0023 - Plot line – Let the Environment Kill Them – Part IV (1300 22 JUL 2000)

Time is now of the essence. Although the characters do not know where the Russians fit into the coming struggle, whether they are working with Grandma Topolski is irrelevant, because they certainly will not be exciting about three of their sentries being trussed up.

Time for a new scene setup:

The group will attempt to cross the city quickly, acting as everything is normal, since the Major has already given them permission to enter the city. They will stake out the house of Grandma Topolski and try to determine the opposition before kicking the door in to rescue the girls.

The current Chaos Rank is 5 and the D10 roll is a 6, indicating the scene will play out as planned. It is, however, unlikely that the group will traverse the town in broad daylight without encountering anyone. Just to be sure, we can roll on the urban encounters table.

The roll is 6 + 1 (town) = 7, indicating the group runs into a group of refugees. This has potential. Maybe the refugees have suffered a similar fate. They are from out of town and easily lured into a trap. Let’s ask the GME:

GME Question: Are members of the refugees also missing members? - Likely – Chaos Rank 5 (75% chance of yes) – 72 – Yes.

GME Question: Will they ask the characters for help? - Somewhat Likely – Chaos Rank 5 (65% chance of yes – they are desperate but there is a certain reluctance to trust strangers) – 79 – No.

Now that is a twist. The refugees are missing people but will not ask the characters for help. Now the question is, how to interpret this? Maybe they are waiting nearby to see what happens, hoping to have an opportunity to rescue their missing love one.

I am sure that Griff has seen them so:

We found an abandoned store up the street from Grandma Topolski’s. It seems to have been a bookstore but now only empty shelves, loose pages and rats remained. A lot more rats than pages, believe me.

I was taking my turn at the window while the others prepared what they could for the breaching. I noticed movement across the street and one floor up. The small face of a child stared down at me. It was probably a girl but hunger had made the sex difficult to determine. She was watching me watching Grandma’s joint. She disappeared when an adult hand grabbed her puny shoulder and pulled her away from the window. We were no longer alone in this street.

Now, Grandma Topolski seems to be getting back to business in style. To do so, she will need a little muscle to assist. She probably can convince some of the militia or traveling caravan guards to assist for a little pay and other “benefits” (not going to explain and leave it to your imagination).

I use my encounter generator to whip up some caravan guards. They do not have to be heavily armed, as the characters are not either.

Grandma Toploski has a tota

l of 8 guards. They are not heavily armed, mostly pistols and shotguns, however, they are a mix of Elite, Veteran and Experienced NPCs with some body armor and a lone L7A2. This could be challenging to say the least, especially since all of the characters are a bit beat up and some have slight wonlds.

Now, I need some more details on the establishment itself. I grab a generic hotel plan. We can assume that half of the guards are sleeping or resting in the hotel. Two will probably be in the truck outside and two inside for the purposes of crowd/drunk control. That being said, it is probably not the best and brightest standing outside but they will have taken precautions for their own protection.

Grandma Topolski will also have a room somewhere for herself. Griff can probably see it better than we can.

The old bat had taken over an abandoned hotel across the street from her house. It was three floors and as shabby as they come. The elevator collected dust and was apparently being used for the two thugs she kept inside. They sat there looking like two comic book characters except for the easy way the kept their weapons. These were definitely not newbies and the exaggerated upper body size gave me the impression that they had vests.

Outside they had a run-down truck with a flat bed. On the flat bed, another knuckledragger stood behind a well maintained L7. He would need to go before we took to the streets. Another one leaned casually on the wall by the door. Grandma was not taking any chances.

We witnessed the changing of the guards, so we knew there were at least 8 hostiles and an unknown number of “guests” and we even got a glimpse of the old crone. Now we just needed to drop by for a visit.