Campbell
| Laurence Campbell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Alias | Father Harthratha (seen by Winters) |
| Affiliations | |
| Occupation | Store Manager, cult leader |
| Organisation | Morland Farms, Merritt |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | Male (he/him) |
| Apparent Age | Mid-50s |
| Hair | Greying |
| Eyes | Blue |
Laurence Campbell is the manager of the branch of Morland Farms located at Morningside Plaze in Merritt, north-central Blackmouth. On the surface, he appears to be a dull man, a workaholic and a harsh manager that exploits his employees' need for work to cut corners and control their lives.
Description
Campbell is a well-dressed man settling into his middle-age slump, dark hair already much of the way toward grey, and only the glint of the cold grave-grey eyes peering out from under heavy lids suggesting something more.
Storytelling Hints
Campbell is serious, sharp and always in control. He never blinks, speaks in short, clipped phrases, and smiles in the same way an animal does, all teeth and as a show of threat.
Chronicles
Under a Killing Moon
Campbell appeared in Under a Killing Moon as a force behind several events. He forced Max Hopkins to spy on Winters, allegedly at the behest of the mysterious Berith the Crownless as they were the most easily located of the four, but how he knows about them and what his connection may be is unknown. When Atlas, Jerome and Michael attacked him in Morland Farms, lead there by Fairburn tracking the number on Hopkins' phone and Michael's familiarity with the nightmare scent permeating the place, he demonstrated strange but potent supernatural abilities and forced them to flee.
Some time later, Campbell contacted Jerome to arrange a meeting on more neutral ground to talk things out, suggesting that they had started on the wrong foot but also making pointed comments about Jerome's family. The Wardens met with him in a ruined church in Merritt where Campbell almost apologised for Michael's encounter with the dream-worm and said that he suspected he was being manipulated by someone he thought was an ally - Berith the Crownless, a "silver-tongued witch of a woman" to whom a particular scent clung - burnt herbs and woodsmoke, which the wolves had smelled before around moments of significance. The meeting descended into chaos before much more information could be learned, with a gunshot felling Michael, armed men and claymore mines turning the ruined church to a charnel house. Campbell looked as shocked as the Wardens, fleeing immediately as the first gunshot happened.
A day later, intent on finding out more, Winters hunted down Campbell to talk. He took them through doors that should not exist into a strange, dark otherspace to talk in private, and explained his concern that Berit had caused the meeting in the church to go wrong. He did not know why but did not especially care, only that she be stopped before everything he had built be destroyed. He gave Winters an item of clothing heavy with Berit's scent and wished them good hunting.
Connections
Campbell is associated with some manner of cult with a connection to the Words, which is believed to be the same cult that Mr Black is concerned about. The degree to which he controls the cult is unknown, as an ally of his, a mysterious woman he referred to as Berith the Crownless, appears to be turning the cult against him and using it to her own ends.
Campbell was the employer of Max Hopkins, and forced him to surveil Winters' apartment, allegedly on the request of Berith, and likely caused Hopkins to kill himself in an attempt to cover the trail.
Abilities
Campbell has demonstrated multiple supernatural abilities during the course of Under a Killing Moon, though what manner of being he is and the limits of his abilities are currently unknown. He has demonstrated the following abilities:
- Preternatural Resilience: He was able to shrug off the blows of three uratha in gauru form, including a concerted attempt by Atlas and Jerome to dislocate his limbs.
- Shapeshifting: Opened his mouth all the way to the hinge of his jaw, revealing a maw full of rusted metal and broken-glass teeth capable of biting an gauru hand off at the wrist. Later opened the maw further, stretching it from nose to pelvis, in an effort to bodily consume Atlas.
- Environmental Alteration: Sealed a room so even gauru strength could not break through a simple wooden door and inflicted a bone-crushing emptiness on everyone around him. When talking to Winters, caused doors to open to places other than where they should be able to go.
- Mental Powers: Able to impose his will on others with a look or a word, or inflict supernatural fear so intense that it temporarily blinded Jerome.
- Dream Connection: It is unclear whether the monstrous glass-mawed worm that assaulted Michael's dreams was Campbell himself, or an extension of his will operating without his full direction.