I ran a few-shot for Sheri, Michael, Jese, Joe, and Myra over our summer vacation to SC this past week.  It took us 5 or 6 sessions, but we made it through the entire scenario (albiet without exploring every nook).

The premise was an explosion on a hillside near their town that revealed a prior-world structure. Their job was to evaluate any threats to their village it might contain.

Characters:

- Kai [Sheri] :: Graceful Nano who Rides the Lightning

- Jace [Michael] :: Clever Jack who Explores Dark Places

- Madge [Jese] :: Clumsy Glaive who Absorbs Energy

- Umi [Myra] :: Aggressive Jack who Figures Things Out

- Johan [Joe] :: Obsessive Glaive who Crafts Unique Objects

Highlights:

- The crew geared up and traveled south across the lake and overland to the place where a thin plume of yellow-gray smoke was still pouring out of the ground.  Upon arrival, they set up and activated the virtual mapper cypher they'd been given to get a feel for the layout of the structure - having to fend off a large pack of broken hounds while it procesed.  The cypher indicated a power source near the rear of the structure and some sort of control center at the far end. Kai was able to determine this structure was some sort of craft - probably one that traveled the Night.

- Once inside, they locatred the power source, which seemed to be unstable and possibly contaminated by cross-dimensional energies.  They also found Ceril, and merchant/trader from their village who had apparently come to find any treasures the ruin contained, but was instead corrupted by the dimensional leak.  Ceril fought with the until they were eventually subdued and removed from the ruin.

- While Johan and Umi were outside with Ceril, the others discussed the next course.  Feeling the power source's unstable state may result in a collapse/meldown/explosion, the group decided to make their way to the "control center" area to see if they could stabilize it from there.

- Johan and Umi missed the marks that had been left for them and ended up an an area strangely overgrown with purple, tendril-like grass and red, fleshy "trees".  It contained a malfunctioning portal of some kind, which was arcing energy from some nearby machinery.  Umi decided to go find the rest of the group, but Johan was obsessed with wanting to understand the machinery and stayed behind.

- Meanwhile, Madge, Kai, and Jace made their way through the mid-section of the craft, through a tunnel where water was pouring down from above.  By the time they arrived at the control area, Umi had caught up with them.  As they approached the final chamber, the door closed in front of them and they saw through the window a tall, slender being with numenera weaponry also examining it.

- Jace bypassed the lock and they moved inside.  Threatened by the biomechanical soldier inside, Madge moved into the room to assist her companions and tripped, falling down.  This startled and distracted the soldier, who accidentally connected its rifle with some loose conduits in the ceiling, sending a jolt of eletrcitiy through it and momentarily stunning it.

- Umi rushed in to grab the rifle as Jace made his way to one of the consoles.  Kai and Madge moved to support Umi, whom the creature immediately began attacking when it regained its senses.

- As the others held off the soldier, Jace had a brilliant insight on how to stabilize the reactor - unfortunately, in so doing, he accidentally cut power to the console as well, and the room with all of its interfaces went dark but for red emergency lighting.

- Meanwhile, Johan, having learned all he could from the portal area, had made his way back through the power core chamber just in time to see the pulsating reactor core suddenly shrink to a stable, standby state.

- The others slipped back through the door to the control center and Jace managed to reverse the security lock such that it was unable to get out.

- Believing they had neutralized the most immediate threats, the group made preparations to return to their village and make their report