Bella’s Invitation Where: The heroes’ community When: A month after the scouts leave the heroes’ community After the scouts Bella sent north return (see Bella’s Scouts), if they have a neutral or positive impression about working with the heroes, she sends an envoy (Elite Slaver, see page 74) to the heroes to request an audience with them The envoy says he’ll escort a group of no more than six people to see Bella (increase this to the party size if there are more than six heroes) He doesn’t tell them their final destination During the trip down, the envoy says little He answers very basic questions about himself or the journey, but for questions about the Green Empire, he tells the group “better let Bella tell you about all that.” Once they reach Bella’s fort, the guards ask the group to turn over their weapons They might be able to convince the guards to allow them to keep their weapons with a DC 25 Diplomacy check, or they can attempt to hide a weapon by making a Sleight of Hand check opposed by the slavers’ Perception Grant a bonus or penalty depending on the size of the weapon If these strategies don’t work and the heroes refuse to turn in their weapons, the guards tell them to go home Inside the compound, the heroes are shown to Bella’s office and asked to wait there After ten to twenty minutes Bella arrives She dresses in the manner she thinks best manipulates the characters, which might be anything from a formal suit to prewar military fatigues to a revealing dress Bella begins with diplomacy She explains she was previously associated with Mr Fix-It, but he went rogue and the atrocities he committed were something she neither knew, nor approved of She apologizes for not choosing her associates better Bella goes on to offer the heroes an alliance with the Green Empire The empire can provide the heroes’ community with more advanced technology, most prominently vehicles and fuel to run them In return the heroes’ community can provide food, along with any other goods they might have to offer Bella answers the group’s questions however she thinks portrays her and her cause in the best light She neglects unsavory elements of the empire, like slavery and despotism If asked, she waves the question away with petty excuses She intends to stay at her fort to establish an empire presence in the area to protect the land and foster trade She does, however, offer to send a few of her troops to the group’s community to help keep everybody safe Bella’s story is mostly the truth, though she does not fill the heroes in on the entire plan She hopes to slowly incorporate their territory into the Green Empire The first step is to build up a dependency on the empire’s fuel, and at the same time gather further intelligence about the surrounding territory Once she has done that, she makes a further offer to the group: to join the empire, or to suffer its wrath If the heroes agree to join, she even offers to make them regional governors If the heroes refuse her offer, she allows them to leave unmolested, asking only that they not interfere with her other operations in the area She then goes on to pursue other leads, hoping to take over other communities, such as Sand Town, Moose Town, and possibly even Wright Town If heroes refuse and harass Bella’s forces, she declares war on them (see Bella’s War) 78 Eagle Eye’s Vengeance Eagle Eye (see page 69) is bent on vengeance for the death of her husband and the other members of her tribe Unless the heroes convince her to stay in their community, she heads south looking for vengeance, taking a handful of other tribesfolk with her They set up a camp at Palbun’s Land (page 114), and from there launch guerrilla attacks against Bella’s fort This slows down Bella’s timetable, and also depletes her forces (reducing it by slavers) After a couple of months, Bella’s forces kill Eagle Eye and all the tribesfolk except one, who heads north to report what happened to the PCs Bella’s War Bella prefers to use guile and subterfuge to get what she wants, but she’s not opposed to using force If the group incurs her wrath, or attacks her directly, she responds in kind If the heroes go on the offensive, she hunkers down at the fort, where she has enough food supplies to last several months If she decides to seek out the heroes’ community she prefers to gather as much intelligence as possible, sending out scouts and questioning local townsfolk She only goes on the offensive if she has overwhelming numbers, and if she doesn’t, she’ll retreat south to the Green Empire to report to her superiors and gather reinforcements Forces: Bella’s fort initially has 52 people defending it, however many of them are extremely heavily armed and armored Bella’s Army XP 400 NE Small army of humans (mix of warrior and fighter 4) hp 6; ACR DV 11; OM +3, ranged Resources firearms Speed 1; Consumption The Phoenix Saga While Bella’s forces work well as an initial meta-plot for the campaign, the story of the Phoenix stations can carry the campaign further and push the group to explore new territory It begins when the heroes first hear a garbled radio transmission, and may end with a return to nuclear war Meeting the Phoenix Where: Anywhere When: Any time There are several ways the group might hear about Phoenix and particularly the Mu complex First they might see the location noted on one of the maps they locate after searching Mr FixIt’s lair The characters who search the radio airwaves discover a static-filled broadcast by Phoenix It requests help and asks any capable sources to go to coordinates 93 ˚ 50’ W and 48 ˚ 16’ N and await further instructions If the group haven’t encountered the Phoenix within a couple weeks of defeating Mr Fix-It, they see a strange “metal bird” flying over their settlement toward Station Mu This is actually a hummingbird-class drone (page 152) It recently escaped from Phoenix Station Delta (page 105), and is making its way to Station