DAY 10 – APRIL 27th 2000
EAST of DOBRODZIEN, POLAND – EVENING
In the next ten minutes JAN informs the other rebels that there are friendlies entering the town, while ALEX reports back via radio and the rest of the players joins team REDWING.
The 1/116th Cav enters the town and ELK sets his forces as follows:
- TEAM 1 takes position among the ruins on the other side of the street in front of the church. ELK is with this team.
- TEAM 2 has been sent back to the 116th camp (they had one man killed and another injured in the forest fight)
- TEAM 3 takes place to the NE of the church, among the trees
- LMG TEAM is on the other side of the stream, covering the back of the church
- Team CALDWELL is on the high ground SE of the church, and will engage anyone that shows up on top of the belltower, effectively blinding the enemy
The rebels are loosely organized, and have taken position in small groups all around the church. Some of them are wounded and most are malnourished. They have a couple of hunting rifles and half a dozen pistols; some of them are armed with knives and clubs.
KEITH informs the players that they should talk to FATHER ŁUKASZ, former priest of the church they’re now sieging, and the closest thing to a leader the rebels have. Of course, ELK wants LED and ALEX to be present.
FATHER ŁUKASZ is a tall man in his fifties; despite the thin frame he’s still a bundle of nerves and muscles, and his long, bony fingers appear to caress the air as he talks. He speaks a good English, having spent over a year embedded with a US company as a translator. He’s wearing worn out jeans, a dark green shirt with long sleeves, and a light jacket with holes on its elbows.
He has a black eye, courtesy of the Flock’s zealots for speaking on behalf of the now rebels, and possibly a couple of cracked ribs resulting from another discussion.
“I was right, but he had a baton” explains FATHER ŁUKASZ.
Things seem to have calmed down: the 1/116th instructed the rebels no to shoot and potshots from inside the church have also ceased. Some of the rebels have tried to engage in a dialogue with the Flock’s men, but their calls have been met with silence. The air is now heavy with tension as each side is figuring out its options. Noises from the church suggest the occupants are barricading the main door.
“How many of them in the church?” asks ELK.
“Fifteen, more or less. Some are wounded, but the others will force them to fight”
“Weapons?”
“After the bombing, they brought everything in the church; they have mostly Polish army rifles, lots of ammunition. I saw guards with pistols and Russian rifles. And American rifles too”
“Explosives? Grenades?” asks LED.
“Yes, those too, and…. wyrzutnie rakiet” says FATHER ŁUKASZ unable to recall the English words.
“Rocket launchers” translates ALEX.
“Perfect… how many hostages are in there?”
The priest thinks for a moment “twenty, maybe twenty-five”
LED turns to ALEX “this could be a lot worse than the school”
ALEX is equally concerned. Meanwhile ELK keeps looking at the church from an opening in the ruined wall behind which they have gathered “what on earth are they doing in there?” he asks to nobody as noises keep coming from the church.
“Who’s the KNIGHT?” asks ALEX to the priest.
“He’s the man in charge… but he is no man, he is more like an animal. He’s big, with a shaved head and he has a cross, upside down, on the back of his head, in ink”
“Tattoos, armbands, brandings, they sure love their symbolism” comments ELK.
FATHER ŁUKASZ leans forward “the KNIGHT is crazy. I looked into his eyes; I know. If you go in there, he will kill you, he will kill the hostages, he will kill his own men if he thinks it is necessary. Everyone out here has some family in there, they are the only treasures they have not lost yet. Your violence will be met with more violence”
“Father, this KNIGHT doesn’t seem interested in a conversation” explains ELK.
“Because we don’t know what he wants. Maybe he just wants to go away. Here, look” FATHER ŁUKASZ points a slim finger at a brownish lorry parked next to one of the few houses still intact “that vehicle still works, we can offer it to them and they can go away”
ELK instructs two of his soldiers to check the lorry.
“It’s not big enough for fifteen of them” observes ALEX.
“So we let some go on foot first, then the rest can leave with the truck”
LED shakes his head “they’ll never do it. We’ve dealt with this group before, trust me, they’ll never agree” he then turns to ELK “they don’t care about killing or dying, so there’s no point in leveraging human life”
“Well” says ELK “there’s one language they definitely speak, and we happen to be skilled at it”
“You cannot attack the church; they will kill the hostages” says FATHER ŁUKASZ.
Nobody responds as he moves his eyes from one man to the next.
LED peeks over the ruined wall and takes a look at the church “father, we need you to describe the inside of the church”
KNIGHT’S CASTLE
The church has two entry points: on the front is a large, thick, wooden double door that grants access to the main nave, the largest room, where mass used to be held. This area takes half the footprint of the church and it’s basically a wide, single open room with 4 columns on each side and the altar opposite to the entry door. According to the priest all benches and chairs have been moved to the side and there were planks and furniture next to the door to barricade it in a situation like the present one.
Proceeding towards the back, on the left is a side chapel: a single narrow and long room accessible from the main nave. On the right side are three successive small rooms roughly square in shape all connected by doors. Behind the altar is a large, inner room with no windows, in it are tables, shelves, boxes of supplies and old furniture. The internal room can be accessed by the side chapel and the middle room on the right. There’s also a hidden door in the main nave, past the altar, which is usually blocked from the inside of the room. This is where the hostages are kept. FATHER ŁUKASZ says they’re seated on the floor with a few armed guards at all times.
The last part is the extension under the belltower, in the back of the building. From the inner room you can move to a small foyer where you can take the stairs leading on top of the belltower. A second door leads to a room in the back used by the Flock as a dormitory and past that is the final room used for storage and a second dormitory. The foyer has a door leading to the outside, a second entry point on the right side of the church, but the Flock has placed an explosive trap on it.
The are tall windows with decorated glass on both sides of the main nave, but their lower edge is too high to serve as a useful entrance point. There are more windows on the sides and the back, but they are high from the ground, short and have bars in front of them. Also, one would need a ladder just to look inside one.
The soldiers are back from checking the lorry. It has light damages, probably from a mortar blast, including a cracked windshield that would make driving quite a feat. The chassis is covered in rust and one of the back doors is missing. But the keys are inside and according to the gauges there’s ¼ tank of gasoline.
Then comes the kicker: a soldier produces a plastic involucre, tears it open to reveal what appears to be a rudimentary metal launch tube with stickers in Polish and a small rocket inserted on the front.
“There’s a case in the back, we found two of these. Flock was probably loading the van when they got clapped. We found one body in the back and another close to the cabin”
ALEX and ELK both recognize the unusual weapon: it’s an RPG-76 KOMAR, a Polish-made single-shot anti-tank weapon which entered service 10-15 years ago. Deemed obsolete up until right before the war, it was taken out of the Polish arsenals and fielded to fight the invaders. It has limited capabilities against modern tank, but its ease of employment made it a good weapon for any force that could budget only a few hours of training for its new recruits.
ELK is observing the weapon while holding the tube in his hands. “We have a building with only two doors that we definitely don’t want to use and a bunch of windows we cannot use for entry” he says “if we enter from the side door there’s a bomb waiting for us, and if we enter from the main door… well, let’s say we will be expected”
Screeching noises arrive from the church, like of furniture dragged on the floor.
ALEX, who’s thinking the same, observes the church “what’s the side wall made of? bricks?”
“Oh” says LED who has just arrived to the same conclusion.
ELK nods “I think we could use more entry points”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
The RPG-76 KOMAR is one of the weapons introduced in The Black Madonna expansion module for Twilight 2000. The module also describes 3 Polish assault rifles, but deems them all as hard to find, both because of their late introduction (in the game’s timeline) and limited availability even before the war.
I’m planning for the players to use one to blast an opening on the side wall of the church. Now, I have no idea whether it would work for such a purpose or not, and my full 15 minutes of internet research about the weapon couldn’t clear the doubt. For the sake of narration, I will house-rule it is effective as a wall-breaching device.
My real quandary is not about the ability to penetrate the wall (it’s an anti-tank weapon and I’m assuming the wall is brick-made), rather I’m wondering whether it would create a large enough opening for a man to pass through. Again, by the power invested in me by the Referee Manual, I’ll make it able to breach the wall (one wall only, or it’ll reach the hostages) and invest whoever is on the other side with an explosion and a debris shower.
I’m planning for the KNIGHT to have a KKW 1996 MINI-BERYL, the stats for which can be seen below.
As it entered service in 1996, it’s described as rare, but it fits with the background I have in mind for the KNIGHT. Also, I figured if his men had found one, he would want it for the prestige factor (assuming being a soulless psychopath high in the hierarchy of a cult-like faction welcoming the end of times isn’t enough of a resume).
Note to self: I need to introduce some SMGs in the campaign, get some variety.
A high screech come from the church and the rebel groups became suddenly animated as a multitude of voice fills the air. FATHER ŁUKASZ points the front door “look”
A second screech followed by the crack of thick wood bending under heavy pressure and one of the doors opens towards the inside just enough for a curly head to stick through the opening. The figure slowly exits from the tight aperture, its final movement aided by a hand pushing from the inside.
It’s a woman in her forties wearing worn out civilian clothes of different colors, all faded to form a blend of greyish tones. Her face is darkened by dirt and she has a broken lip and a small trail of blood on her chin. One sleeve is missing under the elbow, revealing a pale arm covered in dirt with a crimson cut running through it. She limps forward on bare feet, her thin body weighted down by the clothes and her eyes looking the ground a few paces in front of her. She’s carrying a piece of cardboard the size of her torso.
She stops five meters from the door, struggles to remain on her feet, then she lifts the cardboard in front of her with shaking hands. On it is written czas się cończy.
ALEX leans forward, his hands clutching the edge of the ruined brick wall.
“What’s that? What does that mean?” asks ELK
The woman lifts her head, her eyes trying to focus.
“KATIA” yells one of the rebels “KATIA!”
A man vaults over a rusty metal bench and springs through the open area in front of the church clutching a pistol in his hand.
Behind the woman, an arm emerges from the shadow shrouding the space between the doors. It’s holding a revolver.
The woman turns to the running man, only a few meters away.
Then a shot cracks through the air. The arm returns to the shadow, and the woman collapses to the ground.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
I need an empathy check for LED and ALEX:
- LED rolls EMP: roll[D10] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 2)
- ALEX rolls EMP: roll[D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 7)
ALEX takes 1 point of stress.
The man keeps screaming in Polish as he holds the corpse of the woman in his arms, then he points the gun at the now closed doors and fires a few shots until squeezing the trigger produces only a clicking sound, then he tosses the pistol and starts sobbing.
ALEX is quick to get a couple of ELK’s men and, aided by some rebels, brings the man and the woman’s corpse back behind cover.
ALEX gets back and deposits the piece of cardboard on the rubbles between himself, LED, ELK and FATHER ŁUKASZ. The priest’s eyes are lucid as he looks at the words written in black ink.
ELK’s jaw stiffens as he asks ALEX “what does it mean?”
“Time’s up” says ALEX with a hint of rage.
ELK nods repeatedly “yeah, their time. Let’s go get this f**ker”
FAHTER ŁUKASZ speaks in broken words “they will kill the other hostages…” he says lacking conviction.
“Not if we do something about it” says ELK.
“Want to stay here and wait until he’s done killing them all?” asks ALEX to the priest.
“No, no… we have to find another way…”
“Sorry father, he’s an animal, you said it yourself. One cannot reason with a rabid dog” says ALEX
FATHER ŁUKASZ changes position and for a moment it looks like he’s trying to stand up, but LED puts a hand on his shoulder, and he remains crouched, unable to find more words.
All eyes are now on LED, who takes a deep breath.
“Alright” he says “now listen up”
FINAL COMMENTS
Things rapidly developed into a hostage situation. The Flock’s zealots are surrounded but have with them about two dozen hostages and that gives them leverage over the outside forces.
In now typical Flock’s fashion, they – or their leader – do not appear to be interested in negotiations. Violence is their primary, perhaps only, mean and that’s their chosen way of proceeding; proof of that is the gratuitous killing of the woman and the show they made of it.
The church only has two entry points, one of them mined and the other likely barricaded. On the players’ side are the recently discovered RPG-76 and their potential in altering the architecture of the building to one more favorable to an assault…
With the belltower inaccessible and the church’s high from the ground windows, effectively blinding the occupants, chances are the element of surprise will be on their side.
Referee’s hat on: I provided the players with the situation and its difficulties, and then the means to bypass some of them. Still, it’s important they keep in mind that the upcoming fight won’t be an easy one.
The tone got darker at the end, with the killing of the woman in front of the church. I thought it was fitting for the situation, and the general atmosphere of a Twilight: 2000 campaign. You can check A note about THEMES to know more.