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FIRST TRIP OUTSIDE
The group rides the elevator up and out of the Vault and into the muck of the mire that sits a good hundred feet above it. The gear shaped platform characters stand on is (now that the swamp was accidentally drained a bit into the Vault) located in the center of a mud patch a few inches above water level. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but mud, radioactive water, and near-dead trees sagging under moss. The characters are also not the only living things in the swamp. Scattered around there are small clumps of giant eggs, and in the distance a few more mirelurks can been seen trudging their way through the water on the hunt. They don’t seem to have noticed the characters yet, and it’s up to the individual parties whether they choose to hunt or sneak around the creatures.
Those that check their pip-boys once the reach the surface are in for a bit of a surprise. There’s a new radio station: No Land Radio. In between the songs, an apparently alive disc jockey makes comments about just played songs and advertisements for weapons, robots, and food. Somewhere, there’s a city. The signal is a bit scratchy, suggesting characters are on the very edge of the signal radius.
[[OOC: Individual starters for each group will be posted below. Feel free to RP about any point of the journey in the sub-thread. When mod input is wanted in the scene, just add MOD to the title of the comment! Please direct OOC questions to this month’s OOC post here.]]
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Mod
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."
Mod
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.
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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!
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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.
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"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?"
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"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."
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"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."
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"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.
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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).
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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."
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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?"
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"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."
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"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.
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"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.
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"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?"
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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.
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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.
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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."
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That thing was amazing and it saved them plenty of times.