North Carolina

[mikeo80]

Midnight,

Is your group playing FTF or PBEM?

I would like to offer my services as a First Contact Specialist. I can join in through PBEM.

Or if your group is near Fayetteville, NC, I can join FTF.

My $0.02

Mike

[midnight77]

Originally Posted by mikeo80

Midnight,

Is your group playing FTF or PBEM?

I would like to offer my services as a First Contact Specialist. I can join in through PBEM.

Or if your group is near Fayetteville, NC, I can join FTF.

My $0.02

Mike

My group is FTF and we are in Greensboro at UNCG. We meet at sci-fi club on thursdays and my apartment on friday.

[midnight77]

here are some IC notes one of my players made.

Recon Team 32-B
Silias Becombe
Team Leader

We’re late. 150 fifty years or so. Not sure if it’s a malfunction or not. Hopefully the rest of the project is on the same time-lag. Radio’s clear though. Don’t know what to expect. Only thing can really do is follow our orders, hope someone gets on the line sooner rather than later.

Found civilization at least. Black powder level, but it’s something. Still functional at least.

~~~~~~~~~
Kentucky freehold?- Group out east of here. Kentucky and tennessee at the least. Slaver expansionists. Usual warlord shite. Too big to engage on our own, but project needs to deal with them. If not, have to get a milita going. Rather not go that route.

Confederacy- Name’s got me worried, but they sound all right. Bit nationalistic from the sound of it, but they’re a bit higher on the tech. Have to check out more

Chapel hill- voice on the radio, all I can make out is the city. Need to check it out

Albermarle- decent small town, fairly good first contact. Need to remember them

Lexington- region head, tad bit out of our recon zone, but not like there’s anyone else awake

Winston salem- still around, apparently big town. Need to check it out some point

University out east, decent bit of knowledge relatively

Big problem hasn’t been loss of knowledge, but equipment. They know how to treat and do things in theory, but the tech to do so isn’t there, and they can’t make much more than coal motors. Though there’s rumors of plans out west in kentucky, prop planes but big enough to carry weapons. Some balloons and zeppelins as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heading to Lexington now. If we’re lucky, might run into another recon team. If not...least there’s no one to yell at us for going out of AO.

[midnight77]

Also, just got a new player, a chemist with ranger traits. Hunt, archery, etc.

[midnight77]

New IC notes.

Heading to Lexington now. If we’re lucky, might run into another recon team. If not...least there’s no one to yell at us for going out of AO. No damn idea what to do when we get there. We’re recon, not command. Don’t have the resources to do much other than drive and kill. Nothing on the scale we would need for reconstruction.

~~~~~~~~~

Meet some traders on the road. Actual cars, pre-war and held together with duct tape and hope. Rolling Rico’s trading company. Gypsy truckers they call them. Decent enough, made a deal to ride up to Lexington with them for a keg of homebrew.

Talked about the biltmore republic up in Asheville. THey make electronics, fairly basic stuff but more’n we’ve seen elsewhere. Chapel hill signal got stronger. Sounds like talk radio almost. Can’t make out the words. Place with the university, likely just big wigs rambling.

Rolled into Salsbury with them. Talked with the sheriff there, Jehovah Thomas. Ran into some of his boys night before Rico. Escorting some killer, Mad Mike, to town for trial. Had to stop Leo from killing him. Team’s not the best. About the only reason they’re not dead is I said I’d keep them in line. Doc’s alright. Orca...can be. Rest...almost wish I’d left them. But they’re what I’ve got.

Talked around town. Cannopolis, down south a mile or two, is a bunch of cannibal raiders. Militia captain’ll pay us a half pound gold to be the spearhead of the attack. We’ve got the armor after all. Orca wants to go do it himself. Idiot’s never seen combat. None of them have. They’ll learn. Or die trying.
We’re heading out in the morning. Cannibals dug a pit across the road, laced the woods with powder charges. Orca’ll blast through the woods, get us around and in. Then we charge down the middle with the V and the militia cover fire from the woods. Here’s hoping we don’t die.

[lisa]

How's the game going?

Any developments?

[midnight77]

Have an IC update.

Hit cannopolis. Orca snuck up, blew a hole in the charges so we could get around the pit, then we just hammered straight in. No losses, lot of kills. Half pound of gold to our credit. Found a map and an old 1911 in a safe, got some radios from a mine outside town. Not much, but everything helps.

Heading into Lexington. Met a post courier on the way. Seems they’ve got it more or less intact. City’s a big place, got a chemical plant and they’re making their own ammo. Got a job to clear High point of raiders, about twenty or so. Picked up a few mercs to get some bodies in the line of fire. Have a week before they let us see the mayor. Convention and such. Give me some time to get words in order.

Leo was high when I got back, mumbling about robbing the chemical plant or some such. Glad we’re not driving today. If we don’t get in contact with command...not really sure what we’ll do.

We killed the raiders. Walked right into an ambush, got one of the mercs killed and the other two put in the hospital. Killed all the fuckers though. Blood for blood. Found some good loot, gold and guns. Big thing was a letter of marque in the chief’s pockets. Commissoned and authorized by the Kentucky Freehold.

First stage of an invasion. Disrupt the trade and get the people upset, then come in and remove the threat yourself. Makes you look like the good guys. Especially once you start rebuilding the infrastructure they destroyed. That point, you’re in charge and they just don’t know it yet.

Going to be quite the yelling match once we get back.

~~~~~~~

Handed the letter over to the sheriff. He was less than happy about the implications. Walked in with him as he presented it to the convention. Got thumbed as a witness for later, seeing as I found the damn thing.

Going to spring the big news then. Had to do it some point, might as well get the full dramatic effect. Have to wear a suit for it. Fucking dammit.

They reacted. . .well. Actually believed me, which was good. Course, then they wanted our help building an alliance to face the Freehold. Carry documents and such to the other city-states while they have a constitutional convention. Looked like people weren’t happy about that. Like being the biggest fish in their pond, I’d guess. I asked for an ambassador to come with us. I’m not dealing with that shit, and I know no-one else here can. Command’s going to have a field day if and when they wake up.

Leo’s made a friend. God help us all. Man name of Ichabod, runs a cotton mill. His family’s been waiting the coming of the Project. Would guess an earlier team contacted them. He’s willing to support us if he and his men can come along. My gut says he’s more interested in the money he can make from all this than the project, first dibs on all the trade and economic shite. I can use that. Just have to make sure we don’t blow up too much.

Still waiting for that ambassador. Been doing odd jobs. Tweaked their plans for the sewers. Few by-passes they can make to reduce the stress load. My fancy degree come to this. Leo’s been driving up and down the roads. Taxi, hauler, med runner, all that. Hopefully we get out of here before he gets bored.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Turnersburg- previous contact with project. Two guys at the mayoral convention, acted like we were the second coming. Lovely.

Taking documents to:
Chapel Hill University
Wilmington
Biltmore Republic


Classics department- classists, plato’s republics, intelligent should rule

Biltmore republic- control mountains, trade w/ kentucky

Wilmington- Marines- hate confederacy

Ichabod- family was contacted by project [likely recon], told to help [motivated some by that, mostly be self-interest]

[midnight77]

New update.

Met the ambassador finally today. Some mild mannered paper-pusher. Glad as hell he’s here and I don’t have to do the talking. Hired a few mercs while we were here, bikers. Way I figure, if they die, we get their bikes. Not like any of them seem to be worth anything these days. No armor, no real training. Legion ate these guys up back in the day.

Passed a cabin on the way. Opium farm. Tits picked up a sack of seeds, cost us two gold eagles. Told her to make pain-killers out of it. Figure I’ll be busting up a heroin smuggling operation within the month. And that’s probably cutting her short. Who in hell thought she’d be good for rebuilding the world, I’ll never know. Least Orca hasn’t tried to blow anything up yet. Yet.

Arrived at Chapel hill. Place looks lovely. Milita drilling, some cannon, no fortifications. They’ll die quick. Lovely thing with expansionists, they like to move. Don’t care about losses either. You have to have fortifications to hold them up, or traps, or something. Odds are they don’t even think they need the rest of the state. Intellectuals my ass. Don’t even have good coffee here. Not like the root stuff out in the country been drinking. All flavors and spices and shit. Don’t want to taste the dirt in it. Whole problem for you right there.

Somehow, Leo proved useful. Got him in a suit and had him rant at the classics until they gave in. Apparently they hadn’t realized the Kentuckians want to wipe out free thinkers like them, and their books aren’t bullet-proof. He even got a movement going that wants a bill of rights. Command is going to have a field day when they wake up. If they wake up. Fuckers.

We’re heading on to the coast to talk to the Marines next. Met the new ambassador, old one’s staying here to keep liaising and such like. Orca’s staying as well to train the milita how to use their cannon. Hopefully he won’t cause a diplomatic incident. Convention had no idea wha they got themselves into with us, poor bastards.

Swear to god, this new one’s a spitting image of colonel sanders. Should keep that to myself, given we’re at war with kentucky. Might even be someone who gets it. Heading out with Ichabod and his men. Man’s been lining his pockets pretty good, getting first dibs on all the new trade opportunities. How the hell I started re-shaping the world, I don’t know. If I’m lucky, I’ll get out of this with-out being turned into a saint. Last thing I need is some asshole deciding to re-write me for posterity.


Need more coffee. Would start drinking if I trusted these idiots to not blow the v-50 up while I was out. Came across some tribal on the road, he wanted to bum a ride. Leo and doc started ranting about him being a hippie. Like they even know what that is. Then he made a face like he was about to shit himself and set a cat on fire. So they started calling him a demon. And Tits tried to strangle him while Leo broke out the bible. Tribal shocked her out of it and I had to play meat-shield while the others freaked out. Told him to get his ass out of there before they pulled something, but he just kept asking to ride with us. While three people ranted about wanting to kill him.

Fucking idiot.

Ichabod was fine with having the guy in one of the trucks, so I just threw him in one. Thought for a moment Leo and Tits were going to try and go after him anyway, but somehow I managed to get them back in the fifty and heading east.

I need a fucking vacation. And some more coffee.

[Damocles]

Morrow Mountain State Park is in the middle of the State, near the Uwharrie National Forest. Surely some Project cache or facility ended up there...

It's also a good place to put Snake Eater teams nearby, since Uwahrrie is part of the area SF trains in for the Robin Sage exercise (aka Pineland).

[midnight77]

We got to town. Fixed a lot of boilers. Getting a boat here and heading down coast to wilmington. Weaver got himself a job at the pysker’s guild, loaned him the entry fee. His initiation task was filtering water down in the slums. Came along for giggles. While he was trying to give himself an aneurysm, went ahead and built them a water filter. Really just needed to dump some activated charcoal in there. Fifteen minutes of work, four months of clean water, more if they remember to change the filter like I said. Bit easier than an hour of work for an hour of water.

Leaving town. Been a fairly dull ride. Lots of vomiting. Doc put something in my coffee to keep it down. Didn’t work as well on him sadly. Watching a boat in the distance. Looks like pirates. Should probably tell everyone else.

All that prep for nothing. Weaver set just about all of them on fire. Captured the others. Found a letter of marque, apparently they were head-hunting for us on orders of Kentucky. Lovely day. Just what I needed, more stress.
Made it to Wilmington. The general was less open to diplomacy than I hoped. Tried to talk him out of it, but he’s a hard ass. Talked with his aide, found out the next in line is more amiable to the proposal. Triumverate of them rule the place, one’s already on our side, other two oppose. So if something were to happen to one of the latter, we have our majority.

Wish Command was up. Wouldn’t have to make these kind of calls. Mean, good of the many and all that, but what if we get caught? Or if they don’t believe us? And then there’s all the big picture to think about. We start here, are we going to do this every time anyone gets stubborn? Is this next general even competent? Is this right?

Mean, I already sent Leo to poison the man’s coffee half an hour ago, but it’s something to think about. And then ignore. Fucker’s between the state and survival, he dies. Don’t have time for niceties. Course, might regret that if this goes to hell.

Leo’s back, and the job’s done. Jarheads bought the story, and we’re in the clear. Idiots. Heading back to Lexington, for something didn’t really catch. When we get there, going to call up the MARS teams, get ready for mess. Hopefully they’re still functioning. Really don’t want to do this alone.

[midnight77]

And now the insufferable waiting. Sit here for days, waiting for the asshats in politics to decide how to shit. Have a war in our lap, and they want to complain about the dressing. Leo’s our rep in the congress for some reason.

Oh, right, because the Project couldn’t give us a diplomat worth shit. Lovely. Whole team is messed up. Doc’s weird, but good at what he does. Orca’s off sleeping with explosives, Leo’s an antisocial jackass, and Tits is....I don’t even know.

Mars team showed up today. Not much use. No connection with command, no-one else, just six other people. Fucking project. They said they might be able to raise regional, but that’s a maybe. Just sitting here with my thumb up my ass.

Bought a gattling gun from some traders. Have enough gold sitting around might as well. Keep looting enough corpses, get rich. Turned one of the trucks into an armored car, had nothing else to do.

Leo’s getting a medal for some reason. Don’t know why. Don’t really care. It’s tomorrow and i have to show up in dress suit. Don’t have to, but will.

And now we have assassination attempts. Leo lost a finger, Doc took a bullet to the leg, Sheriff’s in critical care, and about six people are dead. Had to stop Orca from torturing the assassin. Knocked him out, cavity searched him. He woke up with my hand up his ass. Didn’t find anything. This time. Team’s getting ragged. Tired of it. Having the doc work on learning brain shit. Going to make an anti-psyker device.

Now that we’re healed up, course we have orders. Heading to Biltmore. Get them to ally with us. Because we’re the best they have somehow. Fucking hell. Orca’s hiding something. Writing letters and hiding them, wandering off and not saying why, getting me on edge.

Nearly killed Orca. Turns out he was just writing Weaver about bullshit. Was an inch from breaking his neck when he decided to say so. Had the doc check the letters. Tired of this.

Managed to talk Biltmore into an alliance. Defensive and trade and shit. Not enough bang for merger on our part, but convinced them that it made tactical sense. Hate this shit. I build bridges. I kill people. I don’t do diplomacy.