S06e03 "A dark and bloody trail" - Prologue

[General Pain]

As the situation for the party is grim and desperate at best, I Lt. Benito Tecumseh Pain do the following pre-session actions (as allowed by HQ)

@ the farmhouse where my comrades lie beaten but not fallen.

- set up bulletproof sniper/guard possitions in each direction of the house
- set up bulletproof halfwalls to protect main entrances, including stairways,
- put up as many "Home-Alone" traps as possible...telling my comrades of their locations.
- set up pit-fall with spearpit outside main entrances(like the one in "book of eli") (if possible)
-Do a thorough scrounging - looking for especially wires,local maps, telefon-cataloges(yello-pages)(bibles)etc,tools and more gaffatape+++++
- set up primitive traps for rodents and upwards.
- paint with coal on walls inside house; maps of the compound including codenames of compound locations
- set up a very primitive communication-system (wires and tin-cans)
- set up concealed bulletproofing in strategic windows, preferably that can't be seen from the outside and/or can be easily removed/moved from the inside
- explain (slowly) my progress to my friends

- try to fix mopp-suits with gaffatape , making kneepads, elbowpads and gillie-moppsuits if possible , perhaps as a harness you can remove and don when needed.

@ the neirby outside of the farmhouse (in the compound)

- dig (while hidden) a crouching ditch from the house to strategic locations outside and inside the compound, so w can escape the compund undetected
- familiarize myself with area

@ nearby area outside compund

- Take patrols alone, stealthing around and beeing as invisible as possible, using camoflage, and to hide my apparant horrible scent.
- While on patrols try to map the area for escape-routes north or any other direction
- scroung , hunt, track , forage on said patrols
-allways explain how long patrols will take...slowly to my wounded comrades
-try to locate a library nearby - looking for books on alternative healing, xplosives-makin, maps,
- try to the best of my ability to share food found.
- try to find nearby populated settlements...identify threat-levels,
-observe the patrollroutes of our enemies.
---more to come.

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by General Pain

As the situation for the party is grim and desperate at best, I Lt. Benito Tecumseh Pain do the following pre-session actions (as allowed by HQ)

@ the farmhouse where my comrades lie beaten but not fallen.

- set up bulletproof sniper/guard possitions in each direction of the house
- set up bulletproof halfwalls to protect main entrances, including stairways,
- put up as many "Home-Alone" traps as possible...telling my comrades of their locations.
- set up pit-fall with spearpit outside main entrances(like the one in "book of eli") (if possible)
-Do a thorough scrounging - looking for especially wires,local maps, telefon-cataloges(yello-pages)(bibles)etc,tools and more gaffatape+++++
- set up primitive traps for rodents and upwards.
- paint with coal on walls inside house; maps of the compound including codenames of compound locations
- set up a very primitive communication-system (wires and tin-cans)
- set up concealed bulletproofing in strategic windows, preferably that can't be seen from the outside and/or can be easily removed/moved from the inside
- explain (slowly) my progress to my friends

- try to fix mopp-suits with gaffatape , making kneepads, elbowpads and gillie-moppsuits if possible , perhaps as a harness you can remove and don when needed.

@ the neirby outside of the farmhouse (in the compound)

- dig (while hidden) a crouching ditch from the house to strategic locations outside and inside the compound, so w can escape the compund undetected
- familiarize myself with area

@ nearby area outside compund

- Take patrols alone, stealthing around and beeing as invisible as possible, using camoflage, and to hide my apparant horrible scent.
- While on patrols try to map the area for escape-routes north or any other direction
- scroung , hunt, track , forage on said patrols
-allways explain how long patrols will take...slowly to my wounded comrades
-try to locate a library nearby - looking for books on alternative healing, xplosives-makin, maps,
- try to the best of my ability to share food found.
- try to find nearby populated settlements...identify threat-levels,
-observe the patrollroutes of our enemies.
---more to come.

The info below is meant as a schedule and not GM describing GAMETIME actually passing .I will make rolls to determine events from period to period.

Tricky calculation to do off the top of my head -considering youcant always sleep exactly when you want to I offer a preliminary calculation :

If you patrol 6 hours every night and sleep 4 hours this leaves app 14-18 work hours for both of you (28-36) .With the help of Greaseand factoring in sleep variables etc .
I suggest the plan can be done in a timeframe as below.
These calculations are done considering minimum time to sleep .
Also tending to the wounded takes an additional 4 hours every day .

This means that you only get to sleep 4 hours every night and work/work hard the remaining periods.

By GM ruling this means that you will get 1 fatiguepoint pr day.

If you choose to spend in total 24 hrs more on rest over the 4 day period you will not get any fatiguepoints .This will delay most projects by about 6 hours.



MAKING PATROLS TO SCAVENGE FOR USEABLE STUFF AND FOOD /PATROL FOR ENEMIES :
Using extreme caution and stealth : 1 km pr hour covered.
4 km trail completed pr day + 4 km trail completed every day thereafter



FORTIFIED POSITIONS INSIDE FARMHOUSE :
using a stack of bricks,available timber and furniture you are able to set up 8 positions around the house interior covering the windows etc .You also make one position inside the house covering the stairs and front door.Positions use up most of available materials on the farm

POSITIONS : covers one person prone or at a low crouching stance towards the front .Projected AV : 1 or 2.
TIME CONSUMPTION : 24 hrs
completed day 1

SCROUNGING PROPERTY AND EXPLAINING SLOWLY USING ALOT OF HAND SIGNALS : 2 hrs ( Scrounge complete already )
completed day 1

FIRST PATROL CONDUCTED 4 km -North

REPAIRING KIT /MAKING GHILLIE SUITS USING WHAT YOU FOUND DURING SCROUNGE: 8 hrs
completed day 1/2

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND BATTLEMAP OF COMPOUND : 4 hrs
completed day 1/2


TRAPS INSIDE FARMHOUSE : boobytraps using weighted boards with nail spikes covering all windows ground floor .Projected dmg : 1D12 + (?)
TIME CONSUMPTION :12 hrs
completed day 2

2nd PATROL CONDUCTED EAST

TRAPDOOR /PIT W SPIKES OUTSIDE MAIN DOOR :
1,6 m deep pit covered with thin boards and curtains sprinkled with dust .Spikes -boards with nails and sharpened sticks
Projected dmg : 1D12-2
TIME CONSUMPTION :12 hrs
completed day 2/3

3d PATROL CONDUCTED WEST

BULLET PROOF COVER ,WINDOWS:
covering all windows ground floor .Projected AV : 1
Time consumption 24 hrs
completed day 2/3/4

TRAPS FOR RODENTS ETC :
you complete several of the easiest type : a bucket of water with a plastic bag cover and a slit cut in the middle with a piece of food on a string for bait .You also make a weighted arm type with a release and a small morsel as bait -but this is not as succesful - bugs or rats steal the bait every time without setting it off.
CATCH : 1D6 rats pr day ( 3 rats =one ration if made into a stew 100% of the animal minus fur and claws.)


TRENCH FROM UNDER HOUSE FLOOR BOARDS AND BEYOND PROPERTY :
2 hours pr. meter.1 Day equals 12 Meters
2 meters from wall and opening in floor
completed day 3

beyond day 3:
8 meters from wall completed day 4
16 meters from wall completed day 5
24 meters completed day 6


PATROL RESULTS :

I will get back to these shortly.

[headquarters]

As you may know ,chow is running a bit short ingame .

I ask you to kindly read up on teh effects of starvation in the core rules please.

On that note ,I will be treating you to a fabolous delicacy this round - the famous powdered eggs.

A component of many rations and a WWII classic - powdered eggs can still be had .

I will be frying up a small sample for all to taste -as a sort of mood setter /ambience handout..
(Also I would like the reactions of people to this -to gage wether or not it should be included in the pantry of our upcoming hunting trip ..bacon and powdred eggs..mmm.. do they make powdered bacon?? )

I hope I remember the powder box...

[Sanchez]

I will attend this session.

I arrive at appox. 6 o'clock on Friday the 13th (interesting day to fly a plane...)
Fly back around 3 o'clock on Sunday.

If you insist on picking my up at the airport I will I think it can be arranged.

PS: My quest for exellent cactus spirits on the European continent has succeded. This quality spirits which is highly available in Mexico, but so difficult to get hold on on this side of the Atlantic ocean has been successful!
After I found a bottle of Herradura reposado tequila in Barcelona a few months ago (now almost empty even though I tried to control my habit), I succeded in tracking the even more superior Don Julio tequila in Heraklion, Greece a few days ago: Two bottles; One reposado and one bottle of the most superior anejo!
The bottles are not big, but to me they are a true treassure. Unfortunately Europeans in general have not yet discovered the full quality of this most distiguished agave liquor - it is still a drink for the young and uneducated that prefer blanco tequila of the lowest quality served barbarically with lemon and salt. The rich and powerful people of Europe unfortunately still cling to their Whiskeys and Congacs - uanvare that such a splendid fludium is available across the ocean and in a few well stocked liquor shops where immigrants from Mexico demand their rights to the best hard alcohol available.

I will bring a bottle of this most precious liquid to the session - and you will appriciate it.

[Rupert Willies]

Hey hey hey! Really looking forward to tasting this sweet liquor. From what I've read it should be a nicely oaken, smooth tasting experience, no?

[General Pain]

The time for the annual Boathouse-sessions is upon us.
I'm really looking forward to this especially since the whole party will be attending.


Hopefully we'll have the weather gods on our side.

-General Pain.

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by General Pain

The time for the annual Boathouse-sessions is upon us.
I'm really looking forward to this especially since the whole party will be attending.


Hopefully we'll have the weather gods on our side.

-General Pain.

combat rations,luxury cacti booze and everybody there .Good times.

Just reviewed all character sheets counting ammo,rations and hitpoints over again .

Not quite as jolly as the rest of the weekend - but enjoying yourself is mandatory even if your character is out of ammo, dying and being overrun .

[Rupert Willies]

Aaamen.

[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 .