Peter the Poltergeist
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Overview
Born in 1720 as Peter Reid, Peter the Poltergeist grew up in Griffin’s Hollow as a mischievous child. From an early age, he was fascinated with the local graveyard. By the age of 12, Peter had memorised every birth and death date found on the graveyard’s tombstones. As Peter’s obsession with the graveyard grew, his parents, Sorcha and Ewan Reid, became concerned. He began staying in the graveyard until 4 AM and started to practise the Dark Arts while there. To connect better to the spirit world, Peter performed rituals and spells in the graveyard.
While performing a ritual one night, his father grew extremely ill without cause. Due to the Peter’s practise of the Dark Arts, Peter blamed himself for his father’s illness. Nothing could save Ewan, not even the darkest of magic. By the time Ewan passed, both Peter and his mother felt empty and lost. After her husband passed on, Sorcha’s health declined, with Peter blaming himself for her health as well. Eventually, Peter was the only member of his family left.
With no one to turn to, Peter began practising the Dark Arts even more earnestly. Below the graveyard, he built himself a secret lair to hide out in and perform his rituals. Fed up with him, the local townspeople attempted to exile him from Griffin's Hollow.
When Peter left the Earth, he spoke one final message: “Stulti vere creditis hunc finem mei. Fortior, potentior, quam ante revertar. Praepara quod futurum est, nam figmentum creabo quod delabi non potest”. Translating to “You fools really believe this is the end of me. I will be back stronger, more powerful, than before. Prepare for what is to come, for I will create a device that can't be stopped”, this was a warning of what was to come.
After a century passed, in 1901, Peter woke up cold and damp. Unable to shout for help, Peter wandered around until he found an exit leading to the graveyard. Unaware that he was dead, he attempted to go home, where he found his old house was no longer there; In anger at the Reid family, the townspeople burnt their house down in an attempt to remove their presence from the town. Letting out an angry scream, he shattered a nearby window. When trying to pick up a piece of glass to fix the window, he found that his hand had passed right through and realised he was a ghost. Terrified, he pieced together what happened and his memory was restored.
He returned to his old lair, where he found blueprints to a device he worked on before his death. This device would cause chaos across the world by exposing the spirit world to Unmagicals. Thanks to his knowledge of dark magic, Peter could navigate the world as a ghost fairly well. The only thing he could not do was collect certain items needed for his device to work. Instead, he had to trick those who stumbled across his lair into helping him.
Players first encounter Peter the Poltergeist as an NPC in the fifth-year quest, Pet Peeves. Peter had been messing with potioneer Marc Burgess by hiding his Dragon Plague potions around town. The player must then solve Peter’s riddles to find the potions which are scattered around town. Afterwards, Peter tricks the player into retrieving the last ingredient Peter needs for his device. In the following quest, Ghost Busters, the player speaks to Father Jacob inside the church in an attempt to thwart Peter’s plan. After reversing the effects of the device, the player then had to make all of the Unmagicals in the area forget about the ghosts Peter revealed.
