Haunting

It is absurd asking me to behave myself... quite absurd. I must rattle my chains, and groan through keyholes, and walk about at night, if that is what you mean. It is my only reason for existing.

The Canterville Ghost - Oscar Wilde 

 

While any Wraith can gain Essence from Anchors, or absorbing it from other means, Wraiths can also gain Essence by haunting the living. It's quite a gamble, given that they have to spend Essence to try and gain more back. But they say that there's nothing better than the Essence gained after you scare someone so badly that they turn pale, swoon and wake up with grey hair.

Meanwhile, the Haunters say there's nothing better than frightening someone so badly that they die - horribly - right then and there. The fact that their sinister Concord does it on a regular basis, and the awful messes it leaves behind, is one of the many reasons why this behavior is frowned upon.

Still, many Wraiths reason that they were given these terrifying abilities for a reason. And needs must when the Devil - or a lack of Essence - drives...

 

Keep Out, Meatbag

Any time a mortal has a Numen used offensively upon them, they must make a Resolve + Composure roll to avoid fleeing the area. {Possible modifiers are listed below.}

Whether the mortal turns around and calmly walks out of the house, or screams, wets herself and dashes far away depends on the characters, of course. But the result is the same: the strong emotional states of fear, shock, terror or horror that are generated create a buffet of energy for the Wraith to dine on.

In the meantime, the mortal will not willingly return to the location for at least a day, and if trapped, she must spend the time trying to find a way out. The Wraith is free to use other Arts on the mortal to gain Essence in this time, but once a specific Art's gained the Wraith some Essence, she can't use it to gain Essence from the same mortal for another 24 hours.

"Offensively?"

There's a lot of wiggle room around this concept, so as to not tie down Storytellers and empower Rules Lawyers. Suffice it to say that not every use of Bios is meant to scare the living, but some Numen Arts can really only be used to terrify.

However, note that the use of the Manifestation Affinity is not offensive, unless the Wraith Manifests in such a way that she cannot be mistaken for human, and then chooses to scare and/or attack the Mortal. And if the Wraith stacks her Manifestation with certain, terrifying Embody Arts, then it's fair game for a roll.

 

A Banquet of Fear

After the mortal has rolled Resolve + Composure, compare the successes on the Wraith's Numen roll and the mortal's roll to avoid fleeing.

If the Wraith received more successes than the mortal, subtract the mortal's from the Wraith's, and pay the difference back to the Wraith in Essence. If it was a tie, the Wraith gets nothing.

On the other hand, if the mortal received more successes, she now has a +1 Modifier to her roll when dealing with that Wraith's attempts to scare her off using that Art. And if it was an Exceptional Success, the Wraith cannot hope to use that Art to scare that mortal again - the meatbag has become immune.

Cost: None

Dice Pool: The Wraith's Numen Roll vs. Mortal's Resolve + Compsure

Action: Contested

Dramatic Failure: N/A

Failure: Nothing happens, and the mortal now has a +1 Modifier to her Resolve + Composure roll when that Wraith uses that Art against her in the future.

Success: One dot of Essence is given to the Wraith per success over the mortal on the Resolve + Composure roll.

Exceptional Success: The Wraith not only gains a dot of Essence for each success, but also gets a point of Willpower back for the "moral" victory over the mortal.

 

Possible Modifiers:

* The mortal has a Willpower of 7 or higher: +1 for 7, +2 for 8, and so on

* The mortal is armed with knowledge about the Wraith, and has some idea of what to expect: +1 to +3

* The mortal has faced that Art from that Wraith before, and persevered: +1

* The mortal has been frightened by that Wraith before: -1 to -3, depending on how badly.

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