Thursday, March 28, 2030
Spring has arrived in this sleepy Arizona community. With the weekend trade market ahead of them, citizens and traveling merchants have gathered at Mecca Cantina to share gossip...and concerns.
The army of Mexico, which has been fighting over territory with the New Republic of Texas, has begun to make a push into southern Arizona and New Mexico. With the majority of their fighting force combined with Texas troops holding off conquest in Las Cruces and El Paso, the Free States of North America unexpectedly lost their communities south of the I-10 corridor, with Tuscon becoming the new Mexican army base.
In the west, rogue bands from the Wastelands have begun to move out of California and Nevada in search of fresh resources. The remnants of looters, degenerates, and activists, they have only one goal: survive. But with no skill or desire to work for their own well-being, their survival is rooted in the desire to take from what others have built up.
And so our story begins, with Wickenburg and her inhabitants stuck between a rock and a hard place. A tiny mirror reflecting the same dilemma that the city of Phoenix faces.
Nights are usually quiet. No traffic. No crowds. Only the sounds of conversation above the quiet music playing in the background. But trouble is coming. The rumbling of vehicles can be heard in the distance, and a man on horseback arriving with dire news - the Wastelanders have arrived!
Several patrons rush home to defend heir families. The ten who remain at the Mecca swiftly move to become the first line of defense. A plan forms - create two choke points, defend the market. Those facing the street see a beat-up pickup truck flanked by two motorcycles. And chaos ensues.
The truck driver is shot down, losing control of the vehicle and taking out one of the motorcycles with him. Following that, the second bike goes down. And the defenders begin to pick them off. But just as the fallen Wastelanders begin to get on their feet, a fourth vehicle comes along. The Jeep has the head of a fallen ghoul mounted to the hood - a symbol of what they had hoped to be the first of many in this town eliminated. But the Wastelanders body count would stand at two.
To avoid ramming the abandoned vehicles, the Jeep inadvertently runs over several of their comrades sprawled across the street. And then they begin to fall to the barrage of bullets.
*The following is scripted game-play due to time constraints*
Of the 14 Wastelanders, two are dead, three unconscious, and the remaining 9 wounded are getting to their feet. The defenders are able to hold them off, killing three more before help comes from an unexpected source.
A small squad of Mexican soldiers, scouts who had been on reconnaissance, arrives and assists in finishing off the Wastelanders before the invaders could get off a single shot. Two prisoners are taken, and all others are dead.
The Wastelanders and the Mexican army are on your doorstep. What is the next step?