Adventure Twenty-Eight


 * We attend the party at the Cusp of Sunrise, despite delays caused by petty gatekeeping, and acquire our goal of free alcohol.
 * The members of Hydra Company arrive dressed as baseball players. Laurel Lathenmire is wearing an elaborate Nuka-Cola Girl costume and flaunting her wealth by distributing valuable Nuka-Colas. Beswink dresses as Albert Einstein.
 * Todd continues to skulk around Ruth before admitting that he wants to know what she is. An exhausted Ruth has no filter and shares her history as a scientist (Ruth) who had the mind of a pilot crewmate (Jackie) added to her body while being experimented on by Aklo, resulting in her electricity powers. Todd says she inspires both fascination and fear. Earl eavesdrops, finally learning what Ruth’s whole deal is.
 * Anna takes it upon herself to help civilize Vania by teaching her gambling games, including a card game called Caravan. Vania downplays her intelligence in order to encourage Anna’s continued underestimation of her, but she slips up by displaying her acumen and defeating Anna in Caravan. Anna, pleased with herself, gifts Vania a beginner’s Caravan deck.  “This deck is for you, and not anyone else.”
 * Earl speaks with Laurel and learns about her extensive collection of Old World items, as well as her dedication to eating nothing but Old World food. Like her daughter, she is familiar with Earl’s and Alder’s history, though she expresses skepticism that Earl was ever actually a raider. She asks Earl if he considers Alder trustworthy, and informs him that she has a business proposition for the Science Heroes but is cautious about revealing highly sensitive trade secrets. After their conversation, Earl speaks with the bartender, Mr. Nelson, who came from a working class background and stays tight-lipped about his opinions on the Cusp of Sunrise and its patrons, not wanting to risk his position.
 * Alder has a friendly conversation with Beswink, who requests that she cut his stepdaughter, Cora, some slack because of her concern about the Science Heroes presenting competition to the Hydra Company. He is much younger than Laurel, only a few years older than Cora, and it becomes clear that his business partnership with Laurel is unequal, with him providing valuable scientific expertise but Laurel having complete control of the logistics and finances.
 * Laurel approaches Alder with her business proposition. 10 years ago, she had discovered the pipeline that transported electricity generated by Beaver Dam. She sold the power to the Knights of Cascadia/Atomac, who have occupied a facility along the pipeline with a force made up of ghouls and human controllers. This is the foundation of her wealth and what led to her founding the Cusp of Sunrise, and it also contributed to the Knights’ non-interference with Scorpse. Now that the dam has been repaired, she wants to escape her bargain with the Knights by having the Science Heroes clear out their forces, pretending that Laurel had only recently discovered the pipeline and keeping her partnership with the Knights a secret. She warns that if they reveal her guilt, she will destroy the facility, which may permanently damage Scorpse’s ability to generate electricity from the dam.
 * P0P1 and Tiamat have a date playing lawn darts on the roof of the Cusp of Sunrise, followed by the ceremonial reenactment of the battle between Kegan and the Scorpion of Scorpse. Tiamat shares that her handler, Zach, had never entered her in the robot race before, and that previous robots of his who’d won the race had only returned from the post-race party as spare parts.
 * For the reenactment, P0P1 and Tiamat team up against Kegan in their deathclaw costume. Kegan attempts to stage a short battle, but when P0P1 and Tiamat keep the fight going, he gets overly enthusiastic and completely disables the robots, as well as leaking a glowing aura that sickens much of the audience, revealing himself to be one of the extremely rare Glowing Ones who isn’t feral.