The Dunwich Conspiracy Session 8

General Summary

With the tension rising as the group tries to escape the raider infested Super Duper Mart, Tommy's Stealth Boy flickers once and cuts off, leaving him hopelessly vulnerable on open ground between armed gunmen and wasteland guard dogs. Meanwhile, Sir POSH heads back to the command console so he can finish reprogramming the other two Protectrons that have returned to their pods. Ratt is temporary lost between the pounding headache he is suffering from and the visions of indigo strands stretching out before him. Becoming aware that this is some form of physical manifestation of the artifact's computation power, the Ratt waits for it to calculate the path of his highest survivability.

With sweat beading up on the back of Tommy's neck he makes a last-ditch effort to play off his escape as a casual stroll out the door but to little effect. Just as it seems he has been spotted a series of sirens and bells begin to toll from the outside in alarm. Caught almost completely by surprise as the doors are flung open before him, one of the cultists exclaims fearfully, "SLAVERS!! Slavers on the wall!!". Taking advantage of his opportunity, Tommy chokes out a response and falls in line to man the gate like a dutiful soldier, his out of place presence soon forgotten in the ensuing chaos.

Hearing the alarms being raised and the cultists beginning to notice the Ratt's absence, Sir POSH activates his contingency plan. While his Protectron ally directs their attention to the back of the store with some good old-fashioned vandalism, POSH uses the intercom to send a false intruder warning to divert attention away from the group and prepares his own escape. Finding the back exit still secure, he issues orders to his small army of automatons and sends them to meet him in the front double-time.

Finding the most prominent tendril of energy leading into the front office of the Super Duper Mart, the Ratt wastes little time following after it. Spotting a fridge, he is momentarily distracted by his empty belly and finds a cache of pre-war food still kept inside as emergency rations. A high commodity for the scavenger, he wastes no time in snatching as much of it as he can stuff inside in his clothing. As he does this however, a Nuka Cola bottle slips from under his elbow and crashes to the floor in an audible sound to anyone nearby. Instructed by the mysterious feminine voice locked inside the artifact, the Ratt is given a choice of capture or removing the rags that cover his face. Having a near panic attack, it is his mental link with the group that prepares him for the task of having to unmask himself around so many people.

Making it to the welded wall of junk and pre-war vehicles, Tommy finds the compound on full alert and exchanging intermittent fire from the ruins they spotted on the way in. These shots are so out of range that they simply wine through the air above the defenses or drop into the desert sand long before they come anywhere close to a target. Two cherry-red Chryslus automobiles lead a pack of Corvega City Slavers away from the main host, their caution thrown to the wind as they charge through the dessert to act as the vanguard for the larger force.

Taking the time for one last sweep of the area, Sir Posh finds an old fission battery with a decent amount of charge left inside before exiting through the collapsed vent at the rear of the store. Using a focused lense he gains a small glimpse of the enemy on the horizon. Too far for him to calculate their numbers exactly, it is clear that at least forty other vehicles have now amassed under the sparse cover that the pre-war ruins provide. Not having any data on how these two forces with match up against each other is a fight, he does the rational thing and tells his comrades that it is time to go.

Unwinding the stained rags from his face, they practically keep their shape with the 'starch' of his wasteland grime. Thoroughly uncomfortable, he is quickly spotted by the guards that enter to investigate the noises he made. Having never seen his face prior to the ritual, no one actually knows what Ratt looks like. Assuming that he is simply a wastelander coming to steal their food, they offer him a good knock upside the head before they take back their supplies and boot the Ratt outside to join the defense. Awkwardly trying to cover his face with his hand in a non-suspicious manner, he stumbles into the camp amidst the chaos and tries to blend into the crowd. This also fails however when he blurts out his own name, forcing him to make another quick escape to the roof using his patented Liberator grappling hook.

Watching the approaching vehicles, Tommy speaks to some of the men and women on the wall next to him. When he determines that at least half are simple wastelanders trying to survive in the only settlement for miles, he decides to fight. The cultists open fire but with limited effect. Only those riding on the outsides of their vehicles are caught in the crossfire, as most of the Chryslus armada has been modified with additional plating to protect their operators and engines. Tommy can only watch as two red Corvegas escort a bus filled to the brim with mutants towards the compound, a pair of Fusion Fleas curiously leading the assault. Confused at first as to their purpose, it becomes imminently clear when the first connects with the wall and violently explodes its fission reactor, sending bodies and debris sailing chaotically through the air in all directions.

Seeing this commotion at about the same time he notices the Ratt scampering across the roof, Sir POSH realizes that Tommy isn't going to retreat, and he isn't willing to leave him. He makes a quick plan with the Ratt as they pass each other and sets his sights on the collection of dune buggies being prepped by the cultists. Two appear to have mounted light machine guns attached and are swarming with the elite members from inside the Super Duper Mart, while another two without weapons look to have been caught in the blast. Taking the time to run a diagnostics scan on the automobiles, he determines one is in decent enough shape to drive so he prepares for the next stage of his idea, calling all Protectrons to converge on his location.

Wanting simply to get away from the people, Ratt decides it is best to return to 'The Roc' and use his link with Tommy to figure out how to get it in the air. He works his way across the rest of the rooftop and runs into a snag when he finds himself in full view of the cultists that man the western section of wall. Thankfully the chaos happening at the front gate keeps their attention long enough for him to simply walk by slowly and begin his descent. Once his feet hit the desert sand he takes off running through the darkness, the Buffout coursing through his system keeping him sprinting the entire way despite the mounting fatigue from all the physical exertion and losing his supper at the ritual.

Caught in the initial blast, Tommy is saved from the worst of the shrapnel by taking cover behind the hood of one of the pre-war cars that make up the outer wall. Hearing the violent rain of debris pelt off shield, he takes a shot at one of the passing red cars with both barrels of his shotgun. Although protected by armored slats, the sheer bulk of pellets fired through the driver-side window ricochet through the vehicle and cause the driver to lose control. Slamming into the wall hard enough to knock a few defenders loose, there is no further movement from inside, so Tommy sets his sights back to the main force. As the bus positions its broadside to the compound, Fodder pour from the protected side and make a fearless charge towards the fortifications.

POSH is hard at work figuring out the actual logistics to his scheme. Three Protectrons are fairly easily loaded onto the buggy by having them grip the roll cage and plant their feet on the lower frame. The problem arises when the one-armed Eyebot discovered a clutch and gear-shifter that he will need to manipulate if he means to actually drive. With a bit of ingenuity and brute force, he manages to maneuver the last automaton into the driver's seat, but not without cutting a decent hole in the roof. Satisfied with his work, he straps his rotund body to the passenger seat and plugs directly into the robot beside him, controlling it through a hard-wired link.

Once Ratt makes it into the open desert, there is little chance of him actually being spotted. His tattered, earthen-toned garments are perfect for camouflage in this environment. Neither the slavers or the cultists take any pop shots at him, and with his lifelong commitment to a high physical standard, he makes excellent time crossing the sands. As more gunfire and screaming erupts in the growing distance behind him, he gets his first glorious look at their salvation. Sitting right where they left it, hidden by POSH's ingenuitive paint job, is the TGF-01. Only.. something lies prone just before the cockpit door and Ratt can hear the sound of a woman pleading for help, just not coming from the mound of clothing..

Tommy quickly repositions himself on the other side of the entrance, preparing himself to fight back against the horde of mutants boiling from the interior of the armored pre-war bus. Twisted and deformed, these creatures seem to beg for death as they take little heed for their own safety in a full charge without any cover. Many fall within moments, including the unfortunate soul that Tommy trains Old Man Thompson's shotgun on. Exhilarated in his defiance against the invaders, the man in the numberless Vault suit is suddenly jerked backwards and caught completely off guard by the return fire. Although shot out of a pipe-gun, the .308 round shreds the soft tissues and muscle around his left tricep and shatters the humerus bone, leaving his arm to dangle limp and lifeless at his side as he recoils in agony.

Seeing his opening in the rubble, Sir POSH does something he heard about in a Vault Crawler broadcast about a southern group of car enthusiasts that were always on the run from the local sheriff. Performing a quick U-turn and gunning the engines, he races into a sharp incline of detritus and soars into the air. Despite the angry sounds of bolts snapping off and grinding gears, his vehicle soars over the wall and lands hard into the sands outside the compound. Nearly landing on the other red Corvega driving up to check on the wreckage of their allies, the driver is unable to maintain control and smashes into the car Tommy shot into earlier. Trying to pull attention away from his wounded compatriot, POSH then begins a series of doughnuts, churning up a massive cloud of sand that obscures the battlefield. While this is happening, he replays propaganda from the cultists to inspire them to fight harder, knowing that Tommy's fate is tied to theirs until they can get him out.

Feeling that something is off, Ratt does his best to investigate the area without attracting attention. Continuing to hear the eerie pleas and cries for help from somewhere in the dunes, Ratt uses his foot to turn over the bundle of trash and wasteland debris wrapped in an old blanket. Confused and with concerns mounting, he decides to chance a run to the vertibird, but is attacked the moment he looks away. Running out from the shadows, a chameleon deathclaw springs forth with deadly claws to perform an ambush. Alerted at the last moment by the movement, Ratt takes a swing of his own with his brass knuckles but even though both opponents connect, miraculously their respective armors protect them from any injury. Squaring off and now facing one another down, the two prepare for a fight to the death.

Bloodied but not broken, Tommy shouts a curse to his adversaries and a rallying cry for the cultists as he lets off a one-armed shot with his double-barrel and dives for cover. Starting to succumb to shock, he is saved when one of the wasteland doctors takes notice of him and rushes to provide aid. Having witnessed his valiance firsthand, the awe-struck man gives him an injection of Radaway alongside a few Stimpacks and a splint. A humbling experience for Tommy as well, to fight side by side with those he considered to be simple raiders before arriving, he learns that this new world might be just as complicated at the old morally.

Driving like a madman due to his limited motion in the Protectron body, Sir POSH keeps up his antics and decides to add a few new ones to his routine. Accessing the data he collected with Tommy on The Children of Atom and using inspiration from his connection to Ratt during the ritual he took part in, POSH blares the 'voice of Atom' from all available speakers in the vehicle and connected robots. Judging and damning the invaders, he rains down verbal abuse on the mutants so convincingly that the lesser minded Fodder begin to turn and flee back to the safety of their bus.

Face to face with a creature easily twice his size, the Ratt feels no sense of fear as he prepares to fight this creature with his bare hands. Timid now that its element of surprise is blown, the deathclaw makes a single swipe to test its prey, landing the blow across the Ratt's chest. This time his armor does not hold up against the elongated razor-sharp claws, and pieces of his leathers peel back with his flesh. Although most rational people would be second guessing their decision to be here alone right about this time, the scavenger from the Crawler focuses his strength into a single open palmed attack and aims at the animal's gut. This does not do any permanent or lasting damage to the animal, instead it temporary disrupts breathing and organ function, stunning the deathclaw quite effectively. Now making a frantic attempt to escape back to the cover of the dunes, the Ratt has other plans and begins to concentrate.

Letting his wounds be tended, Tommy feels the same strange connection from earlier to Ratt's mind. Coaxed into a trance, he begins to forge a strong mental link with his ally so he can communicate exactly what he will need to do to fly 'The Roc'. Seeing a potential for some monetary gain, the industrious POSH makes a plan to take these Protectrons with them. Even without the pods needed to properly charge and program them, they would be worth something nice from RJ should they return with them. Looking deep into the eyes of the chameleon deathclaw with his solid-red mutant eyes, Ratt forces his mind's will on the creature with the help of the artifact. Pointing it in the direction of the slaver's flank, the scavenger climbs aboard the vertibird and replaces his goggles before he attempts to reunite with the group. As POSH makes his approach towards a safer place to pick up Tommy, his sensors pick up a large cold-blooded creature that turns as he passes before continuing towards the rear of the slaver's bus.

Even with the mental link growing in strength, this amalgamation of levers and knobs confuses the Ratt deeply. Trusting in his connection to the artifact, he closes his eyes and relaxes his muscles. With a series of confident motions, he lets Tommy take control of his arms, slipping into a trance-like state at the engines roar to life and build momentum to take off. With the crucial moment at hand, Ratt lifts the stick and directs the exhaust beneath the aircraft. Looking at first to be a successful takeoff, he drags the left side landing gear across the dunes accidentally, bending the bars and sending the sounds of twisting and sheering metal throughout the interior. Finally in the air, the group will just have to deal with the damage later. For now, it is the Ratt's time to fly..

Player Reports

Thinking outside the box as usual, Sir POSH repurposes the cultist technology to fit his own needs. Not only does he use them to collect the final samples for RJ, but he then reprograms them into his personal bodyguards. Perhaps one could argue theft at this stage, but one might also be able to argue attempted murder on the innocent Ratt as well. Saving the moral debate with Tommy for later when they are safely aboard their junkyard vertibird, POSH really brakes outside of his shell in this environment. Throwing caution to the wind, his magnificent display of scattered Protectron lasers, the fifty-foot-tall dust devil, and blaring microphones scared the slavers so badly that it halted their attack and sent them into disarray. Connected to his companions through a neural link, he has also been subconsciously collecting data on these exchanges of information with results that are perfectly scientific in nature. No occult magic, no invisible sky-wizard protecting those that serve their will, only energy and wavelengths. It might take some time to make any sense whatsoever of the information gathered, and would of course require repeat recordings and tests, but this spells a lot of potential for the humble Eyebot in the future. Connecting to computers and fellow automatons is one thing, but connecting directly with humans? That would be something else entirely.

Forced out of his comfort zone, Ratt needed to get away from the crowds to be able to be an effective teammate. Revealing himself aboard the Crawler would have meant death or exile based on his appearance alone, which has given him quite a complex about his deformity. Mutations are unavoidable for most living in this region, with only those that have regular access to expensive and overworked physicians being spared. Although the specific details about how this abnormality works remain to be seen, it is also possible that it is not a typical mutation caused by exposure to radiation and instead an inherited familial trait. Despite looking a bit strange, they seem to work for the Ratt just fine, and have the added bonus of being extremely intimidating. Once alone, the seemingly limitless confidence returned to the Crawler scavenger. Using a tactic passed down to him through his ancestors that served the Brotherhood of Steel he managed to stun a creature twice his size in a single blow. Admittedly this attack also relied a good deal on luck as he was not aware of any weak spots originally in the deathclaw's natural armor, it still however proved extremely effective on the ambush predator. With his hands now on the controls, the group holds their breath to see if he can also manage to fly their aircraft into position without wrecking it in the process.

When Tommy got his Pip Pad back with all his 'Nuka Tapper' high scores overwritten with 'RAT' he was a little miffed. Now he is being forced to cope with the Vault Crawler scavenger flying his precious Roc all the way to the extraction. A hard day for the man's psyche, Tommy has trouble turning a blind eye to the suffering of the common man, and this quirk was on full display as he fought alongside the cultists with a fiery passion. Even going as far as to inspire others, the line between empathy and actual indoctrination seemed to blur for the young man as his view of the raiders was romanticized in the heat of combat. A stranger to this era, he seems to see the world through a veil of hopeful optimism that is lost to most contemporary survivors of the Great Dust Bowl. Whether or not this will get him into more trouble remains to be seen, but it is clear to his compatriots now that the man is more than willing to bleed for his code of honor. Grateful for the chems that survived the nuclear apocalypse, they certainly make almost dying for your ideals a little easier. Now he must tackle the problem of getting over the wall during a siege without getting shot from either side, and the larger issue for Tommy morally, can he leave his new friends behind to their fate?