By wasteland standards, the settlement known as the Pitt is a pretty decent place. The town had braved all the usual troubles of a wasteland settlement -- acid rain, radiation, drifting bioweapon clouds, raiders, horrors, hunger, insanity -- to become a burgeoning community of about seven thousand. The star of the Pitt was a pre-war smelting plant that had been meticulously reassembled and rehoused, melting down the irradiated and corroded scrap of the Pittsburgh ruins into fresh, clean, strong steel. The metal trade was the lifeblood of the town, trading ingots and high quality blades and tools to surrounding settlements in exchange for the food and medicine they desperately needed. The prosperity of the town was coveted by its neighbors, but its sturdy reinforced stone walls protected it from incursion like a medieval fortress. All was not well, however. Various problems were preventing this rare island of metastability from growing any further and kept it teetering on the edge of disaster.

It was exactly the sort of situation that Mother preyed upon.

Through the underground pipeline Legacy X hears from his predecessor that the Pitt was due to be prospected by Mother for integration into her Barrier City Initiative. The town is simply not ready however; there's too many doubts about the AI's promises of safety, too much attachment to their independence, stubborn holdouts, and (metaphorical) skeletons out in the open. Even the town's current mayor, one delightfully-named woman going by Gyarados Skullfucker, is rumored to be on the fence about whether to fight or let herself be absorbed. Even if the population were to be sucked up into the Mother-ship, the resulting vacuum would have disasterous consequences on the surrounding smaller wasteland communities. Unless something changes, and soon, there is going to be violence.

Thus does Legacy X put out the word to some of his contemporaries in the Wonder space. They're going to save the Pitt... though whether that means facilitating their integrating, strengthening their position to make Mother's offer less attractive, fighting the mechanical menace off by force, or simply taking the place over is up to them. The benefits of being outside any authority is that no one is telling them what to do!

---

The Pitt is more than just a clever shortening of the city whose ruins the town is built atop. The orbital weapon that had destroyed the city had cut a quite literal fissure through its remnants. You knew this, but beholding it for the first time and seeing the physical reality of the war-scar leaves you speechless. Almost a hundred miles long, ten miles wide, and who even knows how deep; even at the height of noon the sun fails to illuminate its murky depths. You had always thought that the Treatymaker satellite had destroyed Pittsburgh with a direct hit, but it looks like it had actually struck the outskirts; if it had been a direct hit then there would have been nothing left! Even with a near miss much of the city had been buried in dirt and molten rock, very much as if the victim of a volcanic eruption.

The Pitt is built on the south side of the Treatymaker Fissure. As you approach the city you occasionally spot small salvage crews digging with restored pre-war construction vehicles, moving dirt with huge mechanical buckets and breaking through deposits of molten stone with jackhammers and improvised explosive devices. They are rather protective of their claims, but cautiously help direct the incognito Wonders towards the town if asked. Getting anything else out of them would likely require a smooth tongue.

Passing through (or flying over) the Pitt's impressive stone walls greets the Wonders with cobblestone and metal buildings. Each residence has a square plot or two framed by stones from whence the small, struggling leaves of carrots, potatoes, and other hardy vegetables protrude, protected from the environment by varied means. One overachiever even has a semi-sealed greenhouse made of stretched clear plastic sheeting. Even at a glance it is clear there is something wrong with the plants, but it'd take someone knowledgeable about plants to figure out what.

There is a bone-fide market in the center of town, with wastelanders from all over trading post-apocalyptic goods; biodiesel, water, vegetables, seeds, soil, spare parts, guns and ammunition. One joker is selling books and handheld video games out of a purple carriage drawn by a pair of pigs, who seems to be getting a lot of window shoppers out of sheer absurdity. A couple of shouts go up as you take in the scene; an early-teen boy is sprinting away with what looks like a whole watermelon in his arms as an annoyed vendor yells at him. He doesn't get far before a man with a crowbar snags his leg and trips him, and as he hits the cobblestone street a second "guard" joins the first in beating the everloving shit out of him with the flat of his machete. They spit on the swiftly-broken and mewling body of the would-be thief and carry the miraculously intact watermelon back to the stall owner. The boy is left in the street to suffer; no one is rushing to offer him any medical attention.

The smelter is as far from the walls as practical. The smelting house itself is made of corrugated sheet metal rather than stone and is almost two hundred meters long. A big diesel generator on the side provides power, and brick chimneys belch coal smoke. More prominant as you approach the building however is the stench. It's hard to place exactly, but it smells like algae, ash, and rot. A momentary breeze makes the source obvious; the smell is coming from the Treatymaker ravine. It looks like the Pitt has been using the old war scar as a dumping site for slag and other garbage. This is probably a problem, though its exact nature is elusive without further investigation.

Gyarados Skullfucker's office is not far from the smelter. It is the biggest and most fortified building in the place, looking very much like a medieval castle with machine guns. The place looks like it could withstand a full scale assault and probably also serves as the town's vault. Miss Skullbleeper (as she is known to the kids) took over the Pitt by force some four or five years ago in a bid to retire after thirty years of being a badass wasteland pirate woman. She was apparently a child during the War, making her impressively old by wastelander standards, and survived where many of her contemporaries failed by being smart, rational, and humble. According to Legacy IX, the mayor is expecting them, knows what they are, and may even have work for them.

There is a lot to do in this town, and likely not all of the problems are obvious. The town has a sizable pub just off the market plaza, and though much of the citizenry is engaged in work at the moment it might be a good place to befriend of the locals and learn their less obvious troubles.

Whatever they do, the Wonders have to manage their time carefully; Mother's first arrivals are due to arrive in only three days.

What do you do first?

Teranovae is ... out of place to say the least ...especially because she is clean, no 'dirt' ever sticks to her so her emerald green garb of her goddess regalia she wears makes her stand out in the crowds.. not to mention her emerald green hair and heart-stealing beauty.

On arrival she dismissed her hematite surf-board she used for flight preferring to walk among the mortals to see their trials and suffering up close to get a full understanding of their plight.  Before her first death, she had been Sandra Demetra, Archaeologist  and Resource Recovery Field Apprentice for MOTHER... and she had Never seen squalor or suffering having her every  need provided by MOTHER... but she knew such luxuries were merely the gilded Prison of control. MOTHER, took away mankind's choice of self-determination and all the suffering around her was mostly due to the war MOTHER waged upon the world leaving masses to suffer to all gain control over mankind.  Slave in a golden jewelry was Still a slave.  Something Teranovae the newly awakened Earth Goddess would not allow.. and she was going to change things.  If need be one suffering person at a time, whatever it took!

She walked over to the young man beaten bloody, kneeling, she gently touched his back and invoking the Touch of Gaea, a soft green radiance suffuses the boy's body as she healed his injuries... but did not stop there ~ she restored his health from malnutrition ending, at least temporarily, his hunger pangs as she spoke, "..There young one, perhaps you might try working in the foundry to earn pay for your food needs? It would certainly be a less painful way to earn your meals?"

She rose, not waiting for thanks ~ or in fact expecting any, and made her way to the vendor selling books and handheld video games from his purple pig-drawn carriage, her interest in the books...
This message was last edited by the player at 19:01, Thu 04 Nov 2021.

Colleen stands out with her bubblegum pink hair in twintails and sidelocks, blue pleated skirt and blouse, white socks, and black Mary Janes. She is an incredibly gorgeous young woman, effortlessly attracting attention and multiple glances and stares, outshining every other woman nearby without the slightest attempt to do so. She also seems completely oblivious to that fact, humming merrily and almost skipping, gracefully sliding through and around the crowd without touching anyone.

This is even more notable considering the large backpack belted around her shoulders and waist. It is comically over-sized, dark brown, and vaguely resembles a sofa.

She stops at the books-and-games merchant and starts perusing his wares for anything she hasn't already played or read. There are a lot of things in the former list and less in the latter; working video games are much rarer than functioning books, after all. Books do burn, but they also do not require electricity.

Oh hey, is that a Pokemon game she's never played? Does Sword come after Green? Games that came in a series from the Time Before are special, because they have continuity and stability. It will be sad once she's finally played them all.

"I'll give ya this much for it, mister," she offers, holding out a fistful of copper wire.

It would be a ridiculously huge offer if the game didn't come inside a fully functional 3DS with rechargeable solar battery. And she also put another rechargeable solar battery on the table next to it.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Thu 04 Nov 2021.

Legacy arrived quietly, on the ground with a small hunting band that was parting ways with him, as what he was increasingly coming to think of as his Victor persona - just another person looking for work. He didn't look like much - just some young man, shabbily dressed in what was left of a faded t-shirt and patched pants, with a sharpened piece of salvaged rebar on his side and a heavy leather jacket that didn't seem to bother him despite the heat. The only thing that made him unusual was his good health and his exceptional appearance under the layer of dust on him - he carried himself better than most around him.

But one had to notice him out of a sea of people first.

In his case, he was looking for a place to base up. He didn't need food or shelter, for the most part, but his partners might not be so cavalier about such matters. Shelter would be in high demand. The most likely place for them to live would be just outside of the city, in the Leans, both named after the leaning buildings in the area and after the occasional food issues that tended to be a problem among them.

He just had to convince a landlord to let him and four others move in. He could, in theory, pull strings with his family to resolve this, but experience had taught him they tended to pull back much harder, and generally were not worth asking for anything. So, he'd have to do this without them.

Neo glides silently around in their disguised form, a average sized girl in a surprisingly vivid coat, seemingly untouched by the years. a light shirt peeks out under the coat, as well as some tough leather boots.
Their eyes glowing with a unnatural light as they scan around making notes at the low quality infrastructure compared to what they're used to, aberrant heat from humans and any random scrap of high density around.

As they wander they catch a glimpse of legacy from his heat and quietly move up beside him

They give a smile "Hello Victor..." Neo starts walking with him "What are you up to?"

Amanda showed a bit late looking very much the part of a salvage rat, minus the salvage, or for that matter anything of value beyond the cloths on her back which looked quality, but old, worn out and dirty. She gaped at the gates as she came in¹ playing it off as being a highly impressed wastelander. This was a lie². She was not a scruffy wastelander covered in dirt. She wasn't actually wearing any cloths at all and while she wasn't keen on using it or trading it she was carrying enough ordinance to make a warlord salivate or a guards do a spit take.

She tried to look tired and hungry, wastelanders were in her experience tired and hungry. She nearly recited Mother's catechism about helping them join the fold to herself, but that familiarity sat bitter in her throat like the taste of old coffee that had gone rancid. She personally had felt neither hunger nor fatigue since her transformation. She didn't want to over do it because sympathy might prompt generosity, and then what. She had a number of supernatural tells they could notice if they got too close, spent too much time with her. And charity well, she didn't want to take food out of the mouths of people who might need it, when she never would.

The Legacy had asked her here, but she hadn't spotted him yet. She did note the biodiesel sellers, as well as the fertilizer sellers and what payments they were taking, doing mental calculations on the kinds and quantities and IEDs she might manufacture. Gyrados probably had someone local but she wanted to know what kind of plan to make if she decided to ask for more explosive supplies. This was not enough to really distract her from the "goddess" healing people in the middle of the market.

She stare absently into the distance taking in what she could trying to decide. She knew she couldn't just ignore the woman dressed as a green goddess. Normal people wouldn't ignore something like that. She was taught to fear such things, but showing fear would tend to prompt others to be afraid and she didn't want to be the reason people feared people like her. She was fairly sure normal people would react to that somehow she just couldn't conjure up how they'd react. She figured the jaded vacant thousand yard stare was the safest bet. People might assume she was crazy, plenty of people were, that numb distance vacant sort of insanity would be fairly familiar and not threatening, it'd give her time to decide how best to react. It shouldn't brand her irredeemably insane or dangerous. Plenty of people had those days and got up the next day and kept rolling forward.


OOC:
¹ Expertise (Demolitions) Result-20 Routine Cursory Study
² Deception Result-20 Routinely faking several things.
³ Insight Result-?? She has a +0 and is trying to tell how the crowd is reacting to Terranovae

Amanda isn't obviously not human to normal human senses. She is denser than a human, smells vaguely like blood and not at all like a human, gives off very little body heat compared to a baseline human, is highly conductive, and is attractive to magnets though not herself magnetic. While she is "breathing" the air going in is chemically identical to that coming out (humans inhale more O2 and exhale more C02 she's just moving air to seem human) and she may otherwise show up to super senses of various types as odd though not necesarily.

No one really pays an undue amount of attention to Amanda. Passing by an excavation site she gets a decent view of the explosives the salvagers are using; a mix of dynamite and thermite, depending on what they need to cut through. They are competent although hardly remarkable at their job. She is given a cursory search by the guards at the entrance (who used the opportunity to squeeze her bust by "accident" but didn't seem to notice anything amiss) but once inside the gates the vast majority of people were too occupied with their own problems to give a close look to what seemed at a glance to be just another tired traveler.

Most of the people in market are selling their goods with Pitt citizens trading bars of steel or simple metal-cast goods in exchange. Sometimes the bars are copper or aluminum or other metals, but it's very clear what the favored exports of the Pitt are -- and how its citizens tend to be paid. The fertilizers themselves are not generally the sort that can easily be rendered into a more explosive format, but Amanda (likely) has more than the usual means.

It is in the market where Amanda gets anything more than a passing glance. A very pretty woman with long auburn hair, wearing a knee-length body-hugging white ribbed sweater dress and carrying a tote bag filled with food, stops to give Amanda a prolonged stare. A look of horrified recognition crosses her face before she turns and runs away as fast as she can in her little kitten heels and tight hobbling hemline, arms flailing at her sides with wrists daintily cocked.

In contrast, the emerald-clad self-styled goddess Terranovae attracts a lot of curious and concerned looks. In some ways, the wasteland was more open-minded than Barrier citizens; although some of Mother's propaganda had managed to make it even all the way out here, the average wastelander was more concerned about having food and a safe place to eat it than about some nebulous cosmic threat. The spandex-clad woman wasn't throwing fireballs or pulling legs off orphans or cackling madly, and so she wasn't their problem. At the same time, they weren't in any big hurry to risk agitating the strange woman and provoking any of those responses either. Overall, the citizenry of the Pitt gave Terranovae a wide berth -- or at least as wide as they could without going more than a few steps out of their way. That didn't mean she wasn't the subject of a lot of stares, some admiring, some lascivious, and some simply worried.

The stares only intensified as the emerald woman returned vitality to the poor teen urchin. The boy sprung to his feet patted himself down in disbelief, looked up at the taller woman with a lingering wonder, then fled to hide behind a corner. If she were to look back she would see the young man continuing to watch her surreptitiously from behind every building as she goes about her business in the town. Rumors of the wondrous healer start spreading from those who had been present to witness the act while the guards glare at her with disapproval but aren't stupid enough to make an issue if she won't.

The amount of attention aimed her way is only amplified when she meets up with the equally-out-of-place Colleen. In fact, Colleen may even be more out of place, an effortless radiance seemingly untouched by the troubles of the world. A small gaggle of would-be attention-seekers had formed in her wake, eager to bask in her lighthearted glow. When the subject of their attentions came to a stop beside the strange emerald woman however, all but the bravest reversed course and even those that remained kept to a greater distance than they had. Strange girl with strange woman shopping at strange stall was too much strangeness for all but the strangest among them.

The man minding the frivolities carriage did not seem put off by the two women's presence, although it was possible that he simply could not see them. He was wearing a pair of brass spiky goggles with pink, swirly lenses that completely obscured his eyes, a very clean lizardskin suit with long dagger-like coattails, and a big black and pink top hat with brass eyelets and cross-lacing on the front. He sported a large belly, a rarity among the wastes and even rarer among Barrier citizens (what with their carefully regulated diets and all). "Ah, welcome to my humble shop of eccentricities, prophet of the earth!" he greets Terranovae. "Ah, and the little pirate princess! Excellent schoolgirl getup, very sharp, just like you!"

The shelves on his carriage are loaded with comic books, art books, board games, and other colorful things. Behind the shelves is a rod with several pieces of pre-war fashion; dresses and skirts and blouses and suits and hats. Terranovae spots a magazine cover of a green-clad woman riding a stone surfboard engaged in combat with a stylized kaiju-class horror; Gaia Girl versus the Dragon Dregs, a Brass Hat original! Looking up from the comic, one would see a steampunk hat logo prominently painted onto the carriage... and stitched into the vests the pigs are wearing... and as an enamel pin on the merchant's lapel...

The merchant's face falls a little as he sees what Colleen is gravitating towards. "That was on the rack? Oh dear. I had intended that as a gift to our glorious sea serpent overlord; she is deep into Pocket Monster lore as I am sure you know, and I had heard she was looking for Sword..." He puts a hand on his chin, tilting his head this way and that. "Well, what she does not know will not hurt her I suppose. Make it that and a kiss for my bruised plans and you have a deal." A deal he almost certainly wouldn't make for anyone else.

---

Legacy X's -- or rather, Victor Vale's -- arrival was even quieter than Amanda's. The Pitt had been built with plenty of room to expand but those who were not welcome in the town itself had built up a shantytown of their own outside the walls -- and yes, both the buildings and people tended to lean. He got a good look at its unfortunate citizens; signs of sickness were almost universal, some with radiation burns, others with sores all over their bodies, others pale and coughing with some kind of lung trouble. The only security out here was a single patrol up and down the main road, a show of force to keep the more desperate from loitering in hopes of pouncing a poorly-guarded merchant or traveler.

Shelter was in demand, yes, but without much in the way of security or even formal landlords the ones who had that shelter had managed to get it by being stronger or more cruel than their neighbors. There was only one real businessman out here; a tall and buff woman with a knee-length braid of black hair, bare arms showing a long history of burns, but otherwise healthy. She takes one look at the healthy Victor and grins. "Not sure why you're lookin' to slum it up with these pus sacks, but if you'll help me collect some debts I've got a place for you and yours for as long as you're willin' to work," she offers.

Neo's analysis of the surroundings shows that the exterior wall of the Pitt has places where highly radioactive slag from the smelter had been mixed in with the mining and excavation rubble. Aside from this observation his experience with the town and its slum was much the same as all the others'. He senses no meaningful radio signals.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:37, Wed 10 Nov 2021.

Victor chose to answer Neo first. "Trying to get us a residence, and maybe work."

They explained to the landlady what the situation was. "They're known to me. What kinds of debts are we talking about, and for what?"

Victor wasn't exactly sure what kind of situation he was walking into here.

OOC: 20:24, Today: Legacy X rolled 9 using 1d20+8.  Intuition.
...a good start. Let's hope I'm shaking the bad luck out.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:25, Sun 07 Nov 2021.

Teranovae will note the young urchin boy following her through the market, and if she catches his eye she will merely smile kindly at him.  As for the Town Guardsmen she will nod respectfully to them smiling but makes no attempt to approach them, preferring to let her peaceful behavior speak louder than any words.



Teranovae smiles warmly at the man her eyes sparkling in delight, "And good health and fortune to you, Mr. 'Brass Hat', But you flatter me, I have no prescience for the future of Mankinds destiny ~ only my devotion to insuring mankind has the chance to write that destiny with their Own hands, I am but a Newly Born daughter of Gaea ~ I am the Earth Goddess, Teranovae! How may I address You by name, good merchant?"

She looks at his books for sale and her eyes catch on the Comic depicting Gaia Girl upon a stone surf-board fighting the kaiju-Class Horror, and smiles sweetly as she claims it from the rack and begins thumbing through the colorful pages, "..This is Your art 'Brass Hat'? How precious, are you a believer, Sir?"

{Looking at the tale as it unfolds in the comic ~ does it portray actual events that Teranovae has done?}

She will sweep aside her cloak to reveal she bears a shoulder bag under her cloak, collecting all of his books and magazines for sale into them she will extend her hand and invoke her geosphere creation power ~ a soft green glow forms in the palm of her hand... followed by a rushing of air and as if by a reversing of sandblasting a 2lb dark brick of absolutely PURE Iron Ore forms from the rushing air in her hand like sand rushing to fill a void.

01:13, Today: Terranovae rolled 17 using 1d20+10.  Ranged Combat - Geo-Gravitic Array [Geosphere Creation: Create +10]. – 17

There is a very brief, very slight tremor through the ground that causes the hanging wares to stir a bit on the racks of the market in the area but, nothing is toppled nor are any market-goers caused to loose footing.  It was as if some large creature had slowly rumbled by in the market.

Again she smiles for 'Brass Hat' handing him the solid 2lbs iron brick, "..I know that metal ingots are the form or trade-fair here in the Pitt... will this Iron ingot be sufficient to purchase all your books and this delightful magazine of your artistry?"

At the arrival of Collen at the 'Brass Hat' carriage, Teranovae greats her openly placing her hands upon her shoulder to give her a sisterly embrace, "Ah.. Collen its good to see you! So you have also come to Legacy X's call? Have you seen him yet, I've been trying to find him ...but got caught up in walking the market."

She gestures to her wrist where her Commlink is indicating the recived call to gather in The Pitt...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:00, Sun 07 Nov 2021.

Neo looks between Victor and this building "You sure your not looking for a scrap heap?"

Neo turns from Victor, Immediately sizing up this woman, taking a moment to analyse her. they are expecting a bit of deception with the junk they try to pass as shelter around here.

(( Today: Neo rolled 20 using 1d20+10.  Insight to Evaluate. ))
(( That's entirely average. ))

"Yes, Can't really do anything without information." They give a vague statement, Fishing for the details before agreeing to anything.

"Nice hat!" Colleen observed, pointing at Brass Hat's hat.

He makes his offer, and she hems and haws for a couple seconds, making a ham of it. Then, "Okay, deal!"

She trots around the side of the carriage goes behind the counter, and gives Brass Hat a smooch on the cheek. Then she goes back in front of the counter again, leaves her fistful of precious copper wire, takes off her huge backpack, and puts the 3DS and solar batteries in one of the pouches.

The pink-haired beacon of Old World sunshine looks back up at the carriage, then fishes around some more. She comes up with a padded bag containing two (2) intact, functional lightbulbs. The ancient kind with filaments that will never go out as long as they stay powered.

"How's this for that?" She points at a sleeveless black corset-dress with a short skirt.

She stops and becomes very still when Terra touches her. Her cheerful demeanor disappears for half a second, replaced with something else. "I live here."

And then she's smiling again. "I don't know who Collen is though."

Not given to long deliberation, Amanda decided the best way to deal with someone running away from you, was to catch them, and so she gave chase. She was only about as fast as an unpowered high school jock, but she was unrestrained by her clothing, proportionately unencumbered and moved with preternatural grace.

She wasn't inclined to harm the woman she intended to simply grab her securely enough to ask a few questions. She wanted to know what the woman knew about her.

"Why thank you!" Brass Hat replies to Colleen, jolly, tilting his hat to the girl. He looks to see where Colleen is pointing. His grin widens. "That one? Haa, that is so you. You're not taking me for a ride are you?" He holds out his hand for one of the lightbulbs, peering at it intently through his spiral shades. "Where did you even get these? Deal!"

Brass Hat turns his attentions back to the green woman. "Brass Hat will do fine," he replies. "I consider myself something of a bard. I take the tales I hear and spin them into hope to the wastes. Now, believing, haha, belief is a powerful and Wonderful thing isn't it?"

The comic book bears a superficial resemblance to Teranovae's own adventures, although heavily stylized. It is probable that the events in the comic are based on barroom rumors rather than direct observations; scenes in which there were many witnesses are more accurate than those conducted alone in the wastes.

"Whoa now!" Brass Hat exclaims on seeing Teranovae gathering up his entire stock. "Gaia Girl is on the house for you of course, but you're not thinking of leaving me nothing for my other customers are you?" There are no other customers.

---

"Oh, nothing a strong man like you shouldn't be able to handle," the woman says nonchalantly. She waves to a section of the Leans that seems indistinct from the rest, making a little circling motion with her finger. "All these guys owe me a bar. Except for Peter One-Eye, I know he doesn't have it so have some fun with him, whatever that means to you. This is as much about letting everyone know I've got a new dude as it is about the rent."

---

Amanda has no difficulty giving chase to the pretty sweater girl, though she does attract a few surprised mouth-sounds from Pitt natives. When sweater-girl realizes she is being pursued she attempted to quicken her pace but fairly swiftly catches her heel on the uneven flagstones. She is saved from an undignified face-plant into the dust and dirt by Amanda seizing upon her arm.

If Amanda was expecting any sort of resistance from the woman, she would be disappointed. Sweater-girl turns and looks back at Amanda with a slightly vacant look in her eyes. "Thank you," she says dazedly. Blinks. Looks down where Amanda is holding her. For a moment it looks like she is about to struggle, but doesn't. She looks up at Amanda with a docile, fearful, and utterly defeated expression without so much as putting up a fight.


This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:22, Wed 10 Nov 2021.

Victor frowned at the implied offer for sadism, and after closing his eyes for a moment, he nodded his head. "I'll collect, and let Pete know exactly what you think."

There was no deception in his words.

He turned to Neo, and nodded. "Let's go. If you think you can, we offer to these folks a polish up some of these homes of theirs. It beats the open Wastes, but maybe we can do better for them."

When he was clear of Landlady, he elaborated on his views. "If these folk think their homes are worth fighting for rather than abandoning at the first sign of trouble, they'll put up more of a fight when missionaries come through here. And until I'm done here, this is my home as well."

Victor strolled up to the first door, let out a breath, and knocked.

OOC: 20:32, Today: Legacy X rolled 25 using 1d20+10.  Persuasion. Let's start talking these people into peacefully giving a bar for rent.

Teranovae beams a smile at 'Brass Hat', "..I am Honored you 'believe' tales of my deeds will bring hope.. hope is so Very precious! You have my deepest gratitude ~ Kindly Bard!  But when I have time.. would you like to hear how this event in Gaia Girl Really happened?  Truth has always been my shield... it can be yours as well."

At his mention of leaving some of his wears for others she ponders and her eyes widen in realization of what she was doing, "Ah.. forgive me.. I'm something of a voracious reader of old world manuscripts regardless of content.  I'll be more restrained..."

With that she puts back half of the periodicals with an easy smile.

She holds out her hand and asks him, "Please kindly Bard, take my hand?"

To which her gentle touch she will call upon her Touch of Gaea, and remove any ailment or malady in his body... refreshing his elder bones with divine vigor.. may hap even adding a year or two of extended life to the kind-hearted man. An emerald glow washes over him briefly.

"Your good heart and devotion to Hope has touched this goddess' heart... be well and believe ~ Kindness and Compassion are Divine, have faith."

Invoking again her Geosphere Creation power she forms a 'touchstone token' that she attunes to 'The Green' so she may "feel" this token when the need is strong.

The Emerald light that flashed over him coalesces into a ornate golden ring, a 'touchstone token', in his palm, and she declares, "... bear this keepsake as a sign of my heartfelt favor!  When all is dark, call upon me.. and I will quickly come to light thy way to hope!"



Teranovae is... confused, she is Certain this woman is indeed the Colleen of her acquaintance, but her... unspoken anger is obvious.  She ponders if Colleen had wanted to remain anonymous she could have as when they first met fighting off Mother's forces assaulting the 'Scrapiron' Settlement weeks ago taken up a Alias ~ As Teranovae had suggested at the time!  Tera had not known Colleen's home was in The Pitt.

Regardless Tera understood the desire to have a separate identity from her mortal persona, though she was not sure why Colleen needed such out here in the wasteland Community of The Pitt.. but out of politeness she decided to play along and respect the young woman's privacy...

Gasping, "OH.. I'm so sorry.. I've clearly mistaken you for someone else!  My apologies!"

Teranovae curtsied slightly and immediately turned to walk away... heading into the market... looking for a Weapons merchant... and look to see if Legacy X were about...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Wed 10 Nov 2021.

Though she had no idea who she'd just caught or how dangerous it might be for the bystanders who seemed like they might think the woman more sympathetic than her especially if she took things had to go violent. She opted for the fairly safe approach of vague and slightly menacing with an air of noble protector.

"Did you think we weren't going to find out what you've been up to?" she demanded loud enough bystanders could hear. She figured most would not want to be bothered and at worst she'd broken decorum so far and an ambiguous accusation was probably enough to balance the scales.

OOC:

22:06, Yesterday: Amanda King rolled 16 using 1d20+10.  Deception (hide ignorance).

22:02, Yesterday: Amanda King rolled 9 using 1d20+3.  Expertise (Current Events) - untrained.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

Before they arrive, Neo turns to Victor
Of course I capable of it. But if its my buildings that woman back there will not be getting any bars.
The idea of bringing some violence back to her causes Neo to grin, it would be a chuckle but Victor is right there

Neo pauses and drops the grin
Everyone here is going to die if left alone. Making their houses better isn't going to stop that, or remove the temptations of mothers control.
What's the end goal Victor, What do you consider the success criteria?

"I'll consider it success if I am certain they won't break, run, or surrender the moment the evangelists come rolling in telling them that servitude is preferable to the hardships of freedom."

Victor stopped, mulling over what had been said before while waiting for the first door to answer, knocking again. "If these folks end up with better houses, I have no objection to that. 'Free' is a hard price to compete with, though, and we'd want to insure that landlady back there had a way to make her ends meet. Get whoever's got a lean on her off her back, so that she isn't somehow inspired out of desperation to get a gang to start burning houses that aren't hers. But this would increase the flow of bars around here, and help out."

He was considering how he would fight as himself, though, without accidentally tipping his hand. Violence was important to avoid at the moment. Which he admitted to himself that he'd forget the moment he saw something he didn't like.

Teranovae wanders the market square looking for a weapons merchant... realizing she is moving more from the market to the business district of The Pitt, not very far away in fact as it made it easier for crafter's to get their wares to market.

As sh made her way she slipped a hand in her shoulder bag to create some currency in ingots of ore without drawing too much attention in the press of the city goers.  The Soft emerald glow that occasionally emitted from her bag was somewhat concealed in the general green of her cloak and outfit, and mostly went unnoticed.  She formed 4x 1lb Ingots of pure Iron, 4x of pure Cobalt, 4x of pure Tungsten, and for good measure 4x pure gold.. just reaching the limits of her shoulder bag 30 pound limits with the books she bought as well.

But finds a weaponsmithy and enters it more like a open warehouse with the heavy smelters in the back and the forges off to one side but racks of weapons up front.

There were 6 smiths at work and double that number in journeymen/apprentices dealing with shoppers ...as well as a handful of Clearly armed and armored guards making sure the clientele did not get sticky-fingers or decide weapon in hand to make a withdraw without paying.

She smiled and caught the attention of a journeyman, "Hello, I would like to purchase a Sword of your highest quality steel - sharp forge carbon-hardened blade, durable and well balanced.  The VERY best you have to sell!"

Pitt Blade-Machette = {Archaic Melee Weapon-Blade} Sword-Strength Based Damage 'Slashing': PL 3 {3pt}, Dangerous/2 'Crit 18+' {2pts}; Total: 5pts



To which she will retrieve a ingot of iron, cobalt, and tungsten to lay out on the counter, "..this is just a sample of my funds.. you can test their purity ~ I have time.  Also, I'm looking to also purchase a firearm... I would greatly appreciate directions to a reputable armory for such a purchase?  Take your time, I'm in no hurry."

With her request made and her funds being examined, she will turn to the side keeping her eye on the actions of the smithy staff but triggering her wristcomm to call Legacy X...

+"Lex, Tera here. I'm in the storefront district did not see you in the market. Saw Colleen, but she seemed to not want to be seen associating with an obvious wonder, not sure what to make of that.  Where should I meet up with you for the meeting?"+
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Thu 11 Nov 2021.

Neo shakes their head
"I didn't need to ask."

They sighs and continues with
"Alright I have already got a bit of what we will need for that, and for the long-term survival since Mother could just wait them out."

"One. Secure the organ- Neo is interrupted by Terranovae's transmission

Neo eyes brighten a bit as they cut in joining the communications so both Terranovae and Legacy X can hear
+"Terra! How are you going? I was just about to have a big talk to do with my observations so far with our friend here, Also considering a murder"+
They let the chuckle they were holding back out over the line
+"I assume you want to be let in the loop on this."+