Highpool (Wasteland)

Highpool is a location in Wasteland.

Background
Originally a summer camp for children, Highpool became a sheltered, safe town after the nuclear war. By 2087, it's a small town suffering from a water shortage on account of a broken water purifier, which requires an engine from the Rail Nomads to repair.

The camp consists of some two-story adobe buildings that resemble dorms, a playground with swings and slides and fields watered by canals that gets its water from the two feet deep Highpool Creek which flows through the settlement and ends in a small lake. A larger building in the center of the camp forms the Community Center. Most adults are absent, busy raiding outlaws prowling the surrounding areas, with children pretty much the only denizens Rangers are likely to meet.

Points of interest

 * There is a kid named Bobby in the south-west corner which can tell you about Jackie and the Cave and asks you not to kill his dog Rex. The Cave can be found at the western wall of the camp between two trees. You have to use the Perception skill on the spot to recognize the cave entry. Then you can use a rope to climb down.
 * Kill the Rabid Dog, Rex, and rescue Jackie, who will become the party's first NPC. Before climbing the first heap of boulders, you can shed some light by using a Match on  any of the squares that yield the message "Even here the cave is very dark"; this will have the effect of replacing the Rabid Dog with a weaker Spiked Mut.
 * Inside the largest building is a community center. You can purchase supplies there, as well as barge into the camp intendent's office by breaching the door. Doing so causes the juvies in the hall to appear as viable targets. They drop the Mangler. Picking it up will reduce the reward for fixing Highpool's water purifier (Apple II version only).
 * When you walk through the river then there are two spots where you can slip and fall into it. On each of these occasions some Brats appear laughing at you. When you kill them and pick up the loot more Brats are coming. Kill and loot them, too and then you encounter a Chubby Kid. Kill and loot again and now you are confronted by the Red Ryder who is sad and angry about you killing the children and starts firing at you with his Red Ryder Rifle. When you kill the Red Ryder and pick up the loot (Unfortunately not the rifle) then the camp is converted into a ghost town. The river and the lake dries out and the Shop, the Infirmary, the Workshop and the Community Center are closed.
 * If you kill the Chubby Kid, an enemy named Red Ryder will appear. He is quite tough, but if you beat him he will drop a loot bag. If you grab that loot bag, Highpool will turn into a barren valley, and its doctor will vanish.