Andrew Howard (the Monstrous)¶
Andrew Howard (the Monstrous) is the real Andrew Howard after he dies in the Ballard gym fight and revives at the bottom of the Roosevelt morgue pile, changed into something inhuman: two heartbeats, a craving for blood, a running speed of about 35 mph and a body that shrugs off small-arms fire.
| Type | Player character (changed playbook) |
| Aliases | Monstrous Andrew; the real Howard; the Runner; Divine Howard |
| Affiliation | Paranatural Incident Task Force |
| Status | Alive (as of Walkers 09) |
| First appearance | Walkers 08 (closing scene) |
| Played by | Rita |
Which Andrew is which
From the end of the gym fight in Walkers 07 until the unmasking in Walkers 09, the Andrew traveling with the team is the duplicate. This page covers the original man, who is absent from the team's story for those sessions. His earlier life is on Andrew Howard.
Description¶
In his Walkers 08 scene he wakes naked, bound in duct tape and plastic at the bottom of the morgue pile in Roosevelt, covered in corpse fluid and shot through the heart. Rita describes the rebuilt character as a "beefy boy" who still has some ethereal quality, "just darker now" (Walkers 08). In Walkers 09 he wears a space-blanket toga and bloody underwear for a time and carries Nancy the goose (Walkers 09).
Background¶
The real Andrew was replaced in the Ballard school gym, where the faction cloned him from tissue taken when the mayor's ring cut his hand (Walkers 07). See Andrew Howard (duplicate). His death is never shown. His own account in Walkers 09: he lost time after pulling the pin on a grenade in the gym and took a couple of his attackers with him, was shot point-blank in the chest, and woke in the morgue under a pile of bodies. He estimates he was gone a day or two. He says he found "no God up there" and wonders whether "dad alien" was there either (Walkers 09).
History¶
Walkers 08: reborn¶
After the other players sign off, Andre cuts to "the other Andrew Howard," who is dead and finds it agonizing, since "he had always been told that being dead doesn't hurt." Something violent shifts inside him and he spasms back to life, naked and wrapped in plastic at the bottom of the corpse pile in the police station morgue. Andre tells Rita her class has changed to the Monstrous and that she must rebuild the character. "They killed you. It just didn't stick," Andre says, and adds that this was always going to happen if Andrew died; the inhuman parts of him "refuse to let you die," at the cost of his humanity. Rita retires the Divine playbook but keeps What I Need When I Need It, which is tied to an item (Walkers 08). See Roosevelt police station.
Walkers 09: the Runner¶
A naked, blood-covered, subtly inhuman Andrew Howard sprints toward the party at inhuman speed. The party has marked itself with Sharpie to tell skinwalkers from people, and the Howard beside Huell, who is the duplicate, and Huell both shoot at the runner; the runner drops, rolls and keeps coming. He shouts that he is the real Howard, asks Huell to check whether the other eats solid food, and cries that he woke under a pile of dead naked people. Kurt cuffs and tapes him; he notes he is the first of the skinwalkers to talk or show self-preservation, and the most durable. The runner tells Huell: "I would like my pants back from the clone freak, if possible." (Walkers 09)
Once the duplicate is exposed, Rita returns to playing the real Howard. He eats freeze-dried mac and cheese and keeps it down, and Kurt agrees to unhandcuff him. Kurt sends word to the Guard: "Other Howard is not to be trusted. This is the new Howard." Nancy arrives along his trail, and Rita jokes that Nancy is Andrew's middle name. Huell holds a gun on him and asks about a cigar-shaped craft, a test of identity. In the cavern he recovers his ruined suit, fanny pack and religious pendant from a Ziploc bag marked "Hazardous" with several exclamation points, and he shoots the duplicate in the back. The skinwalkers' return fire cannot hurt him. Andre remarks, "It's funny, Howard, that the way that you proved you were human was by being bulletproof." (Walkers 09) See Andrew's pendant and What I Need When I Need It bag.
He ends the arc with the surviving party: fast, bulletproof, uncanny, with the goose, pendant and bag, and angry for the first time. He takes a few dozen blurry Polaroids as hazmat teams clear bodies (Walkers 09). See Hazmat cleanup teams.
Abilities and equipment¶
- Playbook: Monstrous, formerly Divine. He dropped Lay on Hands and Cast Out Evil and kept What I Need When I Need It. Stats: Charm -1, Cool -1, Tough 2, Weird 3. The leukemia that Andre mentions during the same conversation ("you have leukemia, and you don't feel great") belongs to the replica Rita is still playing, as first established in her Walkers 07 briefing, and not to the real Andrew (Walkers 07, Walkers 08).
- Moves: Rita chose the Immortal and Unquenchable Vitality moves, with Resilience again; Mental Dominion, Unnatural Appeal, Preternatural Speed and Unholy Strength were all discussed. Any time harm is healed she says he heals an extra point, and wounds count as one harm less (Walkers 08).
- Natural attack and curse: Rita chose a ranged life drain. Andre offered Feed (needing regular blood) or Vulnerability (an allergy to metal), and the character does drink blood, in Andre's words "a very tough boy who now has to drink blood" (Walkers 08).
- Physical: runs about 35 mph ("About that. Since I woke up. In the morgue."); shrugs off two harm from small arms (Walkers 09).
- See Game mechanics and Andrew's Condition, the later arc's treatment of his blood hunger and bullet resistance.
Memorable quotes¶
Quote
"Well, they shouldn't have shot me in the heart." (Rita as Andrew Howard, on the Monstrous rebuild, Walkers 08)
Quote
"They killed you. It just didn't stick." (Andre, Walkers 08)
Quote
"Thought you took care of me, motherfuckers! Give me my shit back!" (Rita as Andrew Howard, Walkers 09)
Trivia¶
- While rebuilding the character, Rita wonders whether the Aetherius Society knew about the dark side of Andrew's powers (Walkers 08).
- In Walkers 09 Rita jokes that Andrew's middle name is Nancy, after the goose (Walkers 09).
Appearances¶
- Walkers 08 (closing scene)
- Walkers 09