#RPGaDay2024 Day 25 – Mutant

Day 25 of #RPGaDay2024. I continue posting about the alternative prompt challenge list by Skala Wyzwania. For more information on RPG a Day, see David Chapman’s Autocratik blog post for 2024.

The RPG challenge theme for today is Mutant. Rolling a 1d10 for the quest. The result is 2: Create an NPC.

The Tracker

The infernal beast is vanquished, three Guardians are dead, and the other four, including the bandaged man, are using their magic to rebuild the Orrery of the Beyond. They pay me no heed. There are more pressing concerns. I feel the burn of the magical energies on my skin, but I won’t stay around to ask for an explanation. I saw other portals, like the ways that led me here in a smaller hall, time to jump into the unknown.

As I sneak down the corridor to my destination, I pass a fountain, bend down to splash water on my still-burning skin, and see it. I am not burned but marked—strange and enigmatic runes and symbols on my skin—no time for questions. I have to get out of there. I’ll figure this all out soon enough.

The Tracker is a young man trained in stealth and deception by the Pilfers’ Guild in the streets of Ceronia. The Sisters of the Merciful Mother gave an orphan to the Orphan House of The Abbey of Gullion, but the monks are drunks, and the children are often recruited because of their abilities. This young man was trained as a scribe by the monks, but he often climbed up the walls undetected to explore the city, recruited by the Pilfers, and promised a life of adventure.

He refused to kill at their behest, and shortly before his skin was inked for the Guild, he escaped the city and made his way as a porter, tomb explorer, and hunter. In this role, he learned that his skills could be put to good use to track those who did not want to be found. He worked for bounty hunters, warlocks, and jilted lovers, looking for the truth. One such job, to find a cursed priest, had begun this wild adventure, and now he was forever changed by the magic of the Orrery of the Beyond, with magical powers he was yet to unravel.  

So, he’s called the Tracker. The name came to me as soon as I read the topic today. Mutated by magic, how will our narrator fare now? Will he make it to the end of the story? I’m not sure; let’s find out together.

It is never too late to join #RPGaDay2024. If you find a topic interesting, write about it, comment on it, or talk about it on your socials. The goal is to celebrate all the wonderful things tabletop role-playing games bring to our lives and the positive elements of the community. Don’t forget to tag your contribution with the hashtag and share it with us here, on social media, and in the #RPGaDay 2024 Facebook Group.