0144 - Off We Go Again - Part XVII

 

1130 14 AUG 2000, Near Lubliniec, Poland

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"From the Journal of Michael Griffin: It did not have to go down that way. We offered those guys a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. Sure, they would have to keep fighting but that is what we all are doing, day for day, just to stay alive. They would be with a group that took care of its own and was trying to rebuild something in a hostile land. They couldn't see the big picture though. They thought they could just take what the needed from our bodies and be done with it. They were wrong."

 

The recon team has taken shelter from a radioactive dust cloud underground with a large group of stragglers. During the scene setup, we learned how we got here. Now we need to continue on.

 

At this point, the team would probably try to persuade the Stragglers to join them. This will be a difficult undertaking, as none of the characters present have Persuasion as a skill and the Empathy levels are between C and D. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the other guys do not have the skill either. Level playing field.

 

From the character side, Harris will make the pitch, offering a safe refuge among their countrymen with a food and lodging. That is a lot in this world.

 

Task:	Convince the Stragglers to join the cantonment
Ability Die:	Empathy C (D8)
Skill Die:	--
Modifiers:	+1 won't cost the group anything, +1 presents a good case, +1 outranks the opponent, -1 opponent has more people	= +2
Mod. Ability Die:	Empathy A (D12)	[+2 Steps, total = +2]
Mod. Skill Die:	--
Ammo Die:	--
Roll:	5,--,--
Result:	Failure

 

No need to roll for the others, as the roll failed. The Stragglers will not be convinced to join the group. Seems like they came all the way out here for nothing. That is unfortunate. This would be a great opportunity for the Stragglers to gain some gear, since the PCs do not have any place to run and the group was planning on killing them anyway. How will they react? We can ask the GME.

 

[GME: Will the Stragglers attack the characters? - Chaos Rank 5 - Likely - the characters are trapped at the moment and the stragglers outnumber the characters (75%) - 36% - Yes]

 

That settles that. Then someone has to die, I guess. We did what we could.

 

Now we need a map. I am thinking some large, vaulted cellar area. There are a lot in Europe, being used for storage prior to the invention of refrigeration. They are made of stone or brick, offer a lot of floor space but head room depends a lot on the design.

 

So, the first step is a map. I do not go hog-wild drawing maps and still like to do them by hand. Just personal preference and enough for a casual encounters somewhere in the apocalypse. Got ten minutes? You got a map.

 

 

The map does not need to be large, as it will be a close-quarters battle. The scale I have chosen is 1m per hex, making it ten times smaller than the normal maps. The Armor Values of the various piles are marked and the black boxes represent the roof supports. These will stop anything anyone is planning to use underground. It is going to loud enough as it is.

 

The only entrance and exit from the cellar is the stairs. This will, however, bring that person back up into the raging radioactive dust cloud. Not a good choice.

 

I am not going to worry about ricochets and such. Enough people will die anyway.

 

In order to support the equipment that the Stragglers have, we are going to need a few more entries. Here are the missing entries:

 

Weapon	Type	Ammo	Reliability	ROF	Damage	Critical	Blast	Range	Magazine	Armor	Weight	Price	Notes
PPSh-41	Submachinegun	7.62x25	A	5	1	3		3	35/71	+1	1.00	300
.38 Special Snubnose	Revolver	.38 Special	A	2	1	3		1	6	+1	0.25	375
Vz-24	Submachinegun	7.62x25	A	5	1	3		3	32	+1	1.00	300
AKMR	Assault Rifle	5.45x39	A	5	2	3		6	30	0	1.00	400
.22 Semiautomatic	Hunting rifle	.22 Long Rifle	A	3	1	3		5	10	+1	0.50	100
.22 Bolt-Action Rifle	Hunting rifle	.22 Long Rifle	A	2	1	3		5	5	+1	0.50	150

 

They are not very well armed, but there sure are a lot of them. Hope the guys make it through this one.