D10: Numenera Rumours – Dessanedi

Numenera Cover
TM and © 2019 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has ten rumours for that setting. The rumours, which are similar to the Hearsay that can be found in the official books, can be used as adventure hooks or as simple misinformation.

  1. Mining operations on the Lambent Fields of Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, uncovered a giant mechanical creature, whose discovery brought matters to a standstill, or at least legal activities. There are rumours of pitched fights happening on the Lambent Fields during the night, though there never appears to be any sign of large-scale conflict in the morning. Some say that this is because it isn’t happening; others that someone, or something, is removing any traces of conflict.
  2. Selascor Castle is a ruin south of White Lake in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, formerly home to the ruler of the area until he was hanged by his subjects after an uprising. There are rumours that those who have been near the 400-year-old ruin in recent months have seen signs of new construction at the castle, suggesting that someone has moved in again and is rebuilding the fortress.
  3. Sine Picalah in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, excavated a giant mechanical creature in the Lambent Fields, there have been continual problems as the city has split into different factions with different ideas as to what should be done from henceforth. There’s a rumour that, although mining operations have effectively come to a standstill, proof has been found that more of the mechanical creatures are buried beneath the fields.
  4. The city of Picalah in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, split into different factions following the discovery of a mechanical creature during mining operations. The four factions that formed have been fighting amongst each other and it’s rumoured this fighting is starting to become physical, not just verbal, with assassination attempts on members of opposing factions.
  5. The dust of the Lambent Fields in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is multicoloured and sines int he dimmest light. It is used by the wealthy to decorate everything from their homes to their bodies. There’s a rumour, though, that sometimes those who have been in direct contact with the dust for too long start to change, as the dust has an effect on their flesh.
  6. The Great Slab is a huge construct rising from the ground of Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes. The Slab is steep-sided and a reddish black oil runs down the sides, making it impossible to climb. There are rumours that some have managed to reach the top of the Great Slab, but anyone claiming to have done so seems to disappear not long afterwards.
  7. The land of Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is covered with broken shards of glass, splintered from the outcroppings that form the region. Some say that the glass is not as inanimate as it sometimes appears to be. That, in parts of the wastes, the glass shards creep across the landscape, looking for creatures to enshroud and feed on.
  8. The town of Yosh-ul in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is not much more than a meeting point for the nomadic tribes of the plains, though it has permanent residents as well as transitory ones. The town has a natural spring that provides water for the inhabitants and some fields of food, but there’s a rumour that the spring’s flow has become increasingly erratic of late, as if it’s on the verge of drying up. Should that happen then Yosh-ul will become uninhabitable and will have to be abandoned.
  9. The Wandering Walk is a pilgrimage route through the Ninth World and parts of it pass through Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes. The wastes are not the safest places to travel through at the best of times, but there are rumours of numerous parties of pilgrims disappearing along the route in recent months. It seems that those most likely to disappear are those new to the Walk, which might be a reasonable explanation for why they disappear, but not why the number has increased.
  10. White Lake in Dessanedi, the Jagged Wastes, is a small town on the edge of a lake where ferrix turtles lay their eggs every spring. The eggs are a delicacy and the inhabitants carefully leave enough to ensure another generation every year. However, the number of eggs being laid by the turtles is reportedly decreasing year on year, meaning the number that can safely harvested each year is also declining. It could be that the turtles are dying out.

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Oleg bellowed as bones cracked. Steel clattered as it fell to the paving stones, and the huge man’s roar was cut off suddenly as the butt end of the staff slammed into his jaw, and spun his head. Eyes rolling, he stayed on his feet a moment longer before dropping to the ground in a heap. For a moment the crowd all around was silent, then whistles erupted, followed by curses. Coins exchanged hands as bets were settled. The young man knelt, placing his fingers on Oleg’s neck, and then in front of his mouth.

“He’ll live,” the man with the staff said as he stood. “But I would get him to a healer, if you want him to be able to use that arm again.

Varian’s mouth was tight with anger, his eyes dark and narrow. Fear erupted in them when the man with the staff crossed the circle toward him. The crowd around them went quiet. The man had won the duel handily enough, his spinning staff more than a match for Oleg’s brute muscle. But he had the look of an outlander, and outlanders didn’t always understand the rules of the duel. If he broke the rules the red cloaks would find him eventually, and there would be a trial, but that was small comfort to Varian, whose protector lay insensate in a heap on the flagstones.

“See here, now,” Varian said, taking an involuntary step back. His voice had risen to a shrill pitch that he tried unsuccessfully to swallow. “You won. I commend you. Now if you’ll excuse me-”

The man put a hand on Varian’s shoulder, and Varian’s voice died. The young man leaned down, and held his gaze. He waited a beat, ensuring he had Varian’s undivided attention. The crowd around them was silent as a mural, except for Oleg’s grunt of pain as he attempted to swim back up into consciousness.

“All I wanted was directions,” the man said. “Where is the House of Black Banners?”

Murmurs rose at that, as excited onlookers began to speculate. The man paid them no mind, his gaze steady on Varian. For his part Varian might have looked less stunned if he had been struck. He gestured vaguely behind himself.

“Two blocks down, and turn toward the harbor,” he said, looking at the unkempt man with the staff. “The black flags… they hang from the balcony above the door.”

“Thank you,” the young man said, enunciating the words to drive them home. He let go of Varian’s shoulder, and smoothed the tunic he’d been gripping. “My uncle has been expecting me.”

“Y-your uncle?” Varian asked as the man brushed past him, walking toward the chapter house of one of the city’s more dangerous companies of freelances.

“Come by upon the morrow, if you wish,” the young man called over his shoulder, his voice as friendly as could be. “If you’re willing to step into the ring yourself, I’m sure he’d be happy to teach you to fight your own battles. I doubt you’ll be as pretty as Oleg is by the time the lessons are done, though!”

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