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May 12, 2024 17:37
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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Search the store since we’re here.
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Aug 10, 2021 14:29
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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Highway Holocaust posted:Moonlight pours in through a large hole in the roof, illuminating the interior of the store. Judging by the nature of the debris littering the floor, this place was once a liquor store. Most of its stock was consumed by the Skulls when they first took over the town, but after a careful search, you discover a Bottle of Bourbon still intact.
If you decide to keep this item, remember to adjust your Action Chart accordingly.
Automatically took Bottle of Bourbon.
You manage to avoid two more patrols before escaping from the mall and meeting up with Cutter at the truck depot. You are both relieved to discover the place empty and unguarded, and quickly you make your way to the stores building. You find the records office, but without electricity you cannot access the computer files to pinpoint the exact location of the spare you need. With mounting fear you realize that in order to find a new steering linkage you will have to search every one of the 1,600 storage bays that occupy the building.
‘We’ll be here forever if we have to search the shelves,’ you whisper.
‘I guess you’re right,’ replies Cutter, ‘but I think I know a quicker way of finding what we need. Follow me.’
Intrigued by Cutter’s reply, you follow him out of the stores building, across a parking lot and into another section of the depot that is marked:
Zone 3: Municipal Vehicle Servicing
After searching four of the dozen service bays, finally he discovers what he is looking for: a school bus. ‘Cal, you keep y’eyes open while I strip the linkage out o’ this baby. Give me an hour an’ we’ll be on our way.’
Nervously you stand guard at the door to the service bay while Cutter works. All is quiet until, forty minutes later, you see something moving among the vehicles on the far side of the parking lot: it is a drunken clansman. Slowly he staggers nearer, taking alternating gulps from the bottles clutched in either hand. He is about to pass on his way when Cutter drops a spanner. The ringing noise pierces his drunken stupor and prompts him to investigate.
‘Trouble on its way!’ you whisper to Cutter, but your warning is too late. A moment later, the clansman comes lurching through the open door, brandishing his bottles like clubs. He sees you and screams an oath as he gets ready to launch his attack.
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 19
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 28
Combat Ratio: 3
We roll: 8
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 16
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 24
We roll: 9
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 15
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 19
We roll: 8
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 12
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 15
We roll: 8
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 9
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 11
We roll: 2
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 7
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 6
We roll: 8
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 4
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 2
We roll: 5
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 3
Chickamauga: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 0
Highway Holocaust posted:Cutter helps you to hide the clansman’s body in the trunk before returning to the front of the bus to finish his work. Meanwhile, you search inside and find an old tool bag that looks ideal for transporting the heavy linkage. Cutter completes the job and stows the linkage in the bag. Together you carry it out of the service bay and across the parking lot towards the exit.
Weighed down by the heavy load, you find it impossible to move quickly and your escape from Strawn takes several hours to accomplish. You manage to avoid the Skull clan’s perimeter patrols, but it is not until mid-morning of the following day that eventually you arrive back at the colony.
The success of your daring night raid is applauded by the colony. Mountain Goat is especially pleased that you found the part needed to fix the bus, and he is quick to remind everyone that without his help the mission would not have been possible.
After a few hours’ rest, you help Cutter and Uncle Jonas install the new steering linkage. Then you fill your roadster’s fuel tank with gasolene piped from the tanker and prepare to lead the convoy on the next stage of the long journey west.
You leave Interstate 20 and travel cross-country in order to give Strawn wide berth. Later in the afternoon you rejoin the highway as it approaches Lake Leon and the town of Eastland. You are two miles from Eastland when you spot an obstruction in the far distance that appears to be blocking the entire road. However, you are aware that the constant heat haze can play strange tricks on your vision, so you signal to the convoy to halt while you scout ahead.
A mile along the highway you discover that the obstruction is in fact a trench that has been dug diagonally across the road. It is sufficiently deep along its whole length to wreck any vehicle attempting to cross it at speed. You bring your car to a halt and step out onto the sun-scorched asphalt in order to take a closer look at this curious excavation.
The walls of this trench bear no marks made by picks or shovels, leading you to suspect that the hollow was excavated entirely by hand. You are wondering who on earth would undertake such a task, when you hear a chilling sound: the baying of hounds.
The city gangs of Fort Worth keep packs of vicious pit bull terriers, many of whom you have encountered and laid to rest. But nothing you have met in the past has prepared you for the horror that faces you now.
A pack of five dogs suddenly appears at the side of the road, their stealthy approach concealed by the mound of loose earth excavated from the highway trench. At first glance they look like Alsatians, but you soon see that these dogs are much larger and fiercer. They fix you hungrily with their feral eyes, their mouths slavering and foaming as they stalk forward. Then two figures come into view behind them, gaunt and pale despite the desert sun. With a rasping scream, they command the dogs to attack and immediately the pack obeys.
Endurance: 3/27
Medi-Kit: 3/12
Water Canteen: 1/4
Rifle: 2/14
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Aug 11, 2021 10:15
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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Rifle, Shoot the dogs.
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Aug 11, 2021 11:14
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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I think we're hosed here, honestly. Go down shooting our entire two bullets.
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Aug 11, 2021 13:18
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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I think we're hosed here, honestly. Go down shooting our entire two bullets.
Yes
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Aug 11, 2021 20:45
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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Old Yeller ain’t dead yet. Shoot him again, Pa!
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Aug 12, 2021 12:51
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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Aug 12, 2021 14:03
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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Old Yeller ain’t dead yet. Shoot him again, Pa!
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Aug 12, 2021 19:56
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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Highway Holocaust posted:Your gunfire brings down another of the slavering dogs and the others halt in their tracks. Turning, they run away, scattering in all directions as they flee the highway.
Remember to deduct the relevant number of rounds from your Ammo Pouch.
Slowly the two figures shamble to the edge of the highway and stare at you with vacant eyes. Your spirited dispatch of their dogs has not worried them in the slightest; neither do they appear unduly concerned for their own safety. You stand your ground, challenging them to attack if they dare. They laugh. It is a pitiful, thin sound, which makes your flesh crawl. You return their empty stares, noting with disgust the ulcer-like sores that cover their pale, greyish skins, their almost complete lack of hair, and their teeth, black with decay. Your disgust turns to pity, however, when suddenly you realize why they show no fear: they are both afflicted with terminal radiation sickness. Death is already their companion.
‘Where are you from?’ you call, anxious to discover if there is a hot spot—a zone of radioactivity—nearby.
‘Cisco,’ comes the reply.
You take some dressings from your Medi-kit and place them on the ground in front of you (erase one Medi-kit unit from your Action Chart); then you turn and walk back to your roadster. The dressings may be of little comfort to these two Rad-vics (the name your colony gives to victims of high-dosage radioactivity), but they may know others who will benefit from them.
With a squeal of tyres, you accelerate away, retracing your route along Interstate 20 towards the convoy. As you drive, you are haunted by images of the two Rad-vics that you encountered at the trench: the chilling memory of their gaunt, grey faces has awakened your deepest fears. The road crests a rise and you see the convoy parked less than a quarter of a mile away. The welcoming sight distracts you from your morbid thoughts, but the relief is to be short-lived.
As you bring your roadster to a halt alongside the bus, you see Cutter standing on the roof, a pair of battered binoculars pressed to his eyes. ‘Looks like we’re goin’ to have company real soon,’ he says, staring at a large cloud of dust that is advancing towards Eastland from the northeast. ‘I reckon there’s over 100 bikes out there on the prairie, and they’re all headin’ this way. Looks like that Mad Dog Michigan decided not to go to Killeen after all!’
‘I think we should head for Cisco and lay low until they pass,’ says Uncle Jonas, but he soon changes his mind when you tell him about your encounter at the trench.
‘Abilene would be safer,’ says Kate, leaning out of a window of the bus. ‘But we’ll have to pass wide of Cisco to get there.’
Cutter convenes a hasty conference to decide the best way to reach Abilene. The terrain in this area is too rocky to attempt a cross-country detour at speed, so you must use what little remains of the secondary highways in order to reach your goal. After studying the map and staring at the surrounding plain from the roof of the bus, you determine two possible routes: northwest via the town of Albany, or southwest via the town of Cross Plains. The colony is undecided as to which route would be best, and so, as convoy scout, the decision is left to you.
Endurance: 3/27
Medi-Kit: 2/12
Water Canteen: 1/4
Rifle: 0/14
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Aug 13, 2021 09:42
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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Cross Plains looks good to me.
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Aug 13, 2021 10:06
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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I’m pretty sure we need to make a left turn at Albany or some other city that begins with A.
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Aug 13, 2021 14:18
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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Cross Plains looks good to me.
Also use the last of the medikits.
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Aug 13, 2021 19:51
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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I’m pretty sure we need to make a left turn at Albany or some other city that begins with A.
Highway Holocaust posted:Fifty miles of broken highway lie between you and the town of Albany. By mid-afternoon the temperature has climbed above 110° Fahrenheit, and the combined effects of the scorching heat and the poor road surface begin to take its toll on those travelling aboard the crowded bus. As you approach the outskirts of a small town called Moran, Cutter signals for you to stop. ‘We’ve got six people down with heat exhaustion and four more on the brink,’ he says, his face awash with sweat. ‘We’ve got to get ’em out of this travelling oven and let ’em rest awhile in the shade.’
You suggest that the convoy waits in Moran while you go on ahead to make sure that Albany is safe to enter. By the time you have checked it out and returned, the worst of the afternoon heat will have passed and the colony will be better able to continue. Before you leave for Albany you must take a Drink or lose 3 ENDURANCE points. Unless you possess a tub of Salt, you must reduce your current ENDURANCE score by 4 points, due to excessive salt loss.
Highway Holocaust posted:The drive to Albany takes you across a rolling plain that once fed a million head of longhorn cattle. Now the once-lush grassland is a vast desert of parched and blistered earth, completely devoid of life. The town stands at the centre of this bald prairie, its battered wooden houses and stores clustered haphazardly in groups on either side of a single main street. You stop your car half a mile from the town and park it in the shade of an old farm building, before venturing into Albany on foot.
The first building that you see is the ruins of the Shackelford County Sheriff’s office. Spent cartridge cases litter the ground around its entrance, marking the site of a recent gunfight.
We roll: 9 + 5 (Stealth) + 3 (Perception) = 17.
You are about to pick up and inspect one of the empty cartridge cases when you hear something moving above you. Immediately you dive to your left, acting purely on instinct, a reflex that saves you from being caught beneath a heavy rope net dropped from the roof to the sheriff’s office by two thin-faced punks. It falls, smothering the ground where, only seconds before, you were standing.
The silence is shattered by a riot of noise as a dozen clansmen rush out of the surrounding buildings, screaming and brandishing an assortment of weapons. Escape is your only thought as they start to close in, and swiftly you jump to your feet and race towards an alley that runs alongside the sheriff’s office. Bullets ricochet off the wall as you turn the corner, urging you to quicken your pace, but you are brought to a sudden halt when you see that the alley is a dead end. With a howling, bloodthirsty mob in hot pursuit, you search desperately for a way out.
You can see only two routes that offer an exit from this alley. One is an iron staircase—the rusty remains of an old fire escape—that leads to the roof of a warehouse; the other is a door at ground level that leads into the same building.
Endurance: 2/27
Medi-Kit: 1/12
Water Canteen: 0/4
Rifle: 0/14
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Aug 15, 2021 10:06
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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Up the stairs! They’ll have more trouble following us.
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Aug 15, 2021 12:09
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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Door, anything of interest will be inside the warehouse rather than on top of it.
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Aug 15, 2021 14:59
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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Going up tend to be an error many fugitve do, the problems appear the moment to come down arrives.
Door
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Aug 15, 2021 19:43
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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Door, anything of interest will be inside the warehouse rather than on top of it.
Highway Holocaust posted:The door is locked, but one swift kick is all that is needed to shatter its corroded bolt and gain entry to the warehouse. For a few seconds, as your eyes adapt to the darkness, you are blind: you have no idea of the layout of the building, and you fail to see the scar-faced clansman advancing towards you with a sharpened meat hook in his hand. Only the sound of glass breaking beneath his feet alerts you to his presence and saves you from his first, vicious swipe. Quickly you recover and reach for a close combat weapon as he makes his second attack.
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 5
Trans-am: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 24
Combat Ratio: 3
We roll: 3
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 4
Trans-am: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 18
We roll: 9
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 3
Trans-am: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 13
We roll: 9
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 2
Trans-am: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 8
We roll: 7
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 1
Trans-am: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 1
If we roll a 10 here we live. Otherwise we'll only manage to kill Trans-am as we take our own last breath.
We roll: 8
Cal Phoenix: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 17 ENDURANCE 0
Trans-am: CLOSE COMBAT SKILL 14 ENDURANCE 0
Death count: 1.
I'm going to do something unusual here. I now have the collector's edition of Vampirium, so we could end this run here and play Shadow Stalkers instead. I also now have the collector's edition of Flight from the Dark, so we could play the extended version of book 1 and then Shadow Stalkers afterwards. Or, of course, we could finish Highway Holocaust before moving on to something else, as normal. So which option do you all prefer?
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Aug 16, 2021 11:59
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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I am enjoying the current adventure but I’m not sure you are, Tiggum. Due to mixed feelings about this I will abstain from the current vote. But you can put me down with the majority if you want.
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Aug 16, 2021 13:33
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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I'd prefer to see how this book plays out, at least.
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Aug 16, 2021 14:06
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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I'm happy wither way; I just thought people might be eager to get to the new one, or to see the extended version of the first book, since Highway Holocaust is available online and those aren't. We'll get through them all eventually regardless - and probably run out of content again before the next book comes out.
In that case, I think we should at least finish this book first, if not the series, before returning to Magnamund.
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Aug 16, 2021 14:52
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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Finish the current book first, please.
I Agree with the statement.
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Aug 16, 2021 19:25
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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OK, that fight is avoidable by taking the stairs instead of the door, so that's what we'll do.
Highway Holocaust posted:Breathlessly you climb the iron staircase to the roof. Three times your foot plunges through the rust-weakened steps and three times you nearly fall, but each time you manage to recover your footing and drive yourself onwards. Shots ring out and bullets fly, drawing sparks as they slam into the ironwork; the manic shouts of the angry mob echo loudly in the alley below.
After what seems like an eternity you reach the top of the fire escape and stagger onto the warehouse roof. You are feeling light-headed and nauseous due to the combined effects of heat, exertion, and fear. Your vision swims in and out of focus and you are finding it difficult to concentrate.
We roll: 7.
You force yourself to breathe deeply, giving your blood the oxygen it craves. As your pulse steadies and your vision clears, you see a second fire escape that services the far side of the building. Slowly you make your way towards it, taking care to avoid the many holes that puncture the roof; then you race down the steps and escape along a deserted passage that leads to a derelict timber yard. There, behind a stack of rotting fencing posts, you crouch, waiting for a chance to escape from Albany. While you are lying low, you must take a Drink or lose 3 ENDURANCE points.
Highway Holocaust posted:It is dusk before you are able to escape from Albany under cover of the failing light. With relief you discover that your roadster is still parked at the farm where you left it, and quickly you climb in and accelerate away.
When you reach Moran you find that the convoy is awaiting your return with trepidation. Because you are so long overdue, they feared that you had fallen foul of Mad Dog Michigan and his bikers. You tell them what happened to you in Albany, and everyone agrees that, with darkness less than an hour away, it is too dangerous to continue.
The night in Moran passes uneventfully and at first light the convoy sets off cross-country towards Abilene. The arid, stony bed of Hubbard Creek leads the convoy southwest, back towards Interstate 20. Shortly after midday you reach the freeway from which you can see the outskirts of Abilene less than five miles distant.
Much of Abilene lies in the shadow of a bank of cloud, which has darkened the land since mid-morning. At first the unexpected arrival of this cloud cover cheers the colony, for it brings with it a welcome respite from the burning heat and promises a possible end to the drought. Unfortunately, these initial hopes are soon shattered.
As you approach the city a fierce wind arises. It sweeps down from the north and lashes the convoy, not with rain, but with blinding clouds of grit and sand. Within the space of half an hour the colony is engulfed in a ferocious duststorm that threatens to bury you all without trace. At the first opportunity you signal to the others to pull off the elevated freeway and seek shelter from the storm. The danger of grit finding its way into the engines of the convoy vehicles, causing them irreparable damage, is uppermost in your mind, and anxiously you search for shelter.
A signpost looms out of the swirling dust, pointing to what was once a high school. You signal to Cutter to follow you into the school yard, but the storm is reaching its peak and you are forced to halt before you can see the school itself. Quickly the colony disembarks and blindly you lead them in single file, heads bowed against the stinging wind, until you reach the school building. Fortunately, it still has a roof and four walls, and offers adequate protection from the storm. Once inside, Aunt Betty-Ann decides to take a roll call to make sure everyone is present. She is about to begin when Rosita Rodriguez cries out in anguish, ‘Maria! Where is my Maria? She is not here!’
A check of the school reveals that Rosita’s little six-year-old girl is missing. She was with the family when they left the bus and must still be close by, but with the storm now at its peak, everyone knows that her chances of survival outside are slim. Uncle Jonas calls for three volunteers to search for Maria, and immediately you step forward, as do Cutter and Kate.
‘You’ll be needing one of these,’ says Pop Ewell, handing you a CB transceiver. ‘It’ll do no good if you find Maria but can’t find your way back here.’ You take the handset (mark this on your Action Chart as a CB Radio; if you already possess the maximum number of Backpack Items, you must discard one in favour of this item), thank him, and then join the others to decide on a search plan.
Stealth: 4/5.
Before venturing out into the storm, all three of you turn your transceivers to the same frequency so that you can remain in radio contact with each other throughout the search. Uncle Jonas also possesses a handset, and he selects his to transmit a signal on another frequency. By selecting that channel, and monitoring its signal strength, you should be able to find your way back to the school.
The three of you decide to split up and search different areas, thereby maximizing your chances of finding Maria quickly. The school building will have prevented her from wandering to the south, leaving three directions in which to search: north, west, and east.
Endurance: 2/27
Medi-Kit: 0/12
Water Canteen: 0/4
Rifle: 0/14
Tiggum fucked around with this message at 13:11 on Aug 17, 2021
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Aug 17, 2021 13:04
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- achtungnight
- Oct 5, 2014
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I get my fun here. Enjoy!
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Search east
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Aug 17, 2021 13:30
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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North
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Aug 17, 2021 14:17
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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May 12, 2024 17:37
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Aug 10, 2021 14:20
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