Actual Play - Red Markets T-Minus - EP 7 Leisure Ride

[00:00:02] Hello and welcome to The Roleplaying Exchange. This is SNCC. I'll be the market tonight because we are playing Red Markets T-Minus. I believe that this is our seventh episode. It's been a while. It's good to have everyone back. I'll let them introduce themselves again for you guys.

[00:00:21] Oh hey, Adam is coughing and top of the alphabet. I am playing Shake. And Shake, I can't remember exactly what happened in the last session because it's been two months. But I looked at my humanity threats and I'm almost ready to crack on trauma. So apparently, maybe this is like a coping mechanism I developed where I kind of zoomed out on the previous session and the shit that went wrong.

[00:00:48] And yeah, so I'm taking care of my wife, Mary Jane or Kat because I do two different games. I called her two different names. It's the same person. He's not a two-timing Shake. He's a very monogamous man. And yeah, I've got a little bun in the oven, not on Shake himself, but you understand how the birds and the bees work. I'm going to stop rattling now. Brownie, would you save me?

[00:01:11] Sure. Hi, I'm Brownie. I'm back again playing Road Salt, the not funny mind engineer. The rent to own scheme on Sparky didn't really come through, but we do have the Exosuit Warrior squad now, so that's nice. Chris?

[00:01:28] Hi, I'm Chris or Crazon. I'm playing Balto. I'm slowly coming to the realization that my brother is becoming a war boy. Shiny as he trains with the other Latents for the coming conflict.

[00:01:50] Despite that, actually, my stress level is, if it was on a scale of five, it would be a two. Zero detachment, apparently, so that's interesting. I'm just worrying about my shambulance, really, most of all. If I put an extra armor on it. You're true dependent. Yes, the true dependent of my character. Catch those bullet holes with duct tape and slap down some armor. Yeah.

[00:02:15] Hey, I found some awesome armor from some cache of bulldozers, so hey, maybe we can also use those bulldozers or something. Maybe. Maybe. That brings us to... Hey, I'm Ethan. Speaking of the latent war boys, I'm teaching Balto's brother how to kill. Very mentally well-adjusted. Yay! Totally not crumbled. Adam says, oh my god, I'm almost cracked.

[00:02:45] And I'm like, that's cute. I remember when I was just cracked. Well, someone in the Taker crew has to, you know, be the one to get stuff done, right? That's right. Turns out, a fenceman who's crumbled inhumanity is like, you know what? Let's make some shit happen. Okay.

[00:03:05] Okay. So, last time was, just to remind Adam, was the job where you encountered the Aberrant in the Allosign Blacksite. So, you made your way back. You handed off the information to Mr. Green. And you spent some downtime resting.

[00:03:29] And it wasn't before long that you got a message from Ward saying that they would like to talk to you guys. Both Ward and Lex were hoping to talk to you about jobs. Time is short. The attack is approaching. And there's a couple things that need to be finished quickly.

[00:03:55] So, when you can, please come in so we can send you out on some much-needed missions. Fortunately, she left you some time to meet with your dependents and set up some other stuff if you wanted to. So, let's roll on into that. But we'll start with vignettes. Does anyone want to vignette first? Want whatever can heal one little check or tick in my trauma?

[00:04:22] Let's try to duct tape this soul back together as good as we can. So, yeah. I think that... All right. I think I would like to have a vignette with Mary Jane. And I think, you know, as a father of two, I can remember the moments where you go into the... Go to the doctor and they do the ultrasound and stuff like that.

[00:04:54] So, that seems like a good setting. So, I'm trying to do, like, family stuff to, you know, not, you know, act like everything's all right. I'm trying to not really look at one thing too closely, you know, because I keep seeing it follows, so to speak. So, who was my Mary Jane? I. Rizan. Okay. So, I'll... Would you... I went through this twice, not a couple times.

[00:05:24] So, basically, there is... God, it's just going to be something I need to pay for, probably. That's how it works in real life. Well, down there, maybe. Yeah. So, who would we have doing the medical stuff here? It's just, like, ultrasound. They have some medical personnel on site. It's Balto. The only registered paramedic.

[00:05:52] They have someone who can pass as a doctor. Yeah, they have someone who could pass as a doctor. Just like Balto. He could be like Smeagol in Lord of the Rigs. You could talk for both characters there, Krazad. Well, don't worry there. This is going to be fine. Oh, thank you, doctor. All right. Set. Here we go. Oh, God. Okay. So, the procedure is, you know, laying on a hospital bed, or what passes for one in this.

[00:06:22] You've got, like, the medical gown. And then, where the belly is, is kind of exposed. And then they squirt this stuff on you. And, you know, I say, you know, like, everybody who's listened to me has been through this. But they take something it looks like, I don't know, it's about the size of an electric razor. And they're taking it across the belly.

[00:06:48] And then you have the sound, you know, for the heartbeat. And then they're kind of moving it, you know, moving it around. And you're trying to determine the sex of the child. And the weird thing is, since this is going to be the informative, they're either looking for a, I can't remember, like a pizza or a hot dog or something like that.

[00:07:14] That's what, that's their little, like, terms for the genitalia and all that. But anyway, so, it's a healthy thing. So, Crazons, I'm, you know, that friend of yours that always puts you right on the spot. Yeah. Mary, I guess, is holding your hand very tightly. Yeah. Very nervous. Yeah. Doc, is everything, everything all right there?

[00:07:42] Uh, I mean, uh, uh, Balto, uh, buddy, pal? Well, yeah, everything's, yeah, we're just, I don't know if you guys actually want me to do both. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, don't do Balto. It's a, it's a, it's a nurse that they have on hand. I'm sorry. I enjoyed that more than I should have. Mary Jane's probably, like, just taking him breaths. Trying to remain calm. Everything, uh, looks good.

[00:08:09] Do you, do you want to see, uh, how the, the, what the baby looks like? Sure. Though, if you make me see a thing's face in the, well, whatever. Turns the screen, it's, it's, it's cracked in one place. Uh, yeah. Uh, a little, little fuzzy. The picture's a little fuzzier than, than usual. Um, but yeah, you, you see your child there. Oh, sweet. All right. So, odds or evens, Brownie? Evens.

[00:08:39] All right. So, evens, it will be a boy. Odd, it will be a girl. And odd. So, it's, we're gonna have a beautiful, beautiful little girl, honey. Squeezing your hand. Yeah. Oh. Oh, that's, that's, that's great. She seems probably, like, very, uh, maybe distracted. Is everything okay, hun? Uh, yeah.

[00:09:07] I, I'm glad, really, really glad that we were having a, having a girl out here in, in, in the wastes. Oh. It seems. Yeah. Uh, man, she fucking went with the bus. This is what you get for throwing me under the bus for this. Uh, do I have to roll anything for that? Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um, roll me self-control check.

[00:09:35] I mean, it doesn't sound like your wife's too excited. Well, no. Well, I mean, it kind of rings home because, you know, I was like, my wife was like it too, where she's like, yeah, you're gonna have, we're gonna have a kid in Kentucky. She's like, uh-huh. No, I'm just playing. I mean, I mean girlfriend, not wife. Yeah, your girlfriend doesn't sound the most excited about this. All right. Let's see. I have road. It's funny how things work. So, a 5-5 before any modifications is a critical failure.

[00:10:04] Okay, so this did not work the way I wanted it to be. Okay, so this is gonna be distress. She's digging her nails into your, into your hand and arm. Into her, her face. Yeah, let's say that, let's, let's say that's too stress. It's fine. Oh god, I just clicked too far, too many. Okay. So, yeah. So, doctor pulls back, all happy. I bet, like, you guys are gonna have such a great time. You're so lucky.

[00:10:33] And then, you know, bitch, we look around and we're in a... This tent, this dirty, dingy tent. And they're like, you can hear, like, the clacking in the distance. Ah, that can't... We didn't used to have all that clapping till they start listening to that new Nicki Minaj album. I meant it. Okay. Yeah, she's just staring at you, like, very, like, kind of... She's trying to, like, smile, but it's, it's... She's definitely looking very concerned. Okay.

[00:11:03] So, uh... They, they don't have pictures to print on, but you can take a picture with your Ubix specs if you have any, if you wanted. Oh, we'll have... You don't have to spend a charge. Um, on your way out of the clinic area, you hear a familiar voice. Oh, hey there, uh, Shake, how you doing? Um, you recognize it as that steward you bumped into on that first mission, Poseidon. Oh, hey!

[00:11:33] You? How are you doing? Good, good. You, you must be Mrs. Shake. She, he offers his hand to your wife, to your girlfriend. Yeah. Pleasure to meet you. She accepts it, the handshake. Is, is everything all, all right with, with, with the child, or is this just a routine checkup? Uh, everything, everything good for you guys? Oh, yeah. It's just routine. Uh, everything's fine.

[00:12:01] Just kind of, you know, first time, we're getting a little bit of the jitters. Oh, no, I completely understand. But, I mean, you, you, you've got to be tough under pressure. Uh, you, you're lucky, uh, Mrs. Shake, to have such a dedicated, uh, boyfriend. Um, you know, he's, he's out there doing taker work, bringing in the money so he could provide you with a safe home for you and your daughter to live up in.

[00:12:30] I hear takers even make it to the recession. Her eyes light up. Mm-hmm. Yeah. She's, she's like, oh, well, that would be, and that's, that's, that's, that's the dream. Of course, of course. Yeah. I'm sure he'd do nothing to put you in danger. Yeah. Just always working hard to take you out of it. Yeah. She squeezes, uh, your arm, uh, and, and begins, uh, like, kind of like holding a little

[00:12:59] close, like, oh yeah, he's, he's my man. Well, I, I hate to rush here, but I think we left a stove on. So, uh, we, we better get going now. Uh, it's good seeing you. Good seeing you. Good seeing you. No, no, no, no, no. Don't talk. Don't talk. We kind of shuffle away. Okay. End scene. That was a nice little dig. I wasn't expecting. Okay. I liked how, uh, he knew the gender already from the, from the, uh, computer or from the sensor.

[00:13:28] The way I, the way I can see it, that's what happens every time. Did, did I, did I say the gender for him? I'm sorry. Yeah, you did. It added words like, oh shit. Panopticon. Yeah. You didn't do it intentionally? I mean, yes, I totally did. Be scared. Um, who wants to go next? Uh, maybe, maybe I should do if, if that's cool. That's fine. Nip the war boy thing in the butt. Okay.

[00:13:59] Um, so, so I imagine, um, yeah, Balto's been seeing his brain. His brother, uh, getting, getting on with the, uh, the other latents and, um, uh, and, and training. And so he, he's seeing like, sort of, he's kind of getting the feeling like of what's, what's to come. And he's like, um, maybe he should like also talk to his brother about like, about like how he feels about this whole thing.

[00:14:29] Uh, so I guess that would be, um, me. Yeah. Brownie played Ralph last time. Uh, so you come up and he, he intently has the pad pad in his hands and says, oh, hey brother, I'm just training. He turns around so you can see he's moving the pad around like a steering wheel and you see he's playing some flavor of Mario cart on his pad training to drive the war boy mobiles. Oh, that, that's, that's great. Um, got him. Um, oh wait, red, red shell, red shell. It's going to be great.

[00:14:59] Yeah. Yeah. Um, say, say, uh, I just, how are you feeling about all this? Like you just feel great. We, we get out of the hospital. We were working on, on the cars. We're going to, we're going to make a big difference. And, you know, training is a lot of fun. Oh, okay. Um, so you're not, you're not really worried about like what, what might happen? Like if, if something bad happens with the car?

[00:15:27] Well, you know, something bad could happen here, here at the, um, uh, the enclave, you know, it's, it's just gotta take life as it comes, you know, I'm looking at this as a good thing. Yeah, that's true. Um, say, um, what, what have they, have they told you like, what kind of like, uh, what, what kind of defenses you got on the, on those, on the, the vehicles? Like how well they are?

[00:15:53] Well, I mean, we're, we're, you know, we're screwing, screwing metal on, you know, like the corrugated roofing stuff on the sides. We're cutting out little slots for us to see, um, trying not to make them too heavy. You know, they get, they gotta go fast, right? Yeah. Um, well, I'm, I'm trying to convince them to put one of those little flipper wedgie things on the front. That'll be really good, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe something like the kind of pull it, push away debris that happens while you're out there.

[00:16:24] Um, well, I, I don't know if you know, but we recently got a bunch of, uh, videos in off Ubik of an old, um, what was it? Uh, a robot battle thing. They, they, this is really cool when they flip them. Oh, really? Can I take a look at those? Can you, can you forward them to me? Well, here, look at it right here. Uh, turns off the game he's playing and shows you on his pad and it's old robot wars and their buzz saws and flamethrowers and whippers and things. Oh my. Uh, give me a self-control check. Yeah. There we go. Oh, that is great.

[00:16:52] That is eight or that is two under eight. Okay. So two black. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Hang on. Uh, hang on. I do have a, forgot about the points. I did self-control. So that's four under eight with, uh, uh, with the, uh, my role. So yeah. Take one distress. Um, your brother might not be taking this whole thing too seriously or doesn't have the right expectations of what they're going into.

[00:17:19] I mean, yeah, that looks, that looks, oh man, that thing's really perforating that one other robot. Uh, watch this one. It's going to flip. It's going to flip. Yeah. It's just like, I'm just, I'm just watching it in slow-mo. Like it's going, like my vision's going black and white. Just, yeah. Uh, you know, I might, I might talk, I think I may have found some, some new, like some

[00:17:48] new, uh, some new metal we can use for the armaments and stuff like that. I might, I might talk to your, uh, to the, the guys, uh, that are the mechanics and see about like maybe, maybe fixing up those, those buggies a little bit more for you guys. Yeah. Hey, I'll, I'll take all the help I can get. Just make sure they add the hammer arm onto one of them. Oh, and Hey, um, there's this guy who's kind of been hanging around on the other side of the fence from the yard, but we're working on the cars. He just, he's keeping an eye on us.

[00:18:17] He's watching us play our, I mean, train, uh, not play our games train. Uh, seems like a nice guy though. Uh, some, some, something, um, something oceanic. I don't remember exactly what he said his name was. Maybe it was, uh, uh, Sebastian, the crab or I don't know what it was. Oh, um, okay. Uh, you, do you look over in the direction of the, uh, the vehicles? Yeah. I gotta take a look over there. Yeah.

[00:18:45] Leaning against the fence, sort of just looking into the latent area. Uh, you see that steward. You met the first session, Poseidon. Maybe eating like an apple while he's doing banana. Okay. Banana. Eating an orange without peeling it. Oh God. Yeah. It's like, Oh God. Oh geez. Oh, what's he been, what's he been talking to you guys about? Just, just watching or.

[00:19:14] Oh, he's been giving us, uh, uh, driving tips. That's all, you know, uh, the whole, you know, turn into the slide kind of thing. And, you know, uh, the, I think he called it a pit maneuver where you kind of tap the back corner of a car and get it to spin. It's really cool stuff. Huh? He's the one that actually sent us the robot videos. Okay. Okay. Uh, nice guy. Kind of weird, but nice guy. Yeah. I think, I think I may have met him before.

[00:19:45] Um, well, I don't want to take up too much more of your time. Uh, you got to keep training. I want you to be the best, best damn driver out there. Remember, need the hammer arm. Gotta have the hammer arm. Yeah. You know what? Uh, I'm, I'm going to look into it. I got that one for you. Oh, thanks. And yeah, he's just going to walk off rather than kind of stressed out. Weirdly. We'll end the scene there. Yeah. I like how they're doing your job for you too, Nick. You didn't even have to.

[00:20:14] Oh no, I, I met, I messaged Brownie to include that. I wasn't going to mention anything, but you said good job. Adam. And I had to, I had to give away my, my deception. All right. I guess I can go next. Uh, since my voice is all warmed up now, uh, I would imagine that, uh, I'm down in the, um, exosuit storage room, helping Sparky with, uh, maintenance and, uh, making sure we

[00:20:43] can cobble together as many of them working as we can. Sparky was, uh, played by Ethan when Sparky wasn't a PC character. Uh, you good playing Sparky, Ethan? That works. Brownie, talk to yourself. Huh? It's just like any day. Huh? Yeah. You hear some, some clanging and some, some ratcheting and maybe the sound of a blowtorch.

[00:21:09] Uh, here, here, uh, lean that arm over a little bit and I'll weld it back on. Hold on. Like this right here? And he, he leans it like way too far. Just a little bit closer. I mean, you know how this stuff works. You know, you know these better than I do. Lean, lean on here. Yeah, I got it. Hand me that blowtorch. I'll take care of it right now. I hand him a blowtorch.

[00:21:35] And I, and I grab the arm to steady it, you know, just so it doesn't go all floppy with one hand and one hand on the blowtorch. He does a, a beautiful weld. Better than I can do. I still got it. One handed and hanging upside down. That's impressive. I mean, you got Bessie. I could never replace old Bessie.

[00:22:03] Well, I don't think you're, I hope you don't have to. Are you really sure you want to go out? I mean, we talked about it, but. Boy, I done made up my mind. Well, I know better than to argue with you, but, uh, just be careful out there. Okay. Ah, careful is my middle name. And he does like a twirl with the blowtorch. Like a cowboy does with a gun, but almost drops it. Give yourself control check there. Uh, road salt.

[00:22:33] Can do. Oh yeah. Eight over five. All good. Fine. You're fine. He knows what he's doing. He's just, he's just playing around with you. Like he does. Like he does. All right. Okay. Um, if there's nothing else you guys like to talk about, uh, we can end the scene there. I'm good. And we could move over to, uh, St. Bernard. Yes.

[00:22:59] I currently, because I get shot every time, have a pip of trauma. It's a real, it's a continuing thing. I've got stun damage in my chest and a pip of trauma. So. We would like to solve that. Your greatest accomplishment in Red Markets is falling out of the play. I mean, living and then being bitched at. So that's still my favorite. That was a fun session.

[00:23:31] 10k legs. After you finish this, don't stop listening to this shit. All right. Go through all 50 some episodes. Uh, but yeah, I, uh, want to do whatever vignette gets rid of that, uh, trauma. Okay. Uh, do you want to talk with Anna, Arlene, or Arthur? Is what I have your three dependents written down as. Right. I want to, uh, I'm thinking, uh, I'm going to talk to Anna. I haven't talked to her in a while. Okay.

[00:23:59] Um, do you, uh, just to refresh Adam's memory, who is Anna? Anna is my, uh, my latent daughter. Keep her locked up with all the other. It's a little messed up. So you're, you're just coming by to put a little food in her bowl. I opened the mail slot and I'm like, enjoy the fresh air while you can. And I close it. No. Oh. Where are we meeting it?

[00:24:29] There, there is the jail that the latent stay in. Former, former jail, former jail just to, uh, but yeah, whatever you guys would like to do, it probably would take place in the latent area at the jail. I honestly think if, if you're up to suggestion and is sitting there watching all the training that's going on and you actually notice her while you're training. So you're like, take five or eddies, man.

[00:24:57] And then, you know, do you have to explain what eddies meant? And then. When I say eddies, then you sleuth. And I, you know what? Fine. Fuck off. Anyway. Didn't, uh, you didn't hear much of that, did you? Oh, um, no, I'm just, I, I'm just watching. It, it, it looks real. I was like, when do I get a suit? The important part is when you salute, I say eddies.

[00:25:27] And then you. Oh. Well, she. She. She relax. Excuse me. I'm choking to death on. On pecans. Cass. Eddies. Eddies. No, Anna. Eddies. Stop coughing. All right. She, she stops coughing. Uh, you know. Two fingers to the forehead. Stands up real straight. Bored straight. Salutes. Did a better job than most of the Laytons did.

[00:25:56] So, uh, I've noticed you here a lot lately. And, uh, what are you doing? Well, Anna, these men are what you might call, uh, grossly incompetent. And, uh, I'm trying to train them. I'm trying to teach them. Oh. Oh, okay. It's, uh, I, uh, can I play? Uh, give me a self-control check there. I'm just a Bernard to see if your dissociation triggers.

[00:26:27] Ed eight, black ten. So is that a pass or a fail? That's a pass. Pass? Okay. You can continue the conversation. Ah. Good. Red bat. Oh. No, I don't know that you would find it all that fun. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. She looks a little dejected. Okay. Uh. But. I know it seems like an enjoyable time, but do you recall when we were on the road before

[00:26:57] we got here? She nods solemnly. Right, and there were a handful of times I told you to shut your eyes as tight as you could and cover your ears. I remember. They're going to be doing a lot of things that children your age would want to shut their eyes tight and cover their ears at. Are you trying to give your child a self-control check? I am crumbled in humanity. No, that's fine.

[00:27:27] That's fine. All right, hold on. Man's not well. Can we, like, so, are we, we need to try to get a self-control check out of you to heal some stuff. So, can we say that Anna goes, okay, well, I still get to play Mario Kart, right? And she pulls up a, you know, Microsoft, not Microsoft, Nintendo Switch or whatever, and starts playing Mario Kart, and you never gave her that.

[00:27:55] Implying that, uh, I don't know how to work in the DHQS guy gave it to him. Someone gifted your daughter a very expensive piece of electronic equipment. We'll just put it at that for now. So you can ask her about that if you want. Where did you get, where did you get that? Oh, uh, Mr. Fish guy gave it to me.

[00:28:22] Mr. Fish guy, you have the cutest imaginary friends. And he, like, narrows his eyes because he knows. Son of a bitch. Now give me a self-control check for that. I didn't even ask Adam to do this one. It's modeling. Black 8, red 3. Okay. Whatever the modifier is, that's a success. You're fine. You're fine. You know. You just gotta kill him quicker.

[00:28:51] And she, uh, well, she, uh, is contented with, uh, like, well, uh, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Tell you what, you can play all the Mario Kart if you want. You win this race. And, uh, he plays the game with her and lets her win. That sounds like a happy ending there. Uh, your daughter is, is, is happy, overjoyed. Uh, she sort of makes fun of you a little bit before heading off. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:18] Um, did anyone want to do, turn in any war assets or any milestones or anything of the sort? Um, remember that, uh, instead of milestones, you could also pay for information like, um, uh, opposing, um, the, the, a DHQS war asset. You could find out something about who's in charge over there in the base, that kind of stuff. Uh, well, I think, yeah, I think I said earlier, um,

[00:29:46] I think, uh, both off recording and part of my vignette, um, going to be trying, uh, for a war asset of, uh, of, uh, some bulldozers that can maybe be modded, uh, or, or like used as armor or just be used as vehicles themselves for a war asset. You know, you know how bulldozers are useless and weak. I want to improve one. Okay.

[00:30:12] Uh, mark off 20 bounty and I will write down killdozer. Yes. Maybe you, maybe use their, uh, like, uh, get some of the, uh, some engineer guys or some mechanic guys to attach like the, uh, the arms onto some of the vehicles. So we get that hammer or just like death claws. I'm sure it's going to go well. Remove this pesky 20 bounty of my savings. Didn't need that anyway. It did. It did. It's not like it could have been fuel or anything. Come on.

[00:30:42] Yeah, of course not. I got five fuel. I'm good. I'll get five charges. I'm good. Okay. Uh, shake or St. Bernard, did you want to spend any bounty on war assets or anything? Are you guys, you guys good? Uh, not on war assets. No, you mentioned something about finding out about the HQS command. Yeah, that would be 20 bounty as well. You know what? I don't have 20 bounty. So, well, let's, let's talk. Let's talk, Ethan.

[00:31:11] Let's talk because I can't remember if I actually added my money, my bounty in after the last session or not, cause I only have 10 left, but I've just been threatened by a D HQS person and you've just been threatened by a DQE HQS person. I mean, I'm willing to drop 10 if you can cover. He didn't even threaten me. He just went near the kid. I mean, sort of a veiled threat, but. If you have 10, I can make it.

[00:31:41] I'll be happy to kick in mine. I seem to have 15 total. I would kick in 10. Alrighty. So is that okay if we, we power resources, Nick, after I ask you after WAP decided to do this? Yeah. You, I said originally you could pull resources together for war assets and the, the enemy info. So that's fine. Just, what are you spending the 20 bounty on? Ethan, you go ahead and pick.

[00:32:10] So did you say related to the D HQS? There's multiple things we can pick. Yeah. You can either find a war asset or you can find a commander, basically the opposing version of you. Like you could find out information on who it is and where they are. Oh, I want to find out who that is. Okay. So you can mark off the bounty. You hire some people to look into it.

[00:32:38] That information will become available to you. Uh, I'll, I'll tell you next job, but it's only relevant for, um, the final, the final attack, but I will, I will inform you next job what your, your spies, your infiltrators have uncovered. Uh, the Red Mart's nemesis system. Basically. If you, if you manage to find them on the battlefield and kill them, it greatly covers the abilities of the, uh, the enemy.

[00:33:06] We all just converge during the battle. Was it, which one, which, uh, Greek mythology, like the battle of Troy and all that where the gods are on the battlefield and then they go after Achilles and all that bullshit. It's what it's going to turn into. Yeah. It's going to be a, except it's going to be like, you guys are the gods. Before you know it, we're all driving home and three of you get turned into pigs.

[00:33:35] And by pigs, you mean zombies or casualties. Tato Pachano. Okay. I will, I will mark down a commander info. And with that, we can move on to the jobs. I put the information that, you know, beforehand, uh, you walk into the meeting room, they lay their cards out on the table, um, a hundred percent markup is what they're going with. Um, word has a starting price of seven.

[00:34:02] Her job is she wants to do some sabotage, destroying some of the farms in the area, forcing DHQS troops to leave the base and have to defend the farms from any more attacks, leaving them with less troops. It's four legs. Three of those legs are basically job sites. Um, you know, mini job sites, the farms, um, no competition, of course. Um, Lex has a starting price of 10. He needs someone to transport some goods to another, you know, team for the upcoming

[00:34:32] attack. That's three legs away. I will let you guys, they, they let you guys discuss what you want to do. Um, the persuasion, uh, you guys can do a persuasion check to see if you can get a little better, uh, starting price, or you could push it up on the, the scale. I'll, I'll, uh, based on your role, I'll let you know what little extra bonus you can get for the persuasion check. But, um, once you choose which one you want to do the persuasion check for, that's the one you're going to go with.

[00:35:01] I'm not gonna let you do the persuasion check for both of them. Seems fair. Oh. I mean, one pays better than the other. And it's also fewer legs, so less, uh, chance to get hurt and less cost. Yeah. Less resources. Also, I mean, we'd be destroying DHQS farms, but once we get the DHQS out of here, we could just take those farms back over. So those seems like resources we'd want to preserve if we could.

[00:35:34] I'm going to be like, nothing will ever grow here again, and then move in next door. Ah, I'm hungry. Should have been nice to have that granary there. So, so basically it comes down to, besides money, obviously, um, but in the overall picture, uh, less troops to fight versus having your troops be a little bit more better equipped. Yeah, which is the better strategic option.

[00:36:04] Well, your brother's learning how to fight by playing Mario Kotz and watching robot battles, so I think we need to thin them out a little bit. I mean, he's got, he's got. Heck, the, uh, I've, I've, I've made sure that he's got, he's going to be the pilot of one of the killdozers. No, war boys and killdozers don't have crossover. I don't know. Give me this one, please. I mean, we could put him in an exosuit, but you have to watch some different videos.

[00:36:35] He watches aliens over and over again. Get away from her, you bitch. That's all we need is a, I mean, God, like God bless him, but like, that's all we need is a vector in an exosuit. That sure would be a vexo suit. You're right. Chris has been sure he would make you row that self-control check, but. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, I'm, I'm good for either one. What's everybody's opinion?

[00:37:05] I mean, I like bagels. What? Grain? Oh, destroy the farms? Yeah. Right. Yes. So you're against destroying the farms. Yeah. I like grain. Yeah. Grain's good. I don't have gluten intolerance. I thought some sort of pun was on the way. Load me into a full sense of security. It's like you got a hole in your head. Like a bagel. I know. I'm not doing, I'm not.

[00:37:39] Uh, maybe we don't, maybe we don't need to be attached to anyone. Uh, yeah, I'm, I'm going to vote for the Lord help me. I'm going to vote for the, for the, uh, the transporting goods. Delivering supplies. Make sure our, our folks are, are, uh, better prepared. I mean, you've seen what they've been teaching, training them with. Like they're using Mario cart, Mario, Mario cart 50. Like, God damn it.

[00:38:10] And just think if we can sneak in there without anybody seeing us, it'd be a supply surprise. You're telling me the drivers are getting the same level of training that my daughter is getting at recess. Well, now I do. I thought it was, I thought it might've been a good idea, but. Oh God. Also, did anybody, anybody else notice, um, uh, that, that the HQS asshole, um, watching us or watching you guys.

[00:38:39] He's been roaming around the, uh, the perimeter wall of the, uh, of the, the latent training area. Uh, I've been down in the mine. I haven't seen much. Yeah. Yeah. I've noticed that too. So we better, uh, get to it. Juei, I haven't, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him, but he apparently spoken to my daughter, so. He knew I was having a daughter. You're having a daughter? Congrats.

[00:39:10] What is that? I sent the running, I sent the running theme here. Uh, so yeah, let's, uh, let's, let's, let's do, let's do the transport. We've got, we've got the shambelance. I mean, nothing bad could ever happen to it. Not now with the, uh, the new armor. So you, you go up to Lex St. Bernard, um, after the, the team huddle. And, uh, so, uh, you're, you're going to do my job? Yes.

[00:39:39] You've convinced us almost. Good, good. Um, yeah. So I've got the, the, the crates in one of the warehouse in the, not warehouses, you know, one of the shipping containers out by the, uh, the tracks on the Northern perimeter. Um, if, if, if, so whenever you're ready to go, just meet me over there. We'll, we'll load up the, the, the gear and, uh, you could take it off. You could go off.

[00:40:10] Certainly, certainly. Just, you know, well, before that was added, well, it's the catch. There's always a bit of a catch with all of these things, you know, some sort of, you know, dilemma. I gotcha kind of. You know what? It's not important. Why don't you, if you just, uh, bump the pay a bit and I'll drop the whole thing and we will forget it. I love that passive aggressive negotiation. Oh, okay. Uh, give me that persuasion or do you want intimidation?

[00:40:40] Uh, I'm thinking persuasion. Okay. Very good persuasion. Um, cause I have a three in persuasion that becomes a nine over eight. Okay. Do you want to use a will? No, he succeeded. I don't know. Does he want to use a will? Make it a crit success, you mean? Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. I think I do. Oh, if I'd used, no, my intimidation's one. Nevermind.

[00:41:07] I was going to say if, if I had used a plus two skill, that would have been a crit success. Oddly enough. Oh, no ties go to market after adding modifiers. Oh yeah. It's a natural role, isn't it? Yes. Yet I said anything. Okay. So using a will to upgrade it to a crit success. Yes. So. It actually, you get eight extra bounty tacked on.

[00:41:36] So you bumped the starting price up by four. Hell yeah. Yeah. So that's 56. And then he also goes, okay, I'll help you out. He gives you a gift spot. I've got a wagon with a trailer hitch upgrade. You could put some of the gear in the back if you want on the wagon and hitch it to your shamblance to make transportation easier. Perfect. Perfect. I knew we could come to an agreement. Yes.

[00:42:05] You drive a hard bargain, St. Bernard. Yes. Yes. Hard bargain. How did you, how did you know my former take a name? Forget if I've said anything. Really would be a great take her name though. Wouldn't it? Hard bargain. Yeah. Hard bargain. Hard bargain. Former, former Chippendale's dancer turned negotiator. I mean, it's no hard forcing, but okay.

[00:42:34] So once you shake hands, you walk over to the shipping container and he goes, we've got four haul in here worth of border shells that you're going to have to bring to a cell of Canadians who are pitching in on the attack. You'll, you'll recognize them. They're at these coordinates. Quick out of, out of character question.

[00:43:04] Ian's character. What was his name? Who was the Canadian? Raccoon. Was it raccoon? I thought it was like, I thought there's another one that was like a secret Canadian spy. Oh, that was my character toss up. And then for my Joles, we brought in David's character who was long shot. Oh, you're right. Okay. You'll know them when you see them. Well, we're, we're, we're pulling, we're pulling in as much help as we can on this one. Uh, the, I'm going to butcher this.

[00:43:31] Uh, the, the, the Brazos do Canada, um, has a couple of cells in the area. One of them is got a mortar team. This one, this one's a mortar team. Uh, uh, you just deliver the shells to them. They'll be all equipped for the attack. They'll be shelling the opposite side of the compound from when you, from where you guys will be attacking. So as far away from the war boys as possible, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:59] Unless, you know, they, they circle around and all that stuff. But yes, yes, they don't, they're not shelling the war boys. So how are you loading up the, the mortar shells? As carefully as possible. Yeah. And in that wagon. You don't want any in the, uh. No. In the ship. Not my baby. Well, let's see how much a wagon can carry. A wagon can carry two haul. And how many haul are we transporting? Four.

[00:44:29] Four? Four. All right. Give me a self-control check there, Balto. Yep. Hang on. Make sure to put some extra hay over there. Oh, shit. Um, three under seven. Okay. Yeah, switch dice. Uh, just, just take one distress. Nothing bad has happened yet, but, you know, your baby.

[00:44:58] It's got explosives in it. I never, uh, my, my, my plans have failed. I put armor on the outside. Never realized it might, it might be destroyed from the, from within. So unless anyone else wants to do anything, you guys can head off on the, uh, first look. Um, weather report on Ubic. I'll spend a charge. Sure. There is not a lot of casualties in the area that you're heading through.

[00:45:27] No large stampedes, you know, there might be the, the straggler, but there isn't a stampede moving through the area. It's been fairly clear. That's all I had. Do I have to roll for, uh, I don't, do I have to roll for, um, getting the car to start? No, no, no, no. It's when you're out in the field. I'm going to do that to you. Gotcha. Just burn it. Just burn it. I want your car to be out in the field. I don't want you to leave it behind in the enclave. Oh, how, how, how gracious. We don't have cars. We have family cars on.

[00:45:56] No, it's infected. It's infected. The red, our games now. Uh, okay. Um, sorry. You guys, the, the gate opens, you guys head out and start driving, um, Northeast, uh, uh, making your way to the coordinates that you have, uh, been given. I will need you guys to burn a ration. You're driving through. Yeah. I mean, not, not burn a ration. Yeah. Burn fuel. Not a ration. Yeah. Burn charge. Yeah. That's what I thought. Uh, okay.

[00:46:28] So you're, you're driving through an area and the, the buildings, they're, they're actually, you're, you're driving through like a small little, little town area and the buildings seem to be grouped sort of close together. Um, give me an awareness check. St. Bernard, who's in the passenger seat, unless someone else wants to take the passenger seat this time. I mean, he's got the binoculars. So his self, his, uh, awareness would be two. Right. So. Well, mine's naturally three, but yeah, I'm, I'm in the back.

[00:46:57] Go for it. St. Bernard. Mine would be a total of plus four with those binoculars. Oh yeah. Good rocket. Yeah. Well, ones, double ones. Double ones. Awesome. Wrong hand. Looks clear. Now you're, now, now you're going to get it. Pulls the binoculars away and he has those two black circles around his eyes. Yeah. Looks, looks clear.

[00:47:28] Um, no. Balto, you don't have anyone telling you otherwise, so you just keep driving straight. Um, and it's a little weird today. Uh, the, you, you, you don't know, you did, you were kind of focusing on the potholes and everything in front of you and dodging the cars, but, uh, red dressed and swallow up there. What, when, when did those side streets start having like cars blocking their way out? Um, and you turn a corner and there is a makeshift toll booth set up.

[00:47:58] Uh, there appears to be a very well armed person in the glass of the toll booth. And another one standing outside of it. Uh, you see a large sign that says toll booth, one bounty per person. Like I'm driving through Florida again. This is one part of the, the old world I do not miss. It's not like Florida until there's one every 35 miles.

[00:48:29] Have, have these miserable bosses. I mean, it, it's, it's, I don't, I don't want to pay the toll, but it's cheaper than fuel to go around. In the middle of bloody apocalypse, they've set up bureaucracy. Also guys, I have no money left. I can cover us if we just want to pay and go through. Have the money. The red tape that I hate. Principle of the thing.

[00:49:00] Uh, the guy outside the booth sort of waving you forward to, to, to drive up to the, to the gate. He says we can go on through Florida. Oh, I was going to say actually, uh, he looks like, uh, uh, Balto like goes, like just leans over to St. Bernard. That, that, uh, that, that little guard there looks pretty flimsy, right? Uh, they appear to have rifles and, uh, Cavalier vests. Roll flimsy between the eyes, you see. Yeah.

[00:49:29] What do we want to do guys? I guess we got to keep going forward. I mean. All right. Yep. Um, can you back up with a trailer? Oh fuck. We have the trailer too. Shit. No. Yeah. Okay. Let's, let's, uh, shit. I just realized. Wow. Um, you're not used to doing it. It's kind of hard. Yeah. With two Hall worth of mortar shells on it.

[00:49:56] Well, Benny, you can try to talk to him and see if he'll, uh, give us a discount. But if not, I'll, I'm happy to pay to get us through. Also, who's got the better intimidation? Just have somebody pull, like, like somebody, one of us holding a gun at the munitions. Like, we'll do it. So they try to bluff our way through this. Yeah. I don't know. Let's just pull up. We'll see what happens. Okay. It'll be fun. Have all social skills at various points between one and three. So you, you, you pull up.

[00:50:26] The guy walks over to the passenger side window. So it does the, the crank down the window motion with, with, with their hand. I should run the window down. I, I rolled one. And as I, I do that, look over at Balto and I'm like, not so bloody hard on the brakes. You know, we've got high powered explosives in the back of this thing. Hello, sir. What, what can we do for you?

[00:50:53] Uh, we're with the, the SOTE power and transit company. Uh, we're going to need you to pay tolls for our roads here. Uh, you recognize the name. It's those, uh, Randy and assholes who had the, uh, power station that you liberated them from them. All right. It appears they've moved on to a different scam. Are these the same guys or do I just recognize the name? You recognize the name.

[00:51:22] It's the same thing with just transit added on. I see. I see. Is it some sort of, some sort of tax fee to maintain this road? Yes. We, we keep it clear of casualties and the SOTE for the free passage of all our taxpaying, uh, citizens. Not, but not potholes, I suppose. Uh, we're working on it. It's what we need the money for. Looking on it. I see. Uh, unfortunate.

[00:51:49] There were so many potholes in these, these mortar shells are so fragile at times, you know, jostling about and whatnot. Rather seems that my tax pay is paying money is not, you know, not quite being spent the way I wish. Uh, have you paid taxes here before? I certainly have. Ah, then you know the drill. One bounty per person. Uh, he sort of like looks into the window. What do you have? Uh, five, five people up, five people back there, four people.

[00:52:19] Number is really unimportant. I'm laying down on the floor. The real issue is, the issue is I would very much like to speak to your manager. Uh, our manager's time is busy, but, uh, if you offer a bounty, I'm sure he'd be willing to, to, to phone in, you know, pay the, the calling costs and all that stuff. Right. All of this seems to be, seems to be costing money that I'm not really getting anything out of.

[00:52:47] You see, I can already, I can already handle casualties, of course. And he's just like absentmindedly, like scratching his head with like the barrel of the gun. Sir, if you don't wish to use our roadway, you could always take another one. Why, where, where would I find such a, such a fine road with, uh, all these bloody potholes, you see? You see the crux of the issue? I hate these bloody potholes. We apologize. We're working on it.

[00:53:16] We've worked for these guys before. We, we probably get an employee discount. There's Karen all over them. For so long. Go, what happened with, with the last group of these idiots? You, you paid them, you gave them fuel to leave the power station alone. Oh, that, in that case that, yeah, we, they owe us. Yeah. Quick write up an invoice. Out Randy and the Randians.

[00:53:46] Is it possible to out Randy them? I know what I want to do. I mean, I'm serious about me lying in the floor like I'm sneaking into a drive-in. Like, there are only three of us in here. And Bernard, like, snaps his fingers and he's like, ah, that is, that's where I recognize the name from. You've, you've changed it just a bit though, haven't you? Yes. Yes.

[00:54:08] We, we actually have some discrepancies, you see, with the fuel that we generously, uh, you know, entered into joint with you on. And, uh, hopefully we can clear that right up. And, uh, I think once you compensate us for the, you know, all of that business, we might be on our way. Or rather, I don't know, my, my time is awfully, awfully valuable. I'd be pleased to be on my way and, you know, down this rocky road.

[00:54:36] Uh, give me a persuasion check. Success. You're the guys who, who gave my boss and stuff fuel over at the power station? The same. Quite a small will, isn't it? Okay.

[00:54:55] Uh, so if we let you pass through this booth here, toll free, would you say that our business has, uh, concluded and that, uh, we're even? My yes. Uh, sure thing. Uh, you can. And Bernard in his head is thinking like, I want nothing to fucking do with you idiots. We'll let, we'll let you through this booth and we'll, we'll radio ahead that, uh, our deal has concluded.

[00:55:25] That, uh, there's no longer anyone owing anything on the books. We'll clear it all up for you. Certainly something. You have a very pleasant day. And he sort of, he sort of like waves his gun at him. Like, like he's waving, forgetting he has his gun in his hand. Uh, he, he backs up. Um, he walks back to the booth, sort of talks to the guy in the booth who pulls out a radio and talks in the radio. Um, the guy who's outside the booth moves like the, the barricade to the side and, and gestures for you to drive on through.

[00:55:56] Yeah. Balto will do so. So you're sort of like in the, the main street area of the town. So you, you drive in through, you go down a block, you make a right turn. Um, it's still sort of blocked off on the side streets. So you can only go on this street. Um, and then you make a left-hand turn. And then right there in front of you is another toll booth that says, uh, two bounty per person. I hate these guys. I'm still laying in the floor.

[00:56:24] How easily do you think one could roll a mortar down to that? The post so I could fire around into it. Uh, do we have this, do we have it to spare? This, this has the same setup. There's two guys in Kevlar vests with rifles. One's in the booth. One's outside the booth. I mean, Kevlar only does so much against munitions. We've already, we've already paid the time. We were cleared up.

[00:56:52] So, I mean, that sounds good to me. I mean, just tell them that we're okay. And, you know, we already paid back there. So it's good to go. I'm sure that there'll be reasonable. Uh-huh. Do you want to try this again? See where this goes? Or do we need to work? Do you want us to roll self-checks to hide in the van? Yes. Yes. I mean, yeah. The people in the back, the people in the front, I don't think you're going to, you're going to be alive. All right.

[00:57:20] So let's see if I can. Brownie, you do, you go, you row yourself first. Well, I don't have any of that. So let's see what this black guy is going to do for me. Nope. Okay. Let's just see about me. Okay. 10 over two. I succeed. So I just pull the blanket off of. So Shake ducks behind the crates of mortar rounds, and he sort of hogs the entire space there. Road salt, so there's really no place for you to hide.

[00:57:50] Well, as long as one of us is hiding. I just sit up. The guard outside the booth starts walking over to the shambulance. Great. Sir, can you roll down your window, please? Tap my ear like I can't hear him and shrug my shoulders. He does the reel down gesture and points at your window. Roll it down. Hello, sir. In order to pat this toll booth here, you're going to have to pay two bounty per person.

[00:58:18] One to get in and two to get out, is it? I don't know what you're talking about. Just went through a bloody toll. You did? Oh. That's a shame that other people are setting up toll booths on this roadway here. But we here at the SOTE Transit and Power Company, it's the same company, but they switched power and transit around. The company are not associated with any other toll booths here on the road. You've got to be bloody fucking kidding me.

[00:58:49] You're always welcome to turn back and go around a different way if you don't want to pay the toll. It's clearly the same company, but with two words swapped. Take me for an idiot. We're two legal distinct companies. You can see our paper filings. They are obviously two separate names, even though they are similar looking. It's a common mistake to confuse the two, I understand. Yes, quite common. Quite common.

[00:59:17] So common, in fact, one would likely want to protect that copyright, I should think, yes? Give me insight. That's my plus insight. Doesn't matter, that's a 10 over 5. Yeah, he's messing with you. He knows. They're working together, the two booths. They're just fucking with you. Aha, you've got me. You've really had me going.

[00:59:46] You're a clever one. It's funny. You've missed your calling, I think. Oh, it'll be a six bounty to go through the toll booth. Bullets are cheaper. Yes, but we use many to clear the casualties off this road. Misunderstand. They can buy fewer bullets than it would take. Bullets in this gun. He holds up the gun. Are cheaper. Okay. Roll intimidate.

[01:00:19] Yep, that's when they betray me. Okay. We'll spend a will. That was like red 8, black 2. Okay. You switch it around. Okay, sir. You've made your point. I can let you through for one bounty each, if that's what you want. A hand pops out beside your head holding three IDs in it. Okay. He snatches the bounty. Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen.

[01:00:48] The SOT transit and power company greatly appreciates your commitment to maintaining the roads. And he walks over and moves the gate out of the way. Oh, if I meet another bloody Randian, I will be committed. Put me away. Yeah, we're driving off. Okay. You take another turn down a little narrow street.

[01:01:14] Then after a block, you are forced to turn again onto another block. And it's a clear just straight shot out of the area. You're fine. Oh my god. I thought you were going to say there's another toll booth. Dick. I was very, there was a very tense moment there. I was like, oh, you. Krizon, you knew what was going to happen. We were going to kill him at that point, right? Yeah. At that point, I would have been like, I would have pointed a gun at the goddamn crate in the back.

[01:01:42] It's like, let us through or we all go up. Yeah. So if you turned around and gone back when you're in the middle, it would have been three bounty to pass through that toll booth. And when you came back the other side, it would have gone from two to four. Oh my god. What's funny is, I knew it was going to happen. As soon as you put the toll booth, it's like, hey, we're going to move a little bit further, and there's another toll booth. Yeah, in the toll booth, they have a whole bunch of different placards with different amounts written on it. Oh god.

[01:02:11] Those monsters. And they hope that you just don't want to fight your way out. Yeah. As we're driving away from that stupidity, I just turn over to St. Bernard. You know, if this conflict with the whole DHQS bullshit, if we survive that, I'm electing to start another conflict on the Randians. Fuck those guys. We'll be the first one on the front lines. Okay. New target, boys.

[01:02:42] Burn another charge of fuel. Yep. As you're driving along. We're down to three now. St. Bernard, you can give me an awareness check. He didn't say you can make an awareness check, because he doesn't believe in me. Ha! Natural six and red nine, but I have plus four to that, so it's a ten over nine, and I win. So I win. Good.

[01:03:09] You notice on the side of the road, there appears to be like a little small camp set up. It's got a little fire cooking. There appears to be at least two people you can see moving around in the site. Oh, hold on. We've got movement of fire. Two individuals. Is it another toll? Oh, he's... Oh, yes. No, if it was another toll, I'd be... I'd be barreling a mortar straight at them. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:03:36] Slowing down something for the campground, or the campsite. Yeah. It appears two people. They've got a bunch of gear stacked up. They've got what looks like just some makeshift benches on the sides of the campfire. They got a cooking pot over the fire. They seem to be cooking something. A stew or a soup. Probably a stew. And they wave at you as you start approaching. I don't trust any stew pots out in the loss.

[01:04:06] These fellows seem awfully friendly. Something is wrong. I mean... Yeah, probably. Like, he tried... Balto tried to be, like, optimistic in this wasteland. It's like, you're probably right. Better look on the bright side, Balto. They're probably better company than the Randians, even if they are cannibals. That is true. So, yeah. Slow down some, and... They're not wearing flak jackets.

[01:04:36] Let's take a look. Yeah. No, they appear just to be normal clothes. Jeans. Shirt. You can see pistols at their side. They've got some backpacks up against the makeshift benches. A lot of, like, wood planking about. But other than that, they don't seem to be, you know, equipped for battle like the Randians. When you slow down, they go, Howdy, neighbor.

[01:05:04] We were just gonna stop and have something to eat. Would you be interested in chatting with us? Sharing some food? We'd be happy to share. If you're willing to let us know what the road looks like down the way. Wouldn't happen to be operating a toll booth, would you? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, I just said we'd be happy to give you some food if you could share some information down the way. There's a toll booth? Oh, thank God. There's a toll booth. There's two of them.

[01:05:33] Bloody power and transit, transit and power authority, quote unquote. Oh, God. Yeah. That sounds like a Randy employee if I ever heard one. They're the worst. Oh, God. I know. Right. The worst. Would you like some free food? Yeah. What are we having for dinner? Just some stew we made up. You know, squirrel, rabbit, just whatever we can get our hands on.

[01:06:03] We're heading down south a ways for a bit. Which direction did we come from? The southwest. You were heading northeast. They're heading in the direction that we just came from? Sort of. Sort of. Slightly off, yeah. Slightly off, yeah. Yeah. Looks at the rest of them was like, can we afford a pit stop? What brings you down the south way?

[01:06:31] We're just looking for some specialized equipment. Radio equipment, actually. Maybe you know of some. We heard rumor that there might be some down in Oklahoma we can get our hands on. If not there, then see what we could find out in the Dallas area. Insight? Sure. Roll insight. Yeah.

[01:07:00] Is that actually squirrel in that stew? Let's see. Or is it sweet meats? Is insight a skill in this? Did I say insight? I meant sensitivity. I've been playing too many different games lately. Yeah, no. Well, it's almost always insight. It's a really common skill name. Yep, that's a success.

[01:07:30] Yeah, they're looking for radio equipment. And down south, check in Oklahoma. If not, Dallas area. Seem to be honest about that. You might not need to go quite that far. Depends on what you need. There are a bunch of old National Guard stations. Kind of south and outside of Wichita, if you've been over that way. If you just avoid the city. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. They ring the city. There's like four or five, six different National Guard stations over there.

[01:08:00] Just, you know, don't go into downtown. They sort of whisper to themselves a second. Like, oh, that National Guard, you said. Oh, yeah. There's five or six of them actually clustered around the city. It was a big thing before the crash. Oh, we didn't think about National Guard. Yeah, thanks a lot. You guys are really helpful.

[01:08:25] Man, I wish there would be more nice people like you guys out here in the loss. Here we were thinking that you were going to try and hold us at gunpoint and rob us of everything we had. Nope, we're all just trying to, you know, get along out here. And, you know, I tried to avoid Dallas before the crash. Oh, no, I get it. Big cities are terrible. We weren't going to go in there unless we really had to. Yeah, hopefully that helps you guys out. Yeah, of course. Anything we could do to pay you guys back?

[01:08:56] No, just be safe out there. Okay, actually, I guess my character would also like to know. Do they look like any of them suffered injuries recently? Do they look like they're, like, just from a glance? They look really tan, like they've been out in the sun a lot. But yeah, no injuries. Okay. Just my paramedic kind of characters kind of kicking in.

[01:09:22] What my friend meant to say was, what could you tell us about the road ahead, since we seem to be heading in opposite directions? Nothing up that way, but farms. I mean, don't go into a, you know, a combine. I guess you're going to be passing close to the DHQS area around Kansas City. I mean, not necessarily close, close, but maybe you'll see some of those people up there. They don't seem to be too friendly.

[01:09:52] But other than that, no, nothing, nothing, nothing too out of the ordinary. There's a shady crew. Looks like they're hanging out in the area. But when we, we stayed away from them and they didn't pursue us. I think we all should heal humanity on this. This has been very pleasant. This is more wholesome than my scene with my daughter. If you want to spend down and spend a break just chatting with them, I'd allow a heal of humanity.

[01:10:20] I think that might do us some good. As we, we have a discussion, we have a, we have a, a mutual hatred for the, for the, for the Randians. Can I call in my spot life is precious because I sent them to a safer place? Uh, yeah, sure. Thank you. Are you going to accept their gift of free food and, and friendship for a, a 30 minute or whatever long rest?

[01:10:49] Well, roll an awareness first to see if it is indeed kosher. The food, I mean. Yeah, if you want to take a look inside the pot, go ahead. I'm not going to stop you. Would that be awareness or foresight? Uh, that would be awareness. Okay. Oh, that is a 10 over seven. Uh, there's cubed meat in there. It looks like chunks of meat. Do I see that?

[01:11:16] Somehow have some, some carrots and potatoes. And that seems to be about it. All right. All right. Don't know if you, how big the rabbits are up in Canada, Chris, but you're not getting a lot of meat to cube out. I mean, they're pretty big up here. Like, like, they're not, they're not, they're not, it's more like ice than cube. But yeah. Yeah. I mean, heck, the squirrels up here are like about the size of rabbits sometimes. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:11:46] No, I'll eat out of character. Adam makes a point. That they're not, that they're, they're usually scrawny. Is that bad? Yeah. Well, what are we doing guys? Are we, are we sitting down with these guys or? Well, I am, my, my soft spot is why can't we be friends? So I'm all for eating. I'm just telling you that. Yeah. Well, my character also has a soft spot of help those in need.

[01:12:13] And so like, I mean, they're not in need, need, but like we are helping them out by exchanging information and stuff. So he, he would technically. He is trying to be, do good in this world, in this stupid world. So, so we can go ahead and do this, heal points of humanity, then immediately make a self-control check to find out that we've ate somebody that we find during the next leg. Yeah. You know what? I'm fine with that. So are we all in agreeance?

[01:12:43] Already. I've already crumbled in attachment, so. Okay. I mean, you don't, you don't have to eat. I'm just, just, just put it out there. You guys can have a free refresh of rations. We haven't spent any yet. Yeah. Would that be a, an extra refresher rations for later? Yes. Yes. So you guys don't happen to have any fuel, do you? No. Lateral. Oh, they don't have any fuel. We're working on, uh, uh, leg power.

[01:13:13] You know, we don't got any horsepower. I gotcha. Yeah. Oh, they start taking out bowls and, and pass them around. Uh, opens the pot. One of the guys fills his own bowl. Wait till they take a bite. Hands it, uh, gestures, gestures to hand it off to, to, to his friend who then gives him his bowl, fills it up. Then he gestures the bowl to, uh, to, um, road salt there.

[01:13:42] And for a penny and for a pound, I'll, uh, chow down. Yeah, same. I will eat after I see them take a bite of it. Okay. They fill up all the bowls. Um, they go, we don't have any spoons or anything. Uh, I don't know if you guys are from the, the Hutchinson area. Uh, I hear hatch. They got that old salt mine going. Um, don't have too much flavor in, but, uh, hope it's good.

[01:14:11] We have salt in our packs now. We are salt. I have salt in my pocket. Just sprinkle it a little bit in your, from your pocket, like sand. Salt, that shit is everywhere where we come. We throw it over our shoulder at the slightest provocation. Awesome. Really trash it. It's for fun. Okay. Well, to, to new friends, they, they, they hold up the, the bowls and cheers. Salute! Burn some salt in celebration.

[01:14:41] Okay. Yeah. So we can. Yeah. You guys can eat. Uh, give me an awareness check there. Shake. Cause you're did, did St. Bernard, did you question the, the, the soup as well? The soup. A little questioning. Okay. You guys, you can also give me an awareness check. Seven over five. No way, not seven over five. It's six over five. Ten over two. Okay. Okay. So you both succeeded. Uh huh. Okay.

[01:15:10] Uh, so you guys, you guys cheer, uh, road salt and Balto. They, they drink from their stew and everything. Uh, the, the two people, they put their stew down on their side and pull out jerky from their packs and start eating the jerky. Hmm. Uh, I, I guess. So I go, I just, I just kind of, I actually will slap, uh, Balto so hard on the back that

[01:15:34] he, uh, what, what, uh, uh, rope salt. We gotta go. We gotta go. Oh, okay. Uh, oh, wait, wait, wait. Uh, well, one of them stands up. Um, we'll say, uh, guy number one. He goes, uh, no, just, it's, it's, it's fine. Uh, actually, uh, I wanted to have a conversation with you, uh, road salt Balto.

[01:16:02] So, uh, over there, I, I wanted to ask you your opinion on something we got. Stew is a bit too bland for you. That it. Why weren't you eating it? Uh, uh, did, what, we, we were having our jerky first before. Why weren't you eating it? It's, it's fine. Uh, uh, road salt Balto. Can I please talk to you over, over here? Can I roll a four side? Yeah. Roll, roll sensitivity.

[01:16:31] That sounds sketch. Road salt, you can roll sensitivity too. Things seem good to me. Like the stew. Okay. Ah, yeah. They seem up on the up and up. With my five under 10. He looks, uh, he looks really worried. Like really worried about St. Bernard and shake. Well, you, you guys don't have to worry. Uh, like, like we, we can talk among friends.

[01:17:01] Like they're, they're, they're, they're good. Like I've, I've been working with these boys for, for, for a cup for a lot while now. So you sure you've been with them the entire time. Absolutely. They haven't left your site at all for, for any period. Not on this trip. What about previous trips? I mean, I've, I've been hanging out with them in our enclave. For the last few weeks. Did you know them before the crash? No.

[01:17:30] Uh, number, number two stands up and goes, uh, St. Bernard, shake. Maybe we should give them some, some space to, to talk and, and work things out. There's nothing to talk about. There's no, there's nothing to talk about. We're leaving. We're leaving loud enough for everybody. Like I, we appreciate the camaraderie or the poisoning or whatever the fuck just happened. But like, we've got to go now. Okay. Uh, okay. Okay. That's fine. Road salt. Uh, Balto kid.

[01:18:00] Can I have one of your ubic addresses? I'd like to contact, well, road salt, uh, can I contact you if we have any questions about the, the communication gear? Uh, it's, uh, it's just the, and then just kind of wander over to the pan. Yeah. I was, I'm sorry, guys. We do have to go, uh, seeing the, uh, sort of getting the message from the, from the others. It's like, I mean, I got, yeah, I got to get the, I got to get the, uh, the, the shame balance started. Give me that mechanics check.

[01:18:30] Yeah. Wait, road salt went over to the pot? No, to the, towards the shambelance. Like just stumbling, uh, hamming up, not feeling well. Oh, okay. Yeah, we should really go. My friend is, uh, constitution is not. Oh. Incredible. I think that you might have been too bland for him and he's, uh. Oh, that will pass. Don't worry. Oh, that's good. That's, uh. Um.

[01:19:00] So I got a nine, nine. Uh, should I spend that will? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, I'm spending that will. Uh, was that a natural nine, nine? No, it wasn't. It was, uh, it was eight, uh, eight under nine. But with the. Okay. Yeah. So you flip it to a success. The, uh. Uh. The vehicle starts. Mm-hmm. Please. Just. Can we, can we talk, please? Please? They're not stopping you. They're just like. Yeah, no. We're, we're driving off.

[01:19:30] Okay. Have a good day now. Okay. Bye. Good luck. Road Salt. Do you, do you have UBX packs? I do. Um. They, they start ringing. What does the name say? Uh, it's, it's a number you don't, uh, recognize. I do not answer. Okay. Your extended car warranty. What's your voicemail sound like, uh, Road Salt? Hmm.

[01:19:59] One of those, uh, one of those, um, pre-crash answering machine messages where they're really chipper and they're playing off of each other and it's me and, uh, Sparky. Balto, you're, you big, you have UBX packs, right, Balto? Uh, I think so. Hang on. I'm not answering it. Okay. Well, let's start ringing. Yeah. Guys, what the hell? What was that? Not, not talking to the, not talking to the guys on the UBX.

[01:20:27] I mean, like, talking to the, the, the folks in the van as we drive off. I wanted it to be right, but it wasn't right. It was very creepy. Yeah, they got really neat, not, not needy, but they got really, uh, desperate by the end. Desperate to divide us. In fact, why don't you hear, hand you a Walmart bag? Because God knows that they probably blow through the wasteland of America like fucking tumbleweeds.

[01:20:56] But, uh, just throw up. Just gag yourself. You don't want that in your system. Don't tell them what it is. All right. All right. Uh, yeah. I could, I assume as a paramedic, I would know how to do it, say how to do that. Give me a, give me a health check, both, uh, road salt and Balto. Oh, what is a health check? First aid? First aid. It's strength. You, you roll it and add your strength to the block. It's basically an infection check, but it's, it's not an infection.

[01:21:26] Oh, fuck. Yeah. I didn't even think about that. That was kind of what I was thinking was like, that me came from. So I read some of Nick's stuff and I was like, oh, I can't say anything. Shit. Um, so that's, that's a seven over two. Okay. That's an eight over three. Your stomachs both feel really bad, but you, you don't manage to, to throw up.

[01:21:54] You just feel like really, like you have a really bad upset stomach. I hate this world. Balto just says, like, he's like, we're trying to do something good with it. And everything, every fucking motherfucker out there is trying to fucking kill us. You know what us talking about this sounds like? It sounds like an interlude. Yeah. I will say one more time. You're, you've expected ring road salt.

[01:22:25] I'm just sitting in the back lean, lean back with my back of my hand on my forehead. Just, uh, would I, could one of us use, um, I can't remember what, I guess it'd be networking or some of that to, uh, to like take the number and like look it up on Google. Cause I know you can do that sometimes with like weird calls and stuff that you get. You could do that. That would be a research check, but, uh, road salt this time there is a voicemail message left behind. I'll play it, play it out loud to the car.

[01:22:52] I, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I have, you, you need to know your life is in danger. The, the, your, your two takers, fellow takers, shake and St. Bernard. They're, they're not who they say they are. They've, I don't know if they're, they're real people or it's just some, some persona they made up, but they're aliens. You gotta believe me.

[01:23:22] They're, they're infiltrators. They, they're here to finish the job. It's why they wouldn't eat the stew. They knew their own biological weapon, the virus, the blight was in the stew. That's why they didn't eat it. You need to, you need to, to, to get away from them now. It's for your own safety or, or, or kill them. And, and there goes self-control check. Yep. Thank you so much, isn't it? That sounds like all of us. Oh, thank, that is 11 over one.

[01:23:52] Uh, sorry, 12 over, over one, sorry. Sorry. Yeah. Fail, 308. Fuck. Boom. Okay. Where's that Walmart bag? There you go. Hey, you, yeah, actually, uh, I wouldn't, uh, if you ate salt or if you take some of your pocket salt, wouldn't that like cause you to up check? Cause like if you have too much salt or something like that, I saw that in the James Law movie once. Sure. Um, what damage do I'll take if we pass or fail on this?

[01:24:21] Uh, if you fail, take two to trauma or two to detachment, uh, trauma for, for Balto and road salt detachment for St. Bernard and shake. Uh, if you pass, you don't lose anything. Okay. Um, I'm, I'm also just to be safe. If I'm going to try and up check it again, like try and get this, any, any of the stuff out. Well, that's a fail. That's a success. That was two to what? Detachment. Oh, that's, that's good.

[01:24:52] I feel like it's not good. I'm three away from breaking in that. So I rolled an 11 over five, uh, for that to try and up check. Okay. Yeah. You don't lose anything if you pass, uh, if you fail, it's two. But yeah, that voicemail plays out with him begging for you to, to kill the alien infiltrators. Ah, absolute lunatics.

[01:25:19] I'm going to try the pocket salt thing to throw up. Yeah. If you put it in a, if you put it in like, make a really salty water or something like that, you'll gag and up check. Yeah. You guys throw up as much as you can. Balto pulls to the side. You guys both try and throw up as much as you can. Mm-hmm. And Bernard like, like turns around in his chair and the both of you may disagree with me at the moment, but I still prefer them to the Randians.

[01:25:47] And we finish this. I'm just going to start hunting for a bunch of motherfuckers to kill. So there is to it. Okay. Try to make the world right. Try to make the world nice. But no, everything keeps shitting on you. Between the THQS, the Randians, fucking cultists. He just keeps, just like retching and then like bitching.

[01:26:13] St. Bernard is like three points of detachment away from that scene in Kingsman when Colin Firth is in the church just slaughtering people. Yeah. Shit. Okay. Um, and you don't have to vignette yet. Um, because you are at the job site. The last leg is after the job site. I, I figured it was going to be bad eating that stew. I just, I totally gapped. It's like right. Blight. Meek assholes.

[01:26:44] No, they weren't meek. I know they're not meek necessarily, but like, fuck. I totally gapped about blight being in food. I wanted to believe. See? I wanted to believe. I knew it seemed too wholesome. Yeah. I, I was just thinking fucking cannibalism. I totally gapped on the blight. Yeah. So we make it to the job site. I guess I'm burning another ration or another, no. Another fuel.

[01:27:12] You're not, you're not doing anything about the alien infiltrators in your crew? No. I, I, I passed my self-control. I know they're crazy. While they're, while they're throwing up, I take the rubber mask off for a second and the tentacles. It would have been nice if they'd been at face value, but you know, something came up. Whoa. Oh God. There you go. As you're, as you're, as you're driving, as you're driving down the road, you also notice in the fields, there's a lot of crop circles.

[01:27:44] Son of a bitch. Wait. God damn it. The wood planks. Oh, I just, oh, you sly mother. Explain this to me. I missed it. So in order to hoax crop circles, people will take wooden planks. Oh, okay. Rope on either end. Yeah. Rope on either end. And just basically like walk on the planks, like, like waddle along the planks in order to make the crop circles. Like that's how they make the corn bend. Thank you.

[01:28:13] My obsession with, with ufology as a kid. Damn it. Telling from the groans of my coworkers, uh, does that, uh, hit my weak spot of not funny? I, I was, I was going to say, like, when you do that and like, dude, like, uh, something came up, I was going to like, uh, I was gonna have Balto say, it's like road salt. That joke was bad enough to make me hurl. And then he starts trying to hurl.

[01:28:40] No, not, not, not quite there, road salt, but, uh, maybe, maybe, maybe if there's another one, um, you know, he's such a nice guy. Yeah. But he does such horrible things to us, you know? Yeah. So, you, you guys arrive at the, the coordinates. There's a little, a little trail leading up to a, a house on this, this hill. It's got a lot of brush on it and everything.

[01:29:06] Um, you notice some people walking around in, uh, Canadian military fatigues. Um, they must've gotten a description of your students cause they didn't hide or do anything. They just let you drive on up. I assume we're, we like, we get a Ubix bounce or something like that at all, or they just. I don't know. They, they, they wave at you as you drive up. Okay. Yeah. Do they say hello? Do they say bonjour? Uh, bonjour.

[01:29:36] Uh, I see you are the, uh, you must be the shipment we're expecting, eh? I don't suppose the DHQS would, would waste a vehicle making it look like that. Well, what's that supposed to mean? Like, look over at Walto nervously, like, uh. Like, well, what's all that about? Oh, no, no, no, it's a fine, it's a fine looking, it's, it's a fine looking vehicle, you know, but, uh.

[01:30:02] They, they got real military, military vehicles out there. Oh, all right, all right, that's fair. It's paid for, but yeah, we got your stuff here. Oh, looks at it. You got the, the other two boxes in the back, eh? Uh, yep. Mm-hmm, I hid right behind. Here, I'll grab those for you. Let's, uh, he, he whistles and two people come over and start unloading it. How do they look?

[01:30:28] Uh, no, they're, they, uh, they're Canadian military fatigues. They've got rifles, helmets. I mean, skin condition-wise. Oh, no, they're, they're fine. Okay. None of them appear to, to have, you know. Intense sunburns. Radiation effects outwardly showing, if they do have any. Um, so the guy who, who talked to you is like, yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, I'm the one in charge here.

[01:30:57] You guys are part of the, one of the other attack crews? Yeah, are, are you part of the A team? Oh, oh, God. Oh. That's actually pretty, kind of good. That was, that was really good. Give me a self-control check, everybody. Really? Except for. I'm not taking that. Succeeded. Oh, man. I, I actually slapped him on the back and he's like, woo, that was a great one. You guys all pass. Yeah. Um, you're fine.

[01:31:26] He goes, uh, he actually chuckles himself. Uh, uh, yeah, you can say that. We're the A team. Uh, my name's Liam. Who are you? Who are you guys? Ah. We're, we're just, we're just concerned citizens helping out. I guess that's the best way to word it. You know, we're all denial of assets. You know what I mean? Kind of thing. Um, I just kind of stagger off. Don't sell yourself short, you know. Uh, your contributions help the war effort a lot. Uh, plus you're going to be leading a team.

[01:31:56] They must trust you, uh, to some point. We're aware of that, right? Yeah. Yeah. You guys are leading a section. It's, it's, it's been a while since we played. So I just want to make sure. The overall plan is to every, uh, there's going to be a bunch of different strike teams with different objectives, you know, try and hit them in as many different ways as possible to disorient them quick and fast and then get the hell out. Cause there's going to be a press conference about that being the first settlement open to the public.

[01:32:25] And they want to make it seem like it's not safe and that shouldn't be opening the loss to the public or, you know, quote unquote public. Yeah. They want to delay the, the reclamation and bad press will help with that. Or at least that's, that's the whole plan. So he goes, uh, Liam goes, um, well, with this here, murder shells, we'll have enough to, uh, to get a job done and have some stuff left over. Uh, I feel good about this.

[01:32:54] Uh, you know, um, we might even be able to, to spare some troops on your end. If, if you need any mortar crews. Do we? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yep. I even got latitude and longitude coordinates for a tow booth or three that I'd like you to blow the fuck out. He, he, he chuckles. Uh, those, those salt of the earth bastards, eh? Yeah. Oh, uh, also, uh, watch out for these, uh, these guys. Um, they're up, they're on the road.

[01:33:24] Uh, don't, don't trust any scrolls to trust me. Uh, whoever wants to make an awareness check can make an awareness check. I think Ethan's wants to have awareness. I won't do that. Well, it's better with the binoculars, but I could also do it, but, uh, guys go to the market. All right. Yeah. You're having a good conversation here. Is that a one and done or would you allow others? I'd allow one other person. Well, let me go for it. Cause I got three.

[01:33:53] Uh, that's a 10 over five. Okay. Uh, so three of the crates, they, they move into their own vehicles. One of the crates, uh, they move into the house. Hey. Yeah. Um, just, just, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll, uh, put, we'll, we'll put word in with word that we could, uh, send some people over. Um, and, uh, I guess we'll be putting your charge. Eh? You don't got any gas.

[01:34:22] Oh yeah. Yeah. We got gas. Yeah. Um, how much, how much, how much do you need? Um, I don't suppose you could spare seven charges. How much you got? Give me a persuade check, Balto. Oh God. God damn it. Don't get too greedy or you won't get none of it. Uh, persuade. It was that? Yeah. Persuade. I don't have persuasion. Somebody else can please. Oh, come on.

[01:34:51] I pop my head in and say, please. Oh no, no. Balto's got to roll this. Oh really? Okay. Fine. Uh, so am I just rolling? So for, cause it's just basic. Um, so I'm just rolling my one charisma. Um, for defaulting it, do I just roll the black? Just roll the black. And if it's equal or under the potential. Christ. Okay. That's a 10% chance of success.

[01:35:22] Oh, that is. Hang on for me to double check this. Oh, that's a one. He's done it. Son of a bitch. Oh, how are you even? You beautiful son of a bitch. Holy shit. I'm surprised that you came out here with such little gas. Eh? Um, it's tough out here. Yeah, yeah, it is.

[01:35:50] Um, brownie, you can give me an awareness check. Oh God. Uh, that is a four over two. Uh, there seems to be, uh, some trucks just going as fast as they can down the road in the distance. Uh, perpendicular to where you guys are at and where you're looking out. Uh, yeah, we could, we could spare some, some gas.

[01:36:13] Um, we, we don't have seven charges, you know, but, uh, for, for any pal of ours, uh, we'd be happy to spare five charges. I mean, that, that's more than what I have. All right. Or, or, so yeah, I'll, I'll take that. Yeah, just give us a few minutes to, to get it on over and, uh, we'll fill her up, eh? Uh, I, I nudge Benny and make a head motion towards the direction of the trucks and then make a binocular face at him.

[01:36:41] And they're just specs to you, but, uh, binoculars would help. Can, can I take a look with the binoculars? Yeah, so you can give me an awareness check. I add the binoculars. I know I said I'm using the binoculars, but it's, it mentions during, like, scouting during legs. Oh no, you can use the binoculars. That's fine. Okay. Yeah. Success. Success.

[01:37:06] Those are some nice armored vehicles driving quickly down the road and, uh, you catch the flash of a DHQS logo on one of the doors. They're, they're not heading towards you, they're perpendicular to you. They're, they're heading across the, the landscape from where you're looking out. Uh, what, what can you see there, Benny? So, does it seem like they're, they're, like, crossing our path?

[01:37:33] Yeah, so, so let's say you're on the hilltop and you're looking straight out. They're heading from your right to your left. They're not heading towards you. They're just saying the same distance away from you, heading across your field of vision. Okay. It's not like they pulled out of the back of the house and, like, no. No. Okay. I didn't wait for you to arrive and now they're pulling up. No, it's not that. These are actually not Canadians at all. They're, they're, uh, they're undercover. Well, that's what I was thinking. I was like, is this a setup?

[01:38:02] Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking too. No. The hell, that's the DHQS. He takes his pistol out. You boys expected trouble? No, no, no, no trouble. No trouble here. Uh, we got everything under wraps. Don't you worry about it. Uh, now about that gas. Yeah. Uh, let's get to that. Uh, so, um, with, with your oversight and permission, he'll start, you know, bringing the gas over and helping you fill up the truck.

[01:38:32] Does anyone else want to do anything during this time? Yeah. Can I sneak away and peek in that house and window at least and see what's going on? Cause I'm expecting to find a bunch of dead Canadians in there. Um, give me a stealth check if you want to sneak over or you can just walk up if you want. I did stealth. So I got seven over three. Okay. Uh, what is everyone else doing? St. Bernard, um, road salt. Uh, just on extra alertness. Just paying attention all around.

[01:39:02] Okay. Without trying to look too freaked out. Does the fuel smell like maple syrup? I.e. Does, are they putting sugar in the gas? No, no. Man, you guys are paranoid for some reason. I wonder why. I heard it watching you. It's actually got Aunt Jemima's in there. It's not syrup at all. It's corn syrup. They're not Canadian. Kill them. St. Bernard, are you doing anything? I want to ask.

[01:39:30] Has it been in the way of traffic down that road the last couple of days? They've got a couple of recon troops heading out doing circles on the roads down there. Um, you know. Um. Nothing, nothing too big. No, no big assault forces or anything. Uh. I, I hear they were going to try and draw some out by burning some of Alassine's crop fields.

[01:39:57] And, you know, the, the Helping Hands new, new farm setups. Uh. We'll, we'll see if that, that draws them out if that gets done. But, uh. No, no, uh. Uh. No big troop movements, you know. Hope not. The thing we need is for you, you blokes to get, you know, discovered or made or found out. Ah, they, they couldn't catch us if they wanted to, eh? We're, uh, we're professionals.

[01:40:27] You know, former, former Canadian military. Uh. You know, well, what's left of it. Um. So, Shake. You, you look inside and you can see it's, it's an open floor plan, fortunately. You can see all the way through to the back. Uh. It appears there was a large porch area. Uh. It appears the, the roof and the screening has been ripped off. And you see what looks like a small, like, little mortar nest or three are set up on the back porch.

[01:40:56] And they seem to be, uh, have one of the crates that you delivered open. Uh. They're aligning the borders. Um. They're, they're looking through binoculars out, um, across the landscape. I thought you were gonna say. The shambulance. Light it up to the shambulance. So, it still looks like they're Canadian military, right? Yes. Okay. Well, I'm glad I didn't get caught.

[01:41:23] So, cause I, y'all don't want to hear how I was going to try to talk myself out of this. But, uh. Uh. I guess I feel more confident that they're not planning to kill us. Um. So, I'll, I guess I'll just kind of watch for a minute. And if that looks like they're legit. Then I'm going to kind of walk back to the rest of the group. Yeah. So, by the time you're returning to the group, you finish filling up the gas.

[01:41:51] At that point, you hear the thunk of mortars going off. And the, the St. Bernard and Rhodes Salt are hypervigilant and are aware of the convoy. Um. You see explosions start going off, uh, around the convoy as the mortar shells land. And one of the trucks gets hit and, and veers off the road. Um. While the other two, um. The front one just starts booking it. And the other one sort of, uh. Comes to a screeching halt.

[01:42:20] As a, a shell impacts the road in front of it. Shake walks up right beside, uh. Uh. St. Bernard. And while we're watching the fireworks go off, go. You said, you said DHQ. Somebody gave your daughter a switch? That thing may have a mic on it and all that. You may not want her around turning. With, uh. The bugged device. And then he just keeps watching. So, it's just this random aside that has nothing to do with what's going on right now.

[01:42:48] And St. Bernard's eyes get a little wider and he's like, son of a bitch. Uh. Liam turns to you guys. Ah! Huh. It seems like, uh. Seems like the attack's going off. That's the stuff. He looks out. Another, one of the other, the lead car that was trying to get away. He veers off the side of the road because it hits a pothole because it's going too fast and crashes. Um. Liam chuckles. And, uh. A couple more rounds go off.

[01:43:17] Are you guys doing anything during this time? Should we consider scavenging? What's left of that? Wasn't, hold on. Wasn't the plan for them to, like. Take the mortars and wait for, like, the big attack? They still have three and a half. We, we, uh. If you're saying that to Liam. Yeah. I mean, it's sampling the goods. Making sure we deliver good stuff, right? Yeah. Yeah. Liam goes, uh. Right on, pal. Um. Plus, you know, we're only using a couple of the shells. We still got, uh.

[01:43:48] Three and most of the fourth box. Um. My, my question here is, uh. Would this be considered the 4th of July or Canada Day? Uh. Why not both? Uh. He chuckles. And at that point, the, uh. The. The, um. Papinew. Inside the house. Start, uh. Making noise. They start, uh. One, two of them are carrying the mortar. The crate out of the house quickly. They're in the back of the truck. Liam goes, ah!

[01:44:17] Yes. Discipline crew. Packing up. Eh. Uh. You guys might want to leave the area. In case they bring a helicopter around. To, uh. Try and find us. Uh. We're gonna, we're gonna head out. Thanks for the delivery. And he starts running in to, to help clean up the, the mortar setup. Au revoir. Well. Let's make like a banana and split. With that fuel. Uh. Yeah. Can't tell if he's just fucked with us too many times. But I'm suspicious. That's right. Ha ha ha.

[01:44:47] Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Was that in character or out of character? No, that's it. That's out of character. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, slapping the side of the shamblance. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Go. If we don't get out of here now, we're gonna leave with none of it. Oh. Are you going quickly? Or are you just, uh. Just driving? Ah. I feel like we should. Do we want to try and scavenge or do we want to just fucking get out of here?

[01:45:18] I feel like we should go quickly because those idiots just fired off mortars. That's true. Oh, God. Also the noise. Um. Oh. Weather. Well, we'll reach a Porsche. Yakita sax time. Should we plot an alternative route home? Well, not through that. Totally. Definitely not through that town that we had to go through. Should we lure the casualties to the I

[01:45:51] Damn it, St. Bernard I like that It's just like, hello boys We're back That would be quite a drive I do have Okay, not to get cocky I do have Three and drive I do not have a will though Yeah, yeah First, give me a drive check

[01:46:19] to see how well you get off that little hilltop That's a That's definitely a success It's 9 over 6 But 12 over 6 Okay, yeah, you just shoot down that hill avoiding potholes and some other Convenient places of nature now that you think about it The Canadians probably made this this road a little little harder to navigate on as a little little safety precaution

[01:46:48] disguised as fallen trees and stuff like that Well, maybe maybe when he was when he when we were gassing up Liam let me in on some of the some of the stuff some of the some of the obstructions So you you immediately drive off you can see behind you the the Canadian the Papa News trucks immediately like behind you and then they turn off in the distance start trucking away from you in a different direction So yeah God, you crazy connects

[01:47:18] to the last leg Okay Interlude anyone? I mean I'm unless it's like narratively like Nick has got something special planned for us I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop Yeah, I've got I've got something something a little bit Yeah Mortar detonates next to us No, not quite that I'd say we just keep on keeping on I mean

[01:47:48] if it's if it's built into the story then I want to see it Yeah I think we had our little like our kind of makeshift interlude after the after the campers situation Strangely enough I feel a little bit better as a character and as a player talking to the Canadians Well, the Canadians are doing their job to put Poutine DHQS in their place So mark off another charge of fuel Yep And it will for not being funny

[01:48:18] I will allow everybody but Crazon to give me an awareness check You cannot use the binoculars for this one unless you're not specifically unless yeah this is not a visual awareness check Don't worry I succeeded anyway 9 over 3 I failed Okay Those of you who pass hear the sounds of rotor blades getting louder

[01:48:48] Probably need to just hide We can't outrun a helicopter Wait I guess I can't speak since I didn't make the awareness check I'm sorry Please keep going At first St. Bernard's like Those are a bit rough out here aren't they Yeah Yeah That Liam guy told me what to watch out for but damn they were thorough Like thinks back to his military days and he's like that's a helicopter What?

[01:49:19] No no that is absolutely helicopter blades Should I go faster or are we going to be able to pace that? It's going to be a bit difficult to outrun a helicopter And also there's not too much cover in Kansas To the only hill Yeah That's the safest location That's exactly where they'd

[01:49:48] be looking Where can that open field Out of any out of curiosity Would my history as a mine engineer let me know of any mines in the area that we could potentially drive into the mouth of to hide I can roll a mine maintenance skill if that helps I'd say that would be foresight Just picturing a slight version of that Back to the Future 3 where he puts the DeLorean in the cave Exactly Or an episode of 18

[01:50:19] Oh yeah I've never actually watched 18 That is a success after I used a will You know there's a small little bluff where there's a creek that has some tree coverage that you could go into It wasn't really like a mining thing you had to do It was more of they were looking to dam up the creek a bit and your your friend asked you to look into it as a as a favor Oh creek that sounds great we could actually get some water and throw it on

[01:50:48] the motor and everything in case they're using thermal imaging because when I used to grow pot character not Adam like they you know they try to find pot plants while I used in thermal imaging and they got the heat signature that the plant gives off and he just kind of rattles nervously for a while on the back of the shamblings or crypto yep grow house or crypto let's go there's a spot there's a spot over here in the creek where we can hide yep I'm driving sorry

[01:51:18] driving uh balto this is more important for you give me health check health check the roll plus the four under five okay do you want to focus on the driving or focus on not throwing up in your vehicle I'm gonna focus on the driving okay you know or Saber probably knows I'm

[01:51:48] starting to sweat a lot and looking kind of pale so he's sweating a lot he's driving he pulls over he starts pulling over to the creek and that's when he just unfortunately vomits in front of him on the car the dash a little bit of the window give me a drive check to see how well you can hide this vehicle what is your bonus to driving my bonus is three three okay we're gonna say it's a one due to all the the

[01:52:18] vomit and everything in front of you you just exorcists all okay fuck damn it you got any will i don't have a will oh shit uh you you park it in the creek um it's sort of not in cover

[01:52:48] too well what you guys want to do it's it's very close you can sort of through the leaves you can see it getting closer on the horizon that is that trailer still hooked up yes that's what's sticking out he didn't take that into account can we like hop out undo the trailer hitch like roll that down into the creek creek to like distract them sure yeah you can do that all right so

[01:53:17] how much i guess that'd be an athletics check uh yes to do it quickly okay so we can also burn extra so i'm gonna i'm gonna spend three because i really want this to happen where's my athletics hey this looks like it's 10 over 8 the plus three thank god i spent it do you want more of us to help or just just add it's it's it's fine uh he manages to unhook it in time and one of you guys could could get there to help push

[01:53:47] it um it was just the unhooking it quickly thing that i wanted the athletic check for um you push it and the the helicopter uh is above sort of hovering for a moment what what do you guys want to do right it's like in predator if we get below if we get in the water they can't see us they're using the thermal imaging stuff like that arnold's never let me right down so i'm just going ahead and like

[01:54:17] in the mud under like even kind of like you know like my head maybe under the truck breathing in the spot right there underneath the truck with the hot engine hiding from the thermal imaging i thought it's in the water did you actually pull the pull it into the water it's like on the edge it's not like into the water there's enough space for him to hide under it i guess hiding the trees then i'm sorry okay so shakes hiding in the trees is going to climb a tree

[01:54:47] quickly road salt is climbing under the vehicle balto saint bernard what are you guys doing yeah i'm gonna abandon my baby for a moment and uh and hide in the foliage okay saint bernard oh let's see i think if i have any like gear or anything that might come in handy here i i did forget i have facial uh recognition software

[01:55:17] installed on my ubix earlier when i had to make that sensitivity check so cool where are you gonna hide if at all are you gonna walk out and welcome to dhqs with open arms i'm thinking not that one i'll follow them over to the trees and can i um i have ghoul net can i can i contact the canadians um they didn't really give you a number you could

[01:55:47] contact the uh extra cultists i was gonna say that the reason why the extra cultists could call because they were just pinging you because they were close because you were in range to like show up on their their ubix specs mothership has landed i repeat the mothership has landed get over here okay so two in trees one in just the bushes and one under the vehicle uh the the helicopter hovers really low like you could see the the wheels on the bottom of it and you hear over

[01:56:16] a megaphone hello anyone there this is the dhqs please come out we have some questions for you crick it crick it nope we don't want to come out so nope this is your final warning if you're there please come out we have we wish to talk to you that's bait dot gif yeah all right put a round in the truck maybe maybe maybe

[01:56:46] something will happen uh and you uh you hear a machine gun start up for a second and a small little little burst goes into the side and tinks off the armoring uh give me self-control check there balta yeah thank god for that armor also uh fuck you nick also my dice uh that is oh okay that's 11 over 4 okay uh it's just a

[01:57:16] small burst you can see where it hit that that armor you held up damn she's looking good barely a scratch on her you're fine and then the missile comes down after a second the uh the helicopter hovers there for a little bit longer and then um it it takes off again and flies off you okay balto what didn't think overstated yeah he does

[01:57:45] that he's just staring at his at his baby at the shambulance i'm really liking the new armor expecting it to blow yeah he he's he's kind of not gone bye-bye but he's just staring at his his shambulance expecting it to explode he just keeps getting like flashes of that in his head it doesn't smell good on the inside but it's in one piece so here's the thing i played grand theft auto before

[01:58:15] we need to change this paint job or something like that but we come back in that's how you do things in real life right we've got a bunch of mine yellow yeah we got a bunch white and uh and blue was a little inconspicuous but i feel like mine not a step down or it's not a step up camouflage

[01:58:44] well suit yourself not not that i don't appreciate it we are gonna need to yeah we're gonna need to we're gonna need to change her up a little bit i mean we've also got that brown metal primer stuff you apply before the yellow that might work uh are you feeling okay um me yeah i'll be honest i was feeling a little queasy with all the the rumbling uh down that

[01:59:14] down that rocky path to the creek uh i i did i did puke up onto the dash i'm gonna have to clean that up now at least i get to clean that up now it's just a time we need to start talking about suppressant i'm sorry uh roll i'll give you this uh nick i'm gonna roll roll self-control check yeah don't mean to be sabotaging burners suppressor instead of suppressant like that's a good idea

[01:59:45] so i succeed you succeed okay yeah you're fine um he's just concerned he's not he'd say he's not he's not gonna stab you but he's just expressing concern do i have a i thought i had something don't i have no i only have a hang uh do i have that agreed i do have the dhqs issue first day upgrade that neck contact dhqs right after we've been that's blood test kit yeah dhqs issue first aid

[02:00:14] check can be used to administer a blood test for infection will i i think the auto reports on the first on the on the blood kit though yeah not the dhq not the first aid or i mean i can i can look it up right now um i'm just curious because like if i if i can like i wouldn't like my character would probably feel better getting a blood test i'm i'm pretty sure it specifically says it will contact the dhqs on the specific upgrade

[02:00:44] like uh so think of it as like an opportunity to bond with your brother wow you're really just hitting him over the head with this no i'm saying it as i i mean my character really wasn't planning on leaving the area no no it's it's the blood test kit where the dhqs model sends the information to the dhqs um so i could do the blood test kit is a dhqs model and the first aid kit is just

[02:01:13] a dhqs first aid kit so it's just like the bare minimum of blood testing kind of thing so i could do a blood test yes if you have that upgrade i think i do have that upgrade that was one of the first thing i haven't yeah so i think i am going to do that um do you have i guess you got the best first aid i'd assume i believe so uh as my paramedic or you could have someone else who has a will it says that will may not be

[02:01:42] spent on test yeah that's the first aid that's the blood test kit yeah which has the will yeah so i do have three in first aid okay you do you want to administer it to road salt first or to yourself uh actually i'm gonna well i'll look over to i'll go over to road salt after he crawls at it from underneath the shambulance um uh do you have you been feeling all right um i'm thinking of doing a blood test on myself just to make

[02:02:12] sure 100% did you want one i've felt better since the walmart bag but uh you do first and you can do me all right all right okay so yeah i'll go first okay oh boy okay so for first aid um kit uh spend charges to make the first aid check on injury okay so i can spend charges on my first aid check kit to boost the uh

[02:02:43] yeah yeah it's it's one to to administer the test and if you want to help your role you can spend extra charges i'm gonna spend one extra so so total two yeah so total two so i get one extra on top of my three right yeah so you have a plus four now okay son of a eight over so with the with the bonuses eight under nine you start putting the blood on it on the little little test stick or

[02:03:12] whatever the little the little machine and then you just drop it in the mud i'm shaking uh you you wipe it off and you pick it up um the it's got like a little little little scroll wheel for a second and then it reads uh concentrate and ask again okay i'm kidding i'm it it reads negative it it reads no no infection okay

[02:03:42] uh i i sigh with relief road salt do you still want the uh the test yeah yeah if you're willing to uh to give it to me i mean you you know what i'd have to eat if i if i turned here in in kansas don't you what what's that road salt carrion my wayward son wow that was a reach yeah i'm not i'm not i'm just gonna give i'm just gonna spend the one charge i was gonna i

[02:04:11] was gonna spend two charges on you all right this one i'm just gonna spend the one to to get make the test work so as i as i just stab you ow blood oh that's three under seven jeez uh it says results inconclusive um please readminister test

[02:04:40] you must not have gotten enough blood oh i'm sorry rosa i'm gonna have to i'm gonna have to uh get another sample here stab do i need to take a take a stun and or killing to an arm stun to an arm all right i will add one extra to my my roll make that actually it should actually i just realized yeah it should have been um it would have been a five uh still fit so because you could have you could just spend all your charges i was thinking of doing that

[02:05:10] would you let him succeed at a cost and have plenty of blood yeah yeah yeah just we'll see what happens we'll see what happens yeah okay yeah okay that one hang on i gotta i gotta pull this up so i spent two on that one so you have a plus four to your roll no i have a plus five oh you spent two additional okay yeah yeah plus five so ethan did you send your dice to canada he did i got

[02:05:40] six six apparently fuck so it reads it it it sort of stutters for a second and the screen goes blank and then it flashes on and says no infection i'm gonna get a new uh when we get back to town i'm gonna try and see if i can get this properly i must i'm sorry man i threw in the uh uh it does say you're clean

[02:06:10] good to know however i'm assuming the the uncertainty probably doesn't help like my uncertainty in my voice probably doesn't help the assurance wow yeah i'm switching my dice again if i assuming we even roll anymore tonight does that does anyone want to do anything else while you're in this leg where you're just hiding a little creek waiting for the helicopter noises to go away well once they go away hook the trailer back up we can sell that yeah yeah that's two upkeep

[02:06:41] okay um if that's it then uh you guys make it back to your enclave successfully lex thanks you and gives you your 56 bounty okay uh did you want to sell sell the the trailer yes it betrayed us we're like collecting the bounty st bernard like i knew there was a catch what what what catch did everything go all right st bernard relatively speaking

[02:07:10] oh that's that's good i'm glad we really need all all the forces working at peak performance so uh it's it's a good thing you delivered those those mortar shells that's quite unrelated though do you know where one could get a shoe shine at this time uh he looks around for a second i'm sure someone in here in the enclave will shine your shoes like looks down at his vomit stained boots

[02:07:41] they're not too vomit stained there's a little spray that went over anything black and wiggling on the outside of them oh no no just cut to cut to balto in his car muttering while he down everything and disinfected okay um so um so uh whoever saw in the the wagon can roll me networking to see what you guys get from it it's an upkeep two item i assume that would be ethan

[02:08:10] if he's got the connections you know maybe someone with a will yeah i've got two will left i have networking but i spent my will really early that's an eleven over seven selling to the mine uh yeah so you get four bounty for it so you have a total of sixty which i believe splits evenly four ways yeah fifteen yeah fifteen bounty each nice can i get

[02:08:40] some brown paint to give the the shambulance a new paint job that's a bounty okay i'll spend that bounty fourteen yeah you get you get the one bounty on combined paint supplies and air fresheners and yeah disinfectants it's not just the paint it's cosmetic stuff to fix up your vehicle yeah questions comments concerns did you guys like the session i hope you enjoyed it yeah

[02:09:10] oh it was it was a rower from somebody who didn't really do too much except notice that they weren't eating the soup i mean like i enjoyed just watching it i mean it was it was entertaining i mean i had my inputs and stuff i'm not complaining in any shape form or fashion nick i'm just saying how much i enjoyed it just even listening to it and oh that was tense yeah that was enjoyable oh yeah

[02:09:39] no in my character wise it was stressful uh as a player i was enjoying it but there was also parts that were stressful but like in good ways brownie are you still nice and relaxed yeah okay i have just enough bounty after my break even to do a war asset next time and you better believe it's based on a pun god damn it oh i just realized actually i don't have any bounty left after that do i

[02:10:08] we got 15 bounty from from the job right yeah and you spent one on cleaning up your car and making a different color and all that so 14 to my break even to 16 uh the trailer can we say the trailer went to you or did we already factor that in we already factor that in yeah you could sell something or not pay upkeep on something or or you know ralph he he's he's got

[02:10:38] a you know uh he doesn't need food he's busy busy training i do have this one flare you could sell one flare who needs who needs who needs a house after this we're gonna be hitting the road and leaving the area who needs a house and a garage for the vehicle i'll like i know i'm gonna have a little bit left over anyway so i'll just go ahead i feel really bad that i didn't uh prevent him

[02:11:07] from eating that stuff anyway so i'll give him two bounty to have nothing but yeah at least that break even yeah yeah appreciate it oh no problem survival upkeep but at least we still have uh seven charges for for the shambulance yeah that'll that'll be interesting going into the last job um well i'm glad you guys all

[02:11:37] had fun last session is next session is the last session before the big assault so any grievances any heartfelt moments any upgrades whatever you need to do to be prepared gotta get it done next time okay old detachment immediately it makes me so nervous having two and i'm

[02:12:07] already crumbled close spend some money getting that back or go for some uh some hallucinogens just imagine just imagine i hit the breaking point and they're like hey there's gonna be a war you know and st bernard's just like fuck yeah there is right now lock and load i i have a funny thing that i want to say but after the recording as not to to spoil

[02:12:36] things um but i have a comment on on what would be funny if st bernard crumbled in the middle of the fight awesome yeah well i guess with all that said uh thank you nick again for running and guys appreciate the opportunity to play with you all and until next time we'll see all you folks out there on the internet next time later bye sleep well bye goodnight