Each weekend, the players assembled to play what has been designated as an episode. Each week, a recap of the most recent episode’s happenings was posted to allow those who have been missing for many or few episodes to get a feel for what they have missed.
Date: November 4, 2000
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: Welcome to scenic Quebec, the gem of the Coalition States. Emperor Prosek, with the support of the other States, has declared the entire government of Free Quebec of treason. They have been ordered to step down within 30 days or be forcibly removed. In response, the government of Free Quebec has declared themselves to be an independent and free nation. Despite the Emperor's claim that the people of Quebec are not behind their government, their declaration of sovereignty is the result of an emergency vote by the people. An overwhelming 87.5% majority voted in favor of seceding from the allied States, knowing full well that it was likely to provoke a war. Within this setting, each of the PCs arrived at their new base of operations. Fort Valjean is the home of 7th Battalion Army Recce (640 troops), consisting of Bravo, Charger, Echo, & Zulu companies, and Yankee Company, 3rd Battalion SAMAS Air Force. The PCs are also to help in defending three small outposts: Cosette, Eponine, and Fantine. Colonel John Decker (commander of the Fort Valjean Recce) and Major Samuel Carpenter (commander of Yankee Company SAMAS) met with the party as they arrived and briefed them on their attachment to Blue Fox squad with Cpl. Chas Kaminski (code-named Thumper) and Cpl. Leonora Hortaléz (code-named Hemlock), making a six-man team to mirror Red Wolf squad. Lt. Rommel immediately inquired about what sort of opportunities were allowed outside of the base, learning of Malinbois, Morehead, Dumar, Pratt, Crivitz, and La Frenaie as settlements to be investigated later. Sgt. McGuire excused himself from the rest of the briefing, claiming to have a stomach virus and left, but instead made his way to the office of Lt. Colonel Stephen Javert, his QMI contact, during his assignment on the base. Lt. de Wilde immediately made friends and enemies by challenging several base personel to feats of athletic prowess and gunnery skills, while Cpl. Corbin attempted to fit in the best way he could. Rommel also did his best to make friends, but found the leader of Red Wolf, Lt. Ryan West, to greet him coolly. Not wanting to let his team get too comfortable, Rommel assigned his SAMAS team to maneuvers to gain a better understanding of the flight capability of their new Violator SAMAS power armor. Going off book, Rommel ordered a fly-by buzz of the CS border, instigating a skirmish between a squad of Coalition grunts.
Combat: On their first flight, the PCs ground up 12 Coalition grunts.
Date: November 11, 2000
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: It did not take long for Rommel to continue his reputation as a soldier who cared less about being an officer, and it was the dressing down by Major Carpenter which spelled out how things are run at Fort Valjean. While Rommel was being chewed out, McGuire was beginning his intelligence investigate of the base, per his QMI orders. To make his stay more pleasurable, he quickly made strides to become intimate with Hortaléz, even as Lt. de Wilde chastised him about “relations” among the troops; this did not stop her from investigating her own options later. Cpl. Corbin realized he enjoyed drinking and gambling since he had no luck with women and wondered aloud when Rommel would allow the party to venture into the local settlements to investigate any opportunities. Before shenanigans could ferment, Rommel returned with orders about staying away from the front lines and return with information about illegal power armor sales that might be happening in Malinbois. Believing the best route to tracking down the arms dealers was investigating Malinbois, Kaminski and Hortaléz were sent on a wide-ranging patrol with the PCs investigating the town directly. Several citizens mentioned traveling mercantiler named Johnny Redcap who seemed to show up at various times, warning citizens to purchase ways to protect themselves from CS invasion and dangerous DBs who prowl around at night. As he always arrived in the evening, Blue Fox set up a perimeter around the city along the roads waiting for Redcap to arrive, so he could be interrogated. The cold night brought out no travelers, but McGuire did notice a man oddly bounding along the darkness of the tree line when he alternated his SAMAS optics; possibly a caster using shadow meld. Before the party decided to act, Corbin reported a massive amount of commotion at the northern edge of town, before town communications tower went silent and the PCs switched to individual communications. As he was joined by the rest of Blue Fox, a squad of Coalition troops and a UAR-1 Enforcer shambled from the forest area and started to randomly pepper the town with weapons fire. While de Wilde and Corbin focused on the infantry, Rommel and McGuire took to the air, inflicting questionable damage to the Enforcer. Not much of a threat at all, the battle did take longer than planned, with Blue Fox members taking minimal damage. However, the shadowed man was gone when the battle ended.
Combat: Blue Fox squad took out ten zombies in heavy Dead Boy armor, and an iron golem disguised as a Coalition UAR-1 Enforcer.
Date: November 18, 2000
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: A heavy snow began to fall as Rommel ordered the rest of Blue Fox squad to picket the area for additional combatants and to recover what they could from the CS forces they felled last episode. While McGuire and de Wilde sorted through bodies, it became supremely evident something was amiss. For starters, the Enforcer was not a CS robot, but a large metal man (ala Frankenstein) created to pose as an Enforcer robot, ala an iron golem. McGuire indicated it could be work of a mage (based on his secret QMI training), but when Rommel pressed him for information, McGuire mentioned he was only guessing. The Dead Boy armor was stripped from the infantry to expose already rotting corpses in civilian garb, in which Rommel uttered something about zombies. Both de Wilde and Corbin came back empty handed, the communications tower began working again (with no manipulation by the party), and Rommel ordered the PCs to stay in town and rest for the remainder of the evening. By morning, the consensus was nothing else was to be gained at Malinbois, and the party should return to Fort Valjean to report to Major Carpenter. Upon their return, the party turned over their technical officers, with McGuire making some private request for SSgt. Jacob Anderson to make some modifications to his power armor. De Wilde continued to antagonize members of Red Wolf squad for their lack of action in the field, and Corbin found his bunk so he could drink in peace. Rommel confronted Lt. West about why his group was cherry-picking Blue Fox technicians for Red Wolf when there was not a need for conflict. McGuire found some intimate time with Hortaléz, but later checked in with Lt. Colonel Javert for a QMI debriefing. Javert indicated that while Malinbois saw combat, Dumar saw two twin strangers arrived in a Mountaineer A.T.V. selling Angrar Power Armor and talking about how Malinbois had been nearly destroyed at the same time the party had fought off the iron golem. Deciding that was too much of a coincidence, McGuire encouraged Javert to use his influence on Carpenter to have Blue Fox investigate Dumar, to track down the weapons dealers. McGuire also fostered the idea that Rommel was unstable and how de Wilde should be ordered to give a secret review of her commanding officer. Both notes were taken and would be reported next episode.
Combat: None.
Date: December 2, 2000
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: Corbin woke up with quite a hangover, and this encouraged Rommel even more to make the corporal work even harder when assigned to clean the team SAMAS power armor before it was set to get dirty again. Major Carpenter called de Wilde in to task her in creating a psychological evaluation of Lt. Rommel, based on issues he was having with both Blue Fox and Red Wolf squads. Although hesitant at first, she agreed it needed to be done for the sake of consanguinity at Fort Valjean. Rommel also had a meeting with Carpenter going over his choices at Malinbois, and how his squad left more questions than answers. Rommel was perplexed when he found additions to his report were made by McGuire and fumed that it did not surprise him that QMI might investigate him. Rommel and McGuire met to sort out their (imaginary) differences and agreed to be on the same page from then on, with McGuire offering information on Dumar on good faith. Receiving orders to investigate Dumar, Rommel’s team to traveled to the town, but reversed the Malinbois standing orders and had Kaminski and Hortaléz setup shop in town, with the PCs patrolling the forested areas nearby. During her fly-overs, de Wilde noticed the same man from the night in Malinbois, and land and pursue him on foot (in SAMAS armor) to see where he would lead but going radio-silent with the rest of the team. The rest of the PCs noticed de Wilde’s regular communication ceased, and Rommel ordered a small patrol pattern to determine if she could be sighted. During this time, de Wilde continued to track the stranger into an area where he passed an abandoned Mountaineer A.T.V. nearby. Choosing to not be deterred, de Wilde ignored the A.T.V. while staying with the mystery man, but soon found herself outflanked by two suits of Angrar Mark II Power Armor. Not wanting to lose her quarry, de Wilde held her ground as she called Blue Fox for backup. With Kaminski and Hortaléz ordered to stay put and watch, the remaining PCs arrived two rounds later to find de Wilde’s SAMAS heavily damaged from the power armor and the spell-casting mystery man. An extensive battle broke out with the PCs using strafing tactics to use their airspeed to their advantage. The power armor was defeated, the stranger disappeared (written in the snow “All done. Bye Bye.”), and they returned to base.
Combat: Blue Fox squad destroyed two Angrar Mark II Power Armor units, and chased away a shifter mage.
Date: December 9, 2000
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: Through McGuire’s connections, Blue Fox Squad was approached by Major Hanelin of Quebec Military Intelligence Corps (QMI) and asked to participate in an important information-gathering assignment, which is undoubtedly a dangerous mission. Some unknown force in the Gaspé Peninsula region has built or otherwise acquired at least one working death’s head transport, as well as several CS SAMAS units. The consensus within QMI is that this force is an unusually well-run and powerful marauder band. When reports first came out of Gaspé that someone had set up in the business of wholesale slaughter in a formerly peaceful area, two platoons had been detached from the 197th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Fort Thénardier and sent east to investigate. No survivors have reported in since. Several scouts have been sent in since, alone or in squads. None have come back. The team was asked to reconnoiter the area where these raiders have been reported, to learn everything possible about the raiders and their resources, and to return with the information to where it can be evaluated. Suspicious of QMI and Hanelin’s suggestions about how well Blue Fox would be rewarded, Rommel and de Wilde decide that a good first stop would be the hospital where the sergeant who got the recordings of the transport was recovering. Doing their best “good cop-bad cop” routine (with de Wilde as the usual bad cop), the two learned the last attempt to penetrate the area had been by a solitary scout, Sergeant Blackmon. Unarmed, wearing civilian clothes, and posing as an itinerant laborer, he had gotten as far as Murdochville when the invaders had happened to attack the town, but had gotten the pictures, was wounded in the process but had been able to make it to Fort Thénardier. McGuire was off on his own personal mission to acquire chocolates and wine from local area homesteads, while Corbin continue gambling with other troopers back at Fort Valjean. When the PCs had returned, Rommel brought the remainder of Blue Fox together and briefed the squad, indicating Kaminski and Hortaléz would be providing backup while the rest performed a deep dive into the area. Take off the next morning went without issue. On the way to the Gaspé Peninsula, the PCs ran into a pair of IAR-5 Hellfires supported by two Terror Troopers. Realizing these CS units were not where they were supposed to be, combat ensued, and the CS armor was destroyed.
Combat: Blue Fox Squad used air superiority to defeat two Hellfires and two Terror Troopers.
Date: January 6, 2001
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: Arriving at the Gaspé Peninsula, Rommel ordered Kaminski and Hortaléz to stay behind while the rest of the party flew in barely off the ground (or Corbin who stayed above the trees) to locate any sites for gathering information. Finding a settlement not listed on any QMI mapping, the party landed and changed into civilian gear to investigate the town of Bonaventure. Corbin and de Wilde went off to the local tavern where the former drank heavily while the latter flirted with many of the patrons. Things went almost too well, when de Wilde had to show off her military prowess when several patrons became too handsy, although Corbin offered verbal support on the matter. Rommel followed McGuire’s lead and the two worked in tandem asking around for information pertaining to the mission. Nouveau-Quebec has its roots in the numerous ultra-right-wing, militant organizations which proliferated throughout North America during the last two decades. The organization formed by Victor Kuryak in 99 P.A. was an unusual coalition of survivalists, "big government" resistance groups, DB xenophobes, ultra-right-wing and militant religious organizations, and racists. Later, several highly militant church cults became part of the Nouveau-Quebec infrastructure, churches which included Kuryak’s own Church of Holy Fire. Kuryak was convinced that a new Dark Age is approaching, that all humanity was doomed to collapse. Nouveau-Quebec was to be founded on traditional principles, but those principles reflected more of Kuryak’s personal social and political philosophies than they did the principles of the Coalition. Nouveau-Quebec’s initial success stemmed from the facts that the organization was able to maintain a low profile, and that Kuryak proved to be an accomplished fund raiser. Early on he won the support of a small number of extremely wealthy and influential backers, men prominent in Chi-Town, who helped finance the organization (most in return for a place in the "New World" to arise after the coming holocaust). By remaining low-key, Nouveau-Quebec avoided the fate of several similar organizations which were broken up in government. Annuler Retour provided as much info as Rommel felt was obtainable, but McGuire noticed Retour became suspicious of the duo when talk of military resources came up. The conversation ended quickly with the PCs following Retour back to his home. The rest of the party reunited outside of town after a meet-up location was radioed in.
Combat: Several bar patrons were tuned-up by Lt. de Wilde.
Date: January 13, 2001
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: The PCs were certain more could be gained from Retour, but discussion among the party indicate how the information could be gleaned was undecided. Spying the Retour’s home led to the PCs feeling he was packing up to leave, and McGuire’s spying into his window indicated he was prepping arms and armor in a rucksack. As Retour drove off in the snow, the party made the business decision to steal another vehicle rather than return to their SAMAS for fear of losing the trail or being spotted searching for Retour. After traveling for some time, the team found Retour meeting at a staging area with other individuals, all preparing for battle. Over the snowy glen, the party could see the town of Forillon, and could hear the familiar roar of a death’s head transport. A large body of ground forces approached the target village on foot, infiltrating through the woods. The PCs also noticed enemies had entered the town itself without attracting attention; either by pretending to be local militia forces, or by hiding their weapons in wagons or packs and posing as civilians. The DH transport arrived over the center of the town and an officer aboard used a bullhorn to order the citizens to surrender and demanded a "tithe" of the village's food and all medicine. All guns were required to be surrendered, usually with the explanation that the town is now under the protection of Nouveau-Quebec and private weapons are no longer needed. While eyes were on the airship, the ground army produced its weapons and donned armbands: a black star on a red field, the Nouveau-Quebec emblem. They moved into the village, ruthlessly shooting anyone who resisted. Several locals tried to attack the transport and were met by heavy fire from the air, and energy rifle fire from the ground. Corbin indicated the air gunners are trained to watch for the red armbands and avoided firing at them. CS sky cycles were launched during the operation, keeping the civilians panicked and to keep watch for enemy forces or escaping civilians near the perimeter of the village. The sky cycles communicated to warn the transport of unexpected enemy forces and used grenades and small arms fire to herd refugees back towards the town. Once the town was secured, the transport descended until more troops could disembark. A commander was installed and a garrison of roughly 1 soldier per 10 civilians was left behind, including Retour. The PCs subdued some soldiers and took their places.
Combat: The party got close and personal when eliminating four enemy soldiers and taking their places.
Date: January 20, 2001
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: Once Forillon was taken over, the PCs observed Captain George Barachois post lists of rules, and the people were required to continue their daily occupations of growing food and repairing machines, but with armed soldiers to maintain discipline and shoot would-be escapees. Every citizen in the town was registered and issued ID papers and a pass which allowed them to move about within the town and was to be renewed weekly. Passes and IDs were required for all business transactions and demanded of any citizen by any member of the Nouveau-Quebec garrison. Violation (or questioning) of these rules indicated that person was dangerously subversive and should be reeducated. Several offenses (such as hoarding) were capital. Nouveau-Quebec officers immediately begin screening people in the village for possible recruits to the Nouveau-Quebec cause. These potential recruits will usually be young, intelligent, and may have a public history of outspoken political ideals or disagreement with CS or Free Quebec government policy. De Wilde and other recruits were carefully questioned, and their pasts researched (as much as is possible in a small and isolated country town), and McGuire overheard the individuals may then be taken away to an undisclosed location, leading Corbin to pose a distraction for de Wilde to secret away. Mechanics, electricians, doctors, nurses, gunsmiths, welders, or other technically trained people were taken for their skills. Rommel’s investigation among the soldiers was a number of other towns had been outraged by the kidnapping of some of their women while others were generally taken to “Elsa” where they were put to work for the new order; many never seen again. While in town attacked, the party was able to resist at several points. Rommel determined if the ground force can be neutralized before the DH transport arrives, forces could pretend to be Nouveau-Quebec forces simply by donning their armbands and could ambush the DH transport when it descended low enough. McGuire went off to assume a low profile and pretend to be a harmless civilian but used every opportunity to organize a guerrilla underground to strike back. The PCs finally determined there was nothing more that could be done for Forillon and used the dead of night to stealth their way out of town (while taking out some guards along the way), back to the stolen vehicle, then returned to Bonaventure and their Violator SAMAS.
Combat: Several minor enemy combatants were taken out while returning to get their SAMAS.
Date: January 27, 2001
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: As the game session was getting late for last episode, there was some discussion about IF Blue Fox returned directly to Bonaventure. Most of the talk centered on being proactive while Nouveau-Quebec forces were in Forillon, and whether the enemy would still be there after the party had retrieved their SAMAS units from Bonaventure. The debate was put to rest when Rommel gave the orders to follow the original orders, and PCs and SAMAS units were re-united without further issue. Rommel did acquiesce to the party and directed Blue Fox back to Forillon to see if there was anything the squad could do, albeit there was skepticism about SAMAS vs. DH Transport combat or if Nouveau-Quebec had shown everything they had. Just as they thought, the DH Transport was gone when the party returned, but they might have arrived in time if they had chosen to push their engines. This would have countermanded Haneline’s order to participate in an important information-gathering assignment, as full speed would have set off all sorts of alarms. Circling Forillon, the PCs got a general idea of where the DH Transport flew off to, but Rommel and McGuire agreed this might be beyond their purview and Blue Fox began heading back to Ft. Valjean. Disappointed the DH Transport and captured citizens got away, Blue Fox took a leisurely route home coming close to Coalition lines, looking to take their frustrations out on the enemy. As luck would have it, Blue Fox’s sensors came across a CS SAMAS wing of four Smiling Jack units, led by a Super SAMAS. Eager to bag the big prize, Rommel antagonized the enemy lead with aerial one-upmanship as both sides rattled their sabers. Bored with the testosterone, de Wilde initiated combat while luring a Smiling Jack into false sense of security. Combat blazed on both sides with Corbin having the most trouble, being double-teamed by the enemy, while Rommel gave orders to down the Super SAMAS intact; perhaps to keep for himself. Making called-shots to the head and other critical system areas, McGuire and Rommel downed the Super SAMAS, while Kaminski and Hortaléz were successful in driving off their own targets. While Corbin sputtered, de Wilde made saving attacks to destroy one and drive off another attacker, even going in for a mid-air save, catching Corbin’s falling unit. Blue Fox returned to base, debriefed, and Rommel started making plans to keep the Super SAMAS as his own.
Combat: Blue Fox squad defeats a Coalition squad of SAMAS units, taking a Super SAMAS as spoils.
Date: February 3, 2001
Attendance: David, Gloria, J.D., Mark
Summary: Celebrating the victory of capturing the Super SAMAS led to a fine evening for the party. Many members woke up toasted from the previous night of revelry, while McGuire and Hortaléz had sheepish looks when arriving for morning meetings. While Haneline was congratulatory, Decker had grim new for the team. The CS Army has been putting dissident members of the population into work and reeducation camps. Zulu company has been tasked with the liberation of two such camps, designated Alpha and Beta. At Alpha base, the PCs are to destroy the Camp HQ building and the fuel storage tanks, but doing so carefully as the fuel, used by Coalition attack helicopters, is highly volatile and will explode. At Beta, eliminate any guarding combat units and destroy the Camp HQ building. Destroying the three Garrison Buildings of their base camp will help to ensure control of the area. Two Free Quebec Glitter Boy pilots and their supplies have been captured by the Coalition. The pilots are being held temporary in a “prison” barn somewhere in the area. The supplies are at a small field base in the southwest. Blue Fox and Red Wolf forces are to be deployed in a forest to the north. Battalion transport is also dropping a captured Coalitions APC needed to transport the prisoners from the prison as well. There is a Coalition mobile HQ vehicle at the field base. Capturing the HQ vehicle will reveal the enemy’s position, and the farm they are guarding. Once the teams are detected, the Coalition will likely send reinforcements from the north, so move fast is critical. In addition, the teams have been allocated enough artillery to blow a bridge and stop any pursuit. The main goals are to capture the supplies, get to the farmstead, and get those pilots out. Once the teams have captured the barn and recovered the pilot, they are to head to the extraction point. Aside from the animosity between leaders of Blue Fox and Red Wolf, there was an easy agreement of détente between the teams to get the job done. Rommel was still disappointed his captured Super SAMAS would take time for repair and retrofitting, so it would be unavailable for this mission. As Blue Fox flew away from Fort Valjean toward the front line of their mission, an ominous rift opened before them and swept them away.
Combat: None.