Our goal is information gathering. Myself, Sarah, Jennifer, Brian, and Justin accompany Andy and his scout team, comprising one other Rogue and a Scout. The eight of us, we hope, should be a big enough threat to keep would-be raiders at bay.

Since the fairgrounds are a dungeon, and the industrial park is far too high level, we decide to cut south down I70 a little ways and come in by Possum Road. We pack up a few healing potions, camping gear, and food, and set out at first light. We don’t plan to be gone all night, but better safe than sorry.

The walk along the highway is grim. Cars litter the road. Inside are rotting corpses, half-picked over by carrion animals and whatever monsters killed them. Our goal isn’t collection, so we glance inside to see if anything of use is obvious. We feel exposed out on the six lane divided interstate, so we make the two-hour trip in good time. Climbing up the embankment, we find ourselves at the entrance of Reid Park Golf Course.

A staple of everyone’s childhood, many of us remember fondly of the rocket slide and concrete turtle. Oh, the joys of youth. Now, through binoculars, we can see various large, foreboding figures lumbering about on the greens. It’s too far away to tell what the creatures are, let alone their levels, so we decide to head west on Leffel Lane towards Burnett.

There’s a VFW on the left and an oil company on the right. We search both, finding them ransacked. The VFA is basically a big room with a kitchen, and besides, there being no pots, pans, or utensils, it’s empty. The oil company, comprising a single large warehouse and several big liquid containment units, has been thoroughly searched. Like rubber and plastic, any propane or fuel oil has long since degraded. Or so we assume.

Another mile west down Leffel and we come to the Selma Road intersection. On the north-east corner is a small industrial park. There’s a few manufacturing plants, a beer bottling facility, and a big storage and transport company.

This is where we find survivors. Unfortunately, we also find a lot of monsters.

It’s a large and violent battle. Goblins, dire animals, undead, and even some flying beasts all battle it out with a trio of wizards on top of a factory. Elemental barrages, flying blades, conjured beasts, and more slam into the creatures, while acid spit, barbed quills, and a hail of arrows assault the mages. On the ground, a pair of heavily armored Fighters slaughter whatever monsters get too close to the structure.

We rush in, attacking in a pincer move. Jennifer, Brian, Justin, Sarah, and I form a wedge, driving into the massed goblins. We hack and smash, the force of our attack literally crushing the diminutive humanoids into the ground. Andy and the other Rogue and Scout slip around to the side, firing arrows into the enormous monsters. Our distractions work, taking pressure off the defenders.

Seeing the effect we’re having, and no longer being targeted, the wizards can concentrate their attacks. Waves of fire, bolts of lightning, and spikes of ice blast into the flying monsters, killing them with ease. The Fighters on the ground cut their way through the dire beasts, joining up with our group.

Together, we form a circle. With our backs protected, it’s much easier to fight. The monsters come at us, climbing over the corpses of their fallen compatriots. After less than a minute, we’re almost smothered by bodies. One of the defending Fighters, a Hispanic man wearing heavy leather armor and wielding two short swords, crouches down and rushes forward. I watch as his shoulder slams into the piled bodies, knocking them away. We follow, glad to be free.

I see how much damage we’ve done to the horde. Instead of a sea of bodies, there are now clusters. Before we could barely swing our weapons without hitting something, but now we can think and plan between attacks.

Brian activates his fifth level Barbarian ability, Rage, and rushes towards a massive armored skeleton. Standing seven feet tall and wearing rusted chainmail, it wields an appropriately sized dual headed axe. With a visible red glow around him, Brian deflects the weapon with his sledgehammer, using the motion to make a spinning attack. The skeleton comes apart in a shower of armor and bones.

Sarah and Justin team up, working their way through the remaining goblins. Their armor soaks the creature’s weak attacks, while their weapons kill with every swing. A leader goblin, wearing what I can only describe as goblin chic, sees just how pointless the battle is. Barking out an order to his underlings, he and his minions flee. They’re picked off by arrows from Andy and his crew.

Jennifer and the other Fighters kill the last of the dire animals. It’s hard for me to tell what the beasts were before System changes, but my guess is they were some kind of farm animal. Maybe a goat? What few flying creatures remain are picked apart by the wizards.

I play cleanup. When the monster’s attack lost steam and many of the lead creatures were killed, it turned into a confusing jumble. Packs of skeletons are easy targets, as are the few random lone goblins. A rather disgusting looking slime monster wasn’t fun to kill. The goo it secretes is mildly acidic, but my 15% damage reduction keeps it from being little more than a nuisance.

Only a few monsters escape. In the end, I hit level eight, as did Sarah and Jennifer. Brian and Justin are almost there, while Andy, the Scout, and Rogue, are about halfway.

Now that the threat is over, the three Wizards and two Fighters introduce themselves. We’re almost in disbelief who one mage turns out to be.

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“Dominick?”

“Hey guys!”

The tall, lanky, Caucasian man looks much like he did during his time playing boffer sports. He’s got a knee length green tunic embroidered with various Japanese kanjis. A book hangs from his leather belt, and renaissance festival custom leather boots cover his feet. His hair is as shaggy as ever, framing his long face well.

I give Dominick a big hug. “Damn man, glad to see you’re still around.”

Brian and Justin give equally enthusiastic hugs. Andy and Sarah know Dominick tangentially, while Jennifer, the Scout, and Rogue don’t know him at all. Firm handshakes and head nods are given instead.

“Oh yeah, I was out with my boys camping at the reservoir when things went down. Lucky for us there was some big event going on nearby, so all the monsters went and attacked them.

“We were stuck out there for a few weeks before finally making it back to town. Another week of moving around before we finally came across a group of survivors. Come to find out, a big group of LARPers have a Settlement. I joined up and now I’m part of a scouting team, looking for other survivors and supplies.”

A look of disbelief comes across my group.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Brian, who once LARPed but since left because of the rampant idiocy, scoffs. “I’m surprised they could stay organized long enough.”

Dominick laughs. “Yeah, they’re an odd bunch, but it’s working out well enough. We’ve got about ninety people at the old south high school building.”

Jennifer’s eyes go wide. “That’s it? You’re essentially downtown and you have less than a hundred?”

Hell, we’re out in the middle of nowhere and we’ve got a third of that number. Springfield isn’t exactly a large place, but last I remember, the census put it at around 65,000 residents. Hard to think that the city’s lost that many people to monsters.

“We’re not the only ones. By far.” Dominick counts on his gloved fingers. “There’s a biker gang over by the hospital, whoever the blue gang is has a Settlement near the water tower, one of those fire and brimstone religious groups is at St. Raphael’s…” He continues on, listing off another twelve. “The biggest one is at the north high school building. They've got about 200 people, if I remember correctly, and upgraded to a Hamlet.”

“Damn.” I let out a low whistle. “Glad to hear people are surviving.”

“For sure!”

“While this is all very interesting.” Justin motions to Dominick’s crew. “I’m more interested in what you five were doing to cause such a huge group of monsters to attack you.”

The other Fighter, not the Hispanic one, speaks up. He’s about as ethnically bland as someone can get, and is wearing chainmail covered in random pieces of metal armor.

“We’ve been holed up in this automotive supply building for a few days now, sorta using it as a forward base. I figure after we took out the last three monster packs, they decided to come at us hard and fast.” He nods to Justin. “Your timely arrival is much appreciated.”

One of the other Wizards speaks up, directing his question to me. He’s wearing a similar enough outfit to Dominick, except he’s got an orange tunic embroidered with flames.

“Where are you based out of?”

“We’re set up at a horse farm near Rose Hill Cemetery. Most of us are staying in the ranch house. There’s a Shop and two workshops in the big barn behind it. We hit thirty-five people a few days ago.”

The orange Wizard nods. “Impressive.”

The third Wizard, an African man with a thick Nigerian accent, is wearing a yellow outfit without embroidery. “It’s good you found us. The supplies we gathered are too much to take back in one trip.” He speaks matter-of-factly, like it’s already decided we’re going with them. “It’s several hours back to the Settlement. We should leave soon.”

Dominick nods. “Doctave’s right. It’s pretty far on foot, especially with all the monsters.”

I confer with the group and everyone agrees we should go. It’ll be good to see how they’re set up, what sort of things their Shop sells, and what the situation is through the rest of Springfield.

Filling our inventories with a slew of supplies ranging from food, to weapons, to monster parts, the trip back is uneventful. Now a group of thirteen, we dispatch the few monsters we encounter. Having three Wizards makes things considerably easier.

I chat with Dominick for a bit. His two boys, aged fifteen and twelve, are doing well. His oldest took the class Monk. Since you can only take a class once you hit fifteen years old, the youngest is, of course, super jealous. He wants to be a Rogue.

With the additional level, I have an ability point to spend and a Talent to buy. It’s a simple decision, and now I have 20% damage reduction. I’ll have to wait for a Shop to get the Talent, though.

Because of the hostile gang Settlement in the shopping center on the corner of Sunset and Selma, and a dungeon at the Clark State campus, we have to go the long way. We go north on Belmont, turn west on Kenton, then hop a few blocks south back onto Selma and take that all the way to the Settlement.

Springfield hasn’t been a rich place in decades. The neighborhoods we pass through are lower-middle class, with respectable homes on small plots. The signs of battle are evident, with burned out structures from time to time, and the occasional rotted monster corpse strewn about.

After two hours we round a corner and see the Settlement.

And what a Settlement it is.

Ramparts, like the ones I’m hoping to get for Carcosa, surround the entire Control Zone. Heraldry flags fly at each of the four entrances, while well armored Fighters stand guard. Built to resemble the state capital building, the old south high school is shaped like an E with a large, white dome on the top. The front facade sports large stone columns, recessed windows, and sharp angles. Save for several lookout posts on the roof, the building looks much the same as it did before the world ended.

I recognize the heraldry on the flags immediately: a green field with two blue rivers meeting at the base of three brown mountains.

“Holy shit, this is the Valley of the Twin Rivers.”