Primer ciclo de operación de la planta de tratamiento

Realm: Maelstrom, The Red Realm.

Long ago, the Great Spirit of Red fled the realm he created, leaving it to the Great Spirit of Hate, who rather liked the color scheme. Since then, the Red Realm has been one of the most contested pieces of real estate in the Maelstrom (see page 67) Ask any god-watcher what’s going on in the stinking badlands that day, and it’s going to be some variation on a new spirit being in town, trying to claim the burnt-out shell of the Desolation Engine.

One of the ‘lesser’ spirits caught up in the struggle is getting dangerously close to ending the deadlock, which can’t be a good thing for anyone. What’s worse, it has the nightmare-creating Desolation Engine up and running. The only ones who’re cheering this news are unsavory sorts who want what it’s peddling:

nightmares. Not just the kind that slip into a dreamer’s mind and come out trailing secrets all over the floor, but the sort that stand twelve feet tall and have razor wire intertwined with their muscle fibers.

No doubt the characters know someone who would employ nightmares like that. This enemy is being supplied with additional forces thanks to the Desolation Engine. Cutting them off at their source is the best option, so it’s off to the Red Realm.

Doing Time

The only way to reliably get into the Red Realm is through the oubliette portals used by gods of dubious morality to dispose of their special captives. Mortals who can’t be killed for various reasons are thrown into the Red Realm, making it a prison of sorts. It’s a rough place for those incarcerated in it, but it beats being turned into a tree, a pillar of salt, or a pile of smoking ash.

The portal drops the characters in a toxic swamp of oily puddles and a scratchy, thick red moss. It was home to a penitentiary building sometime in the past, back when the gods cared about providing such luxury for prisoners, but only the prison’s columns and half-walls remain. Rusted shackles trap unwary feet under the muck, and hang from blood bark trees like crusted iron nooses.

Everybody who escapes is soon scouted by the mortal gangs who inhabit the realm. Most of them are of the post-apocalyptic warlord variety, sporting fashions from a boggling spread of worlds. The most influential of these call themselves the Gorgons. They tear across the treacherous wastes in their rusted tanks, causing as much mayhem as the native spirits on most days. They’re led by Boss Dio, a hawk-headed son of Horus who blasphemes as well as he fights.

Rusted tanks aren’t the only way to survive the realm. The Free Thought League, which is formed primarily of militant atheists, instead trusts their usefulness to the other gangs. The League has learned to communicate with the realm’s native spirits (which they do from behind the walls of their solid stone fort), and they barter information gleaned from the natives for their safety.

On the other side of the coin, the Longshots work at eradicating all signs of the spiritual taint from the realm. They hate the color red after being marooned here for eternity. Hate it, hate it, hate it. All the remaining spirits of red should be destroyed utterly, as far as they’re concerned.

These gangs are important because they know the land. The characters will have a substantially more unpleasant time tracking down the Desolation Engine if they don’t find themselves some form of aid… for example, someone who has a swamp-runner to get them across the Scarlet Hollows. And don’t forget, the closer the characters get, the more of the Desolation Engine’s creations they have to deal with.

Desolation Drive

The most immediate path to the Desolation Engine runs right through the Hollows. The last great monsterwork from the Great Spirit of Hate is said to reside at the bottom of this flooded valley.

Rubbery tree trunks stretch above the oily swamp water, giving the impression of rowing into a solid shadow. The feeling of dread and insignificance is so strong here that Spirit tests must be made every four hours. Failure causes two levels of Fatigue from the mental duress. If this causes a character to become Incapacitated he instead becomes supernaturally confrontational. No issue is too small to fight about, and friendship is but a momentary shield.

The revolutionary force driving the realm is the Desolation Engine itself! It has been soaking up tempestuous emotions since the day it pumped out its first warty bog goblin, and now it’s getting the hang of things. Production and consumption are all it knows – specifically the bloody kind.

The Engine is a solid, angular factory complex surrounded by blocks of uninhabited buildings.

Nightmares dash across their eaves and hunt between the shadows, but they never go in. Those buildings are reserved for something. Or somethings.

The active parts of the factory are all conveyor belts and crushing presses. Through force and opposition, the bad dreams of the realm are minted, drawing upon such ingredients as insanity ore and sulfurous bile. Anyone who tries to shut down the Engine is likely to receive a hopper of corrosive shadows for his trouble, or at least a spinning web of hooked chains.

After razing the factory and ending the Desolation Engine’s existence, getting home is the ready matter of waiting until the Engine’s next customer arrives.

Instead of receiving a new crop of made-to-order monsters, they’ll receive the characters. Payback has its moments.

Nightmare Ogre

Does exactly what you imagine it’d do after midnight.

Nightmarish spirits of ogres roam the Red Realm in search of easy victims to crush into a red paste.

Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d4, Spirit d10, Strength d12+8, Vigor d12

Skills: Climbing d12, Fighting d12, Intimidation d12, Notice d8, Stealth d6

Pace 6 Parry 8 Toughness 14 Pulse 20 Edges: No Mercy

Special Abilities

• Size +6: Attacks against a nightmare ogre get +2 to hit. It takes up a 2x2 inch space.

• Claws/spikes/other torturous implement for inflicting pain: (Damage: Str+d8). If the damage exceeds the target’s Toughness they must make a Spirit check or take a level of Fatigue.

• Hardy

• Fearless

• Fear -4: The sight of these creatures reaches deep into the soul of even the stoutest hero.

• Spirit: Cannot manifest.

Nightmare Breath-Stealer

A simple pile of rags rests in the corner, or perhaps a scum of unidentifiable flotsam floats across the surface of a still pool. Ignore it at your own peril;

there are breath-stealers about. They’re made of the discarded threads from the Loom of Fate, or perhaps the cloaks of murderers mixed with the final breaths of a miser. No matter what the story, they are one of the unnatural predators designed by the Desolation Engine. Their only purpose is to cause conflict and suffering, which they do without complaint.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d12

Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d6, Shooting d12, Swimming d8

Pace 6 Parry 5 Toughness 8 Pulse 10 Edges: Marksman

Special Abilities

• Breath Stealer: (Ranges: 3/6/12) A large blob of mucus attached to a long tongue; ick! These vile creatures use their appendage to literally steal the breath from their unfortunate victims. The nightmare breath-stealer must make a head shot for this to take effect. On a success there is no damage but the mucus has encased the victim’s head and he must now make a Vigor check each Round or suffer a level of Fatigue. Once Incapacitated, the target dies in a number of Rounds equal to half his Vigor unless someone gets the mucus off.

• Fearless

• Spirit: Cannot manifest.

Spirit Of Conflict

Upon first glance, spirits of conflict are often mistaken for macabre decorations. Each one resembles a fleshy sack the size of a human head, marred by a scowling face. A sharp, hooked nose disguises a lipless opening lined with thousands of softly waving cilia.

As the spirit’s Breeds Conflict power takes effect, the spirit balloons larger and tighter. If the feeding is good, its scowl will turn into a cheerful O-shape and cheerful gurgle will trickle through the air.

Attributes: Agility d12, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d10, Vigor d8

Skills: Fighting d12, Notice d6, Stealth d12, Throwing d12

Pace 6 Parry 8 Toughness 6 Pulse 10 Special Abilities

• Breeds Conflict: Anyone using Pulse within 12 inches of a spirit of conflict must make a Spirit check with a penalty equal to half the amount of Pulse used, rounding up. Failure gives the character the Hindrance Mean for the next hour.

If he already has Mean he gains Greedy (minor).

If he already has Greedy (minor) he gains Greedy (major).

• Spirit: May physically manifest for 1 hour in the presence of a conflict situation at the cost of 3 Pulse. Each additional hour costs a further 1 Pulse.

Prison Ganger

A hodgepodge of survivors, Chosen Ones, and those unlucky enough to anger the gods. After a couple of years in the Red Realm, they all start to blur together.

Unique goods get traded for essentials or buried beneath churning muck, and the true heroes fall battling the nightmare creatures.

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d10, Strength d10, Vigor d10

Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d12, Intimidation d8, Notice d10, Repair d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d8, Survival d8, Swimming d8, Throwing d8

Pace 8 Parry 9 Toughness 8(1) Pulse 15 Edges: Fleet Footed, Dodge, Block

Gear: Patchwork Armor (+1 Armor, all locations), Visceral Implement (Damage: Str+d8), Backup Visceral Implement (Damage: Str+d6), Sack (with a whole life inside).

Boss Dio

After crashing Anubis’ millennial party with his favorite band of rowdies, not even his father’s influence could save Dio. The son of Horus was banished to the Red Realm, where he’s been having the time of his life. Never before has he been able to engage in the carnage that was his birthright, playing all the war games he wants with the cast-offs from countless realms. Dio’s a bully and a megalomaniac, playing up his god’s blood far more than it actually affects him. If the characters want to go anywhere without bowing and scraping to The Man, they’ll have to deal with him at some point.

Dio will get bored of the Red Realm some day, at which point his true situation will dawn upon him.

At that point, the realm’s power structure is due for a definite upheaval.

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d8, Spirit d10, Strength d10, Vigor d10

Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d12, Intimidation d8, Notice d10, Repair d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d10, Survival d8, Swimming d8, Throwing d8

Pace 8 Parry 10 Toughness 9(2) Pulse 25

Edges: Fleet Footed, Improved Dodge, Improved Block, Hard To Kill, Surge, Patron God: War

Gear: Improved Patchwork Armor (+2 Armor, all locations), Especially Visceral Implement (Damage:

Str+d10), Backup Visceral Implement (Damage:

Str+d6)

Special Abilities

• Heroic Entity: This ability grants Boss Dio all the perks enjoyed by Heroic rank characters, i.e. +1 on Soak rolls and checks to recover from being Shaken, +1 Karma for his own use, enhanced recovery rates, and so on.

The Desolation Engine Core

The factory from your nightmares, where you’re always running but never able to get away. It ends not in a bang or a whimper, but leisurely series of crunches followed by a drawn-out slurp. The very core of the engine is a sentient machine of pure malice, delighting in the hopelessness it generates.

Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d4, Spirit d12, Strength d12+8, Vigor d12+2

Skills: Climbing d12, Fighting d12, Intimidation d12, Notice d8, Stealth d6

Pace 6 Parry 8 Toughness 20(5) Pulse 35 Edges: No Mercy

Special Abilities

• Size +6: Attacks against the Desolation Engine Core get +2 to hit and it takes up a 2x2 inch space.

• Blades/Hammers/Chains/etc: (Damage: Str+d10, AP 2)

• Fearless

• Fear

• Hardy

• Armored: +5 Armor, all locations.

• Demigod Entity: This ability grants the Desolation Engine Core all the perks enjoyed by Demigod rank characters, i.e. +2 on Soak rolls and checks to recover from being Shaken, +2 Karma for its own use, enhanced recovery rates, and so on.

• Desolation Engine: All damage dealt to the Desolation Engine is also dealt to whoever inflicted it. This doesn’t have to Wound the Desolation Engine for the effect to occur.

• Spirit Construct: Cannot manifest, but never leaves the Red Realm so never has to. Follows the normal rules for constructs.

Scarlet Sharks

Something swims in the oily waters of the Scarlet Hollows. Go ahead and use the great white shark from Savage Worlds for these guys.

Mechanoverminous Parasite

Each of these metallic beetles the size of an iron filing was crafted to polish a specific aspect of the Desolation Engine. As components fell into disuse or were stolen by greedy spirits, many of the parasites found themselves without purpose. Gathering in formless swarms, they now travel across the Red Realm in search of objects to buff, polish, and maintain.

The maintenance protocols of the mechanoverminous parasites are infused with such dark energy that any object “upgraded” by it that isn’t part of the Desolation Engine will instead begin to warp and decay.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d10, Strength d8, Vigor d10

Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d8, Notice d8 Pace 6 Parry 8 Toughness 7 Pulse 10 Special Abilities

• Mechanofail: Anyone Shaken or worse by Mechanoverminous parasites gains the All Thumbs Hindrance for the next 12 hours.

• Deconstruct: Anyone caught under the swarm template as it moves suffers Damage: Str+d8, ignoring armor. However any character may choose to lose a sizable piece of equipment such as a weapon or their armor to get a free Soak roll against the damage.

• Spirit Swarm: Cannot manifest, but they never leave the Red Realm so never have to. Follow the normal rules for swarms. Use a Medium Burst Template.