Page 152 - Hunter - The Vigil

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etheric state that VALKYRIE scien-
tists believe to be a heretofore undis- ORDNANCE REQUISITION
covered “fifth state” of matter.

Function: Etheric Rounds allow
Task Force: VALKYRIE is a small agency, and
the hunter to inflict normal fi rearm

its equipment is highly unique. Most military
damage against manifested ghosts,
units or departments supply their agents with
spirits and other incorporeal entities.
needed equipment. Here, though, TFV’s budget
They don’t count as blessed items (see
isn’t robust and the gear is rare. What the
The World of Darkness Rulebook, p.
player buys, the character has; the agency’s

214), and thus inflict lethal rather than
hunters need to be self-reliant in this regard.
aggravated damage. Etheric Rounds
That said, as an optional rule at the end of a
can be used against corporeal targets as
story, a VALKYRIE agent can “trade in” one piece
well, but the attack suffers a -1 penalty,
of Advanced Armory back to the agency. Doing so
as the pseudo-etheric harmonics are
gets him half the experience points that would
less disruptive to living tissue.
be spent on the item (the Bleeder, below, is
Special: The Etheric Rounds
a two-dot Merit and would necessitate 6 total
Merit is Renewable; for each dot
experience points to purchase, so trading it in
the character has in this Merit, Task
earns the hunter 3 in return that could then be
Force: VALKYRIE supplies him with
spent on other Advanced Armory items).
one clip of Etheric Rounds for a spe-
cific weapon type (e.g. MP-5, Glock

19) every session. erwise), but enough to register on a witch’s psychic radar. In
A character may purchase multiple instances of Etheric game terms, the witch buster triggers a witch’s Unseen Sense
Rounds, each specifying a different weapon. For example, Merit (see The World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 109).
an assault team leader might have Etheric Rounds (AR-15) Because their Unseen Sense Merit registers any type of su-
••• and Etheric Rounds (P90) ••; every session, he has pernatural disturbance, mages are the most likely to perceive
three magazines’ worth of etheric ammo for his AR-15 and a witch buster, but any character with an Unseen Sense Merit
two magazines for his P90. relating to ghosts, spirits, or Twilight phenomena will sense a
Etheric Rounds, unlike most Advanced Armory Mer- witch buster. Supernatural powers or spells that sense distur-
its, can be used by anyone, even if they lack a Task Force: bances in Twilight or detect ghosts or spirits will also register the
VALKYRIE RFID chip. witch buster as an odd, not-immediately-explicable twinge.
A witch buster has eight hours of battery life before it
Witch Buster (•) must be recharged. Three successes on an extended Intelli-
Many of the creatures Task Force: VALKYRIE hunts gence + Crafts roll, with each roll representing 10 minutes of
display an unusual degree of sensitivity to psychic phenom- work, allows a hunter to tap into a building’s electrical wiring
ena. Witches seem to be the most adept at this sort of thing, and hook the witch buster in, allowing it to operate as long as
displaying an uncanny knack for poking their noses into su- the building has power.
pernatural affairs that should be invisible to mere mortals. As
witches are also among the most difficult antagonists to iden- Etheric Goggles (•• or ••••)

tify, VALKYRIE scientists developed a sort of psychic booby Ghosts, demons, and witches all have the ability to pass
trap to identify potential hostiles. Official rules of engage- unseen by mortal senses. Even vampires, according to some

ment state that the “witch buster” is to be used to flush out stories, have the ability to send their minds out of their cold,

known quarry that has gone to ground, but field teams often dead bodies and explore the world in secret. With etheric

engage is a game variously referred to as “wizard baiting” or goggles, Task Force: VALKYRIE can bring the fi ght to them.

“fishing for Potters,” in which a witch buster is set up in a Etheric goggles operate on the same principle as the ether-
public but discreet location and anyone who drops by to have ic tracker (see p. 155), utilizing chemically treated lenses to
a look is tagged and monitored. Ever since a Glaswegian cell detect entities in Twilight. Until recently, they were standard
went a little off the reservation back in ’98 and just started kit for field agents, but since a rash of psychosis among agents

killing everyone that poked around the witch buster, this tac- who used them extensively in the early 2000s, top brass has
tic is expressly forbidden by VALKYRIE doctrine. restricted their use.
Function: The witch buster is roughly the size and shape Function: Etheric goggles look like slightly bulkier, more
of a hockey puck, with a sticky adhesive backing that allows complicated versions of the night-vision goggles employed
it to be mounted on walls or ceilings. Powered by an ordinary by the United States Armed Forces. In fact, etheric goggles
lithium-ion battery, the kind that can be purchased at any cell serve as perfectly functional night-vision goggles, allowing
phone store, the witch buster slowly but persistently leaks a the wearer to see perfectly — albeit in monochrome — in
small amount of etheric energy — theoretically, not enough pitch darkness (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p.
to be harmful (although quite a few field agents swear oth- 140). Their primary use comes into play when the hunter flips

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