by HL TRUSLOVE
You leave the ship without being interrupted, though when you look back on the other side of the water, you see the female guard watching you go. You wave to her and she waves back before heading back inside the ship.
END.
Add Naomi the Medic (E.3) to your character sheet.
Add Ship’s Token (O.23) to your inventory.
Add Compassion to your character sheet.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and The Raid (Chapter 7, L.7) to map.
6.17
“We don’t accommodate your type here,” the boy says but it’s in such a way it’s like he’s been taught to memorise a phrase and say it back. “We’re settled folk here. Your kind are to the south.”
“My kind?” you ask, but the boy doesn’t seem to want to say any more. Instead, he shoves his spear in your face and walks you backwards to the ladder.
“Leave. You aren’t welcome,” he spits. It seems like too much of a hassle to put up a fight, so you descend the ladder and leave the boat. The guards watch you go and make sure you head onto dry land, leaving their people at peace. You sigh and wish there was more you could have said to them.
END.
Add Ship’s Guards (E.18) to your character sheet.
Add Scavenger Village (Chapter 9, L.9) and The Raid (Chapter 7, L.7) to map.
6.18
At your words, the two guards both stiffen, clearly uncomfortable with this sort of question. The boy looks over to his companion, fingering his spear nervously.
“They live beyond the river. Over the bridge,” the girl says. “And you should leave before we get the guards.”
“I thought you were guards,” you comment.
“More guards,” snaps the boy. With that, he forces you back down the ladder and off the ship at the end of his spear, and you lose no time hurrying back to dry land.
Warlords? Perhaps they took your group, using the storm as cover. At the very least they’ll be powerful and worth investigating. You add it to your map and go onwards.
END.
Add Ship’s Token (O.23) to your inventory.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) to map.
6.19
The boy chews his lip as he considers your words. The girl behind him watches you coolly, clearly far more in control than her companion can ever hope to be. He looks over to her and she gives him a nod, an ‘okay’ for him to talk.
“We’ve not seen your group. Only people on the boat are our own. If they did pass this way when the storm was out, they’d probably have gone to the city.”
“And where’s the city?” you ask, desperate to eke out as much information as you can.
“To the south of here. Over the bridge.”
You nod and go to leave, feeling you won’t get any more out of these two.
“Good luck,” comes a feminine voice, and you turn your head just enough to nod at the female guard before clambering back down the way you came.
END.
Add Ship’s Token (O.23) to your inventory.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and The Raid (Chapter 7, L.7) to map.
6.20
It’s hard to tell how much time passes in your little room. You wipe the blood from yourself as best you can and sit quietly, trying to make out sounds from outside the door.
Eventually the guards bring you back out into the sunlight, only to tie you with rope and gag you. None of the villagers look at you as you’re brought down the ladder and onto a raft. You spend the next hours thrown across the back of the great orange beast you saw before, travelling over the barren landscape. The thing absolutely stinks, and you’re glad when they eventually take you off of it – until you see who you’re facing.
The people you’re faced with look like the villagers, but rougher. Some have scars, many have tattoos, and all of them have snarls on their faces.
“This is the prisoner, then?” asks the one in the lead, taking your face in his hand and inspecting you.
“Yes. Attacked our guards. Good fighter. Outsider, too.”
The man in front of you hums, looking you over, then nods.
“Fine, we’ll make the trade. Give over our end,” he shouts over his shoulder. One of the men behind him has a couple of sacks which are handed over to the ship folk who brought you here, and in return they drag you off with them.
“You’re a good ’un,” chortles the man, “outsiders always make the best prisoners.”
END.
Add The Cell (Chapter 16, L.16) to map.
* * *
Go to The Cell (Chapter 16).
6.21
The doctor nods; sad, but unsurprised. “It was a high hope for an outsider. Go and take them to Morag, she’ll know what to do,” she says, with a sigh.
You feel bad for a moment as the guards take you out of the room. Perhaps you could have done something to help. It’s too late to tell now, and instead you let yourself be led further into the ship.
Turn to 6.7.
6.22
“That’s very detailed,” the boy remarks, turning over your map in his hands. You carefully take it back off of him, worried he’ll mark it.
“Yes, my group gave it to me. I’m trying to find them – they moved from their campsite when the storm hit. Have you seen anyone go past who’s like me?”
The boy chews his lip as he considers your words. The girl behind him watches you coolly, clearly far more in control than her companion can ever hope to be. He looks over to her and she gives him a nod, an ‘okay’ for him to talk.
“We’ve not seen your group. Only people on the boat are our own. But if they did pass this way when the storm was out they’d probably have gone to the city.”
“And where’s the city?” you ask, desperate to eke out as much information as you can.
“To the south of here. Over the bridge.”
You nod and leave. You won’t get anything more out of these two.
END.
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6.23
The boy looks over the meagre rations you have with you and sniffs. “You’re not much of a trader, are you?” he asks, bluntly.
“No. But what I do have, I’m happy to share,” you say. Your sincerity shocks the boy, him clearly not expecting such behaviour from an outsider.
“Uh… fine. We’ll take you to the chief and see what she wants to do with you. But no funny business,” he warns, pointing the spear at you for added emphasis.
“No funny business,” you confirm, and the girl gestures for you to follow her into the ship.
Turn to 6.7.
6.24
Having done everything you planned to do, you settle on the bedroll Morag pointed out, surprised at how soft it is. Though it’s odd having the gentle noise of people around you, as you’re so used to sleeping just with the sounds of nature, there’s something undeniably comforting about the melody of human life playing out. You fall asleep to people talking and laughing, and you don’t dream.
You sleep deeply through the night and wake up the next morning well rested. Morag has started a little fire in the space outside of her tent and grins as you wake.
“Morning, sleepyhead. Hungry?”
Your stomach gives a loud gurgle to betray that the answer to that is yes, very. Morag laughs and waves you over to her, giving you a plate of eggs and meat. You thank her and wolf them down – this might be the tastiest thing you’ve eaten here.
“When you’re done, I’ll take you on deck and introduce you to the caravan. They’ll be heading for the bridge soon.”
You nod and it doesn’t take you long to finish your meal – it’s so delicious you forget to savour it, and regret it after. Morag leads you through the camp where just as much attention is paid to you as when you entered, and she leads you out into the sunshine.
The caravaners are welcoming, if a little distant, but warm u
p to you well enough when you offer to hold some of their goods for the journey. With nothing else to do, you thank Morag from the bottom of your heart for her kindness.
“It was no problem, love. Just pay it forward, all right?”
You nod, promising her something she has no way of checking, and leave with the caravan.
END.
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6.25
You remember the papers from the plant that you found, sitting nestled in the bottom of your pack. This might be exactly the kind of place you need in order to do some investigating. There are remnants of the old world here, after all – why not memories from the people?
Awkwardly, you begin to ask around in the village, trying to find if any of them know about the abandoned plant a few miles away. Either they ignore you, are too busy in their own work, or apologise that they have no idea. You’re almost ready to give up when you hear an old voice crackle from behind you, “The plant?”
You turn and see an old man sitting in the mouth of his tent. He must be the most ancient thing you’ve seen here. He invites you to sit down with him and you offer him the paper, which he looks at with sad eyes.
“Data outputs. Reports on curie and becquerel levels. Making sure that the radiation output was safe in the plant, not enough to cause radiation sickness for the people who had jobs running the place.” His face falls even further as he continues, “My great-grandfather worked there. I never met him, but my family always told me he was never the same after the War. He blamed himself, his part in nuclear power. Took his own life.”
The man hands you back the papers.
“Those might have been useful once, but the radiation levels are far above whatever’s on those sheets now. That place is only full of sickness and ghosts.”
He doesn’t say any more, instead turning back to the fire, sombre. You leave him to his thoughts, throwing the papers into the flame and watching them burn.
Add Resolve to your character sheet.
Remove Power Plant Files from your character sheet.
* * *
Turn to 6.24.
6.26
You follow the sound of children playing and soon find him. The boy is playing some sort of catching game with his friends, and when he spies you he gives you a big smile and jogs over.
“Hello,” he says.
“Hello. You’re not very scared of strangers, are you?”
“You ain’t a stranger. We met before.”
You want to point out to him you were a stranger when he first met you, but feel like it would be a pointless conversation.
“You afraid of frogs any more?” he asks.
“No, you were right. They aren’t scary.”
He beams at you, then reaches out and touches your arm.
“Tag!” he shouts, and the children scatter. All you can do is laugh and chase them, having been unceremoniously brought into their game.
You spend the evening with the children. They find you fascinating, a strange outsider with stranger stories. Eventually their parents call them for bed, and they complain, but go anyway.
“It was nice to see you again,” you tell the boy.
“You too. Be safe all right?”
“I will,” you chuckle, and watch him go back to his tent. You believe you’ve made a friend in this strange place.
Add Compassion to your character sheet.
* * *
Turn to 6.24.
Chapter 7
The Raid
7.0
Turn to 7.1.
* * *
Turn to 7.1a, Needs Ship’s Guards
7.1
The ship is beginning to be a familiar sight now, almost like coming home after a long journey. In a way, you suppose it’s now the closest thing you have to a home, in that you’ve been there more than once. It’s a sad thought. You know more people here than anywhere else.
The shore is busier than when you last came here. It seems like the inhabitants of the ship are making the best of the weather, trying to get their chores done before the ever-present threat of rain decides to make good on its promise.
There are a couple of people shifting crates from the muddy lakeside to a raft. A group of children are playing noisily nearby and fall to silence as you walk past, eyeing you with wary, inquisitive eyes. You approach one of the working men and hear stifled giggles behind you – when you turn you see the children following at a distance, going still every time you turn back. It reminds you of a game you used to play when you were young in the vault. You allow yourself a little smile at their antics.
The man is grunting as he heaves the heavy weight of boxes. He looks up at you momentarily when you come into his peripheral vision, but doesn’t stop his work.
Ask to go to the ship – Turn to 7.2.
* * *
Help him – Turn to 7.3.
7.1a
The ship is beginning to be a familiar sight now, though you’re not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Last time you were here things didn’t go… smoothly. You hope there’s not a repeat of that.
The shore is busier than when you last came here. It seems like the inhabitants of the ship are making the best of the weather, trying to get their chores done before the ever-present threat of rain makes good on its promise. There are a couple of people shifting crates from the muddy lakeside to a raft. A group of children are playing noisily nearby and fall to silence as you walk past, eyeing you with wary, inquisitive eyes. You approach one of the working men and hear stifled giggles behind you – when you turn you see the children following at a distance, going still every time you turn back. It reminds you of a game you used to play when you were young in the vault. You allow yourself a little smile at their antics.
The man is grunting as he heaves the heavy weight of boxes. He looks up at you momentarily when you come into his peripheral vision, but doesn’t stop his work.
Ask to go to the ship – Turn to 7.2.
* * *
Help him – Turn to 7.3.
7.2
The man looks up – but not at you, at the children who are creeping ever closer, and yells something at them you don’t quite catch. They scatter like disturbed flies and run off further down the bank, giggling as they go. He finally turns to you, his heavy-set brow furrowed in what looks like a mix of annoyance and exhaustion.
“Ye wan tae get to the boat? Help me load up. Dinnae jus’ stand there like a useless mug.”
He goes back to what he was doing, and with a sigh you join in.
Turn to 7.3.
7.3
The crates are heavy under your hands and some of them rattle wildly. You begin to wonder what might be inside them, or even where they came from. You go to open your mouth to ask the man, but judging by the permanent scowl on his face you think engaging in conversation of any kind with him may not be a good idea. Instead, you concentrate on the effort of manual labour, stacking the raft far higher than you thought it would be able to take. Eventually all the crates have been moved and the man wipes his brow with a thick forearm, stepping onto the raft and gesturing for you to follow. It lurches wildly beneath your feet and you grab onto the cargo for support – you swear you hear the man let out a little laugh at you as he pushes off from the bank.
The journey takes a while. Even though the distance to the ship isn’t far, it’s clearly an effort to get the raft to move under such a weight. Eventually you finish crossing and climb on board while the man begins to work on some sort of intricate pulley system to unload the cargo.
It’s surprisingly busy on deck, too. A group of what you assume to be fighters are patrolling, clutching spears in their hands. They’re scanning the horizon and seem worried. Along the railing, a woman is sitting with her legs slung over the rusting bars, keeping a watchful eye on the children playing in the shallows.
Speak to the
man on the raft – Turn to 7.4.
* * *
Go inside the ship – Turn to 7.5.
* * *
Approach the fighters – Turn to 7.6.
* * *
Approach the woman – Turn to 7.7.
7.4
“So what’s your story then?” you ask, quickly catching on to how the pulley system works and helping the man unload the raft.
