Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

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Chapter IV: Storytelling and Antagonists
victim making decisions out of character, or it might lead
to him hanging paralyzed and terrified in a Shadow Realm
web, ready to be hollowed out and overtaken at the subtle
Host’s whim.
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 1, Strength 2,
Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Presence 5, Manipulation 5, Composure
4
Skills: Academics 1, Athletics 1, Empathy 2, Expression
(Body Language) 2, Intimidation (Cold Shoulder) 1, Investigation
1, Medicine 2, Occult 2, Persuasion (Seduction) 3,
Politics 1, Socialize 2, Stealth 2, Subterfuge 1, Survival 1
Merits: Barfly, Striking Looks 4, Toxin Resistance
Willpower: 5
Morality: 4
Essence: 4
Virtue: Prudence
Vice: Lust
Health: 8
Initiative: 7
Defense: 3
Speed: 10
Numina: Discorporation, Gauntlet Webs, Siren Whisper,
Wall Climb
• Siren Whisper: As the Luna’s Dictum Gift in Chapter Two.
COMMON HOST POWERS
The Hosts tend to share a few powers in
common due to their strange nature. The following
Numina appear more frequently among
encounters with the Azlu or Beshilu, or even with
the other strange Hosts that are reputed to exist.
• Discorporation: Similar to the Numen of
the same name in Appendix One, but the Host’s
spirit doesn’t re-form in the Shadow Realm. Its
host body shrivels and dries out, and a wave of
host animals evacuates in all directions — spiders
for the Azlu, rats for the Beshilu. Witnesses can
crush and exterminate as many host animals as
possible, but if even one escapes, the Host’s spirit
survives. This power is common to all Hosts.
• Gauntlet Webs: This is the Numen for
which the Azlu are most infamous. By spinning
ethereal webs into the Gauntlet itself, the Azlu
makes it more difficult for anything to cross from
the spirit world to the material (or vice versa).
In one hour of constant work (which costs one
Essence point), the Azlu can increase the penalty
to cross over or even peek through the Gauntlet
by one die over 10 square yards. Each extra hour
(and point of Essence spent) can increase the
range of the coverage by the same amount or
increase the penalty by another die, but not both
in the same hour. These webs can be destroyed
from the Shadow side of the Gauntlet at a rate
of one square yard per three points of damage.
The damage must be either lethal or aggravated
— that is, the webs must be physically torn apart.
• Gnaw Gauntlet: This is the power that
makes grown Beshilu so dangerous. In one hour
of constant work (and for the cost of one Essence
point), a Beshilu of Size 5 can gnaw the Gauntlet
apart over a 10-square-yard area. Each hour of
work reduces the penalty to cross over or even
peek through (see p. 250) by one die. Each additional
hour (and point of Essence spent) increases
the area of coverage or reduces the penalty by
another die, but not both in the same hour.
• Toxic Bite: This power may represent either
the supernatural disease carried by a Beshilu, or
the toxin of a particularly venomous Azlu. The
character may spend one Essence as a reflexive
action after making a successful bite attack. The
victim loses one point of Stamina for every success
scored on the attack roll. (The victim’s player
may make a reflexive Stamina + Primal Urge roll
to reduce this Stamina damage by one point per
success.) The victim’s Health trait may be affected
by the loss of Stamina. Stamina lost to this
power recovers at the same rate that the victim
would heal aggravated wounds.
• Wall Climb: Like a normal-sized arachnid,
the character can walk on walls or even the
ceiling of a structure and move as freely as he
can on the ground. The character must have at
least four of his limbs in contact with the surface
he’s climbing at a time, and he’s still affected
by gravity. (That is, if he loses contact with the
surface he’s climbing, he falls down, not toward
the climbing surface.) Also, the surface he’s
climbing must be able to support his weight
(which is roughly equal to that of a werewolf
in Urshul). This power is more common among
Azlu, but some Beshilu possess it as well.
SOLITARY SPINNER
Quote: “Almost perfect, almost perfect… What are
you doing here?”
Background: The first that most packs know of one
of the Spider Hosts in their territory is a steadily increasing
difficulty in moving between the worlds at their loci
and a hint of webs in unexpected places in the Shadow.
When they find the spider’s nest the most commonly
encountered — if the word common can be applied to
these creatures — Azlu is the solitary spinner, a monstrous
spider/human hybrid that is as ready to fight as he is to
weave webs.
Description: Having consumed a horde of lesser,
weaker Azlu until it was finally ready to overtake a human
body, this Host is a horrid combination of human
and arachnid features. It might have a bloated, black
body covered in stiff, wiry hair, sporting two legs, six
arms, two vicious chelicerae and eight eyes. Or it might
be a vaguely human shape from head to waist, growing