Cross town Monstrosity (Umbra City - Maleth Noir)

Sometimes you need that high level encounter for the whole group.  Sometimes you need a threat that can destabilize the whole place (however temporarily) and sometimes you need a Big Damn Monster for the PCs to slay, all nice and public like, to get the neighborhood/city/authorities/whomever on their side (Big Damn Heroes[1]). 

Like the city being invaded by a tribe of mutants or a few of the other wider ranging encounters in Sub-ether #1, this is one of those encounters.

An all-points bulletin hits the comms traffic; city districts are being placed into lockdown preventing travel between them and the largest scramble of hex spinners anyone has ever seen just dispatched overhead…heading for the Shades.

A cancer mage was cornered at the Reccie-works and called up some abomination to cover their escape.  So, there’s a monster raging out of control at the surface street level of the Reclamation works (section Gamma). And oh yeah, there’s a cancer mage running lose in the city.  

Just another day-cycle, right?

The monster at the Reccieworks will not be stopped, certainly not by the SecFor   Whether this was the sorcerer’s plan or not in the first place, they called up some kind of ... dreggu golem,

Dreggu Golem (1): Init +2; Atk flailing slam +8 melee (1d8+3 + see below); AC 17; HD 11d8; hp 40; MV 20’; Act 2d24; SP Skin that runs and flows like wax, Toxic touch; SV Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +2; AL C.

Skin that runs and flows like wax – the at once seemingly waxy, slippery, pudding-like surface covering the creature is in fact’s it’s skin and muscles, and it is hungry with necrosis, death, and incredibly regenerating, throbbing, pulsing LIFE.  Skin to bare surface contact results in 1d6 hp damage from chemical action and the loss of several layers of skin as the golem’s body attempts to absorb and eat the skin and muscles of those it comes into contact with.  This is in addition to and cumulative with Toxic touch below.  

The creature is slippery that attempts to hold fast or grab onto the creature do so a step down on the die chain.  

Toxic touch – the touch of the screaming creature carries with it a death sentence. A successful Fort save (DC 21) must be made to avoid this fate.  On a successful slam attack or any direct skin or body surface contact with the creature, the skin at once infects, mutates, and tries to consume that which it is in contact with.  Functionally this is combined chemical attack/alteration that inflicts 2d6 hp damage, and 2d3 points of ability damage.  On a failed save this also imparts a rapid acting regenerative cancer to the victim, metastasizing in 1d6 progressions and killing the character in 1d3 months.   ON a successful save, the afflicted still takes damage but can save to recover half of the ability damage (Fortitude DC 16) a day later. Further, while the character needs to be seen at a trauma facility, they are not imparted with immediate toxic death, though there is a 2% cumulative per passing sidereal that this will become so.

Mutants and Variants gain a +4 against this effect as their systems are hardened against even supernatural cancers.  Non-organics struck by this effect still incur the physical hp damage but suffer no ability damage and no chance of cancer.

Roleplaying Hints:   KILL ME I AM IN PAIN!!!  There is nothing left to be reasoned with. It just wants to die.   Kill it.   It is constantly making noises of raging pain, but all is too distorted to make out. 

The creation of a desperate cancer mage; this could only have happened at a Reclamation Works where someone (or more likely several someones) have been … recycled.  Soul fragments those “reclaimed” while living now dead summoned and infused into the semi-organic runoff from the Reanimators (dreggu) now shaped by poisonous will into a doughy roughly person shaped raging monstrosity.  

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[1] especially if they are a bunch of DCC characters someone magicked up to deal with the problem.  While this won’t likely make them Noir’s version of the Avengers all by itself it will def. get them noticed and looked at favorably by many. 

Values of Electronic Warfare

Certain characters and devices are listed in Sub-ether #1 with an EWV; what is this cryptic number?  It is their Electronic Warfare Value.  

In an age of smart matter and relatively available Fabricator technology, especially in the core, everything is networked.  Across a variety of systems and relays and micro-transceivers.   When everything is networked, everything is at least a little smart, and so many of the coreworld population are mechanized, it is not surprising how common it is for that technology to be hacked.   From guns, to computers, to cyberoptics, all of it can be hacked if it can be remote accessed at all.   To simulate that, the following simple but highly invasive rule is presented.

Give all mechanicals an Electronic Warfare Value;  they can add their class and int bonus to this as well. Some classes also give an EWV bonus;  urban confiscator may just add their level.   Some cybernetics can give organics a base EWV as well. 

Note that Being and Class EWV bonuses are stackable.

All gear that is electronic and networkable gets an EWV as well; that’s the DC the hacker would need to affect that device.  This can be an enemies’ smartgun, or their onboard computer.

Gear EWV DCs should range from relatively low (10 to hack house appliances, 20 to hack an enemies’ weapon in combat, and up)

Some items will lack an EWV completely, having n/a or (*) where *denotes a particular value; this indicates that the item cannot normally be hacked but if somehow the computing elements on board could be hacked this would be the DC to hijack them.

Yes in theory you can hack another mechanical but it’s BAAAD form and also their defenses are higher than most tech. Esp. if leveled.

Gear can come in hardened varieties, which is ‘hack resistant’ increasing the DC by 2 for effectively doubling (at least) the equipment price

Assume that whatever the Imperial government uses is basically super hardened which is +3 DC

Just remember, Cybernetics can be hacked.

This WILL change the feel of the game CONSIDERABLY but if everyone is on board it balances out some of the super tech that the authorities will use on you whether you have done anything or not.....and could also be dangerous if you have any Mad Thinker types in your group.  :)   It''s your game, do with it as you please. 

Much more about he EWV and specifics as to it's use will appear in the new rules section of Galaxy Black.  Until such a time as you have a lengthy list of equipment with EWV targets, use the above and wing it. :) 
Any unusual or notable uses of this in your game?  Drop a line to dreaminggynoid@gmail.com and tell us all about it.