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.

I ran this operation similarly to the previous reconnaissance of Radom. However, as the PCs were focused on a specific location, I decided that each success on the observation rolls would provide intel on one of the following key areas:

• vehicles
• troop strength
• defenses
• deployment practices
• patterns of life
• equipment

The QRF base started at Alert 2.

---

Day 1 (September 1; light rain, -1 to observation and +1 to stealth)

The team rides to the vicinity of the QRF base on the outskirts of Radom. They establish a concealed campsite.

Pettimore and Zenobia remain at camp to further camouflage it and prep their ghillie suits (Pettimore 2 successes, Zenobia 3 successes).

Ellis and Magda move ahead to identify ingress/egress routes for their surveillance. They’re able to pick up a patrol returning to the base and trail it for a while, Ellis overhears enough conversation to determine that foot patrols around their base are a regular thing for the QRF – the recon team will need to be disciplined.

Moving in a bit closer, Magda and Ellis are able to get a good idea of the base’s general layout. It’s located on the west side of a four-lane highway. The Soviets are using a former restaurant as their main barracks. The scrapyard’s office appears to be their headquarters office and team room, while its workshop is in use as designed for vehicle maintenance (and, from the sound of power tools and a small generator, seems to be well-equipped).

Alert remains at 2.

---

Day 2 (September 2; cloudy, no modifiers)

Before dawn, Ellis and Pettimore move into an abandoned house a few blocks away and focus their optics on the base. Over the course of the day, they’re able to identify a total of seven vehicles in the QRF’s inventory. There are two APCs: an OT-64 identical to the team’s own and a BTR-80. There are also two more light combat vehicles: a UAZ-469 fitted with an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher and a HMMWV mounting a DShK heavy machine gun. Two support vehicles are present, a Zil-131cargo truck and a UAZ-452 ambulance. Finally, there’s a rather odd duck for this area: what appears to be a British FV101 Scorpion light reconnaissance tank. One infantry squad is on security duty at all times, with three troops in one of the light vehicles, two walking the perimeter, and the sixth in a rickety observation tower atop the workshop.

After dusk, Magda and Zenobia relieve the day shift. They have a stressful close call on their way in (+1 Stress to both women) when a foot patrol leaves the front gate just as they’re approaching the house, but the Soviets turn the other direction. Once they’re settled in, they get a good look at the QRF’s setup. These guys feel secure enough to run their generator for electric light, including security lights on the north, east, and south approaches. They’re well-equipped – newer (relatively speaking) rifles, body armor, all of the vehicles except the HMMWV are in good condition. There’s a base station radio in the headquarters and at least one man-portable backpack radio in use by the patrols. There’s no evidence of farming, but these guys are using the restaurant’s kitchen to cook, indicating that they’re getting fresh ingredients from somewhere – they’re not subsisting on crap rations.

Alert remains at 2.

---

Day 3 (September 3; thunderstorms, -2 to observation and +2 to stealth)

Ellis and Magda try out a couple of new hide sites on the south side of the compound. With crap weather, the Soviets aren’t too excited about patrolling aggressively. Over the next few hours, they’re able to work their way around the east side again, watching through windows and open doors to get a fairly accurate count of total personnel on site. By the end of the day, the breakdown looks like this:

• command element (3): commander (captain), senior sergeant, radio operator
• infantry platoon (25): platoon leader (senior lieutenant) and four 6-person squads
• recon vehicle platoon (10): platoon leader (lieutenant) and three 3-person crews
• support element (8): leader (sergeant), 5 mechanics, 2 medics

The captain is keeping them busy. They’re maintaining the guard rotation; the rest of the troops get the assorted joys of PT in the rain. There’s about an hour of vehicle recovery drills, with an infantry squad covering the mechanics while they hook up the “disabled” BTR to the Zil for emergency towing – all while incoming fire is simulated by the rest of the unit pelting them with walnuts. There’s the expected amount of bullshitting and grumbling but the overall impression is that these are professionals. Ellis identifies their parent unit as the 126th Reconnaissance Battalion, an element of 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which is the Lublin garrison unit.

Zenobia and Pettimore swap in after dark. It should be easy but Zenobia crosses upwind of the compound and finds out that the garrison is keeping dogs (+1 Stress to Zenobia from a push, +1 Stress to both for near-detection). The combination of night and rain makes for lousy observation conditions, but Zenobia does get a good look inside the workshop and verifies that the QRF is operating a medium still in the shed out back.

Alert, thankfully, remains at 2.

---

Day 4 (September 4; sunny, +1 to observation and -1 to stealth)

With a bright, sunny day, Ellis opts for caution and doesn’t send anyone in until after dark. Zenobia and Pettimore refresh their ghillie suits, as the vegetation is wilting (Zenobia 2 successes, Pettimore 3 successes).

After sunset, the newly-camouflaged snipers creep in from the west, finding a good hide site in an overgrown vacant lot. They behold an odd tableau: the mechanics, with the enthusiastic but unskilled assistance of some of the other troops, appear to be refurbishing a trio of the junkyard’s Polski Fiat compact cars (a 125 and two 126ps). Surely they’re not so hard up for transport that this seems like a good idea? And yet, they spend a good two or three hours sweating under the work lights. There’s a cheer all around when, close to midnight, all three engines cough to life.

About half an hour after the infantry platoon leader calls a halt to this performance, he takes two squads out the gate. They head off to the east. Twenty minutes after they leave, there’s a sudden crackle of rifle fire. The sentries glance to the east but don’t react; this seems to have been anticipated. The gunfire continues sporadically for an hour. After it stops, that group comes back into camp. Pettimore and Zenobia sneak off to investigate. About a kilometer east, in the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse, they find a 50-meter training range that’s clearly seen heavy use – not just tonight. These guys have enough ammo for rifle practice (though they’re collecting their spent brass) and their leadership is making them do night training.

Alert is still at 2 somehow.

Day 5 (September 5; thunderstorms, -2 to observation and +2 to stealth)

The team has enough intel to prepare an assault, but one key element remains: they need to see what a response looks like when the QRF believes a partisan attack is in progress. Ellis and Pettimore head back to the abandoned house to observe. They nearly cross paths with an outbound foot patrol (+1 Stress each), but the Soviets are slogging through the rain and don’t notice them. They settle in, but the rain is keeping the troops indoors today and there’s nothing new to record.

Later that afternoon, Magda and Zenobia ride west to stage something that will prompt a response, but look like the aftermath of a drunken party when the QRF investigates. They spend some time setting the scene: empty beer bottles, discarded food scraps, a small and reluctant campfire, a muddy blanket, a torn t-shirt. At their prearranged time, just after dusk, they initiate the ruse. A flare streaks skyward, followed by a few bursts of celebratory gunfire. A few minutes later, they launch two more flares and burn off the rest of an AK magazine. Work complete, they slip away, leaving the campfire smoldering.

The sentry in the tower is huddled inside his poncho, clearly miserable, but he’s doing his job. As the first flare lifts over the horizon, he gives two sharp blasts on a whistle. What follows is a well-choreographed scramble. The three troops on duty at the HMMWV crank it up and pull out onto the road. Infantrymen boil out of the barracks. A three-man crew runs for the Scorpion and fires it up. Within a few minutes, the Scorpion is heading west at a speed that’s unnerving for a tracked vehicle, followed by the HMMWV and the BTR-80.

A second infantry squad clusters under the eaves of the building nearest the OT-64, while crews test its engine and that of the UAZ-469. A little slower, the two medics load the UAZ-452 ambulance and four of the mechanics prep the Zil-131 cargo truck. The remaining personnel crowd into the radio room, waiting for a report.

Out at the diversion site, Magda and Zenobia watch from a prepared hiding place as the vehicles approach cautiously. In the darkness and rain, vision must be nearly impossible. The Scorpion and HMMWV pull to either shoulder to allow the BTR-80 to advance. Its turret and infrared searchlight are swinging back and forth – there’s a good chance its night-vision systems are still working. The women have prepped their observation post with care, though, and they remain undetected. They watch as the vehicles take up an overwatch position and the infantry squad dismounts from the BTR. The troops advance cautiously. They spend about twenty minutes checking out the site. It’s obvious when their leader gives the all-clear – they don’t completely lose vigilance, but there’s a ripple of relaxation. They re-mount the BTR and the convoy heads back east.

Back at the compound, it’s also obvious when the “this was bullshit” radio call comes in. The second-stage QRF stands down, pulling their vehicles back into their parking spaces and unloading their sensitive gear. The radio room stays packed until the first-stage team is back on site, though. Once they’ve parked, the mechanics carry a couple of jerrycans out to top off fuel. The captain pulls his lieutenants and sergeants together for a conversation – almost certainly a debrief on what the first team found.

To Ellis and Pettimore’s eyes, it looks like the SOP is to launch the Scorpion, one of the gun trucks, and one of the APCs with an infantry squad as the initial QRF. The second group, consisting of the second gun truck, the second APC, and the ambulance and recovery truck, are prepped to head out and render aid once the scene is secure.

Magda and Zenobia also observed that while the infantry squad didn’t proceed much farther into the woods, they did have one member who appeared to be functioning as a tracker. He spent an awful lot of time examining the ground, and the squad leader deferred to him before calling the all-clear.

---

 Ellis scribbles notes, checking his watch on identification, scramble, departure, check-in and return. Shakes his head with concern, noting what he already suspected. These aren’t bandits, shattered remnants, or any of the other amateur or under-supplied units – they’re veterans, well-drilled and disciplined.

He leans over to Pettimore and shows him his notes and time calculations “Well… I’m not saying we can’t do this or that we shouldn’t do this… But I do think we may want to discuss our risk appetite because this is a different kind of risky than hitting some marauders.”

---

Watching the response procedures is the last piece the recon team needed. They creep back to camp and pack their gear for the return trip to Ponikla.

This was a roleplaying-only session, so not a lot of dice were rolled. I also failed to capture good notes on the conversation because my players were entertaining the hell out of me. This will, therefore, be a little more fragmented than the usual posts.

---

After making their way back to Ponikla and crashing in their own beds for some much-needed rest, the team gathers over breakfast to discuss recent events and to plan their next moves. Magda takes charge of the kitchen again and is soon churning out eggs, bacon, and donuts filled with cherry and plum jam. Red and Miko are both eating one-handed, each with an arm in a sling.

---

Ellis spent the trip back interviewing the four rescued soldiers (well, three soldiers and an airman). Not without some discomfort, he leads them through a recap for the rest of the team:

Task Force Cobalt was a scratch force drawn from U.S. XI Corps’ remaining special operations assets: survivors of 10th Special Forces Group, a couple of SEALs who somehow weren’t on the Baltic coast, a handful of AFSOC personnel, and two squads from the 4th Ranger Battalion. They were joined by a small contingent of Air Force and Navy technical specialists. Their mission was to enter Lodz, using the U.S. 5th Infantry Division’s operations in the area as a diversion, and conduct a raid on the Politechnika Łódzka. Their targets were four researchers and a large amount of laboratory records and material.

(Arkadi is nodding a lot at this point. He was part of the intelligence support operation that set up safe houses and escape routes for TF Cobalt; this aligns with what he knew.)

Mission preparation was heavy on two unusual items. First, the team was well-equipped with radiological monitoring: a Geiger counter on each vehicle and a dosimeter for every person, with the tech team having additional specialized gear. Second, psychological monitoring was a priority, with the team specifically instructed to self-monitor and monitor their colleagues for signs of dissociation, hallucination, or psychosis.

The raid was partially successful. TF Cobalt made it out with two of the researchers and most of their material. The planned link-up with the 5th ID was impossible, though, so the team headed south to try to get clear of the Warsaw Pact force concentration in the region. This, too, was unsuccessful – as the 5th ID fragmented, stragglers broke out in every direction and Soviet forces pursued, resulting in a countryside crawling with innumerable small units.

Over the following weeks, TF Cobalt lost half its original personnel. It replenished its numbers, if not their hard-earned skills, through linking up with a few groups 5th ID survivors. In late August, their communications specialists finally established radio contact with XI Corps headquarters and learned of a planned extraction by helicopter (albeit with the prisoners and their material taking priority). On the prearranged night, they headed for the planned primary LZ, only to hear their ride shot down. Rushing to the rescue, they ran into a marauder ambush. Only the two rearmost vehicles made it out, and they were separated in the subsequent pursuit.

The other vehicle (a LAV-25 with a mixed USMC, Canadian, and Norwegian recon team) is still unaccounted for, as are three of the aircrew.

---

“As the paradigm shifts, people are losing touch with the world that was,” Ellis observes. He suggests that the team ask the White Eagles and Bracia Wilkow to keep an eye out for more POW convoys. He also suspects that the marauders who hit TF Cobalt may try to unload their loot or prisoners in Tomaszow.

---

So, Tomaszow. Ellis spent a good long while there and he has a lot of information to share with the team, starting with his and Miko’s sabotage escapade…

[The sabotage sequence was played out in a Discord text channel visible to all my players, but I hadn’t blogged it until now. Bad referee, no MRE cookie.]

---

The TL;DR is that the marauders in Tomaszow represent a significant danger if the team wants to move west. They have significant riverine power projection capability, including several armed boats (former fishing and pleasure vessels) and what looks a lot like an ex-USMC combat hovercraft (the T2k-fictional evolution of the real-world Vietnam-era PACV). With a solid agricultural and aquacultural base, a decent amount of industrial wreckage that can be exploited, and a commanding position of local transportation, they appear to be setting themselves up to be a post-nuclear Tortuga: a “pirate haven” for other marauder bands in the region.

A recap of Ellis’ briefing notes:

• Anatoliy Utkin, former Soviet Army major, is the marauder warlord. Ellis knows him by reputation. He’s an experienced and brutal counterinsurgency commander, seasoned (as many such Soviet troops are) in Afgahanistan in the ’80s.
• The total force strength is about 40, most or all from the Soviet 89th Air Assault Brigade, which was (and may still be, less these guys) the preferred rapid deployment force of Soviet Reserve Front Headquarters in Lublin. They’e abandoned their military rank, instead going with a neofeudal structure in which each soldier is allocated shares of land, loot, and property. They’re also recruiting from local shitbags, with about 20 low-grade militia raised so far.
• There is a small civilian fishing fleet on the river. Armed boat crews follow fishermen to make sure they don’t get harassed – or run away.based out of old power plant (defunct before the war)
• They don’t appear to have any armor heavier than the BRDM-2 observed at the airfield. Their additional ground combat power is a few technicals with machine guns and recoilless rifles… and the hovercraft, with whatever it mounts.
• They also appear to be existing with at least the tacit approval, if not some covert support, of the Soviet 20th Tank Division’s command staff. Ellis observed a handshake meeting between Utkin and a colonel from the 20th. Utkin provides enough stability to remove a lot of the hassle that Lodz would otherwise have to deal with in the region, and he seems to be avoiding direct conflict with Soviet forces who are still following orders.
• There are collaborators. Of Tomaszow’s 2,200 citizens, at least 100 are dedicated to working under (if not actively supporting) Utkin’s new regime. Maybe another 300 are waiting to see which way the wind blows. Ellis was unable to identify any real resistance but Fryderyka and her associates do have a few friends left.
• At least 3 marauder bands are operating in the area – 2 ex-Soviet, 1 US/British expats. All have peacefully come into the city to trade, resupply, and take advantage of local hospitality.
• Two trader groups have regular routes that stop in Tomaszow. The team is familiar with one; it’s the group that also loops through Opoczno. The other one operates north of Tomaszow and includes a band that provides religious and folk entertainment, as well as a former East German EOD crew that offers demining services.
• The city’s industrial base included textile production facilities that could be put back into operation (garment and rug/carpet); limited fuel production; a welding equipment factory damaged but tooling is usable; a derelict iron foundry, mothballed prewar; and lots of refined steel on hand. Its major needs are a larger skilled workforce; medical support; technical support; machine tools; and educated professionals.
• The marauders do take randomly-selected hostages to ensure good behavior from their subjects. They’re put to work in the marauder HQ or on other special projects, but they aren’t mistreated beyond the actual kidnapping, and they’re released after they’ve put in their time (usually a couple of weeks)
• Ellis saw no evidence of slave trading.
• The marauders do have some security around their hovercraft. It’s kept in a secure area of the former riverside power plant that is their HQ. When launching, they clear the streets and put out a perimeter. Ellis observed it going upriver (south) on multiple occasions.
• Ellis finds it peculiar that 2,200 people haven’t mustered the enthusiasm to overthrow 40 occupying troops.

While looking through his notes, Ellis comes to an uncomfortable realization. On a couple of occasions, he was apparently in some kind of fugue state or loop. He recorded the exact same observations for several days in a row, interrupted when he met with Miko or Fryderyka’s partians…

---

Ellis also has some intel on events west of Tomaszow that he’s pieced together from interviewing the various 5th ID survivors. The division did take down two Soviet motor rifle divisions during that fight. A couple of Polish formations appear to have stopped taking Soviet orders and have settled in for local defense.

The Soviet forces remaining in the Lodz-Kalisz area don’t appear eager to have any more attention from Lublin. Ellis infers that they may have lost interest in taking orders from whatever’s left of Moscow.

---

So, about Krakow…

Ellis looks at Pettimore. “So after you dealt with Florian, you stashed the painting…”

Pettimore leans in, squints, decides to put it out in the open. “You mean the Black Madonna?”

“Y’all stashed it in a copper mine, right?”

“Near as I can recall.”

“And what did you do with Florian?”

Pettimore infodumps: Dr. Wright was deprogramming Florian from whatever had gotten its hooks into him before the team met him. He eventually came on-side for monster hunting.

“Okay, just wanted to verify.” What Ellis is hearing from Pettimore matches up with what he received in The [REDACTED] Dossier… which Ellis now infodumps.

[Seriously, just go read it now if you haven’t already. There’s a lot of context in there…]

Ellis has… theories. The more he sees, the more he read in his fellow agent’s writing, the more he’s convinced that an unseen third hand is consciously acting to prevent reconstruction or recovery across Poland, if not farther. Neofuedalism, declining populations, systematic destruction of recorded knowledge… it’s starting to look like a pattern.

Pettimore: “Keep ’em poor, keep ’em stupid, keep the lights off, and keep ’em docile?”

Zenobia: “Pol Pot as a hostile alien?”

Ellis: “Well, yeah, he kind of was.”

Ellis states that there seems to be some indication that the memory/perception issues that the team has encountered – where people are confronted with papers or maps that their minds can’t recognize – are happening in Krakow, which is not a small city. And then there’s the evidence of cult activity…

Pettimore snaps. “He’s not talkin’ about the stuff we really need to know. This shit’s real, man. Do you know what happened in that field that caught fire? Do you know what I shot? I shot a goddamn demon, Red. A flesh and blood demon made out of fire. I wasn’t the only one.” He pushes his way out of the hostel, ashen and shaking.

Red sighs and looks at Minka. “Bring me a joint and the antispychotics. And one of the Cokes.”

Zenobia observes that the weirdness is taking advantage of the world’s current condition. “The world is closer to the way it used to be – the way they liked it – and they’re taking it back.” She doesn’t specify who “they” is. She doesn’t really need to.

Magda’s one-eyed, one-eared black-and-white kitchen mouser wanders into the conversation. The cat, who normally hates everyone but Magda and Tamara, walks up to Pettimore and rubs on him. This brings Pettimore somewhat out of his downward spiral. The cat then looks at Miko, bristles, and hisses.

Pettimore inquires about getting more silver… and bullet molds.

---

The conversation turns to next steps. With the Radom ZOMO receiving support from Lublin and pressing north toward Von Bahr, that’s the most immediate threat on the team’s radar. The consensus is that Tomaszow will keep… losing the hydroelectric power plant will be a major strategic setback, even if Von Bahr is an ally of questionable motives.

Ellis, Magda, Zenobia, and Pettimore begin preparing for a reconnaissance mission on the Soviet QRF base. Their intention is to gather intel for a possible raid, taking the QRF out of play. Red, Minka, and Erick (the chaplain’s assistant, newly-adopted as the backup PC of Leks’ player) will head to Opoczno and make contact with the White Eagles for some diplomacy, including enlisting their aid with the planned raid…

Flashback, adapted from the original playthrough in Discord chat:

Via Fryderyka’s ex-militia partisans, Ellis sends word back to Ponikla that he has need of Miko’s assistance with some recon and sabotage work. Miko happily loads up a quantity of demolitions that he has only a minimal idea how to use and sets off for the rendezvous on one of the motorcycles.

Ellis he wants to take a look at the airfield north of Tomaszow, which was struck by a NATO tactical nuke during the war. The locals are avoiding it because of radiation fears, but the marauders seem to be visiting it regularly with a work crew, a horsedrawn wagon, and a fuel bladder.

The early August weather is hot and sunny with clear skies. The moon is a waxing crescent. The airfield sits on mostly flat ground with abandoned farms to the north and west, forest to the east, and a low hill to the southeast (partially blocking view from Tomaszow).

The duo moves in quietly, slowly, and carefully, watching for observers (or snipers). Ellis’ main focus is on finding their source of fuel so he can gauge how much is left. He thinks he can estimate how much the marauders need for a [REDACTED SPOILER] he’s previously observed and, if it makes sense, sabotage that supply. Preliminary reconnaissance at long range gives them the general layout of the facility:

Ellis’ training and experience suggest the base was hit with a cruise missile. Yield would’ve been 150kt, more or less. It was an airburst, so the “crater” label is a misnomer, but there is a permanently glazed spot north of the runway. Not a direct hit, but close enough to put the place out of business:

• The base administration buildings are flat – scoured down to the foundations. The north half of the housing complex is the same, and the rest of it apparently burned after the strike.
• The hangars were hardened, but not for this. The frames are standing but they look rickety and unstable. The remains of three Su-25s are visible inside one of them.
•  The fuel farm was located in a secure area surrounded by a berm, with a razor-wire fence and security cameras on poles. It looks like the base armory and maybe some comms or crypto was also in there once. The fuel tanks are ruptured and scorched, and everything else in there burned. Wherever the marauders are getting their fuel, that isn’t it.  The aboveground tanks look to be about the right size for a small airbase like this one. Underground tanks are a possibility, but Ellis doesn’t see any of the usual indicators of their existence.
• The Geiger counter is reading slightly elevated radiation downwind of the impact site but the overall area isn’t so hot as to be concerning.

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Miko and Ellis wait for sundown to move in closer. The crescent moon is casting minimal illumination conducive to a stealthy approach. Upon closer inspection, the base admin facilities are toast – no salvage to be had. The hangars are in slightly better condition and it might be possible to pick up some salvageable bits here and there. The Su-25s do not appear to have been stripped, probably because of radiation immediately after the blast (or because there was no one with enough knowledge of aviation to figure out what to pull off of them). None of them are ever going to fly again, though.

 (Judging from the stuff on the surviving interior walls, it looks like the Su-25s weren’t an original tenant unit at this facility. This appears to have been home to an Mi-8 transport squadron. The Su-25s must have been staging out of here for CAS.)

The high-security area is also a total loss, thanks to catastrophic fires. It’s evident the marauders aren’t getting their fuel – or anything else – from there.

The team heads to the tower. It’s leaning in a way that suggests major structural damage, but if it hasn’t fallen by now, it’s probably settled into a somewhat-stable alignment. The stairs creak alarmingly as Miko goes up… but they hold.

From the elevated vantage point, no activity beyond normal wildlife movement is visible. They can see that the rail line terminates over by the base admin area. There’s a single warehouse over there (the rectangular building with the metal roof by the parking lot), which burned in the fires that consumed the base housing area. However, there’s a larger cargo handling facility (at the “Rail Station” label,) with a cluster of eight warehouses built so that a rail spur actually runs through them (not reflected on the photo, but I’m improvising here). Those are scorched blast-damaged but still standing, and there appear to be a few rail cars parked inside them.

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Ellis and Miko spend about an hour poking around the base, looking for signs of foot and wagon traffic. All indicators point to the rail freight depot. The marauders may have scouted the rest of the airbase, but that’s pretty clearly where they’ve been focusing their efforts.

They head in, checking for mines, tripwires, and other nastiness along the way. Miko does spot the wires of two directional mines across the service road leading into the depot. They’re affixed to the skeletal poles of scorched road signs – easy landmarks and reminders for a crew that probably disengages and resets them each visit.

The depot contains a short string of railcars. All of them bear signs of damage from the nuke and a couple are derailed; one boxcar is completely on its side:

• Two flatcars are both empty, with no sign of what they once contained (beyond the fact that it was probably massive machinery, judging from the heavy chain tiedowns).  
• The derailed boxcar is half-full of some sort of prefab construction material. Ellis recognizes it as the sort of runway matting used for emergency repairs after a runway has been cratered by bombing or artillery.
• One more boxcar has been forced open and thoroughly looted.
• A third boxcar also has been forced open, but it’s not completely looted (yet). There are four pallets of what, upon inspection, are Soviet-made chemical defense suits, gas masks, and extra filters. It’s probably enough to equip 80 people, subject to appropriate sizes.
• Last, there’s a tank car. It’s derailed and the outer envelope is dented, but there’s no sign of leakage and the valves show clear indications of recent use. It was parked by the fittings for transferring fuel to the airbase’s storage tanks. Cracking it open and dropping a weighted cord into it, Miko is able to estimate that it’s down to the dregs… but on something this big, the dregs are still about 4,000 liters of Jet-A.

Ellis and Miko back off and discuss. Neither of them is a demolitions specialist, but Miko brought along a good quantity of plastic explosive. How hard could a shaped charge be?

[I roll. Miko’s stupid luck comes through again: 3 successes on a pushed Tech roll.]

Miko scrounges around in the ruins. Finds a couple of flowerpots to use as a mold for the plastic explosive. Packs it in, braces it in place with rubble, plugs in three detonators. Wires it up. Backs way the hell up, to the very limit of the 100m wire spool he brought.

Miko and Ellis are behind the hardest cover they can find, so they don’t actually see the explosion. And it’s inside the rail depot anyway. But there’s a sound like the world’s largest soda can being crushed under a giant’s foot. And then the fire starts.

They probably heard the blast, and can see the glow, in Tomaszow.

The whole rail depot is on fire. Gonna make it hard to find any evidence.

They should probably leave now.

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The response arrives in about fifteen minutes. Twelve guys on horses, backed up by a BRDM-2 Ellis hadn’t seen before – the marauders probably were keeping it in a restricted section of the power plant that’s their primary base.

The BRDM stays on overwatch while the riders dismount and search the area in trios. There’s not much for them to find, though, and they’re certainly not getting close enough to the fire to see any evidence there.

They stay on site until dawn, when a similarly-sized force comes out to relieve them. The relief force is led by the marauders’ warlord, Anatoliy Utkin. The flames have died down by then and the ashes are cool enough for him to approach. He goes in with a couple of dudes – not bodyguards, from the body language and equipment. They’re possibly his technical experts. They poke around for about half an hour, focused on the tank car.

From a few hundred meters away, Ellis can’t tell what conclusions they come to, but when Utkin comes out, he pulls in the sentries and they ride back to Tomaszow. It looks like, at least for the short term, he’s writing this off – there’s nothing left here for him to exploit.

Readers may recall a conversation between Pettimore and Ellis in which Ellis received an encrypted dossier from this campaign’s previous iteration. I’ll bet you were wondering what was in it, weren’t you?

Well, Ellis’ player decided to share some of it with you (and the rest of the party). Enjoy…

Yes, some of this will look familiar to readers of Later Days. I credit my sources – and I try to steal from the best.