“Something’s changed. They didn’t used to notice me. But last time I combed the beach for cyphers, the dragon came out of its cave. The pirate tried to kidnap me. The prince screamed filth. And the princess . . . well, she almost trampled me with a giant starfish. I barely escaped, and I don’t plan on returning.” —Erica Laughton, recursion miner
Oceanmist is a small recursion featuring a sparkling nighttime beach. Out toward the watery horizon, the silhouettes of pirate ships are sometimes visible passing in the night— or not passing, when the boom and flash of cannon fire skips to the shore across the waves.
The beach stretches for miles down the coast, lit by a fractal-studded nightscape where the stars wheel and flow in massive spiral galaxies. Several nights each month, a gargantuan moon rides high through the sky. Its light washes out the stars, but whether by moonlight or starlight, the surf sparkles with strange glints and glows. Shadowed ridges run down to the sea. The ridges suggest the walls of some ancient fortification or castle that has suffered hundreds of years of neglect and erosion.
The narrative of the recursion once demanded that pirates fight each other and the royalty, that the royalty fête each other and fight pirates, and that both groups ignore the dragon lest they rouse it to vengeance. But that’s changed.
Three prominent natives recently gained the spark: a prince, a princess, and a pirate captain. Each is jealous of the others, and each independently concluded that it was necessary to win the dragon as an ally.
The dragon of Oceanmist remains a shadow; it doesn’t have the spark. As such, it usually stays in its cave unless roused, which has been happening more and more lately, thanks to the efforts of the vying royalty and pirates. It’s believed that whoever is the first to learn the dragon’s true name will gain power over the mighty creature.
(In the context of recursion natives, a “shadow” refers to someone without the spark.)
Prince Garland is a clothes horse, can be swayed with flattery, and often gives in to a cruel streak. The prince gets around Oceanmist using magic seven league boots. He lives in a tower by the sea filled with servants and soldiers that never fail to tell him how grand and wonderful he is. The prince wants even more validation, so his larger goal is to “thaw” more lands out of the mists, lands that acknowledge him as their liege.
Prince Garland: level 5, wielding a sabre as level 7; wears seven league boots
Princess Latanya looks out for herself first. Thanks to her brilliant mind, she does quite well at it. She gets around Oceanmist riding a massive starfish (a mist star) named Avery, which is adept at defending itself and the princess. Latanya lives in a small castle several miles inland, one that only recently condensed from the edges of the growing recursion. Her larger goal is to explore the lands that she knows lie beyond Oceanmist and discover—if she can— what it means to be a recursor.
Princess Latanya: level 6, tasks related to reasoning and puzzle-solving as level 7; often mounted on a mist star named Avery
Captain Kelly commands a ship called the Red Pearl. She doesn’t trust the royals farther than she can spit, but then again, she’s given them no reason to trust her, either. She’s lost count of the number of their soldiers and sailors that she’s killed. Captain Kelly carries a magic flintlock of certainty that never fails to find its target. Before the phase change, dead soldiers and sailors invariably returned; the narrative demanded it. Now, though, the captain’s not sure the same rules apply, so she’s taking a more cautious tack. She’s not really sure what she wants, though keeping the royals in check seems prudent, at minimum.
Captain Kelly: level 5; health 30; long-range attack with flintlock of certainty always hits its target and inflicts 6 points of damage
Oceanmist is growing thanks to the phase change. The change was likely brought about thanks to the number of recursors that have visited recently (including recursion miners Erica Laughton and LeRoy Cain). Interactions these and other beachcombers have had with the natives sparked the change, probably literally. That in turn catalyzed the recursion’s growth. After all, when a prince, princess, or pirate goes home at night, that home is required to exist. In this case, the recursion pulled a tower, a castle, and a pirate ship into existence, each one fully staffed with servitors, soldiers, and pirates.
Given that Oceanmist seems to be becoming more popular among recursors, it’s possible that the recursion is on the cusp of becoming another order of magnitude larger. This could happen if the spark finally awakens in the nameless dragon.
Each hour a beachcomber spends searching the beach for cyphers provides her with a chance to find one. If she succeeds on a difficulty 6 Intellect-based roll, she discovers a random cypher tossed up by the surf. No matter how many creatures search along the beach, the surf throws up a maximum of seven cyphers each week.
Cyphers can be randomly generated from the cypher list in The Strange corebook.
The dragon doesn’t have a name, or if it does, it hasn’t told anyone. It answers to “dragon” or, as the pirates and royal heirs call it, “Your Fiery Eminence.” It’s difficult to miss the dragon’s cave—it’s visible from the default translation location, which means that every first-time visitor who translates into Oceanmist sees it.
The interior of the cave is dark and misted, and the sound of heavy snoring is often audible at the cave’s lip. The mist is thicker than ever in the cave, but at the farthest end of a winding tunnel (about 100 feet, or 30 m), it clears. If the dragon is in residence, it lies atop a bed of coins and cyphers within a 50-foot (15 m) diameter chamber. The dragon is scaled, not feathered like those in the recursion of Ardeyn.
The dragon doesn’t currently possess the spark, nor does it rouse unless someone wakes it or filches from its hoard. In the latter case, or if it is attacked, it hunts miscreants down to the edges of Oceanmist. More than one pirate ship was burned and sunk for such crimes before the pirates changed their tactics.
The dragon is clinically depressed. It engages only if forced to defend itself or its hoard, or if visitors suggest a game. Dragons love cards, or any other sort of game. During these interactions, visitors can question the dragon or plant the seeds of future glory, as visiting princes, princesses, and pirates are wont to do. On the other hand, when royals and pirates accidentally show up at the cave at the same time, the bickering that breaks out can make the dragon especially cross.
A red-sailed ship appeared in Oceanmist’s waters and immediately began hunting mist stars, apparently prizing them for the meat in their arms. The ship is captained by a particularly hairy man named Herzog, who comes from a recursion called Gloaming. He and his sailors have the ability to transform into werewolves when attacked. Princess Latanya is willing to offer much to anyone who can stop the slaughter.
Herzog: human form: level 5; werewolf form: level 5; health 28; bite attack inflicts 6 points of damage; regains 1 point of health per round except damage from silvered weapons; silvered weapons inflict 2 additional points of damage and end werewolf transformation
A whale apparently constructed of rusting iron swims beneath the waves, sometimes ignoring ships and beachcombers, other times launching from the water to fall with lethal weight upon its target. The pirates want the whale stopped and gutted (if it has guts) because the beast swallowed a treasure galleon whole.
Iron whale: level 7; Armor 4
Prince Garland offers to reward recursors with any prize they name, including his seven league boots, if they discover the dragon’s name and deliver it to him.
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Oceanmist (emergent)
Law: Magic
Form: Classic flintlock inscribed with glowing magical runes
Effect: The flintlock fires a magic bullet to a range of 200 feet (60 m) that inflicts damage equal to the artifact level. If the wielder can see the target, the attack always hits. A PC wielder should still roll for the attack because results of 17 to 20 grant special effects. On the other hand, a roll of 1 doesn’t result in a miss (but a GM Intrusion is still triggered).
The flintlock is not a rapid-fire weapon and can’t be used with the Spray or Arc Spray special abilities that some characters have.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6
Form: Stylish red leather boots
Effect: When the boots are activated as part of a movement, the wearer can leap through the air to any location she can see within 300 feet (91 m). If the wearer chooses to jump farther, she can leap through the air to any location she can see within about 3 miles (5 km). This use requires two depletion rolls and might require the wearer to spend several rounds moving swiftly (but not instantaneously) between the two points.
If the wearer falls unexpectedly, she can attempt a difficulty 3 Speed defense roll to land on her feet and take no direct damage from the fall.
Depletion: 1–2 in 1d00