[HoE] Interesting Black Hat story (Possible spoiler???)

[Abdullah Oblongota <toadpooka@usa.net>]

This is an adventure idea I was going to run last GenCon, but didn't.
Goff technically bought it for a nickel, and one of the events at either
GenCon or Origins looks pretty similar, from the pre-reg description,
hence the:


SPOILER SPACE



The posse rolls into a small town that's damn near deserted.  This works
better if they've gone through before, when the place was bustling and
busy.  The people are very gloomy.  It doesn't take long to find out
that a platoon of Black Hats came through not to long ago and forced the
citizenry to put together a Tribute Caravan (the BH's organize the
people into a land train, carrying everything that isn't nailed down
back to Denver, leaving only enough so that the people can survive, and
eventually be hit again).  Knowing that they wouldn't be able to help
against the kind of forces Throckmorton sends to F up towns whose
Tributes are interrupted, the posse offers sympathy, maybe some food,
and moves on.
Not too long after, they see a bunch of wrecked vehicles in the road.
Sitting on top of one of the HMMV's is a rather large man in a black
tabard, finishing off a 6 pack.  It seems that a warband of
Anti-Templars had decided to liberate the caravan (remember, they think
they're heroes, too), not realizing the important bit that the posse
did.  They've been camped out for a day or two, and don't know where to
go from here.  The townsfolk are happy to be free, but are beginning to
get leery of their new "friends."
However, when Throckmorton finds out what happened to the caravan,
neither the Anti-Templars nor the posse will be able to help the
survivors.  The only solution now is to make sure the caravan gets to
Denver.  The posse has to take hats from the corpses of the dead goons,
and together with the Anti-Templars, impersonate Combine troops long
enough to drop off the supplies and get the townspeople out of there
alive.
--
From Whom it May Concern,
Rich Ranallo, The Man They Couldn't Hang

"And there never was an apple, in Adam's opinion, that wasn't worth the
trouble you got into for eating it."
 -Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens