SESSION 62: CHATTERBOX TED AND THE DEAD ROAD RAIDERS
General Summary
Previous Session: SESSION 61: POUND OF SCRAP
Next Session: SESSION 63: GO MIDWEST
Players: The Fellowship of the Doing the Things, Andy, Arminius, Linda, Morag
*September 2nd, 2317*
(Adventure Day 131)
Having escaped the clutches of Colonel Braxton and the army of The Capitol, the party continued heading north in their Leutteschlitten Adventure Van named Halen. They were looking to cross the irradiated Wabash River at the only stable bridge at Torn Hope. But first they had to cross the Hazelton Bridge over the White River, a well-patrolled crossing on a busy Capitol highway. The group drew close carefully. As they drove across the bridge, a rusty pickup truck approached from the opposite direction. The vehicle looked innocent enough, a driver and passenger with a single long gun between them. But suddenly, the truck veered to the left, cutting off the path across the bridge.
An ambush had begun; three raider war bikes pulled out from the forest behind the van. The party were trapped between the truck and the bikes. Lex pulled the van over, waiting in a good position for the imminent fight. Morag lined up a shot with Beau, and took out a raider gunner sitting in one of the war bike's sidecars. Arminius, noticing there was still a great distance to the enemies, drew his entanglement impeller and shot another. Linda held to this strategy, retrieving her energy weapon Harmony and firing a long-distance shot which blew up the sidecar of one of the attacking war bikes.
The raiders became desperate, pulling forward and damaging the van with rifle shots. The driver of the raider pickup truck noticed that the battle wasn't going well for his comrades. He hit the gas and plowed toward the van, ready to ram the party to death. Linda reacted quickly. She kicked open the back door of the van, retrieved her minigun and released a cloud of 5mm fire. The truck exploded in a fireball, but it's burning hull still lurched ahead at thirty miles and hour. Not wanting to be rammed, Lex moved the van out of the path of the flaming wreckage just in time.
And by then only one raider was alive, lying on the bridge injured. Arminius stepped out of the vehicle and approached the last raider. The bandit pleaded, explaining that life in these parts was hard. They had to rob people to survive. The once esteemed Legion Impavidae lifted the raider to his feet and walked him to the edge of the bridge.
“Well, it’s been fun,” Arminius said coldly as he shot the bandit in the back with an Incendiary Laser Gun, igniting him in energetic fire. The raider screamed with pain as he burned. Arminius kicked the flaming man off of the bridge, his agony ended by a brutal collision with the water below.
Andy looked on quizzically and asked, "Mister Arminius, why did you do that?"
"It's been a long day, Andy," Arminius answered, "And he was a bad man."
Andy thought and said, "If I meet a bad man, should I set him on fire and throw him off a bridge?"
The party insisted that Andy should not light anyone on fire and throw them off a bridge. This area was regularly patrolled, so the party worked quickly to gather what they could. The raider's truck had been entirely wrecked, and their bikes were cheap, inconvenient things. But there was some ammunition, crude armour and Flamer Fuel worth taking, so they salvaged that and left.
The regional map showed the next stop on the highway was a place called Fort Vincennes, which sounded like a hub of Capitol Army activity. So, the group drove miles around that area, instead stopping at Walker Cemetery to do some scavenging. There were a few interesting items, chems and alcohol, but nothing to write home about. They drove on to Chatterbox Diner, making sure to recon the area for ambushes or Capitol patrols. It seemed like a simple highway stop, a restaurant with a single stream of smoke pouring from its chimney. Janae the scavenger at Bull Island had told them that this place was owned by a woman named Taryn who might be able to sell them biodiesel for the van.
The party took a chance and walked into the diner directly. They found Taryn working the restaurant by herself. The party asked if they could buy biodiesel, and Taryn asked to see their papers. The only Capitol document they had was Iriving's merchant license and merchant invitation, both specifically mentioning that they were issued to a Mister Handy robot with a purple chassis. Arminius asked if there was something they could trade as a substitute for papers, and Taryn said that there was something they could do. The Capitol Army, preparing for the invasion of Dixie, had conscripted most of the young, able-bodied people of the region, which included all of her cooks. If any of the party could stay with her for a three-month contract, she would be glad to trade biodiesel with them. None of the group wanted to become a short order cook at a backwoods restaurant in The Capitol, so Taryn offered an alternative. There was a strange man who lived nearby, who routinely searched through Taryn's garbage for food. Taryn had tried to talk to this person, to give him an actual meal, and offer him a job at the Chatterbox. But the strange individual always ran away, going back into the woods, presumably where he lived. The party said they could find and negotiate with this person, and Taryn gave them a description.
Morag and Linda led the party deep into the Redbird Woods, following a well-worn trail where this person had walked to the diner many times over the last few months. But at one point, the tracks stopped. Whoever this was, they were clever with their trail, expertly covering their tracks. There was no sign of anyone nearby, and with no trail to follow the party considered quitting. But they felt the job was important enough to keep trying. They began building a blind to camouflage themselves. While covered, they could wait here by the trail for the next time that this person went to dumpster dive at the Chatterbox Diner.
"Hey, I know you, I guess," a man's voice said from nearby. The party spun around to find a man in plain clothes with a flat expression on his face. Linda recognized that this was Ted, one of the test subjects she had been locked up with in the Scary Place. Ted was awkward and socially evasive, speaking bluntly. He said he was glad to see Linda alive. When their group had escaped Dr. Harding's lab, they had split into groups in order to increase their chances of escape. Ted had paired of with Krystal the ghoul and headed northward toward Iowa. Apparently, Krystal had family there that could help them. But Dr. Harding's Enclave goons had caught them, and they were once again subjected to Dr. Harding's experiments. Krystal had been the focus of many of the lab's efforts, and she had died under the strain. But one day, Dr. Harding seemed to get some bad news and simply ran away. All of the Enclave staff had abandoned their new lab, leaving the test subjects to fend for themselves. Ted had walked here, to a remote region of The Capitol where he hoped he would go unnoticed.
"Oh, hey, you have an Entanglement Impeller," Ted said, noticing Arminius's strange weapon. "How do you like it?"
Arminius explained that he valued the weapon greatly and Ted noted that it was some of his best work, especially because he was still a child when he had invented it. The party was bit shocked, and Arminius asked if Ted could upgrade the weapon. Ted politely refused, relaying that he had spent his entire childhood making weapons for The Enclave, and would like to avoid making weapons ever again. The party said they understood and asked if Ted wanted a job at the Chatterbox Diner, which included room, board and pay. Ted answered that with Dr. Harding after him, any connections he made would be dangerous to the people around him. Taryn seemed nice, and if the Enclave came for him, she might be harmed just like Krystal and so many others had. The party sympathized and offered a compromise whereby Ted could cook and pick-up resources from the back of the diner, all while living in the woods and keeping a safe distance from Taryn. Ted agreed.
Taryn was a bit quizzical about the arrangement, worried that the strange Ted might be dangerously crazy. But the party put her mind at ease, vouching for him. Taryn promised to give him food and regular pay, and said that it wouldn't be arduous for her to buy things for him while she was in Torn Hope or Evansville shopping for herself. It seemed like a good arrangement. The party bought a full tank's worth of biodiesel and left the Chatterbox Diner.
They drove deeper into the Redbird Woods where they found a collection of vacation cabins. They looted the place, gathering some simple items and a few precious .600 Nitro Express bullets. Looking at the map, they could see that they were drawing close to Torn Hope, a city of 1300 citizens and a Capitol stronghold. But it was also the home of the only stable bridge across the Wabash River, the gateway back to the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel. It had only been three days since the war broke out, and the only news they had heard was when Jannae told them that The Capitol were advancing on the city of Birmingham. They had no idea how the other nations were reacting, nor the involvement of independent groups like The Enclave, Followers of the Apocalypse or Puppetmaster. Professor Gritch had been very invested in traveling to Mount Vernon, the largest Midwest Brotherhood of Steel base in the region. He had been sure that the Brotherhood would give him a free ride back to Vault 40. It seemed that was a good place to start.
But to get there, they would first have to get through Torn Hope. The looked at the map and saw that much of the region around the city was empty forest and ruin. They could easily drive right in, far from the scrutiny of patrols. But the most direct path led through a place right on the main highway called the Shelburn Brickworks.
The name seemed innocuous enough, but this was a strange land. They were drawing close to escape, and any setback this close to victory would be tragic...
Next Session: SESSION 63: GO MIDWEST
Next Session: SESSION 63: GO MIDWEST
Players: The Fellowship of the Doing the Things, Andy, Arminius, Linda, Morag
*September 2nd, 2317*
(Adventure Day 131)
Having escaped the clutches of Colonel Braxton and the army of The Capitol, the party continued heading north in their Leutteschlitten Adventure Van named Halen. They were looking to cross the irradiated Wabash River at the only stable bridge at Torn Hope. But first they had to cross the Hazelton Bridge over the White River, a well-patrolled crossing on a busy Capitol highway. The group drew close carefully. As they drove across the bridge, a rusty pickup truck approached from the opposite direction. The vehicle looked innocent enough, a driver and passenger with a single long gun between them. But suddenly, the truck veered to the left, cutting off the path across the bridge.
An ambush had begun; three raider war bikes pulled out from the forest behind the van. The party were trapped between the truck and the bikes. Lex pulled the van over, waiting in a good position for the imminent fight. Morag lined up a shot with Beau, and took out a raider gunner sitting in one of the war bike's sidecars. Arminius, noticing there was still a great distance to the enemies, drew his entanglement impeller and shot another. Linda held to this strategy, retrieving her energy weapon Harmony and firing a long-distance shot which blew up the sidecar of one of the attacking war bikes.
The raiders became desperate, pulling forward and damaging the van with rifle shots. The driver of the raider pickup truck noticed that the battle wasn't going well for his comrades. He hit the gas and plowed toward the van, ready to ram the party to death. Linda reacted quickly. She kicked open the back door of the van, retrieved her minigun and released a cloud of 5mm fire. The truck exploded in a fireball, but it's burning hull still lurched ahead at thirty miles and hour. Not wanting to be rammed, Lex moved the van out of the path of the flaming wreckage just in time.
And by then only one raider was alive, lying on the bridge injured. Arminius stepped out of the vehicle and approached the last raider. The bandit pleaded, explaining that life in these parts was hard. They had to rob people to survive. The once esteemed Legion Impavidae lifted the raider to his feet and walked him to the edge of the bridge.
“Well, it’s been fun,” Arminius said coldly as he shot the bandit in the back with an Incendiary Laser Gun, igniting him in energetic fire. The raider screamed with pain as he burned. Arminius kicked the flaming man off of the bridge, his agony ended by a brutal collision with the water below.
Andy looked on quizzically and asked, "Mister Arminius, why did you do that?"
"It's been a long day, Andy," Arminius answered, "And he was a bad man."
Andy thought and said, "If I meet a bad man, should I set him on fire and throw him off a bridge?"
The party insisted that Andy should not light anyone on fire and throw them off a bridge. This area was regularly patrolled, so the party worked quickly to gather what they could. The raider's truck had been entirely wrecked, and their bikes were cheap, inconvenient things. But there was some ammunition, crude armour and Flamer Fuel worth taking, so they salvaged that and left.
The regional map showed the next stop on the highway was a place called Fort Vincennes, which sounded like a hub of Capitol Army activity. So, the group drove miles around that area, instead stopping at Walker Cemetery to do some scavenging. There were a few interesting items, chems and alcohol, but nothing to write home about. They drove on to Chatterbox Diner, making sure to recon the area for ambushes or Capitol patrols. It seemed like a simple highway stop, a restaurant with a single stream of smoke pouring from its chimney. Janae the scavenger at Bull Island had told them that this place was owned by a woman named Taryn who might be able to sell them biodiesel for the van.
The party took a chance and walked into the diner directly. They found Taryn working the restaurant by herself. The party asked if they could buy biodiesel, and Taryn asked to see their papers. The only Capitol document they had was Iriving's merchant license and merchant invitation, both specifically mentioning that they were issued to a Mister Handy robot with a purple chassis. Arminius asked if there was something they could trade as a substitute for papers, and Taryn said that there was something they could do. The Capitol Army, preparing for the invasion of Dixie, had conscripted most of the young, able-bodied people of the region, which included all of her cooks. If any of the party could stay with her for a three-month contract, she would be glad to trade biodiesel with them. None of the group wanted to become a short order cook at a backwoods restaurant in The Capitol, so Taryn offered an alternative. There was a strange man who lived nearby, who routinely searched through Taryn's garbage for food. Taryn had tried to talk to this person, to give him an actual meal, and offer him a job at the Chatterbox. But the strange individual always ran away, going back into the woods, presumably where he lived. The party said they could find and negotiate with this person, and Taryn gave them a description.
Morag and Linda led the party deep into the Redbird Woods, following a well-worn trail where this person had walked to the diner many times over the last few months. But at one point, the tracks stopped. Whoever this was, they were clever with their trail, expertly covering their tracks. There was no sign of anyone nearby, and with no trail to follow the party considered quitting. But they felt the job was important enough to keep trying. They began building a blind to camouflage themselves. While covered, they could wait here by the trail for the next time that this person went to dumpster dive at the Chatterbox Diner.
"Hey, I know you, I guess," a man's voice said from nearby. The party spun around to find a man in plain clothes with a flat expression on his face. Linda recognized that this was Ted, one of the test subjects she had been locked up with in the Scary Place. Ted was awkward and socially evasive, speaking bluntly. He said he was glad to see Linda alive. When their group had escaped Dr. Harding's lab, they had split into groups in order to increase their chances of escape. Ted had paired of with Krystal the ghoul and headed northward toward Iowa. Apparently, Krystal had family there that could help them. But Dr. Harding's Enclave goons had caught them, and they were once again subjected to Dr. Harding's experiments. Krystal had been the focus of many of the lab's efforts, and she had died under the strain. But one day, Dr. Harding seemed to get some bad news and simply ran away. All of the Enclave staff had abandoned their new lab, leaving the test subjects to fend for themselves. Ted had walked here, to a remote region of The Capitol where he hoped he would go unnoticed.
"Oh, hey, you have an Entanglement Impeller," Ted said, noticing Arminius's strange weapon. "How do you like it?"
Arminius explained that he valued the weapon greatly and Ted noted that it was some of his best work, especially because he was still a child when he had invented it. The party was bit shocked, and Arminius asked if Ted could upgrade the weapon. Ted politely refused, relaying that he had spent his entire childhood making weapons for The Enclave, and would like to avoid making weapons ever again. The party said they understood and asked if Ted wanted a job at the Chatterbox Diner, which included room, board and pay. Ted answered that with Dr. Harding after him, any connections he made would be dangerous to the people around him. Taryn seemed nice, and if the Enclave came for him, she might be harmed just like Krystal and so many others had. The party sympathized and offered a compromise whereby Ted could cook and pick-up resources from the back of the diner, all while living in the woods and keeping a safe distance from Taryn. Ted agreed.
Taryn was a bit quizzical about the arrangement, worried that the strange Ted might be dangerously crazy. But the party put her mind at ease, vouching for him. Taryn promised to give him food and regular pay, and said that it wouldn't be arduous for her to buy things for him while she was in Torn Hope or Evansville shopping for herself. It seemed like a good arrangement. The party bought a full tank's worth of biodiesel and left the Chatterbox Diner.
They drove deeper into the Redbird Woods where they found a collection of vacation cabins. They looted the place, gathering some simple items and a few precious .600 Nitro Express bullets. Looking at the map, they could see that they were drawing close to Torn Hope, a city of 1300 citizens and a Capitol stronghold. But it was also the home of the only stable bridge across the Wabash River, the gateway back to the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel. It had only been three days since the war broke out, and the only news they had heard was when Jannae told them that The Capitol were advancing on the city of Birmingham. They had no idea how the other nations were reacting, nor the involvement of independent groups like The Enclave, Followers of the Apocalypse or Puppetmaster. Professor Gritch had been very invested in traveling to Mount Vernon, the largest Midwest Brotherhood of Steel base in the region. He had been sure that the Brotherhood would give him a free ride back to Vault 40. It seemed that was a good place to start.
But to get there, they would first have to get through Torn Hope. The looked at the map and saw that much of the region around the city was empty forest and ruin. They could easily drive right in, far from the scrutiny of patrols. But the most direct path led through a place right on the main highway called the Shelburn Brickworks.
The name seemed innocuous enough, but this was a strange land. They were drawing close to escape, and any setback this close to victory would be tragic...
Next Session: SESSION 63: GO MIDWEST
Rewards Granted
Level 12: +1 HP, +1 Skill Rating, +1 Perk
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
25 Feb 2023
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