Gamma world Wednesday session 3 report

 The players kept on their quest to find an ancient site to the west.  Possibly filled with wonders or tech.  

Having skirted the green haze they found their way into the forest, and a wagon trial.  They followed along the wagon trail until they heard some noises coming from the west.  They were met by a merchant caravan which included a green oxen named Ralphie, a soldier named Grum and a dual brained merchant named Xandu.  After some discussion they found out that the balance of the guards were killed in their sleep by a vicious plant.  The merchant offered some domars and a few zippo lighters in exchange for safe passage to the trading city.  The players agreed.  

The caravan is an old rusty el camino, loaded to the gills with boxes and crates.  

Grum is clearly a well seasoned soldier with good direction sense and a laser rifle.  The merchant seems brilliant most of the time, however when his anxiety creeps up he reverts to a child and players with his paddle ball and sucks his thumb. 

The players were told about a set of concrete columns to the west that the merchant caravan had seen, the location was quickly marked upon the map. 

They made a small camp on the outskirts of forest and had lunch,  during that time they heard the same beetle sound that they had previously heard.  The players and Grum went out and did a perimeter check and managed to scare away the beetle.  

As they progressed towards the trading city, they had to decide which route to take.  The caravan had typically cut straight east across the wasteland towards the relative safety of the river.   They would then follow the river towards the city.  In the past they had cut a more direct route to the city, but faced some bandits and the like.  

They decided to take the more direct route after hearing that the river sometimes has deadly things swimming in it.  As well they wanted to keep out of site of any other traders along the river for the time being.  

Xandu spoke at length about the city and the final destination of the "Aluminum kettle" a hive of all things merchant (and some scum and villainy).  

As the afternoon progressed the PCs noticed large billowing smoke.  They separated from the caravan to investigate and found a savage scene.  Body parts were strewn about, and the remains of 10 humans lay smouldering in a large heap.  The remains of a makeshift camp were nearly destroyed during the battle.  They also found 2 mutant animals dead not in the pile.  One was a bear the other a badger.  On the bear they found a journal detailing a spying operation on the PCs home village of beezeldor and tracking information on the humans that were just murdered.  It appears that these creatures are raving lunatics that believe all humans should be destroyed, and only the mutant animal races shall inherit what is left of the earth.   Both dead animals had a hand embroidered insignia on the inside of the collar. 

The PCs rejoined the caravan and continued on towards the trading city.  They were eventually beset by mutated large mosquitos.  After a brief fight they were victorious, however hugo was bitten and left catatonic from poison.   He was promptly thrown into the front seat of the El Camino where he blissfully listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd on 8 track, along with the childish merchant.  The PCs decided to keep the remains of the mosquito in hopes of finding an alchemist who maybe interested in purchasing the bits and pieces, or possibly getting a LVL 6 poison made. 

The road become hilly and rose up, as they neared the city.  Eventually it flattened out to a plateau with small farms.  They were passed by travellers on horseback.  Near the city proper was a small shanty town, and then the gates.  Lining the city is a large wall made of old cars, semi trailers etc.  There is a fairly large lineup to get into the city, the PCs and the caravan were third inline.