Worse Than the Disease 2 IC

[u-b]

So, we have lost the lab and most of its personnel... this was not Sean's lab to begin with, nor was it Sean's personnel, nor Sean would have expected to operate or evacuate this lab, but still, this gave a strong feeling of imperfection to this operation. He states that Bread Basked should have talked to him if they wanted this one intact, because doing it that way would have required more care. He notes how the mutants react to mentioning of Bread Basket, then orders Bart to untie and uncuff them. Now, the next question would be to assess the state of the things here, because, while Sean does trust the mutants telling the lab is destroyed, he'd like to see this and that himself, at least as far as practical. He tells the men above to look for anyone trying to escape. The men were already looking out and are not to move anywhere else, but Sean thinks it would not hurt to have them updated about the events. Now, turning to what we can salvage out of the situation, Sean hands the mutants his notebook and his pen, then tells the mutants to start drawing and talking.
1. Sean would like to have drawn the layout of the complex around this room. A range of two rooms in every direction from here would be satisfactory for a start. The purpose and the contents of each room are to be mentioned, both in the original and the expected condition. Also, Sean wants all security features marked, like turrets, cameras, security control computers, known minefields and what not.
2. Sean asks what the lab did, before being overtaken, if that's not too much of a secret itself. Both the original purpose and what the mutants used it for are of interest. Maybe a bit of a history lecture too, like between then and now.
3. How did the bad guys take over the lab and the security systems and would it be possible to take over the security systems again? At a minimum, Sean would like to look through the cameras. At the maximum, he'd like to shut down and dismantle gun turrets. Any IT or security guys among these mutants? Would any of these access cards help any way?
4. Anyway, what was everyone's occupation?
5. What can be known about the recent operations of the lab? At a minimum, Sean would like to learn:
5.1 The number of live and dead people and animals brought in here, separately per category.
5.2 The numbers and types of finished products that have left the base.
5.3 Assuming the above numbers are not equal, some account of the difference, including monsters left here or something.
5.4 The amount of time that has passed between the takeover and the first finished product. How did they manage to have it that fast? Who was directing the research? Specifically whose idea was to create plant-based zombies off the humans, of all other options? Was it by mutants or by captors?
6. Would the mutants know how to ride a motorbike?
7. Would any or all of them want a new job?
8. Would they want to establish a communication and maybe a security agreement between Sean's men and any of mutants' allies?
9. Anything that can be said about any other lab, under whomever's control? Or, for that part, of any other Gutter facility or point of interest?
10. Say, the raiders have been evacuating for the last hour or two. And there were about 10 to 20 of them leaving. Were they taking the stuff in backpacks and hiking through the Gutter or was it some other way?
11. Were there any off-site backups of any valuable infos (like, formulas, technologies or what not) that could be recovered? Or maybe something local, but not disclosed to the bad guys?

[Shoot Da Moon]

The hostages state that they have no connection to Bread Basket, and both parties like it that way. The settlement of Bread Basket hates them for being known mutants, the hypocrites. They have an entire Shelter of mutated population that they keep hidden away in their secret underground Old World bunker, maintaining a false face of normality for the sake of their trading contracts. Bread Basket makes a big show of eliminating outsider mutants to throw suspicion off their own dirty secret.

The mutants are happy to be free, and promise Sean that they will help him out however they can. Not that they expect to be much help, since their resources were stolen by the raiders and their people were slaughtered.

They tell him where to find the lab's location, what's left of it. They warn him that it could be very dangerous.

The allies of Sean take up defensive positions to keep things locked down. They nod to Sean and Lemus, guns at the ready.

The mutants write down what Sean asks of them.

The complex they know of seems to be a few inter-connected square rooms around rectangular hallways. They write down the nearby locations of a hospital, the lab, a storeroom, four empty rooms for miscellaneous functions, a living quarters, three hallways and an exit up to the surface. There are turrets around the lab and cameras around the storeroom. The lab has a computer terminal connected to a larger network.

The lab was for making new mutants. That's all it ever was supposed to be. They had a full record of their history and purpose on the lab's computer files, but none of the mutants alive now have memorized it. The lab director and the other leaders of the mutant tribe knew more about it than mere techs such as them. Half of the leadership got killed off by the raiders when they took the lab. The other half is probably stone dead right now.

The raiders seemed to have hacked the security and then rushed the mutant's warriors by surprise. They had SMGs and explosives. The guards of the tribe all died in the assault. The camera feeds and logs are stored as files on the computer. Shutting down the turrets may require either hacking a computer or sabotaging a local electricity grid. There might a way to access the electrical systems in the living quarters? The mutants are all lab techs, they are familiar with the computer systems, yes. The access cards are only for room doors. Maybe rooms further away from here have terminals connected to relevant networks?

The hostages were all lab techs, responsible for handling the computer's functions, assisting in biological experiments and for running the scientific machines. Other members of the tribe died, murdered by the raiders.

The lab under the raiders brought in a lot of animals, both dead and alive. And corpses of humanoids. Easily dozens of each category. They made them into "zombies" or pumped them full of mutagens. The raiders wanted attack drones of flesh and blood.

The lab created entire hordes of monsters, unleashed them into the wild. The hostages guess about 50 "zombies" every month and a half, 70 feral mutant animals every month and a half. This went on for...4 to 5 and half months? On average? The computer files will be more exact. They don't know what happened to the lab products after they were created, when they left the lab and went to the surface. They figured it was an attempt to attack settlements?

It took 3 weeks after the raiders took over and starting the "work", that the product was finished enough to be used. The raiders had brought their own files on Old World black bio-tech and "zombies." Who knows where they got that? The guy in charge of the raiders had the rank of "General" but he rarely made an appearance in person, usually just giving orders over the computer and by messengers from the north. It was all his idea, his personal project. He seemed to think the "zombies" could turn things around for his "war" against the settlements.

No. The mutants do not know how to ride a motorcycle.

A new job sounds great. Working for Sean would be ideal.

They can join up, but none of them know much about security protocols. That was handled by other mutants.

They know of no other lab.

The Gutter is not well known to them. Other mutants have explored The Gutter, their findings recorded on the computer files. They have heard tales of Old World robots (somehow advanced enough to be fully thinking intelligences) armed with machine guns and flamethrowers lurking elsewhere in The Gutter to the north-east.

The raiders mostly had backpacks, waist packs and hand carts. Some hiked through The Gutter, others went to the surface.

They definitely know the computer network has heaps of files that recorded complete libraries on many different topics. The raiders probably missed something in there.

[u-b]

Sean looks at the drawings, trying to devise a plan. He asks to confirm or refute the following:
1. The gun turrets are not really movable without major effort, so would not have been moved as part of the evacuation.
2. The mutants can at least attempt to take over the security control computer if Sean gets them to a (or is it the?) terminal.
3. Sabotaging electricity grid will likely require some overvoltage sort of action as simply switching all the breakers will leave the gun turrets to run some (what?) time on their batteries.
4. The raiders here did not seem to wear any NBC gear. How about contamination here, both expected and possible? We seem to have contracted some serious dicease either the last time we've visited the local entrance or maybe elsewhere, Sean is unsure.
5. How are the products controlled by the raiders? Can we get to command them? Cause them not to attack us or some such?

Spoiler

Show

Okay, so we have two options:
1. We pack and leave.
2. We first poke around.

I strongly prefer poking around at least somewhat, even if that requires spending more IC and OOC time in here. I'll try to limit it to a reasonable amount. To that effect I'll want a paint drawing with sizes/distances, named rooms and known security features.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The gun turrets can be moved, but that requires deactivating the turrets' stands latches and partly disassembling it. Not to do if the turret is not turned off or powered down.

The mutants could try hacking a computer if they have access to it.

The turrets have minor internal batteries, yes...

The raiders may know a good route through The Gutter to avoid diseased areas. There are definitely nasty germs at work in there.

The raiders mostly avoided getting attacked by zombies because they had some special chemical "perfume" that repelled the zombies. The feral mutant animals also hated the smell of the chemical. Nothing more precise than that, they could not really command them much except by clumsy herding or keeping them in cages for transportation.

(OC: my main computer's down right now, getting a map done will take a few days, sorry.)

[u-b]

Sean makes the following assumptions which he double-checks with the mutants:
1. There is no or minimal raider personnel still occupying the area.
2. The gun turrets have likely not been moved as part of the evacuation.
3. The locks, the alarms and the security cameras should not pose much of immediate danger because #1, unless we talk remote-controlled bombs.
4. There are mines, old and new, that do pose danger.
5. There might still be some lab products left, but presumably somewhere separate from the mines.
6. We still want to limit our exposure to the cameras, because they are likely still watched from somewhere else (about this one Sean is less sure than about the others).

He then also asks or looks at the following:
7. Are there computers in the living quarters? If yes, are they connected to security network? If no, what were people supposed to do when off duty?
8. What would be the safest route to the living quarters and what permanent security features are along this route?
9. How many entrances to the lab are there? How many gun turrets guarding each entrance?
10. What is behind the three doors leading out of the corridor Sean just went through?
11. What is behind the door leading out of this room?
12. What types of guns and ammo are used by gun turrets? How much ammo they have? How many of them total in the area? How intelligent are their automated controls? Can they be controlled remotely by an operator?
13. What is the safest way to some blast door / reinforced steel door, assuming we want to reach one for the sake of the door?
14. Is the exit to the surface the mutants have marked the one under the gas station or somewhere else?
15. Will any of the mutants volunteer to accompany Sean and answer any questions on the go, like "what is behind this door" and "where is the circuit breaker panel" sort of thing? Sean will be the first to actually go through that door and will try to ensure the safety of the accompanying mutant.

Sean takes all the keys and key cards from Bart. He instructs Bart to look in the raiders' backpacks for any computer equipment (mostly laptops and storage are of interest).

[Shoot Da Moon]

The mutants confirm the raiders have mostly pulled out by now. They were already ready to pack up all the time, apparently not confident in being able to keep the territory in case of attack.

The turrets might have been left behind to slow pursuers, yes.

The mutants seem unbothered by security measures that aren't bombs or turrets.

The mutants are unsure of landmines. They have not seen much of that, but it could've been set up in areas further away.

The mutants are unsure of the lab's status, or remnants. They recommend caution.

The mutants disagree with each other on the cameras - one thinks the cameras should be abandoned by now while another thinks the last raiders would be manning the cameras.

No computers in the living quarters. Mutants off-duty mostly amused themselves with reading, story-telling and card games.

The safest route is back through the door Sean and his friends came from, and then into a door that is marked with a star. No security features besides cameras, last they checked.

The lab has three entrances. The closest one is located in the corridor outside, Sean and his allies came in from that corridor. The door to the lab is marked with a triangle. Turrets are guarding each door into the lab, so watch out for that.

The doors in the corridor lead to the living quarters, the lab and the hospital.

That door in here leads to a storeroom.

The gun turrets used automatic rifles and fire 7.62mm or some other common NATO rounds. They have at least 100 rounds loaded into them. They think there are five turrets in total? They're semi-dumb, able to recognize IFF tags programmed into them, but otherwise dangerous. They can be remotely controlled.

A reinforced door can be found in a room past the storeroom. It leads into a corridor, deeper into The Gutter.

The exit to the surface is indeed under the gas station.

The mutants are fine with escorting Sean and helping him, yes. Anywhere is better than here.

Bart hands over the stuff to Sean. Then he checks the backpacks, but finds no computer parts.
He just finds 25 sticks of dynamite, power drill, bike lock with chain, 10 shotgun shells, first aid kit, 10 gallons of gasoline, 20 chemlights, 10 batteries, 50 bullets for a SMG, cable ladder, and a folding shovel.

[u-b]

Sean orders the officer above ground to dispatch one small team with one BAR guy (maybe a team of two, at the officer's option) to gather all the stuff that is left from the bikers, excluding the bodies themselves. The bikes are to be sorted into two piles: one working and one not working. Everything else should be trown in a car.

Meanwhile Sean attempts to devise a plan. It comes roughly as follows and he checks it with the mutants before executing it:
1. We want to get to the lab and assume the turret is placed in direct view of the triangle door here. If it is not, the plan is to be modified accordingly.
2. Assuming the door is opened by pulling from our side. If not, the plan is to be modified accordingly.
2. We get one of the dead raiders, strip him of any apparent identification tags and badges (both visual and IR), put Bart's face mask on him (Bart is not wearing it at the moment), duct-tape him to some pole or something, duct-tape to his hands some long arm and then prepare to show this contraption to the turret beyond the door.
3. Two men are stationed on both sides of the door, Sean checks the door for traps. If it seems safe, Sean opens the door from handle side and we begin to show the moving guy to the gun turret, again and again until it's exhausted.
4. If that does not work, the other man closes the door from the hinge side and we think again.
5. If it works only part way, we close the door, then repeat with next dead raider.

If the mutants approve the plan, we execute it. The raiders should still be warm, so if the turret has thermal vision, that should be fine as well.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The officer hears the order from Sean and gets to carrying it out. He tells Sean and his fellows that his team will need about ten minutes to finish the job.

The mutants consider Sean's plan to be...morbid. But perhaps sound. They tentatively agree to try it...

Sean prepares what he needs, getting a dead raider ready for baiting the turret. The IFF tag is embedded in the raider's collarbone. Digging it out with a blade takes only a minute.

The mutants show Sean to the lab door. They brace themselves as the door is opened and Sean gets his first peek inside.

The room beyond is not what he expected. First off, all the Old World tech that was once inside has been recently but utterly gutted. All the machines have been stripped of parts or outright wrecked by smashing or explosions.

There is a turret beyond pointing at the door, but it has also been gutted. It has no rifle fitted into it. No power pack inserted, no power cable hooked up. Its stand is fixed to the floor but is otherwise just an ugly thick metal decoration.

The door itself is not trapped, but the room beyond (what was once the lab) is now thoroughly boobytrapped with explosive devices set to blow if any of the machines are inspected too closely or if parts of the floor are treaded on. Landmines, tripwires and the occasional sensor rigged to the skeletons of machines are there to make sure nothing here is salvaged, it seems. That includes the remains of the turret.

[u-b]

Sean thinks he might have dared to unleash Tariq in there, but as for himself, he rather thinks it would not worth the bother. He takes a M67 grenade from Bart's backpack, commands everyone to get safely away, throws the grenade approximately in the center of the lab, closes the door and makes some distance before all sorts of things in there start exploding. If all explodes as planned, he makes his way back to check the door leading to the hospital and maybe open it to have a look inside.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean's throw is a little off. But the grenade still lands within the lab and is in good position to blow it all up.

And it does. A few seconds after closing the door on the lab, a massive explosion rocks the room, shaking dust from the ceiling and almost tearing the lab door off its hinges. A nasty chemical smell hangs in the air as the smoke wafts out of the ruined lab. Sean has easily racked up some severe property damage with that grenade.

Moving on, Sean finds the door to the hospital and finds it safe to open. Peeking in, Sean is again dismayed to find the area beyond has been ransacked and wrecked, leaving behind nothing useful. Just the discarded shells and containers of what was once a full array of Old World medical equipment, stripped of supplies and operating parts.

No explosive traps here, though...

[u-b]

Sean lets it be and checks the door to living quarters, maybe opening it to look at what is beyond if that seems to be safe.

He then asks the mutants of two things:
1. Is there anything interesting in the gutter nearby that the raiders might or might not have razed that we could possibly check?
2. How many exits to the surface are there nearby? Assuming the raiders do not want to take a long trek through the gutter, can we limit the set of most likely exits they could have taken to something like 3?

[Shoot Da Moon]

The door to the living quarters is safe. Opening the door and looking inside is also safe, no booby traps.
But the room's contents are very disturbing despite the safety - a pile of dead people (about 15 to 20 at a rough count) has been left to rot in the middle, apparent victims of the raiders' callous campaign of death and terror. The corpses are a few days old, judging by the decay...and the smell.

The mutants answer Sean by telling him that they tried to steer clear of The Gutter for most of their lives. The people who explored The Gutter were few and well-trained for the task...and they mostly died on droves. Only scant details of their discoveries ever reached their ears. There might be a passage into an Old World underground train system? It could certainly work as an escape tunnel, if the dangers did not eliminate you on the way out.
The mutants think there are about three to five exits to the surface within 50 yards of the lab. The mutants know of 2 for certain, one goes to the gas station. Would Sean like to be lead to them?

[u-b]

Sean felt kinda reassured that the dead here were not the result of this one attack, but thought his earlier appearances might have played a role in putting the raiders on the edge, which might have contributed to the outcome. Nothing could be done to fix it right now and Sean did not plan a proper burial in these circumstances, so... "You can pack your things, if there are any, and do whatever else short of proper burial. Then I will ask you to help us through the store rooms to pick up the most valuable things that might still have been left there and we'll be back to the surface." Having said that to the mutants, Sean goes to the room with dead and unconscious raiders. The method for embedding IFF tags suggests these are not changed often. They might be reprogrammable or, more likely, just numbered, but if the raiders don't have some central login handling system, it might be a while for the tags to get all rights revoked maybe... at lest, it should not hurt to try. Sean chooses one most promising unconscious raider and kills the other three. Then he tells Bart to get the tags out of the dead ones. Then he checks the door to the storeroom and, if that seems fine, the storeroom itself.

Sean is not quite sure about following the guys through the gutter, but 50-yard radius seems fine all by itself. He asks the relevant question when it comes to his mind:
1. Did the raiders seem to have transported anything in bulk through the gutter? Especially through it train system? Or was it generally through those 5 exits nearby?

[Shoot Da Moon]

The mutants grab backpacks for themselves and get to stuffing supplies into them.

After that is done, the group moves onto the storeroom. The dork is not boobytrapped. It seems the raiders thought they didn't need to lock this place down too hard. That was their mistake. Empty boxes, foot prints all over and vacant imprints on the dust tell a tale of frequent traffic and juggled logistics.

The storeroom has a stockpile of food and water kept in an Old World appliance called a fridge. It's running on both a hookup to external power (probably provided by a generator) and a huge battery. Aside from that, the storeroom has been recently cleared out, the raiders ported away a few heavy loads on hand-trolleys when they pulled out. That probably would slow them down (and the tires are distinctly trackable), but is it worth following them?

The remaining supplies can easily be taken out of the fridge and transported.

Back to the scene of the slaughter and rescue.
The defeated (and dead) raiders had a total of 58 cigarettes, 86 pieces of candy, 5 small flasks of booze, 3 lighters, 6 blasting caps, 6 road flares, eight small knives, a box of coloured chalk, 32 pistol bullets, 71 pills of various illegal drugs in 5 plastic bottles, 20 preserved trail rations, 2 pairs of brass knuckles, a big roll of duct tape, 18 candles, 4 whistles, 7 waist packs, 5 boxes of matches (a total of 43 matches left) and a screwdriver on them.
Bart, Lemus and the militiamen handle the task Sean gives them. Grim work. The tags are removed, slick with crimson. They all look operational, still. Sean did not have any of them shot by his marksmanship.

The mutants look unsure, thinking for a moment, when Sean puts the question to them. They eventually come to the conclusion that the raiders probably have weapons, bombs, ammo, chemicals and Old World machinery with them. They could have used the Old World train tracks for long distance transport, if they had a pump trolley on the rails or something to that effect.

"You know, those rail cars that have the passengers see-saw up and down on a hand pump to move?"

But raiders definitely exited this place through the other 5 exits, too. They know how to scatter for safety when the shift hits the fan.

[u-b]

Sean gets the idea about the pump trolley. He tells the mutants to sort through the stuff to gather what they consider usable enough to worth hauling. He also asks them and the rangers officer about whether we should bother destroying the corpses from which we have extracted the tags to conceal what we did. We do have the dynamite and an explosives man, so that can be done quickly, but it will be obvious we did that, so maybe just take them outside for the predators to eat?

[Shoot Da Moon]

The mutants start the long process of gathering and examining the stuff for packing.

The people voice the opinion that destroying the corpses won't be necessary; no raiders are going to come back here any time soon. Any corpses down here could be undiscovered for a long time.

[u-b]

Sean orders the M16 guy to light his hand flare and lets the BAR guy use his tactical light, then leaves the people, the mutants and the dogs where they are underground, goes outside, fetches his flashlight and a replacement hand flare and brings them both underground, where he lets people work, including sorting and hauling stuff, saying he expects a report on how much time they would estimate they need in about half an hour. He gets back outside again, where he observes the loot gathered there and starts to think how to haul most of everyone and everything with minimal amount of fuss.

Spoiler

Show

I'll need a list of the loot from the bikers etc. as found aboveground, including the conditions and quirks of all their bikes. Then I will think how much can be taken along and what we will do with the remainder.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Sean's ally lights a flare and his other ally turns on the flashlight.
Sean makes the trip without any fuss, but he does note some fires are still burning even now. Dirty smoke rises into the air.
Back down underground, Sean gets the time estimate. They'll need about 30 minutes of work, if they can find a good enough hand cart or something. Otherwise, they may not be able to transport some things out, as they're too heavy or bulky to haul by hand.

The bikers (what corpses they can find and scavenge) each had a cheap SMG (20 bullets left in each internal magazine), leather jacket, leather pants, boots, door keys, leather gloves, a helmet and a belt on their bodies. Some of it is in bad shape, probably not worth recovering. The bikes are all pretty banged up, each is wobbly (-1 SR), mistreated (-1 HT) and unresponsive (-1 Handling). And that's not counting the battle damage Sean and his buddies inflicted on them.

[u-b]

Sean looks over the loot and concludes there is no way in hell we can transport it all, with those 11 bikes that almost no one can ride. The next most valuable things seems to be heap of SMGs (no problem with these) and the fridge, in about that order. Sean thinks. He orders the rangers driver guy to make it so the bikes can make it to Radar Base, even if they will need major repairs there and then. As for the drivers for them. Sean contacts the Radar Base over encrypted radio and requests some help. Namely, a dozen of bike-capable people in the bus of theirs. That can be Waffle House people, Militia people or just Settlers people, as long as some of them can defend the whole lot along the trip. By Sean's records that should be just over 20 miles, so should not take long if both the bus and the people are there. He says he will expect a "will do" / "won't do" reply in half an hour or so.

Then Sean thinks about moving the fridge. The waight should not be much of a problem for Lemus and Sean, so Sean considers the bulk, walking along the way we now take to the surface and back and see if the fridge will get stuck anywhere.

Spoiler

Show

Okay, regarding the fridge. It likely weighs some 200 pounds when empty, which is a Medium load for each of Sean and Lemus if holding it horizontally on both ends. A man can slowly lift 8xBL overhead, which would be 312 lbs for Sean, so we can even lift it up with some outside help to keep the balance. And it probably can fit into the pickup truck if we leave the tailgate open. The main problem seems to be about the underground passages and fridge's bulk. Can Sean estimate if it will pass or if some man-hours of shoveling are needed or we just cannot move it that way? Sean is unwilling to explore other, possibly trapped, ways at the moment.

Please review the loot Sean plans to be taking (lines 470+, marked "Fresh Loot"). I've also allocated some ammo, batteries and first aid kit to others of their kind. The rest of what is already accounted for (like leathers, cigarettes, knives and suchlike) can be freely taken by bike-transporting crew. We can also provide other payment ontop of that as appropriate.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The ranger suggest that he can call in help with the bikes, but that'll take time. The bikes can eventually be transported elsewhere, but it'll need another few hours at least. He can arrange a convoy of some type with enough people...

The Radar Base picks up, and gets to work organizing people. Bike riding is common amongst travellers and mercenaries, so it won't be too much of a problem. Gunmen with good weapons to defend the ride over is more of a question mark, but the radioman is still confident that Sean's request is doable.
20 miles is not a big problem.
Eventually, he gets a reply back, "Done. Expect the bus in about 2 hours."

Getting the fridge back to the surface would be most easiest if they could take the elevator under the gas station. The mutants show Sean the way. It's a simple 45 yard walk from the storeroom to the lift. Once it's on the surface, the task gets easier.

(OC: All people involved in transporting the fridge may combine strength (see Low Tech page 9, add BL scores), but also may have to make a single Lifting ST roll (teamwork, roll the largest score) at an encumbrance level penalty to avoid hurting themselves or damaging the load on the way. Leadership rolls can complement.)

The fresh loot is distributed around the people allied with Sean. Payments to those helping can be easily made with the useful stuff found here.

(OC: loot sheet looks good.)

[u-b]

Sean is not quite sure about using the lift. He rather expects it might be trapped, including beyond his ability to notice. Since we are to remain here for at least two hours, Sean would prefer to not use the lift and transport the fridge through the tunnels, even if that means more work walking (not very difficult for Lemus and Sean, who can easily handle the fridge's weight), lifting (maybe with more people to help) and maybe shoveling (to make the tunnel wider where needed, if that's not, like "everywhere"). So, opting for more work instead of more risk. If that cannot be done, Sean will consider his options.

Sean tells the ranger to make sure the least-damaged bikes are made road-capable first, as we can cram some requiring a longer repair onto pickup truck along with the fridge. The target time is two hours and then we will see.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Transporting the fridge through the tunnels is a nerve-wracking and tiring experience, but Lemus helps everyone avoid dropping it or hurting themselves while muscling it around. An alternate route to the surface is made possible by moving in a north-westly direction - the tunnel slopes upward and comes out into an alleyway between buildings, the opening camouflaged and blocked by painted wooden boards.

The ranger fetches the mechanics' tools from the car. It'll take a while to repair some damage on the bikes, but they have the time.

So far, the work and the wait have been uneventful.

[u-b]

With the fridge loaded onto pickup and choice loot stowed in Humvee, Sean lets the parallel processes of sifting through the storerooms, fixing the bikes and riding here from the base continue by themselves while he does nothing much. Basically, he rests and observes. He has some concerns about maybe more incoming opposition, but now that the base is deserted and the bell is not ringing thinks it might be something more limited, like placing a sniper here and there or planting a mine on the road or something. This would require some coordination (which, without the radios, might take some time) and some dedication, but unfortunately Sean does not see how he can do anything about that sort of abandoning the bikes, which he is not ready to do. So, he does look around without moving around and waits for the bus to arrive, ready to maybe assist it if it's attacked on the way.

[Shoot Da Moon]

Nothing exciting or bad happens while Sean and his allies wait for the bus to arrive.

The new arrivals get to work as soon as they step off the bus. The loads are prepared for a journey back to base. It takes 30 minutes of work, and it gets done smoothly.

Then Sean and his allies may finally get out of here, back home to safety.

[u-b]

After the things are packed, Sean orders the men to load NBC gear on pickup and the whole caravan to depart and head to the radar base. We don't really do any decomtamination here because we didn't move anywhere deep, so we'll just quarantine anyone in contact for some short time at the doc's opinion, wash the NBC gear back at base and that's likely it. At least the people other than mutants, raider and Sean did not breathe anything unfiltered there underground, so minimal residual contact, if any, should not be too bad.

Spoiler

Show

1. If we are back safely, I'll want to know what the mutant guys managed to loot from the storage. Sean likely won't try to claim it, but might want to buy something or the other if they would be selling.
2. In the same case, Sean asks the bus party whether they got enough loot to cover their services. Sean is not going to be cheapo here, so anything below "Sure it does!" will see some action from him.
3. In the same case, Sean will consult Waffle House men if they would like Sean to donate more gear to the arsenal, usable by them for defending the base. Like maybe pistols for the crossbowmen to supplement grenades and explosive bolts or maybe full-power rifles to replace the crossbows altogether or what, depending on people's skills.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The gear is packed away. The caravan departs.

It takes a bit, but everyone arrives safely back at base just as the daylight dims some more (much to the relief of the mutants, who are not used to surface light). The doctor examines who he can. He finds no outstanding problems, but he recommends the lot of you take it easy and rest, just to ease stress.

The mutants found a stockpile of chemicals (including a few different kinds of fuel) and improvised explosives kept in a locked container elsewhere in the underground while they were searching the place for supplies.
The bus party is satisfied with food, water, fuel and bullets as payment. A gun would be great, too. They'd like an even $40 worth of barter for the trip.

The Waffle House men are interested in SMGs and shotguns. Pistols are perfectly fine, too.

(OOC: I think we can get the other PC directly involved in gameplay now?)

[u-b]

The whole bus party, including Waffle House men and additional men, get the following to distribute as they will: 58 cigarettes, 86 pieces of candy, 5 small flasks of booze, 3 lighters, 6 blasting caps, eight small knives, 20 preserved trail rations, 2 pairs of brass knuckles, 18 candles, 4 whistles, 7 waist packs, 5 boxes of matches (a total of 43 matches left), a screwdriver, and also leather jackets, leather pants, boots, leather gloves, helmets and belts that are still of some value. The same party also gets 180 cans of food, 180 bottles of water, 302 pistol cartridges and just enough fuel to cover whatever was burned for the trip*. They also get one Cheap Bergmann MP18 to sell or keep or whatever.

Anyone participating in the trip are welcome to join the militia if they are not already part of it, subject to the officer's approval.

As for Waffle House men, Sean is not really inclined to arm people with loot. Meaning, that could be done, but we can do better. Currently, 10 of their number are accounted for here at the base and just giving them loot will not bring them (or maybe other men like them, if they look to increase the numbers) on par with the militia we are already equipping. So, we can learn what they can effectively use and give them best of that sort (currently, the ten men that are accounted here have 5 crossbows and 5 pump shotguns, the later seem to have "good enough" guns as it is, at least clearly better than those we looted). Will take a bit more time, but, in Sean's opinion, worth it. On the other hand, if they intend to send the gear back home, Sean is less interested in it, unless they can also provide something (maybe infos will do or they would like to do some work looting some places or something), but again thinks we can do better than arming people with cheap SMGs, unless the people are trained to use just that.

As for the Rangers, they should have a much larger share of the profits, so Sean asks what they would like to do with it before he allocates something. Maybe they want to further upgrade their gear (but they seem already well-equipped, so Sean is not quite sure how, beyond getting Tariq busy, which Sean plans to continue to do) or send some wealth or equipment back home to either extend or upgrade the gear of their comrades in there or fund their ops or free them from their current work to have more men at our ops or something. Sean would like to know which it'll be, or we can simply continue to upgrade the militia, which is already under one of their officers' command, like, maybe directly with bikes, to give them a more active stance.

He asks the doctor if he has some work-related use for the fridge and/or the recovered chemicals.

He gives two IFF tags to Simone and two to Waffle House radio men and asks them to look at the thingies to find out:
1. How they are powered.
2. How they are activated (and whether we can send them a valid request).
3. How they respond (and whether we can learn something from responses).
4. Anything else we can learn of the thingies, like any markings of them, manufacture date or what not, including whether we can clone those, in any form-factor.

Spoiler

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*I would like to know how much the bus is supposed to have used, in gallons.

You see Sean is already running operations here at the base. Richard is welcome to take part or run his own.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The bus party is pleased with their payment. Their members privately haggle with each other over who gets what.

The militia takes aside any volunteers, prepping them for medical examinations, questioning, and testing abilities. Getting fully inducted into the militia will takes days (if not more than a week), so it's best to get started now...

The Waffle House men are fine with no new weapons.

The Rangers mostly try to take bullets, food, water and other useful consumable items like flares or matches. Some express interest in candy, the treats are rare in this part of the state. Most of them seem to want to return to their old posts, as Sean looks to be finished with them. They ride the bikes, but they prefer bigger vehicles for getting around.

The doctor says that the fridge can be used to store all sorts of things that medical work needs preserving. From blood samples to disinfectants.

Doing research on the IFF tags will take time (one day, at least) and - much more inconveniently - someone who actually knows enough about Old World electronics. They may need to try reaching out to Gunmetal to see if any tech experts are interested.

(OOC: the bus trip takes about 4 gallons.)

[u-b]

Sean is unsure what to do about the rangers' desire to leave. Meaning, the war isn't over, we still haven't got the general, there should be more enemy bases scattered around for us to attack and so on and so forth. Are the rangers dissatisfied with the work Sean is offering? So far it turns out to be safe enough and resultative enough. Of course, Sean cannot guarantee the same in the future, but assures them he'll do his best. Is the work they want to return to better in any specific way? Sean does not expect it pays better, does it? Sean would like to have the rangers assigned to him and maybe taking their leave from him now and then when he has no immediate mission in mind, but that's about it. He would prefer not to request them from any permanent or semi-permanent assignment or work with a different group each time, because that would complicate his planning. Can they accommodate such an arrangement?

Spoiler

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Basically, I'd like to learn whether there are IC or OOC reasons and what those are.

[Shoot Da Moon]

The Rangers confide in Sean that their main concern with returning to their posts is because they fear The Rangers may get involved in a active conflict with another paramilitary soon. They do not want to be caught away from home if war breaks out.

They're fine with Sean, his allies, and his operations. But the threat of a war cannot be ignored.

The potential enemy they may come into conflict with is a rival semi-army calling themselves The Troubleshooters.
The Rangers have been hostile to them ever since the gang managed to take over an Old World fortified building as a base - the Rangers wanted that place for themselves, since it's both very close to their territory's most "sensitive" parts and it probably had an Old World stuff stash.

Currently, negotiations are ongoing, no actual violence between the two factions have happened yet. But the gossip says that The Troubleshooters are growing hostile, confident in that they can simply fight The Rangers off.