Greetings from Father Arden

[Father Arden]

Guess I should have introduced myself before popping right in, but I'll be keeping most of the personal details private...

My full name is Arden Ghostwood, and I was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1939 (which tells ya just how old a man I am)...as a kid I was befriended by a spirit haunting the local cemetery and that piqued my interest int he supernatural...at the time, there were no real outlets for that area of research...except for one...

So, even though I did not act the part much, I managed to become a priest (mostly through the help of my uncle, who was a bishop)...my research soon came tot he notice of the Apostolic Penitentiary who made me a member of the Mysterium Iniquitatis (which was a group in the Vatican that traveled the world studying and fighting the paranormal)...this was in 1967...

The Mysterium Iniquitatis trained me as a priest, and as a parapsychologist, medical doctor and psychiatrist...it was a very interesting time in my life...

Eventually my travels brought me back to Canada...in April 1995 I got embroiled in a plot to awaken a cosmic being of catastrophic power, and was immediatley recruited into the RCX, a brach of the RCMP that investigates paranormal crimes...I still retained membership in the Mysterium Iniquitatis as well...

That May I ended up back in RavenRoost, Ontario, which as I have said elsewhere on this board, is a vortex of supernatural energy, that seems to draw monsters, psychis, arcanists and similar things and people to itself...

I worked there with a talented group of individuals (some of them also on this board) who founded an investigation agency to study the supernatural...things were tough, and oftens cary, but we were a tight-knit group...

At least until the vampires infected the cows at the local farm, puttig a vampiric agent in the milk...this agent ended up Turning a great majority of the townsfolk into leeches, any my team and I (and the RCX) had to put them down...this included some of those who had, until this time,actually been members of our team...this was in 1997...

My team--those that survived--were then also recruited into the RCX, and for the next few years we were splt up, being sent about the globe to research and fight the creatures of the night (and the day)...

Now, some mega-corporation has rebuilt RavenRoost, and I've been sent back as part of the local RCMP detachment...things here are as weird as ever...

[Lightning Plant]

Vampiric cows... I always thought that vampirism only affected humans.

[Kolya]

A new breed of chupacabra in N. America...
And apparently the smiling check out lady at Walmart is a demon...

Well, sounds heavy. Stay safe.

[Father Arden]

A new breed of chupacabra in N. America...
And apparently the smiling check out lady at Walmart is a demon...

Well, sounds heavy. Stay safe.

Walmart...luckily RavenRoost has been spared that evil so far...

Father Arden

[Father Arden]

Vampiric cows... I always thought that vampirism only affected humans.

Not the strain that's running rampant up here...to date I've seen a few different animals infected with vampirism: cows (and a bull), squirrels, dogs...

Hell, we've even run into a werewolf that had been infected with vampirism...of course, he had been Turned by an Ancient, so that may have something to do with it...unfortunately, we had to burn his body before we could study it...

Father Arden

[Ron Caliburn]

Vampiric Werewolf? What do you do with that, shoot it with silver bullets, stake it and then decapiate it?

[Father Arden]

Vampiric Werewolf? What do you do with that, shoot it with silver bullets, stake it and then decapiate it?

Yes...

If we had known about its existence in adance, we likely would have made wooden stakes with silver bands...

We've never seen it show up again, so I'm hoping we killed it...

Didn't have a chance to do my concrete trick with his remains...

Father Arden

[Ron Caliburn]

Ya know, if I didn't have to worry about the police I might actually take the time to do your concrete trip.

[Joseph Darkhold]

It's definitly a good idea, and I've got most of the tools that I need to do it. (Dead body...Check, Kiln for cremation...Check, Cement...Check, Holy Water...I think I'll need to kidnap a priest for that part!)

[Father Arden]

So, even though I did not act the part much, I managed to become a priest (mostly through the help of my uncle, who was a bishop)...

Perhaps I should clear up a misconception people may be having about me...

When you picture me, a priest, in your mind, what do you see?

I'm no namby-pampy, like those wussy priests in John Carpenter's Vampires...I'm overe 6', 180 lbs and cans till bench press almost 200 lbs (even though I am now well into my 60s)...I may carry a bible, but I also carry a baseball bat (called Confession-getter) and a shotgun (called Hellsender), neither of which I am afraid of using...

Don't think that just because I promote study of the paranormal that I'm not above shoving stakes through the heart of evil...

Too many monsters have made that same mistake, to their own ill end...

Father Arden (up early and nursing a wound from a tectonic entity)

[Father Arden]

Holy Water...I think I'll need to kidnap a priest for that part!)

I know you're making a joke, but for those that don't know, most Catholic churches have repositories of holy water sitting by the front door so that those entering may be cleansed (hydrokometes)...if you don't know a priest, just slip in quickly with a canteen...

Father Arden

[Ron Caliburn]

Been a while since we heard from you Father. I hope you haven't joint the ranks fo the lost.

[Kolya]

The Raven Roost and RCMP crew has been silent for some time.

I think Arden was with that doctor trying to cure her friend of werewolfism.

Just as important as where are they is where is that werewolf?

[Ron Caliburn]

I often wonder if the silence is related to that.

But then I would have to say an I told you so.

[Kolya]

Yea, I am pretty certain that is the case. That thing got free and wasted the whole team.

You cannot fix stupid... and evil.

[Ron Caliburn]

And folks wonder why I go on about Celeste or Bearshaman.

This werewolf of theirs was allegedly a friend and tame.

[Kolya]

Well, I always got the feeling the doctor was being too much optimistic about how tame that thing was and/or unwilling to accept how untame that thing was.

But, of course, you have a point.

[Ron Caliburn]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

If I ever end up like that, put me out of my misery rather than risk me accidently hurting one of y'all.

[Kolya]

Noted.

[Ron Caliburn]

Thanks.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

We should really be working on curing this shit in advance so we're not forced to put good people down. Medical Science has conquered a lot of diseases and conditions, I can't fathom that a cure for lycanthropy or vampirism isn't possible. Of course the problem would be testing it, so the entire exercise is moot, but I think I've made my point. Unless this entire post has been pointless.

Have I mentioned my general lack of sleep lately driving around trying to keep up with Death and Dele Dipshit and the heart-rippers?

[Dele Morte]

We should really be working on curing this shit in advance so we're not forced to put good people down. Medical Science has conquered a lot of diseases and conditions, I can't fathom that a cure for lycanthropy or vampirism isn't possible. Of course the problem would be testing it, so the entire exercise is moot, but I think I've made my point. Unless this entire post has been pointless.

Have I mentioned my general lack of sleep lately driving around trying to keep up with Death and Dele Dipshit and the heart-rippers?

The only cure for lycanthropy other than a silver bullet between the eys is a risky and difficult proceedure. I have studied the nature of many supernatural predators and their ilk for centuries, so I know this works, but it did so only twice out of the three times Ive witnessed it done.

On the night of the initiates transformation in a lupine during their first full moon, kill them, stop their heart from beating for one minute, then revive them.

The lycanthropy is slain, but the victim lives, if you are successful, and providing you have the means to revive them after that long a period of clinical death.

Vampires may only be cured within 24 hours provided that you bleed off their blood and flush out their system with Vitamin D laced fresh blood of Type 0 Negative. The proceedure must be done on a church alter, upon a scared shroud while a holy man recites a holy exocrism ritual. I have seen this work several times, but twice the victim died within a week, and once the victim turned, but only to become a feral undead creature known as a Mortoii.

Again, I have witnessed these miracles by some of the greatest heals and physician of my time and those centuries that have past.

There use is up to you to decide if they work or not. I am beyond death already, so this knowledge may prove useful to those of you not yet cleansed of death's disease.

[KonThaak]

There is, in theory, at least one more way to treat vampirism... Due to research seen in another thread, it's quite probable that reshaping and cleansing the dark energies within a vampire will replace the lost soul; gene therapy will reverse the more physical aspects; and strong levels of healing energies will reverse the effects of being "beyond death". Problem is, these things would all have to be performed at the same time, and they all tend to take different lengths of time to do it.

Besides, you've proven yourself to be untrustworthy. How can we believe anything you tell us?

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Are we sure that something happens to the soul when Turned? Could it just be corruption?

[Ron Caliburn]

As far as I understand it, in the case of vampires, the victim is dead and their soul is gone.

All that is left is a husk inhabited by a parasitic essence that hungers to devour and corrupt.

No need to mourn the walking corpse, just stop it from walking anymore.

[Bearshaman]

Just to throw in my two cents, some lycanthropes are born as lycanthropes, to my family its a genetic trait, not a disease or curse to be cured. As for those who are infected, you can cure them, one of the cures is something that I have a bad reaction to as well as an infected lycanthrope, Wolvesbane. Yes its a toxin, but a potion, brewed from Wolvesbane, holy water and a few other ingredients can cure a lycanthrope if introduced before the next full moon. That part is absouletly essential, has to be done before next full moon, otherwise, its hasta la vista baby if they can't control the beast and harness the power. At least that is what my grandma taught me when I was a boy.

As for the vampiric cattle, umm, I think everyone missed something on that line that sent chills up my spine. What if the cattle could still produce milk? What if the milk is tainted? Could spread the vampiric plauge very quickly.