Avery Lau

## General Information

**Originally from**: San Antonio, Texas

**Residence during Great War**: small town in Wyoming, near Grand Teton

**Pre-War Occupation**: Rancher

**Family**: Emma Lau *(sister, deceased)*, Joy-Hanbury Lau *(sister, deceased)*, Judith Hanbury-Lau *(niece, deceased)*

**Age**: 47 when he turned ghoul, currently about 258 years old

**Ethnicity**: Chinese-American (only speaks English and Spanish)

**Height and Weight**: 196cm (6′5″), 110kg (240 lbs)

**Companions**: Fitz, a ‘ghoul’ stag, and Buck, a cattle dog given to him as a puppy by a mysterious stranger

**Likes**: Anything to do with the Old West and Cowboys - especially books. Animals, cooking, camping, music, playing the harmonica

**Dislikes**: Terminals, robots, chems, animal cruelty

**Weapons**: Colt .36 revolver and a .50 Caliber Bolt-Action Hunting Rifle

**Notable Perks**

Perception - *Sniper, Penetrator, Concentrated Fire*

Charisma - *Attack Dog, Animal Friend, Party Boy, Wasteland Whisperer*

Agility - *Gunslinger, Action Boy, Moving Target, Quick Hands, Gun-Fu*

Luck - *Scrounger, Idiot Savant*

## Pre-War Life

During the years leading up to the Great War, Avery Lau owned a cattle ranch in Wyoming and lived there with his two younger sisters, Emma and Joy, and Joy’s daughter Judith. He’d always been very close with his sisters, and the three were together for almost their whole lives up until the War. On the ranch, Avery tended to the animals and maintained the farm, Emma was in charge of the family business and Joy worked a job in town.

Avery was very close to his niece, Judith, who shared his love of animals and cowboy life. Judith was also a high achiever at school and had a keen interest in robotics. On mornings he wasn’t out with the grazing cattle, Avery would cook breakfast for his family and then drive Judith to school. Most evenings he would pick her up and, once home, cook dinner for everyone.

While out with the grazing cattle, Avery often spotted deer on his land and even gave one of them a nickname - Fitz, a very large and old buck.

It was a hard life and at this time the farming industry was not going well; the demand for cheap processed meat hit farmers hard and many of them struggled. Avery and his family barely got by, but they had a happy life together.

## When the Bombs Dropped

Nuclear strikes occurred around Salt Lake City to the southwest, and a military compound much closer to Avery’s town, and they had a devastating effect upon western Wyoming. Avery recalls telling Judith to take cover underneath her car seat and pulling a blanket over her as he witnessed one of the blasts from afar. When he arrived home, Emma and Joy were already taking cover in the basement.

The four stayed inside for a week or so, passing the time with board games and surviving on stockpiled food and water. Avery, despite protests from his sisters, would often go up to the surface for tools and any other things they needed. It wasn’t long before all four of them fell terribly ill, and Avery’s transformation into a ghoul began.

Emma, Judith and Joy did not survive the war. After they died, Avery considered taking his own life, but could not go through with it. He remained at the ranch for near a decade by himself before deciding to leave.

Even 200 years after their deaths, Avery is still consumed by grief and suffers terribly from loneliness. As a ghoul, he is self-conscious and thinks very little of himself. He frequently uses alcohol and sex as a means of numbing his pain.

## Post-War Life

Avery reluctantly abandoned his ranch and travelled east. He was reunited with Fitz, the old stag he saw on his land from time to time, and the two have been companions ever since.

For about 50 years Avery lived and worked in the Black Hills in South Dakota, frequenting Deadwood, which became a thriving settlement in the middle of a region crawling with wanted criminals. He made a modest living killing petty thugs for bounties, and during this time became a master gunslinger.

When it came time to move on, Avery spent over a century wandering, travelling as far south as Louisiana, where he was involved in some terrible business earning him the ire of a woman named Charlie Mire. Avery collected a bounty reward for the body of Charlie’s sister, Audrey, and she has been hunting him ever since.

He eventually ended up in the Commonwealth. For 10 years he wandered around Boston, finding work wherever he could. He spent some time working for Jack Cabot and Edward Deegan, and occasionally aided the Minutemen.

## Currently

Today, Avery is settled at the Slog, where he has built a modest shack for himself. He spends his days hunting, cooking meals for settlers, and helping to maintain the settlement. It’s nothing like his pre-war life, but Avery now has friends and even those he considers his family all around him. In his own words, *“It ain’t a bad way to live.”*

## Notes

* He stole his poncho from a wax museum in South Dakota.
* Insists that his hat once belonged to Clint Eastwood, but it's probably not true.

**Created by Railroad-Blues**