Jameson smiles slightly. "Well gentlemen, I'd love to keep talking, but this place isn't going to inventory itself. If you have any more questions I'm sure someone in the area will be able to help you. I just really have a lot of work to do. I hope you understand. Good luck. I hope you find out what's going on with the Palatkans. Our contact was someone named Hubert. Chubby guy, brown hair and eyes, pretty nondescript. Enjoy your meals. Your holotags have had a meal credit added each."
He returns to his work, but there are dozens of paladins in power armor, knights in recon armor, and even a handful of scribes bustling around the area. More than enough are outside the fence that you could talk.
"Hey, Fitz, let me give you a hand with that armor idea."
; Total = 8, success w/ raise.
Spaulding will spend time walking about the allowed area's of the camp talking to teens about living here, unspoken threats, travel desires, etc... Things teens talk about, while his gear is being prepared.
Streetwise
WD
Most of the teenaged members of the Brotherhood are in the base itself, but a few young Knights are hauling boxes or cooking in the mess tent, and they decide to chat it up with Spaulding. The Paladins and Scribes seem to have much longer initiative periods than the Knights.
Fitz's face lights up as Mickey hands him the roll of duct tape.
"Perfect. Now if you'd just hold that there..."
"Easy as can be."
"So much easier the second time, now I've worked out the kinks."
The Force is with the Fitz, and he uses the previous outfits as a pattern to pretty rapidly crank out three outfits in a single night, with Mickey's assistance.
You get a decent night's sleep on the cots in the merchant's tent. They sure don't compare to the bunks in the vault, but there's something about a paramilitary group with plasma rifles standinf guard outside that really contributes to a restful sleep.
Come morning there's a revile played, only it sounds synthetic and strange, and you are awakened by a teenage girl in a knight's recon armor who informs you that, unfortunately, it's time for you to go. She smiles at Spauldung and blushes a little, and hopes you come back with more tech another time, but she makes it pretty clear rules are rules.
Eventually you all take to to the road and start to head north along the highway.
Mickey wakes up with the reveille and methodically checks his things. More than anything he wished he could take a shower, but brushing his teeth and splashing his face would have to do for now.
He put on the leather belt he got from Dinger and Tank, so he could allow the top half of the Vault 2 jumpsuit to hang from his hips. Leaving him clothed with only an undershirt and his new holotags from the waist up.
He put on his pink backpack, feeling no sense of embarrassment over the flowery color.
He checked and loaded his rifle. Wasn't much to look at, but it would certainly do in a pinch. The action of the bolt was actually pretty smooth all things considered. Wouldn't hurt to get some oil though. He made a mental note to keep an eye out for any.
"Brotherhood doesn't want to turn this place into a city. Hmm. Maybe we could do it for them," he said to himself as he laced his boots.
He finds the others.
"Alright, let's go."
Fitz stretches and does some last minute tinkering on his and Spaulding's armor.
"Fits like a glove. Wonderful."
He then does some quick punches, dancing from foot to foot, and some katas.
"Excellent. No restriction of movement either. I do good work."
At Mickey's remark:
"That is ill advised. They did not want to turn this place into a city because it makes it a more tempting target for raiders and other enemies, not because they didn't want to expend the effort."
"I suggest we head straight to our destination and straight back this time. There will be plenty of time to explore later."
Spencer rises quickly at the noise, and quickly grabs his things and gets ready to go. He almost responds to Mickey's comment when Fitz speaks up, and he waits for the end of his reply before giving his own. "Well sure, of course they're worried about raids. But Mick's got an idea there. Get a more stable settlement here, with enough firepower to guard it... Would sure make it easier for folks like us, huh?"
As they set out, he nods at Fitz's plan. "Agreed, we should just get where we're going and get back. If anything promising crops up of course, we could check it out, but we should probably just do the job and stick to the road."
"Ah, no. I think you missed my point. What I mean is, if the Brotherhood doesn't want to deal with the changes that come with a settlement springing up around them, they may just leave once it starts to happen. Or worse, put a stop to it. The Brotherhood are clearly not a pacifist organization, as I hope their armor and weaponry would attest. They may very well see any such effort as an attempt to remove a militarily advantageous position from their control. Making us the enemy. I'm under the impression one armored Paladin is enough to wipe us all out with minimal effort."
"Perhaps if we earn more of their trust, or become honorary members. But that is both far off and uncertain. Too much of both to plan for."
As you travel down the road and continue to talk, you pass many wrecked buildings, but it seems like a lot of the eastern coastal cities didn't get rebuilt for one reason or another. It may be because Spaulding learned that much of the coastline has flooded due to climate change. In fact, almost all of Saint Augustine is completely under water, as he's overheard that the Brotherhood is looking to better their water mobility to explore the region, and a large part of Jacksonville remains unexplored for the same reasons.
A few hours down the road, as you're continuing along, all of a sudden, just to the east, through the treeline of the dead tree trunks, you can hear the distinct sound of gunfire. It doesn't seem too far, and you can barely make out what seems like a rather deep man's voice yelling, "Ow! Dat hurt-ed me! You're mean! RRRGAAA!!" And then there's some more yelling, and grunting, and gunfire, as well as some strange sounds some of you may recognize as energy weaponry. The deep voice is somewhat gravely, and seems audibly...well, pissed... "I said stop it!! LEAVE ME ALONE MEANIE!!! There's a loud thud from the same direction; clearly some kind of battle is going on just beyond your view.
"We should investigate...carefully. The outcome of such a battle could affect us even if we don't get involved. Perhaps it is better to know who wins, hm?"
"Agreed. Time to sneak up and check it out?" Shifting the varmint rifle to his hands and making sure it's loaded, Spencer creeps forward, moving softly and slowly into the tree line, trying to get a look at what's happening without being seen himself.
Spencer sneaks up ahead of the rest of the group, his movements so careful that he makes it look easy to the other party members watching (who can choose to follow or not...The treeline is about 50ft away, and I'm using 5ft for squares because it's easier to calculate than the two yards SW traditionally uses).
When he gets through the treeline he peeks around a large trunk and can see...well, it looks like an absolutely huge person is backed up against a tree. From his angle, Spencer can't see the figure's face, as he seems to be wearing a large cloak, but he's carrying what looks like a car bumper fashioned into a crude sword, that looks like it would take some serious muscle to wield.
Spencer can count seven people surrounding him. Two seem to be wielding shotguns, two have some crudely fashioned crossbows, two have baseball bats gripped in both hands, and one is smirking confidently with what Spencer can tell is some kind of energy rifle, but as he's not familiar with energy weapons, he's not sure what. All of the men and women surrounding the large figure have bright red "S"s tattooed across their face, and all are wearing leather armor and various pre-war hats, while the man with the energy rifle has some heavy plated metal armor and a matching helmet.
[Dice=Extra "Wild"]1d6+1[/dice]
None of them seem to notice Spencer, but from the look of it, $hit is about to go down. The man in metal armor grins. "You can drop it and come quietly, mutie, or you we can beat you down or take you, but this is happening."
The cloaked figure's shoulders are heaving, and his breathing is heavy from where Spencer hides (about 30 feet from the people with the face tattoos, 20 from the cloaked figure). "My name is not Mutie..." he seems to be shaking...fear...rage...Spencer can't tell from his angle, but the huge blade is not holding steady.
The figure roars loudly, and the others can hear him.
"MY NAME IS NOT MUTIE AND I DON'T LIKE YOU!!!
Initiative =
Fitz - 9 Diamonds
Mickey - 7 Spades
Spaulding - Joker (Seriously, you are like the luckiest player ever man.)
Spencer - On Hold from Stealth (can go first or wait to interrupt with an Agility roll)
"Not Mutie" - King Clubs
S Tatoo People - Queen Hearts
S Leader - 9 Hearts
Fitz is startled by Spencer showing his heretofore unknown ability to turn invisible, but attempts to follow as best he can.
Whether he's detected or not, he remarks "I believe the big, scary one is the defender in this scenario. Shall we aid him?"
Fitz takes cover behind a tree or log and calls out.
"What's going on here? Why are you accosting that man?"
Fitz makes his presence known just as the figure snaps and goes rushing towards the nearest accoster, and he brings his weapon down in a wicked arc. There's no finesse, there's no technique, there's just a big slab of sharpened car bumper cutting at a human.
11 vs Parry 5 = Raise
12 Vs Toughness 6 = Raise vs Extra
The blade comes down in a diagonal arc from the left and splits a disgusting gash across the victim's torso. The woman holding a baseball bat seems genuinely suprised for half a second before dropping to the floor, blood pooling about.
As the hood of the cloak blows from his head you see the stranger's...well...not entirely human. His eight foot height, clear now that he is not hunching back, might have been abnormal as it is, but his bald head makes it easier to see skin so yellow as to look far beyond jaundiced. His eyes are coal black, and and they look pissed, but luckily they're focused on the men and women in front of him. "I HATE YOU! YOU'RE MEAN! I HATE YOU!!"
Spencer curses under his breath as Fitz approaches quite conspicuously, and all but groans when the scientist speaks to him and calls out to the group at large. Figuring his companion is correct, but not sure he wants to get in the middle of things just yet, Spencer prepares to fire at one of the men with a shotgun if the S-tattooed people shoot at him or his fellow Vault Dwellers.
Spaulding is torn. He doesn't want to seem scared like he did last time, but this is really none of his business. And can they even damage the man in the powered armor... but... decisions...
Finally muttering under his breath... "I hate bullies". , Spaulding moves to the edge of the tree line and takes a shot with his pipe rifle.
Shooting Total of 7
WD
Aiming towards the closest one with a shotgun.
Bullet Total of 15 including the Joker damage.
XD
Spaulding's bullet catches one of the two with a shotgun through the neck. He drops the shotgun, and tries to cover his jugular, but in short order drops dead.
Spencer's gun goes off as well, seeing Spaulding's newfound boldness...
...unfortunately, it seems to be completely jammed or blocked with something, much to his frustration
The leader calls out. "Ambush! In the trees! More bodies to sell on the block. Take them alive if you can."
The one yet alive with a baseball bat runs up swinging wildly at the mutant's head.
The mutant pulls his head back out of the way rather easily.
The two with crossbows level them at Spaulding and Fitz and fire.
They are quicker on the draw than Spencer.
total 12 (and poisoned, will require a Vigor roll if shaken or wounded after soak)
Total 14 and poisoned, see above.
The one still standing with a shotgun aims it at the mutant and fires both barrels.
Total 8 vs Toughness 7
Visibly the large humanoid is stunned, but not bleeding.
Finally, the leader pulls out a flash bang from his belt and tosses it towards the party.
Total 7 (Opposed agility to avoid, if you fail, spirit roll to avoid being blind and deaf. It's a large burst, so it should hit all of you.)
Spencer curses as the rifle jams, and between that and the crossbow bolts slamming into Fitz and Spaulding, he's momentarily distracted as a grenade flies in. Fortunately, though, he brings his arm up to shield some of the blast, and although disorienting, he's still aware of the fight.
Fitz at this point realizes he forgot to take a gun...not that he's particularly good with one anyway.
Fitz scrounges around for a rock to toss at one of the crossbow wielders.
Fitz moves from cover to cover, trying to close a bit of distance between himself and the attackers.
Mickey had hoped to avoid a fight, but now that it was happening he hurried to get into position.
Mickey snaps off a shot from the hip from his rifle.
; Total = 8 damage.
Planting a bullet squarely in the torso of the remaining man with a shotgun, Mickey's aim is true. The bullet seems to miss any vital organs, however, so he remains standing, though noticeably stunned.
Summary of round 1 -
Bat extra 1 - Dead
Bat extra 2 - Uninjured
Bow extra 1 - Uninjured
Bow extra 2 - Uninjured
Shotgun extra 1 - Dead
Shotgun extra 2 - Shaken
Boss - Uninjured
Mutant - Shaken
Fitz - Roll Vs Flash Bang, before Joker was dealt, so no +2
Mickey - Uninjured (was out of Flash Bang range as he had not yet approached)
Spaulding - Roll Vs Flash Bang
Spencer - Uninjured (already passed his roll)
Fitz, being effectively worthless from even this distance, runs again, and again finds cover.
First round Fitz runs to cover, then he moves in to fight alongside the mutant.
"Cover me!" he says as he lets fly a punch at Flashbang Man with all his stored momentum.
Fitz's Punch leaves a noticable knuckle shaped dent in the metal armor, and the man staggers back a bit, but catches his footing almost instantly. Confident his armor will protect him, he steps back from close combat range , he moves back about 20 feet and opens fire on Fitz with the laser rifle, taking advantage of lasers' higher rate of fire.
While he dodges well, one connects square with his chest...
(Armor Piercing 2)
As everything goes to pot, Spencer slides into some cover while drawing his pistol. Poking over it, he aims a shot at one the remaining shotgun guy and fires.
The shotgunner, already shaken from the previous hit, takes another in the chest, this one from Spencer.
And with the trauma from both weapons, he drops like a sack of potatoes as another billed lodges somewhere in him.
Seeing Spencer take out the last shotgunner, Mickey swings his rifle to one of the bow men and fires.
; Success.
; Total = 8
The female with a crossbow stumbles back from the shot as it connects, looking her footing, but she grimaces without falling. Still, it does seem to be noticeably distracting her.