Sunday, December 13, 2020

Black Crater

The Black Crater is a landmark within Wizard City. It itself is the product of a magical mishap the approximate size of six city blocks. To this day, nobody is exactly sure what happened, though it has now resulted in site of pilgrimage for those visiting whispering prophecies of the Pit of Portents and/or those wanting to throw things down the bottomless pit.

The entire desolation is a spongy black-as-soot waste. Nothing grows in it. Nothing can be built on it. Anything spending inordinate amounts of time standing still in the Black Crater simply sinks into the ground at a pace of 4cm / hour. This has given rise to the speculation that the Crater is in fact a portal to another dimension, and that might be true.

MAGICAL MISHAPS

d20

There Is A(n)...

And It’s...

And On Top of That...

1

Mystical Vortex locally randomizing space and time.

Coming this way!

Some kids are poking at it.

2

Familiar giving out their master’s secrets like candy at a parade.

Minding its own damn business.

The Secret Police are keeping everyone at a distance, secretly.

3

Street brawl running in reverse.

Got the same physical properties as a game of freeze-tag.

The Wizard Police are here, and they’re definitely making it worse.

4

Thing which really shouldn’t have consciousness that has very recently obtained it.

Definitely your problem now.

Some stock brokers are already trying to cash in on the phenomenon before the markets adjust.

5

Plague going round. Rather quickly.

Melting! Melting! Aaaaaaah it’s melting!

Someone decided this was a great place to have a raging party.

6

Mathematician who is mathing way too hard.

Going to sound way dumber when people describe it later.

It’s drawing the attention of some opportunistic gangsters.

7

Glitch in the matrix.

Broken through the quarantine.

Some construction workers are carrying a fragile piece of glass across the street.

8

Big bloody orb of flesh floating mid-air.

Clearly edible.

For some reason, everyone is glowing now.

9

Animated Object that has illegally self-actualized.

Attacking the city!

Someone called the bomb technicians and they don’t know it’s a prank.

10

Ooze.

Slowly vaporizing.

Magical possibly-time-traveling insurance agents have come to pre-emptively assess damages.

11

Remarkable admonishment that there are more dimensions out there than we can perceive.

Infinitely more confused about this situation than you are.

The medieval equivalent of a school bus full of children is careening straight for it.

12

Fiend, Fey, Monstrocity, Undead, Elemental, Aberration, or quite possibly all of the above.

Your responsibility by some outstandingly impossible Butterfly Effect / Rube Goldberg mechanism.

There has already been a religion established to worship this particular thing… And it’s not a very nice religion.

13

Spot where Gravity is evidently having a time-out.

On the cusp of a groundbreaking philosophical conclusion.

Some dumb wizard is already trying to get high off of it.

14

Very Naked Wizard.

Chaotic Stupid

The acid rain is coming in early today.

15

Screaming Book.

Leaking magic like a 1982 Toyota Pickup on its last legs.

The Fire Brigade is here. Shit.

16

Explosion

Continuously Exploding

It’s about to explode!

17

Adorable Puppy

Broken through the sound barrier.

An overconfident wizard is about to go apeshit on this thing.

18

Evil Twin.

Really, really pathetic. Really.

There’s a reward for capturing it alive.

19

God.

Going to talk your head off. Possibly literally.

Magic doesn’t work for some reason!

20

Combination of two of the above.

(Reroll twice)

Simultaneously doing two things: (Reroll twice)

Oh look! There’s another one…

(Reroll everything an additional time)


Tuesday, December 1, 2020

The Hothouse

Not more than three stones-throws from The Low Moon in Wizard City lies the labyrinth of alleys, store fronts, and greenhouses that encompass the city's necromantic and horticultural hub. These interconnected attractions are collectively known as The Hothouse, and it is the principle base of operations of The Dead Janes.


"You want it hot, or you want it cold?", ask the gatekeepers at the neighborhood's entrances, dressed like psychopomps and smelling of romantic flowers masking embalming fluid.


If you want it HOT, the following attractions are available...

  • Madame Exuberance runs a "Body Boudoir". Don't like your present body and want to try on a few before you commit to a purchase? Privacy and client privilege is guaranteed. A variety of options are available: skinsuits, facemasks, transplants, and full-bodies. Decapitation included free with full-body purchases.
  • A sauna is available for special customers. As a connected service they'll sell you scented waters to throw on the stones which often produce 'interesting effects' when vaporized.
  • The Mangnoliodoma, an extensive greenhouse maintained meticulously by Charlie the Fox (so-called for her frequent snickering laugh), contains a variety of rare Rosa species. Most spectacular among these is the Millennium Corpse Flower, seed of the very one which famously ended the Crawmon Dynasty.

Beggar's Pricker: A parasitic bramble thorn typical in desert climates. Catches on to mammals and slowly siphons off the blood as a water and nutrient source. Produces a toxin which causes its host ignore it. Rending wounds caused by the thorns often get infected and untreated, eventually causing severe illness and death.

Dead Man's Bouquet:  A purple rose species, preferring damp cavities. If planted within the eye sockets of a fresh corpse it will bloom into the visage of the last thing the dead person saw while alive.

Lichefinger: The matured stamen of this species are needle-thin, sharp, and virtually indestructible. While historically used to make jeweler's tools, it's now most frequently used for surgery and assassination.

Killer Queen: Red petals, black stems. One prick of the thorn contains enough neurotoxin to put the unfortunate person into a semi-permanent coma. They say true love's kiss will dispel it, but that's a villainously-crafted lie. Very convenient for preserving bodies and luring rivals' true loves.

Widowguard: Black rose crossed with strangling vines. The roots will worm its way into nearby muscular-skeletal structures and animate them for its own defense. Capable of delivering strong pulses of electricity like a jellyfish.

If you want it COLD...

  • Frankie oversees the organ market. The entire alley is cold as ice, and everything from spare limbs, livers, hearts, spleens, kidneys, to extra eyes can be bought and bartered. Don't worry, they finance!
  • Adjacent lies Whole Bodies: your one-stop shop for healthy skeletons and zombies. Their signature product is Rose Water - which is in fact rose-scented formalin (not for living consumption!).
  • The Slab can get you all the mob-doctoring you'd need, at the pleasure of Dwight Rightwight. He isn't a doctor, or even really a man. They take bodies in place of hard currency, no questions asked.


If you want it SMELLING LIKE A ROSE...
  • Fiona the Clean sells anonymized bodies by the bushel. All ID removed: fingerprints, teeth, eyes, tattoos, and scars. Animation comes at additional fees. Prices are criminal.
  • Wet Sally will personally dissolve, absorb, or turn into fertilizer anything provided its modestly organic. Unless it's particularly hot (drawing secret police attention) she'll do it for free, too.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Accessing Infinity - Electric Googoloo

The previous Accessing Infinity posts lay down the groundwork for the creation of an Infinity Hotel campaign: an essentially epic level campaign full of nihilistic disco dancers, crazy mathematicians, numerological goblin warlords, and a infinite hotel.

Since then, I have discovered the Googology Wiki, and the grand list of absolute gems of numbers, including some absolute gems such as:  googolbangzootzootplexgrangoldudexigongseptasexahexargodsgodeusmonster-giantohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygoshBIG FOOTFish number 7 and sasquatch.

The best part is the names. It turns out that if one is in the business of inventing absurdly high numbers,  incredibly silly names are absolutely required.

This List provides a virtually infinite number of potential hubs within the Infinity Hotel, and the notations one would use in order access them.

Pictured: a virtual map of very very very big numbers.
I have no idea what the axes mean.
Source

Many of the "islands" within the Deep Hotel are found by plugging in infinitely-repeating numbers into the Mystic Elevator. However, a brand new frontier has opened with not-infinitely-repeating numbers, which are very very very very very very big numbers that are not infinite. These numbers are an infinity distance apart from any infinite numbers, and are virtually infinite apart from any other non-infinite numbers.

Because these numbers are not infinitely deep, it's possible that someone or something could spontaneously arrive at these locations from the hotel entrance, having journeyed the entire way. Things that travel for so long and so far tend to be extraordinarily dangerous, powerful, fast, or patient. They are often best avoided or left alone.

Such things include accelerated elder trolls, proto-goblin relic arcs, unstoppable forces, perpetual motion automatons, robots of infinite emotions, rocket shells, and evolved oozes. 

~~~~~

A number of googologists, have established domains in these very very very very very very-far-but-not-infinite places. Their notation systems become the essential basis for 'keys' that one would plug into the Mystic Elevator, allowing one to reach them.

These domains are guarded jealously by their creators, and they frequently attempt to hedge out rivals in ways similar to how wizards traditionally establish their tower domains in the wild.


THE MATH WIZARDS 
AND THEIR RECURSIVE DOMAINS


THE TOWER OF POWER

All who would come to learn of the great masters of infinite googology must first make pilgrimage to the TOWER OF POWER, within which the great art of POWER TOWERS flowered.

A power tower is thus: 3^3^3^3... Three to the third, to the third, to the third. Potentially forever.

The TOWER OF POWER leans like Pisa. It's crooked, recursive, shooting askew of straight up like a plant reaching for the sun. It's height is a series of incomprehensible segments, each compounding in orders of magnitude.

The Tetrated Realms are a neverending wizard's tower, ever-extending crookedly into the stratosphere seemingly forever. It curves around like a single-stranded helix, occasionally bridged by ropes cast like spider strands and roadblocked by tower-wizards staking claim. One must be sure to have access to flight, for the fall from the tower is very very far indeed. Hazing wizards enjoy punishing newcomers for their rookie mistake by casting them from the helix, sending them plummeting for days, years, or even centuries. The base of the Tower is littered with terminal-velocity mush, and hazarded by falling garbage. Gravity is the great master at the TOWER OF POWER and every wizard knows it.

It is the home of Matthew, Keeper of the Recursive Arrow and Archmage of the Compounding Tower.


CANNIBAL 3

A wizard made an animate method of recursion to devour other notation systems. He named it CANNIBAL. Cannibal 1 and 2 aren't terribly large numbers, but Cannibal 3 is incomprehensibly massive.

This is accompanied by the aptly-named AUTOCANNIBAL function, which appropriately devours itself recursively.

The realms of the CANNIBAL and AUTOCANNIBAL functions are caulked to the brim with frogs. Big frogs, little frogs, frogs as big as Jupiter and some many many orders of magnitude bigger. The biggest of these has no name, for it has devoured anyone who would've named it. One day this frog, ever-increasing in size, will burst forth from the Infinity Hotel and devour the entire Universe in an instant. Fortunately for the Universe, the CANNIBAL function is very fast-growing, and it will be quite a while before the great frog grows big enough to escape it.

It is the home of Ronaldo, Bearer of the Fractal Mind and Devourer of Annotations.


FUNCTION JUNCTION

If there ever was anything mythical and mysterious, then at some point it has crossed through Function Junction and been integrated into the mathematical schemes of its grand master.

The Junction lies at the intersection of the UNICORN, MANTICORE, and HYDRA base functions. It's also a zoo. It even has a little train you can ride. The admission is steep. In order to gain access, a group is required to contribute a mythical creature for an exhibit. The tradeoff is that it can be quite informative. Any number of potential hazardous creatures are kept here for observation, including a good number that can be found in the Deep Hotel, such as hydraplexes, math wizards, dread beavers, spontaneous gods, thermodynamic impossibilities, robots of infinite emotions, and FEET.

It is the home of Cavier, the Crystal-Set Algebraic Oodle-Meister, Master of the Mythical Math Menagerie.

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Spells of Summer's End

 The following is a list of magic spells that can become available to the players in the Everlasting Summer. Utilizes the Underneath system.

Costs remain hidden from the Players. You (the GM) know what they are, but the players should not. If the spells are ever reduced to a simple cost/benefit analysis, then they shall cease to seem dangerous, scary, and unknowable.


BANISHMENT OF THE NORTHERN WIND

(To postpone the threat of the Old God for a period of 47 Years, this ritual must be performed. Descriptions of the ritual can be found in the Wizard's Observation Tower, the Lighthouse, the Witch's Hut, or the hidden safe within the Devart Mansion.)

The Banishment Requires the following reagents:

  • One who is to be betrothed, anointed with the Ritual of Purity.
  • Thirty three Petoskey Stones, arranged in a circle containing a triangle. Twenty seven form the circle. Six form the triangle.
  • Three wind chimes made from goats bones, hoisted on branches of wind-fallen trees and arranged at the points of the triangle.
  • An ordained priest if on land, or a ship's captain if on the water, who is to speak the magic words of the ritual: "A'aqur harbath..." 

The Ritual of Purity requires powdered alicorn, the unicorn's horn, mixed with fresh human blood. This can either be obtained by: 

1) Slaying / trapping / mutilating The Unicorn. 
2) Harvesting/Stealing the Unicorn's Horn mushroom from the Witch's Garden. 
3) Diving deep into Lake Superior and dredging up the Alicorn-Coral.
4) Powdering narwhal tusk.

This mixture is painted upon the person who is to be betrothed, who is to be a woman who has had at least one period, and who has not had children, chanting the words "A'aqur harbath... A'aqur harbath... A'aqur harbath..." Once complete, the betrothed may enter the ritual circle. If she has not been purified, then she will vaporize on the spot, along with all nearby observers.

If successful, winds will blow during the ritual setup. Thunderstorms will appear. During the final chanting of the incantation a rope tornado will descend from the sky and pick up the betrothed, who will forever disappear into the sky. The banishment will then be complete.

((Secret Fact: The Ritual of Purity can actually be performed on anyone of any sex, age, or disposition successfully. The gendered nature is a holdover from the very first successful use of the ritual, which just so happened to use a young woman. It has not changed since nobody has been willing to experiment with a ritual that, if done incorrectly, results in the deaths of the caster and all nearby observers.))


WINDS OF A'AQUR

A'AQUR, that which chases the flashpoint of the end. The great entropic force bears winds of incalculable destruction. To wield just a tiny fraction is shattering. The winds of the North bear such heat and force as to turn its target to ash.




Costs: 1 Instinct and Body for every Day that's eclipsed since the start of the Everlasting Summer.

Effect: Deal 3 Hits to the target.

Requires 1 Round of preparation and chanting.

If this reduces the target to 0 Hits, it disintegrates, leaving nothing but black ash on the nearby terrain.


FORESIGHT

Invoke the Middle Eye. See what the future holds.

Costs: Roll one 1d6 per times used. Takes one 1) Resolve 2) Instinct 3) Body 4) Empathy 5) Insight 6) Nothing

Effect: The Game Master rolls the next random encounter and shares with you, and only you, the result. You immediate gain knowledge of it - it's Name, Appearance, and Attacks (if any).




IMPRISONMENT OF THE UNICORN

To capture the unicorn and harvest its magical flesh requires one who is pure of spirit and one whose soul is black as nothing.

Required Materials: A noose of cold iron or of gold, attached to a sturdy chain, fashioned by one of ancient royal blood.

Costs: The Hunter: 3 Maximum Empathy. 
The Pure: 2 Maximum Resolve.

Effect: The one pure of spirit places the noose upon the unicorn, entrapping it. When this happens, it cannot use magic or resist its captors in any way. It can, however, speak.



THE POISONED APPLE

A favorite product of banished horticultural witches. The effort and careful long term preparations of this spell make it very difficult to produce: if the sprouting apple tree is not fed with blood for even a single day then the brew will simply be poisonous and produce no charm.
Required Materials: An apple tree, fed with the blood of the caster every day until it sprouts fruit. The brew which it is dipped in requires Hemlock, Giant Hogweed, and Deadly Nightshade.

Costs: Reduces number of remaining years by half. (Halves Body)

Effect: Produces a bountiful red apple of pristine quality and comeliness. That which eats the apple will become charmed. It will operates under your commands in a despondent fugue for three days, after which it shall enter into an endless coma.


BANISHMENT OF THE TROLL

The Troll is an enduring creature. Its regeneration ensures that even the smallest pieces will eventually reform into the great totality.



Required Materials: A Flame of Alexandria (Simply, any flame made by burning books, scrolls, or magical incantations.) Approximately three gallons of grease derived from pigs, cows, or fish.

Costs: 1 Resolve per Meat consumed during Adventure.

Effect: The Troll must first be slain or incapacitated by reducing it to 0 Hits in Combat. Then every one of its pieces must be collected, mixed with the grease, then lit on fire by bringing it to 310 C using the Flame of Alexandria. Once this is done The Troll will evaporate and be permanently destroyed.


THE BODY ELECTRIC

A development of Arthur Conrad, Third Keeper of the Cult Electric. In order to cast the spell, the caster must undergo a conscious electroconvulsive therapy session. This procedure is excruciatingly painful, and can easily result in the deaths of frail individuals.

The procedure always changes a person's personality, often in opposing ways: if they were kind they may grow cruel, if they were lazy they may grow obsessively motivated, if they were dissociative they may become sober, or vice versa.

Required Materials: An electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) machine, four metal pylons arranged in a parallelogram around the to-be caster's head. A series of five lightbulbs in parallel, which the person undergoing the procedure is to stare at.

Costs: Initial procedure costs 2 Body. Each cast costs 1 Empathy per switch explicitly flipped since the procedure was instituted. Resets every time the player explicitly discharges static electricity. (min. 1)

Effect: Allows the caster to 'read' electrical equipment by touching exposed wires, giving them an innate sense of the extent of the networks involved, who might be observing them, and what might be contained within them. 

The spellcaster may also do one of the following tasks:
  • Overload the network, tripping circuit breakers and shutting down all power within a city block's distance.
  • Gain vision of an entire security network's cameras. If desired feed false images into the security feed.
  • Audibly hear any cell phone calls and texts within 1 mile.

REVEAL

Pierce your own eye. Unleash the iris-colored fog that will sweep across the hidden and unveil the truth.

Costs: 1 Eye, still attached. (-1 Instinct, -1 Body)

Effect: Exposes the true forms of anything within the immediate area. Low Insight Thresholds are disregarded, hidden objects and doors are revealed, and illusions are dispelled.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Encounters of Summer's End


IT = Insight Threshold. For Underneath.

If Below Insight Threshold, Then Monster Appears as Low Insight Appearance.


UNIVERSAL ENCOUNTERS


d10

Monster

IT

Low Insight Appearance

Description

What It Does

Injuries

1

Suicide Ghost

3*

Phantom Scream

Pale - Erratic - Splattered - Weeping - Glitching - Swallowing the Gun

Stalks Peripheral Vision - Always Behind You - Angry Scream - Possession, Swallow the Gun - Gunshot - Gore Pollock

Suicide by Gun - Blood Drenching

2

Bride of A’aqur

6*

Twirling Gust

A Face In the Midst of the Gust - A Woman - Hair Whipping and Whirling

She Screams - And Is Gone

Despair

3

Hell Hound

2

Rapid Dog

Eyes Like Candles In The Dark - Teeth Too Long - It’s Fast

Tears Through Obstacles - Bounds and Leaps - Rips and Tears, and Laughs a Human Laugh - Tracks

Torn Muscles - Bleeding - Paranoia

4

Black Obelisk

5*

Empty Space

Cold To Touch - Jagged - Sharp - Impossible Placed

Frantic Whispering - Grants Insight

Paranoia - Schizophrenia - Psychosis

5

A’aqur Cultist

1*

Stranger

Hoodie - Mask - Strange Wind Chimes - Skin Burned by Nuclear Winds

Erratic Movements - Stalking - Spying

Wind Burns

6

A’aqur Cultist Hunter

7

Militia Member

Patterns in the Camo - Mask of Wooden Chimes - Hunting Rifle - No Body, Only Wind

Waits An Eternity - Zeros The Field - Takes A Shot - Gone With the Wind

Gunshot - Punctured Arterty - Wind Burns

7

Leviathan Agent

8*

FBI Special Agent

A Man Made of Many Men - Serene Face - Golden Scepter - The All-Powerful State Personified

Photographs - Converses - Interrogates - Arrests - Wields Authority - Command Spells

Bullet Wounds - Legal Action - Forgetfulness

8

Hole

6*

Nothing

Quiet - Deep - Conspicuous - Smooth Edged - Enticing

Pedestrians Crawl In - Nothing Comes Out

Gone - Obsession

9

Strange Mist

2

Fog

Effervescent - Pooling - Swirling - Strange Lights

Fogs the Windows - Crawls Along Ground - Stains - Lunges - Tendrils

Black Lungs - Noisy Coughing - Blindness

10

Vampire

4

Rich Old Man

Pale - Elderly - Track Marks - Covered in Red Tubes - Attached at Hip to Drained Youth - Needles in Hands

Lurks - Labored Breathing - Steals the Blood - Steals the Flesh - Attaches It To Itself - He Will Live Forever! - Living Ponzi Scheme

Blood Loss - Liver Disease - HUNGER - Needles In Skin - Stolen Organs


BEACH ENCOUNTERS


d10

Monster

IT

Low Insight Appearance

Description

What It Does

Injuries

1

Mermaid

3*

Big Fish

Fish Head - Human Legs - It’s Upset - Very Upset

Lurks in the Tide - Watching - Baiting With Movement - Stalks From Water - Attacks and Drags Separated People

Fish Jaw - Bleeding - Drowning - Bisected

2

Siren

3

Pretty Women + Sinkhole

Three Beautiful Young Women - They Are The Fingers - The Hand Hides Under Sand

Shouts for Help - Asks for a Lift - Things Go Wrong - Check Out the Water - Eyes - Maw - Hand - Ambush

Eaten - Entranced

3

Shambling Flotsam

2

Sea Anemone

Smells Like Trash - Shuffles Blindly - Green Seaweeds and Porous Wood - Underneath, Spines Like Anemones

Slowly Moves Around - If Touched, Springs - Floats On Waves

Pain Poison - Rending Bleed - Infection

4

Bloated Corpse

1

Beached Whale

Ebbs with the Waves - Face In Water - Raisen Skin and Swollen - Smells Like Sewage

Stands Up - It Has No Mouth - It Tries to Scream - Then Explodes

Bone Shrapnel - Infection - Vomiting

5

Drowned Ghost

3*

Trick of the Light

A Dangling Thing - Floating Mid Air - Like Bait on the Line - It Soundlessly Gasps Like a Fish Out of Water

It Floats Serenely - It Twitches This Way Quickly - It Notices - Lungs Fill With Fluid

Drowning - Coughing

6

Water Vampire

4

Hull Hit Something

Mistaken For Flotsam - Darts Under The Boat With Uncanny Speed

Handle Appears On Bottom of Boat - A Knocking On The Hull - This Door Wasn’t Here - Open and It Floods - Blood in the Water

Drowning - Blood Loss - Vampirism

7

Sphere of Annihilation

5

Giant Bubble

Black as Pitch - Brownian Moving - Packs of Three

Magnetically Drawn to Things - Swallows Them Whole - Both Gone

Gone - Annihilated Limbs

8

Troll

5

Huge Black Bear

Too Tall - Cloaked - Strong Flashlight - Sniffs the Air - Quiet as a Mouse

Light Turns Red - It’s Seen You - The Light Freezes You, Like Deer

Broken Bones, Eaten

9

Angler

6*

Dead Fish Pile

Corpses Piled Up - Mass Grave - One of Them’s Fresh - Hand Stuck in the Mass - Dead-Eyed Jaw Terror Just Off Shore

Waits for the Investigator - Springs Like a Snare - Into the Water - Long Teeth

Snared - Bleeding - Amputation - Eaten

10

The Elf

5^

Water Spirits?

Big Stocky Man - Long Beautiful Hair and Petite Beard - Something There Is That Doesn’t Love a Wall

It Moves The Stones - It Moves the Bramble - It Breaks Down the Walls - It Shatters the Wards - Fight or Argue, And It’s Gone.

Increases Empathy - Increases Encounter Chance


WOODS ENCOUNTERS


d10

Monster

IT

Low Insight Appearance

Description

What It Does

Injuries

1

Unicorn

3/6**

Unicorn / Cyclopism Deer

It Was a Deer - One Crackling Horn - One Too-Wide Central Eye - It Stares - Something Crawls Inside The Eye

Spells Have No Power Here - Crescendo Screams: “BwaaaaAAAAAAHHHH!!” - The Thing Comes Crawling Out Of The Eye - It Flees

Horn-Gored - Cyclopism, Then Death - Magical Feedback

2

Meat Grinder

5

Falling Tree

Something Feels Off - There’s Something Ahead - You See Nothing

Invisible Until Entered - Like a Mini Supernova - Spins Things Around Mid Air Until Thrown Apart

Gravitationally Annihilated - Motion Sickness

3

Webs

3

Spider Webs

Grey Fuzzy Material - Lattices - Perforates the Corners Like It’s Hiding - Drapes From Trees Like Old Curtains

On Contact, Hissing - On Contact, Burning

You’re Fine For Three Days, Then Sudden Death.

4

Vortex

3

Swamp Gas

Unnatural Swirling, Erratic Motions, Kidpix Alteration on Reality

Gravitates - Lunges - Shakes like a marble in a jar.

Lost in Time and Space - Shrapnel Wound - Swirling

5

Most Dangerous Game

8

Crazed Hunter Wearing Deerskin

The Deer Has a Gun - The Eyes Black Holes - Moves Like a Chinese Dragon - The Skin Bulges and Writhes - Smells Like Fresh Death

From One Eye a Rifle Slowly Emerges - CRACK - The Hunt Is On!

Gore - Gunshot Wound

6

Crawling Mold

2

Elder Muskrat

Veins in the Walls - Pounding Heartbeat - Flesh Moss

Swells - Ebs - Polyps - Crawls - Squirts Lymph 

Arrhythmia - Polyping Flesh - Explosion 

7

Moon Wasp

4

Knife Drone

Wasp-Buzzing - Mirror Laden - Dark Aperture, Uncanny Mathematical Movements - Glint on the Sun - Cackling Mandibles

Comes from over the treetops - Hovers, watching - Uncanny agility - Kamikazes-Dives

Lacerations - Infected Wounds - Bleeding - Social Media Exposure

8

Mad Horse

1

Panicking Horse

Whinnying - Kicking, Jumping - Twisted Face - Exposed Teeth and Tongue - Mad Eyes

It Knows Too Much - Evil Eye - Charges - Kicks and Bites - Swallows Whole

Swallowed - Broken Bones - Distended Jaw - Vore Obsession

9

Bog Mouths

7*

Red Pitcher Plants

Whispering In The Air - Louder and Louder - From The Ground Red Lips - Teeth On The End of a Disgusting Tube

Bites If Tempted - Mimicries Helpless Human - Groups Lunge and Bite Like Lampreys - Spits Acid

Dissolved - Bleeding Bite

10

The Elf

5^

Tree Spirits?

Big Stocky Man - Long Beautiful Hair and Petite Beard - Something There Is That Doesn’t Love a Wall

It Moves The Stones - It Moves the Bramble - It Breaks Down the Walls - It Shatters the Wards - Fight or Argue, And It’s Gone.

Increases Empathy - Increases Encounter Chance



TOWN ENCOUNTERS


d10

Monster

IT

Low Insight Appearance

Description

What It Does

Injuries

1

Good Neighbor

7^

Friendly Neighbor

Voice From The Other Side of the Fence, The Door - A Man, Like Your Dad - It Cannot Be Seen

It Asks Questions - “How Was Your Day?” - “Fine Weather, Isn’t It?” - “Say, Do You Mind If I Borrow Your Hedge Trimmer?”

Reduces Empathy - Reduces Encounter Chance - Permanently Closes Shops

2

Unmarked Van

3

Child Kidnappers

White Exterior - No License Plate - Rooftop Spinning Camera - Unpiloted - Strong Sputtering.

Idles - Stops - Stalks - Idles Again - Van Doors Fly Open Into Vacuum Void.

Lost in Time and Space - Crushed Bones - Broken Ribs.

3

Anonymous Police

5

Federal Police

Riot Gear - Sunglasses - No ID - Incomprehensible Speech -  Armored Vehicles With Strange Machines - Tear Gas Haze

Blocks Road - Clouds of Gas - Sonic Weapon - Loiterers Get Shot - Blockade Runners Get Lethal Force

Concussion - Abduction - Broken Bones - Blindness - Deafness - Mind Scrambling

4

Corona Extractor

1

Junkie

Pale Face - No Pupils - Long Needles and Tubes

Finds the Fresh Corpses - Finds the Incapacitated - Stoops Low - Needle in the Eye - Collect the Liquids

Blindness - Addiction - Stigmata

5

Stalker

0

-

Uncanny Mask - Phone Snapshots - Leaning on Corners - White Rag in Hand

Follows - Keeps Distance - Ambush Isolated Members - Chloroform from Behind - Frantic Apologies During Assault

Abduction - Unconsciousness - Broken Nose

6

Glitcher

4

Meth Head

Static Laden - Impossibly Fast - Twitchy Textures - Frictionless - Infinite Rotational Energy

Clips Through Walls - Teleports - Feedback Screech - Spreads the Glitch - It Tries to Speak, To Warn

Glitching - Broken Record - Fall Under The Kill Plane

7

Rocket Man

7

Suicidal Fresh Driver

Engine Screaming - 120 mph in 30 mph Zone - Full Throttle No Brakes - Being of Pure Light

Doppler Driveby - Rocket Sleds Into Tree/House/Crowd - Crash and Burn - Absolutely Nothing Left

Need For Speed - Shrapnel

8

Crawling Lightning

5

Downed Power Line

Thunder In the Distance - Lightning Crawls the Ground

Move Or Die - It Moves Randomly - Animals Scream As They Die In Its Path

Lightning Shock - Screaming - PTSD

9

Ghoul

3

Escaped Mental Patient

Lumbering Gait - Heavy Breathing - Flash of Teeth - Eyes Like Saucers - Blood, Blood.

Sniffs - Drools - Screams - Charges and Bites.

Paralysis - Bleeding - Blood Sepsis - Deep Hunger.

10

Specular

6^

Black Cat

Eyes Big As Saucers - Black Withered Flesh - Shivering - Squelching - Hungry

Sits In The Middle of the Path - Watches - Watches - Hisses and Shrieks - Cowers Off

Ocular Enlargement - Bad Luck


*Will not interact or attack characters below its IT threshold.

**The Unicorn has multiple Insight Thresholds.

^Generally non-hostile.