Any vampire that fights the Larvae and survives can pass along this piece of wisdom to his fellows—“Do not let them surround you.” A pack of Larvae doesn’t have much in the way of intelligence, but more than makes up for it in animal cunning, ferocity and tenacity. This Fighting Style simulates the way in which a pack of Larvae takes down its prey.

Note that only a true pack of Larvae uses the Swarm. If, for some reason, several unaffiliated Larvae wound up in the same place at the same time, and a convenient victim was nearby, the minions would be just as likely to attack each other as the vessel. They certainly would not use any of the maneuvers listed here, even if they knew them.

Not all Larvae are equally talented in battle, and so not all of them have access to all levels of the Fighting Style.

The Storyteller needs to decide, when using Larvae in a battle, which minions have access to the Swarm and at what rating. It might be simpler to assume that all members of a pack have the same rating, rather than write out traits for a large group of them, of course.

Dots purchased (or granted) in this Merit allow access to special combat maneuvers. Each dot is a prerequisite for the next one, so a Larva can’t have Set-Up until he has Dogpile. All Larvae involved in a given maneuver have to have the requisite dots in this Merit to enact it, except for Sever Limbs (see below).

• Synchronicity: The Larvae anticipate one another’s moves, waiting for an unspoken signal before moving in. The Storyteller makes one initiative roll for the Larvae, using the character with the highest Initiative modifier. All members of the pack act on this initiative.

•• Dogpile: The Larvae attack a single target simultaneously, grappling him and holding him down. A maximum of three Larvae can enact this maneuver at once. Use the grappling system found on p. 157 of The World of Darkness Rulebook, except that the Larvae use the teamwork rules (found on p. 134 of that book). The primary actor subtracts the target’s full Defense rating from the roll, but if the roll succeeds, the character is grappled by all of the participating Larvae. This means that to break free, the grappled character’s player must roll Strength + Brawl – the highest Strength rating of the grappling Larvae + 1 for each additional Larva. The grappling Larva can bite the target on the next turn, but cannot enact other Swarm maneuvers.

••• Set-Up: One Larva moves in and absorbs a blow from a victim. As the blow lands, the next Larva attacks, taking advantage of his packmate’s sacrifice. The first Larva sacrifices his Defense, taking no action for the turn. If the target attacks the “sacrificial” Larva, another member of the pack can attack the target and gain a +2 to the attack roll. Only one Larva can take advantage of this maneuver in a turn.

•••• Eyes Everywhere: Since Larvae have an intuitive sense of each other’s positions and current situation, they are extremely difficult to overwhelm. All Larvae in a given combat scene with this level of Swarm do not suffer from the Defense penalty due to multiple attacks in the same turn (see p. 155 of The World of Darkness Rulebook).

••••• Sever Limbs: Once a pack of Larvae has grappled a target using Dogpile, it can hold the target immobile allowing devastating attacks from other members of the swarm. By chewing through the target’s flesh at joints, the Larvae can sever a target’s arm or leg in a matter of seconds. This is an extended action, during which the target must remain immobilized in the grapple. The attack roll comes from a Larva not involved in the Dogpile (and whose Strength doesn’t contribute to the penalty for breaking free, therefore). The Storyteller makes the Larva’s attack roll as usual. The target’s Defense does not apply. The Larva must accumulate a number of successes equal to the (target’s Stamina x 2) + Resilience (if any). If the Larva manages to accumulate these successes before the target breaks free, the creature chews through the target’s elbow, shoulder or knee and removes the attached limb. To a living target, this immediately fills the character’s Health track with Lethal damage (meaning that the character is bleeding out), even if the successes on the attack roll(s) were not sufficient to do this. To a vampire, the loss of the limb is obviously terrifying and inconvenient, but the vampire won’t bleed to death. He merely suffers the Lethal damage indicated by the Larva’s attacks.
Only the Larva making the chewing attack needs to have Fighting Style: Swarm •••••.

Example: A pack of four Larvae attack a hapless mortal walking home one night. Three of them (each with Swarm ••) grapple him, while the fourth (with Swarm •••••) chews through his arm. The man’s Stamina is 2, his Health rating is 7 and he has no wounds going into the fight. That means that Larva needs 4 successes to chew through his arm. The Storyteller rolls 3 successes on the first turn and 2 on the second. This indicates 5 levels of Lethal damage, but it’s also enough to separate the man from his arm. This fills his Health track with Lethal damage and he immediately begins to bleed out (as described on p. 173 of The World of Darkness Rulebook). Of course, the Larvae will surely drain his blood in the next few seconds, killing him.

If the hapless wanderer had been a vampire with Resilience 1, the Larvae would have a much harder time of it. For one thing, once the vampire activated Resilience, his effective Stamina increases to 3, meaning the Larva needs 7 successes to sever the limb (Stamina 3 x 2 = 6 + Resilience 1 = 7). At that point, it’s more likely that the Larva will put the vampire into torpor than take off his arm.