Planning the Future Mission

Soskaid staggered slightly as she awkwardly aimed her last step down into Keshar's muddy tank floor. She giggled as she straightened and raised her arms in the air. She said quietly to herself with a smile, and then remembered that Hawthorne was gone and frowned. It was late. The rain was really pounding down now, and she still didn't have a good lead. What was she doing here again? she thought to herself, holding up a hand as if to shade her eyes from a sun that wasn't there. She inflated her cheeks and let out a puff of slightly toxic air. She hadn't had that much to drink, had she ? Then again she'd never had anything much to drink before, and certainly nothing so strong as Mikey's moonshine . There was a light coming from the other side of the town's wall. A door was open. Was that the trading post? Well, might as well go and ask around there before calling it a day . She became suddenly aware of a heavy dripping sound nearby, and her heart seemed to clench as she had a sudden flash of Daisy, hung there, skewered to the wall, with her arm raised toward her, pleading in her eyes. Suskade shook the image hard from her head, staggered sideways, and threw up. She felt a little better. I should just go to bed, she thought to herself, and turned squelchily on her heel to make her way back up the ladder . Putting a hand on the first rung, she thought she heard shouts hammering over the sound of the rain. Up to the lit doorway. Maybe they could help with her investigation. Everyone here's so nice, she thought, happy again. She was concentrating so hard on getting each foot onto the next step in front of her, she completely failed to see the raised shotgun in the figure's hand before her. So nice. She thought again, giggled quietly, and continued to climb up the stairs. Hello and welcome back to a wasteland story. Our heroine has finally made it to the ghoul city of Kesha, where she has been tasked with solving a murder mystery for the promise of help and favour from the town's mayor, Jesse Pettigrew, to assist with the infiltration of the nearby now probably supermutant-infested Newark and obtain a sample of the FEV which is causing all this big green nonsense . Suskaid and Brotherhood of Steel Scribe Hawthorne went to the local couple Joseph and Teresa's farm, where they found Teresa, affectionately known as Daisy for plot reasons, doing her best impression of a rotting shish kebabab. Sorry, that was tasteless. Much I imagine liked the shit. Okay, sorry. Thinking she was dead upon seeing her pinned to the wall and dripping blood, she just raised a spooky finger to point over Suscaid's shoulder, just as there came the unmistakable sound of a shotgun and a strange scream. In trouble again and constantly drawn into drama, what on earth will Suscaid and Hawthorne do now ? Well, this . You recognize the impaled woman as Teresa as described by the Mayor, and her eyes are frozen wide with fear and her chin is slumped down towards her chest . She's not breathing . Let's see . She's not breathing. Is she alive ? I think it's very unlikely that she's alive . Is she alive? Ho she is ali ve . Now this is already interesting because in the book she's dead. If you remember the last episode, we started playing around with our first published adventure, called With a Bang and a Wimper from the Fallout 2D20 Core rulebook. So far so good. But already things aren't following the path of how they were written. Which is kind of the point. Mythic says she's alive. Soska had snapped out of her shock and spun deftly, slamming her back a little too hard to the wall and raised her pistol at the doorway, her breath coming heavily. One two long seconds passed as she realized her breath was shaking. Nothing came through the door. Three . Four. Daisy gurgled again and her arm dropped with a thud against the wall from which she hung . Her eyes rolled up into her head. Fuck, cursed Soskay as she made a snap decision and turned her back on the open doorway. So let's see if we can do something to stabilize her. I think it's gonna be a difficulty three to see if we can stabilize her. And that's gonna be medicine. We need so difficulty three. I'm gonna need another dice and really just hope for the best and I think thingy can assist Quick, said Suskade, help me get her down. She motioned to Hawthorne to get to Daisy's other side as they tried to get up under her shoulders to take the weight off the farm tool. Hold her, but don't take your eye off that door. Hawthorne looked panicked, eyes flicking from the floating corpse to the doorway behind Soscade. She regretted not bringing dog meat with them. She would have felt a lot safer knowing he was on guard, but his habit of constantly trying to steal and bury important parts of the residence was becoming a bit of a problem, so they had decided he could sit this one out. She took a deep breath . Hawthorne, said Suskade, her voice calmer this time. Take a breath. You can do this. Now lift . The two heaved the dead weight as Saskade pulled on the farm tool. It came free and clattered to the ground. Daisy's eyes shot open again and she gasped, a horrible rattling, sucking of breath before all three of them fell heavily onto the floor. Suskade got to her knees as blood started pumping freely and dramatically from the ghoul's stomach. She started ripping off shreds from Daisy's dress, trying to get a piece long enough to use as a tourniquet. Hawthorne, watch that door, she said as she finally got off a long strip and stretched it out in front of her. Daisy's eyes were still open, but had stopped looking wildly around. Suske had knew she didn't have long. Okay . Bad roll, we got one success and a complication . So she was breathing and I think in trying to h heal her we didn't do a good job and she dies. Soske knelt, frozen, bandage in hand, realizing she had no idea what to actually do next that might give the ghoul a fighting chance. She felt her heart beating in her ears again as she watched the light go from Daisy's eyes, the blood no longer pumping from the wound in her stomach . Oh my god . Fuck it. She hissed, wiping away a tear of frustration before nearly gagging as she realized she was tasting the woman's blood from her hand. There was no time for this. She had to focus. Don't let emotion get in the way and decide rationally on her next move based on the current circumstances only . Soskaid? said Hawthorne from the doorway, what's happening? What do we do? Soskaid stood, stuffing an unused bandage in her coat pocket and drawing a pistol. Move out, she said in a stern voice. Go from room to room, clear them. I'll take the left corners, you take the right. Hawthorne nodded, suddenly seeming to regain some control from the instruction. Yes, sir, she said seemingly involuntarily, and then took a step forward, laser pistol held at medium height. So let's investigate one of the rooms. See if we can figure out what happened. Although I just read what happened. But they need to still figure out so they can report back to things. So we're gonna have to do a perception survival. We're gonna explore the living room . I'm gonna make it a difficulty one test for each of these to see if we can figure it out . At this point in my first attempt at playing a published adventure, I was met with the first main challenge. How to separate player and character knowledge, and I had a couple of options. I could read everything thoroughly and then roll to see what my characters did. Both by using mythic for the if-then prompts like if the characters inspect the teddy bear, then roll for evasion to dodge the fluffy explosion, and mechanical roles like roll perception survival to see if my character knows So we don't figure out what happened in the living room other than it's wrecked, it does look like there was a struggle. In the kitchen, we also don't find anything. Alternatively, I could try and not read anything, make blurry cross eyed glances at the page, and then try a few roles to give myself permission to go through the relevant bits and pieces. Did a little bit of both. And the bedroom, it's small and plain , with the door still open. It's neatly made bed and a pile of glass shards, crumpled torn up photos. Reading a bit, not too much, and then seeing what my characters noticed by making a roll for each room. It didn't really work, at least in this part. I was making perception rolls for Suskade to see which of the dot point clues she would notice and what I was allowed to read, but I did find it a little bit silly. This is weird. I'm not sure how to handle this. I mean I like reading what's going on, it helps me visualize the scene. But I wasn't really playing. Besides, Suskai had heard a shotgun blast nearby while staring into the nearly dead again eyes of someone who she could have saved, and so either solo roleplayer was missing the tension and investigative nature that would have been portrayed to a group at the table. It was tense as hell. Soscaid and Hawthorne nodded to each other from either side of the closed door frame before Soscaade pushed the door gently with her foot. It creaked open slow ly, but there was no other sound. Now Susuai had whispered, and they both stepped inside. She was aware of Hawthorne to her right, and she stopped herself from trying to take in the whole room, trusting her companion to cover her side . They swept their respective corners with their sights for a tense moment. Nothing moved . Then, taking in her surroundings, she saw that it was the couple's bedroom, and it was a wreck. Smas hed picture frames, broken glass, and strewn clothes blanketed the small space. Clear, said Suskade. The door clicked behind her and she spun around, heart mid-leap in her throat. Hawthorne was standing next to it looking sheepish. Sorry, I bumped it when we were coming in. It's okay, said Suskade, trying to get her breathing under control. She noticed what looked like thin claw marks on the back of the door, and the lock that looked like it had been wrenched from its housing with inhuman strength. Keep moving, she said. We do hear a shotgun blast . So I think we go out to investigate. Suddenly there came another unmistakable shotgun blast and a guttural scream. Did that come from outside? said Hawthorne, voice shaking. Yes, replied Soskade. This way . Feeling a little more confident that they weren't going to be attacked from every corner in the dar kened house, they moved quickly to the back door. It was also kicked off its hinges, and in the dusty light they could see bloody footprints heading out via an empty weapons rack. Another shot rang out. The barn, said Suskate. Be ready and stick to your sidearm. The barn . So it's surrounded by carefully tended tarbury fields. The wide wooden door to the barn is closed but unlatched, and the barn appears to have no windows. The large wooden doors to the barn were ajar, and Suskade and Hawthorne took up their positions on either side of them. Suskade noticed her breathing had once again become calm, whereas Hawthorne was still breathing heavily . Okay. You stay out here and cover the entrance. If I shout, come in loud. It might be enough to distract them if I really need it. looking relieved as her hands took turns holding her pistol while she wiped the sweat off each. She nodded again, and took a step backward as Sasuke had very slowly and carefully inched the door open with her foot, pistol raised at mid height as she did. So I think she's gonna sneak into the barn. Does she difficulty two? Because he's standing there with a gun. So sneak is gonna be a 12 . She does manage to sneak into the barn. Soskaid's shoulders tensed as she felt rather than heard the creak of the barn door. She nearly flinched and pulled the trigger then and there. Maddening fear made a sudden but thankfully inadequate attempt to take control, and she held it at bay. There was a figure in the middle of the room, haloed by a slight swirling of dust from the sun's last rays coming through a jagged hole in the far wall. The figure had its back to her. It twitched. And then there was the stuttered blast of two almost simultaneously fired shells and a chunk of ceiling disappeared. Splinters of wood and dust fell down around a bulky but vaguely humanoid shape. It turned slowly as it stepped fully into the ray of light. Wild eyes set into a drooling ghoulish male face. She recognized it from the photos in the kitchen. It was Daisy's husband. He howled and raised the shotgun. And there's another gunshot in there, an explosion resounds from inside. The smell of gun smoke drifts from the opening as the old gold steps into the moonlight. So he's not going to attack as it says he makes an attack with his double barrel shotgun against the PC most visible. Suske has gone in alone, and she sees him standing there with the gun. Joseph's eyes are wide and mad, his teeth wide with a grimace, and drool spills down from the corner of his lips. He's wearing several layers of shirts, sweaters, and jackets over the top of one another. Interesting. The bulk of his clothing causes his jerking movements to be slow and awkward. Joseph? said Soskade carefully. He seemed to be wearing an entire wardrobe of clothes and was wielding the shotgun crazily in one hand. A heavy, stinking breath assaulted Suscayed's senses. Joseph? she said again, taking a step back. I'm a friend of Daisy's. At this, Joseph's eyes seemed to clear for a sec ond, and he let out a quiet slobbery sob. She looked deep into his grey eyes and saw pain. Joseph's neck twitches twice to the right and his voice cracks as he calls out I don't know I don't know I know his breath became ragged again and he collapsed to the ground in a morning prayer position. He was sobbing and seemed to be fiddling with something underneath him. Suskade felt the urge to call for Hawthorne, but she didn't startle the ghoul just yet . Joseph, she said, as she took small, quiet steps up to him, eyeing the barrel of the shotgun that was only just visible in the quickly darkening room. She could get the gun away from him, she could call for Hawthorne, and the two of them could perhaps subdue him somehow without hurting him . It's okay, she said again, taking another tentative step. It'll all be okay. I'm gonna see if we can sneak up on him and incapacitate him. So we snuck into the bar. I'm gonna do another sneak test. Difficulty three this time . I'm gonna use an action point. And I've told Susqueade has told uh Hawthorne to stay outside and be ready to run in if she hears gunfire. We're looking for 12 and we get oh we get it . As Sosuke had got just close enough to reach the strangely behaving ghoul, she heard a click and saw two discarded shell casings. Shit, he'd been reloading. And now he had his hand firmly on the gun again. She was just about to get close enough to grab him from behind, and he didn't currently appear to be paying her any attention. She took a deep breath and inched in, lining up his underarms for a chokehold. Easy, she whispered, this time to herself. She would get a hold of him so that he couldn't get both hands on the gun and then call for Hawthorne . He goes nothing. Now she's not very strong, but I think she gets up behind him and gets him in one of those uh like wrestling headlock things. Does he fire the gun when Suspe grabs him ? Yes, he do es. The world seemed to shake as the shotgun went off in the ghoul's one-handed grip. Dust and splinters fell from the ceiling as Suskade fought to hold the madman's arms back behind their point of strength, twisting sideways and trying to keep him on his knees, back arched. Joseph howled again, but she had him. At that thought, she heard a second bang as the barn door slammed open and she suddenly realized her mistake. Her small frame must have been almost completely obscured by Joseph's body from Hawthorne's perspective. Hawthorne wait Hawthorne come running in Does Hawthorne freak out and take a shot ? She's trained so I think it's it's unlikely . But it is dark in there Does she take a shot? Oh don't shoot! Suske had shouted, but her voice was muffled under the bulk of the man's clothing. It was too late anyway. She felt the man's body writhe as the crimson laser shot sunk into his stomach. She could smell the burning of cloth mixed with that of skin as the ghoul screamed again and spasmed, throwing Soskade roughly to the side. He stood, clapping his gun into both hands, a crooked line of slightly green drool starting to drip from his mouth. He raised the shotgun with a focus and dexterity And Susquehead says, no, wait, I've got him, but it's too late. She's taken a shot. She's doing I think it was four She's gonna see if she hits. Uh she definitely hits because it is an extreme, yes. So she takes a shot and she hits. And she's doing four damage to him, leaving him with ten . I think as she takes the shot, he gets hit , knocked back, Soskeed drops him , and he turns around to take a shot back . The side of Joseph's neck seemed to ripple as part of it burst into an ugly growth. The ghoul didn't even flinch. Suske looked into his eyes and could have sworn she saw them swim red. She scrambled to try and regain control of her footing, fumbling for her own weapon at the same time. So we're gonna say does he shoot at Hawthorne? I think it's likely. Uh he doesn't shoot at Hawthorne, so instead he turns around and he takes a shot with the double The ghoul lumbered forward, swinging his arms like a hammer throw before release, just connecting with Saskade's side as he did. For a split second, she felt her center of gravity shift as she began to lift off the gro und. Did she get knocked down? He's got a strength of seven, but she's agile. So for me, a success. For him, not a success. So he doesn't manage to knock her down. She sort of rolls out of the way and jumps back up on her feet, and then he gets a shot in her uh at Saskade as she is run ning away to get in a better position. Saskade reacted. Instead of fighting her unwanted momentum, she embraced it, using her last point of contact with the ground to push herself that little bit more into the air, twisting as she did. She hit the barn floor just on the sweet spot of her shoulder, just like she'd practised all those times leaping and rolling from the shed roof in her village. She rolled, sideways, over her back, and flicked up relatively gracefully onto her already running feet, now pointing in the opposite direction. There, an old rusted tractor. She forced everything she had into even more speed as she closed the gap, breathing hard but evenly, waiting for the shot. It came . She is 10 to hit her in the back . Difficulty two . He does not succeed. So she manages to thanks to her. This two defense for agility is amazing. So as she starts to run away, she feels the spray of the shotgun shell sort of fire over her shoulder and hit a piece of farm equipment that's sort of hanging from the ceiling. And she manages to sort of roll out of the way and get behind a little bit of cover. Instinctively acting a split second before she heard the world explode behind her, Suskade leapt forward and rolled again, this time not quite getting to her feet, and she skidded sideways, sliding on some loose hay, and scrambled on her hands and knees for the back wheel of the rusted tractor. The short, wide reverberation in the room was once again followed by a soft tinkling of splinters falling on the vehicle's steel roof. And it is then Sasked's turn. She's gonna turn with her pistol and she's gonna take a shot. Soske took a whole second to breathe and draw her pistol. That was two shells, wasn't it? Trust your instincts, not your confidence. She stood from behind the wheel of the tractor, pistol already raised to her eye, ready to fire. She looked past the pin sight into his red eyes, and just for a split second, she felt she could see something. Someone locked in there. Fear? She dropped her aim from the ghoul's head to his leg. Was she trying to kill him? The question bubbled up in an unpleasant sensation. Did she just kill people now? I'm gonna do a quick perception check to see if she can see where he's unarmored. I know he's armored on his arms. Perception survival ? No. In fact, there's a complication. She takes just a second too long before firing the gun, and he's gonna start running at her now, and that's gonna make it more difficult to hit. Joseph screamed again and immediately started running straight for Soskaid, brandishing the empty shotgun like a bat. There was no fear in his eyes now , only wild rage. Okay, breathed Suscayada. She felt failure and panic begin to rise in her. Where was Hawthorne? She squeaked and haphazardly pulled the trigger. Has the defensive one, I'm gonna make a two. She's gonna take a shot. She's not aiming. She hits him, but with a complication. The complication, I think, is she does hit him . In the torso , one, two, three, four, five, six, seven damage, which is huge. That's a critical hit. He's gonna be bleeding then. He's only got three hit points left. But the complication is that he keeps coming at her and knocks her down. And he's now on top of her bleeding. And it is a new round of combat. Suskade felt the bullet hit in the full of Joseph's chest, right in the flapping gap of clothing that ran down his center. A too large dark red patch immediately began to bloom as the bullet must have split up on contact. It should have been a fatal blow. The ghoul didn't even flinch. Before she knew it, he was on top of her, and she was knocked to the ground. The wind forced out of her, taking with it the shout for Hawthorne. The ghoul got to his knees, pinning Soskade's thin body as he raised his weapon in both hands above his head, ready to strike. His initiative is 16 as well. So he's gonna go again. He is going to capitalize on the fact that he's knocked her down and he's gonna do an unarmed strike at Susque ed and we're gonna spend an action point for the overseer to buy an extra dice. Difficulty two target number eight. And he gets it. Suskade! She heard Hollathorne shout, what do I do? I can't get a clear shot. Suskade squirmed desperately, trying to squirm out from underneath the now green drooling ghoul. Just she said as the man with surprising strength shoved the butt of the shotgun down into Soskade's chest like a stake to the heart. The rest of her instruction came out as a lump of useless air. Physical damage? Doing three hits to the torso . Happily she has three damage resistance, so she's able to withstand it. With the gun still in one hand, he he's lying on the ground on top of her and he picks up the gun with both hands and does a massive hit in the ch est and I think she's winded but she's not hurt. And now it's Saskaid's turn. I think she's unable to shoot. She's gonna try and get him with the knife. Sasuske had gped for breath as she heard her pistol clatter harmlessly to the wooden floor next to her. She struggled at her left thigh to get a knife out, but both her arms were trapped under Joseph's knees. He raised the butt of the rifle again, this time aiming for her head. But now Hawthorne has a really clear shot. It's target number seven, difficulty one . She misses. Suddenly a moving red light flashed past the ghoul's head and sizzled into the timber wall behind her. It must have just grazed the crazed ghoul because he suddenly dropped his shotgun and put his hands to his ears. He screamed again and Soskaid saw her chance. Gonna try and punch him in the face ? And she gets him. Wriggling her right hand free, Suskade forced her winded, aching stomach muscles into one burst of strength. She put all of her energy behind her fist and clocked him, straightened the jaw. It hurt like hell, and she felt a crunch in her inexpertly formed fist, but it did the job. Joseph rolled over, freeing her other arm, and she followed his momentum, getting herself on top of him as he did. But the victory didn't last as he grabbed her by the throat. Soskade couldn't breathe. A blackness started creeping in around the edge of her vision, but she managed to get her knife into both hands, point facing down. She closed her eyes, and with all her strength, she pushed. And so she manages to get him off her. She punches him in the head and rolls him off her, picks up the knife, and then she stab him in the torso with the knife, and he's dead . Well, that was unexpected . So they collect themselves up, they're puffing, panting heavily, both of them, and Suskade is bleeding, and so Hawthorne rushes over to try and heal her . She's not too badly hurt, but she is bleeding . What was that? panted Suskade, looking up at Hawthorne, who was also visibly shaken . Suskade had propped herself up against the large rubber wheel of the tractor near where Joseph lay. She had her heavy coat off and the front of her once vivid blue vault suit opened slightly, showing a quickly forming, slightly bleeding bruise just below her ribs. Hawthorne was effectively but tenderly patting it clean with a piece of cloth dampened from a nearby Draman trough. Their eyes met for a second before Soskey had looked away. Ah, she said as Hawthorne hit a sore spot. So she's gonna try and patch up Suskay's chest . I don't know, replied Hawthorne, concentrating on the wound. I've seen feral ghouls before, and that was different . That's what I thought, said Suskade . You have any more of those pain meds ? Um, said Hawthorne uncertainly. I think this is better in this case. So she's gonna use the stimpack . Right, thanks, said Soskade, noting her feeling of mild disappointment. There was a little hissing sound as the small crucifix shaped needle automatically injected its cocktail of healing agents, stimulants, and antiseptics straight into her side. Can you stand? said Hawthorne, stepping back. Yeah, I think so. Suskade grunted slightly, but she was able to pull herself up and began patting some of the dust and hay off her clothes, while checking and readjusting her equipment . She walked over to the crumpled figure of Joseph the Ghoul, husband, brief widower, and now nothing. Strangely, she noticed, the lumpy growths that had burst from his neck and side during the fight appeared to have mostly disappeared, leaving only some split skin and stretch marks. His eyes stared empty at the loft of the barn. They were clear now , showing no sign at all of that animalistic rage they'd held a few minutes ago . Come on, she said, picking up the shotgun from where it lay and gingerly putting the strap over her shoulder. We have to get back to town. And as they sort of sit there figuring out what to do, they get a quiet 34 experience points. He has seven caps on him and a double barrel shotgun. And then we have to go report back to Jesse Pettigrew . Okay , and we return . We had come back after finding out the ghoul had had a psychotic break, murdered his wife, and was madly running around in the barn with a shotgun, trying to kill anyone who came in. We managed to take him down. And now we came back to explain to Jesse the town mayor what happened and he was or she was very upset and um said that they needed a couple of days to work things out. We're welcome to stay in town and be fed until everything's resolved and perhaps we should walk around and talk to some of the locals and see what we can see. I feel like the published adventure, prepared adventure went better than I expected. the At beginning I thought I don't really know how this is gonna work. I'm just sort of reading everything here, but I really did enjoy it. So let's see how we go this time. I will test the expected scene this time just to see what happens. I've made a note of some of the locations we can go. We have a pub, town square, trade post, and a clinic. I decided we weren't that much in control because Suskade ended up on the ground a couple of times and it was a pretty tight fight. But so I raised the chaos factor to six. So let's see if that affects our expected scene. The expected scene is that the party takes a day or two to recuperate in town and just ask around to see if they can learn more about it. So basically uninterrupted. So let's test that . That would be a six, that would be a interrupt scene . So It had been two days since the incident in the barn and Soske had sat on the overhang of the room she'd been granted to stay in . The sun had just made its way into the tank and the marketplace was beginning to get going. Ladders and ropes were being flung down to the tank floor as residents began their day, gearing up to head out to the fields or begin prepping the muddy earth for the flooding later that week . Soske had picked her already very clean fingernails with her knife. She was getting itchy for something to happen. She had enjoyed the quiet of the day before Hawthorne had spent the day writing her report, and they hadn't talked much. Now, however, Soskade was ready for something to happen. The safety was nice, but things weren't getting any better back in New York without her. Her stomach dropped for a second as she thought about Eia for the first time in nearly a week. Just then Hawthorne and Jessie climbed down from the ladder to the mayor's office nearby. Soska had looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun rising behind them . She stood . There you are, said Jessie. Soskai had nodded. Hawthorne said nothing but looked concerned. Looks like we've got ourselves some visitors, said Jessie, glancing at a nervous looking ghoul next to her. He had a sort of binocular attached to one eye And they're here for you, she said, crossing her arms and frowning. Let's roll on the adventure list . See what the interrupt is . So yellow is the d4. So that gives us a so gives us a seven, which is the cash or mystery. Well, that is uh makes sense. And then we have something to do with the Brotherhood of Steel Outpost in Springfield. Suskate and Hawthorne followed the mayor through the elevated marketplace. There were the murmurings and whisperings of gossip and uncertainty in the air. Suskade heard snatches of hushed words like Feral, them, Brotherhood, and her . She tried to ignore them and keep calm as they made their way down onto the tank floor and out of the town gates. What did the Brotherhood want with her? Were they going to help? Did they want to question her about Marcus Miller? Ramirez ? Would they even believe her story ? They could blame her, or possibly worse, be completely indifferent, leaving her to try and solve this whole mess on her own. The Brotherhood of Steel have re-established themselves in the Springfield base, another small group, probably, three to five. They're hearing more rumors about the supermutants in Newark and the threat perceived threat is increasing. I think for the sake of our story, they're sending people down from the northern from the Vancouver outpost or some other base nearby. Two Brotherhood of Steel members waited at the edge of the forest a little way out of town, and the group made their way down to them. Suskade could feel Jessie tense as they got closer, but she tried not to let it show on her face. me see did we have another base so yeah there's the outpost in springfield probably what we're gonna do at some stage is uh add to the map some just additional bases that are around that would have been on the map when Susco got it from the boy . So far, we only know about Vancouver and Springfield. There are surely a few more around. I know as we get down into Fallout 2 territory, there was certainly some around San Francisco, which is about as far south as Vancouver is north, and probably a few little things in between. So we're gonna say the big one is San Francisco. There's an outpost up north in Vancouver. The small outpost in Springfield is basically just an operational base to be close enough to Newar k to be able to get in there. Their weapons weren't drawn, and as the group arrived, the pair of Brotherhood members introduced themselves stiffly but not unkindly. The one who appeared to be in charge politely asked if they could borrow the soldier and the wastelander and that Jessie's presence wasn't required Eugen talked to them there to the NCR. We'll find out what happened, whether that was a friendly talk or not. And they've sent a runner down because they've somehow they've talked to the scientist, can't remember her n ame . Hopefully friendly . Maybe not, maybe they've taken her. But they've found out that we were if we survived, she knew that we were headed back towards New Ark , maybe Kesha being the only other settlement in the region. So I think probably they assumed we were in Kesha and they came down to check us out. So the runner has come down and telling Hawthorne to report for duty. Okay , said Jessie, but just for my two cents, these two are brave, honourable, and true to their word . Soskade could see that she was holding her chin a little higher than natural and her fists were slightly clenched. The Brotherhood member nodded, stepped forward, and extended his hand to the mayor. Do they start any shit with the ghouls when they come in. I have to go unlikely . No, they don't. But that is a 66, which means it is a random event. She hesitated for a moment, but took it . Thank you for that, Mayor. Your words will be taken into account. Jessie visibly relaxed a few degrees, and then looked at Suscaide and Hawthorne again, before blinking and turning on her heel to make her way back up to town. The Brotherhood member turned to face them and said, Come with us, please. And without checking to see if they were following, walked into the forest. Suskade and Hawthorne shared a look and an unspoken word. Okay, so first they're gonna come in and they're gonna take Hawthorne aside and interview her about the situation. As they followed the brotherhood a little way into the forest, they came to a small clearing where a tree had been The leader was already standing at its flat. Initi ate , he said, indicating to Hawthorne. Please step inside. Suskade heard Hawthorne's little intake of breath as she smartly walked forward towards the tent. If you wouldn't mind waiting here, ma'am. With a small nod, he turned and followed Hawthorne into the tent, while the other members stayed outside, very intentionally looking at nothing at all. The tent flap was swiftly rolled down and a strong light suddenly illuminated Hawthorne onto the back of its wall. Soska had sat on the fallen log and rested her elbows on her knees. She took a deep breath and pushed her palms into her eyes, rubbing them for thought. Something poked her and she looked up. Dogmeat dropped the stick in front of her and looked back expectantly. Wright sat in the new mayor's office at the centre of Newark. topped with peeling red leather . Pulling a folder from his bottom drawer, he began to pour through small individually paperclip stacks, muttering to himself . Subject quality degraded too quickly. Terminated. Subject effects only partially held termin ated termin ated termin ated . He sighed and pulled out a second much smaller stack. Subject displayed desired results, minor side effects such as dry mouth, awkward gait, bloodthirsty indiscriminate violence before full transformation termin ated . He picked up the larger pile again and started comparing certain lines. H male, H male, H fem ale, G fem ale . He sighed again as there came a knock at the door. Come in. The door creaked awkwardly open. The tests are under way, sir, said a small ghoul at the door. We should have the results in a few days. The ghoul was bent over and fidgeting. Good, yes, thank you, said Wright dismissively . Sir, continued the ghoul, clearly looking uncomfortable. Yes . He has arrived. Wright looked up for the first time and studied the top of the ghoul's head for a second. He swallowed. Tell him I'll be right down. Soskaid bent and picked up the stick. Dogmeat tensed in anticipation as if she hadn't just done this nine hundred times. She flicked it high into the air just as a polite cough sounded behind her. She turned. The Brotherhood member and Hawthorne were standing outside the tent. Hawthorne was looking at the ground. If you would please come in, ma'am. The square tent flap was held open for her, and she stepped inside . A PC positive. Ooh . Okay . And they say, look , um , we're really grateful that you I mean saved Hawthorne essentially and have been helping out working towards the same goals here to for the FEV . Um they need Hawthorne to report back, so we're gonna lose her? But there's a PC positive. The inside of the tent was unsurprisingly bare and pragmatic. A single cot lay along the left edge of the small space, butted up against a small locked crate. A green glowing radio sat on a clapped art table, making its oscillating little radio whine. I think the other thing is they're willing to assist us in getting in and getting the FEV. And so, according to our shared contact doctor Drake, it appears we have somewhat shared objectives, concluded the Brotherhood member, looking up from the notes that the scribe had prepared for him. Suskade stood next to the fi fold out eld table, having refused to sit. He looked up. But since you are unwilling to fully confirm the specific details of your conversation, we will have to work only semi cooperatively in this matter The man looked tired. He seemed genuine enough, and Susque had had to stop herself from spilling everything, passing on the responsibility and just being rid of it. We'll find out what they gave me. But first, I want to know how was their inter action with the scientist. I want to know how they treated her because that may affect what Soscade does . So, did they have a peaceful interaction with Dr. Susan Drake? I'm gonna call it 50-50 . Yes, it was . Yes, it was a peaceful interaction. Did Susan go back with the Brotherhood to Springfield? It's unlikely because she really didn't want to go . No, she did not. Okay, so it was peaceful and she didn't go back. That's fine. And by semi-cooperatively, you mean you won't immediately shoot me if you see me there too, she replied, snarkier than she felt. The officer sighed and detached a small device from his wrist, laying it gently on the table. He rubbed absent mindedly at the mark and left . Look, he said. Protocol says that we should extract the required information and detain the individual in question. But we're not gonna do that. Scribe Hawthorne's report shows you to have been a valuable ally to the Brotherhood, and in these times, to be honest , we need all the allies we can get. They say they've gotta go and regroup , they've got to take Hawthorne back with them, they're gonna give us something to help us, and they've said they're gonna support us to get in to the testing side. Once this operation is complete, however, I recommend that you make yourself unlocatable for the immediate future. You understand ? I understand. S uskade. The officer stood and gestured to the flap of the tent. For the meantime, and in thanks the initiate has prepared some supplies for you outside. You may then say your goodbyes. Now what have they given us that's gonna help ? A natur al something natural and large. Maybe some kind of weapon Expected Natural makes me think of water Um it's a large amount of water. Suskade fought the irrational urge to salute to the officer as he stood to follow her out. Outside, Hawthorne and the initiate were finishing the loading of the last few plastic crates into a small wagon. They appeared to be full of plastic bottles and various other foodstuffs. Since we aren't heading back north as planned any time soon, we have some surplus that I'm sure you could make use of. Suskade nodded in thanks and looked over to Hawthorne, who'd retreated a little way off from the tent, looking awkward.. That's good I mean that's gonna see us for a good I don't know, week or so Um without finding anything else, so that's kinda nice. Hey, said Soskade after a slightly too long silence. Hey, ' replied Hawthorne . 'I'm not really good at goodbyes, ' said Suskade. Her arms were wrapped around her thin frame as she traced a little line in the dirt with her foot. She caught herself and felt like an idiot until she looked up and saw Hawthorne smile. She chuckled. I'm such a bobblehead. Come here, said Hawthorne, and Suskade stepped forward into the hug. It had been a very long time since she'd hugged anyone and it felt good Hawthorne relaxed slightly. I just wanted to say she paused for a second and swallowed. Back at the drive in . It's okay, said Suskade, filling the unspoken moment. We got each other out of there. Hawthorne took a deep breath and nodded before taking a quick step back wiping something from her eye. The Brotherhood officer, tailed by the initiate scribe, walked purposefully up to them. Come with me, please. Both of you. And they've said that they are going to set up outside of Newark . Let's say they're gonna go to Gala . Gala was the place that the original dodgy guy in Newark had been doing some dodgy stuff. So they're going to go investigate that, and that's also going to be like a base for them if and when there is an attack on Newark. So they've told us they're going to Gala and they're gonna meet us there how long until they meet us there? I'm gonna say they're gonna need what a day we're sort of one, two, three, four days walk. So two weeks now, said the Brotherhood officer, immediately shifting the tone into military plan ning. They were all four perched on their haunches outside the flap of the tent. A map, identical to Suscaides, although completely blank, was spread out on the ground in front of them. The scribe initiate held another copy folded close to his chest like a nervous poker player. Scribe Hawthorne says you might know of a rendezvous point within striking distance of Newark. Is that right? He pointed to Newark with a thin extendable piece of metal and proffered it to Suskade. Suskade spent a few minutes recounting her knowledge of the area while the initiate took notes. Suskade's gaze flickered involuntarily towards Hawthorne, whose eyes were remaining stoically forward. So in two weeks time, at noon, we're gonna meet them in Gala , and so they're gonna go there, clear it out, call for the others, and we're gonna meet there in two weeks' time in order to um break into new arc and see if we can ideally arrest right and probably kill the super mutants that are there. And hopefully do all that without hurting any civilians or um turning them against us. So we're just gonna have to see. Okay . Good. Let me write some of this down . Then it's settled. Fourteen days at twelve hundred hours in this gala place. If you are not present, we will not wait for you and move in at the appointed time. Is that clear? Suskaid nodded. Clear, she said. They all stood and the Brotherhood officer extended his hand. Thank you again, Wastelander. Suskade shook his hand firmly like her father had taught her . And if all goes well out there, I'm sure Sir Bridget Rawls would welcome a soldier like you into the cause up north, if only to keep an eye on you. But if you were tired of wandering about in the wasteland Thanks, replied Suskate. I'll think about it. With that, the officer stood, and the two others followed his lead. Men, he said, Break down this digs and prepare for march. We leave in one hour. It's a new day. I'd say it's mid morning now . Um there was a storm brewing so okay did the storm get worse ? Yeah, it did . So it's now heavy rain . Saska it ran the last few meters up the hill to Keshar as the sudden rain had started coming down harder. Her boots began to suck at the mud. Entering the tank walls, she positioned herself under one of the overhead platforms, not to keep her dry per se, but at least to allow her to actually see . She took a minute to catch her breath and assess the complicated mixture of feelings that had been building up all morning. There was sadness that Hawthorne was gone, but somehow mingled with what shame? For getting so close to someone? There was achievement in progress toward her goal and doing good in helping Newark. Or was that just about taking down that bastard right for her own self ish reasons . Either way, the analysis was quickly buried behind a wave of fear and inadequacy. Gah she hated feeling like this. When there was so much pushing in on her that she didn't want to feel or even be She said . Soska had felt a sudden twinge in her forearm and was annoyed she hadn't gotten more medicine. So I think when it's raining like this the first place we're going is the pub. All right, she said, bending down and inspecting the hopeful friendly face of her canine companion. Let's go to the pub. So Soske bids farewell to Hawthorne and heads to the pub. Everyone's most people aren't working as much because of the rain . Um they've got some collection systems up so they catch a lot of the rain water which is great for business because then they get to purify it and everything so no one has to work too hard at the moment. I think everyone's a lot of people are in the pub and everyone's in pretty good spirits. So we Soskia goes into the pub. She sits up at the bar. She hands over a couple of caps , and although I don't think she's a big drinker, when you're in a bar and you want to talk to people, it's important to have a drink. So I think we're gonna buy something. Suskade's a beer Suskade pushed her way through the wooden swinging doors of the tank yard tavern, one of the two buildings built outside the flood zone of the tank floor. She wriggled her way out of her dripping heavy coat and hung it on a simple wooden peg on the wall. She briefly noted the quality of the craftsmanship of the peg, and then the line of puddle under the row of coats that already hung. She wasn't the first to seek refuge in the pub, it seemed . She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for social interaction, and squeezed the remaining water out of her jet black hair. She fixed her grubby vault suit slightly, and thought for the hundredth time that she really must make the effort and give it a wash. But not now She took another deep breath, arranging what she hoped was an amiable smile on her face, and pushed through the second wooden door. improves our uh charisma. I reckon it does. Or at least so it does the person drinking it, but everyone else is drinking too. All alcoholic drinks have the same effect. Until the end of the scene you may re-roll 1D twenty on strength and charisma tests , but increase the difficulty of intelligence tests by one . After drinking a beverage roll, a few dice equal to the number of alcoholic drinks you've consumed during the session. If two or more effects are rolled, you're addicted . Okay, so we get a re-roll to strength and charisma, but plus one difficulty to intelligence . So we're in there, we're having a drink. Everyone's more at ease, everyone's pretty happy And we're just gonna start talking to people. The bar stool scraped as Soskade pulled it up behind her. She perched on it, wondering which leg was better to cross over the other. Silly, she thought, and looked down as a metallic in that curious little boing oing oing sound indicated that someone had already given dogmeat some water. He lapped at it distractedly and Soskaid's stomach dropped as she realized he had that look in his eye. She braced . He shook . Water sprayed as if in slow motion over half of the table set off to the side of the bar. A hush fell over the room . And then someone burst out laughing. We came in here to get away from the rain, you rascal . The room swelled with sounds of chuckles and good boys as dogmeat went from table to table to greet his fans. Soska had relaxed as the locals patted the dog and threw her a good few natured winks and smiles. She chuckled too, and picked up the sparkling glass on the bar, tension and anxiety shedding from her chest. And so she started Dogmeat the good boy that he is is sitting happily under the bar with a nice bowl of purified water which they've kindly given to him. They do like dogs, the ghouls. And Soskide finds out that Joseph's psychotic break isn't the first such case in town, and some residents are beginning to see a bit of a pattern. Over the past several weeks, several locals have been suffering memory loss that's caused a string of strange tragedies. So the PC's investigations should lead them to a medical clinic. Okay . Um okay, so maybe I shouldn't have read that bit. Anyway, bar at the pub so the inside of the pub is decorated with string lights, ancient road signs, decommissioned jukeboxes, and other memorabilia from an America that died long ago. Currently several locals are gathered around the circular bar enjoying time away from work or drowning their sorrows at the bottom of a glass. The single bartender on staff moves about quickly, engaging in light conversations as they keep up with the demand of thirsty patrons. Bad business, Joseph and Daisy. Really bad business. The bartender was rotating a cloth inside a very clean and long dry beer glass. He was looking up at Suskade through th hisickly hooded lid s, clearly leaving space for her to fill in some details. Yep, she said as she put down her empty glass. Another he said, picking up the empty with an overhand grip, and deftly, though somewhat unnecessarily, flipping it down into the cleaning tray under the bar. Suske nodded. Sure, she said. Her first beer had been an interesting experience. She'd gone from timidly sipping at it, wondering why on earth anyone would be so keen to drink something that tasted like this, to getting into the rhythm of deeper gulps and ahs followed by sucking in the foam from her upper lip but still not sure she was enjoying it, to oh dear it's empty, maybe I want another one, all in the space of about 10 minutes. She'd only ever tried alcohol once before when she was 14, when she'd snuck a few swigs from the bottle of rotgut her father kept in his workshop drawer for when his comrades came to visit. It had tasted flat-out chemical and had made her head spin and feel a bit sick. She hadn't got the point of the whole thing then, but now, as the slightly warm and buzzy feeling started to grow in the bottom of her chest, she thought maybe she did get it. She should be careful though, not let her guard down. Did uh Joseph come in here often? She said, attempting a smile at the bartender and looking at them closely for the first time. Bartender 's appearance their appearance is delicate and old . So , a really, really old ghoul. This ghoul is so old it's very difficult to tell, um, whether it's a man or a woman . The voice is also really difficult to tell, but so old that the skin is like it looks like that if you if he scratched his arm, he would put a hole in it. Um he's been bartending a long time. He was a bartender before, uh he's a bartender after, he's been bartending for hundreds of years. He's one of these people that really really swims in being a bartender and just knowing about what's going on . Um great person to talk to, bartenders are always good. But he does say that he's only willing to dish out gossip about Joseph and Teresa if the PCs agree to a drinking game I'll tell you what, said the bartender, voice so faded it was barely there. Let's play a little game. I'll lay off would you, Grimm look, at the size of her came a voice from further along the bar. Don't mind him, chuckled Grimm. It's all good fun, and the measure of a man besides war man, in your case, as it were. Now generally this, is not Sasuke 's game. She's alone for the most part in the wasteland. And she's a slight girl. And so getting off your face when you're alone in the wasteland is maybe not the best idea and she's sort of smarter than that . So what are we gonna do? Suskate is going, but she wants the information. She does feel pretty safe around here so far far. So all her interactions have been well, I mean apart from the murderous ghoul in the barn. That's a fair point. So she's gonna she's gonna try the old the old shoe in the boot trick or whatever. Ah yes, the old shoe in the boot trick. Popularized by the raiders of San Francisco, the shoe in the boot trick was a game, or punishment, depending on the willingness of the participant, where one would have the shoelacers of one shoe tied to the boot of a car . The driver of said car would then proceed to uh chuck doughies, or drive the car around in the tightest, slidiest circles as possible, spinning the wheels, wasting fuel and kicking up burnt rubber smoke at a fantastic rate. If the participant was still standing when the smoke cleared, they win. If not, they didn't. For the What's this game then? said Susquehead with a sigh. The bartender looked pleased and put a fresh foamy pint glass on the bar with one hand, and flicked a small shot glass from up under the bar with the other. He caught it with the other hand he'd just set the beer down with, and plinked it into place next to its bigger brother. Bartender's code, he said. Can't divulge private information at will, you see, but if you ask the right questions, well . Suskade nodded, seeing where this was going. The bartender put another shot glass next to the first. One shot? He put a third glass next to the second. One question. And pulled a labelless bottle from somewhere in the mysterious depths from under the bar, and stood it ominously behind the marching order of glasses . So , he said with a bony grin, shoot. Boozin' the boot trick or whatever, we're gonna try and um pretend to have the shots somehow. How's she gonna do it? So I'm thinking she's got a lot of water on her. Um maybe she could swipe a shot glass and sort of tuck it in her hand. Sasked was feeling good. A little too good. She caught herself realizing as a customer came up to the bar to return the group's empty glasses. Thanks, Grimm, said the customer. See you tomorrow. The bartender was busy filling Saskade's shots with a continuous pour from the blank bottle, not a drop hit the bar. The nine glasses from the other customer, beer and shot, were placed on the bar with nine fingers and coin danced to a stop. In that moment, she had an idea. Okay, here's what she does. So she's sitting at the bar, right? She's pretty sneaky. Um, she's gonna try and steal a shot glass, so she has one spare under the bar with a bottle of water . She's going to sort of hold the water in one hand or have it between her knees or something. Or hold the b yeah, hold the bottle in one hand, have the glass between her knees , and basically she's going to pick up the shot. She's going to fill up a shot with water between her knees. She's going to pick up the shot, slip the water shot into her hand, sort of switch them around and then shoot the water so that she can make slurping noises or whatever and she's got wipe her mouth and that kind of thing. But then while she tips the other shot glass down between down onto the floor. That's what we're gonna try and do . First, we're going to see if we can steal a glass . So this will be agil ity and sneak. Okay, I'll play, said Suskade. But any chance you might have a bottle of water back there? Stay hydrated and all that? She attempted a smile and felt she'd nailed it. Sure, said Grimm, finishing his pour and returning the bottle to one of the hidden realms back under the bar . He turned and pulled something plastic off the shelf behind him. While his back was turned, and without looking at the cluster of glasses, Saskade lent her left elbow on the bar while holding one of the full shots dramatically up in front of her, with her right. With her left hand she felt for the short sticky rim of an empty under her exploring fingers. She tipped it and rolled it into the palm of her hand and back down under her side of the bar. So that's gonna be uh 12 the bartender's sober i'm gonna say it's a difficulty too can she steal the glass i'm gonna risk it i'm gonna see if we can do it . It is a tagged skill. We rolled a two and a fourteen. The fourteen does not hit, but the two gives us two points. So Suskade manages to success successfully nick, one of the shot glasses that was left empty in a row of shot glasses from some of the neighboring ghouls or whatever. She manages to swipe one. And then , as they're talking, and he says, Look, I'll tell you more about it, but you gotta take shots. What is this stuff anyway? she asked as she inspected the ray's shots and simultaneously tucked the stolen glass between her knees. That my dear Wastelander, said Grimm with a grim grin. Is Mikey's favourite moonshine? He hasn't been here long, but already his brew is pretty famous round these parts. Huh, said Suskade, sniffing at the clear liquid. It smelled of fuel and headache, and a hint of boot . Infamous, really? muttered the bartender thoughtfully. Anyway, fire away. Inspecting the shot one final time, Sosuke dropped her right hand under the sightline of the bar as she brought her left with the empty shot to her mouth. A clumsy trick, she realized now as she was doing it, but so far so good . So she does this, she manages to steal the glass, and then we're gonna take three shots as he answers three questions . I see that there are three dot points in the book. We're gonna see how many of them she succeeds . Says she's gonna need an endurance and a speech test difficulty equal to one plus the number of shots they've had. So happily we're gonna ignore that because we're not having the shots. But instead she's gonna have to do a sneak test with the difficulty increasing increasing by one e ach time to do the shot trick. So starting with difficulty one, two, and then three. She takes the first shot. She's stolen the glass successfully. Now she takes the shot to see if she can convince him that she's having the shots and ask the first question. So this is now difficulty two, uh one, two and three. So difficulty one should be no problem . That's a success. And he she asked about Theresa. Jo and days were always together they were. They worked together, drank together, talked, read. Nothing like any of my exes. I was always looking for excuses to get away from eh? Know what I mean? Huh? Not Joe, not Daisy. The bartender had settled into natural gossip mode as he picked up the first of the empty shot glasses from the bar. Until a few days ago, that was. He looked at pointedly Suscade and then at the second shot in line. She picked up the glass. stopped by the pub almost daily when she finished work. She stayed late, drank a lot, and seemed troubled. So maybe that means that her husband was slowly deteriorating . Perhaps that's what that is . Useful information to perhaps like it wasn't overnight. Something was going on for a while recently . And she tries to do a second shot . That is an eight and a fifteen. We did use an action point . 13 . So she gets busted. He says, oi, what are you doing? Not only you're not having the shots but you're wasting their good liquor. Oi you spilled that one, said Grimm, looking annoyed. He repositioned the empty glass on the bar and filled it again. I was gonna give you one on the house for your work in town, but you can pay for that up front now. Suskade sheepishly counted out a number of caps onto the bar and mumbled an apology. She looked at the two lethal-looking shots menace at her. Ah, fuck it, she said, and tipped her head back, for real this time . So the second one would take the shot and now we have to do an endurance speech test with a difficulty equal to one plus the number of shots. So now is a difficulty two endurance speech, which is not so good for Susque d. That'll be a five difficulty two we need two five somehow . Ooh, three and a six. We can re-roll one of them . And that's a twenty, that's a complication. The shot hit her like a door. She felt her teeth immediately bleach as mouth bacteria from months in the wastes went to meet their maker. Christ. She thought, no wonder Mikey has such a radiant smile. Her head was already beginning to spin a little, so she focused hard on what Grimm was saying. Very strange it was. I thought maybe they were just having marital issues or something , although I doubted it. I wish I'd have taken it more seriously and tried to talk to her. A few days ago this started, you said, said Soskade, gripping the bar slightly as her stool gently rotated beneath her You right there, love? said Grimm, concerned now in his face. Never better, she said, as she lined up the beer glass on the bar with one hand and then carefully pounced on it with the other before it got away again. You were saying that you're going to Soskade staggered slightly as she awkwardly aimed her last step down into Kesha's muddy tank floor. She giggled, stood up straight and raised her arms in the air. Ta -da she said quietly to herself with a smile, and then remembered that Hawthorne was gone, and frowned. It was late. The rain was really pounding down now, and she still didn't have a good lead. She noticed a light coming from the other side of the town's wall. A door was open and she thought she could hear shouting over the drumming of the rain. Was that the trading post? Well, might as well go and ask around there before calling it a day, hey? Maybe they could help with her investigation. Everyone here's so nice, she thought, happy again as she weaved towards the building. She was concentrating so hard on getting each foot into the next step in front of her that she completely failed to see the raised shotgun in the figure's hand before her. So nice. She thought, giggled, and continued to climb the stairs. Thank you for joining me on another episode of A Wasteland Story. This episode was the second of three, loosely playing the first chapter of the published adventure with a a bang and whimper. If you're interested in checking that out, you can find it over in the Fallout 2D20 Core rulebook. And if you're interested in playing published adventures in general and learning more about the different ways that one can, in fact, play pre-written adventures as both GM and players simultaneously. I know, it's odd. I have a short two-part post up on my Patreon over at Patreon slash solo roleplayers, which you can get access to by just signing up as a free member. I don't have a lot of posts on there, but I try to put up something from time to time when I feel like writing stuff that's not fallout script. You can also check out the episode Playing Published Adventures with Tana Pigeon using a completely different method over on the Solo RlaolePyers podcast. There's also a premium episode coming out soon on Solo RolePlayers Patreon where I play through a published adventure site in Forbidden Lands testing out yet another technique and I'm still not done experimenting. Last episode, I mentioned a secret project that will yield some more fallout content for the hardcore fans in the future, and while I'm not quite ready to talk about it yet, I can say that I'm about halfway through the project, probably, and it should be just about ready to announce by the time the next episode comes out. As always, if you want to get in touch with me, you can send an email to a wastelandstorypodcast at gmail.com or find PJSack over on Reddit. That's it from me today, but I look forward to catching you next time when Soskade learns just how painful a hangover can be, and Dog Meat remains a good boy. Good boy, dogmeat. Good boy . Ta-da .