Choose my Adventure: Passing Chris

In this week's Fallen Earth adventure, The Rolling Clones rolled their way into Pass Chris and Watchtower, pretty much devastating every quest they encountered. This was certainly a welcome change from last week's PvP shenanigans. We rebuilt our egos this time by killing non-intelligent NPCs and monsters. Go us!

This week we're actually beginning to see Sector 2 on the horizon, but it's all up to you! Keep reading after the jump for this week's poll, Gator's in-character journal and my thoughts on our progress so far.

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We decided to head north, away from Kingman and the remnants of Gaunt's men. Ironically, even in death, Casta Gaunt's stranglehold lingered in towns like Needle Eye and Linewood. But we were done with that man and his crazies. North was rumored to have more than just dustbowls filled with sandworms and giant ants. Can you believe that someone in Kingman told us about real trees up north? Honest to goodness trees, with leaves and everything!

I know we have a mission here, but in the back of my cloned mind, I am praying that this journey leads us out of this desolation and into some actual greenery. One can hope.

We traveled along the top of Ascendant Ridge, scouting out the areas below for any sign of life. We caught a glimpse of some movement that seemed promising enough, so we found a passable slope and climbed down the mountainside.

Pass Chris was a quaint little town of scientists and biotechnicians. The town's proximity to a mountain tunnel and technological assets made it quite a target for bandits and raiders, so we weren't exactly welcomed with open arms at first. After some shared stories with the town's sheriff, we were accepted into the town for one day. By dawn, we had to get out or be kicked out. Not wanting to burn any bridges, we agreed.

We sat down for that evening's dinner with Sheriff Cat Tanner, a gung-ho woman with a particular hatred for White Crow. We got along well right from the start, so accommodations for the night were pleasant. It's just too bad we weren't going to be doing any sleeping.

If you ask anyone in Pass Chris what they love the most, they'll all have different answers. If you ask them what they hate the most, they won't hesitate to tell you about Murphy and the Nightwolves. Murphy is a little town just southeast of Pass Chris that was once a respected trading post. The townsfolk were kind and they often came to Pass Chris for supplies and a little work during peak harvest.

A few years ago, a wild bunch of raiders with a particular appreciation for heavy metal music strolled into town and took over. In addition to the killing of innocents, the Nightwolves completely destroyed the hard work that the Murphy residents put into rebuilding.

At this point, the people displaced by the raiders didn't even want their city back, considering its current condition. They just wanted some of their stuff back. It's a good thing we came along.

We saddled up and stormed the town in the cover of dark. Little did we realize that the night time is when these maniacs thrived, though. Guess it makes sense, being Nightwolves and all. Their loud music and screaming did well to cover our entrance. Apparently, they recovered some long-forgotten musical instruments and had themselves their own little concert like this quite often. They weren't half bad, either.

It wasn't hard to sneak past a few guards who were only really there in body. We made our way into an empty house and planned our attack while watching the bonfire party 30 feet outside the window.

Moira, Darkheart and I moved to higher ground on adjacent houses, while Freezer, Taren and Nonette stayed below. The signal was given and heads started exploding. It took a few moments for the rest of the drugged Nightwolves to realize what was happening, but once they did, you wouldn't even know their senses were dulled. They sprang into action, grabbing rifles, baseball bats, axes and anything else within reach. We took out the rifled ones first, then moved through the rest quite easily. We didn't realize there were so many of them at first, but when the smoke cleared, we counted around 30 dead bodies. Thankfully, none of them were ours.

We grabbed the grocery list of items that the folks at Pass Chris requested and moved out quickly before the ones who escaped returned with more.

True to our word, we left Pass Chris before dawn. They probably would have let us stay longer after we retrieved their valuables, but we had no reason to hang around. Heading due north, we came to another small town named Watchtower by early afternoon. A bit more of a quiet town, Watchtower at least had a weekly auction to keep us in the best gear. Luckily for us, we were just in time for the next one, happening about 6 hours after our arrival.

So we killed some time and chatted with the locals about the town's happenings. There's a mine just outside of town that's been off-limits for a few months now, since a doctor by the name of Corman took it over. So guess what they want us to do with him. You guessed it: make him go away.

After all we clones have been through, you can bet we'll take great pleasure in making a doctor disappear.

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This week, we spent some quality time in both Pass Chris and Watchtower, clearing out quests from both quite easily. This is now my 3rd character I've run through that Watchtower mine, and I still have fun killing Dr. Corman each time.

Where we stand now, Gator has just turned level 16, while the rest of the active clan varies from around 14-20. We know we don't have much time left on this project, so we're working towards leveling and completing extra quests in our spare time during the week.

Speaking of not having much time left, I'm amending what I said before about doing these every 6 weeks -- at least for this one. I know, I know... it's pretty timely to do this during a game that I'm not shy to say is my favorite right now, but hear me out.

March will be a busy time, with conventions like GDC and PAX East going on, so I won't be able to start another Choose my Adventure until possibly April or May. I figure we could extend this one for 2 more weeks before the down time. Plus, we're just getting to Sector 2 where it gets a lot more fun! In future installments, I may also add an option to vote to extend a game past 6 weeks during the last poll.

So here we are, staring Sector 2 right in the eyes. Should we stick around and clear out the rest of Sector 1 this week, or should we move on to Sector 2 and start thinking about a faction?

Spider Hill - Creepy crawly spiders infest this entire region, ranging from tiny ones the size of your head to giant beasts that might be mistaken for a Dodge Charger with eight legs. There's also a huge underground cave system (surprise!) and a repeatable quest to gain fuel for your vehicles.

Trumbull - While this town has your usual assortment of quests, an important distinction is the local LifeNet facility that continues our main storyline.

Missile Silo - This is a huge underground bunker just north of Watchtower that is perfect for a group our size and level. Despite the fact that it's not exactly a city destination, it still has enough to keep us busy for at least a full night's session.

Trailer Park - Despite the name, you won't find Cletus the slack-jawed yokel here. This town is packed full of quests that will run you dangerously close to a popular PvP spot.

Sunshine Corners - The first major city you encounter into Sector 2, Sunshine Corners has a ton of quests that prepare you for your journey into the important faction towns.%Poll-41412%

Our next play session will be Friday, February 12th at 9pm EST. We'll rendezvous at waypoint X: 4774973 Y: 4163083. Hope to see you all there!