Chicken and Waffles and Upgrades

Story so far

Chicken and Waffles and Upgrades is a diner in Hungry Eyes Vendor Village, exempt from local safe-room rules, decked in an overabundance of neon and a 1950s aesthetic despite the town's Blade Runner look, staffed by flightless imps and fronted by the gum-snapping hostess Darla-Dean. Its jukebox (playing 'Fame,' then 'Sledgehammer') conceals a sliding door to a back hallway marked 'Upgrades,' where a dusty counter holds a binder of laminated vehicle-upgrade pages. The party comes here on Akuma's coded instruction to ask for 'top-shelf upgrades.' They find the upgrade imp Hickster murdered on the counter, eyes burned out, a crayon note from Akuma pinned to him.

Behind a poster of an armored yak, Carl disarms a hidden disintegration trap and opens a storeroom where Akuma waits with a purple milkshake — the site of his brutal interrogation. The diner's food, like all Hungry Eyes food, conveys buffs: strawberry milkshakes and malts grant +5% reaction time, drawing Louis and Prepotente into a to-go spree.

Appearance

A gaudy neon diner with a 1950s rockabilly interior, jukebox, kiddie and drink menus, staffed by small flightless imps; a hidden 'Upgrades' hallway and trapped storeroom behind the jukebox.

Role

A buff-food diner fronting a secret vehicle-upgrade shop, used as Akuma's clandestine meeting spot.

Relationships