[HOE] The Librarian's Almanac for December 21st

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

Junkyard- A local who wanted to remain anonymous turned in this report to
a local librarian. He "over-heard" a conversation where a man was hiring a
rather powerful looking group (two bald heads and a purple-robed
doomsayer, plus two more) to help him travel to Denver, or Dallas in
search of something he wouldn't identify. The employer then left, only to
be hit by a truck in front of the bar they were in. The group rushed
outside and confronted a group of black-robed men attempting to pull a
satchel off their dead employer's body. A fight ensued that lit up the
night of Junkyard even more than usual. Of the hired-group: the doomie
transformed into a giant green monster before tearing into the black-robed
cultists, one of the bald-heads seemed to developed phenomenal strength and
broke several necks before falling, the other bald head (who looked a
lot like the first) let loose with several energy attack. One of the more
normal looking of group pulled out a flaming sword and cleaved into the
cultists. The last of the group fell in an initial explosion. On the
cultists side there appeared to be two or three leaders that could shoot
bolts of energy and even, supposedly, raise the dead.
	At the end of the battle the cultists were decimated, but the
group was last seen fleeing from the scene with the victim's satchel in
tow. Further reports indicate that the satchel was later opened and some
type of large stone disc that was cracked was inside.
-Submitted by the waster known only as Smoke

<somewhere> Southern North Dakota - {message priority:urgent} [Date
missing...file corrupted]
this may be my final message im going to check out the old HI car factory on
the other side of this ghost town, then head up to the large manor house in
the north, I've set up some traps on the house where I am staying and will
leave the palmcorder upstairs. If I don't come back the palmcorder will
transmit this message in 2 hours. Tell Ellen I love her and wish that we
could have spent more time together. Data Follows; {data priority:Urgent
Council eyes only} mission successful have found the green eye. It located
just northwest of N#5*am in the @l$ Min$£D comm.^|¬y of Bl^&^O£%{P£%{{ K
[File data useless after this point...Security protocols breached]
-Submitted by Brother Dom the Librarian

GLOBE ENCLAVE, ARIZONA- a Red Rock Trading caravan arrives with another
strange report of 'borg-napping. The caravan was leaving the floating
community on Roosevelt Lake, heading south on the old Highway 60 when the
guards and caravan master were shot with a bizarre variant of a taser
weapon. The kidnapees were the two Light Combat cans that had bartered for
transport. A force of eleven figures threw an electrified net over the two
'borgs and rendered them immobile. The caravan master remembers hearing
another animal drawn vehicle approach and the cans were hauled off.  One of
the guards heard a kidnapper mention that seven more are needed. Cyborgs and
anyone traveling with them are advised to exercise caution in the
Arizona-New Mexico area.

POPLAR BLUFF, MISSOURI- a Syker waster going by the name of Sear logs a
troubling report about the towns surrounding the Mark Twain National Forest.
Over the course of three weeks, Sear was acting as a bodyguard to a scavvie
crew working the northern Mississippi river towns. The crew has watched
whole crowds of Toxic zombies; flaming pyre zombies and stinking bloats wade
into the Big Muddy, heading due east. The crew has witnessed this migration
from the ruins of Portageville, New Madrid, and Point Pleasant.

BROWNSVILLE REFUGE, TEXAS- Raymond Decker has a small problem. Last month,
he took his small trader's caravan to the New Orleans Bayou to drum up a
little business. While he was there, he got on the bad side of Mama Tibutu.
The Voodoo Queen swore at him for a bit in a strange tongue and Raymond
decided to pursue interests outside of the swamp. Ever since then, Ray can't
keep a decent piece of salvage to save his life. Things keep rusting
overnight, breaking when he touches them or just up and disappearing when
he's not looking. Decker is willing to pay any price to the folks that can
get rid of this curse or go plead his case to Tibutu.

HOUMA BOAT TOWN, LOUISIANA- the mayor for the floating village of Houma,
Jonas Lyle, has a thorny problem that needs solving. A strange breed of
bright purple kudzu weed has begun to grow out from the cypress trees that
the village is moored to. The weed has resisted everything thrown against
it, up to military defoliant. Jonas is desperate. If the spread is not
reversed soon, Houma will vanish under the violet vines. The options are to
find a biologically inclined junker that can beat the plants back or track
the things to their roots somewhere in the swamp.