Page 356 - Hunter - The Vigil

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heart creeps out at night to steal the breath of her neighbors.
Or the cancer patient whose tumor has been replaced by THE SPECIAL COLLECTION
plastic gears that control his arms and legs. The question is
Almost every member of Philadelphia’s
should they be considered victims or threats?
Ashwood Abbey chapter keeps some occult
Northwest Philadelphia trophies and souvenirs at home. But more
potent and valuable items belonging
Many residents of Philly’s northwest section were drawn there to the club as a whole are stored in
by the area’s suburban feel, affluent neighborhoods and popular a hidden basement of the Philadelphia

shopping and restaurant districts. The Northwest’s hilly terrain Museum of Art. The chapter’s sergeant-
includes the Manayunk Wall, a steeply inclined street that takes a at-arms is the only one who can access
heavy toll on bicycle racers in the annual Philadelphia International them, and they’re never loaned out to
Championship. The Wissahickon Creek passes through here, individual members. The following are
creating a wooded valley that’s part of the city park system. a few of the items known to be in the
collection at present:
Jared Witherspoon, The Greek Fragment:
The Greek Fragment: This is a piece
Ashwood Abbey of statuary, ostensibly the thighs,

A resident of Northwest Philly’s affluent Chestnut Hill groin and abdomen from some faux-
area, Jared saw his lifestyle go from rich to super-rich when Grecian sculpture of an athlete or god.
Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board approved a subsidiary of According to club records, the fragment
one of his family’s companies to build and operate a casino in came to life twice in 1917, allowing
the city of Philadelphia. Expectations of its success have already Abbey members to take full advantage
opened doors for Jared. Like an invitation to join the Ashwood of the anatomically correct creature’s
Abbey, which struck him as an intriguing opportunity for making seemingly limitless stamina.
new social contacts. For his initiation Jared volunteered to capture The Unspeakable Pâté: Club lore states
The Unspeakable Pâté:
“some little gremlin thing” that had been sighted at the casino’s that these few ounces of meat paste
construction site. It seemed a stimulating challenge. But while on are the grisly fare of Philadelphia
the hunt, Jared found himself caught in a nightmare: a skull-faced serial killer Gary Heidnik. Among other
demon-thing riding a giant spider was chasing down a mob of horrible acts, Heidnik mixed the ground-
weird animal-people, and he was trapped in the middle. up fl esh of one of his victims with some
dog food, and fed it to the captives he
kept in his basement. The Abbey claims
that consuming a small portion of the
paste will summon the victim’s ghost,
or perhaps Heidnik’s (he was executed
in 1999).
The Lively Gibbet: This is a kind
The Lively Gibbet:
of articulated metal frame, dating to
th
the 18 century, designed to display
the cadaver of an executed criminal
as a deterrent to other wrongdoers.
The Abbey purchased it from the Mütter
Museum a decade ago, after a member
discovered how to activate the device’s
enchantment. If a body less than three
days dead is placed inside the Gibbet
and the proper incantation spoken, it
becomes animated as a zombie. Abbey
members have no shortage of creative
ways to make use of a walking corpse.
The Aegis Kai Doru has claimed that
the Gibbet belongs to it, but so far
has been unable to convince or coerce
the Abbey into giving it up.

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