Arena 02

The Setting
''The city is huge, flat and sprawling in all directions under a burnt orange sky streaked with tattered black clouds. The heat is oppressive, dry enough to steal the moisture from your mouth, the tears from your cheeks. Only a sickly wind stirs the faded rags of abandoned flags now, but with nightfall comes a fierce breeze that whips the dust into a stinging force, driving one and all into shelter.''

''The Cornucopia sits in the ruins of what was once a children's park. Scattered around the gleaming horn are the wreckage of brightly-colored little cars, a Ferris wheel, the twisted, collapsed track of a roller coaster. The cement is cracked and corrupted - dead plants have thrust up through it, and footing is awful. This land was bombed; the craters are everywhere, asphalt turned to glass at their centers. In one crater, a pair of red shoes is melted to the ground.''

''Beyond the park, the buildings loom. Every single one is damaged. Walls are missing or floors collapsed, skyscrapers tilt drunkenly against one another or rest on the shoulders of smaller edifices. Some seem stable, with the withered trunks of trees grown interwoven with their walls. Some groan and shift at every breeze, and bricks fall from their facades like rain when the breeze rises. That's the only rain the city knows.''

''The architecture is strange, the new layered upon the old layered upon the new, and the streets are paved with asphalt, clay, cobblestones and sand, all in turns. There are cracks, wide gashes in the streets, deep enough that one stares down into blackness. The sound of water comes from the deepest few. It is the only water in the city, and it is guarded fiercely by the packs of roving dogs who rely on it.''

''Large as the city is, it is surrounded by a high wall of rubble. Nothing can be seen beyond this wall, and attempts to scale it will run into the forcefield, with potentially fatal results.''

''The city is full of shelter, but very few supplies. The vermin are the only food available, rats and dogs, raccoons and pigeons. Old furniture and walls can be broken up for firewood. For weapons, broken stone and metal is plentiful. As is bone.''

Weapons

 * None.

Equipment

 * many blank cans, presumed to contain foodstuffs and water
 * 10 watertight bags, contents unknown-each contains 3 things

Immediate hazards

 * The heat. Anyone going without water is going to be in trouble in a day or less.
 * The unstable buildings. If a character chooses to enter a building, we may roll to see how reliable it is.
 * The dogs. They rove in bands of 6-30, and you look delicious.

Wildlife

 * Canis Familiaris. Once, the ancestors of these dogs were the pets of the citizens of this city. One can only imagine what they've been eating since then.''
 * Black Vultures. Large scavenger birds, these are only too happy to take a peck at a sleeping human, and their filthy beaks guarantee an infection.
 * Rats. Really big rats.
 * Crows. Crows who WILL steal your things if you don't watch out for them.

Foodstuffs

 * If it's alive when you catch it, you can eat it. But there are virtually no living plants beyond some grasses and moss (Both edible, neither nutritious). The Cornucopia supplies are your best bet.

Credit Exchange Starting Prices

 * Rope 15 credits
 * Wire 15 credits
 * Food 20 credits a meal
 * Water purifier 30 credits
 * Small weapon 40 credits (Knife, throwing knife, spike, wire, chakram)
 * Medium weapon 70 credits (Baseball bat, hand-axe, light spear, machete, net)
 * Large weapon 95 credits (Sword, heavy spear, timber axe, large mace)
 * Projectile weapons 115 credits (Bows, bolas, blowpipes)
 * Legendary weapon 130 credits (Trident, Hawaiian shark-tooth axe, scythe)
 * Medicine 50 credits
 * A Tent 100 credits