DAY 14 – MAY 1st 2000
DOBRODZIEN, POLAND – DAY
MORNING SHIFT [click to expand]
Clouds disappear almost entirely as weather improves.
LED keeps working on the Combat Pistol:
- LED rolls TECH [D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 6)
The Combat Pistol goes up to full REL.
NASCAR attempts once more to perform maintenance on DONNA’s P-83 pistol:
- NASCAR rolls TECH [D8+D6] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled double 5)
He doesn’t push the roll.
DONNA sleeps for the shift
ALEX sleeps for the shift
The group is asked to meet WARREN in Dobrodzień. As FATHER LUKASZ may also be present, they decide LED and ALEX will go to the meeting, while DONNA and NASCAR will try and barter with the townspeople offering what they’ve collected after Mental Ambush.
After a brief discussion, the group agrees to save some of the weaponry, equally split between small arms (pistols) and assault rifles. The purpose of this is double:
- The civilians liberated from Camp Flock could benefit from having the means to protect themselves, especially if they are told to get away from Dobrodzień. They have taken some weaponry at Camp Flock, but one never knows, so a couple of assault rifles are meant for them. It’s also a good gesture (and hopefully good karma).
- Small weapons that contribute little to one’s load, along with their ammo, may prove an effective and compact way to bribe someone and get out of tight spots
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
LED has the highest combination of EMP and PERSUASION [D10+D10], and is therefore the most suited for conducting a bargain.
Yet the players are also expecting their share of the loot taken from the Flock back at their camp, so having DONNA negotiating won’t be a problem; plus, her stats are only one step behind LED’s [D10+D8].
The group is escorted from the 1/116th Cav HQ following the road going North by one of WARREN’s soldiers. They arrive at the town’s defensive perimeter where a brick wall has been erected from one side of the road to the other, connecting the two buildings on opposite sides. At the center of it is a square metal panel used as a door, large enough for a vehicle to go through the opening it covers.
On the left is a grey anonymous house with its windows on the second floor boarded up, except for a little sliver from which the defendants can fire on the road. On the right is a dark brown building with a damaged red roof; its windows on the ground floor have metal bars protecting them. The closest is open and one can see a silhouette standing in the shadow of the inside.
There’s a brief exchange of words between the group’s escort and the guards, but eventually the panel is lifted with an ingenious system of pulleys and counterweights on the other side.
“Weapons slinged and no funny business” says the escort.
AREAS of CONTROL [click to expand]
The expansion module Urban Operations introduced the concept of Areas of Control (Urban Operations, page 24), indicating hexes that are controlled by a specific faction and requiring the Referee to adjust encounters according to them. Aside from areas not controlled by any specific faction, there are two levels of control:
- NO CONTROL: draw encounters in the area normally.
- LIMITED CONTROL: when drawing an encounter, replace any military faction on the card (US, Soviet, or local) with the faction controlling the area.
- TOTAL CONTROL: when drawing an encounter, replace any marauder or military faction on the card with the faction controlling the area.
Dobrodzień is relatively small, and the bulk of its people live within the central area surrounded by the wall they have erected to protect it. That means inside the perimeter local forces have total control, while outside of it I’ll house-rule a fifty-fifty share of limited control between local forces and the 1/116th Cav which is acting as a protecting force for the town.
My players travelled a bit of road before entering the walled part of town, and city travel is managed by stretches, with – typically – one encounter drawn per stretch. I decided to stick to the rules and drew a card, which turned out to be an encounter with a military faction. I didn’t bother with roleplaying it or dramatizing it, as the 1/116th Cav is now friendly towards the players and the locals are neutral at worse.
(Also, good for my players, as I had drawn J♠ HAMMER of GOD, which is basically a Soviet ambush supported by a sniper and heavy artillery…).
By proceeding North, the group quickly arrives at the town’s square, just behind the church visible on the other side. The square still carries signs of a previous battle: torn down lamp-posts, broken planters, the occasional small crater from a mortar round. Buildings watching the square have cracked facades broken windows and bullet marks. A single rust-covered T-55 lays at the edge of the paved area, its tracks broken and the turret showing the sings of anti-tank weapons strikes.
The church on the opposite side is painted white and appears as a hazy vision, like it’s covered by a thin layer of mist. Its single belltower is broken, like a giant hand snapped its tip, while damage on the rest of the building is hard to assess from the group’s position.
NASCAR and DONNA are directed to the far side of the square, where an olive military tent has been erected and a couple dozen of citizens have gathered, to inquire about bargaining possibilities. The escort goes with them.
LED and ALEX stop at the corner of the square where a picnic-style wooden table has been set. LTC MOLLY WARREN is sitting there with a man in civilian clothes. Ten meters behind them, by a lamp-post, are a couple of soldiers from the 1/116th Cav, evidently her personal escort.
As they approach the table, the man gets up, shakes his head while saying something in Polish, and offers WARREN his hand. She remains interdicted for a moment, her mind clearly at work on something, then nods and shakes the man’s hand. He collects a metal water bottle from the table and leaves.
LED and ALEX wait for WARREN to recognize their presence, and when she does, she nods and gestures towards the other side of the table.
“Welcome to Dobrodzień”
“Nice town, wish I had seen it before the war” responds LED while sitting down.
WARREN appears tired, like she hasn’t slept in a while. She stretches her fingers and takes a deep breath.
“That was the mayor, the guy in charge of things pertaining to the town. The people you liberated won’t be allowed to stay. I’m trying to work on a different solution, like re-populating some small community nearby, but lack of resources is a constraint for everything in these days”
“Anything we can do?” asks ALEX.
“They need farmable land, a water supply, an acceptable defensive perimeter, seeds for planting crops and vegetables, and enough food to survive until the first harvest, at least” WARREN tilts her head slightly “you got any of that with you?”
“We are a little short of… all of that” answers LED.
“What we got from the Flock will come in handy, but not for this kind of operation. I’ve ordered to set aside some of what we got at their camp for you as well. You really came through for us, and you have my thanks. And please pass this to the other half of your team as well”
“Thanks ma’am, we’ll do”
“Don’t thank me yet. Those are badly needed resources for the 1/116th Cav, and I think burdening you with more than you can carry doesn’t make sense, so I thought about what could be useful for a small unit such as yours”
“That’s very considerate ma’am” says LED.
WARREN smiles “I’ve always been good at Christmas shopping”
ALEX is observing a bicycle rack at the edge of the square, full of bicycles stacked in order.
“That’s for the town’s QRF” says WARREN.
“Clever” comments ALEX.
“And effective. From here to any part of the defensive perimeter in less than 60 seconds”
A group of women passes by pushing a wooden cart, its load covered by a blue tarp.
“You said you had something for us on the agenda, ma’am” says LED while still looking at the cart.
“True. You guys already put yourself on the line to help us, and I don’t want to sound too demanding, but help, especially competent help, is hard to come by. So don’t take what I’m about to say as an order, rather as a possibility. An invitation if you please”
“Alright”
“When the convoy came back, they had a brief stop in Lubliniec, not far from here along the road to Czestochowa”
“We passed it on the way to the Flock’s camp” nods ALEX.
“They wanted to be good neighbors and exchanged a few words with some of the locals. There’s a Polish Army unit in town, stationed at their barracks on the southern edge. Their ranks are severely depleted, and there’s not enough manpower to really organize the town, yet they help local folks as they can and it looks like most of the locals have rallied around them”
A woman comes by the table and greets WARREN, asking her something in Polish. WARREN greets her back and replies with a few sentences in fluent Polish. There’s another brief exchange of words and the woman moves for the other side of the square.
“You speak good Polish ma’am” notes ALEX.
“Yeah” nods WARREN “I figured when in Rome…” she lets the sentence linger. “Anyway, the commander of the Polish unit told us they had troubles with a group of Soviet deserters that have taken up an abandoned military facility South-West of town. Townspeople forage and hunt in a forest bordering the town, then the Russians started to do the same, there were… incidents, the Polish unit intervened and things escalated…”
“…and casualties started to mount” finishes LED “I’ve heard that before”
“Recently they’ve reached an agreement of sorts, a truce. They stay out of each other’s way and everyone gets by”
“You need the means to enforce such an agreement” comments LED “I assume trust is not on the table, so what else?”
“Hostages” says WARREN “at the end of their last skirmish the Polish unit ended up with a Russian prisoner, and the Soviet deserters snatched a Polish soldier that was reconning their camp. Now each side has to treat its guest with a modicum of respect, and exchange proof of that on a regular basis”
“Sure, if we all have hostages, then no one can break the rules” says LED “didn’t work with nukes…”
“This truce is fragile, and likely not to go on for long” agrees WARREN “that’s the… humanitarian side of things. Then there’s the utilitarian part”
“Which is…”
“The deserters possess something valuable, down in their cove. The Poles scouted a BTR-60, the kind with no turret, but sporting an impressive array of antennas”
“A Soviet comms vehicle” realizes LED widening his eyes.
“I’m sure you gentlemen can see the value attached to it. So, if your travel brings you to Lubliniec, you may want to pay a visit to this Polish unit, perhaps assess the situation, maybe even liberate some Soviet assets”
“Well ma’am, as you said, this is not an order. It is however one hell of a suggestion”
FINAL COMMENTS
A chance to breath, recover, and generally see what the town has to offer. Much like in Praszka, the players were granted a place to stay, and a ration of food and water every day, yet here they seem to enjoy a modicum of freedom. It’s the perk of being in a town guarded by, and with close ties to, an American unit.
I dramatized the chat with WARREN as it served a double purpose. First, it’s a nice and easy way of providing some details about the town, a mean to give some character to Dobrodzień. Second, it allows the Referee to point the players towards a next possible objective, mostly by leveraging the fact that LED can immediately recognize its potential value. What is presented as a possibility becomes the next logical step.
Of course it’s easy when you are both the players and the Referee…