From the Ashes of Disaster [IC]

[Randel]

"Helloo... Capital Wasteland, this is Three Dog! Bow wow! And its time for the news:

For the past three days we've been getting a nasty heatwave all over the wasteland and unless you are really in the mood for a bright red tan you might want to find a nice place in the shade. So do yourself a favor and stay indoors, enjoy a nice glass of water and leave the sunburn to the radscorpions.

Oh, one little caveat, kiddies. If you're caught in the desert and looking for a shady place to crash... keep an eye out to make sure that little hole in the ground isn't full of critrers who aren't exactly welcoming guests. And try to make sure that water you're drinking isn't glowing green.

Oh, and now with our exclusive interview with Danny Kayes and the Andrew Sister who let us know that civilization just ain't what its cracked up to be... lucky us.

Each morning a missionary advertise with neon sign
He tells the native population that civilization is fine
And three educated savages holler from a bongo tree
That civilization is a thing for me to see (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjMSHfn1vuM)"

As the music plays from the old radio in the corner of the of the room in the Germantown Police HQ, you look around the room to see the dust, the overturned chairs and broken furnashings, and the big green corpses of the Super Mutants who had just until recently had control over this prime piece of real estate. Your guards are doing a second search of the place to make sure they hadn't missed any of the freaks.

Occasionally you hear one of them yell "radroach!" just before disposing of the pest.

After a bit, one of the guards, John, heads back upstairs and gives a shout. "Mr. Valentine! I found two wastelanders down here who got caught by the Mutants. Ones a weak little guy with a bad haircut, the other is pretty nice looking lady... says she's a doctor from Big Town. What should we do with them?"

[littlebottom]

Valentine clears his throat. "keep them there. I shall be there in a moment."

Valentine straightens his pre-war business suit and dusts off some dirt with his hands. "killing super mutents is a messy job." he casually remarks to no one in particular. He checks his hair, its still spiked distinctly in an anime sort of way, this helped with several things, it made him stand out when he needed it to, and when he didnt, simply letting the spikes go into long straight hair was enough to make him much less easily noticed for who he was, he could blend in with the crowd if needs be as everyone would be looking for this anime spiked hair.

"Antonio, lets go." feeling suitibly smart looking, he follows john down the stairs, to where the pair were being held.

the moment his foot was in the room, Valentine began to speak. "well what do we have here? it seems like two poor saps from big town. name yourselves." Valentine inspecting their appearance all the time.

[Xsesiv]

"Right, boss." Antonio breaks off from dangling mutant corpses out of the window from suitable pointy things, as a warning, and the seven-foot Eurasian, seeing his boss smarten up, straightens his enormous suit, shakes his sheer black hair out of his face and begins to follow his boss down the stairs.

Once there, he silently moves around the room and slips himself discreetly into place just inside the door, to block any swift escape by anyone that would attack Valentine, and as swiftly and unobtrusively as he can, pulls a small baton from a loop inside his trouser leg.

[Randel]

You make your way downstairs to the police stations jail section where there are several locked cells. One of them holds an black woman wearing a red jumpsuit, a red bandanna and a pair of reading glasses. One the floor in front of the cell sits a white man with a flat top haircut wearing a brahmin-skin outfit, his hands are still bound behind his back but his legs are free.

Franky stands guard over him with a look of disinterest. Neither of them look like a threat but who knows if they might try wandering off.

"I'm Red the town doctor, he's Shorty... I think we're all thats left of the people they brought here." The woman says.

Shorty looks pretty pale, his face a mix of relief and fear... a good deal of the fear looks like its from what he'd seen before your men came in, but he still knows that he's not quite out of the frying pan yet.

"I saw the Super Mutants eat the others... They were about to eat me too."

John nods at this. "Yeah, I found him in the kitchen area down in the basement. The Mutant had a knife in its hand and everything... made it an easy kill for our rifles so it all worked out." he smiles and then frowns again. "Course, the kitchen is a real mess so I brought Shorty up here where we can breath."

[littlebottom]

"hmm i see..." Valentine paces about a little, and it looks like cogs in his mind are turning as he is trying to think.

they could be a use to us, but we could just kill them and say they were dead before we got here. no, that wont do. ive got it. ill make Red an offer to become our doctor, for pay of course, and escort this Shorty back to big town... with Red if she refuses my offer, this way word will get out that we are here, and we keep the place safe. free publicity!

A confident look returns to his face opposed to being lost in thought.

"we will escort you back to big town, as long as you spread the word that we are here and keeping the place safe, infact we intend to open up an entertainment place, for people all across the capital wasteland. oh, and Red? i have an offer to make. would you like to become our doctor? as we currently lack said position in our group. once we open this place up you will get paid of course. so how does that sound?"

[Xsesiv]

Antonio thinks of dragging these two across the Wasteland in the blistering heat. Then he thinks of his boss doing it...and then, the far more pleasing prospect of some underlings doing it for him.

"Boss? Shall I lead a task force across the Wasteland as an escort to these...two, is it? Or just one? Either way, shall I go? Are you going? Am I needed here?"

[littlebottom]

"well, i think it best if you go with a couple of the men. you shouldnt have any trouble in the wastes then, and should be able to protect them with ease, we dont want them dying after we risked our lives to save them now do we?" Valentine adds the last comment slightly louder to make it more noticeable by the pair.

[Randel]

The two people look at you in relief as John helps Shorty up and gets the keys to the cells to let Red out.

"Thank you... I don't know how I can ever repay you. I'm afraid I can't take up your offer just yet, at least not until I'm sure that my friends in Big Town are safe. But I'll find some way to repay you." Red says.

Shorty nods and gets up, rubbing the feeling back into his wrists and looking ready to head back home.

Clark shows up with a clipboard, and discretely shows it to you. Its an old inventory list of all the weapons that were stored in the police station armory. Fortunately, it looks like the Super Mutants weren't smart enough to get inside and there are alot of weapons, ammo, grenades and chems (either in the first aid supply cabinets or the evidence locker) to be had.

The list includes two 10mm submachine guns, one assault rifle, about ten 10mm pistols, five silenced 10mm pistols, three .32 pistols, a combat shotgun, and a sawed-off shotgun in the evidence locker.

There's plenty of 10mm rounds in boxes, with a fair supply of 5.56 rounds for the assault rifle and case of shotgun shells, one box of a dozen .32 caliber bullets was in a desk. There are also about two dozen frag grenades and three frag mines.

"It looks like their armory has been undisturbed since the bombs fell and with a bit of cleaning it'll all be good as new. There's also a security safe in there, can't find its combination anywhere but its got this thing in it..." he points to the bottom of the list, a note listing something called a Fat Man and three mini-nukes. "I'll let you know as soon as I get it open... and I'll do it carefully. Don't want to damage the safe or its contents."

The other two men, George and Edger, have made their rounds through the building and declared every last bug and mutant dead. Though clean-up is going to be a real dog.

The other five members of your group are ready to head inside. Luke looks at the mess and rolls up his sleeves... as long as the mess isn' going to get up and strangle him then he can get it carted out.

Derek walks inside, a bit ill at the blood and guts in the corners of the place but as soon as he spots the two prisoners he brightens up "Red? Shorty? Man, I haven't seen you guys for years... wait, is Big Town still a mess?" he asks. He had left Big Town years ago and traveled the wasteland before joining your group.

The three women, Brigid, Sally, and Cathrine arrive. Cathrine easily convinces Sally to help Luke clean out the gore and mutants and the ditzy girl gets to work with a smile on her face. Brigid sticks by your side and Cathrine gets to work helping to clean up... but concentrates on more scrubbing or sweeping then hauling gut piles.

[Xsesiv]

Antonio enters the basement and grabs a pistol, then slings an assault rifle across his back and selects a decent amount of ammunition. He gets the services of a muscle-man and a good shot for extra fire-power, as well as Derek, who knows Red and Shorty. "Right, you lot, come on, we're off to Big Town. The rest are staying here to look after the place. And Clark, make sure you don't damage the safe. We can lock people in it if the cells don't give the right message."

[littlebottom]

"yes, yes, be on your way. may i have a moment with derek first though." Valentine pulls derek off to one side out of earshot.

"these may be your old friends, and we may be helping them now. but your loyalties lie with us, remember that." wispers Valentine. He continues to pat him on the shoulder and walks back to the group. "i shall remember your offer of help, Red. and i hope you dont forget about it either" he adds with such a tone that it doesnt sound like its intended to be a threat.

"oh and clark. well done, if you can get that safe open quickly there will be a bonus in it for you." Valentine smiles at clark warmly, but then suddenly adds "of course if you damage it or it takes too long then you will not get a bonus, but youll get... something, atleast... but enough of that now. was there any bottlecaps found? pre-war money perhaps? any other supplies of use to us other than the weapons?"

[Randel]

Derek nods "Of course, Mr. Valentine. Just figured they could stand to see a friendly face... you know. And learn about how things are in Big Town. Aside from Paradise Falls its probably the closest human settlement around here."


Clark closes his eyes, trying to remember the stuff that wasn't guns or bullets. "Yeah, there were some caps in the desk drawers in the chiefs office... right next a box of 10mm." he reachs into his pocket and pulls out a box of bullets. "They should still be there... there was like five or something. I saw a big safe in the chiefs office, I'm guessing that might be where they keep the pre-war cash."

"And I'll double check the infirmary... eh, after I get that safe open. But I saw a bunch of medicine boxes in there so there should be plenty. And I'll let the cleaning crew know to put all the valuables mixed in with garbage in a place where we can keep track of it. Most of the caps in these pre-war places are usually in the trash cans."

Clark heads off to get the safe open.

John and Franky get some extra ammo from the armory and keep their hunting rifles and pistols ready. They are both ready to either head to Big Town or to stay here and guard the building.

Edger and George are both guarding the buildings and intermittently checking up on the cleaning crew to make sure they are safe (and working).

Red nods, it looks like she knows how favors tend to work with groups like this in the wasteland. "I'll be sure to remember, Mr. Valentine."

[littlebottom]

"Good, good, all seems to be going as planned!" Exclaims valentine, "at this rate, this place will be cleaned up in no time! go, be on your way Antonio, Derek. take one of my body guards and a guard from out front, this should be plenty, as i dont expect a gang of raiders to turn up soon while they still think super mutents are hanging about."

[Xsesiv]

Antonio, armed and ready with backup, and guided by Derek, begins to walk with his friends back to Big Town.

[Randel]

As you head south towards Big Town, you catch the stench of old human blood and Super Mutants. You see the partially collapsed chapel and various gore bags filled with the remains of the victims of the Super Mutants.

You are downwind from the chapel and there is a hill and bits of rubble you can hide behind. There are three Super Mutants that you can see, two of them armed with hunting rifles and one with a sledgehammer. All three of them look bored as they walk around the building and occasionally lean against its crumbling masonry.

[Xsesiv]

Antonio has people crouch behind a partially demolished wall. He whispers to everybody; "Right. Everyone, on my signal, open fire simultaneously on the ones with guns, kill 'em before they can fire back. From a distance, the ones with guns are the worst threat. I want two people firing at each. Once they're down, we can cut down the one with a sledgehammer as he comes for us or picks up one of their guns."

Antonio unslings his assault rifle, ensures people have chosen a target, and flicks off the safety to his gun. "Ready? Go!" He comes up spraying bullets in the gun-wielders' direction.

[Randel]

The five other people, Franky, John, Derek, Shorty and Red all open fire on the Super Mutants!

Franky and John quickly dispatch the armed one on the left who's head is twisted backwards in a spray of blood from two critial hits to the head. Derek, Red and Shorty fire at the one on the right, their pistol shots not as powerful or accurate but still doing a good bit of damage to it.

Your assault rifle fires into the beasts chest and blooms of blood appear as he fires off a shot at you just before dying... the bullet grases across your left arm.

The one with the Sledgehammer yells out "Attack!" and runs forward, bulling a frag grenade out of his pocket, pulling the pin, and lobbing it right in the middle of your group!



Meanwhile, back at the base, the cleaning crew has been hard at work... they've gotten all of the guts and mutilated organs carted out of the place and dumped a fair distance from the building... though its going to get pretty ripe in a few days. Sally and Luke plop down to rest for a bit, to catch their breath.

"Oh my, gardening is such tiring work..." Sally says, her hands covered in blood and bile. "Hauling this compost around makes me thirsty. Who would like some fresh squeezed lemonade?" she asks cheerfully in her sugar-sweet voice.

Luke sighs "Um, not right now... best just stick to water... don't want to spoil our dinner." He says, a little afraid of what the girl might mistake for lemons. He looks at the gutpile and all the remaining Super Mutant corpses that still need to get carried out. "When we're done here... you go help Cathrine clean the place up while I get a bonesaw in the infirmary. Best cut the mutant up into chunks and haul them off in pieces."

If Sally understood that last part, she doesn't show it but obediently helps scrub the place up. After cleaning himself up to a somewhat presentable state, Luke finds the bonesaw.

"Mr. Valentine? Yes, we've got the gorebags all moved out... found quite a bit of ammo and caps in there. About 130 caps and a box or so of mixed bullets... shotgun shells and .32s mostly. I washed the bullets and am soaking the caps soaking in water to get the smell off of them."

"Anyway, we're dumping the guts in a big crater thing out back and me and Sally can cover the thing in dirt to keep it out of sight. The Mutants... I'm cutting them up into manageable limbs and dumping them far away... dogs always show up where there are corpses."

He stops for a second and then adds "Well, I'm saying that I can just toss the mutants far away and keep the dogs from bothering us, or I can set up a Dog Trap. I've seen it done before, just make use of some of this chainlink fencing and a few bits of Super Mutant and we can trap a dog or two... to tame or cook or just shoot em so they don't attack us in packs." he shrugs.

After an hour and a half, Clark gets the Safe open and gingerly looks inside to see a Fat Man and three mini-nukes. He writes down the combination and informs you of the find.

[Xsesiv]

Antonio wastes no time in, as he boots the grenade as far away from the wall as he can, vaulting over the wall and pushing himself against the side opposite the frag grenade. "Everyone, over the wall! Brace yourselves against it and fire." he calls, as he does this. He blasts another bullet spray at the Mutant, hoping that the wall will resist the fragmentation.

[littlebottom]

"yes, do dump the body parts a fair bit away, and set up on or two traps while we are doing the place up it shouldnt harm our image for now."

"ahh clark, well done! i see you have cracked the safe, and in good time, infact, i will give you your bonus!" Valentine motions to clark to follow him. Valentine then heads to where the bottle caps are soaking "as you can see, they are soaking at the moment and im sure you dont want gore covered and smelling bottle caps? so when they have soaked i will give you your bonus of 50 bottle caps then."

how many caps do i/we have in the first place?

[Randel]

You started with 2,000 caps. With the added 130 and minus 50, you now have 2,080 caps.

Luke and the others continue to clean up and within a few hours the entire building is free of corpses and years (or even centuries) of dust and dirt has been cleaned away. Now aside from the bullet holes and actual structural damage the place is perfectly fine. With some proffesional help, you could get it all spiffed up to its pre-war condition but for now it still looks alot better than most buildings.

Cathrine is busy moving around the desks and chairs, storing the broken ones away and arranging the ones that are still good. Luke is now getting to work with the dog-trap, and Clark collects his 50 caps before he gets back to work inventorying the medicine supply.

Sally has gotten some detergent and water and is scrubbing the kitchen area from top to bottom. She's doing a pretty dam thorough job and soon all traces of blood and gore have been thoroughly scrubbed out of the kitchen area, the stove, counters, floor, cupboards, and even the broken fridge are all sparkling clean.



Back at the chapel, everyone obeys as they scurry away from the blast. The explosion sends fragments of shrapnel through the air and you feel the wall shake as it absorbs the blast.

Franky and John quickly get back up and fire into the Super Mutant who had lobbed the grenade. The beast roars and fumbles through its pockets to grab another grenade to toss at you. Numerous shots pepper its skin as it tries to work, but Franky has to stop to reload for a second.

Meanwhile, from your new vantage point you can see a few boxes of stuff in the chapel, a few grenades, ammo crates, and some ruined books. You also see a young hispanic woman laying on the ground tied up and trying to avoid the violence. "Watch out! The leader has a really big gun." She jerks her head to point towards the field on the opposite side of the Chapel.

Around the corner, you hear the voice of a forth Super Mutant... this one slightly bigger than the other three! "Humans! Come out... come out... you want to be like us? Or you want to be... hamburger? Ha ha!" You can see him walk past the windows and head for the main entrance into the building, you can only see his shoulders but he's got some king of metal backpack on.

[Xsesiv]

"I want suppressive fire on the door of that building!" Antonio reloads and runs up to the wall opposite to the building's door from which the leader is emerging, spraying, and hopefully gunning down, the sledgehammer-wielding Super Mutant with his assault rifle as he passes.

[littlebottom]

we need a specialist in for some of this, a stone mason perhaps to fix the building itself up. we might need some nice felt for the tables too. paint maybe, some lights... wait, we need a decent electricity source... Valentine thinks to himself

"hey, clark, does this place have a generator? or a decent supply of electricity? if not we will have to sort that out... also maybe some nice bits of felt? i doubt it but it would be nice, paint too... maybe im getting ahead of myself though. do we have some packs of playing cards, maybe some dice too? that will proberbly be the easiest place to start from, card games."

[Randel]

Clark pockets his pay and does another look at the places power grid. There is a still-working atomic generator in the basement and most of the lights in the basement area work along with those on the first floor. The second floor is without power. It looks like the wiring to the second story must have been damaged when one of the walls collapsed.

Clark is able to find a few packs of playing cards in the various desks and some other games in the evidence locker. "I found these, boss. Some playing cards, a few boxed games called... Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, and something called Twister." he looks at them and shrugs. "No idea what these are for." He opens them up to see them containing the proper number of pieces for the games... and vials of white powder filling up the unused space in the boxes



At the church, you are able to gun down the sledgehammer wielding Mutant with your assault rifle. Franky and John each take turns firing through it with their hunting rifles to keep the monster from just walking through. The Mutant pokes past the edge of the doorway for a second before ducking back in, you can see the front of the Minigun he's carrying. For a moment he waits but you start to hear the whirr as the minigun is warming up.

While Red and Shorty hang back, Derek looks at the place and spots the grenades. "I've got an idea." He grabs a frag grenade, pulls the pin and tosses it through the doorway. There is an explosion outside and a yell of pain as the Mutant is hit by shrapnel. You hear the rat-a-tat of the minigun firing off a stream of bullets, blindly hitting the outer wall of the chapel before he tries making it through the doorway again.

The minigun stream of fire rips through the doorway as the injured mutant pushes through the doorway. The stream of bullets hits the table Derek is at and sends grenades (with the pins still in them), ammo, and pits of meat flying. Derek is hit by the stream but throws himself to the ground, Franky and John each fire off shots before retreating through the hole in the wall. Red and Shorty duck behind an overturned table, Shorty in a state of shock and Red just praying that the Mutant doesn't aim for their card-table barrier.

The prisoner falls to the ground and tries to play dead.

You, Franky, and John are just outside the Mutants line of fire with a wall between you, Derek's clutching his left arm and there are two pinned grenades laying on the grass in front of you.

[littlebottom]

"you found these in the evidence locker eh? well ill just have to take a look at them i suppose, i dont think that they are suitable for casino games, but its worth a look, right?" Valentine thanks clark and takes the games into another room, removing the vials and storing them in the safe for now, he returns the games to the evidence room for now.

"right, next thing to do might be to see if you can get the power upstairs working again."

"oh and anyone know of any stonemasons to help patch this place up?"

[Xsesiv]

Antonio motions the others to break cover and fire on his signal. Flinging a grenade deliberately high over the Super Mutant, hoping its eyes will stupidly follow it, he rolls another just in front of it when he sees its eyes are stupidly following the high grenade. He then signals and everyone comes out firing, hopefully keeping the Mutant distracted long enough for the grenade to blow it up before it can fire.

[Randel]

At the chapel, the combined firepower of your team and the two frag grenades down the beast. The mutants howls in pain for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

"Never... stop us..." His minigun falls to the ground and slows to a stop. The entire wasteland seems unnaturally quiet after the roar of the minigun stops.

Now that its safe, Red spots Derek. "Derek?! Are you okay?" she heads to his side and looks him over before she spots a nearby medicine box and starts bandaging him up. "Anyone else hurt?" she asks as she takes care of Dereks wounded arm.

Shorty is still in shock while the prisoner lays on the ground, "Hello? Will somebody help me?" the hispanic girl asks.

Franky and John are both largly unhurt an Antonio has a bullet wound on his right arm that could use a bandage.



At the police station, Clark gives the matter of masonry some thought. "Not sure, boss. I would ask Tenpenny where he got his work... I hear he had to hire some people to spruce it up."

[Xsesiv]

Antonio grips his arm about the bullet hole as he goes into the chapel and unties the girl, before efficiently stripping the ammunition and grenades inside.

"So, you have a name?" he asks her, gripping his arm tighter and tighter, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his arm until Red has finished with Derek.

He eyes up the minigun and wonders whether it could be modified to fit over his massive frame.

[littlebottom]

"tenpenny tower? hmm, its a little way away just to ask that. ive got it, ive seen some bikes about the wastes, maybe we should fix one up and grab some fuel from an old gas station? think it will work? we might need to send messages and such about, a bike would make it quicker and you could outrun most things in the wastes."

[Randel]

"My name is Stella." the prisoner says as she gets to her feet. "Thank you so much, I thought I was dead."

Red finishes patching up Derek before she quickly heads to you and gets your arm patched up with some bandages and a stimpak. She removes the .32 bullet and sets it into an empty tin can on the desk along with the 5mm she took out of Derek.

The minigun meanwhile is perfectly sized for you to use if you desire, but it looks like its in bad condition and might break after less than a minute of use. There is about 500 rounds of 5mm bullets in it.



Back at Germantown police HQ, the building has been cleaned up and the good furniture is ready to use.

Clark and the others scratch their heads. "I don't think its possible to fix up those motorcycles or anything... they've been sitting out for centuries or something."

[Xsesiv]

Antonio picks up the minigun and slings it over himself. He decides to get it back to HQ where somebody can fix it up, before he uses it, so that it will not break down or explode in his face.

Having packed everything up, he calls everyone together, slings Derek, who's still in a bad way, over his shoulder, and walks on, towards Big Town.

"Stella, you know where you're going? Or you're coming with us?"

[littlebottom]

"yes, your proberbly right. in that case, we need to send a messenger to tenpenny tower at somepoint, and i dont think now is the best of times to do so. next on the agenda, is an office, for me."

Valentine looks about for a good stratigical position in the building in which to have his office, somewhere that could be easily defended from attackers by his guards.

[Randel]

Sorry
Sorry guys but I can't continue. This always happens with my games. I don't really have a plan for things further on in the story and real life is really getting in the way of me running this game even in the (fairly lame) degree that I'm doing already.

So, I apologize but it would probably be best for me to officially end this before it dies silently or something.