DAY 4 – APRIL 21st 2000
PRASZKA, POLAND – NIGHT
ALEX leaves his hunting rifle and the extra mag to LED and slowly proceeds on foot towards the roadblock, his arms stretched to the sides and empty hands open. In the fading light he can see 5 soldiers manning the roadblock, a rusty van has been positioned across the road to act as a barrier and sandbags emplacements have been created on both sides of the street. On the left side is a TOW missile launcher and on the right a soldier manning a machinegun. The same coat of arms that hangs from the belltower has been painted on one of the houses on the left. ALEX can hear the faint sound of water: the roadblock is at the edge of a short bridge spanning a small river.
The soldiers scramble for cover as soon as they see the man approaching. Noticing the commotion ALEX slows down yelling “Don’t shoot, I’m not a threat, I come in peace!” At first, he is ordered to stop, and he observes two men discussing something right next to the van as he’s trying to keep his coolness in the face of the number of guns pointed directly at him. After a minute or so he is ordered to slowly advance and he complies. Getting closer he can see that some men are in fatigues while others are in civilian clothing; a couple of them seem resolute and ready for a fight should one erupt, but the rest of the men appear nervous if not scared. Two more men quickly approach the roadblock from the direction of the church, they briefly talk and then one start communicating on a portable radio while the other reaches the roadblock. “If he moves, shoot him” he yells in Polish. He’s young with blonde hair and a few days of beard on his face, he’s wearing work boots, dark jeans and a military jacket, a pistol in his hand. He appears to be somewhat nervous.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
Using the solo rules for NPCs I drew 2 cards from the deck to establish the motivation driving the young guy in charge of the roadblock:
- 4♣ VIOLENCE (WEAK)
- 3♣ VIOLENCE (WEAK)
(yes, I did shuffle)
MY INTERPRETATION: our young man thinks the only way to get respected, they only way to survive, the only way to be safe, is violence. He is therefore quick with threats and ready to wave his gun in the air to show his willingness to translate his words into actions. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to have neither the will nor the stomach to actually commit any violence if unprovoked. Not having a plan B, if his threats don’t work, he’s probably going to send this one up the chain of command and await instructions.
The young guy stares at ALEX in the dying light, and after a tense minute he proceeds to ask the usual questions: who are you? Why are you here? What do you want? ALEX – thinking himself lucky for not having been shot so far – decides on truth as his best policy: he’s a Polish citizen who fled the Russian army, there’s three more with him, they are American soldiers fleeing Kalisz, they have saved his life and he’s joined their group (the condensed story should convey the salient point: they’re trustworthy Americans), their group is here for trading and maybe some rest, then they’ll be on their way. At this point they’re interrupted by a shot fired in the distance, one of the many of the evening. “Or maybe we can be useful in some other way” adds ALEX.
The young guy has slightly turned his head toward the direction of the shot, he then turns back to ALEX, his finger dancing on the trigger guard of his pistol. One can see his mind is at work. “Tell the others to show themselves, then we’ll see”
ALEX takes another good look at the roadblock and its defenders, then slowly turns around and starts waiving his hands.
It takes a few minutes for the others to join him, everyone is walking slowly, weapon slinged on the back and hands raised. NASCAR, the M136 AT4 slinged on his back, is holding his unloaded M249 up in the air by the buttstock and the barrel in a pose meant to show he’s not dangerous and at the same time to show his physique.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
The party took some precautions: NASCAR is holding a frag grenade in his right hand concealing it behind the weapon which I ruled to be effective in the dim light of the evening; LED has hidden his knife in his left sleeve so that it’s quickly reachable and barely noticeable and DONNA is doing the same.
I decided to use the oracle, so I drew a card and got 7♥ MILDLY HELPFUL -> my interpretation is they’re not going to get shot, but they’re not getting into town either.
They all stop in spaced positions in a line when they join ALEX, with LED and NASCAR at the extremities checking their respective sides to see if there’s some cover to duck behind in case things start to go south. They are on a small bridge covered in cracked asphalt with rusty metal guard-rails on both sides, so the only option would be to vault the railing and hope for the best, which ranks very low on their preferences.
The guards manning the roadblock appear to be a little more nervous now that four relatively armed men are in front of them. The young man gestures with his pistol “drop the weapons, get on your knees, and put your hands on your heads. We need to search you”
“So you’re going to let us into the town?” says ALEX, knowing that no one in the party is just going let someone search them.
“We’ll see later about that” replies the man.
“Listen, if we’re not entering the town then we’re going our separate way. And if that’s the case, there’s no reason for searching us”.
“How about we just shoot you all, uh? Then we’ll have plenty of time to search you”
The whole exchange is in Polish, but LED is noticing the tone and mannerism of the young man with growing concern.
ALEX grins “No reason for that either” Another shot is heard from past the church “unless that’s how you greet all travelers”
“Not all travelers, just murderers and bandits, which I’m not sure you’re not”
“How many murderers and bandits come to your checkpoint with their hands raised?” asks ALEX, his heart racing.
The young man is joined by another guard, they briefly talk and then the other hands him a portable radio. They speak too quietly for ALEX to hear. The young man steps behind the rusty van and for about a minute everything is standstill. Two more armed soldiers appear at each side of the van.
Then the man comes back, radio still in his hands “You said you are here for trading?”
“Mainly that, yes” says ALEX
“The market is closed at night, you have to wait till morning; we have a place on the other side of town where you can spend the night. It’s outside of our perimeter, but we’ll monitor you from an observation post. Don’t try anything stupid and in the morning, we might let you in”
ALEX starts translating the offer for his comrades, but he’s immediately interrupted. “No English, only Polish”
“I need to tell them about your offer, so we can decide”
“No, you have to decide, you’re the only Pole here, so make up your mind fast”
ALEX feels cornered and decides to take on the offer, his mind already at work to understand where the catch will be.
“What’s the news?” says LED calmly, his eyes on the roadblock
ALEX turns his head and when LED is looking at him says “No English” pointing a finger at the town and then waiving it slowly, making sure LED is paying attention. “Only Polish” he adds pointing at the ground and then tracing an arch in the air as if he meant jumping the town.
LED looks at his comrade, then the roadblock. “I trust you” he says briefly. On his left ALEX can hear NASCAR and DONNA quickly echoing the lieutenant.
“Enough” shouts the young Pole, “what have you decided?” he adds impatiently.
“Okay, how do we get to this place you mentioned?”
FINAL COMMENTS
Looks like the verbal duel paid off. After reading back the events at the checkpoint, I’m surprised I made no opposite PERSUASION rolls. I was obviously letting the narration flow towards where I wanted it to go as organically as I could.
Apparently, the players have found an opening (almost literally), or at the very least they haven’t been shot. Time to reach the place the young man has mentioned and see what awaits.