04-02-06:

                At breakfast, Olivia asked the officer who'd been 'assigned' to us if there was any news about Leo, he told her that Jesse knew she would ask, so they looked into it last night. Still no news. We asked him if we could borrow some vehicles and check out what was left of Co. Spgs., he told us to requisition what ever we wanted. We finished eating and went to the motor pool to get a couple of bikes and jeeps.

                We pretty much just drove around to see how the place had survived winter. Not too well. What a mess! Olivia spotted the remains of a New Age shop and she and Alfred pulled over to give it a search. She found some pretty good items. Some stones, tarot cards, smudgesticks, jewelry and a buffalo hide rug that glowed with Magic.

                Michael, Vesta and I went on a bit further and found a warehouse that had already been ransacked, but Michael had a hunch and wanted to give it a look so in we went. In the dirt on the floor Michael spotted what looked to us like the outline of a trapdoor. Before he tried to open it, I did a spell to detect traps, but all I could sense was an old silent alarm. We searched around for a release switch and Michael found it behind some paneling. As the section of floor opened we could see a ladder leading down. Shining a flashlight down it we could see a hallway leading off. Michael got Olivia on the radio and asked if she and Alfred wanted to "Meet us for lunch? We found some pretty good snacks we think you might like".

                While we were waiting for them Michael spotted some large raccoon prints. Large but not GIANT like the last raccoons we saw. I threw a Detect Magic spell on the area to see if we were missing anything, but the only thing I could sense was a tree - a very old oak tree that looked like it had been struck by lightning quite some time ago. I took some large pieces that I thought either Olivia or I could use to make staffs or wands. Vesta helped me bundle them up and store them in the jeep.

                Olivia and Alfred had arrived by then. With Vesta standing lookout, the rest of us climbed down the ladder. The dust on the floor was thick; no one had been down here for some time. We got to a steel security door that was locked tight. Olivia used her wand and opened it. We found a 10 x 10 room filled with heavy crates with identical shipping labels, saying that they were from a "Mr. Benjamin" in Salt Lake City. By the time we finished opening all 10 crates, we had all the parts and instructions needed to construct a solar power array. We loaded them into the jeeps and headed back to the Academy.

                Michael and Vesta took off to visit the Wood Elves living in the Garden of the Gods while Olivia, Alfred and I packed our stuff ready for the trip home. Then Olivia asked for a phone book and started making notes. I asked her what was up and she showed me a list of Religious Supply stores. She said she wanted to go see if they'd been completely looted yet. As we were getting ready to leave, Michael and Vesta returned and agreed to come along.

                We were about a block from the first place when we spotted a group of scavengers. They dropped what they'd been carrying and started grabbing weapons, shotguns, handguns, deer rifles, and some bows. Michael, who was still on his bike, drew his betleH and charged. The one closest to him turned and ran, so he changed direction and slashed the next one. Olivia shot and killed one, but her gun misfired and jammed. The one that Michael had slashed aimed a 45 at him, missed and shot one of his buddies, who'd just been ready to fire at Vesta! She killed 2 as she rode her bike through the group. The rest of them started to run, leaving all their ill-gotten goods. So we checked out what they had been so nice to leave us. A huge jug of a high grade antibiotic, some incendiary shells for an M-16, 3 full boxes of solid fuel pellets, and all their weapons. We loaded it all in the jeeps, and with Vesta standing guard again, we went into the Religious Goods store.

                I am not ashamed to say I felt horribly uncomfortable. Why did the first one have to be a Catholic store? I'm pretty sure I could hear Grandma saying "Jacinta Marie, just what do you think you're doing?" But I bit my lip and went in.

                The place was a mess. Someone had sprayed-painted blasphemy all over the walls and had defaced statues of Jesus, Mary and various Saints. I could just feel the chills up and down my spine. We found 4 big boxes of white, beeswax candles, 7 very ornate silver vials to hold Holy Water. I took one of them and stashed it in my pack. There's Holy Water and then there's Holy Water, right? And, having seen at least one vampire, I figure better safe than sorry. I have to get this one filled as soon as I figure out how to make Holy Water. Michael found a black velvet box that had 37 solid gold crucifixes in it, all on really nice gold chains. Before I could stop myself I took one of those, too. As I put it around my neck, I fully expected to 'hear' some sort of protest from Corellon, but there was none. I didn't know what to think at the time, but thinking about it now, I believe that He knows that it means nothing to me except as a comfort, a reminder of simpler days. Something that will comfort me and is no threat to Him. So a few liturgical books, including a copy of the Baltimore Catechism and a Latin version of The Book of Common Prayer also found their way into my pack.

                In the basement we found clothing; robes, vestments, choir robes etc. This time thinking of Corellon's Temple, I took a few sets of altar cloths and a couple pairs of incense burners.

                By that time Olivia and Michael had decided that we had found everything that was "useful" so we moved on to the next place. But when we got there the building had been gutted and burned. On to the third place on the list.

                This one made me even more uncomfortable than the Catholic one. It supplied radically conservative churches. As I looked through the books and tracts, I became more and more unhappy; they were all too familiar. Filled with hate and disdain for anything other than their own belief. All I could think of were those horrible people that I'd been forced to live with, the Wagners. I didn't dare say anything to Olivia or Michael, but all I wanted to do was get out of there! While they and Alfred were searching through boxes I was looked around the building. I found a body, really more a skeleton. He looked like he'd been in there doing some scavenging, when he tripped, 'cuz it sure looked to me like he'd shot himself with his own shotgun. I took that, all the ammo he had and a solid gold Rolex (still working!). There was also a huge ring of keys; I took it, too. There was a pouch on his belt that had fingers in it -fingers with big, gaudy rings on them. I left those where I found them.

                Michael found a big heavy door in the back and when I did my 'detect traps' spell I could sense at least 2 pounds of dynamite beneath it. Olivia used her wand to open the locks, all 4 of them! The door opened and we went down the stairs behind it. We found a door that had the word "RAHOWA!!" painted over it. Olivia said it was a phrase the White Separatists like to use; it means "Racial Holy War". At the far end of the room we entered were 2 flags, a Nazi flag and a Christian flag, one on each side of a large swastika. There were also 2 pictures, one of Christ and the other of Hitler. The whole room was filled with Nazi crap. Before anybody did a thing I threw a spell to detect any traps these bastards might have left behind. Nothing showed; apparently they thought this place was pretty secure.

                Alfred made one of his cute little "Mmhumm" noises and said, "Nazis. I hate these guys." I resisted an urge to throw something at him.

                Looking around, Olivia found a door behind one of the flags. There was an extensive lab setup with about 6 pounds of plastic explosives, already packaged, and 2 dozen pipe bombs all assembled and ready to use. They also had a flamethrower with 4 full tanks of napalm, marked "Property of Peterson AFB".

                Michael found another room with electronics gear in it, mostly police scanners and radio jamming devices. It also had a bookcase full of textbooks, tracts, and manuals, all pretty far out there, politically speaking. Olivia took a copy each of The Anarchists Cookbook and a Special Forces handbook on improvised weapons. I was looking at some posters they had up on the walls when I spotted the door of a walk-in safe. My spell detected that it had been rigged with explosives on the inside that would go off if the door was forced in any way. The door had a regular old combination dial on it, so I asked Olivia if she knew Hitler's birthday. She asked why, so I showed her the door and told her I thought that might be a logical combination for these assholes to use. We tried it but it didn't work, so we tried a bunch of other things: other dates important to Nazis, scriptures that they were fond of quoting, that kind of stuff. No luck. Then Olivia looked over to what Michael kept calling the "altar" and said "If not Hitler's birthday, maybe Christ's." So she used 12-25-01 and it worked!

                Inside the safe we found the real arsenal. Rows of M-16s, 80 assorted assault rifles, 24 police riot shotguns and 40 heavy handguns, all with lots of ammo. Then there was the explosives: 72 pre-made pipebombs with timers, 2 cases of grenades and a dozen or so package bombs with addresses on them all ready to be mailed. I also found a journal containing their membership roster; I put it in my pack. Who know what these lunatics might keep at their homes, right? As paranoid as they all are, they probably had it hidden well enough that the casual scavengers wouldn't find it. Looking around the room, Michael said, "We need a bigger boat." We decided that Olivia, Alfred and I would stay to guard the place while he and Vesta went back to the Academy to get a bigger truck.

                I went topside to keep an eye open for trouble; Olivia and Alfred kept searching. They came up a bit later to tell me that under the altar they'd found 144 ounces of pure gold, a small sack labeled "real diamonds" that had 20 diamonds in it, averaging about 5 karats each! There was also another, larger sack that said (Ick! Hate to write it!) "nigger diamonds". It had a couple hundred large, good quality CZ's in it. It wasn't too much longer before Michael and Vesta were back with a good-sized cargo truck, the Motorpool sergeant and another guy.

                Apparently the sergeant saw through Michael's bluff and wanted to know what we'd found. He was awestruck! We finally agreed that we'd let him take half of it if he'd give us a truck to get it all back to the House. So we split the firearms. (I snagged 2 .45's with 6 clips each and put 'em in my pack for my own use) We took the grenades and pipebombs; they got the plastique and everything in the lab to make more. Olivia insisted on keeping the flame-thrower and the 4 tanks with it.

                After our bargaining with the sergeant I called him over. While we'd been waiting for Michael, Vesta and the truck I'd been looking through their membership and spotted the listing of a supply sergeant at Peterson. I asked the sergeant if he knew the guy. He said, "That little shit was a part of this? Doesn't surprise me, he was a grade 'A' asshole. But don't worry, he was killed not long after all this started." He asked if there was anybody else in there, I told him that there wasn't anyone else listed as a member of the military.

                He assured us that when the HazMat guys were done removing their half of the stuff, they'd burn the place out. That made me feel better. Olivia and I asked Alfred to move the altar upstairs and outside the building. Then we used one of their own pipebombs and blew it to smithereens. That made me feel much better!

                It was close to sundown when we got back to the Academy. We were met by a cadet who told us that he had a message for "The Party from the Outlands" He handed it to Olivia like she was going to eat his arm or something and practically ran away. The message was from Malcolm; he wants us to go by Ridgeway on our way back. The Baron there has formally requested assistance from his Liege. Seems they're having some kind of "difficulties". So we retired to the rooms we had last night to get some sleep before heading to Ridgeway.

Continued...