The sedan groans, its frame shrieking as you drag it into the subterranean throat of the maintenance tunnel. Water drips from rusted pipes, hissing against the burning hood. Ahead, the tunnel branches into a labyrinth of sewer access and subterranean mag-lev vents.
Drone Controller
Tsuko yawuji, you think you can hide in the bowels of the city? The walls have ears, and my drones are already recalibrating for your new position.
Tsuko yawuji
The Controller is baiting me. If I stay in the tunnel, I am a rat in a cage. Time to switch tactics and find higher ground.
You spot a rusted utility ladder ascending toward a maintenance hatch that leads directly into the neon-drenched district of Sector 4. With a heavy kick, you shove the driver door open, abandoning the dying vehicle to the darkness as you reach for the ladder.
+ Scene Quest Added
Escape the maintenance tunnel
“I climb up the ladder and the side to wait up in the hiding spot”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +2)
(The ladder is slick with industrial runoff, but the internal servos in my calves compensate perfectly. No noise. No vibration. Just the sound of my own breath hitching as I reach the top.)
Your hands lock onto the rungs with mechanical precision. You scale the vertical shaft with the grace of a shadow, your cybernetic sunglasses scanning the underside of the maintenance hatch. Through the metal, the thermal bloom of a tactical unit in the corridor above flickers into view. You stop just beneath the rim, pressing your back against the ladder, waiting for the heavy footsteps of the patrol to pass the grate.
Tsuko yawuji
One patrol, two guards. They are too close to the hatch. If I burst out now, I lose the element of surprise. I wait for the next steam vent cycle to mask my exit.
Guard A
It’s quiet down here. Too quiet. You think he actually made it into the vents?
Guard B
The Controller doesn't miss, and neither do we. Check the hatch.
“I activate my trench coats camouflage ability”
SUCCESS (Great Stealth, rolled +1)
The fibers of the trench coat shift, refracting the ambient flickering light of the tunnel into a smear of grey static. You are a ghost, a ripple in the stale air.
(Their optics are calibrated for dark, not for active refraction. They are looking directly at me, yet they see only the rusted rivets of the shaft.)
Guard A
You’re jumpy, kid. The boss said he was hit bad on the highway. Probably bled out in the wreckage hours ago.
Guard B
Then why are we still scrubbing the vents? Just pop the hatch and let’s get this over with.
Guard B reaches out, his gloved fingers clamping onto the locking mechanism of the maintenance grate. With a metallic screech, the latch disengages, and the heavy circular slab begins to swing downward, directly toward your head.
Tsuko yawuji
Wait for the light. As soon as the gap opens, I take the legs.
“I wait for the right time to attack”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +2)
The heavy hatch swings downward with a jarring thud, snapping against the frame. Guard B stumbles back, his grip slipping as the momentum of the steel plate pulls him off balance.
Tsuko yawuji
The opening is wide enough. Kinetic dampeners, engage.
You launch from the ladder, your boots hitting the industrial grate with the force of a falling anvil. Your trench coat whips behind you like a shroud. You strike Guard B mid-chest, driving the wind from his lungs and slamming him back into the flickering light of the corridor. Guard A reaches for his holstered sidearm, but his reaction is sluggish compared to your momentum.
Guard A
Hostile! Contact in the
You move in a blur of chrome and muscle, closing the distance before his hand even clears the holster. You grab the side of his helmet and pivot, using his own weight to drag him toward the concrete wall.
Quest Complete
Escape the maintenance tunnel
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb