r-101

r- is set, at this stage, on the west coast of the United States, 4-8 years after an incomprehensively vast cataclysm destroyed human and animal populations, upending cities and plains alike the world over.  It happened so rapidly that nobody had time to work out the reasons why.  Now, some people might be trying, but it’s a hard world to do research in.

In Portland, people are still trying to live bohemian with savage killer gangs for neighbors and roving groups of incredibly hungry, desperate people passing through their communities.  If you dig deep enough you can find jagged and rusty gears of industry turning.  As some gangs start to grow larger than the mentality that spawned them to satisfy its delight in violence and animal comfort can accomodate, relationships between these gangs grow more complicated, and larger players start to take note.

The characters in order of appearance, along with their players’ main aliases, for non-players:

Jon Walker is cautious bordering on cowardice with good reason.  He’s anemic, unlucky and expects the worst of every path he takes, but survives because he doesn’t regard definite disaster as a reason not to try.  His attention to detail has kept him alive in spite of his teetering health.

Jon is played by the guy I know best as Alex, who is also Improvidence in chat and Kaylenn/Koren/that lot in Warcraft.

Bill Brogden has practice surviving like this.  He’s always been ready.  He’s always had a plan, and his plan has always included learning the truth about a plethora of international conspiracies, no matter how ill equipped he might be.  Combining years of knowledge gained as a military mechanic with the jury rigging perspective of a crazy guy stealing internet in the woods, he can fix nearly anything with nearly nothing.  He’s familiar to many for his broadcasts, which are filled with vivid outbursts on a broad range of subjects, and the equally vivid abuse he delivers to the unjust, the conspiratorial, and anybody who makes his life harder.

Bill is played by the person I know best as Amice in Warcraft, but increasingly as spindingo as well.

Heidi St. Louis finds things for a living.  That she does anything for a living in this region besides knife fight for cans speaks to her aptitude and tenacity.  Having sleepwalked through the old world, invested more in TV, movies, porn, electronics, twitter,  the ruins of the pacific northwest were the first place she felt at home.  She’s an Indiana Jones style archaeologist of the extremely recent past, who in the course of her work finds TV, movies, electronics and porn to continue to obsess over.  She misses twitter.

Heidi is played by the lady I know best as Megan.  She doesn’t really have any widely used aliases, but we say her name a bunch of different ways, such as Megadoptorous, Meggers, Megwad, and Meg.  Meg Meg Meg, all Meg.

Victor Gall is a scientist.  He has strong, carefully practiced habits.  He rarely mentions the areas of his expertise, but his intellect shows vividly even through great swells of nervousness and sometimes abject fear.  In spite of his mortal terror, wherever he arrives he volunteers repeatedly to surmount terrifying obstacles to move on past that place.  He carries a long and evidently heavy parcel wrapped in a sheet wherever he goes, and typically introduces himself by offering to play a game of cards.

Vic’s played by the guy I know best as Max, who’s also Ghest and Cithaeron with a K sound in Warcraft and Grammaticus around town.  Internet town.

Robert Arnsdale is strong silent type weaponized.  He uses his bulk and menacing affect to protect whoever he finds himself rooming, scavenging or sometimes traveling with.  What Rob does now is what he’s always done: he bounces around, finds odd jobs driving, or looking intimidating, or something less meaningful.  However menacing, he makes an effort to be scrupulously moral, and has an unexpectedly chivalrous attitude, acting unduly nobly with women whether they’re friends or shooting at him from a nearby balcony.

Rob’s played by the person I know best lately as Amordea, who’s also Sarapis and like a billion others in Warcraft.

That should get you up to speed.  I haven’t read this end to end, and can only hope that it’s readable without the map as a reference.

The log:

Fortinbras: Here we are again!
spindingo: So it is. Hi folks.
Fortinbras: Worked my shit out a bit. Should be more flexible about getting started this time.
Fortinbras: Megless, but anticipated as much, she’ll jump in when she feels like it, I s’pose.
Fortinbras: How’s yous today? We all staring at Fortinbras going “start it, we have had enough of the waiting room”?
Amordea: Doing good!
Grammaticus: so tired, but so ready for to play
spindingo: Huh, wait, wha’?
Fortinbras: Excellent.
Grammaticus: Getting some food ready.
Improvidence: Hah. Alas for our Meglessness, but I am excited to see what you got for us.
Amordea: Same.
spindingo: I’m sure it’ll fall into place nicely.
Fortinbras: Oh ah! There she is!
Fortinbras: If you’ll permit me an indulgence, I’ve got it in mind to open with a couple epigraphs. What can I say? I like epigraphs.
spindingo: Rock me.
Grammaticus: Just for this, I’m opening every campaign I run with epigraphs, too.
Fortinbras: O to blot out this garden / to forget, to find a new beauty / in some terrible / wind-tortured place.
Fortinbras: From imagist poet Hilda Doolittle’s “Sheltered Garden.”
Heidi has connected.
Fortinbras: Happy and I’m smiling, walk a mile to drink your water / You know I’d love to love you and above you there’s no other / We’ll go walking out while others shout of war’s disaster / Oh, we won’t give in, let’s go living in the past.
Heidi: Hey, jerks.
Fortinbras: From Jethro Tull’s “Living In The Past.”
Fortinbras: Hello!
spindingo: *jazz flute*
Heidi: This is the first version of Maptools I’ve ever actually gotten to connect to anything.
Fortinbras: Oh yeah? Good to have untested success!
Grammaticus: Megaera!
Heidi: Maxpernicus!
Fortinbras: So. Let’s see if these strange powers I hold over you all works. Enough of the creepy The Shining carpet!
Heidi: BATMAN TOKEN
spindingo: Ah, I’m blind! Wait. Okay, there’s a map.
Improvidence: Time for Jonathan to go on some Metal Gear Solid VR Missions.
Heidi: It’s way off into one corner
Fortinbras: Yeah, maptool is odd that way. I’ll focus everybody on my view in the future, incase the maps decide to go weird.
Heidi: Ok.
Fortinbras: In the parking lot there’s a big shattered neon F. Overhead, a sign warns: “Motel May lower.” Johnny Walker’s been hanging around this area for a while, it’s hard to get to from the core of the city, but supplies are running low. He’s come to visit a man who knows what’s up in these parts, they’ve talked online. Guy’s real cautious, but he agreed to having a visitor. Johnny, you remember he wanted to impress one rule upon you: knock before you come in. You’re at his door on the second floor. What’cha gonna do?
Improvidence: Okay, uh, let’s start with a knock, then.
Fortinbras: There’s a lot of shuffling behind the door before it opens. Just inside, you see a trapped shotgun on a table, pointed doorward. The man who let you in lazily swings a bungee cord that had been hooked up to the door a moment ago. “Hey William,” he calls through two broken down motel walls. “Your visitor, man.”
Fortinbras: Bill Brogden sits at a desk, ensconced with some nice-ass computers and server equipment.
Fortinbras: (Not getting shot is a good start.)
spindingo: Hah, that means he likes you.
Improvidence: Passed test #1.
spindingo: Got a permission issue on Impersonate!
Heidi: (… I am willing to accept Brian not getting shot being good on faith for now, Fort)
Fortinbras: Ah! Let’s see what we can do about that!
Fortinbras: Try now?
Bill Brogden: C’mon in. Have a seat, just don’t go touching anything.
Bill Brogden: Some of this stuff bites back.
Evander: Yeah man, getch’y'ass in here. Cold out.
Evander: And don’t think cause Bill’s a old man he ain’t got a gun on you, you try somethin’ funny.

* Jonathan Walker slides his hands into his pockets obediently. He eyes his surroundings as he comes in, but doesn’t seem any more excited by the idea of him handling the objects around him than Bill is.
* Bill Brogden pulls himself from his laptop monitor to take a look at Jonathan. “Sooo..” Fortinbras: Evander shuts the door and re-rigs the shotgun. The first room is taken up by tables and a pair of Coke machines, the second is cots. There’s debris from the walls that’ve been knocked, plaster dust that kicks up when you walk through it. The final room radiates warmth from a wall of servers.
Fortinbras: Johnny, you’ve got about a day’s worth of food on you. Fistful of fruit leather found under a display in a 7/11.
Heidi: (Can I request a map centering?)
Heidi: (thx)
Bill Brogden: What can I do you for, stranger? Looking for something?
Jonathan Walker: I’ve heard some of your show. You’re kind of big around here, aren’t you?
Bill Brogden: Far as talking idiots with enough wattage to be heard, damn near the only thing.
Bill Brogden: Figure men who can put two words together aught try and get along best we can.

* Bill Brogden takes a second look at Jonathan and closes his laptop. Bill Brogden: Just trying to.. facilitate is all.
Evander: You can get a few other casts from round the east coast, good music sometimes but not much good for helpin’ anybody get by.
Fortinbras: Evander’s standing as if on guard. He’s not outright hostile, but you’re not sure he’s ready to invite you to stay the night, looking at you the way he is.
Bill Brogden: I’m Bill all right.
Jonathan Walker: Jon is my name. I’m a bit of a traveller, and I don’t really know the area. Hoping you might be able to give me a little more information.
Evander: You come up to our door for information? Information in dinner form, is that it?
Bill Brogden: Got plenty of users on the board, none many come by to talk about it.
Jonathan Walker: Well… It’s true, I haven’t found much worth scavenging, yet. If you know a place where I might find a meal, that’d be a great start.

* Evander looks to Bill. He seems to have softened a bit on the issue.
* Bill Brogden laughs a little to himself. Evander: We got that reconstitutable Salisbury and potatoes neither us can keep down, what do you think, big man?
Bill Brogden: I miss that box of Pemmican bars when I think about those Banquet meals.
Bill Brogden: .. but it sounds like Jon here can do us some good tool.
Bill Brogden: -l
spindingo: (but he was thinking tool)
Evander: Man, I wish I didn’t even know what pemmican *was*.
Evander: Awright, sit ye down on that bed and we’ll get you a meal fit for the rattiest-assed king you ever saw.
Fortinbras: Notice rolls, if you please!
spindingo: Uh, is it Smarts Die + Notice die?
Fortinbras: Just the notice die. In this, TN is always 4 and rolls are more heavily augmented by modifiers, or such is the impression I get.

* spindingo rolls: d8 + 2 => 8 + 2 = 10
Grammaticus: I thougth the TN was modified, but the effect is the same either way.

* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 4 spindingo: Hooray Alertness.
Fortinbras: Holy hell, is that your notice?
spindingo: 3 points and Alertness
spindingo: Being paranoid isn’t all bad.
Fortinbras: Wow. Wow. Alright, Bill, you hear three sets of footsteps coming up the metal steps. Through the motel’s small whitewashed window you catch a small flash of something, maybe a lighter.
Bill Brogden: Got us some visitors, boys. Six boots.
Evander: Shiiit, you got friends, Jon?
Jonathan Walker: N-no, no, I’m here alone.
Evander: Got your ass followed then, huh? Maybe they thinkin’ it’s only you in here.
Jonathan Walker: There a backdoor here? Are we boxed in?
Evander: Yeah, we got a back door. Just gotta push that dresser out the way and we can get down to the office from here.
Amordea whispers: When making skill and attribute rolls, it looks like Wild Cards also get to roll a “wild die” in addition to their skill or attribute die. It’s a d6. They take whichever result is better of the two.
Bill Brogden: Not sure you can keep me down if these clowns are here to trash my operation.
You whisper to Amordea: Ah, right! Meant to remind everyone of that. Will do on the next roll.
* Bill Brogden pulls out his .44 Fortinbras: Bill catches someone trying to whisper and failing on account of how hoarse their voice is, “throw it!”
Bill Brogden: Get down!
* Bill Brogden moves under his desk.
Fortinbras: Initiative rolls, which I’m going to make a d20 with no modifier, folks! Closely enough approximates the deck of cards approach.
* Evander ducks into cover underneath the window.
* You roll to yourself: d20 => 18
* You roll to yourself: d20 => 6
* You roll to yourself: d20 => 19 Improvidence: Jon is gonna move down to get some minor amount oc cover behind the cot.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d20 => 5
Fortinbras: He gets to roll again!
Improvidence: I’m quick, so I’m rerolling that.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d20 => 18
Grammaticus: Yowza.
* spindingo rolls: 1d20 => 13
Fortinbras: Forgive me a short delay, first time I’ve actually set initiative in this!
Fortinbras: As you might expect, a molotov comes a-sailin’ through that window.
Fortinbras: It shatters over the desk, getting the floor and server bank, and spattering across Evander’s jacket.
Fortinbras: He’s alright, but cornered by the fire. And I forgot to rollme that one.
Fortinbras: From outside you hear someone yelling, making no effort to conceal themself this time.
Crone 1: Goddammit, goddammit, you don’t go in! You wait!–
Fortinbras: But it’s a little late, and a guy comes crashing through the door.
Fortinbras: And he gets shot down!
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Improvidence: Can I grab a blanket off the cot here and try to help out Evander get the fire out?
Fortinbras: He didn’t fully catch fire, fortunately.
Fortinbras: Also, I’m sorry, that guy was only Shaken.
Amordea: Batman lives!
Improvidence: Aha.
Fortinbras: Shotgun so nearly got him.
Improvidence: Let’s see if mine can finish the job.
Improvidence: So, with buckshot, I roll shooting +2, yeah?
Fortinbras: An interesting thing about this game. Your move and shot are assumed to take place at the same time, so you can move into and out of cover.
Fortinbras: I think that’s right.
Fortinbras: out of and into, i should say
Improvidence: Ah yeah? I can shoot and then move back into cover?
Fortinbras: Year.
Improvidence: Awesome. I’ll take a shot and then move back to the wall.

* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+2 => 2 + 2 = 4
Improvidence: Bad shot, but gogo shotgun!
Fortinbras: Hahah. Yep, that does hit.
Improvidence: Close range is 3d6.
* Improvidence rolls: 3d6 => 17
Improvidence: Blam!
Fortinbras: Hoo, goddamn!
Amordea: jesus.
Fortinbras: That dude is some kinda dead.
Improvidence: And I’ll move back to the wall.
Improvidence: And that’s all for me.
Fortinbras: More of that muttering from outside, “shit, shit, shit!” and since the plan’s gone to hell they just filter in after their friend.
Fortinbras: It’s hard to get a bead on Jon from there, so they take aim at Evander. Who you are actually in control of, anyone who would like to be!
spindingo: I’ll open that up to the spectators.
spindingo: or until I get a feel for what I’m doing.
Fortinbras: One of them gets a solid shot on Evander. He’s Shaken.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
spindingo: All right, if I hop down a square and stand up I could get a shot off on Robber 1?
Fortinbras: Yep. Where the line is narrow, the wall is only about waist height.
spindingo: What I was figurin’. Going to launch a Taunt at him then fire.
spindingo: What are the rolls for that?
spindingo: Smarts + Taunt die?
Fortinbras: Your Taunt and Shooting, each with a -2
spindingo: Ah, okay. Got a +2 on Taunt for strong will, so that will balance out.. and I’m already a lousy shot.
Fortinbras: Ah, and a friendly reminder: you get to roll a Wild Die on every skill or attribute roll. It’s a d6, and there’s no penalty for using it, though the same modifiers apply, of course.
* spindingo rolls: d6 + d8 (Taunt) => 2 + 4 = 6
Amordea: They’re separate rolls though. You only get to use whichever’s better.
Fortinbras: Ah, yeah, should’ve been clearer.
spindingo: Sorry, still not getting it.
Amordea: So with the -2 your best was on the d8 at a 2.
Amordea: You’d be rolling a d6-2 and a d8-2 and taking the better of the two rolls.
spindingo: Ah, gotcha.
Fortinbras: You roll your skill, and then you can roll another die separately with–yeah.
spindingo: Think it is still a 4 with Strong Willed, right?
Fortinbras: Yeah, think so.
Amordea: Ah, yeah, right.
spindingo: The d8 roll, that is.
Grammaticus: The Wild Die is always a D6, then? Gotcha.
Fortinbras: Taunt rolls are against smarts, and these guys… well, they’re not. He’s shaken by your taunt.
Improvidence: The -2 is for taking two actions on the round, yeah?
Fortinbras: Correct!
spindingo: Firing the gun is pointless, but let’s see.
Fortinbras: Er, hang on. Let me look up what a taunt does without a raise on it.
Fortinbras: Oh! A raise means he’s shaken, a regular success gives you +2 to the next action taken against him.
Fortinbras: So the -2 has leveled out on this as well.
spindingo: Hah, just a standard d4 for 1 point of shooting -2 and then +2.
* spindingo rolls: 1d4 => 2
spindingo: I like twos.
Fortinbras: Misses him.
spindingo: Can I duck down then?
spindingo: (file that under things to ask first)
Fortinbras: You’ve only moved a single space, so yeah, I’d say so.
spindingo: Done and done.
Bill Brogden: I’m going to mop your brains up with your friends coat!

* Bill Brogden barks loudly before taking cover.
Fortinbras: It’s Evander’s turn. But I haven’t recorded any of his damn stats, so I’ll handle this one.
* Fortinbras rolls: d6 => 2
spindingo: (quick afk)
Fortinbras: He’s still pretty shaky from having nearly caught fire, but he’s a heroic man. He’s gonna charge (slowly, shakenly) through that fire and get to the dresser blocking your escape

* Fortinbras rolls: d6 => 6
Fortinbras: This time he does catch fire. And this time I forget to /rollme again.
* You roll to yourself: 1d10 => 6
Fortinbras: He suffers one wound from the flames. And speaking of those, smoke is starting to fill the room. At the start of Bill’s next turn, he’ll have to roll Vigor or gain a fatigue level.
spindingo: Wild Card die, save meh.
Improvidence: I think Bill and I are both pretty bad at fatigue stuff.
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Fortinbras: It’ll be a good idea to get outta there soon then. It’s Johnny’s turn again! He’s far enough from the smoke that he’s alright for now.
Improvidence: Well, let’s lean out and take a second shot, at robber 1.

* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+2 => 5 + 2 = 7
Fortinbras: A success, even with the partial cover from the table. What’s ya damage?

* Improvidence rolls: 3d6 => 11
Improvidence: And back and into cover. That’s both shots on my double barrel. Do I have any ammo to reload it? I didn’t buy any at the start.
Fortinbras: He goes *down.* Makes a little dog noise when he does, a kind of “yipe!” that makes his friend jump.
Fortinbras: Yep, you can reload.
Fortinbras: It takes a turn, I believe.
Improvidence: Alright.
Improvidence: Well, that’s all for now.
Fortinbras: This guy’s shaking, maybe from anger or maybe just because you splattered other-robber all over him. He takes a shot at Johnny.
Fortinbras: Lucky for you, the bullet grazes your clothes but doesn’t do anything worse.
Fortinbras: He ducks in there and is done.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
spindingo: Going lobby a taunt at the robber and then gtfo.
* spindingo rolls: d8+2 => 2 + 2 = 4
Amordea: Dun forgeet your wild die.
* spindingo rolls: d6 => 3
spindingo: Yay Strong Willed.
Fortinbras: That first one’ll do it though. +2 to the next action against him.
Fortinbras: Vigor for me if you would, Bill?
spindingo: Got to move something here?
* spindingo rolls: d4 => 3
* spindingo rolls: d6 => 4
Fortinbras: Hooray for wild dice.
spindingo: Glad to see tiny numbers work so well.
Fortinbras: Moving that will take a strength check or a full turn.
spindingo: Well, worth a lol while I’m here.
* spindingo rolls: d4 => 3
* spindingo rolls: d6 => 1
Bill Brogden: “Evander!”
Fortinbras: It’s moving a bit, but you’ve taken in a lot of years and smoke. Gonna take more.
Fortinbras: Evander’s gonna get himself the hell out of this fire. The way Shaken works, if you get rid of it, it spends your turn. He’s not going to risk that while he’s standing in a fire.
* Evander coughs into the crook of his sizzling arm. “Shit’s rough. Real rough.”
Fortinbras: And now, in the words of our beloved other-GM, something happens.
Heidi: (I prefer ‘How do you play this game’?)
Fortinbras: Heidi, I took the liberty of rolling your initiative and shoving you into this.
Heidi: (Neat. I love being shoved into things)
Fortinbras: You were in the neighborhood making a delivery when you noticed, hey, those guys are preeetty armed to be going into a shitty little motel room, and oh look it’s on fire. It’s just in your nature to check things like this out. So you’ve snuck around the back way, and coming around the corner, you can hear two more sets of footsteps on the stairs and there’s another robber hiding behind this burned out car.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Fortinbras: Inside, those servers are getting… well, melty. Bill’s screens have violently flickered and died. Heidi, your move!
spindingo: My precious internets.
* Heidi slides down behind one of wrecks in the parking lot, intimidating revolver in either hand. “Hey,” she smiles at the robber ducked down behind the car. “S’up?” she levels the guns at him.
Fortinbras: How many spaces did you move just there?
Heidi: A bunch. I wasn’t paying attention.
Fortinbras: Six squares is the limit. Allowing this because I did say you’d just come around the corner.
Fortinbras: On the steps, you see this guy!
Heidi: That’s kinda what I figured, and I will keep that in mind in the future.
Fortinbras: Gonna shoot at’m?
Heidi: … Yes.
* Robber 4 takes a moment to evaluate this. The math he does shows clearly in his features. Hello, attractive woman. Hang on, what? Oh dear.
* Robber 4 vocalizes the process in this way:
Robber 4: Shyit!
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 5
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 2
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 1
Fortinbras: One bullet makes it. Do that damage you do!
* Heidi rolls: 2d6+1 => 4 + 1 = 5
Fortinbras: He’s grazed. Not bleeding out, but worried about it.
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Fortinbras: Johnny, next shot you take against this fella gets +2.
Fortinbras: Which… uh, makes it a success, I guess.
Improvidence: Gonna jam some bullets into this gun and take a shot. +2, eh? Well, I’ll need to spend two actions this turn, so that’ll balance out the -2.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+2 => 3 + 2 = 5
* Improvidence rolls: 3d6 => 8
Fortinbras: Well damn! That shotgun is monstrous in these close quarters.
Improvidence: I am a fan of this thing!
Fortinbras: Got a raise on that one, and these guys don’t have much in the way of armor, so you killed another man today.
Improvidence: How’s the smokiness going?
Fortinbras: By your next turn you’ll have to make a vigor roll or be fatigued. A mask or piece of cloth would improve that roll.
spindingo: Bill is being reminded of the old days from the diziness.
Improvidence: Righto, I’m done. Next time I’ll mask up, because I don’t think I can succeed on that roll.
Fortinbras: Yep. It’s the robbers’ turn! And this time they’re all coming out.
Fortinbras: They don’t seem real happy about someone new coming around. These are jittery people.
Fortinbras: The guy who was shaken comes to his senses, and that’s his turn. One of them fires way wide of Heidi, and the other…
Heidi: I need to call the wife briefly. I’ll be back in just a moment.
Fortinbras: Gets a decent shot on her. She’s shaken.
Fortinbras: But!, now that they don’t outnumber you, they make another roll to see if they’re going to run away.
Fortinbras: Like I said. Jittery guys.
Amordea: Hah.
Fortinbras: Anyhow, it’s on to Bill again!
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
spindingo: Yay.
Fortinbras: The customary vigor roll against everyone’s favorite electrical fire.
* spindingo rolls: d4 => 4
* spindingo rolls: d6 => 6
spindingo: Bill has smoked stronger shit.
spindingo: Will spend the full turn to get through.
Amordea: Hahah.
Fortinbras: Hahahah. Nice. It’s not necessary here, but when you crit, your dice… I forget what the term is here, but they explode. And you can roll another of the same die.
spindingo: Ace?
Grammaticus: Ace, yeah.
Heidi: Unless you’re rolling unskilled, ja?
Fortinbras: Yep.
Fortinbras: And now you’ll have to forgive me for a very badly made area, I’ll describe it first.
Heidi: I will… Never forgive you.
Fortinbras: The late evening wind is coming in now, blowing some of the smoke aside. For the first time in a while, the air around here seems clean by comparison with what you were breathing inside. There’s a step down and a gravel roof with a hole in it and a ladder down into a dark room peeking out.
Fortinbras: The thin line is the hole, everything else is inside the room, and not of consequence until you climb down in:
Fortinbras: Climbing down is equivalent to two squares of movement.
spindingo: So, moving it out of the way is the action and I still have my moves about be?
Fortinbras: Yep.
Evander: Go, man, I’ll get out fine!
Bill Brogden: Yeah yeah, I’m going. You too, Jon.
spindingo: I’m about here-ish.
spindingo: and done
Fortinbras: Evander’s no longer shaken, but he’s feeling pretty tired from all the smoke he’s taken in.
Fortinbras: Roll Notice, Johnny.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 4
Fortinbras: The man with the baseball bat is on his way in!
Improvidence: Brave man! Look at all the corpses!
Fortinbras: But he takes a peek in there and, yeah, decides steel himself for a minute.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Grammaticus: By which he means he picks the metal bat for this one.
Heidi: So all the goons are running off?
Amordea: Hehe.
Fortinbras: Heidi, you’re Shaken. Gonna have to make a roll against this. But yeah, this turn you’re safe from these three at least.
Heidi: Spirit roll?
Grammaticus: Suddenly wish I made a fast, heavy, melee guy, whose weapon of choice was a host of baseball bats.
Fortinbras: Correcto. If it succeeds it spends your turn, if it succeeds with a raise, you get to act as normal.
Fortinbras: Hahahah!
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 5
Grammaticus: Golf clubs. Cricket Bats. A modern day urban-trash ronin.
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 4
spindingo: Heh, like Casey Jones.
Grammaticus: Hah!
Fortinbras: No longer shaken!
Heidi: Yay
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Improvidence: So, I’d like to get out one of my surgical masks, so I’m not inhaling this smoke.
Fortinbras: Gonna have to make your fatigue roll first, but you can get your mask on right after that.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d4-2 => 1 – 2 = -1
Fortinbras: Success!
Improvidence: Is my wild die modified by my hinderance?
Fortinbras: That’s a lie.
Fortinbras: It is, but it’s worth a shot!
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-2 => 5 – 2 = 3
Improvidence: Fatigue! What’s that do to me?
Fortinbras: Damn, close. You gain a fatigue level, which shouldn’t be too bad for you if you get out of here quickly. All your trait checks are made at -1 until you get clean air. If you move to the other room this turn, you won’t have to make the roll next turn.
Improvidence: Right, gettin’ out of here!
Fortinbras: “Something happens,” as they say.
Fortinbras: You hear her first. She’s tucked in almost underneath the table the shotgun is on, and she makes the angriest, weakest sound imaginable when you come by. But the sound comes along with a very deft knife strike.
Fortinbras: And I really should’ve made that token visible before I hit enter on that, but there she is.
Fortinbras: You’re Shaken by the blow.
Heidi: It’s the bat guy’s turn I’d be more concerned about.
spindingo: (quick afk)
Fortinbras: Afraid I did that D&D readied action style.
Improvidence: Ow. Well, I’ve still got the shotgun unfired. Is there any way to ready it, and shoot if either of them comes at me?
Grammaticus: Is it safe to assume we can make use of the same tactic?
Fortinbras: That might become a theme in this game. If I forget to do something according to this game’s rules, call me on it. But yeah, for this fight you get readied actions like in ol’ D&D.
Improvidence: Right! Johnny’s gonna give a shout to stay back, and ready the shotgun to fire at either of them if they come at him.
Fortinbras: However, right now you’re shaken, so can’t ready any actions. But hang on, it’s easy enough to do this more proper-like. Roll agility against ‘er.
Improvidence: At a -1 for fatigue, yeah?
Fortinbras: Yep.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d8-1 => 5 – 1 = 4
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 3 – 1 = 2
Fortinbras: You win that one, and she doesn’t manage to hit you.
Improvidence: Ah, good.
Fortinbras: Aside from an agility roll being involved, readied/pre-emptive actions work the same way, as far as I can tell.
Fortinbras: Agility and/or something else, maybe. I’ll check that soon. Anyway, that’s your turn?
Improvidence: So if I want to do a D&D style ready action, I have to win an agility roll to get my attack off?
Fortinbras: Unless you wanna shoot at somebody.
Fortinbras: Yeah, but you’ve just reminded me, it works a little differently. If you “hold,” you can step in at any point, make that agility roll, and if you win you get to do what you want. Sort of a mix between delaying and readying an action.
Fortinbras: So you can interrupt people if you win it.
Improvidence: Can I still hold if I’ve moved already?
Fortinbras: ‘Fraid not.
Improvidence: One shot loaded and two foes. Hm.
Improvidence: Hahah, I feel bad shooting at people with knives. Maybe I shouldn’t!
Improvidence: All right, old lady. I’m gonna teach you to try to knife me.
Grammaticus: What, she can’t be a young crone?
Fortinbras: Hahahah. Do what you gotta to get by in this workd.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+2 => 1 + 2 = 3
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 2
Improvidence: Oh no!
Heidi: THE WALL! YOU BASTARD!
Grammaticus: Hahahah.
Improvidence: Well, I’m gonna get my knife out. Will probably need it. And that’ll be it.
Fortinbras: She’s looking pretty menacing. As if she’d done not a thing in the world to make you want to shoot at her.
Fortinbras: These guys back off a bit. Scared of Heidi and whatever scared their friend enough to make him stop in that doorway.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
spindingo: Will keep moving to get out of this place.
Fortinbras: OH that’s right
Fortinbras: i need to reveal that ha ha
spindingo: Oh god roborats!
Fortinbras: Cola machines, a desk, a heap of shredded newspapers.
spindingo: Well, that’s five squares.
Heidi: Oo, cola.
Grammaticus: Bill locks the doors, takes a seat, kicks up his feet with a can of Cola. This whole session has been a Coke advertisement.
spindingo: Done. Might open the door and yell at people next time.
Heidi: AW SNAP!
spindingo: *opens top* “Ahhhhh.”
spindingo: Insert jingle.
Fortinbras: Evander takes a look through the fire at Jonathan. Nobody’s got the time to pay attention to his face, so the earnest regret in it might not be the first thing Jon thinks of when he wheezes, “sorry mate,” and scarpers, grabbing a laptop from the desk as he goes.
Fortinbras: Also: haha!
Fortinbras: Also also: that crone is up.
Improvidence: I’ve got first strike! I’m gonna swing at that crone.
Heidi: bitch is about to get stabbed
Fortinbras: Ohshit!
* Improvidence rolls: 1d8-1 => 1 – 1 = 0
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 6
Fortinbras: Ohhh *shit*.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 5
Fortinbras: That hits. Hooray.
Heidi: But, still… Bat man.
Improvidence: Damage is strength +1. Fatigue still hurts that, yeah?
Fortinbras: Only the check. Damage is fine!
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 6 + 1 = 7
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 1
Heidi: AWesome.
Improvidence: Knifin’ king.
Fortinbras: The 1 reminds me to remind you. Snake eyes on skill/attribute roll AND the exploding die roll means a critical failure of some kind. It’s “up to the GM.”
Fortinbras: But that shakes her!
Improvidence: On the wild die you mean, yeah?
Fortinbras: Wild, yes. I am not a bright man.
Grammaticus: I’m not going to be the first one to crack a Johnny Walker joke. I’m just not.
Improvidence: Glad to hear, it, though.
Heidi: I’ve been struggling with that all night.
Heidi: All night, Max.
Fortinbras: If he bleeds, or gets bruised, we’re going to have fits.
Fortinbras: blue red black get it
Fortinbras: Anyway, someone wants to beat your brains out.
Fortinbras: You gonna do your thingy?
Improvidence: I only get a free swing once per round, so that’s all I got.
spindingo: If this was more anime themed we could all be named after a liquor.
Fortinbras: aha.
Fortinbras: HA!
Heidi: Where is my turn? I thought I went before him last time?
Fortinbras: You get your turn right after this guy.
Heidi: OK.
Fortinbras: He barely beats your parry.
Fortinbras: But the blow doesn’t quite connect right. You’re not even shaken. The poor, inept bat man.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Heidi: yay
Fortinbras: You can see the guy in the doorway upstairs from where you are, but he’s got some cover. -2 on the shootin’ roll.
* Heidi plants a foot onto the bumper of the car, and climbs on the roof, trying to get an angle on the jerk with the bat. Bang bang.
Fortinbras: Oh, thinking! Car’s tough to get over, you move at half speed on it, but it’ll nix that -2.
Heidi: Half is all I need.
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 1
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 2
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 6 Heidi: This die roller hates me.
* Heidi rolls: 2d6+1 => 7 + 1 = 8
Fortinbras: At worst, it’s conflicted about you. Good thing you got two guns.
Fortinbras: That shakes the bat artist.
Fortinbras: Done, or any more moving to do? Got two more spaces.
Fortinbras: K!
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Fortinbras: Was worried this would be blasted right through. You’re sure not letting me do any damage to you, guys.
* Jonathan Walker ducks down as bullets zip past. Coming here was the worst idea. Fortinbras: What’cha doin’, Johnny?
Improvidence: Oh, I’m up!
Fortinbras: Sho’ are!
Improvidence: Sorry, uh, let’s try and knife this bat man and see if I can get out of here.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d8-1 => 4 – 1 = 3
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 5 – 1 = 4
Fortinbras: Can’t quite get it into him. He’s out of it, but he’s big and he can swing his arms alright to deflect.
Improvidence: All right. I’m going to get out of the line of gunfire, anyway.
Improvidence: And be done.
Fortinbras: This turn, only one of them is still spooked.
Fortinbras: The other two figure they’ve still got Heidi outnumbered. They get to shootin’.
Heidi: See, ok. This is kinda a problem for me.
Fortinbras: One of them grazes you just enough to shake you, and the other delivers our first player character wound.
Heidi: Ow.
Heidi: See.
Heidi: Not cool.
Fortinbras: They’re assholes. But don’t worry, Bill will be here to yell at them soon.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
spindingo: “Get off my lawn!”
spindingo: Will open the door and take a quick look around.
Fortinbras: You don’t see anybody new.
Heidi: I’m new.
Fortinbras: Er, on the map. Bill specifically sees some crazy lady fighting some thugs.
spindingo: Heard them shots too.
spindingo: What kind of shots do I have here?
spindingo: Mouse-over isn’t working on the goons, middle guy an option?
Fortinbras: Ah, it’s cause of fog of war.
spindingo: Well, just going to yell so as I long as I know he’s there, right?
Fortinbras: You can shoot at robber 3 fine, but it’ll be hard to get 5 with that car in the way.
Fortinbras: Yep, you can yell at both of them.
spindingo: Sounds like a plan. 5&3.
Fortinbras: Not gonna allow this guy to go “you don’t scare me, there’s a car between us!”
spindingo: -2 countered by my +2
Fortinbras: Have at!
Bill Brogden: They’re dead, fuckin’ dead. You are too!
* spindingo rolls: 1d8 => 7
* spindingo rolls: 1d8 => 2
* spindingo rolls: 1d6 => 2
Fortinbras: Holy shit I love Bill. Believe it or not, both are successful. +2 to the next action on either of ‘em.
spindingo: I’m done.
Fortinbras: Evander’s on your tail. He’s happy to be out of that smokey room, and he didn’t hear that yelling just now, so he doesn’t know enough to be afraid of coming outside.
Fortinbras: The crone’s still shaken, but the bat man’s head clears. She moves away a bit.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 3
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 2
Heidi: I am still shaken
Fortinbras: Unlucky!
Fortinbras: You can move three squares, at least.
Fortinbras: Is that between the cars, so you’ve got cover?
Heidi: Yes.
Fortinbras: Right!
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Improvidence: All right, bat man. Gonna knife you again.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d8-1 => 5 – 1 = 4
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 2 – 1 = 1
Improvidence: Smoke sucks.
Fortinbras: Gonna give a reminder about bennies now: you can spend one to remove a Shaken state, and if you use it right after an attack that gives you a wound, you can make a vigor roll. A raise on that vigor roll will undo the wound as well, and each further raise removes another wound.
Heidi: Oh, see.
Fortinbras: And I’ll cap that by granting Bill a benny for that yell. Way to get those kids off your lawn, man.
Fortinbras: They can also be spent to reroll any trait roll.
Heidi: I should reread the rules for this game some time.
Grammaticus: What exactly is a raise, by the way? Every 2 over?
Fortinbras: +4
Grammaticus: Aha.
Fortinbras: Yeah. At this level they’re gonna be rare. Well, maybe not for you, mister 12 smarts.
Fortinbras: You done, Improv?
Grammaticus: I promise to take the most improbably shots to counter any advantage that might have given me.
Improvidence: Ah, yeah.
Grammaticus: *improbable
Fortinbras: One of these robbers has been spooked one too many times, and he properly scarpers. You hear a fire extinguisher clanking along the ground, dragged by him. There goes that.
Heidi: Goodbye, computers.
Fortinbras: The others take aim at Heidi and Bill.
Amordea: I am sad for your server farm, Bill.
spindingo: The data is backed up, but the equipment invaluable!
Fortinbras: Heidi’s lucky, the bullet just whips by her ear. Bill gets shaken though.
Grammaticus: Eh. There’s a Best Buy across the street. They’re bound to reopen one of these days.
Fortinbras: Hahahah.
Amordea: Hehe.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
spindingo: Ah, spirit roll?
Fortinbras: Spirit to do away with that, or as said you can spend a benny.
* spindingo rolls: d8 => 6
Fortinbras: Nice one. I’ll note though, spending a benny doesn’t cause you to lose your turn to getting over the shaken status.
Heidi: If a bennie is spent, do we get our full turn?
Fortinbras: Beatcha to it!
spindingo: So, can I still move?
Fortinbras: Not if you’re overcoming this with a spirit roll.
spindingo: Ah, nuts.
Fortinbras: Yeah. A bit harsh, but will work as strongly to your advantage when you can make people shaken just by yellin’ at ‘em.
Fortinbras: Do you want to use a benny on that after all?
spindingo: True enough! It’s potent.
spindingo: Yeah.
Fortinbras: Okay. Act as normal then!
spindingo: Sooner we can help out Heidi and Jon the better.
spindingo: Get a +2 on 5, right?
Fortinbras: Surely do!
spindingo: Bill fires at him on the way before ducking behind the vehicle.
* spindingo rolls: 1d4+2 => 2 + 2 = 4
* spindingo rolls: 1d6+2 => 5 + 2 = 7
spindingo: Err, just the one shot.
Fortinbras: Yep. Show me the damage!
* spindingo rolls: 2d6+1 => 9 + 1 = 10
* Bill Brogden takes cover behind the car and shouts out to Evander. “Punks to your left, watch out!”
Fortinbras: A big semicircle that overlaps most of his heart gets blown out of him, turned to thick mist in Bill’s passing. Any observing might take Bill Brogden to be every bit the prophet he seems to believe he is.
Fortinbras: Evander takes a shot, even though he can’t quite get a good angle on it.
Fortinbras: It goes wide.
Fortinbras: The crone’s no longer shaken. The bat man finally get to use his bat.
Fortinbras: Can’t quite overcome Jon’s parry though. Boy does that woman with the guns worry him, he moves inside.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Heidi: I… am going to… do… a… thing. Nah, I’m just gonna attempt my spirit roll and hold the bennie.
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 2
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 4
Fortinbras: Huzzah!
Heidi: And I’m staying where I am.
Fortinbras: Righto. On to Jon!
Jonathan Walker has received initiative. Improvidence: Looks like the doorway’s clear. I’m going to head outside and start loading up the shotgun.
Fortinbras: When you move away from him, he gets to take a swing at you.
Fortinbras: It doesn’t prevent you moving though.
Improvidence: Ah yeah, they have OAs in this one too?
Fortinbras: Yep. There’s no shift mechanic either, I’m sorry to say.
Improvidence: Well, I don’t know if it’s worth it. Let’s try a swing with the knife. I’m supposed to be good at this.
Fortinbras: Might incorporate it later, but let’s see how it plays with it. Gonna take the hit, or stay in and try to drop him first?
* Improvidence rolls: 1d8-1 => 2 – 1 = 1
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 6 – 1 = 5
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 5
Fortinbras: It’s not quite enough to get through his parry. You might wanna risk leaving the room anyway. That old woman is lookin’ mad as hellfire.
Improvidence: Even with the ace? Alas.
Fortinbras: Oh! Aced!
Fortinbras: I’m so sorry, I misparsed it because of the -1.
Improvidence: Yeah, is confusing.
Fortinbras: You hit him good. Do yo’ damage!
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 5 + 1 = 6
Fortinbras: He’s got an 8 in toughness, so we’re back where we started.
Improvidence: Hah, okay. Let’s flee.
Fortinbras: He swings the bat real hard, but you’re already out the door by the time it comes down.
Bat Man 2: Lucky sumbitches! God damn! God DAMN!
Improvidence: Great! That’ll be it for me.
Fortinbras: The robber heads for the office!
Fortinbras: He takes a shot at Evander,
Fortinbras: misses, and slams the door shut.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
Bill Brogden: That little bitch.
spindingo: Don’t suppose I got a shot on batman?
Evander: Boy can have this place f’all I’m concerned, I’m gettin’ gone.
Fortinbras: Not from there. Maybe if you were able to get on the car?
spindingo: Not this turn, maybe next.
spindingo: I’ll watch the door behind Evander and call it a turn.
Fortinbras: Right then.
spindingo: Can’t breathe forever.
Fortinbras: Actually, Evander will hold his turn.
Fortinbras: He’s got an eye on that door. He is a good man.
Fortinbras: The crone comes from the doorway and whips her knife after Jonathan.
Fortinbras: It’s a rough one. Shaken and wounded.
Improvidence: Ouch. So I can spend a benny here to make a vigor roll?
Fortinbras: Yep.
Improvidence: Gonna rely on the wild die for this one.
Fortinbras: Unshaken either way.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d4 => 4
Fortinbras: Nice! Roll it again!
* Improvidence rolls: 1d4 => 1
Improvidence: Comes out to 4, since I’m still fatigued.
Improvidence: Let’s try the other one.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 1 – 1 = 0
Heidi: That’s what you need, sucka.
Fortinbras: Ahh, yeah. Another turn in the fresh air will get you feeling okay again.
Improvidence: Alrighty.
Improvidence: Gonna swing at him.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d8-1 => 2 – 1 = 1
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 6 – 1 = 5
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6-1 => 4 – 1 = 3
Fortinbras: You are good with those Aces! For a man with terrible luck, you have great luck.
Improvidence: Hahah.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 2 + 1 = 3
spindingo: You figure it would happen.
spindingo: I bet Lucky and Gambling is hell on your dice.
Fortinbras: Not good enough to stop him though. He gets knifed a bit, but don’t even seem to notice.
Fortinbras: Whether he notices or not though, it’s enough to throw off his swing. He misses!
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Heidi: Back on top of a car!
Fortinbras: Oh, and at the top of this turn the fire spread!
Heidi: nooooooooooo
Heidi: And… well… I’ve already shot at the guy with a bat, so I’m apparently not on his side.
Heidi: So.
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 8
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 2
Fortinbras: Nice.
Heidi: (that’s 10)
* Heidi rolls: d8 => 7
Heidi: So, two hits.
Fortinbras: Very nice.
* Heidi rolls: 2d6+1, 2d6+1 => 7 + 1 = 8
Heidi: Oops
* Heidi rolls: 2d6+1 => 8 + 1 = 9
Heidi: So, total of 17.
Fortinbras: Well… he’s dead.
Fortinbras: You sure can use them guns, sister. That your turn?
Heidi: I do believe it is.
Jonathan Walker has received initiative.
Improvidence: Enough of this knife stuff. I’m loading up the shotgun again and taking a shot.
Fortinbras: Hahahah.
Improvidence: No longer fatigued, yeah?
Fortinbras: Correct!
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 1
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 5
* Improvidence rolls: 3d6 => 10
Fortinbras: Ah, right, using two actions and firing in the same turn balances out for you.
Improvidence: Yep!
Fortinbras: Perfect. You killed a desperately hungry old woman.
Fortinbras: The robber swings the door open, takes a wild shot at Evander, and shuts it again.
Fortinbras: Just a little graze, he’s not wounded any worse.
Bill Brogden has received initiative.
Fortinbras: Oh, but Evander gets to take a shot at him, because he readied an action!
Amordea: Wasn’t Evander hold–yeah.
Improvidence: Brief afk
Fortinbras: He’s successful on the interrupt, but his shot goes very wide.
Amordea: Is that some agility contest thing to determine who gets to shoot first?
Fortinbras: Yeah. And if you successfully hit them, you interrupt their action, if I understand it right.
Amordea: Neat.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Heidi St Louis has received initiative.
Heidi: Oo, twice.
Fortinbras: Hahahah.
spindingo: Yeah, Bill wants to McGuyver wire the vehicle and pull it up to the door
* Heidi hops onto the other car, guns still out. “Hey! In the… Place? That building is pretty on fire! Just saying!” Fortinbras: Hahah! There might just be enough gas vapor left in it to do that, too. Gimme a straight repair roll then, Bill. I’ll figure out how to work vehicle impact based damage.
Bill Brogden: Goddamn it! Goddamn. My anxiety pills!
* spindingo rolls: d8 => 6
spindingo: Was just going to pull it up next to the door and let the guy choke to death.
Fortinbras: Successful! Next turn, you can drive this green block into that other green block.
spindingo: If not, suggest putting it in neutral and pushing it with Evander.
spindingo: Yay.
Fortinbras: It’ll be a while before the flames get to him, but they will get to him.
spindingo: “Think about what you’ve done!”
Fortinbras: And you don’t need to make a driving roll, because it’s… five feet away.
Heidi: Aren’t there windows in there?
Fortinbras: Windows, and if he wants he can climb right out of there using the ladder to the roof.
Fortinbras: But it’ll keep’m from popping out and shooting at you~
Heidi: Which is good.
spindingo: Not much else going on.
spindingo: Yet.
Heidi: Are we planning on doing more tonight?
Heidi: Because I am about to starve to death.
Fortinbras: We are, but we can take a break. After these important messages, we get to meet Victor Gall and Robert Arnsdale!
Amordea: Hup!
spindingo: Team Blue, go.
Heidi: WOO Thanks. I’m going to need to run down the street to get this food. But I will attempt to go quickly.
Fortinbras: Okay!
Fortinbras: Think we can call this guy doomed. Unless the team feels like spending more bullets, let’s say we’ve stopped him here.
spindingo: Would be best they all get some distance, for health.
spindingo: Don’t want to roast marshmallows on those fumes.
Fortinbras: The motel is much up in flames now. The server room caves in sending a fiery beacon upward. Between that and the robber who got away, it’s probably a good idea to scarper.
Evander: Gon’ take a long time to find a place good as that again, Bill. And all that gear. Man.
Bill Brogden: We had it good, Evander. Best sand castle I ever made.
* Evander chuckles while he cradles his burnt arm. “Got that right.”
* Bill Brogden looks over to Jon and Heidi with a discerning eye then back to Evander’s injury.
spindingo: Anything I can do to help him out with my crude First Aid d4 Healing?
* Evander indicates his relative okayness by joining Bill gazing at the newcomers.
Improvidence: Ah, I may be able to help with that, too.
Fortinbras: It’d be a lovely way to repair trade relations with the Republic of Bill, after this incident.
Grammaticus: Not to interrupt, but, Mouse inbetween the floors. All the cats moving in a pack, eyes trained on the ceiling.
Fortinbras: Johnny’s got a decent set of field first aid tools. He gets a handy +1 to his healing rolls.
Fortinbras: Hahaha!
spindingo: Cool cool.
Amordea: Jon’s going to be my best friend.
Bill Brogden: I ain’t going to shoot you, Jon. Going to get a little work out of you though.
* Jonathan Walker comes down the steps, loading a shell into his shotgun. He begins to sarcastically ask if this sort of thing happens often, but is interrupted by a fit of coughing.
Heidi: back
Fortinbras: Wilkommen.
Grammaticus: That -was- fast, for down the street.
* Jonathan Walker clears his throat, and plants his pack down on the trunk of one of the cars. “Anyone get hit? I’ve got bandages and things, here.” Fortinbras: There is one room that’s not yet ablaze. With a guts roll, someone could brave the supply room.
spindingo: Ah, guts.
Amordea: Is that the one with the car in front of the door?

* Evander raises his arms up, hissing softly. “Yea, I’m a little well done.” Fortinbras: That’s the first door at the top of the stairs.
Amordea: Oh the unrevealed one.
Improvidence: I don’t know if I’m going to make it back out, if I go into a smoky room.
* Heidi slides from the top of the car. She turns her eyes up to the roaring fire of the motel. “Wow. What were you guys kepin’ up there? Some kinda motel excellerant? Oh, and.. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I got shot.”
spindingo: What’s guts again? Spirit?
Fortinbras: Guts is spirit based, but its own skill.
spindingo: Ah, untrained. Scary venture. Might be worth it though.
Fortinbras: No reason not to have a go.
Fortinbras: Anyone who wants to try running in there for some things, roll guts for me!
Improvidence: How smoky does it look in there?
Heidi: I don’t know what’s going on, so I don’t.
Improvidence: smokey*
Fortinbras: It’s not bad yet. If you leave it long the fire will get to it, but right now it’s still going through the other rooms.
Improvidence: All right, let’s see how brave I am.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d4 => 1
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 5
Fortinbras: Heidi: rolling guts will give you the bravery to go into the supply room and get some stuff.
Improvidence: I would be so lost without that wild die.
Heidi: No, I mean IC. I don’t know that there are supplies in there.
spindingo: Yeah, I can’t beat that with my -2.
Fortinbras: Ahhh, right, of course!
Evander: Shame to see all ‘em MREs go up in smoke.
* Evander does not seem particularly sad, despite the impending hunger.
Bill Brogden: The first door on the ramp! We have food and supplies in there.
Heidi: “There are MRE’s in there?
* Heidi rolls: d4 => 3
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 6
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 3
Evander: Sho’, got scads of ‘em.
Heidi: So, 9.
Improvidence: Extremely brave!
Fortinbras: Yes. You are very brave, and are able to carry many things out.
spindingo: Or hungry
spindingo: Someone say Scooby Snacks?
Fortinbras: Between you, Jon’s able to get one day’s worth of food and water for everybody. Heidi is able to get three for each person. Which leads us nicely to me explaining how weight works here.
* Heidi comes out the door a few minutes later, arms loaded with stuff. She drops it on the ground. “So. I’m Heidi. Why were those guys shooting at you?”
Fortinbras: Everybody can carry their strength in days’ worth of food and water. Except for Robert, who’s got a thing that lets him carry even more.
Evander: Bill here is a famous man. Hey, Heidi? Any chance you was headed here to deliver somethin’? Not that it’ll be much damn use now, place all cajun style an’ all, but Bill done hired somebody goes by that name to replace some old gear.
Heidi St Louis: OH! Right. Yeah. I got something like that, I think.
Bill Brogden: Heidi? That’s right, no other reason to be around these parts. Not sure what I can pay you for but you got them rations.
* Heidi St Louis reaches into the ruck sack she set down before going into the fire, and pulls out… a fairly in-tact length of ethernet cable, and a pair of wire snips. “Ta da.” Evander: Heh, see that? Already got a head start on the next operation.
Heidi St Louis: Noooooo. The rations are for jumping into the fire, and shooting those guys in the parking lot. The cable can be paid for with… I dunno. You’re good for it, probably.
* Bill Brogden sighs to think how that cable was going to be used.
Bill Brogden: Those sons of bitches. Hirin’ rats to spoil our work.
Heidi St Louis: Which sons of bitches would this be??
Evander: Hey mister medical mask, you said somethin’ ’bout fixin’ my arms up? And this chick got shot up some. Thanks for savin’ that awful food, but I’m smartin’ here.
Bill Brogden: I don’t know what they’re calling themselves now.
Improvidence: Ah yes, lemme make some healing rolls.
Improvidence: Starting with Evander’s crispy arm.
Fortinbras: If they fail, wounds take a couple days to heal.
Bill Brogden: They’re old government men, trying to control the satellites they lost.

* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 3 + 1 = 4
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 1 + 1 = 2
Heidi St Louis: Wow. NPR got severe.
Improvidence: Okay, that’s one wound removed, yeah?
Fortinbras: Yep.
Improvidence: Patching up Heidi.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 1 + 1 = 2
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 5 + 1 = 6
Improvidence: And myself.
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 5 + 1 = 6
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6+1 => 5 + 1 = 6
Evander: Yeah, we about as close as you’ll get to NPR. No panel shows though.
* Evander shrugs. “Hated those anyhow.”
Bill Brogden: They must’ve traced my signal. Might need a new voice.
* Bill Brogden reflects.
Bill Brogden: Or maybe we could move out.
Heidi St Louis: I think you need way more then that, my friend.
Bill Brogden: Get a leg up on them somehow.
Evander: Yeah, let’s get gone. Them wasn’t government men, Bill, they just knew we had somethin’ to heat.
* Bill Brogden isn’t convienced, but doesn’t see the benefit in it.
Bill Brogden: That’s right, we have to survive. I’ve rebuilt twice before. Will just have to do it again.
Heidi St Louis: Whoever they were, we should probably not hang around here too much longer. They might come back and try to scavenge the remains, and I’m only good for a few gun fights a day.
Fortinbras: It’s probably safest to stick together, with this place going up like a beacon. You can head south into wilderness, but you won’t find much there. Just people struggling even harder than yourselves to get what they need to eat. The city is to the north. There’s a bit of an obstacle, maybe some of you will know about it. General knowledge should reveal something.
Fortinbras: (that is, roll smarts)
* spindingo rolls: d10 => 5
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 6
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6 => 1
Improvidence: 7!
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 1
Fortinbras: Nice smarts! There was some heavy but tightly focused tectonic action up there when things went pear years ago, and the result is a wave of concrete that’s crested and frozen in time. Buildings sticking out of it. Pretty hard to get over. It’s part of what makes this such a good position for Bill, he’s close to the city but it’s hard to get here from there.
Fortinbras: Still, unless you want to walk all the way around Portland, worth a shot heading that way.
spindingo: Sounds like a plan.
Heidi: Let’s rock n roll.
Improvidence: Right!
Fortinbras: Right! Thanks to Heidi and Jon’s bravery, everybody’s carrying their strength in rations. It’s late, but you set out Northward.
spindingo: Singin’ a song.
Heidi: WOO! NORTH!
Fortinbras: The way is broken and strange, but familiar to anyone who’s passed down it before. Not a thing’s changed in years, in fact. Dead cars in the road, everything hollow.
Fortinbras: The first new thing you encounter is catastrophically new. A bridge has crumbled, pouring cars into the ravine below. It’s almost passable just on account of these piled up cars. More stand disused on the bride and the road. It’d take a while to walk around this.
spindingo: Mood tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcHOq8i5Pyk
Fortinbras: Lovely!
Fortinbras: Bet Bill loves Gil Scott Heron.
spindingo: Big time.
Fortinbras: So. You could spend an extra day going around this obstacle, or try to find something in the surrounding area to get you across.
Heidi: How deep is the water?
Fortinbras: Not very. There’s a pretty good drop before you get to it, too. Maybe wasn’t always so far down.
Heidi: How deep is ‘not very’ to the best of our ability to estimate?
spindingo: In fall damage, not feet.
Fortinbras: Hahahah. A lot of fall damage. But we’ll say it’s five feet at the deepest. A trickle, as rivers go.
Fortinbras: Mostly rusty rocks all the way down.
spindingo: Well, no point in risky harm unless it cannot be helped.
spindingo: Unless we are likely to meet highway men on the long road.
Heidi: Well. I have rope.
Fortinbras: You could encounter some trouble on the road, yeah. Climbing down is another option, but I don’t think this is a team with a lot of climbing “expertise.”
spindingo: Not much for climbing or balancing.
spindingo: Maybe we can use that rope for an engineering solution.
Fortinbras: It wouldn’t be too hard to get down onto the mounded up cars below, getting up is a bigger issue.
Grammaticus is disconnected.
Heidi: That’s a fine point.
Grammaticus has connected.
Grammaticus: Disconnect -me-, will you?
Heidi: You should throw a chair, max.
Heidi: Throw. A. Chair.
Fortinbras: The area’s familiar enough that you can find hardware stores. The cars *would* be a bitch to fix, except Bill has that MacGuyver edge.
spindingo: Sure it would be easy enough to get something to help us float across, finding something that can climb us out however is the rub.
Fortinbras: It’s not that broad an expanse. Just a deep one.
spindingo: Backup a semi trailer into it?
Fortinbras: Mighta been one back down the road a bit.
spindingo: If it has some pallets or crates inside that could help us climb out too.
spindingo: Or just use the lumber if it’s been preserved well.
Heidi: Hm. Or, stay with me… Catapult.
spindingo: Yeah, could find an old cherry pricker and..
spindingo: *picker
spindingo: Hah, me.
Fortinbras: There’s a semi a quarter mile up the road. It’s been stripped clean, but it’s nothing you can’t get moving, you figure. It’d take a repair roll (with no -, on account of that edge) and then a driving roll to get it back to the bridge.
spindingo: Anyone much of a driver?
Fortinbras: (sorry for the delay on that, i had to remind myself of what the driving rules were like. all for in-combat stuff, it turns out!)
Improvidence: Nope.
Heidi: I do indeed have a d4 in that.
spindingo: Sweet.
Fortinbras: Give it a shot then!
Grammaticus: That means automatic only.
Fortinbras: Hah.
* spindingo rolls: 1d8 => 5
* Heidi rolls: d4 => 2
* Heidi rolls: d6 => 5
* spindingo rolls: d6 => 5
spindingo: Five it is.
Improvidence: By the way, here’s a thing. When rolling, add the letter e to the end, e.g. /roll 1d8e. That will let the die explode.
Fortinbras: Oh, that’s pretty cool!
Heidi: That is cool.
spindingo: I want to spam the chat now to test this.
Fortinbras: Between the two of you, you get the truck back to the bridge. What exactly are you going to do with it?
spindingo: Uh, profit.
Improvidence: In my tests in another window, I got a roll of 9 on a 1d4e, so it’ll keep going if you get real lucky.
Heidi: How far across is the hole in the bridge?
Fortinbras: It’s just about the length of the semi. Looks like getting it balanced on the junk below is the only trick to this. Well, doing that without being in the truck when it goes over.
spindingo: Maybe we should’ve gone with motorcycles and ramps.
Fortinbras: Hahah.
Heidi: How can a bennie make this more awesome, Fortindaves?
Fortinbras: There’s plenty of debris around to weigh down the gas, if you want to play it that way.
spindingo: Risky jumping.
Improvidence: Jon is going to stand a little out of the way, maybe a little bit behind a concrete divider in the road. Doesn’t want to jinx this, or risk getting hurt by a random occurence.
spindingo: How about we just disconnect the trailer near the edge and use a jack to get it to slide down?
spindingo: Shout out to Archimedes.
Fortinbras: That’s a good one. You got it. Won’t quite fill the gap, but you should be able to rig something up to get that last few feet covered.
Fortinbras: It’s damn dark now. Not deadly cold, but far from comfortable tonight.
Heidi: Maybe we sleep here, and cross in the day time?
Fortinbras: Could do. It’s a little exposed, but nobody would see you in the back of that truck.
spindingo: Not a ripe target I’d think.
Fortinbras: And no one but the dyingly desperate checks cars anymore, that got done with in the first couple years of the new paradigm.
spindingo: Doors that lock too. Pretty cramp but that could help with the warmth.
Fortinbras: Evander’s all for getting some sleep.
Fortinbras: All right, let’s call that close enough to unanimous. The night is uneventful in a familiar, not particularly comforting way. Dreary light shows through the sliding rear door of the truck in the morning and everybody climbs out into the mute sun.
Fortinbras: Food supplies go down by 1 each, and you can make morning scavenging (Survival) rolls. Anyone who wants to look for materials for something, a simple ramp or whatever else you might think of, can do so with this.
spindingo: Well, no point in just sittin’ around.
* spindingo rolls: d4 => 4
spindingo: Ah, forgot the e.
* Improvidence rolls: d4e => 7
* spindingo rolls: d4 => 2
Heidi: Hm. I’m gonna grab a broken off door/hood/trunk top from a car and use it to bridge the last bits of things.
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 23
Fortinbras: Oh ah! Nice rolls!
Grammaticus: !
Heidi: I AM A GOLDEN GOD
Improvidence: Woah.
spindingo: Wha-wha-whaaaa
Fortinbras: Holy fucking hell. You found some ladders, Heidi. A ladder store.
Grammaticus: She returns, walking on ladders as with stilts. With ladders over her shoulder.
Heidi St Louis: How did we miss this?
spindingo: and a bottle of booze under the counter.
Heidi: And also fresh tacos.
Evander: Where you *been* all my life? Savin’ the bad food, gettin’ us across the mouth a hell, what’s next in your day planner?
Heidi St Louis: After I get done with you guys, it’s all rescuing kittens and mansels.
Heidi St Louis: That’s male damsels, for the uninformed.
* Evander mock-fawns. “I’m in distress, ma’am.” Bill Brogden: Helpin’ old men cross the street as it were.
Bill Brogden: Not bad, kid!
Fortinbras: Awarding Heidi a benny for the term “mansels.”
Heidi: Ha.
Fortinbras: You’re able to cross the bridge in comfort and style, thanks to the young lady with the guns.
Fortinbras: Once you get across it’s looking more like Portland already. A body greets you on the way toward an area more dense with buildings, long blackened and dried, leaning on a lamppost wearing a faded t shirt. It says “Ironic Hipster Shirt,” and it is mostly torn away, flitting in the breeze.
Fortinbras: The wave is rising up before you.
Fortinbras: Is there anything you want to look for for your noon hour scav roll? Can always use a bit of food, or maybe just an ideal point from which to observe this next obstacle?
Heidi: I’ll be looking for points of observations and making sure that we can continue toward POrtland.
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 1
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 5
Improvidence: Foodstuffs.
spindingo: Fewd
* Improvidence rolls: 1d4e => 2
* spindingo rolls: 1d4e => 3
* Improvidence rolls: 1d6e => 1
* spindingo rolls: 1d6e => 1
Fortinbras: No luck getting that meal together, but Heidi finds something. At the top of a very gradual slope, there’s a supermarket from whose roof one gets the impression they might be able to see everything up to the wave very well. You gather there, and notice a couple of men inside the automatic glass doors. They’re not doing much.
Fortinbras: Victor Gall, Robert Arnsdale! There’s a bunny. You’ve been trying to figure it out for a little while when company arrives. The sliding doors announce them. Still working. Solar powered. Weird, what still functions.
Fortinbras: Most of the shelves in this market are empty but intact, save one that’s been tipped right on its side.
* Heidi walks in, a hand on the revolver at her hip. Well, one of the two of them. “Hey, boys,” she calls across the supermarket. “S’up?”
Amordea: I leave the figuring out of things to Vic.
Grammaticus: Mic check.
* Jonathan Walker remains outside, shotgun in his hands, though lowered so as to appear non-threatening. Grammaticus: Right then!
Fortinbras: Yer good, Gram.
Amordea: Rob is just smart enough to realize he’s not that smart.
* Evander ducks down when the doors activate, then stands, feeling a bit of a fool. He remains cautious.
Amordea: So there’s people outside? At what point do we notice them?
* Victor Gall adjusts his glasses and squints at the doll. He looks at Robert wordlessly, and gives a start when the doors slide open and Heidi announces herself.
Bill Brogden: Well, let’s see what they got.
Fortinbras: You’ve noticed them by now. A couple’ve come in. Though you probably could’ve noticed them earlier.
Bill Brogden: Taking in a rest, gentlemen?
Bill Brogden: Got a moment to trade some words? Valuable stuff.
* Victor Gall turns sharply, briefcase in one hand, long, bundled blanket in the other. He stammers out a hello in reply, and has to readjust his glasses, shaken down his nose as they were in his surprise. Victor Gall: “O-oh, I didn’t hear anyone coming. We don’t have anything. That is, this isn’t even -our- store, you know.”
* Evander comes up beside Bill, a little bit galled to be out-couraged by the old man and the pretty lady.
Evander: Heyyy, folks.
Heidi St Louis: Whatcha watchin’?
Amordea: The rather large man beside Victor takes a casual step forward to act as a barricade in the event of trouble. He
Evander: Not that we aim to prevent you from watching whatever you might be watching. Especially you, big man. You watch any damn thing you want, I ain’t got a word to say on the subject.
* Evander nods, solidly and politely.
Amordea: He’s gripping his double barreled shotgun in his meaty palms, eyeing the newcomers warily.
* Jonathan Walker doesn’t mind being out-couraged, and he spends a few moments playing rear guard.
Bill Brogden: Just offering the good word in exchange for some more.
Bill Brogden: Got attacked by some arsonist on the other side of the bridge.
Evander: Yeah, Bill’s got it right. We recently transient.
* Victor Gall half turns away from the group and indicates with a jab of his long bundle at the stuffed rabbit. “My friend, here, just noticed the bunny. We stopped in to, well, you know. Groceries. Curious thing, eh?”
Bill Brogden: Just making our way back to the city. You folks seen anything uneasy?
Heidi St Louis: Wait. A bunny?
* Victor Gall nods curtly. “Bunny.”
* Robert Arnsdale doesn’t do any talking, preferring to let Vic handle the words. But he sure does a lot of scowling, seeming ready for a scrap if it comes to it.
* Evander wrinkles his face, and reiterates. “Bunny?”
Evander: Shiiit, okay, that is weird. Little bastard looks downright pristine, don’t he?
Heidi: Wait, so. Is this like a bunyn doll or what?
Fortinbras: Yeah. It’s a big, white bunny doll holding a trumpet.
* Jonathan Walker hasn’t heard any gunfire, and decides it might be okay to peek in and see what everyone’s looking at.
Fortinbras: Beyond it are washrooms and a stairway.
Victor Gall: “At any rate, no. Nothing uneasy. Aside from the toy. We’re on our way through town. Just here to cap off a little project. Building a door.”
Heidi St Louis: O…kay. Now, forgive me if this sounds ignorant but… Why is this rabbit so cool?
Evander: Think about it, man. The fuck’s a bunny doin’ here? All standin’ there like it’s on guard.
Bill Brogden: Maybe it is.
Fortinbras: Notice might help you to make more of it.
Bill Brogden: Makes a sound when someone gets by, you know.
* Victor Gall has only just settled his nerves on the matter of the newcomers when their speculation rattles them again.
* Heidi has to admit, it’s… Kinda interesting. But she’s less patient. Instead, she walks toward the bunny. And, if not stopped, picks it up.
* spindingo rolls: 1d8e + 2 => 10 + 2 = 12
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 1
Fortinbras: Whew! Goodass roll!
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 3
Grammaticus: Don’t think I’m beating alertness, but hey! Dice fight!
* Grammaticus rolls: d8e => 6
Fortinbras: Bill, you might want to call out for Heidi to stop. The eyes are pretty obviously (and may not have ever seemed otherwise, to a man as paranoid as Bill) motion detectors. You can make out a little mechanism in its mouth, and the trumpet arm appears to rotate up so that the trumpet presses the switch.
Bill Brogden: All right, we should leave. You too, friends.
Fortinbras: It’s facing slightly southeast. A person might be able to sneak in and snatch the wee thing up.
Bill Brogden: That’s no toy.
Bill Brogden: It’s mechanical top to bottom, those eyes are cameras.
Bill Brogden: Motion sensors, rather.
* Heidi stops, looking back over her shoulder, “Meh?”
Bill Brogden: Heidi! Get back.
Evander: What if it’s some kinda alarmed-assed bunny? Stay back!
Bill Brogden: That could be a bomb or worse.
Heidi St Louis: if it’s a bomb, or an alarm, it’s guarding something, right? And if something’s worth guarding with a super bunny, it must be pretty sweet, right? And we want sweet stuff, right?
Evander: Havin’ all my arms and legs and head is pretty sweet too.
Amordea: Rob shares a look with Victor, to try and see what he thinks of all this.
Bill Brogden: Well, then work your way at it from behind if you want.
Bill Brogden: keep away from those eyes.
Heidi: I’m going to use my stealths, and come at from an angle that the bunny can’t see?
Fortinbras: Evander gets down behind a checkout line.
Fortinbras: Sure thing.
* Victor Gall stammers something indiscernible before swallowing to compose himself. Then he softly elbows Robert, nodding up at him. “I think our present company has the right idea. Maybe we shouldn’t be so… out in the open?”
* Heidi rolls: d8e => 3
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 1 Heidi: So. No.
Amordea: Rob nods once at Victor. He didn’t like that bunny anyway.
Heidi: Wait! Bennie.
Fortinbras: Good plan.
* Heidi rolls: d8e => 5
spindingo: Excellent.
* Heidi rolls: d6e => 3
Fortinbras: You get up to it. All is still.
Heidi: So, five.
Amordea: Rob moves wherever Vic goes.
* Victor Gall stalks slowly, painfully aware of the words “motion detectors”, to the farthest wall he can.
Amordea: Although he’s keeping an eye on the newcomers still as well as the bunny.
Fortinbras: Going to pick it up?
* Heidi is. Carefully.
Fortinbras: As soon as you do, it starts to raise that trumpet to its lips.
* Heidi sets a finger between the end of the trumpet and the bunny’s mouth.
Fortinbras: It smacks the mouth of the trumpet against your finger ineffectually. All is still.
* Victor Gall takes the moment, which he’s sure will end poorly, to size up Bill. He squints fiercely behind his glasses, as if trying to place the face.
Heidi St Louis: HOLY HELL!!!
Evander: SHIT, WE DEAD.
* Heidi lobs the bunny up, over the shelves, toward where all the men are.
* Victor Gall cringes irritably at the shouting.
Bill Brogden: Caught the tiger, how what?
Fortinbras: Unstoppered, the trumpet begins to move again. There’s a short airhorn blast.
Fortinbras: Then,
Fortinbras: All this shelving gets blown away, along with poor little trumpeter.
* Heidi stops. Boom. “Ok… That was… A lot less funny then I thought it was going to be.”
Heidi St Louis: Everyone ok?!
Evander: A adorable bunny almost killed me! I can’t get this far and get done in by a adorable bunny!
Heidi St Louis: On the plus side… Swet stuff?
Amordea: Ok, Rob’s not too thrilled about having an explosive lobbed in his direction by someone he just met.
* Victor Gall stands, flush against the wall, his shoulders hunched as high as his ears. His briefcase he’s dropped, but the blanket roll he hugs tightly to his chest.
Bill Brogden: Could’ve figured out what you wanted to do with it before you went after it.. Oh god.
Heidi: But everyone’s ok, right??
* Jonathan Walker crouches behind a bit of shelf, arms up to protect his head. “Everyone all right?”
* Evander looks around and, after a while, shrugs. “All good. Yeah? All good?”
Heidi: What is there for sweet stuff???
* Bill Brogden takes a moment to regain his breath.
Bill Brogden: Don’t go running off!

* Victor Gall shouts, trembling, in a voice that also shakes with stress, “Are you people crazy?!”
Bill Brogden: .. are you sane?
* Heidi calls back, “I totally thought it was just a rabbit when I hucked it. I promise to be more careful with rabbits in the future.”
* Bill Brogden stands up from behind the regsiter.
* Robert Arnsdale grits his teeth through the explosion, though comes out unharmed. He grips the barrels of his shotgun tightly while cocking the hammers of his shotgun back. At the moment he isn’t too certain of the intentions of these newcomers. He looks back to Victor to make sure he’s all right and for some sort of sign as to how to handle this bizarre situation.
Fortinbras: There’s a stack of Hustlers, anachronistic in the extreme, who gets this in print form anymore?, and buried under them a kevlar vest that’s in decent shape. Someone wanted to feel safe when they were with these.
Heidi St Louis: SWEET!
* Heidi returns, the vest tossed over her head lazily, the entire stack of old magazines in her arms. It’s obvious she’s more than a little impressed with her find.
* Victor Gall slowly relaxes, eyes jumping from man to man. He looks to Robert last, slowly shaking his head. “I… think perhaps we’d better take care of our business… if anything is even left intact.”
* Victor Gall surveys the debris with a deflating tone.
Evander: You think you gonna find groceries in here now?
Victor Gall: “No. Thankyouverymuch. Probably -not-.”
Heidi St Louis: I’ve offically won. Look at these! You guys can all stop scavenging shit like, forever.
Bill Brogden: How strapped are you men? If you’re headin’ our way we can share some.
Bill Brogden: Company couldn’t hurt, you know.
Jonathan Walker: I’
Jonathan Walker: I’m beginning to think it might.
* Victor Gall stares at the rubble as an argument.
* Evander squints through the still settling dust at Heidi’s haul. “Porno mags.” He can’t summon much more than that.
* Victor Gall sighs. Then, “Which way -are- you heading? Maybe some information isn’t a bad trade.”
* Evander scratches his head. He leaves the sharing of sensitive information to Bill at times like these. He’s a bit more concerned with not getting on the nerves of one of the burliest men he’s seen in his life right now. Bill Brogden: Back to the city, Evander and I were evicted from our home by arsonist.
Bill Brogden: My servers, my radio equipment, all gone.
* Heidi pulls the kevlar over her head with one hand, not dropping her magazines. She tosses it toward Victor. “Here. Shelf replacement fund, Brave Little Toaster.” And then she starts to flip through the issue on top, stopping to admire the ads.
Bill Brogden: Jon and Heidi here were witness to it, dispensed some good justice too.
Bill Brogden: Going to need some more equipment. Going to have to rebuild. Got a booster in the city, we can start there.
Fortinbras: Whoever wants to wear that, it’s got a good feature. Negates up to 4 points of armor penetration, which will cover most guns’ AP.
Amordea: Rob catches the thrown vest with one hand, receiving it without a show of gratitude. He inspects it briefly before passing it to Victor.
spindingo: Something Evander can suit up with?
* Victor Gall processes this quickly with a visible twitch of his features. He gives a soft grunt when the vest piles in his arms. He continues to Bill without reference or acknowledgement to most of his story, “We’re going into town too. I can save you some trouble. That door I’m building is right through the shelf. You know, the earthquake wall.” Fortinbras: Oh, yes. Bill will know some folks in Portland proper, there’re probably some people who are pretty grateful to him. And Heidi’s able to find leads on jobs wherever she goes.
Evander: So when you say building, you talkin’ the kind of building gets done with bunnies, that right?
Victor Gall: “Right. What I’m here, ah, “shopping” for is something to use as a detonator. Unfortunately, I think you just detonated it all.”
Bill Brogden: Might be able to help you out. Got a hand for stuff like that.
* Victor Gall does not seem to be the sort of man who lets the little things go, like explosions. Heidi St Louis: Ok, see. Now you probably should’ve mentioned that -before- I was handling the bo-bunny.
Victor Gall: “Then, I think we’re in business.”
Grammaticus: (Need a very brief afk. Back in a sec!)
Bill Brogden: My friends here have pretty good eyes for rummaging.
Heidi St Louis: Oh, I’m here looking for highly dangerous explosive devices. Better not mention that to people whom are handling suspicious objects I’m observing. Man.
* Heidi St Louis rolls her eyes, but her tone is less angry then playful. Clearly, she sees explosions as something to be fairly nonchalant about.
Jonathan Walker: From now on, you should assume whatever you’re picking up could be dangerous. That way, when it is, we’re all better off for it.
Bill Brogden: Eh, she’s got what you guys don’t. Ain’t all bad now.
Evander: I knew when I saw that bunny it ought to been left alone.
Heidi St Louis: If we left it alone, we wouldn’t have these magazines. Or that vest. Or this awesome story.
Heidi St Louis: C’mon. We’re not going to get to Portland gabbing all day.
* Evander chuckles in spite of himself. “Wonder if Voodoo Donuts still exists. Know that crazy place, makes the bacon donut? Imagine ‘em still makin’ donuts. Gatling guns on the roof, donuts inside.” He’s lost for a moment in a revery of fried dough.
Victor Gall: “That’s the first sensible thing I’ve heard you say, Ma’am. There’s an alternative to a detonator, and that’s, um, internet. You lost all your equipment though, you said?”
Bill Brogden: Evander pulled my laptop.
Amordea: (need a short afk myself)
Fortinbras: Gonna assume he’s long since passed that back to Bill. Don’t think Bill would trust it in any other person’s hands for too long, being as he is about… everything.
Heidi St Louis: I think we’re coming up on a good place to end for the night? My narrative pause sense is tingling.
spindingo: Hahah
Heidi: That’s OOC.
spindingo: I’m about done myself.
Fortinbras: Yep! Figured we’d pause right when they returned to the wall, or a bit sooner.
Grammaticus: That’d be the next step, yeah.
Grammaticus: Let’s all go see the fireworks.
Heidi: I think leaving the supermarket is a good place, and we can deal with the wall first thing next time?
Fortinbras: I agree.
Fortinbras: It’ll be a delight! First thing next session: figuring out that detonator!
spindingo: .. almost as fun as my Monday morning search for a bacon donuts.
Fortinbras: I do want to do one last thing.
Fortinbras: Heheheh.
Heidi: Give us all the XP?
Amordea: (back!)
Fortinbras: Wanna credit some of the artists responsible for these icons. Cause holy god, they’re really good.
Grammaticus: I regret only that I didn’t get to shoot anyone.
Fortinbras: You did really well this round, I’d say, so I’m gonna lay 3 points on you. Probably means a level next week. Most games will be 2 points, and it takes 5 for a level.
spindingo: Yippie.
Heidi: And the artists?
Fortinbras: Let’s see if I can paste this directly.
Fortinbras: Max’s avatar by Cuson www.michallisowski.com/ Alex’s avatar by 2013 http://2013.deviantart.com/ Megan’s avatar by Arnold Tsang http://arnistotle.deviantart.com/ Amice’s avatar by Michael Kutsche http://michaelkutsche.deviantart.com/ Crone by Tim Xu http://blog.sina.com.cn/flowerzzxu Robber by Ishmael Medrano http://www.cannibalcandy.com/gallery/index.php’>http://cuson.deviantart.com/ Sarapis’ avatar by Michel Lisowski http://www.michallisowski.com/ Alex’s avatar by 2013 http://2013.deviantart.com/ Megan’s avatar by Arnold Tsang http://arnistotle.deviantart.com/ Amice’s avatar by Michael Kutsche http://michaelkutsche.deviantart.com/ Crone by Tim Xu http://blog.sina.com.cn/flowerzzxu Robber by Ishmael Medrano http://www.cannibalcandy.com/gallery/index.php
Fortinbras: Came out a little weird. Decently enough though. I say check them out.
Heidi: And now, g’night, y’all.
Amordea: Yeah, forfiter is amazing.
Amordea: Good night.
Fortinbras: Ta-ra! We’ll get a next day sorted soon~
Fortinbras: Thanks very much for coming. Hope you didn’t mind the rocky bits.
spindingo: Great! Good fun, appreciate it!
Amordea: Got us all together now. Sounds like some promising times ahead!
Fortinbras: Hope so~
Improvidence: Yeah, gonna be fun. See ya next time.
Grammaticus: Quite!
Grammaticus: Au revoir!
Amordea: Bye all.