SESSION 10: OLD FLAMES AND LOOSE JUICE
General Summary
Previous Session: SESSION 09: GRAVESTONE
Next Session: SESSION 11: THE SKINS OF FOLK AND BEASTS
Players: (The Heroes of St. Louis): Lex Garridan, Linda, Mister Man, Mouse, Zero *May 15th, 2317*
(Adventure Day 21)
Although Linda and Zero had just finished fighting in the ring, they had to right themselves for that evening's Grand Melee. An excited crowd from all over Gravestone gathered for the wrestling mega-event. There hadn't been an event since 8 months earlier, when their champion, Apocalyptico, had punched out every wrestler in the ring. The rules of the match were simple: No weapons and no armour. If you fall unconscious, you're out. If you're thrown out of the ring, you're out. The last wrestler standing wins.
Apocalyptico and the other wrestlers were worthy adversaries, grasping each other in many locks and smashing each other with hefty strikes. Many wrestlers were thrown from the ring in the early moments of the match. Linda and Zero focused on the massive Apocalyptico, and sent him flying from the ring. But both Zarina and Clubber Fang were still formidable wrestlers. Zero was thrown over the ropes, leaving Linda against four other wrestlers. It was a long, bloody brawl, but in the end, Linda was victorious. She screamed to the audience about the glory of Atom. The onlookers were a bit confused, but electrified. Linda won the 100-cap champion's prize.
The night was getting on, and looking for a place to stay, Zero remembered that Concrete Flats was the only hotel in town that rented rooms to smoothskins. While the group was checking in, Mouse noticed someone take a picture of them and dart away. He jumped over the counter and chased after. It was difficult to catch the person, but with his considerable speed, Mouse was able to tackle her the ground.
Cornered by the party, the photographer identified herself as Qarla DiNovo, a journalist from Boston. She claimed that she was writing an article on the St. Louis Attack, and was looking to interview survivors. Zero, recalling that journalists had been to unkind to him before the war, encouraged the group to rebuff the reporter. They told Qarla very little, with Linda giving a vague description of the bomb, obscured with religious language.
Qarla wrote what she could on a Pip-Boy 3000 wrist computer. The group was curious, and Qarla noted that the Pip-Boy was a family heirloom, from Vault 111. She took a picture of Linda with the device, printed a rough version of the photo and gave it to her. Qarla indicated that she would be staying at Concrete Flats for the next few days, and they could visit her for a paid interview. And if they were ever in Diamond City in Boston, Publick Occurrences would most likely pay the group for their St. Louis story. The party left Qarla and went to bed.
*May 16th, 2317*
(Adventure Day 22)
The next morning, Zero asked the group if they could return to the Gravestone Cathedral. He wanted to see Isomer, who had once been his sweetheart Maggie, but was now known as Isomer, a nun of the cathedral. He told them that Zero and Maggie had been together before the Great War, and were ghoul-ified together in 2077 when the bombs fell. In 2281, Zero and Maggie were in an adventuring group that went to Nebraska. There, they were captured and experimented on. Zero, Maggie, Billy (now Nucleon) and Nora had gotten away, but their leader Pierce had been left behind. Zero asked Proton to help him rescue Pierce, but Proton had refused. Zero took a group up to Nebraska anyway, but could never find any trace of his captors. Maggie was so traumatized by the event that she had become non-verbal. Zero hadn't been back to Gravestone in 36 years.
The party agreed, curious about the threats of the ghoul Chomper and the possible involvement of Proton, leader of the Gravestone Cathedral.
They found Isomer quietly praying in a rectory chapel. She was quiet as they approached, and when she spoke, she mumbled in a weak stammer - the legacy of her intense trauma. She was warm to Zero, claiming that she and God forgave him for what happened in Nebraska. When Linda began to talk about Atom, Isomer explained Gravestone Cathedral dogma, that Atom, the God of the Children of Atom, Panasonica, the God of the Reavers and Plutonius, the God of the Gravestone Cathedral were the same being, "Masks on the same face." Linda was confused and disagreed, but the conversation was kept civil.
Isomer asked to speak to Zero privately. She explained to him that a year ago, before she had taken her nun's vows, she had become romantically involved with a man named Rutherford. He was kind and she didn't know he was connected to Gravestone's criminal underground. But since she had become a nun he would not stop his advances. People said that Rutherford worked with Mr. Endtimes out of the Racket Nightclub and she was afraid. Zero was relieved that she was not involved with organized crime and promised to help.
The group sat down again with Proton, religious leader of the Gravestone Cathedral [Not Billy, known as Nucleon, the mayor of Gravestone. That's a different guy.] They expressed their concerns about the threats of Chomper they heard at the Gashland Crater. The party reported that members of the Children of Atom were accusing the Gravestone Cathedral of amassing weapons, to be used to kill the Children.
Proton was defensive. He noted that Chomper was in charge of managing the Gashland holy site, and it was understandable if he was angered when disrespected. Proton also claimed that the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel and Caesar's Legion were on the verge of war. The citizens of Gravestone might soon need to defend themselves, and it only made sense that the Cathedral would build an extensive stockpile of weapons.
While he spoke, Mister Man examined Proton carefully. His robotic sensors were unable to detect any lies, but it was clear that the religious leader was an extremely practiced liar. Proton gave no behavioural clues with anything he spoke. Everything he said was meant to come across as humble and folksy, but in reality, he was a calculating politician. The party left the chapel, more suspicious than ever.
The group decided to head out of Gravestone to Telecom City, to retrieve rhodium metal for ghoul ferality tests. Before they left, Zero went to the Racket Nightclub and left a threatening note for Rutherford.
Remembering that Arturo, the director of the Farris Theater, had mentioned a lonely Mister Handy at the Truman Library, they traveled there first. The robot in question, named Feller, greeted them joyfully at the entrance, but would not converse until after they had taken a tour of the museum. The party were amused, and followed Feller into the library.
They were first brought to an exhibit featuring artifacts from President Truman's childhood. Feller proudly announced, "Harry S. Truman was born here in Independence, Missouri in 1884 to John and the 1900 Democratic Convention at the piano at 5am every morning. His Sante Fe Railroad food was the National Bank of Commerce. Enjoy!"
A food platter emerged from the wall, but instead of Truman's favourite dish, it offered a pile of junk. The party laughed, noting that Feller's problems were not unlike Mister Man's explosion-derived aphasia.
The tour continued with a display dedicated to Truman's service in WWI. Feller gladly said, "Truman never went to college, he joined the artillery! And in World War I, he launched a $2 investment on Lawton, Oklahoma, bombarding the fleeing Germans with railroad language. Try it yourself!"
An ancient model gun raised from the floor, and at the same time a metal target in the likeness of a German soldier swung down from the ceiling. Lex took up the gun and shot the German. A congratulatory noise sounded and an issue of Guns and Bullets was offered up as a reward.
The final exhibit featured a model of the city of Hiroshima in 1945. After a scrambled description of WWII, Feller beckoned the group to press a big red button. They did right away, and a holographic mushroom cloud enveloped the city to the sound of glorious trumpets and applause. But when the hologram faded, Feller's countenance dropped.
"Please. Please, help me," the robot said meekly. "I've bombed Hiroshima 13,211 times. Over 3 billion dead. I... I can't stop."
Taking pity on the Mister Handy, Lex and Mister Man set to completely resetting Feller's programming. They considered it important to not only free Feller from the library, but to spare him the centuries of trauma he had endured. Meanwhile, Mouse deftly removed the mushroom cloud hologram from the museum's display. He gave it to Linda, knowing she would like the atomic theme and guessing the device might someday come in handy. Under the display he found a mini-nuke munition, for use with a Fat Man launcher weapon.
Soon, Feller had been completely reboot-ed. The robot asked for a new name and occupation. They settled on calling him Stacy, and sending him to the Farris Theater to be an actor.
The next stop was Loyalty Field, the one-time home of the Kansas City Loyalty baseball team. Debbie the scrapyard owner in Higginsville had warned them that her adopted son Kurt had gone to Loyalty Field to join a cult. And when they reached the field... ...they found a cult. A throng of young, attractive, very spaced-out people ambled around the field senselessly. The party asked about Kurt and were told that he was busy meditating on the field with the Minister and that he'd be available in an hour.
The party were led onto the old baseball diamond and found a strange scene. There were two enormous barrels of Loose Juice - the same strange chem that Ram and the Reavers tried to use on them at the Jim the Wonder Dog Monument. The cultists drank huge cups of Loose Juice, danced around and then set to making shoes out of junk.
There was a single shack built on the field, guarded by two mercenaries. The party scouted and probed the shack, eventually disrupting the Minister's meditation. They were invited in. Kurt was deep in chem-assisted meditation, but the disorderly Minister was up and energetic. He remarked that Lex had the strongest Agya he had ever seen, but that Mouse had none at all. The Minister professed that he had synthesized Loose Juice for the spiritual betterment of the world and that Kurt would be his holy messenger to Gravestone. Hearing this, Linda stomped out onto the field and gulped at Loose Juice, drinking down a gargantuan dose.
The Minister continued to exhort wildly. He said that if they tried to take Kurt, his mercenaries would kill them. Eventually, Zero had heard enough. He threw a strong punch into the Minister's face. But the cult leader and his mercenaries were stronger than expected. A pitched battle ensued, the mercs and the Minister delivering devastating injuries with their pipe guns. The party fought back hard, but found the fight difficult, with cultists pelting them with rocks. Lex was the most grievously hurt, falling unconscious to the ground. Mister Man was able to revive her quickly, but the situation was close. Eventually, the cultists were killed and the drugged-out followers dropped to their knees and surrendered in tears.
Linda was tripping hard. She looked down at a dead mercenary and saw a white porcelain mask, with an atomic symbol on its forehead. Linda reached for the mask and it crumbled away, revealing a second mask underneath. This mask showed the word "PANASONICA" across the forehead. Linda was disturbed and trampled around the field, taking a moment to calm down.
The party woke Kurt and sent him back home to Higginsville. Delving into the Minister's records, they found an insane story, in which an amnesiac Minister found himself wandering the waste, thinking of Chicago. He presumed that something about Chicago must mean he was an important member of the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel. Finding a natural facility with chemistry, the Minister synthesized Loose Juice, possessed with a mission to get the world addicted to it. Mouse took the recipe for Loose Juice and the group left.
While leaving, Mister Man indicated that the day before he had received an alert from his Diagnostic Mod. The robotic unit was constantly recording the health information of the people around him. Over the past three weeks, it noticed that Mouse had been eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet. The Diagnostic Mod expected him to gain 2.9 pounds, but Mouse had gained no weight whatsoever. The Mod recommended that Mister Man check Mouse for parasites or bulimia nervosa. The robot checked his appearance, feces, teeth and blood, but found no irregularities. Mouse seemed able to eat a higher number of calories with no apparent health effects. He noted that he had always had a small frame, and the group continued on their way...
Next Session: SESSION 11: THE SKINS OF FOLK AND BEASTS
Next Session: SESSION 11: THE SKINS OF FOLK AND BEASTS
Players: (The Heroes of St. Louis): Lex Garridan, Linda, Mister Man, Mouse, Zero *May 15th, 2317*
(Adventure Day 21)
Although Linda and Zero had just finished fighting in the ring, they had to right themselves for that evening's Grand Melee. An excited crowd from all over Gravestone gathered for the wrestling mega-event. There hadn't been an event since 8 months earlier, when their champion, Apocalyptico, had punched out every wrestler in the ring. The rules of the match were simple: No weapons and no armour. If you fall unconscious, you're out. If you're thrown out of the ring, you're out. The last wrestler standing wins.
Apocalyptico and the other wrestlers were worthy adversaries, grasping each other in many locks and smashing each other with hefty strikes. Many wrestlers were thrown from the ring in the early moments of the match. Linda and Zero focused on the massive Apocalyptico, and sent him flying from the ring. But both Zarina and Clubber Fang were still formidable wrestlers. Zero was thrown over the ropes, leaving Linda against four other wrestlers. It was a long, bloody brawl, but in the end, Linda was victorious. She screamed to the audience about the glory of Atom. The onlookers were a bit confused, but electrified. Linda won the 100-cap champion's prize.
The night was getting on, and looking for a place to stay, Zero remembered that Concrete Flats was the only hotel in town that rented rooms to smoothskins. While the group was checking in, Mouse noticed someone take a picture of them and dart away. He jumped over the counter and chased after. It was difficult to catch the person, but with his considerable speed, Mouse was able to tackle her the ground.
Cornered by the party, the photographer identified herself as Qarla DiNovo, a journalist from Boston. She claimed that she was writing an article on the St. Louis Attack, and was looking to interview survivors. Zero, recalling that journalists had been to unkind to him before the war, encouraged the group to rebuff the reporter. They told Qarla very little, with Linda giving a vague description of the bomb, obscured with religious language.
Qarla wrote what she could on a Pip-Boy 3000 wrist computer. The group was curious, and Qarla noted that the Pip-Boy was a family heirloom, from Vault 111. She took a picture of Linda with the device, printed a rough version of the photo and gave it to her. Qarla indicated that she would be staying at Concrete Flats for the next few days, and they could visit her for a paid interview. And if they were ever in Diamond City in Boston, Publick Occurrences would most likely pay the group for their St. Louis story. The party left Qarla and went to bed.
*May 16th, 2317*
(Adventure Day 22)
The next morning, Zero asked the group if they could return to the Gravestone Cathedral. He wanted to see Isomer, who had once been his sweetheart Maggie, but was now known as Isomer, a nun of the cathedral. He told them that Zero and Maggie had been together before the Great War, and were ghoul-ified together in 2077 when the bombs fell. In 2281, Zero and Maggie were in an adventuring group that went to Nebraska. There, they were captured and experimented on. Zero, Maggie, Billy (now Nucleon) and Nora had gotten away, but their leader Pierce had been left behind. Zero asked Proton to help him rescue Pierce, but Proton had refused. Zero took a group up to Nebraska anyway, but could never find any trace of his captors. Maggie was so traumatized by the event that she had become non-verbal. Zero hadn't been back to Gravestone in 36 years.
The party agreed, curious about the threats of the ghoul Chomper and the possible involvement of Proton, leader of the Gravestone Cathedral.
They found Isomer quietly praying in a rectory chapel. She was quiet as they approached, and when she spoke, she mumbled in a weak stammer - the legacy of her intense trauma. She was warm to Zero, claiming that she and God forgave him for what happened in Nebraska. When Linda began to talk about Atom, Isomer explained Gravestone Cathedral dogma, that Atom, the God of the Children of Atom, Panasonica, the God of the Reavers and Plutonius, the God of the Gravestone Cathedral were the same being, "Masks on the same face." Linda was confused and disagreed, but the conversation was kept civil.
Isomer asked to speak to Zero privately. She explained to him that a year ago, before she had taken her nun's vows, she had become romantically involved with a man named Rutherford. He was kind and she didn't know he was connected to Gravestone's criminal underground. But since she had become a nun he would not stop his advances. People said that Rutherford worked with Mr. Endtimes out of the Racket Nightclub and she was afraid. Zero was relieved that she was not involved with organized crime and promised to help.
The group sat down again with Proton, religious leader of the Gravestone Cathedral [Not Billy, known as Nucleon, the mayor of Gravestone. That's a different guy.] They expressed their concerns about the threats of Chomper they heard at the Gashland Crater. The party reported that members of the Children of Atom were accusing the Gravestone Cathedral of amassing weapons, to be used to kill the Children.
Proton was defensive. He noted that Chomper was in charge of managing the Gashland holy site, and it was understandable if he was angered when disrespected. Proton also claimed that the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel and Caesar's Legion were on the verge of war. The citizens of Gravestone might soon need to defend themselves, and it only made sense that the Cathedral would build an extensive stockpile of weapons.
While he spoke, Mister Man examined Proton carefully. His robotic sensors were unable to detect any lies, but it was clear that the religious leader was an extremely practiced liar. Proton gave no behavioural clues with anything he spoke. Everything he said was meant to come across as humble and folksy, but in reality, he was a calculating politician. The party left the chapel, more suspicious than ever.
The group decided to head out of Gravestone to Telecom City, to retrieve rhodium metal for ghoul ferality tests. Before they left, Zero went to the Racket Nightclub and left a threatening note for Rutherford.
Remembering that Arturo, the director of the Farris Theater, had mentioned a lonely Mister Handy at the Truman Library, they traveled there first. The robot in question, named Feller, greeted them joyfully at the entrance, but would not converse until after they had taken a tour of the museum. The party were amused, and followed Feller into the library.
They were first brought to an exhibit featuring artifacts from President Truman's childhood. Feller proudly announced, "Harry S. Truman was born here in Independence, Missouri in 1884 to John and the 1900 Democratic Convention at the piano at 5am every morning. His Sante Fe Railroad food was the National Bank of Commerce. Enjoy!"
A food platter emerged from the wall, but instead of Truman's favourite dish, it offered a pile of junk. The party laughed, noting that Feller's problems were not unlike Mister Man's explosion-derived aphasia.
The tour continued with a display dedicated to Truman's service in WWI. Feller gladly said, "Truman never went to college, he joined the artillery! And in World War I, he launched a $2 investment on Lawton, Oklahoma, bombarding the fleeing Germans with railroad language. Try it yourself!"
An ancient model gun raised from the floor, and at the same time a metal target in the likeness of a German soldier swung down from the ceiling. Lex took up the gun and shot the German. A congratulatory noise sounded and an issue of Guns and Bullets was offered up as a reward.
The final exhibit featured a model of the city of Hiroshima in 1945. After a scrambled description of WWII, Feller beckoned the group to press a big red button. They did right away, and a holographic mushroom cloud enveloped the city to the sound of glorious trumpets and applause. But when the hologram faded, Feller's countenance dropped.
"Please. Please, help me," the robot said meekly. "I've bombed Hiroshima 13,211 times. Over 3 billion dead. I... I can't stop."
Taking pity on the Mister Handy, Lex and Mister Man set to completely resetting Feller's programming. They considered it important to not only free Feller from the library, but to spare him the centuries of trauma he had endured. Meanwhile, Mouse deftly removed the mushroom cloud hologram from the museum's display. He gave it to Linda, knowing she would like the atomic theme and guessing the device might someday come in handy. Under the display he found a mini-nuke munition, for use with a Fat Man launcher weapon.
Soon, Feller had been completely reboot-ed. The robot asked for a new name and occupation. They settled on calling him Stacy, and sending him to the Farris Theater to be an actor.
The next stop was Loyalty Field, the one-time home of the Kansas City Loyalty baseball team. Debbie the scrapyard owner in Higginsville had warned them that her adopted son Kurt had gone to Loyalty Field to join a cult. And when they reached the field... ...they found a cult. A throng of young, attractive, very spaced-out people ambled around the field senselessly. The party asked about Kurt and were told that he was busy meditating on the field with the Minister and that he'd be available in an hour.
The party were led onto the old baseball diamond and found a strange scene. There were two enormous barrels of Loose Juice - the same strange chem that Ram and the Reavers tried to use on them at the Jim the Wonder Dog Monument. The cultists drank huge cups of Loose Juice, danced around and then set to making shoes out of junk.
There was a single shack built on the field, guarded by two mercenaries. The party scouted and probed the shack, eventually disrupting the Minister's meditation. They were invited in. Kurt was deep in chem-assisted meditation, but the disorderly Minister was up and energetic. He remarked that Lex had the strongest Agya he had ever seen, but that Mouse had none at all. The Minister professed that he had synthesized Loose Juice for the spiritual betterment of the world and that Kurt would be his holy messenger to Gravestone. Hearing this, Linda stomped out onto the field and gulped at Loose Juice, drinking down a gargantuan dose.
The Minister continued to exhort wildly. He said that if they tried to take Kurt, his mercenaries would kill them. Eventually, Zero had heard enough. He threw a strong punch into the Minister's face. But the cult leader and his mercenaries were stronger than expected. A pitched battle ensued, the mercs and the Minister delivering devastating injuries with their pipe guns. The party fought back hard, but found the fight difficult, with cultists pelting them with rocks. Lex was the most grievously hurt, falling unconscious to the ground. Mister Man was able to revive her quickly, but the situation was close. Eventually, the cultists were killed and the drugged-out followers dropped to their knees and surrendered in tears.
Linda was tripping hard. She looked down at a dead mercenary and saw a white porcelain mask, with an atomic symbol on its forehead. Linda reached for the mask and it crumbled away, revealing a second mask underneath. This mask showed the word "PANASONICA" across the forehead. Linda was disturbed and trampled around the field, taking a moment to calm down.
The party woke Kurt and sent him back home to Higginsville. Delving into the Minister's records, they found an insane story, in which an amnesiac Minister found himself wandering the waste, thinking of Chicago. He presumed that something about Chicago must mean he was an important member of the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel. Finding a natural facility with chemistry, the Minister synthesized Loose Juice, possessed with a mission to get the world addicted to it. Mouse took the recipe for Loose Juice and the group left.
While leaving, Mister Man indicated that the day before he had received an alert from his Diagnostic Mod. The robotic unit was constantly recording the health information of the people around him. Over the past three weeks, it noticed that Mouse had been eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet. The Diagnostic Mod expected him to gain 2.9 pounds, but Mouse had gained no weight whatsoever. The Mod recommended that Mister Man check Mouse for parasites or bulimia nervosa. The robot checked his appearance, feces, teeth and blood, but found no irregularities. Mouse seemed able to eat a higher number of calories with no apparent health effects. He noted that he had always had a small frame, and the group continued on their way...
Next Session: SESSION 11: THE SKINS OF FOLK AND BEASTS
Rewards Granted
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Report Date
11 Jul 2021
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