Fallout: The New Arrivals

Star followed the three ponies as they walked all walked to the exit. Once outside he nearly went blind as he closed his eyes and threw his hands up to cover his eyes. "Gah. Stupid sun." He muttered with a slight growl. His ears twitched as he heard the other group and Tune talking. He turned and followed the others by just hearing their footsteps. He lifted up his hands a little and opened his eyes a tad bit to see what was going on...Also because he didn't want to trip and fall on his face.

Diana nodded. "Voices in the brain is a fairly accurate diagnosis, yes. It's... somewhat more complicated, but it will suffice for now." She glanced down at all the weapons she'd managed to collect, which was to say almost none. "My arsenal, however, will not. I appreciate your offer; I myself am somewhat enthusiastic about more rudimentary equipment, since gunpowder is not really my specialty. Perhaps we could work together to cobble something together."

Great. Finally getting around to it, are we?

Sigh...

The sandstorm out in the wastes was kicking up dust but thankfully it didn't seem that the winds had yet reached a high enough velocity to do any proper damage or to make visibility impossible; while their mercenary friend had already vanished off into the wastes they could make out what had once been a road leading down the mountain the prison stood on; while it was cracked into large chunks in places and a good deal of the paving had long since worn away, it was still a clearly enough defined path to follow.

Even better, just down the road was something that distinctly resembled a road sign. Granted there was no promise that whatever it had directions to had survived but it was better than nothing.

The radio kicked up again. "Attention, the sun has risen, the sun has risen. Lock doors, board windows." What exactly the radio was blathering about was unclear because it was the middle of the day; either the radio station was on some serious delay or the announcement was some kind of code.

"Dey're late" Jäger said right after the broadcast was finished, but he didn't turn back to do so. His gaze was still on the approaching storm and moving gradually down to the road leading away from the jail. "Vell, dere's ot leasht ah road," Jäger then added with a shrug before beginning to proceed down the broken, cracked, and practically ancient path. The trek didn't stay at a slow pace though, not with the looming threat of the storm closing in. No, Jäger was B-lining it for the sign to see if any directions still existed and to give at least a possible direction of some shelter he'd hope to find before the worst of the storm hit.

While everyone had been talking, and new hammer in hand, Johnny had been silently picking up a few things. And he was glad he did, for when he saw the sandstorm, he knew the scraps of metal could be useful. Taking a bit of scrap, he held his hand palm up with the twisted bit of metal in the centre. His fingers her curled and ridged, the tips of his fingers and thumb all an equal distance away from each other. Staring at the metal, it only took a few moments for his softly glowing eyes to melt it down to a small puddle in his hand, but then it started to move. Slowly, the liquid silver fluid flowed up his fingers, getting to the tops and starting to branch out to the others. The strands interlocked delicately, and melded together, forming a smooth pentagon about the diameter of a large apple. 
Holding the metal pentagon tighter, his stare increased in intensity, as his the glow of his irises and slowly, lines started to appear in the surface of the metal, intricate, complex lines that formed odd shapes and symbols that glowed dimly for a second when they were completed. 
It only took a moment for this random seeming trinket to be made, but once it was, Johnny pocketed it, and nodded to Wild, informing him that it would be useful for the sandstorm by the way his eyes slowly flicked towards the wave of sand, but to get something better would take time, resources and tools, which he didn't have. 

But what he did have was a potential source of information from Wild. With a flick of a finger, he got the notes out of the Pegasus' pocket with his magic and floated it over, taking it in hand to read through them quickly, eating up the words on the papers, the hammer held upright beside him.

Wild Card nodded to Viridian and gave her the map, freeing up one hand just in case he needed to shoot anything. He did chuckle as he heard the mare ask him about the tall, red unicorn, noting that it was probably his little trick with the hammer that caused such a question. "He's Johnny Maker." "As to what he is? A unicorn, you can tell by the thing sticking out from his head." He joked lightheartedly. "But again, more to the point, he's an inventor and an engineer. Anything needs creating, he can have a bloody good shot at it." "His trademark is apparently his cutie mark, and it kind of has creating stuff as a theme." A grin appeared on the pegasus's face as he leaned closer to Viridian to whisper something. "If you want to see if that's true, you could always try looking for it yourself."

After that he smiled, before waving to the group of ponies who had passed them. He noticed how one just raised his thumbs at them with a large grin. A cheerful little sign in this otherwise barren world. Turning back to face Johnny, Wild watched him start to create the pendant, idly nudging Viridian to get her attention as well. "He's doing more magic if you want to watch." He said, just in case she wasn't already looking in his direction.

Finally, after Johnny had finished the creation of the pendant, the dark blue stallion looked towards Jäger and nodded. "Johnny's trinket is something to help with the sandstorm if worse comes to worst." He informed the rest of the group present at that time, also feeling the notes in his pocket be taken with magic, which meant Johnny was doing some reading. Holding the radio up to him afterwards, he tuned it to 1 instead, seeing as how number 4 only gave them information that would be useful if they had doors and windows to begin with... apparently. "Alright, let's go, mates!" He said triumphantly, holding his gun in his previously free hand while the radio stayed in his other as he wandered further on down the road.

Viridian swallows a bit at the idea. Getting some of that strong, hard, stallion flank after being stuck in a cell for who knows how long and having not a hint of tail before would be... highly not-objectionable. But she sighs and shakes her head. "I hardly think trying to strip off a studly stallion's trousers to stare at his arse is a productive use of time," she says quietly back. "At least not right now, and certainly not if said stallion has even the slightest objection to it. I'm convinced that if he did, that fine hammer of his would cave in my noggin right quick and then I'd be completely useless. Dead, granted, but also useless."
She watches with interest and intense appreciation as Johnny makes another object, a curious one with no apparent purpose. When Wild announces to the group that the object will help with the sandstorm, she looks askance at him. "How is a trinket of that size going to give us any assistance if we find ourselves in any extremity in that storm?" she asks him, looking over at Johnny as she does so it's clear that she's asking both of them.

Verde grins. "Well, maybe I'd like you to blush because I think it'd be cute," she says as she follows Wyvorn towards the open door. "Or maybe I've got a thing for birdies. Or maybe it's both and I want to jump your bones at the first opportunity. I rather like being a maid of mystery, and being made of mystery as well."
"As for you," she says, looking to Diana. "I think cobbling together a good solid weapon that doesn't need gunpowder would be a fantastic plan. I myself really enjoy guns and especially rifles, but Mum has a thing for sharp shiny objects and no one sees it coming. So yeah, when we get out someplace where we can accomplish something, I'll fix you right up." She thinks. "Or at least, I will when I get the tools. Damn shame they didn't miniaturize CNC before the wastes started..."
She looks at her mother as they arrive at the door, and then the power of stallion power. "Damn," she says as she looks upwards. "Now that is something that I desperately need to tap." Seemingly entirely unaware of the fact that she just announced to the stallion with a giant sledgehammer that she wants to jump his bones, she grins her her mother. "Got your machete, mum?"
Viridian stares at her, glances at Johnny to see if there are any hints of an impending intention to pile-drive her daughter into the floor, before sighing. "Yes, dear, I'm armed. Have you made sure to be?"
"Yup." Verde grins. "Time to get gone while getting is good."

Wyvorn eventually blushed as he heard what Verde thought of him. 'Well, she certainly is straightforward to things.. even if she is trying to be so called maid of mystery...' he thought to himself. "That's certainly not something I hear every day. Or week. Or month, rather." he responded to her while trying to hide the light blush.

After listening to the radio, Wyvorn didn't move, even after watching Jager walk out. "I know sandstorms may not be much, but I think there's a reason why radio warned us to barricade ourselves into our shelters. Then again, 'sun has risen'... what meaning could it have.. a cult that praises the sun about to start a raid on a town?" he said to the group and lightly chuckled at his own stupid thinking. "I suppose there's a reason why everyone used to call me featherbrain years ago.." he murmured to himself.

Frosty looked down at her Pipbuck as the radio message played. Afterwards, she turned the radio off, wanting to focus on the task ahead. She’d turn the radio back on later to check for news. “Right, well the world waits for nopony. Whatever the message meant, it’s not stopping me from leaving this place. Come on, we’ve got ground to cover.” She said, opening the map on her Pipbuck again and starting the walk towards the Weapon Cache marker.

Strawberry followed close behind her friend, her pistol loaded, but with the safety on for now. She didn’t want to accidentally misfire. “I know we planned on investigating this weapon cache, but shouldn’t we follow the road and see if it leads somewhere? There was a road sign.” She suggested.

Frosty shook her head. “Going off the road may be a bit more dangerous, but it will get us there faster. Plus, we have a bit more concealment if we find bushes. If it makes you feel better though, we’ll try to stick close to roads whenever possible. Now we best hurry up. We need to reach some sort of shelter before the storm gets worse.” She continued leading the way, following the map to what hopefully was something their little group could scavenge.

Tune looked at the road that Strawberry was talking about and was first going to agree but then got a bit of dust in his mouth, causing him to cough and spit in an effort to get the foreign material out. "Blegh." He then heard Frosty's reasoning and decided that it would be better if they just followed her.

"Let's hope there's at least some guns there. These 'nades won't last that long if we get into a prolonged fight. And if we see more of those giant bugs I'd rather not punch it to death." He remarked as he doublechecked that the pins were on securely and in no danger of accidentally coming off. "If nothing else, I'd want at least a club or somethin'."

The sandstorm was not picking up too much speed as of yet but they could all tell that it was going to come, it was just a question of when; quite likely there wasn't much in the way of weather monitoring or control these days, the clouds above them looked rather scatter shot and random, not carefully planned out and organised by trained pegasus patrols.

The road sign indicated the only road going down the mountain, a winding road going twisting around the mountain for descent. It would take a while to walk down it but at least it didn't seem very steep and the road was relatively intact, meaning they wouldn't lose track of it easily and could keep on their path; whatever place the sign had once pointed to had had it's name scratched out and "Junktown/The Dragon's Hoard" written on it in black graffiti, though they had left the part saying "3 Miles" alone so presumably those places were three miles away.

The first page of the notes Wild Card had pocketed had a long list of various phrases, with arrows pointing to another set of words on the right side coming off of each phrase; even without the note at the top it was obvious that they were a list of code phrases and their meanings, including the one that had just come off of Wild's radio.

The sun has risen >>>>> Solar Empire airship patrol in area. Keep heads down, weapons holstered, do not show aggression, wear sigil if available.

The pipbuck on Frosty's arm was indicating that they may have finally had a stroke of luck; while they would need to find it themselves still given the imprecise nature of pipbuck maps, the small green display was indicating the weapon cache they sought was at the foot of the mountain. It seemed the marker for it was within the actual boundaries of the mountain, which indicated a cave or some kind of interior to the mountain, either way it was shelter from the sandstorm at any rate.

With the winds raging and their own conversations, only the sharpest of ears would pick up a tiny but distinct "clicking" noise as the group walked down the road.

"Hoy, looksh like dey townz a bit avay. Ve can probably make it dough," Jäger called back to the rest of them since he'd run down to the sign for a better look. He'd completely missed what Johnny was doing with the trinket in his rush to check out the sign. He also didn't hear the clicking noises, Jäger was being too loud for that at the moment and it really wasn't something he was paying much attention to. The sandstorm still held the majority of is attention, and Jäger absolutely didn't want to get caught in it. Though when some of the others started to alter their course away from the road a bit, Jäger turned a confused glance towards them. "Hoy, vhere are hyu goink?"

Star just continued to follow Frosty, not really saying much to the others. He then shake his head a little and chuckle at Tune when he spat out dust that got in his mouth. He didn't really care if they went off the road or not just as long as they get to the Weapons Cache and none of them get hurt. "Indeed it is dangerous, so we best all keep an eye out." He said to them all, his ears perked and ready to listen to any sounds as he scanned the area, or as much of the area he could see.

He didn't say much to Tune's remark about punching bugs to death. He just shook his head and shrugged. "Give me the right weapon and the right motivation and I'd happily punch a bug to death." He then slowed down just a bit as his ears swiveled around. Sure his ears weren't what they used to be like, but they were still good enough to hear the distant clicking noise. He looked around trying to find the source of the clicking. "Careful...I think one of those bugs are clicking." He warned them as he clenching his fists. He didn't have a weapon and only had that armor he took from that dead guard, but he'd be damned if he let a bug take him down without some form of a fight.

Frosty stopped for a moment to address Jäger, holding up her Pipbuck. “We’ve got our own map to follow. And our own plans. Nice not really knowing ya.” She paused before adding. “Oh, and tell that Viridian chick there’s a wanted alive notice for her. I guess she’s missed or something. Bye.” She said, then turning back and continuing down their path.

Strawberry, meanwhile, looked back at Star. “Excuse me? You heard bugs clicking? Where?” She asked, holding up her pistol, ready to shoot. Some sand got in her mouth then. After coughing and spitting it out, she put her blanket hood over her mouth to cover it up better. “Let’s just hurry. I want out of this sandstorm.”

Tune sighed in annoyance as Star mentioned the bugs clicking. "Way t'go, Tune. Ya jinxed yerself as soon as ya step out of that Stable. Woo." He cheered with an intentional uncheeriness and rolled his eyes before starting to keep an eye out and cracking his knuckles.
"Motivation won't likely be a problem. Not dying is a rather good incentive, I'd say. Just cuz I'm good at punching don't mean I like it." He mentions dryly before doing the same Strawberry did with her blanket hood.
"Methinks we all do, Berreh. Also, welcome to the Sandmouth club."

Viridian pauses as they exit into the slowly building sandstorm and frowns. "Well, bugger all here. It'll be built to full grind-our-flesh-off intensity before too long and unless someone thought to bring a pile of rags or other cloth to wrap our faces in..."
"Maybe that's what the Object is for," Verde suggests cheerfully. "Maybe it projects an energy field that is strong enough to deflect any bombardment."
Viridian looks at her. "Bombardment."
"Of sand." Verde looks right back. "What else is going to bombard it? Space lasers?"
"There were always rumors of it," Viridian points out as she looks to Wild. "So, it appears that we've decided that you get to be the leader whether you want to be or not."
"Something about him makes me confident that he knows what to do," Verde pipes up, giving Wild a cheery smile. "Maybe we could ask the one with voices in her head to help cuz I'm sure that at least one of the voices has insight to offer on the situation at hand." At a pointed clearing of Virdian's throat, she blushes very slightly and momentarily and gives Wild an apologetic look. "I mean, in addition to any insight your own internal council can offer, sir."
Viridian gives her a micro-nod of approval at her correction before looking towards Wild and holding the glance with a neutral and patient expression, clearly expecting him to make some sort of decision or offer some manner of insight.

As he read through the notes, Johnny was pleasantly surprised to hear one of the mares correctly guess what the little trinket in his pocket was for. Always nice to know you were with those with proper brains in their heads. Looking up to Wild, the stallion gave him a look that spoke of a little worry and concern, conveying the part of the notes he had just read silently, somehow forming an entire sentence with just a look, before going back to reading the notes. He was looking to see if there was any more mention of the sigil, and what it might look like, and taking note of the part about holstering weapons, put his large hammer away in the holster he had slung across his back, standing with a hand on his hip as he continued to read. An ear was tuned onto Wild though, waiting for any orders or instructions, as well as listening out for anything of a more unusual nature.

Wyvorn shortly watched as the smaller group went their own path while he stuck to the bigger one. He then heard the distant clicking from the bugs "I suppose we really can't stay here then, huh.. Sure don't wanna be eaten alive by the pests." he said and stood up, making sure his only weapon - a combat knife - was still behind his belt, but sheathed. "Speaking of eating, I wouldn't mind a decent meal right now either." he said and gave Johnny, Wild, Viridian, Verde and whoever was left of the large group a questioning look before following them, making sure he was staying close and not being left behind.

Wild Card nodded to Jäger as the large being shouted back to them about the town, smiling to himself as he walked towards him and down the road. He then looked at Viridian and smiled. "Yeah, suppose so. But hey, how hard can it be? We're heading towards the town marked on that sign big-beefy and slightly unnerving is pointing out, and what with Johnny's contraption, the sandstorm shouldn't be a problem if we don't get there before it gets to us." He said, making that decision and continuing on with his brisk walk.

Wild then looked at Johnny and grinned. "Found anything useful in there, Johnny?" He asked, before getting the answer in one simple look and a sentence of silence. Slowly, Wild holstered his revolver and gazed at the others. "So, in the notes Cordial left for us, it seems that the phrase "The sun has risen" means that an Solar Empire airship patrol is out and about, and that we need to holster our weapons and generally be non-aggressive towards them, along with something to do with wearing a sigil if we have one." The stallion nodded towards the tall red unicorn and then carried on walking. "And yes, food would be a nice thing to have right now, but hopefully the town up there will have some we can have." Wild responded to Wyvorn, before looking at the small group wander away and then looking forwards again. "Keep an eye out though... The griffon says pests are about, and from what we know already, they aren't exactly the smallest of things."

The path that Frosty's group was being led down was extremely steep and winding, full of oddly and awkwardly placed rocks like some overbearing being was placing them at just the wrong place to be as annoying and time wasting as possible. After the fourth or fifth stubbed toe it stopped being funny.

Still the map presented on the pipbuck was at least scaling to their location, generating more specific directions as they got closer to the supposed weapon cache, right down to generating a little arrow pointing down to show that the first incline they arrived at which seemed to be the location was too steep and that they in fact needed to be a few ledges lower.

Finally after many stubbed toes, countless annoying insects buzzing in the ears and a very badly placed cactus for Natural Tune, they happened upon a smooth stone ledge that seemed almost like it had been specifically worn out; it looked down on a metal blast door carved into the side of the mountain; the blast door sadly had been long since removed from it's sealing system of hydraulics and electric locks but still it had been arranged with a metal handle and some bolt locks to keep it closed, it would easily keep out the sandstorm.

The issue they now faced was the creature residing in front of it.


_________________________________________

The road to Junktown was comparatively quieter, though the effects of the storm were more evident with less rocky cover and one side of the road eternally exposed to the elements; they were elevated which meant the bulk of the sand would not reach them even if they did manage to waste enough time to let it fully arrive but every so often a gust of wind would catch on article of clothing or a holster in a most annoying manner, or worse a bit of sand would find it's way into their eyes.

The clicking sound persisted after for a few minutes of walking away from the prison but gradually faded as they walked away from the place. Leaving may well have been a good idea.

They had been walking for a good distance, making solid progress, when they heard a voice.

"Hey, you up there!" The voice was coming from the bottom of the steeply inclining road that seemed to finally lead off the mountain; at the bottom they could see two ponies, one wrapped from head to toe in rags and cloth like some Saddle Arabian ponies and another in full leather armor wearing a gas mask. "What're you doin' out here?! That mountain you're on is not a place for ponies, 'specially not with a storm a brewin'!" The pony in cloths shouted in, bizarrely, a distinctly Appleloosa accent. "We're headin' for junk town, any chance you folks want a ride?" He asked; the leather pony had been struggling with something just around the corner but once they soon moved back into view, bringing with them a rather flimsy looking wagon which looked like it was held together with glue and some good luck but at the very least it had a cover with no holes in it.

Two brahmin at the front of the wagon pulled it along and made loud mooing noises as the leather clad pony fed them. "I need an answer now folks! Solar Empire is looking to make a stink of the place, between them and the storm Imma thinking my basement with the door nailed shut is the safest place to be about nows, and I'd advise y'all to do the same!"

Frosty almost breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted the entrance to the cache, and their salvation from this sandstorm. Then she saw the giant menacing bug. “Fucking bugs… Why is it always the fucking bugs?” She mumbled to herself. She took a look around, trying to spot any other bugs, in case there was a nest. It seemed, for the moment, the bug was alone. Probably doing what bugs do.

Frosty turned to the rest of the group. “Welp… we got one more obstacle between us and the safety of that cave. There is a huge stinging bug in front of the doors.” She said to them, as quietly as she could with the raging sandstorm around them. “Normally, I would recommend blowing that thing to hell, but I think a slightly quieter approach is necessary. Strawberry, can you hit that thing from here?” She asked her friend. “And Tune, can you get a grenade ready, just in case something needs to be blown up?”

The pink mare nodded. “Yeah, I think I can handle it. Watch my butt for me. Just don’t stare.” She said jokingly. She moved up a bit, crouching behind a bush as she took aim at the bug. Frosty also took aim, just in case she missed. When Strawberry was sure she had a good shot, she fired three shots at the bug.

Jäger wasn't satisfied with the complete lack of an answer towards his inquiry of the smaller group. Yet their departure, and the departure of the larger group coupled with the incoming storm drove him to swear under his breath as he jogged along to catch back up to the larger group, only slowing down when he was near the front of it.

As the caravan called out and came into view, Jäger almost had to fight down the idea of just sinking teeth into the brahmin so that he could actually hear what they had to say. "Ho hyes, hy vill take dot offer," Jäger commented as he ran up towards the caravan and moved to either jump in the thing or at least run beside it without waiting for anyone else to speak. As he stood nearby though, close enough that more casual conversation could be had, Jäger went on. "Sho, who are deze Sholah Emvire?" Jäger asked as he walked (or ran) and talked.

Wild Card for the few minutes they walked had to constantly put up with his duster flapping in the wind, but the holster around his waist did keep the top of it from moving along with the bottom half, so there was a nice thing about his apparel. Only when the clicking noise stopped did he notice it was every really there, as the absence of it took something away from the general sounds around him.

Then came the voice. It wasn't a voice he had heard recently. It was a new voice. New voice meant new person, and by what they were saying, this new person seemed concerned with the group, and so already had a good start with getting Wild to like them. Taking Viridian's words into account about being the leader, he thought he'd have to step up and be the one to talk back. Waving a hand in a friendly manner, the pegasus then called back to them. "If you're offering to take us to Junk Town, we'll gladly take the offer!" Wild looked to the others and smiled. "Pretty good luck that we found these ponies, eh?" He said, before quickly making his way to the caravan and theodd creatures known as Brahmin. Given his time before the whole... vault event happened, he had never seen those mutated animals much, and as such he was still a little weird-ed out by them. As he arrived near the caravan he hopped into the back, setting the radio down on his lap and letting out a small sigh. "Thank you ever so much, and yes, we heard on the radio that the Solar Empire has an airship patrol in the area. Oh, we've also picked up a radio and we're not too sure about what station is what, would you gentlemen happen to know?" The stallion asked politely, shuffling around if need be for anyone else who would sit down as well.

Star sighed in relief. He was glad they were finally at the cache and also somewhat, if only a tiny amount, grateful for the walking. He was glad he could stretch some of his muscles too. He then looked at the bug that Frosty had pointed out and frowned. "And a stingy bug at that..." He groaned and slouched a little. He then watched Frosty go up and aim her gun. "Hate stingy bugs. I'll let you guys handle it." He said as he backed up just a bit and waited for the cazador to die. He also carefully watched Frosty, curious as to how well the mare can aim.

Tune's eyes crossed over as he fought his hardest to not cry out in pain as he stepped on the cactus, sending sharp jabs of pain up his leg. It was as if the plant had grown there just to wait for him to step on it.
"Owowowowowowowowowowwowow!" He whispered, trying to be as silent as possible while trying to stay out of the bug's line of sight, sitting down as quickly as he could and prying off the cactus from his foot. Thankfully it hadn't pierced the skin too much - there was only minor bleeding. It hurt more than enough to compensate for that though.
Once he got the loose needles off of his foot, he tried standing up again, only to wince as he placed weight on that foot. He nodded as he unslung one of the grenades, prepared to pull the pin at a moment's notice.