Tales From The Void - scenario seeds

[clarence]

Inspired by Tales of Terror published many years ago for CoC (and living a life of its own in some forum back then) I have written a handful of scenario seeds following the same concept but for sci-fi settings. Here is the first one.

 

Feel free to contribute more seeds! I'm trying to stay under 800 words and after a short introduction three different developments are described. I'm also tagging them with a couple of descriptive terms for ease of use.

 

 

 

The Theatre

#terrorism  #investigation

 

The way the small theatre jokes vicsiously about the indigenous alien minority is not the worst - now they are suspects in a series of bombings. An old representative of the aliens', Socorro Nan Tali, makes contact with the characters. S/he, and many with her/him believes that law enforcement is not doing enough, and asks the characters to investigate both the theatre and the bombings. Something must be done before more people are hurt. 

 

1. The connection between the theatre and the bombings are false. Visiting the theatre it is soon obvious the ensemble members are nothing but comedians, though not very good. Searching the last bomb site, an i'Dreeni sacred place for meditation, turns up both DNA and unusual ingredients not previously found, pointing in the direction of a small racist community on the outskirts of the city. Going after them with brute force will make them fight fiercely, with the characters probably needing help from the police, but infiltrating the community and spying out the masterminds of the attacks results in less bloodshed.

 

2. The Living Theatre of i'Dreeni is indeed a radical group, going from talking to action under the influence of a new member, Guerau Clara from a small racist community on the outskirts of the city. Sneaking around in the theatre will turn up both suspiscious behaviour and bomb-making ingredients. But catching the terrorists in action is not so easy... (see above). 

 

3. A new member of the theatre, Guerau Clara, is actually an agent from neighboring planet Gerdr, trying to destabilize i'Dreeni by exploiting the suspicions between the two species. As a professional he leaves very few traces, but as he is quite bad on stage, he's been forced to bribe the leader of the theatre, Biel Leek, to not be kicked out. In a hidden compartment in his small flat a communications device can also be found. A simple but tedious tracking procedure will after a while give all the answers. 

 

The i'Dreeni: Amphibian humanoid (Strangeness 2) with fish-like scales and spindle-shaped head and limbs (limbs almost appearing to be segmented).

Behaviour: Patient. Living in monogamous hermaphroditic pairs, taking turns giving birth, and at old age becoming a third middle sex. 

Appearance: Human-like in general body plan and size. Well camouflaged in i'Dreeni coastal landscape (light colors - beige, pale blues, light grays): -20% in Spot skill when trying to see an i'Dreeni. Large eyes with third semi-transparent eyelid mostly used underwater. Functional clothing. 

Communication: Sound. Two versions of language: One complex for use in air and a simplified version used underwater often over large distances.

Skills: Swim 90%, Hide 75%, Stealth 75%.

Natural weapon: Low-poisonous sting on wrists to stun prey when hunting. On humans the symptoms are dizziness for 30 minutes (all skills at -20%).

 

The i'Dreeni are living off small water-dwelling lifeforms and algae, hunting and farming them in terraced systems of pools. Simple, open, rural buildings are scattered in small groups, often interconnected with the pool systems, with both wet and dry areas indoors. Have graciously shared their planet with various alien lifeforms for about 100 years, slowly becoming a minority. The i'Dreeni are mostly rural while the aliens (many humans among them) cluster together in small cities. They use high technology but mostly avoid it.

[clarence]

The Freedom Fighter

#political  #parasite

 

Characters are asked by the seasoned diplomat Sivander Paya to smuggle out the freedom fighter Tamsin Aisli from the oppressive regime Sychua. The plan is to give the character's ship diplomatic immunity, smuggle the dissident on-board in the middle of the night and then take off for a quick trip to a nearby planet, where exiled dissidents are running a counter movement. 

 

1. The freedom fighter is much more important to the regime than anyone could have guessed: She has valuable documents in her possession, and the regime will not let her go easily. Trouble starts at the spaceport, with guards trying to interfer. If not successful, a couple of fighter ships will try to intercept the character's ship before it goes into hyperspace, first contacting them over radio, then giving them a few warning shots before going all in.

 

2. Tamsin Aisli is a synthetic person, carrying top secret data on a chip in her head. The regime of Sychua sends their best hit men to eliminate her. Follow the outline above, but the hunt continues at the arrival point, the nearby planet Inanna. More dissidents gets involved trying to help, first at the spaceport and eventually at their secret HQ, and the Inanna authorities will be under severe political pressure to capture the dissident, as not to worsen the already tense relationship with Sychua.

 

3. Tamsin Aisli is infested by a parasitic alien, getting hold of her during a training camp a month earlier in the backwaters of the Sychua widespread rainforest. Its objectives is first and foremost to grow into its full size, consuming the host from inside. After that, it wants to spread as much as possible, first to other crew members and then preferably in a larger population, though any high tech world will likely put the ship in quarantine if the infection is discovered. A decisive medical procedure can stop it if started quickly enough (and might even save Tamsin), either by a doctor or a slightly modified Autodoc. With the parasite running free on Sychua, the regime might need some help… (see later scenario seed, The Mist).

 

The parasite: This parasite starts life as a small spherical embryo, injected by the male into the host's abdomen or chest (the female lays the eggs eight weeks earlier in a small cavity beneath the male's curled up tail). The embryo quickly connects with the blood vessels and starts to grow at a surprisingly rapid pace. In six weeks the parasite is fully developed and bursts out of the host (causing 1d6+6 damage, emergency surgery needed to avoid 1d6+2 damage per hour due to blood loss and raptured internal organs. An Autodoc can keep the host alive, but not perform the surgery). Not until the last week the host starts to feel that something is wrong, feeling weak, dizzy and with pains growing in the abdominal/chest region. At this stage it is unfortunately quite difficult to separate the parasite from the host without severely damaging the internal organs of the host (a Difficult Medicine roll for a trained surgeon), and the parasite will be able to sustain itself outside the host, though considerably weakened. Early surgery, up to four weeks after the injection of the embryo, is often successful though (and a modified Autodoc (Technical (Computers) skill roll) can also remove the parasite at this stage).

 

The mature parasite resembles an Armadillidium (Woodlouse), with its segmented exoskeleton and ability to roll into a ball, but with the addition of a longer tail ending with a stinger. A mature parasite measures 20 cm, 5-7 cm when rolling into a ball. Coloration is dark, mostly brown or brownish black, blending well into the damp forest floor of its biome. They sleep during the day and feed on small animals during the night. Eggs are laid twice a year. As soon as the eggs are placed on the male, he aggressively starts to find a suitable host, and then lives only a few hours after he has been successful.

 

SIZ 1, DEX 14, Move 10, Hit Points 4, AP 3/0 (Exoskeleton on the upper side).

Attack: Sting 65%, 1d4 (embryo injected with the first hit in the abdomen/chest)

Skills: Dodge 40%, Track 50% (smell + vibrations)

[seneschal]

I like these but haven't yet been able to come up with a contribution of my own.  Good work.

[clarence]

Thanks! I'm happy you like it. I feel a bit rusty writing adventures... BTW, I have a seed simmering based on Consolidate the Postman - I hope to have it ready soon.

[clarence]

Consolidate The Postman

#mystery  #android

 

This is my favorite so far but a bit too long for this format - I will see if it's possible to develop it into a full adventure. Thanks Senechal for the originating spark : )

 

 

 

The android postman has been trying to deliver a small package for 962 years, but the address is so elusive he's started to hire underlings to find it for him. The problem is the underlings all seem to disappear. 

 

The characters are contacted by two VirP  (Virtual Police) investigators asking for help in monitoring a particular android claiming to be a postman. Their collegues on a close-by planet have warned them that the android is heading this way and with such short notice they need some additional eyes. 

 

For some 10 years the VirP has been monitoring the android across a large area of space, when people he commissioned to help him started to diappear. Ten years ago VirP got the first indications that the android hired adventurers and after they left on some supposed delivery mission they never came back. Since then nine groups are known to have been hired and none have come back. A small MemCube has been observed to be handed over several times, along with a large amount of Credits (up to a million Credits have changed hands - the android's bank connections are unfortunately out of reach of the VirP, but he spends next to nothing yet seems to have infinite resources). 

 

A couple of times the VirP have confronted him but the only information they have gained is that he is a postman trying to deliver a very important package. Further analysis have come to the conclusion that he is approximately 965 years old and of unknown origin. Tracing his ship has only worked temporarily - the tracer has stopped working only days after being installed. 

 

His movements seem to be completely erratic: staying for several months and up to a year in one place, spending hours upon hours in libraries and archives, then suddenly leaving, travelling around to a handful of places, disappearing for a few months, then showing up again and so on. 

 

No arrest attempts have been made so far. What the android is doing is not illegal, but finding out more about the locations he is sending his hirelings to could be important. 

 

Objectives: See where the android goes, what he reads and who he contacts. Warn any group commissioned by him. Get hold of the MemCube and decipher it.  Make contact and find out as much as possible - especially where he is sending his hirelings. 

 

 

1. The postman is a confused android with the programming in disorder. The MemCube is empty and his age is 14. With a bit of interplanetary archive searches it turns out he is reported lost. The disappearances are coincidental and only related to the general incompetence and foolhardiness of adventurers. 

 

2. A 962 year old love letter is to be delivered to "The Center of the Universe", sent by the android's (long-dead) owner Miho Vimala Kaede. He searches methodically for an answer to the riddle-like address, sometimes finding a location worth exploring. The adventurers he hires to do the exploring are just a bit unlucky that the locations are highly dangerous: Singularity zones, supernovas, holy religious sites off-limits to aliens, biohazards and so on. 

 

3. The android and the MemCube remains mysterious but as a final solution the characters are asked by the VirP to be hired by the android. They are promised some backup by the VirP, though no additional personnel or accompanying ships. 

 

The coordinates given by the android will not turn up anything interesting if searched for in maps and databases. There is a star system nearby called Adhira with one earth-like planet but no indications of intelligent life. But the coordinates are slightly off, in the middle of what seems like empty space. Approaching the spot in sub-FTL the characters eventually will pick up something on the sensors - not quite an asteroid but similar in size and shape. Getting into visual range it looks like a mix between an asteroid and a seed pod. Close range scanning reveals it to be partly hollow, but without any energy signatures or life signs. After some scrutiny there seems to be a perfect landing spot nearby something that could be an entrance...

 

What the characters have found is a dormant Vesna, a rare alien species. It is a special case of a Gaia-like being where a hive-mind slowly turns an entire planet into one huge lifeform and eventually reshapes its physical appearence to suit its needs. Over the millenia this one has propelled itself from its original location in a star system soon to turn into a nova, but got stuck in the middle of empty space when energy reserves dried out. Quickly it went into a deep sleep, biding its time waiting for a sign of rescue. 

 

As the characters descend into the depths, a thin atmosphere slowly fills the organically shaped halls. The Vesna is in a dreaming state, slowly awakening, only partly aware in a neverland between consciousness and dream. It is highly psionic, with excellent powers in Illusions that sparks entire caverns and rooms into life, melting only as the characters approach.  (The characters hear a party in the distant emptiness of the hollow lifeform, only to see it melt when they approach it...). A bioreactor is also sputtering out occaisional lifeforms from the past: Now and then they meet animals and people wandering by, giving them friendly but strange answers if spoken to. Finally, when the Vesna is fully awake, it starts communicating: It desperately needs energy to move closer to a star. Can the characters help it? Now, how do you tow an asteroid...?

 

When the characters prepare to leave, the Vesna reveals the contents of the MemCube, saying: "It's a beautiful and sad letter you are bringing with you. Who's it for?"

 

Note: Plot 2 and 3 can be linked. 

 

The love letter: "Have you forgotten me? I am the woman you used to say you loved. I used to sleep in your arms – do you remember? But you never write. You are perhaps mindless of me. I am not of you. I love you. There isn’t a moment of any hideous day when I do not say to myself. “It will be alright. I shall go home. He loves me. I love Him.” But perhaps you have forgotten. If you have forgotten, or lost your affection for me, please, let me know. I Love You." Signed by Vimala.