Session 2 summary

After some delay, the summary for the second session! A slightly marred victory for our heroes...

Featuring:

- Craig the Spirit Hunter: good natured Super Mutant shaman with a profound dislike for violence, on a spirit quest to find his true life's purpose;
- Dexx: streeth youth from the Boneyard who likes to indulge in less savoury endeavours, legally speaking, and fancies he can communicate with animals;
- Rhiannon Adare: computer and mechanical whiz, only just out into the Wasteland after fleeing her home, Vault 21, after a failed uprising;

After a short night’s rest, more invigorating for some than for others, our heroes met at the break of dawn with Jacob the cattle ranch hand at the Jefferson ranch, who was quite keen to get going as they’ve got a tight schedule to keep: their contract specified the delivery of six Brahmin bulls to the Longhorn ranch in six days. Five of the animals were heavily packed with supplies, fodder and water for the long trek through the inhospitable wasteland. Accompanying them is the tribesman Pyal, whom Craig and Rhiannon previously bailed out of Camptown jail and wished to aid their enterprise in an effort to repay his debt.

  Soon enough the party set out. It was a pleasant, warm early spring day and they made good time, now still close to civilization, with Camptown not far behind and various smaller settlements and homesteads along the way. In the afternoon, Pyal, who took point, scouting ahead of the main group, indicated that a small group of men was heading their way. Wary to the dangers of the wasteland, Dexx made ready one of his weapons, just in case. They continued along the road and the group of men approached towards them. These men, counting four in total, looked like trouble: dressed in a mishmash of leather and metal armor with spikes mounted on the shoulders, ostentatiously carrying weapons, two of the men sporting tattoos that covered half their face, one with a large Mohawk. The leader of the bunch, a tall, muscular bald man, hailed them. He revealed them to be a group of slavers in search of three escaped slaves, which they had been unsuccessfully been pursuing for some days now. Our heroes assured them they knew nothing about this matter, which seemed good enough for the slavers. Without much further ado they took their leave and started across the wasteland again, which prompted Rhiannon to say this was the first time she met anyone during her brief time in the wasteland who didn’t outright try to kill or enslave her.

  The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Around dusk the party made camp. Only Dexx seemed to have properly prepared for the long trek, with Rhiannon and Craig already having eaten their last rations and ran out of water. While Dexx, Jacob and Rhiannon set to putting up the tents, watering and feeding the Brahmin, Pyal and Craig decided to try their luck at hunting to supplement their meagre dinner. The Super Mutant didn’t prove to be as experienced a hunter as his Tribal friend, who managed to bag a small molerat which they subsequently shared the three of them. Jacob flat out refused to share the cattle’s water supply with the thirsty adventurers, so in turn Rhiannon and Craig made up their mind to steal what they needed while Jacob went to sleep. After dinner and sparse conversation around the campfire, the group went to sleep, the men taking turns keeping watch, but the night went by calmly without attracting any unwanted visitors.

  The party set out again early the next morning after a small breakfast, the day being once again bright and warm. The party marched on in high spirits until early afternoon, when along the road they spotted some fields and farmhouses in the distance. Jacob was pleased to inform them they could make a stop there for lunch, as he knew the families living on the homestead. As the group drew nearer to the farm, a certain puzzlement arose. There was no one to be seen working the fields, and none of the inhabitants had come out to meet them. After some discussion Jacob and Dexx decided to cut through the fields and go up to the low buildings a bit off the road, that served as the houses for the three families living on the farm. The courtyard turned out to be equally abandoned: the window shutters on the houses were all closed, while of two of the houses the front doors were wide open, and not a soul in sight. Moving stealthily around the buildings, Dexx managed to get a look in through one of the windows, but the interior of the house revealed no signs of any violent struggle either. Everything seemed to have been left where it was, the inhabitants seemingly vanished in thin air. Dexx and Jacob decided to return to the others to relate what they saw. Meanwhile, Craig learned little more about the situation from invoking the spirits of the earth. The heroes then went over the best course of action and decided to check the farm buildings, to see if perhaps they’d find anyone in need of aid. Pyal and Jacob remained behind, guarding the Brahmin. Craig, Rhiannon and Dexx returned to the courtyard and followed the path up to the first house, located slightly above the others on a slope. Taking point, Craig found the front door to be locked. Dexx then offered to give it a try himself and surreptitiously set to work with his trusty lockpicks. The lock proved no match for his skills and quickly the party managed to enter the house. The small, one room building appeared neat and tidy at first glance, with no signs of struggle or other unusual activity. Inspecting the cupboards, the heroes found all the housewares and stores still there. Over the stove an antique looking hunting rifle hung suspended, which Dexx decided to take with him for good measure. The party moved on to the second house and found it similar to the first. Here they found a trap door leading to a small, dark cellar, where they found even more winter provisions, which the hungry Craig and Rhiannon gratefully liberated from its dark prison, along with some candles. They then went over to the third house, the abode of the Thompson family, and immediately got struck by a foul stench emanating from the house. The smell appeared to be coming from the opened trap door, so the heroes lit a few candles and decided to make the descent down the narrow stairs. Craig went down alone, with the others waiting at the top of the stairs, and made the gruesome discovery of the fate of the farmers. On a pile in the center of the dark, dank cellar lay about seven mangled corpses, which he found to have strange bite marks and chunks of flesh torn off after some further inspection. Lighting his torch to see better, the Super Mutant then noticed palish white sacks hanging in the far cellar corner, and several large brown blotches on the stone walls. Wary he decided to make a stab at one of these with his spear and striking true a high pitched screech filled the cellar. About six giant mantises suddenly turned their faceted eyes on Craig and lunged at him from the wall. He managed to fend most off but one of them managed to attach itself to his chest, clawing and biting. After a short struggle Craig decided to beat a tactical retreat up the stairs, and after some quick thinking on Dexx’ part he threw the hatch shut after Craig made it back up. While Craig looked around for a suitable heavy cupboard to shove on the trap door, Rhiannon and Dexx weighed down the trap door to keep the giant insects confined to the cellar. Summoning their combined strength, the creatures almost managed to bash it open, prying open a gap with their forelegs, but leaving them vulnerable to attacks from the defenders who took full advantage of the fact. Fortunately with his Mutant fortitude Craig managed to throw down the cupboard on the hatch, effectively locking the bugs in. But the ordeal proved far from over, for immediately they heard the frenzied lowing of the Brahmin back outside. Running back towards the road, the heroes saw that a small dozen of the creatures had swooped down on the bulls and their two companions, with Pyal fighting off three mantises single-handedly, and Jacob struggling on the ground with two of them on him. Five of the Brahmin had a mantis crawling over them, slashing and biting the cattle. What then followed was a great, confused melee, with Dexx running in, both knives drawn, narrowly dodging the frenzied kicks of the stampeding Brahmin, to cut down the insects on their guide; Craig showing some examples of excellent marksmanship, nocking arrows continuously and shooting most of the mantises down from the backs of the cows. Rhiannon ran in to assist Pyal, but her assumption that fire would likely scare the creatures was ill-founded, and she bore the full brunt of the attack of one of them, knocking her down and out. As the fight drew to an end, the last remaining mantis managed to bite down deep in the nape of the neck of one of the Brahmin, sending it reeling and killing the unfortunate creature. The insect was thereafter quickly dispatched before it could feast on its prey too much, but the damage was done. Craig kept his cool and immediately set to bandaging Rhiannon to the best of his abilities, also looking after a Brahmin that got hurt rather badly in the fight, while Jacob after surveying the loss of one of the valuable bulls was momentarily reduced to a nervous wreck. The heroes decided to cut their losses and carved up the dead Brahmin, collecting as much of the meat as possible and leaving the remainder as bait for any insects lurking about.