Sounds good. Lets prepare our little convoy.

"OK," said Mac, who still looked half-asleep. "Where do you want the Iltis?"

Do we have a humvee? Let it go first. Then the Cougar and the jeep the last. We may change order of march at some point. Lets have a show for the time being.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 334):

"Yes, we have a Humvee, mine. It has an MG in a cupola. I think we should put a Canadian flag on the antenna, just to show who's side we're on. If the Iltis is in the rear, it can move independently if we need it.

"Let's mount up!"

"OK, I'm good with being tail-end Charlie today," said Mac and went off to get ready.

The Claymores were gathered and the little convoy formed up.

Soon they were heading north up 264 Street.

They passed through the intersection of Warner/No. 8 Road.

GM Note: Everyone in the first 2 vehicles (Humvee and Iltis) can make Awareness checks, normal difficulty. Roll 2d20, take the lowest, AWA is your TN.

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 337):

About a half-kilometre to the east, down Number 8 Road they could see the road was blocked off by several signs and barricades in day-go yellow and orange. The barricaded area stretched across the 2-lane road.

Wire fences, Farms and trees lined the cracked road. A heavily-rusted and stripped pickup truck sat just off the road in an overgrown field. From its looks it seemed like it had been sitting there for perhaps decades before the war. There were a few abandoned-looking houses and farm buildings in among the trees and cleared fields.

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 338):

Pointing at the signs, Keith called down from the cupola, "Kel, shouldn't we check out that roadblock? Something funny-looking about it, could be important. If not we've only wasted five minutes."

"Agreed, it doesn't quite look right.  Let's stand off with optics to start, get the sniper team and heavy weapons to watch, and drop some feet in to recce"

She makes sure she broadcasts that to all.

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg # 340):

From the Humvee parked in the intersection, Kel looked at the barricades down No. 8 Road using her binoculars.

The barricade appeared to be semi-permanent. Concrete traffic barriers (the long triangular kind) were set across the road. Concertina wire stretched from one side of the road to the other, between the farms from fenceline to fenceline, blocking pedestrian traffic from proceeding further east. Metal posts were set into concrete bases. The writing on the signs were too mostly difficult to read from where she was.

She could certainly make out warning signs for radiation (black trefoil set into yellow triangles) and the words:


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:20, Thu 20 Oct 2016.

"Says something about radiation hazard...."

She shakes her head, then looks around.

"Someone with optics.. get a look at those signs.  Mac?"

Uuh, ohh... Like we didn't have enough roentgens yet... Sweeping across the barricade through the lenses at eight power magnification also brought the attention of the international signage for radiation danger. That also brought memories of the previous battle in the North Shore.

Achtung! We may be facing another lost nuke somewhere.

Mac hauled out a sniper scope and zeroed in on the signs to see what they said (apart from the radiation warning, he could just about make that out with the Mark 1 eyeball!).

In reply to Christopher Little Hawk MacDonald (msg # 344):

He could read the smaller print a little better using the spotting scope.

There were warnings that beyond the markers was a nuclear detonation area. Map reference coordinates for the strike were given: 49.007138, -122.276149. This barrier marked the outer zone of contamination. The area inside was evacuated (or at least had once been evacuated) and further travel should be in sealed vehicles or in NBC suits.

The signs and metal poles were spotted with rust, as were the flanking rolls of steel razor wire. It was possible that these barriers had been here for a relatively long time. If this was an airburst any fallout contamination would be long gone. Depending on the size of the warhead and if it was a ground or subsurface burst some contamination might remain, especially in any blast crater(s) if present.

Thomas got out and scanned the surrounding area with his binoculars looking for anyone watching the convoy on either side of the road.

-

Mac relayed what he could make out over the radio net.

"OK, the markers are for a nuclear detonation at 49.007138, -122.276149, they are on the outer limits of the contaminated zone. This are was evacuated and they recommend closed vehicles or NBC suits if you want to enter. No dates, but it looks like it's been there a while. I reckon if it was an airburst the radiation should be gone, if detonation was on or under the ground there may still be some, particularly in any craters."

"Thanks Mac!  Ok, I think we can foot scout this area if Taras still wishes with little threat from radiation, maybe grab some information, see of others have been about."

Well, we are a recce party after all... Let's see what is going on here.

Andrews was unable to see anyone at all, the area appeared deserted.

The turned east onto No. 8/Warner Road, passing by a couple widely-spaced farm houses. They came to the barricades. At this point it was blocking the road between trees on the left and right. The concrete traffic barriers stretched from ditch to ditch with razor wire across from treeline to treeline. There was a wood fence overgrown with bushes and a hedge on the right. Beyond that was a farmhouse.

It looked like a few minutes of work would allow them to pull the concrete barriers aside enough to pass through. The rolls of razor wire could also be clipped and pulled back.

They could also see what appeared to be some kind of small radar dome on a tower peeking above the trees just off the road about two hundred metres on the right.

Mac pointed at the dome.

"Shall I run over and check that out?"

Abbot yelled down from the cuppola. "Sergeant,  That doesn't look good.  Do we have a geiger counter?"

Kelsey surveys the gear for their Geiger, not certain if they packed it for this trip.

"Looking for it... "

A radar of sorts? Maybe a satellite antenna? In any case well worth to get some intel in that structure...

Taras trained the robust Bell and Howell 8x40 extra wide angle binoculars on the object.

Mac got his kit ready, waiting for instructions.

In reply to Christopher Little Hawk MacDonald (msg # 355):

"I have one. Gimmie a sec."

He got it from his kit, switched it on. There were a few clicks after a few seconds. Wayne fiddled with it a bit to set a baseline. There were few places with no radiation and it always varied from place to place due to natural and artificial factors in the environment.

"Just got the normal reading. Not elevated. Of course you wouldn't find a hot spot until you were almost on it. Here."

Wayne handed the Geiger counter down to Mac.