Want to hear a ghost story?

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan paused in nibbling her pizza, head tilted in thought. "T-t-that makes sssome sense, I-suppose-sorta. N-not full people always sssounds...little close to heh-home," The Lost were broken compared to their mortal lives. That they had this in similarity to ghosts was a little worrying. Morgan took a few more bites and swallowed. "I've r-read books on ghosts-very-rare and several voodoo sort-stuff which brang confusion. Voodoo contact spirits the books say b-but some are spirits of dead. Er, probably ghosties for voo-voo-doo-view, yeah?"

Which was a major problem with looking into occult. Every norman had a different perspective on how things worked. But it did sound like something else she recalled. Strange mindset...she flinched suddenly as a thought occured to her. Looking back up at Daniel, let out a nervous laugh: "I t-t-think I maaaaay have heh-had a chats with the-or-a spirit of fire meh-beh? W-when I got the contract of elements I was, uh...what tis word? Talk? Mediate? Mod-mod-moderate? Tis an 'em' sound?" The raccoon shook her head, "Um, eh-heh yeah I contacted sssomething. So that would probably be a spirit ano-and not a ghost....Surity-sure tweren't human."

No that "mind" had not been human. But she had bartered with it fairly enough, through the Wyrd. Which brought up another question, "G-g-guess that means I've met b-both types not-even-knew-it. Erm, d-does that mean all ghosts be-be like the scary-thing ano-and spirits be like the fire-strangeness?"

If she'd thought for a moment, she'd have realized she was oversimplifying things. But her mouth moved to quickly.

[Daniel Leto]

"Yeah," he said sadly to her first comment "There are actually stories where fairies are the ghosts of the dead that I'm pretty sure are about changelings."

Daniel gave Morgan a strange look when Morgan said she thought all ghosts would be scary "You're talking about the artist right?" he asked gently, since that must have been terrifying for her. He nodding understandingly. "That was pretty scary and yeah a lot a of ghosts are like that. There was one time I summoned a ghost that had died in a fire. He was still burning and screaming when he first appeared. He looked pretty horrifying. But, and this is important, even ghosts that look and act scary aren't always as bad as they first appear. They're often driven by strong, overwhelming emotions. Fear, anger, regret, protectiveness or even just confusion. The burning man I was talking about, I was able to turn him mortal for a little while and when he stopped screaming so he could talk, the thing he wanted to do most was talk with his mom."

"And as for the artist, he didn't attack until we touched the ring. It must have been very important him and he was protecting it the only way he knew how as a ghost. Do you think an artist would normally be that violent? Dying... is tough." And Daniel won the understatement of the year award "Imagine dying like he did." Blood stains on the floor and long fingered handprints "And then coming back looking like he did." Flesh made of dripping bloating ink. "Your mind fractured and incomplete. It must have been very scary for him to be what he was. And that's the thing about ghosts, when you deal with them in a way that really helps them, you have to try to understand them. It's not always the case. There are ghosts of bad people out there too. But most ghosts I've met were just normal people, trapped here because something is keeping them here. An anchor. An object, or place, or person that was very important to them and that holds them to this world. And when you understand the person the ghost was, you can know how to help them let go. Or if need be, make them let go by destroying the anchor."

  What's an anchor? 1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-06-25 22:43:05		Daniel Leto rolls 5 to Int+Occult+Specialty (10 Again)		9, 1, 7, 3, 7		1 success

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan slowly nodder her head, "R-r-read some of those, erm stories. D-dead folk that tis fairy usually heh-saved old loved ones from sssame fate...Prob-probably twas changelings I'd think." It would make sense: abducted return to find loved ones had moarned their death, then fight to ensure their families never suffer the same fate.

Morgan's head nodded more rapidly, a look of fear passing over her eyes at the recollection of the artist's ghost. The raccoon's face blanched, losing some color when Daniel confirmed the ghost's regular nature. A shudder went through her further at the idea of being trapped in flames. Granted, she was safer from fire now but it was still a terrible thing to contemplate. Her eyes widened however as Daniel explained further and the raccoon felt like kicking herself. The old "not judge by the cover" thing she had tried to follow with 'lings (to various effectiveness) seeemd to apply to ghosts too. She shouldn't have been so quick to jump. Her eyes cast down in sadness and shame, "S-ssorry for jump-conclude early. Instincts t-tend to go before t-thoughts sometimes. P-p-plus used to being prey, heh-heh, so j-just default everything gonna try and eat-kill me...B-but ghosts are ex-people, yes? So be j-just like folks, vary."

The way Daniel was describing it, the artist's ghost, there was quite the parallel to the Lost. Changing, damage, and limited ways to respond. Her eyes stayed focused downwards, "T-t-they sound a lot like us, heh, w-when you say it as ye heh-have..." Except that the Lost could adapt more, whilst ghosts couldn't. When she looked back up at Daniel it was with an expression of admiration, "I...I t-think tis a wondrous-noble thing ye are doing. Heh-helping them tis a g-g-g-action is worth respect. We are-are broken b-but whole, the g-ghost are broken fragment..."

Morgan's head tilted as she hummed in thought.

  Ship's have anchors

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-06-26 11:41:30		Morgan Bellenar rolls 5 to Int + Occult		3, 5, 7, 3, 1		failure

Anchor had sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place where. There was something else in one of the spirit books though, wasn't there?

  Ghost static, spirit malleable

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-06-26 11:42:56		Morgan Bellanar rolls 3 to Int + Occult -2		7, 5, 9		1 success

She grinned, now that she recalled it. Which probably looked weird. She put down the pizza slice to shake both her hands in apology, "Sorry-sorry not find subject funny no-no. J-just ye words heh-helped me recall-cogitate sssomething I read inna book. The author over-complicated her explanation of nature-vs-dead spirit. Ye p-put it lots better. Ghosts are fragment-echo of folks t-that were, only small piece, never change. S-spirits tis like plants, I-think, they grow-change..." She gave him a sheepish grin and shrug, "Sorry, k-k-kind of a, what-is-word, eureka? Yada-yeah that, moment ye j-just gave me....Thank you."

[Daniel Leto]

"You don't need to apologize," Daniel said with a friendly smile "For being afraid or smiling about ghosts. Death can be scary and strange, even for the dead. I just have a...I'm just more used to it than most people." A bit of melancholy touched his smile again before he moved on. "And you are right to be cautious. I made the call to leave that apartment after all. Ghosts can be dangerous. If we hadn't left I'm pretty sure the artist would have hurt us. The important thing is try to understand them." He hoped he wasn't setting Morgan back in the progress she had made in overcoming her fear of the undead by asking him here. The sad truth was that spirit (even the ones of nice, normal people) could try to attack you.

"Thanks," was all he said but the Darkling did smile more broadly at Morgan's compliment. Strange though that the sorrow that had crept in before didn't go away.

Daniel finished off his slice of pizza as Morgan explained difference between spirits and ghosts. It sounded right. At least for the ghost part. He had no idea about the spirit side. At least as far as Morgan made the distinction.

"Sounds about right," he commented "Let's see, what else. Ghosts are normally invisible and intangible but that's not always the case. Some can appeare while remaining untouchable. Other's are actually manifest physically in our world. My contract can actually grant people the ability to see spirits. It can also force a ghost to manifest. That's a bit different than normal though. It... basically makes the ghost mortal again. It grants them a body and helps restore their mind somewhat."

  Manifestation 2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-06-28 12:00:56		Daniel Leto rolls 5 to Int+Occult+Specialty (10 Again)		4, 1, 6, 10, 9, 6		2 successes

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan was relieved that she hadn't gone and offended the Darkling. Daniel took the treatment of ghosts seriously it seemed, as people not as things to destroy. He sounded significantly more competent about it then she felt she was doing muddling around with voodoo and wiccan books. "Sssseeem valid concern. G-ghost be broken people-piece ye said. Heh-have s-same worries when I chit-chat up heh-homeless for rumors. Broken lash out when confused."

Of course, her flight-or-flight-really-fast instinct tended to help avoid the violent outbursts from the transients. One advantage of having a semi-feral mind.

She nodded her head along as she listened. At the invisible part she got a brief image of men with strange backpacks in brown jumpsuits for some reason. "A-and tis easier for ye to heh-help them when they sane, yes? Hmm..." She didn't recall anything in the books about the corporeal state of spirits. Then again, what was the corporeal form of the fire or the wind? "Imma b-beginning to see heh why the normans' books arr confusing on ghost-n-spirit. Probably tis-is hard to tell the difference if ye are not an expert when they both invisible." she shrugged whilst giving a shake of her head, "Heh, e-even the sssection on possession nada-not agree if dead person oro-or evil spirits be controlling f-folks. Not-mention one very-stupid book say possess-is-good-thing," she snorted and shook her head in disgust.

Personally, the raccoon would be like anything of a possessive nature to consider her head to have a no vacancy sign. She finished off her a slice of pizza, quickly chasing it down with a beer. She had to thump her chest once to help. After that she blinked and thought of something, casting a curious look to Daniel, "Are there any object-tools that heh-help with the ghosts? L-like crosses? Garlic? Certain herbs? Happy songs?"

[Daniel Leto]

"A lot," Daniel replied

"Alot a lot," he clarified. It had annoyed him at first actually, trying to distill what he thought had to be the 'right' ritual or object. There had been too many differing stories though. Too many credible stories that had used completely different methods and means. It had taken Daniel a while to see the pattern. Something his talk with Ava had helped with.

"There are ton of rituals out there and from what I've read, they all seem to work. It doesn't seem to matter which ritual your doing, so much on how you do it. You still need to do a 'real' ritual and do it as perform it accurately to the best of your knowledge. However, what seem equally as important is that you believe in what you're doing. Having faith not only in that it will work but that what you're doing is right. Does that make sense?" he asked to make sure the Beast understood.

"Then, speaking of belief, you have sacred items. Things that have become imbued with faith over time. These can be almost anything as well. Islamic Qu'rans, Buddhist prayer beads, bones of saints, swords of crusaders, anything that people have really really invested belief into. What ever they are, things like that are able to harm ghosts, even the ones you couldn't normally touch. Like, hurt them to the point that they can be destroyed without getting rid of what is anchoring them here." Daniel didn't sound like he entirely approve of that. He had to admit though, he could see having to use such a thing under extreme circumstances.

"I've started keeping on eye on sites like ebay for stuff like that and it comes up more than you'd think. Not the really powerful stuff. Those tend to be old and important in a historical sense. But if you're interested I could send you a list of some promising items. Also, I haven't asked Marcus but it might also be possible to Hedgespin 'faith' into an item." Daniel shrugged a little in a way that emphasized 'maybe'. He wasn't an expert on Hedgespun but who knew.

  Abjuration and exorcism 2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-06-30 17:43:45		Daniel Leto rolls 5 to Ghost story Int+Occult+Specialty (10 Again)		5, 4, 8, 8, 4		2 successes

  Should forget to roll all my dice at once more often 5 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-06-30 17:50:13		Daniel Leto rolls 4 to and the rest of the dice Int+Occult+Specialty (10 Again)		6, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, 2, 2		5 successes
2015-06-30 17:49:25		Daniel Leto rolls 1 to Blessed items? Int+Occult+Specialty (10 Again)		4		failure

[Morgan Bellanar]

That was startling. Aparently faith was very important, maybe the important part, in excorcisms. It made sense at least though it was difficult to phrase. She did recall something about that. She had a contemplative look on her face as she hummed.

  Oh, that line

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-07-01 13:06:56		Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to remember		2, 9, 1, 4, 5		1 success

After a moment she blinked and grinned. She knew a phrase that would go well. She nodded her head once before speaking: "Uh...I t-think so. Comprehension s-s-s-achieved. Tis l-like: 'there is no try, only do.' If ye don't be-believe it ye fail...recall goblin-thing sssaid that I think." In her defense, the Jedi puppet was green and short.

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-07-01 13:08:33		Morgan Bellanar rolls 4 to Occult + Int -obscure		8, 1, 1, 6		1 success

"Tis vary-different from ssspirit rituals. T-tend to be bribery I fffound, for most part, to g-g-get non-ghosts to go-away oro-or do stuff...Ano-and a few on repulsions too, I think." she shrugged. It seems ghosts were easier to repel then spirits. "T-think twas sssomething about a block-or-kryptonite t-thing that can be used against sssome of them. Heh, ssseems ghosts be-be less compli-mah-cated then the things Imma try study," she tilted her head then let out a defeated sigh.

Morgan let out a "huh" when Daniel mentioned searching e-bay for sacred items. Objects filled with faith from being owned by believers could repel ghosts. She got a very interested look on his back until the disapproving tone came into Daniel's voice, which made her flinch. This made her next question come out timidly: "Um, Imma g-guessing this. Izzz it possible that faith-items, lack-better-word, may heh-have different level of power? L-like new rosary blessed-ed-ed by pope ain't as potent as old one p-passed down through hundreds of religious folks? J-just thinking, meh-beh weaker ones could-d be used to defend against violent-outbursts wid-out destroying ghost." If the power level held true it did make sense. If you used a crowbar you could tear down a building eventually but a wrecking ball was faster.

When Daniel talked on Hedgespun, the raccoon seemed to get lost in thought. She mumbled to herself, Daniel might be able to make out the word "name" a few times. Then she bounced in her seat, eyes alight as she snapped her claws on her right hand, "Oh-heh Padre-Lucas dood! Uh, heh-heh, the k-king of Summer. Heh-he is a priest, at-least-I-think, ssso he prob-probably knows, uh, stuff about faith-things?" she tilted her head in confusion. It could be she didn't know how to phrase her thoughts or had lost them. Either way, she sounded confused as she muddled onwards: "Erm, words-hard, I-I means ye c-could see if-if he knows if hedgespun can ssstore belief l-like religious items do. Meh-beh he d-does it himself, b-b-but priest ssso could offend if-if phrase it wrong insult-religion, heh-heh." The nervous grin as she sucked in her breath indicated she was worried about that. "Um, ano-and I d-don't recall wh-heh-ere his church tis...Sera-something t-think was name."

[Parable]

"Yoda," he supplied. The saying fit well enough and it helped Morgan understand then that was fine with Daniel.

He listened attentively but didn't interject on the matter of spirits. Ghost were more than complicated enough for. He didn't plan on bribing inhuman spirits anytime soon.

He nodded at Morgan's comment on sacred object. "You're right, there can be a lot of difference in power level from item to item. The more powerful ones tend to be very old and have a lot of history attached to them. However, and here's the tricky part, I haven't found any way to actually tell how 'holy' something is. Not without using it against a ghost to begin with. And I'd... rather not go around hurt ghosts. Not just to test things." Of course if an object you had was untested you had better be sure to have a back up plan.

"I've only seen Brother Lucas once before and didn't really get a chance to talk with but he might be worth talking to. I di know Marcus does Hedge spinning and makes weapons." Again he made noncommital shrug.

He grabbed and started another slice while he thought for a few seconds. He felt like there was something else he should tell her about talking with ghosts but it wasn't coming to mind.

"Can't think of anything else to add," he admitted "was there any other questions you had?"

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan blinked as Daniel provided a name, a look of utter surprise on her face, "Oh! Ye know de gob-goblin-Yoda? Heh, mmmust ah met it once around heh-here then I guess, no-remember-really-where." She listened attentively to the rest of his words, wolfing down another slice of pizza as she did so

Any other questions? She could think of one that was worth asking. "Uh, other then-then when they are aggressive, tis there a way to tell if ghost-t-t tis er-haunting somewhere? " She pointed at the occult books she had on the table, "T-those mention-speak rituals to commune b-but detection heh not ssso much on heh-how...Only I g-get for me tis if they throwing stuff at ye." she let out a little chuckle and tried to put on a friendly grin, like she was joking about it. Truthfully, she was serious.

[Parable]

"Well, I haven't actually met him. He's a character in the Star Wars movies. Unless... did you actually run across a goblin that said that to you?" For some reason the idea of a hob going around the Hedge dispensing cliche movie wisdom was more than a little unsettling.

"As for detection, the only tried and true method I've found is having a Contract with the Shades and Spirits. The first clause let's you see and hear even ghosts that are unmanifested. It's limited range. You have to basically be in the same room as the spirit. And it's possible for them to hide so it can still take some searching. I can help you learn it," he offered "If you're interested." Talking about spirits and talking to spirits may have been more than Morgan barginned for when she invited Daniel over.