vault66 | FIRST TRIP OUTSIDE

For Saya’s group, their destination is to the north west. It’s a hike of several miles through swamp. They can chose to take slow radiation poisoning by sticking to the straighter path of going right through the water and mud, or take their time picking a path along tree stumps and roots, along with climbing over the occasional half-sunk air boat or collapsed wooden shack, and using the heavy moss to stead themselves.

After about half a day, they reach the first signs of humanity. And they’re not great signs. While they finally find a real, reliable pathway to walk along in the swamp, complete with torches to light the way, the decorations around the path are unsettling to say the least. Skulls on pikes, human remains in metal cages, and other openly displayed mangled body parts ranging in age from picked-clean bone to still rotting flesh dot the pathway.

At the end of the trail, the home base of these ‘people’ can be found: a collection of wooden buildings built into and around the giant trees themselves. At the center of it, built onto the rood of one of the buildings, is a tall radio tower. Based on the more solid, but still somewhat scratchy nature of No Land Radio, characters can figure out that this is not the source of that station, but rather a tower serving a different purpose. Closer to the fort, the bodies decorating the trail there get fresher, apparently killed very recently. The bodies are those of what seem to be civilian fishermen and settlers, no apparent weaponry or a place to hold a weapon anywhere on their clothing.

Of course, the ‘tree’ fort is occupied. Individuals dressed in spiked metal gear, gas masks, and armed with guns, metal pipes, and broken wooden boards prowl the fortress. The torches they use to keep the fortress lighted provide some advantages to Saya’s party: they both illuminate the buildings fully and make it hard for the guards to see past the edge of the light into the dark shadows of the swamp. These raiders have also killed most of the surrounding ‘wildlife,’ meaning that within a mile or so of the fort they don’t have to worry at all about being attacked by anything non-human.

Edited 2020-07-10 20:09 (UTC)

The scenery was unpleasant to say the least, however, much better than Saya had figured it would be considering the consideration of nuclear devastation. But if places like Hiroshima and Nagasaki and in more recent years with Chernobyl were any indication; the planet seemed to have a way to bounce back, albeit slowly.

As for the pathing options that were open to them; Saya suggested going the safe and slow route. For one, getting in the water was an uncertainty and the Pip-boy didn't seem to denote the water as being safe. Secondly... her teammate didn't seem to do well with water and she didn't want to make it any harder on either of them on an already dangerous mission. So pathing through the roots and doing some form of pseudo parkour (Which, Saya was terrible at but she tried), they made their way towards the now lit path only to find it harboring an even more sinister decor. Not even the goofy, new radio station which had brought about some semblance of hope could remove the dread that now sunk into Saya as she looked between her and Azula but not wanting to seem weak, she continued; warily so and always on the alert.

Arriving at the tree fort, Saya picked a vantage point she was sure neither of them would be seen for the time being and looked towards Azula. "I.... I don't think we should linger here for long though... We should try to get as much information as possible... These," she motioned shakily at the fort and shuddered. "These Mad-Max rejects are serious and if they find out the vault is open, we might as well kiss our group goodbye. We're nowhere near prepared..."

She tried keeping her composure, but it was clear she was shaken.

Azula had done her best to recover from her initial breakdown when the vault opened and she was determined not to give Saya any further reason to doubt her.

Once they were up in the world though she was starting to think living in the vault longer might have been a better idea. The devastation in all directions was humbling to say the least.

Part of her wondered if this is what her own world would look like if her father's plan had succeeded.

Still it wasn't her first time traveling the countryside on foot. While it had been some time since her last excursion some things were muscle memory and she did her best to take advantage of it and help Saya along.

At least...until they reached the encampment.

"The numbers are absolutely in their favor." She agreed. "And even if we had anything to offer them for a peaceful exchange they'd take one look at us and decide to take what they wanted."

She didn't sound worried though. Mildly irritated but not scared.

"We can watch them for a bit from out here. Try to learn their movements and see if they operate on any kind of routine. Or we can make a wide path and approach from another direction. Maybe find a blind spot."

While Saya appreciated Azula's direction, she wasn't willing to risk both their lives by trying to find a blind spot. "I say we do the first and observe from afar... Not that I don't trust your prowess, but it's too big of a risk if we are caught. Not only for us..." Because she didn't even want to begin thinking what they would do to them should they get caught, but... "If they find out about us and these suits we have, they'll surely, eventually, piece it together that the bunker is open for business and not the favorable kind. I don't want to put anyone else at risk. So for now, I think recon duty it is and we have to make absolutely sure we don't get caught."

While it was the logical thing to do, Azula had to admit that she was a little disappointed. High risk sometimes brought about greater rewards. But Saya was right.

Even if they were spotted and got away, that could lead the enemy right to their front door.

"Pity, I was looking forward to trying this out." She produced the Sniper Rifle she had been given when they were kitted out for the trip. Taking aim she used the scope to try and find a safe vantage point for them to do their spying.

"We'll have to get off the main path at least."

"It's a great weapon for the type of work we're doing..." She looked at the tower for a few and narrowed her eyes. "But I don't want us being swarmed in unknown waters. If we could find a place that could provide good cover, we can see about taking them out and hopefully, explore that tower and what boons it might bring us..."

Turning to Azula, she frowned, "But unless we're sure we won't be seen and this won't come back to our allies at the vault, we're not going to engage." It was less an order and more of an unspoken agreement.

Saya would spend this time observing, studying and making notes of all that was going on at the tower. Guard routes, patrol schedules, how many went in, out, how many they could see. Anything that could give them the information and advantage they would need for their mission.

Edited 2020-07-14 21:35 (UTC)

The two of them have no trouble observing the raider fort. With their big bloody display leading up to the area, the raiders seem over confident that no one is going to be bothering them.

They notice that while there are numerous pieces of electronic equipment in the camp, along with oil powered generators, nothing electronic seems to actually be used by the raiders. Torch light provides the only light and the cook meals around a fire pit in one of the buildings.

There is a clear patrol schedule, with three guards patrolling the perimeter by way of rope bridges at any given time, with a regular guard switch period every 6 hours.

All but one of the 'tree house' that forms the fort has a wooden or rope ladder that leads up into it, along with rope brides that go from house to house to allow the raiders to move around without touching the ground. Not all the buildings are occupied at any given moment, making it clear the raiders took over an area that previously housed many more people than are currently occupying it.

Only one tree house doesn't have a ladder that hits the ground, but rather can only be reached by ladders leading to it from other tree houses. This house is particularly high up, making looking into it from their vantage point impossible. The raiders seem to visit this house at the end of each guard shift once the next shift takes over.

Overall, there are about ten raiders. When not on guard duty they are tending to their weapons and armor, drinking, and apparently making/using drugs. Saya and Azula can occasionally overhear bits of chatter about how they need to go raid soon, or the boss will get pissed when he gets there, and debating what kind of settlement they should hit next, farming or equipment rich.

Feel free to ask any follow up questions before resuming RP!

Azula was quite for much of the hours spent watching the raiders go about their lives. Her eyes sharp and focused like a hawk watching it's next meal.

Occasionally she would adjust her position, move some yards in one direction or the other but she always kept low. She'd done this sort of thing before.

Watching, waiting, learning. It was all going to come together she just had to see the different parts of the puzzle in front of her.

"Obviously we'll want to salvage what we can of their supplies once we get rid of them." she muttered softly to Saya once the light started to fade. "We could take some back with us now of course but it would have to be worth the risk of sneaking into their camp and I don't know what most of those devices do."

As much as she had learned in the vault, Azula still had a ways to go before having a comfortable grasp of electronic devices.

"With only three of them on patrol if we waited till nightfall it would give us the best chance to move about their camp in the shadows. The bridges and ladders would be the hardest part to work around because some of them are noisy."

All of this was just spit balling for now. Throwing out observations and ideas to see what Saya might pick up on. The Princess knew she wanted to avoid a fight and would probably be satisfied if they left right now.

But her pride was making it very difficult to walk away from this potential.

Every move, every bit of detail into what could be used in their favor was being written down. Saya was keeping tight notes of all the observed down to the details of the gear they had and were in posession of that they would be able to use back at the Vault. For the most part, she remained fairly silent, only the scritching of her note taking being barely audible as she wrote.

"They're stupid, beligerent and vile." Saya finally muttered low enough for only her and Azula to hear, hopefully anyways. "But sadly, they way overgun us and have too many advantages for us to risk making a move. We might have the element of surprise, and they seem undisciplined so causing chaos in their ranks should be easy, but they are armed, they have decent scrapped armor from the looks of it and they have the home turf plus base advantage." It had some finality to it but it was clear she didn't like it.

"I say we finish observing for a bit longer, make the best of our knowledge and then head back and set up camp outside the vault to wait on the other groups. I want to go over all of our findings with them to see what our next best move could be." She turned back and frowned at the direction of the raiders. "An encounter with these beasts is inevitable, but maybe the others could have found better gear for us to prepare for this battle. And that will still give us the advantage of them thinking they're untouchable." Saya regarded the very blatant displays of force used as decorations all over.

She still valued Azula's input, so putting her notes down she looked at her. "What do you think?"

Saya's description of them made Azula smile. Saya may be less brave or battle ready but she was smart and had taste enough to know where brutes like those below belonged.

"I'll follow your lead, though I must confess I'm hesitant to leave. Still it makes the most tactical sense. As much as I would love to sneak around these fools and prove our superior capabilities there is the little matter of taking back the tower. And that will require their permanent removal."

Azula was fine with the idea of killing them, but quietly killing all ten of them by herself would take time, energy and luck. The last of which she'd been missing for some time now.

"We'll only have one chance to do it perfectly and that means we can't get greedy and take some of them out tonight. But we'll have to return fast. If their boss brings more minions with him we might not have enough to take them on."

Saya nodded, "Good, then it's settled. We'll gather as much intel as we can before making our move back to a suitable camping spot near the vault to wait for the other teams. That should give us enough time to start formulating a plan and hopefully the others will have had better luck in gathering things we could use." She turned back to the tower and frowned.

"Once we're all in the same plan, we can definitely strike a fast and decisive blow to these cretins and secure the tower for our group." She hated to admit it, but she could see a bit of her parents in all this planning and plotting. They would have been able to make a more forward decision but for now, she was glad they were on the same page and they would make this work.

"If you know or notice anything at all that I may miss that could be useful to us, please let me know. I really do value your company and input."

Azula had to pause and focus her attention on Saya, picking apart her tone and her words with scrutiny.

"You really do don't you?" She sounded surprised and unsure, both unusual for the Princess who had been so determined to prove herself. Her lips curled into a cruel smile and she turned her attention back to the Raiders camp to resume monitoring them.

"It's nice to know. I was starting to think I was alone here." But perhaps if she was careful, Saya wouldn't betray her.

And even if she did, she could handle it this time. It wouldn't ruin her.

That caused Saya to raise an eyebrow and regardless of their current situation, even a smirk. "Heh, really? I mean, you've given me no reason to distrust you and you've been helpful in many ways since I awoke from that pod so... Yeah, really I do." she stated as if it was fact.

Saya continued then, taking notes, not only of the raiders and the camp, but of the area around them, the flora, the fauna. She also started to take samples of what she could grab safely. The fungus, the plants, bark, samples of the water and any insects that weren't giant and could fit in 'specimen' bottles (IE; nuka cola bottles).

"In my position I have fallen victim to...let us say less then reliable and honest people. People who I trusted and even called friends."

Her grip unconsciously tightened on her Sniper Rifle and she refused to look at Saya as she explained, instead focusing her scope on one of the Raider's heads.

"When I needed them most, they turned on me and in hindsight I have come to realize that was the first step down the road to ruin for me."

"That... unfortunately happens..." Saya stated as if having faced similar situations in her past. "I promised myself I wouldn't be like that however. If you're fucking up and not pulling your weight, I'll tell you and help you get back on your feet, but never abandon you. I did the same for my friends."

She paused, not wanting to seem too weak and looked up in thought, "Though, if you went full stupid and weren't listening to reason, or I couldn't bring you back, then I also wouldn't risk my life over that and would expect you to do the same in turn. There's merit in standing firm behind and supporting your friends and allies, but you also have to remember to care and value yourself. If you go down, who's gonna be there to pick them back up once they fall?"

"You're practical, I'll give you that much." Azula sighed casting a wary glance her way before returning her attention to the camp.

"No this wasn't a matter of my failings as a leader. Everything was going according to plan. We were going to win and be praised as heroes. They were influenced somehow...by others who would see me fall. That's the only explanation that fits given how much I've done for them. They'd been my friends for years after all."

But they had ungratefully thrown it all away. And worse thrown Azula with it.

"Never again. I won't fall so far so quickly because of someone else's disloyalty."

Saya studied Azula as she spoke, giving her full attention. This wasn't something someone talked about freely, openly and she felt the urge to respect that and give Azula her time. It wasn't an easy subject to talk about but she had to give it to the so-called princess, she was really strong of mind and from what she had witnessed, body as well.

"But you're still here," she began, "And granted, this isn't the place you came from, let alone probably not even your world depending on which theories we're going by, but you're still standing. You're still moving forward regardless of the hardships you faced and even more astounding, you're placing your trust, if partially, on complete strangers. That says a lot more about you, than the trials you faced." Saya ended with a small smile.

Azula stiffened listening to Saya's analysis and after mulling it over she smiled gently, perhaps even genuinely.

"Yes...I suppose I am pretty amazing. Father always said I was born lucky but perhaps I make my own luck after all."

With how hard she'd worked to get where she was, only to lose it all she couldn't even begin to think of how to rebuild. Only how to get revenge.

But revenge was no longer an option. Not until she got home if that was even possible.

So where did that leave her?

Who was Princess Azula without the Fire Nation or her family?

Perhaps somewhere out here in the Wasteland that answer could be found.

"Yeah, let's not fall into that whole lucky/unlucky stick... Sometimes all we can do is make our own paths." Saya added as she took a few more notes and looked up to verify the time.

"I think we've made as much progress as we can and the road back is long. Wanna start our trek back and set up camp to meet with the others before debriefing Simmons?"

"I'm not satisfied, but it'll have to do." She agreed sighing and taking one last look over the camp. Soon they would know to fear her. But not until the time was right.

Creeping back from their vantage point before rising up she sighed with dismay dusting herself off.

"This would be so much easier with Mongoose Lizards. We'd be "home" in hours." She made air quotes around the word home to indicate she still couldn't think of the Vault as a proper home.

"Mongoose lizards?" Saya asked curiously, already packing up her things and making her way further away from the Raiders. "Can't say I've heard of those before."

As Saya moved along, she made sure to be as silent as possible. Even though they had ended up unseen, she didn't want to risk giving themselved away now.

"Native creatures to my home. Large enough to ride, fast enough to run across water and strong and smart enough to track their prey across great distances."

She had a sort of affection for the creatures if only because they were the best at what they did. Just like her.

"Just another thing to add to the list of things I wish we had from my world."

"So transportation in the form of creatures then? Though those seem like much more useful than horses and other beasts of burden... I would prefer an ATV right now though, preferably military grade like the one we had before... before I ended up here."

That thing was amazing and it saved them plenty of times.

The radius around the Vault entrance is much like directly outside of it. Swamp, trees, radioactive water, and some more swamp. Scattered throughout are old, rotting buildings that still have some items in there to loot (items they can find include 1950s era clothing, bobby pins to pick locks with, bottle caps, random toys and simple electronic items they can scrap for parts, some knives, and other general household items. If there’s a specific item someone would like to find, reply in the month OOC post). It would take several trips back and forth to gather all the supplies.

While the large, lumbering mirelurks can be more or less easily avoided with some foresight and planning, there are a few other nuisances they may have to fight or just out run: giant insects. Yard long mosquitoes and foot long flies can be found buzzing throughout the swamp. Getting bit by one of these monster mosquitoes is no fun, but they will leave once having had a snack if characters can't fight them off. The flies, on the other hand, will disgustingly shoot their own radioactive larvae at characters until they clear the area or the fly is killed. It’s a slow, gross, death, but one that could happen if anyone remains near a living fly too long. Luckily they’re pretty easy to kill, just fast little buggers.

Good for the longtime safety of the vault, but not so much for this current trip, there are no real settlements in the five mile area of the vault opening. They can find, on a rare patch of semi-elevated land, a pair of very skinny, two-headed (tumor covered, but that’s just how they come) brahma. There is a third dead one stuck in the swamp a few feet behind them whose body has been slowly picked clean by the swamp life, but on whose back is a pack with a small collection of medical supplies. Sadly, whatever else it was carrying appears to have been lost to the swamp, as all the other packs on its back have long since been ripped open by wildlife.

If they want to get the cattle back to the vault, it will be a bit of a trudge to force them into the water and a battle against swamp life sensing a free meal, but it could be worth it. Or maybe they can just build some makeshift protection for them there and find someone to trade their location with. Or just kill and eat them now. Whatever sounds good.

It was needless to say that the environment in which vault seemed to be located was less than ideal. Although, this certainly explained all the water that came down upon them when they first opened the doors. And it explained the excess of bugs and wildlife that their living quarters had to suddenly endure as well. Not that she minded all too much, she had dealt with more than enough gross swampy locations in her time to be moderately immune to it.

No, it was her traveling companions she was worried about.

She specifically wanted to keep their range of exploration small should they run into trouble. Sandy was still young and moderately new to such means of survival, and Jiro, well, it was not as if he was known to follow others lead particularly well. At least if they remained close to the Vault it would make it easy to run back to safety should the need arrive. But as they wandered the warm festering swampland, doubts over taking them out in general were starting to cross her mind.

"But I really wanted to gage Sandy's progress with her training ♥ ♥ ♥," She muttered out a bit exaggeratively, her palms pressed to her cheeks in her usual over-expressive fashion. At least she was wearing her jumpsuit for once. But the zipper was still precariously all the way undone causing it to sag loosely and expose part of her shoulders and torso. "But I don't know, looks like there might be a lot of life around here. You two sure you can handle wandering about? Either of you can go back if you wish."

"I'm fine with not fighting anything bigger then a giant bug for now." Sandy offered keeping her baton handy. She'd gotten a lot faster with swinging it but the force of her blows was what had really improved in the last month. She was still unsure as to how she'd gotten so strong so fast but she wasn't about to question it.

Instead she brought up the visor on her helmet and squinted as she tried to peer farther into the distance. Trudging through the swamp hadn't been fun for the shortest member of the team but her Vault Suit had kept her dry enough even if she still felt gross.

"I guess it's not as dead up here as I imagined but it's still pretty...wrecked. Even the plants still look sick."

Jiro didn't bring any weapons, and still hasn't learned to use a gun. It's fine. The swamp didn't bother him too much, and he's more annoyed with the sun. And Chocolat.

"No one's going back!"

Of course they can handle 'wandering about'.

"Oh, you sound really determined Jiro ♥," She couldn't help but chuckle with that. Like Jiro, Chocolat had not decided to bring any firearms with her. But that didn't mean that she was starting this journey ill-prepared. Attached at her hip was a makeshift belt, a couple of small sharpened kitchen knives, a baton, and what seemed to be a large bundle or steel wire. "As for giant bugs, I don't think we get much of a choice in regards to what it is we'll be running into."

She took a deep breath, her shoulders dropping as she took one last look at their surroundings before taking a step forward, their first step into the great unknown.

"Alright then my dearies. Let's get this party started. ♥"

"When you say it like that, this feels like a real adventure." Sandy laughed trying to sound casual but the light in her eyes made it clear she was thrilled to be stepping out into the world at last.

Schlorp!

One step into the mucky, muddy water and Sandy sank up to her thighs. She groaned and struggled forward till she was out of the sinkhole she'd found and quick on Chocolat's heels.

Once they were moving though her head was constantly on a swivel, looking around in all directions in fascination.

"Before coming here I've never been outside of the city. This is wild."

He barely covers a snort as Sandy finds the sinkhole.

"Adventure, my ass."

Everything's dead with the exception of mutated insects. Unlike Sandy, Jiro lived by the woods and a spent a lot of time outside. This is a far cry from a lush forest. It even smells gross. He wanted to get out of the vault, but up here is just as depressing.

"Think this was swampland before? Where's the swamps in America? Florida?"

Making in the opposite direction of Saya’s group, Yunlan’s command heads south east, deeper into the swamp. After about a day, the water, while still very radioactive, starts to take on a bit of a salty quality, hinting this swamp is also fed at least a little by the ocean. There’s no sight of any large sea, just more trees and moss, but if that direction was headed in long enough it’s reasonable to expect the open water would be waiting for them. An increased number of half-sunk airboats reflect this.

Similar to the other groups, it’s not easy terrain and the group must decide between moving fast through the radioactive water or more slowly along tree roots and what debris can be located, half-sunk in the water. Battles with mirelurks big and small are possible, but also easy to avoid so long as the creatures are given a wide berth. After about a day of fast or a day and a half of slower travel with only ruin and misery to see, they can spot a glowing light up ahead of them in the swamp. Not a nice, warm torch light. No, this light is more radioactive, and their pip-boys will start crackling a little louder in response. The glowing area can be avoided, but in the shadows cast by the light the group can see clearly human figures in brown and green rags walking around. They aren’t shuffling like the glowing creature in the Vault lab, but simply appear to be people.

Closer inspection will find that towering behind the trees is a singularity: a five-story, remarkably still standing, stone tower of a building with the glowing pit of radioactive swamp serving as a surreal front yard pool (note the cheerful sunshine in the image isn't there. It's all still doom and gloom around the building). Wooden scaffolding has been built up around the stone tower, branching out to form rope bridges with small shacks built just above water level onto and around the bases of the nearby trees. A dozen odd people are visible walking between buildings or, oddly, kneeling in front of the glowing radioactive pool. One woman dressed in particularly long brown rags stands before the pool, hands reached up in exaltation, and is swaying while chanting words characters can’t quite catch from a distance.

It’s hard to tell if they are armed from this distance, but there are no clear fortifications or bodies on display here. It seems, against all odds, these people just decided to set up camp in the most radioactive part of the swamp.

As they pass through the swamp, Zhao Yunlan guides his little group of explorers towards the high ground where they can find it; sometimes it means going way out of their way, but he doesn't trust the muck and floating weeds.

He especially doesn't want them all soaked in something that's making his pip-boy chatter wildly every time he so much as reaches down to pick something up.

Early afternoon of the first day, boots heavy with muck and his new mole-rat leather jacket heavy over a jumpsuit that's gone sweat-soaked in the humid heat of the swamp, he pauses on a hummock that rises from the swamp water around the roots of an old, dead tree. Willow? Mangrove? He couldn't identify most plants with a guide book, and on the wrong continent with everything around him horribly mutated, he has no chance at all.

"How are you two holding up?" he calls back to his team. "I want to push through as far as we can today, but we could take a quick break here if you need it."

"Ugh!"

That is the only reply he gets from Harley for a moment as she, yet a freaking again, has to work on getting sharp-twiggy-swamp tree crap untangled from her hair before moving forward to the next tree root. This is why Catwoman kept her hair short, had to be. She was always crawling through shit.

"It's be too much for a freaking spa on the other end of this, right? I'm asking too much here."

The woman praying to the glowing pool? Probably a person of rank, based on Zhao Yunlan's highly accurate gut feeling indicator, but also probably busy. He wasn't planning on starting things off on the wrong foot by interrupting a religious ritual, so the first person he approached was a bearded guy on one of the little rope bridges.

He straightened his rat-skin jacket -- his coverall was ripped and muddied to unrecognizability after two days of slogging through the swamp, which had the advantage of not making him obviously a Vault guy -- and waved an open hand over his head.

"Hey there! Hello, neighbor!"

The woman praying was indeed busy, but sometimes things like near-constant prayers can be paused. One of these times would be when the man Yunlan waved at sending a signal through the group that an outsider was here, causing everyone around the radio active pool to turn and look at him wordlessly for a long moment before the woman speaks.

"What do you seek from Atom, child?"

Well -- he hadn't meant to do that, but if he'd gotten her attention and she was willing to talk to him, he'd roll with it. He composed his face into a rueful grimace.

"Sorry about that, ma'am, I didn't mean to disturb you. I'm just passing through! Your lovely town caught my eye and, well, I'm a curious guy, I wanted to know how you wound up in a remote little spot like this one."

Question delivered, he offered up his best charming grin.

FIRST TRIP OUTSIDE

GROUP 1 7/10

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GROUP 2 7/20

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Group 3 7/17

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Group 3 7/17 - Talking to the Swamp Cult

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