Jade Colossus
He's muttering words, or maybe only nonsense. He's abandoned bathing, grooming, and possibly even eating by the way his clothes hang. He's eager to reach you, though, as if he has important news to share. As he approaches, you notice a thin, oily metal rod protruding from one side of the man's head. Is it a cypher? The stranger motions you to lean close because he's got a secret. But either he doesn't speak your language or he's insane, because the syllables that tumble out of his mouth sound like babble. So you continue on your way, wishing the stranger would stop following you, muttering and shambling. And you wonder why you suddenly feel so warm.
Whispers were once normal people, but they were changed by a prior-world infection that took over their minds to achieve a purpose that may no longer have any meaning in the Ninth World.
Motive: Expose intelligent creatures to the trigger phrase that causes them to transform into whispers
Environment: Anywhere, alone or in groups of ten or more
Health: 9
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 2
Movement: Short
Modifications:Perception tasks as level 5; tasks related to knowledge and reasoning as level 1.
Combat: A whisper physically attacks another creature only in defense. When it does, it batters foes with frenetic punches, kicks, and bites.
Whether or not it physically attacks, a whisper always strives to verbally impart a trigger phrase to the nearest intelligent creature, preferably when a target is within immediate range. If a whisper can’t get closer, it may shout the phrase from up to a long distance away, though this grants an asset on a target’s difficulty 4 Intellect defense task to resist the effect. Non-intelligent creatures are immune to the effect. Intelligent victims who fail the defense task are not immediately harmed; however, the phrase triggers an ancient war protocol that the background nanites already suffusing their body and brain respond to. Within 10 + 1d6 hours, human victims lose their individuality as they undergo a conversion that turns them into a whisper. Intelligent nonhumans may also change, but usually they are unaffected (or there’s a complication and they die).
Whispers have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever.
Interaction: Whispers do not respond to threats, offers to negotiate, or other inducements.
Use: While the PCs explore a prior-world installation, a character salvaging a device or attempting to understand its function activates a sound that risks triggering the change.
Loot: Sometimes a whisper carries a couple of cyphers and 1d6 shins; it never uses offensive or defensive cyphers because it doesn’t recognize them as useful any longer.
GM Intrusion: The character who hears the trigger phrase, regardless of whether they resist it, has an immediate neurological reaction and must succeed on a second difficulty 4 Intellect defense task or fall unconscious for one minute.