(Gamma World) Not a Test #109 - The Executive Suites

The De Facto Explorers have discovered a facility that used to manufactured energy cells in the Glow Zone wilderness across the Big River. 

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Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.   Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust.  Recently married Thunnelda Haycock.

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"

Sonny Helianthus: a nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places,  and finding it often.   He  has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Recently gave birth to a pile of baby worms. 

Luna of the Restorationists:  Recent recruit of the Restorationists, who had uncovered artifacts across the River.  

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A solid night's rest in the office was welcome to all, despite a few odd sounds coming from the plant.  Recharged, they began going through the other offices on the main facility floor.  The doors had their own keycard system, but they already acquired the green card necessary.  

Most of the items in the offices were ruined after centuries.  Sonny did pry open some pages to a ledger, and from the notes actually ascertained the person running the facility was selling energy cells to a private army, versus their usual contract with the "real" military.  There was also a note of a stockpile of their ill-gotten gains, although Sonny couldn't figure out exactly where it was.

Some of the doors had been ripped apart, a caked-on adhesive along the floors.  Pete showed a moment of bravery, jumping over the goo and investigating a room with a long table and many chairs.  

Two massive beetles emerged out of a junk pile on the far side of the room.   

Pete did his best attempt at swashbuckling backwards, swinging a sword, while firing his flintlock and moving back towards the door.   

Low on the power cells for their Ancients weapons, everyone resorted to assault rifles, and in some cases black powder weapons. The room quickly filled with smoke.  The beetles were resilient, though and soon they reached the doorway. 

Finally,  Squiggles smashed the one with his mace.   With its partner destroyed, the other beetle quickly scurried under the table, and probably back into the junk pile of smashed furniture.   

Pete, followed by Sonny, pursued carefully, jumping back onto the table, prodding the junk pile with his sword.  

Sonny could hear the weasel go "Rat's" a whoosh of air, and a number of needle-like projectiles hit the wall at the far end of the room.  The surviving beetle had tried some missile attack and lunged at Pete. 

Pete tried valiantly to use his shocking grasp mutation to power his sword, but, as normal, he couldn't hit anything in melee.  A final shot by Squiggles dropped the creature.  For all the desperation, there was nothing of note in this ancient conference room was a giant beetle sized hole in the wall to the outside, as well as a half a carcass of a dead-Hopper.  

In the final room along the east wall, they were please to find a dusty and dirty shotgun, a drawer full of thin gold bars, and some notes about the "stash" being below the building, in a section of the mines they had not explored.  

Treasure and glory was quite tempting, but the group was exhausted and broken.   The treasure wasn't going anywhere fast, so they agreed to get back to the Hopper caves , seal up the doors, and rest for a number of days.  

The Hoppers agreed to host their new friends, at the cost of a trinket of Ancients technology for each of them.  

Next: #110 - My Sixteen Days with the Hoppers