Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)

Copyright © 2018 Aaron Frost

Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)

 “Guard Duty” is a short, interac-
tive “multi-path” story is that will
be included with “Bubb’s Diner”,
the first adventure for “The Wasted
Hack” role playing game. The
reader “plays” the story as Randal,
the NPC party member the charac-
ters begin with in “Bubb’s Diner”.
The events in the story occur rough-
ly one month before the beginning of
Bubb’s Diner.
A twelve sided die is needed to play,
as the book uses a simplified version
of “The Wasted Hack” rules.
1
The humming sound
of the fluorescent light,
dangling in an uneven
fashion with one end near your
face, wakes you up. Your head is
pounding, and that usual dusty
paste in your mouth is even
thicker. Stumbling out of bed,
you begin falling sideways as if
the floor was tilted, and slam into
one of the walls of your narrow
quarters. How much did you
drink last night anyway? You
can’t remember so that is a sure
“too much”.
Still leaning against the wall, you
manage to grab your pants and
begin pulling them up over one
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
knee when you fall again, this
time face forward into the floor.
Rolling over onto your back, you
resume pulling up your pants,
the bottom half of your tattered
leather uniform. You start to feel
as if you are totally wrecked when
you remember that some folks
don’t have nearly enough credits
to get this messed up, so your
problems are small, and most
folks don’t even have enough for
proper pants for that matter.
Being a member of the guard is
the best thing you can hope for
these days, but you need to be
able to walk without falling down.
-Reach under your bed for an in-
jector to take the edge off.
Turn to 25
-Stumble to the rusted sink mount-
ed in the wall near the foot of your
bed, and slap water on your face.
Turn to 14
2
The service elevator that
leads to the top is mas-
sive, and could hold a large
crowd. Nobody is in a hurry to
leave The Downs, not even miser-
able old Copper level, and you are
 the solitary rider. Hardly seems
worth the juice to operate the lift.
There is probably some regulation
about not using it for just one per-
son, but you haven’t exactly read
through all the regulations.
With a clank and a thud, the lift
comes to a halt, and the rein-
forced doors begin to slowly open.
You are hit in the face with a blast
of heat and sand. Got to love the
Peezy! The Peezy, or “Patrolled
Zone”, or was it “Pacified Zone”,
well, one of those two anyway, is
a couple of miles of pure rubble
directly above The Downs. Survi-
vors crawl through the debris, and
trade whatever salvage they can
find for food at the exchange. In
turn, the exchange sends the junk
downstairs where it is sorted. The
good stuff is either used or traded
to the vendors from Snail-Town
once a month. The survivors get
to live in squalor with just enough
food to stay alive, and the Mer-
chant Class of The Downs, the
wreckers that live mostly on the
Strontium level, get rich.
The poor wreckers on the sur-
face do get a military presence
to make their miserable lives a
little safer, but they almost never
have enough salvage to trade for
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
credits, which means they can
never afford to pay the entry fee
to get in.
You used to be a soldier yourself,
and would have loved getting
pinned to the P.Z., but now, as a
lowly “shift-work” guard, you hate
it.
Bartus, a guy that is somewhere
between a soldier and a guard like
you approaches as you step out of
the lift. “Hey Randal! Randal!” he
shouts. “Yeah Bartus, I’m stand-
ing right here buddy,” you reply.
“Them wreckers you run around
with, you know the ones, well they
crashes the gate the other day, says
it’s official business and that you
approved it. That’s coming out of
your pay Randal! It’s ten to get in
for civilians, no exceptions!” he
forcefully informs you. Argghh.
You really need new friends.
“You can’t get blood out of a stone
Bartus, but I can’t stop you from
trying,” you say, mimicking empty
pockets. “You really need to get
better..” Bartus begins to lecture
you about your inner circle before
you interrupt him. “Don’t say it
Bartus. I’m tired of hearing it to-
day,” you tell him. “I’m just saying
is all.” Bartus replies.

The Exchange is a ramshackle as-
sortment of tarp tents and plastic
bins. Workers collect the salvage
and sort it into bins, and you
stand there like a mook threaten-
ing to beat the daylights out of
anyone who tries to steal, cheat,
or annoy them, although you’re
in no condition to beat on anyone
today.
-Wander around a bit.
Turn to 15
-Knuckle down and just get
through this shift.
Turn to 20
3
The beast grips you in its
massive “Crab-like” hand,
lifting you several feet
off the ground. All of the air has
been squeezed from your chest,
and you desperately gasp for air
as the crowd chants “Wampadu..
Wampadu”. Your eyes roll back
in your head as you begin to lose
consciousness, your last thoughts
revolving around how terrible the
creature smells...
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
4
You charge forward and
throw a punch at the
closest ratling, but slip on
the approach and fail to connect.
The ratling immediatley turns
and cracks you upside the head
with its metal pipe, and you hit
the ground with a thud. You wake
up to a kick to your shoulder.
Astrid stands over you, battered
and nearly broken herself. “Get
up hero,” she says. You stumble
to your feet while spitting out a
mouthful of blood and maybe two
teeth. Your pants are bloodsoaked
and taking a step is agonizing.
“That pistol you stole from the
lock box had a hair trigger. It went
off when you hit the ground. You
shot yourself in the ass, but it
scared off the Long-Tails, so all’s
well that ends well I guess” Astrid
says, while taking your arm over
her shoulder to help you walk.
“You’re welcome?” you half de-
clare, half ask. “Yeah, something
like that,” Astrid replies with a
grin.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Ending Code is B5 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
 5
Glancing at the notes
scratched on a piece of pa-
per, you can see that some-
one complained about Long-Tails
dragging somebody into an alley
behind the Ragged Tiger. You
were in the Tiger last night, or at
least you must have been. Con-
sidering Fadigan closed his place
down and headed off to Doon,
there isn’t another place in Cop-
per your friends can get into.
Astrid will be in the Tiger asking
questions no doubt, so you can’t
exactly waltz in, but it wouldn’t
hurt to skulk around the alley
behind it.
The Long-Tails are an organized
gang of ratlings that engage in all
manner of crimes, and operate
on the Copper level, although it
is rumored that someone power-
ful from down below pulls their
strings. You usually look the other
way when they are involved, but
sometimes they cross lines even
you can’t ignore. You might even
know the person that went miss-
ing considering where this hap-
pened.
Better not take any chances. You
use your keys to open a lock box
containing a custom pistol with
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
an extended magazine that Astrid
confiscated from a ganger at some
point. Tucking the handgun into
your pants, you head towards the
Ragged Tiger.
The Copper level is about three
stories tall, with massive columns
scattered all over the place sup-
porting the “ceiling” above. With-
out artificial light, the entire level
is pitch black, and Copper only
gets a few hours of light each day.
The levels below get most of the
juice The Downs generates. Judg-
ing the increasing dimness, you
figure you have about a half hour
before it’s lights out. Not a lot of
time, but Copper isn’t terribly
large. Should be plenty.
As you approach the Tiger, you
hear sounds of a scuffle coming
from the alleyway behind the bar,
as well as Astrid’s grating voice.
-See if Astrid needs help.
Turn to 9
-I can’t let Astrid know I am here.
She’s on her own!
Turn to 11
 6 8
“Whisshh file dunnah
neesh me tuh deleesh?”
you slur. May-Zee tries
to point to some words on the
screen, but seems to miss the
screen altogether. “Lesh juss take
the whooooooole wreckin fing.”
she says. “Annn da camerss too.”
7
“Hey hey hey!” you shout.
The ratlings turn to face
you. “No. Bad. No hit!” you
say. This would be a lot easier if
you could speak any ratling. The
ratlings look at one another as if
deciding which one of you to kill
first. “Kill one guard bad,” you say
with ridiculous hand gestures.
“Kill two guard big trouble” you
further explain. The ratlings seem
to consider the wisdom in your
“baby talk”, and slink away into
the shadows of the alley. Astrid
stumbles to her feet. “Wow, you
really have a way with words,”
she says. “Sarcasm. No. Bad,”
you answer. “Thank you - good.”
“Yeah, yeah, I owe you one” Astrid
replies.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Ending Code is B5 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
There are a couple of ven-
dors along the way, so
getting something to eat
shouldn’t hold you up for too
long. It would help if you knew
what time it was, or even what
day it was for that matter, but the
fluorescent lights are running, and
they only run for six hours each
day on the copper level, so you are
at least within six hours of being
on time, and your “beer alarm
clock” is usually pretty reliable.
The copper level...Home sweet
home. The first level below
ground in the subterranean com-
pound known as “The Downs”.
Living in copper is a lot safer
than living on the surface, but not
much nicer compared to the other
levels that lie beneath your feet.
You have never seen them, but
you have heard stories about Sil-
ver and Strontium. Good stories.
Maybe if you could stop wrecking
up you might get promoted and
moved down a level. Nah, who are
you kidding, you’re lucky as it is.
You walk up to Issk’s small cart.
He is roasting some sort of meat
over embers as usual, and it smells
good even if the source of the
meat remains a mystery; It’s hard
 to tell with Lizard-Folk. Issk’s the pistol, but think twice. Astrid’s
kind are hunters and gatherers already going to make trouble for
and there is no telling what he you, no need letting her know you
killed and slapped on the grill. have the gun too.

“Raaandalll,” he says. That’s about You charge into the alleyway to

all you ever get out of Issk, but it’s discover Astrid on the ground
just nice to be remembered. You with her back against a wall. Three
reach into your pocket and pull Long-Tails with pipes are sur-
out a wad of crumpled credits. rounding her.
They are wet, stuck together, and
smell like the inside of a beer -Charge the Ratlings.
bottle. Peeling off a couple bills, Turn to 18
you slap them down and grab a
mystery kebob. “Thanks Issk,”
you say, about to leave. “You need -Try to reason with the Ratlings.
bettah friends,” he says. You are
shocked to hear him say more
Turn to 7
than your name. Wreck it all, he

is probably right. Your friends are
pretty terrible, and the source of
most of your problems and poor
decisions. “Okay” you reply, not
having the time or capacity for
introspection at the moment.
-Cram the kebob down your throat
and get to work!
Turn to 24
10
“What in the scrap
happened in here?”
Bostich asks. “I just got
here a few minutes ago myself, but
there are clear signs of a break in.
Looks like they made off with the
cameras, the console, and what-
ever was in Astrid’s lock box.” you
reply. “Where is Astrid?” Bostich
asks. “Who knows. She drinks
too much and comes in late all the

9
time,” you reply.
As much as you hate Astrid,
you can’t just walk away
from this. You already have
too many deaths on your con-
science as it is. You begin to pull

Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)

 11
You don’t feel great
about walking away
from the alley, but
Astrid will have you busted down
and see that you lose your one
measly stripe if she knows you
failed to show up for guard duty.
You quickly head in the opposite
direction towards the lift. After
working your near-eternal shift
guarding the exchange, you return
to the guard post. No signs that
Astrid has returned. You quickly
lock up the gun you aren’t sup-
posed to be carrying.
Well, your “Astrid problem” prob-
ably just got solved, as people that
tangle with the Long-Tails often
disappear, but the fact that they
would be bold enough to nab a
guard is troubling. You feel a little
bad for Astrid, and for walking
away, but you have done worse.
Much worse.
You set about staging a break in
to explain the stolen cameras and
console to your supervisor, and
even break open the lock box and
take the pistol. After all, you are
probably going to need it.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
Ending Code is B5 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
12
“This is the scraphole
you and your friends
hang out in?” Astrid
asks. “Hey, I thought you came
here to buy me a beer, so just get
to the buying part already,” you
reply. “Alright alright, I just think
you can do better slugger.” “Yeah,
I need new friends” you say while
raising the glass.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Ending Code is B5 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
13
You rush forward and
throw a punch at the
nearest ratling. It tries
to turn, but its head spins around
while its body stays still. The life-
less Long-Tail hits the ground as
the other two drop their pipes,
preparing to run away.
Wreck it all, you can’t let them
escape. You pull the pistol from
your pants and open fire. The
ratlings fall to the ground. Astrid
stumbles to her feet. “You mis-
erable wrecker! What have you
 done?” she shouts. “Something -Report for duty straight away.
stupid, and loud,” you answer. Turn to 24
We need to get rid of these bodies
quick, and ditch this gun while we
are at it. There’s a lot more Long- -Try to eat something. That
Tails where these two came from.” sometimes helps.
-End- Turn to 8
Tell the Game Master your

15
Ending Code is A3 before
Folks don’t usually
playing “Bubb’s Diner”. make trouble at the
exchange. It’s all they

14
can do up here to just stay alive.
The water is luke-
Nobody’s going to miss you for an
warm, but you douse
hour or two. As you walk around
your shaved head
you notice a few ratlings fighting
and face with it repeatedly. This
with a human survivor over some
didn’t work as well as you had
worthless piece of junk. You con-
hoped, and it took way too long
sider intervening, but you don’t.
to feel the sting from the slaps,
You just keep walking around.
but it will have to do. You’ve
reported for duty in worse shape
A group of soldiers pass by in
before, this should be a piece of...
their patrol armor, brandishing
“Hwuuuuut” all over the wrecking
rifles. That was you once, well not
sink. You rinse some vomit out
here in the P.Z. You were up north
of your mouth and slosh a little
in Bulwark where things are real.
around the sink, but you will have
You haven’t accomplished much
to clean this mess up later.
in this life, but you did manage to
kill more mutants than you can
In four steps you are at the door of
count on one hand, or two hands
your cramped quarters, but again,
as you tell it when you are drunk.
you aren’t about to complain, you
have it better than most, at least
Your thoughts drift to Everly as
in the copper district and above
you walk in the orange glow of
ground that is.
a radioactive sunset. You would
have stormed the gates of hell

Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)

 for that woman, and up North
you did. She was as mean as she
was tough, crooked as the day is
long, and a great sergeant to serve
under, but a terrible one to fall in
love with. You got busted down
and out over her, but kept your
mouth shut and kept her enlisted.
She’ still up there you reckon.
Chances of surviving in Bulwark
aren’t great, and mutants eat what-
they kill, so not a lot of bodies
coming home to The Downs, but
you’re sure she’s still up there.
Wreck it. She’s too mean to die.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Ending Code is B4 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
16
Your flashlight goes in
and out as the batter-
ies begin to fail. Just a
little further now. You have come
to far to turn back. The tunnel
opens into a large cavern, and
the dim beam is amplified by a
number of crystals jutting out the
stone walls. Strange creatures can
be seen in the distance, shimmer-
ing in the light. Their bodies seem
to be made of the same crystal,
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
and they appear to be hovering
just above the cavern floor. You
have captured their attention. As
they turn to face you, the beam
from your flashlight flickers out
again and darkness fills the cav-
ern.
17
“Everyone knows
that NeoMorts hold
a grudge against the
rest of us for the whole “grown in
a vat to use for spare parts” thing,
but the strangler has more than
settled the score and continues to
take things way too far!
You can’t see him coming, and
nobody can hear your screaming,
it’s just not fair. Some folks say he
ain’t even real, just a scapegoat for
murderers. I know better, and he
gets around. I seen the wrecker
once in Scrap-Town, and another
time up north in The Downs.
That’s why you need one of these
reinforced neck braces friend, and
yer in luck cause I’m selling em
cheap!”
 18
You’ve tangled with
tougher things than
ratlings before, but
three of them might be a chal-
lenge.
Roll a twelve sided die, and turn
to the section indicated by the fol-
lowing results:
I rolled a 1
Turn to 4
I rolled a 2,3, or 4
Turn to 22
I rolled a 5,6,7,8,9,10, or 11
Turn to 26
I rolled a 12
Turn to 13
19
“We need to get clear-
ance to Strontium” She
says. “I don’t have that
kind of pull!” you reply. “I can
barely keep myself in Copper as
it is. You are all going to get me
canned or killed”. “Relax buddy,
this is simple. I will show you how
to do it, no problem. We’re talking
threat level zero here” she replies.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
Ending Code is B4 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
20
Hours feel like days
as you try to occupy
your mind with other
things. You watch as desperate
survivors are cheated out of what
little salvage they can dig up in
the P. Z. in exchange for rations
so terrible they aren’t even al-
lowed on the Copper level. The
unforgiving orange skies give
way to darkness, and you catch a
ride on the lift back down to the
copper level with some soldiers
returning from patrol. You know
most of them, and served with
one of them. She doesn’t make
eye contact and pretends not to
recognize you, but you know she
does. You get a heavy feeling
in your gut, and you can’t really
blame her after what happened up
north in Bulwark. That wasn’t one
of your typical screw ups, it was
colossal. And now you are a lowly
shift-work guard... in the end you
probably deserve the miserable
friends you have and the constant
trouble they bring your way.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
 Ending Code is B4 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
21
You wake up in a cold
sweat. You dreamt
of being a wrecking
guard trapped in the Copper level.
Good grief, next you’ll be dream-
ing of digging for scrap to trade
for protein cakes on the surface.
You reach over and push a but-
ton on the wall next to your bed.
A voice crackles over a speaker
mounted in the wall above the
button. “Yes, Mr. Greykill,” the
voice asks. “What’s the status on
the Long-Tails? Did we ever get
the tapes after the break in?” you
ask. Yes, it looks like three or four
Copper level lowlifes, and they
had help from a guard.” the voice
answers. “Which guard?” you ask.
“I believe he is called Randal,” the
voice replies.
22
You rush towards the
ratlings, but make way
too much noise to
maintain the element of surprise.
As you throw a punch at the first
ratling, it swings its pipe to meet
your forearm, possibly breaking
it (your arm, not the pipe). You
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
shout in reaction to the unexpect-
ed pain as the other two ratlings
go to work on you with their own
metal pipes. This goes on for a
while before their arms get too
tired to swing the makeshift clubs,
and they leave the two of you ly-
ing in the alley. Astrid stumbles
to her feet as you pull yourself up
from the ground as well. “They
probably would have killed me if
you hadn’t given them an easier
target,” she laughs through miss-
ing teeth. “Nah,” you reply. “They
were just making a point to stay
out of their business.” “Point
taken,” Astrid replies as the two of
you stumble out of the alleyway.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Ending Code is B5 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
23
Your eyes begin to blur
a bit as you stare at
the screen. The game
convention starts tomorrow, and
you realize you have stayed up all
night working on a beta version of
a multi-path prologue for an ad-
venture that isn’t even published
yet. The worst part is that no
choices will even bring anyone to
 this particular entry, and you have
to be at work in four hours. Oh
you poor, miserable wrecker.
24
You pull open the
battered metal door
to the guard station,
the only one on the entire copper
level.
“Well look what decided to wreck-
in’ show up,” Astrid announces
as you close the door. Astrid is
another guard, and she has never
made much effort to hide her
hatred towards you. “The lights
are still on,” you half chuckle,
partly in an attempt to diffuse the
tension that just hit you over the
head like a hammer, but mostly
because you couldn’t think of
anything better to say. “The sta-
tion wasn’t locked,” she accuses.
“Well I locked it up after lights out
last night, check the camera.” you
reply. “Oh I thought of that, and
I would have if someone hadn’t
made off with all the cameras in
and around this wrecking place,
along with the only working ter-
minal we had!”
You turn to look at the door. No
signs of a forced entry at first
glance. You know you locked it
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
before you left and met up with...
Ahhh Scrap. You came back last
night with your friends. They
wanted you to delete a file, some
file...man, you need new friends.
“Well somebody must have bro-
ken in, or jimmied the lock,” you
say nervously. “Got the keys right
here,” you say as jingling a fob
hanging from your belt.
“This has your brand of stupid
written all over it Randal, and
when i find those cameras and
the console, and I will, it’s topside
in the great nothing for you pal,”
Astrid retorts with a smirk on her
face, and you hate that she is right.
Still, you have always managed to
accidentally outsmart her in the
past...
“Aside from the obvious break-in,
what else is going on?” you ask.
“Long-Tail trouble as usual, but
nobody ever sees anything when
the ratlings are involved, and a
shift topside at the exchange.”
“Okay, good. I can look into the
ratling problem...” you begin to
say before Astrid interrupts you.
“Oh Scrap no! You’re going up
top. I’ve got the ratlings by the
tail. You thought I was giving you
 choices?”
“Last time I checked, you weren’t
handing out the credits Astrid,”
you reply, tapping the lonely
stripe dangling from the shoulder
of your jacket. “You want first pick
buck-private? Try showing up to
work on time.” she replies while
walking out the door. “And lock
the wrecking door this time!” she
shouts from outside.
-Head topside to pull a guard
shift at the exchange.
Turn to 2
- Look into the “Long-Tail”
issue anyway.
Turn to 5
25
You fumble under
the mattress pad that
lies directly on the
concrete floor of your room. You
know you keep one under there
for emergencies..Yep, there it
is. Some people would consider
injectors harmful drugs, and they
would be right, but you prefer
to focus on the performance
enhancing properties they offer.
You roll up you sleeve and with
a pneumatic “SPAAT”, a blast of
air shoots the substance into your
left shoulder. “Zenn” is largely
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
recreational, but it slows things
down a bit, and helps you focus
on your steps. It doesn’t make you
more bold so much as makes you
too mellow to freak out, and it’s
good against mutants with freaky
mental powers too. It also cures
hangovers, or at least the symp-
toms. You wont sleep for scrap
tonight after taking it, meaning it
will probably take twice as long to
get back to feeling normal.
-Report for duty straight away
Turn to 24
-Try to eat something. That should
help even everything out.
Turn to 8
26
You charge forward
and slam a fist into the
back of ratlings head.
You forgot how thick their skulls
are! The Ratling falls down on the
ground in front of you, knocked
unconscious from the force of
your punch. The remaining
ratlings turn to face you. “Who
wants some?” you ask, trying to
hide the fact that you may have
just broken your hand.
The ratlings seem to consider
their options, but as Astrid stum-
 bles to her feet behind them they
choose to flee. Taking Astrid’s
arm over your shoulder, you help
her walk out of the alleyway. “Is
that my gun?” she asks. “Yeah,
you forgot it and I was bring-
ing it to you,” you reply. “You’re
the wrecking worst Randal,” she
laughs before wincing from the
pain.
-End-
Tell the Game Master your
Ending Code is B5 before
playing “Bubb’s Diner”.
27
“You’re telling me
there is a “Beast in
the East” as tall as the
Downs is deep, stomping around
and shooting laser beams out
its one giant eye? Oh man now
I really have heard it all,” You
say. Merle looks at you with a
deadpan, matter-of-fact expres-
sion that is usually a tell that he
is full of scrap. “You don’t have to
believe a thing for it to be real” he
replies while taking a sip.
Wrecking Lowlifes like Merle
would sell their own mothers
to Snail Town for a handful of
credits, and yet they often seem
sincere.
Shane Gregory (Order #15179229)
“Okay Merle, let’s just pretend I
do believe you. Why does it even
matter? There’s an army of Mu-
tants between us and the East.”
“Now your getting it cue ball,”
Merle replies. “We slip past those
Mutie wreckers all quiet-like, kill
the beast, cut out its wrecking eye
and sell it for a fortune.” “There
are so many problems with your
‘big plan’ I don’t even know where
to begin,” Mayzee interjects.
“That eye would have to be the
size of this bar if the thing is as
big as you say, and even if we
could somehow drag it back here
without having to fight a thou-
sand mutants, it would rot and fall
to pieces, annnddddd what use
would a dead eye be anyway?” she
continues.
“We don’t need the whole eye,
Mayzee my dear, just some of the
crystals jutting out of it, and there
have to be some scientists kick-
ing around the lower levels that
can figure out how to power the
things. Anyway that’s their prob-
lem to figure out. By then we’ll
all be living in Luxx down on the
Strontium level where the beer
actually tastes like beer. Won’t that
be nice?” he replies with a grin.