Numenera - The Thief, the Clave, and the Ultimatum.pdf

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THE THIEF, THE CLAVE,
AND THE ULTIMATUM
BY BRUCE R. CORDELL
INTRODUCTION
In this instant adventure, player characters
(PCs) must locate a vehicle capable of
traveling through the ocean’s depths, into
the gloom of universal night, and even
between the gaps of the world itself. If you’re
unfamiliar with instant adventures, we’ve
provided an explanation below.
two-page spread, organized in a map or chart
(which can be followed just like a map).
• Some encounters have symbols
designating that one or more of the keys
might be present.
• Some encounters have predesigned GM
intrusions (which are always optional).
After that essential spread you’ll find a
section called More Details. If you’ve got
time, reading this will help flesh out the
details—the places, the people, and so on.
But nothing in this section is crucial. The
adventure works fine without it.
Finally, the adventure ends with notes
for GMs who want to incorporate it into an
ongoing campaign or place it in a specific
location in the Ninth World. You’ll also find
ideas for further development if you want
to keep things going after the adventure is
done. This includes awarding XP. None of
this needs to be read ahead of time.
Credits
Writer/Designer
Bruce R. Cordell
Creative Director
Monte Cook
Managing Editor
Dennis Detwiller
Proofreader
Ray Vallese
Cover Artist
Lie Setiawan
Graphic Designer
Bear Weiter
Cartographer
Hugo Solis
Artists
chrom, Sam Cullum,
Lie Setiawan, Lee Smith,
Kieran Yanner
Monte Cook Games
Editorial Board
Scott C. Bourgeois, David
Wilson Brown, Eric Coates,
Gareth Hodges, Mila Irek,
Jeremy Land, Laura Wilkinson,
Marina Wold, George Ziets
As we agree with the growing consensus
that “they” can and should be used as a
gender-neutral, singular English language
pronoun when one is needed, we have
adopted that as the style in our products.
If you see this grammatical construction, it
is intentional.
INSTANT ADVENTURE
FORMAT
Instant adventures are designed to be easy
to grasp with just a quick skim. You must
read and absorb all of this before play starts.
Fortunately, these sections are short and
written for easy comprehension and retention.
Each instant adventure begins with a
brief summary and a few paragraphs that
add detail. The most important points are
called out again, this time in a bulleted list
to help you remember (and reference) them.
Next, you’ll find a section that details the
keys involved in the adventure. The boxed
text explains how keys work. Last, you’ll
find a Further Development section that
outlines experience point (XP) rewards, as
well as ways to fit the adventure into a larger
campaign.
Before play begins, you must have a good
idea of what the keys are, but you don’t need
to know how they’ll show up. In fact, that’s
the point. Where the keys are located and
when they come into play are decided by the
game master (GM) based on the flow of the
session.
After the keys, look at the Starting Point
and Wrap-Up sections, which are pretty
self-explanatory. All encounters that the PCs
experience in the session are found in the
© 2016 Monte Cook Games, LLC
Numenera
and its logo are
trademarks of Monte Cook
Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and
other countries. All Monte
Cook Games characters and
character names, and the
distinctive likenesses thereof,
are trademarks of Monte Cook
Games, LLC.
Throughout this supplement, you’ll
see page references to various items
accompanied by this symbol. These
are page references to the
Numenera
corebook, where you can find additional
details about that item, place, creature,
or concept. It isn’t necessary to look up
the referenced items in the corebook;
it’s an optional way to learn more
about the game and provide additional
information to your players.
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THE THIEF, THE CLAVE, AND THE ULTIMATUM
USING KEYS
The biggest difference between running an instant adventure and a typical published
adventure is that the GM manages when and where keys show up. A key is anything
that moves the game forward; as such, it might be an object, a person, or a bit of
information. Regardless of what it is, the GM determines when it shows up in the
adventure.
There are two kinds of keys: necessary keys and interesting keys.
Necessary Keys.
If the PCs require a device to open a way into a ruin to complete the
adventure, that device is a necessary key. Since the device is crucial to the forward
motion of the session, the GM should pace things so the PCs have at least a chance
to find it. The GM should pace the appearance of such a key for the right time in the
adventure; otherwise, the session might end too quickly. But this pacing is up to each
individual GM. Some GMs, for example, might want to reward smart play by enabling
the PCs to reach their goal early.
Interesting Keys.
These keys are almost their own kind of
GM intrusion.
Such a key
might be a device that causes harm or makes things more complicated. It might
be something that helps the PCs but isn’t directly related to reaching the end of the
adventure. These keys are not crucial, but they make things more fun. What’s more, they
inject drama. If the PCs find a strange device, they shouldn’t know automatically that it’s
directly related to the plot. Maybe it’s just a strange device. Worse, maybe it’s dangerous.
They have to figure it out.
GM Intrusion,
page 108
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THE THIEF, THE CLAVE,
AND THE ULTIMATUM
BRIEF SUMMARY
Laedris:
level 4, tasks
related to the numenera
as level 6, Raft-related
tasks as level 8
The community surrounding a clave will be
destroyed by a powerful entity of the prior
worlds if the PCs can’t identify who stole the
Raft, a vehicle able to travel underwater, in
space, and through alternate dimensions.
Tiny automaton:
level 2,
Speed defense as level 4;
flies a short distance
each round
DETAILS
In the Beyond, in a small community called
Naraderan, two Aeon Priests have focused
on understanding and repairing a singular
vehicle they call the Raft. Over the years, the
clave has managed to bring the Raft back
to life. It is a small ship capable of traveling
through the depths of the sea, the endless
gloom of space, and even into alternate
realities where things unfolded differently
than in the Ninth World.
The chamber in which the clave worked
on the Raft was actually a section of a much
larger prior-world structure. While the
structure was mostly ruined, parts of it are
inhabited by various weird entities that have
survived the aeons.
The various entities within the structure are
not necessarily aligned with each other, and
some are not really even conscious; they’re
merely dangerous things best avoided. Others
are benign, and provide useful information
and even technical aid. The Naraderan clave
benefitted greatly from this arrangement
for several years, until one of those entities
took interest in the finally repaired Raft. This
creature, named Ooryal, demanded the Raft
for itself in return for the aid it had rendered,
or promised destruction for the clave and the
death of every living thing in Naraderan.
Fearful of Ooryal, the clave agreed to hand
over the Raft. There was just one problem:
someone stole the craft before the handover
could take place.
Laedris,
one of the two Aeon Priests of
Naraderan, requests the PCs’ aid (how they
have arrived at Naraderan is up to the GM).
Laedris is in her late thirties, wears bright
orange robes, and is followed everywhere
by a
tiny automaton.
She says the Raft has
been gone for three days, and Ooryal gave a
deadline of five. She says she and her fellow
Aeon Priest Githea can reward the PCs by
giving them a ride in the Raft to anywhere
in (or out of) the world, before they deliver
the Raft to Ooryal, plus of course any objects
they can salvage in the installation while
looking for the stolen craft. Laedris suspects
that one of the other entities within the prior-
world structure stole the Raft.
To learn what happened, the PCs must talk
with several of the entities within the prior-
world installation. Clues ultimately lead them
back out of the installation to the home of
the Aeon Priest Githea, the true thief. Githea
had become so attached to the Raft that she
decided to claim it for herself rather than
surrender it. The characters can negotiate
with Githea for the return of the Raft, fight
her, or tell Laedris what they’ve learned.
SALIENT POINTS:
• Naraderan is a clave where two Aeon
Priests studied a multi-function ship
called the Raft.
• Naraderan is built over a prior-world
installation that’s partly ruined, but
also home to various weird, sometimes
helpful, and sometimes dangerous
entities.
• To save itself from destruction, the clave
promised the Raft to one of those entities,
Ooryal is a kind of
creature known as a
quotien.
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THE THIEF, THE CLAVE, AND THE ULTIMATUM
a quotien named Ooryal. But the Raft was
stolen before the trade happened.
• Laedris promises that she and Githea
(the two Aeon Priests of the clave)
will reward the PCs for helping by
transporting them anywhere in the Raft
before surrendering it to Ooryal.
• Though initial clues point to the thief
being something from down in the
installation, it is actually Githea.
is risky because if the PCs lose, the quotien
immediately follows through on its plan. If
PCs seriously hurt Githea to obtain the Raft,
they make an enemy of Laedris. It’s possible
the PCs falsely accuse Laedris, but she can
defend herself (she’s not the only Aeon Priest
who dresses in orange like the thief, though
she doesn’t want to believe Githea could
be the culprit). Regardless, if the craft isn’t
found soon, residents begin to flee the city
fearing its inevitable destruction.
The Aeon Priests are
friends, perhaps even
more. Regardless, they
keep separate rooms
inside the clave building.
STARTING POINT
Naraderan is home to nearly a hundred
people. The clave (a dome-like brick
structure) sits at the center of the
community, and the surrounding homes
are arranged in a staggered spiral pattern
around it. The people are mostly farmers
with a few hunters. There’s a common house
for PCs who want to rest, a tavern where
they can find food, and a small marketplace
where they can buy items, including a small
selection of cyphers recovered in the clave’s
interactions with the installation below.
Laedris shows the PCs where the Raft was
located: a chamber beneath the brick clave
building. The cavity that once housed the
Raft is a cluttered space filled with half-dead
artifacts. Laedris describes the Raft, when
“unfolded,” as resembling something like a
20-foot (6 m) wide silver raindrop, round on
one end and pointed on the other. However,
apparently one of the Raft’s amazing
functions was its ability to fold into an easily
transported case no larger or heavier than an
adventurer’s pack.
Laedris recommends that the PCs speak
with Githea and also look for and speak with
the ishenizar, a crystal creature with many
eyes who lives in the installation. If anything
saw what happened, the ishenizar is the
most likely witness, but Laedris has had no
luck finding it, because the ishenizar moves
around the installation all the time.
KEYS
This adventure has three keys, two of which are sources of
information, and one of which is an object:
Someone who knows the current location of the
ishenizar.
Someone who saw the covered, humanoid form of the
thief so PCs generally know what to look for.
Something the ishenizar desires, which is any object with
psychic or telepathic resonance.
If an encounter has the potential to include a key but does not,
it may have a few cyphers instead, depending on the flow of the
session. Overall, the entire scenario should offer the PCs five to
seven cyphers.
WRAP-UP
The best-case scenario is that the PCs
confront Githea and convince her to willingly
hand over the stolen Raft. Of course, the PCs
might also decide to eliminate Ooryal, which
also prevents Naraderan’s destruction, but
The dome-shaped clave
building has four private
rooms, but only two Aeon
Priests. There is also a
kitchen, a bath, various
small utility chambers,
and a guarded utility
passage leading down
into the prior-world
installation.
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