You can always tell the moment before the fangs sink in.
Your local coffee shop comes under new management. The deli goes out of business. Your rent keeps going up.
You can feel it - heavy, hot, and hungry - breathing down the back of you neck.
Then your neighbors start to go, one by one. They give you good reason, but you know the truth. They can feel the fangs, the same as you.
Then when the draining starts, for a moment there is peace. There is a promise - whispered close - of
Immortality… immortality… immortality… for just a second, you could even believe it’s true.
What a dope. They’ll suck you dry. You think they want to share?
No, no, not this time. Pick up a sign. The scent of change is in the air.
(Content Warnings: death, description of police violence, description of violence at protests, implied kidnapping and torture, brief description of gore including severed limbs, and brief discussion of the East Palestine train derailment and it's effects on the surrounding community)
Check out “Kingdom” by Ben Robbins!
PLAYERS
Sam Richardson (@Laggardson, He/him)
William White (@kwilliamwhite, They/them)
Sam Darr (@mossyauthor, She/They)
Jonas Newhouse (@jonasnewhouse, They/them)
NPCs
Stela Hartley AKA Pink Moon (she/her) - Member of the Lunar Coven. Latina woman with dyed pink hair. Early 30s. Wears a lot of white - including a dyed denim coat, and bleached sneakers. Kelly saved her from the Strangleworm last time they met. Major character played by Sam R, Perspective.
Officer Michael Sommer (he/him) - Police officer, and head of the Myriad Taskforce. Older white man with a shaved head. Not as friendly as some would prefer. Minor character played by Sam R.
Mark Grey (he/they) - Vampire. One of only three “Grieves”, Carmichael’s elite force of Dread Ringers and most trusted advisors. Major character played by William, Perspective.
Kip Ranger (they/them) - A Black-Lagoon-esque fishman once cursed to turn to stone and sink to the bottom of the nearby North Fork Lake, now revived by a magical lightning strike. Works for the fire department, doing work dangerous to humans. Minor character played by William.
Barley Porter (he/him) - A workaday long-haul trucker from Norfork. Despite his time away, people always seem to remember his name, thanking or cursing him for things he doesn’t remember doing. Now he has returned to Norfork to stay for a bit and help set up the Norfork Advocacy Council. Major character played by Jonas, Power.
Freddy Rinsen (he/they) - Once a stage magician, Freddy was run out of town for using real magic to zhuzh up his act. Now he has returned a Dread Ringer, ready to do Carmichael’s bidding. Minor character played by Jonas.
Silvia Rui (she/her) - Member of the Norfork Parent's Assemblage ("The Moms"). White woman with frizzy brown hair, long cardigans, and mom-jeans. Just wants the high-school to reopen for her kids. Recently revealed to be the source of knowledge on The Crystal Flower. Wife of City police officer Chuck Rui. Major character played by Sam Darr, Perspective.
Romeo (he/him) - Agent of Dranja. Calm and assertive. Appears on Earth as a white person with platinum-tipped hair, often chews the end of a toothpick absentmindedly. Minor character played by Sam Darr.
ORGANIZATIONS
The City: A city founded near Norfork that has been aggressively expanding for the last 20 years. This faction includes the police force of the City, the City Council, and its various bureaucratic tentacles.
Norfork Town Council: An elected group of representatives that serves Norfork. Currently clinging to their role as bureaucratic arbiters, even as the City’s council attempts to cast them as a vestigial holdover. Colloquially referred to as “city council” (lowercase “c”), much to everyone’s consternation.
Norfork Parent’s Assemblage (N.P.A.): A group of mothers in Norfolk dedicated to improving the community of Norfork. They are often at odds with the City council. They are very powerful, but also often rife with internal conflict.
The Dread Ringers: A vampire “mob” led by the arch-vampire Carmichael. They run a network of clubs throughout the City. They have recently expanded into Norfork thanks to a combination of new construction and a “community watch”, which they use as a guise to carry out various unsavory activities.
Relegated Production Industries (R.P.I.): Officially, a City-backed construction management company. They have just developed the land inside of the Divot into a business park, where they are putting the finishing touches on their new headquarters. Unofficially… maybe something else.
The Star Society: A group of 15-20 amateur astronomers seeking out the clearest skies in Norfork. They are a mix of townies and City folk, but townies always know the best spots and for some reason The City folk can’t seem to get images that are as clear from where they live…
The Dark Abbey: Fans of the influencer and fashion vlogger Glymmer AKA Aina Steen. Treated very seriously. Meetups are usually by invitation only, and they’ve begun to hold raves in the derelict mining tunnels beneath Norfork. Their symbol looks like a little cartoony black castle.
Norfork Advocacy Council: An initiative started by Alexei Abramson, Marlowe, and more recently Barley Porter. Advocating for Norfork’s interests. Run out of the abandoned Wilson-Dillard High.
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Audio editing by Sam Richardson (@laggardson)
Audio Mixing by William White (@kwilliamwhite)
Original music by Jonas Newhouse (@jonasnewhouse) & William White (@kwilliamwhite)
Pest Control is an actual-play tabletop horror RPG podcast produced in association with Queuetimes (@_queuetimes). Our second season uses “Monster of the Week”, a Powered by the Apocalypse system by Michael Sands and Evil Hat Productions. You can pick up a copy here.
Season two, “Norfork”, follows a trio of friends living in the edge-city of Norfork as the community adapts to the open presence of Myriads and the encroachment of The City.
