Joseph, our resident big-time Horror fan, Ghosthead, and of course Ghostmaster Extraordinaire ran this next scenario and in doing so created the exception that proves the rule.
What he didn't do was veer from his assertion that 'the [player] characters are funny. The situation and opposition are serious and scary.' This scenario serves as a perfect example of this viewpoint. While many of our adventures were challenging and we certainly took our share of bumps and bruises, this was the only one where we weren't sure we'd win.
We had to pick up every stitch...must be...
The Case of The Wanting Witch
AKA: Season of The Witch
Inspiration: Various Walt Disney 'Evil Queen' Characters, European Witch folklore, Wiccan folklore and practices, and various European fairy tales.
Gamemaster: Joseph Vitaliano Jr.
Synopsis: A series of mysterious attacks against witches across New England catch the attention of the Ghostbusters Home Office. The guys are eventually called in by a contact of Dr. Alexander Thorton's and travel to Salem, Massachusetts to check things out. The boys find out that hexes and curses have been flying fast and furious as different Witch covens and related organizations are going at each other over a variety of issues. Ambient Psychokinetic Energy filled the air as so much supernatural power had been hurled about that some of it come loose from the woven spells. At the same time, someone or something appeared to be syphoning off the excess magic.
It turned out that a sorceress named Minerva Blackthorn was behind it all. It was she who spread anger and lies between the covens and instigated the fighting in the first place. Hellbent on amassing power from covens across the world, she began in New England by channeling stray PKE from all the magics of the fighting witches.
Using the redirected PKE to transform herself into a more powerful form, Blackthorn created a humanoid aura around herself resembling a giant, female 'demon'.
Highlights: In our initial encounter with Minerva Blackthorn the PCs got their butts absolutely handed to them. She was already really powerful by the time we realized what she was up to. This lead us to 'splitting the party' in order to follow different paths to victory. Zimmerman focused on modifying their gear to be more effective against Blackthorn's PKE Witchcraft. Thorton did additional research with the help of his contact in Salem. Nelson and Stadler met Miranda Blackthorn, Minerva's older sister, who followed a philosophy that prevented her from directly interfering (she would not use her magic to harm another witch). That said, she suggested getting the feuding witch factions to unite once more, working together to team up against Minerva, the true source of their infighting.
In the end, Minerva is undone by a three-fold assault, paralleling the three-fold law of Witchcraft. 'What you put out into the world is reflected back at you three times over'. Miranda clued the GBs into using this against her younger sister. The many local witch covens draw their power back and away from Minerva, the older Blackthorn took this opportunity to rest control of some of Minerva's spells, and the Ghostbusters used their jury-rigged, upgraded equipment to blast her aura form to pieces.
While Minerva was defeated, Miranda lost her powers following the battle and breaking of her oath to not harm a fellow witch. The Ghostbusters were cheered as both heroes and friends of the Witches of Salem.
Notes: This adventure, which lasted a few sessions, was absolutely epic and definitely one of the best Ghostbusters arcs of The Home Office campaign. It was tough, both strategically and from a role-playing standpoint.
Various Disney productions play heavily into the inspirations for the scenario and its characters. Minerva is very much patterned after Maleficent, while Miranda resembled Lady Tremaine, the Wicked Stepmother of Cinderella. Minerva's 'final form' was modeled on Chernabog, the Demon King seen in Fantasia's 'Night on Bald Mountain'.
The most interesting aspect to me, especially at the time, was that the adversary was a living Human being. The antagonist wasn't a ghost, essentially a 'monster' for lack of a better term. As a result, I think this made her more complex and layered. Her hunger for power made her the villain but her relationship with her sister made her a deeper opponent.
It should also be noted that this scenario gave us one of the few 'big bads' of the campaign (aside from Hagost in Ghost Toasties). Most of our sessions dealt with 'situational hauntings' and not so much traditional adversaries. More about that in an upcoming post.
This mission may have included the 'fifth Ghostbuster', my friend AJ's character Pedro Preguntas but I am not positive. I just can't recall.
AD
Barking Alien
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