Quick Hit Story Seeds #3

Image Source: http://frankatt.deviantart.com/art/Old-Circles-333249379

Far out in the beyond you find a large ring of stone and metal protruding from the ground.  Beyond it you can see more, roughly half a mile apart stretching toward the horizon in seemingly endless sequence.  When you walk through the first you find yourself seamlessly transported to the next ring in the sequence...

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Far to the north in the Beyond, well past the Great Slab, or the Caecillian Jungle a vast desert stretches as far as the eye can see.  This waste is so devoid of life that even the more southern reaches of the Beyond seem to be teeming with life by comparison.  Six days into your trek north you spy a lone structure, jutting from the sand in imitation of the rocky pillars surrounding it.  

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Image Source: http://elgama.deviantart.com/art/Contact-377905767

While traveling you stop by a lake for water and observe a strange crystal formation.  To your surprise the formation responds to your presence, approaching you, across the water ...

Story Seed - The Natron

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While traveling near the Sere Marica you come upon a strange site, a statue of a creature.  Only upon closer inspection is it clear that this is no statue but a creature turned to stone...

The Natron (lvl 6)

The Natron is a large creature that appears as a squat wide bodied mound covered with rocky scales.  Its gaping maw is filled with jagged teeth, but far more dangerous is its chemical vomit which can turn a victim to stone.

Health: 25 • Armor: 2

Damage: 6

Movement: Short

Modifications: Defense 5 due to size.

Combat:  Instead of attacking with a bite the Matron can, as often as once every other round, vomit a hot stream of concentrated minerals.  All targets in a cone area at immediate range will be affected.  The chemicals seep into the skin and through orifices (therefore fully sealed armor will negate this attack) and requires a level 6 Might defense.  If failed it will inflict 6 points of Speed damage and stun the target for 1 round during which time they may take no actions.  On a successful defense the target is stunned but does not take any Speed damage.  Characters reduced to 0 Speed by this attack are paralyzed and can only take mental actions thereafter.

Use:  The Natron is a predator and hunts for food.  It will retreat if faced with a target that does not fall easily.

Environment: On the southern shores of the Sere Marica

Loot:  Searching through the petrified remains of its prior meals will reveal 4d6 shins, 1d6+1 cyphers, and occasionally an artifact.  

Story Seed - Core

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The four operatives wriggled through the the winding tunnels deep below Harmonious.  Conduits and cables wound through the space with them, some pulsing with power, others with fluid, or high energy plasma guided by integral magnetic coils.  There were wires too, and thin pipes that dripped sweat.  That some of these were bio-mechanical and dripped actual sweat rather than condensation only added to the sense of claustrophobic discomfort.

The Estate's intelligence said that the Karum had built something here.  Something that would not be good for Earth.  Not that the Karum ever did anything that wasn't bad for Earth. Sam and Janel were joined by
two Quiet Cabal operatives; Klaatu-barada, at the group's front, and Nikto at the rear.  That the Estate and the Cabal were working together indicated just how potentially serious this particular situation was.

Ahead, Klaatu punched a grated access panel out of its frame and slide out of the narrow tunnel, rolling into a crouch and sweeping the area once before motioning Sam and the rest to come out.  Sam dropped to the floor, a metal grating that made Sam grin wryly at how similar things were on Ruk sometimes.  Behind him Janel and Nikto clambered out of the tunnel, squinting in the sudden bright.

The area was bathed in a sickly green glow that reflected off metal, and tinged biomechanical flesh in hues of green and brown and purple.  They followed Klaatu through a few wending passages and suddenly out into a vast open space.

At the center of the chamber was a massive globe of steel and glass and tendon and muscle.  The green light that bathed the entire chamber emanated from there. "Well, that is one rather large power core." Sam glanced down at the scanner in his hand, "Aaaand, it is only barely stable at the moment. This thing could take out all of Ruk if it blows. What the hell was the Karum thinking?"

"They were going to warp it to Earth." Janel pointed to the massive dynamos, "Those are inapposite generators.  This whole place is rigged to transport out."

Summary - A group of Estate and Cabal operatives journey deep under Harmonious on Ruk to find a Karum doomsday weapon.