The shaft opens like a throat above the sewer. Thin ozone burns the air, and Yma is jammed into the junction box, fingers flying. Kay and Taled hold the lip of the platform as drone hum spills down from the dark.
Yma
I am almost through. Keep them off me.
A pair of corporate drones slide into view, spotlights spearing the mist. One starts to angle for a clear shot at the junction box.
Taled
Kay, climb or shoot. Now.
Kay
Cover me.
Yma slams the panel shut. Above her, the nearest maintenance rung unlocks with a sharp clack, and a service route blooms on the cracked display, a straight shot toward the surface ducts.
Yma
Route is open. Move, before they lock it again.
The drones dip lower, weapons whining to full charge, while the opening to the surface waits overhead like the only exit left in Los Muertos.
✓ Quest Accepted
Clear the drones from the shaft
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the vertical sewer shaft
“Kay tosses the .357 Magnum to Taled and draws his MAC-10. Kay and Taled fire at the drones.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Firearms, rolled +0)
Kay snaps the .357 across the gap. Taled catches it, stances wide, and both weapons rise on the drones at once.
The Mac-10 barks in the tight shaft, hard flashes punching the mist. One drone shudders, its spotlight jerking off the catwalk and into concrete.
Taled answers with the .357, and the second drone veers to keep its sights. Its charge tone breaks into a stutter.
Yma ducks lower from the junction box, one hand on the frame, eyes fixed on the route display as it flickers steady blue.
Kay keeps the burst controlled. The nearer drone drops out of alignment and slams against the shaft wall, spinning toward the dark below.
Taled tracks the last machine as it tries to climb back in. The opening above stays clear for a beat, waiting for someone to move.
Taled
Go. I have the angle.
“Kay reloads his MAC-10 while Taled crushes the last drone under his boot. Yma reconnects the junction box and unlocks access to the city.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
Kay snaps a fresh magazine into the MAC-10, the click sharp in the wet shaft air. Above him, the last drone falters under Taled’s weight and goes limp under a bootheel.
The machine’s spotlight skids once across concrete, then dies. Its body slides off the catwalk edge and disappears into the dark below.
Yma drags a cable free, slams it home, and the junction box answers with a clean blue pulse. The route display steadies, then switches to an open access path.
Yma
There. The lock is out. We can move.
Taled shifts off the crushed drone and looks back to the opening above, breath hard, blade of tension still in his shoulders.
Taled
Then move. I am not holding this stair for long.
Kay has the weapon ready again. The shaft is clear, for now, and the blue-lit route waits at the top.
Quest Complete
Clear the drones from the shaft
New Gift: Drone Hacking Protocols