by HL TRUSLOVE
“It’s make-up.”
“Make-up?”
“You know, what some people put on their faces. Look.”
You take a pinch of the stuff again and rub it into the skin on the man’s forearm, demonstrating how it’s meant to even out skin tone. The man looks surprised.
“Interesting. Not useful though,” he sighs, tightening the lid back on. He’s right. Nobody uses make-up any more – the closest thing to it that you’ve seen out here is on raiders. Even then, the look they go for is to distract from the blood they’re covered in.
Or maybe to add to the look – you’re not sure.
“Well, thank you anyway,” the man says with a smile as he puts the little tub away. You accept his thanks with a shrug and wonder where the little pot will end up, or if they’ll just throw it out if they find it can’t be sold.
Add one of Compassion, Cruelty, Instability, OR Resolve to your character sheet once.
* * *
Turn to 24.6.
24.14
You pick up the book as carefully as you can. It’s brittle, and hasn’t been well taken care of. The pages stick together from damp, but you can make out a few words here and there and start to read them aloud.
It’s an old story, you gather that from the language. It isn’t written how people speak nowadays, nor how they spoke before the war. It’s old-fashioned.
It’s about a girl who falls down a hole and encounters all sorts of strange creatures. You’re going to stop after a paragraph but you see the children have started paying attention – along with a couple of the adults. You feel prompted to continue, and you find you read for a couple of hours, the people of the caravan hooked on the strange story. Eventually, the book gets into such a bad condition you can’t read any further but it looks like a couple of people have already nodded off. The man smiles at you.
“Well, looks like we might be onto something. This could be worth a fair bit of money.”
You pass the book back to him and he smiles at you. You don’t really care about the value of it, but it was a nice way to pass the evening. You wonder if you’ll ever find a copy of the book where you can read the end.
Add or Remove one of Compassion, Cruelty, Instability, OR Resolve from your character sheet once.
* * *
Turn to 24.6.
24.15
The box seems to be some sort of puzzle. It involves twisting the wooden outside to get access to whatever it’s holding. You tell the man this and he gives you free rein to try to solve the thing.
You spend the evening doing so, moving the little puzzle this way and that and listening out for the telltale clicks that mean you’ve moved the piece into the right position. You’re so lost in your work it’s a complete surprise when the thing comes undone in your hands.
A few delicate silver chains fall onto your lap. You pick them up and observe them in the firelight. A little dirty, yes, but far better than they would have been had they not had the box to protect them.
The man wanders over to have a look, and you pass him what you found.
“Jewellery. Nobody will want that,” he says with a chuckle. It’s not something you’ve seen anyone wear out here. Why spend money on frivolous things like that when you could be getting food, you suppose.
Instead, you watch the man divide it all up amongst his group. He offers you a necklace which you take, just in case.
Remove one of Compassion, Cruelty, Instability, OR Resolve from your character sheet once.
Add Jewellery (O.17) to your inventory.
* * *
Turn to 24.6.
24.16
“Actually,” you say, knowing you won’t be of any help to him identifying, “I was hoping to do some trade with you.”
“Of course,” says the man. “What have you got on you, friend? I’m sure we can work out a deal.”
You spend the evening going through what you’ve picked up while you’ve been out in this land and swapping it for more helpful things – a new, larger water skein, some thermal socks. It’s a productive evening, all in all, and you feel ready to face a new day tomorrow.
You may remove as many items from your Inventory as you like.
Add the Caravan Trade (P.2) to the Perks section of your character sheet, marking the number of items you removed on the sticker. You may ignore a trait change by reducing your Caravan Trade sticker value by one, to a minimum of zero.
* * *
Turn to 24.6.
Chapter 25
The Radio Tower
25
IF YOU HAVE GAIA WITH YOU:
Read each option G in sections 1,4 and 6 if you are instructed to go to those numbered sections.
25.0
Turn to 25.1, Cannot have Gaia’s Badge OR Gaia in Tow.
* * *
Turn to 25.1a, Needs Gaia’s Badge.
* * *
Turn to 25.1G, Needs Gaia in Tow.
25.1
Your chest almost bursts with excitement, relief, exhaustion when you see the tower rising up from the horizon.
You did it.
You’re here.
No time to slow down, though. Every moment you’re not moving is a moment your group could be getting further away. Your walk turns to a jog as you approach it.
The tower’s shape ebbs into focus. A huge metal triangle pointing up towards the sky with strange circles stuck to it – wait, not circles. Discs? For receiving and sending signals, you think. The ones on the radio tower are thick and brown with rust, plant vines crawling round and wrapping them up.
You hope they still work.
A squat building sits beneath the radio tower. The control centre, almost certainly. It’s dark, but you can’t see anybody moving inside.
Inspect the discs – Turn to 25.2, Needs Engineering.
* * *
Survey the area – Turn to 25.3.
* * *
Try to get into the squat building – Turn to 25.4.
25.1G
Your chest almost bursts when you see the tower rising up from the horizon. With excitement, relief, exhaustion. You did it. You’re here.
“Oh my god,” says Gaia, echoing your thoughts. She can’t believe it either.
No time to slow down, though. Every moment you’re not moving is a moment your group can get further away. Your walk turns into a jog as you approach it, Gaia hot on your heels.
The tower’s shape ebbs into focus. A huge metal triangle pointing up towards the sky with strange circles stuck to it. Wait, not circles – discs? For receiving and sending signals. The ones on the radio tower are thick and brown with rust, plant vines crawling round and wrapping them up. You hope they still work.
A squat building sits beneath the radio tower. The control centre, almost certainly. It’s dark, and you can’t see anybody moving inside.
“It’s kinda spooky round here,” says Gaia.
“Yeah,” you say. It is. Eerily quiet, oddly still. “I’m going to try and look around.”
“Stay safe.”
You nod your agreement and move onwards. Gaia’s been nothing but worried about you since the two of you started travelling here. You can’t really blame her, you suppose. Best just not to give her any more reason to worry.
Inspect the discs – Turn to 25.2, Needs Engineering.
* * *
Survey the area – Turn to 25.3.
* * *
Try to get into the squat building – Turn to 25.4G.
25.1a
Your chest almost bursts when you see the tower rising up from the horizon. With excitement, relief, exhaustion. You did it. You’re here.
No time to slow down, though. Every moment you’re not moving is a moment your group can get further away, and you want to make sure Gaia’s all right. Your walk turns into a jog as you approach it.
The tower’s shape becomes more defined as you approach. A huge metal triangle pointing up towards the sky with strange circles stuck to it. Wai
t, not circles – discs? For receiving and sending signals. The ones on the radio tower are thick and brown with rust, plant vines crawling round and wrapping them up. You hope they still work.
A squat building sits beneath the radio tower. The control centre, almost certainly. It’s dark, and you can’t see anybody moving inside.
And then, suddenly, there’s another figure. She stands up and stretches when she spots you, then comes towards you in almost a skip.
“I thought you might not turn up,” she says. She’s smiling, but you can still hear a hint of nervousness in her voice.
“Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked. Are you all right?”
“Oh, I’m fine. I’ve not been inside yet.” She points to the building beneath the tower. “I was… worried about doing it alone.”
After everything she’s been through, you can’t blame her.
“All right. I’ll look around then.”
“Be careful!”
“I will.” You reach out and touch her hand supportively. It seems to reassure her, and then you head off towards the mysterious tower.
Inspect the discs – Turn to 25.2, Needs Engineering.
* * *
Survey the area – Turn to 25.3.
* * *
Try to get into the squat building – Turn to 25.4G.
25.2
You walk through crisp, dry grass which crunches under your heavy soles. You hope it’s not attracting any unwanted attention to you. You aren’t completely sure yet if there’s anyone unfriendly in the tower.
The closer you get, the more it dawns on you. They're not discs. They’re satellite dishes. You know what they are from back in the vault, having seen them being brought in from the outside for repair. Those ones were in far better shape though, even before they were fixed.
When you left for the old world, you remember seeing them again. You, Gaia and Viktor making the trek to the port, the tall radio tower sticking out from the top of the vault and waving you goodbye. The only thing distinguishing where the vault sat, buried underground.
They look overgrown and like they’ve seen better days, but from here you can’t see any obvious reason why they shouldn’t work. You take a step closer and wrap your hands around what vines you can reach, tugging them away and clearing as much as possible. It seems to help, at least making them look better. But the only way you’ll know more is if you test them.
Survey the area – Turn to 25.3.
* * *
Get into the building – Turn to 25.4G, Needs Gaia in Tow OR Gaia’s Badge.
* * *
Get into the building – Turn to 25.4, Cannot have Gaia in Tow OR Gaia’s Badge.
25.3
You take a moment to walk the perimeter of the building, checking every place you can. It doesn’t look like there’s anybody here, but it’s something you’d rather double-check. You don’t want any more nasty surprises when you’re so close to finding your group.
The place is terribly overgrown. Grass as high as your knees, weeds in knots to trip you. You have to take large, slow steps to get anywhere. Judging by the fact that nothing has been trodden down, you guess you’ve been the only one to make this journey for a while. Nothing looks too suspicious, a couple of insects rustle through the grass but nothing more.
And then you see it.
Snuggled at the back of the building, almost hidden by the tall grass, is a tent. It’s propped up by the building’s wall to give a solid structure. It looks overgrown, like the tower, but you’ve learned to be careful by now. Just because it looks safe doesn’t mean it is.
Look through the tent – Turn to 25.5.
* * *
Get into the building – Turn to 25.4G, Needs Gaia in Tow OR Gaia’s Badge.
* * *
Get into the building – Turn to 25.4, Cannot have Gaia in Tow OR Gaia’s Badge.
25.4
You wade through the grass to the door of the squat building. The handle is rusty, having been too long exposed to the elements, and the wooden door is swollen in its frame – but it’s also rotting. All it takes is a strong shove with your shoulder and it opens easily.
The room smells strongly of must and decay; it doesn’t take too long to find the source. In front of the vast radio tower control panel, in a dusty wheeled chair, sits a skeleton.
Some of its bones have fallen to the floor, where gravity has pulled against what ligament was left and won. Its skull has lolled back and rests on the back of the chair, smiling blankly at the ceiling.
It is, of course, very dead, but it still makes you panic.
It can’t hurt you, and eventually you take a couple of tentative steps towards it. A spider runs out of one eye socket and into the other.
It’s a bit sad, really. This person died at this control panel. Waiting for someone to get back to them. Clearly, nobody did.
Or, maybe that’s not true. Maybe someone did find them, maybe someone was coming to get them and they passed away before those people arrived. And then they didn’t have the time to bury the corpse, so they left them here, a macabre doorman for the next visitors.
There’s no point dwelling on it. You turn your attention to the control panel.
It’s hard to tell if it’s still working. There’s a thick layer of dirt and dust covering it, but some of the machinery before the war was surprisingly robust.
Investigate the skeleton – Turn to 25.6.
* * *
Try to operate the Radio Tower – Turn to 25.7.
* * *
Try to operate the Radio Tower – Turn to 25.10, Needs Radio for Idiots.
25.4G
You wade through the grass to the door of the squat building. The handle is rusty, having been too long exposed to the elements, and the wooden door is swollen in its frame, which is also rotting. All it takes is a strong shoulder and it opens easily.
The room smells strongly of must and decay. Behind you, Gaia coughs loudly as the dust irritates her lungs. It doesn’t take long to find the source of it – in front of the vast control panel, in a dusty wheeled chair, sits a skeleton.
Some of its bones have fallen to the floor, where gravity has pulled against what ligament was left and won. Its skull has lolled back and rests on the back of the chair, smiling blankly at the ceiling.
“Oh my god,” Gaia whispers. You nod.
“Yeah,” is all you can say. You’ve seen death, but a skeleton... is… chilling.
It’s sad, really. This person died at the control panel. Waiting for someone to get back to them. And clearly, nobody did.
Or, maybe that’s not true. Maybe someone did find them, maybe someone was coming to get them and they passed away before those people arrived. And then they didn’t have the time to bury the corpse, so they left them here, a macabre doorman for the next visitors.
“We should look at the controls,” Gaia announces eventually, her voice cutting through the silence.
There’s no point dwelling on it. You nod and turn your attention to the control panel.
It’s hard to tell if it’s still working. There’s a thick layer of dirt and dust covering it, but some of the machinery before the war was surprisingly robust.
Investigate the skeleton – Turn to 25.6G.
* * *
Ask Gaia what to do – Turn to 25.8.
* * *
Try to operate the Radio Tower – Turn to 25.7.
* * *
Try to operate the Radio Tower – Turn to 25.10, Needs Radio for Idiots.
25.5
You take a stick and use the end of it to pull open the tent door – even if you’re not far away enough to be protected from any attacks, at least you’re not touching the dirt crusted fabric.
The tent is empty. You’re not sure if you were expecting something else, but it’s still a relief. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding and take a closer look.
There’s an old, bug-eaten sleeping mat lying on the floor. Clearly, it hasn’
t been used in years. You wrinkle your nose as a spider runs underneath it, making a note to avoid poking into it too much.
Any food supplies have long turned to piles of mould. There’s a foul stench that makes you gag the longer you stay here so you have to look quickly – so quickly, you almost pass over something important.
