SWT: Niv Lova - Chapter Three

Trekking Through Terrors

Welcome back to Solum’s Weird Tales - Niv Lova! Last chapter we saw Lina achieve her revenge much sooner than I expected. On Ivan’s body, she found a ‘remnant’ a mysterious object with even more mysterious powers. Her companions recruited Lina into a quest to scout out an ‘Aberration’ nearby, with the promise of a place to settle down in the form of their home Settlement - Zona. We resume our journey the morning of Day 5. Remember to check out Niv Lova on itch.io as it is a fantastic little game for scavenging and surviving in the not-quite-apocalypse!

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Angelina 'Lina' Romanov - Age - 29 - Former 'legal' arms dealer XP 1
Muscle 0
Finesse 2
Vigor 0
Mind 0
Presence 2

HP 13. Fortune Point - 1. Level 1. Inventory. Bedroll, Knife X2, Pistol 10 rounds SMG, Medium Armor (+2 DR) 3 Food and 15 Scrap

Why are you here? Choice
What do you want? Settle.
Sparks 'Damage Trade'
Quest - Revenge on old business partner, Ivan, and then settle down.
Quest: Scout Aberration with Q

Day 5
Weather. Cloudy (No Bonus or Penalty)
Nav? Not Lost. Scav? No. POI? Yes, Graveyard

The morning was overcast, creating 4 walls of solid grey around Lina as she moved out with Q the next morning. She wondered briefly if all of the zone was so desolate, or if there were splats of color to be found deeper in, closer to the location of the incident.¹

“I have no idea.” Q said ponderously. “The Zone is a big place, and near everyone who isn’t here on ‘official’ business has to walk, so I haven’t met anyone whose been more than a couple dozen miles either way.” Lina understood that, at least. 5 days of walking had her ready to reach this Zona and kick up her heels for a few days. Eventually, there was a splash of brown in the grey horizon, and the pair walked into small, abandoned graveyard, the stone markers chipped and grime covered. Q laid a cautionary hand on Lina’s shoulder and pointed to a small cabin tucked under a tree.

“Can you smell that? There’s a still in there. Vodka, by the smell of it. We don’t want to meet the owners, let’s move quickly.”

Oracle: Is there anything to scrounge? No, and there are tracks showing a people have moved through here recently.
Encounter? Yes.

They left the graveyard quickly, leaving the cabin behind and walking the opposite way to the tracks that led from the mud deeper into the grey ruins. They paused an hour later to drink and share a bag of trail rations when a voice called out to them from across the way.

“Hey there friends.” The voice said cheerfully, waving at them. 5 men and women stood a couple dozen meters away, dressed in flowing and oddly clean white robes with large, ecstatic smiles on their faces. “Have you heard the news?”

d6 Religious Zealots. Reaction: Friendly
Do they have anything to trade? Yes

The group was extremely overbearing, and had been following the trail of their ‘Messiah’, after witnessing his ‘Miracle’. In the hour they spent together, Lina still wasn’t sure exactly what the Miracle was.

“Obviously our Messiah is chosen by Thragar! They step so quickly, we always have to rush to catch up, and they always get out of camp before we wake, but we know they are just keen to spread the word!”

“Sounds like they are avoiding you friend.” Q said bluntly. This earned an excessively loud series of unhinged laughs and backpats, and Lina felt the sudden and overwhelming urge to run. Eventually, their laughter subsided, and they expressed a need for scrap and spare odds and ends, offering food in exchange. Once the goods had been transferred, the Zealots all broke into a run, laughing as their robes whipped around them.

“I wish this Messiah nothing but luck and good fortune in avoiding them.” Q said drily.

Trade 4 Scrap for 4 Food. Scrap = 16 Food = 7
Night Encounter? No. -2 Food (5)

The pair camped in relative safety, the weather still warm enough to forgo a fire.

“What, exactly, are we expecting at this Aberration.” Lina asked as they settled into their bedrolls.

“A few untrustworthy types.” Q said with a razor sharp smile. “But other than that, we didn’t see much. You can feel it, sometimes, at the edge of your awareness. Something unnatural.” Q then turned over and went to sleep, as though she hadn’t just said something deeply unsettling. Lina lay awake for a while after, wondering if this whole adventure was worth it.

Day 6
Weather? Light Rain. Nav? Not Lost Scav? No
POI? No. Encounter? No

The weather the next day wasn’t miserable, but the light cloud of rain made it impossible to stay fully dry as they trekked further south.

“We must be getting close.” Lina grumbled and Q laughed.

“You’ll need to get used to living like this, Lina.” She said, slapping Lina on the back. “This is the good weather. Once winter hits, you’ll miss the drizzle.”

Apart from feeling soaked from head to toe, the day passed uneventfully. Q was tight lipped about this settlement of theirs, Zona, but she was otherwise friendly enough, sharing what she knew about the Zone.

“There’s a lot of independent factions that we’ve ran into, traders and small settlements and the like. But some people have banded together, some of them friendly, but most of them not so much.” Q said, holding a hand up to shield her eyes as she scanned the row of disused dumpsters across the street.

“These friendly people have a name?” Lina asked, trying not to shiver in the rain.

“The Znat have done well by us. They are a little strange, they move around a lot and I have no idea what they want, but they trade straight and seem helpful enough, if you’ve got something to trade.”

“And on the not so friendly side?”

“Bandits.” She said with a shrug. “Some of them get together, get big ideas in their head and make themselves everyone else problem. Some of the gangs around here started getting real friendly with each other, which is why we need an edge.”

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Photo by Vadym Alyekseyenko on Unsplash

They made camp underneath an old bridge that passed over a dried up river. It kept the rain off well enough, and the stripped down to their small clothes and lit a fire to get the days rain off their skin.

“Is that a crown?” Lina said, pointing to a large, colorful tattoo on Q’s shoulder that flowed in expert, wavy lines down to her chest. Q looked at it with a complicated expression.

“Yeah.” Was all she said, and Lina knew well enough to drop it.

Make Camp. -2 Food. (3) Night Encounter (Disadvantage for fire) Yes
Skinner - Close

They were just getting ready to retire for the night, the cold finally shaken from their bones when Lina’s head whipped up, her hand on her pistol.

“What was that noise?” Lina said cautiously.

“There, look, stay low.” Q said, crouching down next to her. Q had pulled into her leathers so quickly, that Lina blinked in surprise. “We call them Skinners, the fuck ugly little buggers.” Q said, her mouth curled in distaste. Lina followed Q’s finger and saw a hunched over form in the darkness, rooting around in an overturned car. Her mouth went dry when her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and saw that the creature had thick, skinless muscle and bone visible, and while it walked like a muscular and angry pig, it’s face was all too human and strangely serene under the moonlight.

“Should we hide?” Lina whispered

“If we put out the fire and hunker down, it might move on.” Q said grudgingly. “I don’t want to give up this spot if we don’t have to. Good cover is hard to come by.”

Stealth - Fin 5 - Failure
Skinner Reaction - Double 1, hostile

They kicked out the fire and hunkered down, Lina shivering slightly in her small clothes. She had wanted to pull on her leathers, but the Skinner had finished its ruminating and had wandered closer, so she stayed low. She saw the flicker of it’s dead, reflective eyes a moment before it sniffed the air and let out an ear piercing shriek.

Lil Skinner friend

Skinner HP d6 = 2/2
Moves from Medium to Close distance
Lina shoots it. Critical Fail. Fortune Point = 9 - success 5 DMG

“Shit.” Q said, surging to her feet to intercept the creature as it broke into a shambling run, trotting in leaps and bounds over the uneven terrain. Lina remained crouched, exhaled, and raised her pistol. She waited a moment, and then squeezed the trigger. The bullet caught the creature mid-bound, and it let out a gurgled scream as it landed heavily on the ground, it’s legs limp and useless below it. It didn’t rise. Q gave Lina a long, appraising look.

“Good Shooting.” She said, impressed.

Day 7
Weather: Clear Skies
Nav? Not Lost. Scav? Stash and a bonus. 3 Food (6) 2 Scrap (18) and a bundle of clothes. Q Scav = 3 Food (9)

The rain had cleared the next day, and they left the creepy, skinless man-pig in their dust and returned to the road. The area they entered must have been a suburb once, although it was hard to tell. Small, broken structures littered the landscape, and Lina and Q spent much of the day tossing the old structures for valuables. They found a lot of usable food with long shelf life and some old bottled water, but the real prize was a battered old suitcase filled with clothes and some old broken tech.

‘We can always find uses for old clothes, even if they don’t fit.” Q said happily.

POI? Yes, Abandoned Urban Area. Is this our Destination?/a - Yes
Encounter No.

The pair followed the road until the reached a slight overhang, overlook a more developed area, likely the former town center.

“There it is.” Q said, pointing to the street. “The Aberration is in there, can you feel it?” Lina looked down the street and felt a familiar thrum of energy, not too different from when she had held the smooth, conical remnant a few days prior.

“I can feel it.” She said softly. The sensation made her teeth hurt and felt like a bit of static at the edge of her mind. But despite all that, she also felt a tangible, almost alien thrill at the idea of facing the unknown. The moment passed, and Lina felt a heaviness set around her shoulders.

“It’s getting late, Q.” She said, gesturing at the fading light. “Let’s check it out tomorrow.”

Make Camp. -2 Food (7). Night Encounter? No.
End Session. 1 XP. Level up to Lvl 2 - Increase HP to 17/17

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I like to roll the POV before arriving at a destination that I know is around to see if it adds a little spice. If I hadn’t rolled a POV I would have asked if I find the Aberration, considering I have a guide I would have given it normal odds and then gone from there. I’m not sure about having a both members of the party scavenge, I did it because I wanted Q to consume food, but having them both make a roll feels too easy. I might just add a bonus next time, +1 for having one companion, rolling advantage with a party ect. I’m glad I got another Abandoned Urban Area, I was a little sad I just got 1 building with 1 zone last time , so we'll see how this one turns out! Thanks for reading! If you haven’t checked out Niv Lova yet, you can do so here

1. I rolled for Aberration location on 2d6 and it is 2 Hexes directly south. I also rolled their Settlement out of interest and it is 3 Hexes directly south.