DAY 9 – APRIL 26th 2000
SOUTH of PRASZKA, POLAND – DAY
As ALEX is exploring the area looking for any sign of MARKO’s presence or passage, he notices a cave entrance. At first it looks like many others he has already encountered in the region, except for a single detail: just outside of the entrance and its shadow, among a pile of small rocks, is a black military boot. Stepping closer ALEX notices the boot has been gnawn on and there’s a particular smell coming from the cave, something anybody who has been in a war for so long is sadly accustomed to.
Inside the cave are the remains of a man, US military judging by what is left of the uniform. Wild animals have been quite busy with his corpse to the point that his own mother wouldn’t be able to recognize him. A rusty M16, probably beyond repairing, is propped up against the cave wall, with no magazine and no ammo in sight. There are the remains of a fire near the entrance, with a small pile of branches right next to it.
Then ALEX’s eye is caught by an old-type leather rucksack, held shut by straps. It appears the animals have taken a taste of it too, before deciding it was too sturdy for them. ALEX opens the straps and looks inside: there’s a couple of canned goods, something bundled in a thick, brown cloth and a small notebook. ALEX flips through the pages discovering it is a hand-written diary. According to the very first page it belongs to Staff Sergeant JAMES B. CRENSHAW. ALEX briefly looks at the mauled body while holding the diary in his hands.
ALEX puts the canned goods and the diary in the rucksack, planning to use it to carry everything back to the camp. He carefully approaches the body and collects the metal dog tags still draped around its neck. He then unfolds the brown cloth, revealing a golden chalice encrusted with jewels; something one would assume can only be found in an ancient castle or some museum. ALEX’s eyes are wide open as he spins the chalice in his hands observing it, while his mind is having troubles figuring out how something like that could have ended up in a place like this cave. Finally, he turns to the mangled body.
“I hope you left an explanation for this” he says in Polish.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
I’m using the standard introduction for the Black Madonna adventure the module itself provides. I liked this scene very much when I read it in the manual, and I quickly made the decision I would use it with only minor changes
Also, ALEX gains 1 MRE (the canned goods).
ALEX brings everything back to the camp and tells the others what he has found, confirming the identity of the body with the dog tags, and then shows the chalice and the diary. NASCAR is immediately intrigued by the chalice, while LED gives it a brief – yet surprised – look and then starts immediately to flip through the diary. DONNA is sound asleep in the tent.
“Anything about the golden cup in there. LT?” asks NASCAR after a few minutes.
ALEX has his eyes fixated on the chalice as he’s trying to figure out why he thinks he has seen it before. “It’s a chalice” he says.
NASCAR briefly considers the object once again “that’s like a religious thing, right? Like the cup they use to drink wine during mass?”
ALEX nods, his mind still at work.
LED closes the diary and puts it down on the rucksack. “Interesting” he says “anyone cares for a story?”
Staff Sergeant James B. Crenshaw was part of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which took a beating around Kielce back in early April when their advance was halted and then routed by the Soviet 9th and 20th Armored Divisions. The sergeant’s regiment started moving West to friendly lines, but part of it split to move South towards Krakow. The sergeant’s unit was tasked with scouting ahead of the main force as it moved West, thus separating them from the main body of 3rd Cav.
They encountered some resistance from Soviet troops along the way and had to ditch their Humvee somewhere West of Włoszczowa, but managed to cross the river moving towards Częstochowa. They had heard the city had been nuked in ’98 (like CJA told the group) and they could confirm it just by the amount of ashes encountered as they closed on it, so they kept their distance from the town.
It’s not clear where they went then: Crenshaw mentions scouting along a ridgeline where they had eyes on a ruined castle, and later finding an old metal gate under some piled wood in the vicinity of the castle. The sergeant and another soldier briefly scouted it before returning the next day with the whole squad as they had found a tunnel and only explored the first part of it. That was April 22nd.
The squad explored for a while what turned out to be an intricated maze of tunnels and even found an underwater stream. As they went deeper and deeper into the caves, the place grew more and more spooky to the point where it was unbearable for some: one member of the unit ran away and they later heard a scream coming from a side tunnel. The rest of the group, now down to three men, kept exploring and eventually found what is described as some kind of old crypt, with alcoves with dead bodies in Polish fatigues, an altar with lit candles on it and a painting of the Madonna with baby Christ propped up upon it. The chalice was on the altar, next to the painting, and the sergeant took it.
Then something happened: Crenshaw writes that one of his comrades screamed and when he turned, he saw someone standing where one of the bodies was resting, and the body had disappeared. At that point he started running, abandoning his comrades and eventually getting out of the maze of tunnels, the chalice still in his hand. Only later he realized he had a nasty wound on his arm, which he probably cut on something while getting out of the cave.
It’s unclear which direction he went, though he eventually ended up in the cave where ALEX found him with little supplies. Weakened by the injury, he eventually lost his strength and succumbed to infection. Hopefully he had already left this world when the animals found him.
CRENSHAW’S DIARY [click to expand]
This is a brief summary of sergeant Crenshaw’s diary. The full diary is available as part of The Black Madonna Expansion Module and referees can print it and hand it to their players. Or if you have the boxset you can give the players the handout in physical form, as it is included in its content. The location of the cave is kept purposely vague, but the previous entries give a rough idea of the area in which the events occurred.
A note about the timeline: Creanshaw’s diary, as presented in the expansion, spans from late April to May 26 (or little later). My campaign is now at April 26, so I adjusted the dates to fit in it.
“That’s some Stephen King s**t right there” comments NASCAR after hearing the story.
“Yeah, the cave part gets really spooky” agrees LED, who then points at the golden chalice “but apparently it happened”
“Are you sure we can trust this guy?” asks ALEX.
“It gets rambling in the last entrances, I’ll give you that, but up to the cave part it seems sound”
NASCAR lifts the chalice “I know money went down the drain with everything else, but this is definitely worth something”
“I keep thinking that I’ve seen it before” says ALEX frowning his brows.
“Like in a museum or something?” asks LED.
ALEX shakes his head “no, somewhere else”
“The last crusade?” asks NASCAR.
“What?”
“You know, Indiana Jones”
“I’ve never been to Indiana, what’s that?” says ALEX.
LED chuckles a bit “forget it. He mentions a castle in the diary, any castle around Częstochowa?”
“Plenty. This is Silesia, it is an old region, lots of history. There are castles old and new all around the place. And lots of caves too”
“Ever been here before? Before the war, I mean” asks LED.
“I grew up in eastern Poland, I remember coming to Silesia for a field trip with my school, but I can’t remember if we visited any castle”
DONNA emerges from the tent, yawning while covering her mouth with one hand.
“You missed the book club, DOC” says NASCAR while going back to his watch duty.
DONNA looks at LED and ALEX while pointing at NASCAR “what?”
FINAL COMMENTS
This is the very first step in the players’ search for the Black Madonna. As of now there has been a single mention of the painting itself, and that was in Crenshaw’s diary, but the group has received an item (the chalice) that seems to carry some importance, and can be later connected with the sacred icon.
At this stage I have some previous narrative elements still in motion, so I won’t push my players straight into the Black Madonna campaign. Rather I intend to have the search for the sacred icon slowly climb up the list of the group’s priorities, inching its way towards the main focus of this Twilight: 2000 campaign.
This slow-paced approach will – hopefully – allow for the introduction of new factions, NPCs and (sub)plots, in an effort to take full advantage of the resources presented in The Black Madonna Expansion module (and other expansions as well).
I will of course put my own spin on everything, and I trust my imagination will serve me as much as the official resources.
2 responses to “38 The Man Who Saw Too Much”
Just leaving a comment to say I love your story!
Thank you!
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