The caldera atop Mount Errow is usually filled with boiling lava that occasionally flings geysers of molten rock hundreds of feet into the air. In addition to these occasional burning “bombs,” the heat is oppressive, and visitors suffer 1 point of ambient damage for each hour spent on the lip or climbing around inside the caldera. Mount Errow reaches well over 13,000
feet (4 km) skyward. Even a group led by an accomplished mountaineer with experience picking the best routes will find themselves tested on the final ascent up a 100-foot (30 m) sheer cliff face (a level 5 task).
In addition to the terrain, challenges include creatures that hunt Mount Errow’s slopes, such as a subspecies of
ithsyns able to climb, tetrahydras, and possibly a Vralkan scouting party. Vralkan Scouting Party
The highly fortified vallations keep watch on the surrounding lands. Each fortress lookout monitors the area for a distance roughly equal to 50 miles (80 km), assuming no direct cover. If intruders are noticed, a Vralkan scouting party is dispatched to intercept the interlopers— or covertly track them to see why they’re on Vralkan land.
Errow Vralkan Scouting Party: A Vralkan scouting party is usually made up of one
tracker-mountaineer, two archers, and two skirmishers. The tracker generally has command of the group. A scouting party sent to investigate intruders is under orders to kill or capture them and, if possible, discover why foreigners risked
Typical Vralkan tracker-mountaineer: level 3, attacks as level 4, all tasks related to mountaineering and tracking as level 5; health 12; Armor 3; 5 points of damage; might carry a Vralkan truth needle cypher (level 5) Typical Vralkan archer: level 2, attacks with bow as level 3; health 8; Armor 2; 4 points of damage Typical Vralkan skirmisher: level 2, defends as level 3 due to shield; health 10; Armor 2; 4 points of damage
Ithsyn, page 241 Tetrahydra, page 262
MOLTEN ROCK CONTACT EFFECTS
Molten rock (known as lava when encountered outside a volcano and as magma when encountered underground) is lethal. Victims who fall into it take 6 points of ambient damage each round they maintain direct contact and for a couple of rounds afterward; molten rock is far more viscous than water. That same quality modifies attempts to swim to safety by one step to the swimmer’s detriment.
An artificial synth structure is built into the side of the caldera. From it a central tube hangs down directly into the lava, along with several smaller cables and lines. Demanisix’s journal refers to this structure as the “foyer.”
Calithir the Silverwing
The silverwing that once served as Demanisix’s companion still haunts the caldera of Mount Errow where it lost its mistress decades earlier. Though wild silverwings are incredibly dangerous, Calithir doesn’t automatically attack newcomers investigating the foyer. Instead, it wings down, lands nearby, and attempts to communicate. If given a reason to defend itself, it becomes aggressive and dangerous.
The silverwing wishes to recover the body of Demanisix, which still lies somewhere inside, far down the tube. Calithir has grown too large to fit, but it attempts to enlist the aid of human- sized creatures that visit. In return for assistance, it offers to open the foyer
hatch by using one insectoid leg stinger to tap out the passcode. The silverwing also presents those who agree to help it with a couple of cyphers it has gathered from the area: a Vralkan truth needle and a ray emitter (concentrated cold).
ERROW FOYER
The external entrance to the foyer lies several dozen feet (11 m) below the almost sheer lip of the caldera. A failed difficulty 3 Strength-based task drops climbers into the lava-filled caldera. External Traction: The exterior of the foyer is composed of grey synth. Though it appears smooth from a distance, it’s slightly adhesive and provides excellent traction despite its sloping surface. Standing on the foyer exterior doesn’t risk a slip into the lava beneath, all else being equal.
Entrance Hatch: A large circular hatch provides access into the foyer. Opening it can be accomplished by several different
Vralkan truth needle, page 154
Ray emitter, page 154 Using a concentrated cold ray emitter on lava will cause a surface layer to solidify for several rounds, allowing someone to walk upon it without burning. Silverwing, page 242
Control Surface and Access Shaft: The shaft is transparent, which means that the first hundred feet of descent is lit by swirling lava. After an intermediate descent through solid rock, the shaft opens into a magma chamber far below, and anyone passing down the shaft gains a wonderful view of the massive subterranean cavity.
The shaft must be activated to function properly; otherwise, anything or anyone who steps into it falls several miles to the towers. Activating the control surface (a difficulty 3 Intellect-based task) powers up the access shaft to deliver travelers to one of five substations or Tower 1. The control surface apparently has other functions, but those have been deprecated, are burned out, or are perhaps locked out. The only additional piece of information the control surface yields is that Tower 1 is at the bottom of the shaft, and the foyer is at the top.
If the control surface is successfully triggered, explorers and objects are safely shuttled via crackling lines of brilliant force to the chosen substation, or unsafely shuttled to a point about 30 feet (9 m) above Tower 1.
SUBSTATIONS
Five substations lie along the vertical access shaft. Each one features a space around the shaft similar to the foyer (including a control surface). Each also contains a connecting passage to a larger area beyond it.
For the most part, these areas are filled with dead and defunct mechanisms of unknown purpose that offer nothing particularly notable to explorers, at least at first glance. That said, determined explorers who fully investigate a particular substation can recover shins and perhaps a cypher or two, though doing so could wake previously somnolent automatons.
Gazers: Gazers are spherical metallic automatons, about 1.5 feet (0.5 m) in diameter, that levitate. Various bits of methods, including entering the correct
passcode by tapping or connecting to a numenera port, hacking the machinery (a difficulty 5 Intellect-based task), touching an Errow guide cypher to the hatch, or allowing Calithir the silverwing to open it. Foyer Interior: The hatch opens into a cramped space of dull black synth. Illumination is provided by a few spots of white light that don’t correspond to any particular structure.
A cryptic control surface stands near a dark shaft that descends from the nose of the compartment. Blue, green, and yellow points of light hover and shift a fingernail’s width above the control surface. The shaft by the control surface was visible from outside the foyer; it’s the central pipe descending into the boiling lava. Thankfully, whatever grade of synth the foyer and shaft are composed of seems up to the task of insulating the interior from excessive heat. In fact, it’s slightly cool inside.
MAGMA CHAMBER
The transparent access tube provides an excellent view of the magma chamber. Geysers of molten stone erupt from the surface of a boiling sea of magma in a subterranean vault of immense size. The scarlet light is hazed by pillars of black smoke that erupt here and there from the molten surface.
A slender path of synth towers and hanging spans—sprinkled with gleaming blue sparkles—provides a route across the chamber. The path connects one end that contains only a dark tunnel with the far side, which is dominated by a series of artificial structures. The blocky white and grey shapes tumbled one upon the other might be buildings or something else entirely.
Gazer: level 1, perception as level 5, Speed defense as level 2; health 3; Armor 1; long-range heat beam attack for 2 points of damage; a swarm of three gazers acts as a level 3 creature dealing 4 points of damage (and 1 point on a miss); see The Ninth World
Shaft Nadir: The access shaft is damaged. It doesn’t reach down all the way to the surface of Tower 1; it’s about 30 feet (9 m) shy. An object or explorer relying on crackling lines of brilliant force to travel the shaft is in freefall for that last distance.
A control surface like those found in the foyer and substations is located next to the stump of what was once the shaft’s foot. Coaxing the crackling lines of brilliant force to suck a traveler back up into the shaft terminus 30 feet (9 m) overhead is a difficulty 5 Intellect-based task.
Climate, Blue Sparkles, and Vil: The tower tops are only about 50 feet (15 m) above the surface of the magma sea, but the heat is not immediately lethal. The climate control is provided courtesy of energy-phase organisms scuttling equipment and blinking cyphers festoon
their battered alloy bodies, including an always-scanning beam of red light. If the two gazer swarms (six total gazers) activate and hunt down intruders, the scarlet beam on each gazer intensifies, creating a ray capable of burning through nearly anything. Three cyphers in total can be salvaged from the remains of both gazer swarms.
TOWERS
Three towers of dark synth rise up from the boiling magma and support supple spans of lighter synth between them. The synth material’s uppermost layer is translucent, and tiny blue lights scuttle and swarm beneath or within it, almost like insects, though their true nature isn’t obvious. (They’re actually energy-phase creatures called vil, described below.)
cables. When a decanted speaks, a voice devoid of emotion issues from a buzzing grill mounted on its metallic head. The decanted here aren’t natives of the original installation and don’t know Errow Cascade’s original purpose. The Forge
A chamber extending over the magma sea has seven control surfaces plus a central bubble-shaped translucent crucible. Experimentation with the control surfaces reveals that magma can be slurped up into the crucible by crackling beams of white energy. However, what happens next is the tricky bit (a difficulty 5 Intellect-based task), lest magma spray across the interior of the forge, damaging anyone who comes into contact with it.
Successfully contained magma could be used to create an artifact (another difficulty 5 Intellect-based task) using additional trace materials and templates provided by the forge mechanism. Exactly what artifact is being produced isn’t apparent until after the three-hour crafting process concludes. A failed crafting task still produces an artifact, but one that is dangerously flawed in some way.
The templates provided by the control surfaces include several artifacts described in the Numenera corebook; roll on the Artifacts Table to determine what artifact is produced.
Limitations: Once the forge has produced a couple of artifacts, it runs out of trace elements. The materials requiring replenishment are identified on the control surface using symbols of linked circles and lines that only someone trained in the numenera has a chance of figuring out. The forge won’t operate again without them. Acquiring more trace elements is likely beyond the technical capacity of most explorers; on the other hand, functioning artifacts might contain the needed elements. Perhaps the forge can recycle one or two to extract enough elements to make a completely new artifact.
like blue firefly sparkles within the matrix of the towers and spans. These organisms—the vil—are subterranean and sometimes live symbiotically with other organisms when not infesting mineral deposits.
Tower Ladders: Synth protuberances that could be used as ladders run up the side of each tower.
Tower Spans: The hanging spans are about 6 feet (2 m) wide, have no railings, and tend to sway.
Wandering Shoun
A herd of shoun (and related creatures) lives in a nearby subterranean cavity. Shoun often wander onto the towers and even into the city in search of prey, or perhaps distraction. One or two can usually be found along the synth tower path.