[HOE] The Librarian's Almanac for December 15th

[Michael Cone <Michael.Cone@apollogrp.edu>]

TURTLE ISLE, GREAT MAZE- Couriers from the Salem, Oregon Enclave are passing
word of the destruction of the settlement previously at the summit of Clear
Creek Mesa on the northern end of the Shattered Coast. The team spotted a
huge group of mutants and Loyalist Doomsayers heading east on foot towards
the state border. Investigating the town, the couriers found all
thirty-seven souls blasted to death or given fatal mutations. The town was
put to the torch but there was no evidence of looting. Seared into one wall
of an old warehouse was the sentence, "Surrender the one called Marshal
Law."

ARKADELPHIA, ARKANSAS- Residents of the small village on the shores of
Ouchita River are looking for junkers and other scientifically inclined
people to solve a pressing problem. The local farms that supply food for
Arkadelphia as well as seven other enclaves have had a bad turn of luck. For
the past three months, farmers have watched their crops simply wither up and
die in the fields. No cause is readily apparent.

ENGINEER'S SOCIETY APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA- Piper, the head Engineer, is
assembling a posse to investigate an alarming trend with the nearby Salt
River. During the Battle of Phoenix, a LatAm sapper team blew the Salt River
Dam to deny the Southern Alliance troops a ready supply of power. The
resultant deluge drowned thousands when the river blew through its old bed
in the middle of the Phoenix Metroplex. In the past two weeks, the river has
been rising at the rate of three inches a day. Piper is looking for folks
with wilderness survival skills and anyone with hydrodynamic knowledge.

TEXARKANA BAZAAR, TEXAS- Law Dogs are offering a staggering bounty for
anyone with information leading to the apprehension of the perpetrators
responsible for the truck bomb that exploded along the edge of the trader's
arena yesterday. A tanker truck said to be filled with purified water
erupted in a blast that killed over ninety people with the resultant blazes
still be fought by locals.  Trader Baron Emmanuel McCain has admitted that
the truck was one of his fleet but that it was not due back from New Mexico
for another week. Local Trader Barons have also added goods to the reward.
The final tally so far: one reconditioned medium sized RV, free food from
the bazaar for one year, a military grade water purifier, one dozen
junker-made Medkits, a Cray-Atari Palm console, the services of three
veteran scouts for thirty days, one Northern Alliance Heavy Machine Gun,
free priority service from Doctor Barnhouse's Clinic and Cyber Repair for
ninety days, one fully restored hoverbike and one thousand gallons of spook
juice.