FrivYeti
New Member
Deep within a guild-run mine, three slave miners were hard at work when they accidentally broke open a hidden chamber. They fled as grey mist cracked out of the prison, returning to the surface in disarray. When the Guild's overseer sent a team into the lower mines to investigate, they found only a large, empty cavern, with grey fog cloaking the ground, and the slaves were disciplined for wasting time.
That day, however, was the start of disasters for the mine. The workers began to grow sick, one by one, their breath turning grey and their bodies wasting down - then the disease spread to the nearby town, affecting people who had never visited the mines. Isolating the sick had no effect. The mine fills more with mist and fog every day, and miners have begun to vanish - some report seeing shapes in the depths, just outside the light. The embattled overseer is considering whether it will be more efficient to try to find a team of heroes to enter the mines and discover what has happened, or whether to simply close down the entire operation and leave. If he knew what his people had unleashed, he would already have fled.
The Escovia is a slate-grey, sinuous lizard, with six long limbs tipped in thin, sharp claws, and scales that jut slightly out from its body like spikes. Thin tendrils of mist drift from its pores, and when it breathes out it does so in choking clouds that can strip flesh from bone. It is an ancient horror, once part of an entire species of plaguebearing monsters that roamed the world in the Time of Glory, before they were forced underground by the Primordials. It may well be the last of its kind, and while it is technically sentient, its thoughts are nothing that a human can interact with.
The Escovia has a simple desire – to rebuild its species, and return to the way of life that it once to. Unfortunately, to do this it must infect sentient beings, draining their souls to feed its own stunted one. In the absence of Essence, it fades into slumber, which is how it has spent the past several thousand years.
Strength 8, Dexterity 5, Stamina 8, Charisma 6, Manipulation 5, Appearance 4, Perception 6, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Martial Arts 5, Thrown 4, War 3, Integrity 5, Presence 3, Resistance 5 (Disease +3), Survival 4, Investigation 2, Lore 1, Medicine 3, Occult 2, Athletics 4, Awareness 4, Dodge 4, Stealth 3
Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 4, Valor 2, Willpower 7, Essence 5
Mote Pool: 50
PDV: 6, DDV: 7, MDV: 9, Soak 18B/12L [Armored Skin 10B/8L]
Claws: Speed 5, Accuracy 12, Damage 10L/2, Defense 12, Rate 3
Bite: Speed 6, Accuracy 11, Damage 12L/3, Defense --, Rate 1, Clinch
Tendrils of Disease: The mist that the Escovia naturally gives off is capable of potentially infecting subjects with greywaste (see below). This mist drifts naturally, gathering in tight areas such as narrow tunnels. The chances of being exposed by mere proximity vary from negligible for areas where she has just appeared to 50% if a tunnel is filled with grey smoke. Check only once per scene whether someone is infected in this way. The Escovia naturally produces this smoke even if quiescent; her original prison was so full that the explorers cracking it open were all infected immediately, allowing her to wake.
Choking Cloud: By spending 5 motes and a Willpower, the Escovia can surround herself with a deadly cloud of fog, which pours from her skin. The fog applies a -1 external penalty to strike her, and also creates an environmental hazard [3L, Trauma 3]. She must spend one mote per action to keep it powered; once she stops, the cloud loses one point from its damage and trauma per action until it dissipates. Anyone injured by the cloud must test for greywaste infection.
Filth Into Fortune: By spending 5 motes as a Simple action, the Escovia can heal a level of damage. The mist over her body coalesces into scar tissue, which fades gradually over the course of the next few hours.
Feast of Famine: The Escovia is capable of draining the life-energy from those infected by its disease to power itself, no matter where they are. Only infected subjects with committed Willpower can be drained; one or two of their committed Willpower dots are lost forever, and the Escovia gains four motes per dot lost. A subject reduced to 0 Willpower in this way dies, and leaves no ghost. The Escovia can do this only once per action. This is a Sickness effect with no resistance roll; only perfect effects can prevent it. Beings with Limit tracks may recover lost Willpower at a rate of one per week; doing so applies one point of Limit.
Hungry Essence: The Escovia does not feed as mortals do. It does not respire Essence, and must feed on one mote of Essence per day; if it does not have motes remaining, or chooses not to lose them, it suffers as though it had not eaten or drunk anything that day. Damage from its hunger cannot truly kill it, however, only drive it quiescent and comatose.
Mother of Monsters: The Escovia is capable of spawning horrible monsters, which it does by gestating them within the folds of its flesh. When they are ready to be born, it spends 10 motes to quicken them, vomiting them up as a miscellaneous action. These monsters are small, quick and deadly, and typically swarm larger enemies. The Escovia holds up to six eggs at a time, and must spend 10 motes to begin gestating one, a process that takes several days. Any injury from a spawnling requires the injured to test for greywaste, as does being exposed to its secretions.
(Str 1, Dex 4, Sta 4, Athletics 5, Martial Arts 4, Awareness 3, Survival 3, Stealth 4. 4L/6B soak, PDV 4, DDV 4. Health: OK, -1, -2, -4, Inc. Automatically co-ordinate with each other at minimum value.)
The statistics above are for an immature spawnling; the Escovia must spend one mote per day to ‘feed’ it, or it will wither and die. In theory, with enough time, one would grow larger, slowly mutating into a new Escovia. At some point in this process, it would become the originator for its own greywaste, rather than subsisting on its parent's.
Greywaste: Anyone injured by the Escovia, or who is exposed to the mist that she breathes out, has the potential to become infected by the greywaste (Stamina + Resistance, diff 3). You must only roll once per scene.
Once infected, subjects must roll Stamina + Resistance every week to shake the illness off. The difficulty is 4; regular treatment at difficulty 5 or magical treatment at difficulty 3 is also effective. Infected subjects suffer a -1 penalty to all actions, and must commit one point of Willpower per week to the disease. If over half of their Willpower is committed, the penalty increases to -2, and if all Willpower is committed it increases to -3 and recovery without treatment becomes impossible. Infected subjects grow increasingly listless, and begin to breathe wisps of grey mist that can infect other beings. Animals can be infected, losing two Willpower per week instead of one, but if the Escovia attempts to drain one, it will die instantly. Exalts may choose to gain one Limit instead of committing Willpower; once they gain five points of Limit in this way, they shake free of the disease and cannot be affected again.
Because Greywaste infects the breath, it cannot affect beings that do not naturally breathe, such as ghosts, or those that do not breathe air, such as most elementals or some gods. Beings composed entirely of air, such as air elementals, are particularly vulnerable; they suffer a -2 external penalty to all Resistance rolls against the greywaste, and must roll to avoid committing Willpower twice per week instead of once.
That day, however, was the start of disasters for the mine. The workers began to grow sick, one by one, their breath turning grey and their bodies wasting down - then the disease spread to the nearby town, affecting people who had never visited the mines. Isolating the sick had no effect. The mine fills more with mist and fog every day, and miners have begun to vanish - some report seeing shapes in the depths, just outside the light. The embattled overseer is considering whether it will be more efficient to try to find a team of heroes to enter the mines and discover what has happened, or whether to simply close down the entire operation and leave. If he knew what his people had unleashed, he would already have fled.
The Escovia is a slate-grey, sinuous lizard, with six long limbs tipped in thin, sharp claws, and scales that jut slightly out from its body like spikes. Thin tendrils of mist drift from its pores, and when it breathes out it does so in choking clouds that can strip flesh from bone. It is an ancient horror, once part of an entire species of plaguebearing monsters that roamed the world in the Time of Glory, before they were forced underground by the Primordials. It may well be the last of its kind, and while it is technically sentient, its thoughts are nothing that a human can interact with.
The Escovia has a simple desire – to rebuild its species, and return to the way of life that it once to. Unfortunately, to do this it must infect sentient beings, draining their souls to feed its own stunted one. In the absence of Essence, it fades into slumber, which is how it has spent the past several thousand years.
Strength 8, Dexterity 5, Stamina 8, Charisma 6, Manipulation 5, Appearance 4, Perception 6, Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Martial Arts 5, Thrown 4, War 3, Integrity 5, Presence 3, Resistance 5 (Disease +3), Survival 4, Investigation 2, Lore 1, Medicine 3, Occult 2, Athletics 4, Awareness 4, Dodge 4, Stealth 3
Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 4, Valor 2, Willpower 7, Essence 5
Mote Pool: 50
PDV: 6, DDV: 7, MDV: 9, Soak 18B/12L [Armored Skin 10B/8L]
Claws: Speed 5, Accuracy 12, Damage 10L/2, Defense 12, Rate 3
Bite: Speed 6, Accuracy 11, Damage 12L/3, Defense --, Rate 1, Clinch
Tendrils of Disease: The mist that the Escovia naturally gives off is capable of potentially infecting subjects with greywaste (see below). This mist drifts naturally, gathering in tight areas such as narrow tunnels. The chances of being exposed by mere proximity vary from negligible for areas where she has just appeared to 50% if a tunnel is filled with grey smoke. Check only once per scene whether someone is infected in this way. The Escovia naturally produces this smoke even if quiescent; her original prison was so full that the explorers cracking it open were all infected immediately, allowing her to wake.
Choking Cloud: By spending 5 motes and a Willpower, the Escovia can surround herself with a deadly cloud of fog, which pours from her skin. The fog applies a -1 external penalty to strike her, and also creates an environmental hazard [3L, Trauma 3]. She must spend one mote per action to keep it powered; once she stops, the cloud loses one point from its damage and trauma per action until it dissipates. Anyone injured by the cloud must test for greywaste infection.
Filth Into Fortune: By spending 5 motes as a Simple action, the Escovia can heal a level of damage. The mist over her body coalesces into scar tissue, which fades gradually over the course of the next few hours.
Feast of Famine: The Escovia is capable of draining the life-energy from those infected by its disease to power itself, no matter where they are. Only infected subjects with committed Willpower can be drained; one or two of their committed Willpower dots are lost forever, and the Escovia gains four motes per dot lost. A subject reduced to 0 Willpower in this way dies, and leaves no ghost. The Escovia can do this only once per action. This is a Sickness effect with no resistance roll; only perfect effects can prevent it. Beings with Limit tracks may recover lost Willpower at a rate of one per week; doing so applies one point of Limit.
Hungry Essence: The Escovia does not feed as mortals do. It does not respire Essence, and must feed on one mote of Essence per day; if it does not have motes remaining, or chooses not to lose them, it suffers as though it had not eaten or drunk anything that day. Damage from its hunger cannot truly kill it, however, only drive it quiescent and comatose.
Mother of Monsters: The Escovia is capable of spawning horrible monsters, which it does by gestating them within the folds of its flesh. When they are ready to be born, it spends 10 motes to quicken them, vomiting them up as a miscellaneous action. These monsters are small, quick and deadly, and typically swarm larger enemies. The Escovia holds up to six eggs at a time, and must spend 10 motes to begin gestating one, a process that takes several days. Any injury from a spawnling requires the injured to test for greywaste, as does being exposed to its secretions.
(Str 1, Dex 4, Sta 4, Athletics 5, Martial Arts 4, Awareness 3, Survival 3, Stealth 4. 4L/6B soak, PDV 4, DDV 4. Health: OK, -1, -2, -4, Inc. Automatically co-ordinate with each other at minimum value.)
The statistics above are for an immature spawnling; the Escovia must spend one mote per day to ‘feed’ it, or it will wither and die. In theory, with enough time, one would grow larger, slowly mutating into a new Escovia. At some point in this process, it would become the originator for its own greywaste, rather than subsisting on its parent's.
Greywaste: Anyone injured by the Escovia, or who is exposed to the mist that she breathes out, has the potential to become infected by the greywaste (Stamina + Resistance, diff 3). You must only roll once per scene.
Once infected, subjects must roll Stamina + Resistance every week to shake the illness off. The difficulty is 4; regular treatment at difficulty 5 or magical treatment at difficulty 3 is also effective. Infected subjects suffer a -1 penalty to all actions, and must commit one point of Willpower per week to the disease. If over half of their Willpower is committed, the penalty increases to -2, and if all Willpower is committed it increases to -3 and recovery without treatment becomes impossible. Infected subjects grow increasingly listless, and begin to breathe wisps of grey mist that can infect other beings. Animals can be infected, losing two Willpower per week instead of one, but if the Escovia attempts to drain one, it will die instantly. Exalts may choose to gain one Limit instead of committing Willpower; once they gain five points of Limit in this way, they shake free of the disease and cannot be affected again.
Because Greywaste infects the breath, it cannot affect beings that do not naturally breathe, such as ghosts, or those that do not breathe air, such as most elementals or some gods. Beings composed entirely of air, such as air elementals, are particularly vulnerable; they suffer a -2 external penalty to all Resistance rolls against the greywaste, and must roll to avoid committing Willpower twice per week instead of once.
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