conversations: human
conversations:  "Gooooooood moooooorning, Capitol Wasteland!  Its meeee, Three Dog (bow wow), and yer listenin' to Galaxy News Radioooo!  How you all doin' today?  Hopefully pretty good, and if not... well... sucks for you.  Anyway, as some of you may know, today is a very special day!  Nooooo, its not my birthday, but thanks fer asking.  No no, today is an anniversary!  The 10th anniversary, in fact, of Project Purity's activation!  ...  Official activation, I mean.  Y'know, the one where the Brotherhood of Steel, the legendary Lone Wanderer, and a giant robot kicked some Enclave ass and saved all our wretched souls.  Pretty sweet, huh?  Hah hah...
  
  Can you believe it, children?  Ten whole years of pure, clean water...  Some of you probably don't remember having to drink that semi-irradiated crap.  (Bastards.)  Man o man, a lot of stuff has happened since then... though not all for the better.  Pure water for everyone, real trees and plants startin' to pop up in places, the Enclave gettin' their asses handed to them, and that whole 'super mutant onslaught of doom' thing getting sorted out...  Yeah, those were some pretty good things.
  
  But it ain't all sunshine and bunnies.  Things got pretty dark at times, especially five years ago.  I'm sure you all recall the Brotherhood and their Outcast "brothers" finally came to blows over Vault 101.  We lost a lot of good people that day, including our Lone Wanderer.  Dammit kid, why'd you have to go?  You still owe me 20 caps...  And lets not forget the Enclave's random guerrilla tactics, or the Republic of Dave's annihilation.  Talk about some humble pie...
  
  At any rate, children, I just thought I'd remind y'all of where we stand.  Y'know, compared to how bleak things used to be.  And try to remember all the heroes who've given their blood, sweat, tears, and even lives, just to make your existence a teeny, tiny bit better.  So raise a glass for them, children.  And while yer at it, raise a finger to ol' President Eden.  For old times sake, hah hah hah!  Anyway, enough chatter.  Lets have some music!"
  
  "  Why do you whisper, green grass?
  Why tell the trees it ain't so?
  Whispering grass, the trees
  Don't have to know, no no  ..."
  
  The soft melody of the Ink Spot's tune gently echoes through the bar, the bar's few current patron turning their attention from the radio on the counter now that Three Dog has shut up.  Sunlight filters through the corrugated iron and scrap metal that make up the building's walls, just like many of the other shantytown structure's found in the town of Megaton.  The sun hasn't been up for too long, though, which is part of the reason the establishment is so empty right now.
  
  Currently, the only people sitting around are the owner, Gob, the co-owner, Nova, and a couple of the town's residents.  There are also two out-of-towners, recently arrived and (probably) not too well known around town.  They may or may not find it odd that the owner of the bar is, in fact, a ghoul.  Its not often that a skinless mutant owns such a... fine... establishment.
  
  "Do you ever miss the old Enclave Radio station?" the bartender suddenly croaks, looking back over his shoulder at the red-head doing inventory.
  
  "Seriously?  Hell no," she replies with a smirk and a shake of her head.  "Blah blah blah, dogs and baseball.  Bluh bluh bluh, we're gonna save the day."
  
  "I meant the jaunty little tunes," the ghoul replied, rolling his unnaturally opaque eyes.  "I'm not complaining they're gone.  I just miss the cheerful music, heh heh..." he chuckles throatily, before going back to cleaning glasses with a rag.  After a moment, the ghoul looks up at the nearby patrons, and casually asks:  "You folks need anything?"
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  At the far end of the table, a young man observes the activity intently, scribbling a few things in his notebook. With short neatly cut brown hair and piercing brown eyes, Belik is oddly dressed to say the least, garbed in the robes of a Brotherhood of Steel scribe, and with his general neat appearance, marking one of those not born in the wasteland. He takes a quick look at Gob and then back to his notebook, replying
  
    "Just water will be fine, would you have any rooms open by any chance? Might be staying in Megaton for a few days." 
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  The door to the bar/inn opened with a slight force to it as a young tough looking woman slugged through and sat herself three stools away from Belik. Her style of wear looked more akin to a wastelander mercenary and an aura that rang 'don't mess with me'.
  
   "A cold beer, two."  She said in a gruff demaning way as she tapped her fingers on the bar counter. She laid her head down exposing neck which seemed to have fresh scars. Heck, looking at her as a whole right indicated she was recently in a skirmish.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Yeah, we got a room open," the ghoul nods to Belik.  The red-head opens the fridge and tosses a bottle of water to the ghoul; he deftly catches it and places it on the counter.  "Doing homework for the Brotherhood, eh?"
  
  Gob and Nova do the same drink-throwing trick for the new girl, albeit with beer.  "Here you go," the ghoul states, placing the two beers down in front of her.  "Need a stimmpack or something while you're at it?  Looks like you got on something's bad side.  Though, I get the feeling it came out worse for it, heh heh..." he chuckles.
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "You could say that, there's only so much you can learn from books after all, at some point your going to need to see things for yourself to see what is really going on. My name's Belik, have you heard anything interesting locally recently?"   The scribe inquires, putting down his pencil and taking a drink out of the water bottle.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  
  Streetwise
   (1d6+2)[ 4 ] 
  Wild Die
   (1d6+2)[ 3 ] 
  
  Ace:
   (1d6)[ 6 ] 
   
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  She roughly took one of the beer bottles and chugged it down, dripping a bit down her chin. She wiped it off with a dirty gloved hand and made that 'aaaaah' sound.  "Its none of your business,"  She scowled, she didn't quite want to admit she got her ass handed to her by a dang radroach.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  Gob scratches his fleshless chin in contemplation.  " Well, ever heard of Girdershade?  Little settlement to the Southwest, only a couple of folks there.  Well, something pretty bad went down there, from what I've heard.  Rumor is a merchant saw something, but I don't know what.  Best to avoid that place, though.  Or so rumor has it ," he shrugs.  " You should probably talk to Moira Brown or Sheriff Lucas Simms, though, if you really want information.  Moira should especially interest you, since she's always doing science projects and dabbling with technology.  I'm kinda surprised she's not Brotherhood, actually ..." the ghoul muses.  He then smirks, shakes his head, and adds:  " Actually, no I'm not ."
  
  Looking over at the battle-scarred woman, Gob shrugs and holds up his hands disarmingly.  " Sorry, just making an observation ..."
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Interesting."   Belik remarks as listens, drinking the water bottle for a moment, asking
    "How much for a room for a night?"  
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  Evelyn grunted as she drank her mediocre beer. Her body ached at the moment still, added to her already surliness. She started to have second thoughts about getting herself a stimmpack, she had the caps at the moment to waste, benefit of a nice executed plan where she robbed a caravan a few days ago. Utter luck on her part she survived that.
   
  "How much for a stimmpack?"  She asked gruffly.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "300 caps," Gob says with an idle wave of his hand.
  
  He then looks at the Brotherhood Scribe and shrugs.  "30 caps."
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Would you know where the Sheriff would be at this hour?"   Belik asks Gob as he finishes the bottle of water, returning the empty bottle to the bartender, as he packs his things.
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Three hundred caps?? **** off with that price mark up,"  She growled and quickly chugged down her beer, faster to get out of this festering hole.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Walking around town, making sure nothing is wrong," Gob explains to the man.  He then scowls at the girl. "Look, don't blame me, blame the market.  These things are becoming much harder to find, and you won't find prices lower than this in most places..."
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  Belik raises an eye towards Evelyn's outburst.
    "What would be a reasonable price for a stimpack in your experience?"   He asks her curiously.
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  'Not 300 Caps, I find his words bull****. Maybe no more than 40,"  She harrumphed and narrowed her eyes.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "I see."   Belik remarks, as he leaves the inn, as leaves in search of Moira's store, taking in his surroundings for a moment before knocking the on the door.
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  Gob shrugs, then looks to the Scribe as he leaves.  "I'll put it on your tab.  Good luck with whatever you're lookin' for."
  
  Craterside Supply is not hard to find, and lucky for Belik, the door is open.  Stepping into the store, he immediately discovers a veritable oasis of junk and technology.  Weapons, tools, mechanical doodads, a workbench, a computer, et cetera.  A rather gruff mercenary-looking fellow is leaning against the bench, while a young woman in blue overalls casually taps away at the computer.
  
  Upon hearing Belik enter, the mercenary scowls, while the brown-haired young woman turns around, and in a very bubbly voice states:  "Oh, a customer!  How many I help you, sir?"  Her eyes then go wide in recognition.  "Oooo, Brotherhood of Steel.  Need something special?  Though most of the tech I have isn't anything too special, I'm afraid," she smiles wistfully.
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  Belik nods in affirmation replying
    "I heard from the bartender that you were skilled with technology. I'm curious, has the Brotherhood ever officially contacted you before?" 
  
  As he takes a look at the various doodads around him, seeing if there was anything that might be of interest to the Brotherhood.
  
   
   Spoiler 
  
  Knowledge:Technology  (1d4)[ 3 ] 
  Wild Die:  (1d6)[ 3 ] 
  Ace: (1d6)[ 1 ] 
   
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  After guzzling down her beers the surly young woman paid her caps if she hadn't already.
   
  "Any place here in this stink hole that sells decent weapons?"  She asked the ghoul despite having had been rude to him just moments ago.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  [Craterside Supply]
  
  "Oh yes, the Brotherhood came by several years ago to see if I wanted to join them.  I passed on the offer, though," Moira answers cheerfully.  "I'd much rather have my nice little store and be able to help people out at my leisure.  Plus, I don't think they'd approve of some of my experiments..." she smiles innocently.
  
  Finding technology in the store is easy.  Finding interesting technology, though, is difficult.  Anything that could be considered interesting is buried under piles of junk, spare parts, tools, and bits of common equipment.
  
  --
  
  [Gob's Bar]
  
  "Craterside Supply," the ghoul gruffly replies.  "Moira's usually got a decent selection of guns, ammo, and armor.  Plus junk.  Lots of junk..." he smirks knowingly.
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Right..where can I find this 'Craterside Supply?'  She asked getting her stuff together before leaving.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Take a left when you go out the door, and just follow the catwalks.  Its down to your right.  Got a fridge out front and Craterside Supply written on the wall.  Easy to find," Gob explains with a shrug.
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Understandable."   Belik nods, giving up on his brief search of technology in the store.
  
    "Have you heard about Girdershade by any chance? The bartender said something might have happened there."  The scribe remarks.
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  Evelyn left without a word with her belongings and set out to find this "Craterside Supply".
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  Moira's face darkens.  "Oh, yes, Girdershade.  Its a few miles Southwest of here.  Its a small settlement, built under an old overpass.  Y'know, so its in the shade of the old girders," she smiles briefly, before going back to looking grim.  "Anyway, the last caravan out that way said they saw some bad signs.  Bodies and stuff.  They didn't get too close though, so nobody really knows what happened... and nobody really wants to find out either."
  
  After a moment, her bubbly personality reasserts itself.  "So, did you need something?  Tools, weapons, Wasteland Survival Guide?" she asks cheerfully.
  
  
  And its at this time that Evelyn walks in, having finally found the place.  "Oh, hey, another customer!" Moira beams.  "What can I do for you, ma'am?"
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "You have quite an interesting collection of things I must admit, but for now, no. Thank you for the information however, would you know if the caravan is still in town?"  Belik asks, as Evelyn walks in.
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  Evelyn was just going to browse first and acknowledged Moira with a nod and grunt.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Oh no.  I mean, yes I know if they're here, but no, they're not," Moira replies cheerfully.  "These Wasteland Merchants constantly wander around.  They're not like the caravans who follow specific routes.  I mean, you're welcome to look for the guy - he's got a pretty dark complexion, mangy black hair, um... brown clothes..." she looks up at the ceiling, trying to remember any other details about the merchant.  Her face lights up, and she adds:  "Oh, and he's got a Protectron bodyguard.  Can't miss him."
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  Belik nods in thanks, as he leaves the store to look for Megaton's sheriff.
conversations: Talkkno:
conversations: human
conversations:  Evelyn watched that dude whatshisface leave and continued to look distracted with the merchandise.
conversations: Benson:
conversations: human
conversations:  "Wait, where ya going?" Moira calls out after Belik.  "Are you looking for somebody or something in particular?  Why are you so interested in Girdershade?"
conversations: Lycan 01:
conversations: human
conversations:  "If there's trouble heading our way, someone should investigate."  Belik replies as he heads out.
conversations: Talkkno: