0122 - The Great Escape - Part IX - Heading Home - Day 3

 0600 10 AUG 2000, Near Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland
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• "It is not like we are looking for trouble. We never look but it apparently has our forwarding address wherever we go. This guy (sorry, did not bother to ask his name) wanted us to join his little ragtag band of wanna be rulers. We told we had a thing and did not have time for his show. That went over poorly and then next thing I know, everybody is cockin' weapons. That was just before the fireworks started, of course."

Now the team needs to move on but the wounded Soviet soldiers do pose a problem. Sure, cold-hearted individuals would leave them to their own devices, maybe even promising to tell and passing Soviets where they left them. This might even be something a lot of gaming groups would do without a second thought when they are not playing in character. This is not the case here.

Logan will not allow the Soviets to be left alone. This means either they go with the group or he stays with them until they can be handed off. Now no group is going to drive off and leave their sawbones, so we need to make room in the trucks. They are currently full with the POWs and there is no way we are squeezing in 9 new stretcher cases. Somebody is going to have to walk.

The POWs can walk to Piotrków, where there are rumored to be Warsaw Pact troops. This will also support the illusion that the group is actually escorting POWs.

Morning Shift

Weather: The weather remains fair.

Light Conditions: Light

Activities: Wally will ride shotgun in Worse with his partner in crime Robinson driving and Klasha with the wounded POWs that cannot walk. Marshall and Potato will be leading off in Bad with Logan tending to the wounded Soviets. The rest will form a loose security perimeter around the walking POWs. Bad will lead off, followed by Worse.

Navigation: Navigation is not necessary, as the team is traveling by road.

Hazards: The group must make a hazard roll for a new shift driving on the road. Since they are traveling together, we will make a group roll. Marshall in the lead vehicle will make the roll, assisted by here commander Potato.

• Task: Avoid a hazard while driving
• Ability Die: Agility B (D10)
• Skill Die: Driving C (D8)
• Modifiers: +3 driving modifier for roads, +1 assisted by Robinson = +4
• Mod. Ability Die: Agility A (D12) [+1 Step]
• Mod. Skill Die: Driving A (D12) [+2 Steps]
• Ammo Die: N/A
• Roll: 9,12,--
• Result: 3 successes
  

It is easy sailing for the group, which was to be expected as they are moving at walking speed. Midway into the shift, the encounter the first Soviet OPs outside Piotrków.

Encounters:

• Hex 1 (Piotrków, Poland): This is mandated encounter with a Soviet patrol, since we know that there are Soviets in the town. The characters probably do not know the exact nature, only that they are their.
  

Potato will approach the barrier and demand to speak to an officer, explaining that he has wounded Soviet soldiers that require medical attention. After a while, an officer shows up. On a 1-2, Potato outranks the officer, 3-4 they are the same rank, 5-6 the officer outranks Potato: 1, Potato outranks the young officer.

Wally and Klasha will back him up, insisting that the troops were the victims of an IED on the road to Bełchatów. Potato will insist that the wounded be offloaded now, as he must transport the prisoners to a prison camp father south (which is a lie).

• Task: Convince the Soviets to take the wounded
• Ability Die: Empathy C (D8)
• Skill Die: -- none --
• Modifiers: +2 being assisted by Wally and Klasha, +1 Potato outranks the young officer, +1 the wounded are Soviets, just like the officer, -1 the Soviets will then have to care for the wounded, -1 the officer knows of no prison camp to the south  = +2
• Mod. Ability Die: Empathy A (D12) [+2 Steps]
• Mod. Skill Die: -- none --
• Ammo Die: N/A
• Roll: 11,--,--
• Result: 2 successes
  

The young officer orders his men forward, helping the Soviet wounded down from the trucks and loading them on hand carts for transport to the division hospital of the 124th Motorized Rifle Division.

Potato orders the American POWs aboard and the group sets off again. Marshall and Robinson are driving, Griff and Macron keeping watch.

Since the encounter would not have taken long group can still continue. I will rule that they have lost half a shift of travel, which means that they may still travel 4 hexes this shift.

• Hex 2 (near Kamieńsk, Poland): Ace of Spades (The Mad King).
  

Just one day without having to draw down on someone. Is that too much to ask? Apparently yes.

The group approaches a fortified village defended by scrap barricades and 9 civilian guards and a pompous "king". In addition, there are 50 "subjects" of the king in the village. The encounter range would be 28 but the group will close up to 5 (leaving the trucks and the POWs behind), as they may want to talk. The king is probably part of the marauder band that fled Kamieńsk when the Soviets arrived nearby. Old habits die hard, apparently.

The stats of the "king" and his royal entourage are:

• Civilian STR C, AGL C, INT C, EMP C, Hits 4 Close Combat D, Driving D, Ranged Combat D, Recon D Pistol or shotgun with one reload and one RPG-16 (one reload) to share
• Leader has STR B, AGL C, INT B, EMP A, COMMAND B, and carries an Uzi with two reloads.

There is a total of 35 rations of domestic food in the village.

PCs can be persuaded just as NPCs can. It is a long shot, but the "king" can at least try. The "king" offers the group to become part of the glorious army he is creating to reclaim Poland. In return for their service and that of the group traveling with them, they will have first choice of anything they want, men, women, wine, food and what ever tickles their fancy.

• Task: Persuade the PCs to join the marauder army
• Ability Die: Empathy A (D12)
• Skill Die: ---
• Modifiers: +1 the king has more men on his side, +1 joining will cost the PCs nothing, +1 in a war torn Poland, his argument of a secure life is not a bad one, -1 the characters are not in the same hex = +2
• Mod. Ability Die: Empathy A (D12) [Unchanged]
• Mod. Skill Die: Skill Dice (D6) [Added to cover the additional step up]
• Ammo Die: N/A
• Roll: 6,3,X
• Result: 1 success
  

The offer would give the characters a lot of security but being a marauder means a short, violent life that end with a bullet if your are lucky. This is an offer the characters will politely refuse, of course, upon which king dunderhead demands they leave half their stuff as tribute. Any PCs worth their salt are going to tell the delusional individual in no certain terms that they will not be giving up any equipment. So the conflict starts.

Off to the tactical map we go.