The purpose of Part One is to introduce the doctor, and get the charactess to feel positively about him--either because they saved him or because he saved one of them.

In the setting of The End, There are basically two sets of circumstances for characters; members of a colony, or driftess on the road. Regardless of which situation they're in, they can run into Dr. Martin and his pals in a singularly memorable fashion.

Characters in a colony are likely to be involved in security one way or another. Or they might be on a high precipice having a picnic when they see a cloud of dust approaching a long way off on the road. Or they might simply be listening to the radio when a distress call comes in. (Lots of people listen to CBs after The End, but not too many talk on them; that can draw human predators.) In any event, they become aware that new people (always a commodity) are on the way--fast.

If they are listening to the radio, they get some more information; Marjorie Carver will deliver the following:

"Mayday--anyone listening, this is Marjorie Carver. I got a truck full of melical supplies and a doctor who can use them, but we're catchng heavy from armed gang. Anyone who wants a trauma surgeon can come get us-- but come loaded for bear. We're on the [insert local road here] "

In the background, listeners can hear gunshots and sounds consistent with a high speed chase.

How they want to approach this is up to the players, but put some pressure on them to decide fast. This could easily be a trap; a trained trauma surgeon sounds like a prize too good to be true. On the other hand, it's also a prize too good to resist.

If a small, exploratory group is sent out, the characters will have a lively firefight on their hands from a gang of bikers called the Dregs (see this month's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly). If the characters can marshal a large, overwhelming posse (say fifteen or more people) or something that looks really scary (a helicopter, a tank, a couple of semi-trucks) the Dregs will simply turn tail. Players being players, they may decide to hunt the Dregs down and kill them, which is all very well; the Dregs can present a clue, but only for very inquisitive characters.

On the other hand, if your characters aren't attached to any particular settlement, you may want to give them enough advance warning that they can set up a nice sniper perch.

Rescued

Once rescued, Dr. Frontinac and his friends will be understandably grateful. If there is violence, uninjured characters may get to see the doctor's skills up close and personal. Any injury that isn't life-threatening will be dealt with right there in Dr. Frontinac's van, in front of the characters if they prefer to watch. (Dr. Frontinac will dissuade them, citing germs, but won't press the issue.)

If there is a real deadly risk, he will kick everyone out of the van and operate. If the injury is in the abdomen, he will surgically sterilize the patient if he thinks he can do so without risk to life. (GM's decision--and keep in mind that being sterilized without permission is a pretty rough thing for a character to experience. Players may get mad.)

If the patient is male, he may also perform a vasectomy if the injury is in the upper leg, claiming later that the injury went from leg to groin; he's familiar enough with shock to know most people may not remember their injuries, or may remember them incorrectly.

After things calm down, Dr. Frontinac will explain just why he was being pursued. All three of the newcomers are looking pretty rough; after a hard night of drinking (explained below) they had a two day car chase. Nonetheless, once he gets going, Dr. Frontinac will speak with his characteristic big words.

Dr. Frontinac's Story

"We were travelling along this route when we encountered that group of bikers, who call themselves the Dregs. At first they were amicable--or, at least, not unfriendly. When I saw that one of them had an infected injury, I offered to treat it, and explained that I was a doctor.

When they heard this, the Dregs asked if I had any narcotics. I told them I had a small supply, but that I was saving them for emergencies. Then they asked if I knew how to make drugs. I told them I did, given the proper tools, but that I had been applying my energies to growing penicillin rather than synthesizing heroin.

They decided that I should change the focus of my research, and argued their case at gunpoint. My friends and I became virtual prisoners, but privileged ones. I made it clear that I would become their personal apothecary if my friends and I were unharmed.

"The Dregs were overjoyed; they even began talking about setting themselves up as travelling drug merchants, going from colony to colony trading my narcotics for food, gas and ammunition.

"Hearing this, I feigned interest. I told them that the simplest drug to create was grain alcohol--and that I had, in fact, been distilling it for disinfectant purposes. I offered them this 'homebrew' and proposed a toast to our nevd mercantile endeavor.

"Initially, they were suspicious, but after we shared a few drinks with them, they became convinced we were in earnest. Around their fourth round, I drugged them and we escaped. However, we did not make a clean escape. Packing up our possessions took longer than anacipated, and they recovered sooner than we had hoped.

Furthermore, though we attempted to disarm them, they must have had more weapons hidden somewhere. They had just caught up with us when you came upon us."

This story may seem a little farfetched, but it is not entirely implausible. Certainly the truck that Dr. Martin's company is travelling in is slower than the Dregs' bikes, in fact, the story is true--up to a point.

What Dr. Martin isn't telling is that he performed vasectomies on the three male Dregs and was contemplating a series of hysterectomies when Marge and Ben dragged him away. That's the real reason that they got such a puny head start, and that's why the Dregs were so intent on chasing him down--even after a day spent recovering from their impromptu surgery.

The Clue

If there was combat, any surviving Dregs would have been carried away by their comrades. Any dead male Dregs may provide a clue to very observant characters. They were vasectomized two nights before, and their stitches are still very fresh.

Anyone who strip' searches the corpses (for whatever reason) will see them. Someone who just casually searches them may notice bloodstains on their jeans. (After all, the stitches were fresh, the doctor was drunk when he did it, and they were riding bikes on the area in question.)

If Dr. Frontinac is confronted with one vasectomized corpse, he may tell the characters that the Dreg had asked him to perform a vasectomy because "he didn't want to bring children into this fallen world." He might even use this as a pretext to feel the characters out on their beliefs about procreation.

If there is more than one vasectomized corpse, Dr. Frontinac will lie to the characters, telling them that the men in question had raped Marjorie and that, when drunk, Marjorie and Dr. Frontinac decided that castration was a good revenge. He will beg the characters not to speak of this to anyone--in order to spare Marjorie.

If he does tell them this, you may want to stress, through your roleplaying, that Marjorie does not act like a woman who has recently been through that sort of life-changing trauma.

More Sin

Introduction
Meeting the Good Doctor
Frontinac's Secret Agenda
Climax and Confrontation

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