Edited by David Little
In 1984, Isle Royale was leased from the United States Government by Morrow Industries. (Isle Royale is a U.S. National Park.) It was leased under the pretense that they were going to build a small fishing, boating and tourist resort. The Government agreed and the deal was signed by both parties in the summer of 1984.
As the town was built, the project also constructed a large supply depot and a small base to be used by Project personnel. The construction was done entirely by Morrow Industries personnel. When the resort was to open, again, it would be staffed exclusively by Morrow personnel.
In 1993, the resort town of Isle Royale opened to the public. It attracted the rich and famous from both the United States, and Canada. The courteous and friendly staff never once revealed their true nature.
In 1997, when the war finally broke out, the Morrow staff disappeared into their various bolt holes hidden over the island and went into cryosleep, to be awakened in a few months time to begin helping the survivors. The Project personnel reasoned that the vacationers on the island had enough supplies and intelligence to survive until they revived. Also, god willing, the island would be spared the worst of the fallout, it being a long distance from any major target.
At the time of the war, one of the vacationers was a man named Caine Jacobs, a former U.S. Marine turned computer programmer.
Suspicious at the disappearance of the resort staff, he began to organize the other vacationers and prepare them for the long hard years they all were about to face.
The first thing he did once he organized the people was to have them thoroughly search the resort and the island itself. It paid off big time. His people found the entrance to the supply depot.
Being an expert computer programmer and electronics specialist, it wasn't long before Caine gained entrance to the facilities. Much to his and his followers amazement, they discovered a huge storehouse of weapons, ammunition, equipment, food, medical supplies, construction material, vehicles, boats and so on.
Arming his followers, he gathered anyone who had previous military training and began training everyone in the art of warfare and survival.
As predicted, fallout wasn't a major problem on the island. About 10% of the population developed cancer over the years, but what was the hardest was the nuclear winter. Unlike the vast majority of the rest of the country, only about 30% of the survivors died during these years, thanks to the vast supply of food and medical equipment. Due to fear of plagues unleashed by the Soviets, no other survivors from the mainland were allowed anywhere near the island. The patrol boats made short work of anyone who tried. This practice lasted for several years after the nuclear winter ended, just to be sure.
Caine and his followers also found a large number of unoccupied cryo chambers, including the manuals on how to run them. He decided that he and his most trusted lieutenants would sleep for decades at a time, revive, train a new generation, and slowly begin to build an empire out of the ashes of nuclear holocaust. The main problem with his plan was manpower. He would have to wait until the population increased sufficiently enough to begin spreading out.
Before entering cryo sleep, Caine instructed his followers to send out patrols and begin salvaging whatever they could from the ruins. He also instructed them to find strong, healthy children and bring them back to increase the population. Finally, he told them to do whatever was necessary to ensure the community's survival.
Several years before the players wake up, Caine's dream has begun. His island community has grown to nearly 5000 souls. He decided that it is time to begin his conquest of the Great Lakes.
He started out by capturing farms and tiny fishing villages that sprung up around the shores nearest Isle Royale. The locals didn't stand a chance, considering that the majority of them used either black powder weapons, or poorly maintained hunting rifles. The groups that were encountered were given a choice. Serve Caine, or die. Needless to say, there are now a large number of farms and fishing villages that are run by Caine's people. This done, he sent out several parties to locate suitable places to cache weapons, ammunition and supplies.
Over the next several months, Caine's followers managed to secure a huge number of farms and people to run them. They also encountered several groups that were more than willing to work with them, such as the Badges.
Now, out of just over 5000 souls, only 5% are combat trained. Of this 250 men and women, only 75 are stationed on the island itself for defense. Out of this group, twenty are members of Caine's coast guard. These people patrol the waters surrounding the island in 5 four-man boats.
Another ten of this island defense group man five guard towers on the island. Two people per tower. Each person pulls a twelve hour shift. The towers are linked by closed lined phones and search lights. They also have M2HB machine gun with four fully loaded boxes of ammunition, and an M16 with an M203 grenade launcher. They also have one crate of illumination flares, and one crate of 40mm fragmentation grenades.
Fifteen men patrol the island itself in groups of three to five. They travel on ATV's or dirt bikes during the warm months, and snowmobiles during the winter. They are armed with short range radio's, M16 assault rifles, and Browning Hi Power pistols.
The final twenty five act as the police force in the town itself. They travel either by foot or by ATV. They are armed with Browning Hi Powers only.
Each member of the home guard carries six spare magazines per weapon and two fragmentation grenades, in addition to anything mentioned above. As for armor, unless they are expecting trouble, they don't wear any. In case of trouble, they wear helmets and Kevlar vests.
A large portion of the island itself has been converted into farmland , where the islanders grown grain, corn and other vegetables. Several small ranches have also been set up to raise all manner of livestock.
All outlying farms are equipped with diesel generators (converted to run on alcohol), and this also includes each of the guard towers. The town itself is powered by a small fusion plant located below the supply dept. The townspeople rarely use power, mainly relying on oil lamps and fires. Caine allows the townsfolk to use the power during the winter months to heat their homes.
The towns economy is supported by the ranches, fishing, and manufactured goods which they trade with shore based communities for raw materials and pre-war goods mined from the ruins which dot the shoreline. And, of course, the goods captured during their pirate raids.
Caine will not trade in slaves or weaponry. Even if he has plans of a grand empire gained through conquest, he refuses to stoop to slavery. And as for the weaponry, why trade weapons to people who one day may be in your way of conquest?
A total of one hundred people comprise Caine's pirate fleet. He has four large patrol boats crewed by ten people each, twelve speed boats manned by three people each, and five one-man jet-skis.
The armament on the ships are more than adequate to attack and defeat most lake going vessels. These include anti-tank weapons such as laws and armbrusts, mortars, heavy machine guns, light cannons (20mm), and automatic grenade launchers.
The final seventy five people are broken up into five squads of fifteen people. These squads fill several rolls, just like the recon teams. They are the eyes and ears for Caine's people. Secondly, they are Caine's main combat force, fully armed and equipped including armor support. Third, they act as Caine's escorts for any large trading party sent out. They also fill the roles of hunters, scavengers, spy's etc.
The trading parties travel mainly by horse and cart. The squads have full access to V-150's, V-300's, V-450's, FAV's, ATV's and motorcycles. Each squad knows the location of several of the before mentioned caches of weapons, ammo and equipment.
In the case of an all out attack, Caine can muster nearly 500 extra soldiers from the community itself, if they are needed. The rest of the community's inhabitants are considered non-combatants. Also, in case Caine knows of a pending attack, he has access to all the equipment and weapons the Project has, including Anti-tank weapons, mines, mortars, light artillery, and in the unlikely case they are needed, Stinger missile systems.
A map of Isle Royale can be found in most atlas's, and as for the town itself, AD+D modules are a good place to find layouts.
This adventure is meant to be used in the middle of a current adventure, or as a stand alone adventure. The reasoning is below.
It has just recently come to Caine's attention that information pertaining to the Morrow Project, the original owners of the supply depot he now controls. He found out that several had set up a camp with the Finnlanders (Operation Damocles). To find out more information, he sends out a small patrol to spy on the group.
Now, since I ran this adventure using Aftermath, I didn't bother including any of the weapons and equipment I mentioned. I believe that most of this equipment has already been detailed in the adventures published by Time Line games. If not, use your imagination.
As for NPC's, remember: Caine is an ex-Marine. He's large, strong and as tough as nails. But, don't let his physical appearance fool you. He is far from stupid and is skilled in the art of warfare, survival, computers and electronics. The majority of his command staff are all from the original survivors, and are as skilled as he is.
