"The Combine, by my understanding, is a collection of some of the West's lowest scum, thugs, murderers, and general crooks, all led by a pre-war madman with dreams of conquest. They're well-armed crooks and thugs, though, with a whole lot of shiny toys as old as their leader." He cocks his head and glances at Aaron. "That sound about right?"
"Sounds spot on," Jane says wryly.
"Don't forget the part where all their sh*t is rigged to blow yer f*ckin' hands off if ya try to use it," the bartender adds. "They don't like anyone else playing with their fancy guns. We're lucky that we're far enough from Denver to be outside of their immediate control."
Richie waves to Jerry before following MAx out, looking at him curiously at his strange line. "Rust you? I've never heard that phrase before, what does it mean?"
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"It means that I oxidize as a wet screw under the sun. That I need some movement or I'll get stiff. Stiff and bored." answers Max while he starts Lucille, smiling in amusement at Richie's healthy curiosity. "So tell me, why do you wear those robes? I''ve seen a fair share of wasters that believe in strange cults and wear strange clothes... and yours seem one of them, bud. But I guess looks lie 'cus you seem like an a-grade fella."
"You forgot the part where they press-gang you into service after they kill your family, but other than that..." Aaron shrugs at the mention of the technology, shifting the bandolier holding his rifle around on his chest. "Well yeah, unless you rip it out. Then it works about as well as anything else does out here. Which isn't great, admittedly." Aaron stands up off his stool, rolling his shoulders. "That's why I came down here... well, Junkyard specifically. It's big enough that I figured I'd have some safety; they're not going to invade the place just to find me."
"You hope," Jane says with a draw on her smoke.
Nilus remains silent, taking in these new people and their strange stories.
What would happen if they came? he murmurs, mostly to himself
"Got some war wounds huh?" he asks as he follows Max over and climbs into the sidecar, settling down. He'd met more than a few older folks who complained about aching joints, especially when it rained. "If you still want to help me out, well you heard Jerry's directions."
"Heh. Well I've been called worse things than a cultist, and it's true in a manner of speaking. You ever heard of Joan and the Heretics? How 'bout Silas Rasmussen? Attacked Junkyard a few years back during The Harvest. you could hear the capital letters, even if you weren't familiar with the history of the region as Richie settled into his story.
"I missed all that thankfully, wasn't old enough to to leave home on my own yet. Anyway Joan was one of Silas' followers until she realized how nuts he'd gone. After some... trouble trying to talk Silas out of slaughtering norms she left and started recruiting her own people to help make friends with em instead. Just because we got changed and you guys dint, theres no need to be fighting each other. So now we Doomsayers head out and try to make nice with you norms and letting any of us Chosen know where it's safe if they need it."
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Max stops Lucille right in her tracks, removes his helmet and laughs. A heartly laugh. A long and kind one.
When he finishes laughing he claps Richard in the back "Richie, I didn't understand half of what you told me but I got the rythm. I thought your people tried to hide the fact that you were well, different. And I understand it... people fear what they can't understand. As for my war wounds, maybe one day I can show you. For now let's just say I have better reasons to lay low than you would."
He takes the helmet again and realizes "Before you mention it, I would have you know that attracting all the possible attention with your manners and possessions is a rather successful way to lay low."
"Some of us do... they just want to be left alone, and so many people will chase off a mutant, if not attack it on site. It's not so bad around junkyard and other friendly cities but once you get away from them... So Joan's idea is to try and fix that, show people that we're not all bad like Silas. So us Doomsayers," he screws his face up at the name, it had always seemed very easy to misunderstand, but that's what they were. "try to do good out here and change people's minds." he says, smiling up at Max as he claps him on the back. He does look at Max with evident curiosity when he claims that he's trying to lay low.
"I guess that depends what you're trying to hide from and how many other people are like you. Not too many people with purple robes and green scales." he points out.
As most of the travelers are sitting in the bar talking quietly, and Max and Richie make their way toward the Motor Lodge, they can hear a loud sound drawing closer and closer. It quickly becomes clear that it's the sound of roaring motors and screeching tires. "Son of a b*%%!," Pinky mutters. "Not these sh*t heads again..."
"Problem?" Jane asks.
Nilus pokes his head out a door, or window, to get a look at what is making the racket.
Friends of yours? he asks Max
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"Got no friends around except the ones to make, bud. And judging by Pinky's reaction we are going to get shot soon." Max draws his NA sidearm and checks the clip "Ain't a better way to make friends that fighting together, won't you agree?"
"Pinky, you know what's up. Tell us. And if anybody isn't armed, Lucille has a mounted rifle. I'd rather you waste my bullets than contribute nothing."
Zeke looks at the window at Pinky's comment and the growing roar of engines, and nods--mostly to himself--as Max speaks his thoughts. Same man, good. "Pinky, you got a bathroom?"
Assuming he does, Zeke quickly shuffles to it, where he rips the tabard and armor from his pack and dons them. The tabard keeps bunched under the jacket for now, with only a small bit of white fabric poking out; no need to announce his presence until the time comes. When he returns to the main bar, Zeke looks almost the same, although there's some obvious armor and the jacket adds a bit of bulk to his form, and he stands a little straighter. All the while, he listens for Pinky's response to Max's question, waiting to hear what the situation is.
"Definitely not friends of any of the folk 'round here," Pinky mutters. "Unless we've managed to get a second local road gang, that would be the Gearheads. Bunch a' jack*sses with fancy motorcycles that like to hit the local settlements whenever they're low on food or booze. There's enough o' the louts that they can hit most places pretty hard." He sighs. "The guard will do their best, but they're probably outnumbered. Those gangers can replace people a lot faster than we can. I barely got a new door since last time they came through."
"Sounds like we should have a word with 'em, then." At this point, Zeke reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pair of dark sunglasses, which he slides on over his patch. "Nilus, help as you can, but don't get too close." With that, he pushes back out of Pinky's saloon and into the street, moving towards the sound of the raiders.
Jane sighs and crushes out her smoke. "I reckon we'd better go and deal with this. Figure I've got about 17 rounds left. Better make 'em count."
Richie takes a deep breath as Max pulls up in front of the bar and the other new arrivals stick their heads out. He frowns at Pinky's explanation before giving Max a shrug. "I'm no good with guns but I can help in my own way. Like I just told ya, that's kind of my job." he says with a grin, pushing his purple sleeves up to his elbows.
"Raiders?" Aaron says, sliding off his stool. While there's a slight wobble in his step, nothing else suggests Aaron had been drinking; odd considering the amount of alcohol he consumed. The high-tech rifle slung across his back is pulled around until he has the grip in his hands, flicking off the safety. "Let's put them in their place, shall we? Damned bastards deserve some comeuppance, after what they've done." While Aaron doesn't seem to the know this group personally, you can hear the inflection of anger in his voice; likely something personal. He pulls the military cap farther down onto his head, before moving through the door and out into the street, his rifle at the ready.
Nilus follows behind Zeke, his hand on his pristine copy of "Flashman".
Right behind you Zeke. These men are obvious lawbreakers. The Sheriff should be made away of their activities.
The other bald headed man sitting alone looks up. "Hope you don't mind another gun," he says, standing up. He reaches down an unzips an olive green duffle bag, drawing out a heavy looking assault rifle with what appears to be an underslung grenade launcher.
The group heads outside to find most of the civilians running for cover while half a dozen guards with handguns or large crossbows running toward the gates. "Hello Belknap," a loud male voice calls from beyond the wall. "I'm gonna give you one chance to open the gates give us what we want before we decide to take it."
Zeke strides up the street, all pretense of an old, tired wanderer cast off at this point. He stands before the gate, far enough back that he wouldn't be hurt if it's knocked or blown open, but still near enough to the entry. There, he drops his pack off his shoulders to the ground, where the handle of whatever it is sits about as high as his thigh, angled across. Folding his arms, the man sets his feet and calls out in response to the raiders.
"Hello, sh*theads. I'm gonna give you one chance to turn around to whatever sh*thole you crawled out of before I personally send you to Hell." His voice, strong and clear, makes it plain that he intends to follow through on this promise.
The crowd on the other side of the gate goes quite for a minute. "That's big talk for someone hiding behind a wall!" the first voice calls back. There's another moment of silence. "Boss maybe we should..." a second voice adds, sounding a bit shaken. "Oh for f*ck's sake! Man up you coward! Come on boys! Let's show them what it means to defy us!" There's another roar of an engine and an armored military humvee plows through the gate like it's made of cardboard. A dozen or so men on a variety of tricked out motorcycles race in behind it, drawing a variety of handguns and a few rifles. The guards curse and scramble for cover as the hummer's turret spins around. "Try sending this to hell!" the man arming the turret, seemingly the boss, yells out before giving a wild cry.
As Nilus is diving for cover he says Perhaps a different tact would have been wise...
"Oh, son of a b*tch!" Aaron shouts, rolling behind cover. A few moments later, a fierce look of concentration takes his face, his eyes again almost unnaturally widened. "You're in for it now, you f*cking degenerates!" he rages, as an almost imperceptible glow surrounds the weapons of Jane, Max, and Zeke, as well as his own before fading away again. Bringing the rifle's sights up to his eye, Aaron pops up from cover ready to fire on the first raider he has a clear shot on.
Jane takes the nearest cover she can find, then draws a bead on the driver (if she can see him). If not, she takes a bead on the gunner.
(+2 AP if applicable)
Richie, peering out from behind max wilt's slightly at the sight of the humvee, that was going to make things tricky... "Should be able to take it... all charged up thankfully." he murmurs to himself, his eyes widening slightly as Max's hand suddenly disappears to be replaces by a gun barrel.
He wastes no more time however before stepping out into the street beside Max, already starting to glow with a sickly green illumination as he lifts his arms into the air, his hands crackling with electricity. "By Joan I won't let you harm this town any more!" he exclaims, before throwing his hands forward. The electricity which had been gathering between them flies forward in a ball straight towards the humvee.
As it hits the speeding vehicle rather than shocking it as one might have expected, there is a pulse of energy more felt than seen and a smell of ozone as the engine of the massive armored vehicle and any of the nearby bikes suddenly cuts out.
Jane - 6
Max - 2
Niles - 5
Richie - Jack
Zeke - 4
Raiders - Queen
Gang Boss - 7
NPC Soldier - King
Guards - 9
Initiative
Aaron
Soldier
Raiders
Richie
Guards
Raider Boss
Jane
Niles
Zeke
Max
The guards all run for cover as the raider's burst through the gate. Aaron's eyes glow momentarily, almost unnoticed as an aura of power surrounds his allies' weapons. The other soldier dives behind a broken down car and glances over at him, then he nods. "Not bad greenie. Let me show you how an old hand does it!" His eyes flare green and a bolt of emerald green flames leaps from his hand and slams into the side of the humvee. The vehicle's armor bursts into flames, but it doesn't seem to penetrate anything important. The raiders are all hollering and shouting as they randomly open fire on the nearest target. Their wild shots spray around the road, mostly missing fairly badly, but a few manage to get lucky shots. Two of the guards go down in a burst of fire, causing the others to duck back in cover more carefully. Zeke, Aaron, Niles, and the soldier all take a few grazes from the barrage, with Niles taking an unfortunate shot to the side and the soldier taking a bullet in his left shoulder, though he shakes it off without much effort.
Richie's electric blast strikes the vehicle next, making is shake as lightning dances along the surface. "Son of a b*tch," the man in the turret shouts. "What's happening down there?" The man in the driver's seat yelps and jumps out of the car. "I don't know! They fried the engine! It's not gonna be movin' for a bit boss!" The guards seem encouraged by seeing the menacing vehicle being torn apart by the two spell casters and the ones still standing open fire on the road gangers. Most of their shots miss, but one of them gets a clean hit, blowing one of the raiders off his bike with a hole in his stomach.
The gang leader growls, clearly not have been expecting this much resistance. He checks the gun and laughs as the machine gun spits fire in Richie's direction, spraying the cover and anyone else nearby. He peppers both the cyborg and the doomsayer with fire, leaving some nasty marks on both of them. Jane retaliates by firing on the driver and blowing him away with a well-placed shot to the chest.
Niles is up!
In the brief moment when the raiders break through the gate, Zeke simply grasps the handle from his pack and draws. It reveals a simple but sturdy blade, gleaming in his hands: a sword, albeit with a makeshift hilt. Bringing it up, Zeke stands strong in the face of the raiders' assault.
Although he takes a grazing hit from the spray, it only glances off his armor, and Zeke begins moving forward. His first slow step becomes a jog, which turns into a full-on sprint, and he leaps forward, springing onto the hood of the Hummer.
Once on the car, Zeke brings his sword up. "There's no question of trying--and you'll be the first to go." With that, he plunges the weapon forward, slashing furiously at the turret gunner.
Richie staggers back from the turret fire, shaken and bruised. Fingering the fresh holes in his robe he is relieved to find the various scraps of steel with which he has covered himself intact beneath the flowing robe, though more dented than previously.
"Lets see how you manage without your sight." he growls, his hands glowing once again, this time the energy shooting straight out to envelop the bosses' head and slowly trying to bore it's way into his eyes.
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Max, angry by the shot right in his lower belly, starts running taking distance from the rest but keeping it from the soon-to-be his new ride. He then takes aim for a second and then shoots at the turret idiot.
"Tell me, s!~$head! To clean your blood from my new car should I use spook juice or simply water?"
Ugh.
Better
The bullet grazes Nilus, causing him to flinch away in pain. However, he keeps his wits about him and holds on to his "Flashman" novel.
Alright then, add Assault and Attempted Murder to your charges! he calls out, focusing on the raiders
Total Bibliopathy= 8 thats a Raise.
A bright Flash of light explodes from the humvee, catching as many bad guys as possible. Nilus presses himself flat against the nearest cover he can find.
Template with concussive force, sound, light,
magical energy, or the like.
If the arcane character scores a success, targets
within the area of effect must make Vigor rolls
or be Shaken. With a raise, victims must make
Vigor rolls at –2.
Nilus raises his book and suddenly a blazing sphere of light consumes the humvee. The boss cries out and covers his face, but manages to avoid being blasted completely senseless. Unfortunately for him, Zeke takes advantage of the flash to charge him, leaping up over the hood of the vehicle and land standing above him. He cries out again as the sword swings down and nearly knocks him senseless, though it doesn't seem to get through his armor. Max simply raises his gun and blows away the another of the bike riders, gunning him down with a brutal burst of bullets.
Round 2
Jane - Ace
Max - 9
Nilus - 10
Richie - 7
Zeke - Joker!
Raiders - 2
Boss - 6
Guards - Jack
Soldier - 8
Initiative
Zeke (Joker)
Jane
Guards
Nilus
Max
Soldier
Aaron
Richie
Boss
Raiders
Zeke is up!
Nilus draws his iron and aims at a bad guy.
Jane peeks over the cover long enough to draw a bead on the leader and takes the shot.
(+2 AP if relevant)
Zeke seizes the initiative brought on from his new allies' fire and plants his feet firmly. "Your friends will be on their way soon," he growls, and rams his sword through the raider boss's throat.
Aaron watches as Zeke eviscerates the man in the turret, quickly switching targets to one of the other raiders. He snaps his iron sights over a raider's head, and with one pull of the trigger sends a hail of bullets into the man's skull, watching it erupt from the force of the shot. "I hope you'll settle for unmarked graves," he quips, a bit of wildness in his eyes, "Because I doubt they'll take the time to make you a headstone."
Zeke draws back his sword again and the gang leader barely has time to look shocked before the warrior's sword slams straight through his throat. He makes one last gurgle as he bleeds out, blood shooting from his ruins neck. With the leader dead, Jane adjusts her shot and fires off another shot, blowing away another of the raiders with a direct shot to the chest. Emboldened by the leader's fall, the guards open fire again, utterly obliterating an entire group of raiders with pinpoint accuracy. Three fall dead outright, while the last falls back crying out in pain and clutching his injured shoulder.
Nilus quickly takes aim at another raider, though the crowd is thinning rapidly. Max opens fire on yet another unfortunate raider, riddling his chest with bullet holes and knocking his body off his bike. The soldier grins. "You lot are pretty good," he says. "It's been too long since I fought with a competent team." He raises his rifle and fires off his own three round burst, catching another raider and dropping him easily. Aaron follows that up with his own burst, taking out yet another raider.
Richie is up!
Jane calls out to the raiders, "Surrender, and you may live to see tomorrow!"
Richie lowers his hands, the glow which had enveloped them fading as he turns away from the violent end of the lead raider's death. For the moment he crouches back behind the cover he'd found, but as soon as he sees an opening he darts over to where the guards were positioned and scrambles over to the two which had fallen in the opening moments of the fight, muttering to himself as he begins to look over their wounds.
The raiders take one look around at their dead comrades all around them. Almost as one, they toss their pistols down and raise their hands. The remaining guards quickly move to round them up while Richie hurries over to check on the two injured guards. Fortunately, they both seem to still be breathing. Their wounds don't look particularly nice, but they're actually very clean, all things considering. It doesn't take much effort for the Doomsayer to clean up the injury and both men begin to regain consciousness.
Jane holsters her weapon and bumps a new cigarette, lights it, and takes a draw. "This is where someone says that we make a pretty good team, I suppose."
"Well, I'm certainly not much for violence on my own, but if it's to protect someone who deserves it, then happy to help." Richie says as he comes over, his hands a little bloody from the soldiers wounds which he wipes off on a rag.
Nilus keeps his pistol trained on the Raiders Where's the Sheriff? he asks the assembling townsfolk, his gun only trembling slightly....it was the first time he's ever drawn it and meant to use it.
These men, they should be tried for their crimes.