Page 72 - Hunter - The Vigil

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S S SACRIFICE OF THE SAFEHOUSE
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in a cache. It is possible, too, to combine two or more dots of
Cache into one space, for a total Size of 10 or more. SACRIFICE OF
F
Equipment doesn’t have to be stored in a cache, of course
— a large safehouse can have entire rooms devoted to storage. THE SAFEHOUSE
Equipment that is stored in a cache, however, is effectively
The monsters invade, the hunters
hidden from anything but a devoted (or supernatural) search.
torch the place…now what? Are the
Mundane interlopers receive a -5 modifier to any attempt to

players just out those Merit dots?
find a cache (on a dramatic failure, the searcher finds and trig-

That’s up to the Storyteller,
gers a trap, instead, if the safehouse has any). If the players
preferably with some consensus
wish, this modifier can instead apply to attempts to access the

from the players. Below are
Cache. The gun safe might be in plain view, but it’s not at all
two options for how to handle
easy to crack open without the proper combination.
destruction of the safehouse.
Safehouse Secrecy: One of the biggest advantages a hunter
Tough Luck: Everything in the
Tough Luck:
can enjoy is, ironically, one that his prey tries to cultivate as
Safehouse is gone. The dots are
well: anonymity. If the monsters don’t know where to find the

lost. The characters can come
hunters, they have a harder time killing them. Dots in Safe-
back and pick through the rubble
house Secrecy indicate how far removed from the hunters the
for anything they left in a
safehouse is, from a legal (and paper trail) standpoint. These
Cache (extended Intelligence
dots impose a negative penalty on any attempt to find the

Investigation roll, one roll/10
hunter through the property, or vice versa. The descriptions
minutes of searching, fi ve successes
of the different dot ratings below are just examples; it’s up to
per cache), but dots in Size,
the player to decide what the Secrecy represents.
Secrecy and Traps are forfeit.
e p
h
l
is
h
ace using
t t
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e
h
x The hunter rented or bought the place using his Salvage: The dots in the safehouse
x
T
unter rente
b
oug
h
d
or
Salvage:
r real name, credit card or bank account. . are totaled and multiple by 1.5.
eal name
,
credit card or bank account
• The hunter went through an intermediary, but co- The resulting number is converted
signed a loan at some point. into experience points (round up)
that can be spent on whatever the
Some effort toward concealment; an assumed
•• •• Some effort toward concealment ; an assumed
name or paying in cash. .
name or p aying in cas h troupe and the Storyteller agree
is a reasonable outcome of the

••• Considerable difficulty in tracing the property — safehouse’s destruction. If the
the hunter might just be squatting. place was insured for a large sum
•••• The hunter never goes back to the place if he
•••• T h e h unter never goes b ac k to t h e pl ace if h e of money, Resources makes sense.
doesn’t have to, never gets there by the same route, and his
d oesn’ t h ave to, never g ets t h ere by t h e same route, an d h is If the characters had a backup
ears on any of the documentation.

pp
r real name never appears on any of the documentation. property and just need to move
eal name never a
in and prep the place, they can
••••• The property has a real owner who lives there
use the points to build another
full time, is aware of his rights and, if necessary, can show
safehouse. If they go their
cops around the place while casually denying that he’s
separate ways for a while and
ever seen the hunter before.
agree to meet up when the heat’s
Safehouse Traps: Sooner or later, a safehouse is going to off (that is, they take some
be compromised. Hunters know it, even if they don’t want to downtime), maybe the players split
admit it. That’s why many of them build traps into their safe- the points up equally among their
houses, in hopes they can kill a supernatural intruder — or characters and buy Skills, Merits
at least deter him long enough to get away. A trap can take a or whatever else best represents
myriad of forms. Opening a door to a promising-looking room how they spend that time.
reveals a shotgun aimed at chest level, which promptly fi res.
Walking up the stairs on the left side is safe, but on the right
side, they’re rigged to collapse. Looking behind a painting dots to the safehouse can reset it with minimal work. This
causes an ax to swing down from the ceiling, just about at head is what differentiates traps represented by this Merit from
level. A trap can also be designed to destroy part (or all) of others that the characters might build themselves during
the safehouse — at the fl ick of a switch, the place goes up in the course of the chronicle; no rolls or special effort are
fl ames, collapses or explodes (see sidebar for what this means required to reset a Safehouse Trap. Again, though, if the
in terms of the Merit). trap is designed to destroy large sections of the safehouse,
A trap can either inflict damage equal to the dots that damage can’t be repaired without significant effort
allocated to it to a single target, or can inflict less dam- and expense, if at all. Any trap that deals damage to the
age to a large area. Once a trap is tripped (provided it Safehouse Size can be rigged to go off after a short delay,
doesn’t destroy the place), any hunter who contributed giving the hunters time to flee.
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