Dumping an armload of weaponry inside the BTR, Thor looked uncertainly at Monika.
"Thor no hurt, Sunna."
"This Døkkálfar blood."
Pearly white teeth showed between bearded lips as he grinned happily at the outcome of his close and personal meeting with the enemy.
"You take," he said, noting the polish SMG she was carrying and withdrawing the two magazines from his webbing.
"Thor no need. Gríðarvölr go smok. Thor no ammunisjon need."

Salvaging a mug from the dead, Thor took to the soup and bread with gusto. It had been some time since he'd had such a wonderful banquet!

Eyeing the tight confines of the BTR, Thor elected to ride on top. Mjollnir wouldn't do well stuffed inside and Thor could understand others may not appreciate his sense of "natural camoflage" which included odours...
Besides, with his furs and heavy clothing, he was well protected against the cold wind. As he clung on, he mumbled to himself, annoyed that Haptabeiðir had claimed all 6 of the 40mmS grenades for himself, leaving him with a launcher, but no ammunition.

Mariusz sat up in the turret and breathed shallowly, trying not to inhale the clarified fat of the last human being to occupy the seat. He loaded one of the 40mm grenades into the launcher and then stowed two more rounds in the empty pockets of his vest. He yelled into the cab, "I have three 40mill grenades I can't stow easily, does anyone need them?!!"

    In her broken English, Monika replied, "Thank you."  Monika takes the two magazines, adding the last few rounds from her pack to the partly spent mag.  She then placed the two mags into her ammo pouch.

Taken
1x 25/25 rnd 9mmM mag
1x 10/25 rnd 9mmM mag

This message was last edited by the player at 19:46, Thu 06 Jan 2011.

Jan wasn't really interested in any of the captured gear for the moment apart from the food, which he scoffed down as quickly as possible.  He was interested in some extra clothing, ideally something to replace his ripped combat jacket.  It was only the left sleeve but in the current weather that could be very dangerous.

Almost all of the clothing was heavily blood stained however so Jan was initially disappointed but when Dawid pulled the dead driver out of the BTR Jan registered that the corpse wasn't soaked in blood.  After Dawid had dumped him in the hole Jan clambered down with the assistance of one of Vita's colleagues and stripped the jacket off the man.  It was a black winter tanker's jacket with a fur lining so it was certainly going to help, even though it stunk of smoke.  The man was wearing coveralls underneath however so Jan didn't bother trying to obtain a replacement shirt or jumper.

He would need help changing jackets however so he quickly went through the pockets of his new jacket before stowing it in his backpack for the moment and then clambering aboard the slowly moving BTR.  As he was wounded he claimed one of the few seats, though he ended up sitting on some rifles they had captured.

He felt better for the bread and soup and decided that a cigarette was needed.  Rather than light up however he decided to seek permission, ensuring that their new comrades understood that Konrad was in charge.

"Captain," he called to Konrad in Polish.  "Permission to smoke?"

Thor's ski gloved hand snaked down from above and tapped Mariusz on the shoulder indicating he'd happily take the three 40mmS high explosive grenades on offer.

Being left puzzled with the Polish, Bayer waited until Jan asked again in English (or German) before replying, "Ahh... smoke. Yes, go ahead."

"Your arm has been taken care of, yes?" he asks a moment later.

Bayer then turns off his radio and motions for the others to do the same, to conserve their battery life.

Mariusz happily handed the three grenades over.

"Let me know when you want to call in Hauptmann.  Figure we should get a better idea of how far out of the city we can get, but we also need to know where to go."  Jeff powers down his radio in the meantime, since it wasn't near a standard check-in time with Salesman.

Jan had forgotten that Konrad didn't speak Polish but after he had switched to English and been given permission he lit up one of his cigarettes, took a long deep drag himself and then passed it round to the others in the back of the BTR, letting anyone who wanted to have a drag take one.

"Monika has done a good job with my arm," he replied to Konrad's in English, almost shouting over the sound of the BTRs engine, "but I need to rest it for a while before I can use it fully."

Driving the overloaded BTR is a lot more difficult than Dawid had anticipated. The steering controls are sluggish and the APC seems to be stuck in second gear. His NVGs help, but the moonlight reflecting off of the white patches of snow that still covers most of the ground is amplified by the goggles in such a way as to make Dawid's eyes sore. It also makes judging distance difficult.

By either luck or divine intervention, the BTR makes it past the first major obstacle on the road out of the city. About one kilometer north of Outpost Spider, route 61 crosses a tributary of the Vistula. Dawid drives the BTR on to the badly damaged bridge before he even realizes it. When he realizes the precariousness of his position, he has to fight back a looming wave of panic. Due to extensive damage, the bridge in places is just barely wide enough to accommodate a single vehicle. Dawid tries the brakes but they don't respond so he just rides it out and forges ahead; in a manner of seconds, the APC safely reaches the other side. Back on more solid ground, Dawid realizes that he's shaking and starting to drip with sweat. He has to fight to steer and the brakes are clearly not working properly.

His luck runs less than two kilometers farther on. The BTR rolls over a massive chuckhole, concealed by a thin layer of snow, and bounces about a foot in the air. Dieter and Thor are dumped off the rear deck- everyone else riding on top of the BTR just barely hangs on. Those inside the BTR are painfully jostled around. Dawid slams on the brakes and the BTR very slowly comes to a stop. Everyone is rattled, both physically and psychologically by the impact. Breaking the tension, Matias, who's probably younger even than Mariusz, starts laughing hysterically.

Dieter and Thor, meanwhile, are lying in the road about 30m behind the BTR, bruised and a bit disoriented by the fall and jarring impact of landing on the snow-encrusted asphalt.

You all realize that continuing the journey at night is a very risky proposition. The close call on the bridge and the recent major jolt have you reconsidering your options.

From your current position, there are several sites offering fairly a fairly decent RON position. It's closer to the site of your most recent exploits than you'd prefer, but it's unlikely that anyone would be able to sneak up on you. According to the intel you've gleaned from prisoners and deserters, the Black Army has very few (if any) remaining functional night vision devices. You doubt that the enemy could manage to get an MBT over the bridge you just crossed in the dark. In addition to the current tactical situation, most of you have been up since dawn and in near constant contact ever since then. You're all tired. In fact, most of you are close to exhausted (i.e. everyone but Vita, Monika, and their squadmates). This only adds to the chances of additional near-future road accidents. On the other hand, the BTR-70 is still running and no one was seriously hurt in the recent mishap. If you shut it down for the night, there are no assurances that it will start back up in the morning.


http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...6&mid=1294438094


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:05, Sat 08 Jan 2011.

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #612):

"Oh Jesus. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Kapitan, the brakes are for shit, and I can't tell perspective with these goggles for shit. I don't think it's safe to continue tonight. We made about five kilometres, not too bad but not far enough."

"I disagree Herr Bayer.  If we stop now they could easily catch us in the night on foot, plus we don't know if we'll even be able to get the BTR to move in the morning.  We should slow down some and maybe improvise straps for those on top, but we should not stop this close to the city."

OOC: As long a Tucker's Claymore wasn't used in the ambush...

BIC: "Use my Claymore if it wasn't used in the ambush.  It might slow them down some but, it's the only one!"

Fuck me was all Craig managed to utter as the BTR slammed upward. He somehow managed to grip both his hand hold and the light machine gun. He came down hard, the pain in his leg attested to that. Once the APC came to a rough halt Craig raised the harden steel face plate of his helmet and tried to catch what was being said through the hatch.

He quickly worked out it was pointless as the engines drowned out any noise. It was at this point he noticed there where a couple less people on the roof:

”You guys OK ?”

If no one need his help Craig continued to scan forward for any movement. He lowered the face shield on his helmet again, it shielded his face from most of the cold but the thin vision slit made the wind concentrate on his eyes making them water.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:14, Sun 09 Jan 2011.

Mariusz was lucky to avoid braining himself on one of the protrusions in the turret. He gathered his wits back together and tried the hatch of the turret in order to see if he could get his head out and take his bearings.

Thor held Mjollnir tightly against his fur and cloth padded body, rolling with the impact and hoping his half dozen layers of kevlar and natural fibres would insulate him from the worst of the fall. Keeping Mjollnir safe was of prime importance, even more so than his own physical well being.
"Skreyja burlufotr oskilgetinn av liket beiler!!!" Thor exploded verbally at the now stationary vehicle.
"Mjollnir kunne ha blitt sterkt skadd!"
It wasn't hard to tell he was "upset"....

Picking himself up from the snowy asphalt, he stalked purposefully to the right side hatch, reefed if open and stuck his head in. Steam could almost be seen shooting from his ears and nose
"Thor take Máni, Tyr, front," he growled, anger held in check.
"Run front. Lead way."

The gravity of the situation was serious. The importance of continuing to move was punctuated by Thor's next, completely unexpected actions - he unloaded and passed Mjollnir inside to Minh, followed soon after by all six brick like magazines. Never before had he allowed somebody to so much as touch the weapon.....
"Look after Mjollnir. No drop."

Almost in the blink of an eye, he had transformed from long range angel of death to short range combat monster complete with Tantal/BG-15 and NVGs...
Settling the vision equipment into place he crooked a finger at Mariusz and Tucker.
"Let go." Fifty pace front. Find safe path."

    Monika swallowed the last few crumbs from the bread that she had been savoring as she rode along.  The jarring BTR rattled her as much as anyone.  She called out in English, "Anyones hurt?"

    She realized that most of the others were operating on the wrong side of exhausted.  Monika could drive a wheeled vehicle, but she had never before driven a BTR.  Still, she spoke up, "I can helping drive."

Bayer looks across in the darkened interior of the BTR at Dawid and says, "Okay... well, it's alright really. As driver you're not fired yet."

Then after making sure everyone was ok, he turns around in his seat and says, "Sergeant Tucker, you have a tasking. I want two men out front on the road. Not too far ahead, but at a distance that they can warn us in time of any obstacles or hazards. You're to make sure they're relieved and switched off when needed, so nobody get's worn out. It's on your call."

He then turns back and says to Dawid, "Keep it slow. Slow as you need to. We'll be okay."

"OK boss.  I guess me and Thor will go out first and then I'll rotate out every 20 minutes or so to keep people fresh.  We got a decent amount so we're only out there like once every other hour or so."

Tucker goes and finds Thor and tries to explain to him what he wants to do.  "Thor!  Me and you have to walk point for the vehicle so we can keep putting distance between us!"

Dieter was rudely awakened from his daydream. Before he had a chance to react he was sprawled out in the dirty snow on the side of the road, looking like an undignified snow angel. As he raised himself up he shook his head to clear the temporary fug, and then turned to where the BTR had growled to a halt. "Gott-Allmächtiger! Welches Arschloch kann nicht richtig fahren? Deine Oma masturbiert im stehen!"  he bellowed, before brushing the snow and dirt off himself.

He walked back towards the BTR, doing a 360 degree turn and checking the surrounding area as he did so. Once he got there he was a bit more composed, and watched as Thor also picked himself up and went to the front, joined by Tucker. He guessed they were going to act as forward scouts to enable the BTR to keep moving, albeit slowly. He clambered back on top and found a new position, facing backwards to provide some level of rear security. As he did so he checked his radio to ensure that it hadn't been damaged in the fall, as well as checking his other gear. All the while he muttered to himself in German, ignoring any offers of assistance or sympathy.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #620):

"Ya, Kapitan. I will take it slow. I can continue for a while longer." He flipped up his goggles and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, and your mother, too. Keep it down!" he muttered in response to Thor's bellowing.

He then gratefully replied to Monika in Polish, "I understand and am thankful for your offer. When it's time to switch, I'll let you know."

Tuesday, October 24th, 2000
2200 hrs.
33F
light clouds; slight breeze from the west
Northern light industrial zone, East Bank Warsaw, Poland


With Thor and Tucker taking turns walking point, the party's ersatz bus continues north-northwest along the 61, roughly following the course of the Vistula. You've travelled several kilometers north of the Baron's northernmost permanent outpost and, thanks to the guides, avoided any more road hazzards. According to Vita and her squadmates, there's little to no chance of running into one of the Baron's routine patrols in this part of town. That is, unless he's actively pursuing you again.

After over three hours behind the wheel of the sluggish BTR, Dawid's eyes feel like they are burning and he's started to suffer from what a medical doctor would call an ocular migraine. Tucker, trudging through shallow snow without proper overshoes, is also suffering. His damp and cold feet are becoming more and more painful to walk on and the footing on the road is getting more and more dangerous as the day's snowmelt freezes into a thin layer of hard and slippery ice. Thor, with a nordic pedegree and a pair of decent overshoes, is in slightly better shape, but his NVGs will be calling it quits in about an hour or so.

Those riding on and inside the BTR aren't faring a whole lot better. It's really cold outside and the metal of the BTR's thinly armored hull accelerates the freezing process, making all those sitting on top of it miserable with bone-chilling cold. Those inside the BTR are doing a bit better, but it's no limosine. You're still not used to the pervasive reek and it's not much warmer inside than it is out.

Over half of the team's NVGs* have winked out as their batteries are drained of their last reserves of power. Only Dawid, Konrad, and Craig's NODs are still functioning, but they are all suffering from eye strain from prolonged use, hampering their owners' powers of observation. If the group is ambushed now, they will be in no shape to fight back.

You are at a crossroads. The road continues to follow the Vistula as it curves to the west. It also forks off to the north-northeast. Both roads take you out of the city's sprawl and into more rural areas.


Next Moves?


Updated Tac-map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...54,0.065875&z=15

Sorry guys. I'm using the "Short URL" function...

*Did someone claim Drew's NVG's?
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:43, Tue 11 Jan 2011.

Bayer looks at his map and measures a length of highway before saying quietly without looking up, "Alright... turn right here, northeast. We'll head down the Number 61. We'll try to go another eleven kilometers to Zegrze Poludniowe."

He explains, "There's a bridge there that the 10th needs to cross the Narew River. Getting there ahead of them to see if it's still standing could save them a lot of time. Eleven kilometers I'm estimating at two and half to three hours for us at foot speed."

"I know we're tired and I know the BTR won't last for long. But it'll be our goal. And either we'll make it... or not. Either way, we'll make due." Bayer adds.

Then before the BTR continues forward, Bayer reminds Tucker (more for his own peace of mind), "Sergeant. Make sure the scouts are relieved often." He then turns and says, "You too Dawid. We've got a couple co-drivers back there."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:30, Wed 12 Jan 2011.

Thor trudged onwards, only using his NVGs when it was absolutely necessary, occasionally relying on his small flashlight. Megingjord might have been of some use, but without Járngreipr and Mjollnir to mount it....
Eleven kilometres was a long way when added to the roughly ten they'd done since leaving Spider, and who really had an idea of what they'd done before that.
The lack of food, sleep and heavy loads was almost like being on selection again. Could it get any more fun?

Jeff takes a moment from his trancelike state to pipe up.  Quiet and clearly cold (as were they all) during the trip to this point, he suddenly seems much more energetic.  "Before we go I should radio ahead to the 10th to let them know our intentions.  I can do this now while you swap drivers and scouts if you want, or we can wait until we reach the bridge."