Wowza, drew a Joker and then an Ace of Diamonds.
Roland is picking through the ruins of a bombed out Gun store and he finds a full set of Combat Armor!
Notice:
Ace:
"With things getting off the ground here, boys, maybe we oughtta look into that distress signal Young Jack found. I'd hate to leave those folks hanging much longer."
Gloria finds a rusted .357 Magnum that looks like it'll work with a little bit of cleaning.
Re:Scrapper perk! I completely forgot about that, and thus the Community gains an additional build since Gloria led them on their scrapping expedition.
Gloria dusts off the bulky old revolver, holding it carefully.
"Vulture, Roland? Either of you boys like this find? My dear old papa was more of a gun man, I get by just fine with my laser pistol. Or maybe the Wrights will want to take it toward our debt?"
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Jack and Ian, wanting to help out, takes a turn helping to collect materials from Rapid Town.
Jack will contribute his findings to Gateway, and asks Chelsea if she has enough to get started.
This is Phoenix Station MU, Proceed to 93˚ 50’ W and 48˚ 16’ N, and await further instructions. Labeled on the map as A1
At the end of the week Jack gathers the others and ask if they feel confident enough to leave the community to go to the coordinates and check out the radio signal.
"I think it's a good backup for Roland when corners get close. Cant use a rifle up close. I'm more into semi autos. In fact, Roland How much would Wright Town charge for a silencer or two for my babies, here? I was already gonna ask you to pick up some bullets next time you swing by there, on account of your 'I'm not a tribal' discount."
He twirls his .45 autos on his fingers.
"I know you guys probably think I'm too protective of Brand, but I think he should wear that thick combat armor, since he likes to charge into stuff with an axe. I'm fine light and quiet."
Gloria and Jack have donated their "scrap" to the Community. Anyone else?
Silencer seems like a fairly specific item to look for. So it would take time for some scrapper to find them and deliver them to Wright Town, and then more time for a caravan to matriculate them to Gateway.
However, that someone in Wright Town already has one. No, but Roland can put a bug in someone's ear to be on the lookout for military grade silencers.
Jack is with Gloria, and he spots a box of .357 rounds (30) when she finds the heavy revolver.
Chelsea says that she can build the smaller Hydroelectric Dam, but she would rather be building something grander.
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Jack smiles, clutching his heart with an "I'm pained" look. "Haha! My dear Chelsea, always thinking grand! Oh of course, of course we shall be about something larger, but first we must needs get the lights on before we start splitting the atom, yes?
Consider it a proof-of-concept. Once we can prove that it -can- be done, then the rest of the community can be inspired to greater effort, knowing that they can be part of something better, having already witnessed and partaken of the fruits of their labors!
Look about you. See you any artificial lights? No, so let us make haste and get our small project up and at least announce that all is possible!
And of course there's the practical nature. It took a full week to gather this meager stock before us, and will take many more weeks just to build this modest project. Let us do what we can now, and think about grander things when we possess greater resources, eh? The lights will attract others to us, and with greater labor we can move on.
(Unless you had something grander but easier in mind? I had thought we were set on this idea, but I'm always open to suggestions.)
So? Shall we set to this small Dam and give our children back control of the lightning?"
"I know you boys have your hearts set on getting power up, but I'd say it's wise to start with security while we have enough food. What's say Crayon leads a group out to scavenge this week so we can start putting up a watch tower soon? Forewarned is better than surprised, after all. And we can go to check on the distress signal while they're doing that."
The PC's gather up some supplies for a long journey to the coordinates provided. It's about a 4 day journey one way.
Brand frowns at Vulture's desire for him to wear heavier armor, but he shrugs and shakes his brother's hair. "Ah, okay. I guess more armor's a good thing, yeah? Unless anybody else wants it."
"You'll look like a pre-war soldier, at least. Check out that sweet star and stripe pattern. I have no idea what that means, but it's amazing, and for some reason I can't place, makes me feel like eating a lot of Brahmin burgers and insulting our neighbors while bragging about how much money I make."
Two of Clubs nothing
Queen of Spades Tiger
Ten of Hearts Farmers
Ace of Hearts Traders
The First Day of travel out of Gateway takes the heroes through a light woodland.
The Second day of travel takes the heroes through more light woodland, during the daylong march something begins stalking the party.
*benny
Suddenly bursting from a nearby bramble is a massive striped beast that Vulture and Brand recognize as an alpha hunter known as a Ghost Cat
The large creature pounces at Gloria. hitting the Ghoul
It roars triumphantly as Gloria is savaged by its massive jaws.
Good guys are up, please consider that you've been walking all day when you post your actions. The Ghost Cat is large sized and adjacent to Gloria and Brand. Everyone else is at least 10 feet from the beast.
When the Great War struck, tigers held in zoos of the
upper Midwest became desperate for food, and some
escaped from their shelters. The climate suited them
and they soon created a stable breeding population.
Some of these tigers were exposed to FEV and gained the ability to alter their fur coloration.
The tigers were lucky enough to gain an instinctive
understanding of this ability, and used it to camouflage
themselves.
This gave rise to ghost cats, frightening great felines
that seem to appear out of nowhere and fade back into
the night after an attack. Ghost cats are solitary except
when mating or when a mother raises her cubs, and the
males often roam over extremely large distances. Ghost
cats often stalk lone humans, but stay away from large
groups unless they are desperate.
Notice:
Ace:
Spirit:
Ace:
"Agh! Darn it!"
Gloria shakes off her panic and levels her laser pistol at the ghost cat.
Energy weapons:
Damage, AP 2:
Brand starts at the sudden appearance of the creature, but he raises his axe quickly enough. "Bad kitty!" he yells, swinging his axe at the beast.
Okay, didn't make a difference since the Ghost Cat's stealth was 9.
Gloria recovers her wits and fires her laser pistol at the big cat, his proximity and the fact that he is 6 feet long and about 400 lbs means the laser bolt strikes the cat square in the flank stunning it briefly.
Brand steps into his swing and hacks a wound into the Ghost Cat's flank.
Gloria recovers her wits and fires her laser pistol at the big cat, his proximity and the fact that he is 6 feet long and about 400 lbs means the laser bolt strikes the cat square in the flank stunning it briefly.
Brand steps into his swing and hacks a wound into the Ghost Cat's flank. It has a wound and even though its not a wild card it still has a wound track.
Roland swiftly draws his rifle and puts a bullet into the big cat, it yowls in pain.
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As soon as they left the Community, Jack was on edge. He didn't like beign sent into the middle of nowhere just to wait for 'further instructions'. Seems that anyone calling for help should-aughta be a bit more specific in how they want help. Unless they were up to some...trickiness-ness. suspecting an ambush at any time, Jack draws his pistol and walks with its familiar heaviness giving him a quantum of solace.
When the cat attacks, his initial thought is 'Ha! I was right!' but then natural predator takes form and he realizes that theory is yet to be tested.
He eyes down the barrel and fires.
= 13
Ian raises his rifle from his natural Port Arms, but just takes Aim, not wanting to foil his shot.
Jack fires into the big cat's form and it yowls piteously as it slumps to the ground, unmoving.
Okay, so 2 days into the trek the heroes have made about 24 miles toward their goal. With nearly 70 miles left to go they camp for the night.
Success + Raise
Vulture, Roland and Brand blaze a trail through the wilderness, swiftly following the river north and west towards the mysterious coordinates. During the day you pass the remains of a burnt out farmhouse, it looks old. Maybe prewar
Total = 11 Success and a Raise
The Fourth day of travel takes from the light forest into some more densely wooded areas. However, Roland manages to find some paths and get you a good distance. During the trip you smell smoke from a campfire. Do you investigate?
Earlier: "That's some damn nice fur..."
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Roland pries the pulse grenade from the farmer's cold, dead hands and hands it off to Jack.
"Wonder how he died?"
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"Let's check it out, stealthy-like."
Notice:
Day 4
"All right, I can try to creep closer. That darn cat sure didn't make it any easier, though."
Stealth:
Ace:
Gloria creeps forward and spots three men sitting on a log enjoying a meal over a fire. They look Tribal.
Gloria sneaks back to the party.
Stealth:
"Alright, I saw three tribals there eating. Any of you boys want to say hello?"
"What did they look like? Another band, maybe." Brand leans on his axe for a moment. "I dunno if they're friendly just cause they look tribal, yeah? Maybe we say hey, they welcome us. Maybe we say hey, they start a fight."
The big tribal sighs and shrugs. "Maybe we just say hey, see what happens."
"Yeah. They'll probably take more kindly to you."
"Uh.. okay." Brand shrugs and walks out into the clearing, his axe still resting just back on his shoulder, and he waves with the other hand. "Ho there! You Axers?"
Brand walks out and spots several Axe Tribe members
Hail friend. You Santlose band? This is far from your lands. the biggest of the men says, his axes sitting on the ground a few inches from his hands.
I'm Baldur, Baldur Anderson. This is Crow's Beak and Greg. he gestures to the two men with him. Will you sit at our fire?
"Hail." Brand nods and smiles, keeping his hand up in a gesture of peace. "Fenrir Brand, Santloose band, yeah. I will join you, if my friends can, too. My brother, some outsers who've joined us, and a burned lady. Journey brings us far, you know?" He gestures toward the woods--not exactly towards where the others are waiting. "We'll sit at your fire, if you'll have us."
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Jack, still out of earshot of Brand's conversation, nods at the others. "That certainly looks promising."
He holsters his gun and walks out, hands casual. "Erm, ah, Hail unto you mighty warriors of the native lands. Me, uh, am from great Iron House. Me, ah, come in peace. Travel far, erm, many moons. Am searching for Tower That Far-cries. Mean no harm."
Jack nods to himself, happy that he watched all those old black and white historical documents on how to communicate with native peoples. That Mr. Wayne certainly knew his stuff!