Session 58: The Storm

The session began with the party waking up feeling rough, especially Kenny, who had just spent all night talking with May. She thanked him, hugged him, then rushed back to her own quarters. Jason woke up with Blair and felt a pang of guilt about what they were about to all go into. Kutter woke up with only his bottom half on the bed after his drunken body was dragged inside by Richards and Robert. Jimbob woke up, breaking the concentration he was somehow maintaining during unconsciousness, sending him plummeting into the pool that he was floating over all night. Sharos wakes up down in his family's apartment. He has breakfast in bed and a steamy goodbye with his wife, then a heartfelt conversation with his daughter, who was intent on marching south with him. He ask's her to watch the homefront, and she ask's him to come back to them. Upstairs, Gug prepared a feast of nondescript meat along with Kenny, who made cinnamon roll-inspired desert pizzas for the troops, while Gramps called the players into the War Room. Cecile's absence was noted when Rem exited his room alone, as he had left in the night. Gramps asked if that was considered desertion, but the players decided to chalk it up to him being off gathering intelligence on his own. Jason presented one final project he made. He attached a cybernetic frame to his coat and body armor, allowing him to simply pull off the coat to remove all of his armor in one fell swoop, and granting him additional benefits, along with keeping his spells always accessible.

The chairmen were briefed on the mission. They had to evacuate 500 civilians trapped in Mirkwater, surrounded by enemy snipers and guerrillas; they had to get them out somehow. Jason and Kutter presented the plan, and day by day, they would establish zone control over the isthmus that led to Mirkwater.

Sturges and Ellie came with a report. Ellie told them the Mechanized Platoon was completely down: None of the vehicles the minutemen scavenged were operational yet, and they wouldn't be for at least another week. Sturges reported he'd brought in a new blood to form a squad of Field Engineers, and offered to come with down south or stay behind to help them get the vehicles running. The players opted to bring the Grease Monkeys along to upkeep the power armor and vertibird. The chairmen decide that their main force will make base at the designated FOB, then while they scout ahead and assess the general state of the AO. With the plan set, the Liberators muster, and Kenny goes to find May to fill her in on the plan. He comes in to see her, slightly surprised and looking much better than she did an hour before. Kenny barely spots her kick something under her bed, triggering him to leap under the bed to see. May lunges at him to try to stop him from seeing, but Kenny restrains her with his cybernetic arm, and tells her this hurts to see, and he thought he could trust her. She said she needed the edge and complained it was hypocritical that he thought it was a problem now but not back when she used it to kill Ol' One Eye. May broke down and said she couldn't have anyone else dying because she wasn't strong enough. Kenny sees her tear up with this admission. Kenny snatches the three syringes and takes each of them one by one, rendering him moderately addicted instantly. Now they were both in this fight together.

May said, "You're an asshole, and we're going to get people we care about killed because of this."

"It won't be the first-" Kenny remarked glibly.

"Shut the fuck up!" May said before almost swinging. When she gave up instead, Kenny silently acknowledged, then they agreed to leave, she walked over and casually tossed her anchor into the air and caught it on her shoulder, the weight denting the floor beneath her.

The Liberators set out, the snow fell over Boston, covering up the rubble and garbage of the great war, with the snow still falling, Rem passed off Butter Dog to Ellie, sadly saying goodbye as Butter Dog protested heavily. As they marched south and Rem casually walked over a car wreckage, she looked up for a moment, the snowflakes fell onto her glasses, and she remarked, "I never realized just how beautiful this world is..."

Jeremy requested of Sharos that he could go settle down after the operation was over, and Sharos immediately agreed, offering him a backline position if he wanted it. Shortly after they arrived at their designated FOB, the troops fortified the boarding school and the road just south of the base, establishing patrols, defensive positions, and the players went in on the initial scouting mission. Reshaun, Kenny, Blair, Jason, Kutter, May, David, Robert, and Jeremy made up the scouting party.

May tripped, and Kenny caught her by her anchor, but she still glared at him, as this was proving her point about them being liabilities with the team while in withdrawal. A bigger fumble was made, however, when the anxious David took a shot at what he thought was an enemy sniper, but was in reality just a conspicuous-looking tree. The party hunkered down but were quickly engaged by enemy nightkin and enemy snipers. Sharo's hit the snipers hard with his .50 cal, popping the head of anyone who dared peak the crest of the hill a mile or more away from the battle.

May, despite Kutter's protest, ran in first, sprinting in, but not making it particularly far due to the muddy terrain. The enemy respond in kind, sprinting in and facing her head on. Kutter acts quickly, ordering Richard to raise his battle standard, then he sprinted in, hitting the foremost nightkin with his sword, searing him for effect. For good measure, he follows up with a grab with his new powerclaw that, unfortunately, misses, along with a follow-up smack. Undeterred, he shouts, "You face Kutter! I who killed the Sigilite in combat, I who sank the Sigilite's flagship, I who concussed Father Gregory, but almost died! Uhh... Join or Die!"

Kenny moved in next, throwing one of Sharo's HE 40mm grenades into the crowd after giving the team a heads up. Sharos fires with his AMR to follow up on Jeremy's earlier shot to devastating effect, then Kenny continues his assault by sliding towards the frozen water while firing his 1911.

The nightkin barely fought back as the party hit hard, then the enemies began to laugh as the players could faintly hear falling artillery.