Ben Hardmann
Background
This man was formerly a greedy Huckster who travelled North America in search of magical items and ancient scrolls in the hope of improving his knowledge of the occult or even learning newer and more powerful Hexes.
His wanderings led him to the Kiowa Indians who had in their possession a magical flute, it's powers unknown. Ben Hardmann befriended the Indians and their Chief, but in the end his greed got the better of him and he stole the magical flute and made away on his horse. Makes It Rain, the tribes' Shaman saw him flee and, unable to catch him, he flung a powerful curse at the theif.
Ben fell ill from the Shamans' curse and died 2 weeks later out in the North Arizona desert from a flu like virus. A few days later he woke up, Harrowed. "Hmmm", he thought, "interesting". He accepted what had happened and decided to head back to the Indians to pay them back for his death, but first he would figure out the powers held within the magical Flute...
Appearance
Ben Hardmann is originally from Tombstone, having learned most of his hexes from a certain Doc Holliday, who later turfed him out of town after Ben tried to cheat him at cards using Hollidays' own hexes against him.
Ben dresses in blacks or greys with a large battered stetson and owns a rusty pitol. He has dark hair and an "Abraham Lincoln" beard with very pale skin (on account of being both Harrowed and constantly ill with flu) but he claims he is dying of Consumption - this often has people thinking he is actually Doc Holliday with a beard. His horse looks even worse than he does, it died along with him and is now his unholy steed, thin, sickly pale and stinking to high heaven.
Ben is actually a good conversationalist and has a rogue charm about him, his Manitou is rarely in control but Ben Hardmann has his own villainous streak without the need for an evil manitou to guide him. It's not that he's a violent or tempremental individual, he just cares for nobody but himself and is interested solely in uncovering the secrets of the West and using his new powers to inflict harm upon those have crossed him. At the moment he wants nothing more than to utterly destroy the Kiowa Indians for what they did to him.
Quote - "No I'm afraid my knowledge of Dentistry is rather limited, but I do know a few good tunes on my pipe...you mind if I play one?"
Statistics
DEFTNESS 3d6, NIMBLENESS 2d6, QUICKNESS 3d10, STRENGTH 3d6, VIGOR 3d6
Shootin':Pistol 3, Shootin':Rifle 2, Sleight O Hand 4, Filchin 2, Throwin':Knife 1, Fightin':Brawlin' 2, Sneak 3, Ride 5, Climb 2, Teamster 2, Quickdraw 2
COGNITION 4d8, KNOWLEDGE 2d12, MIEN 4d8, SMARTS 3d10, SPIRIT 4d10
Search 3, Scrutinize 2, Trackin' 3, Area:Arizona North 2, Occult 5, Language:Indian Sign 1, Language:Apache 1, Language:Mexican 1, Language:Coyote 1, Medicine:General 2 Persuassion 2, Overawe 2, Performin':Flute 3, Bluff 3, Gamble 3, Survival:Desert 1, Streetwise 2, Guts 4
Edges: Arcane:Huckster, Sense of Direction, Belongings:Magic Flute, Gift O The Gab, The Voice (convincing), Renown (some folks think he's Doc Holliday)
Hindrances: Ailin':Fatal (not to him!) - constant flu like illness, Vengeful, Greedy,
Harrowed Powers: Ghost 1, Hell Beast 4, Sicken 3, Luck O The Draw 2
Hexes:Call O The Wild 7, Heartgrip 3, Missed Me! 3, Corporeal Twist 3, Mind Twist 4, Confound Mechanism 5, Helpin' Hands 3, Many Tongues 5, Three Of A Kind 4, Shadow Man 2, Earshot 2
WIND 16, PACE 6/12, SIZE 6, GRIT 3
Gear:Rusty .44 army pistol + Ammo (Reliability 19), Kiowa Holy Flute, Spencer carbine, Undead Horse, Black, dusty clothes + battered stetson, 2 balanced throwing knives, .44 Derringer up sleeve, Playing cards, Dice, Hankerchieves (for cold), 1 stick of dynamite
Special
PLAGUE - Ben still carries the virus that he died from, it is fatal if contracted, but only Ben himself (or his Hell Beast) can pass it on to other people. Anybody who stays within coughing range of Ben for more than a minute must pass a Vigor(5) check or else they contract Ben's fatal plague! Every day henceforth they must pass a Vigor(5) test with a cumulative +2 TN each day after the first - if failed then the victim's condition deteriorates and they suffer a -1 penalty to all Corporeal dice rolls building up with each failed Vigor test. When the penalty reaches -5 the sufferer passes away...
New Relic
As you may have guessed, the Kiowa Holy Flute is a Relic of some power. And Ben Hardmann has now figured out this power. Details of the Flute are as follows:
History
The Kiowa Indians used this flute to magnify their magical Favours, in particular when they needed it to rain in the arid conditions of Arizona and Colorado. The Flute is played and the Shaman of the tribe, Makes It Rain, would...well, make it rain!
Description
The flute is carved from wood, about a foot long and has ribbons and tassles decorating it. One could tell by looking at it that it was probably crafted by an Indian
Power
The flute has the power to magnify certain Hexes, Miracles, or Favours to make them last longer, have more effect or increase their range. In the case of Ben Hardmann it increases the power
of his Call Of The Wild Hex. He is now able to summon the fearsome Mojave Rattlers as well as the usual mundane creatures. In the hands of others the flute would magnify any spell which was most appropiate to the individual. Makes It Rain was able to magnify his Cloudburst Favour so that it rained for as long and over as wide an area as he desired. It's really up to the Marshal, but to access the flute's power the user must play the instrument and pass a Performin':Flute (5) check before attempting the spell
Taint
If one goes bust when playing the Flute then they anger whichever spirits are granting the Hex/Miracle/Favour. Miracle users lose a level of their Faith apptitude, Hucksters suffer a roll on the Backlash table with a +/-3 modifyer (for the Marshal, not the Huckster!), and Shamans suffer the most - they are struck by lightning from the angered Nature spirits (5d12 damage, wounds applied randomly)
Notes...
I used Ben as the Fearmonger for an adventure based in the Arizona desert. Ben, upon "waking" from his death, travelled to the Mojave Desert and works out the Flutes power, then he realises he can summon up the terrible Mojave rattlers so he decides to lead them to the Kiowa Indians to wreak his revenge. Rather like a twisted Pied Piper. On the way he passes through several towns, slowly and unwittingly killing off the poplulation with his plague as he goes. In effect he becomes isolated from humanity as any friends he makes soon fall foul of his disease and this just makes him more frustrated. If he ever reaches the Kiowa settlement then he might just kill all of the Indians living there, either with his entourage of Rattlers (which he usually commands to stay well away from him) or his deadly Hexes, or in the long term the tribe may just all die from the Plague that their Shaman created in the first place...how ironic.
The Posse can easily get mixed up in this mess, if any of them meet Ben they may contract his Plague and will have to track him down to get the cure, maybe even saving any townsfolk or Indian tribesmen along the way
I ran an adventure along these lines and it worked very well indeed, if anybody wants more details about the story then EMail me for info...