DAY 5 – APRIL 22nd 2000
PRASZKA, POLAND – MORNING
There’s roughly one hour left before sunrise after the guide and his companion leave Garage Hotel; the gunfire trickles down, gets more distant and eventually fades away.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
NASCAR takes another mag for his P-83 pistol from what they looted at Garage Hotel.
LED repacks his ammo for the AKM: he now has a full mag and another with 28 rounds. He leaves both with the stockpile at Garage Hotel. He also gives one of his frag grenades back to NASCAR.
As dawn approaches, NASCAR is keeping watch, his head oscillating to the tune of a pop song he’s quietly singing.
LED and ALEX are still assessing the situation. “Listen, sorry I didn’t join you and NASCAR” says ALEX, “I tried to move toward the battle, but I didn’t know where you were and I could hear gunshots from multiple directions, so eventually I turned back. The guide and his buddy got to us about twenty minutes before you came back”
“You made the right call” nods LED “at one point we were expecting visitors, unfriendly visitors. We could have shot you just for knocking on the door”
DONNA is sticking to the vicinities of the garage unit, checking on the wounded leader every fifteen minutes.
LED and ALEX join her. “Did they say anything about the battle?” asks LED.
DONNA shakes her head “not with words, but the fact they were here and not somewhere else to fight says something. Also, they were both injured”
LED frowns his braws “I didn’t notice”
“Our guide had a bandaged hand, soaked with blood; the other guy had fresh bruises around his neck” says ALEX.
“I offered to help but…” DONNA leaves the sentence lingering.
“I’m afraid we’ve been placed in the ‘foe’ column after they saw we gave medical aid to an enemy” says ALEX pointing at the enemy leader.
LED points a finger at the prisoners “they said there were about fifty men attacking the town: we killed 7, possibly 10 including the technical we wrecked, that’s 15 to 20 percent of the enemy force; not to mention the group we stopped here before the assault. It should be pretty clear what column we belong to”
“Want to write an after-action report?” asks ALEX, “something you can show them?”
“They don’t strike me as being big on paperwork” LED looks in the general direction of the sun, “well, I think it’s officially dawn and I have a blind date”. He then looks at ALEX “is it okay if I ask you to tag along?”
“Sure” says ALEX.
“I don’t want to miss any Polish remarks”
“Got it”
“Okay, let’s go. After all, we don’t want to be rude”
MEETING YOUR HOST
LED and ALEX are coasting the building at ulica Fabryczna 9, its damaged exterior now clearly visible in the dawning light. LED is peeking around the corner.
ALEX reads the name of the building, “is this the building you guys fought in?”
“Yeah, remind me later that we’ve left some equipment on the top floor. These Flock’s guys don’t have much, but nowadays who does?”
LED can see about ten men standing in the vicinity of the outpost: some are checking damages, a couple are moving through the tree line where they last saw the enemies engaging the defenders at close distance, and a few more are keeping watch.
“You think they’ll just shoot us?” asks LED.
“They didn’t look that trigger-happy to me”
“So, they’ll tell us why before”
“Precisely”
The duo moves out of cover and slowly advances toward the outpost, rifles slinged on their backs and hands raised. The defenders keeping watch alert the others and after a brief pause, they gesture the players to come closer.
The defenders appear to be tired, some have visible bandages, wounds and dirt on their faces and hands. Corpses have been lined up on both sides of the tree line: on the side closer to the outpost are 5 dead men and a woman, on the other side are about 12 to 15 men, all wearing the Flock’s armband. They’ve been placed disorderly while the dead defenders are lined up with precision. Weapons, magazines, helmets, combat webbing and other items are piled against the outside wall of the outpost. The air is heavy, clouding everything in the thick smell of dirt, blood and spent gunnpowder.
The outpost itself is a single-story building, all its windows are smashed and there’s a high number of holes carved into its exterior. The roof is partially collapsed in one spot near the main entrance. It’s surrounded by a short metal fence painted in a faded green that has collected rust over the past years. A line of brown sandbags has been placed against the side facing the street.
A young man steps forward, “are you the Americans?” he asks with a marked Polish accent.
ALEX tilts his head “well, actually I’m…”
“Yes, yes we are” says LED interrupting his comrade.
“Wait here”
After a brief wait a man in his fifty emerges from the outpost; he has short, dark hair, a veil of beard, pale skin and penetrating eyes. He’s wearing urban camo pants and a military Polish jacket over a police flak vest. He has a side holster containing a P-83 Polish army pistol and scars are visible on his neck and left cheek. Just behind him is a tall, bulky man carrying an AK-74, with a Polish police flack vest under his combat webbing which holds a few ammo mags and a combat knife. The man is staring at the two outsiders.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
I didn’t draw cards for this major NPC, as I had already in mind how I wanted him to be. For the sake of narration, I decided to move the events forward according to my own vision, rather than applying the randomness enforced by the game’s rules.
The man in takes a deep look at the players before speaking in a good English with recognizable Polish accent “my men tell me you played a part in the battle”
“We tried to help” says LED.
The man nods slowly, his eyes narrowed “yes, tell me about this help you gave us”
LED takes a deep breath, granting himself enough time to decide the level of details recommended by the circumstances.
“We intercepted a group traversing the quarters you assigned us for the night, we eliminated half and took the rest of them prisoners. They told us they were moving around your perimeter to attack your outpost in a building not far from here” says LED pointing in the direction of the outpost he mentioned.
The man nods again, “please, go on”
“The prisoners told us about an imminent attack on the town and the attack started right after” LED pauses for a moment before continuing “we moved closer to the gunshots and took the opportunity to flank the assailants”
“So you destroyed their tank” says the man.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it a tank” says LED turning to look at the wreck of the technical still where NASCAR hit it, “but yes, we did that” he concludes pointing at the pickup.
“And you also fought in that building” says the man pointing at Fabryczna 9.
LED turns to look at where the other is pointing, “yes, we did fight there”
“And you killed five men there”
“We killed seven” replies LED.
“Bottom floor?”
“Top floor”
The man nods again, “then you took all their weapons and took them away”
LED stares at the man, “no, their weapons are still there”
The man raises his eyebrows just slightly. The bulky guy behind him steps forward and whispers something in his ear. The man looks at LED again “are you sure?”
“Top floor, northern apartment, tiled room, they’re still there”
The man looks at one of his soldiers and nods toward the building; the soldier and a comrade start walking toward Fabryczna 9.
“So far you’ve been honest, if this last thing checks out, we will have no problem”
“Good” says LED, “then we will have no problem”
The man smiles, “they call me CJA, I’m in charge of defending the town”
LED and ALEX just stare at him.
“You know, it is unpolite to avoid introductions”
LED is quick to respond “You’re right, we’re sorry. They call me LED”
“Aleksander” says ALEX with a nod.
CJA looks curiously at ALEX, “Polish name”
“Jestem Polakiem” confirms ALEX.
“Dobrze, dobrze” nods CJA with a smile.
LED is looking at the corpses to his left “can I ask… the final balance of last night?”
CJA looks at LED, then at the corpses “I would like to tell you we won, but the truth is we have little to celebrate”
A young man arrives from the center of the town at a steady pace. He stops about two meters away and stares at the outsiders for a moment, then he turns to the defenders’ leader “CJA”
CJA turns to face him and the young man nods telling him to get closer, “to ważne” he says.
“Excuse me” says CJA.
ALEX and LED remain alone for about a minute. “So far so good” says ALEX.
“You think? ‘Cos I think we just lost everything we looted from the guys up on the top floor” comments LED.
“Consider it a fee”
“For what?”
“Four tickets to Praszka, hopefully”
“Right” says LED “but I was hoping to use the looted equipment for bargaining”
“We still have what we looted off the first group. Actually, we need to talk to CJA about the prisoners”
“He doesn’t seem very inclined towards clemency. He can barely put up with the two of us, and that’s mostly because you’re Polish” says LED “I say we talk some more and get a better sense of how to approach the subject”
“The wounded guy…”
“I know” interrupts LED, “his clock is ticking, I didn’t forget”
When CJA comes back he has a somewhat more serious demeanor, his eyes reflect the inner stream of thoughts he’s going through.
“Yesterday my men at the checkpoint told me you wanted to trade in our market” he says.
“That’s true” responds LED “are we in time for today’s market?”
CJA’s lips move slightly forming more a grim than a smile, “normally travelers showing up at dusk are… invited to move far from the town. Do you know why we decided you could stay inside the town?”
LED ponders for a short while “no”
“I was informed you were carrying an anti-tank weapon. I wanted you to stay nearby so that today you could trade it with us. Our stockpile of anti-tank weapons is… limited. Now the problem is: you don’t have it anymore, right?”
“We used it to cripple the enemy’s technical that was tearing your outpost to pieces” says LED, “I’d hardly call it a waste”
CJA raises his hands “I didn’t say that. You do not have what we were interested in anymore, but there might be something else. A way to earn your entrance in our town”
“You’re saying this like last night doesn’t count” comments LED.
“Consider it a way to enter not just our town, but our good graces as well” replies CJA.
LED and ALEX look at each other. “What?” asks LED.
“I have just been informed that the battle is not over. Help us finish it and you can enter Praszka”
JUST ONE MORE FAVOUR
Having accepted CJA’s offer, LED and ALEX go back to Garage Hotel and brief the other half of the group.
The assailants have been killed or repelled during the night, but a small number of them (CJA says 4 to 8 men) moved around the town from the north and captured an outpost on the eastern side of the town. Being the furthest from the direction of the assault, the outpost was manned by a skeleton crew at the time of the assault. As it overlooks the cultivated fields, the outpost is of vital importance for the town; also, some of the men manning it might be kept hostages, but that is not confirmed. The outpost is a two-story building, formerly a school, mostly surrounded by open terrain and low buildings.
“There was a small stockpile of weapons and ammo inside the outpost. If the Flock found it, then they are well prepared to defend against an assault” concludes LED.
“Another assignment straight out of my dreams, lieutenant” comments DONNA while yawning.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
At this point both LED and DONNA are sleep deprived: they cannot heal stress and will take 1 point of stress each day. They need to sleep for a shift in order to lose this condition.
“Townspeople have a plan?” asks NASCAR.
“If they do, they’re not sharing it, not yet. They will provide us with a map of the place, but I want to recon the area before formulating our plan. If we have to assault this place, we’re doing it on our terms”
“Please tell me they won’t just send us alone” says DONNA.
“No, we’ll be supporting them. We maintain our independence while we share a general plan” explains LED.
“Remind me again: what are we getting out of this?” asks NASCAR.
LED turns to ALEX.
“Some kind of honorary citizenship I guess” says ALEX.
“Which I can neither eat nor shoot” comments NASCAR.
“Hopefully it means a place where we can rest and resupply while planning our next move” intervenes LED.
“Our next move better be out of here and fast” concludes NASCAR looking around.
DONNA points a finger at the prisoners “what about our guests?”
“I’m hoping to negotiate their entrance into the town once we’re in the good graces of the guy in charge” says LED.
“And our guest with special needs?”
“With a bit of luck, we’ll be able to move him into town, and with more luck they will have what you need for the operation” LED pauses for a second, “also, with a bit more luck they will be willing to treat him”
“That’s a lot of luck right there” comments DONNA.
“So far it has worked for us”
The prisoners are instructed to stay in place. The group trust them not to abandon their wounded leader, plus the town defenders know they’re there and they better not provoke them by trying to disappear.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
The stockpile of weapons looted at Garage Hotel is distributed in DONNA and NASCAR’s backpacks (it’s a total of 10 encumbrance units, which they can manage). NASCAR takes one of the combat knifes; ALEX takes an AKM (reliability 4), all the magazines (4 full + 1 with 28 rounds) and the steel helmet looted from the scout.
FINAL COMMENTS
The night is over, but the fight is not. The players have made contact with the town’s leadership and have now been promised access to Praszka. The catch? The path to entering the town goes through one more fight.
A peek inside my thought process: Praszka is a small town with limited resources just trying to get by and hoping to survive the next winter (or the next day). Its manpower has just taken a hit in the recent fight and CJA has decided to exploit the newcomers that are apparently already keen on helping the town. He kept the promised reward purposely vague: the players will enter Praszka; yet they don’t know what they’ll find in it.
If the players decide to turn and walk away, then their actions in the past night will have been for nothing. So, in a sense, they are already committed.