[Twilight 2013] A Cold Welcome (IC)

[Volthawk]

Pocketing the various odds and ends he'd found, Adrian pauses when he finds the map. "Hm. Map here. Might be handy later if we find that town." Adrian holds it up for Emma to take. "He's not been dead long. Few hours. Can't tell you much else, but I can tell you that he didn't die here. He was able to get away from his attackers, walked a bit, tried to stop the bleeding, and then dropped here. Guess that's why those keys are still here. Does mean that his killers might be following the trail here, so I agree with Tomasz. Don't want to hang around this guy for much longer."

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

Emma takes the map. "Thank you." she mouths. She motions for the other two to come over. When they approach she'll confront Tomasz. "I will let you do your job, and you will let me do mine." she says with a low but calm tone. "Listen carefully." She whispers to all of them. "We have limited time. I've snapped up conversations on the radio that leads me to believe that this persons killers will come out when the sun is up, but this intel is not fully reliable. My suggestion is that we to the best and fastest of our ability cover the body and blood traces we find - hoping that snow fall will do the rest - to reduce the chance they will find him and thus our tracks. If they had dogs, they would probably be out right now. Then we do as Tomasz suggested and take the left. The other plan would be to immediately leave as Tomasz suggested, but I feel that it is more risky." she pauses and asks the group "Your input?"

[Metastachydium]

Samia grimaces. "Dawn is near. Ma'am." she says. "And our tracks are all around the place." she adds motioning towards the road behind them. "Whatever we do, I'd rather we be hasty about it." Drumming on the handguard of the Kalashnikov with her fingers, she looks up for a moment, before fixing her gaze on the officer again. "Although… There's something I don't quite get, Ma'am. How on earth did this guy outrun whoever shot him and get a headstart of literal hours? Unless… Could he be our truck driver?"

[Volthawk]

Adrian looks thoughtful as Samia mentions her truck theory. "The ID we found in there doesn't match up with this guy, but that doesn't mean much. Could be that the truck's changed hands since the end, or it could mean that he wasn't driving alone, and that woman's out here, alone or with his attackers. Worth keeping in mind, in any case." Emma's plan needs a little more thought. "If we leave now, they'll find the body, but our tracks out will have had more time to be obscured by the snow. We stay and work, our tracks out will be less well-hidden, but there's a chance they won't find the body and come looking for us..." Adrian shrugs. "I'm not sure. Depends on how well we can hide the body. Your call."

[bramblefoot]

"your call, but my vote is pick up and get as far away as possible" tomasz muttered, still peering through the gloom

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

Emma simply nods. "Sounds like we are in agreement. Let's get moving." She nudges Samia as the troupe pass her. "No lights now, unless absolutely needed." and then does the same with Adrian, but only with a grateful nod before taking her position in the back.

[Metastachydium]

Samia really wants to be annoyed by the no light policy and the blunt comment at this point, but to no avail. Emma's her commanding officer right now. She talks like a commanding officer. That's part of her job. It's also not like they have all the time in the world for polite conversation. Being able to see would be nice and comfortable, of course, but her eyes got kinda-sorta accustomed to the ambient level of light, and with the sun about to rise, visibility can only get even better on the long run – which gives her an idea.
"Ma'am? Can I have the map for a moment, um, a bit later? Like, when I'll be able to see what's on it. And around us, for that matter. I've got a compass on me, and I might be able to tell if we're anywhere near any major landmarks it shows."

[Lacco]

The "no light unless absolutely needed" policy meant they had to walk in almost absolute darkness. Tomasz led them, showing a good deal of skill picking a way forward through the deep snow. The road was not visible here - it looked like a dirt road through forest, not even gravel.

Walking uphill, they entered a large clearing and passed it, trying to keep to the treeline, but following the road as far as possible - the terrain was relatively even, although the deep snow made walking anywhere but the road a chore.

The clearing was long, but after a hundred meters Tomasz stopped them. Near the road stood a small house - single story, two windows and a door in the middle - mostly covered in snow. It was in terrible state - basically a ruin. The roof has broken under the weight of the snow, and most of the building was snowed in.

But it was a first sign of people living around here.

Although it looked long abandoned.

The road seemed to wind around it and uphill.

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

Emma nods at Samia "Here." She presses the map against Samia, only letting go when she feels Samia having a stable grip.

[bramblefoot]

"we got a ruin up ahead" tomasz says calmly, shouldering the rifle and moving through the dark towards the ruin

[Lacco]

Tomasz

There was no movement in or around the ruined house - and there were multiple signs of forced entry. It seemed the house has been looted - and not once - already.

No signs of warfare. And no signs of any vehicles around.

The house itself seemed like a normal brick & plaster house, normal also for the area Tomasz lived in previously. He noticed a hump in the snow, few meters ahead of the building - probably an exterior water pump. Other than that, there was nothing: no tracks in the snow, no visible items or anything interesting. It could be used for basic protection against the elements, but as the windows were broken and the roof was broken, it would offer little comfort to the four of them. Tactically, not the best spot: in the middle of a clearing, with nowhere to run in cover.

However, he was quite sure the house had a basement - and that would have a relatively stable temperature and could provide a hiding spot for moment of respite.

[bramblefoot]

"there is prolly a basement there in that ruin" tomasz says, popping out of the darkness. "permission to do a quick search for equipment and other sundries?"

[Metastachydium]

Samia clutches the piece of paper and quickly stashes it away for the time being. "Thank you, Ma'am." she whispers back with a little smile. That was easy. As well as a small boost to her confidence, for that matter. Being acknowledged as a potentially useful asset for the team beyond serving as a walking source of light (whenever she's allowed to do that in the first place) feels good. So, all in all, yet another reason for looking forward to actual sunrise.

♣

Samia's grip on her rifle tightens for a split second as she hears Tomasz stop abruptly, but she relaxes slightly when the man speaks up. It's just some ruin. Probably not even a big one. It's not like it has to be an ambush point or anything and it is definitely a new sign of their drawing near civilization or, at any rate, what's left of that. She can appreciate that.
She can't help but shudder and grimace again, however, when Tomasz brings up the likelihood that there's a basement. Some small, damp, dark hole under the ground. That's the last thing she needs in her life right now.

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

"Permission granted. Bring Samia with you." Emma nods. It was cover, but she did not like its position. "We cover them." She nodded at Adrian and pointed out a position for him to take, while moving to cover from another angle.

[bramblefoot]

"yes ma'am" tomasz says and stalks into the ruin. he will do a quick search a trapdoor or similar, and if found, will open it and head down

[Metastachydium]

Samia clenches her teeth in desperation. Damn. This is a disaster in the waiting. Nonetheless, even with the pounding of her heart growing louder and louder, she knows that no is not really a valid answer here. She's not going to be the load. She must not prove useless. She must not defy orders.
Not quite confident that her voice won't betray her, she nods at Emma (or rather what she assumes to be Emma) and readying the AK, she forces herself to press forward, moving behind Tomasz, watching his left flank as the soldier zeroes in on the ruin.

[Volthawk]

Adrian nods and takes the indicated position. He hoped that the basement investigation worked out all right - ideally, they'd all be able to get in. It might not be ideal, but finding some decent shelter against the elements would be handy going forward.

[Lacco]

It takes him several uncomfortable minutes, but Thomas soon returns with news: the house is empty. Anything that was in the attic is not reachable, and the back room of the house took most damage when the roof collapsed, enough that there is no chance of recovering anything from that part without a pair of shovels, a crowbar and few hours of work.

The kitchen has a larder attached to it, where the entrance to the basement is. Through a trap door - and it seems to have been already mostly looted. Few broken items, no real furniture left. Still, there are few boxes in the basement, a few cans in the larder. There still could be few items.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Whoever wants to loot/scrounge, we're going according to the rules.
General scrounging: 1 check per person per 10 minutes; you get 1 item per 1 MoS
- you check for useful items
- you will generally be looking for useful items, and those are what you get

Detailed stripping:
- 1 person does the check, others may assist; 1 check per 100 minutes; you roll also Forensics (AWA) and multiply the amount of items
- you check for anything and everything that can be used
- you will get also building materials and anything that can be found here

[bramblefoot]

tomasz will scrounge through the wreckage looking for food, bullets and medicine

(3d20)[18][8][11](37)

[Volthawk]

When Tomasz returns with news that the basement is clear, Adrian's eager to get in there and get to work. If nothing else, it'll probably be warmer down there, and even if they weren't the first to look in there, every little helped. He takes a methodical, analytical look through the remains, happy to spend the extra time and effort in the hope of finding anything and everything they can that might be useful. "We should try to keep in mind where this place is when we set off again - if we don't find anywhere better, I'd rather sleep down here than out there."

Spoiler

Show

Both the rolls involved in detailed stripping succeeded by a MoS of 5, so multiplied together that's 25.

[Metastachydium]

Not quite confident of the structural integrity of the unnecessarily cramped little hut and not even considering to go anywhere near the basement, Samia decides to content herself with watching Tomasz's back from a safe distance, close enough to the larder, to hear Tomasz if the man calls for backup, but closer yet to the easiest way out, in case fleeing is going to look like her best option.
This arrangement lets her calm down to some degree, and by the time the soldier declares the building safe, she gathers the necessary presence to do a cursory search of the area around the entrance while she kepps an eye on the perimeter.

Spoiler: Scrounge!

Show

Fieldcraft: (3d20)[15][6][6](27); AWA 10.

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

Emma keeps a careful eye on the situation, and the radio channel that premised they would heat out at sunrise. She suppresses the anxiety that it's taking to long. Even though her head doesn't rest, her body does, while feeling nice is not ideal with the cold. As they seems to have finished their search, she approaches and makes another tactical impression of the house, and how well it would suit their purposes.

[Lacco]

The four of them split: Emma kept watch above the ground listening to the radio, accompanied by Tomasz and Samia as they walked through the ruins to find at least something. Samia joined Emma after her cursory search, and Tomasz was finished almost at the same time.

The list of items they found was relatively long - most of the items were removed, but some were either under the rubble, or were in hard to reach places.

Tomasz found a small first aid box (mercury thermometer, 2 rolls of sterile adhesive bandage, a camomile-based burn ointment and small flask of hydrogen peroxidee), a boxed set of 3 toothbrushes (already opened, looking a bit used), an unopened can of tomato soup (2 servings), a can of pate (a bit banged, with expiration date somewhere 2 months ago), and a small box with 6 x 12g shotgun shots.

Samia found a cast iron pan (a bit rusty and banged-up), a pair of leather work boots in a box (worn, a bit dirty and scuffed, size 43), a badly damaged, half burnt, torn and dirty softcover book titled "Najedzte sa do štíhlosti" (Eat to get Thin), a pair of pearl earrings in a small box (a bit damaged), a can of paint thinner (half-empty) and another box of 12g shotgun shots (this time almost new box containing 10 rounds).

As they were recounting their findings, Adrian joined them, with his own list of items, and some potential additions. He looked tired, but he managed to find a lot of items, including something like a secret stash behind one of the shelves.

He found a HB pencil, a damaged wooden cutting board, half-empty bag of feed corn, a blunt and bit rusty garden hoe, a boxed model - metal construction kit for a model airplane (which looked almost new), a small stack of adult magazines (badly damaged), and a small hacksaw (missing few teeth and rusty), a badly damaged alpaca wool hat, a box of steel nails (half-empty), 3 bottles of red wine (no brand, and a bit dusty, but looked well), a frame of a bike with the chain and gears intact, but no wheels or seat, a civilian sleeping bag (which looked a bit... used, but otherwise fine), a jar of pickled peppers (1l, after expiration, but no mold visible), 4 jars of pickles (7dl, still consumable), 1 jar of pickled sausage (1l, still looked consumable), dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage; some looked a bit moldy, but more than half of them would be salvageable for a pocketful of herbs), a simple RC toy car (looked broken, with batteries leaked, but could be salvaged for components), a worker's jumpsuit (damaged and torn), a large sack of potatoes (ca. 50kg - looked almost untouched by the frost and well preserved), and a bottle of vodka (missing two or three shots, including a small shot glass).

He also checked for building materials and deduced there would be a dozen planks, some firewood, at least two dozens of usable iron nails, a pair of hinges and a dozen loose, unbroken bricks that could be removed from the basement: but that would take some work and time.

As they looked at the small pile of dubious treasures, Emma heard the radio come alive. The voices she heard before - the aggressive, irritated one, that used a lot of profanity, and the other one - a tired sounding, with a hint of submission - the aggressive one was checking on the progress. The answer was simple: "What? We just went to sleep, it's not even light out!" Curses, few good hints at where one can put this kind of excuses... and silence. "We'll start as soon as it's visible out. No sooner. Makes no sense to go without looking, even if we have a car. Give us an hour or two, so we can see where we are going." Silence. "All right. You lose him, I'm coming there and taking over with my boys. Over and out." There was no answer.

---

Looking at their current location and situation, Emma was doubtful about the utility of the building. It was sufficiently visible - and would become even more so during daylight - to serve as a hideout, as their tracks lead directly here. There was an uncertain time limit to completely mask their tracks, so their location would be known to the enemy. A single building in the middle of a meadow provided no good escape route (although one could "tunnel" into snow... but again, time was of the essence).

As a defensive position, she had seen worse, but also better. There would be only a very small value of the building as ambush point - the building would most probably attract the enemy as potential hideout - and while the walls were relatively sturdy, they would be trapped here. If a larger force came, they could hold them, but would have to board most windows and prepare basically for siege - they would also spend most of their time working in bad conditions, and would not even gain a significant location: the house was a ruin and offered them no real advantage, save for the walls.

The field of visibility was good, but there were blind spots - especially on the south-western side, where only a small bathroom window was present. Enemy could easily sneak through that side, especially when that side was covered also by treeline.

The enemy could have a grenade launcher or superior firepower: and that would mean they would be pinned down without any guarantee of safety. Worse: the remains of the roof looked relatively unstable. The enemy also could have an armored vehiclee able to cross the meadow quickly, and that could very easily spell doom for her small force. She crossed the thought - the enemy did not sound like someone who had an armored vehicle. Still, her mind was trained to take such things into consideration. No source of water, no source of heat.

But they could use it as a trap: leave it behind, set up an ambush with it as a focal point. The treelines beyond offered some protection and camouflage. If only they knew if there were some other buildings beyond the hill, to retreat to...

Still, from tactical point of view, staying inside was something akin to fighting over a dumpster. No real value in it.

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

"Alright, we need to get going." Emma stated as she heard the radio "This place is not a safe spot." She had wanted to camp them out here, to offer some comfort, but they needed to get going. She watches the troupe as they exit, handing out the caffeine tablets she found previously to Samia and Adrian.

[bramblefoot]

"yes ma'am" tomasz murmurs and stalks through the rubble to take point

[Volthawk]

Adrian gestures over to the things he'd found. "So what are we keeping out of that stuff? Don't know about you, but I can't see myself carrying much more and still hiking at a decent pace."

[Metastachydium]

"Understood, Ma'am." Samia is more than a little relieved to get out of the house before it would get a real chance to crush her and some of those other people she really needs for her continued survival. That she didn't have to set foot in the basement at all is a nice boon. "Thank you, Ma'am" she adds when Emma gives her a convenient excuse to do so alongside the tablet she's quick to swallow.
Adrian, however is just as quick to kill her enthusiasm. "That's a valid concern." she remarks with a nod. "I'm not exactly built to carry load like that either." She's definitely keeping the book, though. And the earrings. She's definitely keeping the earrings.

[Harmony]

Lt Emma Weber

“Decide if we need something and if it’s important enough to carry it. You got one minute.” Emma wanted to get moving, but they might have seen something they could have use for, and they should probably know by now if it was something vital.

[bramblefoot]

tomasz will sling the shotgun shells in his pack and stalk out

[Lacco]

It took them a bit over a minute to stuff the items into backpacks and be on their way. Outside, the wind calmed down a bit, doing wonders for the visibility. The first signs of twilight were visible directly opposite the front door of the building - they could finally see the mountains on the horizon, eastwards.

They walked, first across something that felt like a snowed-over gravel trail, but then, as the path disappeared, they just trudged across the snow, to the treeline on the hill. Up the hill, through a saddle between the two peaks. By the time you reach the saddle, sun is just reaching the the horizon.

You are in a middle of a forest, going downhill, but as soon as you reach a meadow, you observe the horizon. There are dark clouds, rolling in from the north, a covering the opposing hill - some smaller buildings are visible that way, near the top of the hill. To the west, you see mostly forest, and something that looks like a road, few kilometers down the hill, heading westwards. To east, before the sun rises and it becomes too bright to look, you see a settlement - roads, houses - somewhere around a kilometer down the hill.

At the moment, there is no movement, save for few stray birds on the horizon. That's when you hear the radio come alive again. They - whoever they are - are reporting the start of the search.

Few moments later, the sound of a motor revving cuts through the silent freezing air. It sounds distant, coming somewhere from the east.