THE SCREAMING STATUES
On their route, the PCs hear distant screams to the southeast. Following these screams takes them off their designated path, so many characters may choose to ignore the screams and keep going.
Those who investigate ascend a rise and then another. At the top of this craggy hill, which is covered in black and purple fl owers, the PCs see a large, calm lake about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) long. Rising up out of the lake are huge statues of metal, synth, and glass. These six monstrosities stand 80 feet (24 m) or more above the calm surface of the lake. The statues appear vaguely human, but the figures are contorted impossibly (heads and necks are turned around the wrong way, and arms are bent in impossible angles). And the statues are screaming.
The more time the PCs spend looking at the statues, the more they get the sense that the statues were created by someone or something that only vaguely understood what a human looked like. It’s as if the sculptors had the right pieces but had no idea how they fi t together.
The Shore: If the PCs go down to the lake to investigate further, the descent is a bit treacherous (diffi culty 2 climb). No animals live anywhere around the lake. Not even insects buzz around the water’s edge. The shore is thick with an oily, blue-black slime. This slime is poisonous and caustic to the touch (infl icting 1 point of damage per round). The screaming of the statues does not get as loud as one would expect at the shore, considering that they could be heard from far off. Still, it is loud, grating, and continuous. Those on the lake’s edge can tell that the screams come from different statues at different times. First one statue screams, then another. Then two others scream, and then another. And so on.
From the shore, the PCs can tell that the six statues are individually distinct but generally the same. What appear to be metal rods and massive hoses connect into the fl esh of twisted
bodies at various spots from somewhere beneath the surface of the water. The statue nearest the shore is about 300 feet (91 m) away. Thanks to the slime, it’s diffi cult to tell how
deep the water is just by looking at it. Direct investigation reveals that the lake is very deep.
The shoreline drops off 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 m) in most places, and the middle of the lake is 50 feet (15 m) deep or more.
The Shack: An old shack of stone and wood stands on the north side of the lake, where a small brook feeds into the larger body of water. The structure is long abandoned, and
the roof is ready to collapse. There are only a few remaining bits of evidence to suggest that perhaps one person lived here, but probably not for thirty years. Particularly observant
characters might note that there are no signs of anything you’d expect to fi nd in a shack by a lake—no fi shing gear, for example.
Next to the shack is an intact wooden rowboat with a pair of oars. It can hold four people.
The Statues Up Close: If the PCs use the rowboat (or some other means) to reach the statues, they notice that the fi gures are coated in the same blue-black slime found at the
shore. The water is murky, with no signs of fi sh living in it. Close proximity to the statues (which is to say, close enough to touch them, even if one does not actually touch them) causes strange effects in humans. Everyone should make Might defense rolls (diffi culty 4). Those who fail immediately feel strange and perhaps a little ill. However, no real effects take place for 1d6 days. After that time, roll on the Harmful Mutations table in the Numenera corebook.Have the player make another Might defense roll (diffi culty 4). If successful, also roll on the Benefi cial Mutations table. Although GMs rarely roll dice in Numenera, it’s important that you roll on the tables so the players won’t know how the statues have affected them.
The mutations begin to express themselves slowly in the PCs. For story reasons, you should introduce these effects and changes very gradually. For example, a character who receives the “useless eye” mutation should develop blurry vision in one eye and slowly lose the use of it. A character who gains improved musculature (+5 to Might Pool) would slowly feel stronger, although the changes might initially be painful and disorienting. Add the new points to the Might Pool slowly—perhaps 1 point every day or every other day.
The Bottom of the Lake: If the PCs have the ability to determine such things, they fi nd that the statues almost certainly didn’t stand in a lake originally. In fact, the fi gures surround a completely submerged structure that is now fl ooded. If the PCs have the ability to explore this structure, which involves diving down 50 feet (15 m) and breathing underwater for
extended periods, the GM should elaborate on a very strange (ultraterrestrial) laboratory that involved biological study and manipulation of humans and other creatures in the distant past. Nothing is alive in the lab or the lake. Anyone breathing or ingesting the water suffers 1 point of damage and an additional point of damage every 10 minutes of exposure.
