Whisper



Whispers are ultraterrestrial creatures from a divergent Earth, called the Whispering World.

Background
He's muttering words, or maybe only nonsense. He's abandoning bathing, grooming, and possibly even eating by the way his clothes hang. He's eager to reach you, though, as if he has some 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 series of syllables tumbling 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.

Motive:
Expose intelligent creatures to the trigger phrase that causes them to transform into another whisper.

Environment:
Anywhere, alone or in groups of ten or more.

Health:
9

Damage Inflicted:
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 if it's attacked first. When it does, it batters foes with frenetic punches, kicks, and bites. (A few whispers will still retain special abilities from before they changed and use those as well.)

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 to a long distance away, though this grants an asset to the target's difficulty 4 intellect defense task to resist the phrase's effect. Non-intelligent creatures are immune to this effect. Intelligent victims who fail the defense task aren't immediately harmed, however, the phrase triggers an ancient war protocol that the nanites in their brain and body respond to, and within 10 + 1d6 hours, human victims lose their individuality as they undergo a conversion that turns them into another whisper. Intelligent non-humans may also change, but usually just die.

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.

Whispers have no sense of self-preservation, whatsoever.

Interaction:
Whispers don't respond to threats, offers to negotiate, or other inducements.

Use:
While the PCs explore a prior-world installation with transdimensional energy signatures, a character salvaging a device for shins or attempting to understand a strange device activates a portal that draws a whisper from its parallel dimension to the Ninth World.

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.