The service corridor spills into the shattered Streets of New York City. Ruined towers lean over buried cars, and the Statue of Liberty rises from the rubble with only her upper body visible.
A battered radio hangs from a scavenged solar panel beside the exit, coughing through static: “Warning. Mortus activity confirmed. Follow the marked route through the eastern ruins.”
Roadkill clings to Sketch’s right shoulder, glossy black fur pressed low against his neck. Sketch looks toward the rat as the radio repeats the warning.
The Tactical Woman
The route is deliberate. Someone wants survivors moving east.
General Alissa Cyan steps into the open and scans the broken rooftops, visor catching pale sunlight. Her hand settles near her weapon without drawing it.
The Tactical Woman
Stay beneath the rooflines. If Mortus marked that path, it may be bait. If he did not, it may be our only lead.
Wind pushes ash through the avenue. Far ahead, a faded red arrow has been painted across a collapsed storefront, pointing between the ruins while the radio crackles behind them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the eastern broadcast is a trap
Director's note
Sketch reaches into his pocket to retrieve one of the walkie-talkies & hands it to Alissa
“Mortus is looking for me but he has no idea that I’m teamed up with you. If it is a trap, nothing will happen to you so long as you’re not seen with me. I snatched up two communication radios before we escaped the security room What do you say to us splitting up & approaching this broadcaster from two angles, General Cyan?”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +1)
Sketch Turner
Mortus is looking for me, but he has no idea I’m teamed up with you. If this is bait, you stay safe as long as we aren’t seen together. I grabbed two radios before we escaped. What do you say we split up and approach the broadcaster from two angles?
Sketch looks toward Roadkill on his right shoulder, then reaches into his pocket. A second battered walkie-talkie rests in General Alissa Cyan’s hand as ash skitters across the avenue.
The Tactical Woman
That is sound reasoning. I’ll take the western approach while you circle east. Keep your radio silent unless you spot the broadcaster or Mortus’s people.
General Alissa Cyan checks the radio’s cracked dial and points beneath the western roofline. The red arrow remains visible between them, guiding both routes toward the same ruined block.
Sketch Turner
The broadcaster is close enough that the static has a direction.
The Tactical Woman
Go. I’ll draw no attention. When we reach the source, we compare what we find before either of us closes in.
She slips west beneath the broken storefronts while Sketch moves east, Roadkill clinging low against his neck. The two radios carry only faint static as the distance opens between them.
+ New Item Acquired
Battered Radio
Director's notewhole tale
I’ll snake through the alleyways between buildings to avoid Mortus’ omnipresent all seeing eye.
Director's note
Sketch stopped talk aloud to himself at the sight of the source of the broadcast, standing at the end of the alley.
Director's note
He is predominantly clad in metallic crimson and fiery orange/yellow heavy plating, which segments across his muscular physique. His chest section features two glowing yellow oval plates resembling a furnace or power core. His right arm is extended forward, showcasing a large claw-like hand or mecha
“That weird, I’m pretty far from that mounted radio where someone was directing people to go east but I hear him over here in this alley, now. Is there another radio over he-… Oh, damn. It’s a Gravis cyborg. …I created a cybernetic monster.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +0)
Sketch snakes through the alleys between leaning buildings, keeping below the broken rooflines. The mounted radio fades behind him, but its broadcast grows clearer ahead, carried by another battered receiver.
Sketch Turner
That’s weird. I’m far from the mounted radio, but I hear the broadcaster over here now. Is there another radio in this alley?
Roadkill presses low against Sketch’s right shoulder, his torn ear twitching toward the sound. Sketch reaches into his pocket, retrieves the second walkie-talkie, and hands it to Alissa across the rubble.
The Tactical Woman
I have it. The signal is not coming from the street route. It is transmitting from inside the eastern ruins.
The alley opens ahead. A towering cyborg, an adult male Gravis cyborg with a blackened metal face, a single red eye, and exposed jointed limbs, stands at its end, predominantly clad in metallic crimson and fiery orange-yellow plating segmented over a muscular frame. Two glowing yellow oval plates burn across his chest like a furnace.
Sketch Turner
Oh, damn. It’s a Gravis cyborg. I created a cybernetic monster.
The cyborg’s right arm extends toward Sketch, ending in a broad claw-like mechanical hand. The walkie-talkie crackles from Alissa’s grip as the figure’s furnace-bright chest illuminates the dust.
Director's note
Sketch enters a kickboxing style fighting stance
Director's notewhole tale
Roadkill, sensing Sketch’s tensing muscles, hops down from his shoulder & enters his own defensive posture at between Sketch & Alissa. Faint static electricity can be seen dancing throughout his black fur.
Director's notewhole tale
Alissa exclaimed while pointing down at the visibly static charged rat.
Director's notewhole tale
At that moment the article broadcast emitted by the Gravis cyborg stopped, as the Cyborg began charging directly at sketch, with harmful intent.
“This Gravis was intercepting the radio frequency & created a false broadcast. I guess it’s safe to say that he’s the hook inside the bait. I created this thing so I know there’s only one way pass him I hope you have bandages & pain pills on hand for me, General Cyan because at the very least, I’m going to bloody my knuckles bashing in his face plate. Roadkill is an electric rat!? Oh, I guess so. Roadkill must have retained the electricity from the lightning bolt that struck my art desk, while he was napping on it!”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled +0)
Sketch Turner
That Gravis was intercepting the frequency and feeding us a false broadcast. He’s the hook inside Mortus’s bait. I know the only way past him, and I’ll need bandages and pain pills afterward, General Cyan.
Sketch looks to Roadkill, then slips the walkie-talkie from his pocket and hands it to General Alissa Cyan. The rat drops between them, static visibly dancing through his black fur as he braces.
The Tactical Woman
Roadkill is charged. Point that electricity at the cyborg, Sketch!
The broadcast cuts off. At the alley’s end, the Gravis cyborg lowers his crimson and orange-plated frame and charges, furnace-yellow chest plates blazing beneath the dust.
Sketch Turner
Roadkill’s an electric rat? The lightning must have left its charge in him while he slept on my art desk.
Sketch plants his feet in a kickboxing stance and meets the rush. His fist smashes into the cyborg’s face plate, buckling it inward, but the impact splits his knuckles and jolts his arm numb.
The Tactical Woman
You got through the plate! Fall back one step and let me see that hand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get past the Gravis cyborg
Quest Complete
Determine whether the eastern broadcast is a trap
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb
Director's note
I hear Alissa but I have to drop this Gravis first
Director's notewhole tale
In almost a choreographed motion, the Gravis swings an iron fist at Sketch’s head but he swiftly ducks under the attempted strike & leg-sweeps the cyborg, causing him to crash to the asphalt on his back
Director's notewhole tale
Sketch commanded his rat & Roadkill quickly reacted, latching on to the downed cyborg’s dented in faceplate & unleashing a high voltage shockwave directly into the Gravis’ exposed circuitry. Blood runs from Sketch’s hand onto the street but amazingly, his hand is not broken.
“Now, Roadkill. Go for the face!”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +0)
Sketch Turner
Now, Roadkill. Go for the face!
Roadkill springs from Sketch’s shoulder as the Gravis cyborg’s iron fist cuts through empty air. Sketch ducks, sweeps the plated legs, and sends the attacker crashing onto the asphalt.
The impact rattles the alley. Sketch’s split knuckles flare as he steadies himself, blood spotting the street, while his numb arm hangs uselessly for a breath.
Roadkill latches onto the dented faceplate. Static races through his glossy black fur, then bursts into the exposed circuitry beneath the metal.
The Gravis convulses and its furnace-yellow chest plates flicker. Sketch keeps his stance, but the sudden silence inside his head leaves his hesitation plainly visible.
The Tactical Woman
That worked. Stay with me, Sketch. Your hand needs treatment before you try that again.
Roadkill releases the faceplate and lands between Sketch and General Alissa Cyan. The cyborg lies stunned, its false broadcast dead, while dust settles over the ruined alley.
Quest Complete
Get past the Gravis cyborg