$Id$
$Log$
-Revision 1.7 2006/06/19 08:19:11 cvsuser
+Revision 1.8 2006/07/28 09:05:30 Wibbleboy
+o Fixed a few minor non-errata typos.
+o Replaced 'potassium iodine' with 'potassium iodide'.
+o Started a new paragraph for Cutter's speech in section 253.
+o Updated errata list.
+
+Revision 1.7 2006/06/19 08:19:11 Wibbleboy
Made errata changes for consistency with other books in series.
Revision 1.6 2005/12/19 12:49:28 Wibbleboy
<dd></dd>
<dt>XML</dt>
<dd>Jonathan Blake<br />Iain Smith</dd>
- <dt>Alternate Illustrations</dt>
- <dd></dd>
<dt>Proofreading</dt>
<dd>Iain Smith (frontmatter)<br />Matthew Reynolds (sections 1&endash;105, 246&endash;280)<br />Simon Osborne (sections 106&endash;245, 281&endash;350)</dd>
<dt>Editing</dt>
</meta>
<data>
- <p><strong>1900-1998</strong><br />Rise of global terrorism on an unprecedented scale. Political violence funded by organized crime syndicate called HAVOC - The Hijack, Assassination and Violent Opposition Consortium.</p>
+ <p><strong>1990-1998</strong><br />Rise of global terrorism on an unprecedented scale. Political violence funded by organized crime syndicate called HAVOC - The Hijack, Assassination and Violent Opposition Consortium.</p>
<p><strong>1998-2003</strong><br />The governments of many small and impoverished nations fall into the hands of HAVOC. International terrorists receive arms, training and shelter in these 'Badlands'.</p>
<p><strong>2003-2008</strong><br />Raids on oil and gas installations, assassinations, and the kidnapping of prominent world statesmen become commonplace as HAVOC attempt to terrorize the civilized world into submission. Despite public outrage and growing international tension, the major powers steadfastly refuse to give in to HAVOC's demands.</p>
<p><strong>2008</strong><br />President of the United States and General Secretary of Supreme Soviet both assassinated at emergency summit meeting. US, USSR and major European nations create the World Defence League and declare war on HAVOC. The Badlands are invaded, key HAVOC bases destroyed, and thousands of HAVOC agents are captured.</p>
<p>Your arrival at the mine was met by a military patrol, posted there by the World Defence League. The job of the patrol was to prevent sabotage; oil installations all over the world had become one of HAVOC's primary targets in their campaign of terror. The mine was officially closed for the New Year's recess but Uncle Jonas had right of access at all times and, after checking his papers, the patrol allowed you in. It was a massive complex and, for security reasons, it was totally self-supporting. A central shaft serviced the many working levels to which there were attached laboratories, workshops and even refineries for processing the precious crude oil after it had been extracted from the rock. Uncle Jonas was explaining the function of these refineries, 300 feet below the surface, when it happened.</p>
<p>The ground shuddered when the shock waves from the first distant explosions reached the mine, and you remember thinking that it must be the start of an earthquake, the like of which you had experienced many times at home in California. But as the levels nearest the surface began to collapse and the central shaft filled with falling rubble, you realized the awful truth. The unthinkable had happened. </p>
<p>At first there was no way of telling the extent of the surface devastation. Below ground, the safety generators had automatically switched into operation when the main power supply failed, and the tremors faded quickly, encouraging your aunt and uncle to believe that the damage above was superficial. Uncle Jonas was confident that the military would mount a rescue operation and that you would be brought out within a few days - a week at the most. Aunt Betty-Ann was also optimistic. After all, there were emergency supplies, enough to feed 200 men for a whole month. Little did she know that the three of you would end up consuming all of those supplies, or that the mine would become your home, your shelter and your prison for the next eight years of your lives.</p>
- <p>It was a month after 'The Day' when the three of you accepted that there would never be a rescue operation. Many days had been spent in silence, hoping and praying for the sounds of excavation or a voice on the radio lint to the surface. But all that could be heard was the static crackle of the gamma radiation which was blanketing the earth. Uncle Jonas proposed that an attempt be made to reach the surface by tunnelling through the blocked central shaft. It was an awesomely dangerous feat, to dig vertically through 300 feet of compressed concrete rubble and twisted steel girders, but there was no other way you could ever hope to escape from the mine. Progress was painfully slow but the work gave you all a sense of purpose, a reason to go on, even though you feared what could be awaiting you on the surface.</p>
+ <p>It was a month after 'The Day' when the three of you accepted that there would never be a rescue operation. Many days had been spent in silence, hoping and praying for the sounds of excavation or a voice on the radio link to the surface. But all that could be heard was the static crackle of the gamma radiation which was blanketing the earth. Uncle Jonas proposed that an attempt be made to reach the surface by tunnelling through the blocked central shaft. It was an awesomely dangerous feat, to dig vertically through 300 feet of compressed concrete rubble and twisted steel girders, but there was no other way you could ever hope to escape from the mine. Progress was painfully slow but the work gave you all a sense of purpose, a reason to go on, even though you feared what could be awaiting you on the surface.</p>
<p>Those years spent in the mine taught you invaluable lessons in survival. Uncle Jonas showed you how to refine gasolene from crude oil to keep the generators alive; to coax fresh water from porous rock; to manufacture spare parts in order to maintain vital machinery. Aunt Betty-Ann, who had at one time been a nurse and a high school teacher in Denton County, attended to your education and made sure that you stayed fit and healthy. Their love and support enabled you to grow during those dark days underground despite the enormous sense of loss you felt for your parents, brothers and sister. You vowed then that one day you would repay their kindness by protecting and caring for them.</p>
<p>It was early September in the year 2019 when finally you broke through to the surface. Aunt Betty-Ann was convinced that radiation levels would still be dangerously high, and at first she was against leaving the mine. But, during the last few months of your incarceration, the static that had always jammed the radio wavelengths had gradually cleared, and Uncle Jonas was able to persuade her that this meant it was now safe to live above ground.</p>
<p>When you first emerged from the mine, you thought you were on the surface of another planet. Surely this could not be Earth? Few structures had survived the blizzards and intense cold that had swept around the world in the years following 'The Day', and now, after the dust had settled and the sun returned, the once-fertile plains of Austin resembled little more than a desert of parched and broken rock, littered with the artefacts of an absent civilization. During the first few days, when you set out to explore this wilderness, it was easy to believe that you were the only survivors. But on the morning of the fifth day, Uncle Jonas made a chance radio contact with a family called Ewell who were living near the ruins of McKinney, thirty miles north of Dallas. They told him that they had been in touch with a handful of other groups who had managed somehow to survive the holocaust. Most were isolated, unable to move due to lack of fuel, food or water. They had urged those who could travel to join them in McKinney, to start a new community, and some were already on their way. Your uncle and aunt also accepted their invitation. McKinney was not very far from Denton, and they were curious to see if anything remained of their ranch. They planned to return home, salvage whatever they could that might be of use, and then move on to McKinney. The Ewells were enthusiastic, but they warned that not everyone who had survived wanted to establish a new community. The ruins of Dallas and Fort Worth were controlled by gangs of criminals who fought with each other and terrorized anyone seeking to reestablish law and order. They advised you to avoid them at all costs when travelling north.</p>
<p>Interstate Freeway 35 was the only highway still intact amid the devastation that surrounded the mine. It offered a direct route home to Denton, if only transportation could be found, for Uncle Jonas considered conditions far too dangerous to attempt such a long journey on foot. It took more than a week to discover a vehicle that was still serviceable. It was an old school bus, one that had been parked in an underground lot and had survived the years of subzero blizzards. With a few new parts, a tankful of gas and a lot of hard work it was eventually brought back to life.</p>
<p>Provisions, including a small generator, were hoisted out of the mine and stowed aboard before you began the journey back to the ranch. The noisy old bus bumped along the rock-strewn freeway that stretched northward across an empty sea of dust. It was a harrowing sight. Hardly a trace remained of what were once thriving communities, and the once-populous cities of Temple and Waco had barely enough buildings still standing to qualify as small towns.</p>
- <p>It was not until you reached the outskirts of Fort Worth that you encountered signs of human habitation. The road ahead was blocked by a line of wrecked autos, and at your approach a group of hard faced men and women, clad in composite costumes of leather and rivetted steel, suddenly popped up from behind this barricade. Uncle Jonas was suspicious and slowed the bus almost to a halt. Suddenly they produced handguns and rifles and began to take aim at the windshield, and he knew it was not the time to stop to ask for directions! He told you and Aunt Betty-Ann to brace yourselves, thenstamped his foot on the gas and drove the bus straight through the wall of cars, scattering the punks like ten-pins in a strike. The bus was shot at many times as it sped through Fort Worth, but the street gangs had been caught out and you managed to escape from the ruined city before they could give chase.</p>
+ <p>It was not until you reached the outskirts of Fort Worth that you encountered signs of human habitation. The road ahead was blocked by a line of wrecked autos, and at your approach a group of hard faced men and women, clad in composite costumes of leather and rivetted steel, suddenly popped up from behind this barricade. Uncle Jonas was suspicious and slowed the bus almost to a halt. Suddenly they produced handguns and rifles and began to take aim at the windshield, and he knew it was not the time to stop to ask for directions! He told you and Aunt Betty-Ann to brace yourselves, then stamped his foot on the gas and drove the bus straight through the wall of cars, scattering the punks like ten-pins in a strike. The bus was shot at many times as it sped through Fort Worth, but the street gangs had been caught out and you managed to escape from the ruined city before they could give chase.</p>
<illustration class="inline">
<meta>
<data>
<p>Before embarking on your adventure, you must first determine your personal characteristics and the weapons and provisions with which you are equipped. On pages 6 and 7 you will find an <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> on which to record and amend these details as the adventure unfolds. For ease of use during play it is recommended that you photocopy these pages.</p>
- <p>Your personal characteristics comprise two basic attributes: <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> and <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ>. To discover your initial <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ>, take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point the blunt end of it on to the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> at the back of this book. If you pick a 0 it counts as zero. Add 10 to the number you have picked and write the total in the <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> section of your Action Chart (for example, if your pencil falls on the number 5 in the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, you have a CLOSE <typ class="attribute">COMBAT SKILL</typ> total of 15). When you fight an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, your <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> will be measured against that of your enemy, so a high score in this section is desirable.</p>
+ <p>Your personal characteristics comprise two basic attributes: <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> and <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ>. To discover your initial <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ>, take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point the blunt end of it on to the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> at the back of this book. If you pick a 0 it counts as zero. Add 10 to the number you have picked and write the total in the <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> section of your Action Chart (for example, if your pencil falls on the number 5 in the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, you have a <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> total of 15). When you fight an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, your <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> will be measured against that of your enemy, so a high score in this section is desirable.</p>
<p>To discover your <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> level, repeat the process, but this time add 20 to the number you have picked from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>. Write the total in the <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> section of your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> (for example, if your pencil falls on the number 8 on the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, you have a total <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> score of 28). If you are wounded in combat, or injured at any other time during your adventure you will lose <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points. If, at any time, your <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points total falls to zero, you are dead and the adventure is over. You can regain lost <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points during the course of the adventure, but your <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> level can never rise above your initial score.</p>
<section class="frontmatter-separate" id="sskills">
<section class="frontmatter" id="medikit">
<meta><title>Medi-kit</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>A well-stocked Medi-kit can make all the difference to your chances of survival should you suffer injury in the field or as a result of combat. It contains useful first aid supplies, such as dressings, antiseptics, antibiotics, water purification tablets, sulphonamides, pain killers, potassium iodine tablets (to delay absorption of radioactivity) and sutures.</p>
+ <p>A well-stocked Medi-kit can make all the difference to your chances of survival should you suffer injury in the field or as a result of combat. It contains useful first aid supplies, such as dressings, antiseptics, antibiotics, water purification tablets, sulphonamides, pain killers, potassium iodide tablets (to delay absorption of radioactivity) and sutures.</p>
<p>For convenience, these medical supplies are grouped into units. To find how many units you have in your Medi-kit, pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> (0 equals 10) and add 2. Your total score equals the number of units with which you begin your adventure. To keep a record of them, circle the appropriate number of unit symbols in the Medi-kit section of your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a>. The maximum number of units you can carry in your Medi-kit is twelve.</p>
<p>You may use your Medi-kit units to restore lost <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points; each unit used in this way restores 3 points. Units cannot be used to restore <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points in lieu of a Meal or Water when instructed to eat or drink.</p>
</data>
<section class="frontmatter" id="evasion">
<meta><title>Evasion of Combat</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>During your adventure you may be given the chance to evade close combat. If you have already engaged in a round of close combat and decide to evade, calculate the combat for that round in the usual manner. All ENDURANCE points lost by the enemy as a result of that round are ignored; only Cal Phoenix may lose <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points during that round, but that is the risk of running away! You may evade combat only if the text of the particular section allows you to do so.</p>
+ <p>During your adventure you may be given the chance to evade close combat. If you have already engaged in a round of close combat and decide to evade, calculate the combat for that round in the usual manner. All <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points lost by the enemy as a result of that round are ignored; only Cal Phoenix may lose <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points during that round, but that is the risk of running away! You may evade combat only if the text of the particular section allows you to do so.</p>
</data>
</section>
</data>
<data>
<p>Your return is met with great relief and joy that Maria is safe. Juan and Rosita - Maria's parents - cannot thank you enough for finding their child, and the others, especially your uncle and aunt, heap you with praise. After the excitement has abated you venture out into the storm once more, this time with Cutter, to retrieve food and other vital supplies from the bus.</p>
<p>'This is one heck of a blue norther,' he says, as you climb aboard the bus. 'Reckon it could hold us here for a day or two before it blows itself out.'</p>
- <p>'I sure hope you're wrong.' you reply, as you prise open the floor hatch that gives access to the luggage hold from inside the bus. 'Take a look at this.' A fetid smell rises from the compartment, the smell of rotten food.</p>
+ <p>'I sure hope you're wrong,' you reply, as you prise open the floor hatch that gives access to the luggage hold from inside the bus. 'Take a look at this.' A fetid smell rises from the compartment, the smell of rotten food.</p>
<p>'Dadburn it! That's all we need right now!' exclaims Cutter, as he examines the swollen food parcels at arm's length. 'The heat's put paid to these rations. Now we're really in for a hard time.'</p>
<p>The colony react to the news of the spoiled food with silent disbelief. What little that can be saved is carefully shared out, but it amounts to barely a day's ration per person. 'If we don't find some food to replace what we've lost,' says Aunt Betty-Ann, as she distributes the last of the stone-hard bread, 'it'll be a convoy of skeletons that drives into Big Spring.'</p>
<p>'Well, at least we've got enough water,' replies Pop Ewell. 'We can live for three weeks without food, but we'd all be dead in three days without water.'</p>
<data>
<p>Painfully you drag yourself to your feet. You wait until the footfalls of the patrol have passed out of earshot and then venture out into the park once more. You manage to avoid another patrol before escaping from the amusement park and meeting up with Cutter at the truck depot. You are both relieved to discover that the place is empty and unguarded, and quickly you make your way to the stores building. You find the records office, but without electricity you cannot access the computer files to pinpoint the exact location of the spare you need. With horror you realize that in order to find a new steering linkage you will have to search every one of the 1,600 storage bays that occupy the building.</p>
- <p>We'll be here forever if we have to search the shelves,' you whisper.</p>
+ <p>'We'll be here forever if we have to search the shelves,' you whisper.</p>
<p>'I guess you're right,' replies Cutter, 'but I think I know a quicker way of finding what we need. Follow me.'</p>
<p>Intrigued by Cutter's reply, you follow him out of the stores building, across a parking lot, and into another section of the depot that is marked:</p>
<signpost>ZONE 3: MUNICIPAL VEHICLE SERVICING</signpost>
<meta><title>204</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>The road stretches before you, empty and silent, shimmering beneath the early morning sun. With the temperature already in the mid-nineties, you are grateful for the cool breeze that whips through your hair as you speed across the barren flats. The tracks made by Long lake's tyres are still fresh in the dust that blankets the highway, and you trail them all the way to the outskirts of Sherman, where you discover his pick-up abandoned near an old gas station.</p>
+ <p>The road stretches before you, empty and silent, shimmering beneath the early morning sun. With the temperature already in the mid-nineties, you are grateful for the cool breeze that whips through your hair as you speed across the barren flats. The tracks made by Long Jake's tyres are still fresh in the dust that blankets the highway, and you trail them all the way to the outskirts of Sherman, where you discover his pick-up abandoned near an old gas station.</p>
<p>A line of footprints disappears towards the centre of the town, and, as you follow them along the main street, you catch sight of Long Jake, a rifle in his hand, waving at you from the doorway of his brother's store. Behind him stands a girl. She looks eighteen, maybe younger. Judging by the state of her clothing she must have been through a pretty rough time. You bring your roadster to a halt in front of the store and, nervously, Long Jake motions you to enter. 'Quick, Cal!' he hisses. 'Get over here!'</p>
<p>You are barely out of the driving seat when a burst of machine gun fire rings out across the street. Bullets hit the ground near your feet and a number of holes appear, stitched in a jagged row across the trunk of your car.</p>
<choice idref="sect109">If you wish to get back into your roadster and try to escape this ambush, <link-text>turn to 109</link-text>.</choice>
<meta><title>253</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>'Better set up your transceiver before you go, Cal,' says Pop Ewell, 'so's you can call us if you get in a fix.' 'Use the 153 megahertz band,' says Cutter. We'll have someone here listenin' out for you the whole time you're away.'</p>
+ <p>'Better set up your transceiver before you go, Cal,' says Pop Ewell, 'so's you can call us if you get in a fix.'</p>
+ <p>'Use the 153 megahertz band,' says Cutter. We'll have someone here listenin' out for you the whole time you're away.'</p>
<p>You set your radio to the chosen frequency and make sure there is sufficient power left in its miniaturized solar-pac before you get ready to leave.</p>
<p>'Good luck, boy,' says Uncle Jonas, as you switch on your ignition and check your instrumentation. 'Don't take no unnecessary risks, y'hear!'</p>
<p>With a wave, you bid him farewell, before accelerating the roadster along the highway that leads to Mineral Wells.</p>
<data>
<p>The drive to Albany takes you across a rolling plain that once fed a million head of longhorn cattle. Now the once-lush grassland is a vast desert of parched and blistered earth, completely devoid of life. The town stands at the centre of this bald prairie, its battered wooden houses and stores clustered haphazardly in groups on either side of a single main street. You stop your car half a mile from the town and park it in the shade of an old farm building, before venturing into Albany on foot.</p>
- <p>The first building that you see is the ruins of the Shackelford county sheriffs office. Spent cartridge cases litter the ground around its entrance, marking the site of a recent gunfight.</p>
+ <p>The first building that you see is the ruins of the Shackelford county sheriff's office. Spent cartridge cases litter the ground around its entrance, marking the site of a recent gunfight.</p>
<p>Pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, and add to it your current Stealth and Perception skill totals.</p>
<choice idref="sect31">If your total score is now 12 or less, <link-text>turn to 31</link-text>.</choice>
<choice idref="sect277">If your total score is now 13 or more, <link-text>turn to 277</link-text>.</choice>
<data>
<p>(<a idref="gamerulz">The Game Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>if you pick a O</quote> with <quote>if you pick a 0</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="equipmnt">Equipment</a>) Replaced <quote>map of Central Texas</quote> with <quote>Map of Central Texas</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="equipmnt">Equipment</a>) Replaced <quote>potassium iodine</quote> with <quote>potassium iodide</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="backpack">Backpack</a>) Replaced <quote>H.E. (High Explosive) GRENADE</quote> with <quote>HE (High Explosive) GRENADE</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="cmbtrulz">Combat Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>CLOSECOMBAT</quote> with <quote>CLOSE COMBAT</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="cmbtrulz">Combat Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>cross-refer</quote> with <quote>cross-reference</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect233">233</a>) Replaced <quote>(minimum - one round; maximum - four rounds)</quote> with <quote>(minimum: one round; maximum: four rounds)</quote></p>
<p>(<a idref="sect248">248</a>) Replaced <quote>C.B. radio</quote> with <quote>C.B. Radio</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect250">250</a>) Replaced <quote>machine-gunner</quote> with <quote>machine gunner</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="sect253">253</a>) Started a new paragraph for Cutter's speech.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect260">260</a>) Replaced <quote>Cmon</quote> with <quote>C'mon</quote> and <quote>Comanche county</quote> with <quote>Comanche County</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect288">288</a>) Replaced <quote>auto-wreck</quote> with <quote>auto wreck</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect305">305</a>) Replaced <quote>fininshed</quote> with <quote>finished</quote>.</p>
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