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  Lost Pa es of Tobin's S irit Guide 
  an article for West End Game's Ghostbuster 
  RPG 
  Ghostbusters is ©1989 Columbia Pictures 
  Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. 
  by Jonatha Ariadne Caspian and Kim 
  Mohan 
  From the Desk of Raymond Stanz 
  I couldn't be more excited if we found out that Waiter 
  Peck, that interfering investigator with the CCHFCS, was 
  really a Class IV repeater! New pages from Tobin's Spirit 
  Guide! 
  No, wait: let me back up a minute. You might not have 
  heard that Tobin's is being rereleased by GBI. We found a 
  copy of the original, first edition ... in a basement of a Man-
  hattan tenement on the brink of demolition! The whole 
  story's in the introduction to the GBI edition being 
  published this November by our printing house, West End 
  Games. The important part is that Tobin's is incomplete. 
  Unfortunately, due to the ravages of time and Vermin and 
  carelessness on the part of the book's first owners, not all of 
  the pages were intact--or even legible. We made every ef-
  fort, using the most modem techniques in preservation and 
  recon<;truction, to distill as much of the manuscript as pos-
  sible. And if I do say so myself, we did a very nice job. We 
  even saved some of the pictures! 
  Anyway, when we were finished overseeing the editing 
  and construction of the new edition, I took the time to send 
  out an all points bulletin to our franchises, offering a reward 
  to the Ghostbusters who tracked down any of the missing 
  Pages. 
  My efforts were rewarded. The Van Wyckhouse brothers, 
  who operate the Ghostbusters of Galilee franchise, un-
  covered these entries, tom from the book and used as insula-
  tion in a Pennsylvania farmhousc wall. 
  It is the valiant efforts of such brave researchers that will 
  eventually uncover the whole text of Tobin's. Until such 
  time, I must be content tc proudly present Lost Pages from 
  Tobin's Spirit Guide. Happy 'BustIng! 
  28 
  The Spirit Sword 
  From some of the earliest scholars' accounts, the Hunnic 
  race has been looked upon with dread and loathing. They 
  were recorded as fiendish magicians, devilspawn, even com-
  panions of the Apocalypse! The Romans and Germanic 
  peoples upon whom they descended held them in mortal ter-
  ror. 
  It is true that the Christian writers were much prejudiced 
  against their barbarian invaders, and often ascribed to them 
  fantastical or absurd practices, but the constant mention of 
  magic and spirits in association with the Huns piqued my 
  curiosity. I resolved to conduct my own research into the 
  paranormal tales record~d about the Huns. I was rewarded 
  with the di<;covery of the Spirit Swords of the Huns. 
  The Huns who desolated eastern Europe in the 440s and 
  450s were a barbaric people who worshiped many natural 
  spirits and gods. They never washed their tunics, so as not 
  to anger the water spirits. They believed in the rage of fire 
  gods and the thunder of the swift gallop above all things. 
  Most importantly, their battle implements were possessed of 
  spirits that needed blood to be appeased. 
  Spirit Sword _____________ _ 
  bloodthirsty blade 
  The sword can use its poltergeist ability to 
  fling itself at a victim, and has great accu-
  racy of aim. If it has no master, it may seek 
  to graze the victim, so that it can "taste" his 
  blood. Ifit has an owner already, it usually 
  aims to kill. 
  Though swords account for the largest 
  percentage of possessed weapons in re-
  searched accounts, it is possible that these 
  vicious spirits also possess other implements 
  as well. If a blade seems to move of its own 
  account, or its handlers, though normally 
  cautious, become nick-prone in its presence, 
  then a victim had better take care. Most 
  possessed blades owe allegiance to their 
  masters-but who's to say if the victim is the 
  worthy soul? 
  Power 
  5 
  Ecto-
  presence 11 
  Poltergeist 
  Possess 
  Goal: Bloodletting 
  Tags: Ectoplasmic, mindless; in weapon 
  form, tapping, jiggling impatience 
  
  Attila the Hun, whom some call the god-king and the 
  greatest conqueror of the tribe, had such a possessed sword. 
  According to legend, his slave noticed one of the king's 
  oxen was limping. When the servant checked the hoof, he 
  discovered a cut as from a blade. Apparently familiar with 
  the ways of Spirit Swords (else why would he wldertake so 
  arduous a task?) , the servant searched the whole pasture for 
  the weapon. As he ranged the grasses of the far edge, a great 
  bronze sword, its hilt inlaid with gold and precious stones, 
  flew up from the ground and wounded him on the forearm. 
  He knew it was the weapon destined for his master. 
  Indeed, the sword did not rest lightly in his hand, but 
  quivered and pulled toward each man the servant en-
  countered on his way to the king. When the hleeding ser-
  vant Tellched Attila's audience, the possessed sword is said 
  to have flung itself across the room, burying its point in the 
  wood of the wall after grazing the king's cheek. Blood 
  welled up in the scratch. 
  It is the king's reaction to this outrageous shmt that most 
  convinces me that Spirit Swords were a well-known 
  phenomenon among the Huns, for what rational king would 
  not have his servant put to death after so iniquitous a deed, 
  if he did not have cause to think It was not the servant's 
  fault? The great Hun demanded no explanations. He simply 
  strode backward and grasped the hilt of the weapon. "This 
  sword," Attila said, "Promises to make me emperor of the 
  world." Hunnic Spirit Swords are blood-thirsty and cmel. 
  They desire to he wielded, and lie in wait for the ap-
  propriately forceful man to come upon them. It is said that 
  they determine the worthiness of their victim hy tasting his 
  blood: thus when the mighty Attila was huried, his fol-
  lowers all slashed small wounds on their cheeks, that the 
  sword might claim his successor. The sword seems to have 
  been lmhappy with its field of choice, for it disappeared. 
  Offengufen 
  The German people are well known for their aggressive-
  ness and industriousness--not necessarily because they have 
  more of these qualities than folk of other nations, but be-
  cause they display them so forthrightly and forcefully. 
  Where an Englishman demonstrates his energy and drive by 
  simply performing the task at hand and letting the result 
  speak for itself, a Prussian is liable to preface the doing of 
  the work with an armouneement: "I am a hard vorker, und 
  now I vill proof it." By saving this, I do not mean to alienate 
  any readers who may be of Germanic descent. I mention 
  this difference only as a point of information and explana-
  tion as to why the spirit known as Offengufen chose Ger-
  many as the place where it made its first earthly appearan-
  ces. The spirit seems determined to teach such arrogance a 
  lesson. 
  Otto Von Muenchvuden, an enthusiastic researcher from 
  Brandenburg, recorded this fragment about Offengufen in 
  his dairy: "September 5th--Was called to Luckenwalde to in-
  vcstigatc a curious case of cnnui. Upon arrival found the vic-
  tim, a military man of middle age, stretched out across a 
  chaise lounge. Wife said he had been in that posture a week, 
  only rising to procure bread and cheese and ale. He extolled 
  the virtues of inactivity, hut in a desultory fashion, often 
  lapsing into slumber. "She had called the doctor and when 
  that good man could fInd no ailment or disease, called me." 
  Offengufen __________________________ ___ 
  easy does it 
  The spirit's control mind ability is very 
  specific, making the victim think that all he 
  or she wants to do is take it easy. The feeling 
  might pass quickly, but usually it lingers 
  even after Offengufen goes elsewhere-
  because once a person starts goofin' off, it's 
  awfully hard to stop. 
  Brains 
  7 
  Cool 
  12 
  Power 
  6 
  Ecto-
  presence 10 
  Efficiency 
  Persuasiveness 
  Control Mind 
  Flight 
  Proton Immunity 
  Goal: Spread Laziness 
  10 
  15 
  Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; overwhelm-
  ing lassitude 
  "September l2th--Stayed with the Vall Hest family for a 
  week. , but was stymied in my investigation by lack of hard 
  cvidencc of posscssion. In fact, harder I workcd, more Herr 
  von Hest apostrophized his pleasant state. Have rehlmed to 
  my own estate to check among my library for similar inci-
  dents. But I find the day is much too beautiful to spend in-
  doors. The Asters are hlooming, and the air is crisp and 
  laden with the scent of apples. I shall begin my research 
  later." 
  Von Muenchvuden never completed his investigation into 
  the spirit-- in fact, his research after this point became quite 
  infrequent, scattered, and superficial. 
  Offengufen is interesting, because it is a contradiction unto 
  itself. It has affected countless people through the ages, es-
  tablishillg itself as olle of the busiest and most energetic 
  spirits we know. Yet at the same time, the effect of the spirit 
  on its victims is entirely in opposition to the vigor and ubi-
  quity of the sigbtings. To put it as succinctly as possible, Of-
  fengufen makes peoplc lazy. The spirit may infect its 
  victim's mind at any time--when he is about to start some 
  job, when he is already hard at work, or when he is relaxing 
  after a job well done and before beginning some new task. It 
  does not limit itself to people engaged at physical labor: it 
  may attack folk enjoying entirely sedentary tasks, such as 
  knitting, reading, or writing. 
  Badajoz 
  Primitive peoples often practiced bizarre or disgusting 
  rituals grounded in superstition; just as frequently their hor-
  rors came not from deliberate intent but from practical 
  necessity. A researcher must be careful not to project his 
  own inhibitions upon his subject, especially when dealing 
  with matters of the occult. 
  Such is true of the Iberian rites of the dead. At least half of 
  these ancient Spaniards were cremated after death, and the 
  reason seems not to be delight in the ghoulish practice, but 
  the sanitary considerations of a hot climate and poor soil 
  conditions. Proper observation of the ritual included the 
  29 
  
  Badajoz _______________ _ 
  funerary nitpicker 
  This spirit is a strict observer of burial 
  rites, to the point of burying the victim with 
  its own peculiar version of slime. But usu-
  ally, the offender receives warning of the 
  spirit's unhappiness. If he finds the smell of 
  burnt wood in the air, or a film of cinders in 
  his house, it may not be simply effluvia from 
  the factory next door-and he had better 
  check on the grave of old Aunt Bea, for next 
  time, he might not earn so gentle a reminder. 
  Brains 
  5 
  Cool 
  3 
  Power 
  5 
  Ecto-
  presence 4* 
  ~:va riable 
  Ritual 
  Implacable 
  Goal: Proper Observance of Burial Rites 
  Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; whiff of 
  smoke, dusting of ash 
  8 
  6 
  ashes resulting from the pyre being carefully scooped up 
  and hurled in small funerary jars. In this way, each of the 
  dead was treated with dignity. 
  Badajoz was the spirit who watched over Iberian funerals. 
  Sometimes the shade was seen as a spiral of smoke hanging 
  over the stone cold pyre. Ancient writings tell us that this 
  was a signal to commence the jarring of the ashes. More 
  ominously, if the spirit felt the dead were slighted, it visited 
  the responsible party's home as a breath of hot air or the 
  odor of burning flesh. Now the victim had better see to the 
  jarring and internment of the ashes post-haste, because the 
  second warning of Badajoz's displeasure was a coating of 
  ash over the whole contents of the victim's house. 
  Occasionally, even these warnings were not enough, and 
  the spirit let loose its direct punishment; it filled every room 
  of the victim's house with ash, rendering the dwelling use-
  less. Several sites mentioned by ancient authors as examples 
  of this outcome have been found, and when excavated, 
  produced remarkable evidence of the spirit's work. 
  Ashes fIll the rooms to a level with the ceiling beams, and 
  we can fmd amphoras of wine and grain, and common 
  household goods, at the depths of the ash. Obviously the vic-
  tims had little warning of the inundation, for while they es-
  caped themselves, they left behind all of their possesions! 
  The former occupants of such a house usually failed to re-
  occupy their dwellings, perhaps believing that such an ac-
  tion would simply anger Badajoz further, but rarely is more 
  than one ash-drowned household in a community dis-
  covered, so that we may believe the victim learned his les-
  son, and Badajoz did not have to make a fourth reminder. In 
  light of the excavating underway in that area ofltalY includ-
  ing Pompeii and Herculaneum, I would like to suggest that 
  Badajoz did not confme its influence strictly to the Iberian 
  peninsula. It is known that the Iberians were subjugated by 
  thG Roman Empire. I submit that Badajoz was upset by the 
  Roman practice of burning their dead. Its wrath was such 
  30 
  that it could induce the long extinct volcano, Vesuvius, to 
  belch forth a huge quantity of steam and volcanic ash--and 
  by inundating whole towns, make its displeasure felt even to 
  the heart of Rome. 
  Mouldenkurdl 
  I have the utmost respect for chemists and biologists, who 
  have greatly improved our standard of living by discovering 
  facts about the natural world. I say as much to anyone who 
  listens. And in the next breath I tcll thcm that a scientific 
  truth is not necessarily universal--that there are forces at 
  work in our world that defy logical explanation, even 
  though the effects of their presence may be similar to some 
  processes or phenomenon that also occur in nature. 
  With the advent of the relatively new science called bac-
  teriology, scientists now can prove the existence of forms of 
  life far too small to be seen by the naked eye. And they can 
  say with certainty that these tiny, tiny creatures are respon-
  sible for many of the ills of our world. These miniscule 
  pests cause organs to become diseased, food to spoil, and 
  wounds to become infected. I believe the researchers' 
  claims because I trust their methods and do not doubt their 
  honesty. Sadly, most of them do not reciprocate in the way 
  they view my field of endeavor. When a bacteriologist ex-
  amines a case of spoilage or contamination that cannot be 
  explained on the basis of what he knows, he says that the 
  amwer has yet to be discovered and he turns back to crouch-
  ing over his microscope. When I examine the same case, I 
  have the answer already-- hecause I believe in the existence 
  of the spirit known as Mouldenkurdl. 
  The name I gave this entity is a very loose translation of 
  the appellation used by villagers of Poland. The original 
  name has so many consonants set down in such a hideous se-
  quence that I imagine only a Polish tongue would be 
  capable of rendering the proper sounds. 
  It is from this country that the most vivid and well-docu-
  mented tales concerning Mouldenkurdl and its insidious ac-
  tivities come. The spirit makes its way in our world by as-
  sUlning the fonn of one of the lower species-- some insect 
  or animal that goes unnoticed by people arOlmd it, either by 
  virtue of its small size or hecause creatures of the same sort 
  are in great abundance. In Poland, the most frequently occur-
  ring form was the lowly toad; the least aggressive, most in-
  nocuous of animals. The story I relate is a typical tale, dis-
  tilled from many accounts that differ from one another only 
  in small details. 
  A Hrubieszow fanner was quite happy with his dairy cattle 
  until one of his best producers suddenly dried up. Thinking 
  that the animal had taken ill. he doubled her feed and took 
  especially good care of her. But after a week, he became 
  concerned lest she infect the herd, and sold her to the 
  slaughterhouse. 
  The next day he was distressed to discover that two of his 
  cows were giving milk that was sour by the time it hit the 
  pail. They too Went to the hutcher. 
  The fanner stopped at a tavern to drown his sorrows and 
  tell his tale of woe. and he was overheard by a traveler pass-
  ing through the area. 
  The traveler told the farmer that he had heard of this sort 
  of thing in his travels. and the solution to the problem was 
  
  simple; watch carefully as the cows are led into the barn, 
  and kill whichever is the last animal to pass through the 
  doors. 
  That afternoon, the farmer sat by the doorway, sledgeham-
  mer in hand He singled out the cow that straggled behind 
  all the rest, and killed her with a single blow. Just as he 
  closed the doors, a toad hopped across the threshold, but he 
  gave it not a second thought, intent as he was on the 
  removal of the cursed cow's body from his paddock. But at 
  the next milf...ing, he had trouble with yet two more of his 
  herd: one was dry and the other gave milk so putrid he 
  could not bear to smell it. He nlshed back into the village, 
  sought out the traveler, and threatened to throttle the man 
  for giving him bad advice. 
  The traveler asked him to relate his story exactly, leaving 
  out nothing. When the famler got to the part about the toad, 
  the other man chided him for notfollowing his instructions 
  and sent him home. Now the farmer knew what to do. Next 
  day, he kept a lookout for the toad and, with one triumphant 
  lunge, impaled the creature on his pitchfork. 
  From that day forward, every one of his cows gave noth-
  ing butfresh, sweet milk. 
  COlmnunication in bygone days, particularly in the rela-
  tively backward cOlmtries of eastern Europe, was not nearly 
  as efficient nor as sophisticated as we know it to be today. 
  As such, it took a long time for the word to get around about 
  Mouldenkurdl and the spirit's toad disguise was effective 
  time after time after time. (Of course, the spirit itself could 
  not he killed hy something so primitive a<; a pitchfork or the 
  heel of a boot. Mouldenkurdl simply returned to the ether, 
  moved to assumed a new physical form.) 
  Today we have every reason to suspect that Mouldenkurdl 
  has made its way westward. Nowadays Mouldenkurdl 
  enters a home or a shop in the form of a termite, centipede, 
  or other creature of similarly small size. As any householder 
  ~ouldenkurdl ________________________ ___ 
  rotten to the core 
  Mouldenkurdl uses its materialize to 
  manifest as any of a variety of pests (what-
  ever gets the job done). Its talent of find 
  openings enables it to get in the smallest 
  crack or hole, and expensive tastes means 
  that it goes after the ritziest food it can 
  find-brie over cheddar, sweet cream over 
  nonfat milk. The one dairy product it never 
  messes with is limburger cheese, because the 
  stuff smells pretty rotten already. 
  Brains 
  4 
  Cool 
  3 
  Power 
  4 
  Ecto-
  presence 6 
  Find Openings 
  Expensive Tastes 
  Flight 
  Materialize 
  Murphy (L) 
  Goal: Spoil Dairy Products 
  7 
  6 
  Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; sour smell, 
  fuzzy growth 
  or merchant can attest, no structure can be built so soundly 
  that pests of these sorts cannot fmd a way in, and no amount 
  of swatting or stomping can guarantee that every one of 
  them has been found and killed. 
  Rather than spoil milk at the source, Mouldenkurdl creeps 
  into an icebox in a store or a home, crawls up the side of a 
  bottle, and turns the fresh milk into a quart of repulsi ve-
  looking, terrible-smelling liquid that an unknowing observer 
  would swear had been left out in the sun for three days. If it 
  fmds a piece of cheese, what it leaves behind will be either 
  a hardened block of brownish curd or a rotten, crumbling 
  slab, barely recognizable as what it used to be because it is 
  covered with a layer of nau.<;eating, greenish mould. (The 
  hacteriologists tell us that if cheese or bread develops 
  mould, we can still eat the untainted part after simply scrap-
  ing off or tearing away the inedible portion. I, for one, hope 
  never to he that hungry.) 
  A mere two months ago, Shrewsbury and I were flattered 
  to be invited to attend a banquet as guests of honor. We set 
  out from our offices in Middlesex in midafternoon on the 
  day of the event, intending to enjoy a leisurely journey to a 
  manor house near the town of Brentwood, on the northeast 
  outskirts of London. 
  When we arrived at the site of the town of Brentwood, we 
  were greeted at the door by the man of the house, who also 
  happened to be the president of the Brentwood League for 
  the Investigation of Genuinely Horrific Things. He was very 
  sorry to report that dinner would be delayed for at least two 
  houts. All of the dairy products in the house, meant to be 
  used as ingrt'Aiiellts in pa<;tries and vegetable dishes, had in-
  explicably gone bad even though they had been bought only 
  that morning. He was forced to send servants to town for 
  more supplies. 
  I smiled, and on the spot decided to change the topic of my 
  address to the assemblage. Instead of what I had planned, I 
  gave them the story of Mouldenkurdl, in much the same 
  form that it is presented here. And I was inundated with a 
  hearty round of applause when, in closing, I observed that it 
  was entirely fitting for this spirit to pay a visit to a group 
  whose initials were B.L.I.G.H.T. 
  31 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Ghostbusters International/misc/Ghostbusters International - White Wolf 18 - Lost Pages of Tobin's Spirit Guide.pdf