Page 223 - Chronicles of Darkness
P. 223
If the drill continues unabated, it eventually opens
a cavern below the sea floor. Therein lies an exposed
section of the God-Machine that hasn’t been in opera-
tion for millennia. It requires the oil above it to work,
meaning that if the drill reaches this cavern, the God-
Machine pulls the oil from the deposit and then comes
to life, absorbing the drill and the cables and assimilating
the rig itself. If the characters are still on the rig when
that happens, they are pulled beneath the waves and
probably lost for good.
Linchpins
The still-living parts to Arnold Diefenbach are the
Linchpins for the West Nautical 36 Infrastructure.
Killing him will, as mentioned, end the God-Machine’s
ability to influence the rig — but it won’t stop the drill.
Doing that requires either cutting the cable (Durability 8,
Structure 11) or making the computers work (see below).
Methods
Computer: Normally this wouldn’t be difficult,
but the computer systems on the rig have merged with
Diefenbach’s brain. Even after he dies, they don’t act like
normal computer systems anymore. Roll Manipulation +
Computer (extended action, each roll is 30 minutes, 10
successes required) to get the systems to respond properly
and stop the drill. If Diefenbach is still alive when this
happens, he opposes the roll with Resolve + Computer.
Medicine: Examination of the bodies of the rig
workers (and a roll of Wits + Medicine) reveals they were
strangled by cables. The cables apparently just dropped
down, wrapped around their necks, and yanked them
upwards, choking them.
Athletics: Diefenbach controls everything on the rig,
including a great deal of machinery that is heavy enough
to knock people into the ocean. If that happens, the
player rolls Stamina + Athletics once per turn with a -2
modifier for the character to tread water until someone
can rescue him.
Stealth: Diefenbach can only “see” through the
security cameras on the rig — which, unfortunately, are
plentiful. Roll Dexterity + Stealth to avoid them.
Empathy: The people in charge of Operation: Bell
Jar have been in communication with someone on the
rig, someone they assume to be a terrorist. Examining
the transcripts, though (and a successful Wits + Empathy
roll), reveals that the patterns of speech and the “de-
mands” the supposed terrorist is making don’t betray a
zealous or nationalist agenda.
Streetwise: Characters with ties to mercenary
or espionage groups might put out feelers to see if
anyone knows anything about terrorist action against
the rig. This requires a Manipulation + Streetwise roll
and a lead time of at least a day. If the roll fails, the
character hears of a terrorist group that takes credit
222
Tales of the God machine

