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
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Marshall Flowers' Sentimental Journey Through Post-Apocalyptica and Mutantville
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="tmart" data-source="post: 3741009" data-attributes="member: 11198"><p>December 18, 2113</p><p></p><p>You know, the first two cases we opened, I figured something like that was going to happen. This time I was sure we’d be fine. Figures.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, we headed to Athena Vault to figure out where that rocket base is. Getting past the mutants is easy now, since I can make myself and my friends invisible to them. We put Harper Rocket Base on our map (Timmy says Harper was remembered as one of the worst Canadian leaders in history) and woke up some frozen people.</p><p></p><p>Makahito Tsumura was the first to get woken up. I forget what his field was but it was unimportant enough to risk messing up the first time. Apparently he was forcibly frozen by General Miguel Sandoval. He cried when we told him what year it was. His entire family must be dead. Timmy gave him a shot of something to calm him down and we left him alone in another room for a while. “It’s all just a joke, you win… a new car!” I really feel terrible for the guy.</p><p></p><p>Next up was the economist Greg Hewlett. He was taken by force too, and just told “his skills would be needed in the future.” I guess the General had a sense of humour. At least he took it a lot better. He saw opportunity in the state of things as we described it, but he freaked out a bit when we told him he’d be in charge of organizing trade infrastructure and minting a common currency for the area. Seems economists were mostly eggheads writing books and it was all theoretical. Not anymore, buddy!</p><p></p><p>Xue Din We was the next to wake up. He was an engineer from China and ran into some trouble with ATMA. He was getting some death threats about some patents he had. We handed him the lasrifle (after removing the power pack) to see what level of tech he was familiar with. He pointed it at me and asked me if I ejected the round in the chamber. That answered our question, because it only draws power when you fire, and no round is ever chambered. Timmy shoved him in back in the cryo chamber until he smartened up.</p><p></p><p>Long story short, we woke everyone up. Some were willing, some just woke up in the future. We woke up Ferdinand Sandoval, the physicist/philosopher and brother of the General. The willing ones knew him and each other. I managed to calm everyone down about the surprise apocalypse sunrise, and Timmy promptly ruined it by blurting out, “Yeah, and if you’re still sore about it we can stick you back into stasis in case we need to rebuild civilisation again.”</p><p></p><p>December 19, 2113</p><p></p><p>We dropped by Blue Lake with the gentlemen and introduced David Sandoval to his long-lost great-uncle. I think he trusts me more now that I made good on the deal. I figure we’re even now – we killed one family member, and rescued another! So it’s a wash. What did David say to him? “You’re looking good for a hundred and twelve.” David is physically older, which is odd. Probably ahead in life experience too.</p><p></p><p>December 21, 2113</p><p></p><p>Duff and Dex cooked up some rocket propelled grenade launchers out of TNT and spare parts. Cool. Tomorrow, Melkior is sending us by helicopter to the trap – I mean rocket base – because it’s on a mountain top and totally cut off except by air.</p><p></p><p>December 22, 2113</p><p></p><p>When we approached the base there was a big red X painted on the ground, with a briefcase in the middle. There was also a big crater, some ruined buildings, and a helipad in decent shape, so we landed on it. We couldn’t see anybody. We all piled out and the helicopter took off to wait safely out of sight – it’s for transport only, no guns or rockets or tactical nuke mutant laser eye bears.</p><p></p><p>We ran into the nearest building. The lower floor was clear, but I scanned for thoughts and found a couple of guys waiting on the second floor. Duff got on Dole’s shoulders and set up them the bomb. Then Dex went upstairs, took a potshot from the stairwell before they could react. Then the C4 went off under their feet. It didn’t kill them, but they came crashing through the blowed up floor and we shot them and they died.</p><p></p><p>We figured there were more mooks but we didn’t know where. We hurried to the next nearest building for cover, and a few of them appeared in the windows and starting shooting. They weren’t great shots, though, especially after our RPGs blew holes in their walls, floors, and faces. At that point we heard a voice on a bullhorn telling us the codes in the briefcase were wired to a bomb and we had five minutes to disarm it. Dex figured it was plenty of time, seeing how we’re never had a fight last a minute. If we ever do I don’t think it’ll be good for us.</p><p></p><p>When we’ve cleared the second building and approach the last two buildings around the case, a really loud shot rang out and Dex hit the dirt. He took a bullet in the leg and managed to drag himself to cover and apply a tourniquet. I’d say he’s tougher than he looks, but then again it was probably just the nanites. Dole put the shooter on a fifty cal sniper rifle, so we introduced his piece of cover – the second floor of a building – to an RPG and an airburst frag from Moomba’s Boomstick. The yell as he crashed through to the ground floor was satisfying and we figured he was done.</p><p></p><p>Now I was far behind at this point, seeing how I’m not used to this Land Warrior suit yet. It’s got to weigh ten kilos. But in my visor I can see what Dole sees because it’s linked to his power armour. So he busts in with his sword, ready to clear the place, and the shooter isn’t even injured, just dusty and pissed. It’s the tall guy from ATMA that threatened us from their helicopter. He took out a pair of Falcons and grinned. Just then in the 360 degree vision the fat guy stepped into the room and told him, “You made us look bad.” Then he just punched Damon twice, and even through the armour it seemed to wind him. The rest of us were scattered around and it looked bad. Damon was good but he wasn’t going to last long.</p><p></p><p>We sprinted to the building. Damon held his ground and cut the fat one bad with his sword. The strength the guy has in that armour is insane. He whips around this six foot sword like it’s nothing. Joe ran in and dove behind some rubble to lay down covering fire on the shooter, who dove for cover and they each wasted a ton of bullets on each other. Dole took a punch in the helmet from the fat one that dazed him. I ran in and got between him and the big guy to make sure he got away. I tried to suggest that they were outnumbered and should surrender, but my power didn’t work and they said something that would have made my grandmother angry. For my trouble I took a bullet through the neck. It sounds bad but at the time it didn’t seem like much of a problem. Plus, I’m writing this so you know I’m not dead.</p><p></p><p>As soon as Dole got clear I dove for cover while he introduced the big guy to a light anti-tank weapon. He fought the LAW, and the LAW won. All that was left was a grease spot on the floor. Duff caught up then too, and the rest of us surrounded the skinny one and gunned him down. Timmy is making me write that he got the kill.</p><p></p><p>Pretty soon we hear a helicopter, so Duff disarms the bomb real quick and grabs the codes. Timmy saw to wounds and we radioed our chopper to pick us up on the other side of the plateau. At this point Dexter had crawled over to the helipad and he sees the chopper land. Some guys come out wearing suits, with two in power armour. All of them had proper rifles. Dexter warned us on the radio and I took cover. Duff bravely met midfield with their leader (Asian guy with a ponytail) who said he was there to pick up Reno and Rude. That they were dead seemed alright with him. Duff laughed and said, “So you weren’t here to pick them up, you were here to drop them off?” The guy, Tseng, also asked if Marshall Flowers was there. Duff stalled and the guy admitted he was from ATMA. But Tseng said, “If you see Marshall Flowers, tell him I’m not here to Hexagon Jack him.” I believed him so I came out to talk. Apparently the guy had talked to Dorn. Tseng said certain members of ATMA were shortsighted, and not everyone agreed with the direction they were taking. He gave us another wand for disabling nanobarriers and told us Dorn would have more information.</p><p></p><p>December 25, 2113</p><p></p><p>We got into Hephaestos Vault, finally. There were guns. Lots of guns. Enough to supply an army. There were more rockets, grenades, explosives, and other equipment, some military vehicles, two light armoured vehicles, two main battle tanks, and a large supply of diesel.</p><p></p><p>Dexter noticed some boxes weren’t accounted for in the inventory on the Vault computer. There was a note with them saying they were added at the last minute. We found three more lasrifles, three laser pistols, a contraption marked “plasma rifle, highly experimental,” some weird grenades, and three suits of power armour. There was one Mjolnir, like Dole already has, plus two more: a Jörmungandr, which is basically stronger and tougher; and a Valkyrie which is similar to the Mjolnir but with a jetpack that seems to work for about a minute before it needs to cool down.</p><p></p><p>Basically we ninja’d a fat loot. The only question is who wants to fight us first. Merry Christmas, ladies! I would have got gifts, but I read everyone’s mind and this is what we all wanted. It would have been nice to have Christmas this year. I know we can’t go back to the colony anytime soon, but it’s been ages since I saw my family. I wonder if they’d even see me.</p><p></p><p>December 27, 2113</p><p></p><p>We took some weapons and armour for ourselves, left the rest, and took our Jeeps back to Haven. When we got there Dorn was in a meeting with David Sandoval and Darren Joelson. Dorn said it was time for some decisions.</p><p></p><p>First, he said it seemed ATMA wasn’t necessarily all bad. The rank and file were cut off from the outside world. If we cut off the leadership, we could keep the organisation and its stuff but make them not jerks. He gave us some details on the territory in the Restricted Zone and said the ATMA base was inside the expanded Zeus Vault. Apparently Tseng was ready to make his move and could get us inside a service entrance to do a little hiring and firing.</p><p></p><p>Dorn also confirmed, as we suspected, that the mutants were created by ATMA as well as the hive mind we found in the military base. It got out of hand and we did them a favour by destroying it. However, the smart muties with guns are still out there and will be a problem soon enough.</p><p></p><p>He also suggested that Melkior could become a problem in the vacuum of ATMA’s power. He said that their base was an aircraft carrier nicknamed the Galactica, and they had two destroyers as well. Tseng could provide us with a suitcase nuke we could sneak aboard, and if we destroyed it they would be crippled. Now, it takes a huge crew to man a carrier, and probably with family aboard. Maybe Jack could kill a thousand people, including innocents, if it got the job done, but I don’t think I can do this. Besides, we don’t even know that they would cause us problems. They’ve been relatively straightforward with us up to this point and I don’t understand why we would stab them in the back like that. Dorn said they were factionalised too. But even still, if things work out with ATMA there shouldn’t be any vacuum. We can put Tseng in charge of their resources, and my condition for doing his wet work for him will be that he agree to join the Olympus Confederacy.</p><p></p><p>For added fun, someone saw smoke coming from Couver and gangs of radiants leaving the city. No idea what that’s about.</p><p></p><p>January 1, 2114</p><p></p><p>Happpy New Year!!! (inkblot)</p><p></p><p>January 18, 2114</p><p></p><p>We needed time to think about this, so we headed back to the base at Petrie Pond with implants we took from Hephaestos. Timmy got fitted for advanced power armour and managed not to kill himself. We put him in the Valkyrie. That left us with two Mjolnirs. Duff, and Joe weren’t interested. Dex and I were, but the autodoc still said we were unsuitable – him for the nanite infestation, and me for altered brain chemistry. Timmy said that things might work anyway, so Dex decided to give it a shot. Well, there was a complication with his nanites, and Timmy said his intestines got torn up pretty bad. He lived, with Timmy’s help, but he’s even weaker than he was before the nanites got to work on his cardio.</p><p></p><p>Now you might think that after that, I wouldn’t be willing to get implanted. You would be wrong. It sounds stupid after the fact, but I figured basic implants wouldn’t do anything with my brain, and I didn’t have nanites to worry about. It went fine, and now Dex and I both look freaking sweet.</p><p></p><p>So we’re up one flying medic, but our engineer is even more of a liability. Hopefully the armour will soak all his hits. And the best part is, the power armour keeps out the winter air nicely.</p><p></p><p>January 29, 2114</p><p></p><p>We were attacked on the way back to Haven by some radiants. I was going to ask Dorn what the hell, but as I’m explaining a soldier runs in and said that Mittlewerk troops were massing on the border. Dole said that this was basically a declaration of war, so we left instructions for an envoy to be sent to Couver, because we were on good terms and were waiting for them to ratify or reject inclusion in the Confederacy. So we waited to deal with what Timmy called “nonratified raiding road radiants,” and in the meantime took soldiers to Hephaestos ASAP and took all the guns, trucks, and tanks we needed to equip our entire army out of Sandoro. We quickly figured out how to pilot the tanks and rolled up to the border at South Fort.</p><p></p><p>The look on their faces was priceless. I parlayed with their general and gave him a choice: either his army joins forces with ours and we march on Mittlewerk, or we fight. He caved right away. He didn’t even have their one horse-drawn tank, and I was talking to him in power armour with four tanks behind me. </p><p></p><p>Later he told us that someone had assassinated Emperor Mittlewerk, which left his son Theodore to succeed. But Dorn’s guess was right and Marcus Flint, now a general, was staging a coup. He headed for the hills with loyal soldiers and was waging a guerrilla war against Theodore, who was losing. The troops massing at South Fort were actually neutral and just flocking around my new man, General Black.</p><p></p><p>Timmy mentioned that Napoleon did sort of the same thing when he busted out of prison. I wonder if, hundreds of years from now, people are going to talk about me as one of the great leaders of history. </p><p></p><p>So then we had about 400 troops total, and 4 tanks. The capital was defended by their one tank. It fired at us and missed. Two shots disabled it, although Dex repaired it in just a few hours. Its armour wasn’t fully repaired but he got it working again. And then there were five tanks.</p><p></p><p>Soon we got a message from Theodore asking to meet. When we found him, he addressed me as “Marshall Flowers, Conqueror of the Known World.” I answered “Unifier, not Conqueror.” He countered asking what we were doing in Mittlewerk, and I told him the army on our border was an act of war and I was only acting preemptively.</p><p></p><p>He said to me, “I have only one question. Did you send someone to kill my father?” Obviously I had Dorn send Jack to do exactly that. I figured only Dorn, Jack, Dex, Dole, and Timmy knew, so there was no way Theodore would find out. I lied and said no, and he believed me, because I can manipulate people so easily that sometimes I forget they’re real people too.</p><p></p><p>I gave him the same offer I gave our general friend. He countered and asked for Black and his troops to fight the war against General Flint. He wasn’t in a position to make a counteroffer, but he was right. It made sense to have him get bogged down in guerrilla warfare when we had ATMA to deal with. I made him agree in writing that once order was restored, the Mittlewerk Empire (redrawn to pre-Artemis Vault borders) would be a member of the Olympus Confederacy. They would not have a vote until they behaved themselves for ten years, and would have to obey any majority vote of the Olympus Council. We threw in their old tank, left him to fight, and stationed fifty men at South Fort with a LAV.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tmart, post: 3741009, member: 11198"] December 18, 2113 You know, the first two cases we opened, I figured something like that was going to happen. This time I was sure we’d be fine. Figures. Anyway, we headed to Athena Vault to figure out where that rocket base is. Getting past the mutants is easy now, since I can make myself and my friends invisible to them. We put Harper Rocket Base on our map (Timmy says Harper was remembered as one of the worst Canadian leaders in history) and woke up some frozen people. Makahito Tsumura was the first to get woken up. I forget what his field was but it was unimportant enough to risk messing up the first time. Apparently he was forcibly frozen by General Miguel Sandoval. He cried when we told him what year it was. His entire family must be dead. Timmy gave him a shot of something to calm him down and we left him alone in another room for a while. “It’s all just a joke, you win… a new car!” I really feel terrible for the guy. Next up was the economist Greg Hewlett. He was taken by force too, and just told “his skills would be needed in the future.” I guess the General had a sense of humour. At least he took it a lot better. He saw opportunity in the state of things as we described it, but he freaked out a bit when we told him he’d be in charge of organizing trade infrastructure and minting a common currency for the area. Seems economists were mostly eggheads writing books and it was all theoretical. Not anymore, buddy! Xue Din We was the next to wake up. He was an engineer from China and ran into some trouble with ATMA. He was getting some death threats about some patents he had. We handed him the lasrifle (after removing the power pack) to see what level of tech he was familiar with. He pointed it at me and asked me if I ejected the round in the chamber. That answered our question, because it only draws power when you fire, and no round is ever chambered. Timmy shoved him in back in the cryo chamber until he smartened up. Long story short, we woke everyone up. Some were willing, some just woke up in the future. We woke up Ferdinand Sandoval, the physicist/philosopher and brother of the General. The willing ones knew him and each other. I managed to calm everyone down about the surprise apocalypse sunrise, and Timmy promptly ruined it by blurting out, “Yeah, and if you’re still sore about it we can stick you back into stasis in case we need to rebuild civilisation again.” December 19, 2113 We dropped by Blue Lake with the gentlemen and introduced David Sandoval to his long-lost great-uncle. I think he trusts me more now that I made good on the deal. I figure we’re even now – we killed one family member, and rescued another! So it’s a wash. What did David say to him? “You’re looking good for a hundred and twelve.” David is physically older, which is odd. Probably ahead in life experience too. December 21, 2113 Duff and Dex cooked up some rocket propelled grenade launchers out of TNT and spare parts. Cool. Tomorrow, Melkior is sending us by helicopter to the trap – I mean rocket base – because it’s on a mountain top and totally cut off except by air. December 22, 2113 When we approached the base there was a big red X painted on the ground, with a briefcase in the middle. There was also a big crater, some ruined buildings, and a helipad in decent shape, so we landed on it. We couldn’t see anybody. We all piled out and the helicopter took off to wait safely out of sight – it’s for transport only, no guns or rockets or tactical nuke mutant laser eye bears. We ran into the nearest building. The lower floor was clear, but I scanned for thoughts and found a couple of guys waiting on the second floor. Duff got on Dole’s shoulders and set up them the bomb. Then Dex went upstairs, took a potshot from the stairwell before they could react. Then the C4 went off under their feet. It didn’t kill them, but they came crashing through the blowed up floor and we shot them and they died. We figured there were more mooks but we didn’t know where. We hurried to the next nearest building for cover, and a few of them appeared in the windows and starting shooting. They weren’t great shots, though, especially after our RPGs blew holes in their walls, floors, and faces. At that point we heard a voice on a bullhorn telling us the codes in the briefcase were wired to a bomb and we had five minutes to disarm it. Dex figured it was plenty of time, seeing how we’re never had a fight last a minute. If we ever do I don’t think it’ll be good for us. When we’ve cleared the second building and approach the last two buildings around the case, a really loud shot rang out and Dex hit the dirt. He took a bullet in the leg and managed to drag himself to cover and apply a tourniquet. I’d say he’s tougher than he looks, but then again it was probably just the nanites. Dole put the shooter on a fifty cal sniper rifle, so we introduced his piece of cover – the second floor of a building – to an RPG and an airburst frag from Moomba’s Boomstick. The yell as he crashed through to the ground floor was satisfying and we figured he was done. Now I was far behind at this point, seeing how I’m not used to this Land Warrior suit yet. It’s got to weigh ten kilos. But in my visor I can see what Dole sees because it’s linked to his power armour. So he busts in with his sword, ready to clear the place, and the shooter isn’t even injured, just dusty and pissed. It’s the tall guy from ATMA that threatened us from their helicopter. He took out a pair of Falcons and grinned. Just then in the 360 degree vision the fat guy stepped into the room and told him, “You made us look bad.” Then he just punched Damon twice, and even through the armour it seemed to wind him. The rest of us were scattered around and it looked bad. Damon was good but he wasn’t going to last long. We sprinted to the building. Damon held his ground and cut the fat one bad with his sword. The strength the guy has in that armour is insane. He whips around this six foot sword like it’s nothing. Joe ran in and dove behind some rubble to lay down covering fire on the shooter, who dove for cover and they each wasted a ton of bullets on each other. Dole took a punch in the helmet from the fat one that dazed him. I ran in and got between him and the big guy to make sure he got away. I tried to suggest that they were outnumbered and should surrender, but my power didn’t work and they said something that would have made my grandmother angry. For my trouble I took a bullet through the neck. It sounds bad but at the time it didn’t seem like much of a problem. Plus, I’m writing this so you know I’m not dead. As soon as Dole got clear I dove for cover while he introduced the big guy to a light anti-tank weapon. He fought the LAW, and the LAW won. All that was left was a grease spot on the floor. Duff caught up then too, and the rest of us surrounded the skinny one and gunned him down. Timmy is making me write that he got the kill. Pretty soon we hear a helicopter, so Duff disarms the bomb real quick and grabs the codes. Timmy saw to wounds and we radioed our chopper to pick us up on the other side of the plateau. At this point Dexter had crawled over to the helipad and he sees the chopper land. Some guys come out wearing suits, with two in power armour. All of them had proper rifles. Dexter warned us on the radio and I took cover. Duff bravely met midfield with their leader (Asian guy with a ponytail) who said he was there to pick up Reno and Rude. That they were dead seemed alright with him. Duff laughed and said, “So you weren’t here to pick them up, you were here to drop them off?” The guy, Tseng, also asked if Marshall Flowers was there. Duff stalled and the guy admitted he was from ATMA. But Tseng said, “If you see Marshall Flowers, tell him I’m not here to Hexagon Jack him.” I believed him so I came out to talk. Apparently the guy had talked to Dorn. Tseng said certain members of ATMA were shortsighted, and not everyone agreed with the direction they were taking. He gave us another wand for disabling nanobarriers and told us Dorn would have more information. December 25, 2113 We got into Hephaestos Vault, finally. There were guns. Lots of guns. Enough to supply an army. There were more rockets, grenades, explosives, and other equipment, some military vehicles, two light armoured vehicles, two main battle tanks, and a large supply of diesel. Dexter noticed some boxes weren’t accounted for in the inventory on the Vault computer. There was a note with them saying they were added at the last minute. We found three more lasrifles, three laser pistols, a contraption marked “plasma rifle, highly experimental,” some weird grenades, and three suits of power armour. There was one Mjolnir, like Dole already has, plus two more: a Jörmungandr, which is basically stronger and tougher; and a Valkyrie which is similar to the Mjolnir but with a jetpack that seems to work for about a minute before it needs to cool down. Basically we ninja’d a fat loot. The only question is who wants to fight us first. Merry Christmas, ladies! I would have got gifts, but I read everyone’s mind and this is what we all wanted. It would have been nice to have Christmas this year. I know we can’t go back to the colony anytime soon, but it’s been ages since I saw my family. I wonder if they’d even see me. December 27, 2113 We took some weapons and armour for ourselves, left the rest, and took our Jeeps back to Haven. When we got there Dorn was in a meeting with David Sandoval and Darren Joelson. Dorn said it was time for some decisions. First, he said it seemed ATMA wasn’t necessarily all bad. The rank and file were cut off from the outside world. If we cut off the leadership, we could keep the organisation and its stuff but make them not jerks. He gave us some details on the territory in the Restricted Zone and said the ATMA base was inside the expanded Zeus Vault. Apparently Tseng was ready to make his move and could get us inside a service entrance to do a little hiring and firing. Dorn also confirmed, as we suspected, that the mutants were created by ATMA as well as the hive mind we found in the military base. It got out of hand and we did them a favour by destroying it. However, the smart muties with guns are still out there and will be a problem soon enough. He also suggested that Melkior could become a problem in the vacuum of ATMA’s power. He said that their base was an aircraft carrier nicknamed the Galactica, and they had two destroyers as well. Tseng could provide us with a suitcase nuke we could sneak aboard, and if we destroyed it they would be crippled. Now, it takes a huge crew to man a carrier, and probably with family aboard. Maybe Jack could kill a thousand people, including innocents, if it got the job done, but I don’t think I can do this. Besides, we don’t even know that they would cause us problems. They’ve been relatively straightforward with us up to this point and I don’t understand why we would stab them in the back like that. Dorn said they were factionalised too. But even still, if things work out with ATMA there shouldn’t be any vacuum. We can put Tseng in charge of their resources, and my condition for doing his wet work for him will be that he agree to join the Olympus Confederacy. For added fun, someone saw smoke coming from Couver and gangs of radiants leaving the city. No idea what that’s about. January 1, 2114 Happpy New Year!!! (inkblot) January 18, 2114 We needed time to think about this, so we headed back to the base at Petrie Pond with implants we took from Hephaestos. Timmy got fitted for advanced power armour and managed not to kill himself. We put him in the Valkyrie. That left us with two Mjolnirs. Duff, and Joe weren’t interested. Dex and I were, but the autodoc still said we were unsuitable – him for the nanite infestation, and me for altered brain chemistry. Timmy said that things might work anyway, so Dex decided to give it a shot. Well, there was a complication with his nanites, and Timmy said his intestines got torn up pretty bad. He lived, with Timmy’s help, but he’s even weaker than he was before the nanites got to work on his cardio. Now you might think that after that, I wouldn’t be willing to get implanted. You would be wrong. It sounds stupid after the fact, but I figured basic implants wouldn’t do anything with my brain, and I didn’t have nanites to worry about. It went fine, and now Dex and I both look freaking sweet. So we’re up one flying medic, but our engineer is even more of a liability. Hopefully the armour will soak all his hits. And the best part is, the power armour keeps out the winter air nicely. January 29, 2114 We were attacked on the way back to Haven by some radiants. I was going to ask Dorn what the hell, but as I’m explaining a soldier runs in and said that Mittlewerk troops were massing on the border. Dole said that this was basically a declaration of war, so we left instructions for an envoy to be sent to Couver, because we were on good terms and were waiting for them to ratify or reject inclusion in the Confederacy. So we waited to deal with what Timmy called “nonratified raiding road radiants,” and in the meantime took soldiers to Hephaestos ASAP and took all the guns, trucks, and tanks we needed to equip our entire army out of Sandoro. We quickly figured out how to pilot the tanks and rolled up to the border at South Fort. The look on their faces was priceless. I parlayed with their general and gave him a choice: either his army joins forces with ours and we march on Mittlewerk, or we fight. He caved right away. He didn’t even have their one horse-drawn tank, and I was talking to him in power armour with four tanks behind me. Later he told us that someone had assassinated Emperor Mittlewerk, which left his son Theodore to succeed. But Dorn’s guess was right and Marcus Flint, now a general, was staging a coup. He headed for the hills with loyal soldiers and was waging a guerrilla war against Theodore, who was losing. The troops massing at South Fort were actually neutral and just flocking around my new man, General Black. Timmy mentioned that Napoleon did sort of the same thing when he busted out of prison. I wonder if, hundreds of years from now, people are going to talk about me as one of the great leaders of history. So then we had about 400 troops total, and 4 tanks. The capital was defended by their one tank. It fired at us and missed. Two shots disabled it, although Dex repaired it in just a few hours. Its armour wasn’t fully repaired but he got it working again. And then there were five tanks. Soon we got a message from Theodore asking to meet. When we found him, he addressed me as “Marshall Flowers, Conqueror of the Known World.” I answered “Unifier, not Conqueror.” He countered asking what we were doing in Mittlewerk, and I told him the army on our border was an act of war and I was only acting preemptively. He said to me, “I have only one question. Did you send someone to kill my father?” Obviously I had Dorn send Jack to do exactly that. I figured only Dorn, Jack, Dex, Dole, and Timmy knew, so there was no way Theodore would find out. I lied and said no, and he believed me, because I can manipulate people so easily that sometimes I forget they’re real people too. I gave him the same offer I gave our general friend. He countered and asked for Black and his troops to fight the war against General Flint. He wasn’t in a position to make a counteroffer, but he was right. It made sense to have him get bogged down in guerrilla warfare when we had ATMA to deal with. I made him agree in writing that once order was restored, the Mittlewerk Empire (redrawn to pre-Artemis Vault borders) would be a member of the Olympus Confederacy. They would not have a vote until they behaved themselves for ten years, and would have to obey any majority vote of the Olympus Council. We threw in their old tank, left him to fight, and stationed fifty men at South Fort with a LAV. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Marshall Flowers' Sentimental Journey Through Post-Apocalyptica and Mutantville
Top