Numenera - Vortex - Session 1

Numenera Session 1 

“Vortex, Part 1”

11/30/2013

Players 

Jen - Oswin, an Intelligent Nano who Fuses Flesh with Steel

Frank - Trevor, a Strong-Willed Nano who Commands Mental Powers

Nate - Lynq, a Rugged Glaive who Explores Dark Places

Tom - Torrent, a Clever Jack who Rides the Lightning

Sarah - Silus, a Stealthy Jack who Exists Partially Out of Phase

Summary

The characters in this story, Oswin, Trevor, Lynq, Torrent, and Silus were traversing the edge of the Dark Hills, passing through Draolis and into Southern Navarene following a successful Numenera hunting excursion.  While passing through this part of the country they came across a strange structure sticking out of the ground through a stream.  Upon closer investigation the structure seemed to have recently erupted from the ground, however there was no clear way to enter.  Footprints surrounding the structure and a possible “keyhole” proved that there were others interested in this discovery.  Not long after finding this out a small troupe of monks arrived demanding that the party remove themselves from the scene.  The monks, clad in purple robes, claimed that the site was sacred to them and offered a few shins to get the characters to leave.  Oswin was only interested in their hoverboard cypher, so eventually they pestered the monks enough to get them to hand it over in return for leaving the area.  Silus, however, merged with a tree and observed the departure of the structure, which burrowed deep within the ground.  

At first it seemed like the structure was gone and no traces were left of the weird monks, but Silus saw a sack floating away from the scene down the quick moving stream.  Lynq took off after the sack, which must’ve been left by one of the monks.  Not wanting possible clues to disappear, Lynq jumped into the stream and tore open the bag, finding a big load of vegetables, dried meat, preserves, and a notebook.  The notebook had several maps of the surrounding area, and also seemed to show that the precise area where the structure appeared was predicted, and that it would appear 10 days later about 80 miles north.  Needing more information, and interested in where the monks acquired the floating disk and the supplies, the characters set off for Jutte, 6 miles away.  

The quiet village of Jutte was unknown to the party, not famous for anything, not even their Entolodons (pig-sized hippos bred for their milk and eggs).  It seemed like two folks in the village were interested in the hoverboard... a varjellen merchant and Jacoby, owner of Jacoby’s Jink.  The varjellen, a traveling trader named Maleen, was fairly chatty for a visitant, and sought information regarding the monks from the characters, just as they asked questions of the same.  He seemed interested because he had seen similar monks a century earlier.  While talking with the varjellen, however, a bunch of street toughs showed up, threatening the party for talking to dirty visitants.  The gangers sure were lucky that Oswin stepped in before Lynq did, as the nano used her sleep inducing ring to put the first one out, causing him to knock into the second and  drop him from consciousness as well.  For their help, Maleen offered to meet the party later at the local tavern to discuss the monks.

The party questioned Jacoby a bit as well, but all he could tell the party was that the monks had purchased the hoverboard cypher from him and he had a few other oddities for sale.  Unfortunately the party didn’t have a use for a crystal that shattered and reformed every few seconds, three six-fingered gloves, or a belt buckle made of tin that weighed as much as lead.  

A the tavern later Maleen told the party that he had seen similar monks a century before when in Nilhiesh to the south.  At that time there were at least thirty members of the well formed Cult of the Vortex, a name he could pull from the symbols on the traveling structure that Oswin could remember.  Knowing that the structure would be back in about 10 days time, Maleen offered to fund an expedition into the structure’s depths in search of cyphers, artifacts, and oddities.  He had a small herd of Aneen that could take the party to the site, deep within Navarene, set up tents and rest stations, and help with taking extra cyphers through the Steadfast.  The party agreed to pay 25% of their take to Maleen and his associate Kel, and they decided to set out the next morning.   

Quotes:

“If you ‘ride the lightning’ shouldn’t you sound like the guy from Metallica?” - Jen had some preconceived notions of the descriptors and foci.  

“I’m a little squirrelly!” - Sarah’s description of her character was spot on.  

“There is no ‘bright-side’...” - Frank was really getting in character for his depressing Nano.

“Climb on my back, I’ll hover over the water!” - Jen was pretty sure that Oswin had abilities that she didn’t have.   

“My Intellect is like a 3rd grade dropout.” - Nate didn’t have much faith in Lynq’s smarts and was just waiting to smack something.  

“Do you want to come have a beer and talk about hover board’s later?” - Jen used this pick up line on the gamemaster about 16 years earlier.

“The last thing they’ll remember is the smell of lemon.” - Frank knew there was a use for Oswin’s intimidating citrus bell.