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Post by torenatkinson on Aug 23, 2014 0:57:42 GMT -8
Hey folks, this is not exactly a Mutant Epoch action report, but since I spent so much time posting my Mall of Doom reports here I thought some of you might appreciate the new campaign I have started using my Mutilator rules (links below) which are based on the Spaceship Zero roleplaying game. www.thickets.net/toren/games/mutilator-survivors-of-the-wasteland-gamma-worldzero/www.facebook.com/groups/135429211616/greenroninstore.com/products/spaceship-zero-the-roleplaying-game-printHope you enjoy.... PROLOGUE: IT IS THE FUTURE. Against a backdrop of climate change, “peak oil” and a declining population, the technological and financial power of the United States began to wane in the 2000’s. Turkey expanded its sphere of influence into the arab nations, and eventually allied with empowered military nation of Japan to create the Torkeno-Nihon Kumiai or TNK. By 2049, the TNK has an impressive military presence in space. On American Thanksgiving day, the Western military, financial and corporate infrastructure of the US are crippled by the so-called “Wild Turkey” computer virus. Although the TNK takes no official responsibility for the attack, the US declares war. You are a citizen of the Union of the Americas, including the US, Canada, and parts of Latin America. You are also a genetically engineered UA astronaut and soldier, complete with cybernetic enhancements. Your team has been assembled by Commander Linus Cobalt, and your pilot, Lt. Guadalupe Ramirez, has brought your shuttle from North Bay Air Force Base in Ontario to the military space platform SS Terry Fox, where you await your mission briefing. |
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Post by torenatkinson on Aug 23, 2014 0:58:56 GMT -8
SESSION 1: VIRTUALLY STUNNING
Psychic trooper Tina "Oregon" Trail, stealth trooper Genly Ai, computer specialist Cartwright "Keys" Jones, flame trooper Much Johnnson, grenadier K-Mar, and edged weapons specialist Blademaster are all assigned to Indigo Company, one of two special mission teams sent to retrieve a living tech officer from a TNK space battle station. They approach the station in a combat shuttle along with a number of starfighter escorts, which engage the enemy ships that are guarding the TNK battle station. The shuttle veers off and the UA troopers deploy from the battle shuttle in their space suits. Using all their zero gravity training and a lot of luck, they propel themselves to land on the surface of the station, but not before an enemy craft turns towards them. The ship is destroyed by one of the UA starfighters, which leaves a no less deadly cloud of debris heading towards the soldiers as they try to hack into an airlock. Finally they enter the airlock and close the door behind them.
Inside the airlock Cartwright silences the sensor indicators in hopes that whoever might be monitoring them in the control room will be ignorant what's going on. They open the airlock to the corridor that is the outer ring of the station. Genly destroys a security camera with her cybernetic graphene whip, but hears the telltale sound of soldiers coming down the hall towards the group. She stays cloaked with her stealth suit as the TKN soldiers approach. One of them comes quite close to her as he inspects the damaged security camera, but he does not see her. Then K-Mar shouts a warning to his compatriots that he is firing a flash/bang grenade into the enemy's midst. All of them are blinded and deafened and the team strides in to clean them up. They tell the commander of the TKN team to radio their superiors that the reason for disruption is a power failure. Then they blow the enemy soldiers out into space via the airlock.
The group opens the door to the lift that leads to the hub of the space station, and find the lift is at the top of the shaft. "Keys" disables the lift controls, then they start climbing up the shaft. Now back in microgravity, Blademaster uses her vibroblade to cut through the emergency hatch in the bottom of the lift car to gain access to the hub level. They pile into the lift car and K-Mar and Much manually open the lift gate. As soon as they do Tina throws a flash bang grenade out into the room, blinding and deafening the two soldiers waiting for them. Unfortunately there is also a quadrupedal battle robot which does not succumb to the effects of the grenade and starts firing electric bolts at them. The team starts throwing blades and grenades and finally they incapacitate the robot.
When Much climbs up the ladder to the next level, he sees a tech officer wearing a gas mask drop a nerve gas cannister down towards the UA soldiers. Fortunately Much is in his enclosed battle suit and simply grabs the nerve gas canister and uses it as brass knuckles when he punches the gas mask right off the face of the enemy. Unfortunately, Much failed to recognize that this individual is the tech officer that they were supposed to recover alive, and he is currently dying from nerve gas poisoning.
Before they can do anything, the entire room becomes pixelated, fades out, is replaced by a blinding white light. The soldiers see blurry figures against the brightness and soon recognize that they are being pulled out of virtual reality simulator pods by what seem to be men dressed in rags. The soldiers have no feeling in their body and they are not sure how long they have been in the simulator pods, and are even confused as to who they are and how much of the simulation was based on reality.
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Post by torenatkinson on Aug 23, 2014 1:01:33 GMT -8
SESSION 2: THE DREGS OF HUMANITY With completely numb muscles and an inability to speak and in some cases see, the heroes are dragged out of their simulator pods. The raggedy men with terrible skin also collect a bunch of equipment from the room (the room is partially caved in) and drag everything out into the hallway where one of the creatures (who later are referred to as 'dregs') named Bilforr discusses with his superior Argo Bargo whether or not they can eat the player characters. Argo Bargo decides to have Bilforr take the heroes and the salvaged equipment to someone named Mindok, who Argo Bargo expects will trade them for babies. Bilforr packs the heroes and the crates full of equipment into the back of a school bus and they begin their long, noisy and bumpy journey. The player characters realize at this point that they have been in the virtual simulator pods for years - possibly decades or longer, and have gone through the mission simulation hundreds if not thousands of times. The pods kept them alive but they lost a lot of muscle mass and their brains were also adversely affected (hello new phobias!). Now the area around the NORAD compound where they were stationed--the underground military facility built to withstand a nuclear attack-- has been turned into a wasteland. Welcome to Ontario after World War 3. After about an hour of travel, some of the heroes begin to have feeling restored in their bodies, but it is the feeling of body-wide, intensely painful "pins and needles" which lasts about an hour long. Tina cries out and is thrown into a crate to keep her quiet. The heroes are also suffering from radiation sickness. When the pins and needles wears off of Tina the bus stops. A discussion can be overheard of one of the Dregs trying to convince Bilforr to let them eat one of the humans and not telling Argo Bargo. Bilforr agrees and that is when Tina pops out of the crate with a fire extinguisher and momentarily blinding the two dregs. The rest of the heroes try to push past the effects of the 'hybernation sickness' - to varying degrees of success - and a rather sloppy melee breaks out in the bus. After Tina's bowels are exploded from a crossbow shot to the abdomen, the driver starts the bus up and continues driving. Meanwhile Much and Tina are both being grappled by dregs while Blademaster is herself stabbed to death by Bilforr himself. After K-Mar is knocked out and Much surrenders, the humans are put back into crates and Blademaster is eaten by the dregs. The rest of the humans wake up in what passes for a medical tent and are having their wounds tended to by a lady who introduces herself as Zildjian. She explains that she is a servant of the all-powerful Emperor Mindok and that they are slaves who will begin working for Mindok as soon as their wounds are tended to. Tina must remain in the tent overnight for major surgery. She also explains that the other group of humans (Team Indigo) was taken away to someone named Townmaster Bitcoin, who lives near the Temple in the middle of town. A short man comes in to the tent and introduces himself as their pit boss - Hungry Jack. He explains that they will be working on Mindok's great War Machine and leads them out of the tent. He provides each character with a bowl. They see a great open pit mine that is partially flooded. In the water is a pile of burned out cars that Hungry Jack calls "cartown."Also in sight is a number of guard towers with snipers, and guards walking the perimeter with dogs. At the center of the activity is a gigantic mobile (treaded) mining machine. On top of the excavator is an enormous metal sculpture of Mindok constructed of scrap metal. The group also notices that among the human slaves working on the machine are what looks to be mutated humans as well as mutated anthropomorphic animals (namely chickens and rabbits). Additionally, there is an occasional robed figure observing the operation--these are "Templers." Hungry Jack recites the rules of the pit: 1. Obey your pit boss 2. Don't lose your bowl 3. No talking 4. If you try to escape you will be fed to the dogs. 5. Your work is done when the pit boss tells you. 6. Workers sleep in Cartown. 7. In the event of a radiation storm, acid rain or madness fog, return to Cartown. 8. Attendance is taken every morning by your pit boss. If you are not in line by the second horn, dogs will find you in Cartown and eat you. 9. Do not talk to Templers unless they talk to you first. 10. Pretending to be sick is punished. 11. Snitching is rewarded. 12. Lying is punished! 13. Punishment for breaking rules or failure to meet quota is at the discretion of your pit boss. Hungry Jack also explains that Mindok is creating the war machine so he can destroy the morglodytes (whatever those are). The heroes are then put to work for the rest of the day. As the sun starts to set, a horn goes off. Hungry Jack tells one of the workers in the group to go get the group's food. He brings back a big pot of bug soup. While they're waiting in line, a heavily scarred human tells Much to trade bowls with him. Much refuses. The human, named Frank, infers a future threat but leaves. While this conversation goes down, K-Mar notices a sly figure at the edge of the scene studying the newcomers, then flits away. Anyone who eats the bug soup gets a dose of radiation. After the meal, the workers are sent off to car town via rafts and cables. As the heroes settle in, Frank returns with a gang of clones and a menacing look in his eye. Mindok:  |
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Post by torenatkinson on Aug 27, 2014 23:17:13 GMT -8
SESSION 3: THE ARENA OF DEATH
Much, K-Mar and Genly are scoping for places to sleep in car town, when Frank and 5 of his clones - Skank, Spank, Tank, Shank and Clank - start coming out of the woodwork and bearing down on the heroes with a miscellany of improvised weapons. Frank calls out "looks like yous guys needs to be taught a lesson!" A rather tall young Japanese woman runs to assist the good guys, throws a rock at one of the clones and knocks him into the drink. In an instant the clones are defeated, with Frank himself having his humerus shattered by Genly's whip.
The woman, who introduces herself as Hello Kitty, tells the group she has a van that they can sleep in. They bring the unconscious body of Frank back with them and when he regains consciousness he grovels for mercy, and impresses on him that he now owes them 'a favour.'
After a night's sleep, Hello Kitty explains in her stilted English that Mindok can control peoples minds. She tells the soldiers to pretend to work hard during the work day. Before the work horn sounds the group scavenges around car island for something to eat. Hello Kitty uncovers a rodent of unusual size which lunges at her and bites her. The others descend upon the giant mutant rat and kill it. They divvy up portions of raw rat and begin their work day.
The clone gang is working alongside the heroes but they are not very productive with their various injuries. After a few hours some soldiers come and take Frank away.
Genly notices that at least one Union of the Americas military crate full of armaments and supplies - the very ones that the dregs brought from the UA military base in North Bay - are being loaded on to Mindok's war machine. When she goes to tell the rest of the group what she saw, an anthropomorphic goat enters the pit and calls out to the workers,
"Attention wastoids! Mindok the Great and Supreme Leader has graciously decreed that there will be death games in the Arena tonight! The following list of workers will be taking part in the games"
(he then lists a bunch of names off, which includes Frank)
"These workers did not meet the production expectations of Mindok and will be sacrificed in the games. Those workers who work hard and please their pit boss will be allowed to watch the games. SO WORK HARD!!!"
Hello Kitty approaches their pit boss Hungry Jack and gives him cigarettes and a handful of teeth so that she and her new friends will be let out to watch the games, and Hungry Jack agrees. When the work day finishes, the chosen slaves are brought out of the work area and led several blocks away to an old ice skating arena.
There is no skating but once everyone is seated in the bleachers, the doomed slaves armed with pointed sticks are brought into the rink to fight eachother to death. During the fight, a dreg sits beside Hello Kitty and checks in with her. Hello Kitty tells him that she found these warriors in the slave zone and they can help the Free Army.
The dreg introduces himself as Falgar. He explains firstly that he used to live in the Forbidden Zone with the rest of the dregs but was ousted because he was too intelligent. He came to live in Suds Bree and is part of an underground resistance (the Free Army) which hopes to get rid of Mindok by any means necessary. He explains:
If Mindok gets in your head you are forever his unquestioning thrall.
Commander Linus Cobalt and the rest of team Indigo have become Mindok's thralls and now Mindok knows everything they know.
The dregs are immune to radiation and to psionics
Mindok is fighting a war with the morglodytes (who live to the east in the ruins of Salty Mary) and wants to exterminate them because they are also immune to mental powers. Also they are very good builders of machinery.
Mindok is batshit crazy and super evil.
The Free Army will help the heroes escape slavery if they will in turn help the Free Army.
Falgar takes notes of the stuff the heroes say and advises them to keep their heads down and return to work as normal while he checks in with his boss, the leader of the resistance. He gives Hello Kitty some more cigarettes to replace the ones she gave to Hungry Jack.
While Falgar slips away, the heroes watch the rest of the death games, and see Frank torn to pieces by a two-headed, 6-legged hairless mutant bear. Then the games are over and the slaves are brought back to car town.
Before hitting the proverbial sack, the soldiers try to scrounge up some supplies from the rusting hulks all around them. They scavenge a quantity of flammable sludge from the gas tanks around them and create fire. Then they tuck themselves in for the night.
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Post by providence13 on Aug 29, 2014 20:49:46 GMT -8
Oh, yeah! Mindok.. That was the episode with the fire whales. Crazy even for Thundarr.  |
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Post by torenatkinson on Sept 17, 2014 22:34:35 GMT -8
SESSION FOUR: ESCAPE!
During the night the heroes hear and see one of the Mindok Forces' ultralite-balloon craft shooting at some dark winged thing that flies overhead. But the creature flies off and they go back to sleep.
In the morning, they are put back to work. Cartwright "Keys" Jones is put to work oiling the wheels of the war machine and tries to sneak inside. The guard stop him but he tells them that Hungry Jack has ordered him to work inside. One of the guards goes to check with Hungry Jack and once he's gone Keys tries to grab the gun of the other, and a struggle ensues.
Tina and Much see the struggle happen and try to make a distraction to help Keys. They pretend to fight one-another and Hungry Jack starts to whip them. When the guard arrives he points his gun at the slaves. Much tells the guard that Hungry Jack is in the Free Army resistance and Tina tackles the guard. Then Much grabs his gun and shoots Hungry Jack, wounding him. Then snipers in the guard towers start opening fire on the two, mutilating Tina in the hip, and they quit their shenanigans.
Meanwhile Genly uses her holographic projector to try and distract Goatface and another guard that is entering the area from another direction. One of them falls for it but Goatface sees them hiding and demands them to surrender. The guard on the war machine knocks Keys out with the butt of his rifle and Tina, Keys and Much all end up confined to a storage locker.
About a half hour later, Goatface, another templer, some Mindok guards and none other than Commander Linus Cobalt and two other of the ultraviolet team of UA super-solders (Lt. Smith and Lt. Beltrane) arrive on the scene. They gather up our the team indigo soldiers and Cobalt lets them know that they have a new mission. Phase one of the mission is to have the heroes meet with Mindok, and they all file into a van to make the trip to Science North, a science museum where Mindok resides. Not long into the ride, however, the escort car is blown up by a rocket. The driver of the van fails to maintain control of the vehicle and it rolls over.
All hell breaks loose as Falgar and the Free Army resistance fighters bear down on the broken van. Mindok forces and our heroes struggle for their weapons and escape the vehicle, while Falgar calls out to the heroes to climb aboard his vehicle. Once his other teammates are out of the van, Keys uses a shotgun to blast the fuel pack of one of the templers, causing a tremendous fireball inside the van. Nevertheless, Lt. Beltrane throws a grenade out into the pack of Free Army fighters, blowing hundreds of pieces of shrapnel into the back of Tina "Oregon" Trail, knocking her off the getaway car and killing her.
While the remaining templers and team ultraviolet are dealing with resistance fighters, Faldar and the heroes make their escape into the ruins of Sudbury.
SESSION 5: WELCOME TO THE FREE ARMY
Our wasteland warriors drive through the streets, with Albert Camus the smelly humanoid dog driving the vehicle. One of Mindok's balloon-ultralight hybrids ties to keep the vehicle in sight but Camus loses them in the ruins of Sudbury. Once that happens, Camus parks in a garage and the crew climbs down a hole in the basement of the building into the sewer system beneath town to evade the prying eyes of Mindok's forces.
Falgar and Camus warn the soldiers from the past about the mutant eels that dwell in the stagnant water in the sewers. Nevertheless, while climbing up a wall, Much falls into the mire and is soon attacked by the eels which begin to coat him in a slime that inhibits his movement. Trying to save him, Hello Kitty, K-Mar and "Keys" all fall into the drink. Eventually they pull themselves out without being eaten by the eels but they all absorbed some radiation from the contaminated underground river.
Finally they reach the temporary headquarters of the Free Army, where they are given medical attention and anti-radiation medicine. They meet with Elder Berry, and old man who makes Much terrifically nervous because of the soldier's geriatrophobia. Elder Berry brings Keys and Genly into a private room which has a small white boy behind a curtain and a "stenographer" woman. While Elder Berry interrogates the two soldiers, it becomes clear that the woman, whose name is Anacin, is actually in charge. The mutant boy is actually their lie detector, since he has some psi powers.
Now that everyone trusts one another, Anacin reveals the following:
Mindok came to Sudbury from the west and soon mentally dominated the bulk of the survivors in Suds Bree.
Commander Cobalt and his Mindok-dominated soldiers went to Falconbridge, the old army base just north of Sudbury, quite recently. They don't know why.
Free Army agents intercepted a map that shows the proposed route of Mindok's war machine - it's destination is Algoma University in Sault Ste Marie - this of course is morglodyte territory.
Mindok, as previously established, is at war with the morglodytes and intends to wipe them out with his war machine.
The dregs have recently been bringing robot parts out of the forbidden zone to trade with the templers of Mindok. The templers have been buying all the robot parts from them but most of the parts end up burned, thrown into the lakes in Suds Bree, or otherwise destroyed. Anacin doesn't know why but they sent their robot expert, Dirty Sanchez, to intercept the Dregs on their next shipment. The Free Army has lost track of Dirty Sanchez.
Anacin has learned that Cobalt and his soldiers are heading back into the forbidden zone to find some military secrets in their old base there. Presumably this is the launch codes for the orbital laser and nuclear platforms. The Free Army does not want Mindok to have this power. They have a radiation-proof RV ready for an expedition into the Forbidden Zone, and they are ready to send the wasteland warriors therein!
Thus, our heroes experience a montage of equipping weapons, armor, and other supplies in preparation for more ADVENTURE!
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Post by torenatkinson on Dec 5, 2014 0:42:29 GMT -8
SESSION 6: ROAD TRIP!
Our heroes go over the maps of the area and decide to take a less-travelled road out of town to avoid any Mindok entanglements. The road does, however, involve crossing a rusty old bridge. The RV gets stuck when part of the bridge falls through but K-Mar uses his exo-frame to lift the vehicle out (with some help) and the road trip continues.
Shortly thereafter a herd of meese (giant antlered mice) block the road, delaying the journey, but "Keys" expedites their migration with some shoo-ing noises.
As they go through a small town, they see one of the Mindok Army vehicles is upturned and on fire, with a templer pinned beneath it and a couple of derby girl marauder type corpses strewn about. Genly discovered the girls were killed by fragmentation grenades and loots their bodies of stuff and teeth. A trail of blood leads into a semi-ruined clinic on the block. Keys and Much enter from the front while Genly and K-Mar climb up to the roof. K-Mar almost falls through the ceiling, and Genly does fall through the ceiling into a kitchen/break room at the back of the clinic. She falls into a pile of giant mutant cockroaches that begin biting at her. K-Mar comes in and jumps on a couple of them, and he does so which such panache that a safe pops open in the back of the room.
While the others fight the roaches, Much and Keys follow the blood trail. It leads into an exam room with another templer lying on a bed moaning while some more roaches begin to probe him with their antennae. Also in the room is a trio of mutant Rodents Of Remarkable Measurement (RORMs), which also happen to have disgusting green pustules on them. Much torches them with his flame thrower and the RORMs let out a terrific squealing noise, which is answered by roaring somewhere further in the building.
Genly starts going through all the drugs and serums in the safe while K-Mar finishes off the bugs. Two much larger RORMS barrel towards the heroes from a side corridor. K-Mar launches incendiary grenades at them but only manages to light the building on fire. As the others incapacitate the two large RORMs - bursting some of the horrible pustules in the process - a third RORM about the size of a horse rounds the corner but is stopped by the wall of flame and turns round.
Now the heroes must exit the burning building and with the help of K-Mar's exoframe they burst through the walls and grab the templer. As they do so the giant RORM returns and attacks Keys. K-Mar and Much fill it full of lead and escape with the templer.
The templer is delirious, deathly wounded and blind. Much pretends to be Zildgian (the surgeon back at the slave pit) and the templer buys it. He mentions that the radio station in this town was no good so they need to find another way to send messages back on frequency 106.3 fm. He says Cobalt made it through the battle with the derby girl gang is heading onwards towards the ROCC base in North Bay. K-Mar asks what the next objective is if Cobalt can't find the codes at ROCC and the templer says CFB Petawawa. Much slits the templer's throat and the gang prepares to disembark.
SESSION 7: HIGH ROLLERS
Just as the gang is about to resume driving, it starts raining an acid rain that will corrode the radiation-preventative measures on the RV, so the gang finds a covered alley way between a ruined building and a mostly intact sporting goods store. They park.
They spend some time going through the various drugs from the clinic, and also open the envelope from the safe. It included detailed notes on some project involving splicing human and rabbit DNA.
They decide to explore the sporting goods store and find a lit cigarette and shelves full of roller derby equipment. Further exploration finds a tied up Dreg, a captured human, and on the second floor a derby girl with a head wound laid out on a mattress. Just then the sound of vehicles approaching is heard, and a motorcycle and a covered dune buggy pull up, looking to park in the spot now taken up by the RV. Outraged, the derby girls take up positions around the building and 'Keys' takes the first shot, firing at one of the girls through the wall. She returns fire and a blazing firefight ensues complete with frag and incendiary grenades.
Finally Much shouts out to the leader (Feral Hannah) that if the girls don't cease fire they will hurt the wounded woman on the second floor. They reach a tense cease fire and the guys back the RV in far enough that the girls can at least park their dune buggy and a motorcycle underneath the covered area.
The guys self-triage and sleep in their RV for eight hours while Camus keeps watch.
SESSION 8: BABY ON BOARD
By the time the heroes wake up from their rest the acid rain has stopped and the streets are dry.
Much manages to do a bit of trading with the derby girls, and a motorcycle is heard off in the distance. The group decides to leave right away and after about an hour they reach the dreg toll booth at the border of the Forbidden Zone. The blockade is on the near side of a bridge over a gulch that seems impassable by RV. At the blockade is our old friend Bilforr, the dreg that pulled the soldiers out of the virtual reality pods what seems now like an eternity ago. Bilforr demands that they all exit the van and submit to a search, though this seems like an unusual request to Faldar and Hello Kitty. K-Mar suspects that Commander Cobalt has been here and is somehow behind some dreg plan, since the dregs seem uninterested in collecting a toll which is what they usually do here, according to Faldar.
The group tries to convince Bilforr that they have a baby they can give to the dregs, and he seems interested in this proposition. Since they don't have a baby, the heroes have to try to put one together out of pillows, duct tape and a grenade back inside the RV. Meanwhile Hello Kitty has agreed to be strip searched by the dregs, buying the others time to craft their baby bomb. Much takes the baby bomb out to the dregs but he is not quite letting them touch or see it. Genly takes this opportunity to sneak around the blockade. Just as the situation reaches a head K-Mar launches a flash-bang grenade which incapacitates most of the dregs. At this time Hello Kitty squirts ink across the road as well, catching two of the dregs in the slippery trap. Bilforr calls out to "Release Snippy!" and one of the dregs opens the top of a dumpster, from which crawls a giant mutated scorpion.
While Hello Kitty and Much pull an old truck out of the way, Camus wastes no time and tries to run down the scorpion with the RV, as well as run through the remaining fence that bars the way across the bridge. One of the dregs sinks his axe into the chest of Genly, breaking her sternum, but K-Mar pulls her to safety on the top of the RV.
The giant scorpion attacks one of the dregs, envenoming him, and Much adds injury to injury by setting both of these enemies on fire. Then he and Kitty jump on to the RV and Camus deftly dodges another car on the bridge and drives into the Forbidden Zone. Behind them, the baby bomb goes off.
After driving for another hour through the Forbidden Zone, past the occasional group of dregs living their sad lives, the group reaches the army base, which has been levelled by one or more nuclear explosions. They see against the sunrise a small plume of smoke somewhere above the underground installation. They drive to the south door and gain access to the tunnel, but find that once inside the tunnel has collapsed, and it looks like it happened a long time ago. The situation is likewise in the north tunnel, so they drive up to the top of the hill.
There they find that the smoke was coming from a pile of dregs who have been executed by bullets and set on fire. They find fresh vehicle tracks and also a large hole that goes into the ground, which seems to have been made by some animal.
They prepare to descend...
SESSION 9: THE TRAIL IS BLAZING
Genly repels down into the hole to the second floor of the UGC (Underground Complex), into the same room as the VR pods. She finds the room has been ransacked of all equipment that wasn't bolted down, and one of the doors into the west hallways has been forced open. The rest of the crew follow down and find the dreg leader Argo Bargo tied up sitting on a plasma mine. Genly removes the gag from his mouth and he begs to be rescued. It's obvious he's been trying to stay motionless for some time and is fatigued. Nevertheless, they leave him there and use their fission battery to power the bulkhead door to the main UGC hub.
When the door opens, there is some smoke that seems to be coming from the north hallway which leads to the labs and computer core. There's also the remains of a security laser turret that has been recently destroyed. Rather than go down to the computer core, the group decides to check out the clinic. En route, they find in the kitchen a pile of long-dead UA soldiers, including one Lieutenant Detwiller, who Much recognizes as the attache to Admiral Snow. They suspect that Snow is somewhere in the complex as well as the Mobile Command Vehicle which may have the command codes they're looking for, and possibly also a transmitter.
Detwiller's head has a plug so 'Keys' hacks in. He learns from Detwiller's memory chip that while the party was in the VR training pods, the robots in the UGC went rogue, collapsed the tunnels leading into the UGC from the surface and then went on a killing spree. The UGC went into lockdown and then the bombs dropped on the surface.They also learn that Admiral Snow wasindeed scheduled to be either in the command center or in his quarters at the time the robots went rogue, and also that the Mobile Command Center is probably in the garage at the other end of the UGC.
They make it into the medical bay which is mostly intact, and they use the MediPod 5000 to perform minor and major surgery on their wounds. K-Mar's fractured hip is now totally healed. Meanwhile, Much and others pull teeth from the skeletons they find. Much also takes Detwiller's security card. Everyone restocks on first aid kits and radiation drugs.
Moving further in on their way to the armory, the group is ambushed by a combat robot, which attacks them with electricity. They set the robot on fire and shoot bullets at it. It manages to cut open Much's radiation suit and a chunk of his leg but they finally down the bot and head back to the med-bay for more healing. Shortly thereafter an explosion is heard, and they observe a moment of silence for what they assume is Argo Bargo.
The quartermaster stocks are visited to replenish radiation suits and boots. As they head further in they feel a tremor throughout the area, seemingly coming from below them. They decide to make the final push towards the armory.
SESSION 10: FOREARMED IS FOREWARNED
The door to the armory is charred and warped seemingly from numerous attempts to breach it, all a very long time ago. Additionally, the ground underneath the hallway outside the door seems cracked and hollow, so Camus digs a small hole which leads into another giant animal tunnel that breaches the floor of the armory behind the door.
On the inside of the door is a gravity gun hooked up in some fancy way to the door to increase its stopping power. The skeleton of one Corporal Deliet is also found in the room and when Cluck divests it of its teeth he finds one with a cyanide capsule in it (unbroken).
The crew gear up with ammo, guns, and armor. Genly in her new stealth suit heads down the animal tunnel to find a junction. One of the tunnels looks like it goes under the barracks and another one towards the power cavern, and the other one looks like it might join up with the entrance hole that the group came down.
Genly returns to the group and they decide to head into the power cavern via the hygiene sector (latrines). When Keys opens the door its not long before laser turrets open fire on the group. K-Mar fires an EMP grenade which seems to do the trick on one of the turrets. Much, Hello Kitty and Genly run down to fight the turrets and that's when another killbot rounds the corner issuing forth nerve gas. Cluck launches a rocket at the thing but it bounces off the wall and explodes, mutilating her torso. Finally they destroy all the machines and K-Mar scavenges an atomic battery from the robot.
While Cluck, Hello Kitty and Camus re-visit the clinic to use the healing pod, Keys tries to open the door to the power cavern. As soon as it's open radiation floods the area and the heroes retreat back to the clinic. They decide to head into the vehicle tunnels to try to access the garage that way. On the way out they find and disable another turret. They reach the door to the garage sector...
SESSION 11: PLEASE AND TANK YOU
Much and K-Mar enter the loading bay where a burned out car and seemingly inactive robotic load-lifter rest. The room has moderate radioactivity so they all take somr Rad-B-Gone. Soon the bot comes to life, but moves sluggishly. Unfortunately there is also a tank-bot in the room and it fires a missile at the ruined car sending shrapnel into our heroes' flesh. Camus momentarily disables the tank-bot with his anti-materiel rifle and Much rushes over to try to get into its insides, but it reboots and shoots a laser into his leg, severing an artery and leaving him with massive blood loss.
Keys hops onto the load-lifter bot and yanks out its power source. Then he reconfigures the wiring so he can control it like a vehicle and plugs the battery back in. The battery is low however, so it barely lumbers across the room. Meanwhile K-Mar uses his exo-suit to flip the tank and then he and Much blast through the tender spot on its belly and pull out its power source. Keys uses the load lifter to pull it out of the room and back into the hallway. They close the blast doors.
Horribly wounded, they retire to the medbay where they use half of an atomic battery to power the MediPod 5000 for another round of major surgery. While they're in that wing they decide to check out the command center and the find all the computers smashed and some used EMP grenades. They also see that the computer core is slightly on fire - the source of the smoke.
Returning to the loading bay Keys and K-Mar hack into and reprogram the Tank-Bot. Hooked into its sensor system, K-Mar uses it to force its way into the garage, further into the complex and behind a somewhat broken door. The radiation is higher here but he sees that there are a number of large worm-like creatures feeding on eggs that have been laid in a small sinkhole in the room. The tankbot starts firing plasma bolts into the nest and the creatures scurry away. Then they use the tankbot to blow a hole through the wall for safer access to the Mobile Command Vehicle, which they can see on the other side of the sinkhole.
SESSION 12: THE ANGRY BIRD GETS THE WORM
Genly moves forward towards the Mobile Command Vehicle but is ambushed by a large digger worm which grabs her with barbed tentacles and shreds her buttocks with it's terrible mouth. She struggles free as K-Mar remote-controls the robo-tank to shoot it with its plasma cannon, causing the monster to flee. While Genly nurses her wounds Cluck, Keys and Hello Kitty move towards the MCV and they see that there is a person in one of the seats but that the person is not moving.
Suddenly there is a terrific tremor and a giant worm, about six feet in diameter, bursts through the floor and sends the robotank crashing into the pit. It then bites Hello Kitty, causing her bladder to explode. Hello Kitty throws a net over its gaping maw, and K-Mar uses the gravity gun to lift it in the air.
Keys gains access to the MCV and finds the person inside is a seemingly de-activated android, holding on to a brief case which obviously has the command codes inside. Keys begins driving out of the garage. The worm however, struggles free, but Genly uses her laser to explode the gas tank of one of the wrecked cars further into the room, which attracts the monster's attention away from the vehicle. Keys drives out of the area and everyone hops into the MCV and away from the worm. It doesn't follow.
While Genly and Hello Kitty use the last of the resources in the medical bay, K-Mar and Keys start up the android. She says her name is Lt. Wifi, and she needs to find Admiral Snow. It takes some time but Keys and K-Mar manage to convince Wifi that Snow is dead, 266 years have passed, and that Cobalt needs to be stopped. They pull the dish off the top of the MCV and begin with the plan to pull it out of the base through the worm tunnel they came down.
When Genly gets to the surface, however, she finds Faldar and the RV are gone, and there is a mob of angry dregs armed with improvised weapons who seem to be out for blood.
SESSION 13: MEGATONS OF FUN
As the angry mob advance toward Genly she ducks back down and climbs back into the base. The group has a quick discussion and Much decides to climb up and try to convince the dregs that they did not murder the dregs, but rather that Cobalt did it. They are not entirely convinced so the leader demands Trial by Punching to determine innocence or guilt. Much agrees but explains that he can't do it on the surface because of the radiation so three of the dregs go down into the base for the trial to begin. The heroes tempt the dregs with food and show them the vast supplies in the mess hall of the base. The dregs decide that instead of trial by punching they will accept reparations in the form of all the food. The heroes agree and resume their initial plan of bringing the satellite dish to the surface.
Faldar has by this time returned with the RV and explains that instead of sitting up there waiting for hours he drove outside the forbidden zone so that he could monitor for Colbalt's radio signal. And he does indeed intercept it:
"THIS IS ULTRAVIOLET TO SCIENCE NORTH. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE SECURED. NO SIGN OF INDIGO. TRANSMITTING FROM BROADCAST STATION TOWER ABOUT ONE HOUR SOUTH OF PRIMARY OBJECTIVE. PROCEEDING TO A.R.O. FOR FINAL PHASE. ESTIMATE 5 HOURS."
He also mentions he's seen someone on a motorbike in an environmental suit checking him out.
Having put the dish into the back of the van Camus drives for about 25 minutes until they are out of the forbidden zone. Once there they begin to set up the dish in the middle of the road, but someone starts shooting at it. It's Lt. Yoichi from Team Ultraviolet with a sniper rifle who has been following them on her motorbike. She's still dressed in her radiation suit and fires a bullet through the inner workings of the satellite dish. Much and the rest pull it down from the roof of the RV and begin trying to repair it from behind the cover of the RV, so Yoichi starts shooting at the RV and blows out one of its tires. Camus returns fire and manages to shoot her in the extremities but she is persistent. K-Mar uses the gravity gun to levitate Yoichi and then Camus fires the killing blow.
With no further disturbances Keys repairs the dish and he, K-Mar and Wifi find and begin interfacing with one of Union of the Americas Orbital Platform X5-33S/400. They determine that it is in motion and another source is in control of its various systems - presumably Lt. Smith, the tech guy from Team Ultraviolet. Keys hacks into the system and locks Smith out. They convince Wifi to open the secured brief case and hand over the command codes for the weaponry.
With the intent of getting the planetary laser over Science North, where Mindok usually is found, they begin to move the platform into position, a process which will take 3 hours or so. Knowing that in that amount of time Cobalt's forces may be able to physically intercept with them, and assuming that Cobalt and the rest are still at A.R.O. - the Algonquin Radio Observatory - Keys sends one of the four nukes on board down for an air burst over that location. Afterwards he removes the lockout on the orbital platform to see if Smith is still trying to access it, and find that this is not the case, so they assume that Team Ultraviolet is deceased.
In the hours that follow they replace the wheel on the RV, put together a radio device that sends a message back to the Free Army in Suds Bree to evacuate Suds Bree as much as is possible (or at least the area near Science North). The orbital platform finally finds its mark over Science North and Keys brings the destruction down on Mindok. They radio the Free Army to see what's happened and they confirmed that people who were previously mentally dominated by Mindok suddenly have free will. Yub nub!
Keys and K-Mar find two more active satellites on the network and with some time and work they rig them all to self destruct. They return to Suds Bree with a heroes welcome, except for Much who returns to the virtual training pods to sleep for another 200 years. He wakes to find the world is now ruled by superintelligent lemurs.
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