ION Heart #2 - Power Plant Overload
ION Heart is a splendid lo-fi exploration solo TTPRG. It’s rules-light and enables meaningful mech storytelling. This session left me a little weepy: a sign of an excellent game.
After a disheveled experience at the AU Remembrance Festival, Batty and Fitz left the ice planet in search of something a little simpler. A week after leaving Space Port, the pair landed on Wei, a small planet that is mostly oceans with few fledgling towns and tons of Major Flora. Batty and Fitz found themselves in a hamlet with no name. The most distinct thing about the place was the smell of toxic fumes in the distance and an ornate Settlement Hall that was being overtaken by vines.
Once inside the Hall, Batty heard panicked whispers about a power plant to the north being on the cusp of detonating from a technical malfunction. It sounded like folks had a few hours, or less, to make it to safety. There were scores of people who needed to evacuate and not enough resources on all of Wei to help these people get out of the blast zone. Without giving it a second thought, Batty volunteered herself and Fitz, and hurried out of the Hall and up to the power plant with her companion.
The scene at the power plant was chaos. People were scampering and scurrying, weighing what to leave and what to keep, fear crippling their ability to be rational. Batty set Fitz to the heavy lifting, literally. His strength made him perfect to help ferry people’s belongings to the few evac envoy vehicles dispatched by the corporation who ran this factory to the point of peril. Fitz’ presence calmed otherwise erratic adults and children alike.
Only a few stubborn town elders argued with Batty as she urged them to please take their things and get to an evacuation vehicle. Though Batty couldn’t convince anyone thrice her age to do anything, she could let the gurgles and creaks of the factory do the talking for her. Eventually, all the vehicles were at capacity with those who could not haul themselves out of the explosion radius.
The next challenge came with the families who would be evacuating on foot. The sounds of metal crunching from the time bomb that was the power plant startled everyone. A river of glowing toxic sludge spilled out of the factory and rushed towards folks still packing their too-many things before getting themselves to safety. Batty felt something stir in her chest and suddenly, Fitz was standing between the gushing stream of gunk and the people in need of rescue. His shields took damage as he blocked the crowd from sure chemical poison. The mech drilled down for the toxic runoff to have somewhere else to go and there were soft cheers.
As minutes churned on, the factory’s destruction from the inside out grew louder, and Batty had to start shouting at families carrying entirely too many things to lighten their loads and keep moving. Most everyone listened to her, except one small family of four. The father grew panicked and yelled in Batty’s face, telling her she had no idea what it meant to lose everything. She stood her ground and just listened before another burst of sludge threatened their party. This was enough for the man to see her point: they did have to keep moving. What good is stuff when you’re not alive to appreciate it?
Evacuations were taking too long. Every second was another second closer to the final explosion. The heat of all the lives on the cusp of being lost crept up Batty’s neck. Fitz felt her worry and pointed at the barred factory. There was only one thing they could do to buy time. The blast was inevitable, but if they could get inside and vent some of the toxins from the factory core, they would be able to get everyone to safety.
The task was potentially sacrificial.
It would test their bodies and their bond.
It may not even work.
It was their only option.
Piloting Fitz, they leveraged his brawn to bust into the factory. That would be the easiest thing they’ve done since getting to Wei. The overwhelming smell of chemicals burning made Batty woozy. Fitz expended too much energy to cool the pilot’s chamber. He took slow, purposeful steps to find the core of the power plant. Executing a proper venting procedure required technical acumen and precision. Though Batty was a skilled pilot for her age, she was on the cusp of passing out and Fitz had chubby mech fingers.
They got to work despite everything stacked against them. It was an opera of wrong moves and mechanical jitters. Every mistake they made hurt Fitz’ shields and Batty ground her teeth with every sawtooth squeal of Fitz depleting himself. They had minutes at most, but their work felt like it was taking eons. The pilot’s chamber filled with sweat and cursing; Batty knew what to do, but couldn’t will it to happen.
Fitz was down to his final few mech breaths—never mind that mechs didn’t have lungs—and Batty was all but defeated. Her vision blurred and her ears rang. Outside, people were going to die. Hell, they were going to die. One final push of hope and engineering came over Batty and then… the sweet relief of hearing the factory core vent.
Just as they stormed through the doors to get into the factory, Fitz rushed them back to fresh-ish air. They bought just enough time for everyone to escape the blast radius. At a safe distance to the south of the factory, the townspeople gathered together and listened to the shattering explosion. They murmured amongst themselves about rebuilding, if not on Wei, then elsewhere. These people still believed in a better world.
Meanwhile, Batty felt something rupture in her chest. She clutched herself as if to confirm she was still in one piece. She’d never seen this much destruction and hope mingle together. And there was also the business of Fitz’ awful state. He was nearly disabled. He trusted her and now… She tossed her head around and put the guilt out of her mind. They had to get to the next Space Port and get the hell off Wei.