After exploring Shady Sand a little and getting to know some of the locals the team met back up for lunch and discussed what to do next. Considering they had the numbers, vehicles and weapons, Hanley wondered why the locals weren’t patrolling proactively and striking back at the Brotherhood. He proposed a combined attack with some of the Shady Sands guard on one of the Brotherhood’s outposts. Xi Shi, Jason and Garret seemed interested in the idea.

Xi Shi headed down to the markets in the afternoon and met a local weapons trader and survivor of The Fall named Art. Art seemed impressed with Xi Shi’s knife “Wow, it’s in such good repair!” The two spoke about mutants and Art showed off his many scars from wounds inflicted fighting mutants in his younger days. Art told Xi Shi tales of the years immediately after The Fall, how “The wastes were thick with those (mutant) fuckers! But now they seem mostly around the towns n’ cities. Stay clear of ‘em if you wanna keep your face attached to ya body I say!” Xi Shi offered Art some acupuncture on his scarred arm and although he was suspicious at first, Art accepted and was happy with the results – his arm muscles were loosened up somewhat.

Hanley met with Erin and quizzed her about what action she and her guard were taking against the Brotherhood. Erin told Hanley that her men ran two patrols at dawn and two at dusk. “But why don’t you strike back at those in-bred redneck pricks?” asked Hanley. “You got the manpower and the weapons…” to which Erin replied “We ‘aint no army my friend.” Erin took Hanley aside and explained “Most of the folk around here are damn well scared of the Brotherhood and with good reason. Many have had family members murdered or kidnapped by those bastards. They’ve got an almost legendary status, sorta like a boogieman I guess.” Hanley asked if they carried out raids, Erin said they’d attacked and destroyed small camps and patrols of The Brotherhood, but never attacked a Brotherhood out-post before. Erin said she’d be willing to organise such an attack, particularly if they had the team’s help, so Hanley and Erin started laying plans for a raid. The two decided to meet again at 6pm for further planning.

In preparation for a raid on the Brotherhood, Jason set to working building a pintle-mount to attach one of the captured assault rifles to the rollbar of the jeep. After some scrounging and trading at the market he had all the materials he needed and thanks to a local mechanic he’d befriended by the name of Galvin, Jason had a well-equipped if messy, workshop to use in construction. It took most of the afternoon, but by dusk Jason had rigged up the weapon mount complete with a basic harness and stirrups for the gunners feet. Garret and Jason took it out for a test run and it seemed to operate just fine… however as the shadows lengthened and evening fell, Garret spotted the signature dust clouds of vehicles approaching from the south. The pair beat a hasty retreat back to the safety of Shady Sands walls.

By the time Jason and Garret had returned, the guards in the tower had spotted the vehicles approaching from the south and sounded the alarm (a loud klaxon). Most locals ran and hid inside while the team and the Shady Sands guard, including Erin, manned the walls.

Three vehicles approached, a pick-up truck, which hung back a ways, a jeep with mounted machine gun and a van. About a dozen Brotherhood got out, all armed and with them they brought five prisoners (all middle-aged to older men) and lined them up with guns to their heads. The leader of the group came forward (a mountain of a man) and introduced himself as Lorenzo. Lorenzo seemed to know of Erin as he referred to her by name, saying they were here because of the attack on the highway. “You people are sheep and we are the wolves of the desert. However is seems we may have found some wolves in sheep’s clothing amongst you” (referring to the group who attacked his men on the highway). By this point Hanley had had enough and moved off the wall to the edge of the lake to the north of town, he planed to go on the offensive. Garret and Xi Shi followed him, however Jason remained to make sure the enemy were distracted. Lorenzo went on to asked the team to come forward saying that he wished to offer them membership to the Brotherhood, as they were obviously “wolves and not sheep.”

Hanley, Xi Shi and Garret exited town via the lake and began to move around through the ruined buildings when they were fired on by a sniper and Hanley was hit in the leg, although not seriously. The three made in to (what they thought was) cover, behind one of the buildings however when the bricks beside Garret’s head exploded under the impact of a bullet, they figured otherwise and piled into an abandoned house to take shelter.

Meanwhile, back on the wall, Jason heard the sounds of the sniper opening fire and saw that the Brotherhood soldiers seemed a little surprised, but certainly not in fear of their lives. Lorenzo finished his (rather broken-up) speech saying; “It seems as if my men have found the people we’re looking for…” before the Brotherhood took their prisoners and started to leave. However not before Erin gave her gunner the order to open fire with the .50 calibre machinegun in the tower, hitting the rear of Lorenzo’s jeep, killing one enemy. Jason didn’t hesitate and took aim at Lorenzo’s back as he drove away, he fired, hit but only managed to graze Lorenzo’s armour t-shirt.

Although seemingly pinned down, Hanley got Garret to create a distraction/target for the sniper using an old chair leg. When the sniper fired Hanley was watching and managed to get a location on the enemies firing position up on a ridge overlooking Shady Sands.

The three enemy vehicles had not completely left however, they circled around at a distance and were closing in on the ruined house containing Xi Shi, Hanley and Garret… clearly they were hell bent on revenge!

From his position on the wall, Jason saw what was going to happen when the enemy arrived at that ruined house – a bloodbath. Climbing down from the wall he called for someone to join him and took up the gunners position in the team’s jeep… a cocky young guard by the name of Fergus slid into the drivers seat, pulled out a mini-disc and shoved it into the player… Led Zeppelin started blaring out the jeep’s speakers at full volume “I love this old 20th century rock man!” yelled Fergus as he revved up the engine and prepared to pull out.

It took some shouting, but Erin finally gave the order for the gates to be opened. She also ordered one of her other guards (a young woman named Carys) to accompany Jason. The three would be rescuers sped down the hill and across the ground between the walls and the ruined building in no time at all.

There was an argument out side the ruined house as to whether to stay or flee that went on for what seemed like an age. Hanley stubbornly refused to leave, saying that he planned to hunt down and take out the snipers firing on them. Jason said he was crazy, as did Garret. Xi Shi got into the jeep with the others. The enemy were closing in dangerously close when Fergus started up the engine, threw the jeep into gear. Just as he went to pull away, Carys jumped out and went to join Hanley… As the jeep sped away the sniper opened fire, this time it was Garret that was hit in the leg! It was a nasty wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding.

Two of the three Brotherhood vehicles sped along past the walls of Shady sands firing, but the team’s jeep was by this time back behind the protection of the walls. They were fired upon from the wall and Hanley and Carys in their hidden position, wounding several of the Brotherhood. Once back inside, Jason and Xi Shi went straight up onto the wall to see if they could help Hanley on his mission.

Hanley had a plan. He and Carys waited until it had gotten darker (almost nightfall) and used the murky dusk to sneak out of their hiding place and up onto the ridge where the sniper was hiding.

Back on the wall, Xi Shi used Jason’s binoculars to spot the enemy sniper. He’d moved into a new firing position, closer to Shady Sands and he wasn’t alone, he had a spotter friend with him. Jason lined up the sniper with his assault rifle and prepared to fire in the dying light of dusk… Hanley and Carys picked their way through the rocks on top of the ridge until they came upon the sniper and spotter well hidden amongst the boulders and tumbleweed. The two managed to sneak into a good firing position and took aim. Jason fired a three round burst hitting the sniper firstly in the head and then in the arm. Wounded, he rolled out of view. Hanley fired also, but at the spotter, hitting him in the back of the head. The top of the Brotherhood soldier’s head exploded, splitting like a ripe melon and spraying gore everywhere. He slumped onto the rock in front of him, twitched twice and lay still. Carys didn’t hesitate and fired on the now wounded shooter, hitting him in the leg and making him fall unconscious from pain and blood loss. Moving closer, Hanley recognised the shooter as “Snake” the leader of the group they attacked on the highway. He stabilised Snake, looted the two men and with Carys’ help, carried Snake down the ridge. Meanwhile, Garret still hadn’t moved from his seat in the jeep… saying “Hey! When you’ve got a minute, do you think you can take a look at my leg Xi Shi!” Xi Shi patched him up then she and Jason jumped in the jeep and went to pick up Hanley and Carys from their “hunting trip”

The team returned safe to Shady Sands that night.