Savage Gamma World #4

As our mutants plotted their mission, they were joined by their friend Yapapa (see PC profiles here) who had journeyed to join them at Dawnsville after parting with Joe. Yapapa's mutant powers of acidic juices provided our mutants with a quick way of getting Polly Pockett and Mr Bones out of their prison in the metal sphere - they now needed a means to flee Dawnsville and evade pursuit afterwards.

Yapapa made its way to the metal sphere, while the rest of the party, along with Furwall and Baccarat made their way to the water tower which Colonel Sari used as her headquarters. Their plan was to make their way separately into the headquarters, while Batte would instigate the populace at the shantytown to riot to create a diversion. The mutants in the headquarters will then overcome the guards, take Colonel Sari hostage, and flee in the airship docked at the tower, picking up Yapapa, Polly, and Mr Bones on their way.

Map of Dawnsville from Kickstarter

Yapapa succeeded in dissolving the walls of the metal sphere as planned and freed Polly and Mr Bones, while Batte used his Fear Generation power to cause a riot in the shanty down. However, while Furwall and Baccaract were able to gain admission into the headquarters, Kong, Rex, and Vik were made to wait at the base of the tower.

When it seemed like the guards were not going to lower the lift to the ground level, Batte flew up to the tower and saw that Furwall and Baccarat had been bound by the soldiers and were about to be loaded into the airship, with Colonel Sari and her retinue following. The mutants on the ground decided to force their way into the tower. They overcame the guards, and Kong attempted to levitate up the lift shaft to access the headquarters, but was unable to get past the floor of the lift cab. In a last ditch effort to stop the airship from leaving, Vik used his Molecular Disruption power on the tower, disintegrating a section of its stem and causing it to topple towards the palisade wall. Unfortunately, he was too late - the airship had left its mooring, and began to head towards the south. Kong managed to extricate himself from the collapsed tower, and the mutants all fled in the ensuing chaos.

When they were reunited with Yapapa, Polly, and Mr Bones, Polly revealed that she was a member of the psionic group The Brain Trust, and that she had been sent by her leader Macron (yes, this is the name from the module) to infiltrate Dawnsville and learn about their plans. She had learned that they were using the tournament as a means to lure the inhabitants of the zone to Dawnsville to feed them the red stew, which contained a virus developed by the scientist Proteus, that would render them sick and kill them in a week; those who submit to the Army of Dawn would then be given a cure, while those who refused would be left to die. Polly had met Mr Bones in Dawnsville, and learned that the latter too wished to bring down the Army of Dawn, and together the two had planned to get Mr Bones near Colonel Sari, when Mr Bones can kill her and take her form using his mutant power.

Mr Bones revealed himself to be a mutant plant being, whose "queen" had been imprisoned by the scientist Proteus in a bunker to the south, which he had escaped from. The red virus was also developed in this "biobunker". Mr Bones believed that Sari and Proteus have fled there, and offered to take the party there.

Our mutants resolved to travel to the biobunker to rescue Furwall and Baccarat, and hopefully find their friend Mary Juna, and the cure to the red virus.

Polly confessed that The Brain Trust had purchased Mary Juna the mutant marijuana plant from Battenburg to help the group "expand their minds", and she offered to return to The Brain Trust to bring her and help to meet the party at the bunker.

Three days later, our mutants arrived at a small concrete post, which Mr Bones informed them contained the lift which led to the underground complex that was the biobunker. Next to the post was a radio tower, and moored to the tower was the same airship that Sari and Proteus left Dawnsville on. The radio tower emitted a strong energy, which incapacitated Vik, who had to left behind as the party approached the post.

The party surprised the guards outside the post and incapacitated them, and Mr Bones took the form of one of the soldiers, while Rex put on the uniform of the other. Rex and Mr Bones pretended to take Batte and Kong prisoners, and using the access cards taken from the soldiers, they entered the complex.

The party was able to get past the guards at the lift lobby, and make their way to the cells, where they found Baccarat. Baccarat informed the party that he and Furwall had developed symptoms of illness from the red stew, but were given a blue liquid that cured them, and that Furwall had just been taken out of her cell to have a mind-control chip implanted inside her head so she would serve the Army of Dawn.

The party searched the complex for Furwall, and arrived outside a large room, within which Mr Bones informed them his "queen" was held. Through the glass window on the door the party saw a large tree imprisoned behind a glass wall. Also in the cell were several humanoids who resembled Mr Bones. Through telepathy the tree communicated with the party: she revealed that she was created by human scientists before the apocalypse, and imprisoned here since, kept alive but weakened by the bare minimum nutrition provided by the life-support system. Two years ago Proteus entered the biobunker and took over the facility, but during a security lapse she was able to send out a few of her children to try to find a way to free her, but she thought that they have all failed in their mission, until now. She also revealed through her telepathic ability she had learned that Proteus was the mastermind behind the Army's plot, and that she would help the party fight the Army if they released her. Unfortunately, the access card our mutants held could not open the door to her prison - they would need to access the control at the Server Room.

Leaving the tree, our mutants found Furwall in a nearby room, strapped to an operating table and having her head shaved by a medical droid. They disabled the droid and freed Furwall, and prepared to meet up with Baccarat and flee.

As they passed the next room, they saw through the glass window in its door that Proteus was inside. The room was a laboratory, and they could see large vats holding red liquid and blue liquid. The party tried to enter the room but found that they could not open the door. Proteus was alerted by their presence, and raised the alarm. Within seconds the sounds of running boots could be heard coming down the corridor.

Our mutants were chased into a dead end corridor by Dawn soldiers and The Gray Death and pinned down by fire. Desperate, Furwall called out a challenge to The Gray Death to fight her in hand-to-hand combat. The Gray Death accepted, and said that he would spare Furwall's life if she won, but her companions would be put to death in either case.

Furwall accepted the terms, and overcame The Gray Death quickly, to the surprise of the Dawn soldiers. The mutants than attacked and neutralised the shocked Dawn soldiers, and fled down another corridor.

At the end of that corridor they found the server room. When they entered the room, the multiple monitors on the facing wall which had displayed the views from the various security cameras switched to displaying a female human face. A voice on the sound system announced herself as Minerva, the Artificial Intelligence that ran the biobunker's functions. She revealed that she was created a long time ago, but had gone into a slumber when the apocalyptic event that brought about the end of human civilisation happened, only to be awakened by Proteus and the Army of Dawn, whose presence she resented, but she was unable to directly harm Proteus or his followers herself due to her programming.

Our mutants offered a solution to Minerva: release the tree and her children to fight the soldiers, and they will mop up any remaining soldiers that the plants did not defeat, and rid her of the Army of Dawn.

Minerva was silent for a few seconds, and then the screens reverted to the security cameras' view, and the mutants saw the glass holding the tree lift, releasing the tree's children, who proceeded to rampage through the complex, killing Dawn soldiers with their bare hands. Within a few minutes, all the Dawn soldiers were dead. The tree lifted its roots from the ground, and began to slowly plod towards the lift, followed by her children. Mr Bones left the party to join them, and in a few minutes, the tree and her progeny were gone.

The party left the Server Room and freed Baccarat from his cell. Bodies of some forty Dawn soldiers littered the ground, but Proteus' body was not among them. The party returned to Proteus' lab. Here they found samples of the red virus as well as the blue cure, but there was not enough of the cure for the hundreds of zone inhabitants who must have eaten the stew, nor did they have a means of distributing the cure to all the villages in the zone.

As they pondered the problem, the door to the laboratory opened, and Polly and Macron entered, along with Mary Juna. Macron thanked our mutants, apologised for buying Mary Juna, and congratulated himself on the success of his plan in defeating the Army of Dawn, and promised that he and The Brain Trust would manufacture the cure based on Proteus' notes, and distribute them to all the affected zone inhabitants.

As Macron's people took over the facility, our mutants left the bunker to reunite with Vik, who informed them that he saw Proteus enter the airship with a couple of Dawn soldiers and leave just moments before Macron and The Brain Trust arrive in their cars.

Our mutants are now reunited, but Proteus was still out there, along with remnants of his army. Is the zone safe enough for their village to relocate to? Will The Brain Trust prove to be allies or adversaries? Will their bargain with the tree come back to haunt them? Only time will tell...

Prepping and Running the Game

(To be completed later)