Mojave Wasteland Survival Guide

[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.

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[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.

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[OOC] Enclave Recruitment Poster for those Enclave fans.

[OOC] New California Republic Propaganda Poster

(D) Made my way back to town

Date: 10.20.81 at 8:20

I awoke at the top of the ridge where I slept. None of the traps had been set off and none of my equipment was missing so I had to assume that nothing had been able to get to the top of the ridge. I decided to climb down the front of the face of the cliff rather than leaving back the way I had come up the night before. On the descent, I noted that there were a few oddly placed red balls, almost at random. I reached the bottom and found myself behind one of the Goodsprings wells. From there I followed the path up through town to the General Store. (D) I walked into the shop and approached Chet. We talked briefly as I traded him the gecko hides and giant mantis legs that I had taken as trophies. I noticed in Chet’s store stock that he had a silencer that looked to be compatible with the rifle that Sunny had given me. I handed a few caps over to Chet to cover the difference in cost and excitedly made my way outside to check the new equipment I had bought.

I didn’t have any intentions of leaving Goodsprings anytime soon so I figured I could meet Trudy later that day. I headed off to the area East of the cemetery to find some small wild life to hunt. I walked off the dirt path to a small rock overlooking the clearing below cemetery hill. I spotted something moving off in the distance. I raised the rifle and took aim. I heard a faint beep from my wrist as I fired off a round. I heard a sound in the distance and saw a huge tail raise into the air. The creature that I had fired a shot at in full frame now. It was a giant scorpion and it was rushing me now. I hurriedly fired off the other four rounds stopping the creature in its tracks. I began to walk forward to claim my trophy off the body of my kill when I heard the snapping of claws and hurried clambering of hard insect legs against the desert soil. I looked in the direction of of the sound to see two scorpions each one three times the size of the one I had just killed. They crossed the open plain with ease and before I could turn to run they were on me.

I scrambled backwards up the hill to the cemetery fumbling to reload the rifle. I moved under the relative safety of the water tower hoping it would hold off the invasion that I was facing down. The Giant RadScorpions weren’t able to squeeze their huge frames through the small opening in the metal girders supporting the tower. They pinched and clawed at me but to no avail. I was able to fire off a shot that hit the body perfectly. The bullet just hit the shell though and bounced off. I fired three more shots in the same spot. This weakened and cracked the hard shell. I prepared another five shots to be loaded in as I fired the last shot in the chamber. As I reloaded, the second monster approached from my left and thrust hard with it’s huge stinging tail. The attack landed solidly in my left thigh forcing me to scream on in agony. The poisonous barb pulled out of my leg as the creature whipped its tail backward. Blood flowed freely from the wound and I could feel toxins almost immediately surging through my body. It was only accelerated by the rush of adrenaline hit me. If I didn’t act quickly I would surely die here.

I slammed a round into the feeder on the rifle and pulled the trigger back hard. Nothing. I aimed again this time on one of the eyes of my new threat while trying to be mindful of the wounded scorpion who was still clawing at me. Click. Nothing. I cursed to myself as I dropped the rifle and rolled under the far side of the cold steel of the water tower. I tried to climb back to my feet but I could feel the toxins slowing my reaction time. I reached for my sidearm and managed to fire a perfect shot at the already wounded attacker. It attempted to turn and flee as three more rounds hit and brought the monster to a stop. The second scorpion was now my only remaining concern. Rather than pursue me around the water tower, it continued pushing forward. Snapping its claws and lunging it’s tail as it attempted to kill me. I retrained my aim and set the sights of my 10mm pistol on it’s eyes but my arms locked and froze up and the shot hit one of the steel beams instead. I reached into my side pouch feeling for one of the medical syringes Doc Mitchell had given me. Finding one I jammed it into my left leg just above the wound as I pushed the metal plunger down. My focus cleared itself and I felt time slow again. This time I fired four shots two rounds at each of the creatures main two eyes. The beast stopped moving. Somehow I had managed to kill it with critical shots that must have hit the beast’s brain.

I took a deep breath as I fell to the ground. I tore a piece of cloth from my pack and tied it around the wound on my leg. The medicine may have helped but there was no way to know how long it would hold off the poison flowing through my blood stream. In the distance across the plains I saw a makeshift shack. I made my way toward it. It might not be the best idea but it may be my only chance at survival. I drug my near lifeless leg as I made my way toward my safe house.

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