KEZIAH MASON
Nahab, vicious witch from nightmares
*[…] It was this house and this room which had likewise harboured old Keziah Mason, whose flight from Salem Gaol at the last no one was ever able to explain. That was in 1692—the gaoler had gone mad and babbled of a small white-fanged furry thing which scuttled out of Keziah’s cell, and not even Cotton Mather could explain the curves and angles smeared on the grey stone walls with some red, sticky fluid.*
— The Dreams in the Witch-House, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1933
Keziah Mason of Arkham was accused of witchcraft at the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, and under torture confessed to her oath to the Bogeyman and to traveling through time and space by means of a magic of “lines and curves” before she disappeared from her cell without a trace by means of just such lines and curves, painted in blood on the walls of her cell.
In fact, she escaped into transdimensional space, from where she continued to haunt Arkham. Keziah is not undead, but the centuries spent in the space between dimensions have changed her. On May 1 and Halloween, she sacrifices children for her own Prolongate Life and as offerings to the bogeyman. Her appearance is described like that of the typical fairy tale witch: hunchbacked, with a long nose, malicious eyes and a croaking voice.
She had a familiar, a Rat Creature named Brown Jenkin, who served as her messenger and fed on her blood.
| OTHER WITCHESKeziah Mason is just one possible manifestation of a witch. Witches can be human (and comparatively harmless), undead, or outright monstrous beings. But whether they appear as nightmare creatures like Keziah Mason, neatly organized in a coven, or as superficially friendly new-age witches: Witches are extremely clever and dangerous opponents, relying less on their physical strength and more on their spirit and the numerous rituals they know.Other suggestions: The triple Baba Jaga personifies virgin, mother, and hag. She is an immortal shapeshifter who lures with promises of help – but the price for that help is very high. The human Wiccan follower who entered into a covenant with the Black Man and received unnatural knowledge and rituals in return – knowledge that will soon shatter her sanity. Possible rituals for witches: Aklo Sabaoth (Shub-Niggurath), Aklo Sabaoth (Yog-Sothoth), Erase Memories, Cure, Body Swap, Prolongate Life, Call Entities (Night-Gaunt), Call Entities (Black Man), Harm, Open dimensional rift, Annihilation, Vision, Voorish Sign, Domination. Possible unnatural traits for witches: Special Sense, Flight, Mind Transfer, Mind Control, Shapeshifter, Transference. |
SPECIAL POWERS
Mind Control: Keziah can enter people’s dreams and influence their decisions by means of a kind of Hypnos. Once per dream, she can give the dreamer a command. If she wins a comparative POW test against the target, the target must follow her command.
Transfer: Keziah can transfer a curse if she gets close enough to the dreamer in the dream to touch her.
Yog-Sothothery: While Keziah was supposedly killed by Walter Gilman in the 1930s, who knows if such a vicious and clever spirit can really be killed.
KEZIAH MASON, Nahab, vicious witch from nightmares
STR: 13
CON: 12
DEX: 13
INT: 16
POW: 22
HP: 13
Damage Bonus/Lethality: +#D#
Build: Medium
Willpower Points: 22
ATTACKS
Attacks per round: 1
Fighting attacks: .
Fingernails 30%, 1d4 damage.
Ritual Dagger 40%, 1d4+1 damage.
Dodge: ##%
Armor: None.
Skills: Stealth 60%, Natural Science (math) 80%, Psychology 60%, Dreaming 40%, Unnatural Knowledge 50%.
Rituals: Prolongate Life, Call Entities (Elder Thing), Call Entities (Black Man), Harm, Gate in the Angles, Annihilation, Voorish Sign, Domination.
Sanity Loss: 1/1D4.
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