Page 200 - World of Darkness

• A co-worker suffers a serious cut or injury, but isn’t Regardless of why the subject acts in league with
impaired or doesn’t bleed. otherworldly forces, she doesn’t take confrontation well.
• The investigating character finds a box hidden in a She knows her worship is anathema and seeks to keep it
place a son thought was secret. Perhaps it’s a hollowed hidden. Or she doesn’t want to give up her satisfying rela-
out book or under a floorboard. The box contains dozens tionship with the being that “fulfills” her, even while it
of human baby teeth or something similarly freakish. draws the life from her. A hostile subject may attack an
• A small shrine composed of rocks, photos of strang- investigating character outright. Or, if she recognizes that
ers and chicken bones is found in a broom closet or she has been found out, she could turn her attention on
crawlspace. the character. He becomes the target of her master’s ef-
• A red stain emerges on a ceiling. The family cat is forts, or her own. Horrible events occur to the character.
found hanging upside-down in the attic, its throat cut and His pets die. His children fall ill. His stock portfolio col-
its blood pooling on the plywood floor. lapses. These attacks can be warnings at first, discourag-
• A veritable infestation of roaches, ants or flies af- ing the character from any further interference. But if his
flicts the house or building. investigation continues, discouraging tactics intensify. The
• Every few days, the children wake up and are miss- character’s children are put on their deathbeds. His wife’s
ing locks of hair. sudden, inexplicable carnal needs are satiated with other
men.
Confrontation
Setting the Trap
Having found such disturbing or horrifying evidence,
the character is likely to be confrontational. The subject’s If something proves to be the real force behind a loved
reaction depends on where you want the story to go. A one or friend’s activity, the investigating character can
wife might claim complete ignorance. Indeed, she may seek to draw it out. He uses his infected or altered wife or
not consciously remember or believe she was involved in daughter as bait for the creature. She might be willing or
any such activities. A character who discovers strange unwilling. In the former case, the character may have got-
events surrounding himself may need to examine his own ten through to her and made her see the error of her ways,
life, perhaps to draw out a suspected bipolar identity of or subjected her to the shame of them. In the latter case,
which his conscious mind was unaware. he uses her as bait against her will. He restrains her or
If a sister ardently claims ignorance of wrongdoing or secretly stalks her in anticipation of a meeting. He hopes
innocence in bizarre events, it’s difficult to pin any of- to show her (and possibly see for himself) whatever it is
fenses on her. The evidence is sufficiently alarming, but that has won her over.
may not be damning. For example, the missing hair of
otherwise happy, healthy children isn’t enough to get Resolution?
someone locked up. So, what sort of justice or retribution In a preliminary story set in the World of Darkness, a
can be sought? Can the investigating character take mat- character should not actually witness the true creatures of
ters into his own hands when neither he nor his “adver- the night. He should not get to face the vampire or
sary” grasps what’s going on? Is vigilante justice warranted, shapechanger that influences a friend. He should not get
or would it be even worse than the apparent offense com- to look upon or understand the beings that call him into
mitted? their fold. In such an initial story, the character merely
Maybe the perpetrator or victim of supernatural ac- comes away knowing that there is more to the world than
tivity simply needs to be guarded or overseen. The inves- he ever knew before. Perhaps he’s always subconsciously
tigator stands vigil to protect his friend or to ensure that understood that something made the world dismal, but
she doesn’t continue her bizarre behavior. Maybe that’s he could never point to it. Nor should he be able to now.
enough. The character’s direct intervention is sufficient If the investigator searches or sets a trap for the thing
to encourage a monster working behind the scenes to move that he suspects is at work, his efforts are in vain. He liter-
on and seek easier prey. Or it’s possible that an unwitting ally sets out to know the unknown. He’s had glimmers
perpetrator of cult-like activity can be video taped in the and suggestions so far, but that’s all he gets. If beings exist
act and shown the footage. Such direct evidence might that lurk in the hidden places and ply their will from afar,
be enough to break the spell over her. Yet, it doesn’t an- surely they’re capable of eluding an unwitting humanity.
swer the bigger question of who cast the spell, how and Doing so is inherent to their existence. So, even a mar-
why? ginally informed person lacks the awareness or guile to
Another response to a confrontation with a subject draw the supernatural from hiding. The character still lacks
is violence. The perpetrator of stunning or inexplicable the tools and capabilities to turn the tables on whatever
acts knows what she’s doing. She conducts rituals at an forces are at large. Any creatures recognize his efforts and
altar to gain some arcane result. She may not know spe- move along. They give up the subject over whom they
cifically to what she prays. Perhaps she identifies it as some- contend with the character, cutting their losses. Or they
thing she understands from ordinary life, such as the Devil arrange for the character to suffer an accident of his own,
or a ghost, when in fact the being is nothing of the kind. whether he understands the supernatural source of his fate
In truth, it’s a witch or vampire duping her into service. or not.

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PRELIMINARY STORY