Rhea reaches the factory salvage yard beneath a sky the color of old ash. Rusted conveyors and stripped trucks surround a control tower listing over the cracked concrete.
A child stands behind the tower’s broken windows, a small dirt-streaked boy in a patched yellow coat, his pale face bright beneath tangled black hair.
Eli
If anyone can hear me, listen. The records are here. They name who ended the world.
His voice crackles through a salvaged loudspeaker, fading beneath the shriek of a cutting torch. Below, three scavengers work around the tower’s support legs.
the scavenger foreman
Keep cutting. The old tower comes down, the signal dies, and we pull whatever survives from the wreckage.
Eli
They found me in the fallout zone. I was born clean there. The archive proves what happened, but they are destroying it.
A support groans, shedding rust flakes. The broadcast stutters into fragments while the scavengers glance across the yard, alert for interference.
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover who ended the world
✓ Quest Accepted
Obtain the Child
“Can I reach the boy through the tower's broken windows?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 65)
Rhea reaches the tower’s broken windows by hauling herself up a sagging maintenance ladder. The metal screams beneath her weight, and every scavenger below looks up.
Eli
You made it. Quickly, the archive room is above the control floor.
The ladder’s top rung tears loose as Rhea pulls through the window. She lands hard on the dusty interior floor, while the fallen rung clatters into the yard.
the scavenger foreman
Someone’s inside! Stop cutting. Get up there and drag them out.
Inside, the boy retreats from the shattered console, keeping one hand on a dented metal case. Ashy light cuts across his yellow coat and the rows of dead monitors.
Eli
The records are in here. They tried to burn them, but the drive survived.
Rhea
The scavengers know I am here now.
“I take the child and protect the drive”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled -2)
Rhea crosses the dusty control floor, lifts the boy against her side, and clamps the dented case securely beneath her other arm. The movement jars her scarred eye.
Eli
The drive is still inside. Hold it flat, or the reader may lose the archive.
A monitor bank collapses as Rhea turns, crashing across the floor. The impact broadcasts their position through the tower and sends a sharp pain through her shoulder.
the scavenger foreman
They have the case! Seal the upper floor. Do not let them reach the roof.
Eli
They will destroy everything if they catch us.
Rhea keeps the boy shielded behind her broad frame, the drive pressed tight beneath her arm. Dust spills from the ceiling as boots pound onto the control floor below.
Eli
There is a service passage behind the dead monitors. It leads outside, but the door sticks.
Quest Complete
Obtain the Child
+ New Item Acquired
Dented metal case