Techno hauls the Dealer into a narrow service corridor, where flickering strip lights paint the walls in sickly blue. The penthouse smoke bleeds in behind them, but down here the air is stale, hot, and metallic.
The Dealer shakes free of the last of his bindings and lunges to a wall terminal. His fingers fly across the panel, desperate and fast, as the corridor shudders with distant drone rotors from the stairwell.
Jax
Sub-level hub, now. My people can punch through the lockdown if we get there before security seals the stack.
The terminal spits a weak response, then blanks again. Somewhere below, a steel door thumps shut. The corridor seems to tighten around them.
Jax
Techno, listen. I am not your problem if those drones reach us first.
Techno
...Move.
The Dealer swallows hard and keeps working the wall panel. Ahead, the service corridor bends toward a dim exit marked SUB-LEVEL ACCESS, while the approaching drones grow louder behind them.
“Are the drones already inside the stack?”
YES (Likely, rolled 16)
A sharp, metallic screech echoes from the ceiling panels above, followed by the rhythmic thrum of rotors vibrating through the floor plates.
Jax
They are already in the ventilation shafts, Techno. We are out of time.
Techno
The drones are not just behind us, they are ahead.
“I follow the Dealer to the sub-level hub”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +0)
Techno shadows The Dealer into the service corridor as the floor shivers under rotor wash. The man punches the wall terminal with shaking fingers, then the display flickers alive and spits a narrow maintenance route to the sub-level hub.
He keeps pace without wasting motion, one hand tight on the comms-link, the other brushing the corridor wall for balance as dust drifts through the red emergency light.
A drone tears past the vent opening above them, close enough to rattle the loose cover. Techno ducks at the last instant, and the thing slams into the far bulkhead with a crack of plastic and buzzing rotors.
The Dealer lunges for the service hatch and rips it open. Cold air spills out from the stairwell beyond, carrying smoke and the stink of overheated wiring.
Jax
Down here. Move, Techno, move.
Techno slips through first, and the hatch seals behind him with a hard metallic slam. The route is open, but the impact sparks a fresh alarm from the corridor panel, loud enough to paint them both in pulsing crimson.
Jax
He got us there. Now he has to choose whether to keep trusting me.
“Is there an alternate route through maintinence shafts?”
NO, AND WORSE (Likely, rolled 100)
Techno scans the maintenance schematics on the wall terminal, but the data stream abruptly flatlines into a cascade of corrupted code. The secondary shafts are not just offline, they have been physically welded shut by the building's automated security protocols.
Jax
It is a dead end. The system is purging the entire sector, and we are trapped in the throat of the beast.
Techno
The terminal is dead, and the only way forward is through the main stairwell.
“Is there a control console for the drones i can hack?”
NO, BUT (Unlikely, rolled 41)
Techno probes the local network for a drone override, but the signal is encrypted behind a hardwired kill switch that offers no interface to exploit.
“Is there another way past the kill switch?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 86)
The terminal remains stubbornly dead, its internal circuitry fused by the security lockdown. No bypass exists within the local architecture to circumvent the hardwired kill switch.
“is there control access to internal security that is not drone based, such as automated turrets?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 74)
The local network architecture is entirely isolated, and no secondary security protocols or automated turrets exist to be hijacked. The system is a dead end, offering no alternative path to bypass the lockdown.
“Is the stairwell still usable?”
NO (Even, rolled 89)
The heavy blast doors leading to the stairwell groan as the building's automated security system permanently fuses them shut. The path is completely obstructed, leaving no way forward through the main exit.
“Is there a room that has rope and cutting supplies?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 57)
Techno scans the immediate vicinity of the service corridor, but the storage lockers and maintenance bays are completely empty of any tools or cordage. The sector remains stripped of all useful supplies, leaving no means to improvise a way out.
“Is there any supplies in the area that may be of use?”
NO (VeryUnlikely, rolled 47)
Techno probes the rusted maintenance panels and hollowed-out lockers, but finds only dust and dead circuitry. The sector is completely picked clean, offering no tools or salvage to aid their escape.
“I take the stairwell route”
SUCCESS (Fair Agility, rolled +0)