The abhuman defends itself fiercely, but at the same time gives away the game: Paraton will be ready the next time. For now, the robed figure shivers and reels under an acute migraine. Which might explain what happens next: a cloud of black and green nothing forms in front of Paraton and, through the pain, tries to shoot straight at the abhuman.

Paraton: M16/16, S11/14, I10/15
[OOC: Paraton rolled 7 using 1d20 trying to defend against an intellect attack. They are trained in Intellect defense.
Then they used Void Matter Blast, with 2 Effort (for damage) balanced by their 1 Speed Edge. Paraton rolled a 5 for this action :(]

[Also OOC: I need help interpreting Paraton's Void Master Blast focus ability: "You can unleash a blast of void matter at a target within short range at will. A void matter blast inflicts 3 points of damage (ignores Armor)." Which pool do I take from? I used Speed, since it's a ranged attack, and it's not exactly intellect-based, but...]
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:29, Sun 22 Sept 2019.

Attilisk's launch of his plant detonation does not quite go as planned.  It ricochets off of a wall, bounces back out of the door, and squarely hits Wyddno in the chest.  With a whumph, a cloud of green gas surrounds him, and you hear some muffled cracking noises.  When the gas clears, there is naught but a vaguely human-shaped tree.



The blast of void matter does some harm to the crowd of abhumans, but mostly seems to anger them!


Cube moves steadily near the Wyddno-tree as the abhumans advance, and advances into one, its body gripping the nearest abhuman firmly and crushing parts of its body!

The five others advance and lash out with their swords, striking at everyone, two striking at Cube!  They move in eerie silence and without a single shouted word or command.  Cube's surface shimmers as the swords pass into him, but are repelled by the metalweave within its body.  Eleisai finches, crying out as the sword scores long her ribs.

OOC:  Everyone gets attacked once, Cube gets attacked twice.  DT 4 to avoid 4 damage.   

Eleisai twists the space around her and blinks out of existence, appearing further up the ramp and out of immediate reach of the abhumans.

"Sovereign One, please guard and guide us now, I pray..."

She winces from the pain of her wound, but there is no time to tend to it now.

She targets the most wounded foe, and a bolt of energy flies toward it...

OOC: Onslaught, as soon as she gets a turn after her Far Step...

Attilisk twists to avoid the slashing of the sword, but the horror of accidentally taking out Wyddno is too distracting and he isn't able to avoid the blow entirely.  He snarls.  His mind races to figure out his next move.

Paraton fares better against physical attacks, the sword hitting their armor with a satisfying thump. As they do, the void thumps back, grabbing their sword and shaking it, scaring them back. The robed Seeker then grabs a small gewgaw from their belt and throws it near where the most abhumans group, away from the party. The cypher explodes into a cloud that starts burning the nearest abhumans.

Paraton moves back, trying to set up another arrow.

[OOC: Paraton rolled 19 using 1d20.  Defense against abhuman, trained in Might defense. Minor effect: your foe is frightened by the green-black energy that resides in you and backs away, unwilling to attack. It can still defend itself.

Paraton rolled 10 (13 with Effort) using 1d20.  Speed attack with Cypher, 1 Effort for roll (balanced by 1 Speed edge], 1 effort for extra damage. Damage total would be 8 + 3.
Cypher – Mist Energizer. Level: 8. Usable: Handheld device that resembles a half-sphere with gel-like white buttons.
Effect: Alters the composition of a gaseous cloud no larger than 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet (3 m by 3 m by 3 m) so that it inflicts damage equal to the cypher level to anyone that enters it. Damage continues every round that a creature is within the energized mist, which lasts for ten minutes. The gaseous cloud can simply be the normal air, but it could also be an already poisonous vapor or some other gas.]


Paraton: M16/16, S10/14, I10/15

Eleisai focuses her attention on the one gripped by Cube, her mind reaching out to pierce the abhuman's with her own, and sees it collapse, limp and deceased!


With the abhumans close together to go after the mostly bunched-up group, Attilisk gets an idea.  Taking his anchor stone cypher, he pushes it into his canteen and then hurls it at the ceiling.  It bounces off and lands in the midst of the abhumans... except the anchor stone, once in contact with water, has become a 500 pound boulder!  Mayhem ensues as two are crushed outright and two more wounded!




The frightened abhuman and possibly another one or two just inside the doorway take the brunt of the burning vapors, charring into piles of ash!

The last remaining abhuman lashes out at Attilisk, not with its sword, but with its mind!


Cube notes that there seems to be one more abhuman within the room from where they emerged, but the burning vapor would be ill-advised to travel through.  Instead it turns and lashes out at the abhuman threatening Attilisk, gripping it and absorbing it with a neat economy of motion.


There are now no more abhumans on this side of the doorway (which is partially blocked by a large boulder and further blocked by burning vapors), but there seems to be one or two within the room beyond, as well as whatever was whimpering.

Attilisk's success with the anchor stone is quickly countered by the screaming pain in his head as the remaining abhuman's mental attack drills into his mind.

After the "success" with the idea of throwing the noxious gas cypher to the only point of access to the room in which someone else is held hostage, Paraton tries to think fast. They start talking with force:

Do not get near to the gas if you value your existences.

Just in case someone didn't notice the abhumans lighting up when they got in contact with the vapors.

Then, Paraton nocks their bow again, and shoots at an abhuman inside the blocked room.

[OOC: Paraton rolled 15: Shooting an arrow at abhumans inside the room.]

Paraton: M16/16, S6/14, I10/15. I adjusted these values, I had calculated my Effort/Edge values incorrectly. It's been a while...

Attilisk, your headache throbs from the abhuman's attack, but slowly starts to fade. 

Paraton, as you fire over the vapors, you hear more thrashing from inside the chamber; it seems you've scored a hit!  There is some shuffling beyond, then silence, then soft whimpering again.  Finally the vapors dissipate, and everyone can get a better look inside.  Though still dark, you can see there is a ledge partway up the wall upon which a hound-like beast with a human like face, a thuman, is lying with its leg dangling.  There is a tall growth of crystals in the center of the room, softly shining in the light of the door.  Beyond that, the room is in darkness...

As soon as it is apparent that the immediate abhuman threat is dealt with, Attilisk collapses into a cross-legged sitting position and whips out his notebook.  He furiously sketches and records all of the bizarre images that appeared in his head (along with the searing pain).  Notes about the imagined scent, the pattern of the circuitry, arrows pointing to the different notations for color and shape, the meaning of the odd recitation and even some bizarre phonetic attempt at the "words" he heard in his mind all fill the paper.

"Is this familiar to anyone?" he asks, almost panting from exertion, yet also energized by the act of creation.  As he ponders the implication of another tattoo in the same pattern as the circuitry, he says in a distant voice, "I hate sathosh."

The page displays a drawing of the monster they are chasing ("beastie") and a second creature nearly identical ("brethren beastie?") angrily twined about each other like a DNA strand.  This is inside an egg-shaped chamber ("silvery").  There are objects flying around.  Beside the egg-room is a pattern like circuitry with "inside?" beside it.

The words "Inwards to the secluded spiral, the right-marked path is gold, remove the rend." appear, underneath a bizarre spelling of some unknown language.  Also "smells like trees" is scrawled somewhere in a spare bit of space.

The older woman looks with concern upon the form on the ledge, and stretches forth her extraordinary senses into the room...

OOC: Empathic senses, plus Scanning...

Paraton looks for a dark corner in the room and starts humming an atonal melody while bandaging wounds and injecting themselves. A raspy cough intersperses the song.

After that, they start looking and pondering the page sketched by Attilisk, trying to make any sense of it. The phrase "hlör u fang axaxaxas mlö" spring to mind, for some reason. "Upwards, beyond the onstreaming, it mooned." What could it mean... Wild concepts are about to coalesce in Paraton's mind for a second, and they gather their thoughts before speaking.

[OOC: Paraton rolled 4 using 1d20.  Understanding Attilisk's notes. 1 level of effort applied. They are skilled with the Numenera, and they apply that training to the interpretation of Attilisk's notes, by comparing them with the devices present.

Just in case: I'm not really dead set on making Paraton a non-binary person (though I'm not opposed to this either), it's just that their gender is undiscernible to anyone in-game, and people haven't asked yet.]

Paraton rolled 5 using 1d6+2.  Recovery roll.
Paraton: M16/16, S10/14, I9/15. 4 speed points and 1 int point recovered, 2 int points spent on effort.

Eleisai scans the room carefully, finding two bipeds on either side of the door, one smaller quadruped about 12 feet off the ground on the wall opposite the door, synth walls, and several inert organic heaps, no more than two hundred pound each, off to the left in darkness.  The crystal cluster registers as stone with a strong power source inside of it.

Paraton ponders the meaning of Attilisk's vision as they find a dim corner to recuperate.  From what you have learned of this group's history, it seems that the creatures are clearly those the group is searching for, and the room seems similar to the one Cube and Eleisai were exploring before you all traveled down the ramp.  The "path of gold" could reference a color that the ramp could become, or perhaps a mark or symbol you haven't seen yet.

Cube quietly absorbs the other sathosh bodies and pauses at the entrance to the darkened room.

Delfino makes a few soothing sounds at the thuman, and it whines piteously, scrabbling slightly as if it can't get down, one leg dangling limply.

Attilisk stands and catches his breath a moment.


Putting his notebook and writing tools back into his pack, he says, "Maybe it will make more sense later.  Right now, let's figure out whats in that room.  I don't want any of those bastards left to sneak up on us later."  He tosses a glow globe to Delfino to light their way.

Attilisk readies his quarterstaff prepares to advance into the room.

After tending to their wounds, Paraton enters the chamber, takes a bottle from their robes, and opens it.
Slowly, eery bubbles start coming out. They glow in the darkness, and between their light and Paraton's own senses, the seeker tries to help the animal down.

I had a pet thuman once. They're great boys.

[OOC exactly how high is that ledge]

After giving the animal a slice of dried meat and some water to ingratiate themselves, Paraton carefully brings the thuman down, then they start searching in the room for cyphers. Cube has already helpfully swallowed the sathosh, so that's a non-starter, but there's still promise. They can feel it.

Paraton rolled 12 using 1d20.  Finding cyphers. Trained in identifying Numenera.

Cube advances right after Attilisk and Delfino.  As the two enter, the two sathosh on either side of the door lash out with their mental attacks!

OOC: DT 3 Intellect defense or 3 Int damage, please.



The light illuminates the crystal, a few bodies on the floor in the corner, some smears of blood, and the two sathosh on either side of the door, and an exit from the room about five feet off the floor, rounded and dark.

OOC: The ledge is 12 feet off the floor.  We'll resolve the rest of your post once we get past the immediate dangers.

Attilisk feels the mental assault as he steps into the room and is able to withstand it, but the effort affects his planning, and his swipe with the quarterstaff doesn't connect.  He snarls and readies himself for his next attack.

Paraton sees their new companions flinch and attack, and quickly positions themselves to shoot arrows at the sathosh that sprung that trap.

Hey! Move if you value your ears

they shout at Attilisk and Delfino. Cube... Cube probably does not need the warning.
The Seeker lets loose, and the arrow flies true.

Paraton rolled 13 using 1d20.  Shooting an arrow at a sathosh inside the room.

Attilisk's swing goes wide of the sathosh, but Paraton's arrow connects squarely with their foe.  Delfino heeds Paraton's warning, but points a finger at the sathosh by Attilisk from his position in the other room, firing through the doorway.  A small whump sounds, and the sathosh by Attilisk rocks back as if hit by an invisible blow.

Eleisai tries to punish the mind of those who are trying to harm her companions, but finds the sathosh's mind a tough nut to crack.

Cube slides in the doorway and makes its way towards Paraton's sathosh with the inevitability of an avalanche.

The thuman yelps in fear as the sathosh by Attilisk lashes out with its mind again, and the one by Paraton jumps to the crystal cluster in the middle of the room, its tentacle-face resting on it, seemingly startling it into a bright series of dazzling flashes accompanied by a sensation of tiny insects crawling on your skin.

OOC: Attilisk, DT 3 Int save or 3 Int damage.  Everyone in the room make a DT 4 Int save or have all attacks made one step more difficult due to the dazzling effect.

Attilisk is battered by the mental attack of the sathosh, but in his blinking to dispel the mental pain, he seems to have shielded himself from the dazzling effects of the crystal.  Trying to heed Paraton's warning, Attilisk rushes to the far end of the room and takes a guarded stance.  Now the sathosh is between him and the rest of his group.  He has no time to pay the thuman any attention at the moment.

Paraton is distraught by the crystal effects, and their efforts to cane the sathosh with a good quarterstaff hit go nowhere. They try to regroup and get away from the crystal.

Let's flank this one, Attilisk they say, putting themselves on the other side of the second sathosh, ready to strike or defend.

Paraton rolled 6 for an Intellect defense against crystal effect.
Paraton rolled 2 to hit the sathosh near the crystal with quarterstaff to the tentacle. 1 level of Effort to hit.
Paraton: M14/16 (1), S10/14 (1), I9/15 (1).

With Attilisk on one side and Paraton on the other, and Cube closing in, Delfino and Elesai have a better view of the two sathosh.  While Paraton's hit misses, Cube moves over the one Attilisk had wounded, crushing it beneath its weight and starting to absorb it.  Eleisai stretched out her hand and attacks the other sathosh's mind, causing it to writhe as she presses her will upon the murderous abhuman.  Delfino points his hand at the one next to the crystal cluster, but whatever he was doing seems to not work, and he winces at the bright flashing, dazzling lights.

The sathosh, eyeless, try to impose its will upon Paraton, crushing down with its mental power.  The one Cube is attacking desperately tries to mentally wounds its captor, but seemingly cannot find Cube's mind to do so!

OOC: Paraton, Intellect defense DT 4 or suffer 3 Int damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:56, Fri 11 Oct 2019.

Attilisk's head is still ringing, and his thrust is misaligned.  Sadly, the abhuman is not struck.  "Dammit!"

Not now! mutters Paraton, makes a strange sign with their left hand as to abjure a menace, and then moves with a weird gracefully for someone so encumbered, to attack the one near the crystal. Their quarterstaff hits true this time. And again. And again. Eventually, the Seeker stops caning the abhuman.

Paraton rolled 15 to make an Intellect defense against the sathosh.
Paraton rolled 20 Attack with quarterstaff. 1 level of Effort to hit, refreshed by the 20 :) The major effect are 4 additional points of damage.
Paraton: M14/16 (1), S10/14 (1), I9/15 (1).
This message was last edited by the player at 14:55, Fri 11 Oct 2019.