ATZ - an English Adventure - The package (1)

Hi all

I hope you enjoyed the intros to this episode/encounter in my ATZ campaign.  I also hope it will have set you up for what is to come.  Once again the AAR will be written narratively, so will not have any of the rules prompts or explanations, it will also condense some of the action or indeed stretch some of it to incorporate the story, however it will remain true to the action that will happen within the game even if that is adverse to my heroes!

Why am I writing this intro in this tense? because I haven't played the game yet and will write up a post after playing a chunk of the game.  This means that I have little idea of how it will all pan out! exciting huh? :-)

So to get some background on this scenario then. Hopefully you have been following the story so far, if not why not?!? You can find it here.

First up we have Anna...

Anna "putters" Parker

Anna "Putters" Parker has had a very tough intro to the zompoc! her fiance Chris was studied extensively after developing a weird, delayed reaction to the virus, he then turned into a homicidal killing machine that tore the D-Subs to shreds before falling to a horde of the critters. This has led to Anna confirming her "survivor" status in ATZ parlance, she has also managed an increase in her stats.  As i'm using Bryan's variation of the rules and split the mighty ATZ Rep stat I could have increased one of the other stats but decided to up her Rep from 3 to 4. She's still wielding a baseball bat, that she found in a house earlier and she's still driving an ambulance that she had been driving immediately after Storm Daenerys. So here's her upgraded card.

The board I will be using is based on the one I took to PAW with only minor changes to the street furniture, mostly because I haven't had time to change it but also because I haven't really played any game on it, so want to try it out!!

Divided into the usual 9 sections, Anna will enter in at section 8, in her ambulance highlighted in a green circle.  Her objective is to simply exit the board at section 2, highlighted by the green arrow, if this happens the encounter is a success.  There are three PEFs on the board but rather than being a random roll on the encounter chart in the rule book, they will be pre-loaded in order to represent the individual story threads that we've been following this week.

However we won't know which one it will be until they are revealed as I don't want to influence the way I move Anna...

Each PEF will represent one of the following -

Strike team Alpha-Sierra 5 - the team consists of :
Sgt Nick Boyle - rep 4 - assault rifle, body armour (born leader)

L/Cpl Samuel Tompkins - rep 4 - assault rifle, body armour (medic 1)

Pvt Bradley "Dewdrop" Dewbury - rep 4 assault rifle, body armour (dim)

Pvt Tony Conti - rep 4 - assault rifle, body armour (poser)

The team will attempt to capture Anna if she is on her own and it is possible. To do this Sgt Boyle has been issued with a taser which has stats of:- range 3" Target 1 Impact 1. If the shot hits and is over the Impact score of 1 then the target is stunned and considered immobile for d3 turns.  They will then ziptie Anna and move to the RV.  They cannot fast move with Anna ziptied. When the team first encounter Anna they will "meet and greet". If the sgt gets more successes he will appear friendly in order to get closer to Anna and deploy the taser. If Anna gets more successes she will suspect something is up and can "walk the walk"

If it is impossible to capture Anna then they have orders to terminate her on sight and any witnesses, opening fire with their assault rifles.  One of the team must be in btb in order to search for the package and that must be retrieved.  The team will not withdraw unless they have the package or Sgt Boyle is killed. If they retrieve the package or capture Anna they must RV with their chopper which will land on the roof of the supermarket for extraction.

Gobbo - Gobbo will be accompanied by his daughter Astrid, who are scavving on foot for supplies in the local area.

As Gobbo is/was Anna's crewmate, there is no need to "meet and greet" they will automatically join forces and escape the board from the nearest exit if Anna is in her ambulance or via the exit by the Winchester Arms pub at the corner of section 3 if she is on foot. If Anna exits with Gobbo the encounter is a success.  If the strike team have captured Anna in LoS of Gobbo he will attempt a rescue if possible.

April Nillson - April is on foot in the area, looking for Anna at the behest of her cameraman "Booby" Bobby.  During his most unlikely radio message, he has managed to persuade April to locate and warn Anna of the strike team and it's sinister mission.  April relented mostly because of the huge story she can scoop - D-sub viruses, sinister government agencies, science experiments!!! She is however, also at heart a decent human being and the thought of a young paramedic being butchered to further a government agenda appalls her. If she encounters Anna before the strike team she will have to "meet and greet" as normal with successes meaning she has convinced the paramedic of her sincerity and she will warn Anna about the strike team and Anna will not have to "meet and greet" the team, instead she can go straight to insight and "walk the walk".  If she encounters her afterward she will try to join forces with her in order to get the scoop.  she will not however try to rescue a captured Anna by assaulting the strike team, she may however try to help her if its possible.

The encounter will take place in an Urban setting so zombies will generate on 4+ following noise and the Encounter Rating starts at 5.

It is late morning of Day 5 (PD) post Daenerys....

hope you enjoy
dGG

Bobby

Bobby rocked back on his heels, his head spinning. He had, thanks to his prodigious luck avoided all the MPs who patrolled the FOB. He had even found himself a little hidey hole right next to the command module and out of sight of the rest of the camp. Even luckier he had discovered a little gap in the welds of the structure that seemed to funnel sound straight out to him and his waiting microphone.   

Despite Bobby's rather dim nature he was, in addition to being exceptionally lucky, a bit of a technology savant with the uncanny ability to work tech despite very little formal training.  For the last few days he had been working on the problem of communications and his inability to get hold of April Nillson, the reporter that he was working for.  Bobby knew that she would love the footage that he had gathered so far and he wanted desperately to please his boss.  However, a chance breeze last night had caught a pile of papers that were on the corner of a desk near to Bobby's spyhole and dropped a couple of pages to the floor. Unbelievably, one of the pages had jammed into the slender crack allowing the cameraman to pull it through to his hidey hole...  

Bobby knew it was now or never, he needed to test the crypkey that he presumed was today's code.  The paper had been very useful in providing exactly what he needed at the right time and Bobby was trusting to his luck.  He knew April had a radio handset in the huge handbag that she dragged around with her for work, the twin of which he had in his hand.  Withdrawing to a safe distance, Bobby turned the civitech on and entered the code-ware into the handset, fingers crossed it would marry up with April's and allow them to talk.  With a faint crackle, the radio transmitted the release code to the other unit*.  

"April, April are you receiving me? Over" 

Bobby crouched, nervously glancing around him acutely aware that he was in real danger.  He'd never really realised the precarious position he'd found himself in, surrounded as it were by soldiers who would look very unkindly at what he was about to do. 

"Come on April, I really hope you have this thing on..." 

Another burst of static and then a very faint voice came over the speaker, gaining volume with each second. 

"...bby, Bobby? is that you?" 

A big grin spread across the cameraman's face and he let go of the breath he hadn't realised he was holding.  Depressing the press-to-talk button he began to tell his story, he just hoped it was in time to save an innocent paramedic's life... 

*authors note - yes I know this is stretching things a bit far, it is after all fiction....

Forward Operating Base – designation FOBSK000, Richborough.

"Report"  

The words spoken without noticeable accent, inflection or volume, nonetheless cut through the noise of the command room, causing the various operators to quiet their own chatter and focus intently on their work stations.  The Man (yes, he deserved the capitalisation!) strode across the metal floor of the temporary structure, which had been airlifted from a location that couldn't be found on any Ordnance Survey map of the UK and plonked down among the ancient Roman ruins of Richborough Fort.  His adjutant stood to attention by the comms units and saluted as she handed over a clipboard.  Without a glance at the printouts that bulged under the bulldog clip, he threw the board onto a nearby desk and turned back to the shaken woman. 

"I asked for a report, lieutenant. Do not make me ask again." 

With a visible effort, the officer pulled herself together and without reaching for the paperwork she began working her way through the progress report for the FOB.  

Communications had been restored following storm Daenerys disruptive electro-magnetic energies, restored that was for the military.  The civilian mobile phone networks and radio frequencies were still being jammed, this time by order of The Man and would continue to be blocked indefinitetly.  The narrow band used by the FOB was encrypted, with the crypkey included in the daily orders as per regs.

To date, thirty three civilian boats had been turned away by the British Armed Forces from efforts to cross the river Wantsum or make their way around the coastlines of Thanet toward the mainland.  A further seventeen had been "splashed", the civilians had ignored warnings to turn around and been destroyed by the military ring that now patrolled the far banks of the raging river and the English Channel.  Two had been destroyed by the Royal Navy as they made a break for the continent, France being a mere 25 miles away. 

The Man held up a leather gloved hand, forcing the officer to stutter to a stop. 

"Where is Smith?"  

The lieutenant glanced longingly at the clipboard, racking her brains for the current location of the mercenary and his team. 

"Birchington, sir. Following up a lead, so far he reports negative findings sir." 

The Man sighed, letting the barest hint of emotion show on his ordinarily bland countenance. The search for the girl and more importantly the package was taking too long, his scientists were practically salivating at the thought of getting hold of the data that had been gathered on "subject z" while it was still alive.   

"CONTACT! It’s the girl sir" 

The shout from a drone operator, caused the adjutant to visibly jump and whirl toward the young corporal manning the military grade spyware.   

The Man, strode over to the console glaring down at the monitor that showed a video link of the ambulance as it pulled out from under the canopy of old oak trees that lined a play park and onto a small street. The corporal, wilted under the intensity of the gaze of The Man stuttered his report. 

"Ramsgate sir, edge of Ellington park, looks like she's on the move." 

"How far away is Smith? 

The corporal consulted the map of the Island and made some quick calculations. 

"25 minutes, sir" 

The Man raised an eyebrow at his adjutant, who desperately wanted to be somewhere else at this time. 

"We can chopper in a strike team, ETA would be under 10 sir" 

The Man considered his options, Smith would be better at dealing with this sort of problem but the strike team was closer... 

"ready the helicopter lieutenant, instruct them to capture the girl if they can do so easily, if not terminate her.  The package is the priority!"