So my best reconstruction of the plot is that the main character was sent to destroy Dracula (see: angry peasants outside who kill you if you try to leave) but there is some sort of vampire-spell when Dracula is awake that forces the PC to sleep. The first time around results in just being tucked into bed and the tent stake in our inventory being overlooked (maybe there was other equipment, too, so he was busy with that). The next day Dracula senses his mistake and makes sure the stake goes away (unless it’s hidden; more on that below). He also gets hungry (maybe our neck was secretly smeared with barbecue sauce and it needed 24 hours; maybe the day before Dracula already ate) and our neck is bitten, with vampirism resulting in 48 hours.
We’re hence either on a suicide mission or killing the source will cure the vampirism — either way it’s safe to say the end result of this game will be killing Dracula, meaning I need to find him during the day. Well, I found him, although the pun injury is severe:
I am fairly certain I am close to the end and just need to get my sequence of actions down. I have a set of items that seem kind of vampire-hunting-ish:
Tent stake
Rubber mallet
Dusty clove of garlic
Torch
No-doz tablets
Sulfur matches
Cigarette (that summons the coffin)
Note that the cigarette is from a package that arrives on the second day, after the neck bite, hence a first day kill would be impossible.
At the moment I can’t open the coffin:
Sorry I can’t do that
Its LOCKED from INSIDE!
I suspect this part is simply a matter of timing; I think Dracula himself will open the coffin and I need to use the no-doz tablets to be awake for the event.
I did manage to figure out how to keep the stake from being stolen. There’s a locked door downstairs, and I managed to PICK LOCK with a paperclip helpfully attached to a postcard that arrives the first day. Inside are the no-doz tablets on the list above. If I leave the stake in the room and lock it behind me, the stake is still there the next day.
There is one more item which may aid in vampire-killing, which involves an oven.
I am unclear why an oven would emit SUNLIGHT but that seems strangely specific to mention. I could foresee somehow getting Dracula upstairs and … tossing him in? Maybe the stake immobilizes but doesn’t kill (there are so many vampire mythologies it is hard to know what’s getting used here).
In any case, I hope to have BIG WINNER attached to my next post on this game. Fingers crossed.
Renga in Blue 
I think you’ve made a pretty good analysis of trying to figure out the backstory before your in-game persona even wakes up. Seems like perhaps just Scott Adams not actually trying to flesh it all out and jumping right into a mysterious starting point. Personally I like to think of the angry villagers “dropping you off” in the afternoon of Day 1 and making sure you don’t chicken out. Like you lost a bet in the town bar, and this is your duty now? It’d be even more fun if the villagers were gone after that first day, but because you were bitten on the first night… walking away just means you end up a vampire anyway.