For those who werent there - or didnt pay attention
The party had a rough time after trying to cross the bridge at Cottonwood, CA. It soon became clear that the flooding river was a major obstacle and that the only safe crossing points were closely guarded. In Cottonwood itself , the local warlord had set up a CP that the party decided not to brave - given their violent behaviour in the town. Also it was feared that there would be NDP informants in the populace.
The party thus headed west on route 36 in order to get back to Eureka.
It quickly became clear that the going was slow. The party nevertheless trudged on, fighting a few skirmishes on the way and vanquishing at least one deadly foe at a small bridge - the starving children holding it trying to extort a few rations worth of tax from travellers.
The party headed down Bowman road , after a courages river crossing where DeCorba bravely drove the RV across a rickety bridge across the muddy deluge. But at the Baker Fire Station at the end of Bowman road, the luck ran out. The party found the road blocked by detour signs. Sensing something amiss, they split up and crept forward in a two pronged patrol. Soon Lincoln " Grease" and the new party initiate, Ruby, found themselves pinned down by vicious small arms fire in the small wooded area north of the fire house. The other half of the party couragously tried to sneak back to a safer position, but they were intercepted by the enemy : marauders.
As Grease and Ruby literally fought back to back against evil,murderous scum in a hail of bullets, Pain Jr. and Doc Johnson tried to block the advance of the marauders main force that headed up Bowman road to flank the party.
Pain Jr. and Johnson bravely assaulted the two enemy cars using handgrenades and flashbangs. The enemy responded in kind- their leader , Chucky, leapt from his car blazing away with submachinegun fire and supressing Pain Jr and Doc Johnson.
Meanwhile Grease and Ruby suffered a severe blow when Ruby broke and was routed . Unaccustome dto combat she ran away from the field. Grease , however kept up the a steady fireing and dispatched the last of the marauders in his sector. He commenced the traditional ,courageous looting of the dead . Ruby gathered herself again and returned to the field. After a quick survey of the situation from a cleverly chosen vantage point -perhaps a bit exposed - the two comrades in arms teamed up once more and hightailed back to the others. The marauders on the other hand had suffered several casualties and been accosted by hand grenades and flashbangs. A command decsision to retire and courageously ambush some weaker adversary was made , and "Chucky`s Crew" drove of southwards.
The party rested up and pondered their next move. The bridge over the river to the west was held bya platoon of mechanizeed NDP regulars.
The river was dangerous and flooding. Fuel was low and food would only last about 1 more week. Snow was in the air and it was getting colder.
After several hours RL making CAREFUL deliberation a cunning plan was formulated- Tha party would assault the force holding the bridge at night. Sometime after midnight Dec. 31 2019 fireworks ensued.
The party stealthily advanced on the farmstread now garrisoning the NDPplatoon. Pain Jr. decide to create a diversion and courageously set fire to a barn that where the NDP held their prisoners - mostly women and children. They then tried to kill the two guards they could see. This was a moderate success, but the party managed to get their hands on a M3 halftrack with a M2HB/Paintek and promptly drowned out the cries of alarm from the surviving sentry in a shower of .50 cal fire. After machinegunning the house and several squads trying to make a dash for it , the party shot up the other vehicles they could see and blasted out of there , bullets flying around their ears as the stunned NDP troops started firing effectively.
With their M2HB blazing the party dashed across the bridge and mowed down several enemy trying to defend itor not hiding quickly enough. They were ambushed by rifle fire a few miles later , but drove through it with out serious harm.They then set out for an ardeous drive through the ever more snow covered mountains of the Coastal ranges.
After several hours the party stopped 200 m from a bridge that was blocked by a large ,lumbering snow covered hulk. A burst of machinegun fire soon erupted from it , spraying the road side next to the party. After firing a few flares and trying to communicate , the driver- Pain Jr. started advancing . Presently, the enemy trained their main gun on the partys M3 . Pain, DeCorba , Grease and Iron man promptly dove out of the vehicle. Doc and Ruby were not so lucky and the following 2 major damage results lead to both of them being hurled out of the M3 with bad shrapnel wounds and concussion damage. The tank blocking the road lay smoke and retired blasting away with its coaxial mg.
The party managed to save Ruby from bleeding to death and made a stretcher for her. It was deemed unsafe to carry on due to the wounded and the terrain and climate. A biouvac was built and Iron man and Pain Jr went ahead to get help in Eureka- now only 45 km away.
The pair reached Eureka 2 days later , after much toil and freezing colds. Exhausted they were taken in at Wolf Company HQ in Eureka. After thawing out sufficiently to speak, they learned that the war against the NDP was going badly. Eureka itself had come under siege scarce 6 weeks earlier, but the enemy had withdrawn suddenly without any clear reason.
A Pretorian/ Decorbian mission to fetch the stragglers from the party was sent out and all were soon cozing infront of a roaring fire or languishing in a guarded cell - depending on their circumstance.
And thats were we left off.