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Divine Inspiration/Spirit Patrons/Martial Arts -- An Example by Thom Marrion Seth Ankou has managed to let his private vendetta get in the way of his obligations. Ever since the incident in the bar, he has been trying to get back at the Seer Solitaire. Seth managed to kidnap Christian twice, but both times the psychic escaped. The second time ended up being a catastrophe for Seth and he had to leave the secluded house he was using as a base to avoid unwanted police attention. All this has not escaped the notice of the Cult of Pain. They feel that Seth is starting to let a personal matter become an obsession -- that is beneath someone of his rank and power. More importantly, it is starting to effect his service to the Dark God Mbua-Sutekh. Seth has had Mbua-Sutekh as a Spirit Patron (see Abominations Codex, p. 104) for a number of years now. The Dark God has granted Seth many Boons including Longevity (see Abomination Codex, p. 107) and Power (see Abomination Codex, p. 108). He has also given Seth the Zombie Mastery Greater Invocation (see Abomination Codex, p. 102), which is usually limited to those in the Red Path. But these Gifts are balanced by Obligations that Seth must fulfill. Seth is under an Oath of Duty (see Abomination Codex, p. 110) to Mbua-Sutekh and must constantly work to further the Dark God's goals. Seth also owes him a Gift of Kin (see Abomination Codex, p. 109), which in this case is a nice way of saying that regular human sacrifices must be made to the god. Seth needs to go out of town both to take care of some Cult of Pain business and fulfill his Oath of Duty. He leaves his right hand man Tizoc, an Aztec Jaguar Feral (see Abominations Codex, p. 36; Chronicler's Shield, p. 45), with the task of finding some suitable victims for the upcoming sacrifice. To this end, Tizoc takes the four remaining Undead Zombies (see Abominations Codex, p. 148) that Seth has left (he had an entire motorcycle gang that he had turned into his undead servants, but most of them have been destroyed) and starts cruising in an unmarked van for as many victims as he can find. Tizoc is looking for some place that is fairly secluded, open at a late hour, and has people in it that are easy to capture and haul off in the van. He is driving through a fairly rural area when he finds the perfect spot. It is a 7-11. There are currently five people in the convenience store. Bireshchandra Nagchaudhuri is a young Indian man who never dreamed as a child that he would one day grew up to manage a convenience store far removed from anywhere important. Bobby Joe Layson is the son of a local farmer and Rochelle Tucker is his date. Meriah Lee is the little ten-year-old girl who really should not be out this late, but her mother has "company" and so Meriah has to find somewhere else to be. Mr. Nag, as she likes to call Bireshchandra, is aware of the situation and lets the little girl hang out at his store. The fifth person in the 7-11 is not a local. She has exotic good looks and speaks with a Caribbean accent (Trinidad to be exact). Her name is Calypso Singh and she is a Divinely Inspired Sentinel. Singh was just at the store to get gas and a slurpee, and was rather surprised to sense the presence of the supernatural. As one of the Gifted, she immediately sensed the supernatural arrive in the area. Once the undead bikers walked through the door she had a pretty good idea what it was. Undead Zombies need to be invested with at least 2 points of Essence a day by their maker or they start to decompose, and Seth has had other things on his mind lately. The Zombies are starting to look, and smell, pretty bad. But at this point Tizoc is an unknown so Calypso prays for guidance and uses Divine Sight (see WitchCraft, p. 245). There is no Task roll needed to activate this Power; she just needs to spend the 5 Essence Points. Nobody in the 7-11 has any kind of protection from mental probes, so she automatically sees the true nature of everyone she looks at. She learns that Tizoc is a Feral, that he is doing this out of a sense of loyalty and obligation, and that he is a cruel and evil bastard. She discovers that Bireshchandra is very bitter for someone that young and blames everyone but himself for the current state of his life, that Bobby Joe is only going out with Rochelle because he does not have the courage to break up with her and that he is sleeping with her best friend, that Rochelle is dating Bobby Lee out of a sense of self-loathing and deep down she is hoping that he will treat her badly, and that Meriah Lee is quite aware on a subconscious level that her mother blames her for everything that has gone wrong in their lives and thinks of her as an unwanted burden. As can be imagined, this is all pretty overwhelming. Tizoc and the zombies make their move as Calypso is trying to absorb all these feelings and emotions, and keep her mental processes stable. Tizoc grabs the Meriah. The zombie who was known in life as Rob climbs over the counter to get Bireshchandra. The zombies Tempesta and Blasko attack Bobby Joe and Rochelle. That leaves the zombie Riggs to shamble toward Calypso. Calypso is standing next to a one-pound bag of Iodized Salt. The Chronicler tells her to make an Occult Knowledge Task roll. Her Intelligence is 2 and her Occult Knowledge is 1 (she is more of a fighter than a scholar). She rolls a 6, which gives her a total of 9. The Chronicler informs Calypso that she suddenly remembers that making a zombie ingest a large quantity of salt sometimes breaks the spell and allows the spirit to leave its corpse. Since Calypso is the quicker of the two, the Chronicler lets her have the Initiative for this Turn. The Chronicler asks for a Simple Dexterity Test to rip open the bag and get most of the salt in the zombie's mouth. Her Dexterity is 4, which doubles to 8. She rolls a 4 for a total of 12. A Decent Outcome (see WitchCraft, p. 129) results in the zombie Riggs choking, as much as an animated corpse can be said to choke, on almost a pound of salt. Riggs now has to make a Resisted Task against the one who made him this way (see Abominations Codex, p. 149). His Willpower doubled would be 2, and he gets an additional +4 for this Test. Seth's Willpower is 5 and he knows Zombie Mastery at 4. Riggs rolls an 8, plus 6, giving him a total of 14. Seth's roll is a 4, plus 5 for his Willpower and 4 for the Invocation. His total is 13, not enough for the Invocation to hold Riggs anymore. Riggs moves on to whatever fate awaits him in the afterlife and the animated rotting corpse becomes merely a rotting corpse. It collapses to the ground. Since the mundanes at the 7-11 are needed for a sacrifice, the Zombies are under orders not to kill them unless told otherwise. The Chronicler informs Calypso that Birenshandra has been grappled by the zombie Rob and has his head pinned to the counter. Bobby Joe pushed Rochelle at the other two zombies and made a run for it, but was grabbed by Tempesa. Blasko has lifted Rochelle over his shoulder. Meriah Lee made a run for the door but was grabbed by Tizoc. At the start of the next Turn, Calypso sees Tizoc lift Meriah up in one hand and pull his other hand back for a roundhouse. He figures that they have more than enough human fodder for the Black Magician and that he might as well have some fun with the little girl. He shifts into his Feral Jaguar form, which costs him 10 Essence Points (see Abominations Codex, p. 35) and prepares to slice the girl's neck with his claws. The Chronicler decides that Tizoc is taking his time with the girl and that Calypso has time to take action. "NO!" screams Calypso as a rapid staccato prayer forms in her mind. She calls upon the Power of the Creator and counters Tizoc with the Denial (see WitchCraft, p. 243). She unleashes 10 points of Essence to counteract Tizoc's supernatural ability. The Aztec is quite surprised to find himself snapping back into human form as a wave of Essence washes over him. "That was a huge mistake, punta," says Tizoc calmly as he drops the girl and walks towards Calypso, "Your death is going to be very slow and very painful." "Whatever," retorts Calypso as she runs towards the Feral. "Whatever? You can't come up with anything better than that? No snappy banter or witty retort? You must be a Sentinel. I have yet to meet a single one of you with even the barest hint of a sense of humor," says Tizoc. He would have continued the rant but at this point the Sentinel is attacking him. Since Tizoc was in the middle of a rant, the Chronicler decides that Calypso wins Initiative for this next Turn. She starts with a Jump Kick (see Mystery Codex, p. 50). Calypso has Martial Arts (Karate/Kickboxing) 5, which allows her to take a few Combat Maneuvers (see Mystery Codex, p. 48-49). One of them is Jump Kick, which she also has at a skill of 5. The Chronicler decides that Calypso goes first and she rolls a 5. Her Dexterity is 4 and her Jump Kick is 5, so that gives her a total of 14 -- a Good Result (see WitchCraft, p. 129). Tizoc gets a chance to defend and decides to use Acrobatics to dodge out of the way. His Acrobatics Skill is 3 and his Dexterity is 4. He rolls a 6, which gives him a 13. Another Good Result, but not good enough to avoid the kick. Damage for a Jump Kick is D6 x (Strength +2). Calypso has a Strength of 3 and she rolls a 4 for a total of 20 points of damage. Tizoc goes flying back against a rack of slightly overpriced candies in new larger sizes. He growls and spends another 10 points of Essence to shift into Jaguar Form. At this point Meriah Lee is free from Tizoc and has a chance to escape, but the Chronicler decides that she must roll a Fear Test. Since she is a Mundane, it is a Difficult Fear Test. The Chronicler decides that surrounded by zombies and a werejaguar, Meriah Lee suffers a -3 to her Test. She rolls a 4, adds 2 for her Willpower, and subtracts 3; the result is 3 (failure). Meriah Lee then rolls on the Fear Table. She rolls an 8. Her Willpower is subtracted to make a 6, but the fear modifier is added for a total of 9. She has the shakes for the next 2 turns and is at a -2 to do anything. The little girl just stands in the middle of the 7-11 stuttering quietly to herself, "Ma ma ma ma mom mah mee ma ma ma." During this whole time, the zombies have been holding on to the Mundanes. Since the zombies have a Strength of 6 and the Mundanes have Strengths between 1 and 2, no one is going to break free. Since they are just Supporting Cast, the Chronicler decides that they only escape if he rolls a 10. The Chronicler does not roll any 10s. On the next Turn, Calypso is about to use the Denial to snap Tizoc back to human form again when the Jaquar Feral points to the Sentinel and shouts, "Kill her!" Tempesta tosses Bobby Joe into a rack of assorted chips and pretzals. The Chronicler lets Bobby Joe make a Difficult Dexterity Test to avoid taking damage, which Bobby Joe fails. In fact, he rolled a 1. The Chronicler decides that Bobby Joe takes D4 x the Zombie's Strength of 6 in damage. He rolls a 3, for a total damage of 18. The Chronicler decides that this damage was taken by his arm. A Character can only take one third of his Life Points in damage to his arm, and for Bobby Lee that would be 9. So the good news is that half the damage did not effect him. The bad new is that what he did take broke his arm. Tempesta is shambling towards Calypso from behind, so she decides to Back Kick (see Mystery Codex, p. 50) the zombie. As Calypso is far quicker than the zombie, and has not spent part of the turn throwing a bad date into a rack of potato chips, the Chronicler again awards her first Initiative. Calypso rolls a 4. Her Back Kick is 5 and her Dexterity is 4 for a total of 13. The zombie has a Dexterity of 2 and a Dodge of 2. Tempesta rolls a 7, which gives him a total of 11. This is at a further -2 because it counts as the zombie's second action. The zombie manages to dodge right into Calypso's heel. Damage is D4 x Strength and Calypso rolls a 3. The zombie takes 12 points of damage and is knocked back into a coffee machine. The Chronicler decides that Tempesta does not get a response action since he was just slammed into the rich French Vanilla Morning Blend. Rather than roll, the Chronicler states that the store manager and the girlfriend suffer as much as Bobby Joe when the zombies hurl them aside to attack the Sentinel. At this point, Calypso notices that the store manager and the couple are lying on the ground bleeding and unconscious. The little girl is huddled in a corner whimpering. The three zombies and an angry looking Jaguar Feral are all looking in her direction. She decides that in the present situation a Miracle would definitely be in order. She could rain Holy Fire (see WitchCraft, p. 245) upon these creatures but that Miracle would only let her target one of the four supernaturals that she now faces. It would also deplete her Essence Pools so that all of her actions would be at a -3 (see WitchCraft, p. 154). Calypso instead pleads with the Creator to grant her the Strength of Ten (see WitchCraft, p. 246) so that these unnatural creatures might be shown the Glory of God. After spending 15 points of Essence, Calypso now has a Strength of 8 and is on a more even footing with the zombies and the Feral. She now has only 5 points left in her Essence Pool. Since this is less than half of her total Essence, all her Mental Tasks will be performed at a -1 until she regains her Essence (see WitchCraft, p. 154). Calypso gets a morbid idea. She grabs for the arm of the zombie she had just kicked into the coffee machine. She rolls a Dexterity Test to grab him, and Tempesta rolls against his Dexterity to resist. Calypso rolls a 4, plus 8 for Dexterity doubled, results in a 12. Since it is still the Turn that she invoked her Miracle, she is at a -2 -- the total is 10. Tempesta has a Dexterity of 2 and rolls 5. This totals to 9, less than Calypso's 10. He has been grappled. In the same Turn, Calypso kicks at his shoulder. The Chronicler decides that this is the same as targeting the arm so gives her a -2 for specifying a body part (see WitchCraft, p. 138). There is an additional -4 for her third action in one Turn. Calypso has a Dexterity of 4 and a Kick of 5. She rolls a 7, plus 9 for an 16, minus the 4 for multiple actions and the 2 for targeting a specific body part gives her a total of 10. The damage for a kick is D4 x (Strength +1). She rolls a 4, for a total of 36, and manages to separates arm from zombie with a well placed kicked. Calypso has Hand Weapon (Sword) at skill 3, which she generally uses with a baseball bat. But her baseball bat is currently in the trunk of her car, so the dismembered arm of an undead zombie will have to do (see WitchCraft, p. 135). She now has a weapon to face the zombies and Tizoc with as the new Turn starts. The zombies close in and surround Calypso as Tizoc holds back to observe. He wants to get an idea of this Sentinel's fighting ability. Since Calypso is quicker than the zombies, the Chronicler lets her have the Initiative. On the next Turn, Calypso swings the arm at the head of its former owner. Calypso rolls a 7, plus 4 for her Dexterity and 3 for the Hand Weapon skill, minus 4 for targeting the head, and 1 for the improvised weapon. This gives her a total of 9. The Chronicler rules that hitting somebody with the arm you just tore from a zombie's body does D6 x Strength. Calypso rolls a 3, for a total of 24 points of damage. But blunt damage to the head is doubled, so it becomes 48 points of damage. Tempesta's head explodes like a melon and Calypso spins the arm over her head and turns to face her attackers ready to defend. On the same Turn, Rob and Blasko rush towards Calypso . . . well, more like shamble towards her with a sense of purpose. The Chronicler has Rob go first. He has a Dexterity of 2 and a Brawling of 2, and rolls a 4. The total of 8 misses. Blasko has the same stats but rolls an 8, for a total of 12. Calypso uses a defensive action (see WitchCraft, p. 134) to dodge. Her Dexterity is 4, and her Dodge is 4. She rolls an 11. Not enough to get out of the way. The zombie does D4 x 6 damage and rolls a 1. Calypso takes 6 points of damage, decreasing her Life Points to 32. The Chronicler grants Calypso the initiative for the next Turn. Yes, she took some damage; but she also has Fast Reaction Time, a higher Dexterity, and a faster Speed. She decides to attack both zombies at once. She is going to hit Rob with the arm while she spin kicks Blasko. First she rolls to hit Rob. Once again, it is her Dexterity of 4 plus her Hand Weapon Skill of 3 minus 4 for targeting the head. She rolls a 6, which gives her a total of 9. Calypso then rolls to hit Blasko with the kick. Her Spin Kick skill is 5 and her Dexterity is 4, minus 2 for this being a multiple action. She rolls a 3 for a total of 10. The zombies roll to defend. Rob rolls a 3 and Blasko rolls a 5. Both have a Dexterity of 2 and a Dodge of 2. So that totals to 7 for Rob and 9 for Blasko. Not sufficient -- both get hit. Calypso rolls damage for Rob first. It is D6 x Strength. She rolls a 4 for a total of 32. But since this is a headshot it gets doubled to 64 (see WitchCraft, p. 138). There is a sickening thud and crack as Calypso hits Rob in the head with Tempesta's arm. It tears the head and a good chunk of spine out and sends them flying at the ceiling where they leave a splattered stain that looks like spaghetti left in the microwave far too long (blech!). She then rolls the damage for the Spin Kick to Blasko. That would be D4 x (Strength + 2). She rolls a 3 for a total of 30 points of damage. While Rob's head and spine are flying toward the ceiling, Blasko is kicked across the room and lands with a crash against the frozen food display. In fact, since a heavy window only has an Armor value of 1 and a Damage Capacity of 5 (see WitchCraft, pp. 148-149), the zombie goes through the frozen food case and is now surrounded by metal racks and assorted Hagan Daz flavors. Tizoc prepares to leap at Calypso but realization dawns. She has just defeated four powerful zombies and kicked him across the store little more than five turns. At the same time, she suffered only a deep scratch. Tizoc is still feeling the pain from the 20 points of damage he took. Tizoc licks the blood from his lips and takes in his surroundings. There is a huge splatter stain on the ceiling from what used to be a biker's head. Coincidentally, there are two headless bikers sprawled on the floor of the 7-11. There is another corpse on the floor leaking an impossible amount of salt from his mouth. And the only zombie even trying to move is currently trying to untangle himself from metal racks, Macadamia and White Chocolate Ice Cream, and Mango Sorbet. Standing in the middle of all this is an angry looking Sentinel clutching a zombie's arm like a club and glaring at him with a "bring it on" look. "Screw this," Tizoc says as he runs out the door. Calypso is quick and has a Speed of 14. But Tizoc is a closer to the door and in Feral form he has a speed of 32. Tizoc is in the van and peeling out as Calypso comes through the door. "Get back here!" screams Calypso as she throws the arm at the disappearing van. She looks back at the store. What a mess. She ticks off the work ahead of her. Gather the zombies together and burn them to make sure they stay dead. Take care of her wound. Call an ambulance for the couple and the storeowner. Get that frightened little girl to wherever she belongs. With all that ahead of her, she ought to treat herself to a free extra large slurpee. But that would be stealing. And that would be wrong.
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