C R U X

THE PANDEMONIUM SCRIPTURES

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the second issue of Crux: The Pandemonium Scriptures!

This is one hell of an issue! Yes, pun intended. From Pawel “Chimera” Cybula and
Alexandre “Kobayashi” Jeannette, we've got a pair of nerve-wracking scenarios
that will test the limits of your Cabal. One of those scenarios features a pair of new
demons (the ravenous Shaelavvor and the deceptive Shaelamal), created by
Anthony “Ars Mysteriorum” Holtberg. Pierre-Philippe “DWYBO” Lefebvre has writ-
ten up some furious new stunts, including "Balls of Steel" and "Up Yours". Conrad
“LordEntropy” Murkitt presents an eerie new spell (“Voyeur”), and David
“David1965” Underwood brings us a new take on human enemies. Last but not
least, Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock presents the first installment in a fiction series
("Fortune City Cabal"), a couple of stabs at humor ("An Embarassing Death" and
"You Know You're a Disciple When"), and two chilling new poems ("Famous Last
Words" and "A Good Day").

Ferocious stuff, and guaranteed to shoot a bile-and-adrenaline cocktail straight

into the heart of your Dread campaign. Enjoy!

If you want to contribute to Crux, just email me at crux@dread-rpg.com. I'm

always on the lookout for artwork, articles, ideas, actual play reports, scenarios,
new demons, new weapons, fiction, and poetry.

Pax vobiscum.

Spaniard out.

Neoplastic Press
Cary, North Carolina
 CONTRIBUTORS
Pierluigi Abbondanza, Cover Artist
info@abboart.com
http://www.abboart.com
I was born in Italy the 19th of July 1978. I started draw-
ing when I was a child because I liked comics and illus-
tration book, I'm completely self-thought and I like to
paint both in digital as well as with acrylics. My working
experiences are mostly collaborations with models like
Bianca Beauchamp and Marketa Belonoha for which I
painted images to be displayed on their websites,
Drakaina for which I painted an illustration for her
Fantasy Artbook as well as private commissions. A new
project in which I'm involved at the moment is the col-
laboration with the comics editor GG Studio for the col-
oring of the second issue of Mediterranea, a new fanta-
sy series.
Conrad “LordEntropy” Murkitt, Writer
By day a Project Manager for a multi national financial
and media services company. By night he indulges in
roleplaying, video games, TV,reading and a bit of
sleep. Dread has inspired him to dig deep into his psy-
che and find terrible things to inflict on his friends.
Jonny Gray, Artist
jonnygray300@yahoo.co.uk
http://jonnygray.mcalister.org.uk
Jonny Gray was born from an egg on a mountain top in
1973. He is a keen roleplayer, family man and martial
artist but still manages to find the time to illustrate for
some of his favourite RPG's. His artwork has been pub-
lished so far in a RuneQuest fanzine and will be in an
upcoming Chaosium Monograph for Call of Cthulhu.
Alexandre “Kobayashi” Jeannette, Writer
sam_lowry1@yahoo.fr
http://livresdelours.blogspot.com
Alexandre Jeannette lives in France where he works as
a freelance journalist in the videogame industry. When
he's tired of killing people on his PC and is not busy
reading or watching movies and TV shows, he studies
Shiatsu and Systema. He has already written two short
rpgs and plans to write some more. He hopes to play a
role in Rafael Chandler's scheme to boost the twelve-
sided dice production industry by writing and designing
game aids for Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium.
Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock, Writer
My name is Daniel, but most people call me Blockhead.
I'm 17 years old, a Full-Time college student and live in
England. I came across Dread in September 08 and
was immediately hooked by the dark and seemingly
hopeless nature of the setting, as well as the ability to
do over-the-top stunts and act like a general hard nut.
This kind of setting is also kind of reflected in the RPG:
Dark Heresy, a 40k themed version of a glorified D&D
system, which is why I love Dark Heresy a lot too. So if
you fancy a game of Dread or Dark Heresy, you know
who to call!
David “David1965” Underwood, Writer
I was born in the former steel town of Corby in England,
where I still live today. I played my first roleplaying
game - the original D&D - back in 1977 and have never
lost my passion for the hobby, but it took decades
before I mustered the courage to submit material to a
professional company. So, Mongoose, hang your head,
for accepting my Judge Dredd article and unwittingly
encouraging me to continue! More recently, I worked on
Alternative Armies' Frontear game, all the while keeping
up my less than inspiring day job. I have always loved
to create stuff, and can never resist the urge to tweak
other folks' material to suit my own pun-laden black
humour. I am interested in the Old West, natural histo-
ry and conservation, though gaming is my abiding pas-
sion.
Pawel “Chimera” Cybula, Writer
I am a high school teacher of English from Poland.
Role-playing games have been my hobby since I went
to my first convention at the age of fourteen (it’s sixteen
years now!). I especially appreciate horror and action,
so I find Dread perfectly suited to my taste. My other
interests include rollerblading, TV shows about the
supernatural, good literature and cinema.
Pierre-Philippe “DWYBO” Lefebvre, Writer
He was born and raised in the proud Quebec province.
Entirely of French background, his English level is far
from perfect. Pierre-Philippe is a fan of horror, science-
fiction, litterature and sociology. He actually works for a
coalition of socially-based organizations (but you don’t
care about that!). Strangely, he received his Dread book
a few days ago, and is now overenthusiastic about sub-
mitting some fan material to Crux! He joined you a few
moments ago on the forums as DWYBO (Die With Your
Boots On). He will annoy you there.
Anthony “Ars Mysteriorum” Holtberg, Writer
Born in Billings, MT and raised in Sioux Falls, SD,
Anthony Holtberg is very familiar with the term “the
Middle of Nowhere.” Naturally, this lead to playing
RPG's as much as possible in his youth (a youth which
extended into his adulthood, and he hopes it stays that
way). Anthony is preparing to go to graduate school,
where he will attain his Master's Degree in Western
Esotericism, and from there a Doctorate in Theology.
Armed with these lofty pieces of paper, he hopes they
will aid in his subtle takeover of the world. Until that
point he's content to have aspirations of helping to
found a fully accredited Esoteric Studies program and
to bring a candle of scholarly learning where mostly
ignorant fears, stereotypes, and superstitions reside. If
he manages to create, or help create, a few RPGs and
RPG supplements along the way... Well, all the better!
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TEXT

Fortune City Cabal, by Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock...............................................................................4

Voyeur, by Conrad “LordEntropy” Murkitt................................................................................................16
Spirochete, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler.............................................................................................16
You Know You're a Disciple When, by Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock.....................................................17
An Embarassing Death, by Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock......................................................................17
Famous Last Words, by Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock...........................................................................18
A Good Day, by Daniel “Blockhead” Blakelock........................................................................................18
Fives, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler......................................................................................................18
Hostiles Revisited, by David “David1965” Underwood............................................................................20
Epidemes: Infector Demons, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler..................................................................23
Example Mentors, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler..................................................................................31
New Stunts, by Pierre-Philippe “DWYBO” Lefebvre................................................................................30
Shaelavvor and the Shaelamal, by Anthony “Ars Mysteriorum” Holtberg................................................34
The Dark Hereafter, by Alexandre “Kobayashi” Jeannette......................................................................36
Unfulfilled Dreams, by Pawel “Chimera” Cybula.....................................................................................42
Spell Targets, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler..........................................................................................46

ILLUSTRATIONS

Evil’s Daughter, by Pierluigi Abbondanza...........................................................................................cover

Biker, by Jonny Gray.................................................................................................................................5
Cool, by Jonny Gray................................................................................................................................11
Detective, by Jonny Gray........................................................................................................................14
Voyeur, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler...................................................................................................16
Tarantella, by Rafael “Spaniard” Chandler...............................................................................................19

Editing and layout by Rafael Chandler.

All content copyright © 2008 by its original creators. Clip art images ©
2008 www.clipart.com. Additional artwork © 2008 Jupiterimages
Corporation. Some artwork copyright Octavirate Entertainment, used
with permission.

This book was published by Neoplastic Press in Cary, North Carolina.

Requires a copy of Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium to play. This
book is intended for mature audiences only.

No part of this book may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without per-

mission from the publisher, except for brief quotes used in reviews. All
content is fictional, and any similarity, real or imagined, to persons living
or dead, is coincidental.

www.neoplasticpress.com
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
Fortune City Cabal
by Daniel "Blockhead" Blakelock
The red sun disappears over the hill.
Darkness fills the quiet suburbs where me
and the rest of the God-forsaken Cabal sit
and wait. We’ve been here an hour and no
sign of the skell. Might be a quiet night
tonight... That’d be a change...
I suppose I better start at the beginning. I
won’t bore you with a life-story, needless to
say I was a down-and-out cop, framed for a
crime I didn’t commit. Turned out about a
third of the Force were demons. I had no
fucking idea. I’d be dead too if it weren’t for
some crazy broad with a chainsaw.
Looking back at how quick and messy she
was I’m surprised I wasn’t scared. Maybe it
was her beautiful brown hair or her sweet,
soothing voice. Maybe it was her name,
Melissa, which reminded me of my late-
wife; that caused me to follow her. Well I did
and now I fight against a world of pain, shit
and suffering, taking on the form of demons
and your worst nightmares. Melissa died
soon after ‘rescuing me’ and after that day I
lost all sense of happiness and joy, but
gained a new sense of duty and honour; dif-
ferent to the one I felt when I first joined the
Force.
I’m not alone in my struggle. There are oth-
ers. Disciples some of them call them-
selves. I call ‘em condemned; either to be
ripped apart, bled out or killed in their sleep
by their very dreams. I’m no different. I’ve
been lucky enough to survive this long. Or
maybe I’m not; forced to deal with shit no
one should ever have to deal with while
4
those that fall may finally know peace.
I’ve seen about a dozen new faces join the
Cabal in my time. Good kids, most of ‘em.
Each death stings as badly as the last, but
you try to hide it as best you can and even-
tually it becomes routine. There’s five of us
now. Me, Tools, Star, Jinx and a new guy we
decided to call Books. This was his first time
out of the hideout after he joined a few days
earlier. He’d spent most of those days being
taught by our mentor to cross ‘the black line’
and the rest recovering.
I should probably talk about our mentor
before I continue. He calls himself
Cerberus, after the mythical guard dog of
the Hell. We can’t tell if he’s dragging back
the demons to their ‘home’ or guarding our
own sorry lives.
Either way, he’s pretty hardcore. Six foot,
muscular, bald with a leather jacket and
spikes. He even rides around on a modified
chopper. He seems to have his own little
quests and we sometimes see him leaping
across a building at night, running down an
alley or driving by on his chopper. He leaves
us messages from time to time, asking us to
take care of jobs that apparently need more
attention than others. We do as he asks,
there’s not much point sitting on our asses
all day.
Anyways, where was I? Oh right... So this
was Books’ first time out of the hideout;
which is more or less an abandoned ware-
house with some Army Surplus and charity
5
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
furniture. He seems nervous sitting between
our two lovely ladies, Star and Jinx. I’m not
surprised. Rub either the wrong way and
you can kiss your ass goodbye.
Star was a stripper and secretly a victim of
rape. A Defiler targeted her for that reason
and she did some pretty sick shit before our
mentor managed to exorcise her and
destroy the son-of-a-bitch demon. We
named her Star after the tattoo of the same
shape on her cheek, and she’s shown some
amazing sorcery abilities. We usually rely
on her for exorcisms. She’s also quite ener-
getic, but I suppose you had to be in her line
of business.
While that was happening we were busy
saving Jinx. By we, I mean me, Tools and
Hustle. Jinx was a detective for the FBI.
She’d been used to gruesome crimes in the
past, but nothing like this. Breaking into a
6
suspect’s basement she and other agents
discovered the scattered, torn and decaying
remains of, what she estimated to be, about
20 people. While the body parts were being
collected for evidence a Hunter demon,
either attracted by the smell or alerted to the
intrusion into its domain, stumbled upon the
Federal agents.
Another five bodies joined the corpse count
before we managed to destroy the mother-
fucker, including Hustle. Hustle was an up
and coming boxer until a run in with anoth-
er Hunter changed his life forever. He had
been with us for 3 months; it was a shame
he died. Even so, Jinx joined our ranks and
her computer expertise and firearms train-
ing have come in useful many times, not to
mention her detective abilities. We call her
Jinx because she always brings us the bad
news... As if any news would ever be good.
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
Both Star and Jinx joined up 2 months ago.
As for Books and Tools, Books was a victim
of a Stalker demon that almost drove him
mad in his own library; which is why we call
him Books. Tools managed to whip up some
Molotov cocktails and we torched the place
bare, hopefully burning the demon along
with the books. I guess you could say we
closed the book on that one. Books isn’t
much of a fighter, but he’s pretty knowl-
edgeable and he’s starting to show some
promising sorcery skills.
Last, but not least, we have Tools. He’s
been in the Cabal longer than me and I’ve
been in it for 8 months. You can tell by look-
ing into his eyes that he’s seen some pretty
messed up shit, although he hides it well.
He’s the strong-silent type. Whatever his
past, which he refuses to tell us, he’s a
handy mechanic and driver. Jinx and me,
although we never talk about it, think he was
7
a Wheelman for some gang. How he came
to join the Cabal, we’ll never know. If he was
directly attacked by a demon, possessed or
tormented, who knows? Frankly I don’t
care; he’s saved my life several times and
I’ve saved his.
So that’s our little group. We take care of
this city, Fortune City; and let me tell you
she’s a handful. Between the demons, cults
and gangs there’s enough bad guys out
there to keep Superman occupied for life.
The City is the love child of Las Vegas and
New York. Gambling meets skyscrapers. It’s
a high-stakes and high-rise city I like to say.
And the higher you go, the further you have
to fall.
We’re all huddled in a 2001 Chevy Tahoe
LT, our normal choice of vehicle. It’s reliable,
spacious and pretty quick, not to mention
takes a fair beating. As I said before, Books
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
is in the back huddled between Star and
Jinx. I’m sitting in the passenger seat and
Tools is at the wheel. The usual set-up. We
were following up on a lead about a sus-
pected skell. Finding out his address, we
organised a stakeout and here we are now.
I glance at my watch. It’s about 11:30pm.
The skell should’ve been home an hour
ago. Maybe he got wind of our arrival and is
hiding out tonight. “We’ll give it 10 minutes
more.” I say to the others. They barely
glance up. We sit and wait. 10 minutes go
by. Nothing. I’m about to call it a night when
the skell’s car pulls onto the street. I signal
the others that he’s here.
Tools tenses his fingers holding the keys in
ignition. He’s ready to go at a moments
notice. You have to be... Always...
The skell pulls into his driveway. It’s an
average car and an average house. You’d
never suspect the owner murdered his wife
for having a miscarriage and has been eat-
ing babies ever since. Of course, it’s not his
fault. Not entirely, anyway. I open the glove
box and take out my 9mm. Everyone’s
deadly quiet. The skell parks the car and
steps out. He begins to walk to his door, but
halfway he stops. He turns slowly and faces
our car. We remain still and silent, hoping he
hasn’t seen us. He reaches into a pocket
and grabs something. It’s a torch. Shit.
Shining it into our car, we’re lit up like a
Christmas tree. The skell drops the torch
and grabs something else from his pocket.
This time it’s a gun.
Quickly, Tools starts up the engine and I
start rolling down the window to try and
shoot the bastard. Hopefully only injuring
8
the hijacked body, but you take what you
can get. The skell, on the other hand, has
different ideas and unloads a few rounds at
us.
“Shit!” I cry as we all take what little cover
we have. Glass bits from the windshield fall
onto my neck as the thing shatters. The
skell stops firing. I take a quick peak over
the dashboard and see him starting his car.
“Tools, punch it!” I yell as I lean out of the
window and try to shoot out the tires. The
skell starts firing wildly, bullets flying every-
where. He gets lucky and nails me in the
shoulder. I yelp and drop my gun, while the
right side of the car gets a lovely new red
dotty paint job.
“Are you okay?” Asks Jinx worryingly.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Went right through,” I reply,
opening the car door and picking up my
gun.
By this time the skell had reversed out of his
driveway at speed and was now picking up
speed near the end of the street. I shut the
door and Tools roars off in hot pursuit. I
open the glove box again and exchange my
gun for a roll of bandages. I warp a strap
tightly around my shoulder. That should
stop the bleeding.
I retrieve my gun again from the glove box
and tell Tools: “Just get us close or PIT him.”
He nods and concentrates on closing the
gap between him and us. I lean out of the
window for the second time and fire a few
shots. Some hit the car, but it doesn’t stop
him… or the car. We’re out onto the main
roads now. There’s a good chance the
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
Force will be on our tail if this chase contin-
ues much longer.
Gritting my teeth, I take aim and fire. Bulls-
eye! My bullet hits the skell’s rear-right
wheel and the rubber is instantly shredded,
sending the car into a spin. It crashes into a
local store, luckily for us and the skell, trunk
first. Tools brakes hard, but shunts into the
hood of the car, preventing the skell from
getting away again. The skell tumbles out of
the car and runs inside the store.
We hop out of our car and give chase. I’m
the first in and spot him making a run for the
rear-door. I sprint towards him, determined
not to let him get away again. He reaches
the rear-door and wouldn’t you know my
luck? It’s locked. He has just enough time to
turn around and watch my fist connect with
his face. I knock him out-cold and take away
his gun.
The rest of the Cabal aren’t far behind.
“Nice job, Badge!” Compliments Jinx. That’s
my nickname by the way; Badge. That’s not
just because I used to work for the Force,
but also because I still keep my unit badge
on me. Why, you ask? It gives me a sense
of purpose and it’s ideals still stand for
something good, even if this officer is taking
down a different breed of scum.
“Looks like I’m up!” Exclaims Star, an aura
of magic building around her as she pre-
pares for an exorcism.
“Here, put the bastard in this,” Says Jinx,
handing Star a packet of frozen peas.
9
“Huh, rest in peas, eh Star?” I reply, chuck-
ling. Everyone laughs a little at this, even
Books, who hasn’t said or done much so far.
It’s important to laugh every once in a while
when you’ve got a job like this. Keeps you
sane... Keeps you human...
After regaining her composure, Star begins
to exorcise the demon. Exorcisms are rarely
the same spectacle twice. Different things
happen when you’re dealing with different
demons and circumstances. At least the
end result is always the same, a temporari-
ly caged demon and a freed person. This is
certainly one of the more interesting exor-
cisms, as it appears as if Star is dragging an
outline of the skell away from it’s uncon-
scious body. Only the outline is filled with a
roaring angry demon, trying to escape the
confines of the outline. Star drags the
demon into the peas and steps back. Tools
and me grab the now freed man and place
him out of the way. He’s lucky he’s uncon-
scious; he won’t have to witness the horror.
We each take up a position around the
packet of peas, waiting for the inevitable to
happen.
After a few seconds, the packet begins to
shake and expand. Suddenly it bursts,
sending not only frozen peas everywhere,
but releasing the demon. You never get
used to seeing them, spawns of hell, fire,
brimstone and all that biblical crap. You’d
think pious followers of ‘God’ would be unaf-
fected, protected by Angels or something, or
sent to Heaven. But this wasn’t the case. Or
at least, so it appeared. The demon stand-
ing before us, in the middle of a local store,
looks to be about 10ft tall, incredibly thin, as
shown by it’s almost fully exposed bones
and is a sickly shade of greyish-pink. On its
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
head are 2 ram-like horns and it’s 2 hands
have 7 fingers and 2 thumbs… each. Apart
from that it is humanoid-like.
It takes in its surroundings, scanning the
area with it’s large beady eyes and roars.
Jinx and I open fire with our 9mms, hot lead
flying toward the demon. They have little
affect as most of them bounce off the
demon’s almost exposed bones or travelled
straight through it’s flesh. Star begins
launching fireballs or something at the fuck-
ing thing because the demon seems to start
smoking and turns toward our little sorcer-
ess. It begins running toward her at unnatu-
ral speed. It’s getting closer with every step
and it looks like we’ll be 4 person Cabal any
second now.
Suddenly, Tools comes jumping off a shelf
of electrical goods and lands on the damned
thing’s back. Taking his trademark monkey
wrench to hand, he starts bashing the
demon over the head with it, while the
demon tries to claw him off. Tools gets a
good few hits in, but then the demon man-
ages to grab his leg. It quickly throws him
through another shelf full of tinned food. It
looks like it’s about to finish the job when
Star starts launching the fireballs again.
This time though, she’s joined by Books
who start vomiting flies. That’s one reason I
hate magic. It’s fucking sick. Luckily for us,
the flies start eating away at the demon’s
flesh. The combined efforts of Star’s fire-
balls and Books’ flies seem to whittle away
the demon’s body. It roars once again, turns
to stone then disintegrates; it’s ashes blow-
ing away in the wind. It’s dead.
Different demons die in different ways,
which we guess is related to their type,
10
power and… ‘influence’… in hell. To tell you
the truth, we don’t know why the fuck
demons die differently to one another. We
assume that the less powerful demons are
simply pawns in the more powerful ones’
sphere of influence. Kinda like a King and
his subjects. The subjects tend to die com-
pletely, whereas the King dies a little differ-
ently… or not completely. Our mentor has
refused to tell us exactly how it goes. Either
because he doesn’t know or doesn’t want
us to know. To be honest it doesn’t matter.
As long as the fuckers stay down.
I smile at Books. ‘Congratulations on taking
down your first demon kid. Here’s hoping it’s
not your last.’ I think to myself. I like to say
that fighting a demon is a lot like the first
time you have sex; you have absolutely no
idea what you’re doing, despite seeing it
done in the movies and on TV, it’s frighten-
ing, but exciting and one way or another it’s
over way too quickly… for better or worse.
Now that the demon’s gone we can start
putting this guy back where he belongs;
hopefully with no knowledge of what actual-
ly happened. We’re about to start searching
for Tools when he pops up from under a pile
of tinned food. He’s covered in food and few
scratches, but he gives a thumbs up.
“Okay, Jinx and Books, check the guy’s car.
Star, take our car and hook it up with the
guy’s car. If there are any civilians, make
them forget you. Me and Tools will take the
guy,” I order. By forget you, I meant another
of Star’s magic powers. She’s able to make
people forget about her in an instant, some-
thing she said she was skilled at when she
was still a stripper... Took me a while to stop
laughing at that. Jinx nods and leads Books
back to the guy’s car while Star runs back to
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
our car. Tools and me grab the unconscious
man and haul him through the store, the
knocked over shells and the spilled goods.
We’re nearly outside when we see Books
run past us and vomit on the sidewalk. We
carry the guy up to Jinx, who’s standing in
front of the open trunk of the man’s car.
“What’s with him?” I ask. Suddenly I notice
a pungent smell lingering in the air. Smells
almost like decay...
“And what’s that God-awful smell?” I contin-
ue.
“Take a look for yourself,” replies Jinx as
she steps aside. Jinx earns her nickname
yet again as she reveals the contents of the
trunk. Inside are the remains of about a
dozen tiny, decaying skeletons. The babies.
“Jesus! Close the fucking trunk!” I cry, trying
to gag, but I’ve seen this kind of shit before
and get nothing. Almost makes me sick see-
ing myself use to this kind of shit. Ironic real-
ly... Jinx slaps the trunk shut in response.
It’s hard to imagine the unconscious man
you’re carrying has eaten the flesh, blood
and organs of these stolen babies. Not only
do I feel sorry for the defenceless little guys,
but I also feel sorry for the parents who’ve
had the children taken away from them.
Nearly every voice in my head screams for
me to kill the unconscious man, but I have
to remember that it wasn’t him, it the
demon. Instead of killing him, Tools and me
carefully place him in the passenger seat of
his car and put on his seatbelt. Star’s busy
reversing into the front of the man’s car and
hops out to secure the tow line; the man’s
car isn’t going anywhere with a shredded
12
wheel and a busted rear end. Not on it’s
own anyway.
Sometimes one of the hardest parts of the
job is the cleanup. Sure, fighting demons is
painful, messy and could cost you your life,
but it’s actually pretty simple: You kill them,
before they kill you. What’s not so simple is
convincing 200 people, including cops, doc-
tors and scientists what they saw tearing
through their mall was an illusion or explain-
ing to a recently possessed woman why her
bedroom is full of human hearts. Yeah, you
try figuring that one out in a hurry. At least
the guy was unconscious; that made our job
a little easier.
Star goes back to our car and brings back
the straws. It’s not the first time we’ve used
the straws and it certainly won’t be the last.
The straws are mainly used to see who gets
the shit job. In this case it was driving the
man’s car. Since no one really wanted to sit
next to an unconscious man who had eaten
several babies that were stashed in the
trunk, the straws were the only way to go.
We each take a straw and reveal what we
pulled. Books gets the short straw.
“I don’t want to be in there with him!” He
protests.
“Someone’s gotta do it and we agreed to
find out who this way. Like we always do,”
replies Jinx, yet again giving more bad
news… only directed at Books.
“But… but…” Books stutters.
“I’ll drive,” announces Tools quietly.
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal

“You sure about this?” I ask. Tools simply

nods and climbs into the driver’s seat of the
guy’s car. I felt sorry for his sense of smell;
I could smell the decay from here.

“Thanks, Tools...” mumbled Books as he

climbs into our car, quickly followed by Jinx
and Star.

I stay behind and lean towards Tools, quiet-

ly saying: “Nice of you to do this for the new
guy. He’ll get more confident in the future,
he just needs time to adjust.” Tools just nods
in agreement. I start walking back to the car
when the guy starts stirring, starting to
awaken from his unconscious state.

“Sorry about that buddy, but it’s for your own

good,” I say to him, slamming the door shut.
With a final nod to Tools I head back to our
car and hop into the passenger seat with
Star at the wheel and Jinx and Books in the
back. Star then pulls away from the ruined
local shop and heads back the guy’s house.

The local shop will have to rebuild itself; it

would take too long to clean up by our-
selves. The only thing we can clean up is
the guy’s house; his car needs to be dis-
posed of. We reach the guy’s house within
minutes and Tools gladly hops out of the dri-
ver’s seat of the guy’s car and takes in a
breath of polluted, but still fresh air. The rest
of us get out of our car and get to work on
cleaning up the guy’s house. First order of
the day is searching the guy’s house, top to
bottom for any evidence of demonic activity.

Most of the rooms seem clean, except for

the kitchen, which contains a fridge full of
frozen baby parts and several jars of
‘savoury baby snacks’. Second order of the

13
 Fiction: Fortune City Cabal
rapidly departing day is the disposal of said
demonic activity. In this case, dumping it in
the guy’s car and disposing of everything
altogether. We start pilling the baby’s bodies
and body parts into the guy’s car and within
30 minutes we’ve finished cleaning up the
guy’s house. Jinx sprays the kitchen exces-
sively with perfume, deodorant and any
other smell maskers that she can get her
hands on in the hopes it will cover or elimi-
nate the strong smell of decay in there.
Needless to say, Books sat this one out.
Tools and me then take the still unconscious
man up to the bedroom and place him on
the bed. Hopefully we’ll wake up and think it
was all a terribly nightmare. I hope that hap-
pens to me every day of my life... But it
doesn’t.
With the house done, all that’s left is the car.
Getting into our arranged cars again, Star
makes for the City Bay, a huge boardwalk
that overlooks part of the Atlantic Ocean.
We use the Bay to dispose of things to large
or difficult to hide or cleanup. We pass a few
people on the way and they stare at the car,
15
but don’t look too suspicious of us. Once at
the Bay, we find a pier with no one around
and get out of our car. We push the guy’s
car to the edge of a pier and Tools hops out,
not needing to steer the guy’s car anymore
and helps us push it over the edge and into
the sea. Hopefully the guy won’t miss his
car too much. I know I wouldn’t if I knew
what was in the trunk and backseats.
As we watch the car sink into the murky
depths of the ocean, I like to think we each
made a silent prayer for the souls of those
babies. They deserved a proper burial, but
all we could do for them is a quiet burial at
sea. After a minute or two we each slowly
make our own way back to our car. Tools
once again takes the driver’s seat, I take the
passenger seat and Books is squeezed
between Star and Jinx in the backseats.
Tools reverses, then drives out of the Bay
and heads back home to our hideout so that
we can all get some well earned rest...
Job done… for now...
 New Spells
Voyeur
by Conrad "LordEntropy" Murkitt
Voyeur
Duration: 3 rounds
Range: 2
Target: Self
When cast, the casters eyes become milky
white to those that can see them. The cast-
er is able to see through all but living
objects, but everything is in a mist, so they
are able to discern the number of people in
a room, but not specific details.
Gameplay: Baptist, Dremel, and Victor
moved silently to the door. Unsure of how
many were within, Victor cast Voyeur.
Blinking once his eyes were white as snow,
through misty vision he could make out the
forms of 4 men. He raised 4 fingers, Baptist
and Dremel gripped their guns and then
BAM, Baptist booted the door in.
16
Spirochete
by Rafael "Spaniard" Chandler
Spirochete
Duration: 2 rounds
Range: 2
Target: All
When this spell is cast, dripping orifices
appear in the Disciple's palms, and he is
able to create and throw spiral-shaped par-
asites at his enemies. These tiny grubs
squirm into the flesh of their victim, eventu-
ally reaching the nervous system, where
they are able to take limited control for a few
moments before dying. To cast the spell, the
Disciple rolls a Sense check against the vic-
tim's Sense check. Success means that the
grubs have penetrated the skin, inflicting 1
point of damage. The next round, in addition
to normal combat, the victim will attack him-
self. The player makes the attack roll, and
the Director makes the defend roll at minus
three dice.
Cloaca
Duration: 3 rounds
Range: 2
Target: All
A slimy hole appears in the ground beneath
the caster, and he plummets down, after
which the hole closes back up. A split-sec-
ond later, the caster flies up out of the
ground in front of his target, covered in
brown slime, and attacks. The attack is exe-
cuted with 1 extra die, and the caster is able
to swipe (and use) the highest die in the vic-
tim's defend roll. In addition, the brown
slime hardens along the caster's body, act-
ing as armor with a value of 5. After 1 round,
it flakes off, even if it has not been used.
 Humor

You Know You’re a Disciple When...

by Daniel "Blockhead" Blakelock

1. The pen (when magically charged) is
mightier than the sword
2. You have an irresistible urge to: A) Wear
long leather trench coats, B) Are always in
a foul and cynical mood, C) Have a nick-
name relating to a form of violence, D)
Solve everything with violence
3. You fly/slither/teleport to places
4. Somebody says: “It’ll cost you an arm
and a leg.” You reply: “Which ones?”
5. You see dead people
6. You’ve been separated from a limb tem-
porarily
7. You keep a kill-count
8. You sleep with a sword under your pil-
low
9. You don’t know what the words ‘Over-
kill’, ‘Over-react’ and ‘Subtle’ mean
10. Someone says: “Life Insurance.” You
say: “What? A med-kit?”
11. You check under the bed and in the
closet for monsters
12. You take Satanism and the Occult very
seriously
13. You suspect the tooth fairy is a demon
14. You get banned from church
15. Your ‘tools of the trade’ includes a bat-
tle-axe, a machine gun, some grenades
and a fake ID
16. You’ve lost more blood than you can
be bothered to count
17. You start quoting: A) Duke Nukem, B)
Terminator, C) Scarface, D) Some other
movie or video game character
18. You go through walls instead of doors
19. Your Boss saves your life
20. You try to imitate the Matrix to see if it’s
possible
21. Your live with your work colleagues
22. Work involves finding/hiding/making/
causing/working out/killing shit
23. If at first you don’t succeed, you’ll prob-
ably end up dead

An Embarassing Death
by Daniel "Blockhead" Blakelock

There was a Cabal from New York,

That had a Disciple called Pork,
He wasn't too bright,
And got killed in a fight,
Using only a knife and a fork!

17
 Poetry

Famous Last Words A Good Day

by Daniel "Blockhead" Blakelock by Daniel "Blockhead" Blakelock

A hastily scribbled, blood-stained note For You:

found in an abandoned house next to a pool
of blood. Getting up late
Having a relaxing bath
Screaming we enter the fray Eating a good breakfast
And screaming we leave Getting to work on time
There is always blood Making the Boss proud
So much blood Getting home safely
Sometimes things go missing Having a good night in with the wife
And sometimes they return
But never the same For Me:
The demons are coming….
Getting up alive
Our dreams haunt us Having the time to wash
We fear the dark Eating anything
For it is the unknown Getting to work in one piece
We fear the light Making the Boss care
For it makes us visible to all Getting home at all
The demons are coming…. Having enough time to see my girlfriend
smile before she dies
Death comes for us all
But it comes too slowly for most
We will be forgotten
The demons are coming…. Fives
by Rafael "Spaniard" Chandler
My time draws near
The demons are coming….
your lover
The demons are here…. your raven
your cover
your haven

you cavel
you revel
your rival
your devil

18
 Hostiles Revisited

Hostiles Revisited
by David "David1965" Underwood

Statistics for normal humans have previous- Desk Sergeant

ly been published in the pages of Pent, but Strength: 2
I would like to take the opportunity to revisit Sense: 3
the teeming masses and present an alter- Soul: 3
native view of the unsuspecting suck-pigs. Life: 4
Skills: Crime 4, Computers 2, Driving 1,
To begin, let’s remember that an attribute of Intimidate 2
one represents a below average score, so
how likely is it that anyone – other than Detective
someone who is severely handicapped – Strength: 2
would have two attributes with that score? Sense: 3
Soul: 4
Here are my optional statistics for some of Life: 5
the most likely protagonists that Disciples Skills: Charm 2, Crime 4, Computers 1,
are likely to encounter, and the thinking Driving 2, Intimidate 3
behind them.
SWAT
The Police Strength: 4
Sense: 2
Rookie Beat Cop Soul: 4
Strength: 2 Life: 6
Sense: 2 Skills: Driving 2, Military 4, Intimidate 2
Soul: 2
Life: 4
Skills: Law Enforcement 2, Crime 1, Driving
1

Seasoned Beat Cop

Strength: 3
Sense: 2
Soul: 3
Life: 5
Skills: Crime 3, Driving 2, Intimidate 2

20
 Hostiles Revisited

The Military Criminals

Rear Echelon Street Punk

Strength: 2 Strength: 3
Sense: 2 Sense: 2
Soul: 2 Soul: 3
Life: 4 Life: 4
Skills: Driving 1, Profession (Cook, etc.) 2, Skills: Crime 2, Driving 2, Intimidate 1
Military 1
Enforcer
Raise Senses to 3 for a specialist, or 4 for a Strength: 4
particularly gifted analyst, and a level or two Sense: 2
in Computers for good measure. Soul: 3
Life: 6
Warrior Skills: Crime 3, Driving 2, Intimidate 3
(This can include Infantry, Marines, para-
trooper – anyone whose role is to be at the Able Lieutenant
sharp end when the balloon goes up.) Strength: 2
Strength: 4 Sense: 3
Sense: 2 Soul: 3
Soul: 4 Life: 4
Life: 6 Skills: Charm 2, Computers 2, Crime 2,
Skills: Driving 2, Military 4, Intimidate 2 Profession (lawyer/accountant etc.)2

Special Forces (SAS, SEALS, etc.) Big Boss

Strength: 5 Strength: 3
Sense: 3 Sense: 3
Soul: 4 Soul: 4
Life: 6 Life: 6
Skills: Criminal 2, Computers 1, Military 6, Skills: Crime 4, Intimidate 4
Intimidate 2

Like the police before them, these are dedi-

cated careerists; they have not had to rap-
idly change their attitudes and skill sets
because a Demon has torn them a new
one.

21
 Hostiles Revisited

Hit Man Preacher

Strength: 4 Strength: 2
Sense: 3 Sense: 3
Soul: 4 Soul: 4
Life: 6 Life: 4
Skills: Crime 3, Driving 3, Intimidate 3, Skills: Charm 3, Intimidate 3, Profession 4
Military 3
Reporter
Dedication in other avenues of life should Strength: 2
not go unrecognised, either. Sense: 3
Soul: 4
Professional Athlete Life: 4
Strength: 4 Skills: Charm 2, Computers 2, Criminal 2,
Sense: 2 Driving 1, Profession 3
Soul: 4
Life: 6 Obviously, the above list is far from exhaus-
Skills: Profession (specific sport) 4 tive, but I hope it illustrates that non-
Disciples can be extremely well trained and
Professional Martial Artist motivated, too, and should be treated with a
(Karate instructor, boxer, etc.) little respect.
Strength: 4
Sense: 2
Soul: 4
Life: 6
Skills: Driving 1, Intimidate 3, Profession 4

22
 New Demons
Epidemes: Infector Demons
by Rafael "Spaniard" Chandler
Disciples have recently become aware of s
new demonic rank: the Epidemes, also
known as Infectors. These demons are
more powerful than Hunters, Defilers, or
Stalkers. For this reason, they should be
reserved for use against more experienced
Disciples.
Drawn to places of filth, squalor, and
inequality, Infectors torment humans with
strange and horrific diseases. The mere
presence of an Infector will cause wide-
spread plagues with high mortality rates;
cholera, Dengue fever, and malaria will
afflict victims in regions where these dis-
eases have never been reported before.
Shortly after the first victims succumb, the
epidemic will mutate into something even
worse, detailed in the individual descriptions
for each demon. Half-breeds (Disciples and
Zealots) are immune to these afflictions. In
addition, the demon can Infect ordinary
humans with strange diseases that turn
them into the demon’s servants (and there-
fore a threat to Disciples).
When on the trail of an Infector, the Cabal
will come face-to-face with these horrid
sicknesses. They’ll encounter bloated
corpses, radiation, and ghost towns where
the affliction has wiped out entire communi-
ties.
Infectors can assume human form at will,
and are smart enough to pass for human
without difficulty. Should a Cabal begin to
interfere with the work of the Epideme, it wil
immediately work to bring the Disciples
down.
23
Each round, in addition to its normal attack,
the Infector demon can use Wrath to exe-
cute a secondary attack.
Infection
Infectors use Wrath to infect a group of peo-
ple. Each group of Infected behaves differ-
ently, depending on the breed of demon.
Unlike the sickness that accompanies the
demon’s presence, this infection has a spe-
cial effect on its victims, and these Infected
will serve the demon as its shock troops and
bodyguards. Often, the Infector will have
used Wrath in this way already, so by the
time the Disciples arrive, the demon’s Wrath
score will be back up to maximum again
(and it will be accompanied by a group of
Infected soldiers).
Projectile
The Infector can kill a point of Wrath to
unleash a grotesque projectile attack. By
leeching a point of Life from each Infected
human victim within line-of-sight, the
Infector can spit a wad of something foul
and unclean (such as a mix of writhing mag-
gots and caustic sputum) at its target. The
attack score is equal to the amount of Life
that it has stolen from its human victims (a
dozen Infected, a dozen dice). This is in
addition to its normal attacks.
Attack
By killing Wrath, the demon can unleash an
additional attack. One point of Wrath equals
two dice, and the demon can spend up to 6
points of Wrath at a time in this fashion. It
can only attack one Disciple at a time.
New Demons

24
 New Demons
Chiarkas
Rank: Infector
Strength 11
Sense 5
Soul 2
Life 20
Armor 8
Wrath 20
Appearance
The Chiarkas is a towering mass of pale
green tissue, shot through with veins of yel-
low and bright emerald. It drips with thick
banana-yellow mucus. Vaguely humanoid,
the ten-foot-tall entity has a skull-like head
and two misshapen arms. Its lower body is
a column of flesh that slides rapidly across
the floor, leaving a trail of fluids.
Pattern
The Chiarkas targets low-income neighbor-
hoods and places where people struggle in
squalor and deprivation. Specifically, it is
attracted to those who seek to resolve such
problems through community service or vol-
unteer work.
Once the demon has established its target,
it secretes toxins from its skin, which are
then smeared over random surfaces and
left for the unwary. The Chiarkas may leave
a box full of canned goods near a homeless
shelter, or it may assume human form and
25
make a donation (in the form of a written
check, infected with some horrible disease)
at a food bank.
At rallies, marches, and peaceful protests,
the demon will shoulder its way through the
crowd, infecting everyone it touches. At
soup kitchens, it will ladle out contaminated
food to the hungry.
Eventually, the epidemic will take hold, and
the sickness will begin to claim lives. The
victims of the Chiarkas develop coin-sized
white boils, ringed with pink, across their
bodies, which eventually burst, spraying
yellowish mucus in all directions. As the vic-
tim’s condition worsens, internal organs
slowly liquefy and blood seeps from the
pores. The Chiarkas haunts the victim dur-
ing these final stages, invisible to everyone
else.
Sometimes, the demon selects a victim (or
a dozen victims) and alters the chemistry of
the infection somewhat. The infection is no
longer directly fatal. Instead, after the boils
have appeared, the victim is driven com-
pletely insane with rage, and is compelled to
rampage through the area, attacking every-
one he sees until he is killed.
Infected victims receive 6 points of Life, 12
points of Fury, and 3 points of Strength.
New Demons

26
 New Demons
Ghozualt
Rank: Infector
Strength 9
Sense 3
Soul 6
Life 23
Armor 6
Wrath 19
Appearance
The Ghozualt demon appears as a hyena-
like humanoid with matted brown and beige
fur. Its body is covered in mange, and there
are wide swaths of crusty pink skin, dotted
with cysts and boils. Where its eyes should
be are two sunken indentations that seep
dark red blood. From between its ragged
and mite-infested ears protrudes a foot-long
appendage of purplish tissue, ending in a
pair of glistening greyish-yellow eyes that
never blink. Its forepaws end in clusters of
yellowish claws, and its three rear legs end
in two-inch black talons. The demon exudes
a thick musk which induces nausea in ordi-
nary humans.
Pattern
The Ghozualt is drawn to military installa-
tions. Attracted to violence and abuse, the
demon seeks out captives or hostages who
are being tortured or interrogated.
It begins by infecting these prisoners with a
debilitating illness that wracks the victims’
bodies with horrific seizures. Victims shud-
der, convulse, twitch, scream uncontrollably,
and produce greenish foam at the mouth. If
the seizures themselves do not prove fatal,
the strain that they place on the heart and
27
nervous system will eventually result in the
death of the victim.
The disease will eventually spread to other
people, including doctors, nurses, other
captives, and military personnel. Within a
matter of hours, the entire base will be
infected (or at risk of infection). It’s not
uncommon for the area to come under
hasty quarantine at this time, which is exact-
ly what the demon has been hoping for.
Disguising itself as an ordinary person, the
Ghozualt will select a few of the larger vic-
tims for a different strain. This infection will
mutate the target, transforming him into a
hideous mockery of humanity.
The victim’s skin will crust and redden,
becoming pink and scaly like the exposed
dermis of the Ghozualt; then a hard
exoskeleton of chitin will grow over most of
the body; the hair will fall from his head; his
eyes will seep dark blood; his fingernails will
harden into claws; his teeth will meld and
elongate into two spikes of bone; and his
body will exude a horrific tell-tale odor.
Large claws will grow from his hands, and a
barbed tail will complete the victim’s trans-
formation into a Xhavuax demon.
Immensely strong, and capable of frighten-
ing swift attacks and jumps of up to fifty feet
upwards from a standing start, the demon
will whoop and screech while crawling
head-down along a wall towards the
Disciples.
Typically, once the Ghozualt realizes it’s
been compromised, it will deploy several of
these demons.
New Demons

28
 New Demons
Verrachta Qovian
Rank: Infector Rank: Infector
Strength 10 Strength 5
Sense 4 Sense 2
Soul 4 Soul 2
Life 20 Life 10
Armor 12 Armor 6
Wrath 16 Wrath 8
Appearance
The Verrachta appears as a large sphere of
greenish-blue tissue, from which dangle ten
tentacles of different lengths. An enormous
mouth protrudes from the four-foot-wide
central sphere, and each of the tentacles
ends in a mouth that’s at least a foot-long,
each of which jabbers in a different extinct
language. The demon sweats a milky pink
substance that reeks of fresh fruit.
Pattern
The Verrachta is drawn to hospitals, asy-
lums, and clinits. Though repulsed by clean-
liness, the demon is compelled to visit these
places (and then defile them).
It begins by afflicting victims with a strange
ailment that deforms and distorts the skin,
rendering it greenish and leathery, like the
hide of an alligator. The victim’s teeth and
nails fall out, replaced by large, serrated
teeth and blackish talons. The skin develops
ridges and pebble-like lumps in strange pat-
terns, and all the hair on the victim’s body
falls out in bloody clumps.
29
The disease also drives the victim into a
frenzy during which he is compelled to eat
as much as possible. Anything remotely
resembling food will be torn apart and
crammed into the victim’s maw.
After that, the Infected will enter a deep
trance-like state from which no one will be
able to awaken them. Eventually, the vic-
tim’s body will split open, revealing a leath-
ery green egg the size of a basketball.
When the egg hatches, a dozen eel-like
creatures will slither out in search of food.
After gorging on hospital food or human
flesh, the creatures will begin to grow, even-
tually reaching five feet tall in size. These
demons, known as Qovians, serve the
Verrachta, helping it to lock down the hospi-
tal with booby traps, setting ambushes for
Disciples, and locating fresh meat for the
Verrachta. Qovians are spindly, long-limbed
entities with bird-like beaks surrounded by a
ring of eight eyes. Their fingers are thin and
nimble, and their four legs end in foot-long
spikes of purple bone.
Once it has assembled a small team of
Qovians, the Infector will seize control of the
hospital, barricading itself inside. It will then
engage in all manner of horrific behavior,
such as forcing patients to battle each other
to the death using scapels or bone saws. It
will force captured medical personnel to
choose between consuming human flesh or
being vivisected. And it will send the
Qovians out to patrol the facility’s corridors
for interlopers, secretly hoping that a Cabal
will appear to provide a worthy challenge.
 New Demons

Appearance

The flesh of the Xhavuax is covered by an

exoskeleton that ranges in color from bright
pink to dark red. Its powerful arms are
tipped with shiny violet claws, from which
depend two thin pink tentacles (which the
demon uses to execute more complex
tasks). The demon’s face is covered in the
same chitinous shell, but its baleful yellow
eyes are visible. Its mouth is bracketed by
two white spikes of bone, each roughly a
foot long. The demon stands on four legs,
and a tail-like appendage, tipped with a
stinger of pale blue chitin, grows from the
middle of its back.

Pattern

Created by the Ghozualt demon, Xhavuax

demons live to serve their master. They
tend to operate in small groups, patrolling
an area or hunting for prey. Using their
powerful claws, they brachiate across ceil-
ings, leaping from wall to wall over great
distances.

When a group of Xhavuaxes locates human

prey, they will usually pin down the victim
and peel the skin off, using their tentacles to
get the small bits.
Xhavuax
Rank: Infector Mindless and without any real objective,
Strength 5 they nonetheless pose a challenge for the
Sense 2 Cabal because of their numbers.
Soul 3
Life 12 During combat, Xhavuaxes whoop and
Armor 3 scream as they fling themselves at the
Wrath 9 Disciples. They tend to prefer aerial attacks.

30
 Sample Mentors
Example Mentors
by Rafael "Spaniard" Chandler
Augustus N. Thirwell
A ruddy-faced man in his forties, Thirwell
wears a rumpled trenchcoat, a wrinkled
shirt, slacks with frayed cuffs, and a necktie
that he's always using to wipe up spills or
clean his thick glasses. His face is fleshy
and splotchy, and a network of veins around
his nose reflect what appears to be a life-
long love affair with the bottle. In fact, he's
never far from an alcoholic beverage,
whether it's a hip flask or a bottle in a brown
paper bag. Thirwell is soft-spoken, hesitant,
and unrelentingly bleak in his outlook. His
fatalism is matched by the news that he
brings in the form of newspaper clippings
and police reports, which he usually hands
to a member of the Cabal before shuffling
back out of headquarters.
Colonel Pierce
Pierce is a muscular black man in his late
fifties. Despite the gray hair, he is strong
and lean, and gives the impression that he
can handle himself in combat. He's stern,
focused, and discipined. His military uniform
is creased and spotless, and the regulation
sidearm at his hip is well-oiled and ready for
combat. Pierce speaks in clipped, precise
tones, and he never appears to be surprised
by anything. When he presents news to the
Cabal, he does so in the form of a military
briefing: documents folded carefully into
long envelopes or folders, enlarged mono-
chrome photographs with targets circled in
red ink, slideshows, and annotated maps
spread out across tables.
31
Ms. Thorne
A serious-looking businesswoman in her
late thirties, Thorne usually wears a navy
blue power suit and carries a stack of metic-
ulously-labeled folders. Her blonde hair is
pulled back in a bun, held in place with a
needle-sharp pencil, and her hard and
unblinking eyes stare out at the world from
behind horn-rimmed glasses. Thorne does
not smile. Thorne does not empathize.
Thorne does not tolerate interruption. When
she brings information or missions to the
Cabal, she does so in the form of a
slideshow presentation, complete with bullet
points and transitions. She’s terse, formal,
and mirthless.
Delphi
This Mentor is a glowing sphere, two feet in
diameter. It hovers at eye level, and speaks
in a different voice each time it appears.
Sometimes, instead of speaking, it seizes
control of electronic devices and communi-
cates through their speakers. For example,
a radio may play snippets of song lyrics that
tell the Disciples what they need to know
about a case. A computer might display text
on the screen that answers the Cabal’s
questions. A printer might spit out pages
with names and addresses on them. In any
case, Delphi is erratic and difficult to com-
municate with, clearly an entity with a limit-
ed understanding of how humans work.
 New Demons
New Stunts
by Pierre-Philippe "DWYBO" Lefebvre
GENERAL
Balls of Steel (1)
Provoke one opponent (by taunting or pos-
ing) to attack only you the next round with
all he’s got. It’s a good way to save a Cabal
member, it’s also a good way to get reduced
to pulp. Hey, badass, it’s your funeral.
Up Yours (2)
The Disciple spends Fury and describes
how he’s using a weapon in an enemy cav-
ity. He can either stab an eye, shoot in the
open mouth of a demon, or something else.
If the attack is a success, he can add twice
the damage rating of the weapon (a knife
does +2, a shotgun +4, etc.).Lawnmower
(1-4)The Disciple enters a state of primal
rage and releases himself against a minor
opponent, mercilessely taking them out.
The Disciple spends 1 to 4 Fury, then rolls a
single d12 -- now add the total together.
This number is the amount of damage to
distribute among Extras as the Disciple see
fit. Oh, and don't forget a graphic descrip-
tion.
32
TEAM FURY
Gangbang (2):
Each member of the party that wants to par-
ticipate in the gangbang pays 2 Fury and
then simultaneously attacks an opponent.
To do so, they all roll their attack pools
together (to act as one). The damage done
is calculated as usual, but take the Cabal's
best weapon to calculate the damage
bonus. Example: Cortez (attack 6), Malarek
(attack 2) and Trent (attack 1) are facing a
hudge demon. Unfortunately for them,
Cortez is now unarmed and Trent as an
assault rifle wich he don’t use very well.
They all decide to take the fucker down for
once. They all spend 2 Fury and roll their
dice at once (a grand total of 9 dices). Lucky
for them, they end up with 3x12 which mean
an attack score of 15 -- and they use the
assault rifle to calculate the damage (+4, for
a total of 19).
Leonidas Shit (3)
During your retirement last stand, if you see
that you’re losing, you can do the ultimate
sacrifice. You look at your fellow members,
and in an ass kicking moment you spit all
your rage in a roar to inspire others. You
spend 2 Fury and then distribute your
remaning Fury and Life points among any
Cabal member left alive until you reach 0.
You can even bring them up to over 12
points, but only for the duration of the fight.
Then everyone stand there in awe, as you
just stand in front of the demon which is
under the effect of the balls of steel Fury
effect (implying that he will spend the next
round ripping you to shreds).
 New Demons
MAGIC WIELDER ONLY
Cathexis surge (3)
For your next attack you suddenly and
badassly rip reality appart in a gruesome
way, releasing your inner will in a furious
attempt to destroy an opponent. You can
cast flame, acid, turn the floor into blades of
fire, and shitstorm all at once. You can now
attack with your magic score as with a
weapon of +4 and your opponent can only
defend itself using a Soul check (that’s the
good news). The bad news is the surge isn’t
a fucking scalpel and your attack target
everyone in the room (range 1 or 2) with
less force (everyone must roll a Soul check
to defend itself against your magic score…
no bonus added to damage).
33
LORE USER ONLY
OACOWA (Open-a-can-of-whoop-ass) (3)
As a very advanced Lore student, you’ve
read stockpiles of books, data, and heard a
lot of stories about demons. They come in
many varieties, but each is also unique. It’s
possible, in an unexpected moment of clar-
ity (let’s say just before death) that you
remember a useful fact about a weakness
of the monster. It’s also possible that you're
just another dick. To find out, roll your Sense
score -- if you beat 10, you can attack once
with your Sense stat. Also, every Cabal
member get your Lore score as a special
bonus to their damage on their next action.
If you fail, you lose one turn wondering why
you're such a dick.
Saw That Coming (1)
A brawl is a brawl, and certains types of
demons always use the same tricks over
and over. Instead of reacting, you can antic-
ipate. You roll your Lore score with the
enemy's Sense score as a target number. If
you succeed, you can now use your Sense
score for one round to defend yourself
against the opponent. If you fail, you still
defend with your normal pool... but you did-
n’t see it coming.
 New Demons

The Shaelavvor and the Shaelamal

by Anthony "Ars Mysteriorum" Holtberg

Shaelavvor Shaelamal
Breed: Hunter Breed: Defiler
Strength 8 Strength 5
Sense 5 Sense 2
Soul 2 Soul 8
Life 25 Life 14
Wrath 14 Wrath 25

Appearance

The Hunter, called a Shaelavvor, has the

appearance of a child, except that it has
black eyes and casts no shadow. It feeds on
the bodies of people who have either lost a
child through early death, miscarriage, or
stillbirth. It speaks in the combined voices of
its victims (like a chorus speaking in uni-
son), thus it rarely speaks.

The Defiler, called a Shaelamal, looks like

the shadowy form of a child. Once it pos-
sesses a child, the child gains the telltale
black eyes as well, but still keeps its shad-
ow. It feeds on the souls of people who have
either lost a child through early death, mis-
carriage, or stillbirth. It speaks with the
child's voice and can use the child's charm
to gain entry into its victim's house/car/etc.,
thus it serves as the spokesman.

34
 New Demons
Pattern
When they are “born,” the Shaelavvor and
the Shaelamal are one being. The
Shaelamal is the Shaelavvor's shadow, but
once they find a suitable child, the
Shaelavvor restrains the child while the
Shaelamal possesses him/her. This is why
the Shaelavvor typically casts no shadow.
They locate their preferred victim and seek
to gain entry somehow. Usually the
Shaelamal acts as the spokesperson, and
the Shaelavvor lends its silent support
through gestures. This allows the
Shaelamal to feed a little off of the compas-
sion of the victim. Just enough to gain par-
tial control of the person and open the door
of their own will.
This way the police cannot find signs of a
struggle.
Once they have gained entry, their manner
of feeding becomes known. Both open their
mouths, which are much bigger than they
appear and extend downward into their
torso (BIIIIIG MOUTHS). The Shaelavvor's
mouth erupts with a thousand long tongues
that restrain the victim, and the Shaelamal
has one long, ghostly tongue which is thrust
into the victim's mouth.
35
The Shaelamal consumes the soul and the
Shaelavvor then consumes the body whole.
No blood, no signs of struggle. Just gone.
With each victim, one more voice is added
to the Shaelavvor's chorus of voices (so, ini-
tially, the Shaelavvor has no voice).
After feeding on 12 victims, they reproduce.
The two return to their lair (usually a place
where children have suffered), and perform
a ritual lasting 11 hours and 6 minutes (666
minutes). This ritual removes the barrier
between Earth and Hell just long enough to
admit two more demons. At the end of the
ritual, the two consume each other (includ-
ing the skell, making 13 victims total). What
happens next is too disgusting for words, as
the two meld and twist in agony until they
explode with the sound of 13 horrified
screams. From the bloody chunks of vis-
cera, two new Shaelavvor emerge, each
with shadows.
They then go separate ways in search of
children to serve as skells for the
Shaelamal.
 the dark hereafter
Boccaccio Deserted streets Rich house

1. Bodies of Cali’s Mob enforcers 1. Witness accounts

lieutenants

LO CATI O N BATTLE F I E LD LO CATI O N

Mob warehouse Projects

Shaelavvor/ Shaelamal
Andrew Cali (Crux #2, page 36) Gang members
Mob enforcers
1. Protect the bus driver
2. Protect the bodyguard
3. Save the families
4. Find the Disciple
5. Save the Disciple's
wife
BATTLE F I E LD BATTLE F I E LD

Projects Hospital The Mall

1. Grandma’s testimony Cali’s bodyguard 1. Glimpse of demon

Mob enforcers
Rosenman

LO CATI O N BATTLE F I E LD LO CATI O N

 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter
The Dark Hereafter
by Alexandre "Kobayashi" Jeannette
Hook
You saw it on the TV news or read it in a
newspaper: a school bus was hit by a car.
Eight kids died screaming in the burning
wreckage while the drunken driver of the car
made it alive. Andrew Cali, son of the
biggest mafia boss of the city, escaped the
accident unscathed while his bodyguard fell
into a coma. The bodyguard's family, and
the officers present at the scene, all were
bribed to support the mob's side of the story.
The bodyguard was driving, and caused the
accident. Andrew Cali was just a victim of a
freak accident. That's it.
The problem is that the bus driver saw Cali
driving the car and he decided to maintain
his testimony. This is a bit of a problem for
the mob's lawyer. The other problem is that
mob members close to Andrew Cali are get-
ting killed. In a very unnatural way. It is said
that officers who found the bodies are still
puking their guts out.
Situation
Five mob members close to Andrew Cali
(presumably his lieutenants) were killed.
The police's main suspect is a father of one
of the kids who died in the accident. Eric
“Iceman” Callahan, a 35 year old man, a
widower with 15 years of service in the
USMC 1st Recon Battalion. Shortly after the
killings started, he
37
disappeared, which made him the prime
suspect. The problem is that Eric Callahan
has nothing to do with the killings.
Andrew Cali's friends and relatives are actu-
ally being stalked by a Disciple, Hank
Rosenman. His 12-year-old daughter was
on the bus. He quit his Cabal and Mentor
and came to the city to extract revenge from
anyone he thinks is responsible for the acci-
dent. He started by killing mob members
close to Andrew Cali. His next move was to
kidnap the mob lawyer's family. He then
plans to assassinate him, and then he will
go for the bodyguard who took the fall, and
then he'll finish with Andrew Cali. It's up to
the Disciples to stop his rampage and bring
him back to reason. But wait, there is
more...
What about the good news? A Shaelavvor
demon has appeared, attracted by the grief
of the children's families. Eric Callahan was
its first victim. The demon pair devoured his
body and soul, leaving nothing behind them.
They already started to track down the other
families, drawn in by their anger and
despair.
And if anyone cares, Cali Senior ordered
the killing of the school bus driver to keep
his son out of jail.
This is a huge shit pie, and everybody is
gonna get a slice.
 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter

Objectives wish that puts him on a crash course with

1. Protect the bus driver
2. Protect the bodyguard
3. Save the families
4. Find the Disciple
5. Save the Disciple's wife
Triggers
The Disciples will get info about the strange
deaths of mob members via their contacts,
or even the news, or they can be hired as
investigators by Stephanie Bethel (see
below) if one of their contacts has a reason
to be in contact with her. Stephanie will try to
keep this a secret and won't talk about it to
her mob clients.
Characters
Andrew Cali, violent and guilt-ridden
thug
Strength: 2
Sense: 2
Soul: 1
Life: 4
Skills: Bully 2
Weapon: Semi-auto pistol 2/1/2
Andrew is the 26-year-old son of a mafia
boss. It means he's got a lot of money, a lot
of power, and a lot of attitude. The guy is
nothing more than a spoiled little punk.
Nonetheless he does feel bad about the
accident. He has a one-year-old son, and
having caused the death of those children is
troubling him, to say the least. He's stoned
or drunk half of the day and will resort to vio-
lence if anything goes against him. He will
not acknowledge it, but the guilt is eating
him away and he has developed a death
Hank Rosenman.
Hank Rosenman, grieving Disciple
Strength: 2
Sense: 2
Soul: 5
Life: 12
Skills: Demolition expert 3, Driving: 1
Spells: 10 spells, some of which must be
identical to the ones possessed by your
Disciples. That will help them identify the
killer as a Disciple more rapidly.
Four years ago, Hank was a wreck. He did-
n't manage to defuse a bomb that killed 12
civilians. He quit the police department and
hit the bottle. It was not long before he start-
ed to hit the wife who immediately left with
their 8 year old daughter, Melissa. He got
nearly killed by an Aspinaba but was saved
by a Mentor. After becoming a Disciple he
kept an eye on his daughter to make sure
she was okay. After the accident he left his
Cabal and Mentor who are actually looking
for him. None of them knew much about his
daughter so it may be too late before they
find out what he's doing. Hank his mad with
grief. But he's still a Disciple who vowed to
protect the innocent. If the Disciples remind
him of this, he may come to his senses.
Stephanie Bethel, ambitious mob Lawyer
Strength: 1
Sense: 3
Soul: 1
Life: 3
Skills: Lawyer 4
Weapon: Law books 1/0/-
Stephanie wanted power and money.
Becoming a lawyer wasn't enough, so she

38
 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter

decided to be a lawyer for the mob. Dorozynski

Everyone is considered innocent until
proven guilty, right? If the “innocent” hap-
pens to have a lot of cash, then everyone's
happy. No matter what happened to her in
her childhood, Stephanie Bethel is still a
piece of trash. She's on Hank Rosenman
black list. It's up to the Disciple to save her.
If they want to. She's always protected by
two bodyguards.
William Aux, stubborn school bus driver
Strength: 1
Sense: 2
Soul: 2
Life: 4
Skills: Driving 2, Collecting stamps 2
Weapon: magnifying glass 1/0/-
Bill has driven school bus for twenty years.
He always saw himself as a guardian angel
for the kids. Hell, he's sure he even drove to
school some of the little punks that now
threaten him. He doesn't care, he's old, and
thugs are not gonna frighten him. Those
dead kids and their families not only
deserve respect, they deserve the truth.
This family has lost their only child in the
accident. The mother has been committed
to a mental institution due to a nervous
breakdown. The father stays alone at their
home. His only activity is going for walks on
the local mall, hoping to see his son walking
among other kids.
Stearmaan
The Stearmans are a very religious family.
Two of their seven kids died in the accident.
The older ones have come home to support
their parents.
Elisabeth Rosenman
Hank's ex-wife works as a nurse in the hos-
pital where the bodyguard lies in the coma.
“Just one small syringe and the bastard
would die,” she thinks...

The Grieving Families

Callahan
Single father, already killed by the demon.

Pavalock
This will be the second family to disappear.
Their house is on the wealthy side of town.

Lasorella
Both parents have two jobs and their now
only child (a 2 year old boy) is taken care of
by his grandma. They live in the projects in
the inner city.

39
 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter

Locations

Boccaccio, Italian restaurant

Andrew Cali's lieutenants corpses where
find here in the backrooms. The clues
Disciples will find should point them to the
fact that some one used powers that are
very close to theirs. Check your Disciples'
spells before play to see what kind of clues
they may find.

Rich house
Numerous witness saw the Pavalock par-
ents come home with two kids they have
picked up at the local mall.

Projects
Local dealers will surely think the Disciples
are cops or rival gang members (depending
on the Disciples' outlook). The Grandma will
talk to them about black-eyed children who
came knocking at her door.

The Mall
If they go to the Mall, the Disciples may
have a glimpse of the Demons has they go
with Mr. Dorozynski. The Mall is crowded
with people and security agents.

40
 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter

Battlefields

Deserted streets
After their visit to the Boccaccio restaurant,
the mob will think that the Disciples are in
some way connected to the killer. They'll try
to capture them for interrogation. Let your
players have fun kicking their asses.

The Projects
The Disciples take the risk of being arrested
by the police or attacked by the local drug
dealers. Anyway, this won't be a walk in the
park...

Mob warehouse
Andrew Cali has taken refuge in a ware-
house with 15 of his most loyal men, waiting
for the mysterious killer to show up, sitting
on pile of cocaine, guns and ammo.

Hospital
Andrew Cali's bodyguard is here. Hank
Rosenman will try to kill him while Andrew Hostiles
Cali's men will try to kill his ex-wife. Ideally,
this should be the place where the take- Mob members
down will take place. Strength: 2
Sense: 1
Soul: 1
Life: 5
Skills: Bully 2
Weapon: Uzi 3/3/3

Gang members
Strength: 2
Sense: 1
Soul: 1
Life: 5
Skills: Drug dealing 2
Weapon: Semi-auto pistol 2/1/2

41
 unfulfilled dreams
Nurse’s Home Andolini Residence Lux

1. Stethoscope 1. Lillie’s extremely vague 1. Desi’s testimony

2. Money testimony
2. Agent’s info Mafia Killers
Mafia killers
Lillie Andolini
Nero Andolini
Federal Agent

BATTLE F I E LD LO CATI O N BATTLE F I E LD

Psychiatrist’s Neighbor Psychiatrist’s Home

Baskra
1. Old woman’s testimony 1. Surgically removed
(Dread, page 170)
organs
Old woman 2. Gutted corpses
1. Help Feds bring the
Her family
family down
2. Save the nurse
3. Save the old woman
4. Stop the killers at “Lux”
LO CATI O N LO CATI O N

Hospital Church Docks

1. Doctor’s corpse 1. Info about Father 1. Biological package

Canora and the exorcism
Mafia guards Mafia soldiers
Baskra Priest Russians
Nero Andolini

BATTLE F I E LD LO CATI O N BATTLE F I E LD

 Scenario: Unfulfilled Dreams
Unfulfilled Dreams
by Pawel "Chimera" Cybula
Triggers
The scenario starts with somebody getting
in touch with the Cabal in order to explain
the mysterious death of a priest at the
Andolinis’ residence. It might be a friend on
the force, a journalist, or a representative of
the Church. In some cases there might be a
sort of a deal with the family of the “we don’t
push for a regular investigation, you let
these people work” type.
Situation
Gasparo “Uncle G” Andolini, the head of the
Andolini family, clung to life despite being on
the wrong side of eighty. His longevity was
extremely frustrating to two of his progeny –
Nero and Lillie, craving power and having
an incestuous affair. The third and the
youngest of them, Desi, didn’t give a damn,
as long as he could carry on with his sybarit-
ic lifestyle and run his own nightclub.
Recently, Gasparo has drawn the attention
of a Baskra demon. After a couple of nights
spent tripping into the dreamland of his
youth, Gasparo started suffering from horri-
ble nightmares focused on his decay.
Terrified after the first night, he asked Nero
to stay at his bedside until the break of day.
When he finally fell asleep, the demon
appeared.
The Baskra reasoned with Nero – this
Baskra makes it impossible to wake up for
someone who is asleep in his presence –
who quickly overcame the initial shock and
43
decided that he could turn the situation to
his own advantage. Instead of coming up
with an elaborate plan to get rid of the old
fart, he only had to wait a few days longer.
The nurse, who looked in while the demon
was still visible, might have been a problem,
but Nero threatened to kill her and all her
relatives and paid generously to keep the
things under wraps. Moreover, as he shared
the story with his sister, they decided to dis-
pose of the unfortunate woman at the earli-
est occasion. The nurse is very shaken,
especially after she found a strange black
stethoscope in the morning while she was
making the bed.
The following day an expensive psychiatrist
was brought in. The man was unable to help
and despite the application of a heavy seda-
tive the nightmare recurred. This time, all
Andolini’s children witnessed the demon.
Desi took it hard, but his siblings were per-
suasive enough to make him play ball. In
the meantime, the demon followed the doc-
tor home (the shrink left soon after applying
the medication), where he slaughtered him
and his family. The house now serves as the
demon’s base. The Baskra has already
started haunting an old woman next door.
The long-awaited dawn came, and desper-
ate Gasparo called for a priest. Father
Marco Canora, a friend of the family with
some knowledge of exorcism, did his best
performing the rite, but as the demon
appeared, he was literally gutted. Gasparo
suffered a stroke, Desi fainted, Nero shot a
few bullets for effect and that was it –
 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter

nobody knows what happened in the room Locations

and the Andolinis will pull all strings neces-
sary to keep it that way. Psychiatrist’s house

After another day, someone contacted the The bodies of the doctor and his family have
Cabal. Since Gasparo is a vegetable, it been gutted and their organs arranged on
seems that Nero is the boss now, but Lillie one of the tables with a surgical precision.
has a strong influence over him. She sees The walls and floor are splattered in blood
Desi as a weakling who may give away their and the remaining body parts lie in disarray
dirty secret, and he and the nurse are both around the house.
on her list. Actually, she is right – the whole
thing is way too much for her younger Andolinis’ house
brother and definitely too much for a simple,
God-fearing woman the nurse is. An impressive neoclassical residence with
lawns, fountains and a miniature lake in
Neither Nero or anyone at the residence front of it. The whole area is surrounded by
knows that one of the Mafia soldiers is a a spiked fence and patrolled by guards with
federal agent undercover. This agent has dogs. It is also protected by a top-notch
gathered information about a big shipment security system. Lillie is the person who
coming in tomorrow, which contains some does the talking, polite and ice-cold. If you
sort of highly dangerous biological package feel up to the challenge, she might even flirt
to be sold to the Russians. Although the a bit with one of the characters, of course in
Mafia doesn’t usually deal with this kind of an icy way.
stuff, Lillie and Nero had pressured their
father so much that he finally gave the
green light. The operation is of such impor-
tance that the shipment will be personally
supervised by Nero. The problem is that
Lillie suspects something and the agent is
just about to have a fatal accident. On the
other hand, he has a nasty feeling of what’s
about to happen and is looking for the
opportunity to pass on the information. He
doesn’t have much room to maneuver since
he is under constant surveillance, but some-
times something as insignificant as a small
sheet of scribbled paper may tip the scales.
The problem is that the message must get
to the Feds – the local police is too corrupt
and surely somebody will warn the family.

44
 Scenario: The Dark Hereafter
Battlefields
"Lux"
An upscale nightclub, with live piano music
and ambient lighting. An entrée for the
members only. Desi is here, drinking heavi-
ly and just about to be killed by the men sent
by his siblings.
45
Hospital
Gasparo is in a separate room guarded by
two soldiers. Soon, the Baskra will kill one
of the doctors, hide his body, disguise itself,
and enter the room to finish the job.
Nurse’s home
A flat in an Italian district, shabby and full of
devotional articles. An envelope with a thou-
sand dollars under the bed. A black stetho-
scope ending with a sharp spike in a locked
drawer. The Mafia killers are on their way.
 Spell Targets

Dread: Spell Targets

by Rafael "Spaniard" Chandler

Each spell has a specific target, and is ineffectual against anyone not listed. Some spells can
affect more than one target. Here are the possible targets:
1. Self: This spell affects the caster.
2. Humans: This spell only affects ordinary people.
3. Half-breeds: Affects Zealots, Disciples, Meiga, and other half-breeds.
4. Demons: Only affects demons and agents of Hell.
5. Angels: Affects angels and other agents of Heaven.
6. All: Humans, half-breeds, angels, and demons.

Amanuensis: objects Diablerie: humans

Anvil: self Discern: all
Aphasia: humans Dresden: humans
Ares: self Duress: angels/demons
Armistice: humans Eloign: all
Askance: humans Emeute: humans
Astarte: humans Energumen: self
Barricade: all Excoriate: all
Bete Noir: humans Fortress: self
Bile: all Frostbite: humans
Bracers: self Gaunt: self
Burgeon: self Gird: self
Cacophony: all Glossolalia: humans/half-breeds
Caliban: humans Hemophage: humans
Cancer: all Inferno: all
Capaneus: self Jade: humans
Carapace: self Leviathan: all
Carnation: self/half-breeds Levin: humans
Char: objects Malison: demons/angels
Chela: humans/half-breeds Malvado: all
Chelicerae: all Miserere: humans
Chiaroscuro: humans Moloch: self
Cognito: humans Mute: self
Confession: humans/half-breeds Nacreous: self/all
Confound: humans Nephilim: self
Crepusculus: all Nimrod: self/all
Culebra: all Nodule: humans
Denial: self Noesis: all

46
 Spell Targets

Nyctalgic: self Sycorax: self

Octave: all Tirade: humans
Oracle: self Valence: self/others
Ordal: all Veneno: all
Phantasmo: all Viscera: all
Refuge: self/angels/demons Vore: humans/half-breeds
Schatten: all Warstorm: self
Sclera: humans Wither: humans/half-breeds
Scossa: humans Wormwood: humans/half-breeds
Seismos: humans/half-breeds Castigation: angels/demons
Sentinel: all Emesis: angels/demons
Smilodon: self Gadarene: angels/demons
Sombra: self Litany: angels/demons
Stratus: self Phthisis: angels/demons
Sunder: self Salvation: angels/demons
Swarm: self Unction: angels/demons

47
Submissions welcome! Send your spells, demons, scenarios, resources,
articles, fiction, poetry, humor, and artwork to: crux@dread-rpg.com