Wednesday, July 8, 2015

50 Shades of Vampire: The Liver Eater

Two weeks ago I presented the unused conspiracy for my recent Night's Black Agents game. The Soulless would have been a ancient group of sorcerers seeking mastery over death and the soul. But not all of them like being slaves to millenia old Egyptian horror. And one has figured out how to escape.

The Liver Eater

Penny-Dreadful-Vampire

Rebellious undead sorcerer

Red of eye and pale of skin, this emaciated creature lost all of its hair a century ago. Its skin is a thin veneer, a shell hiding its mummified remains. Within, blackened leather carved with crude hieroglyphics protects desiccated organs and dry bones. Blood powers its workings, blood and the souls it eats. Though sometimes it simply breathes the souls in.

The Liver Eater surrounds itself with images of Amset [Archaeology], the human headed son of Horus, who guarded the liver of the deceased. It also collects scorpions which can be seen as servants of Skhet, mother to Amset.

Background: The Liver Eater remembers being human, a man of privilege in the late 19th century. It recalls his journey to Egypt, the expedition, the lust for occult lore. The man had a wife and several mistresses. He had an infant son and an invalid mother. He had friends and colleagues, a rich tapestry of life and social obligations.

In an unnamed tomb, that man was hollowed out and his soul devoured.

What filled that void wasn’t human.

It still retains those memories but that’s all they are. Dry facts. As emotion filled as a nearly forgotten book.

In its place, its one time master placed a sliver of its will, a hunger for knowledge that drove the Liver Eater forward. It stalked the halls of power, enslaved smugglers and lords alike, pillaged libraries and plundered tombs.

But now ambition has taken root in the Liver Eater’s heart, a product of its alchemical experiments. It seems eating the seat of passion, the liver, has freed it from the Theban’s influence. Filled with wants and desires of its own for the first time in over a century, it wants to keep that freedom and strike out on its own. For that it needs more occult lore, more secrets to the magic that powers its very existence. Only with that knowledge can it hope to escape its master and its former allies.

Possible Clues: The missing livers might be uncovered via appropriate use of Cop Talk, Criminology, or simple Research. Samples of the liver or one of its laboratories can reveal its precise treatment via a Chemistry, Diagnosis or Occult Studies spend (perhaps hinting at a way to reverse or negate the effect). Criminology or High Society might pick out a pattern in its movements, based as they are on the memories of a 19th century English nobleman.

General Abilities: Aberrance 20, Hand to Hand 11, Health 11, Weapons 11

Hit Threshold: 5 (higher if invisible)
Alertness Modifier: +3
Stealth Modifier: +3

Damage Modifier: -1 (fist), +0 (fangs)
Armor: -1 (tough skin), all weapons do half damage after armor, firearms do only 1 point and shotguns only do 2.

Powers: See Souls, Smell Breath, Drain Stability, Infection, Psychic Invisibility (not in combat), Invisible to Mirrors and Electronics, Mimicry (voice and form), Vampiric Speed, Spider Climb, Summon Insects

Banes: Sunlight (Hurt), Fire, Beheading, Stake to the Heart
Compulsions: None but see requirements.
Dread: sunlight
Requirements: Blood and souls. To retain an independent will , the Liver Eater must devour an alchemically treated liver each day. While it can supplement some of this via its control over the illegal organ trade, it is quickly racking up a body count.

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