In reply to Tech. Sgt. Airen Crichton (msg # 150):

The technical speeds up as Peter opens the throttle. Swerving back and forth he avoided striking the dead and wounded lying around in front of them. The truck found itself in a wide avenue between a large warehouse on the left and a dry goods and wholesaler on the right. The strange morning mist was still present but it didn't seem like anything was waiting for them ahead. That they could see.

Back at the gate greenish-black smoke spat out of the rig's stacks as the AI driver fought to get free of the chainlink fence. It was only partially successful and at  n012le0ast a 20-30 foot section was ripped free, caught on on the trailer's underc0arriage and dragged behind it in a shower of sparks.

Of those figures chasing the rig as it slowly started to accelerate away Smoker targeted the closest two. Massive 12.7mm bullets ripped into and through them, blowing off limbs and taking out chunks of ribcage and spinal column in the process. Unfortunately, this left three attackers, who easily caught up to the lumbering rig, leaped, then started to climb both sides and the rear doors at the rear of the trailer. Smoker could easily see them by leaning over but couldn't target them with the rear fighting position's pintle-mounted M2HB. Their faces were feral, smeared with blood, uneven mouthfuls of fangs gaping open as they slobbered hungrily.

To make matters worse the dozen or so attackers that had been in front of them had now risen unsteadily to their feet. A couple started to chase after the technical and Jane dispatched them with a couple bursts from the bed-mounted cal-fifty. But the rest of the mob the oncoming rig and decided that was easier prey! Trask fired a few bursts at the now-approaching horde. Two figures went down but the rest kept coming! It was clear many would be in a position to jump aboard the rig as it pssed them.

PD Note: New Turn!

Smoker's dialogue below is fine to be considered part of last turn. That is you may take it into account this turn.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:08, Wed 18 July 2018.

"A LITTLE HELP HERE!" shouted Smoker.

"THREE HOSTILES CLIMBING ON THE BACK OF THE RIG, CAN'T GET A SHOT AT THEM!"

Brother Edgar apparently reached a tipping point of frustration stuck within the confines of the rig's cab as the swarm came on.  His personal glow flickering more and more rapidly as he gripped the spent fuel rod he carried.  Suddenly, he reached for the cab door and pushed it open.  He dropped free of the cab and slammed the door shut again as he landed, "I give Praise to Saint Bates, for his having had the courage to Act Strongly and Bring forth a New Age."  The Doomsayer paid no attention to the enemies swarming around him as he stepped away from the rig. The Glow brightened across him with waves of fury and heat.  His eyes burned with a green light,  "Blessed be his name and the Truth of Atomic War."  He moved to stand between the horde and the rig...
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Sat 21 July 2018.

  "Peter! Brother Edgar just bailed from the Rig!" Chricton shouts as he holsters his pistols and pulls the rail gun. "Please try to keep it steady at least somewhat. Hope this damned gun holds together."

Trask turned to engage the individuals on the rig, a series of red triangles crossed his HUD as he fires off a burst at each one having walked to each side of the rig. He aimed for the central mass of each of the targets looking to hose them off the left and right sides of the vehicle.

He then waits while covering the trailer looking for anyone else to show themselves.




Increase Trask rolled 7 using 4d8, keeping the highest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 5,7,7,2.  Quickness

Increase Trask rolled 10 using 5d12, keeping the highest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 5,4,2,7,10.  Burst 3.
Increase Trask rolled 11 using 5d12, keeping the highest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 4,3,7,8,11.  Burst 2.
Increase Trask rolled 23 using 5d12, keeping the highest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 6,10,3,4,(12+11)23.  Burst 1.

Increase Trask rolled 15 using 3d6, keeping the highest dice only, with rolls of 6,4,5.  Damage Burst 1.

Increase Trask rolled 13 using 3d6, keeping the highest dice only with rolls of 6,6,1.  Damage Burst 2.

Increase Trask rolled 9 using 3d6 with rolls of 2,5,2.  Damage Burst 3.

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This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Mon 23 July 2018.

Peter let out a heavy sigh and slowed the technical and started turning it around. It was not the easiest thing to do, but he couldn't just leave the rig to be overrun. His head snapped around when he realized that Brother Edgar had left the semi-truck. His eyes narrowed. This was turning in to an untenable situation quickly.

In reply to Peter Firecrow (msg # 156):

On top of the rig, Trask blasted one climbing up the left side. The rounds entered the upper chest and the target spasmed as internal organs were pulped and the spine severed, then he fell away. He moved over and targeted a woman climbing up the right side. He waited for the last one, another woman, to appear.

She did, hissing as she leaped into the air up and over the rear lip onto the fighting position. Smoker lit her up with a long burst rom the M2HB that punched holes in her chest and abdomen. Trask's well-aimed burst hit the same areas. Punctured by several wounds she fell, lifeless, into Smoker. She didn't knock him over but lay unmoving beside him in the rear fighting position. Both noticed her eyes were yellow and diseased-looking, and her wide-open mouth sported a set of protruding fangs!

Meanwhile, Roadkill was also getting his Commando SMG ready to engage the crowd that was converging on them. "What the hell?" he cried as Brother Edgar bailed out. Peter was deftly turning the technical around, making use of what space he had to pull a U-turn, and Jane swung the Ma-Deuce mounted in the bed to cover Brother Edgar as well.

As if they were all one organism the crown turned and "locked on" to the figure standing in front of them. A figure that was just beginning to glow an unhealthy green... He also noted the fanged ravenous faces and upon the bullet-ravaged yet still-moving bodies of men, women, children, and realised they were not dealing with crazy people but something worse. But then, they were on him, throwing themselves without regard to their own safety. The Glow burned bright within him and all that touched him were consumed by the righteous heat of a thousand suns.

It looked like to everyone else the crowd surged to surround a glowing-green Brother Edgar but when they touched him they burst into bright orange flames, instantly incinerated. The heat from the burning and melting bodies didn't seem to faze him at all and within seconds the entire group was gone, consumed completely by the fire of the miracle of the China Syndrome. He stood in a bonfire of blazing clothing, sparks, ash and charred skeletons, yet was not burned.

Marshall's Note: End of turn. Fortunately Smoker, Trask and Brother Edgar all made TN9 Terror checks! End of Turn. New Quickness Checks!

Trasks HUD pulsed as the flashes registered in his targeting systems. Small red triangles simply disappeared one after the other as the threat was consumed. He began scanning again for more threats as he reloaded his weapon.

Increase Trask rolled 9 using 4d8, keeping the highest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3,1,(8+1)9.  Quickness.


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Smoker chucks the unwanted guest out of his nest.

Brother Edgar remained still and calm, hooded head bowed as the horde was drawn to its own incinerating death.  Moths to flames.  Only once there was little more movement towards him did the Doomsayer begin his slow walk back out of the pyre.  The nimbus of heat burned to cinder and ash anything that he stepped towards allowing him an eerily easy way out of the piles of burning dead.  Impossible to hear over the fires and roaring engines, he offered a sorrowful prayer for these people and what had become of them...

3:36, Today: Brother Edgar rolled 11 using 3d8, keeping the highest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 5,1,(8+3)11. Quickness.

In reply to Brother Edgar (msg # 160):

Smoker heaved the corpse of the last attacker out of the fighting position. He wasn't strong enough to get her completely clear, so she ended up hanging from the barbed wire that was supposed to protect the fighting position from assailants climbing up the rear (which she had vaulted over to get at him). The feral woman seemed dead, although there was't a lot of blood seeping from her massive bullet wounds. But then, like the others, she seemed to revive and began thrashing around, gnashing her fanged mouth. Luckily she was caught in the wire, unable to get free, and remained out of reach.

At that point the unnatural fog began to lift, letting the first full rays of the morning sun caress the ground. Immediately all the corpses of the luckless villagers (that weren't already burned to a crisp) began to smoulder, with small flames breaking out. The woman caught up in the wire surrounding the rear and sides of Smoker's fighting position started to thrash harder and screech as she too began to smoke and burn ever more violently. After less than a moment all that was left of all the bodies, and the woman, were ash, charred bones and burning rags.

Trask got on the teams comms channel "Trask here, everyone else still in one piece ?" He continued to scan for targets and watch his sensors as the threat seems to dissipate before their eyes.

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This message was last edited by the player at 02:34, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

In reply to The Marshall (msg # 161):

"Tabarnac! I am caught on s'e fence. I cannot go se' further wis'out damaging my undercarriage."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

In reply to Gilles the Driver Bot (msg # 163):

"What the Hell just happened? If they're gone I'm gonna stop and clear my axle. Ya'all cover me!" he said into the CB. Grabbing his Commando SMG he opened the welded-armour door and hopped down.

NA Commando SMG:

As the sun touched what was left of the dead and completed what the Atom began, Brother Edgar relaxed and let go the power of the Atom.  The burning aura faded away as he headed back for the truck.  Roadkill leaping out of said truck caught his eye.  The Doomsayer hefted his nuclear control rod in a more weapon-like fashion and followed after the driver quickly, eyeing the area in case anyone...or anything made a try for him.

"Do you need a hand, Roadkill?" Smoker called down.

Peter finished driving closer to the semi-truck, but gave the Burning Man a bit of a wide berth, eyeing him sideways, until he appeared to cool down and stop melting things. He stopped the truck and got out, calling quietly to Roadkill. "I am sorry to have caused you to get caught like that. It was not my intention. I will try to do better in the future."

He kept an eye since he knew Roadkill wasn't shy and would ask for help if it was needed.

In reply to Peter Firecrow (msg # 167):

Roadkill nodded. "Don't mention it. My fault, really. You were in the lead. No reason for me to speed up before you did."

"Smoker, buddy! No problem! Just keep an eye out!"

He took a pair of bolt cutters from an exterior toolbox and began cutting away the tangle of chainlink fence.

"Peter, we gonna search for survivors of... whatever this is? They ain't Walkin' Dead, that's for sure!"

As others with actual firearms came forward to watch out for the driver, Brother Edgar relaxed his ready stance with his strange weapon.  "I would like to attempt a search for any survivors, as well.  There is also, I believe, someone we came to find.  He may still be here..."  At the idea, the radpriest scanned the area hoping to catch sight of the axe-wielding villain.

In reply to Brother Edgar (msg # 169):

As Roadkill and Peter worked to clear the rig's undercarriage the others moved down the street towards the centre of town. Past the two large buildings flanking the entrance was a pleasant-looking town square with a (non-working) fountain. Across the grassy plaza was the town hall. To the left was the CS post office and a church. To the right was the town police station, a Humvee with police markings was parked in front.

Suddenly, a woman burst out of the front of the police station. She made a dead run for the police Humvee.

 "Should we fire a warning shot or just let her keep running?" he asks while sighting his pistol.

Trask amplified the speaker for his audio with an eye movement.

"Lady we are here to help." He waited for a response before trying something else.

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This message was last edited by the player at 08:14, Wed 15 Aug 2018.

In reply to Increase Trask (msg # 172):

The woman stopped at the police-marked Humvee and, after deciding the Posse wasn't Black Hats of the Combine or even worse than the horrors that devastated the town, put the shotgun she was holding down on the bonnet. She also pulled a semi-auto handgun from her waistband and laid it down beside it, then raised her hands to show they were empty.

She called back to him, pleadingly, "for the love of Jesus! Ya'll gotta help me! They took my husband! They done killed everyone here, but they took my Jerry! Please help! We gotta hurry, they just left!"

Brother Edgar raised his own hand in a calming gesture as he began to slowly step towards her, "We can help, absolutely.  But we need to know who "they" are and where "they" have gone?"

Trask moved up to the Humvee andbent down to have a look inside before righting himself. "Like the priest said we will need some details and weapons, ammunition..."

Trask tries to get a sensor ping on "them"....


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