131
This entry contains a large narrative block suitable for games without a Narrator. If you are a narrator who would like some behind-the-scenes context for additional roleplay options, read entry 172.
Read to everyone:
Jineko looks confused but thankful as you offer her a Focus. Placing it on her temple, her eyes widen and she gasps. You do your best to shield the sight of her from others walking around the area as she gets used to the device. She begins to whisper, talking to the Focus, though you can’t make it out.
After several moments, her next words come a little louder, though still low enough to not carry past you: “Did you … find any sensor pads? Little discs, about this big?” She makes a circle with her thumb and forefinger.
Giving her a sensor pad, she turns the unmarked disc over in her hands, testing the sticky side with her thumb. Her eyes scan the machine parts scattered around her, finding none which look anything like the disc.
Holding her breath, she reaches behind her back, pulls up her top slightly, and affixes the pad to the base of her spine. She picks at it, as if second guessing herself, but stops with another gasp.
“Yes, of course!” she exclaims loud enough to draw glances from around the forum.
After a moment, she asks for two more sensor pads. Pulling at the side laces of her pants near a knee, she opens a gap just wide enough to insert and affix a sensor pad. Doing the same on the other side, she then adjusts them to once again cover the exposed skin and metal.
Her face twists in a grimace, but she doesn’t cry out. She raises a hand to ward off help, before her eyes snap open, staring at her legs before jerking up to stare past you. She scans the area, looking for anyone who might be paying attention to you.
Seeing no one, she slowly, deliberately, pulls one knee to her chest, then extends it out in front of her again. Repeating the motions with her other leg, and then back to the first, it seems to cost her less effort with each attempt.
If anyone in your party reacts visibly to this, she will hiss at you to get your attention, and glare you into silence, tapping the Focus at her temple before continuing.
“Not yet. Not here. Not with this on my head. Do you mind if I keep these for now? I’d like to … learn some more.”
It’s readily apparent you probably wouldn’t be able to get the devices back from her, even if you wanted to. She points her chin, and you turn to see Grethe approaching, almost pushing a hesitant Pren along in front of her. Barely a whisper, Jineko says: “Let’s talk later.”
Grethe almost has Pren by the scruff of his neck as she speaks. “Pren is about ready to head back out.”
Pren looks you up and down, scanning for injuries, before nodding his assent. Grethe seems pleased about this, gives him a light slap on the back, and walks away.
Pren and the others will accompany you back out to harvest more timber over the next few hours. The afternoon is otherwise uneventful unless you choose to go looking for trouble. Should you wish to do so, another group of one Watcher plus a number of Striders equal to the number of player characters can be found without too much effort.
If you need to slip away for a moment to go back into the ruins to get more Focus or sensor pad devices, it’s easy enough to do so while on patrol.