"Well sh!t," Dog mutters under his breath. More audibly, knowing their would-be bushwhackers can't be far away, Dog calls out: "It's the Kings, boys and girls! You remember what happened the last time we met some of these pus$ies, don't ya? Dog makes a show of laughing while he grabs hold of his SMG. They were good for some target practice, tell you what! Hell, even the Brainer could prolly take the lot of 'em!"
Meanwhile, Dog motions for the boys to split into groups and make their way to each side of the road, unsure which way the ambush will come from. Holding his weapon close, he walks closer to the roadblock with Trombone to see if they can clear any hazards that might be hidden there.
Back at Wolf's:
"I'd be more comfortable if I knew what he was up to..." Dust is just finishing her intimate conversation with Chief when Seth Hafner enters the cafe and takes a seat not far off.
Volcano, you heard them mention Camo and it makes your blood boil in anger. Camo is one of Chief's worst regulars, and you had to drive him off from one of your machines earlier today, when he was trying to mess around with it without permission. What machine was it and how did you drive him off?
Camo...the repugnant wretch! Skulking around my workshop while I was trying to sleep, trying to monkey with Philophrosyne! She's not ready yet. I still had to make sure everything was just perfect before activating her. She may be just a robot to some, but she...she could have more in that head of hers if I can get her working again. Old World blueprints, security codes, information on medical or farming techniques, who knows?! And all this Camo saw was a robot shaped like a woman, something he could use for his own pleasure since he's so repugnant none of the women in the Hold'll even talk to him. Lucky thing his manhandling looking for a hole woke me up. Threatened to stab him in his junk with a soldering iron if he didn't leave her alone. That did the trick, sent him running. If that beast comes back to my workshop again, I'll have Paul throw him out into the cold!
He glowers at the mention of Camo's name, and then looks to his employees.
Thuy, I assume Chief took good care of you lot for breakfast?"
Having spotted the caltrops, Scarlets Perfect Instincts kick in.
Which enemy is most vulnerable to me?
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The sounds. The sounds. Pallor's angular body goes limp, his head listing backward such that his helmet scrapes on the headrest, long stripped of padding.
Every sound becomes amplified a thousandfold, but simultaneously sounds as if he were hearing it echo from down a long hallway. As green stormclouds swim in his vision, he hears it all. Abbot shifting in his seat. The dull clicks of function-checks on the weapons held by his allies. The shifting of the tires on the pavement as bodily movement changes the center of balance of their vehicles. Muffled voices. She scrape of metal on leather as weapons are unholstered. Pushing his consciousness forward as if he were dashing hundreds of yards ahead, he hears similar sounds, too many to count, in the enemy encampment. One sound sticks out, though. The sound of rubbing, skin on leather on metal. The sound is dulled by sweat and blood. An image of hands, bound, frantically worrying leather against dull metal in an attempt to escape.
"Nyyuuuuh..." the only sound to come from the helmet as it tilts drunkenly back forward.
"... they have a prisoner." Pallor says to no one in particular.
At Wolf's
Thuy holds up a plate covered in a grayish, greenish meat, next to a huge amount of egg-like substance... "Radscorpion Omelette Surprise, my favorite," he says, before digging in. Some animals - brahmin, mostly, but other exotic animals are found as well - can be found in the ruins of the Sculpture Garden behind Walker's Hold, and Chief's restaurant has first pick of the meat.
At the Bridge
Scarlet, your eyes track the path of the caltrops and they lead to a small, ramshackle-looking hut that has been built on the far end of the bridge. You take out your monocular and peer through it, your other eye closing - and you see the long rags being used as drapes in one of the windows fall closed just in time. Someone's in that hut, lying in wait, but they aren't exposed to fire just yet. What do you do?
Navarre, "going aggro" is the move you're thinking of, when you're trying to use violence to accomplish something. Other times, violence will trigger an MC move for me, like "split them up" - I could tell you that the hail of bullets prevents you from sticking together and you have to dive for cover or take Harm, for example. You can't see anyone on the bridge yet, though, so the best you can do for now is grab your gun and grimace menacingly.
At Wolf's
Thuy holds up a plate covered in a grayish, greenish meat, next to a huge amount of egg-like substance... "Radscorpion Omelette Surprise, my favorite," he says, before digging in. Some animals - brahmin, mostly, but other exotic animals are found as well - can be found in the ruins of the Sculpture Garden behind Walker's Hold, and Chief's restaurant has first pick of the meat.
Volcano grins a bit.
"Hah! There are few surprises left in this world for me, Thuy. But I'll take your suggestion. CHIEF! I'll take one Radscorpion Omelet Surprise! WITH PANCAKES!!!"
Dog notices that Scarlet's head is on a swivel. He pauses after a few steps towards the roadblock and signals for Trombone to hold as well. "Hey lady," he barks, "What's got your attention?"
On the Bridge
Dog and Trombone take point, advancing cautiously with their guns out, leaving their engines idling behind them. The wind howls over the bridge over the frozen river a hundred and fifty feet below. They walk past ramshackle guard posts and scrap-metal towers, all unattended. There are roughshod buildings the size of a single room at most, peppered along the bridge itself, and built up in greater numbers around an area to the right of the bridge that leads to a stairwell down to the lower highway level.
Trombone sees an old pre-war spike strip laid across the road in the snow, and moves over to grab it and throw it aside. He's watching the sheds and huts cautiously as he moves, but he overlooks the danger at his feet. He kicks something in the snow that begins to beep at rapidly accelerating intervals. Trombone turns to Dog, his eyes wide and his face going white. What do you do?
Navarre notices some window shades being pulled aside in one of the buildings on the right side of the bridge, near the staircase!
At Wolf's
Thuy and the others move to share their food with Seth, and Chief is just in the process of nodding to one of the waitresses to take his order, when you hear an explosion that sounds like it came from within the Stronghold.
Trombone turns to Dog, his eyes wide and his face going white. What do you do?
As Dog turns his head to ask Scarlet a question, he hears the beeping. Many assaults on many defended positions means that this biker knows what a mine sounds like. Dog likes Trombone but isn't ready to lose his legs for the guy. Dog runs for a step or two before diving away from Trombone!
Alright, awesome, that counts as Acting Under Fire, so let's see you roll+Cool to see how well you can escape the blast! Then I'll share what happens to poor Trombone.
At Wolf'sThuy and the others move to share their food with Seth, and Chief is just in the process of nodding to one of the waitresses to take his order, when you hear an explosion that sounds like it came from within the Stronghold.
"What the balls?" growls Chief. He runs to the front door of Wolf's and looks out, cocking his head to listen for screams, gunfire, more explosions, or whatever may come.
Alright, awesome, that counts as Acting Under Fire, so let's see you roll+Cool to see how well you can escape the blast! Then I'll share what happens to poor Trombone.
At Wolf's:
The cafe is located on the first floor of the Walker Hold, near the front door. (if I recall the layout correctly, that is. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of the details for Wolf's, Chief.) The explosion appears to have come from deeper inside the former art galleries - where Paul Atreides keeps his weapons stockpile. The explosion was loud, but you can tell from the volume that it couldn'tve been larger than a satchel charge. You hear some screams from some of the settlers but most inhabitants of the Stronghold are tough, independent types that don't think much of screaming and running around all willy-nilly. You see a grizzled old man, Fluteridge, cocking his pistol and looking like he wants to investigate.
You hear the intercom system that Volcano helped to rig up around the Hold crackle to life as the Hardholder grabs the PA from his offices on the upper levels. "HEY! EXPLOSION IN THE HOLD! IF YOU'RE UNARMED, STAY PUT, DON'T MOVE! IF YOU'RE ARMED, GET YOURSELF TO THE REAR GALLERIES, FIRST FLOOR, NOW!"
Back on the Bridge:
Navarre, Going Aggro is a specific move involving a threat of violence, it doesn't translate exactly into an "attack roll" necessarily. This link here explains this pretty well. If you want to fire your Stoner at something, just shoot it. Unless you're acting under fire, or the target is difficult to hit for some special reason, you'll hit what you're aiming at. Remember you're a badass after all. If you want to shoot a hut, the hut's getting shot. No roll needed. Your gun barks and spits bullets at the hut on the far side of the bridge, putting holes in the wood and corrugated metal. The gang cheers as you shoot - they remember your big gun from when you used to run with them.
Trombone has next to no chance of getting away from the frag mine he just activated. In desperation, the gang member rears back and kicks the frag mine as hard as he can, punting it forward toward the bridge. The mine is just leaving his foot when it explodes, knocking Dog and Trombone back! Trombone lands next to the Jeep, his foot blown all to hell. Dog escapes taking any Harm, but in his haste to jump away, he leaps into an occupied hut. Bursting through the door as the mine goes off and falling to the ground, Dog looks up to see a burly looking raider that had been lying in wait in the hut on the bridge, swinging a 2x4 at his head!
The sound of the explosion followed by Chief's sudden rush to the door shocks Dust to attention. Heart pounding she feels a rush of adrenaline mingling with the high of her last hit. A ringing begins in her ears, quietly at first but growing steadily louder, as psychic awareness starts to flood her brain.
The maelstrom, always waiting for you at the edge of your perceptions, floods in. Your eyes drift out of focus as your concentration lapses deliberately.
You get senses, impressions, nothing concrete. All around you, you feel the chaos and fear of Walker's Hold's inhabitants as their normal day is shattered into the unknown. You cast your perceptions deeper inside the Stronghold, questing out with your sixth sense. It feels almost like a drug itself, as your brain wanders away from conscious thought or input.
There. Something that shouldn't be there. Anger. Barely restrained violence. And a flash of green skin. You sense it all for an instant, just before your consciousness is forced back to the physical world around you. Felix and Kali are looking over at you, concern stamped on their faces plainly. "Miss Dust...are you alright?" Kali asks, reaching out to touch your arm hesitantly.
At Wolf's:
The cafe is located on the first floor of the Walker Hold, near the front door. (if I recall the layout correctly, that is. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of the details for Wolf's, Chief.)
"Fluteridge, hold up a second..." Chief ducks back in, grabs the convenient shotgun, hollers at Wisher to stay inside and not let anyone in.
Slapping Fluteridge on the shoulder -- "Let's go" -- Chief heads toward the action.
"Such anger... so much hate... it's green... somewhere down there." Dust murmmurs half to herself and half to the others around her.
On that map, the armory is in the Gallery Tower, in Gallery 1. The weapons are kept on the main floor in case they need to be passed out to the populace quickly in the event of an attack.
The armory is where the bigger guns that are too inconvenient to carry around normally are kept.
You race for the stairwell through the Hennepin Terrace, and discover an unwelcome truth (due to your failed roll) - the stairs leading upstairs above your level have collapsed downward, completely blocking the stairs in the Gallery Tower that leads down to the first floor. You'll have to take the elevator; a pre-war artifact that only still runs due to its integrated nuclear fusion reactor core. Built to last.
Chief snarls. His eyes flick from the rubble-choked stairwell to the elevators, then back toward the south tower. He's been stuck in that elevator once when some wiring went bad and vowed never again, and coming out of a small steel box into who-knows-what doesn't seem like a tactically sound plan. He sprints back the way he came, not bothering to see if Fluteridge is following.
Bursting through the door as the mine goes off and falling to the ground, Dog looks up to see a burly looking raider that had been lying in wait in the hut on the bridge, swinging a 2x4 at his head!
Dog clenches his teeth and rolls to the side to avoid the 2x4 cutting through the air at him. It's times like these that Dog is glad his SMG is always slung snugly at his side. Finding some semblance of balance after rolling away, he unleashes a short burst at the raider towering above him!
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"See Chief? I didn't start this one." mumbles Scarlet to no one in particular as she flips off the bike and legs it towards the shed.
Glaiving open the door, she simply points her shotgun at the back of the 2x4 armed raider.
As two of the men he came with disappear in a blast of a landmine, Pallor surveys the area for hostiles.
As two of the men he came with disappear in a blast of a landmine, Pallor surveys the area for hostiles.
Going aggro means using violence or the threat of violence to control somebody else's behavior, without (or before) fighting. If the character has the drop on her enemy, or if the enemy won't fight back, or if the character is making a show of force but isn't disposed to really fight, it's going aggro.
...
When somebody tries to kill somebody without their fighting back, going aggro is the move. It's like the player said "I'm going aggro" -- by ... whatever murderous one-sided act -- "and what I want him to do is fall down bleeding and die." If he forces her hand, he forces her hand; if he caves and do what he wants, he takes harm just the same.
As Dust comes back to her senses she sees Felix and Kali's looks of concern and looks grimly at them. "Come on, we have to make sure the others are ok."
Seeing Chief burst back through Wolf's, cursing the demolished stairway, and charge through the room to the opposite door she realises they're going to have to go the long way round.
"I hope you two came armed."
At Walker's Hold:
By the time you make it to the lower level after sprinting back to the other tower, you're breathing hard. Fortunately, because much of the interior of the lobby area was repurposed for temporary housing (for new Stronghold citizens), there's an elevated walkway that you can take from the second level that leads up through the roof to the level of Gallery 1. Fluteridge, Hugo and Clarion have joined you by now, granting you your Everybody's Packing bonus (even though Fluteridge isn't a member of your staff). They instinctively follow the lead of the boss.
Many of the non-load-bearing (and some of the load-bearing) walls have been knocked down in this area. The first thing you notice when you approach the Gallery is that there's a huge hole in the floor that wasn't there before. You hear brusque voices growling at each other. The explosions have knocked loose drywall and dust, creating an artificial fog in the room. Still, their large, hulking shapes are unmistakeable: Super Mutants have tunneled into the Gallery from below.
Even as you realize this you come under gunfire. From off to your right, slightly down the gallery hallway, a Super Mutant clutching a hunting rifle is taking potshots at you. "Brothers! To me!" he is shouting.
Meanwhile, at the bridge:
Dog rolls to the side and yanks his side-SMG free from its tight strap holster. He fires a burst that perforates the roof of the hut, letting light in from the outside, but not causing significant harm to the raider in such close-quarters chaos. Dog's about to line up another shot when there's a sound that breaks through the sound of the fighting - the distinctive ratchet of Scarlet's trusted shotgun. At this range, there's no way a blast from that gun of hers would miss.
Scarlet, you got a partial success but the Going Aggro move reads:
• Force your hand and suck it up.
• Cave and do what you want.
On a 7–9, they can choose 1 of the above, or 1 of the following:
• Get the hell out of your way.
• Barricade themselves securely in.
• Give you something they think you want, or tell you what you want to hear.
• Back off calmly, hands where you can see.
On a miss, be prepared for the worst.
I can infer from your actions that what you want this raider to do is "die messily from your shotgun." Normally, due to your 7-9 result, the raider could get away, hole up somewhere to avoid the firing, etc. but you got the drop on him in the fiction and you're pointing a shotgun point-blank at him. He's pretty screwed. You blast the 2x4-wielding maniac, causing 3 harm, and putting a hole in his back. The force of the blast this close-range sends the burly raider's body flying and he slams facefirst into the opposite side of the wall of the shed.
Outside the shed, Pallor and Navarre can hear shouting and movement coming from below the bridge. The bridge is laid out as follows:
The bridge is split down the middle by a chest-high retaining wall, though the wall has been destroyed in quite a few places. There are six lanes on each side of the retaining wall. Up ahead on the first hut on the right-hand side of your highway is where Dog and Scarlet are. There are buildings crammed in next to the retaining walls on either side of the highway portion that crosses the river, one hut deep on either side; each hut is about as wide as a lane of traffic and they're of varying lengths. There are also numerous holes in the bridge's surface big enough for a bike to fall through or a Jeep to get stuck. In the middle of the bridge on the right hand side is a crudely-constructed tower that marks where the stairwell leading to the lower level is.
Three windows - two on the ground floor and one from a window a story up - open up in the nearest hut to your left and begin firing at you. The raiders are mostly firing semiauto weapons, but the raider in the top window is showing himself as he prepares to shoulder a rocket launcher.
Seeing the rocket launcher sends Dog's gang into scatter mode. "ROCKET!" shouts Foxy, a red-haired young biker that's been with Dog for years. The bikes scatter in all directions; Runner, what do you do with the Jeep?
At the first ricochet from the hunting rifle, Chief throws himself backwards to cover, yelling for Hugo, Clarion, and Fluteridge to get down.
Chief ducks out to fire a shotgun blast at the Super Mutant. At this range, the rifle has the advantage, but the shotty might at least make the mutie think twice and keep his head down. "Pin 'em down!" he yells, and Clarion and Hugo join in -- they each own a dainty little pearl-handled semi-auto, a matched set that Chief gave them at the Wolf's first anniversary party. It's not a lot of firepower between them, true...
As Chief and his people exchange fire with the mutant, he finds himself wondering "where the hell is Dust?" for some reason.
"HOLD ON"
Runner slams the gears into reverse and quickly backs up out of the target area.
If the rocket follows him he zigs at the last minute to avoid a direct hit.
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"HOLD ON"
Runner slams the gears into reverse and quickly backs up out of the target area.
If the rocket follows him he zigs at the last minute to avoid a direct hit.
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There are two Driver moves from the 2ed playbook that could apply here. It depends on which moves you select because I don't see your character sheet on these forums as being completely up to date on the 2ed playbook. The two Driver moves that could affect this situation are:
Combat driver: when you make a battle move behind the wheel, if the result gives youhold or choices, you can add +1hold or +1choice.
Eye on the door: name your escape route and roll+cool. On a 10+, you’re gone. On a 7–9, you can go or stay, but if you go it costs you: leave something behind or take something with you, the MC will tell you what. On a miss, you’re caught vulnerable, half in and half out.
The 2ed playbook I'm referencing is here, if you don't have easy access to it.
[dice=Escape using distance...]2d6 + 2
I don't have a problem with that; it raises your Eye On the Door roll to 9, meaning it can be Helped to a 10 full success by someone, if it makes sense in the fiction. Well, you could do it from 8 to 10 if you rolled a 10+ on your Help roll...
When you help or interfere with someone who’s making a roll, roll+Hx. On a 10+, they take +2 (help) or -2 (interfere) to their roll. On a 7–9, they take +1 (help) or -1 (interfere) to their roll. On a miss, be prepared for the worst.
"G$!@+$N PESTS!" Volcano roars.
"STOP BLOWIN' HOLES IN MY BEAUTIFUL SECURITY SYSTEM!"
Pallor stands in the back of the jeep, his upper body now visible to the enemy. Looking at the rocket-launcher-wielding maniac, he holds his hand on his helmet and whispers a simple command into the raider's brain: Drop it.
Roll +Hx to Aid someone. Unfortunately, your Hx toward Runner is -3, about as distant as two PCs can be.
As Dust reaches the ground floor with Felix and Kali she sees that the area is in chaos. Seeing Chief under fire and blasting away at the mutants she feels her mind whirl as she tries to take in the situation.
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Yesterday, Specialist Francis A. Benjamin had awoken from a century-long sleep, suffered temporary insanity, killed his squadmate, and found himself ill-equipped to survive in the harsh winter of a Minnesota that had been devastated by nuclear war.
Today was shaping up to be noticeably worse.
The raiders had found him just before dawn and quickly overwhelmed him. Any thought he'd had that they might be reasoned with disappeared once they got him back to their settlement, stripped him naked, and started using him as a punching bag. His hands were bound together with a leather belt, by which he was hung on a rusty hook and chain that they'd thrown over a support beam for the highway above. For the past few hours a handful of lean, hungry-looking men had been taking turns beating the crap out of him for sh!ts and giggles, while the only person who seemed concerned about his well-being was a wild-eyed, waxen-faced man who kept admonishing his fellows for "bruising the meat."
SPC Benjamin actually welcomed the pain, if not the circumstances; anything to distract him from the thing that scratched at the back of his brain, urging him to let it in. Something had gone wrong with his and Jenkins' stasis; both of them had snapped upon awakening, and while he'd managed to recover he'd been forced to put Jenkins down before she could do lasting harm to himself or the Vault. He still wasn't right in the head, and hadn't exactly had an opportunity to pull himself together and get his mind right.
The echo of a small explosion from somewhere up above, followed by sporadic bursts of gunfire, causes the men to scatter, grabbing weapons and ammo before hurrying away down the pavement towards access points to the upper bridge. In short order SPC Benjamin finds himself alone and he sets to trying to get himself swinging, pulling hard on his leather restraints at the ends of each swing to build momentum and test them against the rusty metal.
Seems either these guys are fighting amongst themselves, or they aren't the only ones to survive out here. Hopefully the latter.
()
At the MISSISSIPPI I-94 BRIDGE:
"Hold on!" Runner shouts as he throws the car into reverse. The engines of the bikers all around him roar into a unison chorus of burning fuel, and the counterpoint is the whhhooossssshhhhh of the missile's propulsion system activating and launching it down the guidance barrel of the launcher.
The Jeep's very responsive, so when Runner hits the gas and yanks the wheel, the car moves. It moves fast. Since the seatbelts had been scavenged for parts out of the vehicle long ago, some of the passengers in the backseat weren't adequately prepared for the sudden shift of inertia. You escape taking any damage from the rocket's blast, but Abbot and Pallor are thrown clear of the vehicle when one of the rear doors bangs open from the impact of the missile on the highway where they used to be. Quickly, Pallor, you cover your head to roll as best as you can away from the vehicle, but you bounce a few times on the hard concrete. Take Harm, minus your Armor, and when you do, roll for Harm.
When you suffer harm, roll+harm suffered (after armor, if you’re wearing any).
On a 10+, the MC can choose 1:
• You’re out of action: unconscious, trapped, incoherent or panicked.
• It’s worse than it seemed. Take an additional 1-harm.
• Choose 2 from the 7–9 list below.
On a 7–9, the MC can choose 1:
• You lose your footing.
• You lose your grip on whatever you’re holding.
• You lose track of someone or something you’re attending to.
• You miss noticing something important.
On a miss, the MC can nevertheless choose something from the 7–9 list above.
If he does, though, it’s instead of some of the harm you’re suffering, so you take -1harm.
Navarre, your shots go completely wide as the Jeep lurches into reverse to avoid the rocket's blast. Take Harm, minus your Armor, from the incidental firing and ricochet shrapnel of the other two semi-auto weapons as they spray 'n pray at the vehicle. Then roll Harm as listed in the spoiler, just like Pallor.
Meanwhile, Specialist First Class Francis Benjamin, a man out of his own time, struggles mightily to free himself. Roll +cool, Specialist; let's see if you have any luck trying to hook your feet up on that length of chain.
Being the closest ones to the stairwell, Dog and Scarlet in the right-side hut can clearly hear the shouting and the grabbing of weapons from the raiders down below as they clamor to join the action...
MEANWHILE, AT WALKER'S HOLD:
Dust is close enough to take advantage of the covering fire that Chief and the others are laying down. The rapid-fire shots from the pearl-handled weapons held by Chief's sex-workers are forcing the Super Mutant with the hunting rifle to crouch behind a support column. However, his bulky body is too large to hide fully and Chief inflicts 2-harm to his knee, crippling his leg. Collapsing to the floor and screaming in pain, the Super Mutant throws his hunting rifle away and begins rooting around in his pocket, producing a frag grenade and biting the ring to pull it out.
As this is happening, Dust sees more Super Mutants emerging from the plaster and drywall dust that still hangs in the air. One of them is clutching a fully functional automatic turret that has a broken leg on one side. It won't stand on its own anymore, which is why Seth had it moved to the armory for repairs later, but it still fires just fine! The lead Super Mutant is jamming his thumb on the manual-fire button on the back of the turret and cradling it in his arms like a minigun, sending a hail of bullets down the hallway at you! He's about 40 feet from where Chief and the others are taking cover...what do you do in response? Whatever it is, you get +1 to your roll. You see two other Super Mutants flanking him from behind, holding sledgehammers and waiting for the lead Super Mutant with the turret to "soften the humans up."
Scarlet is going to open fire on the raiders from above as they come up the stairwell defending against all comers.
Scarlet will deal 4-harm AP, takes -1 harm before armor and scares the absolute cr*p out of the raiders.
At the apex of his swing, SPC Benjamin stretches himself out as much as his battered muscles allow, grasping for the chain with his feet…
With no way to shoot back Dust reacts as quickly as possible to the hail of bullets as she can. Attempting to feign a hit to the shoulder she whirls crying out as she does and falls back behind a pillar in the hopes that the barely contained bloodlust of the hammer wielding mutants will cause them to break cover to finish her off.