Keyhole
Today we are opening a new thread on the forum. This is a game thread. Here is how you play. We take on the role of granny Vala, who knows what's going to happen in the game. Or maybe she doesn't, who knows? You assume the role of the patrons of ‘Keyhole’ — a cozy tavern in Centralia. You are free to comment on Vala's words as you wish, interpret them as you like, ask anything you want. Vala is free to answer or not, or answer confusingly. Her predictions are, as always, shrouded in mystery.
Centralia is a cozy town where Raiders don't visit, and the Sun's disk always hangs in the distance. The town is bubbling with life. Landladies are hanging grey linen out to dry, and it sways in the wind like faded banners. Sentries climb to their posts to watch for Raiders and look frozen in place with their binoculars for the whole day, like gargoyles, only occasionally sitting down in wicker chairs. Engineers warm up their gadgets and the thick smell of engine oil spreads through the air. Girls armed with sapper shovels go looking for potatoes, and the boys sent to guard them are always joking and smiling. The local oaf drives pigs to pasture.
But when the night comes, colours fade, and the setting sun highlights the towers of the gloomy necropolis. Life moves upwards: canopies and walkways of the power plant are lit, and people strive to forget about the dark ‘below’, about the skeletons of skyscrapers in the distance. They go to the ‘Keyhole’. After all, they serve ‘Fireblood’ — a colourless liquid most survivors drink Though some describe it as colourful — especially after a couple of glasses... The ‘keyhole’ is always crowded: some come to drown their sorrows, and some to share joy with friends. Tables and chairs are moved about, forwards, then backwards, then sideways and then over someone's head.
Only one corner is always empty. It has a bright rug from the southern countries, and a chair. This is where the centenary granny Vala usually sits, fireblood doesn't affects her anymore: she uses it for breakfast and supper, heals and treats with it. Kids love her — the youngest and the older ones who keep an eye on the youth. Sometimes she helps around the kitchen... And sometimes she sees the future. On such evenings there's more people more in the ‘Keyhole’ than there are spikes on a Lunatic's car. Yet not all that she says comes true…