Norah led them to a ramshackle structure constructed from scavenged concrete blocks and rusted metal sheets. A sign outside the establishment read “Buffalo Springs Respite - All are Welcome”. There were a variety of mounts and vehicles outside including 4 giant coyotes with saddles, 2 monotreads, and a hovercraft.
Chapter 7 - The Buffalo Springs Respite
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, the team travels to Buffalo Springs and gets into a fight with some bounty hunters. Plus, A DEATH IN THE PARTY!
Dramatis Personae
- Officer Bocephus "J.T." Tucker - Williamsburg police department - Level 2 Warrior
- Rex Werthy - construction worker - Level 3 Engineer
- Professor Thadeus Putnam - retired professor of anthropology - Level 2 Expert
- Felix Silla-Rossi - 15 year-old juvenile delinquent - Level 2 Rogue
- Scout Thomas - 16 year-old outdoorsman and YouTube personality - Level 2 Scout
- Officer Steve - a German Shepherd, Officer Tucker's partner.
- Vera - retired nurse - NPC
- Mabel - Professor Putnam's elderly housekeeper - NPC
- Ivana Soraya - elementary school teacher - NPC
- Auguste Kristijan - locksmith - NPC
- Qarma Blaze - teenager and retail sales clerk - NPC
- Farah Subhash - retired truck driver - NPC
- Alan Poulson - general contractor - NPC
- Norah Fernandez - wasteland traveler with contacts in the Earth Resistance - NPC
Fight at the Respite
The bartender said, "The Consortium is paying 1000 credits a head to bring in your people alive. So what's it gonna be? You gonna make this easy or hard?"
Scout said, "Hard!" and turned around and opened fire on the man blocking his exit with his assault rifle. The man fell down, dead. Felix fired his antique luger pistol as fast as he could into the other man. Rex ran behind the bar and attacked the bartender with his shovel. He then threw himself out of a nearby window and sought cover behind the wall.
The bartender leaned out the window and fired his sonic stunner at Rex, hitting him. Rex shuddered but fought through the seizure.
Norah fired her laser rifle at a bounty hunter but missed. A nearby bounty hunter stunned Norah in return. She fell to the floor unconscious.
Chaos reigned in the respite as the bounty hunters fired their sonic stunners, missing. One of the bounty hunters leaped out of a nearby window and jumped onto the back of the giant coyote mount tethered to a hitching post outside. Two more bounty hunters ran around from the side of the building and covered the exit.
Professor Putnam returned fire with his own stunner, missing.
Officer Tucker activated a stun grenade and tossed it across the room. It bounced back a few feet and caught Professor Putnam in the effect zone. Professor Putnam and two of the bounty hunters fell down unconscious.
Scout fired again with his assault rifle, killing another bounty hunter. Felix ran around the corner to help Rex.
The bounty hunter on the giant coyote spurred his mount over towards the exit of the bar, blocking further escape. The coyote was the size of a bull. Its massive jaws clamped down onto Scout, crushing his chest. Scout screamed and fell to the floor, unconscious and dying.
DM - We're using the "death at -10 hit points" rule from AD&D. Scout was bit for 5 damage reducing him to -1 hit points.
Officer Tucker opened fire on the coyote with his automatic pistol. The giant canine was shot twice but kept fighting!
Outside, Rex and Felix opened fire on the bartender who appeared to be the leader of the bounty hunters. Rex moved around to the back of the building in an attempt to flank the bounty hunter leader. He saw inside two more bounty hunters guarding an older black woman who was bound and gagged in a chair in a back room. He quickly dodged back as one of the bounty hunters broke the window and attacked him with the sonic stunner.
Officer Tucker continued firing on the coyote until it died. He then put one bullet in its rider, killing him.
The leader of the bounty hunters moved to the back window to attack Rex. Rex shot him in the head with his pistol. The leader went down.
DM - Natural 20! 11 damage!
After the defeat of their leader, one of the bounty hunters outside got onto the hovercraft and fled, the other jumped up onto a coyote and ran off. One bounty hunter inside picked up Professor Putnam's unconscious body and ran towards a broken window. He was shot down by Officer Tucker.
Felix grabbed his laser rifle and ran through the respite's dining hall towards an busted window, firing at the fleeing hovercraft and scoring one small hit. It was not enough to stop the hovercraft and it sped away.
At the end of the battle, the team had captured two bounty hunters who had been stunned by the grenade. Two got away. Seven lay dead.
Scout lay on the floor by the entrance, bleeding to death. Officer Tucker leaped to his aid. He withdrew several small emergency first aid kits from his and Scout's pack. He was soon joined by Rex and ultimately Felix. No one seemed to know what to do. First aid kits were opened and bandages were applied, but Scout continued to bleed.
It soon became clear. Scout was dead.
DM - No one was trained in First Aid - that was Scout's job. Everyone kept trying, wasting a first aid kit with each try, but no one could roll lower than their Technical score. Scout eventually reached -10 hit points and died.
Mack
The woman in the back was brought out and unbound. She introduced herself as Mack, owner of the Buffalo Springs Respite. The thanked the team for saving her and defeating the goons who took over her place. Bandits are a problem outside the domes but normally they just rob her and leave. She's never been taken hostage before.
Qarma brought Officer Steve in from the truck outside, "Ew! Gross! What was all that noise?"
Officer Tucker introduced himself, Felix, Qarma, and Rex. He told Mack that they had come here because they were interested in joining the Earth Resistance.
"Earth Resistance you say? What makes you think I know anything about the Earth Resistance?"
Officer Tucker said that the unconscious woman on the floor, Norah Fernandez, had brought them here to meet her. They asked if she knew Norah.
Mack shook her head, "No, can't say that I recognize her."
The team was beginning to become suspicious that Norah had set up an ambush.
After a few minutes, Professor Putnam rose from his stupor. A few minutes after that, Norah came to. Officer Tucker pointed out that Mack didn't know Norah and demanded some answers.
"Well, of course she wouldn't know me. She's never met me. But we have mutual friends." Norah looked at Mack. The two exchanged a long silent conversation - as if entire sentences were being spoken with subtle eye movements and nods.
Mack suddenly replied, "Oh! Norah! Of course! Welcome back. It's been so long. Your friends will be expecting you."
Norah said, pointedly, "Will my new friends be welcome here? I can vouch for them."
Mack smiled, "Of course! Of course! Welcome everyone. I'll give them the full tour. You go ahead and run along now."
Norah thanked Mack and bade her farewell to the group, "Mack here will take good care of you. Trust her and do as she says. She's a friend." She left the Respite, got on her mono-tread, and rode off.
Interrogation
Mack said, "Well, thanks again for saving me! You are free to stay here tonight on the house. Drinks and food are on me!"
Professor Putnam and Felix dragged away the dead bodies out of Mack's establishment.
Qarma paced back and forth in front of the Respite holding up her smart phone, searching in vain for signal bars that didn't exist.
Rex, meanwhile, spent several hours befriending the two giant coyotes. He named them "Thrasher" and "Chew-Face", in honor of Scout.
Inside, Officer Tucker and Officer Steve interrogated the two bounty hunter prisoners who were regaining consciousness. The interrogation was easy, the bounty hunters were cooperative, answered questions, and willingly gave up what they knew. They had no reason to be secretive.
General Clopis of the Ares Consortium had put out a general bounty of 1000 credits on anyone who had escaped something called the Iron Highlands Event. Some bounty hunters staying at the Wasteland Trading Post two nights ago overhead their conversation with Norah and figured out that they were escapees from the event and that they were headed north to the Buffalo Respite. So the other bounty hunters radioed the base. They were sent out from the base and arrived just in time to set up an ambush. The coyote-riders were hired as lookouts to warn of your approach.
He revealed that their base was located in the ruins of Old Cuyahoga and that they had captured at least a dozen other escapees. They were being held in the base and would eventually be delivered to General Clopis in Manhattan Complex in a few days for the reward.
Officer Tucker thanked them for being cooperative and set them free. He let the pair take one of the mono-treads and allowed them to build a makeshift sledge out of a large sheet of duraplas so that they could transport the bodies of their comrades back to their base and warned them about coming back.
That night, Professor Putnam performed the moonlight burial ceremony of the Indo-European Stone Skull tribe for Scout. They, as the surviving members of the tribe, threw rocks at Scout's grave to punish him for dying and leaving the land of the living. They then retired to the Respite to drink multiple rounds of alcohol. Later, the returned to the grave to beg for Scout's forgiveness by cavorting around the grave and howling at the moon.
DM - Professor Putnam is an anthropologist but his player definitely isn't. So his player instead generates random tribe names and references goofy traditions that she invents on the spot.
After the ceremony, officer Tucker once more asked Mack the Earth Resistance. Mack said, "I may know somebody who knows somebody. I tell you what. Stick around here until tomorrow. That somebody who knows somebody may want to meet you."
DM - There was actually a lot of dialogue and roleplaying during this part that I am unable to convey. Mack gave a lot of exposition, asked a lot of questions, etc. I'm just summing up for expediency.
The Recruitment Pitch
The next morning, Mack woke everyone up early and asked them to gather in the main room. She told them that somebody who knows somebody wanted to meet them. They needed to go to a ruined building about a mile east. She told them that they were free to take any armor or weapons but they wouldn't need them.
DM - I learned that I should have told them to leave behind their vehicles and mounts. It was only a mile away, they could/should have walked. It would have made it less complicated. I went back and updated the text in the module to fix this. Likewise, I later updated this entire next section from what I did to make it flow better and make more sense.
They took a truck and a mono-tread to the site and found the ruined building, little more than four exterior walls and a door - like a big warehouse. They placed their weapons into the armored cargo locker on Felix's mono-tread and entered the dark building.
A moment later a hologram projection appeared in mid-air, larger than life. The woman wore a mask to conceal her identity. The mysterious masked woman introduced herself as an agent and spokesperson for the Earth Resistance and asked the player characters what they knew of organization.
Officer Tucker replied that the Consortium was hunting them down and that they knew the Earth Resistance was fighting against the Consortium. That the Resistance opposed the Consortium was reason enough to seek them out - but he also hoped to get their help in rescuing the people of Williamsburg and Buck's Head that had been captured.
She told them that the Earth Resistance was familiar with the plight of the refugees from the parallel dimension and knew well why General Clopis wanted to capture them so badly. She told them that she can help them find a way to free their people and return to their home dimension, if that’s what they want to do, but she needed their help.
She asked, “Would you like to join the Earth Resistance?”
J.T. Tucker, Rex, Felix, and Professor Putnam looked at each other and nodded, "Well, yeah. That's what we said."
Qarma looked up from her phone, "Yeah. Whatever. Do you have a charger?"
DM - Qarma has graduated from NPC to PC with Scout's player picking up the reins. He's doing a great job. Everybody hates her. Qarma's player hates her. I love her and I love how he's playing her. He's also doing me a favor and playtesting the new "Civilian" career I created. I've already made adjustments based on his experience.
The hologram said, "Excellent. If you travel another mile north of here, you'll meet a man. His name is Tech Sergeant Karl Rhys. He'll take you to the Hidden City."
DM - It was during the playtest that I realized the hologram was redundant. I have since replaced the hologram with a direct meet-up with Tech Sergeant Karl Rhys, below. He now serves the same purpose as the hologram without having to add the extra step.
Tech Sergeant Karl Rhys
They did as she directed and soon met a man wearing a long coat over a futuristic blue and grey uniform. He wore a tight-fitting helmet. His face was unshaven and he had the look of a man who'd seen too much.
"I'm Tech Sergeant Karl Rhys. I'm with the Earth Resistance. Come with me. I’ve got a transport flier parked just out of town. I'm going take you to the Hidden City.”
The transport flier traveled low to the ground for about an hour. Tech Sergeant Rhys handed them each a blindfold, “I’m sorry. You’re going to have to wear these until we know we can trust you. Don’t worry, you won’t have to wear them very long. Also, I’ll have to take your weapons. This is purely a security precaution and they will be returned to you.”
The flier transported the blindfolded passengers through a rapid descent. The flier landed and they were transferred into another vehicle. They could hear the wind over a large body of water - no doubt Lake Erielhonan, aka Lake Erie. The pressurized vehicle submerged and traveled for about an hour before surfacing. They were taken out of the submersible and led through a large chamber full of the sounds of machines and echoes - like a hangar bay. They were then escorted, still blindfolded, into a room with a loud electric hum. They passed through an arch or doorway that seemed to be the source of the hum. There was a flash of light and their stomach seemed to drop. They were led out of the room and were taken down a corridor to a smaller room and told to remove their blindfolds.
They meet a woman wearing a futuristic skin-tight blue and grey uniform.
“Greetings. I apologize for all the skullduggery. We have to be cautious. I am Colonel Betty Lang of the Earth Resistance. You are in a secret and secure location known as the Hidden City. I understand you’ve been through quite an ordeal. I’m here to tell you two things. First, you are safe now. The Consortium can’t find you here. This is a safe place. You are free to stay as long as you like and where you go from here is up to you.”
“Second, I’m sad to report that the Consortium has captured your friends and loved ones. Doctor Mangrove tells me that they believe that by interrogating and experimenting on you and your people - everyone from your dimension - they might unlock the key to a technology that will help them in their quest to completely dominate the Solar System.”
“If you would like to help your friends, your family, and your loved ones, join us. Join the Earth Resistance and fight against the Consortium. We will help you free them and one day help you return to your home dimension.”
The team was unanimous in their desire to join.
"Excellent! Welcome to the Resistance. Allow me to show you around a bit and introduce you to some people."
Professor Putnam pontificated, "Its too bad Scout isn't here to join us. He would have loved this."
DM - Yikes! that's a lot of exposition in a short amount of time! Also, there's like three or four separate recruitment pitches in there. I had to go back and streamline this process so that it flowed more naturally. In retrospect, I might even have added a random creature battle to the city before meeting Karl Rhys, just to split up all the exposition encounters.
The Hidden City
The members of the party were shown to a shower bay where they were able to clean themselves and don clean blue and white jumpsuits. They were given an opportunity to grab a snack of dried and compressed seaweed and algae chips and rehydrate with some clean water.Colonel Betty Lang met them in a large conference room.
"Welcome to the Hidden City." She pushed a button on her computer-gauntlet and a hologram appeared. The image was of what appeared to be a large transparent potato mad of light. The interior of the potato was a complicated network of chambers and passages radiating out like spokes from a central axis. "The Hidden City is located inside an asteroid. I cannot tell you which asteroid - that is top secret - but know that you are no longer on Earth. You were brought here by the only two operating hypergates known to exist. They were activated by our chief scientist, Doctor Mangrove. Please, come with me."
Felix looked around in awe, "Cool! We're in space! Scout would have loved this!"
She led them away out of the conference room, down another corridor, and into a waiting room with large windows that looked into a laboratory. Within they saw a middle-aged black man wearing a long white and grey lab coat over a blue tunic discussing important subjects with an assistant.
Colonel Lang activated an intercom and spoke into a microphone, "Doctor Mangrove. They're here as you requested."
Doctor Mangrove nodded and left the laboratory, entering the observation room through an airlock.
"Are these they?" he asked. Colonel Lang nodded silently. Doctor Mangrove beamed with glee before excitedly shaking each of their hands, "Greetings! Greetings! Welcome to our universe! I say, can you understand my language? Oh! Excellent! How convenient!"
"I must say, the event that brought you here was simply extraordinary! Unprecedented! Indeed, your arrival represents a real opportunity for me! And, of course, for Doctor Jondo of the Consortium. You and your people must be an absolute BOON to his research!"
Felix asked, "Does this have anything to do with the hypergates?"
"Oh, yes! Yes yes! You see, Doctor Jondo is the head scientist working on a project to reactivate the hypergate network for the Consortium. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us, he ran into a severe impediment to his research that has stymied him for years!"
“You see, five hundred years ago, the Terran Empire used the hypergates to travel instantaneously between the worlds of our Solar system. Then the Martians revolted. They used planet bombs to destroy the surface of our world. This not only destroyed the Terran Empire, it destroyed the hypergate network. Since that time, the network has been unusable.”
“If the Martians could reactivate the network, it would represent a huge strategic advantage for them in their conquest of the Solar System."
"Doctor Jondo has been working on the project for years. Luckily, he has been unsuccessful. You see, the hypergates make use of wormholes that connects two points in space. These wormholes are incredibly dangerous."
"You see, without the algorithms that the Terran Empire used to control the wormholes, they have a tendency to disrupts the very fabric of space and time. Certain laws of physics cease to function in their vicinity. Chemical reactions fail to occur. Electrical current stops. Nothing with a brain, no artificial device, no living being or artificial apparatus will function near the wormhole. Because this quantum disruption affects reality itself, you see, there is no way to shield oneself from its effects.”
“However, I have a theory. Every subatomic particle, every proton and electron in our universe has a specific quantum wavelength. The wormhole affects all particles with the same quantum wavelength. I suspect that matter from your universe possesses a different quantum wavelength from matter from our universe. This would make you immune to the effects of the wormhole, you see."
"I believe Doctor Jondo likewise suspects this and that is why he directed General Clopis to round up everyone from your universe. He wanted them alive, you see, first so that he could experiment upon them, and second so that he could recruit them or press them into service. He wants to use your people to help him reactivate the wormholes and re-establish the hypergate network."
Colonel Lang added, "We have intercepted intelligence that this is the case. An army of workers and equipment have been redirected from Iron City Complex and Manhattan Island Complex to the event area. We believe Doctor Jondo is harvesting every last bit of matter from your universe for his use."
"Oh, that's terrible terrible news!" said Doctor Mangrove.
Colonel Lang addressed the others, "That's why we need your help. We would like your assistance in reactivating the hypergates before the Consortium does."
Professor Putnam raised his hand, "Um, excuse me. I'm just a retired anthropologist. What do I have to offer?"
Colonel Lang smiled, "Professor Putnam. You should know that scientists and engineers are especially venerated among the Resistance. The ARES Consortium ensures that only a select few citizens of the UEA domes are able to receive an advanced education in science or technology. As a result, those with such backgrounds, even those from another universe, are in high demand. Unlike the domes, the Resistance places a high priority on academic knowledge, scientific research, and technological innovation. If for no other reason, you would be a great asset on our diplomatic missions to other worlds."
"Oh!" Professor Putnam practically blushed.
Officer Tucker cleared his throat, "Yeah. We're all for it. But we have a more pressing issue we need to take care of first. There are people from our universe being kept captive by bounty hunters in Old Cuyahoga, wherever that is. We need to rescue them as soon as possible before they are transferred to Doctor Jondo."
"Of course!" replied Colonel Lang, "We don't have time to assemble a proper strike team, but I can assign a submersible transport to take you there and bring you back. Your people would be welcome and safe here. We can provide them with false identities. After that, they will be free to do whatever they choose to do."
The Mission
Colonel Lang explained their situation in the Resistance. They were to be recruited as “advisors” or “consultants” outside the standard military hierarchy of the Resistance. They were assigned to their own living quarters within the Niagara Org. The hypergate to and from the Hidden City was restricted to mission-related travel and emergencies only.
Officer Tucker would retain his police rank and title and would be addressed as such. However, these were merely honorifics and did not integrate with the Resistance chain of command.
Once they were safely back on Earth and in the underground base called Niagara Org, they were allowed to stow their equipment in their quarters. Their vehicles and mounts were being transferred.
An armored submersible transport was assigned to take them to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The underwater journey from Niagara Org to Cuyahoga took just over eight hours.
Rex said, "Wow, a submersible! Scout would have loved this!"
The transport surfaced onto the river bank under the cover of darkness a few miles outside of Cuyahoga Dome and the team deployed. It was near midnight.
Cuyahoga Dome was a majestic sight. The city was contained within three large geodesic agricultural domes and over a dozen massive residential and industrial mega-structures. The structures are all sealed self-contained environments and were connected by multiple sky-bridges, tubes, and an extensive public transportation system.
In the distance, the team could see rocketships the size of skyscrapers blasting off into the sky and descending on plumes of braking-thrust to rest gently on the landing deck at the spaceport.
They soon found the ruins of Old Cuyahoga a few miles east of the domes. The original buildings of the Old City had been destroyed long ago leaving nothing but skeletal remnants - thick walls rising dozens of feet out of the hard duracrete foundations. The remnants of the ancient structures created walled compounds that had become occupied by those exiled from the Cuyahoga dome and their generations of descendants. Those who lived in the compounds had created ramshackle shelters out of scavenged materials.
The team entered Old Cuyahoga and found wretched people living in squalor, hunting stray dogs, wasteland rats, and giant ants for food. Some cultivated crops of mushrooms and small gardens of stunted vegetables in duraplas greenhouses cobbled together by cast off materials.
Felix took a look around and soon found some fresh monotread tracks that led to a walled compound. The entrance to the compound was protected by a gate made of iron bars. Inside the compound were two guards warming themselves around a glowing thermal emitter. Two more guards patrolled on top of the walls. They could see the hovercraft, giant coyote, and mono-treads that fled the ambush the day before, plus a few extra mounts and vehicles.
This was the place.
The Fixer
Unfortunately, they had no idea who awaited them inside. They needed some intelligence.
Felix went around and asked some of the locals what they knew about the bounty hunters inside the compound. He was met with paranoid silence until one local pointed across what was once a downtown street.
He saw a short line of people waiting to talk to a woman standing near a thermal emitter. She was a human, a Terran, about twenty years old. She had long red curly hair and freckles, giving her a youthful and innocent appearance. She wore a long heavy coat and thick fingerless gloves. She seemed to be making deals with the people in line, trading, shaking hands, nodding.
They waited their turn to approach her. As they came near, she smiled while her hand reached for her rocket pistol under her coat. She held out her other hand and said, “That’s- that’s close enough, thanks. I mean no offense but I don’t know you. This is only a precaution. Who are you and what do you want?”
They explained that the bounty hunters had captured some people that they needed to free. They simply wanted to know how many bounty hunters lay within and with what were they armed.
She smiled, "Oh, yeah. Those guys are jerks. Here's the deal, I'll tell you what you want to know, but it won't be free. It will cost you. I will give you a full run-down on their defenses. In exchange, you have to bring me something from their vault. They've got a databank I need."
Felix asked, "What's a databank?"
The woman replied, "It's a thing about the size of a briefcase. Its got lights on it."
Felix sighed, "No, what's it do?"
The woman stopped short, sighed, and started over, "You see, a computer is an electronic device that performs calculations. It stores important information in a databank. Usually the databank is part of a computer, but this databank is portable, you see."
Felix rolled his eyes, "Oh, got it."
"Anyway, bring me this databank intact. If the bandits are unable to seek retribution for the theft, even better. Do we have a deal?"
Officer Tucker said, "Sure. I think that's reasonable."
"Fine. But know this - if you renege on this deal, I know powerful people. They will make your life miserable."
"We got it."
"Okay, let's see." She mentally counted up, "uh, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. There's fourteen of them - four guarding the wall and ten down below in the bunker. There's two or three dire-coyotes in the compound. Oh, wait, they've also two volgiurs in the bunker as guard beasts."
Officer Tucker asked, "What's a volgiur?"
"It's a great big flightless bird that runs on all fours. They eat - well, they eat whatever they want."
The Compound
The team assembled in the dark on the far side of the compound away from the main gate. The two guards patrolling the wall had directional lights attached to their helmets. The team waited until they were farthest apart before approaching the wall.
Felix activated the Jump Harness strapped over his smart-suit. He suddenly felt lighter, as if gravity was being negated. He took a few quick bounces and found that he drifted back to earth slowly as if he were on the moon. He took one end of a rope in his hand and leaped over the twenty-foot high wall.
He landed on the other side and quickly looked back at the guard. The guard turned around - he had been heard! The guard approached Felix's position warily, shining his directional light around in an attempt to identify the sound. Felix sought cover. The guard froze and looked in his direction.
Felix took aim and fired.
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