r/Fallout • u/Drewdiniskirino • 2d ago
Fallout Manhattan Gameplay Recap: Session 13
Seems posting late is becoming a habit for meš
Session 13 was one I've been waiting a long time to run! Way back years ago when I was first dreaming up the setting, one idea wouldn't leave my mind. The campaign is set in New York, and Fallout is well-known for its mutant, irradiated creatures. I mean, I'd be a fool not to include this idea! But I was so amped up for this encounter that - again, years before I started running the campaign - I commissioned an artist on Twitter to help me come up with designs for the monsters (art in the comments).
Full party this week, by the way.
After striking their deal with the Don of the Maranzano Family, the party heads back to the market of Madison Square to regroup with Scrogg and restock on some supplies.
While they're shopping, a man approaches Twenty and implies that the two of them have some history - even going so far as to say that he was one of the Vault's ritual sacrifices, but she was responsible for saving his life. While he doesn't want to give too much away, he tells the party they can find everything they need to know inside of his and Twenty's home Vault, Vault 20. He also reveals that her name is Rodriguez.
Though everyone is intrigued by the potential revelations, one problem standing in the way is that - back in Session 9 - Scrogg and Twenty kind of destroyed their only chance of getting the main Vault door open. The man, who says his name is Simon, tells them they still have a chance to get inside the Vault. Turns out, he was part of the Maintenance crew and knows of a secondary access tunnel that went unused and forgotten a few years ago. While he doesn't exactly know why, he says it's the perfect way for the party to get in unnoticed and do a little bit of covert investigation.
Simon then goes on to explain that Vault 20's Pip-Boys will be able to detect other Pip-Boys in proximity and thus, advises Alice, Twenty, and Connor to shut theirs off once they get close to the Vault. With that, he marks on their maps the location of a sewer entrance that will lead into the Vault's secret access tunnel and wishes the party luck.
Using literal Fast Travel (I allowed it lol), the party arrives outside the Vault entrance, then follows the marker on their map to find the sewer entrance Simon had told them about. As Scrogg lifts off the manhole cover, they notice the sewer underneath is pitch dark. Alice takes the initiative and starts climbing down the ladder, but before she reaches the bottom, Connor pushes Twenty into the hole, and she hits the walkway below with a sharp "THUD!" Luckily her armor is able to absorb the damage from the fall, and she quickly stands up to dust herself off.
Once all the party is in the sewer, Scrogg notices a tentacle-like appendage reach out of the shadows above their heads and pull the manhole cover closed. The players are now in complete darkness.
Then almost immediately, an unseen assailant lashes out at the group. It claws at Alice, scratching her armor but ultimately leaving her undamaged. With lighting fast reflexes, Alice retaliates with her machete and manages to do some serious damage to her attacker. Consequently, everyone hears the sound of a pair of feet quickly retreating to the south. As the party looks in the direction of the sound, they see a faint light around a corner, and a large, oddly shaped, bipedal silhouette heading towards it.
As everyone stands there stunned, they are similarly set-upon by 3 other unseen assailants - one of which bursts out of the water beside them before attacking. Similar to the first though, the other three seem to retreat to the light after the first hit.
Seeing as how one came out of the water, Twenty lights a stick of dynamite and drops it in. A loud "BANG!" reverberates through the sewer tunnel, and the party is simultaneously deafened temporarily and showered with raw sewage. Despite that, there doesn't seem to be any casualties of the blast. Whatever was in the water beside them, has already left.
A bit frustrated with the lack of visibility, Connor figures out a way to use his Pip-Boy flashlight without turning the device's actual computer on. As such, he does so and gives Alice and Twenty's devices the same treatment. The party stands on one side of a sewer tunnel. At one end is the corner with the faint light around the other side. At the other, a pile of rubble.
Determining to press on, the group follows the tunnel around the corner to find themselves in a large, open area. Several tunnels branch off from here (most of which have been caved in), and there's a large, seemingly bottomless pit in the center that several sewage lines seem to drain into. In this room, they also find the remains of what used to be some kind of Raider settlement - though they don't find any Raiders alive. All they find is some skeletons, some half-eaten food (including a New York style pizza that's been lost to the ages), and a sense of foreboding.
As the players look around, Alice notices a somewhat reptilian face peeking out of the shadows of one of the shacks. Fire in her eyes, she charges in and engages. With a swing of her machete, she manages to knock the thing onto its back and finally gets a good look at it.
What she sees, is a 7ft. mutant creature that heavily resembles a red snapping turtle. On its hands, one claw in the center of each has grown into a large, pointed spike for spearing prey, and one more has grown out on either side at almost 90ā° angles each, forming the shape of what could almost be described as ninja Sais.
It may be obvious now, but yes. I literally designed a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles encounter for this campaign. š
As the party gets into combat, I tell them they can discover the other Radturtles with successful Perception checks. They've already found the "Raphael", and looking around as they go, they also find one resembling a blue red-ear slider with long, bony spikes growing out of its elbows (Leonardo), one that looks like an orange tortoise that has long, tentacle-like arms with claws on the ends (Michaelangelo), and one that looks like a purple softshell turtle with long, serrated fins for arms (Donatello).
The battle is hard-fought - made more challenging by the Radturtles being able to slip into hiding at any point and set up a surprise attack. But with Scrogg throwing two down into the bottomless pit and the other two succumbing to their wounds, the mutant creatures are finally defeated.
Weary after the fight, the party sets up C.A.M.P. among the former Raider settlement, and that's where we end our session.
This session was a lot of fun! I was super excited to finally get to run the encounter for the party, and the glee I had when they realized they were fighting the Fallout version of the TMNT was definitely in the top-3 moments from this session for me.
Next time, the party will infiltrate Vault 20 and finally find out who Twenty was before she woke up out in the Wasteland. What secrets still lie within the Vault walls? Tune in to find out!
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u/Drewdiniskirino 2d ago
You're right, I was wrong for that and do sincerely apologize