Page 89 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

CHAPTER THREE: GHOSTWALKERS

of their friends or allies in the process? Will they finally take the ghostwalkers on top of that scenario and tier-one hunters will
con artist seriously? have their hands full when they’re forced to choose a side.
Tier Two: A compact may have already identified the ghost- Tier Two: In a tier-two scenario, the hunters discover the
walker as an annoying threat who’s interfering with the safety of victim was their ally. Now, the cell has a personal, vested inter-
the neighborhood. Tier-two hunters will go into the situation est in seeing their contact’s murderer brought to justice. Here,
armed with the knowledge that this individual — whatever she the hunters have lost something valuable to them — a witness,
happens to be — has to be taken out quickly, silently, and care- researcher, or relative — and the cell may be seeking justice on
fully. The only trouble is, not even the compact is aware how their terms. What happens when the hunters arrive in the town
dangerous this particular Fog Man is. When cornered, she will and the ghostwalkers encourage them to sign on with them?
aggravate other ghosts in the area, and target the hunters. Just When the body count begins to rise, can the cell afford pointed
as the situation starts to get out of control, other ghostwalkers questions from their compact? If their compact claims the vic-
appear. Will the hunters be rescued? Or have they shown up to tim’s death has clouded their judgment, how will the hunters
help the con artist defeat the hunters? respond?
Tier Three: In a tier-three game, the conspiracy has a Tier Three: The murder, the town, and the victim were all
vested interest in the ghostwalker, and believes this particular a set up. In a tier-three chronicle, the hunters are given shocking
con artist is an easy target. The conspiracy’s decree may range information that, not only was the teenager’s death intentional,
from detain and question to kidnap and secure. Whatever the it was a test conducted to produce a ghostwalker. Worse, when
conspiracy wants, however, the hunters will need to carry out the ghostwalkers arrive at the scene, they corner the hunters and
that action — or suffer the consequences if they don’t. What demand that they turn over the persons responsible for this trag-
happens when the cell grows a conscience and realizes the edy. If the hunters refuse, the ghostwalkers will kill partygoers,
ghostwalker’s smoke-and-mirror tactics are saving the rest of her one victim at a time, until the truth is revealed. What happens
group from unwanted attention as they take down a terrifying when the hunters find out that rogue ghostwalkers — not hunters
threat? Or worse, if the Fog Man is a lot harder to capture than — were responsible for the teen’s murder? Can the cell convince
they originally thought — especially when the rest of her group the vengeance-driven Fog Men that a rival group rolled into town
shows up — will their higher-ups forgive and forget? and framed hunters to throw them off their trail? Or will the
hunters be drawn into a war between the two groups, and they’ll
The Grudge be forced to protect the townsfolk from supernatural harm?

Summary: A young man is brutally murdered at a high
school party in a small town. Witnesses say that the well-liked Inspiration &
student came between two, popular athletes who were in the
middle of a drunken argument. Due to the people involved, by Sources
the time the cops showed up all the evidence had been cleaned
up, and the victim’s body had been moved to the couch. The Any chronicle involving a ghostwalker will be, at its heart,
police weren’t able to prove a connection to the murder by a ghost story. Ghostwalkers may not be ectoplasmic entities,
anyone at the party, despite the swirling rumors about what but they are still people who died; or at the very least, someone
occurred there. No one is naming names. Soon afterward, the who would have died, and wasn’t prepared to pass on as he
teenager’s friends begin dying, one by one, and the hunters are should have. Every ghostwalker has a ghost-like motivation
called in. like revenge or justice. Additionally, a revenant’s powers bear
Setup: The cell, perhaps drawn into the scene by the the trappings of ghostly phenomena, even if the ghostwalker
mysterious murder, discovers a group of vigilantes is killing is a living, breathing entity. Finally, the haunted are drawn to,
teenagers who attended the victim’s party. What happens when and cannot escape ghosts. Wherever they go, ghosts follow in
the hunters are told that the victim’s ghost is actively working their footsteps, and are drawn inexorably to them. So, when
with the Fog Men to solve his murder? Will the hunters adding ghostwalkers to a Hunter game, finding ghost stories
sympathize with the fact that the ghostwalkers are exacting for inspiration is valuable.
just revenge in a town that goes out of its way to protect its M.R. James’ short stories tend to be well-written and
favored sons and daughters? Who will the hunters side with? atmospheric collections of ghost stories. Written at the turn
th
Ghostwalkers, who are killing all those who stood by and did the 20 century, they have a particularly antiquarian bent, and
nothing while the student was killed? Or the teenagers, who are often include puzzles to be solved. Oh Just Whistle, and I’ll Come
clearly guilty and have yet to confess? to You, My Lad is as good a start as any.
Tier One: A high-profile murder can attract the cell’s As far as movies, a recent interest in Japanese ghost
attention in any number of ways. A hunter could have a stories has resulted in movies like The Ring or The Grudge, that
personal tie to the town, like a relative or friend. Small, closely- have dangerously potent entities quite capable of harming
knit communities will be harder for the hunters to explore than unprepared hunters. Unlike Western ghosts, these spirits
a larger city, especially when so many people are covering up a cannot be redeemed, and have to be put down. A lighter
tragic murder for some unknown reason. That alone is enough approach to ghosts is the film Beetlejuice, which can serve as a
to draw the cell into the scene. Adding a ghost and a group of quirky inspiration. On the other hand, a more traditional ghost

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