Kristophe doesn't even try to hide his mocking smile when they start pushing the rusted hulk.
C'mon BBT, we'll walk in front. Kristophe says, slinging his backpack over his shoulders he loops the Discipliner into it and grabs the now very deadly shotgun in both hands.
Timmy walks near Kristophe, a tiny a#~*%$+ next to a bigger one. It's almost cinematic.
total=10
Hey Kris...ya know that robot has a thingy that'll get the truck moving again. Timmy mentions
Huh. That's cool. Should we tell the others? Kris grins mischievously
Nah! Timmy giggles
It's only after several hours of pushing does Kristophe let Timmy explain his theory to Badger
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Jimmy nods at Badger's suggestion. "Alright, that sounds fine. But if you get tired, just let me know and you can have a turn at the wheel and I'll push for awhile. I might not be much, but it's the least I can do, heh.
Hey, Warhammer, how far do you think it is the hospital?"
Jimmy notices that someone has been apart from the group, so he goes over to her.
Jimmy approaches, tentatively, as if he's not sure if you want company.
"Hi there." He smiles, also tentatively. He obviously doesn't know how to react around you.
"Um, I saw what you did to that bandit. That was great! With the, ah, with the punching, and all. You saved Tom's life, and I want you to know that means a lot to me. I mean, we...um...Tim an' me, we've had a bit of a turn of events, y'know? And...and I don't want no more people to die. Because, because that's bad."
It's obvious that he's trying to have a conversation, but he's been out of normal society for so long that just talking is almost like trying to describe color to a blind person.
Timmy walks near Kristophe, a tiny a&$+&*@ next to a bigger one. It's almost cinematic.
[dice=Science] 1d4-2+1 [dice=Ace] 1d4 [dice=Ace] 1d4 total=10
Hey Kris...ya know that robot has a thingy that'll get the truck moving again. Timmy mentions
Huh. That's cool. Should we tell the others? Kris grins mischievously
Nah! Timmy giggles
It's only after several hours of pushing does Kristophe let Timmy explain his theory to Badger
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"Oh my that was refreshing! Thank you for this. As to the question of why you, I think it's no secret that you have taken to this 'survival' scenario with more gusto than...some others. Quite simply, when one is faced with hard choices, then hard decisions must be made. But! One can not survive on one's own. Just as I had need of food, I had need of social cover, and you, my dear, provide that in spades!
Now, I love Harper dearly, nothing will ever change that, but she is still too fragile a flower for this, the step that brings not only survival but a chance to thrive, though it lives behind an artificial wall most high! Alas, sweet Harper is not yet ready to climb that wall, and perhaps she never will. With prosperity comes the luxury of NOT cleaning your plate. Ah, well.
That you, my sweet Aeryicka, have the foresight to join me in the this, the Human Bounty, means that I have accomplished something this day! And for that, it makes the pain all the worthwhile."
Thomas wraps up the rest of the cooked meat, enough for three more meals, and stows it in the bottom of his backpack. Powers willing, this should us clear to the next mealtime, and get me back to strength. I have a feeling out trials are not over....O, not by long shot."
Timmy walks near Kristophe, a tiny a&$+&*@ next to a bigger one. It's almost cinematic.
[dice=Science] 1d4-2+1 [dice=Ace] 1d4 [dice=Ace] 1d4 total=10
Hey Kris...ya know that robot has a thingy that'll get the truck moving again. Timmy mentions
Huh. That's cool. Should we tell the others? Kris grins mischievously
Nah! Timmy giggles
It's only after several hours of pushing does Kristophe let Timmy explain his theory to Badger
The party makes it back to the school before dark, and so far it is as they left it, more or less, except for the bodies that nobody bothered to bury or burn, which now have a flock of carrion birds picking at them.
They all seem to scatter at your approach, except for one big f***ing bird that looks like a strange crops between a vulture and an osprey. If you get closer, and then takes off an perched above the entrance to the school after ripping a chunk out of the dead slaver.
One thing you notice, though...when you turn the water back on this time to fill up your empty liquor bottles...the water trickles out a little and then stops. None of the sinks seem to work anymore, oddly.
As they caught up to the others at the school, Aeryicka watched the birds fly away. All except for one large bird that decided to roost on their school. 'Birds can be nice,' she thought to herself. But the water situation, though. That wasn't nice. "What happened to water source?" she asked nobody in particular before focusing on Warhammer. "Has water dried up like this before?"
Badger is quite worn down from pushing the truck all the way back. Sweaty and wounded, he's too tired to be pissed that the water's all dried up.
"Well... just our luck. I have a little water and some 'Nuka Cola' here. But if I remember those Lad's Life magazines they had in the Vault maybe there's something we could do..."
Survival to figure out what we could do to get some more water:
"Eh. Nope. Guess we all die of thirst then.", he says before heading back to the teacher's dorm to lay down.
Warhammer pauses at Aeryicka's question.
"It may have. Centuries locked in a closet, though, have altered my ability to gather that information as it happened, I'm afraid. I can go check to see if there's a basic clog. I am primarily a janitor model."
He floats over and starys to scan it. And snakes an arm down.
"It appears to be further down the source."
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Thomas nods emphatically. "Yes, exactly. It is very, very much too bad that we must keep this, a VERY useful trick, a secret. Can you imagine how much good it would do if we all did this? We'd never have to hunt again! We could gather all our other food and use it for trade! Others would benefit from our bounty, and we could get more of other things that we needed! More medicine! More weapons! Hell, even more drugs! We have a monopoly on an unused food source on a planet full of starving people, yet WE would be looked at as the crazy ones!
Alas...it is as it is for now. I am overjoyed that I at least have one more person to understand. Were I to continue my night-time forays alone, eventually someone would catch a late-night wiff of cooking meat and put 2 and 2 together and I would have to answer some very odd questions. But with you tagging along, it looks less like one oddball committing skuldugerous goings-on, and more like one vaulter taking another under their wing for...well, we can tell them what we like. With each other as cover we can do as we like. Until, hopefully....
And, yes, even now we should begin thinking about who next to pull into our Conspiracy of Survival. I should think Badger might have an open enough mind. Alas, I think Harper and Kris would take...O, much convincing.
But soft, let us be about it!"
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Jimmy runs up to him. "Boy am I glad to see you! The others are just about ready to start pushing the rig!"
Thomas grins and claps the boy on the shoulder. Apologies, my fine lad! Raider can be so inconsiderate of other peoples' schedules! Now, have we policed the area?"
Jimmy shakes his head. "No, sir. Badger found some keys, but we've been messing with the car-thing. It will not go."
Thomas nods. "Well, let's see if we can't scare something up to illuminate the topic, shall we?"
Thomas and Jimmy spend the next few minutes searching while the others pile the extra gear into the truck and have whispered conversations.
= 8.
Jimmy motions Tom over. Hey, I was looking at one of the downed 'bots, and I think I can salvage the firestarter. Or, at least, enough to mount it to WarHammer."
Thomas grins widely, hugging the boy. "Ha! There's a lad, there's a lad! Oh, ow, ow," he says, as he hugged him a bit too hard. "Well done! Warhammer, come over here and stand up and be counted, for what you are about to receive!"
The robot hovers over about as tentatively as a mechanical janitor with a buzzsaw-arm can. "Oh dear oh dear, sir. That sounds most disconcerting! "
Thomas waves his worries away. "Pah! Think on it not! I'm jsut going to have an untrained miner perform high-level surgery on your most delicate innards to give you military-grade pyrotechnics. What could go wrong!"
"Indeed, the legion of conclusions are incalculable, sir," the robot says just before shutting down for what he hopes isn't the last time.
"That's what I mean! Professor Jimmy, you may practice thy art!" Thomas attempts to assist as best he can.
Jimmy first looks at the flamethrower, and tries to circuit-patch it on.
"Um, okaaaaaay, I -think- should work. Um, and there's this chip here. It's even got a...oh, whadayacall those things...a UBS slot. I think I can just press it in right...
Jimmy sighs visibly. "Whew. That...that...that should do it. Uh, I guess."
Warhammer powers back on. "Oh my, indubitably that does seem to enhance the tactical situation by a small factor, I say what! And for some reason I now know the difference between julianne and mince. Egad! Now I'm a robot janitor chef!"
Thomas grins. "Next upgrade you get to be either a pirate or a zombie. Not sure which."
Then Jimmy steers the rig all the way home. Warhammer pushes with all his might, Thomas walking along with them.
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Thomas frowns at the now dire need for water they face. "Warhammer, you're saying that there's still water, but it won't come out? What does that mean?"
Jimmy steps up, fielding the question. "Warhammer, do you at least know where the water main is in the building? In theory, if we can just get closer to it, then if water is still flowing, we should be able to get to it, even if there's blockage to the rest of the building. Or, Idunno, does this school have an independent tank? It's possible that it's jsut depleted if it is...or, rather, did."
Kristophe takes a drink from a Nuka Cola that he had stashed in his backpack. He also brings out some prewar junk food that is remarkably not spoiled...those prewar bastards sure knew preservatives.
Ugh benny
I've got plenty of s$~! to drink. You people are f*+@ed though. is all Kris says as he heads to the Coach's office where he has laid claim. C'mon Timmy. I'll f#~+ing share, don't look at me like that.
Kris of course, will let Timmy in on some of his rations.
(Who's the guy from F4 that's addicted....)
Badger drinks his last clean bottle of water and slumps down on his cot. The others can bicker about what to do next, pushing that truck by himself had completely drained his energy. Not to mention the searing wound in his side.
HAH Hearts
greatest love—lost, found, or waiting on him
back home. What is her name? Where does
she live? Why is the traveler not with her now?
Kris and Timmy retire to the Coach's Office to rest and perhaps do some drugs. Timmy, being the precocious little s&*! that he is, peppers Kris with questions about what life was like in the Vault. Kris only pretends to be annoyed, mostly he likes bragging about his position as a@*%$@! in chief of the VaultSec. Kris describes life in the Vault as Living with a bunch of douchebags run by a bigger asshat than Tom and it was still better than living out here
Eventually Timmy, preteen and prehaps being curious about girls, asks Kris about his own "escapades" as they were.
Bah. Woman are f#$$ing trouble kid. Nothing but. Well. Maybe not all of em. I was with a girl, named Gloria. Gloria Estefan, pretty thing, if a bit dark. Well. I guess some other a$%+&%@ is with her now, being as I've been f*~$ing dumped here in this s#+!box.
Aeryicka sighed as she dug through her backpack. Unfortunately, she didn't have any water or cola. What she did have, other than medications and various other sundries, was three cans of beans. Yup, cold canned beans. The dinner of wasteland champs right there. Shaking her head, she looked around the others before heading off to the bed she had used earlier. All she wanted was to go to sleep and try to forget her life was happening.
Fortunately, the can was of the pop-top variety, so she didn't have to hunt down something to open it with. Drinking it down, and hoping that the juice inside would help slake her thirst, her thoughts turned towards the cooked meat still in the bottom of Tom's bag. 'Maybe Tom will share?' she thought as she finished off her paltry meal. 'Need something more than this.'
The night goes by without event. The next day comes by, and the robot floats up to Thomas.
"Well, sir, what will it be? Shall we move on to the hospital? I believe it was about an hour's drive east of here. Shouldn't be too long of a walk, eh? Calisthenics and all that, good for the health, right? Have no idea, personally, what with the gears and jet exhaust and all!"
As Aeryicka (I imagine, probably the earliest riser by her personality) heads outside the strange bird is sitting on what now seems a picked clean skeleton of a slaver along with many smaller ones, all looking fat and happy. It just tilts its head at her approach as the others scatter.
Waking up after a long night's sleep, Badger chews on a preserved salisbury steak for breakfast before assembling downstairs with the others. He'll also find a good spot somewhere to stash the (unloaded) hunting shotgun and the altar dishes for when they can find a town to hock it.
Stealth (to get a good hiding spot for stashed gear):
"If we don't know where the water's coming from or how to get it flowing again, we aughtta hit the hospital and hope to find more. Or look for a town to trade for water and stuff."
I'd think we are better off headin for civilization. That way.. Kristophe looks at Aeryicka and Harper Dead weight could be dropped off and we could fence some of this stuff we been collectin
Aeryicka opened her eyes blerily, the early morning light filtering through broken glass panes in the windows. 'So it wasn't bad dream,' she thought sadly. Shaking her head, she looked around the room before gathering her things, spear firmly in hand, and stepped outside the school building. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she found herself staring into the black eyes of the bird from yesterday. Slowly, she knelt down into her knees, never taking her eyes off of the creature before her. "Hello, big guy, you have a good meal?" she said sofly, a small smile on her face.
Jimmy perks up at Kristophe's suggestion.
"Biggest town I know of is Kingdom, up northwest of here, near old Orlando. It's...pretty expensive to get in, but they say they have everything there. Practically more prewar than a Vault. Tim and I never been, could never gather enough scrap to pay the fee. Also, there's that town, Dome, the slavers were heading to. They're...not horrible. Slavery is legal there, but only buying and selling, not capturing, and they come down hard on you for trying, so its...safe...ish. It's northeast."
Meanwhile, outside the bird spreads it's wings widely in a display of dominance at Aeryicka's approach, but doesn't seem aggressive. It squawks a bit, and the sound is not pleasant, but then when she doesn't back down it flies up and lands on her spear leaning horizontally over her shoulder, gripping it with its claws as if it was a perch made for it.
Aeryicka's smile turned into a grin as the bird perched itself on her spear. "Cray is your name, mighty and strong," she said with a nod as she turned around to head back into the school. Entering the building, she looked around to try and find Tom. 'Could use some meat.'
"How much is it to get into Kingdom? And do you know if we have to pay each time or just the once? They got a king, like the guy on those old flour sacks?"
Badger rubs a sore shoulder.
"Me, I'd say the hospital first. Maybe they got what the truck needs to start truckin' and a good stockpile of stims and chems would be smart to have either to use or barter. And maybe their taps work or there's an autodoc or something."
"Well...there's supposed to be like, sorta, an outer city, called Island of Nations. Kinda a giant market. That place is free to come and go, but of course rooms and such cost money. The city proper is like 250 caps a day just to walk in with a day pass. They say citizens get to live there for free if they pay a membership fee, pass some tests, or know the right people, but....robot guards are all over the city proper, and the medicine is prewar and free, and just...they say it's like a vault that was build above ground and never got hit! I heard the outskirts of old Orlando are pretty dangerous, but mom said if you have enough cash they'll taxi you in safely, if you known where the pickup spots are...which I don't."
Sounds like its run by a bunch of pricks. Kristophe mutters
I say we head to this Dome place, sounds like it'll have all we need. Maybe even whatever thingamagig you need to get that stupid hunk of junk moving. he finishes
A Fusion Core Kris... Timmy adds helpfully
Yeah, whatever kid. Oh, yeah Badger you know that robot has one of those right? At least that what the kid says. You could always strip that thing for parts Kris jerks his thumb at the silently hovering Mr. Janitor.
"Dome is where they race cars!"
Timmy starts hopping up and down excitedly.
"S&%+ blows up, and people shoot guns like crazy in the arena and sometimes they have battles where you watch a guy fight like seven geckos at once with a pair of machetes! It's amazing!"
Jimmy shakes his head.
"Those people would be us, Tim. It's about half slaves fighting in the arena, about a quarter volunteers looking to make cash, about a quarter animals they garnered up. They also do death races. The 'Dome' they speak of is the arena. Used to be a car racing track, but they covered it with cages to keep people from escaping, and now people come to bet on who wins the death races or the arena battles. The whole town is gambling, prostitution, and killing....I think you'd like it, Kristophe. It's not so bad if you're not in chains."
He sighs and shakes his head. "But it is safe. They don't mess around with people breaking the laws they do have there. Guards are everywhere. I wouldn't recommend it as a place to live, though."
We'd have a f*%*ing blast... Kristophe says with a grin, thinking of the bender he can get himself into once he gets there.
Sounds like its run by a bunch of pricks. Kristophe mutters
I say we head to this Dome place, sounds like it'll have all we need. Maybe even whatever thingamagig you need to get that stupid hunk of junk moving. he finishes
A Fusion Core Kris... Timmy adds helpfully
Yeah, whatever kid. Oh, yeah Badger you know that robot has one of those right? At least that what the kid says. You could always strip that thing for parts Kris jerks his thumb at the silently hovering Mr. Janitor.
Badger looks between Kris and Timmy with a flat expression.
"So when did this idea occur to you, boys? Woulda been mighty helpful yesterday."
Ah, you know. Just something Timmy told me. Can't really remember when... Kris says
Timmy just giggles.
Badger just nods a little, looking between the two.
"Oh. I see how it is. Funny how a good night's rest can jog your memory like that."
You're gonna pay for that, m+~*#*+&+$%$. You and your little s@## kid too.
"So Tom, how about we put your buddy to sleep for a little while and we can drive out to the hospital- or wherever the heck we're going. It'll save time and supplies if we do it that way."
"Hospital sounds good for supplies," Aeryicka said as she came in on the conversation. "But why tear down 'Hammer?"
Cray, meanwhile, still perched on her spear, looked around at the others in the room. His small black eyes seemed to narrow slightly at Kristophe as though feeling Aeryicka's distaste for the man -regardless of how he would actually taste.
"Because we have a truck now, we can drive to where we're going without sweating out all our water and do it way faster. And when we get there, we can just put his... core thing... back in him and he'll be good to go."
Badger eyes up the huge buzzard on Aeryicka's spear.
"So, uh... new friend there, huh?"
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Kristophe chuckles at Badger's mention of "sweat"
Yeah, wouldn't wanna have to push that thing everywhere we went. he snickers
Kristophe chuckles at Badger's mention of "sweat"
Yeah, wouldn't wanna have to push that thing everywhere we went. he snickers
Badger acts as if he didn't even hear Kristophe's remark.
"That's two for the hospital. Tom? Harper? Jimmy?"
Harper raises a hand swiftly when she hears mention of the hospital, though puts it back down again as she realizes that she has Badger's attention.
"Not dying is fairly high upon my list of priorities. A hospital should have plenty of goods to help us achieve that goal." She pauses, and looks uncomfortably toward a blood spot on the ground left from one of the many fights that had recently occurred within the school. "At least, I think it should help us to achieve that goal, as long as a terrifying band of raiders hasn't taken it over first."
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A plate of steaming meat is set before you. Though you suspect that the body it was taken from can't be too fresh, it smells just how you imagine corn-fed Iowa beef would smell like, or at least is probably a close approximation.
Thomas says, "Warhammer needed to break in his new programming, so that's not technically the second dish he's ever prepared. Apologies."
He smiles benignly.
....
Thomas snaps his fingers in front of the robot. "Warhammer, Warhammer, focus please. I asked you about the source of the water disruption. Could you please, like, I dunno, knock on the watermain and see if that is still full? In theory, even if there isn't any more water flowing in to the pipes, the pipes them selves should still be...full."
As if struck with inspiration, Thomas goes around to the bathroom, checking the toilets. Sure, some of them will be brown-gravy cesspools fit only for bacteria, but a few should still have cool, clear water ready to be boiled and drank...probably.
In time he returns and continues questioning the robot. "Warhammer, our Alpha-priority is a stable source of water. Do you know of any sizable body near here? Stream? Lake? River? Pond of shallow dirty water?"
As the robot computes that, he address the other two questions.
"Guys, first, no, there is currently no advantage that speed would give us that Warhammer does not trump. As you can see, he is currently our only source of world-data. Also, he doesn't sleep, so he's the reason we can all rest at night, and he's been invaluable in combat. It could even be said that Harper is alive, and reckless, right now just because of him.
Second, this "Dome" place sounds nice, but we don't even have any caps, least of all 250 for one of us, nevermind enough for -all- of us to get in and enjoy its fruits. Maybe later when we have both something to trade and means to get in, then we can think about it. For right now we can't get in, nor have any thing to do once we get there.
Hence, water should be our first priority. If, slash, when we've all had a drink today, we can go to the hospital. Obviously if there is no water here, the hospital might have an intrinsic tank, so that makes it also fit that priority.
Sound good?"
Warhammer stops and processes for a moment. "Lake Okeechobee is the largest lake in Florida, or it was when my server was last updated. It should be north of hear near Orlando. Aquifers run under most of the state...a well dug well almost anywhere will provide water, though that may take a few days of work to establish. Unfortunately, engineering Is not in my programming, so I'm not sure exactly how to brace the walls to prevent cave in from the soft earth."
Tom what the f*%!. Hospital or Dome a&$*$!@ don't start confusing every f+*&ing person here.
Kris stashes his stuff in the coaches office and uses the High Quality lock he got off the slavers to lock the office. He's ready to go with his Shotgun, Pistol and the Discipliner. His backpack is filled with drugs, lots and lots of drugs.