Chương 101: 3.26 No Easy Way Out - Tepper (4:32)

Z3ke (Original Poster) Well Castellan, when you're right you're right. I'm writing this from the back of the jeep while the entirety of the base is losing its collective shit. You said that Haynes and Vicks would order an evacuation of the base, and that's exactly what happened.

Once they saw the size of the convoy coming after us, they decided they couldn't possibly hold the walls and the best play would be to get everyone and everything out in whatever vehicles they had, and then try to lose them out in the Deadlands. I'll tell you that it was odd when Haynes suggested it though. He didn't look like he was really happy with the idea. It was like he didn't think it was a good plan so much as it was the only plan.

Now, we've got a line of trucks and jeeps and cars all idling in front of the main gate and everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off and I'm just sitting here in the jeep. The wounded in the triage area of the warehouse were all shoved into anything with wheels and an engine.

From my spot in the jeep I can see soldiers and mechanics running around carrying ammunition crates and water and food and fuel tanks and tossing them into truck beds and shoving them into every empty spot they can find. Half the vehicles I can see look like they're about to collapse under the collective weight of the equipment being piled into them. Everyone is running around in a dead sprint and the whole thing has the feel of a town being evacuated because they just found out they're in the path of a hurricane.

That's probably an apt description because if you're on the walls of the base and you look out at the horizon all you see is this massive wall of sand slowly creeping its way to the base. The sand is "hiding" the Black Teeth convoy so I can't tell you the numbers we'd be facing, but at the same time everyone knows that it's a convoy filled with a ton of trucks and cars and motorcycles, and if they get close we're all screwed. Haynes and Vicks are nervous. You can tell just by looking at them.

They're trying to keep calm and look all dignified, but at the same time they've got the look of people who want to get on the road fast so we can put as much distance as possible between us and the Black Teeth, and they keep glancing over at our convoy and shaking their heads because we're still in the process of getting everything settled. The good news is that our jeep is fully loaded. But there might be a problem with that.

Jackie is seated behind the wheel and she's got the same impatient look as Haynes and Vicks. She's sitting there, tapping her hands on the wheel and jiggling her legs and it's obvious that she's itching to get us the hell out of here. Elnor is riding shotgun and he's a lot happier than when I last saw him. He was able to turn our available cargo space into a business opportunity, and therein lies the problem.

Elnor negotiated a deal where we give a ride to two Pale Regiment soldiers - who are both squeezed into the back of the jeep with me - and in return we get ammo, food, and water. Elnor got some pistol and shotgun ammo and he's happy that we've got some extra security. But I remember your plan. You said that I should use the Pale Regiment for as long as possible, which means staying with the convoy and sacrificing them to the Black Teeth if I need to when I'm running.

That'll be a little bit harder with the two Pale Regiment soldiers next to me. I'm not some moral paragon and I'm not an action hero and I'm not a cardboard cutout of a protagonist from some fantasy novel. I'm just trying to survive and I have no qualms about leaving the Pale Regiment if it means that Jackie and Elnor and I escape. And if I put it to Elnor and Jackie, I'm sure they'd be okay with us running away too.

But our new "companions" might have an issue with us turning tail, and I'm not sure how that'll fit into the whole survival calculus. So… you got anything to help with that? Another thing is that I don't know where we're going. Neither Haynes nor Vicks are all that interested in telling me anything. Haynes has his eyes glued to a map and Vicks is screaming shit to anyone within shouting distance.

I tried jumping in and asking where we were going, but the closest I got to an answer was Haynes looking up from his map for about two seconds before turning back to me. I've got my guitar and I've got two Pale Regiment soldiers taking up space and I've got Jackie driving and I've got Elnor all kitted out. So now what? I'm just as itchy as Jackie is to get out of here, and I get what you said when you told me to stick with the Pale Regiment when we're escaping… but come on. You gotta have something better.

What can I do? How do I survive this thing? Josh183rd Zeke has got to be cursed by some 10th level mage just trying to fuck with something cause where ever this guy goes shit just turns sideways. StoryLeech Yo Castellan, remember what Plethora said. Zeke won't have time to read everything you write out, so keep it short and snappy. At the very least, add a TL; DR at the end of it. Castellan_Mike (Primary) Okay, this is a retreat but it's not the same as a rout.

Professional military organizations retreat all the time when the alternative is getting surrounded and destroyed. Based on your update, the Pale Regiment seems like it is moving in time and not going to get completely wiped by the Black Teeth. The first and most important piece of advice is this: CALM DOWN. Don't be doom spiraling right now. Don't run off and do your own thing. Trust that Haynes and Vicks can organize everything and trust that the two soldiers you've got can help fend off the Black Teeth.

Believe it or not, you're in a good spot right now. Next piece of advice is: FIND WHERE YOU ARE GOING. I know you said Haynes wasn't telling you anything, but I have to reiterate that this forum can't help you with incomplete or no information. We need something. Don't go running up to him and getting in his face. That'll just get you shot or marginalized. But if you can get some names or landmarks or literally anything, it'll help us build a better picture of what is going to happen.

That's the advice I can give you right now. Castellan_Mike (Primary) To everyone else, I know I'm the Primary and the whole point of the position is that Zeke isn't drowning in contradictory advice and everything gets filtered through one person. I'm not going to pretend that I've got everything under control. All the previous Primaries started their arcs with a roadmap. They had a plan that Zeke could follow.

I took over in the middle of a situation that had gone weird, and now we're watching a military evacuation happen in real-time. The greatest strength of this forum, and the reason Null pushed so hard for Zeke to get a Tech Slate in the first place, was so that Zeke could crowd source information from EVERYONE. There are people on this forum who know Frontiers lore better than me. There are people who can decipher the geography of this story.

There are people who have written essays about Pale Regiment doctrine because that's how they spend their weekends. So let's use all that. Right now, the best thing for Zeke is knowing where he's going. If anyone has ideas about likely Pale Regiment fallback positions, post them. If you all have ideas about how Zeke can survive his run through the Deadlands, post them. If you all have ideas about how he can get rid of his two minders should they prove a problem, post those too.

Let's see what we can figure out together. JimothyTheBarber HAAA. The only thing I can think about when I read your post is that gif of Loki saying "you must be truly desperate to turn to me for aid." Profectus Time to buff the regiment with a song. Probably too late to use any sigils. StoneMason99 | Probably too late to use any sigils. | I think you meant glyphs. Why is it too late? Serious question here? Why can't Zeke just make some glyphs?

Whenever things go sideways, it's like he completely forgets that he's got a ridiculously useful crafting skill. It's always the last thing he turns to, yet it's his most OP weapon. The dood used them to kill the Reclaimer, to escape from the Chapel Pit, and to take down the Second Fracture. If Zeke is heading into another battle, shouldn't he be using his downtime to make a stockpile of glyphs? It's the best thing he can do right now. Xicree ^StoneMason99 Can't we make a rune design that powers a car?

Like, just gives it forward momentum at a steady pace so it can be pushed in the direction it needs to go while placed in neutral gear? Maybe connect to the break and accelerator so the driver has full control. That way, even without fuel, they could drive it for a while off their own magic reserves. PaperSnakes Fuel isn't the thing he should be worried about right now. Remember him telling everyone that the jeep was topped off because he got pulled in to speak with Haynes and Vick?

Assuming no one siphoned the tank afterwards, he should be fine for right now. If we're making a list of threats, he should be more worried about getting killed by the Black Teeth before he worries about the jeep running out of gas. AnywayHeresWonderwall I vote Paper as morale officer. He's doing a bang-up job of it. He just told Zeke not to worry about fuel because he'll die before that becomes a problem. But I do agree fuel isn't his biggest concern. Xicree, Zeke can't use his glyphs right now.

He doesn't design the glyphs himself. He'd need all of us for that. Even if we came up with something useful, he can't carve the glyphs while riding in the back of a moving jeep. I can barely write legibly in a car when it's driving down a paved road. Can you imagine what the Deadlands is going to be like? You want him trying to carve magical circuitry while fleeing across uneven terrain while being tracked by a Mad Max convoy.

The most liable outcome is he messes up a line and blows up the jeep and half his own convoy. Byte-Sized Hey Stone, where is he supposed to place the glyphs? Have you thought about that? Even if Zeke had time, materials, proper tools, and a nice workshop, he'd still need a place to put them. He can't use the rubber band glyph because it needs a bunch of mana and the Deadlands isn't exactly overflowing with it. He can't make any traps because they're actively retreating. What do you want him to do?

Get out of the jeep and put down a circle and hope that it breaks the Black Teeth convoy before they run him over? He can't make the glyphs because he can't stop in the middle of an evacuation and spend six hours drawing circles in the dirt. HE'S RUNNING AWAY. StoneMason99 Dayum bro. I was just thinking out loud. Castellan_Mike (Primary) That's fine. Keep doing it. It's good to think out loud. I'd rather have people brainstorming than sitting quietly waiting for someone else to solve the problem.

But I'd like to remind you all that the Pale Regiment already has trained soldiers and officers handling the immediate crisis. We should be thinking about what happens beyond the next two hours. Ilike2mung You're all overthinking this. I've got one word for you: Patch. DeconstructedAntlers You want to elaborate on that or are we all supposed to just know what you mean? Jeezus, this forum is like herding cats. Stop trying to be all cryptic and mysterious and actually say what you mean.

Hey everyone, I've got one word for you: dominate. You see how annoying that is mung? Ilike2mung Patch has Rank 11 Pathfinding. Rank. Eleven. At this point I'd be more surprised if he didn't know what was going on with Zeke. If anyone can help, it's him. SignalLoss Okaaay. And that helps Zeke how? Legit question. How is Patch supposed to be helping out? Last I checked he was fused to a chair in the Under-MIZ. Ilike2mung He can warn people or do some Pathfinder stuff. I don't know. He's Patch.

It's what he is there for. 7Spirals You're skipping a few important steps there mung. Patch is nowhere near Devro as far as we know. We have no idea if Patch is even watching Zeke or not. Even if he is looking for Zeke, how is he supposed to find him? Even if he does find him, he's got no way to talk to Zeke. You're talking about Patch like he's a phone call away, but neither of them can talk to each other. They don't have cell phones or Star Trek style combadges or radios or satellite phones.

Even if Patch somehow knows everything that is happening right now, how exactly is that going to be helping Zeke? StoryLeech This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. | how is he supposed to find him? | ^7. From what I know about the chair, it gives the user a camera they can pan around and look through Frontiers. That means Patch would need to comb through the entirety of the Deadlands until he happens to spot Zeke.

That's not impossible, but it's not all that quick either. NorthXNorthWest Just search for the chaos and you're bound to find our boy. Word has probably reached Patch about the Janus Storm. You just know there are people talking about it in The MIZ. Patch is going to hear the stories and think "what did he get himself into this time?" and start looking for him. All Patch needs to do is look at the Janus Storm and search around the area and he'll be able to find Zeke from there. MushroomCleric Hmm.

Patch knowing where Zeke is is plausible. Patch being able to do anything that can help fend off the Black Teeth convoy is not. Castellan_Mike (Primary) Agree. I'm putting the Patch stuff in the "interesting but currently not important" category. Could he know what is up with Zeke? Absolutely. Could he know more than the Pale Regiment? Sure. But Story and 7 and several of the others are hinting at the same issue which is that even if Patch has useful information, Zeke can't act on any of it.

Until we solve that problem, Patch is pretty useless in this particular arc. For now, I think our best bet is to figure out where the Pale Regiment is going and what they'll find when they get there. Teabaggins420 I thought Null already solved the issue of where the Pale Regiment is headed. Didn't he say that the closest base was near the Glens? It fits the story too. Zeke's whole journey started there, so having him go back and face his fears is something that Z3ke is going to want to pull off.

It's narrative symmetry. TrapG00blin Zeke might end up in the Glens, but it doesn't completely give us the route the Pale Regiment will take to get there. I think I know what will happen. Haynes is probably wondering what his best route is. The Black Teeth have the advantage over open terrain. They're masters of convoy fighting and will easily be able to catch up with the Pale Regiment. UNLESS, Haynes bypasses the major and predictable roads. I think he's going to head into the Dead Corridor. Shootingblnks Ew.

The Dead Corridor? Of all the places in Frontiers, why head through there? The Pale boys won't even need to fight the Black Teeth. Half of them will die from boredom before they reach the other side. HecateTeaCozy The first time I played Frontiers I wandered into the Dead Corridor because I thought something interesting might be there. After twenty minutes of walking I decided to quit and head back to the Rroro settlement I started off in, but I was still twenty minutes away.

It almost got me to uninstall the whole game, it was that bad. N7Vanguard Okay, I'll be the designated newcomer for this conversation? What exactly is the Dead Corridor? Is it dangerous and that's why you're saying Zeke shouldn't head into it? InkWell Dangerous for your sanity maybe. NullSigil N7, you're in luck.

Unlike certain members of this forum, I don't believe that every new reader needs to pass a six-hour exam covering abandoned settlements, failed mining ventures, forgotten side quests, and obscure lore references in Frontiers history. For those of you who have lives or discovered Zeke's story only recently, let me give you a bit of background on the Dead Corridor. Back in the pre-Fracture era of Frontiers, a couple corporations banded together and decided to build a network of roads.

They were created so that those companies could squeeze every last dollar out of the Deadlands. There were roads, service routes, maintenance paths, logistics hubs, and all the other infrastructure needed for large-scale mining operations. Then the Fracture hit, everything was set on fire, and all those companies went under. The workers left, the infrastructure decayed, and all those disconnected industrial routes became what people now call the Dead Corridor.

Basically it's just a big highway that nobody uses anymore. The Corridor has a terrible reputation in Frontiers. The roads are falling apart, the visibility around the place is awful, the terrain is unstable, and there are massive stretches where your character can travel without seeing anything interesting. The last part is actually why most people don't care about it very much. Nothing happens out there.

The Dead Corridor is one of the least exciting places in Frontiers because there aren't any quests in the region and it's essentially several hundred miles of nothing but roads. Castellan_Mike (Primary) Hmm. Now that I think about it, the Dead Corridor might not be a bad idea. There are risks, but it might be the best option for the Pale Regiment right now. Craaazzzzy How is it the best option? Null just pointed out that the place is falling apart and it's abandoned.

Wouldn't they want the fastest route to the nearest base? You said they are retreating to get some reinforcements. Castellan_Mike (Primary) | Wouldn't they want the fastest route to the nearest base? | The fastest route isn't always the fastest route. If the Pale Regiment was simply trying to move from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, then sure the major highways would make sense. Just beeline it straight to the closest base and hope you get there before the Black Teeth overrun you.

The problem is two-fold. First, the Black Teeth are THE convoy fighters. They've got speed and mobility and coordination and enough vehicles to overwhelm small groups of people. Their advantages are strongest on good terrain. Or at least, on terrain they know how to operate in. Even with a headstart, it's unlikely that the Pale Regiment will be able to outrace the Black Teeth over the miles needed to get close to the nearest base.

The second problem is that, how sure is Haynes that the Black Teeth convoy that's racing at them is the ONLY Black Teeth convoy? The base had just been attacked by a bunch of mercenaries, which was bad enough. But those mercenaries knew about a tunnel under the base, and after they'd been repulsed a bunch of Black Teeth reinforcements showed up. This was obviously a planned attack and not one of convenience. What if the Black Teeth have more than one convoy?

They could be trying to push the Pale Regiment out of their base, drive them through the Deadlands, and then ambush them along the way. It's what I would be doing. FolkingSchmidt Castellan, I don't think anyone has told you that you're sounding way too paranoid. I'm still struggling to understand how so many people are working together to fight Zeke, and why they wouldn't just grab him when he's alone somewhere. Dolcevita It's hard to ambush a man wandering around in the wastelands and no idea where he is.

But a man who's at a specific outpost at a specific time? Highly ambushable. GravellyVoice1 We already established that the Black Teeth probably don't care about Zeke. This is more a play to take out the Pale Regiment. Castellan_Mike (Primary) ^Gravelly. And it's not paranoia if there are people out to get you Folking. MushroomCleric You still haven't explained why the Dead Corridor would be a good idea. Castellan_Mike (Primary) I was getting to it. We have the Black Teeth in a big convoy chasing the Pale Regiment.

They can outstrip them on good roads. They practically invented convoy warfare. They have more guns and soldiers and vehicles than the Pale Regiment. So how do you negate those advantages? The Dead Corridor. The Black Teeth advantages become way less impressive when every road is broken. Plus, the corridor bypasses the roads that large military forces would naturally prefer to use.

If there is a second Black Teeth convoy out there waiting to ambush Zeke and his buds, then by heading into the Dead Corridor, that could throw the ambush team for a loop. Plethora TL; DR Castellan Castellan_Mike (Primary) The Black Teeth we see might not be ALL that is out there. If Haynes thinks more enemy forces are moving through the region, he needs to figure out a way to avoid them. The Dead Corridor lets them disappear into terrain that most large convoys would rather avoid.

Which means any ambushes waiting for Zeke and the Pale Regiment become a lot less useful. You can't intercept someone on a highway if they never use the highway. OldManKiyote In other wars, the Dead Corridor sucks so much that it loops around to being useful. Castellan_Mike (Primary) Basically. Leaf Sounds like a climactic battle is in the future. And you know what a climactic battle needs? Boss music. Zeke, ever heard of Two Steps From Hell? Jaesten That someone hadn't just made a.

pdf tabs of random rock and metal is beyond me. We know Zeke can access those so just like, music for any occasion. Rip and Tear worked amazing, so more in line with that! Better to be prepared than to be found wanting with wherever he winds up next. SignalLoss Let me start with the obvious disclaimer that all these are estimates. I don't have exact numbers and I doubt Zeke is going to give them. I think we do have enough info to make educated guesses though.

The Devro base probably houses somewhere between 150 and 200 personnel. These would be mechanics, medics, comms operators, cooks, logisticians, and other support staff. There might be very few pure soldiers mixed in with that number. The biggest clue to how many Pale Regiment there are comes from Zeke's description of the evacuation. He said that it was organized chaos and it felt like a small town evacuating. If there were only fifty or so people there, the evacuation would have been done relatively quickly.

If there were a couple hundred (400-500) then it would be taking even longer. 10161066 I think your estimate is a little low. You might be subconsciously thinking of the Fracture-verse games where you only have 50 NPCs in a large city because the engine would melt if it tried to render more. Zeke's version of Frontiers is way more realistic.

A logistics hub sitting out in the middle of the Deadlands would need enough manpower to defend itself, maintain equipment, process supplies, handle wounded personnel, and support operations throughout the surrounding region. I'd put it closer to three hundred or four hundred people. SignalLoss That's fair. The problem is that increasing the Pale Regiment numbers means that you've got to increase the Black Teeth numbers.

If Haynes and Vicks are abandoning the base without even attempting a defense, then whatever they saw of the Black Teeth scared the hell out of them. Let's assume you're right and they do have 300 soldiers. How large does the attacking force have to be before experienced officers decide that defending a base isn't even worth attempting? Double? Triple? More? I think that we're looking at a convoy of AT LEAST 1000 fighters. If we go with Hasting's numbers, then we're looking at maybe even twice that.

PixelBaron Way more than that. Castellan literally pointed out that a well-garrisoned wall would give defenders a 3-1 advantage. That means 300 pale boys could easily fend off 1000 Black Teeth. Especially because they aren't the type of fighters who enjoy charging well-defended bases. They're opportunists and predators. If Haynes is ordering the evacuation, then he's looking at way more than 1000 fighters. SomePeopleCallMe_Maurice Don't forget the mercenaries that have already attacked.

They're part of this fight too. I doubt they're going to just sit around and watch as Zeke gets away. SignalLoss | Don't forget the mercenaries | That's where the numbers start to get ugly. Pixel made a good point, so lets bump up the estimate to being closer to 1500 Black Teeth fighters. That's already a nightmare scenario. Then we add the mercs. The Alderman - or whoever it is who has a hardon for killing Zeke - seems to have been quietly gaining a bunch of influence in The MIZ.

While Zeke was hanging with Patch and getting kidnapped and being all Zeke about everything, he was building his forces back in The MIZ. Whoever it is clearly has money. Let's say the Alderman managed to hire four or five hundred mercenaries from The MIZ. That might be a conservative estimate. He wouldn't attack the Pale Regiment with that small of a force. We've got 1500 Black Teeth and 500 mercs all chasing 200 Pale Regiment. They're outnumbered 10 to 1. That's absolutely insane.

There's no clever tricks we can figure out that will solve those numbers. There is no way we can come up with a plan to help out Zeke. We're not miracle workers. It's really just hope and pray at this point. UnhelpfullyHelpful | It's really just hope and pray at this point. | Wow. Amazing. So helpful. It's hopeless and everybody's doomed.

Do you want to take a crack at answering one of Zeke's earlier questions while you're at it - how he can ditch the two Pale Regiment soldiers riding around with him - or is he supposed to hope and pray for an answer to that too? AnywayHeresWonderwall | the two Pale Regiment soldiers riding around with him | Imagine being so chaotic that military officers assign personnel specifically to keep track of you while they are trying to retreat from the enemy? That's honestly kind of impressive.

Haynes looked at Zeke and was like, "yea, we're gonna need two guys on that one." JimothyTheBarber HAAA. They probably woke up today expecting another boring job of guarding a logistics hub. Maybe they'd pull gate duty. They'd complain about the weather and why they signed up with the porcelain faces. Then they get assigned to a jeep that holds the Frontiers most durable disaster magnet. If Zeke makes it through this whole mess without earning some kind of nickname from the Pale Regiment, I'm calling shenanigans.

At minimum, there should already be rumors. Nobody is in that many catastrophes without becoming a campfire story. Z3ke (Original Poster) We're finally moving. The gates opened and Haynes shouted an order and we all peeled out of the base. I still don't know what the plan is. I don't know where we're headed. You all are talking about the Dead Corridor but I don't know if that's where we're going or you'll all be disappointed. All I know is that we're moving and I'm sitting in the back of a jeep eating dirt.

The convoy is moving and… I'm not liking it. We're in a mixture of jeeps and trucks and cars and those big ass cargo haulers that seemingly every military in the world has. They can store a bunch of gear and they've got the wounded in there, but they're slow as shit. Before we left the base, I told Jackie that we should stay surrounded by the Pale Regiment for as long as possible. She agreed but I can see her right now side-eyeing the cargo haulers and the trucks and wishing they'd be going faster.

I can feel all the other soldiers in the Pale Regiment, wondering if we're moving fast and if we're going to be able to outpace the Black Teeth and would it be better if we just cut the cargo trucks off and let the faster cars go ahead. Dirt is flying everywhere and it feels like we're driving through a sandstorm. The trucks in the front are tearing through the Deadlands and sending plumes of dirt and dust and sand into the air.

And then those plumes smash into our jeep and the surrounding trucks and cars and it makes everything look like a brown haze. Half the time I can barely see the vehicle directly in front of us before it disappears into the sand. Normally that would just be annoying. I mean, I'm not driving so why should I care, right? That's up to Jackie and she's good enough that I'd trust her to follow the convoy. But do you remember when we were in the tunnel and we got shot at? Yea.

Our windshield got spiderwebbed and cracked and they didn't have a new one, so Jackie ended up busting the whole thing out of the jeep and leaving it behind. That decision is currently ruining my life. The wind blasts straight through the front of the jeep and carries dust and dirt and sand directly into my face. My eyes hurt and my teeth hurt and, at this point, I feel like I swallowed a pound of dirt. The two Pale Regiment soldiers riding with us aren't bothered… obviously.

They're both wearing their creepy porcelain masks and I'm starting to understand the appeal. If this keeps up I'm gonna ask Haynes where the recruitment office is. I'm more than willing to join a weird mask cult if it means keeping all the dirt from my mouth. The dust is so think that we can't see where we're going. We're basically just following the silhouettes of the vehicle ahead of us and trusting that somebody somewhere has a destination in mind. I can't get a good look at the people chasing us.

They're too far away for that and I can't see through the sand. Every now and then the sand shifts just enough that I can catch glimpses of movement. The Black Teeth convoy is still out there somewhere and, beyond them, are the mercenaries. I think they're following us, but I can't be sure. When we raced out of the base I was able to get a good look at them and they were all just standing around, seemingly not believing that we'd be ballsy enough to leave a fortified base.

Maybe they were just caught off guard or maybe they think the Black Teeth are going to chase us down and they don't need to bother. Whatever the case, I can't tell. Because, again, I CAN'T SEE SHIT. Wish me luck. I'll update you all when I can.