"Hi, this is Deezy. I'm up here with the others, and...well...this place is full of these mutant guys who are hard to see and kind of hard to kill too. We're fine though, but there's more up ahead. So. You know. Be careful, alright?"
"I will alert our brothers to watch out for any mutants that may try to sneak aboard a crawler."
A breath, then,
Shall we take this town for you, lord?
"Considering Sister Deezy's report, I am certain that our brothers will be more comfortable if they had some first hand knowledge that no one would be launching rockets at us while we pass that settlement."
CHAPTER VI: TANANKA BLUFF
Cautiously, the group makes their way towards the settlement. As you pass through the ruins you can't help to feel a bit of uneasiness due to the fact that you know that each step you make you are being watched by the invisible eyes of wasteland ghosts. As you pass the last and final row of ruined building before reaching the no-man's land, you notice what appears to be a large two-tiered circular platform. The platform's outer ring has a height of about three feet with the inner platform being about a foot lower in height. Their appears to be a ten foot wide pit at the center of the structure. The area around the structure has a faint smell of death/decay and petrol.
[sblock=Seif and Sahid]
The structure is used for "sky burials" and cremation... which might explain why mutants the ruins were not cleared of mutants.
[/sblock]
The no-man's land itself consists of a stretch of several blocks worth of buildings that were completely leveled to the ground and pulverized so that the area has an appearance of being a small wasteland covered by misshapen concrete, mortar, and brick rocks. As you transverse through the no-man's land you are able to see brief glimpses of the wandering mutants who are momentarily rendered visible due to the amount of smoke and dust in the air.
Not to long after entering into the no-man's land you get your first glances of the settlement. The "base" settlement appears to be a small grouping of no more then a few dozen small buildings that were enclosed by what appears to be a wall that is no more then about fifteen feet in height. and is flanked by a thirty foot wide ditch that is spanned by a short bridge that appears wide enough to hold two heavy crawlers.
The settlement's entrance seems to be guarded by a combination of a rudimentary forward opening gate that appears to have been torn down, and by a series of pylons that appear as if they could be raised or lowered at a moment's noticed. From your vantage point on the outside of the town, you are able to see that the square that the buildings surround is littered with the bodies of the dead. One appears to be "crucified" on a post in the center of the square.
[sblock=infravision]
Deezy and Brian can see some mutants wandering inside the walls (but not many). They seem to be wandering near the dead.
You also can tell that the "crucified" person is still alive (he's giving off heat and his temperature doesn't appear to be fading).
[/sblock]
From your position, you are also able to tell that there is no road towards the settlement located on the mesa. Instead, what appeared to be a road is actually a series of
funicular railways that climb to the top of the mesa.
[sblock=Deezy]
Now that the signal (short and long beeps) is clear you can make out a definite pattern:
Code:
... --- ... ... --- ... ... --- ... - .-. .- .--. .--. . -.. .. -. -... ..- -. -.- . .-. -. . . -.. .... . .-.. .--.
SOS SOS TRAPPED IN BUNKER NEED HELP
[/sblock]
