Redbeard the High Elder's page

I am a nasty bastard.

I laughed far too much at that. +1 Benny. I am >not< RPing that happening, I'm an off-screen fade-to-black kind of person, but holy crap was I laughing a lot at that inner monologue.

The ghoul is brief, curt, and to the point. She seems like a no-nonsense kind of woman. "He claim peace." she points toward Badger. "Take word." Thomas's smile is a bit unsettling to her, though, and she's not too sure why.

A feint blush comes over the ghoul's face. She tilts her head and gives him a once-over with her eyes, rather blatantly. "Colapawkin. It's...scout. Been scout for a long time. Forgot name after many years. Colapawkin now. You not raiders. Small group. Too loud for scouts. Follow long. If lie about trade, good cover." She tries to return his smile, but it's been a long time since her husband died, and she isn't used to someone staring at her with anything but disgust. "Sleep. We watch. I bring so my duty to tribe you don't hurt."

You're not sure if she means it's her duty that you don't get hurt, or hurt anyone else.

The silhouettes stop moving for a moment, and one of them steps forward. The moonlight shines across her face and you can see - it's rotted, mottled, and brown. Parts of her jawbone glare from the moonlight, shining uncovered by flesh, but the way she moves, and the clarity in her eyes show that unlike the ones you saw in the church - this ghoul has sentience. She seems to be wearing leather, but some of it seems hard - not boiled, but almost stone-like in composition, oddly enough. What remains of her hair, roughly only the left side of her head, is pulled back into a long knot of braids that hangs down to her back, and to rotting flesh on her other side seems to have tattoos on it. Despite it's effective camouflage in the night, the colors she wears seem to be bright, almost vibrant, yet it seems a loose cloth garb covers it to mute it's effects.

I had intended to have a little more authenticity with some Seminole translations, but both languages the tribe used/uses are not exactly as easy to find on the internet as you would think. thiswas the closest I could find.

"Ah Colapawkin. I am Colapawkin. You are in our hote - our home. You want to trade? Enca, cha...hmmm...you head the wrong way. You move to heart town. Follow Che Chose to edge village for outsiders."

Since Kristophe is not here I will assume you're cool headed enough to listen.

The ghoul lifts the spear in her hand, a huge thing, but it's the spearhead that shocks you. On the end there seems to be the hand - no, it can only be described as a claw of some kind, but the fingers, or talons, on this thing are easily the size of a child's forearm. Jimmy gasps at the sight of the weapon, clearly recognizing something but keeping quiet. Using the spear the ghoul points to another in the shadows who quietly steps out, a boy, older than Timmy but younger than Jimmy, wearing a similar garb to the ghoul, but without the petrified leather effect. He smiles, briefly, at the boys near his age, but when he catches the ghoul watching him, quickly puts on a stern face and beckons you all over to follow him.

The boy starts to lead you west again, and around in what seems to be circles for at least an hour, and as he does, Colapawkin silently takes post behind your group, while you notice the others step out of the shadows to flank you. Colapawkin seems to be one of three ghouls among the ten figures, and the boy seems to be the only child among the group. Che Chose eventually leads you to a collection of buildings...well, not so much houses, as raised platforms with roofs and no walls. One or two traditional houses are set among the land, but for the most part they all seem to be these open wood and dried leaf roofs.

As it's the dead of night, nearly midnight at this point you see very little activity, but a few heads poke up at the sight of the incoming crowd. Some people are dressed like tribals, but some seem to be wearing simple wastelander clothes. A handful of guards stand around posts of the building, mostly tribal dressed, but again, you see one or two wastelanders carrying a hunting shotgun and wearing some scavenged metal armor.

The ghoul woman nods to an empty house where a few makeshift beds have been thrown together. "Guests. Sleep. Market in morning. Radio maybe? Don't know." She turns to the others and speaks briefly in a language you don't understand. The boy and the rest of the escorts take off to the swamp again and the ghoul woman crosses her arms and walks up to a nearby tree, leaning against it and eyeing you all silently.

Given that 2/3 of the current party as indicated their desire the group follows Badger as he leads the way towards the nearest settlement - or so he assumes, given the odd way the PipBoy reveals these sorts of things.

It takes roughly ten miles or so, a few hours of walking south by southeast, through the muck of the swamp, but given the survival abilities of Aeryicka and Cray circling around looking for dry points, the party manages to stay mostly dry. Trees and mangroves seem abound, and fallen logs are all over the place, and as the day starts to move towards night, the swamp seems quiet. Eerily quiet.

StealthGroup: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
GroupWild: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
(+2 from edge, +2 from darkness))

Timmy frowns, crosses his arms, and glares at Thomas. Jimmy replies to Badger while trying to calm his brother.

"The NeoSems are tribals in the Everglades. They say they're inheritors if the Seminole spirit - they were a prewar tribe from around here. Fierce folks, they fought armies far larger than them with much less tech. The NeoSems certainly have their ideals...mom said she saw them decimate a group of raiders with primitive bows and spears, from the shadows, like the arrows came out of nowhere! NeoSems don't like people deep in their territory, and they only ask nicely once. If they catch you deep in the swamp, they either take you out themselves or rile up the leatherbacks in the area somehow. Leatherbacks are...like...like...really big geckos."

He shakes his head. "That being said, they sometimes run caravans up to Kingdom to trade, and the villages on the edge of the swamp sometimes let outsiders trade. I'm pretty sure there should be one too far from here, but it wouldn't be going north."

Timmy sticks his tongue out at Thomas. "I wanna go there and be a ninja and kill mutants Jimmy! Leave stupid Mr. Overseer and Badger thinks he's so much better than Kris. Aeryicka can come. I like her bird."

Jimmy shrugs. "I'm sure we're close enough to a village that your PipBoy can detect the building clusters in a scan (like the triangles that locate towns in some of the games). Those things are really useful when you tool around with them. Who knows - maybe they'll at least have tools if they don't have a radio."

Jimmy speaks up. "Didn't he say something about contacting others? Weren't...wouldn't more people be good?

Timmy pouts and kicks a rock. "Kristophe would be like 'I don't need nobody else, get me a beer BBT, this is some b@+%&$@!' if you suggested that, and then Overseer Tom is gonna talk a lot, and K would be like 'Fine, whatever, I'm gonna go kill a mutant' so I guess we should, but maybe kill a mutant while we are at it."

Jimmy stares at his brother blankly. Mom and dad die and he's totally holding it together, fine, bully with an attitude that takes him under his wing he's known for...a week? And now he's suddenly got issues. Must have been the last straw...

"I guess...if we find a town, we'll find a transmitter? Unless that PipBoy can send out signals? There's...there's always the NeoSems near these parts. They...well, they have towns. They don't usually have much in the way of tech, though."

Phillip nods to Badger. "Indeed. We appreciate your help. Your Class-B trading status will get you free meals and a stay in the visitors tents when you pass by Kennedy, and access to some heavier equipment than basic outsiders with a Class-C. Essentially, if it isn't power armor or extremely heavy weaponry, like a missile launcher or the like, you can buy it. We have an outpost in Kingdom's Island of Nations...you can't miss it. We will be heading to Kennedy now ourselves. Be safe."

The gruff older man nods to the others and starts to head off. The two women smile at Badger and Thomas. "Owe you one!" O'Hare yells to them, and Thomas thinks it's directed at him. Sanders just blushes slightly and smiles. James simply smiles, hefts his huge launcher and waves.

Mac lingers a bit. It seems weird to see him without his armor. He's wearing a green jumpsuit underneath that looks like a mechanic's outfit. "Listen...if you're out and about, I ran into some other guys from your vault. I have a friend from the Hood that's been traveling around with them, good guy, Marcus is his name, one of our Knights. I can give you his ID number and you might be able to find him on the radio."

He gives you all a seemingly random string of numbers and letters. "If you call this out on the radio, he should answer something like 'this is the Big Papa' or some garbage like that. He is a bit silly, but he'll know. It was Fitz, Mickey, and Spencer. They also had a kid with them - Spaulding, but..." Mac shakes his head with a frown. "They can tell you. I gotta go before I get demoted again! Besides, I'm sure my kids are wondering why I'm not home yet." He smiles and starts to jog off after the others.

Whether you know any of them or not (which is up to you guys), you recognize the names. How could you not? Those were the last four people to be booted before your group, only couple weeks earlier! You thought their announcement meant your safety for at least another year...boy were you wrong...

Timmy seems to be following the whole scenario blankly, but when it's mentioned that Kristophe died his eyes start to fill with tears, and he screams, "YOU LIAR! and runs to his brother for consoling.

Jimmy shakes his head and pats his brother's back. "It's okay, T...I'm sure he killed like...ten or fifteen of them before they got him...right, guys?" He looks to the party quickly for affirmation.

Warhammer floats silently and then speaks up. "Based on the tone of voice and the lack of reverberation in his cadence, I would say they were not lying."

Timmy screams, picks up a rock, and throws it at the robot. "I say, what is that beastly little rodent's problem?!"

Kingdom is where Disney World would be today; Kennedy is where you'd find the Kennedy Space Center. You guys are right now on the edge of the Everglades, not deep in the swamp, but near Big Cypress National Preserve. Here's a map. You would be probably in the southeast of Collier County, just west of Hollywood. Kennedy Space Center is on the east coast, north of Cocoa and south of Daytona. You've come a long way from the school, which was in north Okeechobee County (right next to the "A" in "Florida" on the map. Disney is in the Orlando/Kissimmee area. Either of them would be a pretty long trip.

"About three days walking, if you don't sleep, to either of them." O'Hare mutters under her breath. "Kingdom is a city - they welcome visitors, as long as you've got caps to spend. Kennedy doesn't let people stay more than one night per month in the visitors tents, and even then, it's only if you're selling tech you scavenged or buying old stuff we don't need; we don't want a city springing up around our base we have to protect. Still, it's got regular Paladin patrols and about the safest place in the waste. If you can afford to stay there, Kingdom is a close second. They have tech even we want to get our hands on, but they've also got an army of Mousears and robots that even we have to respect."

Mac stops and scratches his chin, as Phillip raises an eyebrow. "We need to report this to base. Also, why weren't you two down there helping us instead of a bunch of outsiders?"

"I was radioing for help. Seems like the antennae at Kennedy is down from the storm. We stayed topside because heavy explosive munitions aren't exactly tactically sound in an underground facility."

Phillip frowns, and crosses his arms. "We need to get back to base and debrief."

"How do we know they don't have another exit back here and won't be following us? They ambushed you once, you know..."

"Now we're ready for them. I'm in charge here, McMillian, in case you haven't forgotten!"

"My mistake, Senior Paladin. I couldn't hear you over the sound of you being an ungrateful bastard."

The older man furrows his brow and crosses his arms.

"Give me your armor, soldier. You're being relieved of your position as second in command. Paladin Sanders is taking your position. We're going back to Kennedy, and now!"

Mac growls and grumbles, but gets out of his power armor anyway, and the SP suits up in it. The other Brotherhood members just look on quietly. "I've had enough of your insubordination, McMillian. I'm putting in to transfer you to the scribes - let them deal with your idiocy for a while."

"What about my friends? The people that actually saved your ass?

Phillip pauses, and is quiet for a moment.

"Give them a B-Class trader's permit and 20,000 caps of credit at Kennedy or the Kingdom Outpost. Authorize it in my name."

The other Brotherhood members all look stunned. Mac nods and replies quietly. "Okay...um...never mind my comment about being ungrateful. You're still a bastard, though...sir." He walks over to Thomas and starts to input some numbers on his PipBoy. A position on it's overhead map of Florida pops up indicating the locations of two places - one called "Kingdom" and one called "Kennedy". An indicator pops up for your reputation with the Brotherhood of Steel and it says Accepted and has a note that you have 20,000 caps of credit with them.

"So...ahem...sir...what now?"

The Senior Paladin stops to think for a moment.

"I meant some tools to make some MFC grenades out of these cells - holding the booth isn't the issue - it's making sure our present is ready for them!"

Phillip is holding open the other side of the door, looking to the others, you can see it's struggling to close, as if it's been called down from the other side.

"If not we can at least have James blow the living s*~$ out of the booth so they can't follow up this route...although it might be a decoy for all I know. I didn't exactly have a great view to find out if they had other ways in and out."

I thought you guys had something left from when Warhammer was reprogrammed - I guess not...

"Screw it. Everyone head back as far as we can. James, blow this thing to hell and back!"

Phillip nods to Badger, lets go of the other side of the door, and starts to bolt out of the room, followed by the rest of the Brotherhood paladins... as soon as the whole party is clear, James fires one straight at the roof above where the booth was (as by then it had descended below), and drops a ton of rubble on the place from the explosion. He refills his ordinance, and launches another just for good measure, blowing the little shack to hell and back again.

James walks up, takes his helmet off, and inhales the smoke. "G@@-D*%NIT, this is why I love being a paladin!"

Mac looks around at the others, wide eyed, and blinks. "What...the...heck...happened?!"

The elevator makes it's slow transit back down, and meanwhile Badger and Phillip sweat as the three guards make it ever closer, hoping to wait as long as possible to pull the trigger.

Just as the elevator makes it down, Phillip nods to Badger, and starts slooowly backing up towards it stealthily, eyes on the approaching scouts.

Stealth: 1d8 ⇒ 6

One finger comes up to his lip, and he motions Badger to follow.

The scouts, meanwhile are trying to sneak up themselves towards the hallway, having no idea eyes were on them in the first place.

RollingStealthforBadgertoExpidite: 1d8 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + (2) = 9

As the two get to the elevator, they all climb inside, and instantly bro-face. Phillip waves Badger in, and hover-squats over the two, quadriceps of steel and arms bracing walls to prevent the actual lap sitting.

At almost the second the doors close the first scout makes it within sight, and yells, "HEY! raising up his blades.

Phillip lets go of bracing the wall, falls back onto the laps of Thomas and Badger, but the plasma rifle fires true and burns a hole in the chest of the scout before the other two come running...but it's too late, the door shuts, and as the elevator rises the three can hear blades chopping at the outside.

When the door opens, Phillip climbs out ahead of the others, and looks around. Once again, the grey haired muscular man totally bro-facing the other two with a look of that never happened and we shall never speak of it. Before anyone can reply, as soon as he sees James, he speaks up. "Paladin, your launcher - quick! Put all the ordinance you have inside this elevator before they send it back down. Do any of you have a tool kit? Brace the doors open - we can send them down a present courtesy of the launcher's missile supply, this plasma rifle's microfusion cells rigged to blow, and a spark."

The elevator makes it to the top, and as the ladies all scramble out, James is waiting eagerly by the top. Mac seems to be outside, and you can hear him radioing continuously.

The two brotherhood women run up and hug James, and he grins at Thomas and Aeryicka. "Mac is trying to radio base - seems like we're still getting interference from the storm out there. Sounds like the 'cane took out an antennae at the base. Anyway, I guess I was wrong about you guys...what happened down there? The others coming up? Is everyone okay?"

Group Notice: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4

Sufficiently distracted by the craziness of Kristophe's acts, the mutants, the humans, and the power armored leader don't seem to notice anything.

"You two" he points to a single legionnaire and a mutant. [/b]"Check on the prisoners. I don't like this. One drugged out idiot couldn't have made it down here by himself. You three..."[/b] he points to another mutant and two more legionaires, "Reset the entrance, and make sure we're not compromised. The rest of you clean this mess up, chop up the bodies, and get ready to chute them over to the swamp for the leatherbacks to take care of. I'm going to radio this to base."

The mutant and the legionnaire pull out weapons and start to sneak towards the prison, completely unaware that nobody is inside, as the other mutant and his two legionnaire companions take out blades, a huge bumper sword, and dual machetes respectably, and start to move towards Badger and Phillip's post.

Thomas and the women start to ascend...

NoticeScoutingGroup: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4
You lucky bastards

A flurry of machine gun bullets flies into Kristophe as the power armored man comes out of the other building wielding a minigun, and he ragdolls around for a moment, before looking up, glaring through bloodshot eyes. A massive grin forms on his head as he jabs the med-x needle in his neck, and runs towards the leader, while two mutants move to block his way. Kris kicks one swiftly in the groin, moves the cricket bat over it's neck, pulls it in, and delivers an intense headbutt. Even from the other side of the clearing you can hear the crack.

Thomas catches a view as two more of them leap on the big man, though, and the light on his eyes starts to go out as the drugs fade, but he shakes his head and tries to press on. Still the sheer numbers are too much for him, and the members of the Horde don't seem to be paying attention to you running as they hold up Kristophe's semi-limp body, more bullet holes than actual flesh at this point. The power armored man hands his minigun to one of the humans, and he is handed a much smaller pistol by a subordinate.

"How did you get in here?!" he yells at Kristophe, who barely seems conscious at this point.

Kristophe's reply is barely a whisper, but perchance you may read his lips...

The bullet pierces clear through his forehead, and the man known as Kristophe Kristopherson is no more.

The party manages to clear through down the hallway. O'Hare takes the gun from Thomas and nods. "You're darn right I do. Okay, least I can do...get that damn elevator running, I'll cover our six." She kneels on the ground and takes aim at the hallway in case you're being followed. "Hurry the hell up! I'm eager to make a pile of crazy goo, but not as eager as I am to get out of here!" The others show up and the Senior Paladin shakes his head, grabs the rifle from her, and waves. "It's my responsibility as Senior. Get the hell up. I'll be up after the rest of you are clear. Just send it back down. I'll blow the controls if they get too close." Morgan grimly nods towards the photo booth elevator. O'Hare doesn't seem to need to be told twice, and Sanders reluctantly looks to the rest of the party for affirmation.

Meanwhile, outside, Aeryicka notices Kristophe starts to get twitchy from the lack of stimulus, and the drugs he had taken earlier start to overcome any self-restraint he had left. At the sound of the guns, he jams a needle of psycho into himself and everyone in the prison room can hear him scream. As two mutants come out the door to the bunker, Kristophe fires his pistol into the chest of one and hops over his hiding spot and comes running with Discipliner in hand. "F!+%ING MUTIE PIECES OF S%*#!"

"What the hell is that?!" Phillip barks out, but the ladies waste no time - as soon as the door is open, O'Hare bolts past Badger and everyone else like a bat out of hell towards the elevator, not wasting any time getting dressed, asking questions, or doing anything that could slow down her escape. Sanders kisses Badger's forehead "Thanks," she whispers, puts on one of the two dead legion outfits, and then proceeds after her friend. Phillip starts to unclothe the Legionnaire's gear, shaking his head and muttering about the impatience of youth...still, time being a factor, he only has enough time more or less to throw on the armor and grab a blade.

Aeryicka sees the first mutant stumble back from the shot (just gonna go theatric for Kristophe's exit, instead of rolling dice here guys) and suddenly Kristophe is leaping at it with an overhead chop from the hand-carved cricket bat, breaking the huge thing's neck before it even knows what hit him.

Sure enough, one of the legionaries has a ring of keys, some with key cards dangling, and there's a solid iron key that fits the prison cells...it's strange how the mixture of tech levels is adapted here. It almost seems as if this bunker was retrofitted with more available supplies that are not nearly as high tech as that which existed. In fact, upon examination, you can see that the bars are a crudely added addition.

The three of them nod, and the man grimly smiles. "Mac and James? They're damn good soldiers. Never give up on a fallen man...even if Mac is a silly bastard sometimes. Yes. We can run...and we can fight. We're paladins. It takes more than a good beating and dragging through the swamp to keep us down."

The shorter woman shakes her head. "Seriously, SP? Is this the time for bravado? Let's get the hell out of here!"

"You're speaking to a superior officer, O'Hare."

"A superior officer who's in a loincloth, in a bunker underground, with mutants and crazed humans who think it's thousands of years ago, oh, yeah, and f!!*ing power armored leaders, talking about turning me into a brood mother. That's insanity if I ever heard it, so consider this your relief of duty...look, whoever you people are, please let us out!"

She reaches through the bars towards Badger, desperately trying to get to the keys on the body. Clearly the stress of the situation has snapped the poor woman. The taller one simply clasps her arms around herself and is shaking quietly to herself, while the man stands silently watching, waiting to see what the party will do.

The remaining legionnaire guard drops like a sack of potatoes, and the people inside the cage blink. There's two women and a man, filthy, absolutely covered in bruises, and nearly nude - they seem to have been left the equivalent of a loincloth for what amounts to modesty, but even those are ragged.

The man is in his early 50s, grey haired, but extremely fit, with a close-cropped haircut and a mustache that would make Sam Elliot proud - and a voice to match. "What in the hell?" He seems more confused than anything, but seems to be trying to hold his composure.

The women seem more proactive in the moment - neither of them had any illusions what was going to happen to them. One is short, slim, and a redhead, very fair skinned, appearing in her early 20s, the other, tall, more amazonian in build, and a brunette, possibly in her mid 30s. The redhead reaches through the bars. "Don't just stand there! One of them has to have keys! Let us out and we can help you!"

"April, we have no idea who these people are!"

"They're the people who just killed the ones who were going to rape us. As far as I'm concerned, they're my new best friends! Hurry, they had to have heard those blasts and this guy yelling."

The man nods and gains his composure. "Right you ladies are. The enemy of our enemy is our ally. Senior Paladin Phillip Morgan. These are paladins Sanders and O'Hare...I'd love to make more introductions, but O'Hare is right, time is of the essence and there were more people in this bunker." He nods his head towards the dead bodies.

I get your point about outliers, but the boomers weren't protesting something as foundational as the first amendment.

The guard caught by Badger by surprise decides to throw caution to the wind and wild attack, erratically stabbing at Badger with his spear, and then, when Badger attempts to dodge, following up with a dirty headbutt.

Multiaction -2, gangup +1, wild attack +2, "off hand" for not having ambidextrous on second attack -2
Spear: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Unarmed: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (8) - 1 = 7
Holy craps! Legion training, son! They don't f%%! around!!
Ace Spear: 1d8 ⇒ 5 = Total 14 = Raise
Ace Unarmed: 1d8 ⇒ 2 = Total 9 = Hit
Spear damage: 1d8 + 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + (2, 4) + 2 = 14 = Hit with raise
Unarmed damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 = No damage

Initiative is now: Thomas, bad guys, Everyone else (no Jokers)

If Aeyricka or Kristophe want to approach the scene or join in, they can act on Thomas's turn.

That barely shakes a d4 vigor without armor. These are legion trained men. You can definitely assume they don't have a d4 in anything except Smarts. Plus it didn't beat their parry. 7 with spears, 6 without. You didn't have The Drop, so...

"Look out behind you!"
The guard that spotted Tom sees Badger rush in, and the other turns in time to parry Badger's attack with his spear. "Go tell the others!" "How the hell am I supposed to do that, there's another at the door!"

The guard who spotted Thomas and warned his ally moves up and stabs over his companion's shoulder with his spear at Badger, taking advantage of it's reach.

Fighting w/gang up: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d8 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + (4) = 6

He connects solidly with Badger's chest, but the point of the spear fails to pierce his armor.

Thomas is up.

Random Chance of people wandering out of another room: 1d100 ⇒ 54

Kristophe and Aeyricka see Badger open the door and then suddenly rush in, but nothing else happens. They can...just barely...hear some muffled calls, but not much else.

Moved Badger up to the door, because it won't be opening from teh inside for hours.
Random Chance, High is Good: 1d100 ⇒ 49 Hm. Neutral.

Badger creeeeeeeps open the door, and Thomas is close behind. It seems that both individuals were facing the cell, currently taunting the prisoners, making lewd comments about how they're going to enjoy "testing the wares" before the women are sent to breeding pits, essentially trying to psychologically break them down.

Notice1: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Notice2: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Suddenly, as Thomas walks along with his guy up to his shoulder SoCom style, the ever-so-slight green glare of the plasma rifle catches the eye of the guard furthest north (AX3 location).

Badger gets to act before initiative. Then it'll be the one badguy who noticed Thomas (the one furthest away is the only one with line of site so it makes sense) inside, and then Thomas, then the last guard. The people outside on both sides have not yet been alerted to the danger, as no guns have been fired and no one has yelled, set off an alarm, etc.

Big update this afternoon but FYI energy weapons are loud and cannot be silenced. Don't know about FO4, but such the case in 1-3 and NV. It's one of the advantages of traditional guns I you can get silencers for many.

You also have two sneaky people and only a pair of lame guards on the right. You also have a bottleneck to escape. You also have The Drop. You also have a plasma rifle - did you see the damage those do? You also have creative minds. I believe in you. The other group is fighting a deathclaw wild card. Possibly a mother if they one shot the thing, damn Marcus and his exploding dice.

Since the idea of new characters was mentioned, I should let you know that any of you who die/wish to retire at this point will not be limited with your new characters to humans. Ghouls and Super Mutants are going to be available. Further, I've been sort of tinkering with some robot rules as well, though those are experimental and subject to change. The other group has a ghoul in it, for example.

I'm not saying anyone should change as this team has a good chemistry flowing, but I'm just letting you know that's the case.

Well, to be fair, I said it was a wide open area leading to three buildings, and I said Badger SAW the guys in the building on the left. I didn't alter anything from what I said, but yeah, this isn't tactically a great situation and I was really surprised when you went all kamikazee earlier; all the grey squares are cover, as are the pink if you go prone.

Okay! Map up - put yourselves where you want at line 14 or lower. For this first round you all have The Drop on the enemy (+4 attack and damage!) and will go before them, as there is NO WAY they expected you to be coming. The blue boxes are unlocked doors, but they are still doors; you can wait and assume ONE of them opens and plan your attack for when that happens, but understand the rest will be shut at the same time until someone runs through it. You ALL go before the enemy.

That means a -1 penalty to the attack roll for a d4 str character - unless Kristophe shares some buffout

As I told the other group - I'll be able to get to combat related stuff this evening, about 6pm EST. You can assume a drugged up Kristophe is going on an Archer style RAMPAGE if there's nothing else commented upon by then. I can interact with noncombat stuff before then.

The "Buildings" are sort of carved into the wall. Walled off alcove may have been a better description. This is basically a small prewar spy bunker that was discovered by the Horde and retrofit for their needs. You count four humans in legion gear, the mutant in metal, the man in salvaged power armor, and have no idea where the other two mutants and prisoners are, but there are two buildings unaccounted for. If there's is a back way in, you haven't found it in the main clearing.

The mutant in metal turns to head to the center building, which Badger quickly glances is some kind of small barracks up opening, and the door shuts behind him.

Assuming anyone who doesn't roll stealth and notice is hanging back while others scout.

Badger and Aeyricka creep up on the building with the voices and see the metal decked mutant leader, but Badger also notices not the two mutant grunts, but clearly humans in what looks like football gear carrying machetes and a single human in armor very similar to the Brotherhood Paladins, but it seems to be sagging on his frame, and Badger can tell it has no power to it. The mutant in metal seems to be giving a report to the human in power armor.

"...sent him to the vault to warn the beta base. At this point the Brotherhood cowards went their way. I assume to gather reinforcements, but we left their signal beacon in the swamp so they won't find their way here. We believe the captives armor can remain functional, and the power core from one may even be able to power that suit in the armory. The women are strong and will breed powerful new soldiers and may even be worthy of conscription after a few children are born, but the man is defiant and will not make a good conscript. I would petition an uncleansed dip to make him canon fodder."

The human nods. "Good. The president will be pleased...especially to hear you overcoming the outdated gender limitations your people had before you were annexed into our great nation. Well done, soldier. Dismissed."

The mutant gives a salute, replies "Ave" and turns to leave.

Why do I feel like Kristophe would say "and if you feel something in my lap, its definitely not just a hatchet"?

As the four protagonists climb into the small booth, Mac passes over his plasma rifle and a full round of ammunition. "Be careful. We'll keep the two boys safe and make sure nothing comes up behind you. I've got our signal beacon on high, but I'm getting some kind of radio scramble interference." He nods to James, who has put his helmet back on, slings the mighty missile launcher over his shoulder, and starts to patrol the building.

Badger links up the Pipboy and you hear, "Are you absolutely clear from blurry photographs?"

Assuming he presses yes, the booth rotates clockwise ninety degrees and encases itself in further steel and starts to descend. You begin hearing some kind of briefing in Mandarin which you can't make out, at all, but eventually it's overcome with "...pretty sure I can hack this old recorder so we don't have to hear that Chinese gobbledygook every time we take the passage, but you need to be careful, because I only have enough tape to do this once. Damnit, Marcus, what the hell man?! This was my chance to impress the vice president! You dirty mother fuc..."

The voice cuts off and florescent lights keen on, dim, and flickering, and you arrive at a tunnel.

It looks wide enough for two to walk abreast, and the walls seem painted with Chinese characters, but it seems like someone grafitti'd over it with blood, of all things. There's a flag, and it looks like the United States prewar flag, but the 13 stars in the fallout universe the 50 states were divided into 13 districts are surrounding a bull's image. Below the flag it says "The Horde Will Manifest Destiny for the Glory of Augustus and America!"

The smell of mold is palpable, and you can see there's a few inches of waste on the ground, seeping in through the walls over the centuries. In fact, it's actually rough to breathe, not impossible, but you can feel I affecting you. Vigor roll at +1 or get a fatigue

There seem to be no guards in the tunnel, and it opens up into a small underground tunnel. Theres a toppled statue of a Chinese military leader who seems to have had his head used as a toilet recently, and three buildings, along with a clear underground pool.

Each building has identifying characters, but given the foreign language, it's impossible to identify them. All are red, and you can hear talking coming from the one on the left.

Notice and/or stealth rolls at this point if you enter the clearing

You'd think the guy who's backstory is mortician assistant might have learned a little science or medicine... :-P.

Group roll for every extra: 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1
Wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (6) - 2 = 4
Mac: 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (2) - 2 = 0
Wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1

Ace for group wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4

James gasps and takes off his helmet. You see he's a man of Asian descent in his early 20s. He snatches the chip and turns it over and stares at it. "S&%&, it's Chinese prewar ID tech!"

Mac blinks and stares at James. "Here?! That doesn't make any sense. Can you make heads or tails of it?"

James nods and begins to program Badger's Pipboy for a bit and then slides the chip in where a holocard would go. "Well, uh, looks like your name is Lieutenant Lee, and you have access level 2, whatever that is."

The photo booth only seems to hold 2 people regularly, but you think if you sit on laps you can fit four. Cray will absolutely not approach the fungus smell, and Warhammer would roast you alive flying in there.

"If this is a Chinese prewar...whatever it is...American prewar uniforms like our armor might throw off it's scanning protocols."

Mac grunts and growls. "Damnit. This could be a great lead or an ambush. I don't like this."

Badger notices there does seem to be heavier, thicker flooring on the ground of this building than expected...possibly concrete foundation way deeper than such a place would need. A skeleton near the register that previously seemed useless has an old, worn, rotten wallet with a solid steel card on it that upon closer examination seems to be a chip for a computer invoice. It's...not quite Pipboy design.

The stink of mold is much worse in the booth, but you do see an earring on the floor and you point it out, Mac recognizes it as belonging to one of his squad mates, Lydia. The booth has a Pipboy integration it seems, but the only message you get is out of order.

Mac and James, outside the building and watching for trouble, seem distraught at the mystery.

As Badger and Aeyricka comb the outside of the small building it seems clear there's only the one entrance, and both can clearly see into one of the boarded windows through a few inches of opening; nobody is inside. Yet, they're certain the tracks lead here. Assuming someone checks it out

The old building has a strange, moldy odor in the air of its cramped quarters. It seems like a simple small gas station convenience store, barely big enough to hold a few snacks, with an old register.

If you take the time to scrounge about you find 2 beers, 9 junk foods, and in the register, 17 pre war bills.

There's also, oddly enough, one of those photo booths that was popular (in our timeline) in the 80s. Where the rest of the building seems to be made of dilapidated wood, this is clearly steel, and not nearly as rusty as you'd expect centuries old steel in a random gas station off the road near the borders of the everglades, near the middle of nowhere. The price seems exorbitant as well...twenty dollars a photo, and an OUT OF ORDER sign is sitting on the outside.

Yep, but they suck at it.

survival mac: 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2
wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (2) - 2 = 0
james: 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1

mac ace: 1d4 ⇒ 2 = total 4

Seems like Mac and Badger just barely pick up the trail, and Mac and James eye Kristophe with some fire beneath their helmets. He can't see it, but he CAN see the gaze linger on him for quite a while before moving on.

Quite a few hours later, it seems like you track them to what seems to be a lone gas station, the pumps boarded up, the building's sole entrance seeming to be ripped off the hinges. The entire building only seems to be 20' by 30', far too small to hold an entire raiding party, by appearances. In fact, even with the mutants and humans together, it would have been a tight squeeze...

It doesn't take long for the party to realize that they completely lost track of the mutants. They're far too far off for even Cray too pick up (too far to use Notice - it's survival now).

I guess it would make it easier, but even if I changed it from -1 to +1 they failed - HARD.

The mutants all mutter to one another, but those of you who made your earlier notice rolls can figure out they're skeptical, but pretty arrogant, so they figure your fear is justified. The leader uses his gun to motion another direction towards the east. "Alright then... you all move along that way. Don't follow us. We won't warn you again."

Eventually, as you head off, they turn and head west by northwest.

Tracking them from a distance, since it's fresh, will only be at -1 (it is still a swampy area)

"Good call," Mac remarks. "We can actually act with some smarts instead of just superior equipment. I like it."

James nods slowly. "How do get them to think we're not planning something? Or track them without us knowing? Their signal beacon is coming from the middle of the swamp, so they must've detached it long ago."

The mutants, who by the way unlike Miles, are green, meanwhile seem to be talking among themselves.

One of the three mutants, the one that was aiming and isn't a leader, breaks off from the others and starts to head southwest, while the one guarding the humans points his gun at one of the females just in case the party tries something, or possibly, for appearances.

"Well humans, what is your decision?"

The mutant wearing metal drops his two sacks and nods to the other two.

He yells across the distance at you all. "Did you come to join our prey, Paladins? Or are you offering us a trade? I see you brought more. We will give you these four of your friends for those six!"

Probably Fails: 1d4 - 4 ⇒ (2) - 4 = -2
Wild: 1d6 - 4 ⇒ (1) - 4 = -3

Mac growls and yells back at the mutant. "I will blow you all to s@&! before I give you more victims you sick f~*&!"

James, on the other hand doesn't seem convinced. "Mac, we don't know these people! Those are our friends - our family!"

"I'm not one to pull rank, but I have seniority temporarily, and it's a g+@**+n order, James, you do not trade humans to mutants, you don't make deals, and you f+&&ing take his head clean off his head if he shoots me, you got that?!"

James nods. "Yes...sir."

One of the other mutants pulls up a rifle and starts to aim, and the leader draws out a long arm as well and aims. "Turn around and walk away then, humans! Four captives is enough. We shoot to kill if you don't!"

And now, on the Mexican Standoff, Kristophe, master of diplomacy and delicacy in extreme social situations, is up.

Sorry about the delay guys - busy weekend, and another fun festival - one more next weekend FYI early.

Nope. You're heading to the swamp by means of the road. This isn't so much a challenge in terms of them being hard - mutants aren't easy but they're not terribly difficult and you have two paladins with you - it's the fact they have hostages.

Common sense. No. I'll give you a bonus as if crouching for dropping low: +1, not +2

Mac checks his own Pipboy on his wrist. "Hm. Well, by my calculations, about 48 hours by walk to the border town. Geeze but they chased them far."

And wouldn't you know I drew a random encounter before night even hits. Let's see...
Random: 1d4 ⇒ 4
1=Special,2=Friendly,3=Neutral,4=Hostile
Random: 1d20 ⇒ 19 HAHAHA! Couldn't have planned this better...

As you're wandering towards the tribal lands, which by the way, is past your school you encountered before, nearing night time you see a group of figures walking up towards you.

MacNotice: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Wild: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
JamesNotice: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Minion1Notice: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Minion2Notice: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Leader: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Wild: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

James suddenly screams out to the crowd as you're walking..."MUTANTS! They have humans with them! Can't tell if they're alive or dead!"

The mutants all seem to notice you immediately as well from across the distance.

Everyone who gets a notice roll success at least gets dealt into this surprise round. So no Mac this round. Below is your initiative IF you make your Notice roll for this round.

Initiative:
Aeryicka and Cray 10spades
Badger 5spades
Kristophe and Timmy 7diamonds
Thomas and Company 9spades
James Qhearts
Mutants 8spades

So - James, Aeryicka, Thomas and Company, then the Mutants, then Kristophe and Timmy and Badger.

James takes time to aim his missile launcher.

"S&++, Mac...there's people. I can't tell if they're ours. Do I engage? S$&*! S*$!!!!"

"F$#%, man, I can't tell if they're alive or not. We can't blow our people up, man. Can any of you tell?!"
Map updated - badguys are far - clustered around BA70. This is pretty much open field, otherwise.

LolZ!!!. That was great, Badger. Take a benny. ;-D

'

I was about to give him one, and then you said that, and now, I'm not so sure...ah, get one.

As I recently told the other group when Spencer asked if the Hunter edge counted towards Deathclaws, Deathclaws are abominations created by FEV pre-war. They are not animals that evolved from radiation alone, like Geckos or Yao Guai. If it is covered by the Purifier edge (centaurs, deathclaws, etc), then it is not an animal. The Leatherbacks (the mutated gators) are pretty far beyond the scope of your free animal. Maybe when you're a a higher rank - probably Heroic.

Blehhh. Whatever Overseer. F!!# it. Let's go. But I'm not f!@@ing listening to those metal covered f++$ers. Kris doesn't need much convincing, he's just exceptionally self conscious around people who are much more badass than he.

Timmy tugs on Kristophe's arm when the Paladins are out of range. "You'd be cool in that armor, K, and be in charge like 'what you want some discipline' with a super sledge! I want one of those missile launchers!"

The missile launcher itself is at least as big as Timmy is tall.

Jimmy chimes in, "He didn't claim citizenship. Mom and dad had a class C trading pass with the Brotherhood. They're...preferred customers. They're...less mean to you than other people. They're not really mean in general, but, they aren't nice. They're rather insular, actually, and usually don't ask outsiders for help. This guy must be different than the rest to risk it."

"Do what you want, big guy. It's not your people. Your friend asked. Nearest towns I know of are Dome to the northeast, just past Kennedy, our base, and Kingdom to the northwest, which is probably the safest place in the area, but it ain't cheap. Be careful out west near Tampa - it's run by gangs. In either case we're heading out."

He places his helmet back on, slings up his pack, and starts radioing in to base through the helmet. "MIA squad leader and half team. No radio contact 48 hours. In route to trace beacon. Request backup. Turning our beacon to rescue mode. Yes? Negative. Paladin James and myself. Non-hostile wastelander encounter. No, not a threat. No. One aggressive but no engagement. No! No, damnit. We're heading out. Over."

James slings the missile launcher over his shoulder and the two start to head for the exit, whether you accompany them or not.

"If you think gators that evolved petrified scales, giant skeeters that make the ones up north look like an annoyance, and tribals that hate everyone that isn't them are rough, yeah, a bit rough. Figures muties would hide there... Also, a lot of it is swamp land. Water up to your crotch isn't fun. I think there's a friendly tribe of NeoSem exiles near the border we can hit up on the way there for info and supplies if you need. They're a bit on the primitive side, but not as bad as the NeoSems themselves. Can any of you run a boat?"

The night goes by without trouble. Despite Mac's trust of you all, James, much like Kristophe, is wary, and the two spend the night eyeing one another through squinted glances.

The boarded windows rattle like crazy as the brunt of the hurricaine hits through the night.

You want high: 1d100 ⇒ 17 Ugh, that ain't gonna be good...

Suddenly, there's a massive SLAM in the middle of the night, and a huge chunk of the roof gets ripped clean off as debris from the nearby town slams into the building you're in.

It doesn't actually hurt you guys, but now the water and wind are pouring in, and you're all unable to get a good night's sleep through the night, as the wind is blowing it literally in every crevice you can hide in. Everyone is fatigued.

You glance through the hole in the door and can see trees tipped over, and the sheer amount of wind and rain are ridiculous. It's not as bad as a tornado, but it seems just unending.

Eventually, by the time the sun rises the next day, the worst of it is gone, and it's down to a light drizzle with a few gusts of wind.

By the time morning is done, with bags under his eyes, Mac rises up and puts on his helmet.

"Time to see if you put your caps where your mouth is. Nobody got a good night's sleep, but the SP and the others didn't check in. I've got his tracer moving...hm...looks like to the southwest, oddly enough. That's not good. Everglades." He shakes his head solemnly.

Mostly a RP thing. You can upload your map into it, keep track of faction statuses, (right now BoS neutral, slavers disliked) etc. Typical videogame stuff, but no VATS because 1) I don't want to make up rules for that and 2) this were saying is an older model from FO1&2. We'll say it also has the light, compass, and automapping for locations you've been to so you don't get lost finding your way back to the school or rest stop, etc.