FtA: The Cascade

"I can do this!", Abadall grunted, eyes closed, brow furrowed.

"Are you sure?" Sinwise looked doubtful.

Not answering, he reached out with his mind, grasped the boulder that blocked the passageway, and began to lift.  Sweat beaded his bald head, and the veins in his temples began to stand out.  The boulder began to move, slowly but surely.

"I... I think I've got it..."

Suddenly, Abadall's eyes flew open, and the boulder dropped with a thunderous crash.  His mouth opened and closed as he gasped for air, and his hands flew to his throat.  Sinwise stepped forward, saw the gills that had spontaneously formed on Abadall's throat, and stumbled backwards, yelling frantically at the rest of the group to back away.

"He's Cascading!" Sinwise screamed.

Abadall's hand suddenly burst into flame, and his shirt began to flutter and stir, as though something was moving beneath them.  The flesh of his left leg melted like wax, and folded beneath him.  Collapsing to the ground, he began to emit pulses of flame from his hands, growing steadily brighter and hotter.

Sinwise managed to scramble to cover just in time to avoid being roasted alive as Abadall exploded in an eruption of flame and flesh.

Peeking over the edge of a rock, he saw that the boulder had been incinderated in the blast.

"At least he did that right."

The genetic material of the PCs in From the Ashes is extremely volatile,  and generates their mutations.  This genetic instability is also the harbinger of their doom, as it can sometimes unravel with dramatic, and often disastrous, results.

Each level attained increases the instability, and thus the risk of Cascading.  Whenever the character fumbles while utilizing one of their powers, a Cascade check is made.  There is a percentage chance equal to the character's level x5 that they will spontaneously mutate, and slide one level closer towards total genetic breakdown.  Note that this check is performed again each time they fail, making it possible (although unlikely) for a character to slide from Level One all the way to Level Ten as a result of a single fumble.