TEXT: BY 
  DOMINIC COVEY AND CHRIS COVEY
  d20 Modern(tm) is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., 
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  Dungeons & Dragons(R) and Wizards of the Coast(R) are 
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  Copyright 2004 © RPG Objects.  All rights Reserved.
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   PLAYTESTING: 
  Chris Covey, Mike Guild, Chris Johnson, John Shaw, 
  Shawn Winters, Chris Derner,, Chris Hoover,  Ryan 
  KellEy, Ethan Ripplinger, Aaron Wiggins. 
  COVER: J. Longenbaugh 
  art: J. Longenbaugh
  CARTOGRAPHY: DOMINIC COVEY 
  EDITING:  ANDY RAU  
  LAYOUT: CHRIS DAVIS
  W2
  v1.1
  
  2
  NEW WORLD ORDER 
  INTRODUCTION
  The New World Order is a complete adventure for 
  the Darwin’s World 2nd Edition roleplaying game.  
  This adventure picks up mid-course in a three-part 
  campaign in which the PCs, originally hired to defend 
  the coalition of the Three Towns (Bazaar, Dry Fort, 
  and Spilunk), ﬁnd that a threat even greater than the 
  Wastelords is growing beyond the Trade Lands.
  The New World Order is best suited for a group of 
  four to six characters of levels 5-8.  A typical party of 
  this size should have accumulated enough experience 
  from part one of this series, Against the Wastelords, 
  to reach 5th level; if you are playing this adventure 
  as a stand-alone campaign, either have players 
  create characters of the appropriate level or run them 
  through another adventure ﬁrst to bring them to the 
  recommended power level.
  In addition to these requirements, PCs with Gather 
  Information, Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival skills 
  will be essential.  The Track feat will also come in 
  quite handy.  Bluff, Decipher Script, Demolitions, 
  Diplomacy, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Gamble, 
  Intimidate, Investigate, Knowledge (Twisted Earth), 
  Repair, and Sense Motive will ﬁnd some use, but are 
  not necessary to success. Finally, having a balanced 
  mix of skilled melee and ranged combatants will 
  be extremely useful, if not essential, to the party’s 
  success.
  GETTING INVOLVED
  The New World Order presents two optional 
  introductions to the adventure; the ﬁrst (Introduction 
  A) picks up where the ﬁrst part of the series, Against 
  the Wastelords, left off.  In this introduction, the 
  PCs have just fought a desperate battle against the 
  Wastelords to save the last armies of the Three Towns 
  Alliance and keep a nuclear weapon out of the raiders’ 
  hands.  Though the battle has been bitterly won, 
  Wastelord reinforcements have just arrived, forcing 
  the PCs (and the Three Towns) to re-assess their 
  decision to resist their cruel overlords.
  Introduction B is designed for players and GMs 
  who are not continuing from Against the Wastelords 
  and are instead using The New World Order as a 
  stand-alone story.  This alternate beginning introduces 
  the PCs as mercenaries hired by the Wastelords to help 
  defend their holdings beyond the mountains against 
  the mysterious and terrible “Enemy.”
  ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
  Before beginning this adventure it is important for 
  you, the GM, to understand a little background 
  about the New World Order and the ambitions of 
  the mastermind behind it.  This introductory section 
  brieﬂy outlines the basic history of the New World 
  Order and its plans, and gives a glimpse of the unique 
  entity that drives it.
  THE NEW WORLD ORDER
  The so-called “New World Order” is the brainchild of 
  a unique being—an artiﬁcial creation of Ancient man 
  in his last days.  Since the Fall, it has patiently awaited 
  the dawn of a new era in which to introduce itself.  
  Yet the being in question is not some insane robotic 
  artiﬁcial intelligence, as one might expect from the 
  Ancients; it is a creation of an entirely different kind, 
  one whose abilities in many ways overshadow those 
  of the dreaded “metal gods.”
  This being is a macro-organism of unimaginable 
  complexity and proportions.  Originally developed 
  as a super-biological weapon,  this macro-organism 
  was a complex amalgam of biomaterial literally 
  grown from a microscopic biomass into a colossal 
  entity with substance, form, and (most remarkably) 
  sentience.  The pinnacle of Ancient-era bioengineering 
  and viral science, the macro-organism was intended 
  to be a “ﬁnal word” response, a doomsday weapon 
  that could be transported via ICBM warhead to target 
  cities anywhere on the globe.  Once released, the 
  organism would spread its contagion, contaminating 
  all other life forms with which it came into contact—
  infecting over time not only the targeted population 
  center, but entire nations.
  
  3
  The project was researched and developed in an 
  ultra-secret government disease laboratory built under 
  the small town of Center in southern Colorado.  Here, 
  using cutting-edge techniques, an army of human 
  scientists, and the most sophisticated thinker androids 
  of the time, the Ancients were able to create no less 
  than ﬁve of these “city-eating” macro-organisms.  
  Each was contained in a magnetically sealed warhead 
  and shipped off to be used in the coming war.
  A sixth macro-organism was still being raised to 
  maturity in the facility’s deep laboratories when the 
  Fall came…  and with the Fall came the unthinkable: 
  in the chaos of the collapse, a considerable energy 
  ﬂuctuation at the research laboratory permitted 
  the macro-organism to free itself. It spread rapidly 
  through the laboratory, claiming the lives of over a 
  hundred scientists, technicians, and security personnel 
  in a matter of hours.  Though a facility-wide alarm 
  was raised and the androids and surviving humans 
  on site were able to contain most of the macro-
  organism’s mass within the underground facility, they 
  were too late to stop the contagion’s spread. Some of 
  the survivors of the initial encounter with the macro-
  organism ﬂed from the bowels of the base to the 
  surface world, only to infect the emergency workers 
  that came to assist them.
  As on-site response teams struggled to contain the 
  outbreak, their own numbers were slowly becoming 
  infected.  The macro-organism had been designed to 
  take over the minds and bodies of creatures it infected, 
  turning them into seemingly unaffected thralls through 
  which it could spread its contagion undetected.  By 
  the time it became clear that all survivors who had 
  escaped the underground facility to the surface would 
  have to be contained or killed to control the infection, 
  it was too late.
  The contagion spread faster than ﬁrst imagined, 
  and the infection of base personnel reached well over 
  50%.  During a brief but savage exchange of gunﬁre 
  between uninfected security and a mass of infected 
  thralls, one of the disease containment buildings was 
  damaged to such an extent that a large portion of viral 
  bacteria samples were released into the air.  A ﬂood of 
  plagues—anthrax, brucella, tularemia, and others—
  infected defenders and attackers alike.
  When this biohazard release was detected, the 
  surface facility’s computers put into effect a last-ditch 
  emergency measure to prevent the spread of disease at 
  all costs: the release of VX gas throughout the town to 
  kill off anyone left alive.
  While their human comrades died off in the gas 
  release, the facility’s remaining androids were able 
  to halt the macro-organism’s spread through sheer 
  tenacity.  Unaffected by the biological plagues or the 
  VX sterilization measures, the androids held strong.  
  The macro-organism was sealed underground, cutting 
  it off from its thralls except for a weak telepathic link.
  As the world was engulfed in war, the thinker 
  androids of the facility struggled to keep the creature 
  in place.  In the last days, an emergency CDC team 
  (bolstered by a special unit of soldier androids, the 
  303rd Military Police) was sent to help the containment 
  efforts, but the humans involved began to desert when 
  the full implications of the worldwide Fall became 
  clear.  Most ﬂed into the desert to take their chances 
  there, not caring what happened at the secret facility.
  When word of this predicament reached the A.I. war 
  planners deep inside the mountain bunker at Cheyenne 
  Mountain, a single B-52 bomber was dispatched to 
  destroy the facility from the air with a nuclear strike.  
  Unfortunately, fate had another trick in store for the 
  Ancients: the EM pulse of detonations in Denver 
  and Pueblo caused the bomber to crash, ditching its 
  undetonated cruise missile in the mountains more than 
  ﬁfty miles from its target.
  The thinker and soldier androids, however, stayed 
  at their posts.  Operating independently of the remote 
  networks that linked most robotic formations to 
  the cyborg command (see Metal Gods for more 
  information), they were all but forgotten.  They did 
  not turn on their human masters, nor did they abandon 
  their last directive—to maintain the quarantine at all 
  costs.
  For over two hundred years, a sizeable contingent 
  of androids has remained at the facility, desperately 
  maintaining the quarantine and thwarting the macro-
  organism’s every attempt to break out.  But battle 
  damage and age are steadily thinning their numbers, 
  and it is inevitable that some day soon their ability to 
  contain the being will degenerate.
  THE LAST GOD
  The macro-organism, technically designated “XBM-
  06,” was developed not only to be cognizant of its 
  surroundings, but to think.  Created to be intelligent, 
  the macro-organism would awaken upon arrival at a 
  target site, adapt to its surroundings, and manipulate 
  its environment in an ongoing mission of destruction.  
  Its ability to think, reason, and plan made it far 
  more potent than any traditional biological weapon.  
  Secondly, the macro-organism possessed telepathic 
  abilities with which it could unite infected subjects 
  (“thralls”) into one enormous “over-mind” that could 
  spread its inﬂuence efﬁciently over a larger area.
  Unable to fulﬁll its mission due to its imprisonment 
  in a steel and concrete tomb beneath the Colorado 
  desert, XBM-06 went somewhat insane.  Combining 
  the worst elements of its original mission—to spread 
  out over a large area and infect everything it can—and 
  its own slowly developing megalomania, it has come 
  to believe it is, in fact, a god.
  XBM-06 wishes to be free of its tomb to spread 
  across the world as originally intended.  However, it 
  no longer simply seeks to destroy; it genuinely wants 
  to nurture, protect, and “care” for those it infects.  It 
  is aware of the Fall of mankind (it has no reason to 
  doubt the success of its “brother” organisms, the other 
  
  4
  ﬁve XBMs that presumably were used during the 
  apocalyptic exchange), and realizes that humanity is 
  in a shambles, in need of direction, purpose, and a 
  guiding hand.  XBM-06 wants to be that guiding hand. 
  To this end, it envisions a “new world order,” one in 
  which it shepherds lost remnants of humanity and is 
  worshiped as a god by legions of loving followers.
  Whatever noble intentions it may have, the “Last 
  God” is undeniably monstrous and mad; it aims to 
  control all living creatures within its domain, either 
  by infecting them directly or by dominating them 
  through fear.  While it might, if given the chance, 
  attempt to peacefully convince others of the rightness 
  of its vision, it will tolerate no dissent and would meet 
  refusals with cold arrogance and tremendous wrath.  
  Despite its powers and abilities, XBM-06’s mindset 
  is decidedly childlike: it desperately wants to do good 
  and to be loved, but its inexperience and its inability 
  to look past its own paranoia and self-importance 
  means that it will only harm those it claims to love.
  For the past two centuries, the Last God has 
  remained sealed within the underground depths of the 
  facility, forgotten to the world of men.  Deprived of 
  living organic matter (except for the hosts it claimed 
  during its original accidental release) through which 
  to replicate or expand, it has only grown through a 
  slow mitosis.  Even at a reduced rate of growth and 
  expansion, in the two hundred years since its “birth” 
  it has increased in size and volume to such an extent 
  that it occupies several levels of the facility, entire 
  laboratory blocks, and even whole buildings.
  But the Last God is not merely content with 
  growth—it desires freedom.  Its telepathic awareness 
  has increased along with its physical size, and so 
  XBM-06 has gradually been able to extend its mental 
  reach beyond the conﬁnes of its prison.  It has probed 
  and prodded the android quarantine, searching for 
  weaknesses to be exploited.  It has investigated and 
  explored its “cage,” scouring its conﬁnes for a way 
  out.
  Several years ago, an opportunity for escape 
  presented itself when the Last God expanded into a 
  section of the subterranean base that contained still-
  functioning computers.  Calling upon skills bred 
  into it by its creators, the Last God worked through 
  these computers to access the intranet still operating 
  in parts of the facility.  Clever manipulation of the 
  base’s computer systems triggered a power failure that 
  allowed it to free a part of itself once again, this time 
  using an old, forgotten ventilation chute leading to the 
  surface.  Sending forth a host of its “seedlings” (the 
  animated remains of Ancient scientists and soldiers 
  long ago infected by its biomass) and dispatching a 
  pair of “node mothers” (special servitors that would 
  act to extend its consciousness to the surface) to 
  make sure the way was clear, its vast bulk began to 
  move—just as its android keepers realized what was 
  happening.
  A handful of androids managed to reactivate an 
  old blast door that dropped and severed one of the 
  Last God’s “appendages.”  As the androids moved 
  in to eradicate this “extension” with lasers and 
  ﬂamethrowers, the Last God realized its attempt to 
  escape had been foiled.  Unwilling to accept failure so 
  easily, it quickly ordered those thralls that had escaped 
  to make a mad dash for the desert.  Most were killed 
  as the androids closed in, but a few escaped detection 
  and ﬂed into the heart of the wasteland.
  The Last God was again contained, but even with 
  only a handful of seedlings and node mothers it had at 
  last managed to gain a foothold outside of the facility.  
  The escaped thralls ﬂed in all directions away from 
  the base, driven by a single-minded purpose: to spread 
  the infection to every living creature they found… and 
  to build an army for their imprisoned god.
  A handful of these thralls shambled out of the desert 
  and were taken in by the tribals living at Saguache.  
  In only a matter of hours, the seedlings infected the 
  entire population, transforming every man, woman, 
  and child into seedlings or zombie-like shamblers, 
  all devoted to their inhuman master’s will.  Other 
  seedlings spread out across the desert in search of 
  prey, and over time the infection spread to the isolated 
  IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION 
  An important thing to keep in mind throughout this adventure is that while the PCs will encounter a variety 
  of infected foes, they are essentially ﬁghting the same creature in different forms.  The New World Order’s 
  agents, soldiers, and node mothers aren’t so much individual elements in an army or faction as they are 
  collective cells of one enormous organism.  As further detailing of the Last God will show, everything 
  infected by the super-weapon becomes a very real part of it.  Though infected creatures may have bodies of 
  their own, and can wander far and wide, they all become part of the greater organism when they succumb 
  to the contagion.  They are of one mind and one will.
  As a result, it is important to consider how the Last God views the PCs.  Because each and every thrall 
  in the New World Order is linked to one enormous over-mind,  everything its thralls see, hear, and do is 
  witnessed by every other infected member of the macro-organism’s brood—including the main mass of the 
  Last God trapped beneath Center.
  By the time the PCs arrive at Center in the third part of this adventure series (The Last God), the macro-
  organism will already know much about them, their tactics, and their capabilities…
  
  5
  villages, settlements, and even animal life of the San 
  Luis Valley.
  The Last God seeks to build an army from the 
  people and animals of the San Luis Valley for a 
  reason: they will provide not only the biomass it needs 
  to continue to grow and spread over the earth, but 
  also the material it needs to build weapons capable 
  of overcoming the robots of the quarantine.  It also 
  hopes to build, from scratch, the components needed 
  to create a fully-operational computer system that, 
  when brought back to Center by this army, will allow 
  it to “hack” directly into the androids that keep it 
  imprisoned.
  To this end, the Last God directs its seedlings 
  to spread the infection wherever possible, in time 
  building an army—and a war machine—powerful 
  enough to return to its prison under the town of 
  Center, overcome the defending androids, and set it 
  free!
  RECENTLY
  The ﬁrst infected seedlings and shamblers began 
  attacking the periphery of the Wastelord empire a few 
  years ago.  At ﬁrst they came in small groups, but over 
  time the small groups became mobs, which became 
  massive waves.  Some of the attackers resembled 
  tribals (infected members of the community at 
  Saguache), and so for a time the Wastelords remained 
  ignorant of the true threat against them.  But when 
  infected animals and zombie-like shamblers began 
  to approach Wastelord towns and villages, it became 
  clear to the Wastelords that they were ﬁghting an 
  enemy of alien purpose and capabilities.  Although 
  they had dealt with tough mutants and deﬁant subjects 
  before, the Wastelords had never seen anything quite 
  so disturbing as a zombie.
  For the ﬁrst few months, the Wastelords fought 
  several decisive battles defending their territory, but 
  the onslaught of creatures never seemed to abate.  One 
  by one, outlying Wastelord communities began to fall.  
  Those civilians who survived were quickly infected 
  and inducted into the ranks of the Last God’s New 
  World Order.
  Just when things started to appear hopeless, a 
  seedling was captured alive at the frontier town of 
  Hooper attempting to inﬁltrate the settlement’s water 
  supply.  When it was brought back to Shelter City, 
  Kyren, the Wastelord’s leader, ordered it examined by 
  his top doctors and thinkers.  Though at ﬁrst they were 
  at a total loss to explain what it was (short of saying it 
  “looked human”), after a few experiments in the city’s 
  underground hospital they deduced that the “human” 
  was merely the host receptacle for a unique form of 
  virus.  When the specimen almost escaped (claiming 
  the lives of two Wastelord guards), the scientists were 
  able to observe how the creature infected the guards 
  and turned them into duplicates of itself, eager to 
  spread the contagion.
  Aware that, unlike most of his foes, this new Enemy 
  would not be easily terrorized into submission or 
  defeated in open battle, Kyren seriously considered 
  abandoning his empire and ﬂeeing to more secure 
  lands.  By a stroke of luck, however, a heavily 
  damaged android appeared outside of Hooper a few 
  days later. The android, one of several soldier models 
  sent to pursue the node mothers and seedlings that 
  had escaped into the desert during the power failure, 
  was ﬁred upon and almost completely destroyed by 
  the Wastelord warriors who ﬁrst saw it.  When Kyren 
  heard of the android’s ill-fated arrival, he knew that 
  its appearance in the wake of the infected attacks had 
  to be more than just a coincidence; he had the remains 
  brought immediately to Shelter City for examination.
  Although most of the android’s systems were 
  beyond repair, the Wastelords were able to pry enough 
  information from the android’s memory banks to 
  conﬁrm that it had been pursuing the seedlings, and 
  even to pinpoint the source of the trouble—the old 
  town of Center, on the far side of the valley.
  Kyren immediately organized an expedition, led 
  by one of his most loyal followers, to lead an attack  
  Center—but neither his trusted general nor the entire 
  army of more than 100 warriors returned.  Fearing 
  such a bizarre and seemingly invincible foe, Kyren 
  withdrew the remainder of his troops to towns under 
  his control and pondered how to act against an enemy 
  he could neither anticipate nor understand.
  Eventually Kyren realized that a purely defensive 
  response—waiting and fending off the tireless 
  onslaught of the Enemy—was a hopeless strategy.  
  For all he knew, there might be hundreds if not 
  thousands of the Enemy lurking out in the wastes.  His 
  own manpower reserves were dwindling; though he 
  had drafted almost every able-bodied man in his own 
  lands to ﬁght, his army was suffering irreplaceable 
  casualties.
  Kyren then decided on a plan of action: to send 
  raider parties into the lands across the mountains, 
  there to acquire materiel for his war—not only 
  supplies such as food and water, but also captives to 
  ﬁght as “slave soldiers” and janissaries against the 
  Enemy.  If he could build a sufﬁciently large army, he 
  might be able to counter-attack and retake the lands he 
  had lost.
  Once again, luck played a part in Kyren’s plans.  
  When his Wastelord scouts found an old intact cruise 
  missile on the other side of the mountains in the Trade 
  Lands (ironically, the same Ancient nuclear warhead 
  meant to destroy the Last God centuries ago), it was 
  as if his prayers had been answered.  Kyren knew this 
  weapon could very well put an end to the Enemy once 
  and for all; he knew the exact location from which 
  the Enemy originated, and with a nuclear weapon, he 
  could destroy it utterly.
  However, Kyren was not aware that the people 
  of the Trade Lands, tired of being victimized, had 
  formed an alliance to ﬁnally resist him.  In their time 
  
  6
  of greatest need, the Wastelords were beaten by a 
  coalition of just three primitive towns… and a handful 
  of heroes in their employ.
  Their attempt to secure the nuclear weapon and use 
  it against the town of Center thwarted, the Wastelords 
  have only one option left—get those same heroes to 
  ﬁnish the job… manually.
  STARTING OUT
  If used as a continuation of Against the Wastelords, 
  The New World Order begins with the PCs 
  capitulating to and signing up for service with the 
  Wastelords (see the Denizens of the Twisted Earth 
  chapter of Darwin’s World 2nd Edition for details 
  on this raider faction) at the close of hostilities in 
  the Trade Lands.  Because of the PCs’ actions, the 
  Wastelords have ultimately failed in their bid to ﬁnd 
  a weapon powerful enough to destroy the facility at 
  Center, and have seemingly lost their last chance to 
  destroy this monstrous threat to the world.
  However, there is one last chance for salvation, and 
  that chance has come in the form of a small group of 
  adventurers—the same adventurers who devastated 
  the Wastelord army and brought about this whole 
  mess in the ﬁrst place!
  AGAINST THE WASTELORDS AND THE LAST GOD
  The New World Order is the second phase of a 
  three-adventure series that began with Against the 
  Wastelords, continues with The New World Order, and 
  concludes with The Last God.  
  It is possible to run The New World Order without 
  ﬁrst playing Against the Wastelords (or without 
  playing The Last God afterwards).  This adventure 
  provides an alternate introduction in case you want to 
  skip Against the Wastelords and simply “jump into” 
  the game.
  In The New World Order, the PCs now work for 
  their former enemies, and get a chance to see that life 
  among the Wastelords, while predatory and ruthless, 
  isn’t much different than it is anywhere else on the 
  Twisted Earth.  In addition, their travels may bring 
  them into contact with numerous people within the 
  Wastelord community who might become important 
  allies should the PCs ever again ﬁght the Wastelords 
  once the “truce” with the Three Towns Alliance ends.
  The enemy in The New World Order is also quite 
  different than “normal” wasteland foes; instead of 
  a brutal gang of mutant raiders led by one or two 
  cunning leaders, the enemy in The New World Order 
  is a single being made up of many cells, something 
  that at ﬁrst may seem beyond comprehension.  The 
  enemy mastermind here is nothing short of a true 
  “super-being,” a creature of bizarre properties and 
  colossal powers that, even throughout the course of 
  the adventure, the PCs only encounter through its 
  inter-connected network of thralls and go-betweens.  
  For the time being, this enemy is beyond the means 
  of the PCs to defeat on even terms; in the ﬁnal 
  installment of this series, The Last God, the PCs will 
  enter the great enemy’s lair and see ﬁrst-hand the true 
  threat it poses to all life on the Twisted Earth.
  BEGINNING THE ADVENTURE
  The adventure begins with one of two different 
  introductions, which you as GM must select when 
  introducing the group to play.  Introduction A is 
  intended for PCs who have just ﬁnished Against the 
  Wastelords; Introduction B can be used if you are 
  playing this scenario by itself.
  INTRODUCTION A
  As if bending beneath the mighty threat of the 
  Great Weapon, the last vestiges of the raider 
  army begin to retreat, then break into a rout.  
  Within ﬁve minutes, all that remains is a swirling 
  dust storm in their wake—and a long reprieve in 
  which friendly forces can count their dead.
  The raiders have been defeated.  But as they 
  retreat over the dunes and out of sight, there is a 
  loud BANG from the Great Weapon, as the entire 
  contraption—roped together with bundles of 
  wire—falls apart in a pile of junk.
  One of the surviving warriors from Spilunk 
  turns and grins, ﬁnally able to let you in on his 
  community’s private joke.
  “The warhead was a dud all along.  We found 
  that out after we brought it here.  We tried to ﬁx it 
  but… but it saved the Alliance nonetheless.”
  The bluff—an unbelievable stroke of bravado—
  seems to have worked.
  As you search the area in the aftermath of the 
  Wastelords’ retreat, a loud buzzing sound catches 
  your attention.  Following the noise, you soon 
  come to the wreckage of an armored vehicle.  
  Sitting on the seat next to the dead driver is a 
  knobby metal box covered with dials and wires.  
  The buzzing appears to be coming from the small 
  round screen set into the face of the artifact.  
  Soon, the buzzing gives way to a crackling, and 
  then a voice booms out, “Yup, heard ya.  We’re 
  coming.”
  Looking to one another, you listen further as 
  another voice continues: “Yeah, passed through 
  the riverbed a while ago.  Mopped up some 
  pathetic resistance.  We’re almost there.  We’ll 
  be there in about ﬁve minutes.... There’s about a 
  hundred of us... (pause)...You hear me? ... (pause) 
  ... Dammit! Answer me, scumbag! .. (pause) ...
  
  7
  “Ahhh, I see.  Well, well, well.  I guess you 
  savages won.  If you are listening… there’s no 
  escape.”
  Staring at one another in wide-eyed disbelief, 
  you realize that the raiders must have called 
  for reinforcements, a force far larger than the 
  Alliance ever imagined.  Those reinforcements 
  have broken the bottleneck at the dry riverbed 
  and are almost upon you.
  You quickly gather your gear, but you know the 
  victorious but battered alliance armies don’t have 
  a chance of surviving another wave of attackers.
  The huge dust cloud soon reveals a large group 
  of raiders, many more than you just defeated.  
  The Wastelords close in around you, forming a 
  crescent that slowly encircles the whole of Dry 
  Fort.  So far no one has ﬁred, and your surviving 
  allies slowly lower their weapons, hoping for 
  mercy in the face of this huge force.  The fact that 
  the raiders have not yet engaged you seems to 
  indicate they have something else in mind…
  The Wastelords approach, alert and heavily 
  armed.  The new reinforcements possess a 
  number of armored vehicles, including four 
  motorcycles with sidecars, three sedans, and a 
  minibus.  All are heavily modiﬁed with armor 
  plate, mesh window armor, spikes, and ram-
  plates.  Two of the sedans have open roofs and 
  ring mounts equipped with ﬂamethrowers.  Wary-
  looking Wastelords point these heavy weapons at 
  you, the group nearest their lines.
  As they come to an unexpected stop, one of the 
  raiders jumps down from the last sedan’s hood 
  and walks towards you.  He raises his hand, and 
  the other raiders seem to relax—a little.  It seems 
  this one wants to talk.  Looking at the unrealistic 
  odds, you decide to hear what he has to say.
  “Well, well, well.  What a bunch of bronze.  
  Kinda ruined my little operation here, didn’t you?  
  No problem,” he says, taking a long, slow breath 
  from a wrapped up, stinking weed in his mouth.  
  “Guess you guys are good.”
  It is obvious this well-armed and armored 
  individual is sizing you up.  “Damn!  I gotta give 
  it to you guys.  How the hell did you kill Kyren?”
  “What about Big Bert?” says one of the 
  raiders, casually holding a pump-gun.
  “Hell yeah.  Big Bert too,” says the Wastelord 
  leader.  Then he looks over to the remains of the 
  Great Weapon, crumbled and broken.
  “Looks like you ruined our one big chance…
  “Here it is.  Seems we got the same problems, 
  you and us.  Can’t say sorry or anything about 
  being a raider—you know how it is.  Anyways, 
  you guys have earned my respect.  You’re lucky 
  I don’t just kill you; you’re in no shape to ﬁght 
  back.
  “So I got a prop for ya.  Since you destroyed 
  our weapon, you gotta solve our problem…
  “manually.”  Not only will we let ya live, we may 
  even pay you when you’re done.  Whaddya say?”
  With that, a number of the raiders cock their 
  weapons and level them at you.  The sight of more 
  raiders ﬂanking the settlement of Dry Fort makes 
  the sheer futility of resistance sink home.
  Still in shock, one of you speaks up.  “What 
  about the Great Weapon?  If not for destroying 
  us… what was it for?”
  “Handling our ‘little problem.’  What, you 
  chuckleheads thought we went through all of this 
  to conquer your puny tribes?  Ha!  Not a chance.  
  There are a hundred villages like yours on the 
  other side of the mountains that we could prey on.  
  No.  We’ve got bigger ﬁsh to fry…”
  It should be obvious now that the PCs have no choice 
  but to accept the Wastelords’ proposition.  As GM you 
  should make it clear that further resistance would be 
  tantamount to suicide; there is a force of Wastelords 
  (and vehicles) equal to if not greater than the ﬁrst 
  wave (see Against the Wastelords for an idea of what 
  that battle would be like) already closing in.
  If the PCs demand a count of the enemy before 
  making a decision, inform them that the second 
  “wave” includes the following:
  80 Low-level Wastelords A
  16 Mid-level Wastelords
  8 Battle Cars (armed with M60 machineguns and 
  ﬂamethrowers)
  In the event of a ﬁght, the PCs face only 1/4 of the 
  enemy army (the other three-fourths attack different 
  parts of the Dry Fort defense perimeter), but be sure to 
  remind the PCs that they are wounded, that any fallen 
  allies will not be replaced, and that they do not have 
  fresh reinforcements like the raiders do…
   Understandably, players may have a hard time 
  accepting their situation; the idea of having to 
  surrender their gear or otherwise submit to the 
  depravations of victorious raiders may inspire them 
  with a suicidal deﬁance at this most desperate point.  
  If this is the case, play up the surprising “civility” of 
  the Wastelords; always keep in mind that they are here 
  for a very desperate reason, and are willing to forego 
  their usual “rape and plunder” if only to secure the 
  cooperation of the Three Towns in defeating the New 
  World Order.
  The man looks you over for a long moment.
  “Don’t worry.  We want to talk, that’s all.  This 
  ﬁghting… well, I guess it’s all futile now.”  He 
  breathes deeply on his cigarette before moving 
  forward and surprising you all by extending his 
  hand in an awkward attempt at making peace.
  “I’m Kyren.  The real Wastelord.  That’s right, 
  the guy you killed wasn’t me—he was one of my 
  
  8
  followers.  Just one of several look-alikes that 
  often take my place when we’re on campaign.  
  Makes the locals more afraid if they think I’m 
  there personally.  Anyway, he was a tough son-of-
  a-bitch, and I’m impressed you killed him.
   “Now, you want mercy?  You want a truce?  
  You want to spare these people any more 
  bloodshed?  Then we’d better talk.”
  Kyren lights up another cigarette, takes a long 
  drag, and exhales deeply.  He then moves forward 
  and calls out to the defenders watching warily 
  behind the walls of Dry Fort.
  “You there, you savage monkeys!  You’re a lot 
  tougher than we imagined!  Anyway,” he takes 
  another drag, the smoke dissipating quickly in the 
  strong desert wind, “it’s over.  No more ﬁghting, 
  okay?  It’s a waste of time.  You’ve made your 
  point.  But we’ve obviously won.  Now open your 
  gates so we can talk… face-to-face.  Your leaders, 
  and me.  What do you say?”
  There is a tangible apprehension in the air.  
  Kyren’s words hang heavily in everyone’s minds; 
  seconds stretch into long minutes of silence.  
  Then, the bloodied ﬁgures of Warlord Thrakas 
  of Dry Fort and Elder Vilic of Spilunk appear 
  together on the ramparts.  Thrakas speaks:
  “Open the gate!”
  - - - -
  Negotiations between the Alliance of the Three 
  Towns and the Wastelords stretch on well into 
  the night.  Though at ﬁrst hesitant, the leaders 
  of the Three Towns know they have little choice 
  but to hear Kyren’s demands.  In a remarkable 
  show of trust—or perhaps a sign of fearless 
  arrogance—the handsome raider prince goes 
  almost unescorted into the citadel of Dry Fort to 
  discuss a possible cease-ﬁre with the leaders of 
  the coalition.
  It has been several hours since the negotiations 
  began, and the withering heat of mid-day has 
  waned with the drawing of the cool curtain of 
  night.  Womenfolk from Dry Fort move with 
  a handful of robed Spilunk healers to tend to 
  the wounds of the fallen; the sounds of misery, 
  suffering, and men on the very doorstep of 
  death echo across the battleﬁeld.  The gleaming 
  chrome of the Wastelord army, poised in a vast 
  semi-circle as if ready to sweep all vestiges of 
  resistance away with but a signal, begins to fade 
  as darkness blankets the valley ﬂoor.
  But they are out there, to be sure.  Watching.  
  And waiting.
  Torches are lit all about the fort, illuminating 
  masses of dead and wounded, revealing in dim 
  smoky light the true face of war: countless dead 
  and dying mixed in with those who will live on 
  to remember this day with sorrow and bitterness, 
  and in nightmares for years to come.
  At long last, a party emerges from the citadel—
  looking for you.
  Captain Ulz approaches, a serious look on his 
  face.  He looks each surviving member of the 
  party over before motioning for you to follow him 
  into the citadel to the place of the negotiations.
  - - - -
  Eventually you ﬁnd yourselves arrayed before 
  the meeting table of Warlord Thrakas, lord of Dry 
  Fort, and what few representatives of the other 
  Alliance members could make it.  Elder Vilic of 
  Spilunk looks out from beneath his hood to regard 
  each of you favorably, as if seeing you alive 
  after the tremendous battle is a comfort to him.  
  Trademaster Gorgel of Bazaar watches nervously 
  as you gather.
  Warlord Thrakas sighs before speaking.
  “The Wastelords have offered peace.  Kyren, 
  the ‘lord’ of their empire, is willing to call off his 
  armies if we agree to his terms.”
  At this, Trademaster Gorgel wrings his hands; 
  Elder Vilic seems to study each of you with even 
  more scrutiny, as if trying to anticipate your 
  reactions.
  “The Wastelords are ﬁghting an… enemy of 
  their own, over the mountains.  They need… 
  warriors capable of handling a… delicate 
  problem.  They were impressed by your ﬁghting 
  
  9
  skill… they want you.”
  Warlord Thrakas lets those words sink in for a 
  moment.
  “You have fought for the Trade Lands and 
  its people, and if you refuse, we of Dry Fort 
  will protect you against whatever reprisals the 
  Wastelords have planned.  Even to the death.”
  That statement is a grave one, considering the 
  massed army outside, but it also speaks volumes 
  of the honor of Warlord Thrakas and his people.
  “But if you do accept,” says Thrakas, leaning 
  forward and placing his hands on the rough stone 
  table in front of him, “the Wastelords have agreed 
  to a lasting peace.  They are willing to grant the 
  Trade Lands a reprieve from their raids for ten 
  years.”
  “This is most desirable,” says Gorgel, his voice 
  betraying his obvious approval of the plan.  “Ten 
  years of peace—ten years to rebuild, ten years to 
  prepare for the future—“
  “Ten years to ready ourselves for their 
  return…” Elder Vilic interrupts, giving voice to 
  the obvious implications of the Trademaster’s 
  words.
  There is a moment of silence. 
  “Nevertheless it is a good deal,” Warlord 
  Thrakas ﬁnally concludes.  “One that will spare 
  many lives in the Trade Lands.  Ten years of 
  peace is better than death today.
  “But the choice is yours, brave warriors.”
  Once more the fate of the Trade Lands is in the hands 
  of the PCs, but this time their choice is relatively 
  simple: either leave the people of the Alliance to the 
  mercy of a desperate raider army, or answer the call 
  and save the Three Towns from sure destruction.
  Once the PCs agree to the plan, the Alliance leaders 
  deliver the group to Kyren in accordance with the 
  peace agreement.  Before they hand them over, 
  however, the Alliance leaders provide the PCs with a 
  few resources that they hope will prove useful in the 
  days to come.  These include:
  • 
  From the traders of Bazaar, 500 corium pieces (to 
  be split among the party members);
  • 
  From the warriors of Dry Fort, two full water 
  skins (ﬁlled with pure uncontaminated water) and 
  one desert horse (with all the necessary trappings) 
  for each party member;
  • 
  From the peaceful mutants of Spilunk, a single 
  pair of working shock gloves and a fully charged 
  power beltpack (given to the party leader).
  In addition to helping them survive the coming 
  weeks, these resources are intended to reward the 
  PCs for their bravery in the campaign against the 
  Wastelords.
  Once they have been outﬁtted, proceed to A Fragile 
  Peace (below).
  DEALING WITH DEAD PCS 
  If you’ve played the ﬁrst part of this adventure series, Against the Wastelords, it is entirely possible that 
  one or more PCs died in the epic “war” in the Trade Lands.  If this is the case, the party may be too under-
  powered to deal with the challenges of The New World Order.  You can remedy this in a number of ways; 
  here are a few suggestions:
  Allow a player to make a new character.  This is the most obvious choice, which lets the player make a 
  new character to join the existing party.  With the word of war in the Trade Lands spreading, it is possible 
  that mercenaries from afar, seeking fortune and glory, arrived at Bazaar just as the war came to an end.  
  Finding any chance of making it rich dry up before their eyes, they may jump at the chance to join the PCs 
  on their special mission “over the mountains.”
  Allow a few NPC henchmen to join the party.  Since the PCs are considered “heroes” of the Trade 
  Lands, it is not unreasonable to assume they might have followers similar to “cohorts” (even without the 
  Leadership feat).  Good examples of followers might be a proud tribal warrior from the Terminal Village, 
  a ﬁerce horseman from Dry Fort, or even one of the mentalists from Spilunk, sent to aid the PCs in their 
  greater mission.  Alternatively, you could let a player who lost a character in the war design a new character 
  from one of these communities and take control of him or her as a full-ﬂedged PC.
  Allow a player to control a Wastelord.  Since the PCs are now working with the Wastelords, this might 
  be a good time to introduce that raider character one of your players always wanted to use.  The new 
  Wastelord character could be loyal to Kyren throughout the adventure, or he could be swayed during the 
  course of his adventures with the original “heroes” to drop his allegiance and pursue a new life outside the 
  Valley.
  Wait until they arrive in the Valley.  The section detailing the camp outside Shelter City includes a few 
  NPCs who might be persuaded to join the party.  Either allow the players to control these personalities (as 
  player characters), or have them join the party as hirelings.
  
  10
  INTRODUCTION B
  As sandwalkers and mercenaries, your party has 
  traveled far and wide in search of employment, 
  working for petty desert tyrants one day and 
  helping defend rebellious subjects the next.  The 
  ﬂow of corium pieces through your hands in 
  recent months has been like water in a stream; 
  you’ve squandered your spoils on good liquor, 
  ﬁne furniture, and other amusements almost as 
  quickly as you’ve earned them.  There is never a 
  shortage of demand for well-armed mercenaries 
  in the wastelands of the Twisted Earth, and today 
  is no different.
  It was the rumors ﬁnally reaching the trade 
  routes of the Forbidden Lands that ﬁrst attracted 
  your attention.  Whispered reports of war in 
  some backwater corner of the wastes known as 
  the “Trade Lands.”  Stories of a coalition of 
  oppressed villages “rising as one” to ﬁght off 
  raiders who annually plundered their settlements 
  and carried off their women.  Pretty typical stuff, 
  the kind of endless warfare that happens daily all 
  over the Twisted Earth.  But other men’s tragedy 
  was always your doorway to fortune; each new 
  trumpet heralding war is just an opportunity to 
  earn corium veiled behind the disguise of blood 
  and battle.
  You have traveled a great distance across 
  the desert and through the torturous Forbidden 
  Lands to this sheltered valley of struggling 
  villages and tyrannical raiders.  Quietly you have 
  lurked in the villages, listening to reports from 
  the war and to speculation about who seems most 
  likely to win.  It never pays to work for the losing 
  side, and so you’ve watched and waited for the 
  right opportunity to introduce yourselves to the 
  likely victor.
  Yesterday you found yourselves in the camp of 
  a group known as the “Wastelords,” their tents 
  erected among the ruins of a recently conquered 
  village.  You have watched this group in action; 
  you have seen them ﬁght on the ﬁeld of battle.  
  Well armed, well equipped, and most importantly, 
  well led.  You have seen the primitive villagers 
  fold and crumble beneath their boots, and it has 
  dawned on you that these are the ones to whom to 
  offer your services.
  Today you met their “king,” an intelligent and 
  ambitious raider-prince named Kyren.  You have 
  heard stories that the war in the Trade Lands 
  is but a precursor to an even greater struggle 
  on the other side of the mountains.  No one will 
  say much more, but the lure of pay is too great 
  to ignore.  Kyren seeks to rebuild his army with 
  professional men—men like you—and return to 
  deal with whatever enemy his gang faces back 
  home.
  Today you went forward and pledged your 
  service to the raider-prince… for a price.
  Due to recent losses in the war against the Alliance 
  of Three Towns, the raider prince Kyren is indeed 
  looking for new men to ﬁll out the ranks of his army.  
  In addition to desperate recruits from the Trade Lands 
  (scavs and others), mercenaries of skill and experience 
  are very much in demand…
  Judging them by their skill, conﬁdence, and general 
  appearance, Kyren is willing to hire the PCs for 
  more than reasonable pay:  5,000 corium apiece for 
  a month’s work, paid when the campaign “over the 
  mountains” is over.
  This deal should be quite appealing for characters of 
  the appropriate level (5th).  But beyond vague rumors 
  whispering of the war and an “Enemy,” there is little 
  to be learned from combing the Wastelord camp for 
  information about the coming battles…
  A FRAGILE PEACE
  You strike out across the desert and into the 
  mountains in the company of the Wastelords.  
  Loaded into trucks, you ﬁnd that you are not the 
  only ones recruited by the Wastelords during the 
  war in the Trade Lands; with you are several 
  dozen men taken from the fallen towns of Ebb 
  and Sandyville, as well as a handful of willing 
  mercenaries laughing and bragging of the 
  conquests that await beyond the mountain range.
  The Wastelord soldiers accompanying you in 
  the trucks are a rough and despicable bunch, 
  bearing trophies of “kills” and “conquests” won 
  while on campaign here in the Trade Lands and 
  elsewhere.  Severed heads, scalps, locks of hair 
  from countless women.  Though powerful and 
  fearsome, beneath the surface they seem no better 
  than the predatory raiders of other lands, and you 
  sense the already perceptible gulf between you 
  and them growing larger and larger.  Wary eyes 
  watch you at all times, and whispers hint that you 
  are neither wanted, nor trusted.
  At least you are permitted to carry arms, and 
  with a weapon in hand you feel somewhat safer.
  Every now and again you have gotten a glimpse 
  of your leader, Kyren, and some of his lieutenants.  
  To your surprise, they are totally unlike their 
  subservient peers; Kyren and the commanders 
  of the army aren’t quite so savage or barbaric.  
  They’re smart.  They speak intelligently.  They 
  smoke cigarettes and read old magazines from 
  before the Fall in their off time.  They pass out 
  books with titles you can barely read, on subjects 
  ranging from the art of war to classic poetry from 
  centuries past.  And they seem well prepared.  
  They don’t act interested so much in the primitive 
  pursuits and entertainments of their followers; 
  
  11
  they seem detached, each watching over his 
  personal command like some arrogant “god” 
  studying his ﬂock.
  Intellect is power.  Once or twice you have 
  heard that phrase spoken in camp, or while sitting 
  in the back of a dusty truck on the rocky trail 
  through the mountains.  You understand now what 
  makes these men so deadly, so feared, wherever 
  they go: compared to the primitive communities 
  of the Trade Lands, these men are highly 
  advanced.  Instead of spears and muskets, these 
  men wield automatic riﬂes and grenades.  Instead 
  of leather armor and hides, they wear Kevlar 
  from the time of the Ancients.  Instead of duels of 
  honor or contests of skill to settle disputes, these 
  men ﬁght decisive war to make entire regions 
  obedient and servile to their will.  These things—
  arms, armor, and political strategies—take brains 
  to devise, and by the looks of it, the Wastelord 
  leadership has brains in excess.
  But you hide your thoughts and assessments 
  and pretend to simply march along with the 
  rest of them.  Once or twice you have received 
  suspicious looks as your eyes wandered, and you 
  know they don’t like the idea of you appraising or 
  analyzing them.  You’d better move on.
  - - - -
  Eventually, night falls and the Wastelord army 
  stops high in the mountains to camp for the 
  evening.  Individual Wastelord platoons separate 
  into small camps, their meager campﬁres 
  providing dim illumination to contest with the 
  light of the starry sky.  Feeling like outsiders, you 
  ﬁnd yourselves gravitating towards the edges of 
  one camp or another as the hours pass.  Being 
  almost completely ignored, however, you are able 
  to observe your new “masters” in more detail 
  without fear of raising their ire.
  Occasional ﬁghts break out as the men laugh 
  and share stolen bottles of beer and whiskey.  
  Some of these battles are merely rough; others 
  are downright brutal.  You watch, keeping 
  your distance, as the savage raiders entertain 
  themselves by brutalizing one another for hours, 
  until it seems they’ve vented every last bit of 
  aggression.
  When the sounds of violence begin to die out, 
  and half-drunk men collapse here and there from 
  exhaustion, Kyren and his circle of lieutenants—
  who have been watching with indifference—ﬁnish 
  their drinks in the back of Kyren’s command 
  truck.  One by one they split up, moving about 
  camp to make sure unnecessary ﬁres are 
  extinguished, oversee the storage of equipment, 
  assign sentries, and attend to other duties.
  The darkness closes in around the camp like 
  a cloak, but you know tomorrow will be another 
  day full of surprises…
  THE MOUNTAIN ROAD (EL 5)
  The ﬁrst encounter occurs the next day, a few hours 
  after the Wastelord army sets out again along the dry 
  riverbed through the mountains.  The morning passes 
  uneventfully until around noon, when the convoy 
  encounters a seemingly innocuous creature along the 
  riverbed’s course:
  The army moves slowly through the dry riverbed, 
  which soon expands into a canyon.  You can see 
  now why the raiders chose to use this route to cut 
  through the mountains—it’s a relatively shallow 
  rise covered in a bed of hard-packed sand and 
  dust.  Only a handful of rocks and boulders lie 
  here, and most of these are clustered on what 
  used to be the banks of the river.
  One of the men sent ahead to reconnoiter 
  returns in haste on the back of an oily black 
  motorcycle.  He exchanges quick words with 
  Kyren, who motions for a few of his lieutenants 
  to follow as he climbs a nearby boulder to get a 
  better look at what alarmed the scout.
   Curious, you also move to see the source of all 
  this interest.  There, in the distance, the lumbering 
  shape of a bear is visible skirting a nearby rise, 
  staring in the direction of the Wastelord army 
  as it moves down the canyon.  It looks sickly 
  and weak, like many desert animals, but instead 
  of being scared off by the roar of engines and 
  the chatter of many men, it seems remarkably 
  inquisitive.
  You wonder why Kyren seems so interested in 
  the animal lingering in the distance.  As he looks 
  through his binoculars in its direction, the bear 
  continues to stare at the war party, and for a 
  moment there seems to be a strange glimmer in 
  its eyes—far from the normal look of hunger in a 
  bear’s predatory eyes, it seems to hold a special 
  interest.
  For whatever reason, the bear remains on the 
  far bank, just watching.
  “It spreads…” Kyren says to one of the 
  lieutenants standing at his side, but he does not 
  explain this cryptic statement.  Instead, he passes 
  the binoculars off and then turns to your group.
  “You see that bear?” he says, pointing in 
  its direction.  “Follow it and kill it.  That’s an 
  order.”
  If the PCs ﬁre on the bear, it immediately takes to the 
  ridge and drops behind it, and begins to work its way 
  at top speed down to its lair —a small natural cave 
  along an old dried-up tributary of the river.  The bear 
  hides there and lets the PCs come to it, at which time 
  it attacks once the range between hunter and hunted 
  has closed considerably.
  Tracking the bear should be a relatively simple 
  task (Survival check, DC 14; no roll is required if the 
  
  12
  PCs keep the bear in their sights at all times).  Once 
  the PCs corner the creature, read to the players the 
  following description of the beast:
  Up ahead you see the bear, closer now than 
  before.  So close you can see its sickly, matted 
  fur, the patches of lucid skin peeking through in 
  places, and its tortured face.  It slavers at the 
  mouth, with long strands of gleaming saliva 
  oozing off its maw, but its eyes are what really 
  chill you to the bone.  They are black and vacant, 
  like empty voids, but the way they watch your 
  every move… it’s as if you weren’t looking into 
  a bear’s eyes, but rather through a window at 
  something inside, something that controls the 
  body of the bear like a puppet.
  Kyren’s intuition is right—the bear is an infected 
  seedling of the New World Order.  The PCs do not 
  know that, nor do they have any idea of the true 
  danger they are in.
  Having feasted upon the diseased ﬂesh of one of the 
  Last God’s fallen spawn several weeks ago, the bear 
  became infected.  As more and more of the Last God’s 
  amoebic form grew within the animal, a psychic 
  link between the Last God and the bear developed.  
  Though this link is weak due to the distance between 
  the Last God and the beast, the bear is now effectively 
  the Last God’s “puppet,” and moves ever eastwards in 
  a desperate attempt to cross the mountains and spread 
  the Last God’s contagion beyond the San Luis Valley.  
  The PCs’ running into the infected animal is thus quite 
  a stroke of luck.
  The seedling bear ﬁghts to incapacitate as many 
  PCs as possible, hoping to drive the rest of the 
  attackers off by sheer force.  Once it is alone with the 
  fallen, it will attempt to infect them (see the contagion 
  ability).
   Bear Seedling (1): hp 65 (see Appendix 2).
  Once the bear is killed, read the following:
  With the last of your attacks, the bear shudders 
  and collapses with a thundering crash.  Dust 
  swirls violently about the banks of the dry 
  riverbed, but the creature is dead at last.
  Behind you, several of the Wastelords have 
  caught up.  A few point their riﬂes nervously at 
  the dead bear, while a single individual bears an 
  old rusty ﬂamethrower on his back.  Kyren stands 
  at the top of the ridge, watching wordlessly.
  The man with the ﬂamethrower approaches and 
  sets the bear on ﬁre.  As soon as it ignites, he and 
  the others scramble to get away from the choking 
  black fumes that rise from the corpse.
  Apparently satisﬁed by this curious ritual, 
  Kyren returns to his army on the other side of the 
  hill.
  Even if the PCs persist in asking, Kyren will not 
  explain the need to torch the bear—or even why he 
  demanded it be killed.  If the PCs continue to question 
  him, Kyren assures them that once they arrive at 
  Shelter City everything will be explained in due 
  course.
  HOMECOMING
  The rest of the journey across the mountains to 
  Shelter City, the capital of the Wastelord “empire,” is 
  uneventful.  By roughly three o’clock in the afternoon 
  the Wastelord army reaches its destination:
  Eventually the treacherous terrain of the dry 
  mountains gives way to a new landscape on the 
  other side of the range.  You’ve been watching 
  the signs of a gradual change for hours from the 
  back of the Wastelord truck; the searing sun has 
  vanished behind ominous gray clouds, and the 
  wind’s ferocity is unchallenged in these heights.
  As the Wastelord convoy crests the mountains, 
  you get a full panoramic view of the unsettling 
  sight beyond.
  On the far side of the mountains lies a desolate 
  valley shrouded from the sun.  The landscape 
  is swept by rain, which is brought on by huge 
  clouds that blot out the sky and leave the entire 
  land cloaked in an eternal twilight of bleary hues.  
  The terrain itself seems to have been drained of 
  color, bleached by ash and dirty rain until all that 
  remains is a wasteland of uniformly gray soot and 
  ruin.
  Thunder rolls in the distance, and the black 
  horizon-spanning cloud layer ripples with strokes 
  of lightning that only momentarily light up the 
  landscape.  But even this brief illumination 
  cannot dispel the gloom that hangs over this 
  forgotten “valley of death.”
  Kyren stares out over this bleak landscape and 
  speaks—half to you and half to himself.  His voice 
  is almost drowned out by the noise of the truck’s 
  engine.
  “It wasn’t always like this… we brought life 
  to this valley through our efforts.  The elders 
  of Shelter City called me mad when I sought to 
  lead our people from the underground into the 
  light.  They exiled me.  But I returned, and I made 
  them listen.  I made them give up the old ways.  
  Together we turned this desert into farmland, 
  into a place where livestock and crops could be 
  raised.
  “But then the Enemy came, almost overnight.  
  They turned our empire into this—this “bowl of 
  dust.”  Constant war.  That thunder you hear—
  that is the sound of artillery on the battleﬁeld.  
  Even now the Enemy presses on our frontier, 
  hoping to break us.”
  
  13
  He surveys the grotesquely deformed scenery, 
  and you note the grim determination in his stare.  
  But he says nothing more.
  - - - -
  The truck convoy continues its descent into the 
  valley.  For hours you skirt the bottom of these 
  mountains, at the edge of the desert, until at 
  long last you come to your destination: there, in 
  the side of a mountain, stands a gaping crevice, 
  an enormous jagged hole apparently blown out 
  of the mountain by powerful explosives long 
  ago.  Through the darkness you see that a city, 
  teeming with life, has been hollowed out of the 
  underground spaces.  Lights, distorted heavy 
  metal music, and the sounds of commerce echo 
  from this “grand cavern” out into the desert and 
  up the trail from which you come.
  You sense a notable improvement in the 
  attitudes and morale of your Wastelord 
  companions.  Bearing the scars of their battles 
  in the Trade Lands, they long to be home again.  
  With more enthusiasm they begin the last leg 
  of their journey, making straight for the hollow 
  mountain and the sprawling camp outside.
  In front of the mouth of the enormous cave, 
  occupying most of the rain-swept and muddy 
  slope, is a city of temporary shelters and tents 
  bivouacked for the interment of hundreds of 
  soldiers.  As Kyren leads his defeated Wastelord 
  army through this sprawling camp, you realize 
  that these are not raiders like Kyren and his kind, 
  but rather hundreds of people like yourselves—
  warriors and adventurers from lands near and 
  far, pressed into service.  Many bear the scars of 
  recent defeats at the hands their new Wastelord 
  masters; some resemble slaves given spears to 
  ﬁght, while others look like seasoned pit ﬁghters 
  hired for coin.  Even more resemble the valiant 
  defenders of towns crushed beneath the Wastelord 
  boot, given a chance to live on the condition that 
  they pledge their service to Kyren and his empire 
  in this time of need.
  You realize now that Kyren’s campaign is a 
  far greater struggle than you or the people of 
  the Trade Lands imagined.  The emperor of the 
  Wastelords is preparing for a major war.
  The trucks come to a stop and a few Wastelord 
  soldiers disembark, herding war captives out 
  of the convey and pushing them into the camp.  
  Your truck is next, and as the hatch comes down 
  the assembled crowd roars with a cacophony of 
  mockery and insults, reminiscent of the ritual 
  greetings received by new arrivals at some 
  Ancient-era prisons.
  Kyren jumps off of his command car as it comes 
  to a stop nearby.  The entire assembly of several 
  hundred warriors quiets down as he stands to 
  address them.
  “Listen up, you dogs!  Welcome your new 
  comrades with a little more respect—they’ve each 
  earned their place on the ﬁeld of battle!”
  The crowd roars.  Kyren walks down the long 
  line of captives before stopping in front of your 
  party.
  “Rest, get drunk, carouse, or train like your life 
  depended on it.  It’s up to you.  In a few days’ time 
  you’ll be marching out with the rest to face the 
  Enemy in battle.”
  The PCs now have the opportunity to secure 
  accommodations in the camp (see below) and rest, 
  train, or explore.  Kyren takes his leave and returns to 
  Shelter City with his entourage, but the PCs and other 
  captives are left to their own devices for a time.
  If they’ve gone through Against the Wastelords, 
  the PCs can use this time in a number of constructive 
  ways.  First and foremost, they can visit Shelter City’s 
  markets and sell off any artifacts they’ve found in the 
  course of their adventures; with any money gained 
  (and with the corium pieces given to them by the 
  leaders of the Three Towns Alliance) they can restock 
  medical supplies, ammunition, or possibly even get a 
  good deal on new equipment more beﬁtting of their 
  power level.
  Secondly, the PCs should be well aware that though 
  they are currently “allies” of the Wastelords, this is 
  a temporary arrangement at best.  If they have any 
  loyalties to the Three Towns Alliance (which may 
  or may not be the case, depending on how the PCs 
  came to view the Alliance during the war), they may 
  think to use this time to gather intelligence on the 
  Alliance’s enemies.  Since they are, after all, staying 
  in the very headquarters of the Wastelords, anything 
  the PCs learn about the Wastelords—their strengths, 
  their weaknesses, and the civil strife lying just under 
  the surface of Shelter City—may be of great use to the 
  Alliance in the future.
  If you aren’t playing this adventure as a 
  continuation of Against the Wastelords, this downtime 
  might prove to be a bit dull for players itching for 
  action.  However, even though their main mission 
  has been put on hold for a few days, there are still 
  opportunities to poke around Shelter City, get to know 
  the locals, and perhaps get involved in minor plots—
  for instance, getting in ﬁghts with local Wastelord 
  guards, gambling on the games held at the Pits, or 
  doing small jobs for some of the technical personnel 
  in the City (hey, it never hurts to have a thinker as a 
  friend, and the best way to make a friend is to have 
  him owe you).
  THE CAMP
  Until they prove themselves, the characters are 
  quartered in tents along with the countless other 
  warriors drafted by the Wastelords when their 
  communities were conquered.  The enormous camp 
  
  14
  outside Shelter City is their temporary home; it’s a 
  squalid settlement where old community rivalries die 
  hard.  Since the camp’s inhabitants come from a wide 
  variety of backgrounds (many are slaves), ﬁghting is 
  common as old allegiances are reborn in the town’s 
  ethnically divided quarters.  To keep the peace, the 
  Wastelords dish out a fair amount of brutality—but 
  other methods are also used, including giving slave 
  women to the male population to keep the latter happy 
  and productive.
  Though everyone here is essentially in the 
  same boat as the PCs (captives taken from their 
  homelands), many have formed “gangs” and “clans” 
  of like-minded or related people.  These clans 
  generally occupy one of several distinct parts of the 
  encampment, as described below.
  In addition to giving a brief description of each 
  part of the camp, the following location summaries 
  also include one sample NPC that characters might 
  encounter while visiting that area.  These NPCs can 
  be included merely for ﬂavor, as elements in minor 
  encounters designed by the GM, or even as hirelings 
  (or possible cohorts, should any of the PCs acquire the 
  Leadership feat during the adventure) in the event that 
  the PCs need some extra muscle.
  A. GENERAL BARRACKS
  These serve as living quarters for the majority of 
  Kyren’s slave army.  This area is ﬁlled with a vast 
  number of simple tents and lean-tos inhabited by 
  various people conquered in Wastelord campaigns.
  The PCs can fairly easily ﬁnd a tent here, but there 
  is a good chance they will have to share quarters with 
  at least one other person.  The GM can use this as an 
  opportunity to introduce new PCs or an NPC with 
  information (see Rumors in Camp).
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs get into trouble here, 
  assume most soldiers they encounter are Slave 
  Soldiers A (for details, see Character and Creature 
  Statistics at the back of this book).
  B. THE HOLE
  If the PCs decide to explore the camp by night at 
  any time during the adventure, they ﬁnd that the 
  encampment has a rowdy after-hours nightlife.  
  Among the biggest draws in camp are its notorious 
  cockﬁghts, brutal and bloody games involving a 
  pit, two roosters, a large crowd, and a whole lot of 
  gambling.  PCs up after dark have little chance of 
  missing a game (a Gather Information check, DC 
  13, will point them in the right direction), and the 
  highest-stakes games are held at a local drinking hole 
  appropriately called the Hole.
  On any given night, the Hole is crowded with over 
  150 people—a good portion of the camp’s ﬁghters 
  and support personnel.  Low-quality alcoholic drinks 
  exchange hands freely here (one of the beneﬁts of 
  working for the Wastelords is free booze); ﬁghts over 
  the results of games often spill out into the spectator’s 
  area, making the possibility of a spontaneous brawl 
  quite high.
  Gambling:  While at the Hole, PCs can try their 
  hand at betting on the cockﬁghts.  In game terms, each 
  participant must choose a number between 1 and 20 
  before the start of the match.  The GM then rolls d20; 
  the result is the winning rooster.  If the number rolled 
  corresponds to a number picked by a participant, that 
  character wins the pot.  Players may choose the same 
  number if they like; if they both win, the pot is split 
  evenly between them.
  Characters with the Gamble skill can, with a 
  successful check (DC 15), identify and pick the best 
  cock before the ﬁght, which makes the likelihood of 
  winning a little higher than it would otherwise be.  
  In game terms, if a character succeeds at this check, 
  she can modify the d20 roll to bring it closer to the 
  number she picked.  The amount by which she can 
  modify the roll is equal to the margin by which she 
  succeeded at the Gamble check.
  For example, before the match, the character picks 
  THE CRIME BOSS 
  Tanner will ﬁrst approach the PCs as a fellow gambler (his Gamble skill bonus is +11).  At some point he 
  will begin to bet against them, at ﬁrst for small stakes and then for ever greater stakes.
  If despite his skill the PCs still manage to win a lot of corium off of Tanner, he is impressed rather than 
  sore—but being a businessman, he is intent on getting his money back.  Instead of strong-arming the PCs, 
  however, after their bout of friendly competition he invites them to a round of drinks “on him.”  Here, 
  in the privacy of a booth overlooking the ﬁghts below, he informs them of his secondary “trade” —he is 
  the premier arms-dealer of the valley—and he is willing to barter with the PCs.  Since arms-dealing is 
  ofﬁcially against the law (the Wastelords hoard all arms to themselves), the PCs should realize that Tanner 
  is a potential source of useful items.  Of course, Tanner only reveals this if he doesn’t think the PCs are 
  completely loyal to Kyren.  Feel free to role-play the conversation; if he comes to believe the PCs are just 
  mercenaries without deep loyalties to the Wastelords, he’ll make his offer.  If they stand by their reputation 
  as Kyren’s “trusted agents,” the offer never comes up.
  Assuming the PCs agree, Tanner takes them to his “warehouse,” one of many non-descript tents in the 
  camp (see Tanner’s Warehouse).
  
  15
  the number 8.  She also succeeds at the DC 15 Gamble 
  check, rolling a total of 17 (including modiﬁers).  The 
  margin of success is 2.  When the GM rolls the die to 
  determine the ﬁght results, if the result is 6, 7, 8, 9, 
  or 10, the character wins (since all of these are within 
  two steps of the number she selected).
  There is generally a betting limit of 50 corium 
  pieces for each match.  PCs can use Bluff (DC 16) to 
  raise the stakes up to 100 corium pieces (maximum) 
  per match.  Once the PCs win 150 corium pieces or 
  more (between them), they attract the attention of 
  Tanner, the Hole’s owner and operator and one of 
  Shelter City’s best-known underworld ﬁgures (see 
  sidebar)…
  C. CORIUM MINER BARRACKS
  Many of the people quartered 
  in this part of the tent city 
  are former corium miners, 
  bought wholesale by Kyren 
  from the ruthless slavers 
  of Lil’ Vegas (see Death by 
  Corium Light for more details 
  on that wretched town).  PCs 
  who wander this area will 
  be met by the sickly stares 
  of malnourished men of all 
  ages, many of whom are 
  in the advanced stages of 
  radiation sickness.  Peering 
  from tents or clustered 
  around pathetic campﬁres, 
  these “walking dead” present 
  startling evidence of the true 
  desperation of Kyren’s war.
  PCs who try to mingle in 
  this area will generally be 
  met with undercurrents of 
  hostility.  The corium miners here do not appreciate 
  outsiders tramping through what they consider to be 
  “their” part of the encampment, but short of giving 
  the party the cold shoulder they will be reasonably 
  tolerant of trespassing.
  Telgar, Miner: hp 19 (see Appendix 1).
  D. AMAZON BARRACKS
  This part of the encampment is a separate stockade 
  composed of tents within a fenced-off area.  People 
  passing by the gate generally see no one inside the 
  fenced area, but a single Wastelord sentry guards the 
  gate anyway.  If anyone asks, the guard says he is 
  “guarding the sisters” and has orders to shoot anyone 
  trying to sneak in.
  Inside the stockade lives a handful of Amazons 
  captured by Kyren during one of his raids.  The 
  Amazons now work for Kyren, ﬁghting for his army 
  in exchange for the promise of eventual freedom.  
  So far the Amazons have been spared the atrocities 
  usually reserved for women in this part of the 
  world—a fact that has underscored to them Kyren’s 
  desperation.
  Male PCs are prohibited from entering this area, but 
  female PCs will be invited (i.e., pressured) to live with 
  the Amazons to avoid “causing trouble” in the other 
  parts of camp.  If they agree to do so, they ﬁnd the 
  Amazons relatively welcoming but constantly wary.  
  Most of the women are former tribals who distrust 
  technology brought into their compound.  Other than 
  that, however, they treat any new female arrival as a 
  comrade.
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs get into trouble here, keep 
  in mind that the guard is a Low-level Wastelord A, and 
  that there are a dozen Amazons in the tents who will 
  defend their compound against intrusion.
  Amazons (12): hp 17 (see Appendix 1).
  Mara, Amazon: hp 15 (see Appendix 1).
  E. ENTROPIST BARRACKS
  This area, built atop a small rise, resembles the 
  stockade of the Sisters (see above), but is even more 
  isolated.  The triangular blue ﬂag of the Entropists 
  waves above the stockade (for information about this 
  bizarre faction, see Darwin’s World 2nd Edition).
  Though the PCs are unlikely to ﬁnd out about this 
  until later in the adventure, the Entropists have sent a 
  small force to assist the Wastelords against the Enemy.  
  The Entropists believe that the sudden appearance of 
  the Enemy in recent years is a sign that the “Disease” 
  affecting their lands has spread to the San Luis Valley.  
  They have come to help ﬁght this insidious infection 
  for the good of the whole planet.
  The Entropist compound is patrolled by 2-4 
  Entropists at any given time.  Another 16 Entropists 
  
  16
  live in the tents and barracks.  The Entropists seldom 
  leave their compound (they fear catching anything the 
  slaves outside their walls might be carrying), though 
  they secure needed supplies from Shelter City through 
  an agent named Motak.  Needless to say, he is a rather 
  colorful character…
  Mid-level Entropists (20): hp 48 (see page 239 
  of Darwin’s World 2nd Edition).
  Motak, Entropist:  hp 25 (see Appendix 1).
  F. TANNER’S WAREHOUSE
  This tent resembles most of the other large pavilions 
  spread throughout the camp, and thus doesn’t stand 
  out from the many rows of others like it.  However, 
  anyone watching the tent (for any amount of time) 
  will notice an inordinate number of guards keeping an 
  eye on it day and night.
  This tent is in reality a secret “warehouse” 
  operated by a man named Tanner, the closest thing 
  the people of Shelter City have to a black marketeer.  
  In addition to selling better-quality booze and other 
  forbidden luxuries out the back door, Tanner keeps 
  (and occasionally sells) weapons his minions have 
  scavenged, constructed, or outright stolen from 
  their Wastelord masters in this tent.  These weapons 
  include:
  Weapons
  Qty
  Normal Price
  Tanner’s Price
  Colt M1911
  5
  600 cp
  900 cp
  Gauss Pistol
  2
  20,000 cp
  30,000 cp
  M16A2
  11
  900 cp
  1,350 cp
  MAC Ingram M10
  6
  600 cp
  900 cp
  Pipe Riﬂe (.22 LR)
  10
  150 cp
  225 cp
  Remington 700
  9
  1,100 cp
  1,650 cp
  Ruger Service-Six
  7
  400 cp
  600 cp
  Sa.23
  3
  1,300 cp
  1,950 cp
  Sawed-off Shotgun
  2
  600 cp
  900 cp
  Uzi
  7
  1,500 cp
  2,250 cp
  Zip Gun (.38)
  12
  75 cp
  115 cp
  Zip Gun (.44)
  1
  100 cp
  150 cp
  Explosives
  Qty
  Normal Price
  Tanner’s Price
  C4
  4
  900 cp
  1,350 cp
  Detonator (radio)
  1
  200 cp
  300 cp
  Detonator (timed)
  3
  100 cp
  150 cp
  Fragmentation 
  Grenade
  8
  900 cp
  1,350 cp
  Smoke Grenade
  3
  100 cp
  150 cp
  Tanner also has connections that allow him to easily 
  produce Molotov cocktails, and can get his hands on 
  virtually unlimited supplies of ammunition (except for 
  power sources) for every type of gun he sells.  These 
  items sell for normal price.  Other item prices are not 
  negotiable.
  Should the PCs try to double-cross Tanner or steal 
  from him, keep in mind that Tanner’s tent is well 
  guarded by his henchman, a few of whom are actually 
  Wastelords on his payroll (assume that there are two 
  Slave Soldiers B per PC, along with three Mid-level 
  Wastelords comprising his bodyguards, in addition to 
  Tanner himself).
  G. MILITANT BARRACKS
  This part of town is similar to the General Barracks 
  area, in that there is a wide variety of people living 
  here, but this part of “town” is usually much more 
  violent and dangerous.  Here the strongest warriors 
  from various conquered communities (mostly tribals) 
  make their quarters, and they defend their place here 
  through threats of violence.  Contests of skill and 
  strength are commonplace in the muddy streets here; 
  each day some new arrival tries to rise to prominence 
  in the slave army through challenges and duels to the 
  death.
  Most people in camp refer to the residents of this 
  part of town as the “militants” due to their warlike 
  nature and general inability to get along peaceably 
  with others.  Though they hail from a wide variety 
  of backgrounds, the people who ﬁnd a place here 
  typically respect war, skill at arms, and the general 
  ideals of the Wastelord empire.  They are the slaves 
  most loyal to their Wastelord masters.
  The Wastelord presence here is superﬁcial.  If 
  nothing else, Kyren admires the aggression of these 
  tribal people, and lets them enjoy their savage rituals 
  of leadership without interference.
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs get into trouble here, the 
  soldiers they encounter will be Slave Soldiers A (see 
  Appendix 1).  For every ﬁve men in an encounter, 
  however, one of these will be a Slave Soldier B 
  instead.
  Lord Hethris, Knight of Route 66:  hp 54 (see 
  Appendix 1).
  GETTING IN GOOD 
  Smart PCs with ambitions of removing the Wastelords from power and freeing the people of the Valley 
  should realize that Tanner, as despicable as he is, could potentially be their greatest ally.  Though not 
  especially interested in freeing his fellow citizens, his illegal store of arms could provide the tools 
  necessary for a future war of liberation.  Of course, the PCs would have to pay through the teeth to arm 
  even a small army, but if they strike so much as a passing friendship with Tanner they may be able to give 
  the people of the San Luis Valley a real ﬁghting chance.
  
  17
  H. TRAINING FIELD
  During the day, these areas are overrun with men of 
  all ages—new recruits—training for war.  Under the 
  supervision of a handful of trusted Wastelord guards, 
  these raw draftees are taught how to ﬁre guns, ﬁght in 
  hand-to-hand-combat, and otherwise survive on the 
  ﬁeld of battle.
  Because of these relatively complete facilities, the 
  PCs should be allowed to level-up at any time during 
  the adventure, so long as they return here to train 
  regularly.
  SHELTER CITY
  Though they are essentially “foreigners” for the time 
  being, the PCs are free to visit Shelter City if they 
  like—the army camp sits just outside the subterranean 
  city’s massive cave entrance, and slaves pass freely 
  in and out to trade, secure “companionship” for the 
  night, or watch the games held at The Pit (see below) 
  each night for entertainment.
  HISTORY
  The community known as Shelter City is the capital 
  of the dreaded Wastelord empire—but more than just 
  a citadel of their power, it also houses the ruins of an 
  Ancient-era vault that has withstood the test of time 
  remarkably well.
  One of only a handful of ancient vaults that can 
  claim to have operated “almost as planned,” Shelter 
  City (originally known as “Civil Relocation Program 
  Shelter CO6”) was dug into the side of the Sangre 
  De Cristo Mountains, just one of a series of pre-Fall 
  contingency plans under which “relocation shelters” 
  were erected in mines and national parks all across 
  America.  Originally intended to house important 
  elected ofﬁcials from the major cities of the nearby 
  region (Colorado Springs and Pueblo) who would be 
  RUMORS IN CAMP 
  If the PCs speciﬁcally mention that they are trying to gather rumors, allow each a Gather Information check at DC 13.  
  Each success nets the party one of the following rumors (roll randomly or choose the most appropriate for the character 
  in question):
  1.  I hear the Enemy are metal men—robots from ancient times.  Rumor has it that some guardsmen at Hooper 
  killed one of their number a few weeks ago and it was brought back to Shelter City for examination.  It’s still there 
  somewhere, deep under the city.  Who knows what they learned from it?
  2.  I don’t know what you’ve heard, but the stories I’ve been hearing say the Enemy are just masses of mindless 
  zombies.  When the last village fell they say every last man, woman, and child was eaten alive!
  3.  I hear the Entropists have allied with Kyren to ﬁght the Enemy.  They have their own separate barracks here in 
  camp.  I don’t understand why they would travel so far for such a hopeless campaign, though.  If you go looking for 
  them, however, I’d be careful—those crazy bastards do not like being touched.
  4.  Where are you fellas from?  I’m from Midway, myself—a merchant by trade.  I got captured in a Wastelord raid as 
  my caravan was going south towards Tucumcari.  There are lots of people here like me—things must be desperate if 
  Kyren is kidnapping people from other lands to ﬁght this war.
  5.  Let me give you some advice on how things are around here.  Kyren rules.  His gang of raider thugs virtually 
  worships him.  He lives in Shelter City with his “inner circle” of cronies, a cruel and savage lot.  The original 
  inhabitants of the City were either killed off in his Great Purge or were forced into slavery.  Any questions?
  6.  Believe it or not, there are Amazons here in the camp!  Kyren captured a few of their kind and hopes to use them 
  as elite troops in the coming war.  He’s even given them their own quarters here in the encampment.  But be warned—
  they attack on sight any man who tries to enter their part of town.
  7.  I hear Kyren and his “inner circle” know more about the Enemy than they’re letting on.  Why are they being so 
  tight-lipped?  Because they don’t want us to know how bad the situation really is!
  8.  The outlying towns come under attack every day.  I was doing perimeter patrol the other night and we encountered a 
  dozen of them near Hooper.  Zombies, I tell you—the walking dead!  Not ghouls, but clumsy zombies with rotting skin 
  and everything.  I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
  9.  The rumors are true, the Enemy are zombies.  And not just men—the animals too.  It’s as if this whole valley was 
  cursed, cursed by some terrible magic that turns man and animal alike into unthinkable monsters!
  10.  Kyren’s second-in-command is Qwan, a dangerous ofﬁcer if ever there was one.  So long as his position isn’t 
  threatened, however, he’s a great general to serve under.  Women and spoils for everyone!
  
  18
  transported by helicopter to the relative security of 
  the vault before the bombs began to hit, the vault was 
  miraculously spared any direct nuclear strikes—and 
  thus its integrity was never put to the test.
  The original inhabitants of Shelter City, whoever 
  they really were (there is some speculation that many 
  locals living in the valley knew of the construction 
  project in Great Sand Dunes National Park and ﬂed 
  there to demand a place in its underground shelter), 
  survived the nuclear holocaust that ravaged the rest 
  of the world. In the relative safety of the shelter’s 
  concrete bowels, they lived and died for generations 
  without any contact with the outside world.  Cut off 
  from any outside contact by decades of atmospheric 
  interference and other post-Fall phenomena, Shelter 
  City’s people were forced to deal with the harsh 
  realities of life underground and await a future day 
  when they could emerge on the surface.
  As radiation levels subsided, the shelter’s massive 
  computerized doors opened and the occupants 
  of Shelter City were faced with the challenge of 
  exploring a new world.  Already many of their 
  children had been born with noticeable defects and 
  early forms of mutation (proof that the vault’s seals 
  had not been without ﬂaws), and with water and 
  food supplies running low they were forced to send a 
  mission out to the surface to secure resources.
  An intelligent and charismatic young member of 
  the shelter’s citizenry named Kyren was the ﬁrst to 
  volunteer to lead a party into the wilderness.  When 
  he returned weeks later with only a handful of men 
  left and little to show for his expedition, he was 
  prohibited from undertaking further forays until the 
  elders could formulate a better plan to keep their men 
  alive.  When Kyren went against their will and led 
  another expedition out in search of food and water 
  (an expedition that ended disastrously with only 
  Kyren surviving), he was imprisoned upon return, 
  put on trial, and eventually sentenced to exile for the 
  irreparable damage to the community’s resources.
  Somehow, however, Kyren did not die.  Instead, he 
  wandered through the desert and over the mountains, 
  ﬁnding villages out in the wasteland where men were 
  willing to listen.  He found a cruel and punishing 
  world, but one that he knew he could deal with—and 
  control.  With his superior intelligence and education, 
  he impressed locals wherever he went, gaining 
  new recruits in every village he found.  Masterfully 
  plotting, pitting former raiders against one another to 
  keep his position secure, Kyren eventually acquired so 
  much power that he saw within his grasp the object of 
  his lifelong quest: to return to Shelter City and wrest 
  control of his former home from the hands of “fools” 
  and “cowards.”
  Kyren did return—with an army of raiders, 
  murderers, and thugs to back him.  After several days 
  of brutal ﬁghting, he broke into Shelter City, defeated 
  its defenders, and brought about the unconditional 
  surrender of its inhabitants.  Styling himself the new 
  ruler of Shelter City, he set about remodeling his 
  former community to suit his vision of the future.
  The Wastelords (as Kyren calls his “army”) operate 
  from the security of Shelter City; its subterranean 
  nature provides it with natural defensive traits, while 
  its location—far enough from the Forbidden Lands 
  to remain unknown and undetected by potential 
  enemies—is close enough to allow the raider army to 
  ride out each year to ravage the communities of the 
  lands beyond (see Against the Wastelords for a more 
  in-depth look at a typical Wastelord foray).  Kyren 
  brought power, respect, and wealth to his raiders, and 
  his natural cunning and brilliant mind brought the 
  Wastelords a sense of superiority that is rivaled by 
  few.
  THE ROLE OF ORIGINAL CITIZENS 
  Those who lived in Shelter City before Kyren’s 
  takeover are often referred to as “originals” (usually 
  with a sneer from Wastelords and the wasteland trash 
  they brought with them to re-populate the vault); 
  most either died ﬁghting to defend their home against 
  Kyren’s return or surrendered and were forced to live 
  under his new regime.
  Some of these men and women have found 
  unexpected boons from giving in or sucking up to 
  their new masters; most, however, have chafed under 
  the yoke of Wastelord rule.  A few of these ﬁgures are 
  still quite prominent in Shelter City (after all, many 
  were quite well educated, and their skills were useful 
  enough to warrant a stay of execution), and might 
  prove interesting to PCs who care to explore, scout 
  around, or learn more about the goings-on of the city 
  while they are here.
  DOC
  The aging physician known only as “Doc” to the 
  citizens of Shelter City has been a part of their 
  community for countless years.  He was here when 
  Kyren took over, and though vocally resistant to 
  his coup, Doc was ultimately unable to avert the 
  inevitable.
  In the immediate aftermath of Kyren’s victory, 
  Doc (and his two medical colleagues, both also 
  accomplished physicians with similar areas of 
  expertise) was treated as a prisoner, but over time he 
  was forced to give up trying to escape and accept his 
  fate.  In return for an “improvement” in his attitude, 
  Kyren removed many of the restrictions placed on his 
  everyday life (for almost a year, the three elderly men 
  were prohibited from leaving the dark recesses of the 
  Inﬁrmary) and even compensated Doc and his two 
  associates by giving them free access to many luxuries 
  (among them better food and non-essential books for 
  their private enjoyment).
  Of the three remaining doctors at Shelter City, Doc 
  is the most interesting personality; he is still a proud, 
  good-natured man who believes in helping others (he 
  
  19
  often quotes his medical creed, something he takes 
  seriously), but one who has given up all hope of ever 
  getting away from the Wastelords.  He may help PCs 
  even if it is against the wishes of his masters (perhaps 
  by slipping them some needed medical supplies free 
  of charge), or he may share restricted information 
  with them.  He is certainly willing to speak candidly 
  about conditions in Shelter City when his Wastelord 
  guards aren’t present; he can share with the PCs 
  the sentiments of the civilians who suffer under the 
  rulership of the Wastelords, and can relate the stories 
  of other pre-Kyren citizens (such as those listed 
  below) and their gripes against the current regime.
  HANSON
  Master mech of the foundry, Hanson is a tortured man 
  held hostage by guilt and fear.  He surrendered to 
  Kyren when the raider threatened to have his daughter 
  Larla raped years ago, only to watch Kyren raise her 
  instead to be just like him and his cronies—a cold, 
  evil woman.  Because Hanson still loves his daughter, 
  he has blinded himself to the wretch she has become.  
  A tragic character, he could either see the stark reality 
  of his daughter’s nature at the last moment and save 
  the day, or he could remain obsessed with saving 
  his daughter from harm—no matter what—to the 
  detriment of the PCs and their plans.
  HERIA
  A schoolteacher, Heria is an original citizen of 
  Shelter City who hates the Wastelords and all they 
  represent.  However, she has seen too many women 
  her age stripped, raped, and thrown into the harems, 
  and has learned to swallow her pride to avoid a 
  similar fate.  Kyren found a use for her in educating 
  the children of the city (part of his philosophy that 
  education breeds superiority over the outsiders in the 
  wasteland).  Though she would otherwise be loathe 
  to participate in his plans, she could ﬁnd solace in the 
  possibility that, through teaching, she might be able to 
  secretly educate the young about the dark side of their 
  Wastelord rulers.  Heria is a strong-willed woman who 
  might well be the ﬁrst to be swayed to help the PCs if 
  they were to move against the Wastelords.
  LARLA
  Though not technically an “original,” Larla is the 
  daughter of Hanson, head of the city’s foundry 
  facility.  Larla is nothing like her father, however; 
  raised among the brutal Wastelords her whole life, 
  she considers her father a fool and delights in the 
  debauchery and devil-may-care lifestyle of her 
  “friends.”  It is entirely conceivable that, some day, 
  Larla may be the one to kill her own father.
  MORTON
  Perhaps the oldest member of Shelter City’s dwindling 
  educated elite, Morton was the keeper of the Archive 
  for 55 of his 70 years.  Though he doesn’t approve 
  of many of the books and magazines the Wastelords 
  have stockpiled, he has only ever muttered his anguish 
  in private.  Somewhat eccentric in his advanced 
  age, Morton remains detached from the suffering of 
  his fellow citizens (largely due to the fact that he is 
  a virtual prisoner in the Archive, but also because 
  he retreats to the fantastic stories in books and old 
  pulp comics to dull the horror of what he knows 
  has probably befallen his fellow citizens outside the 
  Archive).
  POG
  Pockmarked and homely, Pog runs the 
  Communications Center for his Wastelord masters.  
  Pog was an original member of Shelter City society, 
  one who took his duty to the people seriously.  When 
  Kyren attacked, he helped defend the city, but when 
  Kyren won he also realized there was no further use 
  in resisting.  For his levelheaded decision (to save the 
  lives of his subordinates by surrendering the Comm 
  Center), Pog was allowed to live and continues to do 
  his job (running the Comm Center) unquestioningly.  
  Because he is quiet and unassuming, Pog is often 
  taken for granted and overlooked.  However, while 
  he will not turn against the Wastelords directly (that 
  is, raise a hand against them in violence), if it seems 
  his fellow citizens will beneﬁt from a change in 
  leadership, he may get involved in any clandestine 
  move for power by hampering radio trafﬁc, jamming 
  signals, or disrupting Wastelord operations in other 
  indirect ways.
  THOR AND TAUR
  Twin thinkers, these two are mechanics of the ﬁrst 
  order and are trusted with maintaining the Wastelords’ 
  army of vehicles.  Since both have beneﬁted greatly 
  from Kyren’s takeover (before the coup, they were 
  second-class citizens; now, the ability to ﬁne-tune a 
  car is vital to the community’s survival), neither wants 
  to see the power of the Wastelords eroded.  Many of 
  the original citizens consider them to be Quislings, 
  “lap-dogs” of the Wastelord regime who are not to be 
  trusted.
  ZAP
  An original Shelter City citizen of great importance, 
  Zap was cast out into the desert for defending Kyren.  
  Vowing revenge, he returned with Kyren to re-conquer 
  the city.  Though no one else knows it, Zap made 
  sure that all the technicians who knew how to run the 
  power plant were killed in the battle, leaving him the 
  sole authority on its maintenance and operation.  This 
  knowledge has ensured Zap a position of power, one 
  which he often abuses.  He is despised by many of the 
  city’s other original citizens.
  
  20
  KEY TO SHELTER CITY
  The layout of Shelter City is similar, if not identical, 
  to that of many pre-Fall bunker complexes constructed 
  during the twilight of the Ancients.  Characters 
  familiar with other Ancient-era vaults may recognize 
  the general layout and basic features of Shelter City.
  ENTRANCE CAVERN
  An old concrete tunnel once connected the interior 
  vault with the outside world, with a single two-
  ton doorway with overpressure seals to prevent 
  contamination of the shelter.  This massive 
  computerized system, linked to a battery of surface 
  sensors located more than two miles away, worked 
  like a charm in releasing the inhabitants of the shelter 
  years ago—before burning itself out.
  For some time, the door stood as a contingency 
  for the inhabitants of Shelter City, who hoped that 
  should they be forced to do so, they could always 
  re-seal the door to keep outside threats at bay.  
  However, upon his return from exile, Kyren had the 
  huge door removed and the entire passage excavated 
  with dynamite.  Though the tremendous amount of 
  steel and mechanical equipment salvaged from this 
  undertaking was certainly useful in repairing his ﬂeet 
  of vehicles in the wake of his conquest, the act was 
  more a visible reminder to his new subjects that the 
  old days were gone—that there was no going back to 
  living as troglodytes in the bunker.
  The entrance to Shelter City is a monumental 
  cavern, full of activity day and night.  People from 
  desert communities visiting the city are often required 
  to camp in the huge cavern, setting up tents or other 
  temporary shelters (such as old trailer hitches pulled 
  by horses or oxen) until their business in the city is 
  concluded.
  The inhabitants of Shelter City have erected a huge 
  neon sign that arches over the cavern, with the words 
  “Welcome to Shelter City” bathing the cavern in pink 
  and purple light 24 hours a day.
  GM’s Note:  Overlooking the entire scene from 
  the crumbling, exposed second level above are sentry 
  posts erected by the Wastelords to keep watch over the 
  masses below and to guard against attack at the “front 
  gates.”  These guard posts are detailed later (see the 
  Overlook entry), but they provide a full panoramic 
  view of the entire cavern and the narrow strip of 
  desert leading to it.
  SLUMS
  Located just east of the cavernous entrance to Shelter 
  City, these vast vaulted halls were once reserved as 
  quarters for the original inhabitants of the bunker.  
  Located on the lower level of the vault, these 
  chambers were almost completely abandoned when 
  their structural integrity became threatened by natural 
  subterranean runoff.  However, when Kyren returned 
  (and when his attacks did extensive damage to the 
  upper levels of the facility), these had to be re-opened 
  and immediately put to use to house the survivors of 
  the city’s fall.
  
  21
  Today, these old eroded stone hallways serve 
  as congested living spaces for the city’s poorest 
  inhabitants, which include destitute workers from the 
  camps outside, captives from the Wastelords’ various 
  raiding campaigns, and even former vault citizens 
  who did not readily support Kyren’s return to power.  
  Punished by being stripped of all wealth, possessions, 
  and inﬂuence, they have been crammed here with 
  countless others in horrendous conditions.
  Each of the seven massive chambers that comprise 
  the slums is a huge vault of concrete that has been 
  further sectioned off by wooden partitions, stone 
  walls, and even whole “shacks” built like the shanty 
  homes of some pre-Fall barrio.  Water runoff still 
  threatens these areas; the sound of dripping water 
  falling from high, cracked roofs above and hitting 
  the many dark pools below is enough to drive most 
  men mad.  Small pools of this brackish water are 
  common—in fact, inhabitants of this area often ﬁght 
  for the right to build a home close to such a ready 
  water source.
  MARKETPLACE
  This large section of the old vault was converted into 
  a marketplace at the behest of Kyren, who sought to 
  stimulate trade in the city and bring in new wealth.  
  Though unsuccessful at ﬁrst (most merchants were 
  afraid to come and do business under the guns of 
  the Wastelords), Kyren used rather heavy-handed 
  techniques to make sure the people understood his 
  plan for the betterment of the valley.  Now, under 
  threat of “sanctions” (in which the Wastelords cut a 
  village off from all trade, allowing it to wither and 
  die), each village within the Wastelords’ domain sends 
  merchants to bring goods, trade, and tribute to the 
  coffers of their masters.
  Though originally constructed under a dismal 
  cloak of tyranny, the markets of the city in fact 
  bloomed within a few years of their creation.  Though 
  individually the villages in the Wastelords’ domain 
  were relatively poor, as a collection of “allied towns” 
  they stood a far better chance of surviving by banding 
  together and sharing resources.  Produce from each 
  village (foodstuffs, clothing, and handicrafts) are 
  freely traded here between representatives of each 
  conquered community, so that a fragile but stable 
  balance of resources was struck, and all prospered.
  The markets of Shelter City were at one time an 
  example of efﬁciency, undeniable evidence of the 
  Wastelords’ ability to rule intelligently and proﬁtably.  
  Now, as the war against the Enemy contines, the 
  number of goods coming into the market has 
  waned due to the fall of many frontier villages and 
  communities.  Despite these losses, however, the 
  marketplace of Shelter City remains perhaps the best 
  place to ﬁnd rare goods in the Wastelord empire.
  GM’s Note:  Feel free to populate these shops 
  with a wide variety of equipment, even in these hard 
  times.  As a general rule, Shelter City should be 
  portrayed as economically better off than other desert 
  communities (even the trade nexus of Bazaar), and its 
  markets should reﬂect this.  Most general equipment 
  is available, but all weapons and armor are hoarded 
  (and not traded) by the Wastelords, by law, to keep 
  the threat of rebellion insigniﬁcant and to equip 
  Kyren’s growing army.  The PCs may be able to trade 
  for ammunition, however, at the GM’s discretion.  A 
  3,000 cp limit (for any one item) is suggested.
  Inhabitants:  Because each shop in the marketplace 
  is run by a different individual, there is potentially 
  a wide variety of skills and abilities available at 
  each establishment.  The “streets” of the market are 
  patrolled regularly by 3-5 Wastelord guards (treat 
  these as Low-level Wastelords B); any sign of trouble 
  causes them to raise the alarm, which brings more 
  men from throughout the complex.
  THE PIT
  This large central vault was used for communal 
  gatherings well back into the history of Shelter City, 
  even before its great doors opened years ago.  Unable 
  to suppress the community’s need to share ideas and 
  socialize, the Wastelords continue to respect “the Pit” 
  as a place where the citizens of the city can gather for 
  recreation, debate, and social interaction.
  The Pit serves many purposes, hosting everything 
  from recreational sports contests to slave auctions to 
  public gatherings where citizens of the empire can 
  offer suggestions to the Wastelord “inner circle” on 
  how to meet their needs.  To those unaccustomed 
  to Shelter City, it might seem strange for raiders to 
  accept such verbal criticism, but Kyren believes that a 
  variety of ideas and viewpoints make a stronger army.  
  Though much of the attention the Wastelords pay to 
  dissenters is only lip-service, it has worked wonders 
  in making the populace feel they play a part in the 
  empire’s plans.
  Inhabitants:  The Pit is usually crawling with 
  people after dark, when gladiatorial ﬁghts, non-lethal 
  slugging-matches between rivals, and mud-wrestling 
  become communal recreations.  Betting is frequent, as 
  are arguments, but violence (outside of the Pit) is rare.
  Six to eight Wastelord guards (treat these as Low-
  level Wastelords B) patrol the Pit to make sure no 
  one gets out of hand, and that arguments remain 
  reasonably “civil.”  The Pit plays host to 50 to 100 
  people (or more) on any given night, depending on the 
  evening’s entertainment.
  VEHICLE GARAGES
  Off-limits to most visitors, this extensive string 
  of cavernous vaults houses the impressive ﬂeet of 
  vehicles used by the Wastelords to rule over their 
  domain.  These include motorcycles, sidecars, trucks, 
  and an armada of cars—all souped-up, armed and 
  armored, and decorated in the fashion of a true raider 
  
  22
  army.  Each fully-equipped garage area is large 
  enough that an accomplished team of mechanics can 
  work on almost any size of vehicle.
  Inhabitants:  The garages are overseen by a pair 
  of identical twins, Thor and Taur.  Both are nearing 
  50 years of age, and each is a master mech (Post-
  Apocalyptic Hero 3/Dedicated Hero 8/Mech 7) in 
  his own right.  Thor and Taur are original citizens of 
  Shelter City who saw the wisdom in joining Kyren’s 
  side when he returned to conquer the city.  In reality, 
  they are terriﬁed of their masters, but enjoy enough 
  privileges that neither willingly complains or would 
  ever make a move against the Wastelords.
  Though not especially well-loved by some former 
  citizens (many of whom now live in the slums as 
  punishment for resisting Kyren), they are trusted 
  members of the Wastelord army.  Because their role 
  in the Wastelord army—maintaining the vehicles and 
  making sure they run when needed—is so vital, Thor 
  and Taur are assisted by a large pool of lesser mech 
  assistants (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 3/Smart Hero 8/
  Mech 1) and upwards of ﬁfty unskilled laborers.
  FOUNDRY
  The foundry is a huge vaulted chamber where metal 
  parts and salvage from all across the Wastelords’ 
  domain are sorted, worked, and brought back to life 
  in the service of the army.  Stacks of sheet metal, 
  old oil drums, rusted metal pipes, sections of lamp 
  post, underground sewage pipes, and other pieces of 
  salvage all vie for space in this towering facility.
  Most of the metal here is put to use shoring up 
  Shelter City’s subterranean passages, or ﬁnds new life 
  as armor plating for the Wastelords’ ﬂeet of armored 
  vehicles.  The Wastelord foundry also has a machine 
  shop where metalworking tools (lathe, press, welding 
  equipment, etc.) scavenged from ruined desert 
  communities permit skilled smiths to construct the 
  vital engine components, precision instruments, tools, 
  and other parts that maintain their armory of vehicles 
  and ﬁrearms.
  As if this wasn’t impressive enough, the foundry 
  also features a small room in which old shell casings 
  are hand-loaded with gunpowder and capped with lead 
  shot—giving the Wastelords the capability to recycle 
  ammunition for their myriad weapons.
  Inhabitants:  The foundry is overseen by a single 
  master mech (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 3/Dedicated 
  Hero 8/Mech 5), a man named Hanson, and his two 
  high-ranking assistants (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 
  3/Dedicated Hero 8/Mech 1).  A large number of 
  unskilled laborers are used for grunt work.  Hanson 
  is an old man (nearing 60), a member of the original 
  Shelter City population; though he resisted Kyren’s 
  take over, he capitulated and switched allegiances 
  when Kyren threatened to have his only daughter 
  raped and killed.  Though his daughter has grown 
  up to become just like Kyren and his men—a ﬁrm 
  believer in the notion that “might makes right”—
  Hanson is secretly wrought with guilt over his 
  surrender and his failure to protect his daughter from 
  the Wastelord lifestyle.  So long as his daughter lives, 
  however, he will not act against his masters.
  Only Hanson and his assistants know how to safely 
  reload old shell casings, while more than a dozen of 
  the lesser workers have acquired the skills necessary 
  to use the foundry’s impressive metalworking tools.
  FUEL STORAGE
  Gasoline scavenged from the wastes, along with 
  methane from the power plant, is stored in this 
  bunker-like vault away from potential hazards (such 
  as ﬁre and sabotage).
  GM’s Note:  No exact ﬁgure is given for the 
  amount of fuel kept here, but the many rows of 100-
  gallon drums are sure to keep the Wastelord vehicle 
  ﬂeet in operation for years to come.
  OLD POWER PLANT
  The ancient ﬁssion power plant that once lay at the 
  core of Shelter City, providing for its power needs, 
  ran out of nuclear fuel almost ten years ago.  By 
  that time, the original inhabitants of the vault were 
  already making plans to switch from ﬁssion power to 
  something less sophisticated (methane); upon taking 
  control of the city, Kyren made the creation of a stable 
  community power source his top priority.
  Thanks in no small part to Kyren’s ruthless 
  efﬁciency, Shelter City now has electricity; though 
  city lights sometimes ﬂicker and temporary blackouts 
  are not unknown, this steady source of power has 
  permitted the Wastelords (and their subjects) to 
  enjoy a level of prosperity and comfort known to 
  few communities in the wasteland.  Electric-powered 
  devices—lights, radios, machine tools, and a working 
  intercom/telephone system—are just the beginning.  
  Given time, Kyren hopes to extend the phone system 
  beyond the conﬁnes of the vault and out to the villages 
  that dot his domain, along with a uniﬁed power grid 
  powerful enough to have supported a small pre-Fall 
  city.
  The power plant is a decaying concrete bunker set 
  deep within the mountain itself, well out of sight of 
  the city’s daily goings-on.  The original power plant’s 
  machinery and electronic equipment, including its 
  computers and reactor core, were scrapped in the 
  years before Kyren’s return to power; they were 
  disassembled and buried in deep pits far outside the 
  mountain to prevent contamination of the local water 
  supply.  Though Kyren excavated and recovered much 
  of this machinery to use for scrap or to put to other 
  purposes, the old power plant could not be returned 
  to its former greatness no matter how much effort and 
  skill was put to the task.
  Failure to completely restore the power plant is a 
  only minor setback for the Wastelords, however; the 
  low-tech power plant they have constructed in place 
  
  23
  of the original nuclear reactor meets the needs of the 
  city well enough, and continues to provide the gang 
  with the resources needed to extend and maintain their 
  rule over a large area.
  Inhabitants:  The daily operations of the power 
  plant are overseen by Zap, an ingenious engineer 
  (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 2/Smart Hero 9/Mech 2) 
  who originally conspired with Kyren and suffered 
  with him in exile.  Since Kyren’s triumphant return, 
  Zap has enjoyed considerable privileges as a reward 
  for his loyalty (and in recognition of his value as 
  the mastermind behind the methane plant), and his 
  favored status has gone to his head.  He is known to 
  be somewhat cruel and arrogant to those “below” him, 
  and rumor has it he is especially brutal to the women 
  of the Wastelord harems.
  Zap oversees more than a dozen unskilled laborers 
  who operate the plant and manage the animals (more 
  than one hundred pigs) and their pens.  The entrances 
  to the power plant are typically guarded by 2-4 
  Wastelord guards (treat these as Low-level Wastelords 
  B); one or two additional guards have the unenviable 
  task of patrolling the latticework of steel walkways 
  over the pig pens to watch for ﬁre hazards or workers 
  who get stampeded trudging through the muck.
   
  WASTELORD BARRACKS
  The Wastelords quarter themselves in the old 
  residential chambers of the vault (those who didn’t 
  capitulate when Kyren gave his ultimatum were 
  thrown out or executed, leaving a lot of prime real 
  estate for his loyalists).  Despite their underground 
  location, these are relatively luxurious chambers (they 
  were cleverly decorated to resemble pre-Fall surface 
  homes to reduce the threat of “cabin fever” over the 
  years), though they are more often than not cluttered 
  with equipment and possessions like an unkempt 
  military barrack.
  Inhabitants:  Each barrack vault is home to 25-40 
  Wastelords of varying levels.  Those quartered on 
  the lower level of Shelter City are less experienced; 
  trusted and veteran soldiers are quartered on the upper 
  level, closer to the Command Center.
  HAREM
  This dismal place has been converted into a harem 
  for the entertainment of Wastelord soldiers.  Many 
  women captured from resisting communities—or 
  given as “tribute” by threatened settlements hoping to 
  avert Wastelord attacks—have spent their entire lives 
  within the hellish conﬁnes of this space, serving the 
  needs of the raider army.
  There are 20-30 women here (none of any 
  appreciable level of ability), all concubines whose 
  will to escape has either been beaten out of them or 
  drowned in booze and drugs.  Few, if any, remember 
  their former homes, families, and lives, and those that 
  do ﬁnd it all the more reason to stay intoxicated and 
  high all day long.  At any given time 4-8 Low-level 
  Wastelords are here (without equipment and weapons, 
  of course) enjoying the company of these slaves.
  The large number of women here requires a 
  constant vigil by 6-8 armed Wastelord guards (treat 
  these as Low-level Wastelords B), who make sure the 
  women do their job without resistance or disruptions.  
  Breaking arms, slapping faces until they are bruised, 
  and threats of worse usually sufﬁce to keep order.
  PRESIDENTIAL WING
  What is now known jokingly as the “presidential 
  wing” was long used as living quarters by the ofﬁcials 
  who administered Shelter City before its doors opened 
  to the outside world.  A council of elders elected 
  by the vault citizenry convened and resided here in 
  relative luxury.
  After Kyren’s conquest, this wing was converted 
  into a personal “palace” for the Wastelords’ “inner 
  circle,” complete with sumptuous apartments for 
  Kyren, a private harem for the leader of the gang 
  (with three or four girls hand-picked from all over 
  Wastelord lands), quarters for the other members of 
  the “inner circle,” a guardroom and quarters, and a 
  chamber for the accommodation of special guests (if 
  the PCs make a good impression on Kyren during 
  the adventure, they may be quartered here in relative 
  comfort).
  Inhabitants:  In addition to Kyren, his personal 
  lieutenants, and a number of harem women, eight 
  Mid-level Wastelord guards reside in a guardroom.  
  Four of these guards are always on duty guarding the 
  entrance passages (from the Harem and the Wastelord 
  Barracks).
  OVERLOOK
  A jagged tangle of broken concrete, deformed metal 
  supports, and cracked steel reinforcement hangs 
  from the crumbled edge of this precipice, where 
  the outer wall of the vault was blown away during 
  Kyren’s “remodeling” of the facility.  The second 
  level (directly above the main entrance to the vault) 
  all but collapsed in the poorly-conceived string of 
  demolitions, but the wreckage has proved useful as an 
  overlook.  The jagged rock outcropping is now used 
  as a lookout post—a battlement from which Wastelord 
  sentinels can look down on the approaches to Shelter 
  City.
  A number of sandbag revetments are set up along 
  the edge of the crumbling overlook to provide cover 
  and a safe ﬁring position for guards should they come 
  under ﬁre from enemies approaching the cavern.  
  Each revetment is ﬁtted with a tripod-mounted 
  M2HB machinegun with 200 rounds ammunition for 
  sustained ﬁre.
  Inhabitants:  Patrols consisting of 3-4 Wastelord 
  guards (treat these as Low-level Wastelords A) 
  regularly monitor this area, while another 2-4 guards 
  of the same caliber are stationed in the small room 
  
  24
  just outside the huge cavern (playing 
  cards or snoozing off).  Any gunﬁre in 
  the entrance area attracts immediate 
  attention from the entire upper level 
  of the city due to the nearness of the 
  barracks, command center, and other 
  Wastelord facilities.
  UPPER BARRACKS
  This area is identical to the barrack 
  blocks on the level below, but 
  ﬁghters kept here are generally more 
  experienced and better trained—and 
  well-paid by the “inner circle” to 
  keep them loyal and devoted to the 
  protection of the command center, 
  archive, and other important structures.
  Inhabitants:  These barracks 
  house the higher-level members of 
  the Wastelord faction, some 30-40 in 
  number (most of these are treated as 
  Mid-level Wastelords).
  UPPER HAREM
  Like the harem on the lower level, 
  this communal recreation space is 
  kept well-supplied and provides 
  entertainment for the Wastelords’ 
  ﬁghting men.  The quality and appearance of 
  furnishings here are generally better than in the 
  barracks of the lower facility.  This upper harem more 
  closely resembles a “gentleman’s club” than the “slave 
  pen”-style harem on the lower level.
  Inhabitants:  The harem is off-limits to anyone 
  not a recognized member of the Wastelords’ ﬁghting 
  elite; the girls here know most of their masters’ faces, 
  so intruders are easily detected and thrown out.  The 
  harem is guarded by 2-4 Wastelord guards (Low-level 
  Wastelords B); another 2-6 Mid-Level Wastelords are 
  present at any given time engaging in recreational 
  activities with the “furniture.”
  The women (some 20 in number) are slaves taken 
  from conquered wasteland communities.  “Native” 
  Wastelord women (women born and raised by 
  Wastelords or by the original inhabitants of Shelter 
  City) are free citizens, and share an equal place with 
  men in Wastelord society.
  The overseer of the harem, Larla (Post-Apocalyptic 
  Hero 4/Raider 2)—a loud-mouthed, foul-tempered, 
  and overly muscled young woman—is a native of 
  Shelter City and quite loyal to the 
  Wastelord regime.  She keeps her 
  harem girls in line by terrorizing them 
  almost daily, and by enjoying their 
  “company” almost as brutally as the 
  men of the faction.
  Larla is the daughter of Hanson, the 
  chief mech of the Foundry.
  COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
  This important communications 
  center pre-dates the Fall; though it is 
  no longer as sophisticated as it once 
  was (certain high-tech features, like 
  its satellite uplink computers, were 
  rendered useless by the devastation of 
  the Final War), it nonetheless serves 
  as the vital nerve center behind the 
  Wastelords’ power and control.
  At any given time the comm center 
  is staffed by a dozen or so men 
  (mostly mechs and tinkers) trained in 
  the operation of the communications 
  equipment still preserved here: a 
  number of two-way radios (scavenged 
  from the wasteland or from the old 
  communications center), a microwave 
  communications set for long-distance 
  communications, and a bank of computers linked to 
  the Wastelords’ ﬂedgling “Net.”  The Wastelord Net 
  is a rather remarkable development, considering the 
  state of the world and the technological depths to 
  which life in Shelter City has otherwise fallen; Kyren 
  plans to link each of the villages in the Wastelords’ 
  domain together within its digital reach.  All villages 
  must ﬁrst be outﬁtted with a computer—a daunting 
  task in a technology-starved world—but the end 
  result will make it easier for local garrisons to alert 
  Wastelord command at Shelter City of uprisings, civil 
  
  25
  disturbances, and other local emergencies.
  Currently two of the eight computers here are non-
  functional and undergoing repairs, while another three 
  are currently being used by the center’s programmers 
  (former members of the vault’s educated population) 
  in their ambitious efforts to create the Net.  The 
  other three computers are used to compile databases 
  tracking Wastelord water shipments, proﬁt projections, 
  and other logistical concerns.
  In addition to the radio sets and dusty computers 
  sequestered here, an old record player (the only 
  one of its kind in the entire region) is hooked up 
  to the facility’s intercom system.  An old wooden 
  shelf nearby holds a number of well-preserved vinyl 
  records, including works by Wagner, Bach, Mozart, 
  Beethoven, and Alvin and the Chipmunks (the latter is 
  a favorite of the Wastelords’ less intelligent subjects, 
  much to Kyren’s chagrin).
  GM’s Note:  All locations in the Wastelord base are 
  interconnected through an extensive intercom system, 
  which is regularly maintained (there is only a 1 in 6 
  chance a given intercom will be broken).  In addition 
  to using them for instant communication between 
  different parts of the vault, the Wastelords often blare 
  their favorite music over the intercom systems—a 
  useful way to keep their people sedate, on edge, or 
  excited, as the situation demands.
  Inhabitants:  At any given time, a dozen skilled 
  men (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 1/Smart Hero 1) are 
  here monitoring radio trafﬁc, their activities overseen 
  by a single supervisor, Pog (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Smart Hero 2/Tinker 1).  Pog personally reports 
  notable events and radio broadcasts to members of the 
  “inner circle.”  The room is typically guarded by 2-3 
  Wastelord guards (Low-level Wastelords B).
  COMMAND CENTER
  Along with the communications center, this facility is 
  used by the Wastelords to coordinate their resources 
  and armies, and to monitor the daily activities of 
  their subjects.  The banks of computers here (many 
  salvaged from the wreckage of the old vault) allow 
  a staff of ten or more mechs and tinkers to monitor 
  the cameras on the lower level and agro center and to 
  oversee and manipulate power production levels in the 
  power plant.
  The Wastelords’ efﬁcient power grid system is 
  designed in such a way that the computers in the 
  command center have top priority when it comes to 
  power; in the event of a catastrophic power failure, 
  any energy reserves at the plant are directed here so 
  that emergency computer control can be maintained 
  even in a crisis.
  An elevated stage behind the banks of computers 
  is set up like a classic strategic “war room,” with an 
  illuminated map table around which the “inner circle” 
  of high-ranking Wastelords plots their activities and 
  army movements.
  GM’s Note:  The heavy, immovable map table 
  itself is something of a curiosity; in addition to 
  providing illumination (it lights up like a projector 
  for map transparencies laid out on its surface), the 
  table has a built-in computer system that stores and 
  recalls digital maps for easy reference by the facility’s 
  commanding personnel.  This pre-Fall database 
  currently contains topographical maps of the states of 
  Colorado and New Mexico, showing major highways, 
  rail routes, waterways, emergency evacuation routes 
  from nearby cities (such as Denver and Santa Fe), 
  and other information meant to coordinate emergency 
  efforts during the Fall.
  Inhabitants:  As in the communications center, at 
  any given time a dozen skilled men (Post-Apocalyptic 
  Hero 1/Smart Hero 1) are stationed here monitoring 
  the computers.  The room is typically guarded by 2-3 
  Low-level Wastelords B.
  SCHOOL
  This old barracks area was refurbished as a school 
  for the children of Shelter City at the order of Kyren 
  himself.  In line with his philosophy—that education 
  is the key to overcoming one’s enemies—Kyren 
  established an education system in which classes are 
  held here ﬁve days of the week, teaching a wide range 
  of subjects.
  Although outsiders might not realize it, the 
  placement of the school so close to the Command 
  Center serves a dual purpose: ﬁrst of all, Kyren 
  wishes the children to see their leader (Kyren) on a 
  daily basis so that they will grow accustomed to his 
  presence and authority; secondly, Kyren wants to 
  make sure that any attempt by his subjects to kill him 
  (for example, by bombing his command center) will 
  have the consequence of also killing their children…
  Inhabitants:  Classes are taught by Heria (Smart 
  Hero 4), a Shelter City native who, though distrustful 
  of the Wastelords and their brutal policies, cannot 
  argue against the need to keep education alive.  She 
  is often at odds with Kyren, who tries to instill in 
  her students a more “accurate” portrayal of the 
  Wastelords’ role in their community’s history and 
  ongoing existence.  Heria oversees a number of 
  assistant teachers (each a Smart Hero 1), who take 
  over classes when she cannot dedicate her full 
  attention to teaching.  She also has access to the 
  Archive (see below) and its wealth of educational 
  materials.
  On any given day there are 20-30 students (ages 
  4-14) present in the school.
  ARCHIVE
  The Archive was once the central computer repository 
  for the vault, a cavernous chamber in which books, 
  holodisks, and other media for recording and 
  preserving information were kept for the recreation 
  and education of vault inhabitants.  Over time, much 
  
  26
  of this legacy of information has been lost (to wear 
  and tear and unfortunate accidents), but a considerable 
  portion of the archive remains.  It is one of the most 
  valued treasures of the Wastelords, playing to their 
  elitist belief that they are superior to the “ignorant 
  savages” of the wasteland.
  At ﬁrst glance, the Archive is nothing but a dark 
  and dismal concrete bunker, but old embroidered 
  rugs, salvaged wooden furnishings, and even couches 
  and comfortable Victorian-era reading chairs ﬁll out 
  the gloomy spaces and lend to the complex a certain 
  ordered appeal.  Elegant green-tinted glass lamps on 
  ornate wooden stands provide illumination for reading 
  as in the ﬁreside study of some eccentric millionaire’s 
  pre-Fall home.
  In addition to original educational and recreational 
  material, the archive contains many books and texts 
  looted by the Wastelords during their raids on both 
  sides of the mountains.  These include many notable 
  and unusual pieces of literature (Huckleberry Finn, 
  Oliver Twist, Pride And Prejudice, Animal Farm, 
  Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Mein Kampff, and 
  even a King James version of the Bible), a vast 
  collection of well-preserved children’s storybooks, 
  read-along books, and pop-up books, a number of 
  dictionaries, and three extensive sets of encyclopedias 
  geared for children, young adults, and serious students 
  respectively (though some volumes are missing).  
  There are also countless dog-eared romance, science-
  ﬁction, and fantasy novels (some well-kept and others 
  on the verge of crumbling).
  Those items preserved from the original vault 
  generally occupy Archive shelves; books taken from 
  outlying communities as “tribute” are lucky to ﬁnd 
  storage space in boxes or haphazard piles, where 
  they await proper categorization.  Various practical 
  manuals and books are also kept here, but the most 
  useful are often referenced by Wastelord mechs and 
  tinkers and are usually dispersed throughout Shelter 
  City.
  GM’s Note:  Those who defected to Kyren’s side 
  during his coup understood the value of education 
  and information, seeing it as the ﬁne line separating 
  civilization (and power) from savagery (and 
  weakness).  The Wastelords use their precious books 
  to teach the privileged young (usually the sons and 
  daughters of Wastelord soldiers), to acquire and 
  preserve knowledge about mechanics and machine 
  operation… and to keep that knowledge out of the 
  hands of their subjects.
  Inhabitants:  The Archive is overseen by a single 
  man named Morton.  With his long wispy beard and 
  tiny cracked spectacles, Morton looks almost like a 
  comical ghost haunting the library, but he is in fact 
  very much alive.  A non-combatant, Morton was 
  spared death when Kyren took over and was allowed 
  to continue his work as the caretaker of the Archive.  
  Here he remains, prohibited from leaving the library—
  partly because he is so valuable, and partly because 
  the Wastelords secretly fear he knows too much and 
  might spread undesirable knowledge to their subjects.  
  His only companion is Heria (the school teacher), who 
  visits on an irregular basis, and his lazy friend of a cat, 
  affectionately nicknamed Heathcliff.
  A security monitor scans the entire archive chamber 
  24 hours a day, and is linked directly to the Command 
  Center.
  ARMORY
  Whatever its original purpose, this area currently 
  serves as an armory in which the Wastelords’ arsenal 
  of ammunition and weaponry is stored.  Each room 
  has been reinforced with stone to contain explosions 
  (though whether or not these precautions work as 
  planned is left to the GM’s discretion).
  Inhabitants:  The entrance to the armory is 
  guarded by 2-4 Wastelord guards (treat as Low-level 
  Wastelords A) at any given time; keys are possessed 
  only by Kyren, his second-in-command Qwan, and the 
  Wastelord general Hammer.
  The armory itself is stocked with a huge number 
  of M16A2 assault riﬂes, shotguns and pistols of all 
  kinds, gauss SMGs, fragmentation and concussion 
  grenades, and armored vests.
  Two security monitors are placed at strategic points 
  around the armory, one outside, overlooking the 
  entrance door, and the other inside, scanning the inner 
  hallway.  These cameras link directly to the computers 
  in the Command Center.
  STORAGE BUNKERS
  These massive vaulted areas are still used as storage 
  spaces for emergency supplies, regularly replenished 
  and stockpiled by the Wastelords.  Lined up in ordered 
  rows are crates of preserved supplies, including 
  building supplies, canned rations, ready-meals, and 
  emergency medicines (ranging from fever-reducing 
  medicine to pain killers; there are no futuristic 
  medicines here).
  Kyren’s decision to build this stockpile has 
  effectively doubled the Wastelord’s available 
  resources.  Together, these vaulted areas extend the 
  survivability of Shelter City’s considerable population 
  (in the event of a siege, or the need to quarantine itself 
  from the outside world in a time of plague) by several 
  months.
  GM’s Note:  Since the entrance to the storage 
  bunkers is through the armory, the bunkers themselves 
  aren’t actually guarded.  However, security monitors 
  linked to the Command Center keep vigil on each 
  storage chamber 24 hours a day to prevent theft and 
  sabotage.
  GUARD AREA
  The staircase from the level above leads to a number 
  of icy cold chambers and crumbling halls, now 
  occupied solely by Wastelord guards.  These men (and 
  
  27
  women) are charged with defending the brig, 
  community water stores, and inﬁrmary block.
  Inhabitants:  This area is regularly patrolled 
  by a number of Wastelord guards with standing 
  orders to shoot (or apprehend, if at all possible) 
  trespassers.   At any given time, a total of eight 
  guards (a mix of Low-level Wastelords A and 
  B) are on duty here: two patrols of two men 
  each, with the other six remaining in the center 
  chamber playing cards, relaxing, or listening to 
  a cherished cassette player.
  GM’s Note:  The central chamber in this 
  network of tunnels is monitored by a security 
  camera linked directly to the Command 
  Center.
  BRIG
  The former vault brig (reserved for rogue 
  elements of vault society who went crazy or 
  refused to obey rationing restrictions), this 
  miserable area now serves as a prison for the 
  most important Wastelord prisoners (most who 
  surrender are either executed outright or forced 
  into slavery).
  A number of 10 ft. x 10 ft. cells run the 
  length of this area, all overseen by a single 
  guard station from which guards can see 
  into every cell.  A console/computer panel 
  at the guard station has a direct intercom link to the 
  communications center, and a ﬂick of a switch at this 
  same panel can electrify all cell doors so that anyone 
  trying to escape is shocked (1d4 points of damage per 
  round to anyone in contact with the bars of a given 
  cell; Reﬂex save at DC 14 for half damage).
  Inhabitants:  The prisons are observed at all times 
  by three Low-level Wastelords: two at the panel and 
  one making rounds through the cell block.  None are 
  armed except with bludgeoning weapons (in case 
  prisoners do overcome the guards, they won’t then 
  have lethal weapons to use in their escape).
  In addition to the guards, a few prisoners can be 
  found here languishing in their cells.  One is Tabos, 
  an elder of the vault who was part of the council that 
  decided to exile Kyren years ago.  Though his peers 
  were executed, Tabos was too popular to kill (Kyren 
  feared an uprising) and is forced to spend his days 
  here.  Another individual sentenced to an indeﬁnite 
  stay is Kearg, a deeply-tanned old man covered with 
  old scars from battle and ritual combat; formerly the 
  chief of Crestone (see that town’s description for more 
  information), he was taken as a hostage to 
  insure that his people would continue to work 
  the gravel mines without rebellion.  Kearg will 
  likely remain here for the rest of his life.
  INFIRMARY
  Much of the vault’s old hospital facility was 
  destroyed in Kyren’s coup, and now the place 
  looks like something out of a claustrophobe’s 
  nightmare—a dark recess deep beneath the 
  earth with shattered concrete and bent support 
  beams hanging from the fractured ceiling.  
  One doesn’t know what to fear more—the 
  oppressive darkness, or the creaking, 
  crumbling roof that seems ready to collapse at 
  any moment.
  The ﬂow of electricity here is sporadic, 
  working in a few chambers but leaving others 
  completely in the dark.  The sound of water 
  dripping is an incessant background noise, 
  along with the faintly audible hum of electric 
  conduits struggling to provide illumination to 
  ﬁght off the darkness.
  Though it doesn’t look like much, the 
  Wastelords have brought the old inﬁrmary 
  back to life, if only to treat those soldiers 
  injured in raids (or, rarely, civilians with life-
  threatening conditions).  Priceless medical 
  supplies scavenged or taken during Wastelord raids 
  are stockpiled here and kept under guard (including 
  a huge store of narcotics, used to reward Wastelord 
  soldiers when women and liquor aren’t enough, or 
  to pump them up before battle).  Several old sick 
  bays remain operational (and lit); in them wounded 
  warriors can recuperate away from the general 
  populace.  Equipment here includes life support 
  machines, iron lungs, and a single regen tank 
  (though this requires so much power that it is seldom 
  operational).
  
  28
  There are two operating theaters here, both of 
  which are currently occupied by “patients.”  The ﬁrst 
  is a seedling of the New World Order which was 
  captured at Moffat (see the adventure introduction 
  for more on this); the Wastelords were able to move 
  it here and keep it under observation.  However, their 
  experiments with the creature have turned up very 
  little information (see later for details).
  The second is an android that also showed up near 
  Shelter City just a few days after the seedling did.  
  Badly damaged, the android was brought here for 
  repair, but sadly not even the Wastelords‘ extensive 
  resources were able to preserve it.  The only thing 
  recovered from the android was a memory module, 
  now in the possession of the Wastelords (see later for 
  more on this important source of information).
  Inhabitants:  The inﬁrmary block is guarded by 
  only three Wastelord guards (treat these as Low-level 
  Wastelords B): one who patrols the old darkened 
  chambers alone (with a ﬂashlight), and two others 
  who assist the city’s three medical doctors.  The eldest 
  of the three doctors is fondly referred to simply as 
  “Doc.”  Doc is a highly-skilled professional who 
  cherished the old ways before the coup.  Though 
  Doc resisted Kyren’s takeover, Kyren refrained 
  from killing him (a mercy not granted to most of his 
  enemies) for fear of losing the one man he could trust 
  to treat his men.
  WATER STORAGE
  This area is unusually damp, as water runoff from 
  throughout the damaged ruins of Shelter City drains 
  here through innumerable cracks and ﬁssures.  The 
  water here is not necessarily drinkable “as is,” so the 
  Wastelords have set up water puriﬁcation systems 
  (taken by force from various desert communities 
  on both sides of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains) to 
  de-contaminate the water.  These water puriﬁcation 
  systems range from clunky old military puriﬁers to 
  sleek home models, and are generally left to run night 
  and day.  Puriﬁed water is collected and bottled in 
  steam-cleaned jars and glass jugs (a precaution that 
  has reduced parasite contamination by more than 
  75%) which are stored in the cold dark hallways just 
  off the main cistern chamber.
  Inhabitants:  This area is usually guarded by 3-
  6 Low-level Wastelord B guards, who oversee the 
  workers purifying and bottling the water supply.  The 
  workers are all children aged 6-12; the reasoning 
  behind using child workers is that children are less 
  likely to tamper with the water supply (especially 
  when supervised by armed men).  Kyren believes this 
  will cut back on the chance that civilian saboteurs 
  might contaminate Shelter City’s water to cripple his 
  regime.
  ABANDONED HALLS
  What once constituted a sizeable part of the 
  Shelter City vault are now little more than caved-
  in, collapsed, or ﬂooded tunnels.  Most of these 
  subterranean spaces are all but condemned, having 
  sustained tremendous structural damage during 
  Kyren’s coup.  Because the threat of further cave-ins 
  is still very much a concern, civilians and guardsmen 
  alike are forbidden to enter this part of the vault’s 
  deepest level.
  Anything of value was looted from this area long 
  ago—ﬁrst by Kyren’s men (working “suicide duty” 
  and forced into the wrecked tunnels by the threat of 
  punishment), then later by desperate civilians trying 
  to sneak past the cordon to get food, valuables, or 
  lost mementos of life before Kyren’s regime.  Some 
  of these Kyren had whipped; others died when tunnel 
  sections collapsed, sealing them inside.
  Anyone entering this unstable area has a chance 
  of causing a cave-in or signiﬁcant collapse; roll D10 
  every round and see the table below:
  THROWING OUT THE WASTELORDS 
  This adventure doesn’t lay down a framework for an actual confrontation with the Wastelords; they are, 
  after all, allies of the PCs (albeit tenuous ones) in this part of the story.  However, though at present the 
  PCs must bury their grudges just to get along with their former enemies, any time spent in Shelter City (or 
  in towns under Wastelord control) will probably convince the PCs that when the threat of the Enemy is 
  eliminated, something must be done to alleviate the suffering of Kyren’s legacy.
  The most likely solution involves the PCs confronting the Wastelords head-on and helping to free the 
  communities of the valley from their rule.  If the PCs look hard enough, they’ll ﬁnd people sympathetic 
  to the idea of overthrowing these tyrants; Shelter City itself has numerous former citizens (the so-called 
  “originals”) who remember what life was like before Kyren and his gang took over, and might lend their 
  aid to an effort to depose the Wastelords.
  Once the war against the New World Order is over, it’s up to the players to decide whether they want to 
  resume their ﬁght against the Wastelords or cut their losses and move on.  As stated before, this adventure 
  doesn’t detail a campaign against the Wastelords, but there is enough information herein (in town and 
  community descriptions) to provide a feel for what might happen in such a conﬂict.
  
  29
  D10
  Effect
  1-2
  Nothing happens.
  3-6
  Small rocks fall from above, and the ﬂoors/ceiling 
  tremble.  Though nothing else happens, add +1 to 
  the D10 roll next round.
  7-8
  A few rocks fall from the fractured roof, followed 
  by a cloud of rock dust.  The dust cloud obscures 
  the immediate area (and quickly expands to ﬁll a 
  larger area) just like a smoke grenade.  
  9
  Heavy rocks fall from above; everyone in the 
  immediate area must make a Reﬂex save (DC 12) 
  or suffer 2d6 points of damage.
  10
  Cave-in; a section of passage (or room) 1d6x10 ft. 
  long (and 10 ft. wide) collapses, sealing the tunnel 
  shut.  Anyone trapped beneath the cave-in suffers 
  8d6 points of damage (Reﬂex save, DC 15, for 
  half damage).  Those who fail to save are trapped 
  underneath the rock until excavated.
  GM’s Note:  Now that the halls have been essentially 
  “mined out,” neither Wastelords nor civilians come 
  here anymore, fearing the unimaginable fate in store 
  for those who get trapped under tons of rubble.
  MEETING THE ENEMY, FACE TO FACE
  Once you are satisﬁed that the PCs have settled 
  in—they’ve gotten to know the general atmosphere 
  of their quarters in camp, have had a chance to buy 
  and sell equipment in Shelter City, and are beginning 
  to learn their way around—it’s time to get back to 
  the action.  Events have already been put in motion 
  that are leading to a confrontation with the Enemy, 
  whether the PCs are truly ready for it or not.
  BASIC TRAINING (EL 3)
  The next few days are spent in hard training, 
  undergoing a simple but effective physical 
  regimen which the Wastelords have devised 
  to transform its army of slave soldiers into a 
  suitable ﬁghting force.  This training is far from 
  comprehensive, but as the days pass you are each 
  taught how to use a gun (“If you don’t have a 
  gun, wait until the man with the gun dies.  Then 
  pick up his gun and start ﬁring!  Always keep 
  the man with the gun in your sights!”), how to 
  run and keep your heads down, and how to ﬁght 
  in hand-to-hand combat.  The training is brutal, 
  with new recruits pitted against each other or 
  their Wastelord instructors with real weapons.  
  More than a few recruits are badly injured in the 
  process, but this only reinforces the lessons they 
  are learning.
  Late afternoon on the fourth day, you are 
  rounded up along with several dozen other slave 
  soldiers from regions across the mountains and 
  are brought to a muddy, fenced-off area near 
  the training ﬁelds.  Your companions are men 
  of various colors and creeds, all gathered with 
  spears, axes, and other weapons.  In the distance, 
  you hear the sounds of new arrivals training as 
  you did when you ﬁrst came here; for a moment 
  you ﬁnd yourselves staring off in their direction 
  and wondering how long they too will last.
  “Today you have been brought together for 
  your last lesson—a lesson in teamwork,” says the 
  Wastelord drill instructor, walking through the 
  fenced-off pen.  “I want volunteers…”
  He points at your party.
  “You will do.  Grab some melee weapons and 
  get in here.  Your objective is simple—kill the 
  beast.”
  With that, the sergeant climbs over the fence… 
  just as the gates on the far side open and an 
  enormous mutated hog, bristling with quills, 
  comes racing into the ring!  
  To prove themselves worthy soldiers of the Wastelord 
  army, the party must enter the fenced-off area and kill 
  the creature, a rather large specimen of snofﬂe hog.
  The rules are simple: the PCs can only use melee 
  weapons, but otherwise can try to kill the enraged 
  animal any way they choose.  The idea here is to 
  promote teamwork, because while against a lone 
  character a snofﬂe hog is a deadly opponent, against 
  a team it can be defeated (if you feel the party has too 
  few people to defeat this enemy, you may round them 
  out with one or more of the NPCs described in The 
  Camp).
  During the ﬁght, onlookers lining the fences cheer 
  the ﬁghters on; if the PCs have made rivals already, 
  they will be there cheering for the animal, while 
  others will be placing bets on who will fall ﬁrst (or, if 
  the PCs are good, how quickly the snofﬂe hog will be 
  slain).
   Snofﬂe Hog (1): hp 44 (see page 316 of 
  Darwin’s World 2nd Edition or Appendix 2).
  AFTERMATH
  Assuming the PCs succeed in slaying the snofﬂe hog, 
  read the following:
  The crowd cheers as the enormous animal is 
  brought down by your repeated attacks.  The 
  Wastelord sergeant doesn’t grin, but merely gives 
  you a respectful nod, as if you have ﬁnally proven 
  yourselves as warriors in his eyes.
  An hour later, those who have survived the 
  day’s tests are treated to a welcome meal of 
  steaming gruel.  After everyone in your platoon 
  has eaten, your Wastelord sergeant appears with 
  a handful of guards in tow.
  “You men did good today.  Those of you who 
  survived the ﬁnal test are stronger for it.  Kyren 
  wishes to show his appreciation for your valor.”
  The sergeant raises his hand and the guards 
  
  30
  bring forward a number of slave women taken 
  from foreign lands.  The rowdy crowd roars with 
  excitement as the women are thrown to them.
  “Enjoy the night!” the sergeant yells over the 
  noise, “Tomorrow we ship out for the front!”
  In addition to other rewards, recruits wounded in the 
  day’s trials are given medical attention on a ﬁrst-come 
  ﬁrst-serve basis.  If any of the PCs were wounded and 
  seek healing, roll D6 for each wounded character; on 
  a roll of 5 or 6 they manage to procure a single dose 
  of stimshot A from the Wastelord quartermaster.  Any 
  other roll indicates medical supplies are short and the 
  PCs receive no extra healing today.
  BATTLE IN THE TRENCHES
  The next morning the PCs are awakened at dawn 
  for their ﬁrst combat duty.  Already the camp is 
  buzzing with activity, reverberating with the sound 
  of numerous transport trucks revving their engines.  
  Soldiers and slaves are moving out for a major 
  operation.
  You gather outside under the morning gloom just 
  as it begins to drizzle.  The sky seems as colorless 
  as before, the landscape just as dismal as ever.  
  A large group of men is gathered outside, and a 
  whole line of old military trucks pulls up.  The 
  Wastelord sergeant assigned to command your 
  platoon emerges from a nearby tent, prepared 
  for battle.  He motions for his men to board the 
  trucks.
  “Good morning, gentlemen,” he says, 
  addressing the crowd.  “Today we get the chance 
  to prove ourselves to Kyren, our great lord and 
  master.  Our mission is to relieve our Entropist 
  comrades currently garrisoning the front.  The 
  Enemy has managed to push them back from the 
  trenches east of here and there is only a small 
  force stubbornly holding out against a total 
  breakthrough.  They’ve called down an artillery 
  barrage in an attempt to delay the Enemy until we 
  arrive.
  “I know that for many of you this is your ﬁrst 
  mission.  Many of you are new here.  Many of 
  you have never seen battle before.  I don’t care.  
  I don’t care if you were husbands, or fathers, or 
  furniture where you came from.  Today you are 
  Wastelord soldiers, and today you ﬁght with me.
  “I’m sure by now many of you have heard 
  rumors of what the Enemy is.  Let me put those 
  rumors to rest.  Today you’ll meet the Enemy 
  on the ﬁeld of battle, face to face.  You’ll know 
  the Enemy by his black eyes; man, wolf, or any 
  other creature under the sky, they’re all the same.  
  Always look for the eyes!  
  “Now get on those trucks!  We have a bumpy 
  ride ahead!”
  - - - -
  Sitting in the back of your transport, you watch 
  the encampment outside Shelter City vanish 
  behind you.  Within minutes the road deteriorates 
  into a rough and rugged trail, which the trucks 
  strain to follow due to the mud and recent rains.
  Already you can hear the distant hammering 
  of artillery.  You know that in the coming hours it 
  will only get louder…
  - - - -
  An hour or so passes before the monotony of 
  the drive is ﬁnally broken up.  The convoy of 
  trucks stops at one of what you assume to be 
  several artillery ﬁrebases set up in the middle 
  of the wastelands.  Built on a gentle rise, 
  barely higher than the surrounding terrain, the 
  ﬁrebase consists of a number of rusted, Ancient-
  era artillery cannons surrounded by a line of 
  sandbags and a trench.  From your vantage point 
  on the road, you can see a few half-naked men 
  operating the cannons.
  The sergeant and a few others dismount just 
  as the cannons go off again, the deafening sound 
  thundering through the sky and even shaking the 
  trucks where they stand.  A few less-experienced 
  members of your platoon stare in awe at the 
  enormous cannons as they belch ﬂame and smoke 
  towards the heavens like chimneys of ﬁre and 
  brimstone.
  Someone from the ﬁrebase emerges from 
  the trenches and engages your sergeant in 
  conversation, which you cannot hear over the din 
  of the bombardment.  After a few minutes, their 
  conversation seems to turn into an argument, 
  until at last the man points to the west.  Your 
  sergeant nods, motions for his men to board the 
  trucks, and once more the convoy starts to move.
  For the next half-hour the truck passes 
  slowly through shelled terrain—what once may 
  have been a coppery sea of sand dunes but is 
  now little more than a no-man’s land of death 
  and desolation.  The sound of artillery shells 
  exploding grows ever louder as the convoy 
  presses on, until at long last the explosions are 
  almost deafening.
  Abruptly the trucks come to a halt.  Wastelord 
  soldiers dismount like well-trained commandos, 
  and the sergeant leaps from the command vehicle 
  to shout back at the rest of the convoy: “Everyone 
  out!  Make your way to the command bunker!  It 
  must be relieved!”
  Leaping from the truck, you quickly ﬁnd 
  yourselves mired in ankle-deep mud.  The half-
  rotted corpses of countless dead lie strewn 
  everywhere.  A heavy mist hangs over the 
  battleﬁeld, the residual smoke from the day’s 
  near-constant bombardment.  Huge columns of 
  smoke rise in the distance over a battleﬁeld only 
  illuminated by ﬁery explosions as artillery shells 
  
  31
  land less than 100 yards away from your position.
  A system of deep trenches can be seen up 
  ahead, stretching away in both directions.  The 
  Wastelords leading the charge seem to vanish in 
  the fog, but you spot a few running down ramps 
  and earthen stairways into the ditch at various 
  points—followed by frightened tribals and others 
  like you.  The Wastelord sergeant draws his pistol 
  and leaps fearlessly into the trenches somewhere 
  down the line, just as artillery shells begin to land 
  all around you.
  If this is what an average day in the Wastelord 
  army is like, you wonder how long you will 
  survive!
  This series of encounters is meant to introduce the 
  PCs to the horrors of the Wastelord war.
  The PCs enter the trenches at the area marked A 
  on the included battleﬁeld map, with allied forces 
  appearing at various points along the trench line.  
  There is no cohesive battle plan here; the operation 
  is a desperate and unorganized attempt to prevent the 
  trenches from falling into the Enemy’s hands.
  The Wastelords’ (and PCs’) immediate objective 
  is to ﬁght their way through the trenches to the 
  command bunker to relieve the forces pinned down 
  there.  This encounter is relatively linear, allowing the 
  PCs to sweep towards their destination from one end, 
  clearing the trenches as they go.  As they proceed, 
  they will encounter enemy stragglers and grisly scenes 
  of carnage, and come to the aid of other Wastelord 
  ﬁghters in trouble.
  General Note:  Because there is an artillery 
  barrage in effect on this part of the battleﬁeld 
  (a desperate attempt to prevent the Enemy from 
  exploiting the collapse of friendly forces in the area), 
  if the PCs leave the trenches at any time there is a 
  50% chance that as they emerge they are struck by 
  shrapnel.  If this is the case, all characters within 30 
  feet of the targeted character suffer 8d12 points of 
  damage from the explosion (a Reﬂex save at DC 15 
  halves this damage).
  In addition, note that while all trenches are 10 feet 
  deep (protecting those inside from artillery shrapnel), 
  they are also only 10 feet wide.
  B. COWERING SOLDIERS (EL 2)
  Up ahead you see several men cowering against 
  the wall of the trench, clutching their weapons as 
  if their very lives depended on it.  When they see 
  you coming they look terriﬁed.
  There are 1d4+1 Slave Soldiers A in each of these 
  spots, all forcibly drafted into the Wastelord army 
  from other lands.  These men arrived at the battle 
  with the PCs’ convoy, but each has been thoroughly 
  broken by the psychological effects of the artillery 
  bombardment.  Each group of men has decided to 
  stay here and wait for the ﬁghting to end.  They will 
  not move; as a result, most will probably be shot as 
  cowards when the battle ends.
  The PCs can try to get these groups of men moving, 
  but doing so requires a difﬁcult Diplomacy check (DC 
  18).  Trying to motivate the men by convincing them 
  that they’ll be killed for cowardice requires instead 
  an Intimidate check (DC 15).  (If the PCs slap them, 
  point their guns at them, or otherwise threaten them 
  physically, the DC of the Intimidate check drops to 
  13.)
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs manage to get these men 
  moving, award them a story bonus of experience 
  points as if they had defeated them (EL 2).
  C. CAVE-IN (EL 1)
  As the party makes their way down this part of the 
  trenches, roll 1d6 for each character, starting with 
  the character in the lead and moving back down the 
  line.  On a roll of 1, the trench walls collapse as that 
  character passes through, instantly burying him or her 
  
  32
  in a violent slide of mud.
  In the event that the trench wall caves in, everyone 
  within 5 feet of the collapse suffers 1d6 points of 
  damage and is trapped until dug out by comrades (an 
  action that takes 2d6 minutes).
  If the trench collapses at this point, it becomes 
  impossible for the PCs to continue along this trench 
  (and anyone who made it through before it collapsed 
  is separated from the rest of the group).  The party 
  will have to backtrack.
  D. COLLAPSE
  As you rush down the trench, ducking to avoid 
  shrapnel overhead and being careful not to trip 
  over the numerous dead bodies underfoot, there 
  is a sudden deafening explosion up ahead.  The 
  force of the blast throws you to the ground, as 
  loose soil and splinters of wood shoring go ﬂying 
  everywhere in a cloud of debris.
  As the choking smoke clears, you see that the 
  artillery shell landed directly in the trenches up 
  ahead, completely collapsing the trench walls and 
  preventing further passage down the line.
  The trench is blocked at this point.  The party must 
  either backtrack and try another route or take their 
  chances climbing out of the trench to move around the 
  collapsed area.  If they try the latter tactic, see the note 
  about the dangers of shrapnel above.
  E. UNEXPLODED SHELL
  Lying in the middle of the trench up ahead is a 
  half-buried, unexploded artillery shell.  Steam 
  still rises from the mud where it landed.
  The artillery shell is not large, but it sits precariously 
  in the center of the trench.  The shell is a dud, and 
  will not detonate—but don’t let the PCs know this.  
  They may consider the risk too great and decide to go 
  another way!
  F. SNIPER NEST
  Up ahead you see a small pillbox made of 
  concrete.  A hand-excavated tunnel along the side 
  of the trench leads underneath it.  The pillbox’s 
  narrow viewing slits seem empty.
  Several of these pillboxes are scattered along the 
  trench line; they are used by Wastelord snipers to 
  watch for (and ﬁre at) advancing Enemy forces.
  The PCs can enter a sniper nest by using the 
  tunnel, which leads to a small (5 ft. by 5 ft.) concrete 
  enclosure, half-buried in the ground.  Only the top 
  foot of the pillbox rises above the ground, presenting 
  a very small target for enemies to shoot at.  All four 
  sides of the pillbox feature narrow slits from which 
  observers can watch the approaches to the trenches.
  All the sniper nests are abandoned, their defenders 
  having either been killed or driven back.  There is a 
  1 in 6 chance that a given sniper nest will still have a 
  pair of binoculars inside, however.
  G. MASSACRE
  Up ahead you see what appears to be the 
  scene of a recent massacre.  There are bodies 
  strewn everywhere, with blood pooling in the 
  muddy channel created by the driving rain.  You 
  recognize many of the faces of the men lying all 
  around, fellow soldiers with whom you rode to 
  battle today.
  As if the sight of so many dead wasn’t enough, 
  you see no signs of whoever—or whatever—did 
  this.
  There are a dozen dying men here, all fellow 
  Wastelord soldiers and slaves.  All of them are beyond 
  help.
  Any character who makes a Survival check (DC 
  13) ﬁnds tracks leading from the massacre site to The 
  Beast (see below).  The tracks seem to indicate an 
  extremely large creature.
  GM’s Note:  Note that since the DC of the Survival 
  check is over 10, only PCs with the Track feat can 
  actually locate and follow the trail.
  Treasure:  If the PCs search the bodies, they ﬁnd 
  that most have already been scavenged, but a few 
  items were left behind.  A Search check (DC 13) 
  uncovers two M16A2s (with full clips) and a single 
  concussion grenade.
  H. THE BEAST (EL 5)
  As you make your way down the trenches, 
  wincing and ducking instinctively as artillery 
  ﬁre explodes overhead, you hear a terrible roar 
  from farther down the trench.  The baleful bellow 
  echoes through the trenches in every direction.
  Just as you begin to take cover, you see a 
  lumbering shape coming down the trench towards 
  you.  It is huge and bestial, but unlike any animal 
  you’ve ever seen.
  The creature rushing down the trench may 
  have once been a bear, but its huge furred body 
  has warped into a single shapeless mass from 
  which sprout numerous clawed appendages that 
  support its weight like table legs.  The animal’s 
  fanged head rises up from this central mass on 
  an elongated trunk, which sways back and forth 
  in the air as it scuttles forward.  Its eyes are 
  completely black.
  The creature is a transformed bear seedling which 
  has been wreaking havoc on Wastelord forces in the 
  
  33
  chaos of the battle.  Moving through the trenches 
  with inhuman ferocity, it has torn apart everything it’s 
  encountered—and it now moves to destroy the PCs 
  as well.  See the appendix at the end of this book for 
  more information on this type of new creature.  
   Bear Seedling (Transformed) (1):  HP 68, 
  down to 56 due to wounds (see Appendix 2).
  Treasure:  Scattered around this area are a number 
  of people killed by the bear seedling in the recent 
  ﬁghting.  A Search check (DC 15) uncovers a Beretta 
  92 (no clip or ammo), an M16A2 (with 9 shots 
  remaining its its clip), and three more M16A2s (no 
  ammo).
  I. BARRICADES (EL 7)
  From somewhere ahead of you you hear the 
  sounds of ﬁghting.  You arrive just in time to see 
  a band of Wastelord soldiers scattering for cover 
  as a number of makeshift barricades collapse 
  under an onslaught of unseen attackers.  As 
  the barricades fall, a mass of black-eyed men 
  begin pouring into the trench.  But these are not 
  ordinary men; they are badly rotted, and in places 
  their bones can be seen through their viscid ﬂesh.  
  They stumble forward like zombies, swarming 
  around anything in their way.
  Though the sudden appearance of these 
  “zombies” has you reeling, what soon arrives 
  behind these animated corpses really turns your 
  stomach.
  These new arrivals appear to have once been 
  not men, but wolves—but they’ve been changed.  
  Instead of rushing along on all fours, these 
  creatures run upright on powerful, deformed legs, 
  their heads extended on long sinuous necks of 
  pulsing, naked musculature.  They snap their jaws 
  repeatedly at the air around them, threatening to 
  tear into anything that comes near.
  As these new “shock troops” rush forward, they 
  let off a string of twisted and pained howls which 
  echo through the trenches like the mad baying of 
  tortured dogs.
  The party has arrived just in time to help a squad of 
  Wastelords and slave soldiers which has been cut off 
  from the rest of the army during the ﬁghting.  The 
  Wastelords are glad to see the PCs, and will welcome 
  their assistance in the battle.
  Surging through the barricades is a band of infected 
  shamblers, followed by a force of infected wolves 
  which have already transformed (new monsters are 
  described at the end of this module).  They attack 
  everyone in the vicinity with intent to kill.
   Low-Level Wastelords A (2): HP 7 each (see 
  Appendix 1).
   Slave Soldiers B (2): HP 2 each (see Appendix 
  1).
   Mutant Shamblers (4): HP 15, 15, 13, and 7 
  (see Appendix 2).
   Wolf Seedlings (Transformed) (5): HP 30 each 
  (see Appendix 2).
  The shamblers and wolf seedlings continue to ﬁght 
  until all are destroyed.  Once the Enemy is defeated, 
  any surviving Wastelords will remain with the PCs in 
  the trenches for the remainder of the battle.
  J. SHELLSHOCKED (EL 2)
  As you move down through the trenches, you spy 
  the command bunker getting closer and closer in 
  the distance.  Yet the adrenaline is racing through 
  your body—you know that the enemy could be 
  anywhere, even around the next corner.
  Suddenly, the crack of gunﬁre rips through the 
  trenches ahead, and white-hot tracers zoom by, 
  just inches from your heads.
  The PCs have stumbled upon a small group of 
  demoralized and panicked men, members of the 
  original force guarding this part of the trench line.  
  Cut off during the Enemy assault, they have resorted 
  to ﬁring at anything and everything they see.  They 
  
  34
  are not expecting reinforcements, and thus assume the 
  PCs are just more of the Enemy!
  When the encounter begins, assume the men have 
  the advantage of a surprise round.  They begin by 
  ﬁring at the PCs, and will continue to shoot at them 
  until paciﬁed (see below).
   Low-Level Wastelords A (4):  HP 3, 3, 2, and 2 
  (see Appendix 1).
  GM’s Note:  The PCs can only talk the men down 
  through a Diplomacy check (DC 18).  The panicked 
  men must be able to hear the PCs shouting to them 
  over the artillery bombardment; if the PCs emerge to 
  make hand signals, the men will immediately open 
  ﬁre at them.
  On any given round, roll 1D6; on a roll of 4-6, the 
  noise is too loud for the PCs to be heard.  Any other 
  roll indicates a break in the explosions during which 
  the PCs can attempt a Diplomacy check to convince 
  the men that the PCs are not enemies.
  K. CORPSE (EL ½)
  Lying on the trench ﬂoor up ahead is a man’s 
  body, covered in blood.  Rivulets of water 
  cascading from the eroded trench walls have 
  buried him in mud.
  If the PCs come close (perhaps to search the body 
  or try to administer ﬁrst aid), the “man” —really a 
  shambler only temporarily immobilized by a nearby 
  artillery blast—suddenly animates and attacks!
   Mutant Shambler (1):  HP 12 (see Appendix 2).
  L. WOUNDED SURVIVOR
  Through the smoke of a recent barrage emerges 
  a staggering ﬁgure, grasping at bleeding wounds 
  all over his body.  The man, obviously one of the 
  defenders you’ve come to relieve, looks utterly 
  disheveled and disoriented, as if he’s been cut off 
  from friendly forces for days.
  When the man sees you, his eyes widen in fear, 
  but he quickly realizes who you are.  He slumps 
  against the wall and speaks.
  “The Entropists… they retreated to the 
  Command Bunker.  They’re still holding it.  They 
  won’t let anyone in—they’ve left us all to die!”
  With that, the man expires.
  The man’s wounds are too serious to be healed in time 
  to prevent his death.
  Treasure:  If the PCs search the man, they ﬁnd he 
  is still clinging to a Beretta 92 with only a single shot 
  remaining in its clip.
  M. AMBUSH (EL 6)
  Lying on the ground up ahead and covered with 
  blood is the familiar form of your Wastelord 
  sergeant.  A number of other soldiers lie scattered 
  around, but all of them appear to be dead, torn 
  apart in battle.
  The sergeant lifts his head weakly as he sees 
  you approaching.  He raises his pistol.
  “Get… get… away!  It’s a trick…”
  The sergeant is correct; the scene is an ambush.  
  Depending on which direction the PCs are coming 
  from, a force of transformed wolf seedlings and 
  mutant shamblers lurk in a nearby trench, out of sight.  
  The Enemy hopes to surprise and overcome the PCs 
  when they approach to help their injured comrade.
  What happens depends on what the PCs do.  If they 
  hesitate, the sergeant ﬁres at one of the ambushing 
  seedlings, but this act incapacitates him and causes 
  him to begin bleeding (keep track of how many 
  rounds the battle takes; he may bleed to death unless 
  the PCs get to him in time).  In this event, the enemy 
  attempts to ﬁnish him off before attacking the PCs.  
  If the PCs do not hesitate, and instead immediately 
  rush to his aid, they may be able to save him (through 
  treatment), but they will likely be surrounded when 
  the enemy emerges to ambush them.
   Mid-Level Wastelord “Sergeant” (1):  HP 61, 
  currently at 0 (see Appendix 1).
   Wolf Seedlings (Transformed) (4):  HP 19 (x3), 
  and 7 (see Appendix 2).
   Mutant Shamblers (3):  HP 12 each (see 
  Appendix 2).
  Once the PCs defeat the Enemy, the sergeant 
  mutters a few words:
  “The bunker… just up ahead… be careful… 
  Enemy is just outside… Entropists are ﬁring at 
  everything…”
  The PCs can take the sergeant with them, or they can 
  leave him in the care of any NPCs they have brought 
  with them.
  N. COMMAND BUNKER (EL 6)
  After a long and torturous advance under heavy 
  artillery ﬁre, you ﬁnally see your objective 
  ahead—a large bunker made from solid concrete, 
  with ﬁring ports on all sides and surrounded by 
  a ring of trenches and barbed wire.  A tattered 
  Wastelord ﬂag ﬂies overhead, ripped and torn 
  from the days’ ﬁghting.
  As you approach, you spot a number of zombie-
  like shamblers converging on the bunker, lurching 
  forward on half-rotted limbs or dragging their 
  severed torsos through the mud with grasping 
  hands.  As they close in on the bunker, they are 
  cut down one by one by withering ﬁre from the 
  defenders inside the complex, but there seems to 
  be no end to the numbers of enemy.
  
  35
  When the party arrives, the bunker is under attack 
  by no less than ﬁfteen shamblers, all converging on 
  the command pillbox in an attempt to overwhelm the 
  Entropists inside.  When the PCs come into view, the 
  shamblers shift their attention away from the bunker 
  and move on the party instead.
  There are four Entropists inside the command 
  bunker manning the ﬁring ports and shooting at 
  anything and everything in sight.  They have held the 
  bunker for more than a day and believe that their main 
  forces have been completely overrun; thus they are 
  subject to the same paranoia as the Shellshocked Men 
  (see encounter J above).
   Mid-Level Entropists (4):  HP 11, 10, 10, 9, 8, 
  8 (see page 239 of Darwin’s World 2nd Edition).
   Mutant Shamblers (15):  HP 6 (x6), 5 (x2), and 
  3 (x7) (see Appendix 2).
  If and when the PCs manage to convince the 
  Entropists to stop ﬁring, the haggard defenders open 
  the door to the bunker and emerge:
  Once the last shamblers are killed, the sound of 
  exploding artillery shells fades as the men sealed 
  inside the bunker ﬁnally call off the barrage.
  The single pitted iron door to the bunker opens 
  with a labored clang.  From the dark doorway 
  emerge a half dozen men—Entropists, by the 
  looks of their white uniforms and shaved heads—
  all weary-eyed and brandishing their submachine 
  guns warily.
  When they see your faces, they seem 
  relieved.  Finally, one of Entropists, apparently 
  the commander of this part of the trench 
  fortiﬁcations, forces a grin onto his normally 
  humorless face.
  “Much obliged, gentlemen.  I do believe things 
  had gotten somewhat out of hand there for a 
  while.”
  By the time the PCs relieve the command staff at 
  the bunker, the rest of the Wastelord relief force has 
  managed to ﬁght back the Enemy and retake the 
  trench line in this area.  Its attack thwarted, the Enemy 
  gives up the assault and vanishes into the mists to the 
  east.
  The PCs, for their part, are rewarded with some 
  downtime in the rear area of the trenches.  A few hours 
  later, they are loaded back onto the trucks (along with 
  any other remnants of their platoon), and taken back 
  to the slave camp outside Shelter City.
  THE FIGHTS (EL 5)
  When the PCs return from the front lines, they ﬁnd 
  themselves with downtime in which to rest, train, and 
  re-equip.  If the PCs haven’t done so already, they can 
  use this time to visit Shelter City or interact with the 
  NPC personalities in the camp.
  Eventually, as the sun begins to set, the PCs are 
  drawn by the sounds of a commotion in camp:
  You arrive back at the camp outside Shelter City 
  under a torrent of rain.  After your ﬁrst day in 
  the ﬁeld, even the drab and miserable conditions 
  of the encampment seem welcome.  Already you 
  see other companies returning from the front, 
  gathering at the mess tent for hot food served 
  from open troughs by Wastelord guards.  Though 
  you wonder what exactly is being served, right 
  now anything sounds good.
  The camp is unusually rowdy today, the muddy 
  streets crowded with soldiers returning from 
  the day’s ﬁghting.  More abundant than usual, 
  however, are the numbers of Wastelord regulars 
  mingling among the slaves, and at the center 
  of the camp there appears to be some kind of 
  commotion.  You push your way through the 
  crowds, struggling to get a good view of what is 
  going on.
  At the heart of the camp, the Wastelords have 
  constructed a gladiatorial pit, and crowds are 
  gathering to watch a match.  However, this 
  doesn’t look like any ordinary pit game…
  In addition to dozens of soldiers (including 
  captured tribals, mercenaries, Entropists, and 
  even a few Amazons watching from a safe 
  distance), some Wastelord bigwig is apparently 
  here.  A woman, strikingly beautiful and clad in 
  inappropriate but eye-catching leather, sits in a 
  position of honor, watching the proceedings with 
  ﬁckle interest from behind a wall of well-armed 
  guards.
  Shortly, a man enters the pit to explain the 
  proceedings to the assembled crowds.  “Today 
  a platoon sergeant was badly injured, and his 
  place now stands vacant!  By Wastelord tradition, 
  any man can challenge to take his position and 
  command!”
  There is a roar from the crowd.  You watch as 
  groups of slaves begin arguing over who would 
  make the best candidate for their particular 
  faction.  You know that the position would 
  bring responsibilities, but also favor to the 
  victor’s faction.  It could also be the fast track to 
  becoming a trusted member of the Wastelords…
  A few brawny warriors step forward, shouting 
  for all to hear that they will ﬁght for the right to 
  lead.  The crowd cheers.
  Then another man steps forward.  He is not 
  armed, but his wiry body is covered in scars, the 
  signs of countless years ﬁghting as a tribal raider 
  across the mountains.
  “My faction will ﬁght for this right.  Our 
  champion will be… Skag!”
  The crowd cheers even louder.  The other 
  
  36
  warriors seem to reconsider, then one by one they 
  bow out.
  The last man standing merely smiles, conﬁdent 
  that an easy victory is assured.
  The PCs would be fools to miss this opportunity 
  to rise in rank—and improve their position in the 
  Wastelord army.  If the players don’t think of stepping 
  forward themselves, remind them that this could be an 
  opportunity to get in closer with Kyren and his “inner 
  circle.”
  Allow the player characters to choose one of their 
  number to represent the party in the match.  The rules 
  (explained to them by the announcer) are as follows:
  1.
  Only one contestant may ﬁght; no one may 
  help the contestant once he is in the pit.
  2.
  Mercy is for the weak; the match is to the 
  death.
  3.
  Contestants may only ﬁght with a melee 
  weapon (or unarmed); no ranged weapons are 
  allowed.
  4.
  Contestants may wear armor if they choose.
  Once the PCs choose their “champion,” it is time to 
  determine who will be the next sergeant!
  As the crowd roars with excitement, someone 
  lurches into the pit.  A muscular brute of a man, 
  hunched over with some genetic deformity, his 
  body covered in the telltale signs of past beatings 
  and torture, a life of slavery and servitude.  His 
  massive arms are bound by huge spiked bracers, 
  and dragging behind him is an enormous spiky 
  ﬂail that leaves a deep furrow in the ground.  It 
  must weigh ﬁfty pounds!
  If you have already played part one of this series, 
  Against the Wastelords, the PCs may recognize the 
  individual standing before them—it is Skag, the feral 
  pit ﬁghter they battled in the gladiatorial games of 
  Ebb prior to the war in the Trade Lands.  Captured 
  by the Wastelords when Ebb fell (see Against the 
  Wastelords), he was brought here and thrown in with 
  the rest of the Wastelords’ captured warriors to ﬁght in 
  Kyren’s war.  
  Skag has done remarkably well in the company of 
  the Wastelords; though he is little more than a dumb 
  slave to them, he has never really known any better 
  treatment, even before his captivity.  At least here, his 
  martial skills earn him privileges he has never before 
  known—including ready access to women.
  Skag’s skills were not lost on his fellow captives 
  either, and those who rival the PCs for leadership of 
  the platoon have elected him as their “champion.”
   Skag: hp 50 (see Appendix 1).
  The militants in the crowd roar with approval as 
  the warrior Skag stands tall, whirling the ﬂail 
  over his head.  With an ear-splitting bellow his 
  muscles tighten and he charges forward!
  If the PCs killed Skag in Against the Wastelords, 
  Against the Wastelords, replace him with a pit ﬁghter 
  of similar skill and ability.
  A WOMAN APPRECIATES STAMINA
  Whether or not the PC in question actually wins the 
  match, the party will have earned an admirer among 
  the crowds—the attractive “woman in leather”:
  As the match comes to an end and the crowd 
  continues to cheer, you are still coming down 
  from your adrenaline high when the woman in 
  black leather walks up to you.  The crowd parts 
  as she and her Wastelord entourage close in.
  The woman looks you and your companions 
  over before ﬁnally speaking.
  “You fought well, warrior.  Do you know who 
  I am?  My name is Lena, and I am the favored 
  consort of your master, Kyren.”
  She lets her words hang there for a moment 
  before speaking again.
  
  37
  “Men with your skills are wasted on the 
  frontlines.  You could be far more useful serving 
  my lord, Kyren, in a more “special” role.”
  Once more she looks you over, the twinkle in 
  her eye betraying more than just an appraising 
  stare.
  “Let me invite you to a party being held tonight 
  in Shelter City.  It is an ofﬁcial function—the 
  elections we hold once every few years to 
  determine if Kyren will continue as our leader.  
  He has only one rival this year.  It should be quite 
  entertaining.  Shall I expect you?”
  GM’s Note:  If you want to introduce one of the 
  NPCs described in The Camp (Telgar, Mara, Motak, 
  or Lord Hethris), you may have him/her also be 
  present watching the match.  If the PC wins, the NPC 
  will approach and offer his/her services.  Alternatively, 
  other NPCs from Shelter City may be present 
  watching the ﬁghts as well—perhaps one of the 
  “originals” is on an errand outside the subterranean 
  city.  This is an opportunity to not only role-play, but 
  also to introduce the player characters to information 
  about the Wastelords and the overall conditions of the 
  people under their rule.
  THE BIG PARTY
  That night, the PCs ﬁnd themselves in Shelter City—
  guests of “Lipstick” Lena, Kyren’s favored consort.  
  The characters have little trouble getting into the city 
  (any guards they encounter have been told to expect 
  them; besides, there are a lot of people in the city and 
  the PCs don’t exactly stand out), and soon arrive at the 
  height of the festivities.
  Even if you’ve been down in Shelter City before 
  tonight, you’ve never seen it like this before.  
  Tonight the underground city is packed.
  After having lived among the tribal people 
  of the Trade Lands, dwelling in their small 
  sun-baked trade communities, you ﬁnd this 
  overcrowded underground city bewildering and 
  disorienting.  There are more people here than 
  you can count, far more than in the Trade Lands, 
  all living in cramped conditions like troglodytes 
  in a dank stone cavern.  In the Trade Lands, 
  each day was a struggle for water or shade 
  from the unrelenting sun; here, underground, it 
  is uniformly cool and dark—and damp.  Water 
  seems to be everywhere here; dripping naturally 
  from cavern walls, ﬂowing from burst Ancient-era 
  plumbing pipes and collecting in tepid, murky 
  pools used by bathers and drinkers alike.
  It is remarkable how many people the 
  Wastelords manage to cram into their city, from 
  wretched slum-dwelling slaves to merchants 
  from the distant settlements of their “valley 
  empire.”  Some areas are tight and conﬁned like 
  a claustrophobe’s nightmare; others are huge, 
  wide-open caverns… but all are overseen by well-
  armed raider guards wielding automatic riﬂes 
  and festooned with tattoos that mark them as 
  members of the Wastelord elite.
  The beneﬁts of Kyren’s enlightened era of rule 
  are apparent in everything you see and hear.  The 
  marketplace, which occupies an entire cavern, is 
  overﬂowing with goods produced by the various 
  villages conquered by his army.  There is fresh 
  food available at all times, and an abundance 
  of water in even the poorest family’s hovel.  
  Obviously, the wisdom and fair hand of Kyren’s 
  rule has allowed the villages in his empire to 
  prosper, giving them a better life as a collection 
  of uniﬁed communities that they would ever have 
  known individually.
  And the wonders don’t end there.  Steady 
  illumination in the dark underground city is 
  provided by old bulbs and emergency lightning 
  scavenged from the ruins of the vault and brought 
  back to life by the Wastelords’ cadre of thinkers 
  and mechs.  There is even crude air conditioning 
  and recycling, which keeps the deepest recesses of 
  the city from becoming rank with the odor of men 
  and their unwashed animals.
  Like everyone else, you cannot help but 
  be impressed by the sight of this bustling 
  community… but after only a few days living 
  under their rule, you have already come to see 
  a darker side to the Wastelords.  You know that 
  the markets overﬂow only because they are fed 
  more by the Wastelords’ raids than by the meager 
  voluntary efforts of the people; the goods sold 
  here were bought in blood, wrenched from the 
  hands of oppressed people across the mountains.  
  Everyone speaks the same language here because 
  Kyren outlaws other tongues, because one 
  language is better for trade and civil unity—not 
  because the people want it.  A whipping or an 
  on-the-spot execution are the means by which the 
  Wastelords enforce their rules.
  That miraculous ﬂow of electricity does more 
  than illuminate subterranean caverns… it casts a 
  revealing light on Kyren’s brand of “civilization.”
  - - - -
  You slowly make your way towards the Pit, 
  where tonight’s events will be held.  The Pit is 
  a central communal area where the people of 
  the city meet with their rulers, on those rare 
  occasions that the lords of the city deign to 
  mingle with their subjects.  You move among the 
  packed masses, drawn to the commotion and 
  revelry as much by the promise of free beer and 
  hot food by the prospect of rising in the Wastelord 
  ranks.
  The Pit is overﬂowing with people by the time 
  you ﬁnd your places near a back wall, under the 
  reddish glow of an old emergency light.  Crowds 
  
  38
  of people dance chaotically to heavy metal 
  music blasting from a bank of speakers, their 
  wild movements resembling the worst scenes of 
  biblical Sodom.  For one night, and one night 
  only, it seems as if the class divisions so painfully 
  obvious (and brutally enforced) in Shelter City 
  have been forgotten.
  You are somewhat surprised when Kyren’s 
  woman, Lena, ﬁnds you among the party-goers.  
  As before, she is dressed to kill in form-ﬁtting 
  clothing that leaves little to the imagination.  A 
  broad grin sweeps across her face when she 
  senses your reaction.
  “I’m so glad you could make it.  I hope none 
  of the guards gave you any trouble?  Excellent.  
  You’ve arrived just in time to witness the results 
  of the election.”
  Lena turns to watch the central stage without 
  another word.  At the same time, the crowd parts 
  like a sea of rats before an exterminator.  Kyren, 
  followed by a pack of well-armed Wastelord 
  bodyguards, steps out onto a stage where all 
  present can see him.
  As the crowd cheers, Kyren throws his arms 
  into the air, holding a sawed-off shotgun in one 
  hand and clenching a ﬁst with the other.  The 
  music cuts off abruptly.  The steady sound of 
  whispers and murmurs from the onlookers is like 
  the buzz of a hornet’s nest.
  Another raider stumbles out from behind Kyren, 
  in chains and badly beaten.  You don’t recognize 
  him, but he must be one of Kyren’s less popular 
  rivals, for the entire crowd roars in disdain.
  Kyren kicks the man to his knees and, with a 
  single pull of the trigger, blows his head off.  A 
  shower of gore sprays out over the ﬁrst few ranks 
  of onlookers.
  Before the man’s body even hits the stage, the 
  entire assembly begins chanting “Kyren!  Kyren!  
  Kyren!”
  Apparently the “election” results are in.  Kyren 
  is still the leader of the gang.
  With a raise of Kyren’s hand, the music starts 
  once more, the headache-inducing rhythms 
  drowning out the sound of your departure.
  The characters have now had their ﬁrst real taste of 
  Kyren’s perverse version of “civilization” —order at 
  the cost of liberty, peace enforced by violence, and 
  free “elections” where competitors and rivals are 
  executed if they fail to win.
  The PCs can stay if they wish; soon Lena excuses 
  herself (to “congratulate” Kyren on his victory) and 
  the PCs are left to their own devices.
  A MERRY CHASE
  Eventually, the PCs will leave the Pit for the night.  
  When they do, allow each member of the group to 
  make a Spot check at DC 12.  If any of the checks are 
  successful, read the following:
  As you wander through the dimly lit underground 
  halls and away from the riotous noise of the 
  party at the Pit, you spot something strange in 
  the shadows up ahead.  Expecting to see some 
  drunk raider stumbling into an alcove to urinate 
  or vomit, instead you are surprised to see a dead 
  body, neatly dragged into the shadows of a small 
  niche just out of sight of the main corridor.
  Upon examination of the corpse, it is obvious 
  the body is that of a Wastelord guard; his hands 
  still grip a riﬂe, suggesting that he never even got 
  a shot off.  His throat has been cut, and the blood 
  ﬂows like water from the terrible wound.  It is 
  fresh, perhaps only a minute old…
  Any PCs present can attempt to ﬁnd the trail of the 
  guard’s killer by making either a Search or Survival 
  check at DC 11.  A single set of bootprints leads away 
  from the corpse, suggesting a solitary attacker.  If any 
  of the PCs have the Track feat and make a Survival 
  check (DC 11), they can track the bloody prints to 
  their ultimate destination.
  TRACKING
  The killer’s tracks lead east from the entrance to the 
  Marketplace, and then turn north past the stairs and 
  into the Slums.
  Once in the Slums, the tracking gets a bit 
  more difﬁcult; most inhabitants have gone to the 
  celebrations at the Pit, and those few left here are 
  almost all either drunk or asleep.  Only if they get 
  lucky (a roll of 1 on 1d6) will the PCs pass a semi-
  conscious person, and only if they vigorously question 
  him (Gather Information check, DC 12) will they get 
  a response.  When asked if someone passed this way 
  recently, the groggy raider/slave/bum merely points 
  north, towards the Vehicle Garages.
  If the PCs pass through the Slums and into the 
  Vehicle Garages, they ﬁnd only a dark vaulted cavern 
  where the dim silhouettes of cars and motorcycles 
  stand cold and asleep.  A Wastelord guard, casually 
  making his rounds, hails them.  If he is asked if 
  someone went by, he shrugs, saying he was doing his 
  rounds and didn’t see anything.
  Another Survival check (DC 11) allows the PCs to 
  ﬁnd the trail again.  It leads east along the southern 
  wall of the Vehicle Garages, as if whoever made them 
  was deliberately hiding in the shadows to avoid being 
  detected by the sentry.
  The trail goes all the way to the end of the Slum 
  block, where the killer seems to have headed back 
  south and into those crowded warrens.  Here the trail 
  goes cold.
  If the PCs head into the Slums here, they ﬁnd 
  
  39
  a place where whole buildings of corrugated iron 
  converge to make a maze of narrow alleys and 
  overhead walkways.  A few women wait up for 
  their husbands in the upper stories of a few of these 
  structures, and as the PCs go by they shut their 
  windows, not wanting to get into any trouble.  If 
  pressed, one admits to having seen someone pass by 
  just a few minutes ago (“the only thing I saw was a 
  crouched fella moving quietly down the alley here, 
  heading towards the Pit”).
  If the PCs head back towards the Pit they must pass 
  through the stairwell leading down to the subterranean 
  level of the City.  Here, in almost total darkness, 
  with the cheering and heavy metal music drowning 
  everything else out, they have a chance to hear 
  movement on the stairs below (Listen check, DC 15).
  THE DEEP LEVEL (EL 7)
  The killer dashed down the stone stairs to the Deep 
  Level of Shelter City; if the PCs make the Listen 
  check, they hear the sound of the killer’s boots on the 
  steps as he runs.
  If the PCs follow, read the following:
   
  As you descend, you hear shouting, followed by 
  the report of two or three automatic riﬂes.
  As you reach the bottom of the stairs, turn the 
  corner, and enter the guard area, you see three 
  Wastelord guards standing by a card table, M16s 
  at the ready.  When you emerge into the dim light 
  of their card game, the three men almost jump 
  out of their skins, spinning on their heels to train 
  their riﬂes in your direction.
  The three men are prepared to gun the PCs down 
  where they stand; it takes some time to talk them out 
  of their aggressive posture.
  If the PCs attempt to calm the guards, call for a 
  Diplomacy check (DC 12).  If the check fails, the 
  guards remain wary of them and demand that they 
  drop any weapons they are carrying and surrender (or 
  suffer the consequence, an immediate ﬁreﬁght; treat 
  the guards as three Low-level Wastelords A).  Even if 
  the PCs succeed at their diplomacy efforts, there is a 
  certain amount of delay, as the Wastelords only slowly 
  come to trust the PCs’ story:
  Success by 0 
  (total roll of 12)
  Three-round delay as the guards demand 
  an immediate explanation and discuss 
  amongst themselves whether or not PCs 
  are telling the truth
  Success by 1 
  (total roll of 13)
  Two-round delay as the guards demand 
  the PCs explain who they are and what 
  they are doing here
  Success by 2+ 
  (total roll of 
  14+)
  One-round delay as the guards realize 
  the PCs are chasing the killer that just 
  ran by
  If asked, the guards conﬁrm that someone just ran 
  by—they shot at him, but he darted off to the south 
  into the Abandoned Halls.  The Wastelord guards 
  tell the PCs to hold off on following him into that 
  dangerous area (see the area description for details on 
  the hazards there) while one of their number runs off 
  to alert Kyren.
  If the PCs wait, Kyren and an entourage of guards 
  leave the Pit immediately upon receiving the news and 
  arrive here in 2d6 rounds.  Upon his arrival, Kyren is 
  quickly ﬁlled in about what just happened; convinced 
  that the killer is in fact an infected Enemy, he orders 
  the PCs to go in after him…
  GM’s Note:  The number of rounds the PCs are 
  delayed in this confrontation is important, because 
  the killer (a seedling of the New World Order) makes 
  its way as deeply as possible into the Abandoned 
  Halls in an attempt to lose its pursuers; it moves at 
  its full movement rate each round until it is well out 
  of hearing range.  The seedling then attempts to hide 
  and remain out of sight, and to evade any pursuers.  If 
  successful, the seedling emerges later (perhaps days 
  later) and tries to inﬁltrate the Inﬁrmary to free its 
  imprisoned “comrade,” so that together they can cause 
  greater disruption in the City.
  If the PCs follow the seedling, however, it plays a 
  game of cat-and-mouse with them, trying to ambush 
  the party (focusing ﬁrst on PCs separated from the 
  rest of their party) whenever possible among the 
  old creaking tunnels.  Keep in mind that there is an 
  inherent danger in moving through these tunnels (see 
  the description of the Abandoned Halls for details).
  It will, of course, ﬁght to the death.
   Wastelord Seedling: hp 70 (see appendix 1).
  Much to everyone’s surprise, the seedling looks 
  and moves just like a Wastelord.  However, if the 
  PCs make a Spot check (DC 20) while ﬁghting the 
  creature, they notice that it has all-black eyes.
  The seedling-in-human-form was sent to Shelter 
  City to inﬁltrate the citadel and free its trapped 
  comrade (see below), and together they were to 
  contaminate the city’s water source.  If not stopped, 
  they were then to go on a suicidal spree—infecting 
  everyone they could before being found and 
  destroyed.
  AFTERMATH
  Once the seedling has been killed, read the following:
  As the seemingly human guard ﬁnally collapses 
  to the ground, you hear movement behind you.  
  You turn to see Kyren moving cautiously forward 
  with some of his men in tow.  When he sees the 
  corpse—ﬁnally dead after so many wounds—he 
  doesn’t even need to speak; his men produce a 
  can of gasoline, douse the corpse, and light it on 
  ﬁre in a well-practiced routine.
  Kyren turns to speak to you and seems 
  impressed by your actions.  “Good job,” he says 
  in a measured tone, as if re-assessing you.  “What 
  
  40
  are your names?  I’ll see to it you’re rewarded for 
  your actions.” 
  After a moment of looking you over, Lena 
  appears at Kyren’s side, apparently concerned 
  about his disappearance from the election party.  
  She seems surprised to see the spontaneous 
  cremation, but then she whispers in Kyren’s ear.
  Kyren nods.  “Ah yes, the janissaries from 
  the Trade Lands.  I knew you were different the 
  moment I laid eyes on you.  Hell, you killed some 
  good men and thwarted my plans—something 
  that few wastelanders can claim.  You’re not like 
  the others, those nameless rabble out there in 
  the rain.  You’re special.  And around here if you 
  have that special “something” it means you’re 
  going places.
  “How’d you like to get away from the frontlines 
  for a while?  Get away from the artillery and the 
  blood and all the dead?  I need a few men to do 
  some special jobs for me, and I think you guys 
  may be just what I’m looking for.
  “Tomorrow report to the vehicle pool instead 
  of your normal platoon.  There’s some trouble 
  brewing in Crestone, a small town north of here.  
  Whatever it is, the people are refusing to work, 
  and I can’t have that.  Crestone isn’t along the 
  front, so I don’t think the trouble is too serious, 
  but I want you to check it out just in case.  I’m 
  giving you a transport truck for your party and 
  equipment, and an escort of, say, two of my best 
  men.  They’ll take care of the driving.  You take 
  care of the problem.”
  JOURNEY TO CRESTONE
  The morning after the attempted inﬁltration, the PCs 
  are met at the vehicle pool of Shelter City by an escort 
  of two Low-level Wastelords A and an old military 
  transport truck (treat this as a moving truck).  The 
  truck will prove useful in providing transport—and 
  protection—in the desert.
  CRESTONE
  The tiny town of Crestone lies right smack dab in the 
  middle of the wastes, far from the old highways of 
  the San Luis Valley.  The Sangre de Cristo Mountains 
  rise like an impenetrable wall to the east, framing the 
  low dust-caked buildings of the town with the color of 
  their rocky peaks and snow-frosted mountaintops.
  Crestone has been inhabited by primitive tribal 
  folk since before the Shelter City vault opened years 
  ago.  Now the Wastelords use those people to mine 
  the town’s one and only important resource—its old 
  gravel pits.
  The Wastelords have set up a small gravel mining 
  operation here, part of a vital plan to help repair roads 
  and villages damaged or destroyed in the war against 
  the Enemy.  The mine is little more than an open 
  pit, but it employs every single native seven days a 
  week.  Though the locals would once have chafed 
  under the rule of the brutal Wastelords, they have 
  fared relatively well as a direct result of the gravel 
  pit’s importance to the Wastelord empire (and the 
  kidnapping and holding hostage of their tribal chief 
  in far away Shelter City has convinced them that 
  resistance is unwise).
  INHABITANTS
  Crestone is inhabited by just under 50 people (a 
  mix of men, women, and children), who—due 
  to the precarious position in which they ﬁnd 
  themselves—are trusted to govern themselves.  There 
  is no Wastelord garrison in town, though a tribal 
  representative keeps a two-way radio in his hut 
  allowing him to communicate with Shelter City in 
  case of emergency.
  GETTING THERE
  Though Crestone is far off the beaten path, the journey 
  there proves relatively eventless.  The trail to the small 
  desert town is a single-lane back road from the time 
  of the Ancients; the Sangre de Cristo Mountains loom 
  into the eastern sky like a wall separating the valley 
  from the civilized lands beyond.
  Within a few hours of turning off of Highway 17, 
  the truck enters the outskirts of what appears to be a 
  small, nearly deserted town:
  As the truck pulls into the rain-soaked town, you 
  sense a palpable tension in the air.  The only signs 
  of life are a few lingering faces peering from 
  the ﬁlthy, cracked panes of old windows in the 
  village’s scant remaining buildings.  Miserable 
  villagers, their faces masks of indifference, stare 
  out as if trying to determine whether you are 
  friends or foes.
  As you dismount from the truck, a thin, deeply 
  tanned man of indeterminate years emerges from 
  a nearby hut with a spear held warily in hand.
  Keeping a safe distance from you, the man 
  speaks:
  “We have told you before—we cannot pay 
  tribute this month!  Go back to your Wastelord 
  masters and tell them there is nothing left!”
  If the PCs approach the old man, he is wary of them 
  but will speak (he has no other option at this point).  
  He introduces himself as Karn, elected by the village 
  to be their liaison to the Wastelords.
  Though his is an unenviable job, Karn takes 
  his duties seriously, knowing that he is the only 
  instrument his people have to deal with their 
  overlords; tact, diplomacy, and the ability to swallow 
  one’s pride in the face of insults are vital to his 
  people’s survival.
  
  41
  If the PCs ask Karn what he is talking about, or tell 
  him they’ve come here for other reasons, he suddenly 
  realizes that the PCs aren’t, in fact, Wastelords.  This 
  realization bring about a totally different attitude in 
  him (he expects the Wastelords to make an example 
  of him to show the villagers their masters mean 
  business); conﬁdent that the PCs are not Wastelords, 
  he is more than willing to discuss further the problems 
  his village faces.
  “Did not your masters tell you?  Ah, I see.  
  Perhaps you have saved me from becoming an 
  example for my people.  You see, my village has 
  been unable to meet the Wastelords’ production 
  quota this month.”
  Seeing the confusion on your faces, the man 
  grins, revealing a full set of peg-like yellow teeth.
  “Our village mines stone so the Wastelords can 
  rebuild the towns and villages that are burned 
  in the war.  We are expected to mine one ton of 
  material each month—no less.  But this month, 
  the workers… the workers have been afraid to 
  enter the mines.  But our masters, they do not 
  listen.  A ton of rock is a ton of rock to them… 
  whether or not it is stained with the blood of our 
  people.”
  Karn explains that three weeks ago, a small dog—a 
  favorite pet of the village children—went missing.  
  Then, just two weeks ago, a pair of young girls, 
  neither older than six, went into the old water tunnels 
  beneath the village to pursue a ball that one had lost 
  while playing.  Hearing a strange shufﬂing sound, 
  the girls believed they had found the dog—only to 
  encounter something terrible in the old tunnels.
  Karn explains that only one of the girls came out, 
  panicked and pale as a ghost.  She was covered in 
  blood—not her own, but (according to the child) that 
  of her friend.  The elders (Karn included) attempted 
  to glean more information from her, but she was 
  hysterical.
  “A few days passed, and the people were afraid 
  to mine.  There are many holes around here where 
  the creature—whatever it is—could come out and 
  snatch any one of us away.  The people are afraid 
  to leave their children unattended.  The people 
  are afraid to work.”
  Obviously Karn and the people of Crestone have a 
  serious problem.  It should be blatantly obvious to 
  the PCs, however, that the Wastelords are completely 
  unsympathetic towards the villagers’ problem with 
  the “creature;”  because the Wastelords won’t help, a 
  solution to the villagers’ problem rests solely in the 
  PCs hands.
  It’s up to the PCs to decide whether or not to offer 
  their help, but if they do not, the Wastelords will send 
  a patrol in the next few days to “make an example” 
  of Karn.  They will then leave, returning two or three 
  days later to see if the people have met their quota—
  before ﬁnding someone of whom to make another 
  example.
  If the PCs offer to help, Karn merely nods and 
  motions for them to follow him.
  The old man leads you away from the muddy 
  roadway to a hut down a nearby alley.  Pulling 
  back the dried leather of an old hide that serves 
  as its only door, he reveals inside a small home.
  A worried-looking woman, perhaps 20 years 
  of age at most, turns suddenly with eyes wide, 
  expecting to see angry Wastelord henchmen 
  intruding into her home.  Karn raises a hand as if 
  to say everything is okay, which seems to sufﬁce.
  Playing on the ﬂoor is a small girl, her hair 
  braided in two long tails.  She stops singing 
  her innocent children’s song when she realizes 
  someone has come to see her.
  “This is Yai,” Karn says, “She is the one who 
  survived.  Yai, tell these warriors what it is you 
  saw.”
  The girl looks to her mother, who reassures her 
  with a nod.
  “We went playing… Amee and me… and her 
  ball fell into the ground.  There was a hole.  Amee 
  went down and so did I.”  For a moment the girl 
  seems distracted, cradling a battered, colored 
  ball in her small hands.  Staring at the ball seems 
  to trigger memories that her family has worked 
  hard to bury.
  “It smelled terrible down there, like dead 
  things.  I coughed up, but Amee said she saw 
  something.  She went to look, and I followed.  
  It was awful dark, and the ground seemed to 
  crumble underfoot.  Then, all of a sudden, we 
  heard a… sound.”
  “What did it sound like?” prods Karn in the 
  soothing voice of a kindly grandfather.
  “Like a puppy crying.  So I said to Amee, 
  maybe that was the puppy.  Y’know, the one that 
  ran away.  We thought it might be him.  Maybe he 
  was hurt.  Maybe he was hungry.
  “Then, when we got closer, it moved.  It wasn’t 
  a puppy.  It was bigger.  Much bigger.  It was 
  scary.  And it ate Amee right up in its big old 
  mouth.  I ran away.”
  The little girl, eyes wide, goes back to bouncing 
  her ball, oblivious to the looks of horror on the 
  faces of her mother and grandfather.
  Karn and his daughter allow the PCs to ask Yai 
  questions.  If asked about the beast, Yai describes it 
  as “big and pink,” like “someone without clothes on.”  
  It smelled terrible, she says (wrinkling her nose in 
  disgust), and was “all sticky with goo.”  Beyond that, 
  however, she cannot produce any further details about 
  
  42
  the creature.
  If the group asks how she got away, Yai says she 
  ran as fast as she could.  She couldn’t get back up the 
  hole they came through, so she headed towards a light 
  down one of the tunnels.  When she reached the light, 
  she emerged in the gravel quarry.
  The creature pursued her when she began to run, 
  but apparently it stopped chasing her as she reached 
  daylight…
  If asked, Yai can indicate the hole she that she and 
  Amee used to enter the tunnels, as well as the exit she 
  used to escape (see map).
  KEY TO CRESTONE TUNNELS
  TUNNEL ENTRANCE
  Just a few dozen paces from the edge of the 
  village, well within sight of the huts, a seemingly 
  innocuous pothole from the recent rains seems to 
  have turned into a small sinkhole.
  Nothing but pitch darkness is visible inside 
  the hole, but the sound of dripping water issues 
  forth from within.  An awful stench, perhaps 
  worse than anything you’ve ever smelled, assaults 
  your nostrils, making everyone present wince in 
  disgust.
  This is the hole the two girls went through to reach 
  the old water tunnels.  It is just large enough for one 
  character at a time to descend (requiring an Escape 
  Artist check at DC 12 to pass through).  Due to the 
  collection of debris at the bottom, the drop is only ﬁve 
  feet and incurs no damage.
  The PCs can enter the tunnels here, or through the 
  Quarry Entrance (see below).
  QUARRY ENTRANCE
  Here, in the muck of the shallow gravel quarry, 
  work tools (shovels, picks, and hammers) lie in 
  disorganized piles, abandoned when the workers 
  ﬂed in the wake of the girl’s horrifying story.  One 
  of only several holes in the area, this one seems 
  large enough for men to pass through.
  As you approach the crumbling entrance, you 
  are assailed by a monstrous smell that almost 
  sends you toppling down to the quarry’s rubble-
  strewn bottom.
  The “monstrous smell” is the lingering stench of the 
  slime mole (see below).  Because it has retreated deep 
  into its underground lair, however, there is no need to 
  check for nausea.
  The PCs can enter through this entrance, or through 
  the Tunnel Entrance (see above).
  SLIME
  The stone here seems to literally gleam in the dim 
  light; there is an unsavory collection of moisture 
  on the walls on either side of the passage.  The 
  smell here seems stronger than before; as you 
  watch, the moisture oozes down the wall and 
  sloughs off in long strands of grotesque slime.
  These areas mark places through which the slime 
  mole has recently passed, leaving a trail of slime on 
  the ground and along the tight tunnel walls.  The slime 
  itself is harmless.
  WEAKENED TUNNEL (EL 1)
  Your passage here seems to set in motion a 
  dangerous crumbling of the earth above.  The 
  ancient stones shudder momentarily, causing dust 
  to drift down in telltale puffs, but the curved roof 
  of the tunnel seems to hold.  As the dust settles, 
  beams of murky light from the cloudy sky above 
  pierce through cracks and tiny openings in the 
  weakened tunnel roof, weakly illuminating the 
  murky darkness of the tunnel.
  Areas indicated on the map as being weakened have 
  fared far worse than the rest of the tunnel system.  
  Any creature Small-size or larger moving through 
  such an area has a chance of causing a collapse, which 
  results in a cave-in of the weakened ceiling.
  Size
  Chance of causing collapse
  Small
  10%
  Medium
  25%
  Large
  50%
  Huge* 
  75%
  * Nothing larger than Huge can ﬁt in the tunnels.
  This chance decreases by 25% if the creature in 
  question takes a full round action to move cautiously 
  through the weakened area.
  Any creature causing a collapse suffers 1d6 points 
  of damage from falling stone (Reﬂex save at DC 20 
  for no damage).  A collapse does not seal the passage 
  in question, nor does it trap the creature that triggered 
  it, though the creature is knocked prone.  It does, 
  however, cause natural light to reach down into the 
  tunnel system (assuming it is daytime)…
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs are aware of the weakness 
  of the slime mole (speciﬁcally, its vulnerability to 
  natural light) they may use these weakened areas to 
  their advantage.  For every patch of natural light that 
  the slime mole must pass through while pursuing the 
  PCs, it suffers 5 points of damage.  Therefore, leading 
  the slime mole through as many weakened areas as 
  possible will improve their chances of killing it when 
  
  43
  they can no longer run.
  If the PCs think of this strategy, they can 
  deliberately cave in these areas ahead of time.  Doing 
  so will save them from suffering damage from a 
  collapse during their encounter with the slime mole 
  (and will also save them the unpleasant experience of 
  getting knocked down while being chased).
  Each weakened section the PCs successfully bypass 
  should be considered a CR 1 trap.
  FLOODED AREA
  At this point, the darkness of the tunnel grows 
  appreciably deeper, the last remnants of light 
  giving way to an inky blackness that can only be 
  the beginnings of a body of subterranean water.  
  The water isn’t still, but rocks with a lullaby 
  motion, now and again churning up thick strands 
  of greenish ooze that bubble and sink back down 
  into the blackness before your eyes.
  The sound of dripping water echoes off into 
  the depths.  Wherever the ﬁlthy water reaches 
  dry ground there seems to be an unusual 
  accumulation of the slimy stuff, like foam on the 
  breakers of waves.  The pervasive stench of rot is 
  gut-wrenching.
  The water here is not deep; it begins less than half an 
  inch deep, and at its deepest point (at the area marked 
  by the red dot on the map) is only four feet deep.  
  Characters entering the water ﬁnd it quite awful-
  smelling, but it is neither too cold nor too ﬁlthy to 
  wade through.
  STENCH
  The stench becomes almost overwhelming, 
  causing everyone in the group to choke.  It is a 
  noxious blend of dead ﬂesh, spoiled milk, sewage, 
  and unimaginable ﬁlth.  With knees weak from 
  nausea, you ponder whether to continue.
  The red circle on the map indicates the 50 ft. radius 
  of the slime mole’s stench.  When the PCs reach this 
  radius, they must each succeed at a Fortitude save 
  (DC 16) or receive a -2 morale penalty on all attack 
  rolls, weapon damage rolls, ability checks, skill 
  checks, and saving throws for the next 10 rounds.
  If the PCs have ever dealt with a slime mole before, 
  the stench is immediately recognizable.
  GM’s Note:  Any loud vomiting or other noises 
  attracts the attention of the slime mole (see below); 
  it can see out to 60 feet with its darkvision (up to the 
  extent of its stench effect, and 10 feet beyond).
  SLIME MOLE (EL 7)
  The location marked on the map by the red dot is 
  where the slime mole usually resides, immersing 
  
  44
  itself as much as it can in the water.  What the PCs 
  experience, when they arrive, depends on whether or 
  not the slime mole detected their approach.
  If the slime mole failed to detect them, read the 
  following:
  The water swishes with each movement of your 
  limbs.  Each step is a struggle as you press on 
  through the thick, slimy pool.
  Up ahead, the monotonous drum of water 
  droplets on the surface of the waterway 
  is broken by a chilling, inhuman noise.  It 
  sounds like a sick, tormented animal, almost 
  pitiful—like a beast cruelly treated by wicked 
  masters and left to die by starvation.  Its whines 
  are deep but garbled, as if produced by some 
  half-formed mouth of tremendous size and shape.
  If the slime mole was warned beforehand, however, 
  it will have submerged under the water in preparation 
  for an attack.  If this is the case, read the following:
  The water here seems to get deeper and deeper, 
  until before long you are chest-deep in water.  
  Ribbons of semi-congealed slime ﬂoat past in 
  the dark waters, as if following some unseen 
  current.  Or, perhaps, kicked up by the movement 
  of something beneath the surface…
  In any event, when the PCs arrive at the intersection, 
  the slime mole moves immediately to defend its lair.  
  If it hasn’t been warned of the PCs’ presence in the 
  tunnels, roll for initiative normally.  If it has been 
  warned, however, it is hiding (roll against the PCs’ 
  Spot checks, using its Hide bonus of +4) beneath the 
  water, waiting to attack from surprise.
   Slime Mole (1):  hp 103 (see page 315 of 
  Darwin’s World 2nd Edition or Appendix 2).
  The slime mole attacks viciously (as any pained, 
  starving animal usually will), and will pursue 
  potential prey out of the ﬂooded area and into the 
  tunnels.  Having outgrown its ability to feed itself (a 
  steady diet of rats doesn’t cut it), the slime mole will 
  single-mindedly chase the PCs for a decent meal.  
  This means it will risk exposure to the light of the 
  surface world (from weakened sections of tunnel) 
  to get its quarry, and will stay to ﬁght even against 
  overwhelming odds.  It will not, however, ﬂee out 
  into the open (outside of the tunnel system), since that 
  would be certain death.
  DRY AREA
  The waters diminish here, revealing something of 
  a beach.  Bones, bits of ragged cloth, and other 
  detritus left over from the creature’s feedings lie 
  scattered about.  Thick strands of ooze connect 
  these like some miasma of disgorged ﬁlth.
  This area is where the slime mole “passes” digested 
  materials.
  Treasure:  PCs willing to search through the refuse 
  ﬁnd the remains of a partially digested puppy, a 
  child’s ball stitched from leather, the bones of a little 
  girl (Amee), more than a dozen broken beer bottles, 
  and three chemical light sticks.
  AFTERMATH
  If the PCs withdraw in the face of the challenge the 
  slime mole presents, their Wastelord escorts will take 
  them back to Shelter City to report and recover.  The 
  villagers, broken-hearted by their inability to kill 
  the creature, prepare for the worst (the inevitable 
  Wastelord reprisal).  The events of any future 
  confrontation are up to the GM—but it’s unlikely the 
  locals come out with the upper hand.
  If the PCs killed the creature, the villagers have 
  much cause to be thankful.  They offer the PCs beer 
  (Karn has a few old bottles stashed away) to celebrate 
  the death of the beast.  Though this is a small reward, 
  and the lives of the villagers have only improved by 
  a tiny measure, it is enough to make them happy for 
  a long time to come.  More importantly, however, it 
  gives the PCs a chance to learn about Crestone and 
  the fate of its chief (see Shelter City for details), and 
  possibly provides the impetus for the PCs to negotiate 
  a release of the chief from Kyren in the future.
  When the PCs return to Shelter City, Kyren 
  authorizes them to replenish their ammunition, free 
  FIGHTING THE SLIME MOLE 
  Killing the slime mole, while difﬁcult, will go a long way in improving relations between the Wastelords 
  and their subjects in Crestone; though this is probably not the PCs’ primary concern!
  Still, killing the creature will prevent future deaths at its hands—and at the hands of the Wastelords, 
  who would no doubt punish the people for failing to meet their production quotas (which will continue to 
  happen so long as the creature lives).
  In addition to these positive repercussions, there is a more immediate reward for killing the slime mole: 
  experience points.  It is important that the PCs be of adequate level before facing the later dangers of 
  the New World Order, and each and every challenge they overcome along the way is vital to their future 
  survival.
  
  45
  of charge, from the Wastelord armory.  He also 
  reimburses the PCs for any meds they used (up to 
  one stimshot A or a single dose of superegen per PC 
  if they can prove they used some of their own stock 
  of medicine on the mission).  This is not only to show 
  them his gratitude, but to reinforce in everyone’s 
  minds that those who serve him faithfully are 
  rewarded.
  He then tells the PCs to get a good night’s sleep—
  he has another mission for them tomorrow that will 
  take them to the vicinity of the frontier town of 
  Mosca.
  COOL RECEPTION
  Sometime between their return to Shelter City and 
  their departure for Mosca, the characters have an 
  encounter with an interesting local ﬁgure…
  You’re walking through camp when all of a 
  sudden a group of Wastelord guards bearing 
  automatic riﬂes come out of nowhere and 
  surround you, blocking your path.
  A tall, muscular man walks up; the others 
  instinctively shy away from him.  This new 
  arrival stands a full six feet tall, broad at the 
  shoulders like a man who has trained his entire 
  life for war.  His skin is deeply tanned and his 
  head is topped by sun-bleached blond hair, short 
  enough to reveal a number of deep scars on his 
  otherwise striking face.  His blue eyes are utterly 
  penetrating.
  “You gentlemen seem to have Kyren’s favor 
  these days,” the man says, “or at least his 
  mistress Lena’s… I saw you at the party last 
  night; perhaps you saw me?  No?  Yes, well, I 
  usually remain out of sight, in the shadows, as 
  it were.  My name is Qwan, Kyren’s second-in-
  command.”
  He crosses his arms and looks at each of you 
  one by one, letting the subtle insinuation of power 
  (and blackmail, if the PCs have pursued Lena) 
  hang unspoken in the air.
  “But I’m not one to threaten.  So instead, let 
  me give you a little advice.  As Kyren’s second, 
  I cannot afford to allow anyone—outsiders or 
  Wastelord citizens—to compromise my place as 
  his successor.  Kyren thinks you are achievers.  
  He loves achievers.  And he often rewards 
  achievers with rank.
  “I suggest a mutually beneﬁcial arrangement.  
  Do what Kyren asks, be his little errand boys.  
  For now.  After you’ve done a few jobs, ask for a 
  transfer away from Shelter City.  I’ll make sure 
  you’re assigned somewhere far from the front, 
  far from the ﬁghting—maybe even guarding the 
  harems.  What do you say?”
  He forces a grin, but the attempt does nothing 
  to dispel the effect of his icy stare.
  “Think about it.  But whatever you decide… I 
  strongly suggest you say yes.”
  With that, he and his men depart, leaving the PCs to 
  ponder how far Qwan is willing to take this threat.
  SIGHTING NEAR MOSCA
  The next day, the PCs are summoned to the command 
  tent of the encampment outside Shelter City.  Here 
  they are met by a senior battalion commander, who 
  has been briefed by Kyren on the party’s new role as 
  his “special forces.”
  You are met at the tent entrance by the battalion 
  commander, a grim-faced man of considerable 
  age who appears to have seen more than his fair 
  share of battles in the Wastelord army.
  “Kyren has another mission for you men.  I’m 
  surprised he’s chosen you over regular Wastelord 
  troops, but then again I suppose the nature of 
  some of these missions might require a little… 
  subtlety.
  “Anyway, here is the situation.”  He points to 
  a map on the table, indicating the town of Mosca, 
  just a few miles from the trenches.
  “This is Mosca.  It’s one of the major food-
  growing areas in the valley, even with the war.  
  Just two days ago, a few laborers there claimed to 
  have seen ‘something’ moving through the desert 
  near town.  They feared it might be the Enemy 
  operating behind friendly lines, and so alerted 
  the town guard.  Kyren thinks the sighting is more 
  than just a coincidence.  He wants someone to go 
  and check it out.
  “Get your gear and head out immediately.  
  Find out if there is anything behind the sighting, 
  and if so, deal with whatever it is.  Report to me 
  when you’re done.  Good luck.”
  MOSCA
  Mosca was once an important agricultural center 
  for the valley, despite its location in the middle of 
  a desert.  Water shipped in from Moffat was used 
  to irrigate the land here, where a signiﬁcant crop 
  was farmed and harvested by both local and foreign 
  labor.  Though the landscape is badly scarred from 
  past incursions by the Enemy, the people of Mosca 
  still manage to produce a signiﬁcant portion of the 
  Wastelords’ domestically-grown agriculture.
  Mosca itself is a rather nondescript settlement 
  composed of old Ancient-era buildings, cross-streets, 
  and a palisade of junk salvaged from the wastes 
  (concrete highway dividers, compacted auto wrecks, 
  barbed wire, etc.).  Because of the war, the civilian 
  population has been evacuated from the ruins and now 
  lives in long barrack-style housing centrally located 
  near the heart of the old pre-Fall town.  The Wastelord 
  garrison patrols this part of town regularly, operating 
  from an old 1950s-era movie theater near downtown.
  
  46
  In response to concerns about worker morale, 
  Kyren dedicated some resources to reviving the 
  old theater, playing movies from old reels for the 
  entertainment of Mosca’s civilian workforce.  Every 
  Friday and Saturday night around dusk, the workers 
  are rounded up and packed into the rotting theater 
  annex to watch ﬁlms such as Casablanca, Bambi, and 
  grainy newsreels from the 1940s and 50s.  The effort 
  has paid off; Mosca’s production of edible crops for 
  consumption by other settlements (including Shelter 
  City) have increased 150% since the theater was put 
  back in operation.
  INHABITANTS
  Mosca’s population consists of roughly 300 people, 
  most of whom were at one time inhabitants of other 
  lands but who were brought here against their will to 
  serve as slave labor for the Wastelords.  A few locals 
  were once original inhabitants of Shelter City whose 
  unwillingness to bow to Kyren resulted in their being 
  forced into slavery.
  The Wastelords garrison the theater with 10 
  Low-level Wastelords A, with another three Mid-
  level Wastelords and a single High-level Wastelord 
  (Marzan) as garrison commander.  In addition, a 
  detail of soldiers regularly oversees the workers; by 
  day in the ﬁelds, at night by patrolling the barrack 
  houses while the workers sleep.  This detail includes 
  another 10 Low-level Wastelords A and four Mid-level 
  Wastelords.
  Finally, Mosca’s commander has four Low-level 
  Wastelords A at his disposal whom he dispatches on 
  motorcycles to patrol the settlement’s outskirts and 
  the highways near town.  These men are charged with 
  keeping an eye out for anything strange (ﬁres in the 
  ﬁelds, escaped slaves, or the rare Wastelord truck 
  convoy that has broken down and needs assistance).
  GETTING THERE
  Though the PCs ride in a rickety military-style truck 
  as old as the Ancients themselves, the road to Mosca 
  is in remarkably good condition, expediting their 
  journey immensely.  As they arrive at Mosca, they 
  form their ﬁrst impression of the town:
  From a distance, the town of Mosca seems much 
  larger and more imposing than other settlements 
  you’ve seen in the Wastelord homeland; ﬂanked 
  by rugged cropland on one side (the fruits of 
  which were no doubt wrested from the war-torn 
  wasteland by slave labor), and wide open plains 
  on the other, the town sits like a frontier outpost 
  along the wind-swept nakedness of a pre-Fall 
  asphalt highway.
  Tired, malnourished workers in the ﬁelds 
  look in your direction; an equal distribution of 
  otherwise healthy men, women, and children, 
  young and old, tending to their masters’ crop.  
  They don’t seem surprised or alarmed by your 
  arrival, but instead of approaching to speak, 
  they merely watch you roll down the road with 
  expressionless faces.
  Further along the road, the gateway in the wall 
  of junk surrounding Mosca stands open, a few 
  Wastelord sentries stationed on the walls.  The 
  truck comes to a grinding halt, and a few armed 
  ﬁgures come forward to greet your party.
  “Greetings,” says the oldest, his tired face 
  lined with scars from long-ago battles.  He 
  extends a bony hand and salutes like an old-
  fashioned soldier, revealing Maori-like tattoos up 
  and down his arms.
  “I am Marzan, Wastelord administrator of 
  this town.  We received word by radio that your 
  group was coming to solve our little “problem.”  
  Consider the people and garrison of Mosca at 
  your disposal.”
  By the looks of respect given him by his men as well 
  as by the local garrison, it is obvious that Marzan is 
  a man who has earned the trust and conﬁdence of the 
  townsfolk through his years of bravery and, recently, 
  his level hand as an administrator.  Because he is 
  still a Wastelord (with a long history of raids and 
  campaigns under Kyren), the PCs may instinctively 
  distrust him, but they soon learn that Marzan is 
  nothing like the wild raider of his youth; he is now a 
  calm and responsible elder.
  Regardless of how they feel about him, Marzan 
  is prepared to follow Kyren’s instructions and give 
  the PCs whatever aid they need to solve Mosca’s 
  problem—including ﬁlling them in on what has 
  happened recently:
  Just a few days ago, a group of women and small 
  children working the ﬁelds on the outskirts of town 
  reported seeing a mysterious ﬁgure moving along 
  the horizon.  According to the women, the ﬁgure was 
  just barely visible in the late afternoon fog.  Worried 
  that the “creature” might be somehow related to 
  the Enemy, the women reported the sighting to the 
  Wastelord garrison.  To be safe, Marzan ordered 
  his workers to remain within sight of the walls of 
  Mosca for the time being, until a party could be sent 
  from Shelter City to investigate and deal with this 
  enigmatic threat.
  Marzan tells the PCs that he and his men are at their 
  disposal, but has no other concrete information to 
  offer.  Because the possibility of an Enemy presence 
  here is obviously a serious matter, Marzan will not get 
  in the PCs’ way while they conduct their investigation.
  INFORMATION GATHERING
  Because locals know the PCs operate under the 
  authority of Kyren (word travels fast), the PCs will 
  not be harassed or denied any information while 
  in Mosca.  The locals, somewhat afraid of the PCs 
  
  47
  because they have Kyren’s favor, generally remain 
  silent and unseen unless spoken to or called out; but if 
  asked, they provide honest and accurate answers for 
  fear of being punished (even if the PCs come off as 
  friendly and benevolent, the locals still fear reprisals 
  by their Wastelord overseers once the PCs leave 
  Mosca).  As such, PCs receive a +2 circumstance 
  bonus to all Gather Information checks while in town.
  With a successful Gather Information check (DC 
  13), the PCs can easily ﬁnd and interview the women 
  and children who saw the creature in the ﬁelds in the 
  ﬁrst place.  The women and children convey very little 
  information short of being able to say the creature 
  was obscured by the fog, and that it moved from the 
  northeast to the southeast, never actually coming near 
  town, before disappearing.
  If speciﬁcally asked if they saw anything else 
  unusual, the women remember a “gleam of metal” 
  but little else.  They can, however, take the PCs to the 
  eastern ﬁeld where they saw the creature, and from 
  there the PCs can attempt to ﬁnd its trail.
  TRACKING THE INTERLOPER
  PCs searching east of town may ﬁnd the tracks of 
  the creature if they succeed at a Survival check (DC 
  13).  The search takes 1d4 hours, but upon success 
  they locate what appear to be hoofed tracks moving 
  towards the southeast, parallel to the town.  From this 
  distance, Mosca is barely visible in the haze to the 
  west.
  Since the DC of the Survival check is over 10, only 
  PCs with the Track feat can actually locate and follow 
  the trail.  However, even if the PCs lack this feat, they 
  may try to locate a competent tracker from among the 
  population of Mosca.  There is a 1 in 10 chance that 
  one of the locals has the Track feat; a 1 in 8 chance if 
  the PCs ask among the Wastelord garrison.  If the PCs 
  tell Marzan about this need, he orders the worker (or 
  Wastelord guard) to do as the PCs say and to serve as 
  their tracker until the creature is found and dealt with.
  The trail goes on for ﬁve meandering miles to the 
  southeast, requiring ﬁve consecutive Survival checks 
  (all at DC 13); any failure means the trail is lost.  The 
  tracker may attempt to pick the trail up again only 
  after 1 hour has passed.
  DON QUIXOTE OF THE DESERT (EL 3)
  Once the trail is located, the party’s Wastelord escorts 
  insist on accompanying them (they are under orders to 
  guard the PCs) by truck.  They argue that the party can 
  cover greater distances if they travel by truck, and will 
  only catch up with their quarry if they put the “pedal 
  to the metal.”
  After ﬁve miles (and ﬁve successful Survival 
  checks), the PCs arrive at the campsite of the creature:
  In the distance ahead you see a strange sight; in 
  fact, it seems so out of place here in the war-torn 
  wasteland that at ﬁrst you rub your eyes to make 
  sure it isn’t some kind of mirage.
  Sitting there in a broad sandy depression is a 
  tent-like pavilion, with a colorful violet banner 
  overhead ﬂapping crisply in the cold morning 
  wind.  A horse with a saddle blanket stands 
  quietly nearby, watching you approach with total 
  disinterest.
  A man sits on a mat under the protective shade 
  of the pavilion, out of the light drizzle that has 
  already begun to fall.  As you approach he calls 
  out:
  “Hold there!  Let a fellow warrior don his 
  armor and then we shall talk!”
  If the PCs attack him, the man (“Sir Goodyear”) is 
  surprised—he is expecting to parlay—but will defend 
  himself appropriately.  See below for his statistics; 
  generally speaking, on his ﬁrst action he will run into 
  his tent to retrieve his weapon and then return to kill 
  the PCs.  Since they are unwilling to ﬁght “fairly” 
  (that is, let him ﬁrst don his armor), he assumes the 
  PCs are dishonorable raiders worthy of death.
  If the PCs are the least bit curious (which is likely), 
  and allow the man to don his armor as requested, read 
  the following:
  The man returns to his pavilion and emerges 
  almost ten minutes later clad in gleaming plate 
  armor like a knight of the ancient past.  And 
  like some prehistoric chevalier he carries a 
  “lance”—in this case, an assault riﬂe decorated 
  with violet pennants—which he slings at his side 
  as he mounts his horse.
  Before you can ask what his purpose here is, or 
  if he has seen the creature you’ve been stalking, 
  the man cuts you short.  He speaks loud and 
  proudly, as if he was expecting the coming speech 
  to knock you ﬂat.
  “I am Sir Goodyear… I come from the 
  Ultraviolet Empire, a great kingdom over the 
  mountains and far to the north.  I am a knight-
  errant of his majesty, King Ultraviolet himself…”
  He lets his words hang there, as if expecting 
  all assembled to be impressed.  When no one so 
  much as blinks, he continues.
  “Word has reached us that the noble people 
  of the Trade Lands are readying for a war with 
  the vile raider scum known as the ‘Wastelords.’  
  His Majesty has deigned to send one of his great 
  knights to assist the righteous people of this land 
  in their war of liberation.”
  The man sits back on his horse, a proud smile 
  forming on his face.
  The comedy of the moment seems utterly lost 
  on the man; here he is, in the heart of the country 
  controlled by his sworn enemy!  Even your 
  Wastelord allies, sitting on the truck, begin to grin 
  and snicker.
  
  48
  “I say,” he says, “the Trade Lands seem less… 
  “populated” than I was led to believe.  Well, that 
  doesn’t matter, I suppose.  I take it, then, that 
  you all are representatives of the Three Towns 
  Alliance?”
  With that last bit the Wastelords break into 
  uncontrollable laughter; either they ﬁnd him too 
  funny to kill, or else they appreciate the bizarre 
  circumstances of the situation enough to let him 
  live—for now.
  The “knight,” for his part, is utterly confused by 
  the behavior of the PCs, who he assumed were 
  representatives come to welcome him, and turns to 
  them for an explanation of what is “so funny.”  After 
  all, from his point of view, he has ridden a long way to 
  offer unconditional aid to an oppressed people; when 
  he ﬁnds out that he is too late (the Alliance already 
  fought their battles with the Wastelords in part one of 
  the series, Against the Wastelords) and that he is in 
  fact addressing the Wastelords and not the Alliance, he 
  is speechless—and crestfallen.
  The PCs’ Wastelord escort would rather kill the 
  foreign knight than worry about what to do with him.  
  He has, after all, declared himself an enemy of the 
  Wastelords, has called them “scum” to their faces, and 
  is a trespasser in their territory.
  Sparing Sir Goodyear may take some effort by the 
  PCs, requiring Bluff and/or Diplomacy checks both 
  to soothe the savage bloodlust of the Wastelords and 
  to convince Goodyear to drop his prejudice against 
  raiders in general and to join in the ﬁght against the 
  Enemy.  The DC of these checks depends on a number 
  of factors, including how the PCs have gotten along 
  with the Wastelords (if they’ve tried to swallow their 
  pride and work like professionals, DC 12 to 15 might 
  be appropriate; if relations are strained and they’ve 
  often come to blows struggling to work with their 
  “allies,” the DC should be higher—18 to 20), and how 
  they’ve presented themselves to Sir Goodyear.
  If the PCs fail to convince the Wastelords to back 
  down, there will certainly be a ﬁght; if they fail to 
  convince Goodyear, he will simply refuse to join 
  the expedition and will head to the Trade Lands 
  to “see for himself” if the war is truly over.  If the 
  PCs succeed, however, and manage to convince Sir 
  Goodyear to join their expedition rather than ﬁght 
  them, his statistics are provided here so that the GM 
  can control him as an allied NPC from this point on.
   Sir Goodyear: hp 40 (see Appendix 1).
  WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
  The PCs should now realize that the beast they have 
  been tracking is, in fact, Sir Goodyear and not some 
  monstrous creature.  Instead of a ﬁght, they have a 
  chance to participate in some rather awkward (and 
  amusing) diplomacy.
  At this point the PCs have the opportunity to make 
  an unusual ally, one whom they can actually trust 
  (unlike their other “allies,” the Wastelords, whose 
  behavior and track record with the natives leave a lot 
  to be desired).  The PCs can approach Sir Goodyear 
  in a number of ways; ﬁrst of all, if they are survivors 
  of the ﬁrst part of this adventure series, they can tell 
  the truth (about the war, the nuclear weapon, the 
  battles against the Wastelords, and the tentative, shaky 
  alliance struck with Kyren to ﬁght a “greater evil”) 
  and try to win his friendship that way.  Goodyear is a 
  brave knight, and stroking his ego or convincing him 
  to ﬁght against the Enemy to save “more than just the 
  Trade Lands” would certainly appeal to his chivalric 
  ideals.  If the PCs are smooth talkers, they may have 
  him believing he’ll come out of this a greater hero 
  than he ever imagined.
  Alternatively the PCs could lie, pretending they 
  are in fact members of the Three Towns Alliance and 
  that the Wastelords have always been “friends” of the 
  Alliance.  This isn’t entirely untrue, and it will go a 
  long way to preventing Sir Goodyear from looking 
  down on the Wastelords for the rest of the adventure 
  (if he ever realizes that these are the Wastelords he 
  originally came to ﬁght, he will certainly re-evaluate 
  not only his traveling with them, but also the motives 
  of the party as a whole).
  AFTERMATH
  Once the PCs realize that the villagers’s “creature” 
  was actually Sir Goodyear wandering the desert, there 
  is little else to be done here.  The PCs can salvage 
  the time they spent tracking this false lead down by 
  recruiting Sir Goodyear to their cause, but apart from 
  that opportunity, the journey has been a false alarm.
  If the PCs return and brief their commander in 
  SIR GOODYEAR AND LORD HETHRIS 
  An interesting situation will arise if Lord Hethris (see The Camp) is already part of the character’s party.  
  Since both Hethris and Goodyear see themselves as “knights” of a sort, they will both leap at the chance 
  to do battle.  Lord Hethris will immediately identify himself as a Knight of Route 66, while Goodyear 
  will announce himself as a Knight of the Ultraviolet Kingdom.  Having established their identities, both 
  men challenge one another to battle; Hethris to prove himself against such a famous group of knights, and 
  Goodyear because of his vow to ﬁght raiders wherever he goes.
  Trying to talk Lord Hethris and Sir Goodyear out of a duel to the death should be extremely difﬁcult; 
  they represent totally opposite ideals.  In the end, the PCs may be forced to pick one over the other…
  
  49
  Shelter City, he grudgingly welcomes Sir Goodyear 
  into the army.  Though the air is certainly tense and 
  awkward (on both sides), Goodyear’s commanding 
  presence and obvious allegiance to the PCs (who are 
  by now widely recognized as the trusted agents of 
  Kyren) ensures that no “incidents” occur while the 
  noble knight is in their company.
  INTRIGUE AT HOOPER
  The next day, the PCs are informed they are due for 
  another mission.
  The next day you are summoned once more to the 
  command tent of your battalion leader, but today 
  he is not alone.  Kyren is there, looking as giddy 
  as a school boy.  When he sees you enter the tent, 
  his face beams.
  “Ah, there they are!  We were just talking about 
  you.  I trust you had a good night’s sleep?  No?  
  Well then, commander, make sure these men each 
  get a woman for company tonight.”
  He turns and looks at your group with a smile.
  “And you gentlemen are going to deserve it 
  after this mission.  I have an important job for 
  you again.  Since you seem to be the most capable 
  men in my empire, I want you to go to Hooper 
  and deal with a little problem we’ve got going on 
  there.
  “As you can see,” he says, motioning to the 
  commander’s map, “Hooper sits right on the front 
  lines.  The town is under attack almost night and 
  day.  Normally we repel the attacks with ease, but 
  lately our scouts have been reporting some pretty 
  strange behavior.  Instead of assaulting the walls, 
  the Enemy puts up only a token effort, as if they 
  were only prodding us, pretending to keep up the 
  momentum, while conserving their strength just 
  out of riﬂe range.
  “I trust my gut instincts.  I have a feeling the 
  Enemy may have already inﬁltrated the town, 
  and these half-assed attacks are meant to keep 
  us looking in the wrong direction until whatever 
  plan they’ve got is hatched.  I want you to go to 
  Hooper and ﬁnd out.”
  Kyren notices the incredulous looks on your 
  faces when he suggests the Enemy might be up to 
  such a clever and insidious plan.
  “I know what you’re thinking.  Impossible, 
  right?  You’ve fought the zombies before, what 
  the soldiers are calling “shamblers.”  Yeah, most 
  of the men out there have only ever fought those 
  mindless buggers.  Not capable of a cunning plan, 
  right?  Is that what you’re thinking?
  “Well there’s a lot more to the Enemy than 
  those men out there realize.  Things we wouldn’t 
  dare tell them, or there’d be mass desertions.  
  Maybe if you do a good job, prove yourselves 
  trustworthy… I’ll let you in on a little more of 
  what we know.”
  HOOPER
  Hooper is a decrepit town on the edge of Wastelord 
  lands, a major center of food processing.  Leather 
  from cattle slaughtered in Moffat is also sent here to 
  be treated and turned into leather armor for Wastelord 
  armies.  Despite the war just beyond its gates, the 
  whole town has the air of an industrious community—
  but boiling beneath the surface is a real and dangerous 
  undercurrent of strife and resistance.  Hooper is home 
  to a small “freedom movement” comprised of young 
  men and women disgusted with Wastelord rule who 
  seek freedom from oppression at any cost.  The town 
  has a small garrison led by a cruel and ambitious man 
  named Harris, but even the cruel Kyren wouldn’t 
  think to make such a hot-tempered man his only 
  representative to these unruly people.  He also 
  employs a former Shelter City citizen, a doctor, as a 
  liaison with these people, hoping to present a gentler 
  face.
  INHABITANTS
  There are over two hundred people in Hooper, 
  living in overcrowded conditions that are perfect for 
  breeding dissent against the Wastelords.  The liaison 
  between the locals and their Wastelord masters is a 
  man named Cantor, formerly a doctor and original 
  citizen of Shelter City.  A bit too vocal for his own 
  good, when Cantor criticized Kyren’s rule he was 
  punished by having both legs amputated.  However, 
  Kyren recognized the value of Cantor’s skills and 
  spared his life, equipping him with a rickety old 
  wheelchair and exiling him to Hooper, where he will 
  likely spend the rest of his days.
  In many ways Cantor, bitter about his exile and his 
  wheelchair-bound condition, has given up on life.  
  However, the people of Hooper truly need his skills, 
  and he has grown fond of the town’s small population 
  (he still despises the Wastelords, however—with 
  a passion), knowing many of the local slaves and 
  workers by their ﬁrst names.  He has treated injuries, 
  diseases, and even delivered the babies of an entire 
  generation here in Hooper, and though he won’t 
  readily admit it, he feels more strongly attached to this 
  community than he ever did to his old home in Shelter 
  City.
  Cantor was (and still is) a good friend of Doc (see 
  the Inﬁrmary in Shelter City), and if he learns that the 
  PCs know Doc, he will be favorably disposed towards 
  them.  The beneﬁts of his favor can range from the 
  PCs receiving more accurate and honest information 
  from the old doctor to gaining access to his well-
  stocked medicine cabinet.
  
  50
  GETTING THERE
  When the PCs arrive at Hooper, it has already reached 
  the boiling point.  The town has been under near-
  constant siege from the west for weeks.  In addition, 
  the appearance of an android near town just recently 
  (detailed elsewhere in this book) has dramatically 
  increased the level of general tension.
  To compound matters, a group of young men 
  in Hooper are playing on the fears of their fellow 
  townsfolk in an attempt to seize control from the 
  Wastelords.  Having suffered under the harsh wartime 
  rule of their “masters” for too long, these headstrong 
  youths are brash (and desperate) enough to commit 
  the capital offense of treason…
  After a long journey through the wastes along a 
  weathered supply route, your truck ﬁnally enters 
  the outskirts of Hooper, an embattled town on 
  the frontier of the Wastelord empire.  The sound 
  of artillery can be heard in the distance, and the 
  line of trenches comprising the frontlines of the 
  war are clearly visible running right up to the 
  town’s walls.  Old dilapidated buildings, riddled 
  with bullet holes from weeks of ﬁghting, reﬂect a 
  depressed atmosphere that is mirrored in the eyes 
  of the enslaved citizens who stare from the side of 
  the road as you pass by.
  One of the Wastelords in your truck points out 
  the front window as you bring the vehicle to a 
  noisy halt in front of a small two-story building at 
  the center of town.
  “That’s Cantor’s place,” says the driver, 
  “he’s our liaison with the people.  Goddamned 
  cripple…”
  You jump out of the truck to see a man in a 
  wheelchair emerge from the bottom ﬂoor of the 
  building.  He has no legs—they’ve apparently 
  been amputated or lost in some past accident.  
  He wears an old felt cowboy hat, shielding his 
  rugged and bristling face from the slight drizzle.  
  In his free hand he uses a fancy fan woven from 
  reeds to keep himself cool in the humid heat.  A 
  double-barreled shotgun lies in his lap.
  “You must be the scum sent by Kyren?  It’s still 
  Kyren, right?  Or has someone deposed that son-
  of-a-bitch by now?  Anyway, follow me.  I was 
  told to make you feel at home.”
  With that the man turns his wheelchair around 
  and goes back inside.
  Cantor leads the PCs inside his clinic, which also 
  serves as the town’s administrative building (since he 
  is basically the “governor”).  Cantor is left to his own 
  devices out here, and the PCs ﬁnd that he is alone in 
  the old house.  He does away with the shotgun once 
  he realizes the PCs aren’t here to intimidate him.
  If the PCs comment or ask about his legs, Cantor is 
  quite forthcoming about the “accident.”  He casually 
  explains that Kyren had them chopped off for his 
  disobedience before exiling him to the frontline aid 
  station here in Hooper.
  As the PCs talk, a woman and her small 
  malnourished child enter the building, instantly falling 
  silent out of respect for the strangers.  However, 
  Cantor interrupts the PCs to speak with the woman 
  and her boy.  For a few minutes he ignores the PCs, 
  checking the child’s temperature, using a stethoscope 
  to monitor his breathing and heart rate before giving 
  the mother a few pills to help combat the child’s 
  headaches.  Only when he is ﬁnished with his patient 
  (and they leave) will he return to his conversation with 
  the PCs:
  Kyren thinks the Enemy may be operating in your 
  town.  Do you have any pertinent information?
  “A better question would be: Does Kyren have 
  any pertinent information?”
  What do you mean?
  “I mean Kyren knows more than he’s letting 
  on.  This isn’t the ﬁrst time Hooper has been 
  inﬁltrated.”
  Oh?  Tell us more…
  “It happened before, just a few weeks ago.  Some 
  scavs coming in from scavenging near the front 
  were allowed shelter here.  No one thought twice 
  about them—a lot of locals turn to scavenging to 
  get by—until that same night they were caught 
  trying to break into the Water Reserve.  A few 
  Wastelord guards ﬁred at them and brought one 
  of them down, but the other one escaped with 
  wounds.”
  Is the water source okay?
  “Yes.  They never made it past the fences 
  around the water tanks.  I did some microscopic 
  examination of the water since, and it seems 
  clean.”
  What’s the Water Reserve?
  “It’s a building across the square.  You can see it 
  outside.  It’s where the Wastelords keep the town’s 
  fresh water.  It’s piped from there to virtually 
  every home in town, including this clinic and the 
  Wastelord HQ.  It’s been under lock and key ever 
  since the inﬁltration attempt.”
  What happened to the Enemy that was killed?
  “Heh heh.  That’s restricted information.  But 
  what the hell, I hate Kyren and his bunch so I’ll 
  tell ya.  It didn’t die.  After they brought it here 
  
  51
  for examination, it got back up.  I was preparing 
  to identify the body when it simply got up off the 
  operating table.  The Wastelords shot it up pretty 
  good again, knocking it out just long enough to 
  cage it.  That very night they shipped it to Shelter 
  City.  That’s the last I saw of it.”
  Can you tell us anything about it?
  “Well, I only did a cursory examination before it 
  re-animated.  It wasn’t like any shambler I’d seen 
  before—you know, like the zombies you see on 
  the frontlines.  No, this was different.  It looked 
  alive, like you or me; no rot, no deterioration.  If I 
  had to hazard a guess—and mind you, this is only 
  a guess—I’d say the Enemy has more than just 
  zombies in its arsenal.”
  How many scavs were there?
  “Three.  But when they tried to inﬁltrate the 
  water reserve, the third one wasn’t present.”
  Have there been any strange occurrences in town 
  since?
  “No, not that I know of.  That’s why I wasn’t too 
  concerned.  Until Doc sent me his ﬁndings, that 
  is.”
  Who is Doc?
  “Doc’s a friend of mine who lived in Shelter City 
  before Kyren took over.  Kyren keeps him a virtual 
  prisoner in the hospital block deep beneath 
  the city—he’s too valuable to kill.  We share 
  information now and again, whenever we get the 
  opportunity to get coded messages through to 
  each other.  We have various go-betweens that 
  keep us in touch, people that owe us for past 
  favors.
  “Anyway, Doc slipped word to me that the 
  shambler captured here in Hooper ended up on 
  his operating table beneath Shelter City.  He told 
  me he examined the body and found out some 
  interesting things.  He theorized that they’re 
  connected—and controlled—by some kind of 
  psychic connection.  He reported that while 
  examining the creature over a period of several 
  hours he would always develop headaches.  He 
  imagined the headaches were a result of some 
  kind of constant telepathic activity involving the 
  shambler, and that led to his theory.”
  Why did this concern you?
  “Now that’s the million dollar question.  I’m a 
  doctor, and I keep track of my patients.  Over the 
  past few weeks I’ve noticed a startling number 
  of men, women, and children complaining about 
  headaches.  Coincidence?  I think not.”
  
  52
  What does it mean?
  “Take a guess.  Unless I’m mistaken, the Enemy 
  is in town with us.”
  GM’s Note:  As stated before, if the PCs make a 
  good impression on Cantor (GM’s discretion) he may 
  offer them some supplies.  He will take them to his 
  “secret stash,” which he has kept out of Wastelord 
  hands and uses to help the truly needy people of his 
  town.  This includes three ready syringes, a bottle 
  of stimshot A (nine doses remaining), and a bottle of 
  superegen (three doses remaining).
  SUDDEN ATTACK (EL 7)
  As their conversation with Cantor comes to a 
  close, there is a sudden explosion outside, followed 
  immediately by the crack of gunﬁre.
  Apparently used to this kind of thing, Cantor 
  immediately takes cover, but if the PCs move to 
  the front door (or to any of the shuttered windows) 
  they see a battle raging outside.  A cloud of smoke 
  from a hand grenade explosion obscures some of the 
  marketplace, but it appears a group of young men 
  have ambushed a handful of unaware Wastelords 
  wandering the square.  The grenade killed two of the 
  Wastelords, but there are three more under heavy ﬁre.
  Allow the PCs to react however they choose.  If 
  they come to the aid of the Wastelords (which may be 
  likely, if the PCs don’t know what is going on), they 
  can probably overcome the terrorists rather quickly.  
  Doing so will hurt the PCs’ reputation with the people 
  of Hooper, but it will go a long way towards making 
  friends with the Wastelords—and reinforcing Kyren’s 
  trust in them.
  If the PCs wait and ask Cantor what the hell is 
  going on, the bitter old man simply says sarcastically:  
  “Welcome to Hooper!”
  GM’s Note:  The ﬁve young men are all “resistance 
  ﬁghters,” disenchanted young workers who have 
  chosen to risk death rather than suffer another day 
  living under the Wastelords’ tyranny.  They are 
  attacking to kill the Wastelords in the square and 
  no one else; they will not ﬁre on other civilians, nor 
  will they attack Cantor (he is considered a friend of 
  the people).  If the PCs emerge from Cantor’s clinic, 
  however, they become fair game (after all, they are 
  perceived as trusted agents of Kyren).  If the PCs stay 
  hidden and merely watch, the young men try to kill as 
  many Wastelords as possible before reinforcements 
  arrive (in 3d6 rounds another 2d6 Wastelords 
  shows up).  The resistance ﬁghters then retreat 
  “underground” to strike again another day.
   Resistance Fighters (5):  HP 12 (x3), 10 (x2) 
  (see Appendix 1).
   Low-Level Wastelords A (3):  HP 10, 8, 7 (see 
  Appendix 1).
  If the Wastelords are victorious, they crucify each 
  dead resistance ﬁghter in the square and leave the 
  corpses to be plucked at by vultures.  Any survivors 
  are tortured for the identities of the resistance’s 
  ringleaders, but all of the young men die before they 
  reveal their secrets.  Furious, Harris, the leader of 
  the Wastelord garrison, then orders that these men be 
  dragged by motorcycles around the marketplace until 
  their bodies fall apart.
  WHAT TO DO NEXT
  What the PCs do from here is up to them.  If they 
  undertake a forceful search of Hooper, they will 
  be stepping on the toes of a lot of resentful people, 
  leading to possible confrontations (especially if they 
  helped kill the resistance ﬁghters in the surprise attack 
  on the market square).  There are over ﬁfty buildings 
  in town, some with more than one level, possibly 
  requiring several hours, if not days, of searching.  
  Many of the buildings are abandoned; the Enemy 
  inﬁltrator(s)—wherever it is—could easily move from 
  an unsearched building to a searched building once 
  THE RESISTANCE
  PCs asking around town and succeeding in Gather Information checks (DC 22) can also make contact with 
  the underground resistance.  The resistance is led by Homer (Tough Hero 2/Charismatic Hero 4), a young 
  crusading visionary who is leading others his age in their clandestine ﬁght against the Wastelords.  PCs 
  making Bluff (DC 18) or Intimidate checks (DC 20), or otherwise passing around bribes worth no less than 
  300 cp, will eventually ﬁnd out who he is and where he resides in town.
  The PCs might single out Homer during their visit for a number of reasons.  First, he is the source of the 
  resistance raids, and getting rid of him could earn the PCs future favors with Kyren.  Second, his behavior 
  might make him a suspect as one of the Enemy (he’s not, but the PCs might believe otherwise).  Thirdly, 
  the PCs might in fact seek him out in the future if they themselves rise up against the Wastelords to free the 
  people of the Valley (see Throwing Out the Wastelords).
  Homer is not detailed here, but he is a determined character, not one to be triﬂed with or underestimated.  
  Though young, he is clearly willing to die for the cause of independence.  He despises the Wastelords, and 
  PCs wishing to sit down with him for a reasonable discussion had better be prepared to distance themselves 
  from their “employers” —or else risk triggering an unpleasant encounter with Homer and his gun-toting 
  young radicals.
  
  53
  the PCs have deemed it “clean” and moved on.
  If the PCs exploit their growing reputation as 
  Kyren’s agents, they may be able to convince the local 
  Wastelord garrison to round up the entire population 
  of town for “tests.”  Whatever test the PCs think will 
  work, allow them to give it a try.  Examining each 
  and every person in town for signs of infection will 
  be extremely time-consuming, however, requiring 
  at least 1d3 days.  In addition, the PCs should soon 
  realize that even this methodic search could well fail 
  to ﬁnd Enemy agents—any infected townsperson 
  could just as easily be hiding out, avoiding the 
  examination altogether.
  The best course of action for the PCs would 
  be to step back and think: if you were inﬁltrating 
  Hooper, where would you go to do the most damage?  
  Although the creature could be anywhere in town 
  (and in anyone), its apparent goal was to pollute the 
  tanks of the Water Reserve.  With that in mind, the 
  PCs should probably move to keep that place under 
  close surveillance, and wait until the Enemy makes its 
  move.
  A PSIONIC DISCOVERY
  Unbeknownst to the PCs, there is a sureﬁre method 
  of ﬁnding the Enemy in Hooper—but one only 
  available to characters with neural mutations.  Due to 
  the Enemy’s Psi-Inhibition power, which constantly 
  radiates a “dampening ﬁeld” 500 feet around the node 
  mother, PCs with any neural power may be able to 
  track the inﬁltrators down with relative ease.
  Though the PCs likely have no way of knowing this 
  in advance, any psionic PCs in the party will at some 
  time during their stay in Hooper experience the effects 
  of the Psi-Inhibition.  At some point during their 
  investigations of the town, read the following to any 
  psionic characters in the party:
  As you walk through the crowded streets, wary 
  of the inhospitable stares of the distrcts grubby 
  inhabitants, you are suddenly overcome by a 
  dizzying sensation.  You stumble for a moment 
  to get your bearings, but the feeling only grows 
  stronger, now accompanied by a buzzing in your 
  head.  None of your non-psionic companions 
  seem to be affected, and they, like everyone else 
  on the street, seem confused at your behavior.
  The sensation doesn’t go away until you head 
  back the way you came—at which point it ceases, 
  allowing you to regain your senses.  But as soon 
  as you rejoin the party you are again overcome, 
  as if you had just wandered into the radius of an 
  invisible energy ﬁeld only you can sense.
  By judging the relative strength of the ﬁeld (through 
  increasing dizziness and headache), the psionic PC 
  can in fact lead his comrades towards the source of the 
  psionic disruption—the very hovel in which a New 
  World Order node mother is laying low, waiting for its 
  opportunity to strike.
  NODE MOTHER’S HOVEL (EL 8)
  The node mother’s hovel is a dilapidated two-story 
  building that has been condemned for some time.  It 
  is located in a densely populated part of town (and 
  quite possibly a dangerous part of town as well, if 
  the PCs have made enemies with the anti-Wastelord 
  resistance), but otherwise resembles any abandoned 
  structure typical of a slum-like district.
  The neighborhood itself is not mapped.  If the 
  PCs do locate the building, they ﬁnd it to be rather 
  simple in layout—a rubble-ﬁlled bottom ﬂoor (totally 
  scavenged by transients) with a narrow stair leading to 
  the second level.  The second level is detailed below 
  (see map).
  KEY TO NODE MOTHER’S HOVEL
  A. SIDE/BACK ROOMS
  These rooms are completely empty except for 
  cracked walls, bare wiring, and small pieces of 
  debris.  Carpeting, if any is present, is stained with 
  unmentionable liquids from various transients over the 
  years.
  The node mother and its shamblers are dispersed 
  throughout these rooms as the GM sees ﬁt.  If the PCs 
  attack the house, the Enemy emerges from different 
  directions in an effort to surround and overcome the 
  PCs, permitting the seedling to move in and infect the 
  struggling party members.
  Treasure:  In one of the back rooms is an old 
  cardboard box ﬁlled with cheap sunglasses.  The 
  node mother and its thralls use these to hide their all-
  black eyes when they leave the building.  There are 
  enough sunglasses here to outﬁt another two dozen 
  thralls (these are for future “converts,” though the PCs 
  might not know this and assume there are many more 
  infected people in town…)
  B. LIVING AREA
  This looks like any old living space, stripped of 
  furnishings and littered with crumbled bits of the 
  ceiling, old rotten trash, crushed and discarded beer 
  cans, and other wreckage.
  During the day the seedling injured in the earlier 
  attempt on the Water Reserve stays here, recuperating.  
  Unless called upon by the node mother to act (as 
  in the defense of their makeshift lair), the seedling 
  remains here waiting for prey to be brought to it.  In 
  fact, just a few days ago the node mother went out 
  and used its guise as an old woman to lure a local 
  townsperson here in the middle of the night.  The poor 
  man was overcome by the node mother and forced in 
  front of the seedling, which promptly infected him.  
  
  54
  He is now a shambler.  The process was repeated the 
  next night, and thus the node mother now has two 
  additional shamblers at its disposal.
  C. COMPUTER ROOM
  This room contains an odd collection of old computers 
  and associated parts, including laptops, larger 
  computers, motherboards, wiring of all lengths and 
  colors, entire hard drives, fan assemblies, and clusters 
  of processor chips.  Though many are dusty and 
  appear to have been literally saved from the dump, 
  all seem to have been brought here for a very deﬁnite 
  purpose.  What that purpose is, however, is anyone’s 
  guess.
  GM’s Note:  These computers and other electronic 
  parts have been deliberately scavenged by the node 
  mother and its new batch of thralls from various 
  neglected parts of Hooper.  This is part of a long-term 
  plan of the XBM macro-organism to create advanced 
  weapons with which to overcome the android 
  defenders of the Center quarantine.  The Last God 
  has only just begun to compile the parts to arm its 
  entire army of thralls, but this stockpile (and the one 
  in Saguache; see that town’s description for details) is 
  a start.
  Treasure:  This collection of parts might be worth 
  1,000 cp to an ignorant buyer; to someone with the 
  appropriate Craft skills to build computers and other 
  electronic items, the value would be up to ten times 
  that.
  GM’s Note:  The seedling that escaped capture 
  during the failed move on the Water Reserve 
  eventually found its way back to this hovel, where it 
  has remained, healing its injuries.  With this seedling, 
  the node mother has been able to quietly rebuild its 
  follower base; in the guise of a beggar, it has been 
  going out into town and luring others back here to be 
  infected by the wounded seedling.  So far they have 
  made a handful of “converts.”
  If the PCs come to its door, the node mother 
  immediately assumes that its operations have been 
  found out.  However, the PCs may be expecting some 
  terrible monster, and not a harmless-looking little old 
  woman, so “she” may get the jump on them when they 
  bash down her door.  The node mother attacks PCs 
  as soon as they enter its home in an effort to stun and 
  infect them.  Once it has engaged the PCs in battle, 
  the node mother’s thralls emerge from side rooms to 
  attack from all directions.
  For the statistics of the node mother and its new 
  group of thralls, see Playing the Battle below.
  SECOND RESISTANCE ATTACK (EL 8)
  Assuming the PCs have not yet found the node 
  mother, at dusk on the day after their arrival, the 
  remainder of the Hooper resistance ﬁghters make 
  another move on the market square.  This time they 
  plan to wipe out not only the Wastelords occupying 
  the square (now under heavy guard, bolstered by a 
  number of new slave soldier recruits), but also Harris, 
  the leader of the Wastelord garrison.  This move by 
  the resistance also has a third and ﬁnal objective: to 
  recover the cruciﬁed bodies of their comrades so they 
  can be buried with dignity.
  Keep track of where the PCs are when this attack 
  occurs; if the PCs haven’t thought to stake out the 
  Water Reserve, they are probably shacked up in 
  Cantor’s clinic (or are engaging in house-to-house 
  searches).  If they are near the central square, they will 
  be present for the attack.
  GM’s Note:  The attack begins as night falls and 
  
  55
  daily market activities start to peter out.  A large group 
  of young men and women moves into the square from 
  two sides, trapping the Wastelords out in the open in 
  front of their headquarters.  They immediately open 
  ﬁre.
   Resistance Fighters (8):  HP 12 (x3), 9 (x4), 7  
  (see Appendix 1).
   Resistance Fighters (4):  HP 12 (x3), 7; as 
  above, except these ﬁghters are armed with stolen 
  M16A2s and Molotov cocktails instead of the 
  standard armament (see Appendix 1).
   Low-Level Wastelords (4):  HP 10 each (see 
  Appendix 1).
   Slave Soldiers B (4):  HP 4 each (see Appendix 
  1).
   Harris (1):  HP 62; treat Harris as a Mid-level 
  Wastelord (see Appendix 1).
  STREET BATTLE 
  Because the Resistance attack takes place in the 
  market square while people are still conducting last-
  minute business, there is a chance that stray bullets 
  hit innocent bystanders.  For the ﬁrst three rounds of 
  the battle, roll on the table below for every attack that 
  misses its intended target:
  D6
  Innocent Bystander
  1-3
  No one is hit.
  4
  A trader is hit while closing down his shop and 
  expires within seconds, a look of surprise still 
  etched on his face.
  5
  A panicked man or woman is struck dead while 
  trying to ﬂee the marketplace.
  6
  A child, wailing for his/her mother, is killed 
  instantly by stray ﬁre.
  After the third round any remaining traders have ﬂed 
  in panic, and thus there are no more bystanders to be 
  hit in the crossﬁre.
  INFILTRATOR
  Two rounds after the resistance ambush on the market 
  square begins, several ﬁgures moving through the 
  cool blue darkness of dusk make their way towards 
  the back of the Water Reserve building.  Because all 
  attention has been drawn away from the reserve by 
  the battle between Harris and the resistance ﬁghters 
  in the square, the ﬁgures (the node mother and her 
  thralls) have chosen this time to make their move on 
  the town’s water supply.
  PCs involved in the battle outside will be too 
  engaged to notice the Enemy thralls entering the 
  building through the back door (see map).  If the 
  players speciﬁcally state that their characters are 
  keeping an eye on the building, or have taken up 
  positions in the Water Reserve expecting the Enemy 
  to show up there, allow them to make Spot or Listen 
  checks as appropriate to detect the thralls’ entrance.
  KEY TO THE WATER RESERVE
  FRONT ENTRANCE
  The front entrance to the Water Reserve is a plain 
  metal door, painted black.  It is generally padlocked 
  from the outside, but cannot be locked from the inside 
  (unless the PCs rig up some method on their own).  A 
  single Wastelord guard is stationed outside to prevent 
  villagers from stealing water.
  
  56
  GM’s Note:  Harris, the leader of the Wastelord 
  garrison, has the only set of keys to the padlocks on 
  the two entrances of the Water Reserve building.  The 
  PCs will need his permission to stake out the Water 
  Reserve if they want the keys.  If they try to break in, 
  the Wastelord guarding the door will attempt to stop 
  them, raising the alarm if possible.
  If the PCs come here with Harris’ permission, they 
  will have keys have free reign of the building.
   Low-Level Wastelord B (1):  HP 7 (see 
  Appendix 1).
  BACK ROOM
  In addition to a number of looted crates and cartons, 
  this room contains several ﬁre axes and shovels, an 
  old ﬁre hose, and a few other mundane items.  The 
  node mother and its thralls will proceed here to arm 
  themselves.
  Because this room is completely dark, all Hide 
  checks made here receive a +2 bonus.
  OLD OFFICES
  These areas were ransacked long ago; nothing remains 
  except for deep shadows.  All spaces are completely 
  unlit, providing a +2 bonus to Hide checks.
  MAIN FLOOR
  This area is lit by bare bulbs hanging from ceiling 
  wires, which cast deep shadows throughout the 
  building.  
  FENCES
  The main ﬂoor is divided here by a chain-link fence 
  that stretches from ﬂoor to ceiling.  The fence has a 
  single entrance, a man-sized gate kept locked with 
  a sturdy padlock.  The fence is too sturdy to break 
  through without making a great deal of noise.
  WATER TANKS
  Each of these gigantic metal tanks contains several 
  thousand gallons of fresh water, shipped in regularly 
  by Wastelord supply trucks.  The tanks stand upright, 
  providing a small degree of water pressure to various 
  places throughout town (public spigots in the main 
  marketplace, as well as in the clinic and the Wastelord 
  HQ building), and can be reﬁlled with standard truck-
  mounted refueling hoses.
  Each tank also has a small pressure-sealed port 
  where technicians can test the water every few months 
  for parasites or stagnation.  It is through this port that 
  the Enemy biomass will attempt to slip into the town’s 
  water supply (see below).
  BACK DOOR
  This emergency exit, once painted bright red, is now 
  covered with peeling paint.  It provides access to a 
  dark alley behind the Water Reserve.  The door itself 
  is padlocked, but the lock is badly rusted (break DC 
  10).  The hall leading from the back door is extremely 
  dark, providing a +2 bonus to Hide checks.
  PLAYING THE BATTLE (EL 8)
  The node mother and its thralls enter through the 
  back, trying to be as quiet as possible.  Upon entry, 
  they remain by the back door for one full round, 
  listening for sounds of anyone else in the building.  
  Unless the thralls detect the presence of the PCs 
  (compare individual Listen checks against the PCs’ 
  Move Silently rolls), they then proceed immediately 
  through the cover of shadows to the fenced partition 
  separating the water tanks from the main ﬂoor and 
  move in to contaminate the water.
  If the PCs watch, they see the whole group take up 
  positions on the main ﬂoor.  Read the following:
  You’re sitting in the darkness of the empty 
  warehouse, listening to the sound of creaking 
  pipes.  The only light comes from a few naked 
  bulbs hanging from a latticework of old wires, 
  leaving much of the interior of this place steeped 
  in a thick curtain of darkness.
  Suddenly, a small group of people emerges 
  quietly from the shadows.  The light illuminates 
  all four of them: an old woman and three men.  
  The wild silvery hair of the old woman—a 
  disheveled bag lady—glints as she passes under 
  the ﬁrst of the bulbs.  She looks malnourished and 
  is caked with dirt, and you might otherwise pity 
  her… except something about her chills you to 
  the bone.  The sunglasses she wears to cover her 
  eyes look oddly comical, yet she has absolutely 
  no emotion on her face.  The woman looks around 
  for a few moments, as if scanning the warehouse, 
  before the other three follow her into the room.
  The others are a middle-aged man and two tall, 
  thin thugs.  All of them wear identical sunglasses, 
  which also seems odd at this time of night.
  As you watch, the entire group begins moving 
  towards the water tanks…
  If not stopped, the two shamblers move to hack down 
  the fence door protecting the water tanks.  Then the 
  seedling moves forward to the tanks and falls to its 
  knees.
  If the PCs continue to watch, the seedling begins 
  “vomiting” a living heap of biomass.  This mass 
  resembles a pliant pile of off-white goo which 
  immediately begins slipping towards the tanks.  If it 
  isn’t stopped, the biomass makes it to the tanks and 
  slips inside, contaminating the town’s entire water 
  source.
  The PCs can stop the New World Order inﬁltrators 
  by attacking and killing them all (including the 
  biomass, which is itself an animate creature).  The 
  
  57
  node mother will defend its thralls to the best of its 
  abilities, including using neural attacks.
  When the PCs ﬁrst encounter the node mother, they 
  may not suspect it for what it truly is.  If this is the 
  case, the GM should have it exhibit one of its psychic 
  powers (such as its Psi-Pulse) to let them know that 
  this is no mere “bag lady.”  You may even want to 
  embellish what happens when it uses the ability; for 
  example, while using its Psi-Pulse its head might 
  expand and contract like a pulsing heart, its skull 
  might vibrate with a high-pitched sound, or any other 
  obvious clue that it is not a normal human being.
   Node Mother A (1):  HP 76 (see Appendix 2).
   Human Seedling (1):  HP 11 (see Appendix 2).
  This seedling looks like a bony middle-aged man (it 
  is in fact the re-animated remains of a scientist who 
  “died” at the secret facility under Center more than 
  200 years ago) with all-black eyes, which it covers 
  with sunglasses to avoid unwanted attention.  When 
  it begins to belch forth the biomass carried inside of 
  it, however, the seedling’s unassuming appearance 
  changes completely—its head expands unnaturally 
  (accompanied by the sound of breaking bones), its jaw 
  falls slack, and the awful ooze comes pouring out like 
  a stream of animated vomit.
   Biomass, Small (1):  HP 24 (see Appendix 2). 
  For this battle biomass has the following talents:  
  Damage Reduction 3/-.
   Civilian Shamblers (2):  HP 17 each (see 
  Appendix 2).
  Each of the shamblers resembles a local inhabitant 
  of Hooper; skinny from malnutrition, covered in ﬁlth, 
  and generally unhealthy in appearance.  As with all 
  New World Order thralls, solid black eyes round out 
  their terrible appearance (though these are generally 
  concealed by sunglasses).
  GM’s Note:  The New World Order creatures 
  employ different tactics during the battle.  The 
  shamblers ﬁrst break open the fence door, and then 
  attack to block the PCs.  The seedling ﬁrst produces 
  the biomass and then joins the battle with its stun 
  pistol, hoping to incapacitate the PCs before moving 
  to infect them (using its Contagion ability). The node 
  mother tries to stun and kill any PCs who resist the 
  seedling (after all, there can’t be any witnesses to 
  tell the rest of the town that the water is polluted).  
  The biomass, of course, moves immediately to 
  contaminate the town’s water.
  If the node mother is killed early on, control of 
  the thralls here reverts to the small biomass.  If the 
  biomass is also killed, control reverts to the nearest 
  controller (which in this case is the node mother in 
  Saguache).  Due to the distance, the skill groups 
  of all creatures present drops by one step (see New 
  Creatures).
  AFTERMATH
  Once the inﬁltrators are killed, the sounds of battle 
  from the Water Reserve attracts attention throughout 
  town.  If the battle with the resistance is still going 
  strong in the square, the resistance ﬁghters now decide 
  to give up and run away.  Harris (if alive) orders his 
  men to forget the terrorists and instead converge on 
  the Water Reserve.
  By the time the Wastelords arrive, the PCs have 
  already neutralized the enemy threat.  When they 
  explain what happened, Harris is shocked—and more 
  than a little humiliated that the Enemy was able to 
  inﬁltrate “his” town, right under his nose:
  Once you explain the situation to Harris, he 
  seems overcome with humiliation for having let 
  the Enemy inﬁltrate his town.  He moves over to 
  one of the dead men, bends down, and removes its 
  sunglasses.
  “Damn,” he says, “sunglasses.  They were here 
  among us all the time.  Hiding their eyes… clever.  
  Very clever.”
  When the PCs report to Kyren by radio from their 
  truck, he is elated to hear of their success:
  “That’s excellent news,” Kyren says, his voice 
  clearly recognizable despite the tremendous 
  amount of static over the airwaves.  “Your hunch 
  
  58
  seems to have paid off—it sounds like the Enemy 
  was trying to get at the water supplies for a 
  reason.  Tell me, what did the Enemy look like—
  did you notice anything… different?”
  As you describe the strange old woman and 
  her followers, including the strange ooze that one 
  of them seemed to “vomit,” you get the distinct 
  feeling that you are telling Kyren something 
  he already knows.  As you ﬁnish describing 
  the encounter, you can hear him whispering to 
  someone on the other end, as if discussing this 
  turn of events with someone in the command 
  center.
  “Get Harris to pack that ‘old woman’ up into a 
  truck and have his men bring her here to Shelter 
  City immediately.  That corpse could provide 
  us with some vital information.  I’ve got a few 
  hunches of my own that she just might prove 
  right—or wrong.
  “As for you men, I promised you some 
  downtime.  Enjoy yourselves when you get back.  
  Over and out.”
  ATTACK ON BORROW
  While en route back to Shelter City after the 
  conclusion of their investigation in Hooper, the 
  PCs receive an urgent radio transmission.  The 
  brief message is being broadcast by one of the 
  impoverished citizens of Borrow, a small village in 
  the south part of the Valley (see map).  Guided by a 
  quirky and prophetic leader, this community has long 
  been considered too poor and insigniﬁcant to merit 
  Wastelord attention.  The broadcast is thus entirely 
  unexpected.
  The silence of the long drive back to Shelter City 
  from Hooper is suddenly broken by the crackling 
  of your truck radio.  The voice on the other end 
  is unfamiliar, and speaks in a deliberate and self-
  righteous tone:
  “To the people of the wasteland, know that this 
  is the End!  The Enemy marches upon us at this 
  very moment, and know that we will not be the 
  last.  Though my people will survive purely by the 
  strength of their faith, know that the fate visited 
  upon you and your kind will be most terrible!  
  Repent now of your evil ways!  Repent now of 
  your allegiance to the demon-prince Kyren and 
  his wicked gang of thieves!  For too long have 
  you bowed to Kyren’s will and relinquished your 
  rights as humans!  Repent, before it is too late!”
  The preacher’s sermon is suddenly drowned out 
  by the sound of gunﬁre and the screams of men, 
  women, and children.  After a moment his strong 
  voice can be heard again.
  “Do not panic, my people, the Lord is with us!  
  Gather your weapons, for the End of Days is at 
  hand!  Defend yourselves, and your souls!”
  At that the radio message cuts out.
  Allow the PCs to react to this message any way they 
  want.  If they try to respond via radio, they hear 
  nothing but static.
  If the PCs contact Kyren for orders, read the 
  following:
  You immediately radio Shelter City hoping to 
  get a hold of Kyren.  However, as soon as your 
  message is received at the communications center, 
  someone else picks up the line.  You recognize 
  Qwan, Kyren’s second-in-command.
  “This is Qwan.  Kyren is busy at the moment 
  and has put me in charge for the night.  What is 
  this about?”
  You quickly describe what you heard on the 
  radio.  Qwan is quiet for a few moments.
  “Ignore the message.  Borrow is an 
  insigniﬁcant community; the people contribute 
  nothing to the empire.  The man you heard is 
  Moses, their leader—a demagogue and mad 
  preacher who keeps his people under a spell.  
  We won’t waste troops defending that madman 
  and his pathetic ﬂock.  That’s my ﬁnal decision.  
  Return to Shelter City immediately!  Out.”
  
  59
  If the PCs ignore Qwan and try to head to Borrow 
  anyway, they’ll have to Bluff (DC 15) or Intimidate 
  (DC 17) their driver.  Assuming they do, they can get 
  to Borrow in a matter of hours.
  BORROW
  The tiny community of Borrow is actually one of 
  the longest continuously inhabited settlements in 
  the San Luis Valley.  Originally founded by Ezekial 
  Trust (a colorful local Valley ﬁgure known to be a 
  bit off his rocker), the town has survived nuclear 
  war, the devastation of the world, decades of total 
  isolation, and the appearance of raider gangs like the 
  Wastelords.
  Ezekiel believed himself to be the Messiah 
  returned—and remarkably, he wasn’t alone in this 
  belief.  When word of impending war ﬁltered to 
  the Valley, he promised that those who followed 
  him—abandoning their lives and joining him in the 
  desert—would survive the impending apocalypse.  A 
  handful of disenchanted people, numbering about 30, 
  put their faith in him and abandoned their jobs, taking 
  only their families and Bibles with them to his desert 
  compound.  They arrived to ﬁnd that Ezekiel was 
  indeed prepared—he had bought some old property 
  off of Route 17 and built a small stockade and walled 
  community with his own hands.  Here they settled, 
  waiting for the inevitable End.
  Ezekiel and “his people” listened to the nuclear 
  war unfold over their community radio set, and 
  when word reached Borrow that many cities were 
  being destroyed, his small band of followers thanked 
  Ezekiel for his wisdom.  When the world was overrun 
  by madmen and mutant savages in the aftermath of 
  the war, they thanked Ezekiel again for keeping them 
  far from the cities where the chaos was brewing.  Over 
  time they came to almost deify him, and upon his 
  death this legacy of reverence was passed on to his 
  descendants.
  Today the community at Borrow is lead by a man 
  named Moses, a direct descendant of Ezekiel Trust.  
  Moses is just about as eccentric as his ancestor, 
  believing himself to be a reincarnated Christ-ﬁgure 
  charged with keeping “his people” (the people of 
  Borrow) safe from harm.  He has altered Ezekiel’s 
  teachings somewhat (now that the nuclear war is over, 
  Moses must use some other threat of destruction to 
  keep the people faithful) and is a bit paranoid (another 
  trait shared by his long-dead ancestor).  He often sees 
  portents in the most unusual things—sand storms, 
  weird cloud formations, unusually long-lasting rains, 
  or even early winters.  He keeps his people constantly 
  drilled and prepared for what he calls the “Endings 
  of the World,” a cycle of apocalypses that he alleges 
  sweep the world every few years to cleanse the 
  madness.
  INHABITANTS
  Moses has managed to keep Borrow out of the hands 
  of the Wastelords by pledging friendship to them.  The 
  Wastelords searched Borrow for valuable goods, but 
  found none (Moses’ weapons and secret cache of food 
  were too well hidden; he also hid his daughter in the 
  Old Mine to keep her from being taken as a harem 
  girl), and thus left in disgust.  They now leave the 
  town of Borrow pretty much alone.
  
  60
  KEY TO BORROW
  FRONT GATE (EL 4)
  Through the rain ahead you see what could only 
  be the small frontier village of Borrow.  You can’t 
  believe this place even rates as a “town” in the 
  Wastelords’ estimation.  What you see of Borrow 
  is little more than a small cluster of buildings 
  surrounded by an old stone wall. The sounds of 
  gunﬁre can be heard over the growing thunder.
  A curious sight awaits you at the town 
  entrance: a solitary man standing conﬁdently 
  at the village’s destroyed front gate, with a bear 
  and a wolf at his side.  As your truck pulls up, all 
  three turn in unison to face you.
  This is clearly not an ordinary man, nor are 
  those ordinary animals with him; as they turn, 
  you see that each is twisted and malformed, 
  glaring at you through all-black eyes with an 
  unimaginably alien intelligence.
  These three specimens are latecomers to the attack 
  on Borrow.  They include an infected tribal from the 
  village of Saguache (see later for details on this ill-
  fated community), an infected bear, and an infected 
  wolf.  All of these are slow-moving shamblers.  They 
  will turn to engage the PCs as soon as the party comes 
  within sight.
   Bear Shambler (1):  HP 81 (see Appendix 2).
   Wolf Shambler (1):  HP 29 (see Appendix 2).
   Mutant Shambler (1):  HP 16 (see Appendix 2).
  The entrance to Borrow is a pair of large metal 
  double doors, one of which features an armored 
  viewslit that can be shuttered.  Under normal 
  circumstances, the doors are barred with an all-metal 
  brace; now both the doors and the brace lie broken 
  and useless.
  WALL TOWERS
  These small turrets are currently abandoned; the 
  defenders of Borrow have retreated to the Stronghold.  
  Each tower is built solidly into the outer wall; the 
  tower tops can be reached by climbing a series of 
  rusted rungs embedded in the walls.  The tower tops 
  provide an excellent vantage point from which to 
  observe and ﬁre upon attackers, and are covered by 
  corrugated iron rooftops.  They provide no cover, 
  however.
  BUILDINGS (EL 6)
  Beyond the walls you ﬁnd a pitiable encampment 
  consisting of small hovels, some of which look 
  as if they pre-date the Fall itself.  The sounds of 
  battle continue, resonating loudly from the center 
  of the village.
  As you enter, keeping to cover whenever 
  possible, a horde of shambling zombies converges 
  on your location, pouring into the town streets 
  from every direction!  As they slowly plod 
  forward, arms outstretched, they stare at you with 
  haunting, all-black eyes…
  The shamblers, alerted to the party’s presence by the 
  ﬁghting at the front gates, attack immediately.
   Mutant Shamblers (8):  HP 16 (x2), 10 (x6) 
  (see Appendix 2).
  GM’s Note:  The buildings of Borrow are a motley 
  collection of pathetic hovels gathered or constructed 
  in the community’s early days; one is even an old 
  RV trailer.  Most of these were constructed by the 
  community’s ﬁrst inhabitants, all of whom were 
  cult members who believed in Ezekiel’s doomsday 
  prophecies and moved to the desert to be closer to 
  him.  None of these homes is particularly interesting, 
  containing only simple adornments and furnishings.
  BLACKSMITH (EL 2)
  A small stone shack stands here.  A few bullets 
  from the ongoing battle have shattered its front 
  windows.
  This small stone building is where any metalworking 
  required by the community is done, and is ﬁlled 
  with an assortment of appropriate tools: hammers, 
  tongs, and heavy crowbars.  The building has no 
  windows—just the front entrance—and is notable for 
  being almost completely ﬁreproof (no wood went into 
  its construction).
  A pair of shamblers is rummaging around inside this 
  building; they attack any PCs who enter the shack.
   Mutant Shamblers (2):  HP 14 each (see 
  Appendix 2).
  GM’s Note:  This small stone building is where 
  any metalworking required by the community is done, 
  and is ﬁlled with an assortment of appropriate tools: 
  hammers, tongs, and heavy crowbars.  The building 
  has no windows—just the front entrance—and is 
  notable for being almost completely ﬁreproof (no 
  wood went into its construction).
  Treasure:  Beneath the anvil is a small pit in which 
  the villagers normally keep an old shortwave radio.  
  Typically this would require a Search check at DC 
  25 to uncover; at present the anvil has been moved 
  aside, however, revealing this pit.  The radio is on the 
  anvil, apparently recently used.  It is an early 1950s-
  era model, and could use some maintenance, but 
  remarkably is still operable.  The villagers typically 
  use the radio to discreetly tune into Wastelord radio 
  communications.  Moses allows this because these 
  transmissions reveal all too clearly the extent of the 
  Wastelords’ wickedness, and this prevents his people 
  from thinking about leaving Borrow in search of 
  greener pastures.
  
  61
  BATTLE (EL 7)
  The sounds of battle—gunﬁre, screams, and 
  panicked shouts—grow louder the closer you 
  move to the village center.  There, at the base of a 
  rocky hill, a group of men, women, and children 
  are clustered, trying to reach the safety of the 
  bunker atop the mound.  A mass of shamblers 
  closes in around them from all directions.
  Leading the villagers in their last-ditch ﬂight 
  to the stronghold is a tall, striking man in a plain 
  brown robe, a deﬁant grimace etched deeply 
  across his face as the enemy continues to press 
  forward.  He has a long white beard and a head 
  of all-white curls; his face is crisscrossed with 
  cracks from years spent under the sun’s harsh 
  stare.  His eyes, however, project a powerful and 
  hypnotic deﬁance.
  The man holds his wounded body up with a 
  shepherd’s crook in one hand, ﬁring a submachine 
  gun at the oncoming zombies with the other.  He 
  is joined by several other villagers, most younger, 
  who share his look of deﬁance and bear similar 
  weapons.
  By the time the PCs arrive, Moses and the remaining 
  villagers have been cut off from the Stronghold, to 
  which they were retreating (see below).  They are 
  making a last stand here, surrounded by a pack of 
  mutant shamblers and infected animals.
  If the PCs come to their aid and attack the 
  shamblers, Moses sees their intervention as an 
  opportunity to begin ﬁghting towards the Stronghold.  
  If the PCs manage to hook up with the group of 
  villagers during the running battle, Moses will take 
  them into the Stronghold as well, there to make a 
  more ﬁtting stand against the Enemy.
   Moses:  HP 45, down to 27 due to wounds (see 
  Appendix 1).
   Tammy Faye:  HP 27, down to 22 due to 
  wounds (see Appendix 1).
   Borrow Villagers (5):  HP 8 each (see Appendix 
  1).
   Mutant Shamblers (8):  HP 8 (x9), 6 (x2) (see 
  Appendix 2).
   Wolf Shamblers (3):  HP 15, 13, and 10 (see 
  Appendix 2).
  After three rounds of ﬁghting at the base of the 
  hill, the battle takes an interesting turn.  As the PCs 
  get caught up in the battle unfolding around the 
  Stronghold, a fresh wave of shamblers arrives at the 
  front gate.  They immediately begin to move towards 
  the PCs in an attempt to sandwich the party between 
  themselves and the force surrounding Moses and the 
  other villagers.
  Alert PCs will realize what is going on and try to 
  ﬁght their way to Moses, helping him get his people to 
  the safety of the Stronghold before it’s too late.
  When the second wave appears, read the following:
  From behind you comes the sound of more 
  creatures heading your way.  You turn to see a 
  second group of shamblers lurching toward you 
  from the direction of the town gates… and behind 
  them is a creature far more grotesque.
  Scurrying along on all four legs is what 
  may have once been a coyote, but has been 
  transformed into a nightmarish monstrosity.  
  The animal’s skull has ripped open like some 
  kind of budding ﬂower, revealing an enormous 
  fang-ringed mouth where the head should be.  A 
  ropy tongue lashes out from this gaping maw, 
  whipping around in search of prey to latch onto.  
  The animal’s eyes portrude from the ruined skull 
  on long antennae-like stalks, looking in various 
  directions as it moves forward.
  The “coyote” is in fact a transformed seedling.  It 
  attempts to engage characters already swamped by the 
  shamblers in an effort to grapple and infect them.  The 
  shamblers attack whoever is nearest to them.
   Mutant Shamblers (3):  HP 14 each (see 
  Appendix 2).
   Coyote Seedling (Transformed) (1):  HP 30 
  (see Appendix 2).
  STRONGHOLD
  This building is a simple cinderblock stronghold, 
  squat and square, without any decoration whatsoever.  
  MOSES’ ABILITIES 
  Note that Moses uses his class abilities to maximum effect during any ﬁnal defense of the Stronghold.  He 
  begins by inspiring his followers with the Coordinate and Inspiration abilities (giving them a +2 morale 
  bonus to saving throws, attack rolls, and damage rolls, and a +1 morale bonus to skill checks).  If he has 
  time, he then spends an Action Point to further inspire his followers (using the Lead Followers ability) with 
  Greater Inspiration, giving them an additional +1 morale bonus to saving throws, attack rolls, and damage 
  rolls (for a total of +3).  On top of this, all of his followers are considered Zealots, gaining a +2 morale 
  bonus to all attacks and skill checks when operating on his behalf.
  If everything goes as planned, this means his followers will operate with a total bonus of +3 to saving 
  throws, +5 to attack rolls, +3 to damage rolls, and +3 to skill checks!
  
  62
  Two small windows on each side of the building allow 
  those inside to ﬁre out at anyone in the village yard.
  The interior of the building is exceedingly spartan in 
  accordance with Moses’ bizarre brand of Christianity.  
  A few soiled sleeping bags lie strewn about the ﬂoor, 
  along with a tiny wooden table (with a few glasses 
  and a plastic bottle of water on 
  it), a deck of well-used 
  playing cards, and other 
  miscellanea.  The only 
  books here include a few 
  ancient children’s 
  storybooks (Moses 
  got these for his 
  daughter Tammy 
  Faye, but she has 
  long outgrown 
  them), and a Bible 
  with 
  more than half of its pages missing.
  Despite its shortcomings, this musty place is 
  home to Moses and his grown daughter, and serves 
  as a place to which the villagers can retreat in times 
  of emergency.  At Moses’ insistence, the entire 
  community has often rehearsed a retreat to this “inner 
  keep” in anticipation of an attack by the 
  Wastelords or other enemy.
  Though the interior room appears quite 
  mundane, there is more to the building 
  than meets the eye.  A false cement 
  block (Search DC 30) that looks like 
  a part of the concrete ﬂoor can be 
  removed by two or three moderately 
  strong men to reveal a short drop into 
  an old earthen pit, which leads down into 
  a cool dark tunnel branching off to the east.  
  This false panel is open during the siege.
  The tunnel leads off to the Old Mine (see 
  below), but the bottom of the pit also contains a 
  cache of weapons left by Moses’ ancestors.  This 
  cache includes two AR-7 Explorers (currently 
  disassembled), a Remington Streetsweeper, four 
  Uzis, two TEC-9s, four Mossberg shotguns, twelve 
  Remington 700s, and ﬁve pipe riﬂes (.22 LR).  There 
  are also plentiful stores of ammo in this hidden 
  armory: 80 rounds of .22 LR ammo, 500 rounds of 12-
  gauge shotgun ammo, 440 rounds of 9mm ammo, 100 
  rounds of .22 LR ammo, and 96 rounds of 7.62mm 
  ammo, as well as a comprehensive cleaning kit for 
  maintaining these weapons.  These weapons will 
  be distributed among Moses’ followers as 
  appropriate.
  GM’s Note:  Characters ﬁring from 
  inside this building can use the narrow 
  windows for cover (treat these 
  narrow slits as three-quarters 
  cover).  The front door is made 
  of heavy metal and can be 
  barred from the inside.  The roof is ﬂat but features 
  two armored vents that, with the ﬂick of a switch, 
  begin to circulate air out of the bunker.  This system 
  was installed by Moses’ ancestor Ezekiel well before 
  the Fall, when he feared his cult might come under 
  attack by the government; the fans were put here in 
  the event tear gas was used to smoke out the bunker’s 
  defenders.  Due to their great age, these vents now 
  have only a 50% chance of working.
  OLD MINE
  Ezekiel Trust founded Borrow on this isolated site 
  for a reason—the cinderblock Stronghold actually 
  sits right atop the entrance to an old abandoned mine.  
  Everyone in Borrow knows about the mine (Moses, 
  following his philosophy of “always be prepared,” has 
  drilled them so many times that most could ﬁnd their 
  way to it with their eyes closed), which has been used 
  in times past to weather what Moses or his ancestors 
  perceived as “signs of the End.”  These “signs” 
  have ranged from unusual auroras on the horizon 
  to particularly severe sandstorms—all naturally 
  occurring phenomenon that the crackpot leaders of 
  Borrow have mistakenly interpreted as symbols that 
  the world is about to end.
  Under these disturbing circumstances, Moses has 
  always brought “his people” here to hide.  The false 
  panel leading into the tunnel from the Stronghold can 
  be easily put back in place from inside the tunnel, 
  keeping the mine completely concealed.  The mine 
  itself is not very deep (only about forty horizontal feet 
  of the original mine passage remains; the rest caved in 
  long ago), but it is kept well stocked with four lanterns 
  (battery-powered to conserve oxygen), enough food 
  and water to sustain 30 people for 40 days, more than 
  a dozen rolls of toilet paper, a few buckets, two dozen 
  sleeping bags preserved in zippered plastic bags—and 
  a dusty old Bible.
  GM’s Note:  If during the attack on the Stronghold 
  
  63
  Moses and his people appear to have no chance 
  of surviving, Moses orders his followers into the 
  mine.  If the PCs are present and have made a good 
  impression on Moses, they are invited to “wait out the 
  End of the world;” if they decline, Moses leaves them 
  to face the storm themselves.  Once the PCs have 
  gone underground, however, Moses refuses to open 
  the concrete block to the surface until 40 days have 
  passed (citing a misremembered Biblical verse that 
  claims “if Jesus had to survive 40 days and 40 nights 
  of turmoil, so must we,” or another such religious 
  reason).  If the PCs ignore the village leader and try to 
  escape before 40 days have passed, Moses will prove 
  his dedication to prophecy by brandishing his gun and 
  blocking the exit physically.
  AFTERMATH
  The Enemy continues to assault the Stronghold until 
  either Moses ﬂees underground, or until every last 
  shambler and seedling is killed.
  Once the ﬁghting is over, Moses leads his people 
  out of the Stronghold to survey the damage.  He then 
  immediately leads his people in a prayer service 
  to thank the Lord for “His mercy,” with numerous 
  references to the PCs as “His instruments of justice.”  
  In the end, Moses thanks the PCs and instructs his 
  daughter Tammy Faye to treat any wounds they may 
  have suffered during the battle.
  When the PCs return to Shelter City after the attack 
  on Borrow, Kyren is eager to ﬁnd out the reason for 
  their delay.  When he hears the full story (including 
  Qwan’s refusal to send help), Kyren agrees with their 
  decision to go out on a limb to help the citizens of 
  Borrow.  At the very least, he reasons, it makes the 
  Wastelords look capable of defending their own.  He 
  also promises to speak with Qwan and to “correct 
  him” for his “error.”
  Kyren also rewards the PCs for their actions in both 
  Hooper and Borrow.  Any ammunition used in the 
  course of their adventures is replaced, as are any meds 
  (up to two stimshot As for each character, but only if 
  the PCs used up some of their own medicine).
  He also rewards the PCs by sending to their camp 
  a few women from the harem (with which the PCs 
  may “do as they please”), as well as a crate of ﬁne 
  Kentucky bourbon—a treat usually reserved for the 
  enjoyment of the Wastelords’ “inner circle.”
  MIDNIGHT VISIT
  Concerned by the party’s continued string of 
  successes, angered at the speed with which they are 
  earning Kyren’s favor, and humiliated by the events 
  earlier that day, Qwan has decided to get rid of the 
  PCs once and for all.
  That night, Qwan sends a handful of his most 
  trusted men to inﬁltrate the party’s camp and attack 
  them while their guard is down.  Qwan is counting 
  on the women and bourbon to have taken their effect; 
  hopefully the PCs will be unarmed, unarmored, and 
  possibly even half-drunk…
  THE ATTACK (EL 10)
  The extent to which the PCs enjoyed Kyren’s 
  generous reward will play an important role in this 
  encounter.  If the PCs are indeed pre-occupied with 
  the women or have gotten themselves drunk, their 
  reduced state of awareness during the attack might be 
  reﬂected in one or more ways:
  The PCs may be undressed and do not have their 
  weapons handy.
  The PCs may be drunk (treat inebriated PCs as 
  shaken).
  The PCs may be fatigued or even exhausted.
  The PCs may be asleep (treat sleeping PCs as 
  helpless until awakened).
  The assassins consist of three of Qwan’s most trusted 
  conspirators, as well as “Roadkill” Rick, Qwan’s 
  personal henchman.  The men attempt to slip into the 
  PCs tent(s) using Hide and Move Silently skills to 
  the best of their ability.  If they are not detected, they 
  attack with surprise.
   Mid-level Wastelords A (3):  HP 48, 48, 45, 
  armed with combat knives and Glock 17s with 
  suppressors instead of M16A2s (see Appendix 1).
   “Roadkill” Rick, hp 50 (see Appendix 1).
  GM’s Note:  The harem girls are not party to 
  Qwan’s plans, but will not ﬁght against his men for 
  fear of angering the wrong side.  If there is a clear 
  victor, however, they may assist that side by throwing 
  objects, trying to distract or grapple combatants, or 
  otherwise interfering in the battle.
  Once the assassins are killed, it should be clear 
  to the PCs who did this: Qwan.  “Roadkill” Rick is 
  notorious around camp as Qwan’s right-hand man and 
  lackey; if none of the PCs realize this, an NPC in their 
  employ or any other personality around camp can tell 
  them.
  DUEL TO THE DEATH
  By the next day, word has gotten around camp that 
  the PCs were the target of an assassination attempt.  
  This, and the fact that they were able to ﬁght off their 
  attackers, has the camp viewing the party in a whole 
  new light.  If the PCs hadn’t already made contacts 
  in camp, now would be a good time to have one or 
  more of the NPCs approach the party and offer their 
  services.  Others approach the PCs to ask who was 
  behind the assassination attempt, and if they plan to 
  confront him (Qwan) about it.
  As if in answer to these questions, Lena ﬁnds the 
  PCs sometime during the day.  She has an offer for 
  them that she hopes they won’t refuse…
  
  64
  With all the talk about last night’s assassination 
  attempt ﬂoating around camp, you’re not 
  surprised to see the familiar face of Lena, Kyren’s 
  overly amorous consort, peering through your 
  tent ﬂap.  Rousing yourselves to show some 
  respect for such a powerful woman, she comes in 
  with a slinky walk and a sly grin on her face.
  “Gentlemen, I heard about what happened last 
  night.  Assassins?  They’re saying Roadkill Rick 
  was one of those killed.  He’s Qwan’s lap-dog… 
  looks like Qwan’s hand had a part in this…”
  She plays with the leather horsewhip in her 
  hand for a moment before letting a gleeful smile 
  slip across her face.
  “I think we can turn this to our advantage.  
  Assuming, that is, you’re interested…”
  Lena ﬁlls the PCs in on her plan to deal with Qwan 
  once and for all.  Since he obviously dislikes the 
  PCs and wants to see them dead, she thinks she can 
  arrange to settle things for good.
  Lena tells the party that one of them must challenge 
  Qwan to a duel of honor—a public ﬁght to the death.  
  It is the only way the PCs, as subordinates, would 
  be able to get away with killing Qwan (according to 
  Wastelord tradition, attacking a superior ofﬁcer on 
  any other terms is grounds for immediate execution).  
  Because Qwan is sure of himself, he will almost 
  certainly agree to the duel.
  If the PCs ask her why she’s so interested in seeing 
  Qwan taken out, she considers for a moment before 
  telling the truth: Kyren can’t live forever, and when he 
  dies she will likely be inherited by the next emperor.  
  She despises the conspiratorial Qwan, and would do 
  anything to take him out of the line of succession—
  even if that means killing him.
  BATTLE IN THE PIT (EL 12)
  How the PCs bait Qwan into agreeing to a duel of 
  honor is up to them, and you as GM should use this 
  as an opportunity to role-play.  By and large, Qwan 
  is a cool customer who isn’t easily provoked by idle 
  threats or insults.  Only with a well-planned and 
  cleverly role-played strategy will the PCs be able to 
  convince Qwan to accept their challenge.
  If the party secures Qwan’s acceptance to a 
  challenge, the match is declared publicly before the 
  people of Shelter City in accordance with Wastelord 
  tradition.  With fanfare rivaling that of the greatest 
  public festivals, the two challengers are expected to 
  meet in the Pit, the subterranean “coliseum” of Shelter 
  City:
  Tonight Shelter City is crowded with what must be 
  at least 1,000 or more people from the vault and 
  the slave camps outside.  Here, in the coliseum-
  like cavern that is the Pit, you gather to put to rest 
  the treasonous backstabbing of Qwan, Kyren’s 
  second-in-command.
  In addition to countless city civilians, slaves, 
  and even some fellow warriors from the camps, 
  a good number of Wastelord guards, soldiers, 
  and even their elite have gathered to watch this 
  match.  Most have put their money on Qwan, 
  an experienced killer who has no compunctions 
  about slicing an opponent’s throat.
  Kyren is there, watching from a position of 
  honor; he has a strange gleam in his eye as he 
  looks down at your party and Qwan.  You are not 
  sure which contestant he favors.
  Kyren’s woman, Lena, keeps her distance until 
  the last moment, at which point she approaches to 
  explain the rules…
  The rules of the match are essentially the same as for 
  the ﬁghts in the camp:
  
  65
  1. 
  Only one contestant may ﬁght—no one may 
  help the contestant once he is in the pit;
  2. 
  Contestants may only ﬁght with a melee 
  weapon (or unarmed)—no ranged weapons;
  3. 
  Contestants may wear armor if they choose;
  4. 
  The match is to the death.
  Lena approaches the PC before the contest, ostensibly 
  to present him to the crowd with a ﬂourish of 
  showmanship, but in reality she has another agenda.  
  Through sleight of hand she gives the PC a rag soaked 
  with rattlesnake venom (see page 54 of d20 Modern 
  for statistics for this poison) for his weapon.  If the 
  PCs asks what the rag is for, Lena simple smiles and 
  says “to even the odds”, and makes a motion with 
  her hands suggesting the PC wipe his blade with it 
  between attacks.
  A character can apply a dose of the poison to his 
  weapon simply by wiping the blade across the rag.  
  Doing so is a move action.  The rag is soaked with the 
  equivalent of four doses.  Keep in mind that there’s 
  nothing in the Wastelord rules that says poison can’t 
  be used in such a match, and Lena is hoping it will be 
  just the edge the PC needs to weaken Qwan, enough 
  to tip the balance in the character’s favor.  If the PC 
  really doesn’t stand a chance against Qwan, you may 
  have Qwan automatically fail his save when struck by 
  the poisoned weapon.
  Once the PC is ready, the ﬁght begins!
   Qwan: hp 90 (see Appendix 1).
  VICTORY
  Assuming the PC wins the duel of honor and Qwan is 
  killed, read the following:
  The crowd roars with bloodlust as Qwan 
  is brought down at the climax of the ﬁght.  
  Hundreds of men, women, and children shriek for 
  his blood all at once, ﬁlling the vaulted Pit cavern 
  with a tremendous thunder.  You sense the frenzy 
  behind their cries for death is an outlet for their 
  hatred of the Wastelords, and with their approval 
  you deal the killing blow.
  Once Qwan is no more than a lifeless heap, 
  Lena climbs on stage, takes your hand, and raises 
  it in victory.  The crowd continues to roar.
  Kyren, who has been watching without so much 
  as blinking, ﬁnally stands.  You wonder if he 
  fully appreciates the audience’s glee at seeing a 
  Wastelord killed in front of them.  In any case, the 
  crowds soon fall silent.
  “We have our victor.  By Wastelord tradition, 
  let the ﬁghting end here.”
  With that Kyren departs, the remaining 
  members of his inner circle close behind.
  INTO THE FOLD
  In the aftermath of the duel, Kyren views the party 
  in a completely new light.  Now that they have 
  effectively proven themselves (not only as his agents, 
  but also against a man he thought second only to 
  himself), he is ready to share with them a great deal of 
  privileged information about the Enemy—and to trust 
  them with a mission of utmost importance.
  When the PCs leave the Pit, one of Kyren’s guards 
  approaches them and informs them that Kyren wishes 
  to see them immediately.  He leads the PCs to the 
  Deep Level of Shelter City, past the guard post, and 
  into the Inﬁrmary…
  The guardsman leads you down into the deep 
  bowels of Shelter City, well beyond the levels 
  inhabited by the city’s population.  He guides 
  you down numerous dark passages until you 
  pass through an old crumbling doorway marked 
  “Inﬁrmary” in Ancient-era stenciling.  The faded 
  paint of a red cross barely peeks through the 
  darkness.
  Beyond this door, he leads you into a mess 
  of collapsed tunnels, caved-in halls, and what 
  might have once been well-stocked hospital 
  wards.  Finally, you arrive in a large operating 
  QWAN’S ABILITIES 
  Qwan’s performance in this ﬁght should make the most of his impressive abilities.  Prior to the ﬁght, during 
  the wind-up and announcement (as he and his opponent stare off), he begins to use his Plan ability, hoping 
  to get a bonus for the ﬁrst few rounds of the ﬁght.  Thus, when the battle begins, he may possibly receive a 
  bonus to his skill checks and attack rolls (though this will slowly deteriorate as the ﬁght goes on).
  Next, if possible he will use his Bloodthirsty Cry to shake up his opponent, making the ﬁght all that much 
  easier.  Note that because he has the Intimidating Strength feat, the DC to resist this is 18.
  Whether or not he successfully manages to shake up his opponent, Qwan then engage with his knife, 
  using his Streetﬁghting feat to inﬂict additional damage with each attack.  Note that he also has the Heroic 
  Surge feat, and uses this liberally to get extra attacks in early to keep his opponent on the defensive.  In 
  addition, when his opponent does fail to hit him, his Agile Riposte feat grants him the ability to strike back 
  unexpectedly!
  
  66
  room—cold and isolated so far underground—
  illuminated solely by the dim lights of a computer 
  console and a single overhead lamp.
  Standing at the computer is Kyren, looking out 
  of place in such a deep and dangerous locale.  
  Beside him is a much older man wearing the 
  disheveled remnants of an old lab coat—a doctor 
  of some kind.  The thick lenses of the glasses 
  perched on his nose distort the light coming from 
  the computer screen, making his eyes appear to 
  glow with a weird greenish light.  At the doctor’s 
  side is yet another man, thin and bony as if half-
  starved, a belt of screwdrivers and other tools at 
  his waist—perhaps a mech?
  As you enter, Kyren looks each of you over 
  before dismissing his guard.  He then steps 
  forward to address you.
  “You’ve done well for yourselves these past few 
  weeks,” he says.  “You’ve yet to fail me.  Fighting 
  in the trenches, killing that beast under Crestone, 
  taking out the threat to Hooper.  Saving those 
  villager at Borrow.  And killing Qwan… now that 
  was something.”
  Kyren continues to look you over.
  “It is my philosophy in life that knowledge is 
  the key to power.  Only the strong deserve that 
  knowledge.  You have proven yourselves strong.  
  Because of that, I have decided to let you in on 
  what we know.
  “This is Doc,” Kyren says, motioning to the 
  elderly man, “our best physician.  The younger 
  one is Stinker, one of our best technicians.
  “I think it’s about time we explained who—or 
  what—the Enemy is.  Or at the very least what we 
  think it is.”
  As before, the following lists the most probable line 
  of questioning the PCs will pursue.  If your players do 
  not come up with these questions on their own, either 
  improvise or have Kyren (or Doc and Stinker) offer 
  this information to them in the course of conversation.
   
  Let’s start at the top… (Kyren)
  “A few weeks ago, at the frontier town of Hooper, 
  a few desert scavs wandered into town.  Quiet, 
  didn’t say a word—not uncommon for the kind 
  of crazy men who make their living picking the 
  pockets of corpses along the front lines.
  “Anyway, what the guards at Hooper thought 
  were just a couple of quiet scavs turned out to 
  be something else entirely.  That night, the scavs 
  were caught trying to tamper with the town’s 
  water supply.  Needless to say, the guards opened 
  ﬁre, but the scavs almost seemed to refuse to 
  drop, even after taking a dozen or more gunshots 
  each.”
  Then what happened? (Kyren)
  “One of them escaped, despite its injuries, 
  while the other was presumed dead.  It was only 
  later, when Cantor—the doctor in Hooper—was 
  performing an autopsy, that the thing proved to 
  still be alive.  When it woke, what had seemed 
  at ﬁrst like any other human turned out to be a 
  raving monster.  When I heard the story, I ordered 
  Harris, the garrison commander, to box it up 
  and send it here.  I had Doc here examine the 
  creature.  He ran a whole battery of tests, before 
  coming up with his analysis.”
  What was your analysis? (Doc)
  “The creature, or ‘Enemy’ as our leaders fondly 
  refer to it, is nothing short of a miracle—or 
  nightmare—of biological science.  With the 
  limited tools we have here, we’ve been able to 
  determine that the scav’s human body is merely 
  a host, a “vessel” if you will for a viral infection 
  unlike any I’ve ever seen.”
  A viral infection? (Doc)
  “That’s correct, a disease.  The Enemy is nothing 
  short of an army of infected creatures.”
  You said “unlike any infection you’ve ever seen.”  
  In what way? (Doc)
  “For one, the actual body is dead; I imagine 
  in the case of the creature we captured, it had 
  probably been dead for a hundred years by the 
  time it showed up at Hooper.  The corpse is 
  literally animated, through the properties of a 
  unique form of disease that, for all my knowledge, 
  I am unable to categorize or name.  The organism 
  spreads throughout the body, infecting individual 
  cells and whole tissues as it goes, using them 
  almost like tendrils with which to control the body 
  like a puppet.  Once it has control, it generates a 
  curious enzyme that appears to preserve the host 
  body for, well, hundreds of years.”
  Any PC with Knowledge (Twisted Earth) can now 
  make a check (DC 17).  If successful, she remembers 
  a similar “disease” reported to infest the Mountains 
  of Misery region of the Twisted Earth.  This sickness 
  is said to affect animals and humans alike, turning 
  them into mindless hosts controlled by the voracious 
  parasite within (see the entry for the Marionette 
  Worm in Terrors of the Twisted Earth).  A second 
  check (DC 19) recalls legends referring to this disease 
  as a biological creation of the Ancients, used as a 
  doomsday weapon during the Fall.
  
  67
  That sounds similar to the disease affecting the 
  Mountains of Misery… (Kyren)
  “Bingo.  Interestingly enough, when a few of our 
  scouts made contact with an Entropist group in 
  Trader Pass, we were able to negotiate an uneasy 
  alliance.  That’s why the Entropists are here, 
  helping us ﬁght this war.  It seems the Entropists 
  believe our little virus is a new outbreak of the 
  same disease that affects their corner of the 
  world.”
  Is it really the same disease? (Doc)
  “If I were to guess, I’d say no.  Though reports 
  from their part of the world are scarce, I believe 
  the scourge of the Mountains of Misery is 
  different on a number of levels.  Still, both do 
  seem to share some curious traits…”
  Such as? (Doc)
  “Both are extremely virulent, and are passed 
  through ﬂuid transfer.  Both turn the host into 
  a “thrall” controlled by the disease itself.  The 
  spread pattern, the rate of contagion we’ve 
  observed… it’s quite possible that both are, or 
  were rather, once weapons developed by the 
  Ancients.  Biological weapons, designed to infect 
  vast numbers of people.”
  Why have they only begun to appear now? (Kyren)
  “We don’t know.  The Entropists have been 
  dealing with their problem for generations.  But 
  this new disease… the Enemy seems to have come 
  out of nowhere in only a few years’ time.”
  How contagious is it? (Doc)
  “As far as we know, the infection is spread 
  through a special form of ﬂuid transfer.  We had 
  the chance to observe the phenomenon in action 
  when two careless guards here at the Inﬁrmary 
  entered the room containing the shambler 
  specimen without adequate safeguards.  Both men 
  were infected when the creature attacked them 
  and knocked them unconscious, and literally… 
  vomited… into their mouths.  We managed to seal 
  the cell just in time before the guards rose and 
  joined the ﬁrst specimen in trying to bash down 
  the door.
  “Eventually we killed the two guards and 
  burned their bodies—that seems to be the only 
  real way to kill the lingering bacteria in the 
  infected tissues.  The original specimen is still in 
  that cell over there.”
  If the PCs move over to look through the thick glass in 
  the cell door, they see a single ﬁgure inside.  Instead 
  of some nightmarish monster, however, all they see 
  is a naked old man sitting in the cell, utterly still, 
  just staring back at them through the glass.  As they 
  peer through, the seedling suddenly lurches forward, 
  stopping just inches from the glass, looking directly 
  at them as if summing them up.  It has no expression 
  whatsoever on its face, but the PCs notice that its eyes 
  are completely black—and seem both cold and alien.  
  Am I imagining things, or are its eyes completely 
  black? (Doc)
  “You’re quite right.  The eyes are completely 
  black—a strange side effect of the infection 
  process that I am at a loss to explain.  Quite 
  curious, really, but at least it allows us to identify 
  which men and animals are infected, and which 
  are not.”
  Who was he? (Doc)
  “That’s an interesting question.  I did an 
  examination myself, and Cantor’s pre-autopsy 
  ﬁndings bolster my belief.  That’s the body of a 
  pureblood human.  And as you know, pureblood 
  humans are a rarity these days.”
  What does that mean? (Kyren)
  “We thought long and hard about that.  We 
  couldn’t ﬁgure it out until the frontier had another 
  visitor…”
  Oh? (Kyren)
  “Just a few days after the shambler appeared at 
  Hooper, we had a stroke of luck.  Some of our 
  guards at Hooper shot what appeared to be a 
  ‘metal man’ heading towards town in the middle 
  of the night.  Though it was badly damaged, they 
  eventually brought it back here where one of my 
  mechs, Stinker here, went to work immediately 
  trying to bring it back to life.”
  What was it? (Kyren)
  “An android—an artiﬁcial life form created by 
  the Ancients.  Apparently this one was an old 
  military model.  It was already badly damaged 
  from some earlier battle, and by the time my 
  trigger-happy soldiers got to it, it was nothing but 
  scrap.  But Stinker here was able to put the pieces 
  together well enough to get into its brain and 
  extract some information.”
  
  68
  At this, Kyren steps back and lets Stinker explain the 
  rest:
  At a glance from Kyren, the technician, “Stinker,” 
  realizes it’s his time to speak.  He motions for 
  everyone to follow him down a darkened hallway 
  to a cool dark room.  Inside is a computer console 
  afﬁxed to a metal table, upon which can be seen 
  the badly-damaged remains of a metallic ﬁgure...  
  an android.
  Stepping forward with a jingle from the tools 
  and devices hanging from his belt, Stinker 
  explains.
  “I basically just hooked the junked remains 
  of the android here to an old minifusion cell we 
  salvaged from the City’s ruins.  Using the cell as 
  a power source, I was able to interface with the 
  android’s internal memory through the computers 
  we brought from the Command Center.
  “It was bit tough at ﬁrst to decipher the old 
  military code, but after sifting through a lot of 
  corrupted data—and evading some nasty security 
  protocols built into the robot brain—it was only a 
  few hours before we hacked into its memory.”
  Stinker leans forward, hooks the shattered 
  remains of the android to a few power cords, 
  and stands back as it hums with renewed energy.  
  Almost immediately, the computer screen attached 
  to the wheeled dolly blinks on, displaying a mess 
  of confused computer code.
  Stinker types away at the keyboard for a few 
  seconds, then steps back, rubbing his runny nose, 
  as more code comes ﬂashing on the screen.
  “Okay, so here we’ve got it up and running 
  again.  The message is a bit garbled… but it 
  says… uh… okay, yeah, it says…”
  “Its point of origin,” Kyren interrupts, ﬁnishing 
  the tech’s sentence.
  “Yes,” the tech continues.  “It gives 
  coordinates for something the android refers to 
  as its ‘point of origin.’  And it goes on to state 
  that the android here must complete its ‘mission’ 
  and ‘return to base’—its point of origin—to help 
  reinforce a ‘quarantine.’  That’s how we knew it 
  was from the same place the disease originally 
  came from…”
  Kyren lets you marvel at the investigative skills 
  of his men for a moment before speaking.
  “We realized the android must have been 
  sent to track down the infected scavs.  The word 
  ‘quarantine’ seems to suggest the androids there 
  are aware of the contagion, and are trying to ﬁght 
  it at its ‘point of origin.’
  “Armed with this information, I raised an 
  army and sent it to attack the area at those very 
  coordinates.  It turned out to be a small town 
  named Center, maybe 30-35 miles west of here, 
  deep in the desert and completely unknown to any 
  of us.  We received an initial report from the ﬁeld 
  commander describing it as deserted… and that’s 
  the last anyone heard from the army.  No one 
  returned.”
  Again he allows you a moment to digest that 
  information.
  “Needless to say, I wasn’t going to send 
  another army just to vanish off the face of the 
  earth.  I wanted to nuke the place—but the high 
  price of our battles in the Trade Lands nixed that 
  plan.”
  Doc, who has been silent this whole time, now 
  speaks up.
  “We believe the pureblood human must have 
  come from the same place.  I suspect it was 
  one of only several men killed centuries ago by 
  the disease.  Kept in place by the quarantine, 
  it remained unchanged for generations.  Now, 
  however, something apparently happened at 
  the ‘point of origin’—and these infected thralls 
  escaped.”
  “Interestingly,” Kyren says, with a tinge of 
  something like enthusiasm in his voice, “the 
  android also had other information.  Stinker, call 
  up the other data…”
  Within a few minutes Stinker manages to call 
  up a virtual storehouse of information hidden but 
  still salvageable deep in the robot’s brain.  Kyren 
  moves forward, his eyes working overtime to read 
  every bit of text ﬂashing down the screen.
  This new information is presented as Handouts #1 
  and #2.  Give them to the players to look over before 
  continuing.
  “Yes… okay, here’s what I’m talking about.  This 
  data talks about how the disease is expected to 
  infect every life form it comes into contact with—
  even animals.  And it even gives us information 
  about how the Enemy is organized.
  “Here’s where Doc’s genius really comes into 
  play.  Because those ‘scavs’ inﬁltrated Hooper 
  twice, I ﬁgure they were seedlings.  All the 
  zombies on the front, those are shamblers.  We 
  haven’t encountered these so-called ‘integrators’ 
  yet.  But the node mother…
  “Based on some observations of the seedling 
  we had here, Doc has a theory that all of these 
  are telepathically controlled.  This data conﬁrms 
  it.  It’s the node mother that acts as the controller, 
  keeping them all coordinated, united.
  “You know that old woman you killed in 
  Hooper?  Doc, tell them.”
  “Well,” Doc says, “I performed an autopsy 
  on the body and found that the brain was almost 
  twice normal size, and had been slightly re-
  arranged.  Obviously the disease had transformed 
  the old woman’s brain for a specialized purpose.”
  “She was a node mother,” Kyren explains.  
  
  69
  “The old lady was a node mother.  But why 
  weren’t the Enemy falling apart?  I mean, you cut 
  off the head, the rest of the body dies, right?  So 
  why isn’t the war over?”
  Kyren gives you a moment before explaining.
  “Because there’s another node mother out 
  there.  And that’s where you come in…”
  WHAT’S NEXT?
  All this information is ﬁne and good, but the PCs are 
  probably wondering what Kyren wants them to do 
  about it.  Of course, the answer to that question should 
  be blatantly obvious…
  With this new information, Kyren has determined 
  his next move: to send the PCs to the frontier of his 
  lands to ﬁnd and eradicate the second “node mother” 
  that is keeping and controlling the Enemy army.  If 
  they ﬁnd and kill it, the threat to Kyren’s empire will 
  end once and for all.
  If the PCs ask where to begin, Kyren has a few 
  ideas:
  Alamosa.  This town is not occupied by the 
  Wastelords.  Superstitious locals believe the ruins are 
  inhabited by an “animated garbage heap,” an angry 
  spirit of the ruined town that eats all who trespass.  
  Kyren doubts this is related to the Enemy.  The stories 
  of this alleged “monster” go back for generations in 
  the valley, well before the Enemy ﬁrst appeared.
  Blanca.  Kyren tells the PCs a trip to Blanca is 
  probably not worth the effort.  This town had been an 
  important Wastelord base for years (used to mount 
  raids into the Forbidden Lands), but with the rise 
  of the Enemy it was abandoned so that the troops 
  stationed there could be put to use guarding more 
  important Wastelord towns closer to home.
  Center.  Kyren is leery about the prospect of a 
  visit to Center.  An entire Wastelord army was wiped 
  out there, and despite the information gleaned from 
  the android, little of practical value is known about 
  
  70
  Center.  Kyren tells the PCs to avoid this town at all 
  costs until the Wastelords are prepared to confront the 
  Enemy head-on (this town is detailed in the third part 
  of this adventure series, The Last God).
  Del Monte.  Kyren knows nothing of this town, 
  other than that no Wastelord has ever been there due 
  to its isolation on the far side of the valley.
  Moffat.  Moffat is an important cattle town, one of 
  the major suppliers of food in the Wastelord empire.  
  It’s a relatively cooperative town, so the PCs might 
  get some answers there.
  Monte Vista.  Another town the Wastelords never 
  settled.  Kyren has little information about it.
  Saguache.  Kyren knows little of this distant town, 
  but according to stories, it has long been abandoned.
  The PCs have ﬁve days to investigate sites throughout 
  the valley.  Because they will be operating alone 
  behind enemy lines, Kyren has authorized them to 
  take any (or all) of the following equipment:
  Wastelord truck
  2 Low-level Wastelords A (driver and escort)
  Sufﬁcient gas for for ﬁve days of travel in the 
  truck
  Sufﬁcient K-rations for all members of the 
  scouting party
  A two-way CB radio
  One M16A2 for each character in the party
  Three clips of ammo for each M16A2
  One light duty vest for each character in the party
  Once the PCs have had time to prepare (including 
  healing all injuries and training for new levels), 
  proceed to the next chapter, Scouting the Valley.
  
  71
  SCOUTING THE VALLEY
  With their new mandate, the PCs now face the 
  open wilderness of the San Luis Valley, a rolling 
  badlands devastated in the Wastelords’ war against the 
  mysterious Enemy.
  In this part of the adventure, the PCs are free to 
  travel about the valley in any manner they wish.  
  Because some of their travels may occur behind 
  enemy lines, they will want to avoid entanglements 
  with enemy patrols, but encounters are possible (see 
  below).
  This section is organized differently than the rest 
  of this adventure, in that each location is presented 
  separately.  There is no linked story here leading 
  the party from one location to the next.  The PCs 
  can visit the locations below in any order or manner 
  they choose.  Eventually, however, after they have 
  visited the forgotten town of Saguache, their activities 
  will provoke the Last God into making a decisive 
  attack against the Wastelords—leading to an epic 
  confrontation.
  TRAVEL THROUGH THE VALLEY
  In addition to the region’s own shady history (as the 
  location of a top secret bio-warfare laboratory), the 
  valley once used to be home to Great Sand Dunes 
  National Park, a swath of desert landscape that gave 
  birth to some of the tallest sand dunes in North 
  America.  The remnants of these prehistoric dunes still 
  stand, though many have been destroyed or displaced 
  by the constant wars ravaging the Valley; in many 
  cases, only endless tracts of bare soil and rubble 
  remain.
  Before the emergence of the Enemy, however, 
  settlements in the valley prospered due to the shallow 
  water table (the depth to ground water is less than 12 
  feet in some areas).  While the surface is dry and dusty 
  for much of the year, water does exist underground, 
  making it possible for settlers (with the will to dig) to 
  cling stubbornly to life in the valley.
  Before the people of Shelter City emerged from 
  underground, many of these Valley communities 
  consisted of small clan-like groups (textbook cases of 
  Tribal communities).  During Kyren’s exile, he visited 
  some of these, and later—after he built an army of 
  raiders and other outcasts—he conquered them all, 
  along with the vault of his origins.
  Though some of these settlements have since fallen 
  in the war with the Enemy, most of these ancient 
  communities remain part of the Wastelord empire, 
  each an integral piece of the delicate balance of 
  economy and trade.  In addition to labor, goods, or 
  agriculture, all settlements in the valley contribute 
  recruits for the Wastelord armies.  Because they have 
  been part of the empire so long, most have lost any 
  sense of individual identity; the message from Kyren 
  is clear: united we stand, divided you fall.
  The Wastelord villages of the valley are connected 
  by Ancient-era highways that have by and large 
  weathered the ages remarkably well.  Simple two-lane 
  highways, they permit motorcycles, cars, and trucks to 
  move quickly through the valley—keeping scattered 
  communities in contact, assuring the ﬂow of trade 
  goods, and most importantly, cementing Wastelord 
  control over the entire region.
  Though the Wastelords prefer to drive along the 
  few remaining roads, their military trucks (including 
  the PCs’) are capable of off-road travel through 
  the badlands.  Though the going is often somewhat 
  slower, it is not impossible.
  RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
  Encounters in the San Luis Valley are rare, due in no 
  small part to the ravages of the current war between 
  the Last God’s New World Order and Kyren’s 
  Wastelord empire.
  Because the valley is so desolate, roll for encounters 
  only once per day.  Use the ﬁrst encounter table for 
  encounters within Wastelord-controlled terrain; use 
  the second once the party leaves the Wastelord empire 
  and slips behind enemy lines:
  Wastelord Controlled
  D20
  Encounter
  1-5
  Monkeys
  6-8
  Wolves
  9-13
  No event
  14-15
  Mechanical trouble
  16
  Rainstorm
  17-18
  Truck convoy
  19-20
  Wastelord patrol
  Non-Wastelord Controlled
  D20
  Encounter
  1-8
  Enemy patrol
  9-14
  No event
  15-16
  Monkeys
  17
  Wolves
  18-19
  Mechanical trouble
  20
  Rainstorm
  Modiﬁers (Wastelord controlled Only)
  -2 if the party is on Highway 160 or 112
  +2 if the party is on Highway 17
  +5 if the party is on Highway 150
  ENEMY PATROL (EL VARIES)
  The movement of the party’s truck through the area 
  attracts the attention of a group of shamblers and 
  seedlings scouring the desert for any signs of life to 
  infect.  Sensing new prey, they immediately move to 
  attack the truck and its occupants.
  An enemy patrol usually consists of 2d4 unarmed 
  Mutant Shamblers (these won’t be able to stop the 
  truck, though they may wander into the path of the 
  vehicle and damage it if rammed), as well as one or 
  
  72
  two Mutant Seedlings C armed with riﬂes captured 
  during the war.
  MECHANICAL TROUBLE  
  A sudden clang, followed by an awful grinding 
  noise and then a sputtering of the engine, precedes 
  the sudden and unexpected stop of the PCs’ vehicle.  
  Getting out, their Wastelord escorts give the vehicle 
  a thorough inspection before declaring that the truck 
  must stop for repairs.
  The DC for the repairs is 20 and requires 1d8 hours 
  of work.  The Wastelords have enough spare parts to 
  make the repairs, so there is no cost in raw materials.  
  If the PCs do not have the skills to repair the vehicle, 
  assume one of the Wastelords has enough know-how 
  to do the job (but double the time required).
  Once the vehicle is repaired, the PCs (and their 
  Wastelord escorts) can go on their way.
  MONKEYS (EL 2)
  Hiding in the shade of a dead tree right out in the 
  middle of the wasteland, or in the upper story of a 
  ruined building (if the PCs are in a town), a group of 
  rhesus monkeys watches the PCs from a safe distance.  
  These monkeys are descended from test animals 
  that escaped during the chaos at Center during the 
  Fall; their presence is highly unusual in a place like 
  southern Colorado.  The monkeys generally avoid 
  the party, but if they are threatened they will attack 
  to defend themselves.  They are not infected with the 
  XBM macro-organism (or any other virus), but the 
  PCs don’t know that…
  If the PCs observe these animals and track them, the 
  monkeys will eventually lead the PCs to their lair (see 
  later for details).
   Monkeys (12): hp 4 each (see d20 Modern or 
  Appendix 2).
  VALLEY HIGHWAYS 
  The San Luis Valley is crisscrossed by ﬁve major highways and a few back roads worthy of note:
  Highway 17
  Highway 17 serves as a convenient marker of the edge of Wastelord territory; all places west of it are 
  unknown and uninhabited, while all places east of it (to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains) are ﬁrmly in 
  Wastelord control.
  The highway itself is in relatively good condition from Mosca to Moffat; it is regularly maintained by 
  gangs of slave laborers.  This highway work has allowed Highway 17 to remain open despite being more 
  than two centuries old.  The Wastelords use Highway 17 to ferry supplies, food shipments, and troops by 
  truck from one town to the next and to keep the outlying trenches connected to supply centers.
  Highway 112
  Highway 112 runs through the heart of the San Luis Valley, and thus has remained almost completely 
  forgotten for many years.  As it runs through a featureless wasteland with few worthwhile resources, the 
  Wastelords (like the tribals before them) have never seen a need to explore it.
  The small town of Center lies near route 112 at its far western end, just within sight of the highway.  This 
  town is at the heart of the mystery surrounding the great Enemy of the Wastelords, and is detailed in part 
  three of this series, The Last God.
  Highway 150
  This highway connects Shelter City with the rest of the Wastelord empire.  Though small, the road sees 
  regular maintenance by slave crews working out of Shelter City, and is thus in generally good shape year-
  round.
  Highway 160
  The remains of old Highway 160 are used to convey entire armies of Wastelord raiders to the Trade Lands 
  on their annual predations.  Its great length means the Wastelords cannot realistically maintain it, and as a 
  result entire sections (some up to a mile long) have fallen into decay.
  In general, Highway 160 remains in relatively good condition east of Blanca, only showing signs of 
  decay as it begins its descent into the Forbidden Lands.  West of Blanca, the highway begins to deteriorate 
  much more rapidly, making the going a little slower (but the road is still unbroken); after Monte Vista it 
  almost completely vanishes, reclaimed entirely in some areas by the wastes.
  Highway 285
  Neglected Highway 285 is still intact, despite having been almost completely forgotten for over two 
  centuries.  It is not used, however, since it lies well outside the Wastelord sphere of inﬂuence.
  
  73
  RAINSTORM  
  Because the PCs are in the San Luis Valley during 
  its brief rainy season, they run the risk of being 
  caught in a freak rainstorm.  During these quick and 
  unpredictable squalls, water washes over the ﬂat 
  roadways, turning the sands of the wasteland into 
  gray mud and causing the old arroyos of the desert to 
  overﬂow and ﬂood entire regions.
  A rainstorm in the valley slows highway movement 
  to 40 mph (30 mph offroad).  You may call for Drive 
  checks on occasion, with failure indicating the party’s 
  truck has gone out of control, bogged down in the 
  mud, or driven into a rain-swollen arroyo and become 
  immobilized for several hours (at least until the rain 
  stops).
  TRUCK CONVOY
  The PCs encounter a convoy of 2-3 cargo trucks 
  heading along the highway (if this encounter is rolled 
  off-road, ignore it and roll again) from one Wastelord 
  town to another.  The convoy trucks contain food, 
  fortiﬁcation materials, or other mundane supplies, 
  as well as 2d10 slaves being transported to various 
  worksites.  The trucks stop if hailed, and can provide 
  some assistance, but they will be eager to be on 
  their way.  None of the men are armed; if they are so 
  inclined, the PCs could conceivably hijack any of the 
  trucks, their food, or even free the slaves with little 
  trouble.
  If the PCs have had mechanical trouble and the 
  convoy shows up while they are in the midst of 
  repairing their vehicle, the men of the convoy can 
  expedite the repairs (halve any remaining repair time).  
  They then drive on.
   
  WASTELORD PATROL
  The PCs come across a Wastelord patrol consisting 
  of 2d3 Low-level Wastelords A riding in an old-
  style army truck (treat this as a moving truck; it 
  is essentially identical to the one given to them 
  by Kyren).  Once the PCs identify themselves as 
  agents working for Kyren, the Wastelords become 
  friendly, and will give water, food, directions, or other 
  assistance to the PCs if asked.
  If the PCs have had mechanical trouble and 
  the patrol shows up while they are in the midst of 
  repairing their vehicle, the men of the patrol can 
  expedite the repairs (halve any remaining repair time).  
  They then drive on.
  WOLVES (EL 5)
  A pack of famished wolves prowls just within sight of 
  the highway, their hungry eyes glaring in the party’s 
  direction.  The pack consists of several animals native 
  to the region who have fallen on hard times; local 
  wildlife is dwindling due to the recent spread of the 
  macro-organism in the valley.  The animals have lost a 
  few of their number to the infection and are thus wary 
  of all strangers in their territory; however, to avoid 
  
  74
  dying out, they are forced to take some chances…
  If the PCs seem weak or vulnerable, the animals try 
  to intercept them and attack; otherwise they merely 
  watch pitifully from a safe distance as the PCs go by.
   Wolves (4):  hp 13 each (see d20 Modern or 
  Appendix 2).
   
  1. ARTILLERY FIREBASE
  The roar of artillery crashes like thunder in 
  the distance.  Up ahead, on a low rise in the 
  otherwise featureless gray desert, you see a 
  network of trenches surrounding a sand-bagged 
  emplacement—an artillery ﬁrebase.  A number of 
  rusted howitzers ﬁre continuous volleys into the 
  sky, creating the incessant thundering noise heard 
  across the valley day and night.
  Each of these locations is essentially identical: a 
  fortiﬁed artillery ﬁrebase situated either out in the 
  open or on a small rise in the otherwise ﬂat desert 
  landscape.  These ﬁrebases are built to protect their 
  small complement of long-range artillery pieces—
  light ﬁeld guns scavenged by the Wastelords over 
  the years and put back into service bombarding the 
  Enemy whenever it pushes against the frontier.
  If the party visits any of these ﬁrebases, they will 
  generally be met with professional courtesy, but 
  because the forces stationed at these outposts are often 
  overworked and undermanned, the PCs won’t receive 
  any real assistance.  A typical local garrison consists 
  of 6 to 12 Wastelord soldiers and a few slave warriors 
  trained in the operation of light howitzers, but 
  beyond that there are limited supplies and no useful 
  information to be gleaned.  The PCs can stop at such a 
  place to rest (with a reasonable guarantee of security), 
  to use the garrison’s radio to communicate with 
  Shelter City, or to commandeer extra ammunition for 
  their ﬁrearms from the ﬁrebase’s small armory—but 
  little else.
  GM’s Note:  Under no circumstances can the PCs 
  commandeer artillery pieces or re-direct artillery ﬁre 
  from a ﬁrebase.  The Wastelords are facing acute 
  ammo shortages for these weapons and use their 
  howitzers exclusively to prevent enemy breakthroughs 
  along the frontline; they will not squander their 
  reserves on the party’s whim.
  2. DESTROYED VILLAGE (EL VARIES)
  Rain washes over the dismal desert terrain, 
  creating a low fog that creeps along the muddy 
  plain.  Up ahead through the mist you see the 
  dilapidated remains of an old village, its wooden 
  outer walls collapsed in places and its collection 
  of huts sagging miserably.
  Each of these locations marks a village or town 
  lost to the encroachment of the Enemy in recent 
  years.  Former tribal communities subjugated by the 
  Wastelords in their conquest of the desert, most were 
  abandoned or destroyed during the war and now lie far 
  behind enemy lines.
  The party’s Wastelord escorts suggest giving these 
  places a wide berth.  If the party insists on stopping 
  in one of these deserted villages, a search may (at the 
  GM’s discretion) turn up a few mundane items worth 
  scavenging (common household goods, perhaps a few 
  weapons left behind on dead men, etc.).
  In addition, there is a chance that searchers will 
  encounter small groups of the Enemy inside the 
  village.  Roll on the following table to determine what 
  (if any) Enemy force is present:
  D6
  Enemies
  1-3
  None
  4-5
  1d4+1 Mutant Shamblers
  6
  As 4-5 above, but also with 1d2 Mutant Seedlings C
  3. ABANDONED TRENCHES
  The terrain here is marked by an elaborate web 
  of trenches which seem to stretch on endlessly 
  into the distance.  Huge craters pit the earth 
  everywhere, providing sinkholes in which rain 
  gathers into large pools of brown water.  Erosion 
  has damaged large sections of the defenses, 
  turning entire trenches into water-logged streams.  
  Countless skeletal remains dot the landscape, 
  exposed by the falling rain.
  While trench warfare is generally anything but ﬂuid, 
  the Wastelords have on occasion found it necessary 
  to abandon forward trenches to pull back to more 
  defensible positions in the rear.  These areas mark 
  elaborate networks of trenches and fortiﬁcations 
  that the Wastelords abandoned to the Enemy before 
  creating a stable front line (as evident on the map).
  Because the trenches have collapsed in many 
  areas, leaving them ﬂooded, they are not occupied 
  by the Enemy.  In addition, searches uncover little of 
  value (anything scavenged is likely badly rusted or 
  waterlogged).
  4. CRASH SITE
  A few dozen yards off of the highway ahead 
  of you, in the middle of the desert, you see the 
  wreckage of an old automobile, an SUV of some 
  kind.  Light reﬂecting off the dirt-caked mirrors 
  ﬁrst drew your attention, but its isolation well off 
  the road seems unusual.
  As you approach, you see the bleached remains 
  of a skeleton half-buried in the sand only a few 
  dozen paces from the wreckage.
  
  75
  This vehicle (a badly rusted SUV) was commandeered 
  by deserters from the Center facility during the 
  “accident” there over two hundred years ago.  Taking 
  what weapons they could, they ﬂed the facility, hoping 
  to make it to the rumored vault in the Great Sand 
  Dunes national park before the doors closed.  So 
  desperate were these former soldiers to avoid being 
  killed in the coming nuclear war that they planned to 
  gain admittance to the vault by force if necessary.  The 
  vehicle still holds a large cache of weaponry.
  GM’s Note:  PCs making an Investigate check (DC 
  25 due to the amount of time that has transpired since 
  the vehicle went off the road) can deduce that the car 
  veered off the highway when someone in the back seat 
  attacked the driver.  The attacker (actually a security 
  guard who had slowly transformed into a seedling) 
  strangled the driver, causing the car to careen away 
  from the road.  As it came to a stop, there was a 
  struggle, during which the same attacker overcame all 
  but one of the men before being doused with gasoline 
  from one of the jerry cans and immolated.  This last 
  survivor wandered only a few dozen yards from the 
  burning wreckage before dying of wounds incurred in 
  the crash.
  Treasure:  A search of the wrecked car uncovers a 
  yellowed map of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, 
  four light duty vests, two laser pistols (empty power 
  clips), two Colt 635s (all empty), a Benelli M1 (with 
  one round inside), and several jerry cans of gasoline 
  (just under 20 gallons remaining).
  If the PCs search the half-buried body nearby they 
  ﬁnd the shredded remains of a uniform.  In the shirt 
  pocket is an identiﬁcation card labeled “Sgt. James 
  Boxer, Surface Security.”  This is fact a graphite 
  access card, which may prove important when the 
  PCs go to Center in part three of this adventure series; 
  until then, it has no apparent value.
  5. ABANDONED TRUCK
  On the shoulder of the highway is an old military 
  transport truck not unlike yours, badly rusted 
  with much of its old olive paint peeled off by 
  decades, if not centuries, of sand and rain storms.
  If the PCs stop to investigate, the truck proves to be 
  almost identical to theirs (a typical pre-Fall military 
  truck used to transport squads of men).  Judging by its 
  terrible condition, it must have been abandoned here 
  over two hundred years ago and forgotten.  If they ask 
  their Wastelord companions about it, they are simply 
  told that no Wastelord truck was ever lost this far 
  north.
  Any character who makes a Investigate check (DC 
  17 due to the time that has transpired) ﬁnds clues 
  that suggest the truck’s engine overheated, forcing its 
  crew to stop.  No serious damage was inﬂicted to the 
  vehicle engine, however—suggesting that whoever 
  abandoned the vehicle must have been in a hurry 
  (otherwise the crew would have remained and tried to 
  cool it down).
  A search of the back uncovers nothing; it appears 
  the truck was thoroughly scavenged before or after its 
  passengers and crew abandoned it.  Since these trucks 
  usually carried heavy equipment, PCs investigating 
  the scene can assume they transferred their gear from 
  this truck to another one (the abandoned truck was 
  probably only one of several in a convoy).
  GM’s Note:  This truck was abandoned during the 
  evacuation of the San Luis Valley during the chaos 
  of the Fall.  Stationed at the Del Norte roadblock 
  (see that town’s entry for details), the military unit 
  eventually abandoned their post and tried to make it 
  to Great Sand Dunes.  When they realized they were 
  too late, they headed north, hoping to reach rumored 
  rendezvous points in Salida (to the north, beyond the 
  campaign map).  When this vehicle overheated, they 
  merely abandoned it, jumping onto another truck in 
  their hurry to hook up with friendly forces.
  These men were never heard from again, and this 
  abandoned truck serves merely as curious evidence of 
  their passing.
  6. MONKEY LAIR (EL 2)
  The highway seems to stretch on forever.  Bracing 
  yourselves for another few hours of monotony, 
  you suddenly wonder if you’ve gone crazy as you 
  see a small furry monkey squatting on the side of 
  the road.  As your truck approaches, the monkey 
  lets off a panicked screech and leaps off the 
  highway, disappearing into a drainage ditch on 
  the other side.
  This is the lair of a pack of twelve rhesus monkeys, 
  the descendants of escaped test subjects from the 
  Center facility.  The PCs may have encountered these 
  monkeys before (as a random encounter), as they 
  roam far and wide across the valley by night searching 
  for things to eat.  Alternatively, they may have 
  heard about the monkeys from Ben and Betty, the 
  administrators of the town of Moffat (see Moffat).
  The ancestors of these creatures were healthy (not 
  infected by the macro-organism), and thus these 
  monkeys pose no real threat to the PCs.  If the PCs try 
  to invade their lair, however, the monkeys will jump 
  on them and claw them in a frantic effort to defend 
  their home.
  Their lair consists of nothing more than a large 
  cement storm drain running beneath the highway.  
  There are openings on both ends; the monkeys live 
  close to the center of the tunnel (underground and out 
  of the wind).  The drain is large enough for a Medium-
  size creature to crawl into (treat any PC doing so as 
  prone), and is ﬁlled with all manner of rotten fruit, 
  the hollowed-out shells of bugs, and profuse monkey 
  
  76
  droppings.
  Statistics for the twelve monkeys can be found in the 
  Random Encounters section.
  Treasure:  If the PCs Search the storm drain (DC 
  17) they ﬁnd, buried in all the refuse, a green access 
  card.  Like the graphite card at Area 4, this peculiar 
  item may be useful when the PCs eventually go to 
  Center in part three of this series, The Last God; this 
  particular card is keyed speciﬁcally to the Animal 
  Containment Building).
  7. MONTE VISTA (EL 8)
  The ruins of Monte Vista are a quiet, isolated place 
  at the southwest end of the San Luis Valley.  Monte 
  Vista lies in the shadow of the San Juan Mountains, 
  far from settlements populated by the Wastelords and 
  their subjects.
  This encounter, while not necessary for the 
  completion of this adventure, has far-reaching 
  repercussions if solved successfully.  In the town of 
  Monte Vista lurks an insidious danger, a contaminated 
  watering hole that infects all animals—and men—
  who drink from its waters.
  As explained in the adventure introduction, several 
  seedlings managed to escape the android quarantine 
  during the recent power failure at Center.  One of 
  these, badly injured by android laser ﬁre, struggled 
  to stay alive as it traveled directly south looking for a 
  new host to infect.  As the seedling wandered, it found 
  only desolate highways—until at long last it came 
  across the ruins of Monte Vista.
  But the ruins were empty; the town had been 
  abandoned long ago during the Fall.  Too badly 
  injured to carry on, the seedling plunged itself head-
  ﬁrst into a watering hole near the center of the ruins, 
  hoping to at least pass the contagion to a healthier and 
  more ﬁt animal (or traveler) that might drink from it.
  And that is exactly what happened.  A group of 
  Cartel scouts, sent to investigate reports that the 
  valley was the secret home of the Wastelords, recently 
  camped in Monte Vista before moving on.  The Cartel 
  men unwittingly reﬁlled their canteens at the infected 
  watering hole in which the dead seedling lay before 
  heading back to their base at Blanca.
  While in Monte Vista, the PCs have a chance to 
  learn about the Cartel scouts, and with a bit of luck, 
  can follow them back to Blanca to warn them before 
  the infection of the Last God spreads outside of the 
  valley…
  Your hopes of ﬁnding anything useful among the 
  ruins Monte Vista seem to go up in smoke as you 
  approach the outskirts of town.  This place is 
  desolate.  The old buildings of the small pre-Fall 
  town have seen better days; most lack roofs, and 
  those that had more than one story have collapsed 
  in on themselves, leaving only the empty shells 
  of houses, stores, and other structures neatly 
  arranged along the sides of broad sun-baked 
  streets.
  For almost a full half hour, you search for any 
  sign of life, but the ruins seem almost completely 
  empty.
  Up ahead, however, you see a welcome sight: 
  a crater pitting the hard pavement of a street 
  intersection, where an old underground water 
  main must have burst and ﬁlled the depression 
  with water.  A few wild dogs congregate near the 
  edge of the watering hole, but as you approach, 
  the animals rise and walk warily away, taking up 
  positions some ﬁfty feet distant.
  The animals just stand there amidst the rubble 
  of broken buildings, watching you.  Apparently 
  afraid of tougher predators, they have backed 
  down from defending their claim to the watering 
  hole—at least until you move on. 
  The animals linger among the ruins, watching the PCs 
  from a distance of 50 feet or so.  They appear to be 
  merely wary of the PCs’ intrusion, but in fact they are 
  carefully observing the party’s actions.
  A successful Sense Motive check (DC 20) by one of 
  the PCs suggests that something strange is up, and that 
  the behavior of the animals is not normal.  If any PCs 
  succeed at this check, read to them the following:
  The animals continue to keep their distance, but 
  the way they are staring at you seems unnatural—
  and uncanny.  Instead of being afraid of you, it 
  seems as if they were in fact watching you, as if 
  in reality they wanted to you to drink from the 
  water…
  The animals are in fact infected seedlings, having 
  drunk from the same pool of water only days ago.  
  Taken over by the macro-organism, they have 
  remained near the oasis to observe and infect any men 
  or creatures that approach the pool.
  PCs at the edge of the pond can make a one-time 
  Spot check (DC 15) to notice what appears to be the 
  ragged remains of a corpse at the bottom, just barely 
  visible through the murky water.  The body is badly 
  decomposed; bits of its ﬂesh are missing, having 
  ﬂaked off and mixed with the oasis water.  It lies face 
  down, its ﬂeshless, skull-like face buried in the silt at 
  the pond’s bottom.
  If the PCs do not replenish their water (or if they 
  discover the corpse underwater), the animals bare 
  their sickly yellow teeth and growl angrily.  A few 
  seconds later, realizing that the PCs aren’t going to 
  drink from the infected water, the animals charge 
  towards the party and attack.
   Dog Seedlings (7):  HP 20, 16, 16, 13 (x4) (see 
  Appendix 2).
  Treasure:  If the PCs haul the carcass out of the 
  water, they ﬁnd it clad in a badly rotted white coat (a 
  
  77
  lab coat) and ragged slacks that almost disintegrate at 
  a touch.  A plastic nametag over its breast pocket reads 
  “Dr. Lacey, Center Facility.”  The body has nothing 
  else of interest on it.
  SEARCHING
  If the PCs Search the vicinity around the watering 
  hole (DC 11), they ﬁnd telltale signs that another 
  group was recently here before them.  There are six 
  sets of footprints and evidence that they arrived and 
  departed in a motor vehicle (probably a sedan or 
  something similar).
  A Survival check (DC 11) reveals that these vehicle 
  tracks head southeast along Highway 160, towards 
  Alamosa.
  8. ALAMOSA
  The ride to Alamosa is uneventful; you have a 
  good few hours to stare off at the clear mountains 
  to the south, where the beginnings of forest begin 
  to take shape.  To the north lies only bleak and 
  unending desert.
  Eventually the Wastelord truck nears Alamosa, 
  at which point your driver pulls off at the exit 
  ramp leading into town.
  “Can’t go in there,” the man says, looking over 
  his shoulder so you can hear him in the back of 
  the truck.  “They say that place is haunted.”
  If the PCs found the human and vehicle tracks in 
  Monte Vista, they may have followed the trail to 
  Alamosa.  The party passes one or two pre-Fall gas 
  stations along the way, but a quick stop and look 
  around proves that their quarry—whoever they 
  are—bypassed these and continued without stopping 
  towards Alamosa.
  Once they reach the old highway exit to Alamosa, 
  the PCs can get out and look around.  If they do, 
  allow each to make a Survival check (DC 12).  With 
  a successful check, they notice that the tracks they 
  are following also bypass Alamosa and head directly 
  east along Highway 160, towards the distant town of 
  Blanca.
  GM’s Note:  If the party has not been to Monte 
  Vista already, they can still make the Survival check 
  here to notice the tracks and realize that someone 
  came past here recently.
  THE TOWN
  Once one of the larger towns in the San Luis Valley, 
  Alamosa unfortunately did not survive the Fall 
  untouched.  In the immediate chaos following public 
  announcement of the coming nuclear attack, many 
  citizens of the sizable town ﬂed for the rumored 
  government shelter up in the Great Sand Dunes 
  National Park.  In the anarchy, a vital downtown gas 
  pipeline was ruptured by a panicked motorist trying 
  to get out of congested eastbound trafﬁc, setting off a 
  massive explosion and ﬁrestorm that burned Alamosa 
  to the ground in a matter of hours.
  The Wastelords came to Alamosa years ago hoping 
  to ﬁnd usable supplies but found only broad, wind-
  swept avenues and block upon block of hopelessly 
  burned ruins.  Much to their dismay, the town’s once-
  impressive hospital had burned to a cinder; Adams 
  State College (in downtown Alamosa) also burned 
  down during the ﬁrestorm, leaving nothing to be 
  gained.  As if these reasons weren’t enough to warrant 
  moving on, the downtown area proved to be inhabited 
  by a monstrous heap turtle that claimed an entire 
  Wastelord armored car.  Since that scouting party 
  vanished, the Wastelords have not returned.
  THE HAUNT (EL 9)
  The heap turtle still makes its home at the center of 
  town, living in the caved-in ruins of one of the town’s 
  larger buildings.  Since many buildings at the heart 
  
  78
  of Alamosa collapsed years ago, the colossal mutant 
  beast could conceivably live in any one of them.
  Rumors of the heap turtle’s presence and the threat 
  of the Enemy so far from the established frontlines 
  have prevented settlers from returning to the ruins of 
  Alamosa.  The town is thus deserted.
   Heap Turtle (1):  hp 208  (see page 294 of 
  Darwin’s World 2nd Edition or Appendix 2).
  9. BLANCA
  The small town of Blanca, located in the rugged pass 
  connecting the San Luis Valley with the Trade Lands 
  and beyond, lies like the last gateway to the known 
  world, a portal through which the valley’s oppressed 
  inhabitants can see that cruelty and savagery are not 
  unique to their condition, but afﬂict even the world 
  Outside.
  Until recently, the ruins of Blanca were used as a 
  major staging area from which the Wastelords would 
  mount campaigns into the Forbidden Lands and Trade 
  Lands.  Each year, major war parties would strike out 
  from Blanca on ﬂeets of oily black vehicles, headed 
  down into the lowlands beyond the Sangre de Cristo 
  Mountains to rain terror on the inhabitants of the 
  desert.  The seasonal trade villages and towns beyond 
  the mountains witnessed displays of the Wastelords’ 
  tenacity (perhaps an attack or two on an unsuspecting 
  town), paid suitable tribute, and the Wastelords would 
  return with cars full of loot, water, and women.  Their 
  price in bloodshed and tribute paid, the Wastelords 
  would return across the mountains and leave the 
  people of the low country alone.
  During their last campaign in the Trade Lands 
  (against which the PCs played a major role in Against 
  the Wastelords), however, severe losses forced the 
  Wastelords to abandon Blanca, albeit temporarily.  
  With so many of his forces deployed in the Trade 
  Lands (putting down the Alliance of the Three 
  Towns), Kyren desired more troops to guard Shelter 
  City and the other communities against the incessant 
  threat of the Enemy.  The garrison at Blanca packed 
  up and left the town empty in its wake.
  GM’s Note:  Though the Wastelords do not realize 
  it, Blanca has been taken over by a scouting force 
  from the Cartel (see Denizens of the Twisted Earth 
  for details on this major faction) on a two-pronged 
  mission: to search for potential customer-communities 
  with which to trade in the future, and to secretly scout 
  for the rumored “hold beyond the mountains” from 
  which the dread Wastelords are believed to operate.
  Arriving uncontested, the Cartel scouts set up a 
  small base at Blanca and have begun to explore the 
  San Luis Valley, looking for communities and any 
  sign that this valley is, in fact, the secret home of the 
  Wastelords.
  GETTING THERE
  The following assumes the PCs picked up the trail 
  of the Cartel expedition in either Monte Vista or 
  Alamosa, and followed it down Highway 160 to 
  Blanca.  If the PCs came here without any prior 
  knowledge of the mysterious Cartel scouts, you may 
  need to adjust the reactions of the Cartel men to the 
  PCs’ presence.
  In any event, read the following if and when the 
  PCs approach Blanca:
  The highway leads higher and higher into the 
  hills, heading towards the southern pass leading 
  out of the valley.  The distant sounds of the war 
  in the valley are lost here, drowned out by the 
  raging wind.
  The countryside up here becomes dry and 
  barren, with the highway skirting old cliffs that 
  plummet into winding arroyos and old lakebeds.  
  A few dead trees, blackened as if burned, can be 
  seen on nearby ridges, but no other vegetation 
  can be seen for miles.
  A roadside sign ahead identiﬁes the off-ramp to 
  Blanca.
  If the PCs continue on (either by foot or by truck), 
  continue reading:
  Just off the highway is a cluster of pasty white 
  concrete buildings with bright orange roofs that 
  stand out against the drab colors of the desert.  
  Just outside town is a camp ringed with a number 
  of canvas tents, at the center of which sit two 
  rusted old sedans.
  As you draw near, a number of ﬁgures scramble 
  and run for cover, grabbing riﬂes and taking up 
  defensive positions.
  HANDLING THE SITUATION (EL 5)
  If the PCs have been tracking these men since Monte 
  Vista, their pursuit ends here—this is the camp of their 
  “quarry,” a group of Cartel scouts sent to the San Luis 
  Valley to ﬁnd the Wastelord homeland.  Since they are 
  under orders avoid discovery by the raiders, the scouts 
  are alarmed by the sudden appearance of strangers.
  However, the Cartel scouts won’t attack 
  indiscriminately (that’s bad for business); they open 
  ﬁre only if they see and identify either the Wastelord 
  truck or individual Wastelords with the PCs.  The 
  Cartel scouts have no compunction against attacking 
  Wastelords on sight.  And since the Wastelords are 
  raiders, after all, the Cartel men wouldn’t trust 
  anything the PCs had to say anyway.
  Because of their defensive positions, the Cartel 
  scouts have one-quarter cover.
   Cartel Scouts (5): hp 42, 42, 40, 35, 35 (see 
  Appendix 1). 
  The sixth Cartel scout, “Howie,” quietly ﬂees if 
  there is ﬁghting, slipping into the cluster of buildings 
  to lure the PCs after him (see below).
  Treasure:  In addition to their personal gear, 
  
  79
  the Cartel camp includes ﬁve tents, a small store 
  of ammunition (twelve more boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition), two sets of binoculars, an old pre-Fall 
  map of the valley (there’s nothing too revealing on 
  the map, as it is merely the kind of roadmap once 
  purchased from gas stations all around the valley), 
  and a pair of Dodge Neons (vehicles) with enough gas 
  for several more trips around the valley and a return 
  trip to Cartel Outpost 7 in the Forbidden Lands (see 
  Campaign Map).
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs came alone on foot (for 
  example, after leaving the Wastelord truck behind and 
  out of sight on the highway), the Cartel scouts may be 
  willing to talk.  Convincing them not to ﬁre requires a 
  successful Diplomacy check (DC 15).
  If the PCs convince the Cartel soldiers to talk, they 
  maintain their defensive posture (taking cover among 
  the tents and other nearby terrain), but their leader will 
  answer questions as follows:
  Who are you?
  “Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re 
  scouts for the Cartel.”
  What are you doing here?
  “We were sent to this valley to look for signs of 
  Wastelord habitation.  Our commanders have 
  reason to believe the main base of the Wastelords 
  is somewhere around here.  We came through the 
  southern pass only to ﬁnd this town abandoned, 
  so we decided to make it our base of operations.  
  Since then, we’ve been striking out along the 
  highways on regular scouting forays.”
  Have you found anything?
  “We checked out Alamosa—but we lost one of our 
  men to something living in the downtown area.  
  Don’t know what it was, but he never came back.  
  We’ve been giving the town a wide berth since 
  then.  Just recently we went on to Monte Vista, 
  but that proved empty too.  Have you seen any 
  signs of raiders?  The Cartel would be more than 
  willing to compensate you for any leads…”
  GM’s Note: At this point, the PCs could 
  conceivably sell out their Wastelord allies by tipping 
  the Cartel scouts off to the location of Shelter City.  
  The scouts are willing to pay up to 250 corium pieces 
  for reliable information about the location of the 
  Wastelord main headquarters.  Check the scouts’ 
  Sense Motive against any Bluff attempts if the PCs 
  provide false information; if the PCs are caught lying, 
  the scouts immediately attack.
  Did you know one of your men might be infected?
  If the PCs journeyed to Monte Vista and uncovered 
  evidence of the contaminated pond there, this is 
  probably their most pressing question.  If the PCs 
  explain that the Cartel expedition may have come 
  into contact with contaminated water at Monte Vista, 
  and explain the horriﬁc results of infection, read the 
  following:
  “What are you talking about?” the Cartel leader 
  yells from behind cover.  “Contaminated water?  
  We always use halazone tablets to purify our 
  water.  Isn’t that right, Jim?”
  “Of course we do, we’d be idiots not too,” 
  comes another voice from the opposite side of the 
  camp.  “Right, guys?”
  There is a round of agreement from the Cartel 
  camp, a collection of voices conﬁrming that the 
  Cartel men took adequate precautions.
  “Hell,” says their leader, “even Howie ain’t 
  that stupid.  Are you, Howie?”
  “Howie?”
  “Hey, where’d Howie go?”
  FINDING HOWIE (EL 7)
  As soon as it becomes clear during the negotiations 
  that the seedling’s secret has been exposed, Howie 
  (the only Cartel soldier to have been infected), slips 
  off, retreating into the Blanca’s maze of dilapidated 
  buildings.  Rather than be rooted out and killed, the 
  seedling seeks to draw the PCs after it so it can kill as 
  many humans as possible before being “put down.”
  If the PCs head toward town, they must make a 
  Diplomacy check to convince the Cartel soldiers 
  that Howie is no longer one of them, but rather an 
  infected seedling.  The Cartel scouts don’t know what 
  a “seedling” is, so it will be difﬁcult to persuade them 
  (DC 18).  Even if the PCs manage to earn their trust, 
  the Cartel scouts want no part in hunting Howie down.
  If the PCs fail their Diplomacy checks, however, the 
  Cartel scouts don’t believe their story and think the 
  PCs are trying to trick them.  They immediately open 
  ﬁre.  If this is the case, resolve the battle here ﬁrst; 
  Howie remains in the maze of buildings waiting out 
  the battle (giving him time to transform); if anyone 
  tries to ﬁnd him, he plans to kill them as they come.
   Howie, Cartel Scout: hp 42 (see Appendix 1). 
  GM’s Note:  During the battle with the Cartel 
  scouts (or during any negotiations) Howie slips away 
  and tries to ﬁnd a safe place to hide in the old cluster 
  of buildings nearby.  Here he will begin to transform, 
  a painful process that takes 1d4 rounds.  During the 
  change, the organism inside him literally rearranges 
  his body, dispersing his vital organs so that he is much 
  harder to kill or incapacitate.  The end result is a 
  spider-like monster made of re-arranged human body 
  parts and limbs, barely recognizeable as the man it 
  once was.
  
  80
  If the PCs catch Howie while he is still undergoing 
  this transformation, they are in for quite a surprise:
  Your light falls upon what you assume is the 
  infected individual you’ve been chasing after.  
  However, its current appearance makes you stop 
  cold and raise your weapons instantly.
  The Cartel scout is backed up against a stone 
  wall, sweating profusely.  As you watch, his 
  sunglasses fall away, revealing all-black eyes that 
  are all too familiar.  At that moment, every muscle 
  in the man’s body seem to suddenly spasm, and 
  there is chain of grotesque noises that can only be 
  the sounds of bones dislocating and breaking all 
  throughout his body.
  As you stare dumbfounded, the poor infected 
  man’s body is reshaped before your eyes.  His skin 
  becomes little more than an outer covering, as 
  the bones beneath are moved around by powerful 
  and unnatural forces within.  His head instantly 
  shrinks down against his torso, collapsing like 
  an empty balloon as his brain is withdrawn into 
  the ribcage.  Only his pitch black eyes remain, 
  jutting forth from the collapsed sockets on stalks 
  composed of rigid optical nerves.
  His legs also begin to shorten (accompanied 
  by a gut-wrenching crunching noise), as the thigh 
  bones are withdrawn and forced out of his back, 
  giving him a four-legged, centaur-like stance that 
  is apparently designed to give him greater speed 
  and agility.
  A low, ungodly moan rises from deep within the 
  thing, vibrating through the inﬂated belly like the 
  diaphragm of an enormous voice box…
  FIGHTING IN TOWN
  The maze of buildings here is a perfect place for a 
  game of cat-and-mouse.  Dusty, decrepit, and ready to 
  collapse, these structures are dangerous relics of the 
  Ancient past.
  Whenever anyone enters a building, roll on the 
  following table to determine its contents:
  2D6
  Building
  Special
  2-3
  Empty building No appreciable cover available
  4-6
  Old shop
  Storefront features (mannequins, 
  display cases, sale signs, etc.) 
  provide one-quarter cover and add 
  +2 to Hide checks while inside 
  the building
  7-10
  Warehouse
  Old crates, stacks of boxes, and 
  rusted machinery provide one-
  half cover and add +5 to Hide 
  checks while inside the building
  11-12
  Condemned
  Roll again; no matter what is 
  rolled, there is a 25% chance 
  per round, per person inside the 
  building, that a substantial part 
  of the roof collapses, injuring 
  everyone inside for 2d6 points of 
  damage
  For the sake of drama, you can assume that Howie 
  knows the layout of the complex well enough to avoid 
  dangerous buildings (or to lure PCs into them).
  If the PCs remain together in a group as they move 
  through town, Howie will continue to move (using 
  back or side doors) to remain out of their way, even 
  moving back into buildings they’ve already searched 
  to keep them confused.  If the PCs split up to ﬁnd him, 
  he’ll try to sneak up on and attack the smallest group 
  ﬁrst, retreating after one or two rounds so that the rest 
  of the party doesn’t show up and overwhelm him.  He 
  continues his hit-and-run tactics until the PCs die, give 
  up, or kill him.
  GM’s Note:  If Howie manages to incapacitate a 
  PC and no other characters are there to stop him, he’ll 
  give up running away in an attempt to infect that PC 
  through his contagion ability.  He will only do this if 
  no one else is around to interfere.
  KILLING HOWIE
  The outcome of this encounter can have different 
  repercussions, depending on how the PCs handled 
  themselves during talks with the Cartel scouts.  If they 
  manage to convince the Cartel to drop their weapons 
  and talk, they may have avoided a large ﬁght, but the 
  hunt for Howie should be a challenging one.  Once 
  they kill him, the Cartel soldiers will be surprised to 
  see the PCs set his body on ﬁre (though the danger 
  of communicable diseases is common on the Twisted 
  Earth, diseases that turn your friend against you 
  are not; seeing their old pal burned to a crisp is an 
  unsettling experience).
  The Cartel scouts will demand a more thorough 
  explanation of what just happened, who the PCs are, 
  and more details about whatever “disease” Howie 
  contracted.  If the PCs are forthcoming with their 
  answers, the Cartel men are shocked but grateful.  
  They thank the PCs and head back to the Forbidden 
  Lands later that night.
  Though the PCs don’t know it, their honest answers 
  may have unwanted long-term effects.  The scouts 
  report to their Cartel bosses all they’ve seen and 
  heard, including what the PCs told them about the 
  Enemy and the “disease.”  Fearing a situation similar 
  to the one facing the Entropists in their corner of the 
  world, the Cartel declares the San Luis Valley under 
  “quarantine” —anyone or anything coming from the 
  mountains will be shot on sight if they come near a 
  Cartel settlement or outpost.  This may lead PCs into 
  unexpected conﬂict with Cartel in the future…
  If the PCs failed to convince the Cartel scouts, they 
  face a hard but winnable ﬁght.  Howie still leads them 
  on a chase through the town, but once he is killed the 
  PCs can pack up and leave, knowing they’ve stopped 
  the spread of the Enemy beyond the conﬁnes of the 
  San Luis Valley.
  
  81
  10. DEL NORTE
  Lying at the base of Del Norte Mountain (12,400 ft.), 
  the town of Del Norte was the “gateway” to south-
  central Colorado during the time of the Ancients.  
  Connecting the small towns on the far side of the 
  San Juan and La Garita Mountains with Denver and 
  Pueblo (via the San Luis Valley), it was through this 
  town that much truck and train trafﬁc passed, linking 
  Colorado with New Mexico and Utah.
  The scars of the Fall still linger heavily here.  As 
  the End unfolded and rumors of war on American soil 
  spread throughout a panicked nation, thousands of 
  residents from beyond the mountains (Durango, Grand 
  Junction, and even as far away as Provo in Utah) came 
  via Highways 149 and 160 in search of the rumored 
  vault in the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  As 
  the inﬂux of outsiders piled higher and higher, and 
  the secret location of the Great Sands vault (now 
  Shelter City) came close to being compromised, the 
  government stepped in to do something.
  A military roadblock was set up at Del Norte, 
  sealing off the only entrance into the San Luis Valley 
  from the east.  Thousands of motorists in cars, RVs, 
  buses, and trucks were turned back, warned away, 
  and eventually ﬁred upon to prevent them from 
  overwhelming the military cordon in their mad ﬂight 
  to the National Park.
  The ruins of Del Norte, now quiet except for 
  the sound of the roaring mountain wind coming 
  down from snow-capped peaks, speak of a time of 
  unimaginable chaos and panic.  Though the eastern 
  part of town (including the highways) is largely empty 
  and clear, the western approaches (speciﬁcally along 
  Highway 112) are clogged with literally hundreds of 
  ancient vehicles—ﬁlling both east- and westbound 
  lanes—headed towards town.  These vehicles include 
  standard cars, station wagons, pickups, SUVs, and 
  even whole RVs stocked with the rotted remains of 
  their long-dead occupants’ last possessions.
  Del Norte is now completely abandoned.  The 
  Wastelords have no knowledge of the town (other than 
  that it exists, a fact conﬁrmed by any road map of the 
  San Luis Valley), and have never ventured this far 
  from Shelter City.
  THE RUINS
  The PCs can get to Del Norte any way they wish, but 
  its close proximity to Center (and the fact that it is 
  quite far away from the Wastelord frontier) should 
  be reason enough to stay away.  However, if they do 
  manage to arrive here during the adventure, read the 
  following:
  At the foot of the towering mountain range that 
  skirts the western edge of the San Luis Valley 
  stands a small town.  Like a gateway to the 
  mountains, the old highway passing through town 
  seems to snake higher and higher to elevations 
  well out of sight.
  But what stands on the road is what stuns 
  you: over one thousand vehicles, including a 
  vast number of civilian cars, trucks, RVs, and 
  eighteen-wheeled trucks all lined up like one 
  enormous trafﬁc jam frozen in time.  At the head 
  of the sprawling congestion (which must go on 
  for at least ten miles, well into the mountains) lie 
  the remains of a military roadblock, just within 
  the Del Norte town limits.  The roadblock consists 
  of concrete barriers blocking the highway, 
  with spike strips along the sides of the road to 
  discourage off-road escape attempts.
  A few military transport trucks (in a familiar 
  olive drab color) sit off the road, beyond the 
  barrier, but these appear to be empty and too 
  rusted (or clogged with mud and sand) to salvage.  
  What appears to be a tank also sits behind the 
  roadblock, burned-out and abandoned long ago.
  PCs looking through the armada of rusted civilian 
  vehicles ﬁnd an inordinate amount of unclaimed 
  goods in many of them, abandoned during the Fall.  
  These include sleeping bags, tents, kerosene lamps, 
  an abundance of road maps of the valley and Great 
  Sand Dunes National Park, a few old newspapers or 
  magazines hinting at the “alleged vault” under the 
  Park, portable TV sets and all manner of civilian 
  radios (for listening to news reports of the war as it 
  developed), portable video cameras (brought along 
  by people wishing to record one last glimpse of the 
  surface world before going underground for the rest 
  of their lives), dozens of cell phones and PDAs, 
  children’s toys, hundreds of articles of clothing for 
  men, women, and children of all ages (in suitcases 
  on luggage racks or stashed in trunks), photo albums 
  (ﬁlled with all manner of memorabilia), wedding 
  rings, and other mundane goods.
  PCs engaging in a more thorough search (requiring 
  up to six hours and a Search check at DC 22 for 
  each item) may ﬁnd more interesting articles as well, 
  such as fully-stocked ﬁrst aid kits, boxes of survival 
  foods (including ready meals by the dozen), survival 
  manuals, ﬂashlights, various civilian pistols and 
  hunting riﬂes—even a Geiger counter or two (power 
  cells are likely to be drained, however)—as well as a 
  vast amount of Ancient-era cash (many people falsely 
  believed they might be able to secure a place in the 
  alleged vault by buying their way in).
  GM’s Note:  Further investigation shows signs 
  of what appears to have been a riot here, hundreds 
  of years ago.  A few burned-out car wrecks—still 
  containing the burnt skeletons of their passengers—lie 
  on and off the road, where they were destroyed by 
  cannon ﬁre from the single armored vehicle guarding 
  the roadblock: an M2A2 Bradley armored personnel 
  carrier, now badly rusted and burned.  The vehicle 
  appears to have enforced the roadblock well (at least 
  until the mass of people abandoned their vehicles and 
  
  82
  ran back to the mountains) before it slipped a tread 
  while backing up over some rubble.  Immobilized, the 
  crew sabotaged it before ﬂeeing with the rest of the 
  garrison to parts unknown.
  11. MOFFAT
  Moffat is the site of a large cattle operation set up 
  by the Wastelords on the grounds of a small tribal 
  village.  Though originally the inhabitants of Moffat 
  did maintain small herds of their own (raised for local 
  food needs only), Kyren saw in these small-scale 
  agricultural efforts the seeds of something grander: 
  a town where food for all of the communities in his 
  empire could be raised, and from which beef could 
  be shipped all over the Valley to keep his subjects fed 
  and content.
  Moffat is now a burgeoning town, but it still 
  maintains something of a “frontier” attitude.  The 
  people are kept in line by the looming presence of the 
  Wastelords, but their general acceptance of their harsh 
  masters has prevented the kind of sadistic reprisals 
  sometimes visited on other, less “cooperative” towns.
  BEN AND BETTY
  Though the Wastelords are very much in control here, 
  civilian affairs are managed by a middle-aged couple 
  named Ben and Betty.  These two good-natured 
  people were former citizens of Shelter City who were 
  out in the desert scouting for samples of mutated life 
  when Kyren sacked the vault.  Though both were 
  horriﬁed when they learned of the fate of Shelter City, 
  they decided to disappear (by blending in with the 
  local villagers here in Moffat) to avoid being hunted 
  down and murdered.  When Kyren eventually came to 
  conquer the mutant communities spread through the 
  valley, Ben and Betty negotiated a peaceful surrender, 
  sparing many lives.  Not realizing who they were, 
  Kyren was impressed by their determination and 
  appointed them to the position of village liaisons.
  Though they are far more intelligent than their 
  fellow Moffat citizens, Ben and Betty truly care about 
  the people in town and use their negotiating skills as 
  best they can to ensure that trouble doesn’t arise (and, 
  if it does, that any hard feelings are quickly swept 
  under the carpet).  Unbeknownst to most, Ben and 
  Betty are both experienced ﬁeld biologists; though 
  unable to do much ﬁeldwork these days, they have 
  learned much over the years about native life from 
  listening to the locals and from the odd encounter 
  with roving desert beasts.  They maintain a secret lab 
  beneath their home in town.
  GOING TO MOFFAT
  Moffat is relatively far from Shelter City, so it 
  isn’t likely the PCs will come here early in their 
  investigations.  By the time they arrive here, they 
  should be surprised by the pleasant reception they 
  receive from the town’s two administrators, Ben and 
  Betty.
  The community of Moffat is a sprawling one, 
  though the town itself is little more than a few 
  clusters of buildings at the heart of a larger 
  complex of cattle pens.  The sound of an 
  enormous cattle herd drowns out almost every 
  other noise within the town limits, and the smell 
  of manure hangs heavy in the air.
  After asking directions from a local Wastelord 
  sentry, your driver cuts through town and 
  eventually pulls up outside a small dilapidated 
  building at the edge of town.  Out front stands a 
  small shaded porch with a few neatly arranged 
  potted plants and a simple swing chair rocking in 
  the breeze.
  Sitting on the swing chair is an elderly couple, 
  squinting to make eye contact with you as you 
  approach.  The old man stands, brushes off his 
  dusty burlap clothes, and steps down off the porch 
  to approach and extend his hand in welcome.  His 
  wife counts with her ﬁnger the number of people 
  in your party, turns, and ﬁlls a few cups with tea 
  from a waiting porcelain kettle.
  “Welcome to Moffat,” the man says, shaking 
  the hand of whichever of you looks to be the 
  leader, “my name’s Ben, and this is my wife Betty.  
  We’re the administrators of this town.”
  Betty stands and invites your group to sit in the 
  shade and enjoy some warm tea.  Seeing the look 
  of hesitation on your face, Ben just chuckles.
  “I think these men are here on business, Betty.  
  And that’s just what we wanted to talk to you 
  about.  Kyren sent us word you were coming, 
  and—well, we have connections and friends of 
  our own, so we know what it is you’re looking for.  
  We really don’t want a panic here, but we might 
  have some information that’ll make your search a 
  lot easier and save us an outbreak of hysteria at 
  the same time.
  “But let’s go inside to discuss this,” the old 
  man says, “the locals get a bit fearful when they 
  hear talk of the Enemy.”
  Ben and Betty invite the PCs into their home, a 
  small two-story structure on the outskirts of town 
  overlooking the cattle pens.  Ben and Betty explain 
  that they chose this building because it allows them 
  to be near the livestock; they admit to some small 
  scientiﬁc skill, which they regularly put to use 
  checking the herds for symptoms of disease (such as 
  anthrax), as well as to treat injured or sick animals in 
  the hopes of bringing them back to health.
  Both Ben and Betty are good-natured people who 
  truly care about the citizens of their town.  If the PCs 
  ask, the couple gladly tells the PCs how they came to 
  Moffat, how they’ve managed to remain “unseen,” 
  and if the PCs listen, they go on to talk about some 
  
  83
  of the “fascinating” things they’ve seen in their time 
  out here on the frontier.  It appears these two, unlike 
  many who suffered at the hands of Kyren, have made 
  the best of their lot and settled into at least a tolerable 
  niche in life.
  GETTING TO THE POINT
  When the PCs ﬁnally come around to asking what 
  “evidence” the couple has for them, the two seem 
  excited and wary at the same time, as if unsure quite 
  how to put their knowledge into words.  After settling 
  down, Ben shoulders the burden of explaining to the 
  PCs what the couple has recently uncovered.
  Just a week ago, Ben and Betty found a stray 
  coyote during a foray into the desert.  They were out 
  investigating strange local rumors that some of the 
  natives had seen monkeys a few days beforehand.  At 
  ﬁrst Ben and Betty thought this had to be a mistake, 
  but various reports from unrelated villagers conﬁrmed 
  it.  Asking the villagers to describe what they saw, 
  Ben and Betty eventually deduced that the creatures 
  were rhesus monkeys, a kind of small primate once 
  used frequently in scientiﬁc experiments.
  They never found the monkeys, but instead were 
  followed by the coyote for several hours.  Ben tried 
  to lure the coyote into a friendship, but it didn’t seem 
  interested.  As dusk fell and they prepared to go 
  home, loading their truck up for the night, both Ben 
  and Betty were surprised when the coyote appeared 
  suddenly behind them, as if it wanted to go with them.
  They captured the coyote using a stun pistol and a 
  secure cage, taking care not to get bitten or scratched.  
  They put the coyote in their kennel in Moffat pending 
  a more thorough examination.
  What happened next causes both Ben and Betty 
  to remain silent for a moment, as if they’re still 
  questioning what they witnessed.  That night a 
  commotion in the kennel woke the couple from their 
  sleep downstairs.  Heading upstairs and peering 
  through the window to the kennel room, they saw 
  something neither could believe.
  Inside the kennel they saw the coyote standing in 
  front of another animal’s cage—a dog they had been 
  treating for an injured paw.  The coyote opened the 
  cage with its mouth—unusually intelligent behavior 
  for a wild animal—and attacked the dog inside. “It 
  attached itself to the other’s mouth,” Betty says, “and 
  we were stunned.  The dog panicked, tried to get free, 
  but the coyote just clamped down.  Then… then its 
  whole body began to shift, as it if were transferring 
  something from inside it to the trapped dog.
  “I couldn’t stand there and just watch as it killed 
  that dog.  I went to open the door to the kennel, 
  but—”
  “But I slammed it shut immediately,” Ben 
  interrupts.  “We watched through the kennel window 
  as the coyote…”
  Ben seems unable to say it.  Betty speaks up.  “It 
  “drained” that poor dog.  Somehow it liqueﬁed it.  The 
  animal’s body deﬂated almost like a balloon, until all 
  that was left was its skin.  The rest of it the coyote 
  sucked up inside of it like a vacuum.”
  “Then,” Ben continues, “the coyote fell over, sick 
  and bloated.  It must have swollen to twice its original 
  size.  Its stomach rippled and pulsed, almost like the 
  heartbeat of something inside.  Like the animal’s body 
  was just the skin of some creature we had yet to see.
  “We watched as the coyote’s head expanded and 
  split open.  From the cavity came a large mass—
  white, ﬂuid, and pliant.  Like an amoeba, I suppose, 
  a protoplasmic life form of a kind science surely has 
  never seen before.”
  “Instantly Ben and I knew what it was,” Betty says.  
  “It was the thing the coyote had transferred to the ﬁrst 
  animal, only bigger.  It was almost twice its original 
  volume.  It’s as if the coyote was just a host, and by 
  transferring the slime to another body it had liqueﬁed 
  the animal’s biological substance, using it to grow 
  bigger.”
  “It’s fascinating, really,” Ben says, sitting on 
  the edge of his chair.  “You see, the coyote we had 
  encountered had been carrying only a small part of the 
  creature inside it.  When it was isolated with the other 
  dog, it probably tried to get out but couldn’t.  That was 
  the commotion we heard.  So the creature, the “ooze,” 
  tried to double its mass by consuming the dog.  Once 
  it had grown, it tried again to bash down the door.
  “As it began to rattle the lock with its repeated 
  slamming, we decided we had seen enough.  I curse 
  myself for doing it—oh, the loss to science!—but I 
  was close to panicking.  I picked up a tank of kerosene 
  and some matches and had Betty pull the door open 
  a crack.  It immediately tried to slither out, but I 
  pumped fuel all over it, causing it to sink back.  It 
  suddenly sprouted a long pseudopod, as if to strike at 
  me.  But before it could, I managed to strike a match 
  and light the thing up like a bonﬁre.  Betty closed the 
  door right after.  We watched through the window as it 
  burned.  It was… terrible.”
  Ben and Betty then go on to relate their post-
  mortem ﬁndings.  A few days after the incident, they 
  mustered the courage to re-enter the kennel.  They 
  examined the coyote’s remains and found that much 
  of its remaining tissue, though outwardly normal in 
  appearance, had been decaying for several weeks.  
  The couple concluded that the dog had already been 
  dead, even before they met it, and was merely being 
  animated.  They go on to suggest that the “ooze,” 
  which they never had an opportunity to examine, was 
  perhaps some kind of “super-viral” material that kept 
  the dog alive and animated.
  Unless the PCs stop them with information of 
  their own, Ben and Betty go on to propose a theory 
  very similar to the one described by Doc at Shelter 
  City: that the creature intended to harm them and the 
  townsfolk of Moffat.
  If the PCs ask the couple where they found the dog, 
  
  84
  they produce an old USGS map of the Valley and 
  point to a location only about ﬁve miles northwest, 
  between Moffat and Saguache.
  The couple has one more interesting tidbit to 
  share with the PCs: Betty explains that she and her 
  husband have made it a hobby of theirs to monitor 
  the migration patterns and territorial boundaries of 
  many animals in their part of the valley, including 
  coyote.  However, in recent weeks they have noticed 
  a decrease in the animal populations of the desert and 
  mountains, which are ordinarily home to bears, bison, 
  coyotes, wolves, and other creatures.  They all seem to 
  have vanished in some inexplicable exodus.
  GM’s Note:  Ben and Betty encountered a new 
  type of Enemy thrall, an “integrator.”  These infected 
  creatures are used to create new biomass for the 
  macro-organism, literally liquefying living creatures 
  and transforming them into protoplasmic mass.  This 
  mass can then either be used to create a new free-
  ﬂoating biomass, or can join with an injured (or 
  depleted) biomass elsewhere.
  The PCs will get a chance to encounter integrators 
  in the future.
  THE “LAB”
  Ben and Betty are among the few people to take 
  a liking to the PCs after just one meeting.  If the 
  PCs have hit it off with them exceptionally well 
  (GM’s discretion), they even step out on a limb for 
  the PCs by showing them their special “lab.”  The 
  facility is set up on the second ﬂoor of the building, 
  an airy space that seems poorly suited for a science 
  laboratory.  Ben and Betty shrug, claiming it’s the 
  most suitable place they could ﬁnd.
  Scattered about the room are old pieces of scientiﬁc 
  equipment; any character with a technical or scientiﬁc 
  background will recognize a pair of microscopes, a 
  few Bunsen burners, used and unused strips of litmus 
  paper, test tubes and beakers, and other instruments 
  common to a well-quipped lab.  There are also a 
  few animal cages; most are empty, but some contain 
  creatures: birds recovering from wing injuries, a 
  badly-malnourished kitten, and even a pair of rats the 
  couple “adopted” and named after themselves.
  Shelves around the room also display a collection of 
  jugs, bottles, and cans of chemical supplies, including 
  hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, acetone, alcohol, 
  ammonia, mercury, and potassium.
  Ben and Betty give any interested PCs a tour of 
  the place, showing where they treat animals for 
  injuries and where they perform tests—they’ve even 
  got a complete dissection table.  A small refrigerator 
  (powered by a power pack) leans against one wall, 
  inside of which the couple keeps blood samples and a 
  handful of veterinary medical supplies (useless to the 
  PCs).
  GM’s Note:  Ben and Betty are willing to let 
  the PCs have free run of their laboratory so long 
  as they replace any supplies they use up.  PCs with 
  appropriate Craft skills could conceivably use this 
  work area to make bombs, poisons, drugs, or other 
  chemical/pharmaceutical goods, given adequate time 
  and privacy.  The couple has access to about 6,000 cp 
  in raw materials they are willing to lend the PCs for 
  any construction projects.
  Ben has been undertaking a pet project of his own: 
  making a backpack-portable ﬂamethrower.  After the 
  couple’s encounter with the integrator, he believes 
  having such a weapon on hand may be a good idea.  
  If Ben is allowed to continue with his work he will 
  complete the ﬂamethrower (with a full tank of napalm 
  fuel) in 1d2 days.  He may be convinced to give the 
  ﬂamethrower to the PCs, if the GM feels they have 
  impressed him enough.
  FROM HERE
  Assuming the PCs hit it off well with Ben and Betty 
  and heard all they had to offer, they now have a strong 
  clue as to the node mother’s likely location: the small 
  town of Saguache to the northwest.
  12. SAGUACHE
  The small desert town of Saguache is the ultimate 
  destination of the PCs—it is the home to the ﬁnal 
  node mother responsible for controlling the New 
  World Order forces operating in the San Luis Valley.  
  Though this node mother maintains a telepathic link 
  with the still-imprisoned Last God, its destruction 
  will deal a decisive blow against the Enemy, possibly 
  removing the threat against the Wastelord empire once 
  and for all.  But ﬁrst the PCs must pinpoint its location 
  by entering the ghost town of Saguache, an act that 
  triggers a reaction beyond their control...
  THE OLD TOWN
  The original town of Saguache was abandoned during 
  the Fall; the town of today is a shadow of what it once 
  was, the county seat and a tourist stop on the road to 
  the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
  Many of Saguache’s original inhabitants, scofﬁng 
  at rumors of a vault in their backyard (the national 
  park), ﬂed into the wilderness, hoping to avoid the 
  fallout of the coming war.  Unsubstantiated rumors 
  of “Communist paratroopers” landing all over the 
  Rockies proved the proverbial ﬁnal nail in the cofﬁn; 
  thereafter Saguache became a true ghost town.
  The ruins of Saguache were populated again only a 
  decade or so ago by a group of tribals who descended 
  from the high mountains.  Starving in the barren 
  high country, they came here looking for a land of 
  opportunities.  Unfortunately, what they found was a 
  Valley devastated by the Wastelords.
  The tribals here remained isolated for years, 
  vaguely aware of the Wastelords (and later, of the fact 
  that they were at war with some unknown enemy), 
  always hiding from them and keeping to their corner 
  of the valley.  These paciﬁsts were not discovered 
  
  85
  during that time, and as a result remained free of 
  Kyren’s tyranny while many other communities 
  succumbed.
  Their peaceful way of life, however, came to an 
  abrupt end several years ago, when a handful of 
  infected thralls of the Last God arrived at Saguache 
  just days after the power failure at Center (for more 
  on this event, see the introduction to this adventure).  
  Though at ﬁrst they feared these newcomers were 
  Wastelord scouts, the naïve tribals made one serious 
  mistake: they let them in.  They erroneously assumed 
  the quiet new arrivals were refugees on the run from 
  their mutual raider enemies, the Wastelords.  Without 
  realizing the consequences of their kindness, they 
  allowed the Last God’s thralls free entrance to their 
  underground community, inviting them to stay and 
  enjoy their hospitality.  Sadly, the trusting locals 
  had no chance of resisting the seedlings as they 
  immediately began to spread the macro-organism’s 
  contagion in a night of sheer terror.
  Saguache’s tribal people are now completely 
  infected, one and all.  The former tribals constitute 
  perhaps the largest manpower pool in the Last God’s 
  New World Order; they number dozens of thralls of 
  various kinds which the Last God continues to throw 
  against the frontier of the Wastelord empire.
  The node mother that directed the infection of the 
  village still lurks here and now controls the infected 
  tribe, relaying the Last God’s commands to its 
  growing army of mutants and desert animals.
  HOW TO PROCEED
  The sheer number of thralls dwelling beneath 
  Saguache makes a frontal assault an almost 
  guaranteed exercise in suicide.  Alert and intelligent 
  player characters will quickly realize this when they 
  begin to explore the underground portions of the old 
  tribal village (see below).
  The ideal outcome for the PCs here is for the party 
  to locate the Enemy’s nerve center (personiﬁed in the 
  node mother itself) and provoke it into action.  Once 
  the Enemy realizes the PCs (and thus the Wastelords) 
  have found the base from which it operates, it will 
  rouse its forces to begin an all-out attack on the 
  Wastelord frontier.  This attack will mark a turning 
  point in the war, in which hopefully the Wastelords 
  will stop the Enemy’s hordes of zombie-like thralls for 
  good.
  Saguache and its environs are hauntingly quiet, 
  and you should play up the ominous silence at every 
  opportunity.  Gunﬁre from the PCs will likely be 
  heard all across town, alerting the appropriate sentries 
  and patrols.  The node mother here has also stationed 
  a few extra “eyes and ears” (in the form of infected 
  animals and humans) in various parts of the town, 
  but apart from acting as observers to keep the node 
  mother alert, they try to remain unseen.
  If the node mother comes to suspect that outsiders 
  are in town, it will react by sending wolf seedlings 
  (patrols similar to the one encountered at Area B) to 
  their location to hopefully ﬁnd, subdue, and infect 
  them.  It will send a total of two waves of patrols in 
  an attempt to stop the inﬁltrators, but failing this it 
  will merely stay put, using its preserving its army’s 
  strength and using its minions merely to keep a watch 
  
  86
  on the group.
  Keep in mind that the node mother (and as such 
  the Last God as a whole) has a surprising degree 
  of patience.  It will allow the PCs to scout out the 
  town, even enter its underground abode, if only 
  to give them a chilling impression of how futile 
  humanity’s resistance is.  If the PCs merely explore, 
  avoiding ﬁghts with thralls they accidentally stumble 
  across, they will merely confront thralls who watch 
  and follow them - seemingly avoiding further 
  confrontations in favor of observing and shadowing 
  the group.
  If the PCs get overconﬁdent and overambitious, 
  however, and use the Last God’s “lenience” to get 
  in and strike while its guard is down, they are in for 
  a surprise.  Though it allows them a great degree of 
  freedom, if they start harassing its troops, destroying 
  its stockpiles (as in Areas L through O), or otherwise 
  threatening it (including entering Area P), it will 
  fully mobilize its forces, surround the PCs with sheer 
  numbers, and obliterate them without any further 
  delay.
  ARRIVING IN TOWN
  You arrive on the outskirts of Saguache at dusk—
  or at least it seems like dusk.  The mountains 
  ringing this corner of the valley cast deep 
  shadows over a small town spread out at the foot 
  of the desert hills like a long-forgotten wasteland 
  oasis.  The rain has petered out; all that remains 
  is a sky of roiling black clouds that stretches off 
  towards the horizon.
  Even as you watch the town from far away, 
  you can sense something very ominous about this 
  place.  Something truly terrible lives here…
  The PCs can set about exploring the small ruins of 
  Saguache from any direction they like.  Keep in mind, 
  however, that the town is being watched by sentries on 
  the Mountainside (see below).  If the PCs came here 
  by truck, give the sentries a +2 bonus to their Listen 
  checks (DC 15; because the town is almost utterly 
  silent, the truck’s passage is easily noticed).  The PCs 
  can only avoid this by declaring beforehand their 
  intention to leave the truck at least three miles from 
  Saguache; in this event, they’ll need to hike the rest of 
  the way on foot.
  GM’s Note:  Clever PCs will attempt to scout 
  Saguache from afar before attempting to inﬁltrate the 
  town.  By using binoculars, for example, they may 
  spot the coyotes on the mountainside (Area A) and 
  deduce they are, in fact, sentries.  With that knowledge 
  they can then wait and approach at night, a smart 
  tactic that will prevent them from being detected as 
  they move into town.
  KEY TO SAGUACHE
  A. MOUNTAINSIDE (EL 8)
  From this bare, wind-swept mountainside one 
  can see a full panoramic view of the town below, 
  its buildings small and insigniﬁcant from this 
  height.  However, the wet sandy slopes are not 
  completely deserted.  A group of sickly coyote lie 
  all about the hillside, their heads scanning the 
  horizon from side to side in a methodical, almost 
  mechanical manner….
  Because this mountainside provides a good view of 
  town, the node mother has directed some of its thralls 
  to remain here indeﬁnitely, keeping an eye out for 
  intruders who might compromise the New World 
  Order’s secret base in Saguache.  The thralls here are 
  all infected desert coyotes, who merely sit or stand 
  motionless for hours on end, watching the town from 
  on high.
  When the PCs approach town from any direction, 
  allow these sentries a Spot (or Listen) check to notice 
  the group.  If the sentries detect the PCs before they 
  manage to reach the cover of town, the node mother 
  instantly knows where they were seen, how many 
  PCs there are, and which direction the intruders are 
  heading.
  The coyotes are clearly visible from anywhere 
  in town, so alert PCs may deduce their purpose as 
  sentries and avoid them accordingly.
   Coyote Seedlings (11):  HP 15 (x5), 13 (x4), 9 
  (x2) (see Appendix 2).
  B. WESTSIDE (EL 7)
  The wind blows through the empty streets in this 
  part of town, creating a hollow sound that is 
  sinister and disquieting.  Dilapidated homes, old 
  mailboxes, and the rusted remains of antiquated 
  cars are all that remain of a once-pleasant small-
  town neighborhood.
  This quarter of town is ﬁlled with old dilapidated 
  homes—some with porches, others with small yards, 
  and most featuring aluminum siding and cheap 
  country construction.  Old cars in the streets, long-
  faded picket fences, and shadowy porches with 
  dead and dying trees provide an abundance of cover 
  (+4 to Hide checks when moving through these 
  neighborhoods).
  At some point during their movement through this 
  area, allow the PCs to make a Listen check (DC 16).  
  If they succeed, they hear the sounds of creatures 
  coming their way.  Allow the PCs to look for cover 
  and hide before reading the following:
  
  87
  As you scramble for cover, you hear the light 
  sound of padded feet on asphalt.  Peeking around 
  a corner, you see something that just doesn’t seem 
  right: a pack of wolves, their coats ﬁlthy and 
  matted, prowling up and down the street.  They 
  certainly don’t behave like real animals in search 
  for food—but rather like desiccated sentries, 
  patrolling these eerily empty streets over and over 
  again for any sign of intruders.  The wolves move 
  as one without so much as a single stray among 
  them, all united as they stare off in different 
  directions or raise their heads to sample the air.
  As you watch, terriﬁed of these unnatural 
  beasts, you catch a glimpse of one of the 
  creatures’ eyes.  They are all black, deep and 
  vacant, like windows through which each 
  animal’s unseen master watches from some place 
  far away.
  If the PCs took cover, roll Spot checks for the animals 
  (or Survival, if they are deliberately tracking the PCs).  
  If the PCs remain undetected, the pack slowly moves 
  on after 1d4 agonizingly suspenseful rounds, off to 
  patrol another street a few blocks down.
  If they detect the PCs, however, the animals remain 
  on the scene, just staring at the group; if the PCs 
  run, the wolves follow, but do not attack.  Their sole 
  intention is to keep their eyes on the PCs so that the 
  node mother can direct her forces to them with all 
  haste.  If ﬁred upon, the wolves take cover, but still 
  shadow the PCs wherever they go.
   Wolf Seedlings (5):  HP 20 (x3), 18, 16 (see 
  Appendix 2).
  C. OLD MILITARY CAMP
  Near in the center of this eerie town you see a 
  large, sprawling camp of olive-colored tents and 
  pre-fabricated buildings; some have collapsed 
  over time and others have rotted in place, while 
  a few stand deﬁant even to this day.  A large 
  number of crates stamped “US Army” are 
  arranged in neat rows almost everywhere.
  A camp of this size seems totally out of place in 
  this small desert town.
  This location contains a great deal of information 
  pertaining to the history of the valley, as well as a few 
  hints related to part three of this series, The Last God.
  This area was set up as a temporary headquarters 
  by military forces in the San Luis Valley just prior 
  to the Fall.  The camp consists of several tents in 
  various states of decay, small vehicle-portable pre-fab 
  buildings, and hundreds of supply crates abandoned 
  here long ago.
  If the PCs take the time to investigate the area, 
  allow each character to make a Search check (DC 12) 
  to uncover one object from the following table:
  2D6
  Finds
  2-6
  Small items (nothing of real value)
  7-10
  1d4 ready meals
  11
  1d100 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition (overlooked 
  by the node mother’s thralls)
  12
  1d2 power clips (overlooked by the node mother’s 
  thralls)
  Furthermore, a conspicuously larger trailer ﬁlls the 
  heart of the camp, still standing despite the passage of 
  years since the Fall.  It appears to be a sturdy, military 
  command post on wheels.
  PCs entering headquarters trailer ﬁnd an 
  accumulation of sand and dust on a number of 
  rusted machine consoles arranged around command 
  post, along with folding tables and chairs.  A 
  central plotting table in the center of the tent still 
  has a military-grade map of the San Luis Valley 
  rolled out on it (this might be worth 3,000 cp to the 
  Wastelords or Cartel), but pieces that once indicated 
  the movement of various military units  are scattered 
  all over.  Pinning the map to the table is a large 
  military radio set, still switched on, though the 
  battery burned out long ago.  There is also a laptop 
  computer and printer (though the laptop appears to 
  have been smashed apart by a blunt weapon).  Papers 
  lie scattered everywhere, some faded or soiled, others 
  still bearing vividly printed orders from the time of 
  the Fall.
  Although its purpose is not immediately clear, 
  this was an emergency command center set up by 
  the regional commander of military forces a few 
  days after Saguache was deserted.  Only vaguely 
  aware of what was going on at the top secret facility 
  beneath Center during those ﬁnal days, the regional 
  commander had been charged with maintaining 
  the blockade at Del Norte to prevent civilians from 
  ﬂooding the valley and compromising the shelter in 
  the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  When reports 
  of escalating war outside of the valley became too 
  widespread to suppress, the commander was forced to 
  try to escape the valley with as many men as he could.  
  They stopped here brieﬂy to set up a command center 
  in an effort to re-evaluate their situation before all 
  discipline collapsed and they dispersed.
  Characters searching the papers will ﬁnd among 
  them transcripts of orders and reports sent back and 
  forth from this temporary command post.  They 
  provide a chilling and mysterious account of the 
  events that occurred in the valley during the Fall.  See 
  Handouts #3, #4, #5, and #6.
  GM’s Note:  For every ten minutes spent in this 
  area, there is a 1 in 6 chance that the roving patrol of 
  wolf seedlings (see Area B above) comes here looking 
  for signs of intruders.
  
  88
  D. ABANDONED VEHICLES
  On the side of this old road you see a number of 
  old trucks and cars, covered in a thick crust of 
  ages-old sand and dirt.
  The vehicles abandoned on this side of town were 
  towed here for repairs long ago; at one time a small 
  quartermaster’s station here was charged with 
  scrounging for repair parts and bringing the military 
  unit’s transportation pool back to full capacity.  
  Although their efforts were admirable, the troops here 
  were forced to abandon several vehicles when they 
  ﬂed Saguache during the Fall.
  Treasure:  There are three vehicles here: two 
  military transport trucks and a Humvee.  One truck 
  has had its engine removed (and is thus inoperable), 
  while the other is so badly damaged it is down to only 
  4 hit points.  The Humvee is down to 10 hit points and 
  has a mounting for a heavy machinegun on its roof, 
  but the weapon intended for the mount is missing 
  (though if the PCs have a machinegun, they might be 
  able to install it using the tools present here).  None of 
  these vehicles has any fuel, and all tires have ﬂattened 
  over time.
  E. PSI-INHIBITION FIELD
  The radius marked on the map here shows the limit of 
  the node mother’s psionic inhibition ﬁeld.  Characters 
  with any sort of neural mutation who pass this point 
  begin to feel dizzy and hear a painful buzzing in their 
  minds—telltale signs that a node mother is near (PCs 
  who encountered the ﬁrst node mother in Hooper will 
  likely realize this).
  GM’s Note: Any character attempting to use neural 
  mutations or abilities within this area must make a 
  Concentration check at DC 18 to do so.  On a failed 
  roll the character is overcome by the psi-inhibition 
  and cannot manifest the ability.
  
  89
  F. LONE SENTRY (EL 3)
  Up ahead you see a strange sight, totally 
  unexpected here among the streets of an old ruin.  
  Standing in the middle of the road is a solitary 
  bison, a majestic animal more commonly seen 
  running in herds on the open plain, rather than 
  wandering alone inside abandoned towns.
  If the PCs have been seen by the bison, read the 
  following:
  The bison merely stands there, staring at you.  
  Its wet nostrils ﬂare slowly, as if it’s breathing 
  were deep and labored.  Yet its all-black eyes 
  never shift their gaze away from you; they remain 
  locked in an unblinking stare.
  The bison doesn’t move from its spot because it is 
  acting as a “window” through which the node mother 
  (and every creature connected to the Last God’s 
  “overmind”) can see and hear.  Because the PCs are 
  now being “seen” through the bison, the node mother 
  can watch and adapt to their action appropriately (see 
  How To Proceed).
  If the PCs attack the bison or run away, it tries to 
  keep the PCs in its sights long enough for a patrol of 
  wolf seedlings to arrive and assist.
   Bison Seedling (1):  HP 49 (see Appendix 2).
  G. COURTHOUSE
  Standing above the center of town are the ruins 
  of what might once have been an important 
  building.  The grand marble façade is decorated 
  with crumbling pillars and strange statues whose 
  heads and outstretched arms have been worn 
  down to nubs by centuries of wind erosion.  A 
  large hemispherical dome tops the building, 
  
  90
  lending it a certain quiet majesty despite 
  extensive damage wreaked by wind and rain.  The 
  wind blowing through town is channeled by the 
  gaping holes in this grand building, creating a 
  low and menacing moan...
   
  This place was once the Saguache County Courthouse, 
  but time has erased any memory of its once-grand 
  and important purpose.  Already badly damaged 
  from years of neglect, when the tribals who came to 
  Saguache found the building here, they decided to 
  tunnel beneath it to make a new home.  Because the 
  building was so huge, they could work night and day 
  inside it without attracting attention from outsiders 
  who might otherwise notice such a large-scale 
  construction project.
  As a result, the people constructed a small “city” 
  beneath the grand building that became their home, a 
  community hidden beneath the old courthouse…
  If and when the PCs enter this building, read the 
  following:
  You are totally surprised upon entering the 
  interior of the building: instead of ﬁnding even 
  so much as a relatively intact interior, what now 
  occupies the entire bottom ﬂoor is a huge gaping 
  hole that falls deep into the earth.  Old marble 
  statues sit at the edge at unnatural angles, ready 
  to fall into the pit and vanish into the darkness 
  below.  The beams of hazy moonlight (or daylight, 
  if the PCs came by day) that pierce the colossal 
  dome overhead barely illuminate the walls 
  holding the dome up, and do not penetrate down 
  into the unfathomable depths of the pit.
  A terrible smell rises from the pit, a mix 
  of human and animal sweat and other 
  unmentionable odors.  A wet earthen slope 
  descends into the darkness below.
  
  91
  The villagers who inhabited Saguache long ago used 
  this huge pit to access their underground dwellings.  A 
  system of wooden “elevators” (just large enough for 
  two men) suspended on heavy ropes was used to raise 
  and lower people to and from the tunnels below, or 
  to the surface for (rare) hunting forays.  The system 
  was rather ingenious in construction, requiring only 
  a single man to operate the hand-cranks on each 
  elevator.
  Most of these elevators no longer work.  The New 
  World Order thralls constructed an earthen ramp to 
  connect the lower levels so that infected animals, 
  otherwise incapable of operating pulleys and hand-
  cranks, could access the deep parts of the settlement 
  unobstructed.
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs are wary of descending on 
  the ramp, they can try the elevators.  Only two people 
  (of Medium-size or smaller) can sit in an elevator at 
  a time, and raising/lowering requires one person to 
  operate the hand crank on this level (thus one person 
  must stay behind).  It takes one full round to travel 20 
  ft. in this fashion (if the operator lets go of the crank, 
  however, the descent is much quicker…).
  There is a 1 in 20 chance per round of operation 
  that the rope supporting an elevator breaks.  If it does 
  break, the wooden elevator plummets to the deepest 
  level below, dealing appropriate damage depending on 
  the distance.
  KEY TO UNDERGROUND AREAS
  H. HOVELS (EL 1)
  Each of these rugged alcoves was once the communal 
  home of a small family group (grandparents, parents, 
  and their children), all members of the greater tribal 
  community of Saguache.  Each hovel is nothing more 
  than a small cave carved from the earth by desperate 
  hands and shored up with wood or stones scavenged 
  from the surface town.  Though cramped and 
  claustrophobic, they nonetheless serve as primitive 
  but effective shelters from the sun, wind, sand- and 
  rainstorms, and valley predators.
  PCs who enter any of these places ﬁnd them 
  abandoned.  Wooden bowls, cups, and dirt-encrusted 
  glassware (cracked Coke bottles, ashtrays, etc.) lie 
  scattered here and there.  Skins being prepared for 
  tanning or food long rotted in pots and cauldrons seem 
  suspended in time, as if the people using them simply 
  vanished overnight.  A Search check, at the GM’s 
  discretion, may turn up a few javelins, spears, or stone 
  axes if the PCs take their time.
  GM’s Note:  Each time the PCs enter one of these 
  hovels, roll 1d6.  On a roll of 1, a patrol of three wolf 
  shamblers enters the area.  Quartered in these dark 
  subterranean tunnels for some time, these mangy, 
  decrepit creatures bear only a passing resemblance 
  to real wolves.  The PCs will have to Hide (or Move 
  Silently) to avoid detection as these patrols walk up 
  and down the old corridors looking for intruders.  If 
  the PCs are discovered, the entire network of inter-
  connected creatures here in Saguache will be alerted 
  (see How To Proceed for information on where to go 
  from there).
   Wolf Shamblers (3):  HP 40, 33, and 29 (see 
  Appendix 2).
  I. CISTERNS
  At each of these locations, a deep pit has been dug 
  in the earth and lined with a low wall of brick at 
  the top (to prevent children from falling in).  Each 
  pit resembles a well, and roughly 50% of them are 
  in fact cisterns once intended to store water for the 
  community’s future.  The other 50% are deep, cool 
  pits in which food was once lowered to store for long 
  periods of time.
  All of the food storage pits are now empty, but the 
  cisterns are anywhere from 10% to 30% full of fresh 
  water.  Other than a few rocks and maybe one or two 
  coppery coins thrown in for luck (a curious custom 
  carried on since ancient times), the water is relatively 
  safe to drink.
  J. SHRINE
  The rough earthen walls of this chamber are decorated 
  with painted images of hunters, herdsmen, and scenes 
  from daily tribal life—evidence of a community 
  forever lost to the Last God’s mad vision of a New 
  World Order.  Colorful red, yellow, and black 
  handprints adorn the walls and ceilings, hollow 
  reminders of the people who once lived happy, 
  peaceful lives in these caves.
  The pictograms on the walls are arranged in 
  “panels,” with each large depiction occupying several 
  feet of each cavern wall.
  If the PCs stop and take the time to examine these 
  depictions, they yield the following interpretations:
  The ﬁrst panel shows a city being destroyed in 
  what appears to be a nuclear blast.  Succeeding 
  panels show a group of people leaving the ruins 
  to wander the desert, until they at last ﬁnd shelter 
  in a canyon with strange pillar-like formations of 
  rock (for characters who have gone through part 
  one of this series, Against the Wastelords, this 
  canyon is easily identiﬁed as the site of Spilunk).
  The next stretch of wall depicts what is 
  presumably later history.  A few men with spears 
  return from a foray, carting a gigantic animal 
  carcass.  A number of men, bearing ﬂowers 
  instead of weapons, appear to be rebuked as they 
  attempt to get a share of this great catch for their 
  families.  The panel depicts an argument breaking 
  out, with the warriors and hunters pitted against 
  those who carry ﬂowers in place of weapons.  
  Eventually a ﬁgure with an ominously glowing 
  hand (actually a shock glove, coincidentally the 
  
  92
  same one given to the PCs by Elder Vilic at the 
  close of Against the Wastelords, since the item 
  was a painful reminder of that village’s more 
  savage history) casts the “ﬂower people” out, 
  much to the joy of the hunters and warriors.  
  Discouraged and hungry, the outcasts can only 
  leave; the next panel shows them leading their 
  families into the mountains.
  The ﬁnal images show an exodus through the 
  high peaks, until at last a new home is found for 
  the peaceful “ﬂower people” and their families—
  the town of Saguache and the tunnels beneath its 
  courthouse dome.
  GM’s Note:  If the PCs have gone through Against 
  the Wastelords, they notice a startling similarity 
  between the art here and the rock pictograms 
  seen in the canyon near the town of Spilunk.  A 
  successful Decipher Script check (DC 10) allows a 
  PC to more closely follow the story woven into the 
  art, a tale that seems to suggest the inhabitants of 
  these caves descended from the same people who 
  inhabited Spilunk generations ago.  According to the 
  pictographic history, the original ancestors of both 
  communities split over a past disagreement over food; 
  one clan, led by the man with the “glowing hand,” 
  continued to rule Spilunk, while the other clan left, 
  crossing the mountains until they eventually settled 
  here.
  If any of the PCs is from Spilunk, this history may 
  be particularly poignant, for it is evidence pointing to 
  the fate of their people’s “lost tribe” - a tribe whose 
  history has been deliberately forgotten out of shame 
  by the people of Spilunk for over a generation.  Even 
  more tragic, however, is the knowledge that these 
  distant cousins are now all gone, too late to be saved.
  If the PCs eventually return to Spilunk with 
  evidence of what they found here, the elders of 
  Spilunk will be devastated—and yet also grateful.  
  
  93
  They hold a ceremony to honor the memory of their 
  lost brethren, to ofﬁcially forgive them posthumously 
  and to publicly make amends for killing their brethren 
  in the squabble.  The PCs ﬁgure prominently in this 
  ceremony, credited as the only ones able to ﬁnally 
  settle the ancient feud that tore the two groups apart.
  K (*). OVERLOOK (EL VARIES)
  Here the passages widen, turning into large shafts that 
  abruptly drop to the level below.  From this elevated 
  point the PCs can see a rough ramp leading down to 
  the lower level, but the quiet cavern at the bottom 
  proves to be occupied by a crowd of thralls!
  Crammed into the chambers below are dozens of 
  thralls on “standby”, awaiting the order sent through 
  the node mother by the Last God to move out.  As 
  such they merely stand, crammed in and cramped, like 
  soldiers in a landing craft waiting to hit the beaches.
  The PCs can observe the creatures from above 
  without being seen.  Even if they are detected (if they 
  climb down, make noise, etc.) the creatures here will 
  merely observe them, without attacking.  Only if the 
  PCs provoke them (through violent action) will they 
  move to attack.
  GM’s Note:  See Area L below for details on what 
  reserves might be found in each of these caves, in case 
  there is a combat.
  L (*). TUNNELS (EL VARIES)
  These deep tunnels, whatever their original purpose, 
  are now used solely to shelter and hide the growing 
  New World Army army that continuously attacks the 
  towns of the Wastelord empire.
  The node mother resides deep down at the bottom 
  of this level (see Node Chamber), using its psychic 
  relay abilities to maintain constant contact with the 
  main biomass of the Last God beneath the town of 
  Center.  The node mother here, like the one in Hooper, 
  is literally the Last God’s eyes and ears outside 
  Center, an extension of one enormous, dispersed 
  creature—the XBM macro-organism.  While the ﬁrst 
  node mother was sent to secretly infect Hooper from 
  within, this node mother’s purpose is (and always has 
  been) to continuously build up an army of thralls with 
  which to topple the Wastelord empire—and convert 
  their people into even more thralls!
  As the PCs explore these tunnels, they have a 
  very high chance of bumping into concentrations of 
  infected thralls waiting silently in the darkness to 
  be called to action.  These include wolves, coyotes, 
  bears, and mutant tribals (the original inhabitants of 
  the town), all simply waiting, quietly, in these dark 
  tunnels.  
  Since they are essentially on “standby,” all of these 
  creatures remain utterly quiet and motionless where 
  they stand.  Unless the PCs directly attack them (or 
  otherwise threaten them; for example, by setting 
  up demolitions charges), the masses will merely 
  watch the group as they pass by, making no overtly 
  hostile moves.  Characters will quickly get a sense 
  that they are being watched, appraised, and carefully 
  observed—for some unknown reason.
  If the PCs elect to attack these concentrations 
  of infected thralls , the creatures jump into action 
  immediately.  They mobilize to cut off and overwhelm 
  intruders, hoping to overcome and infect them and add 
  them to the node mother’s growing army.
  Areas marked with an * on the map of this level 
  indicate major concentrations of thralls.  For each 
  concentration, roll the following to see what is 
  actually present in that speciﬁc area:
  D8
  N.W.O. Reserves
  1-2
  2 Bear Shamblers, 8 Mutant Shambler
  3-4
  2 Wolf Shamblers, 8 Mutant Shamblers, 2 Wolf 
  Seedlings, 2 Bear Seedlings, 1 Mutant Seedling A
  5-6
  2 Wolf Shamblers, 2 Bear Shamblers, 6 Mutant 
  Shamblers, 1 Dog Integrator
  7-8
  2 Wolf Shamblers, 2 Bear Shamblers, 6 Mutant 
  Shamblers, 2 Coyote Seedlings, 2 Wolf Seedlings, 2 
  Horse Seedlings (Transformed), 4 Mutant Seedlings 
  A, 1 Dog Integrator, 1 Mutant Integrator
  As before, if the PCs are detected, all of the creatures 
  in the caves and on the surface are alerted at the same 
  time, since they are all linked telepathically as one 
  “super-organism,” seeing through each other’s eyes 
  and hearing through each other’s ears.
  M. STOCKPILE CAVERN
  This entire cavern is ﬁlled with hundreds of dirty, 
  dusty, dented, and rusted computer components, from 
  keyboards to monitors to entire CPU towers, external 
  disk drives, printers, and other parts normally seen 
  only when a computer has been opened and looted 
  for parts.  The place looks like an enormous and 
  chaotic storehouse, except that everything is old and 
  obviously second-hand, scavenged from who-knows-
  how-many sites all across the wasteland.
  This place is an important storehouse of computer 
  parts and other electronics being hoarded by the 
  Last God for a very special purpose.  Because it was 
  able to assimilate a large number of scientists and 
  other technicians from the Center facility during the 
  “accident” there during the Fall, the Last God has 
  some very advanced technical and engineering skills 
  at its disposal.  With these skills, it was able to meddle 
  with the computerized systems of Center just enough 
  to bring down the quarantine containment measures 
  there for a few minutes, allowing part of it to escape 
  (see the adventure introduction for more information 
  on this incident).  Though the androids manning the 
  quarantine detected the breach in time to stop the 
  Last God from escaping completely (ultimately only 
  allowing a few seedlings and the two node mothers to 
  escape), the Last God has not given up on its plans…
  In addition to attacking the automated systems of 
  
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  the facility with advanced weapons created using 
  these spare parts, the Last God plans to use these 
  computers, when salvaged and reassembled, to “hack” 
  into the androids themselves—and shut them down 
  long enough for the Last God to fully escape to the 
  surface.
  If the PCs destroy this stockpile (for they certainly 
  can’t take it all themselves), either by explosive or 
  ﬁre, they will have thwarted one of the Last God’s 
  major long-term plans, and unknowingly preserved 
  the integrity of the quarantine keeping the macro-
  organism’s main biomass trapped beneath Center.
  For the time being, anyway…
  Treasure:  To most buyers, this collection of parts 
  would be relatively worthless (perhaps 2,500 cp at 
  most for the entire contents of the cavern), but to 
  someone with the appropriate Craft skills to make 
  computers and other electronic items, the value would 
  be up to ten times that.
  N. LABORATORY (EL 7)
  PCs sneaking into this room are confronted by a 
  strange sight: silhouetted against the darkness are 
  several half-naked men, covered in dirt and wearing 
  only primitive loincloths.  The dark forms of these 
  men are illuminated sporadically by sudden bursts 
  of sparks that ﬁll the cavern with an eerie blue light.  
  These sparks come from an assortment of welding and 
  soldering equipment they are apparently using to build 
  a number of complex electronic gizmos from scratch.  
  These complicated devices look totally out of place in 
  their hands.
  These “men” are actually seedlings, infected 
  members of the tribal community that used to call 
  these halls home.  United by the macro-organism’s 
  “over-mind,” they have been put to work repairing 
  computer components and making weapons from the 
  materials gathered by the New World Order army.  
  Because the numerous animals in the growing thrall 
  army lack the ﬁne dexterity (and opposable digits) 
  of humans, these new “converts” are especially 
  important to the Last God’s war machine, crafting 
  weapons that will hopefully be a match for the 
  androids enforcing the quarantine at Center.
  GM’s Note:  GM’s Note:  The seedlings here are 
  all busy doing their work, and do not notice the PCs 
  unless the characters call attention to themselves 
  or have already been spotted elsewhere.  If the PCs 
  are detected, the seedlings will continue working, 
  apparently unconcered by their presence.  If the party 
  attacks, however, they will defend themselves using 
  whatever completed weapons are at hand.
  In addition to any defense here, the PCs’ actions 
  will trigger a violent response by the Last God, who 
  now considers them a threat to its plans.  As a result 
  all thralls in Saguache will begin converging on the 
  group’s last known position with only one thought in 
  mind:  hunting the party down and destroying them.
   Mutant Seedlings B (4):  HP 34 (x3), 30 (see 
  Appendix 2).
  Treasure:  The seedlings are currently in the 
  process of making advanced weapons with which to 
  arm the thrall army for its eventual return to Center.  
  These weapons include masers, grenades, and EMP 
  weapons, the latter being especially vital for their plan 
  to destroy the robot quarantine.
  The tables in this room are covered with weapons 
  in various stages of completion.  Finished weapons 
  found here include one EMP riﬂe, two maser riﬂes, 
  four maser pistols (the seedlings use these if attacked), 
  seven negation grenades, and two shock grenades.  
  Another EMP riﬂe and two maser riﬂes are currently 
  under construction here, but are as yet incomplete 
  (though a character with the appropriate feats and 
  Craft skills could ﬁnish the work, requiring only 
  1d100 hours for each weapon; no cp expenditure is 
  necessary since the raw materials are already present).  
  There is another 35,000 cp in various raw materials 
  being converted to weapon production, which 
  could be taken and re-used by PCs seeking to make 
  advanced weapons in the future.
  In addition to these weapons, the seedlings have 
  managed to stockpile ﬁve minifusion cells, eleven 
  power clips, and two power beltpacks in this cavern.  
  All of these are fully charged.  There are another 2d10 
  power clips and 1d4 power beltpacks here, but each of 
  these has only 1d8-1 charges remaining.  Finally, two 
  deluxe electrical tool kits sit on a separate table.
  O. COMPUTER REPAIR (EL 9)
  This place is as Area N above, except here the 
  darkness of the caves is broken by the dim 
  illumination of several ﬂickering computer screens, in 
  front of which stand the bony bodies of a few infected 
  tribals.  Their eyes, jet black and lifeless, reﬂect the 
  streams of code ﬂashed on the computer screens like 
  perfect mirrors.
  These former natives of Saguache are now used to 
  run diagnostic programs on various bits of computer 
  hardware salvaged and repaired by the macro-
  organism.  These computers are the ﬁrst of many 
  systems that will, given time, be used by the macro-
  organism to hack into Center’s computer network and 
  either bring it down completely or shut down enough 
  androids to tip the balance in the Last God’s favor.
  GM’s Note:  Like the thralls in the Laboratory (see 
  above), these seedlings are completely engrossed 
  in their work and do not notice the PCs unless the 
  characters call attention to themselves.  If the alarm 
  has been raised, however (for example, if the PCs 
  attacked the workers in Area N), these thralls arm 
  themselves with maser pistols and head into the 
  tunnels to ﬁnd the intruders.
   Mutant Seedlings E (6):  HP 34 (x6) (see 
  Appendix 2).
  Treasure:  Characters making a Computer Use 
  check (DC 18) or Knowledge, Technology check 
  
  95
  (DC 21) here will realize that the computers being 
  operated on appear to be undergoing modiﬁcations.  
  A second check (DC 20 for Computer Use, DC 23 
  for Knowledge, Technology) allows the examining 
  PC to realize that the infected creatures are building 
  some kind of specialized computer system capable 
  of hacking remotely into other automated electronics 
  systems.  It is far from complete, however, and it is 
  obvious that many of the tools needed to complete 
  such a machine are not present in the complex.The 
  tools here, if collected, amount to a deluxe electrical 
  tool kit.
  P. EXPLOSIVES WORKSHOP (EL 6)
  This place is as Area N above, except here the 
  seedlings are hastily building explosives, using a wide 
  range of chemical apparati and treatment methods.  
  These explosives will be fundamental to the New 
  World Order’s ability to destroy both the Wastelords 
  and the android quarantine at Center.
  GM’s Note:  The seedlings here are involved 
  in their work and do not notice the PCs unless the 
  characters call attention to themselves.  If they do 
  notice the PCs, they do not attack, but stand and stare 
  at the PCs (alerting all other thralls to their presence 
  and exact location).  None of the seedlings will leave 
  this room, even if attacked; if the PCs do engage 
  them, the seedlings defend themselves with maser 
  pistols.
   Mutant Seedlings E (3):  HP 38, 34 (x2) (see 
  Appendix 2).
  Treasure:   The New World Order has constructed 
  a considerable stock of high explosives here.  A full 
  search of the chamber garners 20 blocks of C4, 30 
  sticks of dynamite, and 25 fragmentation grenades.  
  All of these items are scratch-built and homemade, 
  and thus have a 1 in 10 chance of being a dud when 
  used.
  Q. NODE CHAMBER (EL 11)
  This large dark cavern is the deepest in the 
  underground complex; all tunnels from it lead only 
  lead up.  The cavern has an additional unusual 
  property to it: all sounds made in the tunnels above 
  eventually ﬁnd their way here, reﬂected and magniﬁed 
  to almost twice their original volume (in game terms, 
  give creatures in this chamber a +4 bonus to Listen 
  checks when listening for sounds made anywhere in 
  the complex above).
  The sonic properties of this cavern were not lost on 
  the original inhabitants of Saguache, who believed 
  this chamber had religious signiﬁcance.  Like the 
  Shrine (see above), this place was a communal 
  gathering place where the tribal people came when 
  seeking guidance.
  When the New World Order thralls ﬁrst came 
  here from Center, they were given sanctuary in the 
  tunnels above.  When the thralls began infecting 
  their overly trusting hosts, the people of Saguache 
  panicked, abandoning the upper levels to take refuge 
  here.  Gathering with their chief and spiritual leaders, 
  they closed their eyes and engaged in fervent prayer, 
  hoping that through the power of their chants they 
  could ward off the inﬁltrators they had so foolishly 
  allowed into their community.
  Their prayers were never answered.  As the sounds 
  of more and more of their fellow villagers turning 
  into shamblers and seedlings reached their ears, they 
  made a fateful decision to commit suicide en masse.  
  Taking weapons in hand, fathers killed their wives and 
  children before turning on themselves until the room 
  ran red with blood—and all of their bodies fell cold.
  The node mother now makes its lair in this room, 
  which is still littered with the bones of the countless 
  men, women, and children who committed suicide 
  rather than become integral parts of the monstrous 
  Last God.  Skulls, ribcages, and hundreds of bones 
  make a grisly carpet for the creature, which rests 
  roughly in the center of the room coordinating 
  (through telepathy) the actions of its many thralls 
  underground and on the surface. Barely concealed 
  in the shadows are a dozen or so additional thralls, 
  all lingering on the edge of the wierd light emitted 
  through the viscid ﬂesh of the node mother by its 
  pulsing brain.
  GM’s Note: If the PCs are being followed 
  peaceably by thralls from elsewhere in the complex, 
  the creatures try to prevent the PCs from going 
  down to this vital chamber.  They do this by baring 
  their teeth, growling, moaning loudly, and even 
  maneuvering themselves to physically block the 
  party’s passage, taking aggressive postures to show 
  their intentions.  If the party persists in trying to reach 
  this deep level, the thralls drop the ruse and attack to 
  defend the node mother.
  If the PCs somehow managed to get here without 
  raising the alarm, the node mother will probably sense 
  them as they descend to the ﬂoor of the cavern.  The 
  thralls present in the chamber will then move to block 
  and attack them, while the node mother itself will 
  immediately use its telepathic link to call all nearby 
  concentrations of thralls to the cavern in a hurry.  If 
  the PCs do not ﬂee quickly, they may ﬁnd themselves 
  cut off from any possible escape!
  If there is a confrontation remember not to play 
  the node mother as a separate creature; it is, after all, 
  just one “limb” of an enormous and unique life form 
  with one uniﬁed consciousness.  The PCs cannot try 
  diplomacy, mind games, or reasoning with it.  At 
  this stage of the campaign, the Last God has not yet 
  realized the potential the PCs have to free it (part 
  three of this series, The Last God, details the macro-
  organism’s “prison” beneath Center and possible ways 
  the PCs might accidentally—or intentionally—free it) 
  and views them as a threat (which probably turns out 
  to be the case anyway); it will do anything to infect 
  or destroy them before they can thwart its plans.  The 
  
  96
  node mother will ﬂee if necessary, if only to preserve 
  the integrity of the Last God’s control over the army 
  here.  Then, as more and more reinforcements arrive, 
  the PCs will be forced to recognize the futility of the 
  situation and pull out in haste.
   Node Mother B (1):  HP 100 (see Appendix 2).
   Mutant Seedlings B (6):  HP 34 each (see 
  Appendix 1).
  FROM HERE
  Inﬁltrating Saguache, ﬁnding the secret tunnels 
  beneath the courthouse, and killing the node mother 
  in its lair will probably be next to impossible for the 
  party.  The sheer number of thralls serving as guards 
  and sentries in town and in the tunnels should make a 
  forced  descent into the tunnels to the node mother’s 
  lair unlikely; similarly, any raising of the alarm will 
  demonstrate to the PCs the total coordination of the 
  New World Order forces—a level of organization 
  and manpower which even a well-equipped party of 
  adventurers cannot readily handle.  Intelligent PCs 
  will hopefully learn this quickly, and realize that they 
  are probably unprepared to enter the “lion’s den”  with 
  guns blazing any hope of coming out alive.
  If the players are smart, they’ll limit their activities 
  here to information gathering and reconnaissance; if 
  they are careful, their expedition will end with the 
  characters at least getting a good idea as to the nature 
  of the forces here.  With this knowledge, the PCs can 
  return to the surface and immediately warn Kyren by 
  radio about what they have seen.
  It is almost assured that the PCs will have been 
  detected either entering or leaving Saguache and 
  its underground tunnels.  When this happens, how 
  the Last God reacts depends on the PCs’ actions.  If 
  they attack it reacts like any creature that becomes 
  suddenly aware it is vulnerable: it strikes back.  If 
  they merely scout, it also takes the opportunity to 
  observe them, making note of any unusual weapons, 
  abilities, mutations, etc.  It will use this information 
  later, once they are gone, knowing full well that they 
  must be leaders (or elite troops) to have come so far 
  and so bravely; during the next chapter, as the war 
  rages around them, it will target them speciﬁcally for 
  destruction!
  At this point, proceed to A New Biological War.
  A NEW BIOLOGICAL WAR
  This chapter details the ﬁnal offensive of the New 
  World Order against the towns and villages of the 
  San Luis Valley.  This offensive is the Last God’s 
  desperate push to destroy all that stands in the way of 
  its vision of a New World Order—and to infect every 
  last man, woman, child, and animal in the Valley.
  The war begins when the PCs stumble upon the 
  New World Order army base beneath Saguache, an 
  inﬁltration that exposes the Last God’s vulnerability 
  and provokes it into taking action.  Realizing that the 
  humanoids of the Valley now know too much about 
  it and its plans, the Last God decides to make its 
  decisive move.
  OBJECTIVES
  A creature of alien intelligence and unimaginable 
  power, the XBM macro-organism is an epic danger 
  to the Twisted Earth, a super-powerful monster with 
  physical and telepathic abilities that exceed anything 
  yet faced by the heroes of the wastes.  Currently 
  trapped beneath the mysterious town of Center, just 
  a few dozen miles from Shelter City, the main mass 
  of the XBM macro-organism cannot yet exert its 
  dominance over the world or pursue its monumental 
  campaign: to become the world’s last and only “god,” 
  feared and worshipped by man and mutant alike.
  To this end, the people of the San Luis Valley 
  are the real objective of this ﬁnal drive.  Because 
  escape from its prison is prevented by a powerful and 
  coordinated force of androids, the Last God seeks 
  a sizable army to return and breach the quarantine.  
  Numerous attempts at defeating the androids by direct 
  force (using the re-animated remains of men and 
  women infected during the Fall) have failed; the Last 
  God requires a much larger force, one made up of 
  hundreds if not thousands of thralls.
  THE WAR 
  Once the PCs provoke the Last God into mobilizing, they had better rush back to friendly lines.  If the PCs 
  are anywhere near Saguache when the Last God decides to launch its all-out war at the people of the Valley, 
  they are in for one of the strangest and most disturbing sights of their lives.
  The seemingly peaceful, abandoned town suddenly erupts with life.  The sounds of baying wolves, 
  howling dogs, roaring bears, and hundreds of wild animal calls echo from the depths beneath the 
  courthouse in one enormous cry that shakes the earth.  In only moments a literal river of creatures begins 
  streaming out from beneath the center of town, heading at full speed into the wasteland like crazed 
  escapees from some nightmare zoo.  By day, individual creatures can be discerned in this monstrous line—
  men, dogs, wolves, horses, and hideously twisted versions of natural animals—but by night, all that can be 
  discerned are hundreds of irregular shapes, large and small, pitch-black and moving in a continuous line.  
  In the feeble moonlight, this line resembles an oily black snake coiling out from the heart of town, heading 
  towards the desert horizon.
  
  97
  If all goes as planned, the towns of the San Luis 
  Valley will provide the manpower resources needed 
  to build its mighty army.  Once it has infected the 
  populations of these towns, it plans to recall these 
  new thralls to Center, there to overthrow the android 
  quarantine and ﬁnally release it to bring its vision 
  of a united (and infected) world to the people of the 
  Twisted Earth.
  Because the towns themselves are the Last God’s 
  goal, its New World Order army will concentrate its 
  attacks on these populated centers.
  RANDOM ENCOUNTERS 
  Random encounters should be handled differently 
  during this phase of the adventure.  Since the New 
  World Order army is virtually everywhere on the 
  frontlines during the offensive, the PCs have a greater 
  chance of encountering small parties of infected 
  creatures in the course of their travels through the 
  embattled region.  In addition, because uninfected 
  animals normally living in the valley are scared away 
  by the “walking dead” of the New World Order, 
  encounters with natural wildlife do not occur.
  Below are some suggested encounters for use 
  during the ﬁnal Enemy push on the Wastelord empire:
  STRAGGLERS
  Groups of thralls may be encountered along Highway 
  17 (and later along Highway 150) during the opening 
  phases of the ﬁghting—stragglers crippled by 
  deformity or decomposition and left to lag behind 
  the main force.  The PCs may run into groups of 
  stragglers on the open road as they travel the wastes.
  Generally speaking, upon spotting these bands of 
  infected stragglers, the PCs can simply step on the gas 
  and drive by, leaving these shamblers in the dust—but 
  if they stop, they may be doing themselves a long-
  term favor.  By trimming enemy numbers now, they 
  will make their future job of hunting down every last 
  thrall much easier.
  A typical group of stragglers consists of 1d4+3 
  Mutant Shamblers, armed with spears.
  AMBUSH ON THE HIGHWAY!
  This encounter is similar to the one above, except 
  that a number of armed seedlings accompany the 
  straggling shamblers.  They open ﬁre on passing 
  vehicles, attempting to force their victims to stop.  
  Once this is accomplished (by reducing the PCs’ truck 
  to zero hit points) the shamblers then close in around 
  the vehicle from all directions and incapacitate the 
  crew (PCs included) long enough for the seedlings to 
  move in and infect them.
  This type of encounter involves 1d6+4 Mutant 
  Shamblers and 1d3 Mutant Seedlings C, armed with 
  M16A2 riﬂes (or, at the GM’s discretion, 1d3 Mutant 
  Seedlings D armed with grenades).
  CHANCE ENCOUNTER (NIGHT ONLY)
  As their truck races through the darkness (either 
  along the highway or across the wastes), the only 
  light the PCs have to navigate by is that of the truck’s 
  headlights.  All of a sudden, something crosses into 
  view: the headlights reveal sudden motion, the ﬂash of 
  creatures moving quickly to scramble out of the path 
  of their vehicle.  Any character making a Spot check 
  (DC 13) sees the vague shape of several humanoids; 
  one is clearly visible for a moment in the darkness.  
  It is a half-naked man, wearing only the tattered 
  remains of a long white lab coat.  As their truck veers 
  dangerously close, he looks up, revealing two all-
  black eyes and a mouth that hangs unnaturally limp 
  like a gaping void.
  In this chance encounter the PCs have come across 
  a band of Enemy thralls en route to a Wastelord 
  settlement.  The PCs can drive right past without 
  stopping (the thralls have no way to stop them); 
  what makes this encounter interesting is the white-
  coated ﬁgure. The creature in the white coat does not 
  resemble a valley inhabitant; it is one of the original 
  infected scientists from the secret facility at Center 
  (hence the ancient lab coat).  Its odd appearance just 
  might be enough to convince the PCs to stop and 
  investigate.
  If the PCs do stop, the pack of thralls shifts 
  direction to converge on the truck, hoping to attack 
  and infect the crew and passengers.  The PCs have 
  quite a ﬁght ahead of them: this small band includes 
  one Human Seedling B and 3d6 Mutant Seedlings C.
  Searching the bodies of the thralls turns up some 
  potentially useful information.  The Mutant Seedlings 
  are clearly the infected and animated corpses of 
  tribal villagers from Saguache, but the coat-wearing 
  human corpse is that of a genetic scientist who 
  “died” centuries ago during the “accident” at Center.  
  Searching its lab coat recovers a pink access card 
  (keyed to the Main Research Laboratory at Center; 
  see part three of this series, The Last God, for 
  details).  This item may come in handy when the PCs 
  eventually travel to Center to stop the Last God.
  STARTING THE WAR
  Once the PCs turn back towards the Wastelord 
  frontier, their Wastelord escorts insist that they report 
  immediately via radio to Kyren in Shelter City.  When 
  Kyren hears about the PCs’ discoveries in (and under) 
  Saguache, he is concerned:
  After a few moments of silence, Kyren speaks 
  up.  “Alright, you’ve done a fantastic job.  You 
  deﬁnitely found something important—maybe the 
  main body of the Enemy army here in the Valley.  
  This is important.”
  He is quiet for a few seconds as if pondering 
  something.  “But you say you weren’t able to kill 
  the node mother?  Hmm…  Well, you’ve done 
  
  98
  enough for now.  Get your butts back to camp and 
  get some R&R until we can come up with a plan 
  for further action.  Over and out.”
  The PCs can return to the camp outside of Shelter City 
  before the next nightfall.  Once back at the camp, they 
  can re-equip and restock their ammunition supplies, 
  and receive one stimshot A each to heal any injuries 
  incurred in the ﬁeld.  After treatment, the party is 
  debriefed by their Wastelord company commander, 
  who demands a more detailed account of their 
  scouting mission.  Though this process takes two or 
  three hours, once these formalities are behind them, 
  the PCs have the rest of that day to recuperate.
  THAT NIGHT
  The PCs’ “shore leave” is short-lived.  That night, 
  wherever the PCs are, they are awakened with a start:
  You are roused from your sleep by a Wastelord 
  sentry, who quickly informs you that Kyren is on 
  the phone and wants to speak to you immediately.
  You quickly converge on the Wastelord 
  headquarters tent, where there is a frenzy of 
  activity.  Men are arming themselves and rushing 
  out into the night, blowing whistles to rouse and 
  mobilize the several companies of slave soldiers.
  Your Wastelord commander holds up a direct 
  line to the command center and motions for you 
  to pick it up.  On the line is Kyren, apparently 
  taking time out from some frantic preparations to 
  speak with you.
  “Listen up, gentlemen—there has been an 
  attack on Moffat by a large force of what appear 
  to be seedlings and other infected creatures.  
  Unfortunately, the garrison at Moffat ﬂed rather 
  than ﬁght, leaving the civilians to fend for 
  themselves, but they radioed enough info before 
  they fell for us to ﬁgure there’s an entire army out 
  there in the desert heading our way.
  “It looks like you really stirred up a hornet’s 
  nest by visiting Saguache.  I was afraid that might 
  happen—the node mother must be wary we’ll 
  get the jump on it, so it’s making its move now, 
  tonight.  No more inﬁltration, no more probing—
  it’s time to play hardball!”
  Kyren is distracted for a moment, and you 
  pause as he discusses incoming radio reports with 
  his generals.  He then returns to the phone.
   “The attack on Moffat was probably only the 
  ﬁrst contact with the Enemy.  They’re probably 
  marching on Hooper and Mosca as we speak.  
  I’ve consulted with my generals and we’ve 
  decided we can’t ﬁght this enemy with piecemeal 
  garrisons, so we’re evacuating all the towns to 
  Shelter City, where we’ll make our stand.
  “However, we’ve got a bit of a problem in 
  Hooper: the town’s administrator, Harris, just 
  radioed that his formation is delayed.  He’s 
  asking for more men to help in the evacuation.  
  I want you guys there to get his butt moving 
  ASAP.  We won’t be sending any troops back for 
  stragglers, so you’d better be out with the rest of 
  the population when the town falls.
  “You know the drill—get your gear and get on 
  the next truck headed east on route 150.  Good 
  luck, you sorry sons-of-bitches.”
  RAID ON HOOPER (EL VARIES)
  When the PCs arrive at Mosca, read the following:
  You’re on the open road again in less than an 
  hour, moving east under the roiling black sky.  
  You pass a mile-long convoy of trucks, wagons, 
  mules, and civilians being herded down the 
  highway in the opposite direction, towards Shelter 
  City.  In the distance, the small frontier town of 
  Hooper can be seen, its orange street lights left 
  on by the Wastelords in their haste to evacuate.
  Suddenly the CB radio in your truck crackles to 
  life, and the driver informs you that commander 
  Harris is on the line.  Picking up the receiver, you 
  hear Harris’ frantic voice calling for you to meet 
  him at his command truck, which is just up ahead.
  Your driver pulls the truck over in front of a 
  pair of transport trucks on the shoulder of the 
  highway.  The line of refugees keeps moving, 
  the frightened civilians hardly glancing in your 
  direction as they hurry past.
  Harris stands at the back of a truck with a 
  handful of men, apparently in the middle of an 
  argument.  As you approach, the arguing dies 
  down and Marzan turns to address you.
  “You’re the men we called for, yes?  Can you be 
  trusted not to speak a word of this… to anyone?”
  Marzan looks at each of you with a cautious 
  eye.  Whatever he’s hinting at, he apparently 
  intends to keep it from Kyren’s ears.
  Once he secures your agreement, he ﬁlls you in.
  “We have a serious problem.  Some of my men 
  seem to have “forgotten” their orders during 
  their haste to pull out of town.  They left an entire 
  storehouse ﬁlled with weapons intact.  Kyren will 
  have my head if those weapons fall into enemy 
  hands.
  “I need someone to return to Hooper and take 
  that storehouse out with explosives.”
  He turns and motions for one of his men to pull 
  back the tarp in the back of one of the trucks.  
  Sitting there is a bundle of dynamite.
  “I want men who can be trusted not to talk.  If 
  Kyren hears about this, my staff and I could face 
  serious consequences.  I don’t plan on dying that 
  way.  Do this and you’ll be saving my life.  I won’t 
  forget it.”
  
  99
  The decision to return to Hooper is entirely up to the 
  PCs; if they agree, Harris is in their debt (this has no 
  immediate beneﬁt, but if the PCs ever need a high-
  ranking ally among the Wastelords, this little favor 
  may put Harris in their pocket).  If the PCs refuse, 
  Harris is upset but does not act against them (he’s 
  already in enough trouble with Kyren); ignore this 
  encounter and proceed to Exodus to Shelter City.
  If the PCs agree to help solve his problem, Harris 
  can provide them with ﬁve sticks of dynamite (enough 
  to level a good-sized building if placed properly) and 
  a timed detonator.
  THE RAID
  The PCs must be wary, as the New World Order has 
  all but occupied Hooper in the wake of the evacuation.  
  When they arrive, the town is being prowled by 
  small patrols of shamblers and seedlings looking in 
  vain for any stragglers or civilians left behind in the 
  Wastelords’ ﬂight from town.  The PCs must enter 
  Hooper using stealth or risk alerting the entire enemy 
  force to their presence (don’t forget the Enemy army 
  is effectively one being with shared senses).
  The GM will need to play the raid by ear; individual 
  encounters will be with small groups or patrols 
  and not with actual “waves” of combatants.  With 
  successful Hide and Move Silently checks, the PCs 
  may be able to avoid detection, observe the enemy’s 
  regular movements through town, and reach the 
  armory without being detected.
  The armory itself has not been discovered by the 
  Enemy—yet.  Once the PCs ﬁnd the building (see 
  map) they need to break in without drawing undue 
  attention.  Any noisy means of entrance (such as 
  shooting the lock on the main door) draws immediate 
  attention from nearby patrols, but a Disable Device 
  check (DC 20) allows the PCs into the armory without 
  a hitch.
  Treasure: Inside the warehouse are the following 
  items: 24 M16A2s, 1 ramjet riﬂe, 1 RPG-16, 1440 
  rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, 60 rounds of ramjet 
  ammunition, 10 fragmentation grenades, 2 anti-tank 
  grenades (for the RPG).
  The PCs can “requisition” any equipment they 
  want (within reason, since they can’t conceivably 
  carry it all), but most of the weaponry here will have 
  to be destroyed—the PCs can’t likely transport it 
  all.  The easiest way to destroy the armory is to use 
  the explosives provided by their Wastelord patrons.  
  Placing the explosives requires no skill check, but 
  setting the detonator to go off as planned requires a 
  successful Demolitions check (DC 10).
  Once the charge is set, the PCs must make a hasty 
  retreat employing the same level of caution they 
  exhibited slipping into Hooper.  If they are discovered, 
  the entire Enemy force will converge on their position 
  to capture and infect them.
  ENEMY FORCES
  Encounters with enemy forces here generally consist 
  of chance meetings with the small patrols moving 
  methodically through the abandoned streets in search 
  of people to infect.
  For every 1d4 minutes the PCs spend moving to (or 
  away from) the armory building, roll on the following 
  table to see what forces, if any, they encounter:
  D6
  Patrol
  EL
  1-2
  None
  0
  3-4
  5 Mutant Shamblers and 1d2 Mutant 
  Seedlings E
  7-8
  5
  5 Mutant Shamblers and 1d2 Mutant 
  Seedlings C
  7-8
  6
  5 Mutant Shamblers and 1d4 Mutant 
  Seedlings B
  7-9
  CANTOR’S CLINIC 
  PCs who have grown attached to Cantor may want to stop by his clinic to make sure he got out during the 
  evacuation.  Since it lies on the route to the Armory (see the map of Hooper), a stop wouldn’t put too big a 
  strain on the time constraints of their mission.
  The party ﬁnds Cantor’s clinic in a shambles, apparently the scene of a last-minute looting spree (any 
  medicines the PCs didn’t already get from Cantor were taken by force in the Wastelords’ evacuation).  It 
  appears they are too late, for no sign of Cantor can be found in the wreckage of the surface structure.
  A Listen check (DC 15) alerts the PCs to a commotion in a back room, however.  Entering the darkened 
  rear of the building they ﬁnd a toppled wheelchair at the top of a narrow ﬂight of stairs, leading down to a 
  cellar apparently forgotten by the Wastelords in their haste to ﬂee.
  If the PCs investigate they ﬁnd a pair of Mutant Seedling Cs at the bottom of the stairs, attempting to 
  beat down a barricaded basement door with the butts of their riﬂes.  Assuming the PCs kill the seedlings 
  and open the door they ﬁnd Cantor holed up downstairs, empty shotgun in hand.  He is terriﬁed but alive, 
  and as soon as he sees the PCs he takes on his sardonic smile once more, thanks them briskly, and asks 
  them for “a ride out of town”—all while cursing the Wastelords as cowards, of course.
  Any ﬁghting here has a good chance of alerting N.W.O. patrols in town, however, and if the PCs aren’t 
  quick with the rescue they may ﬁnd themselves bottled up in Cantor’s clinic as waves of reinforcements 
  arrive!
  
  100
  All patrols take 10 on Spot and Listen checks as they 
  move through the city streets.  If they do not discover 
  the PCs, they continue on, looking elsewhere for prey.
  If the PCs are discovered, the Enemy attacks 
  immediately.  Reinforcements (in the form of 
  another roll on the table above; a roll of 1-2 means 
  no reinforcements show up in time) appear every 
  other round to join the ﬁght against the PCs.  Unless 
  the PCs manage to escape quickly, reinforcements 
  continue arriving until the party is wiped out!
  FAILURE
  If the PCs fail to destroy the stockpile or decline to 
  accept the mission in the ﬁrst place, keep track of 
  what weapons are left behind in the evacuation; they 
  will directly affect the Enemy order of battle in the 
  siege of Shelter City in the following manner:
  For every M16A2 left in the armory, replace one 
  Mutant Seedling E in the coming battle with a Mutant 
  Seedling C.  For every two fragmentation grenades 
  left, replace one Mutant Seedling E with a Mutant 
  Seedling D.  Either the ramjet riﬂe or the RPG-16 will 
  be wielded by Node Mother B (replacing its maser 
  riﬂe) in the coming battle for Shelter City.
  EXODUS TO SHELTER CITY
  Once the PCs help Harris blow the armory in Hooper, 
  the Wastelords begin a fast exodus towards Shelter 
  City.  When the PCs ﬁnally arrive outside the city, 
  read the following:
  Ahead is the familiar sight of the enormous 
  crevasse that marks the entrance to Shelter 
  City.  Tonight you can only barely make out the 
  contours of the camp outside, for a fog has rolled 
  in from the mountains to cloak the desert in mist.
  The darkness of this dismal night is broken by a 
  mile-long crescent of electric lights, torches, and 
  lanterns that is almost engulfed by this mist.  But 
  even in this weak light you can see hundreds of 
  men, women, children, and animals converging 
  on the subterranean city from the west, ﬁlling 
  the highway with a mass of human bodies, carts, 
  wagons, and trucks.  It is like a great Biblical 
  exodus, a ﬂight from the path of the marauding 
  Enemy to sanctuary within the underground 
  tunnels of the ancient city.  For a moment you 
  can only stare in awe at this mass migration, 
  acutely aware that this is an uncanny parody of 
  Ancient times—when the vault of Shelter City was 
  ﬁrst stocked with desperate refugees during the 
  twilight of human civilization.
  People scatter out of your way as your truck 
  rolls by.  You see armed Wastelords trying to 
  manage the crowds, chasing after stray animals 
  or helping move broken-down vehicles off the 
  roadway.  Trucks and cars, their headlights still 
  beaming, lie abandoned on the shoulder of the 
  road, left behind in the Wastelords’ haste.
  Hundreds of people are packed together near 
  the entrance to Shelter City, trying to force their 
  way into the underground sanctuary.  At the 
  same time you see groups of soldiers separating 
  men from their families, shoving weapons into 
  their hands, and herding them towards makeshift 
  defensive positions on the ground level or on the 
  lookout posts above.
  Only now do you truly realize how desperate 
  this battle is going to be.
  When the PCs arrive, they are immediately greeted 
  by a Wastelord sergeant who takes them to a ﬁeld 
  hospital to have any injuries healed.  The party is 
  allotted six injections of Stimshot B as needed (if the 
  PCs are fully healed, they do not get to keep unused 
  medicine).  If the PCs require any energy, 5.56mm, or 
  9mm ammunition, they are each also given two full 
  clips (or one power clip and one ammo clip for those 
  who use energy weapons) before being sent on their 
  way.
  Once they have been treated and re-equipped, the 
  sergeant informs the PCs that Kyren wishes to see 
  them immediately.
  MEETING WITH KYREN
  It is a strange relief to see the handsome and 
  utterly ruthless face of Kyren in this time of 
  trouble, and secretly you ﬁnd yourselves relieved 
  that he is here.  Though he represents many 
  things which you ﬁnd reprehensible, knowing that 
  a strong and intelligent leader is in command is 
  somehow comforting.
  You are escorted into Kyren’s presence atop the 
  Overlook (see map), where he has established a 
  forward observation post.  From this open area, 
  he commands an impressive view of not only the 
  approaches to the city and the abandoned camp 
  outside, but also the desert nearby.  Due to the 
  heavy fog, the city lights do more than just light 
  this narrow gorge; they reﬂect off the low-ﬂying 
  clouds to illuminate much of the desert.  The mist 
  has effectively extended visibility by more than a 
  mile around the city entrance.
  Kyren stands at a makeshift map table, 
  planning with his number one general—a cruel 
  thug known only as “Hammer.”  At Kyren’s 
  side is his female gunslinger and bodyguard, 
  a renowned hired gun called “Ace.”  While 
  Hammer discusses possible strategies with his 
  lord, Ace watches you from beneath the brim 
  of her hat with a steely, appraising glare, as if 
  everyone—yourselves included—is a potential 
  threat to the raider-prince.  In her arms she 
  cradles an impressive-looking riﬂe of futuristic 
  design, ready to defend Kyren at a moment’s 
  
  101
  notice.
  “Ah, there you are,” says Kyren, “I’m glad to 
  see you got out of Hooper alive.  And just in time, 
  it seems.  The Enemy is almost at our doorstep.”
  He motions to a map of the San Luis Valley 
  on which markers and pieces have been placed 
  to represent Wastelord units and the last known 
  locations of thrall armies in the ﬁeld.  All appear 
  to be converging on Shelter City.
  “As you may or may not know, Moffat was the 
  ﬁrst town hit.  No one survived the attack, but 
  the civilian administrators there radioed to us 
  before they fell that an entire army of creatures 
  was on the move.  When we heard that, we ﬁgured 
  it was better to be safe than sorry—so I ordered 
  an evacuation of all towns in the path of their 
  attack.”
  “All remaining commanders report the 
  evacuation has gone off without a hitch.  Chalk 
  up one decisive victory for our side.
  “Now here’s the current situation: everyone 
  is gathered here, at Shelter City, where I plan to 
  ﬁght like a son-of-a-bitch until every last one of 
  those zombie buggers is dead.  There’s gonna 
  be no retreat, no falling back.  This is where 
  we make our stand.  We have over one hundred 
  Wastelords, Entropists, and amazons, another 
  two hundred in levied militia from the city, and 
  of course you and the other slave soldiers.  The 
  women and children will be looking after the 
  wounded in town.”
  Kyren stares at the impressive array of pieces 
  on his map, but something in his eyes suggests 
  he is ill at ease.  For a few moments he is tight-
  lipped and quiet.  Finally he speaks.
  “What I can’t ﬁgure out, however, is what they 
  want.  After all this, I still don’t get it.  Just to 
  infect us?  To turn us into mindless thralls?  To 
  eat us?”
  If the PCs have seen the strange technology stockpiles 
  in the node mother’s hovel in Hooper or in the caves 
  beneath Saguache, they may now tell Kyren what 
  they’ve seen.  If the PCs tell (or remind) Kyren about 
  this, suddenly it dawns on him:
  “It sounds like whatever this creature is, it’s 
  trying to build something.  I’m not sure what—a 
  great weapon of some sort?  A nuke of its own?  
  Hmmm.  Maybe not.  Maybe it’s something 
  subtler than that.  You say there were lots of 
  computer parts?  Maybe it’s trying to build a 
  computer for some reason…”
  For a few moments Kyren is silent.  Then 
  suddenly his eyes widen in realization.
  “Holy crap.  Computers… computers… 
  that’s it!  It’s building a computer to bring down 
  the android quarantine.  Remember, from the 
  android’s memory?  That’s got to be it!  That 
  cunning… whatever-it-is.  It’s smart—real smart.  
  Don’t you see?  Whatever it is, it couldn’t get out 
  by ﬁghting the androids head-on.  So instead, 
  it infected a bunch of thralls and sent them out 
  through a “backdoor” to try and build an army 
  beyond its prison.  An army to gather parts and 
  build a computer to crash the android quarantine.  
  And to return in force to set it free!”
  “What the hell are we dealing with?” Hammer 
  asks, crossing his arms.
  “I don’t know,” Kyren says, staring off into 
  the night, “I don’t know.  But whatever it is, I 
  have a feeling this… all of this… is just the tip 
  of the iceberg.  These armies… they’re nothing 
  more than ﬁngers to it.  Eyes, ears, hands.  And 
  for every man, woman, child, or animal that is 
  infects, it gains more appendages.  More eyes, 
  more ears, more hands.  It doesn’t want us for 
  food or for anything like that—it needs more 
  zombie servitors to comb the desert from here to 
  the Forbidden Lands for the things it needs to free 
  itself!”
  Give the PCs a moment to contemplate what Kyren is 
  suggesting.  If what he theorizes is correct, all of their 
  efforts so far have only scratched the surface of this 
  new threat to the Twisted Earth!
  
  102
  Shouts echo sharply through the mist, and 
  everyone present turns toward their source.  
  Hammer moves over to the edge of the ﬂat roof 
  and raises his arm, pointing directly to the west.
  There, on the horizon, illuminated by the 
  soft glow reﬂecting off the clouds, comes a 
  horde of creatures storming along at top speed.  
  Unhindered by fatigue, they must have run the 
  whole way from Mosca, Hooper, and Moffat.  
  Among them are countless humanoid creatures, 
  including twisted mutants from the desert and 
  warped desert animals, infected and turned 
  completely against the natural order.
  But yet more unsightly things follow close 
  behind.  Even from this distance, you can make 
  out strange spidery beasts, ghastly abominations 
  that look like animals rearranged and thrown 
  together again like the mythical creations of 
  Frankenstein.  Some sprout animal heads on long 
  bobbing necks, while others propel themselves 
  across the rocky terran on multitudes of skittering 
  and shufﬂing legs.
  Hammer stumbles back for a moment, gripping 
  his gun instinctively.  Kyren stares, but quickly 
  gathers his composure.
  “They’re moving on the entrance cavern!  Send 
  word to One-Eyed Jack to get ready!  Hammer!  
  You know what to do!”
  Just then, a huge, lumbering creature 
  emerges into the light in the distance.  Far 
  larger than anything else in the Enemy 
  army, it deﬁes description.  It resembles an 
  enormous, amorphous mass of living protoplasm, 
  pulling itself along on tentacle-like pseudopods as 
  masses of thralls march before it.
  Hammer, Ace, and the guards on the rooftop 
  simply stare in horror.  Kyren grinds his teeth in 
  deﬁance.
  “Nix that, Hammer!  Throw together a sally 
  force and destroy that thing!”
  Hammer motions for some men to follow, then 
  stares directly at you.
  HAMMER FALL (EL VARIES)
  Though the New World Order is moving on Shelter 
  City in a massed wave, the PCs will only participate 
  in a small but key part of the battle: the tip of the 
  spear.  Hammer selects them to join the sally force to 
  destroy the “thing” charging the city’s front entrance.  
  Because of the monster’s immense size and alien 
  appearance, the Wastelords rightly fear that this new 
  entity might be able to crash straight through the outer 
  defenses.
  Once the PCs have gathered their gear and met 
  Hammer in the entrance cavern, read the following:
  You stand huddled under the vault entrance 
  overhang along with more than a dozen well-
  armed and armored Wastelord soldiers, a few 
  of whom sit on sputtering motorcycles, ready 
  to race out of the cavern and into battle.  The 
  sound of shouts, screaming, and gunﬁre ﬁlls the 
  air as defenders on the level above lay down a 
  hail of covering ﬁre.  Suddenly the ground begins 
  
  103
  to rumble and shake.  Something enormous is 
  approaching …
  Hammer raises his plasma pistol, motioning for 
  his soldiers to get ready.  With a bellowing war 
  cry, he sends his men into a fury, leading them out 
  onto the battleﬁeld in a solid mass of men.
  Outside the battleﬁeld is a plain of ﬂat sand lit 
  only by the weak orange lights of the abandoned 
  slave camp reﬂecting off the low cloud cover 
  above.  But it is enough to see, close-up, the true 
  size of the Enemy army converging on the city.
  You are charging headﬁrst into the middle of 
  the advancing enemy army’s lines—the “spear 
  tip.”  Covering ﬁre from soldiers behind you cuts 
  down one, two, four, and many more shamblers 
  and humanoid seedlings that have already made 
  it this far.  Other creatures begin to move towards 
  your location, sensing unprotected prey, but by 
  the time they arrive you have closed more than 
  half the distance to the “thing.”
  There it is, just a few dozen yards ahead.  It 
  is enormous, a twelve foot mass of quivering 
  “biomass” that even now begins to sprout 
  additional tentacles and pseudopods to face 
  Hammer’s sally force.  It resembles an enormous 
  amoeba, the color of spoiled milk and covered 
  with brownish-purple blotches that remind you 
  of gangrenous bruises.  A terrible odor precedes 
  it, and as it comes to a stop a troupe of zombie-
  like shamblers and seedlings soon catch up, 
  brandishing weapons of all kinds to defend this 
  new monster.
  Hammer’s men seem ready to retreat in the face 
  of this horror, but the intimidating general growls 
  at them to stay their ground and attack.
  The battle has begun; enemies are moving in 
  from all sides, and you face a monstrous enemy of 
  unknown ability.  What will you do?
  The “thing” the PCs have been sent to kill is a large 
  free-ﬂoating biomass, created from the liqueﬁed 
  biomaterials accumulated by New World Order 
  integrators when Moffat fell.  Consuming the cattle 
  trapped there when the town fell, the integrators 
  reformed their biomass into a living organic creature 
  of terrible strength and abilities.
  FRIENDLY FORCES
  Fighting alongside the PCs in this battle are 
  Hammer, two Mid-level Wastelords, and 12 
  Low-level Wastelords A.
  Another handful of  Low-level 
  Wastelords A are in the area, but these 
  are riding around the perimeter on 
  motorcycles making sure no more 
  enemies arrive to overwhelm the 
  sally force.  Since their attention is 
  elsewhere, they do not participate directly in 
  the battle.
   Hammer: hp 82 (see Appendix 1). 
  ENEMY FORCES
  The exact composition of enemy forces depends on a 
  random die roll:
  D6
  Enemy Forces
  1
  1 Large Biomass*, 1 Dog Integrator, 1 Mutant 
  Integrator, 1d2+2 Human Seedlings B, 1d4+2 
  Mutant Shamblers, and 2 Mutant  
  Seedlings 
  D
  2
  As above, but also with 1d4 Mutant Seedlings A 
  and 1d4+2 Coyote Seedlings (Transformed)
  3-6
  As above, but with an additional 1d4+2 Mutant 
  Shamblers and 1d4+2 Mutant Seedlings E
  * For this battle the Large Biomass has these talents:  
  Damage Reduction 3/-, Plan and Tactical Aid.
  TACTICS
  Hammer leads the charge against the biomass, but 
  keeps distance between it and him as long as possible, 
  trying to score damage with his plasma pistol.  
  Hammer’s Wastelord men generally follow the same 
  strategy, forming a circle if necessary to keep the 
  biomass at arm’s length so they can continue to wear 
  it down with automatic ﬁre.
  
  104
  The biomass rolls towards whichever enemy 
  (or enemies) looks to be the most formidable.  If 
  the Last God has reason to single the PCs out (for 
  instance, if they “angered” it during their inﬁltration 
  of Saguache), the biomass will move to attack them 
  exclusively.
  While the biomass ﬁghts, the shamblers, seedlings, 
  and integrator (if present) engage the Wastelords one-
  on-one in an effort to distract and divide them long 
  enough for the biomass to win against the enemy 
  leader and shift its attention to the rank-and-ﬁle.
  VICTORY
  Once the biomass is destroyed, the immediate threat 
  to the city gates has been neutralized.  Hammer (or 
  the ranking Wastelord still standing) leads the PCs and 
  any surviving troops in an orderly retreat back to the 
  front gates, just in time for a pair of armored buses 
  (from the Wastelord vehicle pool) to come together to 
  seal off the entrance behind them.
  Once they have completed their mission, the PCs 
  are given 2 injections of Stimshot A before the sudden 
  and unexpected outbreak of the next encounter (see 
  below).
  DEFEAT
  The Wastelords will break and ﬂee if 1) Hammer 
  and at least half the PCs are taken out of action, or 
  2) if they lose more than eight of their number (not 
  including Hammer).  If they ﬂee, they leave all fallen 
  comrades behind and head for the front gates.  In this 
  case, any Enemy forces that survived this battle will 
  be present in the Trojan Horse scenario (see below).
  TROJAN HORSE (EL 7)
  Unbeknownst to Kyren and his Wastelords, a 
  large number of the civilians evacuated to Shelter 
  City during the chaos were in fact infected thralls, 
  who inﬁltrated the refugee column and remained 
  undetected as they were herded into the city.  Now 
  that they have cleared the entrance, the node mother 
  outside (still in contact with them through its 
  telepathy) causes them to transform and embark on 
  a chaotic killing spree.  The only thing that stands in 
  their way are a handful of Kyren’s Amazon allies and 
  the PCs…
  Once the party is safely back inside the city after the 
  Hammer Fall episode, continue with the following:
  As the two armored buses close off the cavern 
  entrance behind you, you are whisked deeper 
  into the complex.  Men injured during the sally 
  raid are ushered away for immediate treatment.  
  Medics ﬁght to get clear of the crowds, which 
  cram the passages leading from the entrance 
  cavern to the Slums; hundreds of civilians are 
  packed into the enormous vaulted chambers, the 
  wide-eyed looks on their faces betraying their 
  fear and despair.
  You now ﬁnd yourselves catching a moment’s 
  rest within the overcrowded tunnels, standing 
  eye-to-eye with many fearful refugees.  Over the 
  chaos you hear the sound of the ongoing battle 
  outside, as soldiers manning the overlook rain 
  automatic riﬂe and machinegun ﬁre down on 
  the oncoming Enemy hordes.  But the Enemy is 
  determined, and every now and again a defender 
  on the upper level is fried by a stray microwave 
  beam ﬁred from the handful of well-armed thralls 
  marching on the cavern entrance.  And, though 
  you sit safely inside, you hear the deafening 
  detonation of hand grenades lobbed over the 
  buses at the gate, killing defenders on the other 
  side.
  Dead bodies, both military and civilian, are 
  beginning to pile up.  Observing the course of the 
  battle from his headquarters, Kyren orders his 
  Amazon allies to escort the remaining civilians 
  towards the Marketplace to avoid further 
  casualties from stray ﬁre.  You watch as these 
  tough warrior-women herd men, women, and 
  children down the main street like cattle; soon 
  you are swept up among them.
  You are suddenly surprised by a multitude of 
  terriﬁed screams from the mass of children and 
  elderly ahead of you.  Turning and drawing your 
  weapons, charging down the passage and into the 
  market cavern, you arrive just in time to see the 
  crowd erupt in an all-out panic.
  There, at the center of the crowd, a number of 
  civilians have suddenly “changed” into mutated 
  thralls.  The Wastelords have made a terrible 
  mistake—some of the civilian refugees must have 
  been infected in the course of the evacuations and 
  came here carrying the infection, waiting for the 
  right moment to reveal themselves.
  As the people scramble in absolute horror, one 
  of the thralls grabs a shocked Amazon warrior 
  standing nearby in its rubbery arms.  The thrall’s 
  entire chest ruptures in an explosion of blood, 
  revealing a vertical maw almost three feet long 
  and ﬁlled with jagged teeth.  The Amazon stares 
  in wordless horror as she is drawn to the maw 
  and broken in half, her spine snapping with an 
  awful crack that can be heard clear across the 
  cavern.
  But the murderous thrall is not alone—there 
  are almost dozen others, even now changing into 
  similar forms and already moving to cause as 
  much chaos and bloodshed as they can!
  The inﬁltration has begun.  Sketch a map of the 
  market cavern for the players (see the map of Shelter 
  City for a guideline).  This will act as an ad hoc battle 
  map on which to play out this scene.
  
  105
  GM’s Note:  Though it is suggested that the battle 
  be contained to the marketplace, it is possible that the 
  thralls disperse and try to do more damage by splitting 
  up.  If this is the case, the encounter could quickly 
  turn into a desperate manhunt, with the PCs splitting 
  into small groups to hunt down individual seedlings 
  running rampant through Shelter City and murdering 
  anyone that crosses their path!
  FRIENDLY FORCES
  In addition to the PCs, there are four Amazons present.  
  There are also 20 Civilians (see Appendix 1), but 
  these latter are non-combatants who will generally try 
  to ﬂee the ﬁeld as quickly as possible.
  Every other round after the ﬁrst, the PCs receive 
  reinforcements in the form of two Amazons and two 
  Slave Soldiers A.  In addition, on each round the GM 
  should roll 1d6; on a 6, a single Mid-level Wastelord 
  also shows up to help quell the inﬁltrators.
  ENEMY FORCES
  The Enemy force consists of 10 Civilian Seedlings 
  (Transformed).  They are considered to have the 
  beneﬁt of a surprise round due to their sudden and 
  unexpected transformation (skip the normal duration 
  required for transformation; they are considered to 
  have already transformed while part of the crowd).
  One of the seedlings has already killed an Amazon 
  guard (do not include this in the Friendly Forces totals 
  above), and thus does not act on the ﬁrst round.  The 
  other 9, however, can act normally.
  Complication:  While the seedlings participating 
  in the “Trojan horse” ruse wreak havoc, any Enemy 
  forces that survived the Hammer Fall scenario (if 
  the PCs were defeated) will arrive at the marketplace 
  cavern on the ﬁfth round of battle.  They try to crash 
  through the buses, and if successful, they attack the 
  PCs and their allies from the rear.  If they cannot 
  break through, they wait for the seedlings inside to 
  come and open the gate to allow them entrance.
  TACTICS
  The Amazons try to contain and eradicate the 
  inﬁltrators to the best of their ability; they will not 
  run from this battle.  The civilians will ﬂee (you may 
  want to use the Collateral Damage table, presented 
  under the Hooper section, to determine if innocent 
  bystanders are hit if the PCs attack before the civilians 
  manage to escape from the marketplace), but will 
  make tempting targets for the Enemy seedlings during 
  the surprise round.
  The New World Order forces are here to cause 
  panic and disruption, and thus will generally disregard 
  complex tactics.  They are merely here to kill; they do 
  not distinguish between civilians, Amazons, and PCs.
  VICTORY
  The PCs are only victorious if they kill every last 
  inﬁltrator and prevent the “conversion” of other 
  civilians into the Enemy’s ranks.  However, victory 
  is short-lived; as soon as the outbreak in the square is 
  quelled, the PCs are called once more to Kyren’s side 
  for a brieﬁng (see below).
  DEFEAT
  If the PCs are overcome by the seedlings, they may 
  still be saved, at the GM’s discretion.  It is possible 
  that escaping Amazons drag dying PCs away for 
  treatment; though the supply of meds should not be 
  unlimited, if the players have performed particularly 
  well in previous battles, the Wastelords may consider 
  the use of these costly items to heal the PCs a 
  worthwhile investment.
  BATTLE TO SLAY THE NODE MOTHER (EL VARIES)
  Once the outcome of the battle in the market cavern 
  has been determined, it is time to move to the ﬁnal 
  decisive engagement of the New World Order 
  offensive.  When the players are ready, read the 
  following:
  The unexpected inﬁltration of the city by the 
  infected civilians has thrown the defenders into 
  panic.  Though the surviving Amazons try to quell 
  the rout, people are running everywhere in panic.  
  But at least the damage has been contained.
  Still aching from your wounds, you go over 
  to make sure the last thrall is dead.  At the same 
  time, a legion of Wastelord mechs appears with 
  heavy ﬂamethrowers slung across their backs and 
  goggles ﬁxed over their eyes; they immediately 
  get to work torching the dead bodies ﬁlling the 
  cavern.
  Though the situation here is under control, 
  the battle elsewhere seems to have tipped in the 
  Enemy’s favor.  Looking around, you see a nearby 
  Wastelord take a direct hit by a microwave beam 
  ﬁred by a maser-toting thrall not ten paces away; 
  the impact throws him a few feet back as his body 
  ignites in a stream of sparks.  Though the intruder 
  is quickly killed by a pair of nearby Amazons, 
  you hear the sounds of battle spilling from the 
  entrance cavern and into the labyrinth of tunnels 
  of the city itself.
  A nearby Wastelord grunt shouts to you that 
  Kyren once again wants to see you.  You leave 
  the area immediately and manage to ﬁght your 
  way up into the safety of his command post 
  overlooking the crevasse leading back to the city.
  Men are scrambling everywhere as maser 
  beams streak by, but Kyren, kneeling behind a 
  sandbag revetment, looks unconcerned as he 
  stares through binoculars to the northwest.  He 
  
  106
  seems totally oblivious to the explosions, stray 
  maser beams, and the sound of his army slowly 
  being beaten on the lower level of the city.
  Before you can report to him the urgency of 
  the situation, Kyren raises his hand for silence.  
  Then he points out into the distance, apparently 
  at whatever it was he was watching.  Instead of 
  explaining, he merely hands his binoculars to 
  you.
  There, through the lenses, you see through the 
  army of thralls and into the night.  There are 
  dozens, if not hundreds, of creatures out there, 
  and you wonder what it is that has Kyren so 
  transﬁxed.
  Then, all of a sudden, you see a bright aurora 
  of glowing color within the ranks of the enemy 
  army.  As masses of shamblers and seedlings 
  move forward, you see behind them a single 
  creature, resembling at this distance a man 
  walking on all fours, his back split open in a 
  giant deformed “maw.”  The glow radiates every 
  few seconds from the beast’s now-vestigial head, 
  which pulses and expands like a weird heartbeat.  
  Each time it expands, it lets off a subtle but 
  noticeable glow, and with each “beat,” the 
  shamblers and seedlings seem to act in response.
  “The node mother,” he says matter-of-factly, 
  “and quite possibly our ticket to salvation.”
  For a moment, you wonder what on earth he is 
  talking about.
  “I’ve been watching it for ﬁve minutes now and 
  it keeps repeating its behavior.  It doesn’t move.  
  It doesn’t attack.  It’s just sitting there, pulsing 
  and glowing.  It’s like some kind of organic, living 
  command center, a biological “switchboard” 
  relaying commands from somewhere distant.  
  Just like we learned from the android memory 
  module.”
  He takes the binoculars back for a moment, 
  peering through them to conﬁrm his suspicions.
  “We have a chance to end the war right now,” 
  he says.  “If we take it out, we’ll be taking out the 
  puppeteer that controls this whole army.
  “That’s where you come in.  We’ll need a 
  small party to do the job—a big force will draw 
  too much attention and scare it off.  You’ll have 
  to sneak up to get close, then take out it with 
  everything you’ve got.  Can you do it?”
  Though the PCs have virtually no other option but to 
  say yes, Kyren compliments them on their bravery.
  To better outﬁt them for the daring raid ahead, 
  Kyren has organized some advanced equipment here, 
  which he puts at the party’s disposal.  These items 
  include:
  2 gauss SMGs
  3 power beltpacks
  2 M16A2s
  120 rounds of gauss ammunition
  120 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition
  1 magnetic shield A
  4 tactical vests
  2 fragmentation grenades
  1 canister of wound-healing medi-spray
  The PCs can divide this equipment in any manner they 
  like before declaring themselves ready.
  Once the PCs have suited up and are prepared for 
  battle, they are immediately taken to the edge of the 
  crumbling Overlook, where a few Wastelord soldiers 
  attach ropes to the overhang.  From here the PCs can 
  rappel down to the crevasse ﬂoor, right into the middle 
  of the camp.  Since much of the ﬁghting is now taking 
  place inside the city (behind them), the PCs may be 
  able to sneak away without being seen!
  FRIENDLY FORCES
  The PCs are on their own in this ﬁnal encounter.
  ENEMY FORCES
  This ﬁnal enemy force consists of the node mother 
  and its immediate “bodyguard.”  However, once 
  it comes under attack, it begins drawing all allied 
  forces to the vicinity to help ﬁght the PCs.  Thus, 
  the PCs must kill the node mother quickly—before 
  reinforcements arrive, surround them, and destroy any 
  possibility of victory.
  Each wave is divided as follows: 
  1
  On the ﬁrst round of combat, Node Mother B, six Horse 
  Seedlings (Transformed), and three Mutant Seedlings A 
  spot the PCs and attack.
  2
  On the third round of combat, 1d4+4 Civilian Seedlings 
  (Transformed), 1d4 Bear Seedlings (Transformed), and 
  1d6+4 Mutant Shamblers arrive.
  3
  On the ﬁfth round of combat, 1d2+1 Bison Seedlings, 
  1d2 Mutant Seedlings D, and 1d8+4 Mutant Seedlings 
  E arrive.
  4
  On the ninth round of combat, another 1d6+10 Mutant 
  Shamblers arrive.
  If the PCs defeat the node mother on rounds 1-2, the 
  EL of the encounter is considered 9; on rounds 3-4 the 
  EL is 12; on rounds 5-8 the EL is 15; after the ninth 
  round the EL is 18.
  TACTICS
  If you are using a battle map, the terrain for this battle 
  is a completely ﬂat desert expanse providing little 
  or no cover.  The node mother is at the center of the 
  map surrounded by the horse seedlings, which act as 
  a “shield” against attack and move to block enemies 
  that near the node mother.
  
  107
  As more Enemy forces arrive (on the third, ﬁfth, 
  and ninth rounds of battle), they enter the ﬁeld evenly 
  distributed on all sides (north, south, east, and west).
  VICTORY (THE ONLY OPTION)
  Once the node mother has been killed, even if other 
  thralls remain in the ﬁeld, read the following:
  As the node mother collapses under the weight of 
  your combined attacks, its twisted and malformed 
  body crashes to the earth without so much as a 
  twitch, like a pile of body parts that had been 
  held together by nothing more than some unseen 
  entity’s powerful will.  When it hits the ground, 
  its mouth stretches open into an unnatural 
  shape, and an utterly inhuman rumble emanates 
  from within—like the exhausted, dying gasp of 
  something truly unearthly that is unwilling to 
  give up its precious grip on this “host.”  Its eyes, 
  glossed over and pure black, ﬁxate on you for 
  a few seconds, as if the will behind this great 
  army, somewhere in the desert, was intent on 
  remembering your faces for a long time to come.
  Though the body it was using as its vessel can 
  no longer function, whatever dwells behind the 
  eyes seems to give the weak, mortal ﬂesh one ﬁnal 
  command: the node mother’s grotesque mouth 
  slowly twists into an eerie and alien smile, a grin 
  that remains even moments later when the eyes 
  lose their spark and the monster expires for good.
  Now that the node mother has been destroyed, 
  thralls all around the battleﬁeld are thrown into 
  chaos.  Shamblers simply collapse like puppets 
  that have had their strings cut, returning to 
  lifeless corpses; seedlings scatter, no longer 
  driven by the coordination of the node mother 
  and now operating solely on their own survival 
  instincts.
  For a few moments, the people of Shelter City 
  stand silent and still, stunned by the sudden and 
  total collapse of the Enemy army.  Only moments 
  ago they were ﬁghting for their lives; now they 
  rise on weak legs, nursing bloody wounds, to 
  watch the Enemy stumble off in every direction 
  like lost children.
  AFTERMATH
  Once the battle has been won, read the following to 
  the players:
  Once again you ﬁnd yourselves utterly exhausted; 
  wounded, badly beaten, recovering from the 
  wounds of an epic battle.  Shelter City, and 
  indeed all of the towns under the rule of Kyren 
  and his Wastelords, are saved.  Even now, though 
  the sting of battle is still fresh in your minds and 
  evidenced in your bleeding wounds, the people 
  emerging from the underground city realize they 
  may yet see another day—and rejoice.
  When after a time it is deemed safe for 
  the refugees to emerge, a great cheer erupts 
  throughout the city and the slave camp outside.  
  People climb on top of abandoned cars and jump 
  up and down with their hands in the air.  People 
  hug and laugh and cry all at the same time.  
  Battle-weary Wastelord guardsmen, hesitant 
  to join the celebrations with the slaves they so 
  cruelly oppressed, cannot help but relax their 
  grips on their weapons and give each other 
  reassuring glances.  The war is won!
  All around you the people congregate, 
  cheering, waving their arms about in celebration.  
  Within moments you are swallowed up by the 
  crowds, lifted over their heads and carried along 
  like true heroes to the cavern entrance to Shelter 
  City.  Here women and children have emerged 
  from their hiding places en masse, and are 
  joined by tired-looking Wastelords of all ranks 
  who watch with faint but undeniable smiles of 
  gratitude on their faces.
  Depending on whether or not you plan to play this 
  adventure as part of the Against the Wastelord series, 
  proceed with either Ending A or its alternate, Ending 
  B.
  Ending A provides a lead-in to The Last God, the 
  third installment in this series and the epic conclusion 
  to the events that have led the PCs so far from home.
  Use Ending B if you have been playing The New 
  World Order as a stand-alone adventure.  Ending B 
  wraps up the conﬂict with the New World Order and 
  details the ﬁnal rewards in store for the PCs.
  ENDING A
  Though the Wastelords remain wary, within a 
  few hours it is conﬁrmed that the Enemy has 
  been dashed and that patrols have hunted down 
  every last remnant within a mile of Shelter City.  
  Overwhelmed with relief, the entire city virtually 
  bursts with revelry, a spontaneous celebration 
  that will no doubt last for hours.  As the people 
  celebrate their new lease on life, Wastelord 
  soldiers are busy gathering up the infected dead 
  and lighting them up in huge conﬂagrations—
  lending to the citywide celebrations more than a 
  dozen enormous bonﬁres around which frenzied 
  celebrants dance.
  From your isolation you see the celebrations 
  as something else: a mixture of relief and morbid 
  detachment from life.  These people have just 
  survived a living hell, and coming face to face 
  with the dead countenances of their inhuman 
  enemy has made them sane again.
  As you stand in a dark room in camp, nursing 
  your wounds and listening to the spontaneous 
  festival outside, the door behind you opens.  In 
  
  108
  step a few Wastelord guards, accompanying the 
  all-too familiar raider prince, Kyren.
  Kyren moves to the window and also stares 
  out, for a moment saying nothing.  The ﬁrelight 
  dances in his eyes, but you can already tell he 
  hasn’t come here to congratulate you.
  Before you can say anything he turns and 
  makes eye contact with you.
  “The battle here is won,” he says, almost 
  poetically, “but the war is not yet over.”
  He allows a moment for these words to sink in.  
  Then he motions for one of his men to bring over 
  a map of the San Luis Valley.
  Kyren points to a small dot on the map, labeled 
  with a single word: “Center.”  He motions to a 
  hand-written notation and a small red “X” over 
  the town.  The notation lists GPS coordinates.
  “That is the point of origin,” he conﬁrms, 
  “where the Enemy came from.”
  You suddenly feel a sense of foreboding, and 
  you guess from Kyren’s blunt manner what is 
  coming next.
  “We need you to go there and put an end to 
  the Enemy.  This war, this whole ﬁght, is only the 
  beginning.  For all we know, it could come again.  
  Whoever—whatever—keeps the Enemy trapped, it 
  may not last forever.  You have to go there and see 
  that the job is done.”
  Kyren stares at each of you.
  You know what you have to do.
  Now that the Last God’s desperate attempt to build a 
  “super-army” from the people of the wasteland has 
  failed, it is time to move against it in its own lair, 
  beneath the town of Center at the heart of the valley.
  With only a day or so to heal their wounds, the 
  PCs are re-supplied and sent on their way, with only 
  one goal: to go to Center, ﬁnd a way through the 
  failing android quarantine, and put an end to whatever 
  creature lurks behind the menace of the New World 
  Order.
  The players are now ready to continue with the ﬁnal 
  part of this adventure series, The Last God!
  ENDING B
  For you the war is over.  Your service here is 
  done, and though the people celebrate you as 
  heroes in the city and in the camp outside, before 
  long you approach Kyren with expectations of 
  payment.  While the worship is ﬂattering, it was 
  corium that you came here for, and it is corium 
  you expect to leave with—in abundance.
  When Kyren meets you in his command tent 
  the evening after the battle, he is nursing wounds 
  of his own.  He eyes you with a certain caution, 
  as if wondering whether or not you and your 
  companions have become a threat to him.
  The tension is palpable.  The raider prince 
  stares at you, and for a few moments the terror, 
  the necessity, and the camaraderie forged under 
  ﬁre seem to be stripped away.  You ﬁnd yourselves 
  staring into the eyes of a raider, a murderer and 
  thug, who could just as easily order his men to 
  kill you and drag your carcasses from his sight as 
  reward you.
  Just when you start to reach for weapons, 
  Kyren’s face turns into a grin.  He moves aside 
  and there, sitting on the table behind him, are 
  several sacks of corium divided into equal shares.
  “Your reward,” he says, “for a job well done.  
  You’ve saved my empire.  5,000 corium apiece.  A 
  king’s ransom in any part of the wasteland.”
  He is quiet for a moment, but his eyes linger on 
  each of you.
  “Of course, there are many vacancies in my 
  army now, what with the war.  I could use skilled 
  men like you, as ofﬁcers and generals.  No man 
  lives forever, and the empire I’ve built must pass 
  into capable hands… with Qwan dead, I will 
  eventually have to choose a new successor …”
  You only stare back at his gleaming eyes, not 
  knowing how to refuse such an audacious offer.  
  In the end he merely grins again, ﬁnally accepting 
  the unshakable nature of your character.
  “No matter where you choose to go,” he says 
  with a ﬂourish, “you will forever be remembered 
  as friends of the Wastelords—you need not fear 
  our wrath in any land you travel.”
  With Kyren’s promise lingering in your ears, 
  you pick up your sacks and ponder their contents.  
  Five thousand corium pieces is a great deal of 
  money.  You are set for a long time.  You wonder 
  if you should pry the sacks open and count the 
  nuggets one by one.  But then, Kyren has proven 
  good on his word, and that is good enough for 
  you.
  With a curt nod you salute the raider prince, 
  turn on your heel, and leave the service of the 
  Wastelords.
  FINAL REWARDS
  With the end of the war, the San Luis Valley is 
  saved, and Kyren is eager to reward the PCs; not 
  only have they earned their pay, but the new emperor 
  has a vested interest in showing outsiders that the 
  Wastelords are trustworthy business partners.
  Kyren rewards the PCs with 5,000 corium pieces 
  each, and allows them to keep any material treasure 
  (weapons, medicines, etc.) they received during their 
  term of service.  This latter reward is a gesture of 
  goodwill, which Kyren hopes will go a long way to 
  earn the PCs’ friendship should he ever need them 
  again.
   This concludes The New World Order.
  
  109
  FROM HERE
  If you’re playing The New World Order as part of the 
  Against the Wastelords series, Ending A provides a 
  ready bridge to the third and ﬁnal part of the series, 
  The Last God.
  If you’re not playing part three of this campaign, 
  you can still continue the action in the San Luis 
  Valley—or move on.  If you and the players want 
  the PCs to remain in the Valley, there is still a lot of 
  work to do.  For one, though the New World Order 
  forces have been shattered, Kyren and his inner circle 
  of Wastelords now feel conﬁdent enough to mount 
  a counter-attack.  Simply defending their holdings 
  against the Enemy may not be enough, since leaving 
  so much as one seedling alive means this whole 
  nightmare could happen again.  As a result, the 
  Wastelords must now actively press the weakened 
  army of thralls, must destroy them one and all.
  Of course, the PCs will play an important role in 
  this counter-attack, serving as special reserve troops 
  that Kyren will send wherever they are needed.  You 
  can continue the adventure by putting PCs in the role 
  of “special forces,” combing the desert hunting down 
  rumors or reported sightings of seedlings in the next 
  few weeks (and months).
  Though the characters may ﬁnd plenty of 
  opportunities for continued action and adventure in 
  the Valley, part three of this campaign really brings 
  the threat of the New World Order, and the truly 
  alien mastermind behind it, to an epic climax.  If 
  you own or plan to acquire part three, The Last God, 
  it’s now time to proceed to this campaign’s ultimate 
  conclusion!
  
  110
  APPENDIX 1: NPC STATISTICS
  This section lists the game statistics for the various 
  NPCs in the New World Order.
  THE WASTELORDS
  The Wastelords beneﬁt from a large number of men 
  and women trained for war, but at heart they are 
  raiders, specialized in quick, highly mobile strikes 
  against terriﬁed (and often divided) communities 
  of victims.  As such, the Wastelords are not suited 
  for defense against a united and dedicated enemy; it 
  remains to be seen how they will fare against such a 
  foe.
  LOW-LEVEL WASTELORD A
  Low-level Wastelords are soldiers of the raider empire 
  who have yet to see extensive combat experience; 
  while a select few may have been on campaign 
  before, and may even have killed on behalf of Kyren 
  or Qwan on occasion, none can really be considered 
  “seasoned.”  Most Low-level Wastelords are equipped 
  with M16A2s.
   Low-Level Wastelord A, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 1d10+2; HP 7; Mas 14; 
  Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, ﬂat-footed 
  13 (+2 Dex, +1 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +0; 
  Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d6+1, gun butt) or +2 ranged 
  (2d8, M16A2); Full Atk +2 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Damage Reduction 1/-, 
  Fast Healing 2; AL Wastelords; SV Fort +3, Ref +2, 
  Will +1; AP 5; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Climb +2, Drive +4, Intimidate +2, 
  Jump +2, Read/Write (Unislang), Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +2, Survival +2.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Personal Firearms 
  Proﬁciency.
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity, Cystic Fibrosis.
  Possessions: M16A2, two boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition, leather armor.
  LOW-LEVEL WASTELORD B
  As above, except Wastelords of this type are more 
  specialized for guard duty; they are trained to 
  use close-in weapons and tactics appropriate to 
  indoor or (in the case of Shelter City) underground 
  environments.  Each of these Wastelords is typically 
  armed with a Valtro PM-5-350 and a single 
  concussion grenade.
   Low-level Wastelord B, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 1d10+2; HP 7; Mas 
  14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, ﬂat-
  footed 13 (+2 Dex, +1 class, +2 leather armor); BAB 
  +0; Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d6+1, gun butt) or +2 
  ranged (2d8, Valtro PM-5-350); Full Atk +2 ranged 
  (2d8, Valtro PM-5-350); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ Damage Reduction 1/-, Fast Healing 2; AL 
  Wastelords; SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +1; AP 5; Rep 
  +0; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Climb +2, Drive +4, Intimidate +2, 
  Jump +2, Read/Write (Unislang), Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +2, Survival +2.
  Feats:  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Room-Broom.
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity, Cystic Fibrosis.
  Possessions: Valtro PM-5-350, two boxes of 12-
  gauge ammunition, leather armor, concussion grenade.
  MID-LEVEL WASTELORD
  Mid-level Wastelords include experienced raiders, 
  tougher and more ruthless guardsmen and bodyguards, 
  and the administrators of some of the smaller 
  Wastelord towns.  A Mid-level Wastelord is usually 
  equipped with leather armor, an M16A2, and a single 
  fragmentation grenade.
   Mid-level Wastelord, Tough Hero 4/Raider 2:  
  CR 6; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 6d10+12; HP 61; 
  Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 16, 
  ﬂat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +4 class, +2 leather armor, 
  +1 chaps and chains); BAB +5; Grap +6; Atk +6 
  melee (1d6+2, gun butt) or +8 ranged (2d8, M16A2); 
  Full Atk +8 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps and Chains 
  (+1), Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 2; AL 
  Wastelords; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +0; AP 9; Rep 
  +2; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Balance +2, Climb +3, Drive +8, Intimidate 
  +5, Jump +3, Read/Write (Unislang), Repair +6, 
  Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +1, Survival +2.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Great Fortitude, Improved 
  Autoﬁre, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Strafe.
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity, Cystic Fibrosis.
  Possessions: M16A2, two boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition, leather armor, fragmentation grenade.
  
  111
  HIGH-LEVEL WASTELORD
  These are the most experienced and elite Wastelord 
  raiders, ranging from seasoned garrison commanders 
  to members of the Wastelord “inner circle.”  They 
  tend to be trusted members of the Wastelord hierarchy 
  with a great deal of combat and leadership experience; 
  unlike many of their lower-level underlings, these 
  men (and women) actually know what they are doing 
  in a ﬁght.
  A typical High-level Wastelord wears an undercover 
  vest, and is equipped with an M16A2 and medicine 
  for emergency medical treatment in combat.
   High-level Wastelord, Tough Hero 4/Raider 
  3/Road Warrior 3:  CR 10; Medium-size Humanoid; 
  HD 10d10+20; HP 90; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 24, touch 20, ﬂat-footed 21 (+3 Dex, +7 
  class, +3 undercover vest, +1 chaps and chains); 
  BAB +9; Grap +10; Atk +10 melee (1d6+2, gun 
  butt) or +12 ranged (2d8, M16A2); Full Atk +10/+5 
  ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Boarding Party, Chaps and 
  Chains (+1), Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 2, 
  Offensive Driving; AL Wastelords; SV Fort +10, Ref 
  +8, Will +2; AP 11; Rep +3; Str 13, Dex 16, Con 15, 
  Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Climb +5, Drive +14, Intimidate +9, Jump 
  +5, Navigate +3, Read/Write (Unislang), Repair +6, 
  Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +1, Survival +3.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Great Fortitude, Improved 
  Autoﬁre, Intimidating Strength, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Strafe, 
  Vehicle Dodge, Vehicle Expert.
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity, Cystic Fibrosis.
  Possessions: M16A2, two boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition, undercover vest, survival kit, ready 
  syringe (stimshot A).
  WASTELORDS OF NOTE
  The gang known as the Wastelords is run by a group 
  of high-level raiders and thinkers, a kind of “inner 
  circle” whose membership is hand-picked by Kyren.  
  Most of these elites are men and women who have 
  proven their loyalty to the central concept behind the 
  gang: that education, intellect, and ruthlessness are 
  the keys to superiority over the wasteland’s myriad 
  inhabitants.
  The men and women who comprise this “inner 
  circle” believe ﬁrmly in Kyren’s vision for Shelter 
  City; they are committed to his philosophy of “might 
  makes right” and share his belief that survival in 
  the wastes requires a ﬁrm and powerful Wastelord 
  presence.  Some are former “originals,” natives of 
  Shelter City, while others are wastelanders recruited 
  by Kyren for their ability to “see the light.”
  KYREN
  Reasonably young, intelligent, handsome, and at 
  times even likeable, Kyren is nonetheless capable of 
  depthless duplicity and cold indifference.  He is the 
  visionary behind the Wastelord “empire,” which has 
  transformed a xenophobic vault community into a 
  powerful raider kingdom feared throughout the region.
   Kyren, Charismatic Hero 6/Raider 6:  CR 12; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 6d6+6 plus 6d10+6; HP 
  84; Mas 12; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 15, 
  ﬂat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +2 class, +2 tactical vest, +2 
  chaps and chains); BAB +9; Grap +8; Atk +8 melee 
  (1d4-1, pistol whip), or +13 ranged (2d8, Desert 
  Eagle); Full Atk +8/+3 melee (1d4-1, pistol whip), or 
  +13/+8 ranged (2d8, Desert Eagle); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps and Chains 
  +2, Horrifying Kill, Charm, Coordinate, Fast Healing 
  2, Fast Talk; AL Wastelords; SV Fort +7, Ref +10, 
  Will +6; AP 12; Rep +5; Str 8, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 14, 
  Wis 10, Cha 16.
  Occupation and Background:  Academic, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Bluff +12, Diplomacy +11, Disguise +8, 
  Gather Information +8, Intimidate +14, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +11, Knowledge (current events) +11, 
  Knowledge (technology) +9, Knowledge (tactics) +12, 
  Navigate +4, Read/Write (Ancient), Sense Motive 
  +3, Speak Language (Ancient), Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Survival +2.
  Feats:  Bull’s Eye, Double Tap, Frightful Presence, 
  Hard-Eyed, Heroic Surge, Iron Will, Lightning 
  Reﬂexes, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Point Blank 
  Shot, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Precise Shot, 
  Simple Weapons Proﬁciency, Weapon Focus (desert 
  eagle).
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity.  Immune-System Abnormality.
  Possessions:  Tactical vest, mastercraft +1 Desert 
  Eagle, four boxes of .50AE ammo, four ready syringes 
  of Stimshot B.
  QWAN 
  Kyren’s second-in-command Qwan is a ferocious 
  and cunning warrior, known for his skill both as a 
  battleﬁeld commander and a close-quarters combatant.  
  Tall and rugged, Qwan is ambitious and smart, but his 
  one true failing is his distrust for others—especially 
  those who threaten his position.  While Qwan is 
  completely loyal to Kyren, he considers the throne 
  of the Wastelord empire his “by right,” and will 
  do anything to prevent someone else from stealing 
  Kyren’s favor from him.
  
  112
   Qwan, Charismatic Hero 3/Smart Hero 4/
  Raider 5:  CR 12; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 
  3d6+3 plus 4d6+4 plus 5d10+5; HP 90; Mas 12; Init 
  +2; Spd 25 ft.; Defense 25, touch 17, ﬂat-footed 23 
  (+2 Dex, +5 class, +6 tactical vest, +2 chaps and 
  chains); BAB +8; Grap +10; Atk +10 melee (1d6+2, 
  combat knife); Full Atk +10/+5 melee (1d6+2, combat 
  knife); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty 
  Cry, Chaps and Chains (+2), Coordinate, Damage 
  Reduction 2/-, Horrifying Kill, Inspiration, Plan, 
  Savant (tactics); AL Wastelords; SV Fort +7, Ref +8, 
  Will +4; AP 12; Rep +6; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 
  15, Wis 10, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background:  Military, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Bluff +4, Computer Use +6, Diplomacy 
  +6, Drive +13, Gather Information +6, Intimidate 
  +15, Investigate +9, Knowledge (current events) +8, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +10, Knowledge (technology) +9, 
  Listen +4, Navigate +9, Repair +9, Search +5, Sense 
  Motive +3, Speak Language (Trade), Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +4, Survival +8.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Agile 
  Riposte, Armor Proﬁciency (light), Armor Proﬁciency 
  (medium), Combat Expertise, Dodge, Heroic Surge, 
  Intimidating Strength, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Streetﬁghting, Weapon 
  Focus (M16A2).
  Mutations and Defects:  Aberrant Endoskeletal 
  Encasing.  Sensitivity (poison).
  Possessions:  Combat knife, tactical vest.
  STOGIE 
  Though the Wastelords have given him a good-
  natured nickname, “Stogie” is anything but a loveable 
  person.  An aﬁcionado of expensive cigars, Stogie is 
  a middle-aged man who comes off as a “gentleman” 
  of sorts; behind his genteel veneer, however, Stogie is 
  a sadistically cruel man turned into a monster by his 
  own destitute upbringing.
  A wastelander by birth, Stogie grew up in a number 
  of communities where his skills were exploited by one 
  cruel master after another.  When each community 
  fell, he was always spared and taken to another; his 
  knowledge of trivia about a variety of useful subjects 
  was the only thing that kept him alive.  He saw loved 
  ones die off and less-educated friends killed, but he 
  always survived.
  Descending into a cold sense of detachment, 
  it wasn’t a big adjustment when Stogie ﬁnally 
  joined the Wastelords.  When they conquered his 
  village in the Forbidden Lands and killed almost 
  the entire population, he was spared because of his 
  knowledge.  Taken with them back to Shelter City as 
  a slave, Stogie didn’t ﬁght or resist in any way.  His 
  complacency impressed Kyren, and when Stogie 
  almost single-handedly designed the Wastelords’ 
  computerized communications network (see the 
  Communications Center), he was elevated to the inner 
  circle.
  Though he always appears calm and collected, 
  Stogie is a paranoid man desperate to hold on to what 
  he has.  He values the luxuries of his position, which 
  include ﬁne cigars, alcohol, furnishings, and access to 
  books (books that increase his worth and further the 
  Wastelords’ reliance upon him) more than anything 
  else.  He has little use for women and considers them 
  a nuisance.
  If Stogie’s status were ever somehow threatened, he 
  would be a crafty and insidious foe, lashing out like a 
  cornered rat ﬁghting for its very life.
   Stogie, Smart Hero 3/Tinker 8: CR 11; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 11d6; HP 42; Mas 10; Init +1; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 16, ﬂat-footed 15 (+1 
  Dex, +5 class); BAB +5; Grap +4; Atk +8 ranged 
  (2d8, gauss pistol); Full Atk +8 ranged (2d8, gauss 
  pistol); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ low-light 
  vision, savant (repair), exploit weakness, jury-rig+4, 
  tinkering, tech weapon, tinkercraft, smart weapon; AL 
  Wastelords; SV Fort +3 (-1 to disease), Ref +4, Will 
  +10; AP 11; Rep +4; Str 8, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 16, 
  Wis 15, Cha 14.
  Occupation and Background:  Repairman, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills: Computer Use +19, Craft (electronic) 
  +17, Craft (mechanical) +17, Craft (structural) 
  +7, Decipher Script +5, Demolitions +11, Disable 
  Device +14, Drive +8, Investigate +5, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +9, Knowledge (physical sciences) +9, 
  Knowledge (technology) +17, Navigate +4, Pilot +3, 
  Read/Write (unislang), Read/Write (ancient), Repair 
  +22, Research +14, Search +11, Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +0, Survival +0.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Combat Expertise, 
  Dodge, Gearhead, Intuitive Mechanic, Mobility, 
  Modern Firearms Discipline, Modern Vehicles 
  Discipline.
  Mutations and Defects:  Sensitive Sight, Immune 
  System Abnormality.
  Possessions: Gauss pistol, power backpack, two boxes 
  gauss ammunition, two anti-tank grenades, mechanical 
  toolkit, electronic toolkit.
  “ONE-EYED” JACK 
  Scarred from countless battles in the wasteland, 
  “One-Eyed” Jack was the former security chief of 
  Shelter City.  When Kyren conquered the city, Jack 
  was given a chance to surrender and switch sides.  No 
  fool, Jack complied and began a career hunting down 
  and executing the very people he had once sworn to 
  protect.
  If Jack has any shred of humanity left at all, none 
  can tell.  His disposition is icy and unnerving, and he 
  
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  works almost robotically when following orders.  His 
  only pastime is poker, at which he excels—in no small 
  part due to his inability to form a grin or frown on his 
  utterly vacant face.
   “One-Eyed” Jack, Tough Hero 4/Raider 5: CR 
  9; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 9d10+27; HP 81; 
  Mas 16; Init -1; Spd 25 ft.; Defense 26, touch 15, ﬂat-
  footed 26 (-1 Dex, +6 class, +9 forced entry unit, +2 
  chaps and chains); BAB +8; Grap +12; Atk +10 melee 
  (1d6+2, combat knife), or +7 ranged (2d8, M16A2); 
  Full Atk +10/+5 melee (1d6+2, combat knife), 
  or +7/+2 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Damage Reduction 2/-, Bloodthirsty 
  Cry, Chaps and Chains (+2), Horrifying Kill; AL 
  Wastelords; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2; AP 9; Rep 
  +3; Str 14, Dex 9, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 15, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background:  Military, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills: Climb +1, Concentration +3, Drive +3, 
  Escape Artists +0, Gamble +6, Gather Information 
  +3, Intimidate +8, Jump +3, Read/Write (unislang), 
  Sense Motive +0, Speak Language (unislang), Spot 
  +6, Survival +4.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Armor Proﬁciency (medium), 
  Armor Proﬁciency (heavy), Burst Fire, Conﬁdent, 
  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Power Attack.
  Mutations and Defects:  Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Immune System Abnormality.
  Possessions:  M16A2 assault riﬂe, two boxes of 
  5.56mm ammunition, combat knife, forced entry unit.
  “BIG“ BERT 
  A huge and hulking mutant, Big Bert was one of 
  Kyren’s favorite followers—and also one of his most 
  trusted warriors.  Feared and respected by the other 
  Wastelords, Big Bert was originally a wastelander 
  handpicked by Kyren to serve as a bodyguard during 
  the bloody coup that overthrew the government of 
  Shelter City.  Big Bert was later elevated to the rank 
  of general, but was killed during the recent foray into 
  the Tradelands (see Against the Wastelords).
   Big Bert, Tough Hero 4/Raider 3:  CR 7; Large 
  Humanoid; HD 4d10+12 plus 3d10+9; HP 55; Mas 
  20; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, ﬂat-
  footed 14 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 class, +1 leather armor, 
  +1 chaps and chains); BAB +6; Grap +14; Atk +10 
  melee (2d8+6, huge hammer, two-handed); Full Atk 
  +10/+5 melee (2d8+6, huge hammer, two-handed); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps 
  and Chains +1, Remain Conscious, Second Wind; AL 
  Wastelords; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +2; AP 9; Rep 
  +2; Str 19, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 11.
  Occupation and Background:  Predator, Tribal.
  Skills:  Bluff –2, Diplomacy –2, Disguise –2, Hide 
  –3, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (tactics) +3, Navigate 
  +3, Spot +3, Survival +4.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proﬁciency, Heroic 
  Surge, Improved Damage Threshold, Power Attack, 
  Primitive Technology, Simple Weapons Proﬁciency, 
  Streetﬁghting, Sunder, Super Mutant, Telekinetic 
  Shield.
  Mutations and Defects:  Gigantism (x3), 
  Telekinesis.  Bilirubin Imbalance, Sensitivity (acid, 
  x2).
  Neural Mutations:  5 Telekinesis uses per day.
  Possessions:  Huge hammer, leather armor, plush 
  doll, one concussion grenade.
  HAMMER 
  A wastelander, Hammer was once a member of 
  the Ravagers mega-gang; he was cast out due to 
  “failures” as a battleﬁeld commander (in reality, he 
  had been asked to conquer a Cartel community that 
  he had no chance of taking).  Though initially grateful 
  to be spared a death sentence, he soon realized that he 
  had little chance of surviving without the protection of 
  the gang.  Branded as a raider, he would be dead meat 
  in a civilized settlement, but he had virtually no skills 
  with which to survive out in the wasteland—he had 
  spent almost his entire life taking from others instead 
  of learning how to survive on his own.
  On his last legs, dying of hunger and thirst, he was 
  found by the Wastelords.  On a lark, Kyren ordered 
  one of his best men to kill Hammer in a pit ﬁght, but 
  when Hammer fought ferociously (despite being close 
  to death already), Kyren spared him.  Thereafter, 
  Hammer has remained a loyal follower of the 
  Wastelords and believes he owes his life to Kyren.
  Hammer has proven to be a skilled tactical 
  commander, and has risen to become one of the 
  Wastelords’ most level-headed generals.  Though 
  he is not particularly likeable (he is, after all, a 
  rugged personality who has lived his entire life as 
  a raider), his ability to look past appearances and 
  set aside personal biases may make him one of the 
  few Wastelords the PCs can approach with ideas or 
  concerns.
   Hammer, Strong Hero 4/Raider 4: CR 8; 
  Medium Size Humanoid; HD 4d8+8 plus 4d10+8; 
  HP 82; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 25 ft; Defense 25, touch 
  17, ﬂatfooted 23 (+2 Dex, +5 class, +6 tactical vest, 
  +2 chaps and chains); BAB +8; Grap +9; Atk +9 
  melee (1d6+4, gun butt), or +11 ranged (3d10, plasma 
  pistol); Full Atk +9/+4 melee (1d6+4, gun butt), or 
  +11/+6 ranged (3d10, plasma pistol); FS 5 ft by 5 
  ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ melee smash, improved melee 
  smash, advanced melee smash, chaps and chains +2, 
  bloodthirsty cry; AL Wastelords; SV Fort +6, Ref +5, 
  Will +1; AP 8; Rep +2; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 14, 
  Wis 8, Cha 7. 
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Radical
  Skills: Climb +2, Drive +10, Intimidate +8, Jump 
  
  114
  +6, Knowledge (tactics) +13, Navigate +8, Read/
  Write (Unislang), Sense Motive +3, Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Survival +3.
  Feats: Armor Proﬁciency (light), Armor Proﬁciency 
  (medium), Combat Reﬂexes, Double Tap, Point 
  Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Futuristic 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Rip a Clip, Weapon Focus 
  (Plasma Pistol).
  Mutations and Defects: Regenerative Capability, 
  Atrophied Cerebellum.
  Possessions: Plasma Pistol, two minifusion cells, 
  tactical vest.
  ACE 
   “Ace” is a tight-lipped woman of no little beauty, 
  once a native of Shelter City who recognized that the 
  only way to survive under Kyren’s rule was to adapt.  
  When two Wastelord gangers came to take her off to 
  Kyren’s harem, Ace picked up a gun and shot them 
  both dead.  Ever since, she has continued to earn the 
  respect (and fear) of her fellows by killing at even 
  the slightest insult or threat.  Though this murderous 
  response has kept her alive and inviolate, it has 
  certainly changed her inside.
  Ace is not a likeable woman, nor she does she 
  go looking for friends.  She only wants to survive; 
  Kyren understands this and exploits it.  He gives her 
  more and more freedom and privacy in return for 
  her continued service as one of his best enforcers, 
  cracking down on those whom he believes are plotting 
  against him.  Ace now believes she has so much 
  blood on her hands that she cannot be redeemed, and 
  so continues to slide down the slippery slope of self-
  hatred that will probably lead to her utter corruption 
  or death.
   Ace, Strong Hero 3/Raider 4: CR 7; Medium Size 
  Humanoid; HD 3d8+6 plus 4d10+8; HP 73; Mas 14; 
  Init +2; Spd 25 ft; Defense 18, touch 15, ﬂatfooted 
  17 (+2 Dex, +4 class, +6 tactical vest, +2 chaps and 
  chains); BAB +7; Grap +7; Atk +7 melee (1d6+2, gun 
  butt), or +9 ranged (2d10, maser riﬂe); Full Atk +7/+2 
  melee (1d6+2, gun butt), or +9/+4 ranged (2d10, 
  maser riﬂe); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ low light 
  vision, melee smash, improved melee smash, chaps 
  and chains +2, bloodthirsty cry; AL Wastelords; SV 
  Fort +6 (+2 diseases), Ref +5, Will +3; AP 7; Rep +2; 
  Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 15. 
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Radical
  Skills: Drive +3, Gather Information +9, Intimidate 
  +8, Navigate +3, Read/Write (Unislang), Sense 
  Motive +8, Speak Language (Unislang), Survival +4.
  Feats: Armor Proﬁciency (light), Armor Proﬁciency 
  (medium), Double Tap, Hard-Eye, Point Blank Shot, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Futuristic Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Rip a Clip.
  Mutations and Defects: Sensitive Sight, Immune 
  System Abnormality.
  Possessions: Maser Riﬂe, two power clips, tactical 
  vest.
  “LIPSTICK“ LENA 
   The avaricious, self-important daughter of one of 
  Shelter City’s ruling elders, Lena was only fourteen 
  when Kyren laid siege to the city.  Enchanted by the 
  roguish conqueror, she betrayed her city by stealing 
  her father’s access card and allowing Kyren entry 
  to the city’s interior.  She was “rewarded” for her 
  part in the coup by becoming Kyren’s mistress for a 
  time, with a seat on the Wastelords’ “inner circle.”  
  Lena lives in relative comfort, enjoying security and 
  privileges that make her an object of envy to other 
  women of the city.
  Now that Lena is older, she realizes that Kyren’s 
  rule cannot last forever, and her adolescent fascination 
  with him has begun to wane.  Still, she remains his 
  favorite concubine.  Ordinarily, she would begin 
  currying a relationship with someone in line for 
  succession, such as Qwan, but she despises Qwan on 
  a personal level and is thus currently without such a 
  lover.
  Lena is not merely a piece of exciting furniture; 
  she is a vicious ﬁghter (rumored to have up to a 
  half-dozen blades concealed in her form-ﬁtting latex 
  clothing) and a more than capable plotter and planner.  
  Having eavesdropped on many Wastelord meetings, 
  she has a fairly good grasp of how (and how not) to 
  rule, how to make allies (and keep enemies placated), 
  who to anger and who to suck up to, and most 
  importantly, how to survive.
   “Lipstick” Lena, Fast Hero 4/Raider 3: CR 7; 
  Medium Size Humanoid; HD 3d8 plus 4d10; HP 41; 
  Mas 10; Init +7; Spd 30 ft; Defense 24, touch 20, 
  ﬂatfooted 24 (+3 Dex, +7 class, +3 undercover vest, 
  +1 chaps and chains); BAB +7; Grap +7; Atk +10 
  melee (1d6/18-20, rapier); Full Atk +10/+5 melee 
  (1d6/18-20, rapier); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ 
  low light vision, evasion, uncanny dodge, chaps and 
  chains +1, bloodthirsty cry; AL Wastelords; SV Fort 
  +3 (-1 diseases), Ref +7, Will +2; AP 7; Rep +2; Str 
  12, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 16. 
  Occupation and Background: Furniture, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills: Drive +6, Escape Artists +6, Gather 
  Information +12, Hide +6, Intimidate +9, Knowledge 
  (tactics) +3, Move Silently +8, Read/Write (unislang), 
  Sleight of Hand +9, Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Tumble +6.
  Feats: Archaic Weapon Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Combat Reﬂexes, Defensive 
  Martial Arts, Elusive Target, Improved Initiative, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Weapon Finesse (rapier).
  Mutations and Defects: Sensitive Sight, Immune 
  System Abnormality.
  Possessions: Rapier, Undercover vest.
  
  115
  “ROADKILL“ RICK 
  (Post Apocalyptic Hero 2/Dedicated Hero 4/Raider 
  1):  While not exactly a genius, “Roadkill” Rick has 
  secured a position in the inner circle through sheer 
  loyalty—to Qwan.  The butt of many cruel jokes 
  while growing up (he has the dubious distinction of 
  having run himself over with his own motorcycle), 
  Qwan took him under his wing and, by treating him 
  like a friend and punishing those who teased him in 
  public, turned Roadkill into an unquestioning puppet.  
  Rick is now a spy for Qwan, keeping an ear out for 
  the whispered plans of rivals; many of the other 
  Wastelords (even in the inner circle) know this and 
  despise him because of it.
  Roadkill mistakenly thinks Qwan has chosen him 
  for the same reason Kyren picked Qwan—to become 
  his successor.  In reality, however, Roadkill is a 
  simpleton just being used.
   “Roadkill” Rick, Post Apocalyptic Hero 2/
  Dedicated Hero 4/Raider 1:  CR 7; Medium-size 
  Humanoid; HD 2d8+2 plus 4d6+4 plus 1d10+1; HP 
  50; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 17, 
  ﬂat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +5 class, +1 leather armor, +1 
  chaps and chains); BAB +5; Grap +7; Atk +7 melee 
  (1d6+2, combat knife), or +7 ranged (2d6, Glock 
  17); Full Atk +7 melee (1d6+2, combat knife), or +7 
  ranged (2d6, Glock 17); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ Aware, Chaps and Chains (+1), Skill Emphasis 
  (Hide)*, Wasteland Lore; AL Qwan, Wastelords; SV 
  Fort +6; Ref +6, Will +3; AP 9; Rep +3; Str 14, Dex 
  15, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 9.
  Occupation and Background:  Predator, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Bluff +1*, Disguise +1*, Gamble +8, 
  Gather Information +2, Hide +10*, Intimidate +2, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +3, Listen +11, Move Silently 
  +7, Search +2, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +11.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Deceptive*, 
  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Point Blank Shot, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Precise Shot, Room-Broom, 
  Simple Weapons Proﬁciency, Streetﬁghting.
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity, Cystic Fibrosis.
  Possessions:  Glock 17, suppressor, three boxes of 
  9mm ammunition, combat knife, leather armor.
  OTHER NPCS
  AMAZON
  These represent the small contingent of Amazons 
  the Wastelords managed to capture and force into 
  their slave army.  All of them are women.  Though 
  only armed with primitive weapons, they remain 
  nonetheless an exceptionally ﬁerce band of warriors 
  who will ﬁght bravely to earn their freedom at the end 
  of the war.
   Amazon, Tough Hero 2:  CR 2; Medium-size 
  Humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 2; HP 17; Mas 15; Init 
  +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 14, touch 12, ﬂat-footed 13 
  (+1 Dex, +1 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +1; Grap 
  +3; Atk +3 melee (1d8+2, spear); Full Atk +3 melee 
  (1d8+2, spear); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Robust; AL Amazons; SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1; 
  AP 6; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 13, 
  Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background:  Herdsman, Tribal.
  Skills:  Handle Animal +2, Listen +2, Ride +2, 
  Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +3, Survival +3.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Primitive 
  Technology, Simple Weapons Proﬁciency, 
  Streetﬁghting.
  Mutations and Defects:  Accelerated White Blood 
  Cell Activity.  Dyslexia.
  Possessions:  Spear, leather armor.
  BORROW VILLAGERS
  The inhabitants of Borrow are all basically the same; 
  most are middle-aged, but there are a few children 
  here and there, and even one or two teens.  All are 
  dedicated to their leader Moses (albeit bit leery of 
  some of his more outrageous prophecies) and to their 
  fellow villagers.  They fear the Wastelords, but if the 
  PCs offer to help them they will eagerly assist them in 
  any way they can.
   Borrow Villagers, Tough Hero 1 (28):  CR 1; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 1d10+2 plus 1; HP 8 
  each; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 
  13, ﬂat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap 
  +1; Atk +1 melee (1d3+1 nonlethal, unarmed) or +3 
  ranged (any one weapon); Full Atk +1 melee (1d3+1 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +3 ranged (any one weapon); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Robust; AL Moses; 
  SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 12, 
  Dex 14, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background:  Herdsman, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Handle Animal +2, Listen +2, Read/Write 
  Language (Ancient), Speak Language (Gutter Talk), 
  Spot +5.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Weapon Focus (any one 
  weapon).
  Mutations and Defects:  None.
  Possessions: Various weapons (see Stronghold).
  CARTEL SCOUTS
  Cartel scouts sent to the San Luis Valley to ﬁnd the 
  Wastelord homeland. 
   Cartel Scouts, Strong Hero 3/Guardian 3 (5):  
  CR 6; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d8+3 plus 
  3d10+3; HP 42, 42, 40, 35 (x2); Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 
  
  116
  30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 16, ﬂat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, 
  +4 class, +3 leather armor); BAB +6; Grap +7; Atk 
  +7 melee (1d6, gun butt) or +9 ranged (2d8, M16A2); 
  Full Atk +7/+2 melee (1d6 gun butt), or +9/+4 ranged 
  (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Defender (+2), Extreme Effort, Improved Extreme 
  Effort; AL Cartel; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2; AP 3; 
  Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 
  9.
  Occupation and Background: Caravan Guard, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  Bluff –3, Climb +5, Diplomacy –3, Disguise 
  –3, Jump +5, Knowledge (tactics) +6, Listen +3, 
  Navigate +4, Read/Write (Unislang), Sense Motive 
  +3, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +3, Survival +0.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Combat Reﬂexes, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Point Blank Shot, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Strafe, Weapon Focus 
  (M16A2).
  Mutations and Defects:  Sensitive Sight, Bilirubin 
  Imbalance.
  Possessions: M16A2, two boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition, leather armor, two juju potions (1d4+4), 
  two halazone tablets.
  CIVILIAN
  The vast majority of Wastelord civilians are unarmed 
  and unarmored, and only if armed by the PCs can 
  they contribute to the war effort as soldiers… or as 
  distractions and obstacles to delay or occupy the 
  enemy until more skilled warriors can arrive.
   Civilian, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-size 
  Humanoid; HD 1d10+2 plus 1 plus 3; HP 11; Mas 15; 
  Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 12, touch 12, ﬂat-footed 
  11 (+1 Dex, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap +2; Atk +2 
  melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed); Full Atk +2 melee 
  (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Robust; AL Wastelords; SV Fort +3, Ref +1, 
  Will +1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, 
  Wis 13, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Handle Animal +2, Listen +2, Speak 
  Language (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +3, Survival +2.
  Feats:  Endurance, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Toughness.
  Mutations and Defects:  Varies.
  Possessions:  None.
  HOWIE 
  The infected Cartel scout.
   Howie, Strong Hero 3/Guardian 3 (1):  CR 7; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d8+3 plus 3d10+3; HP 
  42; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 30 ft. (40 ft. if transformed); 
  Defense 19, touch 16, ﬂat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +4 
  class, +3 leather armor); BAB +6; Grap +7; Atk +7 
  melee (1d6, gun butt) or +8 ranged (2d8, M16A2); 
  Full Atk +7/+2 melee (1d6 gun butt), or +8/+3 ranged 
  (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Contagion, Defender (+2), Extreme Effort, Improved 
  Extreme Effort, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +5, 
  Ref +5, Will +2; AP 3; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 14, Con 
  13, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 9.
  Occupation and Background: Caravan Guard, 
  Resurrector.
  Skills:  As Skill Set D.
  Feats:  As Feat Set D.
  Mutations and Defects:  Sensitive Sight, Bilirubin 
  Imbalance.
  Transformation:  Additional Legs, Rearranged 
  Vital Organs.
  Possessions: M16A2, two boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition, leather armor.
  LORD HETHRIS  
  Lord Hethris is (or was) a Knight of Route 66, a 
  minor gang of quixotic “knights” that prey upon 
  merchant caravans in Trader Pass.  Hethris was 
  captured by a Cartel “Q” caravan (armed trucks ﬁlled 
  with soldiers, disguised to look like an unguarded 
  merchant convoy), and was going to be shipped off 
  to Tucumcari for execution when he escaped.  He 
  eventually fell in with the Wastelords, hoping to make 
  his way back to his people in Trader Pass.
  Lord Hethris is an exceptional ﬁghter, but his 
  personality makes him difﬁcult to deal with.  Arrogant 
  and elitist, he considers himself far superior to other 
  warriors (PCs included).  He does, however, respect 
  valor and if the PCs demonstrate true skill or bravery, 
  he may eventually view them (at best) as equals.  He 
  does not, however, exhibit kindness or mercy to those 
  who do not deserve it, such as non-combatants.
   Lord Hethris, Strong Hero 3/Raider 3:  CR 6; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d8+3 plus 3d10+3; 
  HP 54; Mas 13; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 17, touch 
  14, ﬂat-footed 17 (+4 class, +2 leather armor, +1 
  chaps and chains); BAB +6; Grap +8; Atk +8 melee 
  (1d8+5/19-20, longsword, two-handed); Full Atk 
  +8/+3 melee (1d8+5/19-20, longsword, two-handed); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, 
  Chaps and Chains (+1), Improved Melee Smash, 
  Melee Smash; AL Knights of Route 66; SV Fort +5; 
  Ref +3, Will +3; AP 9; Rep +1; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 
  13, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 14.
  Occupation and Background:  Military, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Drive +3, Intimidate +5, Knowledge 
  (current events) +2, Knowledge (tactics) +3, Speak 
  Language (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Survival +4.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Cleave, Endurance, Post 
  
  117
  Apocalyptic Technology, Power Attack, Remove 
  Defect.
  Mutations and Defects:  Increased Body Density.  
  Possessions:  Longsword, leather armor.
  MARA  
  Mara and her sisters are being held captive by 
  Kyren and his Wastelords and currently have no 
  means of escape.  When, a few weeks ago, the 
  Wastelords found their secret camp in the Forbidden 
  Lands and surrounded it, there was no choice but to 
  surrender.  Kyren surprised them by giving them a 
  choice—to ﬁght alongside his men or suffer the usual 
  consequences of being captured.  So far, Mara and her 
  sisters have played along, but they are no fools.  They 
  know Kyren’s empire must be seriously threatened for 
  him to extend such civility to their kind.
  Mara is a strong and ﬁerce ﬁghter, like many of the 
  women who call themselves Amazons, but she is also 
  surprisingly shrewd and clever.  She is always wary 
  of innocent offers of friendship or alliance, and is 
  standofﬁsh even with those who ﬁght at her side.
  Mara will only join the party if it includes at least 
  one other female.
   Mara, Post-Apocalyptic Hero 3:  CR 3; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 3d8+6; HP 15; Mas 15; Init +1; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, ﬂat-footed 14 (+1 
  Dex, +2 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +2; Grap +4; 
  Atk +4 melee (1d8+3, spear, two-handed); Full Atk 
  +4 melee (1d8+3, spear, two-handed); FS 5 ft. by 5 
  ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Conserve, Wasteland Lore; AL 
  Amazons; SV Fort +4; Ref +3, Will +0; AP 6; Rep +0; 
  Str 14, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background:  Guide, Tribal.
  Skills:  Hide +9*, Knowledge (mutant lore) +3, 
  Listen +3, Move Silently +9*, Navigate +5, Ride +3, 
  Search +3, Sense Motive +1, Spot +3, Survival +3.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Defect 
  Adaptation, Heroic Surge, Primitive Technology, 
  Simple Weapons Proﬁciency, Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Stealthy*, Track.
  Mutations and Defects:  Shriek (x2), Negative 
  Chemical Reaction.
  Possessions:  Spear, leather armor.
  MOSES
  Moses is a colorful character, to say the least; he looks 
  like a Biblical prophet and acts like he’s destined to 
  be the savior of the world.  He isn’t a brain-addled 
  wasteland maniac, however—he truly believes in 
  what he preaches and prophesizes, and wants only 
  to protect his followers from what he believes is an 
  unending cycle of catastrophes destined to be visited 
  on man by God for sins committed during the time of 
  the Ancients.  Though he is certainly a bit unbalanced, 
  he only means well for his followers, and especially 
  for his daughter Tammy Faye.  If the PCs don’t jump 
  to conclusions or form snap judgments based solely 
  on his brand of religion, they may ﬁnd Moses a 
  dedicated friend and ally in the future.
   Moses, Charismatic Hero 3/Demagogue 4:  CR 
  7; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d6+3 plus 4d6+4; 
  HP 45; Mas 12; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 14, 
  touch 14, ﬂat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 class); BAB 
  +3; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee (1d3 nonlethal, unarmed) 
  or +4 ranged (2d6, TEC-9); Full Atk +3 melee (1d3 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +4 ranged (2d6, TEC-9); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Coordinate, Followers, 
  Inspiration, Lead Followers, Zealots; AL Borrow 
  (inhabitants); SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +9; AP 9; Rep 
  +5; Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 15.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Bluff +7, Diplomacy +8, Handle Animal +6, 
  Knowledge (theology and philosophy) +5, Listen +6, 
  Perform (oration) +8, Read/Write (Ancient), Search 
  +4, Sense Motive +12, Speak Language (Gutter Talk), 
  Spot +6.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Burst Fire, 
  Iron Will, Leadership, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology.
  Mutations and Defects:  None.
  Possessions: TEC-9, 64 rounds of 9mm ammo.
  MOTAK
  Motak is an Entropist, one of a handful of elite 
  warriors from that Twisted Earth faction sent by 
  their leadership north across Trader Pass to the San 
  Luis Valley.  Motak is only vaguely aware of why 
  he is here; he knows that the Enemy is more than it 
  seems, and that it is possibly related to the marionette 
  worm that infests his own homeland in the Mountains 
  of Misery.  He doesn’t know much more than this, 
  however.
  Motak looks like any other member of his faction: 
  shaved completely bald, wearing all-white clothing 
  (so he feels “clean” at all times), and habitually 
  wary of physical contact with strangers.  Though he 
  perpetually grooms himself and worries about ticks, 
  lice, and other parasites, he is a tough warrior and a 
  crack shot with his ﬁrearm.
   Motak, Fast Hero 3/Skulk 2:  CR 5; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 3d8-3 plus 2d8-2; HP 25; Mas 8; 
  Init +2; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 20, touch 18, ﬂat-footed 
  18 (+2 Dex, +6 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +3; 
  Grap +3; Atk +3 melee (2d6/19-20, katana), or +6 
  ranged (2d8, FN P-90); Full Atk +3 melee (2d6/19-20, 
  katana), or +6 ranged (2d8, FN P-90); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Improved Increased Speed, Increased 
  Speed, Sneak Attack (+1d6), Sweep; AL Entropists; 
  SV Fort +0; Ref +7, Will +3; AP 7; Rep +1; Str 10, 
  Dex 15, Con 8, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 14.
  Occupation and Background:  Military, Radical.
  Skills:  Escape Artist +8, Hide +8, Intimidate +5, 
  
  118
  Knowledge (current events) +3, Knowledge (tactics) 
  +4, Listen +6, Move Silently +8, Search +5, Sleight of 
  Hand +8, Spot +6, Tumble +6.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Burst Fire, Personal Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Weapon Focus (FN P-90).
  Mutations and Defects:  Adrenaline Control.  
  Phobia (germs).
  Possessions:  FN P-90, two boxes of 5.56mm 
  ammunition, katana, leather armor.
  RESISTANCE FIGHTER
  The members of the Hooper “resistance” are men 
  and women, mostly young, who have strained for too 
  long under the cruel yoke of their Wastelord masters.  
  Driven to violence, they would gladly trade their lives 
  for a chance to strike back at the raiders who occupy 
  their town.
   Resistance Fighter, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 1d10+2 plus 1; HP 12; 
  Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂat-
  footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap +0; Atk 
  +0 melee (1d3 nonlethal, unarmed) or +2 ranged (2d6, 
  Sa.23); Full Atk +0 melee (1d3 nonlethal, unarmed), 
  or +2 ranged (2d6, Sa.23); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ Robust; AL Hooper; SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will 
  +1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 11, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 
  13, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Slave, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Climb +2, Hide +2, Jump +2, Listen +2, 
  Move Silently +2, Speak Language (Gutter Talk), 
  Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +3.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Endurance, 
  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology.
  Mutations and Defects:  Regenerative Capability, 
  Sickle Cells.
  Possessions:  Sa.23, two boxes of 9mm ammo 
  (40 rounds each), ready syringe (stimshot A), 
  fragmentation grenade.
  SIR GOODYEAR
  Goodyear is a true “cavalier,” a believer in the 
  ancient codes of chivalry, nobility, and fair play.  
  A loyal servant of the Ultraviolet Empire (see the 
  Gazetteer section of Darwin’s World 2nd Edition for 
  more details on Mountain Home, the capital of this 
  bizarre kingdom), a small mountain hold north of the 
  Forbidden Lands among the Big Rocks, he is one of 
  only a handful of elite warriors who model themselves 
  after the legendary knights of King Arthur.  A man 
  who lives by codes and ideological principles instead 
  of harsh realities and necessities, Goodyear’s noble 
  spirit and courage stand in stark contrast to the grim 
  pragmatism of most wasteland dwellers.
   Sir Goodyear, Dedicated Hero 3/Survivalist 
  2/Guardian 2:  CR 7; Medium humanoid; HD 3d6+3 
  plus 2d10+2 plus 2d10+2; HP 40; Mas 13; Init +2; 
  Spd 20 ft.; Defense 21, touch 13, ﬂat-footed 20 (+1 
  Dex, +4 class, +8 plate mail); BAB +6; Grap +6; 
  Atk +6 melee (1d3, nonlethal, unarmed) or +6 melee 
  (1d6, riﬂe butt); Full Atk +6/+1 melee (1d3 nonlethal, 
  unarmed), or +9/+4 ranged (2d8, Steyr AUG); FS 5 ft. 
  by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Called Shot (+1d6), Defender 
  (+2), Faith, Skill Emphasis (survival)*, Way of The 
  Land* (general bonus); AL Ultraviolet Empire; SV 
  Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +4; AP 9; Rep +1; Str 10, Dex 
  15, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 9.
  Occupation and Background: Caravan Guard, 
  Ritual Preservationist.
  Skills:  Diplomacy +1, Handle Animal +3, 
  Intimidate +5, Knowledge (tactics) +7, Listen +5, 
  Navigate +9*, Ride +12, Sense Motive +8, Speak 
  Language (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +5, Survival +12*.
  Feats: Armor Proﬁciency (light), Armor Proﬁciency 
  (medium), Armor Proﬁciency (heavy), Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Track, Weapon Focus (Steyr AUG).
  Mutations and Defects:  Interior Moisture 
  Reservoir, Negative Chemical Reaction.
  Possessions:  Plate mail, Steyr AUG, 120 rounds of 
  5.56mm ammo, ten salt pills, horse (with necessary 
  trappings).
  SKAG 
  A feral pit ﬁghter from Ebb prior to the war in the 
  Trade Lands.  Captured by the Wastelords when Ebb 
  fell (see Against the Wastelords), he was thrown in 
  with the rest of the Wastelords’ captured warriors to 
  ﬁght in Kyren’s war.  
   Skag, Strong Hero 5:  CR 5; Medium-size 
  Humanoid; HD 5d8+10; HP 50; Mas 17; Init +1; Spd 
  25 ft.; Defense 16, touch 14, ﬂat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, 
  +3 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +5; Grap +8; Atk +9 
  melee (1d10+7, heavy ﬂail, two-handed); Full Atk +9 
  melee (1d10+7, heavy ﬂail, two-handed); FS 5 ft. by 5 
  ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Advanced Melee Smash, Improved 
  Melee Smash, Melee Smash; AL None; SV Fort +5; 
  Ref +2, Will +1; AP 7; Rep +1; Str 16, Dex 12, Con 
  14, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 7.
  Occupation and Background:  Slave, Feral.
  Skills:  Balance +5, Intimidate +6, Listen +4*, Spot 
  +4*, Survival +8.
  Feats:  Alertness*, Archaic Weapons Proﬁciency, 
  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Gladiator, Improved 
  Damage Threshold, Improved Initiative, Primitive 
  Technology, Weapon Focus (heavy ﬂail).
  Mutations and Defects:  Extreme Resilience (x2), 
  Multiple Stomachs.  Atrophied Cerebellum (Wis), 
  Hunchback, Under-Developed Organ (voice box).
  Possessions:  Heavy ﬂail, leather armor.
  
  119
  SLAVE SOLDIER A
  The majority of Kyren’s slave army is made up of 
  primitive folk kidnapped, enslaved, or bought from 
  other lands.  They are a diverse group, and in a single 
  platoon one can ﬁnd young boys and old men alike, 
  hailing from a variety of communities all across the 
  Forbidden Lands.
  A typical slave soldier has only a simple weapon, 
  such as a machete, sickle, pitchfork, or spear.
   Slave Soldier A, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 1d10+2 plus 1; HP 8; Mas 15; 
  Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 12, touch 12, ﬂat-footed 
  11 (+1 Dex, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap +2; Atk +2 
  melee (1d6+2, machete); Full Atk +2 melee (1d6+2, 
  machete); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Robust; AL 
  Wastelords; SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1; AP 6; Rep 
  +0; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Handle Animal +2, Listen +2, Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Spot +3, Survival +3.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proﬁciency, Endurance, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology.
  Mutations and Defects:  Varies.
  Possessions:  Machete.
  SLAVE SOLDIER B
  The luckiest slaves in Kyren’s army have the 
  privilege of carrying ﬁrearms into battle.  Because the 
  automatic riﬂes normally used by the Wastelords are 
  reserved for the more experienced and trusted raiders, 
  these slaves must make do with less impressive guns.
   Slave Soldier B, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 1d10+2 plus 1; HP 8; Mas 15; Init 
  +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂat-footed 11 
  (+2 Dex, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap +1; Atk +1 melee 
  (1d3+1 nonlethal, unarmed) or +3 ranged (2d8, pipe 
  riﬂe); Full Atk +1 melee (1d3+1 nonlethal, unarmed), 
  or +3 ranged (2d8, pipe riﬂe); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Robust; AL Wastelords; SV Fort +3, Ref +2, 
  Will +1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 8, 
  Wis 13, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Handle Animal +2, Ride +2, Speak 
  Language (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +3, Survival +3.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Weapon Focus (pipe riﬂe).
  Mutations and Defects:  Varies.
  Possessions:  5.56mm pipe riﬂe, 10 rounds of 
  5.56mm ammunition.
  TAMMY FAYE
  Tammy Faye is nothing like her father.  She is young 
  and vivacious, and though she loves her father very 
  deeply, she knows he is somewhat demented in his 
  old age.  She doesn’t believe in his prophecies or 
  doomsday teachings, but she humors him anyway 
  (partly out of a child’s obedience, and partly because 
  defying him in front of the other villagers would 
  devastate him).  Tammy Faye is Moses’ pride and joy, 
  and he would do anything to protect her; something he 
  has proven often in the past by hiding her (and other 
  village children) in the old mines beneath Borrow 
  whenever the Wastelords came demanding “tribute.”
  Despite being conditioned to fear the outside world, 
  Tammy Faye secretly yearns to leave Borrow and see 
  it for herself.  She is particularly grateful to PCs who 
  not only save her village, but who also tolerate or even 
  befriend her father instead of simply labeling him a 
  “crazy cult leader.”
   Tammy Faye, Dedicated Hero 5:  CR 5; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 5d6+5; HP 27; Mas 12; Init +2; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 15, ﬂat-footed 13 (+2 
  Dex, +3 class); BAB +3; Grap +2; Atk +2 melee (1d3-
  1 nonlethal, unarmed) or +5 ranged (2d6, TEC-9); 
  Full Atk +2 melee (1d3-1 nonlethal, unarmed), or +5 
  ranged (2d6, TEC-9); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Cool Under Pressure (Listen, Search, Spot)*, Faith, 
  Skill Emphasis (Sense Motive)*; AL Moses; SV Fort 
  +4, Ref +3, Will +5; AP 7; Rep +2; Str 9, Dex 14, Con 
  12, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Handle Animal +4, Hide +4, Investigate 
  +3*, Knowledge (theology and philosophy) +3, Listen 
  +11*, Move Silently +4, Read/Write (Ancient), Sense 
  Motive +14*, Speak Language (Gutter Talk), Spot 
  +11*, Treat Injury +9.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Alertness*, 
  Attentive*, Burst Fire, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology.
  Mutations and Defects:  None.
  Possessions: TEC-9, 64 rounds of 9mm ammo.
  TELGAR
  Telgar is a sight to behold—withered, hairless from 
  radiation, covered in calloused gray skin, with eerie 
  multi-faceted eyes like those of an insect.  Telgar was 
  one of over ﬁfty slaves purchased by Kyren from the 
  slavers of Lil’ Vegas in recent months.  Like many 
  others from Lil’ Vegas, Telgar was a corium miner 
  by trade, drawn to that city by its promise of quick 
  riches in the corium mines.  Instead, what he found 
  was ruthless servitude to Lil’ Vegas’ cruel overlord.  
  Sent into the deep, radiated mine shafts, Telgar saw 
  many of his fellows die a slow and painful death.  He 
  himself is mutated and thus somewhat resistant to the 
  radiation that claimed so many of his companions, but 
  
  120
  his body still bears the scars of his ordeal there.
  Telgar is a capable ﬁghter, but his true specialty is 
  working underground.  He has good senses and his 
  mutated eyes provide him with exceptional sight in 
  dark places.  He is unafraid of working in close or 
  unlit environments (such as subterranean tunnels).  
  Though sometimes humorless, he is a trustworthy 
  comrade.
   Telgar, Post-Apocalyptic Hero 3:  CR 3; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d8+6; HP 19; Mas 
  14; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, ﬂat-
  footed 14 (+1 Dex, +2 class, +2 leather armor); BAB 
  +2; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee (1d6+1, gun butt), or +3 
  ranged (2d8, black powder riﬂe); Full Atk +3 melee 
  (1d6+1, gun butt), or +3 ranged (2d8, black powder 
  riﬂe); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Survival Sense, 
  Wasteland Lore; AL None; SV Fort +4; Ref +3, Will 
  +3; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 
  15, Cha 6.
  Occupation and Background:  Corium Prospector, 
  Tribal.
  Skills:  Climb +3, Hide +3, Knowledge (mutant 
  lore) +2, Listen +10*, Move Silently +3, Profession 
  (mining) +4, Search +8*, Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +12*, Survival +4.
  Feats:  Alertness*, Armor Proﬁciency (light), 
  Endurance, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Simple Weapons Proﬁciency.
  Mutations and Defects:  Gamma-Ray Visual 
  Sensitivity, Multi-Faceted Eyes*, Sensitive Sight.  
  Bizarre Pigmentation, Pituitary Deformation, Skeletal 
  Deterioration.
  Possessions:  Black powder riﬂe, 24 rounds of lead 
  shot, leather armor.
  APPENDIX 2: CREATURES
  THE LAST GOD
  Though more details about the Last God will be 
  presented in part three of this series, the following 
  section outlines the numerous abilities and species 
  traits of the thralls of the New World Order.
  THE BIOMASS “POOL“
  The Last God is more than just a single amoeba-like 
  organism imprisoned beneath the town of Center—it 
  is a terrifyingly complex being designed to be immune 
  to eradication by one attack or a single strike.  It is 
  a true “macro-organism”: instead of being just one 
  entity with a single form, it is a collection of related 
  bits of “biomass” (tissue, cells, and even microscopic 
  particles) connected through a single telepathic 
  sentience.  While it was designed to begin life as a 
  single organic mass (not unlike a giant amoeba), the 
  Last God was also intended to spread itself to other 
  carriers through contact with living creatures, which 
  in turn dispersed its actual being over a wide area.  So 
  long as one infected thrall or free-ﬂoating biomass 
  remains, the sentience of the creature persists.
  This fantastic ability allows the Last God to exist 
  in not just one place but in many, coordinating its 
  “hosts” as if coordinating the limbs and extremities of 
  one enormous body.
  Currently, the Last God, as a single entity, consists 
  of what amounts to 3,000 HD of assorted biomass.  
  This represents the current limit of what the Last 
  God can realistically control through actual physical 
  impregnation (the passing on of some of its own mass 
  to a new host).
  Each time the Last God infects a new organism, 
  it dilutes its mother mass beneath Center.  The Last 
  God’s physical body is ﬁnite, and it can only afford 
  to spread to a limited number of thralls due to the 
  constraints of its physical form.
  Ultimately each creature infected by the Last God 
  takes with it a part of the whole.  Larger (and tougher) 
  creatures are harder for the Last God to impregnate 
  and control, requiring more of its physical mass to 
  dominate than smaller, more insigniﬁcant life forms.  
  In addition, the type of thrall to be made also affects 
  the biomass requirement:
  Original Size
  Biomass Requirement
  Tiny
  1 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  Small
  2 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  Medium-size
  3 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  Large
  5 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  Huge
  8 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  Gargantuan
  12 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  Colossal
  17 HD worth of biomass (or the actual HD 
  of the creature, whichever is greater)*
  If the creature in question actually has more HD than 
  its size would normally require (for instance, a bear 
  is only a Large creature but it has 6 HD), the higher 
  number is used.  * In the case of shamblers, use the 
  base creature’s hit dice before applying the zombie 
  template.
  Type
  Additional Biomass Requirement
  Shambler
  +0 HD worth of biomass (minimum 1 HD)
  Seedling
  +1 HD worth of biomass
  Integrator
  +5 HD worth of biomass
  Node Mother
  +10 HD worth of biomass
  
  121
  NEW BIOMASS
  The macro-organism that is the Last God is ﬁnite, 
  and killing any of its “appendages” (its seedlings, 
  integrators, node mothers, and other thralls) 
  permanently reduces the total HD of the creature as a 
  whole.  However, the Last God does have the ability 
  to recoup these losses to its mass.
  Integrators are parts of the macro-organism that are 
  speciﬁcally designed to replenish its biomass supply.  
  Integrators literally consume living creatures and add 
  their tissue to the biomass of the Last God; each HD 
  consumed adds an equal number of HD to the Last 
  God’s total, allowing it to recover from losses in war 
  or battle—or to grow.
  SHARED SKILLS (AND FEATS)
  Because the contagion of the Last God links the minds 
  as well as the bodies of all creatures absorbed into the 
  macro-organism, it has a huge pool of skills and feats 
  to call upon.  Former scientists, security personnel, 
  and soldiers all contribute not only an advanced grasp 
  of various sciences and battleﬁeld tactics, but also let 
  even the most minor thrall use these advanced skills as 
  a result of their shared awareness and sentience.
  This skill sharing is not inﬁnite, however.  The 
  sharing of more advanced skills and feats—those that 
  involve complex mental capabilities—require close 
  proximity to a biomass or a node mother, and thus 
  thralls using complex skills are limited to a radius 
  close to the greater macro-organism.  Beyond this 
  radius, these complex skills begin to diminish, and 
  are replaced by more “instinctive” survival skills.  As 
  a result, while New World Order thralls may possess 
  amazing technical skills when close to a node mother 
  (or a controlling biomass), the further they are from 
  such a “home base” the less intelligently they behave, 
  until at the most extreme distances they are reduced to 
  an almost animal intelligence.
  In game terms, all biomasses and thralls (except 
  for shamblers, which are too primitive to function 
  with higher mental capacities) share the same skills 
  and feats.  The number and rank of feats and skills 
  depend on the distance between the thrall and the 
  nearest biomass.  Biomasses and node mothers have 
  a constant set of skills and feats.  Use the information 
  below to determine the skills available to any given 
  thrall:
  Distance From Controller Skills/Feats
  Up to 2 miles
  Skill/Feat Set A
  Up to 5 miles
  Skill/Feat Set B
  Up to 10 miles
  Skill/Feat Set C
  20 miles or more
  Skill/Feat Set D
  SKILL/FEAT SET A
  Skills (base ranks only): Bluff +6, Climb +10, 
  Computer Use +15, Craft (chemical) +13, Craft 
  (electronics) +13, Craft (mechanical) +13, Craft 
  (pharmaceutical) +13, Craft (structural) +6, Craft 
  (visual art) +4, Decipher Script +5, Demolitions 
  +6, Diplomacy +4, Disable Device +6, Drive +6, 
  Gather Information +4, Handle Animal +2, Hide +2, 
  Intimidate +12, Investigate +6, Jump +5, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +4, Knowledge (behavioral sciences) 
  +13, Knowledge (earth and life sciences) +16, 
  Knowledge (physical sciences) +13, Knowledge 
  (tactics) +6, Knowledge (technology) +13, Listen 
  +8, Move Silently +2, Profession +4, Repair +7, 
  Read/Write (Ancient), Research +13, Search +4, 
  Sense Motive +6, Speak Language (Ancient), Speak 
  Language (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +7, Survival +2, Swim +3, Treat Injury +10.
  Feats:  Advanced Electronics Discipline, Advanced 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Advanced Pharmaceutical 
  Discipline, Advanced Technology, Advanced 
  Weapons Discipline, Alertness, Armor Proﬁciency 
  (Light, Medium, Heavy), Athletic, Attentive, 
  Builder (chemical, electronics, pharmaceutical, 
  structural), Burst Fire, Educated (earth and life 
  sciences, technology), Endurance, Futuristic Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Gearhead, Great Fortitude, Improved 
  Autoﬁre, Iron Will, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Room-Broom, Simple Weapons Proﬁciency, Strafe, 
  Studious, Weapon Focus (Colt 635), Weapon 
  Focus (H&K MP5), Weapon Focus (pulse laser 
  riﬂe), Weapon Specialization (Colt 635), Weapon 
  Specialization (H&K MP5), Weapon Specialization 
  (pulse laser riﬂe).
  SKILL/FEAT SET B
  Skills (base ranks only): Bluff +6, Climb +10, 
  Computer Use +15, Decipher Script +5, Demolitions 
  +6, Disable Device +6, Hide +2, Intimidate +12, 
  Investigate +6, Jump +5, Knowledge (tactics) +6, 
  Listen +8, Move Silently +2, Read/Write (Ancient), 
  Repair +7, Research +13, Search +4, Sense Motive 
  +6, Speak Language (Ancient), Speak Language 
  (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +7, 
  Survival +2, Swim +3, Treat Injury +10.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Advanced 
  Technology, Futuristic Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Gearhead, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency.
  SKILL/FEAT SET C
  Skills (base ranks only): Bluff +6, Climb +10, 
  Hide +2, Jump +5, Knowledge (tactics) +6, Listen +8, 
  Move Silently +2, Read/Write (Ancient), Search +4, 
  Sense Motive +6, Speak Language (Ancient), Speak 
  Language (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +7, Survival +2, Treat Injury +10.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Advanced 
  Technology, Futuristic Firearms Proﬁciency, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency.
  
  122
  SKILL/FEAT SET D
  Skills (base ranks only):  Bluff +6, Hide +2, Listen 
  +8, Move Silently +2, Read/Write (Ancient), Search 
  +4, Speak Language (Ancient), Speak Language 
  (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +7, 
  Survival +2.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Advanced 
  Technology, Futuristic Firearms Proﬁciency, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency.
  Skill totals may be further modiﬁed by the creature’s 
  attributes and size.
  N.W.O. TALENT LIST
  Like skills and feats, the macro-organism has 
  accumulated a vast number of talents from the 
  various character types it has integrated into its mass.  
  Because of the uniﬁed mind (and body) of the macro-
  organism, all thralls contribute their former talents to 
  this central “pool”, from which other thralls can draw 
  on to fulﬁll particular roles.
  Upon becoming infected a thrall can exchange any 
  number of its existing talents for replacements from 
  this list:
  Ancient Secret (ancient technology), Ancient 
  Secret (ancient craft), Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps and 
  Chains (+1), Confusing Tirade, Damage Reduction 
  1/-, 2/-, and -3/- (each step taken as an individual 
  talent), Exploit Weakness, Gossip, Improved Critical, 
  Improved Melee Smash, Melee Smash, Plan, Robust 
  (all character levels count as Tough levels), Savant 
  (computer use), Savant (craft, pharmaceutical), Savant 
  (decipher script), Savant (knowledge, earth and life 
  sciences), Savant (repair), Savant (research), Scientiﬁc 
  Improvisation, Scientiﬁc Method, Tactical Aid.
  TRANSFORMATION
  An unusual adaptation of the macro-organism is its 
  ability to literally reshape the bodies of infected sub-
  organisms.  By rearranging components of the body, 
  the macro-organism can cause a thrall to grow new 
  arms, sprout additional legs, or project its eyes out on 
  long sinewy eyestalks for better vision.  In essence, 
  the body becomes a block of living clay that the 
  macro-organism can rebuild and reshape.  Though 
  even during the time of the Ancients scientists were 
  not clear how this ability functioned, it was speculated 
  that this unique biological phenomenon is related to 
  the process by which the XBM reduces living matter 
  to an almost “mercurial” state.
  All thralls except for shamblers can undergo 
  transformation, a process that requires 1d4 rounds 
  of inactivity.  Since thralls can take no other actions 
  while transforming, they usually only do so when 
  alone or when they have time to prepare.  Once 
  transformed, the thrall can never again revert to its 
  original form.
  A transformed thrall may select any two of the 
  following traits:
  ADDITIONAL ARMS
  The thrall’s body sprouts additional arms, though 
  these primitive appendages resemble tentacles, 
  tendrils, or purely vein-like extensions of the thrall’s 
  body mass.
  Beneﬁt:  While they do not provide additional 
  attacks, a thrall with additional arms gains a +4 bonus 
  to grappling attempts.
  ADDITIONAL LEGS
  The thrall’s body splits open, sprouting additional 
  legs on which to walk or run.  Two-legged creatures 
  now run on four legs in the manner of a dog or horse; 
  creatures with four or more legs now scuttle about 
  with a ﬂurry of motion like some terrifying mutant 
  scorpion or spider.
  Beneﬁt:  This trait adds +10 to the base creature’s 
  speed.
  WHERE THE SKILLS COME FROM? 
  The skills and feats shown here accurately reﬂect the sentience, knowledge, and individual experiences 
  accumulated by the macro-organism from its integration of numerous victims over the past 200+ years.  
  These include a large number of scientists and soldiers infected during the Fall at the Center facility, the 
  entire tribe of villagers living beneath Saguache, even various animals from throughout the desert such as 
  bears, coyote, and wolves.  Similarly these skills and feats reﬂect the growing number of Wastelords who 
  have fallen in battle and become thralls of the New World Order during the war here in the Valley.
  For example, Computer Use, the more advanced Craft and Knowledge skills, and Research come from 
  the various technicians and scientists integrated during the Fall.  Other skills like Craft (visual art) and 
  Survival were gained from the macro-organism’s integration of the villagers of Saguache.  And a few 
  additional skill ranks were gained from the integration of animals (for instance, its current ranks in Climb).
  The macro-organism can only acquire new skills (or higher ranks for existing skills), feats, and talents 
  by integrating other living creatures.  If characters (PCs or NPCs) who are integrated possess skills, feats, 
  or talents not shown on the above lists (or if they possess skills at a higher rank), then the macro-organism 
  “learns” these new abilities at those levels.
  
  123
  DISLOCATION
  Because it can rearrange existing muscles and form 
  entirely new muscles at will, the thrall can dislocate 
  any of its bones to provide greater ﬂexibility.
  Beneﬁt:  The thrall gains a +2 bonus to Climb, 
  Escape Artist, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble checks.
  ENLARGE MAW
  The thrall’s head and mouth is reshaped, with jagged 
  bits of bone drawn from throughout the body to create 
  multiple rows of serrated teeth.
  Beneﬁt:  This reshaped mouth makes existing bite 
  attacks deadlier.  Damage done by the creature’s bite 
  attack increases by one step:
  Old Damage
  New Damage
  1d2
  1d3
  1d3
  1d4
  1d4
  1d6
  1d6
  1d8
  1d8
  2d6
  1d10
  2d6
  1d12
  2d8
  2d6
  2d8
  2d8
  4d6
  4d6
  4d8
  EXTEND HEAD/LIMB  
  The thrall’s body rearranges its mass, allowing the 
  head (or a limb) to extend outwards on a long, sinewy 
  tendril or trunk.
  Beneﬁt:  The thrall gains +5 ft. of reach when 
  attacking with a bite, claw, or slam attack.
  EYESTALKS
  The creature’s eyes sink back into the head and it 
  sprouts eyestalks on long ropy tendrils of muscle 
  and sinew.  These eyestalks give it greater visual 
  capabilities.
  Beneﬁt:  The thrall can see in all directions, 
  receives a +4 bonus to Spot checks, and cannot be 
  ﬂanked.
  LASHING TONGUE
  The thrall’s mouth expands, allowing a long snake-
  like tongue to strike out from inside.
  Beneﬁt:  As a standard action, the thrall can spit 
  this lashing tongue at a target up to 30 feet away (treat 
  this as a ranged touch attack); if it hits, the tongue 
  wraps around the target and initiates a grapple.  The 
  tongue deals no damage itself, but is considered to 
  have a Strength of 20 for the purposes of grappling.  
  Once a target is grappled by the tongue, the thrall can 
  continue to act normally, but may not wander more 
  than 30 ft. away from the grappled target.
  The tongue can be cut (AC 15, hit points equal to 
  1/2 the creature’s normal total, break DC 25), but it 
  reshapes on the thrall’s next action and can be used 
  again.
  REARRANGED VITAL ORGANS
  A thrall with this trait has its vital organs moved, 
  rearranged, or spread out throughout its body to make 
  it far more resistant to weapons.
  Beneﬁt:  The creature suffers only half damage 
  from piercing and ballistic attacks.
  TORSO MAW
  The thrall’s chest cavity splits open to reveal a 
  grotesque oval-shaped mouth, complete with jagged 
  “fangs” formed from fractured rib bones.
  Beneﬁt:  The thrall receives a bite attack in addition 
  to any other attacks it already possesses.  If used in 
  conjunction with other attacks the bite is considered a 
  secondary attack.  The damage done by the torso maw 
  depends on the size of the thrall:
  Size
  Bite Damage
  Up to Small
  1d6
  Medium
  1d8
  Large
  1d10
  Etc.
  1d12
  THRALL TRAITS 
  Unless speciﬁed under a creature’s description, all 
  New World Order sub-types have the following 
  species traits:
  Dominated (Ex):  All thralls are an integral part 
  of the greater macro-organism and as such become 
  physically and mentally dominated by it—they 
  function like individual parts of a larger body, acting 
  unquestioningly at the whim of a single mind.  Thralls 
  lose all individual will and intelligence and become a 
  working part of the “over-being” that is the Last God.  
  All creatures of the New World Order act on the same 
  initiative in combat (use the highest available base 
  Initiative bonus).
  Immunities (Ex):  All New World Order sub-types 
  are immune to sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, and 
  mind-affecting effects.
  Proximity Reliance (Ex):  While the link between 
  the macro-organism’s “parts” is impressive, it is not 
  inﬁnite.  The effectiveness of all abilities depends on 
  the distance between the individual thrall and the Last 
  God’s main body (considered to be located wherever 
  the largest concentration of the Last God’s HD 
  resides), or the nearest node mother or free-ﬂoating 
  biomass:
  
  124
  Distance
  Abilities Available
  Up to 2 miles
  Dominated, Immunities, Shared Skills, 
  Telepathic Link, Transformation
  Between 2 and 
  5 miles
  Immunities, Shared Skills, Telepathic 
  Link, Transformation
  Between 5 and 
  10 miles
  Immunities, Shared Skills, 
  Transformation
  Between 10 and 
  30 miles
  Immunities and Shared Skills only*
  * At this distance the sentience of the macro-organism is 
  only faintly connected to the thrall, though the thrall still 
  operates with a vague recollection of its purpose (usually 
  “spread the Last God’s  contagion”).
  Shared Skills (Ex):  All thralls and biomasses share 
  a “pool” of skills—the combined mental abilities 
  and experiences of all who have succumbed to the 
  infection.  The strength of this skill sharing depends 
  on the distance between the thrall in question and its 
  “controller” (a node mother or biomass).
  Shared Talents (Ex):  All thralls and biomasses also 
  share a “pool” of talents taken from all the creatures 
  integrated by the macro-organism.  When a creature 
  takes on the thrall template it can switch out any 
  existing talents for another talent from the N.W.O. 
  Talent List (see above).  In the case of free-ﬂoating 
  biomasses, the creature chooses talents depending on 
  its size category:  Fine no talents, Diminutive 1 talent, 
  Tiny 2 talents, Small 3 talents, Medium-size 4 talents, 
  Large 5 talents, Huge 6 talents, Gargantuan 7 talents, 
  Colossal 8 talents. .
  Telepathic Link (Ex):  Because all thralls are a 
  physical extension of the Last God, they are united 
  with the greater macro-organism through a curious 
  form of telepathic link.
  All sensory information (sight, touch, sound, smell) 
  collected by any thrall is shared by all—shamblers, 
  seedlings, integrators, node mothers, and the “main 
  biomass” itself.  A thrall’s sensory organs are not 
  enhanced in any way, and function exactly like those 
  of its host body (for example, a human thrall provides 
  normal human sight and hearing, while a bear thrall 
  provides normal vision as well as the Scent ability).  
  This essentially acts like a form of clairaudience or 
  clairvoyance, with the thrall’s eyes and ears acting 
  as the “window” connecting the macro-organism’s 
  uniﬁed conscience to distant locations.
  Transformation (Ex):  Because the bodies of thralls 
  are only animated by the pliant biomass at their 
  core, they can be physically reshaped—the biomass 
  inside them can rearrange bones and internal organs 
  in whatever fashion it desires.  Transformation takes 
  1d4 full rounds; on completion, the creature can select 
  two of the traits described under the Transformation 
  section.
  NEW TEMPLATES
  The following are special templates that can be added 
  to an existing creature to represent the ways that 
  infection by the XBM virus has changed it into a thrall 
  of the New World Order:
  SEEDLING
  Seedlings serve a dual purpose in the macro-organism 
  that is the Last God: ﬁrst and foremost they are 
  carriers of the vast, infectious, communal biomass that 
  is the Last God, and secondly they serve as extensions 
  of the Last God’s senses.  Seedlings are used not only 
  to keep the Last God’s sentience dispersed (so that it 
  cannot be killed in one single attack) and to spread the 
  contagion to other creatures, but also to provide the 
  macro-organism with hundreds of eyes and ears.
  Seedlings generally resemble the creatures they 
  were in life, and withstand the ravages of time 
  exceptionally well (due to a special enzyme that 
  is produced in abundance when a sizeable part of 
  the biomass is present in a host).  In some cases, 
  a creature can be hundreds of years old and still 
  resemble a normal specimen of its kind.
  “Seedling” is a template that can be applied to 
  any creature of the following types: aberration, 
  animal, giant, humanoid, mutated beast, or monstrous 
  humanoid (referred to hereafter as the “base 
  character”).  It uses all of the base character’s 
  statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
  Mutations and Defects:  All mutations and defects 
  that affect the physical form, attributes, and abilities 
  of the base creature are retained, but mental (including 
  neural) mutations and defects are lost.
  Special Attacks:  A seedling retains all the special 
  attacks of the base character.  The seedling also gains 
  the special attack listed below.
  Contagion (Ex):  All seedlings carry part of the 
  Last God within them in the form of an amoeba-like 
  mass within their stomachs.  This mass is a part of 
  the macro-organism that can be transferred to other 
  “hosts” to infect them, grow inside them, and spread 
  to make yet more thralls: more seedlings, shamblers, 
  or integrators (new node mothers can only be made 
  by the main biomass of the macro-organism). On the 
  following round, as an attack action, the seedling can 
  attempt to infect.
  Spreading the contagion requires the seedling to 
  be in close bodily contact with a potential new host, 
  and to literally vomit its internal corruption into the 
  new host’s mouth.  This is generally done by either 
  incapacitating the target (such as by knocking him/her 
  unconscious), or by grappling and immobilizing the 
  victim.
  The victim of an infection attempt may make a 
  Fortitude save (DC 15) to avoid becoming infected.  
  A failed save means the victim succumbs and 
  acquires one of the three allowed New World Order 
  templates—shambler, seedling, or integrator—within 
  1d4 rounds.  The template assumed depends on what 
  purpose the Last God has in mind for that individual.  
  Creating any new thrall in this way degrades the 
  
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  biomass’ total strength (see The Biomass Pool).
  The contagion can also be spread if a slain seedling 
  (or any part of it) is eaten or ingested.  Seedlings may 
  even be mostly dissolved (such as by rot) in water 
  or buried and spread to vegetation growing from the 
  ground.  The only way to completely destroy the 
  contagious material is to subject it to intense heat—
  ﬁre does the trick nicely.
  Challenge Rating:  Same as base character +1.
  SHAMBLER
  Shamblers are mindless, zombie-like thralls of the 
  Last God.  The main function of the shambler is 
  to serve as a cheap and affordable extension of the 
  macro-organism.
  Unlike seedlings, shamblers do not carry a 
  signiﬁcant part of the Last God’s biomass and thus 
  cannot create new thralls or spread the contagion to 
  other hosts.  Though shamblers by deﬁnition have 
  been fully infected, only a small part of the Last God 
  remains in their bodies to keep them under control 
  (i.e. upright and able to walk).
  Shamblers resemble the creatures they were in 
  life, but lacking the enzymes that sustain seedlings 
  (and other breeds of New World Order thralls), they 
  generally rot and deteriorate much more quickly 
  than other types of thrall.  Most shamblers look like 
  “zombie” versions of their former selves.
  “Shambler” is a template that can be applied to 
  any creature of the following types: aberration, 
  animal, giant, humanoid, mutated beast, or monstrous 
  humanoid (referred to hereafter as the “base 
  character”).  This template modiﬁes the base character 
  in the same way as the zombie template (see d20 
  Modern, page 267), except as noted here.
  Mutations and Defects:  All mutations and defects 
  that affect the physical form, attributes, and abilities 
  of the base creature are retained, but mental (including 
  neural) mutations and defects are lost.
  Special Qualities:  A shambler retains all the 
  base character’s special qualities, as well as those 
  of the “zombie” template.  It also has the species 
  traits shared by all New World Order thralls, with the 
  following exceptions:
  Proximity Reliance (Ex):  A shambler that travels 
  more than 30 miles from the Last God’s main body 
  (wherever the majority of the biomass’ HD resides) 
  or from a node mother is no longer under control and 
  ceases to function; it immediately falls over and dies.
  Shared Skills (Ex):  Shamblers do not share skills 
  and feats, as they lose all skills when they take on the 
  zombie template.  They do retain the Toughness feat, 
  however.
  Transformation (Ex):  Shamblers do not have this 
  trait.
  Challenge Rating:  As a zombie (based on size; 
  Tiny or smaller 1/8, Small ¼, Medium-size ½, Large 
  3, Huge 6, Gargantuan 10, Colossal 13).
  INTEGRATOR
  A specialized extension of the macro-organism, the 
  sole purpose of the integrator is to consume living 
  biological matter with which to replenish the Last 
  God’s biomass.  Integrators typically prowl the 
  battleﬁeld searching for still-living prey to infect and 
  consume.
  The science behind the integrator’s abilities 
  is not clearly understood; it effectively liqueﬁes 
  living creatures through contact and reduces them 
  to seething, formless “biomaterial” used to replace 
  biomass lost to the macro-organism through combat or 
  accidents.
  Integrators typically retain their hosts’ appearances 
  from life, except when they are about to integrate a 
  living creature into the Last God’s biomass.  When 
  an integrator prepares to consume a creature, its body 
  begins to swell until its stomach, face, eyes, and 
  chest have expanded to roughly twice their original 
  size.  When this happens, the eyes fall out of their 
  sockets and tendrils of biomass (a composite blend of 
  internal tissues, musculature, and veins) emerge from 
  the empty sockets to adhere to the intended victim 
  and begin liquifying his entire body.  This process is 
  time-consuming and delicate, and generally requires a 
  subdued or otherwise incapacitated subject.
  “Integrator” is a template that can be applied to 
  any creature of the following types:  aberration, 
  animal, giant, humanoid, mutated beast, or monstrous 
  humanoid (referred to hereafter as the “base 
  character”).  It uses all of the base character’s statistics 
  and special abilities except as noted here.
  Hit Dice:  If the base creature possesses character 
  levels, there is no change.  Otherwise the creature 
  gains +2 HD, including all associated beneﬁts of 
  advancement (if any).  These added HD do not count 
  towards the macro-organism’s total biomass pool.
  Mutations and Defects:  All mutations and defects 
  that affect the physical form, attributes, and abilities 
  of the base creature are retained, but mental (including 
  neural) mutations and defects are lost.
  Special Attacks:  An integrator retains all the 
  special attacks of the base character.  The integrator 
  also gains the following special attack listed below.
  Integration (Ex):  An integrator can dissolve the 
  physical body of a fallen enemy and turn it into semi-
  animated biomass that replenishes the body of the 
  macro-organism.  Once it has liqueﬁed an enemy, it 
  ingests the ﬂuid, becomes bloated (like a tick), and 
  heads back to rejoin the nearest free-ﬂoating biomass.
  Integrating any creature requires that the victim 
  be immobilized (usually either by being knocked 
  unconscious or grappled).  During the integration 
  process the integrator may take no other actions; it 
  cannot move or defend itself.
  During each round of the integration process, an 
  incapacitated target takes a certain amount of acid 
  damage depending on the base creature’s size:
  
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  Size
  Integration Damage
  Tiny
  1d4 per round
  Small
  1d6 per round
  Medium-size
  2d6 per round
  Large
  3d6 per round
  Huge
  4d6 per round
  Gargantuan
  5d6 per round
  Colossal
  6d6 per round
  Since integration infects the victim with a strain of the 
  XBM disease designed to break living tissue down 
  into protoplasm, a Fortitude save (DC 18) can be 
  made to resist this acid damage (special modiﬁers for 
  characters with resistance to disease apply).
  Despite the unimaginable pain (and horror) 
  experienced by the victim of an integration attempt, a 
  victim being integrated can attempt to break the hold 
  as long as he or she remains conscious.  However, 
  if and when the victim is reduced to 0 hit points, 
  it is considered “integrated” and absorbed into the 
  integrator’s hollow interior (requiring a full-round 
  action by the integrator).
  A creature integrated in this manner cannot be 
  healed or brought back to life by any means known to 
  science.
  The beneﬁt of integration for the New World Order 
  is that the hit dice of any creature integrated is added 
  to the Last God’s total pool of biomass.
  Challenge Rating:  Same as base character +2.
  NODE MOTHER
  The so-called “node mother” is an important sub-unit 
  of the macro-organism—one capable of extending 
  the Last God’s telepathic control over great distances.  
  The node mother works like a psychic relay station or 
  hub; as long as it remains in contact with the primary 
  mass of the Last God (wherever the largest portion of 
  the remaining biomass currently is, either in a host or 
  as a free-ﬂoating amoebic blob), it can relay the main 
  body’s telepathic messages, signals, and domination to 
  the extent of its own capabilities.
  Node mothers are essential to the Last God’s hopes 
  for a “new world order.”  Though it is in itself a 
  tremendous being of untold power and capabilities, 
  the Last God cannot project its psychic inﬂuence 
  beyond a relatively limited area.  Node mothers allow 
  the Last God to extend its telepathic powers over a 
  greater distance.
  A node mother extends the range of the Last God by 
  an amount equal to its original capabilities (30 miles + 
  30 miles = 60 miles).  Thus, by placing a node mother 
  at the edge of its range, the Last God effectively 
  doubles the distance covered by its inﬂuence.  Two 
  node mothers, linked together, extend this to 90 miles.  
  Three node mothers extent this to 120 miles, and so 
  on.
  In this fashion, node mothers serve as “generals” 
  in the Last God’s New World Order, spreading its 
  inﬂuence, sentience, and senses beyond its normal 
  limits.  Yet at the same time these are not actually 
  separate beings; infused with the physical matter 
  of the Last God, they are merely semi-independent 
  extensions of the whole.
  “Node Mother” is a template that can be applied 
  to any creature of the following types: aberration, 
  animal, giant, humanoid, mutated beast, or monstrous 
  humanoid (referred to hereafter as the “base 
  character”).  It uses all of the base character’s statistics 
  and special abilities except as noted here.
  Hit Dice:  If the base creature possesses character 
  levels, there is no change.  Otherwise the creature 
  gains +3 HD, including all associated beneﬁts of 
  advancement (if any).  These added HD do not count 
  towards the macro-organism’s total biomass pool.
  Mutations and Defects:  All mutations and defects 
  that affect the physical form, attributes, and abilities 
  of the base creature are retained, but mental (including 
  neural) mutations and defects are lost.
  Special Attacks:  A node mother retains all the 
  special attacks of the base character.  The node mother 
  also gains the following special attack listed below.
  Psi-Pulse (Ex):  Once every 1d4 rounds, as a 
  standard action, a node mother can produce a psionic 
  “psi-pulse” that works almost exactly like an EM 
  pulse except that instead of affecting electrical 
  devices, it scrambles the transfer of electrical impulses 
  in organic brains.
  When the node mother creates a psi-pulse, all 
  organic creatures within 50 ft. must make a Will 
  save (DC 10 + node mother’s Wis modiﬁer + ½ node 
  mother’s HD) or be stunned for 1d3 rounds.
  Special Qualities:  A node mother retains all the 
  base character’s special qualities.  It also has the 
  species traits shared by all New World Order thralls, 
  as well as the following:
  Proximity Reliance (Ex):  This restriction works 
  differently for node mothers; unlike other thralls, the 
  integrity of the node mother’s traits to not deteriorate 
  with range—they work out to a full 30 miles.  If the 
  node mother moves outside of 30 miles, however, its 
  connection with the macro-organism is effectively 
  severed (and it acts as if confused until it comes back 
  within the 30 mile radius).
  Psi-Inhibition (Ex):  As a bi-product of its telepathic 
  extension abilities (see description), the node mother 
  continuously emits bizarre energies on a psionic 
  wavelength that affects all psionic use within a broad 
  area.  This invisible energy ﬁeld extends to a range of 
  500 ft., but anyone attempting to use neural mutations 
  or abilities within this area must make a Concentration 
  check at DC 18 to do so.  On a failed roll the character 
  is overcome by the psi-inhibition and cannot manifest 
  the ability.  This effect is constant, and manifests as a 
  dizzy feeling in psionic characters that gets stronger 
  they closer they come to the node mother.
  Psi-Relay (Ex):  The main ability of the node 
  
  127
  mother is its ability to extend the awareness and 
  “powers” of the macro-organism beyond its central 
  physical location (wherever the “main biomass” is 
  located).  The node mother acts like a “psychic relay,” 
  an extension that keeps seedlings, shamblers, and 
  integrators in contact with the main biomass well 
  beyond its normal range of 30 miles.
  If a node mother is killed, all thralls directly 
  controlled by it (that is, any thralls that previously 
  operated under its “umbrella”) become severed from 
  the main biomass, and act accordingly.
  Challenge Rating:  Same as base character +3.
  NEW WORLD ORDER CREATURES
  In accordance with its mad vision for the future, the 
  Last God’s New World Order is an amalgamation of 
  men, mutants, and animals, collectively uniﬁed by the 
  infection of the XBM macro-organism—an infection 
  that effectively integrates all life forms into a single 
  enormous “over-mind.”  Following are statistics for 
  the creatures (and infected humanoids) already united 
  under the Last God’s insidious banner.
  BEAR SEEDLING
  These poor infected animals are no longer in pain; 
  they are now just parts of the Last God.  Each bear 
  seedling looks like a lumbering mountain bear, but 
  with a keen look of power in its all-black eyes.
   Bear Seedling:  CR 5; Large Animal; HD 6d8+24; 
  HP 65; Mas 19; Init +1; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 15, touch 
  10, ﬂatfooted 14 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +5 natural); BAB 
  +4; Grap +16; Atk +11 melee (1d8+8, claw); Full 
  Atk +11 melee (1d8+8, 2 claws), +6 melee (2d8+4, 
  bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ Contagion, 
  Improved Grab, Low-Light Vision, Scent, Thrall 
  Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +3; AP 0; 
  Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  BEAR SEEDLING (TRANSFORMED)
  These animals are transformed and bear very little 
  resemblance to normal bears.  In each case, the huge 
  furred body has shrunk into a single shapeless mass, 
  from which sprout numerous clawed appendages that 
  support its weight like table legs.  The animal’s fanged 
  head rises up from this central mass on an elongated 
  trunk that sways back and forth in the air as the beast 
  scuttles along.
  These creatures beneﬁt from the transformation 
  ability (additional legs, extend head).
   Bear Seedling (Transformed):  CR 5; Large 
  Animal; HD 6d8+24; HP 65; Mas 19; Init +1; Spd 50 
  ft.; Defense 15, touch 10, ﬂatfooted 14 (-1 size, +1 
  Dex, +5 natural); BAB +4; Grap +16; Atk +11 melee 
  (1d8+8, claw); Full Atk +11 melee (1d8+8, 2 claws), 
  +6 melee (2d8+4, bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 15 
  ft.; SQ Contagion, Improved Grab, Low-Light Vision, 
  Scent, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +9, Ref +6, 
  Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 2, 
  Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  Additional Legs, Extend Head.
  BEAR SHAMBLER
  These shamblers are infected mountain bears; they 
  now resemble sickly versions of their former selves, 
  shrunken from inner decay and rot.  Entire handfuls 
  of fur fall off whenever they walk, revealing pulsing, 
  bluish ﬂesh underneath.
   Bear Shambler:  CR 3; Large Undead; HD 12d12 
  plus 3; HP 81; Mas -; Init +0; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 
  14, touch 9, ﬂatfooted 14 (-1 size, +5 natural); BAB 
  +4; Grap +16; Atk +12 melee (1d8+9, claw); Full 
  Atk +12 melee (1d8+9, 2 claws), +7 melee (2d8+5, 
  bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 15 ft.; SQ Improved 
  Grab, Low-Light Vision, Move or Attack Action Only, 
  Scent, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort -, Ref +4, 
  Will +8; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 29, Dex 11, Con -, Int -, 
  Wis 10, Cha 1.
  Skills:  None.
  Feats:  Toughness.
  Transformation:  None.
  BISON SEEDLING
  Rare during the twilight of the Ancients, and rarer still 
  in the poisoned Twisted Earth, bison are a dwindling 
  species.  A few of these animals, surviving on the 
  fringes of the deserts blanketing the San Luis Valley, 
  have come into contact with the macro-organism and 
  been “converted.”
   Bison Seedling:  CR 3; Large Animal; HD 
  5d8+15; HP 49; Mas 16; Init +0; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 
  13, touch 9, ﬂatfooted 13 (-1 size, +4 natural); BAB 
  +3; Grap +11; Atk +6 melee (1d8+6, butt); Full Atk 
  +6 melee (1d8+6, butt); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ Contagion, Stampede (see “herd animal”, page 
  239 of d20 Modern), Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV 
  Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 
  10, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  
  128
  CIVILIAN SEEDLING (TRANSFORMED)
  These creatures still resemble the normal Wastelord 
  men, women, and children that they were before 
  being infected by the macro-organism.  During the 
  height of battle, they transform into far more ghastly 
  abominations: chests explode outward to reveal 
  gaping, jagged-toothed mouths, while their arms 
  soften and ﬂail about like grasping tentacles.
  These creatures beneﬁt from the transformation 
  ability (extend arms, torso maw).
   Civilian Seedling (Transformed), Tough Hero 
  1/Strong Hero 3: CR 5; Medium-size Humanoid; 
  HD 1d10+3 plus 3d8+9 plus 4; HP 35; Mas 15; Init 
  +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 14, touch 14, ﬂat-footed 13 
  (+1 Dex, +4 class); BAB +3; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee 
  (1d3+4 nonlethal, unarmed), or +5 melee (1d8+4, 
  bite); Full Atk +5 melee (1d3+4 nonlethal, unarmed) 
  and +0 melee (1d8+4, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  10 ft.; SQ Contagion, Improved Melee Smash, Melee 
  Smash, Robust, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +5, 
  Ref +2, Will +2; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 12, Con 
  16, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects:  None.
  Transformation:  Extend Arms, Torso Maw.
  Possessions:  None.
  CIVILIAN SHAMBLER
  These represent the unfortunate street people infected 
  by Node Mother A during its inﬁltration of Hooper.
   Civilian Shambler, Tough Hero 1:  CR ½; 
  Medium-size Undead; HD 2d12 plus 1 plus 3; HP 
  17; Mas -; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 11, 
  ﬂat-footed 13 (+2 natural, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap 
  +2; Atk +2 melee (1d6+3, ﬁre axe, two-handed); Full 
  Atk +2 melee (1d6+3, ﬁre axe, two-handed); FS 5 ft. 
  by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Move or Attack Action Only, 
  Robust; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort -, Ref +0, Will +3; AP 6; 
  Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1.
  Skills:  None.
  Feats:  Toughness.
  Mutations and Defects:  Regenerative Capability, 
  Sickle Cells.
  Possessions:  Fire axe, sunglasses.
  COYOTE SEEDLING
  Coyote are quite common in the mountains and on the 
  fringes of the San Luis Valley desert ﬂoor, and thus it 
  was inevitable that the macro-organism would come 
  into contact with them sooner or later.  The Last God 
  uses infected coyote as extra eyes and ears.
   Coyote Seedling:  CR 2; Small Animal; HD 
  2d8+4; HP 13; Mas 15; Init +3; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 
  15, touch 14, ﬂatfooted 12 (+3 Dex, +1 size, +1 
  natural); BAB +1; Grap +4; Atk +4 melee (1d4+3, 
  bite); Full Atk +4 melee (1d4+3, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 
  ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Scent, Thrall Traits; AL 
  N.W.O.; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 14, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  COYOTE SEEDLING (TRANSFORMED)
  Because these animals are under normal 
  circumstances quite small and insigniﬁcant, they 
  typically undergo a hideous transformation into more 
  formidable ﬁghting machines to prepare to battle.  
  In the course of transformation, the coyote’s skull 
  literally rips open like a grotesque budding ﬂower, 
  revealing an enormous fang-ringed mouth where the 
  head should be.  A ropy tongue lashes out from this 
  gaping maw as if feeling around for prey to latch onto.  
  Eyes protrude from their sockets on long antennae-
  like stalks, rotating to look in all directions.
  These creatures beneﬁt from the transformation 
  ability (eyestalks, enlarge maw).
   Coyote Seedling (Transformed):  CR 5; Medium-
  size Animal; HD 4d8+12; HP 30; Mas 17; Init +2; Spd 
  40 ft.; Defense 16, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 14 (+2 Dex, 
  +1 size, +3 natural); BAB +3; Grap +6; Atk +8 melee 
  (1d6+6, bite); Full Atk +8 melee (1d6+6, bite); FS 5 
  ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Scent, Thrall 
  Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +2; AP 0; 
  Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  Eyestalks, Enlarge Maw.
  DOG INTEGRATOR
  These animals resemble normal dogs, but their eyes 
  burn with an unnatural intelligence that is truly 
  disturbing to behold.  When the animal begins the 
  process of integration, its back arches, it begins to 
  quiver, and it latches onto any nearby target in an 
  effort to hold it still while the integrator literally 
  liquiﬁes its prey.
   Dog Integrator:  CR 3; Medium-size Animal; HD 
  4d8+8; HP 26; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 
  13, touch 12, ﬂatfooted 11 (+2 Dex, +1 natural); BAB 
  +3; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee (1d6+3, bite); Full Atk +5 
  melee (1d6+3, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Integration (2d6 per round), Scent, Thrall Traits; AL 
  N.W.O.; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  
  129
  DOG SEEDLING
  Because of their small size and relative quickness, 
  these small seedlings are employed by the Last God 
  as agile eyes and ears, probing and scouting the desert 
  for signs of other creatures to infect.
   Dog Seedling:  CR 2; Medium-size Animal; HD 
  2d8+4; HP 13; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 
  13, touch 12, ﬂatfooted 11 (+2 Dex, +1 natural); BAB 
  +1; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee (1d6+3, bite); Full Atk +3 
  melee (1d6+3, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Contagion, Scent, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort 
  +5, Ref +5, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 15, 
  Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  HORSE SEEDLING (TRANSFORMED)
  These animals no longer resemble natural horses.  
  Each has transformed into something far more 
  horrible, sprouting extra legs and scuttling along in the 
  fashion of a scorpion or tarantula.  Each horse’s head 
  now sits atop the creature’s shapeless, ﬂeshy mass, 
  bobbing back and forth at random while emitting a 
  cacophony of bloodcurdling bleats and chortles.
  These creatures beneﬁt from the transformation 
  ability (additional legs, rearranged vital organs).
   Horse Seedling (Transformed):  CR 2; Large 
  Animal; HD 3d8+6; HP 19; Mas 15; Init +1; Spd 70 
  ft.; Defense 13, touch 10, ﬂatfooted 12 (-1 size, +1 
  Dex, +3 natural); BAB +2; Grap +7; Atk +2 melee 
  (1d4+1, hoof); Full Atk +2 melee (1d4+1, 2 hooves); 
  FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Low-
  Light Vision, Scent, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV 
  Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 
  13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  Additional Legs, Rearranged 
  Vital Organs.
  HUMAN SEEDLING A
  This seedling looks merely like a bony middle-
  aged man, the re-animated remains of a technician 
  who “died” at the secret facility under Center more 
  than 200 years ago.  It is armed with a stun pistol 
  scavenged from the wreckage of that long-forgotten 
  laboratory complex.
   Human Seedling A, Smart Hero 3:  CR 4; 
  Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d6; HP 11; Mas -; Init 
  +1; Spd 30 ft; Defense 12, touch 12, ﬂatfooted 11 
  (+1 Dex, +1 class); BAB +1; Grap +2; Atk +2 ranged 
  (1d6 plus paralysis, stun pistol), or +2 melee (1d3 
  nonlethal, unarmed); Full Atk +2 ranged (1d6 plus 
  paralysis, stun pistol), or +2 melee (1d3 nonlethal, 
  unarmed); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ Damage 
  Reduction 2/-; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will 
  +4; AP 0; Rep +1; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 
  14, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Possessions:  Stun pistol, power clip.
  HUMAN SEEDLING B
  There are only a few of these creatures, each a 
  pureblood human infected by the Last God in the 
  “accident” at Center more than 200 years ago.  They 
  maintain their human appearance and are clad in 
  disintegrating technicians’ uniforms (all-white 
  overalls) and work boots.  They each carry a maser 
  riﬂe and a power beltpack.
   Human Seedling, Smart Hero 3/Strong Hero 
  2: CR 6; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 3d6+6 plus 
  2d8+4; HP 30; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  15, touch 15, ﬂatfooted 13 (+2 Dex, +3 class); BAB 
  +3; Grap +3; Atk +4 melee (1d6, gun butt), or +6 
  ranged (3d10, maser riﬂe); Full Atk +4 melee (1d6, 
  unarmed) or +6 ranged (3d10, maser riﬂe); FS 5 ft. by 
  5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Damage Reduction 
  3/-, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +5, Ref +3, 
  Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 12, 
  Wis 13, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Possessions:  Maser riﬂe, power beltpack.
  MUTANT INTEGRATOR
  These integrators still vaguely resemble the original 
  inhabitants of Saguache; wrinkled albino humanoids 
  boasting long, ape-like arms with multiple joints.  
  These creatures wield spears if forced into battle, but 
  the Last God does not intend them to ﬁght; rather, they 
  are to remain behind in the aftermath of conquests to 
  integrate fallen enemies.
  Mutant Integrator, Tough Hero 2/Strong Hero 
  3:  CR 7; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 
  3d8+6; HP 34; Mas 14; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  15, touch 15, ﬂatfooted 14 (+1 Dex, +4 class); BAB 
  +4; Grap +7; Atk +7 melee (1d8+3, spear); Full Atk 
  +7 melee (1d8+3, spear); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ Damage Reduction 3/-, Integration (2d6 per 
  round), Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, 
  Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 16, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 8, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects: Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  
  130
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Spear.
  MUTANT SEEDLING A
  These seedlings are yet recognizeable as the primitive 
  Saguache tribesmen they were in life.  Each looks like 
  a wrinkled little man with unnaturally pale skin.  They 
  cradle maser riﬂes in their disturbingly mis-jointed 
  arms; these weapons were created using the vast 
  knowledge accumulated by the macro-organism since 
  the Fall.  Each of these seedlings has a single power 
  beltpack to power its weapon.
  Mutant Seedling A, Tough Hero 2/Strong Hero 
  3:  CR 6; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 
  3d8+6; HP 34; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  16, touch 16, ﬂatfooted 14 (+2 Dex, +4 class); BAB 
  +4; Grap +6; Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, gun butt), or +6 
  ranged (3d10, maser riﬂe); Full Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, 
  gun butt), or +6 ranged (3d10, maser riﬂe); FS 5 ft. by 
  5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Damage Reduction 
  3/-, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +6, Ref +3, 
  Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 8, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects:  Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Maser riﬂe, power beltpack.
  MUTANT SEEDLING B
  These former Saguache tribals now use maser pistols 
  in combat with the Last God’s foes.  Each has two 
  power clips.
  Mutant Seedling B, Tough Hero 2/Strong Hero 3:  CR 
  6; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 3d8+6; 
  HP 34; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 
  16, ﬂatfooted 14 (+2 Dex, +4 class); BAB +4; Grap 
  +6; Atk +6 melee (1d4+2, pistol butt), or +6 ranged 
  (2d10, maser riﬂe); Full Atk +6 melee (1d4+2, pistol 
  butt), or +6 ranged (2d10, maser pistol); FS 5 ft. by 
  5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Ancient Secret (ancient craft), 
  Contagion, Scientiﬁc Improvisation, Thrall Traits; AL 
  N.W.O.; SV Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects: Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Maser pistol, two power clips.
  MUTANT SEEDLING C
  These tribals are armed with M16A2s scavenged from 
  the abandoned military camp in Saguache or taken 
  from the bodies of fallen Wastelords.  Each carries 
  only a single clip of ammunition.
  Mutant Seedling C, Tough Hero 2/Strong Hero 
  3:  CR 6; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 
  3d8+6; HP 34; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  16, touch 16, ﬂatfooted 14 (+2 Dex, +4 class); BAB 
  +4; Grap +6; Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, gun butt), or +6 
  ranged (2d8, M16A2); Full Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, gun 
  butt), or +6 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Damage Reduction 3/-, 
  Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +6, Ref +3, Will 
  +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 
  12, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects:  Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  M16A2, one box of 5.56mm 
  ammunition.
  MUTANT SEEDLING D
  These Saguache tribals are each armed with 
  two fragmentation grenades.  Because these are 
  homemade explosives, there is a 1 in 10 chance that 
  a given grenade is a dud (and does not explode when 
  used).
  Mutant Seedling D, Tough Hero 2:  CR 3; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 2d10+4; HP 15; Mas 14; Init 
  +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 12 
  (+1 Dex, +2 class); BAB +1; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee 
  (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +2 ranged (4d6, 
  fragmentation grenade); Full Atk +3 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +2 ranged (4d6, fragmentation 
  grenade); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, 
  Damage Reduction 1/-, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV 
  Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 
  13, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects:  Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Two fragmentation grenades.
  MUTANT SEEDLING E
  These comprise the vast majority of the Saguache 
  villagers who became seedlings.  They are armed with 
  spears and an assortment of primitive melee weapons.
  
  131
  Mutant Seedling E, Tough Hero 2:  CR 3; Medium-
  size Humanoid; HD 2d10+4; HP 15; Mas 14; Init 
  +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 12 
  (+1 Dex, +2 class); BAB +1; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee 
  (1d8+2, spear); Full Atk +3 melee (1d8+2, spear); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Damage 
  Reduction 1/-, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +4, 
  Ref +1, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 
  14, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Mutations and Defects:  Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Spear.
  MUTANT SHAMBLER
  The mutant shamblers of the Last God’s army are 
  undoubtedly the most numerous of its thralls.  Made 
  up primarily of mutant tribals infected at Saguache, 
  they provide the backbone of the New World Order 
  forces.  Due to the shortage of good weapons in the 
  New World Order’s arsenal, these former villagers are 
  usually only armed with spears.
  Mutant Shambler, Tough Hero 2:  CR ½; Medium-
  size Undead; HD 2d12 plus 3; HP 16; Mas -; Init 
  +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 12 
  (+2 class); BAB +1; Grap +4; Atk +4 melee (1d8+3, 
  spear); Full Atk +4 melee (1d8+3, spear); FS 5 ft. by 
  5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Damage Reduction 1/-, Move 
  or Attack Action Only, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV 
  Fort -, Ref +0, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 17, Dex 11, 
  Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 2.
  Skills:  None.
  Feats:  Toughness.
  Mutations and Defects: Abnormal Joint 
  Flexibility, Sensitive Sight.  Bizarre Pigmentation (no 
  skin pigmentation), Pituitary Deformation.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Spear.
  NODE MOTHER A
  This creature’s harmless appearance belies its horriﬁc 
  nature.  This node mother looks like a sickly old 
  woman with wispy, thinning white hair caked with dirt 
  from the desert.  Almost comical are the sunglasses it 
  wears (to cover its all-black eyes), which seem out of 
  place given its “bag lady” wardrobe.
  The node mother remains in human form and does 
  not transform throughout this adventure, anticipating 
  that it may need to disguise itself again in the future.
   Node Mother A, Tough Hero 6/Dedicated Hero 
  3: CR 12; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 6d10+6 plus 
  3d6+3; HP 76; Mas 13; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  16, touch 16, ﬂat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, +5 class); BAB 
  +6; Grap +8; Atk +8 melee (1d8+4, ﬁre axe, two-
  handed); Full Atk +8/+3 melee (1d8+4, ﬁre axe, two-
  handed); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Damage 
  Reduction 3/-, Melee Smash, Psi-Inhibition, Psi-Pulse, 
  Psi-Relay, Tactical Aid, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV 
  Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +7; AP 8; Rep +3; Str 14, Dex 
  12, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 8.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  Possessions:  Fire axe, sunglasses.
  NODE MOTHER B
  In its former life, more than 200 years ago, this node 
  mother was a researcher working at the top secret 
  disease laboratory beneath the town of Center.  During 
  the “accident” there, this scientist was infected by the 
  macro-organism and changed into a node mother.  For 
  hundreds of years it waited with its sister thralls, until 
  recently they managed to escape to the surface during 
  the power failure in the android quarantine.
  The node mother superﬁcially resembles a withered 
  human male, but unlike the node mother in Hooper, 
  this one has no need to maintain a disguise—and so it 
  waits in its chamber fully transformed.  The creature 
  resembles a hunched-over man walking on all four 
  limbs, with its entire back torn open to reveal a four-
  foot “mouth” with shattered vertebrae serving as 
  “teeth” and “fangs.”  A long mass of fused tendon and 
  muscle emerging from this huge gaping hole serves as 
  an enormous whip-like tongue, which it uses to lash 
  onto prey until it can scuttle over and devour them.
  This node mother is the effective New World Order 
  ﬁeld leader; kill it, and the shamblers will fall apart 
  and the seedlings and integrators will lose many of 
  their skills (as well as their telepathic connection 
  to the main biomass beneath Center).  As such, the 
  node mother is generally surrounded by helpers, and 
  remains out of the ﬁghting whenever possible.  If 
  attacked, however, it is armed with a maser riﬂe and a 
  power beltpack.
  This node mother beneﬁts from the transformation 
  ability (lashing tongue, torso maw).
   Node Mother B, Tough Hero 3/Smart Hero 
  5/Strong Hero 3: CR 14; Medium-size Humanoid; 
  HD 3d10+6 plus 5d6+10 plus 3d8+6; HP 100; Mas 
  14; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 17, touch 17, ﬂat-
  footed 16 (+1 Dex, +6 class); BAB +7; Grap +10; 
  Atk +10 melee (1d3+5 nonlethal, unarmed), or +10 
  melee (1d8+5, bite), or +8 ranged (3d10, maser riﬂe); 
  Full Atk +10/+5 melee (1d3+5 nonlethal, unarmed) 
  and +5 melee (1d8+5, bite), or +8/+3 ranged (3d10, 
  maser riﬂe); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Damage 
  Reduction 3/-, Improved Melee Smash, Melee Smash, 
  Plan, Psi-Inhibition, Psi-Pulse, Psi-Relay, Scientiﬁc 
  Improvisation, Tactical Aid, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; 
  SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +5; AP 10; Rep +3; Str 16, 
  
  132
  Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  Lashing Tongue, Torso Maw.
  Possessions:  EMP riﬂe, minifusion cell.
  WASTELORD SEEDLING
  The seedling-in-human-form was sent to Shelter City 
  to inﬁltrate the citadel and free its trapped comrade. 
  The seedling looks and moves just like a Wastelord.   
   Wastelord Seedling, Tough Hero 4/Raider 2:  
  CR 7; Medium-size Humanoid; HD 6d10+12; HP 70; 
  Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 16, 
  ﬂat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +4 class, +2 leather armor, +1 
  chaps and chains); BAB +5; Grap +6; Atk +6 melee 
  (1d6+2, gun butt) or +8 ranged (2d8, Valtro PM-5-
  350); Full Atk +8 ranged (2d8, Valtro PM-5-350); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps 
  and Chains (+1), Contagion, Damage Reduction 2/-, 
  Proximity Reliance (Immunities only), Shared Skills; 
  AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +0; AP 9; Rep 
  +2; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 8.
  Skills:  As Skill Set D.
  Feats:  As Feat Set D.
  Mutations and Defects:  Sensitive Sight, Cystic 
  Fibrosis.
  Possessions: Valtro PM-5-350, two boxes of 12 
  gauge ammunition, leather armor, combat knife.
  WOLF SEEDLING
  These creatures look like typical wolves—except for 
  their all-black eyes and dry, sand-caked muzzles. 
   Wolf Seedling:  CR 2; Medium-size Animal; HD 
  2d8+4; HP 16; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 50 ft.; Defense 
  14, touch 12, ﬂat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural); 
  BAB +1; Grap +2; Atk +3 melee (1d6+1, bite); Full 
  Atk +3 melee (1d6+1, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Contagion, Low-Light Vision, Scent, Thrall 
  Traits, Trip; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1; 
  AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, 
  Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  None.
  WOLF SEEDLING (TRANSFORMED)
  These creatures are transformed wolves.  They now 
  walk upright on powerful, deformed legs, their heads 
  extended on long sinuous necks of pulsing, naked 
  musculature.  They snap their jaws repeatedly at the 
  air around them, threatening to tear into anything that 
  comes near.  Their bodies are unnaturally lumpy and 
  misshapen, as if their bones and internal organs have 
  been re-arranged.
  These creatures beneﬁt from the transformation 
  ability (rearranged vital organs, extend head).
   Wolf Seedling (Transformed):  CR 5; Large 
  Animal; HD 4d8+16; HP 30; Mas 15; Init +1; Spd 50 
  ft.; Defense 14, touch 10, ﬂat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, -1 
  size, +4 natural); BAB +7; Grap +12; Atk +7 melee 
  (1d6+7, bite); Full Atk +7 melee (1d6+7, bite); FS 10 
  ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ Contagion, Low-Light 
  Vision, Scent, Thrall Traits, Trip; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort 
  +6, Ref +5, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 21, Dex 13, 
  Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Varies.
  Feats:  Varies.
  Transformation:  Extend Head, Rearranged Vital 
  Organs.
  WOLF SHAMBLER
  With their patched and matted fur covered with dirt 
  and desert sand, and malnourished frames through 
  which their bones can clearly be seen, these creatures 
  only remotely resemble living wolves.
   Wolf Shambler:  CR ½; Medium-size Undead; 
  HD 4d12 plus 3; HP 29; Mas -; Init +1; Spd 50 ft.; 
  Defense 15, touch 13, ﬂat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +4 
  natural); BAB +1; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee (1d6+2, 
  bite); Full Atk +3 melee (1d6+2, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 
  ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Low-Light Vision, Move or Attack 
  Action Only, Scent, Thrall Traits, Trip; AL N.W.O.; 
  SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, 
  Dex 13, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1.
  Skills:  None.
  Feats:  Toughness.
  Transformation:  None.
  OTHER CREATURES
  HEAP TURTLE
  On the surface the “heap turtle” looks like any 
  ubiquitous pile of scrap and garbage. When prey 
  comes close enough for the creature to spot it, the 
  heap turtle reveals itself for what it really is – a 
  gigantic shelled beast covered in a layer of refuse that 
  conceals its awful appearance.
   Heap Turtle:  CR 9; Huge Animal; HD 16d8+112; 
  HP 208; Mas 21; Init +0; Spd 20 ft., swim 20 ft.; 
  Defense 20, touch 8, ﬂatfooted 20 (-2 size, +12 
  natural); BAB +12; Grap +28; Atk +18 melee 
  (4d6+12/19-20, bite); Full Atk +18 melee (4d6+12/19-
  20, bite); FS 15 ft by 15 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ burst of 
  speed, debris, sharp beak; AL none; SV Fort +15, Ref 
  +10, Will +5; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 10, Con 21, 
  Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 4.
  Skills:  Hide +0 (+8 when in water or junk), Listen 
  +2, Spot +2.
  Feats:  None.
  
  133
  MONKEY
  A standard monkey no bigger than a house cat.
   Monkeys:  CR 1/6; Tiny Animal; HD 1d8; HP 
  4 each; Mas 10; Init +2; Spd 30 ft., climb 30 ft.; 
  Defense 14, touch 14, ﬂat-footed 12 (+2 size, +2 
  Dex); BAB +0; Grap -12; Atk +4 melee (1d3-4, bite); 
  Full Atk +4 melee (1d3-4, bite); FS 2 ½ ft. by 2 ½ ft.; 
  Reach 0 ft.; AL none; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1; AP 
  0; Rep +0; Str 3, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 
  5.
  Skills:  Balance +10, Climb +13, Hide +13, Listen 
  +4, Spot +4.
  Feats: Weapon Finesse (bite).
  SLIME MOLE
  The slime mole gets its name from its mole-like head 
  and the sheen of clear yolk-like ooze that coats its 
  body.  Two large white eyes (utterly blind to visual 
  light) are set into the putrid ﬂesh of the face, while 
  two huge “arms” support its weight and drag it along 
  wherever it goes.  Behind it twitch and writhe two fat, 
  useless tentacle
   Slime Mole:  CR 7; Huge Mutant Beast; HD 
  12d10+60; HP 103; Mas 20; Init -1; Spd 20 ft.; 
  Defense 15, touch 7, ﬂatfooted 15 (-2 size, -1 Dex, 
  +8 natural); BAB +12; Grap +28; Atk +18 melee 
  (2d8+12, bite); Full Atk +18 melee (2d8+12, bite); FS 
  15 ft by 15 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ fast healing, keen sight, 
  stench, sensitivity; AL none; SV Fort +13, Ref +7, 
  Will +4; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 8, Con 20, Int 6, 
  Wis 11, Cha 11.
  Skills:  Hide +4*, Listen +7, Move Silently +7*, 
  Spot +6.
  Feats:  Alertness, Power Attack, Stealthy*.
  SNOFFLE HOG
  The snofﬂe hog is a boar-like creature with porcupine 
  quills, and quadruple upturned tusks.
  Snofﬂe Hog:  CR 3; Medium-size Animal; HD 
  5d10+20; HP 62; Mas 18; Init +2; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 
  20, touch 12, ﬂatfooted 18 (+2 Dex, +8 natural); BAB 
  +4; Grap +8; Atk +8 melee (1d6+6, gore); Full Atk +8 
  melee (1d6+6, gore); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ 
  Quills, Scent, Stubborn; AL none; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, 
  Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 4, 
  Wis 10, Cha 4.
  Skills:  Listen +5, Spot +5.
  Feats:  Improved Bull Rush.
  WOLF
  A common wolf with an average height 3 feet tall and 
  weight of 200 to 250 pounds.
   Wolves:  CR 1; Medium-size Animal; HD 2d8+4; 
  HP 13 each; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 50 ft.; Defense 14, 
  touch 12, ﬂat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural); BAB 
  +1; Grap +2; Atk +3 melee (1d6+1, bite); Full Atk +3 
  melee (1d6+1, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Scent, Trip, Low-Light Vision; AL none; SV Fort +5, 
  Ref +5, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 
  15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Hide +3, Listen +6, Move Silently +4, Spot 
  +4, Survival +1 (+5 when tracking by scent).
  Feats: None.
  NEW CREATURES
  FREE-FLOATING BIOMASS
  When not hidden inside the physical body of a 
  thrall, the XBM macro-organism looks like a pliant 
  whitish “blob,” a collection of billions and billions of 
  independent celled structures that come together to 
  form an ooze-like mass.  This mass is known as a free-
  ﬂoating biomass.
  The Last God’s free-ﬂoating biomass can come 
  together, split, or divide in any way the macro-
  organism wishes.  Usually it only splits parts of 
  itself to infect smaller creatures, creating new thralls.  
  However, it can also split its main biomass (that is, 
  whatever free-ﬂoating biomass holds the majority 
  of its hit dice) to make additional free-ﬂoating 
  biomasses.  Each free-ﬂoating biomass is essentially a 
  smaller version of the main biomass, and can operate 
  independently (just like any thrall).
  Once the Last God has split itself, it can join 
  free-ﬂoating biomasses back up simply by bringing 
  them back into physical contact.  As soon as this 
  happens the separate biomasses become one; add all 
  BIOMASSES IN THIS ADVENTURE 
  In The New World Order, the PCs encounter only two free-ﬂoating biomasses—a small biomass in Hooper 
  and a large biomass in the attack on Shelter City.  Each of these is basically a miniature version of the 
  primal form of the Last God, a smaller replica of the seething pool of protoplasmic bacteria beneath the 
  forgotten town of Center.  However, as the statistics blocks show, free-ﬂoating biomasses can get bigger—
  much bigger.  Though even in part three of this series, The Last God, the biomasses encountered never 
  reach the level of Colossal, if the Last God were able to grow that large (through integration) it might very 
  well become the most powerful creature on the Twisted Earth.
  
  134
  remaining Hit Dice from the biomasses together and 
  alter the macro-organism’s statistics accordingly.
  Remember that hit dice (from the biomass pool) 
  already invested in thralls (shamblers, seedlings, 
  integrators, and node mothers) cannot be “re-
  absorbed.”  The only exception is in the case of a 
  thrall that has been killed; the macro-organism can 
  then use an integrator to collect more biomass (from 
  other creatures) to add to its total.  The integrator need 
  only make physical contact with any free-ﬂoating 
  biomass to transfer this HD.
  The strength, abilities, size, statistics, and additional 
  feats (added to Feat Set A) of separate free-ﬂoating 
  masses depend on the hit dice the Last God chooses to 
  give them.  See below for statistics of the various sizes 
  of free-ﬂoating biomasses:
  HD
  Size of Biomass
  1
  Fine
  2-3
  Diminutive
  4-7
  Tiny
  8-15
  Small
  16-30
  Medium-size
  31-65
  Large
  66-125
  Huge
  126-250
  Gargantuan
  251-500
  Colossal
  SPECIES TRAITS
  Contagion (Ex):  A biomass can infect victims in a 
  manner similar to that of a seedling.  It will usually do 
  this by ﬁrst grappling and immobilizing its prey, then 
  forcing itself into the target’s throat on the following 
  round.  The type of action spent doing this dictates 
  the Fortitude save DC to resist; the longer it takes to 
  force one of its corrupted pseudopods into a victim, 
  the better the chance the creature has of infecting 
  him.  If the biomass uses a move action the DC is 15, 
  an attack action the DC is 18, and if it spends a full-
  round action the DC is 21.
  A failed save means the victim succumbs and 
  acquires one of the allowed New World Order 
  templates—shambler, seedling, or integrator—within 
  1d4 rounds (only the largest existing biomass, the 
  “main” biomass, can create new node mothers).  
  Creating any new thrall in this way degrades the 
  biomass’ total strength (see The Biomass Pool).
  Damage Reduction (Ex):  A free-ﬂoating biomass 
  has damage reduction against slashing, piercing, 
  ballistic, and bludgeoning attacks, which stacks with 
  damage reduction from other sources (e.g. damage 
  reduction from chosen talents).  The amount of 
  damage reduction depends on the size of the biomass:  
  Fine DR 1/-, Diminutive DR 1/-, Tiny DR 2/-, Small 
  DR 2/-, Medium-size DR 4/-, Large DR 4/-, Huge DR 
  6/-, Gargantuan DR 6/-, Colossal DR 8/-.
  Elasticity (Ex):  A biomass has the ability to 
  literally “build” new pseudopods and extensions by 
  drawing mass from throughout its body.  This allows 
  it to increase its reach by 5 ft. as a move action.
  Fluid Form (Ex):  A biomass can re-shape itself 
  to repair major damage to its physical form.  This 
  translates to an ability to “heal” itself 1d8 points of 
  damage as an attack action.  It can heal no more than 
  half its normal maximum number of hit points in 
  damage per day.
  Pseudopod Grasp (Ex):  The protoplasmic 
  properties of the biomass allow it to grasp with 
  tremendous strength and ﬂexibility.  As a result a 
  biomass receives a +8 racial bonus to Grapple checks.
   Biomass, Fine:  CR 1/3; Fine Aberration; HD 1d8 
  plus 3; HP 8; Mas -; Init +4; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 23, 
  touch 22, ﬂatfooted 19 (+8 size, +4 Dex, +1 natural); 
  BAB +0; Grap -11; Atk -3 melee (1d6-3, slam); Full 
  Atk -3 melee (1d6-3, slam); FS 1 ft. by 1 ft.; Reach 0 
  ft.; SQ Blindsight, Contagion, DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid 
  Form, Pseudopod Grasp, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; 
  SV Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +4; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 4, Dex 
  18, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Toughness.
   Biomass, Diminutive:  CR 1/2; Diminutive 
  Aberration; HD 2d8 plus 3; HP 12; Mas -; Init +3; Spd 
  30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 16, ﬂatfooted 16 (+4 size, 
  +3 Dex, +2 natural); BAB +1; Grap -6; Atk -2 melee 
  (1d6-3, slam); Full Atk -2 melee (1d6-3, slam); FS 2½ 
  ft. by 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.; SQ Blindsight, Contagion, 
  DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid Form, Pseudopod Grasp, 
  Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +0, Ref +3, Will 
  +5; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 4, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 
  14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Toughness.
   Biomass, Tiny:  CR 1; Tiny Aberration; HD 4d8 
  plus 3; HP 21; Mas -; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  17, touch 14, ﬂatfooted 15 (+2 size, +2 Dex, +3 
  natural); BAB +3; Grap +0; Atk +0 melee (1d6-3, 
  slam); Full Atk +0 melee (1d6-3, slam); FS 2½ ft. by 
  2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.; SQ Blindsight, Contagion, DR 
  1/-, Elasticity, Fluid Form, Pseudopod Grasp, Thrall 
  Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +6; AP 
  0; Rep +0; Str 5, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 
  10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Toughness.
   Biomass, Small:  CR 4; Small Aberration; HD 8d8 
  plus 3; HP 39; Mas -; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, 
  touch 12, ﬂatfooted 15 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +4 natural); 
  BAB +6; Grap +8; Atk +4 melee (1d6-2, slam); Full 
  Atk +4/-1 melee (1d6-2, slam); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Blindsight, Contagion, DR 1/-, Elasticity, 
  Fluid Form, Pseudopod Grasp, Thrall Traits; AL 
  N.W.O.; SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +8; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 7, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
  
  135
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Alertness, Toughness.
   Biomass, Medium-size:  CR 8; Medium-size 
  Aberration; HD 16d8 plus 3; HP 75; Mas -; Init +1; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 11, ﬂatfooted 15 (+1 
  Dex, +5 natural); BAB +12; Grap +20; Atk +12 
  melee (1d6, slam); Full Atk +12/+7/+2 melee (1d6, 
  slam); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Blindsight, 
  Contagion, DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid Form, Pseudopod 
  Grasp, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +7, Ref +6, 
  Will +12; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 11, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 
  12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Alertness, Great Fortitude, 
  Power Attack, Toughness.
   Biomass, Large:  CR 12; Large Aberration; HD 
  31d8 plus 3; HP 142; Mas -; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 17, touch 10, ﬂatfooted 16 (-1 size, +1 Dex, 
  +7 natural); BAB +23; Grap +38; Atk +26 melee 
  (1d6+4, slam); Full Atk +26/+21/+16/+11 melee 
  (1d6+4, slam); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ 
  Blindsight, Contagion, DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid Form, 
  Pseudopod Grasp, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort 
  +12, Ref +11, Will +14; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 12, 
  Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Alertness, Cleave, Great Cleave, 
  Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Power Attack, Sunder, 
  Toughness.
   Biomass, Huge:  CR 20; Huge Aberration; HD 
  66d8 plus 3; HP 300; Mas -; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 19, touch 8, ﬂatfooted 19 (-2 size, +11 
  natural); BAB +49; Grap +72; Atk +56 melee (1d6+8, 
  slam); Full Atk +56/+51/+46/+41/+36 melee (1d6+8, 
  slam); FS 15 ft. by 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ Blindsight, 
  Contagion, DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid Form, Pseudopod 
  Grasp, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +24, Ref 
  +22, Will +37; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 26, Dex 10, Con 10, 
  Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Alertness, Cleave, Great Cleave, 
  Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Power Attack, Sunder, 
  Toughness.
   Biomass, Gargantuan:  CR 36; Gargantuan 
  Aberration; HD 126d8 plus 3; HP 570; Mas -; Init 
  -1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 24, touch 5, ﬂatfooted 24 
  (-1 Dex, -4 size, +19 natural); BAB +94; Grap 
  +110; Atk +102 melee (1d6+12, slam); Full Atk 
  +102/+97/+92/+87/+82 melee (1d6+12, slam); FS 20 
  ft. by 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft.; SQ Blindsight, Contagion, 
  DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid Form, Pseudopod Grasp, 
  Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; SV Fort +44, Ref +41, Will 
  +67; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 34, Dex 8, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 
  14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Alertness, Cleave, Great Cleave, 
  Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Power Attack, Sunder, 
  Toughness.
   Biomass, Colossal:  CR 64; Colossal Aberration; 
  HD 251d8 plus 3; HP 1,132; Mas -; Init -2; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 35, touch 0, ﬂatfooted 35 (-2 Dex, -8 size, 
  +35 natural); BAB +188; Grap +221; Atk +197 melee 
  (1d6+16, slam); Full Atk +197/+192/+187/+182/+177 
  melee (1d6+16, slam); FS 30 ft. by 30 ft.; Reach 15 
  ft.; SQ Blindsight, Contagion, DR 1/-, Elasticity, Fluid 
  Form, Pseudopod Grasp, Thrall Traits; AL N.W.O.; 
  SV Fort +85, Ref +81, Will +129; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  42, Dex 6, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
  Skills:  As Skill Set A.
  Additional Feats:  Alertness, Cleave, Great Cleave, 
  Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Power Attack, Sunder, 
  Toughness.
  SPECIES TRAITS
  Blindsight (Ex):  A free-ﬂoating biomass, while 
  usually lacking any sensory organs of its own, still has 
  blindsight with a range of 60 feet.
  NEW ANIMAL
  The following is a new animal featured in this 
  adventure, the coyote:
  COYOTE
  Coyote are extremely adaptable canines that are 
  prevalent in desert areas.  While mountain dwelling 
  coyote are generally quite large (the size of a collie), 
  the desert-dwelling coyote so common on the Twisted 
  Earth are often only half that size.  Coyote generally 
  subsist by hunting small animals such as rabbits, 
  lizards, and insects, but they also feed on fruit and 
  carrion.
  SPECIES TRAITS
  Scent (Ex):  This ability allows a coyote to detect 
  approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track 
  by sense of smell.
   Coyote:  CR 2; Small Animal; HD 2d8+4; HP 13; 
  Mas 15; Init +3; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 15, touch 14, 
  ﬂatfooted 12 (+3 Dex, +1 size, +1 natural); BAB +1; 
  Grap +4; Atk +4 melee (1d4+3, bite); Full Atk +4 
  melee (1d4+3, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Scent; AL None; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1; AP 0; 
  Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills:  Hide +5, Jump +3, Listen +4, Move Silent 
  +5, Spot +4, Survival +1 (+5 when tracking by scent), 
  Swim +3.
  Feats:  None.
  Advancement:  3-4 HD (Medium-size).
  
  136
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Rules Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors 
  Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original material by E. 
  Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson
  Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, 
  Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based 
  on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, 
  Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.
  New World Order Copyright 2004, RPGObjects; Author Dominic Covey and 
  Chris Covey
  Against the Wastelords Copyright 2003, RPGObjects; Author Dominic Covey 
  and Chris Covey
  Darwin’s World 2nd Edition Copyright 2003, RPGObjects; Authors Dominic 
  Covey and Chris Davis.
  OPEN GAMING CONTENT
  Designation of Product Identity: The following terms are designated as 
  product identity as outline in section 1(a) of the Open Gaming License: 
  Darwin’s Word, Twisted Earth, Denizens of the Twisted Earth, Terrors of the 
  Twisted Earth, Artifacts of the Ancients, Cave of Life, Benders, Brethren, 
  Brotherhood of Radiation, The Cartel, Children of the Metal Gods, Clean 
  Water Clans, Far Traders, Enthropist, The Foundationist, The Movement, 
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  Wastelords, The Last God.
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  World Order are designated as open gaming content except for terms deﬁned 
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