Worse Than the Disease 2 IC

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean does contact some other radio operators in the state. They are not too active in the evening but there has at least been plenty of time for gossip and news to be collected and checked for accuracy.

(OC: did you mark off the food and water consumed for today and yesterday? Sean can try a reaction roll.)

What does Sean wish to discuss? General regional events?

[u-b]

Sean asks the stations contacted that he's looking to investigate cross-border threats to inhabitants of Vermont. He probably does not get anything useful and tries to contact the stations further away. If any operator outside of the state is contacted, Sean wants to chat about the general life conditions of the parties on both ends of the comm:
1. Who they are (we are Radar Base Guys).
2. What's troubling them, if anything (we have a number of problems, of which organized Slavers/Raiders, unnatural mutated animals and potentially rogue Shelters are the most prominent at the moment).
3. Any major local powers (we mostly have regional gangs, but the Slavers and rogue shelters are potentially cross-border, also, we've heard of "The Sacred Snakes", but don't know who they are).
4. Anything they want to discuss.

Spoiler

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See HT38 sidebar and B38 about short-wave communications, if we have them. If not, the range to a medium TL8 radio with an extensive antenna would be up to 210 + N*10% miles by voice or 3..10 times that by code, where N would be the operator's margin of success. Less fancy stations would be more difficult to reach, but still posible when talking by code (most likely Morse for TL7 or less).

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean has no luck with the nearby radio stations, but the boosted signal out to the further operators yields results.

The radio men stationed out on the eastern border, in particular, report incidents of attacks by a paramilitary calling themselves "The Sacred Snakes." According to certain accounts, the invaders seem to answer to a single leader, a mysterious "Witch Queen." They think the invaders are coming from New York state.

Pushing further out, Sean contacts some radio operators living out there. They claim to have encountered The Sacred Snakes on the regular, as they are the top warlord's army in New York. While their leader is never seen or heard from, the army itself is quite active, running an extortion racket within New York and occasionally raiding across state borders. The Sacred Snakes are evil to the core, their crimes are extensive and diverse. Torture is one of their favorite past-times.

Mutants are not much of a problem in New York, although reports of combat robots gone amuck are common.

The biggest regional power in the state is The Union, a Shelter-based miniature nation based in New York City. It rarely extends its power beyond the islands, so it does not come to blows with The Sacred Snakes (who mostly claim the outer edges of the state as their turf) much. From time to time, The Sacred Snakes try to raid the NYC and get driven back by the city-dwellers.
The Sacred Snakes are the second biggest player.
Everyone else is a minor figure.

The radiomen in New York are curious about Vermont's Shelters. They heard that all of them had some kind of trouble or sabotage just as the Old World fell? Some act of treason or madness?

[u-b]

Sean explains that there indeed seem to have been both treason and sabotage of the local Shelters at about that time, but the details seem murky to those not involved in it. That said, we have Shelters still locked up complete with human population, Shelters opened up to establish some notable cities, Shelters plundered out with no one left alive... so this varies. Not every Shelter got successfully sabotaged, some of which maybe because they were on the other end of the deal. Shall Sean assume it went the better way around in New York? Sean thanks the operator for the information and asks if he can have the frequency and callsign of some outer relations and/or secutiry branch of The Union? Or actually, any major station of theirs that can be reached, Sean is not picky. Sean also roughly describes the local Gutter and asks if New York features something of the sort.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The New York radioman explains that the Shelter in NYC is very large by the standards of the project, of course. It opened up to the New World 30 years ago. Nothing particularly bad happened to it before or since (although it has come under (unsuccessful) attack more than once). No-one else he knows is aware first hand of any other Shelter, in New York state or any other.

The radioman can't really give out information about other operators without security measures. If Sean has encryption, that's mostly fine, but he warns him to be careful about what he says on the air. There are spies everywhere. He shares only a few contact frequencies that are publicly known and somewhat safe. The Union does not have many outposts outside of NYC.

There is The Gutter in New York. The parts of it under NYC are the most well-known and explored by far.

[u-b]

Sean records all the callsigns and frequencies, including those of the radio man he has just talked to, thanks the radio man again and says goodbye. He has no other plans for the rest of the night and goes to his room for a nap.

Assuming nothing untoward happens before the morning, Sean's plan would be to...
1. Tell Richard about the conversation with the man in New York.
2. Suggests that Richard investigates some or all of the following, at his option:
2.1 The prisoner.
2.2 The Sacred Snakes via Funny Platoon.
2.3 The Sacred Snakes and The Union via The Union (we maybe can do some business with the later, especially if they do import stuff from abroad). We have the encryption and can use either of the following ways at The Union's option:
2.3.1 Large radio station, voice mode, accessible to Waffle House men.
2.3.2 Medium radio station, text mode, accessible only to Richard and Sean (assuming The Union's radio station is Large).

Sean would sort through the gear and the vehicles for today's trip when Tariq would report that he's made an RPG-7 and two training round, which Sean would immediately test somewhere outside where no one is looking, bringing it there and back in a large frame backpack and picking up the fired training round for disposal where no one would find it.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The night passes by, peacefully.

DAY 88

(OC: mark off meals consumed, if necessary.)

The next morning is a flurry of activity as Sean makes preparations. He hustles up men to get everything ready, packing and checking the stuff needed for the task ahead.

Test-firing the RPG and grenade launcher goes off without a hitch, Sean figures out that the GL is made a bit too...crudely. The sights are quite off as a result. The barrel is also a bit wonky.

(OOC: the bug lowers the GL's Acc to 0.)

Richard has plenty of time to do what Sean tells him to do.

(OC: I believe an actual player is in charge of Richard? He's not a NPC? He may make rolls on his own if so.)

[u-b]

Sean is tentatively satisfied with the GL. He points at its deficiencies so that it can be later improved upon, but right now it is so much better than nothing that he admits being absolutely happy to have it... if only we've had some grenades to shoot. He discusses some options with Tariq and it is decided that the best thing for now would be a full-fledged thermobaric warhead. Tariq sets to make one and in less than half an hour comes back with four(!!!). Sean is absolutely impressed and, trusting the man's word about the quality of the explosives, does not bother to check. He asks if he could have some rocket halves too, in addition to the one that we have. An hour later Tariq comes back with one. Apparently, that's more tricky for him than doing the warheads, but Sean is satisfied enough and thanks the man for his service. Meanwhile, he assembles the men and the gear.

Spoiler

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Currently we have two types of militia, in addition to our veterans:
1. The original Winchester Model 92 / Mail Corselet militia. These are mostly self-governed and mostly do economic activities, being expected to defend themselves and the settlement if needed as they see fit, maybe following the Officer's orders and overall defense plans while at it.
2. Garand or AK-47 / Concealable Vest / Trauma Plate militia. These are under the Officer and are to do a substantial amount of military activities, including practice, guard guty and fortification. Up to full time, in fact.

The first kind can volunteer to be approved into the second kind. The second kind can volunteer to come with Sean for this one. Assuming there are no more than 15 of the second kind, how many volunteer?

I believe an actual player is in charge of Richard?

Yeah, I expect Volthawk is to follow or ignore these diplomancing suggestions as he sees fit.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Currently we have two types of militia, in addition to our veterans:
1. The original Winchester Model 92 / Mail Corselet militia. These are mostly self-governed and mostly do economic activities, being expected to defend themselves and the settlement if needed as they see fit, maybe following the Officer's orders and overall defense plans while at it.
2. Garand or AK-47 / Concealable Vest / Trauma Plate militia. These are under the Officer and are to do a substantial amount of military activities, including practice, guard guty and fortification. Up to full time, in fact.

The first kind can volunteer to be approved into the second kind. The second kind can volunteer to come with Sean for this one. Assuming there are no more than 15 of the second kind, how many volunteer?

(OOC: Sean, make a reaction roll for the militia, no other modifiers besides what he brings to it (his Reputation, for example, definitely applies here). That should decide how many volunteers.)

[Shoot Da Moon]

Everyone reacts well to Sean's rousing.

He can convince all of the militia to peel off from their regular duties and escort him to another big battle. It seems they're all really chomping at the bit to strike out and fight evil.

They line up with their equipment and discuss what Sean has planned.

[u-b]

Sean is very pleased with this level of support but has to tell the men that he'll need some of them to remain here, both to guard the base and to conserve the fuel. The team will depart in three cars: sedan, pickup and van. He would prefer if each car had two drivers, in case people get hurt. These will be Sean, Richard and four men from the militia, which Sean picks mainly on that basis. He then picks two more and thanks everyone who has applied.

Spoiler

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The team will be:
1. Sean
2. Richard
3. Bart (with shotgun and RPG-7 camouflaged in a backpack)
4. Dog x2
5. Veteran militia with M1 Garand x3 (carrying 20 grenades and crash kit for Sean to use)
6. New full-time militia with AK-47 x6

I've sorted through the doc and updated the gear allocations, including consumed food, but not fuel (I hope to be done with that in a week). I think both Sean and I are ready to leave, but we'll have to wait for Volthawk to resolve his part. The topics might arise in the conversations, so we better resolve that before meeting with the Troubleshooters.

@Volthawk: We have some HT227 truth serum, in case that is relevant.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The miltiamen get organised into teams. They talk excitedly among themselves about the action to come. Like it's all one big adventure.

(OC: Volthawk, post about your PC's actions.)

[u-b]

Richard decides not to drug the prisoner guy and asks the following questions over the course of three hours while Simone takes notes:
1. The guy's name, rank, role and place in his organization.
2. The guy's superior's name, rank, role and place in the organization.
3. The organization learer name, rank, age, attitude and personality (like a general, an executive, a spiritual leader, first among some equals or some such; fair or harsh; competent or incompetent).
4. The organization's name and age (how long since it has been established).
5. The organization's relationships with other organizations, each of them.
6. The organization's relationships with notable individuals, each of them.
7. Specifically, the organization's relationships with Bread Basket in general and with any factions or individuals therein.
8. The organization's base(s) of operation. Territories of control and/or interest.
9. The ultimate purpose of operating the facility where this guy has been taken. Meaning not to have "create things" for an answer, but more of "achieve outcome" sort of thing.
10. Any notable routes or places in The Gutter the guy is aware of.
11. His personal history of service in the organization, including rectuitment, training and individual missions.
12. The reason(s) he has joined the organization.
13. The reason(s) he is still loyal to the organization. Hm. Is he?
14. All the details he knows about all the Shelters he can name. ALL the details. About ALL the Shelters.
15. The same about all the shelters WE can name.
16. All that he knows about Bread Basket, Gunmetal and Red Brisk.
17. All that he knows about Vermont Rangers, Troubleshooters, Funny Platoon, The Ripcords, Radar Base Guys, Sacred Snakes, The Union.
18. Where and how he got that IFF tag? What it is valid for, where we can enter using it? Is it personalized? Will it be somehow revoked now that he's MIA?
...

Spoiler

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That is numbered 1 to 18, but some questions are extensive, so let's say the asked part will be spread over 36 individual "questions" of 5 minutes each, maybe repeating the most promising of those if the individual claims not to know. So, like, 36 secret rolls of Interrogation and 36 secret rolls of Detect Lies. Not sure if and when "lenghty interrogation" kicks in, but it will be a total of 3 hours for a start and will then continue depending on what questions are actually asked (maybe 3 hours are not enough to ask them all) and answers we've got.