This list can be used in many ways, one of which is for Story Tellers
that are caught flat footed, and needs a Wyld Effect/Landscape/Thing on the
spot. Click here for a list of Authors.
| Note: The Numbers that are being submitted for this are fairly random, after all this is the Wyld | |
| # | Description |
|
#1 Inner Reality |
After spending some time in the Wyld, you become aware of
yourself. You not only perceive your self very clearly but you start to
understand the very Essence of your being in a never known clarity.
Everything about you become much more vibrant and strong. The color of your
skin, the texture of your clothes, the sound of your voice, everything nears
itself to perfection. At the same time everything around you fades to |
|
#2 Mobius Trip |
The leading member of the party nearly trips on an
outstretched root, flying bootlace, or other possible tripwire and must make
a Wits+Athletics check at |
| #3 |
One character feels a pleasant and gentle breeze. Along with this breeze
comes a noise that reminds the character of their most painful loss. This
loss can be anything from a lover who left them, to the loss of sight, the theft of a favorite item or Artifact, or the death of a loved one. The character is overcome by great sadness, and must make a Willpower roll, against a difficulty of 3. If this roll fails, they begin crying tears of blood, and *regain* all spent Willpower points. The painful memory is removed from their minds. This removal is so subtle that the character will never again think of this loss, even if it is brought up again by others. Powerful charms or spells may restore the memories, but only after the character has left the Wyld. If the roll succeeds, then the object of loss is returned to the character. A blind character will be able to see, someone whose lost a loved one to another person, or to death will have that person standing before them, as loving as ever, while a lost Artifact will be once again in their possession. This object, ability or person is not "real". It is a Wyld-forged replica, perfectly extrapolated and formed from the characters memories. Unless care is taken by the character, whatever is returned in this manner can still be twisted by the Wyld, and will fade when returned to the more static reality of Creation. |
|
#3 Sal the Salesman |
Treking threw the wild, you come upon a barren sandlot strew with Destroyed
artifacts (large artifacts, lots of warstriders missing parts, and chariots
of aerial conquest with nothing aerial about them) If the PC investigate, a
disgusting old man will appear from behind one of the heaps. "Hi, My names
Sal, but you can call me buddy! I see that you've had you eye on this beauty
here." Sal will attempt to sell something to the pc's for a large amount of jade, or shiney artifacts. Sal always has 1 perfect artifact (be it a warstrider or something as small as a collor of dawn's clensing light) but the pc's will have to haggle for it. Sal has the charm Irresistable salesman spirit, but will only use it if all else fails. After the deal is complete, Sal's yard will sink into the sand, leaving the pc's and what ever they bought. |
|
#4 Party of One |
As the party travels through the Wyld, one characterhears another one
talking to him, telling him rather personal details. What is said is,
however, indistinct and easily overlooked. Then others begin to hear it, the
same sort of secrets in the voice of the same party member. A character with
high perception will notice that everyone's skin begins to look more and
more like the skin of the one who's voice is being heard. Soon everyone's head is filled witha torrent of thoughts, mostly meaningless, from the head of the one targeted. In the space of a few moments, everyone becomes a physical copy of that one character -- and in a few more moments, BECOMES that character, with all the same stats charms equipment, etc. The effect abates by next sundown, at which point everyone returns to themselves, with only the target left with the memory of what happened. |
| #4 Tongue-Tied |
In certain regions of the Wyld lie a stricture against speech and sound.
Such regions are not all that uncommon and those who have encountered them a
few times learn that they can be recognized by a feeling of thinness in the
air. As travellers tread deeper into the affected area, the noises they make and words they speak become more and more faint. Simultaneously those sounds and words begin to fade into sight. Sounds appears as sharp or dull flashes, depending on the duration of the sound, and words are represented in full character floating above the speakers head. All pictorals present identical aspect no matter from where one looks on, meaning two people to either side of a speaker can tell what he is saying without reading backwards. Such speechless regions tend to be roughly 10 miles in diameter, though they vary. (Duh. It IS the Wyld.) |
| #5 |
After entering this region of the Wyld every time a person is out of sight
of everyone else he can no longer be seen. This can be avoided as long as
everyone has at least one other person watching them at all times. Once the person is gone from sight, he does not leave the area but in fact becomes immaterial, and invisible. Others can still hear him but his voice sounds like far off whispers. Charms that allow the ability to see spirits will allow the exalted to see these immaterial persons. Once the person leaves the area and has been out of it for a full day the effects wear off and he become material again. Woe to those that are partly in a solid object when this happens. |
|
#6 ‘The Unconquered Shadow' |
A sun rises in the Wyld, and burns hatefully for a full "day", in mockery of
the Unconquered Sun. A dark sun which shines with a blackness as brilliant
and the Unconquered Sun's light. [All shadows cast by this black sun are a hazy white color. Everyone caught within the dark the this sun find themselves sunburned badly, even Solars. This sunburn is not bad enough to cause any penalties; however, it is very unpleasant. Further, any Solars using Essence while this black sun is up suffer a single lethal health level of damage per turn Essence is spent. This damage is not aggravated, but it cannot be soaked.] |
|
#7 Poppies... Poppies Will Put Them To Sleep |
The characters come across a huge field of opium poppies, seemingly normal
in every respect. However, unlike normal poppies, these flowers convey their
narcotic effect through their pollen. Breathing the air in the poppy field
is equivalent to smoking a huge dose of opium. Every turn a character is exposed to the pollen, he must make a Stamina + Resistance check, at a difficulty determined by how deep into the field he is (1 for the fringes, 5 for the very center). Every time he fails a check, he reduces his Dexterity and Wits by one dot each. When the penalty is enough to reduce either attribute to zero, he remains conscious but falls into a blissed-out stupor, and is incapable of moving on his own. At this point, he begins taking penalties to Stamina, again at one dot per ten minutes. When his Stamina reaches zero, he passes out... and is unlikely to ever wake up again unless he's forcibly removed from the poppy field. Characters removed from the drugged pollen's area of effect recover lost attribute dots at the rate of one per hour. (-Each- attribute recovers one dot per hour.) Characters dosed with opium become somewhat numb. Reduce all wound penalties by 2 while they are under the poppies' effects. The easiest way around the poppies' effect is to not breathe. Effects which create wind can also be used to cleanse the air by blowing the pollen away. Destroying the poppies won't really help, and may even make the situation worse, as disturbing the flowers will release even greater amounts of soporific pollen into the air. |
|
#7 Coccoon |
As the characters walk, a man-shaped cloud forms around each, mimicing his
or her movements. The cloud may be crystalline locusts, floating ribbons of a strange secretion, rare candies, or a tiny barrels of cats. And they will vary much between person to person in the same party. Whatever the clouds' content, they afford those they surround an additional +3B/2L soak. It also removes one die from any attack an affected character makes, since the shield gets somewhat in the way. Furthermore, it may restrist vision and may affect social rolls in unpredictable ways. |
|
#8 Spontaneous Generation |
The Wyld region appears completely normal, except in one respect: any dead flesh instantaneously transforms into flies. Animals or people who die will literally explode into a huge buzzing cloud of winged vermin, leaving behind only a bare skeleton; the process is much less dramatic with preserved meat (such as jerky, or heavily-salted cuts -- untreated meat will dissolve just as quickly as freshly- killed animals) and tanned leather. Preserved meat decays into flies at the rate of roughly one pound per hour. Leather goods deteriorate even more slowly, at half a pound per day. When the flies themselves die, each one transforms into either a small quantity of loam or a single grass seed. |
|
#9 Seafood Soup! |
Dark clouds gather overhead, thunder rumbles, and then it begins to rain... octopi. The soft-bodied mollusks float down from the sky like bizarre flowers, their arms spread parachute-fashion to brake their descent. Once the storm is over, the octopi on the ground inflate their mantles with air and fly off. The octopi seem to be completely normal specimens of all different species, except that they are amphibious and have the power of flight. In inland Wyld areas, the octopi are usually freshwater; near the ocean, they need saltwater to survive. The octopi are unlikely to attack humans. If startled, they will probably squirt ink into the offending character's face and jet away with a puff of air, using their color- changing abilities to hide in nearby vegetation or simply shooting up into the sky. Some types of octopus are highly venomous; such species are typically small, and distinctly marked with vivid purple rings or other bright colors. They are usually quite placid, and will only bite when disturbed. Treat this as coral snake venom. |
|
#10 "Miracle of Many Fishes" |
Any food, trail rations, or edible items carried by the characters is multiplied. Packs can be burst by the profusion of foodstuffs that comes pouring out of nowhere. If no action is taking, characters who were carrying food will wind up in a pile of foods up to at least their waist, in about a minute of time. |
|
#11 Curiosity Killed the Cat |
A household cat appears to the party, greatly magnified to be nearly the
size of a man when sitting. The cat offers wisdom beyond any belief, and
will answer any one question. The price? You must kill the cat. Many reasonable people will take exception to this. Many reasonable people won't. The answer is always true, but phrased cryptically and seen from a catlike point of view. References to playing with prey and grinning abound. |
| #12 |
The characters come upon a vast and interminable shore, the water lapping up against a rocky coast. As the characters walk along, the tide moves out rapidly, revealing a craggy expanse of pebbles with great rocky fingers extending through it. In these rocky fingers are pools where the water has remained, tide pools. Looking into the tide pools, the characters can see miniature oceans. Tiny sharks swim around in one, covered by the shadow of a pod of whales above. Another will have a completely different ecology, dominated by plants and crustacea working in a vast and active ecosystem. In each pool, a race of tiny faerie live. They are benign, living off just the magic of the place. In some they have build great cities into the cliffsides of the pool, in some they are simple villages. Anyone sticking their hands in the pool to pull something out will find themselves falling, and grabbed by these faerie. They cannot leave the pool until the tide comes in again, connecting this potential sea to the 'real' sea outside. |
|
#13 Beaches and Trees |
This occurs in coastal Wyld areas. The terrain becomes sharply differentiated into two types: beach and forest. In the forest, one finds that it is only possible to move forward or backward. Turning is fine, but moving at right angles to the direction you are facing is impossible. The trees and underbrush seem to bunch together to prevent anyone from moving sideways, and helpfully spread apart to facilitate forward or backward movement. (In game terms, moving sideways requires a difficulty 5 Strength+Athletics check for every yard moved). On the beach, the opposite is true; the sand hardens like cement around the feet of anyone who attempts to move forward or backward (difficulty 5 Str+Athletics check per yard), but does not impede side-stepping at all. The beaches are inhabited by a multitude of different crab species, whose tendency to walk sideways makes them uniquely suited to the unusual environment |
|
#14 The Urgeling Rain |
This portion of the Wyld is sensitive to the virtues of those within,
manifesting the virtues in the form of Urgelings*. Some Scholars say that
this manifest station is t the Wylds way of trying to figure out the virtues
of men. These Urgelings condense from the air itself, raining down on
the area around the person who virtues are spawning the Urgelings. System: If a virtue roll is made while in this area 100x the number of dice rolled Urgelings rain down on the area around the character. Only 10x the number of dice rolled survive the fall, the rest die when hitting the ground. This will create an horrid mess, and for those that are weak of stomach cause them to barf. Also watching hundreds of small bodies fall from the sky is rather unnerving to some which my result in a Valor check. *Urgelings are small (under a foot) round bodied creatures. Only two factors go into the make up of an Urgeling, the Elemental Pole you are closest too and the virtue that spawned them. While no two urgelings look alike those spawned in the same manner normally look similar. They also emulate the virtue that spawned them the best they can. Trying their best to act out on others around them with this virtue, this can range from caring for the hurt (compassion) to attacking everything in site, including objects and each other (valor). They feed off of the virtue that spawned them and hunger for it terribly. For this the compassion Urgelings normally starve rather quickly, not wanting to harm others. Urgelings They have the charm Measure the Wind, and feed off of Emotions like Fey do. |
| #17 | Walking over the nebulous terrain, your footprints burn like brands into the landscape. After a while they are all you can see in the fog; they trail out behind you for miles. You take your lead from them and manage to keep your path for quite awhile. Until you turn your head to look at something strange nearby - and when you face forward once more, your own footsteps stretch out before you. Did you turn around? Have your own footsteps betrayed you? |
|
#21 The Wave of Earth |
The characters hear a distance rumbling sound. It resembles the sound of a
thunderstorm that it constantly thundering. After several minutes, the ground begins to shake, and a panicked stampede of Wyld-twisted creatures, such as wolf-headed bison, bronze centipedes, adamant-scaled panthers, and eight winged owls with scorpion tails, fly and run by the characters. Any characters with visible anima banners will be given a wide birth by the animals. Any other characters should have to make some simple dodge or athletic rolls in order to avoid being trampled. Rather than lessening as the stampede runs behind the characters, the rumbling gets worse, eventually, the ground begins breaking, and characters must make Dexterity + Athletics rolls to stay on their feet every turn. The sound also increases to a terrible level, and a great cloud of black dust is visible in the distance. Any characters who has spent much time around the Western Ocean may make an Intelligence + Awareness roll. If the succeed, they find something "oddly familiar" about the rumbling. Finally, various things, such as trees, ruined husks of First Age buildings, and large burrowing animals like blackfire worms, hurl across the sky at great speed and the ground is completely shredded as a large tidal wave of earth comes into view. The smallest of these waves would be about 30 feet high, 20 or more feet wide and about 10 feet deep, while the largest would be almost 200 feet high, and 150 feet wide, and 70 or 80 feet in depth. [Once this wave is upon the characters, they must take action to survive. Of course, the easiest way to deal with the wave is to fly over it. However, the use of various athletics and dodge charms and stunts should also allow the characters to survive the wave with minimal damage. Further, Storytellers should allow parrying melee charms to work as well, as the character knocks away smaller bits of debris, and cuts through larger objects than cannot be casualty batted aside Archery or thrown charms, such as Cascade of Cutting Terror or Rain of Feathery Death, and even spells such as Death of Obsidian Butterflies can be used to cut holes within the wave. Remember, the wave will be picking up the characters and dragging them along with it. It should take the characters at least 5 turns, or as many as 20 or more to work their way out of wave, and each round will take the use of either charms or well worded stunts. However, due to the large number of turns a character must spend fighting through the wave, and the wave's deadly nature, Storytellers should be rather generous with the interpretation of the character's stunts and charms, especially if they have a charm like Chaos-Repelling Pattern active. The Wave of Earth is not meant to kill characters, so much as showcase their greatness. There could be any number of terrors or wonders buried within the rubble left from the Wave of Earth, though care must be taken when scavenging. Often, the Wave of Earth is following by rushing torrents of new, impossible things, such as a river of liquid shadows, or mountains formed from bones of glass. Both players and Storytellers should be good a thinking on their feet to make the Wave of Earth as enjoyable as possible.] |
|
#22 Butter Worms |
Before you is a lush green field but instead of grass it is billions of
earthworms. When you step into the field, instead of squishing the worms
that part and mat down just like blades of grass would. After your foot it lifted back up you leave a foot print of soft yellow light And if this light happens to shine across your mouth you taste butter. |
|
#23 Blood Gremlins |
Anyone with open wounds is followed by small gremlins made from their blood. For each health level of damage, a single blood gremlin forms. These blood gremlins have one health level, 3B/3L soak, and do one aggravated level of damage to the person who's blood created them. The blood gremlin cannot hurt anyone else. Due to their liquid nature, they cannot be successfully hit by anyone but their creator, and even then, it is at a difficulty of 3. Most blood gremlins follow their creators around until they can attack from an advantage, such as the creator sleeping, fighting, or otherwise distracted. |
| #23 |
Something attracts your attention from your right - you turn to look but
find yourself momentarily blinded. The next things you hear are the gasps of
your traveling companions and the chime of metal on metal. Turning to ask
after their surprise, you gasp yourself as your now-golden hair brushes
against your face. [The flash momentarily blinds the character, inflicting a -2 to all relevant dice pools for the following turn. The hair actually becomes gold and remains so, growing as normal, until death or the situation is remedied. This will not affect a character under the influence of Integrity-Protecting Prana or similar protection.] |
|
#23 The Library of Futures Past |
The top of a sphere -- a very large sphere -- protrudes from the ground
around it. The sphere itself is made of simple material, and light shines
from a few windows high up on the hemisphere. On one side of the sphere is
an entrance. Upon entering the sphere, it will become readily apparent that one is in fact, outside. That is, there is still sky above and there is no apparent way back out -- in fact, no way of telling that one has entered the sphere at all. EXCEPT, stacks of books will be scattered around on the ground, in trees, on tables. These books are the life stories of everyone in creation, edited, abridged, and made delightful reading. Finding one's own book is a relatively easy task (Perception + Investigation, diff 2 if the character is simply looking around for it, Intelligence + Investigation, diff 3 if the character is trying to make sense of the stacks) However, finding anyone else specific's book is much harder (5 successes on any roll to find). The books are, well, partially accurate. Bits have been changed to make them more exciting and more enjoyable to read and, indeed, the environment is suited to sitting and reading -- chairs will be ready for those who wish to sit with a book. The main changes are that naughty bits have been edited out, boring bits have been edited out, the subject always figures more prominently in events than he or she ever did in reality, and a thousand and one secrets and horrible mysteries are revealed, whether true or not. A character reading her own book will notice this immediately. An attempt to read into the future of someone else has success depending on how close they are to the reader. If a reader looks into her own future, she will eventually get a point in the book where it simply says, "And Sheila sat down to read the biography x, which begins: Once upon a time" and will descend into repetition after this. If a character tries to read the biography of someone who is in the library with them, eventually the book will start producing the text of whatever that person is reading or, if that person is standing around, will say, "stood around and waited while Sheila read her book, which began:" and so on. An attempt to read the book of someone outside the library, or someone who would not be waiting for someone in the Library, meets with more success. One can garner certain facts about anothers future from this, but they must be weeded out of the mass of falsehood and sensationalization printed in the book as well. Attempts to change the books at first seem to do nothing but change what is written inside the book. However, the person who's book was affected will begin to have their life more resemble the life printed for them in the book. They will become their own main character, with pitfalls etc galore. This effect lasts until the next full moon, at which point the library descends into the Wyld for good. Any attempt to bring a book out of the library is met with frustration as the door out does not appear to one holding a book -- one can walk forever in the seeming outside of the library and get relatively nowhere until one puts down any carried books. One can, however, take the brandy provided for book readers, which is excellent. |
|
#29 The Quiet Fountain |
Brushing aside the hanging vines of a gibbet tree with care, you are
intrigued to see a fountain. A very curious thing to see in the midst of all
this instability. Looking closer, you see that it is built of smoked glass or crystal and that something curious flows within its pool. The light of the stars looks out upon you, winking and laughing with the rolling of the water. Despite all the hardships thus far and the concentration it takes to keep the Wyld at bay, you begin to relax. It's as if your soul were sitting in a hot bath and letting it all seep in. You sit beside the fountain and let your spirit repair itself. ****** Sitting by the fountain to reap the great calm it provides will allow the character to recover one willpower each hour as it fortifies her sanity. However, to leave the fountain - or indeed to take any action - she becomes loathe to do. For each hour one sits beneath the fountain there is a willpower roll - if failed, she has no choice but to remain for another hour with no action but relaxation. Each willpower regained succumbed adds 1 difficulty to the subsequent roll. She will also resist being removed from the fountain -being taken foricbly from its presence loses her the willpower regained, as she is ripped away from the source of her new peace of mind. If she can find her own will to leave, however, she has reached a sort of peace, and takes no penalty for leaving. The fountain is often a cause for Wyld Addiction, and one may wish to force a roll upon leaving the fountain under force. |
|
#37 Dissatisfying Dislocation |
While traveling through the Wyld, even the most well-protected may find
themselves going to pieces. [A distortion of location begins to slowly and erratically consume the character. First a foot may be missing, then the spleen, then perhaps a large swath of skin. A part of the body that disappears moves to a location between 10 and 100 feet directly behind its original position. Each piece, as it moves, takes up its normal place in the puzzle that is the character's body. A hand without an arm to hold it up will be seen flailing through the air as a bewildered victim of the Wyld searches for the hand he thinks lost. The less observant may walk for minutes before noticing that they no longer have one of their legs - and yet won't fall over. Over the course of an hour, the person's entire body, clothing, and equipment will all disappear and reappear far behind, all working in concert as if nothing were going on. Even as the end nears, the victim still operates as normal from his normal perspctive - the awareness and perceptions are always the last to move. When the hour is up, the dichotomy of position collapses into a single point once more and the character is whole - but some distance behind where he thought he was. This isn't easy to notice at first, since obscure pieces of the body may be the first affected and their 'absence' can do no harm to the poor fool, since they're actually still there. Just someplace else. The distortion of location is unaffected by Integrity-Protecting Prana and other Wyld-protections, since it does no harm and, in some strange way, changes nothing. Even Lunars are not immune to this effect.] |
|
37#: 'The Childflowers' |
In the Wylds of the East grow huge and beautiful flowers, with petals that
are clear, with flowing purple markings. While each flower has unique markings, the are about ten or twenty different general types of markings that all others seem derived from. Each flower has at its center a large ball of some gauzy-white silk-like material. In this material, a fetus grows. After the normal period of nine months, the child tears its way from their gauze wombs, and drink a milk secreted from the flowers petals. These children seem to be unnaturally gifted, and in some cities in the Haltan Republic, couples unable to have children of their own are known to pay well for such a baby. A cottage industry of sorts has developed, as brave individuals brave the Boardermarches and Middlemarches searching for fields of these Childflowers. The babies have the same purple markings as the flowers they are born from, and these markings seem to effect dictate, in part, their looks and personalities. A well trained Childflower harvester can tell quite a bit about a child just by looking at these markings. [Unless there is some odd circustances, such as an illness or injury, all children born from Childflowers will group up to have five dots in all of the physical attributes, including Appearance.] |
|
#38 A Time For New Friends? |
The Player Characters find their surrounding landscape changing rapidly. Hills are bulging up from the ground, grass and trees are growing very rapidly, reaching full size within a matter of minutes. In those trees, winged tom cats are building elaborate and colorful nests in the hopes of attracting a mate. There is a human whistle, and across a hill, a large covered wagon comes running. It looks just like a normal wagon, save for the fact that it has wooden legs, ending in wooden, iron-tipped claws were the wheels should be. Its also carved with ritual patterns that are in-laid with iron. If the characters follow the wagon, it runs across another hill, stopping in front of man whose holding a tiny winged kitten in his huge left hand. The man is very large, reaching almost seven feet in height, and is heavily muscled. He has long platinum blond hair, and his skin is nearly pure white. His eyes are striking, with the “whites” of his eyes being a sky blue, and the iris being a deep, midnight blue. Finally, he has a pair of ivory antlers sprouting from his forehead. The man absent-mindedly pets the wagon with his right hand. If the characters allow the Wyld-tainted man to see them, he greats them warmly, speaking first in Skytongue, then in Low Realm, going through all the languages he knows until the characters recognize one of them. He introduces himself as Vahmadrig Murragid. The characters should all make an Intelligence + Lore roll, against a difficulty of three. Anyone from the Haslanti League makes this roll against a difficulty of one, and anyone from anywhere else in the North, or anyone with a Lore specialty in “the Wyld” makes the roll a difficulty of two. Any character who gets a single success realized that Vahmadrig Murragid is a relatively famous and very successful scavenger of the Wyld. Vahmadrig then asks the characters to join him for dinner. If they accept, he pulls a candle flame from one of his backpacks, and unfolds it until it is the size of a large campfire before placing it on the ground. He then cooks a simple meal, of some unknown meat flavored with flower petals that give the meat a tanginess and stain it blue, and a bed of buttery rice. Vahmadrig, or Vay, to his friends, is a very open and friendly man, who is more than willing to tell any stories about his life, and is equally eager to hear about the lives of the characters. Its quite obvious that he is very grateful for human contact. Although he would never ask, if the characters offered Vay their companionship, he would readily agree. Vahmadrig Murragid Vahmadrig, Vay (or sometimes Drig) to his friends, is as much a legend as any mortal can be. Born over 300 years ago in the city of Icehome, Vay was kidnapped by barbarian raiders in his youth. These barbarians took him, and the other kidnapped children into the Wyld to live. Though he was a slave to the tribe, he eventually earned a position as a favored and relatively well-treated slave, due to his intelligence, toughness, and ability to survive in the Wyld without losing his mind. This favored treatment eventually allowed him the freedom to escape the tribe. After several years, he was able to make his way back to Icehome. However, he was twisted by the Wyld, and the capital city of the Haslanti League did not allow him entrance. Because he did at one time belong in Icehome, he was allowed to leave of his own volition, rather than being killed. He wandered back into to Wyld. Without a tribe, he became horribly twisted by the Wyld, and was the victim of many dark games of the Fair Folk. However, he managed to survive, and escaped his Fair Folk captors, and lived out an animal existence. Then, Vay found the ruins of an ancient city, its beautiful buildings made from ice that was warm to the touch. The hideous creature that was Vay wandered among these ruins for nearly fifty years until, quite by accident, he became completely human again. Vay accidentally brushed a large disk that staved off the effects of the Wyld. Not only did it relieve him of all Wyld taints, it also made him a young man again. He took this disk, and wore it around his neck. His mind and body restored, he spent the next ten years investigating these ruins, and gathering numerous artifacts and wonders of the First Age, and reading every book he could on the Wyld. Then, he built a sled for himself, he set back out into the Wyld, carrying as many First Age wonders as he could with him. He returned to Creation, returned to Icehome, and became a hero. He sold his wonders for far less than they were worth, and enjoyed the kind of lifestyle that is usually reserved for nobles. The people of Haslanti League were enamored of Vay, now safely human again, who they saw as a Wyld- conquering hero. Vay; however, felt uncomfortable. Though he forgave the league for sending him away before, he could not put it behind him. Vay left Icehome, with mounts and wagons, and journeyed back into the Wyld. He was never again able to find the First Age city of ice, but he did find numerous smaller ruins, and “natural” wonders. He made a living for himself selling the bounties of the Wyld. At first, he only traveled to Icehome; however, after time, he began traveling to other cities in the North, and one day, upon exiting the Wyld, he strangely found himself mere miles from Yane. Since then, he became more savvy in his business dealings, and traveled all across Creation. He lived this way for over 150 years, spending several years in the Wyld gathering whatever wonders he could, and then returning to Creation, spending two or three years selling it. Nearly everywhere he went, he was welcomed as a hero, or perhaps more accurately, a celebrity. Legend has it he even once spent the evening in the Scarlet Empress’s bed. Then, perhaps five or six years ago, the disk that kept him from aging and being twisted by the Wyld shattered. Neither Vay, nor any of the experts (including several Dragon-Blooded Exalts) he consulted with understand why it has broken. Things are now more difficult for Vay. His great knowledge of Wyld, and the wards against it have kept him from being too badly effected thus far, but in the past six years, he has changed greatly, and in his trips into Creation, he has already begun to have problems with superstitious people. Vay plans to make this his last expedition into the Wyld, once he finds a First Age ruin, or something else that will bring him great wealth, he will retire, probably in Great Forks, or some other tolerant city. Personality: Among friends and those he trusts, Vay is a very loud, garrulous man. He laughs easily, and is almost impossible to anger. Years of dealing with Fair Folk and the House Cynis have given Vay the patience of a Sidereal. When he isn’t concerned with appearances, Vay does tend to drink perhaps a bit too much, and he is maybe a bit too appreciative of a beautiful woman, or handsome man. However, even when drunk, he is never anything more than playful. When it is necessary; however, Vay is all things to all people, and his etiquette is oddly impeccable, regardless of who he is around. He has spent time as an honored guest in many Fair Folk courts. He also slaughtered walruses and ate their meat alongside members of the most base Wyld-tainted barbarian tribes. He has attended balls in the Imperial City, and has conversed with Chejop Kejak himself. He has also had to help farmers in middle of Scavenger Lands work their fields in exchange for sleeping in their barns. He has been beloved, revered and nearly worshipped, but he has also been made to flee from angry mobs. He knows the troubles and joys of nearly all facets of life, has traveled further and longer than any other mortal, and in his long life, he has gathered more wisdom that most Terrestrials. Therefore, Vay is very understanding of nearly every situation, and has a knack for acting properly in nearly any situation. Image: As described above, Vay is a nearly 7’ tall man, with large muscles, nearly pure white skin and long platinum hair. His eyes are a light blue, with dark blue irises, and a pair of ivory antlers raise from his forehead. In the Wyld, he wears his armor as often as is comfortable for him, and is nearly covered in a large variety of talismans, charms and wards against the Fair Folk, and the Wyld itself. In other situations, he dresses in order to match the occasion. Also, he is missing his left pinky-finger, used to make his most gruesome talisman. Attributes Strength: 5 * Dexterity: 3 * Stamina: 6 Charisma: 4 * Manipulation: 3 * Appearance: 2 Perception: 3 * Intelligence: 3 * Wits: 4 Virtues Compassion: 3, Conviction: 4, Temperance: 2, Valor: 3 Abilities Archery: 3, Brawl: 2, Melee: 3 (Axes +1, Against Fair Folk +1), Endurance: 3 (Cold +1, Sleep Deprivation +1, Fasting +1), Resistance: 3 (Resist Wyld Based Diseases and Poisons +1), Performance: 2 (Oration +1), Presence: 3 , Survival: 4 (Hunting +1, Foraging +1, When In the Wyld +1), Crafting (Bowyer/Fletcher) 2, Lore: 4 (Fair Folk +1, The Wyld +1, First Age Ruins +1), Occult: 4 (Fair Folk +1, The Wyld +2), Athletics: 3, Awareness: 5 (Notice Changes +1, Spot Ambush + 1, Sharp Sight +1), Stealth: 3 (Camouflage +1, Ambush +2), Bureaucracy: 2 (Rare Goods +2), Linguistics: 5+ (Skytongue, High Realm, Low Realm, Old Realm, Riverspeak, Flametongue, Seatongue, Forest-tongue, several tribal tongues), Ride: 3 (Rough Terrain +1, Calming Mounts +1), Socialize: 3 (Discern Truth +1, Discern Motivation +1) Backgrounds Allies: 3 (A Fair Folk noble) Contacts: 5 (Vay has a network of contacts throughout most of Creation) Influence: 3 (Vay’s influence is fairly minor, but he can hold the ear of nearly any official for at least a moment) Resources: 3 (Vay has made and lost at least a dozen small fortunes, but currently is merely “well off”) Wyld Mutations Poxes: Eye Color (Blue-on-Blue): Add vision-based Perception rolls by two dice Large: Add one dot to both Strength and Stamina, and add an additional -0 Health Level (already figured) Skin Color (Almost pure white): No mechanical effect. Afflictions: Horns (Ivory Antlers): Allows Vay to make a gore attack Base Initiative: 7 Attacks: Fist: Speed 7, Accuracy 5, Damage 5B, Defense 5 Kick: Speed 4, Accuracy 4, Damage 7B, Defense 4 Gore: Speed 4, Accuracy 4, Damage 10L, Defense 4 Long Bow: Speed 7, Accuracy 6, Damage (per Arrow), Rate 3, Range 200 Black-wood Axe: Speed 7, Accuracy 9, Damage 10L, Defense 8 (Exceptional weapon) Iron Axe: Speed 7, Accuracy 7, Damage 10L, Defense 7 Dodge Pool: 2 Soak: 13B/8L (Spirit Shark Hide Buff Jacket, 8B/8L, -0 Mobility, 1 Fatigue) Willpower: 10 Essence: 1 Health Levels: -0, -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Incap Equipment: Vay has two axes (one made of iron, one made of feathersteel that changed to black wood several years ago), a long bow, and a supply of arrows of all type, several iron knives, numerous books from the First and Second Ages on the Wyld, a Spirit Shark Hide Buff Jacket, numerous talismans and wards, and the materials for them, and a wagon that moves on its own. In addition, Vay may own any number of artifacts or wonders the Storyteller wishes him to have. Vay’s Wagon: Strength 5, Dexterity 4, Stamina N/A Willpower 6 Health Levels -0x3, -1x4, -2x2, -4x2, Incap (Each success on a Crafts (woodworking) or (wagonwright) roll can heal one level of damage, each level of damage requires an hour’s worth of work. Although the wagon soaks Bashing and Lethal damage separately, treat all damage done as Lethal damage.) Attack: Iron-Tipped Claws: Speed 8, Accuracy 6, Damage 8L Trample: Speed 7, Accuracy 4, Damage 6L - 15L (depending on how much of a load the wagon is carrying) Dodge Pool: 6 Soak: 8B/12L Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Dodge 2, Brawl 2 |
|
#39 'Everything is normal' |
The environment is completely normal regarding the geographical position of
the wyld. Up is up, and the birds are singing beautifully. Comment. The purpose of the Wyld activity is to confuse players even more. They don't know that they still are in the wyld. They might even distrust it and search for anomalies which do not exist. It may serve a purpose if the ST for some reason would like to present NPCs to disbelieve the existence of the wyld itself. |
|
#41 The Waste Land |
The characters come to a great dying parcel of Wyld, where rivers run with
only trickles of water, or blood, where trees have whithered and brown
leaves that fly off like cricket-moths when the trees are jostled, and the
only animals seen are pale and wretched beasts, baked by the hot sun and
destroyed by the impotence of the land. In the middle of this land is a great castle, surrounded by what were obviously at one point verdant fields, but are now dry and dead like the rest of the land. The castle is made of withered vines and stones meshed together -- if the vines wilt anymore, the castle itself would collapse and kill all inside. In the main room of the castle, the only room of the castle visible or apparent to anyone walking in, unhindered, sits a great tall man, his skin a pale green and wearing the most regal robes and jewelry, sitting with his legs crossed at an unnaturally sharp angle. Around him sits his court, and while the the characters watch, a great sword is brought in, a daiklaive made of finest Orichalcum, and a great cup, a huge drinking vessel, made obviously only for one the stature of this great man on the throne, made of pure Moonsilver. Anyone making a perception+awareness roll, diff: 5, will notice a slight bloodstain around the upper inseam of the Emperor's pants. Anyone making a roll diff: 3 will notice that he looks uncomfortable whenever he shifts positions. Another person might notice that there is also a little bit of blood on the sword's tip. If the characters ask about the cup, it promptly dissapears from the bearer's hand, and the king looks wearier. The attendant with the sword then gives the sword to the asking party member. If the characters ask about the sword, the same thing happens, but the king's frown is a little less deep and, when the characters leave the castle, the land looks a little more fertile. Anyone carrying the sword will feel an immense draw toward the other member of the pair. If the character is not in active pursuit of the grail, each time he goes to sleep he will find that he has travelled in his sleep as far as he could toward the grail again. Any attempts to discard the sword short of giving it to another person simply meet with failure; the next morning the character awakes, a full nights travel closer to the grail and once more carrying the sword. The character seeking the grail finally comes, five days of travel later, to a castle much like the first. In fact, the same king sits inside, holding the grail in his hands. If the character presents him with the sword, he will himself place the sword in the cup and the land will begin to grow fertile again instantly, and the wound healed. If a character themselves places the sword in the cup, the same approximate result occurs. Over the next several days, however, the character will notice himself changing, his skin becoming greener. His health will also be forever tied to that Wyld Zone -- if he dies, the Wyld Zone will whither away into a shadowland, if the wyld zone is damaged, he will feel the pain. As long as he remains healthy, however, the land will remain fertile and all living there will owe their fealty to the one who put the sword in the grail. |
|
#42 Covet Stone |
This innocent looking stone is about the size of a large mans thumb, but no
two stones look alike. Some are crystalline some are gray and smooth, others
are rough and covered in glyphs but they all have one thing in common. They
all are stunning to look at. They have a knack for being seen (+3 dice to
perception + Awareness rolls) without even looking for it and those that do
see them can not help but to be mesmerized by them. They seem to call to
those looking at them to touch them (one temp Willpower per scene, or a
temperance roll at 2 difficulty to resist trying to touch them). Those that
can not resist to just touch the stones will do almost everything in their
power to do so. Going as far as ignoring danger and personal injury. They
will risk their well being but will not go as far as do something that is
certain death to touch the stones. Once touched the full power of the stones takes hold. The person must make a temperance roll at 3 difficulty or spend one temporary Willpower to resist trying to obtain them for them self, each day that they do not own the stones. They become their obsession, their one all consuming goal and thought. This goes on until the next full moon at which time the stones return the wyld and all those under their spell are released. Those that possess the stones can not help but show them off and gloat about their good fortune. Often traveling to areas with as many people in them as possible to show off their new prize. Their want all to see the prize they own, but will go to great lengths to keep others from touching them or stealing them. In the first age the city of Tulef Kal in the north east was destroyed as the Prince of that city had found one of these stones while hunting near a wyld area. The stories say that he found them just before a parade in which he flaunted the stone before the whole city. What followed was pure greed and chaos. Before the week was out the city was empty and most of its buildings lay in ruins. |
|
#49 The Twisting of Senses |
The characters sense become confused and twisted. All five senses are
affected. What they should see, they instead hear, and what the should smell
they feel instead. Each characters senses are exchanged in a different manner. [This is incredibly confusing, and anyone effected by this twisting is at -5 to all dice rolls. This penalty is reduced by 1 each day as the character gets used to their new way of perceiving things. In order to counteract this penalty, a character may spend a Willpower point and roll their Perception. The character can then reduce their dice penalty by the number of successes on the Perception roll for one turn. The must spend a Willpower point and re-roll their Perception each turn they want to lessen the penalty. If they score more successes than their penalty, the actually gain that many dice to their rolls for that turn, as they gain strange insights due to their skewed perceptions. After 5 days, the character can act normally, as though they had always perceived things in their new manner. After 10 days, their perceptions return to normal. The return of their normal senses is just as disconcerting to the characters as the original twisting of senses was; however, it only takes a few hours for them to adjust back.] |
|
#50 Crystal Organ |
While walking, the characters begin to notice, every so often, a piece of
vibrantly colored crystal floating in midair. If the crystal is touched in
midair, it moves easily, but has a tendency to move back toward its original position slowly. Any crystal moved from its original position emits a clear tone, each crystals tone slightly different in color and pitch -- though one would need superhuman sense to know the pitch shifts between many of the crystals. The density of these pieces of crystal, which range in size between vaguely finger-shaped slivers and pieces the size of a small man, increases rapidly no matter what direction the characters walk in, and soon they find themselves in an area whose crystal density makes moving between them somewhat hard -- however, simply walking and paying no attention to the crystals is easy enough, all but the largest brush aside with the movement of an arm -- if the characters walk this way, they will hear the crystals chiming together to form something almost like language, though indecipherable. After this point, if the characters continue to walk, the crystal density will lighten, until finally there are no more crystals. Inside this area of crystals, sound is significantly dampened -- in the heart of the sphere, two people standing next to each other need to shout in order to be heard. That is, unless a character spends essence. A dragon blooded using, for example, Wind Carried Words, would have his voice repeated throughout the crystalline area at full volume. If a character has any anima flare at all, ghostly voices will follow him or her around through the organ, increasing in intensity and frequency dependant on the level of flare. What actually happens is that each crystal resonates at a specific pitch. Whenever something is spoken inside the crystal organ, the crystals hear it and remember that moment. By spending essence and concentrating on single crystal, an exalt may unlock any moment in that crystal's past -- that crystal will then send out a signal to all nearby crystals, and the sound heard by the organ will be reproduced, faithfully, at exactly the point in the crystal organ from which it originated. While this is happening, sound is no longer dampened by the organ. Crystals retain these properties once removed from the wyld zone -- some faerie use them as wind chimes that chime with the screams of the tortured whenever wind blows by. |
|
#51 Face Off |
As a group walks through the Wyld, the very air before them begins to
shimmer. As the travelers watch, a perfect reflection of the party takes
visage and then form. The copies match the originals pace for pace walking backwards, and mimic every movement and motion. They always remain in front of their creators whichever way they turn. [The reflections will shimmer and fade out after a while, harmlessly. No one can get close enough to her own reflection to attack it, and normal ranged attacks pass through them. Anything that successfully causes aggravated damage to spiritual or primordial energies (such as some archery charms, or Ghost-Eating Tech.) will cause a copy to burst into fading specks of light and never return. But the original of a destroyed copy takes one unsoakable level of aggravated damage as this occurs.] |
| #55 | Wyld Activity #55 has been swallowed up by the ever shifting, ever changing Wyld. |
| #61 |
A swarm of sabre-toothed rabbits with the size and temperament of flying
ants runs over the characters. [They bite. They roll 1 die for attack five times per person, which cannot be parried or dodged without perfect charms. Each success is a bite that has pierced deep enough to inject a slight toxin - the result is the roll of one damage per success - never more and never less. Although the cloud dissipates after five rounds, the creatures can be chased away using some simple wards (Occult 2 req'd) or other more mundane methods. They squish well.] |
|
#62 ‘The Field of Lotuses of Tales' |
The characters find themselves in a rather pleasant area of the Wyld. The
air is warm, and the sky has a sweet smell to it. All around the characters is a vast field of lotus blossoms. The lotuses are pure white in color with deep purple markings on each petal. [These markings are writing in a language that has never existed, but can be understood by everyone. Further, the writing can seen by anyone, even the blind, or blindfolded, and cannot be obscured by anything except for another petal. If someone covers a Lotus of Tales with a cloth or their hand, the writing of the top petals of the Lotus will appear on the cloth, or their hand. Each Lotus of Tales contains the history of one person. There is one Lotus for each human who has ever existed, or will exist. There are also Lotuses for every Spirit, Elemental, Primordial and Fair One. The writings of the Lotuses of Tales dedicated to Spirits very much resemble those of humans, and the writing of the Lotuses of the Fair Folk are always flowing, shifting and changing. The writing of the Lotuses of the Primordials, however, is so dense and the thick that these Lotuses appear to be purple with small spots of white. Although there are an almost infinite number of Lotuses of Tales, it is surprising easy to find the Lotus of Tales of people that the characters know. There are even odds that any given Lotus a character examines will be about someone they know personally, and better than even odds that if the Lotus they are looking at isn't for a someone they have meet, it will be someone they have heard of. Further, it will never take more than an hour of searching before a character finds their Lotus of Tales. The Lotuses of Tales can provide deep insight into the person they are grown for. This could mean anything from gaining information useful for blackmailing, to getting bonuses for summoning a specific Elemental. If anyone attempts to read the petals of a Lotus of someone who has not yet been born, or attempts to read the petals of themselves or others that regard future events, they instantly get a terrible headache. If the continue trying to read the Lotus, they get perhaps five words further, and then pass out from pain. Once they awake, the Field of the Lotuses of Tales is gone, and they have a terrible headache that gives them -1 to all dice pools for one year. This -1 penalty can be ignored for a scene by spending one willpower point. If one character in a group of PCS goes unconscious in this matter, the remaining characters see the Field slowly turn to fog and fade away. Even a character protected by charms such as Integrity-Protecting Prana and Chaos-Repelling Pattern suffer from the effects of reading into the future with the Lotus of Tales] |
|
#63 ‘Onyx-and-Pearl Lilies’ |
These flowers are one of the best known and sought-after bounties of the
Wyld. They are among the more common flora of the Wyld, but, they are far
from common. They are found most often in the Middlemarches, or Deep Wyld, though they are occasionally found in the Bordermarches. They can grow in practically any Wyld-rich setting, as long as the Unconquered Sun is visible. Onyx-and-Pearl Lilies are found growing in fields of other flowers. The type of flower that the Onyx-and-Pearl is growing with doesn’t matter. It could be something as mundane as a bush of gray silk roses, or as strange as a meadow filled with orchids that reflect the night sky from a thousand years ago in their petals. Until an Onyx-and-Pearl Lily reaches maturity, its petals are clear, and it is a mundane flower. Once it reaches maturity; however, its petals change colors. During the day, the petals of the Onyx-and-Pearl turn black, and glitter brilliantly in the light. At night, the Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is a pearly white, and actually glows slightly. At dawn, while the Unconquered Sun rises, the Onyx-and-Pearl Lily’s white petals begin turning black. They don’t fade into blackness; however, the blackness flows through the flower, like a dye. At dusk, when the Unconquered Sun lowers, the black petals are washed over by the whiteness in a similar manner. [The Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is an incredibly useful and potent flower. It has different medicinal properties depending upon its color. Although the flower dies the second it is picked, its properties remain, and it can be used successfully for up to ten years after picking. If it is picked during the day, when flower is black, it is an incredibly dangerous poison. At night, when it is white, the Onyx-and-Pearl Lily has amazing healing properties. During dusk or dawn, when it is both white and black, the Onyx-and-Pearl Lily has unpredictable narcotic effects. The effects of the flower are so potent that those picking the Onyx-and-Pearl Lily must be careful not to touch the petals themselves, or a they will feel a lesser effect. If a black Onyx-and-Pearl is eaten, the Stamina + Resistance roll to resist its effects is at a difficulty of 5. If the roll is failed, the victim takes 12L, and if the roll is successful, the victim takes 7L. The duration is 10 minutes, and the penalty is -5, due to severe numbness. It is unlikely; however, that someone could be tricked into eating a black Onyx-and-Pearl Lily; however, as its deadly nature is fairly well known. More commonly, the black Onyx-and-Pearl is boiled in a small amount of water. During this boiling process, anyone breathing in the steam from the boiling water must make a Stamina + Resistance roll at a difficulty of 2, or suffer 1L, and a -1 penalty to all dice rolls for an hour. For the person mixing this brew, covering their face with a cloth is enough of a precaution. In its liquid form, it is completely tasteless, but is the color of black ink, and therefore, must be hidden in a very dark liquid. In this state, it is slightly weaker, the Stamina + Resistance roll is still at a difficulty of 5, however, if the victim fails, they only take 10L, and if the roll succeeds, the victim only takes 5L of damage. The duration is still 10 minutes, but the penalty is only - 3. A single flower makes only enough poison for one dose. This dose can; however, be broken up into up to four less potent doses. Each of these less potent doses requires a Stamina + Resistance roll at a difficult of 2, will failure resulting in 4L and success resulting in 1L. The duration is 1 minute, and the penalty is -1. If the white Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is ingested, it’s healing properties are amazing. As soon as it is ingested, the patient is cured of any disease, illness or infect, including the Great Contagion, with no roll needed. Within one hour of ingestion, all Bashing damage done to the patient is healed. Further, in that hour, a single level of Lethal damage is also healed. Each day after that, a single point of Lethal damage is healed, until all damage that the victim had suffered before they ate the white Onyx-and-Pearl is healed. This includes broken arms, broken legs, and anything else short of severed limbs. After the last Lethal level of damage is healed, a single level of Aggravated damage is also healed. Any damage the patient took after ingesting the flower is not healed. If the white Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is boiled in a manner similar to the black variety, its effects are slightly less powerful. Anyone breathing in the steam from this boiling process is healed of a single level of Bashing damage, and is cured of minor illnesses, such as the cold or diarrhea. This liquid form of the medicine is a milky white color, and when taken, it heals all Bashing damage at a rate of one level per hour. It also cures a single level of Lethal damage each week until the damage all damage accumulated before the patient ingested the flower is healed. This liquid has no effect on Aggravated damage. Further, all diseases and illnesses, save for the most terrible, are healed by this liquid with no roll needed. Like the black flower, the white Onyx-and-Pearl Lily can have its liquid dose quartered. Each of these four doses will heal a single level of Bashing damage, and a single level of Lethal damage. Additionally, the patient heals all other wounds five times faster, and the use of a dose of this lessened medicine allows someone to make a roll to cure any disease or illness, even if it is a disease that does not normally have a cure, should as leprosy. Finally, the roll to treat any disease with a lessened dose of white Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is at a Difficulty of two less than normal. If the Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is picked during dawn or dusk, the flower is either black with swirls of white, or white with swirls of black. In either case, it is a power and strange drug , with unpredictable results. Due to its unpredictability, the swirled Onyx-and-Pearl Lily is not often in demand, but its strange and powerful nature is undeniable. It is up to the Storyteller to decide the exact effects of eating a swirled Onyx-and-Pearl Lily; however, its effects should be dramatic. One flower may lead to incredible months-long euphoria that makes resisting temptation impossible, and limit breaks much easier, while another could lead to hallucinations that leave the user in a confused stupor, with secret knowledge that leads to an increase in their Lore rating. Its also possible that the flower may effect the senses of a user, granting sight to a blind man, or taking the hearing from another. When reduced to its liquid form, swirled Onyx-and-Pearl Lilies act as more powerful versions of existing drugs, such as Soma and Bright Morning. In a quarter-doses, the drug is much more tame, producing effects similar to, but far more powerful than, marijuana, qat, and extract of coca. An Onyx-and-Pearl Lily will never grow within 100 miles of another existing Onyx-and-Pearl. Further, as already stated, it dies the instant it is pulled from the ground, and therefore, cannot be replanted. Every attempt at domesticating the Onyx-and- Pearl Lily has failed. Therefore, a single flower, if brought back from the Wyld, will fetch at least five dots in Resources. |
|
#66 Time Passes Slowly, Here In The Mountains |
Over a large area, the speed of time's passage is inversely proportional to
the elevation. The day will pass more and more slowly as one ascends a
mountain, slowing to almost a complete halt at the summit. Conversely, those
descending into a valley will see time begin to pass with ever-greater
rapidity, until the sun is a yellow streak and the sky strobes disorienting between blue and black. The altered passage of time does not affect players, their equipment, or anything else which is not "native" to the Wyld, and is thus unaffected by Wyld-resistance abilities. Regardless of how fast or slow time passes, no one not of the Wyld will age at an abnormal rate. However, time lost or gained does stay as such when one returns to the outside world. Thus, it is sometimes possible to traverse vast distances in only minutes by ducking into a Wyld area and sticking to the ridges. Of course, it's also possible to go to sleep in a valley and wake up 100 years later. |
|
#70 ‘… and fire and steel and poison shall rain down from the heavens, and we shall cry out for mercy.’ |
The characters eventually find themselves in a stable area of the Wyld.
Though the sky is a deep violet, and the grass is made of green crystal, and
the birds sing grand arias, these things are at least consistent. After a day or so of traveling through this environment, the characters begin to see horrible scarring on the ground. Huge ditches and small craters are filled with clean and delicious silvery water. All manner of small ravines and mounds are present, as though hundreds of tiny meteors have ravaged the ground. That same day, the characters begin seeing the first ruins. The first buildings are completely unrecognizable. Stone buildings are reduced almost completely to dust, and wooden buildings are splinters. Nothing salvageable, or even recognizable, exists. If the characters continue traveling, the ruins become more frequent, and some are intact enough to be recognizable. Husks of farm houses, the shattered remains of an Inn. Broken piles where a whole village once stood. Among these ruins, various objects have survived. Anvils with burn holes running through them, silverware, and other small or sturdy items are still recognizable. Eventually, at the ruins of a small town, the characters make a discovery. Lying among the ruins of a large building is a sign… although this sign has writing in a language that none of the characters recognize, they can understand it. The sign says “Stables”. After three or four days of traveling, the characters come to a massive collection of ruins. There is a large, mostly destroyed granite wall surrounding what was obviously a huge city. No part of the of the broken wall stands more than ten stories tall, however, there are areas of the wall thicker than a man is tall. There are some buildings in this ruined city that completed avoided whatever caused this land’s destruction; however, like the walls, there are no shells of towers or buildings that reach higher than ten stories without being cut off. If the characters search the city, they find all sorts of salvageable objects. It is obvious that while the ruins are at least one or two hundred years old, the furniture and objects seem of a modern design. Further, more and more writing has survived. The stables sign was no odd coincidence. Within minutes, each of the PC’s find that they are able to perfectly read and understand the language, even if they cannot understand any other written languages. Further, the characters even understand the language’s odd rules and colloquial phrases. For instance, the characters know that “he will die twice” means a person is very tough, and that words can begin with “Kth”, even though you are not allowed to put a letter in front of “Th” when it is at the beginning of the word. In spite of this surviving writing, the characters are unable to gain much insight, as books and pages and tapestries fall to dust within seconds of being touched, unless charms such as Object-Strengthening Touch or Crack-Mending Technique are used. Any books or writings that are repaired in such a method are mostly diaries, or story books, and while they are interesting, they don’t provide much information. One disturbing fact; however, is that bastardizations of all of the PC’s names seem to come up repeatedly in the writing, usually as a part of a curse or an oath. The longer they wander around the ruined city, the more familiar it seems. It is not so much that the characters have a memory of it, but as they wander around, buildings and objects just seem to be where the characters think they should be. Eventually, the characters all come to realize that their best chance at learning anything is by going through the basements of the building at the center of the city, which, the characters realize, is both a palace and a church. This building is a huge and complex maze of ruins, as it spans several city blocks, and many of the floors collapsed upon itself. Although it seems like it would take days, or even weeks to look through the rubble, the characters manage to find their way to the entrance of this buildings under levels within just a few hours. The door to the under levels is made from steel, and is more than twenty feet tall, and fifteen feet wide. There door’s lock is an incredibly complex puzzle, comprised of thousands of blank steel tiles, each less than a inch in diameter, which must be arranged in the proper pattern. Any characters who spend more than three or four seconds looking at the tiles will realize how to solve the puzzle. If the characters work together, it only takes 3 or 4 hours to put the puzzle together correctly. Once completed, the tiles fade together, and a beautiful painting of a water scene appears. The doors then open. Inside, the air is very dry, and there is a thick layer of dust on everything; however, it is well lit by candles with burn with a bright, smokeless flame. These basement levels are filled with traps, and locking doors of a wide variety of dangerous and ingenious designs. However, in each case, at least one of the characters (and often, all of them) knows how to disarm each trap, or open each lock. There are thousands of books, notes, letters, tapestries, statues, paintings, tomes and relics within the corridors and hallways of these basement levels. The majority of the paintings and statues seem to be of the characters, as is most of the writing. Each of the characters is mentioned by name as a god in these texts. Though these names are bastardizations (such as Viodeq instead of Vodek, or Songbird of Irresistible Beauty, rather than Irresistibly Beautiful Songbird), there is little doubt that the characters are the gods within these religious texts. Slightly altered variations of many of the events in each of the character’s lives are mentioned, and although the writing never takes a disrespectfully personal tone, it is obvious that the “gods” share the personalities of the characters. There are thousands of copies of ‘The Thousand Sacred Pages’, a book which outlines the characters being born among various tribes, and bringing these tribes together, building cities and eventually, an Empire. The characters then ruled as God-Kings until, one day, they decided their people could stand on their own two feet. Then, the God-Kings left, though they still answered the prayers of their worshippers when they were truly needed. The religion, and all aspects of life in the city greatly resemble what a society would be like if the PC’s all had to sit down and work out a system amongst themselves. Other texts, more political than religious, make note of the fact that eventually, the Empire began fighting amongst itself, with people forming factions based upon philosophical differences. If possible, those philosophical differences should be once that exist among the PC’s, such as a Zenith’s hatred of the Eclipse’s use of deception. Eventually, the great empire fell into a civil war, and by the time that war ended, the empire was now so small that a man on a fast horse could travel its length in only a few days. Then… the Fair Folk attacked. First, the began by defacing the statues of the characters, and destroying copies of ‘The Thousand Sacred Pages’, and other religious icons. That is why all of these religious works are located below ground. The people of this empire hoped that by moving the works below, they would save them, and hopefully, the Fair Folk would stop attacking. It was not to be; however, and eventually, the Fair Ones tired of merely hunting and killing the citizen’s of this empire. Instead, the committed mass murder, and destroyed the empire completely, and although everyone prayed for their gods, the PC’s, to come to their aid, the PC’s did not, and the empire, and all of those who lived in it, were destroyed, killed and forgotten. One of the books, hidden away in a great library filled with books of heresy, is a copy of the diary of Lagalos, a man known to see into the future. In the diary of Lagalos, there is this final entry. “I awoke this morning and cried. I have seen our end: In the end, creatures of frightening beautiful and exquisite cruelty will destroy us. They will be as powerful as our gods, and they shall first kill us with swords and arrows, and then lightning and shadows. In the end, they will shatter our homes around us, and fire and steel and poison shall rain down from the heavens, and we shall cry out for mercy. The beautiful and wicked creatures will only laugh; however. We will pray to the gods with our dying breaths, we will pray to the gods even as we huddle, trying to protect the bodies of our children. We will pray, and our gods will listen. Our gods will return to us. They will return; however, too late. We will have failed them, and they will have failed us. Our gods will return to only the dust of our corpses.” |
|
#71 Wailing Sunrise |
The character's encounter a landscape rife with hills and depressions. There is no undergrowth, but the land is quite covered in giant made of metallic crystal with heads that sparkle red, blue, and an almost ultraviolet color in the sunlight. The mushrooms are quite harmonic, and quickly pick up on any songs the characters may sing or sounds they often repeat. This is sheer mimicry. They can hum along with a song or pick up a rhythm-- they are not sentient and attempting a conversation with them is likely to be quite frustrating. Immediately before sunrise, the mushrooms hum in anticipation. As the sun's light strikes them, they gasp, moan, and sometimes scream in (some might say erotically) ecstatic elation. At random points during the day, usually 2 or 3 times a day, the mushrooms begin to hum and whisper fearfully. After a minute or so of this, the sound rises to a general moaning, and soon screams are heard in the distance. The screams approach in a wave as giant ants of white jade cut a swath of destruction through the landscape, cutting down and carrying away the mushrooms and trampling the characters in the process. Stunting out of the way or just outright killing the ants (soak around 10, around 10 health levels, don't defend, all at ST discretion) saves the characters from suffering some small amount of bashing damage. In any case, after the ants have passed, the mushrooms' sounds are naught but a barely heard background hum. The mushrooms grow back quite quickly, though, at a few inches every minute. It takes a little under an hour for the path of mushrooms to grow back, and soon enough they're back at their game of mimicing sounds again. |
|
#71 Blank Canvas |
As the intrepid explorers walk through the Wyld, the usually vivid colors
surrounding them progressively dull, then become faded, and eventually
disappear entirely as they travel on. All that is left behind is pure, clean, white space. Not too far away, the faded surroundings are visible but hard to make out. The ground is white, featureless sand and the sky is the greyest of greys. The clearing is small enough to cross in a matter of 15 minutes or so. But everything that occurs over the course of that passage, or any stay in the clearing, is remembered. The actions, the emotional theme, everything. Slowly, over the course of months or perhaps years, the blank canvas of reality turns into something inspired by what transpired. A group that was very cautious may create a small fortress. Partners who argue the entire way might cause a pair of enormous stone giants to grow, forever in mortal combat with one another. Ones who come in, make camp, sleep, and involve little other emotion may leave in their wake a farce of sorts, as the art imitates life and figures mimic their movements. Whatever the travelers leave behind, it is something that has a connection to what went on and it is not often subtle. Any who return to this clearing later will no doubt recognize the inspiration of the creation. Anything created by this sort of event is particularly resistant to further change by the Wyld. |
|
#72 By Charon's Oar |
-one for the west- You could be sailing, or perhaps sitting on a dock. Either way it will start as a speck on the horizon, coming closer, it will take shape as a ferryman. The passengers are all pallid and passive. Passage costs 2 gold coins, or another monetary equivalent. Talking with the passengers will provide insight into their former lives. As soon as everything is out of sight, nothing but water around, a great tempest will rise up causing a whirl pool that will suck the boat into the underworld. What happens from there is anyone's guess. |
|
#73 Threads of Fate |
-This one takes place in wyld pockets in or near deadlands- Players come upon three hags around a harp: one pays, one selects which thread to pull, and the third cuts the strand. If one watches the cutting they get a "glimpse" of a dying person's life (kind of like their life flashes before their eyes) watching to many will most certainly cause a severe depression at the realization of how fragile life is. One the chance someone tries to stop them the hags will defend their craft accordingly. Indecently this isn't a fight the PC's can win, after all... who can stop fate? |
|
#74 Worst Case Scenario |
The PC's are struck with a BIG dose of bad mojo (for an hour), everything they do is wrong, things that should be routine become a challenge of immense proportions, sometimes even walking without stumbling is a challenge. All rolls within the time limit have +5 added to the successes needed for completing a task, any roll that doesn't succeed is a botch. After the hour is up misfortune looses interest in the party and normalcy resumes. |
| #75 Carnival |
While going threw the wyld the PC's begin to hear joyous music far off in
the distance, after walking further the party comes upon a carnival.
Dancers, food, jesters, plays, rides, games, anything and everything you
could hope for in this amazing festival. Should the players choose to join in the revelry, they will find what ever they would like to see/do/eat/buy. A Dawn may find a tournement to fight in, the prize is a kiss from a beatiful maiden, the zenith might find a parade dedicatd to The Unconqured Sun. Twilights may find new techniuqes of crafting long since lost, a night will find no shortage of fat purses to cut, and the eclipse may be asked to judge a pie eating contest. Make the events of the carnival custom tailored to your players, let them enjoy themselves. If they spend the night, they will wake up in the morning just as if they had set up camp for the night, no trace of what had taken place last night. Anything lost is regained, anything bought is gone, all the money spent is returned, but the memories of the night remain vivid. It seems as if it was a wonderful dream. |
|
# 76 Three Little Pigs |
As the explorers travel, the wooded landscape grows closer and closer
together. The change is subtle enough that it requires a difficulty two
Perception + (Survival or Awareness) roll, allowable once per day, to tell
that the vegetation grows denser. After a week of travel, the characters find that the forest around them has become a hallway of intertwined trees and branches, with little way out. The floor is made up of branches polished smooth with wear and there are doors at irregular intervals along the hallway. The doors blend in very well, and require a Per + Awareness roll of difficulty three to see. Once someone has seen them, they are easy enough to point out and see from then on. The man-like wood-men that inhabit this place will soon make an appearance. They stand at half the height of a man, bear wooden spears six feet long capped with a substance that isn't immediately identifiable, and their voices are soft, reminiscent of the scrape of charcoal across thick paper. They speak Old Realm. Discussion with them will reveal that they are at constant war with two other nearby nations: the nations of Harvest and Quarry. Theirs is the nation of Lumber. The people of Harvest are much weaker than those of Lumber, but they number many more and reproduce quickly. Those of Quarry are much hardier and more difficult to harm. Their number is nearly static, and legend has it that they must carve one from the cold stone to replace any who are lost to the war. The three nations are fairly well balanced - though powerful PCs could turn the tide of the war, if enough effort was put into it. Even though the wood-people are indistinguishable to normal man (Per + Awareness or Investigation at difficulty five), they are real individual beings. They are also fairly static and, once found, can be returned to with little trouble. Trade relations may be opened, diplomacy offered and returned. Of course, it can also be opened with the other nations. The people of Harvest are people of straw, not sticks. And those of Quarry are of masonry. Each nation has unique things of value to export, and has things they desire. An example could be the as-yet unidentified capping of the Lumber-folk's spears. |
|
#77 Festival of Immaculate Millipedes |
This event takes place while the characters are wading through a bog filled
calf-deep with brains (goat brains, not human, though players may not be
able to tell the difference). In the misty pink distance, a clashing of cymbals, followed by a fanfare of horns and sanxians and what sounds like the marching of a legion in steel-tipped boots. Characters familiar with the Immaculate Order or with life on the Blessed Isle will recognize the fanfare as a rather perky rendition of "Grass Be Strewn in All Directions," a hymn to Sextes Jylis that is generally sung much more solemnly in seasons when crops are poor. As the procession comes into view, it is revealed not to be a legion of men, but in fact a dozen black millipedes, each tall as a strong horse and as long as several, with black jade shells and burning purple eyes, their clanking legs made from bronze. Each is playing either several instruments or one that has multiple openings for sounds, such as a trumpet with three bells, and carries oddly-shaped leathery bundles on their backs. Upon encountering the characters, the millipedes will stop playing and declare a feast day in honor of the Elemental Dragons. If the characters agree or act neutrally, the millipedes will set up a fire pit in the boggy, brainy ground and produce all manner of food from their bundles, anything from the flying salmon of the utter West, delicately broiled, to the eyeballs of Nexus street urchins stewed in vinegar and dressed with butter. They will also play strange games, and recite endless, pointless tales of the mighty deeds of the Immaculates, never running out out of breath, for several days. If the characters insult the millipedes, the Elemental Dragons, or the Immaculate Order or initiate any kind of violence aside from a friendly wrestling match, the millipedes' moods will sour. They will howl songs of the characters' damnation as they quickly gather their things and burrow deep into the brainy matter, likely never to be seen again, but heard from time to time as they march far below the surface. |
| #Seven3een |
Characters will first notice bare patches where there is no dirt or grass
through which show a bit of shiny black or white. If they try to dig they
find that there is only dirt around the patch, but that the shiny marble
patch goes down too far to be dug out. The patches increase in regularity
until the ground gives way to a black and white square tiled floor
stretching for miles in all directions. Occasional braziers pop up from here
to there, lighting the world around. The sky itself becomes dark except for masses of crystals reflecting unseen lights hanging in chandeliers. Couples waltz across the dance floor, only seen when they move in and out of the crystal light, and made of insubstantial gossamer. Waiters carry around plates of exquisite food, incredibly good but not necessarily sane. The waiters are chained around their ankles, the chains attached to tiles in the marble. Periodically a few tiles will move around and hover over the surface of the others, switching places, and dragging those chained to them along. The tiles will begin to move and flow into each other as the night wears on in two dimensions and in oddly symmetrical shapes, creating huge lakes of black marble in a sea of white. At this point the dancing couples move away and the waiters disappear. The black shapes become very evocative. All of the characters see things important, or frightening, to them. They must make a willpower check to avoid showing their reaction to the shapes they see, and if they fail -- the shapes begin to come to life. The characters are all surrounded by fearsome and wonderful scenes from their past, they become wrapped up in them. The vision becomes stark black and white blobs, as do the other characters. Even after leaving the wyld zone, for several days the character experiences everything he or she sees as a simple illusion, a creation of their mind from the nothing behind reality. |
| #83 Barrow-wheelwights |
Those traveling through the Wyld feel a slight shaking of the ground - it is
only a short time before the quaking grows greater and becomes an audible
deep rumbling. Within moments, a herd of wheelbarrows comes rushing out of the underbrush heading straight for the party. The party has but two turns to prepare before the stampede is upon them, and the herd is too vast for one to flee its path. Avoiding being run over is a series of five dodge rolls at difficulty three or five parries each at difficulty five. These are rolled once per turn for five turns. Each failed roll indicates that the character is being struck and bruised by a wheelbarrow or three and inflicts six dice of Bashing damage. After five turns, the last of the wheelbarrow stampede passes the characters, leaving the local landscape bent and crushed. |
|
#84 Plabiean |
Travellers come upon an epic dual of godlike proportions, swords clash, the sky breaks open and the earth crumbles. The first combatant is a nobleman, whos fighting style is fluid and gracful. The second is a heary peasent man who fights with vigor and passion. While you can't interfere diretly with the fight you can cheer and taunt for the one you want to win. Depending on who wins and who you cheered for, the winner may thank the party with small trinkets or perhaps by leading them threw the wyld. |
|
#85 Did I really just see that? |
A large brown bears stand in the middle of the road, as the party comes closer it throws its head back and vomits forth hundreds of tiny ceramic kittens... |
|
#89 The Flighty Artist's Brush |
As the characters watch, a life size portrait begins to be painted on a
backdrop of nothing, slowly but with quite sure strokes. Although the colors
are vivid, the artisan and and artist's tools are nowhere to be seen. This spectacle will not follow them, and if left behind it is quickly swallowed by the Wyld. Should the audience remain, however, they will notice that the background, as it is finished, is that of their locale. What follows is clearly the subject of the painting - some sort of humanoid or creature. Watching passively will prove the painting more than mere oil on air but alive. Whatever the subject, once finished it becomes part of the setting, and it is as likely to be friend as foe. Should one of those present try to exert their will on this most malleable of landscapes, they will find that they can influence its direction. With some focus, they can create an end-product that resembles anything from an old friend to a very new sort of beast. This requires a willpower roll of difficulty 2 and the time to wait while the artist works. More than one may attempt to influence the art. Two people can create either something truly wondrous or something worse than horrible, depending on how well the two cooperate and the extent to which they shared the final vision. Too many artist can spoil the canvas, and the more people there are trying to affect the development before them the more likely it will turn out monstrous and horrifying. |
|
#1100101 Ring around the Rosey |
A single rose grows in a field of grass. |
|
#97 The Headstrong Mill OR A Heady Flavor |
Entering a clearing in the chaos, the intrepid explorers find a sight most
boggling to the mind. A freshly-built mill stands aside a creek which flows
not with water, but with the heads of infants. As they turn the water wheel the heads gurgle and coo most happily, as babies are wont to do. If the player observe the creek for long, they will observe that the heads which flow have become toddlers. It is not much longer before they are speaking real words in various languages, and soon sentences. Much more difficult to notice is that as the heads grow older, so does the mill. Entering the mill reveals a dark, cramped room centered around a slowly turning shaft. It grinds a mealy white paste which into a small bowl sitting between the shaft and the doorway. Despite the length of time they spend within the mill, when they leave they have lost the rest of the day. The mill collapses behind them, dissolving into dust and they hear the mumblings of ancient men and women as the creek dries up and disappears. [This occurrence will only be found near the beginning of the day or the beginning of the night. Sitting beside the river and trying to decipher what the heads have to say could teach a person much, or drive them to insanity. Listening to them for the duration of the creek's life (a full day or a full night) may provide any sort of wisdom: a hint at a sorcery, the last thought of a dead parent, or why the Perfect wears red slippers. A player must first make a Linguistics +Wits roll at difficulty 3 to decipher the pattern in what is said so disjointedly. A willpower check at difficulty 2 follows - failure gifts the listener with a derangement. Tasting the meal inside the mill will invigorate one, providing her with an extra point of each of the physical attributes, even if this takes them above natural limits. However, she automatically takes a derangement and her susceptibility to Wyld addiction is doubled. The extra points remain as long as the victim is in the Wyld.] |
|
#97: Ravines of Darkness |
Shadows are now holes. Their opacity determines how quickly one falls
through them; diffuse shade causes an effect analogous to thick mud, while
full darkness is the same as a normal hole. Where someone who has fallen through a shadow goes is up to the ST. They might fall into the Underworld, be deposited in some other part of the Wyld, find themselves sitting at the bottom of a deep hole, or something else altogether. Whatever effect is chosen should remain consistent throughout the area, however. |
|
#97 A Fool’s Creation |
Walking in the wyld, the characters stumble upon what seems to be a perfect
square, bounded at all sides by a white fence, posts no more than two feet
high, and with convenient gates leading from the outside in. The square, the
size of a large estate’s garden, is full of children all dressed
differently, some wonderfully bright colors, some wearing dingy grays, and
all busy about their appointed tasks. If the characters interact with the
children for more than a few minutes, however, it becomes plain that the
smiling children's’ faces are only masks, and may wonder why they were ever
fooled in the first place. Behind the masks, if the characters ever manage
to see, are fully formed adult faces, wizened and old, stuck onto wooden
armatures that pass for the bodies of children. The Children may be up to any number of things, but what they are doing always has SOME bearing on what is happening in Creation at large – in fact, the fenced in area IS a miniature of creation, of sorts. So, in the center of the square, one might well find a Child with stars in his eyes, bald and dressed in robes, arranging building blocks made of Jade into a wall in a completely Immaculate Order, shielding as much of the rest of the area as possible from the sun overhead. One might also find a child with a mask over his mask building his own structure in a bramble of thorns. Talking to the children generally results in a confusing conversation riddled with … riddles.
The children will continue about their tasks and will refuse to admit that
they are anything other than children playing at important business. A child
with its mask removed walks calmly off to find a new one, and a dead child
is hurriedly reassembled by his neighbors – if no head is preserved to make
a new child, one is removed from the offending Character with surprising
ease. Characters with a high Intelligence might learn much from these
riddles and mockeries about the world they |
|
#97 Aqua Vitae |
The area around the characters becomes incredibly warm. If the characters
try to stay on through the heat, it only succeeds in increasing. If,
however, the characters rest, shade is easily found and the heat wave passes
by. The characters begin to sweat, and their sweat permeates the air with a
fine mist. It is, however, when the characters become too hot to move on
fully clothed, or when they begin to sweat visibly from their brow and other
exposed areas of skin, that the trouble begins. When the first drop of sweat hits the ground, it sizzles for a moment, and produces a miniature domesticated animal – a sheep, horse, dog, pig – no larger than a kitten, with the face of one of the sweater’s closest dead relative. Each time another drop of sweat falls, the animal will attempt to catch it. If it is caught, the animal grows larger and its facial features more recognizable. If an animal is barred from catching the sweat, another animal is spawned, bearing the same face. These creatures are loyal to the one who’s water gave them life and understand only her voice, in whatever language it is speaking. They can become quite large and highly intelligent, and react violently against anyone who threatens their master. Should these creatures get a taste of their master’s blood, however, they no longer exist as essentially cute tame pets. On first taste of blood, the animal begins to grow leaves here and
there, and its eyes take on a green caste. If it eats too much blood, it
begins to take root and grows into a large, shady tree. An hour after the
tree puts down roots, fruits begin to form on its branches. These fruits
smell wonderful but appear to be made of gemstones. An attempt to appraise
the fruits finds them to, indeed, be precious stones. However, an attempt to
eat the fruits results in a wonderful, satiating sensation that spreads
through the entire body, reviving fatigue and invigorating the soul. Should
the fruit be taken away, it will never rot, and can be cut down into
smaller, salable gems. |
|
#97 Stairway to Heaven or Eine Klein Nachtmusic |
The characters come upon a massive stone tower that appears to stretch
infinitely upwards, -- the top is lost in clouds, sunlight, and whatever
else might be up there in the wyld. Upon entering the tower, through an easily accessible door, the characters see that the tower is lined with a spiral staircase that goes both up and down, and every hundred steps or so is a large stone mezzanine upon which is arranged a small garden of wonderful and impossible flowers. Windows look out of the tower onto impossible landscapes -- skies filled with children's drawings of stars, an ocean of gold and eyeballs, a field of wheat out of which giant stone hands thrust toward heaven. Any attempt to jump out of the window, however, has the character leaving through the front door of the tower. Also, there is a faint sound of music descending from the very top of the tower at all times, always above the characters. If the characters continue to climb either up or down, after perhaps half an hour they will notice that they hear footsteps coming from above them. Looking up, however, they will see nothing. After they come to the next mezzanine platform, the footsteps will sound like they are going downwards, away from the party. Shortly after this event, the party will notice that there are no longer gardens at the mezzanines, instead there are libraries of books in languages the character can't quite understand, as well as abandoned musical instruments of fantastic quality. Eventually, after another half hour, the players will come to a mezzanine UNDER which is a platform with a door leading outwards, right where the stairs join the platform. Any attempts to go through this door will end up with the character leaving the tower where they came in, though the landscape will probably be unfamiliar. Should the characters continue upwards past THIS door, they will notice after about another half hour an even similar to the one experienced before, the footsteps from above coming toward them and then receding down after then pass the mezzanine, after which point the gardens begin to come back, different from before however, and after another half hour they will come to a door leading out of the tower, and this door will put them out into the wyld again, the the place they came from. If at any point around the middle Mezzanines, part of the party lingers underneath and the rest goes on past the mezzanine, both halves of the party will be able to look up and see themselves suspended from the bottom of the stairwell above them. This is, of course, because the stairway simple joins up with its other side. Any markings left on the wall or objects left behind will be found only with the characters once they leave the tower. If a character falls from the stairwell into the center of the tower, they will not continue to fall forever. Instead, the next time they pass where the middle mezzanine should be, they instead land in a spherical room, on the roof of which sits an old man playing the music that is heard to permeate the tower. Simply walking around the sphere brings you to the composer, as the surface of the sphere is always down. The old man is sitting composing fabulous songs, and will not object to you taking sheet music from him to learn his music yourself-- he is so wrapped up in his composition and playing -- indeed, he has four arms, two to play and two to constantly write new notes on the score. He will not talk to anyone who is not extremely persuasive (4 difficulty socialize roll). If the old man's music is ever interrupted, the entire tower begins to crumble everything in the tower falls into the sphere, and then the sphere itself crumbles to dust, leaving the characters falling several feet onto the ground where the tower once stood. |
| #98: Inscrutable Topology |
Attempting to walk in a straight line no longer takes you in a straight
line. You might travel in a circle, or simply along a random path. Any
normal indicators of direction (sun/star positions, moss on trees, compasses, &c.) are useless. However, the wind always blows from the north; it is the only accurate directional indicator within the affected area. Moving at a fixed angle with respect to the wind requires a Survival or Sail check. Wyld-protection magics will not dispel this effect, since it affects the terrain, not characters or their equipment. What this particular would actually look like to a first-person observer is left as an exercise for the reader. |
|
#98: Old Leather Breaches |
One for the West Sailing West into the setting sun, the characters come upon a fabulous sight: a whaling ship crewed by heroic men and women, all of whom look the same, chasing after whales. The captain and crew of the boat are quite friendly and offer the party dinner on the whaleship, or if they would prefer, a visit on their own vessel. The food is magnificent, if sea fare it is much better than anything the characters have had in the months they've been at sea, and the wine is INCREDIBLE. Of a fine old vintage, anyone with a knowledge of wines will be able to see that it is of quite good quality. At dinner with the whalers, everyone is served a glass of olive oil, unless it is refused -- such refusal is not considered impolite. Curiously, the lamps on the ship are not lit with oil but with alcohol. An inspection of the ship shows that it is a fairly normal ship, and the hold is full of food and barrels -- presumably to put the whale oil into. Whether or not the characters accept dinner, before sunset and before they leave sight of the ship if they are off of it, or the ship itself if they have traveled to it, there is a cry of "Thar She Breeches" loud and clear from the crow's nest. If the characters look they see a ripple where something large has hit the water. Soon whale spouts become visible, all of them touched by the red of the sunset, or perhaps the wyld tainted water is just red where they are. Or at least that is what is assumed until the next whale, and indeed there is a pod of them around, breeches over the surface, and it is seen that there is no whale at all, but a giant wine skin, bursting at the seams filled with a dark liquid. The skins move as if they were whales, and several of them are hunted down and brought back to the ship by the whalers. If the characters are with the whalers after they have gotten their prey, especially if they help, there is a great celebration on the boat as much of the wine is put through stills hidden beneath the deck and refined into pure alcohol and put into barrels. Two great kegs of crude oil are wheeled out onto the deck and the sailors begin drinking it and becoming quite intoxicated after their work is done, sometimes during. Finally, at the height of the party, the largest of the whales, the first old whale that was seen breeching, is cut open and fine brandy comes streaming out of him. This is put straight into bottles, and some lamps are lighted with it, the smell of brandy filling the air. If the characters ask to taste the wine or brandy they are allowed, but the sailors are very confused -- drinking wine and brandy is unheard of, it is a product for burning. The wine and brandy are both of the best possible quality -- amazing by the standards of any time. If the characters wish to take some with them they are asked to welcome themselves to some -- a full barrel of wine can be taken away and perhaps half that much brandy as well if they helped in the whaling. |
| #99: Linguistic Lepidoptera | As you speak, your words become brightly-colored butterflies and flutter away. Anything you say produces no audible sound, but if caught, each insect will whisper the word it corresponds to. This naturally presents almost insurmountable challenges to meaningful communication through speech. Effects which protect an individual from the Wyld will prevent this effect. |
| #101 Outer Reality |
As you pass through the Wyld your senses are sharpened beyond your boldest
dreams. You see the world around you in an unknown quality. Seeing the
perfection around you makes you aware of your own failings and weaknesses.
You begin to feel worthless and week in the vanity of the majesty of nature and the impeccable selves of your comrades. Shabby, weak and burdensome as you are you lose all will to live and try to end your feeble existence to make the world a better place. The character under this effect is aware of the greatness of his environment and the taint he brings to it. He will feel worthless and alien in a world of beauty. This self-loathing slowly leaches his willpower, one point for every hour. After all temporary willpower is gone the character will break down becoming a crying heap of misery and will feebly try to kill himself. Luckily he is so filled with self-loathing and despair that his companions will have no problems in restraining him. If he is alone the character is most likely doomed if the nature of the Wyld does not change. If the character survives he will be hunted irregularly by nightmares that will disturb his rest foray number of times equal to his willpower score, this nights rest will be mostly worthless and the character will get a -2 modifier on all dice pools until he can sleep soundly again. When these nightmares come to hunt him is completely up to the ST. Most probably it will strike the character when he was overly pride full. The bonus side of this is that he will loose all of his Limit after such a nightmare as he will be taught a valuable lesson in humility. After such an episode the resistance against the Wyld addiction will be doubled for a month as the character is loath to enter the place of his greatest defeat again. |
|
Authors: bobthepariah, jabberwock, ZackSundance, Alabrax, MyriadOfShades, Sunjumper, ikselam, crimzero, DigitalSentience, SandJack, |