Sorry for the delay in updating the Wasteland. I have been having some computer and ISP issues. Hopefully, I will be able to get these resolved and get started back on The Mojave Survival Guide. Stay Tuned in Wastelanders.

[OOC] Schematics Series on Deathclaw Gauntlet.

Date: 10.20.81 at 13:22

I have waited here for about two hours now. No signs of anything moving in the area except coyotes traveling North into the valley and back South over the ridge East of Goodsprings and the vultures circling overhead. I decide to take a break and go back to meet Trudy at the Prospector Saloon. I double check for any signs of life then emerge from behind the monument. I cross the grassland and make my way back onto the path leading to town from the graveyard. I walk into town a few minutes later and into the bar. I hear aggressive tones coming from my left near the bar. I stand just outside the doorway trying to overhear the conversation. There is a man and a woman arguing about someone named Ringo. The man, frustrated, turns to leave the bar. As he walks past me he murmurs something about getting out of his way. He walked through the door and slammed it closed. After he had left I walked to the lady that was being threatened.

She introduced herself as Trudy, the owner of the establishment. After a short period of introductions she apologizes for the scene and explains the man was named Joe Cobb and he was a prisoner from a nearby New California Republic Correctional Facility that had recently been overthrown. She explained that the convicts were harassing the town because they were looking for a man named Ringo. Ringo was a trader who had passed through the convict’s territory and apparently gotten himself on their bad side. I asked Trudy if she knew where Ringo was or if he had left town. I wanted to help the people of the town since they had saved my life. She denied knowing but seemed to be hiding something. Bluntly, I reminded her that if these convicts took over the prison that they would probably be more than happy to kill the small town citizens and raze the town to the ground. She slid me a key across the bar and whispered to me that Ringo was hiding in the gas station on the outskirts of town. I took the key and nodded to her as I changed the subject to determine if she knew anything about my attackers. She stated that the men who attempted to kill me might have been the group of travelers who came into town a few nights before. She said they were rather rude and she had them kicked out after they came in breaking things and demanding free drinks. She did mention that it looked like the leader was a man in a nicer checkered suit, possibly from Vegas strip as he didn’t dress like the people living in the wastes. I slid the key into my pocket as I thanked Trudy for her help and turned to walk out.

As I was leaving the saloon, I heard a familiar voice from behind me. “So are you hanging around for a bit longer?” it was followed by a bark that confirmed Sunny Smiles was sitting in the lounge of the Saloon. She told me that she was glad to see I was still hanging around Goodsprings but even happier to see that I was alive. She had told me that there were a lot of travelers leaving Goodsprings never made it to their destination. I thanked her for her help and survival tips and even told her how they had saved my life a few hours before. I asked for some directions to get to the Vegas Strip. She told me all I would have to do is follow the old interstate, I-15, North of town. She warned though that I would be better off headed South, to a town called Primm, rather than heading North. “There are creatures that way that just get mad when you shoot them.” Apparently, she had heard talk about some people headed North passed Sloan, a mining town North of Goodsprings, being savagely devoured by something in the quarry. I told her that I was going to help Trudy with something she asked me about. Sunny smiled and nodded that she knew what I was talking about. She sent me off with a “Be Careful out there.” as I walked out of the Prospector.

I made my way up the road going passed Doc Mitchell’s home office to a boarded up gas station on the outskirts of town. I put the key into the lock of the main door and eased it open. I felt a hit at the back of my head as I stumbled forward into the building. I heard the door slam behind me. As I looked up from the floor I saw a man holding a pistol aimed at my chest. The gunman demanded to know why I was there. I told him about Trudy asking me to help and the convicts looking for him. He told me the story about how he was stopped by two of the convicts on his travels. They attacked him after he refused to give them his caps. He had killed one, wounded another and managed to escape and had come to Goodsprings to hide out. Ringo offered me any of the sparse wares in the shop as an apology for attacking me. I grabbed a few ears of maize and walked out of the gas station.

<End Transmission>

[OOC] Request to “The Mojave Wasteland Survival Guide” followers. Anyone good with custom themes on here? I would like either a PIPBOY 3000 theme with the posts appearing on the screen with a frame setup to look like the PIPBOY device OR a theme that looks like an aged notebook page. If anyone has a good hand with HTML coding let me know. If not, I’ll try to dust off my coding skills.

[OOC] Looks like today is Enclave Propaganda Day! Here is one of their New America posters.

(E) Picture of The Yangtze Memorial

Date: 10.20.81 at 10:45

As I crossed the plain to reach the shack, I have come across a dead mercenary’s body. Hopefully, this is the former owner of the house I am preparing to enter. The body holds no armor or medicine that I can use; so i trek on. As I approach the door and slide it open, I pull my side arm and ready myself to take on anything that may lie within. The door creaks open it becomes obvious that the building is not currently occupied even though there is a fire burning inside. I quickly raid the items laying on the metal shelves…nothing of great use merely empty tin cans. I turn quickly to look over the items on a counter top on the opposite side of the single room building. On the floor in the corner I find a first aid kit. I quickly throw open the thin metal doors on the box. I discover a small dusty vial labeled “Anti-Venom” which I grab immediately. I feverishly search for directions on the inside of the medicine cabinet to determine how to take the medicine. Instructions advise to drink the contents of the container; measurements however have faded with time. I pull the cork from the bottle and drink its entire contents. The liquid has a pungent smell but is oddly sweet in taste. I toss the bottle to the floor and quickly grab the rest of the contents of the first aid kit. As I make my way back to the door I spot a machete that I shove in my pack as well as a long metal pole with a grip on one end and a ball shaped head on the other side. I don’t even look back before exiting the building and making my way back outside.

The effects of the medicine hit me slowly. I exit the home and head left up a hill a few yards away. I notice a large white monument some hundred yards away and decide it would make a good vantage point to make sure no one returns home before deciding to use the abandoned shelter as my own. By the time I reach the monument, the anti-venom has kicked in and I have started feeling better. From here I could see the cemetery hill, the road leading down to Goodsprings, the plain leading up to the shack and even a beautiful landscape of the old highway down below the monument. There was a plaque dedicating the site as Yangtze Memorial. (E) The inscription explained how to was built in memory of the American soldiers who gave their lives at the campaign in China at the Yangtze River. A list of names of those lost in that battle below on an inscription as well. There were fresh graves on the ground near the base of the steps and a few signs made of wooden boards and paint at the edge of the cliff opposite them. Obviously, the graves were not of the bodies of soldiers lost in the conflict but more than likely more unfortunate people wandering the wastes. I would guess that the same fate that met the mercenary I saw on the way to the shack cost these people their lives as well. They were not my concern now however…my concern was watching the North to see if anyone approaches the shelter…I have to know it’s safe.

<End Transmission>

[OOC] Enclave Recruitment Poster for those Enclave fans.

[OOC] New California Republic Propaganda Poster

(D) Made my way back to town