The Adventure
The characters are a team of Mercenary Couriers - they'll get your goods to their destination regardless of sleet or slavers, bandits or bandicoots, or any other of the complications found in the Southwest of the 2090s. For more information see the characters page.
WEDNESDAY 10th JUNE
It's June 2096 (or 2094 if you ask anyone from Borden). The team were on their way to Borden - de-facto capital of the Independent Settlements - to deliver a cartload of goods to Greene's Emporium. On their second night on the road out of Albany they camped at the ruins of an old caravan park just behind the Stirling Ranges.
Here they discovered the body of a young man, apparently killed by raiders. On examining his effects they discovered he was one Jacob Browning, an Assistant Librarian at the Borden Library. They also discovered a number of stolen library papers hidden in his boots and a set of pre-war military dog tags around his neck. They decided to take the body along to Borden the next morning.
THURSDAY 11th JUNE - FRIDAY 13th JUNE
On arrival in Borden they completed their delivery and were paid, as usual, in cash and goods. They were then contacted by the head of the Borden Engineers and Head Librarian Adams who employed them to stay around for a few days and help investigate Jacob's death.
A day's worth of investigation in Borden revealed the following...
- Jacob was 28 years old. He was an orphan who was taken in by the Library after his parents were killed by the Satellite Plague in 2066. He was thought to have no living relatives, but discovered an Uncle in Albany five years ago. He has taken time off to visit him every six months or so since then, and left on another trip only a few days beforehand.
- Jacob was an adequate although unremarkable Librarian. In his personal life he was something of a loner who didn't get on well with others. He had only one good friend (Steve McKenzie) who works at the local stables. Steve described him as smart when he wanted to be, but always coming up with grandiose plans and never following them through.
- Everyone described Jacob as a bit of a loser. He was always trying to impress people and make himself look big - usually unsuccessfully. When he had money (usually after coming back from visiting his uncle) he'd splash it around at the bar, shouting everyone on behalf of "Uncle Al".
- Jacob was interested in Melissa Baxter who worked at the town radio room. He kept bringing her gifts (chocolates, jewelery etc) - some of them quite expensive - but she never accepted them because she wasn't interested and didn't want to give him the wrong idea. One time he bought her a box of thermionic valves - she insisted on buying them from him. He claimed to have got them from his Uncle Al. He also said she should come and visit him in Spencer Street (in Albany) and one time made a point of showing her his dog tags - implying that they were important but refusing to say why. He was "pretty smashed" at the time however.
- Jacob's personal effects included a brochure for the Whaler's Cafe in Spencer Street Albany. A loose wall panel in his room at the Library revealed a number of papers and documents missing from the stacks.
When they reported this information to Head Librarian Adams he thanked them and paid for their trouble. He then asked if they could do a number of further jobs - locating Jacob's uncle and informing him of his nephew's death, and seeing if they can find out anything about his document thefts. Reasonable costs incurred would be covered by the Library, and he requested regular updates via reverse charge radio telegram.
They set off for Albany on the morning of the 13th, staying overnight at the campsite where Jacob's body had been discovered.
SUNDAY 14th JUNE - TUESDAY 16th JUNE
On Sunday morning the team was ambushed while travelling through Chester Pass in the Stirling Range. Despite the attackers being well armed and equipped they managed to kill two of them in a firefight - the others retreated and escaped on horseback. The two killed were wearing dog tags similar to Jacob's.
Continuing south they spent a night at the Kambalup Rangers' Station and reported the incident. The next night was spent at Porongurup and they arrived in Albany on the evening of Tuesday June 16th.
WEDNESDAY 17th JUNE
On Wednesday morning the team checked with the Rangers about their report. Their attackers were followed westward for about half a day before they turned onto an old sealed road and their tracks were lost. The general opinion was that they were a well organised group of raiders who were setting themselves up to ambush travelers along Chester Pass road. No one recognises the dog tags, or can tell they anything about them.
They proceeded to the Whaler's Cafe on Spencer Street. It turned out to be right next door to a small hotel, the Sandfire Guest House. Both were fairly run down and grimy. The proprietor of the Cafe recognised Jacob from his photo, saying that he stays at the Sandfire every six months or so and would meet with a tall, dark haired man in the cafe. The man was actually there a few days earlier - he hung around for an hour looking at his watch before a messenger arrived with a telegram, which he read, then left.
They went into the Sandfire where the man behind the counter was extremely unhelpful. He refused to provide any information and threatened to call the Rangers to have them thrown out. They left before causing any trouble.
Enquiries in the local area revealed that the Sandfire is regarded as fairly disreputable. Many shady and criminal types stay there and there have been occasional raids by the Rangers looking for criminals and fugitives. The owner of an electronics shop a few doors down remembered Jacob coming in six months before and buying $500 worth of thermionic valves - he didn't seem to care what type they were which the owner thought was strange. No one in the area had heard of "Uncle Al".
The Team decided to visit the Southern Union Telegram company to find information about the telegram delivered to the man at the Whaler's Cafe. The manager was reluctant to provide information until they explained the situation. He then looked up the log books and told them that the telegram was sent to a Mr White at the Stirling Hotel - apparently he wasn't there and the messenger was re-directed to the Whaler's Cafe. He refused to provide any more information (such as the text of the telegram) without authority from the Rangers.
They left, and sent a telegram addressed to Mr White at the Stirling Hotel. At the hotel they waited for the messenger to arrive (a Lionel McPhearson) who (for a small bribe) provided them with the text of several telegrams he delivered to Mr White over the previous week - the last one only yesterday. Unfortunately they were all in code. He described Mr White as tall, very well dressed and with dark hair, but had no idea if his first name was Al or Albert. In return for another bribe he promised to let them know if he delivered any more telegrams for Mr White. They sent a telegram to Librarian Adams reporting their progress and requesting assistance with the codes, and returned to their lodgings for the night.
THURSDAY 18th JUNE
In the morning the paper reported an incident at the Sandfire Guest House - persons unknown kicked down the door during the night and stole the guest register. A resident (Anzac Cartwright, aged 68) was brutally killed by a blow to the head when he interrupted the thieves. The team went to the Rangers and explained their involvement with the Sandfire and the mysterious Mr White in the hopes they'd let them examine the crime scene. They didn't - instead they thanked them for their information and said they'd contact they if they needed anything else.
Shortly afterwards they spotted a teenager wearing dog tags on the street. They confronted him, and the terrified teen indicated that they're the latest fashion and he'd bought them from Gibson's Store on Grey Street. At the store Mr Gibson explained that he bought a bunch of them from a Scav by the name of Tegwyn Jones about eight months before and had the idea of selling them to the kids as a fashion item. He also mentioned that Jones had dropped around and sold him another load only an hour before.
They managed to catch up with Tegwyn on the road north out of town. When questioned he said that he found a crateload of tags in a military facility in the Radlands. He examined the tags they salvaged from Jacob and the raiders and informs them of the following.
- They weren't from the crate of tags he found.
- They'd been manufactured to look authentically pre-war, but were modern fakes made from sheet aluminium and solder.
- The solder was unusual - it wasn't pure lead, possibly because that would make the tags heavier than the real ones.
- The numbers and letters on the tags had been stamped with metal dies, rather than laser etched as on the originals.
- The work was of such quality that it would have been extremely expensive and there were only four or five metalworkers in the States who could have done it. Two of them were in Albany - Millard Barnett and Bec Floreat.
He provided the team with the addresses of Barnett and Floreat before continuing on his journey. Floreat was closer so they decided to visit her first.
On the way they checked for a reply telegram from Librarian Adams. He'd replied and directed they to Mordecai's Letters and Messages - a business that does reading and writing for those unable to, with a sideline in encryption and decryption. The proprietor - Lynton Mordecai - had worked with Adams before and took on the job of trying to decode the telegrams as a personal favour to him, refusing payment except for a bottle of Dog Rock Bitter. He said it would probably take a few days, if it's possible at all.
They continued on to see Bec Floreat who claimed not to have made the dog tags. She examined them and said the solder is a lead/silver alloy, which would be extremely expensive - the only sources for silver are old jewelery, old cutlery and some old electronics. In her opinion the only other person in Albany who could have made them was Millard Barnett, who has done some work with aluminium and silver before. She said she'd ask around her suppliers to see if he'd been buying silver recently.
Enquiries with her neighbours suggested that Floreat was a trustworthy businesswoman. No one recognised the description of Mr White.
The team went to see Millard Barnett. His home/workshop was locked up. A sign on the door directed enquiries to the building firm next door. Here the proprietor told them that Barnett had to leave suddenly on Tuesday night - his sister in Windy Harbour was seriously ill. Barnett was in a real hurry, he didn't even have time to speak to him, and sent a kid with a note instead. When asked about the kid he described him as about 12, wearing a beaten up old whaler's jacket that's too big for him, and with a real attitude. He also said he didn't know that Millard even had a sister.
The team headed back to the telegram company to see if any more messages had been sent to Mr White. Lionel wasn't there, so they headed back to the Sandfire Guest House.
Here they bluffed the manager into thinking they were working with the Rangers, who had been crawling all over the place all morning. He let them into the room Jacob always rented. A search produced a half empty bottle of whiskey, and a crumpled piece of paper reading "54 Sussex Street - 5 o'clock". They questioned the manager about Jacob, but he became suspicious and they decided to make a tactical withdrawal before provoking him further.
It was now evening so the team bought dinner at a cafe on York Street. As they were leaving the city's fire cart rushed by. On a hunch they followed it - to Millard Barnett's house, the back portion of which was on fire. The fire fighters put out the blaze, but not before the building was badly damaged. With the fire fighters watching the property there was nothing they could do except go back to their lodgings.
FRIDAY 19th JUNE
The team got up early and headed over to Mordecai's Letters to see if the telegrams had been decrypted. Mordecai said he was working on them, with help from Adams, but it would be a while. Next they checked with Bec Floreat. Millard had been buying silver recently, but there wasn't much around. A lot of it seemed to have been bought up by dealers from the western states over the last few months.
They then visited 54 Sussex Street - which turned out to be an empty lot. Next they made contact with Lionel McPhearson who said there had been no more messages for Mr White.
They headed back to Milard Barnett's place. On the way they spotted a street kid in a large whaler's jacket matching the description given by Barnett's neighbour. He ran, but they managed to catch him. His name was Harp and he implied that he delivered the note, but was too hungry to remember any details. Once supplied with a pie from Kingman's Bakery he said that he was approached by a man matching Mr White's description who payed him to deliver the letter and say it was from Millard Barnett. He supplied some additional details - the man was very well dressed, wore riding boots and leather gloves, and was trying to hide a D'Entrecasteaux accent. Harp was familiar with Barnett, and this man wasn't him.
They continued to Barnett's place and snuck around the back. Entry into the damaged building was fairly easy, but the structure seemed very unstable. The front room was a metal workshop - a search turned up some pieces of aluminum, some fragments of silver wire and (under a bench) a die punch of the number 9. Examination showed it was an exact match for the nines on the dog tags. Further exploration upstairs was abandoned when the damaged floor proved too dangerous.
In the backyard the team found the source of the fire. A large bonfire seemed to had been lit, then left to get out of control, spreading to the house. Sifting through the ashes revealed many shreds of burnt paper. The only legible piece left bore the gold embossed letterhead of "The Blackwood River Water Company" and seemed to be some kind of invoice for metalwork involving aluminium. It proves too fragile to take with them.
They headed to the Governemnt Business Register to look up the company. It was just on closing time but they convinced the clerk to give them five minutes. They found that the company was incorporated in D'Entrecasteaux, with it's head offices in Manjimup (at 12 Brockman Street), and it is planning to lay a water pipeline to the Blackwood river. The managing director is one Edward Anthony.
SATURDAY 20th JUNE
The next morning they returned to Mordecai who thought he might have found a way into the encryption, although he hadn't broken it just yet.
They sent a telegram to Librarian Adams informing him of their progress and discussed what to do further. Concluding that the evidence seemed to be pointing towards D'Entrecasteaux they decided that they should head west. They made enquiries at the harbour about finding working passage on a ship, and for security escort jobs at the inns around Weerlara Junction. They ended up finding a trading caravan to Manjimup that would hire them for $250 each, leaving the next day. The journey would take six days.
That afternoon Mordecai contacted them with translations of the telegrams. They decided to take the caravan job and prepared to depart in the morning.
AND SO WE COME TO THE PRESENT...
It is now the evening of Wednesday the 24th. The caravan has been on the road for an uneventful four days. Winter is setting in and there have been numerous rain showers, by the end of the week sleet is expected on the south coast - the team is glad to be heading north.
They spent last night at an inn in Walpole, the capital of Frankland State. Here Kevin found a letter - marked 'Urgent' - waiting for him. On reading it he immediately resigned from the caravan job and headed off northwards, declining to provide details why, apart from it being a 'personal matter'. The reduced team has carried on with the job, and as dusk falls are just pulling in to the usually crowded camping grounds at Pingerup Lakes. This late in the year there are only a few caravans and travelers staying the night, but there are already a few bonfires lit.
Tomorrow they expect to arrive in the border town of Shannon and (after the usual lengthy Customs and Excise assessment) spend the night. On Friday morning they'll pass into D'Entrecasteaux, and arrive in Jardee in the early evening, where they'll receive their pay. They'll be welcome to hitch a lift into Manjimup the next morning, but their employment is officially at an end.
For now there's a good night to be had swapping stories, comparing scars and passing bottles around the fire with other traders and travelers. Pingurup Lakes is always good for news and gossip, so they might want to ask around about the mysterious Mr White...
Documents Discovered on the body of Jacob Browning (stolen from the Borden Library)
- Pilbara Rainfall Map, Winter 2002. Issued by Department of Land Administration.
- Route 96 Transperth Bus Timetable, issued July 1999.
- Brochure from Main Roads Department talking about roadworks in somewhere called Maddington.
- Some kind of magazine cover ('Landscope') with a weird looking map of the south west on it. The ocean is black, the land is a weird patchwork of reds, greens and greys (identified as a satellite photograph).
- Faded postcard showing a clock tower on a bright green lawn with shiny new motor cars parked in front of it. The printing on the back is too faded to be read.
Decrypted Telegrams
The telegrams delivered to Mr White - as decrypted by Lynton Mordecai...
Saturday the 13 - Delivered to the Whaler's Cafe
WHITE. ALEX INTERCEPTED AND DECEASED BORDEN ROAD. THOR 5 DISPATCHED. STAND BY. LYONS.
Monday the 15th - Delivered to the Stirling Hotel
WHITE. THOR 5 COMPROMISED. STIRLINGS. 4 MALES. HEADING SOUTH. STAND BY. LYONS.
Tuesday the 16th - Delivered to the Stirling Hotel
WHITE. 4 M SIGHTED ALBANY. INITIATE CLEANUP. GATHER INTEL/COMPROMISE WHERE POSSIBLE. LYONS.
