[01: The Lotus Eater Machine]
Intro
In an instant, everything changes. The clocks all chime, and then abruptly stop, freezing in place. The lights begin to flicker, and all the people around the PCs fall unconscious. Maybe the PCs also sleep, or maybe they stay awake. Either way, the scenery spins around them, as buildings grow or melt, before finally settling into a final form. Welcome to the Tuning, a feature that will be coming up frequently in each level. This time around, the Tuning happens too fast to interact with, and stops as quickly as it begins.
The PCs are left with some rather appealing scenery to make up for it, though. The sort that says they might just be worrying over things too much. Isn't this a good enough life for them, a nice and contented one? If they don't think too hard and just follow the directions, they could be quite peaceful.
The Lotus Eater is a place the looks like someone has mashed an amusement park and a city entertainment district all into one. There are multiple temptations here, from the mundane side of things such as fun attractions, good food, etc, to more insidious things if one wishes to look for them. (Red light districts hidden beneath the roller coasters, etc, etc.)
Features
Mirrors
No matter where the characters go in the Lotus Machine, or what they do, they always find that there's some sort of mirror close by. A small disk hung from a lamppost so one can see oncoming traffic (there is none) to an odd bit of vanity strung up somewhere, or some sort of carnival attraction. But when they look in them, the PCs might notice that the reflections in them seem to be a bit…Off. And once the characters start noticing one, they begin noticing more. The further they go, more and more start to pop up, until they're in a near maze of mirrors.
If the PCs chose to break a mirror, or stare into one for too long, something takes notice, and the Tuning starts again. This time, though (and for all Tunings that follow) the PCs can do something about it instead of falling asleep or just standing still. Which is good, since the Tunings are when the monsters begin to come out, to eliminate the people who don't sleep.
All You Can Eat
The food here is very good, and there's a lot of it; either freely offered, or very inexpensive. It's also nutritious, and would be perfect except for one tiny drawback; the hallucinations. Some of the food has been laced with something that is designed to push the PCs deeper into a happy, rose tinted and sedated place. That said, whatever designed this feature hasn't fully mastered it, and can't control just what someone might see. The PCs might be sent into a blissful stupor as intended, or they might receive flashes of things better left unseen; old, half remembered visions from a different life, or maybe the dark underbelly of what really runs the city.
Mirror Shards
When the tuning begins, those shards left from the shattered mirrors take on a life of their own, and pick up some malicious intent to boot. The mirror shards are razor sharp, and whatever animates them can make the shards either hover in place, or go flying towards someone. The plus side is that, despite being fast and numerous, they're also fragile. It's easy to break them into pieces that are too small to lift from the ground, or grind them to dust.
Strangers
Strangers are pale, bald men (or women) who are capable of showing up just about anywhere in the city. They also are not happy that the PCs fail to sleep when the Tuning begins, and are questioning their surroundings. So if necessary, the Strangers have no problems with killing or subduing the PCs. Cutting open a Stranger's head reveals (along with a spray of weird black blood) that in place of the brain there is a long, wormy and fanged alien that is using the body as a puppet.
Notable abilities include telekinetic powers, reality warping, levitation, and a skill with vicious looking knives. To off set this, water is toxic to a Stranger, and they cannot stand sunlight. If one is killed close to others and in a painful manner, it also causes the others to lock up. And despite the fact that Strangers are aliens inhabiting dead bodies, they still suffer the same fate as anything else when decapitated or squished.
Clue Fodder
-Maybe the characters will not just get a sense of something off when they look in the mirror, but catch a glimpse or hint of who they used to be.
-Some of the attractions might be offering some curious, oddly familiar knick-knacks for prizes if the characters can win. Of course, the game being played might not be all it appears to be at first glance.
In an instant, everything changes. The clocks all chime, and then abruptly stop, freezing in place. The lights begin to flicker, and all the people around the PCs fall unconscious. Maybe the PCs also sleep, or maybe they stay awake. Either way, the scenery spins around them, as buildings grow or melt, before finally settling into a final form. Welcome to the Tuning, a feature that will be coming up frequently in each level. This time around, the Tuning happens too fast to interact with, and stops as quickly as it begins.
The PCs are left with some rather appealing scenery to make up for it, though. The sort that says they might just be worrying over things too much. Isn't this a good enough life for them, a nice and contented one? If they don't think too hard and just follow the directions, they could be quite peaceful.
The Lotus Eater is a place the looks like someone has mashed an amusement park and a city entertainment district all into one. There are multiple temptations here, from the mundane side of things such as fun attractions, good food, etc, to more insidious things if one wishes to look for them. (Red light districts hidden beneath the roller coasters, etc, etc.)
Features
Mirrors
No matter where the characters go in the Lotus Machine, or what they do, they always find that there's some sort of mirror close by. A small disk hung from a lamppost so one can see oncoming traffic (there is none) to an odd bit of vanity strung up somewhere, or some sort of carnival attraction. But when they look in them, the PCs might notice that the reflections in them seem to be a bit…Off. And once the characters start noticing one, they begin noticing more. The further they go, more and more start to pop up, until they're in a near maze of mirrors.
If the PCs chose to break a mirror, or stare into one for too long, something takes notice, and the Tuning starts again. This time, though (and for all Tunings that follow) the PCs can do something about it instead of falling asleep or just standing still. Which is good, since the Tunings are when the monsters begin to come out, to eliminate the people who don't sleep.
All You Can Eat
The food here is very good, and there's a lot of it; either freely offered, or very inexpensive. It's also nutritious, and would be perfect except for one tiny drawback; the hallucinations. Some of the food has been laced with something that is designed to push the PCs deeper into a happy, rose tinted and sedated place. That said, whatever designed this feature hasn't fully mastered it, and can't control just what someone might see. The PCs might be sent into a blissful stupor as intended, or they might receive flashes of things better left unseen; old, half remembered visions from a different life, or maybe the dark underbelly of what really runs the city.
Mirror Shards
When the tuning begins, those shards left from the shattered mirrors take on a life of their own, and pick up some malicious intent to boot. The mirror shards are razor sharp, and whatever animates them can make the shards either hover in place, or go flying towards someone. The plus side is that, despite being fast and numerous, they're also fragile. It's easy to break them into pieces that are too small to lift from the ground, or grind them to dust.
Strangers
Strangers are pale, bald men (or women) who are capable of showing up just about anywhere in the city. They also are not happy that the PCs fail to sleep when the Tuning begins, and are questioning their surroundings. So if necessary, the Strangers have no problems with killing or subduing the PCs. Cutting open a Stranger's head reveals (along with a spray of weird black blood) that in place of the brain there is a long, wormy and fanged alien that is using the body as a puppet.
Notable abilities include telekinetic powers, reality warping, levitation, and a skill with vicious looking knives. To off set this, water is toxic to a Stranger, and they cannot stand sunlight. If one is killed close to others and in a painful manner, it also causes the others to lock up. And despite the fact that Strangers are aliens inhabiting dead bodies, they still suffer the same fate as anything else when decapitated or squished.
Clue Fodder
-Maybe the characters will not just get a sense of something off when they look in the mirror, but catch a glimpse or hint of who they used to be.
-Some of the attractions might be offering some curious, oddly familiar knick-knacks for prizes if the characters can win. Of course, the game being played might not be all it appears to be at first glance.