After the briefing came to a close, Yelena and her spotter, Tasha, talked about their plans. It was a brief discussion, but Yelena always spoke a bit with her spotter to make sure they were on the same page.

After that, they were off to kill fascists. Yelena was good about tucking herself into small, well concealed areas and patiently waiting for an opportunity.

(OOC: 6 total successes on the spotting rolls.

Rank rolls (in order) are 2D, AS, 3D, 7C, 8C, BJ!

Shooting rolls are 6, 10, 6, 5, 3, 9.

Note that I added one to the rolls for Trademark Weapon, not that it seemed to matter.

For shooting, I expect Yelena should have a scope, Marksman, the ability to Aim, and The Drop. If she's firing from extreme range (400 yards or so) all the penalties neatly cancel out, and the two raises are against the AS and BJ cards (hopefully those are high ranking officers!).

If she manages to get into only long range (96 yards?) then she can aim for the head and with her scope and Marksman, the penalties are again all neatly cancelled out. The Drop would add an additional +4 to hit on top of the rolls already made, though aiming for the part of the head not covered by the helmet does provide an additional -1.

05:07, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 9,5 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 6.

05:07, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 3,2 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 5.

05:06, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 5,5 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 4.

05:06, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 6,3 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 3.

05:06, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 10,2 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 2.

05:06, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 6,5 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 1.

05:05, Today: Yelena Malkin drew the 6 cards: 2D, AS, 3D, 7C, 8C, BJ! using a deck of 54 cards.  Ranks (6 successes).

05:04, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 6,7 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5.  Notice 5.

05:04, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 5,5 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3.  Notice 4.

05:04, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 5,6 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 3,4.  Notice 3.

05:04, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 6,11 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 4,(6+3)9.  Notice 2.

05:04, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 5,7 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 3,5.  Notice 1.)
This message was lightly edited by the player at 12:25, Wed 01 July 2020.

(Alright. Clubs are extreme range, Diamonds long, Hearts medium, Spades short. Joker... is nice.

I'll let you write up the hits first, then we'll get to the Joker. Ties neatly into what I had planned. :-)
Roll for damage, too - anything above 10 is a kill shot, anything below is a wound. Six or Less is, well, nothing.

You manage to identify a Private at long range, a Colonel at Short range, another private at long range and two NCOs at extreme range. There's no further complication with them, the distance is already the complication if you will.

Yelena and her spotter were collected by two other sniper/spotter pairings as they sought to create a deadly crossfire on one of the streets. Their first business was to get a good vantage point. These were often already occupied by their opposite numbers, though the number of German snipers was dwindling.

Yelena and Tasha patiently and quietly sneaked close to the six-story building that was her ultimate goal. Fortunately, there was no shortage of ruins that she could use for cover, and her white and gray camouflage suit allowed her to blend into the dirty snow and concrete. Once situated about 80 meters from the building, Yelena nodded to her spotter. Tasha had a nice little piece of mirror that she had rigged up to be able to poke it up just over the edge of the rubble. Sure enough, a shot rang out from one of the windows of the building they were looking to take. Yelena had already been scanning the building, and the shot briefly lit her target. After taking a moment to zero in on her target, Yelena put a bullet neatly through the head of the man in the window.

As soon as she made her shot, she ducked back down behind the rubble again. Two shots slammed into the concrete nearby. However, they were quickly followed by a pair of sniper shots from her two fellow Soviet snipers. Silence followed.

The three moved into the building they hoped was now clear. Cautiously they moved into the structure and cleared it room by room. Two more enemy soldiers fell to Yelena's comrades before she set up. They settled in and waited.

After nearly an hour had passed, the snipers were all alerted to a small convoy approaching from behind a building on the other side of the street. Yelena thought this might be a big fish, and she was right. She couldn't see the vehicle, but a small gap between buildings allowed her to see men moving through the snow. She waited for some of the soldiers to move through before she saw the big fish. He tried to hide it well, but it was definitely an officer. She again took aim, exhaled, aimed for his head, and smiled as his head exploded.

A flurry of movement in the wake of the Colonel's death opened up a few more targets that her comrades took out. Yelena was already on her way out - that particular strike would shake the hornets nest. The Nazi numbers were dwindling but still substantial. And they held many of the structures in the city, and would again hold the one from which Yelena killed the Colonel. Probably within in the hour.

Before they could leave, Yelena paused before stepping into the doorway and had her spotter move a piece of clothing about a meter inside the doorway. The ruse worked again, and Yelena slipped over to a ground level window and took another shot. This one again nicely blowing a large hole in the soldier's head.

With their retreat route relatively clear, the sniper trio and their spotters quickly beat a retreat. Yelena was the first to make it back to safety and slid down behind an abandoned half-track. She popped out to cover the retreat of her comrades and saw they were being pinned down by a pair of men that had set up a portable machine gun. They were hundreds of meters from where Yelena was, but she could still hit them with a good shot. She waited for the wind to settle, exhaled slowly, and hoped she hit.

The first bullet that went flying ripped nicely through the sergeant's upper chest. He wouldn't be getting up from that. Ever. This stopped the gun from firing, and without a partner, the other German grabbed the gun and made to change positions.

Yelena had one more shot before he disappeared, but it went wide of the mark. A wasted bullet. She would hear about that later, for certain. It did, at least, hurry the man away and her comrades could safely withdraw.

(OOC: 21 damage on the first private (headshot and drop). 26 damage to the Colonel (headshot + drop + Raise), 18 damage to the second private (headshot and drop), 19 damage to the NCO (drop only, no headshot at extreme range), and fifth shot is a miss. But it was very close!

All damages are AP2.

10:40, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 19 using 2d8+5, rerolling max with rolls of (8+1)9,5.  Damage 4.

10:39, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 18 using 2d8+9, rerolling max with rolls of 3,6.  Damage 3.

10:39, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 26 using 2d8+9+d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+3)11,5,1.  Damage 2.

10:39, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 21 using 2d8+9, rerolling max with rolls of 6,6.  Damage 1.)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Thu 02 July 2020.

They were almost back to friendly lines - whatever that meant in this place, where the Red Army might hold the second story of a building while the Fascists held the ground floor - when Yelena spotted a little girl out in the street, maybe 8 years old. She was frightfully thin, and covered in multiple layers, stumbling through the rubble. When she saw Yelena and Tasha, she stopped, her eyes wide.

Yelena swore under her breath as she saw the child. The girl looked shell-shocked and out of place. Yelena looked about to see if the coast was clear and looked over at Tasha. "Stay here, behind cover." The blonde sniper then sprinted over to try get the kid out of the street and back toward safety. At this point, it was only her movement that could keep Yelena safe should there be Germans about.

(OOC: In case a Notice is needed:

14:41, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 6,7 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5.  Notice.

That will be sufficient to trigger Danger Sense even against an enemy sniper.)

Tasha nodded, a worried look on her face.

Yelena sprinted over, her  rifle bouncing against her back in the rhythm of the tick-tock sound of the relentless Stalingrad...Massengrab record. From somewhere, the icy wind carried a few tunes of a German Christmas carol - idly, she recognized Silent Night, Holy Night - as she reached the girl.

The girl turned to her, her face all white. It was obivous that she had been crying, hard, and not too long ago.

Yelena hugged the girl and then found a niche within the rubble where they could be safe. Motherly instinct made Yelena want to comfort the child, but this wasn't a great place to do so. She spoke quietly to the girl once they were down in a safe spot within the rubble. "Hey, you're going to be okay. I'll get you to safety. Just stay right here for now, alright? And keep quiet." Yelena put a finger to her lips.

The sniper's ears picked up the sound of music in German. Stille Nacht was pervasive enough that even Yelena recognized it. It was difficult to place exactly where the music originated. Yelena pulled out her field glasses to see if she could determine where the celebration was happening.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Wed 08 July 2020.

The girl watched Yelena looking through the field glasses.

There was nothing but night and darkness out there. Maybe a glimmer here and there, a reflection of a fireplace or a flashlight bouncing off a broken piece of glass. She scanned up higher and she saw something peculiar - an unbroken window. How it had survived the bombings, the artillery, the... everything, was beyond anyone's guess.

Then her instincts screamed at her and she dropped to the ground. A split second later a bullet passed through the air where her head had been a moment ago.

Yelena glanced at the girl to see if she was alright. The little thing had curled into a ball, trying to melt into the wall behind her.
Fresh tears were running down her face and she whispered "The monster ate my brother."

Yelena also made herself as small as she could. Yelena took a deep breath when she realized how close she'd been to being on the wrong end of a bullet. She didn't hold out hope that she'd actually survive the entire war, but she certainly couldn't kill fascists while dead or wounded.

The words of the child drew Yelena's attention from the sniper's gratitude at still being alive. There were a lot of monsters in these parts, but they usually wore grey and shot people. She'd never heard of Axis soldiers eating people. Although at this point they might be hungry enough to do so. "Monster? Tell me about this monster."

Darkness and size (or lack thereof) were now two of Yelena's best friends.

"It has big teeth and grey fur and it. ate. him. And I think it wanted to eat me to.

Another bullet struck the wall above's the girl's head, raining down plaster on her. The bullet had hit maybe 10cms above her. Might have been a miss on purpose. The bastard was teasing her.

Yelena realzed they were out of time. She picked up a small bit of the rubble and squeezed it in her hand. The sniper tossed it up and opposite the way she and the child needed to retreat. As it was hopefully catching the eye of whomever had shot at the pair, Yelena hustled the duo out of the rubble toward a wall that was still at least partly standing. From there, she hoped the pair could get back to 'friendly territory'.

The child tripped and Yelena pulled her up, carrying her. She weighed practically nothing.
"The monster..." she breathed into Yelena's ear. And then there was a piercing scream of terror.

Tasha!

Yelena turns and stumbles, falling down backwards. Tasha had her back to Yelena and screamed at the top of her lungs. Before her stood a huge creature, covered in grey fur, two black eyes reflecting what little light there was. And she saw teeth. So many teeth.

It brought down its jaws on Tasha's shoulder, biting down hard and the Russian woman went down, her screams turning into gurgling wimpers.
"Run, run, it will eat us, too!" The little girls was frantically kicking her legs, trying to get out of the hold Yelena still had her in.

Yelena swore under her breath again. The little girl rightfully wanted to get away, and Yelena pointed her in the right direction so the child's pumping legs would take her toward friendlies.

Yelena didn't really want to leave her comrade behind, however. She slipped her rifle off her shoulder, quickly took aim, and fired at the creature. She hoped well-placed bullets would be effective.

OOC: As a reminder, her sixth shot was a 9.

 05:07, Today: Yelena Malkin rolled 9,5 using d10+1,d6+1.  Shooting 6.

The bullets pierced the thing just above his gaping maw and it flew backwards. The only thing Yelena hears are Tasha's whimpers and her own heart beating in her ears.

Yelena rushed forward. She put two more bullets in the thing for good measure, then dropped down by Tasha. She urgently whispered. "Tasha! Stay with me. I'll get you to the medics."

OOC: Presuming the thing stays dead, Yelena will stow her gun again and work at getting Tasha back to safety.

Yelena lifted Tasha up on her shoulder, glancing back at the thing. In the pale moonlight, it was hard to tell, but she felt no inclination to check further on the beast. As quickly as she could, she carried Tasha through the ruins, hoping that the enemy sniper whad moved on to other prey.

Tasha groaned and whimpered with every heay step Yelena made.
Yelena leaned against a wall, catching her breath. "Leave me..." Tasha managed.

In response, Yelena pushed herself away from the wall and turned a corner - and there was the monster. Its face was a bloodied ruin, half of it missing, but there it was, not 10 feet away, hissing a challenge at the Russian sniper. Yelena stumbled back as the thing crouched, ready to pounce - then a shot rang out, the sound distinctive against the monotone Stalingrad....Massengrad message.

The shot took off the other half of the creature's head and it fell to the ground again.

Yelena looked into the direction of where the shot must have came from and saw the silouette of a German sniper on the second floor of a building, the walls taken out from some artillery hit. He had his rifle trained on Yelena, then lifted his cap in an awkward salute and melted into the darkness behind him.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 18:37, Fri 10 July 2020.

As Tasha made her noises about being left, Yelena gave the other woman little comfort. Just a quick denial. "No." And brief admonishment. "And be quiet."

It had already been one hell of a day. Yelena always assumed when she woke that she might never wake again. That was life in the Red Army. Though she'd generally assumed she'd go to either a bullet or explosive of some variety. Not to a...furry creature out of a fairy tale.

She swore when she saw the monster again. Her first shot had hit it in the head. With a sniper rifle bullet. The other two should have finished the job. And yet here it was. But before she could even drop Tasha and defend the pair, someone else finished the job Yelena had started.

As she saw the source of the shot, Yelena used her right forefinger to push the helmet on her head up a centimeter. Silent salute of appreciation for her savior. She mouthed Danke schoen while he still had his scope on her.

After taking a deep breath and another look at the carcass, Yelena finally retreated back toward friendlies. By this time she was pretty thoroughly shaken. Hopefully four dead fascists would still earn her a little bit of vodka.

December 26th. A datscha outside of Stalingrad.

Yelena was tired. She hadn't really slept in... two days, she thought. It was hard to say. She hadn't been allowed to. They'd let her nod off and then jerk her awake again, just as she had drifted into deep sleep.
They wouldn't let her have it, but wake her up again with a bucket of ice-cold water.

Tasha had been taken to the field hospital and Yelena had been too shaken to come up with a story. So she told the truth. An hour later, NKVD had come and dragged her her.
They slapped her around, too, just for good measure.

"You are a coward, Malkin!" the NKVD sergeant spat at her. "And worse, your are sowing fear into the heart of your comrades! Are you a whore for the fascists, HUH?"
Another hard slap to her face.

Yelena 'awoke' with a start. She now always seemed to be somewhere in that twilight haze between sleep and wakefulness. The blonde was glad there wasn't a mirror around as she probably looked dreadful. But that was life in the Red Army.

She spat some blood onto the floor, then calmly responded to the question. "No, comrade. I live only to kill fascists. The only thrill they give me is when their beady little eyes are in my cross-hairs. They may hear the report of my rifle before they die, but they all die the same. Quietly and with an extra hole in their head."

She took a moment to lick at the water. The nice thing about being awakened by ice water is that you could kind of quench your thirst now and then. "How is anyone afraid? It's just a fanciful story from a sniper who was out too late, right? At least that's the easy way to spin it. It was late at night, Malkin was tired from killing fascists and dragging her wounded spotter all the way back to the medics..."

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and then sat back, blinking rapidly for a moment. "Now, can I please go kill fascists again, comrade? I am good at my job. I've no interest in sowing fear among my countrymen."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:43, Fri 10 July 2020.

The NKVD officer raised his hand again.

"That will be enough, Kapitan." Yelena was disoriented enough to be unable to place the voice.
Your tormentor snapped to attention, saluted and left the room. As did the two sergeants.

The new man walked into the light and set down across from Yelena, not saying anything. He was neatly shaved, the head cropped maybe a bit too short. He reached into his uniform jacket - designating the man as a major - and pulled out a flask, offering it to Yelena. Vodka. The good stuff.

"Comrade Malkin, I admire your spirit. A lot of people would have renounced what they saw. Or they would have begged. Not you. You know that you may be sent to a penal battaillion clearing mine fields, yes?"
He tilted his head, then slowly wagged his head as if weighing his thoughts.

"I believe you do know that, but wouldn't even blink if on the other side of that mine field the Hitlerites were waiting."

He shook his head. "I am Major Porozhnyak. You can go through the mindfields or you can join my regiment. But I will need your decision now."

Yelena tried a close-lipped smile, but it was rather weak. "Yes, comrade. I know that I may be sent anywhere. If clearing fascist mines is what I am asked to do, I would do it."

She blinked. "However, you don't even need to tell me what your regiment does for me to know that it's better than that alternative. I accept your offer, Major Porozhnyak."

She accepted the vodka and took a swig, sighing as she felt its pleasant warmth.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:39, Fri 10 July 2020.

Porozhnyak nodded, just once.
"Good. You will receive a clean uniform and food. Rest a little. Tomorrow, we go to regimental headquarters. Anybody asks you, you are now a proud member of the Red Army Choir, thanks to your uncle pulling some strings."

He stood up and saluted. "Welcome to B company of the 1st BPO Regiment... Eyfreytor Malkin."

It took significant effort for Yelena to not fall asleep as her new CO welcomed her. She did truly smile at the mention of food and sleep, which would both be very welcome. ”The choir, yes sir. I imagine recruiting sopranos is difficult in the Red Army.”

Yelena stood on wobbly legs and had to steady herself using the back of the chair before returning the salute. ”Thank you, sir. I’m glad to be part of the BPO Regiment.” Not that she knew what BPO was, but it wasn’t mine clearing.

((Ending this scene, I'll leave the thread open in case you want to add more background or some "fan-fiction" to round out your back story. You can add anything between now (January 1943) and the start of the actual mission.))

Yelena had gotten cleaned up from her ordeal and met with some of the senior members of the BPO. Conversations often went something like this.

“What is your current rank and role?”

“Efreytor, sniper. I shoot fascists in the head.” Of course that promotion had just come, but whatever.

“What, uh, skills do you have besides that?”

“I am good at finding hiding places and remaining camouflaged. I have a great deal of patience. I usually do not take stupid risks and get my comrades killed. I am also very good at seeing things others do not.” Better than her spotters, in many cases.

After a pause, she added the obvious. “So if I’m not shooting fascists in the head, I could make a good scout for the Red Army.”

“Well, you’re still in the Red Army, but not exactly.”

Yelena raised her eyebrows and looked about to cry.

Placating hand gestures attempted to calm the young woman. “Don’t worry, you still get to shoot fascists.”

Yelena released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“But you might be shooting…special fascists.”

The blonde smiled at that. So long as she got to shoot the fascists, special or no. “If I might run into special fascists in the future, can I at least have a bayonet?”

*chuckling* “Sure, we’ll get you a bayonet.”

---

Yelena had indeed been allowed to continue shooting fascists. They even let her act as normal sniper now and then, which earned her a few medals and was a good excuse for her promotion to Junior Sergeant. But she was no longer attached to the 65th Army, at least not in the way she used to be attached to it. Instead she did scouting, infiltration, wetwork, and had to sing in the fucking choir.

Her new assignment at least varied the ways in which she was allowed to kill fascists. It was just that she was specifically supposed to target ‘special fascists’. And she had to learn how to sing as ‘cover’. After a few fits and starts, she leaned into the singing and got to the point where she was okay. She actually got quite good at the State Anthem of the Soviet Union. On a few occasions, members of her new regiment even caught Yelena humming or singing in bed on occasion. Lucky for them, they weren’t fascists, so they survived the encounter.

As for her work with the BPO, she learned a whole new list of important targets. Topping that list were, of course, Blood Mages. Though anything they created and other monsters were also specific targets of hers. Sneaking behind enemy lines to release thralls was also part of more than one of her missions. Yelena made new friends, of course, as the Byuro Paranormalnih Otnoshenii Sovetskogo Soyuza wasn’t exactly a vast organization. Hundreds, certainly, but few enough that she quickly knew almost everyone involved in the BPO.

Naturally, there were a few perks to being in one of the elite units. Full rations and a reasonable amount of vodka were two of those. Yelena filled out a little and looked the way a young woman ought to look by the time 1944 started (rather than the tiny, skeletal sniper she’d been at Stalingrad). She also had seen her fair share of weird. Luckily it was often at a distance of about 300 meters. Most things weren’t frightening from that range, though she did have one notable run-in with a monster similar to the one in Stalingrad. She was well behind enemy lines on a recon mission where she was also allowed to hit high value targets. As she lined up a shot against one of the mages of the SS, her scope was filled with angry grey fur. It was only through good fortune and being part of a sniper team that she was able to survive.

First of all, the bayonet she had demanded saved her life. If not for that, she would have been shredded in half a second. Still, it had felt like the creature’s first successful swipe ripped half of Yelena’s face off. Shortly thereafter, the creature exploded in a red and grey shower as her friends took care of the creature. She stabbed it through both eyes and in the heart for good measure. Bloodied and badly shaken, it was one of the few times that Yelena had retreated from battle early. Given her status, she wasn’t shot by the NKVD for doing so, which was nice. By the time she was done healing, the scars were more a badge of honor than anything that really marred her looks. But the three scars were obviously given to her by a creature rather than an Axis soldier. If anyone outside the BPO asked, they were from a bear.

As the Red Army continued to move west, Yelena’s confirmed kill count continued to climb. She achieved a double century well before the Battle of Berlin started, though specifics of many of those were classified. Still, she earned a reputation as one of the deadliest women in the Red Army. That, along with the scars, allowed the sniper freedom from the harassment that many of the other women were subjected to. That didn’t mean it didn’t happen, but it was relatively rare.

After the Battle of Kursk, Yalena was promoted to Junior Sergeant. This had been purportedly due to the number of kills she registered (and that helped) but had more to do with being able to put her in command of small units of soldiers that she would lead against some of the Nazi horrors. Her record as a unit leader included many victories (in terms of objectives) and many losses (in terms of men). This was relatively typical for successful commanders in the Red Army. There were more than a few occasions where non-BPO officers were under her command. They quickly learned to do as they were told if they wanted to survive.

Of course the horrors of war were nothing compared to what Yelena discovered in Poland. Treblinka first, though she wasn’t aware of the full extent of what had occurred there. The Nazis had covered their tracks as they left. In January of 1945 she had been temporarily attached to the 60th Army as the first Ukranian Front swept west, and she saw the horrors in Auschwitz. Something inside of Yelena shattered at that point. A part of her humanity that would never return. During February, March, and the first part of April of 1945, the sniper had developed a sadistic side to her work. She wanted the enemy to feel pain and suffer before they were eventually put out of their misery. If she could take a shot that would kill someone in an hour rather than immediately, she would do so, and be glad for the extra suffering it had caused. Like much of the rest of the Red Army, no amount of vengeance seemed too great for Yelena.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Sun 12 July 2020.