Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Darrin Drader's Post Apocalyptic Story Hour - Updated 09/10/2005
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Darrin Drader" data-source="post: 2557384" data-attributes="member: 7394"><p>Chapter 6</p><p></p><p></p><p>Today</p><p></p><p>Stone stood outside of his father’s house… no, now it was his house, assessing the people the Lord Mayor had sent to aid him with his mission. As promised, there were five total, four guards and one engineer. Two of them had served under him at The Outpost. To his surprise, one of his team was a woman, although she was tall, muscular, and looked just as tough as any of the men standing before him. Strangely, Scoth had arrived at the same time as the others. The soldiers and the engineer stood rigidly in line, each of them fixing their eyes on Stone.</p><p></p><p>“What are you doing here, Scoth?” Stone asked his friend.</p><p></p><p>Scoth smiled and bit his lip, “I’m coming with you.”</p><p></p><p>“You know, I was thinking you were here to say something intelligent, like wishing us good luck in our mission, or maybe give us a little more idea of what to expect once we get out there past the Outpost. I wasn’t expecting this,” Stone said with a grin.</p><p>“I don’t think you understand my offer,” Scoth shot back. “You need something only I can offer. You have people there who can fight the mutants, and fix machines. You don’t have anyone who understands the ancient languages like I do. If you run into automated resistance, or something written in French, or Spanish, or something that requires you to understand the social context behind it, you won’t have what you need with the group you have assembled.” He put his hand on Stone’s shoulder and led him out of earshot of the others, “Besides, I’m not sure that all of these guys have your best interests at heart. You may want someone with you that you know is in your corner.”</p><p></p><p>“You realize that you worked hard while we were kids while I was slacking off so that you wouldn’t have to put yourself in this position. You could die.”</p><p></p><p>Scoth looked his friend in the eye, “I know the risks, and I accept them”</p><p></p><p>“I know I’m going to regret this,” Stone said with resignation. “Welcome to the team. I’ll have them requisition you some gear before we leave.”</p><p></p><p>Stone walked back to the men lined up. “Attention! It looks like my friend here has gone suicidal. He’s coming with us.”</p><p></p><p>One of the soldiers stepped forward; Stone assumed that he was the highest-ranking soldier in this group. The man was a bear of a man, with reddish-brown hair that seemed to cover all of his exposed flesh. His face was covered in stubble, but Stone detected a cold intelligence in his blue eyes. “Permission to speak, sir,” he said in a guttural voice.</p><p></p><p>Stone walked out before the assembled men, “My first standing order is that unless I specifically call for silence, you have permission to speak. What is your name?”</p><p></p><p>“Blake Hargrove,” he said. “They call me Gunner.”</p><p></p><p>“What’s on your mind?” Stone asked.</p><p></p><p>“No offense, but your friend is a civilian. He doesn’t know how to shoot, or take cover, or fire a weapon. He’s going to be a liability and probably get himself killed and take some of us out with him. I don’t want him here.”</p><p></p><p>Stone shook his head. “Soldier,” he said, “Assuming that our mission is successful, we’re going to have a pretty impressive load to haul back with us. That’s going to be a much larger pain to deal with than one guy we’re escorting. He’s coming.”</p><p></p><p>“Sir, the Lord Mayor gave me the authority to countermand your orders if necessary….”</p><p></p><p>Stone cut him off, “And you think you’re going to start now. The only way for a military team to function is if the chain of command remains intact. Your authority is for emergency situations only. This doesn’t qualify as an emergency.”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t want to have to worry about him while we’re out there!” Gunner shot back.</p><p></p><p>“Then don’t. He’s my friend, he’s my responsibility,” Stone said. “Matter closed. Now, please introduce yourselves.”</p><p></p><p>The next soldier stepped forward. He was clean-shaven and he had a thin blue tattoo that ran down his right cheek. “They call me Stack,” he said. “I specialize in silent reconnaissance.” Stone remembered him from the Outpost, though he had never learned very much about the man.</p><p></p><p>The next man stepped forward. Like the others, he was muscular, with curly black hair, which was shaved into a stripe, and grown long, and bound in a ponytail. “They call me Carver.” Too fast to see, he dropped his hands to his hips and launched a pair of knives at Stone’s feet. The blades stuck in the ground less than an inch of Stone’s boot. He picked them up out of the ground and handed them back to their owner.</p><p>“Do you shoot a gun as well as you throw a knife?” Stone asked. Carver was another Stone recognized from his service at the Outpost, although he knew very little about him.</p><p></p><p>“I’m still alive aren’t I?” he asked. “Yeah, I can kill mutants just fine.”</p><p></p><p>The woman Stone noticed before stepped up. “They call me Athena. Not only will I kill muties up close, but I’m also a sharp-shooter. I’ll take them out with one bullet from half a mile away with no problem.”</p><p></p><p>The final man who stepped forward was of considerably smaller build than the soldiers who had just introduced themselves. “Matt Skofield, engineer. I’ve received training as a soldier, but I have no actual experience.”</p><p></p><p>“That’s alright, I didn’t ask to bring you along for your ability to shoot,” Stone said.</p><p>Scoth stepped forward, facing the soldiers that he knew didn’t want him there. “My name is Scoth Abraham. </p><p></p><p>Stone walked out before them again. “Alright, the Lord Mayor may have provided you with some information, but here’s the mission. We leave now and we march to the Outpost. We stay there until nightfall, then we enter the Wildlands. We take cover during the day, we march at night. We will march eighty miles, which I expect will take four days. We will avoid contact with the enemy if possible, but if it is unavoidable, we take them out with extreme prejudice. Our eventual goal is an ancient underground military outpost which, hopefully, has remained undiscovered since the final war. We should find conventional weapons there, but what we’re hoping to find there is a stash of advanced weaponry that will send the muties straight to hell, once and for all. Once we have retrieved as much as we can of value, we return it here. We’re hoping that the military vehicles remain there and can be used to bring us back.”</p><p></p><p>“A treasure hunt,” said Athena. </p><p></p><p>“Yep,” Stone confirmed. “And we leave now.” Stone began to march away from his house, towards the road out of town.</p><p></p><p>Scoth ran and caught up to his friend. “What about gear?”</p><p></p><p>“I thought better about that,” Stone said with a smile.</p><p></p><p>“You mean to lead me out unprotected?” Scoth asked incredulously.</p><p></p><p>“You need to get used to marching before we load you down with combat gear. I’ll get you some when we reach the Outpost.”</p><p></p><p>Stone looked over his shoulder. He could see the Lord Mayor’s house on the hill. Standing on the balcony, watching them leave was a woman with long brown hair, which was unbound and blowing in the wind. “Goodbye Mali. I’ll be back for you,” he murmured to himself as he again focused his attention on the long road ahead.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Darrin Drader, post: 2557384, member: 7394"] Chapter 6 Today Stone stood outside of his father’s house… no, now it was his house, assessing the people the Lord Mayor had sent to aid him with his mission. As promised, there were five total, four guards and one engineer. Two of them had served under him at The Outpost. To his surprise, one of his team was a woman, although she was tall, muscular, and looked just as tough as any of the men standing before him. Strangely, Scoth had arrived at the same time as the others. The soldiers and the engineer stood rigidly in line, each of them fixing their eyes on Stone. “What are you doing here, Scoth?” Stone asked his friend. Scoth smiled and bit his lip, “I’m coming with you.” “You know, I was thinking you were here to say something intelligent, like wishing us good luck in our mission, or maybe give us a little more idea of what to expect once we get out there past the Outpost. I wasn’t expecting this,” Stone said with a grin. “I don’t think you understand my offer,” Scoth shot back. “You need something only I can offer. You have people there who can fight the mutants, and fix machines. You don’t have anyone who understands the ancient languages like I do. If you run into automated resistance, or something written in French, or Spanish, or something that requires you to understand the social context behind it, you won’t have what you need with the group you have assembled.” He put his hand on Stone’s shoulder and led him out of earshot of the others, “Besides, I’m not sure that all of these guys have your best interests at heart. You may want someone with you that you know is in your corner.” “You realize that you worked hard while we were kids while I was slacking off so that you wouldn’t have to put yourself in this position. You could die.” Scoth looked his friend in the eye, “I know the risks, and I accept them” “I know I’m going to regret this,” Stone said with resignation. “Welcome to the team. I’ll have them requisition you some gear before we leave.” Stone walked back to the men lined up. “Attention! It looks like my friend here has gone suicidal. He’s coming with us.” One of the soldiers stepped forward; Stone assumed that he was the highest-ranking soldier in this group. The man was a bear of a man, with reddish-brown hair that seemed to cover all of his exposed flesh. His face was covered in stubble, but Stone detected a cold intelligence in his blue eyes. “Permission to speak, sir,” he said in a guttural voice. Stone walked out before the assembled men, “My first standing order is that unless I specifically call for silence, you have permission to speak. What is your name?” “Blake Hargrove,” he said. “They call me Gunner.” “What’s on your mind?” Stone asked. “No offense, but your friend is a civilian. He doesn’t know how to shoot, or take cover, or fire a weapon. He’s going to be a liability and probably get himself killed and take some of us out with him. I don’t want him here.” Stone shook his head. “Soldier,” he said, “Assuming that our mission is successful, we’re going to have a pretty impressive load to haul back with us. That’s going to be a much larger pain to deal with than one guy we’re escorting. He’s coming.” “Sir, the Lord Mayor gave me the authority to countermand your orders if necessary….” Stone cut him off, “And you think you’re going to start now. The only way for a military team to function is if the chain of command remains intact. Your authority is for emergency situations only. This doesn’t qualify as an emergency.” “I don’t want to have to worry about him while we’re out there!” Gunner shot back. “Then don’t. He’s my friend, he’s my responsibility,” Stone said. “Matter closed. Now, please introduce yourselves.” The next soldier stepped forward. He was clean-shaven and he had a thin blue tattoo that ran down his right cheek. “They call me Stack,” he said. “I specialize in silent reconnaissance.” Stone remembered him from the Outpost, though he had never learned very much about the man. The next man stepped forward. Like the others, he was muscular, with curly black hair, which was shaved into a stripe, and grown long, and bound in a ponytail. “They call me Carver.” Too fast to see, he dropped his hands to his hips and launched a pair of knives at Stone’s feet. The blades stuck in the ground less than an inch of Stone’s boot. He picked them up out of the ground and handed them back to their owner. “Do you shoot a gun as well as you throw a knife?” Stone asked. Carver was another Stone recognized from his service at the Outpost, although he knew very little about him. “I’m still alive aren’t I?” he asked. “Yeah, I can kill mutants just fine.” The woman Stone noticed before stepped up. “They call me Athena. Not only will I kill muties up close, but I’m also a sharp-shooter. I’ll take them out with one bullet from half a mile away with no problem.” The final man who stepped forward was of considerably smaller build than the soldiers who had just introduced themselves. “Matt Skofield, engineer. I’ve received training as a soldier, but I have no actual experience.” “That’s alright, I didn’t ask to bring you along for your ability to shoot,” Stone said. Scoth stepped forward, facing the soldiers that he knew didn’t want him there. “My name is Scoth Abraham. Stone walked out before them again. “Alright, the Lord Mayor may have provided you with some information, but here’s the mission. We leave now and we march to the Outpost. We stay there until nightfall, then we enter the Wildlands. We take cover during the day, we march at night. We will march eighty miles, which I expect will take four days. We will avoid contact with the enemy if possible, but if it is unavoidable, we take them out with extreme prejudice. Our eventual goal is an ancient underground military outpost which, hopefully, has remained undiscovered since the final war. We should find conventional weapons there, but what we’re hoping to find there is a stash of advanced weaponry that will send the muties straight to hell, once and for all. Once we have retrieved as much as we can of value, we return it here. We’re hoping that the military vehicles remain there and can be used to bring us back.” “A treasure hunt,” said Athena. “Yep,” Stone confirmed. “And we leave now.” Stone began to march away from his house, towards the road out of town. Scoth ran and caught up to his friend. “What about gear?” “I thought better about that,” Stone said with a smile. “You mean to lead me out unprotected?” Scoth asked incredulously. “You need to get used to marching before we load you down with combat gear. I’ll get you some when we reach the Outpost.” Stone looked over his shoulder. He could see the Lord Mayor’s house on the hill. Standing on the balcony, watching them leave was a woman with long brown hair, which was unbound and blowing in the wind. “Goodbye Mali. I’ll be back for you,” he murmured to himself as he again focused his attention on the long road ahead. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Darrin Drader's Post Apocalyptic Story Hour - Updated 09/10/2005
Top