Eric's head spun. Pain racked his brain. Slowly but surely his consciousness faded away to a perfect shade of black Something was in his mind and there was nothing he could do to stop its slow and steady attachment to his thoughts. As suddenly as it had started, the pain stopped and Eric was a last a peace, for he was now a slave to the…GATHERERS.

History of the Gatherers - From the speech given by Dr Yonist Gray. Michigan State University, October12th 2005 "Not that much is known about the group of entities calling themselves the Gatherers, and what little we do know has been gleaned from the journals and diaries of Private Investigator Eric Pearce. It seems that during the late 90's Eric was possessed by one of these Gatherers and was little more than passenger in his own body. After these experiences, he was able to record what he could about his experience and the actions and reasoning of this possessor. However, these notes were found after Eric's second disappearance and therefore no one got the chance to ask more in-depth questions.

The Gatherers are a group of ethereal entities who have come to earth from an-other dimension. The reasons why they came here are not known but it is known that they will do anything to return to the dimension of origin. Sometime in the mid 70's a group of Gatherers, as they are now known, found themselves on Earth trapped by our en-tropic sphere (the naturally occurring pull which tries to keep both beings and items in this dimension) unable to continue their journey. Being a resourceful group they decide to split up and explore the place that they now found themselves in. Where they all ended up it unclear, but one of them found Eric Pearce on a stake out in Dallas, quickly discovering that the native inhabitants of this world had no resistance to the bonding ritual which allowed the Gatherers to possess physical bodies. Pearce was possessed rapidly and under the influence of the Gatherer left his family and friends behind to explore the Southern States of America.

Pearce became unable to do anything while his possessor learnt more of its surroundings, but he did during this time discover two interesting facts about this particular Gatherer, if not all the Gatherers here on Earth. The First of these was that The Gatherers would go any length to open a portal to their home world, even if it meant destroying ours first. The second and most important was to come late one night.

As Pearce and his Gatherer drove over the Mississippi Border, they came across a car wreck; the scene was a terrible one, with bodies lying bleeding or dead. The emotion of the crash was such that even Pearce, trapped deep down inside his own brain, was effected by the horror. It was then that grip the Gatherer had on his body weakened and for the first time in many weeks Pearce was again master of his flesh and bone. Somehow this built up emotional scene weakened the bond between the Gatherer and its host and by exhibiting extreme emotion, Pearce discovered that he could control his own actions to the point where his possessor was as trapped and as defenseless as he had been. However as Pearce as soon to discover, maintaining an adequate level of emotional activity was extremely difficult and ostracized him from the mainstream community. Extreme anger, random violence and acts of destruction were possibly his best attacks against the Gatherer, but even these were impossible to maintain.

Twice within one week these violent acts lead him to arrested and placed in county lock-ups where he was sedated and restrained, allowing once again for his parasitic companion to gain control. Other emotions Pearce found were almost impossible to keep up for any amount of time nor at a high enough level, to force the Gatherer into the back of his mind. It was during these moments of clarity that he found out why his body had been hijacked and taken on a road trip across America. The gatherer was collecting electronic and mechanic parts from various different sites around, using both legal and illegal means his possessor had acquired a number of specialized items. From Texas he had picked up half a mile of high voltage cable, from South Caroline he had stolen a specially sized copper dish, and so on. Slowly but surely, Pearce come to the conclusion that the creature in his mind was gathering items that could be used to create some sort of gate to its home dimension.

Unfortunately it was about this time that the journal entries finish. Eric Pearce has not been heard of since, although the owners and workers of the sites he visited verify his story. He is currently wanted in connection with numerous crimes and is suspected of killing at least eight people over the last year. But more importantly we are unsure if this creature or any of its companions created this gate back to their home world. As far as we know, any number of these creatures maybe still searching for a way home, gathering the equipment they deem necessary at the expense of human lives. These Gatherers must be stopped for whom is to say that once this gate is opened and the entities on this side at last go home, that they will not return in time in numbers to taken humans as physical bodies. Our mentally weaker world may well be on the verge of becoming a flesh breeding ground for a race of entities we know nothing about…"

Gatherers by sight

The Gatherers have no natural body, instead they are a free forming opaque entity which can shape change at will and all has the ability to make itself stand out more any time it wishes. To the human observer, this means that the Gatherers look like a cloud of white steam or mist, which is visible in no fixed shape and is able to become brighter at will. This also means that at the other extreme it can lessen its color as to blend quite readily with the background. In other words, a Gatherer is only visible when it wishes to be and can be any place at any time. The down side of this, for the Gatherer, is that without a physical body it is unable to interact with the physical world that humans live in. This is the reason why the Gatherers must take over human bodies. To achieve anything in this world, even the most powerful of mental entities require a physical presence.

This also means that human technology and weapons have no effect on the Gatherers in their natural form, so other means must be found to stop them. Fortunately for the Gatherers, humans have very little resistance to their ability to enter and gain control of physical forms. This allows the Gatherer to use and then dump one human shell after an-other, which leads to very little respect to human life in general.

Once a Gatherer is in possession of a host body, that person exhibits a number of uncharacteristic behaviors:

1. 1. They are listless and are uncomfortable being stuck in one place for more than a short time.
2. 2. They show little or no emotion, with even friends and close family getting no recognition. This lack of emotion extents to affect even causal acquaintances. Everyone who met the possessed person can feel that some-thing is not quite right about him or her.

Other than this, a possessed person looks normal and acts normally in every other way .

Gatherers without Hosts

Gatherers with host

Running the Gatherers

Although they may not seem it, the Gatherers pose a serious threat to man-kind. Much like the movie the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, these creatures can infiltrate our society slowly but surely taking over the institutions that bind the world. Although they may find resistance from other Dark Minions, they will eventually find a way. When playing the Gatherers it is important to remember that, at this time at least, the main aim of these creatures is to gather enough technology and equipment to create a portal to their own home dimension. Once this has been achieved, God only knows what they will try and do.

When interacting with humans in host bodies, the Gatherers show nothing but contempt for humans, and will quite readily kill to get what they want. They see humans as little more than lambs to the slaughter and will use us to their own ends. As for the rest of the information concerning the Gatherers I have intentional left blank. It is up to the individual Referees to say how one kills a Gatherer, what they shall do if the open a portal, and why and how it achieves this goal.

End Note

I have used the Gatherers in one adventure, in which I didn't actually use the physical presence of a Gatherer, rather the ideas and action of one, which forced the players to act. I found they are good catalysts for action and when used correctly they can create confusion and paranoia in the tightest of Minion Hunting Teams.