Our next story starts with a mysterious stranger, lost and alone in the wasteland of this blighted earth. He has come a long way from home, on a desperate mission to evade catastrophe of the kind that may effect the multitudes of living organisms everywhere. At least, that is what he believes. Here in this place, the thoughts and ideas in memory you hold onto quickly lose their cohesiveness. As day becomes night becomes day, the mysterious stranger drifts along like the ghost of a long forgotten battlefield.
Eventually, he meets a traveling merchant, and after a brief misunderstanding, the two set off together. The merchant takes his new companion to a small base he has tucked away in the mountainside nearby. The mysterious stranger watches the merchant for days while he rests in this dank abode and delights in his other pastimes. Often times he’ll occupy the broken toilet, skivvies tucked protectively around his waist whilst reading a dirty magazine, or the dingy couch where many an imaginary maiden has lost their way to the old broker’s wily charm.
Meanwhile, the party is exploring the cave and they find therein the buried ruins of the Redwood Empire Golf Club lodge, interred centuries ago. Inside of the submerged country club, there is an imposing vault door, which they easily bypass. Within lies the Nilone-Yukani Corporate Vault, one of three bases that may or may not be the enemy HQ; Where The Created think-tank resides, and where their numbers are being manufactured. Rumors hold that this vault in particular, no matter who resides here, would provide our heroes with enough firepower to take on their seemingly immortal foe. Still bloodied from their previous skirmishes in the mall, the explorers enter the bunker with furtive steps.
A long hallway stretches northward, and large double doors left ajar seem to be the only security currently keeping trespassers out of the vault. Beyond them are separate corridors going east and west, and directly across from the doors sits a mining elevator, its gate closed. There is no power in the building, no emergency lights and no working air filters. The place is a dank tomb. The players first decide to explore the east side of the bunker. As they approach the door at the end of the hallway, they notice light streaming from the slit beneath it.
After some discussion, the players decide to enter the room, but before they can the dweller inside suddenly opens the door, having overheard their conversation. A standoff ensues, but cooler heads prevail, and the party decides that this person is no immediate threat. A brief silence is interrupted when the merchant finally awakens from his drug induced dream state to a room full of intruders. Another standoff ensues, but the stranger convinces the trader that the newcomers are scavs just like he is. The trader introduces himself as Thurston Denk, entrepreneurial mutie about town! He opens his shop to the players and commerce becomes the order of the day.
When asked about the rest of the bunker, Thurston declares that anything of value was hauled off years ago. The players ask if Thurston minds if they explore the place and he agrees. Then the mysterious stranger asks if he can accompany the players and they agree. They first decide to check out the two rooms to the south. The room on the left is a security room and contains storage cabinets, desks, a weapons locker and an old jail cell. Inside the room the players find a large computer terminal with a keyed lock on the hardware and a gasoline generator. The room on the right is a decaying locker room, now empty.
Before moving on to the western hallway, the players decide to check out the north room. They find an old sickbay, loaded with gurneys and steel trays. At the end of the room on the right, a curtain is drawn. The players enter quietly and poke around. Eventually one of the players steps through the curtain and is immediately set upon by a floating, tentacle-armed eye-bot. The octopus like creature is covered in metallic wire, and the bulbous head is loaded with sensors that are feverishly keeping a lock on its current target: Hans. The drone inflicts frostbitten lesions on its victim with every strike from its tentacles. The two are tangled up pretty quick and a battle ensues. The players in the room blast away, but meanwhile a new threat is trying to slither its way out of the nearby toilet. The mysterious stranger dispatches the floating menace with his incredible Astra Arm, and Hans – seeing the toilet lid bouncing repeatedly – immediately sits on the can to keep the drone from entering the fray. The gambit pays off and the team dispatches the room’s guardian. After which they pile on heavy equipment found nearby to ensure that the toilet lid remains shut. The trapped eye-bot retreats into the bowels of the place via the sewage line.
The players are now looking to explore the western hallway.
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