Early Access
Greys are enigmatic creatures born of alien stars (or dimensions) who have learned to move across the vast distances that bridge neighboring star systems. The creatures descend through the atmosphere under the cover of night to abduct specimens for study and return the victims later after a thorough examination. Returned abductees are usually befuddled and confused, and they retain little memory of what happened to them. Victims of the greys’ examination frequently sport strange marks on their flesh, oddly shaped wounds, gaps where teeth used to be, and strange or unknown metal lodged somewhere under the skin.
A grey stands 3 feet (1 m) tall. It has a narrow body with skinny limbs and a large, bulbous head. Two large black eyes, almond shaped, dominate a face that has only a suggestion of a nose and a narrow mouth. Greys wear skintight uniforms, carry numerous instruments to study their environments, and keep a weapon or two for protection.
Motive: Knowledge
Environment: Greys land their spacecraft in remote areas, where they have minimal risk of discovery.
Health: 12
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound
Armor: 1
Movement: Short
Modifications: Knowledge as level 6; dodge as level 5 due to size and quickness
Combat: A grey carries a powerful long-range ray emitter that can burn holes through solid steel.
Against dangerous opponents, a grey can use an action to activate a personal shield that encapsulates it in a bubble of force, increasing their Armor by +3 but preventing them from firing the ray emitter.
Greys are scientists, but cautious ones. Leaving a trail of corpses as evidence of their existence isn’t their preferred mode of operation. For this reason, one grey in every group has a memory eraser. When this grey activates the device, every creature (other than greys) within short range must succeed on an Intellect defense roll or become stunned for one minute, taking no action (taking damage ends the stun immediately). If the effect isn’t interrupted early, the creature has no recollection of encountering greys.
Interaction: Greys are curious about the places they visit but reluctant to move or act in the open. Secretive and mysterious, they prefer to observe creatures from afar and, on occasion, pick them up for closer inspection. Someone who offers a grey true knowledge might be treated as an equal rather than a lab animal.
Use: The PCs are called to investigate a series of disappearances of animals and people. One by one, the abductees return, usually in odd places, and always bearing physical markings that suggest they were subjected to invasive procedures. To protect others from a similar fate, the PCs must catch the abductors in the act.
Loot: A grey has one or two manifest cyphers and might have a memory eraser artifact.
Memory eraser (artifact): level 4; short-area effect stuns for one minute on a successful Intellect attack; damage ends the stun early; if the stun doesn’t end early, the target loses their recent memory of encountering the user; depletion 1–2 in 1d10
GM Intrusion: The grey’s ray emitter experiences a terrible mishap and explodes, killing the grey, completely destroying its body, and inflicting a moderate wound on the character. For the next day, psychic radiation at that location inflicts a moderate wound (ignores armor) each round on all creatures within short range.