We’re back in action, slowly. To save time introducing the community of Dobrodzien and B Troop of 1/116 ACR, I ran the following scene in a text thread on our Discord server. This post is a lightly-edited transcript of that playthrough.
The team’s first impression of Dobrodzien is that it’s… big. The town itself would not have been anything spectacular by prewar standards, but it appears to be supporting a population pretty close to what it had five years ago. Tomaszow and Radomsko each had a larger prewar population in absolute terms, but both cities also had huge swaths of devastated and abandoned ruins. Dobrodzien, at first glance, has surprisingly little war damage.
The town has defensive earthworks around it, with fighting positions for both infantry and vehicles built in at regular intervals. The road approaches have large timber and scrap iron obstacles, forcing anyone driving in or out to slow down to near walking speed. That’s no surprise, nor are the helmets visible in a number of those fighting positions. What is mildly unsettling is the pair of turrets tracking the team’s vehicles on the way in. One is attached to a LAV-25 like the two accompanying the expedition. The other, however, is identifiable to the military PCs (all but Miko and Octavia) as a LAV-75, the U.S. Army’s new high-tech light tank that entered service only a few years before the war.
The convoy is cleared through the town’s eastern defenses without incident. A few blocks in, First Sergeant Wheeler’s HMMWV pulls off into a complex whose sign identifies it as a furniture factory and distribution center. The buildings appear disused but undamaged.
Awaiting the PC in the complex’s graveled central yard is another HMMWV, idling with its headlights on. Two women are standing in front of it. One is fiftyish, pale and hunger-thin, wearing a trench coat over businesswear. The other looks to be in her mid-thirties, square-jawed with short dark hair, clad in American woodland camo BDUs with captain’s rank tabs. In the shadows behind them, the team can make out the shapes of at least a dozen soldiers and the silhouettes of M16s and American-pattern kevlar helmets.
Wheeler’s driver pulls to the side. Wheeler hops out and strides briskly to the two women, snapping a salute which the captain returns. There’s a quick exchange of dialogue which none of you can quite make out before Wheeler turns to you and motions for the team to shut down and dismount.
Erick: As is often the case, I am assuming that Erick is in the lead. He’ll pull the UAZ around to where he is directed, idling until the command comes to shut down. He’ll comply, making sure to exit the vehicle slowly without sudden jerky movements. That allows him a more languid stretch after time on the road. He’ll nod to Betsy and Luiz to follow suit.
Miko: Miko isn’t typically allowed to talk when it comes to newcomers, and he’s probably not exactly comfortable around so many people he doesn’t know, especially those who aren’t Polish and who are military. But hey, at least Americans are less likely to enslave them all, unlike the Russians. He’s probably just kinda keeping watch as best he can. Not exactly as likely to treat this as a safe zone as the Americans.
Pettimore: Pettimore will hopefully see a familiar face or two. Barring that, he’ll dismount and get his bearings.
As Pettimore moves to dismount, one of the shadowy figures of the security squad lets out a low whistle and takes a step forward. “Well, I’ll be goddamned a second time if it ain’t John Lee Pettimore. How you doin’ there, son? Didn’t think that devil-man you were running with would ever let you free.”
Ref private message to Pettimore: Pettimore can’t quite see the face but he knows the voice. Sergeant First Class Charles Stoops, who has to be in his late fifties at this point. He was an Army sniper at the tail end of Vietnam, then got out and (according to his own stories) was variously involved in moonshine, outlaw motorcycle gangs, corrupt local politics, and running a pawn shop and gun store on the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. He claims he was part of the “tourism board” that popularized the Tail of the Dragon. Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t bad enough to keep the Army from recalling him in early ’97 when shit started to get real.
Pettimore met him in ’98 when they were both assigned to stand up US XI Corps’ marksman school for training replacement scouts and snipers. Stoops is probably in the top ten mean sonsabitches that Pettimore’s ever met – not personally to Pettimore, just generally speaking. He’s an equal shooter, but probably just a hair behind Pettimore in fieldcraft.
For all that Stoops talked a big game about his interwar fuckery, he always claimed the biggest mistake he ever made was leaving the Army and the structure it gave him. If he’s here and not in charge, there’s a pretty good chance this is a combat unit with leadership that has a good hold on Stoops’ leash – and that occasionally turns him loose.
Pettimore: “Well, if that don’t beat all! Ain’t nobody managed to kill you yet, Charlie?” Pettimore will extend his hand.
Pettimore: (Also, trenchcoat and business wear? She couldn’t scream “spook” any louder if she had a megaphone.)
The guy who comes forward to clasp Pettimore’s hand looks to be in his fifties – picture Donald Sutherland of appropriate vintage, with a ponytail, a ghillie suit, a sniper rifle, and an Appalachian accent. The rifle is shifted to one-handed carry for the handshake. “Young man, God kept me pushing down grass on His good earth for thirty years to give me another chance to kill Commies for Mommy. I don’t intend to let that go to waste.” He grins and looks around, then, at an annoyed throat-clearing from the woman wearing captain’s bars, shoots Pettimore a we’ll talk look and steps back. “Ma’am.”
Pettimore: Pettimore will NOT sniper check the captain, but he will respectfully nod. “Captain. Staff Sergeant John Lee Pettimore.”
The woman’s eyes flick around the assembled group, checking rank tabs on those who are still in uniform [Erick, Cat, Betsy, Cowboy, and the attached NPCs – Pettimore, at this point, is usually in local civilian attire]. “Captain Molly Warren, Idaho National Guard.”
The older woman offers the group a nod. “Helena Janowska. I am chairwoman of town council.” Her English is precise but heavily accented. “Welcome to Dobrodzien. As you see, we prefer American guests to Russian squatters.” She gestures at the troops behind her. “I would very much like to speak to you tomorrow, with the rest of council too. For tonight, you are welcome here, but I understand if you may be more comfortable talking to fellow Americans. Captain?”
Warren takes over. “Here’s the deal, Staff Sergeant.” She seems to have locked into Pettimore as the ranking individual in the group. “We’ve been in the cold since July. We’ve picked up a few stragglers from the Fifth who managed to run thus far south and told us what happened at Kalisz. Glad to see a few more.” She’s obviously noticed the unit patches on a couple of the other PCs’ uniforms. “First Sergeant radioed ahead, told me how you met. Thanks for that. Saves us some time and awkwardness. For tonight, you can bivouac here. It’s not much but it’s a roof and walls. We can give you the full briefing tomorrow. For now, be aware: Dobrodzien is friendlies, and they’re under my unit’s protection. Do your people have any urgent medical needs, anything else that can’t wait until morning?”
Looking around, it’s easy to see why the locals are offering the team this place. It’s inside their perimeter, but the structures around it appear unoccupied, so it’s easy to keep an eye on the visitors and keep them contained if they do cause trouble. On the other hand, it’s also defensible enough that most people in the team’s position would feel relatively certain that an attempt to attack them in the middle of the night would be costly.
Pettimore: Pettimore will look to the team. “Appreciate the hospitality, Captain. We’d be honored. Also,” Pettimore glances at Charlie, “This man owes me a drink.”
Stoops looks to Warren before responding. “Is that were we left it? Yeah. Get your people settled, and I’ll come find you.”
Cowboy: Cowboy is going to follow Ellis and Pettimore’s lead for the night. She’s very glad to see Americans, but there’s so much shit going on.
Octavia: Octavia is in listening mode. She’s also glad to see Americans, but she’s not military. She’s also just wary of strangers generally at this point.
Pettimore: Out of curiosity, what is Comrade doing?
Comrade is sitting at Octavia’s heels and occasionally head-butting her hip for scritches.
Pettimore: Nice! Dogs know tension better than humans.
The offered facility is, as the sign out front indicated, a former furniture factory. There are three buildings – the factory itself, a warehouse, and a small two-story office complex – plus a covered area that once stored lumber and finishing chemicals. The place has been cleaned out, but it’s in good repair. There’s space to get all three four of the team’s active vehicles parked indoors on the factory floor. In the warehouse, some elevated platforms and eyebolts offer space to either spread out sleeping bags or rig hammocks.
The complex is surrounded by a 3-meter chain-link fence. There’s a main gate at the front, with smaller gate (wide enough for Industrial Light and Mayhem if it squeezes through) leading out to an unpaved alley at the back. There are a few gaps where someone could squeeze under or through.
All in all, the facility offers shelter, privacy, and space to take care of basic maintenance. Between the already-rigged sleeping area, a recently-constructed brick oven and grill outside the warehouse, some recent oil stains on the factory floor, the team’s overall impression is that they probably aren’t the first guests to be offered the use of this space.
There are a few old bullet holes on the street-side walls of the warehouse and the office building, but no signs of heavy combat (and no evidence of recently-cleaned bloodstains or anything of that nature).
Janowska, Warren, and the cav troopers withdraw once Pettimore makes it clear that the team doesn’t need any immediate assistance. Miko and Ellis do note an observation post across the street, about a hundred meters down toward the city center – it looks like two or three people are setting up shop in a storefront.
Miko: Miko being Miko, he’s probably gonna look around for anything useful. No one told him to be his innate pack rat, scavver self, but no one told him not to. Mostly he’s just trying to find a way to feel more comfortable, he is liable to not be happy sleeping with so many armed strangers nearby and watching “him.”
Cat: Cat is keeping watch over the area and helping with upkeep, for the most part. She does talk with some of the people there and is friendly (yay Americans to talk with?) but spends more time listening than anything. That may be great, since there are often people who love to talk, but she is happy to get back to work with maintenance after.
Cowboy [after we determined that none of the expedition PCs has the Trader specialty]: It does occur to me that, considering our first level cover story is that we’re traders and deserters, it might be a good idea for one of us to pick up the Trader specialty. Even if our second-level cover is that we’re working for either the KGB or the CIA, depending on who we run into.
[I’d asked because anyone who had Trader would likely have parsed this as a latter-day caravanserai. Alexei and Red both have Trader… and are both back in Ponikla.]
The team arrived in Dobrodzien a little before 1900. There’s no sign of electric light, and only a few flickers of oil lamps or candles in the residential parts of town. It looks like most of the community is in bed shortly after sunset – illumination is expensive and there’s still harvest to bring in come morning.
Just after 2100, Cat is on lookout when she spots four figures walking up the street, coming toward the expedition’s temporary quarters from the direction of the center of town (and that observation post). They’re making no effort to be stealthy; the one in the lead is carrying a lantern. When they get to about 30 meters out, she recognizes that one as Charlie, the guy who Pettimore recognized earlier. He’s in local civilian attire now, without his rifle, though he does have a pistol belt on. The other three, two women and one other man, are similarly geared; Cat recognizes one of the women from the security force earlier in the evening.
Cowboy: Hmm, time to begin the brain-fog test.
Cat: Cat scans to make sure they are the only ones showing up, then alerts the others, Pettimore first unless he’s hard to find.
Cat doesn’t see any sign of skulduggery afoot. The team lets them into the compound. Pettimore’s contact, Charlie, makes introductions:
Sergeant First Class Charles Stoops. Picture a fiftyish Donald Sutherland with a ponytail. Sounds about as Appalachian as Pettimore. He’s primarily here to get caught up with Pettimore – as requested, he brought a bottle of the local moonshine – but he’ll be sociable with anyone who wants to hang out.
Sergeant Judith Ngo. About 5’1″; Vietnamese features but an incongruous Cajun accent. She was with the Louisiana National Guard component of the 5th Infantry Division that got overrun at Kalisz, and she’s primarily here to see if anyone she knows is with the team. [Dice roll.] She and Cowboy are passing acquaintances; Cowboy recalls that Judy was in command of a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.
Spec/4 Maribel Jenkins. Dark hair, brown eyes, average height, average build, quiet voice. Friendly enough but letting the others carry the conversation. She says she came along as Judy’s winggirl. She brought a basket of racuchy – local dessert, pancakes rolled around stewed apples. [Ellis recognizes Jenkins. She’s a military intelligence interrogator and was with Bravo Troop’s intel section when they left on their secret squirrel assignment.]
Spec/4 Marlon Mayer (Stoops calls him “M&M,” which he clearly does not appreciate). Tall, slim, younger black guy with an NYC accent; tends to pause before speaking, and chooses his words very precisely. Left side of his face is movie star handsome; right side has an eyepatch over some pretty spectacular scarring. He’s also looking for anyone he knew from 5th ID [dice roll: none of the party is familiar with him or any of the folks for whom he’s looking].
The quartet hangs out with the expedition for about an hour and a half. Past the interactions described above and the information imparted in private messages to various players (non-spoiler items above), they’re sociable. Most of the PCs are new Americans in town and they’re feeling out the newcomers.
The team gets several different data dumps of their story, but when the PCs compare notes later, they all line up. Stoops and Jenkins were with Bravo Troop, which was attached to the 5th Infantry Division. In late June or early July, they got orders for a high-priority raid in this area – they’re fairly direct about not being able to talk specifics there. Mid-July, as they were arriving in the area, they picked up enough radio chatter to realize that 5th ID was getting rolled by a massive Soviet counterattack. North was a no-go; south and east were obviously enemy territory. They tried to break out to the west but ran into heavy opposition.
Captain Warren rallied the survivors and got them headed for Dobrodzien. Some of the folks who’d been with Bravo Troop since the start of the war, including Warren herself and Stoops, had passed through the area during the initial NATO offensive in ’97. Dobrodzien was/is ethnically German and a lot of the population was friendly to Westerners, so it seemed like their best option for a safe haven.
When they got to Dobrodzien around the first of August, they found the town suffering from severe marauder problems. They cut a deal to serve as defense force and militia cadre in exchange for support. Since then, they’ve been integrating into the community and conducting local stabilization operations to clear out the most problematic marauder bands.
Ngo and Mayer both substantiate this as far as they can. They were with separate survivor groups who broke out of the 5th Infantry Division’s encirclement at Kalisz and ran south to try to get out of the killbox. Ngo got her vehicle and crew into the area and was found by a Bravo Troop patrol. Mayer accidentally stumbled into Dobrodzien on his own, half-dead and separated from his squad after a marauder ambush.