by HL TRUSLOVE
To the east, the buildings continue, standing in uniform rows. Perhaps your group went along that way, since the rubble has largely been cleared from the streets?
Either of them might be good places to search. For now the sun is going down and you find a place amongst the ruined buildings to camp for the night, taking advantage of a full night’s sleep before you push on in the morning.
END.
Add Resolve to your character sheet.
Add Statue Sketch (O.15) to your inventory.
Add The Church (Chapter 14, L.14) and The Streets (Chapter 28, L.28) to map.
13.7
You take out your map, looking at the annotations on it both in your hand and from those who have helped you along the way. It takes you a moment to cross-reference your location, as you have to try to pinpoint where you are based on the surrounding land rather than the city itself, and with surprise you find you’re much further east than you initially thought. Nobody from your vault has ever been out this far. You feel a little thrill at that – you’re exploring unmarked territory.
To the north of the plaza, you can see a tall spire reaching up into the sky – maybe your group headed for it, the tall point acting like a beacon for the weary traveller?
To the east, the buildings continue, standing in uniform rows. The rubble has been cleared from the road to make a more manageable path. If they had carts with them, they might have gone that way.
Either way seems like a good place to search. But for now, the sun is going down and you find a place amongst the ruined buildings to camp for the night, taking advantage of a full night’s sleep before you push on in the morning.
END.
Add The Church (Chapter 14, L.14) and The Streets (Chapter 28, L.28) to map.
Chapter 14
The Church
14.0
Turn to 14.1.
* * *
Turn to 14.1a, Needs ‘Ark’ as your boat name.
14.1
If you thought the building was tall from far away, that impression pales in comparison to what it’s like up close. The only other thing you’ve seen that’s comparable in size was the ship, and even then that was a totally different kind of grandeur.
While the ship was a juggernaut of metal and rust, this building is something else. It’s made of brown stone and grey slate and is in surprisingly good condition considering the state of the buildings that surround it. They’ve all succumbed to age and decay, but it seems like effort has been put into this place to keep it standing.
People are milling about, passing outside and filing in through where the great wooden doors have been left ajar. You tug your pack tightly to you and follow them in. Perhaps your group passed through here on their travels.
There is no entryway, instead the outside leads straight into a large hall. It’s a large, open space and seems to take up almost all of the building, with only a few side rooms. Despite the effort at upkeep, some of the roof has fallen away and light filters in along with a few smug-looking pigeons who have perched amongst the rafters.
Humans come and go, pigeons continue.
The floor is of nicely kept stone. Wooden benches line either side of a worn-out strip of carpet that leads to the far end of the room, where a tall cross stands with nails embedded into it. The room is lit up with a sea of colours, and you see the source is the sunlight being filtered through stained glass, depicting a man with long hair and a beard.
Oh, you think, it’s a church. It’s completely different to the worship rooms you had back in the vault. This must have been where they got the inspiration for the décor – coloured glass and rows of seats all facing an altar.
You didn’t spend much time there. Religion seemed to be something older members of the community clung to. You didn’t really understand why or how anyone could believe in all that after the war had happened – especially those who lived through it. Eventually, you gave up trying to figure it out and let those who chose to worship worship. There was no point causing a fuss.
You make your way along the centre aisle. A couple of people sit with their heads bowed. They don’t look up at you.
Inspect the cross – Turn to 14.2.
* * *
Inspect the edges of the building – Turn to 14.3.
* * *
Inspect the window – Turn to 14.4.
14.1a
If you thought the building was tall from far away, that impression pales in comparison to what it’s like up close. The only other thing you’ve seen that’s comparable was the ship, and even then that was a totally different kind of grandeur. While the ship was a juggernaut of metal and rust, this building is something else. It’s made of brown stone and grey slate and is in surprisingly good condition, considering the other buildings that surround it. They’ve all succumbed to age and decay, but it seems like effort was actually put into this place to keep it standing.
People are milling about, both passing outside and filing in through the great wooden doors that have been left ajar. You tug your pack tightly to you and follow them in – perhaps your group passed through here on their travels.
There is no entryway; instead, the outside leads straight into a large hall. It’s a large, open space and seems to take up almost all of the building, except for a few side rooms. Despite the effort at upkeep, some of the roof has fallen away and light filters in along with a few smug-looking pigeons who have perched amongst the rafters.
Humans come and go, pigeons continue.
The floor is made of nicely kept stone. Wooden benches line either side of a worn-out strip of carpet that leads to the far end of the room, where a tall cross stands with nails embedded into it. The room is lit up with a sea of colours and you see the source is the sunlight being filtered through stained glass depicting a man with long hair and a beard.
Oh, you think, it’s a church. It’s completely different to the worship rooms you had back in the vault. This must have been where they got the inspiration for the décor – coloured glass and rows of seats, all facing an altar.
You didn’t spend much time there. Religion seemed to be something older members of the community clung to. You didn’t really understand why, or how anyone could believe in all that after the war, especially those who lived through it.
Eventually, you gave up and let those who chose to worship worship. There was no point causing a fuss.
The whole scene makes you think of your journey over, discussing boat names with your two companions, and Viktor’s command, cutting through the wind, that your boat name should be Ark. Although it took you by surprise, you and Gaia accepted the suggestion anyway.
Viktor. You sigh for a moment as you think about him. You hope he’s all right.
You steel yourself. If you find the group, you get answers.
You make your way along the centre aisle. A couple of people sit with their heads bowed. They don’t look up at you.
Inspect the cross – Turn to 14.2.
* * *
Inspect the edges of the building – Turn to 14.3.
* * *
Inspect the window – Turn to 14.4.
14.2
The cross is old and weathered, but made of wood; it’s almost certainly post-war. All the nails that have been driven into it are different shapes and sizes, and seem to have been hammered in with various levels of skill, almost as if they’ve been left by hundreds of different people.
From the glass windows, the setting sun is filtering through, highlighting every speck of floating, silver dust. There is a lot of it in here, showing this building’s age – although it seems the benches are kept clean, dust has settled on a lot of ledges, too high for anyone to reach and wipe away.
The base of the cross is crowded with items. Fruit, from fresh to rotting, old clothing, even a few coins you guess were once used for currency. Some of the offerings here have clearly been left for ages, out of respect, but there is a horrible smell from where the older gifts have succumbed to age and
have turned sour with mould. Your nose wrinkles at the stench.
Take an offering – Turn to 14.5.
* * *
Leave an offering – Turn to 14.6.
* * *
Inspect the rest of the building – Turn to 14.3.
14.3
Walking between pillars lining the side of the building, you get a sense of the size of the room. Sunbeams streak in through the brightly coloured windows and the cracks in the roof alike, illuminating the thousands of specks of dust that make their home in this vast place. You almost loathe to cut through their little dances as you walk along the wall, running your fingers over the rough stonework and smooth columns.
Your journey takes you past the cross in the back of the hall and further into the church. The dust has settled here and gets in your nose; you have to scrunch it to stop from sneezing and drawing attention to yourself.
There’s not much to look at back here. As you suspected when you entered the building, most of it is one room, the main hall of worship. There are a few chairs stacked high on top of each other, probably there in case they needed extra seating, but from the amount of grime you gather there’s not much of a call for them.
Apart from them, the only other thing worth looking at back here is an old door. It’s wooden and looks newer than the stone surrounding it, so you guess it’s been replaced reasonably recently. It’s set with wrought iron to strengthen it, and a lock is on the handle – a sturdy one, but not unbreakable, you decide as you look it over, but the noise you create might call attention...
Break open the lock – Turn to 14.7, Needs Hand-to-Hand Combat.
* * *
Pick the lock – Turn to 14.8, Needs Engineering.
* * *
Inspect the glass window – Turn to 14.4.
* * *
Inspect the cross – Turn to 14.2.
14.4
You walk towards the window and feel an odd sense of calm wash over you. The sun filtering through it is warm on your face and gives you a feeling of comfort that you haven’t experienced for a long time. You take a moment to close your eyes and bask in it.
You’ve never seen anything like this. From what you remember, the worship room in your vault was a clinical, white thing. There were holy books and pews, but nothing like this. You wonder how long it took to make the window, the craftsman setting up the glass just right, making sure everything was beautiful before it went to its new home. You’re amazed it outlasted the war, but you find yourself glad that it did.
A pigeon taking flight behind you shocks you back into the moment. You turn and see a pair hopping off a rafter and rising up through the hole in the roof, all feathers and rustling. Not exactly the most elegant of birds. It seems rude that they’ve decided to make a home here.
Your eyes fall down and you notice you’re being watched. There’s a young girl keeping an eye on you from where she sits at the pew. She looks no older than fourteen, and gives you a little nod before turning her head back to bow before the cross.
Three men enter the building. They’re dressed in rough, hessian robes, tied at the waist with a cord belt. Their heads are shaved and they walk slowly towards the altar. Their mouths are open and they are singing, letting out a haunting harmony which fills every inch of the space and echoes into a crescendo.
Sit with the girl – Turn to 14.9.
* * *
Talk to the men – Turn to 14.10.
* * *
Leave the building – Turn to 14.11.
14.5
You inspect the offerings further. There’re some bones between scraps of fabric and food; perhaps they were placed here by hunters out of respect. You wonder how long some of this stuff has been here. For every ripe, crisp apple, there’s one that’s turned to rot beside it. There’s old-looking jewellery, even though you haven’t seen any of the people in this land wearing jewellery. Was it put here before the war? Perhaps just after, as the bombs fell?
In between the various gifts, you see a metal badge. It’s emblazoned with the guard’s insignia from the bridge, and could be useful to you. More useful to you than it is just sitting here abandoned, anyway. You pick it up and tuck it into your pocket.
When you turn, you notice you’re being watched. Three bald men in hessian robes are observing your actions and they look stunned, offended even.
Point to your badge – Turn to 14.12.
* * *
Speak with them – Turn to 14.13.
* * *
Ready your gun – Turn to 14.14, Needs Sharpshooter.
14.6
Carefully, you place your pack down so as to not make too much noise. This whole place is quiet and you’re loathe to disturb it with rustling.
You find something suitable, and lay it down in front of the cross. You’re not quite sure why. You were never a great follower of religion, but it seems… respectful, somehow.
You let a sense of calm and tranquillity wash over you. It’s probably all in your head. But it still feels nice.
A few moments pass and you feel a hand on your shoulder. You look up to see a group of men, all with bald heads and hessian robes, looking down at you. The one who’s reached out for you gives you a warm smile.
Add Compassion to your character sheet.
Remove Any Item from your inventory.
* * *
Point to your badge – Turn to 14.12.
* * *
Speak to them – Turn to 14.15.
14.7
The lock sits on a rough chain which keeps the door shut and locked. You hum quietly to yourself as you consider your best option. It doesn’t look particularly well made, and is rusting badly. They really need to update their security here. Hopefully, when whoever runs this place finds evidence of your break-in, they’ll get a move on.
You grab either end of the chain and pull. It holds fast at first, but you wrap either end around your fist and pull tighter. There’s an awfully loud groan as it begins to give. One more tug and you’re there, the old metal no match for your superior strength.
It falls with a heavy clang to the floor and you open the door behind it. Immediately in front of you is a staircase which spirals up further than you can see.
Follow the staircase – Turn to 14.16.
* * *
Leave quietly – Turn to 14.11.
14.8
You crouch by the lock and take it in your hand, inspecting it. It’s in surprisingly good condition and seems to be doing its job well, but you’re pretty sure it’s nothing you can’t handle.
You root through your pack as quietly as you can, trying to secure the tools you need. You bring out a narrow screwdriver and carefully insert it into the keyhole. It takes a bit of wiggling, but soon you hear the telltale click of the mechanism being sprung undone. It’s likely this lock was made shortly after the war, as it’s weak and not particularly complex.
Carefully, you put it on the floor and open the door it was holding shut, unwinding the heavy iron chains from around the handle. The doorway leads immediately to a staircase which spirals up further than you can see.
Follow the staircase – Turn to 14.16.
* * *
Leave quietly – Turn to 14.11.
14.9
The girl gives you a shy smile as you sit down on her pew, giving about a metre of space so she doesn’t feel crowded. She quickly goes back to clutching her hands together and mumbling some sort of prayer. You don’t want to disturb her further.
The men continue their eerie song as they make their way towards the cross. The longer you listen to it, the less unsettling you find it. It’s certainly haunting, but it also has a beauty to it. It’s easy to get lost in. You sit back and watch them for a little while.
Try to repeat the song – Turn to 14.17.
* * *
Leave the building – Turn to 14.18.
* * *
Wait quietly – Turn to 14.19.
14.10
The
three bald men encircle the cross at the shrine and continue to sing as they go. You don’t quite catch all of the words, but they don’t sound like the language you’ve heard the inhabitants of this world use. It sounds… older. Like it was ancient, even before the war.
