11-26-05

                While I was having breakfast with Justine and Cordelia this morning, Olivia appeared to tell me that Jennifer had mentioned to her that I'd stopped by. I told her I was just wondering what was up, since I hadn't seen her for a few days. She told me that she had been "creating" the healing wand that she'd promised the gal in Montrose and she wanted to head over there to deliver it. Did I want to go along? Justine and Cordelia immediately started to list off supplies that the clinic is running low on. So I told her "Yeah, I guess I want to go". As we were leaving, we saw Michael and Vesta finishing their breakfasts and asked if they wanted to come with us. They agreed and went off to grab some supplies. When I got to the Scooby-van with my own supplies, Olivia was already there, with Alfred (of course). We loaded up our gear and headed off to meet Michael and Vesta.

                As we approached the barricade around Montrose, we could clearly see some kind of standoff between the guards and someone in a horsedrawn pickup truck. When we got closer, Olivia, Alfred and I recognized Randall. We got out of the Scooby-van to see if there was anything we could do, and I got that crawly feeling again. Michael must have felt it too, 'cuz he started to draw his betleH, as if to attack. Olivia and I tried to tell him that we "know" this guy and we think he's okay. Then I remembered that Michael had his betle'h (oh excuse me!!! Morag just growled at me for not spelling it correctly!!) betleH spelled against undead things after our run-in with the Wasters, and apparently it was egging him on. It took quite a bit of reassuring to get him to not draw on Randall, but he finally relented (even though he was very unhappy about it). The guards on the barricade heard us talking and asked us if we would vouch for Randall. Before we could answer, he said "Do not place a burden on these people on my behalf", but we did so anyway. When the guards asked what he had to trade, he pulled back the tarp to reveal something he claimed was a water turbine power generator. So they opened the gates and let us all thru. That's when I noticed that one of his horses is now dead, too. I could tell it was taking all of Michael's will to keep him from attacking. Randall thanked us for our assistance, again saying that it hadn't been necessary. I assured him that we were merely returning a favor. He had helped us in the Orc matter, so it was the least we could do. I also asked him what he was wanting in return for the turbine (I knew the Dwarves would just wet themselves at the chance to play with that!!). Olivia called Malcolm to see if he was interested in trading for it. He called in the Head Engineer to ask him, we could hear his reaction over the radio! So Malcolm told us to have Randall meet the Dwarves in Durango, they would be there with a flatbed truck and some trade goods. When we reminded Malcolm "what" Randall was, so he could warn the Dwarves, he was very unhappy about the undead part. Now, I now damn well we told him about Randall when we gave him our report on the Orcs, so Olivia and I gave him an earful about not listening to us.

                We headed to the bookshop, and when we entered there was the little dragon! Curled up on the front desk eating cookies. Olivia had just presented the shopkeeper with her wand, when we heard the door open. The dragon chirped in fright and vanished and the shopkeeper stopped in mid-sentence. The shiver that ran up my spine let me know who had just walked in. Olivia told the gal that this was a "friend" of ours, and that it was ok, but she didn't look real happy. He presented her with a velvet bag containing "the bones of a Holy Man. A Tibetan Lama" The shopkeeper was not at all interested. In fact, she retreated to the back of the shop when I spoke up to say that I was very interested. But none of the goods I offered in trade interested him. Thankfully Michael came to the rescue, offering him 3 good ounces and a handblown glass bong. That caught his attention, so Michael went to get them, and Randall showed us the contents of the bag; 2 strings of prayer beads, made of bone, with Ivory and Obsidian beads as spacers. Olivia and I both got good "feelings" from the beads. She thinks we may be able to use them to "create" some very special items, and so do I. When Michael came back, we finished the deal, Randall thanked us and left, I could hear the sigh of relief from the back of the shop. We apologized for distressing her and asked her where we might get the items on my list. She told us that none of the items were for trade anywhere in town. We thanked her and left.

                When we were outside again, Michael suggested we might want to take a trip to Ft. Collins. There used to be some large pharmaceutical production sites up there. And if we went that way, we could go by his place in Lyons, pick up some supplies (if they hadn't already been looted) and check on his family. We agreed to that and decided to head for I-80.

                On the West side of Grand Junction, we spotted a barricade of wrecked cars blocking the road. We stopped a ways back and Michael, Olivia and I approached on foot, leaving Alfred and Vesta in the Scooby-van to cover us. Olivia and I were looking for any signs of people, but we didn't see anything. All the sudden, Michael started signaling to us. His betleH had apparently warned him of something……Blood-Mages! Then he picked up the smell of something on both sides of the road. When he signaled to us where he thought they were, they must have seen it, 'cuz we all heard a voice yell "Shit! We're made!!"

                Something like a flash came from one side, and hit Michael, you could see his arm start to "harden". Another flash missed him, but hit the ground around his feet and it turned to a pit of ooze that tried to suck him in, but he managed to jump out of the area.

                Another flash and this one hit me in the side. Oh! It hurt! I could feel blood coming from under my leather. There was another flash and the ground under my feet started to turn swampy, so I rolled to one side to get away from it. Another tried to hit me, but missed me as I rolled away.

                Olivia used her zapper wand, fired at one of the mages, and killed him. I appealed to Corellon to give me power and I called up a searing light, which I directed at the nearest mage. And the light totally destroyed it.

                Alfred came running out of the Scooby-van to take a stand at Olivia's side. Michael approached one of the mages with his betleH drawn, attacked and injured it. Another one of the mages "hit" Michael and injured him again. At the same time, another mage had targeted Alfred, and injured him pretty badly. Another one shot a lightning bolt at Michael, hitting him.

                I pulled my Walther and shot at the one that had attacked Alfred. I hit it with a couple shots and finished it off. Alfred closed in on another, attacked it with bare hands, and killed it. Michael slashed the last one and nearly cut it in half. We could see as the life-force left it and was absorbed by Michael's betleH. The corpse shriveled up and blew away, leaving nothing, not even bones. The gun that had been attached to its arm dried up and dissolved into the earth.

                We took some time to catch our breath and to get everyone healed before we started to search the area. Olivia found a case with a videotape camera and some tapes from the wreckage of a TV news van. Michael found a civilian bio-warfare suit, and I found a bag containing a kilo of whole, unroasted Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee beans! If the horticulture-folks back home can manage to get these babies growing………Boy! Howdy! Have we got a trade commodity! While we were "searching" the Blood-mages, and destroying their weapons, Olivia discovered that each one of the weapons was "attached" to the arm by wires and glasswork that lead to a hematite cylinder. Each one was flawless and they "feel" like they're magic quality. Olivia was very excited!

                We found an opening in the barricade large enough to get the Scooby-van thru, Michael was able to disarm the alarm that the mages had rigged and we headed on our way again. As we got close to Grand Junction, the HUD and the IFF started to sound alarms. They were displaying a bunch of trucks and about a half dozen Hummers, all parked around a building near downtown.

                The radio clicked on with an incoming call "Juggernaut Benjamin, please identify yourself". So we used a code from the list that Sierra had jacked for us. They accepted it and asked us what we were doing this far from "home". Michael told them we were looking for medical supplies. "Did those damned Heathens get you?" they asked. Michael told them that we'd been hit by an outbreak of influenza and had gone thru all our supplies. When they asked where our escort was, I spoke up and said "Those damned Heathens". The guy said, "Well, we'll take care of ya. Come on in, we'll have the supplies ready for you." When we pulled up, we could see that they'd turned the area into a MASH outfit. Mountains of boxes, all medical supplies! They had some heavy machinery digging trenches and installing a military type incinerator. And next to it was a huge pile of boxed body bags.

                As soon as we stopped we saw a group of guys start bringing box after box after box of supplies toward the van. An officer type came out of the building and headed straight for us. So Olivia threw an illusion over the lot of us so we looked just like the NDR troops we'd run across. We opened the door and went out to meet him, probably best if he didn't see the "improvements" Olivia had made to the interior. He was looking at the Scooby-van and said that it looked as if we'd been thru a lot. We couldn't argue with that. He offered to let us stay the night and rest ourselves, but we begged off, saying that we had a lot of really sick people waiting for us. Then he offered to send an escort with us, but we said that we'd be able to travel faster and with less chance of getting noticed, alone. When Michael asked if we could just take the flatbed truck that they were starting to unload, the Officer agreed and even offered to top of the tanks on the Scooby-van!

                When they started to ask us for "news from the front" I told him "I really don't mean to be rude, sir, but all of us had been helping nurse the sick, and you and your men may want to keep your distance. We would feel just awful if we were to infect you." That cleared 'em out! So we thanked them most profusely, and climbed back into the Scooby-van, Michael driving the flatbed. They even waved to us as we drove off with their supplies!

                We couldn't believe it! We kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the ambush that surely had to be waiting for us on the edge of town. But it never came. We just drove out of town and headed for home. When we were far enough away, we stopped to search the truck, to see if it had been bugged, Michael found a transponder and turned it off, so they couldn't follow us. But that was it! We totally fooled them!

                We made it back to Montrose without seeing another soul. As we approached the barricades we saw an old busted-down Hummer hitched to some camels. Olivia recognized Captain Connors, the NSA officer who "gave" us Debbie. Since it was after dark, the guards weren't going to let her and her men in. When Olivia greeted her, she recognized us, and begged us for some help; one of her men was seriously wounded. I healed the mans wounds, it looked as if he'd been mauled by a big cat. "Saber-tooth tiger" the Captain confirmed. They thanked us and went off to find a place to camp for the night; I told her that I would check on him again in the morning.

                Olivia flashed the Overlords medallion and the guards let us in. We headed for the Overlords Inn to get some rooms. We were met at the door by a Gold Elf in a stupid bellmans uniform, and another (who had to be his brother) who offered to park the Scooby-van and the flatbed, but Michael wouldn't let him. He and Vesta will sleep in the Scooby-van to guard both vehicles. The Elves assured them that no one would dare to disturb anything on the Overlord's property, but Michael insisted. (I think he and Vesta like that leather upholstery!) Inside we got rooms and, feeling very pleased with ourselves, head to bed.

11-27-05

                Olivia, Alfred and I were having breakfast at the Inn, we'd decided that we'd let Michael and Vesta sleep a bit longer, when in they came, along with Cpt. Connors and her men. The one I healed last night was much better. Seems she came inquiring about us and was told by the bellhops that Michael and Vesta were in the Scooby-van. Michael told us that she had woken them and offered her, and her men's "services" to the Kingdom as mercenaries. So Michael invited them in for breakfast so we could all talk about it. She told us that they just couldn't take it anymore, they needed to get out, and find some place to settle in. So we explained to them that no, we would not hire them as mercenaries, but if they were willing to take oath to Malcolm, we would welcome them to the Kingdom. Olivia assured them that we had many other ex-NSA members in the Kingdom now.

                The whole time we're talking about this, I was trying to get a read on whether the men knew that their Captain was really working for Jesse or not. Since I couldn't figure it out one way or another, I decided to err on the side of caution. I guess that what they don't know won't hurt them, and besides, it's a moot point now.

                We told her what we'd done yesterday, and told her of our plan to go to Ft. Collins after we deliver this load of supplies to the House. She told us to skip it, that they're in total chaos there. With subdivisions and neighborhoods that have become armed camps, attacking each other on a daily basis. But Lyons, on the other hand, was doing pretty good. The looters hadn't gotten much and there were still some people hanging on to their land. That seemed to hearten Michael, some.

                She also told us that most of the people who'd been in the mountains when the change hit, or had taken to the hills afterwards, were now running out of food and coming down, taking what ever they can find. As a matter of fact, two days ago they'd run across a group of marauders who'd found a small camp of refugees, killed them and when their food had run out, started to eat them. One of her men, who had the most haunted look I have ever seen, kind of laughed, and told us how much fun it'd been, killing them. That's when Michael noticed the rows of nametags that he had pinned to the liner of his coat. The guy grinned and told him there were 61 of them, and each one had been taken off a member of the NDR. Michael whispered to me "We'd better get his guy to Morag, for a little therapy"

                We suggested that they hit the Market to see what they could get for their Hummer and camels, they could ride back to the House with us. Michael and Vesta went up to our rooms to shower. Olivia and I went in to see the Overlord to ask if he had news of anymore Drow. There had been one, he said, one of the submissive types, begging at the gates, but since he had nothing to offer, he'd been driven off. Then he asked us about our "adventure" with the NDR yesterday. "You've already heard about that?" Olivia asked. "I've got sources," he said with a smile. So we told him how we did it, and did a little "victory dance". Childish, yes. But, boy! Did it feel good!

                Olivia asked him what he wanted for the two Gold Elves working the front door. (With a big wink at me. Another thing to add to my "I've seen it all" list….a Drow Match-Maker!) He told us that they were "an experiment" that wasn't working out so he would give them to us for some information. Yee-haw, he's asking us for information for change! We told him what we'd learned recently, and he agreed to "release" the Elves.

                He then told us that he had spoken to the Mayor, and they were concerned with the activity in Grand Junction. They wanted to know if they could "retain the Kingdoms services". They have a plan and the resources to get a team into Grand Junction, but no one to send. We told him that we would have to discuss it with Malcolm, but we would let him know as soon as we could. He thanked us and we went to collect the Gold Elves.

                Olivia told them that they were going with us, and the oldest one started to say that the Overlord wouldn't allow that, when you could actually see the moment that the compulsion was removed. The vacant look they had been wearing was replaced with fear and confusion. "What the Hell is going on?" they asked. So we pulled them aside and asked them what was the last thing they remembered.

                They were in Provo, not too long after they had changed, and a childhood friend had asked them to go fishing. When they got to their usual spot, he said to them "I really hate to do this" and shot them with something. The way they described it, it had to be one of the neuro-guns, 'cuz they could remember being loaded onto a helicopter and flown to Moab. They'd been kept in a building with a bunch of other changelings until someone had come in and "picked" some of them. They were loaded into a truck and brought to Montrose, where they had been accused of rape. They said that they had been questioned and when asked if they had done it, they had said "yes", even though they had tried to say "no". So they had been declared guilty and sold off.

                Michael and Vesta showed up at that point so we filled them in. Alfred asked if we were going to tell the local Chief of Police. But Michael brought up a good point, what if he's in on it? Is the Overlord? We radioed the House, to let Malcolm know we had a large amount of medical supplies, and that we would be bringing in some more NSA. We also told him briefly about the Overlord's proposition and about the Elves. He said the NSA folk would be welcome. And he suggested that we go the Chief of Police about the Elves, because even if he is in on it, we could "handle" him, no problem. And as for the Overlords "proposition", he wanted to know "What's his angle? What's he getting out of it?" He suggested that we go talk to the Mayor, to see if we could get anything out of him. But he would leave it up to our "Best judgement". He also reported that some traders had been down to Colo. Spgs, and reported a lot of activity at both the Academy and the Air Force Base, so we should keep our eyes and ears open.

                We headed over to the police station taking the Elves (Jake and Steven) with us. The Chief listened to our story in complete silence, and when we finished, got up in a huff, stomped over to a filing cabinet and pulled their files. (Mumbling under his breath the whole time. I think I heard something about life being so much simpler, "Before"). He told us that the three guys who brought Jake and Steven in had sold a bunch of "criminals", mostly changelings. They work out of Rifle, do a lot of travelling, and like to call themselves "Bounty Hunters". They always insist that their prisoners be given lie detector tests or questioned with sodium pentathol. He had seen one of them (Tony) in town just this morning. He asked us if we wanted to go with him to find the "gentleman". We agreed and Vesta and Alfred volunteered to take Jake and Steven back to the Scooby-van, to keep them safely out of the way.

                He found Tony out in the Market, doing some trading. Scuzzy looking guy. Gave me the creeps just looking at him. The Chief asked us; if it should became necessary, could we help take Tony back to the station for a lie detector test of his own. Michael nodded my way and told the Chief, "We've got our very own lie detector with us". The guy was pretty busy doing his trading so we kind of surrounded him before the Chief confronted him. Gave him the long arm of the law routine, kidnapping, false imprisonment, blah, blah, blah. Tony got all indignant and denied everything. So I asked "Wouldn't you like to try that again?" and threw a zone of truth over the whole area.

                In my head, I heard a voice say "Not my fault you believed us". Some little wormy looking things started to come out of his mouth and his jaw started to twitch and stretch. Michael drew his betleH and slashed at him, injuring him. Olivia stepped back and shot at him with her zapper wand, got him right in the head! He staggered but didn't fall. The Chief drew his gun and shot point blank at his chest, but the bullets seemed to vaporize and did no harm. Tony gestured at the Chief and he fell to the ground, twitching and drooling. I threw a spell to dispel his magic, and his outer illusion peeled away and there was a horrible looking thing standing there. I can't begin to describe it except to say it was wearing human skin for clothes. It had taken humans, tattooed humans, skinned them and made clothes from the skins.

                Michael slashed at it again, doing more damage. Olivia moved to "zap" it again, but it gestured at her, like it did the Chief and she froze, motionless. I had been sending a plea to Corellon, asking him to allow me to bring his might down on this thing, and when I stepped up to direct the energy at it, it flicked a hand my way.

                And I was OUTRAGED!!!! How could these horrible creatures have the nerve to attack my friend! Look at him! He's dying! I had to save him! I had to protect him from these…..these…..things! So I pushed Olivia out of the way and rushed to him, generating all the healing power I could in that short period of time. I saw that Otsune had appeared at Olivia's side and tried to throw a confusion spell at the two of us. But he just laughed and dispersed it with a wave of his hand. Next thing I knew, Michael was shoving me out of the way and before I could get back to my feet and stop him, Michael had slashed at Tony, sending him to his knees, then Michael slashed again and sent his head flying.

                And then I could feel the compulsion being lifted. What had I done?!?! If Michael hadn't acted, I would have attacked him! I was ready to direct all the energy that Corellon had granted me right at him! He reached out a hand to help me up, and asked if I was okay. I found it impossible to look him in the eyes, so I turned to see if Olivia was okay while Michael checked on the Chief. They were both okay, a little wobbly, but okay.

                The Chief called some people in to clean up the mess as we checked to make sure no one in the area had been injured. Then we went back to his office and he promised to get his people to start checking the files for any other "criminals" that had been brought in by Tony and his friends. We left him to it and went back to the Inn. Michael and Vesta volunteered to drive the truck of supplies back to the "House" and report to Malcolm on the morning's events while Olivia and I see the Mayor.

                When we got to his office, his secretary tried to give us the brush-off. "He's very busy". When we persisted, she went into his office to tell him we were there, came back and asked us our business so she could relay the message. Olivia said "Tell him the Overlord sent us and we want to talk to him" When she refused I told her "Fine. We'll be at the Inn when he can see us" As we turned to leave a horrible voice came over her intercom "Oh, show them in!"

                When we got thru the door of his office it was easy to see why he didn't want anyone to see him he's changed. He's a Beholder, a giant eyeball with some tentacles ending in more, smaller eyes. Apparently no one in town knows, when ever he absolutely has to go out in public he uses some kind of Mind Control to "disguise" his new form. He told us to sit down and ask our questions. "But keep in mind, I may not be able to answer them all" he said. So we asked what he knew about the NDR's plans. It seems their initial plan is to retake Sanctum Levi from the SDN, and then to "conquer" the entire SDN. Then they want to link together all of the Sanctums in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. They figure they'll be strong enough to threaten the NSA forces, then the two can join up to become the Central Governing Force of the country.

                As for the plan to send us into Grand Junction, he was very evasive. All he'd tell us was that it MUST be tomorrow night and we will only have 4 hours to get in and get back out. He's gotten a report that the field hospital we "visited" is the center of their operations, and this morning there was a string of semis around the parking lot, forming a kind of perimeter. There was 3 Bradleys, 5 or 6 fuel trucks for the generators and another Juggernaut, just like the Scooby-van. It was "imperative " to find the Commandant's office and get copies of their latest plans. We could scavenge any thing we could get our hands on and take with us, do any damage we needed (or wanted) to, but we HAD to be at a pre-specified point, outside of town no later than 3:15 am. He would tell us that the building the NDR was using had been a Frito-Lay distribution center and that the Commandant had taken over the offices attached to the warehouse. There were troops being barracked in part of the warehouse and there was a large communications array on top of the buildings that should be destroyed. He then gave us some re-con photos and told us to think about it and let him know if we would do it or not. On our way out, his secretary followed us out the door begging us not to tell anyone about the Mayor changing. We reassured her that we would keep their secret.

                We went looking for Connors, and found that she and her men had gotten rooms, cleaned up and were downstairs eating again. We asked if we could speak to her in private, she told her men to stay put, "girl stuff". Boy, did they snicker at that. So we told her about the offer and asked if she and her men would be willing to come along. She looked at the photos and was able to recognize their source…a CIA satellite! While she was looking at them, Olivia couldn't stand it anymore and asked if her men knew that she'd been working for Jesse. She said that she had told them and they didn't care. They'd originally been Army Rangers who'd been assigned to help FEMA with the "hantavirus outbreak", and then they found themselves taking orders from the CDSC. After everything had broken down, they had just tried to "maintain order" as best they could. And until they took oath to Malcolm, her men were loyal to no one but her and themselves. She took one last look at the photos and said "I can pretty much guarantee that the men will want to help with this, but I'll ask them, just in case." So she left to talk to them while Olivia and I went to tell the Overlord that we'd do it.

                He had some more info for us. Seems he managed to get his paws on a memo stating that the NDR is about to start genetic testing on their own people, and it looks like they'll be using that crematorium on any changelings they find. He also told us that in the future, if we were to move on Moab, he would be willing to "assist " us. He also stressed to us, several times, that we MUST be at the extraction point before 3:15. He said what we don't know we can't tell if we're captured. I didn't say anything to Olivia, but I think the reason we have to be out by that specific time is because there is going to be an airstrike. I'm just not sure by whom. Jesse, probably, but with as crazy as things are, there's no telling. Olivia told him that if we do get the plans, we (the Kingdom) get a copy of everything. The Overlord agreed to that, so we shook hands and he told us that someone would be in touch with us tomorrow. We returned to the Scooby-van to radio Malcolm and let him know what we had decided. He wished us well, told us to return safely to him and the Kingdom but if we didn't make it back, he would send someone to avenge us and then he signed off. I looked at Olivia and said, "he really doesn't want us to go". But we both shrugged; it has to be done right?

                Connors and her men met us outside; they're all in. Since we were all going to be in town for another night, we took her and her men over to the "immigration" office to register them as part of Olivia's party and therefore eligible to stay overnight. As we headed around the corner of the building, passing the people waiting in line for a chance to get into town, I spotted a woman who really caught my eye. When I got closer I could see she was an Elf, but not like one I'd seen before. And when I approached her, I startled her a bit, and I could see she had wings! I could also see that she was freezing. So I cast a quick spell to warm her and Olivia sent Alfred to the Scooby-van to get her some warmer clothes. As I started to talk to her, some jerks in line nearby said something about doing something to help the "decent people", Olivia turned to say something, but a couple of guards moved in and told them to shut up or get out of line. I asked her if she wanted to come with us to get warm and have something to eat. She gave Olivia a good, long look, then she looked at me and I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring nod, and she accepted. So we took her with us into the office and registered her also. They all got "temporary" cards and we went back to the hotel to get this girl some food and to make plans for Grand Junction.

                Alfred met us with the clothes and Olivia and I took her up to my room. She introduced herself, Dorothy…from Kansas. "Please, don't say it. I've heard them all before" she told us. She'd been on the road since the first of June. When I asked her how she got all the way to Montrose, she gave me one of those "you moron" looks. "I flew?" She told us that she'd been not too far east of Denver when the Dragon had swooped down and almost caught her. When she got away from him, she'd gone way up north to Wyoming and came south from there to stay as far away from Denver as she could. Some people started shooting at her last night so she landed here and tried to get into town but had to sleep outside the gates. As she undressed to take a bath, she unfurled her wings; they must have been a good 25 feet across! She couldn't even fully stretch them out in the room! As she went to bathe I ordered her some food from room service. She came out looking better but not great, so I did some healing on her and put her to bed with her dinner tray. She told us that she had been an accountant "Before", and didn't know what she was going to do now, I looked at Olivia and said "I bet Izzy can use some help with her record-keeping". So we told her of the Kingdom and that for work she could count on shelter, food, protection and acceptance. She started to cry. The poor thing was just so tired. We told her to eat and rest; we'd be back soon.

                On our way back to meet Connors, Olivia spotted a sign that said "Day Spa ", and she went to ask what they offered. Saunas, massages, facials and other "beauty" services. So we made appointments for both of us, stopped for a minute and made it for 3. When we found Connors, we told her we'd made her an appointment. Her men started to razz her about it, but she gratefully agreed to go. She assigned 2 of her men, Dallas and Carson to go with Olivia and I to Brother Aaron's for supplies. Dallas looks a little better than he did; he had left his collection of nametags behind when he changed clothes. Aaron greeted us and Dallas gave him a list of things he wanted. We ended up with 3 clips of Black Talons for Olivia's gun 24 rounds for mine, rounds for Dallas's shotgun, 12 smoke grenades and I don't know how many satchel bombs with detonators. When it came time for dickering, I cringed trying to figure what all this was going to cost us. But Dallas said, "This ones on me" and plopped this big ol' duffel bag he'd been carrying, down on Aaron's desk. Inside was some BFG that made Brother Aaron's eyes light right up, some sort of prototype for a battle shotgun? What ever! Not only did Aaron give us all the supplies; he presented Dallas with a slip of paper…..credit towards future purchases!

                Dallas and Carson headed back to the Inn to put the supplies away. Olivia, Alfred and I went looking for Randall. We found him in the market, trading. Olivia asked if he had any crystals or wands. He rummaged around and presented her with some nice rosewood that could be made into wands, some ebony and some Alaskan diamond willow, she got some good "feelings" from it all, but apparently she was getting some even better vibes from something in a box behind him. Randall opened it and pulled out a good-sized chunk of Black Hills Pipestone. Alfred told us that it's very sacred to Native Americans, they use it to make ceremonial pipes. Olivia was just about to ask what he wanted for all of it when we heard explosions and gunfire coming from the gates. From where we were, we couldn't see anything except for some "security forces" headed towards the barricade. We headed straight for the Scooby-van, and when we got to it, the alarms were going off, showing us that there were 12 Hummers and 8 Bradleys moving in, all NDR forces. Three of the Hummers were headed towards the Market, a few more towards City Hall. And a Hummer and a Bradley were coming right at us. Olivia threw a bolt of lightning at the Bradley and I used the machine gun on the Hummer. It lost control, flipped over and exploded. The Bradley took some damage but kept coming. They opened fire at us with a chain-gun that cut right thru the Scooby-van, Olivia and Alfred were both injured by flying shrapnel. Alfred made it to the turret machine gun and opened fire, but most of it was deflected by the Bradley's armor. Olivia threw another lightning bolt at it, and it started to make slow circles in place.

                We could hear more explosions coming from around town and the tactical screen was showing 3 Hummers in the Market as being "out of commission" as were Olivia's Bradley and my Hummer. It was also showing others still moving around town and 2 more Hummers coming our way. I tried to lob some grenades at them but missed, Alfred also missed with the turret gun. Olivia threw a fireball right between them, but instead of exploding, it just sort of fizzled. When they were closer, I fired at one with the machine gun. It exploded, too. The other one fired some sort of missile at us, but missed. It went right past us and blew up a truck. Thank Corellon that Michael and Vesta had already taken off with the truck of medicine, cuz if it had still been there, that's what the missile would have hit! Alfred fired again from the turret and killed it.

                The tactical screen showed 2 more Bradleys and another Hummer headed our direction, but we couldn't see them yet. One of the Bradley's at City Hall vanished from the screen. I couldn't help but wonder if the Mayor took care of it. Olivia sent a volley of grenades at the incoming vehicles, and had much better luck than I did, she nailed ' em, and both of 'em appeared on the tactical screen as disabled. When we looked towards the Market to see what was going on there, we saw a Bradley go zipping towards the gates, only to get nailed by a stream of silver fire. It stopped in its tracks, and Randall approached it, the silver fire flying from his hands seemed to pull the armor right off the thing. Randall very calmly pulled the extra energy back into himself. As he turned to head back to the Market, Olivia and I saw that his scarves had fallen aside, and if the silver fire hadn't been enough, what we saw confirmed it, he's a Waster.

                Everything seemed quiet and the 3 of us ran to the Market to see what had happened. There were wounded everywhere, with quite a few dead. Olivia and I, with Alfred helping started triage, and very quickly the towns medical people showed up. The Mayor showed up right afterwards, looking quite Human, and took charge. Once the triage was complete, Olivia and I helped with as much healing as we could. I was drained!

                When all the injured had been taken off to the hospital, and we could heal no more, the Mayor came over and told us to take whatever armor we could scavenge off the assorted wrecked vehicles to repair the damage to the Scooby-van. Olivia and I went in search of Randall and found him helping to clean up the mess in the Market. Seems the Mayor gave him permission to stay in town as thanks for his help in the battle. Olivia asked if the goods she'd been looking at were undamaged, they were. When asked what he wanted in trade for them, he asked for a letter of passage to the Kingdom. She looked at me, and I just shrugged. Yeah, he's a Waster. But a Waster who has helped us on 2 occasions now. (3 if you count the water turbine he gave the Kingdom in trade) So Olivia wrote it, handed it to him, and got her goods. We bid him goodbye and told him we hoped to see him at the "House" sometime soon.

                We went by Brother Aaron's to see if he could help with the repairs on the Scooby-van. We found him helping a couple of town sheriffs inventory weapons taken from the NDR. The Mayor had already talked to him about it and he assured us the repairs would only take a day or two, he'd put it at the top of his list. The Mayor also arranged to have it restocked with ammo and grenades.

                The sheriffs told us that the attack had come from nowhere, that the guards on the gate never had a chance. While searching the bodies they discovered that all the forces were Regular Army, and they had some pamphlets titled "Where mutants fit into God's plans", according to the NDR, we're "visible by-products of the Anti-Christ, here to sow dissension, turn people against God, and undermine the People of Faith." Wow! I don't know how I'm going to fit all of that into my busy schedule!

                While we were talking, a radio in one of the wrecked vehicles clicked on. Someone from Grand Junction wanted an update. One of the sheriffs picked up the radio and said "Send more soldiers". The voice said, "You're going to die infidel. You and your mutant friends." The guy asked her name. "Sister Agnes. Not that it should matter, you mutant lover" He said again "Send more soldiers" Olivia said loud enough for Agnes to hear "Mormons, they plump when you cook 'em". She clicked off then for some reason, go figure.

                We went back to the Inn, thinking we would go straight to bed. But as we walked thru the lobby, a woman chased us down. She works in the spa and they had stayed open, waiting for us. Olivia and I were amazed! We got there to find that Connors had beaten us in by only a few minutes. So they washed, bandaged and pampered us. I must have fallen asleep on the massage table. 'Cuz when I woke up, I was in my room, in bed and have no memory of getting there.