SWT: Niv Lova - Chapter Two

Laying in Wait

Welcome back to Soum’s Weird Tales - Niv Lova. Last chapter, our Leading Lady Lina entered the Zone and met a friendly group of ‘scouts’ for a nearby settlement. We had a very brief combat and then Lina got the excellent news that her target was nearby. In the same hex and less than day away in a nearby Abandoned Urban Area.¹ We join Lina on her 4th day in the Zone.

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

HP 7. Fortune Point - 1. Level 0. Inventory. Bedroll, Knife X2, Pistol 4 rounds 2 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.

Day 4
Weather? Partially Cloudy (+1 Nav and Scav)
Is Ivan a full days travel away? No, and the bandits want to scavenge.
Scav 1 Can of food

According to the bandits, Ivan was a few hours jaunt up the street, which sapped any sense of urgency Lina had felt amongst the crew. Instead, they spent much of the morning searching nearby buildings and burnt out cars to try to scavenge anything useful. Lina found a tin of beans and that was a bout it. She eventually convinced the crew to get back on the road and follow the trail to their quarry.

Urban Area
Street with d6 buildings. = 1 Building. d6 Areas = 1. (This is a small dungeon haha)
Area = Old Bus Station

Photo by Kyle Howeth on Unsplash

The crew came upon the old bus station later in the day than Angelina would have liked, but she kept quite about it. If Ivan had friends with him, she would be happy for the extra guns at her back. She moved towards the entrance way, but stopped and swore under her breath.

Connections - Blocked. There is no way forward

The entrance was barred and a few expensive and sturdy locks were on the door.

“Let’s check around back.” Queenie said, moving low around the edge of the building.

Oracle. Is there another way in? Yes.
Connection - Rubble
FIN to go in stealthy = 11 - Success

Scouting the building revealed a piled of rubble from where part of the rear of the building had collapsed. The 5 of them worked together to climb smoothly into the upper level, guns raised, but Lina was to be disappointed again. The room was empty.

Roll for contents = Empty.
Oracle: Does it seem like they will come back? Yes.
Scorunge for armor Poor Quality Light Armor DC 9. Rolled a 10, success!

They tossed the room, carefully, and judged that by the bedrolls and gear, Ivan and his buddies would be back soon. Lina searched through the pile of clothes and found a battered and torn leather jacket that was much to big for her, but would offer a bit more protection than her plain hiking clothes. Once they were settled, the crew set up a cross fire and waited.

d6 Bandits = 3 normal bandits and Ivan. HP = 6, 5, 2 and 12 (+2 Armor)
1 Improvised Weapons, One handgun and 1 sawn off shotgun. Ivan has an SMG.
Group Stealth - 13 - Success Advantage on first attack. 

The large stone top counter previously used for managing paperwork provided a solid position for the crew to hide behind and launch their surprise attack. After an hour of lying in wait, they heard the telltale sound of a key in a lock, and footsteps on the stairs. And then, Lina heard that familiar, irritating voice.

“You fucked up Leo, if you don’t want a bum arm you shouldn’t have gotten shot, yeah?” The moment Lina heard his voice, she felt her blood pump, but she took stock of the situation. One of the bandits was clutching his arm, blood soaking his overalls with a jagged knife tucked through his belt. Ivan wore a thick biker leathers and had a sub machine slung over his shoulder, and while she burned to shoot him first, it was the bastard with the small, sawn off shotgun that could be a real problem in the closed quarters. Once all 4 men were in the room, she leapt to action

Surprise round
Lina Shoots Shotgunner - 10 - Success. 6 DMG - Shotgunner dead.
All My allies shots succeed, divide the shots up at random.
Handgunner hit for 3 DMG down to 2/5 HP. 
Other shots hit Ivan, doing 4 DMG total 8/12

The shotgunner went down with a spurt of blood as Lina’s shot took him in the throat. There was a bark of gunfire form her allies, and Ivan and his friends scrambled for cover, more blood spraying, but they were all still standing.

Defense - Critical Fail. Fortune Point reroll = 10, success.
Targeted other Bandit at random. Olfha. 6 - Fail. 3 DMG. 1HP Left

There was a spray of submachine gun fire and the crew took cover behind the counter, but Ohlfa wasn’t quick enough. She screamed, and blood sprayed the wall and she fell, clutching a bloody hole in her hip. Sayfia ran to her side and Lina made to join her, but ducked back down as the enemy handgun barked.

Lina Shoot handgun bandits. 11 - Success = 5 DMG - Kill
Queenie and Lud shoot Improvised weapon Bandit and kill him.
Ivan Morale 3 - Success

Lina stood up and fired another shot, taking the wounded bandit in the chest and knocking him flat on the floor. He didn’t get up. The wounded bandit had moved forward into the crossfire to try to leap over the cover and start cutting with his knife, but Queenie and Lud gunned him down.

“Lina you bitch, you’re supposed to be dead!” Ivan yelled, spraying another burst of SMG fire towards her.

Lina Dodge - 11 - Success

Line leapt down again, and moved swiftly to the side of the counter. Ivan hosed the counter with more bullets, keeping her allies stuck in place, but Lina waited, and when the gun clicked empty, she moved.

Lina Shoot Ivan - FIN 12 - 10 DMG Exploding. Ivan Health 0/12

The moment crystalized as Lina’s bullet tore out the bastards throat, and Ivan stood there in shock, blood gushing as he tried to staunch the flow with numb hands. Lina moved forward and slapped him with the butt of her pistol, and he crumpled to the ground, where she kicked him a few times. She tried to say something burning, something cutting, or at least something to honor her brother, but mostly, she just spat incomprehensible rage at the dying man until he slumped limp and dead to the floor.²

A lot of loot happens, I'm not going to list it all as most of it is split up, but Lina claims the SMG, the Medium Armor and a bundle of clothes.
We have a piece of 'rare' gear for killing bandit leader, but I chose it for plot reasons rather than rolling it.

The crew searched the bodies and divvied up their loot, but whether out of respect or fair play, they allowed Lina to loot Ivan’s body. She pulled off his biker leather and checked the submachine gun. Both were in reasonable condition, which was to be expected given Ivan’s connections to the outside. The crew decided to camp in the old station and they spent the rest of the day tending Ohlfa’s wound. The woman was pale, and she waved Lina over and gripped her hand.

“I always wanted to die in the arms of a beautiful woman.” She whispered, looping an arm around Lina’s waist. Queenie slapped the offending hand away and bound a bandage tight enough to cause Ohlfa to let out a squeal

“If you’re well enough to flirt with your usual lack of skill, you’re well enough to help with dinner.” Queenie said. Despite the light banter between them, Ohlfa was in bad shape, and would need a few days, at least, to rest. When they sat around the fire and Safiya stirred a battered cookpot, Lina felt something in her jacket pocket. She reached in and pulled it out, feeling a sudden wave of trepidation.

Remnant
Descriptor - Smooth
Size - Small (Marble)
Shape - Conic
Material - Rope or Twine
Do the bandits recognize the remnant? Yes and they want it
Sparks Sacrifice Knowledge
They want Lina to try to use it. Can I activate it? No and it's been used recently.

Lina pulled out a small, piece of twine that curled into a pointed cone. Despite the rough spun look of the material, it was as smooth as silk and filled her with a sense of deep unease.

“Holy shit, I knew it.” Queenie said, looking across the fire. “That’s a remnant.”

“What’s that?” Lina asked nervously. The atmosphere had shifted in the shelter. Her new friends had stopped eating and looked at her with calculation in their gazes. Even Ohlfa, whose gaze was usually a mixture of warmth and well intentioned sleaze, now looked stone faced and cold.

“What does it feel like?” Queenie asked, ignoring the question. Lina looked down.

“It feels cold.” Lina said, turning the item in her hand. “What is it?” Lina asked, after a tense few minutes twiddling with it. Queenie seemed to relax slightly.
“It is what we are out here looking for, Lina.” Queenie said softly. “These things could make this place livable. Survivable. They could even make this shit hole a BETTER place to live than outside.” Her eyes were intense, and Lina cautiously held out the remnant.

“It’s yours, of course.” Lina said, attempting to be casual. “For services rendered.” Lud moved forward and took it, retaking her seat and flashed a quick smile.

“I appreciate that, Lina, I really do. But we were actually hoping you could help us with something else, if it’s not too much trouble.” Queenie said, and the feeling of trepidation returned stronger as the night closed in around them.

NPC - 'Queenie' or Q
Muscle 1
Finesse 0
Vigor 2
Presence 1
HP 8/8 - Medium Armor, Police Baton, Sawn Off Shotgun
Motivation: Define Legacy.
Quest - Find and explore/understand/disable Aberration near Settlement

Queenie guided Lina away from the group to a nearby window to explain the situation. Remnants were the result of a events called ‘Aberrations’. These warps in reality were extremely dangerous, but Queenie was sure there was an advantage to be exploited. They had scouted an Aberration on their way out this way, near their home settlement, and Queenie was insistent that Lina could help her figure it out.

“Either we find something useful, disable it, or at least understand it a bit more. Either way, I have something to take back to Zona.”

“Why do you need my help?” Lina asked, glancing at the small group behind them.

“None of them will leave Ohlfa behind, and we need to move quickly. We aren’t the only people interested in these Aberrations, and I’ll be damned if a bunch of rock headed bandits get there before us.” Lina thought about it for a long minute. On the one hand, she didn’t like feeling used, not did she like the glint in her new companions her. On the other hand, isn’t this why she was here? Ivan was dead, and wile it had felt fucking fantastic, she had lost her one goal. She had lost her whole life outside the Zone. Why not start over with Queenie’s crew at this ‘Zona’ settlement. Queenie looked at her expectantly, and so, reluctantly, Lina extended a hand.

'“Sounds like a plan Q.”

End Session. 1 XP.

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Having a character survive the first few chapters is quite the feat, thus proving that Presence is the most useful stat, at least for staying alive. I decided to fully stat Queenie as they will be traveling together, so she’ll make a useful back up character/meat shield. I usually like having one character as a PC when I play solo to avoid bookkeeping, but Niv Lova is simple enough that I’m not too worried about having a tag along, but any more than that might get more challenging for me. Thanks for reading!

1. These are the ‘dungeons’ of Niv Lova and I cannot overstate how much I love them!

2. There isn’t actually anything in the rules for exploding dice, so this was probably a mistake from playing Kal-Arath before. However, it was cool, so I don’t mind. No more exploding dice for the rest of the game though.