Campaign
Campaign, Ike!
"Large pieces!"
Large pieces! Specifically the one that's blocking the road. Does it have any visible entrances? Can I hear anything from within? What does the entrance, if any can be found, smell like?
You start walking and make your way towards the piece that is blocking the road. Fallen debris around it create walls, mounds and arches that look ready to topple, offering you some concealment as you approach.
The thing is full of cracks and holes, so yes, that probably qualifies as entrances. No "official" entrance you can see, though.
You don't hear anything inside. Then again, it's a large thing, so if there's something moving somewhere further inside, then the noise might not be able to reach you.
It smells mostly like death and
taxes ashes. Specifically, dead human. There's also some other smells you don't recognize, but most of those seem weak or old. One of the smells turns out to be a bunch of large birds with sharp beaks roosting in some of the holes. They squawk and fly away as you approach, loudly beating their wings.
To save some time, let's say you find a nice hole, venture in and explore some of the more intact rooms close to the outer layers, where there's still adequate illumination.
The insides of the thing are quite twisted. Literally. The cramped metal corridors are bent and broken. There's metal corridors where you risk stepping on an open door and falling to your death or tripping on some pipe. Which is only natural, given that you are walking on what would normally be the wall. You make a point to avoid stepping on doors and other pieces of wood, since they appear brittle and prone to breaking. You don't walk too far inside, not willing to risk getting injured or trapped.
From what little you see, this appears to be a combination of living quarters and a workshop or maintenance area. It doesn't look like its inhabitants had much chance to respond to whatever happened here. Many are laying in their communal rooms, their bodies laying twisted and broken against their bunks. Like most of everything around here, they appear to have suffered the effects of great heat, but they don't appear to have actually been burnt. They're more like... cooked, you would say. Their fat molten and their bodies stripped of most of their water. A very small number of of them are probably not human, given that they have animal-like characteristics like hooves and horns.
Many of them appear to have been partially eaten, probably after death since there is very little or no blood nearby. Some have their eyes and their other soft tissues bit and eaten, while others appear to have suffered more extensive damage, like most of their guts getting eaten through a hole in their stomach. Some were probably eaten by the birds you saw outside, since they smell like them. Others... You're not that sure. Could be bigger carrion birds. Could be some animal that found a nice easy meal. Could be survivors of this thing, since it apparently had beastmen in it. Whatever it is, you haven't encountered those smells before. You make a point to memorize the smells close to them, just in case you come upon whatever ate them.
Some of the workshops have steam engines of various sizes. A simple boiler (there's still some water in it) that drives a piston that in turn makes a wheel spin. The wheel is connected to a system of belts and gears that transfers the energy to various machinery. You can't really tell what heated the engines, all you can see connecting to them are a bunch of pipes that are currently cold and still. The belts that it is connected to look a bit worn, maybe damaged by the heat, but are mostly intact. Generally, you think the steam engines are in a pretty good working condition. You could just remove the bolts that hold one of them in place and use it to do whatever you want. Might need a little oiling, but that's probably it.
Of course, you are suffering from a certain lack of materials to make it work. Your short exploration did not lead you to any storerooms, but you bet there must be some around here, since the workshop would need materials to process. Maybe you just need to dig deeper or make a more thorough search. Alternatively, you could just have Alan provide you with the necessary fuel and materials, assuming you can trust him to do that. You could work with him to make a couch with giant wheels with a steam engine attached. A 4x4 self-propelled couch or something like that that is fueled by burning common household objects.
Hmm... Since this is a magical apocalypse where people appear to be suffering from problems with their magic and magical fuel sources... And you'd have crazy people running around in crazy and inefficient, scavenged and jury-rigged vehicles in their quest for revenge... You guess it would be kinda like Mad Max, but with wizards.
Alan on the Campaign Trail
"Was this a flying saucer? Coooooool."
Look for little green men. Begin spouting nonsense about Roswell.
You explore around on your own until you find a very strange and very ugly black-feathered alien. It spreads its feathery hands, making itself look quite larger than your head.
"Hello alien. Do you come in piece? Or was that peace?"The alien squawks curiously.
"Yay!" you respond and give the alien a big hug.
The alien protests, squawking and biting your head.
"Ouch! Ouch! Bad alien!"You let the alien go and it steps back, once more putting its body between you and its alien sleep pods.
"Ow. I just wanted to help." you say while rubbing your head, trying to get the blood away.
"Why do I help aliens? They always end up hurting me when they leave. Like that time I helped that alien phone home. He just wanted to go home so he could party with his friends, without me. The men in black said I was responsible for causing a big alien party or something and that it was really bad. But that's just silly. Right alien?"The alien looks at you and moves its hands up and down a couple of times, causing a small gust of wind.
"Anyway, they were so jealous of the alien's party that they took me with them. Apparently, they were big on parties and games too, they had 51 whole areas just for those long parties that would last forever. Eventually they let me go from their party area when they run out of drinks and party games to play. But after all that time, the world just wasn't the same, you know? It was full of solicitors, everybody telling me about their new 5-tiered religion or that cool new vitamin drink or that new laundry chain that had appeared everywhere."The alien emits a long, mournful squawk.
"Yeah, you got that right."
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1148167 times)