The ground outside Marron's gates still looks like a battlefield, but the mounds of scrapped vehicles and discarded weapons are slowly being sorted into piles inside the courtyard. Well-armed before, the Marronites have enough weaponry now to withstand anything short of a Coalition invasion, and enough scrap to trade for anything else they'll need in the foreseeable future.
The casualty count is sobering, but not as bad as it might have been. All but a few dozen raiders were killed or ran off. About one-in-ten of Marron's townsfolk succumbed to their injuries, and those who survived will bear the scars for the rest of their lives. But the heroic medical care offered by Rill and Ulysses, and the preparation and battlefield leadership of the 18th saved many more.
Marron's simvan and sandshark allies suffered greater losses, approaching 50 percent in each tribe, but neither seems particularly dismayed. Having gorged on the Blue Hand dead, the sandsharks head north, trailing the fleeing survivors. The simvan, pleased with the great victory, prepare to depart, as well, but promise to return any time the mighty Marronites find themselves in a scrap with an equally worthy foe.
"Just as well -- I was worried there might be a fight when Rill insisted on burning the dead. That chief with the scar over his nose looked at the preacher like a Texas chef would look at some yahoo ordering a well done porterhouse," Ulysses says, before taking another drink of the half-cooled beer that had been liberated from one of the wrecked Blue Hand vehicles.
Taking a break from his work in the triage center, the weary cyber-surgeon appears half dead, himself, but insists he's good for another few hours, thanks to some adrenaline boosters he had installed a few years ago while working back east. "By then I'll be ready for some chow and about 24 hours of sleep. But a beer will do it for now. Speaking of, what's next for the victorious members of the Tomorrow Legion? Rest on your laurels? I'm sure the cyber-knight is itching to go after his sister, though I can't say I recommend it. They tell some nasty stories up in the Baronies about the Shibboleth, and no telling where he's at exactly."
"I didn't know if you were maybe thinking of heading back east, to Black Mesa. I heard Toto talking earlier with that Jasco fella, apparently they'd both started picking up radio chatter from Mesa again, although it was kind of strange. 'Guarded,' I think was the word he used. Might be worth checking, in case you could rustle up some allies for the folk here in Marron. Of course, Springer and Laughlin are closer, and might be willing to forge relations with their suddenly-wealthy neighbors, D-bees or not."
Ulysses raises the bottle to his lips, ready to down the last of it, then nearly chokes when he spots the figure limping into the mess hall.
"I don't recall clearing you for topside activity, Miss ... uh, Delta, is it?" he says, as the tattooed space-woman collapses into a chair, breathing like she's just run a marathon. "A salla tu, medico," she says, before grimacing and starting over in a carefully-inflected American accent that sounds just like what you'd hear on an old Golden Age recording. "Sorry, I forget. Earther. But you have my thanks, doctor. At this point I just feel like I'm carrying a barrel of water in high-G, instead of being crushed under a cargo-loader."
"Do you know where I can find the rest of the strike team -- the, um, COT? I need to speak with the leader again. I need access to their communications systems, telemetrics, anything they've got. The data I was able to pull on my descent ... let's just say it's incomplete, but it's the best treasure map anyone on this continent has seen in 300 years."
"And say, is that beer[? Got anymore? Knew a guy on Yuro Station who brewed some out of mushroom flour, but I don't think he had the recipe quite right, unless it's supposed to taste like feet."
What's next? You tell me! Hop in and role-play the aftermath of the battle, discuss next moves, question prisoners. It's all up to you. In addition, we've got the ...
Spoils of War
First off, you don't save an outnumbered town of unarmed D-Bee pacifists from a horde of savage reavers and not learn something from the experience. Each character who participated in the Battle of Marron gets to roll a d20 and gain the corresponding result from a Hero's Journey table of your choice.
Second: Loot!. There's all manner of surplus gear, parts and other spoils to salvage, and no one's going to look sideways at the COT for taking a share. Each character gets 100,000 credits worth stuff, which can come in the form of actual credits or any equipment to be found in the Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide.
In addition, each character can claim one special piece of salvage, chosen from specific items dropped by Cassius and his bunch, a custom item, or even an abandoned vehicle ...
- Cassius's Modified TX-26 Particle Beam Pistol (Tinkered Item: Range 15/30/60, Damage 2d8+5, RoF 1, AP 4, SA, +50% Shots)
- Cassius's Hellfire Sword (Enchanted Item: Str+2d8+2, AP 2, Mega Damage, +2d Fighting, smite with magma-AP trapping and Power Mastery, 10 PPE)
- Cassius's Rings of Returning (Enchanted Item: Pair of rings, one is worn, the other magically attaches to the hilt of a weapon. The attached weapon gains the Trademark Weapon Edge and can be summoned into hand at a range of up to one mile as if using Quick Draw)
- The Long-Haired Pistoleer's TW Thunderclap Pistol (Range 10/20/40, Damage 2d8+4, AP 4, SA, electricity trapping, havoc activated with Shooting, +2d Shooting)
- A TW item of choice from the TLPG, other than the Battle Fury Blade
- A custom Veteran-tier item. For reference, that would be:
- Enchanted: 2 Minor upgrades, 1 Major
- Super-Tech: 6 Power Points
- Tinkered: 2 Minor upgrades, 2 Major
- TW: 2 Minor upgrades, 3 Major
- A vehicle, including the possibility of a salvaged suit of Power Armor or a Robot (dont expect top-tier or fully-loaded, but something to get you started)