Adventure Twenty-Three: Chain Gang


 * Ruth takes to the air to investigate the dam and spots a group of larger-than-human figures using tools on the surface of the dam.
 * P0P1 moves ahead and finds a suit of power armor in the ground that turns out to be a trap, trapping its hand and yanking it under water. P0P1 manages to detach the piece of armor it’s stuck to, and the armor gets pulled away into the depths.
 * We approach the dam, climbing a staircase that was built for something larger than humans. It is lined with stakes topped with skulls from humans and other species.
 * There is a passage in the cliff roughly 50 feet from the top of the dam. We see signs of activity and tracks that indicate super mutants. After the first turn in the passage is a 15-foot ledge.
 * Vania and P0P1 sneak up the ledge while Ruth flies to the top. Off a passageway to the left, we hear super mutants discussing how to prepare and eat an unknown species in comparison to humans.
 * A massive two-headed flail-wielding super mutant comes out of the passage. Ruth hits it with a magnetic blast, causing the flails to wrap around its heads, and Vania takes a shot as it emerges. Earl burns it by super-heating one of the flails before it bull rushes him off the ledge and into Ruth. P0P1 turns invisible and wrestles one of its heads into submission. Alder hacks off one of its feet, and P0P1 surfs the body down the ledge back to the ground level.
 * There is evidence of super mutants living within the mountain. The excavated passage gradually climbs to an exit that opens on the walkway on top of the dam. Four super mutants wearing the distinctive helmets are hammering pitons into the concrete to carve chunks of the dam off the south side, ready to release the massive build-up of water. A fifth super mutant oversees the others, who work with singular focus despite visible fatigue.
 * Earl summons an apparition of Jack, except a version of him that is gloriously (and inaccurately) beautiful and muscular. The ghost attacks (and misses) the overseer, followed up by a charging P0P1. Sir Belvedere finishes it off, knocking it off the north side of the dam. Jack leaps with impressive nimbleness toward another enemy, misses it as well, and then is quickly defeated.
 * The super mutant workers continue hammering until they notice they are under attack, then emit a monotone roar that triggers a rage and attack with ferocity but without strategy. Ruth crushes one with gravitic blasts while it charges toward Vania as she fills it with arrows. Alder and Sir Belvedere tee up on another super mutant, throwing it off the south side of the dam, before piling on another one. P0P1 sneaks around the final super mutant and rips the cables coming out of its helmet, which are directly connected to its brain.
 * The damage done to the dam by Ruth’s gravitic blasts causes another layer of concrete to break off into the water.