Part of the problem is I'm not quite sure how to move things on. There's been plenty of hooks in the game over the past few RL years, but with so few of the current players having experienced much of the game, many things have been missed.
A summary might help I suppose....
Eight characters broke out of a POW camp in a school at Zdanska Wola (between Kalisz and Lodz) about two weeks after the destruction of the US 5th ID. All eight were either officers or senior NCOs (Sergeant and above).
Of these eight, only three remain - Donnachaidh, Tanya Redgrave and William Brown.
Stealing eight horses (the guard unit was the remnants of a Polish Cavalry brigade) and equipped with only the clothing and equipment stripped from several guards they'd overpowered during their escape, they headed south into the woods several miles away, impersonating a Polish mounted patrol. The school hall the eight had been locked in was torched as a diversion (the other hundred or so prisoners were kept in an outdoor enclosure with no shelter).
While still in the open fields, a party of Polish infantry supported by an unarmed UAZ was encountered and a fight broke out. Automatic fire and grenades flew in both directions and the fight would have been over quickly but for the waist high wheat providing great concealment to both sides. Once the dust settled, the party had suffered only light wounds, killed or driven off the Poles and captured the UAZ. Two prisoners tied behind the UAZ were also liberated.
While camped in the woods, a party of refugees stumbled upon them and the two groups merged. A scouting party was sent out to recce the town of Lask, a few miles to the east of Zdanska Wola but before they reached the town, they stumbled upon a battlefield from a fortnight before littered with damaged and destroyed vehicles from both sides. A small unit of Russian mechanics were in the latter stages of salvaging a BTR-80 (the vehicle you have now), an M2 IFV, a BRDM-2 armoured car and a Russian truck.
Meanwhile, another group of Russians identified as belonging to the Soviet 124th MRD wer encountered by those who had remained near the camp. Hearing the unmistakable sounds of a mortars firing close by, the camp group (less refugees) assaulted the mortar plates with suprise and wiped them out. Amongst the captured goods were several hundred litres of diesel (much of which remains), three mortars and a limited supply of 81mm and 82mm rounds.
The two groups rejoined and the mechanics finished the necessary repairs to teh vehicles to get them rolling. All four still suffered damage, but nothing too critical.
A day or two later found everyone at the small village of Pruszkow hidden away in the woods. At this point, the refugees and several of the soliders in the group elected to stay. The M2, UAZ and truck were also left there due to damage not yet repaired, or in the case of the M2, it's relatively massive fuel consumption (about as much as all the other vehicles combined). All the horses were also left due to their inability to keep up with the BRDM and BTR.
Continuing south over the next week or so, roughly paralelling the Lodz-Chorzow road, fresh vehicle tracks were found somewhere in the reagion of the Warta River. The tracks were followed to the river where they were seen to go into the water. It was decided that further investigation would not occur at that time as the BTR-80 was (and still is) holed in many places and would sink like a stone. The tracks were identified tentatively as belonging to a NATO wheeled IFV of some type, possibly a LAV or similar - they were definatley not PACT in origin (wheel tracks the wrong distance apart).
Proceeding south, the ruined city of Czestochowa was skirted to it's west, fear of radiation keeping everyone well away (several characters participated in the battle that destroyed it before it was leveled with a nuclear land mine or two).
Checking over your PMs may reveal more information that your characters have on both this battle and the city itself.
Reaching the small, abandonned and mostly destroyed village of Stara Huta, the group set up camp in a warehouse with an internal loading dock the vechiles could be driven into. Shortly after arriving and after a brief recce of the nearby area, a large group of people tied and chained together into lines entered the town. About a dozen armed men on horseback guarded them. The prisoners, easily identified as slaves being transported northward to an unknown destination, were secured to posts that had obviously been driven into the ground some time before. The area was bounded by several buildings with the openings between them quickly closed off with barbed wire which had been stored within.
A recce of the location showed that the slavers were less concerned with attack from without than escape attempts. Several claymore type mines were emplaced, all facing inward towards the slaves. Three guards were placed in the buildings while the remaining slavers dished out a meagre ration of gruel before settling in for the night.
Fair play and common decency came to the fore as it was decided by the group to free the slaves. After a bloody fight in which several characters were injured, and dozens of slaves either killed outright or criticaly injured, all but one of the slavers were killed. The one that survived had elected to grab a horse and run at the first signs of trouble.
During this battle, Tanya earnt her reputation for overkill, firing the BTR-80s KPV heavy machinegun up into a building where one of the slavers was holed up. Although it's still unknown if she actually hit them, the shredded brickwork around them followed by the entire corner collapsing surely did the job.
Now with about 70+ starved ex-slaves on their hands, many of whom had been wounded by stray bullets, automatic fire from the slavers deliberately spraying the slaves, and the claymores deliberately set off into them, the group elected to remain in the village to heal wounds, distil fuel (the BRDM still ran on alchohol), and forage and hunt for food.
An evening foot patrol soon after in the direction of the nearby city of Czestochowa heard the sounds of a VERY violent ambush nearby. Investigating, they arrived about half an hour after the last shot was heard and discovered a US Army unit had been ambushed and wiped out. The attackers had gone over the remains like a plague of locusts, stripping absolutely everything of value. Only one survivor was found who died shortly after.
quote:
“Schaeffer, Frederick L... Lieutenant,” the man manages to say. “Mission ... mission accomplished... almost. Operation ... R-Reset. Got that? Reset. Got to get them through...”
The Lieutenant's story comes out in bits and pieces. He frequently lapses into delirium, but is better able to speak as he is made more comfortable, and especially if a character with Medical skill is able to treat him for shock (stop his bleeding, keep him warm and his feet elevated, and give him him IV fluids, if any are available) and pain (administer pain reliever, if available).
His unit is, or rather was, a B team of the US 20th Special Forces Group. At first, all that the characters are able to understand is that Schaeffer's unit was carrying something of vital importance, that their unit immediate destination was Krakow, and that they were ambushed by marauders with the aid of a traitor.
“It was that damned Cutler,” Schaeffer says. “Sergeant Cutler. He ... he led us ... right into a trap. He was with the Captain in the lead Hum Vee, and they didn't fire on him. He was with them when they rounded up the prisoners. Like he was in charge. He was with them when they marched us over to the woods...”
Schaeffer had been among those captured by the marauders, who he says numbered between 50 and 100. The prisoners had been led to the edge of the woods, herded together, then machinegunned. Schaeffer had been hit, but managed to crawl into the underbrush, his escape concealed by the fall of his comrades. He'd lain hidden in the underbrush while his friends were massacred, stayed hidden while the vehicles were stripped and the bodies looted. He'd lain there, his wounds draining him, until he'd seen the characters' arrival and managed to get their attention.
“Listen to me," he says with a desperate, burning intensity. “This is Operation Reset. Got it? Reset. We were carrying vital plans. Blueprints. Films. All the way from Lodz. They're all there ... I don't think they got them. Can't let them get lost. DIA needs that stuff ... bad ... real bad...”
When asked what the convoy was carrying, or what Reset is, Schaeffer manages a weak grin. “Damnedest things you ever saw. Crazy ... Y'know. Used to have one when I was a kid ... got it for Christmas ... one year. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore!" He begins to laugh, then lapses into a coughing fit which leaves him weaker and bleeding from his nose and mouth. It subsides, and he continues. “Listen, you've got to get the papers. They got the ... the things ... the prototypes ... but I don't think they got the papers. That's what's important ... the papers! Raiders didn't know ... about the papers. Everybody'll want ‘em... DIA ... CIA ... KGB even. Got to get them ... get them to ... they'll pay...”
Schaeffer dies, leaving you more confused than ever. There are many papers lying in the field where the wind has blown them. Apparently they were scattered by the marauders who broke open footlockers and cartons filled with them in search for loot. Identifying the papers as records, personnel forms and requisitions from the University of Lodz is ESY:LNG (Polish).
A search reveals one footlocker which is different. It is still aboard one of the trucks, opened and rummaged through, but the contents have not blown all over the field. These papers include what are obviously electrical wiring diagrams, hundreds of them, in sheaf upon sheaf, all carefully labelled and annotated (in Polish), together with several loose leaf folders crammed with hand written notes. Characters who read Polish will be able to determine only that the notes are highly technical, and that they describe modular components for an extremely complex piece of electrical equipment (DIF:LNG). The papers include a bound volume of blueprints, again of electrical wiring diagrams and circuitry, and several exposed rolls of 35mm film. A leather Nikon camera case remains in the truck, but the camera has been taken.
The attacking unit was seen passing through Stara Huta soon after headed towards Krakow. The convoy included a BMP, a school bus and several trucks.
So, as can be seen, there's a few hooks in there....
