The Handbasket Ride - Episode 13

A solo Electric State RPG actual play report

Thursday, October 17th, 1996. 6:02am

Scene Chaos Factor: 3

Expected Scene: Getting out of Barstow

Testing the Expected Scene: 4 - Expected Scene

It took us an hour to travel the not quite a mile from the painted garage to where I had hidden my truck. Nym still had trouble walking and we had to stop for frequent breaks to let both of them rest. It was frustrating as hell, and I felt my nerves fraying the more it went on.

Do they encounter anyone along the way? 50/50 - 61 - No

Thankfully, my concern about running into some of those vagrants did come to pass. For some reason, there were fewer of them around than I had thought. I had seen that one old guy yesterday, and somehow thought there was more of them than that.

Had the Shanis ever spoken to any of the other vagrants? Likely - 30 - Yes.

I asked the other two about it. Vinit said he only ventured out of their old house when he absolutely needed to. A few times he had spoken with a couple of them. They were mostly just people who had come into town after it was evacuated by the military a year or so ago, looking for food and water. He said they mostly left each other alone.

"There is one old man on the other side of town," Nym said. "He's lived here all his life and refused to move on. I spoke to him when I was in a drone patrolling one time about six months ago, but he seemed very nervous around the drone, and didn't stay long. After that, he shot at the drone whenever he saw it, so I stopped going over to that side of town."

By the time we finally got back to where I'd hidden the pickup, the horizon was just starting to show tinges of colour.

Has anyone been into the house since Eamon left? Unlikely - 68 - No

I left the Shanis outside briefly while I did a quick sweep of the house to make sure that no one had been in there since I left a few hours ago. From what I could tell, everything was exactly as I had left it.

Are the Shanis talking about Eamon when he comes back? Nearly Certain - 56 - Yes

Wits Check - Does Eamon overhear them before he comes back out? Five dice - 2, 2, 4, 5, 5 - No successes

After doing a sweep of the house, and not finding anything out of place, I came back outside. Nym and his father were sitting on a bench at the back of the house. I think they had been talking while I was inside, but they shut up again quickly as soon as I pushed open the screen door. It made me a little suspicious, especially with the surprised look on Vinit's face.

"Come on, let's go. There's no one here, so it's safe."

Does Vinit want to know more about where they are being taken? Likely - 79 - No.

"Are you sure that these people you met will be willing to help my son and I?" Vinit said. "I would hate to go to all this bother, only to be rejected and have no where else to go."

Empathy Check: does Eamon convince them that they will find help? Five dice - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 - One success.

"When I passed through, they had tents and trailers set up, and they were looking after other people. I really don't think that they would not help you."

"Very well, we will come with you. Aside from our initial meeting - which I now think was a misunderstanding - you have treated us with respect and have offered us help in a situation where we might not have otherwise survived."

“I'm doing the best I can,” I said. "I could not have just left you both there to die. Come on, let's get you both in the truck, and we can get out of here."

I grabbed their stuff - including Nym's neurocaster and their bag - and then led them through the house and into the garage. Nym had not said anything to me, but had been giving me odd looks.

I unlocked the truck, and opened up the back doors for them. "Climb in, while I put our stuff in the back, then we'll get out of here." I helped Nym up into the backseat, then went and stowed our backpacks.

Are any of the cans vegetarian? 50/50 - 43 - No.

Is there any way to use a neurocaster to copy the memory chip without logging on? 50/50 - 82 - No.

I had a quick look at all the cans in the top box, but all of them had meat of some description in them. With a sigh, I picked one, and then closed the tailgate and fastened it.

I would have liked a chance to get a copy of Nym's memory chip before Sentre got their hands on it, but I didn't know of a way of doing that without putting my neurocaster on, and uploading the contents into the 'scape. At this point, I wasn't feeling up to doing that.

I went around to the other side of the truck. Vinit had managed to get himself into the back seat by himself, but was looking pale and exhausted.

I held out the can of food to him. "How long has it been since you ate anything?"

He looked down at the can, then back up at my face.

Does he refuse the can because he's a vegetarian? Nearly Certain - 23 - Yes.

"Thank you for your concern," he said. "But I do not eat meat. It is against my religion."

"Hey look," I said, "I appreciate your moral stance, really I do, but isn't your survival actually worth more than that right now? You don't look real good right now, and neither does your son. I'd bet that neither of you has eaten much in the past week or two, and something in your bellies is going to be better than nothing! I'm sure "

Opposed Empathy Check: Can Eamon convince them to eat the food for their survival?

Vinit: Five dice - 4, 5, 5, 5, 6 - One success.

Eamon: Five dice - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - No successes.

"No, sir!" he said, an almost iron will showing through. "I may be approaching the end of this cycle of samsara, but my current suffering is only temporary. To give in to weakness - even now - and to act in a way not in accordance with my beliefs will only attract bad karma, and will be reflected in my next life. This I will not do!"

Ouch. I got to give it to the old guy. His faith was rock solid, even though he was going through a really hard time. I would have caved and eaten anything if I were in his position, but not him. I actually admire that strength. Vinit is not broken by this world, despite everything around us going to hell in a handbasket.

Maybe there is hope for this world, after all.

I bowed my head to him. "I understand," I said quietly. "Your strength is amazing. Thank you."

I looked up again and he had placed his hands together, and bowed towards me, a slight smile on his face.

I'm going to say that this exchange reduces the tension between Eamon and Vinit, thus giving Eamon a point of Hope back. I hadn't specified that there was an explicit Tension score between them, but it makes sense for there to be.

Same as between Nym and Eamon, and even Nym and Vinit.

I closed the back door of the truck carefully, and went and opened the garage door. There was a bit more colour in the sky by now, and it was time to put Barstow in the rear view mirror.

End of Scene Bookkeeping

• While not a lot happened, this scene belonged more to Vinit than Eamon, so the Chaos Factor increases to four.

• Adding Vinit Shani to the Characters List for the third and final time.

At this point, I'm another 11,000+ words into the story, so I'm going to take another advancement. Eamon has been following his Dream, and learning through Vinit that there are still good people in the world.

Stat chosen: Empathy (currently 5) - Roll is 2. Stat does not increase, so Eamon picks up a new talent: Con Artist - Eamon has spent a fair chunk of not entirely telling the truth in a convincing way, to get to Vinit and Nym to go along with him, so it makes sense to take this talent.

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End of Scene Notes

Vinit came into his own in this scene, and his resolve amazed me. I know it’s all made up and guided by the dice rolls, but his look and personality came through loud and clear when I was writing this scene. I did try to be respectful to his faith, so I hope that came through.

For someone who appeared out of nowhere due to some random dice rolls, he turned out to be a far more interesting character than his son, who’s not much more than a McGuffin at this point.