They crept into the ruins of Oking by way of its many side entrances, and came stalking up beneath the great rusty pillars of the long silent train station. The air itself was thick with grime, which bit and gnawed at Duela’s papery flesh.

“Keep alert,” she instructed the group in her rough, gravelly voice “Everyone upped and vanished, and we’ve no idea why. Maybe they just wanted a change of scenery, but I’m not ruling out the possibility that some of the big ones came down here and carted them off for dinner.”

The road beneath their feet was riddled with cracks, and had withered away to a few dirt brown slabs of stone over the past two centuries. Squat and ugly concrete blocks of building spurted up all around them, and a fat silver smear stained the filthy sky above them.

Once upon a time it had killed Duela to see her beloved country reduced to a pile of rubble, but she’d grown used to it over the years. She had lived longer than she’d ever thought possible, at the price of watching everything she loved rot and die around her.

Cold steel katana fastened to her back, Duela slowly made her way further into Oking, gesturing for the group to follow. The roads were eerily quiet, and it wasn’t until they were drawing close to the husk of the World War 1 Monument which lorded over a bleak stone courtyard, that they began to hear voices.

“Oh, well you’re just the greatest person to ever -FUCKING- live, aren’t ya’?!” A gruff voice boomed through the courtyard “A real model citizen amongst you and all your wanker friends!”

“Careful, Nathan…”

“Don’t talk down to me, prick-muncher! You can crawl back to that lard arse and tell her that we’re not budging until-”

“Watch yourself, Nathan.”

“Don’t fucking interrupt me, cuntface!” You pricks ain’t gettin’ jack-shit until I get my boy back! Until then you can go do one, you enormous cumstain!”

Making sure to soften her footfalls, Duela slank into the bombed-out ruins of an old coffee shop, that's shattered glass windows gave her a good view of the courtyard. Delicately moving a broken chair out of the way, the ghoulette ducked down beneath an overturned table, poking her head up over it so she could keep tabs on what was going on.

A great big giant of a man, with a scraggly mess of a beard and a knotty mane of brown hair, was bellowing down at three smaller men, who seemed to be clutching an assortment of baseball bats and machetes.

“Danette’s being awfully generous here, Nathan,” the middle of the three smaller men said with a fierce scowl “she dosen’t extend this kind of offer to most.”

“I don’t care if she’d offering to come down here and lick my arsehole clean!” Nathan barked “I want my fucking son back!”

“Last chance, Nathan.” One of the three goons snapped.

“Go fuck your mother, your sickly fucking afterbirth.”

One of the three men unsheathed his machete, but Nathan was quicker. He grabbed the assailant firmly by the wrist, before forcing it down with all his bestial might, and jamming his arm behind his back. The thug let out a yelp of surprise, before the larger man gave him a fierce shove into his buddies, sending him sprawling out across the floor in the process.

“You’re all alone out here, Nathan!” The leader of the trio snarled, as he caressed his baseball bat “And you’re gonna die alone! Maybe we’ll have some fun with your boy once we’ve taken care of you. That little bitch will be begging for the knife once we’re done with hi-.”

The thug stopped mid-speech, as an arrow whizzed into his neck, ripping right through his jugular, and spitting out a cloud thick red blood mist. He coughed and spluttered, as blood bubbled in his mouth, before crashing down onto the stoney cobbles.

TWANG!

Another arrow shot through the air, bursting through the eye of the second thug left standing, and exploding out the back of his head.

Before the man from earlier could rise to his feet, Nathan was standing over him, his powerful hands gripping hold of his neck.

CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRACK!

His lifeless corpse clattered to the ground, as a feral looking woman, clutching a mechanical longbow, slipped out of the shadows.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” She asked in a calm, soothing voice, as she made her way over to Nathan.

“They have our son, Harriet…” He grumbled, fighting back tears.

She slung the bow over one shoulder, pulling the larger man into a tight embrace.

It was then that Duela clambered out from behind the table, raising her arms high above her head.

“We’re friendly!” She shouted, taking slow, calculated steps towards them “We’ve come from Silvershaw! Can you tell us what happened here?!”

It's been quite the surprise for Cassandra when she heard the news about Oking. She was on a scavenging run for a good while in the opposite direction, before she finally returned to Silvershaw and learned the news. Naturally her first thought was slavers or something equally bad so she quickly agreed with the mayor's plan when he decided to send people south to Oking to investigate what had transpired there. Cassie just quickly stocked up on a little bit of supplies after she sold of her unneeded junk, before the group departed and now she was comfortably feeling prepared for possible dangers. The metal longbow on her back was nearly as big as her and had clearly went through some transformations since she wast had returned to these parts. The arrows in the quiver had also went up a notch in quality. The claws on her gauntlets were also freshly sharpened in case she has to tear up someone up close.

At Duela's words, Cassandra's eye twitched. She was always expecting troubles when she was away from home... which was basically all the time. She liked people, but preferred to be prepared just in case. Now it was not different. The silence was not helping any though. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up... This lack of sounds was indicative that there probably no one left in here. Or at least that's what she though before their leader finally led them to a place where voices began to appear. As with the rest, Cassandra quickly resorted to hiding and stalking at the situation that was unfolding. She slowly took her bow from her back, extremely careful to not make any sound.

Judging by what they were hearing, the group this people were part of were probably responsible for whatever happened... maybe. They had the man's son after all. She was just about ready to shoot them herself when the big man attacked the 3 thugs and then another archer appeared... an archer who turned to be the man's... wife? They were the only ones left here?

Cassandra's head turned sharply as Duela left the hiding stop and made her way to the couple. At first the former slave tightened her grip on her bow, but then quickly relaxed and nimbly put it on her back again, also showing from her hiding place, but keeping some distance away. Still, she kept alert for anything else out of the ordinary. If there were 3 thugs... there probably were more around. They tended to move in big numbers because of their lack of personal strength and guts to take on difficulties singlehandedly...

It came to be quite a shocking moment for William when he spied what he did. Before him was enough food for several weeks, a meal enough for a dozen people to feast 'till their appities were more than sated, let alone just sustain himself. It was a deer, though it was heavily mutated and had a thick calloused skin about itself, necrotic and almost rotting. Its fur suffered even worse, having become a patchwork canvas of bristles and the occasional terrific scar. Even its eyes were milky white, which as William had learned not always meant a certainty of blindness. It was not that severe radiation particularly bothered him, but William couldn't help but squirm at the rather horrific looking creature and the sheer grotesque manner in which it looked. Yew wood bow already in hand, he nocked an arrow and settled sights upon the abomination. It was not a convential arrow, that would be too easy, but rather a specialised bleeder arrow the sorts of old battlefields. Luckily his Haven had a grimy and tattered up old book about such, grusome, tools and William was more than keen when it came to creating certain items such as this one. Pulling back the string, William breathed in to steady himself, and fired off a single arrow at the mutated monstrosity.

The shot...probably could not have been more off target, unless specifically done so, as it was seen wide by several foot and did little more than startle the animal from its lazy eating of what little grass it could find. Perhaps fortunate, as William knew that several of the larger types of mammal could become rather dangerous when threatened. "Twat" he spat at a barely audiable groan of utter contempt for the beast. Sighing, as he watched the half-rotting deer shamble off wih its almost hilariously bouncing gait, he walked to the rough area where the arrow impacted amoung a small pile of housing bricks, probably some survivor created sitting arrangement. It wasn't a long journey, but it did lead him to the next of todays abnormalities.

Before him, in what looked to be an old ransacked café of sorts, were several humanoid shapes in a mixture of garb. Judging by posture they were most likely human, but then again some ghouls remained at least somewhat human-like...for awhile anyway. Watching intently from his vantage point, he noticed that a few of the group looked rather violent or at least of the unpleasant sorts. Old age and worn senses did not permit crystal clear sight, but there was not much to mistake when it came to the shape and grip of weaponary. It was not his own fight however, and as such he kept a close watch upon the people...

He would, have done that. Had not his footing been loose at best, having perched himself upon a small pile of old housing bricks. (in something like a leaning or sitting manner.) The former pieces of what was once a home gave way and tumbled out from beneath him, forcing William to grunt quite audiably from sudden shock and caused a small cascade of mansonary to echo out across the area...

When the expedition to Oking was announced, it was only natural that one of the Rangers would come along. Experienced trackers, scouts, and survivalists, as well as capable of holding their own in a fight, the presence of a Ranger was handy for most forays outside of Silvershaw's borders. When the Mayor asked the Rangers for assistance, Aaron was one of the first to be chosen amongst the small ranks of the Rangers, due to his knowledge of the general area. Aaron agreed and rounded up his gear. Next thing he knew, he was trudging around the ruins of Oking with the rest of the expedition, crossbow in hand.

He had his scarf wrapped around his face, the brown fabric serving as a rudimentary air filter to keep the thick grime in the air from entering his lungs. His crossbow rested casually in his hands as he walked, bolt already knocked and loaded, though his finger remained off the trigger, and the weapon's safety mechanism stayed on. Cradling his pre-war weapon in his arms, Aaron walked some 20 meters ahead of the group, allowing him to remain in relative earshot and vision, while allowing him to scout out their path ahead. He didn't hear much of the conversation between the expedition group behind him, though he was too busy listening to his surroundings to pay much attention to the conversation anyway. It wasn't until the neared the old WWI memorial did Aaron start hearing voices.

Dropping to a knee and looking back at the others, he held out a hand, indicating that there was something ahead and that they should be cautious. Making his way one of the nearby stores- the old bombed out cafe that Duela had singled out- Aaron made his way around the building, and deftly scaled it using a pile of rubble and a old dumpster to help him reach the second story of the destroyed shop. Most of the second story was gone- rubble and open sky where the roof and walls would be. Most of the floor was missing as well. Nevertheless, Aaron creeped his way slowly along the remaining floorboards and found himself a spot behind the remains of a wall that he could peer over. From what he could see, the conversation consisted of two sides: a trio of seedy looking grunts, and a larger man. Aaron easily switched the safety on his crossbow off, but didn't swing his body out from behind the wall to fire, opting to stay hidden.

There was a short argument, followed by a twang of a bowstring, and within the blink of an eye, the three thugs had been incapacitated by the big man and what appeared to be his wife. Aaron grimaced as he heard Duela's voice ring out shortly afterwards, and watched with a degree of dread as she began walking out towards them. She should've at least discussed some sort of plan with them before deciding on her own what they were going to do. His grip tightened on his crossbow, he was ready to spring around and fire at a moment's notice.

His sharp eyes caught a ghoul stumbling over masonry a bit aways before he heard it. He had no idea if it was feral or not, though its manner of dress and the bow it held seemed to indicate that it was the latter. Aaron was tempted to shoot it right then and there- it'd be an easy shot too, the ghoul had lost its footing and had fallen, but he opted not to, as to not blow his concealment. Instead he opted to keep an eye on the ghoul as well as the exchange about to happen between Duela and the couple ahead.

Lux had never been to Oking. Her opinion? It seemed a fair bit like Silvershaw, but without the people.

Well, most of them. There were two left, at least, now that the fight in the courtyard was done. Lux had positioned herself in a fairly small, ground level guard post at the edge of the courtyard, waiting out the violence. The fight was too confused for her explosives to be of any use; that didn't stop her from holding one of her canned grenades until it was over. She put it carefully back in her pack.

Duela left her cover and announced their presence, and that was that. Lux trusted the ghoul woman, not in any personal way, she trusted no one with that, but from what she could tell, Duela was knowledgeable and skilled. Reliable at her job. Lux was just fine with following her lead. If she thought it was safe to approach these people, it was safe.

Not that Lux approached. Far from it. She remained in the guard post, crouched down behind the railing of wood planks. It had a covered roof to protect against the frequent rains, but it was largely empty, just a creaky old chair set in the middle next to a table where an old ash tray collected spent cigarettes. There were no weapons to be found, but a box strapped to the side of the railing across from Lux caught her eye. A red cross had been sloppily painted across the face of it. Shifting quietly on all fours over the floor, she pried it away, revealing two unused stimpaks taped to the inside. Jackpot. She grabbed them for herself. No one here was around to need them, right?

The ghoul man tumbling in drew her attention back to the courtyard, and she returned to her former spot. Lux peered in the miniscule gap between two planks at the scene, and waited with knife in hand. She was no use to anyone out in the open, least of all herself. Avoiding injury and death was something she'd become quite good at over the course of her life.

McTavish stayed at the back of the pack for a couple of reasons. First, there was some hostility going on with him in the group right now. His disagreement with them was largely due to their discipline and lack of military practice. He had insisted that he take control of the group rather than some civilian however his new commanding officer shot that down. The rest of the way he had felt their stares on the back of his head. It would have been so easy to- Though that would have been against orders. So he had stayed with the group and did as he had been ordered. All the way into Oking. Once there he decided that the best course was to patrol the immediate area, his mission objective did say that he was to recon the area. While technically speaking Duela had been put in charge of the mission the Mayor did not explicity place her in charge of him and so he was not disobeying orders.

He would have smelt the ghoul first had they not been traveling with one, he never liked the smell. He would have heard him next if Duela hadn't suddenly decided to take out several targets. There was a definite call to go back to check that everything was in hands but with three shots and no more obviously their side had been victorious. With their own number being more than three any confrontation that they were loosing would create substantially more noise. While this ghoul, likely not feral as his stance was all wrong, watched the rest of the group and then took a tumble McTavish took the quietest sprint he could towards the ghoul, reaching to his back with his right arm he grabbed the handle of his supersledge. Current weapon of choice till he lost it, broke it or it was stolen from him.

As a warning shot he struck the sledge down beside the Ghoul, as he grunted "Ngeaghhh!" Scare tactic, announce yourself to your enemy (Honourable thing to do). Determine threat level, then act accordingly. If individual poses significant threat, eliminate. "YOU!" His voice was deep, grating and pretty much like that of most other super mutants... just with a slight accent. "You stupid! Trying to sneak up on people? What is it you want?!"

"Hmph."

The displeasure was not more evident in the Guardsman's face. The beret he had on shielded some of his features from the moonlight, but the frown he wore was telling.

The group he was following was a ragtag bunch of misfits, including himself. The mayor of Silvershaw had decided that enough was enough and they had to send someone to Oking to figure out what the balls was going on over there. Bad enough that they just had to send a group, but they had the town's resident super mutant with them. All eyes, professional or otherwise, would be on them, even in the dead of night. The shadows had eyes, he'd learned early in life. A group this size heading to someplace considered dangerous would be spotted easily.

Approaching the outskirts of Oking, John kept his rifle up, hands clasped tightly on the sturdy wooden body of the weapon. His eyes were not on the group, but their surroundings, ears peeled for any sudden movement or noise.

Then, ahead, sounds. An argument. Raised voices.

Followed sharply by the sounds of murder and death.

With Duela and Cassandra ahead of him and McTavish to his rear, he hunkered down in the brush just behind them. Then, as the ghoul left their cover, he followed close behind, rifle raised in a ready stance. He knew that without bullets, this thing was useless, but the knife that hung from its barrel was still shiny and deadly sharp, a testament to its use and his upkeep of it. As Duela held her hands high, indicating a willingness to talk, he stalked behind her and to her left, eyes constantly focused on the woman and her deadly longbow.

Then his course was interrupted by the ghoul that sort of fell out of the wall, and as McTavish slammed his sledgehammer down on the floor just beside him, John rushed up to his other side and held his rifle steady at the ghoul's face, the long bayonet's blade resting gently on his thin, frail neck.

"Don't. Move."

He looked up at McTavish and gave him a shrug.

"I got this one. Go keep watch on that couple. Bad news, those two."

Oking... She had heard the name of that town a couple of times over the years. Sure enough, she had fixed odds and ends for traders from this community, back when that was basically all she did in Silvershaw. It wasn't too impressive now but the rows of houses, the ruins and piles of bricks and junk, bent and rusted roadsigns, broken windows and cracks in the road, it all fed her imagination. She had seen faded pictures from before the war and, just like other places, this had probably been a nice place to live in and she was glad that she didn't have to sit around in Silvershaw, even though Aaron had had half a mind to leave her there for this mission, what with the uncalculated risk it posed. It had been a long argument but in the end, she got her will.

Honestly, to her, it wasn't about Oking. It wasn't even about going on a 'real' mission rather than a patrol or scavenging run either, although that was a major part of it. It was the first time in a long while that a larger group was going out that wasn't just a caravan and this group included Cassandra. Aaron was a great teacher but Cassandra was the reason Ellie had picked up the bow instead of the crossbow. They hadn't really interacted much, since the older woman rarely stayed in the settlement for long, but in her own way, she left a lasting impression on Eleanor.

And now, here she was, surrounded by a small group of people much more experienced than her. It hadn't really hit home how dangerous things could be until Aaron stopped and directed them into the cover of an old, ruined coffee shop. Ellie became uncomfortably aware that the bow in her hands was the third one of its kind made by her. The first one broke after a few uses; the second was sturdier and she had gathered a lot of experience with it, but ultimately its punch was lacking. This one was stronger, she was well-acquainted with and proud of it, but she had been itching to improve on it and worked on something better, more powerful and balanced... which now lay unfinished and completely useless in Silvershaw. She trusted the weapon in her hand to do its work but she couldn't help but notice the signs of overuse and decay, the microscopic cracks that her fourth prototype wouldn't have.

She stayed close to her mentor and followed the exchange that made her tense and she angrily clutched her fingers around her weapon, but almost as soon as it escalated it was already over. Duela, the woman who was leading them on this expedition, showed herself to the couple and Ellie pricked her ears to the exchange, only to be startled by a cascade of rubble and the BOOM of the Supermutant's sledge. Only now did she notice the ghoul who had fallen into their midst but she wasn't sure if McTavish didn't scare her more. Since the first time she laid eyes on him, she had been curious to talk to him and, at the same time, terrified of trying. Stories about Supermutants usually weren't the kind you wanted to listen to before bedtime, yet the Mayor accepted him in Silvershaw and while a lot of people were whispering whenever McTavish passed, Ellie wondered what the one they were whispering about was really like.

Perhaps she would find out as this adventure progressed. The guardsman and the mutant seemed to have the situation under control and thus, Ellie directed her attention back to their ghoul leader and the couple.

“The actual fuck is that?!” Nathan’s eyes darted over to McTavish, as the Super Mutant began smashing his sledge into the ground. Clutching his wife tightly, the bearded man looked frantically between the emerging figures, and the Ghoul who was walking towards him.

Duela sighed inwardly, but did her best to remain friendly and composed.

“We want to help,” she assured the pair “but first we need to know what’s happening here.”

“Slavers happened,” Harriet spat, her features awash with disdain “Danette’s Bunch, specifically.”

Duela’s heart sank. Danette and her slavers were infamously savage and sadistic, as well as armed.

“There’s fuck all we can do,” Nathan grumbled “That ‘lil tin fortresses of ‘ers is locked down tighter than a nun’s cunt.”

“There might be something we could do…” Duela pondered aloud, choosing her words carefully “Provided we could make it to the Brook.”

“Why should we go anywhere with you?” Nathan snarled “We don't even know who-”

It was then that his wife stepped boldly forwards, freeing herself from her husband’s embrace.

“Maybe we’re stupid for trusting you,” she said calmly “but we want our son back, and right now you’re the best bet we have.”

Duela’s withered lips curved into a smile, flashing rows of rot-riddled teeth.

“I’m not asking for your trust; only your co-operation.” She reasoned.

“I guess we can give you that.” Nathan said after a long pause.

Duela spun on her heel, calling back at McTavish.

“Figure out what our new friend wants,” she said, in reference to the wandering Ghoul “then either bring him along for the ride or send him on his way.”



The journey to the Brook took the best part of the day, as the group paded carefully down the rusted railway tracks which ran between Oking and the Slaver Haven. It was almost midnight by the time Duela pulled herself up onto the train platform, beneath a blanket of darkness.

The old station was relatively intact, and a few squat buildings of dirty orange brick and brown shingling sat on either side of the platform.

Duela led the group quietly through the abandoned ticket offices, and out into the grey asphalt roads beyond. Sickly and withered trees dotted the landscape, their twisted grey branches curving into leafless hooks.

“What now then?” Nathan grunted, as him and his wife came stomping up behind her.

“Danette’s bunch have a camp on the other side of the forest,” Harriet extended her hand out in front of her “beyond the trees and in this quaint little town. Its fortified to high hell.”

Duela placed one hand on her chin, deep in thought. Playing out the different scenarios in her head, she turned back to address the group, keeping her voice quiet yet audible, so as not to attract unwanted attention.

“The way I see it, we can play this several ways; We go in with swords drawn. Chances are only a few of us make it out, if that. We -could- use the darkness to our advantage, and try to sneak our way in. On the other hand, a crew this big are bound to have some smaller settlements lying around. We could pick one of them off, steal their gear, and go in disguised.”

She paused, letting her the other process her words.

“What are we all thinking? I’m putting it to a vote.”

Lux felt much more comfortable now that night had fallen. The prospect of going to the Brook had her on edge. Danette's Bunch were people she avoided the majority of the time, the risk outweighing any reward she could imagine. They were no desperate wasteland scavengers, but cruel and malicious hunters that knew how to track and capture their prey. Lux viewed that fate as worse than death. She would never become another person's property.

She kept to the fringes of the group as they moved, typically placing herself on the opposite side of the super mutant. She was not fond of him in any way. For the most part, she expected everyone else here could think with a level head (though she doubted a few), but the brute? His kind were violent, and loud. Sure to draw trouble, and here, there was much to be found.

Lux was also not fond of putting anything to a vote. Most, she supposed, were experienced and reasonable enough to have a clear opinion, but the mutant would also be getting a say, and that green-looking girl that came with Aaron Logan. It was enough to make her at least want to get her say in first. She pulled her scarf down from her face enough to expose her lips.

"Shouldn't do anything blind," she said quietly, her eyes somewhere near everyone's feet. "I'll have a look at them. Numbers, positions, weapons. Weaknesses." Her gaze fluttered around to several of the group members, before she pulled her mask back up, and turned to leave. She wasn't going to wait for approval. Going in with swords drawn was suicide, as was trying to sneak together with the super mutant in the group. Patience was the key here, as it always was. Patience and knowledge.

William was still rather annoyed from the happenings of earlier, not only was he quite gravely frustrated at his own inability to notice the instability of the brick work resulting in his detection but he was rather dismayed at the apparent hatred he had garnered from this group of...people.

He had no idea what the hell the larger one among them was, though William suspected it to be some manner of radiation-blasted mutation of a human though nothing similar to himself as he appeared grossly over muscled and highly aggressive towards everyhing. Either way, William was on edge internally and knew all too well that these people could likely shift into some form of violence if he showed himself to be either feral or dangerous to them in any way. He opted to try to appear as civillised and sentient as he damn well could do.

Travelling with them had proved to be a matter of simply staying silent and hoping that the mutant-thing didn't come too close to him. He noted that he, or whatever it was, seemed to be much more the sort leaning towards brute force rather than diplomacy. William had reasoned that it would pay off to go with these people, even if they were seemingly hostile to him initially...they couldn't be worse than his forays into the Lancaster wastes...

Wrapping his tattered up coat about himself, William had checked and rechecked that nothing had loosened itself from his possession. Fortunately, everything remained including his meager medical equipment.

He hadn't noticed much change during nightfall, ghoul senses being what they were, and he garnered that he could likely barter his skill with scalpel and medpack in exchange for not getting stabbed or otherwise maimed by these people and their mutant. "Now then... we, appear to not be killing eachother. Which is good, may I add. However, if I may offer the fact that I am a man of medicine? That may be of assistance to you?" He began well, but he detected some slight amount of doubt in his tone.

"Perhaps that may be used to...sway you towards preferably not removing any bits and pieces?" He tried to maintain a clearer and understandable voice, which remained quite easy considering necrosis had yet to tamper so much with his vocal cords. Difficulty arose more from his accent, as he spoke with a relatively thick North Yorkshire accent, maybe these southeners would understand.

The situation with the couple managed to solve itself without further violence, thankfully. The couple introduced themselves as Nathan and Harriet, and seemed reluctant to trust them- not that Aaron couldn't see why. It was human nature to be distrusting towards ghouls and super mutants, both of which their group had fairly large numbers of. Their group had a rather proportionately large number of ghouls in it, as well as Silvershaw's resident super mutant. Glancing at McTavish, Aaron had difficulty seeing why the mayor thought it was a good idea to send the giant with them- sure he was superbly handy in a fight, but he was loud, obvious, and made their group visible, and recognizeable from The family had had their child kidnapped from them. Slavers, Dannette's bunch specifically. Aaron growled audibly- he despised the slavers, especially since they made it a point of kidnapping children.

It was with that grimace Aaron and the rest of the Silvershaw group navigated their way through the ruins towards the Brook. It was difficult to move the group in a stealthy manner, but with some guidance, and no small amount of luck, the group was able to get across Oking with little difficulty, and without encountering any resistance, or ferals. It was dark by the time they reached the train station, and Duella gathered them around to form a plan of action. In the distance, rising above the treeline, Aaron could see the slight glow of fire, and a plume of smoke slowly drifting through the sky, the slaver camp wasn't much further. Duella proposed several plans, none of which Aaron was too keen on.

The first one to speak, surprisingly enough was Lux, the small, quiet, trader-scavenger that frequented Silvershaw. Aaron wasn't too sure why she agreed to go with them, she was a regular visitor to Silvershaw, but she didn't live there, nor did she ever say much to the residents. Nevertheless, she stated- not suggested, that she was going to go take a look at the enemy, find their numbers, weaknesses, positions, and whatnot. She stood up and prepared to leave, at which point Aaron stood up as well.

"That's probably the smartest thing to do," Aaron agreed, "I'll go with you. By the time we get back, hopefully everyone else will be ready to act- on whatever plan they decide on." Pulling his scarf around his face, Aaron made moves to follow Lux. It'd be safer if they moved in a group, and less dangerous than trying to move the entire group. Some of them, particularly large green members of their group, weren't particularly good at staying quiet.

McTavish had nothing to say for the entire journey to the Brook. No dangers shot up, nobody asked him anything. So he had nothing to say to any of them. He didn't like the new ghoul though, or the other two civilians. They had just met them and now they were being brought in to a military operation. That wasn't a smart decision but then the decision wasn't his to make. He'd accept it, at least for now. Obviously there could come the point where gross incompetence would mean that he would have to question the orders of his superior. Something that he had never had to do before in his life. He was hoping that now wouldn't be that time.

So he stayed low, and he stayed quiet on the walk over. His senses alert, his eyes constantly glancing from one of the new arrivals to the next. He wasn't going to let any of them get the jump on him. No way, if they made any threatening gestures they'd regret it.

The next problem however was with two members of the group. Duela decided to put the decision to a vote, probably more for morale. She undoubtedly already had a plan and would allow the others to throw out their own ideas so she could assert her dominance by showing that her plan was best. McTavish had seen it before. In fact he was quite happy that she was doing that, it showed promise. However when Lux decided to just stand up to perform recon, followed by another member of the team he had had enough. Standing up and with surprising speed he wound up infront of them. Sure if they had moved away with any amount of haste he wouldn't have ended up infront of them, but the speed for a being his size was still impressive.

He stopped slouching, straightening himself out to his full height as he looked down on the two of them. "No! You don't get decide what to do. Silly idiots should go back and wait to be told what orders are, before they get trouble."

Having the couple as part of their group filled Ellie with a strange sense of unrest. Throughout the day, she caught herself looking back over her shoulder to them and paid little attention to the few informational remarks Aaron made. Those had become few and far, after having spent over two years under his guidance, and he was a rather quiet traveling companion. Usually, that tended to bother Ellie and she would spend her time trying to bait some reaction from him: An annoyed glance, a scoff, a sigh, a raised corner of his mouth or perhaps even his loud laugh song and myth spoke of... at least she had never heard it in person. She was never quite sure whether he was annoyed with her talking and being more cheerful than him. He seemed genuinely pleased with the progress she had made in matters of survival but she couldn't shake the feeling he would have preferred to leave town on his own more than once, even though he never openly said so.

But at least this time, he didn't have to worry about her talking too much. Slavers, especially Dannette's group, were no laughing matter. Even in what little time she had spent in Silvershaw she had only ever heard people talk about them in hushed whispers that they usually reserved for particularly brutal murderers and Supermutants, which didn't speak for their moral integrity. Slavers, that much she had gathered, were bad news and as upbeat as she tried to be, everybody around her seemed just as melancholic about the prospect of fighting some of the worst this area had to offer. And as if to add insult to injury, the couple and their quest to recover their son reminded Ellie all too much of her own loss, turning an already solemn journey into thoughtful, almost depressing exercise. The only things that bothered her while she wallowed in memories were the occasional rock to stumble over and a nagging, all too familiar headache that was starting to creep up on her towards the evening...

As they gathered near the ancient ticket office, Duela presented them with their options. There weren't many to speak of and none of them sounded very appealing, if Ellie was being honest. Perhaps that was why the woman who was even quieter than Aaron, Lux, decided that she would go ahead and scout the area. Aaron almost immediately stepped forward to declare his agreement and to follow her.

"I'll go as-", Ellie was about to do the same when the Supermutant stood up - Ellie hadn't even noticed that he had sat down, since he still towered them all - and stood in their way. His voice was loud, gravelly and commanding. Yes, perhaps he wasn't very eloquent but what he said wasn't stupid. People had kept telling her, whenever Supermutants were mentioned, that they were incredibly big, incredibly strong, incredibly aggressive and incredibly stupid. She wondered how much of that was reliable information.

She slowly stepped forward, sensing some tension in the people in front of her, to stand next to and, since she was smaller than him, even a little in front of Aaron, to gather McTavish's attention.
"Worry not, Gentle Giant", she said, a genuine smile on her face - she knew she had heard that in one of her dad's stories but she couldn't remember which - doing her best to not let any doubt or fear show but only curiosity and a friendly attitude. "We need to find out more about them. Making a decision right now doesn't do us any good if it's not based on information."

Ellie turned her head towards Duela and the others.
"For what it's worth, I'd much rather stay unnoticed as long as possible - I don't like the idea of them being aware of somebody coming into their midst, at least not if we can avoid it."

She turned back towards McTavish.
"But you have to let us pass to find out if that's an option to begin with. Don't you agree?"

“While I agree with your way of thinking, big guy. I also agree with Lux's desire to recon the place first.” Cassandra said to the super mutant with a friendly voice and turned towards the rest of the group.” Slavers aren't to be taken for easy pickings... if they were, I would have taken care of many of them already. I would love nothing more than to wipe them all out, but they are way to well armed and dug in. We need information about them before we make out move.” She gave her clear opinion that she is with the scouting plan.” Besides I don't want to suicide in frontal assault. I vote for infiltrating, but first we need the scouting done.”

“You...” Cassandra said, raising from her place and placing a hand on Ellie's shoulder.” Don't go.” She stated, shaking her head a few times before looking towards Duela and then returning her gaze back to the younger girl. There were a few reasons why she wanted to stop the girl from going on that scouting mission. She never really interact much with her because she never stopped for too long in town, but she knew how scouting worked. As few people as possible, as skilled as possible... also she was slightly worried about the girl, she didn't want something to go wrong and her to get hurt.” Two people on a scouting mission is already more than enough. We can use your help here.” She said to Ellie and looked around.” While they are on scouting the enemy, I want to do a patrol sweep of the area around this place, want to help me?” She asked the younger girl with the bow.

“Big crews as Danette's bunch usually have patrols running around their area of operations, partly to catch any stragglers part to notice things like our merry little gang before we get too close to their bases.” Cassandra stated and fixed the positioning of her longbow. “ So yeah, we need to do a sweep of the area as fast as possible and establish a look out of our own to warn of incoming raiders.” She stated, pulling an old ruined out book. The writing on it had long since turned too pale to read and she used it as a blank notebook to write things in, then she pulled an old nearly used up pen all that was left of it was about 4 cm. After some fiddling with the pages, she finally found the sketch she needed.” This is a crude map of the area, I've marked the big trade roads and routes I've sighted raiders and slavers on, in the past.”

Silently following behind Duela's group, John kept to himself as the ragtag team made their way down to the Brook, past the station and towards the forest. There, Duela stopped and they convened for another strategy meeting. It was the dead of night, and silence reigned as the group whispered plans back and forth. Cassandra brought forth a map of the surrounding area, as faded as it was, and suggestions of stealthy approaches and scouting parties were brought up multiple times. Throughout all this, John kept silent, agreeing with all points brought up with simple nods.

What they were suggesting was complicated though; with no means of rapid communication like walkie talkies or even a light, passing on information would be extremely difficult if they were to scout ahead and their scouts were caught off-guard.

"What about we go in pairs? It would be much safer, and if on the off chance that any one of us were to be detected by a guard, we'd have at least one runner to come back this way to spread the word. We could have the bulk of the group stay here to rest while a small scouting party goes off to do their thing. Maybe Cassandra should go, since she has a book and a pen to note down everything she sees. Her and someone else small and light would be a good team."

John sat with his rifle slung on his back, its bayonet shining silver death in the pale moonlight. With a weary hand he grabbed the blade and slowly twisted it off the barrel, contemplating its sharp length while he waited for a response.

McTavish didn't react, gazing at her with... with what? His rough, unfamiliar features made it hard for the girl to identify whether it was curiosity, indifference or something else entirely. Ellie was confused at his silence and passiveness but only for a moment. What was it he had said? 'Wait for your orders.'
It seemed that he wouldn't move a muscle until Duela demanded it and allowed them to go on their scouting run.

It was Cassandra who spoke up, defending Lux's reasoning, even if not her bold action, and before Ellie knew it, Cassandra stood next to her, a hand on her shoulder. Ellie couldn't remember ever looking seeing her up close like this. Even in what little visibility the night offered, she could make out her features, a scar at her lower lip and her clean, white hair that seemed to have an ethereal glow in the pale light. But despite her friendly tone, her words felt like she had swallowed needles, angrily tugging at her insides.
Why wouldn't I go with them? If Aaron didn't think I was up for this, he would have told me to stay back, like in town.

Cassandra's offer to take her along on a patrol instead would have sounded much more appealing if it didn't feel like she was uncertain of her skills and Ellie was tempted to give in to her stubbornness and decline, her headache adding fuel to that particular fire.
But she knew better than to start a fight over something stupid like this. Three people were quite a portion of the group, all things considered, both Aaron and Lux know more about scouting and sneaking than her and now wasn't the time to be irrational and angry. She liked Cassandra and she had been hoping to get to know her a little better on this mission. Maybe going on a patrol with her wasn't so bad after all.

She nodded, but just then, John seemed to have another idea about who would scout and stay and Duela seemed to be pondering still. But at least Ellie had made up her mind:
"I'll go with you", she told Cassandra.

“Ease off, McTavish.” Duela said calmly, adopting a tone that was both firm and soothing, without coming across as patronising “In this instance I’ve got no problem with everyone spreading out.” She then shot him a quick smile and a wink “If this were any other situation, I’d have you bash their heads in.”

She then turned to address the rest of the group.

“So we have Aaron and Lux in one group, and Ellie and Cassandra in another? One of you take Nathan with you, and the other Harriet.”

She didn’t want to let it show, but Duela didn’t hold the two newcomers in a position of trust. Beneath her masquerade of sweet civility, the gears of her mind twisted and spun, and they had been oiled by over two centuries of skullduggery and espionage.

“John, and McTavish I want you with me.” She called over to the guardsman and the Supermutant “And you, Yorkshireman. If we’re set on doing some reconnaissance, we might as well try and cover as much ground as possible. Fan out, and report back here in three hours.”



Two encampments sat on either side of Haven 23. One consisted of a few tarpaulin tents and scrap metal shelters, littering a wasteland of concrete and asphalt. Dirt red bricks littered the floor, and a makeshift circle of sand spread out across its centre. This was the “Ring of the Fearless”; an arena where slaves fought slave, for the leisure of their raider masters.

The other camp was made up of some shoddy fences of rotting wood and old pieces of corrugated iron, strung up amidst a thicket of the twisted husks of dead trees.Sitting behind the fences were large steel cages, stuffed to the brim with the malnourished bodies of slaves. This was “The Leaky Bucket”; a small encampment used to house the surplus of slaves who couldn’t fit in the grounds around the Haven itself.

The Haven itself lay between the two, but before it could be reached the adventurers would first have to pass through the guardpost which blocked the way.

“Good… Then we will depart together.” Cassandra said to Ellie with a smile.” Don’t take this the wrong way… I have more than enough trust in your abilities, that’s why I want you with me on this.” She said with a smile to the younger archer girl.

“Alright then, me and Ellie will depart now…” She said throwing a look at the couple that they found here. While she wanted to take the woman for she probably was better versed in stealth, the other group were maybe going to be better of with her… Besides, Cass quickly reached the conclusion of having a big shield had it’s benefits too.” Alright, mr. Nathan, I would like you to come with us if you have no problem with a that.” She said to the man with a friendly smile on her face.

***

Where Cassandra led her group with utmost care, was towards the Ring of the Fearless. She hated Slavers in general and was probably going to kill every one of the bastards if she got the chance, but she had to keep her desires in check on this assignment. Important thing was to not get discovered and while the arena itself was going to be well guarded, it usually was less manned when the fights weren’t going on. That would allow her group to take advantage of that and do better reconnaissance with less difficulty. Especially considering they had that big guy to think about too." You know, Ellie. That's a very good bow you have made." She said to the younger woman after she inspected the weapon. After that she looked back towards their target.

“I so shouldn’t have had traded those binoculars I found a while back…” Cassandra muttered as they were in visual range of the arena. Keeping her head low, she was scouting the surroundings.” Nathan, if I may ask… how did you son got kidnapped?” Cas asked, looking at the surroundings, watching for signs of patrols or hidden ambushes just as she instructed Ellie to do. On the way here, she explained to the younger girl what signs to look for.