The unlikely group of survivors - a small town police officer, a cynical construction worker, a retired anthropology professor, and a fifteen year-old delinquent - cautiously approached the abandoned house that served as the home base for the delinquent and his friends. It was dark. The abandoned house was dilapidated and overgrown with trees and overgrowth, consumed by the forest at the edge of the town of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania.
They saw flashlights and movement within and overheard adults saying "I can't find it anywhere! Where'd you put it?", "It's here somewhere, keep looking!", "Shh! I think I heard something outside!", "Then take care of them!"
An overweight woman wearing a dirty tank-top stepped into the doorway holding a sawed-off shotgun. She took one look at police officer Bocephus Tucker and shouted, "Shit! It's the fucking cops!" She opened fire!
Chapter 2 - Head for the Hills
What follows is a play-through of an adventure scenario I'm writing for Overlords of Dimension-25. The scenario is a survival hex-crawl where the player characters and their entire town are transported to a strange new dimension, only to be attacked by armored invaders intent on rounding up the townsfolk for a mysterious and nefarious purpose.
This week we encounter some meth-dealers, gain another player character, find out how tough the armored security forces really are, and finally get a chance to rest and head out of town.
Dramatis Personae
- Officer Bocephus "J.T." Tucker - Williamsburg police department - Level 1 Warrior
- Rex Werthy - construction worker - Level 1 Engineer
- Professor Thadeus Putnam - retired professor of anthropology - Level 1 Expert
- Felix Silla-Rossi - 15 year-old juvenile delinquent - Level 1 Rogue
- Vera - elderly lady with a broken leg - NPC
Introducing
- Scout Thomas - 16 year-old outdoorsman and YouTube personality - Level 1 Scout
Battle at the Abandoned House
Professor Putnam said, "Oh! Oh dear!" He drew his bow and loosed an arrow at the woman with the shotgun. It struck her in the chest and she fell to the floor.
Officer Tucker touched his head. He was grazed and blood poured from the wound. He grit his teeth and shouted, "Violence of Action! Violence of Action!" and ran into the house. He immediately went to a room on the right and began punching the overweight redneck brandishing a baseball bat.
Rex, who had been carrying Vera around on his back, gently set her down on the ground. He picked up her shovel and followed Officer Tucker into the dark house. Rex stood over the lady on the floor of the foyer with an arrow sticking out of her chest. He looked around trying to decide which way to go - the rooms to the left were illuminated by moving flashlights and stomping feet could be heard coming this way. Officer Tucker had dashed around a corner into another room towards the right. He eventually joined Officer Tucker. He brought his shovel down onto the head of the bat-wielding redneck. Another redneck ran into the room from a doorway towards the back. The new redneck fired a pistol at Officer Tucker but missed.
Professor Putnam threw down his bow and arrow and ran to the woman on the floor of the foyer. He took a look at the arrow sticking out of her chest. His hands hovered over her with confusion and fear. The woman was still breathing but there was nothing he could do. He grabbed her hand and sat with her as she died.
Outside the house Felix took a hunting rifle and took aim down the hallway behind Professor Putnam, prepared to shoot anything that emerged from the back of the house. A redneck came into the hallway holding a pistol. Felix fired the rifle and the redneck fell to the floor. Felix shouted, "Shit!" and began to hyperventilate.
Felix ran into the house and looked at the dead body of the man he had just shot. He dropped the rifle and backed against the wall. He slipped down onto the floor in shock. He began quietly repeating, "I just killed a guy. I just killed a guy."
Rex hit the guy with the pistol with his shovel and the man went down. The overweight man with the bat dropped his weapon and surrendered. Officer Tucker bound the man's hands with a zip tie.
A quick interrogation revealed that they had stashed a supply of methamphetamines in the house and were now looking to retrieve it. However, the drugs were nowhere to be found.
Rex and Bocephus confiscated all the weapons and cut the redneck loose, warning him to get out of town before he got caught by the Martians. They returned to the entrance where they saw Professor Putnam on the floor with the dead woman and Felix rocking back and forth in the corner.
Officer Tucker said, "Its your first kill. I get it. But if you hadn't killed them they would have killed you. Get over it. Lets get going. That gunfire and that barking dog outside are going to draw attention so we have to get out of here. What did you want from here anyway?"
The question shook Felix back into focus, "Right! There's some blankets and sleeping bags in the back room."
"Felix, those rednecks were looking for some drugs. Do you know anything about that?"
Felix looked ashamed, "My buddy, Skeezer, he found them. He sold them in Pittsburgh. We already spent all the money on pizzas and stuff."
Officer Tucker sighed, "Okay, go get the blankets and stuff. But we got to go!"
The Sawmill
The motley group continued through the wooded area and into the large gravel lot that contained the sawmill. There were huge stacks of cut trees that provided good cover for movement. The group entered the sawmill and scavenged what they could from the machine shop and garage. They broke open the lock box containing the vehicle keys and returned to the gravel lot. They picked out two trucks and loaded all the gear they had accumulated into the back.
Officer Tucker found someone sleeping in the cab of one of the trucks. It was another high school kid - his name was Scout Thomas.
"Hey Scout! Wake up, we're taking this truck!"
Scout rubbed his eyes, "You can't. It's got no keys."
Bocephus jingled the keys in front of him, "They were in a lock box in the office."
Scout got up and moved aside, "Oh."
"Kid, where's your mom?"
"I don't know. We got separated during the attack. I've been hiding in here. What are those things?"
"Commies!" blurted Rex.
"No, they're Martians!" said Felix.
"Whatever, we're getting out of here." said Bocephus, "Scout, I have to tell you this - those guys probably captured your mom. They've got pretty much the whole town back at the high school. I don't know why. Want to come with us?"
Scout looked around, "Sure. Can we stop by my house first? It's three miles west. I have a bunch of supplies."
"Sure, but first I have to go check on that dog."
Back to Get the Dog
Scout stayed behind with Vera in the truck while Officer Tucker, Rex, Professor Putnam, and Felix went back towards the house to try to rescue the stray dog. As they neared the house they saw a person coming towards them from the direction of the Martian roadblock. It was an armored Martian trooper, its helmet showing a bright light in the forest.
They were spotted!
DM - At the beginning of every round I roll a percentile dice to see if they were spotted based on their actions from the previous round. The chance of encountering a Martian patrol is actually very low, especially at night and in the forest. However, I rolled a 02.
Once they're spotted, players can choose what their characters do:
- I Run Away!
- I Move Quickly, Trying to Avoid Detection
- I Step on the Gas!
- I Try to Talk to Them
- I Find a Place to Hide
- I Attack!
This time the players chose "I Attack!"
They split up. Rex and Officer Tucker charged from the left and right, hoping to catch the armored trooper in a pincer maneuver.
The trooper lifted his hand weapon towards Officer Tucker. A strange blue light flashed. Officer Tucker convulsed and fell to the ground unconscious.
Professor Putnam loosed an arrow. The arrow struck the armored trooper but bounced harmlessly off its armor. Rex brought his shovel down upon the armored foe. The shovel connected, knocking the trooper back a bit. The trooper's hand weapon emitted another bright blue flash towards Rex - but it missed! Rex was feeling confident.
Felix, hiding in the bushes towards the back with a deer rifle, had a flashback to the person he shot dead about an hour earlier. He froze, unable to pull the trigger.
DM - Felix's player had to leave the game right at that moment.
It was Rex's player's turn.
Officer Tucker's player heard me mention that the armored soldier had an Armor Class of 18. He spouted his incredulity! "18!! We'll never beat him!"
Rex's player said, "But I hit him!"
Officer Tucker's player replied, "Yeah, no. You have to roll a 16 or better multiple times to hit him, and (Professor Putnam) is never going to hit with a ranged attack - too many modifiers."
I chimed in, "Okay, meta-game moment. (Felix) might take him out in one hit if he can hit, but (Felix) is not in this fight. Might I suggest running away at this point? These guys are meant to be scary tough. They're the Terminator - armored, slow, overconfident, and relentless. Its baked into the module that they won't chase you if you run away and you can run away at any time. I suggest Rex pick up Officer Tucker and Professor Putnam pick up Felix and run back to the truck. Your chances of winning this fight are not good. I do have a storyline where you are captured, so being captured is not the end. But I'll leave that decision up to you.
Rex grabbed the limp body of Officer Tucker, threw him over his shoulder, and ran back to the sawmill. So too Professor Putnam picked up Felix and followed suit.
They heard an electronic zorch sound in the forest behind them. The dog's barking was silenced.
Rex threw Bocephus into the truck, started it, and drove off onto the highway. Professor Putnam, Felix, Scout, and Vera followed.
DM- I called a 20 minute break.
Pit Stop
The two trucks sped down the highway at regular highway speeds, slowing down around bends to avoid dangerous maneuvers. They were not chased.
The trucks drove three miles and pulled into the rural home of Scout Thomas' parents. As they slowed down, their trucks were illuminated by a spotlight from high overhead. They were spotted by one of the Martian aerial vehicles. They ran out of the trucks and into the house, illuminated by the aerial pursuer. Scout was a young outdoorsman and survivalist. He even produced his own internet video series on the subject. His garage was filled with large tents, sleeping bags, boxes of dried food, gallons of water, and other useful items. He and the others rushed, throwing everything into the back of the trucks. They connected the tow trailer and ATV to the back of one of the trucks and sped out as quickly as they could. They took a big risk spending the time getting this stuff after they had been spotted. The Martians would arrive any minute now.
DM- indeed, when spotted by the aerial vehicle, I secretly rolled 3d6 to determine how many minutes it would take for a patrol vehicle with 4 armored troopers to arrive. It would take them ten minutes to load the trucks and go. I rolled 14, so the patrol arrived 4 minutes after they left.
They went west down the highway, eventually losing their aerial pursuit.
Ten miles west of Williamsburg, PA, the highway abruptly ended.
Before them was a barren treeless moonscape of hills, valleys, ravines, and boulders. The road, the forest, everything just stopped. The sky had an eerie glow casting the world in a strange dim yellow light.
Scout whispered, "What happened? Where's the world?"
Rex said, "I don't think we're in our world anymore."
The two trucks advanced slowly off the road and onto the bare earth that lay beyond. They turned right and followed the perimeter of the trees as best they could. They drove about a mile before turning back into the woods. They took the trucks into the woods for about half a mile and stopped to pitch tents and set camp for the night. It was just about midnight. They ate field rations before going to bed.
Felix took first watch. It passed uneventfully. Rex took the second watch. Felix, who was still awake, stayed up with Rex and the two debated the events of the day. Professor Putnam took the last watch.
Just as the sun rose in the hazy yellow sky to the east, Professor Putnam was taken by surprise as two hunters emerged from the trees. They raised their hands in greeting. Professor Putnam, taking no chances, called out to wake the others.
The hunters said they had been in the bush all weekend. The group welcomed the hunters and offered them water and food and camp coffee. The hunters asked if anyone else saw the windstorm and lightshow that happened two days ago. Professor Putnam told them that the entire area had experienced some strange event and that they may not even be on Earth anymore.
The hunters were startled by the news - not that they believed it, they were worried about the old man spouting nonsense. They looked to Officer Tucker for reassurance. The police officer told them it was true then warned them against returning to town.
Rex blurted, "That's because the commies invaded! It's Red Dawn!"
Felix argued, "It's not commies! It's Martians! Martians landed in their rocketships!"
The two hunters exchanged a worried glance. They politely but nervously said, "Okaaaay. Well, we're going to be going now. We'll just head back to town."
Officer Tucker reiterated, "DON'T- head back to town. If they catch you they'll stun you and take you back to the school."
The hunters saw Vera with a broken leg just outside one of the tents, "Ma'am? Are you okay? Do you need any help?"
Vera said, "They didn't break my leg! I broke it running away form Martians! Everything they said is true!"
The two hunters turned and fled into the forest.
DM - Everyone got to make Persuasion/Fast Talk skill tests. Had they succeeded, they'd have earned some XP. Unfortunately, nobody got a success.
Felix went back to sleep in his tent. Rex asked Officer Tucker, "Shouldn't we get going?"
Bocephus replied, "He had a rough night. Let him sleep some more."
Two hours later, they group was breaking camp and dousing their campfire. Suddenly two Martian troopers were seen approaching from the east through the forest.
Officer Tucker said, "Shit! Throw everything in the truck. Go! Go!"
No attempt was made to pack things up. Everything was thrown haphazardly into the back of the truck. They sped off to the west and the edge of the tree-line.
Once they were safely away, they turned right and went north. Their destination was someplace called the Wasteland Trading Post about forty miles in that direction.
The Wasteland Trading Post
They drove the trucks, carrying the ATV on a trailer, slowly over the rocky hilly terrain. Despite their efforts to drive safely, Officer Tucker had difficulty traversing a gulley and caused some damage to the truck's heater. It became bitterly cold in the cab. They stopped for two hours while Rex used the spare parts he had taken from the garage at the auto dealership to make repairs.
After creeping along slowly across the countryside for about eight hours, the trucks crested a hill and looked down onto a flat plain covered in massive impact craters. An artificial tower rose 60 feet out of the center of one of the craters. The tower was roughly conical and narrow. It was covered in external scaffolding and makeshift stairs and ladders. Guy wires kept it upright. The entire structure, along with the guy wires and scaffolding, were decorated with long streamers, flags, and banners. People were moving about on the scaffolding, entering and exiting the structure.
As they got nearer the true nature of the structure became more clear - it was an old rocket-ship, like out of the fifties, standing straight up. The outer hull of the rocketship had been removed and the interior decks were exposed. The exposed interior decks were covered in junk, cooking food, bottles, etc. It was a market! A market built into the rusting hulk of an old immobile rocketship!
The outer lip of the crater formed a natural wall. A gate house had been dug into a section of the lip to allow entry. Small defensive guard posts were stationed around the crater.
They approached the gate house. It was manned by green-furred gorilla-men wearing worn and tattered coveralls and piecemeal armor.
Felix said, "Whaaaaaa?"
One of the gorilla-men called out to them, "Welcome to the Wasteland Trading Post. What do you have for trade?"
Officer Tucker replied, "We're not sure. We were told to come here and find someone named-" he quickly turned to Rex, "Who were we sent to find?"
Felix called out, "Mister Gibbons! We're here to see Mister Gibbons!"
The ape-man said, "Who may I say is calling?"
Officer Tucker introduced themselves.
They were allowed past the gates. Inside they saw a large weather-beaten tracked vehicle and a motorcycle with one large tread instead of wheels. They also saw a large long-legged flightless eagle with a saddle and bridle.
They could smell cooking meat and hear dozens of people trading and talking. It was about two in the afternoon.
A few minutes later a small creature that resembled a gibbon with purple fur and pointed ears bounded up onto the roof of a nearby vehicle. The creature wore a vest and pants. Its face was covered in smeared grease and it wiped the grease off its hands onto a dirty towel hanging from its belt.
"Hiya! I'm Mister Gibbons. Were you looking for me?"
Officer Tucker told Mister Gibbons about the recent events in Williamsburg. Mister Gibbons rubbed his chin and said that must have been the light show they saw on the southern horizon. He had no idea what had happened.
When told that a Martian armored trooper had told them to go north and seek him out, Mister Gibbons was surprised. He didn't know any ARES Consortium shock troopers, at least that he knew of. But the reason they were sent here was probably because it was the closest place and because he could point them in the direction where they wanted to go.
Felix asked, "What planet are we on?"
Mister Gibbons looked around, confused, "Whaddya talkin about? This is Earth!"
Rex asked, "Earth? What year is this?"
Mister Gibbons laughed, "Well, I think this is the year 2029 since the founding of the Terran Empire."
Felix said, "It's the same year as us!"
Officer Tucker pointed out, "That just might be a coincidence. It could be our year 5000 for all we know. Mister Gibbons, the armored soldier said he was a double agent working for the Earth Resistance. Are you with the Earth Resistance?"
Mister Gibbons shushed him, "Keep your voice down. No. I'm not. The Wasteland Trading Post is a neutral location and we don't take sides. But if you're looking for the Resistance, I might know somebody who can help you out. Her name is Eris Birdsong. She's a broker working out of the Old City outside of Cuyahoga dome, about 180 miles west of here. She can hook you up."
"So what do you do here?"
Mister Gibbons stood proudly, "What, here? We're a trading post! You got something you need? Bring something useful you don't need and trade for it! What have you got?"
Rex offered their work trucks from the sawmilll.
"Those things? What are those - internal combustion? What's their fuel? Maybe. We tend to use rechargeable power cells around here, no petroleum. Hasn't been any petroleum in the Earth for thousands of years. I have heard of some tinkers brewing their own distillate fuel from animal fats in a still. What else you got?"
Rex looked around, "We have some coffee."
"Coffee? Whazzat?"
"I'll make you some. You'll love it."
A loud gruff voice called from across the yard, "Mister Gibbons! Get back to work!" It was an elderly man with a white beard with the authoritative look of someone in command.
Mister Gibbons smiled, "That would be Frank. He's the boss-man. A gremlin's job is never done! Off I go!"
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