Bad BloodThe Ashwater Reach

The wells run green from here to the flats. Kettle Bluff blames Wick, Wick blames the bluff, and something upstream keeps making more of whatever is in the water.

Whose blood

Which season

Six ways to go, no north and no south.
W north-west E north-east D east X south-east Z south-west A west
Start a fight space, or walk into it Use what is in front of you F Talk T
Pack I Tasks Q Look around drag or the arrow keys Zoom wheel, + and - C recentres
Fighting happens in a panel of its own, a blow at a time.

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Fighting

You-

1 strike 2 shoot 3 give ground 4 hold the rest of the reach waits while this settles

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How the reach works

Taint is the whole game. It rises in the ashfall, at the slag, in the sump, from green well water and from anything changed that lays a hand on you. It buys you changes of your own and it costs you the bluff's trust while it earns you Wick's.

Antitoxin thins it. Nothing else does, short of shutting the source.

Move W north-west, E north-east, D east, X south-east, Z south-west, A west
Start a fight space, or simply walk into something Use F (ways down, wells, the relay, the console) Talk T
Pack I Tasks Q Close a panel Escape
Look around drag the map or the arrow keys Zoom wheel, pinch, or + and - Recentre C or double-click
Once blows are exchanged a fight panel opens and stays open until one side is down or you give enough ground to break off. The reach holds its breath while it runs.
The game saves itself as you walk. Hunger and thirst kill slowly, the blood kills at ninety.