Our campaign features, as protagonists:
Romeo Coltrane, Nomad Hauler
Mason Dixon, Tribal Scavenger
Sanguine Fox, Remnant Outrider
Nell Dorado, Mutant Nomad Raider
Romeo's medium truck, Titan (off-road capable, ram, roll cage, solid tires, forward pivot-mount medium mg)
Sanguine's dual-sports bike, Rebel (off-road capable, solid tires, forward fixed-mount mg)
Nell's dual-sports bike, Bandit (off-road capable, solid tires, forward fixed-mount mg)
Episode I: The Expedition
Intro:
The PC's are all members of some standing with a mid-sized 'Steader community, consisting of nearly a dozen families and housed in a large fortified commune. As the harvest is coming in and preparations have to be made for transporting it out to the local bartertowns soon, the 'Steader leaders have tapped the PC's for a job that's come to their attention. A Lore Keeper from Scrap, the nearest bartertown, will hire them on as escorts for an expedition out to some small ruins he's discovered. The 'Steader community will then use the offered percentage of salvage recovered to finance preparations for moving the grain harvest to town. The PC's load up and head out to a small trading post located between the 'Steader commune and Scrap, to meet him there and begin the expedition.
Act I, Scene I: The Requisite Brawl at the Local Tavern (Trading Post).
They arrive, meeting no difficulty along the way, and consult with the Lore Keeper, Slack Anderson, and his assistant, Stubby Jims, regarding provisions. Delighted that the PC's already seem to have everything on his list (Geiger counters, gas masks and a nice cargo truck especially), Anderson gives them two pounds of homegrown tobacco and a dozen rifle rounds to trade for rations in the trading post. Mason and Nell have the best Appeal/Persuasion combo so they head in to do the dealing. The initial suspicious side-glance from the purveyor at Nell indicates muties aren't very popular around here though, so she breaks off and heads back out with the others, leaving Mason to do the dealing.
Mason wrangles with the trading post purveyor and gets badly spanked in the haggling session. He secures only enough food and rations for a group of six for one week. Their employer quickly loses his positive attitude and is more than a little put out with the PC's over that. He's forced to dig a little deeper into his pockets and go haggle up a few more days food, as he wants to be properly prepared for an extended expedition should it come to that.
After a long wait, just long enough for the PC's to start worrying, Anderson reappears with a small group of dubious looking folk haphazardly carting his purchases out to Romeo's truck, "Titan". When the PC's attempt to take the supplies in hand and load them up themselves, they're rudely rebuffed by the group, who claim to have been hired on by Anderson as assistants. A quick look at Anderson shows that he's none too comfortable with the situation and the PC's intuit that these guys have horned their way in, probably bullying the Lore Keeper to hire them on. The way they're tossing the supplies about and crawling all over the Titan doesn't sit well with any of the PC's, so they argue with Anderson that the extra help isn't necessary and doesn't appear to be all that reliable anyway.
The ragtag "assistants" respond aggressively, one of them getting right into Romeo's face in the attempt to Intimidate him. Rather than escalate things unnecessarily the other PC's hang back to let Romeo put that guy in his place, though they make themselves ready to intervene if the others start jumping in.
Romeo takes a swing at the jerk confronting him. Since we're jumping into combat, Romeo hasn't exactly got surprise but I rule that the loudmouth is running his trap for his action during that first round anyway. He can start swinging freely next round and there's nothing stopping the other two from jumping right in. So Romeo socks the loudmouth right in the kisser then.
The other PC's jump in verbally, warning the others not to interfere or else. They all Wait to act, should the others decide to, and almost immediately one of the other wannabe's pulls a knife and goes after Romeo. Since the PC's are Waiting they get to intervene first, so Mason whips out his hatchet and jumps the guy. With a single swing he whacks the guy hard enough to drop him right off. A whopping 4 successes, resulting in some pretty awful carnage. Seeing that, the third loudmouth wisely stays out of the fight and backs up a step or two instead.
Coming around to Romeo's initiative again, he gets another shot at the guy in his face. The two exchange blows, both getting successes and both dodging. The remaining "assistant" calls his buddy off as soon as his Initiative point comes around and the guy backs off, after only a little more bluster. Rubbing his jaw and glaring, he and the other man gather their fallen comrade and make themselves scarce.
Slack Anderson is greatly relieved and praises the PC's for their intervention, then decides they should all hurry with loading up and hit the road before there's any other trouble. The PC's get to work packing everything away, running preventive maintenance on their vehicles and hashing out how to position themselves on the road for the run.
Act I, Scene II: It's A Trap!
Less than five miles out the PC's spot what appears to be a lightly smoking buggy resting half off the road, with the driver and rear passenger slumped over dead inside. Spotting the light MG in the back, the PC's decide they're not going to pass up the opportunity to loot. After checking for survivors, of course.
Romeo and Mason roll Senses/Notice check, coming on the scene first, and fail to spot the second buggy camouflaged just off the road nor the two snipers positioned there. They roll to a stop, Romeo preparing to exit the vehicle and check the scene out first hand while Mason covers him with the MG. When Sanguine and Nell roll up a moment later they both notice the second buggy, but not the snipers inside.
Sanguine continues forward, coming to Mason's side of the truck to point out the second buggy hidden on the far side to the boys. Nell stays in the rear, her cycle trained on the second buggy in case the threat there manifests itself. This gives both snipers enough time to Aim up 2 extra dice for a shot at Romeo inside the truck. The snipers have surprise and attack, with the Raider Boss missing with his rifle shot due to the Major Cover Romeo has from the truck. The second sniper scores a total of 4 successes though, reduced to 2 from the cover, so Romeo's hit for a solid 16L from the Light Crossbow shot, leaving him down and dying right off.
Mason immediately swings the truck's medium MG over to the second buggy and sprays the two snipers. With the camouflage they enjoy this makes the difficulty Extreme, reducing the success to 1 for each of them. Neither dodge successfully and both are hit for 12L.
Sanguine guns her cycle forward quickly to come out from behind the truck to fire at them at the raiders. She spends 2 Fortune to perform two actions, spraying the two snipers with her cycle's MG as soon as she comes about. She also scores a total of 2 successes after all the variables which the two snipers again fail to dodge, dropping 10L on them both and knocking them both out of the fight. Nell cuts loose as well, having already positioned herself for the shot. She rolls and expends ammo, unaware the two are already dead.
The raider driving the supposedly wrecked buggy raises up then to fire a shot at Sanguine, who's right in front of him now. He scores a success which Sanguine easily dodges. The man on the MG is the twitchy sort and fires off a round of autofire at the Titan at the same time, which glances off the armored truck harmlessly. (He could have, should have, fired at Sanguine but I'd already knocked Romeo out and a burst at close range from the raider's MG...well, that woulda hurt pretty bad. So I cut 'em some slack.)
Mason fires a single round of autofire at the driver ahead, dropping him instantly. Rather than spraying and autofiring all over the place, wasting more ammo, Sanguine and Nell decide to concentrate single shots on the machine gunner and they drop him in turn.
With a "whoops!" the PC's then realize Romeo is still down and dying, already two rounds into the five he has before he kicks the bucket. No one but Romeo has any Heal skill at all in the group, so Mason takes a shot at it, relying solely on his Understanding, while inquiring if Anderson and his assistant can help. Surprisingly Mason lands the success anyway and stabilizes Romeo, rendering the point moot, but they do learn that both of the NPC's have a fair Heal skill and the assistant even has some gear with which to provide medical treatment.
After looting the raiders (and discover the two snipers are none other than the two loudmouths from back at the trading post) the PC's roll Nell's cycle, Bandit, up into the back of the truck so she can drive while Mason mans the MG. They take the time to drag the two buggies off the road and do their best to camouflage them so that they can hopefully come back and claim them later before anyone else does. Continuing on, they plan to let Romeo heal up in earnest once they reach the ruin and set up camp. For now, the Lore Keeper's assistant goes ahead and administers medical treatment for the day while they're on the move, recovering 2 Health for him right away. Romeo is now awake and functional, though suffering an increase of one Difficulty on actions from the grievous wound.
Act II, Scene I: The Village of Honest, Friendly Tribals
Arriving at the outskirts of the ruin, Anderson points out the small village nearby where he first learned of the place. The ruins themselves are hidden in the woods beyond and his intention is to set up camp in the village, as he claims to have developed something of a rapport with the Tribals there.
The PC's agree and argue for delaying the actual expedition a few days to allow Romeo to recover. Anderson is eager to get on with the expedition though and insists on moving ahead. The PC's decide to give Nell and Mason a shot at double-teaming him and Persuading him to delay for at least a couple of days. Anderson's assistant surprises them by pitching in and supporting his employer, resulting in both Nell and Anderson getting the same boost on their competing roll. Anderson and Stubby win the argument handily and the PC's feel they've no choice but to go along with it.
The PC's unload Sanguine's cycle, so that the girls can ride in and make use of the Light MG's both cycles sport. They gather their gear, sharing Romeo's load between them, and head into the woods. Titan is left in the village with the Tribals after Romeo assures himself (as much as he's able) that they won't mess with it. This after Mason made a bargain with the village chief to watch over the truck in exchange for a set of fancy dinner plates and two thermometers, as well as the clothing, bludgeons and knives they got from the raiders earlier that day. All of which the chief eagerly agreed to (he really liked those dinner plates).
Act II, Scene II: Mutant Doggies!
The PC's realized the drawback of having two of their members riding through the woods on cycles when all the noise attracts a pack of four mutant dogs to start stalking them almost right away. Mason spots them moving in behind them before anyone else does and warns the rest before they can get into position to surprise attack. With the trees between the two groups providing light cover and thus the greater chance of wasting ammo, Sanguine and Nell decide to vault off their cycles and stand with the rest of the group using melee weapons to hold the dogs off when they close in.
Having Initiative over the pack, the group positions Anderson and Stubby Jims behind them and Wait for the dogs to move in. The dogs can sense Romeo is badly injured and focus on him, being of a mind to take down or maim one of the party in order to take them out later when they lag behind. (The dogs all possessed Hypermobile and Toxic Saliva mutations, with Color Blind and Fragile flaws.)
When the first dog moves in after Romeo, he swings with his chainsaw (not wanting to cut the dogs any slack, considering his condition). His injuries prevent him from landing the blow he was aiming for but Mason drops the dog with 3 successes with his hatchet, resulting in another particularly nasty splat by him (especially bearing in mind the poor doggy's mere 5 Health). Sanguine likewise drops the second dog with her samurai sword and Nell drops the third with a knife. As that leaves the last mutant dog unopposed against Romeo, he crossed his fingers and dodged, managing to pull it off without even having to drop any Fortune points. Coming around to round two, Romeo and Mason both missed the last dog but Sanguine dropped it before it could try for Romeo again.
Act III, Scene I: A Gruesome Omen.
Arriving at the two block area of open street, with relatively undamaged buildings scattered about, the PC's are confronted with the rotting corpse of a man in the middle of the street. Apparently put on display, tied to an odd framework of branches fashioned to position him upright in full view, Mason immediately recognizes the man's been placed there as a warning, probably by local Tribals. Anderson claims to be unaware of any other Tribals operating in the area and the one's they just left back at the village didn't seem opposed to their scavenging here, so he's at a bit of a loss to explain. The PC's start worrying about the Tribals they left behind them, especially considering they left Romeo's truck with them.
Distracted by the grisly sight, only Nell makes the Difficulty 2 Senses/Notice roll to spot the trio of Airmen circling about in the sky above. Watching them for a minute they don't see any immediate signs of aggression but the three are obviously watching them. Examining the body they don't find anything of interest, beyond confirming he isn't a Tribal himself and is most likely a Scavenger, considering how he's dressed. The PC's decide to move on and set up camp somewhere easy to defend, what with the two vague threats they're already confronted with.
Act III, Scene II: Trogs in the Dark.
Scouting around for a nice, defensible place to camp, Sanguine and Nell both spot someone or something moving around out on the periphery, though they don't get a clear view of who or what exactly. The group is wisely paranoid and dashes for the nearest building that looks relatively secure to take cover.
When nothing immediately attacks, Nell keeps an eye out while Sanguine uses Teamwork to help Romeo set up some minor fortifications, using materials Mason Scavenges up for them around the house. The two NPC's pitch in as best they can but are largely limited to just setting up camp. When night falls they've done all they can do and decide to rest until morning, taking turns keeping watch before they start scavenging in earnest when the sun comes up.
In the middle of the night Nell fails her Senses/Notice roll and the Trogs have moved in to attack in force before she realizes they're there. Four hit the front door and break it down, while three more hammer unsuccessfully at the back. Four more are at the windows, firing arrows through the chinks in the boards covering them, though the poor visibility they're suffering from doesn't allow them to actually hit anything.
Romeo, like the others, is resting with his favored weapon at hand so he's up after the surprise round to fire a spray from his assault rifle at the Trogs coming through the door. He badly injures the lot of them, dropping one of them dead. Mason follows up, doing the same and firing a spray at the Trogs in the door, killing the other three before they can take another step. Sanguine fires a shot out the window near her but misses the Trog she aiming for, followed by Nell taking her cue from the boys and firing a spray out the window she's covering. She hits both the Trogs out there, killing one of them outright.
In the second round the Trogs at the window fire back, missing everyone again, while the Trogs at the back door finally burst through. Romeo takes Major Cover at the corner of the room and the hallway to Wait for the first Trog back there to appear. Mason heads over to the window Nell is at and takes a shot at the Trog she wounded before, hitting and dropping it with a single shot. Sanguine tries again at the window and manages to hit one of the two Trogs out there, wounding it, so Nell steps right over to help her and drops it with a single shot.
The last remaining Trog at the window bugs out, what with all his fellows around him dropping like flies. The Trogs at the back door have no idea things have gone so badly up front, so they race down through the kitchen and into the hall, screaming and flailing about with various vicious-type melee weapons. But that brings them right into Romeo's line of fire. In the third round Romeo fires another spray down the hall at the three Trogs appearing there, killing two and badly injuring the other. Mason steps over and lets him have it with another single shot over Romeo's shoulder, dropping the last Trog dead.
With the combat apparently over the PC's loot the corpses, two standing guard of the other two while they do so. They're just gathering the loot from the Trogs outside together to head back inside when they hear a commotion and screaming from within the house. Dashing in they find the assistant wielding a baseball bat, staring in horror at the door to the cellar. In moments he's frantically informed them that more Trogs appeared from there to snatch Slack Anderson away. The PC's waste no time dashing down the stairs in pursuit.
Act IV, Scene I: Slack-nappers.
PC's attempt to catch up with the Trogs running down the stairs, through the basement and down the narrow tunnel they find there. Despite Slack slowing the Trogs down, they're unable to catch up before they disappear where the tunnel opens up and branches off in several directions. The PC's then backtrack and regroup, grabbing flashlights and gear for a protracted search. They hit the tunnels again quickly, with everyone pitching in to help Nell track the Trogs through the tunnels (and Stubby tagging along worriedly behind them). She manages it easily with all the help and eventually leads the PC's down the path to the large, open cave where the Trogs took Slack. Sneaking up unnoticed, they can spy at least a dozen Trogs gathered around him, poking him with sticks and laughing sadistically at his terror.
Rather than take advantage of being detected (in order to listen in and learn about the Big Nasty they're going to be up against in a moment) the PC's decide they're right good and irritated at these Trogs. So they go on the offensive right away, aiming to take them my surprise. They each stride through the opening, down into the cave with the Trogs, opening fire. Romeo, Mason and Nell all fire sprays at the patches of Trogs that won't put Slack in danger of getting hit and Sanguine fires on the one closest to him, spending a Fortune point for an extra success. They manage to kill more than half the Trogs in the cave, with most of the others badly injured. Most of those are cut down in the second round, with the PC's taking Initiative over all of them but the Chief Trog. He runs off completely uninjured to slink through a narrow crack in the cave wall. Only three other Trogs make it out alive, fleeing the terrifying, gun wielding maniacs that appeared out of nowhere the moment they get Initiative to do so.
With Slack in hand the PC's turn him over to Stubby and set about clearing the rest of the caves, especially having realized no one took a shot at the big, heavily adorned Trog who was obviously someone of importance. They find there aren't any other Trogs in the short cave complex (most having squeezed into the mini-tunnels in the walls and escaped to the surface). They do find the outer cave where the Giant Mutant Tiger is being kept, in time to see the Chief Trog let it loose and dive into a mini-tunnel in the wall. They only discovered later on that the Trogs were worshipping the thing and feeding it sacrifices and all that jazz. For now they didn't bother looking around and ran back to Slack and Stubby to get them moving in a "the hell out of here" direction instead.
In no time the Giant Mutant Tiger's practically on the top of the PC's, giving them just enough time to get their employer and his assistant into the smaller tunnel where it can't get at them. But, since that leaves them wide open, they turn to take the critter head on. Romeo fires a burst right at the Tiger, almost dropping it despite its Armored mutation. Mason follows up with a single shot that puts it down before it can sink it's claws into anyone.
Act IV, Scene II: Scavenging
The PC's spend a while poking around for loot and gather only a few odds and ends before heading back down the tunnel to the house they left earlier. Mindful that there are crazy Trogs still unaccounted running around the place they start scouting the ruins as a group, picking up anything remotely valuable from the scattered buildings as they go. As they prepare to leave the area and hike back to the village with their loot, the PC's spot the Airmen up in the sky above again. Since they don't appear to be a threat they head back through the woods and arrive at the village without any further trouble.
There Mason makes good on his deal with the Tribal Chief, turning over the agreed upon loot for having taken care of the Titan. They load up the loot they've scavenged and prepared to head back for more (having still a little room in the truck where they might shove a few things). Turning back they notice the Airmen angling in to land in the woods, presumably in the ruins they just left.
Slack Anderson decides he's had enough excitement for now and opts not to head back in, even with the PC's encouraging him to do so. He's sure the Airmen will put up a fight if they return and he's had quite enough of that. Shrugging, the PC's agree, load up and head out back down the road to drop their employers off in Scrap and divvy up the loot there.
Unfortunately they find on the way that their hasty attempt at camouflage earlier has failed and someone's already made off with the two raider buggies they tried to stash. Still, they've got a respectable amount of loot all told and are quite happy with themselves.
Romeo Coltrane, Nomad Hauler
Mason Dixon, Tribal Scavenger
Sanguine Fox, Remnant Outrider
Nell Dorado, Mutant Nomad Raider
Romeo's medium truck, Titan (off-road capable, ram, roll cage, solid tires, forward pivot-mount medium mg)
Sanguine's dual-sports bike, Rebel (off-road capable, solid tires, forward fixed-mount mg)
Nell's dual-sports bike, Bandit (off-road capable, solid tires, forward fixed-mount mg)
Episode I: The Expedition
Intro:
The PC's are all members of some standing with a mid-sized 'Steader community, consisting of nearly a dozen families and housed in a large fortified commune. As the harvest is coming in and preparations have to be made for transporting it out to the local bartertowns soon, the 'Steader leaders have tapped the PC's for a job that's come to their attention. A Lore Keeper from Scrap, the nearest bartertown, will hire them on as escorts for an expedition out to some small ruins he's discovered. The 'Steader community will then use the offered percentage of salvage recovered to finance preparations for moving the grain harvest to town. The PC's load up and head out to a small trading post located between the 'Steader commune and Scrap, to meet him there and begin the expedition.
Act I, Scene I: The Requisite Brawl at the Local Tavern (Trading Post).
They arrive, meeting no difficulty along the way, and consult with the Lore Keeper, Slack Anderson, and his assistant, Stubby Jims, regarding provisions. Delighted that the PC's already seem to have everything on his list (Geiger counters, gas masks and a nice cargo truck especially), Anderson gives them two pounds of homegrown tobacco and a dozen rifle rounds to trade for rations in the trading post. Mason and Nell have the best Appeal/Persuasion combo so they head in to do the dealing. The initial suspicious side-glance from the purveyor at Nell indicates muties aren't very popular around here though, so she breaks off and heads back out with the others, leaving Mason to do the dealing.
Mason wrangles with the trading post purveyor and gets badly spanked in the haggling session. He secures only enough food and rations for a group of six for one week. Their employer quickly loses his positive attitude and is more than a little put out with the PC's over that. He's forced to dig a little deeper into his pockets and go haggle up a few more days food, as he wants to be properly prepared for an extended expedition should it come to that.
After a long wait, just long enough for the PC's to start worrying, Anderson reappears with a small group of dubious looking folk haphazardly carting his purchases out to Romeo's truck, "Titan". When the PC's attempt to take the supplies in hand and load them up themselves, they're rudely rebuffed by the group, who claim to have been hired on by Anderson as assistants. A quick look at Anderson shows that he's none too comfortable with the situation and the PC's intuit that these guys have horned their way in, probably bullying the Lore Keeper to hire them on. The way they're tossing the supplies about and crawling all over the Titan doesn't sit well with any of the PC's, so they argue with Anderson that the extra help isn't necessary and doesn't appear to be all that reliable anyway.
The ragtag "assistants" respond aggressively, one of them getting right into Romeo's face in the attempt to Intimidate him. Rather than escalate things unnecessarily the other PC's hang back to let Romeo put that guy in his place, though they make themselves ready to intervene if the others start jumping in.
Romeo takes a swing at the jerk confronting him. Since we're jumping into combat, Romeo hasn't exactly got surprise but I rule that the loudmouth is running his trap for his action during that first round anyway. He can start swinging freely next round and there's nothing stopping the other two from jumping right in. So Romeo socks the loudmouth right in the kisser then.
The other PC's jump in verbally, warning the others not to interfere or else. They all Wait to act, should the others decide to, and almost immediately one of the other wannabe's pulls a knife and goes after Romeo. Since the PC's are Waiting they get to intervene first, so Mason whips out his hatchet and jumps the guy. With a single swing he whacks the guy hard enough to drop him right off. A whopping 4 successes, resulting in some pretty awful carnage. Seeing that, the third loudmouth wisely stays out of the fight and backs up a step or two instead.
Coming around to Romeo's initiative again, he gets another shot at the guy in his face. The two exchange blows, both getting successes and both dodging. The remaining "assistant" calls his buddy off as soon as his Initiative point comes around and the guy backs off, after only a little more bluster. Rubbing his jaw and glaring, he and the other man gather their fallen comrade and make themselves scarce.
Slack Anderson is greatly relieved and praises the PC's for their intervention, then decides they should all hurry with loading up and hit the road before there's any other trouble. The PC's get to work packing everything away, running preventive maintenance on their vehicles and hashing out how to position themselves on the road for the run.
Act I, Scene II: It's A Trap!
Less than five miles out the PC's spot what appears to be a lightly smoking buggy resting half off the road, with the driver and rear passenger slumped over dead inside. Spotting the light MG in the back, the PC's decide they're not going to pass up the opportunity to loot. After checking for survivors, of course.
Romeo and Mason roll Senses/Notice check, coming on the scene first, and fail to spot the second buggy camouflaged just off the road nor the two snipers positioned there. They roll to a stop, Romeo preparing to exit the vehicle and check the scene out first hand while Mason covers him with the MG. When Sanguine and Nell roll up a moment later they both notice the second buggy, but not the snipers inside.
Sanguine continues forward, coming to Mason's side of the truck to point out the second buggy hidden on the far side to the boys. Nell stays in the rear, her cycle trained on the second buggy in case the threat there manifests itself. This gives both snipers enough time to Aim up 2 extra dice for a shot at Romeo inside the truck. The snipers have surprise and attack, with the Raider Boss missing with his rifle shot due to the Major Cover Romeo has from the truck. The second sniper scores a total of 4 successes though, reduced to 2 from the cover, so Romeo's hit for a solid 16L from the Light Crossbow shot, leaving him down and dying right off.
Mason immediately swings the truck's medium MG over to the second buggy and sprays the two snipers. With the camouflage they enjoy this makes the difficulty Extreme, reducing the success to 1 for each of them. Neither dodge successfully and both are hit for 12L.
Sanguine guns her cycle forward quickly to come out from behind the truck to fire at them at the raiders. She spends 2 Fortune to perform two actions, spraying the two snipers with her cycle's MG as soon as she comes about. She also scores a total of 2 successes after all the variables which the two snipers again fail to dodge, dropping 10L on them both and knocking them both out of the fight. Nell cuts loose as well, having already positioned herself for the shot. She rolls and expends ammo, unaware the two are already dead.
The raider driving the supposedly wrecked buggy raises up then to fire a shot at Sanguine, who's right in front of him now. He scores a success which Sanguine easily dodges. The man on the MG is the twitchy sort and fires off a round of autofire at the Titan at the same time, which glances off the armored truck harmlessly. (He could have, should have, fired at Sanguine but I'd already knocked Romeo out and a burst at close range from the raider's MG...well, that woulda hurt pretty bad. So I cut 'em some slack.)
Mason fires a single round of autofire at the driver ahead, dropping him instantly. Rather than spraying and autofiring all over the place, wasting more ammo, Sanguine and Nell decide to concentrate single shots on the machine gunner and they drop him in turn.
With a "whoops!" the PC's then realize Romeo is still down and dying, already two rounds into the five he has before he kicks the bucket. No one but Romeo has any Heal skill at all in the group, so Mason takes a shot at it, relying solely on his Understanding, while inquiring if Anderson and his assistant can help. Surprisingly Mason lands the success anyway and stabilizes Romeo, rendering the point moot, but they do learn that both of the NPC's have a fair Heal skill and the assistant even has some gear with which to provide medical treatment.
After looting the raiders (and discover the two snipers are none other than the two loudmouths from back at the trading post) the PC's roll Nell's cycle, Bandit, up into the back of the truck so she can drive while Mason mans the MG. They take the time to drag the two buggies off the road and do their best to camouflage them so that they can hopefully come back and claim them later before anyone else does. Continuing on, they plan to let Romeo heal up in earnest once they reach the ruin and set up camp. For now, the Lore Keeper's assistant goes ahead and administers medical treatment for the day while they're on the move, recovering 2 Health for him right away. Romeo is now awake and functional, though suffering an increase of one Difficulty on actions from the grievous wound.
Act II, Scene I: The Village of Honest, Friendly Tribals
Arriving at the outskirts of the ruin, Anderson points out the small village nearby where he first learned of the place. The ruins themselves are hidden in the woods beyond and his intention is to set up camp in the village, as he claims to have developed something of a rapport with the Tribals there.
The PC's agree and argue for delaying the actual expedition a few days to allow Romeo to recover. Anderson is eager to get on with the expedition though and insists on moving ahead. The PC's decide to give Nell and Mason a shot at double-teaming him and Persuading him to delay for at least a couple of days. Anderson's assistant surprises them by pitching in and supporting his employer, resulting in both Nell and Anderson getting the same boost on their competing roll. Anderson and Stubby win the argument handily and the PC's feel they've no choice but to go along with it.
The PC's unload Sanguine's cycle, so that the girls can ride in and make use of the Light MG's both cycles sport. They gather their gear, sharing Romeo's load between them, and head into the woods. Titan is left in the village with the Tribals after Romeo assures himself (as much as he's able) that they won't mess with it. This after Mason made a bargain with the village chief to watch over the truck in exchange for a set of fancy dinner plates and two thermometers, as well as the clothing, bludgeons and knives they got from the raiders earlier that day. All of which the chief eagerly agreed to (he really liked those dinner plates).
Act II, Scene II: Mutant Doggies!
The PC's realized the drawback of having two of their members riding through the woods on cycles when all the noise attracts a pack of four mutant dogs to start stalking them almost right away. Mason spots them moving in behind them before anyone else does and warns the rest before they can get into position to surprise attack. With the trees between the two groups providing light cover and thus the greater chance of wasting ammo, Sanguine and Nell decide to vault off their cycles and stand with the rest of the group using melee weapons to hold the dogs off when they close in.
Having Initiative over the pack, the group positions Anderson and Stubby Jims behind them and Wait for the dogs to move in. The dogs can sense Romeo is badly injured and focus on him, being of a mind to take down or maim one of the party in order to take them out later when they lag behind. (The dogs all possessed Hypermobile and Toxic Saliva mutations, with Color Blind and Fragile flaws.)
When the first dog moves in after Romeo, he swings with his chainsaw (not wanting to cut the dogs any slack, considering his condition). His injuries prevent him from landing the blow he was aiming for but Mason drops the dog with 3 successes with his hatchet, resulting in another particularly nasty splat by him (especially bearing in mind the poor doggy's mere 5 Health). Sanguine likewise drops the second dog with her samurai sword and Nell drops the third with a knife. As that leaves the last mutant dog unopposed against Romeo, he crossed his fingers and dodged, managing to pull it off without even having to drop any Fortune points. Coming around to round two, Romeo and Mason both missed the last dog but Sanguine dropped it before it could try for Romeo again.
Act III, Scene I: A Gruesome Omen.
Arriving at the two block area of open street, with relatively undamaged buildings scattered about, the PC's are confronted with the rotting corpse of a man in the middle of the street. Apparently put on display, tied to an odd framework of branches fashioned to position him upright in full view, Mason immediately recognizes the man's been placed there as a warning, probably by local Tribals. Anderson claims to be unaware of any other Tribals operating in the area and the one's they just left back at the village didn't seem opposed to their scavenging here, so he's at a bit of a loss to explain. The PC's start worrying about the Tribals they left behind them, especially considering they left Romeo's truck with them.
Distracted by the grisly sight, only Nell makes the Difficulty 2 Senses/Notice roll to spot the trio of Airmen circling about in the sky above. Watching them for a minute they don't see any immediate signs of aggression but the three are obviously watching them. Examining the body they don't find anything of interest, beyond confirming he isn't a Tribal himself and is most likely a Scavenger, considering how he's dressed. The PC's decide to move on and set up camp somewhere easy to defend, what with the two vague threats they're already confronted with.
Act III, Scene II: Trogs in the Dark.
Scouting around for a nice, defensible place to camp, Sanguine and Nell both spot someone or something moving around out on the periphery, though they don't get a clear view of who or what exactly. The group is wisely paranoid and dashes for the nearest building that looks relatively secure to take cover.
When nothing immediately attacks, Nell keeps an eye out while Sanguine uses Teamwork to help Romeo set up some minor fortifications, using materials Mason Scavenges up for them around the house. The two NPC's pitch in as best they can but are largely limited to just setting up camp. When night falls they've done all they can do and decide to rest until morning, taking turns keeping watch before they start scavenging in earnest when the sun comes up.
In the middle of the night Nell fails her Senses/Notice roll and the Trogs have moved in to attack in force before she realizes they're there. Four hit the front door and break it down, while three more hammer unsuccessfully at the back. Four more are at the windows, firing arrows through the chinks in the boards covering them, though the poor visibility they're suffering from doesn't allow them to actually hit anything.
Romeo, like the others, is resting with his favored weapon at hand so he's up after the surprise round to fire a spray from his assault rifle at the Trogs coming through the door. He badly injures the lot of them, dropping one of them dead. Mason follows up, doing the same and firing a spray at the Trogs in the door, killing the other three before they can take another step. Sanguine fires a shot out the window near her but misses the Trog she aiming for, followed by Nell taking her cue from the boys and firing a spray out the window she's covering. She hits both the Trogs out there, killing one of them outright.
In the second round the Trogs at the window fire back, missing everyone again, while the Trogs at the back door finally burst through. Romeo takes Major Cover at the corner of the room and the hallway to Wait for the first Trog back there to appear. Mason heads over to the window Nell is at and takes a shot at the Trog she wounded before, hitting and dropping it with a single shot. Sanguine tries again at the window and manages to hit one of the two Trogs out there, wounding it, so Nell steps right over to help her and drops it with a single shot.
The last remaining Trog at the window bugs out, what with all his fellows around him dropping like flies. The Trogs at the back door have no idea things have gone so badly up front, so they race down through the kitchen and into the hall, screaming and flailing about with various vicious-type melee weapons. But that brings them right into Romeo's line of fire. In the third round Romeo fires another spray down the hall at the three Trogs appearing there, killing two and badly injuring the other. Mason steps over and lets him have it with another single shot over Romeo's shoulder, dropping the last Trog dead.
With the combat apparently over the PC's loot the corpses, two standing guard of the other two while they do so. They're just gathering the loot from the Trogs outside together to head back inside when they hear a commotion and screaming from within the house. Dashing in they find the assistant wielding a baseball bat, staring in horror at the door to the cellar. In moments he's frantically informed them that more Trogs appeared from there to snatch Slack Anderson away. The PC's waste no time dashing down the stairs in pursuit.
Act IV, Scene I: Slack-nappers.
PC's attempt to catch up with the Trogs running down the stairs, through the basement and down the narrow tunnel they find there. Despite Slack slowing the Trogs down, they're unable to catch up before they disappear where the tunnel opens up and branches off in several directions. The PC's then backtrack and regroup, grabbing flashlights and gear for a protracted search. They hit the tunnels again quickly, with everyone pitching in to help Nell track the Trogs through the tunnels (and Stubby tagging along worriedly behind them). She manages it easily with all the help and eventually leads the PC's down the path to the large, open cave where the Trogs took Slack. Sneaking up unnoticed, they can spy at least a dozen Trogs gathered around him, poking him with sticks and laughing sadistically at his terror.
Rather than take advantage of being detected (in order to listen in and learn about the Big Nasty they're going to be up against in a moment) the PC's decide they're right good and irritated at these Trogs. So they go on the offensive right away, aiming to take them my surprise. They each stride through the opening, down into the cave with the Trogs, opening fire. Romeo, Mason and Nell all fire sprays at the patches of Trogs that won't put Slack in danger of getting hit and Sanguine fires on the one closest to him, spending a Fortune point for an extra success. They manage to kill more than half the Trogs in the cave, with most of the others badly injured. Most of those are cut down in the second round, with the PC's taking Initiative over all of them but the Chief Trog. He runs off completely uninjured to slink through a narrow crack in the cave wall. Only three other Trogs make it out alive, fleeing the terrifying, gun wielding maniacs that appeared out of nowhere the moment they get Initiative to do so.
With Slack in hand the PC's turn him over to Stubby and set about clearing the rest of the caves, especially having realized no one took a shot at the big, heavily adorned Trog who was obviously someone of importance. They find there aren't any other Trogs in the short cave complex (most having squeezed into the mini-tunnels in the walls and escaped to the surface). They do find the outer cave where the Giant Mutant Tiger is being kept, in time to see the Chief Trog let it loose and dive into a mini-tunnel in the wall. They only discovered later on that the Trogs were worshipping the thing and feeding it sacrifices and all that jazz. For now they didn't bother looking around and ran back to Slack and Stubby to get them moving in a "the hell out of here" direction instead.
In no time the Giant Mutant Tiger's practically on the top of the PC's, giving them just enough time to get their employer and his assistant into the smaller tunnel where it can't get at them. But, since that leaves them wide open, they turn to take the critter head on. Romeo fires a burst right at the Tiger, almost dropping it despite its Armored mutation. Mason follows up with a single shot that puts it down before it can sink it's claws into anyone.
Act IV, Scene II: Scavenging
The PC's spend a while poking around for loot and gather only a few odds and ends before heading back down the tunnel to the house they left earlier. Mindful that there are crazy Trogs still unaccounted running around the place they start scouting the ruins as a group, picking up anything remotely valuable from the scattered buildings as they go. As they prepare to leave the area and hike back to the village with their loot, the PC's spot the Airmen up in the sky above again. Since they don't appear to be a threat they head back through the woods and arrive at the village without any further trouble.
There Mason makes good on his deal with the Tribal Chief, turning over the agreed upon loot for having taken care of the Titan. They load up the loot they've scavenged and prepared to head back for more (having still a little room in the truck where they might shove a few things). Turning back they notice the Airmen angling in to land in the woods, presumably in the ruins they just left.
Slack Anderson decides he's had enough excitement for now and opts not to head back in, even with the PC's encouraging him to do so. He's sure the Airmen will put up a fight if they return and he's had quite enough of that. Shrugging, the PC's agree, load up and head out back down the road to drop their employers off in Scrap and divvy up the loot there.
Unfortunately they find on the way that their hasty attempt at camouflage earlier has failed and someone's already made off with the two raider buggies they tried to stash. Still, they've got a respectable amount of loot all told and are quite happy with themselves.