SESSION 03: SLAMS AND THE BYRDE OF PEACE
General Summary
Previous Session: SESSION 02: THE ST. LOUIS SUMMIT
Next Session: SESSION 04: GIVE UNTO CAESAR
Players: (The Heroes of St. Louis): Lex Garridan, Linda, Mister Man, Mouse, Zero
*2nd May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 8)
Two school buses came in from the burning, irradiated wreckage of St. Louis and into the SLAMS military academy. Paladin Hector pulled into the schoolyard in the first bus, followed by Lex and Linda in the second. The 60 or so Midwest Brotherhood of Steel cadets of SLAMS were arranged on the front lawn, standing at attention in parade formation. Hector got out of his bus and, looking back at his convoy, saw something he didn't like. He marched over to Lex and Linda's bus and banged on their door. They opened.
"Where the hell is the other bus!?"
Meanwhile, somewhere in the city, Mister Man, Zero and Mouse had taken a wrong turn and gotten separated from their friends. The destroyed city was a maze of dead ends, and they had lost their sense of direction. Coming to an intersection, they had to make an arbitrary decision: keep going straight, or turn right. With nothing to go on, they plowed ahead, hoping for the best.
Back at SLAMS, Lex could remember three of the six turns she had made to get to the school. But with all the radiation around, her bus's radio was useless and she had no way to communicate with Mister Man. But, remembering her scientific training, she modified her radio to overcome the radiation. But without a point of reference, and after Mister Man had already made an arbitrary turn, Lex's directions were almost useless.
Mister Man and crew came to a second intersection and made a lucky guess. Lex and Linda tried to help, but the static of the radio was difficult to communicate through. And soon after, their bus broke down. Mister Man set to fixing the engine, while Zero and Mouse looked around for landmarks. Lex and Linda tried to assist the repairs over the radio, but the interference was still too much. An hour later, the robot had fixed the vehicle, but Mouse was starting to get sick from the radiation.
On the front lawn of SLAMS, Hector approached Captain Barnaky, the commandant of the military school, and ordered him to load the cadets onto his buses. Barnaky refused, communicating his intent to order the cadets into St. Louis to aid any survivors. Hector was furious, and shouted at the commandant for endangering children. Barnaky reached for his side arm. Lex and Linda could see the dispute from their bus, and Lex pled for Linda to intervene. The enormous super mutant approached Barnaky and, with some pointed questions, made the commandant stand down. Soon, they were loading up cadets and sorting which ones would have to stay and die if the other bus couldn't get to them.
Mister Man and his passengers made another turn as best as they could figure, when their bus died again. The robot dove back under the hood, to see what he might have missed. He was left frustrated, because the actual problem was at the rear axel, which Zero and Mouse fixed. Looking around the area, Zero's memory was jogged. They were in Midtown, and he could tell which way was north. With the cardinal directions in mind, they could make sense of Lex's path. With that knowledge, they drove right in to SLAMS and assisted with the evacuation.
The drive home was grim. The frightened and defeated teenagers were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, silent. Linda preached to many of them of the wonders of Atom, and no one had the energy to dispute. About an hour into the drive, the buses had to stop for a steel girder blocking the road. Hector observed that they could go around, but the suspension of a bus is not built for that kind of off-roading. Linda tried to move the girder while Mouse pushed it with a bus, but this proved ineffective. Mister Man offered an explosive solution and, working expertly, performed a successful demolition with a baseball grenade. The road was opened and they could continue on their way.
*3rd May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 9)
It was two in the morning when the group arrived at Camp Jefferson. Most of the base's personnel had already left to assist in St. Louis. As soon as the cadets were off of the school buses, the vehicles were refilled with coolant and sent back to the city to rescue more survivors. All of the St. Louis survivors, including the party, went through a thorough decontamination, taking RadAway and being scrubbed down. While they were showering, the group noticed a Brotherhood vertibird landing nearby. Paladin Hector approached whoever was on the flying machine and had a spirited conversation with them.
After decontamination, Hector approached Lex, handing her a note. "This is for John Giscala. I need his help in the aid effort, ASAP. Deliver this note to him. And don't read it, it's classified."
The group saw the necessity in enlisting Dr. John's help, but they were tired and weary. Hector asked them to leave immediately, but they decided that the road was too dangerous to travel fatigued and stayed the night in Camp Jefferson.
In the morning, they set out for Emancipation. Zero noted that on their way south, they had not stopped at Lake Speculation to evaluate the situation there. The group agreed to travel through the area carefully. In the dense woods, they spotted a rare Albino RadStag. It's hide would be worth good money. But remembering their previous encounter with 5 RadStags and seeing that the albino was accompanied by another 6 RadStags, they decided to move on.
On the road, they were beset by 10 angry RadTurkeys which charged and pecked at them. The group pummeled, zapped and shot the creatures until they were all dead. Butchering the mutated birds, they gathered a pile of meat that they didn't know how to cook. But, as luck would have it, a stray piece of paper caught Mouse's eye. Weaved into one of the RadTurkey's nest was a recipe for RadTurkey Bacon. A hunter must have been in this area looking to eat the creatures, and instead was eaten himself. Now they were able to cook the meat, but they decided that getting off the road and into Emancipation was their first priority.
When they arrived at Emancipation, they first went to Booches Bar, as it was the first building they passed from the road into the village. Booch the super mutant greeted them warmly and was horrified by news of the attack in St. Louis. Hearing the details of the night, Booch surmised that it was his VIP Experience coupon that had led the party to go down into Anheiser's cellar. And it was the protection of the cellar that saved Lex and Mouse from the bomb's radiation. Therefore, he judged, he didn't owe the two humans the money he promised for when they delivered his caps to Alexa Garridan. If anything, they might owe him. But Zero reasoned with Booch, convincing him that a contract was a contract. Booch agreed and paid everyone their 5 caps. They also asked him to cook their RadTurkey, which he agreed to, for a share of the meat.
Finished with Booch, the party went on to see the mayor. Doctor John was sitting on his porch, reading a medical textbook. They informed him of the attack on St. Louis and the mayor was devastated. Lex handed him Paladin Hector's note, having never read it. Doctor John retreated into his house to read the note in privacy and returned with a somber expression.
"I have a critical task for you," Dr. John said. "Normally, I'd send the sheriff or one of his deputies, but they'll be busy with the relief effort. I studied medicine with the Followers of the Apocalypse in the New California Republic for four years. When I was there, I made friends with Antyllus, another student who was from Caesar's Legion. I need you to travel to Fort Leonard Wood, in Caesar's lands, and ask Antyllus if Caesar Aurelian Resitutor was responsible for the St. Louis attack. If my hunch is correct, and Caesar didn't do it, the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel Elders in Chicago need to know. It could stop a war. Traveling within Caesar's land should be safe, if and only if, you buy and wear an ius commercii. It's a medal that represents Caesar's promise of safety to merchants. You can buy it at border crossings. Without it, you'll probably be kidnapped and sold into slavery. Also, don't tell Paladin Hector."
The group noted that they would have to purchase these ius commercii medals and this would cost them money. So, Dr. John gave each of them 10 caps to purchase one before he sent them on their way. They did a little shopping, most notably Mouse buying a Composite Bow. They collected their RadTurkey Bacon from Booch and left town.
The party marched back down to Camp Jefferson without incident. By the time they arrived, the base was loaded with refugees and Paladin Hector was too busy to see them. The Brotherhood could offer the group open air cots to sleep on, but had no spare food or water. They spent the night.
*4th May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 10)
The next day, they set off into the area south of Camp Jefferson. They looted the abandoned River City Mall and Grub N' Scrub Hotel. At Parish House, they met a woman named Meredith and her sentry bot Jason who sold Healing Salves.
At the old Byrde House, the group discovered an old riverboat called the Missouri Belle, sunken in the river. Within there was an expensive safe attached to an unpowered computer terminal. Lex managed to power up the terminal and hack it, opening the safe. Inside was a stack of pre-war cash, a holotape player/recorder and a copy of the Beast Slayer video game.
Having spent the day traveling and looting, the group decided to make camp. In the night, Mister Man noticed movement outside of the house. Using his precise optic sensors, he saw that a wounded pack brahmin was drinking from the river nearby. He carefully woke the group, worried of an ambush. Mouse snuck out of the house and into gnarled, mutated woods. He determined that the area was save and gave the group the all-clear. Zero approached the brahmin carefully, offering it some Cruddy Tees, which it ate gladly. Examining the animal, they could see that it had been wounded many times with a shotgun and had deeply irradiated itself with dirty water. The animal was suffering, and had only a small chance of survival, which required expensive radiation treatments. So, they put down the animal and butchered it for its meat and hide.
*5th May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 11)
On the morning of May 5th, the group decided to head south to Internment Camp Blackjack. Mouse argued that the structure was out of the way, but as a Midwest Brotherhood of Steel facility from the Calculator War, the area probably had the best looting.
Camp Blackjack consisted mostly of a sea of old canvas tents, now rotten and destroyed by a hundred years of the elements. But in the middle of the facility was the command center, where Brotherhood officers administered the camp. That's where any good loot would be. The group found a typical brotherhood station of the era, with 15 foot high green metal walls. Mouse, Zero and Lex snuck their way to a hole in the south wall, while Linda and Mister Man approached the front door to the north.
The group the discovered that the command center was still populated with Protectron robots set on kill mode. Mouse discovered a building filled with mummified corpses, dodged a landmine and killed to robots with Paladin Hector's .44 revolver. Linda smashed robots with her board named Pam and brutal shots with her Junk Jet. Mister Man threw his Pulse Grenade, given to him by Giles the Mister Handy in Vault 40 for suicide. Zero dodged a second landmine and battled the Protectrons with his knuckles and glove. Lex followed Zero carefully, taking alternating shots at the robots with her Hunting Rifle and 10mm Pistol. The two-pronged approach worked. Soon the robots were destroyed without any of the party being injured or taking serious damage. But the battle had cost them their only grenade and many rare .44 magnum rounds.
Their enemies defeated, the party were now able to loot and investigate Camp Blackjack, just 20 miles from the lands of Caesar...
Next Session: SESSION 04: GIVE UNTO CAESAR
Next Session: SESSION 04: GIVE UNTO CAESAR
Players: (The Heroes of St. Louis): Lex Garridan, Linda, Mister Man, Mouse, Zero
*2nd May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 8)
Two school buses came in from the burning, irradiated wreckage of St. Louis and into the SLAMS military academy. Paladin Hector pulled into the schoolyard in the first bus, followed by Lex and Linda in the second. The 60 or so Midwest Brotherhood of Steel cadets of SLAMS were arranged on the front lawn, standing at attention in parade formation. Hector got out of his bus and, looking back at his convoy, saw something he didn't like. He marched over to Lex and Linda's bus and banged on their door. They opened.
"Where the hell is the other bus!?"
Meanwhile, somewhere in the city, Mister Man, Zero and Mouse had taken a wrong turn and gotten separated from their friends. The destroyed city was a maze of dead ends, and they had lost their sense of direction. Coming to an intersection, they had to make an arbitrary decision: keep going straight, or turn right. With nothing to go on, they plowed ahead, hoping for the best.
Back at SLAMS, Lex could remember three of the six turns she had made to get to the school. But with all the radiation around, her bus's radio was useless and she had no way to communicate with Mister Man. But, remembering her scientific training, she modified her radio to overcome the radiation. But without a point of reference, and after Mister Man had already made an arbitrary turn, Lex's directions were almost useless.
Mister Man and crew came to a second intersection and made a lucky guess. Lex and Linda tried to help, but the static of the radio was difficult to communicate through. And soon after, their bus broke down. Mister Man set to fixing the engine, while Zero and Mouse looked around for landmarks. Lex and Linda tried to assist the repairs over the radio, but the interference was still too much. An hour later, the robot had fixed the vehicle, but Mouse was starting to get sick from the radiation.
On the front lawn of SLAMS, Hector approached Captain Barnaky, the commandant of the military school, and ordered him to load the cadets onto his buses. Barnaky refused, communicating his intent to order the cadets into St. Louis to aid any survivors. Hector was furious, and shouted at the commandant for endangering children. Barnaky reached for his side arm. Lex and Linda could see the dispute from their bus, and Lex pled for Linda to intervene. The enormous super mutant approached Barnaky and, with some pointed questions, made the commandant stand down. Soon, they were loading up cadets and sorting which ones would have to stay and die if the other bus couldn't get to them.
Mister Man and his passengers made another turn as best as they could figure, when their bus died again. The robot dove back under the hood, to see what he might have missed. He was left frustrated, because the actual problem was at the rear axel, which Zero and Mouse fixed. Looking around the area, Zero's memory was jogged. They were in Midtown, and he could tell which way was north. With the cardinal directions in mind, they could make sense of Lex's path. With that knowledge, they drove right in to SLAMS and assisted with the evacuation.
The drive home was grim. The frightened and defeated teenagers were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, silent. Linda preached to many of them of the wonders of Atom, and no one had the energy to dispute. About an hour into the drive, the buses had to stop for a steel girder blocking the road. Hector observed that they could go around, but the suspension of a bus is not built for that kind of off-roading. Linda tried to move the girder while Mouse pushed it with a bus, but this proved ineffective. Mister Man offered an explosive solution and, working expertly, performed a successful demolition with a baseball grenade. The road was opened and they could continue on their way.
*3rd May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 9)
It was two in the morning when the group arrived at Camp Jefferson. Most of the base's personnel had already left to assist in St. Louis. As soon as the cadets were off of the school buses, the vehicles were refilled with coolant and sent back to the city to rescue more survivors. All of the St. Louis survivors, including the party, went through a thorough decontamination, taking RadAway and being scrubbed down. While they were showering, the group noticed a Brotherhood vertibird landing nearby. Paladin Hector approached whoever was on the flying machine and had a spirited conversation with them.
After decontamination, Hector approached Lex, handing her a note. "This is for John Giscala. I need his help in the aid effort, ASAP. Deliver this note to him. And don't read it, it's classified."
The group saw the necessity in enlisting Dr. John's help, but they were tired and weary. Hector asked them to leave immediately, but they decided that the road was too dangerous to travel fatigued and stayed the night in Camp Jefferson.
In the morning, they set out for Emancipation. Zero noted that on their way south, they had not stopped at Lake Speculation to evaluate the situation there. The group agreed to travel through the area carefully. In the dense woods, they spotted a rare Albino RadStag. It's hide would be worth good money. But remembering their previous encounter with 5 RadStags and seeing that the albino was accompanied by another 6 RadStags, they decided to move on.
On the road, they were beset by 10 angry RadTurkeys which charged and pecked at them. The group pummeled, zapped and shot the creatures until they were all dead. Butchering the mutated birds, they gathered a pile of meat that they didn't know how to cook. But, as luck would have it, a stray piece of paper caught Mouse's eye. Weaved into one of the RadTurkey's nest was a recipe for RadTurkey Bacon. A hunter must have been in this area looking to eat the creatures, and instead was eaten himself. Now they were able to cook the meat, but they decided that getting off the road and into Emancipation was their first priority.
When they arrived at Emancipation, they first went to Booches Bar, as it was the first building they passed from the road into the village. Booch the super mutant greeted them warmly and was horrified by news of the attack in St. Louis. Hearing the details of the night, Booch surmised that it was his VIP Experience coupon that had led the party to go down into Anheiser's cellar. And it was the protection of the cellar that saved Lex and Mouse from the bomb's radiation. Therefore, he judged, he didn't owe the two humans the money he promised for when they delivered his caps to Alexa Garridan. If anything, they might owe him. But Zero reasoned with Booch, convincing him that a contract was a contract. Booch agreed and paid everyone their 5 caps. They also asked him to cook their RadTurkey, which he agreed to, for a share of the meat.
Finished with Booch, the party went on to see the mayor. Doctor John was sitting on his porch, reading a medical textbook. They informed him of the attack on St. Louis and the mayor was devastated. Lex handed him Paladin Hector's note, having never read it. Doctor John retreated into his house to read the note in privacy and returned with a somber expression.
"I have a critical task for you," Dr. John said. "Normally, I'd send the sheriff or one of his deputies, but they'll be busy with the relief effort. I studied medicine with the Followers of the Apocalypse in the New California Republic for four years. When I was there, I made friends with Antyllus, another student who was from Caesar's Legion. I need you to travel to Fort Leonard Wood, in Caesar's lands, and ask Antyllus if Caesar Aurelian Resitutor was responsible for the St. Louis attack. If my hunch is correct, and Caesar didn't do it, the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel Elders in Chicago need to know. It could stop a war. Traveling within Caesar's land should be safe, if and only if, you buy and wear an ius commercii. It's a medal that represents Caesar's promise of safety to merchants. You can buy it at border crossings. Without it, you'll probably be kidnapped and sold into slavery. Also, don't tell Paladin Hector."
The group noted that they would have to purchase these ius commercii medals and this would cost them money. So, Dr. John gave each of them 10 caps to purchase one before he sent them on their way. They did a little shopping, most notably Mouse buying a Composite Bow. They collected their RadTurkey Bacon from Booch and left town.
The party marched back down to Camp Jefferson without incident. By the time they arrived, the base was loaded with refugees and Paladin Hector was too busy to see them. The Brotherhood could offer the group open air cots to sleep on, but had no spare food or water. They spent the night.
*4th May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 10)
The next day, they set off into the area south of Camp Jefferson. They looted the abandoned River City Mall and Grub N' Scrub Hotel. At Parish House, they met a woman named Meredith and her sentry bot Jason who sold Healing Salves.
At the old Byrde House, the group discovered an old riverboat called the Missouri Belle, sunken in the river. Within there was an expensive safe attached to an unpowered computer terminal. Lex managed to power up the terminal and hack it, opening the safe. Inside was a stack of pre-war cash, a holotape player/recorder and a copy of the Beast Slayer video game.
Having spent the day traveling and looting, the group decided to make camp. In the night, Mister Man noticed movement outside of the house. Using his precise optic sensors, he saw that a wounded pack brahmin was drinking from the river nearby. He carefully woke the group, worried of an ambush. Mouse snuck out of the house and into gnarled, mutated woods. He determined that the area was save and gave the group the all-clear. Zero approached the brahmin carefully, offering it some Cruddy Tees, which it ate gladly. Examining the animal, they could see that it had been wounded many times with a shotgun and had deeply irradiated itself with dirty water. The animal was suffering, and had only a small chance of survival, which required expensive radiation treatments. So, they put down the animal and butchered it for its meat and hide.
*5th May, 2317*
(Adventure Day 11)
On the morning of May 5th, the group decided to head south to Internment Camp Blackjack. Mouse argued that the structure was out of the way, but as a Midwest Brotherhood of Steel facility from the Calculator War, the area probably had the best looting.
Camp Blackjack consisted mostly of a sea of old canvas tents, now rotten and destroyed by a hundred years of the elements. But in the middle of the facility was the command center, where Brotherhood officers administered the camp. That's where any good loot would be. The group found a typical brotherhood station of the era, with 15 foot high green metal walls. Mouse, Zero and Lex snuck their way to a hole in the south wall, while Linda and Mister Man approached the front door to the north.
The group the discovered that the command center was still populated with Protectron robots set on kill mode. Mouse discovered a building filled with mummified corpses, dodged a landmine and killed to robots with Paladin Hector's .44 revolver. Linda smashed robots with her board named Pam and brutal shots with her Junk Jet. Mister Man threw his Pulse Grenade, given to him by Giles the Mister Handy in Vault 40 for suicide. Zero dodged a second landmine and battled the Protectrons with his knuckles and glove. Lex followed Zero carefully, taking alternating shots at the robots with her Hunting Rifle and 10mm Pistol. The two-pronged approach worked. Soon the robots were destroyed without any of the party being injured or taking serious damage. But the battle had cost them their only grenade and many rare .44 magnum rounds.
Their enemies defeated, the party were now able to loot and investigate Camp Blackjack, just 20 miles from the lands of Caesar...
Next Session: SESSION 04: GIVE UNTO CAESAR
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