Seven leads Chuck across the warehouse roof, moving between rain-dark vents and low concrete housings. Meech, Lucose, and Rasan follow close behind, leaving the hatch secured below.
Seven
Relay station ahead. Stay below the roofline until we reach it. The safe zone lights make us visible from the street.
The crew crosses beneath a skeletal communications mast. Beyond the roof edge, several darkened blocks stretch toward a distant neon safe zone, its perimeter glowing through the haze.
Seven reaches the weatherproof relay station first and lifts its metal cover. A weak map display flickers awake, showing street grids, blocked routes, and a battery warning.
Meech
We get one look before the power dies. Mark patrols, shelter, and anything that keeps us off the main avenues.
The crew settles behind the relay housing without reentering the warehouse. Lucose studies the eastern streets, Rasan watches the roof access, and Meech tracks movement near the safe zone.
Seven
There is a shelter route through the service blocks. The patrols favor the avenue, so we can compare timing and choose our next move.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the crew aligned on a safer evacuation route
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the shelter
“I compare the service blocks with the avenue before choosing our route.”
FAILURE (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
Chuck leans over the relay station's weak map display, comparing the service blocks with the avenue while Seven keeps one hand on the flickering housing. The grid refreshes unevenly.
Chuck
The avenue is clearer, but the display will not hold both routes long enough to compare their patrol timing.
The map blanks the eastern service blocks just as Chuck matches their turns against the avenue. When it returns, a narrow connector appears between two marked patrol sectors, but the route's far end is obscured.
Seven
I can keep the service route visible, not both routes. The connector may bypass the avenue patrol, but I cannot confirm where it exits.
Meech
Then we do not gamble on a full comparison. The service blocks give us a usable opening, and the avenue remains the exposed fallback.
The display dims again before Chuck can settle the choice. He has not established which route is safer, but the newly revealed connector offers a specific next move without committing the crew to the avenue.
“Does the connector bypass the avenue patrols?”
NO (Likely, rolled 77)
The map stabilizes for one brief refresh. The connector bends back toward the avenue patrol sector before disappearing behind a block marked with a red warning band.
Seven
No. It avoids the avenue for part of the route, then feeds straight into the patrols' coverage. It is not a bypass.
The relay display dims, leaving the confirmed route etched in memory: the service blocks offer an opening, but the connector ends inside the same patrol net.
Meech
Then we use the service blocks and drop the connector from the plan. No reason to walk toward a patrol line we already know is there.
Lucose
The route still gets us east without taking the avenue. We just stop before that connector and stay on the service grid.
Rasan
Good. We have an opening, not a shortcut. Keep the patrol sector as the boundary and move when the roof gives us a clean window.
Below the roofline, the safe-zone lights continue glowing through the haze. The crew now has a clear choice of direction, with the connector ruled out and the avenue still held as the exposed fallback.
“I lead everyone through the service blocks”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +2)
Chuck leads the crew off the warehouse roof and into the service blocks, keeping to the marked grid while the avenue patrols remain beyond their boundary.
Seven
Service lane clear. Keep east, stay off the avenue, and do not drift toward the connector.
Seven moves point behind Chuck's shoulder, checking windows and intersections as the group crosses between shuttered storefronts and fenced utility yards.
Meech
Formation holds. We are past the first patrol sector and still have room to move.
Chuck guides them through a narrow cross street and around a stalled delivery truck. The crew stays on the service grid, leaving the avenue lights behind.
Lucose
East route is open. The patrol boundary is behind us, and the next service block gives us cover.
Rasan
Then keep leading. We are clear of the avenue and moving where we chose to go.
Quest Complete
Get the crew aligned on a safer evacuation route
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great
“I scout ahead through the shuttered storefronts”
FAILURE (Good Perception, rolled -2)
Chuck scouts ahead through the shuttered storefronts, slipping between dark displays and dusty aisles while the crew remains behind the cross street. The tight interiors break his view into short angles, forcing him to advance slowly.
At the next storefront, a half-lowered security grate blocks the direct path. Chuck peers beneath it, but stacked shelving and reflected streetlight conceal the far side before he can verify whether the route continues.
Seven
Chuck, stop there. We cannot see you past that grate, and the storefronts are splitting our sightline.
Chuck backs out before committing farther, his scouting attempt failing to clear the storefront route. From the threshold, he spots a painted service sign and an unlocked side door leading into the next block.
Meech
Good catch on the side door. We leave the storefronts and check that entrance as one unit.
Lucose
I see the sign. It should reconnect with the service grid beyond the blocked sightline.
Seven joins Chuck at the threshold while Meech and Lucose close in behind them. The side door offers a usable route forward, but its interior remains unscouted and the crew must choose how to enter.
“I lead everyone through the side door”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
Chuck opens the unlocked side door and leads the crew through in a tight file. The entrance gives way cleanly into a service passage beyond the storefronts.
Seven
Passage is clear. Keep moving east before the storefront route draws attention.
Seven slips in behind Chuck while Meech, Lucose, and Rasan follow. The door settles shut, cutting off the street glow and restoring the crew's shared sightline.
Meech
Good lead. This keeps us on the service grid without exposing us to the avenue.
The passage opens into a fenced utility yard with a marked service lane beyond it. No movement interrupts the route, and the crew crosses together toward the next block.
Lucose
There is our connection. We are still eastbound, and the patrol boundary stays behind us.
Rasan
Then we keep the pace. This route is ours until the next decision.
Chuck reaches the far side of the yard with the crew intact. Ahead, the service lane bends between dark utility buildings, offering another stretch of covered movement into the next block.
Reach the next service block with the crew