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Nibovian guide

Nibovian Guides are inscrutable entities that kidnap human beings and send them to Reeval.

Background[ | ]

Like the other Nibovians, guides are ultraterrestrials who have slipped through time and space to interact with humans. Nibovian guides understand even more than other varieties about human nature, which allows them to emulate what humans love and want most in order to exploit that trust to their own ends.

Guides take the form of a seasoned human explorer claiming to be knowledgeable in the ways of a philosophy, a particular skill, or in finding a hard-to-reach location. That wisdom is more than a mere claim, and a guide can actually help a regular human explore higher truths, begin training in a new skill, or discover the route to a distant site, making themselves indispensable in the process. Once trust is achieved, a guide chooses a receptive victim to cocoon. The cocoon is larger in the inside compared to the exterior. The cocooned victim slides down the transdimensional chute through a hole in space that leads to the dimension of Reeval.[1]

Abilities and Traits[ | ]

Motive:[ | ]

Deception, collecting humans

Environment:[ | ]

Anywhere

Health:[ | ]

15

Damage Inflicted:[ | ]

5 points

Armor:[ | ]

1

Movement:[ | ]

Short

Modifications:[ | ]

Tasks related to stealth, deception, and one area of expertise as level 6.

Combat:[ | ]

A Nibovian guide's motivations tend to be complex; it first seeks to gain the trust of one or more humans over a period of time, then tries to ensnare the victims inside transdimensional cocoons that then transfer them to Reeval.

The guide releases subtle chemicals into the air that create a drug-like dependency i humans within the immediate vicinity. For each hour that this exchange occurs, the PC feels motivated and positive about whatever the guide is helping with, gaining an asset to any directly related task while the guide is present.

If a PC doesn't uncover what's going on after five days (or sooner if the guide tries to force the process, though this allows the PC to make a Might defense roll), the PC in white filaments from spinnerets within its mouth. Once cocooned, a victim has only about 10 hours before its transported to Reeval, there to face some unknowable fate (at least, unknowable to those left behind).

If forced to fight, Nibovian guides will use weapons and equipment that regular humans use, possibly even including a cypher or two.

Interaction:[ | ]

A Nibovian guide seems to be a perfectly likeable and trustworthy friend.

Use:[ | ]

The PCs find themselves lost, but a guide turns up and offers them a route forward.

Loot:[ | ]

Because their working are technically artificial, Nibovian guides can be salvaged to provide one or two cyphers.[2]

Miscellaneous[ | ]

A Nibovian guide might help someone achieve new insights regarding a philosophical or spiritual conundrum, only to cocoon them and deliver them to Reeval a few days later.[3]

References[ | ]

  1. Cordell, Bruce. “Creatures.” Into the Outside, Monte Cook Games, LLP, 2018, pp. 149. Numenera. ISBN 978-1-939979-47-6
  2. Cordell, Bruce. “Creatures.” Into the Outside, Monte Cook Games, LLP, 2018, pp. 149. Numenera. ISBN 978-1-939979-47-6
  3. Cordell, Bruce. “Creatures.” Into the Outside, Monte Cook Games, LLP, 2018, pp. 149. Numenera. ISBN 978-1-939979-47-6
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