THE CRAWLER'S COMPANIONpatch notes for the apocalypse

Station 75

First seen: Book 3, Chapter 21

Glimpsed for a few seconds as the train rushes past: corpses on the tracks and a pile of bodies on the platform, including several dead hobgoblins and jackal-faced gnolls. Multiple side tracks branch off the main line here, lined with small, idle rail cars about the size of a Mini Cooper, plus a long run of portals and switches. Carl reads the dead hobgoblins as the station's crash interdiction team, overrun by the ghoul horde, and wonders if the gnolls are the transit security force Madison once insisted was real back at station 60.

Rail StopAlready Looted

Appearance

Appearance:

Corpses on the tracks and a pile of bodies on the platform, including dead hobgoblins and gnolls; multiple side tracks lined with small idle rail cars, plus a long run of portals and switchesB3C22

Cavern:

A sprawling cavern beyond the yard, full of squat, doorless warehouses and open-air workshops, turned into a graveyard: hundreds of ghoul corpses litter the ground alongside gnoll and hobgoblin bodies, with scorch marks throughout from explosions. The system attributes most of the killing to ghouls versus gnolls and hobgoblins, gnolls versus hobgoblins, and hobgoblins versus gnolls, in roughly that orderB3C25

Rail Yard:

A small yard off the tracks holding rows of parked carts and six portals: five fixed against a wall, requiring a switching station to pick a track, plus a smaller sixth portal on a landing meant to be walked through to more platforms, similar to the system at station 60. One of the five is a one-way link to Trainyard C; the other four each offer a choice of 48 differently colored lines, defaulting to the Orange Line if nothing is selectedB3C26

Multiple tracks branch off to a small-scale yard of a few dozen flatbed cars, built to carry only a handful of riders at a time, in several different designs; Carl guesses they're how hobgoblins reach crashed trains to fix them. Not yet investigatedB3C25

Repair Station and Armory:

Both already looted. The repair station holds empty wooden hob-lobber cases, bare tool shelves, plain tables, and a single overlooked Repair Bench; the armory holds metal shelves built for spears and forty wooden mannequins built to hold armorB3C26

Where

Ten unused Interdiction Rapid-Response Railway Repair Carts and a larger number of worn Interdiction Auxiliary Railway Repair Carts sit parked in the yard, alongside a handful of unpowered flatbed trailer carts too heavy for anyone in the party to carryB3C26

Three intact buildings sit together at the cavern's center: a gnoll armory, its door already standing open and its contents presumably already raided; something called a hobgoblin repair shop; and a saferoom. The Downward Dog, a tavern-style bar with an entrance to the party's own personal space, sits nearbyB3C25

Overrun by the ghoul horde, its crash interdiction team apparently killed; the party's train passes through without stoppingB3C22

Purpose

Chosen by Carl as the point to detach the Vermillion engine car from the rest of the train, before continuing on to station 36 to unload the roughly 1,000 people freed on the runB3C24

Connections

Carl:

Explores it with Donut and Katia after the train leaves, releasing Mongo from his carrier; spends time gathering hats from fellow crawlers here before the party splits off to shower, loot, and watch the recap showB3C25

History by chapter
Book 3
Chapter 21
  • TAG Rail Stop: Named only in passing by Hekla as a further hazard near station 101 on the Vermillion line; what's actually happening there isn't explained
Chapter 22
  • PHYSICAL Appearance: Corpses on the tracks and a pile of bodies on the platform, including dead hobgoblins and gnolls; multiple side tracks lined with small idle rail cars, plus a long run of portals and switches
  • LOCATION Location: Overrun by the ghoul horde, its crash interdiction team apparently killed; the party's train passes through without stopping
Chapter 24
  • OBJECTIVE Objective: Chosen by Carl as the point to detach the Vermillion engine car from the rest of the train, before continuing on to station 36 to unload the roughly 1,000 people freed on the run
Chapter 25
  • LOCATION Location: Three intact buildings sit together at the cavern's center: a gnoll armory, its door already standing open and its contents presumably already raided; something called a hobgoblin repair shop; and a saferoom. The Downward Dog, a tavern-style bar with an entrance to the party's own personal space, sits nearby
  • RELATIONSHIP Carl: Explores it with Donut and Katia after the train leaves, releasing Mongo from his carrier; spends time gathering hats from fellow crawlers here before the party splits off to shower, loot, and watch the recap show
  • PHYSICAL Rail Yard: Multiple tracks branch off to a small-scale yard of a few dozen flatbed cars, built to carry only a handful of riders at a time, in several different designs; Carl guesses they're how hobgoblins reach crashed trains to fix them. Not yet investigated
  • PHYSICAL Cavern: A sprawling cavern beyond the yard, full of squat, doorless warehouses and open-air workshops, turned into a graveyard: hundreds of ghoul corpses litter the ground alongside gnoll and hobgoblin bodies, with scorch marks throughout from explosions. The system attributes most of the killing to ghouls versus gnolls and hobgoblins, gnolls versus hobgoblins, and hobgoblins versus gnolls, in roughly that order
  • TAG Already Looted: Someone reached the cavern first: every corpse shows signs of having already been searched, and Carl finds not a single gold piece
Chapter 26
  • LOCATION Location: Ten unused Interdiction Rapid-Response Railway Repair Carts and a larger number of worn Interdiction Auxiliary Railway Repair Carts sit parked in the yard, alongside a handful of unpowered flatbed trailer carts too heavy for anyone in the party to carry
  • PHYSICAL Rail Yard: A small yard off the tracks holding rows of parked carts and six portals: five fixed against a wall, requiring a switching station to pick a track, plus a smaller sixth portal on a landing meant to be walked through to more platforms, similar to the system at station 60. One of the five is a one-way link to Trainyard C; the other four each offer a choice of 48 differently colored lines, defaulting to the Orange Line if nothing is selected
  • PHYSICAL Repair Station and Armory: Both already looted. The repair station holds empty wooden hob-lobber cases, bare tool shelves, plain tables, and a single overlooked Repair Bench; the armory holds metal shelves built for spears and forty wooden mannequins built to hold armor