Friday, August 9, 2024

Novia Aterradora, A Vengeful Spirit For October Gaming

My circle of players is planning on doing some horror-themed stories (probably two sessions each) in October.  I could use some pre-existing villain like Corpsefire as the centerpiece for my run but a couple of the people involved have already "met" them in the past so I'd rather do someone new.  Ought to able to make this lovely lady pretty scary and hand them some moral quandaries as well by having her own pre-death behavior not much better than her revenge targets.  Also taking the opportunity to settle some dangling plot threads with organized crime figures in my last campaign, who may or may not wind up horribly dead at the end of things.    

La Novia Aterradora

Maria Torres was a hard woman during her life, de facto head of one of California's major organized crime families after her father was killed and her grandfather reduced to a figurehead by age and infirmity.  Ruthless, thoroughly amoral and quick to punish any disrespect, her fearsome reputation kept her solidly in power but earned her many enemies in the criminal underworld.  A coalition of those foes chose to strike at her on her 30th birthday, which was also to be her wedding day.  Firebombs went off just after she and her spouse swore their vows, and their honeymoon was spent in the morgue.

That should have been the end of it, but Maria was a hard woman in death as well.  Refusing to go to Hell without a proper retinue, she was granted a chance to go collect the souls of her killers.  Risen into awful unlife, la Novia Aterradora roams the mortal world in search of her rightful prey.  Can your heroes stop her?  Considering who her killers were, do they even want to? 

Description: A spectral vision of a skeleton dressed in the rags and tatters of a scorched bridal gown.  She glides along soundlessly, hair and dress trailing wisps of smoke.  When using her powers she's often accompanied by unnatural shadows populated with horrifying phantoms, or wreathed in sulfurous yellow flame when thoroughly enraged.  On the rare occasions she does speak, her voice is cold and full of menace, echoing as though it comes from beyond the grave.   

Gender: Female     Age: Deceased     Height: 5'5"     Eyes: Burning Red

Hair: Ash Grey, Scraggly & Smoldering     Skin: None     Build: Skeletal Phantasm

Approach: Disruptive                         Archetype: Guerrilla

Health:  40 + (5 x H)

Powers: Illusions d10, Infernal d10, Intangibility d8, Flight d8

Qualities: Magical Lore d10, Alertness d8, Stealth d8, Vengeful Spirit d8

Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 4+ - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 0-1 -d6

Abilities:

Fleeting Phantasm (R) Defend against an Attack by rolling your single status die.  Deal that much damage to a different nearby target.

Spirit of Vengeance (I) At the start of your turn, gain a bonus with a value equal to the number of opponents that Attacked you since your last turn.

Vision of Horror (A) Attack using Illusions.  Use your Max die.  A target dealt damage this way Attacks an ally of your choice by rolling their single largest power die.

Wreathed In Hellfire (A) Hinder using Infernal.  Use your Max die.  Recover Health equal to your Mid + Min dice.

Upgrades & Masteries (optional):

Power Upgrade (I) +20 Health.  Increase all Power dice sizes by one (max d12).

Master of the Unfathomable (I) If you are in a situation involving otherworldly forces, automatically succeed at an Overcome to do the bidding of unknowable entities beyond our reality.

Tactics

La Novia Aterradora is a vengeful spirit, only half-real and shrouded in a web of illusion at all times.  In combat she relies on Vision of Horror to terrorize foes and turn them against their allies while intervening in Attacks on herself and her allies with Fleeting Phantasm.  She prefers to spread damage around multiple foes rather than concentrating on finishing one at a time, taunting them into Attacking her to maximize the benefits of Spirit of Vengeance.  When hard-pressed she'll call on the pact that animates her, becoming Wreathed In Hellfire to paralyze foes with fear while restoring her own vigor.

She rarely manifests her upgrade or mastery unless directly confronting someone directly involved in her death (of whom few will survive even a single encounter) or when being called upon to fulfill some arcane requirement of her pact.


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