The group finally sets out after dropping the prisoner near to the road. There has been no sign of the escaped Pole who had shot at the prisoners.
Sgt Guido and Major D'ammond lead the group south east with the other riders following a reasonable distance behind with the UAZ.

The first couple of kilometres passes without incident. With the sun starting to decend in the west, your stomachs begin to rumble - or is that the distant sound of artillery?

Using his many years of experience in the military (even the Canadian military), and his greater number of years of experinece with his own body, Gary carefully attempts to distinguish between the stomach-rumblings of hunger and the sky-rumblings of artillery.... and if it ends up being the latter (rather than just the GM's poetic license), he attempts to localize the bearing and distance.
If it is the former, the location and distance should be obvious.

Assuming for a moment we are merely hungry, suggest to Colonel Nelson that we should fine a bivouac area for the night. Yes, we're in hostile territory, but we will be for a while. And we have wounded. Travelling through the night is possible, but probably not the most pleasant idea.

The time is now around mid afternoon and it is your stomachs (nobody posted lunch). You do, however, occasionally hear the sounds of distant combat from time to time, but never close enough to be of immediate concern.

If we see ANY place to forage, I'll point it out and have a go...

[OOC: as good as forage 1 can get me! I'm supposed to ahve loosely survived on it for a while]

Hoping that others can forage, and better than me!

" 'ey laddies. Let's get to eat some of the cans instead. I'm rather hungry, and we probably will be able to find food further on this road. It is better that we are in perfect shape, if we encounter anyone on the road."

The Scotsman makes a jump forward with the UAZ before getting it into a good pace.

" 'ay. Lots better than to ride those lassie-vehicles. Let's go home, to sweet ol'Scotland."

Don starts to whistle the tune 'the lone piper'. Even if the tune is rather sad, he looks very content with his new position behind the wheel.

"Ok, Mr Nelson, you find us a place to eat, and let's eat"

A suitable "harbour" is quickly found and a filling lunch had by all. Perhaps this could be a good time to re-evaluate where you are going as a group?
At present you are in the edge of the forest approximately 10km south of Lask. your biggest concern at the moment is fuel, followed closely by food.

Well, when we're stopped at lunch, Gary will give his advice to Colonel Nelson

"Sir,

I'll offer my advice, and you can take of it what you will. Hopefully some of it will be of use.

It strikes me that -

1. We want to avoid large enemy concentrations. We want to use our latest intel appreciations to guide that, realizing that they'll be stale in the not too distant future.

We have logistical issues as well -

2. First is fuel for the UAZ. Any time we can stop and buy or acquire some wheat, we should be okay, but it will be a slow process, the distillation.

3. We have a food issue. We can forage as we go. I have a small bit of experience, but I'm sure some of you SF types have far more. But that will slow us down.

And then of course, foraging is best accomplished (I'd imagine) in game-rich forests and woods, which are ideal for moving unobserved and hunting  game. On the other hand, they suck for vehicles. Horses will do fine in all but the thickest forest, as will those on foot. So, as long as we plan to be vehicle mobile, we'll end up foraging only from areas near some sort of road.

The cross country efficiency of the vehicle is bad enough that I can't see us spending inordinate amounts of time traversing land that doesn't have roads.

So, if we want the best of both words, roads leading near or through forests may offer us some of the best opportunities to forage while remaining wheel-mobile. OTOH, they offer wonderful choke points for ambush.

But one way or another, we need to eat, probably more than we need to drive. I can walk and do without a ride. What I can't do without is a meal every so often.

4. We have wounded. They'll need constant care. It might be ideal if we could find a field hospital or even a civilian aide station to help get them fixed up. I'm sure our field medic, no matter how good, can only go so far.

So, my recommendations:

Plan with the following priorities
1 - avoid enemy force concentrations
2 - take us through the best terrain for foraging possible
3 - try to keep us on back roads where possible, avoiding main concentrations, keeping us moving a bit more easily than raw cross country, but also allowing the horses to move with the UAZ without being left behind too badly.
4 - worry about fuel and if the worry becomes too large, dispense with the UAZ. We can rig transport drag frames and haul a rather large amount of gear behind the horses that way, or try to find a cart or wagon somewhere.
5 - try to vector us towards anyplace we can find medical assistance for our wounded

Frankly, as someone who just had the joy of being a captive, then the joy of being almost murdered by my captors, I'm in no big hurry to revert to that status. I'd rather be hungry and on foot than in captivity. That's my feeling anyway.

Kett concludes his assessment and sips water from his canteen, wincing at the brackish taste.

"Are we staying in this ruse Lieutenant? If so we should of grabbed more uniforms earlier, would of come in handy" William says between mouthfuls of the armys best.

Throwing the now empty tin of corn and peas into the grass near to where his is sitting, Dimitar wipes his hands on a patch of grass between his legs.  Climbing to his feet and checking the state of his mount he says to the assembled group, "Sergio and I came from that way.", pointing to the distant hills in the South East.  "We walked long way.  We see many farms, not all with people but there must be food.  Maybe benzin for car as well.  If we have something to trade, we could even leave wounded there."

Looking around at the group momentarily, he returns to rubbing down his horse with handfuls of grass.

And if we don't have anything to trade, there is enough of us to just take what we want anyway., he thought to himself.

"Yiach. I just cannot handle this army-food. Not long ago, one could get a nice lobster, even in Warsaw. Or why not some caviar in Moscow? Or lovely, lovely shrimps and oysters from sweet Ullapool, back home?

Don closes his eyes, travelling back to his beautiful home of Scotland. When opening them up again, and grabbing some more food from the can, he gets back to reality, too fast. Making another face to the distasteful food, he gets rid of the can, throwing it to one of the newcomers.

"I guess you're hungrier than I. I'd rather eat haggis instead of this!"

"It would be nice to meet some nice peasants out here. The Poles are often very nice people."

"Might even be able to sleep in a real bed again. 'ey lassies?"

Don again gives the girls a wink.

NPC'd
Sgt Guido suddenly freezes in the middle of taking a bite of his late lunch. The sound of a snapping twig behind a nearby bush has drawn his undivided attention. Quickly placing the can on the ground, he picks his rifle up from his lap and points it in the direction of the bush.
Halt!, who goes there? He calls out loudly in faltering english. Advance and be recognised.

Hearing Dave's sudden words, Tanya also drops her food and aims the RPK in the same direction. Not having heard the sound, she has no idea of what is happening as yet.

Being deeply engrossed in her meal, Cam totally misses the activity around her. The sound of her spoon scraping the bottom of her now empty can, drowning out the sound of Dave's voice (to her at least).
OOC: (Not that she could understand his words anyway!)
Rolled 2, Initative 3 - not suprised (just blissfully ignorant)
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:28, Tue 04 May 2004.

As quick on the uptake as Tanya, Andy too responds quickly. Grabbing the RPK-74 from the ground beside him, he takes cover behind the UAZ and aims in the general direction indicated by Dave's rifle.
This message was last updated by the GM at 01:17, Tue 04 May 2004.

Everybody roll for suprise. Roll 1D6. If the result is greater then your initative rating then you may not conduct any actions for as many phases as the result exceeds your initiative.
However, if you are forced to freeze for more than one combat phase, you may go prone on the second phase and remain there until able to move again.
Obviously Initative 6 characters do not need to roll.

Gary, relaxing, leaning against the side of the UAZ 'enjoying' his meal, notes the fast reactions of the other people and simply hops into the back of the UAZ to the mounted MG and readies it for action, spinning it to face the direction of the noise. [OOC: If I've missed the fact their should be an MG mounted here, I just hop behind the UAZ and ready my C7]

He scans right and left about 90 degrees from the estimated source of the sound to make sure no other flanking threats are on hand.

Don sits back with his eyes closed against one of the wheels of the UAZ, listening to the humming bees and singing birds.

_{OOC: rolled 4 have 3}

Hearing the Dane's challenge and seeing the multiple weapons brought to bear on the bushes, Dimitar reacts in a swift manner.

The grass falls from his hand and he rapidly slides his AKMS around his body on it's strap.  He tucks the folding stock into his shoulder and grasps the pistol-grip firmly while turning to face the opposite direction and dropping to one knee, scanning the treeline for movement.

With the rifle's fire selection switch set to full-auto, he prepares to fire at the first sign of movement.



--------------------------------------------
[OCC:  Rolled 2 for surprise, against initiative of 3]

William drops his tin of food and spoon,  then draws a grenade from his belt whilst trying to locate where the threat is coming from.

Sgt Gallin will ready his rifle, but won't leave the wounded. he looks in the direction all the panic is coming from, if he can see it from the back of the UAZ.

OCC rolled a 4, have a 4 init.

OOC: rolled 5 Vs Init 3

Maj. Richard Smythe is too focused on the idea of teaching English as the common language whilst we move that he completely misses the commotion.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:43, Fri 07 May 2004.

17:17, Today: Sergio D'ammond rolled 6 using 1d6. inititaive v's 3 (WOW spelling!). Wahahahaha I'm doing some french thing obviously! lol!

[Ps. sorry for not posting, been in hospital! lol! All better now!]

NPC'd
Lt Col Nelson rapidly responds to the new threat bringing his weapon to bear in the direction indicated.
Alfred rolls 4 for suprise (Initiative 4)

40 metres away from you the bush shakes. A man in his late fifties stands up quivering from behind the bush with his hands pushed high into the air. He is dressed in a checked flannelette shirt in a dirty but otherwise good condition. On his head he wears a cap typically found with the local farmers. Underneath this his hair is dirty but has been cut sometime in the last few weeks. Dirty but robust trousers cover his legs and solid work boots are on his feet.
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: Please. Don’t Shoot!]he begs in Polish.
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: Help us, please.]
At the sound of his voice, what seems to be the population of a small village rises from the cover of the trees and brush. There are about 25 people of various ages from a baby up to the old woman holding them. They are extremely poorly armed (only clubs, spears, a couple of pistols and an old double barrel shotgun that looks like it is more likely to explode than fire) and appear to have spent at least the last few nights sheltering in the woods.

"Don't shoot, Mr Nelson, they want our help"

"Yeah lets send them all to Disneyland" William said under his breath. We had not enough fuel, food, or ammo for ourselves, and now the 'diplomat' wanted to help a whole crowd. I mean, aren't these the enemy for christsake he thought. A smile played across his face as he thought about leaving Don for the villagers to munch on.

  Gallin will lower his weapon and get out of the UAZ, and walk towards the man who spoke. In Perfect Polish, he speaks to him, but not close enough for the man to grab at him. " My name is Mikhail. What is it that you need? we have wounded, and not much food or fuel. I will help if I can, but we are in our own desperate straits right now." He will gaze at the farmers, assessing thier condition and especially the infants and the old. He is aware they are non combatants at this point, but also is aware of thier own current situation.

  Dimitar ceases his watch on the area to the rear of the group.  Recognising the refugees for what they are, he turns toward them.  Thinking about his lack of food, he considers the possiblity of trading his standard issue PM Makarov pistol...

I am sure they could use another gun.  It is just a matter of whether or not they have any spare food.  Unlikely.

He then proceeds to scan the possessions of the refugees, looking primarily for foodstuffs or bags that might contain food.  As he cannot speak a word of polish, his focus is one hundred percent on identifying the food carriers.

The group moves closer cautiously. The "spokesman" stops a few metres away and speaks again. [Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: We are from Lask and were driven from our homes by the army when they attacked the Americans. At first it was the bombs and guns that drove us out but when we tried to return home, we were blamed for helping the American soldiers while they were in the town. We have not eaten in two days and some of us are sick.]
You can see that they are hungry looking and some are a little unsteady on their feet.
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: He continues. We can offer you information, perhaps even fuel if you help us.]

Paranoia sets in, Cover your arcs securer a perimeter, it may be a diversion to pick up supplies from the back while we are distracted. Pass it on whispers Guido to whomever is closest.

Don walks closer to the man, relying on his allies that they will keep an eye on everything happening among the Poles, so he lets his gun hang in its strap.

"Witaj, mów wolniej"

"Proszę, daj mi więcej szczegółów"

"Przepraszam, nie bądź zły na mnie, Mikhail. Nie mogę tego zrobić"

"Porozmawiajmy"

[Private to Nuked; Sergeant Michael Gallin:
Hello, please speak a little slower, I don't understand the language from these parts that good.

I am sorry, but we don't have a lot of supplies ourselves, but Mikhail here can probably take a look at your sick ones.

Aren't there any games in the forest around here? Some of the soldiers are pretty good with the gun, and could probably get a clear shot at a moose or whatever animals are living here.

Otherwise we probably have a spare gun, for you to hunt yourselves.

We have to talk a little of the fuel, where can we get it?]

William readys his gun in one hand, strap over his shoulder, and the other holds a grenade. William will move and circle the group, stopping on a flank.

Gary, in the back of the UAZ, keeps watch on the refugees.

Colonel Nelson, perhaps we can trade with these folks for some food. We've got some firearms to spare. Give them at least a fighting chance versus marauders and bandits. Maybe even give them a bit of instruction, if they are friendly.

Gary thinks about home.... about the wife he left behind. The kids in the group remind him that he and his wife were working on a child before he left, and he doesn't even know if they were successful.

Of course, my kid and my wife too could be in equally desperate straights back home. I imagine Kingston isn't looking too good right now.

I hope they're okay.

One of Gary's eyes waters a bit, and he wipes it with the heel of his left hand, his right hand staying on the trigger of his weapon, the barrel never wavering from his chosen arc.

Finishing off his mouthful he stands watching and listening, ESPECIALLY for any MORE people hidden anywhere...

His gun remains on his back.

With a grunt of disappointment at the famished condition of the refugees, Dimitar forgets about checking them over and moves away.

They might have walked for days.  Must have come from somewhere.  Better take a look around to get some bearings.  If they are what they appear to be, a farm might have some supplies.  We need food.

With a glance back to the refugees and then to the surrounding countryside, Dimitar calls over to the group, "I take look around.  Don't leave me here."  Adjusting the weight of his pack to a more comfortable position, Dimitar heads off on a short walk.



--------------
OOC:  Walk a large perimeter around our stop, no further than a couple of hundred metres - trying to use high ground to get a look at the surrounding country, if possible. Looking for anything of interest, roads, farms.....tank columns.  Round trip of no more than 20 minutes.

William see's Dimitar head off on a scout and decides to accompany him, adjusting to suit his patterns. "Sir, checking the perimiter, sir" William calls to Lt Alfred Nelson.

Don, dumb question and you may have already asked but where are they from and what are they fleeing? [Private to Nuked: and who can we kill?] anticipating another bleeding heart session.

Don doesn't lose the eye-contact with the spokesman when he answers Dave's question.

"Sorry Dave, they're from Lask, but were accused to be collaborators when the red army came there, thus was forced out of there. They haven't eaten since the day before yesterday, so naturally they are hungry."

"He said something about fuel, so now I've asked the lad some about that and if there isn't any game in the forest"

Dimitar and William scout around the general area and find little of interest besides trees and the occasional sign of animals.

The spokesman replies:
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: I would be grateful if you would look to our sick. There is game here but we have no more ammunition for the shotgun and pistols are almost useless.
We can perhaps help each other? If you give us some food and any ammunition you can spare we could help guide you out of this area. We know roughly what the situation is in the nearby towns and who has the fuel I spoke of. A raid on one of the army supply stores could give us all what we need. Food, fuel, weapons, ammunition, medicine and other supplies. Some of us know how to fight and all of us are willing to do what we can. The soldiers came and took our lives from us, they may be Polish but they don't belong in our homes, eating our food and stealing our belongings.]
He gets a dreamy look in his eye with his next words.
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: We may even get them to leave our homes if we fight back. Then we could show you real Polish hospitality! We would welcome you to stay with us as long as you wanted then.]

Gallin will ask the people to hold on a moment, and will turn and explain thier plight to the warrant officer. They are sick, hungry and out of ammo for thier shotgun for hunting. he says there is food around, and if we help tend hier sick, they can show us the way to food fuel medical suplies other supplies. Apparently the pole soldiers chased them out of thier homes and took up residence, eating thier food and effectively chasing them off." He glances back at the group of rag tag refugees. They even say some of them can fight, and will show us true hospitality if we can chase the soldiers out. Personally, I don't think we are equipped for that, but we can at least try to get them someplace."

We are wandering aimlessly at the momment, lets strike one for home. Guido suddenly becoming interested in their plight.
[Private to Nuked: Do we get to kill something?]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Sat 15 May 2004.

After a few minutes fruitless search, the screen of trees effectively reducing visibility to a few hundred metres, Dimitar indicates to William that they may as well return with a jerk of his head.

He sets off back toward the others, waiting momentarily to see if William wants to join him.

Making idle chat during the walk, he says, "You are Villem, yes?  I am Dimitar.  Do you have smoke Willem?"

Sergio watches, wondering how this group works. He awaits for the people who seem to take charge, to make a decision on this matter.

Things look a little more interesting. Joining the army was all about excitement. That's why he'd gone for the best of the best they had to offer. Now it seemed like a very good idea!

" Sorry Dimitar, no smokes, when we busted out of prison, I didn't find any" William says apologetically. " I haven't had a smoke in a while, but I still want one too".

Gary mulls over some tough choices. The world of late seems filled with nothing *but* tough choices. Still, at some point, you have to draw the line between doing what you need to survive and being one of the animals out there. Lately, the line's been kind of blurry for a lot of ex-soldiers....

Colonel, Don... I'm new to this band, I know that. But these folks seem to be just folks. I figure these folks are getting run out of their homes for no reason other than that they can be and their neighbours are too afraid to raise a fuss, as I would be if the Army is in town, even if they are just a bunch of uniformed brigands now.

We could go on ahead and leave them, or give them some minimal aid and turn them out. But the world is already too full of crappy situations. I, for myself, would like to do something to really help these folks. On the upside, it might get us some food and fuel and a place to rest/hide for a few days. More importantly, I'd feel a lot happier doing that than a lot of the stuff I've had to do the last couple of years.

In Canada, I trained to keep the peace, to help people rebuild shattered countries, and to assist people in getting back on their feet. Hasn't been a lot of that kind of work since I got overseas here on this tour. It'd be nice to do something constructive or protective instead of destructive or simply necessary.

But that's just my two-cents Canadian.

Having made his opinion known, Gary goes back to scanning the surroundings, expanding his attentions to a 360 sweep.

Alright then. Quartermaster, Alfred says to nobody in particular, Break out the blue helmets. Seems we suddenly became the UN!
Lets distribute what weapons we can spare to those who can use them. Tanya, William and Dave, I want you three to help familiarise them with the rifles with the help of Don as interpreter.
Gallin, looks like you got the medic job. See what you can do with the sick and injured without eating into our supplies too much.
Andy, Richard and Camilla, you get to go hunting. Take a couple of the locals with you as guides. Keep an eye out for a defensable spot to harbour up for the night.
The rest of us will act as sentries till we settle in for the night.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:27, Tue 18 May 2004.

Try to get the UAZ under some brush cover. See to it that our wounded are okay, have water, etc. If they need up to the loo, etc., then help them. Otherwise, walk a perimeter around the camp (sometimes reversing direction, varying the route and schedule) about 200m out every so often, using natural cover and avoiding skylining against ridge lines and such. Keep the place generally in good order until such time as the foraging party returns.

[OOC: I have a fair level of instruction... I'm not sure about the others who were nominated as instructors]

"I have a little skill in training" (instruction 1) "But I'll happily hand over to someone more skilled

Arriving back in camp with William, Dimitar soon picks up some tasks.  From the little scout he an William just performed, he knows that the immediate surroundings are clear, at least temporarily.  He desides to use a little time before returning to sentry duty to prepare his little corner of the camp and see to his equipment.


---------------------------
[OOC:   Set up my half shelter beneath a suitable patch of vegetation, lay out the sleeping roll, dump my pack under the cover, field strip and clean my weapons and ammo.  When all that is comlete, I'll go and spend my time standing watch quietly in the surrounding forest.  I will attempt to stay concealed as much as possible but change position every half hour or so.

William grabs some empty cans and places them 50 metres downfield on support so they can be seen clearly. While walking back he wonders if the Lt meant for the students to actually shoot the damn rifles or just dry run through it. Bit silly to advertise where we are, better go check he thought. William heads over to the Lt to ask.

"Aye, they got to get some food. I'll help translating you training them the rifleskills, while the wounds gets taken care of"

"I'll might learn something myself"

"But as you said, Willy. I guess we'd better keep the ammo out of the guns. At least for the first hours"

Just make sure they are familiar with the basics for now. You know, like where the safety is and how to reload.

OOC: Instruction 2 - I'll trade off with Dave and let him watch over the place while I train some of the refugees, but get the UAZ undercover as I suggested.

Don, let's use your skills with the language to help get the message through. Be careful to try to translate what I say exactly. Where weapons are concerned, imprecision and be dangerous...

After that, Gary launches into his recruit weapons familiarization routine. He makes allowance for the fact these folks have probably zero or less military background and goes slowly. He also makes sure that they never hold loaded weapons during the training, explaining the ammunition comes... afterwards. Once Gary is sure they can safely handle the weapon in basic situations.

Go through the normal loading, unloading, immediate action, and firing drills. Cover the basic firing positions, discuss the noise and the thrown casings, teach and practice reloading drills, discuss penetration and range of the weapons plus the use of cover and bracing for shots. Teach them how to detailed strip the weapons if they look like they're fast learners. Just mostly worry that they know how to load, aim and fire, and to stay away from autofire in favour of bursts (if a burst selector exists) or single shots. Also make sure they know how to handle basic stoppages like stovepipes, multiple feeds, failure to correctly extract, etc.

That ought to fill the afternoon.

Sergio will watch with wonder.

Having spent so much time with Dimitar, he'd gotten used to the nastier side of life.

But this?
Helping out complete strangers, who outnumbered them?

He watched, out of camp and in. Walking around, holding weapons close and keeping his own things to himself.

Seemed everyone had their place but him? Ish... So he was fine to just wander and watch more. This group seemed quite mis-matched.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:19, Thu 20 May 2004.

William demonstrates what Gary says, but does take the bullets out of any firearms used. He asks Don to translate his request for the old shotgun, explaining he would like to inspect it.

The man with the shotgun gives it up easily. It appears to Williams untrained eye (gunsmith anyway) that it will fire but it could also fly apart.
The trainees appear to be of various experience. Some know a little of weapons but most, nothing.
Gallin checks them out for any diseases and so on. The sick are suffering mainly from malnutrition and exposure. A few good meals and decent shelter should help.
The hunting party soon discovers a good spot to harbout up for the night only about 1km away. Game on the other hand is proving to be a bit more difficult to find.

Wait until night fall, they should glow.

After the afternoon of training, if the Colonel okays it, procede to move the entourage and the UAZ to the new Lie-Up Point (the safe harbour mentioned above).

I know we can't work miracles with hiding jeep tracks and the prints of a billion civilians and a troop of soldiers, but have some of our experts in camouflage and tracking perhaps do their best to clean our backtrail as best they can (perhaps even lay some boobytraps if we are worried about pursuit?).

At least, that's what Gary recommends to the Colonel.

When Dimitar hears about a much better camp close by from the returning hunting party, he eyes his basha with annoyance.

Swearing loudly, he crosses to his possessions spread under the trees and packs them up again in preparation for the move.  That done, he returns to watching the surrounding forest while waiting for the group to move to the new spot.

Surely Don has to repeat some of his pronounciations, but otherwise the education goes rather well.

When the others are returning Don tells the Poles to gear up, and help with moving everything to the new location.

After that, Don starts up the UAZ and makes himself ready for the ride.

The move into the night harbour is conducted smoothly. The civilians are glad to have the protection of your weapons and almost make pests of themselves expressing it.
Food is still a problem. One of the younger children is discovered climbing into the back of the UAZ and helping themselves to your meagre food stocks....

The weapon training progresses slowly, Don having to repeat his words from time to time as his grasp of Polish is far from perfect (skill 4).

What are the groups intentions for the night? Patrols? Sleep? Hunting? etc...

"Target practice with the thieves sound good." a patrol with the pesants about coud be a problem unless we send them to draw fire :P
Securing a perimeter may be the best option, being a Staff Sgt I cant give the orders.

Dimitar is indifferent to the plight of the townspeople.  As far as he was concerned, they were just some hopeless refugees.  As common as rats these days.  Furthermore, he doesn't have a lot of respect for them either. Having to lose his share of food, no matter how small, to a group of useless human refuse, unable to stand up for themselves, was were the real injustice lay.

When he hears of the thief picking through their supplies uninvited, his disgust and anger is barely concealed.

"Put townspeople to sit up all night.  I am tired and I want sleep.", he says to no-one in particular, before kicking out his sleeping roll and crawling into it.

Lying on his back and trying to get comfortable, he continues loudly into the air above him "If more food gone in morning, I very, very mad."

Sergio smiles. Too used to the grumbling of Dimitar.

The problem was he'd also learnt to listen to Dimitar as he was a stright forward man, and the things he said and grumbled about were normally very accurate.

He pondered over the situation. But then decided bed would be better, he'd be woken when it was his time for watch. So setting up asleep next to Dimitar, feet to head as they'd always done, he kept all his belongings in his sleeping bag, so no one could... look over them.

Sgt Gallin will make his last rounds before he retires gratefully to his sleeping roll. He would have helped Donn with his Polish if he needed help, also with anyone else. (Skill 10)

The child is not so much stealing as starving. Nobody has offered even as much as a crumb to any of the refugees and as stated earlier none of them have eaten in days.
Do not write these people off. During the afternoon, Don and Gallin carry on a few conversations with a few of them. Some of them before the war were highly skilled in their field. For example one was an industrial chemist, another a mining engineer.
There is little call for these particular skills in wartorn Poland however, so they are forced to scrounge a living as best they can. Highly skilled people like these will be vital for the rebuilding of civilization.

Maybe someone should hunt. Only takes a day and a half to roast a deer.

Sergio perks up.

With a little light he could try and sneak around and get some meat.
Seemed like a good idea.

I will hunt. Anyone good at ze silent step will beez welcome too!

Sniper rifle in hand he heads off to get some dinner for them all. (And then maybe try to pick up some polish!)

"We still have a stray pole running about, so I'm in for a hunt."

Some deer and rabbits and other animals are only active at night, and if you put a red lense on the flashlight, they can't see it.

I aint much of a sneaky sort, but i could help you tracking down something worth killing. Failing that, ill just stay here with the rest of them. oh, we should get some sort of password system srted out if your breaking perimeter and going off hunting.

Ok... how about Wough ho ha!

Sergio says as he attempt to do a very poor, heavily french accented impression of Elvis.

It certainly wouldn't be the normal sound! he laughs to himself.

Then sets his equipment ready.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:13, Sun 05 Sept 2004.

Ill come along my obs are good.

[OOC: From what i can tell a skill of 4+ is  GREAT! so my sneaking, obsevation and rifle KICK ASS! yaay! I found somehting I'm good for! Getting deer meat?]

Sergio awaits others to join, or assign themselves.

Two is good, shall we leave?

We could try for peasant, I mean pheasant. The former is a bit tough and stringy.

With a smile he turns to Dave.

Fine but I should hear your Elvis impression to know it's you!

And he stands waiting

Quickly in a deep false voice
"THANKYOU VERY MUCH"

He nods in approval.

This had at least raised his spirits.

Right I see people are preparing for shift action. We'll go when it gets dark properly and the animals have reason in safety to come out! And I feel we may all need a chat as to what our intentions are, tommorrow morning.

He walks over to Staff Sgt Dave Guido and whispers You got any night vision by the way? And if so what sort? He says as he checks the mans equipment for a quick answer.

So people if we have Gallin and Corrigan on first watch with you He starts to point randomly to about a third of the able looking people they have. you, you and ... you. With things seeming to start getting done, as before people seemed to be milling around, he waited for questions.

How many people we got you said about 25? Can I have a list of what sex, age and how... effective they appear?

[OOC: So we got this say? With 4 hour shifts? They in no order if you don't like who you've been put with?

Hunting
Major Sergio D'ammond
Staff Sgt Dave Guido
Lt Col Alfred Nelson
2 refugees armed with AK-74's

Watch 1
Sergeant Michael Gallin
WO2 Andrew (Andy) Corrigan
Plt Sgt Tanya Redgrave
with 3 peasants

Watch 2
Major Richard Smythe
Donnachaidh
Serzhant Dimitar Nikolov
with 3 peasants

Watch 3
WO1 Gary Irwin Herbert Kett
WO1 William Brown
Lt Camilla Ashton
with 3 peasants

And so the night begins. As we search for food.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:03, Sat 29 May 2004.

" 'oy, sounds good, monsieur. But you should take a peasant or some other soldier with you. There should be someone that can help tracking and shooting. We need a lot of food.

I'll ask them"

[Private to GM: Don asks them.]

A couple of the refugees offer to accompany the hunting party after Don tells them what is happening.
Most of the refugees are noncombat personnel (children and old men and women). Only the dozen or so that the group handed weapons to earlier in the day have any combat ability (and a few of them only what you taught them during the day).
From time to time a refugee approaches one of you for food (still nobody offered them even a crust and they know there is food in the UAZ).
OOC: I'd be expecting them to get very pissed off shortly!

Not a bad ideaz. Can you tell em that they will be having to be still lots. And the word for "stay" would be good too. We'll do the hunting, they do the tracking and the dragging back, well with us! He laughs.

I feel like some venison, and I'll see what herbs and bits I can get while I'm out there!

He nods and heads out with the "stay" word, the helpers and the Dave. :)

Hold up a moment and I'll come with you. I have a little tracking ability. Alfred checks his SVD and other equipment before joining the small group of hunters.

I think we had better dump the refugees at the first point (morning).
The UAZ is to be watched and booby trapped if possible.
If they steal our food it was pointless escaping.

OCC:This is another pointless resource waisting exercise I have come to know from this GM :P

Gary, from his small share of the food, gives some of it to the hungriest looking children. He probably ends up giving away about 3/4 of his food, keeping just enough to get a taste and take the fine edge of hunger off.

He thinks to himself.
It probably is a waste of resources. But the distinction between animals and men lies in the heart. When that turns to stone, the humanity is gone.  I've seen enough horror this past few years to last ten lifetimes. I'm not going to add starving a bunch of kids to the list. I can't do much, I've only my share of the food, but I'll give it up if that's all I can do.

Hell, Shelly might be waiting at home for me with my son. And I hope to hell someone is feeding them. Or that they're okay. These refugees are pretty much just like every other sad bunch. But that doesn't make them less important or less human - the fact the misery is everywhere just makes it more important to try to do the right thing where you can.

Mind you, it doesn't seem to be a popular sentiment. But most of these others have seen so much war, they seem to have forgotten what they were fighting for in the first place. All that's left for them is the mechanical effort to survive and the bleak greyness of shattered principles. Some of them have become more unto the predator than they'd probably have recognized six or seven years ago.

Sighing, Gary turns in until his watch. He's hungry. He's tired. His wrists are still raw. But he still has his humanity, and he'll be damned if he lets Eastern Europe take that away from him.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 02:37, Mon 31 May 2004.

Guido tosses his food to the whining masses to see how humanterian they realy are.
I hope the hunt goes well or I'll have to shoot myself before I starve.

[Private to Nuked: And yes Guido will shoot himself if it comes to that.]

Don thought he should have to wait until Dave and Mr Nelson was away hunting before he he could start to portion out the food. He is very happy to finally be able to help the others, a part of his old job. Not that he actually had to use his own food to distribute it to those who need it.

" 'ey lads. I didn't think this much of you, to be honest. You have all risen a lot by showing that we are caring people, among other human beings. In any way, you will be better judged when your time is coming. Hopefully you get to kill some animals so the time isn't coming too fast...

"When that time comes, sweet Mary will have a lot of work to do"

The hunting group leaves camp as Don is sharing out food amongst the remaining refugees (is an election coming up?). The rest of the group settles in for the night, hoping that it will prove to be uneventful. Those rostered on to first picket take up position while the next shifts grab what sleep they can.

Gary thinks
The irony of the *politician* saying that is profound. But the man has something there. Of course, I suppose so do the guys that just want to get home. They figure we have to husband resources to get home, or at least to someplace better.

But the thing that hasn't sunk in for some is the 'home' they're trying to get to is mostly a thing in their minds now - reality is vastly different. And the 'better place'.... where exactly is there a better place? The happy ending to the trip through Damnation Alley? The promised land after being saved by the Road Warrior?

Or did someone just forget to say all the words when he picked up the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis to start this ridiculous conflict off?

Kett shakes his head.

Don's got the right idea though. Government should be about helping people. And societies get rebuilt by certain key skilled people being kept in enough safety and security to make it so. My many years of military history and my Master's Degree in War Studies show plenty of cases of that. If people are given a chance to rebuild, they find ways. But that requires some folks willing to make sacrifices. And it does require some Wolves in Sheep's Clothing - maybe that is us - the guys who can bring out the Predator, the Warrior when we need to protect Life, but who can put it away again, even if it isn't easy.

Could be that this is what makes thinking too much dangerous. Or why the thinkers are usually first against the wall.

He grins. And helps Don before turning in.

Well, another day gone of this miserable begotten existence, ever since the crash and burn of normalcy in this world, William found himself lapsing into depression at the memories of his last few months, and the prospect of babysitting a bunch of wetmeats for God knows how long.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:22, Wed 02 June 2004.

There is actually

Don takes a little bite as well, just to keep the tummy from aching.

As he makes himself ready for bed he realizes that it will be only men on his watch!

" 'ey lassies!? None of you that want to be protected by a big scotsman through the night?"

As he is about to fall asleep he remembers fragments from his own military education, ages ago. When they were putting up a camp, they always put up static, defenceplaces around the camp so that you always knew where to go, if something were to happen. Sounds a little stupid to sit in the middle and keeping guard. Well, they probably knows what to do, and I guess they have sorted it out when I'm about to have my go.

Hoping to set the lead by Example I will volunteer for the First Watch, any other takers?

Have we figured out a Quartermaster yet? Someone needs to organise meals.

Major Smith, Major D'ammond had already sketched out a watch order and I believe we are into second watch. So, you can volunteer for your already assigned watch. I shall be soundly asleep waiting for my watch with Mr. Brown and Ms. Ashton.

:)

Ah... my appologies, I missed that conversation.

Not a problem, Sir. And if you wish to volunteer for RQM duties, I'm sure no one will argue.

The hunting party returns half an hour or so later burdened with the almost cooked carcase of a deer. (30kg wild food)
After the refugees attack the carcases, the remainder of the night passes uneventfully.
(180kg of wild food total. Once everybody has eaten their fill, 63kg remains).

Alfred, after a short nap, gets up, freshens himself up, and gathers his small cadre of profesionals, specifically including the two Majors.

Gentlemen and ladies, we have a challenge before us. We have a limited food supply and a need to get more, exacerbated by the presence of our Polish friends. We also have limited supplies of fuel. Plus what is left of the Red Army probably won't be too happy to see us.

So, what options have we? Do the locals know a place where we can acquire food and shelter and perhaps acquire some more food? That is an early question and I'm hoping those of you fluent in the language can sort that out. We need any leads or intelligence we can acquire.

I would suggest we not linger here. We have wounded and staying in one spot, although attractive, might not be a wise idea given the small unit we wiped out last night and the depletion of local animal populations.

So, suggestions? And before anyone suggests dumping the Poles, I have considered that and will do so if and when it becomes absolutely necessary. I'd rather leave them somewhere well situated than out in the wilds, quite frankly.

Alfred sits back to let the team members contribute anything they have to offer.
If it becomes necessary to invite over a couple of locals for further debriefing, then so be it.

I find it difficult to think of where would be okay to leave them? They have a little fighting now, but if they find themselves against real soldiers, like ourselves, they'd be no match? Tapping his chin he ponders.

Maybe some of us would like to stay with them?

[OOC: A good way to help them and dump any players that aren't here no more, which sadly may start to include me? Dependin on the internet connection at home!!!]

Two hours after they left Guido storms back into camp so that anyone not awake at this time certanly will be now.
"HONEY, WERE HOME!!" (evil grin)

OCC there is a great gap in the postings and this is the way Nuked wanted me to fix it.

Gary gives the Dane a raised-eyebrow for his bombastic arrival.

OOC Is it time to move on to the next Day's thread? Should we move the Colonel's and Major's comments over there?