Page 131 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

CHAPTER FIVE: TO HELL AND BACK

The conspiracy is very old, and old groups within the As- reactions of their lives for the next 24 hours. The victim’s ac-
cending Ones have a tendency to assimilate any number of con- tions are completely unrestrained, short of being able to avoid
flicting belief systems. No two groups believe the same thing violence for the price of a Willpower point.
about demons or agree on what to do about them. This oil can also be combined with other alchemical agents
The Order of the Southern Temple is divided on whether to produce a more desirable effect. Little blue caplets containing
demons are “demons” or not. Where the ordinary hunter sees the compound are sometimes carried by Ascending Ones look-
the possessed and watches as human forms change into celes- ing to beat demons at their own game: the web of lies and deceit.
tial horrors, the Order questions why these creatures respond Action: Instant
so rarely to true names, or why they can’t be summoned by Roll Results
medieval rites. For all that these creatures, greater and lesser, Dramatic Failure: The character cannot lie for the next
seem to fit a pop cultural notion of demonic activity, they don’t 24 hours, though he can choose to remain silent when asked
seem to respect any rules, and rules are the cornerstone of the a question.
Order’s understanding of the celestial hierarchy. There’s a flip Failure: No effect.
side, though — they do offer foolish supplicants bargains, and Success: The character gains a greater demon’s complete
they deliver. The stories told by greater demons resemble the control over emotional responses for the remainder of the
stories found in apocryphal texts, and fit a gnostic mythology scene. He feels emotions as normal, of course, but does not
that many of the Order have other reasons to believe. For that reveal any trace of reaction unless he intends to.
reason alone, the Order believes demons are worth seeking out Exceptional Success: The character gains the benefits of a
and learning from. Perhaps, like Solomon, a wise man can use success for the next 24 hours.
the devil’s powers in the service of good.
The Knife of Paradise, for all its unshakeable faiths, cares The Cheiron Group
little for religious squabbles and struggles to wrap their minds Let’s just say, we’re not exactly used to having competitors. Oh,
around what demons are. Perhaps they are not serpents of sure, in the world of mundane business, we have rival corporations. In
Eden. Little matter, since so many among their kind admit to the realm of retrieving research subjects, there’s some friction with Task
serving what could only be categorized as an enemy of God. For Force: VALKYRIE, too. But when we poke our nose into a new area
regardless of individual faith, could this demiurge be anything of supernatural research, we don’t expect to find someone already there.
less than the physical enemy of the pure spirit? Even its process- When we do? Things get interesting.
es seem to mock the alchemy that grants the Ascending Ones Much to the Cheiron Group’s surprise, Luminous Labs, a
their strength, fueling engines with blood and creating horrors pharmaceutical corporation with research centers throughout
that combine flesh with the should-be-inanimate. the developed world, is already working on the “demon prob-
The Jagged Crescent is more down to Earth. They’ve been lem,” from lesser demons all the way on up. Naturally, Cheiron
called dealers, and pushers, peddlers of poison. Some of their tried to buy Luminous, only to find that it was a wholly owned
fellow Ascending Ones even accuse them of getting the in- subsidiary of the much larger Deva Corporation. Deva had
nocent hooked on evil. But they’re also out on the street, at deep enough pockets to laugh at Cheiron’s offer.
ground zero when it comes to the demonic infiltration. They Cheiron’s field agents hunting demons and related phe-
know that sometimes an old grandpa becomes a butcher, no nomena find themselves in a dual role: both trying to retrieve
chemicals required. They know that there are creatures out high value subjects and then deny them to Luminous. Lumi-
there who offer worse bargains than cheap highs, whose hooks nous also seems to have the technology angle surprisingly well
run deeper than conventional addiction. They know that for all covered — often better than VALKYRIE, too.
the billboards say you’ll lose your life to drugs, it’s possible to When it comes to their own research, Cheiron has tenta-
lose your actual life: all the things that make you really, truly a tively identified the possession patterns associated with both
person, to beings that claim to have fallen from Heaven. lesser and greater demons. They’re aware that entities which
The Crescent also knows that the demons’ reach goes far are hard (but not impossible) to measure possess human forms.
beyond any of those things. Operating everywhere from down They’ve also identified the phenomenon by which greater de-
on the asphalt to the upper echelons of organized crime, these mons seem to simply take over human lives. In fact, it’s been
hunters have learned to recognize institutional demons and used by demons against them a few times. Fortunately, Cheiron
some of them are beasts with a thousand faces. Tearing off is very, very good at keeping tabs on its operatives.
those faces is going to take more force than the Crescent can Larger-scale demonic phenomena, like institutional and
bring to bear by themselves. They’ll need allies. And their fel- greater demons who inhabit lives for longer periods of time,
low Ascending Ones may not be the right people to turn to. fall outside Cheiron’s normal area of expertise. However, the
company is getting better and better at finding them. Great-
Elixir: Liar Pills ( ) er demons inhabit false identities and those identities, while
Sometimes, the corpses of greater demons in their Apoca- impressive and somewhat inexplicable, tend to ultimately be
lyptic Forms, or the strange mechanisms that betray the pres- incomplete. The Cheiron Group has brought in outside IT
ence of institutional demons, leak a thick, shiny sludge that and intelligence experts to begin data mining for suspicious
reeks of brimstone. Consumed straight, this oily substance persons. Ideally, they’d be able to sort through public records
causes the subject to relive all of the most horrific emotional and pick out the demons just based on their analysis alone, but

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