Private/Closed Fallout: Louisiana Divided

[EnviousWorm]

War. War never changes.

The bombs that dropped and wiped out life as humans had made it might have been a blessing. What life could have survived in a world so caught up in its own ability to destroy and conquer?

Even the wastelands seem tame by nature. Life, as irradiated and malformed as it is, spawned from the terrible shadows of humanity's past. Those ghoulified in the atomic apocalypse set about resettling a society that thrived along its new nature, not tore it to shreds.

In Louisiana, Vaults that promised agricultural renewal and the steady hand of civilization never poked their heads above ground, for reasons still indiscernible to survivors who flocked all across the battered US to make a new life.

Instead, humans again began to hunt for sport and lay waste to wildlife, pressing the Ghouls who lived with the land further and further north. Even as those humans struggled to unite, they worked together and take Ghoul land and push them away.

Then, when the land was free, the humans set their weapons upon each other once more. The Louisiana Union, weakened from a failed warfront against raider-riddled cities, now call upon those they pushed away for aide in a new call to battle.

Because war? War never changes.
_____________________

Aloysius couldn't help but recall when the people of Leetown called him Sheriff with the utmost reverence.

He couldn't help but think this as he clutched onto a loose set of thorny vines that connected a distant pair of trees. Because some kook had invaded an old old RobCo Warehouse on the riverfront, Aloysius had been forced to take a long way around the west and north sides of the warehouse.

The Union had sent a diplomat and some scouts to meet with the settler, but when the diplomat lost a leg to a particularly vicious plasma mine, the LAU marked the territory hostile and recommended their units avoid the warehouse.

So that's what he did. He made his way around the warehouse to a small wooden dock along the swampy riverfront. A small boat carried him halfway across until a Mirelurk flung him from the boat to the other side of the river.

He fled to the treetops and spent his first night there. Due to the tree density, if he moved slow and avoided sentient plantlife, he could go where he needed to. It took four hours to move what would normally take one, but Aloysius kept away from unfriendly creatures.

That was when the trees began to grow further apart, and he was forced to use the vines to get around. It worked for some time. Aloysius could even see the Swamp Seer settlement off in the distance by their lamplight.

But, as he swung, a vine broke, throwing him violently into a tangle of moss and marsh. In the thick and irradiated water, Aloysius struggled to get up. When he did, he found him face to face with a Mirelurk. Then two popped out of the water behind it, and another two maybe a dozen feet behind him.

Pulling Icarus from its shoulder holster, he put one Mirelurk down with a well placed shot to its unprotected face. But by the time he swung around to the ones behind him, one of the shelled beasts had collapsed on him, and it took all his strength to keep it from clawing or biting down on him.

By a shred of luck, Aloysius heard footsteps nearby in the distance.

"Help!" He called out as he managed to fire off a round from his magnum, stunning the Mirelurk.

The sheriff struggled to his feet, carrying heavy clumps of moss with him. The Mirelurks gathered, and he fired another round as he moved toward the direction of the nearby footstepw.

"Help!" He called again as one lunged and grabbed his ankle, pulling him down.

________________________/

(DISCUSSION: https://pokecharms.com/threads/fallout-louisiana-divided.22611/

@ThePlayfulFox @DevVoid @Red Gallade @Pinch @Foxex )

 

[DevVoid]

Cypher, former minion of The Master and a former Legionnaire. One of the first super mutants to exist, this Mariposa Mutant had no disadvantages to his mutation unlike his modern brethren. His intellgience remained, even boosting a bit from the mutation, an immunity to radiation was built up and Cypher became built like a super soldier. Having been on a wandering trip to hunt creatures and lifeforms all over the lands, he had seen much, and there is yet much more to come.

Wandering around the swamps of Louisiana, Cypher was on about tracking down a Mirelurk Nest. His goal? To challenge and kill the nest, including King and Queen. With all the mud and water around, it was an agonizingly slow trip through the slowing terrain, but Cypher had felt that at the end of it, it would be well beyond worth it, as few, even his people, can successfully kill a Mirelurk Nest, nevermind handle a Mirelurk Queen. On his way though, something odd had sounded up. It sounded like someone was screaming for help. Cypher decided to investigate the noise, but remained hidden within the foilage and bushes of the swamp. There, he spotted a man fighting for his life against multiple Mirelurks.

Despite what may be seen as risky from one of his kind to help a human, he would still decide that ending up as Mirelurk food was a shameful way to die. These crab creatures, they were weak, the only advantage they had were their hard shells. Cypher took out one of his throwing spears and stood up, aiming. He threw the spear, not in an arcing pattern, but in a straight pattern, with a force like an arrow shot from a crossbow. It soared through the air and whistled past the stranger, digging itself into the skull of the Mirelurk infront of them. The spear dug its way through the crab creature like a drill, and soon bursted straight out of the creature's shell, coming to a halt.

The other mirelurks, having seen this, turned to face a new enemy. Cypher already had his chainsaw at the ready. With a distracting loud revving of his chainsaw, he took the attention of the Mirelurks to himself, and got to work on slicing and dicing these creatures down.

 

[Pinch]

“Finally! Louisiana! Hopefully this means I’ve come far enough from Nevada to escape that damned legion. Always been at least a few in every state so far.” Jack said aloud to himself as he had at last finished his long, four month trek from his home state, crossing the line between Arkansas and Louisiana. “Now, where’s that warehouse I heard about? Should be further South from the state line, probably by a couple miles. Hopefully there are some supplies there.” He said as he began to walk again, heading in his new objectives general direction.

 

[Foxex]

Nikki was lounging lazily on a red leather sofa, it was a bit worn out, but it was comfortable. Shoes kicked off, wearing nothing but her tank top and boxers, she watched with a faint smile on the monitor in front of her as the Sheriff of a nearby town struggled his way through the swamp. Despite him taking the longer way around her home he was still close enough to trip her perimeter sensors, in response Nikki released several drones to follow and monitor the sheriff. She doubted that he was looking for her or had any intentions of causing her any trouble, but it was always fun to watch a struggling traveler, and besides if he dies, the guns he had could be worth something if anything the metal would be great to melt down and be repurposed.

Nikki almost choked on her nuka cola watching the oaf swing and fall from the vines. “Hmm, looks like I get to go get myself a new magnum…” Nikki grinned, as she watched the sheriff seemingly calling for help as he began to get overran by the Mirelurks, “Too bad I might have to blow up some Mirelurks to get his stuff through... the hell is this?” she saw a large mutant approach the scene, that super mutant going to save the sheriff? Odd… or is it just going to maul him?” Nikki kept watching, sitting up on her couch. She put a hand to her chin watching the actions of the mutant. “Interesting.” Nikki nodded watching the mutant spear a Mirelurk, gaining the hoard’s attention. “Things are looking quite dire aren’t they…?” Nikki chuckled as she grabbed a rounded rectangular control console with serval buttons and knobs on it. “It’s just a mutant so… no harm done right?” Nikki grinned and giggled as she pushed a few buttons and twisted some knobs on the console.

Four small drones descended from the sky that had been following the sheriff and circled down to their location, they were not large roughly four feet across, two down facing propellers on rotational pylons with small jets for maximum maneuverability, one on each side of the central unit. One of the drones carried what appeared to be two auto cannons and a flamethrower, one had a long ranged rifle built into the central unit and equipped with enhanced scopes and sensory apparatuses and stabilizers, the third housed what looked like two smaller compact rocket pods, and the final one appeared not to have a weapon but rather a heavily modified force field generator. The four drones were primarily colored white with streaks of pink and black which did nothing to help camouflage them. A logo of a pink and white cartoony fanged bunny rabbit was painted onto the sides of their propeller housings.

The autocannon drone began to open fire at the Mirelurks while circle strafing. The rifle drone flew off a bit into the distance but remained stationary as a sniper would, the missile drone hovered slightly higher than the gun drone but did not shoot, while the shield drone simply flew around over the scene.

The autocannons took out several Mirelurks with relative ease when their shrapnel rounds while injuring several others, cheap but effective against most living things, the drone was firing rather indiscriminately, but still mostly aiming at the Mirelurks, if a few shots happened to hit, graze, or flew near the mutant Nikki didn’t care. The mutant didn’t seem to be hostile, but his life or death was no consequence to her. The drones needed a test run after her most recent modifications and this incident would serve that purpose, perhaps earn her some positive reputation with the locals for ‘saving’ their sheriff, for better trade opportunities.

(OOC: hope the drones are ok, hope they're not really too op, as drones are, they pack a punch and they can fly for their advantage, but are essentially glass cannons, they're mostly used to defend her workshop though occasionally she can send them out to scout or monitor something of interest.)

 

[ThePlayfulFox]

Abby crept inside a dilapidated shack in the bayou in what was formerly Lousiana. Some of the floor was sunken into the water, a good portion of the wood rotting. Around her was raspy breaths, the sound of ferals waiting for thier next target. Which she won't be. Already having multiple exit routes planned, she snuck around, keeping a record of what little she found with her muted Pipboy. Every step was calculated to make as little noise as possible as she walked. Until she took a misstep. A creaking noise was heard from underfoot, and the zombie-like ghouls rose and rushed in her direction. Abby dove out one of the windows, her nearest escape route, and landed in a roll. She saw they to were jumping after her, fungus growing on one. In a heartbeat, she was on the run again, her ponytail flying in the wind. They were persistent though, and followed her. She was running out of breath. In her haste, she climbed up a tree, the ferals clawing up at her.

Samantha hummed along to the piano and drums, dancing while she walked. Her dog Jo, walked next to her. Eventually she came across some one fighting some giant crustaceans, otherwise known as Mirelurks. Well, him and a super mutant. The noise of her radio already have her position away, but she didn't mind. She loved listening to it. One of the few positive things in the wasteland. That and Jo. Taking aim at a Mirelurk, she shot a couple of rounds at it, hoping the bullets didn't bounce off of the shelled beast.

 

[Red Gallade]

Harlow silently walked across the fields of the ruined Louisiana, his long black coat swayed gently in the breeze while the only sound heard from him were the breaths behind his plague doctor's mask, by his side was a strange canine like creature, her skin was a bright green and had jaws like a bear-trap, the look in her eyes looked like she could bite at any moment, yet her behavior with Harlow seemed exactly like any loyal hound. Harlow made it to the top of the hill to see a half sunken house, but his gaze was immediately turned to the sounds of growling, sounds he knew all too well, he noticed a group of Feral ghouls all crowded around a tree alongside what looked like a... Vault Dweller, it had to be with the noticeable shades of blue.

Harlow began to lay down on his stomach on the grass and took his hunting rifle off his shoulder, already he went to aim at the ferals before he turned his head to the mutant hound. "Alright Joanne, go to the other side of the house and howl to draw their attention. If even one takes the bait and runs after you, run away and come back to me once you can't hear them." Harlow said softly as he cocked his gun. Joanne immediately did as she was told and ran to the side of the house opposite to the tree, the next sound heard was a loud howl, almost similar to an ominous horn, the sound immediately caught the attention of all the ferals around the tree, although only half went to investigate.

"Good enough for us." Harlow said as he watched the ferals check around the corner only to see the green hound dart away, the ferals quickly went to pursue her. Harlow's sights remained on the ferals still at the tree and pulled the trigger on his rifle, one by one the ferals heads were pierced by bullets that caused them to collapse lifelessly, once they were out of the way, Harlow stood up and let out a loud whistle. Mere seconds after the whistle, he watched as Joanne ran over to him alongside two ghouls she couldn't seem to lose. "These ones are persistent." Harlow said as he put his rifle away and got out a hunting knife, the feral ghouls charged violently at the man and his dog, the latter immediately pounced on one feral and proceeded to tear it's neck open with it's teeth, the bite nearly threatened to cause it's head to fall off, but it was enough to stop the feral. The one Harlow dealt with was... predictable in Harlow's opinion, the feral lashed out and swung one of it's arms, but Harlow quickly dodged out of the way and responded with a sweep kick which caused the feral to fall to the ground, Harlow quickly knelt down and stabbed the feral directly in the head, the little traces of life it had here now extinguished.

Harlow let out a small sigh as he stood up and began to put his knife back in his coat, his other hand went to stroke his mutant hound who panted with her tongue hung out. "You can come down now!" Harlow called out to the lady in the tree before he slowly walked toward her, Joanne close behind him.

 

[ThePlayfulFox]

Abby watched ferals run and chase something else then heard gunshots. Fear trickled down her spine as she climbed higher in the tree, not wanting to be seen. Then she heard someone tell her that she could leave the safety of the tree. However, how could she know she could trust this person? He did save her from becoming food for the ferals. After a moment of hesitation, she jumped down and looked at her rescuer. She went slightly pale due to her recent encounter with ghouls. "Thanks," she said nervously. "I was honestly handling it just fine. After all, they couldn't get me."

 

[Red Gallade]

"Not at that moment, sure, but I've been around enough of these guys to know they're persistent assholes. You might've had to stay up in that tree longer than you thought, and what if a feral or two started climbing, hm?" Harlow said in a tone not unlike sarcasm as he put his hands in his coat pockets, meanwhile, Joanne simply sat down and eyed the female human with curiosity. "Ya got a name?" Harlow asked as one of his hands adjusted his hat.

 

[ThePlayfulFox]

Abby sighed and looked away. "I am fully capable of shooting them if I feel if the tree nonsense has gone on for too long, or of they start climbing. I'm just under orders not to attack anything unless it is life or death. As for my name, it is Abby. Abby Smith." She looked at the dog with slight unease, her hiding most of it. Though, a mutant dog was something to be frightened of, in her mind. Mutated creatures were unnatural, and was something to fear. After all, it was against the very thing she was taught within her vault. That one day everything will return to how it was before the bombs dropped. Though she never seen it herself, she was giving detailed depictions of that life.

 

[Red Gallade]

Harlow shrugged. "Mhm, that's nice." He replied sarcastically before he put his hand on Joanne's head to pet it which caused the mutant hound to pant just like that of a regular dog. "The name's Harlow, and you don't need to worry yourself about Joanne here, she doesn't bite... unless you're a raider, feral ghoul, super mutant, deathclaw, mirelurk... or just an asshole in general." Harlow said in a half joking tone. "It's certainly not everyday someone like me stumbles upon someone from one of the vaults, what are you doing out here; vault-y stuff or did you get bored with it and wanted to see the outside world, because spoiler alert: It's messed up."