Apparitions are all open to players to DM in events as they wish unless otherwise stated. Please read the DM Guide at the end for more information!
From the perceptions of worldly mortal inhabitants, what awaits beyond life represents the final mystery, that which can not be known until the threshold of death is crossed. It is an indelible fascination for any with spiritual tendencies; the consideration of an afterlife, of paradise found or damnation rendered. While the prophets and saints can claim to know for certain, the rest of us may only read their ardent words, and observe the evidence of the supernatural where made apparent. While a variety of explanations exist, there is no uncertainty that spectres of the once living remain tethered to the mortal world, and provide very real reasons to fear their existence.
The study and examination of such ghostly apparitions is not a safe one. Beyond the risks to one’s own living and breathing life, the discipline faces other practical issues. Consequently, the exhaustive varieties in which apparitions take form, their discrete dangers, and how they can be avoided, warded off, or destroyed—all remain uncertain and marred by the inadequacies of superstitions and rumour.
Given the difficulty of studying apparitions, detailed knowledge of their abilities and vulnerabilities is indeed quite sought after, and can be very valuable to some secretive circles. For the rest of decent society, the haunted and spiritually disturbed are places to be avoided under all normal circumstances. Let this collection of information be your guide to the dangers, O’ traveller, that may you avoid sharing the fate of these cursed spectres.
Types of Apparitions
Banshee
"Appearing without warning from the dim and thick haze of an autumn fog, the flowing rapture of death wraps its icy grip around your throat with all the violence and menace that lies within mortal imagination. Should you be alone, do not follow the sound of the cries, for you are not the savior, you are the prey."
{ Suffering. Malice. Violence. Smoke. Ephemeral. Sudden. }
Banshees are apparitions of the night, appearing as images of tall floating humanoid entities with long flowing robes or cloaks. Expressionless, entirely transparent, they sometimes seem to be made of smoke or fog. They never appear during the day, instead hiding in a sort of stasis in whatever shadowy place they may find. Swift and speedy in movements, Banshees are capable of flight or levitation, unbound by the earth.
Banshees are the manifestation of negative emotional energies that wander the fringes of the Nocturne. They are summoned to the living world by Cursesmiths, whether intentionally or not. Banshees do not dissipate naturally outside of the Nocturne, and will continue to menace the living until they are destroyed or are banished to their native dream-realm. While some banshees will roam far from their place of summoning, occasionally some will take to a specific place. From these places can be heard crying like that of a woman or child, and those who investigate may become victims to the malicious spirit the cries growing twisted and malformed to more horrific sounds. Certainly not of this realm.
Dangers
Banshees vary widely in maturity and so vary in the danger they present to the living. Once introduced into the world, they may gain strength over time by draining energy from the living. The banshee will attach to their victim’s shadow like a parasite, draining them unto death over the course of several hours. If revealed or confronted directly, they are yet dangerous, capable of becoming corporeal long enough to claw at enemies. Even more dangerous however is their chilling wail, empowered by the raw emotion of the Nocturne so that those who hear it will struggle to keep their focus and footing, their senses stunned and nerves shocked into faltering.
Protections and Wards
Banshees can be forced to return to the Nocturne by powerful Cursesmiths, where they are significantly less dangerous (at least to those occupying the mortal plane). Beyond banishment, Banshees can be outright destroyed even by mundane means if razed in their corporeal form. They may be harmed by any weapon, but particularly silver or starsilver, which they are weak to. Furthermore, banshees can be warded off by strong lights. If struck in these ways, they may retreat for a time, striking again from a different angle, including from above. They may pass through solid walls, but only when forced to, as it is highly distressing to them. The threshold to kill them varies depending on their strength, ranging from laughably simple to being nearly impossible without preparation.
If a Banshee has latched onto someone’s shadow, the victim will only have a limited time to cast the spirit off before they are entirely drained of life. A ritual may be undergone to do this, with the words of a Fable-Blessed or practiced Cursesmith being most effective. The banshee will resist fiercely, even possessing the victim and attacking the ritual-casters through that vessel. Should the ritual be successfully completed, the Banshee is shunted off. Sometimes, the banshee may choose to retreat to the Nocturne after undergoing the painful process of being torn from its host victim, but more powerful instances may linger still, awaiting a final confrontation to fully end them.
Where Found
Banshees can be found nearly anywhere, as they are prone to wander until they find a place to set their trap. If it proves to be unfruitful after a time, they will grow restless and wander again Due to their origin from what are often rogue Cursesmiths in exile, and a dislike for loud noises (that are not their own), they tend to avoid cities and other congregations of living souls, preferring to prey on wanderers and travellers instead.
Phantom
"Listen closely. Do you hear them? There's only one thing that makes a song like that…”
{ Wandering. Chorus. Lost. Dreams. Vanity. Wisp. }
Phantoms are the wandering memories of the dead embodied. Having floated up from the Nocturne, these barely-conscious beings inhabit places that are quiet, and preferably previously lived in. A place with memories attached to it. Most likely, these memories provide comfort to the huddled groups that form. They sway back and forth, sometimes singing softly into the wind, audible only to those attuned to the spiritual and supernatural. At night, phantoms may wander, drifting across landscapes such as fields or lakes, while during the day they remain dormant. Though invisible while dormant or when in bright light, they are translucent in darkness and dim light, being either grey or bluish in tone when seen. They are distinctly person-like in figure, seeming to resemble who they were in life. Sometimes a phantom may appear robed or otherwise obscured, the causes of which are many: a poor self image in life, a grizzly end, or even simple shyness.
Phantoms on the whole are benevolent, regarding living beings as a curiosity. Occasionally, a story may be told of someone getting lost, and being led home by a voice just up ahead, guiding them through the trees. Their singing, though inaudible to most, is said to be hypnotic like a lullaby, pulling trespassers into a sleep for a time, before letting them be. Supposedly, their singing is even able to entrance necrophages, rendering the husks docile for a time.
Dangers
Encountering phantoms is typically not cause for alarm. When left alone, these spirits will simply observe mortals with curiosity from the corners of their space. Perhaps they may even indicate a path or detail to the traveler as they gather around it, sometimes beckoning to it to be helpful. It is usually only when actively disturbed or when violent attitudes are presented that their voices will raise, lulling all about into a drowsy state.
Protections and Wards
In the case that dealing with phantoms is necessary, doing so is not particularly difficult, nor dangerous. To send these spirits back to the Nocturne peacefully, enact a simple ritual accompanied by a prayer. This often includes burning incense or another herb, the light driving the Phantoms away, and the prayer reminding them of their proper place in the Nocturne.
Where Found
Anywhere with memories attached to it, whether it be places of previous residence or ruins, ships, or even old battlefields.
Poltergeist
"The two of us stood about the cargo hold, waving our torches about, trying to get an eye on the trespasser. It seemed as though there should be nowhere among the wine casks and fabrics to hide, but we knew something had to be down here. Suddenly, from some dark corner behind us, Captain Selah was hit rather violently with a canister of lamp oil… and that's when the fire started.”
{ Flame. Anguish. Kinetic. Lamentation. Haunting. Tortured. }
Poltergeists are invisible to those without any aid of spiritual attunement or dreamsage. To those that can catch brief glimpses of them, poltergeists look like an orb of energy, hovering a short distance from the ground, similar to Fey Motes. Poltergeists can move through all solid objects except for crystal or glass. Though they levitate, they are tethered to the ground, and will not cross over moving water.
Poltergeists are curses of the Nocturne made manifest in the living world, occasionally twisted with the soul of another, but always linked to an object in the physical world from which they cannot wander too far. They will protect this object fiercely, seeing any who pass nearby as threats to its safety. Sometimes, they may exercise this anger against mortals for no reason other than their own satisfaction. Their strength is determined by the severity and power of the curse that birthed them, and how long that curse has festered.
Dangers
Poltergeists have the ability to interact with people and objects through a sort of telekinesis: tremendous force applied over a small area and across a tiny distance. Poltergeists can not hold or manipulate things, they instead strike at things like they were swinging a sledgehammer. The more powerful ones can even do this to many objects at once, creating a nearly unavoidable storm of violence.
Poltergeists are also capable of telepyrosis, allowing them to start fires on any surface. Though supernatural in origin, these flames are still mundane in behavior: needing fuel, dying out if deprived of it, and extinguishing quickly on non-flammable surfaces. The more powerful ones may even fan these flames further, spreading them into infernos should their anger be stoked enough. The stronger the poltergeist, the larger the flames.
Protections and Wards
Ingesting a potion that includes dream sage will allow one to have an easier time spotting the elusive Poltergeist. This allows one to observe the pulse and shimmer of a poltergeist just before it attacks, granting them some clairvoyance to its next move. Mundane weapons will aggravate the poltergeist, drawing its ire when struck. Magical weapons or those imbued with elemental power, however, will stun the poltergeist, slowing it and halting its attacks, if only briefly.
Poltergeists are ghosts born of a curse on an object, and therefore will be destroyed entirely when that object is destroyed. There is rarely any way to tell at a glance what the item could be, as the poltergeist will not allow inspection or magical detection within the area. Those wishing to hunt them may need to research cursed objects that have existed in the area, or will otherwise need to search while under fire.
Where Found
Wherever curses are left to fester for long periods of time.
DM Guide
Apparitions do not have a set statblock: no preset HP, damage, or roll modifiers. Instead, these are left up to the DMs to decide and scale based on their encounters. Each apparition is on a power scale; phantoms, for example, can range from weak enough to be vanquished by a single player to strong enough to be a boss encounter for an entire party. Here are a few starting points:
- A banshee's claws may pass even through armor, allowing for AP attacks.
- A phantom's lullaby may be resisted by rolls of willpower of self-belief, such as STR: Fortitude or HAR: Belief.
- A poltergeists may use Evasion to avoid attacks.
For matters of "spirituality," players may roll HAR: Belief. This could be to sense, see, or otherwise interact with apparitions. Spiritual characters (Cursesmiths, Fabled feat holders, shamans, etc.) may be given bonuses or additional information, as well. When it comes to "rituals" and otherwise summoning or banishing apparitions, players and DMs are encouraged to be creative in their methods. Real-world methods may be tested and used: salt circles, burning sage, repeating an apparition's name thrice, blood sacrifice, candlelight ritual... all sorts of ghostly media can be drawn upon to create a unique and memorable experience for players wishing for a ghostly encounter.
Silver and starsilver weapons are more effective against apparition - be this through double damage, extra damage, or an aim modifier is up to the DM. Similarly, there may not be a "expel ghost" spell in Cursesmithy, and as such, a Cursesmith may instead be expected to roleplay an occult ritual or practice to vanquish an apparition, rather than simply casting a spell for it. Similarly, concepts such as possessions are left up to interpretation, varying in severity and experience from DM to DM.
Written by Squid, Waffleheart, and Electric