VARIOKARYON 4 (12)

The Strange

A body can take only so many grafts before it either shuts down or goes insane. When someone pushes that limit and survives, she has probably become a variokaryon—a graft addict. Using underworld contacts, the addict can purchase banned grafts that allow her to harvest biological matter from other creatures and directly incorporate that matter into herself. In this way, a variokaryon can add as many grafts to herself as she can get away with, and in fact must continue to do so. Without receiving regular hits of new biological material, a variokaryon goes into a painful and ultimately lethal withdrawal.

A variokaryon tries to hide her condition from others and blend in as a regular citizen. That is, until she gets a prospective graft donor alone.

Motive: Hungers for body parts (especially faces) to use as grafts

Environment (Ruk | Weird Science): Usually in Harmonious or the Shadowed City

Health 23

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)

Movement: Short

Modifications: Stealth and all attacks as level 5.

Combat: A variokaryon is armed with a medium ranged and a medium melee weapon.

Almost every variokaryon also regenerates at a rate of 2 points of health per round. If the variokaryon's health reaches 0, the regeneration rate is reduced to 1 point of health per round, and if the variokaryon is dismembered or otherwise violently dispersed, regeneration stops completely.

Any given variokaryon can also accomplish one or more of the following, depending on its particular graft mix:

• Thundering Scream: Creatures within immediate range of the variokaryon who fail a Might defense roll suffer 4 points of sonic damage that ignores Armor and are deafened for one minute.
• Stomach Shroud: The variokaryon vomits an external stomach (appearing as a multilayered white shroud). A target within immediate range who fails a Speed defense roll takes 6 points of acid damage every round until it can succeed at another Speed- or Might-based roll to break free of the billowing acidic shroud.
• Battle Bulk: The variokaryon gains +4 to Armor and +10 to health for one minute.
• Horrifying Attention: A variokaryon uses vestigial brain matter of harvested faces to launch a multifaceted attack on a foe within short range through the All Song. A target who fails an Intellect defense roll is horrified at the face-and-mind salad, takes 4 points of Intellect damage that ignores Armor, and descends one step on the damage track.

A creature defeated by the variokaryon likely lives on, at least in part, as the variokaryon's newest graft.

Interaction: For as long as its true nature remains unknown, a variokaryon seems like a normal and perhaps even especially helpful acquaintance.

Use: A stranger tries to separate a PC from his friends, and if successful, drops the charade and attacks.

Loot: A variokaryon usually has weapons and light armor, plus a bitwallet with 1d6 x 100 bits.

GM Intrusion: An unexpected third limb emerges from the variokaryon and grabs the PC around the neck in a viselike grip.