Friday, April 5, 2013

The Thing That Watches (Petty God from Bujilli)

"There was a very large object in the center of this room. It was set upon a dais of corroded metal and a shimmering field of criss-crossing slow-motion lightning bolts arced all around the bloated figure of some larval-like mass of glutinous folds and many, many limbs surmounted by a greenish orb. It was extremely silent, but then such things usually were, when they had a pocket of absolute vacuum surrounding them...He had the disconcerting impression that the large green orb was some kind of ocular organ and that it was looking right at him..."

Bujilli, Episode 9


The Thing That Watches
A Petty God from Bujilli: Episodes 9 and 10

Name: Thing That Watches
Symbol: Iridescent Pearl
Alignment: Unknown
Movement: n/a
Armor Class: -5
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 122/89* (20 HD)
Attacks: n/a
Damage: n/a
Save: M20
Morale: n/a
Hoard Class: Random
XP: n/a

Bloated and inscrutable, it squats sullenly behind intense sorcerous wards, watching. Always watching. It has been a witness to many things, but never once has it spoken or shared any of what it has learned. It is a selfish, minor godling, this Thing That Watches. Whatever it sees, it keeps to itself. It hordes knowledge. Keeps secrets it never shares. Knows much that others can only ever guess.

Anyone attempting to use Telepathy, ESP, or other such forms of mental communication with this entity must Save or be afflicted with a Feeblemind spell for 1d4 hours. Attempting to use Contact Other Plane or Commune to reach this entity will result in the caster losing the ability to cast that spell for 1d4 weeks, no Save. The Thing That Watches does not speak, it lacks the ability and has no inclination to communicate if it even could. It watches. Apparently, that is enough.

According to the Xenosage Balgramire, there are only 346 of these beings left in existence. But of course everyone knows that the old fool was only half-right about this, as with most everything else. There are in fact 346 instances of this collective organism scattered across congruent space-time. There could be more of the thing's serial-bodies spread out into the past or future, but no one has ever bothered to look into the matter.

For some unexplained reason, the Thing that Watches is most often encountered in close proximity to various Transition Mechanisms, such as Synchronocitors and the like. They also tend to be reported by nearly every person who bonds with one of the Gems of Muktra.

It is alleged in certain ancient texts that it is possible to open a channel of communication with this deity once one has possession of an operational Synchronocitor, but the details are a bit vague, not the least of which would be why anyone would bother and/or just what good it would be to anyone with the means to attempt such a thing. Other sources indicate that the Thing will only ever communicate with one who bears the Gem of Muktra, but so far this has not been verified.

There is a great deal no one knows about these things.

*The first value is for the force-field surrounding the Thing That Watches, the second value is for the serial-body. Destroying one or more of this Pettty God's serial-bodies will only mildly inconvenience it, and since it does not attack, there's no XP to gain from harming it.



8 comments:

  1. Good to see something from Bujilli ready to make a game appearance. Bujilli's adventure's are a great example of how a lot of weirdness can be added to a campaign.

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    1. Hi Trey, There's more coming. Sorry I missed Bujilli yesterday, but it couldn't be helped. It was a good day though. Now I'm working on some other weird stuff...

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  2. I really like seeing this one up too. Could be wrong, but I get the sense that these beings were PUT THERE for a reason. It would be interesting to know more about why and whether this was against their will. Sure seems that way.

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    1. That's exactly the response/reaction I was aiming for--the object is to get people to want to know more, to go exploring these mysteries with their characters. Maybe we don't know right now, but we could find out. That's the promise of the game, that's the sort of thing I like to encourage. Who would put these things there? Why? One way to find out is to play the game...

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  3. Yes, uber-weird and a great addition to PETTY GODS!

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    1. Glad it made the cut-off. I'm working on a black-and-white version for the book.

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  4. Good memories. There was plenty going on down there, and the sense of much more beyond, not least thanks to this creation.

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    1. We have discussed plans for picking up the narrative bits and pieces of a few other characters, so there may be a sort of 'Return to Zormur's Palace' in the near future...

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