Okay, after giving it some thought, I think I've come up with a unique form of death for Clarence. The death was caused by a tragic accident, but only through Clarence's eyes. You see, he found himself dying in almost every way possible, witnessing this as an observer. Strangulation, hanging of a rope, stabbing from a stranger, being buried alive, drowning, being burned alive, getting hit by a car, being mauled by a wild creature, the list goes on... How can a normal person die so many times you ask, and witness themselves dying as well each and every time? The answer is a drug that Clarence took, 'stairway to heaven'. The drug took complete control of a person's five senses and sends them into an hallucinatory trance, making them believe that they are dying horrible deaths. What's the appeal to such a drug? It triggers a Dopamine effect in the brain, giving the person the ultimate high that only comes with death. It is also said to be the ultimate painkiller, being able to fix almost any kind of pain...
Months ago, in game, Clarence was going through a bad spurt of depression, not being able to cope with the bullying he was subject to, the false mask of a nice guy that he was forced to wear, and the idea that he was alone in this world with no friends or family to turn to. He wanted to break free from all of this, if only for a moment. Vanessa was with him at the time and was going through a depression of her own. Both agreed to take the drug and see if it would truly make their pain go away. Clarence went first and Vanessa watched. Clarence did not wake up from the experience... What followed aftewards, only Vanessa truly knows. One thing is for sure though, seeing Clarence die like that scared her to the core, made her give up on the idea of drugs and turned towards something else to ease her pain and now guilty conscious. the pleasures of the body.
Mr. Finney caught on to this change of behaviour in Vanessa quickly and took advantage of her broken state. One thing lead to another and Vanessa ended up having to go through an abortion. This was the final piece that made her snap. She couldn't take life anymore and tried to end it, hence her two weeks of hospitalization. It was during the hospitalization that Clarence appeared once more, unaware of the fact that he was actually dead and that the drug killed him. The memory of taking it was blocked out of his memory and all he could remember was Vanessa's dangerous depression. He wanted to help her and so he visited her during the recovery process.
Vanessa was shocked to see him again, considering that the last time she saw him was when she was burying his corpse in secret. Surprise, sorrow, and joy filled her, though the joy was a foreign emotion to her now; she didn't recognize it. Maybe, she imagined it all? That's what she told herself, and that's what Clarence told himself when he recalled the event in a hazy nightmare. Not knowing why he had such a horrific dream in the first place, he quickly forgot about it, like most unpleasant things in life. Vanessa could not forget though, she did not have the luxury of doing so. Clarence's death haunts her to this day, especially considering that he appears quite alive and living like nothing even happened, and seems closer to her more than ever before. This scares her...
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Because of the way that Clarence died, this should hopefully make it easier for him to trigger his Unresolved Trauma ghost move, casting blame on those who he thinks is cause of one of his many hallucinated/simulated deaths. And because this campaign is sure to be filled with death and deathly situations, this trauma of his will kick in a lot. I hope that this will be enough for the MC to work with and have lots of fun in conducting. If you need more to go off of, let me know.
I intentionally left out the reason why Clarence came back as a ghost. I wanted this to be something that he would figure out in-game on his own, something that I as a player would have to figure out as well. Should be an interesting process to be sure. I realize that the ghost skin is a transitional stage in life and death. The ghost remains until he is either able to resolve the problem that is anchoring him to this world or is banished forcibly. If I set up his reason for staying connected to this world, his plotline may converge too quickly towards that end, that resolving of his problem. If it comes down to that, I may have to roll up another skin to keep going.
I do have an idea as to what his anchor is in this world, and it is a very tough problem to sort through, contradictory almost in its nature. In order to be at peace, he must accomplish something, but in doing so, he loses that something he gained in the end. Perhaps one of my character's problems is that he doesn't want to be at peace later on, that he would rather suffer than having gained what he wanted only to have it ripped away from him! I so want to take this route, and yet I don't, I'm so conflicted right now
