Aftermath and Preparing for Dawn

Sosgaid and the settlers sat exhausted on various scattered and long-fallen oaks. They'd managed to get a fire lit and treat the basic wounds inflicted from the sudden attack. The small group was slowly getting its energy back, but Sasuke had felt completely drained. When did she last sleep? Was it when she found dog meat out on the trail? She looked down. Her companion lay still next to the fire . She hoped he'd be okay. Although she felt an urgency to keep going, to find the Brotherhood members or what was left of them before the trail went cold, she knew it was stupid to go on on no sleep. There was nothing else for it. They'd rest here for a few hours and then head out . Tell me again what you saw? she said to the settler she'd been speaking to earlier as he tied off the last of the bandages on his own leg. She passed him some of the meat which now looked cooked through, and he took it gratefully. She sat back and listened, going over the notes she'd made on her map for a third time. They would rest and at dawn pick up the trail. She thanked the settler, tucked her map away, and lay down to close her eyes. She hoped that she wasn't too late already. Hal en welkom bij A Wasteland Story, the procedurally generated actu al play cross-audio drama TTRPG solo play inspired story set in the world of the Fallout video games and TV series. Hmm, might have to work on that title, it'll be hard to fit on a t-shirt. Regardless. Last time on the show, our heroine and her good boy little friend managed to actually find the Brotherhood of Steel members they were looking for and request their help with the political mutation-based plot unfolding in the town of Newark. They agreed on their instructions and she slipped into an NCR outpost looking for a scientist who could help figure out this whole FEV thing. Upon her return, however, the Brotherhood were mysteriously gone, leaving nothing but the corpse of their leader and some messy drag marks leading into the forest. Suskade and Dogmate stealed themselves to pick up the trail and find out what fate had befelled befallen her allies. Stay tuned to find out what's next for the pair as we pick up their story. Dogmeat whined and sniffed carefully around the bloody drag marks that led up into the forest. Whatever it was that had killed the elder and apparently taken the others couldn't be more than fifteen minutes or so ahead of her. And, Soskade thought to herself, likely moving slower than she could. Unless of course it was another death claw. She shuddered, remembering the scene under the bridge. No. The kill on Marcus was too clean. It must be humans she was dealing. At least this is what she told herself. And we are back. It's been a little while. Um I've been thinking a lot about what could be happening here . Um I think it's gonna be interesting either way. So we left off. Sasuke had managed to sneak back out of the NCR outpost with a testing kit for the FEV. I've put down a minor quest now that she has to go and get a sample of the FEV and then maybe the doctor, the scientist, Susan I think, will be able to synthesize something that could neutralize it. I think that's going to be the major quest . It's gonna be saving the settlement from right, somehow bringing him to justice, probably getting rid of the super mutants that are, I expect, now there, and neutralizing the FEV. Before we go north Can you pick up the trail boy? Suske had said to Dogmeat, feeling a complicated mix of fear, doubt, and determination. She had the testing kit from the scientist, but she still needed the Brotherhood to help her get the sample. She had to find them and help them. Dogmeat put his nose to the ground and gave a little bark, heading off up the earthen rise into the forest. Things aren't going quite as I expected with the Brotherhood. Uh, originally I kind of thought that she would be rescued by the Drip Brotherhood and sort of team up with them, but Mythic says that's not what happened so much. So I'm not sure yet how she gets back in with the Brotherhood. Maybe it doesn't happen at all, we'll see. Either way, we now have to test the scene. I've written the expected scene, which is that Suscoid and Dog Meat track the bloodstains into the forest and discover where they lead. As soon as Soskade and Dog Meat crossed the forest's edge, she began to lose sight of the bloody trail. She held her still glowing pit boy light to the ground and saw that the trail did in fact peter out. Perhaps it was mostly Marcus's blood then. A good sign for the other two? Dogmeat didn't perturbed though, and he continued along, nose firmly to the ground, wriggling back and forth in a wonky line deeper into the for So that is the expected scene. A roll of four or lower will mean that that does not happen. That is a three . Okay , so it is odd, which means it's an odd Soske had followed. Pistol at the ready, although more powerful, her rifle was likely to be of a disadvantage in the more cramped space between the trees, she reminded herself, thinking back to Saya's advice. After a few minutes, Dogmead stopped and started sniffing around in a larger circle. Sasuke got down onto her knees and held the Pit Boy light close to the ground. The earth was softer here and, there were clear mar kings of footprints roughly arranged in a wider area. A scuffle? She thought. A flicker of hope rising inside her. Perhaps they broke free. She looked up. Dogmeat was still, nose no longer pointed at the ground, but instead straight ahead into the darkness. His usually floppy ears pointed to a fine tip, trembling slightly in the queasy green glow. Altered scene work . If your scene becomes an altered scene, the scene begins in the next most expected way . So the next most expected way way I don't know . Okay . So I'd say the most likely thing to happen would be that she gets she runs into some trouble on the way ? Or that she just doesn't find them? So let's ask Mythic . Okay, now let's ask: does she lose the trail first? I think it's unlikely because she has dog meat with her. So does she lose the trail ? 30. No, so she doesn't lose the trail. So then something unexpected happens to her and we're just gonna do a random encounter in the for est . Suske had froze. What is it, boy? She whispered. Dogmeat let out a single, barely audible whine, but otherwise remained still. She strained her ears, trying to locate any movement in the darkness. Well let's let's search for meaning I think as to what she finds in the forest on her way. So we have eighteen is change and eighty four is strength . Okay, so she has a change in strength. I think that means that someone joins her. I think while she's going through the forest then, she's walking through, she's tracking the trail with um dogmate then, as leading deeper and deeper into the forest. I don't know what time of day it is now. It's still night time, actually, so it's really dark. And so I think while she's walking through she hears a ps hey. A twig snapped off to her left and she swung around with her pistol raised. A figure stepped out from behind a tree with their hands held out in front of them. Don't shoot, the figure said, in a voice too loud for Sosuka his liking. And I think the settlers uh well not settlers, but the yeah, we'll call them settlers who were sort of camped outside uh the town here, which was called um Springfield . They've kind of been following her what she's doing. They're really thankful for the help they gave she gave them. And so I think they say, hey, it's us. And I think two or three of them have come out and recognized her and said they want to help. We want to help. The figure continued, and Susu had lowered her pistol slightly. Strangely, dogmeat barely seemed to notice. So let's say, let's ask is, there two of them? No, there's three. But 66 is a double, which means we have a random event in context . So, 4 4, I don't know if that means another random event, so that means an NPC negative. Suscade held her Pipboy equipped arm high above her head in an attempt to illuminate the face of the stranger. It felt very heavy. She was so tired. Soskaid studied the face of the man as he approached. She recognized him as one of the few men she'd encountered in the settlers' camp outside the NCR outpost. She lowered her pistol further. At this, two more figures stepped out from the darkness, hands also raised. She glanced quickly at Dogme to see that his ears were still quivering in the dim glow as he continued to stare off at a point past the settlers. He looked at Soskade quickly before returning his gaze to its original focus. He let out a second whine, louder this time. As these three come out of the woods to try and help her, something happens to one of them . I think they get attacked. What are you doing out here? It's not safe, said Suskade, gruffly. Dogmeat's behavior was worrying her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Some of us decided to keep an eye on you after you left in case we could return the help. When we saw you meet the Brotherhood from a distance, we just stayed in the forest and watched , said the man . The three had started to lower their hands and wrap them around themselves, the chill of the evening air starting to set in. A thin fog had begun an attempt to carpet the forest floor. The kinds of things that are likely to be in the forest here . Uh I'm guessing either mole rats or rad stags or let's say radstags or blood bugs is it the radstags No it's not the radstags The Brotherhood, said Sosuke it suddenly breathless. Did you see what happened to them? The settlers looked at each other uncomfortably for a moment. The figure at the rear of the three cleared her throat. Well, she started. So we got some blood bubs. As this settler is saying, hey, remember us? Do you need any help? And she heals hears the buzzing sound of the of the blood bugs, basically giant mosquitoes, and it attacks the settler, and she hears him scream, and she notices the others coming through. At this, Dogmeat let out a bark, and all at once Suskade heard a wet sound, and the man who was speaking let out a gurgly scream and dropped to his knees. Everyone looked around in panic and dogmeat darted forward into the gloom. Now it's dark. This is bad. They can probably smell blood, so I think we're gonna have a disadvantage against them. Thankfully they're not super dangerous, at least from the game. Blood bugs, uh they're not not dangerous. Welcome back to another chapter of the Denisons of the Wasteland. Today we're going to look at that pesky nuisance, the blood bug. A form of mutated mosquito, blood bugs can be encountered in swarms wherever there is stagnant water. Fully grown, their dark reddish-brown bodies reach nearly a metre in length, and their razor-sharp probuscus is capable of piercing some lighter armours. By means of hunting, blood bugs spit irradi ated blood in order to blind their victims before puncturing the disoriented target and feeding on their blood. Brahmin and other domesticated creatures are the most common victim of these blood-sucking insects, but the occasional unwary traveler who makes the fatal mistake of underestimating the swarm can quickly find themselves turned into a blood bug smooth ie. Think what's happened is the guy who was speaking gets hit in the face with this um irradiated blood. He goes, uh uh, and he's blind and he sort of drops down and drops to his knees. Get down! Soskahead shouted as she brought up her pistol again, trying to keep track of Dogmeat who was charging ahead in the darkness. The gentle buzzing suddenly turned into a roar as more of the horrific insects swarmed into the clearing. There was a volley of wet sounding projectiles hitting the trees and forest floor surrounding the group. So , first thing that happens is the blood bug surprises them, so it's going to get a turn first anyway. It hits the guy with the acid spit with the irradiated blood, which is supposed to blind him. Let's see. Is he blinded? No, he's not blinded. In fact, he is 91. So he is exceptionally not blinded and he manages to turn around and I think because it was an exceptional yes, he gets to get a shot in before the blood bug gets to him. The settler who was hit with the irradiated blood stood quickly, apparently having screamed more out of shock than of pain. Soske had saw him wipe his face with his arm in panic and raise the pipe rifle she'd given to the group earlier. The first shot rang out into the darkened forest. I think it's gonna be a difficulty two because it's in the dark and it's gonna be really hard to shoot them with a gun. I think it's not so hard to hit them with a bat. Let's give him a target number of um 11 . Can he get two hits in? That is a 17 and a 10. So he gets one success, that's not enough. Soskade couldn't tell if the shot hit or not in the darkness, but either way, the bug kept coming for him. She took a second to draw a breath and squinted into the darkness, trying to figure out what was attacking them, how many of them there were. But all she could see was twisted, flickering, monstrous shadows cast by the green glow of the Pip Boy. To set the scene, we're sort of in the trees. The three are separate from Susqueh and Dogmeat. She was maybe further ahead, about to step over a log that was there, and they sort of came up from the right hand side behind her a little bit. And so she had turned around when they said her name, or at least said hello. She whispered to herself and closed her eyes for a second, trying to push down the panic that was threatening to take control of her. She listened. So it's Soskaid's turn first. She really can't see much . So what she's gonna do is a perception check to see if she can hear where the next blood bug is and if it's coming for her. So we're gonna go perception survival there, uh difficulty one, that is a 12, and we have a success. Suscape heard her heart beat once, twice, and in her mind she could pick out three separate locations for the buzzing things. She pictured the space around her. There , there , and there. So she can sort of hear, she can see, they might have a torch or something. She can see the blood bug that went just past him. So she has one of them in her vision, this first one, and it's now she can sort of see and hear where it is. So she's gonna take a shot at difficult y one because she did the successful perception check. She is shooting with her 10mm rifle . It's a target number of 13. In the green glow of the forest, a torch beam sputtered to life, casting a weak line in the air, accentuated by the thin wisps of fog that were being thrown up off the ground by the rapidly beating wings. The torchbeam swung up and illuminated a giant spiky, evil-looking insect just as it dipped out of its arc to strike at the torch holder. Soskey had brought her pistol up, trying to aim at the bulkiest part of the creature. She pulled the trigger. And she does hit and she gets an actual point as well. Maxed out an actual points. So the creature's normal HP decreases to body plus half level. They're level five, so they have nine hit points. We are doing With our 10 millimeter for damage, I'm gonna spend a luck to do another one, and we are doing five dice for the damage. That is bugger all. As Sasuke had felt the gun kick, she thought she saw the creature shift backwards in the air slightly, but it didn't seem to affect its trajectory. So that is three and three blanks. I will use a luck point, because you want to be lucky in the dark, I get to roll three. Reroll three. Excellent. She swore, and a second later she felt a puff of cool air behind her, and her left ear rang suddenly with the whine of an insect. Shit, she said, and went to duck out of the way. Not having yet taken her finger off the trigger, it gave an involuntary jerk and the pistol spoke again. So now we have five, six damage. Let's see what happens if we I've been halving the HP because I'm alone, but let's see what h appens if we don't do that. So it's gonna take six damage . Three. So that was Susu's major action. Oh we can get dog meat I'm pretty sure we can um send him out to do a bite or he can assist. The lucky shot met its target, and this time the insect wavered obviously in the air, resetting its course and flying out over the head of its original target. Soske had realized that she hadn't been breathing and drew a quick gulp of air before letting out a strong whistle. She saw the small figure of dog meat bound into the clearing from off to the side, snapping at the passing blood bugs as they went by. It is then the other guy's turns. So the girl with the baseball bat she tri es to take a sw ing. I think this is difficulty one now because I mean yes it's flying, but not as hard as shooting it. So difficulty one to take a swing at it, target number of seven. There was a shout from in front of her, and one of the settlers, following Dogmeat's lead, leapt into the middle of the clearing, wielding what looked like a baseball bat. The settler ducked slightly as one of the insects flew over her head and she took a huge swing with the ancient piece of wood. She gets it. So she hits it with this baseball bat . Um don't know what damage a baseball bat does. Let's see . Five damage rating. So she hits this thing for three damage. I think the blood bugs sort of are going for one each. Yeah, let's say that. So she hits the second one. I had nine. The creature let out a panicked clicking sound as the bat connected with its body. It hit the ground for a second under the momentum of the swing, but managed to ride itself and take off again into the darkness. Soskee had looked to her left with a third creature was engaged in a bizarre kind of dance with another settler. They were circling each other, both wildly lashing out, both desperately trying to be the one to gain the upper hand. Whatever. So this guy is attacking now with the tire iron. He's attacking number two . He has a thing of ten, that is two success es. That's excellent . And he's only rolling three hit dice . Which is three damage. The settler finally got a lucky swing in, and there was another distressed clicky sound as his tire iron connected with his unlikely dance partner. It flew off again over his shoulder and turned to make another pass . Suskade had gotten her breathing under control and took a second to get her head across the situation. They were doing well. The creatures were aggressive but distractable. They didn't need to focus fire on one at a time like they had with the supermutants, but rather keep chipping away at them as they came into range and throw them off course. Hold where you are and focus only on the one coming at you, she shouted into the darkness and raised her pistol again, trying to assess which creature was the biggest threat at that moment. So now I think the other blood bugs get to act. So the second one is still attacking settler two. I think they're too close to actually spit their stuff now. They got in really close in the dark. So it is target number of nine . It misses. Seeming to gain some confidence from Soskade's instruction, the settler with the baseball bat deftly ducked under the returning blood bug. They seemed to be naturally going for the head, meaning that ducking under as they came was a good tactic. Keep ducking under them as you hear them come. They avoid getting too close to the ground, Suskade shouted. Dogmeat had bounded off back out of view in pursuit of one of the bugs. Um she manages to avoid it as she' ssort of dodging around and holding her baseball bat up. I mean these guys they're not fighters, they are terrified, but they've still been out in the wasteland, so they're doing a half decent job. The third ones then are gonna go. It will hit and it will do five physical damage to this guy . Oh, massive. So that is a critical hit to head. Just as she said this, feeling something akin to confidence, there was a scream from behind her. Tearing her gaze from trying to make out where dogmeat had gone, she turned to see the third settler just as they fell face first into the forest floor, the creature mounted on the back of his head like a grotesque headdress. And I think critical damage to the head. It's not good . Momentarily dazed and lose action in his next turn. So he's stunned, basically. You can't see clearly and increase difficulty of all tests with reliabil As Soska id saw the unfortunate figure drop to the ground, she let out a strong whistle. Over there, boy, get it! A moment later, Dogbeat bounded into the light of her pit boy and leapt at the creature now at ground level. He snarled. So now it'll be Suskayade's turn again, and I think as her major action she',s gonna send I think I can spend two ma two action points to get an additional major action. Which I think I wanna do. Let me check that . Action points . For action points you can buy D20s, you can take an additional major action for two action points. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna spend an action point to command dog meat. So he's gonna hit with two dice. Body plus melee is target seven, difficulty one. He misses. Dogmeat's snarl had given him away, and just before he could get his jaws on the beast, it zipped up into the air again , leaving the hapless settler lying still on the ground. Just as he sort of leaps into the air to get this thing, it sort of just misses his grasp. Like a dog trying to catch a frisbee, he leaps up into the air and the thing just slips out of the way. That's a shame. Then I'm going to take my action. I'm aiming. So we're difficulty one still. We're aiming so we can re-roll one. We're going to target number of 13. That is a 7 and a 14. It's a 4, so I'm going to regenerate that action point . The maneuver had given Saskade time to aim, however, and she took her own shot at the creature as it rose into the air. Okay, so that is a hit. We're doing five damage, which is more than we need, hopefully. Yes. That's another critical hit. So she really just splats this thing. It says left leg. I think it's always in the body with blood bugs. They don't have much of anything else. And she splits that thing, killing it, which will be 38 XP, which will be lovely. The blood bug's trajectory wobbled as the bullet connected and it swerved straight into an ancient tree, collecting in a pathetic crumpled shape at the bottom. One down, two to go. So she kills one, one down. Next in line is the second settler with the baseball bat. She's gonna hit at this thing again, has six hit points left. She's hitting with the baseb all bat . That's a hit . She's doing one, two, three dam age, which means it's only got three left. Suskade called dogmeat to her and quickly looked to the other side of the clearing where the two remaining settlers and insects were locked in a frantic melee. There was another crunchy sound as a baseball bat connected with one of the bugs. Now they had the numbers. They had to move quickly and take these things down. Now it's the blood bugs. First one's dead. Second one is still attacking the baseball bat girl. And I think the other one's coming at Suskade. So the first one's attacking the baseball bat girl target number nine. It crits , which I haven't been tracking the AP for the overseer. So we've talked a bit about the use of action points in this game. It's an interesting mechanic that comes over from the old video games specifically, and just as a refresher, the way it works is that the party will earn action points by over-achieving at their roles. And they can spend them to get little advantages in combat or in the story. As Sosuke just did, although writing this I realise I actually forgot to do her second action after she purchased a new one, but never mind. My amount of memory-induced unintentional cheating in this and to be fair most solo games tend to balance out in terms of advantage and disadvantage. What I haven't talked about is that in Fallout, the GM or Overseer can also collect action points, either through overachieving on their own successes or by the players giving them one if they don't have any themselves and still want to do something extra. The overseer can then spend them in a similar way to the players to give their creatures or NPCs a nasty advantage. Some enemies even have rules written in for special attacks they can do if the overseer chooses to spend some. In the case of playing solo, I just spend them for the overseer when it feels right. Or at least just ask Mythy. It can have some pretty scary effects, but it's generally pretty fun and exciting. So I'll give it an XP, uh, an AP for that. It hits and it's doing five damage to her. One, two, three, four, five. That's a critical hit to the head. So she is also dazed by this thing and basically completely useless. Another scream was soaked up by the dead forest and a second settler went down, bug headed. Fuck's sake, said Soske through gritted teeth. Her newfound confidence was getting her in trouble . She couldn't get cocky. Overconfidence will get you killed . She remembered the stern voice of her father with just a hint of disappointment when she had snuck out at night that one time, brimming with a fantasy of coming home a hero with food for the village during one long winter. She'd nearly died. The memory and guilt of it still haunted her. She'd never seen her father so disappointed. The scene around her returned in a sickening second, and she saw one of the blood bugs change course. It was coming. The third one is coming for Saskade . It spits. I'm gonna give it two turns. I'm gonna let it bend the action point that they produced . I'm gonna let it spit at Suskay and then attack. Because it's a bit further away, it's got space to do that. A wet, sticky sound pierced her senses amongst the frantic buzzing. I'm gonna see if rather than seeing if it hits, I'm gonna see if Suskade can evade it. So we are doing athletics and agility gives us a 12, difficulty one. She is able to miss it. So the thing spits at it, she sees it coming. And actually that's a tag skill, so we get an action point back. Soske didn't see the projectile of irradiated blood, but she leapt to the side before she even realized what she was doing. She heard a wet thud right behind her and she looked back up at the unrelenting creature. It was still coming . So she sees it coming and she manages to sort of slip out of the way, but it still comes for her anyway. It closes in, it's got a target number of nine, it hits with a nine and it is doing three damage to Saskahead's head. Saskahead right at her footing and prepared to spring again to the side. The blood bug seemed to anticipate her, however, and it zagged with her as she stepped. The creature's impossibly thin proboscis pierced Soskade's neck. She felt a strangely familiar numbing feeling as the insect injected its chemicals deep between her collarbone and the side of her neck. She felt it protrude cleanly from the other side. Well thankfully it's not a critical hit. So we actually she's been pretty lucky with taking hits and stuff now. Okay, so current HP she got hit for three in the head and she doesn't have any physical damage resistant in her head, so she's down to nine hit points . Susked felt her vision blur as the furious buzzing sounds, shouts, and grunts of effort faded around her . She was sitting on her father's workbench, anxious as she was every time. Stop your squirming, ' her father had said with a smile. 'We do this every month, and it's never as bad as you imagine. He said, commencing the ritual of rubbing something cold on the side of her neck. 'Why do I have to do this?' she said for a countless time. None of the other kids need to, she said, a glimmer of anticipatory tears in her eyes. I know, Susse, he said, his gruff voice gentle. It's just one of those things. The small girl scrunched her eyes shut tight and thrust out her hand. Then let's get it over with, she said, hand waving around dramatically while her eyes remained tightly shut. She felt the worn and familiar smooth shape of the bobblehead toy that had belonged to her mother. She rubbed its smooth head with her thumb . She let out a little gasp as she felt the needle go into her neck. It wasn't so bad, she thought to herself as her father slowly injected the medicine. She opened her eyes when she couldn't feel the needle anymore. Her father was already taking off his gloves and pulling his scarf down from his face. It won't be forever, he said gent ly. You'll grow out of it, I know. She finished his sentence. But when ? Her father didn't answer, and she jumped off the workbench, putting the little doll back where it lived. I think I'm grown out Get up and fight. Her eyes snapped open. She was on her knees in the dirt in the dark, and someone was pulling at her arm. They're still coming! the settler shouted and ducked as the blood bug which had stung Soskey had tried for another attack. That was the third one. And now it's a new round again. So this thing's closer to her now. We could try and shoot it again , which I think is our best bet in terms of damage. So it's pretty close. So it did hit her. It sort of stung her like in the neck a little bit to this sort of neck between her shoulder there. It stung her and sort of backed off again, ready for another attack. And as it backs off, she aims again and she goes to him. Saskade felt her mind focus as her adrenaline glands renewed their dose. She suddenly felt the cold metal of her pistol in her hand and she swung it straight up in front of her. The angry buzzing seemed to envelop the whole forest. She gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger. A success . And the bullet doesn't do enough damage. I think we're gonna need to use a luck. So that is one damage. Sorry, one damage and one effect, so two damage. It's got four hit points left. We can do better than that. She is gonna get lucky Do only one more damage. The hovering horror zigged to the side as the shot rang out, the bullet only clipping its crinkly body. It bent backwards in the air, stinger forward and came in for a killing blow right at Soskaid's chest. She gasped and pulled the trigger again. Click. Fuck. She swore and reached for a clip in her pocket as she ejected the empty one at the same time. This was it, she thought. This was it. All hope leaving her in a single moment. She was gonna die in the darkness and become a cooling egg sack for this foul creature's offspring. Okay, and we get one for dog meat for assistance . Hands shaking, she got the clip into the gun and pulled back the slide loading the first bullet into the chamber, but it was too late. Yes, there it is. Okay. At the last possible second, there was a fierce growl and she saw a low shape leap in from the side and snatched the creature out of the air like a well-thrown frisbe e. Both figures hit the ground and dogmeat began tearing pieces off the insect, shaking his head and pulling simultaneously. Bits of wing and leg scattered into the air before floating down with something akin to Grace. She gets it and she doesn't do a good hit, but as she hits it, dog meat jumps up from the bottom and grabs it as well, doing four damage and killing it. He does the dog thing and grabs it out of the air and shakes it around and it sort of falls apart. Two down. A new wave of adrenaline burst through her veins. Thanks, mate, that was close, she muttered, and turned her attention to the scene, assessing the situation. Now as both these guys turn, they're completely stunned and dazed , which means it's gonna be a difficulty three for them to try and hit these things, and I mean they're not gonna. So they're on their knees basically, uh, and that brings it back to the blood bug's turn, who is going to attack the I don't know, Tyreon guy or baseball bat girl. There was shouting . Tom ? Vruna ! I'm coming to help! Stay there! I'm scared! Soskade watched as the two days figures half crawled, half fell to try and reach each other for some semblance of safety. The leader with the rifle was nowhere to be seen. She looked left and right, no buzzing, no humming. Perhaps he'd tried to chase them into the forest, give the others some breathing room. Or had he just turned and ran? She thought. She wouldn't blame him, if it wasn't for the fact that he left two friends to die. I think it's the Tyrion guy. He can see the blood bug can see that it's uh he's stunned, and that's his prey that he wants the blood from. So we are doing a Fuck they have a defense of two . Oh shit. Defense rating and fallout is the number that determines how hard, i.e. how many successes are required to hit something, and it's based on how agile a character or creature is. One of Soskeid's saving graces is that, although she isn't very strong, she has a high agility, meaning that enemies generally need to roll two successes in order to connect. That's significantly more difficult than just one. Some of the mathematicians among you might even say twice as difficult, but those kinds of probability calculations are above my pay grade. In the ensuing fight with the Blood Bugs, I'd wrongly assumed that they also had the usual defense rating of one, making them un intentionally easier than they should be, as I realized here. Oh shit. Of course, upon reflection, it makes sense because they're more leg than body and relatively zippy in the air. Happily, though, the magic of unintentional mathematics saved the day and balanced everything out, when I then proceeded to forget that there should have only been one blood bug remaining and not the two whom I proceed to continue to fight. Again, and now I'm just guessing here, twice as many as I should have been fighting. So the equation balan ces in the end. Phew. Okay . All of a sudden, there was a renewed tearing in the air as a blood bug zoomed into view once again from the darkened edge of the clearing. It was followed by another one, and by the last settler who must have run off after them in pursuit. Damn it. She thought there was only one left. She must have miscounted in the dark and confusion. Hopefully that was it. The two split off as they rejoined the fray, and the leading one headed straight for the terrified figure, apparently trying torow bur his way into a tree with his shoulder blades, rubbing his eyes in panic. Help me! He's going for the tire iron man . That's a hit . Doing three damage which is very nearly but not quite enough to kill him. Verena scrambled her way along the forest floor, the baseball bat sweeping back and forth along the ground as she crawled with it in her hand. I'm coming, Tom! Hold in there. There was a sick gurgle as the blood bug took its time to properly aim its blood-drinking appendage to the juiciest spot in the hapless man's neck. No! screamed the other settler. The bug took off again, and its victim was still for a moment before giving a gurgly cough, blood spilling from his mouth. He's down to one hit point, leaving it to be Saskai's turn again. This has to end, thought Soskade, gritting her teeth. She looked down at her companion still tearing paper like shreds off his kill. He stopped, looked at her, and gave an affirmatory bark. She's gonna use that assist. Let me check if I'm doing assist right. Where do I find dogmeat? Ah, so when dogmeat assists on one of your attacks, he must move within reach of the target and inflicts his own melee damage. I guess it's a minor action to get an assist. So I'm not gonna aim, I'm gonna get the assist. Soskeard whistled and Dogmeat met her eyes and tilted his head. She raised her rifle and he seemed to understand. We're starting to learn how to work together and be a team. Dogmeat tore off to the left in a medium-wide arc, seemingly to flank the creature that was backing off the gurgling settler. A little slower in the air now and noticeably fatter. Soskee took a few steps to the right, anticipating it moving away from Dogmeat's approach. She was right. The flying creature started moving towards her rather than the side, making for a straight shot. She pulled the trigger. This is now my third bullet. 13 to hit. Difficulty 2, because we might as well do it properly now. So I'm gonna spend an action point for a third dice . Oh, three, fourteen, sixteen. That gives us happily because it's tagged. That gives us the two successes we needed. It is a hit, and Dogmate gets to add in his um two more dice, which are vicious. The bullet hit the thing, and it's now bulging body. Dog meat leapt as it dipped slightly in the air, a splash of fresh blood from the poor settler, visible on his snout in the pit boy's light. So I'll do mine first. So there's three out of the six we need, and who's he's doing two vicious damage which means that the uh effects symbols do two damage instead of one he's giving us an additional two damage so that's five it's nearly dead as dogmeat connected again with the ground, he twisted his neck in an attempt to pull the creature down. This time, however, he only managed to pull off a small chunk and some straw-like legs, while the insect, in a panic, wildly zigzagged out of his reach, thinned blood splashing from it as it went. It is a critical hit to the body, so I think it will bleed out next turn. The Blood Bug 2, which has three hit points left, is gonna go for baseball bat girl again. And it connects and to her it does only two damage. That's good for her. So she's down to two . Now it is my turn again. As the creature tried to flee the clearing, the other one returned. For a few seconds they were both in sight and in range. Perhaps she could end this here and now. We're gonna do the f the cool fallout slow motion thing where we're gonna spend our action point to get an additional major action, and I'm gonna take an additional shot. Get ready, boy! She shouted as she took a deep breath before giving her mind a precious moment to focus. As she slowly let the breath go, she had to hold off for the perfect opportunity . Wait . Wait. I'm gonna spend another one for an extra dice since it's difficulty two now. For the first shot, and I'm gonna aim so I get to re-roll one. So the first shot she's taking out, she's the number two, which has three hit points left. Soske ard could now see both blood bugs through her one open eye siding down the pistol at arm's length. She switched her focus for the one approaching the survivor, trying to help her felled companion. Now, she pulled the trigger. That is a three successes getting an action point back. A split second before she did, she let out a loud piercing whistle. Dogmate leapt for the second creature. Doing enough damage to kill it? Big damage. Six damage. Sosukehead saw that dogmeat had caught enough of the creature's legs to be able to bring it to the ground. In fact, I'm I aim, so I'm gonna re-roll that anyway. Oh it's a complication! Why did I do that ? Man . The creature seemed to fall apart in the air as her bullet must have shattered slightly coming out of her gun, its remaining pieces feathered to the ground. Immediately after the shot, Sosuke had felt something click in the pistol in her hand. She knew in an instant that the gun had jammed, perhaps damaged by her successful but faulty bullet. No, she shouted in frustration. So I re-rolled one of the dice because I thought maybe I could get an extra action point. I think the complication is the gun jams and it's gonna need a repair check. I'm not sure if that's exactly how that works, but that sounds good to me. So she takes the shot, the bullet gets out and it hits it and kills it, but she hears something go click and chunk in there and she knows enough about guns to know that the bullet um the next bullet when it was being loaded into the chamber got jammed. And she knows she won't be able to take another shot with the gun. She tried in vain to quickly loose the bullet from the chamber, but it was stuck fast. Fuck. She began to panic. She looked over at Dogmaid who'd gotten the thing to the ground but was struggling to sink his teeth into it. He was circling it, trying to get bites in while it madly struck out with its stinger. I don't think she's good enough to do that . But she is going to with her second major action then. She was gonna shoot the thing. Instead, she shouts to dog meat and commands him to go and get it. Dogmeat is hitting on a se ven with an extra action point spent to give him an extra dice . And that is a complication and two misses. There was a clicking sound as the final blood bug writhed on the ground. Dogmeat had finally gotten his jaws around the thickest part of its body, but it lashed out in its final throws. There was a whimper. No screamed Sasuke, dropping her pistol and breaking into a sprint towards her faithful companion. So it was gonna be so cool, she was just gonna take both of them out of the air. She takes one down, her gun jams, she shouts at dog meat to go and attack the other one, and he has a complication. The thing was dead, and the forest fell once more into silence . Dogmeat was still on his feet, but circling wonkily and panting hard. In the final electric spasms of the insect's body its stinger had pierced directly into Dogmeat's chest and broken off. As she got closer she could see the evil black straw sticking out and waving awkwardly in the air as he limped around like a deer stuck with an arrow I think unfortunately the complication is that as dogmeat jumps to get him, we're gonna use a luck to re roll. I'm not gonna re roll the complication because I feel like that's part of the stor y. I will use a lack because I think dog meat should take it down . It does. So dog meat does manage to kill the last one, which was sort of bleeding out any way . But as as dog meat jumped to take it down, the stinger was out, and I think it pierced dog meat. I'm not gonna roll for damage on it, just dog meat is badly wounded . He may even be poisoned, and we're gonna need to find some way to heal him. Susuke had carried the limp figure of her companion to the centre of the clearing. She put him down gently, kneeling by his side. It's okay, boy. We'll get you fixed up. Her voice wavering, she felt a tear threaten to escape her eye. Hold tight, mate, she said softly. I gotta go help the others, and we'll get a fire going, all right? She wiped her nose with her sleeve and then stood, head flicking into problem-solving mode. Everybody okay? she said as she strided over to the worst looking settler. He was groaning. A good sign . Okay, uh let's get the wounded to the center of the clearing and we'll get a fire lit. You, she said, pointing to the smug looking settler with the pipe rival who'd been strangely less present during the fight. Sh h, I forgot about him. Go collect some stuff that we can burn and drag some of these broken lines She picked up the groaning settler with the help of his friend, and together they limped their way towards the centre of the clearing. Make sure everyone has water, there's some in my pack, and if anyone knows anything about medicine, please have a look at the dog. I'll start collecting some meat and we can get some food going. The aftermath is um I'm gonna take full experience for one of them, half for the other two. So that would be fifte5 So that's a total of 76 experience, which is going to bring us to that next level. And uh happily none of the settlers died . Just hanging on by a thread . So Sosuke goes up to them and sort of makes sure that everyone's stabilized as best as she can do. She sees if she knows how to undaze them, and then maybe they could follow her with her. Otherwise, if they can't undaze, then the if they can't undaze, what a good word, then the leader is gonna have the pipe rifle guy is gonna have to take them back to the settlement. So we need a roll of um six . It's a two. She does. Maybe she had seen people dazed before. Uh maybe when she was on the farm in the settlement with her father. If someone got kicked by a Brahmin or something she had seen a bit of a technique about how to snap them out of it, sort of checking for concussion and then maybe slapping around the face. Whatever the technique happened to be, pinching the top of their ear, I don't know. And she manages to um sort them out. They're not healthy, but they're no longer dazed. And they may be able to guide her through to the other end of the forest. But we will see next time . Soskaid and the settlers sat exhausted on various scattered and long fallen oaks. They'd managed to get the fire lit and treat the basic wounds inflicted from the sudden attack. The small group was slowly getting its energy back, but Saskade could barely keep her eyes open. She looked down. Dogmeat lay still next to the fire, his chest bandaged. She hoped he'd be okay. They would rest here for a few hours and then head out. Tell me again what you saw, she said to the settler she'd been speaking to earlier as he tied off the last of the bandages on his own leg. She passed him some of the blood bug meat, which now looked cooked through and he took it gratefully. She sat back and listened, going over the notes she'd made on her map for a third time. They would rest, and at dawn pick up the trail if Dogmeat was able. She thanked the settler, tucked her map away, and lay down to close her eyes. She hoped that she wasn't too late already. That is it for this session. We haven't been able to find out what happened to the Brotherhood of Steel. We did get some experience and some meat and we found these nervous settlers again, maybe they saw what happened. Find out next time on A Wasteland Adventure. Story. The show's called A Wasteland Story. Thank you for joining me again on A Wasteland Story. If you'd like to get in touch with the show, you can send an email to a wastelandstorypodcast at gmail.com. You can also find me lurking around in the solo role Reddit thread under the name PJ Sack. And I've also joined Blue Sky also under PJ Sack, although I'm not a big social media person and don't really know what to do with it yet. But hey, I'm there and I do answer all of the messages that I get from listeners. Speaking of which, a couple of people have reached out asking me if there was a mailing list or something so they could be informed of new content, since it's not turning out to be a completely predictable release schedule. I know, I know, the algorithm gods will pun ish me, but hey, that's just how it is at the moment, and it's important to me that this doesn't become a job, which I know from experience has a tendency to suck some of the joy out of things. And I'm enjoying it so much, so I really don't want to do that. I'm certainly still aiming to get out at least an episode a month, and perhaps even add in some bonus content as well, to just keep things going. But we'll just see how I go. Anyway, I don't know the best way to approach this, a mailing list perhaps, Patreon, I don't know. I do have a little project ticking along in the background which may help inform the decision, but that's a little ways away yet. If you have any ideas or preferences about how you'd like to hear from me, then please reach out and let me know. Join us next time on the show when our heroine continues to track the missing brotherhood members and see if they are in fact still alive. And who's trying to kill them now? And just remember, when you're out there in the wastes, please read the label carefully on your blood bug repellent spray and see if you might be susceptible to any of the side effects like skin irritation, minor mutation, and or horrible bubbly death. Bye.