Event·Wasteland

The Fork in the Trail

The trail splits at a dry wash. The left path follows the wash south - longer, but flat and easy walking with good sight lines. The right path cuts through a narrow canyon - faster by at least an hour, but the walls close in tight and you can't see what's ahead.

Fresh rad runner tracks cross both paths. Something came through here recently.

Choices

1
Take the wash. Visibility beats speed when you're alone in the waste.
no requirement
Success
The longer route pays off with an unobstructed walk and a lucky find - someone cached a supply bundle in a cairn of rocks along the wash, probably as a waypoint stash. The bundle is old and partially weathered, but the contents are intact.
Failure
The wash is uneventful but brutally exposed. The sun drains you and the flat terrain stretches time into something oppressive. You arrive at your destination intact but exhausted and sunburned.
2
Take the canyon. Time is a resource too, and you know how to move fast.
no requirement
Success
The canyon is quiet. The rad runner tracks lead off through a side crack and away from your path. You shave an hour off your travel and arrive fresh, with time to spare.
Failure
The canyon narrows and the tracks thicken. You hear clicking in the rocks above. You make it through without incident, but your nerves are shot and you burned more energy staying alert than the shortcut saved you.
3
Read the rad runner tracks. Age, direction, and number tell you everything about which path is safe.
Tracking lv 3
Success
The tracks on the canyon path are fresh - less than six hours old, multiple animals, moving toward the wash. They've already left the canyon. You take the shortcut through empty territory and arrive quickly, calmly, and ahead of schedule.
Failure
You read the tracks as old - twelve hours, maybe more. Faded edges, wind-filled impressions. So you take the canyon. Turns out the tracks were fresher than they looked - the dry air and hardpan just preserved them poorly. You round a bend and come face to face with a rad runner perched on a rock above you. It bolts, you bolt, and you clear the canyon at a dead sprint.

UUID