Dies the Fire

Quote from Krivoi_Rog >>

"Harrier's are nice birds, specially when one needs a bit of help from above," Aleister says.  "As my friend said, we're looking for a woman named Lucy Bernstein, some folks a ways back," he indicates back the way they came.  "Claudette was the name one of them gave, said she came this way.  And, bye-the-bye, we're doing a bit of recce to see what's left of the world; maybe find some who are looking to bring a bit of sanity back into things.  Up north Portland way there is a megalomaniac trying to birth Sauron's realm of the Lidless Eye no less.  I am sure other such bright spots are around here, too; Claudette mention something about the Sinaloa thinking north of the border is looking pretty nice.

"Anyway, my jaws getting a bit long.  So, you know anything of Mrs. Bernstein?"

 "Captain Bernstein is 2IC here." He explains what here is.

Early in the change (days) it was decided that dependants would be evacuated out of the populous areas while the rest of the command was trying to keep order in San Diego. Major Reynolds is in charge here with Captain Bernstein as his exec. Its been over a year and during the first 6 months members of the unit came in but it has been months since anyone else has shown up. 

The brass is trying to decide whether this place is a long term option or should they move out. "What's it like up north. You said you had a local crazy but everyone has them. We have a couple of hundred people; is there room?"

George chimes in 'A couple hundred?  That's an awful lot of folks.  There's plenty of room, but the food is still a bit tight.  How are you all set for supplies?  Any folks with useful skills?  That's normally how the Mayor and the Council make decisions about who to let in to join our little community' 

Quote from DirePilgrim >>

George chimes in 'A couple hundred?  That's an awful lot of folks.  There's plenty of room, but the food is still a bit tight.  How are you all set for supplies?  Any folks with useful skills?  That's normally how the Mayor and the Council make decisions about who to let in to join our little community' 

 “25% children, 25% civilians with a mixture of skills and the rest enlisted. We have been farming for the year so we can always do that. We still have enough MREs to last us all about a month.”

'I assume you've drilled those Marines with something other than M4's in the least year? You'll need most of those MRE's to get to Yachts, so not much help there.  But that many kids........'

George looks down at the ground and scuffs his boot in the dirt a bit.  No chance the Mayor would turn away that many kids. And if it comes to a tussle with the lunatic up north, a couple hundred Marines could make all the difference. 

'Let us talk to Ms. Bernstein and chat a bit, but I'm inclined to think moving you all up north might be a good idea.'

"With the Sinaloa stirring themselves up I wouldn't leave my dog here. and I don't have one 'member." Aleister gets a particularly fierce expression on his already grumpy face.  "No way I'm leave no kids to them, I know what will happen to them.  Mac, we will figure some way to get y'all up there.  Good farming country and any ex-Marines would be more than welcome."

He looks around, "Maybe we can get some boats working, sail up the coast.  Could always do with some marine infantry, being's how were on the coast;  don't think his eyelessness thinks too much about that sort thing, amphib in the rear, kinda like Inchon; that was one of MacArthur's only real successes."

"If worse comes to worse mayhaps we could rig up some rail transportation, might be easier move this many people that way."  He scratches his head and continues, "Gonna take some planning which ever way we do it."

You have your discussions with Major Reynolds and the Captain (Thomas, there are three boats (?). How many people could they hold on a trip up to Yachats? This would mean x trips. Probable simpler than walking everyone up overland.

Quote from DirePilgrim >>

'I assume you've drilled those Marines with something other than M4's in the least year? You'll need most of those MRE's to get to Yachts, so not much help there.  But that many kids........'

George looks down at the ground and scuffs his boot in the dirt a bit.  No chance the Mayor would turn away that many kids. And if it comes to a tussle with the lunatic up north, a couple hundred Marines could make all the difference. 

'Let us talk to Ms. Bernstein and chat a bit, but I'm inclined to think moving you all up north might be a good idea.'

 

 No M4s, instead they have 30 of the RS-X7

https://www.hammersurvival.com/products/rs-x7-slingshot-crossbow

They had an owner on base when the change occurred and he knew where to find them in a store in the city.

When a time comes in the conversation, Thomas brings up his favorite topic - magic - looking for more spells to add to his repertoire. “Don’t underestimate the advantages against Lord Lidless if we can manipulate more than minor effects in battle. Do your people have any interesting things they’ve been able to do with the new magic? Ive picked up a lot of tricks. “ he says as he taps the marine on the shoulder with the invisible hand. 

Quote from GKnightBC >>

When a time comes in the conversation, Thomas brings up his favorite topic - magic - looking for more spells to add to his repertoire. “Don’t underestimate the advantages against Lord Lidless if we can manipulate more than minor effects in battle. Do your people have any interesting things they’ve been able to do with the new magic? Ive picked up a lot of tricks. “ he says as he taps the marine on the shoulder with the invisible hand. 

 “Magic?!” You get some very odd looks until you demonstrate. It had never occurred to anyone here that this was possible.

'Those RS-X7's are nice toys.  But we'll want to drill your boys once we get them up north.  We'll need shock infantry if things go south - and that's what Marines were bred for. Thomas can help you guys run up the details of how to sail your folks back up north.  We'll send a letter back with wave one to get things set up with the Mayor and the town council'

Error

Thomas will go through with any interested party on the spells he knows and knows of, and ask after any kind of library here that might be relevant. 

Quote from GKnightBC >>

Thomas will go through with any interested party on the spells he knows and knows of, and ask after any kind of library here that might be relevant. 

 No luck on the library front. Mostly fiction with a few technical manuals thrown in. More than few are interested in 'magic'.

The decision is made to move the people north but the discussion is still open on how to do it. Thomas, how many trips with the boats would be required to move 200 people?

In private conversation with the rest of the party, Aleister wonders how to deal with the second reason the y came down here; the tac armour.  "How do we deal with that?  I think Mac and his crew are trustworthy and if we up-armour them we should have no problem moving overland.  I would suggest moving the children with a good escort by boat and the rest of us reconnoiter-in-force overland.  We should definitely avoid the LA area, that place would give me the creeps on the best of days, but now it is probable the kind of place that would make Stalingrad seem like a brilliant vacation spot."

He will ask Mac whether or not there were any horses available and if so suggest again following the rail lines if some sort of horse (or mule even) drawn rail carts could be cobbled together to carry supplies and what ever salvage might be surfaced mined along the way.  Once north of LA cutting back to the coast, maybe checking out Vandenberg Airforce Base where there might be a few goodies, following up through Big Sur should allow avoiding any pestilent mobs of unreasonable folk.  Point Sur Light House Naval Station is a highly defensible place that could be used as a staging area for an amphibious extrication of the recce group.  A Good small boat landing/embarkation beach at the base of the point, good visibility, open fields of fire allows for the place to be held by a small party against a fairly large hoard, for a bit anyway, that's if anyone would notice the place was occupied.

"If we're not too worried about weather, each both could carry about 12-15 people each, with Sheila carrying 20-25 at best. It all depends on how much gear we will be taking as well. If anyone of your colony shows aptitude with magic, I could teach them how to summon a floating disc for carrying supplies. If we commandeered a couple of open boats for towing the supplies, maybe? It'd take at least 5 trips to ferry everyone to Yachats. It might be better, as Aleister suggests, to take the more vulnerable first and the rest make their way via the shoreline after seeing them off. If necessary, I can keep a cloud of fog between the ships and shore to at least hide them while we travel, but that might still show our presence." 

Quote from Krivoi_Rog >>

In private conversation with the rest of the party, Aleister wonders how to deal with the second reason the y came down here; the tac armour.  "How do we deal with that?  I think Mac and his crew are trustworthy and if we up-armour them we should have no problem moving overland.  I would suggest moving the children with a good escort by boat and the rest of us reconnoiter-in-force overland.  We should definitely avoid the LA area, that place would give me the creeps on the best of days, but now it is probable the kind of place that would make Stalingrad seem like a brilliant vacation spot."

He will ask Mac whether or not there were any horses available and if so suggest again following the rail lines if some sort of horse (or mule even) drawn rail carts could be cobbled together to carry supplies and what ever salvage might be surfaced mined along the way.  Once north of LA cutting back to the coast, maybe checking out Vandenberg Airforce Base where there might be a few goodies, following up through Big Sur should allow avoiding any pestilent mobs of unreasonable folk.  Point Sur Light House Naval Station is a highly defensible place that could be used as a staging area for an amphibious extrication of the recce group.  A Good small boat landing/embarkation beach at the base of the point, good visibility, open fields of fire allows for the place to be held by a small party against a fairly large hoard, for a bit anyway, that's if anyone would notice the place was occupied.

 

 They are short on horses, only two that are used for scouting.

Quote from GKnightBC >>

"If we're not too worried about weather, each both could carry about 12-15 people each, with Sheila carrying 20-25 at best. It all depends on how much gear we will be taking as well. If anyone of your colony shows aptitude with magic, I could teach them how to summon a floating disc for carrying supplies. If we commandeered a couple of open boats for towing the supplies, maybe? It'd take at least 5 trips to ferry everyone to Yachats. It might be better, as Aleister suggests, to take the more vulnerable first and the rest make their way via the shoreline after seeing them off. If necessary, I can keep a cloud of fog between the ships and shore to at least hide them while we travel, but that might still show our presence." 

 It looks like the plan is the marines prepare for the trek north while you head east for the armour. Travelling by bicycle it will take maybe 10 days there and 10 back if you stick to paved roads. Add another week because shit will happen.

Sounds good enough 

Aleister looks up at the sky, then down at the ground.  "Shit always happens, just a question of when."  He will give everybody in the party one each of the firebombs, itchy-bombs and oleander-bombs, he'll take two of each.  Making sure his med supplies are up to snuff and his dart-thrower loaded he says, "Let's boogie."

Boogying away

Day 1
9 3 9
Day 2
3 5 2
Day 3
6 5 2
Day 4
9 4 3
Day 5
8 3 8
Day 6
1 2 7
Day 7
3 8 6
Day 8
10 2 1
Day 9
8 8 12
Day 10
6 1 1

Well, well, well. Isn't this going to be an exciting trip

Day 1

You're passing north of Mexicali and find the road blocked by some rough looking types. You get some warning from Thomas' little friend.