OPEN EXPEDITION Phantom Fallout Fae: Unmasking the Mystery of the Missing Munitions

[littlekreen]

Unmasking the Mystery of the Missing Munitions​

West of Lake Okeechobee is deep marshland crisscrossed by canals, which formed a natural enclave, though too far from the Everglades to be from the fen folk. The Mossbacks ruled this particular territory, general menaces sprinkled along state Route 78 with habits of deception and surprise attacks using the swamp and IEDs. A Defiant Sisters patrol on the east-west route, north of the lake, was looking for a merchant gone missing that day. As they located the merchant's remains the caravan looted and bodies of the fallen now cold. After stopping to bury the bodies an oncoming high-pitched roar circled the site with its unknown source heading south toward the lake. Shortly afterward, the patrol unfortunate enough to be at ground zero experienced a greater cause of alarm as well as some in the nearby settlement. A bellow of gatorclaw mounted the road double timing south in chase of the noise and straight into the swamp nearly going over the top of them. Gunshots rang everywhere from the patrol until the stragglers left to the swampy side of Route 78 wreaking utter havoc as they advanced into bandit territory. Several injuries from difficult to dissuade gatorclaw forced a retreat from the area to a small field base in the former Raulerson Hospital to report the carnage and tend their casualties. Smoke rose on the horizon as explosions and fires rang out in the distance.​

Given their lack of resources and the nature of the threat, they've raised a bounty for information on the missing shipment as well as a general recon of the Mossbacks with those among them or allies to direct interested parties to inquire at the hospital. While the Defiant Sisters were mum on the nature of the shipment from whoever one hears of the offer they're very clear it's not a suicide mission to clear out gatorclaw. The mossbacks have something it's better they not have but sudden complications are how it goes in the wasteland. The hospital has seen better days but its relative intactness left merchants and mercs passing through until it was worth it for a few to settle down. There's often a few wandering merchants though nobody stays for long this close to the raider territory.​

 

[rissa]

Whisper Lacey

two blocks due south of Raulerson Hospital | @littlekreen



Broken glass and metal detritus lined these parts, fragments of the old world that never ceased to pile up and become one hazard after another. How many times had a broken crunch of glass sent a ghoul after her? How many times had she rolled her ankle on a bent tin can? Whisper was angsty, one part frustrated and one part paranoid, confused at the flow of events that had transpired. She could have sworn she heard a bellowing call, a cry, and an intense shoot out that followed. It wasn't wise, per say, to follow the sound of gunfire, but Whisper wasn't necessarily the wisest.

A few blocks north and to the east she'd find a hospital, thereabouts at least, having trekked through this area years and years ago, back before the Mossbacks and the northern raiders grew closer together. Still, Whisper hoped she'd run into friendlies and not— folks she'd potentially have to kill.

 

[Letter Bee]

Andrew Rivers and Leonid Tannhauser

The two young men approaching the hospital seemed to be normal soldiers at first, clad in combat armor and carrying perfectly respectable weaponry; not state-of-the-art, but not bottom-tier ones either. It was the collars around their necks that indicated they were not free men; but rather 'Gladiators' owned by one of those Trade Barons in Pensacola who promised good fighters freedom in exchange for service, and surprisingly kept said promises, not wanting to impact their chattel's productivity. Nevertheless, the two, judging by their faces, were new to Florida and the swamps but not to the reality of combat, as can be seen in their eyes.

Andrew Rivers and Leonid Tannhauser still carried a flicker of hope in their hearts, hope that they can get free (easy enough), get out of Florida (harder), and get back to the NCR (very hard).

As the brown mud of the unkept trail was squelched by their combat boots, the crude 'base' came in sight.

At the sight of guards (a scant few, nothing more), the two raised their hands and waved to signal that they were friends and waited for permission to enter the area. When given such, they'd notice that the base was small, the merchants who had set up shop here few with relatively poor wares, and the mercs even fewer. Either way, they had been told by their Master, the man who currently owned them, to make contact with a Defiant Sisters patrol that was in the area and if they weren't hostile to working with enslaved folk, to aid them in their current endeavors, whatever they may be.

Under no circumstances were they permitted to ask for early liberation - The Panama Canal Zone slavers were the couple's main way back to the NCR and The Owner had enough pull to ask them to block their way back west if they were not legally free. Like it or not, the good offices of the Pensacola Barons were essential if they were ever to return home to California, to the NCR.

That didn't mean that Andrew had to like it, while Leonid was actively pondering trying to find some other means of heading back west; maybe a fixed-up airplane or an airship? Either way, the two were now deeper within the former hospital grounds, with Leonid looking for merchants or the Sisters' Patrol while Andrew took the rear and scanned the area for threats - Perfectly professional behavior; their Owner had forced them and the other remnants of the NCR Panama Expedition, to keep themselves trained and sharp because he valued professionalism in his pets.

That didn't mean they had to like it. Either way, Leonid would be the first of the two to speak for a long while, asking a nearby merchant, "Excuse me, but has a Sisters Patrol been here recently? For that matter, any Bandits or Critters that need killing?"