>>6182785[4/???]
"Turns out they were a lot more reasonable than expected. The mayor and the Messenger ended up figuring out an uneasy diplomatic arrangement with a POZ leader in a sauna. Though we're raiding some of their Native proxies out in the desert, so that might not last."
"Huh, how about that? Tell me, was it some Russian guy?"
"I think so. They got some weird people out there." You pause. "Not that us Crusaders are ones to talk, but you know what I mean."
"Whole world's gone mad if you ask me. But going back, who else is around? What about Casa Grande? Florence? Arizona City? Have you figured out what's going on in Tucson?"
"Well, we haven't gotten all the way to Tucson. Or Florence. But from what we can tell, Casa Grande seem like a bunch of isolationists. Arizona City I think's fighting some kind of small scale war with one of their neighbors," you say, tactically evading the whole 'boomer-occupation' government situation there. "There are a lot of more rural areas. Some of them are abandoned and some we're fighting off."
"Sounds like you should go reach out to them. Can't afford not to, what with there being hundreds of thousands of people spread out all over."
"You're probably right about that. But tell me, what's going on in your patch of desert?"
OPTION ADDED:
>Ask about other factions they've come into contact with, & get them to spread word about our faction's ability to create medications for the ill"Sure I can tell you about that," the Boss starts. "We've done some travelling along Interstate 10. There are a lot of farms and ranches with these little communities. Some of our guys actually live in the ones nearby with the vacancies."
"So you get along well?"
"Absolutely, absolutely. We help them out where we can, they give us food. A lot of food, actually. Been stocking up. But I don't think they're going to be willing to help. There not only aren't many of them, but they're under the Warden's 'protection.' Not as much as the ones south of us like Cotton Center, but still. You know, those guys had a militia and everything but the Protectorate rolled right over them."
"So let me guess, now those guys are fighting for the Warden?"
"Funny about that, not really," he says leaning back. "Seems like those prisoners like to be the ones who do the fighting. They let the others do all of the other work. Maybe they think it's beneath them or something? Not like they don't have enough fighters. You go a little west of Tonopah and you'll reach where the 10 forks into highway 60. If you keep along the 10 you'll get to Quartzsite, or "Free Quartzsite" as they call it. Got some militia 'patriot' types running the show," he says with exaggerated finger-quotes. "They say the Chinese are going to invade Arizona any minute now. Been saying it for as long as we've been in contact with 'em. They've allied themselves with Brenda, which seems to be the home base of sorts for a bunch of bikers..."
