Where the Dark Things Gather - Post-apoc Scenario #5

   A truce was struck between rival gangs to investigate who was snatching their people

For weeks, the local survivor gangs in the area had been talking about their encampments being stalked at night. Sentries disappeared at night and no trace of them could be found. Unwary women and children out too early in the morning or late in the evening were snatched up by what the locals began to call the "Dark Things." Those who had caught sight of them, described them as manlike, hairy, and dark. Every time anyone tried to follow their trail to hope to discover clues of their missing people, the trail was lost. 

    Players would select 4 gang members from their team of survivors to join the expedition

At first, some survivor gangs blamed it on each other. The Bass Reeves, in particular, were singled out as they also tended to be "dark and hairy." Worried about what might happen if the other gangs seized upon them as the culprits, Big Bass devoted all his resources and intellect to investigating the disappearances and attempting to track them. Finally, one of their scouts was able to follow a faint trail back to what appeared to be a research facility, or perhaps a prison. Several of the "Dark Things" were actively patrolling its perimeter, including along sandbags lining the roof. Cages stood out front and back, each with one or two people inside. The Dark Things entered and exited the steel doors from time to time.

    Big Bass, leader of the Bass Reeves survivor gang, worked behind the scenes to negotiate the truce

At that point, Big Bass took a risk and visited the encampments of the rival gangs in the area. He gave each a sketch of the location and facility made by his scout. He proposed a truce and a joint expedition to the research facility. The goal would be to get their people back, if possible, and find out who and what these creatures were. Not all of the gangs agreed. The Green Dragons' leader Ting was terse, "I will let you leave with your life, Bass, but don't come back. We know it's you taking our people - get lost!" The Barbarozas drew their weapons on him, and it was only the very ugly-looking shotgun he had pointed at the Barbaroza's leader which kept gunfire from breaking out.

    Three of the Bucknuts creep cautiously forward, out of the woods, and towards the fence

Big Bass was encouraged, though, that leaders of the Blood Brotherhood, Bucknuts, F Troop, Nightstalkers, and Followers of the Dark Prophet sent a message saying they would meet at the proposed rendezvous on the full moon. Each leader was to bring three men, so no one would be suspicious of a planned double-cross by a rival gang. After a day's travel, they reached a hilltop overlook where they could see the L-shaped building in the valley, surrounded by a chain link fence. The gate on its rollers appeared to be stuck more than halfway open, as grass had drown up around it. In the back, the two corners of the fence had gaping sections bent open. The Dark Things obviously used these to exit and enter the woods on either side.

    The Nightstalkers approach in column, hoping their optics and armor spot any foes and protect them

After a quick pow-wow, it was decided F Troop would approach along the treeline running beside the road towards the front gate. The Bucknuts would approach from the opposite side towards the back part of the building. The Blood Brotherhood and Nightstalkers would approach one of the other sides, and the Bass Reeves and Followers of the Dark Prophet the other. The six survivor gangs would close in on the facility from all four sides like a vice, hopefully preventing any escape. They decided to approach in daylight, as the Dark Things were obviously comfortable operating at night and no one had any night vision equipment. Coordinated, the six gangs crept closer and closer, keeping out of sight of the four massive Dark Things toting assault rifles on the sandbagged roof. They looked like massive gorillas, but walked upright like men and wore clothes and boots. These were nothing any of the men or women had heard of before or since the war against the machines.

Fenced-in facility, with 4 Dark Things atop the roof. F Troop would lead the approach along the road

The Nightstalkers approached in a column towards the back corner of the open fence. The optics on their helmets clearly revealed a well-trodden path from the facility into the woods. As Hunter Ryker swept his gaze to his left, he spotted movement in the trees. He called out a quick warning and pointed, "Dark Thing -- in the trees, 3 o'clock!" As his compatriots swiveled their heads to the left, a long burst of automatic rifle fire rang out and dust kicked up around the first three men in the column. Ryker and Commander Zander both went down. "I'm good," Ryker said, more in surprise as he picked himself up. He could see dents from the slugs in at least three places on his armor pads. Meanwhile, Zander stayed down, shook his head and grunted, "I'm hit!"  

    A chimpanzee scout in the trees opens up on the column of the Nightstalkers as they approach

We use Wiley Games' Core Rules for our post-apocalyptic games. The Nightstalkers have Light Armor as a team trait, and Keith rolled VERY fortunately. Needing an 8+ on a d10 to deflect the hits with his armor, he was 2-for-2. I was controlling the Dark Things and had actually rolled the Wounds before we remembered his armor save. Zander should have been "Out of Action" and Ryker wounded. However, the drawback of burst fire (which allows a shooter to hit multiple targets) is that there is a chance for being out of ammunition. After the shots, I checked and the Chimpanzee Scout had indeed emptied his clip. He hopped down out of the tree and withdrew deeper into the woods so he couldn't be shot at with the visibility rules.

    Gorilla guards on the rooftop proved tough to hit, being in heavy cover and initially at long range

All Hell began to break loose. In addition to the four gorillas with automatic rifles in heavy cover on the roof, there were four chimp scouts in the trees at the corners of the battlefield. One of the Followers of the Dark Prophet went down wounded from another ambush shot from the trees. One of the gorilla guards took out Coop, the leader of the Bucknuts. We then recalled all the gang leaders have the"Nine Lives" trait. This reduces the first out of action result to "Wounded." Coop went down wounded until a Recovery roll could be made. However, it became apparent that simians were NOT good at trigger control. Three of the chimps and one of the gorillas were out of ammunition and had to spend a turn reloading after their first shots.

    Unfazed by the hail of automatic rifle fire, the Nightstalkers & Blood Brother dart towards the fence

One of the mechanics of the Core Rules is the order of activation. Players are dealt a hand of playing cards equally to the total number of figures they control. Some suits or numbers allow free actions, such as any "6" allowing a free reload. A Queen of Hearts grants an automatic wound recovery, or an Ace can be used as whatever card the player chooses. As good as the Dark Things' luck had been on shooting (the players were conspiring at several points to confiscate my orange, 10-sided die!), misfortune began to strike the simians. First, so many out of my out of ammo rolls were failed (only a 20-30% chance). And, on the following turn, I received no "6" cards or aces. This gave the survivor gangs a chance to catch their breath while more than half of the Dark Things had to reload. Not only that, all of the players with wounded figures seemed to have been dealt a Queen of Hearts or an Ace and were soon back on their feet!

    A chimp knocks Pvt. Hippie out of action, but Pvt. Lombardi of F Troop bravely rushes to the rescue

Although two of the chimp scouts withdrew into the woods, one remained in the trees to keep shooting. I figured that, with a -1 for light cover and another -1 for the chimp's "Stealthy" trait, he'd be okay. However, the Followers of the Dark Prophet charged towards the shooter aggressively, narrowing the range to Short. Oops! The "10" on a d10 to be hit just dropped to a "7"!! Allen is know for his "in your face" aggressive tactics and he was the first to fire back and take out a chimp. The out of ammo chimp who'd wounded an F Troop soldier decided on another tactic, though. He charged the nearest enemy -- Private Hippie. One of the chimp traits is "Brawler," meant to reflect a savagery in hand-to-hand combat. I also played a "2," which allowed me to roll two dice and choose the best result. The ex-National Guardsman went down, out of action, to the howling, angry chimp.

    The Blood Brotherhood advanced quickly through the fence and took position against the wall

Rather than be cowed by its savagery, the veterans of F Troop stepped back and gunned down the creature. On the opposite side of the table, the Bass Reeves had steadily been taking a shot at the closest gorilla guard on the roof, then ducking into the woods to avoid return fire. Eventually one of the shots hit home, and the force of the Dark Things continued to dwindle. Things were equally bloody on the Bucknuts' side of the table. Brutus and Jackie O were sprayed by gunfire from the gorilla and Brutus went down hard, out of action. The team's medic, Wrich, crept over to where his leader Coop lay, and eventually was able to heal him and get him back into the fight.

Chimp scout (not really armed with a flame thrower!) faces off against the Bucknuts' Jackie O

Jackie O decided to deal with the chimp who had retreated back into the woods towards the team's rear. She moved into the woods, but the clever scout was on "Opportunity Fire." True to ape form, he pulled the trigger and sprayed the woods till his clip was empty. Jackie O managed to avoid the fire and her return burst rattled the scout (shock marker). The chimp was enraged by the bullets whistling past his ear and charged. He walloped Jackie O, but her armor saved her from a wound. She then was able to get a clear shot and knocked him to the ground, wounded. This exchange was another sign that the simian die luck was fading. In melee, I had three die rerolls between the Brawler trait and my "2" card, The highest I could manage was a "6" on a 10-sided die. Still, Jackie had rolled a "1", so I should have had a chance to put her out of action. Nope. Another "1" -- just a shock marker!

   Building provided no protection to the chimp leader & orangutan once the men reached the windows

As the survivor gangs closed range, their fire on the chimp scouts and gorilla guards was proving much deadlier. Soon, three of the gorillas and all four chimps were out of action. The remaining gorilla darted to the hatchway in the middle of the roof and descended into the complex. The battle began to shift, with the survivor gangs moving closer to the walls of the facility. The Nightstalkers and Blood Brotherhood moved to the windows and spotted a chimp leader and a huge, hulking orangutan. Before the simians could react, the Blood Brotherhood sprayed the room with gunfire. The orangutan jumped in front of his leader and was riddled with bullets, out of action. The leader fell wounded, too. 

    Escape out the front door is cut off for the Dark Things by the Followers of the Dark Prophet

This started a cascade of bloodshed for the Dark Things inside the facility. The Nightstalkers opened up on full auto down the hallway, and more simians fell. What should have been their fortress proved to be a killing field. Eventually, unbeknown to the players, all survivors were heading towards the back door. They could tell enemies were outside the two front doors by the pounding on it as F Troop and the Followers of the Dark Prophet tried unsuccessfully to break in.

    With his brothers providing covering fire, Brother Foresight gets ready to slip through the window

Meanwhile, the Bass Reeves had entered through the rent in the fence on their side of the facility. They quickly recognized some of their children inside the wooden cages who'd been snatched by the Dark Things. One by one, they began to release the terrified kids and order them to dart out the fence towards their fellows waiting outside. Just as they released the second pair of captives, the metal double doors at the back swung open. Out leapt one of the gorilla guards, using the steel door as cover. He fired a long burst at the Blood Brotherhood clustered outside the window, hitting both the Grand Master and Brother Willpower, who fell to the ground wounded.

Bass Reeves begin to free the captives from the wooden cages the Dark Things were keeping them in

A few second later, another gorilla guard and then a smaller and more elderly looking orangutan hurried out. The gorilla fired at the survivors, but the orangutan headed for the pathway to the forest. Shouts from the survivor gangs alerted everyone to the attempted escape and multiple shots rang out. "Got him!" shouted Coop as the orangutan fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Brother Willpower shrugged off the effects of his gunshot wound, and stood to his feet. He hobbled over to the Grand Master, and applied first aid to him, bringing him back to his senses and up on his feet.

    Gorilla guards burst out of the back door spraying the area and knocking down three surivors

Next to fall were the gorilla guards who'd tried to cover the escape of their leaders. What had started out as a hazardous looking rescue mission for the survivor gangs, ended up as a turkey shoot. One by one, the gorillas and chimps were gunned down. We called the game when all that was left was a single chimp with two shock markers inside the facility. All captives had been freed from the cages, and the survivors could now go in and find their snatched fighters from the cells inside. The allies warily prowled the corridors and rooms of the combination research facility and prison, looking for clues. They were able to decipher that the Dark Ones were a product of the facility, and had apparently somehow overcome their creators and taken control. Best guess was that they were created during the war with the machines as a "super soldier" weapon to use against them.

    An orangutan attempts to escape through the gauntlet of gunfire from the survivors, but falls

Something had obviously occurred, though, allowing the simian soldiers to overcome their masters and kill them. Refuse strewn in the facility and outside led to another grisly guess. The people the Dark Things had been snatching? Those captives were food, and were butchered and eaten by the out-of-control simian biological weapons. Luckily, their rescue had come in time for each gang to rescue the one night guard from each of their gangs that had been snatched. Much as their curiosity tempted them to linger and discover more clues, they guessed that heavily trodden paths indicated that the Dark Things had spread out to other encampments. Some could be returning at any moment. So, it was agreed to pack up their things and go. The truce was renewed and grudges put on hold for one more day. The gangs carried their wounded out and back into the hills, splitting up to go their separate ways.

    The bio-engineered apes were the product of a "super soldier" program meant as a weapon against the machines

The fifth scenario of my post-apocalyptic campaign was a success, I felt. The players had fun and overcame their past grudges against each other. They cooperated well to take down the guards. I think this alliance was also forged and tempered early by my great shooting and wounding rolls to start the game. In the end, only three players lost fighters as out of action. All rolled well enough to save them and have them available for later games in the campaign. I liked the co-op feel of this game and will probably do another like it sooner or later. I think the next will be a free-for-all, though. I just have to figure out an objective for the next game with some immediacy to encourage them to give up their trust and detente and aim their guns at each other, again! Stay tuned for more adventures in the post-apocalyptic world of the war against the machines...!