The New York Biohazard Research Institute

During the chaotic period of The Fall, a medical research center was established in New York State with the critical mission of studying the new virus that was devastating the world. This center played a crucial role in attempting to understand and combat the outbreak.

The New York Biohazard Research Institute was a key player during The Fall, working tirelessly to understand and combat the zombie virus. Its advanced facilities and dedicated researchers made significant contributions to the knowledge of the virus and efforts to develop treatments and vaccines. Despite the overwhelming challenges, the center’s legacy continues to impact post-apocalyptic research and response strategies.

Exterior Description

The imposing steel and concrete structure, originally designed to withstand biological threats, now shows significant wear. The once-pristine façade is marred by rust and creeping ivy, which has taken root in every crevice. The facility’s high-security fences, now twisted and corroded, are draped with dense vines and wild shrubs, blending almost seamlessly into the surrounding landscape. The signs that once boldly proclaimed the institute’s name are barely legible, eroded and faded beyond recognition.

Entrance Description

The main entrance, an expansive set of reinforced doors, hangs slightly ajar on rusted hinges. A thick layer of grime and dust obscures the glass panels, and the automated security systems, now long defunct, are partially buried under debris and overgrowth. The ground around the entrance is littered with fallen branches, broken glass, and fragments of once-critical infrastructure.

Purpose / Function

Research and Findings

Initial Research

Virus Characteristics

Researchers initially focused on understanding the virus’s structure, replication cycle, and methods of transmission. They discovered that the virus primarily spread through bodily fluids and had a high mutation rate.

Infection Mechanisms

Studies revealed that the virus caused severe neurological damage, leading to the loss of higher brain functions and resulting in aggressive, mindless behavior in infected individuals.

Vaccine and Treatment Efforts

Experimental Vaccines

Early attempts to develop a vaccine were met with limited success. Several experimental vaccines were tested on animal models, but the high mutation rate of the virus made it challenging to create an effective and long-lasting immunization.

Treatment Research

Researchers explored antiviral drugs and experimental therapies aimed at mitigating symptoms and slowing the progression of the infection. Some treatments showed promise in limited trials but were not widely effective due to the virus’s rapid mutation.

Containment Strategies

Quarantine Protocols

NYBRI developed detailed quarantine protocols and strategies for isolating infected individuals. These measures were implemented in various affected areas but often proved insufficient due to the scale of the outbreaks.

Public Health Advisories

The center issued advisories and guidance to the public and other institutions regarding safety measures and preventive actions.

Challenges and Legacy

Challenges

Resource Constraints

The center faced significant challenges in terms of resources and funding. The collapse of infrastructure and global chaos made it difficult to maintain operations and secure necessary supplies.

Security Risks

The facility was at risk of potential breaches or attacks, as the virus and its research became highly coveted by various factions seeking to gain control or leverage over the outbreak. Additionally, they were at constant risk of having an outbreak within the facility.

Legacy

Knowledge Preservation

Despite the challenges, NYBRI’s research provided crucial insights into the virus and its effects. The data and findings contributed to the broader understanding of the pandemic and informed subsequent recovery efforts.

Foundation for Future Research

The facility's work laid the groundwork for future research and development in virology and biohazard management, influencing the strategies employed in the rebuilding and stabilization of society. Most of the research that Camp Hope has conducted has been founded on work that was performed in NYBRI.

Design

• Scale: Large (24)
• Degree: Partly Searched, Search DC 10, Item minimum reduced 12

Denizens

If the party takes the Eidolon Core then the Others within the building with stop hiding from the party and will begin to attack them. If the party doesn't take the Eidolon Core, then the Others living here will leave them alone.

Valuables

See the scavenging loot tables in the side bar for the loot in this location.

• Medical: Tools and Kits x2, Utilities x3, Clothing x4, Cybernetics x4, Junk or Scraps x4

Junk or Scraps

This is not a table, but rather the player simply rolls 1d100. They find that many credits worth of scrap that would be useful towards making items with a tool that they are proficient with. If they are proficient in more then one tool, they can choose which tool this applies to. They can allocate all or part of the amount found between the tools they are proficient with. If they are not proficient with any tools, they find junk which has minimal value. Roll 1d10 for the credit value of the junk.

Architecture

Facility Lobby

Stepping inside, you are greeted by a dim, eerie silence. The air is thick with the musty smell of decay and mildew. The lobby, once a sterile and bustling hub, is now a cavernous space choked with layers of dust. The walls are cracked and peeling, revealing the concrete beneath the faded paint. Shattered light fixtures dangle precariously from the ceiling, their glass shards scattered across the floor.

Investigation Check

Players can investigate this area.

• DC10: They find partially intact security logs. If they read through these, they will discover a reference to the Eidolon Core with a small note that it was moved to the immunology lab.
• They will also find a thumb drive with an Audio File . This doesn't require a roll to find.

Research Library

The research library lies in ruins, a chaotic maze of collapsed shelves and scattered papers. Once neatly organized rows of books and files are now little more than broken fragments, their contents spilling across the floor in disarray. The shelves themselves lean precariously, some toppled entirely, their metal frames twisted and bent. Dust hangs heavy in the air, thickening the atmosphere with each breath. Faded pages flutter through the halls like ghostly remnants of a forgotten past, some half-buried under debris, others torn and yellowed by age. The once vibrant catalog of knowledge now seems like a jumbled, unreadable mess, a tragic reflection of the facility’s fall from order to chaos. The faint echo of your footsteps reverberates in the silence, a reminder that the knowledge once held within these walls is now lost to time and decay.

Investigation Check

Players can investigate this area.

• DC10 the players find Dr. Emily Carter's journal

• DC15 the players find Dr. Evelyn Carter's Thumb Drive

Corpse in the Corner

In the far corner of the library, a skeletal figure slumps against a shelf, its once-white lab coat now tattered and stained. The body, long forgotten by time, is surrounded by scattered papers, its hands still gripping a half-crumpled notebook, as if the person had collapsed in the middle of their final attempt to document their work.

The corpse is still wearing a lanyard. Hanging from it there is a key card labeled BSL-4. This is the key that will allow them past the electronic locks.

Containment Levels

NYBRI was equipped with the highest containment levels. These are high-security labs designed for handling dangerous pathogens. These are Level 4 Biohazard Labs (BSL-4) with the highest safety standards.

Breaching BSL-4

Electronic Locks

These locks require a Lock Picking check with a difficulty determined by the complexity of the lock. If the lock is damaged, rusted or otherwise in poor condition, the complication range increases. These doors can also be by passed with a strength check with a difficulty determined by the composition of the item in question.

Picking Locks
Picking a lock is a Slight of Hand check. Since these are electronic locks, the player must have proficiency in Engineering as well as have a Engineering kit available for the task which allows the player to add their proficiency bonus to the roll. Using improvised tools (anything other than the Engineering kit) results in disadvantage for the roll. Players cannot benefit from the help action while picking a lock. Failure to successfully pick the lock has a 10% 1d100 chance of damaging the lock (adding +2 to the DC if they attempt to pick the lock again.

• Lock Type: Damaged Superior lock DC 22

Note: it is unlikely that players will be able to by pass the electronic locks. They will likely need the key that can be looted elsewhere.

Inside BSL-4

You step into the darkened corridor, the heavy scent of rust and stale air lingering in the oppressive silence. Ahead, the BSL-4 laboratories loom like tombs, their reinforced doors sealed tight, each one marked with faded warning labels. The sterile white walls, now cracked and peeling, reflect the dim light from emergency overhead lamps, casting long shadows that seem to stretch endlessly. The chambers once held the most dangerous pathogens, but now, they are just cold, lifeless rooms, locked away from the world. You can almost hear the hum of long-dead ventilation systems, and the memories of those who once worked here seem to hang in the air, trapped behind the thick glass and steel of the containment chambers. You catch a glimpse of the suit laboratory’s entrance—an imposing steel door with a thick, airtight seal. The thought of the air-supplied suits once worn by lab personnel sends a chill down your spine, and you realize how much has been left behind in this forsaken place. The doors are marked with biohazard symbols that seem to mock your intrusion, a reminder that this is no place for the untrained, but here you are, standing on the threshold of a forgotten nightmare.

Note: there is no viral threat to the players. The researches were working on the Sonohoka Syndrome virus which has already contaminated the world. The characters have already been exposed to the strain that was studied here.

Isolation Chambers

Advanced isolation chambers were used to study infected specimens without risk of cross-contamination. These chambers were equipped with HEPA filters and controlled environments. They were kept in almost every lab. These specimens were the source of the virus that they were researching.

The isolation chambers now stand eerily silent, their once sterile, controlled environments long abandoned. Dust clings to the metal walls, and the faint hum of deactivated HEPA filters echoes in the empty space. The chambers, designed for the meticulous study of infected specimens, now house only remnants of their grim purpose—streaks of dried fluids on the floors and faint outlines on the glass where the last occupants once pressed their hands against the walls. The air feels thick, stale, and heavy with the weight of forgotten horrors, and the remnants of a carefully constructed order have begun to rot away, leaving only the lingering sense of what once was—a place where science played with life and death, now lost to time and decay.

Investigation Check

Players can investigate this area. If they choose to do so, they will note that there is the remains of a researcher in one of the isolation chambers. They do not need to roll to discover this.

Through the thick glass of the isolation chamber, you see the remains of a researcher, their lab coat tattered and stained, hanging loosely on what remains of their skeletal frame. Their name tag, now barely legible, clings to the fabric, its once-white surface yellowed with age. In one hand, the researcher still grasps a small, weathered notebook, its pages bent and curled as though it had been clutched tightly in their final moments. The decay of the body is slow and unsettling, with the faint outline of where skin and flesh once were, leaving only the haunting impression of a life cut short. The chamber itself looks untouched by time, the sterile environment a cruel contrast to the gruesome scene inside, as if the researcher was trapped in an eternal moment before whatever horrors this place contained claimed them.

They can easily open the chamber and take the note book. There is a single entry in the book.

Immunology Lab

This was a specialized lab focused on studying immune responses and potential vaccine candidates.

As you venture deeper into the facility, the laboratories present a scene of desolation. Tables and countertops, once meticulously organized, are now covered in a thick layer of dust and debris. Broken glassware and abandoned scientific instruments lie scattered, many partially covered by the encroaching ivy that has worked its way inside through broken windows. Some equipment still hums faintly with residual power, though most is silent and motionless, overtaken by the passage of time.

Eidolon Core

The office is a chaotic reflection of the laboratory outside, cluttered with papers strewn haphazardly across the desk, some curling at the edges, others half-scribbled with frantic notes in fading ink. A chair sits at an odd angle, abandoned in haste, and piles of old files and folders spill over the shelves and onto the floor, their contents jumbled and forgotten. The air is thick with dust, and the faint scent of mildew lingers, a sign of the facility’s long abandonment. Torn posters and faded photographs line the walls, and a cluttered bulletin board holds half-done maps, red X’s marking various points, and papers pinned with fraying pushpins. Broken windows allow light to filter in, casting uneven shadows and giving the room an eerie, frozen-in-time quality. Amid the disorder, a drawer left slightly ajar stands out, its thin dark space hinting at something once concealed within. The drawer seems disturbed, as if someone had recently come close to prying but hesitated, or was interrupted before they could fully investigate, while the rest of the room remains untouched, as if everything else had been abandoned for years.

Players searching the desk will find the Eidolon Core inside the drawer. There is no roll for this as it is left in plain sight and is clearly marked on the container.

Alternative Names

NYBRI

Type

Hospital

Once, this facility was a beacon of hope and innovation—a place where brilliant minds gathered to combat the world’s deadliest plagues. The lobby had been its heart, where scientists in pristine lab coats exchanged hurried greetings, their shoes clacking on polished tiles as they raced against time to unlock the mysteries of evolving viruses. Patients, volunteers, and staff would have filled this space, waiting anxiously beneath bright, sterile lights, unaware of how quickly everything would crumble. Then came the Sonohoka outbreak—a virus like no other. Panic gripped the halls as containment protocols failed, and within months, the facility became a tomb.

The place that had been built to stop the Sonohoka virus surrender to it like everything else.

Now, the lobby stands as a grim monument to those final days. The shattered light fixtures and layers of dust tell a story of abandonment, while peeling walls whisper of forgotten desperation. Somewhere beneath the decay lies evidence of their last-ditch effort to find a cure—sealed files, hidden equipment, perhaps even remnants of experiments left unfinished. Whatever happened here was violent, sudden, and absolute. Yet, a strange feeling lingers in the air, as if the place itself remembers. This is no longer a sanctuary for science but a graveyard of hope, waiting for someone brave—or desperate—enough to uncover its buried secrets.

Scavenging Rules