Worse Than the Disease IC

[Shoot Da Moon]

The armor is available for the usual prices. Metal security measures are available...

(OC: As for the stuff in 2-4;
Metal wire fence 16-yards section, $140 and 20 lbs.
Tanglefoot wire 15-yard coil, $400 and 15 lbs.
Steel shutters with no holes for one window, $600 and 5 lbs.)

The Gunmetal Elders reject Sean's application for authorisation. While they do respect the exiles’ heroism, the threat is not advanced or dangerous enough to justify permitting the sale of Digital Age items to outsiders.

[u-b]

Sean makes the measurements of the shutters offered for sale, then asks Richard to text a message to the radar base, stating the shutters' parameters (width, height, thickness, if they are hardened or not, method of deploying them etc.) and asking if that would be good enough. Also, to inform the base that both the fence and the tanglefoot wire are available and to ask them to choose if the new fence would be inside or outside of the old fence and to measure the resulting perimeter.

Spoiler

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I think the understanding was that Richard would be our radio man. This is primarily because of the popularity of voice communications, which Richard seems to be good at. But since it's him who's learned how to use the radio, I think he'll have to do the texting too. We'll have all our communications with the base encrypted by default.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The base responds.
The shutters aren't "hardened" - they're not as good as fortified steel walls - but they are resilient enough to keep out plenty of intruders. They are good enough for the base.
The base that thinks the new fence should be in the inside of the old one. They measure the assumed perimeter as 75 yards long.

[u-b]

Through the evening, Sean works with Richard, Tariq and Gunmetal merchants on the transaction to buy the armor, the weapons and the steel stuff. The transaction is to consume a good deal of unused gear the party has at the moment and most of the rifle cartridges, but will get for that most of the things the party wants to buy.

Spoiler

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Proposed shopping list. The earplugs are technically TL7, but should not be problematic.

This leaves us low on liquid funds, but we can drive back to Gunmetal to liquidate the $48k sedan, so should not be that problematic.

[Shoot Da Moon]

(OC: shopping list approved, including the earplugs. You make the trade. What next?)

[u-b]

After completing the trade, Sean proposes to stay the night in Gunmetal and leave for radar base in the morning. Back at the base, everyone is to be busy doing things until it's time to drive to Red Brick to meet Chalmers' men at the agreed-upon date and time. Things to do at radar base:
1. Sean is to rest, letting the bruises heal before the operation.
2. Richard is to fiddle with hand-loading until he finds the best formula for each of our M14s.
3. Tariq is to make flashbangs and grenades for everyone. Proposing:
- 10 stun grenades for Milkor MGL
- 20 stun grenades for throwing
- 30 frag grenades for throwing (preferably TL7; 20 for the arsenal, 10 for the operation)
- maybe something else, at his option (mines etc.)
4. Waffle House men are to install the defenses

[GnomesofZurich2]

3. Tariq is to make flashbangs and grenades for everyone. Proposing:
- 10 stun grenades for Milkor MGL
- 20 stun grenades for throwing
- 30 frag grenades for throwing (preferably TL7; 20 for the arsenal, 10 for the operation)
- maybe something else, at his option (mines etc.)

Tariq throws himself into this work, spending hours feverishly throwing together parts and producing the occasional, ominous, small 'bang'. After close to 8 hours he emerges with almost a mix of almost 5 dozen stun and frag grenades, before heading back into his workspace to try to produce some stun grenades for his Milkor.

[Shoot Da Moon]

DAY 49

The exiles stay overnight in the hostels of Gunmetal’s outer camps. It costs them all a pistol bullet each. Tariq gets to work on the explosives all through the night. In the morning, they journey 40 miles to the radar base.
The work around the base starts immediately after the exiles arrive, the guards are busy the entire day installing the window shutters, the new fence and the tanglefoot wire.

(OC: $5 for each exile to stay at the Gunmetal hostel. Sean can only roll to recover HP if he does not drive, or work.)

[u-b]

The day Sean has driven the car to the base, he joins some of the activities. Namely, he helps to plan the defenses. Namely, the gates. Right now the main way to the base is blocked by a mine field and there is a section of the fence that is down to let the cars in and out. Sean proposes to repair the fence as part of fence-improvement process, clear the mine field (probably, Tariq can spend some time on it after he's done with grenades), and have double steel gates to let the cars in and out. He does not plan to be out for long, so having no minefield for the moment is fine for him if everyone agrees. He'll ask some enginier (Tariq?) to esimate the mass and the cost of bars, pipes and stuff needed to make two steel gates. And maybe plan for steel spikes on plates in between of the getes, or couls of concretina wire on a semi-mobile stand... in either cast, that thing is to be removable by dragging it away in the inner direction only (because of chains to the poles) to let the cars out and in.

After all this is planned, Sean helps Richard evaluate the prospective loads for the guns, of which he presumably has made a few by this time. After that, Sean plans to just rest a few days.

Spoiler

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Food and pistol bullets marked down.

[GnomesofZurich2]

The day Sean has driven the car to the base, he joins some of the activities. Namely, he helps to plan the defenses. Namely, the gates. Right now the main way to the base is blocked by a mine field and there is a section of the fence that is down to let the cars in and out. Sean proposes to repair the fence as part of fence-improvement process, clear the mine field (probably, Tariq can spend some time on it after he's done with grenades), and have double steel gates to let the cars in and out. He does not plan to be out for long, so having no minefield for the moment is fine for him if everyone agrees. He'll ask some enginier (Tariq?) to esimate the mass and the cost of bars, pipes and stuff needed to make two steel gates. And maybe plan for steel spikes on plates in between of the getes, or couls of concretina wire on a semi-mobile stand... in either cast, that thing is to be removable by dragging it away in the inner direction only (because of chains to the poles) to let the cars out and in.

I'm not sure if this works, but Tariq has Engineer (Combat) as a default from his Demolitions skill, so I rolled against that to estimate what is needed for the gates; success by 4.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Richard spends the day with the rifle bullets as Tariq figures out to set up the steel gates Sean wants. It would be a relatively simple modification of the fence sections they already have. It would simply take time with the tools in their garage and workshop...

(OC: Tariq needs no more rolls.)

Sean gets some rest when he can...

(OC: anything else for the day?)

[Shoot Da Moon]

DAY 50
(OC: Mark off the food eaten by everyone for day 49.)

The morning comes after a good night's rest, and the radar base is secure. Not a bit of snow is anywhere to be seen around the base or the roads outside. Green dewy grass and singing birds add to the scenic Arcadia of the new day.

[u-b]

The next day after he has tested and chosen the exact versions of cartridge loading for Richard to produce, Sean just presses the bunk.

Spoiler

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Food spent.

[Volthawk]

While Sean rests and Tariq gets to work on the base, Richard spends his day in the workshop, making the new match-loaded bullets. It goes pretty well, he thinks, and by the end of the day he has a few magazines worth of new bullets.

[u-b]

When Richard is done with the bullets, Sean suggests hitting the base's main radio and asking the Funny Platoon if they would provide a list of questions they have for the tattooed slavers. That is, we have some of the guys and might as well use them.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The intelligence officers at Gunmetal are mostly concerned with any plans for attacks or infiltration of their city.

Do the prisoners know of any spies in Gunmetal, or any raiders planning to attack them?
Otherwise, they want to know who is in charge of the raiders (as high on the chain of command as possible), and where they can be found.

The prisoners, however, will not just give up any more information without pressure...

[Shoot Da Moon]

Under Richard's stern questioning, the captured men slip the beans.

They themselves do not know about spies personally, but they do know there are multiple spies in place around Vermont, including within Red Bricks and the shanty town outside Gunmetal. The spy rings are managed by Captains, who have an outpost hidden somewhere in Vermont - the men do not know where the outpost is. The Captains pass down their collected intel to other raiders as needed. A gang boss would probably know more.

The "General", the boss of bosses, is an even more obscure figure. They know nothing about him, except that all Captains get their orders from his direct subordinates, the Adjuncts.

[Volthawk]

Happy with what he'd gotten, Richard gets back on the radio and relays his new findings, along with the things the exiles had already found out that seemed relevant - mainly, the way that the raiders' tattoos seemed to correlate with rank and position (particularly pointing out the man with the dead man's hand they found in the slaver camp raid, and Richard's feeling that it denoted some kind of different position to the slavers with their snake-eyes tattoos, and how different bands of raiders have had different tattoos, perhaps representing different units) and the results of the slaver interrogations (the slavers' general modus operandi and the existence of the northwestern work camp). He also tells them that he may have more for them soon - they're going to hit more raiders soon, and if they're lucky they can get hold of a higher-rank prisoner or something in the way of orders and the like that might give them a further lead. For now, though, all he could really give them past his theories was the confirmation that they did have a spy problem, that there was a chain of command to the raiders they could work their way up (they just have to start low down, as the enemy was pretty good at controlling who knew what), and that if Gunmetal ever decided the time was right to go on the offensive, the exiles could provide them with information on where to strike.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Tariq spends the day creating more explosives and then checks the minefield. He finds the buried land mines are still intact and functional.

Sean stays in bed, licking his wounds.
(OC: Sean, roll to recover HP.)

DAY 51
(OC: Meals for Day 50 have been consumed.)

The radar base wakes up to another quiet morning.

[u-b]

Sean continues to abstain from any strenuous activity, observing through the window how base defenses are being upgraded and downgraded and generally doing nothing much.

Spoiler

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Food spent. For the record, we are complementing rations with coffee (just because we can) and now also with vitamin pills (to alleviate the problems of meat-only diet).
Healing on days 50 and 51: Sean will be all right by next morning.

[GnomesofZurich2]

Tariq is going to disarm the minefield.

Spoiler

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Do I need more than one roll? The one roll I have made was a critical success.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Tariq dismantles the bombs safely and quickly. He is done without incident in half the time he would've usually needed.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Richard pitches in around the base, helping the guards and radio techs with their daily work.

(OC: mark off meals you've all eaten.)
DAY 52

The next day is much like the last...

[u-b]

Early morning Sean takes his rifle and goes outside to look for some fresh tracks, animal or otherwise. He expects he might bring back some fresh food.

[Shoot Da Moon]

After one hour of patrolling the wilderness, Sean comes after across a wild horse. It has not seen him yet, it is grazing on fresh grass that has grown back after the end of winter.

(OC: the horse is SM+2.)

[u-b]

Sean stops, aims at the heart, then shoots straight where he was aiming. He expects one bullet through the heart should be enough, but resumes aiming just in case. After the horse is down, Sean intends to go back to the base, choosing a route that could be taken by a pickup truck, then take said truck, a few men, and haul the horse where it can be conveniently processed.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The bullet easily cuts through the horse's heart, knocking it down and out instantly.
Sean mercy kills the severely wounded unconscious animal.
The horse weighs 2000 pounds. A huge amount of meat, if it can be transported back to base and the dinner plates...

It takes another 30 minutes of work to get the equine carcass when Sean wants it, but it is worth the effort.
Now to cut the meat...

[u-b]

Sean asks everyone not otherwise involved in construction or everyday operation of the base to join him, help butcher the horse and make jerky off those parts we won't eat right away. In the evening he checks the progress with the fence and the gates. He inquires whether the materials brought are enough or something else will be needed. If the materials seem to be enough, next question is when the builders expect to be finished.

Spoiler

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Okay, that will take 20 man-hours just to butcher, plus whatever handling is necessary to make jerky out of it. I guess it takes a good deal of the time before departure. Meanwhile, we'll eat fresh horse steaks for a change. By my calculations we should depart early morning on day 55. Day 52 and day 53 will be the days of the dead horse. We'll see how it goes after that.

Is Bart at full health and ready for action? If so, he's to help Sean deal with the horse. If not, we'll let him continue resting and Sean will be rolling some medical checks.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Butchering the horse requires men working together in the base kitchen. They'll be taking shifts and cleaning the blood off themselves for a good long while.

Sean finds the fences and gates are being set up well. The men think only a few hours tomorrow will finish the jobs. The materials are enough to suit their needs.

Bart the hunter is healthy and rested. He helps out in the kitchen, having already set up a smokehouse on the base grounds.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Tariq and Richard put their backs into their living for the day. When night falls, they have a warm dinner table to come in to before bed.

DAY 53

The exiles wake up the next day at the radar base to the sound of birds singing outside.