The Dunwich Conspiracy Session 4

General Summary

Chaos erupts aboard the The Dreadnought as invaders force their way through weapon emplacements to engage the crew. These Reprogrammed Liberator Bots swarm the ill prepared wastelanders and VCP as they mount a desperate defense to escape the doomed airship before they are completely overrun. While Sir POSH handles logistical support over the intercom system, opening armory doors and calling our enemy positions, both Tommy and Ratt fight their way through the horde.

First Citizen Martin reappears after a daring rescue performed by Sergeant Benson and Darren Kloss. Hooked up to a Super Stimpack, she is recovering from wounds she sustained on the bridge. Thankfully the ballistic weave in her Vault suit helped dissipate the worst of the damage and her compatriots were able to step in just in the nick of time. Using a few pulse grenades to accomplish this feat, Benson has unknowingly begun another chain of events that POSH can only begin to detect.

Doubling back after they hit the armory in an attempt to save their fellow contract workers, Ratt and Tommy make a stand near the engine room to defend the wastelanders. This seems to be having a positive effect until the scavenger from the Vault Crawler decides to employ an explosive device housed inside of a pre-war baseball. Initially seeming like a mild reaction, a searing hot fragment of shrapnel penetrates the munitions storage on the Starboard Defense Battery causing a substantially more dramatic effect when the 105 mm shells detonate.

This blast does leave a dent in the enemy boarders, however two wastelanders are immediately killed so close to Ratt that he is left covered in their gore. Wounded himself in the 'daring' act, it is Tommy that comes to his rescue to patch him up and keep him in the fight. Meanwhile Sir POSH is working as fast as he can for First Citizen Martin preparing her last six The RD44 Cutlass fighters for launch. Without an interface designed to handle delegating so many complex tasks to the myriad of operating systems and hardware located on the Dreadnought, POSH must balance his urgency against the building heat in his chassis.

As the party once again reunited in the hangar to mount a last stand, members of the crew help set up defensive cover and move the turrets from the cargo hold into more strategic locations. A fresh swarm of lamp-sized infiltrators begins a renewed assault, their progress is only slowed by POSH's quick thinking. Closing several doors to create a choke point, his combined use of the sentry turrets punch holes in the enemy so efficiently that he does quite a bit of damage to the Dreadnought itself. The first planes are launched from the belly of the airship but not without consequence, coordinating so many processes are starting to take a toll on the party's loyal robot ambassador.

Detecting anomalies radiating throughout the system, POSH is caught off guard when he is suddenly forced out of several system functions. The different operating systems and hardware across the Dreadnought are communicating, even rewriting themselves to use a universal language no one else can understand. As the bloody engagement intensifies many wastelanders and security forces strap on parachutes to flee the old-fashioned way. An emergency climb begins, pitching the ship at an extreme angle as it ascends dangerously close to its service ceiling. Unable to access the ship controls, those on board are simply along for the ride.

With time running in short supply Tommy heads off the defenses. The double-barrel shotgun he inherited from Old Man Thompson shreds these lightly armored units like they were made of paper. Ratt assists but soon finds that his poor-quality knuckle-dusters are simply not up to the task. Frustrated he prepares another explosive, his early experience a fleeting memory while he becomes lost to his 'oil-lust'. The oxygen levels and temperatures plumet as the craft approaches twenty thousand feet and POSH lowers one of the last of the planes into position. Before it can be launched however, the Liberators make one last desperate attempt to assassinate the First Citizen. Putting his own precious chassis between the robots and his new friend, POSH takes the full force of their attacks and is nearly destroyed in the process.

Defending against fresh reinforcements sent up from a Cloud Hopper lurking directly beneath them, Raptor 1 returns triumphantly to provide cover fire and support. First Citizen Martin escapes with Sergeant Benson strapped to her biplane's suspension rack, leaving the party as the last survivors aboard the vessel. Preparing the final transport, POSH's internal temperatures hit a critical level. Setting off his 'diversion', Ratt clears the last of the enemies before he leads a raid to grab anything they can carry before boarding the waiting Cutlass. Curiously a bobblehead sits glued to the dash, a custom magnetic insert having been added at the base to keep it from getting lost. Diving into the crisp morning air, warm light creeps over the horizon to reveal a scenic sunrise, the universe rewarding the battered warriors for surviving the night.

Player Reports

by Felivans

The usually timid Sir POSH proves he has no problem slaughtering fellow robots as he makes a last stand in the hangar with First Citizen Martin and the other survivors. Stealing the show with his ability to manage complex functions across the entirety of the Dreadnought, he seals passages to create choke points, prepares fighters for launch, and even puts his delicate chassis on the line by physically blocking a barrage of shots that were intended for the First Citizen. By the time things are over he is barely able to sustain a stable hover, his laser ridden frame and overheated internal components perhaps moments from critical failure should the fight have continued any longer. Breaking the mold of the polite and helpful little eyebot, the denizens of the Great Dust Bowl had better never underestimate this humble little automaton again..

Ratt has good intentions, it's just his limited knowledge of the world that makes him act the way he does. Murdering two wastelanders with his negligent placement of a baseball grenade, he surprisingly does not learn from this mistake. Luckily for him the second instance has less dramatic effects and mourning the dead is considered a waste of time by most people in the Dust Bowl. Those that would chastise his actions also have to take into consideration the fact that this escape nearly failed, and had it not been for two of these 'danger-close' throws, nobody might have made it off the ship. As they leave the Dreadnought behind the dawn light reveals the vastness of the wasteland for the first time to Ratt, warm red tones painting a surreal work of art across a canvas of shifting caramel hues.

Tommy shines in his role during the fight as a competent crewman so much so that he is given recognition but the First Citizen. Between ruthless barrages from his double-barrel shotgun he gives inspirational speeches and even tells Martin exactly where she can stick her attitude. Somehow this impresses her even more, so much so that he is offered a spot in the Red Devils if he doesn't crash on his way back to the Vault Crawler. With the chemical balances in his brain leveling out, Tommy finds himself clearer headed during this fight than he can ever remember since he arrived in Undercity. Although not convinced yet that he should indeed fly back with the First Citizen, a lot of things have begun to make sense to the man who also seems capable of operating a biplane without any training.