Vat:01 Orientation

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Starring: Joseph, Joe, Pauline, Amiri, Sophia, Steve
Guest Starring: Constance, Rahl Dhamm (Biker-Terrorist), Eunice, Jorgen, Patty
Challenge: Rahl Dhamm (Biker-Terrorist); Werebear and Werewolf
Location: VAT Building, Blawnox Bus Garage
Date Played: 25 May 2012

Snipe, Chase, Explode—Welcome the VAT

Joseph: So I reckon that it is odd that I'm being paid a hells of a lot more than I was at the university to join the VAT as a researcher, but then there is a whole lot that I just don't git about this century. I like to think that I'm adaptin' well enough but then right outta tha blue that girl Eunice's head flies apart like a melon hit with a hammer.

That is the life I remember, 'fore the binding. Rough days.

Ever'body reacts rather calmly to the situation but quickly. My grandson, of sorts, bolts out the door straight into danger. I draw out my scope, no gun, and will my essence through the lens catchin' sight of the fella that done this. With a glance I commit his face and body language to memory. I stop looking through the lens just in time to catch the train going outta the station and after this guy. I hang on for dear life as we strike a ditch, which inspires me. I send out my will ahead of the bike and collapse a portion of the road, PennDot style. As I reckon'd, he upended. This allowed us to catch the black hat.

Amiri: This is quite an interesting group of people. I assume that I got this position with VAT on my helping with the community and my connections with the police department. I'm not quite sure what vulnerabilities this group deals with, but after my dealings in Africa, I can't imagine the situations being much worse.

Well, I guess I have been wrong more than once. Just as our meeting was wrapping up a shot took off Eunice's head (what ever happened to no called shots Daryl) from the building across the street. I sprung into action, blocking the others from getting shot while Joe ran to the window to get a bead on the culprit.

Once the room was cleared and Constance and Jorgin got to the safe room we went after the shooter. The chase was very short lives as a pot hole came out of nowhere and took the bike out from under the shooter. This didn't stop him for long, though, as he decided to spray my vehicle and winged me with a shot. It wasn't too serious and I swung around to the side of the vehicle.

While moving into position, I noticed that the rest of the group exhibited some abnormal abilities. This was somewhat a relief as the terrorist would not go down to traditional fire. I was able to draw down on the nearby anguish of the local workers to greatly strengthen myself and I was able to take out the terrorist with one blow. This was especially lucky since it looked like he was going for a grenade.

Pauline: If there's one thing I don't like, it's being lied to. This job promised a high salary and flexible hours, and describe my role as "Community Relations". So of course, not even 5 minutes into my first day, I see the CEO's head blown off.

Now I'm sitting there, soaked in blood, my first day of work has suddenly turned into a life or death struggle. Jorgin and Constance shrivel up like testicles in an icy pool, but before they retract completely into their "safe room", they tell us to deal with this sniper.

'Alright,' I think, 'we'll deal with him. Then we're having a nice conversation about what we actually do here.'

That's when I start to notice that our team comes together pretty well. I can feel Brigid's hand in this- she even gave me the strength to turn aside a hail of bullets while the team finished taking the sniper down.

Steve: So, there we were introducing ourselves, taking in info on what exactly VATs is(I'm still not entirely sure), and being given our first mission. Then, BAM, our boss gets her head blown off. Holy shit. Everyone freaks out. I guess it was a sniper of some sort, so the obvious thing to do is to chase after the dude. He hops on a motorcycle. Who the fuck rides a motorcycle in the winter? So A gets on his jeep and we give chase. Thankfully these roads are terribly maintained and he hits a pothole, flinging him off of his bike. Then I set him on fire and he died. Oh, he also had a grenade but my Jedi telekinesis failed to do anything to do. I think I need to practice that.

Turns out, he only had a fake ID and 200 bucks on him. And a grenade. In retrospect, we should probably gather his guns. He had an SMG, but before he was using a sniper rifle?

Sophia: The first day at the new office did not go well. After being told that our first assignment would be to track down some missing children (an excellent mission if I've ever heard one), we are quickly reassigned to investigate the assassination of the CEO. Clearly, we're an excellent choice to take on this mission, since she was killed in front of us and the shooter will be trying to get away. My first concern, after assessing that Eunice had no chance of survival, was to make sure no one else had been injured. Seeing that all others were unscathed, I followed the group out the door to try and catch the assassin.

Anticipating a chase, I jumped into Amiri's Jeep, but we soon found ourselves narrowly avoiding a giant pothole that had swallowed up the suspect's motorcycle. Through unconventional means, I was able to ascertain that the suspect is a known terrorist and that he had a grenade on his person. I shared this information with my coworkers, who attempted to neutralize the grenade and the suspect. He shot and injured Amiri, to whom I administered first aid, which I'm afraid did little for his extensive injuries. My coworkers were able to subdue the suspect.

Boom Goes the Dynamite

Amiri: Once we got the terrorist going by the false name of Rahl Dhamm under wraps, we hurried back to the VAT building. I had a huge lead on the rest of the group and made it to the door first. This was a good thing as I took the brunt of the explosion that took down the building and in my enraged state it could have been the only one to survive it.

We were able to dig out the safe room and we found that Constance and Jorgin were safe. This was a great relief among the oddity that was Eunice's body missing from the scene of the explosion. But not only was her body missing, but there wasn't a drop of blood to be found. Well except on our clothes. Wait... where are my clothes!

Pauline: I wanted to run back and help the team secure the building, but Steve needed help securing our terrorist sniper. In the end, that's a good thing- the building blows up.

Stop for a moment. Step back and take a look at the first five minutes of my working day. I show up with brownies, with nothing more exotic in them than a few walnuts. My job's community relations, which doesn't play to my professional background, but does pay a lot. I show up wearing a skirt, fer chrissakes. I meet my new co-workers, and then I'm told that they want me to find missing children. Fine, sounds like good work. Then blam. The CEO is dead. Then kaboom, turns out the sniper was just a diversion so somebody could plant a bomb.

Talk about expectations being subverted. We get back to the building, find the saferoom, and confirm that Jagoff Jorgi and Cuntface Connie are fine. They drive off in a fancy car and tell us to meet them in an hour.

Steve: Okay, so we're sitting around an almost dead terrorist. Me and Pauly tie him up while A goes back to base. Bad move, A. The building blows up. Somehow, our remaining bosses are okay. Despite the loss of the VATS base, they want to continue on, we going to have to meet them at "that gyro place" in the south side.

Sophia: And then the Vat building explodes. Well, obviously not the whole building, just a good portion of it. In retrospect, I believe this was done to conceal the removal of Eunice's body from the scene and to further throw the organization into chaos. Constance seems calm enough about it, however. She and the head of security (well done, sir, by the way) flee immediately after it is determined that it is safe to do so and we agree to meet up in a back-up location in an hour.

New Assignment—Find Missing Children

Joseph: We meet at this greek place ov'r at the south side, where we are given the assignment of finding some lost children. Some of us new folk are a bit up in arms about it, with, well the assassination we just saw. I fir one am glad to have the assignment. Them younguns need more help than some CEOs and business owners. I would note that I have nothing against them, I just think that the wee folk are less capable, and more needin' of the help.

Amiri: When we met at the gyro place in the South Side we were given a meal and reconfirmed that our primary objective is to find some missing kids. This came as conflictual news as we now have an assassin gunning for those that work for VAT. I'd be considering quitting if it weren't for the fact that we are doing a lot of good looking for these missing kids and bringing happiness back to their families.

After being told to stick together because it is dangerous for us out there, we decided to split up and look for clues. After pooling our resources, we found that the children were kidnapped from among the same bus company, Monarch. We set out to look for clues.

Pauline: We got ourselves cleaned up as best we could. Amri has a nice place in Shadyside. We get to the gyro place on the South Side and Jorgi and Connie introduce Patty, their "statistician". Yeah, like I'm "Community Relations". They give us the rundown: yep, terrorists, yep, they've got another team on it, and yep, the want us to focus on the children.

Oh, and by the way, we're all in danger. Excuse me? I have a house full of kids. At the moment, I tell myself 'There are some missing kids. You can just do this one job and get out. You can't leave these missing kids out.' That's what I tell myself anyway, but even then, I know I'm in this for the long haul.

I hurry home and make sure Sammy and the other kids are okay. The next day, I redd up best I can, and I have the team over for breakfast, introduce them all around. We make our plans over the general chaos and din. For my part of the research, I hit a dead end- I talk to one of the parents of the local boy. I tell them that it's not too late and they shouldn't give up hope.

Fuck me. I hate it when I do that.

Steve: So, we head over to our new meeting place to get some more info on our mission. We're to find these missing kids. Personally, with everything going on, I'm not giving two shits about kids that should be on the side of milk cartons - but I'm guessing that VATS has a good reason to believe that there's some supernatural connection between everything. I took a good look at the file and figured out that all the missing kids rode buses from the same bus company. Time to head over to the bus garage to check it out.

Splat: Wait. This isn't right. I teleported wrong. I'm not good with computers.

Sophia: The back-up location turns out to be a gyro place. It doesn't seem secure to me, but I'm no expert. Our primary mission continues to be investigating the missing children. This is fine by me, as the assassination business seemed to be like throwing us into the deep end of the pool.

For safety reasons, we decide to stay at Pauline's that night. The next morning, I call up the family to see if they've heard anything about the kids. I get the brush off. Typical family bullshit: they're only interested in me when there's a body to hide or evidence to fabricate.

Bus Depot of Doom

Joseph: We do a mighty fine job of researchin' where the missin' children might be and we turn up the fact that they all rode on buses from the same provider. We head out to the depot and on the way I hatch a plan to get us into Dodge. We'll get on like there is a big community problem with the buses and they need inspectin', with a couple of our gang to be worried parents. There was a whole lotta hollabaloo about who was doin' what and in the end it turned out to be too much plan, as the place was empty.

Now that Pauline, she's a spitfire and nearly broke into the place the rough way with a pipe. Fortunately we talked her outta it and I got us in as slippery as a snake. I used my ability to commune with the land, which turned out to be tarnished. This both disturbed me and confirmed that we were on the right track. Especially when that girl found the dead boy's spirit.

Rummaging around the depot we turn up the rugrats but we also kick up a hornet's nest. Once again, that grandson o' mine goes charging forward without a lick of sense. When I see him later, I see that he's got some bruises and maybe a cracked rib for his trouble, so here's to hopin' that he learns a thing or two.

During the fight I make the best use of defensive magics as I reckon I can. I do it to save the lives of the gang, especially when I realize that our opponents ain't human. At least, not fully. They are what the Sioux called Sugmanitu Tonka, or big wolves. I think we've all seen the movies call 'em werewolves. The one inside the depot was all wolf, but the one outside with my kin was a werebear.

Amiri: They decided to make a ruse to get into the bus depot. This took a long time on their end and really was a lot more difficult than telling the truth. Sometimes I just don't get people.

The old man was able to sneak us inside after having Pauline calm down. We were very cautious since there was a car outside of the building and no one answered the door when we knocked. Chances were pretty high that it was the culprit.

While at the bus station, I sense a great deal of suffering. It was either a very deranged person, or the suffering of the children. This was also coupled with the fact that Sophia drawing a spirit of one of the dead kids into her. We found that it was Cory and he was killed by a big, hairy, ugly guy with bad, yellow teeth.

Around this time we heard a motorcycle come up the drive. I went and hid on top of a bus while Joe went to investigate. By investigate, I mean go and beat the guy that just pulled up with a bat. In the end, it turned out that the guy could turn into a bear and was none too happy, so I guess it was a lucky preemptive strike.

While this was going on, Steve, Sophia, and I were trying to get two of the kids that we found out of the bus depot and to safety. I noticed that Joe was soon losing the battle with the man-bear and I tried to scare the thing off by altering myself to be as big as possible. Though it didn't scare him, it did entice the creature to come after me. It didn't matter in the end, though, as Sophia shot it, knocking it to near unconsciousness.

With the path cleared, I turned my attention to the wolf-man that I heard Pauline and Joseph yell about. I guess I scared that one off since we couldn't find him and there were sirens blaring in the distance. We decided to stay and talk to the police about the missing kids we found. The idea of the mission was not only to save lives, but let the police know that they can reach out to us for their tougher cases.

Pauline: We get to the bus depot, and after we have some conversation about what needs done to get in, we break in without too much trouble. The rest of the team does some spooky-making to try and sense things, and before too long, we find two of the missing kids. Sadly, that's the best we're going to do- Sophia finds the ghost of one of the victims. It doesn't take a genius to realize that there are probably more.

I get Sophia and Steve onto a bus with the kids and tell them to hightail it out of here. The rest of us can stay behind and look for others (fat chance) or more likely, hold off pursuit. That plan goes about as well as Bubby Brister's career is going. Steve totaled the bus in only a few seconds, and there's a big clusterfuck outside the front door, meaning the kids aren't getting out easily.

I hear the chaos outside and inside I see a giant fucking wolf. Well, two and two together, I need to keep this wolf busy while Steve and Sophie try and get out of here. I call upon Brigid, heft her Flaming Sword, and then basically let the wolf chew use me as a chew toy, because that's about how effective I was at hitting it.

Outside, the boys kill some big bear monster. Inside, the wolf makes a break for it. Amri and I try and hunt it down, but with no luck.

Most of us scoot before the cops arrive. I have a feeling that's going to be a common refrain for the foreseeable future.

Steve: So, we go into the bus place. There's one car outside and the door is locked. We get it open and I manage to cut the wires on the alarm. Not long after we find some of the missing kids tied up in the back of the short bus. Then we found a guest. Some kind of bear-man. He looked pretty tough. I tried to run him over with bus after hot wiring it, but my driving skills could use some work. I missed horribly and crashed into a wall. Shit. Failing that, I set him on fire and he died. Much more effective. Oh, there was also some kind of wolf-man as well.

So, after this the we heard the pig sirens and high tailed it out of there. Mission accomplished.

Post Session/free time/shopping/downtime

Joseph: Some time with the local doc would do me some good. While my injuries heal I'll insert a fresh sheet o' ruled paper with the Lycanthrope page in my Monstrous Compendium, whereas I can jot down my notes on the critters we faced. This binder was a mighty nice gift from my former students. Shame that a lot of the information is wrong and some of the critters are fictions. Why the hell would a critter naturally evolve into a chest? Mimic my ass.

Amiri: Some hospital time would be nice, or at least some in home nursing to take care of these wounds. Despite the showers, I still feel like I've got pieces of brick stuck to me. Also, it looks like I'm going to need to buy lots of extra clothes. Oh, and get my jeep repaired. I'm sure there are some forms I can fill out to get compensated for this. While I'm at it, I should look for someone in charge of supplies. By looking at Joe's wounds, we could really use Kevlar vest for the less hardy of the group if things stay this dangerous.

Spandex! I could get one of those things and wear it under my clothes. Even put the VAT symbol on it. That should be good enough to hold out when my bulk increases. I'll have to look into this.

Pauline: I'm not feeling super great, though I'm in way better condition than Amri. And I can't really check myself into the hospital- I'll talk to Cuntface Connie about getting some home nursing. I've got too many errands to run to be off my feet for too long, and the first one is visiting the kid's parents to let them know: your son is dead, but we got one of the bastards responsible. Nobody else is going to get taken like that.

If I can make it through that conversation without completely losing my shit, I'll take that as a major victory.

The other thing I've noticed is that a short piece of rebar isn't enough to slow down terrorists or werewolves. I need a small purse-sized sword, like one of those Roman-style dealies. I'd have to hit the library to look up the name. I could buy one from that cheesy shop that also sells bongs, but I'd probably be better off trying to make one myself. And to do that means a forge. One of the BBSes Steve showed me had instructions for making a backyard forge; I can use dirt, old bricks, and scrounge up a blower fan from someplace and do it on the cheap- I need to save cash to buy a new water pump before the one in my car finally dies. (OOC: I expect this to be the start of a longer-term project.)

Steve: I think we need a van to fit us all in one ride. Like a big A-team van. That would be sweet. Could we acquire a company van? If not, anyone have any money?