Salvation

Thick smoke, stinking of roasted human flesh, rises above a devastated church. Charred corpses, the brittle black bones rendered of fat and meat by hot fire, are scattered through the still-warm rubble. The burnt skulls blindly grimace at the ash-flecked sky.

Furiously digging through the rubble is a black-robed, soot-smeared young monk. As he digs, plaintively, like a lost lamb of God, he cries out names — "Luke… Paul… Gregory…" — either saints, or his dead brethren; in his hysteria he can no longer be sure. The monk's hands are bloody, blackened, and blistered by his futile search for another survivor, and, with a final despairing cry, he collapses among the smoldering ruins.

Hours later, the monk wearily trudges away from his dead home. As the monk departs, a bitter wind rattles through the ruined monastery. The rustling ashes almost sound like laughter…

The monks of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Sylvester, in the parish of West Brockshire, were massacred burned alive in the monastery church by a cruel band of outlaws. Only one monk survived, and the ruined monastery now lies haunted by Infernal spirits. At its heart, in a fiery regio, waits a demon monk who traps hapless mortals behind walls of hellfire so that he can offer a simple choice to his victims: "sell your soul or die in flames."

This Hook introduces Realms of Power: Infernal.

The monastery of Saint Sylvester was burned, in the year 1200, by a vile outlaw captain: Owen the Beast. Owen and his men raided the monastery because of its reputed wealth (from the monks' leatherwork). The outlaws burst into the Benedictine monastery during mass, seizing the jewel-encrusted relics, books, and silver platters and cutlery. Unfortunately, Owen did not believe the abbot's protests that this was the extent of their wealth, so the monks were confined inside their church, which was set alight. Owen promised to free any monk who would reveal the hidden treasure trove, but none of the monks spoke and all hideously perished in flames.

Except, one young monk did survive the massacre.

The sole survivor claimed to have been outside the monastery complex when the bandits arrived, and unnoticed by the outlaws he witnessed the atrocity. Once the bandits had left, the survivor desperately searched the still-smoking ruins, hoping a miracle had saved at least one of his brothers. However, his hopes were in vain. Tear-stained, with bleeding hands blackened by ash, the survivor made his way to the nearby village.

The tale of the monastery's destruction, originally relayed by the sole survivor, the sub-deacon Guthrie, is known by the nearby

That Could the Player Characters Already Know?

A player character well-traveled within the diocese may have already heard of the ruined monastery. If an Intelligence + Area Lore: Diocese roll against an Ease Factor of 9 is made, the character knows which parish the monastery was located in, and that it was burnt a

couple of decades ago by Owen the Beast. If an Ease Factor of 12 is beaten, she also knows that there was a surviving monk. Finally, an Ease Factor of 15 means that the character additionally knows that the monk relocated and became a canon at the cathedral.

parishioners. Owen the Beast and his band of outlaws were captured and hanged by the sheriff in the diocese's main city several years after the burning of the monastery. The massacre of the monks was only one of many atrocities committed by the bandits.

It is twenty years since the massacre of the monks at Saint Sylvester, and the young monk, the sole survivor, is now a canon in the diocese's cathedral. Since the massacre the canon, now Father Guthrie, has suffered terrible torment and wrestled nightly in fevered dreams with his conscience. The problem: his tale of the massacre at Saint Sylvester omitted a dreadful truth.

Guthrie's survival was not a miracle. Guthrie sold his soul.

Father Guthrie was actually trapped in the burning monastery church with the other monks. Desperate, Guthrie managed to flee into the comparative cool of the crypt, where he encountered an unfamiliar, hooded monk, who of-

fered salvation from the flames. The price would be Guthrie's soul. Terrified, Guthrie agreed and as black smoke filled the crypt he collapsed. When he awoke, the fire had died down. The bandits had left. Guthrie's brethren were dead.

Ashamed at his weakness, and fearing retribution by the church, Guthrie lied to hide his bargain with the demon in the burning crypt. To his great shame, his survival was even feted as a miracle of Saint Sylvester. Nightly, in dreams, the demon (claiming to be the Abbot of the Unholy Order of Tempters) has appeared to Guthrie and goaded him into further sins. Under the demon's influence Guthrie has committed depraved acts with fallen women, set fire to a chapel, and provided false testimony at witchcraft trials. Even worse, Guthrie secretly enjoys the demon's depraved temptations.

Here are the ways the player characters can become involved:

Characteristics: Int +1, Per +1(1), Pre +1, Com 0, Str +1, Sta +1, Dex +1, Qik +1(1)

Size: 0 Age: 47 (47)

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Priest; Greater Immunity (fire); Skinchanger (crow), Student of the Infernal Realm; Dark Secret (sold soul to hell); Coward, Depraved, Tainted with Evil

Personality Traits: Coward +3, Depraved +3

Reputations: Unpleasant canon +3 (local), Expert on demon worship +2 (ecclesiastical), Survivor of monastery inferno +1 (ecclesiastical)

Combat:

Dodge: Init +1, Attack n/a, Defense +1, Damage n/a

Soak: +1 (Sta)

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Area Lore: Diocese 5 (evil), Artes Liberales 1 (logic), Awareness 3 (evil), Civil and Canon Law 3 (demon worship), Concentration 2 (vigil), Dead Language: Latin 5 (church usage), Etiquette 1 (bishop's court), Folk Ken 5 (clergy), Guile 5 (lies), Infernal Lore 5+2 (demons), Intrigue 5 (bishop's court), Leadership 2 (clergy), Living Language: English 5 (London dialect), Music 1 (hymns), Organization Lore: Church 3 (exorcisms), Ride 3 (horse), Stealth 2 (hiding), Survival 2 (disasters), Teaching 2 (minor orders), Theology 2 (hell)

Equipment: Habit and priest's stole, necklace of crow feathers (not worn).

Appearance: Father Guthrie has a hooked nose and a frightful scowl on his face.

The father has a bad reputation in the city for setting unpleasant, almost perverse, tasks as penance and so city-folk hope he is not their confessor. Within the church the father is also thought of as unpleasant, although this is charitably attributed to the trauma of the massacre. This means the father is usually left to his own quiet studies within the cathedral complex, without frequent need to attend to the care of souls. The few who confess to Father Guthrie are those that the other canons find distasteful, such as prostitutes, witches, and the insane.

Conflicted and troubled by the dark path he is upon, Father Guthrie uses his quiet solitude to study the records of the bishop's court concerning evil and the worship of demons. He is considered expert in dark matters, and when cases of devil worship are brought to the bishop's court Father Guthrie provides expert testimony. This dubious specialty feeds the father's unpleasant reputation and greatly amuses the demons who appear in his dreams. Sometimes he has knowingly convicted innocents of devil-worship, who were then burned alive by the secular authorities. In reward for these sacrifices, hell has granted the father a magical necklace of crow feathers, which he can use to turn into a sleek black crow.

As Father Guthrie is a clergyman with unconfessed sins he is irregular, which means he cannot spend Faith Points (see The Church, page 37).

• A player character receives a vision which guides him to either the ruined monastery or to the damned canon Father Guthrie.
• Player characters encounter the ruined monastery (or rumors of it) while traveling on other business.
• The marauders who burned the monastery have not yet been captured and hanged, are still active, and also attack covenant property (or the property of the covenant's allies). The player characters discover the burned monas-
• tery while following the vile trail of Owen the Beast. For this is to be plausible, the monastery has probably been burned only a few years, or even months, ago.
• The bishop (or the local Benedictine authorities) com-

mission the player characters to investigate rumors of the demon-haunted monastery. For this commission to be offered, the player characters must already have reputations within the diocese as supernatural specialists, but not be considered an infernal liability themselves. Ironically, Father Guthrie — an ecclesiastical expert in dark matters — may also be assigned to investigate.

The exact date of the monastery's destruction can be changed if your saga requires. Consider whether you want it to be possible for the player characters to meet Father Guthrie (the sole survivor of the fire). If it is too long ago, he has (probably) died of old age.

The monastery can be located in any parish, anywhere in Mythic Europe, but it is probably easier to introduce if the monastery's parish is in the same diocese as the covenant. A typical diocese contains hundreds of parishes, and some contain thousands, so it should not be surprising that the player characters have not previously heard of the monastery's fate (unless a player character has an extensive local Area Lore Ability; see insert).

It is not crucial that the site was linked to the broader parish via the leather works. However, the reputed wealth of the monks gives a rationale for the outlaws to attack.

The main scenes are Questioning Father Guthrie, Getting to the Monastery, Exploring the Ruined Monastery, and Dealing with the Cloven-Hoofed Monk.

This scene might not occur; whether it does (or not) depends on whether the player characters learn that the sole survivor Father Guthrie is now a canon at the cathedral and whether the player characters decide to question him. It is possible that this scene instead plays out at the end of the scenario when the player characters, having realized that the monk's story is implausible, confront him.

Father Guthrie is reluctant to discuss the massacre at Saint Sylvester's, and tries to avoid an interview if he can. If he is questioned, Father Guthrie relays his standard story about what happened during the massacre, and describes the functioning monastery and its location. If the player characters doubt the father's story, he ceases to co-operate, and if a witchcraft trial or similar is conducted the father defends himself. If he is found guilty he tries to escape by turning into a crow. Note that a Gifted character is unlikely to be considered a reputable witness at a witchcraft trial, particularly if his testimony relies upon magic.

If Father Guthrie accompanies

the player characters to the ruined monastery, he contributes as little as possible to the investigation; he is however keen to see that the Infernal regio is entered (see later). Because the father is immune to fire, he can leave the monastery regio at any time without negative effect. The demons in the regio are not above tormenting him, but do know that his soul is already claimed by hell, and thus do not trouble him as much as they might trouble the player characters.

The monastery is in the parish of West Brockshire, which also contains one small village and a dozen lonely farmsteads. The journey to the parish is not challenging and takes a week on foot from the covenant.

The ruined monastery is a few hours' walk from the main parish village.

Monastery Rumors

The parish priest (Father Michael; his church is in the main village), or other parishioners, explain that the Benedictine monastery was wealthy because of the monks' skill as leather-workers, making belts, bags, and jerkins. The monks' products were mostly exported and sold in the large towns of the diocese. Many parishioners supplied raw hides to the monks, while others worked as teamsters transporting finished

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre +1, Com 0, Str –1, Sta 0, Dex +2, Qik +2

Size: 0 Age: 19 (19)

Virtues and Flaws: Peasant; Puissant Ability: Second Sight, Second Sight, Student of the Infernal Realm; Infamous (Devil Worshiper), Lost Love (Sara), Offensive to Animals.

Personality Traits: Lonely +3, Scared +1

Reputations: Devil Worshiper +4 (local area)

Combat:

Dodge: Init +2, Attack n/a, Defense +5, Damage n/a

Knife: Init +2, Attack +7, Defense +6, Damage +1

Soak: +0

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Animal Handling 3 (cattle), Area Lore: Parish 4 (farming), Athletics 1 (climbing), Awareness 1 (searching), Bargain 2 (demons), Brawl 3 (knife), Chirurgy 2 (cuts), Folk Ken 2 (clergy), Guile 2 (fast talk), Infernal Lore 3+2 (curses), Leadership 1 (coven), Living Language: English 5 (slang), Second Sight 4+2 (demons), Stealth 1 (sneak), Survival 2 (cooking), Swim 1 (rivers & streams)

Equipment: simple peasant clothes, a knife.

Appearance: Agatha is a lonely young blonde woman. She works on her father's farmstead, but many parish folk will not drink the milk she collects — with great difficulty — from the cows. (Milkmaid is not the best occupation for someone who is Offensive to Animals.)

was to hold a secret black mass every full moon. Agatha refuses to return to the monastery. Sara is buried in an unmarked grave, outside the village, near the stream where she drowned.

The parishioners also know that a single monk survived the original fire, and fled the parish to the cathedral. The wealthy monks also reputedly had a treasure trove that still lies hidden in the ruins (this is false).

Apart from a wary suspicion of Gifted characters, the parishioners freely offer the information they have. If some of the player characters appear to be clergy, the parishioners erroneously assume the player characters are Benedictine monks scouting the old monastery site for possible recolonization. This pleases the parishioners.

Black and soot-stained, the ruins of the monastery stand by a small gurgling stream in an empty, rockpocked field. The ruined church is splayed open and the half-fallen stone arches, which once held beautiful stained-glass images of devotion, now point skyward like the bleached bone ribs of a carrionpicked corpse. The silent courtyard, which formerly echoed with murmured prayers to God's glory, is now overgrown with grasses.

The burned-out Benedictine monastery of Saint Sylvester is composed of half a dozen ruined

leather goods to distant markets. The monks dispersed much of their profit as alms to the poor of the parish, and when the Benedictines did not re-build the burned monastery the parishioners were bitterly disappointed; many left to live in other parts of the diocese.

The locals all know the precise location of the ruined monastery and it is common knowledge that it is now haunted by demons. The parishioners explain that ten years ago two young girls became trapped in the ruined monastery and sold their souls to a demon, becoming witches, in order to escape. The locals know this because one of the girls later drowned herself in a stream, and the surviving girl confessed her witchery.

The survivor, Agatha, is now aged 19 and lives on her father's farmstead. Agatha is lonely and shunned by the parish menfolk because of her past. Agatha is very repentant and if questioned she gives a garbled account of the Infernal regio: "It is full of flames and screaming monks and there is a red-robed demon abbot in the crypt" (she was very frightened and only nine years old at the time). The bargain that Agatha and the other girl (Sara) made with the demon for their freedom

and unoccupied buildings. The largest and most damaged ruin is the church, once the heart of this monastic community. The other buildings are fire-damaged too, but less so, and were once sleeping, kitchen and dining facilities, a workshop where the monks worked at manufacturing fine leather goods, and (beside the stream) the remains of a small tannery.

Nearly 50 monks lived at the monastery. The only inhabitants of the site, now, are a large, proud, black cockerel and his harem of hens. The birds roost in what was once the monastery kitchens.

The field surrounding the monastery lies fallow, too rocky to be easily farmed.

Other features that the player characters can discover follow.

• The site has an Infernal aura of 3. Characters with Infernal Lore should be able to infer that evil acts occurred at the site, either in the past or currently.
• The relics and other church treasures have been looted long ago by Owen the Beast. There is no hidden treasure to be found.
• A few hundred feet to the north of the monastery is a mass grave.
• There is a crypt underneath the church. The entrance is obscured and obstructed by fallen stones.
• The black cockerel, located in the ruined monastery kitchens, is possessed by the Cloven Hoofed Monk.

• There is an Infernal regio within the church. The Infernal regio has an aura of 5. The presence of the regio can be detected via the usual means (see ArM5, page 189). From the outside, the regio appears black, empty, and quiet; it smells of soot and tastes of ash.

The Mass Grave

A mass grave, a few hundred feet north of the main monastery complex, contains the burned bones of the massacred monks.

The grave is hard to find (Perception + Awareness roll against an Ease Factor of 12), as plants have long since grown over the disturbed earth. The center of the grave is marked by a simple stone

cross, which would be about six feet tall, and easy to find. However, the marker has been pushed over and lies flat on the ground, obscured by grasses and weeds. The surface of the stone cross is covered in scratches that spell out apparently nonsensical Latin phrases. Characters with a score in Infernal Lore recognize that such a defacement is suggestive of infernal rituals. However, there is no other apparent evidence of infernalism at the grave. The scratches are too old to be Arcane Connections to their author.

When the monks were interred they received a proper Christian burial. The burial rites were conducted by a delegation from the Benedictine monk's mother house, but it was such a long time ago that the parishioners have forgotten this detail.

The Crypt

Beneath the church is the crypt. This is where the Benedictine monks buried their dead, when the monastery was live and active. Any character searching the ruined church finds the crypt.

The entrance to the crypt is obstructed by fallen masonry and partially burnt and rotted wooden beams, but a very small character (Size –2 or less) can squirm through the gaps. Other characters need to move the obstructions, which could be trivial for a magus. For characters using unaided muscle power, make a Strength roll against an Ease Factor of 12; if several characters are cooperating, add the positive Strength scores of the assisting characters as a bonus to the roll.

The interior of the crypt is cool and dark. Although soot-stained, it is not badly damaged by fire. The crypt consists of a wide corridor (7 paces long) that terminates in a square chamber (about 400 square feet). The corridor is filled with shelves where the bodies of the lesser monks were laid out. The terminal chamber has stone sarcophagi for the senior monks to rest in. Inscriptions on the sarcophagi indicate that monks were interred in the crypt between 1117 (the date that the monastery church was completed) and the burning of the monastery in 1200.

Looters have already entered the crypt. The bones of the dead monks are strewn about the crypt and the sarcophagi have been pried open, although the bones older than the mid-12th century are already dust. Everything of value has been taken.

The Black Cockerel

Proudly striding around the ruins of the monastery is a large black cockerel. He spends most of his time pecking at, flapping his black wings at, and otherwise terrorizing a harem of a dozen hens that he keeps sequestered in the ruined monastery kitchens.

The hens are ordinary mundane chickens, descended from the birds kept by the monks. The cockerel is descended from the same incestuous population, and he is possessed by the Cloven Hoofed Monk.

The demon has invested 1 Might Point in the possession of the cockerel. This means that an independent Infernal Might 1 copy of the demon resides within the cockerel. The copy is entirely independent of the original demon and has the same powers and statistics (but no physical body and less Might). The possession allows the demon to use the senses of, and to manipulate the body of, the cockerel. The demon amuses himself by running the cockerel into walls, and making it fall off its perch in convulsive fits; this abuse has turned the cockerel mad. A spell equivalent to Demon's Eternal Oblivion can exorcise the demon from the cockerel. This has no other effect on either the cockerel

Order: Lord Abbot of the Unholy Order of Tempters (tentator)

Infernal Might: 20(19) (Corpus) (1 Might Point used to possess the black cockerel).

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Pre +1, Com 0, Str +2, Sta +2, Dex +3, Qik +3

Size: 0

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Immunity (fire); Tough

Personality Traits: Deceitful +3, Depraved +3

Reputations: Profane Abbot +3

Hierarchy: +3 Combat:

Fist: Init +3, Attack +8, Defense +8, Damage +2

Long Sword: Init +5, Attack +14, Defense +11, Damage +8

Soak: +5 (+2 Sta + 3 Tough)

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6– 10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Athletics 3 (grace), Awareness 4 (sin), Bargain 5 (infernal), Brawl 4 (fist), Civil and Canon Law 3 (heresy), Code of Hermes 1 (infernalism), Guile 6 (infernalists), Infernal Lore 3 (demons), Leadership 3 (demons), Penetration 3 (ball of hell- fire), Single Weapon 6 (sword), Stealth 4 (urban)

Powers:

Ball of Hellfire, 1 point, Init +3, Ignem: The demon launches a ball of black flame at the target (within Voice Range), which automatically hits and causes +30 damage.

Coagulation, 2 points, Init –1, Corpus: Allows the demon to form the physical body described below. He can return to his spiritual form at will. When the demon is in his spiritual form he is invisible and undetectable by Hermetic magic (and if he cannot be sensed he cannot usually be targeted by Hermetic magic). In his physical form the demon can be killed, but in his spiritual form the demon can only be destroyed by destroying his Might (see Realms of Power: Infernal page 31).

Envisioning, 1 point, Init 0, Mentem: Allows the demon to appear in the dreams of a character (see Realms of Power: Infernal page 32).

Obsession, 1 point, Init –5, Vim: Whenever a character sins in the presence of the demon he can use this power to infect the character with the Personality Trait: Depraved +1; see Realms of Power: Infernal page 31.

Possession, Variable, Init +2, Mentem: The demon uses this power to possess the black cockerel; see Realms of Power: Infernal, page 32.

Equipment: Red robes, long sword, book, black cockerel tail-feather on a silver chain.

Weakness: Abhorrent Material: salt. Vis: 4 pawns of Corpus in book cover.

Appearance: The demon abbot wears dark red robes and carries (in a leather harness) a large book bound in flayed human skin. Unlike a mortal Christian monk, the abbot follows no prohibition against the shedding of blood and carries a plain-looking yet finely made long sword. Around the monk's neck is a silver chain with a black feather (from the cockerel) woven into it.

The book the monk carries is The Book of the Morning Star (Infernal Lore Ability Summa; Quality 10, Level 4).

A character who makes a Perception + Awareness roll against an Ease Factor of 6 notices that the monk has cloven hoofs instead of feet. He otherwise appears to be a normal middleaged man.

The infernal hellfire can be harvested as an Ignem vis source. Five pawns of Ignem vis can be harvested per season, and this vis is tainted with the infernal. The storyguide can adjust the number of pawns available to suit your saga. It is best to err on the side of generosity, as Hell provides the vis as a temptation.

or the original demon. Full rules for possession are given in Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 32.

When the player characters arrive at the monastery, the demoncockerel observes them as they explore the site and tries to gauge the extent of their powers. If the player characters look ready to leave the ruined monastery before midnight then the demon tries to maintain their interest. He can do this by manipulating the cockerel in an unusual way, stealing items, or attacking the characters with his Ball of Hellfire power. As the copy of the demon possessing the cockerel has only 1 Might he can only use this particular power once per day.

Player characters who can speak to the cockerel rapidly discover that it is insane. Although the demon can speak through the cockerel, it probably will not.

If the player characters enter the regio, the cockerel enters the regio too, whereupon he dashes to the regio crypt where the original demon waits. The two copies of the demon need to see each other for the cockerel copy to relay information about the player characters.

Every midnight, for one Diameter, the Infernal regio in the ruined church opens and characters in or entering the ruined church at this time enter the regio. At other times, characters who can see into the regio can freely cross into the regio.

From the outside, the regio appears black, empty, and quiet, and it smells of soot and tastes of ash. However, inside the regio, the church is intact and surrounded by fierce, black hellfire. The doors are barred and wild dancing shadows flicker outside the stained glass windows. The lead seals in the roof melt and splatter a scalding silvery rain down into the nave. Choking smoke curls up the walls.

Each character who remains in the Infernal regio must make a Deprivation check every Diameter due to the heat and choking smoke (see ArM5, page 180), unless the character is immune to such hazards. A character who wraps his face in a cloth receives a +3 bonus to the Deprivation roll.

The Burned Monks

In the regio the church is filled with the panicked spirits of the burned monks, who frantically dash back and forth, screaming, through the nave. Several monks by the altar feverishly pray for deliverance, while others stand below the tower madly ringing the church bells.

These terrified ghosts are not really the spirits of the burned monks; they are maligenii, evil Infernal spirits. Although there appear to be nearly 50 ghosts, there are only 10 spirits (each with many apparent bodies). The ghosts are distressing, and can make other characters hysterical, but are otherwise relatively harmless (see insert).

One of the monk ghosts dashes into the crypt, which is accessible from the church interior. The demons intend for the player characters to see the fleeing monk.

Escaping The Church

The door to the church is bolted and barred by an infernal supernatural power, and cannot be opened by mundane means. However, the infernal lock (an effect of magnitude two) can be dispelled by a suitable Perdo Vim effect. Characters can also create exits by breaking the windows, shattering the walls, or destroying the door.

Once the characters have created an exit they must brave the hellfire flames that surround the church. These terrifically hot black flames inflict +15 damage. Any character running through the flames take +60 damage (due to total immersion; ArM5, page 181). The hellfire extends all around the church, but characters who can fly can avoid total immersion (so take only +15 damage, or perhaps less). Characters who leap unaided from the church tower (or roof) avoid total immersion, but also take +15 falling damage.

The hellfire is a "natural" feature of the regio, and so cannot be dispelled or blocked by Magic Resistance, but a magus receives his Ignem Form bonus to his Soak. The flames can be temporarily extinguished with Perdo Ignem effects, but once the magic ends the flames erupt back into life. Teleportation, Ignem wards, immunities, and so on can also save the characters from immolation.

Any characters who survive crossing through the hellfire exit the regio.

The Cloven Hoofed Monk also offers salvation from the flames to those who accept it.

The Cloven Hoofed Monk

In the Infernal regio, the crypt is dark and cool, so Deprivation Checks for heat and smoke need not be made. The cool shadows hide a red-robed, hooded monk and when the characters enter the crypt he steps forward to make this offer:

"I am abbot and priest of this profane church. Pledge your immortal soul to me, and I will save you from fiery death."

Characters who accept the infernal deal immediately fall unconscious and awake outside the regio in the cold, black ruins of the church. From the perspective of characters who remain in the regio, the corrupted characters merely disappear.

Order: Tempters (maligenii) Infernal Might: 5 (Ignem)

Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +1, Com –3, Str –1, Sta 0, Dex +2, Qik +2

Size: 0

Virtues and Flaws: None

Personality Traits: Hysterical +6

Reputations: None

Hierarchy: 0

Combat:

Dodge: Init +2, Attack n/a, Defense +4, Damage n/a

Soak: 0

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Athletics 3 (run), Brawl 1 (dodge), Concentration 5 (A Problem Shared Is A Problem Doubled)

Powers:

Coagulation, 1 point, Init –1, Ignem: Allows the demon to form a physical body (see Realms of Power: Infernal page 31). The "physical" body manifested by the burned monks is immaterial (made of hot air, ash, and smoke) and cannot be damaged by normal physical means.

Envisioning, 1 point, Init 0, Mentem: Allows the demon to appear in the dreams of a character (see Realms of Power: Infernal page 32).

Obsession, 1 point, Init –5, Vim: Whenever a character sins in the presence of the demon it can use this power to infect the character with the Personality Trait: Hysterical +1; see Realms of Power: Infernal page 31. Whenever a stress roll is made for a character with a Hysterical Personality, roll an additional number of botch die equal to the value of the Personality Trait.

A Problem Shared Is A Problem Doubled, 0 point, Init –1, Imaginem: This power allows the demon to create a duplicate image of itself. The demon can do this multiple times, but it can only control a number of images equal to his Perception + Concentration Ability Score. If the demon ceases to concentrate, the images remain but continue repeating their recent actions. The images are of Imaginem Form, have no powers, and can be dispelled. The images must remain within Sight Range of the demon.

Equipment: Robes, torn shreds of bible.

Weakness: The Lord's Prayer.

Vis: 1 pawn of Ignem in ash (the images contain no vis).

Appearance: The screaming, burned monks rush backwards and forth, leaving a taste of ash and fluttering torn pages from the bible in their wake. The monks are transparent and colored in smoky, orange sepia tones. Each demonic monk has produced nearly half a dozen images of itself, so the relatively small number of demons appear to be a larger crowd of panicked ghosts.

The demon abbot will not himself propose alternative deals, but if the player characters propose other deals then he accepts. The abbot accepts because he knows that any deal made with him damns the characters.

Whatever deal is struck, the demon will not free the player characters without first receiving his payment.

If asked, the demon will claim that the only way to exit the regio is via a deal with him; this is a lie, of course.

If the characters attack the Cloven Hoofed Monk he fights back. However, the demon is a coward, so if he receives a Medium Wound (or heavier) he enters his spiritual form and hides in the darkness of the crypt. If the characters attack the demon's Might (for example, with Demon's Eternal Oblivion) he immediately turns into his spiritual form and hides. If the characters have attacked the demon, but not destroyed him, they can still pledge their souls (regardless of the demon's form).

If the Cloven Hoofed Monk is destroyed, the hellfire extinguishes, allowing the characters to freely leave the regio.

However this hook is resolved, the opportunity is created for further stories that involve the Infernal realm, if the troupe wishes.

• If a character has sold his soul to the Cloven Hoofed Monk, the demon tries to tempt him into other sins. The demon can provide vis (tainted, of course, by the infernal), the true names of other demons (which the magi can use as Arcane Connections to summon the demons and negotiate for other powers), and he is more than happy to engage in other bargains with the magi.

• The church believes that confession and penance can save the characters if they have sold their souls. However, a character might not know or believe this (particularly if a demon has told him otherwise), or he may (rightly) fear an arduous or dangerous penance. Also, even though the church may forgive, the secular authorities may not, and may thus still attempt to burn the character as a diabolical witch. For magi the particular risk of confession is that the Order of Hermes may learn of the characters' demonic pact. Under the Hermetic Oath there is never forgiveness for dealing with demons (see ArM5, page 14).

• There are a number of demonhunters in the Order of Hermes (see Realms of Power: Infernal, page 120). If it becomes suspected that the player characters have dealt with demons, then demon-hunters will investigate the covenant. On the other hand, if the player characters

• make it known that they have slain demons, then demonhunters may instead come to the covenant seeking recruits.

• If the demon is destroyed, then the magi may gather (infernally tainted) vis from the church ruins, but is using this vis a sin? See Realms of Power: Infernal, page 18.

• If they have not yet done so, the characters might track down and confront the survivor, Father Guthrie. Successfully exposing the corrupted monk earns the bishop's gratitude, who may call upon the magi to solve other problems with heretics and demons. It is also twenty years since Guthrie sold his soul. He may have since founded a secret corrupt clerical sect that can likewise be tracked down (see Realms of Power: Infernal, page 133).

• Was the bandit, Owen the Beast, who burned the monastery an infernalist? If so, what demons did he and his outlaws unleash at the sites of their other crimes? If Owen was a powerful black magician, hell might have returned him to the realm of the living as an infernal ghost (see Realms of Power: Infernal, page 36).

• The confessed witch Agatha (who is shunned by the villagers) may seek to return to the covenant with the magi. She may again be tempted by hell.

• Some of the other parishioners may be secret diabolists who worship at the damned monastery.