Sameth

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens on a cloudy scene of wreck and ruin. "This is Springvale," Ellen says. "There's only two people who live here these days- there used to be raiders holed up in the school, attacking anyone who passed. Now that we've got Tanya living here, her giant ants tend to make short work of anybody hostile who tries to set up camp. If you see a bug bigger than you, just be polite. Tanya gets upset if people hurt her ants."

Comments

[makesthings]

Sameth smiles and listens, this is fascinating and she's clearly a sort of Wallmaker for this world.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"They're only Protectrons, of course, they're not full-on military robots or anything," Moira notes somewhere in all of that. "Just meant for your basic security and home defense platforms, which is why they might've been fighting each other months ago but eventually gave up- they don't have the capacity to reload themselves when they run out of energy cells, and they really aren't built at all for hand to hand! So even if they're still hostile when you get there, just keep out of the way and they should calm right down."

[makesthings]

"That makes sense. I know of some things that work like that,"

Older Sendings will get stuck into patterns.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I can't control them from here, of course. This is just a monitoring processor widget," Moira says. "But if you can make it back to the mainframe terminal you used last time, I'm sure you can turn off their hostile behavior!"

[makesthings]

Sam looks over to Ellen, he's glad to help get done whatever she needs.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Might as well," Ellen says. "The whole point of getting down there is to see how much information we can recover from the premises, and whether there's anything in the place that might actually be repaired and made to work again."

[makesthings]

"We'll do our best,"

There are so many amazing tools here.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Anything else I can help you with today?" says Moira. "I just got some Stealth Boys in from one of my suppliers- oh, and some iguana bits!"

[makesthings]

"I don't know what exactly we need, but I'm curious to see your stock."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All righty then!" says Moira. "Let's see, now..."

There are guns for sale- pistols, rifles, two kinds of shotgun, squared-off devices that run on energy cells. There are a few grenades and land mines. There are suits of leather armor and metal armor, and a few old-style combat helmets. There are cans of pork and beans, skewers of roasted meat, bottles of soda. There are wrenches and hammers and odd bits Sameth may not recognize- sensor modules, fission batteries, conductor elements, pilot lights from ancient stoves. And boxes and boxes of ammunition, and suits of clothing, too. Moira has pretty much a little bit of everything in stock, when it comes down to it.

[makesthings]

Sameth picks up the various devices, asking questions and trying to understand as much as he can in a short amount of time.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Moira's only too happy to explain all of it. In detail. Most people who come into her store only stay for a few minutes' light conversation and a purchase or two, then hurry on out. This is just too fantastic an opportunity to pass up.

She even pulls out a set of schematics she's been hiding under the counter. "I haven't actually tried to build this yet,' she confides, "but I call it the Rock-It Launcher. If I've got this right, you could use it to fire just about anything you can fit in the hopper as ammunition. All kinds of wasteland junk suddenly become useful!"

[makesthings]

"This looks like it should be possible. It's just a matter of having the strongest components. I run a forge and I'm always making metal items if I can make you things for an exchange."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I think we can work something out, sure," says Moira.

"But when we come back," Ellen says firmly. "We've got a lot of walking to do if we're going to get to the factory and back before it gets dark."

"Oh, right," says Moira. "So, can I help you with anything else?"

[makesthings]

"Yes, another time,"

Sam's already looking forward to it as he can use things here to help the Old Kingdom.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A box of twelve-gauge shells and some microfusion cells, please," Ellen says, and hands over a bag of caps. "Thank you."

"Come back any time!" Moira says brightly.

Ellen waves, and heads out the door. When they get outside she says, "hopefully she'll still be awake when we get back."

[makesthings]

"If not we can figure out another time. So where do we go from here?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Out the main gates," Ellen says. "Then southeast. There's the ruins of an old elevated road- we'll pass under that first, but be careful. There's often wild dogs there. Beyond that, there's a regular road fragment we can follow for a while."

[makesthings]

"Did the elevated road have a train running on it?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"No, just cars," Ellen says. "You can find wrecks of elevated train tracks farther north, though..."

It's uneventful at first. The wild dogs are out there among the rocks, but most of them stay back, slinking and glaring. On the far side of the elevated road, a few bloatflies buzz past- scavenger insects the size of rabbits, not that there are rabbits here to compare. The landscape rolls away in every direction, hills rising up in the distance, the remains of buildings dotting the territory here and there.

As they travel along what used to be an area road, Dogmeat suddenly growls. Ellen holds up one hand for silence, her attitude wary.

[makesthings]

As they walk, Sameth feels more nervous, it's so empty.

He keeps his hand on his sword hilt and stops when Ellen does.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Listen," Ellen murmurs. "Do you hear rustling?"

Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. Hard to say. Because not only is Dogmeat growling and pacing towards what might be motion in the scrubby plants up ahead... well, Ellen's armor apparently has a voice of its own now, and it's roaring, "TIME TO KICK SOME ASS!"

(It's right, as it happens. The two radscorpions are each about as long as Sameth is tall, and they're fast little nasties, too.)

[makesthings]

Sameth jumps at the voice and draws his sword to attack the closest radscorpion.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The creature clicks its massive claws in his direction and lunges forward, the better to strike with its stinger. Ellen and Dogmeat are concentrating on the other one, her gun blazing with green fire as she does so. (Dogmeat's just in it with his teeth. Same as usual.)

[makesthings]

Sameth notices the stinger and quickly sends a Charter spell that looks like a knife and acts like a small explosive at the tail.

To do that he has to hold his sword one handed for a moment and dodges and blocks to keep out of the way of the claws.