due to his pos-sessing this strange ability. He has learnedto make full use of this power, but it isnot 100% reliable. Still, it makes his lifea little more interesting.

He has a ready sense of humor, andcan often be seen reading paperbackbooks, usually techno-thrillers and mod-ern horror. He is also addicted to cardgames, especially the collectible sort.These help to pass the time when he isaway from his beloved keyboard.Strangely though, he is not at all compu-ter-nerdish, just very good at his job.

Allen Whyte is of average height,fair haired and wears spectacles withblued steel frames and oval lenses. Hisusual dress style runs toward t-shirts with

eye wateringly patterned shirts over, orsweatshirts in winter, and pale denim jeanswith Caterpillar boots. He is about thirtyyears of age.

His only bad habit is smoking ciga-rettes, usually the strongest and cheapestbrand he can find.

Though Whyte knows something ofthe Dark threat and is willing to help inany way he can, he is not a combat type.He knows how to use a pistol, but he willnot do so unless it is absolutely neces-sary to prevent a loss of life. His talentlies in other areas of expertise.

Motivations8 of Hearts � Whyte gets on well withothers, particularly if they show an inter-est in computers, collectible card gamesor cheap trashy paperbacks.

4 of Spades � he has vague ideas of run-ning his own web publishing company ifhe can get the money to-gether.

SkillsAllen Whyte is an Experi-enced level NPC. He has the

following skills ;Computer Ops 10, Computer Empa-thy 7, Electronics 4, Human Empa-thy 2, Languages (Japanese) 4,(Afrikaans) 2, *Production (multime-dia) 4, Small Arms Pistol 4, WheeledVehicle 2.

* see �Getting Jiggy With It� inDemonground 5 for details of this skill.

EquipmentWhyte always carries his top specedlaptop in a custom made kevlar briefcase(Armour Value 2). He has various otheritems in his pockets such as a cell phone,computer internals, discs etc. He carriesa Browning 10mm compact pistol in aconcealed waistband holster. When indangerous territory he always wears akevlar vest (AV 1).

One effect of the Greater Economic Depression in the USA was ahuge rise in anti-Japanese feeling among the population at large.The worst example of this has been the rise of a violent terroristfaction known as the Black Rain.

Their name is taken from a late 20th-cen-tury movie about corruption in the high-est levels of Japanese corporations, andtheir links with the criminal brotherhoodsknown as Yakuza. In this movie, one ofthe characters describes the atomic bomb-ing of Hiroshima that he witnessed as achild in 1945; an after effect being a hugestorm which filled the sky with black rainfull of radioactive ash. Where this rain felloutside the blast area plants withered anddied, and nothing grew again.

by Lee WilliamsThis image of a shattered and poi-

soned land appealed to the terrorists im-agination, hence the adoption of thename.

Their worst aspect is that they haveshown no remorse at all, despite innocentcivilians have been seriously injured dur-ing some of their raids. Favourite targetsare big city centre corporate buildings,which are often not particularly impor-tant to the corps concerned but are thepublic faces which the people associate

with efficiency and wealth. Attackingthese well-known symbols ensures maxi-mum publicity,which is important to anygroup who fight the system.

Though Black Rain attacks havetailed off recently,they are thought to stillbe active. It is not known if the groupare subject to any Darkling influence.

-Recoil-Ammo ROF Dam Pen Bulk Mag SS Burst Rng10mm SA 2 1-Nil 1 14 2 no 12

FN-Browning Compact Ten

NPCs

Allen Whyte by Lee WilliamsThe Black Rain by Lee Williams

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by Steve King

Equipment

Extreme Ordnance by Steve King

This is a Dark Conspiracy supplement for players and referees whojust love high technology and big things that go BANG!

There are several important things toconsider when using this article.1. All entries herein are balanced against

each other and to the book. Sincemost games tend to scale either upor down from the book, scale this too.

2. It doesn�t mean everything in this ar-ticle exists. Referees are encouragedto leave out items if they don�t fit thegame, location or anything else. Cer-tain items are supposed to exist intandem (DarkTek and certain weap-ons/ammo) so be aware of this.

3. Some items here may not have a suf-ficient description, limitation or what-ever. If this happens, you can either:a) Leave that item out.b) Buy a book that contains itc) email the author, ord) Make it up. Who�s gonna know?

Part 1 - Guns and AmmoThe Stuff Large Holes AreMade With!There are some details here for some ofthe common weaponry the players maycome across around the world. Simplyput, these are generic stats for types ofweapons. They are listed in blocs, andthen under categories.

Western Bloc vs. Eastern BlocWestern Bloc weapons tend to be lighterand smaller then their Eastern Bloc coun-terparts. They are made of predominantlyplastics in either matte black or jungle/camo print colors. Many of them have�Made in Taiwan� stamped on their un-dersides. Western Bloc weapons tend touse caseless ammunition in the commontypes.

Eastern Bloc weapons are oftenheavier, bulkier and made from metalwith wood inlays rather than plastic.However, they seem to be more reliable,and often have a higher magazine capac-ity. They look aged in many ways, butare tried and true designs.

The statistics given are for WesternBloc weaponry. To adjust for Eastern,boost the Bulk, Magazine and Reliabilityratings for most cases except Shotguns,Submachineguns and Exotics. In the caseof Machineguns and Assault Rifles, in-crease the Penetration and lower therange to factor in the larger, heavier So-viet/German ammunitions.

Submachineguns are roughly thesame (give German ones higher magazinecapacity) and shotguns don�t change. Ad-justed stats for Eastern Bloc weaponsshould never include Unreliable.

Exotics have their Bloc listed if ap-propriate.

PistolsType: Light PistolBulk: 1Ammo: 9mmMag: 8Damage: 1Pen: nilRecoil - SS: 3Range: 40Cost: $ 100-300Reliability: VeryNotes Compact, extremely reli-

able.

Type: Medium PistolBulk: 1Ammo: .375Mag: 8Damage: 1Pen: 1Recoil - SS: 3Range: 40Cost: $250-500Reliability: StandardNotes commonly available hand-

gun.

Type: Heavy PistolBulk: 1Ammo: .38Mag: 8Damage: 2

Pen: 1Recoil - SS: 3Range: 50Cost: $N/AReliability: VeryNotes Police/Military IRecoil -

SSue gun. Not purchas-able and illegal to own

Type: Heavy PistolBulk: 1Ammo: .45Mag: 6Damage: 2Pen: 1Recoil - SS: 4Range: 40Cost: $400-700Reliability: StandardNotes largest of the commonly

available handguns

Type: Very Heavy PistolBulk: 2Ammo: Magnum Special 60Mag: 6Damage: 3Pen: 1/1Recoil - SS: 5Range: 40Cost: $800-1200Reliability: VeryNotes Rare weapon, generally

only issued to SpecialForces.

RiflesType: Light RifleBulk: 5Ammo: .22Mag: 8Damage: 2Pen: 1-1Recoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 100

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Cost: $300-800Reliability: StandardNotes Typical civilian sport/tar-

get rifle.

Type: Light RifleBulk: 6Ammo: .22Mag: 12Damage: 1Pen: nilRecoil - SS: 1Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 200Cost: $3000-5000Reliability: ExtremeNotes Target rifle as used in

sporting events

Type: Light RifleBulk: 5Ammo: .357Mag: 8Damage: 3Pen: 2-1Recoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 150Cost: $500-1500Reliability: StandardNotes Typical hunting rifle

Type: Light RifleBulk: 4Ammo: .357Mag: 6Damage: 3Pen: 1-1Recoil - SS: 5Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 100Cost: $800-1600Reliability: StandardNotes: Short rifle. Due to design,recoil is higher and range is shorter. Aversion of this is available with increasedrange but significantly higher recoil(150m, Recoil - SS 8)

Type: Light RifleBulk: 4Ammo: .45Mag: 6Damage: 4

Pen: 2-1-1Recoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 200Cost: $5000+Reliability: VeryNotes Light sniper�s rifle. May be

available from contacts

Type: Light RifleBulk: 5Ammo: 8Mag: .45Damage: 3Pen: 2-1Recoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 150Cost: $500-800Reliability: StandardNotes: common rifle used by 3rdworld military. Often are poorly main-tained and unreliable.

Type: Heavy RifleBulk: 6Ammo: 5.56 NATOMag: 6Damage: 6Pen: 3-2-1Recoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 300Cost: $N/AReliability: StandardNotes: Heavy Sniper rifle. Una-vailable legally. Uses special compensa-tors, which WILL be unavailable. With-out these, reduce range to 200, damageto 5, Pen to 2-1-1, and Recoil - SS to 6.Also gives the shooter a -1 penalty totheir skill (due to lack of sights for therifle).

Type: Heavy RifleBulk: 5Ammo: .45Mag: 10Damage: 4Pen: 2-2Recoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 150Cost: $800-1400

Reliability: StandardNotes: common rifle of western

forces

Assault RiflesType: Light AssaultBulk: 6Ammo: .45Mag: 12Damage: 3Pen: 2-1Recoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: 7Range: 150Cost: $800-1000Reliability: UnreliableNotes: Common 3rd World as-

sault rifle. Fires 3 roundbursts.

Type: Light AssaultBulk: 5Ammo: .45Mag: 16Damage: 4Pen: 2-2Recoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: 6Range: 150Cost: $800-1600Reliability: StandardNotes: common western forces

Assault rifle. Fires 3-roundbursts.

Type: Heavy AssaultBulk: 6Ammo: 5.56 NATOMag: 30 (clip) or 150 (belt)Damage: 5Pen: 2-2-1Recoil - SS: 2 (6)Recoil - Brst: 4 (10)Range: 200Cost: $1500-2500Reliability: StandardNotes: typical pintle-mounted

weapon. Less effectivewithout mount. Fires 5round bursts.

MachinegunsType: Light Machinegun

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Bulk: 7Ammo: 5.56 NATOMag: 50 (drum) or 200 (belt)Damage: 5Pen: 2-2-1Recoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: 6Range: 150Cost: $2000+Reliability: Standard (drum) or Unre-

liable (belt)Notes: common vehicle or bunker

machinegun. Must bemounted. Fires 10-roundbursts.

Type: Heavy MachinegunBulk: 8Ammo: 5.56 AP or HEDPMag: 50 (drum) or 200 (belt)Damage: 4 (AP) or 6 (HEDP)Pen: 4-3-2 (AP) or 4-2-1

(HEDP)Recoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: 7Range: 200Cost: $3000+Reliability: StandardNotes: Heavy vehicle MG. HEDP

rounds cannot be belt-fed.Fires 10 round bursts.Must be mounted.

SubmachinegunsType: Light SubmachinegunBulk: 2Ammo: .22Mag: 20Damage: 2Pen: 1-nilRecoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: 4Range: 30Cost: $600-900Reliability: StandardNotes: Small submachinegun,favored by criminals for concealability.Fires 5-round bursts. A modified versionthat fires 10-round bursts exists, howeverits range drops to 20, Burst to 6 (cannotfire single), and gives a -1 on skill.

Type: Heavy SubmachinegunBulk: 3

Ammo: .357Mag: 30Damage: 3Pen: 1-nilRecoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: 6Range: 30Cost: $1200-1800Reliability: StandardNotes: Typical submachinegun

used by military forces.Fires 5-round bursts.

ShotgunsType: ShotgunBulk: 5Ammo: 12gaMag: 1 (single shot) or

2 (double barrel)Damage: 4 (12ga) or 9 (buckshot)Pen: 3-4-nilRecoil - SS: 5Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 30Cost: $250-700Reliability: StandardNotes: Basic civilian farmer�s

gun.

Type: ShotgunBulk: 5Ammo: 12gaMag: 6 (pump action or SA)Damage: 4 (12ga) or 9 (buckshot)Pen: 3-4-nilRecoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 40Cost: $600-1000Reliability: StandardNotes: Common shotgun. Crimi-nal underworld tries to modify these intostreet sweepers but with limited success.

Type: AutoshotgunBulk: 5Ammo: 12gaMag: 6Damage: 4 (12ga) or 9 (buckshot)Pen: 3-4-nilRecoil - SS: N/ARecoil - Brst: 6Range: 20Cost: varies

Reliability: UnreliableNotes: This is a modified versionof the basic shotgun, for use by under-world. Due to its modifications, it is ex-tremely unreliable and risky to use. Theburst is a 5 round burst (assume the 6thshot misses by default)

Type: AutoshotgunBulk: 5Ammo: 12gaMag: 6Damage: 4 (12ga) or 9 (buckshot)Pen: 3-4-nilRecoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: 5Range: 40Cost: $800-1600Reliability: StandardNotes: P o l i c e / M i l i t a r yautoshotgun. Should be unavailablethrough legitimate channels. Fire 3-roundbursts.

ExoticsType: CrossbowBulk: 6Ammo: Crossbow boltMag: 1Damage: 1Pen: Nil (1 against soft armors

like a flak jacket)Recoil - SS: 6Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 15Cost: $350Reliability: StandardNotes: Can�t jam a crosabow.Treat a jam as a breakage. This is a stand-ard off the shelf crossbow firing bolts. Itis possible to improvise parts of a cross-bow. For each improvisation reduce therange by 5. Typical improvisations ishomemade wire, or improvised bolts. Ittakes a full phase to reload a bow.

Type: Compound BowBulk: 5Ammo: ArrowsMag: 1Damage: -1Pen: NilRecoil - SS: 4Recoil - Brst: N/A

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Range: 20Cost: $300Reliability: VeryNotes: It is possible to fire 2shots/phase with a bow, if the archer al-ready had the first arrow nocked. Can�tjam a bow - treat a jam as a breakage.

Type: Homemade BowBulk: 6Ammo: Arrows/BoltsMag: 1Damage: -1 (see Notes)Pen: Nil (a crossbow has a pen-

etration of 1 against softarmor)

Recoil - SS 6Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 10Cost: N/AReliability: UnreliableNotes: This is the sort of bowyou�d find in the hands of people in thewilderness. It is made of wood, with alength of twine or leather for a string.Crossbows would have wood and wire.These should be special case weapons -before firing, roll 1d6. This indicates thepower of the arrow/bolt. If the roll is a 1,the shot drops out about 10 feet from thearcher (it misses everything, but it re-us-able). If the roll is a 2-4, the shot willonly cause 1pt of damage. If the roll is a5 or 6, treat the shot as if fired from aregular bow.

Type: NailgunBulk: 8Ammo: 3inch nailsMag: 20Damage: -1Pen: special (see Notes)Recoil - SS: 5Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 5Cost: VariesReliability: UnreliableNotes: This is a generic statisticfor a construction item that could be usedas a weapon by a person in a desperatesituation. This weapon, capable of semi-automatic fire, can throw a nail througha piece of 2x4. Although it is certainlycapable of sending a nail much further

than its listed range, after that distancethe nail becomes merely a flying nuisance.The great advantage of the nailgun - ifthe target is struck by the nailgun in Me-lee combat (make a Melee hit roll insteadof a Small Arms one), the nail will pen-etrate all but the hardest of armors, andcause 2d6 damage. And of course, pro-vides the user with the immortal line - �Inailed him!�

Regular AdvancedTechnologyGE/Colt MiniGatType: Heavy MachinegunBulk: 8Ammo: .22 caseleRecoil - SSMag: 120Damage: 2Pen: 1-nilRecoil - SS: 1 (treat as 5-round burst)Recoil - Brst: 3 (20 round burst)Range: 50Cost: $5000+Reliability: StandardNotes: The General Electric/ColtMiniGat has a high rate of fire, making ita great weapon against hard targets.Needs no mount, and its small, reliableammo is cheap and light. The MiniGat isalso an efficient defensive weapon.

H&K CPSType: Heavy Pistol (Shotgun)Bulk: 3Ammo: buckshotMag: 4Damage: 5 (buckshot)Pen: 2-nilRecoil - SS: 8Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 20Cost: $2000+Reliability: StandardNotes: The CPS, or ConcealablePersonal Shotgun is an advanced designbased on a personal defense concept. Dueto its buckshot load, aim is no longer afactor. Simply treat as a 5d6 shotgun blastat short range, and 5-round burst at me-dium. Recoil is so high due to the lack ofbracing possible with a handgun. TheCPS cannot fire slugs.

Colt .336 CitigunType: Light PistolBulk: 1Ammo: .336Mag: 12Damage: 2Pen: 1-nilRecoil - SS: 2Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 50Cost: $700Reliability: VeryNotes: Finally, someone seems tohave gotten just about everything right.Colt�s .336 Citigun is a fine example ofthe right way to make a gun. With a highmagazine capacity, good stopping powerand low recoil, the only thing letting itdown is the availability of Colt�s state-of-the-art ammunition, which is availabil-ity R and costs $200 for a box of 100.

Walther DarkwingType: Light RifleBulk: 5Ammo: .60 SpecialMag: 6Damage: 4Pen: 1-2-3Recoil - SS: 3Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 250Cost: $3000+Reliability: StandardNotes: Walther�s entry into theRifle market has proved successful withthe Darkwing rifle. The Darkwing incor-porated image-enhancers into its integralsighting system, making it provide theequivalent of a laser sight without the reddot. The .60 Special ammunition meansthat when you hit your target, it doesn�tstand up. A perfect snipers weapon.

M-184E ThunderboltType: Heavy PistolBulk: 3Ammo: Enhanced .45Mag: 6Damage: 4Pen: 2-nilRecoil - SS: 1Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 70

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Cost: $N/A (prototype)Reliability: Very UnreliableNotes: The Thunderbolt is abrand-new type of handgun. Incorporat-ing ElectroThermal Enhancement on itsammunition, the M-184E needs no ham-mer and no chambering. It activated therounds with an electric �spike� that ig-nites the charging bud and fires the round.This reduces on the inaccuracy causedby a hammer, plus increases the exit ve-locity by around 30%. However, the tech-nology is still so new that over half therounds will not fire. Once a round hasfailed, it must be ejected (treat as a re-load action) before firing can resume. Itcan only fire 1 shot per round, and itsinternal battery is only good for 6 + 1d6shots. (If the battery runs out and theweapon is fired, treat as a failed round).The battery can be replaced in 1 round(so in effect it takes 2 rounds to fully re-load the weapon). The best thing aboutthis technology is that with the incorpo-rated silencer, the gun sounds no louderthan a hissing air �whump� sound.

Hyperpenetration RoundType: AmmunitionCost: $400Avail: Rare (and illegal)Notes: The hyperpenetrationround is a specially made .45 round. Theround consists of a sheath of lead sur-rounding a cadmium core. If the roundencounters a �soft� (unarmored) target,it strikes as normal, however, if it strikesa hard target, the lead sheath with stop,allowing the cadmium core to punchthrough the armor unhindered. In gameterms, when someone fires ahyperpenetration round, either add 1 tothe weapons penetration factor, or as-sume the target is one armor level lowerthan it really is, whichever the GM pre-fers.

Hyperpenetration rounds onlyexist in .45, and cost $400 per box of 50.They will ONLY function in a pistol atpresent, and are not compatible with theM-184E Thunderbolt.

Remington Motion Restraint CanisterType: AmmunitionCost: $75/$150Avail: RareNotes: The Remington MRC is atype of grenade that when it explodes, itthrows out a fine mesh of nylon that ef-fectively ensnares objects in its targetzone. It causes 1point of concussion dam-age to anyone in its actual strike zone,but not beyond. The MRC comes in twovarieties, a 5m-diameter rifle variant, anda 10m-diameter hand grenade type. TheMRC cannot be fired from a grenadelauncher other than the rifle launcher (ifsomeone does, treat as a jammed weaponfor the launcher). The nylon mesh is lightand strong. A victim can escape in 3d6 -Strength phases. If a victim wants to es-cape faster, a Difficult STR roll is re-quired, assuming the victims have an ef-fective means of cutting the mesh. With-out a cutting mechanism, increase the dif-ficulty by one level. For each level of suc-cess, reduce the amount of rounds re-quired by 2. If this figure reaches below0, the victim is unaffected by the mesh,otherwise they are caught for at least 1phase. The mesh cannot ensnare a ma-chine such as a car.

Anyone caught in the mesh is athalf agility and strength, and performs allskills relating to Strength and Agility atan adjusted level (except for the purposesof trying to escape the mesh). Movementin the mesh is limited to 2 meters/phase.The rifle grenade has a range of 100mand costs $150. The hand grenade ver-sion costs $75.

Arc-Regent Laser CannonType: Heavy WeaponBulk: 10Ammo: Power PackMag: 10 �charges�Damage: �X�Pen : Special �X� - �X�-3 - nil

(see Notes)Recoil - SS: 1Recoil - Brst: N/ARange: 25Cost: $10,000+Reliability: StandardNotes: The Arc-Regent Laser

Cannon resembles a flame-thrower. It isin some ways an improvement over theArmington lasers, in others it is not aseffective. The Arc-Regent is far moreportable than the Armington, and uses alot less power. It also does not need re-charge time between shots (although itcan only fire once per phase).

It works on the principle of re-leasing stored energy at a variable level.In game terms, the Arc-Regent is fittedwith a power gauge. The user turns thegauge from 1 to 5, the number indicatinghow powerful the blast will be. Thenumber on the gauge is the amount of�charges� the gun uses in the shot, andalso sets the damage in d6. For example,Big Bill Bison has an Arc-Regent that isfully charged. He spies a Dark Elf behinda tree. Wanting revenge, he turns thegauge up to 5, and fires. This blast willuse 5 of the available 10 charges, and willdo 5 damage to the Dark Elf. Ouch!

Penetration is also calculated inthis way. Simply deduct the number listedfrom the charges used in the blast to workit out. In the above example, we assumedthe Dark Elf was unarmored. Now as-sume its wearing a flak jacket (armor 2).The 5 damage blast will penetrate thearmor, but only 2 damage will getthrough.

The power gauge can not bepushed above 5. If the gauge is set to ahigher number than the �charges� left inthe weapon, the shot will flash from themuzzle and do nothing at all. To rechargean Arc-Regent requires it to be hookedup to a strong power supply for 1hr per�charge�. �Charges� will only hold in theArc-Regent for a maximum of 24hrs, af-ter which time it will lose 1 �charge� per12hrs.

Extra-TerrestrialTechnology�Blaster� PistolType: PistolBulk: 2 - 6Ammo: UnknownMag: 1d6 + 4Damage: 10Pen: SpecialRecoil - SS: 2

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Recoil - Brst: -Range: 50Cost: N/AReliability: Unreliable for humans,

Very Reliable for ETsNotes: This is the classic�Blaster� seen in so many sci-fi movies.Think of Han Solo�s Blastec DL-44 fromStar Wars here. Small gun, big boom!The Blaster Pistol should be almost a sec-ond-line weapon for ETs - they have moreadvanced ones (the Death Rays) but theseguns should be powerful enough to matchalmost anything they shoot at. Determinepenetration by reducing the damagecaused by a Death Ray like this: Noarmor= 10 pts, AV1= 8 pts, AV2= 6pts,AV3= 4 pts. Let the shots blow holes inobjects in their way, but not penetratethrough them, no matter how thin theyare (use common sense - cardboard won�tdo anything, but a decent sheet of ply-wood would stop the first shot...).

�Blaster� RifleType: RifleBulk: 4 - 8Ammo: UnknownMag: 2d6 + 8Damage: 10Pen: SpecialRecoil - SS: 2Recoil - Brst: 6 (3 round burst)Range: 50Cost: N/AReliability: Unreliable for humans,

Very Reliable for ETsNotes: The Blaster Rifle is no dif-ferent from the Blaster Pistol except forhigher bulk, more �ammunition� and ca-pable of automatic fire. Use the Penetra-tion system from the Blaster Pistol, how-ever, these will go through objects in theway, at the loss of one penetration factorper object they blow holes in (don�t for-get most armor has 2 sides...)

Sonic ScreamerType: PistolBulk: 4Ammo: UnknownMag: 10Damage: 0 - 4 plus Special (see

notes)

Pen: N/ARecoil - SS: 0Recoil - Brst: -Range: 25, in a 90 degree arc (see

Notes)Cost: N/AReliability: unreliableNotes: The Sonic Screamer is asmall handheld gun that works solely onsound waves. With a small finger con-trol, the shooter can adjust the intensityof the sonic blast. Adjusting this has noeffect on the �ammunition� - each shotonly uses 1 �round� from the weapon.When fired, the Screamer sends out awave of sound. This can cause (at theshooter�s option) anything from no dam-age to 4 damage to any living target, re-gardless of armor. The added bonus ofthe Screamer is that it can cause uncon-sciousness in its targets. When �struck�by a Screamer, the target must roll acheck vs. Constitution, failure meaningthe target becomes unconscious. This rollvaries dependant on damage caused. Usethe table below.

The Screamer can be used for aprolonged firing - it can be left on for 3rounds on 0, 2 rounds on 1, and 1 roundon all other settings. If used like this, eachconsecutive round a creature is caughtin its effect, the Constitution check be-comes one level more difficult. (fromImpossible, the next is �must roll CriticalSuccess against Impossible task to suc-ceed�). Firing it twice (it can be fired onceper phase) does NOT have this effect, nomatter how high the Initiative of the at-tacker is compared to the victims. TheScreamer fires in a forward arc with a

range limit of 25metres. It is an Easy taskto keep any one particular victim in thefiring arc. The Screamer exists in oneother form - a cube that has the samerange, but affects -everything- within25metres of it. The cube acts as pro-longed fire on any damage level it is seton. Due to its nature, it is not poRecoil -SSible to change this setting once it isactivated. To destroy a Screaming Cube,it needs a single point of damage to getthrough its armor (Armor 1) - hitting itwith a baseball bat is sufficient.

PsychronType: PistolBulk: 1Ammo: N/AMag: N/ADamage: specialPen: N/ARecoil - SS: N/ARecoil - Brst: N/ARange: unaided visualCost: -Reliability: specialNotes: The Psychron is a focusfor empathic energy. To use a Psychron,the shooter must make a difficult Domi-nation roll, or a Formidable Willpowerroll. Willpower drain has no effect on thisroll. To fire the Psychron, the shootermakes a Project Thought roll, noting theoverall total of the roll. There is no hitroll required. The target must then makea Willpower roll. Deduct this result fromthe roll of the shooter. If the number ispositive, the target takes this much �dam-age�. To find out the victim�s �health�,multiply their Willpower by their Empa-

Sonic Screamer Damage Table

Damage Constitution Roll Sound Emitted0 Formidable Ttoo low for humans - will be heard

by some creatures though1 Difficult Low volume2 Average Medium volume3 Easy Loud scream4 Easy (only a

critical failure)High-pitched whine almost too highfor a human to hear

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thy. This is not physical damage - the tar-get will feel mental fatigue. Once their�Health� drops to 0 or below, they blackout. The side effect of this weapon is thatany empathic creature within visual rangeof the shooter (including the target, ifapplicable) will feel an empathic �spike�which could cause fear, aggression, orany other multitude of possibilities.

CREDITS & REFERENCESAll material presented here is the authorsown work. Some information was obvi-ously gained from various sources, andhere they are:

The basic statistics and layout forthe entries is a direct adaptation of theDark Conspiracy 2nd Ed. layout.

The Nova .336 Citigun, GE/ColtMinigat, Remington Motion RestraintCanister, the Hyperpenetration Round,and the concept behind the M184a Thun-derbolt were adapted from theCyberpunk Sourcebooks, which are atrademark of R.Talsorian games, and ofwhich I am an avid fan. v

Land Rover 110 DefenderThis is the latest, and probably the last

variant of the world famous Land Rover.Millions of these rugged 4x4 have been soldsince it was first produced in 1948, but it by Lee Williamswas recently announced that the vehicle will go out of production bythe end of 2002.

As transportation in Dark Conspiracy, it is hard to see what couldbe more useful. All models have excellent cross country mobilityand a large capacity for either passengers or cargo, and in recent yearsthey have become something of an urban status symbol too.

The details given here are for the long wheelbase County model,which has a top specification interior but is no less rugged than theother types. Any modification you can think of is probably availablefor the Land Rover, which is why they have always sold well to mili-tary forces. v

Price: £23,600 Combat StatisticsFuel Type: Diesel Config: StandardLoad: 900kg if no rear passengers Suspension: W 3Vehicle Weight: 2 tonnesCrew: 1 plus up to 9 passengers Armour ValuesNight Vision: Headlights HF 1Cruise Speed: 90/25 HS 1Combat Move: 95/35 HR 1Fuel Capacity: 75Fuel Consumption: 6

�This is a really nice piece of kit. They�llgo just about anywhere, and they�re as close tobe indestructible as you can get. Why chooseanything else?�

Aaron SpenglerGame Keeper on Lord Chelmsford�s Estate

New Vehicles by Lee Williams

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by Chris Carpenter

Many of these weapons are real, and were designed to be used in anon-lethal capacity, such as crowd or prison inmate control. Othersare potential developments from current technologies or simply fab-ricated from pure fantasy. There is a lot of potential in the follow-ing list. Whether your players are looking for a way to capture anIgor, or you�re looking for a way to ruin their day without necessar-ily killing them, there is an appropriate toy listed here� Use themas you see fit.

Sting BallA sting ball is a grenade, about the

size of a small orange, normally coloredblack or grey. It is fired from a speciallauncher, which is larger than a regular

grenade launcher indiameter

A sting ball is firedinto a crowd (range30) where it ex-plodes, sprayingsmall rubber balls ina 12-meter burst.

Anyone caught inthe primary or sec-

ondary burst takes 1 point of damage.All make a difficult roll against theirCON. Those failing lose all remainingactions for that combat turn. 2 out of 3NPCs armed solely with melee weaponswho fail will willingly surrender or flee.Any sort of armor or adequate shieldingnegates all effects.Cost: $550 (-/c) launcher

$20 (-/c) per grenade, sold incases of 10

Foam Grenade Mark IThe foam grenade mark I is a grey cylin-der with one green stripe, about the sizeand shape of a 12oz soda can, with a thickpull ring on one end.

The grenade is thrown (or dropped)after the ring is pulled, and it usually has

a 3-5 second delay. The grenade emitsenough water-based foam (the consist-ency of shaving cream) to fill a 5x5x5meter area.

The foam degrades naturally within30 minutes, or can be washed away withwater. Tasks performed in the foam areone level more difficult, where appropri-ate, especially movement.Cost: $5 (r/c)

Foam Grenade Mark IIThe foam grenade mark IIis a grey cylinder with twoblue stripes. It is about 20cm long, the same diameteras 12 oz soda can, and hasthick pull ring on one end.

The grenade is thrown(or dropped) after the ringis pulled, and it usually hasa 3-5 second delay.

The grenade emitsenough foam to fill a 5x5x5meter area. The foam expands and driesquickly, to the same texture as packingpeanuts. It is not water-based, but petro-leum-based solvents make short work ofit, (leaving a sticky, flammable mess.) Itcan also be carved away with a sword orknife, but this process is slow, especiallyin tight quarters like air vents.

Anyone trapped in the blast can gen-erally pull themselves free with little dif-

ficulty from the dried foam. The foam hasan armor value of 1 for projectile andfragmentation weapons.Cost: $15 (-/s)

Foam Grenade Mark IIIThe foam grenade mark II is a grey cyl-inder with three red stripes. It is about20 cm long, the same diameter as 12 ozsoda can, and has thick pull ring on oneend.

The grenade is thrown (or dropped)after the ring is pulled, and it usually hasa 3-5 second delay.

The grenade emits enough foam tofill a 5x5x5 meter area. This foam is de-signed to stop people, it is extraordinar-ily sticky and viscous, and looks likecookie dough (but smells like rubber ce-ment.) Nothing but rigorous scrubbingand peeling will remove this from a per-son or equipment, but baby oil is said tospeed the process.

Characters trapped in the goo (byaccident or design) will spend 15 + 1d10minutes removing themselves from it.Characters who fall down into the goo,sticking 3 or all 4 limbs are trapped, andrequire outside assistance. Actions areone level more difficult while �stuck,� 2if prone (if the action is even possible...)

The foam has an armor value of 1for projectile and fragmentation weapons.Cost: $35 (-/r) v

Non-Lethal Weaponry by Chris Carpenter

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The Haunters are a special type of Empathic Igors. Theyare one of the primary sources of legends about demonsand imps tormenting people, and they�ve been doing it fromthe dawn of history. A Haunter is a disturbed individualwho gains pleasure by inflicting indirect misery and suffer-ing upon a chosen victim. Haunters work alone.

by Eyal Faingersh

Haunters ruin people�s lives. AHaunter who is seeking a victim will be-gin by randomly probing the minds ofpeople in a crowd, searching for some-one who appears to have very little natu-ral defense to this contact. They choosea victim who is vulnerable to their em-pathic powers, and then follow themaround to learn more about their life andpersonality.

The next move of a Haunter, afterhe chooses a victim, is to orchestrate alife-and-death situation, with the victimcast in the role of a crucial decision-maker. The victim has to make a choice.The choice should be between twonegative results (for example,whose life should be saved, andwho should be left to die).

The Haunter will thentake actions to make the vic-tim feel that they made thewrong decision. For instance,the victim chooses to save oneperson over another, and the per-son he saves, dies hours or even dayslater. The irony of the death is the key -choosing a single person to pull from aburning car, only to have the person ap-parently die of a brain aneurysm the nextday - something that would have hap-pened even if the original accident neveroccurred. The consequences of the vic-tim�s choices should be felt to their full-est.

Next, the Haunter starts to tormentthe victim�s mind, causing an internalconflict that will eventually drive the vic-tim insane. This is done by projectingthoughts and dreams that recreate thehorrific event, by projecting images ofthe dead people the victim failed to save,by chanting their names over and over,or by appearing to the victim in the formof the dead, or even as a demon sent totorment the poor victim.

The victim life should, at that stage,be all but ruined. He can�t live his life nor-mally, consumed by guilt over the choicehe has made and its consequences. Hiswhole time is spent wondering how theoutcome may have changed if he hadacted differently.

To enhance the Victim�s internalconflict, the Haunter might initiate an-other disaster - another opportunity forthe Victim to choose, even atone for hisformer failure. It is obvious, though, thatonce again the worst occurs, and the tor-ment will go on and on.

By this time, the victim is so caughtup in doubts and self-loathing that theymay well turn to alcohol or drugs to helphim to forget, even for a moment. At thispoint, the Haunter may actually approachthe victim, offering to strike a bargain withthe victim. In return for certain favors,the Haunter may agree to leave the Vic-tim alone for a short while.

The grand finale of the Hauntingshould take place when the victim breaksdown. They may choose to suicide or maysimply go insane. By this point, the vic-tim is so driven by the horrific images theyare forced to see that they become veryeasy to manipulate. The Haunter can per-suade the victim to commit a terriblecrime, by making him �hear� voices. Aslong as the path of crime is less painfulthan the alternative, the victim will gladly

accept the instructions.The Haunter�s one weakness is that

he must remain near the victim to main-tain the empathic link and monitor hisVictim�s activities. Thus, an empath caneasily sense the empathic activities andthe misery radiating from the victim if hegets close enough. Non-empaths who tryto help the Victim can get suspicious ofthe stranger that keeps hanging aroundthe victim. (Is the person actually a�friend� of the victim?)

Some haunters have been known topose as therapists and psychologists, cast-ing themselves in a role of allegedly help-ing the victim, but in reality, only adding

to their torment. The Haunters mustconcentrate in order to affect theirvictim. It is at this moment, theyare the most vulnerable. Thus,keeping a low profile is crucial tothe success of their attack.

Haunters may believe thatthey work completely alone, and in-

deed, most do. But there are a few whoare actually manipulated by Dark lords.To improve their usefulness, a Dark Lordmight enhance the Haunter�s abilities, al-lowing their already dangerous ability, tobecome even more destructive. One en-hancement might be enabling the Haunterto receive sustenance - to actually feedon fear. Such individuals need no food,drink or sleep; they only need a victim tofeed from.

Few Minion Races can competewith the �creativity� of the Haunter. Be-cause they begin as human, it is believedthat the emotional energy produced by aHaunter is much more devastating on thevictims. For this reason, some Hauntersare under the protection of minions of adark lord who want to keep this Humanpet alive and kicking.

Stats: As per appropriate NPC#Appearing: 1 v

Dark Races

Haunters by Eyal Faingersh

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by Lee Williams

The Mapinguari (pronounced MA-pin-guarEE) features in thefolklore of the Amazonian Basin. This huge area of tropicalrainforest and swamplands is the home of this legendary beast,said to be a humanoid form that walks on all fours.

According to eye-witness accounts,Mapinguari are roughly the size of a largehuman and are covered with long mattedred fur. They can run almost as fast ashumans on the ground, but are also ca-pable of climbing and hiding in the lowerbranches of trees.

The two main features of this crea-ture are its cry, which is said to soundlike the screams of dead and dying hu-man souls, and its extraordinary stench.The creature�s cries can strike terror intothe hearts of those who hear them, whilstthe smell of the Mapinguari is strongenough to disorient both animals andhumans, and in extreme cases may causeunconsciousness. It is not known whetherthis is a natural capability or the result ofgenetic tampering at some time in thepast.

Although the Mapinguari appears torely on these abilities for defence, it hasbeen known to strike out with its frontlimbs when threatened. However it doesnot appear to be carnivorous, seeming toprefer a vegetarian diet. This has led sci-

entists to speculate that Mapinguari maybe a mutated species of the giant GroundSloth, which roamed all over both Ameri-can continents in prehistoric times andbecame extinct before the last ice age.Other evidence to support this claim in-cludes mysterious footprints indicating acreature weighing in at around 350 ki-los, the same size as the Ground Sloth.This is only guesswork on the scientists�part though.Whichever way you look at it, youwouldn�t want to make one of these an-noyed.

MAPINGUARIStrength: 10Agility: 4Constitution: 16Initiative: 4# Appear: 1Attack: 50%Skill/Dam: 2/3D6Move: 5/10/25Hits: 40/80

SpecialCry � when the cry of the Mapinguari isheard for the first time, the character mustmake a Fear check at Impossible level. Ifsuccessful, actions may be carried out asnormal. Every time the cry is heard there-after the Fear check will be at Averagelevel.

Stench � a character who is within a 10metre radius of the Mapinguari mustmake a Constitution check at Formida-ble level or they will become disorien-tated and lose all actions for 1D6 com-bat rounds. A Catastrophic Failure willresult in the character losing conscious-ness for 1D6 + 4 minutes. Gas masks mayprevent this. v

The Mapinguari by Lee Williams

Looking into the Future

Contact Information

With the expansion of DEMONGROUND�s focus starting with issue 8, we thought it would be an idea toprovide the web addresses for the new games that we have already been given permission to support. If you are notalready familiar with these games, then we encourage you to take the time to have a read through them. Even if youhave no intention of starting a new campaign with a new gaming system, you may well find something that you canuse in your existing campaign.

Dynasty Presentations - Dark Conspiracyhttp://www.dynastypresentations.com/

http://www.dynastypresentations.com/consumerProductsDC.html

Eden Studioshttp://www.edenstudios.net/

Conspiracy X - http://www.conspiracyx.com/

All Flesh Must Be Eaten - http://www.allflesh.com/

Witchcraft - http://www.edenstudios.net/witchcraft/index.html

Wizards of the Coast - Dark�Matterhttp://www.wizards.com

http://www.wizards.com/Alternity/Welcome.asp

http://www.wizards.com/darkmatter/welcome.asp

Pagan Publishing - Delta Greenhttp://www.tccorp.com/pagan/index.htmlhttp://www.delta-green.com/

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by Ryan Rank

The Natives (as they call themselves), are the true natives ofthe planet Earth. The human race is the race of aliens, al-though human history would state otherwise.

A Brief HistoryThe Natives let the Humans live on Earthin peace. But some time in the 1100�s,the Humans attacked. The Humans at-tacked out of fear - fear of somethingdifferent. By that time, Human �schol-ars� had determined that they were thetrue natives of Earth.

The Human attack was successfullargely because of the technology inweaponry available to them (see: NativePhysiology). The Humans used mostlyswords, spears, bows & arrows, etc.Because of the non-heat premise of theweapons, and the lack of preparednessof the Natives, the attack was almost atotal victory. Almost all of the Nativeswere killed.

Almost.The night after the attack, the few

survivors of the Natives got together. Theeldest of the Natives took charge of themeeting. They set three major agendasthat night. The first one was to constructa Labyrinth. They would live in that laby-rinth in secrecy for the rest of their exist-ence, or until the end of the Humans� ex-istence. They would construct this laby-rinth from their dead. This way theywould never forget about the slaughter.The second agenda was to bury thisLabyrinth...this newly constructed Laby-rinth. They must bury it, argued the Elder,so the Humans would not discover them.

And the third objective was simple.Revenge. They could not do a direct at-tack, however. They would never havethe numbers to survive, much less win.What they would do is construct.whatwould later be known as the Wicked One.This Wicked One would be made up ofboth Natives and Humans.

The Wicked One would have theability to change time, and the spacearound him. �How?� asked many of thesurvivors. The elder had a response. Theywould kidnap and kill the wizards of the

Human Race, and use their minds to cre-ate the abilities of this being.

And so the prophecy was written.Now all that is needed is time, patience,and perseverance.

The Natives in theModern DayThe modern day Natives have not for-gotten about the Massacre that fatefulnight in the 1100�s. They live in what theynow call the Labyrinth of the dead. Andif that was not enough of a reminder ofwhy they are taking this revenge, theHumans built a city right on top of theburied Labyrinth. Now the Natives needto deal with the Human�s pollution, aswell. The motivation for revenge is therenow more than ever before.

What they have been doing through-out history to build the Wicked Onechanged with the times. At first they se-cretly went in and kidnapped those withthe powers of the mind and killed them.They then stripped the empathic brain tis-sue out of the dead body. They store it incontainers deep within the heart of Laby-rinth.

That was fairly successful at thattime. But that period of Human historywas soon to come to an end. The factthat most of the wizards of the time werefake had negative affects on the resultsof the construction of the Wicked One.

After the medieval times, the con-struction of the Wicked One was all butcurbed. All that the Natives were able towork on with the Wicked One was itsbody. They took parts of the Human bod-ies that were buried in cemetaries on topof the Labyrinth and used them as someof the body of the Wicked One. They alsotook some of the bodies of the Nativedead to construct it. But the most im-portant part of the Wicked One had notyet been constructed.

Then the Dark Ones came. The Na-tives saw this as an opportunity to ex-pand on the power of the Wicked One.They stopped using the direct approachof kidnapping the Empaths of the HumanRace. They started an Empathic Under-ground in their area. Those empaths dis-appear one by one. They are consideredcasualties of the war with the Dark Ones.Oh, what those empaths don�t know....

One other very important note aboutthe Natives in the modern times is thatthey do not have the technology that theHumans have. They are still in the Medi-eval times using daggers, swords, etc.The reason for this is that they don�t feelthat a gun would be useful...they cannotbe affected by a gunshot (see: NativePhysiology), so it is a useless weapon.

Native PhysiologyThe Native body is a wonder. It cannotbe affected by heat. The body bendsaround the heat, creating a hole in thebody so that the hot object is not touch-ing the body at all. This is a completelyunconscious act on the part of the Na-tives, so dodging a gunshot (bullets arehot) is a non-issue. They are, however,just as vulnerable to non heated attackesas the Humans are. They can be cut justlike anyone else. They can be shot with abow and arrow just as anyone else canbe.

The average natural life span for aNative is approximatley 150 years. Butsince the Human attack, that number hasdropped dramatically. Because some ofthem go out for food or reproductivematerials (see below), they get killed bythe wildlife in the area, as they are VERYcareful to avoid Human eyes.

Reproduction for the Natives is ac-tually quite unusual for most types of life.The natives actually manufacture theiroffspring from various, rare, minerals inthe ground. The question arises why don�t

The Natives by Ryan Rank

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they create enough of themselves to over-take the humans. The answer is this: theycan�t get enough minerals to. They needto go outside the labyrinth to get the min-erals to create their offspring. The sizeof a newly created Native offspring isactually about the size of the Human in-fant. They eventually grow (it takes about20 years to grow into a full adult) to about6�0" in height. The size, strength, wieght,and many other attributes about themare very Human like.

Despite the way of reproduction ofthe Natives, they are not asexual. Thereare males and females in the race. Thereneeds to be one of each sex present tocreate an offspring. Typically, these twoparents are very close. After the child iscreated, the parents need to do a seriesof dances and mating rituals in order forthe child to come to life.

By far the strangest part of the Na-tive body is that after it dies, it still avoidsheat. Hence, some of the strange prop-erties about the Labyrinth...

The Labyrinth of theDeadWith the entire Native race working onthe labyrinth in the 1100�s, it only tookabout 2 weeks to fuse the bodies together.Surprisingly, though, they did not createtunnels in this Labyrinth. All they did wasto fuse all the bodies together. The elderand some of this closest aides did a se-

ries of rituals to create the tunnels in theLabyrinth. But these tunnels have a spe-cial property. They shift at the will of theElder. The Elder always knows whenthere is an unwelcome visitor.

Because they are constructed of thedead Natives, the walls avoid heat. Ifsomone shot a bullet through the wall,the wall will open up and the person willbe able to see for a distance of about 15feet before the wall on their end will close.They also radiate cold. The outer part ofthe labyrinth is a temperature of about35 degrees Farenheit and it gets colderas they get closer to the center of theLabyrinth.

There is one other very strangeproperty of the walls of the Labyrinth.People can pass through them. They leaveno holes where they pass through. Theyalso cannot pass through at anythingfaster than a walk, Human and Nativealike. The reason for this is because ofthe ritual that the Elder performed backin the 1100�s. Those kinds of small shifts,the Elder cannot control. But the onesthat do have to pass through have to beable to hold their breath long enoughunder strenuous conditions to get throughto the other side or they will die, similarto drowning.

The Labyrinth of the Dead has pro-tected the Natives for the past 1000 years.If the plans of the Natives go through, itwill not have to protect them any longer.

The Wicked OneThe Wicked One is extremely powerful.He has the ability to change time as hesees fit. But he does have to keep somethings limited. For example, he cannot goback and eliminate the Human race com-ing to earth, for he does not know whatit will bring. He has to play it safe whenit come to changing time. He usually onlychanges recent events...virtually neverbeyond a week in time.

His second awesome power is thatof changing space around him. It onlyworks up to 5 feet away from him, but itis still a powerful weapon. He can bendthe paths of bullets, bend a sword so thatit will not hit him; it�s virtually impossi-ble to hit him if he�s expecting it.

But he is not without flaw. He canbe surprised. He can be snuck up on justlike anybody else. But it has to be a onehit kill in order to defeat him. If he sur-vives the first hit, he will go back in timeand make sure that he was not surprised.No one is expected to survive a head-to-head encounter with the Wicked One.

His physiology is unique among theNatives. He has the body of a Native, andthe brain of a Human. Also, he did notgrow. He is about six feet tall, just likethe rest of the Natives, but he was con-structed like that. Since he was con-structed from so many different Nativebodies, he is very easy to identify. He isthe Frankenstein of the Natives. Only theNatives want the Wicked One. v

Because DEMONGROUND is a fanzine, it�s important for us to know what you, the fan, actually think of whatwe�re doing. None of us get paid for doing this, so the only reward we get is knowing that people have read andenjoyed all the work that has gone into creating every issue.

We�re interesting in hearing your opinions on what we doing. If you have any thoughts on the format of themagazine, or if you just want to offer encouragement or suggestions on what you would like to see covered in futureissues of DEMONGROUND, then we want to hear from you. It�s your encouragement that keep us (the editors,writers and artists) coming back issue after issue.

Please drop us a line at demonground@demonground.org with your comments. If you would like us to pass anycomments onto a specific author or artist, then let us know and we will forward your comments on. If we particularlylike your letters, we might even publish them in a future issue of DEMONGROUND.

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Missed Part 3by Marcus D. Bine

Becky was awakened to the dim pre-dawn glow by the soundof someone pounding on her front door. At first Beckythought it was just part of her dream (for surely, no one wouldbe after the Harris� at this time of the morning), but the in-sistent knocking had at last dragged her from her rest.

She rolled over in the bed stretch-ing her arm out to wake Colin. But in-stead, she felt only the soft sheets andcool, empty pillow. Her eyes openedwith a start, and she sat bolt upright inbed, trying to find a trace of her husband,somewhere in the gloomy twilight.

It was then she remembered; therewas no Colin in the house, not for over aweek now. He had been involved in aserious accident and then had somehowdisappeared from the hospital. No oneknew where he had gone, least of all, thepolice who had given up as soon as theinvestigation had become too convolutedand confusing.

The knocking on the door startedagain, startling her back to reality. Who-ever was downstairs wanted to get in�badly. Torn between the urge to ring forthe police or find out it was, she slid outof bed, flicking on the lamp as she didso. The light, piercing and bright, helpedher focus her thoughts.

Who the Hell could that be? Who-ever it is, is damn inconsiderate! Evenas her anger began to form, it faded inlight of another thought. What if wasthe police with information about Colin?or even Colin himself!

�Becky� Becky� Becky� shewhispered to herself, hands rubbing thesleep from her eyes, �You�re going mad,girl��

Either way, she wasn�t going tosolve the mystery from here in bed. Shestood and pulled on her dressing gown,then made her way downstairs.

* * *

Whoever was pounding on the door,wasn�t about to give up until someoneanswered. As Becky approached thedoor, she paused for a moment, contem-plating whether she should just ring the

police. But as the hammering came againshe realized that whoever it was wouldhave battered the door down by the timeany help had arrived.

�Who is it?� She asked timidly.There was a second of silence and

then a deep, husky voice replied, �Mrs.Harris? � Mrs. Harris please open thedoor. It�s important� I need to know��the voice trailed off.

Becky took another step closer tothe door. The voice did seem somewhatfamiliar, but she could not quite place it.

�Who are you? What do you want?I�m armed you know!� She called to theperson outside, as her eyes franticlysearched the foyer for some sort ofweapon to defend herself with.

�Rebecca� it�s me Hector Tanscon,the private detective� you hired me yes-terday�.

Of course, now she recognized thevoice, the short P.I. that had offered tofind Colin. But what was he doing hereat this time of the morning? Surely itcould have waited a few more hours.

�Please Rebecca� for the love ofGod, let me in� we need to talk�please.�

He was pleading with her now, hisvoice cracked and stressful. He slappedthe door once more and called out again.�Someone got my partner, like the oth-ers � got them all � I�m next Goddamnit � next � �

Becky reached forward, and beganopening the locks on the front door.Then, waited one second longer beforeopening the door for the detective.

As it opened, Hector fell forward,collapsing into Becky. Unable to hold upthe thickset man, she fell backwards, theP.I. landing on top of her. The two of themsprawled on the ground, knocking asidethe coat stand at the door.

It took a moment for Becky to re-

gain her composure, pulling herself frombeneath Hector, then kicking out and roll-ing him away. Hector just groaned andlooked up at her with a pitiful look in hiseyes.

�What have you done?� He askedpathetically. �What have you done to myfriend?�

Becky just stared back at him notcomprehending what he was babblingabout. What friend? What had happened?

Hector continued his lament. �Youdid this to me� what have you gotteninto? What the hell is happening here?�

Becky wished she knew what wasgoing on. This man, who yesterday hadcome to her with promises of assistance,now lay on the floor of her hallway, cry-ing like a child and accusing her of someconspiracy.

She regained her feet and lookeddown of this wretch of a man. It saddenedher to think a man could become such amess in such a short span of time. Sheleaned down and took Hector by theshoulder, assisting him to his feet.

�It�s okay, now� it will be fine,�she said trying to smile.

He allowed her to help him up andlead him towards the kitchen.

�No,� he said quietly, having re-gained some composure, � Nothing willever be all right, again�.

* * *

Colin was stunned.Everything had happened so fast.

From the car accident until now, eventhough more than a week had passed, itfelt like no time had past at all.

Now a perfect stranger stood beforehim, saying something about him beingthe key to it all. The missing link that fin-

Fiction

To The Circle That Binds It All by Marcus D. Bone

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ished a chain of events that he knew noth-ing about.

Miles, the man in question, nowstood in front of him grasping his shoul-der tightly.

�Colin,� he said staring into Colin�seyes, as if searching for something hid-den within, �I have a lot to tell you andlittle time in which to do it��

Colin nodded, he was still feelingnauseous, but was feeling better by theminute.

�Come and sit down. Here on thebed will be fine.�

Colin sat himself down on the edgeof the bed, as the three other occupantsof the room shuffled around to makeroom for him.

�Now Colin, can you tell me whereyou were the night of 16th January 2005?�Miles sounded like a detective. Colinsmiled at the thought.

�Hell, that was ten years ago, I canbarely remember yesterday! � he replied.

�No matter,� stated Miles seriously,�I can tell you exactly where your wereand at what time you were there.�

Colin shrugged his shoulders.�Please enlighten me.� He was in nomood for mind games, and the quickerhe found out why he was here, the bet-ter.

�On that night Colin,� began Miles,�you had left a party� alone in NorthSundale, Illinois.�

Sundale� that rang a bell some-where in the back of his mind, but at themoment his memory was like mush, im-ages intermixed where they could nothave possibly been. Then after a briefsecond it came to him.

Colin smiled remembering his past.Ten years ago, he was young and had ahabit of frequenting some of the hippestparties and clubs around. He had a repu-tation as quite a wild man back then; be-fore he had met Becky of course. Al-though he couldn�t remember that exactnight, he certain remembered some of themanic night up at North Sundale.

Miles continued speaking, unawarethat Colin was lost in his own past.

�Colin, a lot has changed in theworld. What we once thought of as sim-

ple truth, is now regarded as a fiction.And what we once thought as fiction nowpasses for reality. Colin, we are not alone,and you are living proof of that.�

That last statement broke Colin�sreverie. He looked up at Miles incredu-lously. �What do you mean I�m livingproof. Proof of what? The only thing Ican see any proof of, is that kidnappingis still prevalent in today�s society.�

Miles stared back at him, shakinghis head like a parent addressing a childwho knows not what they did wrong.

�Listen Colin. There are manythings I don�t understand in this world;like why the earth rotates arouind theSun. Sure I believe it, but don�t ask mewhy it is so. I just don�t question certainthings. Colin, this is one thing you�re justgoing to have to believe. Perhaps if I tellyou of that night. On the bridge��

* * *

The story Miles told Colin was almostimpossible to believe. The 25 mile drivehome that night from North Sundalewould have been like many others. Ob-viously, something must have been wrongif Colin had left a party as early as1:00am! He remembered the routeclearly as Miles recalled the events. DownI 78, through the Gully Pass intersectionand then onto the bridge over WattsCreek.

It was there that it happened, notthat Colin had any recollection of any-thing actually occurring on that bridge.Yet as the details were revealed some-thing rang true in the back of Colin mind.

The bridge was busy that night.Colin�s car was followed closely behindby two University professors, cominghome late from a board meeting. On theother side of the bridge, heading back theway Colin had just come, were two morevehicles, one a family; the Newports,travelling to a new city and a new life,the other an off duty patrolman headinghome after a long shift.

One moment they all drove in dark-ness, only their headlamps lighting theway, the next moment, the bridge wasbathed in light, blinding the drivers and

occupants.Colin must have skidded to a stop,

as did all the other cars on the bridge.Only the Newports failed to adjust, andwith a squeal of brakes slammed into oneof the bridges arches. Stunned by thelight, and the hum of something abovethem, the occupants of the bridge,strained to see the source.

The patrolman was the first out ofthe car, running to see if the Newportswere all right. Colin on the other handopened the car door and looked up tosee the shape in the sky above. Glancingbehind he noticed the two professors haddone the same.

The source of the light was an im-mense disk that floated just above thebridge, emitting a low hum that seemedto rattle his brain. The patrolman alsolooked up for the first time as he reachedthe Newport�s damaged car, and instantlyhe too was mesmerized by the light andsound.

Miles told the story as if he had beenthere and watched as the disk slowly de-scended onto the bridge. As it descended,the light grew more and more intense untilit had swallowed each of them up.

Colin shook his head violently todismiss the memory. Yes, he had beenthere, terrified by what the saucer repre-sented, every nightmare and horror storywas coming true that night on the bridge.

�But how do you know this hap-pened?� He asked wiping a tear from hiseye. �Where you there? Did you see whatI saw?�

Miles answered slowly taking histime. �No Colin. I was not. But he was.�

Miles raised a hand, pointing a fin-ger at Dr Curtis.

* * *

It had taken quite a while for Becky tocalm Hector down. He had been quitehysterical for a while there, almost drop-ping the cup of steaming coffee she hadoffered him. After the second cup, and ashot of brandy, he seemed better.

She asked him to explain what waswrong, and why in Earth�s name had hecome banging on her door at this hour of

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the morning. He looked at her blanklyfor a moment, as if trying to piece to-gether what had happened, and then shecould she that it all came flooding backto him. His hand shook, threatening toempty the contents of his mug all overhimself and Becky�s couch.

Hector shock his head and staredstraight through her as if she didn�t exist.Then he began to tell her what had hap-pened in the last few hours.

By the time he finished, Becky didn�tknow whether to believe him or call thecops. Surely, his tale couldn�t be true -and more to the point, it couldn�t involveColin. Could it? Why would anyonewant to lop off Hector�s partner�s handover something Colin had, or knew?Colin was just a midlevel executive for acompany of tens of thousands. Whatcould he possibly know that anyone elsedidn�t?

All these questions flashed throughher mind. But somehow she knew it mustbe true. She could think of no other rea-son Colin wouldn�t have called. But ifsomeone was after Colin, what could itbe for?

�So now you know.� Hector wasspeaking to her. �I thought you�d knowwhy� why Jimmy had to die?�

She could see that he was about tobreak down again �He was a good kid,never hurt anyone��

�I know that.� She said trying tocalm him down. Somehow she had tochange the subject. �Have you rung thepolice, maybe they can help?�

Hector laughed. �The police? Thepolice can�t help, they�ll just take somepictures and get a statement, then �file�it. �

�Becky,� he continued, �did they doanything for you? These days the onlything the police are good for are leadsfor underhanded con men like me!�

She looked at him, her eyes open-ing wider in realization.

�Don�t look so surprised. You thinkI do this for fun did you?�

�But surely� I wouldn�t have��Her voice trailed off. She knew yester-day that he had duped her. It was all justsome sort of scam for money.

She should have been angry - reallyangry with him - with herself. But some-how she couldn�t. He was here now,wasn�t he? Obviously, something haddriven him to come to her� he couldn�tbe all bad.

�Anyway. Now that I know you hadnothing to do with this, Becky. I�m go-ing to do something about it.� The lookin his eyes had changed, from bleary andred they now grew as hard as steel.

�I�m going to find the men that killedthat poor boy and teach them a lessonthey�ll never forget.�

�But they�ll kill you, Hector! Theseare obviously real killers you�re dealingwith�.

�What do you care? And whoknows? I might find your husband alongthe way!�

�I care enough to not want to seeyou end up dead. You may be a com-plete bastard, but you seem nice enoughon the inside.�

Just then Hector�s Cell phone rang,both of them jumped at the sound thatrung out in the growing light of dawn.

Hector reached into his top pocketof his coat, which lay across the chair nextto him. Lifting the phone to his ear, helooked at Becky. If only you knew, hethought, if only you knew.

* * *

�That�s right, Colin. I was there that nighton the bridge.�

Dr Curtis looked at Colin, trying todecipher some reaction from him. FinallyColin seemed to understand.

�You were there that night. Butsurely that was all a dream I once had?�

As he realized that he was now en-tering a world much deeper and darkerthan any he had ever suspected, Colin�seyes began to dart around, looking forsome sort of exit. The Doctor noticed thisand moved to calm him down.

�Relax, Colin. You�re safe with us,here.�

As if that sentence was some sortof omen, an explosion rocked the ship,making the room sway as it reverberatedthrough the hull.

�What the Hell�� Miles was cut offby another explosion, much smaller thistime. Colin felt as if he was going to besick again. Around him only Suva, thelarge Fijian seemed to be reacting at all,the others were too stunned to even tryand regain their feet.

Suva threw open the door to thecabin peering out into the much dark cor-ridor.

�Looks like we got company, Man�he yelled with a deep accent.

Miles seemed to recover quickerthan the rest, and moving to Suva�s shoul-der yelled at the rest of the men in theroom.

�Come on, move your arses!�That spurred them into action.

Curtis grabbing Colin as he tried to stand.Kerry, the youth that had been sitting inthe corner, leapt up and retrieved some-thing large and black from beneath hischair.

�Come on guys,� Miles yelled, � Ifthis is who we think it is, we ain�t gottime to dally.�

All at the door now, Miles pushedthe Doctor and Colin ahead of him downthe corridor. Kerry followed closely withSuva taking up the rear of the strangeline.

�What�s happening?� Colin gaspedas he ran down the corridor close behindthe Doctor. If anyone heard him theyweren�t answering.

The corridor itself was narrow -barely large enough for two men to walkside by side, so running down the pas-sage wasn�t easy. Colin banged his el-bows, shins and knees on the metal framesof the ship as he continued to followCurtis� lead. At one point, he would havetripped and fallen flat on his face if some-one, Miles presumably, hadn�t grabbedhim. He barely had time to say thanksbefore he was again running to catch theDoctor.

Ahead of him, Curtis dashedthrough a side door, beckoning Colin tofollow. The room he entered was obvi-ously some sort of dining area; a largetable surrounded by half a dozen chairs.Behind him the rest of the rag-tag crewentered the room. The last of them, Suva,

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glanced over his shoulder to see if theyhad been followed.

�Not yet!� He said to no one in par-ticular.

Miles answered. � No, but soon.�He looked at Colin �You must be reallyimportant for them to attack in broad day-light.�

�Jeez, thanks.� Colin answered sar-castically.

�Maybe we should give him tothem?� The voice came from behind him,the kid Kerry.

�What?� Colin started, but Miles cuthim off.

�He ain�t going anywhere. Besides,we got two of them here.� Miles pointedto both Colin and the Doctor. � We don�tknow what the hell would happen if thesebastards got them both!�

Colin was getting angry. �Look, wearen�t possessions you know!�

�I know,� answered Miles, �but tothem out there, you are a threat that theywill stop at nothing to possess.�

Colin looked back at him oddly�What does that mean?�

�Never mind. If we stay here likethis, we�re all dead!�

Miles pointed to the boy and theDoctor. �Look after him, he�s the key.Give Suva and me a few minutes to dis-tract them and then meet us at the OldStar. Oh, and be safe� He winked atColin, and ducked out into the dark pas-sageway with Suva close behind.

No sooner had they both vanishedfrom sight than a audible slap was heard,as if someone, or something had clappedtheir hands.

Colin turn and asked Curtis what thehell was happening and who was afterhim. Well, he would have if any soundwould�ve come out of his throat. Therewas a moment of shock, and he raisedhis fingers to his lips. Yes, they were stillmoving, it was just that no sound wascoming out. He looked at the Doctor,who in turn seemed to be mouthing some-thing back.

�� worry about it.� All of a sud-den he could hear the man talking to him.

�What?� he asked, again. This time,he could hear himself loud and clear.

Curtis motion for him to keep hisvoice down and the whispered to him. �Isaid, don�t worry about it. Miles can dothat.�

�Do what?� He asked quieter thistime.

�It�s hard to explain�. The Doctoranswered.

Kerry Graham came closer to them.�Miles is a Sorcerer.� He said matter-of-factly.

Colin almost burst out laughing.�What, like Merlin or DavidCopperfield?�

It was Curtis who answered. �Notat all. You see, Miles has the ability ofopen a window to other worlds�.

Colin just nodded dumbly. Com-pared to some of the other things he hadwitnessed this day, this all made perfectsense.

�What you�ve just seen is Miles al-lowing a bit of another dimension intoour own. A world where there is nothingbut silence.�

�Okay� now comes the silly ques-tion. Why?�

�The weapons these creatures useare based on sound,� replied Curtis mat-ter-of-factly. �The silence extends onlyso far, that�s why we can speak now, andcan no longer hear any of the fighting thatmust surely be taking place.�

Colin thought for a second. This isgetting weirder and weirder. He wasafraid to ask what the �creatures� werethat Curtis had mentioned.

There was a pregnant pause as Colinwondering where the conversation wouldgo next. Both Kerry and the Doctor werelistening for any sign of what was hap-pening outside their room.

Colin looked around, and noticinga large window, realized that he still didn�tknow where he was. Outside were a lotof boats; most of which were larger thanpleasure craft but smaller than containerships. The majority of these vesselswhere docked at various points outside.While the exact location didn�t spring tomind, it was obvious that he was in somesort of harbor, his harbor if he was notmistaken. Ah, he thought, at least I�m stillon earth� I hope!

�Time to go.� It was the Doctor.Colin shrugged his shoulders. �Why

not?�Kerry led the way, looking careful

through the doorway before proceeding.Colin followed, then the Doctor. Colinhimself was soon lost; each corridor look-ing the same to him. He was thankful thatKerry knew his way about.

At last they seemed to be gettingsomewhere and ahead of him the youthtook a sharp right. Seconds later, Colinalso turned the corner� but the boywasn�t there. He couldn�t have just dis-appeared. The air here was hot andsmelly, a breeze seemed to be at his neck.

�Behind y�� there was a cry frombehind him.

Colin turned to see� nothing butstars and light. The crack of his skullsounded distant. He felt is knees give wayand his body drop to the ground.

* * *

Hector listened to the receiver, half ex-pecting to hear the harsh rasping voicethat had told him his friend and partnerwas about to die because of him.

�Hector? Is that you?� It was aman�s voice.

He exhaled, realizing only now thathe had been holding his breath.

�Yeah,� he answered hoping tosound to relieved.

�Sergeant Gonzales, down at theprecinct. You said that if I heard anythingabout the Harris case that I should get intouch�� The man paused for a second�Sorry to disturb you at this hour of themorning but you said it�d be worth mywhile.�

�Yep� it will.� Especially if I catchthose bastards, he thought. �I was awakeanyway, what have you got?�

�Well, you remember that Harriswas in a car crash a week or so ago? Itseems the guy that hit him was alreadydead!�

�What?��You heard me. Already dead.

Now I don�t know about you but thatgives me the creeps. He can�t have beendead already� could he?� He sounded

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as if he thought Hector knew more thanhe was letting on.

�I don�t know Gonzales. You�retelling the story�.

�Yeah, I am. Anyway, the only leadwe got on this stiff is that he used to liveand work down at the old Blade Mill,some sort of on site security guard� youknow the place, on the corner of Westand Parish.�

The copper wet his lips. �One of thenew boys said maybe we should go checkit out, but we ain�t got enough men onthe beat for the important stuff, let aloneevery Tom, Dick and John Doe that endsup on our doorstep. Not until the morn-ing, anyhow.� Hector got the man�s drift.�Anyways, I just thought you may wantto know that�s all� every little bit helps.�

Hector couldn�t help but think thatGonzales had a double meaning in thatstatement. �You�re going to get some-thing really nice for your birthday for thisone� Real nice if it went the way hewanted it to.

Hector flipped the cell phone up anddisconnecting the call. He looked atBecky and smiled.

�Thanks for the coffee and for lis-tening to an old drunkard get somethingoff my chest, but I got to go, okay?�

�What?� Becky was astonished atthe man�s sudden change of heart; not ahour ago he was a mess, crying on hershoulder, and now she was meant to be-lieve that he was fine?

�I better get going.� He said slip-ping on his coat.

�Oh no, you�re not! That call wasabout the killers, wasn�t it?�

�Not at all.� He said getting a littlefrantic not to arouse her interest.

�Yes it was. I can tell and that meansit had something to do with Colin as well,didn�t it?� Her eyes pierced his, like shewas trying to read his mind.

�Goddamn it, Becky! Leave thisone alone, okay? It�s for the best�

�What�s �for the best� is if I can findColin and bring him home to his family;the ones that love and care for him. I�mnot letting you leave until you tell mewhat that phone call was about!�

Hector looked at her, and then real-

ized how serious she was. He shook hishead and flopped back down on thecouch.

�Alright Becky. You win. Yes, itwas about Colin.�

He quickly explained that they hadidentified the corpse of the man drivingthe other car, when Colin�s original acci-dent had occurred, leaving out that hewas already dead by the time the crashtook place. He also failed to mention thathe had got the information on the sly andwas paying good cash for it, instead say-ing that the police had asked if he wouldcheck it out, saving them some time.

Becky didn�t seem to care why any-way. �Well I�m coming along too.� Shesaid suddenly.

�Over my dead body you are! Itcould be dangerous. This ain�t going tobe a Sunday walk in the park. There couldbe killers there!�

�Or Colin could be there.� She re-plied. �Regardless I�m coming along.�

�No�� But he didn�t to finish.�Look I�ll stay in the car?� She of-

fered.�Oh hell, alright, but you will stay

in the goddamned car. This ain�t no two-bit fiction book here, lass. This is reallife.� What did he care anyway? once theshooting started she�d get out of the way.

�Give me a sec�� Becky said asshe started up the stairs. �I�ll meet you inthe car�

Hector made his way outside. Whatthe hell have I got myself into? hethought.

* * *

The images inside Colin�s head swirled�memories of his childhood, his first love,the day his oldest girl was born.

Then it focused on that night. Thesaucer and the light, being taken up in-side and on the table� the creature com-ing closer to him. The pain of the probein his ear. Then he remembered the crea-ture whispering to him and from some-where inside his brain there came an an-swer. Not a voice, not his voice at all,but a sound like willows in the breeze�

Realization dawned on him. In his

dream, they hadn�t examined him at all.No, they had put something inside him.And that something had talked back!

He felt his mind blur at the thoughtand suddenly shafts of red light pressedagainst his brain. It took him a momentto realize that he was looking at the in-side of his eyelids, squeezed tight to keepout the light. With a willpower he neverknew he possessed, he slowly opened hiseyes to look at his surroundings

He looked around him, finding thathe lacked any sort of movement andknowing instantly that he was somehowstrapped down on a bench or table.

I�m getting too used to this, hethought through the pounding of his head.It felt as if the back of his skull had beencaved in by some blunt object, he couldimage the size of the lump.

�Colin� Colin is that you?� Therewas a voice near to him. Turning his headwith the greatest of efforts he saw Doc-tor Curtis in obviously the same positionas he.

He was strapped down by the wristsand ankles and a larger third strap helddown his abdomen. Near the top of thebench was some a sort of trap or snare,looking as though once in use, someonecould move the captives head withoutthem struggling. It looked also as if theDoctor hadn�t been so lucky, his scalpwas covered in dried blood and his spec-tacles lay damaged across the bridge ofhis nose.

�I�m alright,� Curtis whispered,sounding anything but. He had obviouslynoticed the concerned look Colin hadgave him.

�It looks as if Kerry faired worse I�mafraid.� The doctor motioned with hishead to the corner.

Colin followed the look to see theboy�s body, lying broken and limp. Hegrimaced at the body, praying silently thathe wouldn�t end up the same way.

Looking back at Curtis, Colin shookhis head at it all.

�They put something in my brain,didn�t they?� He asked already knowingthe answer.

�Yes they did Colin. That night on

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the bridge they put something in all ofour brains, all those that survived, thatis.�

�What? The others died?��If they weren�t before, they are

now, I fear. My colleague that night,Fraser, he may still be alive but they willsoon find him as well. But yes, they areall dead. The Newports died that night,we guess, either in the crash, or soon af-ter. Only their daughter survived and yetshe took her own life years ago. And asfor the Patrolman, Johnstone, well he wasthe one that alerted us to your presence.�

�How?� This was getting so weirdthat Colin was sure it must be a dream,or hoped it was one anyway. �More im-portantly Why? Tell me why this has hap-pened?�

�Well, Colin. From what Miles andI have surmised we were abducted thatnight by a group of �Aliens�, for the lackof a better word. It seems that these al-iens are, or were involved in a great warthat spanned many dimensions.�

�Like the ones Miles can tap into?��Yes, places like that. From what we

can understand, the aliens that abductedus were minions of a greater alien, it wasthis greater being that was losing the waragainst another of his kind. It seems thatfearing for himself, or his race, he ab-ducted a few insignificant humans to beused as vessels for his knowledge, ormaybe even his soul��

�And those vessels are us?� A chillshuddered down Colin�s spine.

�I believe so. Unfortunately for us,it looks as if the war was going worsefor it than the being expected and so itpossessed the closest minds it could --ours. We each had a cap of informationinserted in our brains. Although what ittruly holds, I don�t know�

�I�ve got to ask how you know somuch? Surely Cambridge doesn�t teachAlien Gods 101��

�I broke my cap, somehow the in-formation inside revealed to me much ofthat night and what the aliens had in storefor Earth. Be thankful you�ll neverknow.�

�Oh I am. Trust me on that.��You don�t know how lucky you

are. The caps also link us somehow, Icould sort of sense when something iswrong with a cap, or another capped vic-tim is near. So far you are the only onethat we were able to save. I�m sorryyou�re here.�

�Oh man I really hope this is adream.� This was all way too much forColin. �So why are we here, you thinkthis �Being� wants its information back?�

�No unfortunately, we think that thealiens and their master have all been de-stroyed by their enemy. We believe thatthe creatures that have us now are serv-ants of that Dark Lord and are now clean-ing up the mess the aliens left behind.Nothing noble in it I�m afraid we are justthe leftovers of a war we never knewexisted.�

Colin was scared now. �So we aregoing to die because one powerful bas-tard hated another powerful bastard in aworld we�ve never seen?�

�Looks that way.��Talk about depressing. You think

that these creatures might just take thecaps and let us go?�

As if on cue, the door to the cham-ber opened and three figures entered theroom, each dressed head- to-toe incloaks.

Curtis smiled at Colin. �Well, here�syour chance to ask them.�

* * *

The car pulled up outside the Blade Mill.From over here in the car park both Hec-tor and Becky could see that somethingwas going on inside. Every few secondsbright lights flashed, brightly illuminat-ing the windows.

Hector reached into the back grab-bing, from beneath the seat, a shotgun.Checking it was loaded, he opened thecar door.

He glanced at Becky, who justsmiled back.

�Remember. You�re to stay here nomatter what, okay? If I�m not back in 20minutes, ring the cops.� He flung her hiscell phone. �Until then, hang tight, you�llbe safe here.�

�Of course I will.� She said, smiling

back weakly.Hector slammed the door shut, and

breathed deeply a few times. He slowlywalked towards the large doors in the sideto the building. At least it was gettingcloser to dawn, he thought, as the sun ofa new day reached its lazy fingers overthe land.

Back in the car, Becky began tothink that coming along had been a badidea. It was obvious that Hector hadcome to spill some blood and yet she hadstill insisted that she�d tag along.

�At least I�ve got this.� She whis-pered, reaching into his bag and with-drawing a small P framed pistol. Let themtry to take her.

* * *

Whatever Hector had expected to find,it sure in hell wasn�t this.

He had pulled the doors open andpeered into the darkness. All of a sud-den, the bright light had flashed showinghim as clear as day the scene inside theMill.

The first thing he noticed was thethree cloaked figures that huddled aroundone of two large tables. One of the fig-ures had a large rod in his hand, whichseemed to be the source of the light. Thislight intensified as the figure placed theend of the rod on the shape that lay onthe table in front of it.

The sight was shocking. The shapeon the table was, or had been a man. Nowall that remained was the shell of one.The corpse�s eyes bulged from its sock-ets, and its hair stood on end. What thesepeople were doing was worse than crimi-nal.

On the second table somethingmoved, there was obviously another per-son strapped down on it.

�For Christ�s sake help me!� thevoice, that of a man, pleaded.

Hector was pissed, what sort ofscrewed up hit men were these guys?

�Right. Nobody move� hands upand I don�t start blasting!� he yelled atthe three figures.

But they didn�t seem to want to lis-ten. Scattering to the left and right, the

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figures turned to attack Hector.�Damn.� He whispered under his

breath, and pulled the trigger of the shot-gun. He allowed himself a wry smile asthe central figure crumpled to the groundas the buckshot hit. The rod from itshands flew across the room.

Looking up from his target he real-ized in his haste that the other two fig-ures had disappeared. Scanning aroundhe could find no sign of them.

Hector took a few nervous steps for-ward, and then a few more. Not beingable to see any other threats, he advancedto ensure that crumpled figure on theground was truly down.

As he got closer the man on the ta-ble started to cry out. Hector tried to hushhim, raising a finger to his lips. But to noavail. He looked at the man worried thathe would give away his position. Andthere was a look of terror in his eyes.

�NOOOOOOOO!� The man on thetable screamed.

Hector knew he was done for,somehow one of the other hit men hadgot behind him. Even as he turned heknew it was futile.

* * *

Becky heard the scream and gasped.Hector was gone.

Then it dawned on her. That wasn�tHector�s voice. It was Colins!

* * *

Perhaps it was the look of horror on Hec-tor�s face that stopped the creature fromkilling him outright.

For a creature it was. Havingpushed back the coat from around itsface, it exposed what could only be de-scribed as a horribly disfigured man. Itsface was black, as if it had been burnt,and small tusks grew out of his cheeks.The creature looked at Hector andsneered. Its teeth were sharp and milkywhite.

Advancing on him slowly it reachedinto its pocket retrieving a small box, nobigger than a mouse. Hector backed way,passing by the man on the table.

�Run for it man why you still have achance,� he said.

The creature, upon hearing the manon the table speak, looked down at him

snarling like a wild animal.Behind it two ear-splitting reports

sounded, and Hector felt a breeze rushpast his throat. A split second later, thecreature shuddered as something hit itfrom behind. Feeling the pain, it turnedto face the new threat.

That was all the invitation Hectorneeded. Raising the shotgun to eye level,he pulling the trigger, emptying the sec-ond barrel into the back of the creature.Even as the full blast of the buckshotcrushed it�s spine, it still stood for a sec-ond longer, before crashing to the ground.

Looking up from the corpse, he sawBecky in the doorway, a small pistol inhand, shaking as if wet from a winter rain-storm.

�Easy,� he said. � There� s still an-other one on these� things in here.�

�Not anymore.� Came a voice frombeside Becky.

�Miles�� said the man strapped onthe table.

Hector shook his head. Lookingdown on the man he said. �And by thelooks of it you are� Colin Harris if I�mnot mistaken.�

And Colin just smiled. v

�I�m stunned sometimes by the ignorance of some people. They thinkthat because they get a hint of deja vu every now and again that they areempaths. Once they think that, they seem to think that they are automati-cally capable of hunting minions with the best of us.

�These people have absolutely no idea what they are doing. Not onlythat, because they haven�t got any idea what they are doing, they putthemselves and others in unnecessary risk. Most of them don�t survive theirfirst encounters with the Dark Ones. Some of us don�t survive the rescuemissions either.

�It would be a wonderful world if we could require someone to take atest before they went out and tried to save the world. But, it isn�t going tohappen. So we just have to hope that we�re not the ones that have to paythe price of stupidity in the face of the enemy.�

- Zena Marley(Early 21st-century mercenary/philosopher)

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Demonground Editorial TeamMarcus Bone(marcusbone@demonground.org)Michael Marchi(mikemarchi@demonground.org)Geoff Skellams(geoffskellams@demonground.org)

Article AuthorsMarcus BoneChris CarpenterLeanne DempseyEyal FaingershSteve KingMichael MarchiRyan RankLee Williams

Cover Art�Trancemission� by Bill Elsworth

Banner Art�There goes the Neighborhood� by EyalFaingersh

Interior ArtAndy Simmons, Eyal Faingersh andJames D. Collins.

Interior GraphicsMike MarchiGeoff Skellams

New Zena Marley quotes written byGeoff Skellams.

Like all fanzines, we need articlesby you to keep this magazine alive.

We�re looking for articles solely re-lated to the Modern Conspiracy/Horrorgenre. Any material that would help a newreferee or player would be ideal.

Use the departments from this issueas a rough guide to the areas of materialwe are looking for. In particular, we needarticles for all the game systems we aresupporting:

All Flesh Must Be EatenConspiracy XDark ConspiracyDelta GreenDark�MatterWitchcraft

If you think you can help, thenplease send your submission to us atdemonground@demonground.org.

We would prefer all submissions tobe in a format readable by MicrosoftWord 97. Our main preference is a Word97 file.

If you are sending in a number ofarticles, please send each one in a sepa-rate file. This saves us a lot of time andeffort.

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Please keep the formatting in yoursubmissions simple. We will format yoursubmission when the magazine is beinglaid out.

We reserve the right to edit yoursubmission and to correct spelling andgrammar if necessary. If you have a prob-lem with us doing this, please contact usand we will see if we can come to somesort of arrangement.

We look forward to seeing yoursubmissions. Your involvement is impor-tant, not only to the success of thisfanzine

The copyright for the articles andartwork in this issue of Demongroundremain with the original authors/artists.Used with permission.

All other trademarks or registeredtrademarks are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of their respective owners.

All trademarks are used without per-mission for the purposes of illustrationonly. The use of these trademarks shouldnot be seen as a challenge to the respec-tive owners.

Credits Submissions Copyright

LEGAL INFORMATIONThe Dark Conspiracy game in allforms is owned by Dark Con-spiracy Enterprises. © 1991 - 1998Dark Conspiracy Enterprises. DarkConspiracy is a trademark of DarkConspiracy Enterprises. Dark Con-spiracy Enterprises permits websites and fanzines for this game,provided it contains this notice, thatDark Conspiracy Enterprises isnotified, and subject to a with-drawal of permission on 90 daysnotice. The contents of this site arefor personal, non-commercial use,only. Any use of Dark ConspiracyEnterprises� copyrighted materialor trademarks anywhere on thisweb site and its files should not beviewed as a challenge to thosecopyrights or trademarks. In addi-tion, any program/articles/file onthis fanzine cannot be republishedor distributed without the consentof the author who contributed it.Dark Conspiracy Enterprises POBox 2310 Key West FL 33045.

The Loose Ends

We began with the intention of producingthe best source of new material for theDark Conspiracy� roleplaying game.

One Dark World wasn�t enough.

Now,we intendto become thebest source for theentire genre of ModernConspiracy/Horror games.

Here are some of thegame systems you�ll findgracing our pages in the future:

Eden Studios� Conspiracy X�Pagan Publishing�s Delta Green�Wizards of the Coast�s Dark�Matter�

and of course...Dynasty Presentations� Dark Conspiracy�

The reflections begin

January 2000

www.demonground.org