This series of posts spans one session of planning, two and a half sessions of gameplay, and some asynchronous private chat conversations, all focused on concluding one story arc. In play, both groups were active simultaneously, with focus shifting between the two every 15 to 30 minutes of realtime or every one to three rounds of combat. For narrative purposes, Parts One through Four of this series will alternate focus somewhat asynchronously.
The ambush element (Betsy, Cowboy, Octavia [with Comrade], and Ortiz) displaces a few hundred meters west and hastily sets up in their next planned site. It’s an abandoned construction site, piles of heavy material scattered around in the shadow of a rusting crane. There are ample hiding places for the UAZ and for Betsy and her LMG. Cowboy and Betsy pick out hiding places with good fields of fire along the marauders’ expected approach route, ready to hit the gang a second time if they continue moving toward the museum.
Cowboy takes the opportunity to break out her tools and rig a replacement antenna for the UAZ’s radio. A quick check confirms that Bell, on radio watch back in Kamiensk, can hear her. There’s no reply from the infiltration element, though. [By this time, they were already in the boiler room – to be covered in tomorrow’s post – and out of radio contact.]
Cowboy has just settled back into the gunner’s position when something draws her attention to the roof of the one-story building southeast of the vehicle. She’s turning toward it when an arrow clangs off the UAZ’s improvised armor.
[In my GM prep notes for these sessions, I had written:
If alerted, Ibrashev (Rasputin) will go stealthy and show up behind the PCs at the least-opportune time. He’ll snipe with his bow to reduce his detection chances. If possible, he’ll try to pick off an isolated victim and take them prisoner for later interrogation or… use.
This was what he saw as his best opportunity…]
Betsy begins running toward the offending building. Cowboy can’t see the shooter yet, but she grabs her PKM and begins putting blind suppressive fire in the general direction from which the arrow came. More arrows come back at her.
Inside the UAZ, Comrade is going berserk, trying to go after the unseen aggressor. Octavia finally gives in to the inevitable and bails out, following Betsy and trying to keep hold of Comrade’s lead.
Betsy is about to start trying to climb the front of the building when the archer switches tactics. A grenade sails over the parapet. It goes wide, but rather than the expected shrapel-filled blast, it blossoms into a cloud of white smoke shot through with malignant fireflies.
Rather than stay out in the open with someone willing to throw white phosphorus grenades at them, Betsy and Octavia divert to the building to the north. Comrade follows with protests – he’s still straining for the most direct route, through the doors and up the stairs and into the archer’s face.
Cowboy finally spots the archer through the darkness and rain. Her return fire becomes more accurate, and she’s rewarded with a scattering of AK shots as her opponent changes tactics.
Betsy plows through a window and finds herself in an abandoned and looted medical office. A boot to the door gets her into the hallway; two turns and she’s on the stairs to the roof. Octavia and Comrade are behind her. The trio ducks into cover behind the mechanical penthouse, but not before confirming their opponent’s identity. As expected, it’s Rasputin. Realizing he’s flanked, the Kazakh arms a fragmentation grenade and lobs it over.
The shrapnel tears a chunk out of Comrade’s flank. That’s enough for the dog to go absolutely berserk. He yanks his lead out of Octavia’s hand and, running full-tilt, leaps the gap between the buildings. Whatever Rasputin was expecting out of tonight, it’s safe to assume that sixty kilos of enraged Chornyi Terrier in his face was not on the list. He’s now in a ground fight with Comrade latched onto his leg.
Betsy snarls in frustration, unable to get a clear shot with Comrade entangled. She holds position, waiting for her moment. Octavia starts running back down the stairs, heading to go retrieve her dog. Cowboy sees enough of this to also bail out and start moving toward the fight, snapping an order to Ortiz to get the UAZ running and be ready to roll.
Rasputin breaks free from Comrade, who circles angrily but can’t get past the Kazakh’s knife. Limping, the archer heads for the eastern edge of the roof. Betsy opens up, sending a long bust of 5.56mm into him, but he keeps moving, hauling himself over the edge of the building. He hits the ground in time to meet a buttstroke from Cowboy’s PKM. Glaring up at her, he pulls the last grenade from his web gear. Cowboy has enough time for, “oh, fu–” before her world goes white.
Rasputin pulls himself to his feet faster than anyone who was that close to a flashbang should ever be able to recover. It’s just in time for Betsy, who’d ducked below her roof’s parapet, to pop back up. She breathes, lines up her shot, and stitches him in the back. He goes down again. Octavia walks around the corner, smashes him twice in the face with her SVD’s stock, and flips the gun around and empties it into him.
At close range, the doctor can see something odd beneath Rasputin’s numerous wounds. There’s something just under his skin, a fibrous grayish-wide subcutaneous membrane. Octavia can’t be certain amid the rain and trickling blood, but she thinks some of those injuries are regenerating. “Kira,” she says to Cowboy without looking up, “go get that hacksaw I saw in the back of the truck.”