Lost Souls The Pineville Horror.pdf

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An Adventure for Lost Souls

By Joe Williams & Kathleen Williams

Email me at: freeRPGs@comcast.net

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The Pineville Horror

Central Character

headlights washed across a cyclone fence, the first

outpost of civilization you had seen in miles.

Beyond the fence squatted the rusted carcasses of

ruined cars, a sort of Sargasso sea of automobiles.

Lily wanted to stop at the junkyard and ask for

directions, but thoughts of banjo playing, inbred

mountain men spread through your mind, chilling

you to the bone. You thought it would be better to

go on.

Your headlights cut a narrow swath of comfort

through the darkness. To the sides, in the thick of

the pine trees, you thought you glimpsed pale

forms, but when you pointed them out to Lily, they

were gone. Lily said you had been driving too long,

and maybe she was right. How else could you

account for the white figures shambling in the

dark?

The wrenching of metal against the underside

of your car snapped your attention to the road.

Stopping to asses the damage, you found a metal

pipe with one end buried in the dirt road, its point

sticking up at just the right height to tear out your

oil pan.

Lily argued that you should walk back to the

junkyard and ask for help. But you thought they

were probably the ones who buried the pipe here.

You drove forward despite the glowing red engine

light. The road had to lead somewhere, didn’t it?

The engine was grinding by the time the trees

on either side fell away. Through the smoke

pouring from under the hood you could see a few

shacks clustered in the moonlight, their backs to

the encroaching forest.

The engine locked up just as you pulled in

front of the Pineville Bed & Breakfast. Lily frowned

at you and predicted you had done thousands of

dollars of damage for no good reason. She was

mad, but you were too happy to have reached

safety to care.

The boarding house was run by a woman

named Danielle Flynn. She rented you the rooms in

back for a reasonable fee, and even offered to give

you and your wife a free haircut and manicure in

the morning as a special service.

The central character is a male Average Joe

with the cause of death "Dropped radio into

bathtub while soaking." His Life & Death history

should include "Lover responsible for your death."

One of the players must choose to run the

central character. That player receives a copy of

the background story.

How you introduce the central character to the

other lost souls will depend on which Sanctum the

players have chosen.

Limbo: If the players have chosen Limbo as

their Sanctums, then the central character simply

appears in their cosmic waiting room, another soul

mate with unfinished business.

Focuses: If the players are inhabiting focuses,

then the central character is in his wedding ring,

which has been sold online and is now in the same

location as the focuses of the other players.

Domains: The central character does not share

the same graveyard as the other lost souls. The

central character is buried in Potter’s Field, no

doubt far from the other lost souls. Because each

situation is unique, you and your players will have

to figure out how the characters come together if

they are using domains.

Background Story

You remember the night you died like it was

yesterday. You were coming home from your in-

laws, a two hour drive through the mountains.

Maybe you should have listened to your wife and

stayed on the highway, but with traffic backed up

behind an overturned logging truck, you thought

taking the next side road would get you home

faster.

The rutted road led into the forest, the canopy

of trees blocking the moonlight. Eventually your

! ! !

The Pineville Horror

You and Lily retired to your room to argue in

hushed voices. Lily complained about the car, and

then turned her complaints to the room itself. She

said she felt like someone was watching her, which

was absurd since the curtains were drawn and the

door shut. After awhile Lily stopped talking to you.

She went so far as to pretend to be sleeping,

although she hadn’t even undressed.

Sensing you weren’t welcome in the bed with

her, you went into the adjoining washroom to take

a bath. As you were soaking in the tub, almost

dozing off, you heard movement in the bedroom.

Looking up, you saw Lily walk into the bathroom

carrying the radio. You smiled and thanked her; a

little music would help prevent you from falling

asleep in the tub and drowning yourself. Without

speaking, she plugged in the radio, turned it on,

and pitched it in the tub with you and the water.

The pain lasted longer than you would have

guessed before your heart stopped and you floated

free from your body. Your burnt shell looked

swollen in the steaming water. Lily stared blankly

at your body for a moment, then walked into the

other room, laid down on the bed and closed her

eyes.

A swirling tunnel opened above you. Though

you wanted to stay, the void would not be resisted.

It engulfed your spirit, drawing you to Limbo.

Using Graveyard Shift, the central character

can now take the group to the scene of his death

(the Pineville Bed & Breakfast).

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Should the central character attempt to use

Graveyard Shift to go to his final resting place, the

attempt fails with the interesting results described

below. None of the other characters will

accompany him.

The central character feels pain like never

before. Candlelit flickers against the rough planks

of a ceiling. Through the pain, he realizes he’s lying

on his back on a hard surface. A heavy table

perhaps—or a stone altar. Blood drools from his

mouth.

Shadows dance around him. He can’t turn his

head or move at all. As the pain builds again into

another crescendo, he glimpses a shadow with

horns and monstrous wings, or is it a cape? The

shadow raises a dagger in one hand and a

squirming lump in the other. Insanely, the knife

comes down and the lump squawk like a chicken.

The shadow is Papa Zebulon, who is

attempting to raise the central character’s body as

a zombie slave.

The central character must roll once on the

Sanity Table due to the pain. He also loses 1 WTL

per second that he remains in his body. He may

attempt to use graveyard shift at any time to flee,

but it will take (Will vs Great) seconds before he

actually escapes.

After returning to the rest of the group, the

central character will be badly shaken. He’ll feel a

strange pull that is trying to draw him back to his

body. As the adventure progresses, the pull will

become increasingly stronger.

Should the player decide to succumb to the

pull, he will return to his body and start losing

WTL again. Each time the victim is drawn to his

body, give him a little more information about

Zebulon's shack, the altar on which he lays, and

Papa Zebulon.

Starting the Adventure

Once the central character has reviewed the

background story, the player must make one or

more ghostly vows based on the back story. Some

suggestions:

•

I will not rest until I learn why Lily killed

me.

•

I will not rest until I kill Lily for destroying

me.

•

I will not rest until I regain Lily's love.

•

I will not rest until I let Lily know I forgive

her.

The other players who wish to accompany the

central character must also make ghostly vows not

to rest until accomplishing something specifically

related to the adventure.

! ! !

The Pineville Horror

Pineville

occupants of the room, transmitting the

information to its master. It summons the

Inhabitor to possess anyone who catches Nathan’s

fancy, which is what happened to Lilly.

Combat & Powers: The baby watcher can gaze

at up to four players at a time if they are close

together. If the players spread out it can only gaze

at one at a time. Its gaze does (Defense vs Passable)

damage.

It can also summon the Inhabitor as needed,

which it will do upon seeing the players. The

Inhabitor will arrive through the door (it can pass

through material objects) at the start of the third

turn of combat.

Pineville grew up as a logging town, but as the

mills shut down, it became virtually a ghost town.

It now survives on the few tourist dollars that

trickle in. Because of the epidemic that struck two

years ago, there are more women in Pineville than

men. This abundance of unattached women has

made the town popular with young men.

Pineville Bed & Breakfast

The players appear in the bathroom of the

room Danielle rents to tourists. The bathroom door

is open to the adjoining bedroom.

Through the window over the tub, the players

can see a sheriff’s patrol car parked outside. The

uniformed sheriff is talking with Danielle, but the

players cannot hear what’s being said through the

closed window. As incorporeal beings, the players

cannot open the window without using a

supernatural power.

As the players enter the bedroom, a strange

incorporeal creature will crawl out from behind

the television. It’s body is the size of a baby’s, but is

as white and puffy as a maggot, trailing its twisted

little legs. It raises itself on two stubby arms and

turns its head toward the players.

Its head is nothing more than a huge eye. It

turns its gaze on the lost souls and under the

intensity of its stare their ectoplasmic skin begins

to flake away and float off like mist. A unpleasant

pressure soundlessly vibrates in their ears.

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Type: Evil lost soul

Consistency: Vaporous ectoplasm

Defense: Good

WTL: 20

Appearance: A quick moving bundle of wispy

tentacles. The Inhabitor is mostly a blur, but if

focused on it’s clearly the cadaverous head of an

adult woman surrounded by shadowy tentacles

that sprout from her head like hair.

Personality: None.

Motivation: To defend the watcher. The

Inhabitor can also enter the body of a living person

and take control of them. The Inhabitor is under

instructions from Nathan Seedling to bring strong

men or beautiful women to Nathan.

Combat & Powers: It can lash out with its

tentacles for (Defense vs Passable) x 2 damage.

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Once the watcher and the Inhabitor are

disposed of, the characters will still need to get out

of the bedroom. Opening a closed door will require

a supernatural power. If the players are having

trouble figuring a way out, you can always have

Danielle and the sheriff come into the room,

leaving the door open. The door leads to a hallway;

to the left is the open door to the back yard and to

the right is the Danielle’s living room. The players

can explore her house if they want, but they will

find nothing of interest.

Type: Evil lost soul

Consistency: Translucent ectoplasm

Defense: Poor

WTL: 10

Appearance: A maggot-like baby with an

eyeball for a head.

Personality: None to speak of.

Motivation: The watcher is the spirit of a baby

that has been twisted by Papa Zebulon’s magic into

a sentry for Nathan Seedling. It watches the

! ! !

The Pineville Horror

Danielle and the sheriff are discussing the

death of the central character. The sheriff wants to

search the room again, but Danielle is resisting. She

says, “It was just an accident. It wasn’t the flu,” as if

this sets the whole thing to rest.

The sheriff is suspicious because this isn’t the

first death at the bed and breakfast. He mentions

“That woman with the baby.” Danielle finally

relents and lets him in.

The two continue talking while the sheriff

gives the room a quick once over.

Danielle knows nothing about the

supernatural creatures that haunt her bed and

breakfast.

3. Danielle's own husband died two years ago

when a strange sickness struck Pineville, killing

most of the male population between 16 and 30.

Women, children, and the elderly were immune.

The epidemic lasted only a month, and now strikes

only occasionally, hitting mostly male tourists. A

victim of the disease becomes weary, exhausted,

and dies within 24 hours. The people of Pineville

call the sickness the "24 hour flu." The only person

who ever recovered is Larson Barnes, who lives at

the junkyard.

4. Secret: Danielle offers a free haircut and

manicure to every tourist who stays at her

lodgings. She sells the hair and fingernails to

Mamma Barnes for $50 a set. She doesn't know

what the Barnes matron does with them. She never

had a chance to collect the clippings from Lily or

her husband.

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Type: Good person

Consistency: Material

Defense: Poor

WTL: 10

Skills: Great Interrogate.

Appearance: An attractive blonde woman of

about 30.

Personality: Friendly and talkative.

Motivation: To learn new rumors she can

spread at her restaurant. No one in town believes

her gossip.

Combat & Powers: Danielle cannot fight

ghosts.

Notes: Danielle knows the following

information which may be of interest to the

players. Remember, lost souls will have to use

supernatural powers to communicate with living

characters.

1. On the night of the murder, she remembers

fixing dinner for her guests, but she fell asleep

before taking it to them. She must have been more

tired than she realized.

2. She was awakened by Lily ringing the bell at

the front desk. Lily calmly explained that she had

found her husband dead in the tub. Her placid

manner reminded Danielle of someone in shock.

Danielle called Sheriff Rudy Russell, who asked Lily

to come to the police station with him. Before

leaving, Lily paid her tab, saying she would not be

back. Danielle didn't blame her for not wanting to

spend another night in the room where her

husband had died.

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Type: Good person

Consistency: Material

Defense: Good

WTL: 25

Skills: Good Aim, Great Brawling, Great

Strength, Superior Stamina.

Appearance: A red-necked country cop. His

gut protrudes over his gun belt and his cheek is

always crammed with tobacco. Rudy is the only

lawman in Pineville.

Personality: Drawling and down-to-earth. He'll

firmly disbelieve any supernatural events even to

the point of absurdity.

Motivation: To enforce the law.

Combat: Rudy cannot harm ghosts.

Powers: Because of his intense disbelief in the

supernatural, any supernatural power used in

Rudy's presence is at -2 columns. It is this natural

resistance to the supernatural that has enabled

Rudy to survive in a town riddled with the

paranormal.

Gear: A .38 revolver, handcuffs, a four wheel

drive jeep.

Notes: 1. When Rudy questioned Lily the

morning after her husband's death, she explained

what happened in a dull monotone. It seemed like

an accidental death; her husband had been

listening to the radio when it fell into the tub with

him. Lily had fallen asleep right after dinner and

! ! !

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