DAY 5 – APRIL 22nd 2000
PRASZKA, POLAND – MORNING
[From now on I’ll describe what happens forgoing the initiative order and the divisions between rounds]
MARKO tasks two of his fighters with keeping in check the enemy on the upper floor.
[ENEMY 1 is cornered, the support team covers all windows and the soldiers downstairs cover the only stair leading up]
ALEX and DONNA are ordered to check the upper floor of the north wing. They don’t find anybody else.
LED and NASCAR join MARKO near the stack of crates in the main hall.
“There’s one upstairs” says MARKO pointing at the stairs “he is not a problem”
Someone’s voice echoes through the building; he’s shouting something in Polish. MARKO gestures to follow him and the trio takes position at the left corner, while the soldier there skips to the other side.
There’s more shouting after which MARKO yells something back.
LED peeks past the corner and sees a man on his knees by a door on his side of the hallway, about 10 meters up. The man has his hands tied behind his back, a black eye and bruises on his face. Pressed against the hostage’s head is the muzzle of an AKM, wielded by someone behind cover inside the room.
MARKO turns to LED and says “it’s their LEADER, he says…”
“I see, I got it” confirms LED.
MARKO orders one of his men to sweep the classrooms on the southern corridor.
“Is that his only hostage?” asks LED.
MARKO looks down “we had 5 men here; they killed a hostage on the upper floor and another is there. There is three more missing”.
The enemy LEADER screams something in angry tone.
“Ask him” says LED.
“What?”
“Ask him how many hostages he has, let’s get a conversation going”
MARKO asks something in Polish and the LEADER yells something back.
“He says he has 2, and he will kill them”
“Then why are they not dead already?” asks NASCAR.
MARKO turns to him frowning his braws.
“He’s right” says LED “what does he want?”
The machinegun on the other side of the road opens fire and two short burst impact the building’s upper floor.
The LEADER starts yelling again, and MARKO is quick to match the shouting.
“Get ALEX” says LED to NASCAR.
MARKO and the LEADER keep shouting at each other for a while longer. Meantime ALEX and DONNA are back downstairs reporting the North wing is clear.
MARKO turns to LED and ALEX “he wants us to drop our weapons and line up against the wall, then he will get out of the school with one hostage and let him go when he reaches the tree line outside”.
“Sure…” comments ALEX sarcastically.
“I know” says MARKO “I am trying to understand what he really wants”
“Don’t bother” says LED shaking his head.
“Why?”
“He won’t release any hostage. He knows he’s going die and he doesn’t care” says LED. “These guys are fanatics, I don’t think he will do anything rational”
“And you know what he will do?” asks MARKO.
“Kill as many of us as he can” answers ALEX.
MARKO turns to LED and gets a nod in response.
“Is there another door to that room?” asks ALEX.
MARKO shakes his head “it’s a bathroom”
One of MARKO’s soldiers approaches him and says something to him in Polish.
ALEX points at the soldiers and translates for LED “they got the guy on the upper floor, and found two of the local men who were manning the outpost dead in a classroom”
The soldier says something else and ALEX adds “one had his hands tied and was shot in the head”
“Any windows?” asks LED.
“In the bathroom?” says MARKO.
“Yeah, there’s usually a window”
“There is one, but it ,is boarded up from the outside and we piled sandbags in front of it on the inside” answers MARKO “it’s the safe room for the outpost”
“Fantastic” comments ALEX.
The LEADER shouts again something.
“He’s giving us sixty seconds” translates ALEX.
MARKO says something out loud in response.
“He wants to hear the second hostage” whispers ALEX in LED’s ear.
“The door on the opposite side of the corridor; it’s a classroom, right?” asks LED pointing at the door.
“Yes” says MARKO.
“And there’s an internal courtyard, like a garden or something, that we can use to get to it without him seeing us, correct?”
A new voice comes from the bathroom, it’s just a moan, tired and defeated.
“Second hostage” nods MARKO.
“The classroom, can we get there from the other side?” asks LED again.
“Yes, but when you open the door, he will see you”
LED turns to ALEX “I’ll go around and get to that classroom with NASCAR, he’s our best shot. I’ll open the door and he’ll have a solution on the target”.
“If he sees or hears the door opening even by a little…”
“I’ll pry open the door so NASCAR has a clear view” interrupts LED “you keep him distracted, and when it’s time, you give us the signal”
“Alright, copy” says ALEX nodding.
LED turns to MARKO “he will kill the hostages no matter what. This is the only thing I can think of, is it okay with you?”
MARKO thinks for a moment, clearly in discomfort.
LED shakes his head putting his hand on the man’s shoulder “we don’t have time”
“Do it” says MARCO reluctantly.
“As soon as we shoot, send your men down the hallway” says LED before stepping out to get to NASCAR and handing him his M1911A1.
[A pistol has a lower penalty in close quarters, and LED’s M1911A1 has overall better stats than NASCAR’s P-83]
Briefing NASCAR and getting in position takes 20 seconds, plus the 20 seconds that have passed since the ultimatum. There’s little time left.
“Let one of the hostages go” says ALEX in Polish.
[The conversation between ALEX and the enemy LEADER is in Polish]
“Who are you?” yells the LEADER.
“I’m the person you want to talk too”
“What if I let him go with a bullet in his head, huh?”
“We won’t have any reason to trust you anymore. Why would we think you would let the other go?”
“Do you want me to kill them both?”
“No, I don’t. You wanted us to drop our guns and line up against the wall, right?
“If you want them to remain alive”
By this time, ALEX is confident LED and NASCAR are in position; he puts his AKM and hunting rifle against the wall, moves his P-83 to the back of his belt and takes a step in the hallway, hugging the northern wall.
“How about we discuss it, just you and me. I’m coming there unarmed”
“Stop where you are! You will cost your friend here his life!”
ALEX can see the enemy rifle’s muzzle oscillating with every word.
“Okay, okay, I’m stopping here” says ALEX taking another step “how are we going to do this? Do we line up against the wall in the main hall?”
“No, you… you line up here where I can see you!”
“Got it. One more thing”
“What!?”
“Have you thought about where you’re going when you are out of here?”
“That is my problem, why the hell do you care?”
“Because it’s not like you can hop on a plane and go to, I don’t know… Mexico”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
We have reached the peak of the final act, and there’s a few things to house-rule and decide on before rolling the dice. As the only person at the table, I can take my time.
I didn’t roll dice for this negotiation part as I let the narration flow with my instincts. I’m not a professional in hostage negotiation so I cannot guarantee what was and wasn’t said and done actually make sense.
In my mind the LEADER is trying to form a plan for killing not just the hostages but as many of the Praszka’s soldiers as he can (and the players too). I imagined him torn between luring the soldiers in a trap leveraging the hostages and just tossing a grenade out in the corridor and start shooting right after the explosion.
I ultimately went with the first one on account of the marked disparity of forces on the two sides (if he throws a grenade and then steps out, he would probably be shot by someone who got into cover fast enough to avoid the grenade).
The players (mostly LED, who’s instinct was to take action and assume responsibility) have concluded that talking won’t get anything accomplished and decided for the only possible – yet extreme – solution. MARKO didn’t seem to have a clear idea of how to best proceed so LED (and ALEX) took over.
Now NASCAR has to take the shot, hopefully with the added bonus of surprise.
So, here’s what to decide:
- Will the LEADER be surprised when LED opens the door?
ALEX’s role was to keep the leader distracted and he tried by talking to him. Since everything that was said in the brief conversation is my own creation and wasn’t affected by any dice roll, I’ll make one here. It’s an opposed PERSUASION roll, and if ALEX succeeds LED and NASCAR will act before the LEADER can react to LED opening the door on the other side of the hallway.
According to the Player’s Manual, your PERSUASION roll is affected by your negotiating position (page 61). For this particular case, the followings are relevant:
- Your opponent has more people on their side: I’m not applying this modifier as the LEADER doesn’t care how many people he’s facing (his fanaticism protects him from caring).
- You have more people on your side: I’m not applying this one either as ALEX knows the enemy doesn’t care about numbers.
- Your opponent has suffered damage or stress: aside from the stress factor, the LEADER has suffered one point of damage when the Flock took over the outpost (as established during the creation of the Flock’s team occupying the school), and could have suffered more injuries in the assault. This gives ALEX a +1.
- You present your case very well: this is up to the Referee (a.k.a. me) and I’m not comfortable with granting points for my narration.
- Your opponent is held captive by you: this one is a stretch, but one may say the LEADER is surrounded and forced into the bathroom. This would grant ALEX a +1 but it will be balanced by the next factor.
- You ask for something valuable or dangerous: ALEX is asking for two lives to be spared and that definitely counts as valuable. This -1 balances the previous factor.
In the opposed PERSUASION roll, the final modifiers are a +1 for ALEX and no modifiers for the LEADER. Let’s roll the dice.
- ALEX rolls PERSUASION [D10+D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 4 and 6)
- The enemy LEADER rolls PERSUASION [D10+D6] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 9 and 4)
ALEX needs more successes than the LEADER, so he pushes the roll:
- ALEX push-rolls PERSUASION [D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 3 on the re-rolled die)
ALEX was good, but not good enough to capture the full attention of the enemy LEADER.
- What’s the initiative order after LED opens the door?
I’m house-ruling the following: LED is just opening the door, starting the fight. He gets first place in the initiative order, but his action for the first round is already determined.
NASCAR and the enemy LEADER will each draw an Initiative card. ALEX, who’s relying on NASCAR to act before the enemy, will get 4th place.
This is not a proper ambush as NASCAR doesn’t see the enemy and will need a couple of seconds to adjust his aim. Still, he knows LED is about to open the door and the LEADER doesn’t, I will therefore lower the Initiative card drawn by NASCAR by 1, and if there’s a draw between him and the LEADER he will go first.
Let’s draw cards:
- NASCAR draws #05
- Enemy LEADER draws #01
Ouch…
Here’s the Initiative Order:
- LED (who will open the door and conclude his round)
- Enemy LEADER
- NASCAR
- ALEX
I’m wondering whether the player’s luck is fading, or if it’s my own…
- What will the enemy LEADER so in his turn?
I think the higher chance is that he will kill the hostage and then attack NASCAR, and the lower chance that his reaction to seeing NASCAR pointing a gun at him will be to try and shoot him first.
I’ll keep it simple and roll a D10:
- 1 to 6 he kills the hostage concluding his round
- 7 to 10 he raises his AKM and shoots at NASCAR
Roll[D10] = 2 -> he shoots the hostage.
Result aside, NASCAR will go for a called shot to the head of the LEADER.
Not the best scenario (far from it) but the dice have spoken.
