Surviving the Odds (Legacy) – 6 – Jeansen Vaars' Fiction House

Setup

Using PUM v8 preview 3 to play test the thing. Typing with Play by the Writing. Wish me luck.

Recap

Kyle, Adam, and Ida, were looking for Adam’s grandpa, but their “Wrangler” vehicle got jammed after an assault with EMP grenades… they never figured where it came from, and there was no follow up either (Weird).

With the Power Node busted, they went on the lookout for a replacement, and found a raider’s outpost with a captive android! That called for good replacement parts, if they happened to have any other androids inside.

Which they did! But… Adam got trapped outside while sneaking in, and he got captured by raiders, while Kyle and Ida found the Androids, the replacement, but now need to rescue Adam!

World events

1-2 The fall left many clues behind
3-4 Physical anomalies and lights
5-6 Machines are waking up, grandpa says
7-8 Raiders hunting machines
9-10 ADD NEW OR REROLL

Important encounters

1-2 Raiders
3-4 Aggressive androids
5-6 Some weird anomaly
7-8 Traps or hazards
9-10 ADD NEW OR REROLL

Things to find

1-2 Some way to unlock the androids
3-4 Grandpa!
5-6 A freaking POWER Node!
7-8 Adam???
9-10 ADD NEW OR REROLL

Pending questions

1-2 Where did they take Adam?
3-4 Where is Grandpa?
5-6 What are the raiders doing with the androids?
7-8 CHOOSE OR REROLL
9-10 ADD NEW OR REROLL

Scene 1

🎲 Are the Raiders coming back to the building with Adam? (subjective) → Yes, but…
So, some Raiders are coming back to the building, but not all of them.
🎲 Is Adam with the group coming back? → Yes, apparently

Ida: “They’re coming back, Kyle, they’re coming back!” – says Ida worried, struggling to keep her voice down
Kyle: “All of them? Where’s Adam?”
Ida: “I think they’re bringing him back inside” – says Ida while trying to peek through the window’s side
Kyle: “We’re outnumbered…” Kyle tries to think, fast

I took some time to think, so by the time trigger, it’s time for a prompt
🎲 Prompt → Introduce or learn about a new NPC
🎲 Who? → Someone who knows the area – 🎲 Focus → Enigma/Query

Ida: “Uh, oh. That doesn’t look good”
Kyle: “What now?” – asks Kyle, annoyed, while he tries to work the computer out so he can release the Androids from the vault.
Ida: “A guy has just arrived, he’s meeting the group outside. Is that a horse?”
Kyle: “a HORSE?” – the mention of a horse finally interrupts Kyle attention to the impossible machine

🎲 Would that be a normal “Horse”? → It depends (on skill)
lol, describe it
🎲 Mythic Creature descriptor → Air Tentacled

Kyle: “That’s not a horse!”
Ida: “How do YOU know?”
Kyle: “Aren’t horses like wheeled wooden giants?”
Ida: “Hmm… maybe you are right”
Kyle: “Alright, let me FOCUS, Ida” – turns back to get into the server, trying to figure out how to control the vault locks to free the now turned on Androids down there

Ida’s curiosity is on the “Horse”, a large mechanical androidic superstructure with legs and a cabin from where a hooded, agile man climbs down from. He appears to be bringing some scavenging material for the group, but despite being important, doesn’t seem to be the leader. Perhaps the leader’s Son? Thinks Ida.

Kyle will focus on Scrapheap Ingenuity to wire up and patching up that system to disable the vault, checking any mechanical connections from the computers room over there in that warehouse.

GM chooses one downside:
1-2 Someone needs to stay with it up to its activation
3-4 It’ll require some potent energy source
5-6 It needs to charge up before it triggers
🎲 1d6: [3] = 3 → It’ll require some potent energy source

Ida will focus on studying the raiders, their leadership, his son, their movements, and this “mecha-horse” they have around, to hold up some intel for later. She then invokes Agent allows her to reveal a secret when using her skill (in this case, diplomacy) and gets a fleeting advantage acting on it later.

From PUM, invoking “RPG matters: A well-deserved breakthrough” roll to voluntarily call a plot question and have an answer to it:
🎲 Question → 3-4 Where is Grandpa?
No way, HUGE plot twist

The hooded man appears to be distributing some scavenging material, that of, including incredibly valuable android-like replacement parts and heavy equipment he’s bringing down from the horse.

Kyle: “Fuck, this thing will never work. It runs out of energy before I can power up the vault. Need some real juice…”
Ida: “You’ve got to be kidding me…” – says while looking through the window
Kyle: “No, I am not kidding, we need some sort of power generator that…”
Ida: “NO, no, I mean… COME, is that…?”
Kyle: “Who???” – Kyle approaches the window

The hooded makes hands gestures to call back the raiders walking to the building, who were taking Adam as prisoner. They turn around, and one of them comes back. The hooded man approaches them.

As they bring a disabled Adam in front of him, the hooded man reveals his face. An old man, in his 60s, seems to fully recognize Adam, and Adam to him, likewise. The hooded man slaps Adam in the face, the sound of the clashing hand into Adam’s skin shakes off some mutant birds who fly away from the radioactive liquid they were drinking nearby.

Kyle: “Fuck”

It is Adam’s Grandpa.

Scene 2

Ida: “What do we do???”
Kyle: “I think we should get the hell out of here”
Ida: “But that’s HIM. I mean, with the raiders?”
Kyle: “Yeah, I bet he’s having some sort of deal to get access to this Android power-warehouse, in exchange for high-tech fluff…”
Ida: “That can’t be… the elders will banish him from home!”
Kyle: “As if the Elders could do anything, they even LISTEN to (🎲 Need a name → Ve Ia) Vesla (Adam’s Grandpa)”

They continue to see what do they do with Adam, but ready to escape if it needs to be.

🎲 Prompt (what happens then down there???) → Handle an important encounter
🎲 Which encounter? → 7-8 Traps or hazards
🎲 But what were they doing at the time? → Protecting domain/place

Vesla: “What are you doing here, Adam? How did you find this place?) (🎲 need to figure out Vesla’s attitude, I am inclining toward him being kind of an asshole now, SUM attitude unfavorable → Hide away, avoid direct eye contact, shy away). Why are you making me do this? You have been always in the wrong location, at the wrong time…”

He continues to instruct the other raiders:

Vesla: “Lock him up, take him away from me. I’ll deal with him later, and cloak his eyes before you get them in there, you fools”

A strong radioactive sandstorm begins to build up, now it might be a bad idea from Kyle and Ida to get out in the wasteland to escape… but staying inside will also be big time.

I spent more than a minute thinking here, so I apply the one-minute rule, LOL
🎲 Prompt → Put characters in a situation: Risk harming a relationship
No kidding, lol, this was going to happen anyway. But the Elders WILL want to know.

Kyle: “I think we should rescue Adam, they’re locking him inside”
Ida: “What??? But Vesla won’t harm him! We should go, tell the Elders”
Kyle: “No, Adam might not see the sunlight again, we might not see him again if we leave him here”
Ida: “Then… we need to power up that system to unleash the Androids?”
Kyle: “That would be the plan B…”
Ida: “And the plan A?”
Kyle: “I don’t have a plan A, Ida!” – He’s definitely nervous, trying to hold it back against her, she gets offended a bit but manages to overcome the situation and try to think of something too…

To be continued…

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