Director Information
This adventure requires the use of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Role Playing Game Core Rulebook by Eden Studios.
It is intended for Original cast set during a hypothetical Season 7. Characters supported are Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Willow, Tara, Anya, Giles and Spike. Players also have the option of picking up a Sorcerer NPC by Act 3.
Players can also use their own characters or pre-generated ones provided in the core rulebook. Alterations in character/cast content are expected and welcome. Many options will be given to the players to customize the content as they need. The Episode should not take more than one, perhaps longish, session to complete, but may be enhanced as the Director sees fit to make it longer.
The overall plot of this episode is that a group of necromancers from the Order of 6 have come to Sunnydale in order to open a gate into the dimension where Leviathan lies dead, in order to use their necromantic magic to siphon off power from the dead god. The Order of 6 is different from anything Buffy and the Scoobies have faced before. They have access to a lot of information from demonic and necromantic sources, are an organized group, and know of the Slayer’s existence and the threat she represents. As Director keep in mind that the organization is fairly intelligent and realizes they need to keep the Slayer distracted and out of their way. (For example the sacrifices they must use for their spells were taken from LA’s homeless where they will not be missed and to prevent any investigations from aroused suspicions in Sunnydale.) Once they open the portal and absorb the power there, such minor threats as the Slayer are negligible and easily dealt with.
The Order has discovered that the point where Glory tried to return home was not entirely closed by Buffy’s sacrifice. Her blood was close to Dawn’s, but not the same, and she was not the Key so therefore a weak spot has remained, which can be ripped open through a special ritual that the Order has learned. Note that the Order does not need Dawn as the Key to do this. Nor do they know that Dawn was/is the Key. That is irrelevant to them. All they care about is enacting their ritual and getting at the power beyond.
They have four plans to allow them to succeed at their mission. 1. They will raise some zombies and set them loose to wreak havoc, thus occupying the Slayer’s attention. 2. They have three shapeshifting spirits that can assume the form of anyone whose blood has been spilled within the last 24 hours. They intend to use these beings to confuse the Slayer and Scoobies and sow dissension within their ranks. At the very least they will provide another distraction to mask the Order’s true intentions by also threatening to open the Hellmouth thus drawing attention away from the weak point they need to open. 3. They will raise the skeletal remains of the Knights of Byzantium that Glory killed. Their leader’s body was transported back home, but the rest of the remains were interred in Sunnydale. These will provide fine guardians with a higher than normal degree of fighting skill. The Knights also blame Buffy for their deaths, after all she had the Key and didn’t relinquish it, and some she actually slew directly, so they should fight with more fervor against her. 4. Ben’s body itself is also buried here in Sunnydale. The Order will raise this as well, and call Glory back to inhabit it. Glory will be pissed at Buffy for stopping her, while Ben is mad at Giles for killing him. Yes, the Order is playing with a bit of fire here, Glory will keep getting stronger the longer she is back and would eventually slip their control. However, they reason that once the power of Leviathan is theirs, they will have no problem controlling her or sending her back.
Besides being able to animate the dead, necromancy allows for the divination of the future through the dead. This means that if the group does something you as the director did not expect, there is a reasonable chance that the Order DID expect it and could plan a counter ahead of time. As said, this is a foe much more organized and resourceful than any ones Buffy has previously faced.
However, they are not all powerful. There are several things they did not, and can not, "see" or divine. The first is that Tara is back. Her ties to "The Powers That Be" kept her return secret, so they are not planning on having to face an active witch. Similarly, their information is that Willow has given up magic and is no longer capable of spellcraft. They do not know about the Codex or that Tara is aiding her soulmate with white magic. Again they are not prepared to face this. Finally Giles and Anya are harder to clearly predict. Anya is a Vengeance Demon and thus hard to divine and Giles ties to the demon Eyghon, and his limited power, make him harder to clearly "see" as well. That is partially why the Order wants the shapeshifters to drive these two off or separate them from the group.
As a final note, this episode is designed to probably take about 6 hours, depending on combats, though it could last two sessions. It is also a bit more difficult roleplaying wise as it asks certain cast members to play out a shapeshifter when it takes their forms (to try and help fool the other players as to what is going on!) and some degree of intercharacter angst should also be played out. Otherwise the action factor is fairly high.
The following handouts are included to help each player get into character and give them an idea what their prime concerns are.
Buffy: At the moment Buffy’s main resolve is to be a better parent for Dawn. She wants to make sure that Dawn is more involved with the Scoobies and that she sees all that Sunnydale has to offer. Dawn is in high school now and Buffy also wants her to succeed there as much as possible. She is still trying to find the line between being Dawn’s sister, her surrogate mother, and her friend. She also still feels guilty about having ignored Dawn last year and is trying to make that up to her.
Buffy is also no longer so distant or distracted by her return from heaven. She knows she let her friends down last year, wasn’t at the top of her game as Slayer, and that both of these need to change. She had been worried about Willow and her coming to terms with Tara’s death and the fact that she killed two people. With Tara’s return Buffy still harbors some doubts about how this will affect her best friend, about her return to the use of magic, and her general emotional state. Buffy wants to make sure that Willow does not return to dark magic and intends to watch and try and be more attentive from now on. Similarly she’s also worried about Xander and his relationship with Anya. She thought their love would last forever and that things would really work out between them. She hasn’t entirely given up hope that something can still be worked out. Xander may have needed a bit more time before committing.
Buffy is also excited that Giles is returning to Sunnydale. She missed his guidance and wisdom a lot. However, she also is nervous that she hasn’t lived up to the ideals he tried to impart to her. She wants to prove to Giles that she is now more grown up and able to handle her life and responsibilities.
Buffy was finally fired from the "Double Meat Palace" and at Xander’s suggestion opened a self-defense studio adjacent to the newly rebuilt "Magic Box". Her first class had four times the expected number of students show up.
The biggest question mark in Buffy’s life is Spike. How does she feel about the vampire? She doesn’t really love him, but she is both attracted and repelled by him. She still blames him for attacking her, but also blames herself for putting herself in that position in the first place. She should have been firmer and more forceful in letting him know things were over between them. She also isn’t sure how to react now that Spike’s soul has been returned to him. On one hand the situation is a bit too close to her relationship with Angel. On the other Spike does not seem to want redemption, but to find his own path and still be a part of Buffy’s life. If he weren’t so useful to her, protective of Dawn and somehow remorseful over what occurred between them she’d have nothing to do with him or just stake him and be done with it. However, she does feel some guilt over how she treated Spike last year, using and abusing him, and so she hasn’t formed any solid idea over how to treat the vamp.
If you are using the pre-generated Buffy from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to her stats.
STR: +2 DEX: +1 CON: +2 INT: +1 PER: 0 WIL: 0 Life points should be adjusted accordingly. She also gains +1 extra level of Hard to Kill and gains the Emotional Problems –1 drawback (though she is working this out now). Buffy also picked up the Otherworldliness drawback (-1) after her return from the dead.
Willow: Right now Willow is in heaven. She has gotten back the one thing she never thought would ever return, happiness. She is having a bit of a hard time truly believing that Tara is back for good. She still half expects some perverse higher power to rip her away again and so is trying to keep Tara as close to her as possible. Willow will do anything to protect her and make sure she is safe. She wants no harm to come to her girlfriend, even if that means putting herself at risk to protect her. If she lost Tara again it would utterly destroy her.
Willow is also having some qualms about using magic again. She feels unworthy of getting another chance to help Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies, and also that if she messes up and lets the urge to use the darker magic overwhelm her that she’ll lose Tara and herself again. Still, she hates to be useless and not be able to help those in need. She feels even more compelled to do this now that she has personally killed two people. Neither were innocents, but at times she feels dirty and guilty over what she did. She finally has an inkling of what Angel likely feels, and how hard his path must be. She is also fascinated by Spike. Since his return they have learned that he now has a soul, yet he is able to deal with all the violence and torture he did in the past. And yet, somehow she feels that he is not truly evil, despite protestations to the opposite. If anyone might be able to help her learn how to cope with her actions while under the influence of the dark magic, it might be him.
Willow also feels that she has quite a bit to make up for to the other Scoobies. She almost destroyed the world and threatened all of them. It will take a long time to make things right with them. She also owes Giles a great deal as well for helping her out of her catatonic stupor she spent most of May and June in, helping remove the dark magic from her system and bringing her back from the edge of insanity over the summer. She has a great deal of trepidation about his return, especially over how he’ll react now that she is using white magic.
If you are using the pre-generated Willow from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to her stats.
STR: +0 DEX: +0 CON: +2 INT: +1 PER: +1 WIL: +1 Life points should be adjusted accordingly. She also gains +2 extra levels of Occultism and gains the Emotional Problems –3 drawback (though she is also working this out now). She also loses 1 level of occult library (she would have lost it all, but Tara’s Codex helps.) Director’s Note: Willow also gains 2 levels of sorcerery, but at present is unable to use them.
Tara: Tara has recently returned from the dead and chosen Exile from heaven and to be with Willow instead of staying a Kerubim. She has a number of concerns now. First is exactly how she and Willow will interact. She knows Willow loves her and the feeling is returned, but she also knows that Willow has been alone for almost 6 months and that they need to rebuild the intimacy they had previously. Second she also knows that Willow is probably feeling guilty over what she did after Tara’s murder. The use of dark magic, the torture and killing of Warren and then Rack. In truth, Tara is not quite as gentle as she always appears. She is worried that she understands Willow’s actions too well. She wants to comfort Willow and ease her guilt, but at the same time is also sort of scared by the depths of darkness Willow descended into. She hopes that an exploration of white magic together will help them re-bond, ease Willow’s blaming of herself, and increase her self-esteem.
Tara is also worried about what her own future will be. She needs to eventually sign up for classes next year and re-integrate into society, but is feeling some anxiety about this. She hasn’t interacted with people a lot lately and fears she has become detached like Buffy did. She will want to try and learn from what Buffy went through and re-establish her friendship with the Slayer. She also will have the tendency to lose herself in being Dawn’s mother, that is sort of her kneejerk safe response. However, she knows that that is Buffy’s role and one she shouldn’t intrude on too much. She needs to find a new way to relate to the younger Summers. The rest of the gang is not as much a concern, though she is worried that Anya’s return to Vengeance Demon status could be a bad thing in the long run, and will tear her away from the group. Tara will also view Giles return with favor as she values his wisdom and mature viewpoint and hopes that he can help her and Willow and provide some guidance to the group that was missing last year.
Director’s Note: Tara still has a touch of divine power, though she is not aware of it yet. She can still heal people or herself at the rate of 1 Life Point per hour per CON point. Also vampires and demons can "see" this touch of the divine in her. It makes them wary or even a little fearful of her. Vamps or Demons must make a Fear check on their first encounter with Tara. A failed check means that the victim wants to stay as far away from Tara as they can even if it means leaving the area. (See "Getting the Wiggins" in the BtVSRPG Core Rulebook, p. 106)
If you are using the pre-generated Tara from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to her stats.
STR: +1 DEX: +0 CON: +1 INT: +1 PER: +1 WIL: +1 Life points should be adjusted accordingly. She also gains +2 extra levels of Occultism, +2 of Sorcery, +1 in knowledge. She also gains the Emotional Problems –1 drawback (being dead will do that to you), Geas 1 (not to talk or communicate about her time in heaven or the afterlife until her mission on Earth is finished), Otherworldliness (the divine power left in Tara and which scares vampires and such), and 2 more levels of Adversaries.
Xander: Xander is currently in the role of mother hen. He has been watching over Willow, trying to help her readjust to life in Sunnydale and life without Tara. Now that the blonde witch is back, he is concerned that Willow will feel the urge to delve too deeply into magic again, and that she could lose it once more. He has been trying to help make sure Buffy and Dawn make up and drops not so subtle hints when he thinks Buffy is being either overly protective of Dawn, or not attentive enough. Xander has tried to ignore Spike as much as possible. He still doesn’t like the platinum haired vampire, soul or not. He never intends to forgive Spike for what he did to Buffy or what he did with Anya. Xander still feels badly over what he put Anya through, but his fear of commitment is not conquered yet. The fact that she returned as a Vengeance Demon still bothers him and he wishes there were some way to make it up to her and show her that he does still love her. He just needs some time to prove that he will not be his father. Lastly Xander is glad Giles is returning, valuing his ability to keep the group on an even keel and someone who always seems to be able to put things in perspective.
Xander’s construction company has rebuilt the Magic Box and Buffy’s new studio.
If you are using the pre-generated Xander from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to his stats.
STR: +1 DEX: +0 CON: +0 INT: +0 PER: +0 WIL: +1 Life points should be adjusted accordingly. He also gains +2 levels of Mr. Fix it. His attractiveness is reduced 1 point due to the claw marks Dark Magic Willow gave him.
Anya: Anya is a Vengeance Demon again, and is torn in several directions. She is still pissed at Xander for leaving her at the altar, but she still has feelings for him and really does not want to invoke vengeance on him anymore. However, occasionally she does say something just to make sure Xander remembers how much he hurt her. Although she has duties as a Vengeance Demon, Anya still runs the Magic Box. She should be enjoying the return to power and immortality more, but her period with the Scoobies has shown her how important love and friendship can be. She really doesn’t want to leave them, but also doesn’t know if she truly belongs with them either.
Anya is still blunt, to the point and often tactless, but seems to be more human as a demon than she was since her amulet was broken three years ago. Anya is confused and hopes that maybe with Giles’ return her role for the future might become clearer. Until she figures it out, she continues along torn between acting like nothing happened and blaming everyone.
The bright side of her new situation is Anya now charges the Slayer rent.
If you are using the pre-generated Anya from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to her stats.
STR: +3 DEX: +2 CON: +3 INT: +1 PER: +1 WIL: +1 Life points should be adjusted accordingly. The biggest change to Anya is she gains the Ascension Quality (15 points). She gains Fast Reaction time, Nerves of Steel, and seven levels of Hard to Kill. She also gets +1 free level of Getting Medieval and Kung Fu skills. Damage is regenerated at a rate of one Life Point per Con level every hour. She is immune to the fire based attacks of other Ascended humans. Anya does not need to eat, drink, sleep or breathe to remain alive, but she does to maintain a façade of humanity. She also has a Major obligation to D’Hoffryn, the demon that granted her ascendance.
Dawn: Dawn started high school this year. It is a much bigger school, with lots of new faces and plenty of chances to make new friends. The question is, will she fit into her own age group, or will she tag along with the Scoobies and her sister? Dawn still idolizes Buffy to a certain extent, but also realizes that she’s not perfect. Dawn wants her sister’s attention, approval and to be treated like an adult more than anything. Despite that she can still act like a child at times as well. The process of growing up is still going on. Dawn is happy that Tara is back, she missed having her around, and felt terrible for Willow. Dawn will do anything to make sure Willow and Tara remain together and safe. She still likes and looks up to Xander, but doesn’t really understand what went wrong between him and Anya. She also doesn’t know what to think of Anya being a demon again, but supposes its something she just had to do. Dawn doesn’t have a big opinion on Giles’ return, he’s old and funny, but she supposes Buffy will be happy to have him back so that must be good. Dawn is unsure of her feelings for Spike. She still thinks he’s kinda cute, and having his soul back and not being all mopey like Angel is cool, but she also knows he attacked her sister and crossed a line he shouldn’t have. However, Buffy still took her to his crypt for safety, and hasn’t just staked him yet so some sort of peace must have been worked out between the two. Whatever happens between Buffy and Spike, the younger Summers still enjoys hanging out with the former Big Bad. It’s as close to walking on the wild side as she gets.
Overall, Dawn just wants to be more involved in Scooby activities and to be a full-fledged member. Buffy promised to show her the world, she intends to hold her to that.
If you are using the pre-generated Dawn from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to her stats.
STR: +1 DEX: +0 CON: +0 INT: +0 PER: +0 WIL: +1 Life points should be adjusted accordingly. She also gains +2 levels of Kung Fu due to her sister giving her some training.
Giles: Giles is returning to Sunnydale to act as Buffy’s Watcher once again. He still blames himself for some of what happened last year, though he knows that his decision to leave was the right one at the time. Now that Buffy seems to finally have acclimated to life once more, he believes it is all right for him to return. However, should there be any signs that Buffy is becoming dependent on him, or sloughing her responsibilities, he does not intend to let things slide but to call her on it. He will also be much more watchful of her interaction with both Dawn and Spike. Giles still does not entirely trust Spike and believes that unlike Angel, Spike even with a soul will eventually return to his evil ways. Giles knows Anya is a demon once again, but is unsure how to view this. If she truly had no ties or emotional attachments she would have left long ago. Giles is probably the only one to understand that Anya is torn between power and loneliness. He will try and guide her as best he can. Xander is something of a puzzle to him. American males react so much differently than British ones. Giles hopes that Xander’s continued maturity will not stop.
Giles other big concern is Willow. He is certain that Tara can handle the power and magic that she has learned, but remains worried that Willow will not be able to resist the call of the dark magic. Her potential to be a danger to the world is great. Giles knows she has a kind and gentle heart, and is determined to nurture that side of Willow once again. He also feels that by stressing the computer arts Willow seemed so good at, he might be able to distract her from the use of magic. Giles will view Willow’s return to magic with some fear and hostility. It isn’t safe for her or the rest of the group.
If you are using the pre-generated Giles from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to his stats.
STR: +0 DEX: +0 CON: +0 INT: +1 PER: +0 WIL: +1 He also gains +1 levels of Sorcery and Occultism due to his involvement with the English coven.
Spike: Spike now has a soul, but he is not Angel. He is not out for redemption, nor does his conscience seem to have grown very much. He would like to punish Buffy for spurning him, but he would also like to win her back. He regrets attacking her, but is still confused why she let things go so far. The Slayer could have stopped him at any point. In the end Spike values Buffy’s approval because she has been the only one to treat him like a person, a man, and perhaps even an equal. She may not be able to love him, but gaining her respect and trust back is important to Spike for it will restore a lot of his respect for himself. To that end he intends to be as useful and helpful as possible. He will not press the personal angle unless she seems open to it. The Slayer may never be his girl, but he can still be a valuable part of her life. He is able to still act with force and some degree of malice, but the need for outright cruelty and viciousness has faded greatly. In the final analysis Spike might be the most practical member of the group, able to do whatever is necessary at the time.
Spike’s view of each of the other Scoobies has changed only slightly. He still thinks Xander is mostly a wanker, and blames him for leaving Anya at the altar. Clearly he hurt her immensely and doesn’t deserve her regard, which he so clearly still has. If Spike’s needling can make Xander more of a man, than that is all for the best. As for Anya, if she decides that she wants vengeance, than Spike is more than willing to aid her in it. If she wishes to try and reclaim whatever they had, that is fine as well. Spike thinks her return to demonhood is an obvious attempt to deal with her pain but that she needs to decide whether she is a demon or a human rather than switching between the two. As for Willow, Spike is not sure what to make of her. He missed her descent into dark magic, but approves of her torture and slaying of Warren. He obviously deserved much worse and if Spike had been in Willow’s position, he would have reveled in it. Still, some souls are not made for these sorts of things and he is relatively certain that Willow falls into that category. He hopes to win favor with Buffy by helping Willow deal with her guilt. Tara is a different matter. There is something...pure about her that makes him nervous. It’s not that he fears her or doesn’t like her, he is just a little uneasy around her. Now Dawn is a different matter. Spike likes the "niblet" more than he is willing to admit. She shows a great deal of courage and determination under adversary, doesn’t flinch from the dirty work, and that reminds Spike of himself a bit. Maybe how he could have been, if things were different. Spike will protect Dawn for his own reasons, and scoring points with Buffy or not is not part of the equation in this case. Spike views Giles as an authority figure and because of this will always give him a hard time. What’s the use of being a rebel if you can’t tweak the only adult that’s around after all?
If you are using the pre-generated Spike from the BtVSRPG Core book then you need to make the following adjustments to his stats.
STR: +0 DEX: +1 CON: +0 INT: +0 PER: +0 WIL: +2 He also gains +3 Kung Fu and +2 Getting Medieval. While Spike has a soul, it has not affected him much statwise, the changes are from the previous season and surviving the test.
A note on magic: One of the themes of this episode is the nature of magic. What makes magic black, what makes it white? Even after setting some distinctions the lines will be blurred as necromancy and blood magic will be used by both the bad guys and the white hats. In truth most magic is neither good nor evil, black or white. It is the intent of the wielder that makes it one way of the other. Think of magic as a gun, it can be used to either holdup a bank or stop a bank robbery. However, there are certain things that can only be classified as evil magic. These are spells that require unwilling human sacrifices of blood or death, something that creates vampires or other undead, or those which specifically torture and kill their targets in a vile manner. Spells that subjugate, break or destroy another’s mind are also usually evil as is anything that destroys the soul of another. Finally making a pact with dark forces that wish to harm mankind for magical power is also considered an evil act. Any of these can lead a witch or warlock down the road to addiction to the thrill and power of dark magic.
White magic is different from dark magic in that it usually works within the natural order, though sometimes at a speeded up rate, counteracts black magic, or is almost entirely passive in nature. Things like chants, charms or herbs of protection that keep evil magic at bay, speeding up the growth of plants by two or three times their normal rate, creating a small defensive barrier around oneself to keep harm away, releasing the energy contained within an evil spell thus dispelling it, bestowing a blessing for general good fortune, charms, chants or herbs to cause evil to bypass or overlook someone; these sorts of spells are pure white magic. They cannot be used to harm anyone. Almost everything else is gray to some degree or another. Transmutation of the elements is usually allowed a white witch or warlock for all things are really one, and altering the elemental form of inanimate material does not go against the true natural order of the universe. BUT even this could be used for harm, and if so would no longer be white magic.
In Willow’s case she can no longer use telekinesis, telepathy or any of the combative magics she has used in the past. She is currently restricted to spells that are passive and cannot be used to attack someone. She can transmute the elements with Tara’s aid, but even then if their is any intent for direct harm the spell, as learned through the Codex, will fail. Even the tiny Tinkerbell light is not natural and something that is currently beyond Willow, though she still has the means to find Tara when she needs to. However if she did need some light she could transmute some air into fire to create a light. Of course she better have something to contain the fire for it will not just float in the middle of the air, fire doesn’t typically do that.
The director may wish to discuss some of the above with Willow and/or Tara’s player’s prior to the start of the game.
My players are interested in adding original characters to supplement the core characters, so I may end up running Tara and Anya as NPCs, which is a shame as I'd like to see the players play out the Tara/Willow reunion. We shall see.
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But posted on Friday and the PDF is usually read the next Monday. The episodes allways appear here first.