DAY 6 – APRIL 23rd 2000
PRASZKA, POLAND – DAY
The group is informed they will only be allowed to go to the arsenal for trading and must spend the rest of the time in their assigned quarters. Of course, DONNA is allowed to spend one shift at the hospital and another person has to spend one shift at the training grounds. After some discussion, all LED manages to obtain is that DONNA can be escorted by one of them.
MORNING SHIFT [click to expand]
Still fair weather after sunrise.
LED goes to the training grounds to teach something useful to the militia’s recruits. Also, he hopes to catch some intel about what’s going on. I have him roll for RECON with a -2 for being under strict surveillance.
- LED rolls RECON [D8+D6] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 4 and 6)
During a break LED spots a column of prisoners being moved across the town. Among them are the 3 Polish prisoners they captured at Garage Hotel. They appear to be in relatively good shape, yet demoralized (LED has the Intelligence specialty, allowing him to learn more on successful RECON rolls). It’s possible their LEADER died.
LED asks for a meeting with CJA, but he is told that CJA is not in town for the day.
DONNA checks LED’s M16A1 like he asked her.
- DONNA rolls TECH [D8+D8] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 7 and 2)
LED’s rifle goes up to REL 5.
NASCAR is still troubled by his M249 and he asks ALEX to help him with it ALEX rolls, with NASCAR giving him a +1:
- ALEX rolls TECH [D12+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 12 and 2)
ALEX spots the problem and NASCAR’s M249 goes back to full REL.
DONNA spends the day shift in the town’s hospital and LED goes with her. DONNA has acquired some familiarity with the local staff and all urgent cases have been treated the previous day, so she starts chatting with a middle-aged woman with a limp who’s helping with basic needs, like changing bandages and taking vital signs. The woman speaks a relatively good English and says her late husband, a university professor, taught her the language. Before the war she worked as an accountant.
DONNA’S PERSUASION ROLL [click to expand]
The woman (EMP C, Persuasion D) has been instructed not to give any information to strangers, so I’ll have an opposite PERSUASION roll. DONNA gets a -1 for being an outsider.
- DONNA rolls[D8+D8] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 6 and 2)
- The WOMAN rolls[D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 2 and 4)
DONNA’s good work in the hospital has left a positive impression on this woman.
The woman briefly tells DONNA the prisoners have only had very basic medical treatment, and most of those that are wounded, die of infection. She doesn’t know where they are held, but she knows when they die, they’re buried in a common grave South of the town.
LED is under more strict surveillance, with a militia soldier never more than three steps from him, so he doesn’t get a chance to question anybody and spends the shift helping however he can.
ALEX and NASCAR’S SHIFT [click to expand]
ALEX takes care of his AKM:
- ALEX rolls TECH [D10+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 6 and 7)
ALEX’s AKM goes back to full REL.
NASCAR spends the day shift sleeping and recovers 1 point of stress.
At the end of the shift, the players receive their meal for the day and they eat as soon as LED and DONNA are back from the hospital.
LED and DONNA return to the group’s quarters after spending the central part of the day helping in the town’s improvised hospital. They’re closely followed by a middle-aged man of the militia, who escorts them right to the door, then crosses the rubble-littered street and leans on the exposed brick wall of an old shop while looking at the building occupied by the group.
“Still there?” asks ALEX a few minutes later.
NASCAR is standing to the side of the window, apparently trying to look down the street towards the town’s center. “Yep, still there”
“They always have someone out there looking at us” says DONNA “better get used to it”
“Please DOC, I’ve been in prison, I know how it works. I can get used to it, but I don’t have to like it”
ALEX props up the AKM he’s been working on against the wall “find something to do, to pass the time”
“Yeah, that’s what they said in prison…” says NASCAR to himself, then louder “hey, LT, my SAW is back in shape now, think I can squeeze off a few rounds? You know, test it out”
LED is sitting on the floor with his back against the wall; he raises his eyes from the map he’s studying “sure, but our friends out there are going to return fire. And I don’t think they’ll stop at a few rounds”
“I don’t mean here, at the training grounds, where we’re supposed to teach their recruits; they have a firing range there, right?”
“They have a plot of mostly flat land with a few hunks of contorted metal they call ‘targets’, but it’s for locals only. Us tourists can just admire it”
“Well, that sucks” comments NASCAR “how am I supposed to know if it’s zeroed properly?”
“I suppose you’ll have to trust yourself as much as we do” says DONNA.
“Is that a compliment or an insult?” asks NASCAR.
“Works both ways” ponders DONNA “so ask me again later”
“You can ask our friend the warden out there” says LED “but I think we all know what he would say”
“You cannot leave unless you go to hospital or training” says NASCAR mimicking the sentinel’s deep, mechanical voice and his Polish accent “if you want to go somewhere else, CJA has to give permission”
ALEX narrows his eyes “was that your best Polish accent?” he says with little conviction.
“Hey, I nailed it” replies NASCAR.
“Man, you sounded like the Terminator” comments DONNA with a chuckle.
“Ah, forget it” NASCAR looks out the window, then the broken-down wooden window frame itself “no bars at the window, no handcuffs, no electric gates. Still feels like prison to me”
“We can leave any time” says ALEX.
NASCAR smiles to himself “a couple of guys in prison used to say that”
A gust of wind brings inside cold air and the smell of ashes and concrete dust. DONNA gets a black beanie from her backpack and puts it on.
LED folds back the map, briefly checks the bandages around his left forearm, gets up and moves to the center of the room “speaking of leaving, it’s a good time to think about our next move. Day after tomorrow we’ll be out of here, and we better know which way we’re going, and why”
DONNA is rubbing her hands together “what are our options?”
“Well, I’m assuming we don’t want to go back where we came from, so North is off the table. Kalisz is Russian territory at this point, and there’s no good spot to cross the Prosna, assuming there are no Soviet units looking for stragglers”
“North is out then” says NASCAR “so, I think same goes for East”
LED nods “my intel is outdated, but we didn’t have much East of here in the past months, same goes for NATO, and it’s safe to assume things haven’t changed”
“Plus, why the hell would we want to go East?” asks DONNA.
“So it’s West or South” says ALEX.
“Right” confirms LED “West means Germany, and hopefully friends and allies”
“Sounds good” says ALEX.
“What’s in between us and them is a big question mark though”
“Sounds… less good” adds NASCAR.
“LT, is this a convoluted way of telling us you want to go South?” asks DONNA.
“South offers us a certainty… of sorts” ponders LED.
“An uncertain certainty, that’s the worst kind” comments DONNA.
“Counselor MARIA told us there is a US unit in Dobrodzień, or around it. I can’t confirm it, my last briefing was about my AO, which was further North, and I can’t recall any specifics about our presence in this region. She seemed convinced of what she told us”
“So, question now is: do we trust her?” says ALEX.
“Right. Dobrodzień is not far, half a day on foot; not that much of a detour even if we wanted to go West”
“What is she’s sending us into a trap?” asks NASCAR “you know, what if she’s sent a runner to the people of this other town telling them there’s a group of Americans on the way and those guys are gonna capture us and take us to the Russians or something”
“She could have had us arrested here” replies ALEX “without the need for the extra steps”
“I’m saying the town is in bad shape, maybe they have a deal with… I don’t know who, but they are gonna get something out of it”
“We could be a bargaining chip of some sort” adds DONNA “it’s something to consider”
All eyes are now on LED.
“If we want to keep on surviving, eventually we are going to need to trust someone who’s not in this room. Today that someone is counselor MARIA: two words that sum up pretty much all we know about this woman” LED takes a deep breath “yet we spoke to this woman, and I’m willing to trust her. I say we go South, get to Dobrodzień, take a look around, and if we don’t like it we turn 90 degrees right and find a way to friendly lines”
A brief silence follows, interrupted by DONNA “I don’t get it: is this an order? Do we have to vote on it?”
“Consider it the time to voice your opinion”
“Like a wedding?” asks NASCAR “you speak now or shut up for good?”
“Let’s go to Dobrodzień” says ALEX.
“I guess it’s the option that sucks the least” says NASCAR.
DONNA is smiling to herself.
“DOC?” asks LED.
“Oh, I’m in, Dobrodzień it is”
“Anything we’re missing?”
“I was just reflecting on the fact that somehow things keep going South for us”
EVENING SHIFT [click to expand]
LED spends the shift resting and DONNA tends to his wound:
- DONNA rolls MEDICAL AID [D10+D10] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 3 and 4)
She pushes the roll:
- DONNA rolls MEDICAL AID [D10+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 6 and 8)
The day counts as double towards LED healing from his critical injury (he had 8 days left to heal, tomorrow he will have 6 left). LED also heals 1 point of damage and recovers 1 stress point.
NASCAR focuses on his P83 which was already at REL 4 when he looted it:
- NASCAR rolls TECH [D8+D6] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 3 and 6)
NASCAR’s P83 pistol is up to 5/5 REL.
ALEX spends the evening shift sleeping.
NIGHT SHIFT [click to expand]
LED spends the shift sleeping, so does DONNA. LED recovers 1 stress point.
NASCAR decides to take care of the combat knives for the whole group (plus the ones in their stockpile).
[It seems odd that the maintenance of a knife would take a full shift, so I house-rule that NASCAR can maintain his knife and the other 5 in the stockpile during this shift; each of them requiring a TECH roll]
NASCAR rolls for each knife:
- NASCAR’s knife: roll TECH [D8+D6] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 3 and 6)
- Knife 1 in the stockpile: roll TECH [D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 3 and 4)
- Knife 2 in the stockpile: roll TECH [D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 3 and 5)
- Knife 3 in the stockpile: roll TECH [D8+D6] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 7 and 5)
- Knife 4 in the stockpile: roll TECH [D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 2 and 4)
- Knife 5 in the stockpile: roll TECH [D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled double 1…)
NASCAR’s knife and one of the knives in the stockpile are up to full REL.
ALEX takes care of the AK-74 previously used by LED:
- ALEX rolls TECH [D10+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 8 and 9)
The AK-74 has its full REL restored.
End of Day 6
FINAL COMMENTS
Aside from the players’ obligations to the town, the day was used for recovering and weapons maintenance.
Referee’s hat on: the group has been going non-stop for a while now, with three battles behind them fought one right next to the other. Time to slow down and let the players rest and recover.
The day was very straightforward, and I would have normally skipped it in the narration, but it’s helpful to remember that there’s always a few mechanics going on in the background and governing the day-to-day life of my fictional characters.
The one question that still needed an answer was: where do we go from here? And that’s the part I decided to dramatize.