DAY 10 – APRIL 27th 2000
EAST of DOBRODZIEN, POLAND – EVENING
The sun is approaching the end of its daily journey in the sky and a light yet persistent breeze is contributing to the fall in temperature. Rebels and freed hostages, in different ways both former prisoners of the Flock, are gathered in the area in front of the church; reunited families keep close, while others are digging new graves in the small cemetery next to the church. Eyes and minds are heavy with the toll of the day.
The 1/116th Cav soldiers have distributed some rations, and DONNA and a corporal are circulating among the various groups, providing bandages for the bodies and a few words for the minds. CSM ELK has posted his men forming a perimeter around the village and the vehicles and soldiers from the former camp have joined the main group.
Despite the lowering temperature, not a single man or woman wants to re-enter the church, not even for seeking shelter, so NASCAR and a few other soldiers are moving some benches and chairs out in the open area.
ALEX and FATHER ŁUKASZ have found a couple of old wooden chair among a pile of rubble that used to be a house, and are now sitting on a patch of grass on one side of the church, observing the partially burnt shrubs and conversing in Polish.
“Have you spoken to your people about what to do next?”
FATHER ŁUKASZ raises his eyes and observes the crowd in front of the church “yes, I guess they are my people now”
“I meant… they seem to look up to you”
“They do, in a way. They have all been taken from different villages and farms, but now we all share a bond that was born out of the hardships of the past weeks” the priest stops briefly “I tried to intercede when they were… I asked for reason to animals, all I got was bruises and cuts”
“That part is over. Now you get to decide about what’s next”
“I wish I could inspire them, give them strength, but the truth is I can’t find my own. It’s like today has drained me completely” he gestures towards the crowd “and they are exhausted, talking to them now won’t do any good. They need rest. I need rest”
ALEX nods while breathing in the cold air.
FATHER ŁUKASZ turns to him “we won’t be able to move soon, we need some time, maybe tomorrow, maybe. I should tell this to your commander”
ALEX turns to a spot not far from them where LED and ELK are talking while looking at something on a sheet of paper “I’m sure he already knows, that’s why he decided to spend the night here”
FAHTER ŁUKASZ points at LED and ELK with his thumb “I must confess, I cannot tell which one of them is in charge here”
“That would be Command Sergeant Major ELK, the big guy on the right”
“But the other man had the plan for the assault on the church”
“Yes, well, LED is our leader. We are from a different unit than the rest; it’s us, the doctor and that big guy moving furniture around” says ALEX while pointing at his comrades.
“Well, these other soldiers seem to listen to you”
“It’s LED, he has this way… the moment he starts talking you know it’s worth listening to him. He has something… I don’t know”
“Yes, yes I have noticed” nods FATHER ŁUKASZ.
ALEX keeps his eyes on LED “he’s the one who worries, you know”
“About what?”
“Us, mostly. He wants to keep us alive, so he tries to stay one step ahead, he’s the one who takes care of us”
“What about the others?” asks FATHER ŁUKASZ with curiosity.
ALEX looks at DONNA and NASCAR “well, DOC is the voice of reason; if she says something, you know she’s right, and NASCAR is like a big brother. If I were in trouble, they would all jump into the fire for me, but NASCAR is the one with the best odds of pulling me out of it”
“And what is your role in the family?”
“Me, I don’t know… I guess I try and see what’s missing, and then I work on that”
FATHER ŁUKASZ ponders briefly “you know, if I had said the things you just said, I would have concluded with amen”
ALEX smiles “amen brother”
“They had amassed quite the arsenal, uh?” observes ELK.
LED is contemplating a handwritten sheet of paper with a list of everything found stashed inside the church: small arms, assault rifles, ammo, explosives, two rocket launchers, helmets and flak vests, mines, about 30 liters of gasoline and double that of alcohol fuel, limited medical supplies, and two crates of Russian MREs. Also, a variety of Polish army supplies such as army cots, sleeping bags and a working radio.
“They sure did” he says still going through the list.
“There’s barely enough room in the vehicles for the equipment and the wounded, if these people decide to come with us, we’ll have to form a caravan”
LED raises his eyes from the paper “large groups of people all moving, they tend to attract… large problems” he says with a modicum of concern.
“Yeah, no kidding” replies ELK looking at the crowd of people in front of the church “caravans are magnets for ambushes. I’ll radio HQ, ask them to have someone meet us half way or something”
LED nods while folding the list before giving it back.
“There’s still some light; I’ll have my men start packing” says ELK putting the list in his pocket.
LED briefly looks at the ground, then tilts his head towards the other man “do I need to ask?”
ELK frowns his brows for a second, then realizes “oh, don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have a cut of what we’re taking. I just… I don’t have the authority”
“Got it” nods LED, who then tries to hold back a tired yawn with little success. “Have you tried to talk to the KNIGHT?”
ELK nods rapidly while crossing his arms “I had one of my Polish guys ask him some questions; he… refused to answer”
“He said nothing?”
“Oh, no, he talked, but it was mostly threats and profanities”
“He did look like someone rotten to the core” comments LED.
“Anyway, I ordered two of my men to keep him awake all night, we’ll try again tomorrow when he’s tired”
“How about the other two?”
“One refuses to talk; just silence. The other doesn’t seem to know much about the Flock’s structure or operation, but he’s still shellshocked. He’s on the agenda for tomorrow as well”
A soldier from TEAM 2 approaches the duo “sir, there’s something you should see” he says to ELK “at the cemetery”
ELK turns to LED with a worried look.
“Mass grave?” asks LED hoping to be contradicted.
“No, sir” says the soldier “one of the locals came to us and told us a group of enemies left during the mortar shelling using a vehicle, and then he showed us where they had buried something…” he then turns to ELK “it’s easier if you see it, sir”
“Come with me” says ELK leaning towards LED.
“Sure, a visit to the cemetery is exactly what this day was missing”
NASCAR is sitting on a cracked wooden bench right by the church’s entrance, one leg extended on the dark seating surface as DONNA examines a cut just under his right knee, courtesy of a metal shrapnel. He is holding a flashlight and, as the doctor removes the blood-stained bandages, he can see a thick crimson line at an angle with a small trail of blood slowly dripping from one end.
“I told you to lie down and stay like that for the night” says DONNA removing the bandages completely.
“Sorry DOC, movers didn’t show up and I was ordered to drag some furniture around” replies NASCAR, flinching as she touches the edges of the wound.
“Hold still, I need to redress this”
NASCAR looks around: on his right he can see the first row of tombstones of the cemetery, their dark, cement-like grey surrounded by overgrown vegetation barely visible in the dying light. The incisions have faded and the stones stick out of the ground at an angle, with some cracked or broken. Rhythmic noises come from the hidden part of the plot.
“They are digging new graves”
DONNA glances at him, quickly returning to his wound.
“Was it worth it, DOC?” asks NASCAR seriously.
DONNA stops and nods towards the crowd behind her “want to ask them?”
“Right…” says NASCAR raising his brows “what do you think is gonna happen to them?”
DONNA sighs “some might want to go back to their homes, but next time raiders attack them they will be back in a place like this, or worse. Some might want to go to Dobrodzień, where folks will probably meet them with suspicion and resentment, you know, more mouths to feed and the like. The people who lost their families… I don’t know… How can you go on when the very ground beneath your feet has been shaken?”
“I’m sure they’re gonna vote on it or something”
“They can go wherever they want, as long as they stick together, that’s my vote”
LED climbs the front steps of the church and approaches the duo “you alright?” he asks NASCAR.
“Yeah, yeah, no need to file a report to OSHA or anything”
“Lie down for the night” says DONNA who then turns to LED “you too, sir, you shouldn’t be walking around”
“Get some shut eye” says LED to NASCAR.
“I’ll set somewhere inside; this breeze is starting to bother me” says NASCAR slowly limping past the main door.
“DOC, I need you to see something” says LED grabbing DONNA’s arm “right now”
DONNA immediately notices a group of people standing at the far corner of the burial area: ALEX, FATHER ŁUKASZ, ELK, two soldiers from the 1/116th Cav, a woman and a child they liberated from the church. The soldiers are holding flashlights; their beams pointed at a large hole in the dark soil.
She and LED join the group as the kid, a boy about 10 years old, is talking in Polish, waving his arms as he speaks to the small crowd of listeners. The woman, likely his mother, stands behind him with her hands on the boy’s shoulders.
“He says the truck had a crane, like those used in constructions, but smaller, and they used…” FATHER ŁUKASZ briefly stops searching for the proper word and then turns to ALEX.
“He said they used a big rubber band” says ALEX “I think he meant a heavy-duty rope, those flat and wide ones. They attached the crate and pulled it out of the hole and onto the truck”. He then asks something in Polish that animates the kid into another session of talking while waiving and pointing.
DONNA can’t help but smile as the boy keeps putting together more and more words.
“The truck was a flatbed” translates ALEX “just the cabin in the front and then a flat cargo floor in the back, four wheels, white cabin. They loaded the crate, three armed men entered the cabin, four jumped in the back and they drove away” he points behind LED “they took the road going North”
“Were the armed men wearing Flock’s armbands?” asks ELK.
ALEX asks in Polish. The kid nods rapidly “wszystko” he says.
“Yes, all of them”
ELK looks concern “okay, that’s enough for now”
FATHER ŁUKASZ and ALEX thank the kid and his mother and the two move away. DONNA looks into the empty hole, judging it big enough to fit four or six domestic refrigerators stacked in pairs.
“What can I do here?” she asks.
ELK looks at ALEX and gestures towards her and LED.
“Alright, here’s what we know” begins ALEX “when the Flock arrived here, they were carrying a big, rectangular metal box using a flatbed truck. They had some of the hostages dig a hole and bury the crate along with a smaller box they also interred nearby. When we started shelling the town with mortar fire, they were already digging everything up, so they quickened the pace, got the metal box back on the truck and a group of soldiers drove away with it”
“Okay” nods DONNA.
“Before moving away, they executed the five prisoners who dug out the metal crate. The kid we were talking to was hiding in the ruins of the house across the street and saw everything. He said the crate had some writing on it, in English, but couldn’t tell us what it meant”
“You want me to check the people they executed?”
LED takes over “when they moved away, they were in a hurry, and they forgot the smaller box. Some of the locals helped us locate it and we dug it out. We’d like you to take a look”
ALEX and a soldier turn and point at the ground behind them. DONNA approaches the object and the soldier offers her a flashlight, which she takes.
She kneels on the grass and takes a look: it’s a black, squared, rigid box about 25 centimeters deep with a sturdy carry handle. The side and front latches are disengaged and the top has just been pushed down.
“Did you open it?”
“Yeah, we looked inside before”
“Is everyone breathing regularly?” she asks seriously.
The men behind her look at each other “yeah, we’re okay” says someone.
“Hmm” says DONNA who then opens the case “well, we got lucky… for now at least”
Inside are a couple of protective masks with spare filters, two sets of black thick gloves in a sealed plastic package, black overboots and a rectangular sealed grey plastic bag. DONNA lifts and examines it with the flashlight “this are coveralls. Bag doesn’t seem punctured or damaged, might still be good” She moves the content around examining every corner with the light and then stands up.
“Okay, they gave us a full 90 minutes class on this stuff before shipping us, so here’s what we have. This is a box made for a CBRN sampling kit: it would ordinarily contain samples’ tubes, sealed bags, all kinds of reagents, a thermometer and some more stuff. It’s meant for detecting agents present in an area. Should you come by another of these crates, please don’t open it, even if the warning labels are missing. Someone however, used this one to store parts of a CBRN protective kit, the kind one would use to survive said agents: coveralls, gloves, boots, mask. Your standard apocalypse kit”
A moment of silence follows.
“I guess we all have an idea of what they might have dug up and moved away with”
“Anything in there that can help us narrow it down?” asks ELK.
DONNA briefly looks back at the crate “not really, but whether it’s chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear, it’s the stuff nightmares are made of”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
This concludes the evening shift.
In the night shift NASCAR and ALEX sleep; NASCAR recovers 1 point of damage and 1 point of stress; ALEX recovers 1 point of damage and 1 point of stress.
DONNA spends the night shift trying to repair her flak vest:
- Roll TECH [D8+D8] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 8 and 3)
DONNA’s flak vest is back to armor level 1 – I’m not sure one can simply repair a bullet-proof vest when no longer serviceable (i.e. the bullet-stopping element has been compromised), but the rules allow it, so I’ll imagine DONNA’s vest had some minor damage, like a broken shoulder strap.
FINAL COMMENTS
This burnt-down, mortar-shelled town is a source of continuous surprises. The more the group digs (quite literally), the darker the Flock’s business in town turns out to be. Looks like we may have to add chemical weapons to a list already populated with slavery, looting, kidnapping and crucifixions.
Referee’s hat on: the Flock business might have been resolved in this area, but the group’s activities span far larger than the Silesia region. This is my way of keeping the door open for future encounters with the Sheperd’s Flock. Also, I can think of a few other parties who may be interested in chemical weapons, so I can stick this clue in my pocket and use it further down the road knowing it can fit a variety of situations.
BLOG UPDATE
This blog has now been on the ether for one year – I know the first posts are dated August 2024, but that’s because I tweaked the dates when updating them (I was new to blogging, and was playing around with the possibilities).
You may have noticed that over the past few months I have added some pages that you can fin in the side menu of the homepage under the heading Resources. So far, there’s a page dedicated to the Dice Mechanics of T2K and one for the Life Path method for character creation.
For the anniversary, I have now added a third page aimed at new group of players that want to experience roleplaying in the World War III that never was. Fittingly, I have named this page:
I got the T2K Boxed Set – Where do I Start?
You can click on the name to check it out, and I have also placed it prominently in the home page.