Page 155 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER THREE: HUNTER ORGANIZATIONS
Special: The Equalizer Grenade Merit is Renewable; The scope is tied directly into a fire control computer

once per story per instance of the Merit a hunter possesses, programmed to recognize the unique signatures (thermal,
Task Force: VALKYRIE will resupply him with an Equalizer etheric, or Kirlian) of every supernatural creature of which
Grenade. If he can produce concrete intelligence that a par- Task Force: VALKYRIE has records. If the gun is pointed at

ticular quarry he’s pursuing is a shapeshifter and he has al- a target that does not fit any target profile, the safety is auto-

ready used his resupply for the current story, he may roll Wits matically engaged and the gun will not fi re.
+ Politics to cut through the red tape and acquire another. In theory, this means that it is impossible for a VALKY-
Success means he receives the resupply within the week; an RIE soldier to accidentally shoot a bystander during an engage-
exceptional success gets him the grenade in one day. This ment. In practice, it means that the weapon tends to refuse to
emergency resupply can only be used once per story. fire at a monster’s mortal servants, cultists, slashers and even

Equalizer grenades work against any living creature, re- the odd inanimate object. A cell operating under the cover of
gardless of the means by which it shapeshifts. A werewolf’s the Gulf War was wiped out by a nest of ghûls because the desert
innate shapeshifting, a witch’s skin-changing spell, or a pos- sun baked the stone walls of the creatures’ lair to a tempera-
sessed woman’s flesh warped by the demon that controls her ture close to 98.6, causing the computers to assume the hunters

are equally susceptible. Vampires and other undead that are not were surrounded by human onlookers and refuse to fi re.
animated by anything even vaguely resembling biology are re- Special: The majority of agents issued a Gungnir System

sistant to the grenade’s effects. Treat an undead creature’s Size weapon quickly learn of a field modification that strips out the
as two points higher when calculating the effect of an Equal- safety controls while leaving the scope and target recognition
izer grenade. An equalizer grenade can only be used once; the software intact. This hack requires an extended Dexterity +
intensity of light required to trigger the microseizures slags the Computers roll, with each roll representing an hour’s worth
electronics and turns the battery into a useless lump. of careful soldering and rewiring. The hunter must achieve 10
successes to complete the modification. Task Force: VALKY-

Gungnir Multi-Function RIE comes down hard on agents discovered to have modified

Targeting System (••• or ••••) their weapons in this manner, with court martial the least se-
The Gungnir System, named for Odin’s never-missing vere reprimand.
spear, is the boon and the curse of many Task Force: VALKY-
RIE field teams. Integrated directly into the latest generation VDSB (•••)

of standard armament (the three-dot version described here Ever since Murnau’s Nosferatu, the knowledge that vam-
includes an integrated submachine gun; a four-dot version pires are destroyed by the light of the sun has entered the

comes with an assault rifle), the Gungnir System is VALKY- pop culture lexicon, along with wooden stakes, crosses and
RIE top brass’ new initiative for the future of the agency, in garlic (never mind that, as far as Task Force: VALKYRIE has
one fell swoop improving target identification and all but been able to determine, two of those are complete nonsense).

eliminating collateral damage. While VALKYRIE’s scientists have not yet found the key

The truth, according to cynical agents who have field- component of sunlight that causes such deleterious effects on
tested the device, is that target identification and guy who’s the bloodsuckers, they have developed the next best thing.

about to kill me identification aren’t necessarily the same Function: The VDSB (Victim-Detonated Sun Bomb) is
thing, and the only way the Gungnir System is going to pre- an explosive device that is rigged to trigger via an infrared
vent collateral damage is by ensuring that bystanders are only sensor and thermal imager; when an object with a core tem-
accidentally killed by the bad guys. perature of less than 94ºF breaks the infrared beam, the device
Function: The integrated scope built into a weapon out- is triggered. Instead of an explosion, the VDSB (which looks
fitted with the Gungnir System is a marvelous thing. A com- like a generic satchel charge but contains far more complex

bination night vision scope, thermal imager, and Kirlian cam- innards) uses a combination of full-spectrum phosphorescent

era, it allows a soldier to engage targets in pitch blackness and lights and focusing mirrors to create a blinding flash that is,
easily distinguishes most monsters from humans: vampires, of from an electromagnetic standpoint, identical to sunlight.
course, are well below human body temperature, while were- While the light doesn’t actually harm vampires, it can cause a
wolves and their ilk run hot as a byproduct of their increased surge of panic that overwhelms their rational mind and leads
metabolism. Witches, psychics and the possessed demonstrate them to make tactical errors.

an unusual Kirlian aura that identifies them as extra-normal. Arming the device is simple enough, necessitating success
For an additional Merit dot, the scope can even have etheric on an instant Wits + Crafts roll. However, unless operating in
goggle functionality built into it, allowing the agent to target total darkness, the VDSB must also be concealed, necessitating
ghosts and spirits. An LED overlay tags any known supernatu- six successes on an extended Wits + Crafts roll, with each roll
ral entity with its Task Force: VALKYRIE designation. representing 10 minutes’ worth of work. Disarming the bomb
In addition to its target identification features, the scope is more time-consuming, requiring six successes on a Wits +

is a top-of-the-line sighting system. Penalties for medium- Crafts roll, with each roll representing one minute of work.
range fire are negated entirely, and long-range penalties are Disarming the bomb is more diffi cult, requiring six successes

halved. The hunter also ignores any penalty for fighting blind on a Wits + Crafts roll, with each roll representing one minute

when using the Gungnir System. of work. Once the tampering process starts, though, the dis-
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