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[Silcugar]

"You're not nobody, Janice. I think that message could have been from Dr Moursey... he's always looked out for you, and I think he may have known something was coming over the hill, though I don't think it was like he anticipated..."
While Hobbes climbs and everyone converses, fiddle with my pipboy to see if it's possible to make it into a radio without tools. Note: You can actually make speakers into microphones with a bit of fiddling. Making a transmitter might take a bit of fiddling, but it's not unlikely that a pipboy might have one.

Merely implying Moursey would do such a thing for her brings back memories. Janice's father died before she was five, so Moursey acted as a father figure to her for her whole life. Checking up on her, attending her birthdays. Could it really be him? Moursey sent the message? No... it couldn't be.

You can see plainly that she's fighting back tears. Her voice cracks a bit as she says, "No, Moursey barely knew how to navigate his pipboy, he wouldn't know how to send a message to a secure terminal..." Suddenly, she remembers that she's supposed to be angry at you, so she shuts up and looks away.

You examine your pipboy to see if it's possible to turn it into a communication device. You understand how a pipboy works pretty well. The software, anyways. But you probably couldn't alter one without tools, and/or specific knowledge of the hardware involved. Attempting to do so without help or tools might result in a permanently damaged pipboy.

...

"Hey! I can see a few things in the distance... Way out to the west there's some HUGE buildings... And also, there's a town with smoke coming from it! And There's a... a city to the east. And ruins nearby, to the north. And a bunch of buildings clustered southwest of us. And more even farther south. Uh, there are a few lakes up north, I think!"

((Map update incoming...))

[Fniff]

"... I'm sorry. He wouldn't have done such a thing. He would have warned us..." Somewhere within Michael, a thought sounded off. Why did I say that? He was like a father to her, he would have warned her at least... Maybe I'm in shock. I don't feel anything. Like I'm a mile away. Maybe my mind's just focusing on making sure I don't feel anything. Making sure I don't go insane. All my friends and family are dead and I'm left in a barren world where psychotics are completely allowed to kill the innocent. No wonder I'm blathering, I'm too busy holding this tide of madness back to think about what I'm saying and in silence you can't block out your thoughts.

But, wait, what will happen when I do crack?

Michael shivered. He didn't really want to think about that.

[SomeStupidGuy]

Francis was uncharacteristically silent as he listened to the others talk.
He looked over the horizon as he contemplated the situation, a hand planted in his jumpsuit's pocket, constantly turning over one of the handful of bottle caps he'd been given by an unknown benefactor.

By now, he'd decided said benefactor had to be someone from the outside - based more out of a hope of getting some answers than hard fact, after all, if it was someone who'd lived in the vault, they aren't exactly in a position to be sharing any information. And knowing that death wasn't a certainty out here definitely solidified the thought to a degree.

He chuckles humorlessly and near silently. He hadn't thought the outside would be this pleasant looking, even if he'd thought it was livable.
At any rate, he figured, this is going to be rough, but living out here could suit him very well.

[Silcugar]

Hobbes climbs down from the rocks without issue and rejoins the group.

"Good job, Hobbes. Now we at least know what's in the area... What did you see to the west? Was it a town?"

"Uh, yeah. Smoke was coming out from one of the buildings, like a fire or something. The place to the north looked pretty broken down. There were huge buildings far southwest and a big city to the east... Which way are we going, then?"

"That's a good question. Where do you all want to go? West seems like a good bet. Fire usually means people. Or we can head for the bigger city, there has to be people there."

"We don't even know if they're friendly or not. They could be cannibals or something," Janice says, injecting some negativity into the conversation.

[scapheap]

"We just need to be careful. No running less bullets are flying. Thinking about it, if we have to split up, meet back here in three days?""

[Patrick Hunt]

"I guess, the town with a fire sounds good but we should scout it out first to make sure it's safe.

[Silcugar]

Assuming everyone agrees with the plan, the vault citizens leave their homes behind in search of civilization.

Following along the trail of destruction leading west, the group may notice that the path was carved with some combination of flame and steel. Charred stumps and fallen, scorched trees litter the area. Not that the 'non' scorched trees look any better...

After a few minutes of walking cautiously down the trail, the group comes upon something. Daniels is the first to spot it, he holds his hand up in a manner signalling a full halt. "Look... A body." The group inches closer to the corpse. It looks old. Very old. Must have been out here for a few weeks at least, seeing as how it has rotted a fair bit. The birds and animals (if those even exist anymore) must have been here, for the body is lacking a nose and ears. The clothes, however, look to be in good condition. Some kind of leather, with metal padding on the knees and shoulders. And a gun! Clutched in his hands, held against his chest, a strange looking pistol. Hobbes and Janice seems hesitant to approach the body. Even Daniels is showing some restraint.

"One of you guys without a weapon, go get that gun. You'll probably need it," Janice says after some pause.

[Patrick Hunt]

Sam closes his eyes for a moment then shakes his head and begins to check around to make sure the area is safe.

[Silcugar]

Grab his clothes and gun.

Well, we still have to respect the dead. Wherever this guy is now, I hope he understands we need to survive. Now let's give him a burial fit for a king.

Chop some wood, make a funeral pyre, light it with my glasses ((of course I have glasses)). Should be easy, since all the wood is dry.

You attempt to take the gun from the body, but to your surprise the body pulls it away from you.

A guttural, annoyed voice comes from the dead body. "Hm? What the hell do you think you're doing, smoothskin?" One of its eyes open up, and suddenly the body isn't so dead. You instinctively jump back in fear of the creature. Surely it's not human. A zombie?!

"What, you never seen a ghoul before?" he asks the group as he gets up and brushes himself off. Janice, Hobbes, and Daniels are all speechless, frozen with fear or confusion.

[Patrick Hunt]

Sam's hand twitches towards his gun for a moment before he catches himself and nervously positions himself to have a clear line of fire.

[scapheap]

Clair look at the ghoul with interest "How odd. Ah hem, I think you can guess we 'smoothskins' have not seen a ghoul before. What is a ghoul? How common are they?" Clair seem to be happy for some reason.

[Silcugar]

Ghoul, you say? That is barely possible. There is yet to be any scientific evidence as to ghouls and ghost. So, no ghoul. Someone decaying alive, probably. A mutated transhuman, maybe. With luck, a brain controlling parasite keeping the body alive. Depends on how hungry you are right now. Are you very hungry, sir?

He raises an eyebrow. "Eh, I guess I could eat... Doesn't mean I got any parasite, though."

Clair look at the ghoul with interest "How odd. Ah hem, I think you can guess we 'smoothskins' have not seen a ghoul before. What is a ghoul? How common are they?" Clair seem to be happy for some reason.

"What, did you just crawl out of some hole in the ground?" When his joke doesn't get the kind of reception he expects, he looks a bit closer at the group. Then, a look of realization hits him. "Wait a sec, those get-ups you're wearing... You did just crawl up from out of some hole in the ground! You're from that vault the Clerics wanted to get into. I'm surprised any of you are still alive, really.

"Anyways, a ghoul is someone like me. All decayed and rotting-like. When the bombs fell all those years ago, some of us survived. We weren't gonna live through that without no consequences, though. Something happened... Not sure what, exactly, but it changed us. Now we live longer, but our skin and stuff doesn't live long with us.

"And, how common? I dunno, not very. But a bunch of us live over here in Ghost Town." He points behind him with his thumb, to the west.

[Patrick Hunt]

Sam looks uneasy for a moment then sighs and holds his hand out suppressing a shudder.

" I'm Sam, mind taking us back with you? I think we need to talk with you. Btw, have you seen any girls running around here other then those with us? "

[Silcugar]

Sam looks uneasy for a moment then sighs and holds his hand out suppressing a shudder.

" I'm Sam, mind taking us back with you? I think we need to talk with you. Btw, have you seen any girls running around here other then those with us? "

"I'm Brakes," he says, reciprocating the handshake. "Girls? None you'd be interested in, hehe. Here, I'll take you to Ghost Town, where the water is brown, and the people are decaying." He holsters his gun and starts walking west.

For the rest of the trek, Brakes doesn't say much. He asks a few questions about the vault. Mostly, he's wondering if the Clerics left anything behind. When Daniels tells him they took everything, he switches topics. He occasionally points out the local flora, but you can't be sure if he's fucking with you or not.

"That's a Goosewillow Hubblecock, prized for its healing properties. Oh, and that's a Pumpernickle Supreme, very tasty." Yeah, he's probably fucking with you. After a while of this, the group reaches the edge of the forest. The ghoul's town is in sight. It doesn't look anything like the cities you've seen in the history books. Run down, decaying, and smelling of burnt rubber. The buildings have been repaired and altered by the ghouls. Sheets of metal are bolted into walls, barricades block windows, and a few towers have been built on top of the buildings. This might have been a strip mall at one point, you observe, but it has been changed into a small town. Several other ghouls are milling about the squalor. Brakes calls to them, and several wave back.

"Ah, home sweet home! What d'you think, smoothies? Not quite as nice as your vault, but it's pretty decent compared to most places here on the surface."

A woman approaches. She wears a similar garb to Brakes: leather studded with metal. "These folks from the vault, I take it?" she says, taking notice of the groups jumpsuits.

"Yeah, survivors. They told me there's nothing left to take, so I guess I failed." He gives an apologetic shrug.

"Whatever. Not like I expected much from you, anyways." She turns her attention to the vault dwellers. "So I guess you lot are thinking of doing something dumb and suicidal, like going after the Clerics?"

"Yes, we are! Everything we know was obliterated!" Janice responds. "There's no way we're gonna let them live after what they did!"

The woman raises an eyebrow. "Is that how the rest of you feel? You want to charge to your deaths?"

[scapheap]

"We not charging, we are going to find a place to call home, get weapons, allies and plans. Then we charge to their death."