It’s been interesting so far.
So when my character adventured into a KNOWN lab (not the mystery one), I hoped he might find himself a map that’d detail where other labs were, and their entrances. But after entering the lab, only the first basement level was accessible; the only downward staircase was covered by 4 turrets, one in each corner of the room.
They shot my character a few times but his super-heavy armor (Chichin & Kevlar & samurai armor mostly!) kept him safe. Not safe enough to be bullet-immune but safe enough to walk out alive.
He tried to push fridges & bookcases around the place until he could get to the stairs without triggering the turrets. This unfortunately didn’t work; he made it 8 tiles into the room, far away from the stairs, before they opened fire. 2 bookcases were destroyed. So he gave up on this. Instead, he tried to pickaxe his way past the entire room, figuring that this might let him get beyond the room and potentially into another room that might have a downward staircase.
This was taking him awhile. He spent 3 days pickaxing and wasn’t halfway there. Even worse, an armchair couldn’t be pushed into his makeshift mine shaft, since furniture can’t be pushed across pits with planks on them. No signs of a new room yet. He then realized “Oh, I could mine DOWNWARD!” and thankfully had everything he needed except one long rope.
So he left the lab to return outside, looking for rope. He found some cars to craft a rope. But while doing so he stumbled upon a scavenger trading outpost besieged by a mi-go. He dispatched the mi-go with a survival machete, with the trader using a Glock.
A research institute was also nearby. For the heck of it, he ventured over there (it was nighttime after all). He explored its perimeter. The security guards & scientists seemed simple enough, but not the kevlar zombies. So he didn’t risk entering deep into the facility… until, of course, a kevlar zombie spotted him & charged. So he ran deeper into it. He went up 2 flights of stairs, managing to lose the kevlar zombie, and idly explored. Nothing much, he thought. Random scientific equipment. Only one item of interest - a contraption to somehow produce welding gas. But he looted the western half of the floor he was on anyway.
He took a different staircase downward. A maintenance staircase. Safer. One floor down seemed clear. The next floor too. Just a blob, which he dispatched. Buuut… while fighting the blob, a kevlar zombie overheard him. And a few others. It was a brutal struggle, his health going down by almost half, but he survived.
It turns out that, immediately next to the exit, there was ANOTHER LAB. His map mysteriously produced two map tiles labeled “Subway Station?” on them to the east. Not “Subway Station” but “Subway Station?” which was curious.
So he explored this mysterious lab stuck under the research institute. It was a curious endeavor. More to come.
I suppose I’ll have to move this thread over to the storytelling section soon. But suffice it to say my character isn’t likely to survive before I consider a map move anyway, if I ever do!
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