Post date: Feb 12, 2010 2:18:11 AM
Waking on the morning of April the 6th the survivors of Group B from Corvallis gathered outside of the Bombs Away Cafe with a team of Brahmin pulling the Truck Wagon filled with the inert forms of a Mr. Handy and Mr. Gutsy. With a simple wave from Jim/"Jangles" from the roof top of the BAC the group set off south and back home to Vault 33. Avoiding all the various dangers of the route (like the Yao Guai Cave found earlier and the danger patch of briars). About nine hours later they reached the outskirts of Noti without incident.
Wanting to approach with caution, Wayne searched the ground for signs of trouble, but only found the tracks and evidence of the Amity group and a single Brahmin.
After being gone only 5 weeks the group felt that it was nearly a life-time ago when they first stumbled out of the tunnel they are now about to enter once again.
Once they reached the external console, ACE punched in their code and was greeted with Klaxons and and the door being pulled back and rolled away. There Mark greeted them with Pistol drawn but not readied. Once he recognized Doc and the rest of the crew as well as the other 20 souls gathered in the tunnel there was much hugging and happiness around as Mark called up John and the rest of the Amity survivors.
After reunions were done John pulled the crew asside and gave them an update. It appears that while they were back and started with a very aggressive cleanup process they did not realize how much of a power drain had been used in those first week, but after they checked the status console it said that group C had lost a few days of life. So now they have been on a strict power rationing mode. But with all the additional survivors it may eat more time off the clock just to handle the additional personnel. Still they will have strict power rationing and I am sure that they can minimize the impact. Working now in only focused areas they have done the following: Rerouted all food production just to the one fully working food-replicator and even then they are warry of the supplies and are double cooking everything. They have cleaned up the worst areas with Abraxo cleaner so at least the worst blood stains are gone. Currently they are sorting and cataloguing the contents of everyone's personal lockers.
After the unloading of the truck, John expressed his pleasure with the addition of Mr. Handy (Garcon) and Mr. Gutsy (Sgt. Wells) to the growing community of the Vault. To which the crew sat down with Steve and John and spoke with them at length about the tasks ahead, of the need to get the brahmin breeding, and the planting of crops. Also setting them up as kind of the defacto "leaders."
During all this Nancy wandered the metal halls and air condiitioned rooms in wonder at the power of electricity and technological marvels of the past. Touching the metal walls, but fearful of touching the cieling lamps. Wayne left her "spike" the one puppy he saved from Exit 248.
In observing the two groups meeting it was clear there was some social differences. Those that had been slaves took direction very well, but were still recovering from years of slavery and having their personalities ground beneath the wheel of ownership. Where as the smaller but fiercely independent Amity couples met often in quiet side conversations, clearly worried the additional survivors, though welcome could put the whole vault at risk with more mouthes to feed, more water to purifiy, and more energy consumed. Still the larger Corvallis group did bring some necessary "civilization" skills like raising brahmin and farming.
So the group requested from the Gotham Knights that they find more farming implements, more food, and the group would start tilling the ground outside and moving the rusted hulks of cars to make walls and "boom zones" at the access points to the valley. They figured they would have about 3-4 months of food left in the system with the new population numbers, they figured they had less time before someone found the Vault.
That evening a beggars feast of bread and "meat" was served with a desert of tapioca pudding (after ACE warned them that the Chocolate pudding that they had been eating was "poisoned" by Vault-Tec to increase fertility).
After the feast John presented the group with a special lined case to transport back the isotropic fuel rods "so as to save them from radiation poisioning", as it is certain the case they will find them in will be rusted and probably not very well sealed.
The next morning with Bessie 1 in tow (much to the sadness of Bessie 3) the group made the short three hour trip to the ruined outskirts of Eugene. Mostly two or three story tall ruins dotted the landscape but rising above it all toward the center of the ruins a tall bluff, pre-war known as Skinner's Butte, and now known as Shadow Man's fortress. Looking through his mono-cular Wayne gave the butte a close watch and noticed a mishmash of walls and structures upon the butte with camp fire and cooking smoke wafting up from portions of it.
From here the group entered the ruins with caution, sticking to the shadows and roads, when they suddenly come upon a strange red sign saying "Things 100m" and an arrow pointing ahead. Grim cautiously moved ahead and found yet another sign point down yet another street saying "Things 50m" and beneath it was a gun with a "No" circle and line over it. Cautiously the group advanced and heard the familiar sounds of a Corey Vegas and their radio station playing, and the sounds of people. Coming up the area they found themselves in the parking lot of a Super Duper mart, and out front there was no greater gathering of scum, villiany, and desperation. A large red banner stretched across the SuperDuper Mart sign saying "Things for Things. No Kill'n, No Theiv'n, No Kidd'n" Outside were the scabs of humanity trying to trade the remenants of a by-gone era for scraps of food or anything to help in these desperate times. Everyone was armed but everyone also honored what appeared to be some sort of neutral grounds.
Approaching the front of the "Things" store they met with the owner, Tom Ato and his wife Anne Chovi. Only unarmed folks were allowed to go in with a thurough search before and after to deal with theives. The few cut off hands above the door was a clear warning of what would be done to thieves. So Wayne and ACE went into the store while BW, Grim and Doc hung around outside.
So inside ACE and Wayne searched high and low for gardening supplies at least in some decent state, and learned that most of these folks at Things were children of people who had holed up here sometime after the bomb and named their children after the various products that were once available long ago. Wayne found plenty of gardening supplies while ACE found plenty of junk to make pretty much anything she could figure out.
Meanwhile outside the store a radio dedication came across the airwaves for Iceman from Terra, and BW quickly went to work to decode the message that simply said "Town on Mend Rangers missing still." Clearly sent from Jangles, probably on behalf of Dean Caster.
As BW was messing with the decoding a rough looking raider bumped into him and got into an arguement with BW, insulting BW and his mother. This caused BW to reach for his weapon but quick drawing guards warned him from that, so he swung with his fists but could not connect. This caused the Raider to laugh at him and walk away with his cronies. Leaving a very angry and vengeful BW.
Once Wayne was done with his shopping and came to check out, Tom inquired why he needed all the gardening supplies - asking if he found the great green treasure. Wayne, honestly replied with "what is that?" After some haggling for a stack of dog meat, Wayne learned much of the exciting parts of Eugenes ruins.
First he is warned to stay away from Green Range Power Plant, as it is run by the gang leader known as Coal and his woman ice.
Then he warned them to stay away from the ghoul infested Eugene Northern Railyard.
Third he warned them about the increase of Killer Bears, or Yao Guai in the area, something seems to be pushing them down from the mountains annd into Eugene.
He also warned them to stay away from Skinners Butte, also known as the Shadow Man's Lair. And that Shadow man is always watching the area from his high vantage point, so if you be visited by one of his agents do not be too surprised.
He warned them about the dangers of the RobCo Plant to the east of here, that many scavengers have gone in only come out screaming about ghosts and metal men and fleeing with their lives swearing to never go back.
Tom also mentioned about some of the great undiscovered treasures of Eugene that any scavenger worth his salt is looking for. There are rumors that Med-Tek, the makers of things like Mentats, Buff Out, and Psycho, had a research lab some where to the east, but since that is where the nuke fell it is hard to tell for sure where it was and if it is still there.
And finally he answered Waynes question, Tom mentioned that in a faded book full of names and places on yellow paper he learned that in Eugene was a place called Greenthum Catalogue that sold all kinds of seeds, but the book he had was so tattered and worn he could not determine exactly where this place was.
Thanking Tom and completing the trade, the group was about to continue on to the RobCo plant, when a little kid in rags approached BW, begging not to be harmed. That he had a message from Rake, the raider that was messing with him earlier. When asked his name he said he was Pea, Pea Nutbutter. His message was that Rake was greatful for his contribution, and that he would see him later after he was done visiting BW's mother.
So through the ruins the group moved with purpose and caution. Along the way, Doc's pip boy detected some unusual life readings from underneath a freeway overpass.
Curious to see what it was ,Doc approached as ACE and Wayne provided overwatch and BW and Grim started setting up a flank in case this was some kind of ambush. As Doc approached his sensor started giving Audio of something with large lung capacity and a deep growling voice, and as he looked up, he saw emerging from the shadows a large Bear-like creature with patches of fur missing and large sharp fangs and claws.
The Yao Guai was clearly hungry and took on Doc, unfortunately the Yao Guai was quicker than the rest and pounced on poor Doc, knocking the wind out of him and gutting the poor doctor. If it were not for fate (so Bennies used to soak damage) Doc would have surely been killed.
BTW Rules for Soaking say do not count the wound modifiers when you are about to suffer when making this roll. I also interpret that also applies to when making incapacitated rolls (thus preventing sudden death from most players).
Soaking Damage
After taking wounds from a single attack, heroes may spend a benny to make a Vigor roll. A success and each raise on the roll reduces the number of wounds suffered from that attack by
one. If the hero is left with any wounds from the attack however, he’s still Shaken as usual. (Don’t count the wound modifiers you’re about to suffer when making this roll.)
A character may only make one soak roll per attack.
Seeing Doc go down, ACE and opened fire with her Railway rifles killing the Yao Guai very dead. But anther one emerged from the shadows, but before it could reach anyone Wayne filled it with sharp and pointy objects.
Quickly rushing to their friends aid they applied stimpaks to help Doc recover enough to be back in the swing of things, which was good because on the flank BW and Grim found Rakes crew moving in on the group. Grim and BW focused on the raiders that were trying to take the flank they held, as yet another group came rounding the corner to attack ACE, Wayne and Doc.
Grim and BW proceeded to work their way through the throngs of raiders that tried initially to charge their position before dying a hail of lead. Rake stayed behind the cover of a Pulowski Preservation Shelter plinking shots at BW but to no avail. Clearly he had under-estimated BW, but was not going to go down without a fight.
For those raiders that had come around the corner to attack the rear guard, they made the fatal mistake of running too close to an unstable car. Wayne lined up the shot and fired as they moved past the ancient wreck causing it to immediately explode (vast amounts of damage) destroying two of the raider and caused the car to fly through the air crushing the third like a rotten mutafruit.
Seeing the tide turn, a raider who had been crossing the bridge fled from the scene instead of shooting down on the players. Another fled from Grim and BW once Rake had taken a critical shot. The last raider who was not near the car kept plinking shots in the general direction of ACE, Wayne and Doc. But even he too eventually fled from the scene once the group started to close in on him.
But the death of Rake was simply not enough for BW, vengence was in his blood and Rake would pay his due. So borrowing the Railway rifle from Wayne he staked Rake's corpse against a wall and cut off his left foot and stuffed in Rakes mouth. Leaving a very clear signal that Rake put his foot in his mouth and now paid for it. In Rakes blood he scrawled upon the Wall "RAKE P.O.'D BW"
Moving on to their goal, they reached the remains of the RobCo facility in Eugene in the dying light of the setting sun. Walking around the facility they saw two ways in, through the main front double doors or climbing the rusted fence and entering through a loading bay entrance. After some discussion they went through the front doors. Entering through the creaking double doors they found themselves in dim light coming from slowly dying overhead light bulbs. They quickly took in their surroundings searching for threats, but all they saw were silent and empty pedastals. On their right there was a pair of double doors. Along the back wall they saw a long receptionist counter and a bookcase behind it. Also on that far wall was a door. As they begin to move, their feet kicked up a layer of dust, clearly no one has been here for some time.
Searching the book case they found a med-kit with Stimpack, Mentats, and a Dose of Rad-Away. They noticed the sounds of some clanking movement beyond the door on the far wall.
Examining the pedestals they found plaques with things like RCP-01 Got Heavy Lifing?, RCP-02 Custom Liquid Dispensing unit, RCP-03 The latest in site security, and RCP-007 Coming Soon!
So setting up to ambush the strange noise they opened the doopr and looked into a room with cubical walls but no sign of the source of the strange noise. So sneaking in, BW and Grim waited to see if the source of the noise would come into view. And sure enough a few moments later a Protectron walked around the corner and spotted Wayne outside of the room.
"Halt, armed intruder detected." It mechanically called out.
But before it could act upon its programming, a railway rifle shot from Wayne, put the metal warrior down for the count.
Searching the Desks, they found 20 rounds of 44 magnum ammunition, making Grim a very happy lady. There were several clipboards with financial information on them, but clearly of no value, except one labeled "Urgent." It talks about initiating orders for a new version of Protectron code named "Watchmen." And that it will give General Atomics a run for its money. There is another clipboard with an order for 120 SB-PER. From here there is a door to the loading area.
Entering the Loading area, they found the rusting hulk of a truck and as they approached the stairs upstairs they found their pip-boys began an ominous tick-tick-tick. Sensing the danger of radiation, they backed up and had Wayne don his radiation suit and approach the area, he checked the truck out first but found nothing of use in the cab, but in the back he found all sorts of rusted metal bits, and one from General Atomics oddly enough that contained a series of strange cone shaped metal that reminded them of flamer nozzles. He then checked the dumpters and that sent the pip boy geiger-counter into a ticking frenzy, but fortunately his suit protected him as he stared at a collection of cracked and corroded nuclear waste barrels.
So once the dumpster was closed the group realized they could pass quickly and do no harm to themselves, they ascended the stairs. Here, BW crept across the room to see if he could peek into the Warehouse. But BW found that they had not been washing windows, inside or out and was uable to see anything due to the dim lighting inside and the increasingly dim lighting outside. Carefully listening to the door the group heard the familiar clanking sound of a protectron on patrol. Lining up for the kill Grim and BW pushed open the door to a Protectron with an oddly shaped arm and to ACEs brief delight painted in the Red and White colors of Nuka Cola.
"Have a Refreshing Nuka Cola." It said mechanically, then it raised its odd arm with a liquid dispensor end and sprayed them with corrupted nuka cola covering them with acid, and while BW and Grim were able to dodge out of the way by flinging themselves into room ahead, ACE and Wayne took the brunt of the caustic nuka-cola blast and found their armor begining to smoke as the burning acid began to do its work.
Quickly BW unloaded his Chinese assault rifle at the creature, perforating much of its external and internal frame causing it to start to disolve in its own goo. Quickly Wayne grabbed the remains of the Water Cooler and doused both he and ACE to remove the acid.
Inside the breakroom they searched and found nothing of value except in the fridge where a dried mold had grown, but spared a single bottle of nuka-cola. A search of the nearby bathroom found a First Aid kit on wall above trash can which had a Stimpak, Mentats, and a Purified Water.
Listening carefully to the door at the far end of the break room they heard a new sound. A woosh-woosh sound that faded in and out. Turning off the lights from their pip boys and taking cover behind the table (with Doc hanging out downstairs to avoid getting injured), Grim and BW clung to the growing dark shadows and opened the door to the room beyond.
Inside they found under faded emergency lights a pair of cubicles with working terminals and a metal door with a warning sign about Halogen gas fire suppression unit in effect.
Still the sound came toward them, but they saw nothing pass their way and the door close behind them. Then the sound receded. And came. And receeded. This repeated several times, but nothing was seen in the room, then again, BW and Grim could not see each other thanks to their own amazing stealth checks. They opened the door again, just to see what would happen. And like before they door was closed, but as the door was closing Grim quick drew her box of Blamco Mac and Cheese and covered the area with synthetic cheese powder, thus revealing the outline of a protectron, a stealth-boy cloaked protectron. BW stood up and swung both blades at it, but missed, as Wayne fired a shot with his railway rifle only to have it richocet and hit the darkness that was Grim and only slightly wounding her. Still the protectron stood silently. This puzzled the group for a moment until ACE realized that it was probably lining up for an "Alpha Strike" on the BW, when it would fire all 3 lasers simultaneously with an aiming bonus to boot.
But her warning came too late as it fired 3 bright beams into BW, singing him and his armor, but doing no great damage. Grim was the next to act and fired from the shadows putting a gaping hole into the beast causing its cloaking device to fail. What lay in a growing pool of oil was a strange varient of the Protectron with composite plastic plates instead of metal for its body, and advanced rubber gaskets for its joints.
From here ACE hacked the programmers terminal and found a couple of interesting files one notes about needing to change programming of the RCP-007 unit as the talkative nature of Protectrons needs to be realigned for its mission, also changes in the units actuators to use a more silent rubberized compound as it was currently busting out of its skin. Another note is about having to reporgram the RCP-02 as it had a tendency to spray the customer instead of pour it in a cup.
ACE also hacked the computer of the next desk which appears to belong to some lead engineer. It talked about the RCP-007 project as the "Watchman" project. This computer also details the receipt of Isotroopic Fuel Rods from Vault-Tec had arrived in crate 887.
To enter through the strange metal door, Grim focused on that after getting her injury taken care of. With careful manipulation she was able to cause the door to unlock and when it opened bright light streamed out of the doorway, temporarily blinding them all. Inside they found the purring machinery of a corporate mainframe and in the corner a chemical lab. But ACE was off her game as she tried to hack the system, and while was able to get the same information that she had obtaine before, she was unable to access a series of secure files about the "Watchman" Project.
Growing tired, they decided to rest in this secure room and proceed to explore the rest of the facility in the morning.
To Do Next Session:
Do not Drink and DM, cause when you do, you suck.
Get Pictures of RobCo facility.
Issue Bennie Reminder Cards - I am horrible at passing out Bennies to Players. I miss the opportunities to reward good role playing. So I am going to test a system where I am going to give players red index cards which simply say BENNY FOR ___________. Each player will have 4 of them that they can fill in for their flaws. So when they act on a flaw which should reward a benny and I miss it, they can simply hold up the card and if I agree even slightly I will reward them with a Benny (Max 3 per session) (Clueless is a flaw)
Need to give XP (1 XP) to the group for their trip to Eugene.
I owe Doc one Benny for curiously investigating the Yao Guai Den. I also need to issue 1 Combat helmet and 2 junk.
Need to give 1 Fame to the group for killing Rake (a wild card raider leader).