"We'll get you some help in town. For now, let's keep moving."
...sometimes you become a ghoul.
; Total = 17
"Well, that could have gone better."
...sometimes you become a ghoul.
So you're in town. What do you do?
Despite building a tolerance to seeing all the various ghouls, Mickey can't help but flinch and scream when he walked into the General Store. Something about seeing one in the dim light stirred something in the large man.
"Anda pa'l carajo!"
Mickey takes a couple of deep calming breaths.
"Uh. Sorry. Umm, you see -- we're here to find someone who placed an order of farming supplies with the Brotherhood," Mickey said sheepishly.
=Total 5
Fortunately, none of the ghouls in the shop speak any Spanish, it being north Florida, and the middle of the sticks.
The ghoul behind the counter doesn't seem to know what you're talking about, but a mutant walks in as Mickey is asking, and he stops.
"I don't know about an order, but I know Jerome at the plant is always talking about how we could get a lot of tech if we can arrange to sell our tools to someone called the Brotherhood. Says even big weapons need little wrenches to tighten the gears. Not sure what he means by that. But since the plant shut down he's been at the city hall every day. You might want to ask there."
Meanwhile the ghoul behind the counter catches a glimpse of Spencer and gasps. "Smoothie, you don't look so good. You might want to talk to a doctor. There's a Follower posted up patching folks up by the Sheriff, been staying in a cell since crime's been low. Can I open you up a credit to help with anything,hun?" She smiles at him sympathetically.
"It's okay. I think we each get one free adverse reaction. Might as well get them out now."
Spencer leans on a shelf or table in the store and tries to concentrate on the information gleaned from the mutant. "Sounds like a plan," he says, and stands as the ghoul behind the counter comments on his appearance.
He turns to her and manages a smile back, and shakes his head. "No thanks, I'd hate to press anything on you. Not your fault I'm not feeling great. But a... Follower? Like a doctor or something. I'll check it out, thanks."
"Well, sweetie, we do tend to get the water flowing down from Jax, down the Saint John's river...considering there were two military bases there, and, you know, the nuke plant , we tend to get a lot of background rad from the river. Don't know why it's so much worse here than the surrounding areas, but smoothies don't usually stick around too long. Doctor Phillips...he's the doc I mentioned...he's been here longer than most people, but I think it's because he's not using any of the Radaway he brought on anyone else. It's why we've got a nice little town here where people leave us alone. Tell you what, why don't I at least give you kids a nice discount on Radaway and Rad-X while you're here? We could use with a bit of tourism. I've only got about five of each left, but you're welcome to them at half price."
The mutant moves on and gets a few purchases done, nods at Petey, and smiles before leaving with two massive sacks of grain.
Petey looks around the place in awe. He hasn't spoken up since he first saw Zeke outside of town, and has been pretty much silent since entering town. Finally, he gasps. "He looks like me! He's gree-een, but he looks like me!"
Vigor
WD
"Something just doesn't feel right around here. The air just... I don't know... smells funny.
He turns to address the woman offering the radiation treatments. "We don't have a lot of caps. Is there someway we could do something for you in return for some of the medicine"?
"Well...I know the sheriff is looking for volunteers to take the plant back. I can give you a line of credit if you sign up to help him. Maybe even sell you some equipment at a discount as part of it, since we really could use the help. Ever since those ants took over the place, well, the town has been hurting for income. You come back with a note from Big Steve saying you're gonna help clean out the plant, and I'll give you his pay in advance, and a ten percent discount on weapons and armor."
Petey frowns. "I don't like bugs." He yawns and rubs his eye. Doesn't seem like he got enough sleep. He walks outside and sits in one of the benches. A ghoul nods to him and tilts his hat on the way in and proceeds to shop, and waves on his way out. Petey seems, frankly, astounded.
"And your large friend can help me load some stuff in the meantime. I don't have the strength I used to these last few decades. That is, after he wakes up." She points to the bench where Petey seems to have promptly passed out. "I can put in a word at the inn for you, pay for room and board while your friend works."
"That would be excellent...although the job is perhaps counter-productive. Going into another irradiated location to pay for our anti-rad medication, I mean."
"Let's go talk to this sheriff, eh? We'll be back soon, Ms...?"
"Mary Beth Cooper, and this is Cooper Consumables, darling."
Since Spencer wanted to meet the doctor, and Fitz is for talking to the sherrif, you all head towards the sheriff's office. The Sheriff is a big ol' mutant, even dwarfing Petey in size. He also has green skin, unlike Petey's yellow, and is wearing a Stetson large enough to look like a sombrero. When you walk in the door he looks up from his desk, where he has a paper and seems to be filling out a wanted paper. He notes the guns on your backs and grins. "Don't get many humans in town. You here about the bounty?"
As you look around you see there's nobody in the cells, but it does look like there's a bed made up in one, with a doctor's bag beside it, with a few tools visible.
"Yes, we were told you had a job by Ms. Cooper."
The sheriff looks you all over. He notes Fitz's armor, and the weapons you all seem to be carrying, particularly the laser rifle, and nods.
"Yeah, I suppose you boys will do. We got a plant just outside of town, a little to the north. We make basic supplies there, nothing major...tools, basic weaponry, stuff like that. Was a good source of income, running caravans down to Kingdom, you know? It also gave the other mutants around here, especially some of the slower ones, something to do, as it was a lot of heavy lifting, you know? Well, one day a hole opened up in the fine details office, and a bunch of ants started swarming out, killed damn near half the workers. Big as hell ants, the size of a dog.
I rallied up a small posse, and we went in there, and killed a whole hell of them...lost my best deputy in the process, and a lot of guards and townsfolk, good people. But we closed up the hole, got people back to work. But a few days later, another damn hole opened up. They done ate up almost every skilled worker we had! Now, there's a few folks left who know the trades and can teach it, and the machinery, as far as we know, is still good, and frankly, this town is hurting without the caps flowing in. So the mayor put together a good bounty for someone to clean out the plant, climb down that hole and come back with the queen's head. We'll even let you keep what you find in there as part of the deal. It's five thousand caps for the queen's head and the hole closed up when you're done. Tempting offer...Doc Phillips even went in a few days ago after it, talkin' bout how he could get an autodoc fixed up out west for money like that. Poor feller hasn't come back, since, though, so...well...I'm guessin' you can figure what has happened. I tried gettin' the mayor to let me take all the guards up there, but he's worried about someone tryin' to take us out when there ain't nobody lookin. Not many humans like our little town when they find out about us, even though we tend to mind our business."
"Excellent. We were actually sent here to investigate what happened to a shipment that was mean to come from here. Investigating this and perhaps solving the issue would fulfill our duties admirably in that regard."
"Is there anything you can tell us about these ants? Do they swarm like normal insects, or has the larger size changed their behavior? Anything particularly special about them besides their size? Things of that nature."
"Well, there are a lot of them, and yeah, they tend to try to rush you. They've dug a few holes in the walls for gettin through, cause we shut doors, and it slows em down but won't stop them. They seem to have treated the plant as part of their hive, and aren't venturing much past it, but you get stragglers outside. Oh, and they can climb walls, which scared the hell out of my deputy when he saw it...He was hiding behind a bunch of boxes reloading and one dropped from the roof on him. It's how they got him. As for your shipment, Jerome would know better. He was the foreman. Well...is. He made it out alive. He was talking about big deal he made. Said it would need some rad suits to pull off, which was silly, since he's a ghoul. I can tell you where his house is, if you want."
The Sheriff hobbles to the door and points out a shack a few blocks away.
"Thank you Sheriff. One final order of business, if you have the time? We recently rescued a Super Mutant child. Or, ehhh, he still his the mind of a child. We've been looking for someone who would be willing to take him in. Do you know anyone who is willing to adopt?"
"A child? Now that's a weird one. I don't remember too clearly when I was dipped, but as I recall they were looking for adults. Hmm..well, I mean, if you're sure he's not just one of the...you know...mental defects. You know, we usually call them dum dums? No, but they usually turn out cruel, and you probably wouldn't be traveling with him if that were the case. Well, I think Ms. Cooper, who sent you over, always wanted a son. Ghouls can't conceive, you see, and she's got to be...well...she's older than me, and I'm rounding a century now."
"Excellent. Ms. Cooper seemed to take a liking to him when we were there...he's actually helping her around the store right now. And yes, I'm fairly certain he was a child. He was taking about how his mother got dipped as well, but she turned cruel. Speaking of which, how many colors do Super Mutants change into? Petey is yellow, you're green, and he said his mother turned purple. Is there an entire spectrum?"
As an afterthought he adds: "No disrespect intended. We recently left Vault 2, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can. You and Petey are the only Super Mutants we've met."
Mickey looked thoughtful.
"Petey didn't strike me as simple or delusional, just young. He follows concepts okay, and is aware of what's going on around him. And beyond that he's gentle unless attacked. We found a couple of Raiders trying to hurt him, even with everything they were doing he warned them away first."
"Anyways, we'd be happy to help you out."
"Yeah, that sounds like a kid more than a dum dum. Anyway, I'm not too sure what causes our colors. It seems to be whatever vat we're dipped in. The virus that does the heavy lifting of making us only one piece of the pie, as it were. There seems to have been a few different recipes cooked up, depending on who dipped you. I came from the NAS Jax base, straight north of here, so, yeah, all of us from there are green. There's about six of us here in town...well...three, counting me after the plant incident...from there. I ain't sure how many colors we come in, but, you know, I ain't done much travelin'. Anyway, look, if you boys are sure you're gonna help out, I'd be much obliged."
"We accept."
Spencer trots into the Sheriff's office with the others, looking a little more optimistic at the thought of, perhaps, getting fixed up. The look quickly fades when he sees the empty cells.
"...Eh, don't mind glowing anyway," he comments when he hears the doctor's left to kill a bunch of ants. "But at this point, we may want to head back to Ms. Cooper's and pick up some supplies. For now, though, let's see Jerome. Finish what we started here for, then do the next job." He gives what smile he can to the Sheriff. "Thanks for your time, and we're happy to help."
"Sounds good to me. We can help out some folks, and benefit ourselves at the same time".
Big Steve sends you off with his letter, and you head over to Jerome's house. After a knock on the door, a bright green glowing ghoul comes to the door. When he sees your humans, he takes pains to step back a few steps.
"Oh, high there, sorry...didn't figure I'd get human visitors, or I'd have, you know, opened the door with a pole or something. You might wanna take a few steps back. Can I help you folks with something?"
"Oh, that. Yeah, I ordered a bunch of supplies for the town, paid with stuff we built here in town. Nothing major, wrenches, tools, energy cells, stuff like that. They really just have the best prices for high end stuff, like the automatic tractors, and such. The only problem is, well...when I ordered it I was in a rad suit, you know, on account of them liking to shoot us in the head as soon as look at us? Well...um...you know...I developed a little side effect in the last few weeks, as you can see, and I kinda...show through...my little disguise now, so, pickup is a problem. Plus, the keys to the only truck in town are sorta, in the factory, so, yeah, there's that..."
"So the glowing is new then?"
"Yeah. I only been a ghoul about ten years. This is pretty new. Doc says it's cause I get more rad than the other folks. I like swimmin'. Lotsa rad in the water, they say. Never got to swim when I lived out west."
"I see. Well, we're going into the factory anyway, perhaps we can find the keys. If not, I imagine I could jerry rig something to work. Jameson said your shipment is still there waiting, so you can send someone else to get it."
"Gonna be a little difficult with the whole 'they will murder us for nobdamn reason' factor, but, yeah. I guess I might be able to convince some on else to try the suit approach, but uh, we're gonna need more than a couple of us to load it up. We'll jump that hurdle when you guys get the keys though, eh?"
He scratches his head. "I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me when you get back."
Oh, an actual glowing ghoul. I take back my earlier comment. Spencer has to fight a smile as they talk with Jerome, and he nods at the end. "Sounds like no matter what, we need to clear out that factory. Not that I mind helping you folks." He looks around. "This seems like a pretty nice place, actually. Damn shame people can't see past your looks. One more thing, though--where in the factory are the keys?"
Once the ghoul replies, Spencer turns to the others. "Well then, should we hit the store and be on our way?"
"I believe we should, yes."
"Oh, yeah, that would be in my office. The password for the door is 'progress'."
"I see no reason to delay. The sooner we start the sooner we can finish".
As the group walks over to the general store, Mickey shakes his head.
"It says something that the one place we find that's really nice to us, is the one place we'd die of rad poisoning if we stayed."
After stocking up on supplies, where you see Petey is grinning like an idiot because every time he lifts something Mary Beth comments on how strong he is, and like most little boys, this only encourages him to find even heavier packs. By the time you leave he has hay bales slung over both shoulders and is running to deliver it to local farms.
As you head north to the factory, you can see it in the distance. It's a squat, wide, single story building this looks like a converted bomb shelter with a few extras added over time out of scrap metal and cinder blocks. Finally, in the distance (from where you are on the map), you can see a few of the ants wandering around. They're much bigger than a radroach, and in fact they seem about the size of the geckos you faced...though some ants are obviously bigger than others.
They don't seem to notice you, due to the distance, yet.
Mickey breathes in and out calming himself as he sights one of the ants.
.
He holds his breath for a moment, and fires.
; Total = 11; Success with raise.
Spencer spends the better part of the walk injecting himself with various medicines, and although he grumbles a little about the pinching, and comments that he'd rather never see a needle again, he seems much better off by the time the group nears the factory.
"Good idea, Mick." Spencer sets his bag on the ground and crouches down, bringing up his rifle and sighting down the way. "Take 'em nice and easy, breathe slow. The more we clear out like this, the better." After a few more moments to line up the shot, he pulls the trigger.
"Sh*t!" Spencer hisses, seeing his shot barely clip an ant's leg, and do no damage at that. "Bad round."
"Let's see if I got this laser rifle calibrated correctly..." Fitz says, and aims a shot at an ant's head.
[Ooc]2. You can move closer. This is where you see them but...until after this round, they don't see you. The ranges for guns are per square, not per foot. You could have started closer but then no drop for round one.
Mickey's aim is true, but the small caliber weapon doesn't seem to do more than stun the ant, shaking it.
Spencer the comes behind with a second shot on the same ant (remember, if you don't specify, you attack the closest), clipping it (with the bonus damage from the drop), with just enough force to drop it.
Fitz, not to be outdone, Fitz's laser fires square between the eyes, and turns the worker behind it into a pile of ash.
*Botting Spaulding* Aims and fires the pipe rifle at the Soldier (next closest) med range
Sadly, it pings right off the ant's thick exoskeleton.
Round 2 Initiative:
Ants first, then all of you (Spencer was so close to besting them).
The ants remaining outside straight run at you.