DAY 16 – MAY 3rd 2000
LUBLINIEC, POLAND – DAY
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – BTR RADIO [click to expand]
At this point I needed to decide what the actual state of the BTR and its equipment is, at least gameplay-wise. I gave it a bit of thought and decided on the following:
- RADIO(S): radios are busted but repairable with basic tools (which the players have) and a few basic spare parts. I’m imagining there’s multiple radios inside it, and the one most in shape can be rendered functional again by cannibalizing the others. It will take D3 = 3 successes on a TECH roll to have it usable and another success in a TECH roll to calibrate it and actually receive and transmit. Successes can be gathered over multiple tries, with a single roll for each shift.
- OPERABILITY: the vehicle is inoperable due to the damage sustained. It cannot be restored to a drivable state without some spare parts that are not in the base, so it has to stay where it is.
A drove of round, light clouds is slowly conquering the spring sky, filtering the bright sunlight to a more desaturated tone and casting a thin layer of grey over the base and the forest surrounding it. DONNA’s eyes are exploring the vast dome over her head, while crickets can be heard all around the base.
A flock of birds emerges from the tree line, catching her attention; she follows the tiny black figures hover in a pulsing formation over the forest, then disappearing behind the barrack building. On the top of the structure, she notices NASCAR sitting on the parapet, his legs dangling over the three-story space separating them from the ground.
“You’re not planning on jumping, are you?” she yells.
“Haven’t made up my mind yet” answers NASCAR with a shrug.
“If you want to take the fast way down, please go head-first”
NASCAR briefly considers the height “wouldn’t that hurt?”
“Yes, but very briefly”
“And what if I go feet-first?” asks NASCAR after a brief pause.
“That would hurt for the rest of your life”
“So I can die quickly, or live a long, very painful life” comments NASCAR.
“You got it buddy”
“These endings kinda both suck; is there another option?”
“Stairs” says DONNA.
NASCAR nods “that’s a winner right there”
Inside the BTR space is scarce, the equipment, commands and a modicum of junk taking a significant portion of the internal compartment. Air is stale, but thanks to a couple of portholes opened on opposite sides fresh air is slowly conquering the internal space.
DONNA is kneeling on the metal floor in the space previously taken by the radio operators’ seats, now removed, and methodically opening every panel, revealing contorted masses of wires covered in a thick layer of dust and the occasional cobweb. At times she pauses briefly to take notes on a piece of paper.
In the rear compartment a Polish soldier from the 1st SOC is landing a hand, opening up more side panels trying to follow the bundle of cables linking the radios and the antennas on top of the vehicle.
“ROMAN do you have a gun with you?” asks DONNA while tugging on a metal panel.
“Always”
“’cos I swear, if a rat comes out of one of these panels I’m gonna scream so laud… you’ll have to use it”
“On you or the rat?” asks ROMAN without breaking his focus.
“Either is fine by me” answers DONNA while sticking her finger in a bundle of thin cables to separate them “go with whoever makes the worse noise”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – DAY SHIFT [click to expand]
Weather turns to cloudy.
LED sleeps for the shift, and loses the ‘sleep deprived’ status (can now recover hit and stress point with further sleep/rest)
ALEX performs maintenance on his M40A3:
- Roll TECH [D10+D10] = 3 SUCCESSES (rolled 10 and 7)
His M40A3 goes back to 5/5 reliability.
Vehicle’s radio is busted, DONNA tries to fix it with help from a Polish soldier (+1), benefitting from her Electrician specialty (+1):
- Roll TECH [D10+D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 8 and 2)
It’s a good start, 2 more successes to have the radio equipment working.
NASCAR performs maintenance on his LMG:
- Roll TECH [D8+D6] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 7 and 6)
His LMG goes back to full REL.
DONNA wipes the sweat off her forehead and puts her hair behind her ears “here’s the plan” she points at a radio “this one is in bad shape, and I mean it. Still, I believe it is our best bet”
“And the others?” asks ROMAN, bent forward to fit in the available space.
“Those are in way worse shape: there’s parts that need replacing and we can’t get: mostly stamped circuit boards” DONNA turns to the chosen radio “this here needs some work, but we can cannibalize the others and get the components we need” she pauses before adding “I think”
“I do not understand” says ROMAN narrowing his eyes “is this a plan or just hope?”
DONNA turns to him “fifty-fifty, which isn’t bad considering the state of things”
“Okay doctor, what do we do now?”
She scratches her neck “we need capacitors”
ROMAN looks interdicted “I do not… what is that?”
“Uh…” DONNA takes the pencil and a sheet of paper and draws the symbol for a capacitor “how about this?”
“Ah… kondensator” nods ROMAN.
“Yeah, I could’ve just said that…”
A shout in Polish attracts the man’s attention to the open rear access hatch. DONNA looks at the tiny portion of forest visible behind the mash of the metal fence as more shouts follow.
CAPTAIN WALICH appears at the hatch and exchanges a few words in Polish with ROMAN, culminating in both men nodding. He turns to DONNA “our sentinel spotted a wolf, in the forest. He will shoot it, so expect some noise”
“Okay… “ says DONNA “but couldn’t we just leave it alone?”
“Wolf attack at night, we want to discourage it” says WALICH, he then raises his hand, looking to his left and up.
A single shot cracks through the air, then fades in the distance. Everybody remains still.
WALICH raises a thumb up towards the roof of the barracks “he killed the wolf” he says nodding at the building “if we are lucky, the others will be deterred from attacking” DONNA raises he brows “there’s more?”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – ENCOUNTER [click to expand]
Polish 1st SOC is on watch duty, so I drew an encounter card for the shift:
- 3♣ PACK of WOLVES: a pack of wolves [number: PC = 4] begins tracking the PCs, howling in the distance, and attacks when the PCs are resting. They will attack an isolated PC if they can, preferably at night. If killed, each wolf will yield meat enough for D6 rations of food.
Side-note: as I understand, wolves tend to avoid humans, unless particularly hungry or threatened. Yet these are post-apocalyptic wolves in T2K, therefore they are committed to make things interesting for the players.
The group (and their allies) are in a fenced area with good visibility. I’m house-ruling they have been tracked by the wolves, but the animals will wait the night-shift to make a move. There is a chance though that the 1st SOC sentinel will spot them from his position on the barrack’s rooftop.
For the sentinel, I’m using the stats of a generic US Special Forces soldier from page 37 of the Referee’s Manual (there’s no Polish SF, so I’ll go with the US counterpart and change equipment): he has INT B, RECON B and benefits from an elevated position (+1)
In order to keep things interesting, I’ll say the wolves are trying to be sneaky and remain hidden while observing the group of humans occupying the base. In short, this is an opposite RECON roll.
Wolves (Referee’s Manual, page 38) have INT D and RECON A; they also benefit from vegetation (+1):
- Wolves roll RECON [D8+D12] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 4 and 4)
- Sentinel rolls RECON [D12+D10] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 2 and 1)
Bad rolls all around, but the wolves needed more successes than the sentinel to remain hidden, and they failed. The sentinel spots at least one of them. According to the travel map, we are in a forest hex, therefore encounter distance is 2D10 hexes. I’ll add 50 meters to that (5 hexes) on account of the wolves being certainly outside the perimeter of the base.
Encounter distance is 5 + 2D10 = 22 hexes (220 meters)
That’s quite the distance, but the dice have spoken. I imagine the sentinel has a bolt-action hunting rifle with attached telescopic sight; his short range is 10 hexes, so 22 hexes is long range (-2 modifier).
I’m house-ruling that standard operating procedure in post-WWIII Poland is to kill potential dangerous animals on sight. The sentinel warns the others and sets his rifle on the parapet, taking a handful of seconds to aim with his telescopic sight (and offset the distance modifier with a +2 to his roll). He has AGL A, RANGED COMBAT B, and fires from an elevated position (+1).
He aims for a stationary wolf, holds his breath and presses the trigger.
- SENTINEL rolls RANGED COMBAT [D12+D12] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 8 and 7)
The wolf is hit and suffers 3 base damage points + 1 for the extra success. He has 3 hit points, so he is taken down.
The other wolves scatter, and I am house-ruling a 50% chance of them returning in the next shift (1-50 on a D100):
Roll [D100] = 3 -> they’ll be back
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – EVENING SHIFT [click to expand]
Still cloudy
DONNA is stubbornly focused on the radio. She extracts a few more useful parts from the other sets in the vehicle, then tries to piece everything together. Her Polish helper is still present, so same modifiers as before (+1 for help, +1 for her Electrician specialty):
- Roll TECH [D10+D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 8 and 5)
1 SUCCESS to go; DONNA is determined to get the radio working before sunset, so she pushes the roll:
- Push-roll TECH [1 SUCCESS + D10] = 1 SUCCESS (got 2 on the re-rolled)
No luck, something is still missing.
NASCAR spends the shift sleeping.
LED performs maintenance on ALEX’s pistol:
- Roll TECH [D10] = NO SUCCESSES (rolled 4)
He has to brush up on foreign pistol, and the dying light is not helping.
Everybody consumes 1 ration of food from their backpack and one ration of water found on site.
ALEX puts the binoculars back on the parapet and yawns while observing the dimming sunlight over the sea of trees surrounding the base. He rummages through an MRE bag and extracts a packet of biscuits, opens it and starts chewing on the dark brown circles, offering a tepid welcome to the stale taste.
Beside him is a Polish soldier from the 1st SOC, a short man with receding hairline and a thick black beard showing some white streaks. He stands straight, his eyes scanning the edge of the forest, arms crossed around a hunting rifle.
ALEX turns to him and offers the small plastic biscuit package. “Chcesz jeden?” he asks. [Polish: you want one?]
The soldier turns and briefly considers the offer “Amerykańskie jedzenie?” he asks with a hint of suspicion. [Polish: American food?]
ALEX nods, still gnawing on a biscuit.
The soldier shakes his head “Nie, dziękuję” [Polish: no, thank you]
ALEX retrieves the offered package “good choice” “I know”
As he is checking the open area inside the metal fence, he sees DONNA emerge from the BTR, briefly stop to stretch her back and then slowly walk towards the building. He waves and she stops to wave back, projecting a long shadow on the ground
“Radio working yet?” he shouts.
“Nah… progress is steady, but slow” she says tiredly.
“Radio in such bad shape?”
DONNA breaths heavily “a lot of oxidized components, fused circuits, bad connections all around… it’s a mess”
“Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?”
DONNA ponders briefly while looking at the BTR “if we set that thing on fire then yes, there’s light, and a lot less problems if you ask me. But that’s not the path we elected to take…”
“And what is our path?”
“Head down and we keep at it, but that’s for tomorrow”
“Tomorrow is always a great day for working” says ALEX.
“Yeah” comments DONNA, then lowering her voice “until you wake up”
As the evening light fades, ALEX scouts the surrounding area with his binoculars, while slowly circling the roof’s perimeter. At ground level, Polish soldiers are preparing some fires for the night.
He abruptly stops as an unfamiliar shape emerges from a distance patch of forest, unrecognizable at first, then growing clearer by the second: four legged and furry, teeth visible and an ominous reflex coming from his eyes.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – RECON [click to expand]
ALEX is on watch for the shift. Time for an opposite RECON roll vs the wolves. ALEX benefits from an elevated position (+1) and is actively using the group’s binoculars (+1):
- WOLVES roll RECON [D8+D12] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 1 and 4)
ALEX would have rolled RECON [D12+D10], but with 0 successes the wolves have already revealed themselves (these wolves are really sloppy and/or hungry).
Wolves are spotted at 5 +2D10 = 21 hexes = 210 meters
The wolf stops, partially concealed by the vegetation, clearly observing the base and its occupants. ALEX establish a range, sets down the binoculars and without breaking eye-contact props his M40A3 over the parapet.
For a fraction of a second he looks down and identifies the closest Polish soldier; he whistles gaining his attention. “Wilk” he says loud enough to be heard “angażuję się” [Polish: wolf, i’m engaging]
A whistled response is enough, ALEX waits thirty second for the word to spread around, his sight set on the target. The wolf isn’t moving. Good whispers ALEX, steady. He focuses on his breathing, finds the correct rhytm, and gently presses the trigger.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – ATTACK ROLL [click to expand]
ALEX has set his rifle and taken time to aim through his telescopic sight (+2). His target is at medium distance (range for the M40A3 is 12, so this is a -1 penalty):
- ALEX rolls RANGED COMBAT [D10+D10] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 2 and 4)
Odds are good, he pushes the roll:
- ALEX push-rolls RANGED COMBAT [D10+D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 8 and 1)
The target wolf suffers 3 base damage points (which is also critical for the M40A3) and is killed. ALEX fires a single shot, and his rifle’s REL drops by 1.
The wolf is struck center mass and its inanimate body falls to the ground. ALEX observes it through the telescopic sight while re-adjusting his breathing. He slowly takes his finger off the trigger with the feeling that something was odd, like the internal mechanics of the rifle weren’t up to standard, and it took a tiny bit more travel of the trigger to fire this time.
He then detaches his eyes from the scope and looks down the parapet: the 1st SOC soldier is looking his way. ALEX raises his hand giving a thumb up.
“Wilki są uprate” says the Polish soldier. [Polish: wolves are stubborn]
“Nas też” answers ALEX. [Polish: so are we]
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – WOLVES [click to expand]
The other 2 wolves scatter; once again, I am house-ruling a 50% chance of them returning in the next shift (1-50 on a D100):
- Roll [D100] = 97 -> these humans are not worth it
As darkness has enveloped the base, most human activities are confined to the main buildings and limited by the light sources available. By a window of the first floor in the office building, NASCAR is sitting at a table, carefully maintaining ALEX’s pistol which lies partially disassembled on the wooden surface.
On one side of the table is a portable lamp, casting a yellow light over the work area, while the ceiling is tinted in the dark red emanating from the fires set outside at ground level. NASCAR holds the barrel of the gun close to his face and carefully observes it in search of anomalies.
Just beside the table is a concrete column with ample areas of chipped paint, and at its feet lays LED, his back leaning against the column, and his leg stretched on a thin worn-out mattress. He holds a booklet in front of his eyes and uses the light cast by the portable lamp to read it.
NASCAR notices the book “whatcha got there LT?”
LED quickly closes and re-opens the booklet, just glancing at the red cover “found this laying around” he says without turning “thought to give it a go”
“Some Soviet propaganda about how superior their broken-ass way of life is?”
“Nah, this was written after the fall” says LED “the guy who penned it had a bit of freedom to talk about real life in the Soviet Union”
“Yeah? How was it?”
“Looks like a lot of absurdities all bundled together”
NASCAR chuckles a bit “my life is not really bathed in rationality either. I’m supposed come from the country of freedom and liberty… guess I used my freedom to take a lot of wrong turns”
LED taps the page of the booklet with one finger “the guy in this book is not happy about his life under Communist rule; so much that he wants to escape the Soviet Union”
“And go where, Canada?”
“Well, a little further away…” LED pauses briefly “he wants to go to space”
“Space?”
“Yeah”
“Can’t he just… hop the Berlin wall or something?”
LED shakes his head “nah, not far enough. He thinks Soviet control is so pervasive and all-encompassing, that his only chance of breaking free is to leave the planet”
NASCAR is perplexed “how’s that working for him?”
“Well, so far he managed to enter the Space Program”
“So he can become an astronaut?”
“A hero, in the Soviet Union astronauts are called heroes”
“Really? And what are you in the Soviet Union if you go fight in a war?” asks NASCAR.
“Same thing you are everywhere else”
“A fool?”
“That’s it”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – NIGHT SHIFT [click to expand]
Weather improves: clear night with a thin sliver of moon visible
Soldiers from the 1st SOC set up a few fires and assume watch duty.
LED spends the night resting, recovering 1 point of damage and 1 point of stress.
DONNA spends the night shift sleeping, recovering 1 stress point.
NASCAR performs maintenance on ALEX’s pistol:
- Roll TECH [D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 5 and 2)
ALEX spends the shift sleeping, recovering one hit and stress point.
The last trace of light has vanished, and the sky’s dome is now littered with stars, bright white dots sprinkled from one edge of the forest to the opposite one, with a thin silver sleeve of moon visible among them.
NASCAR joins a Polish soldier standing outside the barracks building, just at the edge of the circle of light cast by the fire lit in the open area. He leans against the concrete façade and nods towards the other man, receiving the same gesture in return.
He points up “not bad uh? People write poems about this s**t, you know?”
The other man looks at him and shakes his head lightly while shrugging.
“No English, uh?” asks NASCAR “no abla ing… f**k am I sayin’?” he finishes lowering his voice.
The Polish man just looks at him.
“Hey, how do you say star?” NASCAR points at the sky, pointing one star after the other.
“Gwiazda”
“Uh… how ‘bout the moon” this time he traces a curve in the air.
“Księżyc”
“And the fire?” NASCAR gestures towards the fire in the open area.
“Ogień”
NASCAR nods slowly “I’m not gonna remember any of those” he says to himself. Then to the other man “you think we’ll ever get to go home?”
The man looks at him expressionless.
“You know, going home?” he forms the basic shape of a slanted roof with his hands “home”
The other is unfazed.
“I guess you already are home, well… maybe you’re not from here here” he points at the Polish man, then forms a circle in the air with his pointer “where are you from?”
The man remains silent.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t understand that either…” NASCAR ponders for a bit “how about we try something different? Let’s go with the basics…”
“American” interrupts the man speaking good English “I am tired, please go away”
NASCAR narrows his eyes “go f**k yourself man”
The man’s composure is unchanged “as long as you do not follow me there”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
I drew an encounter card for the night shift, but didn’t apply.
End of day 16
DAY 16 – MAY 3rd 2000
LUBLINIEC, POLAND – MORNING
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – MORNING SHIFT [click to expand]
Fair weather persists.
DONNA is determined to fix the radio: she is alone, benefitting from her Electrician specialty:
- Roll TECH [D10+D8] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 1 and 7)
That bring DONNA up to the 3 successes needed; the radio now works, it still needs calibration though.
LED sleeps for the shift.
NASCAR is on watch duty. I drew an encounter card for the shift, but it didn’t apply to the current situation. Everything’s quiet.
DONNA emerges from the BTR, hands stained black and forehead covered in sweat. She takes a moment to stretch her back emitting a satisfied moan, then sees NASCAR exiting the barracks, his watch duty just over.
“What’s the news DOC?”
DONNA wipes her forehead using a sleeve “radio’s functional, but it needs some prepping to be used”
NASCAR appears confused “what do you mean? Radio’s working but we can’t use it?”
“Put it this way: you can turn it on and it won’t blow up in your face. Actually transmitting and receiving… that’s another matter”
“So I can’t contact the Russians and tell ‘em to get the f**k out of the country, so we can all go home?”
“No…” replys DONNA gathering all her sarcasm “you’ll have to go to the Kremlin and knock”
“I’ll bring it up at the next squad meeting”
“Yeah, you do that” DONNA looks around “where’s everybody”
“Well, I’m off watch duty, LT is catching some sleep, and ALEX went out hunting” says NASCAR nodding towards the fence.
“Hunting? We got wolves all around and he goes out hunting?”
“What’s the problem? If he gets hurt, we got a doctor here” says NASCAR gesturing towards his teammate.
“You guys need a different kind of doctor”
“You mean a shrink?”
“I was thinking more to a miracle worker”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – HUNTING [click to expand]
ALEX leaves the base for hunting. I’ll streamline the process here:
Roll for SURVIVAL modified for the terrain type (forest: +1). Also, +1 for ALEX’s Hunter specialty:
- Roll SURVIVAL [D10+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 7 and 6)
He tracks 2 potential preys; let’s roll twice on the table at page 147 of the Player’s Manual:
- First track [D6] = 6 -> Moose
- Second track [D6] = 2 -> Rabbit
The moose would be a big score, he goes for it. Getting close is akin to ambushing (rule-wise): you have to decide how close you want to get to your prey. ALEX wants to move to short range (12 hexes for his M40A3), meaning the modifier for his roll is +1:
- Roll RECON [D10+D10] = 3 SUCCESSES (rolled 10 and 6)
Unfortunately there’s no bonus for the extra successes. Finally: a RANGED COMBAT roll. I’ll assume he takes his time aiming and fires from a stable position (+2 for this roll).
- Roll RANGED COMBAT [D12+D10] = 3 SUCCESSES (rolled 10 and 7)
A moose has a hit capacity of 6, but this is a critical hit and therefore lethal. It’s 2D6x4 = 12 food rations (yeah, I rolled low on the D6s…)
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – DAY SHIFT [click to expand]
Still fair weather
NASCAR sleeps
LED spends the shift cooking the moose meat. Player’s Manual, page 148 ‘you can cook up to a dozen daily ration of food in a shift’ which is exactly how many we have.
It’s a lot of meat, so DONNA helps (+1) to LED’s roll:
- Roll SURVIVAL [D10+D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 7 and 2)
The players get 12 domestic food rations; they all consume 1 for the day, and give 4 to the 1st SOC soldiers. I’ll assume the water ration for the day is found on site, just like previous day.
“All of this came from a single animal?” asks DONNA observing the array of meat pieces displayed on a makeshift grill set over the campfire.
Beside her is LED, pocking and turning the pieces with his combat knife. “That’s right” he says.
“What was it? A dinosaur?”
“A moose, though a small one”
“So… a moose survives nukes, only to be killed in the forest by a random dude”
“Sure…” LED ponders briefly “look at it this way: a man survives nukes, and still manages to find game in the forest”
“Right, perspective” DONNA nods “guess I should be grateful”
“Being grateful is easier on a full stomach”
“Right” DONNA turns her attention to the BTR “what if ALEX can get the radio to transmit and receive?”
“We’ll have a working radio” replies LED calmly while making a cut into a piece of meat.
“And what’s the plan then?” pushes DONNA.
Led takes a deep breath “with a radio you can transmit or receive. We establish contact with the 1/116th Cav, that’s our priority. Other than that, I would remain silent and just listen for a while”
“So, we’re trying to get a sense of what’s around us”
“Or who’s around us”
DONNA remains silent for a while, then moves to a lower tone “do you still think we can win this war? Do you still think it’s worth fighting it?”
LED turns to her “I never thought this war was worth fighting. But I still think we can make things better…” his gaze gets lost in the distance “I have to think we can, otherwise what’s left?”
“Otherwise we’re just surviving” sentences DONNA.
LED nods towards the grill and the meat pieces on it “this moose was just trying to survive, now look at it. Nah, I need to think we are doing something that matters, even a little bit. If not… I might as well be chopped up and placed on that grill”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – CALIBRATING THE RADIO [click to expand]
ALEX tries to calibrate the radio, benefitting from his Communications specialty (+1):
- Roll TECH [D12+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled double 8)
RADIO is working, I’ll invent something to reward the extra success.
“Headphones are busted, all we have is this little speaker, but it’s functional” ALEX points at a small round speaker propped up beside the radio in the BTR. The small lights are on and a needle oscillated left and right as he adjusts a nob, scanning frequencies. “Microphone works alright, and we also have a spare” he points at a small box on the floor of the vehicle.
Beside him, LED is observes the pile of cannibalized equipment, while DONNA and NASCAR look inside from the main hatch.
“Can you tune in to the sports channel? I missed who won the last super bowl” says NASCAR.
“No, get on the BBC” replies DONNA “I wanna know how the mountain leopard is adapting to radioactive rains”
ALEX turns to LED “I have tried NATO frequencies, and known Soviet ones, but so far nothing” he turns the plastic volume nob and the speaker starts to emit static noises.
“I wasn’t expecting to get lucky on our first try” comments LED. “We have established sunset as the time to contact WARREN up North; until then, we can keep scanning”
“I’ve narrowed the band interval, that means we can lock on more discrete frequencies, but it will take time to scan everything” he presses a white button labeled with an upward arrow multiple times. The statics change slightly with each input, contributing to a sea of incoherent noises.
“Back in fifth division we had an open channel for low priorities and coded-messages only” says NASCAR.
ALEX nods while he keeps pressing the button “I have tried it, so far nothing”
“You can only monitor one frequency at a time I guess” observes LED.
“Correct”
“So you need to be in the right place at the right time”
“Yes… we need some luck” ALEX keep pressing the upward arrow button.
“Or someone transmitting long enough to give us a chance to get him in the sweep” observes DONNA.
ALEX nods as he taps the button again, the small speaker modulating the statics with each new frequency.
“Any chance you can rig up another radio set DOC?” asks LED looking at DONNA.
Another tap of the button, another version of the same statics.
“Maybe… not sure” says DONNA unconvinced.
ALEX taps the button again, more statics follow.
“There’s a lot of components, but it’s mostly rubbish at this point”
One more tap, another variation on the statics theme.
“LED turns again to the pile of discarded equipment “right”
Again a tap of the button, only this time a different sound can be heard among the statics.
Everyone stares at the small round speaker.
ALEX lifts one finger in the air, while bending towards the source of the sound. There is a faint, rhythmic, drum sound clearly distinguishable.
“Let me… just…” he turns tow small nobs just slightly.
The sound grows in clarity, surpassing the statics: it’s a drumbeat accompanied by electronics, like something out of the 80s. Everyone keeps silent.
There’s a choir of voices singing a single word every handful of seconds, but it’s hard to tell what they’re saying.
One final adjustment on the nobs crisps the signal even more. The choir stops as the rhythm progresses, then a woman’s voice comes through the speaker.
In this world we’re just beginning
To understand the miracle of living
Baby I was afraid before
But I’m not afraid anymore
There’s some crackles and the sound of a guitar joins the rhythm. More crackles and again the woman’s voice.
Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
They say in heaven love comes first
We’ll make heaven a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
The sound fades while maintaining its clarity
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
There’s a few seconds of silence, then a male voice with a distinct American accent is heard.
“This concludes our programming for today. Remember: liberty is not free, it has to be conquered, and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance”
“As always, I am your host Sam, and this is Radio America”
Statics return, and everyone remains silent.
FINAL COMMENTS
It’s post 100!
This entry erred a bit on the longer side… but I wanted to have a little celebration of this triple-digit milestone with a handful of shorter scenes, move through the shifts spent at the base, and get to the finale with the radio transmission.
Also, yes, I bundled together two days of the campaign so I could have the radio transmission on post 100…
The transmission itself acts as a bit of foreshadowing of what is to come, or at least my current plans for the future of this campaign. Also, it purposely does not fit with any of the intel the players have received about the Silesia area during their briefing with MARIA and WARREN.
In case you are wondering: the booklet LED found is a Russian copy of ‘Omon Ra’ by Viktor Olegovič Pelevin.