Page 153 - Chronicles of Darkness

Best At (10 Dice): Being scary and disorient- identified as a sign of his infernal nature, usually with an
ing, lashing out with household appliances, luring Intelligence + Occult-based research action.
people in and keeping them there. Storytelling Hints: The Jersey Devil represents a clas-
Worst At (2 Dice): Anything but being a house. sic cautionary monster who lures “sinners” to their dooms
Aspiration: To drive its tenants mad with terror. through their own actions. His victims are teenagers engaged in
activities that society deems inappropriate: excessive drinking,
Willpower/Scene: 6 casual promiscuity, and drug use. In a typical horror movie,
Structure: 45 (specific structures like walls, floors, you’d see him messily kill his way through a whole host of more
and doors have Hardness appropriate to the material) or less likable “bad kids” before the “good kids” uncover his
Weapons/Attacks: weakness and drive him off. It’s up to you how faithfully you
want to follow that narrative or whether you want to subvert
Dice the expectation.
Type Damage Range Pool Special Actually fighting the Jersey Devil is a difficult prospect,
Telekinetic 2L 5/10/20 10 not because he’s incredibly powerful or dangerous but be-
cutlery dice cause his preferred hunting grounds are the very definition
Strangling 2B Melee 10 grap- of a target-rich environment. If one group of would-be victims
cords dice ples starts making too much trouble, hundreds, if not thousands
Dread Powers: Eye Spy, Home Ground, more, are waiting just up the beach. Stories involving the
Influence (Fear) •••, Madness and Terror, Snare Devil, then, tend to take one of a few forms; either the char-
acters are all people who have made deals with the Jersey
Jersey Devil Devil and are trying to survive his assaults, or they’re trying
to find a way to stop the Devil from claiming their friends’
“Rage. Just sign there and we got us a deal. This is gonna be souls. These approaches aren’t mutually exclusive, of course,
sick, brah.” but those are the two main arcs for a story involving the Devil.
Background: He appears up and down the coast. Mostly Characters have a few options when it comes to escaping the
the Jersey Shore, but he’s been sighted as far south as the Devil’s clutches. Discovering his Bane and using it to kill him
Outer Banks, even at Spring Break events in Mexico or renders null and void any contract he hasn’t yet collected on,
Barbados. Anywhere teenagers congregate near sand and sea but any soul he’s already claimed is gone. Moreover, anything
to get wrecked and hook up, the Jersey Devil is there, offering the Devil granted as part of the contract, whether that’s cash
the best drugs, the hottest parties, anything your heart desires. money or a cure for terminal illness, also goes away. The only
And the cost? Don’t worry about the cost. You’re young and way to undo damage the Devil has already done, or restore souls
hot and you’re going to live forever. he’s already taken, is to make those the terms of a contract. It’s
The Jersey Devil is a decidedly modern manifestation, but bad business sense to trade a half-dozen souls for one, but the
if you dig back through the lore, you’ll find similar figures all Devil seems to be more interested in the quality of the souls than
throughout history. The Devil seems to be drawn to human the quantity, and a soul willing to sacrifice themselves is usually
festivities, especially those held near the seaside. Perhaps the intriguing enough to make the Devil agree.
liminal nature of the shoreline calls to him, or perhaps the
concentrated energy of human celebration calls to his nature Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2,
as a tempter and a trickster. Or maybe it’s just that stoned, Resolve 3
horny teenagers are piss-poor negotiators. Either way, once Physical Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 4,
you’ve accepted his terms and sealed the contract with a Stamina 6
body shot, your soul is forfeit upon your death, and the Devil Social Attributes: Presence 5, Manipulation 9,
isn’t patient when it comes to collecting. Those who sign his Composure 4
contracts end up meeting apparently-accidental but ironically-
appropriate ends — the lush drowns doing a keg stand, the Mental Skills: Computers 1
pickup artist dies in some bizarre sexual misadventure, and Physical Skills: Athletics 4, Brawl 3, Drive 2,
so on — but the Devil isn’t averse to getting his own hands Stealth 2, Weaponry 1
bloody if someone comes between him and his meal. Social Skills: Empathy 2, Intimidation 3,
Description: The Jersey Devil looks like the prototypi- Socialize 4, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 8
cal Jersey Shore bro: spray tan, a body that bespeaks hours Merits: Barfly, Fast-Talking ••••, Fixer, Pusher,
at the gym every day, frosted tips, the works. He always has Striking Looks ••,
a tell somewhere about his person: maybe a tattoo of the Potency: 5
Devils hockey team’s mascot, maybe taloned feet stuffed into
his beach shoes, maybe breath that always smells slightly of Willpower: 12
brimstone, no matter how many tequila shooters he slams. Virtue: Wicked
Whatever the tell is, it’s always something that can be Vice: Curious

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Horrors and wonders-antagonists