Greetings folks,
I am interested in running a Roll20 game using the Cypher System RPG. Here is the score.
The world that we know has more malleable laws of physics than what we can perceive. In the past centuries, the growth of technology has occurred in leaps and bounds pushing the line further from what might have seemed in the past impossible. In the 19th and 20th centuries the "Mad Sciences" lead to development of the modern conveniences that we enjoy to day. Things however came to a head in the second world war, when the power of the Atom was realized and the threat of nuclear Armageddon became a very real concern. Still this was also an age of science where a larger educated population and the propagation of Science fiction has brought many to push the boundaries of science much further than past ages. In the wake of the Red Scare, an organization called Indigo Technologies was created as a response to the dangers that these news technologies represent.
Indigo Technologies in its pubic persona is a think tank that develops new and advanced technologies for the open market. Behind the scenes however, Indigo and its agents investigate the propagation of "Mad Science" and control or contain the threats they maintains. And indeed, threats of Mad Science are many. Some that need to be released gradually while others threaten the very stability of the world at large. Occasionally the threat of Wormholes, Dimensional Portals, Time Anomalies, Ultraterrstial invasions, Doomsday Devices and other unstable technologies involve direct action from Indigo teams to deal with the threats.
Other than dealing with the threats of Mad Science a new threat has risen in this new age. The human mind has the potential to be a great and powerful weapon and some rare individuals have the power to tap into this potential and wield powerful psionic powers. Indigo Technologies utilize psionic users in their ranks but also seek to cover up and contain those who wield such abilities. For if the world finds out that they exist then mass panic may indeed occur.
Indigo in their job makes use of the most high tech devices they can muster. Using advanced technology, psionic powers and the resources of US government funding the Agents of Indigo are the last and only line of defense for the threats of Mad Science.
Character Creation
In Agents of Indigo, you play as a character that works for Indigo Technologies as a Field Agent. The four roles for the team are Pointman (Warrior), Infiltrator (Explorer), Faceman (Speaker) and Psi-Opp (Adept). If you chose to make an adept you MUST chose one of the following disciplines and take a related focus:
Telepathy, Telekinesis, Technokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Terrakinesis, Electrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Photokinesis, Vitakinesis, Aerokinesis, Absorbsion, Levitation, Clairvoyance or Manifestation.
If you are not an Adept, you must take a focus that is not extraordinary in nature. You can take technology based focus or any focus that allows for some kind of mundane ability as some of your options. Psionics are only emerging in this setting hence why only Adepts can take full blown psionic powers. The only exception to this is if your character has been "Changed" by some kind of Mad Science exposure. If so, please include it in your background and I will decide if it is viable and allow an appropriate focus.
When making your backgrounds, please include at least one instance where you encountered mad science and/or psionics. If you were fundamentally changed by exposure to said mad science, please add it to your background story. Your characters may have done a few cases in the past but are generally new agents to the organization.
So who would be interested to become Agents of Indigo?
Tervalis you know what this is. It is a Lamia. Their origins are mysterious, some believe they were the result of a divine curse on someone who offended the gods, while others believe they are some kind of mutation caused by the passing of the Greygem. Here is what he knows about the creature.
Lamias are evil creatures who live in desert ruins. They sustain themselves by eating human flesh. To bring prey to them, they use a variety of abilities, including seduction, disguise, ventriloquism, illusions, mirages, mirror images and other such things, to lure, entice and confuse those who wander into their midst into dangerous situations. When they have secured their victim, they carve a feast out of them with curved daggers. Lamias usually do not wear any form of clothing or adornment. They seem devoted to chaos and destruction in their native habitats. They never venture more than ten miles from their lairs. Lamias also have the ability to drain wisdom with their touch.
Lamias are matriarchal and believe males are good for nothing more than breeding and slave labor.
Lamias seek to live in excess, surrounded by beauty and slaves. They are highly sexual creatures and mate often with mortal males to produce offspring.
There is a Super-Speed Focus called "Moves like the wind" that grants you extraordinary movement. Combined with power shifts and/or type abilities you can go pretty darn fast. The power does not get as ridiculous as the Flash though (no running so fast you'll break the time barrier). At best you'll be on par with Quicksliver at higher tiers in terms of speed (and a lot of power shift investment).
Teleportation on the other hand tends to fall into some higher-level powers. I might retool some abilities to work somewhat like teleportation as a flavor thing though.
I am interested in trying out a Cypher System superpower game. This will use the Cypher System corebook with options from the Strange, Numenera as well as some 3rd party resources. Here is the premise of the game.
The Goldwright meteor was heading towards the earth and the United States. The Meteor was over twice the size of the one that hit Tunguska. With the impact expected to cause massive widespread damage, earthquakes and other deadly fallout, America got approval locally and abroad to stop its descent. Using an experimental deep-space reaching nuclear warhead, the Meteor was blasted before it reached earth's atmosphere. The plan was apparently a success as the meteor was blasted into much smaller pieces.
While the remains of the meteor caused only minimal damage as most of the fragments burned up in the atmosphere there was an unusual element inside the meteor that had golden glow as it fell from the sky. This had a strange reaction to a small segment of the population who were outdoors during the Meteor Fall. For those rare individuals, extraordinary abilities began to manifest.
For one small city in midwestern Canada an unusual number of talents have awoken. As one of the first talents to awaken in the world what will you do with the gift or curse of power?
Proposed mechanics
I am thinking of making all the PC's people who attend the same high school. They will be genetically related in some way, from siblings to cousins or distant family relations somewhere in the past, as only those with specific genes are empowered by the meteor fall.
I intend to balance out the types, so that everyone gets the same number of abilities when they tier up. I find it unfair that Explorers get much more abilities than every other type while Adepts get so few. This is especially true as I intend to use Flavors to open up more options.
Rather than the traditional type names, your characters can fall into one of four categories below:
Powerhouse (Warrior): These talents typically manifest their talents through extraordinary feats of physical prowess.
Channeler (Adept): These talents tend to focus more purely on esoteric powers that directly manipulate the world around them.
Beguiler (Speaker): These talents specialize on powers that can inspire, frighten, manipulate or bend the wills of others.
Wildcard (Explorer): These talents tend to thrive on diversity, with a mix of different skills rather than direct specialization.
Further "Multiclassing" will be allowed if your character chooses to take a "Flavor". Thus you could be a Magic Powerhouse, a Stealthy Adept, A Knowledgeable Speaker and the like. Only one Flavor can be chosen for your character however and taking abilities from a Flavor use up ability slots that might have been used for type abilities.
As your characters will be superhuman, you will in the course of the game gain "Power Shifts" that will give you further extraordinary enhancements to skills, powers and/or physical aptitude. You start with one power shift and gain an additional one per tier of advancement. While talents will be powerful, they will not start out with powers on par with Marvel/DC superheroes but may well get to that level as time passes.
Themes
This is a game that supports the ramifications of emerging superpowers in a world thought to not have any. Still your characters will more likely deal with mundane conflicts as only a small number of people are affected by the Meteor Fall. That does not mean won't cross paths with another talent in game in fact such clashes will be inevitable. As for how these new powers affect the world at large this will happen in the background during play and those events may well have a bearing on your character and his/her life.
So does this concept interest some potential players?
One of the Short Swords hits Cassie, doing 3 points of damage (Before Armor) while the second short sword and the crossbow bolt are evaded.
The Crow Man looks to see that he is running low on daggers. He instead tries to stab the stone golem. DC 15 dodge check to avoid.
Quinn runs towards the bandits but requires more time to reach them.
Armand tries to attack the Crow Man but he's too dexterous to be hit.
Two of the bandits melee on Cassie with their short swords (TN 9 to dodge), the Third takes a shot at Cassie (TN 9 to dodge)
Sorry also for my slow posting rate, I am busy with RL games as well as running another Play By Post Game (Dragonlance Heroes of a New Age). Currently been very busy doing the final fight of the book with the heroes taking on an Ogre Magi in a ritual chamber. Anyway I'll try and post some more today when I get the chance.
Oh oh, GM Intrusion time!
Cassie, you take a swing at the bandit but the bandit evades the attack and you overextend your swing and lose your grip on your weapon as it strikes a nearby rock solidly sending the blade sliding a few feet away. You will have to take an action to retrieve your weapon or draw a new weapon next turn.
Next round, the Crow Man seeing that stone statue has pulled the daggers out of his legs and now again mobile decides being on the ground would not be a good idea. He leaps from rocks to rock and gets to a higher ground. To reach the Crow Man in melee you will need to take an action and succeed at a climb check, TN 4. However this does take up his whole turn.
The bandits seeing Cassie as the closest threat will work together to take her down. One will fire a distracting bolt to move Cassie into an optimal position in while two of them will put crossbow bolts into Cassie. The dodge TN is 12 against these 2 attacks due to them having an advantage.
Two crossbow bolts fly at Cassie as she rushes in. As she is charging at them I am going to say that dodging these bolts are going to be 1 step harder so a DC 12 to dodge as you’ve made yourself an easier target for their bolts.
One crossbow bolt goes after Armand, which also will be a TN 12 due to the impairment from having his legs pinned.
The last bolt goes after Siobhan, trying to strike her in the back. (Normal TN 9 difficulty)
Either way though, Cassie rushes in and smashes one of the bandits with her sword. The first blow disarms the bandit by lopping off his shooting arm. He screams bloody murder and Cassie takes advantage of this by doing a backswing that removes the head of the Bandit from his shoulders. The other 3 bandits are definitely fearful of the charging bull woman with the big sword.
The bandits have 9 health so you would either need to add the +4 damage or hit with a 2nd attack to finish one off.
Siobhan Quinn tries to take a swipe at the crow-man but he dodges the blow with his swift, agile movements.
Armand shoots a blast of energy at the one eyed crowman only to have him swiftly dodge out of the way of the attack. With his legs pinned by the daggers he can't move his legs.
Armand to unpin your legs you'll need to spend an action to pull out the daggers, this will take an entire turn though.
The one eyed Crowman seeing that this big guy is in his face leaps backward into the air an immediate distance and throws two daggers at the stone golem, aiming for his knees looking to immobilize his movement as well as do damage. Armand needs to avoid two attacks, level 5 (15).
Now if any of these hit I am hitting Armand with a GM intrusion. Basically he's looking to disable your limbs by hitting the joints in your legs. If he actually hits, you will need roll a might check or be immobilized. The TN will be 5 (15) or 6 (18) if both of them hit. Of course you can chose to spend an XP and refuse the intrusion but what fun is in that?
Just a reminder, a GM Intrusion is a mechanic in Cypher System games that allows the GM to basically break the rules and add a new element into the scene. However this comes at a price for the GM if he does it on a whim and he must reward 2 XP to the person he is affecting. One of those XP are given to an other player though by the affected person. I also have a house rule for "Group" intrusions, where everyone gets 1 XP as payment but it means everyone is affected by the intrusion. You can chose to buy off an intrusion by paying an XP though.
The punch from Armand hits the bird-man across the shoulder and the force of the blow knocks him backward a few feet. There is a crack of bone as the stone fist hits the Crow Man for 7 damage (after armor is applied)
Cassie has no bandit near her at the moment. She can attack the Crow-Man or use her action to close the distance and attack one of the crossbow-bandits.
Despite dropping 2 of their number the one eyed crow man yells, "I ain't quittin yet."
He pulls a strange amulet out of his coat, he puts it on and twists a knob on it. He suddenly starts to look like he's blinking in and out of incorporality. He also draws two more of his daggers.
The 4 ranged bandits fire crossbow bolts. Each PC will take an attack from a bolt. TN 9 to dodge.
Cassie swings her massive sword and spits the badly injured bandit's head like a watermellon, killing him and sending his corpse sprawling to the ground.
Armand slams his fist into another bandit with his rocky fist inflicting 5+1+2+3-1 = 10 damage. With a single blow to the head the stony fist cracks the skull of a bandit's head open like an egg shattering his brain matter and sending him sailing backward and to the ground effectively dead.
We will say each round is 5 seconds so roughly 12 rounds. Indeed that would be 3 levels of reduction, 2 for specialization and 1 for the spin encouragement that gives an asset. The Crossbow bolts to 4 points of damage as they are medium weapons, the short swords only do 3 points of damage as they are between a light and medium weapon.
Round 3 Start, first up Siobhan
A dagger hits Cassie with pinpoint accuracy, digging into her body for 4 points of damage (Before Armor).
Armand tries to attack the Crow-Man, only for him to leap into the air, backflip away and glide to the ground with acrobatic skill.
The badly wounded bandit takes a swing at Cassie with his short sword. The other closer bandit tries to hit a weak point in Armand's stony skin to hopefully chip away at him. TN 9 to dodge.
The other four bandits reload crossbows and take one shot at each of the four heroes. TN 9 to dodge.
Alternatively you can use Might Defense to "Block" an attack rather than using speed to "Dodge" so long as you have some means of deflecting the blow. Armand's stone skin or using your armor to soak an attack for example or by using a shield.
The sword cuts through the bandit and he howls in pain as it cuts a solid blow in his torso. His leather armor does reduce the impact a bit but is not that effective against a greatsword. Another blow like that would likely kill him.
One Eyed Crow pulls out two daggers, throwing one at Cassie and one at Siobhan. DC 15 to dodge.
Ok well then its onto the next round, Siobhan, what are you doing?
Ok taking an attack for one person would be a minor effect I think. As you got a major effect it does 1/2 damage as well as you use a tough part of your rocky skin to weaken the blow. So it does 2 damage before armor aginst Armand so 0 damage.
Armand steps forward and takes the 2nd dagger for Siobhan, allowing it to bounce off his rock skin without injury.
Do you have the means to reduce the difficulty of the Dodge to 0? You are trained in speed defense and get a +1 advantage for the Spin Encouragement. That means you need a 3 or better to succeed unless you got some other means of advantage.
Siobhan takes two daggers into the gut from the Crow-Man. 4 damage each before armor is applied
Armand uses his resonance shield, deflecting the pitiful bolts coming his way.
He now has a Major Effect he can activate. What sort of advantage do you think Armand would get from critically succeeding in this defense? Some options include having one of the other bandits being hit in the crossfire, getting a +2 advantage shift on your next defense roll or something else you can suitably think of.
You are not your own ally so no, it does not count on yourself.
2 of the bandits are at short distance backing up the one eyed crowman, who is also at short distance. The other four bandits are at long distance. So yes to melee them you'll have to move up to them.
Ok we got our order, let us begin
Siobhan gets to act first, then comes One eyed crow and his bandits and then the rest of the party
One Eyed Crowman pulls two daggers out his bandaler and tosses one after another. Give me two dodge checks, TN 15. His daggers do 4 points of damage through as he throws with deadly accuracy (Minus armor of course)
The other bandits fire on the rest of the party (Only Siobhan is not attacked as she is being handled by the Crow Man). As there is 6 bandits, you will have to dodge 2 TN 9 attacks. If you're hit you take 4 points of damage (Minus armor).
You can retro buying what you need Armand, you did get a chance to look around and buy a few things.
Your armor did not translate unfortunately. You got whole new equipment depending on your focus. You generally only bring things with you when using inopposite gates or if they are Cyphers and/or artefacts.
Ok that means Siobhan goes on a 20. Just need Cassie's roll before we begin.
The crow-man chuckles and says, "I've delt with better than the likes of ya. Doesn't look like you're the type to give up their coin. Kill em all men!"
Roll initiative as the bandits prepare to put a crapload of crossbow bolts through you.
The One Eyed crow man has a 15 initiative, the rest of the bandits go on a 9 due to their level.
I would say he does count as Hostile considering he's trying to rob you of money and has threatened to kill you if you don't do what he says.
Most of the party fails to notice anything unusual. Siobhan Quinn with her enhanced senses however spots various body parts hidden behind rocks and ridges. Because of this she is not caught off guard as these people pop out of their hiding spaces and aim crossbows at the party. All of them look like middle-eastern people dressed in leather armor and leather skullcaps armed with short swords, daggers and crossbows. They all have the mark of a black crow head painted on their armor.
As Siobhan got a minor effect, the first defense roll she makes is at an advantage.
Last to step out is a black feathered looking crow-person wearing an eyepatch across his right eye and dressed in leathers. He currently has a dagger in each hand. He glares at the party with his good eye and says with a squeaky bird like voice.
"What have we got here? Travellers moving through the mountains without a caravan. You look to be the adventuring type, which means you got some coin on ya. Hand over your crowns or we'll kill ya and take everything from your corpses!"
For a 9 I will let you save 11 crowns off your purchases so pay only 170 for everything.
After purchasing your gear and exploring the city a bit you head on your way out of the gates and begin to follow the map toward the location of the Qephelym Ruin. The region is rocky and mountainous and along the way you're forced to both take mountain trails as well as do some climbing in some cases to avoid taking detours. Still there is a tranquility about this area. The air is fresh, the sky beautiful and everything looks all natural and untouched by civilization. As you hit one of the mountain passes and what looks like another mountain trail make me a perception check, Target Number of 15.
Indeed you can get the listed items at the book level prices easily. You can try and Haggle to lower the price though with an intellect test.
You all go out into the city and hit various supply and provision shops in the town. You easily find what you're looking for and expend coinage on your person. Still the economy of this world seems tremendously overvalued. Gold coins of this size on earth would be at least 1100 american dollars per Gold Coin, if not more. It seems Gold must be in abundance on this world if its usable for such minimal purchases. It does make you wonder if there is a way to bring these coins back with you. You'ed make quite a profit off their sale if you had some way to keep them.
Ok I am back and ready to proceed.
Anyhow you all rest up at the inn and help yourself to the meals of the Inn and Tavern and you are all refreshed to begin your journey (Max out all your pools). Do you want to purchase anything in the city before you go or are you ready to be on your way?
You can spend xp for advancement at any time in this game, although for buying the 4 advancements and tiering up that is typically done out of combat. Anyway going to be gone for a few days for Christmas Vacation. Hope you all have a merry Christmas.
As for baths, they do have one although you have to reserve use of it as it a shared bath area. Taking your clothes off and looking at your junk is a odd experience to say the least. Of course the golem has his clothing carved into his body so can not strip.
The group heads back down the paths through the mountains and back to the city proper. They then pay a visit to the Ox and Mountain tavern and throw out some crowns for a room. This costs 2 crowns per room you rent. The rooms are small single bed, single wash basin with a chest to keep belongings in, a lockable door and a shuttered window. The beads are standard cloth bedding that is rather primitive compared to that of modern day beds and not as comfortable. Armand does not need to sleep in a bed. He finds that just closing his eyes and relaxing he can become like a statue and recover his strength after some time of inactivity.
Everyone can heal their pools to full and restore their recoveries.
Have I given XP yet? You should have 6 Experience points so far, 3 for the events that got you here, 1 for translating to this world for the first time, 1 for reaching the city and experiencing it and 1 for visiting Zanthar and getting your quest. There is also GM intrusion xp some of you got earlier. Now the rule for experience in this game is you don't necessarily get it for killing things. You get it for learning new things about the universe and role-playing your characters.
Zanthar nods and says, "Very well. I appreciate your assistance on this task. It was a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope you all have a grand adventure. My golem shall lead you out."
With that you're lead out the wondrous tower to the exit. The door closes behind you and locks leaving you all ready to do the next part of your task. Still getting some rest would be good for you did push on through the night to reach the city.
After the Cyphers are distributed, Zanthar reaches into a sachel and pulls out an ivory scroll case. He hands the scroll case to Armand and says, "Within this scroll case is the map to reach the location of the ruin. It will probably be two days of travel through the mountains to reach there. The map has an enchantment that will show your relative location to the ruin so you hopefully will not get lost along the way. Do you have any other questions before you depart?"
Zanthar looks at the gemstone and says, "Indeed, I can sense that this is a Cypher of some kind. It is possible it was used as a reagent to power a magical construct. Now that it has been removed from the source through it now is somewhat unstable and instead can be used to create a firey explosion when thrown at a target."
Zanthar nods and says, "Very well then, allow me to invoke the Geas and as promised I will provide all of you with all that you need."
Zanthar starts chanting words of power and waving his hands which start to glow with magical energy. He then points at each of you and a glowing ball of energy flows out and touches you. You feel a slight jolt in your body and then it subsides. However you now know the terms of the Geas. You have 10 days to complete the task, you are to tell no one else of what you are seeking and where the ruins are and you are to give the Rod of Storms to no one but Zanthar (but you can freely trade it among yourselves). If you violate any of these terms of the agreement you will be hit with a curse of misfortune . Game wise it makes every action you do +2 levels more difficult so its a pretty nasty curse. Upon delivering the Rod of Storms the Geas will be lifted.
He then says, "Well then, as promised I will give each of you a Cypher to aid you in your quest.
He goes over to a chest, waves his hand, looks inside and then four objects float in the air and are placed on the table you're sitting at.
Cypher 1
1d5 ⇒ 5
1d100 ⇒ 99
1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
The first device looks like some kind of rounded glass mirror with a mix of different dials attached to it.
X-ray Extractor (Level 10)
Effect: When held up against a solid surface, this device allows the user to see through up to 2 feet (0.6 m) of material. The selection of dials allows him to discriminate between various items within the material, permitting him to see buried objects, supports in walls, or organs in a body. The device operates for one minute, and it works only if the cypher’s level is higher than the material’s level.
Cypher 2
1d5 ⇒ 1
1d100 ⇒ 74
1d6 ⇒ 5
The second device looks like a metallic silver headband of some kind with a rounded rune on the front of it.
Data Mine (Level 5)
Allows the user to tap into the mind of anyone in visual range and steal the target’s knowledge of a skill that it is trained in. The
user becomes trained in that skill for one hour. During that time, the target loses its own training in that skill.
Cypher 3
1d5 ⇒ 5
1d100 ⇒ 58
1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
The third item is a leather wrist band with a strange red rune-stone in the center.
Teleporter (Mass) (Level 8)
The user teleports herself and a number of other creatures equal to the cypher level. They can travel up to 100 × the cypher level in miles to a location she has previously visited (only in the same recursion though). The group arrives safely with anything that they can carry, either individually or as a group.
Cypher 4
1d5 ⇒ 3
1d100 ⇒ 10
1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
This device takes the shape of a multicolored wand of some kind.
Summoning Wand (Level 4)
This creates a momentary inapposite gate. A random creature whose level is equal to or less than the cypher’s level appears through the gate and attacks the closest target.
He fully explains how each of these devices work. You are warned not to carry too many on your person though as too many in close proximity on a person can cause them to become unstable and vanish.
Zanthar chuckles and then says, "There are an infinite number of recursions and more are birthed from fictional bleed, astronomical events or through the use of Recursion Seeds. Where I come from, we even build craft that can sail through the Strange and discover new far off recursions and anomalies. As for myself, I have been to many either through translation or transition and believe me I saw much before I decided to settle down here in Ardeyn. At least being here gets me away from the bickering politics of my home-world. Here I can wield great magical power that can make life much more interesting I would think. But back to the matter at hand, do you agree to perform this task and retrieve the Rod of Storms?"
"While I know nothing of these Farstons as you call them, if they are Recursers then there is two possibilities. They may be from earth and thus using your home resources you may find information on them. On the other hand they may be Recursers from another Recursion and thus you will have to find their point of origin among the many worlds that exist in the strange. Either way a daunting task to be sure. With what I teach you however, you should have the tools to follow their trail once you've found out where they reside."
"The artifact you are seeking is known in the common tongue as the Rod of Storms. It is a powerful magical relic apparently forged by the Quephilim in ancient times to channel the power of lightning as well as control storms when they exist in the sky. Of course for more educated recursers such as myself I suspect this object was written into this world's fiction and evolved when Ardeyn became a recursion. Nonetheless the powers of this Artifact would be very useful to me hence unearthing it from the ruins and returning it to me would be a worthy price for my aid. It will likey be a dangerous quest and probably take on some aspects of your MMO style, "Dungeon Crawls" as the term goes. Traps, Monsters, Puzzles and the like. Odd things you earthlings come up with in your fictions."
"A geas is a magically bound oath to perform a task. Violating the terms of the geas, will mean you will suffer a terrible curse until the task is done or I chose to lift you from your obligation. As for a Hydra, it is a creature with the body of a massive bear and multiple human heads on long snake like furry necks. Fortunately its size means the creature is not overly evasive but it'd heads give the beast many attacks and the creature is quite robust so it takes many blows to slay. A weakness you may be able to exploit is that the heads often talk to one another so could provide a distraction you can exploit."
"The Sark are Qephilim who betrayed their purpose and the Seven Laws of Ardeyn and thus have become cursed beings of sin and corruption. They are outcasts to more civilized society and many of them are little more than monsters seeking to indulge in their sins. They can be potent in battle and some have magical abilities. Qephilim ruins are a common place where the Sark make their abodes. Still the biggest threat you will face is the Hydra that resides there. It is a powerful creature and odds are that after it kills you, your heads will join its hideous gestalt. From what I have learned about such beasts, the Hydras of this world enjoy Quickened heads more than those of the normal variety."
Zanthar then says, "I of course will give you the location of the ruin, a map to get there as well as a pick of Cyphers to aid in your quest. However if you chose to accept this task, you must swear to the task and accept a Geas upon your group. Its not that I do not trust you but I cannot risk you selling the knowledge of the location to other parties or you keeping the Artifact for yourself."
Zanthar nods and says, "A wise setimant Doc Bayou. Indeed, learning the skill of translating will be invaluable for all of you. The power to travel through worlds at will, the possibilities are endless for all of you and I can show you the path. Not until the task at hand is done however. I would not want you to leave here without upholding your agreement so I shall hold off the teaching till the job is done. The task if you chose to .accept it is a bit of Archeological work so to speak. I know of a Quephilim Ruin not to far from the city that has an artefact of great magical power, the Rod of Storms. Now certainly I could personally retrieve it but such a delve would waste valuable resources. The ruin has its share of occupants including Vault Spiders, Sark and most of all a Hydra exists in the ruin and you will have brave its dangers to claim the Rod."
Zanthar nods to Siobhan and says, "Most certainly you can return, especially as Earth is your homeworld. The problem is that without knowing how to do so you won't be able to unless you make use of gates. Translating without a gate is a very involved process and any mistake in the process could have dangerous consequences. You also will teleport to the location you last left which if I am correct in hearing had its own share of dangers."
He takes a sip of his tea and says, "Now as for getting back you have two options. I could teach what you need to know but it shall not come without a cost. As you are Recursors, your skill set is more valuable than the average peons that inhabit this world. If you would be willing to do a task for me then I will make sure you are returned back to your home recursion. The second option would be to deal with the Crow-Folk, who have access to a gate and may well let you make use of it, in exchange for Cyphers. They may try and swindle you though as the crow-folk are tricky fellows."
Zanthar chuckles a bit and says, "A sign of things to come I am afraid. Facing bullets and guns are only the "Tip of the iceberg" as you Earthlings call it. The Strange is a place of many wonders but also innumerable dangers and those who can't adapt to their new existence can quickly meet death or fates worse there of."
He pounders Marcus's words for a moment and then says,
"It appears you ended up here due to a Translation Gate. If it were an inapposite gate you would all still be bearing your earthly forms. As for your current shapes, it may have been a side effect of your translation. An experienced quickened has some control over what they may become when they first enter a recursion but due to your lack of experience it seems you all underwent some random transformation. Hopefully none of you ended up being gender swapped also in the process. That surely would be uncomfortable."
He gives a sly grin to that comment.
Zanthar says "Ah yes, Ardeyn, Land of the Cursed. This is where we all currently find ourselves. A young but powerful recursion not born of fictional bleed as many recursions are but by a convergence of Strange energies, a Planetovore and something your Earthlings call a Massively multiplayer online game, or MMO for short. In the time of your world and mine it has only existed for ten years but Ardeyn has evolved from its origin code into a world of its own with thousands of years of history. As recursions go, I have witnessed that most people here have the Spark of sentience although there are still a few that are caught in the narrative of this world's history and programming. As for the Quickened, I am certain there is some from these lands but like Earthlings, only few evolve to become as such. Ardeyn is a diamond in the rough and I enjoy living here and settling down in this wondrous place."
He looks to Marcus and says, "Ah so you have only been recently quickened I see. How is it that you translated to this recursion might I ask?"
Zanthar gives a respectful nod and says, "It is a pleasure to meet you Doc Bayou. A resident of the Prime World of Earth I see. Every recurser knows of the existence of Earth, a nexus point in the Strange that shapes this region of the Dark Matter Network. Where I hail from, earth is a constant sight in the sky and I have travelled there quite often. Despite the significance of Earth though very few there are of the Quickened. You are most blessed to be one of those few who can transcend the mundane drudge of Earth and experience the universe as it is."
He reaches down and takes a sip of tea from his teacup and gives an intrigued smirk to the group.
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