Looks like I'll be first --
This is a thread designed to startle your PCs with an entirely new set of problems in someplace other than Poland, the Gulf, or even the US.
Hope you enjoy!
Demonspawn
Player Info:
We had found a good spot off the main road for camp. I say main almost laughingly, as it was a dilapidated dirt road out in the hinterlands of either Ukraine or eastern Poland. We had spent the better part of a week running from that damn Spetsnaz team and dodging PACT patrols. We really weren’t sure where we were, but we were still alive and had managed to slip the noose so to speak. Just in time too, the horses were spent and we desperately needed to brew up fuel for the HMMWV FSV and the LAV-25. Damn it all! We are down to 160 rnds of 25mm, only three Tank Breakers, and just two AT-4s. OK, we did score six RPG-22s and captured that RPG-7V with four rockets. 40mm grenades and FRAGS we are short on too. Well, at least 5.56 was not much of a problem; we have almost 2000 rounds left of that crate of ammo we found plus seven 100 round belts of 7.62mm found in the same bunker. All of us have at least a full basic load of ammo, thank God! And equally lucky the trailer with the still is undamaged.
Billie thinks we are somewhere north of Holovne, Ukraine. Crap!! What the hell were we thinking! Kracow was sorta safe. We had carved out a presence. Made a few friends. Hell, it was life! So what do we do…hear about Operation Omega….lets saddle up and ride out. In a pig’s eye! Trying to traverse the length of Poland to get to north Germany. Idiots we are!
And me, here I am in command. I was Air Force ROTC for crying out loud! I remember the pitch, “free college degree…just give us four years active duty and commit to two in a Reserve unit.” Yea, I graduated in May 1996 and by January, I was at Rhine-Main AB in the middle of a war. Six months later the nukes start flying and before TDM, I am a 1st Lt in the 5th commanding a recon platoon; thirty-two men in three LAV-25s, a HMMWV FSV, and a Jeep. I’ve got six survivor and two “new guys” including Billie. Well, she is a girl. Lied about her age to get in; she is just 18. Smart. She was in a supply unit until she got sent to us as a replacement. Billie is the gunner on the FSV, and hell she is good! Fuel is our biggest problem. All our hoarded reserves have been burned up running. There is no way to get home now.
Anyway, I’ve got eight US army grunts, a German F-4F WSO we rescued from a Polish unit, a Pole, a Ukrainian, and a Czech, plus six horses, and our guide, a Russian deserter that owed us big time and offered to help us get to Germany. He is ex-KGB but became disillusioned with the commies, deserted, and was in the Kracow militia. Claims he was a Colonel and knew Yeltsin. Anyway, I am in charge of twelve souls, and all I’ve done is get them screwed.
Suddenly I heard some rapid fire shouting back toward camp. Is that Ukrainian? I turn around and jog back into camp.
Putin, our guide, and Capt Berkholt, our German WSO, were in animated discussion with a kid. He had a Russian sporting rifle slung over his shoulder and a pistol at his waist. His horse looks even more spent than ours. As I walk over, Yeltsin gets a weird, well horrified might be a better description, look as the discussion continues. Finally he glances over at me remarking, “Captain, we got problems.” Oh great! What fresh hell now?
The kid at issue is Melanovich Cronkev, a 17 years old Ukrainian, and he has a tale for the ages. Over a month ago, while he was out hunting, his village was raided by a group of Marauders. Hearing firing in the distance, he rushed back to find his family and neighbors being methodically forced into wooden buildings, which were then set ablaze. Those few villagers that managed to flee were gunned down. There were also several villagers writhing in agony, impaled on tall poles in front of the government offices. He managed to evade notice as he snuck back toward the family home, only to see what he was most anxious to protect; his 15 year old sister, Kaya, being gang raped. Knowing he would only get himself and his sister killed, he patiently watched. The Marauders spent most of the day raping, pillaging, and murdering everyone while Cronkev watched and waited. He managed to sneak into the family house and grab more ammo for his LOS-7 rifle and a .22LR Tokarev. When the gang departed, he saddled up the horse and rode out in pursuit. He has been trailing them for just over 6-weeks patiently looking for a chance to free his sister and avoiding the gang’s patrols. He is well armed with a LOS-7 sporting rifle (7.62mmR) w/7x fixed scope, 65-rnds and a .22LR Tokarev w/80-rnds.
The kid is unfailingly brave and very smart. He knows rushing in will get himself killed, and if he rides off seeking help, he may lose the trail. He is a good shot with the LOS-7 and can reliably hit a 6” target at 600 yds (skill 18). If they kill Kaya, he will stalk the Saints and kill them, one-by-one. He has also picked up a lot of intel on the group.
He has thought about warning possible targeted small villages, but “knows” that will get Kaya killed. So he waits and watches. He was scouting out the only route out of the town when he stumbled on fresh tracks of the LAV.
Satan’s Saints
Victor Kaskov leads the group. Kaskov appears to be a hopelessly delusional, insane psychopath. He preaches a brand of cultism that holds that his Saints are the ordained, chosen servants of the Devil. Kaskov was a barely functional Russian “heavy metal” rocker before the war, and he has embraced the chaos. He believes himself to be a demon in human form. There is no limit to his or his followers depravity.
Group routinely eats its victim.
Throw live victims into a vented 55-gallon drum and then place it over a fire to roast the live victim to eat.
Routinely barbeque children, often crucifying parents and then killing, butchering, barbequing, and eating their children in front of them.
The group is moving about in the no man’s land between the Soviet army and the Ukraine army raiding small villages. Word has filtered back to officials on both sides of the line, but the Saints have so far managed to pass themselves off as “poor refugees” in any encounters.
Travelling by wagons and horses and modified trucks and cars, Kaskov can maintain a certain air of sanity when passing checkpoints or moving through towns and villages too large and prepared for a raid. They usually spend a few days in larger towns brewing up alcohol fuel and gathering any needed supplies, where they also hold nightly concerts charging admission. Three bands are on the roster, Kaskov’s “Screaming Panzers,” a 4-man Beetle’s imitators band, and a two-couples band singing Abba-type rock songs popular in the region.
The group numbers ~50 men and women, mostly armed with AKMs, AKS-74Us, PPS-43s, or sawed off shotguns, which they keep hidden. There are a few worn sporting rifles displayed for appearances only, and the roughest looking are held out as “security” armed with various shotguns or a few well-worn lever action rifles.
Kaya Cronkev is an extremely pretty 15-year old with very striking green eyes and blonde hair (that saved her life). Kaskov keeps her as a pet; usually naked, chained by a collar or locked in a cage hidden on one of the trucks. He treats her like a pet and expects her to act like one. She is often led around on a leash with her acting 100% like a dog. There are several other similarly situated captives and all are raped regularly.
The player’s group is on a collision course with the gang. They are about 10km away in a town too organized to raid. The group can’t go back, and they are in a bind if they move forward. What next?
Referee’s Info:
There is one tiny little major problem; Kaskov REALLY IS a demon and relatively immune to weapon’s fire. He has 200 hit points divided evenly on his body. He only suffers 1 point of damage for every hit < 12.7mm; 2 points of damage for every hit from 12.7mm to 25mm; and 5 points for any anti-tank weapon (ATGM or rocket), and 3 points from grenades. Once he absorbs enough damage to “kill” him, his body will vanish revealing a black demonic shadow, which will melt away accompanied by a spine chilling wailing. He uses normal weapons, but anything he wields/fires is with skill 15.