S06e03 "A dark and bloody trail"

[headquarters]

Only a few weeks away now guys .
sharpen the pencils..grease up the dice..put those beers into deep refrigeration..

SOMEWHERE NORTH OF KETTLEMAN CITY JUST EAST OF HIGHWAY 5....


Date : 20.10.19 Time : 1325hrs Temperature : +1 C*

The constant shivers from the penetrating chill that had settled in their backbone made conversation difficult and staggered.Sitting down for hours on end in this temperature had let the cold get a firm grip on each of them .They were sitting in the dilapidated basement of the abandoned farnmhouse. The wood creaked and moaned in the gusts of wind .Atleast they were sheltered from that .

Lt.Benito Tecumseh Pain was keeping watch.He paced up and down the room from window to window and shuddered every time he got close to one of them.There panes were all shattered or cracked.The draft was unpleasant.

Outside the wind had indeed picked up ,and it brought with it an unwelcome chill .Gusts of cold air that was sharp and nippy to the skin .

Suddenly he froze deadly still -his pacing suspended .In the basemement the shivering bundles of rags and tarps and tattered clothing all suddenly seized their rustle and coughs and sneezes.

Inbetween the gusts of wind that howled around the corners they had all heard it at the same time. A sound all to familiar .Faint and far away but clear and distinct .

The rythmic clap of a helicopter doing a slow pass.

The young doctor looked from man to man in the basement -his face filled with a wild hope -the chopper might be one of their own!
Seeing the tense faces around him made his hope flutter and go out .

All of them held their breath for what seemed like ages and turned their heads futively upwards as the distant sound grew fainter still and then disappeared .

Only then did they exhale -almost as one man ,and a few rustles from someone gathering his rags around him to try to keep some heat in.The worry seemed to linger a few seconds before dissapating slowly.

The steady pacing upstairs in the living room resumed.

Someone coughed in the basement ,and spat into the heap of bloody bandages in the corner. One by one they met eachothers eyes as for to say "phew!close one " - but both looking quizzingly into the others gaze to find some spark of optimism in it .And both realizing that none was to be found dropped their gaze at the same time.

After a little while Ironman cleared a soar throat and said :"I believe my rider definently specified a roaring fire and two pounds of marshmelows with spits for this one" .

His face looked so disappointed that the others had to crack a smile over the statement ."Grease" even managed a little chuckle.

Suddenly everybody froze again.All quiet in suspense.

The pulsating sound of rotorblades grew steadily closer.

The helicopter was coming back.

[General Pain]

does this mean we can act pre-session ?

In that case I'm happy that my plan worked....MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

just kidding - I did not have a plan to be the only unharmed PC-----or did I?

[headquarters]

I am just astounded to see that you claim to be acting according to a plan...












I kid!!

[General Pain]

want us to make som pre-session preperations (ingame) ?

Like setting up spears ,board windows, get more water/food, assesment to survivabilty to comrades, possibilities to poison comrades who allready deserve to die an agonizing death...(oops that was just a looong typo),

[General Pain]

As you can see there are many airfields, and other possibilites for us to maybe capture an old crop-duster - tie some of the party onto the wings and escape in a glorius charge northward.....

Local Places of interests...as teached by my missing step-father General Pain.

- Visalia
- Corcoran
- Hanford
-

[headquarters]

thanks for a great weekend guys.

sadly deCorba wasnt there -well not in the flesh anyways..

Food ,drink and company as always totally grand.

see you around guys.

Thinking of driving back east to the Tigercity in october or november for a weekend of more FtF.

I can make pick ups in the capitol of the south.

For those not present or who were to slushed to remember - a brief after action report :

The party has been huddeling in an abandoned basement for over a week ,laid low by fatigue,gunshot wounds,infections and rad sickness.After the rations are gone they live of the mangy dogs,scrawny rats and filthy crows they are able to shot or trap.

Signs of the NDP manhunt operation drawing closer increase -and inevitably the partys end of the vast farming area is searched.

The party has prepared well,fortifyuing their house and have placed an IED on the access road.Two characters take up positions outside the house ,in a nearby building and under cover of vegetation in a nearby field.

A long line of squad sized units and trucks make up a cordon and search teams go in and routinely kick down all the doors,look in all the culverts,bayonet every haystack and so on.As a squad converge upon the partys house the tension rises more and more - and then in the last possible moment before they reach the house a string of shots ring out .3 NDP troopers drop wounded in their MOPP suits and shooting starts from several quarters.NDP squads double time it over the fields to get to cover and get a good firing position.Jeeps carrying LMGs starts speeding down the dirt roads hosing the building with machine gun fire.

The NDP squad closest to the house is caught in the open by the PCs ambush and break.The rout is a bloody one with all squad members being shot dead or wounded.Another squad takes up position in a nearby farmhouse only to be met with several rifle grenades and deadly sniper fire from the PCs.

The NDP take cover and start lobbing RPGs ath the partys farm house - they do not yet know what their enemy is ,and possibly suspect it to be ordinary marauders.Something about the fierce resistance makes the company commander wary though .

Another attempt to manouver squads to storm the house has to be given up due to an efficient counter barrage of rifle grenades from the house and more sniping .

Considering the amount of suppressive fire that whomever he has trapped in the house is taking from his troops without their resistance ending,the NDP commander figures its time for some support .He has now lost 10 men wounded, 6-7 KIAs and several vehicles are not responding on the comms and must be considered lost/destroyed.

He disengages his platoons and the area is cordoned of at safe distance .(What is safe distance from the party anyways?)
A dinged and bruised PainTek P-47/2000 roars in strafing the farmhouse with its .50 cal HMGs and lets fly a cluster of 66 mm rockets to boot. The barn is blown up and starts to smoulder and the house is perforated to am extent. This does not end the resistance ,however ,and NDP troops take fire as they move in again.

Certain that his enemy is a high value target ,by know, the NDP company commander calls in more CAS and concentrate on the house.

But by now the party has had enough - they decide to shoot their way out and take their chances in the open.
( Admittedly ,they didnt make the conlcusion jointly ,but start to run away in pairs or one by one

A second sortie of Paintek P-47/2000s arrive and 1 x 125 KG Paintek GP-2 Bomb (HE) hits the farmyard blowing the roof of the house clear of ,and collapsing the rest of the house in a heap of debris on top of the groundfloor of the building .

The partymembers in the house were Doc Johnson,IronMan and Fm.DeCorba.
IronMan and Johnson manages to crawl out of the debris ,and take of crawling along ditches and through the rotten fields ,always with bullets whizzing overhead.

DeCorba is nowhere to be found-not that anyone took any time to look .

Lt.Benito Tecumseh Pain and "Grease " Lincoln have had positions outside the farmhouse.They both try to slip away crawling through ditches and running through the rotten corn fields.The NDP pursue them relentlessly,getting as close as 20 meters before being routed by handgrenades and rifle fire.

Towards the end of the engagement the party has ( mysteriously ) all decided on the same course of action without really having any means to talsk about it .( No comms).They drag their wounded and dirty bodies along the bottom of a ditch towards an abandoned 4wd SUV that has been knocked out earlier in the fight.(Crew all sniped ).

The whole incident has taken around 1 hour and 40 minutes . Twilight -and the possible aid of darkness in slipping out is around 60 minutes away.

We will start the next session with the party crawling along the ditch towards the abandoned PainTek "Scout-2" 4WD.
Well-almost the whole party that is - DeCorba will start in another position .

[headquarters]

guys - read this

Originally Posted by headquarters

For those not present or who were to slushed to remember - a brief after action report :

The party has been huddeling in an abandoned basement for over a week ,laid low by fatigue,gunshot wounds,infections and rad sickness.After the rations are gone they live of the mangy dogs,scrawny rats and filthy crows they are able to shot or trap.

Signs of the NDP manhunt operation drawing closer increase -and inevitably the partys end of the vast farming area is searched.

The party has prepared well,fortifyuing their house and have placed an IED on the access road.Two characters take up positions outside the house ,in a nearby building and under cover of vegetation in a nearby field.

A long line of squad sized units and trucks make up a cordon and search teams go in and routinely kick down all the doors,look in all the culverts,bayonet every haystack and so on.As a squad converge upon the partys house the tension rises more and more - and then in the last possible moment before they reach the house a string of shots ring out .3 NDP troopers drop wounded in their MOPP suits and shooting starts from several quarters.NDP squads double time it over the fields to get to cover and get a good firing position.Jeeps carrying LMGs starts speeding down the dirt roads hosing the building with machine gun fire.

The NDP squad closest to the house is caught in the open by the PCs ambush and break.The rout is a bloody one with all squad members being shot dead or wounded.Another squad takes up position in a nearby farmhouse only to be met with several rifle grenades and deadly sniper fire from the PCs.

The NDP take cover and start lobbing RPGs ath the partys farm house - they do not yet know what their enemy is ,and possibly suspect it to be ordinary marauders.Something about the fierce resistance makes the company commander wary though .

Another attempt to manouver squads to storm the house has to be given up due to an efficient counter barrage of rifle grenades from the house and more sniping .

Considering the amount of suppressive fire that whomever he has trapped in the house is taking from his troops without their resistance ending,the NDP commander figures its time for some support .He has now lost 10 men wounded, 6-7 KIAs and several vehicles are not responding on the comms and must be considered lost/destroyed.

He disengages his platoons and the area is cordoned of at safe distance .(What is safe distance from the party anyways?)
A dinged and bruised PainTek P-47/2000 roars in strafing the farmhouse with its .50 cal HMGs and lets fly a cluster of 66 mm rockets to boot. The barn is blown up and starts to smoulder and the house is perforated to am extent. This does not end the resistance ,however ,and NDP troops take fire as they move in again.

Certain that his enemy is a high value target ,by know, the NDP company commander calls in more CAS and concentrate on the house.

But by now the party has had enough - they decide to shoot their way out and take their chances in the open.
( Admittedly ,they didnt make the conlcusion jointly ,but start to run away in pairs or one by one

A second sortie of Paintek P-47/2000s arrive and 1 x 125 KG Paintek GP-2 Bomb (HE) hits the farmyard blowing the roof of the house clear of ,and collapsing the rest of the house in a heap of debris on top of the groundfloor of the building .

The partymembers in the house were Doc Johnson,IronMan and Fm.DeCorba.
IronMan and Johnson manages to crawl out of the debris ,and take of crawling along ditches and through the rotten fields ,always with bullets whizzing overhead.

DeCorba is nowhere to be found-not that anyone took any time to look .

Lt.Benito Tecumseh Pain and "Grease " Lincoln have had positions outside the farmhouse.They both try to slip away crawling through ditches and running through the rotten corn fields.The NDP pursue them relentlessly,getting as close as 20 meters before being routed by handgrenades and rifle fire.

Towards the end of the engagement the party has ( mysteriously ) all decided on the same course of action without really having any means to talsk about it .( No comms).They drag their wounded and dirty bodies along the bottom of a ditch towards an abandoned 4wd SUV that has been knocked out earlier in the fight.(Crew all sniped ).

The whole incident has taken around 1 hour and 40 minutes . Twilight -and the possible aid of darkness in slipping out is around 60 minutes away.

We will start the next session with the party crawling along the ditch towards the abandoned PainTek "Scout-2" 4WD.
Well-almost the whole party that is - DeCorba will start in another position .