DAY 11 – APRIL 28th 2000
EAST of DOBRODZIEN, POLAND – EVENING
The group is traversing a large stretch of forest, with its tall trees casting long shadows in the evening light. Terrain is mostly flat, with the occasional gentle slope, and they are looking for an opening with good cover to set up camp for the night.
ALEX is opening the formation, keeping ten to fifteen meters in front of the others, and occasionally turning to point at a new direction, to indicate he’s about to deviate from the current path.
LED takes a sip from his canteen while scanning the forest to his right. He turns when he hears his comrade’s steps getting closer.
NASCAR sets himself beside the lieutenant “you know LT, I’ve been thinking”
“You’re doing that a lot lately”
“Yeah… I guess, you know, there’s not much to do when we’re stationary or marching, so…”
LED waives a hand “take it easy, I was just observing”
“Oh…” says NASCAR “well, I was thinking about the golden cup”
“What about it?”
“We are thinking it may be important, right? So what if it is?”
“You have it in your backpack, don’t you want to know what you’re carrying around?”
“It’s not like it’s strapped to the webbing, it’s hidden; I think there’s a lot of people who would smoke us without bothering to know what is or is not in our packs”
“True” comments LED “but if it really is important, someone may be looking for it, which means someone may be looking for us”
“So how about we ditch it? We dig a hole, bury it, and so long”
“I don’t think that would be wise. If it’s important for the wrong people, I’d rather make sure it cannot end up in their hands. And if it’s important for the right people, then we may be able to deliver it to them”
“And who’s gonna say who the good and the bad people are”
LED ponders briefly “well… that’s where it gets tricky”
The group proceeds in silence for a hundred meters or so.
“You really think the cup is important for someone LT? I mean, the world went to shit, people are looking for food and shelter for the most part. You think someone is gonna be interested in the cup because it belonged to the king of Europe or something?”
“If someone thinks it would make them the legitimate king of Europe, then yes, I think they’ll be interested in it” LED pauses briefly “and if they can convince others to follow them because of that, or if they think they can enslave others because of that, you can bet they will want it”
NASCAR is perplexed “if you want to follow and obey someone just because he says look, I’m the king because I have this cup, then I don’t know who’s the biggest idiot in this story”
LED smiles “yeah, I never thought it would fool you. But look at it this way: you’ve lost everything in the war, maybe you’re alone, you’re hungry, lost. Then someone, somebody with a bit of charisma comes along and offers you a place and the basic means for living, while promising you that everything can be gained back. And all he asks is for you to obey. As you said, the promise of food and shelter can go a long way. I bet it’s a deal many would make”
“Still, you should be able to realize soon that you’ve become a slave” comments NASCAR.
“And then what? There’s probably armed men tasked with making sure you do your job”
“Then you get the hell out of there at the first occasion” replies NASCAR.
“Uh, guys” says DONNA, who’s ignored by the duo.
“Most people lack the courage to” says LED “even if you manage to escape, they’ll probably hunt you down to make an example out of you”
“Yeah, you gotta be smart about it” says NASCAR “plan ahead”
“Guys” DONNA gets closer.
“And escape to what?” asks again LED “where would you go?”
“If they’re keeping you as a slave, then anywhere else!” raises his voice NASCAR.
“Guys!” yells DONNA while grabbing each by a shoulder. They turn to her and she points at ALEX, ten meters in front of them.
The group has just entered a clearing in the forest, narrow and long. ALEX has turned towards them and is pointing at his ear.
They all stop and look around while focusing on any sound coming their way. Immediately, they can hear an engine, though not one they can recognize right-away, and a rhythmic noise resembling metal on metal. The combination of sounds growing by the second.
They all turn facing the opposite side of the clearing, eyes trained on the two converging walls of trees and the gap in between them.
“Is that…” DONNA’s question is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a metal, large, fast-moving object that appears to be cutting the clearing in half, emerging from the tree line to their left and quickly proceeding towards the opposite side. Its rattling metal sound now clearly audible as the metal wheels screech on the tracks hidden by the knee-high grass.
The arrival of the train leaves everyone interdicted, all eyes trained on the silver engine car passing about 70 meters in front of them.
ALEX is the first to notice the presence of two armed men on the roof of the locomotive, one of them clearly pointing in their direction. “Down!” he yells while diving in the grass.
Everyone else follows suit and the group breaks line of sight. LED lifts his head slowly, but the locomotive and its roof-mounted escort have already disappeared behind the trees. He counts four more carts and sees two more soldiers on top of the last one, weapons at the ready as they have probably been warned by the group in front. LED gets his head back down, his forefront inches from the dark ground.
They stay low as the sound of the train grows more and more distant. ALEX slowly gets up, advances a few meters, then turns “all clear”
“That was a train” says DONNA emerging from the grass “a frickin’ train”
“F**k me” NASCAR echoes her surprise “there’s still trains going ‘round”
“This one had an armed escort on top” adds ALEX.
“This one?” asks NASCAR “how many trains have you seen recently?”
“It’s been a while” agrees ALEX while nodding, who then turns to LED “I guess we’re not camping here for the night”
“The men on top of the carts” says LED “did anybody recognize any uniform?”
They all shake their heads.
“Does it make any difference LT?” asks NASCAR.
“Train’s moving East, which is supposed to be enemy territory. So yeah, it does make a difference”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – the ENCOUNTER [click to expand]
I drew an encounter card for the evening shift and got K♦ LOADED LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN:
A freight train commandeered by Soviet forces. MOBILITY roll to jump on. The train has guards and is loaded with 5.000 liters of alcohol fuel, 1.000 field rations, 200 AK-74 rifles, 6.000 rounds of 5.45x39mm ammo, 50 hand grenades (frag), and 10 RPG-16 rocket launchers. Train moves D6 hexes per shift until it arrives at a local HQ.
ALEX was keeping watch for the shift, and despite a +2 to his roll on account of the players being on foot and the enemies on a vehicle, he got no successes on his RECON roll.
Encounter distance for the hex is 2D10 = 7 hexes = 70 meters. I interpreted it as the forest being thick enough to mask both the sight and noise of the upcoming train until it is that close, and that’s how I dramatized the scene.
On a different matter, ALEX had an infected wound from the Battle of Knight’s Castle, and had to make a STAMINA roll to stave off the fever. He did (rolled 2 successes) and can now recover both hit points and stress points normally.
FINAL COMMENTS
At first, I wasn’t planning on dramatizing the encounter with the train, and I went through it very methodically: draw the encounter card, have the person on watch roll Recon, roll for the encounter’s distance, decide what the players do. Nothing happened, so let’s move to the next shift.
Then I started wondering: where is the train going? Which faction is it supplying? Is it going West or East? And I thought my characters would have the same questions.
Also, 70 meters is quite close to the train; makes you think you should have heard it sooner (and at a greater distance). I thought noise and sight may be covered by the forest, and added a couple of characters distracted while debating something.
In the end, I had all it took for a short scene, and wrote it.