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OVERCAST: Mason's Rebellion

Lorsh

Lorsh

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OVERCAST

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You are Captain Lionel Mason and you are the leader of a reformist rebel faction within the dysfunctional Central Home Sector of government clean zones.

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The chaos of the initial outbreak has since become hazy to you, as it all occurred many years ago. Martial law was declared, and evacuation points were set up. However, due to an attempted invasion of the Central Republic's northeastern border by an opportunistic Kazacia, the military's resources were split between two fronts. All the evac zones had ceased operations after a few weeks, and the remaining cops and Civil Guards were pulled back to the clean zones. The power grid shut down, and the rest of the world went dark once the military set up equipment to jam communications. The war with Kazacia ended without a winner, as both nations' militaries were ultimately overrun by the undead after being weakened by extreme supply shortages, lack of morale, and extended combat.

You were formerly a military officer in the early days of the National Provisional Authority in the Central Home Sector, but were charged with conspiracy and forced to retreat to the dirty zone with your accomplices. Those who were unable to meet up with you in time were captured by homeland security, before being court-martialed and executed by the military high command. You would later learn that they were hanged publicly- one of the 'new' punishments that the NPA had introduced, along with public lashings and beatings.


You managed to return the clean zone after spending several years in hiding. Your base of operations is now located near the forest northwest of Tosaco. Your compound is an old Civil Defence compound surrounded by a chainlink fence, albeit one without any barbed wire. It's enough to keep the ghouls at bay, but fresh zombies might be able to climb over it. Still, it's not like you've ever seen any around here. There are gates located on the southern and eastern ends of the compound. The only buildings with power are the largest structures. In the upper multi-purpose building, electricity is currently running in the planning room, officers' quarters, mess hall and common area. In the lower building, a generator is powering the infirmary.


Your compound is home to 107 survivors. Each small building, excluding the storehouse, (comfortably) provides enough space for 8 people each. 56 of your survivors live in those buildings, while the rest are living in the multi-purpose structures. It's a bit crammed, but the buildings have stood the test of time quite well.


--

It is a new day; you wake up in your cot inside your personal quarters.





THERESA RYAN'S REPORTS

The nearby towns of Arkwright and Tosaco are under the control of another reformist faction that is currently friendly to you, known as the Allied Reform Front, whom you have heard of before. Overall, they are the largest rebel faction that has been doing most of the fighting lately.


The town of Misty Dew is under the control of a leftist rebel faction known as the People's Dawn. Their numbers are unknown, although their numbers were great enough for them to defeat the local garrison of government troops.


The small town of Noan is under control by the government. Several platoons are estimated to be stationed there.


The provo-controlled Lake Outpost is likely dealing with rebels from Tosaco, and there is a company-sized force estimated to reside there.​
 
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...I guess it's time.

Mason stood up stiffly from his cot, working out his many kinks from his back. It didn't matter how many years you spent in army life, you never got used to sleeping properly in a cot. Mason got up and went to his mirror to examine himself. His age was becoming apparent, more lines were starting to show in his face, and his hair color was starting to fade with all the stress he'd picked up in the last decade. He certainly looked the part of 'grizzled general', at least he had that going for him. He'd need it to in the days to come. His men had done a fine job securing this outpost after their incursion into the CZ was successful. They'd spent the last few weeks fortifying, patching and organizing the mess that was left over from the last time this site was manned. There was still work to be done, but if Mason's hopes were to survive then he needed to do something. It was finally time to act on the ideals that brought them out here in the first place.

Mason stood up straight, fixed the collar of his old uniform and strode out of his quarter's into the main building. From there he made his way towards the planning room, greeting anyone he met along the with way with a quick but respectful nod. Once there he greeted his intel officer Theresa Ryan, and quickly scanned over her notes while listening to her daily report. Things seemed relatively calm for the moment. That was good, hopefully it would stay that way a little while longer. In the meantime Mason tasked Ryan with gathering the other officers for a strategy meeting. Ryan quickly saluted and set about making the call over their radios to have the officers muster in the planning room.

Once everyone was gathered Mason addressed the officers at once. "It's time. We've fortified this spot plenty for the moment, but now we need a plan of action. According to Ryan's reports the National Reformist Front currently have footholds in Arkwright and Tosaco, and the Leftist group called the 'People's Dawn' have established themselves in Misty Dew to the northwest. As you all know our ultimate goal is to depose the current Marshal controlling the province, and to accomplish that an assault against the city of Parliament is likely inevitable. We'll need to gather more men, supplies, and outposts if we're to survive out here. From our current position I see two avenues of advance. Either we move west towards Granger, or east towards Denmont. We're too small an outfit for now to attempt both, so we must choose between them. The NRF is equidistant from both targets, and if we successfully establish communications with them we may be able to cooperate with their local leaders."

Mason set down the pointer he'd been using to designate points on a large map that had been spread out on the table for the officer's visual reference. Mason looked around at his officers after a moment of silence and asked, "So, what are your thoughts on how we should proceed?"
 
Timothy Klein, your morale officer, decides to speak first. He is an older man, somewhere in his fifties, and is one of your surviving accomplices from the initial conspiracy against the clean zones' military governors. He now sports a rather large, graying beard, making him look quite different from the clean-shaven army psychologist that he was back in the early days you'd known him. He used to be ranked as a major, though he wasn't specialized in actually leading soldiers in combat operations, so his higher rank just meant a higher salary more than anything else. "Alright," he begins. "I'm not sure if I want to even work with a bunch of lefties to begin with, but it looks like the red factions to the northeast are going to have to take over Fort Mabe and St. Horace if they're going to make a move on Denmont without getting squeezed. I think they're going to lose, personally," he says.


Ethan Bell speaks next. He is a younger man compared to some of your officers, only being in his early thirties. You met him in the dirty zone, and recruited him from a community where he had been working as a gunsmith. He certainly knows his way around a gun. "Well, we don't know if the ARF plan on backing them up," he says. "Maybe they'll attack from the south?"


Anderson, your communications officer (whose job has not changed much from back when she was affiliated with the NPA), shrugs. "Looks like they're preoccupied with trying to take over that Lakeside Outpost that the provos got. Even if they deal with that, we don't know if they'll go up towards Denmont or not. Although they're not in a good position to attack Granger right now, if the uprisings in Broxbane and Parliament are successful, they'll have allies coming in to back them up."


Jill Stalkman (an old-timer and former supply officer for the military) nods and gives her input. "I hear the rebellion in Broxbane is going well, since a lot of the civilians are supportive of it. Parliament must be a loyalist hub or something, since the situation looks dicey there. If the army wins in Parliament, we won't know which city they'll focus on trying to save next; Denmont or Granger. Broxbane looks too far gone to me, maybe they'll just bomb it."
 
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Mason nods as he listens to each person speak their mind. "All good points. Personally, I would prefer to reach out to the NRF and see if we can't establish comms at the very least. The last thing I want is for either of us to get caught in each other's crossfire." Mason looks over to his comms officer and addresses her directly. "Anderson, see if you can't contact either of the NRF outposts. I'd like to talk with one of their leaders and arrange a meeting if possible."

Mason then looks over to his quartermaster, Stalkman, and asks, "Stalkman, do we have any good means of resupply yet?"
 
Your deputies nod in agreement when you state your intention to make contact with the Allied Reform Front.

Anderson nods her head. "I'll see if I can contact anyone, but we don't know what frequencies they use yet. We may have to send an envoy or something if I can't figure it out," she informs you.

Stalkman shakes her head, leaning forward and folding her arms on the table. "There aren't that many towns around to scavenge. We may have to see if we can trade with the ARF, or maybe find some seeds and try to grow something. If we keep issuing full rations, we have about enough food for another week," she says.

Your general advisor, Harry O'Lime (one of your very own lieutenants back in your days with the NPA), finally straightens himself speaks. "I mean, Arkwright and Tosaco are marked as rebel-controlled on our map, but we don't know if the ARF literally has bases inside the town limits. For all we know, they might just be situated on the outskirts, where it would be more hidden. Even if they are based out of the towns themselves, I doubt they're using all the space available," he says. "Basically what I'm saying is, we might be able to scavenge in those towns."
 
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Mason acknowledge's Anderson's statement with a nod before looking to Stalkman and O'Lime. "Those are good points about scavenging. Looking at our stores now I think we can afford a few extra days of full rations to keep morale up. If we don't find new supplies in three days then we'll move to half rations to stretch out our stores. In the meantime, Stalkman, I'd like any future scavenging teams to keep an eye out for edibles that can be grown ourselves. I doubt we'll need to worry about crops unless we wind up in a siege, but worst case scenario I'd rather have options available than be left to search for new ones."

Mason then looks over to Chief Greaves and asks, "Greaves, what are your thoughts on the compounds current defenses?"
 
Stalkman nods, taking out her notepad and scribbling something down with her mechanical pencil.

"Well, we don't have any sandbags, trenches or palisades yet. Our fence won't do anything against bullets, only rotters," he says. "Still, with all the buildings around here being concrete, they'd actually be pretty good cover in the meantime. Still, not all the buildings are in particularly tactical places to take cover form."

Greaves is an experienced combat veteran, though he never stepped in a clean zone until recently, when you first brought him into it when returning from your exile in the dirty zone. Like Ethan Bell, Greaves is one of the lieutenants that was recruited from the dirty zone. Greaves had been a militia chief and sheriff in a walled survivor community, and had been involved in many skirmishes against bandits, as well as zombies. With a successor already adequately groomed to take his place in his community, he decided to join your rebels and head off to fight against a larger evil than petty outlaws.
 
Mason nodded his head at Greave's assessment. He'd had similar thoughts as well, and ideally he wanted to increase the compound's defenses. Even if it was just a small advancement, any improvement to the compound would be of help.

For the moment, Mason put the fortification idea on ice and brought up another issue that had been on his mind. "My thoughts exactly Greaves. We can discuss improvements to the compound later. For now though I think it's time to get some boots on the ground. I'd like scouting parties to start probing our borders and see what we're up against. Greaves, work with Ryan and Harry to determine who's going. I want eyes on the town of Noon, the lake outpost near Tosaco, and I'd like some extra hands to explore that dirt road out west of the compound. We still don't know where it leads and I want to make sure it's not a back entrance the CPA or anyone else can use to sneak up on us. And Greaves, whoever you send into those woods needs to be well prepared. There's a chance that rotters, criminals, or any kind of nastiness could be lurking out there. If any of our scouts come across NPF or Leftist forces I want them to report immediately so we can gauge the situation."

Mason holds on to the pointer this time, tucking it under his arm as he folds them across his chest. "These are strictly reconnaissance pushes, so I don't want any ordinance fired unless it's in self defense. Understood?"
 
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[they r the CPA now]

Greaves nods his head. "Yeah, I'll talk with you after about it," he tells you. "There's a few things we could be doing to beef this place up against an attack, whether it be from those government troops, or the zacks."

Greaves, Harry and Ryan agree to work together and to assemble some teams of soldiers to go out and commit to scouting operations around the town of Noon, Lakepost, and the dirt road leading westwards from the compound. They agree to tell these teams to refrain from engaging in combat unless absolutely necessary. After briefly talking among themselves, they suggest dispatching the Recon Squad, Squad 4, and Squad 5 to fulfill the goals you have set out.

Your deputies are prepared to carry out their orders, assuming the meeting is now completed.
 
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[fixed]

Mason nods as the details are finalized, ordering his deputies to carry on and report back to him with any relevant updates.
 
The meeting concludes, and your officers head out to organize some scouting parties. Afterwards, Greaves approaches you to give some suggestions regarding the compounds defence. "Hey, Mason. I was thinking we could make some trenches or palisades in front of the chain gates. I don't think we really need any watchtowers, since we can just put some guys on top of the roofs. Though, I think the northern section of our gate is a bit weak, since the fence doesn't leave us any room to construct any defence structures."

Harry pokes his head in through the doorway. "Hey, boss. I was wondering if we were going to allow to allow those scout crews to have cars, or if they were heading out on foot. If they gotta walk, a few of them might not be back for a few days."
 
Mason thinks for a moment before addressing Harry's immediate question. "Sure, give them some of the pickups to use. Try to keep it minimal though, I'd like to conserve gas where we can."

After that Mason thinks on Greave's suggestions for the compound before speaking his mind. "...All things considered I think the palisade idea has the most benefit in the short term. See if we can't get a squad and some of the recruits working on that. We'll need to fell some trees to get more timber, so make sure we start with the trees nearest the compound so we can get a better field of view from all angles. Start with the trees on the north side, that should free up some room to expand if we need to. And make sure the foresters have guards watching their perimeter, don't want any zacks sneaking up on us from all the noise."
 
Harry nods, before heading out to inform the crews that they can utilize a few of the vehicles from the lot. Your scouting crews leave, heading off to investigate their denoted areas.

"Sure thing," Greaves says. "I'll tell Harry to go write down some stuff regarding tools and labor, see if he can guess how long it'll take each project to get finished. Here's my guess on how much effort and resources it will take to make each palisade. How many do you want to construct, and where do you want them to be positioned?" Greaves inquires.

Palisade [75 wood, 15 scrap] 100 labor
 
"Let's start with one on the east side of the compound for now. Since the main road leads there it's the most likely area an armed force will approach from."
 
After you're done speaking to Greaves, he works with Harry and begins to assign your idling militiamen to their tasks. The recruits equip themselves with what hatchets and chainsaws are available and begin to harvest some wood. The ones without tools simply assist in carrying the lumber, or drag bundles of sticks or large logs. Meanwhile, Squad 1 grabs some toolboxes and begins to work on the palisade. Overall, your woodcutting crew gathers around 65 units of wood, while the construction crew finishes around a third of the labor of the palisade.

Harry updates the construction logs with some numbers on labor efficiency based on different factors.


Hours pass as this all happens, and eventually your scouting teams return to camp. One of the squad leaders tells you about the some new roads that were discovered, and hands you an updated map.

The leader of Squad 4, Edward Ryan (brother to Theresa Ryan) says that his scouts found a military camp by the crossroads between Tosaco, Noon, and Arkwright. It is situated inside of an old nature centre, and has enough tents for at least a full-strength platoon. He has included the location of the camp in the updated version of your map.

Alan Bryden, the leader of Squad 5, informs you of what his scouts managed to find around the Lake Outpost. From what could be seen, the outpost has a razorwire fence, several deer stand-style towers, and is situated in a former pre-outbreak campground. A military cargo helicopter was also seen flying overhead, towards Granger.

Recon Squad, which had been investigating the dirt road to the east, informs you that it leads over towards Hoslan. Parker, the reconnaissance leader, says that his team heard the blasting of heavy metal music near the section of the road that was at the foot of the non-forested zone. After dismounting from their vehicles, they approached the source while maintaining a low profile. They discovered a large group of around fifty soldiers and police officers camped next to the forest, with the music emitting from several large speakers. The policemen and soldiers were formed into lines, and appeared to be clearing the area of zombies judging by the presence of several dozen rotting corpses by the base of the forest. The police officers were wearing greenish uniforms, so it was hard to distinguish them from the soldiers. However, Kyle Hopkins was still able to identify them as members of the clean zone's Ranger Force. The police rangers are essentially the successors of the pre-outbreak pronvincial troopers, and are tasked with patrolling highways and providing security to rural areas. The location of the zombie sweeping operation has been included on the updated version of your map.

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Mason considers all the new information carefully before he moves on with his thoughts. He heads over to the Comms room to speak with his Intel and Comms officers directly. "Ryan, Anderson. Have we had any luck reaching the NPF?"
 
Anderson takes off her headset, turning around to face you in her chair as she shakes her head. "Can't find their frequency, it might be encrypted. They probably don't want NPA signals intelligence to intercept them," she tells you. "We'll probably only be able to establish contact with them if we send an actual envoy and figure something out."
 
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Mason nods at Anderson's statement. "Fair point. Ryan? You think we can get an envoy down to Tosaco without alerting the CPA?"
 
Ryan nods her head. "For sure. I'd make sure they have a car so that they can get there quickly, and I probably wouldn't send out too many people at once. Still, worst case scenario is they end up captured, which would be really bad. Still, we're taking the same risk whenever we send anybody out for any reason," she says. "Still, not sure if a NPA patrol would even be able to catch somebody in a vehicle, since I doubt they'd be keen on getting into some big car chase, which might as well be leading them into an ambush for all they know. Still, if they see our car heading towards Tosaco, they might try to ambush it on the return trip," she warns.
 
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"Let's get it done then. Get with Greaves and figure out who would be best to send. Let's keep it small, no more than four people in a single car. We need people that can handle a truck offroad if necessary, and at least one of them needs to be a decent talker. I'd like the envoy to arrange a meeting with anyone that's willing to talk from their location, preferably on neutral ground to start. Maybe the crossroads between our camps if that's reasonable for them. And if the envoy spots any hint of government movement I want them to abort and head back to base. We can't afford to tip our hand this early."
 
Your advisors all nod their heads. Once the meeting is concluded, Greaves and the gang decide to send out Edward Ryan, Brandon Rushton, and Tawana Johnson. Edward is of a mid-level authority position in your group, which might make negotiating with the other group easier. Brandon Rushton and his silenced rimfire carbine should be enough to deal with any infected without making much noise, while Tawana Johnson is just there for general backup. Assuming you approve of this delegation, they head out and mount a sedan before departing for Tosaco. Assuming all goes well, they should return tonight, or possibly in the morning if the weather turns sour or the meeting takes awhile.

Harry speaks with you afterwards. "Any plans regarding those new provo camps?"
 
Mason sighs before speaking his mind to Harry. "Well that sweep team has me concerned. I'm glad the zacks will be heading towards them for now. But if they push too far east then we risk them stumbling on our compound, and I'd rather not deal with them right now. ...Truth be told I'd rather not fight the Rangers at all. I know most of them are just men working a job, trying to keep their families safe and fed. If I had the choice I'd ask them to stand down and be on their way, but I don't know how loyal this particular group is to the CPA. They'd still know where we are if they found us, and that's something I don't want the CPA to know anytime soon. We might have to bug out if things get too hot here." After that statement Mason's head picked up a bit as an idea came to him. "...Now that I think about it we should make sure the supply van is stocked with emergency supplies in case we do need to jump ship. Enough to keep us going for a few days at least. Can you get with Stalkman about that?"

Following Harry's affirmation Mason continued. "The new camp is an obstacle we'll have to deal with. It's directly cutting off Arkwright from Tosaco, and if the NPF hasn't tried to fix that themselves I guarantee they'll be doing something about it soon. 'Course, even if the NPF wasn't going to attack the camp I would want that done soon. I don't like having an outpost that close to us, and it puts a damper on any reconnaissance pushes into Noon. Which is even more reason why I wanted to reach out to the NPF, get a feel for their plans. I'm not looking to sign up with them, but a friend out here would be a huge help."

"I think, overall, I'd like to get some recon teams established so we can scope out our targets before we strike. If we strike. ...I don't know if it will get us anywhere but I at least want to offer the outlier camps a chance to surrender. There's a lot of people fed up with the way things are, troops and civilians alike." Mason looked over to Harry as he continued. "While we're collecting intel I want the effort put in to determine who the leaders of our intended targets are, see if any of them appear to be disenchanted with the Marshall and his ilk. See if any of them can't be persuaded to stand down, or even join us maybe."
 
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"Yeah, I'll tell her to pack it up with some canned goods, survival gear and extra ammo in case we gotta high-tail our asses outta here. Hopefully it won't come to that, though," Harry says with a sigh. "Anyway, the Rangers... as a technically 'civilian' law enforcement agency, maybe they aren't exactly indoctrinated to the same extent as the armed forces. Still, a lot of them still work closely with the army; we already know that the sweeper camp is a mixed force of soldiers and policemen. Rangers often see a lot of combat with rebels due to the nature of conducting rural patrols, so some of them are bound to not like us. Still, what you say is true; they're mostly just guys caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a shame, but we'll have to fight them if we have to, I think."

Harry agrees that the other rebel groups likely have their sights on the crossroads camp, and seems to have similar sentiments towards the NPF. He does seem doubtful about the prospect of negotiating with the NPA encampments, however. "I'm not sure if the camp leaders will be willing to listen. Still, we could probably send some people to masquerade as civilians and gather information. They won't let random folk waltz into their camp, but sometimes soldiers will meet with people on the edge, to barter for cigarettes and such," he says. "I've heard that during the years we were gone, the NPA has gotten more stringent when it comes to political loyalty in the officer corps. The screening probably results in a reduction of leadership quality... There's probably fewer skilled officers making it through, but more loyal ones nonetheless."

It's getting late outside. Most of the rebels will be turning in to rest soon while the night watch begins.
 
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Mason nods, "Loyal to the government anyway. Not sure the soldiers are as loyal though, that's something we'll have to look into."

With nothing else pressing to attend to Mason heads to his quarters to rack out for the night, only dressing down halfway in case he's needed for an emergency.
 
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