PWM: Sanguine Dust, Chapter 5

Facing Death

Aug 29, 2022

Sanguine Dust: Table of Contents
Previously…

Shen and Kwan found themselves in a running shoot-out, moving from cover to cover, corner to corner, firing behind and in front at the numerous guards who chased or showed up to head them off.

It seemed okay, the front doors close by, when Shen took a bullet to the back.

He stumbled and fell, pain shooting through his body. He could hear Kwan yelling and firing but it sounded like it was far away, muffled, as everything went black.

He took the iron arm ring as the woman who gave it to him died. The station shook, nearly throwing him off his feet. He stumbled into a wall and pushed off of it, running to the docking bay. There was a massive crowd there, pushing and trying to get through the doors to any ships still left docked. Security tried to keep the crowds back, the doors behind them locked, trying and failing to maintain order. He went around, into an alley. He knew all sorts of ways in and out of places on the station, you had to when you lived on the street. He scrambled through an air vent, hoping he still had time…

Shen pulled at his shackles.

Kwan sighed, leaning his head against the far wall where he too, was shackled.

They were in a small cell underneath the Overseer’s headquarters, in a hallway with many other cells just like it.

Most were empty.

“You should get out of the rescuing business,” Kwan said, with a sad smile.

Shen chuckled, shaking his head. “Maybe…but not today.”

“You should’ve left when you had the chance. Left me and this dump.”

“I promised to rescue you, Kwan Hammond,” Shen said, looking into Crash’s eyes. “I will keep that promise.”

Kwan nodded. “Alright, then."

Shen studied the metal shackles closely in an attempt to find a way out of them.

Secure an Advantage
When you assess a situation, make preparations or attempt to gain leverage, envision your action and roll. If you act…with expertise, focus or observation, roll wits.
1d6 + 2(wits) = 6 vs (7,7)
Miss with a match - You fail or your assumptions betray you. Pay the Price
Notes: For the pay the price, I decide to go with the obvious negative outcome, and because of the match, I decide to go hard.

The sound of boots on the metal floor announced the presence of people coming down the hall.

Two guards emerged, opening the door, with a man in a white lab coat behind them.

One of the guards went to Shen, unlocking the shackles and pressing a taser to his neck.

Shen shook and spasmed, unable to move.

The two guards pulled Shen by his arms, dragging him out of the cell. They closed the door, leaving Kwan alone.

Is this where I die?

They dragged Shen out of the hall of prison cells, through a large steel door, into corridors of gleaming white, glass windows showing scientists in white lab coats attending to sickly figures on hospital beds.

What is this place?

They lay him on his back on a steel table and strapped him down, tight.

Shen noticed electronic and medical equipment off to the side.

One of the scientists, or doctors?, approached, holding a needle.

“Tern’s experiments…” Shen managed to mutter, the taser’s effects fading. “It’s still happening.” He gritted his teeth, trying to move.

The straps were tight.

“This is going to hurt,” the woman said, sticking a needle into Shen’s arm.

The pain was immediate. He felt like his insides were on fire. Intense, scorching, overwhelming.

Endure Harm
When you face physical injury, fatigue or illness, suffer -1,-2, or -3, based on severity. If your health is 0, Lose Momentum equal to any remaining harm. Then, if your health is 0 or you choose to resist the harm, roll health or iron, whichever is higher. (-1 health. Current health = 0)
1d6 + 1(iron) = 3 vs (4,5)
Miss - It’s worse than you thought. Suffer an additional -1 health or -2 momentum. If your health is 0, you must mark Wounded or Permanently Harmed, or roll on the table below.
Notes: I take -2 momentum. Current momentum = +4. I decide to roll on the table. There is a 10% chance of having to make the Face Death move.
1d100 = 07: Face Death
Notes: Now I’m in trouble. You roll heart for Face Death which is one my lowest stats at +1. A miss would mean the end for Shen Braddock.
Face Death
When you encounter a situation where death is an immediate and unavoidable outcome, you are dead. If you are instead brought to the brink of death with a chance for recovery or redemption, roll heart.
1d6 + 1(heart) = 6 vs (3,3)
Strong hit with a match - You are cast back into the mortal world.
Notes: Hurrah! Still alive! And with the match, I decide to roll for an opportunity. I get “Insight into plans or methods of enemy force.”

The docking bay was full of men and women in fancy clothes arguing with guards and gesturing towards numerous ships, trying to argue or buy their way to safety. Shen slipped past, keeping to the shadowy walls, iron arm ring in his hands. How would he know which ship? At the end of the bay, a man in a suit argued with a guard, gesturing to a grey ship. “You can’t get on, it’s an ironsworn’s ship,” the guard said. “It won’t open unless you have the arm ring.”

The man in the suit shook his head. “Break it open! Their probably already dead!”

Shen brushed by them, running up the gangplank towards the side of the ship, ‘Nomad Drifter’ scrawled in black across the side.

“Hey, what are you-” The guard called out.

The ship chirped, exterior lights coming on. The door opened and Shen ran inside, blocking out the shouting behind him.

Shen faded into a deep unconsciousness. He drifted through nothingness, without a body, with an essence. There was nothing except…pain. Despite not having a body, he felt agony, the worst he’d ever felt and he knew, in that moment, he was about to die. He saw the void before him, drawing him in. He wanted to welcome it, an end to the pain but…there was a lingering feeling, something left unresolved. He pushed away, scrambled back.

In the darkness and pain, Shen came to but kept he eyes closed. He found he could hear the scientists talking amongst themselves.

Once Tern had become overseer, he’d continued the experiments he’d begun on Lotan, experimenting on humans, trying to create super soldiers. He’d use them to take over the sector and more.

“Hey,” one of the scientists said. “He’s awake. Take him back to his cell.”

The guards unstrapped Shen and half-dragged, half-walked him back to the cell and shackled him to the wall.

Shen felt no strength within his body, he could not move, he could not speak.

“Are you okay? Shen? What’d they do?” Kwan asked, concerned.

Shen groaned and drifted off to sleep.

When he woke, Kwan was gone.

Can’t stay here any longer.

He got to work on his shackles. He worked his hands every which way, testing the chains to their limit, trying to determine a weak point.

Secure an Advantage
When you assess a situation, make preparations or attempt to gain leverage, envision your action and roll. If you act…with speed, agility or mobility, roll edge.
1d6 + 3(edge) = 7 vs (4,1)
Strong hit - On a hit you succeed. On a strong hit, you take both.
+2 momentum
+1 on your next move (not a progress move)
Notes: Current momentum = +6. +1 on next move

Stomping boots announced the return of the guards, dragging Kwan. They opened the cell door, reshackled him, and left, shutting the door behind them.

Kwan looked pale and sickly but he gave a weak smile.

“You look like shit,” Shen said.

Kwan gave a weak chuckle. “Better than you yesterday. You were a ghost. I wasn’t sure you’d wake up.”

“Still alive,” Shen said. “Somehow, still alive. We’re getting out of here.”

Face Danger
When you attempt something risky…if you act with speed, mobility or agility, roll edge.
1d6 + 3(edge) +1(SAA) = 5 vs (2,8)
Weak hit - You succeed but at a troublesome cost. Make a Suffer(-1) move.
Notes: I Lose Momentum(-1). Current momentum = +5

It took longer than Shen hoped but, millimeter by millimeter, he scraped his wrist through one shackle and freed his right hand. He freed his other hand and then helped Kwan get out of his own shackles.

One great thing about solo-gaming is you can decide to zoom in or out whenever you feel like. You can abstract a scene using one roll or zoom in, using many rolls. I decided I didn’t want to zoom in too much on this escape so I was going to just abstract it out and use just one roll.

“Come on,” Shen said. “We’re getting out of here.”

“And then what?” Kwan asked.

“And then the fight for Tranquility begins,” Shen said.

Face Danger
When you attempt something risky…if you act with deception, stealth or trickery, roll shadow
1d6 + 2(shadow) = 3 vs (4,6)
Miss -
Notes: I decide to Burn Momentum. This sets my action score to my current momentum, after which my momentum resets to +2.
Momentum = 5 vs (4,6)
Weak Hit - You succeed but at a troublesome cost. Make a Suffer(-1) move.
Notes: I Lose Momentum(-1). Current momentum = +1.

Using a piece of metal Shen had managed to grab from the lab, he picked the lock on the cell door and led Kwan away from the Labs. They found an empty locker room, threw on worker’s clothes and made their way out of the headquarters.

Shen led the way through the settlement, staying out of sight of Tern’s guards and coming to Althus’ warehouse.

End of Session Notes

This sequence of events was fun to play through. Starting with a Miss with a Match, I knew the consequences should be severe. I'm low on health and imprisoned by a flame-wielding madman. The story started to come together. I knew I wanted a chance of not making it out, so I had them begin performing experiments on me. I took the health hit and failed the Endure Harm roll, leaving me with a decision.

I could take the impact Wounded, or Permanently Injured, or roll on a table. Wounded is something you can get rid of but while you have it, you can't gain health and your momentum reset is lowered by 1. Permanently Injured is something you will have forever. Wounded is the least consequential of the two. If you roll on the table, there's a chance nothing bad happens, but there's also a 10% chance you have to make the Face Death Move, which, if you fail, you're dead. Considering the Face Death move uses Heart, one my lowest stats, it was risky. But I also knew there was an asset called "Revenant" that you could only get if you had Faced Death and lived.

So I decided to roll on the Endure Harm table and see what happened. I roll a 07, which meant I had to Face Death. With my heart at +1, my chance of failing the roll was 45.17%. That's a high percentage of killing my character and ending this story very soon after it began. But I had made the decision not to take Wounded or Permanently Injured. I chose this so I had to see it through. I took a breath and rolled.

This was as intense as any roll I've done in a group roleplaying session. The fact that I was playing solo didn't lessen the tension and didn't reduce the stakes. I was ready and willing to kill this character if I had to, due to my previous choices.

Luckily, it was a hit and a strong hit at that! (15.17% chance) and a match as well!

With the strong hit and the match, I rolled on an opportunity table and got "Insight into plans or methods of enemy force".

This is where the story started to come together.

I’ve actually cut this session a bit shorter than previous chapters. I feel like shorter chapters might be better, more engaging, and more fun to read through. Also, it helps with my terrible time management.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter, or any other thoughts or questions you have.

Playing With Myself

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