Matt Black City Report 7: Storms and signals

Journal of Senior Mag Stevo: Storms and signals.
Date 28060117

Last night a howling chem storm drifted in from the sea. The lightening was impressive and the rain stank of chemicals. There was a lightening strike on a distant half ruined block. We watched awestruck as a huge corner of the block collapsed.

Magistrate Black got a spot rain on his hand and it left a small burn. It only seems strong enough to effect exposed flesh.

The storm passed quickly. Thankfully Black's injury was only superficial and is healing well. The top of the block reeked of chemicals until midday when the heat of the sun burnt them off. It was so bad at dawn we had to wear our respirators. The storm is a grim reminder of the perils of this place.

Later on we formed a three man team to sweep the top three floors for supplies. As there are other factions here we also stockpiled anything we might be able to trade for supplies. Mag Monk stayed with the shuttle to man the comms and scanners.

We found little of use. Some ancient preserved food stuffs. Black seems game to try eating it. But the rest of the team are unsure. I have forbid him from trying. We cannot afford someone out of action with food poisoning or worse.

There is a small pile of personal tech and jewellery we have salvaged that we can use to trade. Monk touched a bit of salvage and recoiled like she had been burnt. Later she explained she felt and saw the horror of the wearers last days condensed into a fraction of a second. It took Monk a hour to recover. Some "gift", more like a curse to my mind.

We have been picking up several radio signals. One is heavily encrypted and seems to be coming from a high tech source. Possibly another group from Utopia?

There is also a few signals using old military encryption tech. We have not cracked the encryption yet. Many signals appear to be moving around the city. I suspect a couple bands of mercenaries are here or maybe groups from one of the wasteland cities. Liberty, Nu Sodom, Great Lakes, The Free Burgs and Brittainna are most likely. I hope it is Liberty City is here as we have a good relationship with them. It would be good to have some allies here.

There was one signal we picked up which wasn't encrypted. It appears to originate from the Kraptoidiots corporation. K2I was banned from trading in Utopia due to the low quality, highly addictive and often dangerous nature of their products. Both Black and I where in the front line during the Mutant Munch riots. Hard to believe a baked snack could be so addictive and as it turns out full of mutagenetic materials.

I have informed Mag Black that he can go trade with them for food if he wants and his reply was that he would rather eat the brain of a rad ghoul. Let's hope it won't come to that!