The Good

Chow

Skills: Leadership, Scavenge, Alertness

Motivation: Keep the Dregs together.

Weakness: Not good with long-term plans.

The unofficial leader of the pack, Chow is a large woman in her late twenties. Before Armageddon, she was pretty directionless. She had a college degree, but could never find a real ambition. She had worked in a variety of jobs, but none of them held any appeal for her. That all changed when The End came. Now, she finds a freedom she never knew before. Instead of figuring out what she was supposed to be doing or looking to the future, she can concentrate on the basics of surviving.

She has proven to be very adept at navigating this brave new world. By focusing completely on the task at hand, she is able to instill those under her with a sense of purpose. It's been very effective thus far, and the rag-tag band she started with has become a tough, no-nonsense scavenger gang. For now, time will tell what impact her inability to look beyond her nose will have on the Dregs.

Though she wouldn't admit it, Chow is one of the very few who prefer the way things are after the end of the world.

Art

Skills: Very Strong, Boundless Endurance, Fix Machines

Motivation: Have a good time.

Weakness: Looks down on others.

Larger even than Chow, Art is generally easygoing. Never a deep thinker, Art never wants anything more than some good booze, a woman, and a full belly. That hasn't been easy since The End, but with Chow and the Dregs, he's done all right. He drives a gigantic Harley, all chrome and saddlebags, which is a departure from the more utilitarian vehicles the rest of the gang pilots. There is a small U-Haul trailer attached to the back of his bike, which carries the Dregs' more bulky equipment.

Art really doesn't care where he is or who he rides with, as long as he can keep the good times rolling. He does his best not to hurt other people, but realizes that the post-Apocalypse world is a kill-or-be-killed proposititon. Despite that, he always searches for the path of least resistance when a conflict arises.

Despite his relaxed attitude, he is a hard worker, capable of riding all day, searching a grocery store top to bottom and then feasting all night on what he finds. He looks down on Specs as a whiner and Goofer as a waste, but is laid back about his contempt. He is Big Talk's lover.

Specs

Skills: Botany, Scavenge, Jury Rig

Motivation: Safety of the Dregs.

Weakness: Doesn't stand up for himself.

Twenty-three going on fifty, Specs is nearly blind without thick, heavy glasses that make his eyes look preternaturally bulgy. He was a graduate student before the war, and was always more comfortable in a greenhouse than around other people. His specialty is botany, and his knowledge of plants has helped the Dregs on those occasion when they've had to forage food.

Bright and well-educated, Specs is a worry wart to the core, perpetually hedging his bets and thinking tip gloomy possihilities. His cynic's view has helped the gang on more than one occasion but his perpetual moodiness keeps the others from becoming too close to him. He also has a tendency to cave in during arguments, bitterly complaining while going along with whatever his opponent had in mind. His "I told you so" approach to problem solving has not endeared him to the Dregs.

He is Chow's lover, despite the difference ir their attitudes--or perhaps hecause of them. Their joke is that he worries enough for both of them.

The Bad

Big Talk

Skills: Streetfighting, Motorcycling, Making a Big Impression

Motivation: Rule the gang and get her rocks off whenever possible.

Weakness: A bully who always goes too far.

According to Big Talk, she left home when she was fourteen, killed her first man at sixteen, escaped from jail twice (the second time being after the Apocalypse) and got her fifth degree black belt in ninjitsu when she was nineteen. Most of the other Dregs take these pronouncements with a grain of salt.

She's now twenty-one, six feet tall (six foot five when she rats her hair up) and rides a vintage Harley while dressed all in leather, topped by a helmet with Viking horns. She has long, bright copper hair with dark brown roots about six inches long (she'd give a lot for a bottle of Miss Clairol). Verbally, she's the most aggressive of the Dregs, and will be the most physically aggressive against anyone she thinks she can beat.

She's heard that slaving is being practiced by some colonies, and is starting to think it would be a good idea for the Dregs to keep slaves. She's also thinking of challenging Chow for leadership of the gang, hut is not sure how Art would react.

Ghost

Skills: Stealth, Ambush, Sniper Rifle

Motivation: ???

Weakness: Paranoid, hair-trigger stone killer.

Nobody knows much about Ghost; her face has a strange, ageless quality, and her long, stark white hair makes her look paradoxically young. She doesn't talk much, but when she does, the other Dregs listen. She's shown a deep practical grasp of small unit tactics, and she is far and away the best shot among them. She's small, slender, and very pale, but surprisingly strong for her size.

Ghost does not seem to crave human company as much as the other Dregs. She often serves as their advance scout, riding ahead of them to get the lay of the land. Most of the gang's targets, and more than a few legitimate threats, have been spotted by Ghost long before they came into contact with the Dregs proper.

What the others don't know is that since joining them, Ghost has killed three people she saw while ahead of them. She just didn't like their looks. Her attitude towards her compatriots is little different; while she respects them as companions and understands that they provide many advantages, she wouldn't hesitate to turn against them if she felt she didn't have a choice.

If she ever finds out what Vince did to Josie, she will kill him.

Vince

Skills: Torture, Emotional Manipulation

Motivation: To make himself feel good by making others feel bad.

Flaw: Left hand cannot grip or straighten.

Vince is your basic, evil, self-interested bastard. The first person he met after the end of the world was Josie, and he was nice to her at first. Then he asked her to have sex with him, and didn't take no for an answer.

The end of the world made some people sit up and evaluate their morals for the first time. In Vince's case, he decided that he had nothing to lose; he could finally do all the things he'd fantasized about before the Apocalypse. He's very good at making nice with people, very good at appearing trustworthy and useful and cool; only Josie knows his real motivations, and she also knows he will kill her slow if she tells anyone.

Currently, Vince is "interested" in Big Talk, but knows she won't be a pushover like Josie was. He's thinking of arranging an accident for Art and seeing what happens. If Big Talk lets him know she wants to run the gang, the two may form a truly vile alliance. He is a short, compact man with dishwater blonde hair and a wide smile. He injured his hand in a bike wipeout a few weeks before the Dregs met Dr. Frontinac, and due to poor medical attention, his left hand will not open or close all the way.

The Ugly

Goofer

Skills: Linguist, Scavenge Drugs, Operate Computers

Motivation: Drug himself into oblivion.

Weakness: See Motivation.

Goofer was an investment broker who saw his wife get sucked down into the maw of hell along with his two spoiled daughters. He doesn't like to talk about it.

Compounding this, he spent a long time alone before finding the Dregs--that didn't help his sanity any. Now, he's nearly incapable of taking initiative on his own; he follows otders and goes along with what others decide. He occasionally talks to people that no one else can see, then vigorously denies having talked to them. Considering his primary hobby, the others don't worry about it much.

Inasmuch as he likes anything, Goofer likes drugs. Lots of drugs. And he's not too picky about what type he takes. His bloodstream is a veritable pharmaceutical cocktail, and he occasionally mixes drugs that were not meant to be mixed. The other Dregs figure it's just a matter of time before he pulls a Garcia on them. Meantime, he rides point for them, so as better to divert lethal projectiles away from the others.

He's about forty, with long blonde hair going thin on top. He wears wire-rim glasses and has a long, unkempt beard.

Drif

Skills: Hide, Run, Scavenge

Motivation: For now, stay with the Dregs.

Weakness: Weak willed and despairing.

Before the end of the world, Drif and Goofer would probably have never met. He's forty; she's seventeen. He has a Master's Degree. She's a high school dropout. He's from Massachusetts; she's from Louisiana. He's white; she's black.

Now, however, they have one critical thing in common; they've largely given up. Her name is short for "Drifter" which is what she is, spiritually and mentally as well as physically. She tends to go along with whatever the others decide, as long as they leave her alone and not pester her about what she thinks. If something were to happen to the others, she wouldn't be overly concerned; she'd just move on. She has no thoughts about where she's going, and doesn't much care about where she is. She is content to simply exist.

She and Goofer spend a lot of time together; she likes him because he doesn't try to talk to her so much. She isn't as into drugs as he is, though, and sometimes worries about their effects on her friend.

Drif is scrawny, dresses in clothing much to large for her, and keeps her hair cut very short. She usually has a bandanna tied around her head and sports a leather jacket when the climate permits it.

Josie

Skills: Alertness, Scavenge, Run

Motivation: To find peace.

Weakness: Wants to die.

Unlike Drif and Goofer, Josie always seem bright eyed and alert. She's nervous around peo ple at first, but is cheerful and friendly once you gain her trust. Chow and Specs like her a lot--if they gave it any thought, they'd realize they treat her as an adoptive daughter, although she's les than five years younger than either of them. She joined the gang with Vince.

What no one but Vince kmows is that she was virtually his slave hefore they started to run witl the gang. Vince has told her that he will kill he if he ever tells what he did to her. Fat chance, she's not only terrified of him, she's ashamed. She adores the rest of the gang (except Big Talk who is mean to her) because she believes the rescued her from Vince. She's right.

What no one at all knows is that Josie has started hearing a voice in her head. A voice that deep and cool and nothing at all like the shrill frightened voice that speaks her own thought This voice tells her that she must bring the gang out west. She's been having dreams of the summer, and of crows, and of finally finding peace. The voice tells her she must come to Deatl Valley. There she will finally lose all her fear and all her pain. Sometimes she thinks it is Death itself calling her. But she doesn't think that very often. She doesn't let herself.

Related

The Ultimate Sin: Meeting the Good Doctor

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