File: This is in the bucket.jpg (79 KB, 700x525)

79 KB JPG

>>4800592
Still, no one – er … none of your people died. That has to be worth something, right?

Gunther takes a pothole head on, and you jolt in your stretcher hard, hard enough that you see spots. As you blink them away, you can hear Fleckkers on the floor, right next to you whimpering, but with your neck in its brace, you cannot actually see him. When they finally got Fleckkers loaded in the back of the Farm Truck, you had actually offered up your stretcher, but Gunther shot that down instantly. While Fleckkers had taken some serious hits, and had lost a lot of blood, you were still apparently a hair’s breadth or so from fatal internal bleeding. According to the Night Nurse, you needed the stretcher much more than he did. So you just lay there, awkwardly. Petra, Gunther’s teenaged girl cousin looks back from her post at the mounted M85, but beyond taking what is presumably a pitying look (you cannot tell with her facemask, at least not from this position) at the injured former safecracker, your piece-of-tail gunner remains at her post. Such a good girl. Unbidden, the memory of her decontaminating comes back to you - her getting stark naked, then vigorously scrubbing herself down with a stiff bath brush … the memory is an arousing one, but considering the level of trauma your left testicle has been through, the arousal is not pleasant. You squirm, and try not to let your discomfort show … but Petra picks up on something, and now she is looking at you. Embarrassed, ashamed and still painfully aroused, you try to focus on your next step instead of all of the … ephemeral distractions around you.

Greenly has enough fuel at his farm to keep the crabs – your crabs – alive, as well as their food, until 2:00pm. There is still time … but it is starting to really run out, and you have already spent a lot on this expedition with nothing good to show for it. The roads are much more dangerous than you or anyone else believed, so hopefully some of your objective, complete failure here can be written off. Had you even an inkling of an idea of how rough it would be, you would not have tried to keep costs down like you did – you would have ponied up to the bar, or whatever the expression is, and you would adequately outfitted. Now as you plan the second attempt … just what exactly does ‘adequately outfitted’ mean?

File: 1600655771612.jpg (41 KB, 388x474)

41 KB JPG

>>4800654
>Please choose ONE of the following:
>You would reach out to Sheriff Arthur, and ask about hiring Deputies and Guards. They will command a high price per head, and no doubt the Sheriff will want something for himself too, but these men are the best of the best – or at least the best of what is available to you right now.
>You would reach out to the lay members of the group, and ask if anyone want to take a field trip. These men (and perhaps even women) would be a true mixed bag, as you will not have time to vet everyone you hire – but compared to the Deputies and Guards, they would have to be cheaper.
>It might be tight, overly complicated and questionably cost effective in the end, but maybe you should try to use both lay members and the Sheriff’s men. Throwing everything at the wall is a valid strategy, right?
> … Actually, after thinking about it, you are in over your head. Try to sell Greenly’s location to some other group member, and let them deal with this instead. There has to be other ways to augment your Homestead’s food production.

>>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=TrashQM

>It might be tight, overly complicated and questionably cost effective in the end, but maybe you should try to use both lay members and the Sheriff’s men. Throwing everything at the wall is a valid strategy, right?

We need expendable drivers for the lead vehicle and to drive back captured vehicles. Fat Nate, Beaty, and some other randos. We are passing up on treasure because we aren't willing to invest a little.

We need tactically trained dudes capable of actual combat instead of putting our top con-combat personnel with irreplaceable specialized skills and children on the front line. We tried that once(twice with children). Fail.

In addition, I think we should grab a prisoner and interrogate them, preferrably the meeting secretary, and use them as a human shield by cuffing their hands and feet and keeping them in the front passenger seat(or near the driver area). Good human shield in case these bandits are the released male prisoners trying to get their women back.

Maximum ruthless.

>>4800656
>You would reach out to Sheriff Arthur, and ask about hiring Deputies and Guards. They will command a high price per head, and no doubt the Sheriff will want something for himself too, but these men are the best of the best – or at least the best of what is available to you right now.

we should just stop being cheap here. Also I gotta say trash, while I'm psyched that collapsing is back, starting the thread with a list of our failures is a bit of a downer, lol

>>4800656
>It might be tight, overly complicated and questionably cost effective in the end, but maybe you should try to use both lay members and the Sheriff’s men. Throwing everything at the wall is a valid strategy, right?

>>4800699
+1 on this. Off with the gloves.
Also, welcome back trash, hope ya did alright on your exams!

File: Boneless Moxie Jelly.jpg (189 KB, 1176x1500)

189 KB JPG

I'm really out of practice - I forgot to close the vote before I started writing the update. No problem though, I'm going to give this another hour while I eat dinner. If there isn't a tiebreaker, then I will roll for it.

>>4801480 I hope I did alright too! Damned professors are taking forever to post final grades ...

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4801500
Went a little later than I expected on dinner;

Roll of 1: Reach out to just the Sheriff
Roll of 2: Reach out to everyone

File: Come and See.jpg (20 KB, 405x371)

20 KB JPG

>>4801042
>>4800835
>>4800699
>>4801480

Well, uh ... trying to do everything might make your schedule tighter and more unforgiving than it would be otherwise, and it would definitely complicate things both out there on the road, and afterwards when you are trying to pay everything off here, but after your experience today, you need manpower - and the best way to ensure that you have enough capable hands is to hire lay members as well as Deputies and Guards. Throwing everything at the wall is a completely valid strategy, right? With that settled, you start planning out how you are going to handle this impromptu recruitment drive - remembering of course, that if you spend too long at Mt. Kineo hiring and preparing, then you will lose the option of taking the longest, safest routes to Greenly's farm.

But after three or four minutes - and another pothole, unfortunately - you are able get a basic plan down. Arthur, Bean and Polk first - and once you have your Guards and Deputies, then you have someone from your party make an announcement and try to hire on some additional muscle. If possible, you should make an effort to outfit the lead vehicle with some additional defenses ... and try to get radios for everyone so you do not have to honk at each other like geese left out in the cold. There is one question on your mind however - what exactly to do about the situation with the Armory? You lost one of their buses - eventually, you are going to have to deal with that. Would it be better to come clean immediately? And if you do decide to 'confess', who do you confess to? The Armorer that you borrowed the buses from, or Peckinpaugh, the Chief Armorer, who, as you understand it, was the one with the plans for the buses in the first place? Both of them?

Time is short, of course, but making a quick stop to apologize and promise compensation or something should not break your schedule to pieces - and, remember, you are already on bad terms with Beety, the night manager of the Motor Pool, and the last time you were in the pool, it seemed that the Mechanics there were standoffish ... it is possible that after you spurned him, he started to turn the men in his department against you. That is bad - but the prospect of having the Armory turned against you is even more alarming - the three Armorers are more than just the groups gunsmiths, they control all of the group's guns, munitions, armor, and milspec equipment. And by returning sans Short Bus, you are going to upset at least two of them. Obviously, time is going to be tight - and speaking to them now as opposed to later does not change the fact that you lost their bus - but does going immediately to them an apologizing soften the blow enough to make the time expenditure worth it?

>>4801756
>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Forget about the Armorers for now - you schedule is too tight to spend time apologizing
>Send for Mt. Kineo's Armorer the minute you arrive, and deal with him before you meet with the Sheriff
>Make at stop at Peckinpaugh's store, and apologize to the Chief Armorer in person (Fleckkers and the rest of the convoy will continue on to Mt. Kineo to receive medical attention and implement any instructions you give them)

>We will apologize by hiring on 3 extra randos to drive captured vehicles like those dump trucks back to Mt. Kineo. Captured vehicles can be added to the convoy until we have enough of them to have safety in numbers and send a group back to Mt. Kineo. Worst case scenario, we capture nothing and have a lot of extra help load the crab farm quickly and efficiently.

>>4802158
Sorry, my Kekquest namefaggotry seems to have stuck to this post.

>>4802158
Support. Just try to pick up something nice in exchange. I fear if we go fess up now it will cause all kinds of further trouble.

>>4802548
>>4802410
>>4802158
Alright - consider this vote closed.

File: Tow Chain.jpg (190 KB, 1000x879)

190 KB JPG

After mulling it for a while, you decide that it would be better to make apologies later, with one or two vehicles to replace the lost Short Bus, then to make your apologies as soon as you can. If you are confronted, then you are confronted – there is not much you can do about that, especially considering that you are fucking bedbound. That said, you are not exactly worried about running into any of the Armorers before you have those replacements in hand; from what you can tell the three of them are being run ragged. It is possible that they have so much on their plate right now that might not even really be that upset over the loss of the Short Bus … but, obviously, you should not count on that. And of course, even if they are not upset, that does not mean they would not be expecting some restitution from you – if the rolls were reversed, you would make a point, a public point, of getting something out of the bastard who damaged, gutted and abandoned your property – if you did not, then you would just be signaling to everyone that anyone could just borrow and then ruin or lose your things with impunity. So even if they do not make a scene or try to turn other against you like Beety did –well, like Beety might have – they are going to need something. Finding a working school bus just out ‘in the wild’ so to speak would be a very tall order, but maybe finding a small box truck or a large van … maybe two or three of them, that would be more than enough to smooth things over. To that end, you will bring along two or three extra lay members – as well as tow chains and recovery straps. Best case scenario, you are able to bring home something nice for the Armorers, and worse case scenario you have a few extra men.

With your latest plan all planned out, there is nothing to do but wait until you get to Mt. Kineo … or is there? Fleckkers has since regained consciousness, and is despite some strain in his voice, he is loudly swearing and cussing over each and every bump in the road. Maybe he’d like to talk, to take his mind off of things? And there is Petra too, still on the M85, but it seems that she is more holding on to it for support instead of actually scanning for enemies – though it is hard to tell, between the mask she is wearing and the near constant small jolts of the Farm Truck. It suddenly occurs to you that Gunther is driving noticeably faster than he was earlier. While that is not cause for immediate alarm, you cannot help but remember what happened to his truck during your escape from Bangor. You could always tell him to slow down … or maybe you could try to talk with him. He did just mercy-kill someone, after all.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Talk to Gunther about … (write in)
>Talk to Petra about … (write in)
>Talk to Fleckkers about … (write in)
>Take a nap, and wake up at Mt. Kineo.

>Think more about the people you'd like to recruit.

>>4803472
>Talk to Fleckkers about … (write in)
just try to take care of the man, we almost got him killed over fucking crabs!

>>4803920
Support

>>4805221
>>4803920
>>4803495
Alright - consider this vote closed.

>>4805239
And welcome back Trash

File: The Maluses come to town.jpg (14 KB, 350x350)

14 KB JPG

Well … Petra and Gunther should be focusing on more important things than chit-chat right now – and from a practical standpoint, you are not exactly certain what you should say, to either of them. In Gunther’s case it is that you do not know how to talk about it, and in Petra’s case it is that you do not know what to talk about – but the result is the same; you are drawing a big fat fucking blank as far as conversation starters for the two of them go. Obviously, you will need to talk to them about what happened here on the road eventually, but it is not something that you should do in haste. Fleckkers on the other hand – considering that he nearly got killed on your behalf, considering that he took two bullets for you over a butch of fucking crabs – you definitely need to speak to him, now that he has regained consciousness. What exactly you should say – well, you are not sure, but you know that you need to say something.

“Fleckkers? I, uh – I just want to let you know that I’m going to make this all right, okay?”

Unseen on the bed of your Farm Truck, he makes this grunting snort – a painful yet exasperated sound.

“I’m serious Fleckkers – everything that those Doctors and Nurses can do, they’ll do for you, I promise. And once you are all better … well, we can talk then about specifics, but you deserve something. Something big, for all of this.”

You don’t know what exactly you should – or can – promise here, either in regards to the care he could get at Mt. Kineo or the compensation for his injuries that he deserves when he gets back to the Homestead, but you do know that you need to say something, to promise something. You will probably have to do something for Gunther and Midge as well, but as their injuries are much less … life threatening, you can get away with simply throwing them a trifle or two on top of a few more crabs, and calling it good – assuming of course, if you ever actually get your hands on those fucking things.

But while you are content to deal with this stuff later, it seems that Fleckkers – no doubt with nothing on his mind but a long, painful recovery – wants to discuss those specifics right now. His voice is strained with pain, but the prospect of a rewards seems to have encouraged him to speak.

“What d’ya mean, ‘something big’?”

>>4807140
Honestly, you are not sure what you meant exactly – in fact, you are starting to regret that you used those words in the first place, but … you asked the man to drive the lead car of the convoy – the most dangerous job, the most dangerous spot. If you just give him some trifles for his pain, his service, would he ever follow you into anything dangerous ever again? Would anyone else? Fleckkers, your hired men, and to a lesser extent, the two Peake’s are dependent on you – but they are not pieces of equipment that can just be pushed to breaking then repaired over and over, and you know better than to treat them like that. People – and work animals, for that matter – require pampering from time to time. For Fleckkers, this is one of those times.

“Well … what do you want?”

“How about … a room of my own at the Homestead. It’s alright if you partition a bigger room to make it, so long as I have a door I can close – and some personal space.”

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>“As it is, the Homestead is filled to bursting – and I don’t see us having the time in the next few weeks to start unnecessary home improvement projects. Is there anything else I could do?”
>“If you understand that we will not have the partition done by the time that you are discharged from Mt. Kineo or Breen or wherever they send you, then sure … I can get you your own room.”
>“There is a linen closet, upstairs, right across from the bathroom. If you were alright with having a sliding door for your room, then it could be ready and waiting for you, when you come home.”

>>4805435
It is good to be back!

>>4807144
>“There is a linen closet, upstairs, right across from the bathroom. If you were alright with having a sliding door for your room, then it could be ready and waiting for you, when you come home
How much personal space does a Linen closet have?

>>4807176
This one has room enough for a chest at the end of the bed - and pretty much nothing else.

>>4807144
>>“If you understand that we will not have the partition done by the time that you are discharged from Mt. Kineo or Breen or wherever they send you, then sure … I can get you your own room.”

I mean, eventually we will need to expand our home, why not promise to give him his own room once we get some additions built?

>>4807176
>>4807191

Perhaps he can have the linen closet until we build him a proper room?

>“If you understand that we will not have the partition done by the time that you are discharged from Mt. Kineo or Breen or wherever they send you, then sure … I can get you your own room.”

He wont be able to stand in this linen closet with how injured he is. Giving hima "workshop" to build stuff could really pay off. A little sheet rock and a door should be something we can scavenge off another building easy enough.

That being said, we still need to have aget together with Matthew and get Gunther a truck and get our Mom some meds or a doc appt for a regimine to deal with her low blood pressure.

>>4807295
Also, we could still try to score that sailboat from the odd jobs or a trailer house and give him that.

>>4807144
>“If you understand that we will not have the partition done by the time that you are discharged from Mt. Kineo or Breen or wherever they send you, then sure … I can get you your own room.”

>>4807603
>>4807295
>>4807275
>>4807176
Promise Fleckkers his own room, just make sure that he knows that it is probably not going to be ready for him when he is discharged.

File: Lousy Looking Wall.jpg (51 KB, 977x712)

51 KB JPG

“Yeah … that, that is doable, certainly. We can partition you a piece of the first or second floor in the finished part of the house. I doubt that it would be ready by the time you were discharged … and with space at such a premium, it wouldn’t exactly be spacious, but I can definitely do that for you.”

The next few minutes are spent talking to Fleckkers about all of the specifics and preferences he has for his little room. Once you have covered all of that ground, your conversation turns to the Crudely Improvised Ballistic Vest he had made for this trip. While the armament is no longer in wearable, functional or even recognizable condition, no one would be able to argue that the thing saved his life at least once – perhaps two or three times. Honestly, you had not really thought the damned thing was going to be worth damn, and you tell him as much – as gently as you can, which is not particularly gently, but the thought was there, at least. With the 2:00 pm deadline that you are all working under, there is almost certainly not going to be enough time for you to make similar vests for the second expedition, but the Guards and Deputies that you intend to hire have proper Milspec Ballistic Vests, so it is not as if everyone is going to be unarmored. As you keep talking to Fleckkers, at this point, primarily to keep him from passing out again, in the back of your mind you are trying to plan out your next few moves. But your next few moves depend on whether you want to delegate things or not. Someone needs to talk to Arthur, Polk or Bean to hire the Deputies and Guards.

Someone will also need to get to a public area and try to recruit lay members, preferably ones with their own trucks. When you originally conceived this plan, you were going to talk to the Sheriff or one of the Undersheriffs, and while those talks were going on, you would have someone else try to recruit lay members on your behalf – but the more you think about it, it might make more sense for you to do both, one right after the other.

>>4809183
You are a born micromanager, and a bit of a control freak. You are under no delusions otherwise. But there are solid reasons as to why you should be the who does the recruiting after you finish up with Arthur or whoever you get a hold of. First and foremost, there are cost concerns. If you palm this off on someone else, you are worried that you might come back and find yourself buried under borderline extortionary promises. As things stand, you have already promised quite a few crabs to quite a few people – in fact, you are ashamed to admit that you have sort of lost track of who exactly you owe what to. If you had a minute or so to yourself, you could probably work it out again, but the fact remains is that having other people making promises on your behalf is only going to further complicate your obligations. On the other hand – if you insist on doing everything yourself, you are going to inevitably delay your departure time, which might – emphasis on might – mean that you would no longer be able to make it to Greenly’s farm by 2:00pm taking the longest, safest routes.

And there are three secondary considerations. While Fleckkers requires medical attention, Gunther and Midge do not. If you send them to the Infirmary, then there is a chance that they will not be ready to go with the second expedition when it departed – or that the Nurses would not let them go, even if they physically could. For that matter, after everything that happened, Midge and Gunther might not want to go again, regardless of their personal health situation. You need to remember, these are people, not pieces of equipment. On the other hand – both of them handled themselves decently on the road, in fact, you would say that Gunther handled himself more than ‘decently’, and they have already been paid for. If you were to put them in positions that kept them out of harm, no doubt you could safely squeeze a bit more service out of them before sending them for R&R. The second secondary consideration is Tolle, currently homestead-sitting with Matthew. While the man is no doubt tired, he is in better physical condition than most of your people right now – you could recall him, find someone else to watch the place with the kid. Finally – there is Petra. She is even younger than the kid, and after hearing about the issues that he’s going through, from the burden he took up, for your sake – you do not want a repeat of that with the girl. Gunther is already dealing with a lot, after that mercy killing. If Petra did have to kill someone, it would probably crush Gunther – even if she did not take it half as hard as Matthew did. But … she is a pretty decent gunner all things considered, and like Midge and Gunther, she has already been paid for. Keeping her on for the next outing means taking on one less hireling.

>>4809185
>Please choose ONE of the following:
>You will negotiate with Arthur, Polk or Bean and delegate recruitment to (write-in).
>You will negotiate with Arthur, Polk or Bean, and then handle recruitment afterwards.
>You will handle recruitment, and delegate (write-in) to negotiate with Arthur, Polk or Bean

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>You will send Gunther to the infirmary, with the hope that he might be ready to go on the second expedition.
>You will send Gunther to the infirmary, with the understanding that after receiving medical attention he will take some time for R&R.
>You will not send Gunther to the infirmary, as you need him for the second expedition.
>You will keep Gunther around to help prepare the second expedition, only sending him to the Infirmary when you are ready to depart.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>You will send Midge to the infirmary, with the hope that she might be ready to go on the second expedition.
>You will send Midge to the infirmary, with the understanding that after receiving medical attention she will take some time for R&R.
>You will not send Midge to the infirmary, as you need her for the second expedition.
>You will keep Midge around to help prepare the second expedition, only sending her to the Infirmary when you are ready to depart.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>You will recall Tolle from the Homestead to join the second expedition.
>You will recall Tolle from the Homestead to join the second expedition, replacing him at the house with (write in).
>You will not recall Tolle from the Homestead to join the second expedition.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>You will take Petra on the second expedition, to once again serve as a ‘piece-of-tail’ gunner.
>You will not take Petra on the second expedition.

>You will negotiate with Arthur, Polk or Bean and delegate recruitment to Gunther.
>You will keep Gunther around to help prepare the second expedition, only sending him to the Infirmary when you are ready to depart. (He is irreplaceable for doing our dialysis, lets not press our luck.)
>You will send Midge to the infirmary, with the hope that she might be ready to go on the second expedition. (Let her choose to stay or go)
>You will not recall Tolle from the Homestead to join the second expedition. (We do not have time for this and the homestead needs gaurding)
>You will not take Petra on the second expedition.

>>4809233
Support

>>4809233
Solid choices. Supporting this.

Cokeanon reporting in. Good to be back, lads. I missed this. How've you guys been? I drank 2 bottles of gas station vodka and bought a ball python a couple weeks ago. Found a pane of glass while day drinking at the river yesterday, been basing a design for a terrarium off of it.

>>4809233
>>4809322
>>4809335
Alright - solid choices. Do you have a preference of who you send to do the recruiting on your behalf? Here is the roll call of your party, minus yourself and Fleckkers, who is obviously not going to be able to hire anyone.

>Midge Norton
>Richard Sucec
>Dawn Mantle
>Gunther Peake
>Petra Peake

Now that I think about it, you could ask more than one of them to try to drum up recruits - but be warned, they are not all equally suited (or under current conditions, motivated) for the task, and that having multiple people hiring will no doubt further complicate your obligations later. There will also be other things you need (or can) do beyond simply hiring people to prepare for the second expedition.

>>4809335
Well, I've been good. Finally got all of my grades back for the past semester, and things went much, much better than I thought they would.

>>4809363
Fuck yeah man, happy for ya. I got to get my GED. Been thinkin about it lately.

>>4809361
Well, I'm off to bed. I'll leave this one open overnight. If no one has any preferences, I'll just roll for it first thing tomorrow.

>>4809361
>>Gunther Peake

Gunther Peake and Dawn Mantle who should stick together and work as a team rather than splitting up and doing their separate thing.

>>4809361
>Midge Norton
>Richard Sucec
it should be one of the big house people, the one who actually wants to do it

>>4810023
>>4810020
>>4810000
Well, so much for first thing tomorrow. Anyway, I will leave this up for a little bit longer, to see if anyone seconds any of these votes, or someone changes their mind. I'll close it when I am ready to write.

Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>4810363
On a roll of 1: Gunther
On a roll of 2: Gunther and Mom, sticking together.
On a roll of 3: Midge or Sucec, depending on who is willing

>>4810754
Good roll. You guys dodged a bullet there - after being injured on the road and having killed a man, Gunther is not exactly in a good 'headspace' for recruiting others. While I get to work on the post (and get something to eat), here is one additional question for you. Do you want to take Sucec out again, or leave him behind after all of the preparations are done? While he can drive stick, he is also a small, old man - mechanically speaking, he starts with less than the typical allotment of health.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Keep Sucec around for the second expedition
>Cut Sucec loose after preparations conclude

>>4810769
Leave it up to him

>>4810932
>I second this, though we should also inform him of our general plan about hiring more help.

>>4810769
I'd prefer to have him around but yeah, it's really up to him.

>>4811001
>>4810957
>>4810932
Okay - consider that sub-vote closed. At this point, I'm planning on getting the next post up for an overnight vote.

It might have taken longer than you would have expected, coming up with a plan of action here – but you were making still making idle small talk with Fleckkers the entire time, in an effort to keep him up. It might not be completely necessary, as he – to the best of your knowledge – has not suffered any head injuries that would make passing out physiologically dangerous, but you have enough of a grasp on First Aid protocols to know that it is always for the best if the patient remains conscious; as an unconscious patient cannot actively assist in making a diagnosis. But even though doing double duty here might have slowed the development of the plan, that does not mean you are less than one hundred percent confident in it.

You, and no one else, will negotiate with Sheriff Arthur, Warden Polk, or Undersheriff Bean. While you are tied up talking to them, you will send … someone to try to recruit lay members of the group, preferably those with trucks – though that is not going to be a requirement, as you want at least three men without vehicles of their own, so you can use them to recover things. With any luck, you can find something similar enough to the Short Bus that you lost. As for who would actually do the recruitment, your immediate thought was to have Gunther do it; but besides being in what you could call a ‘black mood’ after the mercy killing of that highwayman, he has also been injured. Actually, more than just injured, he was shot – well, grazed, but under the circumstances, the distinction is … not exactly a moot point, but at the same time, it does not make that much of a difference. Anyone looking at him can see the hole that was torn in his Improvised Outwear, see the dibble of blood from the graze – and the spots and flecks of the blood (and brain) from the highwayman, who he was standing too close to when he delivered the coup de grace. Anyone in their right mind would have additional reservations about being recruited by an outfit that had been so recently shot at – and those additional reservations would mean that potential hirelings would want more from you. Even if you were able to get Gunther some other clothes – the man has been through enough today. So … if you consider the other injured members of the party disqualified as well, that leaves you with Sucec, your mom … and Petra. Out of those three, Sucec is the obvious choice. If you had to pick a second person – you would probably go with Midge, even though she was injured. Simply put, she inspires a bit more confidence than Petra … or your mom. That said, you were hoping to have Mrs. Norton go with you on the second expedition – if she wanted to, of course. And having her out there, recruiting instead of in the infirmary would mean that when it came time to depart, she would probably not be in best possible condition.

File: Primary Gate - Interior.jpg (261 KB, 1300x958)

261 KB JPG

>>4812062

>Mt. Kineo, Mooseleg Lake, Piscataquis County, Maine
>Currently in the Big Yard
>Around 10:50am on 11/2/2020
>No Wind, Slightly Cloudy

The entire way back passed without incident. It seems that by smashing your way through the most direct route, you had moved so quickly that the road remains as you left it … though, now that you say that, you didn’t see the abandoned Pickup Truck or the remains of the Short Bus. Of course, with your attention split between planning your next move and keeping Fleckkers company, it would have been pretty easy to just not have seen the damned thing as you passed …

>Mental – Memory Test: I need one roll of 5d20. As Mantle is at Nascent in Understanding for Mental, there is a malus of 4 applied to the Gross to get the True Gross. There are no additional modifiers for this Test. CR is set at 36.

As soon as you were in sight of the Primary Gate, you could hear the shrill yammering of alarms go off inside the former jail. The entire convoy was made to come to a complete stop – engines off – as the Guards and Deputies came out, rifles at the ready, to check you over. Petra made a point of asking the Deputy who checked your Farm Truck for Paramedics or Nurses for Fleckkers, and you were surprised when you recognized his voice as belonging to Deputy Brill, the man who had intercepted you at the Snowplow Barricade, at the end of your pell-mell escape from Bangor. He acquiesced, of course, and radioed in the request. A minute or two later, the convoy was waved through. It was not until all of the vehicles were parked in the Big Yard and the Cement Truck was once again parked inside the vestibule of the gate that the alarms were silenced. Even under your hood and mask, it was enough to make your ears ring.

No sooner do your ears stop aching than Deputy Brill arrives with two Orderlies from the Infirmary – and that God awful antique stretcher. You send Petra to go check on her cousin, and you flag over the Deputy to talk. He speaks first.

“You’ve got quite the knack for making dramatic entrances, don’t you?”

You snort, in spite of yourself.

“Yeah, well … it mighta been worth the drama if I had those fucking crabs with me.”

“Mmm. So, what are you going to do now?”

“The only thing I can do – try again. I wanna hire on more people. And I want some of them to be professionals – like you. Is Sheriff Arthur around?”

“Actually, he isn’t. With Parasol holding that ‘tax’-free expedition into the Northwoods tomorrow instead of today, as originally planned, the Sheriff decided that he would take the opportunity to do a dry run – to get a feel for how to maintain security out on the road. He pulled together a group of guys and headed out southeast – apparently he had a lead or something on a farm out there.”

>>4812153
A farm to the southeast – that is almost certainly one of the leads that Fleckkers found and verified … what was it, just two days ago? Less? If – oh no.

“Wait a minute, when you say ‘a group of guys’, d’ya mean just some random people, or did he take–”

“Deputies. Yeah, a bunch of us. Which is why I’m here at Mt. Kineo instead of at my normal post. If you were looking to hire someone … there might be one or two, three at the most that could be pulled off of their posts. And they’d have to share a Cruiser. I don’t know specifics, but with Arthur out there, command of the Deputies has fallen to Undersheriff Bean – he’s at the Public Safety Building right now, coordinating everything. What with the reduced manpower, we’re all on high alert.”

“That said – I know you want professionals. The Guards here might not be as well trained as we are, but they have a lot more discipline than the average member would. Access to better equipment too. Of course, they are being used to cover some of the holes in deployment created by Sheriff Arthur’s little day trip, so there is probably a limit to the number of them that you could get too … ”

If this is not a kick in the nuts, nothing is. Jesus Christ, why is everything so God damned hard. Well, what do you do now?

>It is approximately 10:50 am. Greenly has enough fuel to last until 2:00 pm.
>After this vote, and before any negotiations, there will be another scene where you give the rest of your people their marching orders for them to work on while you are tied up with negotiations.
>Also don’t forget, we need one roll of 5d20 for the Mental-Remember test, CR 36.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Negotiate with Warden Polk for Guards. (~15 minutes of Mantle’s time)
>Negotiate with Undersheriff Bean for Deputies. (~15 minutes of Mantle’s time)
>Negotiate with Warden Polk then with Undersheriff Bean. (~40 minutes of Mantle’s time)
>Negotiate with Undersheriff Bean then with Warden Polk. (~40 minutes of Mantle’s time)
>Negotiate with neither, moving instead into recruitment of lay members.

Rolled 3, 17, 8, 18, 17 = 63 (5d20)

Think, Mantle. Think!

>Negotiate with Undersheriff Bean for Deputies. (~15 minutes of Mantle’s time)
We might have used up our favors but these guys will have our back. If we can just get a Gunner and someone to back them up with tactical acumen, we should be good staffing the rest from laypeople, I think.

>>4812163

Gross Rolls
3.00
17.00
8.00
18.00
17.00

Mental Skill at Nascent in Understanding:
Gross Roll - 4 = True Gross Roll

True Gross Rolls:
-1.00
13.00
4.00
14.00
13.00

No situational modifiers
Sum of True Gross Rolls = Net Roll

CR 36 < 43
First Degree Success.

Mantle remembers that in addition to the Pickup truck and the remains of the Short Bus there was a Dump Truck parked straight across the road at a sharp turn earlier on in the trip that required the convoy to slow down and get half off of the road to drive past. The convoy never slowed down or got partially off the road, even though he convoy took the exact same route back, meaning that the parked Dump Truck was moved.

>>4812155
>>Negotiate with Warden Polk for Guards. (~15 minutes of Mantle’s time)

If we could get 3-5 guards with about the same amount of lay people I think we'd be solid, doesn't Bean distrust us iirc?

Perhaps we could snag big nate? An additional half ass paramedic would be good to have around.

>>4812175
+1

>>4812200
+1 for getting Big Nate, except I want him in the point vehicle, preferrably driving.

Perhaps on payment, we could give vouchers for crab meat once we get the operation up and going, so we don't diminish our starting stock by too much.

We should really be drawing up contracts, as was suggested to us.

File: Spoiler Image (1.16 MB, 720x908)

1.16 MB PNG

>Perhaps we could snag big nate
Oh god, not him, I'm sure we'd rather take another shot to the kidney first.
Also, found a Dune shitpost, can't think of anything better than to post it here.
>Negotiate with Warden Polk for Guards. (~15 minutes of Mantle’s time)

>>4812716
Personally I find the interactions to be quite funny, but still you know his fatass will be motivated by some crab meat.

>>4812175 Bean 1
>>4812200 Bean 1 Polk 1 (Big Nate 1)
>>4812204 Bean 2 Polk 1 (Big Nate 1)
>>4812219 Bean 2 Polk 1 (Big Nate 2)
>>4812261 ---
>>4812716 Bean 2 Polk 2 (Big Nate 2 -1)
>>4812753 ---

Okay, so we're tied. Instead of rolling for this, I'll let this sit for a bit longer, with the intent of getting a post up later for an overnight vote (for real, this time).

>>4812716
+1!

>>4812869
Okay then, that breaks the tie .. though as it seconds the vote against inviting that fat bastard along, it creates a new 2-2 tie on Big Nate or No Big Nate. For now, we will set that point of contention aside - after the negotiations have played out, there will be a formal yes-no vote for him.

Anyway, I'm writing.

“ … Alright then. If Deputies are at a premium, then I guess Guards will be good enough.”

Deputy Brill either chuckles at that or clears his throat – with the respirator and mask he has got on, it is impossible to distinguish the two sounds.

“While I agree with the sentiment, no doubt some of those boys might take it the wrong way.”

“No fooling?”

Wait, was he being serious? Was that supposed to be advice, instead of a joke? You had thought with a completely obvious statement like that, he was kidding around … but now, he is just sort of looking at you awkwardly. Or you guess he is looking at you awkwardly, you cannot tell because of that fucking mask. God damn it all – you were socially inept enough before, back when you had facial clues (to misread). Now you are really up the creek without a paddle. Thankfully, this awkward impasse ends when other members of your party get out of their vehicles and wander over to you, looking for further instructions. The obvious first order of business is to get you out of the back of your Farm Truck, and when Brill sees the difficulty that everyone is having, he pitches in to help, excusing himself once you are back on Terra Flatta*.

*Somehow, Mantle’s Latin is even worse than his French. The phrase he is trying for is ‘Terra Firma’ – literally ‘Firm Land’, defined in English as ‘dry, solid ground or land’.

You give yourself just a moment or two to get your bearings, and then you instruct Midge to wait with Fleckkers in the back of your Farm Truck for the Paramedics, or whoever is coming for him.

“ … and when they get here, you go with them too, you understand? Take this time to be looked at. If you are in good enough shape by the time the convoy is ready to move again, then you can come.”

Midge nods, haltingly, perhaps even hesitatingly. Damn it. After everything that happened out on the road, she might not be up for a second round. You are not going to put her on the spot – at least not right now – by asking her if she wants to come, or worse, trying to order her along, but … with Fleckkers down for the count, and Gunther being dismissed for some R&R in the Infirmary after preparations are complete, you are already down two drivers. If Midge bails, you will be down three – and while that might not sound like a lot, you will need to pay their replacements. Still, you have to keep moving here. Without saying another word to Midge, you turn to Gunther.

>>4813345
“Gunther, I know you got really banged up out there too, but, uh … if you were up for it, could you help us get the convoy ready before checking in to the Infirmary? Obviously, you would not be discharged before we left, so you and Petra would –”.

“I’m fine, Mantle. If Petra isn’t needed, then she can stay, but I’m alright to go.”

Jesus Christ. This was not what you were expecting. You had thought that he would jump at the chance – that if there was any issue, it would be that he would want to check in to the Infirmary immediately.

>Gunther is at 3.475/4 pips of Health. (Currently at 0.325/3 pips of damage to his chest, 0.2/0.8 pips of damage to his right foot. When a body part receives MORE damage than it can sustain, it is destroyed. In the case of the chest (3 pips of damage) or the head (1 pip of damage) this is fatal.)

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>While Gunther has been through a lot, the fact remains is that he is still in some semblance of fighting shape. He can drive manual. He has already been paid for. And most importantly, he has much better medical training than you would otherwise be able to afford. If he says that he can go out, then you respect him enough to take the man at his word.
>How Gunther can stand here – on a possibly broken foot – and insist that he is fine is completely beyond you. Even if he was in perfect physical condition, after what happened with the highwayman, you would want him taken off for some time to … just … deal with things.

>>4813347
>>While Gunther has been through a lot, the fact remains is that he is still in some semblance of fighting shape. He can drive manual. He has already been paid for. And most importantly, he has much better medical training than you would otherwise be able to afford. If he says that he can go out, then you respect him enough to take the man at his word.

So how long can we expect to be crippled for anyways?

>>4813347
>While Gunther has been through a lot, the fact remains is that he is still in some semblance of fighting shape. He can drive manual. He has already been paid for. And most importantly, he has much better medical training than you would otherwise be able to afford. If he says that he can go out, then you respect him enough to take the man at his word.
Welcome back Trash!

>>4813347
>While Gunther has been through a lot, the fact remains is that he is still in some semblance of fighting shape. He can drive manual. He has already been paid for. And most importantly, he has much better medical training than you would otherwise be able to afford. If he says that he can go out, then you respect him enough to take the man at his word.

>>4813515
>So how long can we expect to be crippled for anyways?

I was also going to request that we make a timeskip sometime soon to a point were we are at least able to walk again. MC bound to a stretcher is getting kinda old.

While Gunther has been through a lot, the fact remains is that he is still in some semblance of fighting shape. He can drive manual. He has already been paid for. And most importantly, he has much better medical training than you would otherwise be able to afford. If he says that he can go out, then you respect him enough to take the man at his word.

>>4813740
I hear you - I'm thinking the same thing myself.

After some thought, I've decided that after the Crab Arc concludes, then we will do the time skip.

So, some more votes. Once these are all done, I will do it all narratively in one big post, before Mantle heads off to the negotiations with Polk.

First, the most important: Sucec is going to work as your recruiter, but how many men do you want him to recruit?
> 3 to 5 lay members
> 6 to 8 lay members
> 9+ lay members

>>4814279
>> 3 to 5 lay members

> 6 to 8 lay members

At this point I assume we're going to anger Greenly?(crab man) so badly that to gain his long term cooperation we're going to have to enslave him or make huge promises we have no intention of keeping. This way we can capture extra vehicles for the motor pool AND Gunther and start getting caught up on the obligations we have to the people we depend on. Kek willing we can also capture a trailer or winnebago and can add that to the living space at the homestead.

>>4814279
> 6 to 8 lay members

it really depends on how many wardens we get, and which qualifications. We need drivers, gunners and specialists. Might as well get a few more guys, if we find it's too big a group we'll just have leave some.

>>4814279
>3 to 5 lay members

Too many hands will bring problems in my opinion

>>4814364
>>4814358
>>4814357
>>4814312
Well, we got a tie here. I'll leave this open for another hour while I go eat lunch and take a shower. Hopefully there is a tiebreaker by the time I get back.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>4814386
Okay, it has been two hours, lets move things along with a roll.

On a roll of one: 3 to 5 lay members
On a roll of two: 6 to 8 lay members

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>4814596
Okay - and now we see how many Sucec is going to be able to catch in his net.

On a roll of one: 3 lay members (none of whom need vehicles)
On a roll of two: 4 lay members (one of whom may use a vehicle)
On a roll of three: 5 lay members (two of whom may use a vehicle)

File: 1616898612911.jpg (13 KB, 222x395)

13 KB JPG

>>4814598
Now that the number of recruits has been settled, we now need to consider what we have Sucec look for in the potential recruits. The more you look for in them, the longer it will take for Sucec to find adequate candidates. If you give him no requirements, it will take him 3 minutes to find someone – they might be an absolute mess, they might be half decent. The requirements are the base line, it is possible that Sucec finds someone better. But the only way to guarantee a better class of hireling is to raise the standards.

If, for example, you wanted a healthy ‘combat aged’ man, with his own vehicle, who can drive automatic, and has his own scoped, bolt-action rifle – it would take Sucec eleven minutes to find that candidate. (3 minutes for the base line, +3 minutes for ‘combat aged’ man in decent health, +1 for personal vehicle, +1 for driving automatic, +3 for scoped bolt-action rifle = 11 minutes). If you wanted Sucec to get 6 to 8 lay members then that means he would need 63 to 85 minutes to get those recruits (remembering that the three spares do not need their own vehicles (3*11) + (3*(11 – 1)) = 63 and (5*11) + (3*(11 – 1)) = 85.

The other important issue that needs to be addressed here is the wages that these hirelings are offered. The more you offer, the quicker Sucec can recruit. The less you offer, the slower he recruits. This is represented as a multiplicative modifier. If you were to offer 3 live and 4 dead crabs, did not reimburse fuel but did reimburse bullets, and offered anyone seriously hurt 2 additional live crabs, then you would get a modifier of 0.90 (1 +0.00 for 3 live crabs, -0.10 for 2 dead crabs, +0.20 for no fuel reimbursement, -0.10 for bullet reimbursement, and -0.10 for injury indemnity = 0.90). Using the previous example as the baseline – 63 to 85 minutes – offering those wages would reduce the time it took for Sucec to recruit the 6 to 8 men to 56 minutes to 76 minutes (63*0.9 = 56.7, then round down, and 85*0.9 = 76.5, then round down).

I know this sounds like a lot of crabs for only a little bit of time, but Greenly’s operation is actually pretty large, all things considering. He has between 60 and 100 Maryland Blues in spitting distance of slaughter weight right now, and another 100 or so juveniles – underweight but currently edible. The big issue here is the larval crabs, and their food, the Rotifers. They are much more delicate, and if something goes wrong, out on the road, and too many of them die, then the cycle than Greenly built collapses, and instead of a dozen or so crabs maturing to slaughter weight each week, you will have only several – once the current juvenile population is either slaughtered or set aside for breeding, of course.

File: Squad Goals.jpg (382 KB, 1214x911)

382 KB JPG

>>4814608
Gender and Health:
>Recruits do not have any Gender or Health Requirements
>Recruits MUST be ‘combat age’ men. (takes +2 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST be in decent physical shape (takes +2 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST be ‘combat age” men and in decent physical shape (takes +3 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Vehicle:
>Recruits do not need to have their own vehicle. (takes no additional time per recruit)
>Recruits (except the 3 spares) MUST have a vehicle of their own. (takes +1 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits (except the 3 spares) MUST have a hauling vehicle, such as a van or a truck, of their own. (takes +4 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits (except the 3 spares) MUST have a hauling vehicle, such as a van or a truck, of their own, outfitted with recovery equipment (hitch, winch, chains and straps) (takes +8 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Driving:
>Recruits (except the 3 spares) do not need to be able to drive. (takes no additional time per recruit)
>Recruits (including the 3 spares) MUST be able to drive automatic. (takes +1 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST be able to drive automatic, and the 3 spares MUST be able to drive manual. (takes +4 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits (including the 3 spares) MUST be able to drive manual. (takes +8 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Rifle:
>Recruits will not need to have their own rifle. (takes no additional time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST have their own rifle (and ammo). (takes +2 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST have their own rifle with at least a capacity of 5 rounds and a scope. (takes +3 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST have their own semi-automatic rifle with at least a capacity of 5 rounds and a scope. (takes +6 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST have their own semi-automatic rifle with at least a capacity of 20 rounds and a scope. (takes +12 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Sidearm:
>Recruits will not need a secondary firearm. (takes no additional time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST have a secondary firearm. (takes +5 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

First Aid:
>Recruits will not need a First Aid kit of their own. (takes no additional time per recruit)
>Recruits MUST have a First Aid kit of their own. (takes +5 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Miscellanea for the Recruits:
>Recruits should bring any moving equipment they have (belts, blankets, handcarts, tie downs, straps) (takes +3 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits should bring some potable water and food with them. (takes +3 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits should bring tools for emergency repairs along with them. (takes +1 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)
>Recruits should bring tools for demolition and salvage along with them. (takes +1 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)

File: Shedding Velvet.jpg (56 KB, 455x640)

56 KB JPG

>>4814615
Payment in Live Crabs:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>NOTE: You do not immediately owe the hirelings the live crabs – so long as you make a good faith effort to get them their crabs as soon as you can, then everything should be fine.
>Offer 1 Live Crab to each hireling (multiplicative modifier +0.75)
>Offer 2 Live Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier +0.50)
>Offer 3 Live Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier +0.00)
>Offer 4 Live Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.25)
>Offer 5 Live Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.50)

Additional Payment in Dead Crabs:
>MAY Choose ONE of the following:
>WARNING: if there is not enough die-off to cover this debt, then you will owe live crabs instead.
>Offer 2 Dead Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.10)
>Offer 4 Dead Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.20)
>Offer 6 Dead Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.30)
>Offer 8 Dead Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.40)

Fuel Reimbursement:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>Reimburse fuel used in personal vehicle, where applicable (multiplicative modifier -0.10)
>No reimbursement of fuel used in personal vehicles, where applicable (multiplicative modifier +0.20)

Additional Reimbursement:
>MAY Choose ANY of the following:
>Bullets fired during the expedition will be replaced, where applicable (multiplicative modifier -0.10)
>Property damaged during the expedition will be fixed, where reasonable (multiplicative modifier -0.10)

Offered Indemnity:
May Choose ONE OR MORE of the following:
>Individuals injured, maimed or killed will receive nothing else (multiplicative modifier +0.00)
>Individuals seriously injured will be compensated two live crabs (multiplicative modifier -0.10)
>Individuals permanently maimed will be compensated one live crabs every two weeks for the next two years (multiplicative modifier -0.20)
>Next of kin of killed individuals will be compensated two live crab every two weeks for the next two years (multiplicative modifier -0.40)

>>4814615
>>Recruits MUST be ‘combat age’ men. (takes +2 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)

>>Recruits do not need to have their own vehicle.

>>Recruits (including the 3 spares) MUST be able to drive automatic. (takes +1 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)

>>Recruits MUST have their own rifle (and ammo). (takes +2 minute of Sucec’s time per recruit)

>>Recruits will not need a secondary firearm. (takes no additional time per recruit)

>>Recruits will not need a First Aid kit of their own. (takes no additional time per recruit)

I reckon that's decently balanced to our needs with time constraints in mind.

>>4814626
>>Offer 1 Live Crab to each hireling (multiplicative modifier +0.75)

>>Offer 4 Dead Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.20)

>>Reimburse fuel used in personal vehicle, where applicable (multiplicative modifier -0.10)

>>Next of kin of killed individuals will be compensated two live crab every two weeks for the next two years (multiplicative modifier -0.40)

Gender and Health:
>Recruits MUST be ‘combat age” men and in decent physical shape (takes +3 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Vehicle:
>Recruits do not need to have their own vehicle. (takes no additional time per recruit)

Driving:
>Recruits MUST be able to drive automatic, and the 3 spares MUST be able to drive manual. (takes +4 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Rifle:
>Recruits MUST have their own rifle with at least a capacity of 5 rounds and a scope. (takes +3 minutes of Sucec’s time per recruit)

Sidearm:
>Recruits will not need a secondary firearm. (takes no additional time per recruit)

First Aid:
>Recruits will not need a First Aid kit of their own. (takes no additional time per recruit)

Miscellanea for the Recruits:
>NONE

Payment in Live Crabs:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>NOTE: You do not immediately owe the hirelings the live crabs – so long as you make a good faith effort to get them their crabs as soon as you can, then everything should be fine.
>Offer 3 Live Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier +0.00)

Additional Payment in Dead Crabs:
>MAY Choose ONE of the following:
>WARNING: if there is not enough die-off to cover this debt, then you will owe live crabs instead.
>Offer 2 Dead Crabs to each hireling (multiplicative modifier -0.10)

Fuel Reimbursement:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>No reimbursement of fuel used in personal vehicles, where applicable (multiplicative modifier +0.20)

Additional Reimbursement:
>MAY Choose ANY of the following:
>NONE

Offered Indemnity:
May Choose ONE OR MORE of the following:
>Individuals seriously injured will be compensated two live crabs (multiplicative modifier -0.10)


Thoughts: We aren't hiring them to drive their vehicles but driving manual will be essential to operating what we've got. Multiple scoped rifles will ensure we at least stand a chance against snipers. These crab are gonna make it so might as well offer them alive.

>>4814679
Alright - so that is 8 minutes per recruit (3 + 2 + 1+ 2) for 4 recruits, or 24 minutes total.

The modifier is 1.05 (1 + 0.75 - 0.20 - 0.10 - 0.40) which means that Sucec will take 25 minutes (24*1.05 = 25.2, then round down) to recruit the four men.

If no one else votes for anything else in an hour or so, we can consider this closed and move on to what the rest of the party is going to be doing in the interim (looking for additional equipment or modifying vehicles), and then it will be on to your negotiations with Polk.

>>4814934
Just missed this one.

This version is 13 minutes per recruit (3+3+4+3) for 4 recruits, or 52 minutes total.

The modifier is 1.00 (1.00 +0.00 -0.10 +0.20 -0.10) which means that Sucec will take 52 minutes (52*1.00 = 52, then round down) to recruit the four men.

Option 1: (will take Sucec 25 minutes)
>Recruits must be 'combat age' men, able to drive automatic, and must have some sort of rifle. They are paid 1 live crab and 4 dead crabs. Fuel is reimbursed, and if they are killed, their next of kin receives 2 live crabs every two weeks for the next two years.

Option 2: (will take Sucec 52 minutes)
>Recruits must be 'combat age' men in decent health, all but one of them needs to be able to drive manual and they must have a scoped rifle with some capacity. They are paid 3 live crabs and 2 dead crabs. Fuel is not reimbursed, but if they are hurt, then they get 2 live crabs.

So, if anyone wants to break the tie here, or propose a third alternative, they will have until 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time tonight to do so. If there is still a two (or three or more) way tie at that point, then I will roll to break it, as much as I hate doing stuff like that.

Sorry about hemming and hawwing. I'll stand by my 52 minute plan. Crab die off is better than people die off.

>>4814991
>Option 1

>>4815037
We're liable to run into some delays just saying

>>4815135 #
If we're better armed we can take a shorter, faster but more dangerous path and get more captured stuff out of it.

>>4815174
While that is a possibility, the dice are very cruel in this quest and we're better off not risking it. We need to keep our eyes on the goal here, which is retrieving the crabs.

Alright - with two vote against the one, Option 1 wins out. Up next is the assignment for the rest of the party.

Now that Sucec has his marching orders, it is time for you give your instructions to the rest of your people. Gunther, Petra, and your mother are all available to work right now. There are three of them, and in most cases, the work that you assign them can be spread out evenly. But there are exceptions. Dawn has complexes about firearms, and cannot be relied upon to deal with them. Gunther’s foot is injured, and any task that takes him far away from the Big Yard would take an inordinate amount of time, setting aside how much it may hurt the man. Petra and Gunther are still not members, and will not be allowed into the Infirmary unattended.

To streamline things, indicate what you want, and I will assign the tasks to spread out responsibilities as effectively as I can, ensure that these three make the most of their time. For example, if you wanted a mechanic to look the vehicles over, a winch installed on your Commuter Truck, the missing windshield planked over on your Farm Truck, to buy enough recovery straps for every vehicle, rent a brace (three) single shot rifles and buy ammunition for them, and finally purchase an Improved First Aid kit from the Infirmary, that would work out to be 38 minutes of work ( (2*4)+8 +5 + 8 +3 + 6). Splitting that equally would give 12.667 minutes of work to each member of the party, but considering the constraints, and that times are not divisible, the best we can do is 11 minutes of work for Gunther (8 minutes buying then installing the winch, then 3 minutes renting the rifles), 14 minutes for Dawn (6 minutes buying the first aid kit, then 8 minutes buying all of the recovery straps) and 13 minutes for Petra (5 minutes for boarding up the windshield and 8 minutes of babysitting the inspector). With these choices they will finish their work before Sucec finishes his recruitment, ensuring that you are ready to depart in 25 minutes.

Again, don’t worry about the minutia of the times, I will balance it out the best I can. Just pick what you want. If it works out that one these three has more than 25 minutes worth of work to do, then that is fine, it is only 10:50 am and you still have until 2:00pm before the generators run out of fuel.

File: Custom Deluxe.jpg (64 KB, 758x448)

64 KB JPG

>>4815388
Vehicle Inspection:
>MUST choose ONE of the following:
>Do not waste time inspecting the convoy’s vehicles. (takes no additional time per vehicle, with no additional cost)
>Spend a few minutes doing a cursory inspection. (takes Gunther +3 minutes for each vehicle, with no additional cost)
>Hire a Mechanic to look the vehicles over quickly. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)

Vehicle Recovery Equipment:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>If something goes off the road, then it is staying off the road. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)
>Buy some straps and chains from a lay member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +2 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)
>Buy enough straps and chains for each vehicle in the convoy. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra + 8 minutes, at the flat cost of 3 live crabs)

Improvised Vehicle Upgrades and Repairs:
>MAY Choose ANY of the following:
>Buy then install a recovery winch from a lay member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther +8 minutes, at the flat cost of 6 live crabs)
>Board up the destroyed windshield of your Farm Truck, leaving a view port for the driver and a gun port for the passenger. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +5 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)
>Scrouge some sheet metal to cover the destroyed windshield of your Farm Truck, leaving a view port for the driver and a gun port for the passenger. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra + 12 minutes, at the flat cost of 3 live crabs)

Refueling:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>There should be plenty of Fuel left in those tanks. (takes no additional time per vehicle, with no additional cost)
>Better safe than sorry right? Besides, you have an open tab. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, added to your ‘Fuel tab’)

Radios:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>The guards should have radios, between those and the two that Sucec brought, that should be plenty. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost).
>Try to ask around and see if someone else around here has any other Consumer Grade Walkie-Talkies to rent. (takes Dawn or Petra +8 minutes, at the flat cost of 2 live crabs, or 6 if Rented Walkie-Talkies are destroyed or abandoned)

File: 1575616110804.jpg (17 KB, 660x440)

17 KB JPG

>>4815394
Rifles:
>Must choose ONE of the following:
>No need to bother borrowing or renting additional rifles. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)
>Rent a brace of single shot rifles, ammunition included, just to have around as spares. (takes Gunther or Petra + 3 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab, +2 for each of the Rented One Shots that are destroyed or abandoned.)
>Rent a brace of hunting rifles, ammunition included, just to have around as spares. (takes Gunther or Petra +3 minutes, at the flat cost of 2 live crabs, +4 for each of Rented Hunters are destroyed or abandoned.)
>Rend a brace of sporting rifles, ammunition included, just to have around as spares. (takes Gunther or Petra +6 minutes, at the flat cost of 5 live crabs, +10 for each of the Rented Sporters that are destroyed or abandoned.)

First Aid Kits:
>There are still a few odds and ends left in the two kits that you have*. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost).
>See if you can buy another kit** from a group member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra + 4 minutes, costs 2 live crabs)
>See if you can get someone to buy a new, better kit from the Infirmary*. (takes Dawn + 6 minutes, costs 8 live crabs)

*The two First Aid Kits have between them six more uses before they are both exhausted. Injuries that do not receive First Aid are susceptible to further damage and infection.
**This First Aid Kit will have between five and eight more uses, decided randomly by the roll of a 1d4.
***When used by an appropriately trained individual (like Gunther or Tolle or even Mantle, who was technically considered a First Responder) an Improved First Aid kit has a fifty percent, once per individual injury chance to reduce the pips of damage by fifteen percent. Eight uses.

>>4815394
>>Spend a few minutes doing a cursory inspection. (takes Gunther +3 minutes for each vehicle, with no additional cost)

>>Buy some straps and chains from a lay member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +2 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)

>>Board up the destroyed windshield of your Farm Truck, leaving a view port for the driver and a gun port for the passenger. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +5 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)

>>There should be plenty of Fuel left in those tanks. (takes no additional time per vehicle, with no additional cost)

>>The guards should have radios, between those and the two that Sucec brought, that should be plenty. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)

>>No need to bother borrowing or renting additional rifles. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)

>>There are still a few odds and ends left in the two kits that you have*. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost).

>>4815398
Vehicle Inspection:
>MUST choose ONE of the following:
>Spend a few minutes doing a cursory inspection. (takes Gunther +3 minutes for each vehicle, with no additional cost)
(Check em)

Vehicle Recovery Equipment:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>Buy some straps and chains from a lay member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +2 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)

Improvised Vehicle Upgrades and Repairs:
>MAY Choose ANY of the following:
>Board up the destroyed windshield of your Farm Truck, leaving a view port for the driver and a gun port for the passenger. (takes Dawn or Petra +5 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)

Rifles:
>Must choose ONE of the following:
>No need to bother borrowing or renting additional rifles. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)
(As long as our guys have scopes on their rifles or semi auto capability we'll be okay.)

First Aid Kits:
>See if you can buy another kit** from a group member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra + 4 minutes, costs 2 live crabs)
(2 crabs a week for 2 years? Not on my watch. Better as in better at stopping people from dying? Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie. Ideally, like in the military, each person carries an IFAK(individual first aid kit) to be used on themselves by themself or others if they go down. One in each vehicle should do for now though.)

Refueling:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>There should be plenty of Fuel left in those tanks. (takes no additional time per vehicle, with no additional cost)

Radios:
>MUST Choose ONE of the following:
>Try to ask around and see if someone else around here has any other Consumer Grade Walkie-Talkies to rent. (takes Dawn or Petra +8 minutes, at the flat cost of 2 live crabs, or 6 if Rented Walkie-Talkies are destroyed or abandoned)
(Were we drawing in enemies with the honking? Maybe. Probably. Honestly, probably worth buying outright at that 6 for a couple of walkie talkies.)

>>4815394
>Hire a Mechanic to look the vehicles over quickly. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)
>Buy some straps and chains from a lay member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +2 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)
>no upgrades
>Better safe than sorry right? Besides, you have an open tab. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, added to your ‘Fuel tab’)
>The guards should have radios, between those and the two that Sucec brought, that should be plenty. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost).

we still have our awesome honking code lol

>>4815398
>No need to bother borrowing or renting additional rifles. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)

I have a gut feeling that this time we will roll well and encounter no resistance

>Spend a few minutes doing a cursory inspection. (takes Gunther +3 minutes for each vehicle, with no additional cost)
>Buy some straps and chains from a lay member in the Big Yard. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra +2 minutes, at the flat cost of 1 live crab)
>Scrouge some sheet metal to cover the destroyed windshield of your Farm Truck, leaving a view port for the driver and a gun port for the passenger. (takes Gunther or Dawn or Petra + 12 minutes, at the flat cost of 3 live crabs)
>Better safe than sorry right? Besides, you have an open tab. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, added to your ‘Fuel tab’)
>The guards should have radios, between those and the two that Sucec brought, that should be plenty. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost).
>No need to bother borrowing or renting additional rifles. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost)
>There are still a few odds and ends left in the two kits that you have*. (takes no additional time, with no additional cost).

Alright - lemme tally what we have here.

Vehicle Inspection
>>4815493 Cursory 1
>>4815534 Cursory 2
>>4815667 Cursory 2 Mechanic 1
>>4816071 Cursory 3 Mechanic 1

Vehicle Recovery Equipment
>>4815493 Some 1
>>4815534 Some 2
>>4815667 Some 3
>>4816071 Some 4

Improvised Vehicle Upgrades and Repairs:
>>4815493 Plank 1
>>4815534 Plank 2
>>4816071 Plank 2 Sheet 1

Refueling:
>>4815493 No 1
>>4815534 No 2
>>4815667 No 2 Yes 1
>>4816071 No 2 Yes 2

Radios:
>>4815493 None 1
>>4815534 None 1 Some 1
>>4815667 None 2 Some 1
>>4816071 None 3 Some 1

Rifles
>>4815493 None 1
>>4815534 None 2
>>4815687 None 3
>>4816071 None 4

First Aid Kits:
>>4815493 None 1
>>4815534 None 1 Used 1
>>4816071 None 2 Used 1

Setting aside the tie for refueling or not, everything else has been decided. Considering that it is such a big decision, I'm going to give it another three hours before I roll for a tie breaker. Also, I just realized, that we were going to put trying to hire Big Nate to a vote, so we can do that now as well.

>For those who have not voted already, please choose ONE of the following:
>There should be plenty of Fuel left in those tanks. (takes no additional time per vehicle, with no additional cost)
>Better safe than sorry right? Besides, you have an open tab. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, added to your ‘Fuel tab’)

>For everyone, please choose ONE of the following:
>You cannot believe it has come to this, but ... seek out that fat bastard, Big Nate, and try to hire him for the second expedition.
>Spare yourself the aneurysm, and leave well enough (as well as that fat fuck) alone. Gunther, even injured as he is, will be fine.

>You cannot believe it has come to this, but ... seek out that fat bastard, Big Nate, and try to hire him for the second expedition.

Big Nate messing with us for years.
Big Nate hanging out near the meeting where we announce the expedition.
Big Nate working at the dump.

Us getting attacked by dump truck driving bandits.

He COULD be behind this, besides just being an a-hole. Who better to put in the most dangerous position of driver of the point vehicle? If he is innocent he still sucks and would be a handy spare medic.

>>4816244
>Better safe than sorry right? Besides, you have an open tab. (takes Dawn or Petra +2 minutes for each vehicle, added to your ‘Fuel tab’)
>You cannot believe it has come to this, but ... seek out that fat bastard, Big Nate, and try to hire him for the second expedition.
We need to make friends in the community (or at least stop Big Nate from making us look bad/worse) ,and talking things out with him might help

>>4816244
>Spare yourself the aneurysm, and leave well enough (as well as that fat fuck) alone. Gunther, even injured as he is, will be fine.
why the hell would we take someone we cannot trust?

>>4816300
Great question. To put him in the most dangerous position and get him killed. To keep an eye on him. To use him as a human shield against his co-conspirators. To see his reaction to us offering him a large amount of food and then putting him in an unexpected situation which could seriously throw him off if he is involved in coordinating the attacks on us.

It IS a gamble. I won't lie.

The man has never attacked Reggie, just kinda fucked with him over the years for apparently no reason. Though considering Mantle's personality... well... he may have really fucked Big Nate over at some point and not even noticed.

>>4816380
Players keep getting Mantle in situations so fucked that Trash wouldn't even dream of it. What are we going to do to him? we are literally helpless. Which is why it is madness to take on anyone we don't trust.

With two votes for and one against, you will send someone to find Big Nate, and see if he wants to tag along.

Also, you are going to send someone to find Chickless and ask for some more fuel.

Writing!

>>4816480
Thats the brilliant part.
We do nothing to Nate.
With him in the lead vehicle driver seat, either bandits shoot him or our route is miraculously peaceful.

>>4816581
>Thats the brilliant part.

No that's the retarded part. What if the fat fuck doesn't want to be a human shield? What if he has plans of his own? From what we've seen the man is much smarter than Mantle. But I'll cease my crying over spoilt milk now and just hope for the best.

>>4816669
If he doesnt want to drive point, we cut him loose and tell him we dont have time to argue.

Now you've got me seriously doubting this idea. Still, having a second medic could save lives and maybe Mantle and Nate will bond over this and make out.

Make up. I meant make up.

I'm not not a coomer!

I might not be consistently voting until mid June or so. I got some plans. If Trash wasn't already writing, I'd support both of these options the other anons voted for. Big Nate is an opportunity for big banter. Plus some more medical skills on someone we would consider much more expendable is worth the trouble.
Not dropping the quest however, I've vote when I can, and when I can remember to, haven't been on my PC much lately and I'm banned on mobile.

Sorry for the delays - I've had other stuff to take care of unexpectedly.

Update should be up tonight.

File: Gunsmith.jpg (99 KB, 800x600)

99 KB JPG

Hey guys - sorry for the continued delays. I sat down on three separate occasions today to write the update, and every God damned time I did something different came up. I don't think I am going to be able to get the update out tonight after all. With any luck, regular posting should resume tomorrow, but I'd like to thank everyone for their continued patience.

>>4818910
No worries. Life is crazy.

>>4818910
Shit happens, man. Appreciate the heads up, but life comes first. No worries.

>>4818910
All the more time for me to get acquainted with the quest and catch up

>>4818910
No probs man

>>4818990
It's a wild ride

>>4818910
No problem Trash
We all need our rest

File: pelican-military-medical-(...).jpg (171 KB, 1200x698)

171 KB JPG

You do not need to be a trained, registered nurse – or a psychologist – to see that Gunther has been through … too much … in the past hour. In the past few days, really. He’s given a lot, and almost all of it without a second thought. Or at least any complaints, and considering everything, complaints would be more than justified. And with … the shit that happened, out there, on the road … to say that you were worried about him, would be a gross understatement. It could even be called a comical one, if the situation was not so grim, the stakes not so dire. The course of action here is obvious – take Gunther at his word, as you did little more than an hour ago, when he insisted on quickening the passing of the Highwayman he shot. But just because the course of action, the answer here is obvious, it does not mean that it is easy. Or kind, for that matter.

Gunther is hurting. Physiologically and psychologically. And letting – no, putting him back out there, back on that road again, seems like you are tempting fate. Like you are asking for him to get hurt again.

But, with what is on the line here, is there any other option? These crabs are not some get rich quick scheme. Looking at the long-term food situation, these crabs represent nothing short of a Godsend. As it stands, the collective Larder is going to run out early to mid-April. Bluntly put, this is effectively a deferred death sentence. Odds are that the Spring Thaw is going to be much, much later this year, considering the unnatural nature of this Winter, and even if by some miracle, that the ground unfroze sometime in March – and by an even greater miracle, stayed unfrozen – then you are all still fucking screwed, because by the time any plants were ready for harvest, or Spring animals were ready for slaughter, then everyone will have starved. And of course, this is overlooking the glaring fact that there are no seeds for planting, and what few animals you have are not going to be able to breed enough meat for everyone either.

You need those crabs – no matter what. As far as you are concerned, there are no other options here. And with the road to those crabs in the fucked up state that it is, you cannot afford be … sentimental. You need someone who can be relied on, to play the part of a medic. To overlook someone who can fill that role, just because they are hurt and … feeling sorry for themselves – would be a disservice to the rest of the group. It would be a failure, a much worse one than your abortive and wasteful first attempt at reaching Greenly’s farm. Imagine how bad things would have went out on the road, if he was not there with you? Imagine another ambush, another sharpshooter – but this time, there is not anyone else with his level of medical or driving skill along with you in the convoy. You cannot simply –

File: winged-nut-clipart-13.png (155 KB, 600x600)

155 KB PNG

>>4820191
At that moment, you are hit with an unfortunately compelling, thoroughly terrible idea. There is someone else with a similar skillset. Big Nate. While there has not been a single interaction you have had with the man in the past two years that was pleasant, and while you seriously doubt that he is cut out for the job of a first responder … he does have medical training. He might not be certified, and you might have concerns about how willing and open Dr. Larsson, the Chief Medical Officer, was about handwaving away this lack of certification … but before all of that, Big Nate was working with the rest of the Paramedics. He was on the scene when you got shot, for that matter. So as much as you might be unwilling to accept it … all of these professionals have accepted him as the ‘real McCoy’. He has valuable medical skills – and though you doubt he is as good of a driver as Gunther is, you do know for a fact that he can drive stick, because on several previous occasions, you have walked in on spirted discussions between him and his boss Emmanuel about cars, and one of them was about automatics against manuals, with Big Nate claiming the questionable claim that automatic transmissions were developed solely to cater to the then emerging market of women drivers, and that men who drove them were ‘stickless in more ways than one’. You remember this conversation, because he then immediately tried to insinuate that you were an ‘auto-eunuch’.

Normally, you would not consider involving the butterball in your affairs … but, the current circumstances are desperate, and after everything that Gunther has been through, it would be smart to look for some sort of second alternative – someone to ensure that if he, God forbid, goes down … or goes postal or goes … just, if something happens, that there is someone else on hand, someone else in the convoy that can do more or less what he can do. Make sure that there are no Jesus pins and nuts* in your machine.

*A Jesus nut specifically refers to the mast nut of a nut of helicopter, which is responsible for keeping the rotors attached to the helicopter’s mast, and the Jesus pin specifically refers to the pin run through the nut (and the mast) to keep the mast nut tightened down and in place. They are referred as the Jesus nut and the Jesus pin, because if the two of them were to fail, and the mast nut came off while the helicopter was in the air, then the helicopter would separate from its own rotor, and the only thing left to do, would be to pray to Jesus. Colloquially, where there is a single point of failure in a mechanical system, one that would lead to catastrophic, presumably fatal failure, it can be referred to as a Jesus nut.

File: Lobster Cracker.jpg (143 KB, 1000x801)

143 KB JPG

>>4820198
“Mantle?”

It is Gunther. Distracted as you are, you try to shift your head – forgetting once again, that your part of your collarbone was ground to dust and your neck is in a brace. You cannot help but wince, but the pain helps focus you on the tasks at hand.

“Yeah … yeah, okay. I’m going to have to take you at your word here Gunther. If you say you can go out again, with your injuries and … what I’m getting at here, is that I trust you. As much as I would like to give you a break, with the roads the way they are, I wouldn’t be able to turn down an offer of help from someone with a quarter of your skills. And on that note – I think I am going to have to make a last-minute addition to our roster. Petra?”

“Yes?”

“I need you to go looking for someone – don’t take too much time, but … it would be a … lotta help to have this guy around. His name is Forsythe Jones, but he answers to Big Nate and Jughead. He’s a fat, fat bastard, with a real cute sense of humor, but … he can drive stick, and he’s … a Paramedic. Or close enough to one for our purposes here. Just look for someone who looks like an overinflated Michelin Man, and odds are its him. If you find him, tell him that he can have two live crabs if he comes along with us. He’ll want more – no matter what you offer him – but don’t agree to let him have more than four, understand?"

She nods.

“Good. Once you find him, or run out of places to look, I want you to go into the Big Yard, and I want you to find some plank wood – preferably 2X4’s … uh, they measure just a little under two inches by four inches, hence the name. There is a battery operated drill in with the tools we brought along with us, and there should be a box of drywall screws in the glovebox of my Farm Truck. I want you to plank up the windshield … or where the windshield was. On the Farm Truck. Oh, you’ll need to buy the wood, of course. Promise the guy one live crab. Might be difficult to trade something that you don’t have on you, but you’re a cute kid. Remember ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, and you should be able to pull it off. While you’re out there looking for wood, keep an eye out for anyone with recovery straps and chains near their truck. Buy some if you see them. Again, one live crab. You do know what recovery straps and chains are, right?"

She nods again. Somewhat hesitantly this time, but hopefully that is because you are asking so much of her at once. You will have to trust her, as you have trusted her cousin – who is who you turn to next, to give him his pre-departure assignment.

“Gunther, if your injuries really don’t need to be looked at in the infirmary, then I want you to give all of the vehicles in the convoy a good look over. Just look for things that are obviously wrong – we don’t have time for the fine-toothed comb here.

File: Mt. Kineo from Rockhead.jpg (91 KB, 824x666)

91 KB JPG

>>4820204
He nods, and immediately heads off. While you appreciate the initiative, you cannot help but notice that he is hobbling. With the assignment that you have given him, there is going no time for him to seek any additional medical attention. There is no other recourse but to hope that his First Aid work is going to be able to get him through the second expedition. Setting that aside for now, you give instructions to the two remaining members, Sucec and your mother.

“Mom, someone needs to go find Chickless, the guy who gave us the gas and the diesel for the first time out, and get him to top us off – just tell him to put it on my ‘tab’, I will settle up with him once we get back. Sucec, if you would be willing to go into the Blocks and the Cafeteria and try to recruit a couple of additional hands for us, that’d be appreciated. Four men, anywhere from eighteen to forty-five. They need to be able to drive and have their own rifles. Offer them four cooked crabs today and another live one later this week. And if they are worried, let them know that if they were to die on us, we’d give their next of kin two live crabs every two weeks for the next two years.”

There is one final thing, and you speak loud enough that you feel comfortable that even Gunther, already on his assignment, could hear you.

“If any of you get a chance, find a Guard and tell them that they need to speak with the Chief Salvage and Reclamation Officer.”

“Who’s that, sweetie?”

“… that’s me, mom.”

With your orders given, and your mother tickled pink by your snazzy new 'C-Suite' title, everyone heads to their task, leaving you, Fleckkers and Midge alone in the Farm Truck ... and Gunther somewhere nearby. You are feeling pretty good about yourself ... but then time starts to pass, and no Guard materializes to take you to see Polk. It is only a minute or so, but you start to worry that if it takes any longer, you will wind up holding everything up unnecessarily. Thankfully, you are not completely alone, so you still have some options.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Simply wait a little bit longer, making small talk with Midge and Fleckkers in the meantime.
>Send Midge out specifically to find a Guard for you, making some more small talk with Fleckkers in the meantime.
>Send Midge out to temporarily recall Gunther so the two of them can get you to the Club House offices

>>4820220
>>Send Midge out specifically to find a Guard for you, making some more small talk with Fleckkers in the meantime.

>>4820264
>>4820319
I mean we're not going to be doing much shooting tied to a gurney in the back of a pickup bed.

If all our hands end up getting rekt I don't think a .22 is going to do us much good in any case.

>>4820220
If we never got cleaned up after pissing ourselves:
>>Send Midge out with a few bullets from the 10/22 to snag you a fresh blanket. You need to get out of this piss before you get an infection, even if it means going naked waist down except for the blanket.
If we DID get cleaned up:
>>Send Midge out specifically to find a Guard for you, making some more small talk with Fleckkers in the meantime.

>>4820384
Mantle has a special ability to deal high damage even with small caliber weapons and another ability to find salvage even in miscellaneous junk.

>>4820420
Mantle can't even see what's going on generally, buying a little plinker isn't useful right now. We're going to be spending enough very valuable crabs on vital equipment and hiring people. Trying to buy a gun we most likely won't be able to use doesn't seem like a good use of resources.

>>4820458
I relent that right now is not amazing but perhaps before we leave... its a good long term investment and Mantle having a holdout pistol for if along and cornered by whoever be it bandit or rival group member is a solid idea. It will only get more useful with time.

>>4820486
I agree with mantle keeping a holdout pistol of some sort, as well as rebuilding our arsenal in general, though perhaps we can snag part of that as loot rather than spending crabs on it right now, we really need to focus on expanding the operation. For that matter I'm sure we're gonna have to spend a fair bit on building proper housing for the rest of our animals.

>>4820586
Fair point about looting a pistol, even if it isn't the ideal one. We could easily come across a 22lr, 22mag, 25acp, 380acp handgun or even a 38spl revolver in loot.

>>4820388
>>4820252
Alright - I will consider this closed for sending away Midge and talking some more with Fleckkers.

>>4820384
I'm sorry guys what were the deleted posts?

>>4820220
>Simply wait a little bit longer, making small talk with Midge and Fleckkers in the meantime

>>4821350
Just me autistically suggesting we send Midge to get us a pistol or clean blankets and then realizing I've got my priorities wrong..

This is no good. If you want to give yourself as much time as possible to get to Greenly’s farm, then you cannot afford to lie around here waiting for a Guard to come pick you up. In retrospect, you should have got everyone else to cart your ass to Polk’s office before they scattered to the winds on their own tasks … but obviously, you cannot do anything about that now. What you can do, on the other hand, is send Midge to the Primary Gate and get a Guard or two there. You give the order, and after only a moment or two of hesitation, she heads out, leaving you alone with Fleckkers, who is behind you, still lying on the bed of your Farm Truck.

“Fleckkers, you still alive back there?”

“No, I’ve gone and fucking died. Talking to St. Peter right now, seeing if he has my dinner reservation.”

You do not know what to say to that, but thankfully it seems that Fleckkers himself is more than willing to talk.

“… you know, I spent a bit more than three years, in business for myself, before I was put away because of a fucking bullshit traffic stop. I couldn’t tell you exactly how much money I … came into during that time, but I can remember the safes, all forty-six of them. Each of them different. Some of time, the safe was really the only thing between me and the money, but usually, the safe itself was the easiest part. The shit I ran in to … I mentioned it the other day, remember, when we were talking about what to do with Norton … er, uh, mister, not missus Norton. The alarms, the guards, the dogs, the fucking bells and the God damned whistles. And a lot of the places I hit were really damned shady, if not criminal – not saying that to justify anything, I would have knocked over a church if it kept its collections locked up on site.”

“What I’m getting at, is that if I got caught on these outings, I wouldn’t be going to jail. In most cases, at least. Three years of that … robbing … people like that blind … as well as some legitimate, honest businessmen – and those guys could have just as easily killed me. Police wouldn’t have made a fuss. They probably would have congratulated the bastard for it. Three years, no, more than three years of that, of taking my life into my hands, all for other people’s money, and I don’t get as much as a fucking stubbed toe. But when I try to something selfless for once, when I try to step up and do something that will help save lives – I don’t even make it an hour before I’m shot twice.”

You definitely do not know what to say to that, but again, it seems that Fleckkers is not done talking.

“I don’t want you to think that I’m being resentful – I’m not. It just … it just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

It is at this point that Midge returns with two Guards in tow. Without anything better to say, you simply tell the former safe cracker that he’s done a good job, and that he still must not allow himself to fall asleep.

>>4822217
To your surprise, the two Guards do not bring you to the Club House, where the Steering Committee met yesterday. Instead, they take you around the outside of the main building, the ‘Big House’, by means of several locked access gates to another one of Mt. Kineo’s yards, the ‘Holy Yard’, as the footprint of this yard sits on parts of what was the fifth, sixth, eleventh, twelfth and seventeenth holes of the Mt. Kineo House Resort’s golf course. Compared to the larger and dirt ‘Big Yard’ which is full of members personal belongings and vehicles, as well as campsites, castoffs and refuse, the smaller and grassy ‘Holy Yard’ is in impeccable condition. The only things that you can see in here are recreational areas and equipment for the prisoners – besides that, the yard is completely empty. The building that you are being taken to is a watchtower, located in the approximate middle of yard. Once outside of the building, one of the Guards heads inside, to get Warden (or Senior Undersheriff) Polk. You notice that the door the Guard enter has a sign on it, as it swings closed behind him with enough force that you can feel the gust of displaced air a few feet away.

‘Environmental Gear is required in Chemical Tower.’

Curious, and perhaps a little alarmed, you ask the remain Guard about it, but he laughs it off and explains that there are no chemicals in the Chemical Tower, and there never have been. Instead, the watchtower was built on the site of the golf course’s chemical shed, the outbuilding where they kept the fertilizers and pesticides necessary to maintain an eighteen-hole golf course. In fact, if this Guard can be believed, they built this tower right on top of the chemical shed’s cement pad. The sign is up, because the tower itself has not been adequately sealed against Fallout and Volcanic Ash. Adequately reassured, you wait in silence for the next thirty seconds or so, before the Warden passes through the door.

“Good morning, Warden Polk.”

“Good morning, Mantle. I had been told you had left, gone out to get those crabs of yours.”

“Ah, well, I did. We did. But the route we took, it was the shortest one to the farm, and it took us through some built up areas. There was some resistance, organized resistance, and we got into a shootout … actually, we got into two shootouts, if you count the sharpshooter we ran into later. No deaths, but it was near thing, and there were some injuries, some serious enough that a complete recovery might be off the table.”

“Jesus Christ. Who got hurt?”

“My guy Fleckkers got the worst of it. Shot twice. Once in the arm and once in … actually, I don’t where he got shot the second time. Anyway ... besides that, my guest, Gunther Peake got grazed, and then he and Midge, the wife of another one of my men, got roughed up clearing a barricade.”

"That does sound serious ... and these attackers, they got off unscathed?"

File: Guards.jpg (90 KB, 503x575)

90 KB JPG

>>4822417
"No. We killed one, and injured at least one more."

"Huh. Well, that's something. Do you think they were Firebugs?"

"I don't know. They did ambush us - twice. And one of them was throwing Molotov's. But ... maybe? I don't know."

"That's fair. I suppose we won't know if any foe we face is a Firebug or not, unless we catch them alive and they confess. Or they start wearing uniforms."

You realize that the two Guards who brought you here have not been dismissed. It is not an issue, it is just after all of the private negotiations you have been doing recently, having an audience feels kind of strange.

"So I suppose you are looking to hire on some of my men, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I would."

"I figured. You can hire up to five men, fully armed, armored and equipped for five of those crabs each. Four of those crabs for the men, one for me, to cover administrative and material costs. If they are crippled, and can no longer serve, or die under your command, then you are responsible for taking care of their families. As for ammunition and consumables, I’ll overlook it, considering how dire the food situation is, but if any equipment is destroyed or abandoned, you are on the hook for it. To me. And finally, for my men, I want one crab, every week for the next year. I’ll let them draw lots for it.”

>Please Choose ONE of the following:
>“Okay … five.” You went into this knowing that hiring Guards was going to be expensive. You have a schedule to keep, just pony up and move on – in the end, getting those crabs back here is what matter most, not holding on to as many of them as possible.
>“Okay, five?!” You went into this know that hiring Guards was going to be expensive, but this is fucking ridiculous. Lets try something a bit more reasonable … (Write in your counter offer. Speech-Rhetoric test)

>>4822547
>>“Okay, five?!” You went into this know that hiring Guards was going to be expensive, but this is fucking ridiculous. Lets try something a bit more reasonable … (Write in your counter offer. Speech-Rhetoric test)

How about 2 for the men and 1 for him. agreeing to all the other conditions. Argue that we'll need to keep as many crabs as possible alive up front to expand the operation as quickly as we can.

How about hiring 2 guards? That should be enough people I would think.

>>4822547
>“Okay, five.”… (Write in your counter offer. Speech-Rhetoric test)
"While I wish I could offer to completely take care of the next of kin of anybody who died the best I can realistically live up to is to offer two live crab every two weeks for the next two years for each member's family like I offered to the rest of the folks I hired. Also, with this many crabs possibly taken out of the equation, I want to warn that there may be some delay in the full payment while the breeding population replenishes from the move. I've never had crabs before so hopefully we're talking a couple weeks here but I don't know, I just want to be upfront. I'd like to hire 4 Gaurds." Mantle says, considering the absolute mountain of crabs he'd be losing over time if anyone died.

>>4822694
Hm well yea counter offering the next of kin terms is a good idea, i support that.

Missed another vote before clarifying, so I'll reverse my decision about doing the number of Guards hired later. Writing in the number that you would like to hire here is fine.

>>4820388
A much of a fan of micromanagement as I am, things like going to the bathroom and keeping clean can be handwaved. If there is a specific situation where they cannot, I will specifically say that we need to focus on keeping ourselves clean, or we will run into trouble on the next Health Check (which I will do when we get the Crabs back, partly to determine the length of the timeskip).

>>4817106
I would have sworn I replied to post earlier, but it seems the internet ate it ... anyway, I hope everything is going well for you, and I'd tell you to keep your nose clean, but I doubt that's in the cards.

>>4822694
Just to clarify, we'd be agreeing to 5 crabs per gaurd, which is actually already a fair deal."

>>4822790
No reason we shouldn't try and bring the price down, especially if you want to try hiring all 5 guards.

I'm thinking that I'll wait for a tiebreaker on this one until tomorrow morning. If there isn't consensus, then I will roll a 1d2 (or whatever, depending on however many different options there are) to determine the course of action.

>>4822640
+1

>>4822888
I respectfully disagree.
Each guy is trained, in shape, and fully kitted out with body armor, weapons, cuffs, light, maybe lockpicks, probably a first aid kit, not asking for replenishment of used supplies.
Warden Polk also never specified that payment had to be in live crabs so we might get off by paying off some dead crabs.
Asking to lower the price could very well lose us Social Capital for being an ingrate. Well paid employees are properly motivated and lessening the indemnity in this way is already a considerable accomodation besides asking for them to be understanding with a possible delay in pay which is critical in case the breeding population drops.
Besides, whats good for these fighters on our side is indirectly good for us too and they'll remember if we gave them a fair shake which is important if we fight beside them at some point.

>>4822941
Also, I think we only need 4. 2 manning a police or jail vehicle for intimidation and quickly maneuvering around the convoy. A gunner. Someone riding shotgun in the point vehicle.
Don't want to leave the prison understaffed.

>>4822941
>>4822954

Likewise, I don't mean to be an asshole, but bartering is the name of the game man. Do you always pay sticker price? There's no harm in trying to haggle a little bit over the price.

How about, I agree to support you for 4 guards and redoing the next of kin, in exchange for bartering the price paid down as well? Even coming down by one crab each is worth it.

>>4822993
You've got a deal.

>>4823003
Let's go down by 1 crab each.

>>4823005
Ask for 2 down, if he agrees great, if he only offers to go down by 1 we take it.

Still, I think 4 guards might be excessive, but who knows they may come in handy. If nothing else, perhaps it will give us the opportunity to get more loot.

>>4823025
I don't know if we get a counteroffer or if it is just that we have to take the full original offer if our negotiation fails which I fear.

>>4823051
fair point

>>4822993
I like this. 4 crabs per guy seems worth it. And the next of kin thing. I don't feel like going down to 3 is a fair play, iirc, we're paying 2 crabs to the average joes, right? Then there's the additional crab Polk wants. Another angle we could pull would be asking him to cut down on his own personal crab demands.
>>4822752
>I hope everything is going well for you,
Likewise, man. Good luck with that school stuff. I've been great lately, felt the best I've felt in years. I went from 3 years of neetdom to a nice, steady job and have been cleaning up my act recently. I usually get off work a bit late, lately and have stuff to do when I get home, and the session is usually dead by time I finally hop on my PC, otherwise I'd be more involved with voting. This phone is old, and is pretty much on its last legs. I'll look into finding a solution so I can post at work. Cruising through the thread on a smoke break sounds pretty nice.
>and I'd tell you to keep your nose clean, but I doubt that's in the cards.
Heh. Slick. Well, I'll admit I did get into some shenanigans last Friday, and I've got some left over I've been saving for this next weekend. But I am no junkie, man. Once in a blue moon kind of thing.

>>4823195
You know...the more I think about it the more that "1 administrative crab per gaurd" sounds like its a bribe because Warden Polk isn't supposed to be letting these guys go.
Breaking down the value: 1 for that awesome equipment and 3 for premium warriors.

I wonder just how much Polk is sticking his neck out here, if at all. Logically, he isn't keeping this a secret so it can't be that much.

I would favor paying the Gaurds 4 crabs each and asking Warden Polk to reduce his cut to 2... except Warden Polk is the one we are bargaining with so shorting him will likely screw us.

Long term it feels like paying off these initial investments will be easy IF we can afford paying out life insurance crabs.

>>4823219
>I would favor paying the Gaurds 4 crabs each and asking Warden Polk to reduce his cut to 2
This sounds solid to me. We're already sinking a fucking TON. How many are we out by now? 60? 70? 80? We'll be out even more of them if someone dies on us. We still need breeding stock.

25 roughly before the Warden's gaurds I think.

Which brings me to the next idea I'd like to propose: before we leave for Greenly's we should task Petra with learning about the aquaculture crab system and taking notes once Greenly settles in, just like a report for school. So we have a manual of how to run it in case we expand it or start a second one at another location. I doubt Greenly will feel very warmly towards the adults as we spend his crabs but I bet he'll put up with Petra.

>>4823242
We do still need breeding stock. Which was why one of the other concessions I asked for was understanding in case of a delay of payment.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callinectes_sapidus
https://phys.org/news/2008-10-freshwater-farm-ponds-crab-farms.html
Apparently the big ones are the males and the females can store sperm for mating for over a year. Blue crabs take 105 days to reach maturity. They apparently like spawning when it warm and not so much in the winter. You can get 2 to 3 harvests per year. Salinity and warm both play a role in the reproduction cycle. How this translates to game rules I'm not sure. I -think- I have the right blue crabs in my research. These are a bit smaller than what most people imagine when they think of crabs.

Boy, this voting sure is a mess.

>>4822640 (6PAtP6xg) votes for 2 crabs for the men, and 1 for him. Votes for hiring two guards.
>>4822694 (odWO/7pB) votes for 2 crabs every two weeks for two years for everyone killed. Warn of delay. Votes for hiring four Guards.
>>4822699 (6PAtP6xg) amends his previous vote (>>4822640) to include the 2 crabs every two weeks for two years for everyone killed suggestion.
>>4822752 (TrashQM) attempting to make the tallying easier for him later and failing, among other things
>>4822790 (odWO/7pB) clarifies that he is not trying to change the 5 crabs per Guard cost in his previous vote (>>4822694)
>>4822888 (6PAtP6xg) presents his position to (odWO/7pB), no votes are changed.
>>4822912 (TrashQM) seeing the deadlocked position, decides to call it a night and go to bed.
>>4822935 (O52bZ271) votes in complete support of (6PAtP6xg)'s write-in (>>4822640)
>>4822941 (odWO/7pB) responds to (6PAtP6xg) defense (>>4822888)
>>4822954 (odWO/7pB) clarifies his response to (6PAtP6xg) defense (>>4822888)
>>4822993 (6PAtP6xg) haggles with (odWO/7pB) over haggling, offers to change vote to redo the indemnity for the next of kin and hiring four Guards, in exchange for bartering down the price.
>>4823003 (odWO/7pB) agrees with the new position (>>4822993)
>>4823005 (odWO/7pB) suggests going down by one crab each
>>4823025 (6PAtP6xg) suggests going down by two crabs each
>>4823051 (odWO/7pB) wonders about the mechanics of this Quest
>>4823076 (6PAtP6xg) also has questions about the mechanics of the Quest
>>4823195 (Cokeanon) supports the compromise struck (>>4822993)
>>4823219 (odWO/7pB) worries about Polk's integrity and life insurance crabs
>>4823242 (Cokeanon) supports (odWO/7pB) new suggestion (>>4823219)
>>4823317 (odWO/7pB) suggest having Petra do research
>>4823703 (odWO/7pB) does his own research

So, it seems that the consensus is the comprised position between (6PAtP6xg) and (odWO/7pB), with (Cokeanon) supporting. Mantle's position will be to haggle down the cost from 5 crabs to 3 or 4 crabs, ask Polk to take 1/2 of a crab per Guard hired, hire 4 Guards, and spell out the indemnity position for loss of life. So that is three separate rolls, and to answer your questions in >>4823051 and >>4823076 there are partially successes, meaning that if you don't get everything you asked for, it does not automatically mean that you go with Polk's position. I'll take a minute to get a snack, and figure out how best to run these Speech-Rhetoric tests.

After thinking about it, this is how this negotiation is going to work. There will be one roll of 1d6 to determine the modifier, with a malus of 1 attached, to reflect Polk's greater rhetorical ability. Then there will be three separate rolls of 5d20, for each of the three things that you are asking of him.

Reduction of Guard 'take-home pay':
CR 95 & up: Each Guard takes home 1 crab
CR 75 to 95 up: Each Guard takes home 2 crabs
CR 55 to 74.99: Each Guard takes home 3 crabs
CR 35 to 54.99: Each Guard still takes home 4 crabs, but Polk eases up on his other positions (Malus will not be applied to the other two rolls)
CR < 35: Each Guard still takes home 4 crabs, Polk does not ease up on his other positions (Malus will be applied to the other two rolls)

Reduction of Polk's cut:
CR 80 & up: Polk takes 1/4 of a crab per Guard hired
CR 60 to 79.99: Polk takes 1/2 of a crab per Guard hired
CR 40 to 59.99: Polk still takes home 1 crab per Guard hired, but suggests a business proposition to soften the refual
CR < 40: Polk still takes home 1 crab per Guard hired, and makes no business propositions to soften his refusal

Establishing Indemnity:
CR 60 & up: 1 crab, two weeks, two years
CR 40 to 59.99: 2 crabs, two weeks, two years
CR 20 to 39.99: 3 crabs, two weeks, two years
CR < 20: No cap to death indemnity established, next of kin can bring you to arbitration before Parasol.

>Please, I need one roll of 1d6 and 3 rolls of 5d20. I'm going to take a break for dinner, but if you have already rolled, and there are still rolls that need to be done, wait 20 minutes or so, and you can roll again.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4824942

Rolled 5, 18, 16, 15, 14 = 68 (5d20)

>>4824942

And for those who are just joining us, or haven't seen it in a while, here is Mantle's updated character sheet.

Name: Reginald Mantle
Sex: Male
Age: 23 years old
Height: 5' 9"
Weight 164 lbs

Health: Compromised

Issues
-Very mild congenital deformity in legs (Athletics Test that involve legs are 10% more difficult, 25% if significant endurance is involved)
-Seriously Injured left Kidney (Immobilizing, -25 to all Health Checks, greatly increased susceptibility to Infection)
-Seriously Injured left Testicle (Painful, -10 to all Heath Checks, increased susceptibility to Infection)
-3x Seriously Injured Fingers (Right hand) (Painful, -2 to all Health Checks, slightly increased susceptibility to Infection)
-Shattered Collarbone (Locally Immobilizing, insufficiently treatment reduces likelihood of full recovery)

Strengths
+Dialysis Treatments (+20 to all Health Checks, greatly reduced susceptibility to Infection)
+Professional Wound Care (+10 to all Health Checks, reduces susceptibility to Infection)
+Bedrest (+5 to all Health Checks)
+Spic and Span (+5 to all Health Checks)
+Decent Diet (+2 to all Health Checks
+Fresh Faced (+5 to all Health Checks)

Considerations
*Masked and Sealed (Environmental Hazards do not pose a Health risk to this character)
*Safe Sipper (This character is drinking only potable water, no Health risk is posed)
*Clean Chower (This character is eating only safe, clean food, no Health risk is posed)

Skills:

Delusional or Unwilling in:
Teaching, Speech-Flirtation, Farming-Animal Handling

Oblivious in:
Learning, Melee-Bladed, Vehicle-Boats, Vehicle-Military

Nascent in Understanding:
Athletics, Mental, Melee-Unarmed, Melee-Bludgeon, Farming-Horticulture,

Rank Amateur:
Vehicle-Heavy, Speech-Deception, Handicraft-Sanitization,

Ranking Amateur:
Speech-Rhetoric, Ranged-Volumetric, Farming-Animal Husbandry, Vehicle-Car and Trucks, Handicraft-Repair

Competent:
Ranged-Sidearm, Ranged-Targeted, Handicraft-Demolition, Handicraft-Construction

Assuredly Competent:
(none)

Genuinely Skilled:
Handicraft-Salvage

Nascent Master:
(none)

Master:
(none)

Rolled 10, 15, 19, 3, 13 = 60 (5d20)

>>4824942

Rolled 11, 9, 3, 15, 7 = 45 (5d20)

I actually forgot about Mantle's bad leg becauses he's been bedridden so long. A little funny.

>>4824942
I think we did alright, guys.

Alright, lets see what we got here.

As Mantle is a Ranking Amateur at Speech-Rhetoric, the Tier II Modifier Table is used. A roll of 4 (from 5 -1) gives a modifier of 1.00x to be applied to all three of the tests. Before that, 0.5 is added to each of the Gross Rolls to get the True Gross Rolls.

Reduction of Guard 'take-home pay'

Gross Rolls:
5
18
16
15
14

Speech-Rhetoric Skill at Ranking Amateur
Gross Roll +0.5 = True Gross Roll

True Gross Rolls:
5.5
18.5
16.5
15.5
14.5

Roll of 4 on Tier II Modifier Table
True Gross Roll * 1.00 = Net Roll

Net Rolls:
5.5
18.5
16.5
15.5
14.5

CR 70.5 - Success in the Second Degree; Each Guard will take home 3 crabs, instead of 4.

Reduction of Polk's cut:

Gross Rolls:
10
15
19
3
13

Speech-Rhetoric Skill at Ranking Amateur
Gross Roll +0.5 = True Gross Roll

True Gross Rolls:
10.5
15.5
19.5
3.5
13.5

Roll of 4 on Tier II Modifier Table
True Gross Roll * 1.00 = Net Roll

Net Rolls:
10.5
15.5
19.5
3.5
13.5

CR 62.5 - Success in the Second Degree; Polk reduces his cut to 1/2 a crab for each Guard hired, instead of 1

Establishing Indemnity:

Gross Rolls:
11
9
3
15
7

Speech-Rhetoric Skill at Ranking Amateur
Gross Roll +0.5 = True Gross Roll

True Gross Rolls:
11.5
9.5
3.5
15.5
7.5

Roll of 4 on Tier II Modifier Table
True Gross Roll * 1.00 = Net Roll

Net Rolls:
11.5
9.5
3.5
15.5
7.5

CR 47.5 - Success in the Second Degree; Death Indemnity established at 2 crabs every 2 weeks for 2 years.

Congratulations are in order, you got just about everything you wanted from him. This was a very, very good result. Had the modifier come up lower, than you would have been screwed, at least, as far as these negotiations were concerned.

>>4825318
>Congratulations are in order, you got just about everything you wanted from him
Lets go lads, we actually had a speech check go our way for once. Looking forward to that update, Trash

With this taken care of, there is only one more necessary vote before I can start writing up the departure of the second expedition.

Do you want to take your mother along for the trip, or not?
>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Yes, we need all the hands we can get.
>No, with four hirelings and four Guards, she isn't needed anymore.

Special Not-Particularly-Secret Vote: A while ago, when I was rereading the Quest, I noticed I had made a pretty silly mistake - about Mrs. Mantle. She was originally named Dusk. The idea that I had was that she had an older sister, named Dawn, and so when her parents had her, they named her Dusk. The issue is that at some point in the quest, I got confused and started calling her Dawn instead of Dusk, and I didn't realize this until towards the end of the sixth thread. So considering that she is the topic of conversation right now, this would be the best time to decide what to do about the name situation.
>Please choose ONE of the following:
>Your mother's name is, and always has been Dawn Mantle. Dusk is your Aunt.
>Your mother's name is, and always has been Dusk Mantle. Dawn is your Aunt.

>Yes, we need all the hands we can get.
(She is safer than ever. Might as well have her drive rather than someone who could be shooting if we are attacked.)

>Your mother's name is, and always has been Dusk Mantle. Dawn is your Aunt.
(I actually thought it was a call out to Reggie's Mom being slightly dark skinned as a symptom of a rare condition that also has low blood pressure as a symptom.)

>>4825330
>Yes, we need all the hands we can get.
We're getting A LOT of extra guns here. One liability (on the firearm front) is not a big deal.
>Your mother's name is, and always has been Dawn Mantle. Dusk is your Aunt.
Dusk is negative, you know? Dawn is positive. We need plenty of positivity. Some /x/-tier law of attraction type schizo shit. Plus, Dawn seems pretty positive, so it'd fit her character.

>>4825370
cokeanon reporting in. It actually let me post on my VPN some how, so my ID changed.

>>4825370
I'll support that

>>4825370
I'll change my vote to support this.

>>4825370
Supporting

Alright, consider this closed. I will get to writing everything up.

File: Decisions.jpg (147 KB, 2240x1520)

147 KB JPG

Five? Five?! As you have already decided to hire on four Guards, that would mean you would be giving up another twenty live crabs. That is … that is just simply to many. Even if it causes a bit of delay, you have to take the time to negotiate here – Polk must be made to see reason.

“Jesus Christ sir, that’s … that’s a lot of fucking crabs. With a commitment like that, on top of the others I’ve already had to make, I’m beginning to worry that there wouldn’t be enough to breed replacements. And that’s not even considering losses to die-off from the move itself. Listen, I wanna work with ya, but at these prices … it might just be better to hire some more randoms, and take a safer route.”

Polk gets … kind of prickly at that suggestion. Thinking about it a bit, he probably was not expecting you to try to haggle and quibble. No doubt as the Warden, he is very used to unilaterally dictating his terms, and having them accepted without question or complaint. Well, if he was expecting you to just automatically accept whatever price he threw out, that is on him. Before being the Laker’s Chief Salvage and Reclamation Officer, before being Debouche’s Animal Control Officer, before even living here and homesteading – you were collecting and peddling junk. And key to that peddling was haggling. It might be the only human interaction you feel … comfortable with, and compared to how awkward you are at everything else, you would say – with confidence – that it is your strong suit, as interpersonal stuff goes. Polk makes a dismissive, wordless grunt that sounds really quite impressive in his deep, rumbling baritone.

“Well, why don’t you just hire those … ‘randoms’ then?”

“Because, like I said, I want to work with you. I’ll put my cards on the table here – in addition to the actual costs of this expedition, I have taken on a lot a liability as well. For those randoms I’ve hired, for the vehicles themselves. If anything were to go seriously wrong, setting aside how bad that would be for everyone else in the group, I’d have all these new expenses I’d need to cover. What I’m looking for here, with you, isn’t just four more men – I’m looking to make sure that those ‘new expenses’ never materialize. But at twenty crabs, plus taking on new liabilities – as I see it, I’m practically paying either way now.”

File: dunce-cap.jpg (380 KB, 768x1024)

380 KB JPG

>>4827877
“You said yourself, that you wanted my men because the roads were dangerous, not –”

“No, I said that the roads we were on were dangerous. There are safer, albeit longer routes, and with the numbers that you’re throwing around, they are looking much, much more attractive.”

You are not entirely certain, but this might qualify as a lie. You do not know, in fact, you cannot know, if the routes are safer. You simply know that they are longer, and are further away from the more built-up bits of the countryside that gave you trouble the first time around. All you can do is assume that they are safer – and perhaps, that is not even true. You kicked the nest, hard. Firebugs or not, it is safe to assume that these foes would be on high alert. In fact, if they had the numbers and the balls for it, they might go looking for you … which would not be difficult, as you realize with a sinking, twisting feeling that all of the busses have ‘Debouche Public Schools’ plastered on the side of them … including the Short Bus that you abandoned. Oh God … at this point, you almost hope those idiots were Firebugs, because if they were not, you might have just made the group a new enemy.

But for now, you have to set aside the risk of future reprisals, and simply consider their reaction. What would the Lakers do, if someone blew through that Snowplow checkpoint? For that matter, what happened when the Boat House was attacked, and all but one of the crew of Engine 2 was killed? Well, what rules of engagement that remained were loosened … but considering that these bastards seemed content to attack anyone who entered into their territory, you do not believe that they could loosen them any further. What else? Security was beefed up, and vehicles were modified for combat … but considering the timeframe here, you doubt that they would have the chance to serious upgrade their fleet. All of this is fine … but as you reflect on this, there is one big difference between your group’s situation with the Firebugs and these enemies (Firebugs or not) and you. They have a lead … thanks to your retarded ass. Even if they did not immediately counter-attack, if you were in their position, you would increase the range and frequency of patrols, to counter any other incursions. For all you know, after kicking the nest, and killing one hornet (possibly more, if they do not have the medical know-how and equipment necessary to save the injured one), none of the roads to the east are safe, despite how far afield they may be from the town centers.

File: Seboomook 3.jpg (183 KB, 816x612)

183 KB JPG

>>4827882
“Warden Polk … look. I want your help, your men. Four of them. And I don’t wanna take chances with the crabs, which could very well turn out to be the lynchpin of the group’s food supply. But at these prices … I might just have to. So how about we fix the death indemnity to … one crab every two weeks for two years, the Guards get two, maybe three crabs … and you drop your administrative fees. As for the equipment liability and the crab for the lottery – that’s fine.”


“No, no that is assuredly not fine. The Guards were already spread increasingly thin, before some were called in to replace the Deputies that went with Arthur to go ‘grocery shopping’. If anything were to happen, if it couldn’t be dealt with because I was down another four Guards, how exactly do you think everyone else would take that? They wouldn’t blame you, and they certainly wouldn’t blame the Sheriff.”

And they should not. But you are smart enough to leave that unsaid.

“Alright, if you need something … quarter of a crab for each Guard. That way you if something does happen, and you get forced into retirement over it, you’ll have your going away dinner all set.”

Polk does not seem to appreciate your humor, though the throat clearing of one of the Guards present sounds suspiciously like stifled laughter.

“Would you lighten up? There is absolutely no way you are getting sacked over lending me men. If this ‘something’ happened while the Sheriff was out, and your men were all over the place, filling in for the Deputies– and you weren’t able to satisfactorily deal with this ‘something’ because of manpower shortages, no one would blame you. And they won’t blame you for this either. Because neither me or the Sheriff are out there doing this for kicks. We’re doing this for food. And I’d don’t know what exactly Sheriff Arthur is working with, but Greenly, the guy with the crabs, has just enough fuel to keep them alive until 2:00pm. Today. So this can’t wait. Not for me, not for the Sheriff, and especially not for you.”

“Just one crab isn’t enough.”

“Have two then – but I can’t go any higher. And as far as the wages for Guards go – if you come down to three for each, I’ll raise the indemnity to two crabs every two weeks for two years.”

Polk huffs at that, but there is no counteroffer. Nor does he walk away. It takes a moment, but finally –

“I really hope these damned crabs are worth it. Fine … Anderson, take Mantle back to the Big Yard. Shadfield, go to the Rear Muster and find Keane and Lewis, then swing by the Armory to kit up. Grab stuff for Anderson as well. Make sure you sign everything out. Anything gets lost on the road, and I’ll hold you and Mantle responsible.”

File: Debouche, Maine again.jpg (66 KB, 550x399)

66 KB JPG

>>4827886
Polk turns to retreat once more into the Chemical Tower, and you realize that if you wanted to tell him about your … unfortunate oversight of leaving the Short Bus on the road this would be a good opportunity to do so. Of course, you do not know how badly he would take the news. It is possible that upon hearing it, he might decide that he cannot let four Guards go after all. In fact, he might not let any Guards go – with Arthur in the field alongside quite a few deputies, the Warden might not be willing to stretch himself any thinner in the face of a new threat. On the other hand, if you were to not say anything until you got back, and God forbid, something did happen while you were out … setting aside any repercussions there might be, you do not know how you would live with yourself. But … the odds of an enemy expedition for the sake of exacting reprisals at such short notice seems to be pretty unlikely. Especially if you consider that you outgun them – all they had were hunting rifles and Molotov’s against your M-16 variants, your M240b and your M85. In fact, you could almost guarantee against any enemy attack while you were gone … if you were to force your way through the same route as before.

>Please choose ONE of the following:
> “…” You choose to remain silent on the potential threat until you return, out of a reasonable fear that if Polk learns about it, he might take away some or all of your Guards. There is a very small threat of an enemy attack while you are on the road, though this can be almost completely eliminated by choosing to force your way through the built-up areas once more. (This vote does not lock you in to choosing any particular route for the expedition – that will be the next one)
> “Before you go, I just realized something …” You choose to inform Polk about the situation with the abandoned Short Bus, and the danger the group might be in. Polk will obviously not take this well. Upon hearing this, he might refuse to let you take all or any of the Guards along with you. (Involves a difficult Speech-Rhetoric test to cover your ass and deal with his concerns)

>>4827890
> “…” You choose to remain silent on the potential threat until you return, out of a reasonable fear that if Polk learns about it, he might take away some or all of your Guards. There is a very small threat of an enemy attack while you are on the road, though this can be almost completely eliminated by choosing to force your way through the built-up areas once more. (This vote does not lock you in to choosing any particular route for the expedition – that will be the next one)

>>4827890
> “Before you go, I just realized something …” You choose to inform Polk about the situation with the abandoned Short Bus, and the danger the group might be in. Polk will obviously not take this well. Upon hearing this, he might refuse to let you take all or any of the Guards along with you. (Involves a difficult Speech-Rhetoric test to cover your ass and deal with his concerns)
He's going to find out eventually, might as well be honest rather than look like a liar

>>4827890
> “Before you go, I just realized something …” You choose to inform Polk about the situation with the abandoned Short Bus, and the danger the group might be in. Polk will obviously not take this well. Upon hearing this, he might refuse to let you take all or any of the Guards along with you. (Involves a difficult Speech-Rhetoric test to cover your ass and deal with his concerns)

People depend on our honest reputation. Worst case scenario we could hire 4 more randoms quickly with low equipment expectations and rent semi auto rifles and radios. Could probably rent a couple ballistic vests from Polk for the point vehicle driver and whoever is riding shotgun in the point vehicle.

>>4827890
>> “Before you go, I just realized something …” You choose to inform Polk about the situation with the abandoned Short Bus, and the danger the group might be in. Polk will obviously not take this well. Upon hearing this, he might refuse to let you take all or any of the Guards along with you. (Involves a difficult Speech-Rhetoric test to cover your ass and deal with his concerns)

>>4828374
>>4828278
>>4828199
>>4827926
Alright - consider this one closed. I will get to writing.

“Wait a minute.”

Goddamn that fucking Short Bus. The damned thing must be bad luck … or cursed. How (or why) exactly a school bus would be voodooed is beyond you, but you cannot deny that the bus has been a hot mess of problems. It being abandoned is almost certainly going to upset Peckinpaugh, and if any of his anger is also directed at the Armorer stationed at Mt. Kineo, who you actually borrowed the thing from, then that means he is going to be sore with you too – leaving you in a position where two out of the three Armorers of the group have got a ‘beef’ with you. Then there was Beety, the night manager of the Motor Pool, who tried to loan you those buses even though they did not belong to him – he did not take your refusal well, and while you cannot hold his resentment towards you against him, considering that he was trying to provide for his family, since the refusal, the mood in the Motor Pool towards you and your people has been … not hostile, but noticeably standoffish. And then there is this dogshit with the buses’ livery, and you cannot imagine that this oversight is going to improve your standing … with anyone, especially if there is some sort of reprisal in the near future. Come to think of it, Fleckkers damned near died in that bus when the emergency door jammed.

But as quick as they came, these feelings of indignation fade, and once more you are left with nothing but guilt and regret.

“Before you get back to … whatever exactly you were doing, I, uh … just realized something.”

The words are starting to catch in your throat, and for the umpteenth time today, your stomach has tied itself into knots and dropped into your ass. Meanwhile, the senior Undersheriff’s face is almost completely obscured, both by the mask that he wears, and the oblique angle that you are lying at. But the small portion that you can see has impatience clearly written all over it, as well as in his posture. So before your nerve breaks, you blurt out your bad, bad news. Polk takes it in complete silence, and he does not break that silence, even once you have stopped babbling. For several-several seconds, you think that he isn’t going to say anything, but eventually he does, in a dangerously quiet and strained voice.

“Chickless already went and painted a massive target on all of our backs for the Maine National Guard by taking those liveried Cruisers and vehicles to Bangor for his little stunt in the trainyard. Do you remember that?”

“Yes.”

“And by any chance, do you remember why you were tortured?”

File: Oh Fuck.jpg (10 KB, 241x160)

10 KB JPG

>>4831867
Oh, that is what he is getting at here – you were dropped off in Bangor by an ambulance from Debouche, after that runt bastard Carter tattled on you and the group, and at about the same time that Chickless and company were stealing those trains.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I remember why I was tortured.”

“I want to believe you – but then you turn around and make the exact same mistake.”

He looks at you, and where a minute ago there was impatience there is now only anger.

“I bet you feel miserable. I certainly hope you feel miserable. Half as miserable as me. You know, it would be one thing, if I was expected to do my job with fewer men. And it would be one thing, if I was expected to do my job over more and more of the lake. But I am spread, thinner and thinner each and every day, further and further and further, and instead of support from everyone else, I get worries. Because of them, I need to worry about Firebugs. Because of them, I need to worry about non-members, ‘Outsiders’. I need to worry about the National Guard. I need to worry about enemies on the roads to our east.”

What he is saying does not make sense – at least, not all of it. No one group member was individually responsible for the Firebugs, and ‘Outsiders’ were always going to be a problem after the decision was made to run a ‘closed’ group. But it seems that Polk is just venting here.

“If the food situation was not so desperate, I … so help me, Mantle, if there is an attack, and one of our people gets so much as a hangnail, don’t think for one moment, that I am not going to throw you under the bus … assuming that you haven’t lost all of the other busses.”

Polk turns to the Guards, neither of whom left, and repeats his previous order in a harsh, barking voice. The two of them scramble – the one named Shadfield hurries off to the ‘Rear Muster’ to find the other two Guards, and the one named Anderson scrambles to get your stolen hospital bed moving. You cannot see Polk disappear into the Chemical Tower, but you can certainly hear it – the slam of the door was as loud as a gunshot.

Even with only one man pushing, you still manage to make fairly good time across the ‘Holy Yard’, though without the second man to open and close the locked security gates for you, your progress is noticeably slower. For a moment, you consider breaking the silence, but then decide against it, realizing that odds are good that Sucec is still not done with his recruiting. Instead, the silence is broken a minute later, by the Guard, Anderson.

>>4831872
“I had no idea the roads had gotten so bad.”

“None of us did. Had I known, we … I would have hired you before heading out the first time.”

“You said that the most direct route was through built up areas, and that’s where you ran into those assholes, right?”

“That’s right.”

“And there were safer, longer routes available, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But if you are hauling crabs on the return trip, if you spend too long on the road, won’t that just kill more of the livestock? I can’t imagine that they ship that well, even under better circumstances.”

“That … that would be safe to assume. But right now, we just need to worry about getting there.”

“Okay. Well, how are we getting there?”

>Please choose ONE of the following:
> “This time, we will force a clean, complete breakthrough.” You will take the most direct route. Five encounters, 2 with -15 malus and 3 with a -20 malus. Approximately 14 miles and 20 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.
> “This time, we will retrace the path that worked so well last time. You will take a somewhat indirect route. Ten encounters. 2 with +10 bonus, 2 with +5 bonus, 2 with nothing, 2 with -5 malus and 2 with -10 malus. Approximately 28 miles and 40 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.
> “This time, we will play it safe … safe as we possibly can.” You will take a long and very indirect route, avoiding all built up areas. Fifteen encounters. 3 with +20 bonus, 3 with + 15 bonus, 3 with + 10 bonus, 3 with + 5 bonus and 3 with no bonus. Approximately 42 miles and 60 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.

>It is approximately 11:05am right now. So long as you get to Greenly’s farm before 2:00pm you will be able to save his operation. While taking the safest route might seem like the obvious choice, remember that delays and detours can happen at any (or every) encounter.

Does this mean we get the Gaurds?

>>4831875
>> “This time, we will retrace the path that worked so well last time. You will take a somewhat indirect route. Ten encounters. 2 with +10 bonus, 2 with +5 bonus, 2 with nothing, 2 with -5 malus and 2 with -10 malus. Approximately 28 miles and 40 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.
I'm torn between this and going all in, and taking the direct route. I'm open to changing my vote if someone gives a good reason.
>>4831890
>“None of us did. Had I known, we … I would have hired you before heading out the first time.”
probably. polk never said no, and mantle mentions hiring anderson

>>4831917
>>4831890
Sorry if it was not clear. Yes, you still have all four Guards.

>>4831875
>This time, we will retrace the path that worked so well last time. You will take a somewhat indirect route. Ten encounters. 2 with +10 bonus, 2 with +5 bonus, 2 with nothing, 2 with -5 malus and 2 with -10 malus. Approximately 28 miles and 40 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.

Going back the direct route is just going to get us shot up.

Although it does have less encounters so that does make it tempting.

>>4832001
>is just going to get us shot up.
yeah they know we were heading that way and we know for a fact that there is a sharpshooter on that route. we have the manpower to pull it off, but the risk/vs reward seems too rough.

>> “This time, we will retrace the path that worked so well last time. You will take a somewhat indirect route. Ten encounters. 2 with +10 bonus, 2 with +5 bonus, 2 with nothing, 2 with -5 malus and 2 with -10 malus. Approximately 28 miles and 40 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.

Polk is upset we've stirred up this particular beehive of bandits so I think the middle route will serve us best and make everyone happy.

>>4831875
> “This time, we will retrace the path that worked so well last time. You will take a somewhat indirect route. Ten encounters. 2 with +10 bonus, 2 with +5 bonus, 2 with nothing, 2 with -5 malus and 2 with -10 malus. Approximately 28 miles and 40 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.

>>4831875
> “This time, we will retrace the path that worked so well last time. You will take a somewhat indirect route. Ten encounters. 2 with +10 bonus, 2 with +5 bonus, 2 with nothing, 2 with -5 malus and 2 with -10 malus. Approximately 28 miles and 40 minutes, not counting delays or detours, which could be significant.

Seems like there is consensus. This next post will cover departure through the first encounter, so I will need the rolls.

One roll of 1d5 to determine the malus applied to the encounter (5 is +10, 1 is -10), and then one roll of 1d100 to run the actual encounter. As per the last thread, I will apply all Maluses and Bonuses, to ensure there are not issues where I have to throw out otherwise valid rolls because they're missing.

>Please ONE roll of 1d5
>Please ONE roll of 1d100

Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>4833007

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>4833007

Sorry for the delay here - I should have a post up overnight, or failing that, early in the morning tomorrow.

>>4834056
Roger that. Thanks for the update, QM :)

>>4834056
Thanks for keeping us clued in, man.

Rolled 95, 48, 54, 15, 56, 98, 90, 79, 52, 66, 78, 44, 95, 22, 36, 11 = 939 (16d100)

Post will be finished soon, but before I do, I need to generate your four random hirelings. As I promised, they would meet or exceed the requirements you gave Sucec, so we will see now how he did.

For each hireling, there will be four rolls. The first determines condition, with the modifier Decent Health conferring +0.25 pips of Health. 1 - 80 is a 'Combat Aged Man' and 81-100 is a 'Combat Aged Man in Decent Health'. The second roll determines driving ability, which decides who can reliably drive what. 1-60 Drives Automatic 61 – 90 Drives Automatic and Manual 91 – 100 Drives Automatic and Manual, has Vehicle-Heavy Skill. The third roll determines primary armament. 1-60 Has a Rifle 61 – 80 Has Scoped Rifle with >5 capacity 81 – 90 Has Semi-Automatic Scoped Rifle with >5 capacity 91-99 Has Semi-Automatic Scoped Rifle with >20 capacity 100 Has Automatic Scoped Rifle with >20 capacity. The fourth and final roll determines the secondary armament. 1-60 No sidearm 61 – 80 Has Revolver with 6 capacity 81 – 90 Has Semi-Automatic with >10 capacity 91 – 100 Has Semi-Automatic with >10 capacity in larger caliber.

I will roll for all four of the hirelings at once. The first four rolls will be for the first hireling, and so on.

>>4834462
Here are the four hirelings.

Hireling 1:
From roll of 95: Combat Aged Man in Decent Health
From roll of 48 : Drives Automatic
From roll of 54: Has Single Shot Rifle, no scope
From roll of 15 : Does not have a secondary weapon.

Hireling 2:
From roll of 56 : Combat Aged Man
From roll of 98 : Drives Automatic and Manual, Possesses Vehicle - Heavy Skill
From roll of 90 : Has Semi-Automatic Scoped Rifle with >5 capacity
From roll of 79 : Has Revolver with 6 capacity

Hireling 3:
From roll of 52 : Combat Aged Man
From roll of 66 : Drives Automatic and Manual
From roll of 78 : Has Lever Action Scoped Rifle with >5 capacity
From roll of 44 : Does not have a secondary weapon

Hireling 4:
From roll of 95 : Combat Aged Man in Decent Health
From roll of 22 : Drives Automatic
From roll of 36 : Has Single Shot Rifle, no scope
From roll of 11 : Does not have a secondary weapon

>>4831875

“My guys, Fleckkers and Norton, the two of them managed to get to Greenly’s farm in one piece – in fact, they managed to drive all over outside of those built-up areas, and the closest thing to resistance they ran into was an angry dairy farmer that didn’t want to talk to them. If we retrace their route, or at the very least, stay away from the towns as much as possible, then it stands to reason that we could have as easy of a time as they did.”

“But these assholes … you left one of them dead on the road, and injured at least one more. Even if they never try to follow up on the ‘Debouche Public Schools’ lead, wouldn’t they be on high alert after something like that?”

“Well, uh … yeah, yeah they probably would. But the hope is that these guys are on high alert in their homes or wherever, and not out on the road. Obviously, it could go either way, but with nothing definitive to go on, I don’t think it is unreasonable to assume that any reasonable person in their position would hunker down after an attack like this. And if they did go on ‘high alert’, then it would probably only be in the built up areas that they control. Logically, this wouldn’t be the time to start patrolling or setting ambushes more territory, would it?”

Anderson’s head looms large above you, just barely in the top of your range of vision, bobs ever so slightly up and down. You cannot tell if he nodding ‘yes’ in agreement … or would it that be disagreement, since your question was framed – uh, whatever. It is also possible that it is just his gait as he pushes your stolen hospital bed through the access gates around the ‘Big House’ towards the ‘Big Yard’. Considering that no further questions are forthcoming, you can only assume that you have managed to reassure him – now if you could only reassure yourself. Among other assumptions that you have made in your assessment here, you assumed that these new enemies would be acting rationally. And that might not be a sound assumption after everything that has happened. While it is no good to underestimate your opponents, it is just as bad as to forget what they are – human.

You fret in silence the rest of the way back to the convoy.

>>4834529
When you finally make your way through the debris field that is the parking and storage areas of the ‘Big Yard’, you instruct Anderson to take you to your increasingly battered Farm Truck. Trying and failing to not worry about how much damage Fleckkers did to the body when he lost control and reversed the Trash Truck straight into it, you instead focus your attention on what has happened in your absence. For starters, Fleckkers is gone – and in his place is a large, greasy looking pile of towing chains. Mixed in here and there are bundled up recovery straps. The fabric of the straps are deeply stained – to be honest, some look as greasy as the chains themselves, but they look sound – at least, what you can see of them from here. Meanwhile, there the muffled sounds of conversation up front – as well as the electric whine of a power drill, abruptly cut off by the stuttering thumps of the driver head jumping (and hopefully not stripping) as a screw catches in the wood. It seems that things are well in hand here. Anderson leaves your bed parallel with the back bumper before heading over to the cab to introduce himself, which allows you to get a better look at the chains and straps that Petra bought. There is actually quite a lot here – and while they are absolutely filthy, you can see no signs of rust, wear or damage anywhere. Petra really outdid herself –

“Oh! There he is! The once and future king of crab cakes!”

Maybe she outdid herself too much. Even though you asked her to find him and recruit him, even though you could really use his driving and medical abilities out there on the road, there was a part of you that hoped that Big Nate would not be coming along with you. Still … if he was completely worthless, the Paramedics wouldn’t give him the time of day. You just need to keep telling yourself that.

Everything else falls into place in the next few minutes. The other three Guards arrive, armed and kitted out, followed shortly by Sucec and your other hirelings. You are rolled around to the front of the Farm Truck to inspect the group effort of Petra and Gunther and your mother. As you might have expected, it looks really, really rough – rough enough that you question if it is even going to be worth it. You do not say that, of course, but you make a point of emphasizing that if there is another shootout, that the driver and the passenger should rely on the engine block – not the 2X4’s – as cover. Hopefully, the concealment that it offers, along with the protection from long, long range shots and deflections gives the men in this vehicle some sort of edge. Chances are they will need it, as you have decided that your Farm Truck is going to take point.

I accidentally went and deleted the rest of this update. I'll rewrite the damned thing and have it posted tomorrow.

>>4834532
Thats a shame, well looking forward to it!

File: Late Autumn Road.jpg (470 KB, 1920x1080)

470 KB JPG

You have done this before, and you have more people around to help, so it is no wonder that everything wraps up much quicker this time. Having already decided where you want everyone, you assemble your people around the Farm Truck, thank them for agreeing to come with you, fill in the new hires about the dangers of the road, and remind everyone that if it comes to it, they should shoot first and ask questions later. Once all of that is out of the way, you give everyone their vehicle assignments. The way you have divided everyone up ensures that there are at least two people in every vehicle, and that the new rearguard – Sucec’s bus – is protected by having the largest compliment.

As an added bonus, you have worked everything out so that between the Guard’s clip radios and Sucec’s walkie-talkies, you have at least one radio in every vehicle – including your older Commuter Truck, the one your mother is driving. Conscious of your mother’s tendency to chatter, you give the walkie-talkie to the hireling in that one, a solid looking guy named Adrian Birdbox … who you realize you heard of – he was one of the men with the Paramedics the day of the Strike. He, along with an also unseen Mr. Jones were the ones who cleared and cleaned the street after your shootout with that tattling runt bastard.

Everyone – excluding Petra, who is currently being comforted by her cousin, as she is unhappy about being left behind – makes their way into their vehicles. The Guards Anderson and Keane get your bed back up on the truck’s bed, and once you, as well as the newly acquired chains and straps are secure, and the Guards are back in their assigned spots, with Keane on the M85 and Anderson at the passenger seat gunport, there is nothing left to do – it is time to head out once more. As the convoy starts up and moves to the Primary Gate, where already you can hear the Cement Truck that is used to block the vestibule moving, you ask Keane if he has the time, and after shouting back ’11:19’, he actually takes his watch off, comes over and reaches across you to put it on the wrist of your uninjured hand.

“This’ll be easier that you asking me – just don’t lose it. I might have bought it on clearance at a drugstore, but it’s valuable as a Rolex now.”

You laugh at that – a small, but pleasantly genuine outburst – and thank the man for letting you borrow it. As he returns his attention to the M85, fiddling and prodding at it, you realize that you have already met this Guard as well – he was one of the men at the Club House yesterday, he was working the ‘coat check’, at least, you think he was, but you know for sure that he carried you up those stairs.

Further idle thoughts are interrupted by the shrieks and groans of the Primary Gate opening. As you are in the lead vehicle this time, in a matter of seconds you are outside of the walls, watching Mt. Kineo slowly but steadily shrink behind you.

File: Imagine this, but much mo(...).jpg (32 KB, 1024x212)

32 KB JPG

>>4836260
Cargo Manifest of the Second Greenly Expedition:

120 square feet in the Manual Farm Truck
Driven by Gunther Peake, carrying Guard Anderson in the passenger seat, as well as (you) in the back and Guard Keane on the Mounted Armament
0 square feet taken up by the Generator, as it has been externally mounted
3 square feet taken up by Mounted Armament (1x M85 w/b)
1 square foot taken up by Carried Armament (1xM240b w/b w/s, 2x M16v w/9xM w/s, 1x Revolver w/20xLoR, 1x PDW w/2xM, 1x BA Hunting Rifle w/15xLoR w/s)
3 square feet taken up by 4 Spare Truck Wheels
2 square feet taken up by Tarpaulins and Tie-Downs
4 square feet taken up by toe chains and recovery straps
10 square feet taken up by Stolen Hospital Gurney
97 square feet remain available

192 square feet in the Automatic ¾‘s Bus
Driven by Hireling 2 (Theodore Boone), carrying Guard Lewis and “““Paramedic””” Big Nate
6 square feet taken up by the Reclaimed Gasifier.
0 square feet taken up by Mounted Armament, as there is none.
1 square foot taken up by Carried Armament (1x SASp Rifle w/4xM w/s, 1x Revolver w/20xLoR, 2x M16v w/6xM w/s)
1 square foot taken up by Improved+ First Aid Kit
3 square feet taken up by 2 Spare Bus Wheels
2 square feet taken up by Tarpaulins and Tie-downs
2 square feet taken up by Clearing Equipment.
4 square feet taken up by Gasifier Fuel.
174 square feet remain available.

48 square feet in the Older Commuter Truck
Driven by Dawn Mantle, carrying Hireling 1 (Adrian Birdbox)
0 square feet taken up by the Generator, as it has been externally mounted.
0 square feet taken up by Mounted Armament, as there is none.
0 square foot taken up by Carried Armament (Rape Whistle, Brace of Mace, 1x SS Hunting Rifle w/15xLoR)
3 square feet taken up by 4 Spare Truck Wheels.
2 square feet taken up by Tarpaulins and Tie-downs.
42 square feet remain available.

400 gallons in the Diesel Fuel Trailer, pulled by the Older Commuter Truck.
400 gallons taken up by Diesel Fuel.
0 gallons remain available.

224 square feet in the Manual ¾‘s Bus.
Driven by Richard Sucec, carrying Guard Shadfield, Hireling 3 (Frank Cooper) and Hireling 4 (Jerald Moss)
0 square feet taken up by the Generator, as it has been externally mounted.
0 square feet taken up by Mounted Armament, as there is none.
1 square foot taken up by Carried Armament (1x BA Hunting Rifle w/15xLoR w/s, 1x M16v w/6xM w/s, 1x PDW w/2xM, LvA Hunting Rifle w/15xLoR, w/s, 1x SS Hunting Rifle w/15xLoR)
3 square feet taken up by 2 Spare Bus Wheels
2 square feet taken up by Tarpaulins and Tie-downs
10 square feet taken up by 20 5 gallon jersey cans of gasoline + gasoline siphon.
208 square feet remain available.

File: Plowtruck minus Plow.jpg (76 KB, 970x727)

76 KB JPG

Encounter One of Ten:

At 11:28, nine minutes after getting the watch, eight minutes after leaving Mt. Kineo, and maybe five minutes after passing the last checkpoint that your group maintains on the eastern roads (the Deputies and Guards manning these checkpoints had been alerted to your coming, and temporarily removed the barricades to allow you to pass through without stopping) that you had your first encounter.

The Farm Truck was taking a turn when Gunther, who had been quiet as the grave after he finished comforting Petra in the ‘Big Yard’, suddenly started talking again. Obviously, he must have saw something as he was coming around the bend – and whatever it was, you can tell by the tone that it is dangerous, or at the very least, that it looks dangerous. Seconds later, Anderson gets on the radio and broadcasts out to the whole convoy, as Gunther, and from what you can see, the rest of the convoy, slows down.

“Attention – vehicles in the road! A Minivan and what looks to be a Snowplow, minus Plow. They were driving towards us, but as soon as we came around the bend, they came to a stop. Please advise.”

Jesus Christ. Were these more of those Highwaymen that you ran into earlier? There is nothing definitive, as usual, but the presence of a larger vehicle does seem to tie these guys to them. But whoever these men belong to, a Snowplow minus Plow is still a Dump Truck, and a Dump Truck is bad, bad news, and you did not have to be nearly run off the road by one about two hours ago to come to that conclusion. But if they are stopping, then that means that … fuck, what does that mean? Do they intend to hold their ground? Are they here to talk? Your mind is going a mile a minute, trying to figure out what they are doing here – and what you should do. However, before you get anywhere, Anderson comes back on the radio … sounding noticeably more relieved.

“Attention – the vehicles are turning around, they’re trying to leave!”

>>4836361
> 'Please advise' with ONE of the following:
> “We spooked them good. And if they recover their nerve, and try to stop us further down the road, then we will do more than spook them. Gunther, stay on this route.”
> “I don’t see any reason to tempt fate here. Gunther, there was a fork in the road back there, why don’t we turn around and take a detour.” Adds two encounters with a -5 malus. Slight delay.
> “We might have just interrupted a prostate* attack! As we don’t have the radio frequency for the checkpoints, we should retreat back immediately to warn them … and then once we do, take an alternate route – at least for the first leg of our journey. Adds three encounters with +5 bonus. Delay.
> “Whoever these people are, they are moving in force minutes away from our territory. We can’t take any risks. Try to box them in, get them at gunpoint and force them out of the vehicles.” Initiates three moderately difficult (DC 55) Vehicle-Car and Trucks Tests to box them in. Failing one means the minivan escapes. Failing two means both vehicles escape. Failing three means that a random vehicle of yours takes serious (but non-crippling) damage.

*Mantle is actually pretty close to the mark on this one, but the term he is thinking of is ‘probing attack’.

>>4836363
>> “Whoever these people are, they are moving in force minutes away from our territory. We can’t take any risks. Try to box them in, get them at gunpoint and force them out of the vehicles.” Initiates three moderately difficult (DC 55) Vehicle-Car and Trucks Tests to box them in. Failing one means the minivan escapes. Failing two means both vehicles escape. Failing three means that a random vehicle of yours takes serious (but non-crippling) damage.

We've got them outnumbered, and outgunned.

Let's try and take some prisoners before we go all cowboy on them though.

> “Whoever these people are, they are moving in force minutes away from our territory. We can’t take any risks. Try to box them in, get them at gunpoint and force them out of the vehicles.” Initiates three moderately difficult (DC 55) Vehicle-Car and Trucks Tests to box them in. Failing one means the minivan escapes. Failing two means both vehicles escape. Failing three means that a random vehicle of yours takes serious (but non-crippling) damage.

This would be an amazing spot to capture a couple of vehicles but my instincts tell me these are fellow Lakers as we've previously seen using plow trucks as roadblocks. Hate to let a potential probing attack go unscathed. This seems like the least bad option or at least the one offering the best loot.

>>4836363
> “Whoever these people are, they are moving in force minutes away from our territory. We can’t take any risks. Try to box them in, get them at gunpoint and force them out of the vehicles.” Initiates three moderately difficult (DC 55) Vehicle-Car and Trucks Tests to box them in. Failing one means the minivan escapes. Failing two means both vehicles escape. Failing three means that a random vehicle of yours takes serious (but non-crippling) damage.

I want that truck

>>4836363
> “Whoever these people are, they are moving in force minutes away from our territory. We can’t take any risks. Try to box them in, get them at gunpoint and force them out of the vehicles.” Initiates three moderately difficult (DC 55) Vehicle-Car and Trucks Tests to box them in. Failing one means the minivan escapes. Failing two means both vehicles escape. Failing three means that a random vehicle of yours takes serious (but non-crippling) damage.

LONG LIVE THE FIGHTERS!

>>4837045
>>4836926
>>4836722
>>4836456
>>4836408
Well, it seems to be settled, we will be making a play for the truck. As per the vote in the last thread, we will roll for Gunther. We will need one roll of 1d6 and one roll of 5d20. As mentioned in >>4836363, the CR is 55 (I don't know why I called it DC)

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4837570

Rolled 13, 17, 11, 12, 17 = 70 (5d20)

>>4837570

Rolled 5, 1 = 6 (2d6)

Now I will roll for the other two. This roll is for the modifier.

Rolled 31, 72, 90, 2, 26, 99, 80, 16, 9, 60 = 485 (10d100)

>>4837917
And this is the gross roll itself.

>>4837918
>>4837917
Hmm. I'll get the post up after dinner.

Rolled 16, 7, 18, 3, 11, 19, 11, 18, 7, 7 = 117 (10d20)

Jesus, I didn't even realize I rolled the wrong rolls.

Sorry for the delays here everyone, I just haven't had the time I thought I would this week. And I have noticed that I'm not writing anywhere near as fast as I was either, which I don't quite understand.

I'm not ready to sit down right now and start writing, but hopefully I will have something up for an overnight vote. Thanks again.

>>4839839
More characters can make a scene harder to write- especially when so many of them are unknowns.

Gunther Peake:

Gross Rolls:
13
17
11
12
17

Vehicle – Cars and Trucks Skill at Competent
Gross Roll + 1 = True Gross Roll

True Gross Rolls:
14
17
11
12
17

Roll of 6 on Tier II Modifier Table
True Gross Roll * 1.25 = Net Roll

Net Rolls:
17.50
21.25
13.75
15.00
21.25

CR 89.00 – Success in the Second Degree

Hireling Two (Theodore Boone)

Gross Rolls:
16.00
7.00
18.00
3.00
11.00

Vehicle – Cars and Trucks Skill at Ranking Amateur
Gross Roll +0.5 = True Gross

True Gross Rolls:
16.50
7.50
18.50
3.50
11.50

Roll of 5 on Tier II Modifier Table
True Gross Roll * 1.125 = Net Roll

Net Rolls:
18.56
8.44
20.81
3.94
12.94

CR 64.69 – Success in the First Degree

Richard Sucec

Gross Rolls:
19
11
18
7
7

Vehicle – Cars and Trucks Skill at Ranking Amateur
Gross Roll +0.5 = True Gross

True Gross Rolls:
19.5
11.5
18.5
7.5
7.5

Roll of 1 on Tier II Modifier Table
True Gross Roll * 0.625 = Net Roll

Net Rolls:
12.19
7.19
11.56
4.69
4.69

CR 40.32 – Failure in the Second Degree

Two success, and one failure. Gunther did do really, really well, almost getting Success in the Third Degree (To get Success in the Second Degree, you need to roll the CR +20. To get Success in the Third Degree, you need to roll the CR +40. Failure is less forgiving, a Second Degree Failure is the CR - 10, and a Third Degree Failure is CR -20. I haven't done much with this system yet, and it does not effect anything with this roll, but I figured I should formally explain it sooner or later.) Anyway, the Minivan gets away, but you got the Snowplow boxed in successfully, with nothing more than cosmetic damage on your end.

Unlike the two previous encounters on the road, this time, it seems that you have initiative. And now that you have it, you must use it, or risk losing it. For the entire first expedition, you did not have a shred of initiative, you were always the one responding, reacting to those highwaymen – and you are not oblivious enough to realize that if you did not outnumber and outgun them, then that lack of initiative, being a step or two behind these fuckers could have cost you much, much more than the Short Bus. No, as dangerous as it will be to take the initiative here, to get stuck in, to stop this advance, to maybe capture them, you know – or at least, you think you know – that losing the initiative would be even more dangerous.

“Whoever the Hell these guys are, we cannot just let them go. Get up there, and pin them, pin them with our buses and trucks, and block those bastards in – mom, not you though, you stay away, the trailer, we mustn’t risk the trailer.”

Despite the stream-of-conscious nature of that command, everyone seems to understand it just fine. As your Farm Truck accelerates underneath you, even as you find yourself cringing, clenching and bracing for a possible impact, the walkie-talkie in your good hand squawks with confirmations – first, a pair of terse, professional ‘understoods’ from the two Guards, practically at the same time, then not a moment later, Sucec following them with something that might have been ‘I understand’. Scared as you are about all of this, you are relieved that at the very least, you have men with you here who are willing to throw themselves into danger. No doubt the presence of the Guards help, their discipline and professionalism inspiring the others. Perhaps they will even try to emulate –

“Stop! Stop! Oh, my baby, oh, my Greatest, don’t, don’t crash –”

Or perhaps that is too much to ask for – at least in your mother’s case.

“For fuck’s sake mom, get off the line! And don’t call – ”

Suddenly, the brakes slam on, and the Farm Truck starts to skid – almost feels like it is skipping, a stone that is skipping right over the surface of the water – the words catch in your throat and you shift in the stolen hospital gurney. You shift hard, hard enough that if you had not been strapped down, you might have slid right off the damned thing. The restraints bite in as you are forced against them, and the pain is enough to take your breath away. You tense, but then remembering that tensing and bracing during crashes often yields greater injuries, you try to force yourself to relax, but you do not have the willpower, your body is still tight as a spring, curling up as much as it can under the buckled nylon straps.

>>4841591
Thankfully though, the impact is relatively mild – Gunther must have managed to place the Farm Truck directly in front of the Snowplow. There is some cracking and groaning, and for a moment, the Snowplow pushes the Farm Truck sideways, but then it disengages, and the reverse beeper comes on – only for a second though. At this point you can only hear the bus that Midge drove, now being driven by one of your new hirelings, Theodore Boone, who as luck would have it is a retired trucker. Boone seems to have placed his bus well enough – but it is Sucec that you are worried about. While he has demonstrated that he is able to work on cars and trucks, you have never relied on him to do any technical driving like this before. As it was in the rear, you can still see Sucec’s bus, and without anything else that you can do, you watch it pass you, trying to get by – hopefully he’s trying for the Minivan. He passes very close, and you hear a shattering sound that can only be a side mirror being ripped off and destroyed – actually, it is probably two side mirrors, your Farm Truck’s and the buses. Up in the cab, you can hear shouting, and you realize that Gunther and Guard Anderson do not have any other way to communicate with the Snowplow or the Minivan. If you had Deputies instead, Deputies in a Cruiser with a mounted bullhorn, you could shout at these bastards until their ears fall off. But under current circumstances, you are not even sure if the driver of snowplow realizes that he is being yelled at, let alone if he is able to understand anything they are saying.

You are about to get on the radio, and give Gunther and Guard Anderson some instruction when the Guard that is in Midge’s old bus, the one that is behind the Snowplow, comes on the radio.

“Attention – there were men in the hopper of the Snowplow, two men, both of them with rifles! They’ve gotten out the back, they are making a break for the tree line! Orders?”

Before you can formulate a response to that, Sucec comes on the radio.

“The Minivan got away – but we are right on her tail. What do we do now, Mantle?”

God damn it all! There is barely enough time to give two separate orders, there is no way that there is enough time to give three. You have to choose two vehicles that you are going to give instructions to, and you will have to let the third act on their own.

>Please Choose ONE of the following:
>Give orders to the Farm Truck and Boone’s Bus (Formerly Midge’s), leaving the men on Sucec’s Bus to make their own calls.
>Give orders to the Farm Truck and Sucec’s Bus, leaving the men on Boone’s Bus to make their own calls.
>Give orders to Boone’s Bus and Sucec’s Bus, leaving the men on the Farm Truck to make their own calls.

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>4841594
I'm too stupid to understand the implications of this vote so I'll just roll for it

>>4841594
>Give orders to the Farm Truck and Boone’s Bus (Formerly Midge’s), leaving the men on Sucec’s Bus to make their own calls.