Jenny: Cool! Oh Ike... And with that, Harland and the motley band of misfits he'd just met had a few drinks and got a little more acquainted with each other. The guy who looked like a cowboy revealed his name to be John who joined the group in the hopes of finding his daughter who'd been kidnapped by slavers on the east coast. In fact it turns out that the group was from the east coast and one of the reasons they had traveled west to help John find his daughter and to get away from the hell that was the capitol wasteland.
"Capitol Wasteland? Never been, but it must have been pretty bad if walking into a warzone was a preferable option." Harland looked at John. "I'm sorry about your daughter, but what makes you think she'd be here? I mean, the Legion have slaves, sure; but they bring them from the West, not the East."
Harland thought for a minute. "Hmm, how old is she? Everyone knows the girls at Gomorrah are basically slaves, maybe the Omertas have finally crossed that line?"
John: Only one way to find out. Right? Jenny: Kay then, how about we go to the strip once we're done with the Viper camp? Will: I'm down for that. Abbey: Ditto. John: S'pose if she's at gomorrah she won't be going anywhere. Al'ight I'll go too.
"Hate to rain on your parade here, but have any of you actually been to the strip? They don't let just anyone in; you gotta have the caps or a passport, each of you. Now I don't know how flush you guys are, but unless you've got a huge bag of caps lying around, I know a guy who can make us fake passports, but he'll want us to do something in return."
"Hmm, ok. Guess that's one problem we won't have to deal with then. If we do have to go against the Omertas though, we gotta be smart; I knew a guy who tangled with them once. Knew. Past tense. I don't know him any more, and neither does anyone else, if you know what I mean." Harland leant back in his chair. "But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it; first we gotta head down to Novac, right?"
Jenny: Yup. Got a gang of Vipers to clear out and they aren't getting cleared out while we're here. Transition please! And with that the gang set off with their new ghoul buddy in toe. Hopes of getting some good loot out of their attack on the viper camp were high given that the vipers were known for using 10mm pistols and grenade rifles which sold well in good condition. It was now late in the day and the crew were on the road south out of Novac from the bridge in front of the dinosaur, approaching the viper bandit camp.
"Well, not sure how much use I'm gonna be, considering the heat you guys are packing," He looked at Will's minigun. "But I'm gonna set up over there," He pointed at a rocky outcrop across the road from the viper camp.
Jenny: I'll join with ya. We can be like spotters. Abbey was using her binoculars to survey the area ahead. Something wasn't right however, there seemed to be too little activity for a viper camp. In fact the camp almost looked like a ghost town. Abbey: Jenny dear, can you and Harland check over the camp when you're in position. I can't seem to see much activity from here and it's getting me worried. Jenny: Alrighty Abs! Hey Harl, Abbey think's something isn't right with the camp so we gotta take a look at it from our perspective.
"Harl?" Harland rasped, "That's a new one. Alright, let's take a look." He pulled a pair of binoculars out of his pack and studied the camp. "Uh, looks like someone beat us to it, the Vipers are all- Aw goddamn it. It's a sea of crimson down there." Through his binoculars, Harland could see recruits and legionaries rounding up the last few Vipers, presumably as slaves. "What do you wanna do?" He asked, looking at Jenny.
Jenny: We should probably try and save them. Ironic I know seeing as we were going to kill them for their loot, but I hear being slaves to the legion is a fate worse than death. It's probably high time we changed our ways and focused on getting these guys out of crime instead of shooting them just for trying to survive.
Harland laughed humourlessly. "It's a nice idea, but it's not as simple as that; these gangs, they've made an active decision to be outlaws of the lowest order; if it was Khans or Powder gangers, you might have a chance, but not these guys. Only thing separating them from Fiends is a smaller chem budget." He looked back down at the camp. "Though I agree even they don't deserve what the Legion'll do to them, at least the Legion are doing something; we're, what? Half a mile from the nearest NCR Ranger outpost? And yet this gang has been allowed to terrorise travellers with impunity." He sighed.
Jenny: First off, no-one chooses to be an outlaw. It isn't easy living out in the wastes and when you're starving and in desperate need of the things you need to survive, then you'll tend to do anything to get your hands on them. Doing chems for these guys is probably just another way to make the pain of day-to-day life go away.
Harland shook his head. "Maybe that's the case out East, but here we've got just enough civilisation for people to have a choice; the Followers help who they can, and most of the towns will take folk, so long as their willing to contribute. No, there've always been people like this, even before the war; career criminals and anarchists. Trust me, I speak from experience," He muttered the last part quietly. Unfortunately, as they were talking, they failed to notice the Legion recruit sneaking up behind them...
Jenny: your use of the word anarchists to describe these people and what they do insults me. "Hold your tounge wastrel"
"Aw goddammit," Harland groaned, turning around slowly. He had at least had the foresight to place traps; the recruit was only a foot away from a beartrap, and he hadn't seemed to have noticed it. "You will make a fine slave," The recruit said, looking at Jenny, "As for you, the Legion has no need for creatures such as you." The Recruit spat, levelling his shotgun at Harland. Harland looked at the shotgun. "I thought you Legion boys were meant to be famed for your skill with a blade; what, you afraid you can't beat a ghoul in a fair fight?" His goading had the desired effect; the Recruit scowled, slung his shotgun, and approached Harland with his machete in hand, walking straight into the beartrap.
It was at that point that the legionary spontaneously exploded sending chunks of his upper body flying everywhere. Jenny: Oh *******! Hey Harland, are you okay?
