Page 228 - Chronicles of Darkness

that all of the other characters are reliving the day as well, covered the statue’s entire interior surface with sigils and
looking into the problem, and solving it could easily take 15 mechanisms when the statue was restored in 1933. These
tries, and if the characters know that on the 15th try they’ll devices use psychic energy directed at the statue to power
run out of time, then tension builds nicely. various esoteric endeavors, including stabilizing several an-
But even if each try is a single chapter, that’s still 15 gels so that they can remain on Earth — the Statue itself is a
chapters — that’s a long story, and it takes place on the same form of Infrastructure. Once the statue becomes unstable,
“day.” Have a look at movies like Run Lola Run and Groundhog the God-Machine can no longer send angels to Earth, nor
Day, as well as the short-lived television show Tru Calling, for can it maintain the ones that are already there (Kalka is the
a look at how a character can change things while reliving the exception, since Kalka exists outside of time anyway).
same day. Apply that to the characters — yes, they have to save None of these sigils are visible from outside the statue or
the world, but do they have time to check lottery results? Do from any of the areas accessible to tourists. However, characters
they want to find crimes or fatal accidents in the city and stop who gain access to the inner surface of the statue’s copper
them? Is 14 tries enough to become experts on the events of skin see huge and complex circuits in the shape of esoteric
that day, so that they can stop the Hatching from occurring? sigils. These circuits coruscate with yellow and red glowing
Let the players have a few sessions to explore their abilities energies and cover most of the inner surface of the statue. If
and to meet and interact before turning up the stress. the characters have a chance to talk with anyone who works in
One question the characters might seek to answer is: why or around the statue, the people the characters talk to know
them? It might be that they were all close enough to the statue nothing of these sigils. Also, photographs of the interior of the
during the initial explosion (but still survived) that they were statue’s bronze skin do not show them. The characters can only
caught in the God-Machine’s loop. Or, the God-Machine see the sigils because of their experience with the time loop.
might think they can fix the problem, meaning that each Although the sigils collect large amounts of energy, most of
character should have a specific Skill or Merit that will be it is not going to its intended destinations. Instead, the energies
useful to solve the problem. If you are running The Hatching generated by this site attracted dangerous parasites. These parasites
after playing through other Tales, it might just be that the have been growing for several decades. When this tale begins, the
characters have had enough exposure to the God-Machine parasites hatch and destabilize the statue’s energy flows. These
that it considers them part of its programming (which should energy flows rebound catastrophically, causing a huge explosion.
keep the characters up nights, if they figure it out). The God-Machine responds to the explosion by creating
Blueprints a series of time loops. Over the course of 15 time loops, the
God-Machine gradually alters the past and present so that it
can dissipate the energy of the explosion in another location
The cycle of the world’s destruction and then resetting itself and provide a convenient cover for it. All of the characters
back a day continues for 15 cycles. After each change, the world notice that time has changed in various small ways after the
is visibly different in small ways. Junk food packaging and the end of each time loop, and that the time loops make a nuclear
lineup of TV shows change from one time loop to the next. Also, attack by Pakistan against India increasingly likely.
for the last 10 time loops, news reports about a possible plot by The only way to end the time loop without the destruction
Pakistani terrorists to set off a nuclear weapon in India become of Mumbai is to go inside the Statue of Liberty at least several
increasingly widespread and credible. Such reports first appear in hours before it splits open. The statue’s public areas look
a few tabloids, but by the 12th time loop they are found on all of perfectly normal, but the lower portion of the statue, next
the major new stations and in major newspapers. On the 15th to the skin, is filled with a single, throbbing egg case that is
time loop a large nuclear explosion destroys most of Mumbai and the size of a tractor trailer. This egg case and the hundreds of
the Statue of Liberty does not explode. However, the statue cracks creatures it contains are all invisible to ordinary humans, but
and any characters who are present see strange glowing creatures anyone who has become aware of the time loop is automati-
crawl out of it and fly up into the sky. The attack on Mumbai also cally able to see it, as is anyone the characters show the egg to.
makes nuclear war between India and Pakistan almost inevitable. Attacking the sigils causes an uncontrolled release of
The characters are the only people who remember the energy which incinerates the characters, the eggs, and the
time loop or the way that events have changed from one to statue, but the destruction is limited to Liberty Island and
the next. Regardless of how far the characters are from the the time loop ends. Destroying the egg case prevents it from
explosion, some factor means that they remain stuck in the hatching without any other destruction. However, doing so
time loop until they either prevent the explosion or Mumbai requires the use of a larger weapon like explosives, a pump
is destroyed. The characters can only prevent the destruction action shotgun, a chainsaw, or several people with fire axes.
of Mumbai by stopping the Statue from exploding. If the Storyteller wishes, cracking open the egg may free some
Linchpins of the creatures and allow them to attack.
The two primary Linchpins in this tale are the Statue of Methods

Liberty and the time loops. Because it is a powerful focus Academics: Characters who make successful Intelligence
of belief and emotional energy, agents of the God-Machine + Academics rolls when researching the Statue of Liberty

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The Hatching