plot roll | lights out

[groundrules]

Image source.

LIGHTS OUT | MINARAS

Critical systems at various military, academic and medical institutes in Minaras malfunction, suffering anything from brief but recurring glitches to complete breakdowns. They require urgent, expensive and sophisticated repairs linked to gears: cogs, wires, keys, grease and steampunk microsystems. Corrosion appears to be the main culprit.

Unfortunately, the industrial barons of Minaras are unenthusiastic to donate the necessary repair resources. In a public message, high councillor Arabella and other government officials subtly encourage good citizens to liberate the supplies, alluding that light crimes committed in the process will be pardoned.

Careful: the barons didn’t make their wealth by leaving their assets unprotected…

✘ OBJECTIVE: Barter, win or steal parts from reluctant industrialists and study the repair areas.

■ Characters working at Minaras public institutions notice a sudden spate of operational errors: lights go out completely or temporarily, while watch ship communication systems are frequently disrupted. Civilian clockwork droids stop moving or fleetingly refuse to acknowledge citizens (this does not apply to droids assigned to the party). Several factories suspend work.

■ Brief light outages strike residences and public areas. Citizens stumble or drift on unlit roads — a few approach you mutely with unshed tears in their eyes, catching your hand to drag you to their homes. If you go, you will find nothing amiss beyond the eerie quiet, while your hosts pointedly stare at you as they enter their beds and silently weep. This stops once lights come back on. Citizens cannot explain what they were doing and remembering their own actions in a haze.

■ Characters with access to the military may overhear that basic production services have not been performed in Minaras for some time. Some say the current outages were inevitable: lubricants, routine parts and processed coal are in short supply, with the army considering whether to requisition.

■ Eager to turn distress into dance, the wealthy aristocracy hold several candle-lit parties. Here, characters can overhear Minaras’ industrial elite has long felt the brunt of the government’s fixation with medical progress. Much of the processes that keep the city running have been relegated to private suppliers, and the barons feel pressured to sustain Minaras. Some favour rebelling against the high council, with a few admitting they have been contacted by Remembrance terror group leader Chrichter.

■ Those affiliated with medical units make dark discoveries: in the absence of light to support cryogenic conditions, several living and dead subjects seem to rapidly deteriorate. The dead show signs of internal rot, while the living cough blood and develop high fevers. They are swiftly isolated.

■ At the government’s behest, public service buildings, formal bounty hunter abodes and several taverns offer pamphlets, maps and instructions to steal repair parts. The government will not pursue this theft. Read the fine print: this pardon does not extend to major crimes (permanent injury, murder, the annihilation of a baron’s home or factory). You can trade parts in for a handsome 30,000 governmental coins.

■ The pieces needed are: specialty factory cogs, pipes, high-density fuel — a precious handful of which can power an entire watchtower — and product or recipes for efficient lubricants.

■ If you enlist to hunt parts, shady bounty hunters will share loose maps and observations on the basic daily patterns of the barons’ factories or households, to help you infiltrate. You will also receive basic weapons and a stiff drink.

■ Some of the items you seek sleep in safehouses, others in the barons’ own homes, while some are in factory warehouses. Most parts are secured with codes you can learn by following your targets, or receive from government sources. You may need to pretend to be a factory worker to enter work spaces, or a servant to infiltrate a baron’s home.

■ Beware droids, guards and berserk watch ships. You’re safe if you’re trapped and turned in with public authorities, who will furtively release you — but you may need to break yourself out, if barons take justice in their own hands.

■ Those with technical ability can also offer to conduct repairs once parts are secured, gaining access to one institute of their choice: a watch tower, a medical unit (pick between academy or care centre) or a factory. Pair up for this one, and ask up to three specific questions!

■ Report in with your liberated goods. No pressure, but we will need at least three parts recovered by 20 September to return Minaras online.

QUESTIONS

NPC ACCESS: ARABELLA

Comments

[groundrules]

Heya — you'd be best off with him faking some Minaras papers, or playing second fiddle to someone else in the group who is with Minaras — so maybe he's the 'apprentice' of whomever, even though he secretly does the job.

He can talk to Arabella, but same deal: pretend a different affiliation. It's not unworkable, just RP within RP!

[thedreamer]

Sounds perfect!

And he does so love a good "show" so he will be happy to play pretend to speak with her. It's just ME who's thinking too much in black and white terms haha, thank you for the guidance!

Also~ in the course of comforting a crying citizen during a power outage, if he were to try and sense anything at all with their memories, would that yield anything of value?

[groundrules]

Sorry, not much I can give you here without giving away the entire mystery! He can sense that their anguish is at once very real and nebulous, and that they're frustrated with themselves for being unable to remember or articulate the source of these incidents.

[thedreamer]

Oh, totally understandable! I appreciate you, many thanks!

[thedreamer]

Sorry for the extra question - the situation with the light outages and citizens stumbling into the roads, I was wondering if there is a pattern to it? Does it happen around the same time every night or was that just a one-time occurrence?

[groundrules]

You're good! There shouldn't be any pattern, but the situation does recur more frequently, as time progresses and the deterioration worsens.

[thedreamer]

Awesome, many thanks!

[thedreamer]

I keep turning up like a bad penny! For the weeping citizens: since there are multiple households/citizens affected in different locations and as these instances begin to recur more frequently, would there be anything of value in their homes or public buildings? I'm thinking specifically of, for example, the Doctor staking out as things escalate and when he's pulled inside someone's and happens to snoop around a bit, would there be anything like maps, recipes for efficient lubricants (too easy, I'm sure!), notes about so-and-so might be an important person to talk to (like 'X' marks the spot), work badges, or even small items that could possibly be stolen (with the best of intentions, to be returned later!) that could be worth something for getting an 'in' with a baron or a factory?

And lastly, is it possible any of these afflicted citizens could themselves be someone important or in some way connected to someone important? Given the haze they feel and the distressing nature of the situation, I wondered if the Doctor endeared himself to a particular household, helping them through this (along the lines of "I'm the Doctor, I'm here to help"), is there a possibility of 'you've helped me, I'll help you' with ______ (my mind is blanking).

[groundrules]

— Sorry, just so I'm sure I'm getting it right — are you asking if the Doctor can pillage the homes of the poor individuals who are crying themselves to sleep?

— Where are you hoping to go with this? The possibility is there, definitely, but not sure what you're hoping to achieve with it...

[thedreamer]

He would never! Everything "borrowed" will be returned! It's just for the greater good! He's such a major snooper and doesn't know the meaning of normal human boundaries. Reading someone's diary, checking desk drawers for clues. Sorry crying people. ;_; He will leave flowers, I'm sure that helps.

I think mostly I was interested with including this in a top level possibly and because the Doctor is too curious for his own good, I wasn't sure if his snooping would actually lead to anything at all, basically if there would be the potential of another clue to track down to lead him somewhere else.

[groundrules]

Sure, go pilfering.

I'm not opposed! Just let me know if you need me to tackle anything/have anything specific you want answered on the basis, but if not, sure, NPC some reactions.

[thedreamer]

Thank you!