ALBA
Page 18
Add Altercation with Phil (E.5) to your character sheet.
* * *
Turn to 9.3.
9.5
Your voice comes out as strong and sure as you can make it, but it doesn’t quell the feeling of worry you feel when all of the scavengers turn to look at you at once. They scowl and a man stands up from where he was stoking the fire. His face is a ruddy red from the heat and his beard is covered in flecks of ash – a couple appear to still be smouldering. It gives him the appearance of some sort of fire demon, and you can understand why he’s the leader. Nobody would want to fight him.
He takes you in for a moment and a look of recognition crosses his face. Your uniform is easily identifiable to those who have seen it before, after all. His nostrils flare like a great bull.
“Whaddya want?” he asks, his voice gruff and loud, the sort of voice that leaves no room for trying to mess the speaker around.
“What are you doing here?” – Turn to 9.8.
* * *
“I’m looking for my team” – Turn to 9.9.
9.6
You take a moment to observe the work going on before you. The copper is fed into the improvised smelting pot and melted down to liquid. You look around and see more of the copper is sitting in clay crucibles, cooling into ingots. One of the scavengers is turning out the hardened metal into a bucket of water, making a satisfying hissing sound as the steam rises. It’s difficult to tell precisely what it’s being repurposed into. They might be pipes of some kind? It doesn’t look like the scavengers have the tools to process the end products so they may be making them for a third party.
You’ve been so caught up in the scavengers’ work, you were totally oblivious to the fact that one of them had noticed you. A woman walks over from the pot and stands in front of you with her arms crossed and a look of disdain on her face.
“What are you making these for?” you ask, curiosity getting the better of you. She gestures to the east.
“Some bastard across the bridge. Now piss off,” she says in no uncertain terms before going back to work. A couple of other scavengers glance up, but you’re clearly not interesting enough to stop working for. You keep watching for a moment longer before leaving them to their own devices.
END.
Add Resolve to your character sheet.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and Return to the Scavenger Village (Chapter 10, L.10) to map.
9.7
You walk up to the small group and hold out your badge. Eventually, they realise that you’re there and begin to slow down in their work before ceasing altogether to inspect your identification. One of them gives a shout to the only man still working.
He stands up from where he was stoking the fire, his face a ruddy red from the heat and his beard covered in flecks of ash – a couple appear to still be smouldering. It gives him the appearance of some sort of fire demon and you can understand why he’s the leader. Nobody would want to fight him.
He takes you in for a moment and a look of recognition crosses his face. Your badge and uniform are easily identifiable to those who have seen it before, after all. His nostrils flare like a great bull.
“Whaddya want?” he asks, his voice gruff and loud, the sort of voice that leaves no room for argument.
“I want help,” you say honestly, and a smile that’s closer to a sneer crosses his face.
“Oh, aye? It’ll cost ya,” he laughs.
Offer him medicine – Turn to 9.10, Needs Morphine.
* * *
Offer him food – Turn to 9.11, Needs Survival.
* * *
Offer to help – Turn to 9.14.
* * *
Threaten him – Turn to 9.12, Needs Hand-to-Hand Combat.
* * *
Remain quiet under his gaze – Turn to 9.13.
9.8
“Workin’ for a warlord. I dunno his name. We ain’t never met before,” he states. His voice is still gravelly and short, but you get the sense he doesn’t object to explaining to you what he’s doing. He clearly takes pride in the work.
“A warlord?” you parrot, and he nods.
“Yeah. Don’t like to get too involved with ’em but they pay, eh? We take the goods to the bridge and his men pick ’em up from there. Now unless you’re gonna buck up and help out, be on yer way, outsider,” he goes back to stoking the fire. You’re reluctant to get any further involved with them but do make a note of where he pointed when he spoke of the bridge. If a lot of trade happens there, there’s a chance your group headed that way. You leave the scavengers to their work and head back to the ruins.
END.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and Return to the Scavenger Village (Chapter 10, L.10) to map.
9.9
“Yer group?” he asks, a look of disdain on his face. “Aye, we saw ’em.” For a moment your excitement rises, but it’s quickly extinguished when he tells you, “About a month back. We were travellin’ by and stopped to ask if they wanted any trade. That bitch one, the girl with the pinched face, told us they weren’t interested.”
You think back to the camp and decide he’s probably talking about Mari. You find yourself smiling at the idea of them interacting.
“If they moved, they pro’ly went to the city. East. You won’t get there from ’ere though. Only crossing point for miles is the bridge.”
He points in the general direction of where he means before he gets back to work. You thank him for his help and start to pick your way back through the wreckage of the town, a renewed hope blooming in your chest that you might have found a clue at long last.
END.
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9.10
“I have medicine,” you say, reaching into your pack and pulling out your first aid kit. He watches carefully as you rummage around in it and pull out some of your bandages and the vials of morphine. He takes them both roughly from you and observes them, before throwing the vials in the fire and pocketing the bandages.
“It’ll do,” he sniffs, and you watch with horror as the plastic bottles melt into nothing under the strength of the heat. You wonder if he knew what he threw away.
“You got a map?”
You pass it to him reluctantly, and he scribbles something on it with a piece of charcoal. When he hands it back you see that there are directions on how to get to a bridge, and on from that to a city.
You leave without looking back and hear laughter behind you. You decide you don’t like scavengers.
END.
Remove Morphine from your inventory.
Add Resolve to your character sheet.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and Return to the Scavenger Village (Chapter 10, L.10) to map.
9.11
“I have food,” you say, bringing out a small pouch from the side of your bag and presenting it to him. The man takes it from you with a calloused hand and looks at the contents – berries you scavenged - before roaring with laughter.
“These’ll make you shit like no man’s business, outsider. You’re either tryin’ t’ poison yourself or me.”
He notices the look of horror on your face and laughs again, throwing the bag into the fire.
“You got a map?” His face is now full of pity.
You dutifully pass it to him and he scribbles something on there with a piece of charcoal. When he hands it back you see that there are directions on how to get to a bridge, and on from that to a city.
You leave without looking back and hear laughter behind you. You decide you don’t like scavengers.
END.
Add DO NOT EAT (F.15) to Berries (F.14) in your notebook.
Add Resolve to your character sheet.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and Return to the Scavenger Village (Chapter 10, L.10) to map.
9.12
Your movements are quick enough to surprise him. You grab one of his strong hands and take ad
vantage of his size to pull him over and into a headlock. He lets out a gasp and you begin to pull his head closer and closer to the burning white metal of the improvised smelter.
“Stop!” screams one of the scavengers. “Stop! You’ve got to go to the bridge, it’s a few miles east! Just leave him alone!”
You look over to where the voice came from and see a look of horror on the scavenger’s face. She looks like she’s related to the leader.
“Please,” she begs, “I’m telling the truth.”
You throw the man down, not caring if he hits the fire, before turning on your heel and leaving. You hear a commotion behind you from the scavengers and feel a sense of superiority.
END.
Add Cruelty to your character sheet.
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9.13
“What? Are you deaf or somethin’?” he asks. You want to reply but you’re scared, too scared. This man looks like he could break you with one hand. If you say the wrong thing, he might take offence and prove just how fragile you are.
He snorts and rolls his eyes.
“You got a map?”
You scrabble in your pack and pass it to him. He scribbles something on there with a piece of charcoal. When he hands it back, you see that there are directions on how to get to a bridge, and on from that to a city.
You leave without looking back and hear laughter behind you. You decide you don’t like scavengers.
END.
Add Instability to your character sheet.
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9.14
“Do you need any help?” you ask. He goes to laugh but thinks better of it, looking at you up and down once again.
“You won’t get paid.”
“I just want help in return,” you confess.
He sniffs. “All right. Help Tom fill the crucibles.”
You spend the rest of the day doing demanding physical labour. The metal is hot and heavy, and hard to pour, but the scavengers are nothing if not experts. Before you know it, all the copper in the smelter is gone and dozens more moulds have been filled. It’s hard, but it’s also satisfying to be doing work that means something again.
Evening is drawing in by the time you’ve finished. The leader shakes your hand and you feel like he means it.
“You got a map?” he asks.
You dutifully pass it to him and he scribbles something on there with a piece of charcoal. When he hands it back, you see that there are directions on how to get to a bridge, and on from that to a city.
“This is where you’ll want to look if you’re after people. All sorts of folks crossin’ the bridge. Maybe yours too.”
They offer you a place to stay for the night, but you want to start moving with what little sunlight is left. The sooner you get to the bridge, the sooner you catch up to your group. You bid them goodbye and head into the setting sun.
END.
Add Crucible Tom (E.6) to your character sheet.
Add Compassion to your character sheet.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) and Return to the Scavenger Village (Chapter 10, L.10) to map.
Chapter 10
Return to the Scavenger Village
10.1
Honestly, it’s hard to tell there were ever people here at all. If you hadn’t seen the previous campsite yourself, this would look like any of the other ruins – desolate, crumbling, empty. You double-check on your map to make sure you’re even in the right place at all and find that yes, the scavengers you met before were here… but who knows where they’ve gone now. The only sign they were ever here are the scorch marks left by the smelting furnace and even those will only pop out from the greys and browns of the street if you know to look for them.
It feels eerie to be out here by yourself. Without the hubbub of the rag-tag group there’s almost a sense of foreboding in the air – like it’s quiet, too quiet, and something is about to snap.
You try to shake the thought from your head. You’re just being paranoid. It’s a shame the scavengers aren’t here, but there’s also no point dwelling on it – it might still be worth investigating the area to see if there’s a chance that they left anything behind, though.
Explore the houses – Turn to 10.2.
* * *
Look closer at the camp remains – Turn to 10.3.
10.2
You step into one of the crumbling ruins of what was once probably a nice-looking townhouse. It seemed to have had two storeys, you can see where the stairs collapsed in on themselves, but by now everything has fallen down onto the first floor. It’s a shame; if it was still standing, it probably would have been quite a nice-looking place.
Inspecting the ruins further, you see that what’s left of the walls have been prised open messily, and the cavities inside are empty – your mind jumps back to the woman with her sledgehammer and her two accomplices stripping the building of its copper. You explore a couple more ruined houses and find them in much the same state as the first. It seems the scavengers were very thorough in their search, leaving no stone unturned, picking each shamble clean, like carrion birds on an animal corpse. Waste not want not, you suppose; it’s not like anyone else was getting any use out of the old wiring. In a way it’s nice to know it’s being repurposed into something useful for the people who are still alive.
The sound of something crumbling makes you jump and look to the street. Is someone out there? Or is it your fear getting the better of you?
Hide – Turn to 10.4.
* * *
Investigate – Turn to 10.5.
* * *
Confront – Turn to 10.6.
10.3
You spend some time looking closer and realise there are more remains than you first thought. You see a couple of discarded copper pipes which have been thrown off into the debris of a collapsed house, ones which were bent out of shape just enough to make them unsellable. It seems a shame they couldn’t just melt them down and try again, but it did look like they were working to a schedule. It appears they simply didn’t have time.
There are some bootprints, too, almost completely gone from the effects of the wind. Heavy treads are stamped into the ground and point at which way they were heading to. Following the trail with your eyes, you can see they were likely heading towards the only other visible landmark you can spy – the bridge, sitting snugly over a river some distance away.
Collect the pipes – Turn to 10.7.
* * *
Survey the area – Turn to 10.8.
10.4
It might only be your imagination, but you don’t want to test that theory and be proved wrong. Instead, you tuck yourself into the collapsed staircase of this building, contorting your body in order to hide in the gap that’s been left by the debris. You keep your ears pricked and breathing shallow in order to hear any little sound that might be coming from outside.
Time passes.
Nothing happens.
After a good ten minutes of silence, you decide it’s safe to come out, placing your feet as lightly on the crumbled concrete as you can in order not to draw too much attention to yourself. Unwilling to use the main door of the building – or where you think the main door used to be, judging by the bits of frame that still stand valiantly despite the fallen wall – you make your way to a smashed-through window and carefully navigate your way through it and back to the outside.
Your pace is quick and you don’t glance over your shoulder. Whatever was behind you has been left behind. Instead you hurry towards the only landmark you can see; the bridge that sits snugly over a river some distance away. Hopefully being around people will make you feel… safer.
END.
Add Instability to your character sheet.
Add The Bridge (Chapter 11, L.11) to map.
10.5
Carefully, you observe what�
��s happening outside the building, making sure to keep your body tucked away behind the remnants of a wall. You flatten yourself to the stonework and peep your head out round the side.
There’s someone there. Judging by what you can see, they look like a raider. Their shirt is off and they have a heavy machete swinging on their hip. Their face is set in an angry growl and on the wind you can pick up angry curse words falling from their lips, only multiplied when they kick a rock angrily. It makes you jump, but not enough to give away your hiding spot.