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report covers: 15 February, 2140 to 23 February, 2140.
15 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the NW, clear skies, mid-day high temperature 72° F.
The team spent the day resting up in Santa Fe. Scotty managed to recover pretty much completely from his mangling. He had some "Arizona Ranger" badges made up from silver dollars for the team, along with a pennant and some small American flags, and a stencil.
The team had a small banquet in the evening to pin on the badges, drink, etc. Everyone was required to come up with (or receive) a new pseudonym:
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Jesse James Pettigrew has selected 'Ranger Rick'
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Doc Davis will be 'Doc Holliday'
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Jake Gootz will be 'Earp'
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Jesse will be 'D. B. Cooper'
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Scotty will use 'Sergeant Randolph Scott Tubbs'
16 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the NW, 20% cloud coverage, mid-day high temperature 70° F.
Team R54 headed for Texas, driving their V150 armored car and the XR311 high-mobility vehicle. The eastern part of New Mexico, and the northwestern "high plains" part of Texas, were dry and nearly uninhabited; burned-out towns and farms dotted the flat landscape. Greenish-gray "blue" grama grass and buffalo grass were most of the flora in the High Plains; some mesquite and sand sagebrush were seen here and there.
17 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the W, 20% cloud coverage, mid-day high temperature 80° F.
Team R54 found several Clean Water Clans cisterns along the sides of the trade road. Stopping at one, the team rinsed out the 'brown water' tank and topped off the potable water tank in the V-150. They also emptied, rinsed, and refilled the jerry can(s) of water in the XR-311. Scotty put one of the fancy wrist watches that the team used for barter into the donations jar, and took the tokens and coins already present as change.
18 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the SW, 20% cloud coverage, mid-day high temperature 75° F.
Arriving in Lubbock, the team found a grubby roadside village, and a Clean Water Clans service station/waypoint fort.
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Lubbock, Texas
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Before the Atomic War a prosperous hub for the High Plains and Panhandle, decades of fires, storms, vandalism, neglect and (mostly) drought have brought this city to its current ruined condition. The remains of some taller concrete or sturdy masonry buildings -- silos, a courthouse and school, and a dozen or so buildings between ten and twenty stories -- stand jagged and scoured amid the drifts of garbage, ash and debris.
A few hundred persons live in the ruins, largely dependent upon the passage of truck caravans every couple of weeks. They gather salvage, brew unpleasant beer, and maintain a few rickety water wells.
Half-a-dozen members of the Clean Water Clans guard and operate their water tank, repair shop, fuel station, and way station. It's three stories tall, with the ground floor built to allow a semi-tractor to drive though. The top floor is a water tank.
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As the team's vehicles pulled up to the "wide spot in the highway" at the town's center, a dozen or so young boys rushed out to offer their services -- beer, girls, washing the vehicles, guarding the vehicles, etc. Scotty paid for a dozen beers.
Scotty and JJ strolled over to the Clean Water Clans tower and had a chat with the guards (who served some clean, cool water). The team presented themselves as "Arizona Rangers", and claimed to be hunting for General Todoshi, of the Paladins, and some other Paladins. The CWC guards vaguely know the General's name, but hadn't heard of him traveling through Lubbock. The guards warned the Project team about the Bone Gnawers, a clan of vicious cannibal raiders found in north Texas.
The information available about the Paladins, the Revenants, and the Savant Empire increased a small amount. The team left Lubbock after a short stay, and followed the rutted caravan route to Abilene, where they spent the night. Technically, they camped near the ruins of the Ancient city, destroyed by three atomic weapons during the War.
Late at night, a group of Bone Gnawers crept up on the team's camp; but forewarned by the CWC the team had double watches out. The raiders were easily detected with night-vision gear; Scotty and Doc (who were on watch) shot most of the attackers in a few brief moments. The team prowled out to see what the Bone Gnawers were like: nasty, filed teeth, dirty, and vicious. Also, they didn't speak Road Talk (or Ancient).
Scotty shot the wounded survivors, and the team returned to their camp. The less bloodthirsty members of the team were a bit dismayed by the sounds of wild dogs tearing the raiders' corpses apart until dawn ...
19 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the S, 30% cloud coverage, mid-day high temperature 77° F.
The 90 kilometer drive from the outskirts of Abilene, to Bend City, only took a couple of hours -- the road was in good condition (for a 22nd Century road, that is). There were signs alongside the road, in Roadtalk and Komerk, warning about raiders, cannibals, and the Bone Gnawers in general.
Within 20 kilometers of Bend City (formerly Eastland, Texas before the Atomic War), there were farms and ranches dotted around the plains. Small groves of mesquite trees dotted the landscape; sagebrush and a few oaks were also seen. Some cricket pumps (pump jacks), pipelines, and small oil storage tanks were seen here and there, along with utility poles for electrical and telephone lines. A few cobbled-together trucks, or horse-drawn wagons, were seen moving around on morning errands; small fires marked areas where the locals were burning down brush or clearing firing lanes.
Ahead, the team could see a haze hanging over the city; a small refinery and other industrial structures stood in their grubby, rusty glory. A wide lane of dirt, tilled and scorched, surrounded the city, with a tall barbed wire fence and some watchtowers. The team noticed a good number of fougasse vents, some with old firehose nozzles or rainbird sprinkler heads. Clearly, the inhabitants of Bend City felt that "burn it with fire" covered many tactical situations.
The highway entered the city under a broad steel truss, with a "Welcome to Bend City" sign. Nearby was a signboard, with some religious and service organization plaques mounted. Churches, the high school, etc. -- the most notable of these was for the Rotary Club.
Pulling into a truck stop just inside the defenses, the team arranged for showers, air for their vehicle tires, and directions to a restaurant (Mabel's Diner, near the truck stop), various stores, brothels, hotels (the Cattlemens' Hotel) and the Rotary Club -- maybe not in that order. Again, they told anyone who asked that they were with the Arizona Rangers, in pursuit of some Paladins who'd caused an unspecified problem in Arizona.
The team met Jake Torres, secretary of the local Rotary Club; he provided much more background on Texas and southwestern politics, "international" affairs, etc. He had never heard of "Franklin". He was able to provide more definitive dates for the arrival of the Paladins, the schism of the Revenants, and the emergence odd Pre-War technology in the Savant Empire
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Bend City Rotary Club
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Located in an old country club, complete with restaurant and bar. The members are various shop owners, small industrialists, merchants and other businesses besides the BCOC. The club is seen as a progressive (or subversive) counter to the BCOC's power. The hospital in Bend City is largely funded by the Rotary Club, along with various other charities and public functions. The Four-Way Test is applied to proposed actions:
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Is it the truth?
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Is it fair to all concerned?
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Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
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Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
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The local specialty -- peanuts -- led to the team discovering peanut butter on the shelves at the grocery store; along with blackberry jam! A small feast of sliced bread, "organic" peanut butter, and blackberry jam was held. Dozens of jars of runny, yummy peanut butter were purchased, along with an equal amount of preserves.
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Glass pint jars of peanut butter cost $0.25 each, including a $0.05 deposit on the jars. A case of 12 is thus $3. This is very runny stuff, about like "organic all-natural" peanut butter in 2015.
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Glass pint jars of blackberry jam cost $0.25 each, including a $0.05 deposit on the jars. A case of 12 is thus $3.
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A quart bottle of berry juice cost $0.50.
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A pound of baker's yeast, $2.
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A five-pound bag of chili-roasted peanuts, $5.
At a gun store, some minor purchases were made:
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Freedom Arms Model 83 Premier Grade five-shot revolver. It was in .454 caliber, brushed stainless-steel, with adjustable sights, ivory grips and a 10" barrel; cost $80. No actual .454 ammo was available, but it will fire .45 Long Colt ammo perfectly well; that ammo costs $20 for a box of 50 rounds of black powder loads. The $80 cost for the pistol includes a lined leather Western-style holster, and an additional cylinder in .45 ACP (still only 5 shots). Gun weight empty 1.4 kg; holster weight 0.3 kg.
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The barrel, bipod and gas tube assembly from an M60 machine gun (Vietnam era, more or less). $25.
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8 M16 magazines, 20 round capacity, $10 each
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1 HK53 magazine, 30 round capacity, $15
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1 Desert Eagle .50 AE magazine, 7 round capacity, $10
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6 M1911 magazines, $5 each
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two kinda-janky 3X rifle scopes, $40 each. Each includes a set of basic rings and bases.
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A semi-automatic pistol similar to the one found at Crater Lake; it was taken from a Paladin in or near Arid City:
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strange handgun, yours for $100
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A semi-automatic bullpup pistol, with a fancy semi-spiral magazine. It fires 9x17mm ammunition, presumably 9mm Short/.380 ACP. The magazine can hold 12 rounds, but only 8 rounds are available in Bend City. Mechanically, the gun is a simple double-action blowback weapon, similar to a Walther PP or Makarov PM. It is kind of small and awkward for the hands of the R54 team members. It weighs 0.7 kg when fully loaded. On the slide, besides the caliber and serial number, it has three Arabic words, and under that the Latin-alphabet words, "Negara Senjata Kilang." Call of Bruce Morrow stats: range 15 meters, shots 2 (i.e., as a Minor Action), damage 1d10, malfunction number ... unknown!
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20 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the S, 50% cloud coverage, mid-day high temperature 73° F.
The V150 and XR311 were given a thorough going-over in a rented shop. Sheriff Sam Jones came by after breakfast and had a short chat with the team. "We got a nice, quiet little industrial community, and I aim to keep it nice and quiet." The team got the impression the sheriff wasn't a member of the Rotary Club ...
21 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the SSE, mid-day 70% cloud coverage and high temperature 72° F. Light rain in the evening.
Around dawn (~ 7 a.m.), Team R54 headed out from Bend City, south along the remnants of US Route 183. There had not been a lot of usage of the highway lately, but some horses, light trucks, etc. had been using the road in the past few weeks.
130 kilometers along the road (3 hours travel), they came to the border of the Savant Empire, roughly at Goldthwaite. The town was a ruin, but there was a sort of "Foreign Legion fort" structure, 20 meters on a side, with Savant markings and several heavy weapons mounted on the ramparts. A CB antenna and a tactical radio antenna were visible on the top. A score or so of ... vagrants? beggars? pilgrims? ... were camped in lean-to tents along the outside base of the fort. Scotty spotted the fort from a couple of miles out, but the fort spotted the rooster-tail of dust behind the XR311 and the V150 at about the same time. The team stopped to listen in on radio transmissions, and hook up the XR311 to be towed by the V150.
As the team tightened up their helmet-straps and closed all their vehicle hatches, a CB hail came along on channel 19: "Breaker, breaker armored truck approaching Station 12, come back on channel 9 and state your intentions." The team drove towards the fort, while Jesse kept up a neutral conversation on the radio ("Hey, amigo, you got the Husky Banana, southbound on Ol' 183 ... Negatory on the pig pen stop"). At least 20 armed men could be seen on the fort's walls manning heavy weapons, including a couple of officers with Savant hoods and gas masks.
The fort wanted the vehicle to stop for inspection, or turn back; but the team wasn't turning back! As the V150 slowly passed by within 12 meters or so of the fort, apparently peaceful (the turret remained pointed straight ahead); the fort suddenly launched a signal rocket! Surprised and anticipating an exchange of gunfire, Scotty threw an M34 white phosphorus hand grenade over the palisade into the fort! He called out "Grenade out!" -- only JJ saw that it was Scotty who threw the bomb. JJ got off a shot at a machine gunner on the fort's walls, and Doc stepped hard on the accelerator pedal. A couple of shots rang out from the fort before the white phosphorus grenade detonated .
The fort filled with acrid white smoke and burning fragments; a few seconds later some small explosions were heard, and sheets of flame sprang into the air above the fort.
The Morrow vehicle drove away at high speed. About twenty seconds later, they were rocked by a heavy explosion from within the fort. Dirty-orange flame shot out of the doorways and gun ports; pieces of the roof and defenders flew into the air, trailing smoke. One wall of the fort collapsed, and dark smoke began to pour into the skies.
Jesse: "That was your plan?"
For the rest of the day the team barreled east, stopping only a few times. A few Savant farm/plantations were seen; the team steered clear of them. Jesse was frantically busy trying to tune in and make sense of all the various tactical radio calls that began going out across central Texas. Almost 400 kilometers east of Goldthwaite, at the ruins of Apple Springs in the Davy Crockett National Forest, the team finally stopped to camp; they strung up their camo drape between the pines. Jesse handed over several pages of scribbled frequencies, names, and other radio intelligence, and fell quickly asleep.
The rain fell harder and harder as the night wore on.
22 February, 2140
weather report: light winds from the SE, 100% cloud coverage, high temperature 70° F. Rain all day.
Team R54 camped out all day, listening intently to all the radio transmissions they could find; Jesse set up a longer antenna, to draw in more signals. It seemed, by the end of the day, that their wild drive across Texas had thrown the Savant military off their trail -- but had also put the Savant Empire on alert. It rained all day and all night.
23 February, 2140
weather report: medium winds from the SSE, 100% cloud coverage, high temperature 71° F. Rain all day.
After breakfast, the team drove (as two vehicles again) towards the Gulf, hoping to see how Port Arthur was doing. The terrain consisted of piney woods; fires, massive floods from burst dams long ago, and nuclear explosions along the coast had scrubbed most signs of human civilization from this region. In fact, the streets of Beaumont (after 8 hours of travel) were under silt, shallow salt water and wetlands grass -- 30 kilometers from the coast before the Atomic War. Nobody was living in this area; the team turned north, seeking a bridge or ferry to cross the Sabine River.
By sunset, they had found a ferry at the site where US Route 190 had crossed the Sabine River -- the bridge was long gone, of course. A small wooden palisade fort stood on each bank, 700 meters apart, with an endless steel cable connecting them; a bull wheel stood on the east bank, and a diesel-powered engine turned a wheel on the west bank. A large, old steel barge, big enough to carry a semi-tractor truck, was clamped to the cable. A simple "field telephone" line connected the two small forts, along the stumps of the old freeway bridge piers. Their was a CB radio antenna on each fort, as well. The river was swollen with rain water, swirling south towards the gulf.
The team spent a couple of hours observing and discussing -- the river was too wide and fast to swim, especially in the rain; the balloons in the meteorology kit would only carry 20 kg at most; the near fort had 20 to 30 soldiers ... the fort on the far bank could hardly be seen, and was certainly not going to see anything done at the near fort ... the vegetation had been cut down to only a few inches tall out to 30 meters from the fort; it was dark and raining ... the moon was only a quarter full, behind the clouds.
In the end, everyone but Jesse snuck forward through the mud and water; JJ attached a rope ladder to a corner of the fort, and scuttled up onto the (not very high) walkway atop the wall. As his team mates waited (and splashed around a bit trying to free Gootz from a hidden obstacle), JJ used the suppressed M21 rifle to quickly kill all four guards on duty in the two watch towers. Scotty, Doc and Jake Gootz climbed up, the team crept down a ladder, killed three unsuspecting soldiers in the barracks including the radio operator, and captured the remaining 13 at dinner! At a birthday party, in fact.
Besides the soldiers were three women and four children; one of the soldiers (a 20 year old officer) wore the hooded Savant robe (the rest wore simple gray tunics and trousers).
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stuff of note the team might take, one fort's worth
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a CB radio ... vehicle style
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a field telephone
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an M2HB .50 cal machinegun, worn out barrel but works; mounted on a 'home made' cradle on a pipe stand and canvas cover
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4 ammo boxes of 22nd Century ball .50 cal ammunition, 100 rounds per box
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12 assorted .38 caliber revolvers, all built before 1989, all kinda beat-up
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25 single-shot bolt action rifles, in 7.62mm NATO. They're all different origins, some converted calibers. A few have internal magazines to hold ~4 rounds of ammo, but most have to be reloaded after each shot.
- 20 M1 steel pot helmets, painted grey
- 500 rounds of 7.62mm NATO lead (unjacketed) ammo
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a simple (one piece of paper) communication plan ("Call for support on channel 19" etc.)
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the medical supply bag
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four old binoculars
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two heavy, greasy dirty tool boxes (to fix the truck, winch, or winch motor)
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a tactical truck, gasoline powered
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100 meters of hemp rope
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half-a-dozen 20 liter jerry cans of gasoline (non-flavored)
Things the team probably wouldn't take:
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bedding, beds, tables, chairs, furnishings, oil lanterns, kitchen equipment
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much of their food, though you might like some flour or duck eggs
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uniforms, grubby boots, and other clothing
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scruffy camping gear: mis-matched tents, odd pieces of rope, no-two-the-same canteens, ratty backpacks, etc.
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several hundred meters of rusty steel "logging cable", 1-1/4" (~32mm) diameter, weight 430 kg per 100 meters, breaking strain 63 tons when it was new -- this is spare/excess for the river-crossing system
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the Savant Officer's gear
(highlighted items are of anomalous origin)
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item
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mass, kg
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Baylor University Medical Center ID card issued June, 1988 to Daniel B. Wheeler; the photograph of the Savant guy has been crudely glued to the ID card (and is in fact coming loose), which has a magnetic card stripe on the back. The card is in a plastic sleeve. It looks as if the Savant symbol was ink-stamped onto the back of the card, but the ink's mostly rubbed off.
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n/a
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loose gray cotton trousers and "scrubs" shirt (with ink-stamped Savant logo in it), white cotton underwear and socks; there were a couple more sets of theses in the fort, if you wanted to search
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n/a
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leather lace-up boots, hand-made
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1
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gray ankle-length pull-over cotton robe, with a deep hood; there's an embroidered Savant Empire symbol on the front of the hood. The robe has pass-throughs, loops, etc. for backpack straps and the tubes associated with the water, gasmask, and sprayer device.
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2
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black rubber gauntlet gloves
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0.5
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pencil and notebook; it contains scribbled remarks on the troops at the two forts
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n/a
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dark leather gasmask, with glass lenses. It has a rubber drinking tube which can connect with the water bladder in the backpack, and a rubber bellows hose (as used by scuba divers) which connects to the filter in the backpack.
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1.5
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backpack, with gray cover; integrates into (well, blends into) the Savant robe. Contains:
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1.5
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3.5
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gasmask filter. It's mass-produced by hand, with layers of activated charcoal. The Savant symbol is painted in white on the forehead. Another hour or so of searching at the west fort would turn up a box of six more filters. They are not compatible with the hoses used by the Project's M25A1 masks, but presumably an adapter could be created.
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0.8
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medical kit: gray canvas bag with the Savant symbol on it, contains: tourniquet, sticky tape, iodine swabs, twelve triangular cotton field dressings, three rolls of compressed cotton gauze, glass ammonia inhalant bottle (labeled AMMONIA), adhesive bandages (sort of like band-aids), plastic bottle labeled ASPIRIN (contains four white pills), small metal cup, safety pins in 35mm film can, flat metal box with vaseline-coated fabric, bottle of clear liquid labeled PAIN KILLER (it smells like Everclear®), glass and steel syringe, several steel needles for the syringe (in a 35mm film can), blunt (school-kid type) scissors, hemostatic forceps (very old), wood-handled scalpel, needles and thread
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1.0
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roughly a liter-sized steel tank with a rubber hose leading to hand-pumped sprayer; it looks sort of like a baby flamethrower (though it's clearly not a flame weapon). The tank has the Savant logo on it, and the words BROOKS SUPPRESS painted on it. There's a sloshy liquid (or very fine dust, perhaps) inside.
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2.3
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0.2
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synthetic armor vest; label inside reads, "NEGARA PERISAI VEST KILANG, JENIS 2" and also some Arabic script. It's made from 12 layers of black fabric, which feels like nylon or kevlar (kind of like what the "apartment ninjas" wore at Crater Lake; it fastens with snaps up the front, and will fit people of SIZ 6 to 13 (most comfortably 7 to 11). It's 6 points of flexible armor in game terms, though of course that may not be known immediately.
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1.0
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semi-automatic 9mm Short pistol, of the same kind as seen at Bend City and Crater Lake. It's loaded with a 12 round magazine.
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0.7
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dark brown (almost black) leather belt with steel buckle
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0.1
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black plastic holster for the pistol; definitely made for it
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0.1
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black plastic magazine pouch, holds two 12-round magazines of 9mm Short pistol ammo.
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0.3
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scary post-apocalyptic glass-and-steel self-injector, with the word UNSUP inscribed on the side
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0.2
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total
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17.2
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The officer was sedated, and the enlisted men were put to work assembling the loading ramp for the ferry. Jesse and Scotty very quickly searched the little fort for useful items.There was not a lot of cash; the cash box in the radio room contained $6.35.
The Savant truck, the V150 and the XR311 were driven up onto the barge, the men were tied up in a group on the barge, and the women and children were locked up in a room in the fort. A telephone call was made to the eastern fort by one of the prisoners, with Scotty's pistol screwed into his ear. Everyone but JJ got onto the barge, JJ switched on the diesel motor, put the winch in gear, and ran for the barge! Fortunately, it was lurching along the muddy banks of the Sabine very slowly.
Crossing the Sabine took 20 minutes; a group of Savant soldiers could be seen gathering on the far bank to assemble the disembarking ramp. The barge swayed and bucked each time it passed one of the old bridge piers; the river broke over the deck each time, also. Plus, of course, it was about midnight by now.
With a groan and splash, the barge touched the eastern shore, and began to skid along the mud towards the bull wheel tower. The team loosened the tensioning clamps on the barge deck, to keep the barge from traveling too far onto Louisiana! The Savant soldiers on the east shore were easily taken prisoner, and their (slightly smaller fort) quickly searched.
Same equipment as the first fort, but no truck or fuel.
After their quick and professional capture of the two forts, the team came to the most painful, mentally stressful, exhausting and just plain annoying part of the night. While Jesse drove the V150 down the unloading ramp, one of the beams slid out of place, and the armored car dropped a few inches, with its left wheels hanging free between some beams. In the attempt to winch it down, there was more yelling in the dark and rain (remember, the locals had no electrical lights), and just as the front wheels were arriving on the muddy bank -- the armored car slowly tipped onto its left side.
The ground was muddy, the vehicle was sturdy and undamaged ... but many supplies inside and outside fell from their storage, or were fallen on. Doc, now in the driver's seat, heard a crashing, tinkling, thudding set of noises from the rear of the vehicle, and was bashed in the shoulder by a dangling computer keyboard.
There followed a lot of cursing, cuffing of tied-up prisoners, dragging of muddy steel winch cables across the river bank, rigging of shackles, sending people off for tools (only to realize that a Savant soldier was being sent) ... many a frazzled nerve was had. Getting the V150 back on its wheels wasn't hard and didn't take too long -- it just seemed to. The team did not spend much time re-arranging their inventory inside the V150.
The prisoners were tied up in the eastern fort (except the one officer), Scotty made a loud but brief rant claiming that the team were actually Revenants, and the team set off in three vehicles:
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V150: Doc driving, Jesse on comms, Gootz in the turret
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XR311: JJ driving
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captured truck: Scotty driving, prisoner tied to a seat, lots of the loot in the back
As midnight rolled around, the Recon team lurched and splashed into the east ... and Doc realized a slow tide of blackberry jam and peanut butter oils was sliding around in the armored car, and being tracked around by the team's boots.
team R54's route this episode
onward to Socialist Victory
Comments (1)
Michael said
at 10:34 am on Apr 5, 2015
Very nice choice of pseudonym, Kirk.
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