Roland you get two turns!
Roland breathes in deep, trying to work through the pain.
"Eat this you psychopath." he mutters.
This time his shot rings true!
"Wright, you glorious bastard, when this is done, we're setting up a trade agreement to cut your family so much wood you'll be building houses cheaper than a bottle of Nuka a room...pretty sure rescuing the elder will open her up to the idea... and you're getting all the credit, but so help me I'm taking that f***er's head if that bullet didn't finish him....or if it did. Pikes don't decorate themselves."
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Jack almost feints from the multiple alpha-priority neurons firing off in his brain. He needs to protect Vulture, AND protect Ian, AND that other tribal just fell out AND it looks like there are only three raiders left and holy hell they just might could do this thing!!
Jack pops around the corner, joining Vulture, arm and head ducking around the doorjam. It looks like two raiders are covering the retreat of the big 'Un. Somewhere a shot rings out and it stikes the big raider true, though might not be fatal.
carp!
Jack doesn't rush the shot, but gets his electronic sights nice and square at the closest raider.
raise!
= 17
The raiders gets heart full of white hot plasma and drops like a sack full of heavy things, whatever those might be called.
The shot cleared now, Jack decide he should follow up the Wright's bullet with some of his own, just to be sure.
He presses his luck and aims for big guy's head. Whispering, "For the crimes of kidnapping, rape, and murder of that little girl, and whole buncha other stuff I prob'ly don't know about, I do hearby sentence you to be shot in the face until dead."
= 9, raise
= 20
Ian follows up and carefully steadies his aim, firing at the only raider he can see. Surely, for cool thematic purposes, this bullet is destined to strike true!
Roland fires his rifle, he misses and The Raiders return fire missing.
Ian shoots at UR2 and misses.
Jack shoots at R2 and the Raider gets a heart full of white hot plasma and drops like a sack full of heavy things, whatever those might be called.
Round 11
Jack lines up another shot and fires at Mr. Fixit's head...the Raider Boss is instantly turned into Goo. Fortunately, his Assault Rifle clatters to the ground next to him.
Roland pops out and lines up a beautiful shot at a very stunned Raider. The stunned look is still on his face while his brain is all over the wall behind him.
Raiders
Brand (bleedingoutunconscious)
Vulture
Gloria
Ian
The raiders dead, Roland quickly moves over to Brand to administer combat first aid.
"Come on now, we need this to be a TOTAL victory. If ya die, it just ruins the whole thing." he gives Vulture a wink to show he's not entirely serious.
Once he is sure Brand will be okay, he grimaces angrily. Vulture limps over to the raider that shot his brother out cold, and hacks the living sh*t out of his neck, pressing a boot into his chest as he grips the sucker by the hair and pops his head off.
"This guy's neckhole is lucky I don't need to drop a deuce," He mutters, and he sounds pissed, and way too serious for such a remark. He limps over and picks up his guns, holstering them in his belt, and looks to the stairs. He shouts up. "Elder! Big tittied fishing girl! Any of you folks up there? I'm tired as hell and really don't wanna climb these steps if you ain't! If you're worried about getting in trouble, or if you're a raider and wanna start some s**t, just take a look at this!"
He chucks the head up the staircase.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Bear with me as this might take awhile. I'll post the loot list from the bad guys now but the exploration of the schoolhouse is gonna have to wait till tomorrow.
LOOTS
Leather Armor x8
Legion Armor x6
Metal Armor and Helmet x2
Pipe Rifles x7
Rebar Clubs x7
.32 Bullets x33
Combat Knife x2
Baton x2
Machete x2
Pool Cue x2
9MM Pistol x3
.32 Pistol x3
9MM Ammo x33
.32 Ammo x15
Frag Grenades
Sledgehammersx2
Forgot the best part of the loot
Assault Rifle x1
.556 Ammo x24
Okay, I'll detail the bottom floor and you can RP checking rooms and whatnot. I've Labeled the rooms on the map with numbers
Gloria reloads her laser pistol and joins the others just in time for Vulture to throw the head up the stairs.
"OH my! Well!", is all she says about that.
"I'll see if I can get these doors open in the meantime.... there is another one of Fixit's boys on the second floor- I couldn't finish him before it sounded like you all might have needed some backup."
Lock picking location 3:
Lock picking location 5:
Benny:
Raise:
At the first location, Gloria calls to the others.
"You might want to see this, boys. Lots of caps... and it looks like a lot of folks are walking around in the buff. Not that I'm saying they had a choice, mind."
@Vulture No sounds come from the second floor. Gloria was mistaken...the Raider she saw upstairs came down and his brains are all over the wall.
I'll detail the second floor and you guys can RP searching through it.
Vulture follows up after Gloria, and unless someone complains, he's jamming himself with a Stim and offering the other two to Brand and Roland.
When he does make it up to the others, he grimaces. "Damnit. Lots of clothes, but where are the people?!"
"Oh gosh. This is really bad, I'm sorry hon. They must have moved them somewhere- maybe there's something around here that can tell us where."
Lock picking Fixit's room (he didn't have a key on him?):
Ace:
Ace:
Gloria expertly pops open the lock on Fixit's room and surveys the junk inside.
"Well, this looks like a map here- that's probably the best clue we're going to find.", she says, picking it up and studying it.
Fixit's Map is a larger map of the area. Copious notes have been written on it. He seemed to have alot of info on the area. It's really too bad he's a pile of goo, because Roland would really like to know how he got all this info.
In the margins of the map are times/dates of Caravans coming to and from Wright Town. There are details of the Wright Family as well as notes on defenses and possible entry points into Wright Town.
An entire Battle Plan for the capture of Rapid Town is also on the map.
"I'll need to take this back home. The leader is dead but he might be cooperating with other Raider groups."
Brand groans and comes to, and stiffly joins the others in searching the area. It's clear that the big tribal is injured, though: he seems particularly stiff in the midsection, hesitant to bend or extend too much. "Yeah, guess these raiders took ours and the Vaulties somewhere else. We'll chase 'em down, right?" He grunts and presses the heel of his hand against his abdomen. "Mm. When we can."
Most of the finds are of mild interest to Brand, who knows water is good but doesn't find it all that interesting. There's still one room unopened, though. "Vulture, or burned lady, you wanna open that lock?"
"My wounds might be a bit distracting, but I'll give it a shot if Gloria ain't up to it."
"Brand. They have thicker armor . Get yer big butt in that stuff, since you keep chargin headlong at people. Almost lost you there. Almost lost me, what, three times now? You sure the creature in your vision that can't die was you, and not me?"
He gives a sly smile and elbows Brand with a wink. "On the plus side, when we find them all, Fishing Girl won't have so much as a net on her."
He groans in pain. "Still, where to look? Maybe...maybe we should go back with Roland to Wright Town? I'm sure the Wrights won't like people getting ready to war with their town, and they'll offer us supplies, or healing, or a squad of well armed people, to go investigate?"
Notice:
Ace:
Gloria waves an arm at everyone talking, pressing a finger to what remains of her lips she points at the ceiling and starts toward the third floor.
Stealth:
Gloria sneaks up to the third floor and finds it oppressively hot this high up in the building. There are five rooms and all are padlocked shut with a deadbolt type lock hastily installed into the doorframe. Nearby are lengths of chain with collars and tongs for crimping metal...all the tools a slaver needs to haul away his catch and sell on the open market.
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Jack and Ian follow meekly behind Gloria as she investigates that rooms, and open some of the locked doors.
When she pops open Room 3, Ian and Jack stumble over themselves getting to the small pile of Vault suits scattered on the floor. They carefully look them over, looking for name-tags, or other effects that might indicate something, even just to confirm that all of their people are accounted for.
After they've gleaned all they can, they keep circling around. as Gloria pops open Room 5, they both whistle.
"Ooooo-eee, Jack. Just look at that thing. Ain't that th' purtiest thing ya ever did lay eyes on?"
"Might could at that, Ian. Might could."
They spend a few moments checking it over, seeing how hard it would be to get 'er runnin'.
Lock picking:
Gloria paces the room, quietly searching for the source of the sound.
Stealth:
Ace:
Notice:
Roland tries to be sneaky too.
To moderate success!
Someone or something is scratching at the doors to one of the rooms. Muffled sounds, maybe voices? are coming from the other rooms.
The lock unfortunately is too stubborn for Gloria to pick (its at -2).
Roland gives it a shot, since he did teh safe so well.
But he fails, breaking his one pick.
Cursing, he simply hacks at the knob with his machete until the doorknob comes off.
= Total 7
"You were lucky last time. Let a pro show you how it's done."
Vulture manages to get it open, but his wounds distract him, and he snaps the pin in the process.
Gloria silently covers Vulture with her laser pistol as he opens the door.
For how quiet whoever is in these cells are, I'm not completely sure we've actually found the captives...
The Heroes manage to open the door and the smell of unwashed bodies assaults their nostrils. The first door has nearly thirty members of the Santlose Band of the Axe Tribe. There are a total of 15 women of
childbearing age, 12 children, and 4 elderly who were taken from the Axe Tribe’s encampment. One is Freya Erdrich, a wise woman who serves as the band’s spiritual leader. Her hair is gray and she’s missing several teeth, but she is surprisingly spry and nimble for her age. Eagle Eye (a Ghoul) is one of the greatest hunters of the Axe Tribe and has been badly beaten by the slavers.
The second and smaller room holds the four explorers from the Iron Shelter. Mr. Fix-It could tell there was something different about them, so he left them all alive to interrogate. All four are badly beaten. John Malina led the expedition. He is a bearded man in his
mid-forties who studied much of the geography and history of the pre-war region. Kim Olsen is a botanist who worked with the shelter’s underground farms and also studied records of plant and animal life from before the War. Chelsea Vang is a mechanical and electrical engineer who kept much of the shelter’s infrastructure functioning, and hoped to explore other pre-war technology. Abdi Johnson is a weapons expert who served as the group’s primary hunter and defender. The smaller room also holds two members of the Wright
Caravan who remain in custody. Jessica Shaw is an attractive woman who has assisted Cal Wright on several missions. She is loyal to the company and hopes to marry Cal despite his reputation as a playboy. Crayon Levy is a porter who thought caravan work was a pretty good gig, but she has no loyalty to the Wright Company, and is happy to find other work if she can get a better offer. She gave up a lot of information to Mr. Fix-It to avoid torture.
The third locked room holds 17 women and 11 children from Rapid Town and the nearby farm communities, including those along Highway 169. Jamiah Smith, along with her late husband (who was killed by the slavers) and their children, ran the largest farm in Rapid Town. The other townsfolk look to her for leadership.
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As the sound and fury from the rescued crowd makes it's way to Jack's ears, he and Ian leave their study of the motorcycle to go see what the commotion is. As they spy their lost members, they rush forward, embracing and shaking hands and a rush of conversation spills out.
"John? John! You old bastard how are you? Well I can tell how you are oh my what happened? We came across the remains of your camp, and we met these fine gentlemen here! We seem to have been chasing the same analytic hegemony, as one might say! Haha!"
Ian chimes in, but though his speech is directed at everyone, he only has eyes for Abdi. "Oh my! Oh, here, let me help. There are some supplies around. Are you thirsty? Let us get you situated. Here, yes, we have some weapons. No, no, don't worry about me, it's just a scratch. Yeah, well, I guess it was a bit of a daring, heroic rescue at that. No, don't worry about radioing now, I'm sure we can...okay, yeah, I didn't see any but I'll check. Yeah, it was just the three of us for awhile, Jack, an me an...Jessie. Ooooo, yeah, she stopped off to help some tribals that fought off another attack. Um, she's probably still there. We guess. Yeah, but let's get this town up first, yeah? Then we can look for her."
Gone is the odd patois that both vaulters had adopted. Just another sign of the apparent chance that familiar faces and a change in the immediate social order can bring about.
In time Jack checks everyone over, seeing if he can offer any medical help (which is unlikely from a lack of supplies, but he offers all the same) and he comes about to Jamiah. Seeing that she seems to be holding court among the survivors he asks, "Well, now what?"
quote=GM Niles]The smaller room also holds two members of the Wright Caravan who remain in custody. Jessica Shaw is an attractive woman who has assisted Cal Wright on several missions. She is loyal to the company and hopes to marry Cal despite his reputation as a playboy. Crayon Levy is a porter who thought caravan work was a pretty good gig, but she has no loyalty to the Wright Company, and is happy to find other work if she can get a better offer. She gave up a lot of information to Mr. Fix-It to avoid torture.
Roland helps Jessica up and makes sure she's all right.
The he wheels on Crayon.
"You stupid b%*@#." he says through gritted teeth.
"I didn't realize we were in the habit of hiring thin-skinned yellow bellies on the caravan now, so thanks for opening my eyes to that you traitorous whore. Do you realize what you've done? These psychopaths have detailed information on our defenses, caravan schedules, and everything else you deigned to tell them. Good job on the excruciating detail, by the way, it looks like you held NOTHING back."
"You're coming back with me to Wright Town, and rest assured that if Cal doesn't EXECUTE you, you're never gonna run with a caravan in these parts again."
@Roland the doors had a deadbolt attached so knocking the handles off wouldn't have worked =/ sorry.
Go f~*~ yourself Roland. You weren't here. I ain't told em nothing that they couldn't have figgered out by watching the roads for a few weeks. Sides, saved Jessica from a couple beatings I did. Crayon replies, her characteristic snark returning
Jessica Shaw says It's true Roland. Yes she told em some stuff. But, I don't think it was anything too big. They KILLED two others who were with us, poor Tommy and Bobby...cut their throats.
@Jack
John Malina says to Jack Ah! Thank you youngster for your help. But...do our friends know about...the shelter? he finishes in a whisper.
Vulture limps into the door and leans against the wall, smirks at the tribals and raises his arms. "Who wants to hug a walking set of bullet holes?"
He coughs a little blood up and slides down the wall to a seat. "Imma...imma just sit for a minute while everyone catches up. This much awesomeness needs to rest his head for a minute. Um...Brand is here too. I deserve a new tattoo for this. Something boss, like me riding a bear with a pair of machine guns and a naked chick on my side. Oh, hey, someone get these people their clothes...except maybe her." He vaguely waves in the direction of Jessica. "She seems like a bit of a c*nt, insulting my boy Roland. That guy is a class act. Man I lost a lot of blood...adrenaline wearing off..."
@Roland the doors had a deadbolt attached so knocking the handles off wouldn't have worked =/ sorry.
Go f!~* yourself Roland. You weren't here. I ain't told em nothing that they couldn't have figgered out by watching the roads for a few weeks. Sides, saved Jessica from a couple beatings I did. Crayon replies, her characteristic snark returning.
"And you don't see how movin' up their timetable by a few weeks is a goddamn problem? We coulda caught 'em watching before then!"
"When you signed on, you knew the risks. There was always the chance you woulda been killed or worse! That's what you were gettin' paid for, guardin' caravans was never supposed to be EASY."
Jessica Shaw says It's true Roland. Yes she told em some stuff. But, I don't think it was anything too big. They KILLED two others who were with us, poor Tommy and Bobby...cut their throats.
Roland softens a bit.
"Look...I'm glad you're alive and unhurt. Both of you." he adds after a short pause.
"But she gave 'em a detailed map of the compound, our defenses, EVERYTHING. I could understand y'all crackin'. Everybody cracks eventually. Or tradin' little tidbits a little at a time...but she gave it all up, all at once without a fight, way she tells it. I can't trust nobody that does that, and I don't think I'm the only one."
"Hey, is everybody safe? These raiders and outsers, man, they pack a punch. And bullets. No fun getting shot. But can't kill me, huh?" The tribal grins and then clutches his gut again. "Course, it still hurts."
He looks to Roland, and shakes his head. "Look outser, you do what you have to, but right now we gotta leave, yeah? Grab what we want from here and go. Fight got loud down there, maybe other folks heard. And now we got a lot of folks can't fight so hot. Best if we get moving soon, right?"
Gloria sighed with relief.
At least some of them are safe.
"Boys, I know civilization fell apart so maybe your mothers never taught you this- but you should look away when you walk in on a woman in the nude, especially after an ordeal like this. It's just plain common decency. Now if you will kindly avert your eyes, I'll bring Mrs. Smith, the children and everyone down to get their clothing back so we can put some distance from here."
The ghoul shakes her head. "I'm so sorry I couldn't do anything sooner, folks. Fortunately these boys came along when they did or things would have gone much different."
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Jack puts his head close to John, and says softly, but not entirely secretly since he's not really telling secrets, "Nah. We met up a ways outside the thing, but they never got a good look at it. But they have suspected it for a while. But who cares, now? Why not open it up? There are tribals and apparently a WrightTown that have a need for things! We could fill it and then profit from it! Apparently there's a whole big functioning world out there, just waiting for us to show up and sell them things! The mission is a success!
Now all we have to do is get away from here and radio in."
"Oh, f***. That's right. We gotta get all these people out of here."
He climbs back to his feet and grabs his head to steady himself. "Is there a medicine man in the house? Gonna move a lot quicker with fewer open wounds. In either case let's hurry to that checkpoint we destroyed and get outta here."
@Vulture Jessica didn't insult Roland, Crayon Levy has.
The people are clothed in simple tunics of rough homespun, they aren't naked.
@Roland Crayon responds I ain't no f$$%in guard. I ain't even had a gun, just a damn useless crossbow. And I ain't told em nothing about the walls. What the f~*& would I know about that I'm a f%+$ing porter, I load caravan wagons and carry shit. You're f&*&ing crazy Roland. I ain't goin back with you. I don't care how many card games we've played in together.
@Vulture and Brand
Elder Freya says We can walk. What of our Tribe? How many live of the hunters? We are but children and the old. Eagle Eye kept us safe, but she has endured much....
@Jack
John replies Radio how? Were you given one? Ours was taken. Also, speak not of the Shelter do these outsiders, that is a Council decision.
"Roll, I say you put one between your traitor's eyes and we move on. You just saved his hide and he's talking s*** like he saved yours. Elder, there were a few that lived, but we didn't take time to count. One of the women from the Vault boys tribe..." he waves towards Jack and Ian "...stayed behind to heal as many as she could. It seems we have common enemy with the Wrights and the Vault boys."
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Jack's smile falters, confusion replacing it. "Eh? Would you tell me honestly that you have said not a word of your point of origin to these, thy brothers in bondage? During all captivity have you uttered NO syllable about the Shelter to either thy jail mates OR...thy capturers? Tell me true, old man: Did you speak aught of the Shelter to thy tortures? I speak not of dishonor, but merely that events move apace DESPITE a lack of decision from high council. For if, under duress, you have spoken of the Shelter to EITHER friend or foe, then the, so to speak, the Handy is out of the closet.
And what matter it? There is a WORLD! With people! Our just being here is proof enough that, council or no, the secret is out! To not speak openly to the friends and allies we EACH of us have made would be to only sew distrust in the ground of the future freshly turned! Indeed, to try to stuff the Handy back in the closet now, and to tell these people to unlearn what their eyes hath seen would be to stand athwart history itself!
As to the radio, no, we have one not. There are some few scraps of electronics about, but I've not had time to mess with them.
Perhaps....perhaps you should go back to the Shelter. We shall stay here and see to the persecution of those that did thee harm."
John responds to Jack Ye'd be banished for talking that way to the Council. It's not your decision. Keep thine lips shut. Myself, Kim and Abdi will return to the Shelter once we have our strength back, Chelsea will stay here for a time. She wishes to study some ruins nearby. Speak not of our Shelter, these Surfacers could bring ruin.
Elder Freya shushes Vulture Stay out of Outser business, the Wrights are their own clan. Let them work out their own knots. Tell me, what of your vision? We should speak on it soon, maybe not now, but soon.
Eagle Eye staggers to her ghoulish feet and croaks Give me an axe, and we will defend this place from the Green Outser Scum who defiled our Tribe's honor.
Brand nods with Vulture, but when the Elder hushes him, he's momentarily torn. "Elder, I may not be the wisest, but I'm no mookoosh. Neither is Vulture. I think we got a big threat here, dangerous. Big tree gonna come down on our home, like. Maybe working with them more, if they want, not so bad a plan, yeah?" He turns to Eagle Eye. "I still got my big axe, but here's a hatchet, y'old chopper." He hands the ghoul his smaller weapon with a grin. "Bet you can do more with that than I could, huh?"
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Jack walks up to Chelsea Vang, a bit crestfallen that John wants to try putting the Djinni back in the bottle. He also liked Chelsea, but was always a bit intimidated by just how smart she is. "Hey there, Chelsea. John says you'll be staying on? In that case we really need to get you downstairs and get you geared. In case you haven't noticed, there is only one rule. And that is: There are no rules."
THV eavesdrops anyway, because he was never one to follow orders anyway.
"No. There is one now. Don't let Vulture get surrounded. Stop that from happening. It pisses him off. I'm tired of seeing grandma and having her give me a guilt trip about not having great grandbabies. I'm tired of grandpa talking about how I need to be more like Brand. I'm really tired of that bearded guy with the holes in his hands calling me a 'heathen', whatever that is. Near death experiences are not fun. I also haven't seen my pet ferret once, and damnit Elder, you said he was with Bunyan and grandma now, but I didn't see him, and I miss that ferret!"