Gwendolyn Corner of Vault 73 sets out into the wasteland hoping to discover the source of a mysterious radio signal that appeared on her 18th birthday.

Believing the coded message was sent by her missing-and-presumed-dead parents, Gwendy sets out North, on the hunting trails she knew they once used to trap game.

THROUGH THE WOODS

@ Gwendy Travels North
d: Travel to Unexplored Location -> -1 Supply
=> A drink of water from her Vault 73 Canteen and a snack.

Gwendy exits Fort 73 and follows the common road until it bends, leaving it in favor of the stag trails her Dad and Mum hunted on years ago. Large trees stretch their curled limbs to the sky, and thick scrub brush snags on her braid as she ducks through the overgrowth.

The dense path makes for slow going as she picks her way through the woods for the better part of the day. Not much has changed since she was last allowed out this far, and then only in the company of her folks to begin to learn what they did for a living. Most of what her Mum knew about hunting came from books before Dad was in the picture, and afterwards they were inseparable, trapsing as far as they needed to until they caught their quarry.

EXPLORE Map Cell 7, North of Vault 73:

d: Generate Inhabitants 1d20=2 -> WASTELAND
d: Generate Icons 1d20=3 -> Restaurant/Diner
d: Generate Wasteland Truth 1d20=12 -> Claustrophobic
=> The ruins of the Pinegrail Lodge jut from a tangle of dislodged, burned and tumbled trees. The peeling paint on the structure's log walls and its yawning glassless windows are all the differentiate it from the surounding chaos.

Throughout the day Gwendy carefully picks her way through the woods, careful of her footfalls and keeping both eyes and ears peeled for any sign of danger. The day passes uneventfully and the sun makes its course through the sky until nearly setting in the west. She begins to think about shelter when the thin path in the thicket gives way to a grassy clearing. She stands by the gnarled trunk of a grey, diseased tree and takes it in: A wide yard with the overgrown humps of pre-War vehicles in it, probably a parking lot. A building emerges from the brick-a-brack, painted logs, windows and the rotted slope of a A-frame structure, bookended by wings of rooms on either side. Perceiving nothing in the yard she walks towards the building until a sign becomes legible: The Pinegrail Lodge - Family Rates Available - ENJOY YOUR STAY! A hand painted Vault Boy with a plaid shirt and an axe grins beside the words of welcome.

Gwendolyn decides this might be a decent place to bed down for the night. Maybe she could find a room inside the lodge with a real bed! She can see from the front door that someone has heaped furniture to block that entrance, so she decides to squeeze herself in through a window with only a cabinet partially blocking it from inside.

d: Generate Encounter 1d20=10 -> HOLOTAPE
=> An old Holotape is buried in the dirt. Playing it reveals a message that leads to a SIDE QUEST (p.146) 
=> What NPC(p.177) left this here? 

d: Generate NPC:
d: Generate Faction 1d20=17 -> MERCENARY
d: Random Name=Louise Powell
d: NPC age 1d20=2 -> Child (?)
d: NPC Demeanor 1d20=17 -> Odds 1d20=2 -> Bitter
d: NPC Distinctive Features 2d20=16,12 -> Distinctive Voice (sounds younger than Gwendy), Deathclaw Skull (helmet?)
d: NPC Profession 1d20=11 -> Hunter
d: NPC Secret 1d20=13 -> Meets up regularly with strangers, no one knows who or why. 
d: NPC Truth 1d20=20 -> Deceptively Young 

=> Louise Powell is a mercenary hunter, not unlike Gwendy's father was before associating with the 73rs. Her voice is high and thin, but she spits her words with a tired and bitter venom, the weight of her rough passage through this world having taken its toll. 

Generate Side Quest
d: Generate Reward 2d20=14 -> Ranged Weapon (generate 2, choose 1)

Weapon #1
d: Generate Condition 1d20=19 -> Sturdy, Reliable, Thick
d: Generate Ranged Weapon 2d20=17,3(20) -> Pipe Gun (Value 1)

Weapon #2
d: Generate Condition 1d20=10 -> Grimy, Weathered, Scratched
d: Generate Ranged Weapon 2d20=13,16(29) -> Scoped Hunting Rifle (Value 3)

=> Makes a lot of sense that an experienced Merc hunter would possess a Scoped Hunting Rifle, so I'll go with that

Generate Side Quest cont...

d: Generate Goal Type 1d20=13 -> Purpose (p.210)
d: Generate Purpose 1d20=18 -> Saved by Mysterious Stranger, help find/repay them. We'll workshop this a bit...

d: What happened when the stranger saved them?
-> Louise was saved by a man and woman who traveled from the South when a rabid Yao'Guai nearly overtook her.   

d: What little details do they remember that might help find them?
-> The message on the tape recounts a pitched battle, three hunters against the fury of the monstrous Yao'Guai, one in which they all barely survived. The battle ended in a draw with all parties injured. Louise was led to the Pinegrail Lodge and patched up. She was never able to thank them for the help by the man & woman who must have left shortly after she was stabilized, having fallen unconscious.

Maybe the Holotape is a message to the two that saved her, hoping they'd come back this way at some point and check to see if she was still there. The message may include instructions on finding her so that she could properly pay them back for the help. 

It takes Gwendy a while to make her way inside from the window, pushing her Vault Tek supply pack through first, then hauling herself in. Sure enough tree-fall striking the roof has collapsed quite a bit of the main building and made junk strewn corridors difficult to navigate. Twice she has to get down on all fours to press through a junction, and by her estimation it takes almost fifteen minutes to cross the main floor of the building.

Eventually she encounters what must bet the check-in counter of the Lodge. Fliers and information about the business litter the ground like a rotting carpet. Investigating the gloom reveals a small smattering of very old, dry blood and an unlabeled holotape on an overturned drawer. Curious, she picks it up, blows off a thin layer of dust and slots it into her PipBoy to listen...

Mysterious Holotape Recording

The message on it plays as follows:

(The tape begins with the ambient sounds of wind, creaking boards, something wooden shifting and falling, followed by a quiet curse from a child-like voice)

Voice: "Shit... nearly re-broke my toes, this whole building is falling in on itself."

(More scuffling, shuffling sounds then an exaggerated grunt as the person recording sits heavily on the ground)

Voice: "I can't stay here long, that fucking Yao'Guai has come back twice since I woke up in the lobby, sniffing at the tables blocking the door. Might be able to find a service exit in the back, if I can crawl through this fucking junk. I'm leaving a holo on the off chance that Jennifer-lady and her boy Nathan happen back this way to check if I'm still clinging to this shitty life. Probably won't happen..."

(The girl speaking on the tape can't be older than Gwendy, very possibly younger. She does an excellent impression of an haggard old survivor that would be funny if it wasn't so serious in tone.

Voice: "Passed out and woke up here. They must have dragged me from the yard out front. Did a real pretty job keeping the mashed bag of my toes together, even cleaned up the gash on my forehead (ouch!)"

Voice: "No chance to thank em like I should have though, regret that. (bitterly) Didn't ask for them to step in and help. I'm no prissy bitch-princess that needs saving! Except this time I did... I'd have given them my beat up old Dead Eye in trade if they had just hung around a few hours but what can you do.

Voice: "Hey Jenny, if you get this tape look for me--Louise Powell--on the bluffs to the East. I've got a shipping can up in a big old tree, see the whole way around 24/7. Keep out in the open and I'll spot you, know you aren't one of those creepy bastards from the Nest. If I'm still alive, that is."

(The sound of a bottle cap being removed from a vessel, loud sipping and swallowing briefly take over the tape in concert with the sounds of the wind, the wasted forest and creaking lodge)

Louise, swallowing: "Oh and if this is some random do-gooder who wants to add a chapter to the hilarious farce of my cursed life: Bring me the Yao'Guai's head and I'll gild your lilies too, no complaint. Just don't sneak up to my pad or I'll let your blood out like I shoulda done to that fucking rad-bear. Shit."

(The clicking of the holotape ceasing is the final punctuation recorded)

A Clue

Gwendy would have dropped her PipBoy if it wasn't latched to her left arm securely when the strange, high pitched voice on the tape mentioned the names Jennifer and Nathan. Her parents! It has to be them! They were here, RIGHT HERE with this Louise girl. Despite a gulf of years this is the closest she's felt to them since they were last together as a family. Seeking affirmation, she turns her PipBoy's radio to the odd bleeping signal she is certain is being transmitted by them for her to hear. It is only an on-off-pause code, no voices or words, but they feel like a lullaby to her as she leans against the lodge's counter.

Some time passes and Gwendy dozes off in the fading light, oblivious to the shadowy shape approaching the lodge, following her scent across the field to the front of the building...

The Pinegrail Yao Guai

Gwendy awakes with a start to the crashing sound of splintering wood. Her first thought is that the vault is collapsing, something she's been assured isn't possible since she was a kid. The second is that the Fort outside has been struck by a nightmarish Rad-nado again and has crumbled at the door of the Vault. She blinks in the dusty near-darkness of the Lodge's claustrophobic main room. Loud wuffling grunts come through the splintering sounds along with a horribly musty and sour smell of decay. She pushes her head into a gap in the logs above the counter and tries to see through to the front of the building and sure enough she catches a glimpse: matted fur, boiling flesh and sharp teeth. Eyes that nearly glow with reflected moonlight!

It has her scent and knows she's inside. If she wasn't so terrified she'd feel a deep kinship with the Powell girl who must have gone through something very similar. She's reasonably confident that the Yao Guai can't reach her here, but what to do? The holotape said that the wounded Louise thought she could find a path through to a rear exit... She must have gone out that way.

ENCOUNTER: Pinegrail Yao Guai

=> The FOE has a threat of 3 as indicated on its stat block. 3 Successes are required to defeat it, which means G will have to employ strategy for a chance of overcoming it and completing the SIDE QUEST. 
=> To accomplish this, I could use the Outwit Action to try and gain an advantage and at least reduce the threat to 2.
=> Oppose Action (combat) will also reduce the threat by 1 with each failure if I'm reading it correctly... either way this will be a test of those actions and combat in general.
=> Alternatively, as she isn't engaged in combat yet a Safe Action (Exploration) may be taken and leveraged to find an exit or gain an advantage.
=> I think that I'll risk using Outwit to try and gain advantage.

Climb Through The Clutter

@ Gwendy gathers up her things and tries to find a route through the mess that won't put her on the Yao Guai's plate. If she can find a way to get the drop on the Yao Guai from a higher level she might be able to attack it with some advantage. She decides to try and climb the damaged building interior, using the logs and tree-stumps to ascend.

d: Base Dif+Claustrophobic Location Truth=Difficulty 2
d: (STR)ATHLETICS vs (TN=8) 2d20=3,8 -> HIT x2
-> Pinegrail Yao Guai Threat Level reduced by 1 (3-1=2) 
=> Gwendy is able to find a path through the difficult tangle of fallen in roof, to a perch over looking the building's entrance.

The going is tough at first, and Gwendy thinks about quitting the climb and simply retreating back down to find an exit to the back of the lodge more than once. Pressing onward and upward, she eventually wriggles into an opening between two large fallen-in trees and finds herself on a widow's walk overlooking the entrance of the Pinegrail.

Huge clouds cross the starry night sky above her and she blinks in the increased illumination the fingernail slice of moon intermittently provides. Two stories bellow she can hear the angered wuffling of the large mutant bear. Yes, there it is: a dark mass puttering around the window she crawled through to enter the place. From this vantage, she has a clear line of sight. If only she had that hunting rifle Louise mentioned in her log! She has Burnhard's knives in her jacket, however, and is something of a crack shot at a toss. It isn't likely she can fell a beast that size with a single throw, but stranger things have happened.

Gwendy draws one of the short, sharp knives Burnhard the smithy sold her just before leaving Fort 73. Out on the widow's walk she has more than enough room to swing down and throw. So far the monster has yet to notice she has climbed above.

Combat Round 1

@ Gwendy tosses her first knife down at the Yao Guai
d: (AGI)THROWING (TN=9) 2d20=10,17 -> MISS
-> Subtract 1 Throwing Knife from inventory
-> Reduce target threat level by 1 (to a minimum of 1) 3-1=2

Yao Guai
d: Foe Action 1d20=16 (Cautious)
-> The Yao Guai backs away from the Lodge, rearing back and growling loudly. 
-> Now aware of Gwendy, the threat level it lost temporarily due to surprise has been regained.

Gwendy's first throwing dagger strikes the beast, but no where near a fatal spot, thunking into its hind quarters. Now wounded and alerted to her location, it rears back with a loud growl. Even two stories away G feels it rattle against her-- a terrifying sound. Tall grass on the borders of the field sway as smaller night creatures scuttle to somewhere safer.

Committed to dealing with the enraged animal, Gwendy draws a second knife from her jacket and readies her attack.

Combat Round 2

Oppose
@ Gwendy draws her second knife and aims for the throat
d: (AGI)THROWING (TN=9) Dif=2 2d20=10,4 -> HIT x1
-> Subtract 1 Throwing Knife from inventory
-> Threat reduced 2-1=1

Yao Guai
d: Foe Action 1d20=5 (Aggressive) 
-> The Yao Guai barrels forward and attacks with powerful claws (3 Damage)
-> Gwendy has the High Ground Truth due to her position, causing the Foe's attack to land on the structure of the Lodge itself, potentially causing her to lose her advantageous perch. She must make another Athetics(AGI) test to remain there.

Endure
d: (AGI)ATHLETICS v (TN=9) Dif=3 2d20=11,14 -> MISS
-> 3 Damage (tracked)
=> The front of the Lodge suffers structural damage from the Yao Guai's aggressive attack, causing it to partially crumble and collapse

=> Gwendy is shaken and loses her perch above the ground, tumbling through a network of logs, trees and debris before finding herself back on ground level.

The knife sings from her fingers as she tosses it at the Yao Guai's throat, very nearly striking the tender spot just below the jawline but instead planting it in the left shoulder of the large mutant beast. She curses, beginning to grab for her third and final knife when the Yao Guai bellows and rushes towards the wall of the lodge directly below her perch. Wood panels, broken glass and branches snap loudly as the weight of the thing barrels ahead and she feels a sickening lurch that tips her over on her right side: the walk is collapsing away from the building! She turns to try and grip the wrecked doorway but the rotten wood breaks apart in her hands and she's falling with it to the wide deck below the entrance to the Lodge.

From within a pile of debris and dust she catches her breath, coughing at the thick cloud that surrounds her. When the ruckus settles she hears the scrape of the Yao Guai's claws on the boards not far away. No room to throw a knife inside this mess, so finds the hilt of her bowie knife at the back of her jeans and draws the wider blade.

Combat Round 3

OPPOSE
@ Gwendy draws her Pioneer Scouts Bowie Knife and readies it in both hands to strike the Yao Guai when it approaches.
d: (STR)MELEE vs (TN=6) Dif=1 2d20=3,16 -> HIT 
-> Gwendy defeats the Yao Guai using the PS Bowie Knife

The growling snuffle of the Yao Guai makes it relatively easy for the vault dweller to tell which direction it is coming from. Gwendy draws back, and when the Yao Guai paws an aperture open in the pile of debris she uses all of her strength to lunge out and upward! The blade slices through soft neck flesh and matted fur, rasping the tip into the bones at the underside of the mutant's skull. A sudden, warm and thick BLURT of blood gushes down her arms and covers her face as the Yao Guai peels away trying to retreat from the pain. She immediately tries to wipe the disgusting torrent from her eyes, blinking out into the dusty moonlight, listening as the beast stumbles and chokes out the last of it's life.

There is a heavy, final thump! and silence descends on the field. Gwendy cautiously pulls herself free from the ruined facade of the Lodge, patting away whatever dust hasn't settled into the sticky blood on her head, shoulders and arms. Urgh, disgusting. With a shuddering breath she walks towards the dying animal, grabbing up a plank of wood along the way just in case. The hilt of the bowie knife protrudes like a popsicle stick from the beast's head and she confirms that it is truly expired.

Gwendy: "Thanks again for that, Holden."

She has defeated Louise Powell's nemesis and continued an action begun by her parents years before. She aches, she's sore, some of the blood on her face is definitely her own, but she's also proud. Very proud! She just made her first kill as an adult; as a hunter, and it was a Yao Guai. A fricking rad-bear! Maybe she actually does have what it takes to make it out here.

A howl, some ways distant shakes her from her revere. There is still wildlife in these woods, and hungry by the sounds of it. She'll still need shelter for the rest of the night, and that head isn't gonna magically separate itself from the body. She'll need to give it to the mysterious Ms. Powell if she wants to learn more about her parents. Nothing is free in the Wastes.

Gwendy plants a boot against its jaw and begins to wrench her knife free. Time to get to work.

Find Supplies
@ Gwendy begins to dress the Yao Guai carcass, an activity she has some training in with smaller game (-1 Difficulty) However, she is damaged, exhausted and exposed at night in a wooded area, so I'll leave the DIF where it is at 1. 
d: (END)SURVIVAL(T) vs (TN=7) 2d20=8,3 -> HIT
-> Gwendy carves the head from the Yao Guai, as well as:

d: Quantity 1d20=9 (Three)
-> 3x Supplies (Yao Guai Ribs) obtained
-> 2x Throwing Knives retrieved
-> 1x Pinegrail Yao Guai Head obtained

=> It is extremely dirty and smelly work, but she processes what she can from the corpse of the animal and does her best to pack it away. 

Gwendy's breath is a silver cloud in the cool night air, puffing out in a long sigh after she finishes cleaning the Yao Guai. Wrapping the head and ribs in a bundle made from a tattered curtain pulled from one of the Lodge's windows, she drags the bundle of it with her onto the deck in front of the west wing, trying doors and looking in windows. Eventually she finds a one that is broken open with a clear space inside. From the glow of her PipBoy she can see it was once a rentable room: the glint of a tarnished lamp on a night stand, the rectangular hump of an overturned mattress askew from its frame. She climbs inside, drags the mattress off of its disjointed frame and flips it over. Dusty, but no worse than the wreck she tumbled through earlier. With no fucks left to give she drops onto it and prepares to sleep the rest of the night.

PREV SESSION - NEXT SESSION