Page 328 - Hunter - The Vigil

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Example: Emma’s Malleus Malefi carum cell
managed to take out most of the sorcerer’s coven in a re- MAKING THE CHANGE
cent strike, but the leader escaped. After several weeks of
research, investigation and prayer, they’ve found and lost While the example given for a Morality
the leader time and time again, but have fi nally tracked Code change includes a private roleplay
him to a seedy motel. Emma is on stakeout when the sor- session between the Storyteller and the
cerer makes a break for freedom. Emma calls for backup player, such a process is a suggestion, not
while moving to intercept him. She guns the throttle on a requirement. Some troupes or characters
her SUV and speeds across the motel parking lot, but will not require (or even desire) a great
before she reaches him, an elderly cleaning woman be- deal of subplot roleplay with regard to
gins pushing her laundry cart across the lot and the war- their Code changes. Should it suit the
lock throws the shocked laundrywoman to the ground in Storyteller and player, such a change
front of Emma’s vehicle and turns to run down an alley. can be an instantaneous evolution of the
Emma is left with a choice: swerve to avoid the prone character’s Morality, a change that simply
woman and possibly allow her quarry to escape, or fol- happens as the story progresses, rather
low him and possibly harm the woman. Emma remem- than one for which the story pauses.
bers the children the coven sacrificed for their dark arts, In addition, not all of those private

and how difficult it has been to track the warlock thus detours need to involve visions, heavenly

far. She guns the SUV, running over the elderly woman or otherwise. It is just as feasible for
on her way into the alley. The sorcerer is trapped in the a character to undergo a hardening of his
dead end, and Emma stomps on the accelerator, jump- heart and get a tattoo with “Suffer Not a
ing clear of the vehicle just before it slams into the brick Witch to Live” on his bicep. A member of the
wall, crushing the witch and ending his profane life in an Abbey might fi nd social reinforcement for a
explosion of tangled metal and broken glass. She ascer- newfound Code tenet, whereupon her “club
tains her target is dead before running back to check on friends” congratulate and reward her for

the laundrywoman. She finds, however, that the woman some action that titillated them. A Lucifuge
has died as well. might get a personal handwritten missive
After the scene is over, the Storyteller takes from the agency’s eldritch persona. These
Emma’s player aside for a private roleplay scenario, can certainly justify a shift in The Code.
where he describes visions Emma has over the next
few days. Some involve a golden sunbeam breaking
through a stormy sky, its glowing beam illuminating the still-burning change. Only acts taken in the direct pursuit of the Vigil qual-
wreckage of her vehicle. From the clouds overhead, angelic chil- ify, as they are the situations in which the hunter’s obsession

dren’s faces (those of the warlock’s sacrificial victims) smile down pushes him sufficiently hard to break away from the standard

approvingly. Others show the scene where the cell found some of the Morality system. Shooting an innocent bystander in the at-

sacrificed children’s bodies — only, in her vision, their bodies are all tempt to take out a werewolf qualifies as directly hunt related.
replaced with that of the elderly woman, her throat slit and naked Shooting the bartender who gave you bad information as to
body wracked into a dozen different posthumous positions of pain. the werewolf’s whereabouts does not. Changes to a hunter’s
Emma sees these visions as a gift from God, reassuring her Code are driven by the irresistible push of the Vigil’s obses-
that her actions were necessary to prevent greater evil that would sion, and happen in situations where the hunter’s desperation
have happened if the warlock leader had escaped. to hunt overwhelms his normal moral standards. Acts that
The Storyteller tells Emma’s player to write “Morality 4 are indirectly related to the hunt (stealing weapons for a later
— Suffer a witch to live” on the appropriate line of the character attack, beating up an individual to get clues as to a monster’s

sheet, thus effectively replacing the old tenet, “Impassioned crime whereabouts, etc.) are simply not driven by the same fiery
(manslaughter).” This represents one tenet of her Morality shifting, desperation as those that occur mid-hunt, and thus, while
modifying her Code in a way that will likely act to further hone and they may violate a hunter’s Morality Code (and thus require
fuel Emma’s hunt in the future. In the future, she will not make a degeneration rolls), they simply do not have the inherently
degeneration roll when she accidentally kills someone; however, un- Vigil-spurred power necessary to permanently change a hunt-
til her Morality drops below 4, at any opportunity when she has the er’s Code. As a simple guideline, in general, if no monster is
opportunity to kill a witch (warlock, magic user) and does not, she present in the scene, the situation is probably not appropriate
will roll for degeneration. Of course, this will lead to further issues for a Trigger Point.
of Morality (killing a witch may still count as planned murder)… Even during a hunt, certain actions are simply not morally

but she’ll blow up that bridge when she gets to it. significant (or significantly different from the mainstream of hu-
manity) to prompt a deviation from the mainstream Morality
Pulling the Trigger Code. Even if it is a violation of the hunter’s current Morality
Not every violation of a tenet of the standard human rating, level 9 and 10 Morality sins are rarely signifi cant enough
Morality Code is going to become a Trigger Point for a Code to act as a Trigger Point. They are simply too common an ac-
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