THE COMPLETELY TRUE AND ACCURATE TRAVELS OF HOBO JOHNSON IN THE LOSSAND THE DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL ENCLAVES THEREIN (PART THE SECOND)
May 7 - Talking with Hobo again while the Rabbit is doing some negotiation on short notice. Mostly it involves him rambling about Enclaves while I recheck my pistol.
It gets interesting when he starts talking about natural barriers. He says it's not really a good idea to think that out in the Great Beyond that they segregated their countries like we did, behind the Ol' Mississip. First place, there not that many places with rivers that wide and long. Maybe a dozen or two. Second, America didn't put most of it's big cities on the river, the way a lot of countries did. Big cities are a no-no in The Loss - way too many Casualties to make anything other than the most hardened Enclaves viable. A lot of the successful Enclaves in The Loss are in the suburbs - a kind of lifestyle that doesn't exist in most of the rest of the world the way we know it. Big shopping malls out in the sticks that are easily defensible just weren't the done thing there. Mostly, he says, the big retailers are jammed into high rises or commercial districts that are cheek by jowl with huge apartments (and huge numbers of casualties) with WAY too many openings to block off.
After a bit, you'd have thought it was a college class, as he starts checking off all the things that he says make The Loss one of the best places in the world - better than a lot of Enclaves out there, he claims. Shit. Problem is, I can't really argue with all the things he checks off.
Highly concentrated refined resources? Check. Yeah, maybe not all the natural ones, but we were consuming half of all the resources worldwide back then - it didn't go anywhere when the Vectors came.
Large population with emphasis on personal mobility? Check. Makes it easier to outrun em, group up together, get to hard to follow places. Low population density, too, even lower if you restrict it to the Western states. Not like some places where you can't turn around without elbowing some dude while sticking your ass in another one's face. If you've got time to see 'em shamble, you've got time to fight or run. Hobo says a lotta places like Hong Kong, it was a fucking turkey shoot for the Zeds. I'd hate to be the guy who tries cleaning up THAT mess unless I've got a nuke or twelve handy and a place to hide out for a few thousand years.
Shitloads of guns? Check, check, and triple check. Some Takers may like that hand to hand combat shit, but I'm never getting out if I get my circulatory system all full of fucking Blight.
Highly materialistic population? Fucking yeah, check. Means lots of Bounty to scavenge. Lots of tools to use to help me get that Bounty. And with a little bit of luck, one real big Score and go back richrich.
Hobo? He says he's thinking of retiring here. Says he likes the weather and DHQS is full of assholes.
Why do I hang around this crazy fuck again?
Friday, May 27, 2016
Thursday, May 26, 2016
So this is a thing. Enjoy.
THE COMPLETELY TRUE AND ACCURATE TRAVELS OF HOBO JOHNSON IN THE LOSS
AND THE DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL ENCLAVES THEREIN (PART THE FIRST)
(Editor's note: The excerpts from this journal purport to be the account of a Taker named Hobo Johnson, as dictated to another Taker who refers to themselves in the journal as Skeevy. The probability of said account being factual, given the nature of the claims involved regarding travel and four plus years of survival in The Loss without a crew, is too small to credit. However, we believe that, if nothing else, this shit's good for a laugh.
PS - the accounts cannot possibly be in any coherent order as written, due to travel distance and location.)
April 21 - Sitting around with Hobo again while we wait for Marsha Three to get back on her feet from the last job. I swear the guy tells a great story, and just when you finally start to believe he's piled his bushit one meter too high for his socks, damned if he doesn't come out with something that makes you believe it just might be true.
Today's something was a life preserver in a language he swears is Dutch. Hell if I know, and hell if I'm gonna dig around looking for a way to disprove it. It ain't English, whatever it is that got wrote on it.
Anyways, he says the place is named Nilty Jens, or something like that. Dutch. The locals told him it was named after a boat. Hell, I'm from Nimrod, Montana, 'bout two miles from Singleshot and a 20 minute walk to Goat Lick Overlook. I can't even make jokes about a place named after a boat after that.
So, it's a big artificial island, part of the dam system. Hobo says the locals barricaded up both highways leading up after they cleared it off, because it's about a mile square, it's got wind turbines, arable land, and boat docks. Claims he spent about a month holed up there after he left France. He'd have stayed longer, except he says they're all batshit crazy.
There's jobs to be had, according to Hobo - Takers all use boats and do scavenge missions on the parts that are still dry and the buildings in the next city over the bridge if they feel REAL lucky. Seems the city is full of casualties from everyone trying to head to safe zones. Casualties don't swim, but they don't need to breathe, either. Makes dune watching fun at night.
All that's bad enough, but nothing I haven't heard before, even the parts where he claimed the guys in charge opened the dam and let 'em drown prematurely rather than have to share the island with them. Hobo claims they've got a hard limit on population, though - 1200 people. If anyone comes in, someone leaves, if you catch my drift, he says with a wink. There's a lottery, and the winners either go outside the wire if they're quick enough or they get to add to the fertilizer. I asked him how HE got in if that's the case, and he claims he iced someone on his way in on a bad deal, so no need for a lottery. That's the point I called bullshit, because who does that and deliberately wastes bodies? According to Hobo, though, the man in charge is a high ranker from before The Loss and crazy as hell about sustainability. He must BE crazy, though, because they still gotta barter with the other Enclaves for animals and hydraulics for the dam and construction materials and stuff. They trade in fish and scavenged goods, but they can only fish the far side of the dam, because no one trusts that casualties can't infect them, too. What absolute horse hocky.
That's when he pulled out the preserver. I never knew a guy to have so much stuff workin' as a solo, and not getting many jobs that I can see. Hell, if he's got that much bounty to spare, maybe I should have a look-see around his place sometime when he's not there. He won't miss it. Anyways, I damned sure ain't headed to Dutch-land anytime this lifetime.
AND THE DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL ENCLAVES THEREIN (PART THE FIRST)
(Editor's note: The excerpts from this journal purport to be the account of a Taker named Hobo Johnson, as dictated to another Taker who refers to themselves in the journal as Skeevy. The probability of said account being factual, given the nature of the claims involved regarding travel and four plus years of survival in The Loss without a crew, is too small to credit. However, we believe that, if nothing else, this shit's good for a laugh.
PS - the accounts cannot possibly be in any coherent order as written, due to travel distance and location.)
April 21 - Sitting around with Hobo again while we wait for Marsha Three to get back on her feet from the last job. I swear the guy tells a great story, and just when you finally start to believe he's piled his bushit one meter too high for his socks, damned if he doesn't come out with something that makes you believe it just might be true.
Today's something was a life preserver in a language he swears is Dutch. Hell if I know, and hell if I'm gonna dig around looking for a way to disprove it. It ain't English, whatever it is that got wrote on it.
Anyways, he says the place is named Nilty Jens, or something like that. Dutch. The locals told him it was named after a boat. Hell, I'm from Nimrod, Montana, 'bout two miles from Singleshot and a 20 minute walk to Goat Lick Overlook. I can't even make jokes about a place named after a boat after that.
So, it's a big artificial island, part of the dam system. Hobo says the locals barricaded up both highways leading up after they cleared it off, because it's about a mile square, it's got wind turbines, arable land, and boat docks. Claims he spent about a month holed up there after he left France. He'd have stayed longer, except he says they're all batshit crazy.
There's jobs to be had, according to Hobo - Takers all use boats and do scavenge missions on the parts that are still dry and the buildings in the next city over the bridge if they feel REAL lucky. Seems the city is full of casualties from everyone trying to head to safe zones. Casualties don't swim, but they don't need to breathe, either. Makes dune watching fun at night.
All that's bad enough, but nothing I haven't heard before, even the parts where he claimed the guys in charge opened the dam and let 'em drown prematurely rather than have to share the island with them. Hobo claims they've got a hard limit on population, though - 1200 people. If anyone comes in, someone leaves, if you catch my drift, he says with a wink. There's a lottery, and the winners either go outside the wire if they're quick enough or they get to add to the fertilizer. I asked him how HE got in if that's the case, and he claims he iced someone on his way in on a bad deal, so no need for a lottery. That's the point I called bullshit, because who does that and deliberately wastes bodies? According to Hobo, though, the man in charge is a high ranker from before The Loss and crazy as hell about sustainability. He must BE crazy, though, because they still gotta barter with the other Enclaves for animals and hydraulics for the dam and construction materials and stuff. They trade in fish and scavenged goods, but they can only fish the far side of the dam, because no one trusts that casualties can't infect them, too. What absolute horse hocky.
That's when he pulled out the preserver. I never knew a guy to have so much stuff workin' as a solo, and not getting many jobs that I can see. Hell, if he's got that much bounty to spare, maybe I should have a look-see around his place sometime when he's not there. He won't miss it. Anyways, I damned sure ain't headed to Dutch-land anytime this lifetime.
A few introductory words.
So, about this 'blog'.
I'm mainly putting it up here for three reasons.
1) I want to learn to write better, and so I need public criticism.
2) I occasionally think some microstories might go over well, because brain chemicals lie.
3) It's free. You get what you pay for.
Anyways. Enjoy. Most if it will probably be stories and posts related to role playing games I'm interested in or running. This month, in honor of the Kickstarter, I'll be doing little things involving Red Markets by Caleb Stokes , a game about Economic Horror that I'm proud to have backed.
Yes, Economic Horror. Like The Amityville Horror, where the real monster was how much money they sunk into that pile. Except different, because there's no ghosts, just zombies. Anyways, go look at the link and give him some money. Caleb does good work.
I'm mainly putting it up here for three reasons.
1) I want to learn to write better, and so I need public criticism.
2) I occasionally think some microstories might go over well, because brain chemicals lie.
3) It's free. You get what you pay for.
Anyways. Enjoy. Most if it will probably be stories and posts related to role playing games I'm interested in or running. This month, in honor of the Kickstarter, I'll be doing little things involving Red Markets by Caleb Stokes , a game about Economic Horror that I'm proud to have backed.
Yes, Economic Horror. Like The Amityville Horror, where the real monster was how much money they sunk into that pile. Except different, because there's no ghosts, just zombies. Anyways, go look at the link and give him some money. Caleb does good work.
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