Iron Stars - verity

Verity awakens in Dremlas, near the wall district where more of the city's poor are forced to make their living. Business has been improving the last several weeks. A small region around the city is now stable, and a population kept behind city walls for the last five years is eager to begin seeing the countryside again. Bikes, small cars, and other transportation mediums have all come through the shop the last several weeks, but the pace is finally slowing, and the calls for adventurers willing to take on more responsibility, and see more of the planet, have come out more frequently from the politicians and tinkers in city center.

Verity wakes up with a jolt on the usual spot of her workbench. It seems like her workbench has been her bed, dining and work area for so long, but that’s the way she likes it. Her data slab glows lightly indicating that she has fixed devices to deliver around the city, along with notifications of orders to pick up and bring back to the shop. She splashes water on her face, puts some food in her mouth and slings the bag of devices over shoulder. She also picks up her metatool and dataslab. (Unsure of if hand weapons are allowed to be carried, if so she takes her laser pistol and monoblade.)

(you can carry small weapons. Anything blatantly mil-spec would be an issue within city limits. The restrictions basically don't exist on the frontier)

13:25

You can see most of them are toward city center- which aligns with some private dealings you had wanted to look into for yourself anyway. Across the planet, as the null breaches are driven back, the mists part to reveal the ruins of technologies and old inhabited sites across the planet. To the East, and entire yard of rocket parts in the hands of an ostensibly friendly village was just discovered, and everyone is eager for a return to space. There are expeditions going out to areas of the planet previously unmapped constantly, and the calls for people brave enough to go are just as constant.

Verity stops to imagine the ‘veritable’ treasure trove of goodies within the newly discovered villages. Space tech is the Real Deal - built to last and efficient. She makes a note of a few names looking for members for an expedition. She checks her dataslab for the first drop off and makes her way towards it.

The first job is a simple one, a broken wall mounted holo-screen in a third story apartment. Not what you expected for an expert tinker, but they're a steady client and the few credits are easy money. Keeping an eye on the expedition lists, someone is planning a push north, across the wide methane river separating the lower reaches of the planet from the rest. There is rumored to be some sort of activity detected on the other side, which might mean survivors, technology, or enough salvage to keep some other vitally important city project functional. It seem to be a large expedition, over 200 slots have been alotted for it, and are filling quickly. You can see they are lacking in technical support

(Does she recognise the name of the benefactor or head of the expedition?) She uses her dataslab to send a message to her parents “Possible salvage up North, looks good. Are we looking for anything?” As she types she continues her way to the apartment, enters the building and looks for the elevator.

(probably just by reputation as a lower level city leader. It's certainly legit, as its a quest hook I'm dangling. I don't usually name NPCs unless we see them a few times, I used to, but we had hundreds that were only dealt with maybe once for a scene or two. ) (edited)

(Got it. It’s just for lore rather than Verity’s trepidation, but if it’s inconsequential at this point, then it’s all good.) She looks at the sheet and puts her name on the expedition list. “The folks can let me know if they need anything for the shop” She checks for the elevator in the lobby to deliver the newly repaired holo screen.

The doors winch open and the cargo cage peels back so you can get the wide container inside. This is your third call here in as many months and each time this thing comes in some amateur has tried to enhance it and gone far beyond their lacking level of skill

Verity rides the elevator with the screen. Her hands instinctively fall to her metatool when scrutinising tech and machinery. When arriving, she shouts out to get some attention “Hellooo! I’m from the fixer shop, I have your repaired screen...again.”

A customer who perpetually reeks of booze opens their door and you see the payment hit your company pad. Enough to keep things running for another couple days. While the exchange is happening your request to join said mission is approved and you’re requested to meet in the academy at city center for briefing

As soon as the door closes she wafts the air with her hand and makes her way out. She sets off for the city centre lazily fiddling with her metatool.

You can see three times the number of requested personnel have turned out, each trying to score a slot on this push north. Reputations will be cemented by the bravery to come. Lives will be made, but some will not be lucky and may not come home at all. Wide tables staffed by town officials, army officers, and academy instructors have been set up, under billowing polity flags. Dozens of people sign papers or data slates, and others are trying to keep lines of people organized and flowing.

Verity dodges others as she makes her way through the throngs of people, likely jostling some. Arriving at a table she states: “Sparks.... er Verity Marshall.” And shows her application screen to the individual there. She look around at the other people keen on venturing up North, curious at the sheer amount of people in attendance.

This is a chance to make a reputation, and it is drawing out all kinds. It seems like 2/3 of those selected so far are more security and fighting oriented individuals. Though not a purely military , they;re expecting danger and are trying to maintain some sense of security for the technical aspects of the expedition. You're brought to the front of the line after waiting for about an hour. Looking over your resume, it seems you're selected, and assigned to the first technical team. The plan is to leave in the morning. Bulk flyers will be setting down at the south of the city gates, for the journey north.

14:22

You have today to get your affairs in order before the extended journey.

She receives her contract and makes her way out. After finishing off her deliveries she makes her way back to the machine shop and tells her parents the news of her expedition in the morning. That evening she finishes as many of her repairs as possible and prepares her gear for the morning.

The dinner that night is somber, but everyone is excited the family is getting an opportunity. By morning, your gear is assembled, and there are others trickling south for the expedition as well, and overhead three fat bellied grav flyers are making their way to just outside the city walls. There are no doubt people waiting there to get everyone organized. Many people watch from windows and doorframes to see what is happening

(Verity will take her usual gear plus some provisions/rations. Not sure if she would need anything specialised.)

(probably not at the moment, and i see you're in the group thread so we're solid there!)

Level Up Level: 2 Focus: Tinker level 2 Old HP: 6 HP Roll: 3,4 New HP: 7 New Skills: Shoot 0=>1 (2sp), Know 0=> 1 (2sp) Current AB: 1 (edited)

(perfect!)

Hilltop is still a bit of a xenophobic place and it won’t abate until sustained contact with the Alliance happens for a while. You noticed on your approach that the homes and buildings closest to the edge of the protection field were the most run down and in need of help. Resources will be hard to come by , but even a temporary fix means several days of comfort for these people until supply shipments from Dremlas arrive

Verity will walk around to look for the most in need of repair and politely knock/attract attention "Hello, is anyone there? I'm a representative of the Southern expedition"

(I guess we're doing the actualcollector mission now instead, i tagged you there, I guess we all got our wires crossed)

Returning to hilltop after the expedition to the gas collector finds you once again at the small inheritor camp south of the city. Soldiers and large numbers of inheritor civilians experts have been kept out of the city yet but the locals are familiar with you and you may-have better luck

Level up Level 3 Focus: N/A Old HP: 7 HP Roll: 5,5,1 New HP: 11 New skills: Notice -1=>0 (1sp), Fix 1=> 2 (3sp) Current AB: 1

1

(How has the camp expanded?)

The camp has stronger wooden walls, and there are more permanent prefab dwellings being established for the garrison here. There is also a small med clinic for anyone who might be unlucky enough to need it. The hope seems to be that eventually the mood in Hilltop will soften and the personnel here can relocate to the city, making this camp a redundancy.

Verity will look for an officer, and ask “Why hasn’t anyone been able to enter Hilltop?”

"They're keeping most people out. Their leader agreed to join the Alliance, but claims that doesn't mean she needs to give up her control of local affairs- so the city is closed outside of an emergency"

She will also ask if there is a spot she can recharge the B type cell she found in the extractor.

The camp has a solar charger that will be able to do this for you

Verity connects it and leaves it to charge, with the intention of returning when it is full. She picks up few packs of spare rations and makes her way to any smaller groups of houses around the city that look particularly run down.

The kinetic barrier has been activated again since you have been here last, and approaching the settlement you see a large group of people arguing with Hilltop guards, who seem intent at keeping them out of the city. It looks like you're going to need to deal with them before handling anything in the settlement

She heads over to the group, slowly pushing her way through the group to the front. Making eye contact with the guards she awkwardly salutes and says; "Gentlemen, is there a problem here?"

“The city is sealed to civilians that do not live here by order of the governess”

“Hmm, well that puts a complete halt to my secret mission” she says in a very sarcastic tone. She returns to the camp and sees if there’s anything she can help out with instead.

(There’s surely other ways in, or other things we can try. I’m not tying to shut you out but I’m also trying to roleplay the challenges of the region/npcs)

(Are all the settlements inside the barrier?)

(the Inheritor Camp is outside, where we first landed, but its temporary as they hope to just base out of the city when the governor relaxes a bit- as she has agreed to become an ally. We don't know what's going on with her. The Inheritors aren't really planning to expand or upgrade this temporary camp since they are hoping it will be unnecessary soon and therefore dismantled All of Hilltop is inside the barrier. We have not explored further north than Hilltop and do not know if anything else is out there)

(Does Hilltop also have a physical wall around it? Also, it the barrier transparent?)

(Hilltop has the ruins of walls, so a meter or so tall or less. The barrier is transparent)

14:34

(We were at this city before you giuys went to the gas collector, none of the details have really changed)

Verity walks around the camp aimlessly, getting frustrated at not being able to find anything to do. With her extra rations she marches right back to the entrance and calls for the guard’s attention.

Two of them begin to walk over from their side of the dome, looking more relaxed and calm than those that had been on shift before. "What do you want? " the first of them asks, as the other looks over the countryside

She moves in close to the guard. “Listen, I know things are hard in Hilltop right now, I’ve been inside. I’m an engineer and I’m guessing that I could be useful to some of the less fortunate than you or me. You and your family may need my help with something, and I’m willing to help, for free if you let me in. Are you hungry?” She pulls out one set of rations and offers it to him.

"Water has been hard to come by in our neighborhood. Something with the pumps but no one from the Government quarter has come by to fix it. The Alliance sent parts,but no one to fix the problem. If i let you in, can you take a look?"

“Of course. It’s what I’m here for. Show me where it is and I can take a look.”

There is a brief flicker as a small section of the field is lowered and you're let inside. The guards look around furtively, and content in the knowledge they haven't been seen they escort you to the western side of Hilltop. The neighborhood is slum like. Trash fills the streets and there are signs everywhere water and power have been out for some time.

"How long have you folks been without clean water?"

"A few weeks now, shortly before the deal was signed with the Alliance. I think the Governor planned to use you for technical expertise and parts but its been lost with all the other paperwork coming in. My brother works in admin and that's what he told me at dinner the other night at least"

"Please take me to the pump and I'll get to work on it." While they are walking she asks; "Are other areas of Hilltop in need of repair?"

"We're a bit siloed down here , we dont have much need to go beyond the neighborhood and we'll get questioned if we do, so you'll have to move about on your own "

"I understand. Let me see the pump and I'll get on it."

Passing through the neighborhood, you are brought to a large building with only a door and one small window. You can smell the sour scent of trapped moisture and hear the dull machine noise even from this side of the simple entry door. "We need to get back to our posts before anyone questions why there's a gap. Good luck, We'll let the neighborhood alderman know you're working here and if you need anything its best to talk to him"

“Thanks, I’ll get to work.” She opens the door and takes a look at what she needs to do.

There are four pumps in this small station, each of them responsible for a single large cistern on their own. They are rusted and seized with debris. Their filtration system seems to also be jammed and there are large collections of waste and other trash floating on top of the water. The chemical cleaning system also appears to be offline now, it cannot get enough pressure built up to inject the treatments into the water to keep the bacterial level within acceptable parameters.

(Are the parts from the Alliance there as well?)

There are some parts here. It seems like local scavengers have picked over the pallets before anyone was able to handle the issue- and they’re as good as gone now

She gets to work. First she will check the general condition of all of them and decide if they can all be repaired. Her thinking is if they can all be repaired, she will try. If a they can’t all be repaired she will cannibalise the unrepairable ones. She guesses they all need emptying and clearing (?). After looking them over she will try to find the alderman.

They can all be repaired if there is enough parts present. You might be able to make some sort cuts to stretch what is here, but you will not know for sure until you make an attempt at the project. Their housings, filters, and the pumps themselves all need clearing and emptying, along with detailed cleaning in order to work again.

21:56

You were given contact information for the neighborhood Alderman by the guards that had met you at the gate and you find him standing on one of the nearby street corners overlooking the energy barrier and the snippet of countryside that can be seen through it.

She approaches. "Alderman, My name is Sp- er Verity, I'm here with the Southern Dremlas Expedition, I'm here to help fix your water pumps."

"Yes the guards told me you were here. Surely you don't need me to fix them if you're an engineer yourself"

“Well, no, but I wanted to let you know I was here, and if you had anyone that could help me. Perhaps I could teach them how to maintain the pumps to keep them active for longer?”

"The governor took the civil engineers to help maintain the energy field, We haven't had any work crews in the neighborhood for a while. I can try to canvas the neighborhood and get a few people together who might want to learn and have some responsibility, but they're not going to be able to help you fix it right now"

"Well, of course, they won't have any idea how to, but if the pumps are to run smoothly in the future, they'll need to be looked after. And I'm willing to teach them. If you are able to find anyone interested, then send them over." After chatting with the Alderman, she will get over to the pumps and start clearing them of detritus and get to work.

(So we had the pump cleaning, the pump repairs, and the repairs to the filtration system, what did we want to start with)

(She'll get to repairing them first.)

(fix/int, since we're working with half the parts we need to)

(Verity has 6 units of spare parts, would that helps things? Also, I rolled a 15.) (edited)

(if you want to spend them we could, but we've passed the check without needing them if you'd like to use them for other things)

(She will continue without using them. )

The pump mechanisms themselves are repaired without needing the spare parts. THe housings still require cleaning and the complex filtration system is not working at the moment, unable to provide clean water to the neighborhood.

She'll start cleaning the housings of the pumps next.

Peeling back the machinery and filtering cowls a foul smell hits you almost right away. Organic contaminants both originating naturally in untreated water, and things added later by the people using this municipal system present an unpleasant challenge. Water and air cannot pass through into the machinery until the clogs are cleared and cleaned, and your newly repaired machines will overheat- choking on air instead of water.

She'll get to work clearing the clogs, making sure the pipes are clear enough to allow the mechanisms to work efficiently.

(Anything we can add detail wise, even if its not super irl accurate would help here because i dont want to just impose a save or flatly ask for another check)

As the smell starts to permeate the room, she ties a rag around her face in an attempt to stifle the smell. Next she hesitantly starts to scoop out the larger pieces of muck and grime from the tanks and scrapes away the obstructions from the pipes and motors. With the larger pieces gone, she gets another rag and starts to scrub some of the more resilient dirt. She also uses some more fabric as a net to catch the smaller pieces of detritus in the water tanks. She figures the more she can do now, the less work the filters will have to do later when they are initially switched on. She will also bleed the tanks to release the heavier liquids that she cannot get out so easily. (edited)

This seems to work, leaving all that remains to be fixed is the actual housings. Overpressure has ruptured them, they'll need to be removed and put back together somehow.

Verity unscrews the housings and lays them out, taking note of the positions and order they are in. She uses her data slab to help her. She also makes a note of the type of pumps these are and where in Hilltop they are located. After getting them laid out she will give them a clean (for good measure) and start to reassemble them, working from the notes she has made. (edited)

The work is completed successfully. The first few rotations of the device produce brown sludge , leftovers from the pipe works but the filtration system kicks on and after a moment or two of running the water is a bit cloudy but far more clear than it used to be.

Verity wipes the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and sits back to watch the pumps and rest for a while. After, she goes back out to find the Alderman to tell him she's finished.

The four selected workers are outside when you emerge from the pumping station to your surprise. The Alderman is not with them, but he did promise to send over people interested in learning.

She invites them in “Hi, are you the group that’s come to take a look at the pumps? It’s all pretty straight forward, but if you get it down, you’ll have clean water for longer.” Using her notes and showing them the workings of the pumps she tells them how to clean and maintain them. Similarly she describes and shows them some minor maintenance jobs they can do to keep them working efficiently. She also chats idly with them as they work. “What do you want to do when Hilltop and Dremlas start allowing people to come and go?”

Most of them plan to stay here and actually rebuild their city. They have families or interests in town and don't plan to readily abandon them even if its possible to move freely across the planet again.

“The Alderman said that all of the civil engineers had left the town, so who’s looking after all the machinery and tech?”

"nobody. Garage tinkers and a few people who are trying to teach themselves, but no one officially. No one the government has appointed" one of them pipes up, taking a shop towel to clean the green algae sludge from his arm as he lends himself to learning how to disassemble and reassemble the pump housings.

She supervises the work being done, making sure that they have a good idea of the workings of the pumps. After they are done, she passes the other bag of rations to them. "Anything else that needs some attention in the town?"

Things are crumbing but not as fast as this was. You've got some respect in the neighborhood and you expect if you need to get back in the guards in this sector of the wall will probably let you if the trips aren't too frequent.

Verity, you may have seen that I found quite a cache of rare ingots that we can use for settlements and possibly ship building.  I have taken most of it to Dremlas to be used as we resettle areas, but have reserved some for Hilltop.  My only reservation is that the Mayor of Hilltop has not seemed to be acting as a true member of the Inheritor Alliance and may not be trating all of her citizens fairly or with concern.  I know they could use the materials, but I do not want her hoarding them for herself and closest allies, leaving the common citizen to suffer.  If you could let someone know that I am heading to our camp with the ore and request a delegation to come out and meet us, I would appreciate it.

-Dalibor

(Verity would have received this message as she arrived back on Saliv. She would have asked to be dropped off back at the southern camp with the intention of passing this message on.)

(Right, Dalibor is in the middle of trying to make somrthing happen here right now so I don't want to trod all over that. )

15:44

(was there anything else we had in mind for the moment?)

(Is Dalibor taking care of it?)

(okay, moon colony. We can explore some of the surround, or if you want to roleplay setting up farms or water treatment, or some other public utility we can use that to help get us closer to not needing to regularly send supplies up here)

(Let’s get water treatment set up first, as she has some recent experience of that at Hilltop.)

Returning to Dremlas with some acclaim behind you, you're now getting many offers from across Inheritor Space. One outstanding offer is for the Mosk colony on Saliv's ocean moon. They have recently begun preliminary construction and settlers are arriving at a pace that is rapidly outstripping the rudimentary utilities there. Urgent help is needed to both keep up with demand, and prevent a budding health crisis before it begins

Verity will visit her parents first, spend some time with them, regaling them with her tales of travel. She is happy to be home, but in moments of quiet, she longs to be back out there. She sees the offer to go to Mosk and is immediately intrigued. She accepts the offer and gets her gear ready.

(if you wanted to get anything new It's more available here than on the moon)

She'll look for the following items in addition to her current gear; Rationsx5 (25) Atmofilter (100) 4 glowbugs (20) Low light goggles (200) Survey scanner (250) Vacc suit (100) Mag pistol, ammo (410) Total 1105 credits (edited)

(those are all available, and yeah would have gone back to the ship locked since it wasnt your own ship)

After picking up her stuff she will say her goodbyes to her parents and make her way to the pick up point.

The transport is a boxy looking cargo lighter modified to handle passengers instead of cargo. You can see several other people are also here waiting to go up to the colony. Most are mosk but a few are human

Verity awkwardly greets the people that are here already. “Hello...Greetings…How you doing? Nice to meet you. She reports to the nearest person, regardless of whether they actually are the administrator; “Varity Mershall, er Verity Marshall reporting for duty.” (edited)

(If you want to skip ahead we can , don’t wanna force anything if you’re eager to tinker )

(I like a little flavour) Verity boards the transport. She ponders to herself how a vehicle like this would have fascinated her before. But things have changed. Not just the newness of everything that’s happened, but the reasons she now does what she does. She uses her skills to help advance those that will come after her.

05:00

(Ok, ready)

The six hour flight to the moon as you dropped off outside the growing colony. The mosk delegation elected to oversee development is waiting and the sounds of construction , and the sights of distant cranes and hammering flanked by the unforgiving wilderness contrast and conflict with one another for your attention. A pair of grav flyers pass by overhead, swooping in low over the water to deploy various navigation aids for sea ships

She will get straight to the place that assigns work and get started.

City water is fledgling. Power is scarce and no one has moved deeper into the wilderness to look for anything that might help the colony sustain itself. Work is abundant , allowing you to have your pick of assignments

“Hmmm water is a basic necessity, I’ll start there.”

The water system such as it is will be based on three large desalinization plants that will collect some of the water that floods in as the waves come to shore. The shells of the plants themselves are built already but the machinery has not been connected , nor has some solution for pumping it over to the mainland been found

15:05

Taking on this task, it seems like you’ll be the one to figure that out

She will connect the machinery to the plants and allow them to start purifying the water. Next she will start getting a pumping system working.

(I had a lot more to this than that. I’ll write something more constructive tomorrow )

(So I had envisioned going through one of the plants and connecting the machinery, which I guess we can gloss over, the challenge here is basically you coming up with some way to pump it from the plants to the colony, i wanted to see some idea of your system for it rather than just rolling a couple fix checks and I give you XP)

Got it. This is different to how we usually do it, so good to know. How tall are the plants and what is gravity like on Mosk?

The desalinization plants are very large buildings with foundations set deep into the waters of the bay. You estimate they're between 150m and 200m high between their various floors and the cavernous spaces needed for all the machinery that is going to purify the water sent back to the mainland- and the wastewater products sent back out,

(Do the plants have power? Sorry.) (edited)

(is this in character or out?)

(Out.)

The desalinization plants have power from black box reactors using the seawater and breaking it down to release the energy between chemical bonds for power, as most frontier black box reactors use.

Verity will get the water pumped to the top of the plants and use gravity as a means to get the water from the plants to the colony.

(3xp, 5000 credits. )

1

(Game to try to figure out another mission. Tinkering is alright but showing up at a place and rolling fix, we need something more)

(Agreed. She will see if there are any expeditions going outside the colony that she can do some exploring.)

(Right now Ana, Goblin, and Dalibor are exploring north of hilltop, if we wanted to hop in there we could. Jasper is pinned down in a firefight north of Dremlas and is going to explore an old breach cult site, or we can do our own thing)

(Jasper is alone?)

(He has a few NPC's with him but they've taken casualties)

(Verity will join him.)

1

Level up Level 4 Focus: N/A Old HP: 11 HP Roll: 3,5,3,2 New HP: 13 New skills: Attribute boost Dex 12=>14 (3sp) notice 0=>1 (1sp) Current AB: 2

4

(Verity would like to outfit a mobile workshop that she can take around Saliv. How would she do that?)

2

(We'd need to build a vehicle. )

18:51

(which i can help with)

(She would like something big enough to then put a smaller speeder inside, along with her tools.)

(thoughts? )

1

**1 New Notification**
To: Verity Marshall 
From: Dr. Jasper Artemis 

Hey, Sparks. 
As I’m sure you heard, Vincent came and found me passed out on the island and brought me to the hospital. 

I’ve made good recovery, however from my experience I am left physically mutated, but don’t worry! It’s not as bad as it sounds, and I know the condition is stable. 
I saw some things while I was out there, some things that are hard to explain. Let me know if you want to meet some time to talk about it

Until then!
-Dr. Jasper Artemis

1

(She would like to take it for a spin around Dremlas)

(the plan is okay though? )

(Yes.)

Original message was deleted or could not be loaded.

Pinned a message.

01:33

The ATV has been completed and a test drive around Dremlas and is performing well. The tool rack will let you handle the things a traveling mechanic needs to do. The limpet Mount it comes with will also let you tow a bike or a trailer outfitted with other things. All systems are running nominally and the ghost driver and handle vehicle operations if you’re busy tinkering while it’s in motion

Verity takes the Explorer around the Dremlas area but is interested in moving out further afield to see what she can find.

(what's our general goal or plan here, what should I be preparing? )

(Her goals on her sheet are hunt for new tech and scavenge parts for her new workshop, so I'm thinking she would be interested in exploring some areas that may have some tech worth picking up.)

(we aren't going to find much in the well trod area around Dremlas and its satellite settlements at this point, Maybe a pushinto some of those small island out in that inland sea? or around hilltop? )

(That’s fine.)

Your explorer is able to hitch a ride temporarily out to the small islands near Dremlas. One of which was the site where Jasper got some answers into the breach situation that has been plaguing the planet but the details of his report have not yet been released. Setting down on a Rocky , narrow and Long Island the explorer takes a few moments to start up as it’s power system calibrates and runs its quick diagnosis. Everything is running optimally.

(I’m assuming that Jasper will return to that particular island, so won’t explore that one, but will take a look at another around that area.) Verity smiles as the vehicle comes online. “Lets see what you can do.” She does a quick scan of the area and starts to move out. She plots a course running the length of the island (assuming that’s possible) and sets the autopilot while she familiarises herself with the vehicle’s idiosyncrasies.

This was made by a talented auto fabrication shop and is brand new. Things seem to be running right. The scanners are not very advanced. There was no spare mass or power to fit something more than a simple terrain scanner to help the ghost driver make the adjustments it needs. A small village once existed on this island of about 50 people and as the craft drives into the abandoned hamlet you see no evidence of anyone around

(Is she able to manoeuvre through the hamlet in the vehicle? If possible she’ll park in a centralised spot of the hamlet.) (edited)

(yes, you can, I'll get us a map)

15:15

She will park in the middle and grab her gear, then step outside to get a feel for the place. “Lets see what we can find.”

It is abandoned. Nature and breach have begun to reclaim this place. Most of the buildings here seem like family homes, but there is a stone holdfast and a community storeroom on within village bounds

She’ll start to explore the stonefast, pulling away vines and detritus as she goes.

(Notice /wis)

(10)

The holdfast is intact overall. No one was in here when the settlement fell to ruin, so the place was abandoned and not overrun. There are no signs of fighting here, and you can see the simple rifles and ammunition left in the holdfast for the population to defend themselves have not been touched. The simple stone tower is otherwise empty, a place for the population to shelter in the event of violence in the countryside, but meant for little else.

“Hmmm. Not much for me in here.” She picks up a rifle and some ammunition and lazily examines their condition while walking out into the square again; “C’mon, what have to got for me? She will start exploring the dwellings starting with the small one south of the stonefast and move clockwise. She will also peep into the wells as she comes to them.

The rifle and its ammo are a bit aged, but were designed for frontier living and their function is not impeded by the time they've been left out. Checking the well you can see an electronic winch brings up the buckets and the pump at the bottom meant to help fill it. Most homes here also just have a direct plumbing connection to the well, with waste vented down-grade from the potable water table here. Entering the southern dwelling to the holdfast you can see that the home is abandoned and was done with planning. No evidence of a sudden departure like food being left out or scattered belongings are present but you can see animals had moved in and used this as a den at least once over the history of the structure

She drops a pebble into the well to see if there is still water or not.

There is a gentle splash. There is water at the bottom of the well and it sounds like there is a good amount of it down there.

She will continue exploring the abandoned houses.

You see more and more evidence of an orderly abandonment here rather than a sudden calamity sweeping the residents off the map, literally. This is a frontier settlement on a frontier world and aside from some charming local trinkets and family heirlooms that have value, but are not necessarily high tech. People could easily live here again if the homes were repaired and the materials for a resonator were brought in,.

“Hmmm. If they didn’t leave in a hurry, why did they leave?” She will take some photos of the hamlet and look for what they used for power.

You can see solar panels on many of the roofs here, along with what looks to be some kind of control unit near the well. Upon looking at it you realize there must be some kind of black box reactor buried under it, using some of the water as a source of fuel.

Upon seeing the generator she smiles; “I had a dog…” She will see if she can access the control unit to check if power is still running.

The power is no longer running. The reactor detected other devices connected to it failing and automatically killed the reaction. It can be started again when the faults in the system are restored.

(There are other devices connected to it that are causing it to fail?)

(Yes. That’s what I said )

16:26

(Think like a circuit breaker but larger scale

Verity gets out her dataslab and starts to look for cables and similar devices connected to the main reactor to disconnect.

(program/int)

(8)

A broken power panel in two separate houses, the broken terminal in the holdfast, and the climate system in the largest house here are all connected to the reactor, all are damaged and since power cannot be safely supplied to them, they need to be disassembled or otherwise disconnected.

She will disconnect the power panels straight away if she can. And she will take a look at the climate system. She is curious to find out what caused the hamlet to be abandoned.

(Would you do anything else in either of those houses or straight to business ?)

She will explore the houses to find out what could have broken the power panels in them.

(Know/int)

(4)

You're unable to figure out why a fault occurred, but the electronics in these homes are damaged and since the reactor is detecting a fault here, it is not supplying power until they're removed.

Verity hums in displeasure. She settles with having to disconnect the faulty panels for the time being.

Moving quickly into both houses you disassble the faults in both of them, freeing some of the power load on the reactor.

She will move to the climate system and check to see if she can ascertain the problem with it.

Power surges have fried the sensitive internal machinery it needs to measure air pressure, humidity, wind speed, and so on. From there modifications could be made to the local climate to dry out the air, infuse moisture, remove pollutants, and so on. Pre-Scream this would have been considered a marvel, but the machinery here is scrambled far beyond use.

She will disconnect the climate control. Even though the machinery is beyond repair, she will wonder if she would be able to glean any basic principals from it.

(we could look over it when we have a proper lab, not much to be done in the field or at least mid adventure)

She muses over it for a while. (How big is it?)

|(the actual control unit is about the size of a desk)

18:48

You're not able to glean much from it right now. It would benefit from proper analysis back in the city, away from a breach zone when you have the tools, equipment, and safety to really pull it apart.

She will get it into the explorer and continue to disconnect the remaining systems.

With the faults removed the reactor here can be coaxed to life. It is a simple process now, since the problems have been handled. Several homes, and a resonator could be run from this, but there is no resonator on site.

She makes some notes with her data slab on the general condition of the town and sees what she can power up in the houses now there is a main power source.

Each house has a scrub field and a roach popper within to keep their contents clean. Some holoscreens still work but since your face does not match those of the former inhabitants, the computers would need some convincing to allow you to bypass security.

Curious if she can find some clues as to why people left the hamlet, she will start to investigate some of the systems.

The breach came after The Scream hit and there was no resonator in the area to keep them safe. They left the hamlet for the safety of Dremlas but it seems clear that they never made it and are either dead or living their life as terminals now