Legend of Krystal Forums

Joy's Inventory


CHA Roll: 18 + 3 = 21(Great result!)

Devin sighs at your question about trading in the next town, tilting his head down as she leans against the short wall like railing of the roof, staring down at the ground. "Well... I can never be truly sure, but I've been doing this route for a long time. Before people started getting turned into animal folks even. Since then the anthros have sort of been dispersing around bit by bit with time. Most places down here have a few at least, and the closer we get to Orlando the more they'll be.", He says. He glances your way a moment later and gives you a small smile a second later. "Unless something drastic has changed however I think out odds are good. All the new transformed people certainly have been a point of contention and have all sorts of folks on edge, but most folks can't argue with good trading. Or clean water! And luckily I have a lot of it, and still do thanks to you. I definitely think you've earned a bit of a bonus, situation not withstanding."

Well that's a good deal!

Over the next couple hours you and Devin talk, and though there is certainly some undercurrent of sexual tension given your sparsely dressed states, the cool air and civil conversation does a lot to quell your roaring libidos. You talk of a random range of subjects, such as past adventures and how you got to where you are, or simply amusing stories from your past and things you had learned. In the end you seem to forge a decent connection with Devin, and though his trading enterprise probably won't see him join you on your adventures, you'd have a decent ally, some likely work as a guard, and maybe some access at some preferential deals when trading with him. It never hurt to make some friends after all!

As the time stretches on the stray rays of light soon become a proper sunrise, and as if like clock work all the moaning and squealing you hear of the orgy below soon fade away until the environment is quiet beyond the sound of the wind and your conversation with Devin. It seems like everyone hopefully had it worked out of their system, and had finally fallen asleep. "Seems like it'll probably be a late start this morning... but oh well. Yesterday was exhausting, emotionally if not physically. I'll let them rest until the mid morning, then we'll make out hopefully by noon. In the meantime, I'm going to go check my brahmin and wares. See you soon Joy.", Devin says, then turns and heads away, soon disappearing back into the fire hall.

Now was a decent opportunity to check on anyone or anything you might like to check on. Otherwise best to check your gear and get ready to set out in a few hours.

"Well I suppose that means we'll be accepted fine in the next town." She said to him as he explains that anthros get more common the further down to Orlando they get. Though she wonders if that means encounters with the people that did this to them will increase as well... She looks up at him when he said she will be getting a bonus; not something she was even thinking about but she never turned down a bonus to a job she's done. "Well, thanks for that. I might need that bonus as I keep going." She said before she looks up at the sky a bit. Actually... what is her plan now? She originally came down here because of the potential to make a living off of the prospecting and valuable scrap she heard about. However with what has happened to her and the others... Did that matter as much? Could she even do that still? If some sort of underground, high tech faction is in play in these parts... would it be best to turn back? She thinks of these questions till Devin asks her questions about herself.

"Oh, sure... Let me tell you about one of my recent scrap delves..." For the next couple hours she talks with him, trading stories and distracting from their raging libidos which calm a bit as they think and talk about other things. "...and that's how I ended up with my duster. I do hope I can get it fixed... possibly resized if I can." She ends her current story before they notice the sun has risen and that the sounds from below seem to have died down. "I'll see you later Devin." She told him as leaves to check on the brahmin and inventory. She stands up and stretches before deciding to head back in and check on her gear. As she's walking back in she decides she'll also check around to see if anything needs to be done before they start heading out.

You take an extra minute or two of the roof before heading down to go check on your gear, heading to the room you had rested in. Peeking in quick you notice that Leena the tall wolf girl and Tessa the husky girl snuggled up to each other on one of the old beat up mattresses. They're naked of course, the two probably having probably finally fallen asleep after some hours of going at it. They look a little sticky down below, Tessa especially, but currently nothing all that exciting was happening. In fact when you notice that Leena's dick was safely hidden in her sheath you breath a sigh of relief. Seems like Tessa was able to work it out of her system after all, and as much as it was still embarrassing to see everyone nude or sparsely clothed it was always way more awkward when boners were everywhere. Hopefully you'd only have to deal with it a little bit longer until you got to town.

Sitting down you begin to go through your gear, lamenting at the state of your poor trusty duster, but otherwise decently happy with all the gear and loot you had managed to accumulate. On top of your pay from Devin once you got to town and selling some stuff, you might be able to get some good upgrades to your gear on top of getting new clothes! Happy with that thought you go about cleaning your trusty bolt action rifle as the rest of the caravan finally got some sleep. A well maintained weapon was a waster's best friend after all.

Eventually some few hours later the rest of the transformed caravan start to awake, and soon tired groans begin to come from all over as people got up and started moving around. Soon the smells of cooking food, some prepackaged stuff and other simply bits of cooked mutant bugs. Food was food though, and better focus on moving things along then all dwell in the awkward silence of the morning after a hormone/drug fuelled orgy. Tessa eventually sits up from the bed, rubs the sleep from her eyes, then looks between Leena and yourself. Immediately a hot blush hits her face, her fur hiding the colour but nothing can hide these folded ears and slightly scrunched muzzle. "Well... all that happened didn't it... wow.", she says,

Leena awakes a moment later, her eyes fluttering open as she hears Tessa and looks at her. "Oh... Oh dear. I'm sorry abou-", he starts to say, but is quickly cut off by Tessa putting a finger over her lips. "Nothing to apologize for. We were all a little crazy last night I think. I was probably crazier then most actually so really I should be apologizing if anything.", Tessa says, looking in the eye for a moment before staring away in embarrassment. Pretty good points for a girl that had let a brahmin fuck her before the rest of the caravan had fully lost their minds yet. But she wasn't the only one to fuck Brahmin either was she? Granted, women getting mounted by mutant monsters and animals was hardly new in this day and age but... some things just don't really need to be shared right?

Joy hesitates for a moment before peeking into the room she was staying in and where she left her gear. She feels relieved to find that Leena and Tessa were both asleep and that Leena's cock was in it's sheath. Seems like the effects of whatever was making them all mutts in heat is finally wearing off. She goes over to where her gear is and sits down, pulling out her duster. She sighs as she looks at it, the thing too damaged to wear thanks to some earlier events and hopes she can get it fixed if she can since it's hard to find a good one. She puts it back and looks through her clothes, some recently bought but no longer fit her new body. Guess she'll sell them or exchange them for some new ones that will fit her. Next she goes through her weapons, starting with her trusty hunting rifle. She does some routine maintenance, wanting to keep the odds of it jamming as low as possible and keeping the condition up high will keep it's accuracy and range up. Next was her 10mm Pistol, her trusty side piece for close or tight quarters that her rifle wouldn't do well in. She also checks any other weapons she had but she hadn't use them much so she only gives them a quick lookover for now.

She packs her gear up and looks to her roommates before she yawns and decides to take a short nap. A couple hours later she woke to the smell of something cooking, her new canine nose picking up the smells despite being away in this room. She isn't the only one to awaken as she sees Tessa waking up and is surprised to see her rather embarrassed considering how more shameless she was about all the lewd stuff earlier. Then Leena wakes up and things seem a bit awkward right now. Wanting to break the awkward silence and her own thoughts Joy clears her throat. "Well we should probably head down while there's still breakfast." She said as she stood up. "And then we'll probably be heading to the next town, and hopefully get ourselves proper clothes as well."

Tessa sits up, quickly using an arm to cover her bare breasts and make a token attempt at modesty as she uses the other to reach for her rag clothing. "Yeah I agree with that. The sooner I can get some real gear again and not look like some wasteland wild woman the better I'll feel.", she says, quickly getting into meagre clothes. Leena is quick behind her, getting dressed in whatever she had available, which much like everyone else isn't much.

When they're ready they gather up their weapons and loot they managed to get from yesterday's fights, then the three of you head into downstairs. Seems like most everyone had gathered there already and were distributing some food and water. Food stuffs mainly consisted of canned beans, with either fried big meat or dried meat of a more mammal like variety. All fairly nutritious, though eating mutant bug meat is always a bit of mental struggle. It was safe enough as far as wasteland food went, but the texture was just always weird.

People take some time to make sure to get their fill and and drink some water, but luckily it doesn't take long before everyone is ready given that pretty much everyone but yourself had all their kit stolen to the strange vaulters that had drugged and transformed you all. After an hour the caravan is set to move out again a little before noon, and being basically the most well armed person you take point on the caravan along with Tessa and her 10mm SMG.

Encounter roll: 5

The first few hours are relatively uneventful. You leave the unknown nameless town you had been on and soon manage to get onto the I4 highway going south to Orlando. Along the way you pass the odd suburb, mostly rotten sticks in the ground while others are slowly reclaimed by either swamps or toxic swamps depending on contamination. The closer you get to the city though, you can't help but notice a lot of the greener and more healthy looking normal plants disappear, soon starting to favour the more yellowish heartier variety of plants, along with the mutant strains that had evolved after the bombs fell. Downtown Orlando had been a huge city after all, and even from here you can see some of the slanted forms of several sky scrapers that somehow still stubbornly stood despite the nuclear bombs that struck the city during the great war. The outskirts however were safe enough for habitation after all, and as the radiation went through its half lifes of decay more and more of the city became somewhat safe to explore over the decades. As such it had become quite the goldmine for enterprising scavengers such as yourself!

Anyway, luckily you get decently far, usually only needing to fire a warning shot from your 10mm pistol twice to scare away mutant bugs. As you enter a larger suburban area though it becomes a natural area for raiders to use as an ambush spot and sure enough after some time you hear the crack of a rifle shot. You duck immediately, and are soon glad you did as you hear the sound of other weapons start to open up. The caravan luckily is smart as well, and quickly scramble for cover behind a few smashed of already exploded cars and trucks.

You yourself take a position by a concrete median that separates the two sides of the old highway, Tessa quickly joining you as you start to shimmy your way down to find a good spot to peak from. After a few more seconds you do, and you are quick to identify muzzle flashes from a nearby small apartment complex. A rectangular building maybe that was three floors tall. You can see a trio of human forms firing wildly from the top, whooping and hollering as they shoot. Raiders of some stripe or another, and probably high out of their minds attacking a caravan as large as Devin's with just three people. Even as disadvantaged as the caravan was on firepower, there was enough folks to simply bum rush them and beat them to death with their bare hands if need be. But then again, no really wants to do that. Maybe they just thought the caravan was down on it's luck due to lack of firearms, which was fair. But they weren't completely helpless by any means! Tessa and Leena had guns, and so did a few random others.

Joy heads down to the first floor with Tessa and Leena where the others were gathered and giving out food. Her stomach growls and her short tail wags some as she was rather hungry, not having eaten in a while now that she thinks about it. In fact she was sure the others were just as hungry as they all had a rather different hunger to try to sate first. Joy accepts her food with thanks and didn't care if it contained any mutant bug meat or not as she would just cover it up with the canned beans. Part of her also hopes that being part canine now might make eating stuff like bug meat easier but she didn't really want to test it out either. "Wished those guys that turned us into... this would have at least gave us some sort of manual." She said to Leena and Tessa as she rubs where she got shot yesterday; she still felt tender there but she didn't see or feel or noticeable scars or wound. "We don't know how these new bodies work at all... Guess it'll be best to just play it safe and learn as we go." She adds on as she sips from a bottle nuka-cola she just traded a few caps for from one of the caravanners.

Once they all had their fill and were getting ready to head out Joy notices that she is only one with her gear. This was something she noticed before but only now fully realizing it as the whole caravan was together and armed with whatever they could find. It does make her wonder why she was given back all her belongings... Thankfully no one seems to call her out on it as they all get together and begin to move out though she does have to take point going forward along with Tessa and her acquired 10mm SMG. She might need to share some of her 10mm ammo with Tessa but she didn't have a lot as she didn't use as much with her pistol in comparison to a submachine gun.

The next few hours are mostly uneventful, which is fine with Joy considering how poorly armed the caravan currently is. As they venture further along she notices the green foliage turning more yellow as she sees some mutant plants mixed in with heartier ones. She assumed the radiation might get worse the closer they get to their destination. As they kept going she could see in the distance the tall buildings that still stood, the old city of Orlando, though she knew it was still a rather good distance away and that they weren't close. She sips some water from her canteen and wipes some sweat from her brow, her new fur coat making her feel a bit warmer in this heat and she was sure the others felt it too. However at least her transformation didn't remove her sweat glands.

Soon they start to approach a suburban area, Joy's time in the wastelands teaching her that these were usually good spots for raiders to ambush and she holds up her rifle as she puts her guard up. And luckily she did as her canine ear twitched as she heard the sound of a gun being readied to fire. "Take cover!" She shouts the moment a firearm went off as she ducks and takes cover. Hiding behind a concrete median with Tessa she slowly moves up till she could peek out. At the top of a small three store apartment building she could see a trio of raiders firing on the caravan, and making a lot of noise as they do. "Must be high off chems..." She turns to Tessa. "I can see three a top of that building but there might be more inside. Let's try to sneak to the building and take them by surprise." She tells her before trying to sneak towards the apartment building.

Combat!


As everyone dives for cover shots starts to be slowly exchanged by those few in the caravan that have guns and the roof top raiders. However it's difficult to make much progress as it seems the raiders are rather well off. They seem to have no worries at all expending ammunition, sending bullets toward the cowering folks of the caravan in poorly aimed volleys. The good thing however is that while the caravan is numerous and its gun minimal those guns are rather spread out, making it hard for only three raiders to try and suppress everybody at once. You hear shots get fired back, including the boom of Tessa's pump action shotgun she lifted from the viper gangers yesterday. You spot small bits of masonry explode around the edge of the building the raiders are, forcing them into cover and silencing them for a second. A few moments later though an SMG is lifted over the edge and sends another wild spray of bullets loose toward the caravan.

Quickly deciding the best course of action is to flank you tell your plan to Tessa, who quickly nods and agrees. She turns back to Devin, taking cover just behind her and looking awfully frustrated at personally lacking a firearm as Tessa quickly explains what you and her are going to do. "Sounds like a plan. Since we don't have a lot of firepower I'll try to send a few people behind you with melee weapons, just in case. They can provide some back up and maybe set up an ambush for you if you need to fall back. Good luck!", he says. All there was to do now was move.

You and Tessa wait a few moments for the raiders guns to go empty and for the caravan to shoot back before moving, using the time to move unseen. You dash across the highway, away from the building and jump over the edge, going down a hill of dirt and walking along the road a few dozen meters or so before finding a culvert that goes under the road. It's large enough to crouch through without issue, and mercifully clear of critters. You and Tessa cross without issue, and soon come out in a ditch near the base of the building the raiders are shooting at the caravan from. Looking closer at the building it seems like an old mid scale office, and at the back side at that, the front probably facing toward away from the highway. The windows appear boarded up, but there was two doors you can see. One on the left, another on the right, with the right hand side door being closer of the two. Other then that though they seem pretty much the same and unguarded. You could try the doors as you see them or perhaps try to case the perimeter of the building real quick to spot more entrances.

"Alright, but tell them to keep their heads down till we reach the building those raiders are held up in." Joy tells Devin when he said that he'll send some armed with melee weapons with them. "And we'll take lead; best to have the ones with guns go first." She adds on before he gathers their reinforcements. As she waits for the reinforcements Joy peeks out to look at the raiders firing down on them. It seems like they're just shooting wildly, not bothering for accuracy and just spray and pray. Their odds of sneaking by or at least not getting shot were higher because of this since the raiders didn't seem to have any focus. Once the backup Devin sent over arrived she motions for them to follow. Staying low and behind as much cover as possible they make their way towards the raiders and luckily those gun happy maniacs were too busy firing on the rest of the caravan to notice them.

As they approach the building Joy is quick to figure out that they at the back of a mid sized office building, her years of being an scavenger has made her quick familiar with all sorts of pre-war buildings. She spots the two door and curses under her breath. "Great, two doors... Guess we'll check one and if we don't like it we'll try the other door." She tells Tessa and the others. "And be on guard for any traps and for more of them." She adds on before slowly creeping towards the door. She puts her rifle at her back and pulls out her pistol as she approaches the door closets to them. She grabs the door knob and checks around the door before slowly opening, only a bit to check for any traps before she peeks into the room for any more raiders.

Slinging your trusty hunting rifle and draw your pistol as you outline your rough plan, Tessa quickly nodding in agreement. With that decided you decide to cross the short street between you and the building, your ears flicking as you hear the sporadic gun fire above. Hell every here and there even a bullet casing from the guns above drops down to the ground below, making you twitch a bit as the sound of bouncing brass makes you think you might've been caught. Luckily however your stealth is maintained, and you and Tessa make it to the nearest door unseen.

There you check the door, and it doesn't take you long at all to notice a trap set near the top of the door. A simple contact wire trap at the top of the door frame meant to pull a pin from a hand grenade as you opened the door. Only someone especially clueless or rushed would've missed it probably. Disarming it is a simple affair, with all that is needed is for you to pull out your knife, cut the string attaching the grenade to the door, and then pocket the grenade since it could be handy later. Besides things like that always were good to sell!

You slowly open the door then, pistol held tight in your dominant hand as you slowly peer in. There is no rush of gunfire thankfully, so you open it all the way, eyes scanning for more traps. It seems to lead to a short hallway, that in turn leads further in the building and a large room straight ahead. To your immediate left is an intact stairwell leading up, but as you gaze ahead you can see a light source somewhere in the large room, lighting it up to be some kind of sleeping or storage area maybe. Certainly a lived in space. Now you just had to decide whether you wanted to clear the lower floors or try going straight up and see if the stairwell went right to the roof. No matter what you picked though, there was positives and negatives to either approach.

While her new canine ears increased her earing and made it more acute Joy wasn't used to it yet so each bullet casing she heard land made her ears twitch and sometimes makes her look around thinking someone caught them. She groans a bit and rubs her ears in frustration before focusing on the task at hand. As she nears the door she does a quick look and is quick to see the grenade trap at the top of the door. "Really? Put it on the other side so no one sees it..." She grumbles as she quickly pulls out her knife and cuts the wire, disabling the trap before reaching up and pulls down the grenade. "Huh, usually they have multiple in these traps..." While those are more dangerous it also meant more grenades for her but she'll keep it at her side for now. As she sheathes her knife she glances at the others and lets them know that she is about to try opening the door.

As she slowly opens the door with her pistol at the ready incase there was anyone right behind the door. Opening it and peeking through she doesn't notice anyone nor does she see any movement or signs of more traps. With the room behind the door clear she opens it all the way and takes a cautious step inside while motioning for the others to enter get closer to the door. "Check around for any weapons laying around but don't go outside this room or make too much noise. We'll then start heading up and take out the ones on the roof if we can find a way up." She looks to Tessa. "I'll lead the way up. I need you to cover the rear incase there's anyone down here that ambush us from behind." When they were all ready she starts to head up the stairwell, checking for any traps or signs of an ambush as she takes the lead.

You and Tessa move into the building quietly, along with the two others that joined two male husky men with fur that was a mix of black and white. You creep slowly into the building, making sure to take a few extra seconds to check for more traps, but thankfully find nothing. You can't say your all that surprised with the lacklustre security though. Crazy drug addict raiders main source of security was that usually reasonable folks stayed away from them after all. The men go down the hall cautiously and check the room ahead. Mercifully there is no one in there, so they quickly peruse the room for anything useful. Luckily it seems to be a set up as a living area, with mattresses and few office divers pulled around to act as bedrooms. The two huskies actually manage to find some better weapons to replace their steel pipe clubs. One finds a slightly rusty 9mm pistol and a few magazines and loose bullets. The other actually manages to find a lower calibre lever action rifle of some kind, though he only finds maybe 10 bullets to go with it. Better then nothing!

You watch the stairs carefully as they check the other room. When they come back you tell Tessa to cover your rear. "Copy that. I'll watch our backs. Once you get upstairs let me know though so I can move up with you guys and keep covering your rear.", she says, but otherwise posts up at the base of the stairs. She closes the door to the outside, and starts peering toward the room at the end of the hall where the other two guys got their guns. Quite likely there was another door into that room so your thought of being ambushed from behind was certainly valid.

You head up stairs, quietly going up as best you can. The building is rickety though, and you can't help but freeze and curse under your breath a bit when you suddenly go up a creaky stair. Luckily however no seems to notice, so you keep going, motioning for the two guys behind you to skip that one stair. Once you get up the flight you unfortunately notice that the stairs to the third floor are collapsed here. What there is however is a door that leads into the second floor. Seems like you were going to need to go through it and likely get to the stair well at the other side of the building.

Deciding not to fret around though you gingerly open the door after you don't notice any traps, opening it just a crack to peer inside. It seems like the was one really large open office area that took up basically half of the entire second floor. All the desk however had been pushed aside and raiders have made extensive modifications. It seems like this was their recreation area, with an area set of for cooking and even a pool table dragged in from god knows where. There was some couches and a bar like area, and even some ammo cans near the door on the other side that if you were lucky might have some good stuff in them to loot.

More importantly though, was that there was three other raiders in the room. They appear to be high though, as they lounge around on the couches in one of the corners, not all that coherent. You might be able to take them without killing them if you wanted too. As you look at their area more closely though you also notice the grisly sight of both regular looking human man and woman are chained to a nearby wall and quite bloody. They were most certainly dead, likely tortured for fun by these raider bastards, so if you wanted to use lethal force you most certainly justified to do so.

As she lets Tessa and their back up into the building she only now takes a moment to look at the one Darren sent. They were two male husky anthros and like everyone else they were barely clothed and Joy has to look away a for a moment as she tries not to notice they're bodies; she regrets not trying to satisfy her urges one more time before they left. She shakes her head and focuses on the situation, much easier to ignore her hormones when in a dangerous situation like this. Joy looks back to see that they managed to find a couple of weapons, a pistol and lever action rifle with some ammo. "Well... not ideal but better than just those pipes. Keep these handy though incase you run out of ammo. Though for you..." She walks up to the husky with the pistol and opens her pack to hand him some of the 9mm rounds she had on her. "These should help keep you stocked for now." She turns to the other husky. "Though for you I don't think I have extra for that but I can check my pack real quick." She said as she inspects his gun to see what rounds it takes and if she had extra she would hand it over. Otherwise she'll apologize before moving up the stairs.

With herself taking the front with Tessa at the rear and the two huskies in the middle they move to the second floor, Joy trying her best to move quickly though there were at least a stair or two that was old and creaky, Joy needing to pause to make sure no one else heard before continuing forward but making sure to warn the others of the noise step first. Getting to the top of the flight she curses as she sees the stairs to the next floor have collapsed meaning they needed a detour. Having only one other alternative forward she slowly opens the door to the second floor.

Peering inside after checking for traps she sees an old office room that has been cleared to be a recreation area, complete with a pool table and a bar; Joy will need a drink or ten after all of this... Looking around she spots some ammo cans and as much as she wanted to check them right away she noticed the raiders first. While they weren't coherent as they seem to be rather high on chems meaning they could possibly sneak by or knock them out and while Joy isn't the type to just go killing she had no real guilt over killing raiders; they are nothing but parasites that only steal and kill and give nothing in return while taking sick pleasure in the pain of others. The two mangled bodies on the wall only proved that further. "There's three raiders in there but seem to be high on chems. We'll sneak up on them and kill them before they notice..." She tells the others. "Get your guns ready. If we can lets time it for when those maniacs on the roof are firing; might mask our gun fire so any other raiders might not notice." When the others were ready she sneaks in, pistol at the ready while making sure she doesn't step on her knock over anything. Once close enough she'll have herself and at least two of the others aim, readying their shots for better accuracy, before firing on them though she tries to time it with the sounds of gunfire coming from the roof.

Explaining your plan to your companions they nod, creeping into the room behind you as they get their guns ready. It seems your all on your A game though, as you all fan out into the room noiselessly and take position. You take your time taking aim, the raiders not reacting at all as they lay insensate on the couches near the tortured couple. Once ready you raise a hand and count down with your fingers, and once you get a close fist the three of you fire all at once. Three loud bangs ring out and each of the raiders heads jerk, but just quick as it started it's over, the three maniacs dead as can be. It was nice when things worked out!

Better yet, it seems your timing trick works fine too. Nothing in the building seems to react to the loud bangs caused by your weapons. You take the time to see what ahead, going to the door that seems to lead to other half of the second floor. Luckily it's missing a chunk of the door on the top left, so you can easily peer through it. It's a long hall way, with three doors on each the right side and left side. Random offices and rooms it would seem. No raiders are in the hall though. On the other side of the hall though is the entrance to the other stairwell. You could try to move through quickly and ignore the doors to try and get to the roof to deal with the raiders shooting at the caravan sooner rather then later, or you can take your time to clear each of the rooms to ensure you won't be attacked from behind in your rush. Of course you did have Tessa and your two temporary male husky companions. You could task them with clearing the area behind you if you wanted to push ahead.

She wasn't sure if they were just good at stealth or if these new bodies made it easy to sneak but Joy and her group managed to approach the chem addicted raiders without being noticed. With one hand aiming her pistol her other hand is held up to silently count down when to fire. Before they had reached the raiders though she was listening to the gunfire from above, trying to figure out any sort of pattern but since they were raiders and probably high on chems she mostly just needed to figure out when they might be reloading. Waiting till right after she thought the raiders above have finished reloading she managed to get lucky as her countdown ended during sound of gunfire and a moment later the raiders were shot dead. Just in case though she quickly turns to the entrances with her pistol aimed just incase anyone came rushing in if they heard their gun shots.

After realizing no one was coming she relaxed a bit and looked at the others. "Check for anything useful, but let's be quick. Check the raiders too; if we're lucky they might have clothes that fit." Joy told them as she quickly moves to the other door and peeks through the missing chunk but sees no on in the hallway. Then she looks down and spots the ammo boxes she saw earlier and quickly checks them. If she found any for the weapons her companions were using then she'll give them the ammo but she'll keep any for her weapons and take the ammo none of them could use for later. She peeks though the hole in the door again before looking to the others. "Empty hallway with three doors on each side and the stairs at the end..." She tells them as they gather by her. "While I rather check each room for more of them we don't have much time... We could check four at once and then the last two as pairs... or just ignore and them watch our backs as we continue forward." She explains to them as she thinks. "...Maybe it's best to just head straight to raiders on the roof and then back track... And if the caravan is no longer under fire the rest can back us up." If they agreed to her plan she opens the door and moves down the hall, though she tells her companions to try to be a bit quiet incase there were raiders in any of the rooms.

Everyone nods silently when you tell them to frisk the room real quick and check the bodies. You head over to the ammo cans to check those out quick, opening up the first two and finding a random assortment of bullets. Four .308s, a loaded 9mm mag that you can give to one of your temporary back up guys with the 9 mm pistol, like 7 10mm bullets, two fully charged microfusion cells, 14 beefy .338 Winchester magnum rifle rounds. Wow wouldn't it be nice if you can find something that could use thos-

And then you see it.

Tucked in tight to the counter and partially obscured by some random boxes you see a rifle just to your right that had been out of view. You move reach over and pull it out, and what you get is a large bolt action rifle, longer then the one slung on your back. It's shocking well maintained, enough so that you suspect it may have been recent loot for the raiders, perhaps from the poor dead couple chained up on the wall. It's a nice matte black thing, and it already was a decent long range scope with 5x scope attached, as well as a flash suppressor. You work the bolt once, finding it to move silky smooth to your delight, and release the mag inside to find one unloaded magazine for you to use. Looking around it some more you soon find the words Vortex Crossfire stamped on the receiver just below the ejection port. The apparent name of this model of rifle. Testing around with it quick, your quite happy to see it is apparently chambered in the .338 win mag rounds. This would be a significant upgrade to your firepower!

The rest of your cohort checks the dead raiders quick, finding a random assortment of firearms on the three dead raiders. Two more random model of 9mm pistol, a 357 revolver, one of those wacky modular combat rifles the military had been trying but is unfortunately not in the best shape, nor modded all that well either. The raider's clothing meanwhile was actually have decent; all three actually had intact pants! Granted it was all rather dirty, but still a little better then the clothes made of random leather, old tires, and random kitchen utensils and metal bits that most raiders seem to wear. There is plenty more in the area to look at too, such as the bar, but you could come back and loot that after the fact. You could still hear pot shots from the raiders above on the roof, and you still had a third floor to potentially check before you got there.

Everyone gathers up quick on you near the door after a half minute or so of quick looting, giving you time to load up the new rifle if you so choose too. No matter what though you lay out the option and give your suggestions, and Tessa and the husky men nod in agreement. "Yeah we're with you. Let's try to get to the roof as quick as possible and deal with them so the caravan is safe, then we can worry about the rest of the building.", One of the husky guys says. With that decided you peek through the bear up door again before slowly opening it, quickly making your way through the hall and ignoring the doors for now. When you get to the other side and find the stairwell, promptly heading up. You get to the third floor landing without issue, ignoring the door and heading up the final flight of stairs to the roof. In your haste to help your friends at the caravan though you neglect to be as cautiously as you usually would be on your own. As you crest the final step before the door you hear a loud beep, and tracing the sound you see a small improvised mine slightly buried under some loose papers and building debris. You warn your friends and quickly back pedal, but before you can fully leave the blast radius the mine explodes in a loud bang. You somehow manage to dodge most of the debris, but the concussive bang sends you flying back down the stairs, making you roll backward painfully for a brief second before one of the husky guys behind you catches you saves you from the worst of a painful landing. And of course, naturally the tumbling nature of your fall means your not exactly caught bridal style, he essentially catches you around the waist while your upside down, which ultimately means you end up getting your face shoved into his barely covered junk.

Thankfully the guy doesn't react to it much beyond a brief surprised help, quickly lowering you down so you can get back to your feet properly and check your self. Everyone gives you a glance over... but other then some soreness there was no blood at all from the small portions of shrapnel that still managed to hit you. You had already known your new skin was durable after taking that shotgun blast from that last raider fight, but it was still incredulous to see since this was still new to you. You didn't even had so much as a cut! Though to fair, your fine fur did make it hard to tell a little bit. Maybe they were just really shallow to the point it was irrelevant. Still stung like a bastard though, but at least the worst of the pain was relatively short lived pain.

Once she was sure no one was coming from the hallway Joy kneels down next to the ammo cans and opens them. She sorts through the ammo, grabbing the .308s for her rifle and reloads her pistol with one of the 10mm rounds she found. She takes the 9mm magazine in hand with the rest of the 10mm while shoving the rest into her bag; not like any of them could use any of the other rounds, especially not the .338 winchester rounds. As she is approaching the counter she caught the glimpse of something with her trained scavenger eyes. Peeking out from behind some boxes was the barrel of a rifle, topped with a flash suppressor. She reaches for it and pulls it out from behind he boxes to look at it fully and her eyes widen as she looks at it. She puts down the ammo she was holding on the counter so she can use both hands to inspect the rifle. It was in outstanding condition, like it was barely used. Testing it's mechanisms shows how well maintained it is and the scope was clean, no scratches or smudges as she looks through it. While she wasn't much of a sniper as she didn't use weapons with scopes she was considering making a change for this one. "'Vortex Crossfire...' Must be custom made..." She mutters as she knows weapons with names tend to either be custom or heavily modified and typically in really good conditions as they are usually well maintained. She was also surprised that it was tucked in a corner and not being used by one of the raiders.

When she was finished admiring the rifle she loads it with the fresh mag and slings it over her shoulder and then looks to the others as they gather their loot. "Take what looks good, and put on the pants if they fit." She said as they gather the weapons and clothes they found while she heads to the door and peeks through the missing section again to make sure no one had enter the hallway. Once they were ready and she handed out the 9mm magazine and 10mm rounds she tells them her plans and when they agreed she nodded and slowly opened the door after motioning for them to be on guard. Being light on their feet they make their way to the end of the hall, ignoring the doors unless they were to open or if they heard noise. At the end of the hallways they find a stairwell up which they quickly take. Soon they were on the third floor and find that the stairway keeps going up. "Let's keep going up and ignore this floor for now." She tells them before they quickly head up the to the next floor. However with the lack of traps since the entering the building and now feeling some pressure Joy wasn't paying as much attention as she should be. Her eyes widen as she heard the beep and she quickly spots the improvised explosive somewhat hidden under some debris.

"Mine!" She shouts as she tries to step back in time but she is still caught in the blast that sends her flying back down the stairs and head over heels down the steps painfully. Luckily one of the male husky guys was behind her and was able to catch her before she ended up falling too far. However with how she was thrown by the explosive she was catch upside down and facing him, her snout pressed right against his barely covered sheath which she got a deep breath up with her bikini covered nethers were right below his head. Her face turns red as she inhaled his musk which made her tail wag for a moment as heat went through her body. Luckily he put her down quickly and she is able to just as quickly clear her head and focus on checking for injuries, the others looking her over too and she hopes they don't notice her slightly hardening nipples from behind the bikini top. "Wow, not a scratch... that I can see anyways..." She said as she runs her hands through her short fur. "Still stings though... Alright, lets keep moving and hope no one heard that mine somehow... Keep an eye behind us though." She said as she picks up her dropped 10mm pistol and starts heading up the stairs again to the roof.

Rolls

Combat!


Getting back to your feet quick you quickly scramble up to the door, taking a moment to cautiously step to the side. The door after all was just some simple wood and could be easily shot through, however the main point was to take a short few seconds to listen, to see if the gunfight was still happening outside. It doesn't take long to confirm, and you still hear loud gunshots ring out on the other side of the door along with some maniac laughing. These guys were definitely high as a kite. So high that you you suspect that if you waited for about half an hour then the ridiculous amount of drugs might cause them to overdose and deal with the problem for you. Unfortunately though you had to deal with them now, before they hurt anyone else in the sparsely armed convoy.

The two husky men stack up with you, readying their weapons. Odds where when you broke out into the roof there wouldn't be a lot of cover, so this was going to a quick and dirty firefight. If you broke out there fast enough though you could get some extra shots in while you catch the bastards by surprise. Seeing no reason to wait any longer you turn to your comrades, your questionably glance asking the question "Are you ready?" without any need for actual words. They give you hard glances back and nod, weapons ready to go as they wait for your lead.

You don't waste anytime. You grab the door knob, twist, then push, the simple action more quiet then kicking it down. It works, and you see three men whooping and hollering as they take pot shots at the convoy still, completely oblivious to you presence just 30 feet or so to their right. Luckily there was some limited cover in the form of ancient beat up ventilation units, but that was about it. Raising your pistol you exit the door, taking a moment to let your fellow guards fan out behind you before you open fire.

The first volley goes swimmingly, the first and probably most dangerous raider wielding an SMG going down in a hail of well placed fire as you all do your best to shoot on the move and get to the closest cover. The second service rifle armed raider, who had apparently been hit exchanging fire with the convoy and just seemed oblivious to the fact he'd been shot, yells... not angrily, but nonsensically as he twists his aim and takes a few shots, most missing as he moves wildly, but one glancing off your thigh with a painful sting that probably would've left a bloody furrow back in your human form. Meanwhile the third raider also shots back, spewing gibbering nonsense as he takes fire at the husky guy using the 9mm pistol, whinging him in the shoulder and getting a pained yelp from him.

Focusing on the rifle guy next, it seemed your friends have the same idea and he quickly goes down next, bullets riddling his torso. He raises his rifle still, foam coming from his mouth and a wild look in his eyes, but collapses a moment later. Meanwhile the the one with the varmint rifle gets another hit on the your 9mm guy, getting a swear from him as he does his best to duck behind one of the air conditioner units. There is then one last short but fierce gunfight between the three of you and the last raider, where once again the 9mil guy takes another hit, making him yell in pain before he shoots back one handed and beans the bastard right in the forehead, killing him instantly after getting softened up by you and the husky the the lever action rifle.

With him down the air then goes quiet, only the sound of a slow gentle wind swooshing by your ears. At least until you hear a pained grunt from the one husky guy, clutching a slowly bleeding wound on his shoulder while the other still clutches his 9mm pistol tightly. "That fucking sucked ass...", he grinds out through gritted teeth as he leans against the air conditioner thing he had used as cover, not that it seemed to help the poor guy much. "Jeez, you okay Leon?", the other guy says, quickly coming over. "Here, let me see. Easy now." The first Husky, Leon apparently, does as his friend ask. In his shoulder there is a bloody iron slug from the varmint rifle, however rather then just the typical bullet hole it seems much like yourself he had obtained some upgraded resilience with his change. You watch as Leon's friend reaches out and gingerly bullets the bullet out, getting another pained yelp from Leon. The wound is shallow, and while painful looking and making requiring a stitch or two, hardly serious. What is more interesting you note that it seems like everyone seems to have varying degrees of enhancement with your transformation. You might be one of the luckier ones, since you hadn't been hit with anything that made you bleed yet... which included a chestful of birdshot at close range. Still, as much as it sucked to be Leon, he'd recover just fine.

Going to the edge of the building you maintain some caution, not wanting to get hit by your own convoy even if the odds were low given the sudden spike in shooting they would've heard. You raise you arms above your head, waving them above the ledge, then slowly stand till you can see the convoy. To your delight not one takes a shot, so you wave toward Devin and give him a thumbs up. "Good work! Give us a moment and yet can have some more guys flush that whole building properly!", he shouts back, a dozen more dog people crossing the highway the more direct way and heading toward the building now that they could cover open ground safely.

Going up to the door that led to the top of the roof Joy puts her canine ear to it and hears that the raiders were still firing while laughing as if they were high on an assortment of chems... which they probably were. Though she was still surprised that the mine she triggered didn't alert them at all or that none of them decided to investigate if they did heard it. 'Maybe they thought it killed whoever set it off.' The thought went through her head. No matter the reason it gave Joy and her small crew the element of surprise on these raiders. With the two husky men ready and Tessa watching their rear she pushes the door open almost silently so that the raiders weren't alerted. That only last for another moment before she opened fire.

She and her companions take out one, the raider holding the SMG, while she stays on the move and towards some cover. She winces as she felt a bullet graze her thigh, her new skin being durable enough to not be torn through but it still left a burning pain. As she took cover she heard one of her comrades take a hit, these raiders not having as bad as aim in their drug induced states as she would have hoped. Pulling out of her cover to aim she fires at the raider with the rifle, and her friends seem to have the same idea as they tore his chest open with bullets. However she thinks it might have been best for one of them to keep fire on the other one as he manages to get a couple shots on the shoulder of one of the husky men. As she was about to take a shot on the last one it seems her wounded friend has had enough and gets a lucky head shot on the last one.

Seeing that all three raiders were dead Joy comes out from her cover and goes over to her two husky friends, Tessa probably still inside keeping an eye for any enemies behind them. "Geez, are you okay?" She asked as she approaches them. "Surprised he could pierce your new hide with just a varmint rifle..." She comments as she tries to see if she could help but it seemed that the other one was already on it and managed to gently pull out the bullet from the shallow wound. Guess they weren't as bullet proof as she had hoped, or maybe it was different for each of them considering she took a bird shot to the chest and was fine. Seeing that the Husky, who's name is Leon, would recover from his injury without trouble she goes over to the edge of the building. Being cautious so that the rest of the caravan wouldn't fire at her she raises a hand and then slowly stands up. After taking a moment to realize they haven't fired yet she looks over the edge and sees Devin before he and the others begin to move towards the building. "Well seems like the others are joining. Let's clear out these upper floors as they clear out the rest on their way up." She says to them before looking around the roof. "Though let's take what we can from here first. Some decent weapons for the others... if there's any ammo left. Surprised they had any by the time we got up here..."

"Yeah... right. Just give me a moment. I'll be okay. Dumb as these fools are I'm sure they have a stimpack or two around here.", The poor shot up husky guy says, groaning as he touches the shallow but painful wounds he endured during the firefight.

Before you can reply though a sudden burst of gunfire comes from the stairwell. Thinking of Tessa you're quick to run back and provide some support, but when you run back inside and down the first flight of stairs you see Tessa is thankfully fine. Her 10mm SMG is smoking, and there is a new dead raider slumped over on the stairs. "All good here babe! What do you say we shake the rest of this building down?" she says, giving you a thumbs up and a winning smile. Seeing no reason to not secure the area you tag along.

Luckily for everyone it seems that raider Tessa got was the last one in the building, and soon you all have a decent location to get some looting done. Members of the caravan roam the building looking for anything useful, however given that you, Tessa, and the two husky guys did the heavy lifting here everyone respects you getting first pick of things. You've done pretty well for yourself already though, that new rifle of yours likely worth as much as nearly the rest of your firearms combined! Still, no right minded wasteland scavenger would ever turn down an opportunity to look for goodies right?



You take a cursory look around, and find some decent stuff random goods. A shot of med-x, two doses of psycho, 2 stimpacks, around 45 loose caps, a fragmentation landmine, some electronic scraps, a fission battery, half a bottle of vodka, a pack of cigarettes, and some bobby pins. You find a few firearms and some more ammo too, but allow the caravaners to take that for now. You were starting to get awfully loaded up anyway. It would be nice to get into town somewhere and finally sell some stuff off! Your body might be physically improved with your changes and you might not feel it as much, but it always felt good lightening a heavy load after a hard day of work.

The caravan pauses for a bit and probably spends the next hour or so taking whatever they can from the building, and by the time everyone is ready to move the raider base is thoroughly picked apart. In the end everyone is slightly better armed and slightly better clothed, though still not nearly as much as they'd like to be. At least all the girls seems to have tops on now though, so that's a fair improvement.

Currently everyone is on the road, waiting for Devin to give the order to move out which, naturally, he promptly does when it seems like everyone is ready. "Alright folks. Not to much longer now. A couple of hours more and we'll be at Rose Island and we can start putting those goddamn mess behind us. Keep your eyes open!", he calls out, then starts leading the way.

Mercifully the rest of the trip goes by quickly enough, and the caravan moves through the decrepit and mostly collapsed suburbs around 8 miles off the downtown area. Your close enough though that you can much better see the skyscrapers of the downtown core area though, massive pillars of iron and concrete. Many are still standing, though near the center the lean outward before a strange gap of them appears. You can tell like anyone else that was where a bomb hit during the great war, the blast vaporizing some buildings before pushing others over or just off kilter, a real testament to their construction quality. Like most major cities though the downtown area is incredibly hostile, the radiation there worse and causing more nasty creatures and gangs of super mutants to set up shop there. For the especially risky scav though they could be absolute treasure troves of loot if you could manage the risks however.

Eventually there is a break in the houses where it seems they've been burnt, ripped down, and straight up bulldozed to to make a clearing, and as you come into it you see the the wall and gate that leads into the settlement of Rose Island. They had like cleared the area around the gate to deny cover to any attackers. Looking around some more you confirm some other things you've learned in casual conversation over the course of the trip. Rose Island was a rather protected spot, with only three relatively narrow land paths onto the island while the rest is surrounded by toxic water. Before the war it was probably a relatively upper middle class neighbourhood. Now though it was a trading post and home a few hundred folks who mostly got by scavenging from the city and farming.

Naturally there is some alarm when you first show up, however once again you are shown just how relatively... not rare it is to have random bands of ill equipped animal people show up given the activities of a certain vault obsessed with transforming people. Devin seems to know the gate guards who give Devin what sympathy they can on his forced transformation before opening the gate and letting you all inside. Naturally once inside you get a fair bit of attention, but good and bad depending on how people felt about anthros, but not as much as one would think. Naturally though some of the more... open minded locals don't take hold back on ogling all the scantily clad ladies.

"Fina-fucking-ly.", Devin starts, relief evident in his voice. "Alright folks gather round. You're all due your pay after this fiasco at they very least.", he says as opens up one of the brahmin saddle bags and starts fishing out caps. Once it your turn he gives you 350 caps and his heartfelt thanks. "Hey, thanks for the work out there Joy. I'm sorry how all this ended up, but I feel like things would've been a lot worse without you around."

And with that... you were free to do as you willed. There seemed to be a couple bars and a few trading shops around. Decent spots to offload some gear, get some new clothes, or get some information about scavenging spots or the mysterious anthropomorphizing vault.

Before Joy could make a comment about how raiders hoard chems and that they should at least have something to dull the pain they heard gunfire and Joy was quick to remember Tessa was watching the way they came. With her pistol in hand she rushes back in but finds Tessa with her SMG smoking a bit and a dead raider laying on the stairs. She lets out a sigh of relief and smiles before she nods her head. "Sure. We'll just leave what's up here for the others to sort through." She said as she joins her friend. However it seems like that was the last raider as they neither encounter any other raiders nor do they hear any sounds of fighting from the floors below. "Wow, honestly less raiders than I would have thought. Either they're just a small outfit here or they have others out." Joy comments as she and Tessa had joined the some of the others in another room as the others were searching the building for anything useful.

After having met up with the caravan as they were filing through the building she was going to let them all search first but they told her it was fine if she took first pick of things. Joy smiles and thanks them but decided that any weapons and clothes she found would be for them, even ammo since she feels like she stocked up on enough and the caravanners could use them more than she does. After a bit she had found quite a bit of things, most of which she would probably sell though with the stimpaks she finds the husky that was shot and gave them one of the stimpacks for his injury. She lifts up her bag and grunts a bit; it was heavier now but it seems her new had a bit more strength so it didn't feel too heavy. Though she tries not to keep too much on her at once regardless; heavy packs make for good targets sometimes. When she gets to town she'll probably need to sort through her stuff later considering how much she had picked up since she left the last town.

Soon she and the others were all back on the road and waiting for Devin's orders to move out. Taking a lot around it seemed like almost everyone had a firearm now and had a bit more clothing; not as much as most would like but all the guys had at least something covering their crotches and the girls all now had tops so no one had their intimates exposed no more so that was an improvement especially since they'll, hopefully, be at the next settlement soon. After a bit Devin gives the order and they begin heading out. The rest of the trip is thankfully uneventful and goes quickly enough. During the trip Joy is able to see the downtown city from a better view and she can tell that it was the target of a bomb as there was a void with tilted buildings around it. Those areas tend to be treasure troves for scavengers but with high risk due to all sorts of mutated creatures and super mutants that live there plus the higher radiation. It wasn't really worth the risk to her; no amount of scrap will be worth anything to her if she was dead. Though thinking of radiation she does wonder if her new body had any sort of resistance to it...

After a couple of hours she could see their destination, Rose Island which seemed to be a fortified settlement on an island surrounded by toxic water with only three narrow land paths making attacks on the settlement difficult especially with all the nearby buildings torn down to deny cover. She was told about this by some of the caravanners on the way here but wasn't sure how much of it was true. "Wow, they really did make their settlement surrounded by toxic water... I hope their drinking water is not from any of this..." She says out loud as they were approaching the gate.

Joy was a bit worried that they might not let a group of canine people into their settlement but it seems like it really wasn't a very rare occurrence for something like this to happen. Devin seems to know the gate guards who seems sympathetic to him and his caravan before they are let in through the gate. While it was a relief to be let in she still expected the looks as she could feel eyes on their group, with a mix of good and bad looks. Though with how she and the other females were barely dressed she felt a lot of leers on her body which made her blush a bit. Ignoring the looks for now she gathers around Devin with the others and they are given their pay. "Thank you as well Devin; you're a good leader with how you were able to adapt after what happened to us. Here, take this and celebrate with your employees." She said as she hands him the half filled bottle of vodka she found earlier and the half bottle of whisky she had on her. "As for what to celebrate... I don't know, that we're alive and not being kept by those scientists." She said before she bids her farewells and starts to leave.

She now considers her next steps as she shifts the weight of her backpack. While she wanted to unload and get new clothes she was a bit tired and it was getting a bit late now. She looks around and also remembers that she hasn't been here before and should ask for directions. Joy finds someone to ask about the settlement, mainly where she can find a place to rest and probably stay for the night and then places for trade and clothes. She could use some food right now and then a room to sleep to relax and sleep. If possible a place to bathe too; after everything she could use some washing up... might be a bit harder now since she has fur she realizes.