Savage Fallout in the Upper Midwest. (Inactive)

Game Master nilesr

Jack hears the definite sounds of gunfire being exchanged, and starts to put some orbit in his flanking motion, trying not to accidentally run too close to those he's trying to flank.
He hears Vulture's bravado, and is silently thankful that he might not need to shoot at anybody, and, in so doing, be shot at in turn.

Run move, Left, staying 30' feet away

Guns: 1d8 ⇒ 3
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Damage: 2d8 + 1 ⇒ (7, 2) + 1 = 10

Gloria keeps her pistol trained on the remaining raider, hoping that he'll throw down his weapon...

Aim action, in case they don't comply.

Just realized it cut off my above statement when I re-posted the action. Roland is supposed to have a Held action to shoot a Raider if they don't surrender.

Brand sprints straight into the scene, engaging a Raider, unfortunately his sprinting causes his attack to miss! Multiaction penalties
Vulture recovers from the near miss wonderfully, he fires a hail of bullets at the Raiders. One of his bullets strikes a Raider square in the eye socket, killing the man. They had cover.
Jack waits.
Gloria aims at the Raiders
Roland fires at the Raiders who show no sign of giving up at this moment, he misses (they had cover)
Raider 1 drops his rifle and draws a wicked looking knife, he stabs at Brand 1d8 - 2 ⇒ (2) - 2 = 0 who easily parries the blow.
Raider 2 fires at Vulture 1d6 ⇒ 6 1d6 ⇒ 3 total=9 not quite a raise. Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7 Shaken

Good guys are up

The Raiders are behind cover currently, they can be flanked and denied cover if someone at the scene uses their entire action to maneuver into position.
Roland is currently 20' from the scene.Center
Brand is on the scene, engaged in melee with a Raider. Right
Jack is holding steady, he is 30' from the scene. He ignores Cover to the Raiders. Left.
Vulture is 25' from the enemy and has 1/2 cover. Center
Gloria is 25' from the enemy and has 1/2 cover. She ignores Cover to the Raiders. Right

I'd accounted for the multi-action penalty with my Wild Attack, since that gives a +2 to the Fighting roll. Not a big deal.

Brand dodges the raider's sloppy attack and retaliates with his own, slashing down with his axe.

Fighting: 1d8 ⇒ 1 Nope, that's a Benny.
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Fighting: 1d8 ⇒ 3 Bah, that's still gonna miss.
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

I'm confused though, I thought they only had cover from beyond 20 feet?

When you said "Jack is moving forward, abandoning stealth, he is 30' from the scene. Left" I took that to mean that I was in front of them 30' and moving Left. Not "Jack is now to the Left of the Raiders, flanking them, and is 30' away from them." That's why I kept moving. Some clearer descriptions would be appreciated.

Jack moves up, enfilading the raider's position, and takes a clear shot at the Raider firing at Vulture.

Attck: 1d8 ⇒ 6
Wild Attack: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Wild Attack ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Damage, AP2: 3d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 1, 3) + 2 = 9

Remember when I said right at the beginning of this game that I make things up as I go along? This is one of those times. re:Cover and distance They have cover at a distance regardless of their movement because of the trees. Now they are actively moving behind trees every round to gain cover, just as I assume you are doing. The difference now is that once closer you can deny them cover by moving, just as Jack and Gloria have done.

Gloria fires a shot at the raider with the gun.
"KNOCK IT OFF! YOU WANT TO DIE?!"

Energy weapons: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Damage, AP2: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) = 13

Vulture?

Vulture mops up the leftovers with single shots rather than doubletaps, as these fools seem B level minions.
gun1: 1d8 ⇒ 4
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 3
gun2: 1d8 ⇒ 7
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Due to cover I assume only the second hits but is a raise.
Damage: 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3, 5) + 1 = 14 AP1

Vulture uses a benny to unshake and then proceeds to murderize one of the remaining Raiders. The other wisely (or not) drops his shoddy weapon and raises his hands.

Don't kill meh! Don't kill meh!

Jack approaches the raider. "Lucky for you we're new to these parts, and would greatly appreciate some insight into the general neighborhood. Who you are, where you're from, what the hell you were doing stealin' an' killin' for a living. You know, the normal things these little soirees bring about."

Ehh, names George. I, Uh, I'm from down south....Cloud City originally. But, I, Uh. I uh, stole some stuff an they kicked me out. So, I, um, I joined up with this lot. We was just, we was roving about ya know. Hunting...looking for some radstags or mebbe even a Drelk.

Drelks are exactly what you think they are...mutated Elk.

Vulture walks up and reloads his guns, and stares at the man. "I ain't one for killin' surrendered men, but I ain't for letting thieves and men who admire raiders walk. We shouldn't have slaves, but this brings up a good question, and as newly appointed sheriff, I have to ask...how will we handle crimes not worth execution? Prisons and guards are a waste of resources that could be homes and city guards, and exiles become, as we see here, raiders. I say we have a time limited indentured servitude for petty crimes. So, George...can you farm, mine, scrap, or anything useful that doesn't involve you holding a weapon?"

Vulture smiles, but it isn't friendly, and his guns are in his hands still.

Gloria tries to compose herself. When she isn't shaking from the adrenaline, she emerges to interview the captive.

"What about Sand Town, George? What happened to 'em? Tell us about Reaper."

George the Raider looks from Gloria to Vulture, and then back to Gloria

I, Uh. I just heard about what Reaper did is all. He uh, He and his men they uh. They uh, they attacked Sand Town. Heard there was a treasure there...but uh. I uh, don't think they found one. Just some stupid thing...I uh heard Reaper got real mad. He an his boys, they uh. They even killed some folk.

Gloria and Roland can roll common knowledge to know that Sand Town is known for their Glasswear..not for their treasures.

Common knowledge: 1d8 ⇒ 11d6 ⇒ 2
Is there anything I can roll to see if he's lying about just being hunters with bad socio-political opinions?

Gloria sighs, holstering her laser pistol. She mulls over Vulture's proposition.

"We're an awful long way from home, hon. And we only got so much food. I'm not even convinced this kid did anything, besides a misplaced admiration for some idiot with a scary name...."

She shrugs.
"I'd say we just take the bullets outta all those guns and leave him with a knife and a stern warning."

Common Knowledge: 1d6 ⇒ 2 Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace!: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Roland nearly cracks into laughter at the implication there was a treasure in Sand Town worth stealing, but keeps his composure.

At Gloria's suggestion:

"May as well kill him now as leave him out here basically unarmed. Kid's dumb as a brick and has half the fighting ability."

"That ain't right, Roll. We ain't monsters. Let him work off some debt. He did surrender. Don't make that mean nothin'. Can always use more hands pulling plows when the Brahmin need a rest."

Roland looks irritated.

"She's the one suggestin' we leave the boy out here with nothin' but a knife to fend off the damn Ghost Cats, what you gettin' at me for?"

"Fair enough, Rolly Polly. The Roller is right, G, we can't just leave him here. One more pair of scrapping hands. Anyone who needs a rest holds a gun while he digs."

Is there something like Sense Motive in SW? Otherwise I'd say it was a Spirit check...

Arguably Notice, for physical tells, but other than that I can't think of anything.

What's the skill for lying/bluffing? Persuasion?

Yeah I believe so. I would guess that there's a penalty to notice lies, otherwise it's too easy to spot a liar. Maybe -2?

Notice: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Wild Notice: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Jack eyes the man, trying to discern his character.

Now, I'm not one for outright murder, but handing out a well-earned punishment is the basis of civilization. Since we're trying to lay the foundation of civilization, seems fair that we have at least a foundation of legality.
George, by the power invested in me by the booming city of Gateway, you are found guilty of Attempted Murder of a duly appointed sheriff of Gateway, as well as aiding and abetting known criminals, and for association with those responsible for the pillage and razing of Sand Town.

No offense, George. It's just business."

"Vivisection? That something they teach you in the Shelter, Jack?"

"It gets boring in engineering sometimes. With a purring turbine and a late night shift, sometimes it's just you and the History Channel."

Vulture raises an eyebrow. Who is broadcasting THC half a mile underground ? From what I remember old rerun videos and self-broadcast closed circuit radio are the primary entertainments.

"Riiiiight. Look, it's like Mayor Jack says, you can work to freedom, but we can't just let you go. If you wanna take the hard way, we'll make it clean and quick. We're still hammering out the details for how much work it'll take, but we're not slavers; part of your labor will pay for food and shelter and you'll have a definitive time limit until you walk free."

He shrugs. "Or stick around if, you know, you're useful. Whatever. We'll throw that axe when it's sharpened. But for now it's dig or die, chum."

Jack means 'old tapes of historical docs' but referring to them as a 'channel' is just a vernacular mistake that he hasn't accounted for.

My rule would be a Spirit roll as a type of Sense Motive. I dislike making one skill the be all end all of skills. Alternatively, we could just have a skill called "Knowledge:Lie Detector"

Jack's effluviance of language serves to confuse George the Raider who mutely nods.

You guys are almost to Phoenix Station MU, I'll give you a better update later. Let me know what happens to poor George.

Spirit: 1d6 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 3

Do we have rope to bind his hands?

"Alright, George. We're taking you prisoner. You're not going to do anything stupid, right?"

Uh. Course not Miss Gloria. I, uh, I'm gonna listen. Gloria gets the sense that the man is kinda simple, and scared out of his mind. He did just watch his mates get gunned down so he isn't really in any state of mind to argue. She figures he'd probably agree that the moon is made of cheese if it meant he got to live.

As soon as you guys figure out what happens with George just let me know.

The party continues on towards the Coordinates, which Brand figures is less than a mile away at this point.

Roland notices it first, a spot of rubble where it shouldn't be and then some exposed wiring. Soon the entire party is near the entrance to what looks like some sort of bunker. Several metal framed robots are clanking around the entrance. Science at -1 to identify the robots labeled P as protectrons (Science Lab assistant variety) the Robot's labeled LD looks like some sort of Bird, it has wings and look like they are capable of flight. Science at-3 to identify it as a Lynx Class Drone, it wasn't used widely by the Military at all and there was never a full production run...that you know of.

You are all concealed by the dense forest, you can place yourself anywhere on the map in the green area. Map is updated

Science!: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Wild! Science!: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Jack squints into the distance. "Hmmm. Protectrons, unless I miss my guess, but the Science! variety. Also, those robots that look like birds appear to be...some sort of bird. Hmmm. Probably can fly. Yes."

He nods, as though saying something profound.

Brand doesn't really want to execute the last raider directly right here, although he's willing to do so if that's what it comes to. The idea of dragging him along isn't particularly wonderful either, but there's nothing for it, and an extra hand back at Gateway seems like a good thing.

At the station, Brand crouches down at the edge of the grass and eyes the robots. He looks to Jack and raises an eyebrow at the man's demeanor. "Birds fly, huh? Who knew?" He taps his axe in his hand. "Just let me know if this'll do the trick, yeah?"

Also realized that since it's been a little over two weeks, and natural healing tests happen every five days, I should probably make a third one. I won't include the bonus for medication though.

Vigor: 1d8 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2 Hah! Didn't matter.

Gloria takes a position against the station wall.
Robots, thank God. Far better than shooting another person.

"Maybe they're friendly." Roland jokes.

Jack looks at the Wright. "Roland, you're brilliant! This -is- an awful round-about way to lay out an ambush for skulldugerous purposes. We were told to just come here and wait for instruction. Maybe an open approach is best?"

Jack looks around and realizes he's the least capable in a fight...which makes him the bait.

"Alright, I'll try to get their attention. If we can help, then I'll yell at you to come in. But if I don't like the looks of things, the wait for the signal and start shooting.

The signal will be me dropping to ground and screaming a lot."

Jack holsters his gun and walks to the right some two dozen feet. Then he stands up in the woods with his hands held up. He calls out, "Hello? Helloooo? We were told someone around here needed help? We're looking for Phoenix Station MU?"

Jack pauses, ready to drop prone at the slightest invitation.

"Oh boy, the Vaultie's being smart again." Brand flashes Jack a quick grin and waves him over--the plan isn't an entirely bad one, assuming it works. Brand contents himself to stay crouched down, axe in hand, ready to move. At least the signal's obvious.

Gloria holds her breath, ready to cover Jack if he needs to run for it.

Jack steps out and speaks to the Protectrons.

Error. Science Lab Level Seven B has been violated. Protocol Guardian initiated, destroy Communist Invaders.

The protectrons begin clomping noisily towards Jack, laser beam arms outstretched.

From behind the defective robots a speaker buzzes to life

These units are too far degraded and I cannot access them. Please disable them and I will open the doors.
New Initiative
Gloria Six of Clubs
Brand Two of Clubs
Jack Jack of Diamonds
Roland Six of Hearts
Vulture Nine of Clubs
Protectrons Four of Clubs
Lynx Drone Queen of Clubs

Round 1
Lynx Drone takes flight on two small propellers similar to that of a helicopter, gaining in altitude until it is some 30' in the air. It targets Jack and sends a Laser Beam in his direction 1d10 ⇒ 1
Jack
Vulture
Roland
Gloria
Protectrons
Brand

Jack, Vulture, Roland and Gloria are up!

"Good thought, Jack!", Gloria says before popping out from cover and firing at the leftmost protectron (P1).

Energy weapons w/multi action penalty: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 21d6 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1

She then resumes her position against the wall.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

As promised, Jack screams, drops to the ground, and screams some more. Then he decides to shoot at a Protectron. Because this looks like one of those problems that can be solved by guns.

E wpns: 1d8 ⇒ 7
WILD E wpns: 1d6 ⇒ 1
E wpns DAMage, AP2: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 3) + 2 = 10

Drop prone, and fire.

He tells himself that he'll morn for the lostech later, and try to repair some. Maybe.

Round 1
Lynx Drone takes flight on two small propellers similar to that of a helicopter, gaining in altitude until it is some 30' in the air. It targets Jack and sends a Laser Beam in his direction 1d10 ⇒ 1
Jack falls prone and fires his plasma weapon the bolt of plasma burns a hole in the Protectron's carapace..it clatters to the ground.
Vulture
Roland
Gloria fires her laser, which misses the mark. She then hustles and takes cover.
Protectrons
Brand

"Hey, we wanted scrap metal, looks like it's come delivered to us!"

Vulture single-taps the drone in the air with both pistols.
Gun1: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Ace: 1d8 ⇒ 2=Total 10
Damage: 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 5, 2) + 1 = 9AP1

Gun2: 1d8 ⇒ 7
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Damage: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 2) + 1 = 9A{1

Roland cracks a shot at the flying drone, deeming it to be the most annoying threat.

Gonnes: 1d8 ⇒ 6
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Damage: 2d8 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12

This is gonna be a short ass fight...I'm still getting the hang of SW combat...either its over very quickly OR it goes downhill for the good guys really fast.

Round 1
Lynx Drone takes flight on two small propellers similar to that of a helicopter, gaining in altitude until it is some 30' in the air. It targets Jack and sends a Laser Beam in his direction 1d10 ⇒ 1
Jack falls prone and fires his plasma weapon the bolt of plasma burns a hole in the Protectron's carapace..it clatters to the ground.
Vulture puts two bullets into the Lynx Drone, the first clangs into it causing it to veer off course, the second punches a hole into it and it crashes spectacularly into the ground.
Roland plants a round into a nearby protectron, it staggers backwards.
Gloria fires her laser, which misses the mark. She then hustles and takes cover.
Protectrons
P1 Spirit: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 recovers and returns fire at Vulture 1d6 ⇒ 3
P2 moves forward Error! Communist Infiltrators detected. Error! and fires its internal lasers at 1d3 ⇒ 3 Roland 1d6 ⇒ 5 Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10AP2 (Hit plus Raise?)
Brand

Round 2
Gloria
Protectrons
Brand
Jack
Roland
Vulture

Brand and Gloria are up

New initiative
Ace of Diamonds Gloria
King of Clubs Brand
King of Diamonds Jack
Jack of Hearts Roland
Seven of Clubs Vulture
Ace of Hearts Protectrons

I shot at the Lynx Drone BTW, not the Protectron.