"Sir, I haven't a clue.  We should be able to rig something up with this winch and chains, if we back the truck up to the loading bay.  Drag the plates out with the winch, then lever them up into the bed of the truck?"

Taking the Geiger counter, he idly checked the rainfall to see if it was safe.  It should be.  Immediately after a nuclear strike airborne particles formed clouds that shed fallout and contaminated rain (including the infamous "black rain" or snow, depending on the weather) thousands of kilometres away.  But by now the rain was clean and would help keep the lingering radiation down, washing away any lingering particles.


Dawid Piotrowski,
AK-74 (30 rounds with 1 spare magazine) in one hand, loaded and locked.
Geiger counter in the other.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Sat 30 June 2007.

Blue puts hs own poncho on as the rain continues he trundles along at the rear of the URAL making sure Tuck can see him in the wing mirror.  He jogs up to Bayer "Sir, find something already?" he asks politely.

Max watches the truck backing up through the misty rain.  To date, he has seen nothing.  It looks like its going to be quite a task getting the plate into the Ural.

Max will give a quick wave to anyone who looks up at his position, before moving out from his vantage point to look out across the village/city from the opposite side of the building.

Max will move cautiously through the ruined second story.  He has time on his side, and will take things slowly.

Upon reaching the other side of the building, Max will stay back from whatever window/vantage point presents itself and look for signs of life or movement.

Dawid leaves the mysterious campsite and heads back to the doorway at the front of the building, meeting up with Konrad who watches as Tuck manouvers the Ural into a position from which it can drag the plates out with its winch. Blue strides along beside the big truck helping to guide Tuck's approach.

Max moves from the north to the south side of the office building. Instead of a window, he finds that part of the southern wall of the office has collapsed. He surveys the southern half of the city through the gap. There's not much left standing to see. Most of the extant buildings are little more than burned out shells. The base of what appears to have been a large holding tank hints at the cause of the devastation. Whatever chemical or fuel that it contained must have ignited with the nuclear blasts, adding considerably to the devastaion at that end of the city. As Max moves closer to the egde of the gap in the wall, he notices movement down below. What appears to be two youths dressed from head to foot in muted tones are nimbly making their way through a partially burned out structure towards his building. One appears to be wielding a long dagger or machete, the other a studded club. They will be below his position- cutting of the firing angle- before he can raise his weapon to engage them.

Joost meanwhile, continues to loiter near the abandoned campsite, lost in his own thoughts. Without warning, a figure covered in rain-darkened grays and browns appears from behind the gap in the wall and rushes towards him, a spiked club or mace of some sort held high and poised to smash down on the Afrikaner's head.

[Private to Joost van den Haas: OOC: You're killing me with these missed posts, man! ]

[Actions?]

Joost continues to squat at the remnants of the fire pit, resting his ass on his heels and using his shotgun, butt end down, as a brace.  He tries to ascertain how recently the site may have been abandoned - and how far it's previous occupants, the graffiti artists, might have gone in the meantime.  It has begun to rain, and he is not looking forward to the effort that will be required to move all that steel into the Ural.  A task difficult enough in favorable conditions will be made even harder in a hurry in the rain in MOPP gear.  Somebody is going to get hurt, he fears.

He shifts his weight onto one knee and his thoughts begin to drift back to his time as a safety officer on board the mammoth Maersk container ships that plied the sea lanes on the Rotterdam-Durban route, when a flash of motion in his peripheral vision catches his eye through the plastic visor of his gas mask.  A figure has burst through a gap in the wall and charged Joost's position, a club held overhead and poised to strike.

With no time to shoulder his weapon and prepare a shot, Joost pulls the shotgun close, rolls into his assailant's path and kicks hard in an attempt to trip him or otherwise knock him off-balance.

[Joost]
At the fire pit
Mossberg M590, 9 rounds buckshot
Engaging hostile in melee combat

Seeing that they weren't receiving any kind of lethal, or even significant dose of radiation from the rainfall, Dawid considered suggesting they doff the NBC gear.  Personally he was sweating like a pig, and it would be a relief to pull off the mask.  The heavy rain was helping somewhat to cool him off, but he'd just be clammy after.

The lack of functioning sewers meant that a rushing stream of runoff quickly started flowing down the street, following the path of least resistance and forming pools and eddies among the piles of debris.  As this was also the clearest route, they would have to drive up the stream to leave the area.

The truck pulled up, then sat idling.  He let the Geiger counter hang from its strap and held the rifle muzzle pointed down.  "Just to let you guys know, there was a fire pit way in the back there, by the metal.  You cannot see it from here.  There was some writing on the wall there, something about "fuck NATO, fuck the commies," typical uncultured criminal gangster trash kind of stuff.  So let's keep our eyes open, yes?"


Dawid Piotrowski,
AK-74 (30 rounds with 1 spare magazine) in one hand, loaded and locked.
By the loading bay door, talking with Bayer and Thompson.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:40, Sun 01 July 2007.

Max calmly watches the two approach the building, then dissappear from view.

"Hmm"

Assuming he has some minutes before the two youths will have time to either get to the second floor where he is stationed, or move through the building and be able to see his mates working on the steel plate, Max:

1)  will move back over to his "normal" location where he can see the rest of his crew.  Max will wait for someone to look up and "check in" with him.  Max will then use hand signals to mime "2 tangos - coming from this direction".

2)  Max will then make his way to the stairwell, where he will look down and try to spy on the two youths and see what they are up too (passing by the building, or are they entering the building and coming up?).

OOC:  i will assume that Maxs simple message to the recovery crew is easy enough to convey to anyone looking up.


Max
AK-74 (30) BG-15 (1 HE)
2nd story building
Passing on the message, then moving to interior location to watch
This message was last edited by the player at 08:11, Sun 01 July 2007.

Tucker pulls the truck out from its parking space far enough so he can back out.  He adjusts the side mirrors so he can watch Blue give him direction as he moves the Ural to where the metal is they found and need to load.

Tucker begins the slow going of backing the truck up and he catches sight of Fosters motioning something.  He stops the truck and focuses on what he's trying to relay.  "Two....Tangos?  What the fuck?  Where are they?" Tucker says as he begins to scan the area looking for targets.  His hand reaches to the holster on his MOLLE rig and he finds the handle of the Browning Hi-Power and pulls it out with his right hand.  Tucker blows the horn twice (if it works) and yells out the window, "WE GOT COMPANY!"

Tucker
Browning HP [13]
Behind the wheel of the Ural trying to give a warning to everyone from Fosters
This message was last edited by the player at 04:21, Mon 02 July 2007.

Hearing Tuck's warning, Dawid snapped the safety off on his rifle and selected full-autofire with a loud click (known by western troops as the "AK clack").  He shouldering it and stepped back into the doorway to take cover.  Breathing heavily as adrenaline flooded his bloodstream, he scanned the empty street.

Suddenly, exclaimed, "Oh no, I have left van den Haast alone in the back.  I should go warn him right away!"

Turning, he sprinted back into the building, heading for the fire pit where he left Joost.  Breathing in deeply, he lifted up his mask with one hand and yelled,

"JOOST!  WE HAVE COMPANY!  BE ON YOUR GUARD!  JOOST!"


OOC: I remembered you should never leave your buddy alone in a potentially hostile area.

Dawid Piotrowski,
AK-74 (30 rounds with 1 spare magazine) in one hand, loaded and set to autofire.
Running back to where he foolishly left Joost alone.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Tue 03 July 2007.

[NPCed]

Blue takes a knee by the hastily parked Ural and starts scanning for threats, finger on the trigger of his AUG.

"Anybody see 'em?"

In the machine shop, Joosts temeritous lunge takes the charging assailant by surprise. The mace wielding figure is moving too quickly to adjust to his previously passive target's, sudden rolling kick. The attacker twists his body to avoid the impact but Joost's boot still catches him square above the right knee just as he plants that foot on the bare cement floor. The knee bends backward at a sickening angle, clearly hyperextended, if not worse. Despite his innitial forward momentum, the hostile whips backwards, landing heavily on his ass and crying out in an oddly high-pitched voice.

[Private to Joost van den Haas: You had some nice rolls!]

Dawid enters the machine job just in time to see Joost's attacker go down. The pair are about 50 meters away from him.

Max moves to the south side window and signals those on the ground that potentially hostile company is on the way. After Tucks horn blasts signal acknowledgement, Max moves into the upstairs hallway and makes his way towards the stairwell upon which he ascended to the second floor. He opens the door, edges slowly across the narrow landing, and cautiously looks down. There, at the base of the stair, only a couple of steps up, is one of the dull-hued youths, long dagger in hand. His club-wielding partner is on the lower landing, apparently serving as rearguard.

Out near the machine shop's loading bay doors, Tuck hastilly parks the Ural and prepares to defend himself. Blue takes a knee by the truck and scans for threats, weapon at the ready. Suddenly, the Ural's passender side mirror shatters above his head. The expected loud report of gunfire is not forthcoming. Another projectile clangs high off of the open metal loading bay door, next to which Konrad is standing, trying to get a grip on the situation. There is still no sound of fire. Brief movement can be glimpsed through a crumbled gap in the cinderblock wall of a rapidly decaying tin-roofed warehouse building to the group's right (North).

OOC: Sorry guys; I can't scan a tactical map at the moment. Max's office is SW of the machine shop (Joost is at the NE corner). The Ural group is just outside the shop's western wall. The warehouse where movement has been spotted is NW of the shop, directly across from Max's position. Basically, it's a U-shaped industrial plaza bordered to the N by the warehouse, the S by the office building, and to the E by the warehouse. The is another two story buidling to the west, it's upper story gutted by fire. I hope this helps.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:57, Wed 04 July 2007.

Tuck puts the Ural into Park as he cocks the hammer on his Browning and thumb checks the safety so that it is 'on safe' and flinches when the passenger side mirror shatters.  "We need to get the hell outta here now boys!  They'll be comin' out of the wood work on us soon!  Movement Northwest, Northwest!" (or whatever it would be on the 'clock') he yells out to all around the truck.

Tuck moves gingerly a few inches away from the driver's side door and locking it in case someone tries to get in the vehicle and take control of it.  He figures he would have at least another second or two to react in case someone did try to gain access to the driver's side compartment.

Tuck
Browning HP-35 [13] round mag
Locking driver's side door and looking to call out targets for the others

Max stands still at the top of the stairs, watching the two youths come up.

Max brings his Ak-74 to his shoulder in a smooth fashion - and aims at the chest of the closest youth.

Max allows the first youth to advance up the stairs a bit, enough so that the second youth also commits to the staircase.

In a quiet voice, trying not to frighten them, Max speaks
"Halt"


Max
AK-74 (30) BG-15 (HE)
Aimed shot at first youths chest
This message was last edited by the player at 03:16, Fri 06 July 2007.

Seeing the attacker go down and Joost obviously gain the upper hand, Dawid continued running towards them, rifle in hand. He scrambled around and over the loose piles of broken masonry and charred wood, splashed through puddles of rain water.  His breath rasped in the confines of the rubber gas mask, and the eyepieces started to fog over.


Dawid Piotrowski,
AK-74 (30 rounds with 1 spare magazine) in one hand, loaded and set to autofire.
Continuing to run NE towards the far corner of the shop.

Surging from the adrenaline rush of the assault, Joost feels his foot hit home and momentarily delights in the bonecrushing devastation of his strike as he follows through and rolls to recover.  Although strangely satisfied with the feeling of a flawlessly executed martial maneuver, he curses himself for falling prey to an ambush the second time today.

Getting too old for this shit.

The floored assailant screams and writhes about on the shop's concrete slab as Joost moves to a tactical crouch and raises his shotgun barrel to cover the hostile.  Sensing from the wailing racket that a call for assistance would be woefully redundant by this time, he holds the Mossberg at approximately the center of his target's mass.  He stares down the barrel in calm and deliberate silence and begins to consciously regulate his breathing.

Joost peers through the lens of his gas mask at the gap in the building's crumbling wall, from whence his would-be attacker had lept not moments before.  With one eye on the downed hostile and one on the fissure in the ruptured facade beyond, Joost drops his left hand from the weapon's slide action and keys the mic on his personal radio.

"Contact.  Campsite.  Tango down."

[Joost]
At the fire pit
Mossberg M590 + 9 rounds buckshot
Covering downed hostile and scanning area

[Private to Cap'n Rae: (If additional targets present themselves, Joost will immediately engage rather than make the radio call).]


This message was last edited by the player at 07:20, Fri 06 July 2007.

The sudden sound of the horn from the Ural brings Konrad out of his musing on how to load the steel plate.

Hearing Tuck yell out about contacts, Konrad quickly crouches by the entrance and flicks the safety off his rifle. A projectile clangs off the wall above Konrad.

Bringing his rifle quickly to his shoulder he spots movement in a building to the north and brings his weapon to bare.

"Tuck, movement in the building to the north. Can you see anything from your position ?"

(If Konrad sees any further movement in that direction he will open fire with a burst)

Raising his voice, Konrad yells out to Dawid and Joost.
"We have contact guys, call out if you can see any movement"

Konrad Bayer
Crouched beside the door to machine shop next to Ural
G36/HK69 Burst, HE Round Loaded

If Tucker sees it, he will call it out.  If I didn't state laready, Tuck removes his gas mask.

In the office building, the youth attempting to ascend the staircase stares directly into the twin bores of Max's AK-74/BG-15. He hesitates a moment, about three or four steps up from the bottom, then beats a hasty retreat, nearly knocking over his partner in the process. In a matter of 2-3 seconds, both youths are out of sight around the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

Outside, various proctiles- bits of bricks, short lengths of rebar, and small hunks of concrete- begin to rain down around the Ural. Most of the hurled debris falls short, kicking up little geysers of shattered bits and rainwater. A few fist-sized missiles bounce off the hood of the truck. The bouncing and rolling rebar, in particular, creates quite an industrial racket. Few clear targets can be seen. Your assailants are apparently unwilling to reveal themselves to return fire, preferring to pepper the party with rubble lobbed high over gaps in the surrounding walls. Blue sends a couple of 5.56mm rounds through a section of the cinderblock wall of the warehouse to the north and, for a few moments, objects cease to be hurled from that quarter. But soon, objects begin to sail over a different section of the same long wall. In fact, objects are incoming from almost every direction.

Joost meanwhile regains his footing and stands over the injured assailant, who lays on his side, holding his torqued knee in both hands. The aggressor's crude, spiked mace lays on the damp concrete within hand's reach. Out of the corner of his eye, Joost spots movement in the gap through which the first attacker had emerged, he twits his torso in that direction and takes a snap shot, blasting a pie-plate sized crater in the concrete wall merging into the edge of the fissure. Whoever of whatever was there a moment ago must have quickly withdrawn as soon as Joost had moved to engage because there's nothing there now. Dawid runs up alongside Joost and covers the hostile who's curled up and whimpering on the floor. No that reinforcements have somewhat mitigated the sinse of imminent danger, the pair get a good look at the attacker. Although his face his covered in strips of dun-colored cloth, it's clear from the individual's size and high pitched whelps, that it is a boy in his mid to late teens.

[Actions?]
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:45, Fri 06 July 2007.

Scrambling the last few feet to where Joost and the wounded attacker were located, Dawid spared a glance at the gap where there was additional movement.  Joost's shotgun blast scared whoever it was away, but they would be back.

Thinking quickly, he placed the muzzle of his rifle against the injured intruder's forehead.  Gasping for breath, he pulled down his gas mask so that he could breathe easier and so his voice wouldn't be obstructed.  Controlling his breathing, he said in Polish to the young assailant in a menacing tone of voice,

"Wy . Nie posuwa albo JA będzie wentylują wasz odurzony główny!"

[Private to Cap'n Rae; Joost van den Haas: Translation: "You. Do not move or I will ventilate your worthless skull."]

Still holding the rifle to the prisoner's head with one hand, he turned to the wall where the compatriot no doubt still waited.

He yelled, "Wy tam, wyrabiają waszym przyjaciołom przerywać rzucanie pozycje przy my  albo ta osoba jest martwa! Nie wątpi moich słów. JA ma zabił jed człowiek dziś i JA będzie zabijać inny analogicznie jeżeli JA ma."  He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

To the youth he said, "Współpracują i wy będzie jest dobrze."

[Private to Cap'n Rae; Joost van den Haas:  Translation: "you, out there, make your friends stop throwing shit at us or this one is dead!  Do not doubt my words.  I have killed a man today, I will kill another if I have to like that." and "Cooperate and you will be unharmed."]

He said to Joost, "well, help me get this one to the front.  Quickly."  He pulled off the bandanna to have a better look at the youth's face.


Dawid Piotrowski,
AK-74 (30 rounds with 1 spare magazine) in one hand, loaded and set to autofire.
Back of the shop, dragging the attacker to the front.

OOC: Dawid is using the male definie article for nouns because he thinks this is a male he's dealing with.  With  a hostage, we might be able to not only stop the attacks, but finish loading up the steel in peace.  It's a two-fer!
This message was last edited by the player at 10:34, Sun 08 July 2007.

Having let the two "kids" come up the stairs a little, their options are much more limited when challenged by Max.

"Halt"

Max hopes the word is enough to cover whatever language the kids speak, be it english, german, or polish.

With the two youths stopped on the staircase, and armed only with melee weapons, their options are either to retreat, charge, or comply.

Max, drawing an aimed bead on the first youth, hopes they decide to do as asked.  He will then be able to march them to the bottom of the stairs and see if anyone is able to give him some help.

Max cocks his head to one side.
Is that gun fire outside????

Joost cycles another round of buckshot into the chamber of the Mossberg and continues to cover the opening in the wall.  He glances down at the writhing teenager and briefly considers ending his misery along with the infernal racket.  After reflecting on the tactical situation, he nods to Dawid, "Better drag his ass out to the truck if we're going to use him as a bargaining chip.  Knock him cold if you have to.  I'll cover.  Go!"

[Joost]
At the fire pit
Mossberg M590 + 8 rounds buckshot
Covering Dawid's retreat, looking for targets of opportunity

Max keeps his AK-74 trained on the first youth.  There is sounds of activity in the background.

Max purses his lips together to the youths after making them stop.

"Shhhh"

Max will nod his head, and indicate for the two to turn around and decend the stairs.

Max follows at a safe distance, keeping his rifle trained on the closest kid.

If Tucker sees it, he will call it out.

If I didn't state already, Tuck removes his gas mask.

NEW: Tuck remains in the drivers seat of the Ural looking for targets and calls them out if he sees any.  If one comes close to the Ural or two one of his team members, he will try to engage them with his pistol.

Tuck
Browning HP-35, [13] round magazine
Trying to spot targets and engage if they come close to the Ural or team member(s)

Staying crouched by the rear of the Ural near the open door, Konrad calls out to the team.

"Stay sharp guys, fall back on the truck and lets get these plates loaded"

Konrad hears the sound of Joost's shotgun behind him in the building.

"Joost whats the situation ?"

Konrad Bayer (Crouched in door behind Ural)
G36/HK69 Locked and loaded

Joost and Dawid march the limping boy outside. Bits of rubble are still raining down periodically around the parked Ural. With a bit of prompting, the teenaged prisoner calls out to his concealed companions,

"Stop! Stop throwing shit! Do it now!"

After a couple more errant projectiles sail into the lot, the bombardment stops.

Max, meanwhile, moves cautiously down the stairwell in the office building, aware that the two youths could still be hiding in ambush. He makes it to the bottom floor safely and then crosses the lot at a run to the truck. He advises the group of his encounter and they introduce him to their newly acquired prisoner. From the pieces you're beginning to put together, it's becoming apparent that you've come under unlikely attack by a band of Polish youths playing at a kind of deadly "cowboys and indians" amidst the rubble of the bombed out city. But, you came to do a job, not stand around and chat.

With Joost covering the hostage, the rest of the team moves quickly, dragging the Ural's winch cable into the warehouse. Although it now seems a resumption of the attack is unlikely, the party is now completely on guard. Your senses are sharp and your muscles coiled tight from exertion and nervousness. Blue quickly determines how to fasten the winch cables to the plates and after about 15 minutes, the plates are ready to be levered into the bed of the truck. With the combined efforts of the group, first one plate, and then the other, are succussfully loaded aboard. Another quick conference is held and it is decided that, even with the hostage, it's not going to be possible to mount a thorough search with the assurance of safety. The boy is questioned some more and reveals the strange circumstances of his presence in Nowy Huta.

About three or four months ago, he and about a score of other young boys were sent to Krakow by their villages to the west, which were under serious marauder threat at the time. Just east of Nowy Huta, their ride was ambushed and the boys fled. They made their way to Nowy Huta and survived by rummaging through the less devastated portions of the city, subsisting on canned food, small game, and collected rainwater. It's all very Lord of the Flies. Your captive is apparently the "chief" of this erstwhile tribe of kids. They've been preparing for combat for some time but apparently were not quite ready for the real thing. You try to persuade the boy to convince his followers to accompany you to the relative safety and comfort of the abbey, but he refuses adamantly. It's decided to leave the prisoner and the others behind. They know of the abbey now, and how to get there. Perhaps, someday, they will leave their fantasy kingdom behind, but for now, it is clear they feel safer remaining within the ruins of Nowy Huta.

The team agrees to return to the anchorage with the only the plates from the machine shop- the risk of accidents, radiation, and foul play are simply too great. You mount up and the Ural heads back to the anchorage.

OOC: Thanks guys for speeding it up. You may now post in the new Ch. 2 thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:12, Sun 08 July 2007.