OVERCAST: Mason's Rebellion

[Lorsh]

You head off to bed, laying your head down on your pillow. You close your eyes and catch some sleep.

You wake up in the morning and receive the usual reports from Jill Stalkman regarding supply consumption. You and your group consumed 107 daily rations' worth of food yesterday, which now leaves you with 709 units of food left. For morale purposes, 27 units of alcohol were consumed, which now leaves you with 158 units of alcohol left. The supply logs have been updated.


The delegation to Tosaco is ready to move out.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason sends the Tosaco delegation off with his regards, reminding them that they shouldn't give out any specifics about their operation to the NPF just yet.

Once they're off Mason asks Stalkman to get two hunting parties together and see if they couldn't get any game out in the woods, just to supplement their stores for the time being. Mason asks that the hunting parties remain small so they can charade as local hunters if they're found by any government types.

After that Mason asks Ryan to get some scouting parties together and keep tabs on their targets from yesterday. Before it was a small recon push, but now he wanted dedicated eyes to watch them and see if there was anything important they could pick up beyond the surface intel. The camp, the lake outpost, and the Rangers were their closest immediate threats and he wanted more information before he moved on any of them.

 

[Lorsh]

The delegation leaves, and two seven-man hunting teams are assembled by your officers. They are mostly comprised of members of your sniper squad, and riflemen from Squad 6. Once given the all-clear, they depart for the woods to search for game to bring back. They leave behind any body armor and reformist insignias.

Ryan inquires as to how long the scouts should stay before coming back, and how close they should get.

 

[KamiKahzy]

"Long enough that they get a chance to observe the typical guard rotations. I want them back by tonight, but if they spot any trouble they're to head back immediately. They should only get as close as they feel comfortable without being spotted."

 

[Lorsh]

Ryan nods, and sends out Parker's recon team, as well as Wallace Tren's second squad as part of the scouts, with your permission. After everything is cleared, up the scouts depart from camp with plans to return this evening, most likely.

A few hours pass, and the hunting parties return. Camroy Sienely from the Sniper Squad managed to take down a deer worth about fifty units of food, and he managed to make the kill on his first shot, saving some ammunition along the way.


The huntsmen in Squad 6 did not have any luck in finding game, unfortunately. However, they did run into two survivors in the woods, who they ended up befriending. They are cousins named Travis and Kent Manson. They are apparently refugees from the town of Lynston. During their travels, they decided not to stay in Minty Dew due to its leftist presence, and they briefly stayed in Arkwright. They considered joining the ARF, but ultimately decided to keep going. When they met up with your huntsmen, they were convinced by Gregory Henderson to join up. They are both civilians without any weapons or supplies, however.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason asks Greaves to take some men and gently question the two newcomers. Mason wants to find out if the civilians have any useful skills that can be put to use, but primarily he wants Greaves to judge their character and make sure they don't appear to be spies or degenerates of any sort. If they seem trustworthy Mason would like Greaves to ask them what they know about Arkwright and the NPF forces that have setup in the area. Any information they can provide about the local forces and politics would be a huge help.

 

[Lorsh]

Greaves judges that the pair of cousins probably aren't particularly loyal to the government, and that they don't seem like criminals. He does, however, remark that they seem somewhat inexperienced- albeit ready to learn.

Greaves says that the men told him that Arkwright has a rebel camp in the town's outskirts, in an old grain elevator complex. Travis and Kent said there must be at least a couple hundred or so survivors there, led by a reformist captain named 'Sinclair'.

The situation in Lynston is pear-shaped, with no clear side (be it the ARF or NPA) currently winning. Heavy combat, and bombing from the government's Army Air Forces have destroyed large sections of the town, and many civilians have been killed or forced to flee. Colonel Perry is the NPA officer in charge of combat operations in Lynston. Kent and Travis mention seeing tanks and rocket launchers in play, but only a few.

The cousins also state that Minty Dew's leftist headquarters is located directly within the old mayor's office. They guess there must have been over a hundred rebels there, occupying around five hundred civilians, mostly farmers.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason asks if the two cousins know of a way to get from the compound to Arkwright without hitting the main roads. He'd like to make contact with the NRF without alerting the camp that's posted up between them.

 

[Lorsh]

Kent says that they took an unmarked road through the woods. He draws it on your map.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason tasks Greaves with getting some men together to follow the road north and make sure it checks out. He wants them to try and contact the NRF at Arkwright if possible. He also wants them to get an idea of what shape the town is in, scope it out and see if it's worth sending salvage teams. Once they're done he wants them to report back as soon as possible. And while they're out there he wants them to be doubly careful of any wandering Rangers that might be passing through on their sweep.

As for the cousins, Mason decides that some hands are better than none and tasks Greaves to work with Stalkman and find out where they would fit best within their operation. Any and all skills they know should be accounted for, and if there's really nothing they're particularly good at then they can at least help out with building and maintenance around the compound.

Speaking of maintenance, once this is all finished Mason finds Stalkman and asks her to continue working on the palisade with any available hands that she can use. And even though they don't particularly need the wood right now, Mason wants the trees immediately around the north and western sides of the compound to be cleared so they have a better field of view for any potential intruders.

 

[Lorsh]

Unless not permitted to do so, Greaves takes Squad 3 and a few vehicles before departing to drive up to Arkwright.


After a few hours of chopping and sawing, your work crews fell six trees in the areas around the western and northern portions of the compound. Seventy units of wood are gathered in all.



The palisade is finished ahead of schedule. It is split into two parts to cover both sides of the road.



The Tosaco delegation returns. Edward tells you that they were received lukewarmly at the outpost, which was based in an abandoned slaughterhouse on Tosaco's outskirts. Your rebels were allowed an audience with the local resistance leader, a man named Jack Hartnup. Edward says that he seemed like a rather severe person, but was still happy to hear that were were more rebels in the area with reformist ideals. He agreed to meet with you later, either at his outpost, or near Tosaco's northern road. Hartnup said he's interested in recruiting your group to play a role in the upcoming assault on Lake Outpost, which is led by a NPA major from the army brigade stationed in Granger. He offers to share the outpost's armaments and supplies with your faction, should the attack be successful.


Your map has been updated to include to palisades and tree clearance areas.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Squad 3 is cleared to leave for Arkwright.

Mason decides that he does want to meet with Hartnup in person, but not exactly as he might expect. Mason confers with Harry about his plan. Mason wants to introduce himself to Hartnup as 'Harry O'Lime', making Hartnup think that he is speaking with Mason's 2IC and not the actual leader himself. He'd like the meeting to take place near Tosaco's northern road since Hartnup is still an unknown element for now. Mason wants to at least hear the plan before he promises any men for the operation. Ideally the meeting should happen ASAP to save on time.

Beyond that Mason gets the idea that some gunner's nests could be dug out into the area surrounding the compound. Some wooden barricades and basic camouflage should provide enough cover for a basic assault at the very least. Mason wants at least three or four to start, which should provide a reasonable covering range. Anything beyond that can be added as necessary. The gunner's nests (foxholes really) should be big enough to seat at least two men, and the leftover lumber and foliage from the tree removal should be used to form the shielding wall.

 

[Lorsh]

[Sorry for the delay!]


Squad 3 departs for Arkwright on their mission to contact the Allied Reform Front.

Harry listens to your scheme, nodding his head. "Alright, then. I probably shouldn't be present, in that case- I don't want us to get our identities mixed up on accident," he chuckles. "I think we could head out tomorrow, possibly. It's getting rather late, so we should turn in soon. I doubt that Hartnup would want to commence a meeting at the moment, considering the zombies are going to be on the prowl soon," he said. Indeed, the "Clean Zone" was only getting dirtier ever since the advent of the civil war.

More palisades could serve the same function as gunners' nests. Smaller palisades could be split into different locations, scaled down for use by just two fighters. Harry suggests appointing a foreman to speed up construction. It would take a fighter out of commission due to having new responsibilities beyond field work, but it would provide a labor boost to future projects.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason agrees that a foreman would help speed things along. He asks Harry to find out who has the most experience with construction projects out of their regular fighters and see if any of those candidates want to volunteer for the job. Once appointed Mason wants the miniature palisade project to commence in the morning with any available hands.

And indeed it was getting late, so pending any further requirements from Mason, he decides to turn in for the night and see how things progress in the morning.

 

[Lorsh]

More than a few of your group's members have served on work details in the clean zone before the advent of the civil war, but Jim Belfiore is revealed to have had some construction experience dating back to even before the outbreak. He is contacted by Harry and agrees to assume the position of a foreman.


You head off to bed once more, laying your head down on a soft pillow. You drift off to dreamland.



Your dreams are above average in quality.

You wake up groggily the next morning, but had a good enough sleep. You receive a report stating that Squad 3 has returned from their mission to Arkwright. They successfully contacted the Allied Reform Front. They are similar in strength to the forces at Tosaco, and are lead by a man named Captain Sinclair, who has said he would be willing to meet with you anywhere, but preferably soon. Squad 3 tells you that they met with the ARF in their base, which is located in Arkwright's old high school. Like Tosaco, Arkwright was abandoned during the outbreak and not re-inhabited, even after the NPA took control.


Palisade construction has commenced.

You receive a transmission from a woman over the radio. Your radio operators were not able to reply- they can only hear the individual on the other side. The transmission appears to originate from a military unit.

"Is anybody out there? Please, come in. This is Private Rachel Shadwell, November Company, 6th Battalion, 8th Brigade. Major Thomas Magnall and I are currently trapped by infected at Sturgess Tree Nursery, located at the following coordinates. Major Thomas Magnall, Company CO, was severely wounded by friendly fire. Requesting immediate evac. Please, come in! We are not infected, I repeat, we are not infected."

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason gathers his officers and asks for their opinions on the transmission. His primary concern is if the transmission is real or not, as he's worried it might be a ploy to lure out small groups of rebels and pick them off in the brush. His second concern is what they should do with this information now that it's been received.

 

[Lorsh]

Martha Anderson speaks out first. "To be honest, I don't think the army's smart enough to set up some kind of trap like that. They tend to be more straightforward- and by that I mean they just roll in and shoot everyone rather than try to set up some elaborate ruse. I mean, at least that's what I've seen so far. Besides, I think if they wanted to draw our attention, they probably wouldn't have pretended to well, be themselves? Why not just put some girl on the radio begging for help, saying she's a civilian or something? Or a group of rebels with important information, even? All we know from that soldier is that it's just some private with some dying major and a bunch of zombies."

Stalkman doesn't seem immediately convinced. "Well, they did say that there was an officer there. Maybe they wanna entice some rebels to try and capture a high-value target?"

Martha purses her lips, before looking over at Stalkman and replying. "There's a lot of other field officers out there. Magnall probably doesn't have any particularly useful information. I mean, yeah, he's an officer, but his unit is dead anyway, isn't it? Nothing much to tell people about anymore," she says.


"So it's probably genuine, I'm guessing. But since those guys are just nobodies, should we just ignore the transmission?" asks Greaves.

Ethan perks up. "If the rest of the unit's dead, we could still get their guns and steal their stuff, yeah?"

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason thinks on the information for a long minute, processing ideas and figuring out a best course of action. Unfortunately, the hard fact was that there wasn't enough information to go off of. Ethan brought up a good point that there could be valuable salvage available from the remains, which was something Mason wasn't willing to just pass up out of hand. And, if they played their cards right, maybe they could get a little something more out of it...

"Greaves," Mason said, pointedly looking at his Chief as he spoke. "I want at least one squad dispatched to look into this, maybe two if necessary. They're to scout out the attack and radio back with an update once they've assessed the situation. They'll receive further orders from us after we have a clearer picture of things."

"Ethan makes a good point about salvage. If it's really military then we can't pass up the chance to grab any extra weapons, ammo, supplies, maybe even some radios or intelligence while we're at it."

Mason recommends that the chosen squad/s strip off their identifying uniforms and go incognito. Mason also suggests sending some members from the Assault Squad to buff out the capabilities of the men being sent into the woods.

 

[Lorsh]

"The squad's walkie-talkies will be out of range," Comms Officer Anderson tells you. She draws a circle on one of the maps to show the approximate range of regular handheld radios. "If we manage to get our hands on an advanced radio pack, which would be part of a military signaler's equipment, then we'd have a much longer range. Presumably, the NPA private is using one of those. Either that, or a stationary radio setup. Still, it would be useful comms gear," she says.

"It shouldn't be that big of a deal. They could all stop at the edge of the comms range, then send one or two guys ahead to do the scout work. Then, they could radio the rest of the squad, who could then radio us," Greaves suggests. "It'd involve splitting up the squad, but still."

 

[KamiKahzy]

The range issue complicated matters somewhat, but Mason was still set on investigating the disturbance. "Very well. We'll send two squads then. The first squad will setup at the range limit, while the squad moves forward and investigates. I want at least a full squad scouting ahead into the matter since anything could happen, so they should be ready for anything. The relay squad should be ready to move in as reinforcements if necessary. Harry, I'd like you to go with the relay squad and help coordinate things. You can setup near Arkwright, which will put you in comms range and give you a chance to meet with Captain Sinclair on my behalf. I'll be busy meeting with Hartnup today but I want to make sure we establish comms with both reformist outposts before the day is out. When you get there try and see if the reformists are doing anything about the mayday. Coordinate with them to make sure our guys don't step on any toes."

"Meanwhile I'll take a squad and go meet with Hartnup, see what he's about. Assuming the meeting goes well we should expect to make a strike against the Lake Outpost soon, so I want everyone here kitted out and ready to move." With those orders settled Mason pulled Harry aside so he could talk to him in private. "I think we need to tweak our plan a little for Hartnup. I'll use my real name, but just say that I'm speaking on behalf of our CO. You should do the same, that way if the outposts decide to swap stories they'll have the same script." Mason put his hand on Harry's shoulder before he continued. "Harry, while you're out there coordinating things with the mayday, I don't want anyone to harm the provos unless they actively provoke us. We're scavenging any supplies their dead have dropped, but if there's any survivors I want them set free. Play it off like you're hunters from a nearby compound or something, and you heard the broadcast from an old radio. If the provos kick up a fuss about looting their dead, say that the salvage is our price for saving their lives. And... if any of them seem disenchanted with the way the government's been handling things, see if you can't persuade some of them to meet with us. I'll leave that decision to you, recruiting from the wolves is a risky move. But if we put off a strong front of wanting to help people rather than warmongers I think we'll go much further in turning things our way."

 

[Lorsh]

[shit, i forgot you posted]

[i'm also changing it back to NPA because fuck it]


"Alright," Harry says. "So I'll just have a few of my men monitor the radio to keep tabs on situation in the Nursery, while I meet with Captain Sinclair. Squad 6 and a few transfers from the assault team could push into the Nursery, while I head over to Arkwright with Squad 5. Any adjustments you want to make regarding personnel?" he asks, taking off his armband and patches before leaving them in his nearby desk. "I'll see if I can convince any of the outpost's survivors to switch sides, if they look like they might be willing to do so. Still, it might be a risk bringing a provo back to our compound."

 

[KamiKahzy]

"No, the personnel are fine. Just make sure they stay within radio range while they're out there. If you really need to confer with me on something I'll be in comms range from base, but otherwise this will be your show. Be safe out there Harry."

 

[Lorsh]

Harry says he'll make sure everyone's safe, before he departs with the squads.

Two small sets of protective palisades have successfully been completed on the western side of the wall. Isaac Hopkins from Squad was selected as foreman for the project, as he had some experience before the outbreak regarding construction, and also devised many different barricade designs to protect himself from zombies during his time in the Dirty Zone, before you recruited him. He manages to complete one set of palisades slightly ahead of schedule.

After about an hour, you hear from Harry. "Captain, the scouts moving in to investigate Sturgress Tree Nursery have moved into position. I've linked up the comms between you and Stover, who is leading Squad 6. She's got something important to tell you."

Miranda Stover's voice is heard on the other side of the radio. "Mason, we've arrived via the eastern road. On the southern road, which is across from us, there's a much larger group of survivors- maybe thirty or forty, with a bunch of vehicles. They arrived at around the same time as we did, and have already attracted the attention of the infected. What should we do? There's over a hundred infected here, and at least a quarter are runn--*-***-*--*-**--*-..."

Suddenly, the radio begins to spew static. It looks like you may not be able to give your reply immediately.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Mason moves quickly to get his orders through, working with Miranda to make sure the radio isn't malfunctioning. Mason relays that he wants the squads to form up and assist, find out who the new bogeys are, and make sure the other forces know that the squads are there to help before they start shooting. The last thing he wanted was for any of the defenders to mistake his squads as raiders or poachers. Mason had a hunch the new people might be the Rangers acting on the distress call, but there was no way to be sure until his squad reported back.

Once Mason made sure Miranda knew his orders he left her to make sure they were relayed in a timely fashion. In the meantime he had to get going if he wanted to meet with Hartnup before the day was out. Mason gathers a squad and takes some vehicles to make sure he can return to base quickly if need be. Mason gives Miranda one last reminder to relay any urgent messages to him while he's meeting with Hartnup. Otherwise, Harry is in charge of operations in the northwest.

 

[Lorsh]

The direct comms link between you and Miranda seems to be cut off, but you still have Harry to fill you in on the details.

"They're civs or rebels," Harry tells you. "I think they're fine- Miranda is going to work with them to deal with the infected."

You depart the base, heading down to the meeting spot with a small escort. You see a few vehicles ahead, and are hailed by a few militiamen in old camo fatigues, though not NPA-issue ones. They must be Hartnup's men.