Mutant Year Zero - Zone Sector 2 - Denizens of the Sink Hole.pdf

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ZONE SECTOR:
Denizens of the Sinkhole
Zone Sector
Denizens
of the Sinkhole
In the center of an old dead ruined city, a whole
block has fallen into a deep sinkhole. The buildings
in the depths of the hole are relatively intact. The
rooftops of the tallest buildings barely reach above
the ground around the lip of the sinkhole.
OVERVIEW
The bottom of the sinkhole is covered with verdant
vegetation, a mass of plants and trees reminiscent
of the rain forests of old. The plants wind around
and through the buildings stretching to the edges
of the sinkhole.
On the roofs and top loors of the buildings
live a group of gatherers and traders known as the
Uptops.
They explore their domain and trade what-
ever they ind for food, supplies and tools. They are
organized in a number of clans, each clan claiming
one building as their territory.
The Uptops swing between the rooftops or use
rope bridges to move between the buildings. Mov-
ing from one end of the sinkhole to the other with-
out climbing down to the bottom and then up again
can be a true challenge for unaccustomed visitors.
At the bottom of the hole lives a tribe called the
Downbelows.
They are a bit odd but very welcoming
and live in complete harmony with their surround-
ings. The Uptops view them with great suspicion
or even hostility. The Downbelows have no internal
conlicts, but rumor has it they tend to try and make
visitors stay down there; some even say they have a
kind of siren’s call that lure explorers to them and
turn them into mindless drones.
The PCs can ind the sector while passing by, but
it is more exciting if they are drawn there in some
other way. Perhaps they bump into some of the Ver-
dure’s agents, who have established themselves in the
Zone but not been able to connect with their home.
The rumor of the clans selling artifacts is fairly
well-known. Perhaps the PCs need something very
speciic, something they learn was recently found in
the sector? Perhaps they meet a former clan mem-
ber who is seeking revenge against those that ex-
iled her, and need help to do so. There are artifacts,
grub, water and bullets to be found both with the
clans and in the buildings, as well as rivalries and
conlicts to be drawn into.
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Denizens of the Sinkhole
THE SITUATION
If you stay too long at the bottom of the hole with-
out protective gear you will be infected by mysteri-
ous airborne spores. The infection manifests itself
as tiny blisters at the base of the neck and down to-
wards the back, and can spread to other body parts.
The blisters burst and sprout lowers within
a few weeks, if nothing is done about them. They
can be cut out but will grow back if the root isn’t
removed completely, which is extremely painful.
It is also possible to burn them of. That removes
them from the surface of the skin but the roots keep
growing.
There is a more sinister aspect of the infection.
It begins as nightmares but soon escalates. The in-
fected starts sleepwalking and even climbing, wak-
ing up in unfamiliar places high above the ground.
The infection uses its host body to ind suitable
locations to release new spores from and the higher
it gets, the bigger the dispersion. By then, the roots
have twisted around the victim’s spine and brain
and removing them is both complicated and risky.
If several people are infected, they will start
having the same dreams and gradually develop the
ability to read each others’ thoughts. They might
even start thinking as one, as if they were parts of
a single creature. This also applies to other plants
and animals that are infected.
The Verdure:
All the plants, animals and Down-
belows in the hole are parts of the same whole,
of a single creature. Thousands if not millions of
tiny plants communicating with radio waves form
a huge neural network, a single giant brain. Each
plant, each infected creature, carries a small part of
that network with them and have a mutation that
enables radio communication.
The infection is the Verdure’s way of spread-
ing to new lifeforms and incorporating them in the
greater whole. The Downbelows are completely
infected and are no longer individuals. They are
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Zone Sector
The Sinkhole
A STURDY ROPE BRIDGE
CLAN OHORI’S NEW ORACLE
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Denizens of the Sinkhole
A DOWNBELOW AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS
simply extensions of the Verdure and without it
they are blank slates.
The Verdure’s intellect is massive but alien, and
it has little understanding of mutants or other in-
dividual organisms.
The oracles of the Uptops listen for signs that the
Verdure is making new attempts to spread beyond
the hole that it currently resides in. It makes an efort
regularly and sends an enormous amount of spores
up into the air, illing the ether with its “thoughts”.
So far the Verdure has been unable to reach
beyond the borders of the sector. Perhaps there is
something in the ruined city around it stopping the
spores from spreading? Perhaps it simply can’t send
them high enough into the air? It has sent infected
agents to the outside world, but soon loses contact
with them.
INHABITANTS
The top loors of the highest buildings are occupied
by people making a living from exploring the ru-
ins and bringing back various things. It might be
canned food, more or less broken technology, books
in languages no one speaks any more, keycards that
open unknown doors in unknown places, and other
curiosities.
They are organized in clans competing for the
best buildings. Right now clan Ohori is the biggest.
Some of the other clans feel threatened and are se-
cretly planning a coup to knock Ohori down a peg or
two. Each clan has one or several oracles, who spend
hours every day listening to static from old radio re-
ceivers. These devices are very important to the Up-
tops, and it would take a lot for them to give one up.
Sometimes there is a certain pitch or pattern in
the static from the devices, which is when the oracle
sounds the alarm. All the windows and doors slam
shut and everyone tries to get inside. Basically the
whole settlement shuts its gates until the static is
back to normal.
The Uptops are all mutants. The most common
mutations among them are Pathokineses, Frog Legs
or Extreme Relexes. There are some variations
among the clans, like clan Vorr having numerous
Flame Breathers – they sell their services to the
other clans and are very particular about who is
allowed to marry into the clan. Other clans, such
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