The Hideous Game Grogmeetish 2020 Play Report

 A one-shot play report for Numenera by Monte Cook.  Available from Monte Cook Games.

...Here Be Spoilers...

They say there have been eight worlds before ours. This is the Ninth World. 

Our party is holed up in the undercity of Qi, the vast cultural centre of the Steadfast.  They are a motley bunch, Glaives, Jacks and Nanos, each with specialist skills and wonderous devices - Cyphers - a Numenera object that can trigger a once and gone powerful effect.  Numenera is the term used for all the remnants of the former civilizations of the Ninth World: bits of nanotechnology, the datasphere threaded among still-orbiting satellites, bio-engineered creatures, and myriad strange and wondrous devices.

Crail is intrinsically tied to this party, another is Ravi, who had caught Crail stealing from him and Crail is now paying this debt back.  Crail had thought his skills of stealth and illusion were enough to throw Ravi off his scent but he'd underestimated the doggedness of this powerful warrior.  Joined by Ravi and Crail is Ri, a Nano, expert also in Stealth and mysticism and finds Ravi's bellowing voice, one of the major weaknesses of the party, "softly, softly" Ravi.  Finally, there is Uraz, another jack who fuses metal and flesh, his wealthy background supporting his exploits, he eyes the rest of the party with suspicion, his cyber elements would fetch a pretty price on the black market.

As the group relax with passable drink and food in The Revelry, they eventually stumble out in the early hours, to the rain-drenched streets of downtown Qi.  As they exchange banter and stumble away to a warm bed, or another bar, a muffled cry is heard...

Crail and the others urgently trace down the noise to a deserted alley, further into the gloom is a man, trapped in a niche in the wall with a razor-sharp device wrapped like a spider's web around his body and throat, a spike quivers inches away from his forehead, he is drenched in sweat and blood, not daring to move a muscle, his eyes implore the group, "help me".

After investigating this device and trying their best to calm the trapped figure, whose name is Calvin, the group manage to carefully, oh so carefully, disable the trap and fling it away from Calvin as he collapses to the floor.  The group manage to get an address from him before he passes out and they take him back to his house, to patch him up and consider their options.

As Calvin dozes, he mumbles about people with "...many voices", "cloaked figures...", "...attacked!", "the pain!!"  They determine to keep watch over Calvin and question him more in the morning, but after settling down to sleep, some strange dreams assail the team, awakening after a fitful sleep, it seems they all dreamt the same thing, a distant cloaked figure, and a cacophony of voices, however much they tried to chase the figure, it stayed fixed in the distant.  The group are thoughtful and quiet as they ponder this shared experience.

Calvin is more talkative and informs the group he was captured and tortured in a cellar not too far from the alley, he remembers little but scribbles directions down, before asking for peace.  The only other thing he mentions of note is that the captors spoke of something called "The Hideous Game".

The group stand outside the building Calvin directed them to, Crail tries to examine the lock and see if anything can be heard from behind.  Ravi decides his patience has reached its limit he charges at the door, as Ri makes a series of traceries with his hand and an audible click is heard, Ravi flies through the door into the dark.

The group follow and help Ravi to his feet, with a sly wink from Ri.  They see a room spattered with blood, a chair with ropes cut lies on the floor, a table covered with writing equipment and a strange cube is found down a short set of cold, stone steps.  Ri immediately picks up the cube and starts investigating it, trying to find a way to activate or open it.  Crail sifts through the bloody debris, his face turning green as bits of flesh and sticky, red blood adheres to him.  Uraz and Ravi look through the writing and using the age-old trick of lifting an imprint from the paper through gently rubbing a pen over it, they uncover a series of invites to Liach's Square for Thelian and Youlan.  Uraz looks these up on the datasphere, they see they are both based in Upper Qi, Thelian is an actor and Youlan a seamstress.

The group's investigation is abruptly interrupted by a small girl at the top of the stairs, Crail, Uraz and Ravi give chase, as she turns and runs.  Ri is preoccupied with the cube and after a series of twists, tweaks and prods, a strange and horrifying hologram presents itself to him, his face turns white and his hands shake, he looks around but his fellow investigators are busy, so he slips it into his pocket and rushes to join them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party have made their way up the cellar stairs and are met by the girl and two burly thugs, a somewhat one-sided fight sees the two thugs beaten down and the girl is captured.  As they quiz them, it seems they were looking for an easy mark to get some tech gear, they'd been observing this building ever since the strange hooded, "creepy" people moved in, they moved like "spiders, with their legs on back-to-front".  Eventually, after finishing their questioning, they let the trio go, bruised and more wary.

After consulting, the group head to Upper Qi, Crail and Ri will head to the Durkhal to find out more about The Hideous Game and the horror hologram.  Uraz and Ravi will go to the theatre district and speak with Thelian and Youlan

After a series of bureaucratic, form-filling, interviews Crail and Ravi gain an audience with one of the representatives of the Amber Pope, he listens to them, understanding that they are avid scholars researching myths and legends of Qi.  He says the hologram is of a Slidkin, an abhorrent, alien creature that is famed for elaborate competitions ending in mayhem and bloodshed... but of course, these are just fairy tales.

Ravi and Uraz meet up with Thelian and understand he is due to meet at Liach's square tonight, an odd fellow, hooded delivered the invite to him and he is excited to attend.  Likewise, Youlan tells a similar story and seems positively elated to have been chosen.

As the group meet back up, they swap tales, it seems there is to be a horrendous coming together of Slidkin and victims this very night.  They decide to buy masks and forge invites to make sure they also attend this event, a quick trip downtown allows these items to be picked up and they head back to the square in Upper Qi.

At the appointed time, the square is closed, those without invites are ushered out of the area, as the last person leaves an electric, opaque barrier fires up, encircling the square, generated at each side by large pulsating columns.  Seconds after this happens, a series of four hooded figures, fling back their cowls and are revealed as Slidkin, they immediately set to work decimating the invitees, pulling out eyes, delving deep into chests to expose pulsating, glistening organs. All the while the many chattering voices of their multi mouthed heads are heard.  The rest of the crowd explodes in screams of terror and panic.

As the initial spell of shock is broken, Ravi roars and charges at the nearest Slidkin, throwing his weight behind a massive Warhammer.  Uraz attacks another Slidkin threatening Thelian whilst Ri starts to try and disable one of the force field generators.  Crail invokes an illusionary power, a wind whirls and he gently gusts over to a guzzling Slidkin.  As he reaches the beast he takes out his Reality Spike, plunging it through the Slidkin and into the ground, before powering the device on - the Slidkin lets out a multitude of sounds through its many mouths, as it writhes, pinned to the floor.

The group gradually gains the upper hand and at last, Ri breaks apart the generator and the shields drop, a number of Zhev (Qi mechanical guards) rush into the square, pulling apart the Slidkin in a flurry of mechanical arms and mouths.

The group looks around, they help out, leading the remaining survivors to safety as they consider the nature of a race, that considers this carnage as just a game.