"What's Got These Guys so Angry?!"
During the course of play the party manages to pick up a civilian specialist who has high levels of skill in some area they desire. This person isn't a particularly nice individual, they are fairly transactional in that they constantly demand high levels of remuneration in excess of what their skill is really worth. However they tend to blur into the background like many other NPCs.
This person has a past. Formerly they filled a similar role in a bandit group and during a raid on a regular Soviet military unit they managed to find something of a treasure, although how it is valuable they are not so sure. It is in fact the colours of a Soviet guard unit. The person was spotted by an observation post and marked but jumped ship from the bandits just before the Soviets caught and annihilated them in search of their banner.
Unfortunately, like most people who think they're quite clever the individual has made some fairly simple mistakes. Soviet scouts were tracking the person in addition to their usual duties and made yet another long distance observation when the person joined the player group. The Soviets now consider the player to be not only bandits but looters of war graves, far different from the universal looting that goes on in T2K. As such they have developed something of an obsession about their colours.
Of course, it's simply not true. However no one usually talks to the enemy especially when they're springing ambushes or hunting you through Poland. This individual with the banner has absolutely no loyalty to the group and if they get near a place like Kraków the person jumps ship again, stealing whatever they can from the players (especially a light vehicle) and heads there leaving the players to deal with the furious Soviets.
Once again, the person has no idea of how to cover their tracks. The players will see the Soviets suddenly disengage and head after the thief. It's at this point they might actually talk to the Soviets who, even though this is a loyalist unit and is fighting NATO, is quite prepared to pay in information to get their banner back. They know where a good condition NATO AFV is in bandit territory and if the players were to go into the city to get their flag back they might be willing to part with that information . . .
|