Diamonds in the Rough: Escape from Kalisz (4e Rules, v1 Timeline)

[Raellus]

A tremendous explosion rocks Pole Position. Vasquez is slammed face-first into the open port-side air guard hatch and falls, dazed, into the troop compartment. Instead of following SOP and continuing to drive through what is likely a kill zone, Grease brakes hard, freezing up from the shock of the blast; Honeybear (in the gunners cupola) also seem stunned. Dust and smoke fill the air.


Ref's Notes:
This Death from Below, from the random encounter deck. The shaped-charge IED fails to penetrate the SKOT's armor. What?!? Yeah, the IED is damage 4 and the SKOT's side armor is 4. No penetration. I roll the hit location die and consult the non-penetration damage table. The result is ricochet. So, basically, everyone riding exposed must roll CUF (2/4 succeed). I roll blast damage B and only one PC is injured (2 points damage). The SKOT isn't damaged at all. Thanks rules? I start the clock on the marauder force, They'll be arriving in 5 minutes.


“Dismount!” Sarge yells. Those that can, do. Deacon stays behind to attend to Vasquez.

Lying the shallow drainage ditch at the side of the road, the Diamonds face outwards, squinting as they try to pierce through the haze, searching for their attackers. Seconds pass. Aside from the ringing in their ears, it’s quiet. No incoming fire, no movement. The dust settles.

“Landmine?” Cap asks.

Sarge glances back at the APC. There’s a large scorch mark on the right rear quarter, but none of the wheels appear damaged, not even a flat tire. There’s no crater in the road either, just a smoldering bare patch just off the right shoulder, grass and other ground cover blasted away.

“Directional mine, maybe. Or IED,” Sarge answers.

A couple of minutes pass. No attack materializes. Having regained his composure, Grease inspects Pole Position for damage. He can't quite believe it, but the Polish-made PC appears to have escaped relatively unscathed. As for its human passengers, miraculously, aside from a few bumps and bruises, everyone is okay. Vasquez got the worst of it- a bloody nose and bruised ribs, but she can still fight, if need be.

“Somethin’s comin’!” Bird says, urgency clear in his tone.

Sure enough, looking up the road, the Diamonds see a slab-nosed truck, a heavy machine gun on a tall AA pintle mount poking up from behind the crew cab. It’s maybe 100m away and closing fast. Gear heads would recognize the vehicle as a GAZ-66 4x, or the Polish knock off.


Ref’s Notes:
The encounter card says PCx2 in a pickup truck technical. The pickup truck only seats a total of 6, though [did the designers assume PC parties of 3?], so I upgraded their ride to a GAZ-66 (13 passengers; leaving 3 marauders behind at their base). The marauders fail their recon role, so they assume they are approaching a soft-killed AFV and proceed with incaution.


There’s no time to discuss the next course of action. Sarge shouts, “Honeybear, hit it!”

Pole Position’s A gunner brings the vehicle’s DShK to bear and opens fire. The big gun hammers out rounds; tracers streak away and disappear into the truck’s crew cab and engine compartment. The GAZ drifts to its right (the party’s left) and crashes to a halt in the shallow drainage ditch. The rest of the Diamonds open fire, pumping rounds downrange. The unarmored truck stops very few of these and casualties quickly mount.


Ref’s Notes:
I learned that I don't want the PCs to ride in an unarmored vehicle. The GAZ is rated at armor 1 (all sides). The DShK does 4 damage. I rolled all six ammo dice. Long story short, with 22 rounds, HB kills the commander and driver and damages the engine. I roll deviation dice and determine that the out of control GAZ swerves (not sharply) right and stops abruptly in the ditch. I rule that all passengers take falling damage (the minimum possible, so 1) as inertia throws them violently forward in the truck bed. The PCs emerge from the lee of the SKOT and pour rapid fire (3-6 ammo dice) into the crashed GAZ. In short order, two passengers in the bed, including the HMG gunner, are killed (one of them slowly, after his arm is blown off). Vasquez misses 10m long with a 40mm HE round. In v2.2, this would still do some damage. In 4e, it does not- the latter is probably the more realistic outcome. As the OPFOR continue to fail CUF rolls (caused by close calls or stress from seeing their buddies killed in front of them), or spend slow actions to un-ass the crippled GAZ, the PCs continue to blast away. The engine block is pulverized by another long burst of HMG fire. Small arms rounds blow out tires and puncture the fuel tank (but the leaking meth doesn't ignite, per the rules). Another passenger cowering in the bed is killed.


Bird and Vasquez set up over-watch on the front and rear of the truck, respectively. The Diamonds pause to reload and come up with a tactical plan to finish the enemy. Sarge swaps weapons with Cap (his M16A2 for her M4 carbine), collars Randle, and pulls Honeybear off the SKOT's HMG (replacing him with Grease), thus forming a 3-man assault team. The plan is simple, but not without risk: cross the road, advance to within hand grenade range, and assault the covered side of the truck. With the others providing covering fire, the assault team sprints across the road into the drainage ditch. Lying in wait, Bird and Vasquez both shoot and kill marauder riflemen that appear at either end of the GAZ. The assault team starts to advance along the ditch towards the GAZ. The high volume and accuracy of covering fire, and the geometry of truck, ditch, and opposing forces, conspire to keep the assault team largely out of the enemy’s line of sight for most of the advance.


Ref’s Notes:
At this point in the firefight, I'm kind of struggling with what the six surviving marauders would do. I'm not even sure what I would do if I was in their shoes, tactically speaking. They’re pinned down and taking casualties every round. Almost all of the survivors have failed at least one CUF roll. I remember to use the Oracle. I draw a red 6 (mild boon). What does that mean? I decide that it means that some of the marauders try to retreat. I roll a d6: two is the result. Two marauders pull a runner. After playing with Google maps, any retreating OPFOR would have maybe a 10m lane where the PCs wouldn't have LOS, but then I thought about the HMG on the SKOT. It's elevated about 2m off the ground and the flatbed GAZ is in a ditch, so I decided it's likely the SKOT gunner would be able to see over the truck once any runners were 20-30m removed. I ruled that the runners’ upper bodies would be visible starting at 100m (SKOT and GAZ are 80m apart).


From his elevated perch in Pole Position’s gunner’s cupola, Grease spots two figures running away from the fight. They’re trying to use the truck to screen their flight, but at about 120m, their upper bodies are unmasked. The team driver/mechanic takes aim and squeezes the trigger. Tracers reach out towards the runners. Both targets are knocked down and out of sight by the long burst. Grease is about 90% sure he hit them.

Ref's Notes:
Grease engaged at about 120m (short range for the DShK is 150m) and rolled multiple hits. Hit location was arms for both and, since they only had 3HP each and the DShK does 4 dam (Crits!), they were both killed.


The three-man assault team closes to within 30m of the crippled GAZ. PR and Sarge prep hand grenades, while Honeybear covers them with his MAG. The Diamonds' throws are dead-on. Both frags explode close-in on the sheltered side of the truck. Honeybear swings out wide left and drops prone behind his gun while Sarge and PR rush forward to follow up the grenade attack. There's no one left to finish (in sight). Four bodies lie in various contorted positions along the starboard side of the ravaged Gaz.

Only the interior of the truck bed and the space behind the tailgate are not visible.

“Tell them to surrender,” Sarge pants.

“Poddać się! To twoja ostatnia szansa! Wyjdź z podniesionymi rękami!”

After a pregnant pause, two men emerge from behind the tailgate, hands raised, eyes filled with terror. The firefight is over.


Ref’s Notes:
I learned that hand grenades are more deadly than 40mm grenades. PR rollis a D12 and a D6, Sarge just a D6. Both hit! Roll the 2 d8s for Blast C. Half the dice hit. That's 4 damage, enough to kill both the marauders near the nose of the GAZ.

The results of the combat were great. None of the PCs were injured (after the IED). The victory did cost a lot of ammo (56 rounds of 12.7mm, alone) but the party will be able to recover 200 rounds from the unfired enemy DShK, 1/4 tank of meth, and a bunch of AKMs (with one reload each). Next up, interrogating the two prisoners...

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[kcdusk]

Encounter 6: good job with interacting with a village. I know in my own games, combat happens and is easy enough to work out. But i've struggled gaming out social interactions. V4.0 seems to make it easier for me, and i've noted in my own game i intend to game out more social interactions. So good to read your own example.

[kcdusk]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Ref’s Notes:
At this point in the firefight, I'm kind of struggling with what the six surviving marauders would do. I'm not even sure what I would do if I was in their shoes, tactically speaking. They’re pinned down and taking casualties every round. Almost all of the survivors have failed at least one CUF roll. ).


-

At this point i think they'd surrender. I'll have to reread v4.0 to see if it mentions % of squad losses leading to panic or surrender (or maybe that was another set of rules i was reading). Or i'd make up a random table for their decision, from surrender, retreat/escape, fight on ....

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by kcdusk

At this point i think they'd surrender. I'll have to reread v4.0 to see if it mentions % of squad losses leading to panic or surrender.

I also remember seeing something about that in one of the rulebooks but I couldn't find it. A couple of the REC's specifically mention that the OPFOR retreats after taking 50% casualties, so maybe that's what we're remembering. Anyway, I would have had the marauders retreat once 7/13 had been killed, but there wasn't a safe egress route. I reckon the vast majority of people in a similar situation (pinned down behind cover 80m from the enemy with no other cover nearby) would stay behind cover rather than break and run essentially into the open whilst under heavy fire. It all worked out, in the end, though. But I definitely had to give the situation some thought.

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[Raellus]

The two prisoners are secured, separated. Cap and PR handle interrogations, while Sarge supervises the collection of weapons and ammo from the dead. The GAZ is effectively destroyed, but its carcass yields ¼ of a tank of methanol, a DShKA heavy machinegun, and 200 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition.

The first prisoner, literally shaking in his boots, sings like a bird. He tells his captors everything. Thirteen Polish deserters took control of a nearby hamlet about a month ago, and have been waylaying unwary passersby ever since. The villagers do not willingly support their activities; they are, however, forced to feed the deserters. The frightened prisoner tells the Americans which houses in the hamlet his comrades currently occupy. There are no perimeter defenses of any kind. The party’s APC rolled over a pressure plate-activated shaped-charge IED- the marauders' attempt to work smarter, not harder. Luckily for the Diamonds, the charge was not particularly well made or employed. So much for "smarter".

The second prisoner is a little less forthcoming, but he confirms everything reported by his comrade.

The Diamonds decide to send the second marauder into the village with a message: leave town or face the consequences. And answer confirming imminent compliance is expected within 30 minutes. He’s hurried on his way by a burst of AK fire.

Meanwhile, in addition to the fuel and ammo from the wrecked truck, the party recovers two 5.45mm Tantal rifles, ten Polish-made AKMs, a PM-84 submachine gun, and an FB-64 pistol.

After about 30 minutes, a villager approaches at a jog. She tells the Diamonds that the marauders have agreed to leave the village, but intend to take a couple of hostages along with them to assure that they are not attacked during their evacuation. The hostages will be released once the marauders feel reasonably safe. The Diamonds don’t like the counter-offer, but agree that the concession- as long as it isn’t some sort of ruse- will result in fewer civilian and friendly casualties than storming the marauder’s compound. They send the villager back with the second prisoner and a message: “If the hostages aren’t back home within two hours, we’ll hunt you down and, this time, no quarter will be given.”

The Diamonds load their loot aboard Pole Position and mount up. After another 30 minutes pass, they drive towards the hamlet. When they arrive, they’re confronted by a distraught mother, whose daughter was taken hostage. The Diamonds assure the middle-aged woman that if her daughters not back in 1.5 hours, they’ll go after her, and won’t return until she’s back home. This only calms the mother down a little. Other villagers trickle out of their homes, curious to see the Americans that have rid them of their unwanted guests, and wondering if they’re any different than the Poles they just displaced.

A few minutes after the deadline passes, just before the Diamonds' SKOT is about to depart on the promised rescue mission, the two hostages return.

The villagers are relieved; some express gratitude, others are understandably wary. The marauders were a hungry bunch and had been growing fat on the village’s produce. The residents are reluctant to let the Americans stay for more than a few hours, lest they become too comfortable and decide to stay for a month. The Diamonds want to spend at least one night in the village. They figure it’s a relatively safe place in which to do so, being as the Polish deserters/marauders weren’t bothered by PACT forces for the last month or so. After some negotiation, a deal is struck. The Americans will stay in the village for no more than 24 hours. In exchange for food and hospitality, the Diamonds agree to part with most of the small arms captured from the bandits, and train the villagers to use them. The villagers like the idea of being able to defend themselves, especially since the four surviving bandits might return when the Americans leave.

By dawn of the next day, everyone but Vasquez and Honeybear has fallen ill, with some combination of fever, cramping, vomiting, and diarrhea. At first, some suspect they've been poisoned by yet another band of duplicitous Polish villagers, but Deacon quickly concludes that's unlikely. The team medic suspects the sick have contracted whatever the desperate refugees who stormed the Diamonds’ forest camp two nights ago had- either dysentery or cholera, most likely. Employing some herbal folk remedies, a helpful villager (one of the hostages) nurses the infirm Americans. On day two, Grease and Deacon recover. Deacon teams up with the village “nurse” to care for the sick- on day 3 everyone but Bird recovers. He is sick for two more days, nearly dying.

During this time, Sarge teaches a few villagers how to handle the marauders' small arms- loading/unloading, field stripping, and dry-firing them. They want to actually fire the weapons, but he's reluctant to allow it, lest the noise attract attention. The group is going to have to stay put for at least a couple more days until the wrung-out team marksman is back on his feet. Also, during these last 5 days, some of the villagers dig a shallow mass grave for the dead marauders who were stinking up outskirts of the settlement. The Diamonds would have pitched in (after all, they made the mess), if they weren't recovering from illness.


Ref’s Notes:
For the interrogation, Cap, with PR helping, rolled three targets on a Persuasion/interrogation roll so the prisoner told her everything. She rolled one target for the second prisoner, so he simply confirmed what the first had told her, adding little.

This wasn't a true encounter per se, but more of a natural continuation of the previous one. Still, I pulled a card for the villagers' attitude and the result was "Curious" (as in, about the newcomers).

Disease rules came into play for the first time. Even rolling two d12, Deacon failed to heal Bird until day 5, after he'd reached 0 HP. What a way to go, that would have been.

Fortunately, I only pulled repeat or inapplicable RECs for the 5 days the Diamonds were stuck in town, so there were no encounters to deal with. I only rolled once per day, instead of once per shift, given the isolated nature of the ville. I figure the sick wouldn't be eating a lot, but on Day 3 HB preps the second (and last) chicken. They didn’t have to eat any of their own rations while staying in the ville (as per the agreement), and all canteens were refilled.

The unit expended a lot of ammo destroying the marauders, so Sarge swapped his M16A2 for an AKM (for which 17 mags were recovered) and distributed his remaining mags/5.56mm rounds among his teammates.

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[Raellus]

July 26, 2000

Dawn breaks soggy, heavy showers dousing the village and its surrounding fields throughout the morning. The rain stops shortly before noon, but heavy clouds remain overhead, threatening another downpour before the day is done. A Humvee cargo/troop carrier (M1038A1) arrives at the northern outskirts of the village. Contact is made. On board are eight survivors of 5ID, although the Diamonds don’t recognize any of the newcomers.

“Cpl. Matt Townes,” their spokesman identifies himself; he neglects to share his unit designation. “I’m guess I’m kinda the guy in charge of this little outfit.”

Unusual for a junior non-com, Townes carries an M4 carbine and wears a pistol on his ALICE belt.

“Captain Walker. This is Platoon Sergeant McNulty.”

While the respective unit commanders confer, some of the other Diamonds approach the Humvee, strike up conversations with the newcomers.

“We’ve been in the suck for- what day is it?- at least a week, I guess. Looks like you guys have seen some action recently?”

“Ran off some Polish army deserters off a few days ago. You probably passed their vehicle on the way here.”

“Yeah, saw that. Looks like you shot the shit out of ‘em.”

One of the strangers has a leg wound (a bullet wound in the calf); two others appear ill.

“Our medic will take a look at your guys,” Captain Walker informs Townes, less an offer than a declaration.

“Yeah, that would be good. Appreciate it.” Townes replies.

By now, a few villagers have arrived on the scene, including members of the nascent town militia (armed with weapons provided by the Diamonds). Their leader pulls PR aside, expresses dismay at the thought of feeding yet more American soldiers. The translator tries to reassure them, but he can’t make any assurances at this point. PR passes the villagers' concerns along to Sarge and Walker.

A quarter of an hour later, Deacon approaches Sarge, explains,

“The two sick ones- I think it’s typhus. They’ve got lice bites all over; symptoms line up too.”

“Hell,” Sarge almost sighs. He sidebars Walker. They come up with a hasty course of action

“I’m afraid you're going to have to go into quarantine for a bit,” Walker explains to the newcomer’s leader.

Townes frowns, asks, “What the… What does that mean?”

“It means you and your men will be confined to quarters until your sick recover. You’ll be cared for- comfortable shelter, food, water, medicine. Our medic says it's typhus- highly contagious, potentially fatal. It's for everyone's safety.”

There’s an uncomfortable pause. Townes frowns, shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

Sarge breaks the silence, says sternly, “Consider that an order, Corporal."

It’s almost too quick to catch, but Townes flashes Sarge a venomous look.

“Yeah, OK. I mean, yes, sir.” Townes finally replies.

The newcomers are directed to move into the ersatz isolation ward, a little compound on the west side of the village’s main road that the Diamonds had been occupying since forcing its previous tenants- the marauders- to leave town. Townes demeanor improves sharply. The Diamonds move their gear (and Pole Position) across the road to another empty house (also used previously used by the bandits), split their dinner rations with their counterparts before turning in for the evening.


Ref's Notes:
I'm not going to reveal which Random Encounter card this is yet. So far, this episode has emphasized a lot of social interaction, involving a number of Persuasion rolls, some opposed. Fortunately, Capt. Walker is pretty persuasive (and the modifiers were always to her advantage).

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[Raellus]

Over dinner, the Diamonds discuss their experiences with the newcomers.

"Something's off. That Townes, he's pretty squirrelly," Walker opines.

“One of the sick guys- Branson, I think it was- dropped a bandana full of jewelry when I was looking him over,” Deacon starts, “Pretty sure I saw a West Point class ring in there. He noticed I saw it, said it belonged to a friend who died.”

“Guy I was talking to said his CO got fragged right after Kalisz,” Honeybear chimed in. “Said it was 'his time to go'.”

“Yeah, these guys are trouble,” Sarge says. “We need to keep a close eye on them. Two on watch tonight.”

The sun goes down, darkness falls…

Bird and Captain Walker are on second watch. Bird hears a scraping noise coming from the quarantine compound (aka the guest house), looks north spots a flash of movement in the road. He lifts his rifle, scopes the area, sees a second figure, crouched over, carrying a rifle, running across the road towards an overgrown lot to the north of the Diamond’s current residence. He pans left, sees dark shapes- human- against the white-painted exterior of a building. Then another figure starts creeping across the road, this one clearly armed.

“Don’t take any chances with these guys,” Sarge had said, “You see something off, shoot first, ask questions later. I'll take full responsibility.”

[Round 1]

Bird fixes the third figure in his crosshairs, squeezes the trigger. The M21 bucks, the target stumbles and falls in the road.

[The first two figures make it to the overgrown lot and drop prone behind some thick brush.]

A muzzle flash erupts from the south-facing window of the guesthouse. Bird is knocked backwards by what feels like a flying kick to the chest. He drops to the ground, gasping for breath.

The sleeping Diamonds are jolted awake by the spasm of gunfire. They scramble for weapons and body armor, start moving to their posts.

Shouting for everyone to stand to, Captain Walker moves down an alley between two buildings to get eyes on the north. She takes a knee at the corner, scans for threats.

Something explodes about 20m short of the open-sided garage structure on the north side of the Diamonds’ compound.

[Round 2]

Captain Walker hears movement in the underbrush 20m north of the compound. She takes aim at a clump of bushes and waits…

The enemy SAW gunner spots the Diamond CO, takes a shot at her, but the burst goes wide.

Sarge and PR join the fight. They each take aim at the muzzle flash and open fire, driving the enemy SAW gunner away from the window. Deacon rushes to Bird’s aid, drags the wounded sniper behind cover. Grease takes Bird’s place at the front (west, facing the road) of the compound; Honeybear joins Cap on the northeast side.

[Round 3]

Deacon open’s Bird’s PAGST vest, finds the wound. Fortunately, Bird’s Kevlar body armor kept the bullet from penetrating deeply. Part of the jacketed round protrudes from the sniper’s left pec. Deacon squeezes the slug out like a blackhead and slaps a field dressing on the flesh wound. [Successful Medical Aid Roll- all damage healed]. Bird can rejoin the fight.

Walker sees a rifle barrel protrude from the brush, just 30m away from her position. She squeezes the trigger of her M4A1 twice, but the second 3-round burst is cut short by a stoppage [Pushed roll results in jam!]. Sandy spots a figure rise up from the road and start running west towards the quarantine compound. After firing off 15 rounds, she too experiences a jam. The team grenadier did, however, force her target to dive prone in the road again, short of reaching cover. Unfortunately, the Diamond’s firepower is now reduced by a quarter.

The two hostiles in the brush open fire. The one on the left empties his mag at Sandy. Despite being only 20m way, the shooter doesn’t score a single hit! His counterpart is a better shot (or just luckier), hitting PR in the helmet with a shorter burst. The team radioman/translator drops into full cover behind a stack of old tractor tires.

The enemy SAW is silent, but two M16s start spitting rounds at the Diamonds from behind a wooden fence that encircles the quarantine compound’s back lot. Sarge appears to be their target, but both shooters miss badly. Grease and Sarge return fire and drive one of his antagonists away from the fence.

Honeybear, prone next to Cap, sends a long burst into the underbrush, producing an anguished yelp from his target.

[Round 4]

Captain Walker clears her jam quickly; Sandy, however, struggles to clear hers. Bird takes aim, waits for his prey to break cover.

A 40mm HE round sails long, exploding against a long storage shed at the back of the Diamond’s compound. The tormented runner in the road finally makes it to cover. The shooter behind the fence has another go at Sarge but misses again. Grease and Sarge both return fire, tearing up the fence and knocking the man down. Both Diamonds are confident that they hit their target.

Honeybear follows up his first burst with another, tracers disappearing into the dark shape of his target. It's almost certainly a kill.

[Round 5]

The enemy SAW gunner reappears in the guesthouse window; Bird is waiting. He squeezes the trigger, notes a puff of brick dust just below the windowsill. The SAW gunner returns fire, hitting Sarge in the left arm and knocking him down. Grease avenges the Diamond’s senior noncom, hitting the SAW gunner with a burst of fire before his weapon jams. The window is once again vacated.

Walker fires at the second shooter in the brush, producing a cry of pain. PR, having recovered his wits, takes aim and fires several bursts (15 rounds) at the same target, likely scoring at least a couple hits before his weapon jams. The brush is still and silent.

Honeybear takes aim at a figure leaning out from behind the northeast corner of the guesthouse, knocks the target down with a 16-round burst.

[Round 6]

There’s some indistinct shouting coming from the quarantine compound, but no more visible movement or gunfire. Sandy calls for Deacon, on behalf of Sergeant McNulty. The team medic bandages the senior noncom’s wounded arm. [Another successful Medical Aid roll, this one healing 2/2 damage; Sarge is good to go.] Grease wrestles with the borrowed M16A2 (Sarge’s old weapon), trying to clear the jam. The rest of the Diamonds remain vigilant, enemy compound in their sights. After a minute or so, they hear the sound of an engine coughing to life.

The visitor’s Humvee exits the north end of the quarantine compound, engine sounds rising in pitch as it accelerates sharply. Only Bird has LOS and a functioning weapon. He takes aim and sends a parting shot after the speeding vehicle.

Four of the village's freshly minted militia have congregated at the crossroads in the middle of town. They open fire on the fast-approaching Humvee but their marksmanship isn’t up to snuff. The Humvee speeds away.


Ref's Notes:
This was the logical conclusion of the random encounter, Murderous Bastards, which began in the previous post. Although the engagement was 8 v 8, this firefight didn't go nearly as well as the Diamonds' previous two. Darkness imparted a -2 penalty to all direct fire. Rolled direct fire hits yielded very few multiple successes, and the 3 ammo dice I rolled for every assault rifle burst turned up very few sixes. The OPFOR, being US soldiers, all wore body armor, so the lack of multiple successes and/or sixes on ammo die meant that hits didn't do enough damage to Crit. Nearly every pushed direct fire roll resulted in a jam. All three PCs hit by enemy fire failed their CUF rolls. Body armor really helped the party, again. I find myself rooting for torso or head hits because of this. Deacon did great on Medical Aid rolls, so all WIA PCs were able to return to the fire with full HP, and no one took any lingering damage.


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[Raellus]

A few minutes pass. There’s no sound, no sign of movement in or around the quarantine compound. A couple of curious militiamen arrive from the south end of town. This prompts PR to call out a warning to any militiamen who might be approaching from the north.

Sarge details Bird and Honeybear with over-watch, Captain Walker remaining behind to supervise. Moving in staggered pairs, the senior noncom leads PR, Sandy, Grease, and Deacon towards the lot north of the Diamonds’ residence. They find two bodies, lying prone in the brush.

From there the clearing team crosses the road and enters the quarantine compound. They clear the buildings, finding three more bodies, one inside the guest house, one at the northeast [exterior] corner of same, and the last behind the fence in the backyard. Apparently, three of the ‘guests’ managed to escape in their Humvee. With less than half a tank of meth, they’re probably not going to get too far.

During the sweep of the guest compound, three M16A2s, one M16A2 and M203 GL combo, and one M249 SAW are recovered, along with 6 full STANAG magazines, one half-empty 200 box of linked 5.56mm, two M67 hand grenades (fragmentation), and a number of large knives of mixed military and civilian make. Helmets, vests, and boots are also salvaged (Deacon insists that they all be deloused before use). The Diamonds make out slightly better off, in terms of ammunition, than they were before the fight.

For the rest of the night, no one sleeps particularly well. It rains again for a few hours. A double-watch rotation is maintained until stand-to at dawn. After a spartan breakfast, the Diamonds dig five shallow graves in the empty lot next door. Sarge pockets the casualties’ dog tags. They may have been criminals, but their families deserve to know they won't be coming home. Deacon conducts a brief, poorly attended funeral service.

July 27, 2000

After lunch, a small group of locals arrives at the Diamonds’ residence. It’s the village’s ersatz governing council. They appear nervous.

“Basically, they said, ‘Thanks for your help, but it’s time for you to leave’,” PR translates. “We’re welcome to stay the night tonight. They’ll give us some provisions for the road.”

“Tell them thanks for their hospitality. We’re grateful for any supplies that they can spare. We’ll pack up and be ready to go after breakfast tomorrow.” Walker answers.

The dignitaries are visibly relieved at the Americans’ response to what amounts to an eviction notice. A couple of them even seem to regret their decision, but they leave it alone.

This night passes uneventfully.


July 28, 2000

The Diamonds wake well-rested. The villagers provide a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes. As promised, they also supply the Diamonds with some provisions for the road (a couple loaves of bread, a few carrots and potatoes, a cabbage, and 2.5 kilos of summer sausage). PR

The Diamonds say their goodbyes (both Bird and Deacon were sweet on the young woman who nursed the Americans back to heath during their bouts cholera) and Pole Position rolls south, into the unknown.

They’ve been on the road for a couple of hours when the sharp-eyed Bird spots a roadblock up ahead in the distance. Through scopes and binoculars, the Diamonds study the dug-in MBT posted at a crossroads. It appears to be manned by at least a dozen Polish army troops.


Ref's Notes:
The Diamonds fired off 52 rounds of 5.56mm, 60 rounds 7.62mmN, and 30 rounds 7.62mmS during the fight with the murderous bastards, but ended up recovering more 5.56mm than they expended. They also picked up a few 40mm HE rounds, and a couple of hand grenades.

I wasn't sure what do about the PCs stay in the ville. Staying put didn't really advance the plot at all, although I would like to play with the Base Building rules at some point. I consulted the oracle and resulting card was black, so I decided that meant the villagers decided to ask the Americans to leave. Relations between the two parties were good (the Diamonds armed, and Sarge trained, their seminal militia) so the parting was amicable. I threw in a couple of days worth of rations.

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