In order to get into the panic room, they have to get Clo out. And to get Clo out, they might have to rescue his now pregnant girlfriend. The problem is, she's being held by her cult-leader father who expects her to be the mother to the new messiah.
Previously, on The Four Generals
The Generals have arrived in Las Azaleas, only to learn that Maddy Dwyer is more than she seems. Now joining in as Major, the Fourth Generals, she has a plan to keep herself alive using The Opal of Ishtar's safe room. Only Clo Mirza, future owner of The Opal, is having a panic attack.
Content Warning: Language, Smoking, Violence [lots], Gambling, and a tinge of cosmic horror. I will also ignore history, technology, and common sense here or there but no slight is ever intended about the real history, people, or events referenced.
More info, attribution for the tools and materials used— including the splash art — can be found in the About & Credits, below.
The Four Generals: Episode 1, Act 1 >> The Fells
The Mythic Toolkit for Four Generals
Mythic has a lot of tools and variations/ideas that can be mixed-and-matched to create flows that fit a game. In this case, I'll be using the following changes from the "base" assumptions:
- Low Chaos Fate Chart {MM148)
- Chaos Factor will start at 5 and only increase at milestones/checkpoints. It will not decrease [a variation on Mythic Variation's Horror variation {12}].
- from Mythic Variations Action-Adventure variation {13}:
- The Adventure Focus Table
- The "Adventure!" Focus Event
- All Doubles trigger a Random Event
- "Remote Events" will involve Threads & Characters marked as REMOTE
- "Ambiguous Events" will involve Threads & Characters marked as MINOR
The full range of Meaning Tables will be used, but specific use will brought in for things like "Character, Combat Actions" to try and keep things...random.
Setting the Scene, e01.a/1.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: The Four Generals are outside of the Opal's panic room, assessing the situation.
Scene Test: None for the "true" opening scene.
Actual Scene: As expected.
This is a slightly comical scene that has put me in a bit of a pickle. The watchword for Outgunned is action all the time. I fudged that a bit while setting up pieces, but by now we should be skipping the boring parts. Which means that a brief aside about a panicking brother needs to not be an aside.
Rather than work out a lot of backstory as to why him being in the panic room makes sense, I'm just going to add in juice. A violent leader of a mega-church who is an ex-spook and now believes in extra-terrestrial Jesus and a cycle of Mary. One with gun toting weirdos.
TRIGGER: THE FIRST ASSASINS WILL ATTACK MADDY ON THE THIRD "EVEN" ROLL OF A SCENE TEST.
Date: Saturday, August 15, 1998.
Time: 19:45
Place: The Flood Tunnels underneath The Opal of Ishtar
Panic
"Heeyyy, buddy, you should open up the door, ok? We can all go and visit Ida, together..." Myrrh says in a overly sweet voice. Belying her voice, her fists are clenched and her face is a study in annoyance.
"This is some sci-fi shit, Sarge," LT calls from a few meters back, staring at the strange tunnels they have found themselves in. In front of Sarge is Maddy, now calling herself Major with some insistence, and Myrrh who are both knocking on an orange door labeled "air lock." The tunnel has a large number of side vents branching off every couple of meters and the faint glow of lighting from them combines with the moisture dripping in the place to give the whole place the feel like a 1970s depiction of a space ship.
"Major," it is the Colonel who asks, "What the hell is this?"
Myrrh answers. "My dad, before he disappeared, was convinced that nuclear catastrophe was imminent. He had this built, and the panic room. In the event of global catastrophe you get inside the panic room and then trigger the switch and...WOOSH!," and as she says this does this big, dramatic gesture with her hands, "the water tanks flush out and fill these tunnels up, sealing folks on the other side and using the water to help protect from radiation, EMP, heat blasts, all that."
"Would that actually work?," Sarge asks.
Myrrh shrugs and then hits the intercom again before banging on the door when Clo Mirza, her younger brother, refuses to acknowledge them. He hasn't talked the whole time they have been down here but according to Myrrh he had been a chatty cathy a couple of hours ago before going radio silent.
"Wait," LT pipes back up, "What if he triggers the WOOSH!," making the same gesture as Myrrh, "while our asses are out here?"
Myrrh gives it some thought and then shakes her head. "Nah, Clo is a LITTLE BITCH who is just CRYING FOR HELP! MAN UP, GODDAMNIT!"
"Why do we need this panic room instead of a cave in the desert?," Sarge cuts in through the shrill shouts.
"Because," Major says, fiddling with a cigarette but not lighting it as she ones again eyes the strange fire detectors dotted around the ceiling, "the plan had been for us to dump as much money as we could against the bet that I would die and then Myrrh and I were going to hole up with three cartons of booze, two cartons of smokes, enough snacks to fat up four elephants, and then flood the tunnels until September."
"Shit," LT says, "That might actually work."
"ONLY," Myrrh is back to shouting, "SOME JAG-OFF IS HIDING FROM HIS FATHERLY DUTIES!"
Clo, it turns out, has gotten Ida Fell pregnant. And Ida Fell is Reverend Thaddeus Fell's daughter. And that's a whole thing.
The Reverend Thaddeus Fell
In the 70s, Fell had been an active operative within the CIA with a specialty in subverting local customs and religions to align the natives with whatever shenanigans oil and industrial interests might need to pull. All for the greater good of the All Mighty Dollar.
In 1974, Fell found a certain object and took certain photographs in Peru that are currently so classified that is unclear if anyone alive has access to the codes to open the vault to even know how classified they might be.
After two years of intense therapy and counseling, a reborn Fell left the Agency and tried to move on with his life as a proper civilian. He met Julia Angstrom, fell in love, and the two started a small church together in Flagstaff.
Only when Julia got pregnant with the daughter that would eventually be named Ida, Fell had his so-called Great Awakening.
He started preaching the gospel that Mary was not a one-time incident. In fact, there had been lots of Maries. And therefore lots of Jesus-class entities. Each "Jesus" was, in fact, the earthly avatar of a vast, alien intelligence named Ankelok who periodically picked a virgin human female and beamed his superior DNA into her to help usher in a new golden age of humanity.
Other "Jesus-class entities" [JCEs], according to Fell, include maybe obvious choices like Buddha but slightly more surprising people like Isaac Newton, Alexander Hamilton, and George Gershwin. Any attempt to explain to Fell facts like his choices seem awfully Euro-centric [12 of the 15 are from Europe or the Americas] or that Hamilton and Gershwin both had older siblings would invoke his ire. "That's what they want you to think. THEY ARE CONTROLLING YOUR MIND!"
Fell's paramilitary arm of his Church of the New-Mown Hay are used to punish those believers who fall from grace. Very, very surreptitiously.
Fell has declared that he has received signs that Ida is to be the next Mary and that her child will trigger the Millennium where Ankelok will emigrate to Earth and rule for a thousand years.
More and more followers flock to the church every year and many are preparing to fight a holy war to protect the child they see as The One True Messiah®.
"I don't understand," Sarge had asked when this story was told to him, "If the poor girl is to be the mother of the Final Messiah of Ye Old Extraterrestrial End Times, how did Clo get to her?"
"The Las Azaelas Books-for-Troops fundraiser earlier this year," Myrrh had explained, "Reverend Fell wanted to send the copies of The Fell Bible and mom wanted Clo to get some experience working with a few new demographics. How exactly they got enough time to actually get her pregnant, I have no idea, but I'm guessing there are now some stains on those bibles."
Ida's parents are both true believers, true charlatans, or that American mixture of both; but Ida has a younger sister, Olive, with a more pragmatic view on life as an old-soul sixteen-year-old already looking into crawling out from the apocalyptic shadow of her older sister. Olive goes to a private school run by the Church stocked full of sarcastic rebellions-in-training. She managed to get a pregnancy test from said network of classmates. Then Olive was the one who got word to Clo. This morning.
Telling him that she was going to out her sister as pregnant during tomorrow's Sunday service if he didn't do something and if Ida didn't agree to leave.
Clo, realizing that alien-worshipping ex-mil types with big guns might declare him to be Actually Satan in Flesh panicked. And then ran into the panic room. It was hard to make out from all the incoherent ramblings, but it seems like there might have been some plan — half-concocted by Olive of all people — for Ida to try and join him.
Ida was a no show. The only reason he hadn't hit the "flood the tunnel" button was because he thought she might still show up but hope is fading. He was ranting about her being burned at the stake or sacrificed in an underground bunker. Not that his fear for his beloved's life is enough to make him actually try and do something about it.
Myrrh tried to calm him down and say that Ida would be fine and the family would probably just declare that his kid was the messiah and some fuck-up-ery over dates had happened and then marry them off. At which point, Clo went silent.
"I have an idea," Major says after finally lighting the cigarette. She inhales and then braces which makes Sarge brace, both looking up at the blinking light overhead. Once a few metric tons of water doesn't flood out and kill them all, she exhales.
"Me, too," Sarge says, "It rhymes with 'a Dave in the Cesert' and Myrrh can come, too, if you want company."
"No, silly, we go and get Ida. Clo and her run off and Myrrh gets to be first in line to inherit the Opal again."
The situation is getting out of hand. Still, the panic room looks to be the best way to get Major so out of sight that all he has to do is gamble away his life savings for the next two weeks. If they can get the panic room free.
"How armed can a church be?"
He is not assured when both Myrrh and Major start laughing.
Setting the Scene, e01.a/2.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: The Generals are sneaking into the Church of New-Mown Hay
Scene Test: 7
Actual Scene: As expected.
Let us set some parameters up for this:
- How effective is the active security at the "Church?" >> {GMAB79} 3 = Not very effective, only a Basic intensity.
- If guards are triggered, how intense are they as fighters? >> {GMAB56} 6 = Above average, but just barely. Critical attack, maybe only Basic defense.
- How many guards are there? >> {GMAB38} 7 = Quite a few. We'll plan at 9 hitboxes.
Now to map out how many steps it takes to get to Ida, I'm going to roll 9D6 in order. I'll ignore any 1s and 2s as inconsequential. 3s and 4s will represent minor obstacles [basic/double-basic rolls or quick check ins]. 5s will be moderate obstacles [critical rolls]. 6 will be Ida. Having multiple 6s side by side will represent MAJOR speedbumps. I'll read them in order and if no 6's, then the final die will be her, anyhow.
- 3, 1, 2, 1, 4, 4, 3, 3, 6
A minor obstacle to get in, then several stages of just getting through. A couple of trickier moments followed by another couple of tricky moments. Finally she is at the far end of the compound, essentially.
Scene wise, I can break it up like this:
- A Basic Roll to see if folks can sneak inside.
- A speed run kind of scene to generate 3 "non" locations.
- A pair of tests, one combat and one something else.
- Another pair of tests, probably not combat.
- Ida.
Let's go and test at least a couple more parameters:
- Does the compound have activity security cameras? (Very Likely) >> 82 = No.
- Does the compound have anything like a guard tower? (50/50) >> 75 = No.
- Does the party "know" where Ida might be (by at least general notion)? (....we'll say Likely) >> 17 = Yes.
- Does the party "know" where Olive might be? (Likely) >> 39 = Yes.
Since Ida showed up as last in the stack, then that pair of 4s will be getting Olive. With her, getting to her sister will be "easy."
Oh, one last one...
- Where is Ida being held? {MM} >> 2,6 Footprint + 5,6 Spade = A place where she can walk and a place where she can work.
- Completely against her will? (Nearly Certain) >> 15 = Critical Yes.
- Does the family know she wants to get to Clo? (50/50) >> 58 = No.
Ida is being held in a greenhouse place. The parents know something is up with her, but are not sure what. They are staging a Garden of Gethsemane.
Date: Saturday, August 15, 1998
Time: 22:17
Place: Outside the Church of New-Mown Hay Compound
Entering the Works
Sarge had said no. LT had said absolutely note. The Colonel had asked if everyone was going crazy.
Major had said she was going with them and somehow she ended up going with them.
Sarge wonders if it might genetic. Some pheromone the Dwyers emit that causes the Generals to follow their commands. First driving out here immediately. Showing up for the photo shoots. Dragging the one person they are tasked with keeping alive into a potentially dangerous situation. If Major's has a kid, would that kid show up in twenty-five years and ask them to jump off a cliff.
Would Sarge do it? Signs point to yes.
Now they are outside the Church is 100% not what you think when you think about a church. Instead, think "industrial processing plant," which is exactly what it once was. The New Sonoran Gas Works had spread up past the reaches of the Sonoran desert in the 1960s only to have the fuel crisis of the 1970s force radical refinancing. The Las Azaleas plant had already been funded by state government and through funds from both the US and Mexico and so was completed but without proper infrastructure support from the mama bear, the baby bear had slid into an early grave in the early 1980s.
Six years later, Fell had a flock in the low triple digits and picked up the compound for a relative steal thanks in part to some local landowners joining in on his cult. They spent the better part of a decade rebuilding and taking over more and more of the plant before reaching their current point.
Which is looking exactly like the sort of place that built petroleum byproducts only with some crosses and neon lights added for effect.
Current target is to get into the compound as quietly as possible, with as few guns as possible, and locate the Fell sisters. Hopefully getting out fast enough that they have few hour head start towards getting Clo and Ida on a plane to somewhere, anywhere.
Major had said she had an idea about this, but was keeping mum on specifics.
NOTE: The plan is for Amy Patel to come and get them, since Amy has enough money and influence to actually hide them.
- Can Amy fly out in time? (Likely) >> 87 = No.
- Can Amy send someone else? (50/50) >> 02 = Exceptional Yes.
Giggle. Eustace is going to be on the way.
First things first: Sarge, The Colonel, and Major have to get over the wall. LT is going to be on standby to drive out as soon as as possible or, if he thinks things are going pear shaped, to try and create enough of a distraction that the forces can scatter.
Major searches for the weakest point in security...
This is Basic as determined by above, with extras helping the stealth rolls that follow...
- Major: (Crime) 3 + (Detect) 3 >> Critical = 2 extra successes.
- What makes this area weak? >> {MM} 6,3 Strongbox + 1,3 Binoculars.
Heavy construction means it's hard for anyone to see this chunk of the wall. The place has no guard tower or cameras so it would just be largely boots on the ground.
...and points out a heavy bundle of pipes and concrete work where one could get into the compound while being practically invisible to anyone actively not on the roof of the outer building or right beside it. Neither which seems to be the case.
- Major: (Crime) 3 + (Stealth) 2 >> Double Basic
- Sarge: (Crime) 2 + (Stealth) 1 >> Critical (!)...heh
- The Colonel: (Crime) 2 + (Stealth) 3 >> Critical
They crawl up and run as quietly as possible over the metal roof of the outer building and move towards the location she identified. Within minutes, they are inside and sliding down pipes on the outside of the concrete structure.
Glancing around a corner, they see some structures that have been repurposed to house a cafeteria style dining hall and some other fellowship centers. The main place of worship and the dormitories for on-site parishioners being within the body of the facility itself.
After a minute, they spot the secure housing which should have the sisters inside...as well as parents and the inner security...
I'm going to do this a bit as an inverted roll. Just roll the highest Focus + Detect [which is Major's] and then add in +2 for the others. Whatever the success will indicate the "minimum" required and so add flavor to the roll.
- Major: (Focus) 2 + (Detect) 3 + (help) 2 >> Basic = a bad roll means that the place is a bit ostentatious but maybe not absolutely glaring.
...and eventually, one by one, they notice the building that is the most likely culprit.
"Has to be it, right?," The Colonel asks.
Seconds later, they are moving across the compound.
Setting the Scene, e01.a/3.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: The Generals start infiltrating the Fell House.
Scene Test: 5, Altered Scene. Scene Adjustment >> 1 Remove a Character.
Actual Scene: The plan requires someone to stay behind...
I think I have enough data from earlier to keep this going.
Date: Saturday, August 15, 1998
Time: 22:35
Place: Approaching the Fell Household
The Fell House
The building stands out for three reasons: (1) the guards outside of it both on the ground and on the upper platforms, (2) the fact that it looks like exactly the sort of building where someone "in charge" would park their family, and (3) it is trying really hard to look like a normal building.
It probably was the head mucky-much building back in the day. Red brick. Modern architecture. The sort of place where international guests would be brought in to air-conditioned halls to talk about sheer profits and backroom deals. Where the engineers would sit around tables and chain smoke while their subordinates sweltered in the heat outside.
Four stories tall, deep enough inside that it is not really visible unless you are either inside or a distance back. There are...
We'll say six total...
- (d3+3) guards on the ground >> 1 + 3 = 4.
Four guys walking around on the ground, two up on a balcony. Now, there's no way Sarge had expected them to get in and get out without issue, but that's a lot of guys to get through. Half are obviously armed. Even factoring in that none of them seem to have more training that being pretend soldiers, its not like Sarge is anything but a pretend soldier himself. Hell, at least The Colonel has some field training. And...surprisingly, he feels Major as well.
The plan, by the way, is awful. He sits back and watches it unfold.
"Hey, guys, you got a light?," Major asks as she saunters up to the four guys with a cigarette in her mouth...
Her Smooth + Flirt is pretty weak [only 3] so going to pop her adrenaline for this since the task should be Critical...
- (Smooth) 2 + (Flirt) 1 + (Adrenaline) 1 = Critical but on a whim I did a ReRoll and it was Exteme!
...and Sarge clenches a fist and gets ready to move as the guys pause a moment. One seems about to raise his gun when she says, "Oh, shit, I would definitely have recognized if I saw you in service. You guys sit some place special? I'd like to be sitting there!"
Another one rushes up and lights the cigarette and soon they are all sitting around, smoking. Laughing.
Sarge lets out a careful sigh. The Colonel whispering but sounding super loud in the tense night air asks, "You think it's genetic?"
Then the two men are scaling the side of the building.
The building I picked out for this seems to have lots of features, but the dice earlier suggested "Critical" to get into the building.
- Sarge: (Brawn) 3 + (Stunt) 3 >> Critical + Basic.
- The Colonel: (Brawn) 3 + (Stunt) 3 >> Critical + Basic.
They are up on the side of the balcony furthest from the guards who are...
- How are the guards reacting to the flirtations down below? {MY203} Meaning Table: Character Actions >> 87 Strange 86 Stop + 15 Bold 57 Lazy.
...leaning over and watching. One hocks a loogie over the edge and both just brazenly lean over, guns left on the ledge, and are far too comfortable at their post.
Sarge runs over...
Since we already had our two "4s" to get here, this will be the next "3". Just a basic roll to knock them out since they don't seem to be in combat formation at all.
- (Brawn) 3 + (Fight) 3 and he gets Free ReRolls on this... >> Double Critical, without the ReRoll.
In combat terms he would have just scored six successes against the guys, at any rate, nighty nighty.
...and slams the heads of the two guards together, with force. The two crumble. Sarge and The Colonel spend a short time ejecting all the ammo from their guns and then dragging the bodies back out of sight. Down below, it sounds like even more men have joined Major and all are laughing. No doubt she has at least a few numbers by now.
Sarge and The Colonel approach the sliding doors into the hallway and check it for any sorts of alarms...
We have already established this isn't the kind of place that is sensible about its security, so there won't be any alarms, but let's see how confident they are about that...
- Colonel: (Crime) 2 + (Awareness) 2 + (second pair of eyes) 1 >> Critical.
...but The Colonel sees nothing and motions for Sarge to open it. Both hold their breath as they start off down the hall...
- Is Olive's door obvious? (50/50) >> 88...a random event, goodness me... >> 15 = ACTION!
...right as a teenage girl in a white dress steps out of one of the rooms, sees them, and looks like she might be about to scream!
Sarge leaps forward, trying to get to her in time...
- (Brawn) 3 + (Stunt) 3 >> Basic...ooo...
...and he very nearly makes it.
Doug's Commentary
You know, even to me this feels like a side quest but that's ok. It's helping me to get a feel for the characters before the screws tighten even more. Next time we'll get to see how they handle startling Olive. I'll bring up a few old tropes, no doubt.
This kind of world lore, the strange preacher and his strange church, is exactly what sparks on the most sorts of joy for me.
I received some bad personal news this morning, which I won't go into, but it is sometimes quite nice to have this kind of thing to do while trying to figure out your emotional landscape.
I'm not sure if there is enough for a full week/session of posts in this outing, so Friday might be an "off day" this week for the campaign. That's ok.
Take care of yourselves, Space Pilgrims, I love you.
About The Four Generals
BigBetty.com has placed a bet on Maddy Dwyer's life. People stand to make millions if she is dead within the next two weeks. Maddy's dad, Thomas "Cap" Dwyer has asked three old friends to travel to Las Azaleas and protect his daughter. The group went as The Four Generals in high school but have long since gone their separate ways. Now, the three friends — and Maddy, calling herself Major — have reformed The Four Generals. Their task: to keep Maddy alive. Also, some cults and crazy mega-church leaders are involved.
Credits
The Four Generals is played using Outgunned. Mythic, Gamemaster's Apprentice: Base 2e, and Gamemaster's Apprentice: Weird Horror are used as game oracles. Other tools have been added in.
Art is modified from stock photos and images by myself from various sources, given below. GIMP + G'MIC are used to create the effects. Unsplash is the most common source of stock art.
References to source materials use the following codes [BOLD = Main Sources for campaign]:
- {BRTM} Book of Random Tables: Modern
- {BRTN} Book of Random Tables: 1980s - 1990s
- {GMAB} Gamemaster's Apprentice: Base 2e Deck
- {GMAWH} Gamemaster's Apprentice: Weird Horror Deck
- {MM} "Maidenstead Mysteries" [Tricube Tales] Image Oracle
- {MY} Mythic, 2nd Edition
- {OG} Outgunned
- {OGAD} Outgunned Assistant Director
- {RR} Random Realities
- {TBM} Table Fables, Modern
- {UNE} Universal NPC Emulator
When page or card numbers are given, they will be in the {curly brackets}. {RR1,6} = Random Realities for die roll 1,6.
Part of the Alabama Weird world, though not geographically located in Alabama.
This post is in the standard Doug Alone post style. See Anatomy of a Post for more details.
ART CREDIT AND EXPLANATION
"The Panic Room" is from a photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash.
"The Flood Tunnels" is from a photo by Getty Images, via Unsplash+.
"The Church of New-Mown Hay" is made by combining a Photo by Pooya Liebe on Unsplash with a photo (?) from Mathias Reding [the latter via Unsplash+]. Considering the extreme-qualities of the Fell Faith, didn't want to indict any actual church building for the telling and didn't feel like looking up real-life cult compounds.
"The Fell House" is from a photo by Willian Justen de Vasconcellos on Unsplash.
"Olive Fell" is from a photo by Tony Frost on Unsplash.