Welcome to Astonishing Adventures – Episode 2!
If you haven’t already, make sure you get caught up with Episode 0 and Episode 1.
This solo adventure demonstration is played with the Chaos Cypher System Game Master Emulator. If you are interested in going on your own adventures, you will need to buy the Cypher System Core Book which can find links to below:
Since this is a new scene in the story, we are going to have to roll for the Adventure Status. Nothing is really going on yet, so we will keep the status at Solid (3). That means that if I roll a 3 or higher, it will stay Unmodified. If I roll under a 3, then were going to add a Developer.
RMR: 9
That means the status remains Unmodified.
Scene 2: A Message from the Past
Helix stepped off the bus, watching him pull off as a black plume of smoke ejected from its tailpipe. The side of town he was on was located on the outskirts in a small industrial park. Only a few of the buildings were occupied.
Helix walk two blocks to the two-story office building on the corner. Jasmine, the receptionist, gave him a wave and he nodded. He entered the elevator at the back of the room and press the number two button. The doors whisked shut before making a slow descent. When the doors opened again, the elevator was flooded with bright light from the underground facility known as the Safeguard.
He took an immediate right, walking down the hallway hundred feet before entering his office. Draping his brown jacket over his chair, he sat down at his computer. What caught his eye was the blinking icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. There was an instant message waiting.
COME TO MY OFFICE AS SOON AS YOU GET IN. HILLARIA.
Helix sighed. You plan on having an uneventful day since there were no projects he was scheduled to work on. Any time Hillaria called you to her office, it meant work.
“May as well get this over with.”
Making his way through the labyrinthine network of hallways, he slid through the half closed door once he arrived.
“Good morning, Helix.”
“Mrs. Edwards,” he said, taking a seat in front of her desk.
“Guess what happened to me today?”
Helix pause a long moment before answering.
“Did you actually want me to answer that question?”
Hillary a smirked. “As smart as you are, Brown, sometimes you seem like a lost puppy.”
Opening her top drawer, she slid a large manila envelope over to him.
“I found this on my doorstep this morning.”
Helix slid it over to himself, scrutinizing it.
I want to use my Perception to see if there is anything specific to spot about the envelope or out of the ordinary. I also want to combine that with my finding and noticing details skill.
TDA: Level 2 which means this attempt is automatic. No roll needed.
I could’ve asked the GM if there was anything like that on the envelope, but as I said earlier, I only will ask the GM a question if it’s one that only the GM can answer and only if it is a Yes or No question that can’t be resolved with a Task Difficulty roll. This is just to keep things consistent throughout the adventure.
Next, we have to roll to see if there is a Roll Modifier.
RMR: 1. This means there is a Developer. Now it’s time to roll on the Developer Table. I pop another one. The Developer is And… That means the outcome is continued with an and.
Helix looked at the face of the envelope it was obvious — there was no postmark, and « (that is the Developer) Hillaria’s name was typed directly on to the envelope without a return address.
“Whoever gave you this wanted to make sure it couldn’t be traced back to them.”
“Exactly. But it gets better. Open it.”
Helix opened the envelope flap, tilting it to let what was inside slide onto the desk. What lay before them was an old document wrapped in a protective plastic sleeve.
GMQ: Is there any writing on the document?
It’s a document so the chances of there being writing on it is Very Likely which we determine from the Gamemaster Table. That means I need to roll a 3 or higher (I should be able to knock this out of the park).
GMR: 14. That means the answer is Yes.
RMR: 11. The scene remains Unmodified.
If that’s the case, I want to see if I recognize the writing using Call Details to Mind and Archaeology.
Just to make things interesting, we’re turning this up a notch.
TDA: Level 5. If we look at the Task Difficulty Table, will see that the Target Number is 15. But since I have two abilities that will help in identifying the document, which lowers it two levels to Level 3. That means that my final target number will be 9.
TDR: 20 (awesome sauce!).
RMR: 11. The scene remains Unmodified.
“I’ve seen this writing before. It’s Malay, the common language of Malaysia. The paper looks like it’s around 17th/18th century. I won’t know for sure until I get it in the lab. The writing is beautiful. Whoever wrote this took their time. It was important to them.”
Helix looked up to a playful smile.
“I don’t know how you do that. How you keep all of that information on recall. You have never made me regret that I recruited you, Brown.”
Helix gave a modest nod.
“I suppose you want me to look further into this.”
Helix slid the document back into the envelope.
“You are aware there is a bigger concern. How did they know you were the person to give it to? No one is supposed to know about the Safeguard or what we do here.”
“My thoughts exactly, which is why I want no stone left unturned until we find out who left it and why.”
Helix nodded, grabbing the envelope, heading toward the door.
“Brown.”
He stopped, turning to look at her.
“No stone.”