Page 295 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER FIVE: STORYTELLING
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Slashers
Not all horrors that walk the streets of the World of Darkness are
so easily categorized. Some are very human seeming, indeed.
Slashers are humans who are compelled to kill. Some are
very human: charming maniacs, reclusive geniuses, emotion-
less brutes. Others manifest supernatural powers: shrugging off
attacks, wearing faces that shift and warp, manifesting needled
teeth or hooked claws. They go on murder sprees that end only
when they do. They leave behind maddening puzzles that drive
those who solve them to the brink themselves. Some kill only
once, but in just such a brutal way that their crimes stay in the
minds of the community.
What causes a slasher to be made or born? A few are driven
insane by physical changes. Being born disfigured or crippled is

just the start; they grow up isolated from other people, picking
up strange quirks and believing that the rest of the world must
suffer for being so perfect. Whether she plans elaborate death-

traps designed to highlight her victim’s flaws or rampages with
machete and chainsaw, she will have her revenge. In a few cases,

her deformity may give her some benefit: incredible strength,
impervious skin, or powerful healing abilities, for example. The
majority doesn’t have any upside to their terribly warped bod-
ies, and instead put themselves through incredible physical and
mental training. A slasher’s mind may be as warped as her body,
but she has a focus that other killers lack.
Strange circumstances can twist humans in other ways. A
Cheiron Group experiment with prosthetics or CIA brain im-
plant destroys the test subject’s sense of self, leaving an amoral so-
ciopath in a body that’s no longer fully human. The boy haunted
by the image of an abusive mother is determined he will never be
a bad boy again, no matter how many people he must kill to stop
them telling. The devil gives a man consumed by vengeance one

last chance to make the bastards pay, but he must slaughter five
innocents before he’s allowed a shot at the man who killed him
— and if he misses, he has to take another five lives. A woman

goes everywhere with her brother/lover — she’s cut off his limbs
and stuffed him in a sports bag. She kills and cooks city folks, just
like mother used to make. The man who has a girl in every city,
but always moves on after consummating their relationship —
it’s never the same for him if his paramour has a pulse.
Slashers who are normal humans, save for their peculiar
mental conditions, are created as normal human members of their
Profession. Some of these slashers were hunters, and thus have
access to the full range of options available to hunters. Slash-
ers have very low Morality, or even Morality 0. Several change
their conception of what is right and wrong (see Appendix: The
Code). Other slashers are cursed with stranger abilities. As well
as superhuman strength, they often possess natural armor or the
ability to regenerate damage. Several also return to their own
bodies after death, crawling out of the ground to continue their
reign of blood and death. Every slasher is unique, and should
have abilities relevant to their condition.
Some Slashers are mortal serial killers, while others gain ac-
cess to Dread Powers. Only rarely does a Slasher possess more
than three dots in Dread Powers, and they are always geared to
helping him kill, kill, kill.
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