Marshall Flowers' Sentimental Journey Through Post-Apocalyptica and Mutantville

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From “Travels in the Pacific Northwest”, the autobiography of Dorn
Edmunssen, Chapter 12

written by the intrepid GM

“The first major expedition undertaken by the newly installed Chancellor
Flowers was to the old military research base far to the north of Haven.
While I did not participate in the venture, I did have a chance to speak
with most of the survivors.

The mutant problem had been growing steadily worse for several years, though
it was at first easily managed. Most mutants were essentially mindless,
displaying only instinctual behavior. Furthermore their unique physiology
confined them to irradiated zones; if they left those areas they began to
slowly decay into nothing. It should be mentioned that the strain of
mutants from the northern research base was a far different breed from those
originating elsewhere. For example, the mutants from Old Vancouver are
“mostly human” where as the research base mutants are “mostly monster”.

In any regard, as the years passed the mutants began to act in a more
strategic and intelligent manner. At the same time, new and more deadly
strains of mutants began to appear. While individually the mutants were no
more intelligent than before, there actions as a whole seemed to be guided
somehow. What ultimately forced actions from the southern states was the
mutants spreading radioactive waste southwards, gradually increasing their
territory while spreading terror and death through the farm families of the
region.

Chancellor Flowers and his friends set off to destroy this threat. They
traveled far into the irradiated badlands, eventually arriving at the
research base. They found it infested with mutants and employed a strategy
of stealth. Eventually they found themselves cornered by an enormous
psychic presence and forced to retreat into a pre-Drop missile defense
system control center created by the ATMA Corporation. While this shelter
protected them from the presence and the growing horde of mutants, they were
under siege and could not last forever.

It was then a strange quirk of fate gave the expedition a chance to survive.
At the break of dawn all the mutants just wandered away and the presence
was similarly diminished. Emerging from the confines of the control center,
the group found a crate of C-4 lying by the base of the center. Pausing
only to grab the C-4, the expedition hurried forward into the base.

Inside, the area appeared to have been hastily evacuated, with a large
amount of valuable equipment left lying around. Unfortunately, they were in
too much of a hurry to collect any of it and had no means of transporting it
in any case. Eventually, the bottom most lab in the research facility was
reached and within it lay a monster.

The psychic presence returned immediately when this lab was breached and
seemed to emanate from a massive writhing pile of flesh and organs.
Chancellor Flowers was able to see that it was likely the “hive mind” or
source of the intelligence of the mutants. A battle ensued as a pair of
extremely large and powerful mutants emerged to defend the mass. Dexter
Kablowski set the C-4 and the group evacuated through an emergency exit
tunnel just in time to avoid the explosion.

On their way back through the badlands the expedition observed the mutants
moving listlessly. As they returned to the colony the general consensus was
that the threat was over and hopefully life would return to normal. Of
course, they didn’t know the true nature of the mutation or what threats it
would cause in the future…”

 

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Day 213

We went to Haven to check on the city. Things are still uneasy with Mittlewerk, but that will just take time. Also the mutant attacks are way down since we blew up the giant blobby guy at the military base. I’m really glad we took care of that. It’s good for the colony, Haven, and civilization in general.

Dorn said he bought another briefcase at Trade City. It has an owl on it. I don’t remember my ancient myth but I’m guessing that’s either Athena or Hephaestos. After some cajoling the vendor at Trade City told me he got it from Benjamin Saunders, a wandering hermit. I checked around the city and found out where his cabin was.

As soon as we approached the cabin he fired a warning shot into the air. He wasn’t exactly friendly, but I calmed him down and got him to agree to talk to us. I had to eject the magazine from my rifle and stick it in my pack, though. Eventually he opened up and we learned all kinds of stuff and updated our maps. He showed us where he found the briefcase, which happens to be near some ancient city the elders mentioned lately. But the waterfall has blown up the road through the mountains, so we can’t pass in the Jeep. He mentioned he rode the train across the mountains. That should be fun. It goes right by Haven, so we’ll try to jump on there.

Day 217

The train ride was ridiculous. I have no idea how fast it was going, but it was just ridiculous. We had to wait until it stopped, which was way past the south bend. It pulled into some kind of warehouse. Very high-tech. The train cars had no openings at all, and Dex said they were made of some fancy polymer he’d never seen. Then huge metal arms came out of the walls and removed the train cars. We poked around and found some control panels and a computer. We booted it up and saw a window pop up:

Admin01: What are you doing in our system?
Guest: Looking for the help file.
Admin01: There is no such file. What are you doing here?
Guest: Just looking around. What’s up with this place?
Admin01: I would advise you not to travel on the train in future. It is 
dangerous. I will open the main doors. Please leave. You have five minutes.

I grabbed the keyboard and got him to agree to answer questions before the five minutes were up. He wouldn’t say who or where he was, but he said it was a Gor-Tech chemical processing plant. We’ve seen that sign before, around the tower with the red walls that eat things. Then Dexter insisted on being a wimp and apologising and thanking them for not blowing us up, blah blah. I said:

Guest: So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Admin01: lol

Unfortunately now we’re a couple hundred miles south of where we want to be, with no vehicle. I would say that’s the last time I trust a smelly hobo, but I’d probably do it again. That was pretty cool.

 

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Day 220

We hiked north from the warehouse and found a road. Timmy heard some bikes approaching from the south so we hid in the trees. Looked like a biker gang. We followed them to a shady post-Drop settlement built around a highway interchange. They’re camped on a working gas station, too. We snuck in after they were mostly passed out drunk, thinking to steal a couple of bikes to move back north faster, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Course, when we camped that night up the road we get attacked by one biker. We took no injuries and got a hog and a six-shooter out of the deal. If we just had another bike, we’d be set.

Day 222

We passed through an old, broken wall blocking the road. The signs said it was the border between the old United States and Canada. (How they ever ran such enormous countries is beyond me, but I guess maybe that's why they're not around anymore.) We followed the road to an old metropolis. Based on our map this is the city Benjamin told us about, and based on the ocean to the west, Dexter figured it must be the ruins of Vancouver. It hadn't been nuked as far as we could tell, but the Geiger counter showed some background radiation.

We managed to salvage a bit of gasoline, about twelve litres. We went looking to scav old computer parts for precious metals and possibly another vehicle. Before too long a group confronted us and recommended we move on. They said they’d like to see us out. I tried to sweet-talk them. I tried to use my powers on one of them, but I felt this kind of echo and a feeling of nausea. I managed to fight it off, but one of these days I’m afraid I won’t and I don’t know what will happen.

I asked about the Athena key but they played dumb. I could tell they weren’t telling me something. One of them said that the elders around here wouldn’t take kindly to anyone looking for that kind of thing. I couldn’t get much more out of him.

Eventually they got us talking to this Rorschach guy who wears a mask. The radiation has caused a lot of birth defects around here. He deals with outsiders because he’s not so badly off, which isn’t saying much considering the Vader getup. Anyway, he speaks for the elders and we arranged some trade between Haven and these guys. We also traded our hog and revolver for a couple of dirt bikes with gas.

 

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Day 224

We scouted around Petrie Pond where Benjamin claimed to have found the suitcase. I’m sure there was more to it than that, but he wasn’t talking. Eventually we found a cave entrance leading from the mouth of the crater and went inside. After a few minutes of walking Timmy heard something again, and this monster comes up behind us, blocking the exit. It was this ten foot reptile thing with giant claws. It shot a couple times, but the bullets just bounced off its body. It hurt Timmy and Dole pretty badly with those claws. We blew every grenade we had, and Dexter blew a four-pack of C4 under it, and it still wouldn’t die. Eventually Dexter got a lucky shot into its eye with the Gizmo and it turned to run. Timmy fired the last shot into the back of its neck, and it finally died. I hope we don’t meet any more of those anytime soon. We need to find some grenades.

After we killed the thing we heard someone starting to open the door off the hall. We started joking around about killing whatever came through the door and he stopped. I guess he heard us. We backed off and went to check the blast doors at the end of the hall when the door started opening again, so we sent Timmy to check it out. The door opened and a man was behind it. His name’s Joe Steel, which sounds like the kind of name you give yourself. Anyway, it was kind of an awkward meeting but he seems like an alright guy. He packs dual pistols and wears a leather jacket… he’s got this vigilante thing going on and describes himself as “a wanderer.” He also said “I am good.” He’s an awkward one.

We fiddled around in the side room and eventually Dexter managed to unlock the blast doors, but there was no power, so we had to push them open ourselves. It was really hard. Once we got inside we had a lot more doors to open, and no manual access either. I called it the Gates of More Doors. But we found a backup gas generator and kept it going long enough to open most of the doors, although we burned most of our fuel. Dex fired up the computer in the control room and found a map. The place is a nuclear reactor. Also, the map showed rooms marked “power armour lab” and “secure chamber.” Those ones are code-locked and we don’t have the code.

We found some notes written on the back of some old Sudoku sheets. Or as I like to call it, Sudorku, cause it’s for dorks. And the best part is the guy filled them in wrong! There’s the same number twice in some of the rows. Goof. The notes talked about how the coolant system is broken. We figure it was where the crater is now. Not having coolant for a nuclear reactor is bad, I’m told. But it said it was safe to run at low power if the ventilation system were fixed… but it’s not safe to go in the ventilation room. There’s some kind of noxious fumes or something.

It wasn’t until later that we went back to the Sudoku. There were nine wrong numbers. The code locked doors take nine digits. Not a coincidence. So we’re in the power armour lab. Armour’s gone. Inevitable. But, there were implants there which let you wear power armour. There was an automatic doctor robot there too. Damon jumped in the chair and the screen read, “basic or advanced.” He hit advanced yelling “advanced! advanced! advanced!” It sedated him and starting working. Time left? THREE WEEKS. Maybe he should have let Timmy read the help file first. At least this room is shielded from the radiation outside. There’s running water in here, and we have enough food with us to last.

Then Dexter thought it would be a good idea to fall into a coma at the reactor controls. Timmy went to check on him but couldn’t wake him. Even better, there was a red light on the console. Red is bad. I tried making psychic contact with him. It was hard but I made his mind focus on the console, and he didn’t seem to object to the red light. Then I passed out. When I came to, Timmy was explaining that the rash Dex had at the colony a few months ago is back in spades. Did I mention we still haven’t fixed the ventilation system? And no one else is good with machines.

Oh, and while I was out, a giant (I mean giant) snake tried to crawl into the base while Dexter was comatose, I was passed out, and Damon was sedated, but Timmy and the new guy managed to close the blast doors on it to kill it. That would have been a disaster.

What a frickin’ day.

Day 225

Well, we’ve had a lot of time to look around, and we found some powerful stims in the medical facility and got Dexter back in action. He doesn’t look good at all, though, and the rash is worse. We also found some radiation suits which let Dex work on the ventilation without breathing whatever that was. We’ll be alright for now.

We also found a metal disc with an owl on it. Apparently’s it the key for the Athena vault. Now we just need to figure out where it is.

P.S. For now we’ve decided to have this Joe Steel guy tag along. He seems like an alright type. We just have to be a little careful about talking about the colony. That, and now we need another bike, or at least a sidecar or something. I’d love to see Dexter jury-rig a sidecar to a little dirt bike! He hasn’t been asking too many questions about the owl CD or our goals out here, but eventually we may have to come clean or go our separate ways.

Day 230

I wonder if Damon actually realized there is no power armour here.

Day 238

Dexter’s heart stopped today. Timmy was at the shock paddles in the medical facility for half an hour before he came back. This is not good.

Day 242

This is really getting boring. We’re not even going outside what with the mutant monsters. But we’ve all become masters of “Minesweeper,” this old computer game in the command centre. Only a few more days now. Gosh I hope Dole’s okay.

Day 245

Dole woke up today and thought he had only been out for an hour. He lost a lot of weight on the liquid diet the machine had him on.

Timmy had a bright idea to put each of us through the autodoc’s diagnosis. Timmy and Joe were good for implants, although there aren’t any advanced implants left. It told me I was unsuitable because of my altered brain chemistry. Cool. I have altered brain chemistry. Dexter, however, seems to have a nanite infestation. He went pale(r) when it said that. He says they’re like microscopic robots, and they’ve infested his body. Timmy says there’s nothing he can do. I hope he’ll be okay.

We powered down the reactor, took the bio suits and the owl CD, and closed the blast doors. In the three freaking weeks we were stuck in that place we started figuring it’s short for New Vancouver, the old one being irradiated. Speaking of which, Timmy had the bright idea to cook up some anti-radiation meds when we get some free time. I can’t imagine why he didn’t think of this WHILE WE WERE SITTING ON OUR HANDS FOR THREE WEEKS but then again I’m not Doctor Fancy Pants.

 

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Day 247

We made it up the cliff to Newver. We gave aliases and tried to be inconspicuous, but with our gear it’s hard not to stand out. After I asked around about Vault locations the mayor, Darren, asked to see me. It turns out he’s a super nice guy, and has the same goal of rebuilding civilization just like I do.

He told me their chief trade good was ethanol which they make from crops grown around the city. But they don’t have the weapons to patrol the farmlands, so they’ve been having to abandon some of the farms to bandits. As a result they’ve been taking in a lot of refugees, hundreds of them. But to feed them they had to produce less ethanol, which means even less to trade for weapons, so the problems just keep getting worse. He proposed to trade me the location of the Vault for trade relations with Haven, since we have scav rifles to trade by the boatload. I’d take the trade straight up because we could really use fuel. But to trade we’d need a road, so we’re taking a volunteer group of refugees to repair the road across the cliffs.

Day 248

Dinner tonight was awkward. It was a big political event to annouce the trade deal. I got the feeling that some in the city weren’t pleased with the situation. This woman Candace Beaumont, some snob landowner, talked me up to get a feel for where I stand and wasn’t pleased. She could be a problem.

I also spoke with two representatives from the refugee camp. One of them, an old woman named Mair, was very pleasant. I proposed to her that she ask for volunteers to repair the road, which would let them go back to their farms. She thought it was brilliant and promised a hundred workers within a few days. The other representative, Dole (no relation to the Mule), had some crazy conspiracy theory about Beaumont rounding up the refugees and killing them. He wanted to arm the refugees. This man is crazy.

After the dinner I made my big speech about rebuilding civilization and how this deal would help both our cities and especially the refugees. It went pretty well.

Day 255

We’re back in Haven now to get construction equipment for the road repair and to pick up the Athena case. On the road back, we saw a sign “You are now entering Blue Lake.” It turns out that the Sandovals, who run Blue Lake, are trying to expand and probably take over Trade City, which would be a disaster. Worse, I spoke with Dorn and he said Mittlewerk has the exact same idea. They’d be trying to annex it peacefully like they tried to annex Haven back in the day. Yet worse, the territory they’re both trying to annex happens to be home to … our goddamn colony. I wonder if it’s time for the colony to come out of the closet. I consider that a worst case scenario, if we can’t take the land ourselves. If we lose it to either Blue Lake or Mittlewerk, the colony can stand up and claim it, I guess. Considering they were there first, they’d get the land by default.

I had this great idea, which was to go to Trade City and warn them about the impending takeover and get the people to defend their city through force. It worked for Golandt in Haven. Hopefully we can then ally with Trade City.

We talked it over with Haven Council and the guys had some other ideas. Dexter suggested making a deal to supply Trade City with ethanol now that we’re trading for it. Dorn said the Sandovals bought a large amount of weapons from Trade City. It looks like they’re arming. I wonder if it’s because I’m in charge here. They probably think we’re insane, after what Hexagon Jack did to them. Speaking of which, after the Council meeting Jack said he’d go off on his own and try to assassinate the Sandovals under the radar. He hasn’t been seen with us for a long time now, and we’ll be somewhere else if it happens, so we have plausible deniability and they can’t go to war over it.

On the other hand, I’ve been wondering about the Sandovals. We never did figure out what their deal was, and we parted at least peacefully when we ran into them in Blue Lake before the military base deal. Maybe we can work something out. Maybe they have the same goal Darren and I do. But would they believe me if I told them? Jack did some pretty awful things to their family when he was with us. I don’t know if I could convince them that we never wanted those things to happen. It’s not as if anyone would believe me when I tell them that I’ve been given a sacred mission by God, Mother Earth, or whoever it is giving me my powers.

Day 278

We drove the electric Jeep back to the mountain road and met up with the refugee work force. Damon set the Jeep up on the cliff, with the turret overlooking the road in case of an attack. He also got the workers to fill burlap sacks with sand, and sandbagged some fortifications in key spots. He’s pretty smart about that kind of thing. I was worried about Beaumont doing something crazy, but it turns out Dole the Lesser’s conspiracy theory was wrong.

The only person who did show up was Benjamin Saunders, the hobo who told us about Petrie Pond. He was furious. He said he came here to be away from people because he hated people, and if we fixed the road it would mean people. Normally I try to be nice to people, but I could tell I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. So I basically threatened his life, and used one of my powers, the one that scares people and sends the little mutants running. I feel bad whenever I use it on humans. I feel like Jack would approve, and that’s never a good sign. Moomba loves it, though. That scares me too. Every time I see Moomba I remember Jack slitting Adam's throat, and I feel responsible. I am responsible.

Anyway, when I did that Benjamin looked terrified. He right away reached into his jacket and I saw some TNT on him. I managed to dive behind a row of sandbags as he exploded. The guy was so crazy, he was willing to kill himself over this. I think he meant to blow up the road and our construction equipment, but I just scared him into blowing up where it didn’t damage anything. He must have got the TNT at Petrie Pond, in the false bottom of the locker that was empty.

So the road is all set now, and we’ve put up a toll booth to be leased to Newver. It should pay for defending the pass as well as the trade shipments going both ways.

Day 279

Okay, we’re idiots. We found the Vault Darren told us about. It’s the wrong damn Vault. This is the Hephaestos Vault, with weapons. Our keys are for the Athena Vault, which must be on the other side of the mountains. We nearly found it – we passed right by it! – when we were first scouting around after we left the colony. Hell, Dorn even knew exactly where it was, but he assumed we knew and we never asked! I guess this is a reminder that I'm still human, despite my "altered brain chemistry." And Athena's right in the middle of Sandoval territory. I wonder if we can work something out with them.

To do:

• try to disown Jack and make friends with the Sandovals
• talk to Trade City about their offers and dangle ethanol in front of them
• send someone to scout around Athena Vault to see what force is guarding it if any
• talk to the colony elders about the possibility of going public
• get Dorn to write reports for the Council on the military strength of both Blue Lake and Mittlewerk

 

[Fimmtiu]

Unfortunately now we’re a couple hundred miles south of where we want to be, with no vehicle. I would say that’s the last time I trust a smelly hobo, but I’d probably do it again. That was pretty cool.

Sheer genius. Love the Fallout-esque setting. This is good stuff -- keep it up!

 

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Day 288

So when Jack showed up back in Newver he brought a friend with him named Duff McLeod, who’s from across the mountains to the east. He’s some combination of cowboy and chemical engineer. He’s really smart but on the extreme far end of smart where it wraps back around to insanity. He keeps going on about this thing called “xyclos” or something but I have no idea what that means. But Dexter took a shine to him, and even though Jack is leaving Dex wants Duff to stick around with the group. He’s pretty useful. I just hope I don’t wake up with “xyclos” carved into my arms.

So the Council says the area north of our border is becoming known as the “rad wastes.” We figure the mutants are moving in and spreading radiation. We might have to nuke another brain like in the military base. Also I had them send an envoy to Couver to set up trade in electronics and precious metals with the birth defect folks.

Dex is looking a lot better recently. He’s in better shape after long hikes too. He theorizes the nanites are actually helping his health, which is great because he was always such a softie. Now we need a new excuse to leave him behind as a hostage.

We left him and Duff to fix up the bikes to run on ethanol, and then get started on any jeeps or trucks they can get their hands on so we can start patrolling further. Timmy Thane is cooking up some anti-rad meds for us in the meanwhile. Joe Steel, since nobody knows who he is, was sent to scout Athena Vault and see if the Sandovals had any guards there. So Dole and me took a few soldiers and drove to Trade City to talk. I spoke with Chairmen Anders and Delfino. We hammered out some commitments:

• We protect Trade City from military action by Blue Lake and Mittlewerk in exchange for preferential trade rates
• Trade City lets us know about any military purchases by BL/MW
• We give them a better rate on ethanol in exchange for exclusive access to Vault cases/keys

Eventually they insisted on exclusive rights to trading ethanol and weapons, acting as a middleman between Haven and Newver. I’m not fond of the idea, but in exchange they agreed to join our republic. If they join then we can do pretty well whatever we like, but I get a bad feeling about it. It’s strange because it’s our best case scenario. I told them I liked their proposal but had to ratify it with the Haven Council.

Day 289

So we drove up to Athena Vault to meet Joe. He had just barely got to the Vault. He spent all of his time in Blue Lake for some reason… spilling our secrets to David Sandoval.

COVER YOUR EYES DUMB

He told him about the repaired pass across the mountains. Sandoval didn’t even know anyone had been over there. I talked to him about it and it seemed like he wasn’t quite that stupid, it’s just he was stuck talking to Sandoval and is pretty useless dealing with people whereas Sandoval is pretty crafty. So now they know about Newver and the pass. I guess it’s okay… it wasn’t going to be a secret for long, and people using the pass are going to pay for guards for our trade shipments. We still yelled at Joe a lot though. “You did WHAT?” It was pretty funny.

Anyway, he at least had scouted the Vault and let us know about some mutants. They seemed idle and without a purpose, like the others since we blew up the brain. We just rolled the jeep to within about thirty metres, and then unloaded while driving away faster than they could keep up. I took the first shot and pegged one of the big ones in the eye with Moomba’s Boomstick. Deaded. The muties are pretty dumb so it was really easy. Timmy Thane was on the machine gun, and he was practically flapping in the wind with the recoil.

In the Vault control room there were two other muties, and smart ones. They were a bit less mutated. They had the same claws and muscles but not as melty looking. They actually used tactics, which makes me worry. The worst part was one was using a shotgun. As soon as Timmy saw the one with the shottie he yelled “It’s like the Flood!” They took cover in the room and didn’t run stupidly after the jeep like the others did. My fright power worked on them normally like on humans. I felt some kind of broadcast in my mind too. I’m worried about what that might mean. One of them managed to get up on the jeep as we made a drive-by pass. I got in its mind and suggested the jeep wasn’t a safe place to be, and it should probably think about getting off. It seemed to work but I felt a wave of feedback, like an instinctive defense, and I was knocked out. The guys finished it off but they said the other one got away.

But we got the Vault open! We took a quick look at the swag before calling it a night:

• Writing supplies
• A huge library
• A computer lab
• Fusion reactor to power the place
• A cryo lab with seven pods, one malfunctioned. Five of the remaining six have vital signs. We’ve got a robotics guy, an engineer, an economist, a biochemist… and a physicist named Ferdinand Sandoval.

 

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Day 290

• Hades Vault is far north
• Poseidon Vault is far west and underwater
• Zeus Vault is 130 kilometres southeast, which puts it past that random red-sucky-goo-wall but (we hope) north of the Restricted Zone

We raided the computer lab, which apparently just has electronic versions of the paper archive here, for anything we could think of. The “hey read me you idiots” file didn’t say much. These Vaults were constructed pre-Drop as part of the Olympus Initiative to help rebuild society after the Drop. Dexter raided old news headlines to figure out how the war started. Timmy thought it would be “Pokemon Pokemon Pokemon,” but Dex said that China, a big country overseas, had a civil war, which caused a shortage in manufactured goods worldwide. Russia invaded them for unknown reasons and the two countries used nukes on each other. Then some other countries on the same continent got drawn in. He said Japan was totally destroyed, which made Timmy Thane sad because now he’ll never know how his manga series ended. Around the same time disease broke out in some South American countries which were newly rich due to gas deposits being discovered. The European Union then raised allegations that the United States was behind the disease. The record ends there, which probably means that the Vault was completed at that time. The date of the last news article is April 17, 2031. The Vault clock says today is September 20, 2113.

We got some more on Ferdinand Sandoval too. He was a philosopher as well as a physicist. He was in charge of the Olympus Initiative along with his brother Miguel, who is the General that the present-day Sandovals said was their ancestor. That would make Ferdinand their great-uncle. He specialised in infantry weaponry R&D. Miguel was in charge of research programs in the west.

The library had nothing on the weird red walls. We’ve seen references to a “Gor-Tech” company around here, so we looked that up. They’re a non-military research firm specialising in climate and bioengineering. They’re also a subsidiary of ATMA Corporation… we saw that name in the military base where the brain was. We wanted to find out more from the library but there was so much stuff in it, we didn’t even know where to start. Hopefully we can come back here from time to time when we think of something else to look up.

September 22, 2113

When we left the Vault we saw about 300 mutants blocking the road. Their ranks opened and three of the smart ones came forward. One had a shotgun, one had an assault rifle and the third had a stick with a white flag attached to it. They were about a klick away, so Timmy, Dole, and I met them in the middle. The dude with the stick recognised us, so he must be the one that got away earlier. He told the others that we were the ones who killed “The Core,” which must mean the brain guy. He said that because we did them that favour, they would let us go if we gave them the key and case to the Vault.

Did I give the mutants free will?

I told them we were disinclined to acquiesce to their request. They said “We outnumber you.” Timmy Thane blurted out “We out-awesome you!” which is probably true. I had to think for a second, but I told them we’d destroy the key and case if they didn’t let us go, and stared the guy down real good. He didn’t believe me, but the one with the shotgun said they couldn’t take the risk. I told them that was our ultimatum, and we went back to our jeep.

Now the key only serves to open the case, and the case only has sheets of code pairs. The Vault prompts you with a code and you type in its pair. They probably don’t know this, so inside the jeep we take the codes and give them to the Mule. McLeod then stuffs the case full of C4 and rigs it to blow if opened. So Dex gets up in the jeep and holds a gun to the key, which is just a disc. So we drive down the road slowly toward the mutants blocking it. The smart ones don’t say nothing, and the dumb ones don’t move. We get to within a few feet and Joe just keeps going. They part at the last second to let us through. It was intense.

To make sure we weren’t followed, we kept driving into the night. The guys dropped me and my brother from another mother, Dole Mule, off outside Blue Lake to talk with David Sandoval. He woke up to talk with us. I told him I was sorry for what happened to Adam, which I am. I told him I have nightmares about it to this day, which I do. I told him we parted ways with Hexagon Jack because he’s crazy and violent. I told him that when we stole the case from them, we didn’t know what we were doing, and since then we decided we would try to rebuild civilisation. And I told him we wanted to put the past behind us and work together to do that. I started to tear up when I was talking about Adam, so he believed me and agreed that it would be best. But he had me agree that the authorities would have to be on the lookout for Jack to bring him to justice. I felt bad agreeing to that because he’s one of us, but he does need to be held responsible for what he did. Timmy said it’s not his fault. He’s a sociopath, he said. He doesn’t understand right and wrong like we do. Then again, they probably won’t be able to catch him. He’s too resourceful.

He suggested getting all the local towns together under one authority – Newver, Blue Lake, Trade City, Sandoro, and Haven. Maybe we could add Couver and even the colony, depending on what the elders say. It’s a great idea. I also told him about the Vault and showed him the printout about Ferdinand. He was surprised. I also told him about the 300 mutants and how there were smart ones now. That scared him. If they all attacked at once, he said, they wouldn’t be able to defend the city. Hopefully the rivers will keep them away. There’s not much to be done about them at the moment except to get Haven trading weapons to Blue Lake.

We called it a night and hammered out some details the next morning. I’m so glad we decided to do this. I feel like I’ve atoned in a way for what happened to Adam. I haven’t seen him in my nightmares since.

September 29, 2113

Dexter and Dole went to the colony to talk to the elders. Dole did a really great job of selling them the idea of going public and joining the new alliance. They didn’t commit on the spot but they warmed nicely to the idea. Apart from that they said that the elders nagged them about coming home more often. Elder Mitchell, the eldest of us (73 I think) is in poor health and gave Dex an envelope to open when he dies. They have tons of medical supplies from the stockpile we raided in Sandoro but the doctor said it’s just his time. I think they might be making him an elder. He is pretty smart.

While they were there they also requisitioned another jeep and converted it to electric like our other one. They tricked both of them right out. They added body armour, an engine upgrade, off-road suspension and wheels for the wrecked roads. And the second one now has a heavy machine gun on it. Fifty cal. This thing is sick.

While they were over there Timmy’s voice lowered. He sounds like a man now. Plus he isn’t so pale anymore. I don’t know if puberty comes in your 20s for Thane men, or if radiation exposure unblocked a blood clot or something, or if testing out the machine gun made him churn out more testosterone, but it’s strange, like we don’t have to talk down to him anymore.

It’ll still be a while until we can have our first provisional meeting of the alliance, so we decided to check out the airfield we heard is south of Blue Lake (the lake not the city) and maybe Couver to scav parts for Dex and talk to them about joining.

To do:
• Unify currency for all the towns
• Talk to Couver about joining
• Worry a lot about Mittlewerk, ask Dorn if they might consider joining (not likely)
• Find a cool name for the alliance. Confederacy?
• Think about a capital
• Find cool nicknames for the different kinds of mutants

September 30, 2113

For the first time I think we may be in over our heads.

We headed out toward the airfield, and just past the crater at the crossroads, we heard an incoming helicopter. I’ve seen one helicopter in my life, and after it landed, Drago the would-be bandit king was shot dead with some kind of laser gun and then the guys from the chopper took the fusion reactor from the medical stockpile underneath Sandoro. Not wanting to be the guys who get shot first and asked questions later, we took off into the trees with our two off-road armoured supercharged jeeps from hell. Choppers are fast though, so they caught up. Damon was driving our jeep and he managed to hit a rock. While he was backing up ropes dropped in among the trees and two guys in black wearing shades zipped down to the ground. They were the same guys from Sandoro.

They took the opportunity to quickly threaten us to stop what we were doing or we’d be killed. Since they weren’t firing we stuck around for a bit to talk, but Joe and the other jeep were still taking off. It’s probably best to split up in this situation anyway. I stalled for time while my mind-reading power set to work. I felt six in the chopper and then those two. I couldn’t read the big guy but the skinny one was easy. His surface thoughts told me they had orders to stop us from forming our alliance. They told us to just find a farm somewhere and just… farm. I told them even if we stop, the gears are in motion and the cities will work together. They just repeated themselves again. I told them the mutants were threatening us and we had to band together to defend ourselves. They said the mutants weren’t a threat. I couldn’t really believe that considering the 300 outside Blue Lake, but then they said the mutants were “under control.” I used my power of suggestion on the skinny one and said “Look, if we’re going to abandon our project to restore civilisation to our home you’re really going to have to explain to us who we’re dealing with and why we should stop.” He answered “Listen to me, you ignorant savages, the ATMA Corp –” and then he stopped, said a very bad word, and reached for his gun.

Dole floored it and took a couple pot shots at the helicopter. I took shots with Moomba’s Boomstick and Dexter unloaded with the machine gun while a laser beam flew right over his shoulder. We actually managed to damage the chopper enough that it turned and took off south from whence it came. It was smoking and we probably nearly downed it. We would have kept chasing but I spotted one leaning out the side with a rocket launcher of some kind, so we just held back and kept taking pot shots. It got away, but we think it was a pretty big win for us. The thing had two machine guns firing at us but we only took one hit to the jeep, and Dex said he can fix it right up.

I’ve thought a lot since then and based on the guy’s surface thoughts and the word choice “under control” I’m beginning to think that ATMA might be behind the mutants. After all, the Core / Brain thing was located deep inside the ATMA military base. I’m also suspicious of Dorn. He has a gun that looks just like a revolver but is actually some kind of plasma or laser weapon. I’d like to ask him where he got it when I see him next, and I’m going to be using my powers on him.

September 30, 2113, continued

Joe said while he was taking off in the Jeep somebody fiddled with the radio and they heard this broadcast:

….Attention, please, attention. The United States government is returning order to the pacific northwest. All loyal citizens will be protected. Lawless brigands and those possessing illegal mutations will be held accountable to the full extent of the law. Resistance will be met with force. United states citizens in need of immediate assistance are advised to report to the US Army outpost north east of Seattle along Route 2, just off the I5.

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous night
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ rad glare, the nukes bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the pure and the home of the brave?….

….Attention, please, attention….

 

[tmart]

October 7, 2113

Well we continued to the airfield. We scav’d some parts to fix the Jeep, and found a working airplane. McLeod said it would be ridiculously hard to find airplane fuel for it, so we left it for now and just took an electronic part to keep it from working. Also in the radio tower we saw a distress message sent by a plane about 80 years ago. Dex figured out where it must have crashed and we went to take a look. Unfortunately it had recently been found by someone else. The weird thing was some skeletons around it – Timmy said they were like bears, but nastier. He found tracks heading off toward Blue Lake. We had to go by there anyway so I stopped in to talk with David Sandoval.

I asked him what his boys got from the crash site and he said some weapons, supplies, some kind of armour… I got the feeling he was holding something back, and asked him to share what he knew in the newfound spirit of cooperation we had agreed on. He brought up the whole Moomba debacle. I said “I thought that was behind us. I’m going to go sulk now. See you at the meeting” and left. But when I was on the other side of his door I scanned his mind and he did find power armour, like I suspected. So I poked my head back inside the door and asked him flat out about the armour he found. He seemed surprised that I suspected it, so I said “What, did you think I read your mind or something? Moomba be sensin’ some power armour!” If he only knew… anyway, I traded him the airplane for the armour, and I said I’d throw in the airstrip if he’d stop being mean. It’s a great deal considering we probably couldn’t even use the airplane, and are liable to being shot down by ATMA crazies anyway.

So we got Dole in the armour. It’s really good armour. It’s crazy heavy but it increases his strength too. Timmy won't stop addressing him as Master Chief. He can also see 360 degrees. I’m lending him Moomba’s Boomstick, which ties into his heads-up display and can do crazy things like track targets and see around corners through the scope.

Dex and Joe snuck around some mutants to get back into Athena to look up ATMA, helicopter specs, and about the United States. They searched for the song Joe heard on the radio, and it was the anthem for the old States. But he said it was off a little bit – it used to be the land of the free, not the land of the pure. I guess they took some liberties with the song after the Drop, but I’m told they were pretty good at taking liberties before it too.

October 12, 2113

Somebody remembered that we have a SAM truck at the colony that we should bring to the meeting in case another ATMA chopper shows up. For now the colony has lent us a hand-held missile launcher. Between the machine guns on the Jeep and this baby, they’re toast if they come at us again.

Dorn came back from Mittlewerk. He said they’re stockpiling food and weapons, which is not exactly out of the ordinary for them. The Emperor Johann is very aggressive. Dorn said his son Theodore would be more likely to consolidate their territory than try to expand, but added that Marcus Flint, the military goon we dealt with earlier, would be likely to make a coup if Johann died.

I also took the liberty of reading his mind while I asked him about ATMA. He said they were normally secretive, and doing what they did was very unusual. He told me he had run into them before, but Moomba said he used to work for them. He said they’re very high tech, and aim to control everything they can. They seem to be based in the Restricted Zone. He said they were working on a monitoring system in the past, and if they had it working now it would explain how they found us. I asked him some personal questions as well, and it seems he likes the idea of rebuilding civilisation, but is mostly just satisfied with the living he makes in Haven.

October 20, 2113

I talked to Macross, an ambassador from Couver. I got him to agree to come to the meeting at least, but I’m not too optimistic. They’re interested in trade but not much else – they’re pretty isolationist. I would be too if I looked funny. Something weird happened, though. I tried to use my powers on him, just to soften him up and make him listen to me, but it wouldn’t work no matter how many times I tried. And after I kept trying, my mind felt something. I fought it off and nothing happened, but I’m afraid he may have powers too. Maybe he’s been given a gift, like I have. Maybe he’ll have a role in the struggles to come. One thing’s for sure, though – I won’t be using Moomba on him from now on.

October 27, 2113

We were just heading to Blue Lake to make arrangements for the meeting with David, when Timmy spotted Rorschach on a motorcycle headed toward us.

 

[tmart]

October 27, 2113, continued

Rorschach had heard that we had asked around about keys and suitcases. He said he knew of a couple that would be better off not in the hands of certain guys in Couver. He offered to help us get the Hephaestos and Poseidon keys, splitting the goods down the middle. I pumped him for info because it made me really nervous. He said the Couverites are becoming irrational. “They’ve become a cult,” he said. They call themselves the Disciples of Evolution. We’re calling them Devo for short. They think they’re supposed to help the cause of… evolution. They appear to be doing it by looking funny. Timmy got all excited and said “They’re like the Brotherhood of Mutants! And you’re the X-Men!” Rorschach didn’t get it. Nobody ever does.

Anyway, we were really suspicious of why he’d want all those weapons. He said he didn’t even want the weapons, that we could have Hephaestos and he’d take the Poseidon key. He said he was just getting paid to do it. I got him to tell us he was selling it to the Melkior Alliance, some group based offshore, supposedly with no hostile intentions. Moomba said he actually works for them. I’m afraid it might be a front for ATMA, but it doesn’t sound like it. We agreed to each take a key, but he’d have to help us find the Hephaestos briefcase.

To go incognito we’re taking the bikes instead of the jeeps. To carry everybody we traded the wolf pelts and some gold for a sidecar in Trade City, and Dex is using it as a guide to hack together another one. Duff can ride in the hack job… I don’t trust it.

October 29, 2113

So we went to the colony before we left to stash some stuff we didn’t want tying us down, mainly Dole’s power armour (which is not very sneaky). It was just Dole, Timmy, Dex, and me. When we got to the entrance there were more guards than normal. Lt. Fillion Braymore told us to stop so our equipment could be inspected. I figure Dex takes pretty good care of it, but he said it was by order of the Council. Moomba got him to make us an exception. I scanned some thoughts and someone was thinking the rule made sense given the incident.

I kept scanning as we made our way in. I was getting a really bad feeling. A couple people thought “oh, it’s them, the ones making trouble with the outsiders.” Some houses were burnt down, too.

When we got to see the Council there were only three of the five elders there. Mitchell, the scientist who gave us our orders, and Marie, the quartermaster who released ammo and gear to us, were missing. The Council asked for a report. I asked what happened to the other elders. They demanded my report. Looks like Claire is in charge now, and she was very confrontational for no apparent reason. I told them that we were continuing to arrange our big meeting, and we went to Couver to talk about attending. Claire refused to say anything else and told us to leave.

When we left the Council we were stopped by a dozen militia who demanded our weapons. I tried to talk and Moomba them out of it but it wasn’t working. I thought they might even shoot us if we refused. Dex opened a letter and read it, but I didn’t know what it was. I barged back into the Council and demanded to know what was going on, which was pretty reasonable considering all I’ve done for the colony in the past year. She practically yelled that Mitchell and Marie were executed for treason. She said they conspired to build a Drop bomb, and she also thought we were in on it. I argued for a while that we had hardly anything to do with him. We just came back once in a while to get bullets and orders. Dexter then pulled out this letter again that was from Mitchell, saying he maintained a laboratory in the unsafe mine that no one else knew about, and if he came to an “untimely demise” then Dex would have to take care of it. Apparently the fire occurred when the elders were arrested. Someone overturned a lamp and it started a fire. Anyway, based on the letter and my badgering I argued them down to house arrest with our weapons. We’re stuck in here now… at least Dole makes a mean gumbo.

I scanned some folks on the street and someone was thinking about what happened. I think some kid snuck into the unsafe mine and found the lab, then told the militia and they found the nuke.

October 31, 2113

I asked a guard to let us speak with Hugo. He was the only elder who seemed in his right mind. He came by and I asked if we would have a trial. He said there would be some sort of tribunal. Dexter asked about the nuke, and wowed him with some technical mumbo jumbo about disarming it. It was a good idea, so Hugo took him into the mine. I don’t know exactly what happened down there, but it turns out it’s not a damn nuke, it’s nuclear reactor which powers the lab. Dex said it’s probably the real power source for the whole damn colony, because there’s not that much gas left in the world to run our generators! But he mouthed off to Hugo. No more speaking to Hugo for him. His Hugo privileges are revoked. I mentioned that since there is no “Drop bomb,” the charges against us are invalid and have to be dropped. He said nothing and walked away.

Dexter asked me to include this in my journal: “gg guys. gg.” It’s hard to believe that these crazies murdered two elders for no reason. They didn’t even bother to find out what it was… then again, Mitchell would be the only one who saw the place who might even know the difference.

Happy Hallowe’en! No kids came to the door, though. The guard won’t let us talk with anyone. They wouldn’t want to give us a chance to tell our side of the story. No, the plebs only get to hear Claire’s propaganda.

November 2, 2113

We finally got to go to the tribunal. They made us leave our weapons for real this time, though. The Council immediately dropped the charges of conspiring to make a bomb. But they added charges for knowing of Mitchell’s wrongdoing (whatever that may have been?) and for endangering the health of the colony. They asked what our defense was. I told them our defense was that they had no case at all, and if this were a real trial instead of a kangaroo court they couldn’t even have charged us because they have no evidence. As for knowing about Mitchell, Dexter’s note proves that we didn’t, seeing how it was sealed and only opened in front of Samuels, the semi-competent militia leader and elder. Endangering the health of the colony was a joke too. We only ever followed orders. Apparently ATMA finding us was our fault. But ATMA doesn’t even know about the colony! Claire tried to argue that we made them look bad in the eyes of Blue Lake… but that’s marginal at best and I don’t even see how this is a crime to begin with. Then again they seem to be making it up as they go along in this witch hunt. And Sandoval doesn’t even know about the colony yet!

November 6, 2113

So the next day some militia came by and told us we had been found not guilty of knowing about Mitchell’s lab, but guilty of endangering the colony. They locked us up in a cell to wait for the sentence. The next night Hugo came by, nodded to the guard, and the guard unlocked our cell and left us alone.

Hugo said that he thought we were innocent. He also said there were a lot of good people in the colony that were just scared. He said he obviously couldn’t let us go, and that it was a shame that we had no way to get into the armoury to get our gear. As he turned to leave he dropped a key on the floor.

Needless to say we went out the back way (this place wasn’t meant to be a prison) and snuck through the halls to get to the armoury. Feeling a bit resentful, we not only took back our stuff but jacked a fat loot. We took all the explosives, a ton of ammo, some parts, grabbed an M16 for Duff and Dex and I traded mine for a sniper rifle. We also took a heavy machine gun to upgrade the second jeep. We didn’t take anything that they had ever had a use for, and any bandits or mutants that came around would be easily dealt with considering all the stuff they do have. They can outfit a small army here. And that night they kinda did.

Dex wanted to check out Mitchell’s lab pretty badly to see what had to be a secret. The two guards at the exit of the complex were asleep, and I think they may have been drugged by Hugo. That or they passed out drunk. Anyway, we snuck around the outside to the mine and there were two guards there. We snuck up on them and surrounded them, pointing assault rifles and Dole with the M2HB. I told them to put down their weapons and they wouldn’t get hurt. Moomba also suggested they not tell anyone they let us in. Then we just tied them up in the closet. Dex didn’t have much time to look around but he found some really high-tech gadgetry that Mitchell had been tinkering with. He said he could make something awesome out of them, but I don’t know what.

So we sent Dole to get his power armour which was still in his house, which took some major sneakery. He said only one person saw him, and it was a little girl, and it was while he was in his armour, and she just fainted.

Meanwhile the rest of us went to the vehicle depot. There were two guards again. We waited for Dole and did the same drill as before… these aren’t hardened soldiers, just regular folk, so they’re not going to say no to a big suit of power armour wielding a heavy machine gun. So we loaded up all our loot in our jeeps. Since there were four of us, we each drove one vehicle and also took our SAM truck (for the meeting in case of ATMA) and a military truck for Haven. We also took all the spark plugs from the other vehicles to buy us time in case of pursuit. We came out with a pretty big haul.

The irony of it all is that we came here to stash our gear.

I split off to go to Blue Lake and talk to Sandoval and tell him about the colony in case he heard bad stories about me. About Mitchell and Marie he said he wasn’t surprised that someone from our colony killed someone for no reason. Apparently he still holds a grudge about Adam. I can’t say I blame him. Then again, I still hold a grudge against Jack too.

November 12, 2113

With all that insanity behind us we got to Couver. We stashed our bikes in the trees and snuck into the sewers. In a while Rorschach led us to a door with a keypad. Dex hacked it good. The inside wasn’t a sewer but a proper hallway, and recently built. We ducked into a side room to hide from a patrol and although it was pitch black, Dole used his night vision scope to check it out. He saw some half-built machines but didn’t get much. After the patrol went by we found a bigger bunker door, also with a keypad. Dexter hacked it open with his wizardry and there were some fellas inside with assault rifles. One of them asked for identification. I said I had our identification right here… and pulled out my new Heckler and Koch PSG-1. We tried to intimidate them again but they seemed like fanatics or something. I also got a little bit of feedback on my powers, so I decided to lay off while we were there. The firefight was really fast and we didn’t take any injuries. Dole even charged a guy with his huge sword and just chopped his head off in one slice.

I only wounded people again. It’s easier when the others kill them. I still won’t be sleeping for a while, though.