0017 - Scene V – The Handover – Part I

The team has made it back to Sieradz without incident. The only thing left is the handover. In itself a simple task. Now for the scene setup.

Return to Sieradz: After arriving at Sieradz, Klasha will request the troopers get the Major. When he arrives, Harris will officially hand over the trucks and the team will leave town by driving off into the sunset.

The current Chaos Rank is 4 after the last scene. The chaos gods are strong and the roll to check if the scene is modified is a 3, telling us that the scene is altered in some way. Great, just when things were going well.

Having absolutely no idea what could have changed, I will use the random event mechanism of the GME. This involves rolling a random focus of the event and a random action and subject. The final two are a random verb and a noun and you have to interpret those clues. I roll:

• Event Focus: Introduce a new NPC
• Action: Delay
• Subject: Environment
  
  

Now this is something we can work with. We will start with the second and third clues. A delay caused by the environment. It is July, so the chances of a snowstorm blocking further travel is rather unlikely. The most likely cause is rain.

Unseasonably heavy rains appear suddenly and floods block further travel to the South, prohibiting further travel. That is a plan we can work with. Now for the NPC.

Being unable to travel, the group seeks shelter in the city, preferably with a hot meal and a roof that does not leak. Now for the NPC.

A motivation would help. We draw the motivation cards. The primary motivation is 8 of diamonds (very greedy) and the secondary motivation is 4 of diamonds (somewhat greedy). Definitely not the “everyone’s grandma” I was picturing or maybe she is (evil GM laughter in the background).

Maybe the GME can shed some light on the subject:

GME Question: Does the NPC have shelter to offer? - Very Likely – Chaos Rank 4 (75% chance of yes) – 72 – Yes.

GME Question: Will the NPC attempt to rob the characters? - Very Likely (based on the greedy motivation) – Chaos Rank 4 (75% chance of yes) – 34 – Yes. That was pretty obvious, but I had to ask.

GME Question: Will the NPC attempt to harm or kill the PCs? - 50/50 – Chaos Rank 4 (35% chance of yes) – 46 – No.

GME Question: Will the NPC enlist the help of others to rob the PCs? - Somewhat Likely – Chaos Rank 4 (50% chance of yes) – 80 – No.

Looking at what we have at the moment, the NPCs will attempt to rob the players without harming them. The NPC is robbing the players out of pure greed and will not enlist the help of others so they can keep everything for themselves.

So, we will go with the Polish grandmother idea. I quickly google “polish grandmother” and then dig myself out of the digital flood that comes after, but not before selecting a picture. I run a black and white filter over it and we have a face (I will not post it, as I do not have the rights but pictures make everything more interesting). Now we need a name. Again, I google “random polish female name” and come up with Maryn Topolski. Works for me.

With the black and white filter, she comes out looking a little like the witch in Sleeping Beauty. She has apples in her hand that make it even more similar. We have an NPC.

Now, to get things started, we can ask Marshall to tell us about it:

Black clouds followed us into town. It looked really bad and I come from an place known for hurricanes. When the rain started, it was not the patter of soft drops, it was like being hosed down. Water ran everywhere and their was no driving.

Harris pointed out that that amount of water was going to be a problem, especially if it was not just a local rain storm.

When the Major came, Harris got soaked performing the handover. While they were jawin’, a runner told the Major that the water level was rising and the road to the west was now under water. Looks like we were stayin’.

Harris got some info on an old hostel on the outskirts that we could use for a camp while we waited for the water to recede. We drove there and it was indeed old, but seemed maintained.

In front, a old woman waited for us to approach. Klasha greeted her and somehow arranged for us to stay. We stored the vehicles in an adjacent barn and went inside to dry off and maybe get a hot meal.