Days 17 and 18: Settling In (Five Klicks)

From the Journal of Maya Ceros, Days 17 and 18.

    The Hazy Caves are here. They're nearby. I know it. Now, I just have to find them.

    For the better part of a month, we've been on the move. For the better part of a month, we've been cutting our way across the wasteland, trying to get as far from Cinder Hill as we can, never staying in any one place for long. This place, though-- something about this place feels important. Something about this place is keeping us here.

    So of course, we start attracting attention. 

    Day 17 was Scrags, and they didn't give us much time to prepare. These ones were smarter than the last batch, tried to catch us unaware. Getting to them before they got to the rest of the convoy was an urgent mission, but the skies were clear and there were only eight of them, so I had a good feeling about the encounter.

We cut a swath through the fungus choked ruins, intent on meeting the scrags on the road.

I saw pistols and scrap rifles, heard the crazed shouting of eager and desperate souls.

Merlin had already taken up a position on one of the buildings, using his talent at infiltration to get up to the roof immediately.

Seizing the initiative, the rest of us moved up to close the distance between us and the scrags.

Kassandra, Nike and Dora were eager to get into the action.

The crack of Kassandra's Fine Quality Sharp Shooter Rifle cut through the silence, dropping one of the scrags immediately.

The Scrag closest to the fallen one screamed and bailed.

Nike moved into position and squeezed off a pair of shots with her needle rifle, but the rounds did little more than stir up the scrags.

The scrags with the muskets moved into cover and started firing on Polybius. I saw one of the shots plink into his side, knew the shot was lucky-- for both him and the scrag.

Another pair of scrags moved into cover and took shots at Merlin, but they did little more than cut holes in his robe.

Two other scrags with muskets moved into cover and took shots at Nike, but both missed. 

I heard Polybius's booster fire up, and then his needle rifle barked, skewering the scrag that had put a musket ball in his electrics.

The other scrag that had taken a shot at Polybius decided he'd had enough of standing toe-to-toe with the horrifying sentient arcade machine, so he bailed.

Still running off his booster implant, Polybius slung his needle rifle the instant it clicked dry, then turned and blasted the closest scrag with the shotgun he keeps handy for close encounters.

The last of the musket-wielding scrags panicked when her rifle fell apart. One look at Polybius's smoking shotgun barrel, and she was gone, bailing immediately.

Merlin wasted no time slinging lead with his heavy machinegun, easily cutting down the last of the scrags.

Picking through the bodies, we managed to find a pistol on one of the scrags that Merlin dropped, but other than that, we weren't able to scrape up much more from the area than a suit of scout armor and a scrap cannon.

*

Polybius is MVP

All others gain +1 XP

4 AP spent on training.

Loot: Scout Armor + Scrap Cannon + Pistol (Loot Mod)

Trade: Under-Barrel Launcher (2 Frag Grenades), Nomad Armor

Convoy levels up! +1 RESOURCES! Convoy is now 5/5/5!

Dora leveled up! Gains Talent: "Sense of Adventure"

Polybius leveled up! +1 to Initiative! +1 to Grit!

New Recruit: A Rookie

Progress Toward finding The Hazy Caves: +0 (1 of 3)

Big Jimmy prepares a dose of Sprawlwort to give Daedalus an advantage in fighting fish. He then goes in search of herbs and finds a patch with one useful herb in it: Albino Lavender. He already has a good supply of this herb, so he leaves the patch alone. He does not run into trouble. 

Daedalus goes fishing but doesn't have any luck at all finding a spot to fish, so he returns empty-handed.

Henrietta goes in search of hogs to wrestle, but finds none. She does not run into trouble.

Day 18

Day 18 was mostly uneventful. We ran into a Settler from a nearby farm who had come out to the sprawl with his wife, a reclaimer originally from a safe city. Sally and Nike got to talking with the settler, and after we gave him a few caps as a gesture of good will, he ended up joining up with us. He thinks we should stay in this area, settle down and park the convoy for good, but he's also more than willing to throw in with us while we look for a greener place to settle in.

*

No Battle XP

No Loot.

6 AP spent on training.

Trade (Spent 1 Scrap): Scrap Armor, Bipod, Scrap Armor, Nomad Armor, Military Armor

Nike leveled up! +1 to Combat Skill!

Merlin leveled up! +1 to Toughness!

New Recruit: A Wandering Settler With Speech Skill and a Civilian Carbine & a Reclaimer From A Safe City.

Progress Toward finding The Hazy Caves: +0 (1 of 3)

Big Jimmy prepares a dose of Sprawlwort to give Daedalus an advantage in fighting fish. He then goes in search of herbs but finds none. He does not run into trouble. 

Daedalus goes fishing and finds a Secret Spot with four fish he can try to catch. Fish 1: 5/5; Fish 2: 5/5; Fish 3: 1/1. Fish 4: 5/4; He attempts to catch Fish 1 and hooks it. After a protracted battle, he drags it into shore! What a catch! Emboldened, he goes after Fish 2, nearly loses it, then hooks it. After a protracted battle, he drags it into shore! Wow! Two in a day! Lucky catches! Figuring Fish 3 is not worth his time, Daedalus goes after Fish 4 and immediately hooks it, but after a bit of a battle, it breaks away. Grinning, Daedalus returns from fishing feeling quite triumphant and shows his catches off to the caravan. Everyone is impressed, and when he sells the fish to Greene, he contributes 3 Scrap to the community pile. He does not run into trouble.

Henrietta goes in search of hogs to wrestle, but finds none. She does not run into trouble.