From: [d s homshak] at [aol.com] (DShomshak) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.super-heroes Subject: USM Outtake: Hunter's Moon, pt. 1 Date: 17 Sep 1996 15:13:55 -0400 Here we go! Let's see if AOHell will post these without chopping off the ends... Any technical references you don't understand are explained in USM. THE HUNTER'S MOON "O friend and companion of night, thou who rejoices in the baying of dogs and spilt blood, who wanderest in the midst of shades among the tombs, who longest for blood and bringest terror to mortals, Gorgo, Mormo, thousand-faced moon, look favorably on our sacrifices!" -- H. P. Lovecraft, "The Horror at Red Hook" Background: The Hunter's Moon worships Hecate, the Greek goddess of night and witchcraft -- the most sinister aspect of the lunar Triple Goddess of ancient Europe. Although small and secretive, the cult is quite powerful. First, their high priestess Selene has magic powers. Second, their deity actually shows up regularly. Finally and most importantly, members become werewolves on their initiation. These are _not_ your average neo-Pagans. The story of the Hunter's Moon is the story of its leader and founder, Selene. When the goddess Hecate accepted Selene as her priestess in 1991, she commanded Selene to seek out other people who would accept the old ways, the ways of terror and bloody sacrifice. Selene found her recruits in the more radical wings of the neo pagan and environmentalist communities. They were Wiccans who craved a closer union to the Goddess, New Agers who wanted a taste of real power, ecoterrorists who were ready to go from spiking trees to shooting loggers, and the like. One by one, Selene introduced her recruits to Hecate. One by one, they pledged themselves to the Goddess and took her gift of power...or they died. Doctrines and Goals: While the Hunter's Moon has a political aspect, it is chiefly a pietistic and libertine cult. The cultists get an unbelievably intense religious and sensuous experience. The cult ceremonies combine the drama of sacrifice with the thrill of the hunt, the frenzy of animal abandon and the awe of meeting a god, all filtered through the sharpened perception of a wolf. No one has ever defected from the Hunter's Moon. No one has even tried. Monthly Sabbats are held out in the woods on the night of the full Moon. Special Sabbats are held if the dark of the Moon falls on a solstice, equinox or the cross-quarter days of Imbolc (February 1 or 2, a.k.a. Candlemas), Beltane (May Day or the preceding Walpurgis Night), Lammas (August 1) or Samhain (Halloween or November 1). New members are only initiated in Sabbats that fall on one of these eight holy days. Each Sabbat involves kidnapping a person who's not likely to be missed, hunting him through the forest and finally herding the exhausted victim to the altar in the sacred grove, where he is torn to bits and eaten. At present the Hunter's Moon only has about 30 members, living in and around one set of neighboring towns and cities; no member is more than an hour and a half's drive away from each other or their sacred grove in the woods. This is just enough that a sweep against the cult, even aided by the membership list Selene keeps hidden in her home, could never get all of them before some of them learned what was going on and escaped. The Hunter's Moon is strongly oriented to Nature, of course. The cultists want to "save the Earth from humanity," although so far they haven't thought of a way to do this. They content themselves with massacring the occasional logging camp or real estate development crew. Most of their energy goes into procuring sacrifices and maintaining their secrecy. That, however, may change soon. Most of the cultists have been distinctly leftist types. With the recent tsunami of conservatism in government threatening to wash away environmental laws and liberal social programs, Selene sees an opportunity for vast expansion. Hecate approves: she has long been the patron of outsiders, those who could not get their way by socially approved methods. Group Organization: Since the Hunter's Moon is so small, its organization is very simple. Hecate has given Selene total control of the cult. Her lieutenants are three werewolves with superior combat abilities, called the Cerberi. She has also started training three junior priestesses to lead offshoot cult groups someday. Then there are the rank and file members. That's it. there are no other special offices. Magic and Equipment: Most of the members have no magic except the lycanthropy received either directly from Hecate or from a senior member. That's quite enough to make them some of the toughest cultists around. Only Selene has any major spellcasting powers. Even those can only be cast on ground consecrated to Hecate, such as the sacred grove or Selene's house (by special dispensation from Hecate), or on the full or dark of the Moon. Some of the spells Selene gained from Hecate, however, are curses which can be cast in advance and used later at any time. The junior priestesses have less powerful versions of a few of Selene's spells. The cultist's altar is a slab of rough-hewn stone perched on four natural boulders. It has no innate magic powers. Above it, a sconce screwed into a tree trunk holds a silver torch with a top shaped like a pomegranate, the fruit the Greeks especially associated with both fertility and the Underworld. This torch is magical, and can be used as a weapon by Selene or the junior priestesses. Of course, it's only present at Sabbats. Finally, one of Selene's curses relies on water from the River Styx in the Greek section of the Netherworld. Hecate supplies this water as needed; one small flask is enough for a dozen curses. Costumes: Only Selene has anything like a special costume. The others wear nothing but their fur. (So does Selene, much of the time.) Tactics: As yet the Hunter's Moon prefers to avoid open, intense confrontations. If the cult is disturbed in their Sabbat, first Selene tries to deal with the intruders via Mind Control. This will suffice to render normal humans helpless. Once captured, Selene interrogates the intruders through Mind Control, seeking information about where they live, what they know and who knows where they are. If the captives seem unlikely to be missed soon or traced to the cult, then the werewolves have more victims to sacrifice. If the captives' disappearance seems likely to set people snooping around, Selene uses Mind Control to erase the intruders' memories of what really happened and make them remember a false experience. If the intruders are too numerous or too powerful to quickly capture, Selene uses Mind Control on as many as she can to make them flee or surrender to her. With the intruders in confusion, the werewolf cultists attack. In combat, cultist strategy is limited to preferentially attacking disadvantaged opponents, such as foes who've been knocked down or Stunned. Only the Cerberi ever cooperate in their attacks. Outside the Sabbats, the scattered cultists' chief concern is to stay secret. Curses may be prepared and triggered on nosy characters, for instance by slipping cursed pomegranate seeds into someone's fruit salad to inflict the Living Death, or paying a kid to squirt a character with Styx Water. The cultists are pretty good at finding ways to get close to their enemies unobtrusively. If the first few attempts fail or the investigating characters prove too hard to approach, the cultists will not hesitate to take more drastic steps, such as murdering the service staff at the PCs' hotel and taking their place. They will certainly try to separate the PCs so they can be picked off one by one by gangs of werewolves. Relations with Other Agencies: As yet the Hunter's Moon has no connections with any other cults or organizations with real magic. It's only a matter of time, though, before the Hunter's Moon encounters other cults and sorcerers. The Hunter's Moon is strongly oriented to Nature, leans toward Chaos, and must be considered Evil. Only other evil groups and sorcerers will ever ally with them, and groups with strong allegiance to Order or Chaos are unlikely to find much common ground. Persons strongly tied to Art will oppose the Hunter's Moon, evil or not. It should be noted that the Hunter's Moon environmentalism makes them unfriendly to technology, and that makes them natural allies for the Devil's Advocates. Many members came out of Wicca and other neo-pagan groups in the outer layer of the Occult World, and maintain connections with the neo pagan community. Of course no one talks about lycanthropy or human sacrifice, but hints have been dropped that the Hunter's Moon has real power, _dangerous_ power. Dangerous, that is, to enemies of the Earth and the Goddess. CULTIST WEREWOLF Val Char Cost Combat Stats 28* STR 14 OCV:6 18* DEX 19 DCV:6 20* CON 16 ECV:5 10 BODY 0 Phases:4,8,12 9* INT -1 14 EGO 8 Costs 20* PRE 8 8* COM -1 Char: 76 Base: 50 14* PD 6 13* ED 7 Powers: 109 Disads: 135 3* SPD 2 10* REC 0 Totals: 185 185 40* END 0 34* STUN 0 *Only in Were Form (-1/4) Cost Powers END 10 EC -- Therianthrope Powers a-12 Claw/Bite: 1 1/2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR) PHKA, * [25]2 b-7 Armor (10 PD, 6 ED), Not vs. Silver/Fire (-3/4), * [24] c-8 +8" Running [14" total], 1/2 END, * [20] 1/10" d-8 Shape Shift: Full Wolf Form, Persistent, * [20] e-8 Super Regeneration: 1d6 STUN Aid + 1d6 BODY Aid, Continuous, Persistent, Self Only (-1/2), Only to Restore (-1/2), Not vs. Disabling Wounds from Silver Weapons (-1/4), Only When Under 0 BODY If In Human Form (-1/4) [30] 14 Contagion: 1/2d6 Transform to Latent Werewolf, Cumulative, NND: Nonhuman Physiology (+1), Uncontrolled Continuous 0 END, Invisible vs. Sight/Hearing (+3/4), Hard to Dispel (+1/4), 0 Range, Linked to Bite, Must Use w/Bite (-1/2), Only if Bite does BODY (-1/2), Acts 12- (-3/4), * 2 Invisible Power Effects on Aid (+1/2), Only in Human ID Under 0 BODY (-1 1/2) 3 Damage Resistance (3 PD, 3 ED) 19 Tracking Scent, UV Vision, Ultrasonic Hearing, +2 All PER, * Skills 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Stealth 13- 3 Tracking 11- 2 KS: Cult Lore 11- 1 Initiate: Hunter's Moon 6 +2 Levels Claw/Bite 50+ Disadvantages 10 Accidental Change in Extreme Emotion, 8- 10 Phys: Must Assume Were Form During Nights of Full Moon 15 DF: Werewolf (Hard to Conceal, Cause Fear) 20 Berserk if Take BODY (c), 11-, 11- 20 Religious Fanatic (c, total) 15 Murderous (vc) 20 Rep: Werewolves as Vicious Killers, 14 , extreme 15 Secret ID 10 Watched by Selene, 11- (More Pow) These cultists come from many backgrounds, but all of them felt themselves dispossessed in some way. Most of them came from the neo-pagan community or the radical wing of the environmental movement. When they felt the power of Hecate move through them, though, their old lives and selves dropped away and they were born again as children of the Hunter's Moon. They lost their humanity, but gained power, community, a meaning for their lives and the ecstasy of total release from inhibitions. None of them regret the choice they made. They're willing to die for their religion, and even more willing to kill for it. For most of the month, the cultists live outwardly normal lives. Perhaps they are a bit standoffish -- don't talk about themselves much, don't make any close friends at work. They might be married, to another cultist of course, perhaps with children whom they will introduce to the cult when they're older. They don't join the PTA. Inwardly contemptuous of the mere humans -- the _prey_ -- around them, they live for the night when they drive out of town to the old campground to shed first their clothes, then their human form. They taste the air, howl a greeting to the Moon. Church is about to start. THE CERBERI Val Char Cost Combat Stats 30* STR 16 OCV:8 23* DEX 31 DCV:8 23* CON 21 ECV:6 12* BODY 3 Phases:3,5,8,10,12 13 INT 3 18 EGO 16 Costs 25* PRE 12 8* COM -1 Char: 128 Base: 100 15* PD 7 15* ED 8 Powers: 162 Disads: 190 5* SPD 14 10* REC 2 Totals: 290 290 46* END 0 39* STUN 0 *Only in Were Form (-1/4) Cost Powers END 10 EC -- Therianthrope Powers a-22 Claw/Bite: 2d6 (4d6 w/STR) PHKA, 1/2 END, * [37]2 b-8 Armor (11 PD, 7 ED), Not vs. Silver/Fire (-3/4), * [24] c-8 +8" Running [14" total], 1/2 END, * [20] 1/10" d-8 Shape Shift: Full Wolf Form, Persistent, * [20] e-14 Super-Regeneration: 2d6 STUN Aid + 1d6 BODY Aid, Continuous, Persistent, Self Only (-1/2), Only to Restore (-1/2), Not vs. Disabling Wounds from Silver Weapons (-1/4), Only When Under 0 BODY If In Human Form (-1/4) [45] 14 Contagion: 1/2d6 Transform to Latent Werewolf, Cumulative, NND: Nonhuman Physiology (+1), Uncontrolled Continuous 0 END, Invisible vs. Sight/Hearing (+3/4), Hard to Dispel (+1/4), 0 Range, Linked to Bite, Must Use w/Bite (-1/2), Only if Bite does BODY (-1/2), Acts 12- (-3/4), * 3 Invisible Power Effects on Aid (+1/2), Only in Human ID Under 0 BODY (-1 1/2) 11 Martial Arts: Dogfighting Maneuver OCV DCV Notes Takedown +2 +1 6d6, Both Fall Flying Tackle +0 -1 6d6+V/5, FMove, Both Fall Escape +0 +0 45 STR vs. Grabs Use in Humanoid or Full Wolf Form 3 Damage Resistance (3 PD, 3 ED) 17 Tracking Scent, UV Vision, Ultrasonic hearing, +1 All PER, * 6 Magic Sight: Detect Supernatural, Ranged, Discriminatory, Costs END, Concentrate 1/2 DCV Constant (-1/2) 1 5 Mind Link x1 to Other Cerberi or Selene, Target Has Mind Link (-1) Skills 3 Breakfall 14- 3 Stealth 14- 3 Tracking 12- 1 KS/PS from Human Life, 11- (adds to Everyman 8-) 2 KS: Cult Lore 11- 2 Initiate: Cult Lieutenant 10 +2 Levels Melee Combat 100+ Disadvantages 10 Accidental Change in Extreme Emotion, 8- 10 Phys: Must Assume Were Form During Nights of Full Moon 15 DF: Werewolf (Hard to Conceal, Cause Fear) 20 Berserk if Take BODY (c), 11-, 11- 20 Religious Fanatic (c, total) 20 Relentless in Attack (vc, strong) 20 Rep: Werewolves as Vicious Killers, 14-, extreme 15 Secret ID 10 Watched by Selene & Hecate, 11- (More Pow) 50 Villain Bonus The three Cerberi, two men and one woman, have been chosen by Hecate as the cult's enforcers. They were the fiercest and most physically competent of the cultists. Hecate strengthened the enchantment on them, and they have trained to further develop their abilities. In a fight, the Cerberi take point. The Cerberi have fighting techniques the other cultists lack. Cerberi combat strategy is based on these techniques: they try to knock opponents down so the other Cerberi and cultists can pile on and bite a helpless foe. The Cerberi are also especially skilled at wriggling loose if anyone grabs them. (The Cerberi learned these maneuvers from studying a manual for training police dogs. Each one of them has a copy of the manual at home, even though none of them own dogs.) The Cerberi are visibly stronger than the other werewolves and are obviously quite fit in their human forms as well. One has black fur, one reddish brown and one golden. They are further distinguished by a white streak on their foreheads (actually it represents Hecate's torch) which becomes a white forelock in their human form. HIGH PRIESTESS SELENE Val Char Cost Combat Stats 10/30* STR 16 OCV:6 18 DEX 24 DCV:6 20 CON 20 ECV:6 10 BODY 0 Phases:3,6,9,12 18 INT 8 18 EGO 16 Costs 25 PRE 15 18 COM 4 Char: 137 Base: 100 13/17* PD 11 15 ED 11 Powers: 212 Disads: 249 4 SPD 12 6/10* REC 0 Totals: 349 349 40 END 0 25/35* STUN 0 *Only in Were Form (-1/4) Cost Powers END 26 Magic Multipower (66 pt pool), Only in Ritual Conditions (-1), Only in Human ID (-1/2) 2u Hecate's Command: 13d6 Mind Control, Only for Fear or Lust (-1/4) [65] 6 2u Contact Hecate: 7d6 Mind Scanning, Transdimensional: Netherworld (+1/2), +7 ECV, Only Targets Hecate (-1) [66] 5 2u Moonlight Journey: 30" Teleport, 1 Fixed Pt, 1 Floating Pt, No Combat Teleport (-1/2) [66] 1/5" 1u Curse of Living Death: 1d6 Transform to Cataleptic, Cumulative, NND: LS: Sleep (+1), Invisible vs. All Senses (+1), Use by 1 Other (+1/4), Trigger: Victim Eats Pomegranate Seed/Juice (+1/4), Hard to Dispel (+1/4), 1 Charge of 1 Minute (-1), IAF Pomegranate, Initial 1 Turn Extra Time (-1/2) [64] [1c] 2u Styx Water Curse: 4d6 Suppress, vs. Any 1 Char (+1/4), Uncontrolled, Invisible vs. Sight/Hearing (+3/4), Use by 1 Other (+1/4), Trigger: Victim Touches Styx Water (+1/4), 1 Charge of 1 Week (+1/4), 0 Range, IAF Styx Water, Initial 1 Turn Extra Time (-1/2) [65] [1c] 1u Love Charm: 7d6 Mind Control, Nonverbal (+1/4), Use by 1 Other (+1/4), Trigger: Target Touches Charm (+1/4), 1 Charge, IAF Charm, 0 Range, Fixed Command: Lust (-1/2) [61] [1c] 1u Scrying: 10d6 Mind Scanning, +8 ECV, OAF Silver Bowl, 1 Turn Extra Time (-1) [66] 5 1u Scrying: Clairsentience: Vision, Sense Magic, x32 Range (10 miles), 1/2 END, OAF Silver Bowl, constant Concentrate 0 DCV (-1) [62] 3 18 Hecate's Torch: 3d6 HA (4d6 w/STR), AVLD: Power Defense (+1 1/2), AP, Affects Desolid (+1/2), Uncontrolled, 8 Chgs of 1 Turn (-0), OAF Silver Torch 10 EC -- Therianthrope Powers a-12 Claw/Bite: 1 1/2d6 (3d6+1 w/STR) PHKA, * [25]2 b-7 Armor (10 PD, 6 ED), Not vs. Silver/Fire (-3/4), * [24] c-8 +8" Running (14" total), 1/2 END, * [20] 1/10" d-8 Shape Shift: Full Wolf Form, Persistent, * [20] e-8 Super Regeneration: 1d6 STUN Aid + 1d6 BODY Aid, Continuous, Persistent, Self Only (-1/2), Only to Restore (-1/2), Not vs. Disabling Wounds from Silver Weapons (-1/4), Only When Under 0 BODY If In Human Form (-1/4) [30] 14 Contagion: 1/2d6 Transform to Latent Werewolf, Cumulative, NND: Nonhuman Physiology (+1), Uncontrolled Continuous 0 END, Invisible vs. Sight/Hearing (+3/4), Hard to Dispel (+1/4), 0 Range, Linked to Bite, Must Use w/Bite (-1/2), Only if Bite does BODY (-1/2), Acts 12 (-3/4), * 2 Invisible Power Effects on Aid (+1/2), Only in Human ID Under 0 BODY (-1 1/2) 3 Damage Resistance (3 PD, 3 ED) 6 Mental Defense (10 pts) 17 Tracking Scent, UV Vision, Ultrasonic Hearing, +1 All PER, * 10 Sense Supernatural, Ranged, Discriminatory, Concentrate 1/2 DCV Constant (-1/2) 5 Mind Link x1 to Cerberi or Hecate, Target Has Mind Link (-1) Skills 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Oratory 14- 3 Seduction 14- 3 Sleight of Hand 13- 3 Tracking 13- 2 L: Fluent Classical Greek (English is native) 3 Scholar 2 KS: Witchcraft 13- (INT Based) 1 KS: Greek Myth 13- 1 KS: Celtic Myth 13- 1 KS: Occult World 11- 1 KS: Herbalism 11- 3 PS: Cult Leader 12- 5 Initiate: Cult Leader 10 +2 Levels Melee Combat 100+ Disadvantages 10 Accidental Change in Extreme Emotion, 8- 15 DF: Werewolf (Hard to Conceal, Cause Fear) 20 Berserk if Take BODY (c), 11-, 11- 20 Religious Fanatic (c, total) 15 Vengeful (vc) 10 Fear of Silver Weapons (c) 20 Rep: Werewolves as Vicious Killers, 14-, extreme 15 Secret ID 10 Watched by Hecate, 11- (More Pow) 10 Watched by Police (for disappearances), 11- (As Pow, NCI) 104 Villain Bonus Background: _"Not_ Lori. _Selene._ Got it?" As far as Selene was concerned, Lori Beaner was dead. Lori Beaner had parents who thought voting Democrat exempted them from guilt. When she told them how they were the dupes of a patriarchalist system of capitalist oppression that was destroying the Earth, they threw her out of the house and cut off her tuition. Well, what did they expect? College was supposed to broaden the mind. That's where she'd learned about feminism (_real_ feminism, not the limp pretense of her mother), ecology and the Goddess whom men had tried to suppress for 3000 years. So Lori had to leave college. She made a meager living through a series of short-lived, low-paying jobs, with a little help (okay, a lot of help) from her fellow Goddess worshippers. She wasn't the only neo pagan who recognized that the Goddess was the fount of all that was good and men were basically good for nothing but sex and heavy lifting. A lot of neo-pagans disagreed with her, insisting the God and Goddess were equals, but _they_ were guilty of false consciousness. It was in this period that Lori took to calling herself Selene and consecrated her first sacred grove outside town. One of her friends had a problem. She'd been raped on a date. She wanted to go to the police, but Selene talked her out of it. The police (the police _men,_ she pointed out) wouldn't do a thing, and even if they did arrest the guy the judge (another man) would see that the case failed, while the newspapers (run by more men) would drag her own reputation though the mud. Selene said she'd deal with it herself. Which she did. She found the young man and showed her interest in him. He responded. She talked him into driving out of town with her that evening, to a special romantic place she had. And so she took him to her grove. Selene had planned to get him hot and bothered and then knock him out, tie him to a tree and bring her coven out to throw a scare in him. But her body betrayed her. Despite all her strident, oft-expressed contempt for men, she still liked them. A lot. Her seduction went considerably further than she'd planned and she enjoyed it. A lot. And as the man lay beside her afterward on the improvised altar she had built, she hated him for it. Selene reached into her clothes for her cosh -- and instead found the knife she carried for protection. She stabbed the man to death as the full Moon beamed down. "Damn you!" she panted. "Goddess damn you!" Then she realized what she'd done and dropped the knife. Staring at the blood on her hands, she didn't notice the moonlight thickening in the grove. "Daughter." An old woman in a black, black robe stood before her. "You have called; for the first time in fourteen hundred years, someone has called. I have come." Selene saw the torch in the woman's hand, and knew her. She dropped to her knees. The old woman smiled. Selene felt the Goddess looking through her mind and memories. The old woman stood taller. She was not old, but ageless. For a moment she had not one head, but three: a dog, a mare and a lioness. Hecate held out her hand to Selene. "This once you have served Me, Selene. Serve Me all your days and nights and no man will master you again." Trembling with awe, Selene took Hecate's hand and felt the power of the Goddess move through her. Fur sprouted on her body as her bones shifted and her nails and teeth became claws and fangs. The pain was intense, but the pleasure even stronger. "You will be my priestess, Selene, and my hunter. A hunter for the Moon." All too soon, Hecate was gone. So was the corpse on the altar. Selene howled a hymn of praise to the Moon, then loped into the woods to test her new body. She remembered Hecate's commands and promises. She must bring other people to the grove, people ready to accept Hecate's power and will. Selene herself would receive further powers. She would be only the first of the hunters for the Moon -- but she would always be the most favored. Quote: "The Moon shall be fed well. Blessed be!" Personality: Selene sets the tone for the whole cult of the Hunter's Moon. Pleasing Hecate is the most important thing in her life, with pleasing herself a distant second. She appears far more socially well-adjusted now than she did before meeting Hecate, because now her devotion gives her the strength to pretend to be normal. She doesn't have to rant about capitalism or patriarchy or environmental degradation any more. She can even stand using her legal name, Lori Beaner, in her Secret ID. When the Hunter's Moon is strong enough, Hecate will send them forth to sweep away the Man's World and restore the old ways and the Old Religion. Until that day comes, Selene doesn't care. It's all in the hands of the Goddess. Even her contempt for men softened, once Hecate told her that the Goddess can't keep the cycle of life turning without a consort, and the same goes for Her priestesses. Men are fine, as long as they serve the Goddess in some fashion. The men don't even have to know that they serve. Of course, at the end of his reign the Sacred King always ends up on the altar... Powers/Tactics: Selene is both a werewolf and a priestess. She has great confidence in her werewolf form's lethal power and invulnerability. Despite this, she is not rash. An open brawl, she thinks, is a man's way of fighting. As a woman and a witch, she prefers stealth and terror. She doesn't want to conquer the cult's enemies, just to neutralize them -- whether by fear, deception or assassination matters little. Since she can have cultists or ignorant dupes deliver curses, and she can keep track of enemies through scrying, she can do quite a lot of harm while staying hidden. If she is forced into open combat, Selene's tactics depend on her circumstance. If she has both magic and other cultists available, she will try using her Mind Control, Styx Water Curse (she always keeps 1 prepared dose on her person) and magic torch to hinder the foe while the cultists claw and bite. If she can't use magic, Selene changes into her were form and attacks. If she can't kill her enemies quickly, she tries to flee. Selene can only cast spells under the light of the full Moon, or on ground consecrated to Hecate. This means her current sacred grove or in her house: Hecate has graciously consecrated the grounds. Her two curses and love charm, however, can be cast, stored and used later. The cult typically only has 1 Charge of each curse in stock, aside from the Charge of Styx Water Curse that Selene carries personally. If the full Moon isn't in the sky, the Teleport spell can only be used to move about the sacred ground, or to leave it in one jump. The spell's Fixed Point is a small underground chamber about 40 meters (20") from the sacred grove and 2 meters underground. The narrow, bending tunnel to the surface is concealed by a log and some bushes. If the cult is losing and her own precious life is in danger, Selene will teleport away to the cave. This is a signal for the cult to scatter. Selene will grab a backpack full of money stashed in the chamber before fleeing herself, teleporting 30" a Phase under the moonlight. Appearance: Selene is a strikingly beautiful, reddish blonde haired woman who looks like she's in her early 20s, although she's actually 29. She chiefly dresses in black, although not to the point of obsession, with discreet silver jewelry (nothing about wolves or the Moon). In her Secret ID she runs the Silverhorn Herbal Tea Company which has had some local success. (The most popular recipe came from Hecate, although Selene had to remove one herb that was hallucinogenic and illegal.) Her three employees are all cultists and one is a Cerberus. During ceremonies, Selene wears nothing but a crown of vervain and a long, capelike shawl of silver-spangled, transparent black gauze which of course she discards when she assumes her were form. As a werewolf she has reddish blonde fur. In either form she has leaf-green eyes. HECATE Val Char Cost Combat Stats 13/25* STR 3 OCV: 6/7* 17/21* DEX 21 DCV: 6/7* 18/24* CON 16 ECV: 6 10/16* BODY 0 Phases: 3,5,8,10,12* 18 INT 8 18 EGO 16 Costs 23 PRE 13 10 COM 0 Char: 103 Base: 100 9/15* PD 6 9/15* ED 5 Powers: 222 Disads: 225 4/5* SPD 13 7/13* REC 0 Totals: 325 325 36/60* END 0 28/40* STUN 2 *Aid Bonuses Added In Cost Powers END 15 EC -- God Powers a-17 Divine Enhancement: 2d6 Aid, vs. All Phys Chars (+2), Continuous, 0 END Persistent, Self Only (-1/2), Acts Once/Turn (-1/2) [50] b-15 Armor (10 PD, 10 ED) [30] c-15 LS: Total [30] d-11 Sense Magic, Targeting, +3 PER [31] 50 Multipower (75 pt pool), -1 Var Lim: OAF Torch/Concentrate 0 DCV/Acts 14-/x2 END (-1/2) 5u 15d6 Mind Control [75] 7 5u 15d6 Mental Illusions [75] 7 5u 15d6 Telepathy [75] 7 5u Magic Torch: 5d6 AVLD: Power Defense (+1 1/2), AP [75] 7 5u Magic Torch: 5d6 AVLD: Power Defense (+1 1/2), Affects Desolid (+1/2) [75] 7 5u Lethal Bad Luck: 2d6 RKA, Var Sp FX: Anything in Surroundings (+1/2), Indirect (+1/2), +1 STUN Mult (+1/2) [75] 7 3u Styx Water Curse: 8d6 Suppress, vs. Any 1 Char (+1/4), Uncontrolled, 6 Chgs of 5 Minutes (-0), Costs END [70] 7 3u Dark Gift: 2 1/2d6 Transform, Confer Lycanthropy/Witch Power Packages or Turn Into Cult animal (+1/4), Cumulative, 0 Range [70] 7 2u Invisibility vs. Sense Magic, All Vision, 1/2 END [37] 2 2u 14" Flight, x8 NCM [38] 1/5" 2u 14" Teleport, x8 NCM [38] 1/5" 2u EDM: Astral Worlds/Earth, x2 Mass [35] 3 2u Shape Shift to Lion/Dog/Wolf/Horse, 0 END [30] 1u Terrifying Howl: +37 PRE, Incantation, Only to Cause Fear (-3/4) [37] 1u Mind Link x1 to Transformed Worshippers, Any Distance or Dimension [20] 11 Mental Defense (15 pts total) 10 Power Defense (10 pts) 5 UV Vision 2 Great Goddess Form: +6 COM, Linked to Shape Shift (-1/2) -2 Hag Form: -4 COM, Whenever Not Shapeshifted (-0) Skills 3 Interrogation 14- 3 Oratory 14- 3 Scholar 2 KS: Netherworld 13- (INT Based) 2 KS: Pagan Witchcraft 13- 2 KS: Greek Mythic World 13- 2 KS: Herbalism 13- 3 L: Accented English (Ancient Greek is native) 5 +1 Level, Multipower 100+ Disadvantages 15 Susc: 1d6 STUN/Turn, Disbelief & Ridicule (c) 15 Susc: 1d6 STUN/Turn, Holy Symbol/Exorcism (c) 15 Susc: 2d6 Drain/Turn vs. All Multipower, Ground Consecrate to Ethical Religion (u) 10 DF: Infernal Yet Divine Aura (Few Detect, Scary) 20 Vengeful (vc, strong) 10 Promotes Witchcraft, Seeks Followers (c) 10 Dislikes Ethical Religions, Esp. Christianity (c) 10 Protective of Hunter's Moon (c) 10 Rep: Grim Goddess of Witches, 8-, Extreme 15 Hunted by Magical Heroes, 11- (As Pow) 10 Hunted by Demon Lords, 8- (As Pow) 10 Watched by Greek Pantheon, 11- (More Pow) 75 Villain Bonus Background: Hecate is one of the more mysterious of the Greek gods. She was never part of the Olympian group; she was a goddess of the Underworld and the dead, patroness of night and sorcery, companion of the Furies. Despite her obscurity, though, Hecate was a powerful goddess: even Zeus never challenged her ancient prerogative to grant or withhold from mortals their heart's desire. She was of an older generation of gods, the destructive crone aspect of the lunar Triple Goddess who ruled Heaven, Earth and Hell. Not that this saved her from the coming of Christianity. The new religion banished Hecate from Earth along with the other Greek gods. Hecate made her residence in the Netherworld, however, with only occasional visits to the other Greek gods in the Land of Legends. Since the Netherworld maintained better connections with Earth than did the Greek pantheon, Hecate quickly learned about the ending of the Ban and returned to Earth to restore her cult. She found the Neo-Pagan movement had already started the job. To her disgust, the Wiccans and other Neo-Pagans were a bunch of wimps. Where was the blood and terror? Eventually, though, Hecate found a few radicals willing to serve her in the old ways. Hecate still has few worshippers, but her werewolf minions in the Hunter's Moon feed her power through human sacrifice. The quantity of worship is low, but the intensity is extreme. She is now probably as powerful as any other Greek god, with the possible exception of Zeus himself. And she's still looking for more worshippers. She's put the word out on the Neo-Pagan grapevine that if a coven is in trouble, she'll help them -- for a price. Quote: "You would set yourself against a god? That is hubris -- and hubris is punished by death and worse." Personality: Hecate is ruthless even by the standards of gods, which is saying something. Her more mystical aspects of fertility and secret wisdom have been submerged under her patronage of black magic and its corollaries of domination, revenge and murder. Since the most intense source of energy for a god is human sacrifice, Hecate gives the Hunter's Moon her full support. Although her powers are not especially lethal, Hecate fully intends to kill anyone she fights -- unless they surrender and dedicate themselves to her, body and soul. Unlike the demons, however, Hecate is no blind force of evil. She can listen to reason; she can apply her power to good endeavors if she thinks it's in her interest. Indeed, she does care about the underdog (no pun intended) in her own vicious way. She despises the modern world for what she sees as its hubris -- overweening pride -- in turning away from the old gods of the natural world. She sees herself not as a destroyer or corrupter, but as a supernatural vigilante punishing an entire society for its crimes. Hecate will always be a fearsome goddess, but it's not impossible that in the right circumstances she could be an ally to the heroes. (Incidentally, Hecate's dislike of the ethical religions is slightly ironic: she herself almost became a leading figure in an ethical religion. The Neoplatonists of the 2nd-5th centuries AD claimed Hecate as a cosmic principle of divine revelation. They said she was a good goddess -- one of the best and wisest. Neoplatonism, however, never became a very popular cult.) Powers/Tactics: The worship Hecate receives from the Hunter's Moon gives her exceptional power, represented by the Continuous Aid on herself. If cut off from worship, by the dispersal of the Hunter's Moon, their loss of faith, or active disbelief and ridicule from a large group of people, the Aid stops. While she retains all her other Powers, Hecate then becomes much more vulnerable and she lacks the END to keep fighting for long. Hecate is a cautious fighter, trying to gain every advantage she can. For instance, she tries to get behind an opponent invisibly, so her subsequent attack comes from surprise; she uses her terrifying howl to paralyze opponents and make them lose DCV and action Phases; she makes the environment itself attack through her "Lethal Bad Luck" power, which can take the form of a stab from a broken tree branch, a gopher hole to twist and break an ankle, or anything else appropriate to the surroundings. She can also weaken opponents by splashing them with cursed Styx Water to strip away important Characteristics such as DEX, SPD, STR or END. Best of all -- for her, anyway -- is if she can trap a foe in a terrifying, total-immersion Mental Illusion. Then they cannot dodge the magic torches she can summon at will, or her other attacks. If she's with the Hunter's Moon, Hecate will cooperate closely with them. She prefers to attack Stunned or Knocked Back opponents, or hinder opponents with Mind Control, Mental Illusions, Styx Water and Presence Attacks to make them easier prey for the werewolves. If she and the Hunter's Moon are being beaten, Hecate will flee (by Extra-Dimensional Movement, if necessary) and tell the cultists to scatter. She will re-gather them later, and plot a lethal revenge. Appearance: In her basic form, Hecate is an ugly but imperious hag in a black chiton (a Greek garment sort of like a toga). She can also assume the forms of a lioness, dog, wolf, mare or a woman of ageless beauty. Her hag form can have the head of a lioness, dog or mare at will, and in combat the shape of her head may change from Phase to Phase (this is just a special effect, and does not require the Shape Shift slot of the Multipower) or she might have all three animal heads at once!