Page 82 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

COnSPiRACiES

In general, the conspiracy hasn’t pushed its hunters to The Response
pursue ghostwalkers or acquire their relics. Should a cell come For most Ascending Ones, the question they need to
in contact with a Fog Man, they’ve been instructed to assess ask themselves is how to keep out of each other’s business.
and engage one as a potential ally with the hope that the Though the conspiracy typically views ghostwalkers to be a dire
ghostwalker will divulge his secrets.
threat, individual hunters may not agree. Cells who encounter
Ascending Ones ghostwalkers during their Vigil may find that they’re not as
dangerous as the conspiracy’s leaders would have them believe.
The Ascending Ones have a complicated view on ghost- This creates a rift within the conspiracy, and translates to an
walkers. Many within the conspiracy understand that ghost- uneven response. Some hunters steer clear of ghostwalkers
walkers are not a modern-day phenomenon, and can be con- and ignore them. Others actively seek an encounter with
nected to powerful beings in ancient Egypt; some of whom the Fog Men, hoping to learn more about the properties of
were said to walk amongst the gods, while others dominated the Underworld, or to get a glimpse into the minds of the
society with their powers. For this reason, the Ascending Ones conspiracy’s enemies.
believe that ghostwalkers may represent a major threat to Still, there are other reasons the Ascending Ones might
modern society — on par with their old foes, the newly-risen engage a ghostwalker. Cells might believe they possess important
mummies. In fact, the issue is so clouded, that some within lore, or may deem them would-be dictators, recalling their
the conspiracy have confused the Fog Men with mummies, be- rumored roles in ancient Egypt. The Jagged Crescent could,
cause of their ability to reawaken after death. When it comes of course, want to find more test subjects for Death Cloud,
to mummies and ghostwalkers, the conspiracy’s information is too. Though their motivations vary, each cell and hunter has a
grossly incomplete, and that lack of knowledge makes the situ- reason why they would or wouldn’t engage a ghostwalker. For
ation even more challenging — especially since the Ascending this reason, the Ascending Ones may be friendlier, or more
Ones are aware that other conspiracies don’t take ghostwalkers militant, than others who come face-to-face with the haunted.
as seriously as they should. The one common thread that ties the Ascending Ones
Instead, the conspiracy has fixated on finding the means together, however, is the fact that the conspiracy requires ingre-
to affecting all supernaturals that cross between the lands of dients found in the Underworld for its elixirs. Those hunters
the living and the dead with ease. A ghostwalker’s resilience to who need substances, mineral or organic, from the lands in the
drugs and poisons is legendary; members of the Jagged Cres- dead will keep an eye out for ghostwalkers, ghosts, and other
cent are testing a new drug devised from mushrooms that grow undead monsters — especially those who may be guarding the
in the Underworld. This drug, nicknamed “Death Cloud,” is border between worlds.
said to be incredibly addictive — and potentially lethal — to hu-
mans and supernaturals alike. Not only do test subjects defy the The Cheiron Group
borders of life and death to get their hands on the potion, some Ghostwalkers are incredibly resilient creatures flowing
use whatever means necessary to acquire it. Unfortunately, the with ectoplasm, able to rise from the dead and see ghosts, and
potion isn’t ready to be distributed just yet, for testing Death can even help humans detect whether or not a loved one has
Cloud has incurred terrifying side effects. The drug could be cancer. This makes the ghostwalkers extremely interesting to
a powder keg that puts them in the crosshairs of ghostwalkers the Cheiron Group. Almost as soon as they became aware
and hunters in a way the conspiracy has not experienced before. of the haunted, the conspiracy sent out operatives to capture
However, it should be said that the Jagged Crescent aren’t one. Throughout the centuries, few had been collected, and
the only hunters who travel regularly to the Underworld. The Cheiron suffered many casualties to acquire one. When the
Ascending Ones are acutely aware that the realms of the dead conspiracy did, however, they took every opportunity to learn
are rich with any number of useful reagents for their elixirs; about the nature of a ghostwalker as best they could.
even drawing water from underground rivers and lakes can be a Modern technology and medical innovations have allowed
potent ingredient, especially for symptoms and side effects like the Cheiron Group to experiment on the few ghostwalkers
pain resistance, sleep, or forgetfulness. they caught in the wake of World War II. The conspiracy has
But, while some ghostwalkers guard the gates between the learned that they are impossible to incapacitate without killing.
living and dead, and do object to such activities, a hunter who Second, killing a ghostwalker won’t permanently harm him.
travels to find a unique and specific ingredient for an elixir This has led to the conspiracy’s attempts to harvest pieces
won’t be as conspicuous as the Jagged Crescent are. After all, of their bodies, with disastrous results. The Cheiron Group
they send their hunters to harvest as many otherworldly fungi has buried the incident deep in its archives, but conspiracy
as they possibly can. Removing anything from the Underworld leaders haven’t forgotten the fact that hunters died upon a
in vast quantities is, in general, a bad idea. ghostwalker’s reawakening. They also know that ghostwalkers
For this reason, ghostwalkers are starting to take a special don’t come back completely in one piece, though, so a pair of
interest in the conspiracy. Hunters may even be surprised to harvested eyes can only be used the one time.
learn that ghostwalkers can and do differentiate between one One important piece of information Cheiron has, is that
cell to the next, and that the haunted may even offer a “reward” while most groups think or hope ghostwalkers eventually stop
for information concerning ghosts and the undead. coming back, the conspiracy strongly suspects that the haunted

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