Keeping his hands off of his slung G36, Bayer holds one up towards Thor and the other towards Dawid and Jan.

To Thor he says first, "We're not going in that direction Thor. It's more than a matter of a bridge." Then reluctantly, he explains, "The Baron has an effective force in that area. I'm not letting us get drawn into a battle that's not our choosing in our current condition. The 10th got bloodied there already and they are going around... which is why we're going North to rendezvous with them at this side of the Narew where there is a bridge still standing."

He's about to say more, but instead of bothering to echo what Dawid about the other rivers they'd need to cross, he just says, "It's not happening. We are going North and that's the end of it. I don't want to hear any more on the matter."

Still holding up his hand in Dawid and Jan's direction, he looks over at them and says, "Easy... get that BTR unloaded, quietly." Then trying to find a middle ground, he says, "Dawid, keep up a watch but scale back the numbers to one man watching back down the road."

Finally dropping his hands to his sides, he gives an encouraging nod to Sawiki and Mariusz to continue negotiating.

Bayer then calls, "Sergeant Tucker, Dawid, Jan... on me, now."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:43, Thu 20 Jan 2011.

"Yes sir." He addressed everyone else. "Dieter, you are on back-trail watch. Everyone else, help unload. If you can't help, er, then stand around and look, well, non-threatening. Smoke 'em if you got 'em."

"Sprawiać przyjemność pomoc rozładowują teraz. Utrzymują wasze ręce od waszych broni."*

Lighting up himself, Dawid then turned and listened to Konrad, contributing his own thoughts.

*("Please help unload. Keep your hands off your weapons.")
This message was last edited by the player at 14:58, Thu 20 Jan 2011.

At the mention of cigarettes Jan took the opportunity to light one of his up.  He took a long drag before passing it to one of the people nearby and indicating that it should be passed round, letting those who wanted a nicotine hit take a drag.  He left them with it however at Konrad’s summons and walked across to join Konrad, Dawid and Tuck.  Joining them he lit a second cigarette and passed that round the huddle.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:34, Thu 20 Jan 2011.

Mariusz smiled more widly and said, "Don't worry about them, they're like a mini United Nations, sometimes things get lost in translation."

"I am Mariusz Tokarski," he said, "late partisan of the Solidarity Party and recently a scout for the Gora Kalwaria militia. We mean you no harm and are more than happy to trade with you. In fact, I'd like to give you this magazine of AK-74 ammunition as a gesture of good faith and by way of recompense for my friends startling you."

He smiled and slowly removed a magazine from his webbing, "This is yours whatever happens but you'll find we can pay much more if you are willing to help us solve our problems. We represent the best chance that this area has to rid themselves of the Black Baron's bloody rule. Already it's crumbling and I admire your stand at independence. As a part of the Gora Kalwaria militia we have destroyed the Baron's navy and gutted the cream of his Black Guard. Unfortunately, we're at the end of our resources and we're trying to link up with a unit that we can use to crush the Baron once and for all. To do that we need to get as much of our equipment as possible to them."

He grinned, "The better we can arm our allies the more of the Baron's scum they will slay, but for that to happen we need to get the kit there. With that in mind, I'm going to present you with a series of problems. The more of them you can help us with the more we'll pay and the more you will help free yourself of the yoke of tyranny for all time."

"Now, ideally we'd like to get the BTR across the river to aid our quest. If we can make it water worthy, how much would you take to let us cross the river under our own power? Failing that, would it be possible for you to ferry us further up the Narew? The nearer we can carry the equipment to our destination, the sooner we can destroy the. If that's not possible, do you have any means of land transportation available for us to trade for, we'd happily part with the BTR for something that could carry the gear. Anything would do from a vehicle to a cart we could pull or even bicycles or pack animals," Mariusz shrugged, "if you can't part with anything permenantly we'd be willing to rent means of transport, we could leave a deposit or even hostages as surety of their return."

"We're not looking for hand-outs," he concluded, "we'll pay for everything but look at it as a win-win situation, the more you can help us the more you'll be paid and the more chance you have of being free from the Baron and in Gora Kalwaria's good books, I've a feeling they'll be big players in any post-Baron alliance, although that may not matter to you."

"So what do you say, can we deal?"

Piotr waits patiently for the others to leave the vehicle before he exits himself. Stretching is legs to get the blood flowing he casually walks towards the right side of the vehicle, sniffing in the fresh air, enjoying the warm rays of the sun. There were times he'd never expected he'd ever enjoy the sun like this again. Unfortunately there was little time to enjoy it.

When the decision finally comes to unload the vehicle Piotr jumps back inside the vehicle and starts handing down equipment.

“Better put these goodies to the right of the vehicle, away from prying eyes” he voices when handing the first items down to Janek.

Tucker stepped over to where Konrad called for him, Jan, and Dawid away from the others so they could talk.

The crossing guard doesn't have much of a poker face. It's clear that he's not sure whether or not to believe the fairly expansive claims that the young Pole [Mariusz] is making, especially given the degree of disfunction the group he represents has displayed in the very little time the two parties have been "negotiating".

"You lot destroyed the Korsairs?"

He shakes his head in disbelief. Or is it admiration? No, it's probably doubt. Can you blame him?

"Look, the Baron is no friends of ours, and neither are his pirates. If you've fucked them up a little, more power to you.

"For the right price, we can get you across the river, and guarantee safe conduct to the Narew crossing north of Serock. We can take you by water or by land, depending on your preference. We might even be willing to trade a decent truck for that piece of shit BTR. We don't have the means to ferry it across. If you want to try to swim it, be my guest, but you'll still need to pay a transit fee to use our roads on the other side- if you don't drown. But this is becoming more complicated than a simple crossing fee. I'll have to talk to someone a little higher up before we can start discussing any anti-Baron alliances or anything like that.

"Now, before I cross back to talk to the rest of my people, let's hammer out as much of this as we can. You mentioned hostages. If we take you across the river, a couple of you are going to have to play hostages for a bit- just until you're safely through our territory. We can't just let a bunch of well armed folks such as yourselves mosey on through our town based solely on your good word. I'm sure you understand."

"Now, if that's acceptable to you, we can do a deal. What are you offering in trade for the crossing and safe passage out of town?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:46, Fri 21 Jan 2011.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #728):

Shrugging, Thor accepted Konrads decision. It may not be what he'd hoped for, but Haptabeiðir had spoken.
With a general plan in place, or at least the alternatives satisfactorily presented, he assisted, as Dawid had requested, in emptying the BTR of it's stores. With no expectation of a sudden move, he then busied himself with adjusting his webbing to cater for both Mjollnir and the new Gríðarvölr^* scrounging up a sling, or material suitable to make one for the smaller weapon.
It was Thor's intent to carry Mjollnir in his hands much of the time, Gríðarvölr usually slung and secured with cord across his back and only brought into use when absolutely required.
Ammunition pouches scrounged from recovered webbing were added to his own for the three spare AK magazines and two 40mm grenades he now carried. Three more RDG-5 hand grenades were taken from the stores to replace those he'd used over the prior few days.

"Any food?" he asked of those not busily working.
"Sunna, look wound? Look feet? Lot walk." He waved a hand towards everyone before pulling off his own boots and socks to let his feet bake in the warm sunlight, his back against a tyre and hands busy on the usual necessary personal maintenance tasks.

^* Tantal/BG-15
3 hand grenades drawn from stores as mentioned OOC a few days ago

While everyone is unloading the BTR and setting up a quick shop, Jeff chimes in "Shouldn't we have at least pulled off the main road?"  His rifle is slung and neck wrap lowered to expose his face.  Given his Russian outfit, he tries to do what he can to not cause tension with the Polish villagers, but Thor seemed to be causing enough troubles on his own.

He catches only bits and pieces of the Polish conversation going on, but figures it's time to barter.  "Please only give them enough to get us through.  The 10th needs what we have.  They can loot Warsaw all they want once the Baron's militia is defeated."

When given the opportunity, he approaches Jan "You were the one who took the firing pins from the AK's at the farm, right?  Please remember to give them  to one of the 10th's leaders when we reach their camp.  I can do it if you like, but I figured it would be a good token of trust for your unit.  I just hope your Russian is up to par."  This last line is delivered with a smile, something you can only see Jeff do rarely (unless called for).

His business with Jan concluded, Jeff wanders off a little and activates his radio.  "Salesman, Renegade. I need the new radio freq. for the recon unit, over."  After listening briefly to the reply you see him fiddle with the channel, and then speak in Russian into the headset.

"охотник-1 это призрак. Мы к вашим юг в 'Zegrze Poludniowe' я верю. Этот мост является, однако мы ведем переговоры с местными жителями, чтобы переправить через себя, а также обеспечить дальнейшую транспортировку. Я считаю, что они с лиц в настоящее время задержки вас. Надеюсь, мы достигнем соглашения в ближайшее время. Будьте готовы встретиться в ближайшие часы."

Matias had moved to help Piotr and Janek unload the BTR.  When the local negotiator mentioned 'hostages', he paused and looked up at the young man off in the distance.  His eyes were widened, and he swallowed nervously.  Clearly, he figured that he would be offered up as a hostage, and was not quite comfortable with the idea.

But that all took just a moment.  He focused back on the task at hand: unloading.  Trying to organize things together to ease the bargaining.

Dieter kept quiet during the mini-argument. This seemed to happen a lot with this team, especially when Thor got involved. However, he had witnessed first hand what happened when things got out control, and the memory of the dead American was still fresh in his mind.

He looked around at the desparate team that had banded together. An effective combat unit they might be, but that didn't stop them being a rag-tag bunch of misfits, loners and survivors. Some had a mission, others just wanted to be alive to see the sun rise tomorrow.

Hearing Dawid's eventual instruction, Dieter wandered away from the main party and set up an OP, keeping an eye on the direction they had travelled from.

Before the little command group split up out of its huddle Jan added a final comment.


Jan then moved off back to the BTR with a final comment.  “I’ll work out what we can offer for trade.”



“I still have them,” Jan replied, half pulling a small pouch from one of the pockets of his grenade vest to demonstrate that he had been lucky and not lost them when he had lost his original pack.  He turned to Konrad though before continuing.  “Capitaine.  Are you in agreement that we give these firing pins and the rifles we captured at the farm to the 10th?  It seems sensible to me.  Additionally there are the maps and codebooks that Alexei had.  I think that we should give them to the 10th as well.  Are you in agreement?”

Though Jan had fought alongside Jeff in a couple of firefights now, and wanted to trust the man, he was still instinctively cautious as he had only known the man for a few days and they were merely allies of convenience.   Jeff also had his own agenda and was following his CIA handler’s instructions, unlike the majority of the rest of them who were trying to help the local Poles against a local Robber Baron.  Jan therefore felt the need to confirm things with Konrad as the German Captain commanded this rag-tag outfit.

"Thankyou," Mariusz said, "that is very helpful, I'll relay it to my boss now."

Mariusz scurried back to the Kaptain and said, "Sir, they are willing to trade and they're willing to help us to a certain extent. To summarise, they are willing to take the party north, through and past Serock, to the crossing a couple of km north of there. That's the same crossing where the 10th TD's recon platoon is hung up. He's offering to take us by land or by river. He is also willing to trade a truck for the BTR, if you care to go by land. He seems willing to entertain the idea of some sort of anti-Baron alliance but we might want to delay negotiations until we can show teh force of the 10th. He needs a trade offer. He has also stated that the party must give up a couple of hostages to guarantee its good behavior during transit."

Mariusz concluded and said, "I suggest ammo and maybe something juicy as well as swapping the BTR. I'll volunteer as hostage but please don't leave me with Thor."

Following his very brief co-ord meeting, Bayer says openly for ease of passing on the information to everyone and keeping them informed of what was going to happen, "Jan, liaise with Sawiki and Mariusz and conclude the negotiation."

"Our aim is to cross here, without the BTR, and head north to Serlock to secure the bridge in advance of the 10th Division."

"We will trade with these people for passage further up the river, closer to Serlock, and if possible for a simpler form of transportation than the BTR, which won't make the journey back anyways. Either a truck, pack animals, or something of that nature."

"The team has been divided into three administrative squads for ease of organization and chain of command. It's temporary though, and will change upon our next planned offensive mission."

Dawid
Sutherland
Thor
Piotr
Matias
Woj

Tucker
Warren
Quyen
Dieter
Lech
Janek

Jan
Mariusz
Sawicki
Nowak
Teo
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Fri 21 Jan 2011.

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #740):

Bayer listens to Mariusz's summary and replies, "Ok. You and Sawiki talk to Jan and determine a fair payment - keeping the more suitable weaponry and munitions for the Tenth."

"We'll take the truck and they can do what they want with the BTR."

Bayer then looks around at the faces of the team, and agrees, "Hostages will be fine. How many do they want?"

He then gets back to Jan and answers, "Yes, those weapons are for the Tenth. Keep the intelligence items with you for now. We'll deal with them soon."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Fri 21 Jan 2011.

Mariusz nodded at the Kaptain's instructions and went up to Jan, "We're going to need fuel for the truck and some sort of food so we'll need to be generous. What do you reckon we can spare from the 10th? These guys are being helpful but they're wary of the arguments and will want decent payment. If we try to stiff them we could end up getting bit on the ass."

When Konrad ended the small group huddle and started shouting his orders Piotr handed down the rifle he was currently unloading and jumped down walking big steps for the Hauptmann, trying to get his attention.

“Captain, I require a second”

"Sure." Bayer replies.

OOC - This will have to be in English or German as Bayer doesn't speak Polish.

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #743):

He interjected, "Mariusz, as I mentioned before, don't forget the SPG-9 rounds and the SG-44 machinegun. We don't have a weapon for the one or ammunition for the other," Going further, he replied in general to the organisation.

Pointedly, he didn't say anything about Tuck's drawing of a weapon.

"Kapitan, I volunteer to stay here as a hostage. Should we wish to make better friends with these people, I will work on the BTR for them as well. Won't do us any good at the moment but maybe it'll buy us some good will. Sutherland should be well able to keep an eye on our section."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:25, Sat 22 Jan 2011.

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #743):

Monika dug into her backpack and pulled out a sealed bottle.  She offered it to Mariusz, saying quietly in Polish, "This is a sealed bottle of a hundred units of antibiotic tablets.  It should be worth a great deal to these people.  It is already worth a lot to me.  Do not trade this away for nothing."


Edit: Taken off of inventory
This message was last edited by the player at 11:39, Sat 22 Jan 2011.

Once the drama unfolding in front of him petters out Craig grabs one of the hand holds and lowers himself to the ground. He tries to favour his uninjured leg and takes his time getting off the APC. He then turns and takes down the RPK and its magazines, putting them with the other weapons.

He then lends a hand with the other stores as best as he can.

Mariusz nodded at Dawid's observatiions and then handled the bottle of medicine reverentially, "I've got no real idea of the value of these," he said, "Will you come with me when we make the trade? If I'm selling it short, tell me or just interrupt."

He began to assemble the equipment he would offer in trade.

Within moments of exposing his tortured feet to the air for the medic to inspect, Thor was snoring, exhaustion overtaking him. Months of hard living by himself, reliant on his skills to feed him and only his own back to carry everything he needed had demanded a great price from his body.
The last few days of short rations and minimal sleep, coupled with the massive weight he hauled was beginning to take it's toll - he'd need at least a few days of rest and good food very soon, or...

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #745):

OOC: Luckily Piotr is proficient enough in English.
Making sure his words would not be overheard Piotr voiced in broken English. His voice serious and strong but at the same time kind and friendly as always.

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #749):

    Monika watched Thor walk over to where she was standing.  She saw him remove his footgear and promptly go to sleep.  He didn't say anything to her, not that she would have understood him if he had.  She knelt down to see what Thor must have wanted her to see.

    She stood, taking her medical bad from her shoulder.  "You go on and do the negotiations, Mariusz.  It looks as if I have a patient."