Fallout PbP: The Blood-Dimmed Tide (In Character)

[Gentry]

"Should we tell people? In the vault, I mean. I mean, if the whole thing's underwater, and it's leaking, could the whole thing cave in and shit?"

[MilitiaJim]

"It's not going to cave, just flood, slowly at first.  Actually, if we get the spare pumps, and shoot the water out here, then the Vault will stay dry.  But they would have to keep the door open, or drill around it."

[Gentry]

Hondo grunts with understanding, and returns to his thoughts.

[glimmerrat]

Scribe Parker listens patiently, taking in the questions and waiting for Alice and Hondo to finish. "Ok, i'll start with off your questions." He gestures to Marcus.

"I am Andrew Parker, and I was born in a small settlement about a hundred miles north of here. I am twenty three years old, and I am a member of the East-Coast Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. We are a Knightly Order who do our best to protect the weak and combat the wicked. I am a Scribe - a scholar, if you will - of the Order of the Quill. We specialize in gathering information and safeguarding it against those who would see it destroyed." He pauses, letting that sink in.

"My fellow Scribes and I were using Liberty as a safe base of operations to explore the Ny City wasteland. That's what we think this island is called, by the way - Liberty. We think that might be her name too." He points at the ceiling, obviously gesturing at the monument beyond. "We came here from a Fort about 40 miles north of the city, with an eye to scavenging the ruins to see what we could find. We traveled by boat across the Hudson Swamp. We had no idea that the Enclave were already here." He looks thoughtful.

“The vehicle was a Vertibird, a military transport, and its passengers were Enclave troops. They came here to kill us, and to all intents and purposes, they seem to think they have succeeded. They claim to be the remnants of the United States government, and the Brotherhood would dearly like to know where they are based. They are fascists who slaughter all who do not bend their knee to them… and some who do. You see, they’re also racists of the worst sort. They regard any deviation from their idea of ‘human’ as an abomination, to be put down like a dog. I don’t know where that Vertibird came from, but as a relatively short-range craft they must have a substantial base somewhere in the city in order to refuel.”

Again, he pauses. Next, he turns to Elsie. “There is a ferry that runs from Staten Island to Brooklyn, via the Manhattan ruins. They will stop here if we signal them from the docks on the north edge of Liberty. They travel the route in both directions starting at midday each day, and they charge a fee of 10 caps per passenger. They don’t tolerate troublemakers. Not that I think you are.”

Finally, he turns to Alice and Hondo. “It sounds as if you need building supplies. I may be able to locate what you need, but I must first put my library back together. He wistfully glances at the scattered books. “Your Vault is set into the very bedrock of this island, but recent seismic activity of an undetermined origin may have caused significant structural damage. We offered your Overseer help weeks ago in exchange for access to your microfiche library, but he refused. You don’t need to worry about me revealing the location of your Vault – I’ll die first. He says this with such conviction that you can’t help but believe him.

“However, in order to provide you with the help you need, I must ask you to do something for me. I feel awful asking you for anything – you have already saved my life, but unfortunately there is another group of Scribes carrying out fieldwork over in Brooklyn. With the Enclave rearing their heads I need to recall them immediately - the background radiation prevents the reception of anything other than short-range radio signals, so someone has to go and fetch them.” He shuffles awkwardly. “I can provide you with GPS coordinates for your pip-boys, and when you return the promise of a wilderness guide and extra man-power for transporting the material you require.”

[MilitiaJim]

Alice idly scratches the patch of drying blood under her eye and nods.  "We will need the help, if we can find the stuff we need.  But Parker, would you be ok here alone for several days?"  She pauses for a moment then sighs.  "Or longer.  Where the hell will we find cement?"

[Antilles]

Franklin nods in agreement to the terms the scribe laid out. "That sounds doable. I'm in."

[Gentry]

Hondo asks "If finding your homies is what we gotta do, then ok. But what brought the enclave dudes over here last time? If we start doing shit on this island again, will they come back and shoot everybody up again or whatever?"

[MilitiaJim]

Alice sits up and drums her fingers on her thighs.  "I guess some of the 'building' supplies we'll need will be a bunch of laser rifles.  Parker, one of your friends came apart in a lot of green heat.  What caused that?"

[Girlfriday]

Elsie pushes past Alice to pick books up with a 'bend and snap' from around the feet of their injured friend.

"Hi Andrew, I'm Elspeth. I'm 22 years old and would be happy to help you. I'm sure these guys would be happy to as well seeing as you've offered to point us in the right direction." She flicks her golden hair from her face. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to join us? The company would be welcome."

[Bill Whitmore]

"Let me give you my contact channel in case something comes up and you need to reach us."

Marcus gives him the frequency and runs a test to make sure everything is working properly, before moving on to more questions.

"Now, how close will we have to get to contact your friends?  A mile?  Quarter mile?  200 feet?  And are there any other dangers here other than this Enclave that we should be aware of before we start traipsing across the landscape?"

[glimmerrat]

"Sorry, Alice, is it?" asks Parker. "There are a number of pretty big building sites around the five boroughs. The War kinda put the kibosh on any further building projects, which means there's a whole bunch of building materials just sat around not doing anything. I'll need to go through our records to see which one is closest, but I figure the one over on Staten Island is your best option." He glances at Frank. "Thank you, sir."

Parker looks up at Hondo. "With your stature, you would make a fine Knight someday I think... the Enclave came here because, whilst we didn't advertise our presence, we didn't exactly go to great lengths to keep it a secret. That must change. My robes will be packed away and I shall conduct myself 'wasteland fashion'. They must think that a simple survivor community has moved in. I have four other sets of wasteland-style clothing, but I doubt I have anything big enough to fit this man-mountain."

He nods at Alice. "Yes, the Enclave make extensive use of plasma-weaponry. Alas, their level of technological advancement is unfortunately second-to-none. Their powered suits are a work of wonder, as their research and manufacturing facilities were not completely destroyed during the War, putting them a good hundred years ahead of the rest of us. As you might well imagine, this makes them formidable opponents." He glances over at Elsie and then does a double-take, momentarily speechless. Eslpeth... that's a derivative of Elizabeth, I think. He pauses, appreciting her appearance, then blinks as if he's bringing himself back into check. "I'd like to come along, but I don't think i'm in any fit state to travel."

He tunes a hand-held radio to the same frequency as Marcus's pip-boy radio, and as they test the signal the pip-boy tunes into a radio station again, which blurts out: "...is Bert the Turtle, your friendly neighbourhood DJ on Ny City Radio. Weather today looks to be overcast with a chance of radioactive fallout, with a moderate chance of mutant attack... haha! Just kidding folks, the skies are clearer than they've been in weeks, so enjoy it! In the meantime, here's some music to get you in the mood for having a good day..."

[MilitiaJim]

"Plasma you say?  I would loooove to get my hands on one of those."  Sighs wistfully as she reloads Parker's pistol.  "I guess we'll take a day to warn your friends and let you recover a bit then we'll all head down to Staten Island?"  Her head whips around as the radio station blares again.  "And where the hell is that station?"

[Gentry]

Parker looks up at Hondo. "I have four other sets of wasteland-style clothing, but I doubt I have anything big enough to fit this man-mountain."

"S'okay, mang. I got a sarape." And with that, Hondo starts unpacking stuff. He'll tear the sleeves off his jumpsuit and wear his sarape and bandannas (and loc shades). He'll leave his guitar here with Parker.

[Girlfriday]

"Should we get going asap? I don't like the idea of leaving Andrew here all alone for so long. It's mid-morning - the ferry should be along soon, right?"

[Bill Whitmore]

Marcus double checks his pack for clothing but, as expected, doesn't find much.

"I could use some of the clothes you have.  Other than the jump suit I only have my keikogi which doesn't sound like it would fit in well, either."

As the song on Marcus' Pip-Boy comes to an end, Marcus points to his Pip-Boy and looks over at Hondo.

"I don't recall you ever playing anything like that.  That was pretty good!"

Marcus turns the radio volume down, but otherwise leaves it on for now.

"Elsie makes a good point.  Let's get dressed and re-packed quickly and see if we can't catch that ferry today."