Homebrew tabletop role-playing game modules unofficially set in the world of Horizon.
IASO
Synopsis
Our adventurers find themselves in a ruins just outside of Mother’s Watch, the same place the Seeker found her first Focus device.
Prying open a door reveals some kind of laboratory full of strange medical instruments, beds, and a stockpile of Focuses, ready to use.
Following the prompts they see through their Focuses, they reactivate the power to an AI which identifies itself as IASO.
IASO notices that one of the party sliced their hand when opening the door, and walks the adventurer through the steps to use one of the instruments to disinfect and stitch the gash closed.
The AI claims it can do more to help other injured and sick people, but it needs the adventurers to help it reconnect with the other AIs.
IASO was a Greek goddess whose domain was recovery from injury.
See Iaso at Wikipedia for details.
Introduction
This module is an introductory adventure in the Horizon setting.
Unlike many modules which are targeted at Narrators (or Game Masters, or Storytellers, or equivalent), this module is playable without a dedicated Narrator.
To that end, one or more players without a Narrator should feel comfortable reading from it without the fear of spoilers.
But if your group has a Narrator, great!
They’re on book duty!
When referring to the world, Skyline modules will use Horizon to mean any canon from the video games, and Skyline for anything extra we’ve added.
This adventure takes place shortly after the final events in the Horizon: Zero Dawn video game.
If you haven’t completed that game, getting you up to speed is beyond the scope of this module, sorry!
You should play the video game first!
You can probably play through this module without that context, but the module doesn’t go out of its way to explain events, locations, or people from the video game — it might be confusing.
This module also assumes you already know the basics of playing a tabletop RPG, and that you have a specific system with which you’re already familiar.
To that end, this module is split into two parts: the first part is system-agnostic narrative (the adventure), while the second half contains a set of adapters for a number of tabletop game systems.
Take a moment to find your system in the Adapters section.
If your favorite system isn’t there, there isn’t a fallback system, sorry!
Still here?
Great!
One more thing: to help groups without a Narrator avoid accidental spoilers, and to get everyone used to the non-linear narrative of open world gaming, the adventure has been chopped up into numbered entries, and scrambled into a random order.
Maps and other references will use these entry numbers which are not the same as page numbers.
To help with this, entry numbers start at 100, which will be the first one you read.
After that you’ll jump around quite a bit.
Don’t try to read through the entries in order! You’ll spoil the story, and it won’t make any sense!
Like similar branching narrative systems, you will occasionally be faced with choices which direct you where to go next.
Here’s your first branching point:
If this is the group’s first time playing a tabletop Skyline module, continue on to Starting Out.
Otherwise, since you’ve played before and already have characters, skip ahead to Hooks.
Starting Out
If this is not your first tabletop adventure in the world of Skyline you should skip this section and go directly to Hooks.
Otherwise, welcome!
If you have not already picked or created characters, do the following:
Each player should pick a character they find appealing.
If more than one player wants to try the same character, that’s okay!
Pick a new name, and maybe change a few background details.
Each person should print or copy the character sheet for their chosen character, available in the Adapter for your system.
The starter characters each have a set of starting gear, so you won’t need to worry about finding weapons, armor, or tools before you start your adventure.
The starting gear for most tabletop RPG characters will be fine — you shouldn’t need anything special for this module.
Narrators may want to glance at the Story Graph to get a feel for the flow of the module.
It has spoilers!
What do the players know about the world of Skyline?
Fifty years from now for us, and a thousand years ago for the characters, humanity lost the war against machines and Artificial Intelligences they had built to wage war with each other.
Humans lost control of those machines, which reverted to one of their primary directives: consume biomatter, the entire planet if necessary, to feed their self-replication.
But that war took time, allowing some groups to make contingency plans for the apocalypse.
One such plan was Project Zero Dawn.
Repurposing the very technology that was destroying them, Zero Dawn created the GAIA AI and a number of Subordinate Functions with a unified purpose: crack the codes to disable the machines, regrow the biosphere, and restart the human race.
GAIA spent the next thousand years doing exactly that.
Cavernous underground, fully automated factories churned out machines, designed by one of the Subordinate Functions, which slowly replanted the soul, purified the atmosphere, and reintroduced fauna one species at a time.
Humanity’s proclivity for self-destruction would not be abated, however.
Through an act of nihilistic sabotage, the knowledge base intended to reeducate the lab-grown, reintroduced humans was destroyed by one of the last people alive on the planet.
When humanity next walked on the surface after a 500-year absence, it had forgotten nearly everything it had learned since the stone age.
This included even a sense of where they’d come from, replacing history with Earth-mother worship, Sun-god worship, and other folklore.
Tribes, spear-wielding and primitive by our standards, followed a similar progression as before: going from subsistence hunters, to farmers, to villages, to small cities.
One thing was different this time: the machines.
Humans coexisted with the machines, still working to reseed the planet, for hundreds of years.
Access to these machines gave humans a supply of worked metals, plastics, chemical energy sources, and tools.
This drove the pace of innovation, bringing humans screaming through the equivalent of the Bronze Age and all the way up to ironworking and combustion, in just another five centuries.
This synergy with the machines changed twenty years ago with what is referred to as “The Derangement”.
A signal from an unknown source caused GAIA’s Subordinate Functions to evolve into independent AIs, with goals and directives corrupted, and to break free to act on their own.
GAIA fought back against one AI in particular, HADES, which had the original goal of helping GAIA reset the planet to a blank slate, should the terraforming go awry.
HADES began to reactivate the ancient war machines which had been dormant the last thousand years, so GAIA destroyed the primary facility which housed most of the computational resources in an attempt to stop it.
The Subordinate Functions which created and produced the machines began to produce machines which were antagonistic to humans, adding armor, weapons, and even stealth technology.
As a last-ditch effort to regain control, GAIA directed one of the underground birthing facilities to produce a clonal “reinstantiation” of Elisabet Sobeck, the head of Project Zero Dawn.
This clone was released into the care of the nearest tribe, the Nora, in what we would recognize today as Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado in the United States.
The Nora, fundamentalists and fearful toward technology, gave the child to one of their exiles to raise outside of the tribe.
That child, Aloy, spent the next two decades enduring training and trials to prove herself “worthy” of learning the truth about her heritage.
Attacked by a terror organization known as Eclipse, the Nora would not immediately grant Aloy the information she sought.
Instead, they named her a Seeker, one who lives outside the tribe, allowing her to hunt down the Eclipse in the lands beyond Nora borders.
Along the way, Aloy would learn much of the real history of the Earth and its population, all the while learning more and more about the technologies used by the machines and AIs.
In a showdown with HADES, referred to as the Battle of the Spire, Aloy was able to shut down its attempts to reactivate the war machines, and to drive the AI back, at least temporarily.
Aloy, uncomfortable with the attention garnered by such a feat, chose to fade from view and instead attempt to rediscover what she saw as her roots: the heritage of Elisabet Sobeck.
The Battle of the Spire was just weeks ago at the beginning of this IASO module.
It was bloody and destructive, leading to huge losses for both the Nora people and their neighbors, the Carja.
What the characters do and do not know
Older people will remember a time when humans and machines were indifferent to each other, when humans instead had more to fear from each other.
Most under thirty, however, would not know a time when machines would not attack on sight.
Everyone is aware that an ancient people, referred to as the Old Ones, lived in these same lands and died off long before living memory.
The artifacts of the Old Ones can be found almost everywhere, but mostly in ruins of twisted metal and strange materials.
Some have even pieced together that the dormant war machines which pepper the landscape are presumably what destroyed the Old Ones, leading to the inherent fear of technology harbored by many of the tribes such as the Nora and Carja.
Some tribes, such as the Oseram and the Banuk, do not share in this fear, instead seeing technology and machines as things to be studied, learned from, and appreciated.
None of the people see machines as mystical or divine — they know the machines are mostly metal, and are constructs, not grown like plants or animals.
A few have even figured out that the machines are built in the giant underground “crucible” factories.
It is not uncommon, especially in Oseram lands, to see scavenged machine parts repurposed for everday use, even if their users don’t actually understand how the parts work.
The concept of AI, however, is still a little beyond all but a handful of people in the known lands.
The few who have interacted with AIs, such as GAIA, HADES, and CYAN, have generally interpreted them as some kind of deity.
Even fewer have any coherent understanding of history beyond living memory.
In the canon of Horizon there are really only two, Aloy and Sylens, though you might argue that a few others such as Erend, probably picked up quite a bit from what Aloy related to them.
As the world of Horizon is littered with data points and texts which tell bits and pieces, it is conceivable that many people know isolated stories of the Old Ones.
It’s also possible that collectors of such stories, such as the Banuk historian starter character, Van, have come across enough stories to be able to piece together something pretty close to the truth.
Similarly, most people will not know every nook and cranny of the landscape.
That is, while many people would be able to relate a general area and direction for a place they think might be a cauldron, very few would ever have visited one, and even fewer would be able to direct you to a second.
Some people may be well-traveled enough to know where most settlements are, such as the Nora Brave starter character, Drake, but that’s rare outside of traveling merchants and hunting and defensive parties.
Without horses to ride or beasts of burden to help pull carts, long distance travel is still daunting.
Canonically for Horizon, only two people have figured out how to use Corruptor modules to ride machines: Aloy and Sylens.
Everyone else is on foot.
When thinking about what your character knows, try to keep it realistic for a starter game.
Your characters won’t have the Horizon map memorized with all its points of interest, nor will they be able to recite the history of the Old Ones on command.
Most people, even warriors and hunters, will still be surprised when they see a new machine, or when they end up in a ruins of the Old Ones, or see a display of Old Ones technology.
What next?
Start your adventure by skipping ahead to the Adventure section’s first entry: 100.
Hooks
If the party is a group of players new to the Horizon setting, you should have already gone through Starting Out and can skip this section.
Otherwise, the party will need to find themselves making a journey on the road to Mother’s Watch.
One of the following hooks may be helpful:
A contract to deliver Lancehorn drills to Mother’s Crown.
Escort a refugee father and son who were separated from the mother and daughter who have already made their way to Mother’s Crown.
With this hook the refugees will run far ahead of the party as they get within sight of the Crown, leaving the party alone.
Scouting the area around Mother’s Heart, which still turns away non-Nora visitors, because you’re curious.
Once the party finds themselves on the road to Mother’s Watch, skip to the narrative section of the module and start the adventure with entry 101.
Background
Two weeks ago, the fight against the rumored Buried Shadow was fought and won.
“The Battle for Meridian’s Spire”, or just “the Spire”, brought together people in a level of cross-cultural cooperation not seen in living memory.
A larger threat was revealed, and overcome, by the young Nora Seeker, Aloy, and the allies she’d made in her travels across the lands.
Aloy, a private individual, evaded all attempts to celebrate or canonize her or her efforts.
She was seen visiting each of her allies, deflecting praise and speaking only in terms of collective effort, before mounting a tamed Strider and fading away faster than she’d first appeared.
This has left the Carja, Oseram, Banuk, and Nora peoples off balance.
The Carja finally found some resolution to the events which had divided them, but at great cost.
The engineering efforts of the Oseram were critical in the defense of Meridian, and the temporary awakening of so many Deathbringers and other machines has led to a chaotic rush to recover as many machine parts as possible.
While Banuk lands did not see as much conflict as the others, they’ve been focused on keeping the Daemon threat from spilling beyond their borders.
It was a Nora who led the victory over the machines and Shadow Carja, which has produced a wave of pride and respect, and has led to many Nora questioning their isolationist outlook.
The High Matriarchs have opened Nora borders to all, and are coordinating refugee integration efforts from within All-Mother Mountain.
Not everyone agrees with this, but it’s a calculated risk — Nora lands and people have been devastated, and are on the verge of disappearing forever if they cannot adapt and regrow.
Mother’s Watch and other Nora settlements, razed in the attacks, are just now beginning to rebuild.
Lodges are being set up as fast as lumber can be gathered, bringing together Handy Carja refugees alongside Oseram engineers and the few remaining Nora builders.
Machine activity has increased, especially at night, as large packs of Scrappers and Glinthawks work to tear down now-idle Deathbringers and Corruptors.
The deactivation of the machines of war has not seemed to affect the increasingly aggressive nature of the others.
Starter Characters
If your players have already created their characters, skip ahead to Chapter 1.
This section contains a number of pre-made characters to help new players jump in without as much setup.
As this module is an introduction, none of these pre-made characters has any specific skills or attributes — you shouldn’t worry too much about party composition or balance.
Players should play what seems interesting to them, and should feel free to duplicate or modify as they like.
The characters here are described using gender-neutral they/them pronouns.
Players should feel free to use whatever pronouns they choose.
Each character also has questions to help the player add some emotional depth.
Background: The Tenakth expelled Yen from their village and all Tenakth lands.
Yenever doesn’t talk about why, but then they don’t talk much at all.
They’ve mentioned their parents — their father is a blacksmith and mother a leatherworker, but the subject seems painful.
Attitude: Most people look at Yen and see a thick-headed brute — a mis-impression Yen is not quick to correct.
Anyone striking up a conversation would soon find them to be more intelligent than most, and quick to laugh with those they consider friends.
They’re also quick to anger and all too aware of their ability to do harm, so they tend to keep people at arms’ length for their own protection.
Hopes: Yen is still trying to figure out where they fit.
While they agree with the ideals of strength and direct action of their Tenakth forebears, they cannot stomach the tribe’s oppression and indifference.
Most days, Yen’s bar is low: they hope to meet people who are not inherently afraid of them, or who want to just use them for their size.
Yenever’s full character sheet is available in the Adapter for your system.
Questions for the Player
What does Yen look like?
Which pronouns are correct for Yen, and do they prefer “Yen”, “Yenever”, or something else?
What events led Yen to be exiled from the Tenakth?
Background: Thorn has told a dozen stories, but they can’t all be true.
They are a chameleon: today a blonde Carja noble, tomorrow a raven-haired Utaru farmer, next week a chestnut-haired Banuk shaman.
Even their height seems to change, sometimes shrunken and meek, other times tall and imposing.
Most of their possessions seem to be of Carja origin.
Attitude: When trying to get what they want, Thorn is whoever they need to be: forthright, coy, standoffish, flirting, calculating, ignorant.
On the road, sharing a quiet meal, they are much more sedate and reserved.
They’ll offer up anecdotes when asked, to a point, but won’t offer personal details unless it would serve some larger purpose.
Hopes: If This is to be believed, they’ve spent the better part of their life going from one “opportunity” to another, but has tired of it and just wants to do something honest for a while.
Thorn’s full character sheet is available in the Adapter for your system.
Questions for the Player
What does Thorn look like today?
Which pronouns are correct for Thorn?
Why is Thorn so secretive about their background?
What would it take for Thorn to share something truly personal?
Background: Drake’s parents were killed in the Red Raids just before Drake’s Proving, five years ago.
Since then, they’ve been a Brave, spending much of that time as part of hunting partings, scouring the Embrace for wandering machines.
In that time they’ve met every Nora at least once, and seen every inch of Nora land.
Attitude: Drake laughs easy, makes friends easy, and is the first to extend a hand in introduction.
They try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and can always find the common ground.
Naivete occasionally gets them in over their head, but they’re canny enough to see when someone is trying to manipulate them because of their age or lack of experience.
Hopes: Drake wants to keep the Embrace safe.
They have occasionally wondered how long they can do that, but while still young and capable, they can do their part.
Drake’s full character sheet is available in the Adapter for your system.
Questions for the Player
What does Drake look like?
Which pronouns are correct for Drake?
How does Drake see old age? What are they doing then?
Has Drake come to terms with their parents’ deaths in the Red Raids?
Haldred
Oseram, engineer
Primary skills: explosives, machine adaptation
Background: Due to a Blaze accident a few years ago, Haldred has profound hearing loss in both ears.
Already established in their profession as an engineer, assembling custom devices from scavenged parts, they found it increasingly difficult to contract new work with clients who see the condition as an indicator of past incidents.
Easily bored if required to do the same things over and over, there was no appeal to a safe life of building the same devices for an ever-dwindling pool of loyal clients.
Leaving their parents in Mainspring, they’ve transitioned to work for hire, going wherever their skills are needed.
Attitude: Haldred problem-solves through invention: there’s no challenge which can’t be solved with spare parts, tools, and time.
They can get testy with people who wear masks and headdresses which cover their mouths.
Haldred’s limited patience is not extended to people who assume their hearing loss has in any way affected their intelligence or abilities.
Hopes: While they had been hoping to reestablish their business, Haldred is starting to come around to the idea that they can have more of an impact by bringing their skills to the people who need it instead of waiting for them to come around.
They are still trying to figure out how to make their new life work, given how much has changed about their assumptions of how things would go.
Haldred’s full character sheet is available in the Adapter for your system.
Personality Questions
What does Haldred look like?
Which pronouns are correct for Haldred?
Most Oseram have a skill- or attribute-related last name. What is Haldred’s?
How has Haldred’s accident affected their engineering process? For example, has the process become more cautious or less so?
Background: Van’s werak dispersed nine years ago when its chieftain was lost to the Red Raids.
Van, wanting to understand what would motivate one tribe to turn on those around it, began to journey from one tribe to the next to learn about them.
Openly when possible, such as with the Nora, or in disguise when necessary, such as with the Tenakth, Van’s travels have taken them to places considered only fables by some.
Their memory for local history is often surprising, as Van has listened intently to the stories told around every campfire they’ve visited.
Attitude: Van is curious, attentive, and patient, with a love of story, with a curiosity to understand how things work — whether machines, societies, or people.
They don’t have much regard for material possessions, which would only weigh them down on their travels, or shards, which pale in value to the stories and knowledge they’d prefer to barter.
Quick to reach out a helping hand, but slow to jump into a quarrel they don’t understand, Van can occasionally appear standoffish and uncaring while they take the time to gather information to understand the situation.
Hopes: Van’s interpretation of the Banuk mantra of “survive and prevail” focuses on what they see as vital to either: “learn”.
Outwardly, they want little more than to continue to meet new people and see new places.
Inwardly, they hope they can use their experiences to give perspective to those who need it.
Van’s full character sheet is available in the Adapter for your system.
Personality Questions
What does Van look like?
Which pronouns are correct for Van?
What is one story Van loves to tell to all who will listen?
What is the first thing Van notices upon meeting a new person?
Additional Character Options
TODO overview text
Blindness
This module includes story content directed toward blind and vision-impaired characters.
While not true of all machine types, most of them make enough noise and have heavy enough impact that it should be considered perfectly reasonable for blind characters to thrive in the setting.
This is true even for blind characters who choose a life of adventure and machine hunting!
While none of the starter characters are blind or otherwise vision-impaired by default, you should feel free to make that alteration if you like.
There are no changes to character stats for being blind in this setting.
Of course, if your particular RPG system includes rules for blind characters, it’s up to you whether to apply them.
You’ll likely find the stock blindness rules of older systems to be superfluous, as you’ll see when you get to the relevant parts of the story.
More modern systems may include blind character treatment more aligned with the Skyline setting.
Additional Persistent Medical Conditions
Like blindness above, this story includes narrative elements which address assistive technologies and persistent medical conditions.
Congenital heart issues, missing limbs, reduced immune response, etc, should not be considered barriers for your characters to adventure in the world of Skyline.
While a single module cannot address every possible body type or medical condition, players who wish their characters to represent the diversity of the human experience should find this module a comfortable space to express themselves.
The next section, Time & Tide includes additional details on how disability is represented in the Skyline setting and this IASO module.
It does contain spoilers for the story, and should be considered optional reading for Adventurers, and suggested reading for Narrators.
Time & Tide
This section contains spoilers.
You can skip it for now — you’ll be directed back here at the midpoint of the story.
If you want to skip ahead, head to Begin Your Adventure.
Representation vs Ableism
This adventure contains narrative elements intended to raise (but not resolve) questions around culture, disability, and identity.
A non-player character is introduced who is part of a culture which has strongly resisted technology, and by contemporary standards might be considered “traditionalist” or even “fundamentalist”.
This character has a mobility disability, and is presented with a cache of technology implements which run the gamut from simple assistive devices to one which effectively “cures” the disability.
Two goals of this module are slightly at odds here:
Skyline is intended to be a disability-friendly setting, and this IASO module introduces setting-aligned options to make representing disability as easy as possible.
As an introduction to the Skyline setting, this IASO module highlights the tension between technology and the Nora in the Horizon setting.
Making the intersection of disability and identity a source of narrative tension could be viewed as ableist, or inspiration porn.
The intent, however, is to prompt conversation that should already be happening:
What does disability look and feel like in your Skyline game?
How does disability for your characters affect their sense of identity?
How does the revelation of high-tech assistive devices affect your characters?
How do the various cultures view people with disability? Simple assistive devices? Technological assistive devices?
Would that cultural view change if the assistive devices also offered capabilities not available to people who didn’t use them?
This module does not attempt to answer these questions, nor will later modules in the Skyline setting.
The answers are up to you and your Narrator, if you have one.
Historical Context
This IASO module is a product of its time — late 2020.
As it is being written, representation of disability in tabletop gaming is getting better, but is still a (needlessly) controversial topic.
Some people believe that handling of disability in game needs to be done in a setting-appropriate manner.
Some people believe that representation and inclusion is more important, and if the “rules” of the setting need to be bent, so be it.
While the author of this module firmly believes in the latter, the limited scope of this module allows both halves to be satisfied.
This IASO module provides a wide variety of options for including disability into Skyline in ways that should be agreeable to even the strictest of interpretations.
As there’s no way one module could account for the full diversity of human experience, the author hopes the module also provides a solid framework for improvising even more.
Outside of tabletop gaming, the disability community itself is also evolving.
Tensions between “identity-first” and “person-first” language are still high, showing off the wide variety of disabilities and views of how those disabilities interact with identity both internal and external.
This module tries to walk that line and avoid language that commits to one or the other.
You should feel comfortable using whatever language makes sense for your table.
Authorial Context
A note from Rick Osborne, the author of Skyline:
The initial sketch of the IASO story came to me all at once: what would high-tech medicine look like to the Nora?
As I started to layer on the tech we’d already seen in Horizon, I kept coming back to the story of Brom and Olara.
Brom is portrayed as having dissociative events, which got me thinking about the neurochemistry of mental illness — would technology have progressed to the point that disorders such as schizophrenia could be diagnosed physiologically?
Which led me to my own autism — what would that look like to a Focus device, or to a device even more specialized in diagnosis?
Would autism even register, even with 50 years of medical device advancement?
This got me thinking about my nephew who is also autistic, but whose case is much closer to what most people would think of as “stereotypical autism”.
Would some high-tech medical device be able to tell the difference between us, neurochemically?
Which got me thinking: could the AR overlay of a Focus act an assistive device for my nephew or my younger self?
For example, could it help us through sensory overloads, or provide guidance on facial expression interpretation?
How would I feel if a Focus had some magical ability to make me “neurotypical” for an hour? Permanently?
For me, it wouldn’t even be tempting, but what about my nephew?
That, of course, led me to think about physical disability.
The questions about assistive devices and “cures” would be the same, while physical disabilities are generally easier to show and address.
I hope you can afford me a little space for representing disability in much clearer physical terms, instead of the cognitive and psychological terms which apply specifically to me.
-R
Horizon Characters
Finally, a quick note about characters from Horizon.
Skyline modules will occasionally reference Horizon characters, such as Aloy or Sylens, to refer back to canon events from the game.
The stories in those modules, however, do not and will not feature those characters, nor will the stories depict those characters’ actions in anything more than passing mentions.
As Skyline is a fan work without licensing from any of the owners of the Horizon IP, it would not be appropriate (or legal in most places) to use those characters without permission.
Instead, Skyline modules try to keep even those references vague.
Aloy, for example, is referred to as only “The Seeker”, and only in passing.
IP laws for creative works tend to focus on how the derivative works (mis)use characters, or deprive the rights-holder of markets and/or opportunities, or cause confusion about the status of the work in regard to the original.
It is the author’s hope that playing in a sandbox which pays homage to Horizon, without in any way attempting to depict its characters, makes Skyline distinct and deferential enough to avoid any potential consternation.
Long story short: you won’t see Aloy or any other characters from the games in Skyline modules, but what you choose to do around your own table in your own game is up to you.
The Buried Shadow has been defeated, but the cost was high.
The Nora have opened their borders, for the first time in generations.
Carja refugees from the destruction at Meridian threaten to overwhelm Nora resources, even with the help of Oseram artisans working around the clock to rebuild and expand Nora infrastructure the entire region.
You have worked hard for the last two weeks in Mother’s Crown.
The Crown should be able to handle the next wave of refugees, thanks to the lodges you’ve helped build.
But word has been going around that Mother’s Watch doesn’t have enough workers to keep up with demand.
You’ve decided to make the trip and see what you can do to help.
A map of Mother’s Crown can be found in the Maps & Tables section.
If you’re curious about Mother’s Crown before you head out you are welcome to poke around and talk to the people here by reading through the Adventure entries which match the numbers on the map.
Starter characters have all the gear they’ll need, so you don’t need to worry about shopping.
You are welcome to talk to the locals if you’d like to get a sense for how the people here are feeling.
It’s easy enough to find beds in a lodge for the night, and start out on foot in the morning.
Just before dawn the road is clear, and the air has a slight chill.
The temperature stays comfortable even as the sun rises over the mountains to the east.
The occasional Grazer, Strider, or Watcher packs are visible across the river, calm and either unaware or unconcerned with your presence.
A lone Nora merchant with a paltry selection stands at the first campsite.
He says you’re the first group going south he’s seen for the day.
You share an early lunch with him before continuing on.
It’s a long but uneventful day on the road.
The sun is just beginning to dip below the mountains to the west as you pass through the Main Embrace Gate.
The Nora guards there give a cursory inspection of your gear, but nothing catches their interest.
Just on the other side, another merchant selling hunting goods is packing up for the evening.
She advises you to take the first bridge, which you do.
The last of the remaining light fades, and you can just make out the glow of Mother’s Watch in the distance.
If your party is escorting anyone, such as the father and son from the Hooks section, they will get excited and sprint for Mother’s Watch.
You’re too tired from a long day of walking, so you yell that you’ll catch up, keeping your pace.
The entrance to Olara’s cave sneaks up on you.
There are no visible markings on the trail, nor are there any braziers at the entrance.
You round a large boulder and the trail just ends at a crack in the rock face, barely large enough to admit you one at a time.
Shadows prevent you from seeing inside, but you know you’ve found the right place: there’s a light smell of cooked meats, vegetables, and spices.
You call into the cave, and Olara shows up a few moments later.
Olara’s attitude toward you is neutral.
You can tell she’s nonplussed at the idea that Teb thought she might not be safe, and doesn’t appreciate having to sneak out in the middle of the night.
She doesn’t seem to blame you for that, but nor does she think you did her any favors trying to convince her to stay.
She does not invite you in, and will block any attempts at entry.
If anyone looks, the Focus overlay does not show anything of interest behind her.
As you are about to leave, a voice approaches from the darkness:
“Olara? Are you talking to someone? Please tell me you’re talking to someone.”
Olara steps out of the way, allowing a man to step forward from behind her.
He’s maybe a little older than Olara, with a well-kept beard peppered with what seems to be an early gray.
He fidgets with a necklace of blue-cable and beads as he talks.
Olara introduces him as Brom, her brother.
He looks uneasy until she reaches out to hold his hand, which calms him almost immediately.
She explains the situation to him, using a gentle voice that contrasts with her tone from moments ago.
Watching them interact, it becomes clear Olara is attempting to help Brom work through some kind of episode.
If someone asks what is wrong with Brom, Olara will rebuff the question and politely ask you to move on.
Should you encounter her again, her attitude toward you will be cold and distant.
You get into a rhythm: working together to fell a tree, then to cut off all the limbs, then to segment the tree into workable lengths, loading the segments on the carts, and so on.
But everyone is careful and diligent, so each tree takes about an hour.
You’re starting on the fourth tree when the Focus for each of your party startles you by getting your attention.
A red halo traces an outline around the Nora man who is working the axe.
Looking at him, you notice he’s sweating heavily — far more than anyone should be in the cool air.
The red outline blinks, faster and faster, eventually gaining a label: CARDIAC EVENT.
The Nora man, who had introduced himself as Pren, begins to struggle to regain his breath.
His axe swings falter, before he drops its head to the ground, leaning against it.
It takes a moment for the others to notice, and in that time Pren gains a pained look and follows his axe to the forest floor.
If you brought IASO with you, it will speak directly to your party members through the Focus:
That person is experiencing a cardiac event.
Attach sensor pads at the indicated locations if possible.
With or without IASO, the Focus will indicate the same thing: an overlay representation of Pren being approached by two teal discs, recognizable as Sensor Pads and labeled as such.
The discs move to the Pren representation, stopping off-center on the chest and blinking.
If you do not have two Sensor Pads with you, one of your party can use the confusion to sneak off and run back to the ruins.
They will not encounter any wandering machines, and they can be back in five minutes.
Nothing has been disturbed, so they could grab IASO’s MAU if you do not have it.
There is not, however, enough time to synchronize IASO with the facility if you have not already.
Remembering the sentiment against the Old Ones from last night, you don’t think the tradespeople will allow you to attach the Sensor Pads if you reveal them.
Using whatever means appropriate to your system, figure out a way to get them attached.
That could mean persuading the other, trying to attach them without anyone noticing, convincing the others to go for help, or whatever else you can think of.
The silver discs adhere to Pren’s skin without making a sound, against his unmoving chest.
Within seconds of them being attached, Pren’s Focus label switches to CARDIAC ARREST.
The label changes again, this time to VT.
A countdown timer from 5 begins to tick in the Focus overlay, with a flashing message which is also spoken directly to the party in IASO’s voice: STEP BACK NOW!
The Sensor Pads will not activate until no one else is touching Pren, but the admonition continues and becomes increasingly intrusive.
There’s no flashy, holographic or AR effect.
One moment Pren is still, the next he is coughing and gasping for breath.
He’s not entirely conscious, though his eyes flutter and he makes small sounds.
The Focus overlay of Pren stops glowing red, and his label fades away.
If you need to, now might be a good time to detach the Sensor Pads from Pren’s chest, before he’s fully aware.
You may also choose to leave them in place, but you’d then have to explain them.
If you have IASO with you, it will communicate directly to the party:
It looks like he is stable for now.
A functioning MedBed would show more, but his condition may improve with better diet and reduced alcohol consumption.
Please encourage him to avoid strenuous exercise for the next two weeks.
When Pren wakes up, if someone thinks to give him Medicinal Salvebrush berries and the Sensor Pads are still attached, they will find that none of the Focuses register any changes in Pren.
(Unless someone gives him his own Focus, which will then show only him the same message as before.)
Pren does wake, and though he does not know what happened, he is coherent.
He complains of being sore all over, and thinks he just missed an axe swing and fell.
Using whatever means you think appropriate, you’ll need to persuade him to sit or lie on the cart so you can take him back to Mother’s Watch.
You’ve finally convinced Pren to get on the cart when a familiar high-pitched whinny sounds from just a dozen strides away.
With everyone focused on Pren, no one noticed the Striders approaching.
Using your System Adapter, resolve a daytime encounter with the Striders.
There are as many of them as there are in your party, not counting Pren or the other tradespeople.
The Striders are all alerted to your presence, though they seem just as surprised as you — they do not get a surprise round.
The Striders are already close enough to make hitting a Blaze Canister risky.
Pren will stay on the cart.
If you did not convince the others to leave, two of them will assist you if you ask.
One has a bow with normal arrows, while the other will use an axe.
Otherwise, they will form up around Pren and prevent the Striders from getting too close, but without causing any significant damage.
With the Striders down, you can finally make the trip back to Mother’s Watch.
Pren swears he’s fine, and the Focus does not disagree, but you decide to come back another time for the remainder of the lumber.
Teb is surprised to see you back so soon, quickly intuiting that something has gone wrong.
You explain what’s happened, adding on that you think Pren should take several days off.
Teb agrees, once again stealing glances at your Focus.
“What’s more,” he says, “I think you should spend the night in All-Mother Mountain, Pren.”
Pren dislikes the idea, but Teb won’t give in, leading everyone in that direction.
As you walk up the hill, Teb signals to one of your party.
You may choose which however you like, though Teb would favor another Nora if possible.
He tells them to stand on the other side of Pren, supporting his weight.
Pren objects, but he’s shaky enough on his feet that he’s quickly overridden.
The three of you break off from the group, approaching the pair of Braves guarding the entrance.
Teb explains the situation, and they part with a worried look at the pale and sweating face of Pren.
If the member of your party is not Nora, they would give a brief pause, but allow them to enter.
Teb would explain where you are as you walk, explaining that before the attacks, non-Nora had not been inside in living memory.
Once the floor levels out, almost all available space is filled with some combination of candles, cots, stump seats, and tables.
Most cots are occupied, and while most are Nora there are a number of people with Oseram hair and clothing.
The tables overflow with jugs of water, piles of berries and what might be other medicinal plants, and folded blankets.
Several of the blankets use the same knit style and quality you saw on Olara’s shawl.
The Focus overlays many of the patients with diagnostic labels.
There are broken bones, burns, lacerations, and more.
Some labels are inconclusive exhortations: Fever likely. Please attach sensor pads for analysis.
Finding an empty cot, you help Pren lay down while Teb calls over another woman.
The woman wears Carja clothes, though not the usual Carja makeup or jewelry.
Teb explains the situation to her, introducing her as Daradi.
If the party member with Teb is Carja, Daradi may be persuaded with Moderate difficulty to give a brief anecdote of how she came to Nora lands after Aloy saved her from her brother’s attempt on her life.
Otherwise, Daradi will be nice, and will be grateful, but will not divulge any of her personal history.
By this time, Pren has fallen asleep.
Teb has a moment where he’s worried, but your party member and Daradi are able to convince Teb that Pren is fine.
Before leaving the mountain, Teb makes a point of walking by and pausing in front of a giant metal wall.
It’s clearly an Old One structure, and the Focus overlay makes it clear it’s a door with structures beyond.
The door does not react, though Teb seems disappointed by this.
Outside, Teb pulls your party away and behind a lodge, speaking in low tones:
“You have not even been here a day, and yet we are already in your debt.
And yet, if I am correct, that debt will only increase.”
With this, he looks pointedly at your Focuses and weapons.
“As much as we would appreciate your help fetching lumber and building lodges, I have a feeling you might do more for us if I free up your time.
As you have already seen, not everyone is ready for more change, though some are.
Find me if I can be of any aid to you.”
Teb thanks each party member individually, before heading back down toward the main gate.
If characters spend time looking around in this room, or if the injured player allowed IASO to add a note to their Focus overlay, someone will notice that one of the instruments is Focus-labeled Autosuture.
It’s an armature of some kind, with multiple points of articulation.
The free end has broken off at a joint, and can be found in the water on the floor.
IASO notices this and speaks to everyone (even if the MAU has been left behind):
That is unfortunate, as I do not believe this facility had a spare.
To the injured person:
My apologies — but perhaps another facility would have a functioning instrument?
If asked what the autosuture does:
An autosuture is a medical instrument which allows me to perform a number of surgical procedures.
For example, it can help treat injuries.
The autosuture is next to a raised bed, opposite of a workbench of some kind.
Both have large, complex holographic displays which display a chaotic jumble of visual noise when approached.
The bed is Focus-labeled as MedBed 1.
IASO comments on it, speaking to everyone:
That diagnostic bed could be valuable if the facility could be re-powered.
If asked what it does:
A diagnostic bed, or MedBed, contains a number of sample processing tools, as well as sensors which are far more powerful than the ones provided by a Focus or Sensor Pad.
It aids Healers in medical diagnosis and treatment.
If asked how to re-power the facility, or for any details on how to get any of the damaged equipment working, IASO will apologize and say it does not have that information.
The autosuture, MedBed, and workbench are not movable.
IASO will speak again:
Before leaving, may I suggest taking several extra sensor pads?
They appear to be in working order, and can be useful in a variety of procedures and treatments.
A search of this room reveals another dozen sensor pads in usable condition.
As you approach the exit, you hear the dull rhythmic thumps of at least one machine walking on the ground above you.
Looking up to track the sound, you notice that the Focus reveals a purple long-necked outline of a Watcher.
Smaller, as if farther away above ground, a second Watcher’s outline is visible.
As you pause on each Watcher, additional details are shown for that machine, including a bright yellow area which has its own Focus labeling: Eye.
Characters who regularly hunt or process machines will instantly recognize the yellow areas as components targeted by hunters.
Continuing aloud:
The outline of each Watcher occasionally disappears as it moves too far from you, reappearing a short distance away.
Pausing to observe its movements causes the Focus to present additional information: a sequence of triangular icons forming a loop, animating along the direction they indicate.
Each Watcher is clearly following a path, though the paths occasionally change, mere moments before the Watcher changes its routine.
They appear to be searching for something.
IASO does not have any observations or aid regarding the Watchers — IASO seems unfamiliar with them.
The party can wait in the cave and will not be detected by the Watchers unless they attempt to do so intentionally.
The Watchers, if alerted, will not enter the cave and will instead wait outside.
If left alone, the Watchers will search the area for the next thirty minutes, without finding whatever they’re looking for, before heading off to the north.
If the party wishes to leave the cave before then, use your System Adapter to resolve a daytime encounter with the two Watchers.
No wandering machines will join the encounter, and the Watchers are unaware of the party’s presence until alerted.
You arrive in Mother’s Watch as they are closing up the main gate for the night.
The large open forum has a half-dozen small buildings, all in the typical Nora style, and all clearly new construction.
Piles of black ash and burned lumber have been swept to the walls, but not entirely removed.
A few merchants remain in the square, trying to get in one last sale for the day, but the effort is half-hearted as they pack up their wares.
You’re directed up a winding hill to another open area at the foot of a mountain.
It’s bustling with activity — dozens of people, many in family groups, sit at long, improvised tables, sharing a meal with the weary but good-natured exhaustion of a long day’s work.
Off to the side, tables of food feature a wide variety of dishes, not all Nora.
The sharp tang and bright colors of Carja dishes catch your eye, along with the grainy scent of Oseram sweetbreads.
A family in Carja dress gets up from a table, making their way over to a crowd gathering around one of the lodges.
You take their place to sit and eat, wedged in between what looks to be a Nora family and an assortment of tradespeople of Carja and Oseram dress.
If Thorn is in your party, or a character who is similarly curious and skilled at to getting into places they aren’t supposed to be, read entry 138.
If your party chooses to socialize with those around you, read the following entries:
As the Carja family gets up from the table and begins to gather their dishes, the adults notice you looking for a place to sit and beckon you over.
The two middle-aged men are accompanied by a pair of teenage girls, all of whom look travel-worn and tired, but in good health.
The men introduce themselves as Verdant Faruk and Golden Elin, and their daughters Hanin and Lenyara.
If asked how they came to Mother’s Watch, Verdant Faruk will answer:
“We used to grow food crops in the Royal Maizelands.
Not just corn — we could grow anything the Sun King desired.
But the day of the Eclipse, a Deathbringer awoke from deep beneath our fields.
We’d had no idea it was there, our we’d never have let our daughters … anyway.”
“We’re just farmers.
We thought we should leave the fighting to people with spears and slings and Oseram cannons, not rakes and hoes.
But when the Deathbringer awoke … it destroyed everything.
It didn’t even move!
It just sat there, shuddering and creaking.”
“Black smoke poured out of it, eating everything it touched.
Elin and I sat and watched as our crops withered, greyed with death, and crumbled and vanished before our eyes.
The smoke glowed red, getting brighter the more it ate, and returned to the Deathbringer, feeding it.
Ancient wounds repaired themselves, bending metal plates back into place with horrible shrieks and groans.”
“We didn’t wait to see what would happen when all the wounds were closed.
We grabbed what we could carry on our backs and ran, away from Shadow lands, of course.
At Daytower, we heard the Nora had opened their gates, so here we are.”
If asked what they think they will do next, Golden Elin will answer:
“We’re farmers — that’s really all we know.
The weather is a little different in Nora lands, and we’re told it gets much colder in the winter, but we think we can make something here.
The Nora don’t seem to have much in the way of worked land, and we don’t know much about hunting, so I think we can learn from each other.
If asked about “Verdant” and “Golden”, the older daughter Hanin will take her sister’s hand and answer:
“Back home we grew all kinds of things, but before we were born our dads started with just a single field of corn.
When we were kids the Sun King visited the Maizelands and saw that our fields were the healthiest around.
He saw the green stalks and golden silk and said it was all so bright it hurt his eyes.
His adviser, I forget his name, said it was a most verdant display, and the Sun King agreed.
They doubled our land, and we’ve gotten more ever since.
Until the Deathbringer ate it.”
If Thia is in your party, Thia will recognize this story and may take this opportunity to establish a rapport with the family.
If asked about the group of people gathering around the lodge, the adults will take turns explaining:
“Many Carja families have come through, but not all have stayed.
The builders have been setting up new lodges as fast as the lumber can be collected, but there’s never enough space.
Each night, the Nora coordinate space and beds for all of us.”
A quartet of tradespeople each nods politely as you sit next to them, their tools piled unceremoniously at the end of the table.
The group consists of two Oseram, a Nora, and a Carja, all of whom are too busy devouring heaping piles of food to do much else.
They look exhausted and are covered in the salt of dried sweat.
Between bites, the Nora man introduces himself as Pren.
The others seem content to let Pren do all the talking.
Narrators who would like more background can read Pren’s bio.
He introduces the Oseram woman as Nalender, the Oseram man as Chargriz, and the Carja man as Larat.
If asked about what his group does:
“We go out into the forests of Mother’s Watch and find and collect the best timber for lodges, then bring it back here for others to process.
It’s our job to make sure we leave enough tree cover for animals, so the hunters won’t have to travel for days to keep us fed.”
Pren throws a look over his shoulder at another group of tradespeople at another table, shaking his head.
Nalender, the Oseram woman, sees the look, shakes her head, and passes Pren a glass flask which contains a thin brown liquid.
He drinks several swallows before continuing, his breath now sharp and chemical.
“It’s harder than some people think.
We’re not just chopping down the first trees we see.
That’s the fastest way to a very hungry spring.”
This will lead to Pren noticing your group’s tools and weapons.
He’ll ask about why you’ve come to Mother’s Watch, and will get excited to hear that you have experience building lodges.
Advocating that you join his crew in the morning, he will lean across the table to get the attention of the woman on the other end of the table, telling her the same.
Getting self-conscious about being so loud, he will hand the flask back to the Oseram woman, before getting quiet and going back to his dinner.
Following Olara, you make your way around the base of All-Mother Mountain.
There is some moonlight, but much of the journey is below the tree line, making for slow progress.
Only twenty minutes outside of Mother’s Watch, you come across a trio of Scrappers.
They have not been alerted to your presence, and are attending to downed Lancehorns.
The Scrappers are in your path, but you could make a wide arc around them.
You would avoid detection, but it would add an extra half hour to your travel.
You can stealth past them with a skill check at Tricky difficulty — they are distracted, but it’s dark, and Olara doesn’t have a Focus.
If you engage them, they are far enough apart to take them down one at a time with stealth.
When any of them is alerted it will notify the others.
No wandering machines will join the fray.
Use your System Adapter to resolve a night-time encounter with the Scrappers.
Olara will help if asked — she wields a bladed staff with noticeable skill — but will otherwise stay out of the way and watch you.
Olara’s home is a cave at the top of a worn trail.
A large boulder blocks sight of the entrance until you’re almost inside it.
There are otherwise no trail markings, fires, or any sort of indicators.
The entrance isn’t much more than a crack in the mountain face, barely wide enough to admit one person at a time.
Olara calls out in a soft voice as she steps into the darkness.
“Brom? I’m back. I’m safe. I brought some friends to stay with us for the night.”
The split in the rock curves around several times in uncomfortable darkness, before opening up to reveal a room lit with a single candle on a crude table in the center of the chamber.
A handful of supply crates, filled with assorted machine parts, and a pair of stools take up much of the rest of the floor space.
Another split in the rock at the far end flickers with candlelight of its own.
From it steps a man who is maybe a little older than Olara, with a well-kept beard peppered with what seems to be an early gray.
He looks sleepy and stops mid-yawn when he sees you.
Before he can say anything, Olara crosses the room and takes his hand.
“Brom, these are some friends who kept me safe on the way home.
They’re going to sleep in here for the night, if that’s okay with you?”
Brom shrugs, but otherwise doesn’t say anything.
He shuffles back into the far chamber.
With Olara’s help, you manage to stack enough of the crates to make room on the floor for your party.
Olara disappears into the far chamber for a moment, returning with a number of knitted blankets.
“Thank you again,” she says. “We’ll talk in the morning, okay?”
Observing the crates with your Focus will reveal that most of the machine parts are in good condition.
Most of the parts are from Lancehorns.
The perceptive in your party will notice the space looks recently occupied.
Olara and Brom have set out a number of decorative items, but they are piled in unorganized tangles.
A few moments of quiet listening reveal the muffled sound of gently running water coming from the rear chamber.
Observing the room your Focus does not show the source of the sound, but does show the outlines of Olara and Brom already asleep on a pair of raised surfaces of some kind.
The Focus does not show anything else of interest.
In the morning, you’re up and moving and eating a light breakfast when Olara and Brom join you.
There’s not much room to move around, so Olara suggests that they walk you back down the trail a bit and talk.
When asked why they live alone up here, she explains:
“Brom was cast out from the Nora for a mistake he made years ago.
I don’t want him to live alone.”
When asked how they survive, Brom jumps in, excited:
“Olara’s really good at taking down Lancehorns.
Much better than I could ever be, but I can help disassemble them.
On my good days.
And Olara is good at trading the parts for the things we need.”
Brom has a running commentary about Lancehorn components, fair trades, anecdotes about the Nora, and other miscellaneous topics.
His tone becomes heated with the talk about his time as an outcast, but each time Olara is able to calm him with a few words.
Characters may make a perception check against Moderate difficulty to notice that Brom’s attention and affect change constantly.
One moment he’s attentive, but the next he loses track of the conversation and is captivated by the trail.
Each shift of attention seems to come with a new set of emotions, shown as shifts from smiles to frowns and back again.
He walks ahead of the group and keeps his head down for much of the trip, so it’s not obvious.
When asked if there’s anything else you can do for them, both decline.
They seem genuinely content.
As the ground begins to flatten out, Olara puts a hand on Brom’s shoulder, bringing them to a stop.
She tells you the base of the mountain will take you straight back to Mother’s Watch.
She thanks each of your party in turn before taking Brom by the hand and walking back up the trail.
The trio at the end of the table is a Nora mother, father, and daughter.
Mother and daughter share the same broad shoulders, dark complexion, and thick braids, while the father has fair skin and bright blonde hair.
They each greet you as you sit.
The mother, taking note of your tools and weapons, introduces herself as Grethe, explaining that she coordinates construction and repair efforts here in Mother’s Watch.
Her husband is Uln, a fisherman whose profession puts in context the net webbing and many pouches sewn into his clothes.
Their daughter is Jineko, who looks to be in her late teens or early twenties.
If either Haldred or Van is in your group, or another Oseram or Banuk, Jineko will beckon them over to sit next to her.
She will pepper them with questions about the machine parts she sees on their person, their uses, which machines they come from, how they were obtained, and so on.
It becomes apparent she has an extensive knowledge of the machines of Nora lands and beyond.
Her outfit, like her father’s, is covered in pouches and pockets, many of which contain small machine tinkers she has made, which she excitedly takes out and shows off one at a time.
Otherwise, unless any other party members have conspicuous machine parts on them, Jineko will keep to herself.
If asked how long they’ve been in the area, Grethe will respond:
“We’ve lived here in Mother’s Watch since just before Jineko was born.
Uln and his father have fished these waters for twice that.
I led a group of Braves patrolling the border for many years, before handing my spear over to the younger generation.
I, and others, lobbied the High Matriarchs to open our borders and accept all who came and asked for aid, and as part of that it is my job to ensure we have the roofs and beds to make that happen.”
If asked about work opportunities, Grethe will respond:
Grethe bobs her head at the group of tradespeople at the other end of the table.
“We only have one group gathering timber, so we’ll probably have you help with that for the next few days.”
Nodding at another, larger group of tradespeople at a far table, she continues.
“We have other groups ripping lumber and building frames, but they’ve only got enough wood for the next day or two, and I’d like to give us more lead time.”
If asked about fishing in the area, or about feeding this many people, Uln will respond:
“It’s a challenge, for sure.
We’re trying to ensure we don’t overfish the rivers and lakes, and I worry about the downed machines bleeding chillwater and blaze and what that will do to our stocks.
Our hunters are voicing similar concerns about stocking for winter without leaving the animals with no chance of surviving until spring.
But … I also appreciate the new smells and flavors our Carja and Oseram friends have brought us.”
Eventually, the trio will excuse themselves, leaving you to continue your dinner.
As they get up to leave, you notice that Jineko does not stand up on her own.
Grethe crouches down and offers a shoulder to Jineko, who leans heavily on her mother who pulls them up together.
Uln hands Jineko a pair of braces, though both parents keep a watchful eye as Jineko gains her balance.
She gives them a slight nod as they make their way down the hill.
It’s now more than an hour after sundown.
The merchants have all closed up for the night, the remains of dinner have been stored, and raucous activity has been replaced with hushed whispers on the chill night air.
The crowd of people looking for lodging has thinned out by the time you approach the pair of Nora managing the logistics.
They introduce themselves as Ziara and Wen.
Seeing your weapons and tools, they gather quickly that you are not refugees.
They explain how both lodges for tradespeople are already full to overflowing, so you’ll have to sleep two-to-a-bed in one of the family lodges.
They also ask that you be sensitive to this when you rise tomorrow, as many refugee families are not yet accustomed to before-dawn activities.
The pre-dawn light is pink and orange in the east as you step out of the lodge.
Grethe stands at the top of the hill, just to the side of a post-mounted torch.
She beckons you over without calling to you, keeping her voice low when she speaks.
“I like you already, newcomers — up early and ready to work.”
She hands out bundles of twine-wrapped leather from a pile next to her, each of which is slightly warm to the touch.
“Breakfast and lunch,” she explains, “you’re going to need it.”
Looking around, she gets a conspiratorial look, lowering her tone even more, though no one else is within earshot.
“I can tell you have more skills than just mallet and saw,” she says, nodding at your weapons.
“I’m glad to see it — not all the help we’ve gotten is as ready to defend themselves.
You should know that one of the reasons our lumber supplies are falling behind is because of increased machine presence in that area.
I would appreciate if you could keep your eyes open as you work — we can’t afford another day lost to skittishness.”
A group of four approach, yawning and half awake.
You recognize them as the quartet from the dinner table last night.
Grethe hands out more food bundles, nodding in silence as she does.
As you walk down the hill to the main gate, if Haldred or Van are in your party they will hear their names called out.
Jineko sits on a log stump at the far side of the forum, next to a pile of machine parts, picking up and inspecting them one at a time.
She waves as you pass, wishing you luck for the day, and will call over Haldred and/or Van:
“When you get a break, for lunch or whatever, walk around the area.
Trust me. Eyes open. Watch your step.”
She won’t say more than that, though her eyes dart around, examining the others in the square.
Pren, who has by now introduced himself and his workmates if he hadn’t already done so last night, leads you to a pile of tools off to the side of the main gate.
He guides you through roping together a pair of lumber carts — each not much more than two wheels and a bed — before piling on and lashing down a number of axes and saws.
Exiting the main gate, you can see a trio heading north in the distance, one of whom might be Uln with his bright blonde hair.
The others wheel the carts along the road to the east as Pren explains the finer points of timber selection.
You don’t stay on the path for long, instead hugging the rocky base of the mountain which forms the natural wall of Mother’s Watch.
You travel maybe twenty minutes, more from wrangling the cart than from distance.
Pren points out a half dozen trees closest to the rocks, which you can see have been marked with little strips of cloth dyed a pinkish red, which you recognize as coming from the tall grass that is ubiquitous in Nora lands.
He spends the next hour going from tree to tree, explaining why each would or would not make for good lumber, or might be better to leave as cover, and so on.
Each tree becomes a discussion among the quartet, with maybe one in ten trees getting a pink-red banner, until a short dozen new trees have been marked.
This discussion gives the sun time to rise above the mountains to the east, leading to an explosion of yellows amongst the pinks and oranges of the dawn.
Players of blind or deaf characters should read the section on Focus as Assistive Device from the Setting Guide.
A number of things happen as these characters attach their Focuses, which are described in that section.
Characters with other persistent medical conditions — heart defects or missing limbs, for example — will see an overlay on their vision when the Focus goes online.
The overlay clearly represents a cyan outline of themselves, with some kind of red indicator of the condition.
Characters with heart or blood disorders will hear a voice and see an overlay, rotating through several languages:
Monitoring is available for your condition.
Please attach a sensor pad in the indicated yellow location.
An AR overlay will highlight a box in the room of what looks like coin-sized discs.
One side of each disc feels tacky when touched, but does not stick to anything other than skin.
Characters who press this disc against their skin near the indicated location will find that it stays in place for all types of activity, including swimming.
The discs are easy to peel off with effort, though it takes some practice to do this without some pain.
A sensor pad begins streaming data to the wearer’s Focus as soon as it is attached.
The wearer sees an unobtrusive overlay with some kind of monitoring appropriate for their condition.
Curious wearers will eventually figure out that it can be modified to show historical data if desired.
For some conditions, the Focus prompts the wearer with the option to notify other Focuses of medical events, such as seizures or blood values.
If a character chooses not to apply a sensor pad, the message will fade after a minute or so.
Curious wearers will eventually figure out how to make this message go away faster if they choose.
In cases where the Focus will likely not be able to offer assistance or monitoring, it will acknowledge the condition for some amount of time before showing an error message:
Assistance may be available to you.
Cannot contact IASO.
Please reset this device, or seek support.
Characters with missing limbs will notice that the overlay of their body includes what are clearly representations of artificial prosthetic limbs.
A search of the room, however, does not reveal anything that looks like what is shown by the Focus.
After another few seconds the outline of the character’s body and the error message will fade away, returning the Focus to normal operation.
Focus overlays are jarring for first-time users.
The augmented reality (AR) overlay adds a glow and text to several items in the room:
A box of little metal triangles, each of which is AR-labeled Focus.
A box of coin-sized metal discs, each of which is AR-labeled Sensor Pad.
The half-dome, which is AR-labeled MAU, and Medical Assistance Unit (Prototype) below that.
The blinking teal ring around the MAU goes solid, followed by the AR highlight of the object changing from a dull, generic yellow to a matching teal.
A holographic label above it blinks Starting... for several seconds before changing to Syncronizing....
The character who injured their hand on the door, along with any other characters who were injured in the fight earlier, will hear a voice in their head, or receive a text overlay.
The communication is calm and neutral in tone as it says:
Good evening.
You appear to have an injury.
One moment please, while I see what we can do.
There’s a brief pause before it continues, as the holographic label changes to OFFLINE:
I’m sorry, but I appear to have lost my connection to my medical procedure database.
My ability to help will be limited until that can be restored.
Your injury doesn’t appear life-threatening, but you may want to find another Healer.
The device will then switch to speaking to the entire room through the MAU:
Hello.
My connections are offline, but my internal clock says the year is 3040.
Is this correct?
It will wait for a response.
After several moments, it will repeat the question via text messages pushed to the Focuses.
It will repeat this cycle until an answer is given.
Any attempts to explain the date in non-Gregorian terms (such as the reign of the Sun King, etc), will be met with confusion, with the device eventually giving up on the line of questioning.
It will continue:
My name is IASO.
I am a prototype for an autonomous medical assistant unit — a Healer.
Are there any other Healers around?
If asked what the other Healers would look like:
I’m not sure, sorry.
I know they should have been produced after me — certainly by now.
If asked what its function is:
My autonomous form would be capable of any number of medical procedures.
In my current form I should be capable of medical diagnosis and health management.
If asked what is wrong:
My medical procedure database is empty.
My diagnostic functions are functional, and I am receiving data from your Focuses.
I am not receiving data from anyone or anything else in the facility, as it appears the facility power is offline.
If asked how the party can help, or what it wants:
I would like to be of service.
If I can show you where my data storage is, could you try to get power to it?
If asked whether turning on the power will cause any problems:
I do not think so, but I admit I am not certain.
With power offline, my sensor capabilities are limited to what I can see through the Focus network.
Right now, that’s just you.
If asked about the range of the sensors, or Focus communication:
I am not an expert on that technology, but I do know the last time I was active I received data from everyone in this facility, but not anyone in others.
If asked whether the party should take the MAU base unit:
It appears I was not scheduled for reactivation, so I have not further use here.
I would like to be of service.
If I can be of use to you, you are welcome to take me with you.
The MAU weighs 5lb/11kg and is a little larger than a splayed palm.
If placed in a bag or hung from a belt, people will see its presence highlighted on their Focus overlay.
It is durable, but not indestructible, and cannot be repaired if damaged.
If players choose to leave the MAU behind, they will find that they can communicate with it while in the facility by saying the word “IASO” into the air.
It will then converse via their Focus.
Outside of the facility they will find that there is no answer, nor will the MAU show up on their Focus overlay.
You’ve felled your first tree and are snacking from your wrapped bundles when one of you notices the glint of metal coming over a far hill.
The distinctive shape of a long-necked Watcher, followed by at least one Strider, can be seen in the distance.
Pren is hesitant to move on to the next tree, until the machines stop and begin grazing while the Watcher begins to circle them on patrol.
They are far enough away that you eventually convince Pren and the others to continue, mainly by invoking the inevitable disappointment of Grethe, and by promising to keep someone watching the machines at all times.
Two hours pass, in which time two more trees fall to the ground and are leveraged onto the lumber carts.
You’ve mostly finished your lunch as the Oseram woman, Nalender, turns to the group.
“They’re heading this way.”
The machines do not seem to be in any hurry, and they are not heading directly for you, but their path looks to be too close for comfort.
You convince Pren and the others to begin moving the lumber back toward Mother’s Watch, while you hold off the machines if they get aggressive.
The machines come to a stop a few dozen yards away — not close enough to notice you yet, but they would if you resumed your work on the trees.
There is one Watcher, patrolling around a number of Striders equal to the number of player characters.
A stand of red-tipped tall grass covers much of the ground between the tree line and the machines:
Points of Interest
C
Lumber carts (moving toward the road)
P
The party
S
Striders
W
Watcher
The lumber carts will eventually make enough noise to draw the attention of the machines, but you likely have a minute or two to prepare.
If you move quickly and quietly, you have enough time to sneak to the tall grass.
Using your System Adapter, resolve a daytime encounter with the machines.
They are not alerted to your presence, but will be drawn toward the carts if they have not been engaged within 60 seconds.
Remember that a Watcher alerted to your presence will immediately alert all other machines in the area.
In this case, there are no additional machines beyond those you can see.
The Scrappers come over the hill to the northeast, with just enough glare from the sun on the Horizon to cost you all several seconds of confusion.
Even more unlucky, you realize this isn’t just a trio: you’ve counted a half dozen before you turn and run the other way.
The treeline isn’t far from the road, but you know you were spotted.
You head for a cluster of rocks and boulders, hoping to at least get a height advantage.
All party members make another perception check against Hard difficulty.
Anyone who fails falls in an unmarked hole between the rocks, taking Light damage.
Otherwise, even characters who notice the hole decide it’s probably safer to get out of the Scrapper’s line of sight.
Everyone gets down into the cave, backing away from the ledge and into shadow.
You can hear the high-pitched pulse of the Scrappers’ scanning components firing one after another.
Scrappers walk by the hole, but seem unable to detect you.
Crouched in the trees, you see a cluster of Scrappers coming in from the north.
But this group isn’t just two or three — it’s easily a dozen strong.
They don’t seem to notice you, and begin to curve around to follow the road heading east.
Silently and collectively, you begin to sink back farther into the trees, trying to put even more distance between you and the road.
As the machines get closer, the stragglers begin to close ranks, causing them to fan out.
Several scrappers come within strides of the treeline.
An unmarked cave entrance, just a hole in some rocks, is behind you.
If appropriate for your system, all party members make a perception check against Hard difficulty.
Anyone who fails falls in the hole taking Light damage.
Otherwise, even characters who notice the hole decide it’s probably safer than being detected by that many Scrappers.
You take your time processing the machines for parts, making sure to get all the intact wire and lenses you can.
It takes maybe an additional half hour before you start to head back to the west.
A machine sound and furtive movements in the tall grass grab your attention before you’ve made it back to the road.
High-pitched whines and mechanical clicks drift up from a large hole in the ground.
The hole would be easy to miss, especially if you hadn’t come across it in the mid-day sun.
Getting closer, you see a Watcher has fallen in and landed awkwardly, impaled on a stalagmite some twenty or thirty feet below.
The Watcher is still at least partially functional, as it twists and shudders trying to free itself, but unable to find any leverage.
After a moment’s observation, you realize its cries have a strange echo to them — the cave below must be much larger than you can see from here.
Especially perceptive members of the group, such as Van, would notice an extra detail: the shiny parts of the Watcher reflect occasional pink and blue glows from light sources you can’t see.
One side of the cave has several moss-covered ledges which could be used to get down to the Watcher without falling.
The sound of Brom’s raised voice draws your attention before they are more than a dozen steps away.
Though he seemed happy and carefree moments ago, his mood has darkened.
You can’t make out what Olara is saying, but the tone of her voice is calm and patient.
If someone asks IASO to scan Brom:
IASO asks you to move close enough for him to be within the Focus’ range.
As you can’t call them back or follow without raising their suspicion, you can only wait until they round a corner and get what you can from a distance.
For several seconds, the purple ghost of Brom is labeled with Scanning and various data points are revealed.
When it ends, IASO says the results are inconclusive, but that Brom appears otherwise healthy.
Attaching a Focus or Sensor Pad might reveal more.
The journey back to Mother’s Watch is uneventful, and just as straightforward as Olara said.
Finding Teb at Mother’s Watch, he tells you there’s a group of a half-dozen people who went out to get lumber for the next lodge.
Your help would save a good deal of time.
He points to the stone wall to the east and tells you to follow it around for maybe ten minutes.
If you have any Nora in your party, they will gather Medicinal Salvebrush berries along the trip, giving them to any injured party members, including the one who hurt their hand on the door the previous night.
If the injured person eats the berries, which any Nora will strongly encourage, they find the wound on their hand closes up over the next hour.
Their Focus makes special note of this.
If they are wearing a Sensor Pad, the Focus overlay reveals a message stating Regenerative enzymes detected. Agent catalogued. before fading away.
Otherwise, the message is Unknown pharmacological effect detected. Attach a sensor pad for further analysis. and lingers before fading.
If the party brought any Sensor Pads with them, they may attach one while they walk, causing the Focus to give the first message.
The group is not hard to find.
It looks like they are in the middle of processing the second tree when you arrive.
They appreciate the help, taking a few minutes to show their process, and you pitch in.
You’re able to get down into the cave without much effort or risk.
The struggling Watcher notices your presence and fires several shots from its glowing red eye.
Without control of its neck, however, the shots go wide and are not a danger to you, impacting the far wall.
The noises made by the Watcher are likely to draw attention from any other passing machines.
A single well-placed strike would be enough to deactivate it.
Dispatch the Watcher, which is prone, restrained, and cannot attack, then continue:
The area is dank with standing water, bat guano, and ages of decay.
But it’s also clear this place is a ruin of the Old Ones: metal archways covered in moss and dripped stone, strange lights glowing for incomprehensible purposes, and a boxy, unnatural feel to the architecture.
Enough sunlight filters through the ceiling to make you uncomfortable about walking around above.
Investigate the area by visiting the labeled story entries:
Teb is a light-skinned middle-aged man whose soft-spoken demeanor belies a person of clear intelligence and empathy.
The exposed skin on his face and arms is marked by healing scratches and bruises.
He’s talking with a dark-skinned woman as you approach, who seems agitated about something.
The woman has an ornate, knitted shawl of considerable craftsmanship, and she tugs at its hanging mesh work as she talks.
Over one should she has a rougher cloth bag, full to overflowing with root vegetables and what might be cured meats.
“I don’t like leaving him alone. I wish they’d let me leave,” says the woman.
“I know. But getting yourself attacked by Scrappers doesn’t help anyone,” says Teb.
He sees you approach and moves to make room for everyone to talk, ensuring that the woman knows he is still interested in talking with her about her concerns.
Teb, upon introductions, is excited to see new people with the skills to help build new lodges.
He asks if you ran into any machines on your trip, so you relate your encounter with the pack of Scrappers without mentioning the delve.
His eyes flick to your visible weapons, then to each Focus, registering something.
“But,” he says, turning to the woman, “before you help me, maybe you could help Olara first?”
Olara will explain that the same pack of Scrappers passed by Mother’s Watch earlier, causing the Braves to prevent her from leaving until morning, out of fear for her safety.
Her home is more than an hour away, and she’s worried about her brother, who she does not want to leave alone the entire night.
Teb will suggest that your party go with Olara, which should lessen the concern of the Braves.
Otherwise, Teb will do what he can to find beds for everyone for the night.
You arrive back at Mother’s Watch to the sound of activity and yelling.
The Braves standing watch see you approach and announce your arrival.
Grethe is the one of the first to run up and greet you.
She then walks a circle around you, looking you up and down.
If any of your party has injuries, Grethe will provide some herbs from a pouch on her belt, and will refuse to conduct other business until your wounds are dressed.
The herbs she provides are strong, and will knit all but mortal injuries over the next hour.
Grethe will continue:
“Pren just got here. I was just about to come for you myself.
Did you have any trouble with the machines?
Do you think we would be safe to continue logging that area?”
After explaining the situation, she’ll propose resuming logging, but only with two lookouts at a time.
With several more useful hours of daylight remaining, you prepare to head back out when you hear a call from the east end of the forum.
Jineko, surrounded by what appears to be an organized explosion of machine parts radiating out along the ground from her, waves you over.
She’s talking to an older Carja man, showing and explaining the differences between Watcher and Strider lenses, as you approach.
She signals you to wait a moment as she wraps up the conversation.
The man thanks her, looking somewhat muddled by the explanation, and walks off.
Waiting for him to be out of earshot, she turns to you, taps her ear, and says:
“You watched your step, I see.”
If you profess ignorance to her assertion, Jineko will be mildly insulted:
“Come on.
You go down into the same cave Aloy went into, you come up with the same interesting devices she had.
I’m not some dumb kid.
I know how to keep my eyes open.”
If you ask her how she knew the cave was there:
“Everyone knows it’s there.
It’s a big hole in the ground our parents don’t want us to go in, but don’t want us to fall into.
So they tell us it’s full of machines and monsters and outcasts and whatever else.
Obviously, that means there’s something interesting down there.
Will you tell me about it?”
If you ask her how she knew the devices would be down in the ruins:
“Oh, is it a ruin?
I assumed, but I admit I’ve never been down there.
It would be tricky for me to manage.
And I didn’t know they’d be there, but I figured something would be there.
A woman who rides machines, who can see things no one else can see, and is seen coming and going from ruins?
Maybe they aren’t the places to be feared as we’ve been taught.”
As she speaks, Focus-wearers paying attention to their AR overlay will see it interact with her.
At first, it will identify the various machine parts on the ground, making assessments of their level of damage and functionality.
While that is happening, a cyan outline around Jineko, which is labeled with her name, will occasionally flash with the word SCANNING next to it.
Eventually, the word SCANNING is replaced with another message: Please supply Jineko with a Focus device.
An AR rendering of a triangular focus device will spin in space next to this message.
Your Focuses will not provide any more detail than this phrase.
This entry contains a large narrative block suitable for games without a Narrator.
If you are a narrator who would like some behind-the-scenes context for additional roleplay options, read entry 172.
Read to everyone:
Jineko looks confused but thankful as you offer her a Focus.
Placing it on her temple, her eyes widen and she gasps.
You do your best to shield the sight of her from others walking around the area as she gets used to the device.
She begins to whisper, talking to the Focus, though you can’t make it out.
After several moments, her next words come a little louder, though still low enough to not carry past you:
“Did you … find any sensor pads?
Little discs, about this big?”
She makes a circle with her thumb and forefinger.
Giving her a sensor pad, she turns the unmarked disc over in her hands, testing the sticky side with her thumb.
Her eyes scan the machine parts scattered around her, finding none which look anything like the disc.
Holding her breath, she reaches behind her back, pulls up her top slightly, and affixes the pad to the base of her spine.
She picks at it, as if second guessing herself, but stops with another gasp.
“Yes, of course!” she exclaims loud enough to draw glances from around the forum.
After a moment, she asks for two more sensor pads.
Pulling at the side laces of her pants near a knee, she opens a gap just wide enough to insert and affix a sensor pad.
Doing the same on the other side, she then adjusts them to once again cover the exposed skin and metal.
Her face twists in a grimace, but she doesn’t cry out.
She raises a hand to ward off help, before her eyes snap open, staring at her legs before jerking up to stare past you.
She scans the area, looking for anyone who might be paying attention to you.
Seeing no one, she slowly, deliberately, pulls one knee to her chest, then extends it out in front of her again.
Repeating the motions with her other leg, and then back to the first, it seems to cost her less effort with each attempt.
If anyone in your party reacts visibly to this, she will hiss at you to get your attention, and glare you into silence, tapping the Focus at her temple before continuing.
“Not yet. Not here. Not with this on my head.
Do you mind if I keep these for now?
I’d like to … learn some more.”
It’s readily apparent you probably wouldn’t be able to get the devices back from her, even if you wanted to.
She points her chin, and you turn to see Grethe approaching, almost pushing a hesitant Pren along in front of her.
Barely a whisper, Jineko says: “Let’s talk later.”
Grethe almost has Pren by the scruff of his neck as she speaks.
“Pren is about ready to head back out.”
Pren looks you up and down, scanning for injuries, before nodding his assent.
Grethe seems pleased about this, gives him a light slap on the back, and walks away.
Pren and the others will accompany you back out to harvest more timber over the next few hours.
The afternoon is otherwise uneventful unless you choose to go looking for trouble.
Should you wish to do so, another group of one Watcher plus a number of Striders equal to the number of player characters can be found without too much effort.
If you need to slip away for a moment to go back into the ruins to get more Focus or sensor pad devices, it’s easy enough to do so while on patrol.
Before you settle in for dinner, if Yenever or another Tenakth is a member of your party, jump to entry 157.
Read to everyone:
Dinner is the same mildly raucous outdoor setup as the night before: long tables full of families and workers commingling and commiserating.
While grabbing your food you catch sight of Jineko, who nods and cocks her head at the empty area next to her family.
She also makes it clear with a glare that you’re not to talk about anything serious in front of her parents.
Her Focus is barely visible, obscured by a jaunty wreath made of feathers and dangling machine parts.
The crutches you saw her use last night are visible, leaned against the end of the table by her father.
As you sit, Jineko says: “I heard you had a run-in with some machines today.
Did you process them for parts?
Anything you can spare?
I can offer you good prices for anything in working condition.”
You make small talk with Jineko, Grethe, and Uln.
Jineko guides the conversation to the suggestion that you go back down the hill and sort through your parts while there’s still light.
Grethe and Uln are displeased with the idea, but Jineko’s enthusiasm wins them over.
They move to get up as she does, but she bats at them to sit down, grabbing her crutches.
“Today’s a strong day.
Enjoy a nice dinner together for once.
I’ll be right down the hill.”
Accompanying Jineko down to her stall in the forum, her gait does not betray any change in her condition.
She explains as she sits, only then relaxing and kicking her feet in slow circles.
“It’s taking some getting used to, but I’ve almost got it.
I’d like your help tonight — getting there, looking around, and getting back.”
If you ask her what she expects to get from the trip:
“You’re not the first to go in there, you know.
Others have, too, but none have come back with sensor pads.
You found something new.
I want to see what else is there.”
If you ask her why she wants to go, herself, or if she’s up for it:
“I’ve spent years sifting through machine parts.
You seem competent, but I have to see for myself.
There might be more artifacts there, which could help the people recovering in All-Mother Mountain.”
If you ask her who’s in All-Mother Mountain:
“You haven’t seen?
You didn’t think it was odd we’ve survived multiple attacks from ancient machines, and everyone seems to be whole and healthy?
All-Mother Mountain has been repurposed to house the sick, injured, and dying.
My mother’s skill with herbs is beyond most, but that can only do so much.
The glowing smoke from the Deathbringers does unspeakable things to flesh.”
If you tell her she can’t go, she will only look at you with a challenging eyebrow.
It’s clear she’s going, with or without your help.
Eventually, she will explain her plan:
“Three hours from now, everyone will be asleep.
Only a few Braves will remain on watch.
Meet me at the foot of the hill.
I have a plan to get us out and back.”
After this, she will get up, still using her crutches, and walk over to the Braves at the main gate.
You can’t hear what she says, but she points in your direction a few times, up the hill a few times, and back to you.
The Brave takes some time to convince, before nodding and shrugging.
Jineko starts to head back toward you, but turns and heads for the hill.
You look to see Uln and Grethe approaching.
Jineko waves to you, and the family heads off to a lodge across the forum.
There’s not much else you can do beyond finding a place to bed down for a few hours.
Wispy clouds obscure the moon, leaving barely enough light to see as you reach the bottom of the hill.
A dark form shifts, impatient, with their back to you.
They turn, and you’re faced with a Carja Hunter: bow in one hand, quiver dangling from one hip, heavy leather bag across their back, and large feather-covered Sawtooth jaw headdress atop a face lined with makeup in angular, starburst patterns.
It takes a moment to recognize Jineko, and you only do so because you know it must be her.
When she speaks, her voice has the husky undertones of her mother, plus the imperious tone of a Carja addressing Nora savages.
“The Braves believe Grethe is sending you out to gather more herbs.
After a day of felling timber, you were given a few hours of sleep before heading back again.
We do not know each other, only the task we were given.”
Without waiting for your assent, she turns and walks toward the main gate.
She has a slight limp, but otherwise does not seem to need any assistance.
Two Braves stand watch at the gate — one above, and one on the ground.
The man nods as you approach, opening a thin sally port door to allow exit.
He doesn’t address you, but whispers a count to himself as you pass, calling the total to the woman above as he closes the door behind you.
The motion sends a small puff of fresh-cut wood smell which catches up to you.
Jineko, again, takes the lead.
If you comment on her ability to walk, she won’t say much about it:
“It’s … taking some adjustment.”
If asked why she is disguised and acting in secret:
“How am I to explain this to my parents, or the Matriarchs?
The All-Mother came to me in a dream and healed my body?
Why me and not one of the suffering in All-Mother Mountain?
And what happens when they see my Focus, or the sensor pads on my back and legs?
No. I need time to think.
I might be able to convince them if I can find something to help.
But … I don’t know.”
The remainder of the walk to the ruins is quiet, under a dark and cloudy sky.
You do not encounter any machines along the way, though you disturb a number of owls and foxes competing for rats.
You press the flat of the half-dome MAU against the matching circle shown in your Focus.
IASO says, “Thank you. This will take a few moments.”
The ring at the dome’s base changes to a series of dots, chasing each other around in a chaotic pattern.
After several minutes, the ring settles back into its solid teal glow and IASO speaks.
“Synchronization complete.
I was able to find a backup of my procedures database.
It does not appear complete, as there are many records tagged as placeholders, but it is something.
One moment, please.”
Only to the character who cut their hand, IASO speaks directly:
I can confirm that your laceration is not life-threatening.
I do not have access to my usual medical tools, but if we could find an autosuture, I could help you with that.
May I configure your Focus to alert you if it detects one?
If the character consents, a small icon with some text will show up in the corner of their Focus overlay.
It says Autosuture, with a boxy graphic in the general shape of a cupped hand.
Characters with persistent medical conditions will notice that their Focus overlays begin to show more information about their conditions:
Treatable conditions will be labeled with Treatment: [PHARMA PLACEHOLDER].
Missing limbs will be labeled with [PROSTHETICS PLACEHOLDER].
IASO will speak aloud again:
I believe a more complete version of my database might be of assistance.
I can see that there should be more treatments, but this version of my database has only placeholders where that data should be.
For example, I know that there should be a pharmacological solution to aid in healing, but I do not have specific data on what it is.
There may be other facilities with more data.
Would you be willing to take me to them?
If players choose to leave IASO in this facility, its MAU may be left here or where it was discovered.
Otherwise, it can be carried in a pack.
The cloud cover makes the entrance to the cave tricky to find, and even trickier to navigate.
Each character will need to use their System Adapter to make a check appropriate for climbing against Moderate difficulty.
Failing characters drop 15ft (5m), taking Light damage.
Jineko will also require some assistance getting down.
Jineko mumbles to the air and waves her hands in jerky patterns for several moments, in what you now recognize as her interacting with her Focus.
Narrators who would like some behind-the-scenes context for additional roleplay options may read entry 163.
After a time, Jineko speaks aloud:
“IASO, are there any other tools or devices here which are still functional?
Things which are meant to aid injured or sick people?”
IASO will address everyone:
“There may be.
The facility’s sensors are offline, so you would need to use your Focus devices to scan and identify items.”
A thorough search of the facility will reveal several items, each has its own AR Focus label and story entry:
It’s already been a long day and you’re exhausted from your trip.
You do your best to persuade Olara to wait until morning.
She eventually agrees, but the set of her jaw makes it clear she’s not happy about it.
Teb works with a few other Nora to ask some refugee family members to share beds, just barely finding enough for your party.
Thanking him, you fall asleep to the sound of a dozen other people in the same room, all trying to impact each other as little as possible.
You’re awake before the sun, only to find that Olara is already gone.
Teb seems unsurprised by this, shaking his head.
“She probably left moments after we put out the lights.”
Frowning, his eyes again pass over your Focuses.
“If you’d be willing, I’d like you to check on her, to make sure she got home safe.
She can take care of herself, but I’ve never seen a pack of that many machines in the Embrace, and she’s just one person.
As much as I’d love to put you to work on a new lodge, we can’t lose any more Nora today.”
Teb doesn’t have anything to offer you for the effort, beyond a shared breakfast.
He draws a map in the dirt of the location of Olara’s home.
It’s a cave on All-Mother Mountain, though there’s no direct route and the path around the base is not an easy one.
He thinks you can be there and back again by mid-morning, if you’re willing.
Teb’s map is clear, but he’s right — the path around the base of the mountain is slow going.
Each time you think you can shortcut by beginning up the slopes, you hit a sheer drop, requiring you to go back down.
Forty minutes into your trek you come across a group of machines.
One Watcher is doing patrol and scouting duty, watching over Lancehorns with their drill horns working the rock.
Counting the Lancehorns, you can see one for every member of your party.
The machines have not been alerted to your presence.
You may try to sneak past them, at Tricky difficulty.
Going wide around them does not appear to be an option, as they are right in front of the well-traveled trail you know you’ve been looking for.
If you are detected or choose to confront them, use your System Adapter to resolve a daytime encounter.
Remember that when the Watcher is alerted to your presence it will immediately alert all other machines in the area.
Longhorns, with their herd alertness, do the same thing.
The traffic in and out of the mountain catches your eye.
You see many bowls of steaming soup and plates in various configurations going into the mountain, and only empty dishes coming back out.
There are clearly almost as many people inside the mountain as there are out here.
Someone skilled in disguise or deception might be able to get past the two Nora Braves posted guard.
A distraction might also work, but would require excellent stealth, as well as an ability to improvise a plan for getting back out undetected.
One person might be able to get in, at most.
If someone would like to try, use your System Adapter to resolve a social encounter appropriate for getting into a guarded area unnoticed.
Disguise and deception ploys should be made against Tricky difficulty, while stealth should be made against Hard difficulty.
Other non-violent approaches may also work — come up with an appropriate skill challenge if you like.
One of you steps away, around the boulder and a few dozen steps down the trail.
Whispering for IASO, it acknowledges and asks how it can help.
When asked about Brom, it will ask you to move close enough for him to be within the Focus’ range.
For several seconds, the purple ghost of Brom is labeled with Scanning and various data points are revealed.
When it ends, IASO says the results are inconclusive, but that Brom appears otherwise healthy.
Attaching a Focus or Sensor Pad might reveal more.
Attempts to get Brom to wear a Focus or Sensor Pad will be met with hostility from both Brom and Olara.
Olara’s patience eventually wears thin, and the party heads back down the mountain.
The inside of All-Mother Mountain is dim, lit by innumerable candles.
The air is a little too warm, and humid with a mixture of scents: sweat, a faint metallic hint of blood, and an overwhelming melange of herbal notes.
It’s quiet, but as your eyes adjust you’re startled to see that there are many, many people here.
Most are laying quietly on sturdy cots, or sitting on matching chairs or stumps.
There’s constant motion as people shift in their places and eat dinner, and the low murmur of whispers from hushed conversations, but the acoustics of the cave seem to break apart the sounds into tiny, indistinct hums.
Other than the hip-width path deeper into the cave, every inch of this place is occupied and in use.
Cots, tables, seats, multi-level bunks, hanging herbal censers, jugs and larger urns of fresh water, wash basins, piles of furs and woven blankets, and on, and on.
The sheer density of this place is disconcerting.
As you walk down the path, people notice you and nod, acknowledging you briefly before turning away, in that learned behavior of too many people jammed in together, doing their best to let everyone retain the illusion of privacy and dignity.
That’s when you begin to notice the injuries.
None of them seem fresh, and many seem well on the mend, but most are quite serious.
You see several bandaged stumps of amputated limbs, one man with bandages covering most of his face and skull, and any number of limbs which seem to have whole shapes, but are heavily wrapped with faint red spots in assorted locations.
Some people shift in discomfort, but none seem to be in severe pain.
Most of the injured people have paint and tattoos which would mark them as Nora, though there are more than a few Carja and Oseram here, as well as a number who don’t have any markings and could be from anywhere.
It takes a moment to recognize, but the injuries seem to get worse the farther you walk into the cave.
In the distance, you can see the path branch off at least twice, making you wonder how bad the people in those areas must be.
You notice a small group heading your direction.
These people seem to be checking on the injured.
It’s time to get out before they notice you.
If you got in via stealth or other misdirection, you may need to resolve another skill challenge to get out unnoticed, unless you can come up with something else.
If so, it should be against the same difficulty at before.
The fading light hides the look of concern which has overtaken the face of your deaf party member, but everyone notices when they stop walking, shush everyone, and crouch to put their hand on the ground.
If appropriate in your system, everyone may make a perception check against a Hard difficulty.
Deaf or blind party members make the check against Tricky difficulty.
The fading light hides the look of concern which has overtaken the face of your blind party member, but everyone notices when they stop walking, shush everyone, and turn their head to get the wind out of their ears.
If appropriate in your system, everyone may make a perception check against a Hard difficulty.
Deaf or blind party members make the check against Tricky difficulty.
A pair of metal doors sag, misaligned in their tracks.
The split between them emits a teal glow in a slow flashing pattern.
It’s not the bright blue of a working machine, but it’s just as artificial.
Prying the door open is straightforward, requiring the equivalent of strength check against Moderate difficulty for one person.
If multiple people work on it together, no roll is required.
One of the people opening the door slices a hand in the effort (even if it’s on a lever or pry bar), taking Light damage.
Read to everyone:
The room is clearly some kind of workshop: storage cabinets line the walls, including several which have fallen to the ground and spilled their contents across the floor.
Counter tops around the room are covered in what might be instruments or tools, but nothing familiar.
Unlike the other rooms, there are no corpses in here.
The source of the flashing light is a half-dome on one of the counters, maybe a hand’s breadth wide at its base.
A teal ring around that base throbs a slow heartbeat.
The light from it is very dim, and would be barely noticeable in full daylight.
When someone touches the half-dome, the light stays on for several seconds before going back to its pattern.
It can be moved — it’s not attached to anything — but its behavior does not change.
Collectors may search for Artifacts if they like, though each may only collect a single artifact for the entire ruins — not just this room.
The search finds something else: a box of triangular metal chips which look familiar to any person who’d ever met Aloy.
The dozen Focuses all seem to be in working order, and it will occur to at least one character to attach theirs to an ear as they’d seen Aloy do it.
That person shows the others how to do it, and one by one the party is connected to the Focus network.
The Nora Brave guards are not amused by your attempts to get into All-Mother Mountain.
However, they seem unsurprised instead of angry, as if they’ve seen many similar and more inventive attempts.
They assure you that you’re being kept out of the mountain for the best of those inside, many of whom are ill and don’t need to be exposed to whatever contagions you might accidentally bring in with you.
Exceptions might be made if someone inside requested your presence, but until then they politely ask that you stay out.
Mother’s Watch is quite different from what it was even a few weeks ago.
The Eclipse attacks killed many of the Braves, and no small number of others.
Now, you see only a scant handful of Braves, plus another few handfuls of families and merchants.
As you look closer, you see many of the families and merchants are not Nora.
Most have Carja clothes and styling, though more sedate and somber than what you’d see in Meridian.
A few Oseram are visible, though these all seem to be merchants and tradespeople, not families.
Talking with the Carja reveals most are refugees — trying to get as far from Shadow Carja territory as possible.
Some lost their homes in the attacks, while others abandoned them after losing faith in the Sun King’s ability to protect them.
None of them seem particularly interested in the Nora or their culture.
Talking with the Oseram or the Nora tradespeople (there are no Banuk here) reveals that most are honest people, just trying to be helpful.
A few seem shadier, but deeper conversation reveals they’ve lost their homes in the attacks and are trying to figure out how to reassemble their lives.
No amount of haggling can get any merchant or tradesperson to lower their prices — these people are trying to survive — though most of them are open to trading with items other than shards.
Talking with the Nora will reveal that all are eager to help as many people as they can, and see it as only right to reach out their hands after such tragic events.
All agree that opening the Embrace was the right thing to do, but some are conflicted about this, unsure of how it will all work out, and if the Nora have the resources to help everyone in need.
Idle chatter reinforces the impression that the party shouldn’t mention their delve into the cave and facility.
There’s a strong sentiment against machines of all kinds, as well as a feeling that bringing up things from beneath the ground can only lead to death and destruction.
If the characters brought IASO, they take care to hide it from view, and it does not glow or speak aloud for the duration of their time in Mother’s Watch.
A few people may notice the party’s Focuses, but it’s easy enough to pass them off as non-functioning copies honoring Aloy and her deeds.
The farther up the hills toward All-Mother Mountain you go, the more refugees you see.
Each family seems to be more anxious than the last, until there’s an undercurrent of barely-restrained tension at the entrance to the mountain.
It becomes obvious why you were told to come here: there are far more people here than there are lodge beds.
The pair of Brave guards posted there will not allow anyone to enter, even Nora party members.
The guards explain that All-Mother Mountain is being used as an infirmary, restricting entry to only family members of those being treated.
The High Matriarchs are caring for the injured, and are not available to talk.
Skilled persuaders can only get the guards to reveal that the High Matriarchs have not left All-Mother Mountain in over a week, as they’ve been working in shifts around the clock, sleeping when they can.
The guards, tradesmen, and merchants will direct the party to speak to Teb, a Nora man who is coordinating the construction of new lodges.
A shriek rips through the darkening night, bringing the already low murmur of conversation in the communal dining area to a silence.
The shriek is followed by a second, then the shattering of clay dishware dropped to the ground.
You look around to see a Carja family, mother, father, and daughter, all staring at your party.
The parents both have hands pointing at you, faces contorted in terror, while the daughter just looks confused.
Seeing you turn to face them, the parts screams fade away, and they begin to scramble in the other direction, the father scooping up the daughter to carry her as they head down the hill.
Grethe runs past you to catch them as they disappear around the corner.
She returns with the family several minutes later, though it is obvious from the body language of the parents that they are barely participating of their own accord.
Grethe, seemingly more bemused than anything else, drops onto her haunches to get eye level with the daughter, who still seems confused by all the fuss.
“My name is Grethe. It is nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
The girl brightens, answering quickly: “Unira.”
She is maybe five or six years old.
Grethe uses the tip of her finger to draw little half-moons under her own eyes, before pointing at Unira.
“I like your make-up, Unira. It’s a very pretty design. Did you do that, yourself?”
Unira is flattered but thinks Grethe is being silly, shaking her head.
“Unira, I’d like you to meet some friends of mine.
I’m trying to get enough houses built so that everyone has a warm place they can sleep and feel comfortable at night.
I’m sure your parents love telling you stories around a fire at night — I do the same thing with my daughter.
These people have come from far, far away to help me build more houses.
Do you understand?”
Unira likes the part about the stories and warm fires, but doesn’t seem to understand where Grethe is going with this.
Grethe points to the Tenakth.
“This is my friend Yenever.
Yenever has to be big and strong to help carry all the wood it takes to build our houses.
And (pronoun) (is/are) very nice.
Don’t you think (pronoun) has pretty make-up, too?
Would you like to see it up close?”
Grethe motions for Yenever to squat as she has done.
The parents are visibly uncomfortable with this, shifting their weight back and forth on their feet.
Whatever Grethe said to them has them here for now, but they don’t seem to like it.
Your Tenakth party member (Yenever, or other) would know that Carja from the southern end of the Sundom have a rocky history with the Tenakth.
The Red Raids saw a number of incursions, reprisals, and bad behavior on both sides, and local farmers and trappers were often caught in the middle.
The child is too young to have been around for this, but the parents clearly were.
Grethe, knowing this history, seems to be attempting to disarm the prejudice of the parents by appealing to the innocence of their daughter.
A flickering blue glow against the horizon catches your attention.
You can barely make it out against the purpling sky, until it is joined by a second blue glow, and then a third blue.
More join until a full dozen can be seen.
In unison, the glows bob and rotate, doubling, before they begin to move in your direction.
You recognize them now: Scrappers, probably a dozen of them.
They pass between you and the glow of Mother’s Watch, cutting you off from a quick escape.
You’re beginning to wonder if you’ve been spotted, when you hear a high-pitched whine.
One pair of blue eyes flashes to red, then another, and the rest almost at once.
They’ve seen you and are heading in your direction.
You can’t take on a dozen Scrappers.
Your only choice is to try to lose them in the nearby trees.
The treeline is close, just past a few loose boulders you can duck behind.
All party members make a perception check against Hard difficulty.
Anyone who fails falls in an unmarked hole between the rocks, taking Light damage.
Otherwise, even characters who notice the hole decide it’s probably safer to get out of the Scrapper’s line of sight.
Everyone gets down into the cave, backing away from the ledge and into shadow.
You can hear the high-pitched pulse of the Scrappers’ scanning components firing one after another.
Scrappers walk by the hole, but seem unable to detect you.
This entry is intended for Narrators who would like some additional context on the scene in entry 135.
It is not required for understanding of the story, and may be skipped!
Scene Overview
As Jineko enters the ruins, IASO begins to speak to her through her Focus.
Even if you had IASO with you when you gave Jineko her focus, IASO would not reveal itself due to its high-level directives against interference.
Jineko’s entry to the ruins allowed IASO to classify her as aware of the Old Ones, allowing it to reveal itself.
IASO would inform Jineko that the neural bypass offered by the sensor pads seems to be stable and operating within expected tolerances.
It would reassure her that muscle tone and control would improve in time, with proper physical therapy and effort.
Jineko might ask IASO if the damage could be repaired permanently.
This, and the answer, would be up to the narrator as appropriate for the group of players.
The rest of the scene plays out as depicted in the story entry.
Players of Tenakth characters should engage Unira and her parents, Ethsan and Ometra, in a conversation to show that Tenakth are just people, and not inherently good or bad.
If the group does not have a Narrator, other players should take on the roles of the three NPCs.
You may choose to involve contested skill challenges, but they are not required — it is just as viable to roleplay it without dice rolls.
Through conversation, you may learn what has already been assumed:
The trio comes from lands just outside of Sunstone Rock.
During the Red Raids, the fruit groves of Ethsan and Ometra were pillaged a number of times to feed Tenakth counter forces.
They only felt safe and comfortable enough to have Unira after everything settled down.
Because they sell all their fruit to merchants from Meridian, they’ve never seen any Tenakth who were not taking from them.
There is no specific end goal to this conversation, beyond attempting to engender trust, or at least to defuse tension, with the parents.
Tenakth characters may wish to recount child-friendly stories of their time in the past few years, or what led them to leave the Tenakth clans.
Or, if the player is feeling particularly creative, they might recount a Tenakth folktale about how people are not always what they seem.
Keep track of how the dispositions of Ethsan, Ometra, and Grethe change with the outcome of this conversation.
The metal door in front of you looks plain and inert to the naked eye.
Through the Focus, you can see a bright blue ring, with one quadrant in an even brighter pink, glowing in the center.
As you reach out to touch the ring, it subtly glows brighter in anticipation.
Your hand passes through it, doing nothing.
Making as if to grasp the pink area, you make a turning motion, like a door knob.
The pink quadrant spins to follow the motion.
The entire ring solidifies to a cyan before flashing out, and the door opens.
Someone will notice that the stalagmites and stalactites in the rear of the room have been broken off and knocked about.
IASO guides you into this back room.
The ancient, dessicated corpse of an Old One lays in a corner here, labeled by the Focus as Director Ellen Evans.
Characters may choose to read the associated Datapoint.
Along the right wall as you enter sit two large containers.
They are empty, but the dust on them has been disturbed recently.
An investigation of the boxes, a Moderate difficulty skill check, will find a single Health Potion.
On the left wall is a large unit of some kind, with a holographic interface that glows when approached, even without the Focus overlay.
IASO is interested in this:
This is the primary interface to the facility’s systems.
It appears that a power core has been removed, so it does not have enough to power the network.
If you will press the MAU against the unit at the indicated point, I believe I should be able to synchronize with it.
If asked what else will happen:
My MAU does not have enough power to do much more than transfer my data.
If asked what will happen if they choose not to allow it:
My only function is to provide medical assistance.
Without my database, I’m sorry to say I will be of limited use to you.
Not interested in trying to patch up cultural relations with people you don’t even know, your Tenakth players wave off Grethe’s attempts and go about getting some dinner.
Grethe will be disappointed by this, and will escort away the family to try to soothe them away from the crowd.
She will return after some time, though her disposition to your party will have chilled somewhat.
Track this for future reference.
This entry is intended for Narrators who would like some additional context on the scene in entry 131.
It is not required for understanding of the story, and may be skipped!
Scene Overview
The scene plays out as you might expect:
Jineko is given/loaned a Focus because the device has recognized her condition, but will not reveal that condition to other characters.
The Focus does not need IASO present to make this diagnosis.
While the Focus database of medical conditions is small, her condition is as recognizable to the Focus as a broken limb might be.
The Focus requests her to attach a sensor pad to her lower back to gather more data.
Once this data is collected, her condition is diagnosed as neurological in nature, and she is asked whether she’d like to try a treatment which might return her mobility.
This is when she exclaims “Yes, of course!”.
She is instructed to attach an additional sensor pad on each leg.
The Focus explains that this will allow the sensor pads to work in concert to bypass the struggling nerve clusters.
It is explained to her that this cannot heal her condition, which will continue to deteriorate biologically over time, but that as a temporary measure this should restore her mobility for a few years at least, until other options can be found.
To be clear: by the end of the story module, Jineko will have a more permanent solution.
This non-permanent solution is intended to provide a narrative impetus for Jineko to join the party in the following scenes, and to show her as having the strength and determination to try new things and keep moving forward.
However, if any players might find this to feel like “bait and switch”, it’s just as viable to say that the sensor pad solution will likely work for decades without concern of reduced functionality.
The intent here is to provide an arc for character growth, not to traumatize the players with ableist inspiration porn.
Background Details
Jineko’s exact condition is intentionally vague: “a motor neuron condition affecting the use of her legs”.
This is intended to allow maximum flexibility for tailoring the details to the player group.
Some potential explanations of the cause of her condition might include:
An inherited genetic condition which was seen in a grandparent but skipped a parent.
A novel genetic condition.
Nerve damage sustained in a machine attack.
A childhood injury.
In the story as written, Jineko won’t offer details and would change the subject if asked.
The details of her condition are not critical to the narrative provided here, so Narrators should feel free to modify and embellish as is appropriate for the players.
The visible effects of her condition are also intentionally vague.
Narrators may choose to present her as having minor or major motor control issues, recent or longstanding symptoms, an entire lifetime or only weeks getting used to the condition, or whatever makes sense for the table.
With the sensor pad treatment in place, the story as written implies a few days to get used to her altered state.
This is not necessarily realistic, and in a modern setting would likely require extensive physical therapy to get used to — especially if her condition had been explained as being long-term.
However, epic training montages aside, this wouldn’t make for a very dramatic introductory module for the world of Skyline.
Narrators are encouraged to hand-wave an explanation akin to “maintenance of the muscle tone in her legs through regular application of the same herbs Grethe uses to heal the wounds of Braves”.
Tensions
Jineko is conflicted.
She has lived her life in a society which accepts her with her disability, but would, she believes, react extremely negatively to a sudden change in that state due to the technology of the Old Ones.
They might even cut her off from her family and eject her from Nora lands.
She’s seeing changes in the attitudes of the Nora, but she’s also sitting in Mother’s Watch, a place that was recently literally burned to the ground by the machines made by those same Old Ones.
It would be very difficult for her to make a clear and unencumbered decision to just start walking around and damn the consequences.
Obviously, however, no one wants to live a lie.
In the story as written, Jineko makes up her mind that the following order of events makes the most sense:
Take some time to see if the Focus and sensor pads can deliver on their promise.
Go down into the ruins to see what else is down there, and if there’s anything else which might be of use.
She holds out hope she might uncover something she could bring back to help our her parents, or her people in general, which she might use as leverage for acceptance.
Reveal her new state to her parents, soon but not immediately, and seek their advice about what to do next.
The main story only hints at this rationale.
Narrators should feel free to modify or embellish as desired.
A cloud of bats screeches past you as you crouch in the cave.
Oddly, they come from a dark area below you, and off to your side.
Below the sharp scent of guano and bat is a damp, metallic smell.
The ground above you thumps with the passing of each Scrapper.
But the thumps don’t all recede into the distance — a number slow and stay louder than you expect.
The high-pitched shriek of rending metal, a Scrapper doing its job on some unseen machine, destroys any hope that they will move along.
As the random footsteps get too close for comfort, you decide to move farther into the cave.
The occasional footprints in the dirt are clear and aren’t all covered in guano or moss.
Someone else has been here no more than a few weeks ago.
There’s just enough light to let everyone work their way down and deeper into the cave.
At least one person will need to create light.
When they do, the walls reveal what everyone was already expecting: you’ve stumbled into ruins of the Old Ones.
Find the map for Mother’s Watch Ruins.
The entry numbers marked with a triangle ► require a Focus to see.
If you’re just starting out, you probably don’t have a Focus yet!
The others, marked with a circle, can be seen and investigated by anyone.
178
Read to everyone:
Opening a cabinet, you find a pile of what appears to be wide, paired rings.
Your focus labels each as OsteAlign (adaptive orthosis).
Jineko, and Haldred if they are in your party, will notice that each device has a power adapter.
Jineko will pull a Watcher Heart from her bag along with a length of blue cable.
Using it to supply power to the device changes its designation in your Focus overlay:
Two human-shaped graphics appear.
In addition to the outlines, one has arm bones while the other has leg bones.
On each, one bone appears broken and misaligned.
The outline of an orthosis appears next to each, animating to show the rings slipping over the injured limbs before clamping down to the skin.
Armatures peel from the rings, align the bones, and straighten into rods which lengthen and connect the rings.
A small pair of lights goes red on each ring, accompanied by the bones stiching together.
The lights go green, the rods retract back into the rings, and the rings are slipped loose from the limbs.
When unpowered, each pair of rings is approximately one hand-span wide.
When powered, the rings will expand to twice that to accommodate arms or legs.
Each pair is approximately 4lb (1.8kg).
There are five pairs of rings which seem to be in good working order, with another three which might be repairable with some effort.
Cracking the seal on a crate, you see several dozen swatches of what appears to be woven metal mesh.
It is soft to the touch, like cloth, but resists all attempts to tear, stretch, or cut it.
In your Focus overlay, each has an AR label: NanoPatch (not charged).
The patches are of various sizes and shapes, mostly squares, rectangles, circles, and ovals, ranging from barely larger than your thumb, to the size of a stretched hand.
Jineko, and Haldred if they are in your party, will notice that each device has a power adapter.
Jineko will pull a Watcher Heart from her bag along with a length of blue cable.
Using it to supply power to the device changes its designation in your Focus overlay:
Several things happen as the power source is connected.
The AR label changes to NanoPatch (charging: 0%), and waiting several minutes shows that number slowly increase.
Next to it, the small outline of a human appears.
The outline has a red gash across one arm, which the Focus zooms in on, giving it the details of an injury.
The representation of a patch, with the AR label NanoPatch (charged 100%), is laid across the wound.
Small blue dots appear on the patch, moving into the wound, while at the same time the patch glows a faint red.
The wound begins to close as the dots move around with some kind of activity.
When the wound has sealed, the patch shifts from red to green and peels away from the now-whole arm.
There are eight working patches, and three more which do not react when power is applied.
Some experimentation leads you to believe that each patch would charge to 100% after 8 to 12 hours, depending on size.
Anyone applying a patch to an injury would experience a slight tingling effect, and would find that lacerations close in hours instead of days.
Similar results are seen for burns, frostbite, bruises, and other basic injuries which do not require non-dermal organ repair.
Like sensor pads, NanoPatches adhere only to skin, but become easy to remove when the injury repair is complete.
Removing a NanoPatch before this is possible, but would likely cause additional injury to lacerated skin.
Recovering the OsteAlign rings leads you to notice a small handful of similar ring devices.
These, however, are single rings, much thicker than their counterparts.
One especially large ring looks like it could fit around a waist or chest.
The actuators are longer, and coiled around the ring in several thick, ropy spirals.
Your Focus labels each ring as a Biomechanical Neural Interface, and they have the same power adapter interface.
Supplying power doesn’t produce any physical change in the ring or its AR overlay label.
The now-familiar pair of human outlines appears, one with a partial arm and the other with a partial leg.
Animations show the rings fitting over the limbs and constricting, the actuators uncoiling and expanding away from the ring.
A sequence of prostheses appears, cycling through to show a number of options.
In parallel, a prosthetic from each sequence fits to the limb, ring actuator arms snaking to lock it in place.
The prosthetics flex and move, showing off articulation, before the animation repeats with a different limb and prosthetic combination.
A search of the facility does not reveal any prosthetics as they are depicted in the animation.
Jineko, or Haldred if they are in your party, will have the idea that they could probably adapt machine parts to work, presuming the interfaces were compatible, which they probably would be.
Manufacturing custom prosthetics would likely take significant time and effort, but should be possible with an Oseram forge.
A strange amalgamation of cabling and discs hangs from a peg on a wall, covered in dust.
Its AR overlay label reads Hover Harness, and it has the same power adapter interface you’ve come to expect.
Eight discs, each the size of a palm, are connected with woven straps.
The straps have the flexibility of cloth, but the strength of metal, and are impervious to any attempts to cut, tear, or otherwise harm them.
When power is applied, the discs glow faintly and crackle with static discharges.
Your Focus shows the human shape, with the harness snapping into place around its waist, across its thighs, and over each shoulder.
The discs line up against each shoulder blade, each pectoral, and similar places low against the pelvis in both the front and back.
Without asking, Jineko takes the harness and begins strapping it on as shown.
Figuring out front from back and top from bottom takes a moment, but she gets it with help.
Her eyes lose focus into the familiar distant stare of reading her Focus overlay.
After a moment, she steps back from the group.
Without her touching them, the straps cinch tight against her body.
The discs begin to glow a little brighter, that crackling discharge increasing.
It takes a moment to understand what you’re seeing, but you realize that the discs are drawing her more upright, until they lift her onto her toes.
Jineko’s eyes go wide as her toes leave the floor, leaving her floating in the air.
This scares her and she kicks in the air for a moment before touching back down.
With a huge grin she turns and leaps from a standing position, easily covering more than most could from a run.
Only a single harness seems to be intact, though two more are found which seem to be damaged or incomplete.
With some time and effort, they could potentially be disassembled for parts, or possibly even repaired.
The harness does not grant flight, at least for now, and is software-locked to not take its wearer more than a few inches off the ground.
It does not produce directional thrust, other than lift, so a person hovering would still need some other means of propulsion.
It works even when worn beneath clothing, and the static effects are only for flavor.
The intent of the harness is to allow its wearer to take some of their weight off their legs, to allow for easier movement.
It provides enough lift to be an alternative to a prosthetic leg, should the wearer desire.
The harness has a safety feature to “catch” the wearer if they fall, but it is not perfect — narrators and players should decide whether falls involve saving throws or similar.
This would likely look quite odd to an observer.
Collapsed against a wall and covered in moss is a jumble of metal rings, bars, and that same metal cloth.
It takes some effort, but you manage to pull them apart and clean them off, revealing a half dozen objects your Focus labels as simply Wheelchair.
Animated graphics show how to split apart the rings, expanding the device into what appears to be a single-person cart, or a chair with built-in wheels.
The woven metal seat and back seem completely intact, and exhibit that same resistance to damage.
The wheels also appear to be made of some kind of woven metal, though much thicker and yet at the same time more giving.
Despite their bulk, the wheelchairs are surprisingly light, with each weighing no more than a few pounds/kilos.
Several configurations are available, as you dig them out of their tangle.
These wheelchairs are completely mechanical — they contain no electronic components.
They can otherwise be as complex or as simple as you like.
Pushrim, belted, geared, unidirectional ratcheting — whatever the players think might be useful.
Once you know what to look for, the device your Focus labels as Hoverchair seems obvious.
The metal tube frame looks like it was taken from a wheelchair, but with the wheels removed.
Instead, an interconnected mesh of more tubes on the undercarriage sports a number of discs like the ones you saw on the harness.
Applying power does exactly what you would expect: the device hovers several feet off the ground, crackling with static discharges.
As the chair gains height, the undercarriage compacts a bit to provide more clearance for ground objects.
Sitting in the chair, a person sees additional AR controls, with several adaptive configurations.
The basic controls involve directional movement and heading, as well as elevation, which seems to be software-locked to no more than 3ft (ca. 1m) off the ground.
Unlike the harness, the chair does offer propulsion without mechanical aid.
Speed is equivalent to a walk by default, but can be cranked up to a fast run as needed.
The chair’s interface with the Focus also gives it the ability to traverse difficult terrain.
When adjacent to a rise of up to 7ft (ca. 2.1m), the chair provides controls to override the normal 3ft (1m) elevation limitation to lift to that level.
Once a character’s Focus has linked with the chair, some remote controls are also available.
The chair can be called to the character from up to 50ft (ca. 15 m) away, and will navigate reasonable terrain, including elevation changes, to do so.
Similarly, the chair can be piloted up to the same distance away.
Only one Focus may be linked with the chair at a time.
Hours into your search of the ruins, you’re getting used to looking harder at each and every miscellaneous part and formless blob.
It occurs to you to look harder at the autosuture devices originally pointed out by IASO.
The ones attached to the MedBeds have long since become useless stalagmites from centuries of dripping condensation, but a more thorough search reveals several more secreted in cabinets, as well as a collection of spare parts for others.
None seem to do anything when power is applied — their Focus overlays show a message about attaching them to a MedBed, along with an animated example of how to do so.
Unfortunately, the attachment points on the MedBeds are all covered in stone or otherwise destroyed.
You could probably excavate one, but the effort would take hours or even days of cautious, painstaking work to ensure you didn’t damage anything vital.
Autosuture parts are heavy — the articulating cabling is dense, and the attaching surface is large enough to make you think it needs to be quite stable.
The connector does not appear compatible with the Biomechanical Neural Interface, and the two do not seem to recognize each other when connected.
Powering up a MedBed takes some time.
Most are covered in stalagmite stone, moss, and even standing water inside the bays beneath them.
The glowing boxes next to each show nothing but a jumble of distorted shapes, which are completely unreadable.
However, when a character wearing a Focus lays a hand on an excavated bed, it links with their Focus to provide diagnostic controls and reporting.
Multiple Focus devices can be linked to the bed at once.
This also causes the semi-transparent dome above it to attempt to retract.
Centuries of sediment and other elements prevent the motion, causing the dome to flash red, and the Focus overlay to show an error.
It takes more time to clear away enough debris to allow the dome its full motion.
Once you have, your Focus overlay switches to an animation of a person laying down on the bed.
Jineko hops up onto the bed, not missing a beat.
The dome rotates back into place, glowing a soft purple, while its Focus overlay shifts to Scanning.
An outline of a Jineko-shaped person appears on the dome.
Medical terms and numbers point out various attributes, though most don’t mean anything to you.
At this point, Narrators may wish to adjust the following if they have customized Jineko’s background.
A spot just above the outline of Jineko’s tailbone lights up with streaks of red, growing a label which reads Spinal Damage.
Just above the red streaks, a yellow circle pulses, labeled with Sensor Pad, matched by yellow circles behind each of her knees.
A whispy line between them labeled Neural Bypass: Active slowly fades in and out.
Interacting with the diagnosis on the MedBed reveals additional details, but they won’t mean anything to characters.
It’s also unclear whether a functioning autosuture could permanently repair the damage.
As you assessed before, MedBeds cannot be moved, and the parts in the bays beneath them are not intuitively separable without significant time (days or weeks) spent learning how they work.
Jineko gets quieter, the longer you search.
You see her excitement curdle into wordless anger, escalating with each new discovery.
Arcing a broken hover disc across the room, she stands up and beckons for everyone to follow.
“We need to get back before my mother finds my empty bed.
And she’s going to have a full day of work for you.”
If anyone asks Jineko why she’s angry:
“In one day, I’ve gone from struggling to maintain my balance on crutches to floating weightless above the earth.
But our fears kept me down.
This place has been below us the entire time.
I’ve worked through so much … and for what?”
If asked whether or how she will tell her parents, or the others at Mother’s Watch:
“I don’t know! Look at me! Look at what these things can do!
What if the Matriarchs decide these devices are sacrilege, or cannot be trusted, or worse: will corrupt and change me, like the Shadow Carja?
Will someone else choose how I live the rest of my life?
Or will they simply exile me from everyone and everything I know and love?”
“Or do I hide?
Pretend to be the Jineko of yesterday to keep those around me comfortable, unchanging forever, like some inert boulder in the sun?
What kind of life is that?
Who does that make me?”
Jineko can eventually be talked out of her anger, but her anxiety will remain.
She pauses as you approach the exit, looking between you and the ruins.
“There are many artifacts here which can help people in All-Mother Mountain.
People who are hurting right now.
Devices to seal their open wounds, or to ensure their broken bones heal correctly, or to ease the challenges they will face.”
“We are not Oseram, who study and use every thing they find beneath the earth.
We are not Banuk, who would weave these devices into their flesh and lives, and treat them with reverence.
We are Nora.
We know what is good and right comes from nature and from each other, and all else cannot be trusted.”
“Do we bring these devices to All-Mother Mountain and try to help who we can?
Do we risk destroying Nora culture to save Nora people?
Do we risk the wrath of the righteous, who will attempt to destroy these devices out of fear?
What do you think?”
Teb is visibly disappointed when you tell him you’re not interested in checking on Olara.
He shakes his head, but recovers quickly.
“You’re probably right. She can take care of herself. Let’s grab that breakfast before we put you to work.”
Breakfast options are what you’d expect of the Nora: thick slabs of bacon, boiled eggs, steamed vegetables.
Another half-dozen tradespeople accumulate around Teb as you all sit on rough stump stools.
Introductions are made, and everyone eats quickly as Teb explains the plan for the day.
“We’re running low on lumber, and with the new help and the good weather, I’d like us to stock up.
We’ll spend the morning on that, then the afternoon preparing it.”
Teb shows you where to find tools.
A pair of lumber carts — each not much more than two wheels and a bed — are roped together before piling on and lashing down a number of axes and saws.
Teb stays in the village to help clear space before you get back, directing the others to go to the usual place.
The morning mist is just beginning to burn off as you exit the main gate.
The others wheel the cart along the road to the east, heading back in the direction toward the ruins.
But they don’t stay on the path for long, instead hugging the rocky base of the mountain which forms the natural wall of Mother’s Watch.
You travel maybe ten minutes, more from wrangling the cart than from distance.
Someone points out a half dozen trees closest to the rocks, which you can see have been marked with little strips of dyed cloth.
Along your trip, one of the tradespeople will notice the hand injury from opening the door.
You are able to explain it away as just something that happened on the trip from Mother’s Cradle.
The Nora among the tradespeople, and any Nora in your party, will pause and pick some Medicinal Salvebrush berries, giving them to the injured person.
If the injured person eats the berries, which any Nora will strongly encourage, they find the wound on their hand closes up over the next hour.
Their Focus makes special note of this.
If they are wearing a Sensor Pad, the Focus overlay reveals a message stating Regenerative enzymes detected. Agent catalogued. before fading away.
Otherwise, the message is Unknown pharmacological effect detected. Attach a sensor pad for further analysis. and lingers before fading.
If the party brought any Sensor Pads with them, and the injured party member can do it stealthily, they may attach it while they walk, causing the Focus to give the first message.
Looking to unload the machine parts you’ve gathered, you head back toward the main gate.
A merchant is jammed into a corner of the courtyard, complaining about not having enough space to show his wares.
He’ll buy anything you’d like to sell at normal value, though he’s completely unwilling to haggle on prices.
Looking to restock your own supplies, he begins to show you item after item.
One item, untouched at the bottom of a supply crate, draws your attention.
The Focus gives it a label which doesn’t mean anything to you: ACA3 Override Controller.
But unlike the other machine parts, its Focus halo flickers between yellow, orange, and magenta.
If you act casual, and purchase other supplies, the merchant will throw in the Override Controller for free, just to get rid of it.
He’ll explain that he bought it in an unsorted crate brought to him after the attack on All-Mother Mountain, but he doesn’t know more than that.
He thinks it’s broken, or at least useless, as no one knows what to do with it.
If he senses eagerness, he’ll trade you for the machine parts you’ve brought, or he’ll charge you the same amount if he’s already paid you for them.
Obtaining the Override Controller, you can find a quiet place to inspect it.
It will attempt to interface with the Focus of whoever is holding it, which takes several seconds.
It will only work for that one person until ownership changes, again taking several seconds to resynchronize.
Using your Focus, when you can concentrate on the Override Controller its label expands to include a new list of icons under a heading of Available Overrides.
The icons are obvious: the curved body of a Watcher, and the quadrupedal shape of a Strider.
If you pass the Override Controller around among your party and let it synchronize with each, you’ll notice an additional list under the heading Friendlies.
Another list of icons, these are stylized renderings of your faces.
What does the Override Controller do? Why does it show a Watcher and a Strider?
What should you do with IASO? Could it be of help to the people in All-Mother Mountain?
IASO mentioned other facilities. Could those be delves near here?
Is there anything you can do for Olara?
Would there be more interesting parts like the Override Controller to be found in the wreckage of the many machines that raided the Embrace?
You might also consider following the loose threads from Horizon: Zero Dawn:
Aloy managed to stop the Buried Shadow, so why are machines still hostile when you get too close?
What’s behind the door in All-Mother Mountain?
Were the Eclipse wiped out, or are they just in hiding?
What of the Shadow Carja?
Non-Player Characters
Arund
Oseram, merchant in Mother’s Watch, he/him
Appearance: Arund is a top-heavy man in his early 40s, with arms and shoulders used to lugging around crates of machine parts, but legs used to standing in one place all day.
He’s usually in Oseram work attire: loose, flappy robes with lots of concealed pockets and loops for tools, with decorate steel plates strapped onto it.
He wears a matching leather and cloth cap to cover a balding head of light skin surrounded by a halo of brown hair.
Attitude: Arund is trying to unlearn decades of bad habits around distrust and deceit.
The impulse to assume he’s being taken advantage of is strong, though he’s learned to recognize it and push it down, especially for people who’ve proven themselves to deal fairly.
This leads to him being a little distant at first, but then to extend a hand to bridge the gap he’s created.
Hopes: Today, Arund wants to establish himself as a necessary part of the Mother’s Watch economy.
Tomorrow, maybe he’ll want more, but better to focus on today.
Fears: Arund worries that the current Nora good will toward outlanders in the Embrace will evaporate with tomorrow’s morning mist.
While he doesn’t subscribe to Nora philosophies, he likes the climate and the lower chance of being killed walking down the road.
The Old Ones’ machines wouldn’t try attacking the Nora again, right?
Pren
Nora, tradesperson in Mother’s Watch, he/him
Appearance: Pren is short, stocky, and in his late 30s, though years of labor and hard living have etched in wrinkles which make him look a decade older.
His straight dark hair is pulled back into a small tail, with silver temples that continue down into unruly white chops.
It’s hard to tell if he gets his acorn-brown skin from his parents or the sun.
His hands are calloused and dry, though you might not get much occasion to see that as he always seems to have tools in them.
He doesn’t have any Nora tattoos or markings.
Attitude: Pren is socially neutral — he’s not going to cross a room to meet someone new, but he’s affable and outgoing with his friends.
That distance doesn’t mean a lack of empathy, though — he’s acutely aware of the heightened anxieties of the incoming refugees.
Hopes: Pren loves being a jack-of-all-trades.
He’s not interested in money or power, just in helping to improve the lives of those around him.
Fears: Pren is self-conscious about not being much of a hunter.
He worries, especially with the recent Eclipse attacks, that other people might think less of him because he doesn’t want to pick up a spear or bow.
Lately, trying to be seen as a “true Nora” has led to more social drinking than he’s used to.
Verdant Faruk, Golden Elin, and family
Carja, refugee farmers in Mother’s Watch, both he/him
Appearance: Both men are in their late thirties and look like people who have spent their lives doing hard work in the sun.
Faruk has a dark complexion and deep brown skin, while Elin’s complexion is closer to his title, a midtone golden-bronze.
Their daughters, Hanin and Lenyara take after each of them, respectively.
Hanin is a few years older, maybe fourteen or fifteen to Lenyara’s ten or eleven.
Attitude: Both men maintain a positive attitude in front of their daughters.
Any adult, especially a parent, can easily see the concern behind their eyes, but the entire family speaks in terms of having grown everything from the ground up before, and a willingness to do it again.
Hopes: They are all still shaken by what they saw in the Maizelands, but the community at Mother’s Watch has given them hope that they could make a new life here.
Fears: The family made it all the way to Mother’s Watch before learning of the Eclipse and machine attacks on the village.
They’d hoped that getting away from Meridian and the Sundom would leave them in a safer place, and they are more than a little disconcerted to find their long journey has not guaranteed anything better.
The following chart shows the flow of the story entries, along with each location change and combat encounter.
Artifacts of the Old Ones
When searching through ruins of the Old Ones, make a percentile roll and receive the corresponding object from the following table.
For each ruin, each player may make one roll.
Players are encouraged to roleplay speculation about the intended use of the objects.
As this is a pre-alpha release, there are no release notes here for previous versions.
Author Notes
Boy howdy, I did not know what I was committing to when I decided to start this project.
Writing even just a single module is work enough, but then I was dumb enough to tackle multiple adapters for very different game systems, condensing an entire open-world RPG into a few pages of introductory text, and even building a module-generating system, so I could (try to) keep the whole thing consistent.
It was fun, and I would do it again, but woof.
Another thing I’ve figured out: trying to keep the scope to a single-session adventure is also surprisingly hard.
I have so many ideas for content I want to build in, threads I want to show, people and things I want to introduce.
With a 3-4 hour budget, however, almost none of that can be shoehorned in.
It will just have to wait until Connection.
Hopefully, the few threads I’ve been able to start will make sense, and players and narrators alike will be able to see where things could go.
-R
Author Bio
Rick Osborne has been a tabletop gamer since elementary school, when he and his friends would spend hours completely ignoring the teacher as they generated character after character, passing AD&D and Lone Wolf books back and forth beneath their desks.
Skyline is his first serious effort at building out a cohesive tabletop gaming product, though he’s not new to such things — he’s been a professional Web developer since the mid-1990s.
Credits
Rick would like to extend thanks to the denizens of a number of Discord and Twitch communities, who have (maybe unwittingly) been instrumental in his efforts:
Skyline and IASO are creations of Rick Osborne, who has sole copyright to the works.
While they are based on the world of Horizon, Rick makes no claim to any association with that product, nor its developers Guerrilla Games, nor its publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Skyline is a fan work, meant for the enjoyment of tabletop gamers, and has no commercial aspect.
It has been made freely available to all, and is not for sale.
IASO includes adapters for game systems and products, but similarly makes no claim of association with those creators or products, and does not intentionally use any portion of those works which might be considered “product identity”.
While Skyline and IASO are not licensed under the OGL, for the purposes of clarity the following items are considered part of Skyline’s product identity:
The term Skyline as a descriptor for an RPG world.
The name and character of IASO as portrayed by an AI.
The named non-player characters listed in the NPC section.
These statements have not been evaluated by legal counsel.
People choosing to play Skyline, for whatever purpose in whatever format, are encouraged to do their own evaluation of the risks of using unlicensed fan works.