18:04, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 4,9 using D6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,(6+3)9.  Notice roll .

(Nice)

Between the eery beams of sunlight on the one hand and the flickering light from his torch, Arthur is able to notice a few things.

There are dark stains on the altar stone and, getting closer, the smell of blood seems to be concentrated there.
Crudely carved into the side of the alter and into the mural of Jesus is the same symbol: a straight line, in it's middle a triangle pointing to the right.
Tracing the carving with your finger tips gives you a tingling sensation. Similar to the jolt you had felt before, but much weaker.

On the far end of the wall, you see seemingly random greek letters set into another faded mural. They look familiar, but you can't place them.

Arthur quickly pulled out his note book and pencil and sketched them as best he could in the torch light.

He qui ly put his things away gave the room one more check and headed back to the surface

The slippery stairwell is the hardest to master on the way back up. For a moment Arthur hesitates before settling on the corridor to his right.

Just as he was about to enter the sunlight in the roofless main hall, he heard something: Gregorian chants. Just for a second, but distincive.
He turned around and stumbles the last few stairs up backward. He stumbled and fell, cracking his head hard. He reached up, searching for the wound... but his eyes fluttered and then everything went black.

---

"I think he's coming around."
"Bloody fool. Should've just cracked his fucking skull open, be the end of it."
"Come now, Halloway, the lad's fine."

Halloway scoffed at that.

Water splashed in Arthur's face, waking him up. "Now what the fuck did you do traipsing around in the ruins, laddie? Trying to get yourself killed?"

Arthur shook his head to clear it then took a sip of water.

"sorry after I left you earlier I heard what I thought was a voice so went to investigate in case it was someone wounded but had been missed in all the chaos. I found that staircase and seeing no one above ground wrnt down to look. There was no one there so turned to one back. The stairs were slippery and I must have missed my footing at the top"

"Hearing voices, eh? Had too much of a drink, lately? Or not enough?"

The other guy takes your hand and pulls you up to your feet. "The name's Laughry. Don't think we had a chance for proper introductions. You think you can get down by yourself?"

"We should take him to the Colonel." Halloway says, matter-of-factly, then spits on the floor.

Arthur ignored the surly on "thanks Arthur Randel. Yes I think I can make it back on my own sorry to have been a nussence but like you only trying to do my job trying to find and treat wounded"

With that he grabbed up his stuff said his goodbyes and made his way down as quickly and as carefully as he could before the other one made good his suggestion of taking him to the colonel

June 18th, 1944.

After Monte Cassino and Anzio (another 40,000 dead and wounded), the Allies had taken Rome. But the Germans, under Field Marshal Kesselring keep stubbornly defending every inch of Italian ground. They have consolidated their defenses on the Albert Line, named after Kesselring himself.

The British army is tasked to take the town of Perugia. Another fortress up on a hill, with Germans dug in and waiting to bleed the allied armies dry.

You and your comrades have been tasked to prepare the field hospital. And, quietly, a few sites have been selected where the bodies of the fallen should be buried.

Arthur took it upon himself to select the best building available to be turned into a field hospital.

Since lt. Grafton had been wounded Arthur had kind of fallen into the roll of head surgeon purely on his ability to heal most wounds and some said with his skills he could bring back the dead if he'd tried.

Typical Tommy bluster but the facts were those Arthur tended seemed to survive.

So he busied himself sorting out wards, surgical rooms and morgue within an abandoned building.

He checked the supplies even though they'd been checked.

He briefed the orderlies and got them to promise not to be heroic on the field while gathering up the wounded.

He spent time with the consensus objectors who'd signed up as medics, he had nothi g against them unlike some of the men who thought them cowards for not fighting but Arthur actually admired them for their convictions and still go to war to help the wounded.

It also helped moral seeing him with them made the soldiers think twice especially as one of the might be dragging their broken body across a battle field under fire in the next few days.

Finally satisfied Arthur found a few minutes of peace to drink a cup of tea and look at the sketches he'd made from the under ground alter

You turn the sketches around, looking at them form all angles, but they don're reveal your secrets to you. As the light fades, you shut your notebook and look across the valley, towards the city of Perugia and the hills surrounding it. Home to abbeys, churches, castles. No doubt the Germans will use them as they used Monte Cassino.

But there's more routes to take. It is a strong defensive position, sure, but no Anzio, no Monte Cassino. Here, the artillery should have more effect when it starts in... you check your watch... in about 30 minutes. The Germans will not get any sleep tonight.

Your mind drifts towards the many civilians. Many will have fled, but there are bound to be a few stubborn ones holed up in their homes. Wel, stubborn, and those unable to move.

You see something, out of the corner of your eyes. A blue-tinted glimmer of light. Like an aurora borealis, seemingly starting at the old templar's abbey.

Arthur slowly put his book away still looking in the direction of the old Abbey. In the heat of the battle he could have persuaded himself he'd imagined the blue light but now in the still of a relatively quiet night he was certain it was real.

Gathering his equipment he slowly made his way out of camp towards the old Abbey to see what it actually was

(Hmmm.. Athletics to walk through the brush in the dark. I'm assuming you'll be taking a few short cuts, since the artillery bombardement will begin in a while and you probably don't want to be caught out in the open.)

13:09, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 9,4 using D6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+3)9,4.  Athletics.

It's a very nice valley and a fine evening for a walk. The moon is out and serves as enough lumination for you to find your way. You don't know much about auroras, but you're pretty sure they're not supposed to appear that far to the South, not should they just stay in place as if they were anchored.

It takes you - maybe  - 15 minutes to arrive at the fortified church of San Bevignate. It's too far advanced to be part of the Albert line... but something is going on there.


You see movement at the door and you drop flat to the ground. There's a soldier standing guard, just inside the doorframe, peaking out. A small orange dot appears in the darkness. He's having a smoke.

Arthur kept his head down and hugged the ground until the soldier had finished his smoke and he heard the door close again as the man went back in.

He realised he'd been holding his breath and slowly let it out.

He tried to remember this mornings breifing to see if he could remember if there were supposed to be friendly units up in the area of the abbey.

Just in case he drew his pistol and circled the building to approach it quietly from the darkened side so he could use the shadow it cast in the moonlight as cover

(Hmmm... Smarts to remember, Stealth to sneak around)

20:45, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 4,3 using D6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,3.  Stealth.

20:45, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 4,3 using D8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,3.  Smarts

(The Artillery barrage should start in about 10 minutes and you think, *you think* that none of the fire zones should be centered here. Getting caught out in the open would be bad.)

Arthur got up and circled around. Behind the church is an empty truck and two motor cylces. You take a quick look. The back platform reeks of sweat, blood and urine. Nobody's around, but there's another door, slightly ajar, that leads into the church.

Arthur he ked his watch 10 minutes he waited and watched the door checking his watch every now and then.

As it ticked down to the last 30 seconds he started counting down under his breath to 30, 29, 28.....10, 9, 8....je got to his feet revolver in hand he crouched and readied himself to run to the Abbey Wall and the half open door .......5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as his watch hit the final second he held his breath and waited for the first shells to start falling before he ran towards the old stone building

From here, the barrage started with a series of quiet *wumph*, the clattering of the cannon dampened by the distance and the enclosures. Them the whistling of the shells through the air and then... they hit a wall in the air. Many explosed right there, others slid down this invisible wall, detonating on the way down or once they hit the ground. The noise was deafening, more than muffling Arthur's steps.

Peaking through the gap between the two wings of the door, Arthur saw a German soldier, an MP40 raised and aimed at something to the right of Arthur, closer to the back of the building. The noise around Arthur was maddening. The explosions on the one hand, but inside, there was screaming and crying and... singing?

Arthur gauged whether he could make it through the door behind the soldier and give him a good clout with his revolver and knock him out.

The screams were what moved him to action he quickly stepped inside and bought his revolver up and down in an arc

(I'll need a little more from you here - what actions are you taking? And feel free to add the appropriate rolls)

Arthur crouched with his gun out and slowly pushed the door open far enough to slip in.

Once inside he kept crouched and hugged the wall until he was as close as he could get behind the soldier while staying in the shadows.

He held his breath and waited for the height of the next bombardment then stepped out of the shadows and swung his revolver in an arc across the back of the solders neck hoping to knock him out.

Ooc
14:29, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 2,1 using D4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,1.  Melee attack.

14:29, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 10,1 using D6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+4)10,1.  Stealth.

14:31, Today: Arthur Randel rolled 1,1 using D4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1.  Spend a bennie fight re roll

That didn't work out too well

(Take the Bennie back, because you, sir, hve got The Drop on the poor guy.)
18:11, Today: Warmaster, on behalf of Arthur Randel, rolled 10 using 2d4+4, rerolling max with rolls of (4+1)5,1.  Damage roll.



As Arthur brought the revolver down, the soldier half-turned and the barrel of the gun crashed into the man's temple. He noticed SS insignia on the man's collar. Interesting. He didn't remember anything about SS being stationed here.

The barrage covered the little scuffle nicely, giving him an extra second. There was the rest of the squad, spread throughout the church, but none was looking in Arthur's direction. To the left, at the altar stood a man with the back to Arthur, chanting over a corpse on the altar, blood dripping down on the floor. Next two the altar stood two SS-men, holding between them a young woman, screaming and trying to get away from them. And to his right was another small group of women and children, cowering against the wall, apparently the ones kept under guard.


(You got one more round to act by yourself and then we draw for initiative

SS: 18:28, Today: Warmaster drew the single card: 6D using the Deadlands system.
)

Arthur quickly checks the unconscious man and retrieved a grenade from his belt he also grabbed the man's gun.

As the bombs dropped he rolled the grenade across the stone floor towards the middle of the Abbey away from the alter and the hostages and waited for it to go off