Dawn, Session 2: For Mother, Forgive Them

 

EPISODE 2 - March 13, 2024

For Mother, Forgive Them

Month: March
Weather: Clear
Shift: Day, visibility=no effect
Setting: Surrounding area, The Uni
NPCs: 6

4 prisoners, 2 adults 1 kid;
1 decently armed guard
1 person or group who created pamphlet

Settlement stats:

Settlers: 18, all healthy
Food: D12
Water: D10
Ammo: D10
Medicine: D12
Security: D4

Threads:

• There is a prisoner/guard situation near the Uni by the docks.
• Clove found a leaflet with writing that has apocalyptic, anti-tech vibes
• Chaos Factor: 5

---

We left off with Clove getting derailed from her scrounging mission. Instead she spotted an armed guard with some prisoners. She decides to go back for help. Now, instead of playing out her journey back and telling someone and organizing a party, we'll just roll for how long it takes. I assume it takes her 15 minutes on her bike to get back. We have to roll for how long it takes her to fully organize a party.

Oracle question: Does Clove find a settlement member fairly quickly? I judge this as "Very likely" in the assumption that there are folks on guard duty or doing other chores nearby.

Roll

D100, result=48, yes

As she nears the border of The Uni, she spots someone in the distance struggling with a wheelbarrow. They notice her and notice how fast she's biking, and they unsling their weapon.

"Everything okay?"

"I'm okay," Clove answers as she catches her breath. "But I need to talk to Dawn. Do you have a walkie?"

The settler produces a walkie-talkie, the kind that the University security would have had. Clove tells Dawn the situation as fast as she can. Dawn tells her that she'll scrounge up some folks and send them to her.

Note

The question is how long does this take? I decide to just do a D6, 1-2, within 15 minutes, 3-4, between 15 to 30 minutes, 5-6, 30 to 45 minutes. I do this because this will influence some questions on the oracle.

Roll

D6, result=6, so 30 to 45 minutes

It takes a while for Dawn to locate folks available. After what feels like an eternity for Clove, Old Bear and Crow show up bicycles in tow.

Note

I have Old Bear and Crow show up because they are main characters in this story.

Oracle Question: Do they take the settler member with the walkie talkie? I judge this as 50/50, since we don't know this person yet.

Roll

D100, result=42, yes; I guess we are rolling up a new character!

Note

I do some stuff behind the scenes to generate a new PC. I'll introduce this character and the mechanics I used in a separate blog entry.

"Alright, Clove," Old Bear says. "Lead the way and tell us the details on the way."

Old Bear turns to the settler who had helped Clove contact Dawn and says, "You coming? Tern, right?"

Tern hesitates, surprised by the invitation. They've only been with the settlement for a month, still regaining their strength, but helping out with chores as best as they could. Fixing the garden is one thing, but going out to confront some baddies was another. But out of a sense of loyalty, she nods yes.

Tern produces her bicycle and they get going with Clove in the lead. Before they get to the exact spot where Clove observed the guard and prisoners, they ditch their bicycles and packs, and slowly move towards the spot. About an hour has past since Clove first observed the situation...

Oracle Question: Is the guard and the prisoners still here? I judge this at 50/50 since I have no idea who these people are.

Roll

D100, result=87, no; makes sense, it's been an hour.

Clove points out where she saw them but they are not there anymore. Old Bear decides to go investigate and gives them all instructions. He tells Tern and Clove to stay there and watch their back, and to use the walkie-talkie if necessary. He tells Crow to watch their right while he watches their left. They approach cautiously.

Oracle Question: Is there any sign or indication of where they might have gone? First, I roll some Recon rolls to determine odds.

Roll

Old Bear's Recon Roll, D6, D8: No successes
Crow's Recon Roll, D6, D10: No successes; I decide to push the D10 roll, which gives Crow 1 point of stress; Roll D10: No success

Since my recon rolls failed miserably, I assign "unlikely" as my odds.

Roll

D100, result=36, no; disappointing, but again, it makes sense.

Old Bear and Crow see no clue as to where they could have gotten to. They decide to rejoin Clove and Tern. Old Bear is not giving up yet and suggests they split up into two teams to do a little searching, but firmly says not to go too far, to try and stay within the walkie-talkie's range. Old Bear takes Tern with him and Crow and Clove go together.

Note

At this point I turn to my overworld map. Since they are going one unexplored hex further each, I make each char do another stress roll.

Roll

Clove, D10, D10, result=6, 2, one success
Crow, D10, D6, result=10, 1, two successes
Old Bear, D8, D8, result=5, 8, one success
Tern, D6, D8, result=1, 4, fail, takes one stress

Old Bear takes Clove further into the port area, keeping low and quiet.

Oracle Question: Do they notice anything?

Roll

D100, result=50, yes. I use some tables from T2K4 to get a narrative direction. I get: Trickling rain, killer on the loose, trade, very helfpul/very dangerous, prisoner

As they go further in, it starts to drizzle. Old Bear is the first to see the four bodies, two adults, two kids. They are slumped down on the ground, a border of drying blood around them.

"Stay back, Tern," he instructs them firmly. Tern complies, wide-eyed, but she's already seen it.

Roll

Rolling for Stress for Tern, D6, D8, result=5, 3, fail; gain 1 point of stress.

Arranged around the bodies are dried leaves, twigs, and other plant-like material. Next to them, some words on the floor in black spray paint:

"FOR MOTHER, FORGIVE THEM"

Old Bear searches the bodies and finds of all things a wallet on one of them. He looks through it and pulls out a Driver's License. The picture is of a man, 55 or older. He compares the picture to the man before him. It's definitely him. He notes the address and estimates that it's not too far from here. Maybe two miles further. He pockets the license and then gets on the walkie-talkie.

"Crow, do you all see anything?"

"No, nothing," Crow answers.

"Okay, let's rendezvous now, and get back home."

Result of Scene

NPCs: 6;

• 1 decently armed guard; no further information, except likelihood that this person is connected to leaflet
• 1 person or group who created pamphlet

Stress:

• Clove: 1
• Crow: 1
• Old Bear: 0
• Tern: 2

Closed threads:

• Prisoners have been murdered; guard presumably murdered them is nowhere to be found

New threads:

• Murder of prisoners looks like a ritual killing; seems like it's connected to the leaflet that Clove found.
• Old Bear finds an address for one of the killed prisoners. May be worth checking out.

Chaos factor +1, so now 6

Dawn, Session 1 - Clove goes scrounging

 

Some preamble: This was first attempt at playing solo. The idea was to start slowly, send my character on a simple scrounging mission, use the travel map I had created, and the tables and oracles I had gathered to see how it felt and what came of it. 

EPISODE 1 - March 13, 2024

Clove goes scrounging.

Scene 1

Month: March
Weather: Roll 1=clear; roll for previous day=6, ground dry; mobility, agl=no effect
Shift: Day, visibility=no effect
Setting: Surrounding area, The Uni; stress=no effect
NPCs: none
Settlers: 18, all healthy

---

Thread: Having completed her chores, Clove decides to go out to scrounge, this time going a little further than she usually does. She gets on her bike and travels...

Roll

Roll N=1, E=2, S=3, W=4, Roll =3

Clove decides to go south, following the train tracks that lead east and south away from the settlement. The ground is rough, but dry, and she makes steady progress. She passes familiar debris, mostly trash, abandoned and stripped vehicles. She turns south...

Clove ventures south

Roll

Encounter roll on "Simple Mythic." Result=3 No, but...

Roll on Site Characteristics table from T2K4 referee manual=29, propaganda leaflets

Clove sees a piece of paper on the ground and stops to examine it. She notices it because it doesn't look old or worn down like other trash you would normally find. The piece of paper looks like it's been left there for a day or two.

She gets off her bike to examine it more closely. It's folded into three folds like a pamphlet, the kind she used to see at the nurse's office at school or at the dentist. And just like a pamphlet, it has a bunch of text on it. It's in a hand-written style but it doesn't look like ink but photocopied. This surprises her. She decides to pick it up and scans the text.

Roll

Roll on Ironsworn, Oracle 1: Action and Oracle 2: Theme. Result=41 and 2; reject, ability

The text is pretty dense, but she picks up a few phrases: "We must choose to return to nature...Mother Earth punished us and now we must submit...Reject your urge to build and instead embrace your desire to destroy..."

Roll

Roll for stress, 1 point assigned. Roll 1D6, 1D8; Result: 4, 3=fail; gain 1 point of stress

Clove is slightly disturbed by the text and quickly looks around her, a sudden feeling of being watched overtakes her. But she sees nothing, just a few crows. Just as quickly, she shakes off the awful feeling--feeling a little silly instead. She stuffs the paper in her backup. "Dawn and them will want to see this," she thinks.

Result of Scene

NPC: none
Stress: Increased to 1

Scene 2

Shift: Day, visibility=no effect
Setting: North of the port, edge of warehouse area, see Overworld map
NPCs: none

Roll

Roll for Site Charactersitcs, Site Characterstics table, T2K4. Result=42; Prisoners on display

As her habit, Clove took out her binoculars. The warehouse section of the port was mostly empty, with a few cars and construction-type vehicles scattered about. In a parking lot section, out in the open, she saw a...

Roll

Roll for how many prisoners she sees, D6. Result=4, 1; twist die success, so roll again on D6. Result=3, 3; Organization, Helps the hero

A group of four people, two of them are tied up and the other two are kids. The kids aren't tied up but they don't look like they want to go anywhere. There's a guard with them but the way the guard is watching them, the kids could probably easily get away. If they ran a few feet, behind a car or something, they may be able to slip away, especially if they tried at the same time.

Roll

Ask Simple Mythic Oracle, are there guards? D6. Result=4, Yes But...Roll for # of guards, D4, result=1

Clove scans the area but can only see one guard.

Roll

Roll on Further Elements table, T2K4. Result=8, J, Q; New, Genius, Kid; Roll D6 for gender. Assign odd for man, even for woman. Result=6

The guards is wearing glasses, and she's well dressed, at least for the apocalypse. She's not wearing the kind of gear that suggest she's some post-apocalyptic wanna-be warrior that you sometimes come across. Her clothes look relatively well taken care of, like she's going to work. Apocalypse hipster?

Roll

Roll for weapon and armor coverage using Tables and generators; Result: Hunting Rifle, that pulls hard to the left (imablanced), and armor for arms and torso

She's got a hunting rifle slung across her shoulder and some type of armor on her arms and body.

Clove assesses the situation. All she's got is her bow and knife. That's no match for a well-armed guard, even if there is only one of them. And that pamphlet she found has her a little creeped out. She decides to go back to the Uni to get some help.

Result of Scene

NPCs: 6;

• 4 prisoners, 2 adults 1 kid;
• 1 decently armed guard
• 1 person or group who created pamphlet
  Stress: 1

Introducing Clove

Illustration by Bulletproof-Eggs

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Sara Lee, aka Clove, was a senior in high school when the Collapse happened. It started like any other day in class, but when the first bell had rung, half the class hadn't shown up. By lunch period, another half were gone, parents pulling out their kids in a panic. She was one of a handful of students who rode out the day in school and walked home after picking up her brother. Her parents, hard-working immigrants even during the Collapse, went home only after clocking out from work. They ate dinner as a family like they usually did, then watched the news transfixed.

There were reports of an outbreak, a virus that killed in 24 to 48 hours, and hospitals unable to deal with a surge of sick and dying. In 72 hours, most of the people in their block had left the city. Her family decided to stay put--no one was sick and it felt safer to stay. Anyway, there was nowhere to go. They could possibly go to family in Idaho, but the virus was there, too.

One by one, texts to friends stopped being answered. Social media showed a world gone mad--a horror movie come to life. Her parents had to take her phone away. Four days later her mom and dad started exhibiting symptoms. Her brother the day after. Sara felt it, too, but unlike them, she recovered. They called hospitals but no one picked up. She got up half lucid in the middle of the night to find her family gone. Her mother and brother were in bed together and her dad on the kitchen floor, his mouth left open gasping for air.

She fled to the backyard and stayed there for three days and nights falling asleep on the ground and drinking water from a hose. At some point she heard a man yelling, calling out for survivors. She ignored him. Then out of nowhere something snapped inside her. She went back inside, doing her best to avoid the dead bodies in the house, grabbed her phone, stuffed a backpack with what she thought could be of use, and roamed the neighborhood.

There were other people about, but she stayed away from them and stayed away from the homes. She assumed the houses were full of dead people, too. She found food in an abandoned, broken-in liquor store, and slept in parking lots, fields, and parks. She followed working open wi-fi signals until she couldn't find anymore. Then maybe a week later, or was it two--time had lost its meaning--she found herself at the University, known later as The Uni.

She slept in the quad, sheltered in a coffee stall. Dawn found her the next morning, a kind smile on the woman's face. Like a skittish animal, Clove bolted away. She spent the next few days circling the perimeter of the school, spying on Dawn and her friends during the day, and sleeping near the train tracks at night.

They had a garden. Sara's mom had a garden. Sara went to the garden. Dawn found her there, but this time she didn't run away.

"What's your name?" Dawn asked.

"Clove," she answered.

CLOVE

• Age: 18
• Nationality: Chinese-American
• Branch: Civilian
• Appearance: Jet black hair, medium height, likes to wear athletic wear, and always brings around a toolkit and a bag to stuff scavenge into with her.
• Military Rank: n/a
• Moral Code: Family above all else; tech is worth preserving
• Buddy: Dawn
• Big Dream: Bring sustainable electricity; find a family
• Trauma: Took care of her family during the Outbreak and watched her family die from the virus
• How did they meet the group: Rode out the virus mostly at home but came across Dawn when exploring the old University.

---

ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS

STR	C	AGL	A	INT	B	EMP
Heavy Wpns		Driving		Recon	C	Command
Close Cmbt	D	Mobility	C	Survival	B	Persuasion
Stamina		Ranged	D	Tech	D	Medical Aid

Specialties:
Scrounger, +1 modifier to survival rolls for scrounging

---

• Damage: 0/5
• Stress: 1/5
• CUF: D
• Unit Morale: C/

---

Health

• Critical Injuries:
• Diseases:
• Starving:
• Dehydrated:
• Sleep Deprived:
• Hypothermic:
• Radiation
  • Temporary: 0/10
  • Permanent: 0/10

---

WEAPONS

Wpn	REL	ROF	DMG	CRIT	BLAST	RNG	MAG	ARMR	WGT	SPENT AMMO
Bow	3		1	3	-	2			1
Knife	5		2	3	-	2		1	1

---

GEAR

Carrying Capacity: 8/8, current weight: 7.75 lbs.

Combat Gear	Back Pack
1. Bow	1. Lockpicks
2. Knife	2. Crowbar
3. Flashlight	3. Basic tools
4. Binoculars	4. Small battery
5.	5. Sleeping bag
6.	6. Blanket (not on person)
7.	7. Flask/water
8.	8. First aid kit
9.	9.
10.	10.
11.	11.
12.	12.

---

VEHICLE

• Vehicle One: Bicycle
• Type:
• Reliability:
• Travel Speed:
• Combat Speed:
• Damage: