#The Marauders RKZ

[bowlerhatwearer]

What are the Marauders like in the swap AU?

Greetings Anon ^^

Hmm, I have not thought about that, but given that they are basically the opposite of, well marauders, then I can imagine they are some sort of group, that offers security.

Perhaps they would work, as a sort of private security group, or maybe also to some extend private military company, whose goal it is to keep settlements, village, perhaps even cities safe.

Similar how the Marauders was pieced together by different kinds of people, the same would go for "The Guardians", with there being members of all sorts of groups, military, Roadkillerz, Wrath, Medics etc. etc. who joined them for all sorts of reasons.

I can imagine that sometimes they work together with the Wrath of the Swap AU, however, mostly they work independently.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

Will Blaise ever meet "The Conductor" and "The Sharpshooter"?

(TW: Mention of Torture , TW: Torture, TW: Death mention, TW: Death)

Greetings Anon

Yes, Blaise is going to meet both of them.

And the conditions are...far from perfect, they are actually, quiet horrible.

At one point Blaise gets captured by the Marauders who saw them as an easy target, they wanted to get out of them, the access codes to the Wrath base , which Sam had given Blaise at one point.

The Conductor was responsible to get the information from Blaise, and so he started to torture the old war journalist, hitting them with a blunt object, the Conductor was an expert in measuring how much violence he could use on Blaise to cause the maximum of pain, without the risk of giving them an concussion or life threatening injuries that would kill them, before revealing the codes.

He beat Blaise Owens up, whilst listening and singing to the song "The Grand Old Rag".

However, the old war journalist is harder to crack than a walnut, and only after what felt like hours of torture, a beat up and seriously injured Blaise Owens, writes down codes.

Satisfied "the Conductor" orders a few Marauders to get rid of the old cat, having no longer use for them.

What "the Conductor" failed to realize was, that Blaise lied trough their teeth and gave them made up codes, which causes the Marauders attack on the Wrath base to fail.

Blaise meanwhile was thrown on the back of a truck, and while the Marauders drove them into the middle of Duststorm Valley, very likely to kill them, they throw themselves, with great difficulty from the moving van.

Fortunately for Blaise they are later found and their injuries treated.

~~~~

Their meeting with "the Sharpshooter" is also a challenge for Blaise Owens, the old cat ends up in the same forest/jungle as Sam and Bruno once did. Somehow, they fell of a cliff with their vehicle after driving over a landmine.

Here, Blaise would meet, with Rabid, who I believe saw in the old cat an easy target because he found them lying on the ground, however when the cat approaches them, Blaise, more accidentally than intentional causes to exhale cigar smoke into Rabids face.

After a short struggle, the two would be interrupted by the appearance of "The Sharpshooter" who Blaise at first believes to be their savior, but quickly realizes that he is not here to help them.

Instead, "The Sharpshooter" (who is dressed in a typical safari hunter fashion) sees both of them, Rabid and Blaise as his prey and starts to hunt the two, who quickly try to flee from him.

Blaise and Rabid, start, at first begrudgingly to work together, with Blaise realizing more and more that the landmine was not an accident, but rather placed on purpose, very likely by "The Sharpshooter". For the old cat was investigating the claim/rumor that someone was hunting and capturing exotic animals in the jungle, which turns out is "the Sharpshooter" who is doing that, to sell the animals or their fur to finance the Marauders.

Blaise also remembers, why he "the Sharpshooter" reminds them of someone, for "the Sharpshooter" was a guard in the forced labor camp Blase was a prisoner for five years, "the Sharpshooter" was notoriously known for nearly, never missing his targets.

Blaise and Rabids teamwork would improve, however at one point they would split apart after Blaise gets their hands on their gun, after finding their damaged vehicle, for Rabid comes to the believe, that Blaise would now, try to hunt him down as well.

However, "the Sharpshooter" uses this opportunity and is at one point able to hurt Rabid, cornering the cat, when Blaise appears and a struggle ensures between them and "the Sharpshooter" where Blaise gets injured as well.

Near the end, thanks to Rabids help, Blaise is able to have the upper hand in the fight, standing above "the Sharpshooter" who Rabid has caught on his legs, about to drag the hunter into the darkness of the jungle/forest.

Blaise wants, to aid "The Sharpshooter" at first, however, when they notice that instead of crawling to the hand, Blaise offers to him, he aims to get his rifle, to continue harming them and Rabid, and his hunt, Blaise lets go of "The Sharpshooter" who gets dragged screaming into the forest, presumably getting mauled and killed by Rabid.

Despite that, and everything that had happened, Blaise would stay for a while in the jungle/forest with Rabid, until the jungle cats injuries are healed, before Blaise returns to civilization.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

What do the marauders base look like?

Greetings Anon ^^

The Marauders base is very ordinary looking at the first glance, because it looks like an old mine shaft.

Which it basically was once, the Marauders settled in an old gold mine and began to use the old shafts and tunnels for themselves. Over the years they expanded their base and dug a variety of rooms they needed for their members and operations.

The layout of the mine is very, confusion and you can get lost easily, however the Marauders use this to their advantage because, in the case of an attack, they can use this to disorientate their enemies, and attack them easily.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

Speaking about the Marauders, this is how I imagine their emblem looks like.

(Not pictured Commander Grizzly fuming because he believes the Marauders just stole the "W" from the Wrath and turned it around)

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

Who are the leaders/founders of the "Marauders"? and how did the group come to be?

Greetings Anon

I can't really say in what time exactly they got founded but I would say, the "Marauders" started to form shortly after Sam joined the Wrath. I think there were already smaller groups of bandits, brigands, deserters etc. before, some of them later got incorporated into the Marauders. However they only make themselves known a while after Sam met Blaise Owens.

I believe those who joined the Marauders are people who were dissatisfied with their former works, criminals who tried to avoid persecution or who just want to cause problems on purpose and think it is funny to burn down something or rob someone their belongings. Many people have joined them over the time for different reasons.

The leader of the Marauders is called "The Lieutenant" who worked formerly for the government army, before separating voluntary from them, they were, frustrated from the army and the government in general, and started to like, causing disorder and chaos in Duststorm Valley and its surrounding lands, now their goal is to demoralize the Roadkillerz, the Wrath, the Medics and everyone else they want to hurt.

Second-in-Command is "The Conductor" a former guard of the very same forced labor camp were Blaise Owens and Ian Snapshot were incarcerated. He got his "nickname" because he is known to torture his victims while listening and singing to music. He worked formerly in the navy before becoming a guard in the labor camp and after that joined the Marauders.

Third-in-Command is "The Sharpshooter" who also was a guard in the forded labor camp, but unlike "The Conductor" was often stationed on the guard towers, he was and still is known for his good aim. In the past when he was on "guard duty" , the chances of those who tries to escape the labor camp, were even more slim than usual.

Fourth-in-Command would be "The Therapist" who was a personnel of the forced labor camp as well, he was notorious for being a hypnotherapist who implemented false memories on purpose into the minds of prisoners, causing them to make false confessions against themselves or fellow prisoners, often getting them executed. He still could use these tricks however after he joined the Marauders he got his hands on an orb giving him new strange powers.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

How did Blaise know that someone was hunting Sam?

Greetings Anon ^^

Blaise got earlier a call from an unknown/withheld phone number, with a voice that told them that if they value the life of their friend, they better act and think fast, because "being in the wrong clothes in the wrong time could lead to a permanent lasting consequence." and that's all the voice told Blaise before hanging up on them.

So Blaise Owens, tried to think quickly of what to do, and decided, based on what the "unknown voice" told them, to switch clothes with Sam on the pretense of the "Do and Dare" game.

Despite the voice trying to disguise himself very good, Blaise was very well aware that it was Ian Snapshot who informed them, who only did because he knows that Blaise values the generals life, and even if the hitman does not understand why, the least he could do is give Blaise a "head start".

Also Ian did it because a rival hitman failing in their assassination attempt means he might get more "customers". Ian was in the same establishment as the hitman who would stab Blaise later, who was bragging about his "mission", revealing some bits of information that Ian listened to by eavesdropping.

Blaise was lucky that the hitman, a member of the "Grey Mane Club" was only an apprentice (that was the best the Marauders could afford) or it might have looked, even worse for the old war journalist.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

I like to imagine at one point. Ivy Mike gets fired from his Government Job (probably because project mayberry is breaking apart) and after words he thinks to himself: "You know what? I want to see everyone suffer in pain :)" and joins the Marauders.

Greetings Anon ^^

I have to admit, I believe that the Marauders fall apart during the events of Roadkillerz, I really need to make some sort of timeline for this stuff ^^,,, At one point I can just see, everyone getting fed up and tired of the Marauders and their skirmishes, trying to put an end of the group once and for all, and at the end, the Marauders breaks apart, everyone of them fleeing in all directions.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that later, they could not resurface again, they might have been scattered and fled, but who knows, maybe in the future someone founds the "Marauders" anew. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if in theory, Ivy Mike, left without a job would join a group of cutthroats as the newly regrouped "Marauders" are. It would suit him.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

I would also assume that the Marauders also has some fired medics members, and if that's the case. That would make the Marauders a sort of amalgamation of all the groups and organizations in this world.

Greetings Anon ^^

That is correct, there are certainly also a few former Medics members in the ranks of the Marauders, most of them who got fired for a variety or reasons, for example unethical handling of people they were supposed to help.

The Marauders certainly can be called an amalgamation because, you have former Roadkillerz working together with deserted Wrath soldiers, and both of them working together with disgraced Medics members. They are at this point really a group consisting of, well marauders who make the life hard for those, who are living in or near Duststorm Valley.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

So, who ARE the marauders???

Greetings Anon ^^

They are a group consisting of cutthroats, war veterans and criminals, disgruntled former Roadkillerz, deserted Wrath soldiers etc. etc. most of them are people who have lost their moralistic values a while ago.

The Marauders don't care for world domination, all they care for is harassing those who they see as weaker than them, taking what they want to take, either way resources but most of the time money. Smaller settlements or farms are often the victims of their attacks.

I believe they have their main base in Duststorm Valley, however, they are smaller and less organized than the Wrath or Roadkillerz, both groups the Marauders don't mind attacking, I think they don't even have qualms attacking Medics if it is for the Marauders benefits. I imagine that their base is an old, abandoned and well hidden gold mine, using the deep labyrinth of tunnels to their advantage.

Unlike the Wrath or Roadkillerz, they rely mostly on smuggled, stolen or "second-hand" tools, they either found, bought, robbed from someone or put themselves together. So most of the vehicles, weapons, material etc. they use is not, up-to-date it is probably even seen as outdated.

Although most of the time working independently, they could, in theory be bought to do mercenary work, however don't count on it that they are loyal to you, you get what you pay for and they don't mind or care stabbing their employer into the back.

I like to think that orange is the color they use the most, with their emblem being a simple "M", which makes Commander Grizzly furious because he believes that the Marauders stole his symbol and just turned it around.

They have been a thorn in the side of the people of Duststorm Valley, for a while now.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

Can you give us more context on Blaise's mind nearly being destroyed and them getting stabbed by a counter-cursed blade?

Greetings Anon ^^

I am going to put these under a read more since I see them as spoilers for Blaise history.

~~~

Blaise gets their mind nearly destroyed when a person attacks the Wrath base, who is associated with a group that calls themselves the "Marauders" , at this point of the attack, the person who calls themself the "Therapist" was earlier able to lure Grizzly away, with the pretense of a prize game that the Commander supposedly had won, Sam was death, Francis was absent because of a performance, Mellow got locked into the broom closet, and all the Wrath soldiers had been put under mind control by the "Therapist" who uses a crystal orb to do this.

It looks pretty hopeless however, the reason why the Wrath soldiers are all standing around dormant in trance, is because the "Therapist" is still trying to take control of one last person.

Blaise Owens

The cat is very resistant against the powers of the "Therapist" and their orb, but at this point Blaise is already kneeling in the dusty ground of the dessert, their mind feeling as if thousands of little knifes are attacking it, however Blaise refuses to submit.

For Blaise, one of their worst nightmares has turned true, that they would be exposed to mind control powers, because, Blaise values their mind, their consciousness the most and the thought of loosing it, that someone else is in control, always worried them, it was one of the rare fears, they openly talked about.

But now Blaise is there, refusing with every bit of energy that their mind is getting taken over. The "Therapist" is both impressed, but also would of course taunt Blaise, who at this point can no longer talk because of the pain they are exposed to.

The "Therapist" would say that if they can't control Blaise mind, they would just shatter it with the orbs power, and if that does not work, well, they can still order their "obedient soldiers" to rip Blaise apart piece by piece.

I am not sure when, but at one point Blaise, despite the whole taunting and how much their head already hurts, would be able to stand up, slowly reaching for their revolver, they actually use more to intimidate/scare people away in emergencies. However this time, it looks like for a moment as if they are pointing the gun to themself, delighting the "Therapist" that this is how Blaise existence would come to an end.

But the "Therapists" delight would soon turn sour when Blaise shivering hand would start to point the revolver into the "Therapists" direction, the finger slowly pulling the trigger, at first the "Therapist" would still be confident that their orb would deal with that but the more Blaise presses on the trigger the more nervous the "Therapist" gets, until a gunshot can be heard and they yell.

The bullet does not hit the "Therapist" it either way is shot into the ground or misses the "Therapists" narrowly, but it is enough for them to let their orb fall for a moment, who rolls behind the "Therapist", since they are standing on a dune or hill.

Once again the "Therapist" would gloat at Blaise, telling the old war journalist that they, possibly can't win and now, they would destroy, crack and fragment their mind for sure. However, when they look for their orb they can't find it and before another word can come out of the "Therapists" mouth, they get hit on the back of their head with the orb, falling on the ground unconscious.

Mellow Melon was able to free herself out of the broom closet, or maybe it was never locked in the first place, although I believe they would rather use their power, than resort to such measures, however given that the "Therapist" had mind control powers as well, I think there was no other way to stop them.

Mellow would then help Blaise getting up, who once again, weaker than before was lying on the ground, their eyes look dull and Blaise either way can't or won't say anything, sensing that the cat has been deeply affected by the exposure of the "Therapist" usage of the orb, the sloth tells Blaise they are going to bring them home, who without a hint of emotion follows her.

It is, going to take a while for Blaise to recover, and I imagine that only a week later, if not longer they would start to talk again.

~~~

Blaise getting stabbed is once again something, that is happening because of the Marauders however this time they were not the intended target.

The leader of the Marauders wanted to get rid of General Cottontail once and for all, and believing their people were too incompetent for that, hired a hitman (not Ian Snapshot), handing over to them a counter-cursed knife, it was a very complicated spell with which this knife was enchanted, so the hitman only had "one shot" to kill Sam, the counter-curse, would, neutralize the curse on Sam, or so the leader believed at least, and the stab wound would then kill the general.

However, for some reason, the leader of the Marauders told the hitman, not the details how their target looked like, only telling them in detail what the uniform the general wore looked like, I think they just didn't want to give the hitman too much information about their target and wanted Sam to be gone quickly.

At the same time / or a bit later Blaise Owens and Sam are strolling trough a city on a sidewalk, and Blaise had the idea to play "Dare and Do" which is, asking a question and, if you can't answer them you have to do a dare, Sam does not know why they accepted to play this silly game but probably because he was bored, the last time he "lost" in the game Blaise has requested from him doing a handstand however when Sam "won" he made Blaise sing a short song in the public.

So Blaise wins once again, and this time says they would like to wear Sams uniform jacket, Blaise would say they never had the opportunity in their life to wear one and just for once they would like to know what it feels like to be a "general", at first the rabbit is against the idea, giving excuse after excuse but gives in after a while, coincidentally Blaise bought a shirt which they give Sam.

Sam: "You are going to stretch the uniform!" Blaise: "Don't worry, I trimmed my fur, it will be alright."

So Blaise wears the jacket, saying, jokingly, they can already feel the authority surrounding them, they would go ahead, a few steps into a more crowded area and for a moment Sam looses sight of Blaise. When he finds Blaise again, they sit on a bench, with their head and upper body tilted, Sam asks, what is wrong when they notice, the knife in Blaise chest, the old war journalist still breathing but injured.

Just, in the short moment where Blaise and Sam were separated, in the crowded area, the hitman had been lurking, and when they saw the uniform, they believed that this was their target and went for Blaise, as they passed each other, the hitman stabbed the old war journalist.

What follows after that, I am not sure, but, Blaise survival was probably because in the crowd, there was at least one doctor or first responder who aided Blaise, once people started to notice that they were injured.

I think Sam, somehow is able to notice the hitman, but they make a daring escape, believing to have, already "fulfilled their contract" thinking that "the general" they were supposed to murder was already as good as dead, all they leave behind is a card of the "Marauders". Because Blaise got stabbed instead of Sam, and the old cat not having been cursed, the knife, was from its enchanted aspect pretty useless, however, of course it still fulfilled its purpose, I think because the hitman stabbed Blaise whilst passing by, they narrowly, missed Blaise heart.

I think Sam, would be shocked because as the hitman implied, their target was "the general" but they got Blaise instead, and Sam wonders, whilst waiting for the cat to recover, if this really was all an coincidence, or if Blaise somehow was aware of this impending assassination attempt, and that was the reason why they wanted to wear the uniform jacket.

~~~

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

Did the Marauders really took inspiration from the wrath logo for their logo?

Greetings Anon ^^

I think that is one of the parts, which remain open and there is never a real conclusive answer to that.

However, "the Lieutenant", the leader of the Marauders likes to tease Commander Grizzly with that, and she thinks it is a delight how angry he gets about it.

Yours sincerely

Bowler

[bowlerhatwearer]

Who is this Bradly bear who seemingly disappeared?

Greetings Anon ^^

Ah Bradly Bear, is, or rather, was a two or three star Roadkillerz member, who, was not really the best company to have around, especially if you were a One Star member.

He was your typical high-school bully who apparently never grew out of that habit, and although he was good in beating up Wrath personnel, that was basically everything he did, never doing any other work.

However some higher ups were, blind or ignored his antics which caused Bradley to never face much or any consequences for his constant bullying/harassment, with complains getting ignored or being told the typical "deal with it yourself talk"

(Aka it was a very typical, school bully situation)

Well, at one it all crashed down on him.

One day someone was taking classified documents and of course, this led to an investigation, however despite some voices saying they believed it was Bradley, those were ignored because it was believed that Bradley was too loyal (and too stupid) to have done it.

Well Anon, take a good guess who was wrong, because it sure were the higher ups.

Some more classified documents went missing and the higher ups called for a meeting, were ever member of the Roadkillerz had to be present.

All came to the meeting point.

Except Bradley Bear.

They found a letter in his room were he, proudly proclaimed that the Roadkillerz were a bunch of suckers and he was going to defect to the Wrath, having taken a suitcase with classified documents he was going to give Commander Grizzly, who , in Bradley's imagination was going to reward him handsomely.

You can imagine that when the this was revealed, this caused quiet the shock and turmoil.

Until a bunch of Roadkillerz members, who believed from the beginning that Bradley was the one behind it, handed over the classified documents to the higher-ups.

They, mainly consisting of One-Star members who were done with Bradley's antics, sneaked into his room and switched the suitcases.

With them having the classified documents Bradley had collected.

And the bear right now driving to the Wrath with a bunch of blank paper that went a hundred times trough an document shredder.

Breadly Bear was never heard from again.

Some believe that Carlos/Grizzly "ended" him, others think he escaped and left the country and a few wonder if perhaps he had joined the Marauders.

Those are a few of the theories that are going around about the current status of him, but I believe, with the exception of a few, Bradley will be forgotten over time.

Another theory going around that the only reason Bradley got into the Roadkillerz AND his rank in the first place, was because of some sort of nepotism.

Whatever is the truth, one thing is sure, the whole incident did cause, that some higher-ups, lost some of their credibility, for having been blindly confident in Bradley.

Yours sincerely

Bowler