TARZA 4 (12)

Mother Machine is part of a prior-world “security system” that sometimes creates new
instances of itself. Its concerns are mostly incomprehensible to humans.

A growing population of fabricated creatures called tarza spreads across the Ninth World,
possibly from a nexus located in the Westwood. A hidden entity called Mother Machine—
an intelligent automaton of some sort—first created tarza to hunt and destroy certain
human beings, though not all. Why a tarza chooses to destroy some humans and ignore
others (unless attacked) is a mystery no one has yet deduced.
Tarza are custom biological creatures that have a piecemeal look to them. Octopoid
heads fused to quadruped bodies via a blinking metallic collar is a popular form, but others
are possible. They are about twice as large as a human.
Motive: Destroy designated humans and other creatures
Environment: Wooded areas
Health: 18
Damage Inflicted: 4 points
Armor: 1
Movement: Short; immediate when climbing or swimming
Modifications: Perception as level 8 when tracking human targets.
Combat: Tarza preferentially attack specific human targets (or human targets that
correspond with some sort of subtle marker that regular humans seem incapable of
Mother Machine noticing). However, if attacked by someone not initially marked as a target, a tarza
instance: level 5, Speed responds with equal violence.
defense as level 2 because A tarza can make a short-range psychic attack that inflicts 4 points of Intellect damage
of near-immobility; (ignores Armor). Alternatively, a tarza’s tentacles inflict 5 points of damage and hold a
Armor 3; long-range
target immobile until the target can escape.
psychic attack deals
5 points of Intellect If killed, a tarza’s body swells with necrotic chemicals and then detonates, inflicting 4 points
damage (ignores Armor) of damage to all creatures within immediate range.
Interaction: If no designated targets are part
of a group, a tarza isn’t aggressive
with them unless attacked. While
a tarza remains quiescent, it
could lead PCs to the nearest
GM Intrusion: A instance of Mother
character held by the Machine, which in turn
tarza’s tentacles is
injected with poison
could negotiate if
that causes eventual the characters can
coma and death unless open a line of
treated by someone with communication.
moderate to advanced Use: People are
medical knowledge.
being attacked
along a
trade road
by strange
creatures that
seem to live in a
nearby wood.

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