The Generals and Clo keep pushing through to rescue Ida and Olive as the situation continues to get worse and worse.
Previously, on The Four Generals
The attempt to sneak into The Church of High Water has gone wrong in many different ways. The Colonel is shot and having to fight with a sniper. LT has been found snooping around a generator. Sarge is pinned down near a grave yard. Clo has gotten into the church right as Reverend Fell is being targeted by a mutiny. And Ida is trapped in a baptismal font.
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 3 >> When Fell Flows Over
Setting the Scene: Episode 1 | Act 3 | Scene 1a.
Rather than try and keep up the mega-scenes, I'm going to play micro-scenes in roughly the order they will take place within a very short time frame. One impact of this will be moments of micro-chaos.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Sarge charges the front of the outbuilding.
Scene Test: 4, Interrupt Scene >> 59 Move Away from a Thread...hmm. Right now we are in a limbo spot, so the only Thread that would make sense is "Saving Ida Fell," which means...
Actual Scene: Ida comes out, "guns blazing" and starts fighting Bo on her own.
Let's put Bo at Critical // Basic and just three hitboxes. If she doesn't take him out in just a couple of moves, we'll see Sarge's actions in her perspective.
Note: this was an even so it moves the clock forward on Maddy but I'll just count one for all these micro-scenes.
Sat, Aug 15. 22:25. By an old grave yard, gone to rust and dust.
Kick the Door Down
Sarge is near the graveyard and counting off the seconds. After the third or so shot on his location, the sniper on the roof fired off some rounds that did not seem to hit anywhere near. Maybe this means Col is taking him out.
Man, he hopes that The Colonel is fine.
Back to the task at hand, Sarge is getting ready to bolt for the front door of the out building — the guy who was shooting the door has stopped and seems to be trying to kick the door in, now — when everything changes.
Guy-who-hates-doors stops, steps back, and then jumps further back as a smaller person in black clothing leaps out for him.
We'll start with Brawn + Stunt vs Critical to see if she gets the drop. If so, she gets a free attack. If not, we'll go right into her first swing and then possible Reaction roll if she doesn't get him.
- (Brawn) 2 + (Stunt) 1 >> Critical! Good for her. She gets a free round of attacks.
- (Brawn) 2 + (Fight) 2 >> nope!
- (Brawn) 2 + (Stunt) 1 >> nope! She takes three grit.
Person B, Sarge is thinking this must be Ida though is not 100% sure, gets on top of the would-be door-kicker and is trying to bash him but he twists and gets up and tosses them back into the door they just leapt from.
She cries out, and it is definitely a young woman, as the guy follows her inside.
Ok, let's see if she can pull it off.
- 4 vs Basic >> Basic = she takes one of his grit off. He still has two.
- 3 vs Critical >> Basic = she deflects one of the hits this time, but is still getting pummeled.
Sarge can't see what happens at this point, but he hears another shout from her as the fight goes on out of sight. He is now running full sprint for the door.
Setting the Scene: Episode 1 | Act 3 | Scene 1b.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: LT is going to shoot the generator
Scene Test: 5. Altered. We'll say the henchmen types are starting their assault on the building, which will actually be a good thing for our boy.
Actual Scene: A distraction buys LT time to do something really stupid.
This is just funny to me, so I'm going to do it.
Distraction to Explosion Pipeline
"I said, who are you, fat ass!," says the guy with the gun, getting insistent. The guy has either not noticed the shotgun down by LT's side or thinks it is of no consequence.
How to turn this level of idiocy against the ass-wad?
In the distance, LT hears a young woman scream and jumps a bit. Shit shit shit...
"Hey, Jake!," and LT jumps again as the speaker turns out to be a person from near one of the trailers, who maybe can't see LT there in the dim lit...
- Can he? (Unlikely) >> 68 = No.
...and since the next words, out of "Jake's" mouth, are, "Can't you see...," LT decides to act.
He shoves back against "Jake" and pulls the shotgun up. Not at Jake. Not at the generator he was just about to try to figure out how to shut down. No, he's noticed a couple of barrels of fuel next to it, initially hidden by the generator itself.
He pulls both triggers at once...
This is going to be Extreme. Like, literally. For the distraction and for the sheer bombasticity [pun!] of this I'll give +2. He also gets +1 for the range. NOTE: the explosion will happen. This is seeing if he weathers the blast. It will 100% wipe out Jake and blow everyone else off their feet [though half of them are already on the way to the church itself].
- (Brawn) 2 + (Shoot) 3 + (Range) 1 + (Bonus) 2 vs Extreme >> Double Critical + Basic = he only takes one grit, shockingly.
The shotgun blast goes off, followed by a much larger blast as the fuel goes up and then the generator explodes.
Pain and heat washes over LT as he is ironically protected by the body of Jake who is exploded right on top of him. Well, not literally exploded. Just deeply, deeply singed.
Setting the Scene: Episode 1 | Act 3 | Scene 1c.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Sarge fights Bo.
Scene Test: 2 [dammit]. I'm not rolling, I know what this will be.
Actual Scene: Right as Sarge gets to Bo [one round], other guys get to Sarge.
Bo will keep his Crit/Bas/2-hit stats from prior but these new guy will be Critical/Basic/6-Hits. Ida can help but she is injured and not doing well. She has some knowledge of guns and might be about to learn how to use it, assuming her gun still works.
Backup for Bo
Ida feels blood pouring down her face as Bo raises his presumably empty pistol to hit her in the head again...
- (Brawn) 3 + (Fight) 3 + (Surprise) 1 [Free ReRoll] vs Basic >> Extreme + Basic = he deeply takes down Bo... well enough that he will get to Ida before the others attack.
...when a man she doesn't know comes charging full force into the room with her and picks Bo up and slams him down hard enough that she sees a tooth scatter across the floor.
"Who the hell are..."
"IDA?!"
How the fuck does this man know her name? She's about to ask that out loud when she sees three more of her dad's thugs run into the room and start assessing the situation.
The man spins and is already going for the nearest guy...
...and an explosion tears through the night sky. A flash of light is heard from the door as one of the guys rolls back with the explosion.
Somehow the guy who knows her and seems to be trying to help manages to keep going and goes hard into the one of her right.
- (Brawn) 3 + (Fight) 3 [Free ReRolls] vs Critical >> Critical + Basic = 5 hits on their 6, taking down two of the guys.
He punches the one guy hard in the face and as the guy who had been most surprised by the explosion is starting to recover, the man brings an upper cut directly into the second guy's chin. Both are down.
But the third is pulling his gun up and getting ready to shoot the stranger.
Ida aims her borrowed gun at him...
First we'll find out if it works...
- Does it work? (50/50) >> 74 = Noooo.
...and hears clicks as it is jammed or whatever the fuck is wrong with it.
"Oh shit, look...," but the gunman is firing.
- (Brawn) 3 + (Stunt) 3 vs Critical >> Double Critical! = Sarge is somehow really good at rolling Criticals at moments like this.
The stranger whips to the side and then leaps upon the gunman and three punches later, all three of these new attackers are down.
The stranger looks at her. "Ida, I'm with Clo. We have to get the hell out of here."
"Not without my fucking sister, we aren't."
Setting the Scene: Episode 1 | Act 3 | Scene 1d.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: The Colonel is fighting on the rooftop against apparently the only loyal man left in Fell's "army".
Scene Test: 10.
Actual Scene: As expected.
We'll put this man at Critical/Critical/6-hits.
Rooftop Battle
The Colonel fell back into the porch roof, or whatever the hell it is. He thought he was a goner. Imagined striking his skull on the ground but instead he struck the shoulder of his arm against metal siding acting as a cheaply built roof structure and slid back a few feet.
He will get "You Look Hurt" which will give him -1 Brawn.
Now he can hear the heavy boots of the gunman trying to track him. The Colonel pushes his body back up against the gap between the old, main roof and this new addition.
Still, the man finds him no problem. "There you are? What the hell are you doing? Come out or you are a dead man. You know what...fuck it, you are a..."
And right then a huge explosion rips up behind The Colonel, lighting the night sky. The light and sound stagger the gunman, and The Colonel opens fire.
+2 for the distraction.
- (Nerves) 3 + (Shoot) 3 + (Distraction) 2 vs Critical >> Extreme + Critical = 4 hits on the guy of 6.
- (Brawn) 3-1 + (Stunt) 3 vs Critical >> Critical + Basic = dodges the return fire and gets an action, we'll say he runs up to the edge of the roof to have an escape.
- (Nerves) 3 + (Shoot) 3 vs Critical >> Critical + Basic = -1 more.
- (Brawn) 3-1 + (Stunt) 3 vs Critical >> Double Basic = -1 Grit from The Colonel.
- (Nerves) 3 + (Shoot) 3 vs Critical >> Critical + Basic, again = finishes killing the guy off.
He gets two solid shots in the guy before the guy gets the rifle up and shoots back. The Colonel is already moving, heading across the roof to get the edge in case he has to jump off.
Turns and fires and again wings the guy but feels a bullet tear into his leg.
The Colonel drops down to a knee and aims and pulls the trigger again. This time hitting the guy right between the eyes. The body hits the siding roof and slides to the edge before going off into the darkness.
It is at this point that Col notices several other guys running across the yard towards the church. He flattens against the roof and hopes they didn't see him...
- Did they? (Likely) >> 12 = Exceptional Yes.
- Do they care? (50/50) >> 35 = Yes, some are going to break off to attack him.
...but when the bullets start tearing up through the siding near his feet, he knows they absolutely did.
Setting the Scene: Episode 1 | Act 3 | Scene 1e.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Clo finds Olive in the nave.
Scene Test: 3, Altered.
Actual Scene: Clo finds Olive but the gunfight between Fell and whoever is trying to set up the mutiny is happening at the same time.
I'm wrapping up this now extremely long "10 scenes as 2" bit and won't have any direct rolls but will come up with a quick system to see who wins between Fell and the subordinate.
Olive Branch
Clo is a bit surprised to see the state of the place inside. The exterior looked a bit abandoned, a bit run down, but the inside is trashed. They are clearly working out whatever frustrations they have against God or just showing love of the blasphemy game inside.
Pews are broken and scattered around. Light fixtures are broken.
All the light from the place comes from candles up near the pulpit.
Clo gets a few steps in that direction when loud gunshots ring out overhead.
He ducks, and then realizes they can't be for him.
He gets a few more steps and then more gunshots ring out.
If he was a religious man, he'd be praying or taking some Lord's name in vain, right now.
There's a side door to his right and as he gets closer to it, he hears an argument inside. The words are angry but hard to specify.
Should he go for that? No, wait... he just saw movement up near the candles.
"Ida?," he whispers far too quietly for anyone to possibly hear. He can barely hear it over his heartbeat.
He runs up to see and it's not Ida, it's Olive!
Technically I guess I should test to see if Olive actually knows Clo in this version since her storyline of being the one who set up Clo to show up in the first place is out, but eh...we'll say she does.
"Clo?," the teen says, looking terrified.
"Yeah, do you know where...," and then the explosion hits.
Tile and bits of ceiling partially rain down. The building rumbles but holds firm. Her eyes are super wide and she looks like she is about to scream when he leans over and slaps a hand over her mouth.
More gunfire from overhead and the sound of someone running across the roof. She seems to catch the hint and signals with her eyes that she is going to avoid screaming for at least a few seconds.
Good thing she does because right then the side doors open and Clo gets a glimpse of younger man being shoved through them as a person he recognizes as Ida and Olive's father shouting about how he is going to kill them all.
Clo sees the young man raise a gun at Fell right as Fell does the same and then Clo is behind the pulpit, shielding Olive's body with his own while pressing them both deep as he can into shadows that barely exist in the faint light.
How I'm going to do this is roll 3dOG vs 6dOG to represent the young mutineer vs Fell. Highest total wins. No ReRolls.
- (Would be assassin) 3 vs (Fell) 6 >> Basic vs Basic....ooo...double kill.
Because of this, he does not see both men open fire at the same time as their bodies slam back from the shots...and hit the floor.
But he hears it.
Setting the Scene: Episode 1 | Act 3 | Scene 2.
Chaos Factor: 5
Expected Scene: Sarge and Ida rush to handle the guys outside of Church.
Scene Test: 5, altered because of course it is... ok, how? >> 7, Make 2 >> 4 Increase Activity + 2 Add a Character.
Actual Scene: LT joins in and it's going to be ALL the guys.
This is going to be a Critical/Basic/9-hit final fire fight situation. Ida has a gun. She doesn't like them but there was a lot of guns around the various bodies.
Sat, Aug 15. 22:37. Behind the Church of Highwater in the dusty ground.
Sunday School
As Sarge and Ida are leaving the outbuilding, which Sarge was surprised was (a) actually the place where baptisms used to be held and (b) already had two dead bodies, they run into LT. There is a brief moment where LT and Sarge might have shot one another but the moment passed and a few seconds later the old friends are laughing.
LT fusses over Ida as Sarge introduces the two. The two dads both fret over her having picked up a gun and especially the way she is handling it, but she told them to stick their shitbrains up their shitass and this makes LT laugh harder.
Too bad people keep shooting at each other, so the moment has no time to percolate.
The three make for the Church, where Ida is pretty sure Olive is hiding out, and Sarge is keeping an eye on the roof to see if sniper-boy is back but instead sees The Colonel running back across the roof and taking pot shots at a group of people down below. Shortly, the people attacking Col are double in number and Sarge, LT, and Ida are rushing to intercept.
Oh snap, I forgot there's a significant "boon" here. Let's test to see what it is...
- {MM} >> 4,5 Padlock + 3,1 Handcuffs = something they've locked up...a person seems silly...maybe an animal but let's pull a card just to see if that fits better...
- {GMAB64} >> Fancy Gift = I think the only "fancy gift" that would make sense as a boon in this situation that fits the terrain would be Fell's custom bike, something fancy like a limited edition Harley-Davidson with trimmings...
I'm just going to speed Google 1990s Harleys and pick the one that seems the most expensive at the faintest of glances. Forgive me sports fans.
LT is distracted by the imminent danger by something he sees over to their right, directly behind the church steeple. "Is that a VR1000?" He's looking at a Harley-Davidson bike in a cage. A very pristine bike. "Holy shit, I can use that."
LT heads off towards it as Sarge shrugs, pulls out his pistol, and he and Ida open fire on the guys before they can notice.
One free round of attacks for these two because this has gone on so long and this is meant to be just a warm-up.
- Sarge: (Nerves) 3 + (Shoot) 3 [ReRoll] vs Critical >> Extreme + Basic = three hits and gets to moving to find cover.
- Ida: (Nerves) 3 + (Shoot) 2 vs Critical >> Critical + Basic = one hit (five remain) and also gets moving.
- Sarge: 6[FR] vs C >> Extreme = another 3 down, boy is really good at fighting, not so much other things, eh?
- Ida: 5 vs c >> Crit + Basic = another, that leaves them with one and she is now far enough along that she can dive behind the church.
- The Colonel: (Nerves) 3 + (Shoot) 3 [FR] vs Critical >> 3 x Basic = 1 x Critical = Finishes the last guy off.
After a furious round of gunfire, The Colonel is leaping to the ground right as LT is coming up asking Ida if she knows where the keys are.
"I think my dad would have them. Fucker better not have harmed Olive!"
Then she runs inside.
Doug's Commentary
Ok, I am more than out of time for today so I am going to wrap this up and get it posted.
I'll do a longer deep dive into this second version of a mission at the end of this "episode."
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
Outbuilding door is from photo by Aldward Castillo via Unsplash+.
Generator is from a photo by Fahim Junaid on Unsplash. I figured to just go with this rather than trying to find a 100% late 90s approved one.
Explosion from a photo by Andy Watkins on Unsplash.
The interior nave of High Water is from a photo by slworking2 on Flickr via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The second version of Olive Fell is from a Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash. This is actually the model I nearly used for Ida but I felt she was a tad too young which put her at around the precise right age-feel for the younger sister. Also, after this I am going to just cut all teenage and young adult characters. Just olds like me from now on. It starts to feel strange.
Photo of the VR1000 comes from Retro: Harley-Davidson VR1000 Street - Een gemiste kans and used without permission, but this way it gets to double as some details about the bike since I honestly don't know much about the type.