SESSION 68: THE HOUSE ALWAYS VOTES: A MUSICAL
General Summary
Previous Session: SESSION 67: SQUIRREL!
Next Session: SESSION 69: MOUNT VERNON
Players: The Fellowship of the Doing the Things, Andy, Lex Garridan, Morag, Patch Radam
September 4th, 2317
(Adventure Day 133)
In a secluded alley in White Squirrel (a village in the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel) five Enclave affiliate operators and Agent Ashur Gao were dead, caught off-guard by the party's ambush. Railyn, a local smuggler stood in shock at her brutal rescue. Lex and Patch questioned her about her business as the others picked over the Enclave goons for loot.
She was a bit confused about her own operation, but eventually described how Betsy the Triumphant would approach her personally, requesting ammunition or combat chems. Railyn would then go to a ghoul named Justine at Shred Guts Guns in The Rustlands, where there are no restrictions on chems or munitions. She would set up a drop, and then Justine's ghouls would load up a boat on the radioactive Wabash River and place their cargo at a new location every time - usually in the old Forest Glen Preserve. Railyn would guide the Enclave personnel to the drop point and take her pay there.
The team asked why her customers had kidnapped her, and Railyn explained that she and Hahn had stopped smuggling for the Enclave. General Lucan, leader of the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel, had declared a shoot-on-sight order for all members of the Enclave. And now there was a war, it was all too much heat. Hahn and Railyn wanted to pause for a while, but Betsy wouldn't accept that. She wanted more supplies than ever, and had Railyn kidnapped to force her to continue smuggling.
Arminius found Enclave orders and an electronic key card on Agent Gao's body, relating to Betsy's stronghold at Americus, Indiana. Everyone left the gruesome scene and headed over to the Old Knopp Building to reconvene with Hahn. The smuggler offered them a reward in caps, but they negotiated to take two special Capitol Corrector grenades instead. Hahn and Railyn thanked the party again and they moved on.
They had told Bricker the merchant that they could help her with a delicate situation, whereby they would get into Room 4 of the Holiday Hotel and retrieve her misplaced underwear. But they wanted to wait for the cover of night, so they walked over to the Rucker Trucker Amphitheatre, where they found a well-dressed gentleman named Dontrell pacing around. They asked about the Robert House musical and were informed that the long-running show was entitled "The House Always Wins: A Musical." Dontrell was the theatre's producer and also the show's writer. Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday afternoon and there would be no performance until the following night. The party pressed Dontrell and he admitted that the company were running a dress rehearsal in half and hour. He could let them in at a discounted price, but they'd have to be quiet. And the production might be halted if there was something the director wanted to correct.
The party sat in the empty pre-war theatre and watched the musical. It depicted a fictional version of the life of Robert House. The show began with a young House inventing a robot in a humble garage and climbing to be the world's richest man. This was followed by an entire musical number dramatizing how Robert House had used his power and influence to crush Arthur Schlockett and keep his SchlockettBots from ever being successful. Andy was roused to applause by the sympathetic depiction of Schlockett. The group had to quiet him so as not to bother the performers.
The next number showed Robert House seeing that nuclear war had become inevitable and preparing for the bombs to drop. And this was followed by a scene depicting the Great War. Chinese ICBMs targeting Las Vegas were shot down by House's personal defense system, but the rest of America was left in ruins. And 200 years later, the preserved New Vegas became a target for both the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion. This was depicted with a musical number featuring Caesar Edward personally dueling with an NCR general in front of a matte painting of the Hoover Dam.
The final act of the show began with scene set beneath the Lucky 38 casino in New Vegas. There, the Courier handed over the precious Platinum Chip to a techno-mummified Robert House. This hideous Robert House explained, in song, that this chip was all he needed to activate his army of Securitron robots. With it, he repelled the NCR and decimated the Legion's forces. The final number of the piece was set in the Lucky 38's control room, in the year 2300. The Courier, now a wiser man, war racked with remorse for collaborating with the tyrannical Robert House. In a final act of defiance, The Courier would use House's own technology against him. He lifted up a small device and explained, in song, that he would now destroy New Vegas once and for all, to atone for his sins. And with that, the show ended in a dramatic blackout.
The party greeted Dontrell afterward and told him that they had enjoyed the show. He admitted that he knew very little about the actual life of Robert House, and that most of the show had been a product of his imagination. Dontrell was shocked to discover that Arthur Schlockett had been a real historical figure, presuming that he was just another legend. Andy remarked that the other SchlockettBots would love to see this show, and the theatre producer noted that they were glad to give group discounts. They got to talking more about the lives of Robert House and Arthur Schlockett, and Dontrell was convinced that it would be worth writing a second show based on the life of Arthur Schlockett. Andy could talk forever about Schlockett, but Dontrell had work to do, so they parted.
After that, the party went to the local bazaar to do some cooking and crafting. An hour later, Lex had a new helmet and they had 24 bowls of hot, invigorating radcacoonie stew. With some time left before nightfall, Arminius lead Lex and Morag in some Legion exercises, slowly learning their battle discipline.
With the sun finally going down, they returned to the Holiday Hotel. Room 4 was clearly locked and with the explosives they had set off earlier in the shanty town, they wanted to keep a low profile. Morag gave Patch a bottle of wine and set him to distracting the innkeeper, a ghoul woman named Heron. Morag led Lex and Andy quietly to Room 4 so that Andy could use his lockpicking skills. Meanwhile, Patch used his charms on Heron, trying to engage her in some appealing conversation. Heron was a harsh and inelegant person, having spent centuries in the savage wasteland. The doctor's overtures were much too subtle for such a rough character.
Andy got the door open, and the search began. They quickly found the underwear in question, but Morag wanted to be thorough. The hotel room had clearly gone unused, save for the bed. Mayor Newport and Bricker had rented the unit to keep their tryst secret from his wife, Scribe Newport. With the job fulfilled, the group left the Holiday Hotel and found Bricker at her shop in the bazaar. Bricker was grateful and offered them 75 caps for their services, which they talked up to an even 100.
Andy had been dazzled by the musical at the Rucker Trucker Amphitheater. He thought that the other SchlockettBots back in All-American City would want to see the show. And if Mr. Dontrell wrote a whole Schlockett show, all of them would want to come and see. He asked the party for some money to hire a courier to go back to Missouri and tell them. The party agreed and so Andy paid Loretta, a mercenary, to travel on her bicycle to All-American City with a message. As she would be traveling through Gamma Town, Emancipation, Gravestone and several other locations familiar to Lex, Linda and Patch, they loaded her up with letters and no extra cost.
It had been an eventful day and they retired to their hotel rooms, though Annalynn chose to sleep in the van to make sure it was guarded.
September 5th, 2317
(Adventure Day 134)
The party awoke before dawn. Arminius, Morag and Lex got in some more Legion training before the group set off.
Their first stop was the Piankashaw region of Southern Illinois. Stopping by a small waterfall, the group could hear a voice echoing through a tight ravine. Their view was obstructed by the tight cliffs, so they pulled their van around to get a closer look. They came upon a frightening scene. A lone Mister Handy robot had been cornered by the side of the waterfall, a rock wall stopping its progress on one side. And blocking its escape route were six young deathclaws, pacing around in a predatory manner. Morag took one look at the creatures and told the party to flee. These weren't sentient, talking deathclaws like Bogo the clown or Cinder the blacksmith, these were wild animals, carnivorous and territorial. They piled back into the van named Halen. It saddened them to leave the Mister Handy to its fate, but they needed to pick their battles.
An hour on the road later, they reached the Hooch House. The building had been a pre-war roadhouse and was continuing the tradition. The place was equally close to the villages of Mount Vernon, White Squirrel and Burnt Prairie, and enjoyed a lot of traffic. But it was only 9am and generally too early for drinking. The party noticed two automated gun turrets on the roof of the place, but still entered the establishment. They were greeted by Marc Calhoun a server, bartender and barker for The Rails Fighthouse. Marc enthusiastically informed them that the Hooch House was a licensed subsidiary of The Rails Fighthouse, where all the best combat sports in the wasteland could be enjoyed and bet on. The party quickly lost patience with him, just ordering some roast corn for breakfast and asking him to leave them be. When he delivered the food, he tried to sell them expensive tickets to The Rails Fighthouse V.I.P. experience. The party declined, Lex remembered that the last time she accepted a V.I.P. ticket, it had been to the Anheiser Booch Brewery in St. Louis. While down in the cool caverns below the brewery, on the V.I.P. tour, a nuclear device blew up the city. (SESSION 02: THE ST. LOUIS SUMMIT) As soon as they had finished eating, they left.
They were drawing closer to Orchardville, and Annalynn took a moment to thank the party. She didn't know if these Midwest Responders would take a Capitol Responder like her, but the party had been a great help to her. And Anna had seen the party help people out of the goodness of their hearts, just like a Responder would.
The van named Halen pulled into Orchardville while it was still morning. In the small ring of rebuilt pre-war homes, they could see that the local Responders were having some sort of community meeting. A middle-aged man was addressing about twenty-five people. He noticed the party approach, and introduced himself as Darren, the leader here. He said that they were welcome, but that the group had some important business. He announced that Dominica, a special agent of The Capitol, had left a locked box here and said not to open until Wednesday. The day had come, and Darren wanted to see what was inside. Great Leader hated the Responders, so it must be something awful, but it might also be important.
Patch stopped Darren from opening the box and offered to inspect it. The doctor looked it over and it appeared relatively harmless. So, Darren opened it and revealed a bag of 500 caps and a note. The note was from Great Leader herself. It demanded that the Responders should refrain from helping Dixie in any way, a choice that she promised to reward. She also threatened that if they defied her, she would make them suffer. The crowd murmured. A woman named Alana, the combat leader of the group, told the crowd that The Capitol was too great a threat for them, and that they should keep to their own business. Darren announced that in two hours, they would hold a public vote. They would decide on a course of action with a count of hands.
Annalynn was furious that they would even consider capitulating to Great Leader's demands. They were Responders like her, but an off-shoot group who had fled The Capitol for safety. Anna asked the party to help her convince these people to vote to help and they agreed. One by one, the party approached the Responders and convinced them. Young Tanya had never been to The Capitol and needed to be convinced of their evil. Jazz needed to hear that The Commonwealth were joining the war to believe that victory was even possible. Adam just seemed scared of a massive fight. Only Fred seemed determined to stand up to The Capitol.
When they approached Alana, the community’s best fighter, she accused them of being rich hobbyists. She said that their expensive gear proved they had no idea how to fight, and she challenged the show their skill at the firing range. The Responders had a very difficult shooting challenge, where tiny, motorized targets would spin and weave. Some of the targets were enemies to shoot while others were allies which had to be spared. Lex and Morag worked as a team, Morag sighting the targets and Lex picking them off. Together, they won a new record high score for the range. Alana was so impressed that she decided there was hope in the Midwest after all.
This just left Darren who looked troubled. He remarked that he didn't want to be another Robert MacCready. MacCready had grown up in The Capitol, but left to go to Boston, where he became a great hero for The Commonwealth Minutemen. But when he heard that the land of his birth had fallen to tyranny, he returned and began an uprising. The Responders had flocked to his cause. And it was going well until a woman named Wyatt joined the group. She seduced MacCready and led him into a trap. Darren had been one of the rebels taken in the ambush on MacCready. They were all taken to the national mall in Pentagon, where Robert was sentenced to death for treason.
After the establishment of the Project Purity water purifier, The Capitol had proudly kept the national mall's reflecting pool filled with pure, non-irradiated water. An old bathtub was brought out and set close to the water. MacCready was wrapped in heavy chains and placed in the bathtub. Then a crowd of on-looker, ordinary citizens of The Capitol, were given small glasses. One by one, people filled their cup with pure water and threw it on to the condemned prisoner. MacCready screamed and begged, sloshing the water out of the tub that they had poured in. But the line of people just kept coming, hundreds of them. Eventually, the Minutemen hero became too exhausted to fight back and he drowned, killed not by a single executioner, but by the shared hands of the people of The Capitol. He had tried to overthrow Great Leader but had only strengthened the public perception that she was omnipotent over her lands. Darren had seen the whole thing, and he didn't want his life to end like that. He would be proud to die fighting Great Leader, but not if it meant becoming another piece of propaganda for her.
The party were suspicious as to how Agent Dominica had known to come here and leave the box. Even the Responders had mentioned that the situation was suspicious and might indicate a spy. Lex reached out and looked into Darren's mind, trying to find clues. He didn't know anything about a Capitol spy, but he had once heard a story in The Capitol about Great Leader and the founding of The Capitol. It was said that Elder Arthur Maxson had taken all of the Capital Wasteland's military resources to Boston to destroy The Institute. And instead, the Minutemen and the Railroad had killed him. The Capital Brotherhood expeditionary force had been decimated. Back in the Citadel, there were very few command officers left, all of them kept from the Boston mission for incompetence.
Mirabelle Aditi was a simple Scribe, shuffling documents and assisting the various knight-majors and knight-captains. Day after day, the officers did nothing while their people suffered from humiliation and fear. And every day, Mirabelle made their tea, shined their shoes and handed them documents that they never read. One day, she had had enough. She manipulated the schedule to bring every command officer into one meeting, and there she poisoned the entire group of them. After personally executing the few survivors, she was the last person with a Brotherhood officer rank left in the city. She called on the enlisted soldiers of the Capital Brotherhood to follow her reforms, and The Capitol was born.
Darren deeply feared Great Leader and admitted that he was waiting for her to make a mistake. The party assured him that that would never happen, he had to fight now. He was convinced, and soon it was time for the vote. As the Responders gathered, Arminius prepared to give a rousing speech. But he was interrupted by Fred, who called to the crowd to listen to him.
Fred shouted excitedly, "The newcomers are Enclave agents! They tried to bribe me to vote to fight The Capitol! The Enclave is trying to destroy us! They're Enclave!"
It was a tense situation. The party were standing in a bewildered crowd of twenty-five well-armed and competent fighters...
Next Session: SESSION 69: MOUNT VERNON
Next Session: SESSION 69: MOUNT VERNON
Players: The Fellowship of the Doing the Things, Andy, Lex Garridan, Morag, Patch Radam
September 4th, 2317
(Adventure Day 133)
In a secluded alley in White Squirrel (a village in the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel) five Enclave affiliate operators and Agent Ashur Gao were dead, caught off-guard by the party's ambush. Railyn, a local smuggler stood in shock at her brutal rescue. Lex and Patch questioned her about her business as the others picked over the Enclave goons for loot.
She was a bit confused about her own operation, but eventually described how Betsy the Triumphant would approach her personally, requesting ammunition or combat chems. Railyn would then go to a ghoul named Justine at Shred Guts Guns in The Rustlands, where there are no restrictions on chems or munitions. She would set up a drop, and then Justine's ghouls would load up a boat on the radioactive Wabash River and place their cargo at a new location every time - usually in the old Forest Glen Preserve. Railyn would guide the Enclave personnel to the drop point and take her pay there.
The team asked why her customers had kidnapped her, and Railyn explained that she and Hahn had stopped smuggling for the Enclave. General Lucan, leader of the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel, had declared a shoot-on-sight order for all members of the Enclave. And now there was a war, it was all too much heat. Hahn and Railyn wanted to pause for a while, but Betsy wouldn't accept that. She wanted more supplies than ever, and had Railyn kidnapped to force her to continue smuggling.
Arminius found Enclave orders and an electronic key card on Agent Gao's body, relating to Betsy's stronghold at Americus, Indiana. Everyone left the gruesome scene and headed over to the Old Knopp Building to reconvene with Hahn. The smuggler offered them a reward in caps, but they negotiated to take two special Capitol Corrector grenades instead. Hahn and Railyn thanked the party again and they moved on.
They had told Bricker the merchant that they could help her with a delicate situation, whereby they would get into Room 4 of the Holiday Hotel and retrieve her misplaced underwear. But they wanted to wait for the cover of night, so they walked over to the Rucker Trucker Amphitheatre, where they found a well-dressed gentleman named Dontrell pacing around. They asked about the Robert House musical and were informed that the long-running show was entitled "The House Always Wins: A Musical." Dontrell was the theatre's producer and also the show's writer. Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday afternoon and there would be no performance until the following night. The party pressed Dontrell and he admitted that the company were running a dress rehearsal in half and hour. He could let them in at a discounted price, but they'd have to be quiet. And the production might be halted if there was something the director wanted to correct.
The party sat in the empty pre-war theatre and watched the musical. It depicted a fictional version of the life of Robert House. The show began with a young House inventing a robot in a humble garage and climbing to be the world's richest man. This was followed by an entire musical number dramatizing how Robert House had used his power and influence to crush Arthur Schlockett and keep his SchlockettBots from ever being successful. Andy was roused to applause by the sympathetic depiction of Schlockett. The group had to quiet him so as not to bother the performers.
The next number showed Robert House seeing that nuclear war had become inevitable and preparing for the bombs to drop. And this was followed by a scene depicting the Great War. Chinese ICBMs targeting Las Vegas were shot down by House's personal defense system, but the rest of America was left in ruins. And 200 years later, the preserved New Vegas became a target for both the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion. This was depicted with a musical number featuring Caesar Edward personally dueling with an NCR general in front of a matte painting of the Hoover Dam.
The final act of the show began with scene set beneath the Lucky 38 casino in New Vegas. There, the Courier handed over the precious Platinum Chip to a techno-mummified Robert House. This hideous Robert House explained, in song, that this chip was all he needed to activate his army of Securitron robots. With it, he repelled the NCR and decimated the Legion's forces. The final number of the piece was set in the Lucky 38's control room, in the year 2300. The Courier, now a wiser man, war racked with remorse for collaborating with the tyrannical Robert House. In a final act of defiance, The Courier would use House's own technology against him. He lifted up a small device and explained, in song, that he would now destroy New Vegas once and for all, to atone for his sins. And with that, the show ended in a dramatic blackout.
The party greeted Dontrell afterward and told him that they had enjoyed the show. He admitted that he knew very little about the actual life of Robert House, and that most of the show had been a product of his imagination. Dontrell was shocked to discover that Arthur Schlockett had been a real historical figure, presuming that he was just another legend. Andy remarked that the other SchlockettBots would love to see this show, and the theatre producer noted that they were glad to give group discounts. They got to talking more about the lives of Robert House and Arthur Schlockett, and Dontrell was convinced that it would be worth writing a second show based on the life of Arthur Schlockett. Andy could talk forever about Schlockett, but Dontrell had work to do, so they parted.
After that, the party went to the local bazaar to do some cooking and crafting. An hour later, Lex had a new helmet and they had 24 bowls of hot, invigorating radcacoonie stew. With some time left before nightfall, Arminius lead Lex and Morag in some Legion exercises, slowly learning their battle discipline.
With the sun finally going down, they returned to the Holiday Hotel. Room 4 was clearly locked and with the explosives they had set off earlier in the shanty town, they wanted to keep a low profile. Morag gave Patch a bottle of wine and set him to distracting the innkeeper, a ghoul woman named Heron. Morag led Lex and Andy quietly to Room 4 so that Andy could use his lockpicking skills. Meanwhile, Patch used his charms on Heron, trying to engage her in some appealing conversation. Heron was a harsh and inelegant person, having spent centuries in the savage wasteland. The doctor's overtures were much too subtle for such a rough character.
Andy got the door open, and the search began. They quickly found the underwear in question, but Morag wanted to be thorough. The hotel room had clearly gone unused, save for the bed. Mayor Newport and Bricker had rented the unit to keep their tryst secret from his wife, Scribe Newport. With the job fulfilled, the group left the Holiday Hotel and found Bricker at her shop in the bazaar. Bricker was grateful and offered them 75 caps for their services, which they talked up to an even 100.
Andy had been dazzled by the musical at the Rucker Trucker Amphitheater. He thought that the other SchlockettBots back in All-American City would want to see the show. And if Mr. Dontrell wrote a whole Schlockett show, all of them would want to come and see. He asked the party for some money to hire a courier to go back to Missouri and tell them. The party agreed and so Andy paid Loretta, a mercenary, to travel on her bicycle to All-American City with a message. As she would be traveling through Gamma Town, Emancipation, Gravestone and several other locations familiar to Lex, Linda and Patch, they loaded her up with letters and no extra cost.
It had been an eventful day and they retired to their hotel rooms, though Annalynn chose to sleep in the van to make sure it was guarded.
September 5th, 2317
(Adventure Day 134)
The party awoke before dawn. Arminius, Morag and Lex got in some more Legion training before the group set off.
Their first stop was the Piankashaw region of Southern Illinois. Stopping by a small waterfall, the group could hear a voice echoing through a tight ravine. Their view was obstructed by the tight cliffs, so they pulled their van around to get a closer look. They came upon a frightening scene. A lone Mister Handy robot had been cornered by the side of the waterfall, a rock wall stopping its progress on one side. And blocking its escape route were six young deathclaws, pacing around in a predatory manner. Morag took one look at the creatures and told the party to flee. These weren't sentient, talking deathclaws like Bogo the clown or Cinder the blacksmith, these were wild animals, carnivorous and territorial. They piled back into the van named Halen. It saddened them to leave the Mister Handy to its fate, but they needed to pick their battles.
An hour on the road later, they reached the Hooch House. The building had been a pre-war roadhouse and was continuing the tradition. The place was equally close to the villages of Mount Vernon, White Squirrel and Burnt Prairie, and enjoyed a lot of traffic. But it was only 9am and generally too early for drinking. The party noticed two automated gun turrets on the roof of the place, but still entered the establishment. They were greeted by Marc Calhoun a server, bartender and barker for The Rails Fighthouse. Marc enthusiastically informed them that the Hooch House was a licensed subsidiary of The Rails Fighthouse, where all the best combat sports in the wasteland could be enjoyed and bet on. The party quickly lost patience with him, just ordering some roast corn for breakfast and asking him to leave them be. When he delivered the food, he tried to sell them expensive tickets to The Rails Fighthouse V.I.P. experience. The party declined, Lex remembered that the last time she accepted a V.I.P. ticket, it had been to the Anheiser Booch Brewery in St. Louis. While down in the cool caverns below the brewery, on the V.I.P. tour, a nuclear device blew up the city. (SESSION 02: THE ST. LOUIS SUMMIT) As soon as they had finished eating, they left.
They were drawing closer to Orchardville, and Annalynn took a moment to thank the party. She didn't know if these Midwest Responders would take a Capitol Responder like her, but the party had been a great help to her. And Anna had seen the party help people out of the goodness of their hearts, just like a Responder would.
The van named Halen pulled into Orchardville while it was still morning. In the small ring of rebuilt pre-war homes, they could see that the local Responders were having some sort of community meeting. A middle-aged man was addressing about twenty-five people. He noticed the party approach, and introduced himself as Darren, the leader here. He said that they were welcome, but that the group had some important business. He announced that Dominica, a special agent of The Capitol, had left a locked box here and said not to open until Wednesday. The day had come, and Darren wanted to see what was inside. Great Leader hated the Responders, so it must be something awful, but it might also be important.
Patch stopped Darren from opening the box and offered to inspect it. The doctor looked it over and it appeared relatively harmless. So, Darren opened it and revealed a bag of 500 caps and a note. The note was from Great Leader herself. It demanded that the Responders should refrain from helping Dixie in any way, a choice that she promised to reward. She also threatened that if they defied her, she would make them suffer. The crowd murmured. A woman named Alana, the combat leader of the group, told the crowd that The Capitol was too great a threat for them, and that they should keep to their own business. Darren announced that in two hours, they would hold a public vote. They would decide on a course of action with a count of hands.
Annalynn was furious that they would even consider capitulating to Great Leader's demands. They were Responders like her, but an off-shoot group who had fled The Capitol for safety. Anna asked the party to help her convince these people to vote to help and they agreed. One by one, the party approached the Responders and convinced them. Young Tanya had never been to The Capitol and needed to be convinced of their evil. Jazz needed to hear that The Commonwealth were joining the war to believe that victory was even possible. Adam just seemed scared of a massive fight. Only Fred seemed determined to stand up to The Capitol.
When they approached Alana, the community’s best fighter, she accused them of being rich hobbyists. She said that their expensive gear proved they had no idea how to fight, and she challenged the show their skill at the firing range. The Responders had a very difficult shooting challenge, where tiny, motorized targets would spin and weave. Some of the targets were enemies to shoot while others were allies which had to be spared. Lex and Morag worked as a team, Morag sighting the targets and Lex picking them off. Together, they won a new record high score for the range. Alana was so impressed that she decided there was hope in the Midwest after all.
This just left Darren who looked troubled. He remarked that he didn't want to be another Robert MacCready. MacCready had grown up in The Capitol, but left to go to Boston, where he became a great hero for The Commonwealth Minutemen. But when he heard that the land of his birth had fallen to tyranny, he returned and began an uprising. The Responders had flocked to his cause. And it was going well until a woman named Wyatt joined the group. She seduced MacCready and led him into a trap. Darren had been one of the rebels taken in the ambush on MacCready. They were all taken to the national mall in Pentagon, where Robert was sentenced to death for treason.
After the establishment of the Project Purity water purifier, The Capitol had proudly kept the national mall's reflecting pool filled with pure, non-irradiated water. An old bathtub was brought out and set close to the water. MacCready was wrapped in heavy chains and placed in the bathtub. Then a crowd of on-looker, ordinary citizens of The Capitol, were given small glasses. One by one, people filled their cup with pure water and threw it on to the condemned prisoner. MacCready screamed and begged, sloshing the water out of the tub that they had poured in. But the line of people just kept coming, hundreds of them. Eventually, the Minutemen hero became too exhausted to fight back and he drowned, killed not by a single executioner, but by the shared hands of the people of The Capitol. He had tried to overthrow Great Leader but had only strengthened the public perception that she was omnipotent over her lands. Darren had seen the whole thing, and he didn't want his life to end like that. He would be proud to die fighting Great Leader, but not if it meant becoming another piece of propaganda for her.
The party were suspicious as to how Agent Dominica had known to come here and leave the box. Even the Responders had mentioned that the situation was suspicious and might indicate a spy. Lex reached out and looked into Darren's mind, trying to find clues. He didn't know anything about a Capitol spy, but he had once heard a story in The Capitol about Great Leader and the founding of The Capitol. It was said that Elder Arthur Maxson had taken all of the Capital Wasteland's military resources to Boston to destroy The Institute. And instead, the Minutemen and the Railroad had killed him. The Capital Brotherhood expeditionary force had been decimated. Back in the Citadel, there were very few command officers left, all of them kept from the Boston mission for incompetence.
Mirabelle Aditi was a simple Scribe, shuffling documents and assisting the various knight-majors and knight-captains. Day after day, the officers did nothing while their people suffered from humiliation and fear. And every day, Mirabelle made their tea, shined their shoes and handed them documents that they never read. One day, she had had enough. She manipulated the schedule to bring every command officer into one meeting, and there she poisoned the entire group of them. After personally executing the few survivors, she was the last person with a Brotherhood officer rank left in the city. She called on the enlisted soldiers of the Capital Brotherhood to follow her reforms, and The Capitol was born.
Darren deeply feared Great Leader and admitted that he was waiting for her to make a mistake. The party assured him that that would never happen, he had to fight now. He was convinced, and soon it was time for the vote. As the Responders gathered, Arminius prepared to give a rousing speech. But he was interrupted by Fred, who called to the crowd to listen to him.
Fred shouted excitedly, "The newcomers are Enclave agents! They tried to bribe me to vote to fight The Capitol! The Enclave is trying to destroy us! They're Enclave!"
It was a tense situation. The party were standing in a bewildered crowd of twenty-five well-armed and competent fighters...
Next Session: SESSION 69: MOUNT VERNON
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Report Date
15 Apr 2023
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