read part one here
As Chance, Gadget, and Remington stepped outside of Vault 4 for the first time, they truly saw the devastation of the war which, to now, had been an old story of a bad memory. Emerging into daylight for the first time in their lives, they could see the span of the impact crater that held their now damaged and under-supported vault. Across the gap to the crater wall, the Angels gang had built up a bridge of scaffolding, leading to switchbacks, and finally up to the crater's edge.
Atop the crater, they were met with a sight they weren't prepared for. What, at first, appeared to them to be a decayed corpse in the road, stood and introduced himself. He called himself Drengo, and explained a little about ghouls like himself. He'd been walking the wastes for some time, and was in the market for a crew to join up with to make the journeying through the Denver wasteland a little safer.
It wasn't easy to trust some unknown stranger of even-less-known species; but the heroes had very little in the way of options. The services of a guide, it seemed, merited some trust. They still held back somewhat, but did let him know that they were looking for human settlements where they could trade for goods and services, and maybe some anti-radiation medicines. Drengo suggested Vault 57, also known as Mercy Hospital.
In the olden days, Vault 57 had been subjected to an experiment wherein only those with debilitating congenital birth defects had been admitted. Few know that Vault-Tec predicted failure for Vault 57. However; the little vault pulled together, and not only did they preserve many of the medical techniques of the old world; they made some small advances. Materials being in short supply, they're still well shy of the medical miracle workers of the the pre-war world, but no better medical service can be found anywhere in Denver. Even the raider gangs are more likely to make use of their services than to risk angering the vault in an assault.
After a day's trek up the I-225 corridor, the party arrived at Mercy Hospital. Once inside, Gadget headed for the cantina, where games of chance waited for a savvy gambler with just her skills. Thanks to a few shrewd bets, the party was able to buy a few important medical supplies. She also met a (relatively) docile supermutant named Brick with glorious, half-remembered stories of his time in the Master's Army and a desire to make his way to Borealis as soon as he could find a group to travel with.
Meanwhile, Drengo was asking around about finding anti-rad medications. A young woman named Flower Daveson pointed out the way to the pharmacy where a nearly decrepit old man named Arcade Ganon was working the dispensary. If you haven't played Fallout New Vegas, that name might not mean much to you, but let's just say he was a sarcastic man in his younger days, and old age hadn't made him any more pleasant. The encounter ended with Drengo punching him in the face, and Ganon kicking Drengo out of his pharmacy.
The party regrouped and, with no real options here to help their vault find a new home, and few other options, they decided to accompany Brick, and to make their way to the supermutant community in Borealis.
. . . and so concludes part two of our journey. Hopefully I got it all right, but if any of my players are reading, they can call me out on any corrections. Session three should be a little faster in coming than session two was, wish me luck on that!
And, as always, happy gaming, all.
My favorite thing about that session is that Brikk was this grizzled old supermutant well past his prime who wouldn't stop telling stories of the glory days. This is the NPC we chose to adopt out of a crowded dining hall full of people. I think it worked in our favor that several of us are very unfamiliar with Fallout lore, or we might have avoided the supermutant and missed out on a beautiful relationship.
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