I also ran this in a Discord chat channel. Lacking a really good social conflict system, I reduced it to a series of opposed Persuasion checks. The negotiating team’s objectives were:
- Establish general military cooperation and intelligence sharing
- Obtain assistance with the planned raid on the Soviet QRF base in Radom
- Cut a deal for ammo, particularly 14.5mm for the team’s APCs
- Obtain more information on the White Eagles’ capabilities and force strength
- Obtain support for a general push on Radom
Red, Minka, and Erick take the UAZ and head down to Opoczno. The team’s White Eagle contact is Lena Lewandowski, the unnervingly-cheerful proprietress of a market stand that trades in soap, other personal hygiene products, and medicinal herbs. She’s married to unfailingly-polite and unblinking Antoni, the local barber. Between the two of them, there’s probably not a couple in Opoczno who’s better-positioned to hear all the local gossip.
Lena listens to the pitch, purses her lips in thought, and rings a small handbell that’s chained to the side of her stall. One of the kids who’s loitering on the fringe of the market square comes running up. She tosses the urchin an apple and says, “go fetch Dimi.”
A few minutes later, a teenager with a well-maintained mohawk and a thousand-yard stare ambles up. Lena introduces him as Dmitri Boykov. “He’ll be your guide,” she says. “Dimi, the lady and these two Amis need to talk to Major Kozlowski.”
Dmitri looks over the negotiating team. “Huh. Okay,” he says. “You got food? Petrol? This might take a day. Get what you want to take and meet me down by the highway.”
As promised, Dmitri is waiting for the team at the side of the road. He’s carrying a pack and a cloth-wrapped bundle that looks a lot like a folding-stocked AK of some sort. He piles into the back of the UAZ and directs Erick to drive east. About eight kilometers on, he indicates a turn-off into the forest to the south.
It’s late afternoon, several hours into a twisty, turny odyssey through old-growth forest that shows little sign of prewar habitation or use besides the unpaved road itself. Dmitri points out a badly-overgrown side trail. A few hundred meters down, completely hidden from the “main” road, is a large hunting lodge. “You wait here,” Dmitri orders/explains. He retrieves his pack and bundle from the back of the UAZ and heads off into the forest. As an afterthought, he calls over his shoulder, “it’s unlocked,” before vanishing.
The lodge is a two-story structure with a rough, unfinished basement. There are indications here and there that it’s been stripped of former luxury furnishings, but what remains (or what’s been brought in to replace them) is sturdy and well-kept. The pantry is stocked with nonperishables, there’s a good supply of firewood. Three bedrooms are furnished as such. The fourth is set up as a makeshift two-bed infirmary with bandages, disinfectant, some basic instruments, and a few doses of morphine. There’s no electricity or running water but a pump out back appears to be connected to a clean well and the outhouse isn’t all that sanity-blasting.
Around the time Red, Minka, and Erick are finishing dinner, the sound of an engine comes from outside. An older Land Rover Defender 110, faded blue with a white roof and what looks like Austrian registration plates, pulls up. Three men and a woman emerge along with Dmitri. All are carrying basic infantry kit and uniformed in the “frog” camouflage pattern of older Polish fatigues, with the same white eagle on red armbands that Magda sometimes flies. One remains with the vehicle; the others walk up to the porch. Dmitri knocks politely.
The man leading the group is in his forties. He’s unusually dark-complected for a Pole, short, broad-shouldered. He holds out a hand. “Major Felicjan Kozlowski, Home Army.” He indicates the grim, scraggly-bearded man to his left. “Captain Aleksander Grabowski, my adjutant. And you’ve met Lieutenant Rabarchak.” Red and Minka recognize Marietta Rabarchak, who was in command of the first White Eagle group they met. Dmitri slips back outside to join the driver/bodyguard at the Land Rover.
Kozlowski moves to the pantry and takes one of the better bottles of sliwowica. “We use this for meetings on, mmm, undisputed ground,” he explains as he rummages in the dining room’s sideboard for glasses. “Usually with the Bracia Wilkow.” He gestures for the team to sit. “I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
There’s a bit of social lubrication over light drinking – the usual polite nothings that avoid touching on prewar homes and families or wartime traumas. Rabarchak asks after Magda; Kozlowski inquires after Red’s injury. After twenty minutes or so, Kozlowski leans forward. “All right, Captain.” Red’s already introduced himself as a Navy lieutenant, so the mis-titling sounds like Kozlowski has made the association and has chosen to use the equivalent Army rank. “Much as it’s pleasant to meet the neighbors, you didn’t come down here for this.” He taps the half-empty bottle. “What do you think my company can do for you?”
General cooperation and intel sharing: Red is at +2 for assistance, +1 for regional coalition strategy, +1 for previously helping the White Eagles, -1 for the White Eagles being a larger faction.
Red 2 successes; Kozlowski 2 successes.
Kozlowski listens with interest. “I’m willing to engage in equal exchanges,” he says. “But you are – and I mean no offense, Captain – a foreign officer speaking on behalf of a Polish community.” He nods to Minka. “While I appreciate you bringing a Polish representative, the Home Army needs to be certain you’re not acting as an occupying force. I’d want to send an inspection team to assess your community’s status before agreeing to any meaningful exchange. Anything else we settle on tonight would need to be contingent on that.”
QRF base raid: Red is at +2 for assistance, -1 for the White Eagles being a larger faction, -1 for asking for something dangerous.
Red 1 success; Kozlowski 1 success.
Kozlowski looks over at Rabarchak. “Lieutenant? It’s your patrol sector.”
Rabarchak leans forward. “If we’re risking our troops for your diversion, we need more guarantees than whatever we can salvage from burning wrecks. I’m assuming you want us to neutralize the quick reaction force so they don’t turn around and hit your strike force in the back. That will cost us. You’re not your people’s only medic, no?”
Minka nods as Rabarchak looks at her.
Rabarchak points at Red. “Then you, personally, stay out of the fight and with our command element. You provide priority medical care for any of our people who are injured in this diversion. That’s the price for our blood and ammunition.”
Ammo trade: Red is at +2 for assistance, +1 for Trader, -1 for the White Eagles being a larger faction, -1 for asking for something valuable.
Red 2 successes; Kozlowski 1 success.
Kozlowski sits back and lets Grabowski handle the trade negotiations. There’s a fair amount of back-and-forth, with Minka taking the lead once the discussion veers into Ponikla’s production and salvage capabilities. The eventual offer is one shipment of ammunition for one shipment of mead and personal hygiene supplies, and future ammo supply drops to be negotiated in exchange for salvage rights from the railyard.
Intel on White Eagle capabilities: Red is at +2 for assistance, -1 for the White Eagles being a larger faction, -1 for asking for something dangerous.
Red 3 successes, Kozlowski 3 successes (!)
Maybe if Ellis were here, he could gently extract some intel from Kozlowski without the Polish commander knowing what he was up to, but the team’s more pointed requests for additional information about their erstwhile partners are not well-received. Kozlowski eventually agrees that if he’s going to send an assessment team to Ponikla, he should at least return the courtesy and host a delegation in Skarzysko-Kamienna.
Participation in a general push on Radom: +2 for assistance, -1 for not having a strategy or good intel at present, -1 for the White Eagles being a larger faction, -1 for asking for something dangerous.
Red 1 success; Kozlowski 0 successes
Kozlowski looks like he’s about to reject the whole concept but Rabarchak leans in. “Major? A word?”
They step outside, away from the lamplight coming from the windows, and are gone for nearly a quarter-hour. At last, they return. Rabarchak looks tense but confident; Kozlowski is tightly-controlled. He sits back down and sighs. “All right. We’re not strong enough to do it, but they’re Moscow’s puppets.” He looks to Rabarchak. “And slavers. So if you can manage your raid on the QRF, and if you can prepare the battlefield enough that we have a solid plan and aren’t just going to shatter against fixed defenses, we will start preparing to drive the ZOMO and the invaders out of Radom.” He raises a hand in caution. “If. You have a lot to deliver on, Captain Greyson.”
Despite being an NPC and thus incapable of pushing rolls, Kozlowski is a competent leader (Empathy B + Persuasion B) and was rolling pretty well throughout this. Also working against Red was the fact that every single one of his dice was either a success or a 1 – meaning it was impossible for him to push any of his own rolls.