The Darlington Arms opposite the station served over lunch, but the wait for a table was running to 20 minutes, more time than you wanted to waste given you wouldn't be served quickly either.
Instead, you popped over the road to Greggs bakery and got a round of cornish pasties and ham and salad sarnies with a few takeout cups of soytea and soycaf to swill it down with. A few choccy buns slipped in to the order as well for later.
Redline fired up the engine and eased the van out of the parking spot, nearly dinging a mini-car's wingmirror in the awkwardly designed space, clearly never meant for large vans.
She pulled out slowly into the lunchtime traffic of the city centre and jostled with autobusses and taxis for position whilst heading for the ring road, heading west towards the distant hills.
As you strapped in to the fold down seats that lined the rear cab area, you were amazed at the air clarity this far north. You'd never be able to see this far in the 'Smoke, you'd almost forgotten that a world of normality existed outside of it.
The small talk eased as your minds clicked into work mode and soon Redline was piloting you out off the main drag and uphill onto the old pennine pass.
Beautiful rolling hillsides swished past the windows, acres upon endless acres of space reclaimed by nature and all manner of livestock roamed free in the fields that remained in use. As the elevation increased, the farmland gave way to a rusty moorland, bracken spotted with snow provided a gorgeous backdrop, eventually yielding to a solid blanket of white.
The road got a bit hairy as the new road gave way to the old and the surface under the snow cracked and groaned under the onslaught of ice, compact snow and several tons of metal and methuman passengers on top of it.
Redline jumped in, her body ragdolling in the seat as she became the Van, and her efforts notably smoothened out the ride.
Your commlinks pinged with Redline's message:
Check point ahead, not manned at the moment. Be ready.
Easing the throttle back, she approached gently as you all unclipped your belts and peered over the driver's seat to get a better look.
An old rusting lorry had been placed across the road at an awkward angle near an equally awkward old horse box, just wide enough that you could slowly drive a van through it, but not at speed without causing a serious accident. an old Portaloo had been stripped out and fitted with a seat for a guard to sit at.
[spoiler]
@Profgast, you came through this on the descent but it was abandoned that early in the morning on a weekend. Sensors are picking up some recent signs of activity, footprints in the snow etc.
the others can't really see that well out of the cab so you'd need to let them know IC.
Matrix: a low rating motion sensor is buried into the roadside running hidden. Noise modifiers are at -2 at present, plus any mods for public grid if appropriate
Astral: there's nothing immediately obvious, but a nearly decayed astral signature marks out a bit of a patrol route. Low intensity, a watcher or very low force spirit probably. assensing test for more info[spoiler]
