Ghostly Victims
Ghostly Victims are ghost victims of Upuaut from the adventure chapter, "Unreal City" from World of Darkness: Chicago. The victims are: Hossam Armanious, Boutrous Fathy, Saad Batrawi and Mohammed Nawal.
Background
These four apparitions were the first victims of Upuaut in Chicago, as described previously.
Quote
"Oh, God, the pain . . . it never stops hurting . . . oh, God . . ."
Description
Each ghost appears as a translucent version of its living self, bearing the horrible claw wounds that killed it. The absence of the organ stolen by Upuaut is horribly obvious. The ghosts moan in agony, babble prayers and curses in Arabic or Coptic and claw passersby, trying to take new organs to stanch the crippling pain. As Upuaut opens the Door, the ghosts' attacks become more powerful, spreading disease to the organs that ever elude their spectral grasp.
A plus sign (+) after a statistic indicates that it increases over time; one point every time the ghosts are encountered, or every two or three days, seems about right. Storytellers should adjust this rate to control the lethality of the story.
Storytelling Hints
The ghosts are to be pitied, but their depredations also make them a threat to more innocent people. The ghosts can wander the streets of Uptown freely, since they did construction work all over the neighborhood in life. They appear at night.
Stats
Rank: 1
Attributes: Power 2+, Finesse 2, Resistance 2
Willpower: 4
Essence: 4+
Initiative: 4
Defense: 2+
Speed: 15+ (species factor 10)
Size: 5
Corpus: 7
Numina: Ghost Speech, Terrify
Worsening Sickness: The victims of Upuaut spread sickness to those they "touch" during their manifestations. With a successful Power + Finesse - Defense roll made against a subject, the ghost can infect her with a supernatural affliction that mimics a mundane disease. The victim suffers lethal damage equal to the ghost's Power immediately upon contact, unless the victim makes a successful reflexive Stamina + Resplve action, penalized by the ghost's current Power. A victim continues to suffer damage from the disease every day thereafter unless she succeeds on another reflexive Stamina + Resolve action that day, again penalized by the ghost's current Power. Keep track of the successes accrued on these rolls to resist the ghostly affliction as if the character were attempting an extended action with one roll allowed each day. When the victim has scored a total of 10 successes on rolls to resist the disease, she has overcome it. Once a victim has been afflicted with this ghostly ailment, she cannot be infected again until she overcomes the previous bout. A victim is either infected or she is not. At the Storyteller's discretion, it may be possible to combat the illness with an extended Intelligence + Occult (instead of Medicine) action with a target number of 25 successes and one attempt possible each day.
Ban: Per ancient Egyptian funerary magic, the destruction of their bodies also destroys these ghosts.
References
- CofD: World of Darkness: Chicago, p. 406