Poisoned Portland – Google Docs
Poisoned Portland
City: Portland, Maine
Population: 700
Controls: The USS Denebola
Government: Squatters
Problem: Food Shortages
Heroic Opportunity: Technology
City Aspect: Desperate.
The original population of Portland, Maine was wiped out by the Serpentfall. There were no more than a couple hundred survivors, mostly (thanks to a fluke in the tsunami) from the all-woman Westbrook College in Deering. These survivors were still in a very bad way indeed until help arrived from the USS Denebola. The Denebola was a destroyer tender assigned temporarily to Casco Bay, Maine that survived the tsunami through a combination of sheer luck and inspired sailing; however, ‘surviving’ in this case left the ship too damaged to move effectively.
Destroyer tenders in the US Navy were designed to support and resupply destroyers at sea, including repair work and mechanical maintenance. This means that the Denebola has a literal wealth of machine tools and equipment on board, but she cannot sail south. Even with rationing, the food stocks are not infinite. Of course, by now a large portion of the Denebola’s crew have taken Portlander wives, which makes it impossible for the sailors to simply abandon the town to its fate when the last of the ship’s stores are exhausted. And it is virtually impossible to grow anything in Maine at this point.
If they could just get to Concord! There are survivors and even an organized government there. It’s less than a hundred miles away, but when you’re carting along machine parts, insanely valuable supplies, and civilians, that’s a lot longer than it looks. But the ship’s captain is almost ready to try it anyway. All he needs is just a few more people who know the area, and its dangers. And he is absolutely ready to pay well for their services.