Page 80 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

COmPACTS

aware of ghostwalkers, they first approach the subjects and ask Though the Null seeks subjects when possible, they also
them to volunteer. Open Minds, on the other hand, may be turn a deaf ear to the concerns voiced by other compacts and
interested in advancing their analysis by bypassing bloodwork to conspiracies. What the Null struggles to understand, is why so
study clearly infected organs: eyes and, when possible, brains. The many other hunters believe that ghostwalkers are supernatural
infection, the hunters believe, may be psychological in nature and in nature. To them, ghostwalker beliefs are nonsense. Dying,
may be due to altered perceptions and forms of consciousnesses. returning from the dead, and visiting the Underworld are
The fact that the infected may be using ectoplasm to just that: nonsense. Perhaps, these beliefs may be fascinating
regenerate organs after falling into a deathlike state has given from an anthropological perspective, but aren’t anything that
some Null hunters far fewer ethical concerns than normal. Take requires serious consideration by scientists.
out a ghostwalker’s brain, and she’s up and moving around the The Union
next day. Though the Open Minds haven’t tried the experiment
yet, some believe it’s possible to perform this action twice to The Union tends to lump ghostwalkers in with witches,
compare the scans of the current brain to the removed one! and treats them accordingly. Like witches, a ghostwalker’s abil-
ities seem to be magical or demonic in nature — up until a
Union hunter shoots one in the arm, and watches as a telltale,
white trail emits from her target’s body. Since ghostwalkers are
rare, however, the fact that a supernatural monster that’s whol-
ly separate and unique from every other creature the Union has
encountered isn’t the first thing on these hunters’ minds.
In fact, because the Union tends to focus on what’s hap-
pening in their own backyards, they’re often more concerned
with putting down threats than spending lots of time analyz-
ing or speculating about them. Doesn’t matter if that threat is
a ghost, medium, witch, or zombie; a threat is a threat. Shar-
ing information, however, is still important — especially since
a ghostwalker can fall dead to the ground and wake up the next
morning.
Some Union members, however, do believe that the
reverse is also true: some witches may be, in fact, ghostwalkers-
in-training. Only a few have suggested that the two aren’t linked
at all, and that a ghostwalker is a type of zombie that’s animated
by a sentient ghost. The latter explains many of their powers,
and their inexorable draw to places where ghosts frequent, too.
When calculating threats, the Union takes these theories
into account. After all, if a hunter can’t kill what’s already dead,
who stands to lose the most during an encounter? While no
one in the Union is sure, they’ve learned the hard way that
the verifiable undead, like vampires, have a great deal more
limitations than ghostwalkers do.
Overall, though, the Union tends to perk up whenever
ghosts are mentioned, since many hunters have figured out
ghostwalkers tend to fixate on spirits and largely ignore hu-
mans. To them, if a ghostwalker can deal with a vengeful spirit
better than the Union can? It might be worth letting them be
— that is, if the ghostwalkers are there to do the job right and
not cause more supernatural trouble.
The Response
For the most part, the Union treats ghostwalkers like
any other morally-questionable supernatural monster. First,
hunters need to figure out if the ghostwalkers are trouble of
the immediate or postponed variety. If the haunted represent
postponed trouble, the Union may be open to forging a
shaking alliance with them, to deal with the restless dead.
Should the Union partner with ghostwalkers, though, hunters
are instructed not to trust their allies implicitly. Even so,
some ghostwalkers have very much endeared themselves to

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