Dawid and Thor
Dawid jogs towards through the park with Thor in tow, not bothering to attempt walk in the sparse tracks laid earlier- it would slow them down too much and might not work anyway. Besides, if their fresh tracks draw off any of the pursuing enemy, it may help throw them off the trail of the main group.
They arrive at the old battery position. The gun pits are empty save for one D-30 smashed by counterbattery fire and stripped of anything even remotely useful. The ammunition bunker is right where he remembered it to be- a broad, low mound where the snow covers the thick log and earth roof. With Thor settling into a firing position just outside the sunken entrance. Dawid removes his torch and enters the pitch dark interior of the bunker. The floor is uneven, its frozen mud creating mold-like shapes where it hardened around the imprints of booted feet, absent garbage, and debris. It's still covered with rubbish- a few smashed tin cans, the ash of a campfire, bits of paper, shreds of cloth, a syringe, a condom- all of it partially encased in concrete-hard mud. For the past two years the bunker has variously been a campsite, a playground, an abattoir, and a one-room brothel. The uniform stash is long gone. There is nothing of use here any more. Dawid shoves the inoperable M240 to the back of a high shelf cut into the earth just under the log roof.
From the bunker, Thor and Dawid's view of the intersection where the sniper's had originally set up after exiting the storm sewer tunnel is blocked off by a shell-smashed building (part of the church complex), as well as the numerous tree stumps that dot the park between the bunker and the road.
Dieter and Mariusz
The red herring team breaks off from the main group and angles to the northeast. They scramble down a side road, moving from cover to cover and keeping to the shadows beneath the boxy apartment blocks so characteristic of European communist architecture. A few brave (or foolish) souls peek out from darkened windows, straining to catch a glimpse of what all the shooting is about. Mariusz and Dieter can only hope no one attempts to signal the Baron's troops.
They find a decent spot to set up their two-man ambush. A large, ruined residence just south of a derelict school building. Mariusz sets up shop behind a mound of bricks on what used to be the porch of the house- probably the headmaster's residence- while Dieter enters the school building and starts making his way through the dingy, debris strewn hallways to the upper floor. In five minute's time, both men are set up looking down the road towards the intersection from beneath which they had emerged half-an-hour before. Despite being further back from the intersection, Dieter, through his sniper rifle's scope, has a better view. He sees armed men emerge in the area and begin to mull around purposefully, looking for signs of their quarry. Others set up in a loose perimeter to provide the searcheres with security. The group grows in size as they are joined by comrades. The sound of growling engines and squeeling tracks grows. A bright white light washes over the area, projected from further up the main road (i.e. from the east).
Main Group
With Minh and Jan on point and Tucker and Warren in trail, Konrad leads the main group up the road (the map calls it Jagiellonska- a rare Soviet-tolerated nod to a 16th century Polish nationalist) to the northwest. There are quite a few tracks here. The group can move quickly through them, hopefully concealing their numbers and perhaps avoiding detection by the Baron's trackers altogether. After a few minutes, Konrad recognizes the need to move to a more concealed route in order to keep out of sight of the enemy that are almost certainly arriving at the manhole cover not too far behind. To the right (east) of the road are more apartments. To the left (west) are the remains of the zoo.
Next Moves?
Updated Tac-Map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...84,0.032938&z=16
-R.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:54, Thu 01 July 2010.