Adventure 2.0 - Heli 3. Will Rat survive a nasty new world?

[Anastasia]

A  mere nod, as your friend surveys the scene ahead. "Could a trade have gone bad," she wonders aloud, picking ahead on on the litter strewn street. Ahead is a four way intersection, getting closer to the heart of the city.  As the sun very slowly sinks into the sky, you think you can see light far ahead.

[Carthrat]

"People don't usually blow up a city over trade," replies Carthrat, shaking his head. "Illicit trade, maybe.. but most pirate gangs and marketeers don't want to give themselves away like this. Anything is possible, I guess."

[Anastasia]

Rachel begins to speak, then stops. As she does, you hear something far to the left - the sound of a stone being kicked slightly, perhaps. Rachel turns in that direction as well, words frozen and stalled. "Did..." she begins, taking a step closer to you.

It's from the ruin of a fairly large building, and you don't see anything moving. There is more than enough cover, however, to hide someone or something.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat glances over at the building, sizing it up and trying to discern a particular purpose or something for it.

[Anastasia]

It's essentially one and a half stories tall now, consisting of rubble that's fallen onto itself. It's spread out farther than it probably was before, a goodly mess of a fairly tall building.  There is more than enough space behind it to cover a few dozen people, let alone one.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat edges towards the building, trying to find a vantage point where he can see into it, or at least what's on the other side.

[Anastasia]

Rachel stays close as you creep and look.

...

...

It's a wide building, and it takes a bit to get to where you can see much behind it. There are a lot of half broken walls and some shards of domeglass, making it a cluttered, hidehole rich area from what you can see.  It's perhaps as big as a football field back on earth, including a single small crater where it appears an explosion occured.

At the moment, you don't see any-wait. The sound of a soft metal clattering is heard, behind one of the bigger chunks of building stone.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat skirts forward, hand slipped inside his coat in case of, well, y'know. Need of extreme action.

[Anastasia]

Trailing behind and not making too much noise, relatively, Rachel follows your lead...

Behind it is...no person. While there isn't a person here, the acrid scent of an unwashed body lingers in the air. As your nose twitches at it, you see a half broken, settled in access hatch built into the ground. Around it is metal casing, presumably snaking underground.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat pauses. "Going underground is risky business," he comments. "Don't know how friendly any natives will be to us, either."

[Anastasia]

"Ye-achoo!" Rachel begins to speak, but is cut off as she sneezes lightly. "Ah," she murmurs, waving her hand in front of her face to clear the air. "Yes...how dangerous will it be, do you think," she asks honestly. "I want to try and help them, but..."

[Carthrat]

"I don't know. I don't think we have any serious threats to deal with, but there's the moral issues that come into play," replies Carthrat, shaking his head. "Don't worry, though. They know we're here. Almost certainly."

[Anastasia]

A nod as she thinks a moment. "But...if they were attacked, will they be friendly to visitors?" Shaking her head, "I hope so," she concludes.

[Carthrat]

"Well, several things could happen, and most of them involve us walking away. In some cases, we might even keep our clothes," replies Carthrat, peering at the access hatch.

[Anastasia]

Turning away a moment, "Um..." she blushes. "You don't think that would actually happen...do you?"