DAY 8 – APRIL 25th 2000
PRASZKA, POLAND – MORNING
DONNA and a Polish woman are standing near an overgrown plant in an internal courtyard right outside of the town’s makeshift hospital. They both keep their feet on the wooden planks that have been partially sunk into the ground forming a path from one side of the square courtyard to the opposite, avoiding the grass-mud mix that covers the uncovered area.
DONNA is there to inquire about the status of a couple of her former patients: chances are they are not going to make it.
At the edge of the porch, just a few feet behind her, NASCAR is leaning against a column, his shoulder touching the exposed crimson bricks and his boots just inches from the muddy terrain.
An unarmed man in civilian clothes arrives from the wide-open door leading to the street, looks around nervously, then slowly makes his way to the planks path.
NASCAR slightly turns his head as he sees the man over his shoulder, then loses sight of him as he moves on the other side of the column, then reappears on the courtyard’s side and steps onto the first wooden plank.
The man takes one step and NASCAR returns to a straight posture, his eyes checking his hands and his mind anticipating the man’s actions.
Another step: looks like he’s moving for DOC, who’s looking the other way. NASCAR steps onto the soft mud.
The man takes another step, getting closer to DONNA. NASCAR can see her tilting her head just slightly, and it’s enough for him to know she has noticed something. He takes another step towards the man, his mind tuning out the soft terrain under his boots.
The man takes one more step and DONNA is now within his arm’s reach. DONNA turns slightly and her right hand moves for the back of her waist, where NASCAR knows she keeps her combat knife.
You’re trespassing into pain territory thinks NASCAR, taking two more steps and closing in on his mark.
The man stops, his fingers wiggling, then nervously loos around. As he turns left, he sees NASCAR standing right next to him. The man is startled and instinctively takes a step back into the mud.
He’s is his forties, dirt on his face and hands, his eyes widened with fear and mouth slightly opened.
As DONNA turns to face the intruder, NASCAR steps onto the wooden plank, now towering over the man, and cracks his knuckles in front of his chest.
“Want to see me break both the law and your head in a single sweep?”
The man is interdicted, his mouth seems to move but no sound comes from it.
The woman with whom DONNA was talking yells something in Polish, the man looks at her, then back to NASCAR, and finally steps back, turns and quickly walks out of the courtyard and back to the street.
The Polish woman shakes her head looking down “I am sorry”
“It’s okay” says DONNA “it’s a strange world, and there’s strange people”
“They should not let him go around” continues the woman “something is wrong with his mind” she gestures with one hand around her head.
NASCAR turns from looking at the door “you’re sayin’ I missed a chance to fix him up?”
At first light the group is ready to head out, so they gather their gear and fill their canteens. The guards outside their quarters escort them to the town’s defensive perimeter, at a checkpoint not far from Wanda Chotomska school.
A soldier exits a small ruined house next to the barrier and in broken English tells the players to wait there. LED starts wondering whether their departure, just like their entrance, will come with a price.
ALEX hears two soldiers of the militia whispering something to one another in Polish, he then leans towards LED “those two just said ‘It’s the four of diamonds’”
“Were they talking about me?”
“I think they meant all of us”
“Good, so we can all share a prison cell if they change their mind”
After a few minutes of waiting, CJA appears closely trailed by his bodyguard. He points at LED and ALEX “I need to speak with you two, I will be quick” he then gestures towards the ruined house.
LED looks at NASCAR and DONNA. “It’s okay” she nods.
LED and ALEX follow CJA to a corner, right next to a window with black iron bars. CJA appears to be gathering his thoughts for a moment. “Yesterday MARKO went out for hunting, and he has not returned yet. I sent two men to find him, but they did not. The rain has canceled most tracks and he was not in his usual hunting spots”
“Does he usually go out hunting in the rain?” asks LED, remembering the previous day conversation with MARKO in the church.
“It is unusual, yes, but not…” CJA says something in Polish and ALEX quickly translates “not unprecedented”
“I am afraid he has run into troubles” adds CJA concerned. “I can show you where my men have lost his tracks and where he usually goes for hunting”. He then takes a folded map out of his breast pocket and proceeds to open it.
This guy’s incredible: he wants our help but he won’t ask for it out loud is what LED thinks while looking at the map.
CJA shows the area on the map “it is not far from your route, so it won’t cost you much time”. He evidently knows they’re heading South.
“We’ll look for him” says LED “but you have to say it”
“Say what?”
“Ask us for help”
CJA grins “will you help me find one of my men?”
“Sure”
That ends the conversation, and the group leaves Praszka proceeding South.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
The players’ next goal is the town of Dobrodzień, which requires marching through 3 hexes of open terrain. They could move for 2 shifts and get there by the evening, but they’ll take a detour and look for MARKO.
DAY 8 – APRIL 25th 2000
SOUTH of PRASZKA, POLAND – DAY
A known silhouette approaches the circle of dim light cast by the small fire, its posture slightly crooked under the weight of something carried around the neck and held in place with both hands.
NASCAR raises his gaze for a few seconds, enough to recognize his comrade before resuming tending to the fire.
ALEX walks up to the fire and deposits an animal carcass right in front of it. He then removes the cloth that wraps the body, revealing a boar. NASCAR considers the grey fur painted red by the fire, the small ears, dark snout, then raises his eyes.
“That doesn’t look like MARKO”
“Funny… No traces of him, no cartridges, no animal traps, no sign of encampments, no footprints. Well, no human footprints; I tracked this boar and here it is”
NASCAR observes a single bullet wound on the upper neck of the prey. “Good shot”
“Loud shot. Maybe the sound reverberated because of the trees or something, but it seemed louder than what I remembered” ALEX turns towards LED, who’s keeping watch nearby “the LT would say that I drew more attention than the boar was worth”
NASCAR drags the carcass closer to his side of the fire “well, I say I’m hungry, and I’ve had enough of that Praszka’s soup”
ALEX deposits his hunting rifle on the ground and takes place around the fire, opposite NASCAR, then starts feeding the flame small twigs.
“Finding MARKO won’t be easy. Rain washed all traces, we don’t know the area, and we are not even sure whether he’s been here or not”
NASCAR is already working on the carcass with his knife. “Yeah, LT has little hope. He didn’t say that, but you can tell” he drops a bit into the fire “we are gonna keep looking till the sun’s up, but if we find nothing… when we find nothing, we are leaving”
“Good call”
“Yeah, LT’s got a good streak going”
ALEX glances at LED, by now a barely visible shadow, then back to NASCAR with a lower tone “things got… difficult, back in Praska. Think the school, and the Polish commander we couldn’t help. He worries, you know, about us”
“So what?”
“He may worry too much, I mean…”
NASCAR interrupts “enough to get in between one of us and a bullet?”
“Yeah” nods ALEX.
NASCAR sticks the knife in the dead animal and turns to face his comrade “listen, I think he’s a good leader. I had my doubts, I always do, but not anymore. He worries about us? Good, we’ll worry about him, and everyone has his back covered. And if there’s a bullet coming our way, I’ll make sure we all duck”
DAY SHIFT [click to expand]
The group had reached the hex CJA has shown on the map.
I had ALEX roll for SURVIVAL, for which he had 2 successes despite the -2 house-ruled on account of the rain. He then rolled to see what he was tracking, and here I house-ruled that a 6 on the D6 would be MARKO. He rolled a 5, tracked a boar and killed it (2D6x2 = 6 food rations for the group, which they have to cook).
EVENING and NIGHT SHIFT [click to expand]
The players remained in the hex, looked again for MARKO with no success and avoid a card-drawn encounter with some hunters. They all got some sleep and consumed one ration of food and water.
FINAL COMMENTS
I thought life was too easy for the players in town, that they had lowered their guard. Praszka has a centrally-organized structure that keeps things in order as much as it can be (which is little and decreasing, by my own design). I somehow thought they needed a reminder of the dangers of living this close to this many people, and therefore dramatized the first scene of this post.
No dice rolls, and no real action. Just a reminder.
As they were leaving town, I decided to throw them another bone and have them looking for MARKO. It’s a small deviation from their original path, and makes for a useful side quest that I can stick in my bag and revive later if I feel it fits in my story.