A sly grin forms over Razor's face after Thomas's speech, and he stands up and walks over to the man, tilting his head at the armored suit the self-proclaimed lawyer wears. "It appears you are the brains of the group, then. The weaponry and armor of twenty men is aboard that ship, as well as the equipment of one of my higher lieutenants. This is not mere 'rubbish and garbage' as you put it. Very well, though, as you say, I will compensate you half of the money... but I will add a single caveat: Your man in the power armor said his metal armed associate and himself are capable mechanics, so part of this job will include making minor repairs to the machine from water-logging, and setting it up on the rig. The tug will have a radio from which to let us know when you are successful, and I can then send a proper ship forth in force to man the rig."
"I am prepared to offer a deposit of 1,000 caps per member of your group in advance for your equipment needs on this endeavor. If you take my money and walk, gentlemen, I will spend quite beyond that amount to have you hunted down by the finest bounty hunters I can get my hands on, because reputation matters much more than money to me. I will have you rotting in cages outside of the city walls for as long as we can physically keep you alive if you break faith. Is that understood?" He pauses and looks at the bird as it flies in and shakes his head. "...and I'm not paying a share to that...horribly filthy looking thing. Your robot is a different story. Now to answer your young lady's earlier question, a sealurk is a pest. They walk on two legs, and seem as if a fish or crustacean evolved to man, but have a hatred for true humanity. Their scream is concussive from a distance, and their claws are razor sharp."
He pauses at Mickey's question. "I rather imagine they taste somewhat like crab, though I haven't had the pleasure. Bring me the meat of the queen and king, and I will have my finest chef cook us a dish in celebration. If that will be all...?" he leaves the phrase hanging in anticipation of any reactions.
The window is in tact. It seems this building was slightly renovated, not simply salvaged.
Razor takes another sip of his drink, and leans back in his couch looking the party over. "Your armor is certainly beyond your basic mercenary party's fare, and your robot seems to have more sapience than your basic routine servers. Someone must have fiddled with his programming and given him a personality upgrade, or perhaps a basic AI internal sophistication to expand upon it's initial programming. No...you're certainly not your basic thugs." He finishes the scotch, puts the glass on a table, and grabs a handful of mentats before popping a couple in his mouth. "Oh, do help yourselves. These are for entertaining guests, after all." He closes his eyes and feels the chem counterbalance the alcohol and sighs.
"Very well, I have a job I need done, and it can help to prove your versatility and capability before sending you on something with more of a direct nature. There's an oil rig west of the city that I've tried sending boats towards. The rig, like all of the ones before the war, are utterly tapped, but its location is convenient for establishing a remote platform for intercepting anyone trying to take our sea superiority. The problems are twofold, however...First, the rig is infested with sealurks. They've managed to sink the first ship I tried to send directly to take over the place, as well they've turned around the last two before they could manage to salvage the first. That leads us to the second problem... That ship had a precious product from before the war vital to the establishment of this offshore remote territory: a portable desalinization device. It's roughly 800lbs or so, so when I say portable, we're talking relativistic, of course."
Razor scratches his chin and crosses his legs before continuing. "A small tug can be provided for transport...strong enough to winch up the device, and large enough to carry the lot of you without drawing suspicion...though you will have to leave by nightfall, and there cannot be any witnesses from the other gangs. I notice you have PipBoys, so I will have my men program the location of both the sunken ship and the oil rig for you. You can feel free to help yourself to anything of material value you can salvage from the rig as payment, as well as the sunken ship, but currency, whether caps, prewar, or otherwise, will be accounted for from the ship, and I expect restitution of this as well. I want the lurks destroyed, and if there is a king and broodqueen aboard, it is vital you prevent the reestablishment of a colony so we have sufficient time for my men to occupy the rig."
"When you have finished this assignment, I will fill you in to the second part of this plan, and perhaps then I will find myself amenable to answering some of your questions about my organization, once you've proven your worth to me. Do you have any questions pertinent to this job?"
It looks momentarily as if the man is going to reply to Fitz's offer, when Marcus's interjection arrives. Razor pauses briefly and raises an eyebrow at Marcus's questioning, and blinks. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was to be audited for the reasons, means, and affectations of my organization by a stranger I never met before. It must be incredibly rude of me to make such an assumption." His eyes narrow, and he stares silently at Marcus.
He walks over and opens a nearby cabinet, taking out a bottle of scotch, and pours himself a glass before sitting down in one of the couches. With a simple hand wave to the other couches, he gestures at them. He listens to Badger's introduction afterwards and replies. "Yes, mercenaries. I'm familiar. Explain to me why I should pay for the assistance of strangers when I have loyal men and women I already know and trust. Loyal men and women who understand their place and don't overextend their assumptions with rudeness when meeting someone in a position of power, I might add. I understand you could, theoretically, offer your services elsewhere, but aside from the threat of competition?" He sips at the glass, slowly and quietly waits for a reply.
The elevator doors open and it leads to an absolutely opulent office space. Hardwood floors decorate the floors, and the paint, unlike in the lobby flooring area, seems fresh, or at least not as old as the pre-war fare down below. Six men in combat armor flank the elevator door, and you can see a single desk where a beautiful young woman works at a computer. She wears a pretty pre-war dress, dyed the same turquoise color the Seasalts tend to fare, and looks you over briefly. You notice this area is somewhat of a waiting room, as an intricately carved wooden bench sits against the wall, and paintings line the office, but little actual substance beyond decoration, the desk and chair the woman sits at, and the bench fill the room. "Mr. Razor will be just a minute," she states, and really replies nothing more than that, returning to her computer work.
After about thirty minutes, she smiles, stands up and walks to the sole door in the room and opens it, leading you to a much larger area. "Mr. Razor will see you now."
The door leads to an office with a full-wall window, a massive mahogany desk, computer, and even more decorations than the waiting room. Large leather couches, repolstered quite recently it seems, are along various areas, and small tables seem to have vials of jet, psycho, and other chems simply sitting in bowls untouched. Some instrumental music plays over wallspeakers, calming and yet strangely alien. Two other doors besides the one leading in exit this room. There is a short man, barely taller than Aeryicka, standing near the wall, looking out the window over the city. He's wearing a perfectly cut black suit with a matching fedora hat, and not even a trim of any color, not even the turquoise his men seem to favor. The short man has blonde hair, with striking pale blue eyes, and he could easily have been a model before the bombs dropped. Every inch of his suit seems to be free of even the slight debris of the outside world, as does his office. When you enter, the woman shuts the door behind you and disappears from sight. Upon your entry he turns and looks the lot of you over briefly before speaking up. "Yes?"
Lucy and Thomas arrive just in time to catch the tail end of the discussion with Big Brahmin and the other Seasalts under Lucy's command. "To the boss, huh?" the lieutenant asks, and grins, knowing Thomas already had that idea in mind earlier.
"Going to have to give all of you a nice and thorough pat down on the way in, of course...for Razor's safety, of course." She grins and leers at the group, especially any of them that have shown any signs of squeamishness earlier, and her men laugh, but it sounds more forced than anything.
The group is lead through the city in all it's half-destroyed glory to one of the towers, which you can now see is absolutely covered in graffiti and gang symbols. The building has a decent view of the bay now that the other high rises (aside from the three other gang headquarters) have been destroyed. There are about fifteen guards, all in the same turquoise and clearly Seasalts, unlike the mixed bag of the front gates. Men and women seem to be milling in and out occasionally, but the foot traffic isn't heavy, and all of them seem to indeed be checked for weapons before entering. Lucy, however, seems to take considerably more time than the guards on the inside, regardless of her target of harassment, but nothing outrageous, with commentaries here and there about "hidden weapons". Your weaponry is all left with the guards at the front, and you're promised to have it returned upon your exit...though one of the guards mutters probably upon seeing the chain sword and some of the higher power laser and plasma rifles.
NoticeForSearch:1d8 ⇒ 7 Wild:1d6 ⇒ 5 -2 to Stealth to hide any weaponry, as this is a -thorough- pat down
Still, the ordeal is over easy enough before she leads you inside the building, which still maintains most of it's prewar glory. It seems this was once a bank corporate headquarters, and you notice carpet on the floor that was once beautiful but is now worn beyond belief. Gold paint peels off all over the trim of handrails, etc. She leads you to an elevator, and presses a button next to the controls for an intercom. "Yeah? comes the sole reply.
"It's Lucy. I've got some petitioners for Razor. Claim to be mercenaries. Already searched."
There's a pause for a moment and finally a reply.
"Send 'em up."
Lucy grins. "Well boys, and the little cutie, have a fun ride."
She presses another button and the elevator doors open. The ride up is slow, and you can see a camera in the corner looking at as you ascend.
As the others move on and Thomas stays behind to pump for information, as it were.
Marcus "Big Papa" Edwards wrote:
I'll deduct the toll and bribe... which amounts to 200 + 7*50... 550 caps.
"Well, we can talk about what we look for when we are accomodated. Tell me, who were those freaks with the tattooed S... I don't like them." says Papa, still reserving his right to talk about the Mesmetron. "And how much for women and children slaves? I may be interested on those too... and work. You can never earn 'nuff caps, eh?" he jokes with the guard.
"Slavers. Tattoo faces when they join the gang. Is for life, but...nobody can slave you. Rules." The big man shrugs and hefts the huge super sledge over his shoulder. One of the smaller guards chimes in. "You want work, you'd probably have to join the gang. We can take you to the boss, if you wanted to join up. You need to know how to work a boat, but it's good caps, and shore leave is plenty." Big Brahmin just nods. "Slaves go on auction. More money for big and strong to work, or small and pretty to play. That why Lucy want girl. She'd be worth lots...when she finally sell."
Thomas Roland wrote:
"So who rules here? I see the three different factions, but do you have leaders? Or are you all democracies?" He chuckles at the little joke.
"I lied to you earlier. We are already done with our business with the caravan...and I already have a hat." He winks. "The band that I lead are powerful mercenaries. Would this place have any use for us? If not, I expect we shall be gone before long."
Strapping her armor back on, Lucy looks back at Thomas, and shrugs. "I don't keep up on the politics of the other gangs. I'm pretty sure the Slavers are ruled by some kind of council...rumor has it they have strings that go all back to the west. Our boss, Razor, has been in control for the last ten years or so, since he killed his brother and took over. Don't f&~% with him. He is a lot smarter than he looks. Smarter than I reckon' even you think you are, pretty boy." She cracks her neck and stretches her muscular form and begins to lace up her boots. "I can take you to him, if you all are as powerful as you say. He wouldn't be looking for temporary assistance, though. That's not his way. For all his betrayal to make his way to the top, he's learned to see through b~+#~&%~ and value loyalty...real loyalty. The man can see when you're faking. That's why we're the only gang that doesn't have to wear it on our skin. He figures it has to go deeper than skin." Popping her back, she gives Thomas's ass a good swat, and smirks, winking...a strangely off signal given her eyepatch...and starts to walk off. "Let's find your friends. They should be nearly to market by now. Then we can talk about, ahem, deeper introductions." She chuckles at her euphemism.
The big man looks at the smaller guards, who all look at Marcus in his armor, and then back at the larger lieutenant and give a nod. Brahmin scratches his chin for what seems like forever, muttering to himself, "Should I take the deal...?" when Lucy cries out what inevitably is his answer from around the corner, only laced with far more profanities interjected between repeated verbal affirmation.
"M'kay. Yeah. 'M Brahmin. We show you 'round." he bellows out to Lucy, "We takin' these folks on guide. They pay!"
"Don't...f++*ing care!" is about all the reply you get, and suddenly 'around the corner' doesn't seem nearly far away enough for your group's comfort level. "Oh, hell no, you ain't going anywhere, I'm not done with you..."
One of the smaller guards leans in and mutters under his breath. "You might want to pick up some stims for your boy, when he's done. He ain't walking out of there the same." The guard gazes into the distance with a disturbed look in his eye, as if reliving some traumatic memory. He shudders, shakes his head and the guards in turquoise, referred to by the others as "Seasalts" begin to escort you past the gates, while the others mutter at a lost opportunity.
Inside the gates, Tampa seems to be a den of inequity, pure and simple. The guards explain to you that you can find whatever you want here - chems, women, men, weapons - just need to watch your back. "Smart pay us." Big Brahmin rumbles. "Other gangs scared of Seasalt." Some of the more verbal guards explain that the town is divided into four quarters, each run by a gang, and that there's sort of an uneasy truce between the four. They have skirmishes, but nothing official. The Seasalts, this gang, controls the docks, and everything coming in or out of there, taking a piece from the seaside entrance. The Slavers, obviously, control the slave market. The other two gangs are the Needlers, who run the chem operations, and the Deathbringers, who run the weapons market.
There's a black market in the city near the harbor where everyone gathers, and the Seasalts host it, again, taking a small percentage of everything sold, but every gang has guards in the area. The truce is very uneasy.
Each one of the towers is a pre-war building that was scavenged into a headquarters, and the rest were leveled to prevent any smaller gangs from taking root in the area. Big Brahmin points to a multi-story building that looks like it's barely standing near the docks. "Home," he supplies.
"So..." one of the guards perks up, "What are you here for? Chems? Weapons? Slaves? You lucky you found us, 'cause we can lead you to any of them, you know. Seasalts got connections with em all, you know."
Some of the other guards in turquoise move to intercept Badger and shake their heads. "Now the big guy, he ain't the best with math, but there's still the walk-away-without-coming-in toll, which is 20 caps just for us not taking everything you got, and that doesn't let you follow that caravan you seemed to be looking for...which just so happened to have entered yesterday. See? Free information. More than generous, you see. But now, we can't have you walking away without us getting anything out of the deal." The low ranking guard pokes Badger in the chest with his finger, other hand hefting his laser rifle.
Big Brahmin scratches his head, as if the idea of adding up by twos is making him seriously regret this line of business.
Some of the other guards in the different colored armor start to walk over. One with an S tattoo across his face mutters, "Well, now it's getting interesting..." one of them mutters. "Whatever, Seasalts are always talkin' s+*~, like Seasalts do," another with the same tattoo replies.
About 12 feet, on average. It's not exactly well constructed - it's salvaged concrete and steel just kind of piled about, using welding and patched masonry grout to hold it together. Would be a very easy climb, at +1, from what you can tell.
The woman's grin widens a little at Thomas's proposition, and she sheathes her blades. "Boys, I leave this in Brahmin's capable hands. I'm going to my, er, quarters." One of the other guards, his armor painted the same turquoise color as the woman's hair, yells out, "Quarters? She ain't got no 'quarters.' There's a mattress around the corner, and Lucy there ain't exactly the discriminating kind!" A lot of the other guards start to chuckle, and the woman herself gives Thomas a shrug, as if to say good enough for me, and starts to walk off towards the indicated "around the corner" location, with a look back at Thomas. "Make the rest of them pay a toll, or leave the girl, either one is fine with me," she shouts back to the rest, seemingly satisfied by this turn of events.
A few more of the guards start to move from their positioning and start to move up to the group. A beefy man with considerably less eloquence walks up to the rest and points the biggest damn hammer you've ever seen in your general direction. "Toll." He mutters, and pauses, blinking repeatedly, as if thinking even that much was a serious effort to him. "Leave girl or...um....hunnert caps. Um...each." He blinks repeatedly, trying to count how many of you there are, and clearly can't put it together. "Uh...ten hunnert."
The other guards, the ones that haven't moved from their spots, all start chuckling at the big guy, who also wears brightly painted turquoise metal armor. A few more of the ones in turquoise roll their eyes, clearly upset at Lucy's choice of substitutes. It's around now you notice all of them are wearing turquoise, and the other guards that haven't moved aren't...and seem about only halfway interested in the interplay.
If you passed the earlier notice:
It's the men and women with hypodermic tattoos, slaver tattoos, and skull tattoos that are watching more passively than the rest.
Still, their hands are on their laser rifles, and they seem poised to join in if things grow out of hand, it appears.
The crew begins the inexorable journey towards Tampa Bay, taking the long walk along the way. Not surprisingly, given that the caravan had an entire day's head start on them, they see signs of it's passing on the remains of the highway - garbage thrown to the side of the road, and a couple of dead bodies on the side of the road.
Whether they're caravan guards or raiders, at first you can't tell...the bodies are striped and left to rot, with little identifying markers. Eventually, however, you notice that roughly one third of the bodies have tattoos on their face...a large, red "S" across the entirety of their face that Fitz, Mickey, and Spencer recognize as the same symbols worn by the slavers that attempted to kidnap Petey. Seems the caravan you took Hogan out of was attacked by slavers on the way in, and whether they ultimately repelled or succumb to their assault is unknown.
You move on towards Tampa, unable really to track what happened in either case, as paved asphalt doesn't exactly leave tracks to follow like dirt. A couple hours later you notice it in the distance...Tampa.
The high rise buildings of the past seem to be torn down or destroyed, except for four towers which seem to outline four corners of the rebuilt city. Everything outside of these four towers has been left to disrepair, but a wall of scrap and scavenged concrete has been put up around the four prewar buildings, with entrance gates at the east of the city...based on the structure you assume such is true for the south and north (west is the ocean), but it's impossible to tell given the size of the city and your positioning. A massive pirate flag, similar to the Jolly Roger, but featuring a red background and crossed swords (Tampa Bay Buccaneers flag without the football - inspiration for the city, obviously) flies above the nearest tower. Given how high the building is, it's impossible to know how big the flag is, but you're sure it's at least fifteen feet long.
You approach the great concrete wall to the city, and guards stand posted outside milling about. Some of them have the "S" tattoo on their faces, but not all.
Notice-1:
Others have tattoos of black skulls on the backs of their hands, some others hypodermic needle tattoos that go up the length of their arms, and a final group seems to only be wearing the color turquoise, but everyone seems to be wearing an identifying sign of some kind...and each group seems to be congregating with it's own, wearily eyeing the others.
Many guards seem armed with laser weaponry, whether rifles or pistols, and they are by and large wearing spiked metal armor as you approach. There's about twenty at the gate, and they stop their talking in their own independent groups and turn to look at you. One guard, a tall tan skinned woman with a bright turquoise mohawk and an eyepatch wielding a pair of rippers, smirks and starts to swagger up to you confidently at your approach. Any trace of her figure is erased by the bulk of armor she's wearing, but her facial features and voice easily give away her sex. "Well, lookie here, lookie here. Tourists! Ain't that somethin', kids?" She grins, and you can hear about a quarter of the guards chuckle, but the rest remain quiet looking at all of you. "Well, allow me to welcome the lot of you to Tampa, eh. Anything I can help myself to...I mean help you with?" the mohawk'd woman asks, grinning, with a leer at some of the less armored members of the party...eyes lingering on Thomas and Aeryicka in particular, in a way that neither of them feels particularly comfortable with.
The storm rages on throughout the night, but you all manage to get a comfortable night's sleep, between those of you who bothered to actually purchase bedrolls and the cushions of the van's seats, and skinning the yao guai for parts, you manage to get some pelts good enough to serve as functional sleeping pelts.
Assuming you take turns having watch in case the storm ends, or worse yet, something comes out of it, the night ends mostly uneventful...with the exception of the rad storm, of course, which clears somewhere around midnight. Badger's fire provides adequate light for those standing guard.
The morning time comes around and now you can prepare to head back out again. Do make sure to note anything you're leaving in the cave with the van. Last chance for interludes if you didn't get one in, while you're walking up to Tampa.
Giving people more time to get in their interludes. Would prefer not to have the party fall too far apart on XP. Also, I figured Aeryicka would try and claim the leather armor mark 2, since she's been all about the primitive style - but yeah, you can use the leather to patch the tires good enough to get the bike to move, if you want. I also figured you'd check Tampa for something like that, since only one of you can take the bike and you'll be walking anyway...
As the storm begins to pass outside, you can see it in all of it's slow marching horror. A huge green blob of wind, rain, and radiation comes blowing towards you, and you manage to bunker down in the cave. Spencer, for his part (since he said to bot him anyway), seems genuinely terrified of the situation, as you can hear the thunder, and the geigers on the PipBoys (remember you have a third one now that hasn't been claimed) are going crazy from the radiation outside. He sits in the corner of the cave, as far away from the opening and storm as possible, muttering to himself about huge claws and terrible memories, refusing to listen or take comfort from anyone else.
Meanwhile, Fitz and Marcus manage to tinker on the bike until they finally get the engine running, mostly by cleaning off the corrosion with a toothbrush Fitz found in the overpass, a bottle of Nuka Cola, and holding together a capacitor with some used bubble gum and metal spoons.
Cray swoops in and claws at the face of the attacking bear, which is already off balance from it's wild attack. Talons move in, and snatch out eyes again, and the bird takes off with another pair of trophies to gobble down again.
The corpses of the bears line the cave, and the silence of the wasteland is eerie, but somehow calming, as you can feel the wind blowing around outside...
...strongly...a storm is brewing...and judging by how haywire your PipBoys are going, this is going to be a radiation storm. (Finally started playing FO4 - love it! Wish I knew about rad storms when I did the hurricanes before - a rad hurricane would've been amazing.) Fortunately you've got a pleasant cave to bunker down in, if you can get the bodies out in time to not stink the place up before the storm hits.
Feel free to do an interlude as you empty the cave of bodies/bunker down from the storm. Player's choice - 1xp.
As you clean out the cave of bodies, you find a dead body in a suit of reinforced leather armor (leather armor mark 2), with a football helmet, a shishkebab, and a medium sized shield made from a Yield sign. The flesh has been picked clean of the body by the yao guai. The leather armor needs some stitching, and the tubing of the shishkebab can use some fixing (a basic repair check at no penalty for either of them), but there is a functioning PipBoy on the body's left arm. Underneath the armor you can see a vault suit with the number "98" on the back of it. The body also has a 10mm SMG tucked away in the belt with 300 bullets in a large pocket of the pants.
You also notice tucked away in a corner of the cave a "Fusionhorse" brand motorcycle, powered by Microfusion cells. The tires are rotted, and it needs a little TLC, but you think you can get it up and running if you try hard enough (-2 repair check [remember a -2 penalty on top of that if you don't have proper tools - and it still needs tires]). It seems the skeleton here had the same plan you did, but not nearly enough people to survive.
Cray flies up and gouges at the face of the nearest yao gaui, shaking it, while Thomas fires at it, but the bear's thick, matted fur absorbs the blow like it's nothing, due to not breaking it's toughness, but in game probably because there's a van between him and it - use the map - even on a phone there's a free google docs app that will let you move yourself and see what you're hitting
Mickey delays - it's been nearly 30 hours since I posted his turn was up
Unshake:1d8 ⇒ 5
Snarling, the stunned bear rears up on it's hind legs and wildly swings at the bird in it's face, while another steps up and does the same to Marcus.
The bird is connected with, but manages to fly backwards to absorb most of the kinetic energy before hitting a wall or anything, only Shaken...Marcus, meanwhile, suffers the first blow that actually hurt since getting his fully powered armor, but not enough to leave an actual wound (Shaken also).
Let's just end this with all of you up - Finish Them
Fitz manages to slash at the bear with his deathclaw gauntlet, but doesn't dig in deep enough as the bear instinctually backs up...too late, though, as Fitz's one-two combo hydrauli-punches the thing's skull, smashing it into the nearby wall.
Now that the giant yao gaui is out of the way, Marcus's chainsword makes short work of his nearest target, easily decapitating the mutant bear.
Spencer, too, manages to pepper his nearest target with a burst of bullets, easily taking down the yao gaui.
Still have Thomas, Mickey, and Aeryicka before the baddies.
New initiative: Everyone except Badger, then the Yao Gauis, then Badger - sorry about the delay, busy weekend.
Initiative Details:
Aeryicka - Six of Diamonds
Badger - Two of Spades
EH-RK - Six of Spades
Fitz - Six of Clubs
Marcus - King of Diamonds
Mickey - Nine of Hearts
Spencer - Queen of Clubs
Thomas - Queen of Diamonds, Nine of Diamonds
Yao Guai - Five of Clubs
I... need sleep. I moved Papa, attacking the G closest to Badger.
They're all the same giant yao guai - it takes up 4 squares
The chainsword cranks into high gear and Marcus chops fiercely at the giant yao guai. For all his might, the thing's thick fur and fat absorbs most of the blow, but he does manage to wound the great thing, even though mostly it looks like he pissed the creature off and gave it a bad haircut. Toughness 11, no armor, all Vigor and Size modifiers
Agility:1d6 ⇒ 4 Wild:1d6 ⇒ 5
Despite the swift kick Marcus gives the thing to topple it over after his good chopping, the beast doesn't topple.
Fitz manages to connect with the deathclaw gauntlet, but not his steel arm, though the wound seems not deep enough to do more than stun the bear. Toughness 8 - only shaken
EH-RK's mighty hydraulic arms fling the bear back a good 10 feet and he stands to his feet Figured you'd wanna use your move action to do that since it doesn't provoke in SW like it does in PF
Aeryicka's bird, quite huge for a bird of prey (roughly the size of an osprey), but still no larger than the giant yao guai's paw, rushes the huge beast and (GET THE F!++ OUTTA HERE) the bear, distracted by Marcus's attack, is caught completely by surprise...as is the rest of the party, when Cray straight-up ripped out both eyes of the bear, leading the creature to flail around for a moment before dropping completely dead.
The bird pearches on top of the van and starts to eat it's trophies, looking at the smaller bears like "what b%$$~?" considering it just straight-up merc'd something roughly 100x its size.
Thomas blasts at the nearest yao guai (X10) and backs up and since he doesn't say where, don't be mad at me where you end up - please use the map people. The hot plasma roasts the bear's face, and soon there's just a pile of muscle and fur sitting where the creature once was.
YaoGuai group agility rolls to interrupt:1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace:1d6 ⇒ 5 = Total 11
Wild:1d6 ⇒ 3
Those hoping to delay for the Yao Guai to move closer are absolutely shocked by the bears' preternatural speed.
Run:1d10 ⇒ 9
Only one bear doesn't have to run to reach the party, and that bear attempts to bite and claw at Marcus.
The hardened knight is able to deflect both blows.
The rest of the yao guai charge towards the party, attempting to pounce with claws only.
VsFitz:1d10 - 2 ⇒ (7) - 2 = 5
Fitz manages to barely jump back from the leaping bear.
EH-RK ends up quickly surrounded by bears that just straight run around and ignore Aeryicka to leap towards the robot, while the giant bear makes a B-Line towards Mickey and Badger, hoping to attack both.
EH-RK:
EH-RK's first strike misses. (Parry 7 for the regular Yao Guais)
Gang-Up +3; multiaction -2 V18attack:1d10 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11 Ace:1d10 ⇒ 10=Total 21 = Raise = Auto-Pin for the Yao-Guai (Need an opposed str to get out, all other actions are at -4 while pinned)
DamageV18:1d10 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + (2) = 6
W18attack:1d10 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 W17attack:1d10 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 Both miss even with -2 to AC from pin.
EH-RK manages to duck and dodge two of the great beasts, until one from the northeast runs, leaps past Aeryicka, and slams him to the ground, pinning the huge robot with his natural girth.
Gang up +1 vs Mickey for the giant, but not Badger, multiaction for running GiantVsBadgerBite:1d12 - 2 ⇒ (6) - 2 = 4 GiantVsMickeyClaw:1d12 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1
Mickey and Badger manage to evade the great beast's natural weapons, and then unfortunately cannot get their rifles up in the tight space to shoot the bear. No rifles in close-range gentlemen - you CAN change your actions if you want.
Spencer meanwhile raises his rifle and absolutely murderates the bear on Marcus, putting a bullet clear in the beast's brain.
EH-RK, if you want to use your turn to break out, since you didn't win agility, you can change your action.
EVERYONE but Spencer and Thomas is now up, since all those delayed actions are technically impossible with rifles at close range.
As the party pulls into the cave to rest, maybe it's just the fact that they're wiped out from the previous battle, or maybe it's the fact that the GM is tired of battles inside the van, but it isn't until you all get out of the van, the minute the last door slams that Aeryicka's bird, Cray, starts absolutely losing his s$~@.
The cave is ditmly lit from outside light (-1 to ranged attacks - PipBoy lights can lower this to -0 within 5 squares), and maybe that's why you missed them, but the minute the doors slam, you lift your eyes trying to figure out what is freaking the bird out and notice...there's quite a lot of mutant bears...Yao Guai, some of you may have heard them spoken of in various towns...and one of them is bigger than even the one of you not from a vault has seen.
Initiative: Aeryicka, EH-RK, Badger, Mickey, Spencer, and Thomas...
...Yao Guai...
...Marcus and Fitz.
Initiative Details:
Aeryicka and Cray - Ace Spades
Badger - Queen Spades
EH-RK - King Clubs
Fitz - 3 Club
Marcus - 5 Heart
Mickey - Queen Heart
Spencer - Jack Heart
Thomas - Ace Heart, Two Clubs
YAO GUAI - 10 Hearts
At the suggestion of the others (rule of two-ing this to move the game along) Marcus looks around for a safe place to hide out the van and track into Tampa, and he notices a highway overpass far to the south off the road they're currently on. Unremarkable at first, it seems that one side is collapsed in and it has lead to a semi-artificial cave structure.
Pulling up towards the cave area, it seems almost invisible from the highways, and you can't see any towns or villages nearby. Pretty much short of marking this location on your Pipboy, you'd have a hard time tracking it down.
Hogan brings up both arms of the metal armor, managing to deflect away the superheated plasma of Fitz's gun, but then, as his arms are forced back from the sheer force of the blow, he breaks the defensive position, and Hogan's arms break apart. Badger takes just that opportunity to slug one clean through the ghoul's blackened heart. The light falls out of his eyes and he drops back against the wall of the caravan, sliding down slowly, blood flowing out of his open chest wounds.
EH-RK provokes AoOs from a guard as he runs back into the van, who scream "Stupid raider scrap heap!" and attempt to club him with their shotguns.
GuardVsEH:1d6 ⇒ 4
Unable to connect with the combat bot, the guard screams profanities, while EH-RK jumps back into the van, and it peels out towards Tampa.
The guards, for their part, seem incredibly puzzled at this event. A handful try to shoot out the tires, but for the most part, they realize these particular raiders didn't try to get their precious cargo.
3 guards who have death wishes:3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 1) = 10 -4 vs small target and distance penalty as you drive off
The drive-by murder-raid seems successful. Hogan's very clearly dead body lays in a slump in the distance as you drive towards Tampa without any real repercussions.
Notice at -1:
You see a couple of the guards have radios, and are calling something in, and the other guards seem to be stripping Hogan's body of his gear; eventually they just kind of chuck his body into a nearby creek.
Moved around people in the van for the shots they wanted to take/aim for. Remember EH-RK jumped out of the van, when you decide to peel off without him...
Hogan is surprisingly deft as he dodges both of EH-RK's blows.
Badger looks to pop the already Shaken Hogan in the chest, gangster style.
Commonpool2of7whynot:1d8 ⇒ 3 Wild:1d6 ⇒ 2Looks like Hogan is taking the hit
The bullet pierces his metal armor and you see blood splatter. 1 wound
Mickey placed another clean shot into the ghoul's metal armor. 16 vs toughness 8 with armor and AP1 = 2 raises = 3 additional wounds, knockout blow if he doesn't soak
The van whips around the back of the caravan and over towards where Hogan is hiding, and Spencer fires off another shot, this time into the man's armored chest (since he didn't call otherwise), shaking the man. 11 vs. armored toughness 8
The guards tighten up into squadron formations and try to use the Brahmin for cover as they fire towards the van, hoping to take out the driver. (I can't make the van diagonal with squares, otherwise it'd look like a Tetris shape, but assume you're coming straight on, so Marcus -could- be hit. Just assume when you break it straightens out like that.)
All shots at -2 for range increment, and -2/-2 for cover from the van - therefore need an ace+2 to hit.
All Vs. Marcus:12d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 3, 3, 6, 5, 6, 3, 6, 4, 1, 6) = 50 Potential Hits:4d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 2, 6) = 152 raises, 1 hit
I feel ya, Fitz. I wish we had some kind of laser/plasma long range rifle... on the other hand we could pick one, recalibrate the focusing crystals, shortwire the microfusion cell commutator to improve the flux at the expense of more heating exhaust and maybe add a fusion core instead of batteries to ramp up the voltage. And never forget reprogramming the on-board targetting system to add at least 27% better accuracy. That way maybe the rifle could shot further and with more punch at the cost of reduced rate of fire and ammo expense.
That'd basically be a laser sniper rifle, and stat-wise, I'd just give it the same stats as a Gauss Rifle.
Hogan's helmet has a 50% chance to block called shots to the head; over 50 is good for you.
Percentage:1d100 ⇒ 84
Okay, so 13 damage with no armor vs. Toughness 6 = Hit with a raise
Only common pool bennies remain for me. Will save those...for now...
Spencer manages to take a bullet clear through the side of Hogan's neck, juuuuust below the helmet, and it leaves a wicked wound, but the serial killer remains standing, and now the caravan starts rallying, reaching for weapons, as several of the guards start yelling "Raiders! and reaching for their weaponry.
The crew piles into the van, and takes off after the tracks, haulin' butt to catch up as fast as they can. Just in the distance, there it is; the caravan full of stuff heading to Tampa. Rather heavily guarded, when Spencer pulls up the scope from his sniper rifle, he can see this caravan is shipping weaponry, though nothing super high tech like the Brotherhood or Enclave runs around with.
Spencer picks up Hogan, who is riding one of the brahmin near the back of the caravan. He has picked up some metal armor and a shotgun as a guard, and is wearing a matching helmet. If you wanted to pick him off, he doesn't seem to notice you just yet. The entire caravan, however...
CaravanGroupNotice:1d8 ⇒ 8 Wild:1d6 ⇒ 6
Not even gonna bother to ace...
A few members of the caravan tend to point out the van following to one another and start muttering through the crowd, but since you've been keeping your distance, they don't stop the caravan or change pace, though many heads turn in your direction. Fortunately, Jobs never saw your van and doesn't know you're associated with it.
SmartsJobs:1d10 ⇒ 8 Wild:1d6 ⇒ 1
He does seem to put two and two together, though. His eyes go wide.
Spencer (or anyone else shooting who can make a range of 100 squares) has one shot before he reacts to your presence, by Mickey's judge of the man, most likely moving into the largest crowd he can find.
Following the specific trail of the caravan is a bit difficult, as several head west out of Kingdom, but Spencer is sure he can at least follow until the trails split further down the road. If the party is swift enough, it may not be a problem.
The guards seem to remain tight-lipped at Thomas's line of questioning, and don't really seem open at all, but as Thomas is questioning one of them, one of the women wastelanders, overhearing the interrogation, quietly waves Thomas over to her.
She looks around, and raises a head, and when she's sure nobody is listening, she whispers to him. "That ghoul murdered girls? Oh geeze. He seemed slimy, talking to that big guy, but...geeze. The big guy said he's heading northwest to some vault somewhere. Said he had connections with 'the real government' or something like that. Not sure what he meant."
She shakes her head. "The two of them exchanged information on Pipboys to contact one another. That big guy, you said his name was Steve, or Dale, or something? He had a radio, and said he was gonna contact the ghoul, who joined up on a caravan heading to Tampa. I knew he was slimy, but Tampa. They're traveling by Brahmin wagon, so I guess in that vehicle you have you could catch them in an hour or so, but trade to Tampa is real dangerous, so they're pretty armed, and might think you're raiders if you run up all sudden like."
If Thomas tries to offer her any cash, she shakes her head and insists she has a daughter, and wouldn't want anything to happen to her (though she will take offers of food).
All things considered, the party seems to desire to go after Hogan and Steve before they get too far, so they head back to the ferry and take it west across the lake to where the monorail drops off, pile in the van, and drive to the drop-off point.
They don't seem to see either of them, but there are a few wastelanders hanging around the relative safety of the monorail depot (there's about three guards and a handful of securitrons watching this location) that might know a thing or two, if someone persuasive enough were to get them to talk.
It's obvious when you start asking the guards, they don't want to talk about the locations of Steve, him formerly being one of their own...the ones on this area seem to have some loyalty and are unwilling to bend.
Spencer notices, while keeping an eye out for trouble, Hogan and the ranger formerly known as Dale being escorted to the monorail out of town by a guard and several securitrons. It seems like Hogan and now-Steve are commiserating over something while they go.
Spencer Notice at -4:
They're talking about how to get back at your group, and Steve says he knows some folks in a Vault near here that are just the ones to talk to about getting even with this crew.
Chip meanwhile shakes his head at Badger. "You don't understand. Giving up the pass gives you the opportunity to pay on credit. They're very serious about making money here. I know, it seems rough, but you have to understand, keeping a vault-level society underground with pre-war safety and health and technology...that doesn't pay for itself, you know? Look, I...I can foot about half the bill myself. I feel bad about what happened to you, man. And now I gotta find a new Dale. It's gonna take a long time to find a proper apprentice - we haven't had a citizen young enough to train up right in a while. None...none of your crew is under 16, are they? I know a loophole that can get kids a citizenship if they pass a few tests. It'll apprentice them right into the system. I mean, they'll be in debt up to their eyeballs, because technically they have a loan for the citizenship, and working until they die for the kingdom because interest rates don't play around, but seriously, it doesn't get much more safe than this. I need someone I can trust, and you guys seem like good folks."
The picture of Donald reappears, and speaks up again. "I have logged into the audiofeed of the radio system of the Senior Knight's power armor, since he's Brotherhood of Steel. I explained the situation to their envoy here, and they gave me his functional override, and I have to say, from eavesdropping on this conversation, it seems pretty clear that this Hogan Jobs was provoking these young men, goading them if you would, into trouble. I have no proof he committed any of the murders he's accused of, but then, I'm not a courtroom, I'm a magistrate, and I can do what I want. Hogan Jobs is therefore banished from the Kingdom, never to enter it's grounds again. His monthly pass is revoked without refund, and he is to be escorted from the grounds immediately, and put on notice that upon return, he will be shot on sight."
The crowd of witnesses gasps, and Hogan looks infuriated. "You bastards! I'll..." he stops himself, noticing the people watching, and shakes his head. "I'll leave quietly, then."
The guards escort Hogan out of the holding area.
Donald speaks up. "These men are to be returned their equipment, in its entirety, and given a month's pass for compensation. However, this doesn't excuse the minor crimes that were committed by the robot and Bloom. Bloom attempted to conceal weaponry upon demand of it's turnover, and the robot model EH-RK did verbally threaten people in front of guards. The war is over, and communism alone is no longer excuse to get away with this kind of stuff. They will be fined 500 caps each. If unable to pay, they will forfeit their month's pass they were granted for recompense, and shall owe the remnant on credit, to be collected by bounty hunters if not paid in full within one week."
You hear some flabbergasted squawking. "The guard formerly known as Dale is to be stripped of his position and citizenship revoked. A new citizen shall be elevated to the title of 'Dale' in the Rescue Rangers."
Dale growls, takes off his mouse ears, throws them on the ground, and kicks them across the room, muttering and walking after Jobs.
The screen blinks and the Donald picture now looks annoyed. "I'm done with this mess. Stop wasting my time with idiocy. Next time, hack the power armor's feed and handle this yourselves."
The screen blanks out, the holding cells open up, and the PipBoys all blink status back to "Neutral" for Kingdom/Island.
Chip raises an eyebrow and walks over to the group. "Sorry about that, guys...I hope everything is square. I was just doing my job. I didn't tell Dale...er...just Steve, now, I guess...I didn't tell him to do that stuff to Badger."
I'm assuming that the eye-witnesses are here to give their testimony. I'm also assuming the bar's main purpose is to serve alcohol,
I pointedly stated there was no alcohol or chems allowed and had the party give all their chems up upon entering AND said the bar had nuka cola and other non-alcoholic drinks. I'm going to react as if you read that, since it was multiple posts of reiteration.
The magistrate takes all of this information in and disappears to process.
Donald's shrill, exact-replica-of-the-cartoon voice yells out, "Yes, fine, sit down. What are we dealing with here exactly?"
Hogan's lawyer steps forward and presents his case, essentially pointing out that there were witnesses that heard Marcus and EH-RK make threats against him in Mickey's presence, and that the guards caught Badger tailing him with a weapon on hand, which he tried to hide and blatantly lied about. He talks up Mickey being a mastermind of this entire assassination plot, and even accuses him of adopting their great leader's name to throw people off of his intents. (Put much more eloquently and in legalese than I can possibly convey)
("Evidence" vs Badger = Caught tailing, concealed weapon on person, lied to guards)
Lawyer's Roll vs. Badger:1d12 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15 Uh oh, Thomas is gonna have to work for this one:1d12 ⇒ 7 = Total 22 (5 successes)
("Evidence" vs EH-RK = Threatened in front of guards)
Lawyer's Roll vs. EH-RK:1d12 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 (2 successes)
("Evidence" vs Marcus = Threatened in front of civilians)
Lawyer's Roll vs. Marcus:1d12 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 (1 success)
("Evidence" vs Mickey = Associated with all involved and with them in the bar)
Lawyer's Roll vs. Mickey:1d12 ⇒ 1 (0 successes)
Okay, Thomas, you get a basic persuasion roll to defend them; you get your whole charisma bonuses, and your wild die. You CAN benny any of the four rolls, but there's not going to be a benny when I get to the final luck rolls, because that's Donald's decision, not you guys.
Dale "accidentally" clubs the living s@*& out of Badger on the back of his head with his minigun when his mouth decides to run away with him of it's own accord.
No armor auto-hit called shot, but nonlethal Damage:1d10 + 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (10) + (6) + 4 = 20 Holy crap - Good thing this is purposefully nonlethal:1d10 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (3) = 6 = 26
"Oops. Looks like you tripped and fell backwards onto a log. Careful, there. You need to watch your step when you're talking so much."
"What the hell, Dale?!"
Dale shrugs, as if to say they're always listening, not always watching
"Slippery slope, that."
It's not only Badger who's being put on trial - eventually, a group of Securitrons escorted by four guards show up to the tents to gather Mickey, Marcus, and EH-RK; apparently, when Hogan found out the news that Badger was tailing him with a weapon hidden on his person, he accused the four of them of "conspiracy to commit assassination."
Considering the threats that EH-RK and Marcus gave him earlier and the fact that there were witnesses in the bar, some of them guards who saw EH-RK pointedly threaten to eviscerate Jobs in front of them, the guards do not take the subject lightly. The kindly, but with hunting shotguns in hand, ask the three others to follow them.
You are all actually lead into Kingdom proper, and sure enough, it really does look like a vault, below ground an entire city, but much more spacious than the vaults, and with securitrons rolling around everywhere with motionless pictures of Goofy on their screens. You see well-dressed men and women in pre-war garb who stop to look at you. Eventually the four accused are taken to a small jail cell, big enough only to hold about ten people, with a huge screen on one side of it.
Badger's (probably unconscious) body is thrown into the cell after the others are politely escorted. Chip shakes his head and pulls out a stimpak and jams it into Badger, whispering "You really need to be careful what you say. Donald is a good...person...but he doesn't abide any sass."
Momentarily later the others are escorted down as counsel and witnesses, and Hogan hobbles down with a lawyer who has a suit that makes Tom look like a pauper. Chairs are set up outside of the cell. The entire situation isn't a courtroom so much as a holding cell with an audience chamber.
Chip is there with the guards who witnessed EH-RK's threat, and a few of the people from the bar who watched the hostility between Hogan, Mickey, and Marcus.
The huge screen on the wall lights up, and you're greeted with a frozen image of Donald Duck on screen wearing judge's robes and in a powdered white wig.
One of the guards yells, "All rise for the Honorable Head Magistrate and Decider of Fates, The Great, The Powerful, Certainly if You Think About It More Powerful Than Mickey, But He Feels Like Being Nice And Letting Mickey Be In Charge, Judge Donald!
Immediately you see all of the guards rise to their feet from the seats, and even Hogan manages to stand to full attention with his lawyer helping him.
"The backup isn't for you, son," Chip remarks, "We have to go round your friends up as witnesses, and they have a f&$%ing big ass robot with them, a guy in power armor, and I could've sworn the guy with the glasses had a deathclaw on his hand. Now your human friends seem calm, but that robot seems to have a trigger finger on him."
Chip cuffs up Badger, and shortly after the Securitrons show up to leave with them towards the tents where the rest of the party is staying...meanwhile you hear Dale radioing to stop and turn around the monorail to bring Jobs in as a witness.
Chip's eyes narrow at the concealed switchblade, the lie, the set-up situation. He genuinely is, and tries to be, a nice guy, but given the situation...
"Sir, I'm going to have to place you under arrest. Don't resist."
With one hand, he reaches back for a set of handcuffs, and he starts talking to the air, clearly his mouse-ear communicators, the other hand flicks the switch for one of his shishkebabs to turn on, just in case. "We got a troublemaker in the Elsa section, repeat, troublemaker. So far he's not resisting arrest, but I'd like some backup, just in case."
Provided Badger doesn't resist, he cuffs him. "May whatever you believe in help you with Chief Magister Donald."
Unless he's caught with the rest of the group and forced to disarm by security, Badger will attempt to tail Hogan and his escorts- he keeps a palm full of caps in hand, in case he's caught.
GroupPerception:1d8 ⇒ 2
Wild:1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace:1d6 ⇒ 5
You can probably hide pistols but longarms are not easy to conceal and guards are everywhere. The above notice is for you tailing Hogan
The guards end up escorting Hogan to the monorail, which he hops into a car of before it takes off to the west end of the lake, outside of the Island and Kingdom.
Just as Hogan gets onboard, Badger feels eyes on him, and looks around to see Chip and Dale staring at him, shishkebab and minigun drawn and aimed at his back. Chip is the first to speak up. "We don't take kindly to people stalking men who just claimed to be threatened by someone you showed up with." Dale shakes his head and taps the side of his Mickey Ear helmet. "The ears are always listening."
Chip walks forward and points a sword. "I'm gonna pat you down. We aren't gonna have trouble, are we? I don't want trouble."
Dale hefts the minigun. "I do."
Chip shakes his head. "Nah, Dale, ite a misunderstanding. Right, sir?"
The securitrons (way tougher than protectrons - they have gatling lasers and all sorts of fun stuff) look at Hogan, at Marcus down on the floor surrendering, and at Mickey and stop for a moment. Hogan backs up and shakes his head. "I don't know about my old friend Mickey, but this man here definitely threatened me!"
A few of the people in the bar nod slowly. It was, strictly speaking, pretty true, but nobody really felt like jumping in to testify just yet. The ghoul was obviously antagonizing Mickey when Marcus spoke up. "I'd feel a whole lot safer if I had an escort out of town, sirs. This Senior Knight is a bully, just like the rest of those Brotherhood types."
The guard scratches his chin, and the two securitrons pop up a face of a cartoon goofy, which begins to speak. "Nothing to fear here, citizens. Gowrsh, sir, we're going to ask you to step out of, and leave your power armor with your equipment at the ferry...now, and in any business you may have here in the Island or Kingdom itself in the near future. Hate to be rude, but any weapons you and your crew may be carrying will have to be checked from now on. We think that's a fair precaution. You don't have anything to worry about for your safety here in the Island, the same as everyone else, who can now turn and return to their business. A-hyuck!"
The small gathering of witnesses begins to disperse, and the human guard approaches Marcus. "You can stand up, big guy, but you heard the boss man. Weapons, power armor, the whole shebang...we'll drop it off with your vehicle."
One of the securitrons moves up to Hogan, who looks back at Mickey. "Oh, we will catch up. I'll catch you...up...don't worry." He limps off, escorted by the securitron, until out of Mickey's view.
The PipBoys both, all of a sudden, pop up a faction display under Kingdom - SHUNNED.
Meanwhile Fitz learns that they haven't seen anyone come looking for him, so far, but with the handful of mutants in town, he seems to blend in rather easily.
He does, however, hear that some men in power armor came by about a week ago, asking who was driving the van with their city's name on it. The Sheriff told them that it was stolen by some ruffians who were headed north, to Jacksonville. "He figured that should keep them busy for a while."
The ghoul shrugs, and scratches his chin. "You know, sir, that's a good question, what could I d-----HEEEEEELP HELP ME! THIS MAN IS THREATENING TO ASSAULT ME! HE JUST CALLED ME A PIZZA FACE AND SAID HE'S GOING TO BEAT ME HALF TO DEATH!!! HEEEEEEELP!!!"
Other people in the bar start to stand up and look over at the commotion, and of course, by now a couple of securitrons roll into the tent, accompanied by a guard.
Spencer doesn't find much in the line of work outside of caravan escorts, but he does find there's a member of the Followers looking for cazador eggs to analyze the creatures at birth and find a cheaper, more potent means to provide antivenom for them. He's willing to offer five times their value to any found, and can actually point you in the direction of a nest outside of the town. He will offer coordinates to input on either of the PipBoys, and points out that if you manage to get ten, he will throw in an old PipBoy that he recently got off a man he was unable to save.
Spencer shakes the man's hand with a grin and nods. "You've got yourself a deal, mister, uh, Follower. I'll have one of my friends come over with the Pip to put in the coordinates, and we'll have your eggs, no problem. By the by, what's a cazador? I guess they're poisonous."
The doctor nearly chokes on his own spittle when Spencer asks what a cazador is, and shakes his head. "You...uh...might wanna ask around a bit before going to the nest. They're...okay, you know what a pre-war wasp looked like?"
The ghoul, upon hearing the name "Mickey", stands up, and starts to hobble over to Mickey and Marcus, and a sly smile comes across his grotesque features. "Mickey? I heard there was a famous Mickey in this town, but as I live and breathe - and oh, yes, do I live and breathe, contrary to all your best efforts, Mickey...I can't believe it's you." He chuckles lightly, his hoarse voice sounding like gravel rubbing together when he laughs. He raises a pair of hands when Mickey reaches for a weapon and laughs again. "Ah, ah, ah, Mickey. Do be careful, or Goofy and his friends will show up, and their violence isn't mere slapstick, you know."
His voice loses all mirth and he narrows his eyes, and smirks. "Who'd have thought it, eh? That the guards are now here to protect me instead of protect people from me, because nobody in this town knows you from Adam, and you'd just be assaultin' an innocent ghoul, which looks right-off like racism, it does, from where those guards and those securitrons are standing."
He starts to limp closer, leans forward, and whispers in Mickey's ear.
Whispered to Mickey:
"How many was it, Mickey? How many died? Oooh, you could just feel the life pouring out of them, it was like energy I could taste. Especially the children. Oh, but they just gave me goosebumps."
He leans back and shrugs. "I'm just an old man, a lost soul, a little crazy, but I pay my ticket fees, and I don't cause any trouble...not here, at least, and nobody cares what happens to strangers in the wasteland. Not even if it's...hmm, fifteen more people since you didn't make sure I was dead, Mickey. How does that weigh on your conscience? How does that feel?"
The bartender, casually cleaning a glass, raises an eyebrow at the exchange, and leans over, whispering to his barback, who quietly leaves the area...and starts to jog towards a securitron.
Spencer doesn't find much in the line of work outside of caravan escorts, but he does find there's a member of the Followers looking for cazador eggs to analyze the creatures at birth and find a cheaper, more potent means to provide antivenom for them. He's willing to offer five times their value to any found, and can actually point you in the direction of a nest outside of the town. He will offer coordinates to input on either of the PipBoys, and points out that if you manage to get ten, he will throw in an old PipBoy that he recently got off a man he was unable to save.
As Mickey and Marcus settle down at the bar and start chugging Nuka Colas (just subtract whatever amount you purchase from your total), Fitz decides to head over to the Palatkan booth, while the rest of the party putzes around and looks at the various goods for sale in the market.
Fitz:
Fitz meets up with a few ghouls and asks around about Petey and the woman taking care of her, and learns that Petey has grown to be very popular in Palatka. He is learning math fast and keeps insisting that he run the register, albeit under supervision, and the ghoul woman is extremely doting over him, nearly to the point of spoiling. The town is prospering well due to the rebuilding of the factory, and there hasn't been an ant attack since the group left. A few people comment on Fitz's new arm, clearly impressed with his tenacity, and they mention that Rufus rolled through town to buy supplies, and a boat, and said he was "goin' south" to "look for a vault for some friends to kick the s#~$ out of them for kickin' them crazy bastards out."
Mickey and Marcus:
As Mickey and Marcus kick back and relax, Mickey can't help but notice one of the bar patrons keeps eyeing him. A ghoul, and one Mickey is almost certain he's seen before, but it certainly doesn't look like anyone he's met in Palatka or Skin Village, and those are just about all of the non-feral ghouls he's met. But this ghoul...this ghoul here is eyeing Mickey like he stole the ghoul's last sweetroll.
