In this week’s session, we had one player entirely new to role-playing games and story games join us, so we returned to Rusting Giants by Faie Meredith Baker for another two-player session, in which we play scavengers delving into the remnants of massive mech-ships crashed on a low-tech planet.
The Outlaw enters the Giant and immediately finds himself a cache of books and data cards and a supply of small batteries of some value. Using his rope and rigging up a makeshift pulley, he manages to pry open the heavy armored door to delve deeper into the Giant. Next he enters the barrel of a massive cannon where an armored half-crab, half-human mechanical warrior blocks his way. After blinding the creature’s glowing eyes, he slips past it to enter a chamber where he retrieves the uniform and comm-badge of the Giant’s former commander. After swinging across a chasm in the next chamber, he encounters two feral children who refuse to be coaxed into returning with him to the village, even after accepting food from him. He collects a large battery pack, and returns to the surface and to the village.
The Pilgrim enters directly into the Giant’s control center with still active displays showing a cartoonish avatar’s face. Climbing up from there brings her into a chamber open to the sky but contaminated by a toxic sludge leaking from the walls that she must shield herself from using shards of the Giant’s armor. In the engine room, she encounters another salvager who threatens her with a sword. Maneuvering around until they’re in the right position, she unleashes a nanite flame spell to ignite the oil leaked onto the ground and leaves him behind in the flames. The next room is a medical lab with valuable medical supplies, but she decides to forego them rather than face the wolf-cat beasts who nest here. Later she finds a tree native to a region far to the south growing inside the Giant and bearing healthy fruit, and a cache of nanite powder nearby. She collects them and savors the sweet fruit. Before leaving the Giant for today, she recovers a functional radio from the abandoned living quarters of the long-dead crew.
Back at the village, the Outlaw and the Pilgrim meet at the local trader’s shop. While learning the prices the local merchant will offer for their treasures, the Outlaw asks if the Pilgrim knows anything about these books and data cards. The Pilgrim suggests he go someplace with access to great learning to get them properly assessed, and suggests he accompany her on her journey for she leaves for such a place in the morning. Not wanting to tarry long in this town that specializes in bilking traveling scavengers by offering too little and charging too much, the Outlaw agrees to travel with her. Apparently, she’s leading him to a pilgrimage site at the base of a volcano.
Story Games Club 