Dawid sweated a little under the rubber mask, not so much from heat as from the eerie grimness of the situation.

"Ok. That explains the plane. Reconnaissance and leaflet-dropping, a little psychological warfare. The Communists in Lublin have not lost their flair for mind games. Well, on to business."

He indicated the Tarpan-Honker.

<Blue>"We shall approach the vehicle, but not approach closer than 30 metres out. If it looks like there are materials worth scavenging, Jan, Drew and I will cover while Tom and Bones does the dirty work. Remember, minimise time and exposure, as I think this area is in the effect of the nerve gas. All right, let's go!"

"For that matter, anyone know where this gas was deployed? I wasn't there, personally."<Blue>

Dawid Piotrowski
Tantal BG-25 (30/30 + 4 spare magazines, 3 spare 40mm HE)
Stechkin/21 rounds, + 2 spare magazines
1 RGD-5 Grenade, 2 Smoke, 2 Flares
Approaching abandoned vehicle and bodies
This message was last edited by the player at 08:52, Tue 01 Dec 2009.

Robert tries to grab the young boy so he doesn't hurt anyone with the accidental discharge from the sub-machinegun.  He takes the weapon away immediately and puts the weapon on safe and asks him to come to the side so that he can try and talk to him.  Waving for a translator (Mariusz if he's available or someone else is fine too), Tucker moves away from the main group to speak.  Through whatever translator is available, Robert simply tells the young man, "First off, make sure that your finger is always outside the trigger guard unless you plan to shoot someone or something!  If you're not going to shoot, make sure your safety is on!  If you're finger is off the trigger and the safety is on, your weapon should not discharge!  We're giving you a lot to digest here and we know it's not easy.  Just try to be more conscious of what we're trying to do here and you should be OK?  Do you have any questions?"

  Drew:

  "Just remember, stay out of the low areas, thats where the gas will collect."

  Drew pauses,

"And if you're going to salvage anything, use a couple sticks or poles slide it through the item so ya don't grab it directly....Good luck." Tom truly wishes them luck.

Sgt Drew
M240
Covering the crew going for the salvage

Mariusz finished translating between Tucker and the hapless militiaman and then returned to his other liaison duties. He made sure that everyone was comfortable with their roles and responsibilities and then watched Mihn for a while as she helped the militia build various traps and defences.

He marvelled at the range of works, perhaps this was why people had to study being soldiers, for Mariusz it had been pretty much on the job training, he'd killed his first man with an AK-47 even before he'd learned how to change a magazine and he'd been amazed at the concept of a safety catch. This concept of learning to fight when people weren't actually shooting at you was interesting, he wasn't sure if it was fair, but the concept was very interesting...

Walking towards the rear of the Tarpan Tom keeps his eyes out for the auto grenade launcher in the grass verge and any other bodies.

If there looks to be anything worth salvaging from the Tarpan Tom will approach but not touch anything. He will use a couple of sticks if he needs to move items. He will visually check the rear of the Tarpan for the anti-tank mine and any other salvage and also take a look underneath.

Once the Tarpan is cleared he will scan the area of the mortar strike in front of the vehicle looking for more items. When everything they are going to take is bagged Tom will leave it by the side of the road to be picked up on their return.

Then with the rest of the group he will move off towards the place where the trucks where parked. Tom is aware that the VX would have taken some time to affect the victims so he will keep watch for bodies in the trees and next to the road.

RPK-74 (45/45) + 6 spare magazines
Sig Sauer P226 (15/15) + 3 spare magazines
RKG-3 x 3 grenades
F1 FRAG grenades x 6
Pirate Camp Recon Patrol
Searching and collecting

Gora Kalwaria

The situation with the young trainee's misfire could have cast a cloud over the remainder of the day's exercises but Tucker's masterful handling of the situation (with Mariusz's linguistic assistance) quickly defuses it and training continues apace. The militia actually seem to be looking forward to the afternoon's practice manouvers.

Pirate Base

The recon team approaches the Tarpan-Honker carefully. The half-dozen bloated bodies strung out along the road for 50m behind it hints at the success of Minh's VX-laced IEDs. No one has bothered to collect the dead's weapons. The angular shape of the party's AGS-17 "Playma" AGL still rests on the bitumen just below the back deck of the Tarpan-Honker. The olive green, semi-cicular magazine has been knocked loose from the launcher and a bullet hole can clearly be seen in the front of it (the mag). Oily stains and beaded drops of liguid speckle nearly every surface. The T-H is shot to shit, with four flat tires and dozens of bullet strikes in evidence. Two militiamen still occupy the passenger area, their waxy skin is yellow and stretched thin. One of them tilts his head back in a silent scream, his eyes swollen to slits and his gaping mouth dark with dried blood.

Despite all of the dead, and the stench that must be surrounding you (you can't smell anything but the strong plastic odor of the inside of your gas mask), there aren't any flies or other scavengers in evidence.

100m past the T-H (to the north), there are only half as many bodies as you were expected to believe would be(as per Konrad's briefing). There is however, a tight grouping of small blast craters eastern half of the enemy skirmish line had been (ditto). There are also several large, dark, greasy patches in the matted yellow grass. A single individual could not lose that much blood and survive. A few drag marks lead away north into some tall underbrush. Although a couple of empty AKM magazines are found in this area, no abandoned weapons are present. There is no sign of the PTS-M.

You are left to draw your own conclusions about what transpired here both during and after the battle.

Several hundred meters further to the north is the bridge across which the assault team had originally come on their approach to the pirate's hamlet camp. The party's vehicles had been last seen on the other side of that bridge.

Next Moves?

OOC: Let me know what you want to touch (I got that, when possible, you want to use sticks instead of your hands). I also need to know how much protective gear your PC is currently wearing. I'm assuming gas-masks and at least rubber gloves. Whatever your PC is wearing beyond that, I need to know specifically. Thanks.

Tom looks at the others then moves down towards the Tarpan.* As he approaches he will take the weapons of the six bloated bodies as well as any magazines and grenades. He uses a stick to open pouches and put the weapons in plastic bags. When ever he moves something he does it slowly so as not to move the VX contamination.

He will look over into the bed of the tarpan looking for other items that the Captain briefed them on. He also checks for the assault groups weapons that where left behind, such as the militia RPK, militia AKM’s, Wicks weapons and any magazines. Time is not a factor so he will do a thorough search.

Once the salvage is bagged and on the side of the road Tom will follow the drag marks slowly, stopping to listen and look as he moves through the grass.

*Tom is wearing captured fatigues, thick rubber gloves, and his poncho with the hood up over his respirator. He has tied the gloves over his sleeves and has a NBC filter on the respirator. He also uses plastic bags over the gloves that he can pull them off once he has finished touching or moving something, so as not to contaminate other items. Lastly he has plastic bags over his boots. He would have briefed the other members of the squad so they could also undertake these measures.


RPK-74 (45/45) + 6 spare magazines
Sig Sauer P226 (15/15) + 3 spare magazines
RKG-3 x 3 grenades
F1 FRAG grenades x 6
Pirate Camp Recon Patrol
Searching and collecting
This message was last edited by the player at 02:51, Wed 02 Dec 2009.

Tucker will gather everyone around that is going to be involved in the practice maneuvers this afternoon.  With the help of one of the interpreters, he will say the following, "OK everyone, stand at ease or take a knee and listen up.  We're giving you all a lot of information here and it may not be the easiest for you to digest.  It's going to take some practice and we don't expect there not to be any mistakes out there this afternoon.  There's nothing wrong with doing walk-throughs or drills by yourselves with empty, safe weapons.

Folks, don't take your safety off your weapons until your ready to fire!  You all know we had an accidental discharge here this afternoon.  It happens but, you all need to try and get yourselves accustomed to working your safeties, chambering & unchambering rounds.  Remember, your weapon SHOULD NOT go off until you pull the trigger!  However, it is a man-made item and there is ALWAYS the possibility of a weapon malfunction, especially since a lot of these weapons are old and maintenance was not as it should've been due to spare parts.  Be conscious of your muzzle and your target and beyond.  If you all practice that, you should be OK.  Any questions or concerns?"

After the militia and training cadre finished lunch, Bayer assembled the training cadre and a selected number* of the militia on the edge of town. "Attention here." he announces. "What we're going to do this afternoon is a practical field exercise. The main lesson here is how to conduct different types of sweeps... woods clearing, cordon and searches, and clearance patrols. This is important and useful for you to project your strength outside of the town, keep the outskirts clear of bandits and observers, and to help maintain the fighting spirit by staying active."

He then paused, allowing for Mariusz to translate as this time he wanted to be sure everyone understood. While the translation was underway, Bayer says to Tuck, Quyen, and Ondar, "Each of you take a squad. Try to be as invisible as possible... unless they need it, leave most of the leading in the hands of the squad leaders. Remember its an exercise, but it has the potential to develop into a real situation, so stay sharp. Once at the graveyard, keep your eyes open for salvage opportunities."

Once everyone was ready, Bayer motions for the senior militia commanders to take over and deploy the platoon as he taught them with the map and model training he gave them over the last two days. "Alright. Lead them off. One up two back formation. Get your scouts out. Your objective is the tank graveyard. Once we get close, stop, go to cover, and we'll recce it in preparation for a sweep."

* I don't know how numerous the militia are, but Bayer intends on taking out a platoon's worth (3 squads of 6-8 men plus a few of the senior leaders).

The bone-quiet silence added to the grim tableau.

It was obvious the gas had had some kind of effect, and it seemed the Tarpan-Honker was near the centre of the death zone.

While he waited for the salvage to be complete, Jan and Drew kept watch 360 degrees, and so Dawid was free to kind of keep an eye on everything, at first splitting his attention between security and salvage. He didn't approach the vehicles but instead got the sacks from Drew and Jan, passing them to Tom and Bones.

Seeing that Tom seemed to have the right idea, Dawid kitted himself out to the same degree, then pitched in with the salvage operation. It wouldn't do to order Bones and Tom to do something he couldn't do himself.

"Sergeant Drew, I'm going to help Tom and Bones. I leave security in your capable hands."

"Tom, I see you are occupied, so Bones, help me with the Plamya, please.

He then pulled his mask down and waddled off to help Bones recover the AGS-17. He made sure that everyone who could come into contact with the VX was wearing rubber gloves with plastic covers. As well, plastic wrappings on their feet over their boots. Finally, instead of trying to put the AGS-17 into a bag, they just wrapped it in the garbage bags.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:50, Wed 02 Dec 2009.

Mariusz continued to stay near the Kaptain in case he needed more linguistic support.

Griet stood nervously in the wheelhouse monitoring the radio. This was the worst of it, waiting with no idea of what was going on and hoping that no news was good news...

<quote Dawid Waldus Piotrowski>
The bone-quiet silence added to the grim tableau.

It was obvious the gad had had some kind of effect, and it seemed the Tarpan-Honker was near the centre of the death zone.

While he waited for the salvage to be complete, Jan and Drew kept watch 360 degrees, and so Dawid was free to kind of keep an eye on everything, at first splitting his attention between security and salvage. He didn't approach the vehicles but instead got the sacks from Drew and Jan, passing them to Tom and Bones.

Seeing that Tom seemed to have the right idea, Dawid kitted himself out to the same degree, then pitched in with the salvage operation. It wouldn't do to order Bones and Tom to do something he couldn't do himself.

"Sergeant Drew, I'm going to help Tom and Bones. I leave security in your capable hands."

"Tom, I see you are occupied, so Bones, help me with the Plamya, please.
Drew: "I got yer back, get er done."  as Drew watches over the recovery team read to la down a fire and a warning

Recon Team

After the gear at the Tarpan-Honker is collected and bagged, the recon team moves north along the road towards the bridge. A few hundred meters short of the bridge, they come across the pirates' UAZ-69. Four dead pirates lie scattered around. It's got its bonnet up and a quick look at its engine compartment indicates that its been stripped of useful parts.

The team arrives to find the barbed-wire barricade that used to block access to the road across the bridge brushed aside. Looking down from the bridge they see two swollen corpses among the wilted reeds along the small river's banks.

Crossing the bridge, they head towards where the STAR and the Ural motorcycle had been parked. The vehicles are gone. Nearby, they find two dead militiamen, both stripped of their weapons and ammunition.

The team heads back to the T-H on foot and collects the bagged weapons and ammo (the AGS-17 with one damaged drum-mag, one RPK-74, Wicks' M-14K and H&K GL, eight AKMs- three belonging to dead militiamen; the rest from dead pirates- and numerous magazines. Four hand grenades are also recovered.).*

Heavily laden and sweating in their gas masks, the recon team returns to the riverbank, thoroughly exhausted. At the site where the tug crew remembers the RPG being fired at them, Jan finds another nearly worn-out AKM buried under some leaves and splintered wood.

The team makes a one and a half round trips to the Wisla Krolowa in the small boat, ferrying across the captured weapons and ammo. Tadeuz is waiting for them with two high-pressure water hoses, one spraying cold Vistula water and the other scalding hot water cycled through the tug's boilers. The recon team gets a spray-down with the bone-chilling river water while the gear gets the hot water wash.

Despite their fatigue, the group heads to the eastern shore and sweeps the area where the pirate landing party had last been seen. They find the lower half of a body, stinking and swarming with maggots. A shattered G3 battle rifle lies nearby, totally beyond saving. A couple of trails of darkened blood lead north. The team decides not to follow. They head back to the Krolowa for the trip back to Gora-Kalwaria.

Training Cadre

The exercise starts well enough. The militia platoon's constituent squads move competently towards the vehicle graveyard on the southeast side of town, halting among the rusting NATO and WTO armor, gutted hulks of burned out military trucks, and several vehicles so charred and/or blasted apart that you can't even tell what they'd been in better days.

Under Minh's supervision, the town's fixed defensive positions are improved, with more overhead cover and better fields of fire. Ondar and Tucker continue to train another section of less experienced militia to care for and dry-fire their "new" firearms.

All Together, Now...

The Krolowa announces its return with a blast from its steam whistle. Anneka meets them on the dock, ready to examin the recon team in the tug's sick bay for signs of VX contamination/poisoning.

Next Moves?

Tom was pretty happy with their little walk, no casualties, no enemy contact and they had recovered their small arms loses.

He got stuck in cleaning the recovered weapons with others, he still wears the rubber gloves and plastic bag combination for the task. Once they have completed the cleaning, inspection and oiled the weapons, Tom will take Wicks weapons and give them another going over checking for damage. When it's all complete Tom strips off the fatigues, poncho, and lastly gloves. He bags them and follows direction from Dawid as to how he wants them disposed of. Tom gets dressed and slips the M14K between the back yoke of his webbing. He leaves the HK grenade launcher in the weapons locker on the tug. Then he has a look at the AGS-17’s magazine trying to work out whether it will work and if not what the problem is.

As he works on the weapon Tom does not notice the time slipping by. He’s glad of the chance to use some knowledge that doesn’t involve killing someone or blowing something up. The work reminds him of the sort of thing he got up to in his fathers garage, just spending hours tinkering. Once he is back at the village Tom will help unload the tug and report what he was able to work out about the grenade launchers magazine to Dawid.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:08, Sat 05 Dec 2009.

In reply to Tom Jones (msg #158):

Dawid thanks and congratulates all the personnel for a job well done. Once on the Queen, he directs them to dispose of their outer covering (plastic "booties" and over-gloves, salvaged fatigues). He also set up a shower schedule with the Queen's hot water shower, taking the last turn in the tepid water.

"Tom, Jan, Drew, a fine job, all the way around. That is a shame about the Star and the bike, those were stalwart vehicles. Someone made a point of taking everything they could. I'm curious why the poison didn't panic them more, I would have thought they would have run screaming once the first one died convulsing, and completely abandoned the area without further salvage. Just another reminder we're dealing with people who are sometimes better than you would expect."

Griet was relieved when the shore party came back alive and well and was amazed to see that they had been able to scrounge some kit from the old battlefield. She'd assumed that troops stationed in the ruins of post nuke Warsaw would be hardened to radiological and chemical hazards and that they'd have stripped the area bare.

The patrol's haul was better than nothing by a long chalk.

She made sure that the Krowola was secure at her moorings and well-guarded and then went to seek out Kaptain Bayer, she looked over at the patrol, "Good work men, I'm impressed. Now let's find the Kaptain and debrief."

Mariusz helped out with the field exercises, still impressed that battles had once been able to destroy so much at once. He'd fought what he'd assumed were epic battles with the Krowola, this though was carnage on a whole new scale.

As he looked up from one manouvere he saw the tell tale smudge of smoke in the sky near teh river. He called over to Bayer, "Sir, the Krowola's inbound."

Looking over at the smoke trail, Bayer replies, "Danke Mariusz." He then instructs the militia commanders to march their men back to the village and stand down for the moment. He was pleased with the improvement of the militia, but knew that there was still so much for them to learn. "Well done." he announced as they left, then nodded his thanks silently to Tuck, Quyen, Mariusz and Ondar.

Following the militia's dismissal, Bayer will lead the small training cadre down to the river to meet the rest of the group and to receive their patrol report. After listening to how the camp was deserted and but some of the gear recovered Bayer gives a thumbs up and says, "I want to know the status of the AGS as soon as possible.". With his concerns over losing the AGS lifted, Bayer adds, "Good job out there." He then leaves them to finish their post mission drills.

A little while later, when everyone returned after the decontamination was finished and everyone got some personal time, Bayer announces, "Ok. Attention please. Informal warning order in a minute."

Before he continues, Bayer quietly asks Jan to ensure there are none of the locals assigned to taking care of their quarters around. Security was always an issue on his mind. More so now than ever before, with what happened further up the river. He wouldn't continue his semi-WO until he was sure the information was going to stay with only those in the room.

"Tonight we will conduct a raid on that bandit hide we discovered on our way into the town. It should be a no contest event. We'll take along some of the militia for field experience... but it'll be our show." he says. "We'll leave tonight under the cover of darkness. Groupings and tasks to follow shortly."

He then says, "Before former orders are issued for this, is there anything else we should consider getting done here before we depart? Its Warsaw after this. If something else will help us, I'd like to hear it now."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:27, Fri 04 Dec 2009.

Drew "The truck was stripped.  Were all the poison rounds accounted for?  Or did any fall into their hands?" Drew asks pensively.

"IF, they got ahold of some that weren't detonated or were duds then....well we all know what they'll do...."

Drew pauses waiting for an answer

Sgt Drew
Warming after his hosing
Asking a very very serious question.

In reply to Steven Drew (msg #163):

Dawid shook his head, lighting a cigarette and offering the pack around. He didn't have too many left, but that's the way things were.

"I believe all the chemical rounds are accounted for. We have the only undetonated one. I've been thinking. After seeing the faces of those men killed by the tozin, the gas is evil. I believe we have the expertise to safely dispose of the shell, given its binary nature. As long as the precursor chemicals don't mix. I'm not sure how dangerous they are when separated."

Tuesday, Oct. 17th
1900hrs.
40F
Clear skies
Gora Kalwaria, Poland

The party sits in folding wooden chairs in the small parish hall. An old slate chalkboard on a wooden rolling frame sits at one end. Dinner had been served an hour before and the group feels pleasantly full. The Bishop is present, as is a group of militia selected by the training cadre*. Konrad, Minh, and Mariusz all feel pretty crummy. This virus seems to do its worst in the evenings. But, overall, they don't seem to be getting any worse than they had been the day before.

The purpose of the evening meeting is to discuss an expedition to the abandoned village south of Gora-Kalwaria. The objective of this expedition is twofold. First, the road to Kozienice must be cleared to allow the merchant caravan to do its business and, hopefully, secure more small arms ammunition for the militia. The sceond is to provide the greener militia with some real combat experience. Only three bandits had been seen in the village a few days before and they'd unwilling to tangle the well-armed group.

OOC: Time to plan out the anti-marauder search and destroy mission. No wheeled transport is available at this time. There is a Stalwart amphibious cargo vehicle in the town but it is not currently running and no one [in the party] has taken a look at it.

*How many militia do you want to take? What experience level group or do you want to mix them up? Weapons load-out?

The AGS-17 needs to be disassembled in order to determine if it is still functional. The drum magazine has a bullet hole in it. The jagged interior will need to be cut and filed so as not to impede the feed of grenades. One grenade has some bullet damage (leaving 17 undamaged grenades) and the belt has been severed in one place. This leaves two grenade belts of 8 and 9 sections which can be joined to create a 16-grenade belt.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:18, Sun 06 Dec 2009.

As there didn't seem to be much interest in talking about Warsaw, Bayer says, "Alright then. Orders."

"Situation. A small group of bandits, estimated at three, have been interrupting trade on the southern route to Kozienice. They're believed to be holding up in the ruins of Podgora, which is about 5 kilometers from here. Gora Kalwaria requires this route to be cleared to resume its trade, including for munitions needed by the militia here. We'll also be using this mission to provide some additional field experience for a some of the militia who will accompany us."

"Mission. Our platoon will eliminate all hostile forces in Podgora, tonight, in order for trade to resume."

"Execution. Phase one. Under the cover of darkness we will leave G-K and move to an objective rendezvous point NE of Podgora. The trade route is to the west of Podgora which is where I expect most if not all of their attention to be focused on during the night. The ORV will be amongst the ruins and woods providing concealment for the main body while the element commanders move up to recce the objective."

"Phase two. We will conduct a standard platoon raid. Support element opens fire, assault element closes and secures the objective killing or capturing anyone still alive, and security element ensures nobody is able to escape."

"Phase three. Secure all salvageable equipment. Sweep the village. Then wait for the Queen to pick us up riverside for the return to G-K."

"Groupings and tasks."

"Headquarters. Myself and Stoner. I will navigate the patrol to and from the objective and provide command and control. I will also carry a radio. Stoner will be the medic."

"Assault Element. Jan, Jones, Drew, and three militia will form a six man assault squad. Jan will lead for this mission and will carry a radio. Weapons are to be rifles and grenades. Each of you is to pair up with a militia soldier. This team will assault and clear the objective of hostile forces."

"Support Element. Dawid, Ondar, Tucker, and three militia will for a six man support squad. Dawid will lead for this mission and carry a radio. Support element will have one GPMG team, a sniper team, and a grenade launcher team. This team will maintain a fire base and support the assault element's approach."

"Security Element. Mariusz and three militia will form two - two man security teams. For the move to and from the objective, they will serve as scouts and flanking security. For phase two, they will setup two cut off positions to ensure nobody escapes, and to ensure nobody else enters the objective area."

Transport Element. Griet and the Queen's crew will provide transport back to the G-K, which will be useful if there are non-walking casualties. They won't depart until dawn however for both security reasons and because of the navigation hazards. Its a short trip anyways.

"Service and support. Only the Queen and what we provide ourselves."

"Command and signals. Minimum radios are myself and the element commanders. Open fire policy will be on self defense only. I'll initiate the raid by firing. Call signs to follow once we get a count of radios."

Bayer then turns to the Bishop and says, "So I need 9 of your men... preferably those identified to be team leaders or NCO type. Outfitted in warm clothing, good boots, a canteen of water, a military rifle and ammo. Don't tell them the details."

Returning his attention to the group, he asks, "I need to know who has a radio to determine call signs. Also, who has night vision. If there aren't enough, I'd like to pool any paraflares. Questions on the orders? Rehearsals to follow once the militia arrive."

"I've still got the manpac radio, Sir," Mariusz replied to his Kaptain, "do you want me to keep it or give it to one of the larger contingents?"

Griet listened to the plan and said, "I'll be manning the wheelhouse radio."