The

Witching
Hour

A Sourcebook For
Vampire: The Requiem
The year is 1612.

For centuries the people of your tiny village have kept to the Old Ways, they
have served a strange, dark goddess and fought against the servants of the usurper
god.

Far away, in the cities and castles of the mighty, the followers of this new faith
squabble amongst themselves over obscure points of doctrine. Romans and
Lutherans, reformists and traditionalists, puritans and Jesuits. Very little of that
matters on the moors.

Or at least, it never used to matter.

But King James is cut from different cloth. He believes in witches and, worse,
fears them. Now like never before the machinery of the state is coming for you
and yours.

At the summit of Barrow Tor your coven gathers, calling out to the Crone for
guidance and protection. The stones you worship at are as ancient as the land you
stand on, they have stood since long before the cross came to this island.

These hills, these moors, and these lands are yours. And any who seek to take
them from you will pay.
 Glossary
Assizes: Travelling courts that follow a circuit around one or more counties, allowing criminals to be tried in the absence
of a permanent magistrate.

Augmentations Office: Once the Court of Augmentations, the official body responsible for the suppression and
subsequent administration of the lands and properties formerly held by the Church.

Buffcoat: A thick leather jerkin worn as armour during the Civil War.

Cenobites: A type of monk focusing on communal living, also a faction within the Lancea et Sanctum advocating the use
of Theban Sorcery.

Covenanters: A Presbyterian movement in Scotland, allied to the Parliamentarians in the Civil War.

Cuirassier: Heavy cavalry of the civil war period.

Eremites: A type of monk focusing on isolation and contemplation. Also a faction within the Lancea et Sanctum
opposing the use of Theban sorcery.

Harquebusier: Light cavalry of the civil war period.

Holmgang: A ritual duel in early Norse culture, still practised in some Kindred domains that retain Scandinavian
influences.

Presbyterianism: A protestant movement growing in Scotland in this era, distinguished from Episcopalianism by its
rejection of the authority of bishops.

Recusant: One who refuses to partake in Anglican mass.

Credits
Author: Michael Robartes
Developer: Rough Magic
Editor: Michael Robartes
Artist: White Wolf Stock Art, John Speed (1611)

Special Thanks
To far too many people to name at once.

© 2019 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The
Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, Changeling: The Lost, Hunter: The Vigil, Giest: The Sin Eaters,
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Chronicles of Darkness, Storytelling System™, and Storytellers Vault™ are trademarks and/or
registered trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved.
For additional information on White Wolf and the Chronicles of Darkness, please visit: ww.white-
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 The Witching Hour
Table of Contents
Introduction: Something Wicked this Way Comes 6
Chapter One: The Hammer of Witches 9
Scene One: the Full Moon 13
Scene Two: Uninvited Guests 14
Chapter Two: Scarborough Fair 20
Scene One: Life after Death 20
Scene Two: Barrow Tor by Night 23
Scene Three: Scarborough Fair 26
Chapter Three: The Golden Hall 34
Scene One: On the Road 34
Scene Two: York 34
Scene Three: The Golden Hall 39
Scene Four: Holmgang 42
Chapter Four: Civil War 45
Scene One: A Lost Witch 47
Scene Two: The Herald 47
Scene Three: War in the Shadows 48
Scene Four: The Court of Constantine 51
Chapter Five: Restoration 55
Scene One: The Beginning of the End 56
Scene Two: King’s Blood 58
Scene Three: Blood and Shadow 59
Appendix One: New Cruac Rites 63
Appendix Two: Early Modern Arms and Armour 67
Appendix Three: Dramatis Personae 70
 Introduction:
Something Wicked This Way Comes
“ The fearefull aboundinge at this time in this countrie, of these detestable slaves of the Devil, the Witches or
enchanters, hath moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch in post, this following treatise of mine (...) to resolve the
doubting (...) both that such assaults of Satan are most certainly practised, and that the instrument thereof merits
most severely to be punished..”
Daemonologie, James I

How to Use this Book  Mortal witches can take dots in Mental Disciplines
The Witching Hour is a long Story or a short Chronicle set
(those being Animalism, Auspex, Dominate,
in and around the Yorkshire moors in the year 1612. My Majesty, Nightmare, and Obfuscate). Any Vitae
aim was to write a short campaign focusing exclusively on a costs of those abilities are substituted for
single Covenant, and for the purposes of this scenario I willpower.
have chosen to focus on the Circle of the Crone. The
player characters begin as mortal witches who follow a  Mortal witches can take Crúac, to any level. All of
strange pre-Christian religion that has been secretly passed the Vitae costs must be substituted with levels of
lethal damage dealt to either the caster or to a
down over the centuries in one tiny community.
living animal with a size equal to or greater than
Storytellers who are just looking for resources to pillage for the level of the ritual.
their own games should also find detailed information
Note that this adjusted rule for Crúac is a significant
about the city of York and its Kindred inhabitants in at
deviation from the baseline cosmology of the game, in
least one possible version of 1611, along with a set of new
which vampiric Vitae is specifically required for rituals.
Crúac Rites and some short rules for early modern This is partly a necessary abstraction to make witchcraft
weaponry. As with any sourcebook, take what you feel is playable from the core book, and partly a deliberate change
useful and ignore what you don’t. for the setting to showcase the flexibility of Requiem as a
toolkit game.
Weird Setting Details
The final weird setting detail relates to the ending of the
My aim for this Chronicle is to make it playable with only
first chapter, and this constitutes a mild spoiler so if you’re
the core V:tR 2nd Ed. rulebook (and this book, obviously),
intending to play the Chronicle you might want to skip
which means I’ll be modelling witches entirely using
this bit.
Vampire disciplines. Specifically:
At the end of the first Chapter of this Story the players will
(probably) wind up dying at the hands of witch-hunters.
They will rise from the grave as vampires but they won’t
have any explicit “sires”. An assumption of this version of
the setting is that this sort of thing happens sometimes (as
an extension of the core rules regarding posthumous
embraces and revenants) and while it may be a source of
mystery if the players take an interest, it is not intended to
be a setting-shattering twist.
Character Creation Changes Theme
Characters for this Chronicle are created using the This is nice and simple. The Witching Hour is about
standard V:tR 2nd Ed. rules with a few exceptions. Players vengeance. The player characters have a very specific goal,
create their mortal template as normal and then apply some which is to get revenge for something, and the story is full
aspects of the Kindred template. In particular they gain: of characters whose primary motivation is getting back at
other people for ancient slights and grievances.
 A clan representing the clan they will eventually
have when they arise as a vampire, and also
representing the aspect of the Dark Goddess they
most identify with.

 By extension a dot in one of that clan’s favoured

attributes (if only to save bookkeeping later).

 Membership in the Circle of the Crone. This is a

little misleading as the Circle of the Crone itself
does not necessarily exist as a distinct institution.
The PCs will effectively form the nucleus of a new
Covenant that will rise over the course of the
Chronicle.

 A Mask and a Dirge. There’s little point giving a

character a Virtue and a Vice a character creation
just to overwrite it later. You can think of the
Mask as how you are in public and the Dirge as
how you are when you’re with the Coven doing
Witch things.

 A Touchstone. This is a person who the character

cares about and who will, once they become a
vampire, keep them anchored to Humanity. Until
then they’re just an NPC.

 Two dots of Disciplines. These represent the

powers of witchcraft rather than vampiric powers
(although they will be retained during the
transition). At this stage players are limited only
to in-clan Mental Disciplines and Crúac.

Note also that since the game starts in 1612, certain Skills
(notably “Computer”) don’t make sense. Let your common
Mood
sense guide you here. I specifically want options here, because I’m of the opinion
that “mood” is something that individual groups create at
Theme and Mood individual tables, not something that’s baked into the
scenario. For ease of reference, the three “moods” that this
It seems obligatory to include a “theme and mood” section scenario could be run in are:
at the start of a Chronicle supplement, so this is by way of
being that. My feeling is very much that themes and moods
are best worked out by the group that is actually playing,
and I don’t feel it’s my place to tell you how run things at
your table. For mood in particular I think it’s important to
be flexible, because that can be very nebulous.
 • Dark Fairytale: You are the bad fairies at the In the second half of the Chronicle, Constantine returns
christening, the witch whose curse haunts the from Scotland and attempts to seize control of
kingdom. Wolves howl in the night and evil Northumbria back from Estrid, the players may navigate
things watch from the shadows. that conflict however they wish. At the climax of the
chronicle the Goddess who the PCs worship awakens and
• Revenge Tragedy: You are Macbeth’s witches, or seeks vengeance against the Kindred of northern England.
perhaps you’re Prince Hamlet. You have nothing
to fear but your own hubris.

• Bloody Farce: You are a mixture of the Bride

from Kill Bill and Terry Pratchett’s witches. You
come from a little village in the middle of
nowhere and you don’t hold with none of this
fancy city nonsense.

Throughout the text, I will provide options for altering the

mood of the Chronicle to better fit different playstyles. In
particular, I will provide three different suggestions for
each prominent NPC suggesting how they might be played
in a Dark Fairytale, a Revenge Tragedy, or a Bloody Farce.

Executive Summary
For the ST’s eyes only, here’s what’s going on:

Barrow Tor is the burial place of an ancient entity that the

people of the nearby village worship as a goddess. Game
mechanically, she’s a Strix (more or less), whether she’s a
Strix in-world is very much up to the Storyteller (basically it
depends on whether you want the primary faction of the
Circle of the Crone in your setting to be really explicitly
working for a Strix or not). Exiled somewhere in
Northumbria is Constantine, an ancient Ventrue whose
bloodline once ruled Northumbria but has since been
usurped by Estrid, a Daeva from a Danish bloodline.

The primary antagonist of the story (at least at the start) is

William Thorpe who is a Nosferatu of the Lancea et
Sanctum. He is a member of a faction called the
Reformers who wish to purge England of all Roman
influence, leading to a schism within the Lancea et
Sanctum between the Reformers and those loyal to Rome
(who in Northumbria are known as the Constantinians).
Thorpe has been seeking a way to tip the scales against the
Constantinians, who have an advantaged owing to their
mastery of Theban Sorcery. To this end he has sent his pet
witch hunter John Hopkins to clear out the witches from
the village of Barrow Tor so that with the help of the Ordo
Dracul neonate Dorotya he can unlock the secrets of the
Tor and turn them against the Romans.
 Chapter One: the Hammer of Witches
“Here it is to be noted that the devil is more eager and keen to tempt the good than the wicked, although in actual
practice he tempts the wicked more than the good, because more aptitude for being tempted is found in the wicked
than in the good.”
Malleus Maleficarum
Overview The Goddess
The scenario begins with the player characters engaging in The Dark Goddess of Barrow Tor is a strange figure,
the rites of their ancient coven, and then a band of witch- mysterious and given to great excesses of rage and cruelty,
hunters arrive and begin investigating rumors of witchraft she is associated in some stories with elf-folk who live
in the village. beneath the hills, in others with daemons, in others with
the biblical Lilith.
Intended Outcome In the iconography of the coven, the Dark Goddess has
The intended outcome of this Chapter is that the player five primary aspects:
characters are executed for witchcraft and rise again as
 The Empress, signifying her qualities of rulership
vampires.
and her power over the natural world, as well as
If that isn’t what happens at your table, see Contingencies at her indomitable spirit.
the end of this chapter.
 The Hag, signifying the part of the Goddess that
haunts the shadows bringing darkness and terror.
The Village of Barrow Tor  The Huntress, signifying her freedom and her
The year is 1612 and since time out of mind the village of authority over the beasts of the wild.
Barrow Tor in the Yorkshire moors has been the haven of  The Siren, signifying her aspect as seducer and
one of the last outposts of the old religion, or what folk in temptress, as well as her grace and vigour.
the village think of as the old religion, though there are few
outsiders who would recognise it as anything of the sort.  The Veiled Woman, signifying her command
Existing for centuries in secret, the Barrow Tor coven is an over secrets, mysteries and shadows.
example of what what Margaret Murray would later come The Rites of the Goddess take place at the full and new
to identify as a “witch-cult” (historical note: Murray’s work moons by the standing stone at the top of Barrow Tor.
is now largely disputed by anthropologists, but this is the
World of Darkness and the rule of cool overrides little
matters like historical accuracy). It has many of the features
The Coven
of traditional witchcraft—its members meet by night on a The Coven of Barrow Tor consists of the player characters
hill near the village (the “Barrow Tor” from which it gets plus up to five NPCs (you can include as many or as few as
its name) and perform strange rites in praise of a dark you’re comfortable running and think will make things
interesting). The NPCs are:
goddess, seemingly unknown in other parts of the country.
Alice Lowell Mary Worth
Come up to the barrow, my dear, and I will show you Come now. It’s just a little blood.
such remarkable things. A woman in her late twenties or early thirties, Mary
Alice Lowell is the high priestess of the Coven and well Worth is one of the coven’s more bloodthirsty members.
into her seventieth year. She has no children but is well She has, so far, not actually murdered anybody, but she is
respected in the village for her wisdom. She speaks calmly eyeing some of the community’s more expendable and
but passionately when she cares about the subject matter, more annoying members. She is fervent in her rejection of
which is usually when she’s talking about the good of the the Church and is one of the few coven members who
village, or the power of the Goddess. does not even feign Christianity, which ironically causes
many to assume that she’s a secret Catholic.
• Dark Fairytale: Alice Lowell is the witch from
Rapunzel. Convinced she knows what’s best, and • Dark Fairytale: She’s the mirror witch. She’s the
willing to use whatever arts are at her disposal to name you call three times and she comes.
keep outsiders from interfering. • Revenge Tragedy: Mary Worth will come for any
• Revenge Tragedy: Alice Lowell is a bitter, who cross her, and she will go too far. A long way
vindictive old woman clinging to a way of life that too far.
should have died centuries ago. • Bloody Farce: Why do you always have a corpse
• Bloody Farce: Alice Lowell is one part bustling, to get rid of at the most inconvenient time?
absent-minded granny, one part terrifying
sorceress. Helena
...
Thomas Howard Helena prefers not to use her surname, and also prefers
My family has lived here for generations. I’ll not the wild of the moors to the dubious comforts of the
village. She runs with the wolves in the wolds and speaks
abandon the village now.
in the tongues of beasts.
Thomas Howard is the largest landowner in the village
apart from Sir Edward Colville, he owns a large farm and • Dark Fairytale: Is she Red Riding Hood? Or is
an awful lot of cattle. He is the highest-ranking male she the wolf?
member of the coven (unless a PC wants to take that
• Revenge Tragedy: A pack of wolves and a murder
distinction). Howard is less sincere in his devotion to the
of crows come when she calls, but can she truly
Goddess than Lowell, but he cares about the village and is
control them?
deeply suspicious of outsiders.
• Bloody Farce: She lay down with dogs and got up
• Dark Fairytale: Thomas Howard is the farmer
with fleas, and she has a tendency to genuinely
who made a deal with the devil, the miller whose
get humans mixed up with animals.
daughter was taken by elves. A good man deep
down, but troubled.
Thomas Thorn
• Revenge Tragedy: Thomas Howard is ambitious,
and ambition will be his undoing. Stay for a song, lady?
Tom Thorn is a minstrel, a singer of songs and a wanderer
• Bloody Farce: Thomas Howard is far less over hill and dale. He seems to be actually romantically in
important, far less clever, and far less useful than love with the Goddess, which Alice considers borderline
he thinks he is. heresy.

• Dark Fairytale: A mysterious harp sounds in the

dark and the distance, the man who plays it is
bright and handsome and dangerous…

• Revenge Tragedy: Tom Thorn is given over to

joy, but where does that leave him when real
enemies arrive?
 • Bloody Farce: He never takes anything seriously,
because nothing is ever that serious.
Father Andrew
God forgives.
Other Villagers The village has the part-time services of an Anglican priest
named Father Andrew Byrne. He travels the moors
There are approximately forty-seven people living in
ministering to the needs of the people and keeping an eye
Barrow Tor, in about a dozen houses. As well as the
out for recusants (those who refuse to attend Anglican
Lowells, the Howards and the Worths, notable families
mass and may, therefore, be secretly keeping to Catholic
include the Walkers and the Lowes (who are distantly
rites). He is a man of modern sensiblities and has little
related to the Lowells but turned aside from the old way).
time for talk of witches.
The local aristocrat (unless a player wants to take that role)
is Sir Edward Colville. • Dark Fairytale: The church is a sanctuary from
the things that lurk in the shadows, and Father
Sara Walker Andrew sees that it stays that way.

There’s something strange on that hill, I know it. • Revenge Tragedy: An honest, trusting, even kind
Sara Walker is the eldest daughter of the Walker family man. But when you believe that everybody else is
(the daughter of Anne and John Walker who run the as honest, kind, and trusting as you are, you end
village alehouse). She isn’t a witch, but is the person in the badly.
village who would be most likely to get accused of • Bloody Farce: What’s worse than being a priest
witchcraft if it weren’t for the obviously terrifying people in a tiny rural parish? Being a priest in a tiny rural
like Mary and Helena. She’s proud, wilful, and parish where basically everybody is a witch.
disobedient. Sometimes he really isn’t sure why he bothers.
• Dark Fairytale: She’s the girl who strays from the
path. And that never ends well. Sir Edward Colville
• Revenge Tragedy: She will, without a doubt, go I remind you, sir, that you stand on my land.
too far. She’ll say the wrong thing, make the Sir Edward Colville occupies Colville Manor, a little way
wrong choice, and pay the price. outside the village. His power is largely nominal at this
stage, and the villagers mostly govern themselves. Still his
• Bloody Farce: She’s the only person in the village
word is not without weight and he is one of the few people
who realises quite how absurd this whole
in the moors who doesn’t hesitate to cross Alice Lowell.
situation is.
• Dark Fairytale: A shadowy man who lives in a
Edward Lowe shadowy hall, Sir Edward is cold and distant, as
silent and enigmatic as the moorland.
I’ve nothing to say to the likes of you.
The Lowe family abandoned the old faith long ago, and • Revenge Tragedy: Sir Edward Colville is
now look very dimly on those who still cleave to it. Edward convinced that his noble birth and title will
Lowe is one of the pillars of the community, and protect him from any danger. He will discover
vociferously condemns witchcraft at every opportunity. how wrong he is.

• Dark Fairytale: When the mob comes with the • Bloody Farce: Sir Edward Colville is a well-
torches and the pitchforks, he’s at the head of it. meaning but bumbling innocent who completely
fails to recognise that everybody around him is an
• Revenge Tragedy: Lowe wants nothing more actual witch.
than to destroy the witches of Barrow Tor. But
will he like it, when he gets it? Lady Eleanor Colville
• Bloody Farce: You know what solves everything? I see thunder on the moor. I see a wolf in the night
Burning somebody.
and a gallows in the square. But I am tired, pray leave
me.
Sir Edward’s wife is a frail woman not well suited for the
moors. There are rumours that she is blessed or cursed
with the gift of second sight.

• Dark Fairytale: The shadows whisper to her and

the stars show her things. She is half a shadow
herself.

• Revenge Tragedy: She sees things. And the thing

she sees tell her who has wronged her, and who
must pay. It is not a gift, it is a curse.

• Bloody Farce: She is obviously magic and evil.

Her husband completely fails to notice.

James Howard
Ask me nothing about my ways and I’ll ask you
nothing about yours.
Cousin to Thomas, but from a branch of the family that
did not keep to the old religion, ironically James now is
keeping to the new-old-religion of Catholicism, in defiance
of the law. His absence in church has been noted by Father
Andrew.

• Dark Fairytale: James Howard’s secret devotions

make him easy prey for things that live in the
shadows, and there are many such things.

• Revenge Tragedy: James Howard is a basically

good man, but the witch-hunters will not see it
that way. He will do what he can for the village,
and will suffer for it.

• Bloody Farce: Completely ordinary person who

might in a bad light look a bit like a witch? Yeah,
definitely dead.

Places in Barrow Tor

It’s a small village and so it doesn’t take very long to see
everything interesting in it.

Walker’s Alehouse
Run by Anne Walker the wife of John Walker and the
sister of Edward Lowe, Walker’s Alehouse is very much
that: a house. The Walkers make ale in their home and sell
it to people—the village is far too small to have a truly
dedicated inn. Anne oversees the brewing and serving of
the drinks while John is busy smithing.
The Church of St Jude to get their witch on, and a good chance for you to work
out as a group precisely how you want to play the Coven.
Famed as the saint of hopeless causes, St Jude is a fitting The Chronicle assume that the player characters are
saint for the parish church of a witch-village. It is a simple witches, but how far you want to interpret that is up to
stone affair just large enough to fit the congregation—
your group at your table.
which in theory should be the entire village—on those
Sundays when a priest is present to say mass. For the sake of the Chronicle the one element of the
Sabbat (that’s as in a witches’ Sabbat not the faction from
The Standing Stone Masquerade), that matters is the Rite of the Chalice (see
This is the part of the village—or rather the space around Appendix One: New Crúac Rites). This is partly flavour text
the village—that really matters to the coven. For whatever and partly a handwave but it’s a way of tying the player
reason, it’s sacred to the Goddess. Local legends say it characters together and making sure that their rising as
bleeds every full moon, but the witches suspect that their vampires at the end of this chapter (spoiler) is at least in
blood-sacrifices are a more likely explanation. Another some way justified by their exposure to vampiric Vitae.
village rumour says that at the stop of Barrow Tor there’s
the entrance to an ancient burial mound with something The Rite of the Chalice involves blood from some source
wonderful or terrible entombed within, but no entrance or other being decanted live (that is, from the vein) into a
has ever been found and you doubt your generation will be silver chalice and offered up to the Crone. This ritual
the first to find it. transforms whatever blood is set in the vessel into vampiric
Vitae. Consuming this Vitae does not turn a mortal who
Colville Hall drinks it into a Ghoul, since creating a ghoul requires the
Sir Edward and Lady Eleanor live in Colville Hall high on vampire to spend a Willpower point, and the entity whose
the moor surrounded by heather and moss. It’s a lonely blood is conjured here is not spending willpower. It can
place, but Sir Edward and his wife seem content, but then however slake the thirst of high Blood Potency Kindred
they are aristocracy, so they have a deal to be contented and sustain Ghouls who have already been transformed, at
about. The hall is rumoured to be haunted following the the cost of leading to Vitae addiction and an actual blood
death of Sir Edward’s great-great grandfather who it is said bond to an unspecified ancient being (and there’s no way
was murdered by his own daughter. that could come back to bite you).

Scene One: the Full Moon Alice leads the ritual, and depending on what kind of
witches your players are you’ll likely fill the chalice with
your own blood or the blood of some sacrificial animal
A Note on “Scenes” (goats are traditional, and not in short supply on the
moors). She makes the usual invocations to the Goddess
Key events in this Chronicle are laid out in “Scenes”. How and then you each drink, as you normally do, from the
aggressively framed those scenes need to be will depend
chalice.
very much on the individual player group and how you like
to run things at your table. This is intended as a Chronicle The business of the Circle is normally not very time
sourcebook rather than a Setting sourcebook, so the consuming—you’re a small farming village in the wilds of
assumption is that a bunch of specific things will happen at Yorkshire and things are much the same one month to the
some point. Hopefully the setting and NPCs are sketched next. This time, however, there is an interruption.
clearly enough that, along with the personal imagination of
the ST and players you can fill in side-narratives and
whatever sandbox elements you need around the edges.
The Vision
During the Rite of the Chalice, a member of the Coven—
Wherever possible I’ll try to outline alternative routes and
either a PC with Auspex or Thomas Howard—will
pathways players could take, and to flag up the story beats
experience a vision sent by the Goddess in her aspect as
that are necessary to the progression of the narrative.
the Veiled Woman.

When Shall We Three Meet Again

By default, the Chronicle starts with the player characters
in media res, with the coven attending their monthly rite
to the full moon. This is a good opportunity for the players
 You see a dozen men in black riding up the road from
the coast. You see the sky bleed and the moors burn.
Scene Two: Uninvited Guests
You see a gallows in the village square. The standing The village will have peace for another two days, and in
stone is toppled and the cross of the New God is raised that time the players can do whatever they feel is necessary
to prepare for their arrival. In some ways their options are
in its place. You smell smoke and feel a hempen rope quite limited, they live in an isolated village and are
tighten about your throat. You are buried in the earth unlikely to have contacts outside it. There aren’t any other
and your mouth fills with the taste of blood. covens that they can call on for help, and nobody wants to
tangle with a band of armed men.
Assuming this vision is shared with the coven (and if a PC
gets it and does not share it then that’s a valid choice, Here are some things they might want to try:
although the Goddess will notice that they’ve been shady)
Rouse up the Village: This is dangerous. There are about
people will be very quick to jump to the obvious
47 people in the village, of whom about 16 are children
conclusion. In particular:
and 9 are elderly. That leaves 22 adults to stand up to a
• Alice will come immediately to the conclusion band of armed men. You’ve got no guns, perhaps a few
that these are witch-hunters. Her concern will be bows and maybe some swords if you’re lucky (basically any
for the stone and the Tor above all. These are PC who has a weapon has a weapon, the NPCs are almost
entirely unarmed). If you did want to get the whole village
sacred places, after all, and they will outlast the
onside you’d need to use the Social Manoeuvring rules
petty lives of the coven members.
(V:tR 2nd Ed. p173) on several key members of the
• Thomas Howard will be more concerned for the community. The key people to persuade are Father
village itself. Witch-hunters, after all, are not Andrew, Edward Lowe and John Howard (getting Sir
known for their discriminating nature. He’ll be Edward onside would help a lot). The mechanics here are:
especially concerned for his cousin, who is a • Father Andrew has three doors (he’s sceptical of
recusant and therefore has as much to fear as any outsiders and thinks religious conflicts are bad)
actual member of the Coven. or five if you’re actually expecting him to take up
• Mary will seriously advocate for murdering them, arms (he draws the line at violence), but by
default he has a good impression of the PCs (one
despite the fact that there seem to be twelve of
roll per day). His Aspiration is to persuade the
them and they’re likely to be armed.
recusants of the village to come back to the
• Helena feels similarly, although her preferred church, and you can open an extra door if you
strategy is to lure them into the wilds and let the can help him with that.
moors take them. • Edward Lowe has four doors as standard and is
• Thomas Thorn is far more in favour of just Hostile to the PCs, meaning you can’t roll to
running and hiding—he’s welcome in a number of persuade him at all. Getting him onside will
nearby villages that aren’t about to be descended involve improving his impression of the specific
character (which will mean distancing yourself
upon by witch-hunters, and preserving his own
from the coven). His Aspiration is to see the
life is very high on his list of priorities.
Lowells brought low, and you can open a door if
The witches do not need to specifically agree on a course of you can show him a path to that.
action to take next, they just need to get off the moor.
• Jon Howard has two doors and a good
impression of the PCs (one roll per day). His
Aspiration is to be allowed to continue with his
Catholic practices in peace.

• Sir Edward has two doors and an average

impression of the PCs (one roll per week). His
Aspiration is to restore the name and fortune of
his family, and you can open a door if you can
show him a path to that.
Scout the Roads: According to the vision they’re coming might want to kill) become known as Matthew Hopkins,
from the coast. Scouting the roads for advance warning the witch-finder general. John Hopkins is a Ghoul in
requires either a Wits + Survival roll or the use of some service to an Invictus Nosferatu named William Thorpe.
kind of magical effect using Crúac or Animalism. This His full statistics are provided in Appendix Three: Dramatis
could let the PCs discover when the Witch Hunters are Personae but for now his key abilities are:
coming and ambush them. They might even consider
• High Resolve and Composure (4 and 3
going to search the coast in person, heading into Whitby
or Scarborough to see where the witch hunters are coming respectively).
from. This is probably outside their skillset and resources • Skill with a sword and pistol (dice pools 6 with
given the timeline. the pistol and 7 with the sword including the
Strength bonus from Vigor).
Do Some Magic: Depending on what Rites the PCs have,
they might want to do something magical. The mechanical • Two dots of Vigor and two dots of Nightmare.
effects of Rites are covered in the core rules, or Appendix
1. In particular they might want to consider using the • The Taste of Fear merit (see V:tR 2nd Ed. p299).
Taboo ritual to prevent people from revealing that they’re
• His initial Vitae pool is 6.
witches. They could consider laying some kind of curse on
the witch-hunter himself, but this could be dangerous. Like the other NPCs, he can be played differently
depending on the mood of the Chronicle.
Lay Traps: This is likely to be Intelligence + Survival or
Intelligence + Crafts. Honestly this might not be the best • Dark Fairytale: He is a monster out of a witch’s
way to prepare for a group of people who are coming on nightmare. A being of shadow and fire
official business, but you can give it a go. Traps will only be determined to purge the darkness from witches by
useful in conjunction with an ambush (otherwise they’ll be whatever means necessary.
fairly easy to work around) and the specific effects are up to
the Storyteller. • Revenge Tragedy: He’s a man, ultimately. A
zealous man and perhaps a cruel man, but a man.
Destroy the Evidence: Some players might want to make And he will overreach himself.
sure they get rid of any physical evidence of their wichcraft.
This requires an Intelligence + Investigation or Wits + • Bloody Farce: When in doubt, hang somebody.
Investigation roll. Each success will reduce the dice pool of
witch-hunters searching for evidence against them. Elspeth Wright the Witch-Pricker
Flee: Player Characters usually aren’t much for running I’m sorry.
away, but some might be. If the players really try to run Elspeth Wright is a mortal woman who travels with John
then check the Contingencies section at the end of this Hopkins functioning as one of his two witch-prickers. Her
chapter. job is to poke people with pins looking for witch’s marks
(parts of the body that are numb as a result of the feeding
The Witch-Hunters of familiars or the touch of the Devil). Her key abilities are:
There are fully fifteen witch-hunters coming to the village • High Wits and Resolve (4 and 3 respectively)
(this is deliberate force majeure, the setup for the
Chronicle depends on the PCs losing a straight fight, of • The Clear Sighted merit (see V:tR 2nd Ed. p299).
course players being what they are there is a chance they’ll And her variants:
win anyway, see Contingencies at the end of the chapter.
• Dark Fairytale: Elspeth has fallen under the sway
John Hopkins the Witch-Finder of a wicked man. She is not quite enchanted but
she is imprisoned in a way. How her story ends
I come to seek the servants of the Evil One. You will will depend on whether the spell can be broken.
not stand in my way.
John Hopkins appears to be a man in his early twenties,
although he has an intensity about him that belies his
years. Stern-faced and dark-eyed, he is fanatical in his
persecution of the unnatural. In years to come he will
(probably—never make future plans for NPCs the players
 • Revenge Tragedy: Elspeth has done bad things, Expecting treachery, the witch-hunters will refuse to be
and they may come back to undo her. But then split up into groups including less than four armed men
her master has also done bad things, and perhaps (which means they’ll be spread across at most three
he will come undone first. houses). By default four will stay with Lowe, four at the
alehouse (not very comfortable for the Walkers) and four
• Bloody Farce: Elspeth isn’t a bad person, but hey, in the Church under the auspices of Father Andrew
somebody’s got to stick pins in witches. (distribute the named characters as you deem fit, but I’d
recommend one in each location). The players may
Adam Lane the Captain-of-the-Guard interfere with this if they wish by volunteering their own
Adam Lane is not strictly a witch-hunter so much as he is a homes.
soldier who happens to work for Hopkins. He’s a veteran
of the Spanish wars and has a very no-nonsense attitude to Talk of the Town
his duties. He’s suspicious of Hopkins but yet more Immediately following the arrival of the Witch-Hunters,
suspicious of witchcraft, although having fought in Spain the player characters are likely to have a lot to discuss
he’s primarily suspicious of Catholics. His key abilities are: amongst themselves, with the rest of the coven, and with
the rest of the village. Talk in the alehouse will be of
• High Dexterity and Strength (4 and 3
nothing but the witch-hunters and opinions will be divided
respectively)
on how to handle them.
• Skill with sword, pistol, and musket (firearms
Folk in Barrow Tor know that there are some in the village
pool of 8, weaponry pool of 7)
that keep to the old ways, and a small faction (led by
And his variants: Edward Lowe) will be of the opinion that now is the best
time to be rid of them. They should hand the coven over
• Dark Fairytale: He’s Snow White’s huntsman, or to the witch-hunters and be done with it (this plan is
at least he could be. somewhat marred by the fact that nobody outside the
• Revenge Tragedy: Hopkins is a killer, and coven is totally sure who’s in it).
surrounds himself with killers. That will end Another faction, led by the Walkers, will be of the opinion
badly for somebody, the question is only who. that the best thing for the village to do is keep its head
• Bloody Farce: You know what solves most down, cooperate as little as possible, and hope that the
problems? Stabbing people. witch-hunters move on soon.

A final more belligerent faction, led by Mary Worth who is

Various Guards and Soldiers not the subtlest of people, will be all in favour of driving
Hopkins travels with fully a dozen soldiers. Each is armed the hunters out (although this will receive little support
with sword and musket and fights with pools of 6 for both and will prove very impractical).
weapons.
Murder in the Night
Arrival of the Witch-Hunters Players being what they are, there is a very good chance that
the PCs will want to kill at least some of the witch-hunters
The Witch-Hunters arrive in the village on the evening of
while they’re sleeping (or poison them at the alehouse).
the second day after the Sabbat, and demand billets in
These are not necessarily good ideas, but it’s the kind of
homes in the village (this does not endear them to any of
thing PCs might try.
the villagers save Edward Lowe who is positively keen to
have witch-hunters in town. Again, the witch-hunters expect treachery. They keep a
guard posted throughout the night in all of their billets
(Wits + Composure pool of 5 as standard) and if any of
them fall mysteriously ill or are afflicted with any kind of
strange curse, they will blame the people who the victim
was staying with (see The Trials below).
The Trials This will lead to the arrests of all remaining witches and
the execution by hanging of Thomas Howard, John
The witch-hunters will waste no time in their Howard, Thomas Thorn and two more player characters
investigations. Moving methodically and en masse through at the end of the second day.
the village, they will put people to the question, test them At the end of the third day, all remaining witches, along
by witch-pricking and decide who they think is most likely with anybody else who might have been caught up in the
to be guilty. interrogations, will be executed by hanging.
Barring PC action (and of course that is likely to change
things a lot) their initial suspects will be Alice Lowell Touchstones
(whose whole demeanour screams “village witch”), Sara The outline above was, for obvious reasons, written with
Walker (because their idea of what witches look like is no knowledge of the player group involved. Depending on
fairly limited) and whichever player character looks the group, the PCs’ touchstones are prime targets for
dodgiest. getting swept up in the hunt. A Touchstone could be
threatened as part of the interrogation of a player
From here, this whole series of events can play out in a lot
character, or they could be accused of witchcraft
of different ways. The default is as follows:
themselves.
• Alice Lowell confesses to witchcraft but insists
that she is the only witch in the village. Methods of Interrogation
• Anne and John Walker in order to spare their How much detail you want to go into about the methods
daughter a hanging, claim to know the identity of of the witch-hunters is entirely up to your table, and if you
the real witches. They confirm that Alice Lowell is want to gloss over it that’s absolutely fine. Strictly, torture
a witch, and also accuse both Howards (remember is illegal in England at this time, but the witch-hunters are
that Thomas Howard is a witch but John not above using psychological techniques and strategies
Howard isn’t) and another player character. including:

• Meanwhile Sara Walker confesses to wichcraft • Sleep deprivation: if you want to emphasise this
and accuses a third player character and Thomas as a method of extracting confessions you’ll
Thorn. probably need to slow down the timescale, but
even one night without sleep can seriously put a
Barring PC interventions, this will lead to a second round dent in a person’s ability to resist questioning.
of arrests: two more PCs, Thomas Howard, John Howard
and Thomas Thorn. • Trial by water: This is the classic “ducking stool”.
The suspected witch is tied to a chair and thrown
Assuming nothing happens to change the sequence of into a nearby body of water, if they float they are
events, on the evening of the first day after the witch- judged to be a witch.
hunters arrive, Alice Lowell and one player character will
be executed by hanging. (Sara will have been released • Pricking: Being jabbed with needles is nasty even
thanks to her parents’ turning on the coven). if it doesn’t count as evidence against you, it’s even
worse if it does.
There will then follow another round of interrogations.
The default consequences here are: • The threat of a bad hanging: Hanging is a nasty
way to go, but a skilled executioner can tie the
• Thomas Howard confesses to witchcraft but rope well and make sure that the drop does for
insists his cousin is innocent. you, rather than letting you just choke out. Or
they can do the opposite.
• John Howard refuses to confess to witchcraft but
does confess to being a Catholic recusant. He also • Threats to family and friends: PC Touchstones
identifies Mary Worth and Helena as likely are your go-to here. The witch-hunters are here to
witches. execute people, and that will include the innocent
if they have to target them to get at witches.
• Thomas Thorn breaks and confesses to witchcraft
and identifies all remaining members of the
coven.
 • Supernatural Powers: John Hopkins has two dots
of Nightmare and the Taste of Fear merit. If all else
fails he can use these abilities on his victims (he’ll
need to send most of his men outside first mind).
If he uses these powers it can be a good way to
hint to the players that there’s something up with
him.

I’m not going to provide any mechanical systems for

interrogating player characters. This is a pure roleplaying
issue and since there are NPCs involved the players’
confessions aren’t necessary for the plot to advance. They
may confess or resist as they wish.

Resisting the Witch-Hunters

Ultimately, the plot relies on attempts to resist the witch-
hunters failing but there are never-the-less things the PCs
can try. Their options include:

Legalism: A character with a decent Intelligence +

Academics roll will know that what the witch-hunters are
doing isn’t actually fully legal, for all their claims.
Witchcraft is punishable by death, but properly the
characters should be tried at the assizes (the travelling
court) in York, not summarily executed.

Pleas: Hopkins is a fanatic but most of his followers aren’t.

Rolls on Presence or Manipulation + Persuasion or
Subterfuge might persuade at least some of the witch-
hunters to go easier on you.

Threats: The advantage of being on trial for witchcraft is

that the people putting you on trial are likely to really
believe that you can hurt them. A Presence + Intimidation
roll might make them think twice about incurring the
wrath of a witch.

Investigations: The PCs may seek to find incriminating

information about John Hopkins. This is effectively getting
an early start on the plot of chapter two (which is actually a
good thing, more plot hooks is always better). See the
sections there on investigating the witch-hunters.

These three methods (and others) can be used with Social

Manoeuvring to open NPC doors. This won’t work on
Hopkins (he’s always Hostile) but other NPCs will have
two doors (except Elspeth, who will have three due to her
higher Resolve) and an average attitude towards the PCs.
This limits the players to one roll per NPC per week for
Social Manoeuvring, but forcing doors, rolling exceptional
successes or targeting Aspirations can help with that.
Players might also be able to improve the NPCs’
impressions of them at Storyteller discretion.
The other option, of course is violence. • Some of the recurring antagonistic NPCs might
either be dead or else be potential allies for the
The players can straight up fight the witch-hunters (they PCs (this might be the case anyway). There will be
do have magic on their side). I’d normally recommend notes about this in the appropriate sections.
using the down-and-dirty combat rules for this kind of
thing, but if the players are choosing to make this into a In particular, note that the Witch-Finder General is
battle that suggests that they’re invested in actually using intended to recur in later chapters. If he is dead, the
the combat system. Matthew Hopkins who shows up in York will be the
historical Hopkins, and not a ghoul at all. This does make
So do that. The guards and soldiers have 6 dice in their it slightly mechanically advantageous for the players to deal
combat dice pools and 7 Health Levels. They have a with Hopkins now, but I’m very keen to avoid a scenario
Defence of 4. The named NPCs have the statistics given in in which the players put a lot of effort into achieving
Appendix 3. something, and then everything just carries on as if they
Note that there is a very good chance the PCs will be hadn’t bothered.
fighting alone here since nobody else in the village has
anything resembling combat abilities, although they may
be able to persuade Helena and Mary Worth to join them
The PCs Run Away
neither is strictly a fighter. In this case you skip pretty much the whole of this chapter.
Instead, however, the PCs find themselves in the

Contingencies uncomfortable position of having angered their patron

goddess. Rather than dying to witch-hunters they will
instead be hunted down by servants of the Dark Goddess
The aim for this chapter is for the player characters to be of the coven (wolves, crows, things like that) and ultimately
executed as witches and then rise again. But that might not cornered by her mysterious avatars.
happen for a great many reasons.
This is a bit railroady but hey, pre-written scenario.
Everything Goes to Hell
If the players violently resist the witch-hunters, overtly use
magic against them, or otherwise make it clear that they
aren’t going to go along with this whole “round people up
and execute them” thing then this could well lead to a full-
on massacre. The witch-hunters are armed and dangerous
and unless the PC party is very large, or has been built in a
very specific way, it’s unlikely they’ll win that battle.

This could mean that instead of being executed the PCs

just plain die in a fight. That’s fine, it doesn’t really change
the ending of this chapter, just the start of the next one. If
the village as a whole fights the witch-hunters, they’ll
straight-up burn the place down.

The Witches Win

There’s also a chance that the PCs will lead the coven to a
triumphant victory over the witch-hunters. They might just
beat them in a straight fight, or they might successfully
unite the village against them, or they might sow discord
amongst their ranks and turn them against each other.

This involves some more significant changes. In particular.

• You will need to run the alternative embrace

sequence at the start of chapter two for those
player characters who didn’t die.
 Chapter Two: Scarborough Fair
“Remember me to one who lives there. She once was a true love of mine.”
Scarborough Fair—Traditional

In this chapter our PCs rise from the grave as vampires She sinks her teeth into your neck and you fall into
bound to the will of the Dark Goddess of the coven and
her. Awaking in the dark, you taste blood rich and
set out to avenge themselves on their killers.
sharp in your mouth, but all above you is dirt. You
Intended Outcome realise that you are not suffocating, because you are not
breathing…
After their resurrection, the players follow John Hopkins’
trail back to Scarborough where they begin to discover
Kindred society. They learn that he was recently dispatched
Gangrel: the Huntress
from York and that he works for a vampire named You stand on a wild moor and, turning, see a wild-
William Thorpe who is at the court of Estrid Svensdatter,
Regent of Northumbria. eyed woman behind you. She holds a bow in her left
hand and on either side she is flanked by two great
Scene One: Life after Death wolves. Her eyes are green as the forest and black as the
night sky, and her hair whips in the wind.
If Chapter One ended as it was supposed to, the player
Again, pause for player interaction.
characters are now all dead. They will have been buried at
a crossroads midway between Barrow Tor and “We are hunted,” she says. “The usurper’s servants
Scarborough. Each character will now receive a vision of
the Dark Goddess appropriate to their Clan.
come for us in our sacred wilds, but you will track them
down and make them pay. You will bathe in their blood
Daeva: the Siren and take their skins as trophies.”
Once more, there’s a non-zero chance the player might
You stand on the ocean shore. A woman of terrible want to say something. If not…
and surpassing beauty rises from the waves. Her eyes are
She pounces and her wolves pounce with her. You
like the endless depths of the sea and her lips are blood-
feel teeth—wolf-teeth at your wrists, the Lady’s teeth at
red and gleaming.
your throat. You awake in the dark, your mouth awash
Depending on how you feel about boxed text, your player
might want to actually react at some point—this is a vision with blood. There is earth above you and around you.
sequence so playing it out totally non-interactive is fine Your heart does not beat…
too. Assuming they don’t start a conversation or do
something totally out of left field, the vision continues. Mekhet: the Veiled Woman
She stalks towards you and pulls you into an embrace. You stand in a place of shadows, and slowly you
She is cold like the north wind, and she leans in to realise that you are not alone. Just at the edge of your
whisper in your ear: “The usurper’s servants sought to peripheral vision is a woman in a veil.
destroy us. Seek them, destroy them. Break their hearts If the player was the same one that had the vision at the
start of Chapter One then it’s probably a good idea to
and their bones and leave them weeping”. confirm that this is definitely the same entity.
Again, if you’re not big on box text, now’s a good time to
respond to player reaction.
 “Our enemy moves against us in darkness,” she
whispers. “The usurper comes for us, but you will be my
eyes and ears in the world. You will watch, and strike
when the time comes. You will make our enemy’s secrets
your weapons and destroy him.”
Again, there might reasonably be a reaction the player
wants to make here.

Then her fangs are in your neck, you don’t see her
move but she’s there, behind you. When you awake all
is darkness. Your mouth is filled with blood that tastes
like secrets and the press of grave-dirt is cold against
your cold skin.
Nosferatu: the Hag
You stand in a long, shadowed tunnel with skittering
things scratching and shrieking just out of your sight.
The light flickers, and you catch a glimpse of an old
woman, bent and hideous, her fingers stretched into
talons and her eyes tar-black in deep-set sockets.
And pause, just in case the player wants to do anything.

A voice echoes from nowhere. “The pretty traitor

came for us, my child. Came for us as we always knew
he would. But we were quicker than he thought and
more clever. So much more clever.” The old hag flickers
back into your vision, stalking forwards on bare, clawed
feet. “But you will make him pay. You will show him
fear itself.”
Again, whatever reaction the player wants to make you
should probably run with.

Then she rakes a claw across your face, digs her nails
and her claws and her teeth into you and the skittering
grows louder as rats swarm from the walls. You awake
with blood foul in your mouth, the earth pressed all
around you alive with worms and insects and things
that craw.
Ventrue: the Empress
You stand at the foot of a vast stone throne on which
sits a pale woman of imperious countenance. A wolf
 lies at her feet and either side of her head, on the high • Suffered a breaking point against Humanity 6
for literally crawling out of their graves. This
back of the throne, sit two ravens.
causes a roll for Detachment on three dice (plus
As ever, just make certain the player doesn’t want to two for everybody with living Touchstones which
interact with the vision. is likely to be most player characters).
“The usurper strikes against our throne,” she says. By default, the players are the only members of the coven
“We will take back what is ours and make them bow to be brought back by the Goddess, but if the group is
small or you feel that they will need more support
before us. You shall be set at my right hand and all that
(especially if none of the PCs bought any dots of Crúac)
is shall bow before you.” then consider having one or more of the NPCs raised as
Again, just take a moment to break up the box text and let well, trying to fill in the clans that are not otherwise
the player do anything they might want to do. represented (Alice will rise as Ventrue, Thomas Howard as
Mekhet, Mary Worth as Nosferatu, Helena as Gangrel and
She meets your eyes and you find yourself walking
Thomas Thorn as Daeva).
towards her whether you will it or not. You kneel and
The players also gain a slight bonus for becoming
bear your throat, and she bites deep. When you awake
vampires. To their character sheets add:
your mouth is filled with blood rich as wine, and a
• One dot of Blood Potency (placing them at
blanket of earth lies above you.
Blood Potency 1)
Rebirth • An additional two dots of disciplines of which
The players first need to dig their way free of their graves. one must be a Clan Discipline and the other may
This requires a Strength + Athletics roll (a single success is be a Clan Discipline, an out-of-clan Discipline, or
all that’s needed here), on a dramatic failure the a dot of Crúac. Neither dot may take a discipline
unfortunate fledgeling loses the one point of Vitae that above level three.
they have remaining. The first thing they see on awakening
is each other, this does not risk provoking frenzy because The Search for Blood
of the mystical bond created between the party by their
The first thing for the player characters to do is to seek
Crúac rituals—effectively their Beasts recognise one another
blood. There are basically three options here:
and understand that they all serve the Dark Goddess.
Game mechanically, the coven are considered Blood • Go back to Barrow Tor: This is dangerous
Bound to the Dark Goddess (this bond can only be because you’re known there, and the players may
renewed using the Rite of the Chalice, so it will wear off reasonably not want to risk killing people from
after a year, but until it does they will be effectively their home village.
immune to bonding from other sources, although they are
bound to the will of their Goddess). • Find another Village or Isolated Farm: There are
villages dotted throughout the moors and the
The characters awake buried in earth at a crossroads and players may be more comfortable feeding from
aware of two deep supernatural needs. They will know strangers.
instinctively that they must drink blood to survive, and
they will know that the Goddess demands that they seek • Hunt Sheep: Most of the farms around the
vengeance for the destruction of their coven. moors are hill-farms, so sheep are plentiful.
Drinking animal blood might be less dignified,
Game mechanically the player characters have: but it runs less risk of killing somebody.
• A single point of Vitae in their pools. Hunting in Barrow Tor: This will vary substantially,
depending on how the player-characters left the village. It
• The Tasked condition (seek vengeance), granting
could be basically fine, or completely in ruins. Whatever
them 8-again on any attempt to avenge themselves
feeding encounter the players have here should be with a
against the witch-hunters but causing them to lose
character the players recognise, either one they have
the 10-again quality on any actions not related to
already interacted with, or one associated with a person
the pursuit of vengeance.
they have interacted with. How this plays out will depend
very much on your group.
Hunting in an Isolated Farm or other Village: There are
plenty of isolated farms on the hills. One such farm is
owned by Henry Mills, his wife Agnes and their three
children Jane, Thomas and Hugh. The Millses are
suspicious of outsiders, especially knowing that witches are
abroad on the moors, but they will extend charity to those
in need. Alternatively any given village will be turning out
drunks from the alehouse at around about this time,
including Mr Richard Boot, Mr Simon Burton, and
Edmund Lake. These three will be a little more willing to
fight, possessing a Brawl pool of four dice and a Defence of
3.

Hunting Sheep: Catching sheep is fairly straightforward,

requiring a Wits + Animal Ken or Survival roll. A
Dramatic Failure attracts the attention of a shepherd by
the name of Will London. He is an old man and
defenceless.

Remember that no matter where they hunt, the PCs are

starving, meaning that the moment they encounter a viable
source of blood, they are at risk of Frenzy, and at ST
discretion may take a penalty of up to -4 on their Resolve +
Composure roll to compose themselves.

The Trail of the Witch-Finders

There are two ways the players could go looking for the
witch-finders, either looking for the traces they left behind
them in the village, or else tracking them back up the road
to the coast.

This scenario assumes that the players will make for the
village first, but if they skip it they skip it.

Scene Two: Barrow Tor by

Night
This section assumes that the players left Barrow Tor
relatively intact. If they didn’t, then see Contingencies at the
end of the chapter.

If the players have not fed by the time they return to

Barrow Tor, that will need to be their first port of call.
Encountering any human being while starving causes them
to run the risk of Frenzy. This could cause major problems
depending on precisely who they encounter.

Following the hangings, the witch-finders will have left

Barrow Tor quite hurriedly. There are at least three key
pieces of evidence that they will have left behind them
(potentially more depending on player actions).
Investigation of physical evidence involves rolls of
Intelligence + Investigation, while social investigation will
The Captain
involve Presence or Manipulation + Persuade or Socialise If the players managed to successfully remove the Captain’s
rolls, but make sure not to gate key evidence behind skill doors, thereby getting him to turn against the witch-
rolls the players might not pass. The evidence is as follows: finders, he can be found at the alehouse (if the alehouse is
still standing). He can tell the player characters the
The Orange Peel following:

Where Adam Lane, the captain of the witch-finder’s • He and Hopkins came up the road from
guards, was staying, there is a discarded orange peel. Scarborough, and before that from York.
Oranges are fantastically hard to come by most of the time,
but there is currently a large trading fair in Scarborough, • In Scarborough, Hopkins stayed at the
Coachman’s Inn.
which would attract the kind of merchants who would sell
oranges. It is too fresh to have come from anywhere else. • He left messages in the inn to be conveyed to his
mysterious master. The captain does not know
The Tobacco Tin who that master is.
Where Hopkins was staying, he has left behind a tin of
tobacco. It is fresh, again suggesting that it has been The Witch-Pricker
purchased recently, and it bears the mark of Taylor’s of If the players managed to successfully remove the witch-
Scarborough. pricker’s doors, thereby getting her to turn against the
witch-finders, she can be found at the church (assuming
The Witch-Pricker’s Ballad the church is still standing). She can tell the player
In the room of the witch-pricker Elspeth Wright is a characters the following:
broadside ballad the King and a Poor Northern Man. These
• She and Hopkins came up the road from
are sold in inns throughout the North, but it can be used
Scarborough, and before that from York.
to find the specific inn with enough poking around.
• In Scarborough, Hopkins stayed at the
These pieces of evidence will be found no matter what
Coachman’s Inn.
state the players left the village in.
• He was visited at the Coachman’s by a strange
In addition, there are some others they may find
woman in a red cloak.
depending on whether they talk to the right people, and
whether those people are still alive. Hopefully, between them these should be enough to send
the players to Scarborough.
Hopkins’ Orders
The letter containing Hopkins’ orders was cast into the
fire, but under the following circumstances it will instead
have been rescued surreptitiously and can be delivered to
the players. Those conditions are:

• Hopkins stayed in the home of somebody hostile

to or suspicious of the witch-finders.

• His host survived.

• His host is well-disposed to the player-characters,

and they can pass a Presence/Manipulation +
Persuasion roll.

See overleaf for the contents.

Hopkins,

Your services are needed in the village of Barrow Tor.

Travel to Scarborough where you will be met by another agent
of mine who will provide you with fresh supplies of the elixir.
She will also tell you more about the dangers you are about to
face.
Barrow Tor is a den of witchcraft and it is imperative that
every trace of the Devil’s work is rooted out from that place and
destroyed. Do not permit the Servants of the Adversary to
plead their cases before the court. Slay them yourself if you
must.
When you have sent all of the witches to the pyre or to the
rope, return to my agent on the coast and she will reward you.
Serve me well in this matter and your star shall continue to
rise, fail me and I shall withdraw my protection from you.
Hold to your oaths, and fear your masters.

Thorpe
 Scene Three: Scarborough Fair • A random house. This is also risky, but you could
use Dominate, Majesty or just plain threats to get
some hapless mortals to let you live in their cellar.
Scarborough Fair is not so grand as one it was, but it is still
a significant event in the region. Taking place in the
coastal town of Scarborough, it lasts from the Feast of the
Tracking the Witch-Finders
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Feast of St If the players have already found the address of the
Michael (about forty-five days). Merchants come from Coachman’s Inn, then they are relatively likely to go
across the country, from Europe and even the Near East, directly there. If they are tracing the tobacconists and the
to trade. You can buy much at the fair that you would orange-seller that is harder, although the Coachman’s is
never be able to find in Northumbria at any other time. the inn nearest to Taylor’s tobacconists and there is an
orange stall (closed a little after sunset) not far from the
Of course being vampires now, the player characters are
inn.
going to miss out on a lot of the trading, but there is a
night-market along the coast that trades in all manner of
exotic things.
Breadcrumbs
The orange peel and the tobacco both lead to
Getting to Scarborough Scarborough, but the PCs will need to make special
arrangements to track the vendors since they mostly work
Since the PCs now burn in sunlight, getting to by day. The orange-seller will remember that she sold an
Scarborough is non-trivial. It’s far enough away that they orange to a military-looking gentleman, who she saw
can’t be guaranteed to find shelter before sunrise. heading into the Coachman’s Inn. The tobacconist will
likewise remember the distinctive-looking Hopkins as
Assuming they leave on foot just after sunset, they will
heading from the shop to the Coachman’s. The broadsheet
arrive in Scarborough about an hour before sunrise, with
that the witch-pricker was reading will also have been sold
no real way to send a message ahead of themselves. If they
in the Coachman’s.
have horses (remember that if you don’t have Animalism
or Animal Ken, horses will shy away from you once you Enterprising players may also want to track down Hopkins’
become a vampire) they will instead arrive a little after mysterious master, or his mysterious master’s mysterious
midnight. contact, depending on how much information they’ve
found. More or less every lead, however, takes them back
Finding Shelter to the Coachman’s.
There are several main options for finding shelter, none
pleasant.:
The Coachman’s Inn
The Coachmman’s is a moderately respectable inn by the
• Sea-caves on the shore. It takes an Intelligence +
coast, although even respectable inns attract disreputable
Survival roll to find an appropriate cave. If
sorts during the fair.
successful, the players can pass a dangerous day at
the very back of a deep cave just out of the reach People you might speak to at the inn include:
of the sunlight.
Richard Trounce, the Innkeeper: The innkeeper, like
• Burying yourselves. Without Protean this is most fictional innkeepers, is an amiable fellow whose
difficult, but the PCs may be left with no other second greatest concern is the well-being of his guests and
choice. This requires a Strength + Athletics roll to whose greatest concern is the well-being of his inn. He is
do properly, with a +2 bonus if digging in sand married to a woman named Emma and has a son named
rather than soil. John, now gone to sea. He knows:

• A room at an inn. This is risky, because an inn- • That a band of soldiers stayed at his in about a
room is not guaranteed to be light-proof, but you week past.
might conceivably blag a room in a cellar with a
Presence/Manipulation + Streetwise/Persuasion/ • That their leader was a man named Hammond,
Subterfuge roll. Howard or possibly Hopgood?

• • That he left a letter to be sent on to York.

Trounce will not discuss the letter. Getting him to hand it For more detail on this, players will need to open two
over involves opening four doors (since betraying the trust doors. She has an Average attitude towards the players,
of his clients is a breaking point for him). He has an upgraded to Good at ST discretion. Her Aspiration is to
Average opinion of the player characters which can be reconnect with Elspeth. With persuasion she can add the
improved to Good at the discretion of the Storyteller. His more specific details, that Elspeth told her she had seen
Aspiration is to see the Coachman’s Inn overtake the the witch-finder drink blood from the wrist of a strange
Smith’s Arms as the foremost inn in this part of woman in red.
Scarborough. See overleaf for the letter.
Other Ways to Get the Letter: The players can also get the
Fair Ned, the Fancy-boy: Fair Ned, who very much lives letter by straight theft, straight mind control, or whatever
up to his name, is a male prostitute who works out of the other plans they might want to come up with. This is kind
Coachman’s. He keeps his eyes and ears open and always of open-ended because even with relatively inexperienced
stays sharp for a chance to make a few pence. He had the characters there are already a lot of options open to the
good sense to stay clear of the witch-finder, but kept a close player characters. Gangrel can turn into rats. Ventrue can
eye on the comings and goings in the common-room. He deliver complex mind control. Nosferatu and Mekhet can
knows: walk totally unseen. Stealing a thing from a mortal is close
to being a non-problem.
• That a witch-finder stayed here with a band of

•
soldiers.

That he left a letter with the innkeeper.

The Woman in Red
The players may already have heard about the woman in
• That he met with a woman all in red. He will also red from Elspeth, or from people at the inn. If they don’t
seem to know more about this woman but be have the letter they won’t know that she’s currently
unwilling to share it. hanging out at Scarborough Castle, but may be able to find
Fair Ned will reveal more about the woman in red if the her at some of her other haunts since she’s very distinctive.
PCs can open two doors. He has an Average attitude Generically asking around after a “mysterious woman in
towards the PCs and this can be improved to Good at red” is actually more productive than you might imagine.
Storyteller discretion. His Aspiration is for little more than
Success on a Presence/Manipulation + Socilaize/Streetwise
material comfort. In this case he will also reveal that the
roll (or equivalents, it’s very much up to the ST) will reveal
woman in red is known to be a vampire (he doesn’t know
that she is seen walking in several parts of the town in the
anything about Kindred in detail, but she feeds from
small hours, especially by the docks, along the strand (that
people of his class, although she’s never fed from him
personally). is, the length of beach running along the seashore). She is
rumoured to haunt the dark recesses of the Night Fair (the
Moll Brown, the Barmaid: Moll Brown is far too busy to reputable traders close their stalls after sunset, but
talk and far too tired to pay attention to the customers disreputable traders have the run of the place after dark),
beyond the very broadest terms. But she did take a to frequent bawdy houses in the less reputable parts of
particular interest in Elspeth Wright. She can say the town, and to be seen on occasion in the shadows of the
following:
castle.
• The witch-pricker stayed there a week past with a
Tracking her down takes five days minus one day for each
band of soldiers and her master.
success on appropriate rolls. Of course, the players might
• She and—Moll suspects—the rest of the soldiers, wind up catching her attention more directly.
seem to have spent a lot of time waiting while
See Meeting Dorotya below.
their master ran about town on various errands.

• Elspeth was beginning to worry about the

behaviour of her master.
My Lord Thorpe

I have spoken with your agent, and she has identified the signs by which
I might identify the Consorts of the Evil One.
Taking Captain Lane and Miss Wright, I shall pursue these evil-
doers and put them down by any means I am able. Per your instructions I
shall not permit them to be brought before the assizes.
Duty behoves me to inform you that I do not wholly trust your agent.
Although she is fair to look upon, the Malleus Maleficarum and the
Daemonologie both teach us to beware of those who would seduce us from the
way of Christ. I do not think her a Popist, but nor does she appear to hail
from good Reformist stock.
Despite these misgivings, I shall be obedient to your commands, and on
my return to the town I shall seek her out again at the Castle.

In Faith

Hopkins
Hunting in Scarborough • Her ghouls will each have Strength + Weaponry
pools of 6 and are armed with a variety of swords
Chances are good that the PCs will need to spend more and cudgels. They will all have two dots of
than one night in Scarborough, and if they do, they might Resilience, boosting their Health pools to 10.
draw attention to themselves. Variant RP notes are:
If a player hunts at the Night Market or near the castle, • Dark Fairytale: She is, in a very real sense, a
they will draw the attention of Skarthi, the vampire lord of murder of crows. A scavenger, a spy, and a thief,
Scarborough. Skarthi is one of exactly two permanent she is not to be trusted but will share wisdom
residents in the town (the other being his childe Adelaide) with the clever.
but there are a few more Kindred around for the fair
(Dorotya is one of these), but they will all have made their • Revenge Tragedy: Deep down, Adelaide is a
presence known to him on arrival. noblewoman and has a noblewoman’s ambition.
She will use whoever she needs to use to get what
Should the players keep away from the more closely she wants. And mostly she wants out of
scrutinized hunting grounds, they have more chance of Scarborough.
going undetected (not that they necessarily realize that
anybody might be watching out for them other than • Bloody Farce: Adelaide CBA with any of this.
mortal authorities. She can fly. Flying is awesome. Talking to random
neonates is not awesome.
If the player characters are feeding more discreetly then if
they get a Dramatic Failure on their feeding rolls (or if they During the fair, Skarthi is relatively lax about visitors to his
generally feed without attempting to cover their tracks, the territory (not that many vampires want to come to
they will also attract Skarthi’s attention. Scarborough the rest of the year) and so she will be fairly
open with the players as long as they stick by the rules.
A Visit from Adelaide Those rules are:

I have been watching you. • Stay away from the market, the castle and the
strand.
Adelaide is a woman of noble birth embraced some time in
the late thirteenth century. A relatively experienced • Don’t kill anybody and if you do, cover it up.
kindred of clan Gangrel, she has an affinity for corvidae,
and travels in the shape of a flock of crows. If the PCs • Don’t mess with the Church or the mortal
attract her attention she will appear before them and authorities.
demand an explanation.
In response to any questions the players might have, she
Adelaide will arrive with a number of ghouls equal to the can provided the following answers:
number of player characters (she’s not about to stumble
• She knows nothing about Hopkins or who he
into an ambush). She will be polite, but with an hauteur
works for.
that speaks to her aristocratic heritage. Her full details are
in the Dramatis Personae (Appendix Three) but the salient • She doesn’t know what happened to Barrow Tor
points are: or why.

• She has a Blood Potency of 5 (Vitae 13/4). • She knows that William Thorpe is a vampire at
the court of Estrid Svensdatter in York.
• She has four dots each in Animalism, Protean
and Resilience. • She knows that the woman in red is a vampire by
the name of Dorotya who has managed to
• Her Protean aspects are avian in nature.
inveigle her way into the household of Sir Ralph
• If it comes to a fight (and she will really try to Evers, keeper of the castle.
avoid it) she has a Defense of 6, a Strength +
• She can arrange a meeting with Skarthi if the
Brawl of 8. Her Health pool with be 13 thanks to
players wish—he lives on the cliffs above the town.
Resilience.
Speaking with Skarthi
Meeting Skarthi on the cliffs is entirely optional. He’s a
legit viking embraced some time in the late tenth century.
He is nominally a member of the Invictus and is
theoretically loyal to Estrid Svensdatter, although they tend
not to interact much in practice.

Just in case the players do want to start a fight:

• He has Blood Potency 5 (Vitae 15/5)

• He has five dots each in the Gangrel clan

disciplines (Animalism/Protean/Resilience) and
four dots each in Vigor and Celerity.

• His Strength + Brawl roll is 14 thanks to Vigor,

his Health pool is 15. His Defense is 10.

RP variants:

• Dark Fairytale: This guy is the Big Bad Wolf. He

lives in the wilds, he hunts where he will. Do any
of the PCs look like a girl in a red cloak?

• Revenge Tragedy: Skarthi is territorial, fiercely

so. Cross him in his domain and he will
eviscerate you.

• Bloody Farce: Skarthi is a cartoon viking. He

used to like drinking and fighting, now he’s a
vampire he can’t do the drinking, and he’s
annoyed about it. He is definitely played by Brian
Blessed.

He can tell the players little more than Adelaide can, but
he can add one or two minor details:

• He knows that William Thorpe is another

member of the Invictus, but that he is also a
devout Protestant.

• He knows that the Lancea et Sanctum are

currently undergoing major upheaval due to the
Reformation (not that the players are likely to
know who the Lancea et Sanctum are).

• If they mention that they are intent on vengeance

he will inform them that Estrid holds her domain
to a strict code of honor. Their best chance is
either to challenge the offending party to
holmgang or else to bide their time and build
influence before making their move.
Meeting Dorotya • That she is the ally of a vampire named William
Thorpe.
The woman in red is a vampire named Dorotya. She has • That Thorpe is based in York and is a devout
not actually been undead that long, having been embraced protestant (as is she, at least to some extent, it’s
about thirty years ago by a hungarian noblewoman named this that they’ve allied over).
Justina. Dorotya is in England as an agent of her mistress
who belongs to a strange group called the Ordo Dracul • That her role was to advise William Thorpe’s
which seems to be led by some voivode somewhere off in ghoul servant about where witches might be
the east. found and how they might be identified.

Dorotya is in England looking for secrets and allies, and • That yes, Hopkins reported back to her with
she is more than willing to work with or against the player certain information about the witchcraft practiced
characters as necessary. The players might reasonably be in Barrow Tor, and she directed him to return to
deeply narked with her for her role in sending the witch- York, having rewarded him with blood.
hunter to them.
• That she knew about the local witch-coven
Getting access to Dorotya involves finding her either at the because it is her business to investigate this sort of
castle or at one of her nightly haunts. Either of those are thing for her mistress and her mistress’ master.
possible and the actual mechanics of meeting her are going She will happily name her mistress as Justina de
to be similar either way. She will be happy to speak to the Horogzeg and her mistress’s master as the voivode
player characters, but will insist on doing so somewhere at Vladislav Dragulya.
least semi-public. She knows that she’s more vulnerable
• She will offer to arrange a meeting between the
than older kindred, and will consider the party a threat.
players and Thorpe, if they will let her accompany
If it comes to a fight, her key statistics are: them to York. She will also offer to introduce
them to the Court of the Regent of Northumbria,
• She has a Blood Potency of 1 (Vitae 10/1). where she has previously been introduced.
• She has three dots of Dominate, two of • If they physically threaten her she will try to
Resilience, and two of Coil of the Ascendant. explain (not totally insincerely) that trying
• She has a Defense of 3 and Strength + Brawl pool anything in front of mortals would be a bad idea,
of 4. She has 10 Health levels including and that the kindred authorities frown on the
Resilience. casual murder of vampires.

• She has a dice pool of 7 for Mesmerize and 8 for • If they really, really push it (that is, difficult
Entombed Command. She probably won’t try to Intimidation or Persuasion rolls) she will give
Dominate the PCs however. them an address in York at which Thorpe can be
reached. He stays at the Abbey Church of St
RP Variants: Mary.
• Dark Fairytale: She’s Little Red Riding Hood • If they really, really, really push it (using actual
who found she liked the wolf more than her Social Maneuvering vs 3 doors and an Average
grandmother and developed a taste for blood. attitude) she will also tell them that the Lancea et
Sanctum is in open conflict with Thorpe, and
• Revenge Tragedy: Dorotya is a piece in a very big
might back a play against him. They, she will
game. A tool in a very complex plan. Far away,
explain, are based around the Black Swan Inn in
her mistress’s master turns his gaze towards
Peasholme Green.
England.
• Dorotya actually knows more than she will let
• Bloody Farce: Dorotya is a young vampire and
on. She knows that Thorpe is looking for
she isn’t very good at vampiring yet.
something powerful underneath Barrow Tor, and
She will be completely open with the player characters that she worked with him to help get rid of the
about what is going on, not wishing to anger a potentially witches to grant access to it.
deadly band of enemies. She will be able to tell them the
following:
The Night Market Resources 4
A monkey’s paw: It’s expensive. It might grant wishes. If it
While the player characters are in Scarborough they can
does they’ll probably go very badly wrong.
take advantage of the Night Market. This is a gathering
place for esoteric traders from across England, Europe and A witch in a bottle: A silvered glass bottle that apparently
the Near East. If the players want to they can wander the has a witch trapped inside it. By default, this is a real witch
stalls and buy a variety of peculiar things, depending on (you can use the statistics for Alice in the Dramatis
how many dots of Resources they have. Personae below) who can be freed with a Crúac ritual
requiring Crúac 4 and 12 successes.
The players have no way of knowing in advance what these
things do, unless you want to be generous about it—this
isn’t intended as a chance for the PCs to “gear up”, it’s just
Resources 5
some quirky things that players can buy if they want to. A fragment of the true cross: Definitely 100% legit,
mounted in a gold setting. This will add two dice to
Resources 1 Theban Sorcery rolls and could potentially be very valuable
to a follower of the new religion.
A set of strange stones: A scattering of white stones carved
with runes. These act as an Equipment bonus adding one The skull of an actual dragon: At least, that’s what it looks
die to Crúac rolls. like. Like the unusually large teeth, this does nothing.
Unusually large teeth: A set of teeth from some creature
far larger than any living predator. This genuinely does
nothing.
Contingencies
Resources 2 The PCs Won in Chapter One
A werewolf’s skin: Of course it might be an ordinary wolf’s If the PCs didn’t die, then the embrace is run exactly the
skin… same way except that instead of the visions happening after
death, they happen in dreams when the characters fall
The finger-bones of a saint: Of course, they might just be asleep. Instead of waking to find themselves buried, they
anybody’s fingerbones. Still, they’ll give a one die bonus to will rise to find the aspect of the Goddess who appeared in
Theban Sorcery rolls, and might be valuable to people who their dream physically in the room with them (it is
follow the new religion. explicitly vague what this means). They will then be
embraced by a more normal method. The manifestation
Resources 3 will be gone when they awaken again from the Embrace.
A vial of vite: It’s two Vitae worth of kindred blood, stored
in a crystal vial that seems to preserve it magically. And The PCs Ran Away
what can you possibly lose by drinking strange blood? This
The PCs encounter the manifestations of the Goddess in
isn’t a standard Vitae Reliquary, which would fall apart
person. She is not happy. If they try to stick together she will
after it was drained.
separate them with handwavey shadow-powers (mists and
A silver sword: A rapier, specifically. Finely made but darkness will gather around them as they flee, drawing
definitely made from actual silver, which is a bad thing to them apart for the embrace).
make a sword out of. It has Damage 0 and lacks the
Armour piercing ability of a conventional rapier, but when
anointed with a Vitae/level of lethal damage worth of
The PCs Miss All the Clues
blood it will deal lethal damage to kindred for one scene You can be very generous with the clues, basically if they
(the act of anointing takes a turn, and can be done in suggest doing any investigation at all they’ll find the three
advance). major village clues (and these items can all be found in the
burned-out ruins of the village if it was destroyed). If they
really, really have no idea of where to go (and if they seem
actually uncertain rather than just not especially interested
in following the trail) then you can always have the
Goddess send them visions.
The PCs Don’t Want to Go to
Scarborough
If the players work out that they should go to Scarborough
to follow the trail but seem actually not to want to then …
things might have reached the point where you have to
start improvising. If they want to head straight to York
then you can move directly to Chapter Three. If they want
to generally roam the moors doing vampire stuff then
they’re free to do that.

The PCs Miss the Clues in

Scarborough
If worst comes to worst, Adelaide can find the PCs and
send them on to York herself. In the scenario as written
she is assumed not to know that the witch-finders work for
William Thorpe, but if she’s the only way to get that
information to them, don’t hesitate to use her.

The PCs Don’t Want to Go to York

Again, they might want to stay in Scarborough. It’s a small
town and it’s near the end of the fair, but they’ll have a
couple of weeks before they get forced to move on. If they
really want to embed themselves in the area they can enter
into a conversation with Skarthi about assigning them
some villages as their territory.

The PCs Want to Dig Up the Tor

This isn’t something they necessarily have the resources to
do—it’ll take a fairly major excavation requiring other
resources and then they’ll come upon the seal on the tomb
(see chapters four and five).
 Chapter Three: The Golden Hall
“The greatest of hall-buildings; Heorot he named it.
Who wide-reaching word-sway wielded ’mong earlmen.”
Beowulf
In this chapter the PCs arrive in York and come to the This being a relatively remote part of the World of
attention of the Kindred court. They take the opportunity Darkness (although not so remote as the PCs’ village) the
to investigate their enemies, and perhaps to build new villagers who the PCs meet along the way will be suspicious
alliances in the city. They learn more about the conflict of outsiders, which will make feeding non-trivial, but far
within the Lancea et Sanctum and how it has affected their from impossible.
coven.
At the King’s Head
Intended Outcome The King’s Head is a comfortable inn owned my a man
The PCs arrive in York, present themselves at the Court of named Matthew Chance and his wife Judeth Chance. They
Regent Estrid Svensdatter, and discover that getting have no children still at home. A troupe of travelling
revenge against Thorpe and his minion will be harder than players (that is, actors) are also staying at the inn. These
they thought. This should end with a bit of downtime are:
(okay, about forty years of downtime) while the PCs • John Heywood, leader of the company and
consolidate power. I appreciate that the players might really therefore leading man.
not want to take that much time off. As ever, there will be
contingencies for this. • Edmund Sly, stage beauty.

• Michael Browne, comedic actor.

Scene One: On the Road • Thomas Bird, tragic actor.
The journey from Scarborough to York is about thirteen • Divers extras and supporting cast.
hours on foot, somewhat less than that by wagon or on
horseback (again, vampires spook horses so that can be They are currently performing Macbeth, which is a
tricky). This really makes it more than one night’s journey. guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
If the players have made any kind of allies in Scarborough,
they will be able to send ahead to make arrangements for The travelling players have a patron in York named Fairfax
somewhere to stay (if not, see notes in the previous chapter who, like the PCs, has a tendency to travel by night and
about looking for shelter). There will be a coaching inn on very much keeps himself to himself.
the road by the name of the King’s Head, which the players
can try to arrange rooms at, although again keeping them
light-proof will be difficult (if they are travelling with
Scene Two: York
Dorotya she will use Dominate to convince the innkeeper York is an ancient city with a complicated history, having
to let them stay in the cellar and provide them with the played host to Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans in its
keys so that they may lock themselves in. time. It has been something of a focal point for the
religious conflicts of the last century, with some seeing it as
(It’s also worth pointing out that the road from
a bastion of Catholicism (that Guy Fawkes was born there
Scarborough to York passes through about a dozen other hasn’t entirely helped matters). It is still a walled city,
villages, and the PCs can reasonably stay in any one of
although those defences are less important in the age of
them, but wherever they choose to stay you can use a gunpowder, and they have been permitted to fall into
similar set of NPCs).
disrepair over the years. The streets are narrow as they
often are in cities of the period and lined with half-
timbered buildings with overhanging eaves. Students of
architecture might spot patches of Roman brickwork here
and there (you can tell because the bricks were better), and
the city is crisscrossed with tiny almost hidden paths that • They really need to present themselves at the
centuries from now will be called “snickleways”. Buildings Golden Hall or they’ll be in breach of Kindred
become more crowded on the east bank of the river Ouse, Law and will get utterly killed.
but in the bulk of the city they are frequently separated by
• The Golden Hall is one of the many Guildhouses
gardens, orchards, and open spaces.
that scatter York. Nominally headquarters to the
The players will enter the city through Monksgate (11 on Guild of Brewers, it’s actually the mead-hall of
the map overleaf), and will then basically have the run of Estrid Svensdatter, Regent of Northumbria.
the town. At least until somebody catches them.
• Thorpe is a well respected member of the court,
Like when the players arrived in Scarborough, the first and the Regent will be deeply upset if the players
problem facing the players will be finding shelter and food. screw with him

If they are with the players • Hopkins is Thorpe’s enforcer, and also enjoys the
protection of Kindred law.
Well this terminology is confusing. If the player characters • He will happily introduce them to the Court.
are travelling with the troupe of strolling players who they met
on the road from Scarborough then they will be able to
stay, for a while at least, with them in their lodgings in If they are with Dorotya
Goodramgate. They are staying at an inn called the Rose Dorotya can provide the players with rooms at in Petergate
run by a woman named Nell Porter. The Rose has a large —the voivode has arranged for the purchase of some
common room at one end of which the players are able to property where she can stay while representing the interests
set up a makeshift stage. of the Order.
They will also be able to introduce the PCs to their patron Dorotya will provide the players with much the same
Fairfax, who is a Daeva of the Invictus, a patron of the arts information that Fairfax can, along with any of the
and a potential introduction for the PCs to Kindred information she might have provided in the previous
society. chapter. She will recommend the Shambles to them for
hunting—it’s a less affluent area and less policed by the
Meeting Fairfax Court.
Fairfax is not especially political, he is a member of the
Invictus chiefly because they’re the default power structure
in England, especially now that the Lancea et Sanctum is
If they go after Thorpe Immediately
coming under fire (by “now”, of course, he means “since There’s a possibility that Dorotya will have told the players
about 1531” but this is vampire society we’re talking about where to find Thorpe, in which case they might charge
here). He’s primarily interested in art, patronising a headlong into a confrontation at the Abbey Church of St
number of troupes of players. Mary.

As ever, there’s no assumption that this comes to a fight, but This used to be an actual Abbey but that was dissolved in
if it does: 1540, and is now a set of variously abandoned buildings
including a church, the Abbot’s old house, a separate
• He has four dots in Majesty, two in Celerity and
chapel, and the Hospitium (a timber outbuilding).
two in Vigor.
Even knowing where he’s based, Thorpe isn’t actually that
• He has a Presence + Empathy + Majesty of 11 and
easy to find. The Abbot’s House itself is occupied by a
a Manipulation + Empathy + Majesty of 10.
group of mortals who claim to work for the Augmentations
• He has a Defence of 7, a Strength + Brawl of 7 Office, and the Hospitium is likewise occupied by mortals
and a Strength + Weaponry of 8 He has 8 Health who claim to have no idea who William Thorpe is. The
levels. Church itself is abandoned, as is the outlying chapel.
Beneath the church are catacombs.
He will be quite open and forthcoming with the players,
and will tell them the following:
Map of York—John Speed 1611
Infiltrating the Hospitium
The Hospitium is genuinely just a building that some
people live in. It is now owned by the crown and rented
out through the Augmentations Office, based in the old
Abbot’s House.

Getting into the Hospitium is semi-trivial—the people who

live there are no threat and have no information. But it is
still illegal, and a sloppy break-in is one of many things that
could attract the attention of either mortal or Kindred
authorities.

Infiltrating the Catacombs

The Abbey Church is close to being a ruin, although it is a
strange ruin. All of its finery was stripped away decades ago
and it is now a haunt for beggars.

Beggars in York follow a peculiar system introduced in the

early sixteenth century whereby each ward is appointed a
Master Beggar who was charged with distributing tokens to
other beggars giving them the right to operate within the
city. The Master Beggars now gather at the Beggar Court in
the ruins of Abbey Church.

In the catacombs beneath the Abbey Church lies the

Beggar King—a Nosferatu and the sire of William Thorpe
(who himself is based in the Augmentations Office). The
Beggar-King is a loyal servant of the Invictus but not
especially interested in the conflict with the Lancea et
Sanctum. If the players just blunder into his domain they
will likely come seriously unstuck.

• He has Blood Potency 5 (Vitae 15/5).

• He has 5 dots in each of Nightmare, Obfuscate,

and Vigor.

• He has a Strength + Brawl of 15, a defence of 4.

• He maintains several ghouls, each with Strength +

Melee of 7 (including two dots of Vigor).

• The church itself and the catacombs beneath are

an Oubliette.

The Beggar King is not an unreasonable person, and will

talk if the player characters approach respectfully (there is a
slim chance that they’ll win a straight fight as well, but it’s
not set up with the expectation that this will happen).
 The landlord of the Black Swan is a ghoul named Thomas
Middleton, and he maintains a number of lightproofed
• Dark Fairytale: The Beggar King is a monster out rooms off the cellar in which kindred can stay. The inn is
of legend, a shadow ever at the edge of vision, a also riddled with various secret rooms and priest-holes
whisper of strange things in the night. dating back to the early sixteenth century.
• Revenge Tradgedy: The Beggar King cares for his The players can be directed to the Black Swan by Dorotya,
people, truly cares for them, and anybody who by Fairfax, or by other members of the court.
feeds from a beggar without his leave earns a
relentless and implacable enemy, but that same Resident Kindred at the Black Swan are Dousabella,
affection might be his downfall. Matthias the Sorcerer and Brother Owen.

• Bloody Farce: The Beggar King is one part Foul

Ole Ron, one part Fagin. He’s a wily old coot,
Dousabella
and very, very smelly. Render unto God that which is God’s, and unto
He can explain to the PCs: Caesar that which is Caesar’s. But more things are
• That William Thorpe is his childe and under his God’s than the Princes of our kind will admit.
protection. Dousabella is a noblewoman, but a lay member of the
Lancea et Sanctum. She has ties to the Yorkist faction of
• That they really have to present themselves to the the Invictus (see below). She opposed the reformation of
Regent.
the Church in life, and continues to oppose the reforms in
• That there is presently a nationwide conflict death.
between the Invictus and the Lancea et Sanctum,
being fought under the shadow of mortal Matthias the Sorcerer
religious conflicts.
How interesting. Would you mind if I make notes?
Infiltrating the Augmentations Office For my research.
Thorpe usually isn’t actually in the Augmentations office, Matthias is an expert in Theban Sorcery. He is old,
he sleeps there during the day but by night is usually out although nobody is sure how old. He’s in many ways closer
and about during the night, being at about the age when to being a magician than a priest (hence his name). He will
Kindred get super politically active. be deeply fascinated by the notion of Crúac, although he
will be suspicious of the ways it differs from the practices
The Augmentations office is guarded by two ordinary he understands.
guards (Defence 3, Strength + Weaponry 5, Dex + Firearms
6) and two ghouled guards (Defence 3, Strength +
Weaponry 7, Dex + Firearms 6, Vigor 2). It’s also an
Brother Owen
official government building which makes breaking into it This too shall pass.
rather tricky unless they go heavy on the disciplines. Brother Owen is a neonate, once a Jesuit priest, he’s had a
The documents in the Augmentations Office detail the pretty crappy time of it. He was embraced in 1605 by
crown’s administration of confiscated Church property, Dousabella, who wanted somebody to act as her agent
but do not explain where Hopkins or Thorpe are. amongst mortal insurrectionists, but he’s still relatively new
to this whole business and is struggling somewhat with
The Black Swan having come really close to being martyred for his faith and
instead finding himself reborn as an undead monstrosity.
The Black Swan Inn is where the Roman faction of the
Lancea et Sanctum is now based. It’s a white timber-framed The player characters can strike whatever deals they like
inn just around the corner from Monksgate and the old with the Roman faction of the Lancea et Sanctum. They
Jewish quarter (which actually goes by the rather are Catholics and so not super fond of witches, but they’re
unfortunate name of “Jewbury” and no longer serves its also sorcerers and so understand that magic has its place,
original purpose following the expulsion of the Jews in plus they have a whole new appreciation of what it’s like to
1290). be a persecuted religious minority, and wars make strange
bedfellows.
Attracting Attention Scene Three: the Golden Hall
The player characters are very likely to attract attention at
Hopefully, one way or another the player characters will
some point. They will come to the attention of the
arrive at the Court of the Regent of Northumbria.
Kindred Court in one of several ways:
The Golden Hall is technically the Brewers’ Guildhouse,
• If they formally present themselves, which they
but in practice it is the private residence of the Regent.
will be advised to by several other kindred.
At court will be as many as you think you can practically
• If they move against Thorpe or the
introduce of the following:
Augmentations Office directly.
• Regent Estrid Svensdatter, a surprisingly short
• If they continue to stay and feed in York without
woman—perhaps five foot four or five foot five,
presenting themselves.
she has a strange intensity about her that
If they don’t present themselves in a few nights (depending commands attention. A Daeva of the Invictus.
on how subtle they’re being, the players will be accosted at
• Her enforcer Harald. He is tall, bearded, and
some point within their first week in York) they will be
carries a basket-hilted sword. He’s profoundly
accosted by Harald, childe of Estrid.
loyal to Estrid, but otherwise uninterested in
politics. Also a Daeva, also Invictus.
Harald • The elusive William Thorpe. A Nosferatu of the
Harald’s job is to enforce the will of Estrid. He is brusque classic balding, hunched, taloned variety. He is a
and wholly unwilling to engage in small talk, at least of the member of the Invictus but is also a passionate
polite variety. He is fond of poetry, song, and general reformer.
bonhomie, but not while he’s working. He will arrive with
ghouls backing him up, but unless the PCs have built some • The Sanctified Bishop Peter de Vaux. Once
terrifying combat characters they’re unlikely to pose much considered a heretic, now leader of the dominant
threat to him. faction of the Lancea et Sanctum in England. A
Mekhet, if it matters.
If it comes to a fight (as ever, it shouldn’t, as ever, players
are unpredictable) he has the following key features: • Aaron, an Unaligned kindred who the court
tolerates because of his considerable value as a
• Blood Potency 5, Celerity 5, Vigor 5, Majesty 3, scholar of Kindred lore.
Resilience 3
• Selby, an Invictus of the mercantile faction (see
• Strength + Weaponry 15, Defence 12, 12 Health below). Ventrue.
Levels
• Domino another mercantile Invictus. Mekhet.
If they aren’t fighting, he can and will escort them to the
Golden Hall. • Dousabella, a Ventrue noblewoman of the
Catholic faction of the Lancea et Sanctum (and
• Dark Fairytale: Harald is a tempter and a warrior, the only member of that band permitted at court,
a man of fearsome passions and fearsome temper. and only because of the historical ties between
Not wicked, but not entirely safe. her bloodline and the Invictus.
• Revenge Tragedy: Harald is truly and genuinely • Cecylle, a Ventrue noblewoman of the Yorkist
in love with Estrid. Should anything happen to lineage and Dousabella’s sire.
her he will pursue the perpetrator to destruction—
his and theirs. • Henry Wryneck, A Ventrue nobleman of the
Lancastrian lineage.
• Bloody Farce: Harald is, not to put too fine a
point on it, a dirty old man. Sort of a slightly • Adam Fitzroy, a Nosferatu nobleman. Notable
sexier Sid James. for his clan curse not marring his looks.
 • Eleanor de la Zouche, a Nosferatu noblewoman, • The Yorkists: Another subfaction of the Invictus,
childe of Adam Fitzroy. Like her sire her clan represented at court by Cecylle. The Lancastrian
curse does not manifest in physical deformity. and Yorkist Ventrue bloodlines have been at each
other’s throats for more than two hundred years.
• Joan of Acre, a Ventre noblewoman. An Invictus
of the line of Constantine. • The Independents: Not all Kindred are
associated with an identifiable faction. Adam
Factions at Court Fitzroy and Eleanor de la Zouche tend to play
kingmaker (or queenmaker) in city politics, while
Any Kindred court is complicated, and the Court of York Aaron tries very much to stay out of things,
is no exception. The major players are: offering advice to any that need it. If the players
met Fairfax at the Rose, he’s also counted as an
• The Danes: The regent, her childe, and their
independent although he’s nominally a Dane
followers. These kindred have strong ties to the
being a descendent of Estrid.
Norse heritage of York and the Danelaw. This
faction includes Estrid, Harald and (in The rough breakdown of the setting is that the Danes are
Scarborough), Skarthi and Adelaide. Most of the supported by the Mercantilists who like their laissez-faire
territory outside of York is held by those loyal to attitude to governance, and are opposed by the
the Danish faction. They care for little but the Constantinians who wish for York to return to theocractic
stability of the Kindred territories of rule by the Lancea et Sanctum. The Reformers are
Northumbria. opposed to the Constantinians and therefore support the
Danes. The Yorkists have blood ties to the Constantinians
• The Reformers: Includes William Thorpe and
and oppose the Mercantilists, therefore they occupy
Peter de Vaux, also nominally includes the
something of a role as loyal opposition. They’re Invictus
Beggar King, although his motives are mysterious.
insiders and don’t want to rock the boat, but they’re
Including members of both the Lancea et
playing their cards close to their chest in case Constantine
Sanctum and the Invictus, they are strongly tied
returns some day. The Lancastrians oppose the Yorkists
to protestantism and Parliament.
and therefore support the Danish/Mercantilist alliance by
• The Constantinians: This includes Dousabella, default. The Independents currently back the Danes but
along with several Sanctified who are not make it very clear that they’re open to better offers.
welcome at court and Joan of Acre. They are loyal
to a now dormant Kindred named Constantine
(after the emperor, but not himself the emperor
An Audience with the Regent
by all accounts). A powerful member of the You are welcome in my lands, but you must abide by
Lancea et Sanctum, Constantine ruled York as a
my laws.
stronghold of the Covenant for some centuries
before falling to Torpor and permitting the Danes One way or another, the player characters will almost
to take over. certainly eventually come before the Regent of
Northumbria.
• The Mercantilists: A subfaction of the Invictus,
the Mercantilists are only nominally associated Estrid is a short woman, but possesses a commanding
with the feudal structure of the Invictus, being far presence. She is not ambitious precisely, being of a lineage
more interested in trade and politics. They that, despite their nominal association with the Invictus is
include Selby and Domino. mostly dedicated to a principle of leaving well alone
(although this is in some ways quite politically astute—
• The Lancastrians: A subfaction of the Invictus, many Kindred strongly prefer their governments to be non-
although less powerful in York for obvious interventionist).
reasons, represented at court by Henry Wryneck.
Primarily concerned with their rivals, the • Dark Fairytale: The Regent of Northumbria is a
Yorkists. goblin-queen, a wicked enchantress, at once
beautiful and terrible. She sits on a high throne
in the high north and speaks in riddles.
 • Revenge Tragedy: The Regent of Northumbria Thorpe and de Vaux are primarily interested in purging
prizes freedom above all else. It was this that led England of Roman influence. The attack on the Witches
her to turn on Constantine and the Lancea of Barrow Tor was an effort to clear the area of
Sanctum, and this that will ultimately bring her supernatural influences so that the Reformers, supported
down. by the Ordo Dracul, could enter the barrow beneath the
hill, which they believe contains something powerful and
• Bloody Farce: Estrid is kind of … sarcastic? She valuable.
has little tolerance for nonsense and expects
people to behave similarly. The Constantinians
The players may deliver whatever demands or entreaties If the players are more obviously hostile to Thorpe then
they wish, and Estrid will hear them on their merits, but they are likely to attract the favour of the Constantinians,
there is an extent to which her hands are tied. Thorpe is who really just want to get the Reformers off their backs.
under her protection (as are the rest of the Kindred in the Joan of Acre will be interested recruiting the players into
city, but Thorpe is a member of her Covenant and a her search for Constantine, who has been lost and
supporter of her claim, albeit a reluctant one). (presumably) in torpor for three centuries.
She is more than happy for the player characters to stay in If the PCs are open about the existence of Crúac the
York, although she advises them that they should restrict Constantinians will explain to them about Theban Sorcery
their feeding to the villages outside the walls, since territory and that part of the Reformers’ zeal against witchcraft is a
within the city proper is already divided amongst the more
consequence of their desire to purge the sorcerers from the
established Kindred.
Lancea Sanctum.
If the PCs play their cards right (that is, with successful
rolls on Politics and/or Persuasion) they might also be able The Mercantilists
to get the Regent to grant them specific rights to the North The Mercantilists are fairly laissez-faire about new Kindred,
York Moors, with its several villages including, of course, as long as they aren’t bad for business the Mercantilists
Barrow Tor. could not conceivably care less. That said they’re also
usually happy to keep their eyes open for new
Doing Politics opportunities, and a band of new vampires with access to
previously unknown powers isn’t something they’ll pass up
At the Court of the Regent, the player characters might
on.
well want to see what kinds of deals or bargains they can
make with the other players at court. The mercantilists know a bit about what the Reformers are
up to—they know there’s something powerful and mystical
The Danes on the moors, and they know that the Reformers want to
use it against the Constantinians. They tend to prefer
The Regent and her supporters are primarily interested in
staying the hell away from that kind of thing, seeing no
maintaining the status quo. There is little they want
profit in it. They can suggest to the players that if they
besides the thwarting of other factions’ schemes, but they
really want to get revenge against Thorpe quickly, they can
will be more than happy to help the coterie establish
challenge him to the holmgang.
themselves in return for assurances of loyalty and
assistance in retaining control.
The Lancastrians
The Reformers There is only one Lancastrian in York (for obvious
reasons), that being Henry Wryneck. He’s nominally a
Unless they explain explicitly who they are, Thorpe and de
supporter of the Danes but his primary goal is to mess with
Vaux have no especial reason to mistrust the visiting
his ancestral rivals. If the players are willing to work with
Kindred, and so if they do play things subtly (Manipulation
him to undermine the Yorkists he’ll be happy to back
+ Subterfuge being the most likely rolls) they could
them in getting revenge against Thorpe. He can suggest the
potentially strike up an alliance with the Reformers (the
holmgang, although he will also point out that unless one
Goddess would understand the need for deception in
of the PCs is very good in a fight they’re unlikely to
service to vengeance).
succeed.
The Yorkists • The fight is strictly single combat, although
combatants may be represented by a champion if
Having blood ties to the Constantinians, the Yorkists they wish.
instinctively oppose the Reformers and will jump at the
chance to take William Thorpe down a peg or two. They • The fight lasts until incapacity, submission, or
will explain about the holmgang, but also point out that final death.
Thorpe is old and powerful (plus Nosferatu get Vigor).
Thorpe, being a devout Protestant is utterly galled at the
They will recommend staying in the city a while and
idea of being asked to participate in anything so pagan as a
building up a power base.
ritual combat, but he’s also aware that it’s not something
he can easily get out of. Knowing that the player characters
The Independents are witches, he will be very wary for treachery, but he will
Adam de Fitzroy and Eleanor de la Zouche will advise the show up to the fight, largely because he doesn’t have a
players to play the long game, and will recommend staying choice.
out of the Reformer/Constantinian conflict because
If a player does challenge Thorpe to holmgang, he will
religious wars always end badly. Aaron will suggest keeping
have no choice but to accept and both parties will be given
their heads down, but will let them know that he’s a
one month to prepare (that’s a reasonably long time for a
scholar and for appropriate concessions he can let them
duel, but we’re working on Kindred schedules here).
have access to his libraries.

This whole scene is intentionally open-ended and should

be played out very much however you normally play out
Scene Four: Holmgang
however you would normally play an Elysium scene. A month after the challenge, if the players challenged
Thorpe (and they don’t have to, and they might not) then
The Challenge he will meet them at the crossroads northeast of York
(heading towards Scarborough).
If the players want to jump right to the chase, they can
challenge William Thorpe to the holmgang. This isn’t In attendance will be Estrid, Skarthi, Harald, Adelaide,
necessarily the best plan, because he has a good couple of Thorpe, de Vaux, Aaron and anybody else the players
centuries on the PCs, but then again the players are have talked into coming to support them.
vampires and they can always cheat. Of course so can he.
The combat itself is fairly straightforward. The spectators
Kindred are by their nature cynical beings, and so even a form a circle around the duellists around twenty feet in
ritual duel is not considered exactly sacred or anything so diameter, and the battle is expected to stay within the
woolly as a matter of honour but Estrid and the other circle. Stepping outside deliberately is considered
Danish vampires take it very seriously none the less. It has cowardice, constitutes loss of the holmgang, and is
rules, and breaking those rules would lead to a sentence of punishable by niþing. Being forced outside the circle does
outlawry (niðing or niþing in the parlance of the Danelaw). not count as defeat—this isn’t sumo or Soul Calibur.
Given how violent Kindred society can be, the protection
of its few rules is kind of vital for the survival of younger Remember that the player will get 8-again on rolls in
kindred, so this is worse than it might sound. combat against Thorpe owing to the Tasked condition.

The rules of the holmgang are: This is a straight fight. And you’re going to need to play it
by ear. Also because it’s a straight up fight, here’s a full
• Combatants may fight unarmed or with a single character sheet for Thorpe.
personal weapon and/or shield. Projectile
weapons of any kind are forbidden. William Thorpe
• The fight takes place at a crossroads at midnight William Thorpe was once a Templar, and his grudge
and must be contained entirely within the against the Constantinians and the Church is very much
prepared space. the zeal of a convert. After the suppression of his order in
1312 he became convinced of the corruption of both the
• Sorcery (in this context Theban Sorcery and Roman Church and the crowned heads of Europe. His
Crúac but not vampiric disciplines, even mental Protestantism is genuine (he’s a sincerely pious man in a
ones) is forbidden. lot of ways) but his desire to purify the Lancea et Sanctum
is as personal as it is philosophical.
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 3
(8), Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 / Presence 2, Manipulation 2,
Composure 3

Skills: Academics 2, Investigation 1, Occult 2, Politics 3 /

Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Drive 1, Stealth 3, Survival 1,
Weaponry 4 / Animal Ken 1, Empathy 1, Intimidation 1,
Persuasion 1

Disciplines: Obfuscate 2, Vigor 5, Nightmare 2

Blood Potency: 5

Willpower: 6

Defence: 6

Health: 8

Speed: 11

Initiative: 6

Note that Thorpe is a kind of a combat character—he used

to be a knight and he was never hugely politically astute.
Taking him down by politics is actually a lot easier than
taking him out in a straight fight, especially straight single
combat.

Designer’s Note: I put Thorpe together with an emphasis

on fairness (he’s loosely built using the 35XP package for
“movers and shakers” which makes him fairly weak, but it
seems a little inappropriate to put the players into single
combat with somebody completely unbeatable). If your
players have built highly effective combat builds then by all
means throw a couple more dots down).

Notes on Cheating
The players are quite likely to want to cheat in a bunch of
ways. They might want to use Crúac, they might want to
use mental disciplines. Aaron is here fairly specifically to
watch for unnatural intervention using Auspex (de Vaux
will be doing the same but isn’t considered impartial).

Adelaide will be watching in swarm-of-crows form, making

it quite difficult for people to sneak around since she has
keen eyesight and fully expects one side or the other to be
trying something.

Crúac is probably the easiest way to tip scales in your

favour—it’s new to the court and so they won’t necessarily
recognise its effect (although remember that Kindred
automatically know if they’ve been affected by Blood
Sorcery).

Consequences
If the holmgang happens, then the players have made a
gigantic step towards avenging the village (although there’s The Players Declare Job Done
still Hopkins to think about). It doesn’t have to happen, it If the players manage to kill Thorpe (which they might)
might not even be the best way for the players to get what they may also decide that that’s it—that they’ve got revenge
they’re after, but there’s a couple of major points of for their village and they can pack up and go home. That’s
divergence from here. completely valid, this does represent something of an end-
point (or a mid-point at least) in the narrative. There’s a
If the Players Win deliberate pause here and the expectation of downtime to
It’s entirely possible for Thorpe to die in the holmgang, follow.
and that’s fine. He’s tough but not indestructible.
On which subject.
Anything he might need to do in the next couple of
sections can be done by the Beggar King or de Vaux. They
will make serious enemies of both of these vampires (the The Players Really Want to Push It
Beggar King otherwise wouldn’t have a problem with The flip side of the players deciding that they’ve done what
them, but he’s very protective of his progeny) but it will they need to do is their deciding that they need to go hell
earn them the respect and to some extent protection of for leather to get revenge right the hell now. In theory, this is
Estrid. The custom of the Court is that there is no reprisal what the homgang is for—and it’s part of the reason that
for deaths in holmgang, but obviously that doesn’t actually Thorpe is statted up to be at least vaguely beatable.
work in practice.
It’s completely fine for the PCs to just keep pushing for
Thorpe will yield if he’s obviously outclassed, and the Thorpe—hopefully there’s enough detail about the players
players will be expected to respect a surrender. in the city and who precisely hates whom for the ST to
Winning the holmgang pretty much guarantees the players’ adjudicate whatever plan the players come up with.
rights to the moors and the Tor. Hopefully between the option to challenge Thorpe to
single combat and the option to kill time for a few decades
If the Players Lose there will be something reasonable for the PCs to do.
It’s also very possible for the players to lose the holmgang.
Thorpe is perfectly willing to accept a player character’s
surrender—he follows a deeply ingrained code of honour.
The Players Want to Leave York
He’s also entirely happy to put the whole quarrel behind Having got here, the players might want to get the heck out
him. Although he sent the witch hunters after Barrow Tor of York. And that’s the point at which the player
his real targets are the sorcerers of the Lancea et Sanctum. characters have pretty much gone further off-book than I
He would even be willing to ally with the players (which is can reasonably plan for.
probably unlikely but players are unpredictable).

Contingencies
Hoo boy this can go a bunch of different ways. This
chapter is fairly close to being “seventeenth-century York
by night” and the players can go a lot of different ways.

The Players Try to Kill Everything

It’s always worth planning for, although chances are you’re
better at handling your own players than I am. I’ve tried to
provide enough base statistics that fight scenes will at least
be fairly smooth to run.
 Chapter Four: Civil War
“… no earthly power can justly call me (who am your King) in question as a delinquent ... this day's proceeding
cannot be warranted by God's laws; for, on the contrary, the authority of obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted,
and strictly commanded in both the Old and New Testament”
Charles I, in response to his trial for tyranny
Time passes.

The next major beat in this Chronicle doesn’t take place

Downtime
What with one thing and another, thirty years pass (thirty
until 1644, when Hopkins returns to York in the buildup
two years if we’re being technical). The players are almost
to the siege of York. Following the signing of the Solemn
certainly doing stuff.
League and Covenant, a Scottish army is marching south
into England in support of the Parliamentarian cause and As a basic consequence of the passage of time characters
thanks to the machinations of the Reformer Kindred, gain Ten Experiences (this isn’t a huge amount over thirty
rumours have been spread of witchcraft at work in York. years although I suppose it’s about the amount you need to
take an ordinary skill from nothing to world class
For the Reformers, this is an opportunity to use mortal
performance, so it kind of tracks). In addition there are
violence and bloodshed as a pretext to settle old scores
some other effects of time passing which throw out some
against the Constantinians. For the Lancastrians and
freebies (or drawbacks):
Yorkists it’s an opportunity to go over old graves. For the
Regent of Northumbria it’s a threat to the stability of her • Everybody experiences a single Breaking Point
rule. against their current Humanity (you’re bound to
do something in ten years).
Intended Outcome • Everybody gains a dot of City Status (York) for
Hopefully the players will be happy enough to take a few free unless they screwed up really badly in the
decades of downtime while they settle into building a previous chapter (in particular, if they lost or
power base in York. If they’re not happy with downtime cheated in the holmgang they will have no status
then it’s perfectly reasonable to either bring this chapter up in the city at all).
in time (the time-skip is partly for the parallels with the
Further, they may select some of the following bonuses to
mortal civil war, partly to give the PCs time to start
represent the things they’ve been doing in the last decade:
building up their resources and influence).
• Delve into Mystical Secrets: Gain a dot of
Back in uptime, the assumption here is that the players will
Occult, learn a Crúac Rite at a level you are
jump at the chance to avenge themselves on Hopkins (now
capable of casting, gain a dot in the Library merit.
going by Matthew rather than John and having a
significantly higher public profile). If they don’t, that’s fine • Spread the Word of the Goddess: Gain a dot of
(although if they’ve given up trying to kill the person who Persuasion, gain a dot in Herd, gain two dots in
killed them, you might need to have a conversation about Mystery Cult Initiation.
what they’re interested in doing).
• Jump into Kindred Politics: Gain a dot of
This is another fairly open-ended chapter in which the deal Politics, a dot of Subterfuge, and a dot of the
is that there’s conflict in the city, and the players get to Allies Merit.
take sides and settle scores.
• Fight to Maintain Your Humanity: Gain a dot of
Empathy or Animal Ken. Gain an additional
Touchstone. You do not suffer a Breaking Point
this downtime.
 • Pursue Material Wealth: Gain two dots of the
Resources Merit, and a dot each in the Retainer,
Excavating the Tor
Staff and Haven merits. This gets its own subheading because there are actual
mechanics involved. There’s no need for the players to do
• Pursue Perfection: Gain a dot in your best skill this (indeed they have very good reasons not to) but if they
(or second best skill, if below five), and the Area do want to dig up the sacred hillside where they worship
of Expertise merit. they’ll need a ton of stuff. In particular:
• Revel in Vampirism: Gain a dot in a Clan • Resources 4 or 4 dots worth of appropriate
discipline, gain the Atrocious, Cutthroat or Status/Allies/Contacts to fund it. Because Merits
Enticing merit. Suffer an additional Breaking increase exponentially in value, characters can’t
Point against Humanity 4. pool their Merit dots on this one.
If there are other things the player characters want to do, • A team of either Staff or Retainers to actually do
feel free. Generally what I’ve aimed for here is five the digging. This requires 5 dots total but they
Experiences distributed sub-optimally (note that the last can be spread between characters.
two options are clearly more useful, hence awarding fewer
Experiences worth of stuff). It will take several months to excavate the hill, and during
these months the players (if they are still bound to the
Subplots and Vignettes Goddess, see below) will experience dreams of the Goddess
during which she will warn them that digging up the hill is
There’s a good chance that the player characters will have a bad idea. If they proceed they will find an ancient burial
specific things that they want to do in the intervening three chamber (see chapter five).
decades. If your intent is to run side-stories in between
chapters three and four then you might want to take out Losing My Religion
the packages above (chances are you’ll get the equivalent in Having left Barrow Tor it’s possible that some player
earned Experiences from actual gameplay). characters may start to drift away from their original faith.
Some plot-hooks that might crop up over the next three Honestly I suspect that this is unlikely, but they’re
decades: interacting with devout Christians and they’ve met a
member of the Ordo Dracul and could theoretically be
The players might specifically want to gain control of swayed by either their philosophies or their cool powers.
feeding grounds, which will require them to perform
specific service for the Regent. She will require messages More practically, the Rite of the Chalice blood binds the
carried throughout her realm, which extends as far north PCs to the Goddess (and renders them immune to other
as Edinburgh. blood bonds) but if they aren’t continuing with the ritual
its effects will eventually wear off (there will be the usual
You might also want to have a think about the players’ withdrawl effects from Vitae addiction). Some events in
Touchstones, who will be ageing over the next year. Will chapter five will play out differently if the player characters
the players want to ghoul them? To Embrace them? The are not bound to the Goddess.
Embrace is less restricted by law in Northumbria (but
remember it’s an automatic Humanity loss in addition to
the Breaking Point from ageing, ghouling a Touchstone
Notes on Scenes
would also potentially constitute a Breaking Point). Like several of the other chapters, the “scenes” in this
chapter are somewhat flexible and can go in whichever
The items that the players might or might not have
order you feel is appropriate. Most of them are optional,
purchased from Scarborough Fair could be investigated.
depending on what the player characters choose to focus
I’ve left them deliberately vague, but if you want to attach
on or be interested in.
plot hooks to them.

The standing stone on Barrow Tor might also be

something the players want to investigate. If they’ve
learned that Thorpe was looking for something mysterious
below the Tor they might want to start looking into it, but
they will need to properly excavate it.
Scene One: A Lost Witch Early in 1644, any character who is paying attention to
occult activity or attempting to build a witch-cult will
notice the arrival of a woman from Scotland by the name
of Alanis Seaton. She is a little under thirty, and
demonstrates genuine knowledge of Crúac. She is staying
at the Old Star Inn, which is tucked down a snickelway in
Stonegate. Alanis Seaton has come to York specifically to
follow rumours of a powerful coven of witches, who she
hopes might help her against her enemies.

Alanis
I came south for you. I need your help and I’ll not go
home without it.
Alanis is afraid that Scotland is falling more and more
under the sway of Presbyterianism, and is hoping that the
Witches of York will be able to help her enact a ritual to
strike down the Covenanters who currently march south
towards York. If the players don’t come to find her she’ll
come to find them) she will use magic to do this, and
owing to the Kindred ability to detect Blood Sorcery they
will be aware that somebody is trying to perform rituals on
them.

• Dark Fairytale: Alanis is lost in the dark of the

woods. She has a little power but has no idea
what she’s about to touch.

• Revenge Tragedy: Alanis has already lost the rest

of her coven to the Covenanters and will do
anything to get back at them. She will make any
pact and strike any bargain.

• Bloody Farce: Alanis is really, really, really out of

her depth. She can do magic, but she has no clue
about vampires and is constantly surprised by
how weird things get when sorcery is involved.

Alanis has two jobs, one is to provide an opportunity for

the players to start recruiting if they haven’t already, the
other is to give them warning that the Covenanters are
coming. On a purely practical level, she also provides them
with access to additional Crúac rites.

Scene Two: the Herald

In April 1644 the town of Selby falls to the
Parliamentarians. At around the same time a herald arrives
in York from the Scottish Kindred who are travelling south
with the Covenanter (Scottish Presbyterian) army marching
down from County Durham.
Because of the peculiar lag between Kindred and mortal • Bloody Farce: Margaret is loyal to Constantine
society, there’s a slightly odd situation in which the but fantastically bumbling. She really wants to put
Scottish army is largely Presbyterian but the Kindred who her guy in command but has a tendency to really
march with it are primarily Catholic (Scotland having been annoy people and arbitrarily murder people who
a bastion of Catholicism pretty much until the death of might be useful to her.
Mary, Queen of Scots). In particular, the Scots kindred at
least claim that Constantine is marching with them, having
gone north three centuries earlier to bring the Scottish
Outline of the Siege
branch of the Lancea et Sanctum into alignment with Kindred warfare is both nasty and slow. They don’t have
Roman orthodoxy. armies, they have agents and they also have all the time in
the world.
The arrival of the Herald is a peculiar “scene” because it’s
an event that will impact the player characters even if they Of course while Kindred warfare is fairly slow, mortal
don’t witness it. If the player have suggested that their warfare is a little faster (sieges get a lot quicker once cannon
characters spend a lot of time at court, attending on the come into the picture).
Regent directly or ortherwise playing the games of Kindred
politics, then it is reasonable to assume that they’ll be Over the next few days the Covenanter armies will arrive
around when the Herald shows up. If they aren’t, that’s within striking range of the walls of York—walls that will be
fine, don’t force them. swiftly reinforced with an elaborate system of trenches.

By June 3rd the Parliamentarians (having been reinforced

Margaret the Blind by the Earl of Manchester) have begun bombarding the city
with cannon and by June 8th the Royalist (under the
By the grace of God and in accordance with the command of Marquis of Newcastle) forces in the city have
teachings of Longinus, I bear the words of Constantine, been forced to withdraw inside the walls and set fire to the
suburbs in the east.
Prince-Bishop of Northumbria.
Margaret is an old Scottish woman in the habit of a On June 16th Parliamentarian forces breach the walls of
Cistercian nun. Her eyes are milky with cataracts but she the old Abbey (much to the consternation of the Kindred
seems acutely aware of her surroundings, but then as a who make their Havens there) and the final surrender
Mekhet she has access to Auspex alongside the ability of comes a month later on July 14th.
vampires to hear heartbeats.

She arrives in York and presents herself formally to Estrid.

Scene Three: War in the
She also announces that the Prince-Bishop of Northumbria
has returned from the long sleep. He thanks her, so the
Herald says, for her good work in maintaining the stability
Shadows
of the territory during his long absence, but respectfully Running a war for a city is fiddly, because this is very much
asks that she stand aside and acknowledge his return. a question of covert operations. Further, the player
characters are not at all guaranteed to be on either side of
• Dark Fairytale: Margaret is the priestess and the the conflict.
witch at once. Her knowledge of Theban Sorcery
and her Mekhet bloodline make her strange and
shadowy presences at court.
Choosing Sides
Estrid isn’t anywhere near as megalomaniacal as Invictus
• Revenge Tragedy: Margaret is loyal to often are (her culture was a lot more communally focused
Constantine to the point of fanaticism. She will than that) but there are some things she won’t be able to
pursue what she perceives as his interests to the bear and openly supporting another contender for the
point of chaos and destruction. throne is one of them.

As a result, she will summon all the Kindred in York to her

hall and ask everybody to formally declare where they
stand.

• Those who declare for Constantine are

immediately expelled from the city. This includes
 Dousabella, Joan of Acre, Matthias the Sorcerer the PCs sided with Constantine openly, in which case he
and Brother Owen. will priorities the players’ coven.

• Those who declare for Estrid are asked to swear a Either way, unless PC action makes it improbable, Alanis
blood-oath to her rule, notarised by Selby of the (being an actual Scottish witch, although ironically
Mercantilists. This is equivalent to either the working against the Scottish army rather than for it as
Oath of Fealty, the Oath of Serfdom or the Oath Hopkins believes) will get swept up in the investigation as
of Action. Non-Invictus may swear any of these well.
Oaths that do not require Invictus status.
The arrival of Matthew Hopkins in York will be well
• Those who declare Neutrality are not asked to publicised, and the PCs will have plenty of room to take
pledge any Oaths or to leave the city, but are him down by whatever methods are now available to them
stripped of their feeding grounds, those territories with a bit more experience under their belts (or not, maybe
along with those of the expelled Constantinians they’re forgiving sorts).
are distributed amongst the loyalists.

The benefits of swearing loyalty to Estrid here are

immediate—the characters will gain the benefits of
whatever Oath they swear, along with 1-2 dots of the
Feeding Grounds merit. The benefits of siding with
Constantine are somewhat more nebulous, since he will
only be of any help if he actually wins.

By default the Constantinians will side with Constantine Historical Sidebar—Matthew Hopkins
(obviously), the Reformers and Mercantilists will side with Matthew Hopkins is a real historical figure, and was
Estrid while the other factions will remain neutral. This nowhere near York at this time. The real witch-finder
will result in the seizure of their holdings and the general was active for only a few years, died in his late
redistribution of their feeding grounds to loyalists. twenties, and by some measures is considered
responsible for some three hundred executions for
Opening Salvoes witchcraft. An especially large number when you
consider that only five hundred such executions are
Unless the PCs drive the action, not a lot will happen for ever recorded as having taken place in all of English
the rest of April. Aaron will leave the city, taking his history.
library with him and the Constantinians will decamp from
the Black Swan leaving only Dousabella (who enjoys at
least a little protection from the Yorkists).

The first major event will occur in May 1644 when

Matthew Hopkins, Witch-Finder General will arrive in
York. He has heard that there are witches marching with
the Scottish army and is determined to root them out. Bombardments
If Hopkins survived chapter one then this will be the By June 3rd the Parliamentarians will be bombarding the
same ghoul that persecuted the witches of Barrow Tor forty city with cannon, and this will be the Kindred’s cue to start
years earlier. If he died in that chapter, then Matthew blowing up their rivals while under cover of, well,
Hopkins is a different person (in this version of events, cannonfire.
Matthew Hopkins will not be a ghoul, so will lack
Disciplines and ghoul-specific merits, which will make him The PCs are now established enough that they should be
a lot easier to deal with). perfectly capable of taking the initiative in this kind of
score-settling, whether they know how to get hold of
Ghoul or not, Hopkins is having his strings pulled by the gunpowder is another matter of course (then again, they
Reformers, who will point him and his men (see chapter can do magic, and there’s more than one way to cause an
one or the appendix for game mechanics) directly at the explosion).
most magically capable of their enemies. This will be the
Constantinians in York (Dousabella and Margaret) unless
If the players don’t attempt anything, then any enemy Extinguishing the fuse on a barrel of gunpowder correctly
they’ve made since their arrival (Thorpe by default, but is a Composure + Science or Composure + Firearms roll.
basically pick the NPC they’ve shown most interest in Should the players fail to extinguish the fuses in time, each
screwing with) will legitimately make an effort to bomb one will explode. The initial explosion of will deal 10
their haven (or if they don’t share a haven then one of Lethal Damage per barrel (that’s lethal to vampires—not
their havens). aggravated because it’s not strictly fire but not downgraded
to bashing either), this damage is reduced by 1 for every
The agents attempting to plant the gunpowder will need to success the character rolls on a Dex or Stamina + Athletics
make Composure + Larceny rolls (assume a dice pool of roll. Characters who are not actually in the room when the
five for hired goons, the kinds who will be active during explosives go off have the damage from the explosion
the day) penalised by the Safe Place rating of the PCs’ downgraded to Bashing (the building is still very likely to
Havens. come down) which will be halved as normal. The players
If the infiltrators are successful (they may not be—I’ve set will then also find themselves stuck in a burning building
this up in such a way that the NPCs follow something at in daylight. The locals will put the fire out, but there’s still
least vaguely resembling rules since otherwise dots in Safe the question of shelter to deal with.
Place are worthless), they will plant one keg of gunpowder Although this is something of a force majeure, the intent
for every success rolled. isn’t for this to kill anybody, just to get their attention
Because the aim here isn’t to just blow up the PCs while (massaging things so that PCs don’t die arbitrarily is kind
they sleep, they can be assumed to sense danger of Storytelling 101—if you’re the kind of person who
automatically (it’s a Kindred Senses thing, they’ll be able to prefers not to fudge things in favour of the player
hear the heartbeats of intruders even through slumber). characters, maybe skip the “PCs’ enemies bomb their
Waking up, however, will be a Humanity roll with the haven at noon” scene).
normal rules applying (for those who haven’t had their PCs The goal here is simply to make the players feel like they’re
ambushed at noon recently, the rule is that to wake by day part of a war. If they’ve been steadfast about not taking
involves rolling Humanity with the character then able to sides, then you could have a similar effect by having the
remain active for a number of turns equal to their building demolished by Parliamentarian bombardment
Humanity score—which isn’t long at all when you think (same as above, but have the damage be Bashing as
about it, a turn is three seconds so even a Humanity 10 standard).
character would be awake for half a minute—they may roll
again at the end of this period, and once they have
accumulated 5 + Blood Potency successes total they may Settling Scores
remain active for the whole day). The walls of the Abbey and the associated houses are
Once awake, the PCs will be able to smell the burning of a breached on the 16th of June, leading to William Thorpe
fuse (the barrels will already be alight) and hear the finding himself in a very similar situation to that the PCs
heartbeats of three intruders (the intruders can be skinned found themselves in, his haven destroyed during the day
differently depending on who sent them but by default forcing him to seek refuge elsewhere. If the players were in
they will be King’s men working for the Reformers). Once the mood to take him out while maintaining plausible
the players get into whichever room the gunpowder is in (it deniability, this would be a good time to do it.
will vary depending on what their Havens look like) they There is a non-zero chance that the PCs will wind up in a
will have about thirty seconds (which doesn’t sound like very violent conflict here with somebody who is technically on
long, but remember that this is ten combat rounds) to put the same side of the war as they are. Estrid will not be
out the fuses. happy about this but will also have bigger things to think
about.

The End of the Beginning

The fall of York on the 14th of July leads to the city (and
indeed Northumbria—since cities are smaller and vampires
are more likely to set themselves up as manorial lords, they
tend to spread out over larger areas of territory) having
effectively two rulers—Constantine declaring himself
Prince-Bishop and Estrid holding to her position as
Regent. Scene Four: the Court of
The conflict will continue back and forth until such a time
as one side achieves a concrete advantage over the other (or
else until the loser says screw it and goes into torpor).
Constantine
This scene could appear in any number of places.
One contender or the other will be considered to have
won if any of the following is true: If the players decide to go and see Constantine before the
end of the siege (which will involve travelling to the village
• Their opponent dies or enters torpor because of Wetherby—some five hours walk over rough country to
obviously. the west) then he will be holding court in a small and
• Five of the political factions in the city (including rather rundown thatched chapel in the village square.
the PCs representing the Circle of the Crone and Constantine is an unusual figure being at once extremely
the Independents as a whole) declare openly for ancient (he is not the actual emperor Constantine but
their faction. Note that currently Constantine has dates from that era—Constantine visited York and was
one faction (the Constantinians) while Estrid has acclaimed Emperor by the army there) and extremely
three (the Danes, the Reformers and the fragile. He has emerged from torpor only in the last decade
Mercantilists). Should any faction be driven away and as such has missed out on a lot. He also has a Blood
or eliminated, the side that eliminated them gets Potency of 1.
their “vote”. As a reminder, the factions are the
Constantinians, the Reformers, the Lancastrians, He is a short man, with vaguely Latin features, and greets
the Yorkists, the Danes, the Mercantilists, the the players cordially. He knows he’s been away a long time
Independents and the PCs. (he left York three hundred years ago and has been in
Torpor for much of it).
• The stalemate is broken by the events of Chapter
Five. • Dark Fairytale: Constantine is a ghost from the
past. Forgotten centuries ago, he has returned
If the PCs don’t Intervene from the shadows to claim what is his.

By the end of 1644 Constantine will be in a fairly strong • Revenge Tragedy: This is personal for
position in the city, despite his seeming lack of support. Constantine. Many years ago he and Estrid were
The Reformers will have been gutted by the destruction of close. They weren’t lovers, but he was her
their stronghold in the old Abbey and that puts the loyalist confessor. She was in torpor when he left, and he
branch of the Lancea et Sanctum more squarely in charge feels genuinely betrayed that she stole his throne
of the spirituality of the Kindred, and since few of the when she woke up.
Kindred are young enough to be pious Protestants they’re • Bloody Farce: Same setup, but with far more
relatively happy to go back to the old Church). emphasis on what a stupid pointless
By 1645 the Yorkists have formally declared for misunderstanding this whole thing has been. He
Constantine. went away while she was in Torpor and then she
woke up and he was gone and if they’d just stop
By 1650 the independent Invictus have declared for him, being petty for five minutes this would all be dealt
although Aaron will remain outside the conversation. with. But they won’t, will they?

By the late 1650s Estrid will be supported only by her own Constantine’s agenda is simple, he wants York back. If
bloodline and the famously fickle Mercantilists. Estrid will be reasonable, he’ll be merciful. But if she won’t
he’ll come in force.
Constantine will mostly be in power by 1660.

The players might try any number of things to sway this

but because my intent is for their agenda to be extremely
open-ended I can’t predict exactly what they’ll want to do
or how it will play out. They might very well try to
assassinate pretty much anybody, side with pretty much
anybody, or against pretty much anybody.
Other elements of his agenda that might matter:

• He’s a practitioner of Theban Sorcery, although

it’s not his primary interest. As far as he’s
concerned the conflict in the Lancea et Sanctum
is between the Cenobites and the Eremites,
Cenobitism being characterised by an outward
focus and the practice of Theban Sorcery, while
Eremitism emphasises an inward focus and rejects
the use of Theban Sorcery.

• He’s not a huge fan of witches, although he

comes from a time when Christianity was a
minority religion in the Empire and, as such, he’s
a lot more forgiving of magic (it would, after all,
be hypocritical to object to Crúac and not to
Theban).

• Having said which, he is massively hostile to the

Goddess of the coven, who he claims to have met
personally. He will not go into details about their
shared history unless pressed.

◦ Getting him to open up about this isn’t a

Social Maneuvering situation, but it does
require a successful Presence or
Manipulation + Persuade roll. If pushed he
will explain that he too was embraced by the
Goddess, but that she proved dangerous. He
and his allies sealed her inside a hill more
than a thousand years ago (those allies are
long gone to Torpor).

• He has no interest at all in negotiating peace with

Estrid. This is very much a last-kindred-standing
deal.

Constantine is guarded at all times by Malcom who was a

Border Reiver in marches between England and Scotland.
He’s a handsome man, quick to laugh and quick to anger.
He wears a jack of plate and a steel bonnet in memory of
his heritage.

• Dark Fairytale: Malcom is a handsome prince

and a fine huntsman. Wild, free and passionate.
But there is darkness behind his steel-blue eyes,
and an edge of cruelty on his smiling lips.

• Revenge Tragedy: Malcom is a professional

murderer. The Border Reavers weren’t romantic,
they were bad people. He’s a cutthroat and a
killer.

• Bloody Farce: Malcom is a violent nincompoop.

The sort of minion you have to really carefully
tell not to kill people you send him to capture
and/or negotiate with.
Constantine and the Goddess • They are involved with Kindred politics. In this
case it’s a tussle over who rules the city-slash-
Constantine will be unwilling to go into detail about his region, which should hopefully hold their
history with the Goddess, and he doesn’t know all the attention, and even if they don’t care about it
details—this is ancient stuff, more ancient than him and he’s specifically they can use it as cover to go after
their real goals.
1300 years old. A potted summary for the storyteller:
• They are involved with mortal politics (there isn’t
• He was embraced by the Empress in 312 AD.
much detail on mortal politics in this text, since
• They ran around the North of England together my assumption is that this is less likely). In this
causing havoc for approximately a century (she case it’s … well … it’s a war, dudes.
seemed especially keen on killing vampires). She
• They are all about religion. This one is slightly
had a compatriot—a horned being inhabiting a
trickier because the Goddess has a number of
strange cadaverous body—who as far as
different goals here and I’ve been taking a light
Constantine knows is still active.
touch on the whole “now you get a vision telling
• He converted to Christianity in the fifth century you what to do next” motif. That said, if the
when he encountered Brigid of Carlow, a players are deep into the religion, you can use the
Kindred of the Cenobite faction of the Lancea et following:
Sanctum.

• Along with several other vampires (Caradoc of

Visions from the Goddess
Wessex, Claudia of Eboracum, Vellocatus the If the players aren’t sure what to do but do care about the
Brigand and the a character known only as “the religious aspect of the witch-cult, feel free to use visions to
Hermit”) they turned on the Goddess and drove prompt them. Assuming the players are continuing to use
her back to the moors of Yorkshire. There they the Rite of the Chalice, any one of them can receive a
enacted a Theban ritual to imprison her. message from the Goddess, otherwise prioritise players
with Auspex.
The Goddess and her kin (there were several beings like
her in the old days, Constantine will explain, although she The Goddess will always appear to the player in the aspect
and the horned man were the last of them as far as he appropriate to their clan (the Empress for Ventrue, the
knows) once waged a shadow war on the Kindred of Hag for Nosferatu and so on). She will tell the players the
England, although they came in fits and starts and would following:
go quiet for centuries. • That if they haven’t exacted vengeance on
Hopkins, Thorpe, and Thorpe’s bloodline yet
Contingencies they should get on that.

• That Constantine is her enemy, though she will

This chapter is almost all contingencies. Things happen,
not say why.
the player-characters will do things either pro-actively or in
response. Various things to consider. How heavy or light a touch you should take when sending
wibbly visions to player characters is very much a personal
The Players Don’t Care About the Sting choice, and you probably know best what works at
your table. If you want to go so far as to have the Goddess
War suggest specific courses of action then go right ahead.

It’s possible (potentially likely) that the players don’t If you want to give the PCs a slight advantage, you could
especially care who wins the war for the city. Their goals also have the Goddess drop hints to them about future
aren’t necessarily tied into Kindred politics, after all. This events (look at the timeline of events in the siege above).
is part of the reason I’ve suggested having one of the
coteries’ enemies coming after them.

My assumption during this chapter is that the PCs are

likely to be involved in one of three areas, all of which
should be impacted by the war.
The Players Want to Take Over
Fantastic! It’s ambitious but it’s totally possible for the
players to wind up as witch-lords of Northumbria if they
play their cards right. Essentially they will need to get the
support of five out of nine factions, much like the other
contenders, and they have the disadvantage of being an
unknown quantity and of the Reformers in particular
despising them.

Constantine is likely to be the biggest hurdle (Estrid is old

and feeling the pull of Torpor) since he’s ancient and
powerful in a lot of ways, but his low Blood Potency and
unfamiliarity with the modern (well, Early Modern) world
is a real weakness. The players might be able to strike some
kind of strange bargain with the Lancea et Sanctum where
they form a kind of sorcerous diad against the puritans and
witch-hunters.

The Players Still Want to Leave York

This might eventually become unfixable. There’s a point,
after all, at which you can’t make people go along with
something they’re just not feeling. If they want to head off
to London or the USA then that’s very much for you to
deal with at your end.

The Players Want to Wake the Goddess

See next chapter.
 Chapter Five: Restoratio
Restorationn
“We have a pretty, witty king,
Whose word no man relies on,
He never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one”
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

This chapter begins with downtime. The war between • Everybody gains a dot of Blood Potency since
Constantine and Estrid lasts over a decade, moving with they have now been Kindred for approaching fifty
the usual glacial pace of Kindred conflicts (unless the years.
players bring it to a premature conclusion).
• Everybody checks another Breaking Point against
After nearly fifty years of undeath, the players return to their current level of Humanity (but see the
Barrow Tor where somebody is attempting to unearth the packages below).
Goddess. It might be the PCs, it might be an NPC, but In addition, the player characters once again get to choose
somebody decided it would be a good idea. from the (slightly less good) list of bonuses below:
That somebody is dead wrong. • Delve into Mystical Secrets: Learn a Crúac Rite
at a level you are capable of casting and gain a dot
Intended Outcome of the Library merit.

The Goddess is released and wreaks havoc. Because I don’t • Spread the Word of the Goddess: Gain a dot in
like pre-empting player motivations or forcing PCs into Herd, and a dot in Mystery Cult Initiation.
success or failure, the way this story ends could be very,
very different depending on what the PCs do. • Jump into Kindred Politics: Gain a dot of in the
Allies merit, and a dot in the Kindred Status of
This ending is intended to be—if not exactly a cliffhanger your choice.
then at least a jumping-off point. It’s the largest and most
climactic event in the Chronicle and it’s the point at which • Fight to Maintain Your Humanity: Gain an
me planning for what happens at your table goes completely additional Touchstone. You do not suffer a
off the rails. Whatever happens in Northumbria after 1660 Breaking Point this downtime.
will vary radically from table to table. The region might be • Pursue Material Wealth: Gain a dot of the
ruled by a shadowy blood-goddess and her witch-cult of Resources Merit, and a dot in one of the
followers. She might be possessing the body of Estrid or or Retainer, Staff or Haven merits.
Constantine (or of a player character). The Kindred of
Northumbria might all be dead. • Fight the War for the City: Gain a dot in either
Brawl, Weaponry, Politics, Larceny or Subterfuge.
Either way, the end of this chapter is the point at which I Gain a dot of Status with the faction you are
hand things over to your tables. fighting for. Suffer a breaking point against
Humanity 5.
More Downtime • Revel in Vampirism: Gain a Devotion for which
you qualify. Suffer an additional Breaking Point
About fifteen years pass between the Siege of York and the
against Humanity 4.
events of this chapter. During this time the PCs gain Five
Experiences to spend as they will. In addition:
Again, the Storyteller is free to invent whatever other
packages they feel are suitable (I’ve aimed for about 2
Experiences worth of bonus content in things people
might otherwise not look at).

Scene One: the Beginning of

the End
Somebody is going to get it into their head to awaken the
Goddess. At this stage things have been tussling back and
forth between a bunch of factions for fifty years so who
that somebody is could vary massively. The options include
(in descending order of likelihood):

• The Player Characters. This is perhaps most

likely because serving the Goddess is their entire
deal (or at least it was at the beginning, it might
have evolved since).

• William Thorpe: If he isn’t dead. His whole

original plan was to unlock the “source of strange
power” beneath Barrow Tor and use it against the
Constantinians. If the Constantinians are in
power, that just gets more urgent.

• Dorotya: If she isn’t dead (lots of people might

just be dead at this point, it’s what makes this
chapter so difficult to plan for). Tapping sites of
arcane power is her whole deal and while
everybody else has been messing around with
politics, she’s been investigating the “dragon nest”
on the moors.

• The Beggar-King: In the event that Thorpe died,

and if the Beggar King is being played in his
Revenge Tragedy mode then he’ll take the nuclear
option, awakening the Goddess from her tomb
beneath Barrow Tor.

• Harald: If Estrid died then Harald might take

things similarly into his own hands. He’s not any
great thinker and will likely need to have been
manipulated into it by somebody more cunning,
but he certainly has the motivation.

• Constantine: If he loses really, really badly then

Constantine, despite having been part of the
effort that locked her away more than a
millennium ago, might decide that things weren’t
so bad as a servant of the Goddess after all.
 • Mortal Witches: Probably the least satisfying ◦ The Beggar King is old and has access to a
option, the Goddess can be freed by mortal variety of resources. He’s also a Nosferatu of
witches who have taken up the mantle vacated by the classic old school He’s literally just dug
the player characters turning away from her down into the hill by himself, using Vigor to
service. help him.

However it shakes out, somebody has found a way to wake ◦ Harald is no great political powerhouse by
up the Goddess. himself, but he can marshal the resources of
the Danish line of the Invictus to mount a
The Excavation relatively well funded excavation, which he
will begin after the fall of the city.
The first step will be actually digging into Barrow Tor
beneath the standing stone. The notes in the previous ◦ Constantine knows exactly where the
chapter suggested Resources 4 and 5 combined dots of Goddess was buried and exactly how to dig
Staff/Retainers to do the digging. This was a description of her up. His temporal influence has waned
the kinds of resources a PC party would need to get the hill since entering Torpor but he has tremendous
excavated early (effectively skipping this part of this chapter Disciplines to act on, including high levels of
or moving it up to take place at the same time as the events Animalism and some Protean.
of chapter four). NPCs or PC groups with fewer resources The excavation will reveal a short tunnel lined with stones,
have a few more options now. The one cardinal rule here long since filled in with earth. At the end of that tunnel is
is that you can’t break rules established in actual play. If another crude chamber, also long since filled in. Digging
the PCs didn’t try to excavate the Tor between 1612 and out the earth in that chamber reveals a stone sarcophagus
1644, you don’t need to worry about the requirements. If inscribed with markings that look like a strange mixture of
they did try it, you can’t let an NPC succeed now without Greek, Egyptian and Solomonic (anybody who has seen
meeting the same standards. Theban Sorcery will recognise this as characteristic of that
So: particular discipline). The sarcophagus is magically sealed
and can only be opened with the proper key.
• If a PC started excavating the hill in 1612 and
had the appropriate Resources to get the job
done, they have the Sarcophagus. Job done.
The Sarcophagus
The Sarcophagus dates back to the fifth or sixth century,
• If a PC started excavating the hill in 1612 and and the markings on it are identifiable as related to
didn’t have the Resources to get the job done, but Theban Sorcery.
did stick at it for another decade, they now have
access to the burial chamber. Working out how to open the sarcophagus requires
deciphering the inscriptions. This is an extended action on
• If a PC started excavating the hill in 1612 and Intelligence + Occult requiring 10 successes and
didn’t have the Resources to get the job done, but permitting one roll per week.
didn’t stick at it for whatever reason, then an
NPC has finished the job for them. Yes, this is long.

◦ Thorpe is less influential than he was thanks Characters may add dots in the Library merit to this roll.
to the fall of the Puritans but still has the In addition they may reduce the number of successes
ability to mobilise mobs of diligent lackeys required by the highest number of dots in Theban Sorcery
with a protestant work-ethic. amongst characters consulted.

◦ Dorotya will want to have been in on the Once the Sarcophagus has been investigated, the
ground floor of any effort to excavate the hill, investigator will have discovered the key to opening it and
and so will have been digging solidly since releasing the Goddess, that key being the life’s blood of a
1612. king.
 Scene Two: King’s Blood • Thorpe, if he is still alive, will be very keen to
stop the player characters (unless they’ve turned
him into an ally in the last half-century). He’ll still
The key to the sarcophagus of the Goddess is the life’s want to open the sarcophagus and unleash
blood of a king, and as luck would have it, a great many whatever’s inside it on his enemies.
soldiers at the execution of Charles I dipped their
handkerchiefs in his blood as a souvenir, and those bloody
handkerchiefs can be tracked down by somebody with the
appropriate contacts.

To obtain a sample of Charles I’s blood, a character will

need to either have reasonable contacts of their own
(anywhere from 2-4 dots depending on how pertinent the
contacts are—two dots if it’s Contacts: Royalty, or Contacts:
Traders in Curisoities, three for Contacts: Soldiers and four for
a more general set of contacts) or else find somebody who
can track a sample down. Who Has the Sarcophagus?
If somebody other than the PCs has the sarcophagus,
One such person is Domino, the peculiar Mekhet of the then they may want to steal it back—exactly how that
Mercantilist faction. Domino specialises in tracking down runs will depend on who has it. Run any efforts to find
curiosities and will be more than happy to provide a and reclaim the body of the Goddess the way you’d run
sample of king’s blood, although they will warn that it is any other infiltration scenario.
unlikely to have aged well in the intervening decade and a
half. Depending on how interested the PCs are in this
plotline, the research on how to open the sarcophagus
A sample of the King’s blood will arrive on a boat from may have been started by an NPC as well. Add the
London, docking in Scarborough about a week after the NPC’s successes (or your best guess about what those
first enquiry, and from there it can be picked up by successes would be) to the PCs’ total for uncovering the
whoever ordered it. key.

Note that the PCs might well not be the ones ordering the
bloody handkerchief—this all depends very much on who
has the sarcophagus, who is trying to open it, and who
knows what.

Intercepting the Handkerchief

If anybody wanted to stop the sarcophagus being opened • The Beggar King is a great picker-up of
the best way for them to do this would be to intercept the unconsidered trifles and will be very interested in
hankerchief and destroy it. This would solve the problem getting his hands on the sarcophagus and on the
at least in the short term although there are a fair few of handkerchief even if he isn’t trying to open it.
these things around (one was actually auctioned in the UK • Constantine will be very keen for the sarcophagus
as recently as 2008). People interested in intercepting the not to be opened (unless he’s the one opening it).
handkerchief might include: If he has reclaimed his position as Prince-Bishop
• Dorotya, if she is still alive, will be very keen to of Northumbria he will come down like the wrath
get hold of the item and use it to open the of God on anybody he catches trying to awaken
sarcophagus and have a look at what’s inside it. an ancient blood-deity.
Her interest here is almost entirely academic and • The PCs, if they aren’t trying to open the
she’ll be more than happy to let anybody older sarcophagus, may want to acquire the
and more powerful than her (which is most handkerchief and keep it closed. Or they might
people) control the opening, just as long as she want to acquire it so that they can wake their
gets to see it. goddess up themselves.

The delivery of the handkerchief will take place in

Scarborough—which has gone downhill in the last fifty
years owing to competition from other port-towns nearby—
under the auspices of Adelaide. Skarthi will have passed
into torpor in the intervening time in order to avoid
Scene Three: Blood and
having to hunt Kindred.

The intrigues, manipulations, and trickery PCs might use

Shadow
to nab a bloodstained handkerchief from a mortal Somebody has woken up an ancient being who has been
merchant under the noses of other vampires are too varied imprisoned beneath the North York Moors for a
to go into detail. The most obvious options are theft, ghoul millennium. What happens now depends a lot on who did
ambush, or using Dominate on the merchant before he it and why.
makes contact with the buyer. Thorpe will attempt to have
Let’s start with the Goddess herself.
the party arrested (he has some influence over mortal
authorities still), Dorotya will try to strike up an alliance,
Constantine will send Malcom and a band of ghouls. The Five-Fold Goddess
However this is run, the expectation is that the The moment the sarcophagus is opened a being of living
handkerchief does wind up with the sarcophagus. shadow will rise from within. What this entity looks like
and what it is depends greatly on how you, the Storyteller,
Once the two are in the same place, working out how to want to play it.
free the Goddess requires five successes on an extended
roll of either Manipulation + Occult + Crúac or My default presentation is that the Goddess is not
Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery. Knowledge of necessarily a Strix but definitely could be one. Part of my goal
Blood Sorcery is not required to open the sarcophagus, but with this Chronicle is to work with the inherent flexibility
it does help. of the Chronicles of Darkness system and setting to present
something that feels at once like it fits while also not
Each roll represents half an hour of ritual action, and necessarily being exactly what it says in the book. To put it
characters are limited to a number of rolls equal to their another way, if you were to draw a Venn Diagram of
full dice pool. “things the Strix might be” and “things an ancient sleeping
vampire goddess might be”, she definitely exists somewhere
A Note on Contingencies in the overalp.
I normally save these for the end of the chapter, but there’s If you want to run her as straight Strix then I’d have her
a serious tension here between anticlimax and railroading appear at least initially in full owl-form. If you’d rather
that I wanted to highlight. keep the ambiguity then you can have her initial
Because opening the sarcophagus requires the character appearance be more humanoid. The way I’d run it at my
doing the opening to acquire a specific somewhat rare item table would be for her to appear to each vampire as she
and then succeed at a specific skill roll, there’s a slim appeared during their embrace-vision, and for the smoke-
chance they’ll just fail. and-shadows owl-imagery to appear in the darkness around
her (she also isn’t necessarily the only Strix in that coffin,
This is deeply anticlimactic. On the other hand forcing she’s been in there for more than a thousand years, don’t
things so that the sarcophagus opens no matter how well forget).
the players fail at opening it (or how well they succeed at
stopping it from being opened) is going to be a no-no for
some people. As always, you know your group. If the
people you play with would rather feel their actions have
consequences, even if those consequences are sometimes
less interesting than the alternative, then go with that—the
Goddess stays imprisoned, and York remains in the
control of whichever faction won the war in Chapter 4.
On the other hand if your group are the kind of players
who expect the Storyteller to fudge things to make sure
that cool stuff happens then … yeah, just have the
sarcophagus open no matter what.
The Goddess by Numbers
These statistics use Strix game mechanics. She may or may
not actually be a strix.

Vice: Vengeful.
Shadow Potency: 10
Attributes: Power 7, Finesse 10, Resistance 7
Skills: Brawl 5, Athletics 5, Occult 5, Persuasion 5,
Subterfuge 5, Stealth 5
Corpus: 12
Willpower: 10
Size: 5
Speed: 12
Defence: 10
Initiative: 17
Embodiments: Shadow Form, Possess Corpse, Possess
Revenant, Possess Kindred, Possess Living, Synthesis,
Materialize, Enter Twilight, Shadow Jump, Dark Places
Dread Powers: Indomitable, Shadow Infection, Vampiric
Embrace (unique, see below), Blood Goddess (unique, see
below), Kindred Disciplines x 6
Disciplines: Her Kindred Disciplines Dread Power gives
the Goddess 50 dots in Disciplines (6 lots of the power x
Shadow Potency 10). This gives her 5 dots in each of the
main Vampiric disciplines, 5 dots of Crúac and 15
experiences worth of Devotions.
Devotions: Enfeebling Aura, Foul Grave, Riot,
Summoning, Vermin Flood
Vitae: 75/15
Banes: Sunlight, Fire, Crossroads, Material Bane: Wild
Roses, Plague of Purity, Symbols

In addition, the Goddess has a number of unique powers

not found amongst other Strix.

Vampiric Embrace: The Goddess can embrace mortals as

a vampire can, using Vitae rather than the more arduous
process of the Synthesis embodiment. This does involve
getting her Vitae into their body, which is part of the
purpose for which she created the Rite of the Chalice. If
she is possessing a vampire, she can perform the embrace
normally.

Blood Goddess: Anybody who performs the Rite of the

Chalice forms a blood connection to the Goddess and, as a
consequence, any blood they spill as a sacrifice or in the
performance of Crúac Rites goes directly to the Goddess as
Vitae, allowing her to feed even while trapped in a stone
coffin.

What Happens Next

This could go one of a hundred different ways depending
on who wakes her up, and why, and who’s there. As ever,
I’m going to bring this back to the mood you established
for the Chronicle. Epilogue: Where do We Go From
How it Ends: the Dark Fairytale Here?
In the Dark Fairytale, the Goddess is something ancient
and primal and best left sleeping in the high and cold The return of the Goddess is either the end of the
moors. She will seek the most immediate and most direct Chronicle or the beginning of it.
way to attain a Kindred body. If she is freed by a servant,
she will persuade, cajole or coerce them into entering If you want to run it as the end, then you can summarise
Torpor so that she can possess them (she can use what happens after she rises, with the PCs either ruling at
Dominate or Majesty for this purpose if she has to). If she her side or being devoured by her (or running away—
is freed by an enemy, she may be forced to Materialize and there’s always the option to bail). Get your players to
then beat the target into Torpor (five dots in all Physical narrate how their characters respond to the return of the
disciplines help in this regard). Goddess. If they’re fighting against her then the outcome
of that battle can be left ambiguous, if they’re on her side
From there she will gather a flock of lesser Strix (or, if then they can be assumed to rise in her shadow as the
you’re not interpreting her as a Strix in the technical sense, dread servants of the ancient shadow.
of lesser shadowy vampire spirit things) about herself and
exterminating any of the Kindred of Northumbria who will If you want to run it as the beginning, then this is very much
not serve her. a “season two” moment. The Goddess is back, the rulers of
York (whoever they may be) have a new and terrible enemy
If the PCs play their cards right, they could become the to deal with, one who is virtually indestructible, commands
high priests and priestesses of a new, terrifying, and terrible blood sorcery, and is served by a cult of witches
definitely very real blood goddess. and potentially traitorous vampires as well.

How it Ends: the Revenge Tragedy Where do the PCs go from here? Perhaps they flee south in
search of allies. Perhaps they look into the hidden lore of
The only person the Goddess really cares about is their own secret faith to see if there are any hints at the
Constantine, who she feels betrayed her. She will bend all weaknesses of their Goddess, or track down Constantine’s
of her will and resources towards his destruction. If he’s old coterie to find out how they defeated her back in the
already in Torpor, she will seek out his body and possess it, day. Perhaps they team up with old enemies to stop their
if he isn’t, she will set all of her followers towards the goal former patron consuming them.
of bringing him to her to the point that she can starve or
beat him into Torpor and take him over. Or perhaps they’re still on her side, and they play through
the mopping up.
In pursuit of her revenge she will target Constantine’s
bloodline with unerring accuracy. She will direct her Either way, it’s beyond the scope of this Chronicle.
followers to kill them or, better still, to deliver their torpid
bodies to her for possession. Ultimately, however, it is
Constantine she will be working towards. If Estrid has
Contingencies
fallen to Torpor, the Goddess may also take her as a means This chapter is intended as a climax to everything that has
to get through to Constantine. gone before, bringing the unique gimmick of the player
characters (that they’re a witch coven in service to an
How it Ends: the Bloody Farce ancient mysterious goddess) back to the fore in a way that
The Goddess is a being of incredible power but is utterly tears a swath through the petty politics of the Kindred.
merciless and interested only in devouring and possessing
Some things that could go wrong with that:
vampires. She will show no loyalty whatsoever to her
former servants, once she’s free she will kill, eat, and
dismember anything that she comes across.
The Players Don’t Want to Change You can completely give them everything from this chapter
whenever you like. If the players go gung-ho after the
mysteries of Barrow Tor then it’s fine to let them excavate
Horses that sarcophagus as soon as they can get the resources
together (although I’d suggest that it’s best saved as a
It’s not impossible that the PCs—having spent fifty years
downtime activity between chapters three and four). They
doing vampire politics—will be more interested in pursuing
can also discover the key to opening it whenever you think
temporal power than tangling with a resurgent blood
best.
goddess. There is an extent to which that’s a positive thing.
The sarcophagus is at least in part designed as a political The need for the life blood of a king to open the
bargaining chip, and the magical equivalent of a sentient sarcophagus is a fairly insurmountable stumbling block.
WMD in a box has its value even if the players are more Savvy players (or I suppose historically savvy players) will be
interested in a purely political game. hopefully aware of the Charles the First tie-in but if not
there’s no reason you couldn’t run a campaign based
Also, you’re the Circle of the Crone, you should be at least
around a bunch of vampire witches trying to murder the
a little bit interested in the magic end of things.
king and steal his blood.

The Players Hate the Strix It’s just a bit beyond the scope of this book if they don’t
want to wait for him to get his head chopped off.
Much as I love Requiem 2nd Edition, I do get that “spooky
owls” aren’t necessarily everybody’s idea of a compelling
antagonist, and that’s part of the reason that I’ve skinned
Apathy and Anticlimax
the Goddess as “mysterious shadow-being with an I’ve mentioned this above, but the other thing to consider
inscrutable agenda” rather than necessarily definitely a is that when the core conflict of the final chapter is “will
Strix. an unstoppable goddess of destruction be awoken” then it
should be at least possible for the answer to be “no”. If the
The Players Didn’t Like the Politics players get the sense that they really want the Goddess not
woken up, and they come up with reasonable plans to stop
Conversely, perhaps the players have been trying to find it (destroying the handkerchief being the most direct) then
out what exactly was under that damned hill for fifty years my personal instinct would be to simply have the
and might not appreciate the seemingly delay. Chronicle end with the status quo intact. But if you know
your players would really rather face a mega-strix, fudge it.
 Appendix One: New Cruac Rites
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
Macbeth—Act I Scene I

This chapter outlines a number of new Rites for PCs to The caster of this Rite may expend any amount of
use. The aim of the Rites in this chapter is to allow additional Vitae in performing it. Each point of Vitae
multiple characters with Crúac to diversify their abilities, expended in the performance of the ritual (which, like all
and to let the characters do things that feel authentically Crúac rituals involves literally spilling blood) is transmuted
witchy. They aren’t necessarily designed to be especially into the Blood of the Goddess. This is literally the Vitae of
balanced (in either direction—some of these Rites are the Goddess and has all the normal effects of vampiric
Vitae. It can sustain Ghouls, but the Goddess will not
almost entirely flavour text).
normally choose to transform a mortal who performs this
Some of these Rites interact directly with Strix. Like the rite into a Ghoul.
Goddess in Chapter 5, whether these entities are actually
Strix or just game mechanically Strix is up to the Storyteller. Shadow Servant (••)
Target Number of Successes: 6
Rites of the Goddess This spell calls up a being from the dark and shadowed
These are the most Chronicle-dependent of the new Rites places of the world. The entity is a Strix with a Shadow
presented in this book. They’re the ones that directly relate Potency of 1, and it appears Embodied in its default
to the Goddess and, through her, the Strix (or things that Shadow Form (if you want these creatures to be
are game mechanically Strix). Of all the Rites in the book, mechanically Strix but not canonically Strix then it won’t
they’re the ones I think are most likely to be unbalancing appear in the canon owl-form). This entity is not under the
or not fit into regular chronicles so use these in non-Circle- control of the Ritualist and has its own agenda (although
of-the-Crone games at your own risk. it’s a young being and so its goals are relatively unformed).
The Rite grants the caster the ability to mystically transfer
Note that the Strix summoned by these Rites will
Vitae to the Shadow Servant by touch, and the Shadow
ultimately go free into the world, and will gain Shadow
Servants will broadly align their goals with those of their
Potency as normal. This absolutely is a recipe for disaster
summoners, at least as long as the Ritualist also stays in
long term, and if you’re the kind of Storyteller who really
good with the Goddess.
likes letting the PCs be the architects of their own
downfall, these Rites are pretty much exactly for that
purpose.
Grave-Bound Servant (•••)
Target Number of Successes: 8
Rite of the Chalice (•) This spell conjures a being from the dark and shadowed
Target Number of Successes: 5 places of the world and embodies it in a corpse. This entity
is a Strix with a Shadow Potency of 2, and it appears
This is the rite that defines the coven. Despite the name, a
Embodied using Possess Corpse (following the normal
“chalice” is not strictly required, although it gets a lot
rules for this embodiment in the 2nd Edition rulebook.
messier if there’s nothing to put the blood into.
This being is older than the Shadow-Servant and will have
more sophisticated goals. Like the Shadow-Servant the
Ritualist has no direct control over the Grave-Bound
Servant, but its goals will be aligned with hers for as long as
she remains tied to the Goddess.
Oaken Servant (••••) this doesn’t do a huge amount if cast at noon in
midsummer.
Target Number of Successes: 12

This spell conjures a being from the dark and shadowed

Blight Crop (••)
places of the world and embodies it in a tree. This entity is Target Number of Successes: 8
a Strix with a Shadow Potency of 3, and it appears
Embodied using a unique embodiment. The essence of the This is one of the simplest and—in its day at least—most
powerful Rites a witch can deploy. Every Vitae expended in
Strix is infused into the tree, transforming it into an
animate entity of wood, shadow and blood. The Oaken casting this Ritual blights one field’s worth of crops (the
Ritualist must physically sprinkle the blood onto the fields
Servant is tremendously physically strong (it’s a tree) but
inherits its Mental and Social Attributes from its usual to be affected) causing them to grow small and stunted.
This roughly halves the crop yield of the affected area.
simplified Strix Attributes. Like the other Servants the
Oaken Servant has its own agenda, but because it’s trapped Before modern industrialised farming, this is especially
dangerous because it can literally cause a famine. It can
in an unusual embodiment it’s far more likely to be driven
by rage. also cause a witch-hunt.

The Oaken Servant is capable of manifesting fanged Winter’s Chill (•••)

mouths in its trunk and branches that allow it to feed like
Target Number of Successes: 8
a Strix embodied in a corpse. The more it feeds, the more
… fleshy it becomes until it evolves into a wholly unnatural This Rite brings an unseasonable cold to an area within a
shadow-blood-flesh-tree thing. number of miles of the site at which it was cast equal to the
Potency of the Ritual. The weather produced is noticeably
As long as the Ritualist remains in good standing with the
Goddess, the Servant will obey commands as long as those unusual but not flatly impossible. It can cause snow flurries
commands relate to guarding things or destroying things. in summer, but not blizzards. Cast in the winter, this can
cause spectacular effects that—in the seventeenth century—
Gate of Shadows (•••••) are very likely to prove fatal to the very old, the very young,
or the very ill. The weather returns slowly to normal over
Target Number of Successes: 15
the course of the following week.
This spell is equivalent to the Dark Places embodiment of
the Strix. It opens a gateway to the dark place the Strix Storm of Vengeance (••••)
come from that remains open for a number of rounds Target Number of Successes: 8
equal to the Potency of the Ritual. The Ritualist has little Resisted: by Resolve
control over what comes through the gate—she can cast
people or things into it (and they are very unlikely to come This Rite conjures a vicious storm targeted on a specific
back), and Strix can come through from the other side. person. The storm has about the dimensions and duration
that a storm usually has (that is, it stretches more or less to
Rites of the Elements the horizon and lasts several hours), but it seeks out and
follows the target of the Ritual. If they are indoors they will
One of the things constantly attributed to witches in experience little more than some epically bad weather, but
traditional literature is the ability to manipulate the if they are exposed to the full wrath of the tempest they
weather, to bring harsh winters and poor harvests. will suffer a number of levels of Bashing Damage equal to
the Potency of the Ritual every hour they are exposed
Call the Mist (•) (weak or makeshift shelters may mitigate some of the
Target Number of Successes: 5 damage at Storyteller discretion). The effects of this Rite
are especially deadly to somebody travelling by sea, and it is
The Ritualist causes an unseasonable mist to roll in from
this Ritual that James the First believed a coven of Scottish
wherever mists roll in from. Depending on the time of
witches used against him in 1563.
year, time of day (or night) and local conditions, this can
be anything from a heavy haze in the air to a full London
pea-souper. Once called, the mist is purely natural, and will
disperse about as easily as ordinary mist would disperse, so
Deluge (•••••) Plague (••••)
Target Number of Successes: 12 Target Number of Successes: 8

This Rite summons a storm of truly epic proportions. This spell infects the target, who must be mortal and must
Centred on the site at which the ritual is cast, this Ritual be present but does not have to be human, with a disease
causes torrential rain without cease for a number of days very much like the black death. Once inflicted, this disease
and nights equal to the Potency of the Ritual. One day of progresses normally—which can have absolutely devastating
torrential rain can be bad, especially in an agrarian society, consequences on the mortal population.
a week of torrential rain can cause rivers burst their banks,
crops to be ruined, mudslides and general chaos. Don’t Skinchanger’s Curse (•••••)
mess with weather, weather is dangerous. Target Number of Successes: 12
Resisted: by Composure
Rites of Malediction The target of this ritual must be a mortal human, and must
These are straight-up curses that mess people and things up be present. When the ritual is complete, they transform
in a variety of ways. into a full-on werewolf. For three nights every full moon
(the night before, the night itself, and the night after) they
Blight Livestock (•) transform into a ravening wolf and go hunting for blood
Target Number of Successes: 5 and flesh. A werewolf created by this rite can be affected by
both Dominate and Animalism.
This spell curses a domestic animal with either injury or
disease. This Rite affects one head of livestock for each If you prefer to use the Werewolf: the Forsaken cosmology for
point of Potency of the Ritual. This can lame horses, sour werewolves in your Chronicle, disallow this Ritual.
the milk of cattle, or give sheep scrapie.

Taboo (••) Rites of Fate

The Rites of Fate are the most fairytale-like of the new
Target Number of Successes: 6
Crúac Rites provided in this book. If you’re not
Resisted: by Resolve
comfortable with your game having that dark fairytale
When this Rite is cast, the Ritualist chooses a target and a mood, you can always rule that they don’t exist in your
single true statement (or at least, a statement that both the world (of course you can always do that with any element
Ritualist and the target believe to be true). Until the next of any book—it’s not like I’m going to send the Game
full moon, the target of the ritual is unable to articulate Police to your house). The Rites of Fate often interact with
that statement or any equivalent to it either in speech or Conditions and Integrity.
writing. This is often used by witches to prevent people
from accusing them of being witches. Hex (•)
Target Number of Successes: 5
Curse of Agony (•••) Resisted: by Composure
Target Number of Successes: 6
The target of this ritual suffers a run of bad luck, meaning
Resisted: by Stamina
that they lose the 10-again quality on all rolls until the next
This spell inflicts pain on the target, causing a number of sunrise. The 9-again and 8-again qualities are unaffected.
levels of bashing damage equal to the Potency of the ritual
which can not be healed by any means until the following
full moon. While the target is affected by this Ritual, they
suffer double the normal dice pool penalty from injury,
but will never lose consciousness as a result of this injury.
The bashing damage caused by this Rite never rolls over to
Lethal.
Mirror Mirror (••) King Hereafter (••••)
Target Number of Successes: 6 Target Number of Successes: 8

Despite the name, this Rite does not strictly require a When casting this Rite, the Ritualist makes a prophecy
mirror, but the Vitae expended in this Ritual needs to be about the target (who does not need to be present for the
used to anoint something you can see a reflection in—it can ritual to be cast). This Ritual has no effect until the
be a pool of water, a mirror, a polished stone or even if prophecy is spoken aloud to the target (this must be done
you’re really desperate the blood itself. When enacting this in person). The moment the prophecy is spoken aloud, the
Rite the Ritualist asks a question that uniquely identifies a target gains the Obsession condition related to either
person. The classic example here is “mirror mirror on the pursuing their fate (if it’s something they want to happen)
wall, who’s the fairest of them all”. The image of that or avoiding it (if it’s something they want to avoid). In
person then appears briefly in the mirror. addition, fate will conspire to bring the outcome about.
Any dice roll that would advance the outcome of the
Note that this Ritual completely busts a lot of mystery
prophecy gains the 8-again property while any roll that
scenarios (there’s no especial mystery in this Chronicle, so
would oppose it loses the 10-again property (and unlike
it isn’t necessarily an issue). If you want the identity of a
Hex, this also negates 9-again and 8-again).
character to be mysterious or concealed it is perfectly
reasonable for this Rite to provide only an oblique or an Remember that fate is tricky, and how the character’s
indistinct image—the mechanics of the Rite are deliberately prophecy actually comes about, and what counts as
vague. It’s intended as a way to provide players with hints advancing it, is very much up to the Storyteller.
and foreshadowing, not as a way to instantly solve any and
all murders. Spinning Wheel (•••••)
Note that this Rite can show people identified by questions Target Number of Successes: 10
about the future (“show me the person who will kill me”) Resisted: by Resolve
and obviously the usual caveats apply here: the future is When casting this Rite, the Ritualist states how the target
always in motion, what you can be shown will only be one (who does not need to be present for the ritual to be cast)
potential path that events could take, and so on. will die. This prediction must be vague: “will die by fire” is
valid, “will prick their finger on the spindle of a spinning
Witch’s Bargain (•••) wheel” is valid, “will be killed by bandits while travelling
Target Number of Successes: 8 between London and York on the third of July 1613” is
not. This Ritual has no effect on people who are already
This Rite enforces a bargain between the Ritualist and the
dead (like vampires) or things that were never living (like
target (who must be present at the casting of the ritual).
Strix). Like King Hereafter above, this Ritual has no effect
The Ritualist gives something to the target (it has to be
until the prophecy is spoken to the target aloud.
something that the Ritualist is capable of giving, the Rite
doesn’t give any especial power to grant wishes) and in The effect of the ritual is at once subtle and dramatic.
return the target agrees to do something for the Ritualist. Firstly and most simply, the target will die by that method at
This creates the following effects: some point. This is very much up to the Storyteller to
control, and fate is naturally tricky. Secondly and more
• The Target gains the Tasked condition relating to
concretely, whenever the target of this Ritual is exposed to
whatever the Ritualist requires them to do.
the thing that the Ritual caster said would kill them, they
• Reneging on their bargain with the Ritualist gain the Fugue condition, becoming fatalistically drawn to
becomes a Breaking Point against the thing that is fated to destroy them.
Integrity/Humanity 1 for the target.

• The Target will gain the Broken condition if they

renage on the bargain.
 Appendix Two:
Early Modern Arms and Armour
“To know the perfect length of your sword, you shall stand with your sword and dagger drawn, as you see this
picture, keeping out straight your dagger arm, drawing back your sword as far as conveniently you can, not opening
the elbow joint of your sword arm, and look what you can draw within your dagger, that is the just length of your
sword, to be made according to your own stature.”
George Silver—Paradoxes of Defence

Weapons in the early modern period went through a

variety of evolutions, but most of that is beyond the scope
Pikes and Polearms and All That
of the game, since weapon statistics are fairly simplified.
Jazz
Melee Weapons The pike is evolving out of military use over this era and
isn’t likely to be the kind of thing that player characters are

Swords going to find useful in a fight with another vampire. If you

do find a character wanting to fight with a pike, a billhook,
At this point in history the classic knight’s sword (also or any other long weapon it’s perfectly reasonable to use
called an arming sword) is evolving out of use. The rapier the statistics for a spear (p180).
is popular at this time (see p180 of the Vampire: the
Requiem 2nd Edition rulebook), while for military use basket-
hilted broadswords are more commonly used (although the
Firearms
term broadsword isn’t strictly current). Guns have gone through a lot of changes over the years,
and in this era they were not super great (although they
As the seventeenth century progresses the smallsword—a
were better than a lot of people give them credit for). The
smaller, lighter rapier-like weapon that has some
rules below for using black powder weapons are optional,
similarities to a modern fencing foil—will become more
and are designed to highlight the difficulty of reloading
popular as a civilian weapon while for military use
early modern weapons in a fight.
mortuary swords and later backswords will become
standard.
Reloading Black Powder Weapons
For most game mechanical purposes smaller civilian Reloading a black powder weapon in a fight takes time—
weapons can use the game mechanics for rapiers and time that you don’t really have with three-second combat
military-style weapons can use the game mechanics for rounds. We’re just about in the days of paper cartridges,
machetes. but firing a flintlock musket still involves:

Daggers • Drawing a cartridge.

The stiletto is primarily an Italian weapon in this era, but • Biting the top off of the cartridge and pouring
most people will carry some kind of knife, dagger or dirk. some of the powder into the breach of the
The term poniard is fairly broadly used to describe any musket.
smaller stabbing weapon, but “dagger” is a perfectly • Pouring the rest of the powder down the muzzle
reasonable term to use. All knives and daggers can use the of the musket along with the ball.
same rules for knives on p180.
 • Ramming the powder down with the ramrod that Size: 1
you really don’t want to lose because it’s what Special: Black Powder (3 successes)
makes the gun work.
It’s common to carry a brace of pistols (that is, two of
• Actually aiming and firing the thing. them) in order to avoid having to reload in battle. Notice
This is fiddly and hard to do under pressure. also that these pistols are incredibly short ranged.

Therefore, if you want to recreate the feeling of fighting

with period weaponry, I’d suggest making reloading a black
powder weapon an extended action on Composure + Armor
Firearms (you could go with Dexterity instead, but since
Knights in armour per se have stopped being a common
Dexterity is used for attacking I’d rather have reloading
feature on battlefields but we still have cuirassiers as of the
come off a different Attribute). Reloading a pistol requires
civil war, who would fight mounted with swords and
three successes and reloading a musket takes five. This still
pistols.
makes reloading rather faster than it would be in real life
(since it should be fairly doable in two or three combat Neither modern firearms nor modern ballistic armour are
rounds, or under ten seconds) but that’s a compromise for really a feature here but bullet proofing was a feature of
the sake of playability. period armours relative to the firearms of the day, so the
distinction the core rules make between ballistic and
Muskets and Carbines general armour will still apply. If you wind up bringing
these characters up to the present day and find a character
A musket is a general term for a range of longarms, an in Civil War era armour facing off against a modern
evolution of the arquebus originally designed to deal with firearm, the civil war breastplate will not count as ballistic
heavy armour (which has since largely vanished from the armour.
battlefield). They aren’t rifled, which makes them less
accurate than modern weaponry, but that’s beyond the
scope of the existing rules.
Civil War Plate
Plate armour had two configurations during the Civil War
Damage: 2
era. A heavy cavalryman—a cuirassier—wore a full, heavy coat
Ranges: 40/80/160
of plate complete with visored lobster-pot helmet, full
Clip: 1
gauntlets and tassets stretching to the knee. The plate worn
Initiative: -5
by a cuirassier would have been bullet proofed, that is, tested
Strength: 2
against pistol and musket shot.
Size: 3
Special: Armor Piercing 1, Black Powder (5 successes) A light cavalryman—a harquebusier—would have worn
armour of similar make but with far less coverage. The
A shorter-barrelled longarm called a harquebus was also in arms would have been bare and the helmet would have
use in the period, for convenience it can be treated as been an open-faced three bar pot helmet.
mechanically the same as a musket.
Civil War Plate
Pistols Rating: 4/4
Strength: 3 (cuirassier) or 2 (harquebusier)
The pistol, like the musket, went through several Defense: -2 (for both, the harquebusier trades greater
evolutions throughout the seventeenth century, but for agility for less protection)
game mechanical purposes they can use the following Speed: -2 (cuirassier) or -1 (harquebusier)
statistics: Coverage: Torso, arms, legs (cuirassier), Torso
(harquebusier)
Damage: 2
Ranges: 5/10/20 Another interesting item of armour worth mentioning but
Clip: 1 not worth mechanically representing is the secret, a metal
Initiative: -2 skullcap designed to be specifically worn underneath a hat
Strength: 1 so that one could go into battle protected but still looking
the part of the seventeenth-century nobleman.
Buffcoats and Jack of Plate
A buffcoat is a very thick leather coat designed to resist
cutting weapons, and a jack of plate is a cloth jerkin sewn
with small metal plates (hence the name).

Buffcoat or Jack of Plate

Rating: 2/0
Strength: 2
Defense: -1
Speed: 0
Coverage: Torso, arms (buffcoat), Torso (jack of plates)

My aim for all of these mechanics has been to balance what

I consider moderately realistic with what currently exists in
the rules (I’m not certain you really need to be especially
strong to wear a thick coat, but the core rulebook suggests
otherwise).
 Appendix Three:
Dramatis Personae
“What bloody man is that?”
Macbeth—Act I Scene II

This repeats some information about characters. Character

sheets are as detailed as I feel is useful—I’ve tended to avoid
Thomas Howard
Merits because they’re often not a very good reflection of a My family has lived here for generations. I’ll not
character’s actual position in the setting, and I won’t
always go exhaustively into Skills.
abandon the village now.
Thomas Howard is the largest landowner in the village

Chapter One apart from Sir Edward Colville, he owns a large farm and
an awful lot of cattle. He is the highest-ranking male
member of the coven (unless a PC wants to take that
Villagers distinction). Howard is less sincere in his devotion to the
Goddess than Lowell, but he care about the village and is
Alice Lowell deeply suspicious of outsiders.

Clan: None
Come up to the barrow, my dear, and I will show you
Covenant: Circle of the Crone
such remarkable things. Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 2,
Alice Lowell is the high priestess of the Coven and well Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
into her seventieth year. She has no children but is well Composure 3
respected in the village for her wisdom. She speaks calmly Skills: Academics 1, Crafts 2, Occult 1, Politics 2, Athletics
but passionately when she cares about the subject matter, 2, Brawl 1, Survival 1, Animal Ken 2, Empathy 3,
which is usually when she’s talking about the good of the Expression 2, Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 2
village, or the power of the Goddess. Disciplines: Auspex 2, Crúac 1
Blood Potency: 0
Clan: None Notable Merits: Status 2
Covenant: Circle of the Crone Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 5,
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 1, Willpower 5
Dexterity 2, Stamina 1 / Presence 3, Manipulation 4,
Composure 1 Thomas Howard’s Status merit represents his standing as
Skills: Academics 2, Crafts 2, Medicine 2, Occult 3, most affluent farmer in your small farming village, and will
Stealth 2, Survival 2, Animal Ken 2, Empathy 2, do him no good at all outside it.
Expression 2, Persuasion 3, Subterfuge 3
Disciplines: Crúac 5
Blood Potency: 0
Mary Worth
Notable Merits: Altar Come now. It’s just a little blood.
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 8, Defense 2, Initiative 3,
A woman in her late twenties or early thirties, Mary
Willpower 4
Worth is one of the coven’s more bloodthirsty members.
She has, so far, not actually murdered anybody, but she is
Alice’s Altar merit represents the standing stone on
eyeing some of the community’s more expendable and
Barrow Tor. Technically the whole coven can use it, but
more annoying members. She is fervent in her rejection of
she paid the points.
the Church and is one of the few coven members who
does not even feign Christianity, which ironically causes
many to assume that she’s a secret Catholic.
Clan: None Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 4, Resolve 1/ Strength 2,
Covenant: Circle of the Crone Dexterity 3, Stamina 3/ Presence 4, Manipulation 3,
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2/ Strength 2, Composure 1
Dexterity 4, Stamina 3/ Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Skills: Investigation 2, Occult 2, Athletics 2, Brawl 1,
Composure 1 Stealth 1, Empathy 2, Expression 3, Persuasion 2,
Skills: Crafts 2, Occult 2, Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Stealth 3, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 1
Weaponry 3, Animal Ken 1, Intimidation 2, Subterfuge 2 Disciplines: Majesty 1, Crúac 1
Disciplines: Nightmare 1, Crúac 1 Blood Potency: 0
Blood Potency: 0 Notable Merits: Striking Looks
Notable Merits: Sympathetic Advantages: Size 5, Speed 10, Defense 5, Initiative 5,
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 11, Defense 5, Initiative 5, Willpower 2
Willpower 3
Tom’s Striking Looks merit represents his looks, which are
Mary Worth’s Sympathetic merit represents an uncanny striking. He’s not a very deep person.
knack for getting people to let their guards down at the
worst possible time.
Sara Walker
Helena
There’s something strange on that hill, I know it.
... Sara Walker is the eldest daughter of the Walker family
Helena prefers not to use her surname, and also prefers (the daughter of Anne and John Walker who run the
the wild of the moors to the dubious comforts of the village alehouse). She isn’t a witch, but is the person in the
village. She runs with the wolves in the wolds and speaks village who would be most likely to get accused of
in the tongues of beasts. witchcraft if it weren’t for the obviously terrifying people
like Mary and Helena. She’s proud, wilful, and
Clan: None disobedient.
Covenant: Circle of the Crone
Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 3, Resolve 3/ Strength 2, Clan: None
Dexterity 3, Stamina 4/ Presence 1, Manipulation 1, Covenant: None
Composure 3 Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3/ Strength 2,
Skills: Crafts 2, Occult 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Stealth 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2/ Presence 3, Manipulation 2,
Animal Ken 3, Intimidation 2 Composure 2
Disciplines: Animalism 2 Skills: Investigation 2, Athletics 2, Stealth 1, Empathy 2,
Blood Potency: 0 Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 1
Notable Merits: Retainer Disciplines: None
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 10, Defense 6, Initiative 6, Blood Potency: 0
Willpower 6 Notable Merits: Safe place
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 4,
Helena’s retainer is an actual wolf who she bas befriended Willpower 5
(there are still some wolves in the Yorkshire wolds in this
era). Sara’s Safe Place merit represents a small cave she has
found on the moors above the village. Nobody else knows
Thomas Thorn where it is, and she can run there in times of trouble.

Stay for a song, lady? Edward Lowe

Tom Thorn is a minstrel, a singer of songs and a wanderer
over hill and dale. He seems to be actually romantically in I’ve nothing to say to the likes of you.
love with the Goddess, which Alice considers borderline The Lowe family abandoned the old faith long ago, and
heresy. now look very dimly on those who still cleave to it. Edward
Lowe is one of the pillars of the community, and
Clan: None vociferously condemns witchcraft at every opportunity.
Covenant: Circle of the Crone
Clan: None
Covenant: None
Sir Edward Colville
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3/ Strength 2, I remind you, sir, that you stand on my land.
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2/ Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
Sir Edward Colville occupies Colville Manor, a little way
Composure 2
outside the village. His power is largely nominal at this
Skills: Crafts 1, Investigation 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 1,
stage, and the villagers mostly govern themselves. Still his
Survival 1, Animal Ken 2, Intimidation 3, Persuasion 3
word is not without weight and he is one of the few people
Disciplines: None
in the moors who doesn’t hesitate to cross Alice Lowell.
Blood Potency: 0
Notable Merits: Status 2 Clan: None
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 4, Covenant: None
Willpower 5 Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3/ Strength 2,
Edward Lowe’s Status represents his standing in this one Dexterity 2, Stamina 2/ Presence 3, Manipulation 2,
small village. Outside of that village, he’s nobody. Composure 3
Skills: Academics 1, Politics 2, Science 1, Athletics 1,
Firearms 1, Weaponry 1, Survival 1, Animal Ken 1,
Father Andrew Intimidation 2, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 1
Disciplines: None
God forgives. Blood Potency: 0
The village has the part-time services of an Anglican priest Notable Merits: Status 4, Resources
named Father Andrew Byrne. He travels the moors Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 5,
ministering to the needs of the people and keeping an eye Willpower 6
out for recusants (those who refuse to attend Anglican
mass and may, therefore, be secretly keeping to Catholic Sir Edward’s Status in the village is immense, his status
rites). He is a man of modern sensiblities and has little outside it is respectable at best (he’s the lord of a
time for talk of witches. tumbledown hall on the moors, after all). His Resources
are entirely tied up in land, property, and old family
Clan: None portraits.
Covenant: None
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3/ Strength 2,
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2/ Presence 3, Manipulation 2,
Lady Eleanor Colville
Composure 2 I see thunder on the moor. I see a wolf in the night
Skills: Academics 3, Occult 1, Athletics 2, Survival 2,
Empathy 3, Expression 3, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2,
and a gallows in the square. But I am tired, pray leave
Subterfuge 1 me.
Disciplines: None Sir Edward’s wife is a frail woman not well suited for the
Blood Potency: 0 moors. There are rumours that she is blessed or cursed
Notable Merits: Allies with the gift of second sight.
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 4,
Willpower 5 Clan: None
Covenant: None
Father Andrew’s Allies are people he knows in the broader Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3/ Strength 2,
Church. Not that it’s especially easy for him to get in touch Dexterity 3, Stamina 1/ Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
with the bishop from a tiny village on the moors. Composure 2
Skills: Academics 3, Crafts 1, Occult 2, Empathy 5,
Expression 1, Persuasion 3, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 2
Disciplines: None
Blood Potency: 0
Notable Merits: Medium, Omen Sensitivity
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 10, Defense 4, Initiative 4,
Willpower 5
Lady Eleanor’s Merits come from the God Machine rules Clan: None (Ghoul with a Nosferatu Regnant)
update, but can be broadly taken to represent vague, Covenant: Invictus (affliliated)
wibbly Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4 / Strength 2
(4), Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
James Howard Composure 3
Skills: Academics 2, Investigation 3, Medicine 2, Occult 3,
Ask me nothing about my ways and I’ll ask you Politics 2, Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Firearms 3, Weaponry 3,
nothing about yours. Athletics 2, Survival 1, Animal Ken 1, Empathy 2,
Cousin to Thomas, but from a branch of the family that Intimidation 3, Subterfuge 3
did not keep to the old religion, ironically James now is Disciplines: Nightmare 2, Vigor 2
keeping to the new-old-religion of Catholicism, in defiance Blood Potency: 0
of the law. His absence in church has been noted by Father Notable Merits: Taste of Fear
Andrew. Advantages: Size 5, Speed 12, Defense 4, Initiative 6,
Willpower 7
Clan: None
Covenant: None By Kindred standards, Hopkins isn’t especially dangerous,
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3 / Strength 2, but when backed up by a band of armed guards and with
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 2, Manipulation 3, slightly more supernatural power than the PCs are likely to
Composure 3 expect, he should prove a formidable adversary for a band
Skills: Academics 1, Crafts 2, Occult 1, Politics 2, Athletics of mortal witches.
2, Survival 1, Animal Ken 2, Empathy 3, Expression 2,
Persuasion 1, Subterfuge 3 Elspeth Wright the Witch-Pricker
Disciplines: None
Blood Potency: 0 I’m sorry.
Notable Merits: Contacts Elspeth Wright is a mortal woman who travels with John
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 7, Defense 4, Initiative 5, Hopkins functioning as one of his two witch-prickers. Her
Willpower 6 job is to poke people with pins looking for witch’s marks
(parts of the body that are numb as a result of the feeding
James Howard’s Contacts merit represents other recusants of familiars or the touch of the Devil).
and secret Catholics he knows in Scarborough, Whitby,
and neighbouring villages. Clan: None
Covenant: None
Witch-Hunters Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 3 / Strength 2,
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
John Hopkins the Witch-Finder Composure 2
Skills: Crafts 2, Occult 1, Politics 2, Athletics 1, Survival 1,
I come to seek the servants of the Evil One. You will Animal Ken 2, Empathy 4, Expression 2, Persuasion 1,
Subterfuge 3
not stand in my way.
Disciplines: None
John Hopkins (who will be going by Matthew Hopkins Blood Potency: 0
when he resurfaces in 1644) appears to be a man in his Notable Merits: Clear Sighted
early twenties, although he has an intensity about him that Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 5,
belies his years. Stern-faced and dark-eyed, he is fanatical in Willpower 5
his persecution of the unnatural. In years to come he will
(probably—never make future plans for NPCs the players Elspeth has an uncanny ability to pierce magical deception,
might want to kill) become known as Matthew Hopkins, as represented by her Clear Sighted merit. It was this that
the witch-finder general. John Hopkins is a Ghoul in brought her to the attention of the witch-hunters, although
service to an Invictus Nosferatu named William Thorpe. she personally feels little real zeal for their mission.
Adam Lane the Captain-of-the-Guard Notable Merits: Swarm Form, Oath of Fealty, Trained
Observer
Adam Lane is not strictly a witch-hunter so much as he is a Advantages: Size 5, Speed 13, Defense 7, Initiative 7,
soldier who happens to work for Hopkins. He’s a veteran Willpower 6
of the Spanish wars and has a very no-nonsense attitude to Humanity: 5
his duties. He’s suspicious of Hopkins but yet more
suspicious of witchcraft, although having fought in Spain Adelaide is a mixture of noblewoman and predatory
he’s primarily suspicious of Catholics. animal (well, scavenging bird if we’re being picky). Her
Swarm Form merit represents her tendency to transform
Clan: None into a flock of crows, her Oath of Fealty is to Skarthi (the
Covenant: None Invictus are feudal in the proper sense, most people aren’t
Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 3, strictly loyal to the Regent directly).
Dexterity 4, Stamina 3 / Presence 2, Manipulation 2,
Composure 3 Skarthi
Skills: Crafts 2, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Athletics 3, Brawl 2,
Firearms 4, Weaponry 4, Animal Ken 1, Persuasion 1, What?
Socialize 3 Skarthi is a legit viking embraced some time in the late
Disciplines: None tenth century. He is nominally a member of the Invictus
Blood Potency: 0 and is theoretically loyal to Estrid Svensdatter, although
Notable Merits: Contacts they tend not to interact much in practice. He’s already
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 12, Defense 4, Initiative 7, spent several decades in torpor over the last few centuries,
Willpower 5 and is beginning to once again feel the call of the long
sleep.
Lane’s contacts are various members of his old regiment
with whom he is still sporadically in contact. Working for Clan: Gangrel
Hopkins isn’t a calling for him, it’s a job, and he knows Covenant: Invictus
he’s luckier than a lot of old soldiers. Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 5
(9), Dexterity 4, Stamina 4 / Presence 2, Manipulation 2,
Composure 4

Chapter Two Skills: Academics 2, Investigation 2, Occult 2, Politics 2,

Athletics 3, Brawl 5, Weaponry 3, Animal Ken 5,
Intimidation 5
Adelaide Disciplines: Animalism 5, Protean 5, Resilience 5, Vigor 4,
Celerity 4
I have been watching you. Blood Potency: 5
Adelaide is a woman of noble birth embraced some time in Notable Merits: Status, Claws of the Unholy
the late thirteenth century. A relatively experienced Advantages: Size 5, Speed 18, Defense 10, Initiative 8,
kindred of clan Gangrel, she has an affinity for corvidae, Willpower 7
and travels in the shape of a flock of crows. Humanity: 3

Clan: Gangrel Skarthi is the Lord of Scarborough, which is a reasonable

Covenant: Invictus feeding ground for two Kindred but can’t support many
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 3 / Strength 4, more than that. He doesn’t entirely mind, though, because
Dexterity 4, Stamina 4 / Presence 2, Manipulation 2, he’s already a long way out of his time. He enjoys sitting on
Composure 3 the cliffs and watching the sea. Anybody who crosses him,
Skills: Academics 1, Crafts 2, Medicine 1, Occult 3, however, will learn quite how dangerous a six-hundred year
Politics 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Larceny 3, Stealth 3, old Gangrel can be.
Survival 3, Weaponry 4, Animal Ken 4, Empathy 2,
Intimidation 2, Persuasion 3, Subterfuge 3
Disciplines: Animalism 4, Protean 4, Resilience 4
Dorotya
Blood Potency: 5 Dorotya is posing as a noblewoman (and she is certainly of
Ventrue lineage) although she is actually a servingwoman
by birth. She has come to England in service to the Ordo
Dracul, looking for knowledge.
 Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 6,
Willpower 6
Clan: Ventrue Humanity: 5
Covenant: Ordo Dracul
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 2, Dousabella is a devout Catholic, and very, very strongly
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3, opposed to the reforms to both the Kindred and mortal
Composure 3 churches. She profoundly believes that the nobility
Skills: Investigation 3, Occult 2, Politics 2, Athletics 1, amongst both the living and the damned owe their
Brawl 2, Survival 1, Animal Ken 1, Expression 2, positions to God and should behave as such.
Persuasion 3, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 3
Disciplines: Dominate 3, Resilience 2, Coil of the
Ascendant 2
Matthias the Sorcerer
Blood Potency: 1 How interesting. Would you mind if I make notes?
Notable Merits: Striking Looks, Sworn
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 6,
For my research.
Willpower 5 Matthias is an expert in Theban Sorcery. He is old,
Humanity: 6 although nobody is sure how old. He’s in many ways closer
to being a magician than a priest (hence his name). He will
Dorotya is not that much more experienced than the be deeply fascinated by the notion of Crúac, although he
player characters by vampire standards, but thirty years is will be suspicious of the ways it differs from the practices
plenty of time to get a decent sense of what’s going on in he understands.
Kindred society. Dorotya is something of a wildcard in the
scenario, not really being part of the local politics. She is a Clan: Mekhet
guest in Scarborough who is accepted primarily because Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
Skarthi doesn’t care that much. Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 4, Resolve 4 / Strength 2,
Dexterity 3, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 4,

Chapter Three Composure 3

Skills: Academics 5, Investigation 3 Occult 5, Politics 3,
Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Stealth 4, Survival 1, Empathy 2,
Constantinians Persuasion 3, Subterfuge 4
Disciplines: Auspex 5, Celerity 3, Obfuscate 5, Theban
Dousabella Sorcery 5
Blood Potency: 5
Render unto God that which is God’s, and unto Notable Merits: Lorekeeper
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 10, Defense 7, Initiative 7,
Caesar that which is Caesar’s. But more things are
Willpower 7
God’s than the Princes of our kind will admit. Humanity: 4
Dousabella is a noblewoman, but a lay member of the
Lancea et Sanctum. She has ties to the Yorkist faction of Matthias is a good example of a detached elder. He cares
the Invictus (see below). She opposed the reformation of about little except the study of magic. Although technically
the Church in life, and continues to oppose the reforms in committed to the doctrines of the Lancea et Sanctum, in
death. truth he’s far more concerned about digging up occult
secrets.
Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 2,
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
Composure 3
Skills: Academics 2, Occult 2, Politics 3, Athletics 1, Brawl
2, Survival 1, Animal Ken 1, Expression 3, Persuasion 3,
Socialize 2, Subterfuge 3
Disciplines: Dominate 3, Resilience 3, Theban Sorcery 2
Blood Potency: 4
Notable Merits: Etiquette
Brother Owen Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 5 / Strength 2,
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
This too shall pass. Composure 3
Skills: Academics 2, Occult 2, Politics 2 / Athletics 1,
Brother Owen is a neonate, once a Jesuit priest, he’s had a
Brawl 1, Stealth 2 / Animal Ken 3, Empathy 4, Expression
pretty crappy time of it. He was embraced in 1605 by
3, Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 2
Dousabella, who wanted somebody to act as her agent
Disciplines: Animalism 4, Auspex 2
amongst mortal insurrectionists, but he’s still relatively new Blood Potency: 4
to this whole business and is struggling somewhat with Notable Merits: Indomitable, Inspiring
having come really close to being martyred for his faith and Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 5,
instead finding himself reborn as an undead monstrosity. Willpower 8
Humanity: 6
Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
Joan of Acre has an iron will and a sincere faith that is rare
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 2,
amongst Kindred.
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 3, Manipulation 2,
Composure 3
Skills: Academics 2, Occult 1, Politics 1, Athletics 1, Brawl
2, Firearms 2, Survival 1, Animal Ken 1, Expression 3,
Danes
Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 2
Disciplines: Dominate 1, Resilience 1, Theban Sorcery 1
Estrid Svensdatter,
Blood Potency: 1 Speak up, I haven’t got all night.
Notable Merits: Contacts The Regent of Northumbria a surprisingly short woman—
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 6, perhaps five foot four or five foot five, she has a strange
Willpower 6 intensity about her that commands attention. She has
Humanity: 7
become Regent through a mixture of bloody-minded
unwillingness to take orders from people she doesn’t
Brother Owen’s contacts are a loose (and increasingly
respect and a straightforward approach to problem-solving.
harried) network of cryptocatholics and recusants across
the north-east. He’s very much a pawn of the Kindred at In her early years she was a strong supporter of
this stage in his unlife. Constantine, but when she awoke from torpor two
hundred and fifty years ago to find him gone, she was
Joan of Acre unwilling to accept anybody else as her leader. Now he’s
come back after nearly three centuries and she’s really
We fight and we feud and we think ourselves narked.
immortal, and the Heavenly Father looks down at us Clan: Daeva
and laughs. Covenant: Invictus
Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4, Resolve 5 / Strength 4
(9), Dexterity 4, Stamina 4 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
Born in Acre shortly before its fall, Joan of Acre was a Composure 3
notably pious woman in life and remains one in death. She Skills: Academics 3, Occult 3, Politics 4, Athletics 3, Brawl
is of the line of Constantine, but is only nominally part of 4, Survival 3, Animal Ken 1, Empathy 3, Expression 3,
the Constantinian faction. She views her duty to God as Intimidation 4, Persuasion 4, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 2
being a personal matter between herself and the almighty, Disciplines: Celerity 5, Majesty 5, Vigor 5
rather than something that needs to be filtered through Blood Potency: 5
the Church. This makes her very unpopular with both Notable Merits: Allies, Status
factions of the Lancea et Sanctum. Advantages: Size 5, Speed 18, Defense 12, Initiative 7,
Clan: Ventrue Willpower 8
Covenant: Invictus Humanity: 4

Estrid has built a network of allies throughout

Northumbria, mostly by building a reputation for not
interfering in things that don’t concern her.
Harald Notable Merits: Distinguished Palate
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 13, Defense 7, Initiative 6,
The Regent wants a word with you, it’s best we don’t Willpower 4
Humanity: 6
keep her waiting.
Harald’s job is to enforce the will of Estrid. He is brusque Fairfax is a frankly unreliable ally, being more of a
and wholly unwilling to engage in small talk, at least of the sensualist and dilettante than anything resembling a
polite variety. He is fond of poetry, song, and general practical player in Kindred politics.
bonhomie, but not while he’s working. Like Estrid, he
comes from a culture quite different from the courtly
politics that produced most other Invictus.
Yorkists
Clan: Daeva Cecylle
Covenant: Invictus
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 3 / Strength 5 You may continue to believe that if you wish. I shall
(10), Dexterity 3, Stamina 4 (7) / Presence 3, Manipulation reserve judgement.
3, Composure 3 Cecylle is a sharp-eyed but cautiously spoken player of the
Skills: Academics 1, Occult 2, Politics 2, Athletics 4, Brawl great game of court—she did much the same when she was
5, Survival 3, Weaponry 5, Animal Ken 1, Empathy 2, alive. A deep player in the Conspiracy of Silence, she does
Expression 4, Intimidation 3, Persuasion 2, Socialize 4, nothing that does not advance the cause of herself or her
Subterfuge 1 allies. She is the sire of Dousabella of the Constantinian
Disciplines: Celerity 5, Majesty 3, Vigor 5, Resilience 3 faction (the Yorkist and Lancastrian lines are both
Blood Potency: 5 descended from Constantine, albeit distantly) and this
Notable Merits: Status makes her inclined to at least protect her descendent, if
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 18, Defense 12, Initiative 7, not the other Constantinians.
Willpower 6
Humanity: 5 Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Invictus
Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 2,
Fairfax Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 2, Manipulation 4,
Composure 3
Yes yes, very interesting. But perhaps when that’s Skills: Academics 2, Occult 2, Politics 4, Athletics 2, Brawl
done we could take in a show. 2, Animal Ken 1, Empathy 3, Expression 3, Intimidation
Fairfax is not especially political, he is a member of the 2, Persuasion 3, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 4
Invictus chiefly because they’re the default power structure Disciplines: Animalism 2, Dominate 4
in England, especially now that the Lancea et Sanctum is Blood Potency: 4
coming under fire (by “now”, of course, he means “since Notable Merits: Lineage, Allies
about 1531” but this is vampire society we’re talking about Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 6,
here). He’s primarily interested in art, patronising a Willpower 6
number of troupes of players. Some would count Fairfax as Humanity: 5
an independent, since he’s largely apolitical, but he’s listed
here as a Dane. Cecylle is especially connected amongst the mortal
aristocracy around Yorkshire and maintains
Clan: Daeva correspondence with Kindred as far afield as London and
Covenant: Invictus Dublin. She has strong ties to York and its court, but
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 2 / Strength 3 ultimately she is working on a deeper plan. She thinks
(5), Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 / Presence 4, Manipulation 3, more nationally than the older, more isolationist Kindred.
Composure 2
Skills: Academics 1, Occult 2, Politics 1, Athletics 2, Brawl
2, Weaponry 3, Animal Ken 1, Empathy 3, Expression 4,
Intimidation 2, Persuasion 3, Socialize 5, Streetwise 2,
Subterfuge 2
Disciplines: Celerity 2, Majesty 4, Vigor 2
Blood Potency: 3
Lancastrians Attributes: Intelligence 5, Wits 3, Resolve 5 / Strength 5
(10), Dexterity 2, Stamina 4 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
Composure 5
Henry Wryneck Skills: Academics 3, Occult 3, Politics 3, Athletics 2, Brawl
5, Larceny 5, Stealth 5, Animal Ken 2, Empathy 3,
If you think any of this matters you are an even
Expression 3, Intimidation 4, Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 4
greater fool than you seem. Disciplines: Nightmare 5, Obfuscate 5, Vigor 5
Like his Yorkist counterpart, Henry Wryneck is more Blood Potency: 5
concerned with the wider world of Invictus politics than Notable Merits: Where the Bodies are Buried
local goings-on in York. He is a little more hotheaded than Advantages: Size 5, Speed 17, Defense 4, Initiative 8,
his opposite number, but no less cunning or ruthless. Willpower 10
Humanity: 2
Clan: Ventrue
Covenant: Invictus The Beggar King of York is your classic enigmatic
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3 / Strength 2, Nosferatu. He keeps to the shadows, watches, and waits.
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 (4) / Presence 3, Manipulation 4, Like the Lancastrians and Yorkists, he’s in this for the
Composure 2 wider game, but unlike those factions he has an eye on the
Skills: Academics 2, Occult 2, Politics 4, Athletics 2, Brawl weirder things that lurk in the shadows.
1, Weaponry 2, Animal Ken 1, Empathy 2, Expression 3,
Intimidation 3, Persuasion 2, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 4 Peter de Vaux
Disciplines: Dominate 4, Resilience 2
Blood Potency: 4 Once considered a heretic, now leader of the dominant
Notable Merits: Lineage, Allies faction of the Lancea et Sanctum in England. Always
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 6, suspicious of the strictures of Church doctrine, he was
Willpower 6 never entirely swayed by the teachings of the Lancea et
Humanity: 5 Sanctum either, and definitely didn’t think the outright
practice of sorcery was compatible with his beliefs.
Like Cecylle, he has a wide network of allies amongst both
Clan: Mekhet
Kindred and mortal nobility, especially in London. Travel
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
is difficult, but he is a great writer of letters and is well
Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4, Resolve 4 / Strength 2,
informed about events well outside Northumbria.
Dexterity 4, Stamina 3 / Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
Composure 4
Skills: Academics 4, Occult 2, Politics 2, Athletics 2, Brawl
Reformers 2, Stealth 3, Empathy 3, Expression 4, Intimidation 2,
Persuasion 3, Subterfuge 4
The Beggar King of York Disciplines: Auspex 3, Celerity 2, Obfuscate 5
Blood Potency: 4
I would tell you not to be afraid, child, but that Notable Merits: Anointed
would be a disservice. There are many things in this Advantages: Size 5, Speed 11, Defense 8, Initiative 8,
world you would do well to fear. Willpower 8
Humanity: 5
In the catacombs beneath the Abbey Church lies the
Beggar King—a Nosferatu and the sire of William Thorpe
De Vaux is softly spoken but passionate, caring deeply
(who himself is based in the Augmentations Office). The
about his cause. He is suspicious any kind of
Beggar-King is a loyal servant of the Invictus but not
institutionalised power, but currently feels that the
especially interested in the conflict with the Lancea et
Reformers are a better fit than the traditionalist Lancea et
Sanctum. Nobody is quite sure how old he is, but he is
Sanctum.
believed to have been in the city since at least the Black
Death.

Clan: Nosferatu
Covenant: Invictus
William Thorpe Clan: Gangrel
Covenant: Invictus
Your coven meant nothing to me, all you were was in Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 2,
Dexterity 2, Stamina 4 (7) / Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
my way. Composure 3
William Thorpe was once a Templar, and his grudge Skills: Academics 4, Investigation 3, Politics 3 Athletics 2,
against the Constantinians and the Church is very much Brawl 2, Weaponry 1 Animal Ken 2, Empathy 2,
the zeal of a convert. After the suppression of his order in Persuasion 3, Socilaize 3, Subterfuge 3
1312 he became convinced of the corruption of both the Disciplines: Protean 4, Resilience 3, Auspex 2
Roman Church and the crowned heads of Europe. His Blood Potency: 4
Protestantism is genuine (he’s a genuinely pious man in a Notable Merits: Resources, Notary
lot of ways) but his desire to purify the Lancea et Sanctum Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 5,
is as personal as it is philosophical. Willpower 5
Clan: Nosferatu Humanity: 5
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 3 Selby is good with money to a far greater extent that a lot
(8), Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 / Presence 2, Manipulation 2, of other Invictus, who are used to their wealth coming
Composure 3 from land and serfs rather than anything so strange and
Skills: Academics 2, Investigation 1, Occult 2, Politics 3 modern as trade (that’s why he was embraced in the first
Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Drive 1, Stealth 3, Survival 1, place—Adelaide understood just enough to realise that this
Weaponry 4 Animal Ken 1, Empathy 1, Intimidation 1, stuff would be really important in a couple of centuries).
Persuasion 1 He also acts as Notary for the court, witnessing and
Disciplines: Obfuscate 2, Vigor 5, Nightmare 2 recording Oaths.
Blood Potency: 5
Notable Merits: Allies Domino
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 19, Defense 6, Initiative 6,
Willpower 6 I believe I can arrange that for you.
Humanity: 5 Domino’s background is ambiguous. They style themselves
in the manner of a variety of stock characters from Italian
In a lot of ways, Thorpe is a small fish. He’s several commedia dell’arte, normally Harlequin or Columbina,
centuries old, but he has spent much of that time pursuing but they will adopt whichever persona is most appropriate
a vendetta against the mortal church and its undead to the context (they’ll go with il Capitano if there’s military
reflection, which has limited his ability to engage with the work to do).
wider world of Kindred intrigues.
Clan: Mekhet

Mercantilists Covenant: Invictus

Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2 / Strength 2,
Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
Selby Composure 2
Skills: Academics 2, Crafts 2, Investigation 2, Occult 2,
Money always talks. You just have to know how to
Politics 3 Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Larceny 2, Stealth 3,
listen to it. Weaponry 2 Empathy 2, Expression 4, Persuasion 3,
Selby is a softly-spoken, no nonsense Kindred affiliated Socilaize 2, Subterfuge 3
with the Mercantilist faction of the Invictus. He is Disciplines: Auspex 2, Obfuscate 4
theoretically of the Danish line, being descended from Blood Potency: 4
Adelaide who is descended from Skarthi, but having more Notable Merits: Contacts
of a head for both figures and politics than the Danish Advantages: Size 5, Speed 10, Defense 5, Initiative 5,
vampires he is more generally associated with his own Willpower 4
faction. Humanity: 5
Domino specialises in acquiring specific, hard to find
items. They’re very much the person you’d go to if you
Adam Fitzroy
needed—say—a handkerchief stained with the life’s blood of Why do you stare so? Are you not afraid that you
a king.
might draw the attention of something terrible?
Adam Fitzroy is unusual in that he is a Nosferatu whose
Others clan curse does not manifest in his physical appearance.
Rather there is simply something profoundly … unsettling
Aaron about him. An intensely well-tailored, well-manicured and
well-presented young man, he never the less looks at you
Ah, of course. Just pass me down that quarto from the like he’s sizing you up for butchery.
shelf behind you.
Clan: Nosferatu
For about a hundred years, Aaron was the protector of the Covenant: Invictus
Jewish quarter of York. Following the Edict of Expulsion Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 3
in 1290 he passed into Torpor for about a century. Since (7), Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 / Presence 3, Manipulation 3,
his reawakening he has returned to is studies—he’s a Composure 3
scholar of Kindred lore and would probably fit in well with Skills: Academics 2, Occult 1, Politics 1 Athletics 3, Brawl
the Lancea et Sanctum if they weren’t so explicitly 3, Survival 2, Weaponry 3 Intimidation 3, Expression 2,
Christian. As it is he has a bargain with Estrid whereby she Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 3
occasionally consults him about things, and he is otherwise Disciplines: Nightmare 4, Obfuscate 2, Vigor 4
left alone. Blood Potency: 4
Notable Merits: Oath of Penance, Striking Looks
Clan: Mekhet Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 6, Initiative 6,
Covenant: Unaligned Willpower 6
Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 2, Humanity: 5
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 2, Manipulation 2,
Composure 3 Fitzroy’s Oath of Penance is to the Lord of the South, a
Skills: Academics 5, Investigation 3, Occult 5, Politics 1 truly ancient vampire who lays claim to London and most
Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Stealth 2 Empathy 3, Expression 2, of the south of England. He extracts the Oath from any
Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 3 Kindred who which to embrace in his territory.
Disciplines: Auspex 5, Obfuscate 5, Celerity 2
Blood Potency: 4
Notable Merits: Library Eleanor de la Zouche
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 5, Initiative 5,
I will tell you this: there is no freedom for our kind.
Willpower 6
Humanity: 5 But if you smile prettily enough, you may be permitted
to choose your cage.
Aaron’s library is considerable, and he primarily interacts In life, Eleanor de la Zouche chafed against the restrictions
with other Kindred in order to acquire new items for it. imposed upon her by her sex and her station. Fleeing an
He maintains a cordial relationship with Matthias the arranged marriage in the company of a mysterious stranger
Sorcerer, and they will occasionally pool their resources on seemed like her only escape, but when he transformed her
difficult problems. into a vampire, she realised that she had just traded one set
of chains for another.
Clan: Nosferatu
Covenant: Invictus
Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 4 / Strength 2,
Margaret the Blind
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 4, Manipulation 3, By the grace of God and in accordance with the
Composure 2
Skills: Academics 1, Occult 1, Politics 3 Athletics 2, Brawl
teachings of Longinus, I bear the words of Constantine,
1, Stealth 2, Survival 2 Animal Ken 1, Empathy 2, Prince-Bishop of Northumbria.
Expression 2, Intimidation 3, Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 3 Margaret is an old Scottish woman in the habit of a
Disciplines: Nightmare 2, Obfuscate 4, Majesty 2 Cistercian nun. Her eyes are milky with cataracts but she
Blood Potency: 4 seems acutely aware of her surroundings, but then as a
Notable Merits: Allies, Striking Looks Mekhet she has access to Auspex alongside the ability of
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 4, vampires to read heartbeats.
Willpower 6
Humanity: 5 Clan: Mekhet
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
Eleanor has made the most of a bad situation. Kindred Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 2,
politics is—difficult as it would have been for her to Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
imagine it—worse than the politics of mortal nobility by an Composure 3
order of magnitude, but she has taken to it well. She has Skills: Academics 3, Crafts 2, Occult 3, Politics 2 /
built herself a reliable set of alliances at court both in York Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Larceny 1, Stealth 3 / Animal Ken 1,
and in London, although the Lord of the South frightens Empathy 3, Expression 3, Persuasion 3, Subterfuge 3
her. Disciplines: Auspex 5, Theban Sorcery 3
Blood Potency: 4

Chapter Four Notable Merits: Anointed

Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 4, Initiative 5,
Willpower 6
Alanis Margaret is one of the converts Constantine made on his
I came south for you. I need your help and I’ll not go original mission to Scotland, and is now unswervingly loyal
home without it. to the Church of Rome. The Reformers therefore offend
Alanis is afraid that Scotland is falling more and more her far more deeply than the alleged “usurpation” of
under the sway of Presbyterianism, and is hoping that the Constantine’s throne by Estrid.
Witches of York will be able to help her enact a ritual to
strike down the Covenanters who currently march south Constantine
towards York. If the players don’t come to find her she’ll A short man, with vaguely Latin features, Constantine was
come to find them) she will use magic to do this, and a soldier in the army that acclaimed the actual Constantine
owing to the Kindred ability to detect Blood Sorcery they emperor in 306 AD. Around the same time he was
will be aware that somebody is trying to perform rituals on embraced by the Goddess who now sleeps beneath Barrow
them. Tor, and was her subject and her servant for a century or
more before his conversion to Christianity. He has been a
Clan: None
stalwart of the Lancea et Sanctum for a millennium (or at
Covenant: None
least for as much of that millennium as he has been awake
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3 / Strength 2,
for).
Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 / Presence 2, Manipulation 3,
Composure 1 Clan: Ventrue
Skills: Crafts 2, Occult 3 Athletics 1, Larceny 1, Stealth 2, Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum
Survival 2 Animal Ken 2, Empathy 1, Expression 2, Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4, Resolve 5 / Strength 5,
Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 2 Dexterity 5, Stamina 5 (10) / Presence 4, Manipulation 3,
Disciplines: Crúac 3 Composure 3
Blood Potency: 0
Notable Merits: Unseen Sense (Kindred)
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 9, Defense 3, Initiative 3,
Willpower 4
Skills: Academics 4, Crafts 2, Occult 3, Politics 4 Athletics
5, Brawl 5, Stealth 4, Survival 4, Weaponry 5 Animal Ken
3, Empathy 2, Expression 4, Intimidation 5, Persuasion 4,
Chapter Five
Socialize 2, Subterfuge 3 The Goddess
Disciplines: Animalism 3, Dominate 5, Resilience 5,
The exact nature of the Goddess is left up to individual
Majesty 3, Protean 2, Theban Sorcery 3
Storytellers. By default she is essentially a Strix (or a member
Blood Potency: 1 (he’s been in torpor a long time)
of a broad category of shadow-beings of which the Strix are
Notable Merits: Status, Anointed, Dynasty Membership,
the most obvious manifestation). In this interpretation the
Claws of the Unholy
Strix stories of being the secret progenitors of all vampires
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 15, Defense 9, Initiative 8,
are at least partially true—between their various
Willpower 8
Embodiments and Shadow Powers the Strix are able to
Humanity: 3
create vampires and have been doing so for as long as
humanity has existed.
Constantine is ancient an poweful but far from
unstoppable. He is unfamiliar with the modern world
Vice: Vengeful.
(cannon are very new to him) and has a tendency to be
Shadow Potency: 10
short-sighted and arrogant. He also lacks a detailed
Attributes: Power 7, Finesse 10, Resistance 7
understanding of magic relative to more specialised
Skills: Brawl 5, Athletics 5, Occult 5, Persuasion 5,
kindred and isn’t as unbeatable in a fight as you might
Subterfuge 5, Stealth 5
imagine for somebody a thousand years old.
Corpus: 12
Willpower: 10
Malcom Size: 5
In life, Malcom was a Border Reiver in marches between Speed: 12
England and Scotland. He’s a handsome man, quick to Defence: 10
laugh and quick to anger. He wears a jack of plate and a Initiative: 17
steel bonnet in memory of his heritage. He is a world away Embodiments: Shadow Form, Possess Corpse, Possess
from being genuinely religious, his loyalty is specifically to Revenant, Possess Kindred, Possess Living, Synthesis,
Constantine. Materialize, Enter Twilight, Shadow Jump, Dark Places
Dread Powers: Indomitable, Shadow Infection, Vampiric
Clan: Ventrue Embrace (unique, see below), Blood Goddess (unique, see
Covenant: Lancea et Sanctum below), Kindred Disciplines x 6
Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 2 / Strength 3 Disciplines: Her Kindred Disciplines Dread Power gives
(5), Dexterity 4, Stamina 3 (7) / Presence 3, Manipulation the Goddess 50 dots in Disciplines (6 lots of the power x
2, Composure 2 Shadow Potency 10). This gives her 5 dots in each of the
Skills: Academics 1, Crafts 2, Occult 1 Athletics 4, Brawl main Vampiric disciplines, 5 dots of Crúac and 15
3, Firearms 4, Larceny 2, Stealth 3, Weaponry 4 Animal experiences worth of Devotions.
Ken 1, Empathy 1, Expression 2, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Devotions: Enfeebling Aura, Foul Grave, Riot,
Subterfuge 1 Summoning, Vermin Flood
Disciplines: Dominate 1, Resilience 4, Celerity 2, Vigor 2 Vitae: 75/15
Blood Potency: 4 Banes: Sunlight, Fire, Crossroads, Material Bane: Wild
Notable Merits: Striking Looks Roses, Plague of Purity, Symbols
Advantages: Size 5, Speed 14, Defense 10, Initiative 6,
Willpower 4 In addition, the Goddess has a number of unique powers
Humanity: 5 not found amongst other Strix.

Vampiric Embrace: The Goddess can embrace mortals as

Malcom is a simple man with simple tastes. As long as his a vampire can, using Vitae rather than the more arduous
current master can keep him in comfort, he’ll be as loyal as process of the Synthesis embodiment. This does involve
can be expected from a professional thief. getting her Vitae into their body, which is part of the
purpose for which she created the Rite of the Chalice. If
she is possessing a vampire, she can perform the embrace
normally.
Blood Goddess: Anybody who performs the Rite of the
Chalice forms a blood connection to the Goddess and, as a
Acolytes
consequence, any blood they spill as a sacrifice or in the The Lancea et Sanctum sometimes has mortal followers,
performance of Crúac Rites goes directly to the Goddess as and it’s very possible that an enterprising PC might seek to
Vitae, allowing her to feed even while trapped in a stone grow their witch-cult ove rtime.
coffin.
Salient Dice Pools: Academics or Occult 6, Perception 5.
The Goddess, as her name suggests, delights in being Disciplines: Acolytes may learn Crúac or Theban Sorcery
worshipped. She has built a number of cults around herself under the rules of this campaign, but are unlikely to have
of which the PCs’ coven was the most prominent. Like more than one dot.
most immortals, she plays a very long game. Her first goal Advantages: Defence 4, Speed 9, 7 Health Levels,
is to get back at the Kindred who imprisoned her (those Willpower 5.
being Constantine and his ancient patrons) and—being Resistances: Assume 2 in all resistance Attributes and 4
mythically vengeful—that will include subverting or dice on any opposed roll not covered above.
destroying their bloodlines as well.
Shadow-Servant
She also won’t be especially happy with any PCs who have
turned away from her. The Crúac Rite Shadow Servant summons a creature with
the mechanical statistics of a Strix with Shadow Potency 1.
Generic NPCs and Summoned These creatures are intelligent, self-willed beings willing to
play the long game in exchange for an opportunity to enter
the world, feed, and grow stronger.
Critters Vice: Vindictive
Shadow Potency: 1
Guards and Soldiers Attributes: Power 1, Finesse 2, Resistance 1
These crop up from time to time (most notably travelling Skills: Brawl 2, Athletics 2, Occult 2, Stealth 4
with Hopkins but also just any time anybody needs to send Corpus: 3
a band of mooks to deal with somebody. I’d recommend Willpower: 3
using abridged statistics here. Size: 2
Speed: 12
Salient Dice Pools: Brawl 5, Firearms 6, Weaponry 6, Defence: 2
Perception 5. Initiative: 3
Advantages: Defence 4, Speed 10, 7 Health Levels, Embodiments: Shadow Form
Willpower 4. Dread Powers: See the Cracks, Ambition’s Source,
Resistances: Assume 2 in all resistance Attributes and 4 Indomitable
dice on any opposed roll not covered above. Vitae: 10/1
Banes: Sunlight, Fire

Ghouls Just to reiterate, the rite that summons a Strix is potentially

very powerful and part of the intended balancing
It will be relatively common for NPCs (and potentially PCs
mechanism is the complete lack of control it actually gives
in later chapters) to have ghoul servants. Where the main
the caster.
text suggests different stats, use the main text.

Salient Dice Pools: Brawl 6, Firearms 6, Weaponry 7,

Grave-Bound Servant
Perception 5. The following statistics assume that the servant is
Disciplines: A dot in an appropriate Physical discipline. embodied in a relatively ordinary corpse—the statistics will
The line above assumes Vigor. Add Health for Resilience deteriorate rapidly as time passes following the normal
and Defence for Celerity. rules for the Possess Corpse embodiment.
Advantages: Defence 4, Speed 11, 7 Health Levels,
Willpower 4.
Resistances: Assume 2 in all resistance Attributes and 4
dice on any opposed roll not covered above.
Vice: Cruel Vice: Ravenous
Shadow Potency: 2 Shadow Potency: 3
Attributes: Power 2, Finesse 2, Resistance 3 Attributes: Power 2, Finesse 2, Resistance 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 2 (5), Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 Physical Attributes: Strength 4 (8), Dexterity 1, Stamina 5
(5) (10)
Skills: Brawl 4, Athletics 2, Occult 2, Stealth 4 Skills: Brawl 5, Athletics 1, Occult 2, Stealth 4
Corpus: 5 Corpus: 5
Health Levels: 10 Health Levels: 18
Willpower: 5 Willpower: 5
Size: 5 (embodied) Size: 8 (embodied)
Speed: 9 Speed: 12
Defence: 4 Defence: 2
Initiative: 5 Initiative: 5
Embodiments: Shadow Form, Possess Corpse Embodiments: Special
Dread Powers: Indomitable, Kindred Disciplines x 3 Dread Powers: Indomitable, Kindred Disciplines x 3
Disciplines: Resilience 3, Vigor 3 Disciplines: Resilience 5, Vigor 4
Vitae: 11/2 Vitae: 12/3
Banes: Sunlight, Fire Banes: Sunlight, Fire, Crossroads

The grave-bound servants summoned by this Rite are The Oaken Servants are a walking breach of the
deceptively straightforward. They make very effective Masquerade (not that this means as much in 1612) and are
enforcers and shock troops. But again, remember that they most commonly employed as guardians of sacred places.
are Strix (or at least strix-like). They’re at least human-level They are always hungry, feeding with mouths that rip open
intelligent and have their own agenda. throughout their trunk and branches (their natural attacks
do lethal damage to mortals).

Oaken Servant
The Oaken Servant is the only Servant who steps a little
beyond the regular game mechanics. Strix at this Shadow
Potency normally can’t embody in living hosts. This means
that being conjured into an Oaken Servant is at once an
opportunity and a prison for a Strix. They get to be more
alive than they normally are, but their forms are very
limited.
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's
sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.