Page 158 - Chronicles of Darkness

to react between killings, but not so large that the individual Weapons/Attacks:
executions lose their impact. The conspiracy might include:
Type Damage Range Dice Pool
• The low-level crooks who actually did the deed, per- Martial arts 0L Melee 9
haps three to five thugs and hardened killers.
Banes: Anything used in her funeral (wood from
• A couple of patrol officers or a homicide detective her coffin, stone from her headstone, etc.)
who made the evidence go away. Dread Powers: Hunter’s Senses (her killers),
Regeneration ••
• The CEO of the construction firm that stood to
The Swimming Hole
benefit the most from Rachel’s death.
• A city councilman or former mayor who received Background: No one swims at the old swimming hole
campaign funds from the aforementioned CEO.
outside town any more. Part of that is due to convenience
The important thing to remember is that all of these — ever since they opened the municipal pool downtown,
people have moved up in the world significantly. The crooks nobody wants to drive 20 miles out to the old quarry and
are now bosses of their own syndicates, the crooked detective climb down the narrow, slippery trail to the still water at the
might be Chief or Police Commissioner, the city councilman bottom. Part of it’s that the swimming hole is the setting for
is a state Senator or even a US Congressman, and so on. To innumerable local ghost stories: tales of spurned lovers and
add some personal drama to the revenge tale, perhaps one crooked politicians, of tragic accidents and murder in the
of them has gone straight in the years since, and tried to dark. But mostly it’s because the water is just too powerful,
make amends as best they could. It won’t dissuade Rachel, too special to profane by swimming in it. The swimming hole,
certainly, but if the characters are investigating her killings (or you see, is a wishing well. All it takes is a little blood in the
even helping her), it might generate some internal conflict. water and a fervent desire.
Alternately, for a one-shot story, you might have the play- Most of the locals know about the power of the swimming
ers create characters who were involved in the conspiracy hole, whether by direct experience or from the local rumor
twenty years ago and turn Rachel loose on them. Obviously, mill. They also know it’s a very, very bad idea to actually make
make sure your players are comfortable with this, both in a wish down there. In true monkey’s paw fashion, the wishes
terms of most of them meeting grisly fates by the story’s end granted by the swimming hole come with a heavy price. One
and in terms of playing characters involved in a violent double young man wished for a flashy car, just like his dad’s. He got
homicide. You’ll also want to dial up Rachel’s ability to cut it, but only because his father was paralyzed in an accident
through armed guards and security measures in this scenario. and couldn’t drive it any more. Another wished for a million
dollars, which came in the form of an insurance check after
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, a freak fire claimed her house, her business, and her entire
Resolve 7 family. Everybody knows the wishes come with a price — but
just the same, everybody knows the swimming hole is there,
Physical Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 6,
Stamina 7 and sometimes folks are desperate enough to pay any price
to get what they want.
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 2, Description: “The Swimmin Hole” (as a crudely painted,
Composure 1 corrugated aluminum sign posted down by the water names
Mental Skills: Academics 2, Politics 3 it) sits at the bottom of a 70-foot deep pit at the old limestone
Physical Skills: Athletics 5, Brawl 5, Stealth 3 quarry. The mining company moved on long ago, when their
Social Skills: Intimidation 2 drills broke through into an underground lake. Try as they
might, the miners couldn’t fill the lake or find a source to
Merits: Indomitable, Martial Arts ••••, Parkour ••• dam up, so they took the insurance payout and moved on.
Potency: 3 The water itself is still and black and always just a little
Willpower: 11 too cold for comfort. No one’s ever been able to dive deep
Virtue: Wrathful enough to find the bottom, and no matter how bitter the
winter, the surface never seems to ice over. Nothing lives in
Vice: Mournful the swimming hole: no fish, no algae, even the cattails and
Aspirations: To take revenge, to mourn her dead grass stop hard at the edge of the water.
fiancé. Across the water from the little footpath that leads down
Initiative: 7 from the road, there’s a little cave. It sits just a hair above the
Defense: 8 waterline, and it’s only just big enough to crawl into. The
cave is pitch dark and gives off a feeling of intense menace,
Speed: 15 but if you brave it, and take a flashlight with you, you’ll find
Health: 12 a poem carved directly into the rock wall:

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