Naw, you don't need to be sorry for Barb, Lopov; she had it coming. Honestly though, I think the bulk of what she says is trash talk. Like when two sports teams are opposite, all they can do is trash each other.

Agreed. Not only would it be too much for Bratty to be around it'd be a PITA for me to write!

Yeah, in the double-shot screenie, notice the bus just caught on fire. 🚌 Just after that pic was taken everything went kablam!!


Ha ha right, Acadian? There really is no end to the Chuck quotes online. I really need to watch a couple episodes of Walker: Texas Ranger at some point, as well.

Barb is nothing but hot air, actually.


Yes, that's how Chuck could've pulled that quote off, SubRosa: one of the bullets goes through three bodies... something like that.

NICE, that sounds like a great Hecate moment!

Whenever Vicious puts on raider armor a script fires, which puts her into a faction compatible with raiders, and so I merely stretched this to include Dog's soldiers.


Next story should be up tomorrow morning.

Episode 67: Evergreen Mills

Date: Wednesday, October 3rd (Our real-life October 3rd is about to pass as this gets written, Thursday instead of Wednesday.)

Game Hours: 93:55:22
Level: 7

Perks: Thief (2), Black Widow, Gun Nut, Intense Training, Scoundrel





The day seemed business as usual before Norris, Vicious, and Barb showed up. Weather was sunny, sky was clear. Just another day.

The raiders of Evergreen Mills, which possesses a working foundry and other industrial facilities, are more ambitious than those of Springvale, Fairfax Ruins, Super Duper Mart, Bethesda Ruins, or just about every other CW raider camp or dwelling. At these latter locations, the hoodlums party hardy day after day until they crash, or it's time to go for a raid. At Evergreen Mills, some of them also work.

Those who are employed build or repair weapons and armor, smelt scrap metals, and/or supply ammo to other establishments. Evergreen also has merchants. It's got a well-decorated barroom, with its very own billiards table and (for those who are in the know) its own brothel.

In the Mills' central outdoor courtyard stands a ginormous, enormous cage, in which they'd somehow trapped a super mutant behemoth, the "steroided" version of mutants found all over the Wasteland; easily double their size. But Buck and Vicious aren't here to get a job, they're not here to get wasted or get laid, nor are they here to gawk at the behemoth like we might watch a zoo animal.

Ah, here we go.

"Yo, looking for Cr4nk$haft or BODDY-BAGGZ," Vicious says to the first raider she meets, a dude carrying a big knife at Evergreen's entryway. "Heard they is here." ... She uses her thuggy voice as she speaks, intentionally messing up grammar to make it seem she belongs.

"Prob'ly inside," the guy replies. Yet another Jersey accent. "Cr4nk's usually at da bar. BODDY can be tougher to find. Usually he sleeps a lot. Shoots his fix, then passes out in one of da shacks."

"Thanks, you rock," Vicious says, handing the guy, who's unwittingly become an informant, a handful of caps.

"If you's gonna go see BODDY, make sure youse wears your earplugs!" the raider cackles.

"Earplugs?"

"Yup," he grins. "You'll see why."

Buck and Vicious confer a bit, then decide it's probably best to find BODDY first. If he is indeed 'passed out in some shack' he'll be easier to deal with, assuming no one else is around.

The way into Evergreen is in an elongated cavern, which contains train tracks that once allowed goods to be shipped to and from. Even after two centuries, a few cars (box cars and a caboose) still stand upon these tracks. Vicious, Barb, and Buck stride through the valley, walking toward the foundry's 'business district', past several armed raiders and traps, as though they're here to buy and get high.

"I’ve always found that anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way," Norris quips, perhaps referring to the frag mines they occasionally disarm and steal. "And you’ve got to have that drive and determination to overcome those obstacles enroute to whatever it is you want to accomplish."

"Uh huh," Vicious and Barb share a smirk. "But you are just a man. Mortal and sufferable like the rest of us. So, what if you can't overcome those obstacles?"

“A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can’t do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.”

Barbra stifles a giggle. "You know, that actually makes sense! So instead of being a spoilsport it's better to think positive," she says.

“I think you can learn from history.”

Again, Vicious' and Bee's eyes meet. The dynamics of the mission have definitely changed for both of them. Barb, since her life was saved back at Super Duper Mart, has reevaluated the extra assassin Dogmaster hired, and no longer threatens every chance she gets. Though they're not exactly besties, no longer does she make snippy comments which imply she's going to end Vicious's life, somehow. Mostly, she stays quiet. More professional. For the first time in her life, she realizes how quickly life can end. Perhaps yesterday was her first brush with death, and she'd been viewing herself as indestructible until then.

They approach the behemoth pen, which indeed contains a monster. Now they've got a choice: they can turn left towards the foundry (where Cr4nk$haft likely resides) or they can search Evergreen's outdoor shacks for BODDY-BAGGZ.

"Let's take that ramp upwards," Vicious suggests. "From what I recall there's a shack up top. BODDY could be inside."

"Alright," Barbra Bee agrees.

"Got another idea," Vicious continues. "How 'bout I deal with BODDY, and you can take out Cr4nk$haft? ... And we each provide backup behind the other, just in case."

"Sure," the blonde says. "Let's just git 'er done." It's odd, the way she's suddenly become so agreeable. "But what about the lieutenant?"

Both women turn to Buck, expecting him to share yet another life-gained shard of wisdom.

"I'll just stay in the background, this is your show," he says. "Let's just say Dog has provided for me in ways other than money."

"Um, sure."
"Perfect."

All three of them shake on it, providing solidarity for their plans. They begin walking up the ramp. And it seems the elder Floridan has finally run out of wisecracks when...

"Plus, I'm already too good at this."

"You are?"

"Yeah. It's like this one time down in the Ozarks. Found myself with a grizzly bear in my room, lying on the floor. It wasn't dead, it was just afraid to move."

"Afraid to... whoa."
"What's a grizzly bear?"





They reach the top of the ramp, thirty feet above the ground. As agreed, Vicious ventures inside while Barbra and Buck wait outside.

"Yo?" Vicious calls as she steps through the door. "Anyone here?"

There is. A shape on the bed across the room begins fighting a bit with his blankets. "HEY, CLOSE THAT DOOR!"

"Uh, sure," Vicious answers, shutting the shack's door. "Are you Boddy-Baggz?"

"HAVE I GOT A CRAG, WHAAAT?" the figure stands fully. He's short and wide, built like a fireplug, and he's got a big beard. His left hand is cupped to his ear and he's leaning forward. "SPEAK UP!" he says. "I AM HARD OF HEARING."

"Oh, SORRY. ARE YOU BODDY-BAGGZ?"

"YEAH, I AM BODDY-BAGGZ.... YOU DON'T NEED TO SHOUT! ... AND WHO THE *HECK* ARE YOU?"

"MY NAME'S VICIOUS!"

"YOUR NAME'S SUPICIOUS??!" he strokes his beard. "THAT'S A COOL NAME!" BODDY lights a cig, draws, and blows rancid smoke. "AND WHY IS YOU HERE, SUSPICIOUS?"

The assassin is about to answer when the half-deaf drug dealer interrupts.

"HEY... YOU WANNA BUY SOME CHEMS? ... GOT THIS *clucking* COOL BLEND FOR SALE THIS WEEK. MADE IT MYSELF! IT'S CALLED ANT-AGONIZER NECTAR!"

A-ha!

"ANTAGONIZER NECTAR?"

The shack's door opens just a crack at this moment. Barbra peeks inside. What's with all the shouting? she mouths. Vicious makes a shushing motion with her hands, like not yet!

Luckily, BODDY-BAGGZ isn't aware of the exchange; he's too busy loading an amber-colored liquid into a syringe. The shack's door closes just in time. "COME ON, SHOOT UP WITH ME!" he howls, tapping his arm. "SO, WHAT I DID WAS TOOK THE USUAL ANT NECTAR THAT'S BEEN GOING 'ROUND FOREVER, THEN BLENDED IT WITH NECTAR FROM THE ANT AGONIZER'S ANTS! ... YOU KNOW THE ANT AGONIZER, WHO SHE IS?"

"Nope." So this is the idiot amateur chemist responsible for turning Bratty and Q, along with countless others, into even worse wastecases than usual.

"YOU WANT A SPIKE? WANNA HAVE THE HONORS AND GO FIRST?"

"YEAH SURE," Vicious shrieks, her voice starting to break. "ALTHOUGH HOW ABOUT YOU GO FIRST!"
.
"HOW ABOUT I BUY ITS WORTH?" BODDY asks. "NO, YOU DA ONE DAT BUYS, NOT ME! ... BUT I'M ABOUT TO GIVE YOU A FREEBEE! UNNERSTAND?"

To Vicious's astonishment, BODDY-BAGGZ takes the syringe he'd just prepared, grins like a wolf, and injects it into his arm instead of handing it to her. "Ahhhh......." he sighs as the nectar (poison, actually....) swims his veins. He then begins to make a motion with his hand, pointing vaguely toward a counter as if to say feel free...

...it's at that moment the dealer falls to the floor. Totally zonked!

"Really? ...This is too easy!"

Vicious reaches toward her belt and grabs an item; time to end this nonsense. Her original intention, in fact, was to try collecting some caps from BODDY-BAGGZ first, not to carry out Dogmaster's extermination order right away.

"So you're the one who messed up my friends? How about a little goodbye present." Perhaps no one else on the scene knows how make this stupid nectar, and therefore she's about to put its source to an end, right here and now.

She grabs an item from her belt, pulls its pin, and slips it into BODDY-BAGGZ's pocket. Despite being passed out, he somehow knows what's just happened.

"OHHHHH SHI----"

The rest of the downer dealer's final curse goes unheard while the assassin steps deftly outside, and the grenade in his pocket blows the scumbag to pieces. The explosion within causes the entire shack (and the metal platform they're standing upon) to rumble and shake. For a few moments the trio wonders if any raiders down in the valley will become nosey about this, but they don't. After the assassin returns in the shack a minute later with the soldiers, Buck Norris is impressed.

"When the boogie man goes to sleep, he should check his closet for you!"

Miss Vicious thinks that's just about the best compliment she's ever received.





Cr4nk$haft is next. The trio finds one of the doors to Evergreen's foundry, then blunders its way through as they try to locate Evergreen's 'Bazaar', which is where the main living quarters are. It's been a while since Vicious has been here, so it takes a few twists and turns upon the factory floor before she finds the Bazaar's door. They pass by several raiders in the middle of their workday.

"What's up?"
"What's new?"
"Que... pasa?"

None of them know what'd just happened; that half of the Mills' main chem connects has just been executed. A variety of smokes and mists drift through the air while a variety of clangs and sizzles reverberate Evergreen's walls.

Unlike the foundry, which is a standard set of rectangular workrooms, the Bazaar is cave-like. It's an area where Prewar workers once drilled for oils and hacked for rocks, sometimes with their bare hands, occasionally mining rare minerals from underground.

"Follow me."

Vicious leads the way. Finds Evergreen's underground tavern, which is an impressive feat of interior decorating, especially considering it'd been arranged by a bunch of punks.

Barb's in charge, now. As promised, Vicious allows her blonde frenemy leeway when it'll come to deciding what to do with Cr4nk.

"Whatchoo want?" asks a bartender as Barb and Vicious approach the bar's door. "Got hooch on special today."

"Lookin' for Cr4nk$haft, is he here?"

"I'm Cr4nk," a skeevy-looking fellow wearing a black leather jacket grunts. "Who's asking?"






Vicious has no idea what Barb's plan will be when it came to dealing with Evergreen's dedicated stimulants' dealer; whether she'll try to negotiate for the money he owed, or what.

"So. We're from Dogmaster," the blonde begins smartly, seeming to savor the moment.

"Oh you are?" Cr4nk's voice is hoarse, and his movements jerky. Like he starts his day with a handful of Buffout and ends it shooting up Psycho. "And what does that *kitty cat*-*butt* *A-hole* want?"

Unfortunately, Barb is not able to continue whatever spiel she had in mind. "Seems you owe--"

"HEY!" someone shouts. "BODDY BAGGZ got corpsed! He DEAD, blown to pieces! Lookin' for a blonde *snitch* and a redheaded *rooster*!! Dey da ones last seen up at BODDY's shack!"

Suddenly, bullets are flying everywhere! Cr4nk$haft grabs a pool cue and begins swinging while Vicious has no recourse but to aim her Blamhammer and start blasting away. The ensuing melee is both fantastic and frightening; Vicious, Barb, and Buck are right in the middle of it all. They shoot and they fire, while one of the raiders launches a missile which explodes into a cavern wall!! -- The action is difficult to keep track of. Due to all the obstacles and obstructions and decorations in the Bazaar, Vicious gets lost a couple times. Finds herself dealing with a gunner one moment then taking out a sniper the next. Explosion to her right, blood-spray to her left.

Some minutes later when it's all over, when Norris and Vicious recount what happened, and all their adversaries are down, they realize that it's now just them. Barbra Bee didn't make it. She is found lying on a metal stairway, barely recognizable, packed with more rounds of ammunition than even the behemoth outside could withstand. Again, a Stimpak is jammed into her arm, and again Miss Vicious curses and laments and screams, but this time the woman is gone for good.

But after a few prayers and a tearful goodbye, it's time to get out of Evergreen, and they'd better do so as discreetly as possible.

"Sometimes I feel like I've died a thousand times," Norris says later as they leave the foundry.

"Uh huh." Vicious is numb, blaming herself as usual, as though the entire mission's a failure.

"I've been hit and shot and lost consciousness more times than I can count. The Grim Reaper seems afraid to take me."

Vicious says nothing. Looks at her remaining companion.

"So, now's not the time to sleep," he says. "Now we wait."

Right. We wait. Good idea, Buck Norris.


---------------------------------------

She's got braids now -- (Bratty does hair like that Tunnel Snake guy)

BODDY BAGGZ, ASL--- [ahem] asleep!

"SHOOT UP WITH ME!"

BODDY prepares antagonizer nectar

Vicious slips a grenade

BYE BYE BODDY BAGGZ

Cr4nk$haft

Rumbling with a Pool Cue

Blamhammer in Stealth Mode

Buck getting personal

Raiders getting pwned

Objective Complete

--------------------------------------

Notes: I hated the Cr4nk$haft part. Some of the messiest gaming of my 'career'. Glad it's over! On top of the actual fight (and Vicious got killed at least 3x) I had to deal with CTD after CTD. For some reason any time Cr4nky took a bullet the game would crash.

I think there will be five more episodes, maybe six. As the producer, director, and writer of this 'show' I'm way over budget. Spike TV should've canceled long ago, so it's good thing the lawyers were able to intervene.

"MY NAME'S VICIOUS!"

"YOUR NAME'S SUPICIOUS??!"



Vicious actually brought BODDY down like a pro! I liked that touche with the grenade.

It looks like that with Cr4NK it didn't go that easy! I assume, that it must have been a chaotic situation, because there are lots of raiders in Evergreen Mills and if only a portion of them came to Cr4NK's aid, it was a difficult situation. He looks cool, BTW, good job with his appearance.

R.I.P. Barbra! At least she died, knowing that she was "sisters" with Taneesha.

No one expected that Buck Norris would die, of course. He doesn't even need an Essential status to survive.

The two thugs/targets certainly look the part. And Vicious has a new doo!

With Vicious in the lead, the first target just about kills himself. Rather than finish the job with another dose of something lethal to complete the readymade ‘he died of an overdose’ picture, Vicious uses a grenade. Oh well, subtle for another time I guess.

Barbie’s in charge of the next hit. Oh, she went to the same school of subtlety as Vicious. WooHoo! Blamhammer time! Bullets are afraid of Buck, of course, but no such luck for Barbie. Bye Bye Barb Bee – just when she and Vicious were starting to get along.

Almost 94 hours of game time? I would have gotten burned out playing the same character for that long.

I love turning that super mutant behemoth loose and watching it tear apart the raiders.

Cr4nk$haft and BODDY-BAGGZ. Oi! Those names really evoke quite the image of their owners.

Buck Norris is a like a fortune cookie. He always has some bit of wisdom to impart.

I had fun playing the Ant-Agonizer with my character Dot. She did the quest with the Ant-Agonizer, and talked her out of being a supervillain. Then Dot took the suit and became the Ant-Agonizer herself, and became a superhero. She even had a random encounter with a kid who asked for her autograph.

She's doing the Shady Sands Shuffle on Baggz!

Well things with the Cr4nk turned out as I expected they would: with a shootout! But Barbie did not make it, this time permanently. No great loss. She was a real pain.

Pfft 90-something hours is nothing. I'm well over a thousand in Cho and Janet's games. Vicious's game is 'low' in hours because most of it is story which moves along slowly over these past 4 years. One thing at a time, rather than freeform gaming, with me sitting there gaming for up to 3 hours per session, doing mostly pre-written missions or random exploring.

Blamhammer time!

Yeah, the scene with Cr4nk$haft sucked. It was beyond chaotic.... it just plain was awful. Live and learn.

Vicious's hair is from Braided Redguard Hair

SubRosa is glad Barbie's gone, which means I must be doing something right! Most folks didn't like Sirdasa and Chamany in Laprima's game either. One thing which wouldn't be good is if an antagonist or grey character gets glossed over.

Acadian & Lopov seem to regard the turnaround Barb was going through. If Barb had lived, I'm not sure if she would've continued being amicable, or maybe gone back to the way she was.

Buck Norris though, he gets to do whatever he wants. As the Gospel of Thomas saying #7 explains: “Blessed is the lion that’s eaten by a human and then becomes human, but how awful for the human who’s eaten by a lion, and the lion becomes human.”

Of course, Didymos Judas never considered the wrath of Buck Norris. Norris would eat the human and the lion, and then 911 would call Norris, rather than the other way around.



Thanks. Crank has the look of an American hick.

Whoa, Dot convinced her to NOT be a supervillain! Didn't know such a thing was possible. Yeah, the AntAgonizer quest was done by Cho in my gameworld. I really am glad I'd never been spoiled about that; i had no idea what was coming. She's a total comic book character.



Believe me, I was tempted!

Episode 68: Pay Day

Date: Friday, October 5th

Location: east side of the Potomac


"Good evening everybody, everyone, every bot, man, woman, and radrat, this is Three Dog, owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, and you're listening to Galaxy News Radio, the radio station in direct competition with that other radio station, hosted by that other so-called jock who rambles political bull*ship* all day. Yeah... that guy. Rambling and prattling about baseball, and his supposed dog, and a bunch of nonsense which -- trust me -- sounds like prerecorded drivel. Well here at GNR, we only report what's current, what's relevant, what's pertinent.

"And now, some important newwwws.

"The horror who has for many years terrorized the Capital Wasteland known as Rattler, a former misguided brave from the Quonset tribe, has reportedly been killed. Do I hear sighs of relief from every corner of the C.W.? ... Rattler was known to have a fondness for torturing his victims, with his bare hands or with a knife, and then eating their remains right on the spot. Heart? Liver? Brains? All on the menu, folks, uchk!!! Trying not to ralph my lunch, here.

"It's unclear what exactly happened. Some slaves at Paradise Falls, all who were inadvertently freed by the way, say the Ratt man was killed by a Fat Man. Others claim Rattler, who'd become ghoulified at some point, killed himself. Either way, a Pip Boy® device found upon the former slaver's arm had its serial number traced to a former vault-dweller, from that mutiny-obsessed Vault 101.

"In other news, the residents of Big Town have lately been attacked by..."


Vicious turns the volume on her Pip Boy 2500® down. Three Dog's broadcast comes as a surprise to Buck and Vicious, as they trek their way back to Georgetown West. Sky is pleasant, the air is breezy.

"Man. Never a dull moment in the C.W.," Vicious says. "And no more Rattler."

"No more Rattler," Buck confirms.

"Which is too bad. Because now that I'm back out here, wish I could've had my chance to eliminate that slimy snake."

"If I wouldn't've toasted him first." Norris plucks his companion's shoulder. "Or maybe both of us, working together would roast him. Share in the takedown."

"That... would be positively delightful." Her eyes glaze for a moment at the thought, the way most of us would daydream a new home or a lover. "Yeah, we'd both make that *prick*weed pay. I'm down for that."

“Anytime you get two Wasteland legends together, it has to be a classic.”

"Uh-huh. Sounds like another one of your quips, Norris."

“It’s the bullies who are afraid," he answers. "Those are the ones that do all the fighting. It’s not the secure kids that get out there and fight. It’s the insecure kids.”

If anything, talking about the deceased cannibal takes her mind off of Barbra Bee. She'd been mulling the death of her fallen frenemy all day, while Norris seems to have moved on. Vicious reaches for her handheld device, and turns up the volume. Changes the channel from GNR to a new radio station, which'd recently popped onto the district's airwaves. This new station showcases music other than jazz or Big Band or traditional American.

"You think Rattler was insecure, huh? Lord, have mercy."

"Lord have mercy," Norris repeats. "Might I assume you are religious, Vicious?"

"Hey, call me Taneesha, okay? Or just Tan. But yes, I was raised Christian more or less, although I began having doubts by the time I was twelve."

She thinks she might expand upon her doctrinal history, telling him about the Jehovah's Witnesses and their expectations that a Second Armageddon was soon to befall those sinners who still walk the earth. But then she remembers all those doors, slammed in her family's faces as they tried to spread His Word to non-believers. Thinks maybe it'd be a bad idea to mention her former faith. Norris might think she's trying to convert him, even unintentionally.

But then she tells him, anyway. All of it. All the awful things which occurred during her first journey outside of Ellicott City.

“I am religious myself, and I understand your doubts," he says gruffly. "The Apostle Paul did what he had to do to spread the message of God. I realize that is what we must also do. Ultimately, we have to bite the bullet and overcome our shyness.”

"Umm."

“Let’s face it: so much of what we consume is not driven by knowledge, but by basic craving and impulse,” he reckons.

"Are you referring to Rattler? Well, let's just say I'm glad it's never been my craving or impulse, to eat anyone's heart, or their intestines, or..."

By now they've arrived at Dukov's Place, that homely whorehouse in which many debaucheries occur. They're not going into Dukov's, of course. The door to Tepid Sewer lies just beneath the flophouse, on its northern side. Buck Norris opens the door and as a gentleman, holds it for her. Taneesha walks inside, yet Norris does not follow. There's a 'look' upon his face.

"You're not coming?"

"'fraid not, Taneesha. I've been mostly a drifter these past few years, I believe my talents are going to be needed elsewhere."

"You're leaving?!"

"I’ve got a bulletin for you, Tan. I am no superman. I realize that nowadays, but I didn’t always.”

"Well dude, Norris, give me a hug at least."

Buck Norris allows this. The pair of mercs embrace. Taneesha then gives him all the caps she's got on her person, just under four-hundred pieces, before continuing to Georgetown.






Back in Dogmaster's Suite, Miss Vicious returns. "Good work, soldier," the Dog and Cheese both congratulate. "Our scout confirms that *drek* Cr4nk$haft and his *kurba* accomplice BODDY BAGGZ have been terminated." Today the Dog is wearing another fly-looking suit, a pink one this time.






Despite her success at 'terminating' both 'targets', the assassin does not share their enthusiasm. Does not feel as though she deserves any accolades. "Hey, I did that only 'cause you two threatened my family, remember? Also, the mission wasn't all fun and games. One of your-all's soldiers didn't make it."

She pauses; their faces are blank. "Are you aware of what happened to Barb?"

"We are aware," Dogmaster answers.

He sips upon one of his Prewar wines, a bottle of Pennsylvania Chablis, Year 2035 (...crisp, acid-driven, with a lean minerality which hints towards citrus...) as though his fallen grunt is not to be commemorated with more than a casual mention.

"But that's not your prob, okay? That a part of it all. You get got? You get got. But you ain't gotten got," his face boxes forth like a schnauzer. "You made it back, as we knew you would. So... it's payday for you, Vicious."

"Whatever."

"I am business," Dog says, ignoring her nonchalance. "Nine-thousand Prewar bills have been delivered straight to your room in Rivet City. Which is for your convenience. 'Cause we wasn't sure if you wanted to live here or not."

The assassin is about to make a sarcastic reply, 'oh how thoughtful...', whatever, but Cheese chimes in first. "Each bill weighs about a gram," he says, placing a note upon a scale which sits on a nearby table (as if to prove his claim). "About zero-point-zero-four ounces each, as you can see. Altogether that'd equate to about twenty pounds if we add eight-thousand ninety-nine more. About nine kilograms."

"But it's not the weight we's concerned about, it's the bulk," Dog sets his glass aside. "Like I said, the money been delivered to Rivet City. It's in a suitcase. We made sure the Rudder's owner, Belle Bonnie, won't let anyone mess with it."

Vicious says nothing. Really, the money at this point is very secondary to her.

She and Norris had stopped in Megaton the day before, looking to unload the burden of loot they'd lifted from Evergreen's numerous dead bandits: dozens of ammo rounds, a small cache of non-addictive chems (such as Stimpaks and Mentats), and so on.

I'll buy whatever you're selling! Moira Brown, proprietor of Craterside Supply, chirped cheerfully.

Curious about the thousand Prewar bills she'd been prepaid pre-mission, Taneesha had exchanged a few bills for a few caps. And was surprised to discover that each bill equated to six bottle caps.

You know... I think I've found a new way to prepare radroach meat! Still tastes like old feet, though...

Which means Vicious has even more cash than she'd originally thought. Her prepayment to take out BODDY and Cr4nk had been a thousand bills, which (after exchange) equates to six-thousand caps. Add the money delivered to Rivet City, that's an additional fifty-four thousand. ... Which means Lamont Stamford was right: she has just become wealthy. Certainly one of the topmost affluent persons in the Capital Wasteland, for sure.

"That is also for you," Cheese points at a large contraption lying on the floor. "For your success at Evergreen Mills." It takes her moment to realize what the contraption is.

"A missile launcher?"

"All yours," Dog's number two seems proud.

"Um. What am I gonna do with a missile launcher? You expect me to lug that around?"

Before Cheese can answer, Dogmaster takes over. "Got another job," he announces. "Need you to take down another *D-bag*, okay?"

Vicious is about to protest; she is DONE being associated in any way with the Dog or any of his minions, especially after losing a comrade. She certainly does not need more money. ...But then she remembers: somewhere north, about forty miles or so, her Witness clan supposedly still thrives, thanks to her cooperation with these mongrels.

"Your next target goes by the name G. Zuss."

"Jesus?" Vicious almost laughs. "As in, our Lord Jesus Christ?"

"No, G. Zuss. Spelled capital G, followed by the letters Z. U. S. And S."

Vicious sighs. "And what is he, a prophet? A guru? You guys must know that I, myself, was raised religious. It'd be a sin, my participation. You ain't got anyone else to delegate this mission to?"

Dogmaster's ugly face somehow becomes even uglier. "Okay, first of all, you are in no position to refuse an order."

Wait, what did he just say? Vicious is about to turn vicious when....

"Second, G. Zuss ain't no guru. He's a slaver."

"A slaver?"

An eight-by-ten black and white glossy gets slapped upon a table, perhaps from the same camera used by whomever spied the Jehovah temple. The photo depicts a man wearing white robes, holding his hands to the sky. Standing behind him are several others, mostly women and children, all of them penned in what looks to be a cage.

"See that?"

Miss Vicious can't help but see. "Yeah."

"Normally, I wouldn't care, honestly. My trade involves mostly guns, money, and chems. But G. Zuss, that's the *pansy* wearing white, has one of my..." -- A surprise occurs as Dog's voice (for the moment) seems to choke. -- "He got one of my children."

"What the.... Wait. You have kids?"

"'course I got kids," the crime boss answers. "I take care-a my kids! And my son's the one sitting to the left," he points. "Right there."

Though the picture is a little blurry, Vicious can see the resemblance. The kid he's pointing to certainly could be related to Dogmaster; he's got the same wicked eyes and the same blocky chin. For a moment, Miss Vicious is baffled. If the boy is indeed the Dog's child, what does he call his father? For some reason she can't imagine the boy calling him 'dad'. Just thinking about that scenario causes yet another stifled laughing-attack.

But one thing's for sure, Vicious strongly disapproves of Wasteland slavery. And G. Zuss, standing before his captives so proudly, looks like one heck of a *male reproductive organ*, a *male reproductive organ* who needs to be taken down.

Vicious doesn't need any convincing. "Where do I sign?"

An hour later she leaves Dogmaster's lair, carrying the missile launcher along with all her other junk. "No way I'll ever use this. What on earth are they thinking?" Strange that Cheese and Dog would make such a fuss about delivering that suitcase all the way to Rivet City, but then reward such a cumbersome weapon.

Outside the guard house is a trash can. Vicious drops the launcher into the can, along with three missiles she'd been given.



--------------------------------

Rattler

Ghoulified Rattler

Norris and Vicious - (note they've ditched their raider armor)

Norris "retaliates" a centaur

"I am no superman..."

Pimpmaster

Cheese Head gives Vicious a missile launcher...

Which goes into the trash

--------------------------------------

Notes: 1). Acadian: there are two main radio stations in FO3. Galaxy News Radio (GNR) plays music from the Big Band era such as Billie Holiday and Roy Brown while Enclave Radio plays traditional instrumental tunes such as Yankee Doodle and America the Beautiful. The "new" radio station mentioned is a mod, of course. When Three Dog mentions Enclave being prerecorded this is (spoiler alert!) actually true. But I won't spoil exactly how.

2). Vicious did release the slaves of Evergreen from their outdoor pen. Two slaves were reluctant to go anywhere ("We'd just get killed in the Wasteland if we left...") while one of them fled. The guy who fled got quickly blown up by a frag mine.

Rattler dead? Yeah, but can you believe it is true?

Religious Vicious? Neat how this reminded her it might be appropriate to have Buck call her Tan. And farewell to Buck it seems.

No surprise that Dogbutt would demand another job from Vicious. So, he wants her to free his puppy. Hmm, if she doesn’t want to just take him the fetch out right now, this could have possibilities. Dogmeat is holding those precious to Vicious ‘hostage’ as leverage. Clearly, his puppy is precious to Dogface. Once Vicious gets the puppy in her custody. . . see where I’m going with this?

’Strange that Cheese and Dog would make such a fuss about delivering that suitcase all the way to Rivet City, but then reward such a cumbersome weapon.’
- - True enough, this.

To convince the AntAgonizer to go to the Light Side you have to go to Hubris Comics first. There is a letter to the editor one of their office computers that you have to read, where someone gives a thoughtful critique on how the AntAgonizer (from the comics), is not really such a bad person after all, but shaped by events in her life. Then you need to pass a really high speech check when you confront her in her lair. If you succeed, she will give you her armor and knife, and go back to being a regular person in the Wasteland.

Which is kind of sad. I did not want her to stop being a super. Just stop being evil. But then again, I did like playing the good version of the AntAgonzier, superhero of the wasteland.

Love the live report about the death of the Rattler, the most nefarious fiend of the wasteland.

Well if they are talking about base cravings and impulses, Dukov's Place is quite on topic...

So it was time for Buck to Norris off into the sunset. It was a good thing he had no said he was going to retire sooner. If he had, then he would have been killed off by the writer early in the story, and his death used to drive the protagonist into fighting the villain...

No wonder they gave her a missile launcher, they want her to kill Jesus. This must be after he trashed the money lenders in the temple.

He's a slaver? Oh, so this is Supply Side Jesus then.

The door to Tepid Sewer lies just beneath the flophouse, on its northern side. Buck Norris opens the door and as a gentleman, holds it for her.



Ladies first...to the sewers!

@Acadian: yes, Rattler is deceased. <--- notice my smile. I have no idea when the actual date of his demise occurred, but I figure since the game starts some time in August, and Lopov gamed with the snake for a few weeks, the dates should nearly coincide.

Vicious telling Buck to call her Tan is an oversight on my part (one of many, the disadvantage of writing week to week). She would've normally introduced herself this way. Oops.

Another thing I've not gotten around to is the turmoil my gal feels about her Witness family. I'll get to that eventually.

You noticed the missile launcher.


@SubRosa: see I had no idea there is a Hubris Comics. Where is it? Okay, somewhere near The Citadel! Damn. Been playing this game for 11 years, had no idea there's a comic factory or whatever, and in that location!

I agree, that is kind of lame she gives up her silly anti-heroine costume.

Buck Norris cannot die. Even the Grim Reaper is afraid of (Ch)Buck Norris.


@Lopov: And Norris is off into the sunset.


LAST WEEK, on Miss Vicious!!!

Vicious returned to Dogmaster's hideout to conclude Dog's first mission: the assassination of Cr4nk$haft and BODDY BAGGZ. She received 9,000 Prewar bills from the Dog for getting it done, while Cheese Head, Dogmaster's top minion, rewarded her a missile launcher. Vicious could not foresee ever needing the large weapon, so she dropped it into the trash can in front of the raider boss's hideout, A Cuppa Joe.

She then received a second mission, to rescue Dogmaster's son, who is being held captive by a slaver named G Zuss, located somewhere north of Big Town. Once the kid is rescued she must bring him back to daddy.

Now... Miss Vicious has just found G Zuss's location, but will she be able to rescue Dogmaster's son?



Episode 69: Conclave of G Zuss

Date: Saturday October 6, 2:28 PM

Location: Conclave of G Zuss (Hallowed Moor Cemetery, modified for no mutants.)


It takes two days to locate the chapel where the guru/slaver who calls himself G Zuss runs his operation, which indeed is an operation. Hallowed Moor Cemetery. The place is typically inhabited by super mutants, but apparently the mutants are no longer here. The sky is overcast, weather is chilly.







Using her binoculars, she spies the chapel of Hallowed Moor Cemetery from a distance, and notices a large military-style tent had been erected nearby at some point. Several individuals are milling in front of Hallowed Moor. One, a woman, is definitely wearing a white robe (as portrayed in the photo Dogmaster had given her). So this must be the place. Nobody else in the Wasteland goes around dressed like that! -- Accompanying the woman are a couple others, both wearing the typical clothing of settlers. There also appear to be guards standing in front of the chapel.

Before leaving Georgetown, Dog and Cheese had given Vicious a few guidelines.

Firstly: She is not to attempt an outright attack on G's homestead. This should be a delicate operation; a rescue, not a bloodbath or a siege. The child is not to be harmed. If Vicious wants to try freeing other slaves, she can do this as well. But Dog's son is priority, of course. Killing G Zuss or any other slavers on the premises, is optional.

Second: Her choice of clothing will probably make a difference; the more appealing, the better. According to Georgetown, G Zuss is a typical old-school creepy guru guiding a typical old-school cult (under the pretense of religious doctrine, of course). Which means he is apparently swayed by beautiful females. Probably, he preaches all sorts of prophetic *bullcrap* to the ladies of his group in an attempt to get into their skirts and trousers. So, the more seductive Vicious appears as she strides into camp, the better chance she'll be received.

"Ugh. Bleah!"

She exchanges the cruddy Badlands armor she'd worn across the Wasteland for a stylish set of Prewar apparel: jeans and a sports bra, begrudgingly so. Vicious hates what she's doing; removing protective raider gear so she can change into something cute, only because one of Georgetown's scouts had surmised sexier outfits might make a difference. Outside of Sunday school, Tan's rarely been the type to doll herself up.






Third: No visible weapons! Especially, she is not to carry her high-powered Blamhammer, or the grenades and mines she's brought anywhere near the camp. According to Dog's intel, Vicious could be shot on sight if she shows up packing massive firepower. So these items are stashed aside her armor.

...However, discreetly hidden weapons such as knives should be okay. Especially if she'll been given one of their silly robes to wear. She'll then be able to hide whatever she's carrying, if so. Because...

Fourth: The final suggestion from Georgetown (this one from Cheese, who had done some studying on Prewar cults) was that she should try joining G's clan, rather than sneaking into it. She should convince them she's ready to devote herself and her life to G Zuss, instead of removing Dog's son covertly. Try gaining their trust, Cheese had said. She'll be more successful at removing the kid from G's camp this way, with less chance of bloodshed.

Vicious becomes Taneesha Jones. Once she's finished zipping and buttoning what equates to a disguise, she places her weapons and and ammo into a rusty old footlocker she finds in some grass, but then waffles a bit about her Tazer.

"Hmm. Should I?"

Her final decision is to bring the stunner. Wastelanders are always mistaking her electric 'Peace Officer Assistance' device for a toy, so the Tazer remains hanging from her belt.

Everything situated, Jones begins her approach.

... Hmm. Not that it matters, but suddenly she realizes: she has no idea what the boy's name is. The Dog never bothered to tell her!

"Good afternoon, my child!" an older female standing in amidst Hallowed Moor's gravestones greets enthusiastically. "My name is Tdekka," she smiles. "Are you lost? Or are you perchance interested in joining our flock?" Tdekka's voice is pleasant, entirely comforting in a grandmotherly way. "Maybe you've come here after hearing about of our Good Works, hmm?"

"Hi, my name's Sharon," Taneesha says, plastering a smile which feels entirely forced. "Sharon Tates. Pleased to meet." The name she gives is false of course, just in case things happen to go wrong. Like if somehow, her act gets discovered (and she needs to flee), it might be better if these idiots happen to send their guards after a 'Sharon' (a common name, even in the Twenty-third century) rather than the near-unique name of Taneesha.

And now that she's here, Taneesha realizes Tdekka isn't wearing a white robe, she's wearing a white cape, draped over ordinary clothes. The guards who stand near the chapel are donned in Talon Company outfits. As Dog and Cheese had briefed, nobody's carrying weapons, not visibly anyway, except the guards.

"Um yeah, guess I'm lost. Was trying to find Big Town, when I happened to come across y'all." There's a smile in her voice as she speaks, which (again) is entirely fake. A bit of improvisation not covered by Georgetown. She figures it'll be important to put these white-caped dweebs at ease. "So, what is this place? ... What do you mean: join our flock?"

"Well, we are the Conclave of G Zuss," Tdekka announces proudly, raising her hands to the sky. By now, two other conclave members have become curious. They drift nearer, abandoning their cleaning, to get a better look at the newcomer in jeans. "G Zuss is our leader! All hail to G Zuss!"

"All hail to G Zuss," the others repeat. Taneesha notices that everyone present at the moment is female, except the two guards.

"We receive the words of our pariah..."

Oh, I bet that's not all you receive...

"... who guides and inspires our days, leading us away from sin via His aspirational insights!" Tdekka says ecstatically.

"My goodness, that sounds... divine!" Taneesha/Sharon lies, the second of many lies to come.

"You should join us!" one of the worshippers, a girl about twenty with hair the color of cornsilk suggests. The girl's eyes are red. For sure, this chick is on chems.

"Your epidermis, it is dark!" the second female comments, coming closer to examine Tan's almond skin. Taneesha flinches a bit as the devotee touches her arm, but there's no harm; poor girl is merely curious. She turns to the others and says, "such a delightful contrast she'd make once she's disrobed for Bathification, along with the rest of us!"

Um, what? "Uh, Bathification?"

"Yes, my child," Tdekka takes over. By now, Taneesha/Sharon is completely annoyed, being called 'child' over and over. "Perhaps I can explain. You've heard of John the Baptist, yes?"

"Um, John the who?" Another lie, especially considering how she was raised.

Tdekka explains who John was, while Tan does her best to keep a straight face. Tdekka mangles Bible lore; the elder woman's description of Jesus's first apostle is entirely ridiculous. Next, Tdekka then details what 'Bathification' is.

"During Bathification, everyone makes a neat circle around our bathtub, which will be filled with non-radiated rainwater! We do so under light of the full moon. When the new convert, which in this case is you Sharon, disrobes, we all join within our Lord's ecxtacy!"

The moron explains that G Zuss subsequently "performs" several "acts" to prepare the "nubile woman-folk" to "take" "His Offering", while whichever female who is so lucky gets to receive his offering while sitting naked within the tub.

"Oh! And do not worry about the cold. We always prepare a warm bath before Bathification occurs," the drugged girl with cornsilk hair gloats. "You shall see! ... Oh, how I wish I could be in your place, Sharon Tates! Was such a wonderful revelation, my first time!"

Taneesha Jones does her best not to cringe, or vomit. To her, Bathification sounds like a ludicrous combination of secular baptism and a sex orgy.

"Would you like to meet Our Father?" one of the girls asks.

Ugh.

"Why yes, I would!" 'Sharon' says with glee. Yeah, let's see this so-called 'prophet'...

Everyone turns to the large tent behind the chapel, apparently awaiting their prophet.

Where is the cage? Tan/Sharon wonders. Where are the slaves?

After about an hour, the prophet finally appears. Comes out of the chapel, wearing a white cape, of course. Not only is he wearing a cape, the man has put an obvious effort into making himself a poor copy of the real thing.



----------------------------------------

Dogmaster & Vicious

Sobbing

Taneesha struts

Priestess Tdekka

"Your epidermis is so dark!"

G Zuss heeds the call of a new convert.


--------------------------------------

Notes: Vicious attained Level 8! After speaking to Red in Big Town, concluding the Germantown rescue. Apparently, my gal never spoke to Red in the past. I gave her Lead Belly, and put points into Small Guns, Sneak, Lockpick, Medicine, and Repair.

2). The 'robes' worn by Tdekka and G Zuss are from Wasteland Capes.

3). Miss Vicious's wardrobe by Gypsy Outfits.

Rules? Taneesha don't need no stinking rules. Cheese gave her a missile launcher and now she has a great use for it! Oh, wait, she dumped it before leaving. Oh well. She's gonna try joining the cult. She certainly does have a delightful little figure but I hope she doesn't get any cult on herself.

Yeah, hmm, where are the boyz/slaves? More pointedly, where's her target?

So Miss Vicious is Taneesha Jones once more. But not normal Taneesha, spy Taneesha. This sounds like a very difficult and delicate mission, much different from the usual sort of thing one does in the Wasteland (namely just shoot things). Still, I imagine her time in the Witnesses will help her here, when it comes to fitting in and adopting the right demeanor and apparent mind set.

Tdekka has a robe. She must be important. I wonder if those guards are actual Talon Company mercenaries, of if the cultists simply found the armor and decided to use it.

Sharon Tate! I hope Tan does not inherit the same end as poor Sharon... At least she has her zap gun, that might be what tips the balance and insures her survival.

Preparing for the offerings, epidermises and all. About what I would expect.

Today's my birthday, and the present I'm giving myself is the next Vicious episode. Two, maybe three more stories to go.

Lopov is on vacation in Croatia with his family, lucky guy. He should return this weekend.



ha ha you really want my gal to lug that giant weapon around! Not gonna happen. But good you've paid attention to the launcher.

Her next target shall grace us with his presence very soon (gack). I tried really hard to make sure G Zuss has the look I want, learned a few new things about the GECK as well.




If you can remember the mission I made in Cho's game a few months ago, to escort a couple children (a boy went to Big Town and a girl to Tenpenny) this mission in Tan's game is similar. Indeed, she cannot just blast and bomb her way in this time.

Good point about the Witnesses, although G Zuss has no kinds of religion going on for him at all. He's just a typical cult slimeball like NXIUM's Keith Raniere. From Tan's perspective, she grew up Christian so right away she's able to tell G Zuss and Tdekka are a couple of phonies.

The Talons are explained, you'll see.


"Preparing for the offerings, epidermises and all. About what I would expect."

Yicch.

Episode 70: G Zuss

Date: Saturday, October 6







G Zuss emerges from the tent. Strides toward them slowly, as if he's got all the time in the world (which he literally does). It seems three entire days have passed before he's finally within walking distance of the cemetery, while a few brahmin mew in a nearby pasture. The guru's flock begins mumbling a series of saying and passages; pure nonsense. Taneesha turns her head so she can roll her eyes without scrutiny.

The prophet's gaze alights upon Tan, and he cocks his head.







"Egads, we have a visitor!"

His voice is fluid and melodic. It sounds as though he's from Kentucky or West Virginia, perhaps. Not quite southern and definitely not Jersey. He's mountainfolk.

"See?" he asks Tdekka and the others. "As I've promised in the past, My Father always provides."

My father, yeah. Guy's got an ego. Still, the man's voice is butter, melting on a hotplate. Cult-guru or not, he could certainly be adept at delivering a good sermon. Tan can tell he's got a presence which Rivet City's Father Clifford lacks. He would blow the Church of Atom's Confessor Cromwell straight off the pulpit. If G Zuss were to address her actual temple way up north, chances are he'd be pretty good behind the altar.

His eyes nearly pop from his skull once he sees the newcomer up close. Must be the clothes.

"Well, he-llo, my little lamb. Indeed, My Father always provides..." Unlike Tdekka, G doesn't bother to ask if she's here to join, he merely assumes that's why she's here. "Have you been blessed by the passion, lamb?"

Lamb....

It suddenly strikes Tan. Here she is, dressed to kill, yet G's congregants are all wearing typical brahmin and burlap. Cheese's prediction had therefore been very wrong. Probably, she could've shown up wearing a paper bag and the prophet would be just as eager. Still, this'll make a great story someday, the fact that she'd gotten completely into character just to convince the fool before her. Something to tell the grandkids.

"Hey, you were right," Tan say aloud to Tdekka. "Suddenly, I feel in awe... the spirit of His Presence... why, it confounds me!"

G Zuss speaks. "Ah, I do have that effect upon my subjects, but truly I'm just man. Well, a man who has been gifted with His Holiness, and the spirit of the Lord."

"Mm hmm, it is true," Taneesha grins. Oooh, just you wait, buddy...

"Her name is Sharon!" The girl with shale-colored hair blurts, perhaps out of turn, because Tdekka glares at the youngster.

"Sharon, how very lucky you are to have joined us! But if you are truly come to join my faith, you must abandon your given name."

"Give up my name? But Tdekka still retains her name."

"I long ago abandoned my original name and was eventually given a new one," the grandmotherly-looking woman answers. "Only because my Consummation has been accepted by His Holiness. But these two here," she points to the blonde and the raven-hair standing nearby with what looks to be contempt, "at present have not reached Consummation. Therefore they have no names."

"Interesting," Sharon/Taneesha says. Unbelievable. So I must temporarily give up my temporary name. Not like she'd been Sharon Tates for long...

Just then, G Zuss lifts a hand to the sky, and is bathed within light, causing the stoned blonde and her partner to sigh. "Someday soon, you shall feel the glory of My Heaven," he claims.

Ugh. They're fooled by a cheap party trick. Tan's tempted to perform exactly the same trick, flicking her Pip Boy's light on while it's still in her pocket, but she stays in character. Already, she's losing patience with this phony. Time to gain some intel.

"Hey, um."

"Yes, my child?"

"Aren't y'all worried about starting your flock out here in the open? Big Town's just across the bridge, true, but this spot just seems kind of vulnerable...."

Oops. She's made a mistake. An hour ago, she'd told Tdekka she has no idea where Big Town is. That she'd only found Hallowed Moor after getting lost while looking for Big Town. Yikes! Thankfully, the elder lady doesn't seem to notice.

"I shall answer thy query. Yes it is dangerous out here, but The Lord always provides."

G Zuss explains they're in the process of building their congregation, almost literally from scratch, and have had zero interference from strife due to divine intervention from the heavens. Since Hallowed Moor is a half-ruined church, it'd already been consecrated long in the past. G's plan is to eventually hire carpenters, electricians, and craftsmen, or induct them into his congregation if they're willing to join. Eventually, the chapel shall be rebuilt. Hallowed Moor Cemetery will eventually become the Conclave of G Zuss, hopefully by springtime. They'd only been here a couple weeks so far. The people on location (those Tan is seeing now) happen to be the very first arrivals.

The sleaze also explains he's in cahoots with Talon Company, somehow. He'd gained a lot of money from past 'donations', and had paid dearly for the two mercs they've got on the premises. More Talons are apparently on their way, he says. Their temptation is money, not worship, but this is okay.

And just how DOES this fool get his money?

"So Sharon," Tdekka broaches the subject on everyone's mind, "are you interested in joining our flock?"

"Why, yes! I will! Already, I sense my future life shall be full of meaning," she answers, really hamming it up. "Before this moment, why, I must admit I was lost. Literally lost without a map, and virtually, my soul has also been lost."

"Well then, certainly you were meant to find me," G Zuss says smugly. "Please come feast with me tonight," he adds, making her wonder what is meant by 'feast?' - "You cannot officially join until your Bathification, which can only be performed under the light of the full moon, of course..."

Oh goodness. Which phase is the Moon in? she panics.

"...but you may certainly join our feast."

The newcomer looks to the sky, straining to see Earth's companion, but the Moon is nowhere in sight. She has no idea which phase it's actually in (waxing? waning? new?) but since nobody's mentioned Bathification is to take place tonight, certainly the Moon can't be full. -- Phew! -- This'll save her from needing to improvise an entire set of behaviors and lies.

"Hey, what happens if it's cloudy?" she asks the flock out of curiosity. "You said the light of the full Moon must be shining, but what if it's not?"

The answer both stuns and appalls her. "G Zuss shall then part the clouds," Tdekka answers, "as Moses parted the Yellow Sea."

Yellow sea?

"You've parted the clouds before?"

The prophet begins to answer, but then stops. Slyly changes the subject. Apparently, even a con artist such as him has limits.






6:06 PM
An hour later they're under the tent, gathered around a worn-out table once used for Prewar picnics. Also under this tent are several beds and bedrolls, some furniture, and what looks to be a safe. It's the safe which catches Taneesha's attention.

G Zuss gestures, then orates a few words of ludicrousness which aren't from any Bible she's ever read. He then breaks the bread.

"By the glory of My Father, I now feast with my flock!"

The guru puts two and a half fingers to his lips. Pieces of bread are passed from him to Tdekka and the others. The two unnamed conclave girls eat ravenously, Taneesha notices; wild dogs have better manners. Chances are they're both starving, poor things. Here's a bit of mind control from their leader, who (like many cult sleazeballs) prefers his subjects scrawny and craving. Too weak to protest. Tdekka and G Zuss nibble more slowly. Taneesha/Sharon pretends to take a bite, pretends to chew, but also manages to jam her food into a pocket. Yeah, because no way am I gonna. Later, the 'food' is thrown into some grass.

Wine is also shared between the conclave. This time Taneesha's more honest. Claims she's become a teetotaler recently (all true) and cannot partake of alcohol due to her desire to keep her body pure. Fortunately, G and Tdekka don't make a fuss. They're impressed, in fact. The prophet is virtually drooling. An untainted virgin, perhaps!

At some point after dinner, just as she's wondering if Dog and Cheese got it wrong and there are no captives on the premises, she notices one of the Talons striding into the half-ruined chapel. The man grabs something from a chest, bends to the floor, and opens what looks to be a hatch. The guard lowers himself underground, as though descending a ladder. Ah-ha! -- Something to look into after everyone's asleep.

"So, who are you, really?" G Zuss asks, surprising Tan from her reverie as he appears by her side. His former melodic voice has been replaced, now he is shrewd and suspicious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well. As Our Father's son come to Earth, I of course have many gifts, many talents."

"Like parting clouds in the sky?" Tan does her best to keep sarcasm out of her tone of voice. Probably fails!

"Mmm, let's just say I've got a sixth sense about certain things," he murmurs, ignoring the jab. "Something about you, Sharon. Just so you know, one of my guards is on a ham right now, asking about a brown-skinned chick who goes around wearing fancy and rare Prewar clothes. Checking you out. Got something you'd like to tell me?"

Taneesha says nothing. Wonders if her cover's been blown. But everything's cool. A moment later the second guard appears from the chapel, and gives a thumbs-up. Apparently, it's her clothes which bothered the prophet, not the fact she's on a mission to rescue some slaves. Her apparel is super-rare in the Wasteland; who knows what was on his mind. But the Talon's got nothing to report. Taneesha Jones is in the clear.

10:12 PM
After a few hours of wine-drinking (nothing sexual, thank the heavens), G Zuss, Tdekka, and the blonde-haired convert pass out. Both guards are also snoozing on bedrolls. The gal with the dark-colored hair is milling about somewhere, but she's probably too stoned to notice what's coming next. Time to get to work.

First thing Tan does is grabs a bobby pin from her hair, a penknife from her pack. She begins fiddling with G Zuss's safe. Just two pins are broken, a couple minutes go by before she picks the lock. She's in! And what she discovers doesn't surprise her. Firstly, a key. Second, a journal. Third, an enormous amount of bottlecaps. She steals the key and the journal, then slips away from the tent. She also grabs a half-worn police baton she finds on the ground.

Sneaking into the cemetery, she takes a moment to read the journal under the light of her device. Which is more of a ledger, actually. A list of foodstuffs, of items (such as the ham radio), but also, a description of persons. 'young, brownskin, boy' catches her attention most of all. Ah-ha!

And now that she's outside and it's also nighttime, she looks toward the sky. The Moon is out! Looks to be three-quarters full. Very good.






Time to search the chapel.

There is indeed a hatch in the floor, which Taneesha lifts, there's the ladder. It's entirely dark down there. She descends through the hatch, and presses presses the button on her Pip Boy 2500®. Light floods the vicinity. She finds herself in a metal-walled room, maybe thirty by twenty feet. The room is dominated by some sort of ancient generator; some sort of machine anyway. And straight ahead are what look to be the bars of a cell door.

"Oh lord..."

"Hey, who's there?" calls a child's voice. "Please don't take me tonight, I deserve another chance!"

Though she can't see who is speaking, it's definitely a boy. Taneesha rushes forward. The key she'd found fits the barred door, which swings open without a word.

"Hey, I'm not here to harm you!" she calls. A staircase is before her, which descends into what looks to be a cavern. The cavern is rather large; she has no idea which way to go. "It's dark in here," Tan says. "See my light? Just tell me where you are."

Surprisingly, the boy comes running toward her, along with several others. They'd been locked inside this underground cave, but aren't in individual cells.

"Who... who are you?" asks the boy. Definitely, he looks like he could be Dogmaster's son. "Sure you aren't one of them?"

"Oh *heck* no! I am not one of those doofuses, okay? My name's Taneesha and I'm here to rescue you."

"Oh thank you!" the boy's eyes are full of fear. "Was so worried I'd be... next."

"Next? What do you mean, next?"

The boy's about to answer, but stops. Exactly that moment, a grating sound scrapes from above. The hatch! Someone just opened it. As everyone freezes, a series of metallic footfalls come clambering down the ladder. clomp... clank... clomp...

"Stay still. Let me handle this." Taneesha says this aloud, not caring if anyone hears.


----------------------------------------

Brainwashed Follower

The Prophet prophecizes

Heading toward the Tent - (This scene was hilarious. I didn't make a path for them, so they all crashed into the tent, then walked in place before collision finally glitched, and Popped inside!)

Bobby Pin Breakin

The Underground Cell

The Captive Boy

🗝

See, if she had a magic bag of holding, she could have brought that missile launcher. . . .

Yellow Sea! No wonder Taneesha is rolling her eyes. Kudos to her for not losing it though, or giving in to either laughter or violence. . . yet.

And she finds the Dog pup!

Uh-oh. Maybe I spoke too soon about the violence.

Uh boy, G Zuss really sounds like a handful. The Behind the Bastards podcast has done multiple episodes on Keith Rainere and his cult. So I know all about him. Just what I would expect. Taneesha even has to give up her new fake name and get a new one to become part of the cult. Well, she has to eventually earn one.

So the Talons are real Talons, on the payroll. It is nice to see Talon company actually working as mercenaries. In the game they just attack me, but never seem to actually work for anyone.

Oh yeah, I remember when Moses parted the Yellow Sea. All of China was talking about it.

You are absolutely right about cult leaders liking to starve their followers in order to make them more pliable. I see Tan is also concerned bout the possibility that might be drugging the food, which I would be paranoid about too.

G Zuss is rolling in the caps? My guess is that his 'donations' came from selling slaves. My guess is when people come to join his flock, he picks out the hot girls he wants to keep for his harem, and sells everyone else into slavery.

So it looks like Tan's fancy outfit was not only unnecessary, but also set off some red flags. Thankfully she skirted that situation however, and now has a hatch in the floor to investigate once everyone else has gone to sleep.

Taneesha found the prisoners! But someone else may have just found her! My guess is one of the Talon Company guards got suspicious, or is just doing a regular patrol. Either way, I sense a fight ahead!

I laughed at first when I saw the title G Zuss and the pic with the man wearing a cape right under it. But the laughing passed as the prophet turned out to actually be a stinking slaver.

It's the Dogmaster's son - the Pupmaster.

I expected that someone will come to check out the place or maybe even someone followed Taneesha. I smell a fight ahead!



That's good else the door might reveal what Taneesha is doing.

@Acadian: Nope, no missile launcher and no Magical Bag of Holding! This is a Renee Roleplay; encumbrance is a big thing with me!

Yellow Sea, yes. I can only imagine how twisted G Zuss's sermon would've been had I written up the entire thing. Full of embellishments and half-truths. One thing which isn't mentioned is that none of his followers are knowledgeable about religious stuff. As we'll see, G is able to use this lack of firsthand knowledge to his advantage.

There is going to be some violence, this is the Spike channel after all, but it will... well, you'll see.


@SubRosa: A handful, yes. I should check out Behind the Bastards. It amazes me how otherwise intelligent, successful people sometimes get caught up in that crap. "I can wake you up at four in the morning and make you take cold showers" ... right then I'd be outta there, assuming someone swayed me to join in the first place. Same with their meager calorie intake. Wait, you're going to tell me what to EAT?

Yes, well at first I began thinking these religious nuts need protection; it makes no sense that they're just out there in Hallowed Moor and the mutants are gone. So I put some guards out there. What should they wear though? Decisions like this, I can't spend all day making them, the story needs to get posted! So I just put them in the first sets of armor which crossed my mind. But how would Talon Company fit into this scenario? Well money, of course. In lore they're all mercenaries. Where does the money come from though? Ah hah.

Janet Telia is still a Talon. In her game I've written all kinds of missions: kill missions, delivery jobs, she even occasionally must escort a n00bie somewhere, trying to keep him or her alive for full payment.

I see Tan is also concerned bout the possibility that might be drugging the food, which I would be paranoid about too

Nice. See, that's not mentioned. Tan threw the bread away merely because they are the ones who made it. She didn't suspect chems were involved, but as you'll see...

Very astute guess about the donations. *nods* And good guess about who's discovered her. I hope you'll return to writing soon, as I'm about to take a break.


@Lopov87: Nice, I'm glad my depiction of the Second Coming, under the guise of false prophecy, made you laugh. The entire scenes when G shows up and greets my toon, and then breaks the bread while Tan throws their food away, I was rolling when I read it later on.

Pupmaster... hmm...

That's good else the door might reveal what Taneesha is doing.

Did you notice the brahmin mewing in the meadow? And G Zuss taking three days to make a journey of approximately 50 meters? Probably other Sleakisms I've forgotten.

Episode 71: The Traitor's Betrayal

Date: Sunday, October 7, early morning


Tonight's sermon was good. A little fire and brimstone, plenty of persuasion and soapboxing, a smattering of quotes from the actual Bible to placate the newcomer, whom he learned had been raised Christian. G Zuss had wooed his flock into fervor once again. The newcomer in jeans seemed impressed. Yes, the preacher currently has just four followers, but given time others will come, just as they had in the past.

Hallowed Moor Chapel will become a parish; this is G Zuss's plan. Once word begins getting out about the Wasteland's newest place of worship, soon to be known as the Conclave of G Zuss, those seeking redemption and guidance shall arrive from all over. The number of persons he'll then have access to will only increase, along with his secret trade. Just as it had in the past.

"G Zuss", born in the year 2245 as Aaron Ray Stumphill, had studied the Bibles (New Testament and Old) in his youth, as well as the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, various texts of Buddhism, whatever doctrinal material he could scrounge from the centuries-old library nearby. By the age of fifteen his knowledge of religious cultures was astounding. Aaron was completely fluent in doctrine, considered a master of scripture and sermonizing in his dinky hometown. The town's equivalent to a priest at the time eventually stepped aside.

But somewhere along the way, Aaron Ray began confusing his role as preacher with the actual Father in heaven he claimed to represent. ...Which wasn't entirely his fault. The kid had been getting so much praise, he had been idolized for so long! By the time he was twenty, let's just say the line between minister and Maker had become very blurred.

It hardly mattered anymore what he preached behind the altar. For one thing, he'd been blessed with a golden coif; the exact color hair of the Messiah. He grew a beard as puberty finished, and allowed his hair to get long, which pleased his congregation to no end. His flock, they ate it all up.

Aaron began improvising; deviating from scripture here and there (eventually more here than there). Then, all it took was to perform several 'miracles' upon strangers who weren't known to the local population, which raised Aaron's credibility as a healer and soothsayer. Aaron Ray Stumphill caused a blind man to see! Aaron Ray Stumphill caused a lame woman to walk! And so on. These things were staged of course, money had exchanged hands to make these 'miracles' possible, but why not?

It was called evangelism! ... In the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first centuries, plenty of preachers performed miracles before their audiences. This established credibility amongst those who were easily fooled; a combination of prophecy and show business, though the ultimate goal was often money, not spiritualism. Still, if rich folk like Billy Shaham and Tammy Gay Taker could do it, why not a poor boy from Kentucky?

Aaron began sharing the 'visions' he'd supposedly seen with his congregants. Didn't take long before he was able to pull the ultimate stunt; declaring himself to be the Second Coming, come to save all "sinners from the flames of eternal damnation (bla, bla, bla)". Aaron took his new name, the name which'd been prophesized for the past two-thousand-plus years, bastardized to hip hop terms. When it was his turn to die, he would arise from his deathbed after three days, he claimed.

Not everyone in town bought his scheme, however. His congregation began arguing the validity of his claims. Eventually, his flock became divided between believers and heretics. The dinky town's mayor (and sheriff) stepped in after shots were fired, and G Zuss was forced to relocate.

But enough followers remained under his (...command...) uh, guidance. His congregation continued to grow.

Individuals who were lost and vulnerable (and often cute) were those who'd be targeted the most. Money became a factor, along with "trade". Some of the poor souls who'd arrived seeking Him would go "missing" at times. They could be made to disappear for the right price; yet another of G Zuss's "miracles". No friends / no family? Who would miss them over time.

In the Year 2275 G Zuss's trafficking had caught the attention of a raider boss operating along the Potomac, and for a while the relationship between G Zuss and the boss had been a compatible one. A profitable one. But as things often go in the underworld, greed and backstabbing soon overruled business.


12:33 AM
G Zuss awakes from his bed with a start. Looks around the tent, his head slightly spinning. He'd had a bit too much to drink tonight! --- The occasion had called for celebration of course. How often is it that a stunning, provocative, potential convert wearing tight clothes literally appears out of nowhere?

Despite her enthusiasm, the lady hadn't been entirely... hmm. What is it about her, actually? ...Aaron "G Zuss" Stumphill cannot put a finger on what bothers him about the newcomer. Definitely, she is strong-willed. Confident. Not the usual listless loser he'd been wont to attract. Will this be a problem?

"She refused the wine," he mumbles.

The wine, which had been slightly spiked with Dohypnol. Not enough to knock everyone out, but enough to keep their full attentions at bay. When G Zuss orates they're going to see a spectacular vision after they've been boozed, chances are that's exactly what they'll witness. The babe in jeans (whom he refuses to acknowledge with a name) had refused to drink the wine for whatever reason, even after a couple attempts at persuasion.

"She'll be a challenge to consummate," G Zuss mutters, his voice shrewd and calculating, no longer melodious. "Well hey, been there before. I'm always up for a challenge."

Thing is, consummating her (convincing the little b---- to give up her name, her lifestyle, and her past, under the guise of religion) will likely be more than a challenge. G Zuss infers this to be so. Something about her.

"Must confer with Tdekka in the morning," he muses. Amazing that Tdekka, his most trusted apostle from the early days, is still with him. She's a wise woman. Tdekka is to G Zuss as our Twenty-first century Nancy Salzman is to Keith Raniere of NXIVM. Perhaps Sharon Tates shall soon become the equivalent of Smallville's Allison Mack, in our modern terms.

The prophet's gaze wanders about the tent. Stops at the bedroll where the jeans-wearing *strut* had crashed for the night. And then he notices: the *strut* is no longer here!

At this very moment, footsteps approach. Someone is nearing the tent.

"Cool. You're awake," says one of the Talon guards gruffly.

"What is it?" asks the prophet.

"Something going on in the undercroft, bro... think that chick who showed up earlier is fooling 'round down there."

"*Fudge!* Knew something was *messed up* about her."

G Zuss is losing his temper, which at first doesn't seem such a good idea. His façade has always been to at least appear caring and pacifistic. But then, he recalls the moments when Christ himself became angry, specifically the Book of John, chapter 2, verses 15 through 17...

...And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”...

There. The Son of God, always tranquil and patient, had grabbed a 'scourge of cords' and then thrashed it about. Christ had used a weapon! He'd in fact lost his *kit* on several occasions, at least six times in the New Testament, is G's recollection. So relax. Let us become angry at the newcomer; she is a traitor, after all! thinks he. Wouldn't hurt to allow his flock to witness some ire from their leader.

By now, Tdekka and the unnamed girls are also awake. Woozy from the Dohypnol, but awake. Everyone's suddenly astir. Tdekka, G, and the guard discuss what to do about the situation.

As they leave the tent and move toward the chapel, only their prophet is fully aware of the truth.

-------------------------------------------------------

Notes: G's backstory sort of "surprised" me. I decided I had to write it up. I then split the chapter into two, just for my own attempt at headache avoidance. So right now it's 1,405 words according to WordCounter.net, my new favorite document editor. It'll be easier to focus on what's to come, this way, for y'all as well as me.

Final episode will be longer. More material will get written up, in an effort to maintain flow.

Very interesting background on the G-man and how he came to be the piece of. . . work that he is.

Uh oh, that new hot chick’s foolin’ ‘round down in the undercroft.

Maybe Taneesha and the Dog pup and have already disappeared?

G-Man really is high on his own supply. I loved his thoughts on how impressed the newcomer was with his white hot rizz.

Yes, that golden blond hair, that *checks notes* Jews born in Palestine are so noted for. Yep, no notes there...

I like this run down of G-Zuss' past achievements, great and disastrous. Run out of town no less! Good for the people of the town.

So he did drug the wine! I knew it! This is the kind of guy who prompts every woman to cover their drink the moment he walks in the room.

Of course G-Zuss is totally down with the image of Jesus going all terminator in the temple. But he totally misses that it was all about greedy rich people exploiting others that had pissed him off. G-Zuss is literally the guy that Jesus would be scourging with that whip.

Looks like Taneesha is going to have her hands full in the undercroft. Hopefully she can take care of that first Talon and get out before reinforcements can arrive. Otherwise the parish might just perish.

This story serves a prelude to the previous story, right? Now they're about to open the hatch...

An interesting backstory of G Zuss a.k.a. Aaron. He's quite an educated individual or maybe well-read is a better word. Too bad that his broad knowledge eventually led to his criminal activities though his viewpoint may differ, I guess.

Our internet was down and I finally had the time to speak to a nice lady in the Phillipines to get it restored with a new modem. I asked her where she's from, thinking she's in California perhaps, but she was like "do you know where the Phillipines are?" I said "of course!" Anyway, very busy weekend and I'm too exhausted to game atm. Gaming will be necessary to flesh out the second scene when Vicious emerges from the cave.

Yes? How can I be of assist? (my imitation of the Xfinity lady on the other side of the world.)

Very interesting background on the G-man and how he came to be the piece of. . . work that he is.

Yes indeed. I began picturing G-man in whichever little burg he was from, and then began wondering how he became what he is today. For the record, I also had backstories on Cr4nk$haft and BODDY-BAGGZ but it wasn't as extensive. Those two were former employees of the dog, but defected his organization.

"Maybe Taneesha and the pup have already disappeared".. not sure what you mean, but my brainpower's running on fumes atm. If you're saying they've already left the premises, not quite yet.


----------------

G-Man really is high on his own supply. I loved his thoughts on how impressed the newcomer was with his white hot rizz

Awesome thank you.

Yes that is correct. If Jesus really lived in the region he lived in (and for the record, I believe he did; where there's smoke there's fire, however I think his message has been hugely distorted) there's no way he'd be pale-skinned with gold hair.

It's not mentioned, but I see G-man getting run out of the town's official congregation, which is supposed to be conservative. He then started over, rebuilding his church in some old barn, perhaps. He later relocated to Maryland, south of Germantown, somehow. Perhaps because Dogmaster himself paid Big Bucks to do so. Perhaps most of his flock got scattered, some of them died along the way from Kentucky to MD.

He drugged the wine with Dohypnol, emphasis on "DOH", as in Homer Simpson doh. 🍷 So it's not the date r4pe drug, it's something less powerful.

G-Zuss is literally the guy that Jesus would be scourging with that whip.

I agree. Like mentioned about the man's message being distorted. I'm a big fan of Gospel of Thomas and the other "non-canonical" gospels, Mary even has her own gospel, because they seem as though there's no embellishments. The Church does not accept these as canon for whatever reason.

------------------------------

This story serves a prelude to the previous story, right? Now they're about to open the hatch...

This story is a prelude to when she's in Georgetown? Or are you talking about G-Zuss's backstory?

Yes, I believe G-man started off with good intent. But then he got greedy once money got involved. 💰 Often comes down to money, right?

Episode 72: Exodus



"That damned, foul traitor!"

G Zuss curses, his voice mellifluous once again as he, Tdekka, and the sole Talon guard remaining aboveground prepare to move toward the chapel.

The gas valve on the guard's flamer is flicked on, its burner is lit: FWOOSH! A sick smile plasters itself upon the guard's face; he's planning to burn that *witch* to death, what a wicked-awesome night this'll be!

G Zuss is also packing, he readies his revolver, making sure all cylinders have rounds in them. It's rare that he reveals the .32 kept under his cape; he prefers to maintain the illusion of peacemonger. But now is one of those times when rules need to be broken.

Tdekka's got her pistol's hammer cocked as well, with a combat knife for backup. "Damn. Must admit I really liked Sharon... um, really liked that woman," she corrects herself, hoping her leader won't take this moment to lecture her about the necessity of His subjects losing their identity, again. But G is distracted, for obvious reasons.

Everyone starts walking. "Wonder if she's in the secret chamber," the guard mumbles, the aroma of kerosene wafting behind him.

"Oh, Jesus Christ on a gecko stick!" G Zuss screams when he sees his safe had been left open. Again, he's broken character. "Please tell me it was you who opened my strongbox?"

"N-No way," Tdekka stutters, struggling to maintain composure, no longer quite the wise grandmother who always knows what to do. "And those two dunces couldn't pick a lock if they had a copy of Tumblers Today to guide them!" she points to the unnamed girls, who are currently cowering off to the side. "Must've been Shar--- must've been the newcomer!"

"God...DAMMIT!" the prophet screams as he checks his safe. Well, the money's still here, but his ledger and the key to the hatch are missing. So, doesn't seem the newcomer's a pure thief. Seems she's after his 'secret trade'. But why?

...Could she be from the Dogmaster?
...Could she be from the man, basically, who'd paid to have G Zuss and his flock flown to Hallowed Moor in a Vertibird?

"I swear, when I get my sights on that woman...all hell will break loose. Juyeeeez Cheeerist!"

Whoops, he's just sinned, three times in a row! Committed blasphemy, that is. -- Exodus 20:7: Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain... -- But of course, nobody in his current flock really understands how the Ten Commandments actually work. G had been careful over the years about what which parts of the Bible he should illuminate, and which should stay dark. Usually, whatever benefitted Him was utilized, to maintain control over his subjects.

"Calm down, brah," says the Talon. "Nothing but a prob, and you know what? Probs get solved, bro. So ..."

"Okay, first, you need to stop calling me 'bro' and 'brah'," G Zuss interrupts. "You may not be part of my congregation, but I am paying you to be here. Understand?"

The Talon nods, while his eyebrows raise. He barely stops himself from giggling.

"Sorry, boss." Even with this reprimand, and even with the fifty caps he'd been getting paid per day, and even considering the fact he is not Christian or religious in any way, the Talon finds himself unable to refer to the faker before him as anything close to the Messiah returned to Earth.

"That's better," the prophet says.

"Anyway boss, was going to say, let's go get that broad, now that we know she's down in the cave, okay?"

Everyone under the tent agrees.






"Alright y'all, stay back!" Taneesha warns the slaves. She powers up her Tazer as somebody comes down the stairs!

With the boy are three others: a teenage male, a woman near Tan's age, and a young girl. The woman and the girl obey their rescuer, doing their best to hide in the cave while the teenaged boy grabs something from the floor.

"Hah, thought so!" the Talon glowers. "Caught in the act! Knew we shouldn't trust you! The hell you think you're doing, *witch*?"

"Rescuing some slaves from that phony Messiah, what's it look like I'm doing?"

"Aw, this is good, real good!" the Talon exclaims as he approaches. He readies his piece, a two-handed assault rifle. He switches the safety on his gun to OFF. "Like it's my birthday, and YOU are my present! I'm about to have a bit of fun while the slaves watch!"

"Hmm, you think?"

"Pay attention slaves. I'm about to blow her *butt* to pieces!"

Taneesha aims her stunner, center mass...






"Ha ha! What is that? A toy gun? You tryin' to scare me with a toy?" The guard can't help but laugh.

"Oh, you's about to find out what this toy can do, mister."

The fight begins! ... The talon is able to fire a few poorly-aimed shots.. plth! plth! plth! ... most which go flying off into the dirt. He's spraying 'n' praying while Tan strafes, then aims more carefully. -- *BZZT!!!* goes her stunner. Her 'toy' had powered up to full strength by then: all 50,000 volts zap through the man, causing his nerves to twitch while his muscular system falls to nil!

...With the guard down for the next ten seconds, Tan and the teen begin bludgeoning! Tan uses the baton she'd found outside while the teen beats the man with a pipe. Somehow the guard survives this onslaught, so Tan zaps him again: *BZZT!* And they both smash him again...

"I'm getting out of here!" the teen eventually declares before following the others deeper into the cave, leaving Taneesha Jones to finish the guard on her own. See it takes nerve, beating a man to death, even if that man's your captor! For Tan, the assault takes multiple minutes, beating and zapping and smashing and pltzing her adversary over and over, until the guard is finally deceased. "Urrgh..." The baton Tan used, which wasn't in perfect condition when she'd found it, is half broken by the time she's done.

"Sheeshuz!" she says, committing blasphemy herself. Her arms and hands are shaking and aching! The guard's death would've come quicker if she hadn't been forced to use such a defective weapon. "Well that's the last time I part with my Blamhammer," she decides. The man would've been down after two or three shots from her customized shotgun.

It takes a few seconds before the boy, who'd gone rushing off, returns to the scene. "Wow, that was awesome! You just killed that guy! ... Good, I hated him. I hate ALL of them! Who are you, ma'am?"

"My name's Taneesha. You can call me Tan," she says casually, as if she does this sort of thing every day. She places her fingers upon the guard's neck, checking for a pulse while the kid watches. Nope, nothing. "Um, maybe you shouldn't be seeing this part."

"Oh, I'm okay, Tan. I've seen worse." Indeed, the kid seems fine with the results of absolute carnage before him. More than fine! He's relieved!

"Well what's your name?" she asks. She loots guard's corpse, taking a few rounds of ammo from the loser. She also takes two Stimpaks, a ten mil pistol, and forty-four ten mil bullets from the man, all of which she gives to the boy. "You okay handling a firearm?"

She learns the kid's name is Chuck (Chuckles...), and that he'd been captured perhaps a week ago; hard to tell down here in the dark, where night and day no longer matter. Chuckles had been kidnapped while playing outside of Little Lamplight by some Talons.

"Prob'ly a stupid idea, playing outside in the dark. We would've smashed those Talon mungos if they'd invaded our cave."

"I see. Well all of that is over now, Chuckles, okay? Time to get outta here," Taneesha says professionally. "Follow me!"

"Okay."

"Let's try to be quiet up those stairs, though. There's another guard up there, as I'm sure you well know."


1:47 am
Some minutes later, Taneesha, Chuckles, and the teen emerge from the cave, their eyes darting left and right. The other slaves (the woman and the girl) had fled during the scene at some point, and are nowhere to be seen.

"Yo, thanks for the help, Miss. Gotta split!" The teenager rushes to the south once they're outside the hatch, probably headed to Big Town. "Later gator!" he calls to Chuckles.

"In a while, crocodile," the boy says, having little idea what a gator or a crocodile actually is.

Tan hopes to make a clean getaway with the boy. They hunker down on their haunches, trying not to make a sound as they creep toward the cemetery. Perhaps G Zuss and the second guard are still asleep?

...But of course, things don't always go as planned, right? Murphy's Law applies to slave rescues just as it applies to all those moments when we haven't got that last coin for the toll booth, as a sudden line of cars forms behind us. Or we realize we're out of breath mints just before meeting tonight's big date.

.... Because it's not just the guard who discovers something's gone wrong, it's all of them. G Zuss, his trusted confidante Tdekka, and the second Talon soldier; they're all here. Tan and the boy freeze!

Despite being vastly outnumbered, what came next is one of those events nobody could ever predict.







...Tdekka, who's brandishing a knife, speaks first.

"A boy!" the wisewoman says, coming to some sort of realization. "A... BOY!" she shouts. "What's that boy doing here?"

At first Taneesha thinks the grandma is yelling at her. But then she realizes...

"Who is that kid, Aaron?" Tdekka glowers, turning her attention away from 'Sharon', and toward the prophet.

"Aaron?" Vicious laughs. "Your given name is Aaron?"

"N.... no, it's not Aaron! I am G Zuss! Born from not from some common woman, but arranged from prophesy! And she..." he points to the newcomer. "SHE IS MY JUDAS!" He turns to his advisor, hoping for confirmation. "Tell her, Tdekka! Tell her she's the one who's betrayed us!"

But grandma is not having it! ... Grandma has just caught the proverbial grandson with both hands in the cookie jar before dinner!

"Aaron. Ray. STUMPHILL....!" Tdekka yells, "Answer me now! WHO is that kid?"

"Well I uh...."

"You told me we were DONE with the slaving!" she sneers. "That THIS would become a new start for both of us! No more trafficking! That we would take the money from Cumberland and start over!"

Vicious speaks next. "Your words, they're genuine," she says to Tdekka while keeping her Tazer pointed halfway between the guard and the false messiah. "You're telling me you didn't know about the slaving?"

"Look, I can explain," the prophet from Boonsboro blubbers. The man seems really worried by now. Not because his secret has been discovered, but whom it's been discovered by. Like, the one person in the whole entire world who he should never keep a secret from is Tdekka. "Um, so that boy is....he's um..."

But Tdekka doesn't want any excuses. "Does this mean my friend... my niece... and maybe even my DOG?" Grandma is really mad. "What really happened to them, Aaron?"

The prophet is partially pleading for grandma's redemption, but partially also mad. Pure anger shakes through him, now that she's discovered his betrayal. It is at this very moment the Talon gets impatient. Whoosh! His nozzle suddenly bursts aflame.






An hour or two later, after Taneesha and Chuckles had made it to Big Town and Tan was trying to recall the process of events, it was hard to remember what exactly happened. The Talon definitely got her with his flamethrower, that was for sure. Singed her left arm and shoulder, and she's still got the scars to show it. In response, Tan had zapped the man with her stun gun, getting lucky, because the fool had fallen right to the ground. ... But Tdekka had also fired her gun, shooting not at Sharon, but at G Zuss!

With the Talon down, and with the prophet and his elder turned on one another, Tan had a moment to delve into her handbag. Attached a Stealth Boy to her arm, effectively generating a modulation refraction to her person. In laymen's terms, she'd become invisible! She'd checked for the boy at that moment, but Chuckles had done the right thing, he had gone into hiding.

With the luxury of stealth now on her side, Tan then sprinted full speed toward the tent! Scrambled a bit while trying to find the the rusty footlocker in which she'd stashed her Blamhammer all while shots and explosions and flamer blasts were going on in the distance! Finally found the footlocker. Grabbed her shells, and grabbed her grenades, grabbed her shotgun.

"Comin' for you G, and not just for the slaving, but for taking the Lord's name in vain, you phony."

By then, Tdekka was most likely dead. Since she'd turned on her leader, and her leader was the one paying the hired help, this meant the Talon had no choice but to burn G Zuss's trusty mentor to death. Tan realized this after the guard came running in her direction, unable to see her since the Stealth Boy was still active...

... but the tables had turned, now it was Blamhammer time! With a proper weapon in her hands, the guard didn't last so long. Three direct hits, and the Talon had gone to meet his maker. Or the other way, right?

"*Screw* Dogmaster's no-kill order!" Tan'd said. "G Zuss, you're next. Forgive me Father for what I'm about to do, but that false Messiah? He is about to go down."

But she hadn't been able to find the fool, and couldn't spend too much time looking for him. The boy, who'd come running toward her, became top priority. She had no choice but to lead Chuckles across the bridge to Big Town.






"Again, you saved my life!" Chuckles says now that they're safe. "Seriously ma'am. I know your name is Tan, but like, who ARE you?"

"Well, let me tell you who I am." Taneesha says while opening a pack of Junk Food. "Like I said, my name's Taneesha Jones, and I'm from the ancient town of Ellicott City." She hands the box of preprocessed crap to Chuckles. "Two days ago, I bet you'll be happy to know, your father hired me to come rescue you."

She smiles at the boy, really proud to have gotten him (and the other slaves) out alive. But Chuckles seems confused. Chuckles blinks, halfway between bites.

"So...wait. You're saying I have a father?"


-------------------------------------------------------

Beatdown on the first guard.

"You are my Judas..."

G Zuss and Tdekka turn on one another...

While Taneesha zaps the guard

G Zuss cowers -- (this wasn't supposed to happen. Scriptwise, he was supposed to attack Tan while Tdekka turned on G Zuss! G's Aggression was set to 100 by this point, while StartCombat PlayerRef became his new AI. For whatever reason, the game ignored all this.)

Tdekka getting roasted

...while one of the unnamed begins wandering around, stoned - (the fact she didn't respond to all the combat going on just a few meters away seems to confirm her pretend-inebriation.)

Tan, still invisible, Blamhammers the guard's flamer out of his hands!

The guard gets one good flame at my toon.... (he nearly killed her. I would've reloaded of course, but still... PIssed me off.)

Tdekka's demise.

Tdekka's inventory (note the 2C-B. That's a mod-added chem. Again, confirming she and G were in the habit of drugging their subjects.)

Bittercup hits on my toon!

-------------------------------------------------------

Notes: I've done so many searches for religious info on the laptop I've been using to write this story, Bing and Google practically autofill over half the words I've needed!

2). I rarely use VATs. Chances are Tan's beating of the first guard would've gone much faster if I had!

3). Moments just before Tan Blammhammered the guard while still invisible, a message spread across my TV screen, indicating that G Zuss had been killed! Yet my toon definitely didn't kill him. ✝ That message only displayed if G Zuss got pwned, and since he'd been cowering in that one screenshot above, my thinking is he fled the area, then got downed by some random enemy. Maybe a raider, maybe a yao guai.

Tan did a cursory search for a minute or so, but then decided to just head to Big Town where it's safe. Because the boy is NOT Essential, so it's important to keep him alive.

... never could find G Zuss himself!

What a story! Full of fast-paced events and twists!

"Oh, Jesus Christ on a gecko stick!"



I really like the first pic, it looks as Tan stepped down on that slaver's head!

Too bad that Tdekka got pwn3d and that G Zuss somehow got away.

So Chuckles either doesn't know that he has a father or Dogmaster tricked Taneesha?

Lopov's got the right of it - fast and twisty!

'But of course, nobody in his current flock really understands how the Ten Commandments actually work.'


Wow, Taneesha acquitted herself really well!

So if Dogface has half a brain - which I figure he does - he may well have kept his identity secret from his pup for the pup's safety. Or not. Maybe. Looking forward to finding out.

Everyone is packing heat. This is the wasteland after all. If Taneesha has not escaped yet, then I expect there is going to be one heck of a brawl coming up!

Jesus on a Gecko Stick! What a perfect phrase. Like betting Brahmin to bottlecaps.

So we jump back to Tan in the cave. It seems the Talon did get the drop on her. Sort of. But she is ready with her taser. Like so many others, he is gong to be shocked when he learns that it is not a toy...

After finishing that messy business in the cave, Tan is out of the frying pan and into the fire! Time for the showdown. At least now she has more weapons, even if not her trusty Blamhammer.

Uh oh, Aaron Ray Stumphill is in it big with grandma now. I have to admit, I did not see this turn coming, but I am loving it! Give him hell granny!

That was quite a wild free for all at the end. Too bad that G-Zuss got away. But that just means he can return in the future for a rematch, as one of Taneesha's arch enemies.

And another twist at the end! Chuckles does not know that he has a father, much less who he is! This episode was one surprise after another!

@Lopov: It's amazing that got pulled off last week, all those twists and turns, everything working overall, except G Zuss refusing to fight! In a way I'm glad he didn't get into it. I like surprises like that, as long as they aren't too catastrophic.

In America the expression is "Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick" but that won't work in the CW, in which there probably are no popsicles.

Yes it does look as though she's stepping right on that guy's head! I have a few other pictures from that scene (and others) maybe I'll post them at some point.



Nope, he didn't get away, he definitely got killed. I arranged a ShowMessage in G Zuss's script, so that if he got killed outside of Vicious's immediate sight I would at least know he was pwned. ✝ The message displayed right before Vicious took care of the flamer guard.

HOWEVER, from Tan's perspective, she's not going to know all that. She has no idea what happened to G Zuss, and doesn't want to leave the kid alone so she can find out. In story terms, she can't go back that direction anyway, as we'll see.


@Acadian: Just think, originally that set of episodes was going to be a lot more straightforward. "aaaDogmasterKillMission2" is how that quest is named in the GECK, suggesting yet another Killquest was the original idea. And then, the idea became a straight up rescue, Tan would be in and out. Somewhere along the line though I got the best idea of all.. As usual, the spat between Tdekka and G Zuss suddenly occurred while I was writing! That part was unplanned, but I'm glad it got added.

Dogface hasn't had to keep his identity secret from the boy, as we shall see...


@SubRosa: Brahmin to bottlecaps!

Those entire scenes were crazy. Tan and the teen smashing that Talon with Tan needing to zap the guy over and over. And then everything which happened aboveground too. Half the story got written during those scenes: me typing like mad into my auxiliary computer, then switching to the controller so I could run my toon around on my gaming computer. Overall the result, as chaotic as it was, was pleasing. Not disappointing like Cr4nkShaft.

Yeah, grabbing her Blamhammer again was SUCH a relief! Notice in that one pic though, she had to swap again to some melee weapon (probably the half-broken police baton) because she'd gotten too close to the guard. That's when he nearly killed her with the flames.



Ha ha nope, he didn't get away, he is definitely pwned. This is what I attached to him.



That "ShowMessage" displayed during battle for sure, which was something like "The fake prophet is now meeting his Maker" or some such. But as mentioned above, from Tan's perspective, she has no idea of his demise. Also, the "sleep package" was some AI to keep the man from wandering around when Tan first arrived. I wanted a bit of mystery at first. Like, he'd be the last actor to appear in that scene, so he was in bed at first.

Graci, Florens. ☕


@All: I've been kind of beating myself up this week. The entire story should've been done by now! I really wanted to have it all done by Halloween/my birthday, and now Thanksgiving is next week, and it's going to be the most intense episode of all! How am I going to get it done??? -- But then remember, I lost a lot of time this summer. Somewhere between a month and a half to two months I was dealing with configuring a new graphics card and THEN rebuilding an entire hard drive from scratch. Installing Windows 10, installing and reinstalling Fallout 3 at least three times, etc. So really it's not my fault I'm gonna be scrambling this week.

Wish me luck, I guess.

Just take your time and go at whatever pace is natural right now. There is no deadline here. We are all writing for the personal satisfaction of it. Just satisfy yourself.

Listen to SageRosa.

Wow, that's great advice! I just want to be able to kick back and relax, knowing the story is posted. But not to worry, here comes the next episode.


Episode 73: Instincts

Date: Sunday, October 7, 4:40 AM


"Hallowed Moor regiment, this is Dog Palace, copy? ... Hallooooowed Moor, can I get a ten-four? Over!"

For hours, Dogmaster's second-in-command had been at it, calling into both of their Georgetown hams (each radio tuned to a different frequency) while Dog was half-crazy, wandering in and out of the mansion.

"Hallowed .... Moor .... regiment! Agh, this is aggravating!"

It'd been a long time since either of them had slept. Dog and Cheese Head had received an enormous shipment of Peru's finest the day before, which was now keeping them going. Cheese had discovered that South America had survived the Great War without getting hit by countless bombs, and was eager to trade with the North. The cartels were gone, but plenty of hillside farms were still in business down there. The two crimebosses were hoping to soon extend their product throughout the Wasteland.

Problem is, Cheese and Dog so far had a literal ton of supply, but hadn't yet built their demand! --- So for now, there'd be no end to this party: they could snort the stuff until their noses fell off. They could keep themselves awake until they'd literally crash & burn, with nothing close to a safety net to catch them. In the Twenty-third century there is no equivalent to a Narcotics Anonymous, or even a network of friends/family to save their souls once they've hit rock bottom. Not that either of them would make it to NA's First Step: admitting they are powerless over their addictions. Dogmaster, admit he is powerless?

"The hell's goin' on up there?" Dog stomped into the radio room. He wavered a bit on his feet; his paranoia way beyond.

"Duh-dunno," was Cheese's answer. "Last we heard from the the ... the Talons, our very own Vicious had gone down into the ...

"What? Gone down where?" Dog's face loomed over one of the hams like a gargoyle.

"That she gone down into the cave to guh-grab the boy.... and the Talon, he.. he... had discovered what she was up to."

"Y-you think she made it???" Dog asked this while nearby servant began chopping another line of nose sugar. Hell, make it two.

"Dunno hoss. Not a clue."

The pair continued bombing their brains and trading turns in front of the radios for the rest of the night. Wasn't until sometime later in the morning, after they'd succumbed to fatigue and had crashed on the floor, that the call finally came in...

"Hallowed Moor regiment to Dog Palace..."

... both of them virtually backflipped off the floor, leapt toward the intercom tuned to 50 MHz, practically slamming into each another. "Dog Palace, ten-four..."

Apparently, the rest of the Talons from Fort Bannister had finally arrived at Hallowed Moor Cemetery at oh-nine-fifty hours. And what they had to report was disturbing. Everyone on the premises had been killed, including G Zuss himself! Only a couple wastoid chicks from his flock were found wandering sadly about.

Where is Vicious? What happened to the slaves?

Most of all, what happened to the boy? The boy which Dogmaster wanted for his own collection of humans?





10:15 am
The morning is overcast, cold, and drizzly. They'd spent the night in Big Town's Common House, a place where anyone can stay, assuming they are decent folk.

Taneesha Jones had slipped out of her tramp clothes and back into raider armor by now; an effort to halve the attacks she and Chuckles could potentially face as they travel south to Georgetown. She has full confidence that she, herself, will be fine. Hopefully, any raiders they encounter will leave Chuck alone. If not, Vicious's plan is: "He's my son, back off!" Which should work. Because even vile outlaws such as raiders often possess a soft spot for kids. They were all kids once, themselves.

And if that doesn't work, well.... we all know what'll happen next.

"Hey, why are you dressed like a raider?" Chuck asked after Vicious emerged from the bathroom.

And the standard parental answer: "Some things you'll understand when you get older, Chuck."

As the pair of G Zuss survivors leaves Big Town; Red, Kimba, and Shorty waving goodbye, a loud commotion occurs to the north. "Whoa, you see that?" From their vantage point, they are able to witness the landing of a Vertibird across the bridge. Three of them, actually.

Vicious takes a gander through her binoculars, before handing them to the boy.

"HaHaHa!" Chuck chuckles. "Are those Talons?"

Both of them begin cracking up as they watch. - The aeroplanes' doors open wide. An entire platoon of soldiers exits the 'birds after they make their landings, all wearing drab grays and greens. They search the vicinity of Hallowed Moor Cemetery like a bunch of confused ducklings pecking for scattered birdseed. Vicious and Chuckles witness Bannister's sarges from a distance as they bark orders to two-dozen grunts. They begin searching in wide concentric circles, trying to discern what'd happened.

"Look't them all, Chuckles! Buncha nitwits. .... Uh oh! Seems like one of them just found the flamethrower dude I dispatched with my Blamhammer. ... Aww, ain't that sad."

"You got him good!" Chuck grins. "You're like a comic book hero, Tan!"

The Talons are confused and angry, shouting and blaming each other in the distance. If only they'd flown in the previous day, things might now be under control. But it seems they've missed whatever happened the night before, and now someone's got questions to answer.

"C'mon, Chuck. Let's go, before they get the idea to investigate over here."

"Okay!"

"Hey, Red? Shorty? Kimba? You never saw us, okay?"

The residents of Big Town promise to keep quiet. Their only worry is their homes and houses could get massively searched in X amount of time, problem being that most of the slaves had arrived from Hallowed Moor the night before.

Chuck and Vicious begin walking south. Vicious takes a moment here and there to occasionally look behind, glancing through her binocs, until she can no longer see the chapel or the soldiers.

... And now that she's got the time to think and ponder upon the situation with the boy, questions begin to arise. She and Chuck had had a longish talk the night before about the whole 'father' thing. Taneesha had decided that for now, perhaps it's best not to reveal the full story to the boy. What would happen if he learns his father is one of the very top crime bosses in the entire central Atlantic region?

Her conclusion: Something seems fishy about her latest assignment. Pieces falling into place. She's got no idea why her intuition is triggering, but she sure has plenty of doubts.

- The boy had insisted he'd never had a father, or even a father figure, his whole, entire life. He'd been raised an orphan by a group of traveling merchants for a while, then had been dropped in front of Little Lamplight for whatever reason; the adults had not explained why.

- Seems Chuckles had never suffered memory loss. Never had a concussion, never had his head smashed while playing stickball, and so on. His memories from the age of five or so are pretty much intact, is Tan's overall thought. Red, Big Town's doctor-in-residence, agrees with Tan's assessment.

- Something about georgetown had been written in G Zuss's ledger, along with an obvious manifest of slave descriptions. "georgetown" been scribbled in the same handwriting as the rest of the page, so obviously the prophet himself had written it. But it'd been written in such a way that it seems part of a code. Question: why would G add Georgetown into his notes at all? Just the fact that 'georgetown' had been written into the manifest, and Georgetown happens to be where Dogmaster runs his operation...

"Something ain't right."





2:34 PM
The morning rain had cleared to a glorious but chilly afternoon. Vicious by then had protected the boy from one bloatfly, two molerats, and a small radscorp. Each time, Chuckles did the right thing; he'd rush off, then dive into some tall grass or behind a bush. Each time, there'd be a moment of dread after combat was over, Tan wondering if he was okay. But the boy had Wasteland Smarts. He'd hide, then find her once the shooting was over.

None of the raiders they passed raised a fuss about Chuckles. The raiders of Springvale overpass, the hooligans outside Super Duper Mart, the thugs just west of Bethesda Ruins, they pretty much ignored him.

Passing by Super Duper Mart, Vicious got the sudden urge to see if Bratty and Q-Tip were still inside. But the moment passed. And maybe it really was time to move on from those two, for good. She'd grown up a lot, past few weeks. Chances are they had not, and never would.


3:10 PM
Tan and Chuck stopped by Megaton for an hour, to grab a bite to eat. Tan had changed clothes yet again, back into her jeans + crop top combination. She wondered if she'd see Lucy West during her brief stay, but Tan's former friend had not emerged to Megaton's plaza.

Being around such genteel society, people greeting each other with casual comments about the weather and mostly being nice, triggered something within the boy. He began fantasizing aloud about his father. Wondering if he's also got brothers and sisters to play with. Already, he's building it up in his head: Christmas toys and birthdays and family Zonopoly games around the fire.

Ohhh no.... thinks Taneesha Jones. Not even close.





5:45 pm
Tan (redressed in Vicious armor) and Chuckles finally make it! Tepid Sewers, straight ahead. Though the rescuer's doubts had continued to swirl, she could not think of any reason why she shouldn't continue the mission, taking the boy to his father. But should she at least warn Chuck about who his father is and what he does? Or should she allow the boy to be surprised? Either way, Tan (at some point) began to realize she was becoming attached to little man.

As they near the sewer's door, a familiar figure comes striding the avenue toward them.






"Oh no."

"What?" asked Chuckles.

"It's the chump."

"The Chump?"

"Hey Vicious, it me." Lamont Stamford, the man who'd gotten Taneesha involved with Georgetown in the first place, walks toward them. Still wearing his Chinese officer's jumpsuit, still dabbed in cologne. "Remember me?"

"Course I remember you, chump."

"Ha ha very funny. So, I see you got the boy. How ya doin' kid?" Stamford asks, hunkering down on his knees like adults do when speaking to children.

Wary of strange grownups, Chuckles says nothing. And that's fine. Lamont stands fully. Pulls Vicious away from the boy so the elders can engage in Big People Talk.

"So um, listen," Lamont says, keeping his voice low. "I got something to tell you, and maybe you won't be surprised."

"Oh yeah?" Here we go. "Does it have anything to do with a connection between G Zuss and Dogmaster?"

"Hey, you got it," Stamford says. "I know you think I'm a *D-bag*, and maybe you's still pissed I got you into this mess. But there are a few things about the Dog you don't know."

"I'm listening."

"The man's not just into chems, not just branching into Dukov's game, prostitution, that is. Dog is also a slaver. A slaver who's got even greater reach than G Zuss, having access to all the local raiders."

"Dag. I'm actually not surprised."

"Just think about that. Think about Dogmaster, getting on his radios, recruiting the thousands under his command. Instead of them rumbling innocents like usual, he's got them kidnapping Wastelanders. For money. And he's got the clout, believe me. 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue. Treasury Building, I've seen it. Piles of cash as big as a house. Man's gonna own the Wasteland if he ain't stopped."

To prove what he's saying, Lamont hands Vicious some documents. Vicious takes a look at a couple of them before getting impatient. "Hey, I don't need to see those. I believe you."

"I don't know why he wanted the boy specifically," Lamont continues. "Why that kid became Dog's latest want. But there ain't no way that boy..."

"His name is Chuckles."

"Right. Ain't no way Chuckles is Dogmaster's son. For one thing, I know for a fact the Dog can't have no kids."

"Really?"

"He told me one night, after his second bottle of Pinot. Man is impotent. Or whatever the word is, for those who can't reproduce."

"Um, pretty sure that's sterile. So really? Dog can't have no children? Well hmm."

"Anyway. So, I'll take it from here. Take the boy, that is," Lamont suggests. "Ready to come with me Ch--"

"Oh no, no, no, no HELL no. You will not take Chuckles from me! The boy is mine!"

She stops herself (whoa!)... becomes conscious... of her fingers.... which'd just inched toward her Tazer. Cripes. What the? Tough gal Vicious, maternal instincts she doesn't even know she has, kicking in.

"Err... he's under my watch, is what I meant to say. Ain't no way I'm letting him get away from me, dig? Um, not until he's safe, that is."

"Okay, hey, that's cool," Stamford's got his palms out; same gesture he'd used when Tan the cleaning lady had threatened him on the boat. "Well, take him to Rivet City, then. Hey, maybe I'll come with you. But we ain't going to Georgetown."

And this becomes the plan. While Cheese Head and Dogmaster stress and worry and snort themselves into oblivion, barking and screaming at their 'servants' with endless demands, Dog finally getting into his Vertibird with a pilot so they can search from the air, Vicious and Lamont casually lead Chuckles to Rivet City, where hopefully he'll be safe behind a zillion of tons of galvanized steel.

"Soooo, I'm still going to meet my father?"

"Kid, that fool ain't your father."


-------------------------------------------------------

Leaving Big Town

Blamhammered Bloatfly (ewww....)

Raiders leave Chuckles alone (phew....)

The Chump

No way the kid is Dog's, the man is impotent. Think that's the term.

Blamming a centaur

Sneaking by supermutant camp -- (by then the Blamhammer was nearly kaput, and her Badlands armor falling apart...)

Mission Complete!

"Let's get some Sugar Bombs, Chuckles."

---------------------------------------------------

Notes: Welcome to Level 9! I rewarded Vicious a thousand XP for brining the boy to Rivet City! Which boosted her a whole level. Added points into Energy Weapons, Small Guns, Sneak, Repair, and Speech. Gave her the Toughness perk.

Maybe in the future I'll continue gaming with Tan like I still do with Janet. There just won't be a huge story...

I was right in thinking that Dogmaster tricked Taneesha! But I didn't know that he's a slaver! Damn bastard! I thought that maybe the boy witnessed something that he wasn't supposed to see and that the Dogmaster wants him dead. It's good that Tan decided to "keep" the boy and protect him. Though I think that we haven't seen the last of the Dogmaster. He doesn't come across as someone that lets his prey go away lightly.



Do you know, who you just almost quoted? Yours (and mine) "favorite" BG companion - Xzar!

Montaron, you are so AGGRAVATING!

Well that was a twist I didn't see - Chuckles is not the Dog's pup. Now I'm wondering (as Chump and Tan are) why he's so keen on getting this particular lad.

And Dog's also into slavery. Probably shouldn't be surprised.

Tan's reaction when Chump tried to take custody of Chuckles was magnificently done and you built up to it perfectly, with several hints that the lad was worming his way into Tan's heart.

Back to Blivvet Pritty! Tan can teach Chuckles to be the assistant to the assistant cleaning woman. . . or not.

So the Dog and Cheesester are making use of the old Bolivian Marching Powder to stay awake while they try contact their peeps on the radio.

Wait a minute. Dogmaster wants the boy for his own collection of humans? That sounds... distrubring. Did he lie to Miss V about Chuck being his son, in order to convince her to rescue him? Or did she just kidnap him from a different kidnapper?

I take it those 3 vertibirds full of mercenaries are the same ones who reported to Dogmaster on the radio. I wonder if they will pick up on Miss V and Chuck's trail, and begin a pursuit?

It looks like Miss V is suspicious too. That reference to Georgetown in G-Zuss' files implies that he was supplying Dogmaster with slaves. But why would the Dog be so interested in this one kid, that he would go to all the trouble of wrangling up Miss V and sending her after him? Chuck must be important somehow.

Miss V effortlessly switches back and forth between identities. She is like a superhero, or villain, as the case may be.

There it is, Lamont came clean, and explained what Dog is up to. They can go to Rivet City, but I don't think the Dogmaster is going to just give up after all this. He is going to go after Miss V. Unless she goes after him first. It looks like the Wasteland is not big enough for the two of them.

Argh... nit ... nit .. nit... correction.... clarification...Sheesh!

This post has been edited by Renee: Today, 10:46 AM

Yeah yeah...

Blammhammering bloatflies. Good times, yeah

Well happy holidays Part One. We had a good Thanksgiving here yesterday. Stayed up with my brother & mom until nearly 2. But I'm unable to sleep hardly past 9, if that, due to lifelong habits of

So I decided to break the final, upcoming episode into two, it just is better this way because this week's story will be more relaxed to write, while next week will be more intense, to read and to write.

@macole, vampire hunter: Sounds like you've got some experience. Have you ever Blamhammered a bloatfly? 🦟


@SubRosa Florens: Bolivian Marching Powder!

Did he lie to Miss V about Chuck being his son, in order to convince her to rescue him?

Yes. Even the word "rescue" is going too far actually. This has become a Tale of Two Slavers, although Dog is more of a buyer, G focused more on selling.

And yes, the same Talon speaking on the radio to Doggie dog & Cheesy is one of the soldiers from Fort Bannister who landed in the 'bird. See, Tan and the slaves got out just in time. If she'd waited until morning to make her move there'd be no way, because the place is now swarming with Talon Company!!!

It looks like Miss V is suspicious too. That reference to Georgetown in G-Zuss' files implies that he was supplying Dogmaster with slaves.

Yes. They've been corresponding for sure.

But why would the Dog be so interested in this one kid, that he would go to all the trouble of wrangling up Miss V and sending her after him? Chuck must be important somehow.

I don't really know. Maybe it's because Dog & G had some sort of agreement which fell through, and G owed Dog X number of humans. Or it's a simple dispute of money (as is often the case in the underworld).

Or... maybe Dog is way delusional. Saw the boy's picture in G Zuss's latest 'catalog' of pictures. Really wanted Chuckles to play the (forced) role of his son, since he, himself cannot reproduce. If that's true, he wants Chuck to become his protégé in some sick/twisted way. He'll teach son everything there is to know about wh0ring, bossing, and slaving.

I'm leaving some mystery here.

They can go to Rivet City, but I don't think the Dogmaster is going to just give up after all this. He is going to go after Miss V. Unless she goes after him first.

There ya go!


@Acadian the Paladin: There are a bunch of twists, this is true. And there are few more to come. See it's better this final chapter's getting split in two; it'd be close to 4,000 words otherwise. Some impact would get lost.

Alright, had a thought. I think G Zuss was purely into the money side of slavery. He's taking members from his flock who "won't be missed" and trafficking them for money. Dogmaster has been a buyer in the past, but is thinking of expanding into becoming a full trafficker. It's not very well explained, but you may have noticed Dog has servants who bring him wine. Those are actually slaves that he's bought. I never got around to fleshing that side of the story as much.

Dog didn't want G killed because G & Dogmaster have worked together in the past, but there was some sort of disagreement between the two, and Vicious was merely supposed to grab the boy and go. Thing is, Doggie had no idea Miss Vicious has a conscience. 🐶 And that she'd act upon it.

Hey thanks!

..... Yeah, Ribbet [censored]ty!


@LadyOfMaribor: Yes you were right. I love how ppl seem surprised that Dogmaster is just a lowdown, dirty dog who tried to play Vicious.

I thought that maybe the boy witnessed something that he wasn't supposed to see and that the Dogmaster wants him dead.

That'd actually be an excellent plot twist! - And yeah, Tan becoming sort of maternal towards the boy is something she did not expect.

That's funny Xzar says "aggravating". I Mean cripes, LOOK WHO'S TALKING!


What's going on outside? Alright, it's very firmly overcast, not sunny at all. ☁ Weather was wrong, but that's okay. Supposed to be sunny tomorrow all day. So I'll finish my Skyrim install today, and do the Vicious gaming tomorrow.

Episode 74: From Day Job to Decision

Tuesday, October 9, 2277


It'd been nearly two weeks since she'd left Rivet City, recruited for the missions of Georgetown. Now that she's back aboard the ship, firmly returned to ordinary life, survived a whirlwind of dangerous activities, and liberated four slaves, Taneesha Jones is a bit messed up. She needs a few days for herself, to think and let go.

She returns to her cleaning job. The work is methodical and meditative, just what she needs, and there's plenty to do.







In just ten days (thereabouts), the residents of RC have already trashed a lot of common areas, and nobody's bothering to clean! -- Well, Janna Torr still sweeps and mops the Marketplace, concentrating mostly on the floor of Gary's Galley, but the rest of the ship is once again a mess. Several RC residents greet Tan cheerily as they catch her picking up cans and bottles, scavenging pieces of scrap metal, spraying doorknobs and staircase railings with Abraxo. Those who'd conversated with Tan during her initial janitorial days sometimes ask where she's been. - It's nice that these folks noticed her absence at all: folks like Father Clifford, Shrapnel, Angela Staley, even Cindy Cantelli, the market's notorious chem merchant. Seems "Tan the Jan" had made an impression.

"Hey Miss Jones! Did you go somewhere? Haven't seen you in a while."

The cleaning lady can only answer in vague terms. "Had to return to Megaton," or "Caught a bug, was stuck in my room." Never does she go into details. Not that it would make much sense if she did. "Well I got called by the Potomac's top raider boss, who wanted me to assassinate two defector deadbeats, and for that I got paid enough money for the rest of my life. But THEN he convinced me to rescue a young boy who is supposedly his son; the boy'd been enslaved, you see. ...But get this! Me and a high-ranking member of that same raider boss, a lieutenant who has recently decided to double-cross his ruthless employer, have determined that the kid can't possibly be his, so now here I am, back at my day job, trying to decide what to do next! Hey, can you hand me that washcloth?"

--The full story would no doubt cause a lot of scratched heads, knitted brows, and awkwardly-changed subjects, while whomever she's talking to suddenly has 'somewhere to be', in an environment where hardly anyone needs to be anywhere!

The boy had become a handful. After his liberation, Tan noticed the kid was hyper, but she'd chalked that up to the excitement of escaping the cave.

But no, turns out the kid is just hyper. Always running about the Marketplace instead of sitting still, Tan needing to reprimand the youngster occasionally. There's never any challenge from him at these moments; Chuckles never talks back. He considers Taneesha Jones the equivalent of a superheroine; the boy obeys his rescuer, but it's more than that. He puts Tan on a pedestal.

"She's like a character from one of those ancient videogames!" Tan overhears Chuck saying to a guard one day. "Call of Shooty or Grand Theft Cargo or Fallout Antics!"

"Fallout," the guard replies, "Great game. I once had a Preystation Handheld encoded with Fallout 18. Sometimes I feel like we're all a part of that gaming franchise, eh?"

"Whoa, an adult who plays videogames! I never heard that before!"

But it's also the fact he's twelve. Most kids his age, after being told that their new home is going to be an entire naval ship, are going to go nuts with curiosity and exploration. Which is exactly what happened. Throughout the day and into the night, it'd become a challenge keeping tabs on the kid's location. Top of this, trying to get the kid to fall asleep at night next to an alcoholic bar doesn't help, sheesh.

The boy is doing what his new 'mommy' tells him, at least. He follows her rules: no wandering into the Upper Deck, keep yourself around adults at all times, no talking to strangers, and so on. Tan allows him to explore the ship while she goes to work, "as long as". He gets lost within Rivet City's corridors just like she does, but that's as bad as it gets.

Overall, Chuckles is rarely a brat. In fact, Bratty is way brattier!






Thing is, Taneesha is enjoying her return to civilian life, but! ...she can't get too comfortable. Soon, it'll be necessary to confront the situation in Georgetown head-on, somehow.

Because Dogmaster? He's still out there. With billions of Prewar bills at his disposal, the Dog can pay dozens of scouts if he wants, who'll then scour the entire Wasteland looking for Vicious and the boy.

"If the Chump could find me here on this ship, any halfwit with the promise of riches can do so."

Question is: does the Dog realize she's no longer playing by his rules? Does he know she and the boy are even alive? Only a matter of time before he finds out. And he won't stop paying scouts, paying less gentlemanly versions of Lamont Stamford that is, until he does.






Speaking of money, Taneesha gets paid forty caps from Janna Torr, first day back, which amuses her to no end. Especially because the payment Cheese promised came true: a suitcase full of nine-thousand bills had been delivered to her Rivet City room for assassinating Cr4nk and BODDY-BAGGZ. The Custodian from Ellicott City is worth just over 60,000 caps for assassinating those two, yet still derives satisfaction from earning a few dozen cleaning behind a ship full of lazybutts.





Tuesday Evening
"There you are!" Aspiration calls after running into Taneesha on Day Two of her return, just outside the Muddy Rudder. "Damn girl, thought you was a goner!"

"Nope, I'm back," Taneesha says. "Returned just yesterday."

"Well, come have a drink with me, come on, let's go have a, ahh, whoops! Sorry 'bout that. You still a teetotaler?"

"Yep, still am," Tan says proudly. "Actually, how long has it been since I've partaken?" She thinks back a bit while both women have a seat. "September 27 was my last cig," she realizes. "Fifteen days sober."

Belle Bonnie rushes over. "The usual?" she asks. "Yeah," the ladies answer. Which means: a Cuban cocktail for Aspiration, glass of dirty water for Tan.

"Whatcha been up to, anyway? How was Georgetown?" Aspiration asks. "Uh, never mind. I actually don't want to know."

Tan's relief at that moment is immense.






Location: Georgetown West, Dogmaster's Palace
Date : Thursday, October 11

Three miles away, the initial all-nighter binge between Dogmaster, Cheese Head, and a few trusted minions had become an all-around, nonstop blowout.

The "Dog Palace" had become a combination brothel / party house over the past few days, attracting Dukov's off-duty *hookers* and the company of several of the Wasteland's more ... uh... sociable personalities, who were being flown in on Dog's Vertibird as word spread far and wide. All due to that ginormous shipment from Peru.

Things started off slowly. A trusted guard inviting his girlfriend over, who invited her girlfriend, who then called her homies at the wharf, who then asked permission to bring a D.J. over to liven up the music... It was fun at first, but now things were getting out of hand.

After a few fights and other moments of ruckus, Dog and Cheese tried to enforce a dress code. Because that was the first step to ensure party guests behaved back in Prewar days, right? They also began charging money upfront (not required for hottie females; the more *tarts*, the better). Dog's guards were supposedly not allowed to use the Bolivian blow, but it became all too easy to sneak a bump or a bag here and there. Pretty soon everyone in Georgetown West was wasted.

Because of this, Dogmaster's attention became constantly distracted. He'd initially been wanting answers right away about the situation with his 'son', but finding the boy and Vicious had been pushed way to the backburner, as partygoers wandered in and out, everyone wanting to dance, snort, and fornicate, everyone complimenting the Dog on his elegant home and the never-ending celebration within.

This was how it was back in the day, from what they'd heard. Georgetown wasn't just where politicians lived, it was a place of drugs and debauchery.

Folks (often rich folks) crawling Georgetown's bars and crashing Georgetown's parties, everyone getting sloshed on Chablis, hammered on Henny, cut up on Croak after work. Socializing, carousing, looking for fun. Dogmaster found himself enjoying the sudden attention; he was becoming a celebrity, almost. Because of this, his methods were slipping. He suspected Vicious and the boy were still alive somehow, started thinking it's time to delegate some scouts and soldiers to begin a search. But then he'd get distracted. Maybe a *harlot* wanted to *pluck* his *rooster*, maybe a servant stepped out of line, requiring some verbal discipline.

"Yo, we'll get on that in an hour..." Dog would say to Cheese. An hour became two hours which became "...tomorrow, for sure. Hey, crank dat stereo!"

As the Best Party of 2277 continued into mayhem, nobody was watching the inhouse camera system Cheese had spent weeks wiring up earlier that summer.... Nobody there, seated and alert to view the dark figure tiptoeing the end of Tepid Sewers' passages, where the system's network of cameras began. Cheese himself was completely neglecting his usual duties, he'd been having too much of a blast. Dog's top tech had been a studious Wisconsin nerd growing up, who'd managed to get himself involved with the underworld after answering a call from the Dog's radio 900 miles away, but look at him now!

Nobody was monitoring the cameras when the young, raised-religious female with a shotgun on her back and a 'toy' at her side slid by each screen in Cheese's radio room, one after the other.

------------------------------------------------------

Bugthesda Wastelander Glitch (look closely. That's an NPC all wrapped up in those bars & levers! A generic Wastelander got crushed into the door apparently! )

Tan and Mei - (Mei is the former slave Tan promised to keep safe from harm.)

Play Date

Tan and Janna Torr

Playing Pool



-------------------------------------------------------

Notes: With so much money to cash in, the merchants of Rivet City can barely keep up as Tan exchanges it in slowly for caps!

Tan the (secretly very wealthy) Jan!

Loved the chat about old time vid games like playing Fallout 18 on Preystation!

Great that Chuckles is looking up to Tan as the ‘adult in the room’. He could do ever so much worse than have Jan as a role model and 'parent'.

Good that Dog has been partying his brain cells away. That has given Tan time to recharge, think things over, settle Chuckles into life on the Big Ship, etc. I suspect, she's right - it's not over with her and the Dog.

Now it seems she’s decided to go Dog hunting. After all, there ain’t room in the badlands for both Vicious and Dog.

Looks like it's Tan that decided to wrap this affair with the Dogmaster up! I expected that he'll send a plat00n of his t00ns after her and maybe he intended this but Tan was faster!

It's the final countdown!

So Tan the Jan has returned to Rivet City. I imagine that she will be plotting her next move against the Canine Captain of Crime.

At least Chuck is less bratty that Bratty! It sounds like he might be ADHD.

Yep, those 40 caps from Janna Tor will make a big difference. But at least they came honestly, not covered in blood.

Uh oh, the Bolivian Marching Powder has arrived from Peru. Now it looks like the Dogmaster is going to turn into Tony Montana from Scarface. But I get the feeling that he is the one who is going to meet Miss V's "little friend"...

Hey I'm pretty sick. Went to doc yesterday and it's a combination cold/fever/touch of bronchitis. Chances are story won't get posted until tonight or tomorrow.

Ah yeah, the story. I decided to split the final story in two again, mostly because last week was Thanksgiving, bla bla bla. So this will be this week's story and then NEXT week will be the final story.

@Rosa: Canine Captain of Crime!
Yes, that was my thought too; kid's got ADHD.

We can get into Tan's head for a moment on the money. From her perspective she's not so bothered; she's more concerned about her Witness family up north, and the threats made against them.

One of these days I need to watch Scarface. But your intuition's spot on regarding ... well I don't want to spoil.


@Acadian: Yeah, I wonder if Call of Shooty sucks! Or what we're supposed to do in Grand Theft Cargo: steal warehouse shipments instead of cars?

Thanks.



Correct. Also, she has no idea what's going on atm with Dog. She thinks he's going to send scouts after her and that she only has so much time.


@Lopov: Yes. And as stated above, she thinks Dog is doing X but really he's doing Y. Z shall be the final countdown conclusion.

Have some cake, everyone.

Aww, hope you're feeling better soon, Renee!

Thanks, Paladin.

Episode 75: Aspirations


Bluebird ran to the cellar to fetch more wine. Sometime in the past year, Bluebird's taskmaster, a man who'd taken the nickname of a canine (something a Cherokee like Jorda would normally respect), had discovered an entire warehouse filled with ancient, premier-quality wines in the D.C. area which had gone unscathed by the Great War. Many crates and bottles were transferred into the Georgetown cellar, where Bluebird now spends many days and hours with the others.

Once a tribe member, now a "servant", Bluebird had been captured in Virginia some months ago, in the Postwar village of ᏧᏍᏆᏅᏁ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏍᏙᏕᎿ (Smoking Man in the English language). The former tribe member was then negotiated through a network of ham-radio auctions, finally sold to the highest bidder: the man who'd named himself after a canine. Bluebird, like many slaves, had been defiant at first. Resistant and disagreeable. Had tried to exploit the way canine-man was adamant about calling them "servants" rather than "slaves", but oh, the Cherokee had learned quickly that one does not point out such illogical points of view in canine-man's home.

Lately however, things had changed. A whole group of newcomers were virtually invading the Dog House. "ᎤᏴᏫ ᎩᎦᎨᏍᏗ".... Bluebird muttered... partygoers. "ᎦᏙᎵᏙ ᎦᏙᎠ ᎯᎦᎡᎯ ᏅᏯ," Bluebird plans escape from the canine man's home. It's only a matter of time, really. The attentions of canine man's guards had wavered these past few days, as the home's population increased with a slew of well-dressed guests, everybody getting drastically affected by the Devil's powder they'd been consuming.

"ᎦᎾᏟ ᎩᎦᏪᎵ ᏅᏙᏏ," Bluebird said, grabbing a 250 year-old bottle of Sauvignon for the ongoing party upstairs.

Only a matter of time.







Date: Wednesday, October 10, 11:24 AM
Location: Rivet City Stairwell Restroom

"Hey, Tan!" Aspiration calls, wig flopping as she runs toward her friend with a huge grin. High-heels clatter loudly upon the metal floor as she nears the custodian. Amazing she doesn't fall over wearing those things!

"Hmm? What is it?" Miss Jones drops her mop into a bucket of soapy water, splashing a bit. "Can'cha see I'm busy?" She smirks, while Chuck (who'd come along with Tan to 'help' her clean) does some weird little dance.

"Mmm hmm yeah, always cleaning, always spraying, you know you're a miracle, right?" The entertainer's face continues to beam. "Such a gig you've got yourself, making Rivet City sparkle." Aspiration makes a gesture with her hand into the air, like a fairy pointing her magic wand.

"Indeed." Taneesha squeezes soap onto the floor. Begins swabbing the deck. "So... what is it? What's on your mind? Seems you's about to burst with whatever it is."

"Um yah, that is how I feel, about to burst." Aspiration crosses her arms, a puzzled look upon her face. "Because like, why didn't you tell me?"

Tan continues to work; Abraxo-water pushes the floor's grime away. "Tell you? 'Bout what?"

"'About what?' she asks. About Georgetown!"

The mop stops moving. "Georgetown?"

"Um, yah," Aspiration's foot starts tapping the floor, impatient. "About the Biggest Party of Twenty-Two Seventy-Seven, in Georgetown West of all places, where you supposed to've gone?"

Taneesha stands and stares. "Chuckles, go play, or .... something," she says to the boy. Pretty sure that's one of the things parents tell their kids when they need them to be in some other room during 'Big People Time'.

"Come on, don't play! Don't tell me you didn't know about the party. Seems a whole lot of folks headed that way. All kinds of fests going on: dancing, playing, they even got some D.J.s with stacks of Prewar records playing music."

"Do what now?" -- Is she talking about Dogmaster, in any way, shape, or form?

"Hmm, look at you, playing dumb, like you's tryin' to keep it from me," Aspiration shakes her head with mock disapproval. "Well guess what? Now I know, and now I'm goin'. Me and a couple others from R.C., we are going. And I am very surprised you chose not to tell your new, supposed best friend, about the scene up there, mm mmm. Supposed to be in some spot called the Dog House."

Oh, Goddess... "Look, Asp."

Aspiration crosses her arms. "Hmm? I'm listening."

"It is really, actually, not a good idea to head up there. Stuff you don't know. See, the reason I had to go was...." *Crap*, here it is... "Was I had no choice. See, the guy running that party is really a slaver, okay?" Tan blurts while trying to keep a straight face, already knowing how ridiculous the explanation she's about to convey will sound. Yet now that she's started, her prerogative is to finish. "Guy up there threatened to ah... do something mean to my Jehovah's Witness family up north, unless I agreed to take out .... to ah... to uhm..."

Damn, how do I explain? .... Asp will never believe this...

And yes, seems her friend ain't buying it.

"Come on now," Aspiration's hand goes to Taneesha's shoulder. "You don't need to make *stuff* up, mmkay? Maybe you wanted to keep Georgetown a secret, hmm? Keep Georgetown a secret from your friend, hmm? Maybe you got a squeeze up there, whatever. Maybe the boy's father is up there, and somehow you gots custody now, whatevv. Well, guess I understand..." she says dramatically, eyes rolling.

"No, Asp, see, you actually don'--"

"But now that I KNOW, ain't but flood nor fire gonna keep ME away from an actual, an actual, party." The entertainer does a quick twirl. "Been waitin' all my life for a real-life shindig, you know? Dancing! Vogueing!" She does a quick skitter across the floor, almost slipping upon a puddle Tan hadn't yet mopped.

"Hey, watch it! I ain't done cleaning yet!"

"You know how much money I'm gonna make, now that I got what sounds to be a vibeing audience to perform? Lawdy, it just sounds too awesome. I gotta start packing..."

"No, Asp, seriously, NO!"

"Shh, shh my child. Stop it, Tan... Just stop, okay?" Her expression is now serious. "I really am surprised, maybe even disappointed, that you'd not tell me, your supposed friend, about what sounds like it'll be my lifelong dream-audience to perform, mm hmm, okay?"

"Asp..."

"No, ain't no 'Asp', Taneesha. What is it you think you're trying to pull here, keeping such a secret from me when you know I'm all about the princess ball?"

Taneesha Jones tosses the mop to the floor, clatter!, frustrated. How do I even begin...?

"Now. Me and some others, including a couple dudes packing serious heat to keep us safe, are going to start packing for the journey north, you are welcome to come, of course. See, 'cause I always include MY friends...

"Apparently we can just walk through Tepid Sewers to get to the big G.W. The raiders down there are being paid not to mess with anyone traveling through."

"What?! They are?"

"Can't believe you'd choose not to tell me..."

"But I AM trying to tell you..."

"Yah, whatever." Aspiration's hand goes up, palm out. Taneesha's favorite gesture. "NOW you trying to tell me. But why couldn't you tell me couple weeks ago, hmm?"

Taneesha says nothing. What's the point? There are times in life when folks just gotta learn for themselves.

"Listen, we're still cool, okay?" Aspiration continues. "We still cool. But maybe you might want to think about how you treat those who are supposed to be your friends, okay? Because right now I'm a little ticked at you, hate to say, but there it is. Friends don't keep secrets, dig? Not secrets like this."

Taneesha begins to protest, really has no idea what she'll actually say, but by then it's too late.

"Talk to the hand, chica!" Aspiration is gone.


------------------------------------------------

Aspiration the Cook -- (When starting this episode she got some new AI which put Asp into Sandbox mode, in Gary's Galley. And she decided to take over the kitchen when we found her! )

"Talk to da hand!"

Aspiration Drama Over


------------------------------------------------------

Notes: Aspiration's outfit from Little Black Dress by d_ivanov

I changed Aspiration's race to Hispanic because of the face/body mismatch of color. The Alt+F4 trick doesn't work in FO3, and none of the other "fixes" I've found online works.

Great foggy pic from the Rivet City

Looks like that Taneesha will be a party-breaker in the final story!



...and be quiet, child!

---

Get better soon, renegade!

Welcome to Bluebird the servant, totally not slave. I appreciated your inclusion the way that people in the real world liked to use the euphemism of servant in order to try to lessen the immorality of enslaving people.

It looks like Aspiration is feeling quite aspirational about the big party in Georgetown. Uh oh, I hope Taneesha can talk her out of going there. She probably end up a slave in no time at all. OTOH, a big blow out like this would be the prefect opportunity for someone to sneak in and off the Dogman, just like the end of Scarface.

Well that was dramatic, hand talking and all. It looks like Taneesha is under the gun here. If she is going to help her friend, she is going to have to get to the Dog Pound before Asp does. Or at least with her. And as long as she is there...

Nice glimpse of what's going on up at the dog pound through the eyes of Bluebird.

Nothing is ever simple! Now Aspiration is trying to commit suicide by dog dancing and doesn't even realize it! This is likely to accelerate Taneesha's plans and include rescuing the hand that wouldn't listen.

Alright, things are coming together, really want to thank everyone for their attentions here and there.

It's funny how we used to talk about how some things in stories which are "filler" to the writer, become applauded by readers, Lopov. I'm talking about the cloudy pic. I just put that there because I had an extra picture, and it was just a perfect place to put a chapter break. It's not that great to me. A moment before pressing PrintScreen you could see the sun as this vague, silvery disc. But right as I clicked the sun moved under a cloud.

But graci. 🍵 Are you sure that she's going to break the party?


Thank you, SubRosa. Yes, for whatever reason Dog doesn't want to refer to his slaves as slaves. He's got some twisted idea that everyone he's got under his 'employ' wants to be there, because his place is so nice.

Heh ha, still haven't watched Scarface! I wonder if it's on the Criterion channel. Anyway, Aspiration is gone! She definitely went to the party. Whether or not she made it all the way, I'm not sure. Well, even if she's not Essential, she should still make it there. The only enemies along the way which can affect her are mutants, and they don't show up unless the Player (us) is in the same cell. She is also part of a faction compatible with raiders.

Still, you never know what can happen in these open world games.


The Bluebird part (as well as the Asp/Tan argument) were both late additions, Acadian. I had those ideas some time last week while writing the final chapter, and decided they had to go in.

If you'll notice, the timeline between two weeks ago and this upcoming episode got messed up. Somebody is stalking through Tepid Sewers two episodes ago, yet Tan is still in Rivet City last episode. Oops!

Asp should be okay, actually. She's in the same "Renee-added" faction compatible with raiders and Dogmaster himself. Everything will be okay, you'll see.

All: I'm still messing with some quest stuff but the story should go up late tomorrow or on Sunday. Ciao.

Last night we got Chinese food and my fortune cookie message was: "Walk the words you talk. Talk the words you walk." Which sounds like one of those one-liners an action hero would say, right? Pretty apt for the story to come.


Episode 76: Dog Days

Date: Thursday, October 10, 2277


Minimum Temperature: 48.0 °F
Maximum Temperature: 63.0 °F



The dark figure tiptoes the end of Tepid Sewers' passages. Takes a left and stalks into the underground generator room where the network of cameras begins.

Images of a black female, dressed in raider garb and wearing a mask, display across the row of security monitors in Cheese Head's radio room, shuffling perilously closer. The female is not aware of the cameras, yet this doesn't matter.... nobody is monitoring the monitors. Cheese himself is currently busy with a green-haired *bimbo* who'd wandered into the Dog House an hour ago. Hey, you're cute! Wha'cher name! she'd slurred high on croak. Cheese, who'd never seen so much *kitty* in his life, had become utterly preoccupied.

Little does Dogmaster's top tech know he's got less than an hour to live.








Miss Vicious stalks closer. She wears the armor of the Potomac's Badlands gang. Though she has distanced herself from them these past few weeks, she still wears their garb, which allows her to evade attacks from the Wasteland's raiders. Her face is disguised with a mask; a hard plastic facepiece once used for playing the ancient game of hockey. Normally she doesn't cover her face or head; doing so downplays visual and audio cues, which downplays the ability to react. Today, however, she's hoping for the element of surprise. It'll be important to surprise her target at the very last moment.

To further her disguise she's gotten yet another hairstyle: "L'il Devil" Rivet City's barber called it. Practically bald this time! --- Oh no, you got your braids cut! -- the residents of Rivet City cried as they saw her walking around with a nearly-shaved head. But that's just the thing. As soon as she enters the Dog's turf everyone would otherwise know who she is...

The watchdogs of A Cuppa Joe, the once-coffee shop/now Dogmaster's Guard House, had perhaps been instructed to immediately grab Vicious (should she appear unannounced). These are things she suspects, anyway.

Vicious is armed with her customized shotgun, her 'Peace Officer Perp COntrol Resource Mechanism' (POPCORM in Twenty-first century Germantown cop jargon; uh, her Tazer in other words), three grenades and three frag mines. Her guns and her armor had been repaired to perfection by the better gun smith she'd found in Rivet City's Upper Deck; the guy who fixes stuff for the ship's security force.

"Your dog days are done, Dogmaster." She hopes to confront the man before he knows what's coming.

But that's not the only reason she is here. Though she'd been planning to head to Georgetown on her own, Tan's original impetus had gained additional momentum roughly twenty-four hours ago. Not only because Aspiration had decided to head north (causing Vicious/Taneesha to fear for the dancer's life) but also: Lamont Stamford had shown up in Rivet City the day before. Caught her eating lunch at Gary's Galley, actually.

According to Stamford, a coup is about to take place -- an ultimate overturning of power!

Lamont had been performing his duties day after day, week after week: taking orders from Cheese and the Dog while quietly planning with a group of others. -- Dig this, Vicious: we about to stage a revolt, he'd informed. And we need your help with just one thing: take the Dogmaster out, he'd said, casually chomping some precooked Mama Dolce's Salisbury Steak. You take him out, we'll do the rest. -- Payment, even more money than Vicious currently has, shall be given if she is successful, of course. Somebody new will be in charge after 'the job' gets done. Not Lamont himself, but someone just as ruthless (yet supposedly fairer) than Dogmaster.

Honestly, Vicious doesn't care who'll potentially be on top. As long as he or she ain't another *D-bag* slaver who threatens the folks who raised her.

She stalks through a door, climbs a set of ancient stairs which thousands of Metro riders once walked each day, and enters the tunnel's final section. Steps through the gate, and into the plaza of Georgetown West.






A quarter-mile away as the party continues to roar, Dogmaster's intuition suddenly triggers. - 'That small, still voice', the shrinks once called it; the voice which is sometimes heard under all the others chaotically vying for our attention during moments of stress or distraction. From the depths of his newfound snowflake addiction, something deep within the canine's cerebral cortex quietly shouts: pay attention chief, something ain't right.

In the past he would've regarded such a thought. Heeded it. It's his intuition which (like that of Vicious) has kept him alive, surviving the past few years while other meatheads perished, eventually allowing Dog to paw his way to the top.

...The thought is there....



...Almost acts upon it. Starts to head into the radio room, just to see if--

...Then it's gone, slipped into the fast-moving chute of rollercoaster-like synapse-flashes which occur during the use of croak.

A new song blasts from Dog's prewar stereo: I got hos... in different area codes.... Some honey begins grinding on the Dog. Hey, great bash! she coos in his ear; yet more praise to boost his enormous, expanding ego. "Wanna go somewhere... special?"

"Yo, where'd you get that suit?" a dude interrupts as the Dog dismisses the honey's offer. "That's pretty fly!"

Compliments and more compliments, Dogmaster is The Man. The dude is referring to the Dog's new 'carpet suit', custom-tailored by one of his more talented apparel servants. The honey is forgotten. Like a bone tempting a dog, the party's host cannot help but chase what he craves most: attention.

Another stray thought flashes within the Dogskull, a little louder than before. This time, the raider boss reacts. Puts down his latest glass of vino... "Yo! Cheese!" he calls.

By then, it's already too late.






"Oh. My. Gosh! What are you doing here?!"

As Vicious makes her way past Radiation King, a quiet outlet store staffed by one lonely scavenger (who'd been enjoying the incredible influx of sales from partygoers looking for extra chems and random goods), a familiar face approaches. Vicious removes her mask.

"Yep, I'm back," says the familiar, red-haired face.

"I can see you're back. But what are you doing here?" She asks the question, yet already knows the answer.

"Probably the same reason you're here," Buck Norris says in his dry, Southern rasp. "Been pondering why I returned to the Wasteland myself, when it's warmer down south."

"You were headed south, but came back?"

"I was," Norris confirms. "Guess it's because I've always been the type to take orders from just one person. And that person is me."

"Oh lord." Vicious mumbles, tongue in cheek. "So full of yourself. But at least you're good at what you do."

"And now it's my turn. What are you doing here?"

Vicious looks around the streets of Georgetown. Suddenly notices: every last raider on the plaza looks to have recently been killed. Only one man remains standing: Buck Norris. "Put it bluntly, I'm here to uh, have a 'visit' with the Dog."

"A-ha..." Norris's brow knits. "Seems we're both here for the same reason. To put it bluntly."

"So..." she catches the man's vibe, the determined look upon his face, and (most of all) the giant knife he's got at his side, which appears recently used. "Funny how life works sometimes. How two unrelated individuals sometimes come to the same conclusion."

"Always remember that success begins inside you, Tan," Norris quips. "If you can't see it first, no one else will."

Taneesha snickers; yet another Buck Norris adage. "Well, doggone it. Shall we have ourselves a look inside the Dog House?"

Though neither of them verbalizes their current intent, both are on the same page.





3:45 PM
They enter A Cuppa Joe, currently staffed by the same human watchdogs (plus an assortment of actual dogs) as before. Vicious steps forward as Norris hides himself behind a nasty curtain.

"Feefty caps to en-tear da premases," the foreign guy with the dreadlocks says to Vicious. "Udder-wise, you moost leave da way yoo came."

Vicious likes the watchdogs despite whom they're loyal to, so she gives them a choice. She's not paying caps, and she's also not about to exit. In fact it'll be them who should step aside, at least for an hour or so. "Leave the Guard House now, or face consequences." The watchdogs, of course, are not about to give up their precious posts to some lady wearing ragtag armor and a scuffed-up mask from Click's Sporting Goods/circa 2075.

--That's when her unexpected partner reveals himself. "You've heard of Death, right?" out comes Norris, and out comes his knife. "Well, Death once had a near-Buck Norris experience. Want to find out what that means?"

The watchdogs decide they'd like to give it a try. The ensuing fight is typical Wasteland: messy, quick, and chaotic. Lieutenant Norris carves two guards (eliminating both) with his combat knife in literally less than fifteen seconds while Miss Vicious blasts the other with her Blamhammer: BKSSH!! PKSSH! - There's a moment after both guards are down when Norris and Vicious look to the door which leads to the Dog House, thinking maybe someone's about to burst through, especially after all that noise! But the door remains silent, mostly because it'd be impossible for anyone to hear her shotgun blasts with Dog's party goin' on the door's opposite side. The party's music is so loud, they can feel the stereo's woofers thumping from where they stand.

Best part is, two of the mongrels survived! And all of this occurred while Bing Crosby sang 'Pennies from Heaven' from the guards' radio.

Vicious steps into a filthy bedroom. Changes out of her raider armor, and into a set of stylish Twenty-First century clothes: a jeans, jacket, striped shirt combination. Hockey mask in place, she hopes to blend with whatever crowd is upstairs.

"I'll stay here," Norris says. "Make sure nobody gets by. Plus, look at me! I haven't got anything cool to wear for the party," he pouts. "Nah, just kidding. You handle what needs to be handled, I'll keep anybody from getting by."

"Perfect!" And it really is perfect. Seems Norris is here to support, not just for the glory. How rare is that in the world of takedowns and coups? Perhaps Lamont Stamford (or someone) had prearranged the lieutenant's role, just as she'd been prepped the day before. Vicious doesn't ask.

"Quite the dig is raging upstairs, but we gotta be careful," she says. "One of my friends from Rivet City s'posed to be in there. And she's got no idea I'm about to crash the party."

"Complications. Always complications, right?"

"Plus, supposed to be a bunch of innocents inside. Can't go blasting and zapping with my guns." And with that, she decides to leave her precious Blamhammer, her grenades, and her mines with Norris. Maybe they'd know who's behind the mask if someone enters the place carrying a bunch of weapons.

"So how exactly are you going to handle the targets inside?"

"My goal is to make sure nobody gets hurt, of course," she begins. She then lays out the rest of her plan.

"Well, huh!" Norris seems impressed. "Gotta say, that's an unusual approach."

"Yes, it is. Hope it'll work. Pretty sure it will. Especially the final touch."

"Especially the final touch," he nods. "That's something I would've never considered, and I'm Buck Norris." He scratches his beard. "Now Tan, before you go, just remember this..."

"Uh oh. The only time we fail is when we stop trying?" she smirks. "Or: You don't initiate violence, you retaliate?"

"Hehheh, damn! Gotta come up with some new advice. Seems you know my words of wisdom too well."

Vicious begins climbing the steps.



Until now, Taneesha Jones/Miss Vicious had entertained all sorts of theories and scenarios as to how the final confrontation with Dogmaster and Cheese Head could do down. She could get got (*mission failed*), they would (*Mission Completed*). Or nobody would! Maybe her adversaries wouldn't be in the Dog House at all. Maybe they'd decided to fly Dog's Vertibirds to the Chesapeake, where the party would continue on his supposed nuclear-powered yacht.

In the end, she would be surprised at just how smoothly the plan she'd concocted the night before while lying in Belle Bonnie's rentable storage room would unfold.

4:46 PM
Inside the Dog House, the party indeed is raging. Music blares from every room; drinks are flowing, everyone's dancing, or gyrating, or performing 'acts of interest' perhaps better left undescribed, lest the SpikeTV network receives even more unwanted legal attention from the ESRB.

She spies Aspiration in a room to the side, doing some sort of voodoo-looking dance to a small crowd of spectators. Asp is busy at the moment, very good. Just keep doing whatever the heck you is, Miss Aspiration. Even though Vicious's face is still covered, there's still that chance the entertainer could notice her friend just arrived.

Vicious searches the place. Multiple rooms. It takes a few minutes navigating the crowd until she finds the Dog, sitting on a couch. Wearing yet another fancy suit, this one is a gaudy red color. Such a pimp you are, meanie.

The euphemism comes to her: Every dog has his day.






"Hey, Dog."

"Wha---, whatcha want?" he staggers, really out of it. Lamont had warned her about this. Already, she can see the man's a far cry from his usual, unflappable self. His eyes are bleary, his nose is runny, and the white powdery substance -- 'croak', Lamont had called it -- can clearly be seen dusted upon the Dog's upper cleft. The boss looks at his assassin, but due to her mask he cannot discern who she is.

So she tells him. "Hey, it's me. Vicious."

"Vicious!!!"

Immediately, his demeanor changes. She'd been fearing he was after her; that somehow, he'd figured she had defected his organization. But whoa...seems her assumption was wrong. "You made it back!" he grins happily, like a wolfhound about to get fed.

"Yup. Here I am."

Dogmaster rubs his face. "What you think of the party, Vissh? Yo, pretty fly."

"It's not what I expected."

Dog reaches toward a table. Grabs a small platter covered with the same white powder under his nose. "Wanna try some croak? I gots lotsa croak, you wanna try some croak? Gotta try some croak, Vissh."

Mm. Seems the man's forgotten her recent vow of substance-abstinence, not to mention her latest assignment: the rescue of his so-called son!

"Told ya I don't do no chems." Vicious glowers, a bit insulted actually. But because of the mask he can't see her expression. "Anyway," she says, adrenaline spiking (because here comes the start of Stage A). "Anyway, I got your boy."

And this catches his attention. "You got my boy?"

"Mm hmm, the boy is outside."

"*Truck* me! He is here?"

For the moment, his surprise is genuine. The Dog forgets all about the music blaring, all about the numerous guests raving, he even drops the rolled-up bill he'd been using to snort his next line of croak. -- It's rather surprising to Taneesha, this significant change of behavior. She's almost fooled by it. Finally, the Dogman reacts in a way that seems almost human.

...But she cannot be fooled. Taneesha Jones can't just go with face value. Thinking quickly, she devises a little test.

"Hey. So what's his name?" she asks. "I mean, I found the boy up at G Zuss's compound just like you said. Rescued him," she smiles under the mask. "But when I asked his name, he didn't know he has one! You got any idea?"

This next moment's important. Like a skilled interrogator, Vicious pays close attention to his face....and the Dog flinches.

..."Oh his name? His name is um--"

And there it is. Man is stumped; he has failed her little test! Even though the name the kid's been using, 'Chuckles', seems made up; seems like one of those silly names the kids of Little Lamplight invent for themselves, the big, bad Dogmaster himself was obviously unprepared for her impromptu quiz. And it's because the boy was never his in the first place. Chances are, Dog had seen the kid's picture in one of G Zuss's slavery catalogs. He may genuinely want Chuckles to become his son...

"Bobby," he finally says, snapping his fingers. "I named him Bobby."

"Bobby, huh?"

Vicious has a look around. Notes the array of revelry going on, but also notices a couple of Dog's 'servants'. An elder lady who's in the middle of cleaning something from the floor. Another (a native American-looking fellow) getting reprimanded by one of the Dog's guards. Despite his face, which is a mask of stone, he's got that same demeanor of despair encoded within his aura.

"So, where is the boy?"

"Oh, you wanna come see him?"

"'Course I do!" Dog barks with a flash of anger. "He outside, you say?"

"Mm hmm, he is! And let me tell you, Bobby is real excited to meet his actual father. All he could talk about, past few days. He been talkin' about playing some football, beating you at Zonopoly, watching whatever prewar TV recordings you got in here..." Vicious at this moment is glad for the mask! She's embellishing too hard! The Dog, even in his croaked-up state, might be able to discern she's lying if her countenance wasn't covered.

"Well damn, why ain't you bring the boy inside?"

Wow... really? "Dude, you must be outta your mind. You think it's a good idea, to bring a young boy, a young BOY, in here? With all these chems and half-naked fools playing Romper Room?"

"Hmm," the Dog considers. "A'ight. Guess you got a point."

"You think? Stop playin' games with me, Dog. I know what I'm doin'. Boy's been through enough, okay? Kidnapped, locked up, thrown into a dark cave for days, then rescued by some stranger, me. He ain't ready for all this," she waves vaguely at the party.

"Cool. Well then. Let's go see...uh..."

"Bobby," she reminds.

"Right. Let's go see Bobby."

And just like that, Vicious's plan reaches Stage B: Convince Dogmaster to leave the Dog House. They walk down the stairs of the messy guard house (Dog apparently not realizing the place is now empty of sentries) in which Buck Norris again hides behind a curtain. They step outside, to the plaza of Georgetown Shoppes. Here, Dogmaster covers his eyes. Seems the sunlight is hurting them after days being indoors, Peruvian powder invading his nose.

"You gonna get some mad payment for this," he suddenly says.

"I am?"

"Sure. I ain't forgot your money, Vissh. Whatever your contract was for," he promises, distracted.

And now that they're out here, the raider boss pauses, intuition gone red. "What is this, girl?" The plaza is not only empty of children, it's also empty of raiders. He looks all around. "Where the *cluck* is he?"

Miss Vicious removes her mask. "He ain't here."

"What?"

"I lied," she says, tossing her mask to the ground. She then grabs her Tazer. Points it into his back. "Your 'son' ain't here. He's actually somewhere safe, you *ferking* lowlife slaver."





And NOW the Dog is pissed. "You dirty double-crossing little----" He begins to grab for something under his jacket.

"Ah, ah, nope," Buck Norris says, stepping from A Cuppa Joe's door, buck knife in hand. "Don't want to do that, sir."

"Damn, where all my guards?" the Dog suddenly realizes, looking around. "Where my raiders?"

Vicious almost feels sorry for him. "Ain't around no more. Your own lieutenant Buck Norris eliminated them all."

"Buck who?"

Norris smirks. "Dogmaster doesn't know who I am. It's because I never actually worked for him. I worked for me."

Oh my lord. --"So, here's what you're gonna do now," Vicious says, continuing to press her electronic gun into Dog's back. "You're gonna get into your Vertibird, okay? And then you're going to fly away."

"HUH?"

"We're doing you a little favor, allowing you to leave," Buck adds. "We don't care where you go. But you're gonna do it now."

"Alright, you got me," Dogmaster resigns, canine-brain already thinking ahead. Because acknowledging defeat is yet another facet of survival. "I'll walk over to my 'bird, and I'll get my *butt* outta here. But you ain't seen the last of me, Vicious. Vicious, and..." he looks over to Norris. "Whoever the *heck* you are. I'm going now."

Dogmaster, who has no idea Plan B has just morphed into Plan C, breaks into a run. Grabs something from his jacket, which turns out to be a set of keys.

---Buck Norris initially takes a couple steps, switching from his knife to his fake Uzi, but Vicious stops him...

... Vicious stops him, but then realizes: her Blamhammer is still inside the Guard House! "Damnit!!!!"

"What?"

"My gun! My shotgun still inside, Norris!"

"It's alright, I got this." Norris aims his submachine gun. Begins pelting the Vertibird from afar with 10mil rounds, just as the Dog lopes himself inside the craft...

...is already inside!... as the Uzi's bullets BOUNCE off the aeroplane's hull, apparently doing zero damage... the 'bird's rotor blades just starting to turn...-- "*DUCK!*" Vicious curses! Could it be that Plan C is about to become Plan Fail?

...And that's when Vicious remembers the Typhon. "Norris!" ...Remembers the giant missile launcher gifted to her by Cheese Head for eliminating the two Dogmaster defectors... "The garbage can!"

She rushes over and removes the can's lid, "YES!" just as the Vertibird begins to gain lift, Vicious grabs the launcher... "Norris! How do I load this?" ...grabs two of the rockets she'd casually tossed into the can several days ago. Norris reaches over... "Hold still!" SLAMS one of the rockets into the Typhon, which Vicious then aims.

....Aims.... places her index finger through the gun's trigger. Is there a safety on this thing?

Just as Dog's copter clears the space before them gaining massive lift gales of cold air billowing all around from the 'bird's rotors seventeen feet above a massive FWOOSH zooms from the Typhon's venturi!!! The missile flames into the air!! --- PKSSSSHHHH!!!!! ---- Dog's Vertibird explodes into a massive fireball of flames and shrapnel! The explosion is heard a square mile all around. Up close, it's a sight to behold... Vicious and Norris, even with their years of combat experience between them, are unprepared for the enormous combustible discharge of smoke and fire and debris which falls from the sky!







Both of them take cover for a minute, avoiding numerous metallic scraps still falling from the sky!!!

"What da hell?" The scavenger of Radiation King comes running out his door. "The hell's going on out here? Seems like it's raining cats and dogs!"

"Seems so," Lieutenant Norris answers. "Gotta say, it's a dog-eat-dog world, the Capital Wasteland is."

The pair of mercs check the 'bird's remains carefully once the craft's ensuing radiation dies down, but there's really no point. They eventually find him. The top D.C. raider boss of the Potomac River is burning to a crisp. What a way to go.

"Just when ya think youse seen it all!" the scavenger yells; a genuine Maryland accent. "Been telling dese losers it's a stupid idea to keep a 'bird sitting in dis plaza! I mean, da hell happened? One of those idiots smoking while fueling up or sumthin?"

"Something like that," Norris answers.

"I'm gettin' back inside! Can't take da world, ya know? 'Swhy I'm in here all da time, sheesh."

"Welp. Every dog has his day," Vicious says, speaking directly to Norris while the scavenger returns to his shop. "Seems the Dogmaster finally had his."

"That's what happens when someone barks up the wrong tree, wouldn't you say?"

"Hey, would you like a doggie bag with your meal?" Vicious snickers as a couple potential revelers show up at the far end of Georgetown Plaza West.

"Nah, I'm fine," Norris smiles. The partygoers turn around, back the way they came. Apparently, they hadn't expected an avenue full of smoke and fire. "But there was one time in school, long time ago, when the dog ate my homework."

"Really? Bet that made your teacher mad as a junkyard dog."

"Nah, I was on her good side. Teacher gave me puppy love."

Vicious begins laughing uncontrollably. Can barely contain herself. "So her bark wasn't as mean as her bite?"

"Only when she wasn't dog-tired. Or sick as a dog."

"Alright, enough!" Vicious shouts, sides hurting from so much chuckling. "Let's let sleeping dogs lie! What are you gonna do next, Norris?"

"Well, as you can see, I'm getting older. Maybe it's time to retire, somehow."

...And the punchline is right there. "Can't teach an old dog new tricks..."

Now Norris is laughing. "Maybe it's time to call off the dogs!"

"Dude. Norris. I got the perfect place for you. You wanna come with me up north?"

"Only if you can promise me a dog's life."

"Oh yeah. Got the spot," Taneesha Jones reiterates. She and Norris return inside the Guard House, where Vicious collects her Blamhammer from the floor. "Um, should we tell the folks upstairs party's over?"

"Nah. No one likes hearing 'last call'."

"Right, They only like hearing: 'let's get this party started'."

The pair returns outside, where the Vertibird still smolders. Job done, Taneesha gobbles a packet of Rad-X, then throws the missile launcher to the ground.

"You're not gonna take that?"

"Lug that heavy thing all the way back to Rivet City? No thanks! But I've heard there's this paladin guy who might want it. Or you can have it, Norris."

Norris looks to the ground. "Nah."





One month later
They called them mercenaries, Taneesha Jones and Buck Norris. They lived a hard life, running and gunning, playing roles while squirreling mad caps. Now, at the ripe age of nineteen and forty-one respectively, wealthy beyond belief, they hoped to be done with their previous life.

"You were right," Norris admitted as they strode down the hill of what was once the final quarter mile of Centennial Lane. "Ellicott City is pretty sweet."

"Life is great in the 21228," Taneesha smiled. Technically, the 21228 zip code once pertained to Catonsville, the first town which once resided to the east, not Ellicott City, but heck.

"Hey, there are kids here!" Chuckles noticed as they entered the property of the Jehovah's Witness Temple.

"Yes, there are plenty of youngsters."

As promised, the countryside contained fruits and vegetables which are mostly rad-free. Game and wildlife which could be hunted with ease. A lack of the perilous monsters which roamed to the south. The elders and youngsters had crowded around Taneesha Jones upon her sudden return to the temple, all of them assuming she'd perished, all of them fascinated that she'd made it back three years after she'd left.

"Young Taneesha, she's our Second Coming," declared a familiar voice after a few minutes of welcomes, speaking of her in the Third Person even though she was standing right there. "That she should have survived while all others perished, that she was rescued from Route 40 as a helpless babe for us to discover and rear, she is indeed blessed from Prophecy."

"Elder Stave!" Taneesha cried (literally and figuratively), "you're alive!"

Though hugging and similar manners of affectionate display were frowned upon by Jehovah, this was one of those moments when such matters could be excused. Taneesha rushed Stave, nearly knocked him to the ground.

"But I'm already nineteen, Stave. Can't call me 'Young' no more."

"Hmm, guess you're right. Also cannot refer to thee as a standing character in some book; ye are now to be considered Elder Taneesha."

As the Witnesses gathered around for an afternoon of storytelling (one of the only facets of entertainment allowed by their kind), Buck Norris's attention becoming rapt, and Chuckles already bouncing a reconditioned basketball someone had removed from some local store, the sun broke gloriously through formerly gathering clouds.


-----------------------------------------------

Tepid Sewer Guard -- (this guy charged 50 caps for access to Georgetown. I completely forgot about this! At the time Vicious only had maybe 7 caps, so...

Um, yeah

Hockey Mask Vicious

Another Buck Norris one-liner

Confronting a Watchdog

BZZT!

Norris in action - (he really did take two guards out at once. I barely had time for screenshots!)

Tan knows Buck's adages all too well by now...

Dogmaster out of options

Running...

Missile Launcher

FWOOOF!!!

Vertibird on Fire

PKKSSSH!!!

...and the dog euphemisms begin...

---------------------------------------------

Notes: Dogmaster's fly attire is from Carpet Suit, by Beefy Krunch