RolePlay Wiki

Twilight 2000 - The Modern Dark Ages : The Abridged Version Chapter 12
GM - Fusilier
Chapter 12 - Northern Poland - Winter is Coming: September 23, 2000
Summary: The team finally makes it back to Gdansk, and move to a new billet. They meet with Wright to give over the Black Madonna, but shit goes south due to the interference of enemy forces. The Mad Dogs then try to ambush those enemy forces, but don't pull it off. There's a guy with grenades in his armpits. Finally, the team goes and recovers a bunch of heavy ordinance from Starogard Gdanski to help finance future operations.

Mad Dogs Unit Roster:
John Jameson McCarthy - player
Helmut Meyer - NPC
Varis Babicevs - player
Arthur Fox - NPC
Francis "Frank" Benucci - player
Anna - NPC
Caleb Mulcahy - player
Ferro - player
Luis Ortega - player
Billy “Crack” O’Brien - player
Alex Michaels - NPC
Joe Morgan - NPC
Thomas Cooper - NPC
Aleksandar Mazurek - NPC
Thomas Marshall - player
Per Kolstrup - player
Johnny Leota - player
Roy Barnett - player
Owen Hollister - player
David "Tosh" Lines - player
Katarzyna Majchrzak - NPC

PC Assets:
Ambulance model BMP
Armored Humvee
Humvee

• The Humvee (diversion Humvee) outside of town creates a diversion by laying fire toward the BRDM-2, then the armored Humvee (recovery Humvee) that has gone back to pick up Lines races out from the town. The BRDM starts a pursuit, and as the Mad Dog's ambulance BMP starts moving, a few rounds hit it and it rolls into a ditch. Ortega had dismounted earlier to help with the diversion, and takes a bullet to the hand (taking off most of his ring finger) as he’s throwing a smoke grenade. As the recovery Humvee from town passes by the now non-moving BMP, it stops to let Babicevs and JJM out. JJM goes to check on the BMP. Keith Grady was killed; Katarzyna was injured but is largely okay. The BMP now has a damaged, but still operable track.
  
• At the diversion Humvee, Hollister takes a round to the shoulder, but it doesn’t penetrate his Kevlar. Babicevs takes a shot at the BRDM with an RPG-7, and scores a clean kill on it. The diversion team gets back in their Humvee and guns it. Switching out drivers in the BMP, the three vehicles complete their escape and again start heading toward Gdansk. They keep Grady's body in the back of the BMP in order to return it to the IB.
  
• At a waypoint near Egiertowo, the vehicles stop to assess their situation. Marshall takes a look at the BMP and does what he can for the track, even though he doesn’t have any proper tools with him. Barnett runs some work on all of the wounded, and the situation is grim for Leota and Lines. Morgan’s infection also isn’t getting better. Cooper’s arm is still fucked. Ortega, Hollister, O’Brien and Benucci should be alright though after some rest.
  
• The Mad Dogs drive through Borcz and see civilians watching them - they don't know if the civilians are reporting their position. Then at Zukowo, they find a major defensive line, where there are a lot of old fortifications and minefields from early in the war blocking the western approaches to Gdansk.
  
• The team turns east, and eventually enters the Gdansk neighborhood of Nowe Ogrody (where Tom Handley died earlier). There, they see a checkpoint. Upon investigation, the leader of the checkpoint is none other than Zajac Narutowicz - former Mad Dog himself. Zajac also has an American prisoner whom he claims is a deserter, and asks JJM to take the prisoner back to the IB. JJM agrees. Meanwhile, Ortega is able to get Wright on the horn, and tries to get control of the Black Madonna from Wright's remaining "A team" members. There's some concern that D'Arcy and Seeley may just run off with it before it can be given back to Wright. Seeley takes the Black Madonna and moves to Ortega’s Humvee, and the vehicles move through the checkpoint.
  
• Upon reaching the old city, Ferro’s Humvee heads for Kaminskis (Ladas Former) Compound, while everyone else makes for St Mary’s with the wounded.

Ferro’s Humvee

• The group in Ferro’s Humvee (Ferro, Ortega, O’Brien, Benucci, and Seeley with the Black Madonna) head toward Kaminskis Compound and greet the shady businessman. Ortega inquires about Michaels, Meyer, and Anna. Alex Michaels left a few days ago with a free company, but otherwise seemed good when he left - he was proud to be a part of the Mad Dogs. Anna and Meyer are still around, but apparently the IB had contemplated arresting them for desertion at some point, and the IB has confiscated a lot of the Mad Dogs' old gear while they were away.
  
• Kaminski mentions that he’s almost done with Ladas Compound, and is moving to a new location - the old rowing club.
  
• Wright radios to set up a meeting the next morning at the Neptune Theater. Then the group, with Meyer and Anna, head to St Mary’s to link back up with everyone else.

Everyone else

• The rest of the Mad Dogs in the other Humvee and the BMP, head to St Mary’s. JJM assigns tasks to everyone, and meets Zajac’s prisoner, petty officer Dean Wilson, USN. He offers to let Dean join the Mad Dogs, and Wilson accepts.
  
• A man named Albert lets the Mad Dogs know that compensation will be expected for treating their wounded, and JJM pays up with a deposit in the form of a gold tooth. Fox lets Marshall know that he might have luck finding spares for the BMP from the group’s old BMP across the canal (where Jagelis was killed). Morgan, Cooper, Lines, and Leota will stay at the church for recovery, and Hollister and Barnett opt to stay with them as well. Ferro’s Humvee returns, and the group decides to go check on the old BMP, then make for Kaminskis new compound.

(Continued)

• The Mad Dogs, together again, make for the old BMP. While there, they’re approached by Captain Thomas (now Major Thomas) with a group of armed marines. Thomas inquires about Catchings, who was on loan from the IB. JJM lets him know that Catchings is dead, and also about Keith Grady along with Grady's driver. Major Thomas informs JJM that Colonel Hawthorne is now General Hawthorne, but is still wheelchair bound and so Major Lewis is still acting commander. Major Thomas then departs with Grady’s body.
  
• First mention of the rowing club, page 7. Aleksandar is helping man the gate, and welcomes the Mad Dogs back. JJM talks to Meyer, who gives him a sitrep. He mentions that Kaminski has no plans for the winter. Also, he provides a strategic update.
  
• Strategic update: The Russians have started a low level siege campaign to keep pressure on the city.
  
• The Mad Dogs settle in for the night, but not before Marshall gets the missing BMP parts and sets to work on repairs, the unit does a patrol sweep of the surrounding area, and tries to figure out the best place to set up defenses around the compound. Wilson also does some medical work on the remaining wounded that didn’t want to stay overnight at the basilica.
  
• Fox and Benucci take a Humvee back to St Mary’s, with Fox intending to relieve Hollister and Barnett. When Benucci, Hollister, and Barnett return, Barnett gives the news that Johnny Leota has died from his injuries. The group beds down in the gymnasium for the night.
  
• In the morning, Kaminski informs JJM that he has someone coming to install a new windmill at the compound. He also mentions not to go Dolne Miasto, as there’s been a cholera outbreak there.
  
• The unit then breaks into 3 groups.

Compound group

• Group 1 (Hollister, Meyer, Aleksandar, Anna, and Katarzyna) stay at the compound and continue working on setting defensive measures.

Trade group

• Group 2 (Ortega, Kolstrup, Benucci, Marshall, Wilson, and Barnett) heads to the docks and meets with a stern haggler named Makarewicz. He sells the group 60 liters of fuel and 600kg of dried fish - enough protein for 3 weeks. Group 2 then heads to Rajska and Solidarity markets for basic combat goods. Specifically, they want tools, 40mm grenades and medical supplies. They largely succeed in acquiring what they were looking for, then head back to the compound.

Wright meeting

• Group 1 (JJM, Ferro, O’Brien, Mulcahy, Babicevs, Seeley, and D’Arcy) heads to meet Vincent Wright and turn over the Black Madonna for their reward of information that could get them home. Getting to the Neptune Theater, no one seems to be present, which is unusual for the normally punctual Wright.
  
• The small group investigates, and eventually are surprised by a guard in the darkened interior of the theater. The guard takes them to meet Wright in the managers office, who is impressed by the Mad Dogs resourcefulness in acquiring the Black Madonna. Then, Wright provides a situational update to the Mad Dogs commander, explaining that the Soviet Baltic front is largely falling apart after the siege of Gdansk, and that the Madonna may help break the existing stalemate. He also lets McCarthy know about Americans pulling out of Europe through a German port in a couple of months, and that the opportunity is a path home for the Mad Dogs that want it. JJM decides that he’ll speak with his team first about possibly going home.
  Engagement at the Neptune Theater
  
• Out back, Mulcahy and Babicevs see movement on the roof of the theater, and radio it in. Wright lets everyone know that he has no men on the roof, and that he’s leaving. From a story above, gunfire erupts at the covert group. O’Brien responds by throwing a cluster of grenades at the attacker, and the group moves to the front door toward a waiting taxi belonging to Wright. Outside, the other Mad Dogs have engaged in a vicious firefight with unseen attackers.  JJM, Seeley, Wright, D’Arcy, a Polish agent of Wright’s, and O’Brien then throw a smoke, and pile out of the theater just as Ferro, Mulcahy and Babicevs roll up in the Humvee. JJM appears to take a bullet to his hip, but it may have been a ricochet and doesn’t wound him too badly. Wright is shot in the shoulder. D’Arcy takes a round to the thigh as everyone piles into the Humvee, though due to seating Seeley and the Polish agent stand on the rear of the vehicle and hold on. As the Humvee gets moving, an rpg hits the rear, taking off one of he Polish agent's legs and fatally wounding him. Tim Seeley also falls from the back of the Humvee, and is left behind as the Humvee speeds off toward st Mary’s. Thankfully, D’Arcy still has the black Madonna in its carrying case. In the back seat, Wright tells JJM to find a man named Walter Krupp and to complete the mission. JJM radios Ortega and tells him to take the zodiac from Kaminski's and go to the Westerplatte with 2 other Mad Dogs in order to find Krupp, and for the rest of the Mad Dogs to head to St. Mary’s to act as security. JJM is worried that after the attack on the team at the Neptune Theater, that St. Mary's may not be safe either. The Humvee with the Black Madonna group arrives at St Mary’s and the doctors there take in Wright, and then the other Humvee carrying the rest of the Mad Dogs (those not on assignment to the Westerplatte) arrives.

Westerplatte group

• Upon receiving the orders from JJM - Ortega, Kolstrup, Meyer, and Aleksandar head to the Westerplatte to find Krupp. Aleksandar stays with the zodiac, and the others cruise up the beach to find Walter Krupp almost immediately. They also find some local thugs bothering a group of civilians at a shipping container that had washed ashore. After disarming them, Ortega has Kolstrup and Aleksandar tie up the thugs, while he himself goes to meet with Krupp. Krupp is recalcitrant at first, but after some of the thugs' friends arrive and start shooting, he jumps in the zodiac with the Mad Dogs and they power away.
  
• While on the boat, Krupp tells Ortega that he knows the location of a German army forward fuel depot that may still have a significant amount of fuel in it, but that bandits are aware of its location as well. The group manages to make it back to Kaminskis, but not before the outboard engine dies and they have to row the last few hundred meters.

St Mary’s Group

• JJM believes the group that attacked them at the Neptune Theater were East Germans, hoping to snatch the Black Madonna, and he’s concerned that they will attempt to infiltrate St Mary’s. He comes up with a cunning plan for D’Arcy to take the invaluable painting with him into the basilica, while he takes the metal case and publicly looks to vacate the area, hoping that the opfor is watching him closely enough to follow him. JJM then tell Babicevs to take the rest of the Mad Dogs ahead to set up an ambush, expecting the opfor to follow him into it. Marshall stays as the Major’s driver along with Benucci and O’Brien, but the Humvee has a cracked radiator, and may not make the it the 10km they have planned for the route.
  
• Babicevs's group heads to Fort Grodzisko (formerly seen in chapter 5), and set up their ambush.
  
• Near the ambush site, the Humvee overheats, and JJM gets help from locals to push it the last few hundred meters.
  2nd Engagement at Fort Grodzisko
  
• Still a block away from the waiting ambush site, JJM's group is confronted by an old Polish man with grenades in his armpits. Yes. Grenades in his armpits. He says men put them there, and said JJM’s group were the only ones that could help him. McCarthy tells the ambushers to look for snipers, and slowly moves out to help the man. After getting one grenade safe, the man tells JJM that it was some Germans and a Finn that had done this to him. Just then a shot rings out, hitting the old Polish man in the shoulder, dropping the grenade. JJM picks it up and throws it, but not soon enough. It explodes and peppers his arm and the back of his neck.
  
• At the same, the ambush springs, but Babicevs's team doesn’t know where all of the opfor are. In the ensuing firefight, Wilson takes a bullet to the abdomen.
  
• O’Brien attempts to rush out to save the Major, and takes a graze to his arm. He also takes 2 rounds to his gut, but the rounds seem to be stopped by his body armor. When he lies flat, he also takes a round to the back of his leg. The Humvee then drives out, intending to block LOS from the snipers to McCarthy and O’Brien, with Benucci laying down cover fire from the mounted machine gun. The opfor loses steam except for one determined shooter, and Benucci takes a graze to his shoulder. JJM, O’Brien, and the old Polish man enter the vehicle.
  
• Meanwhile, Hollister is taken hostage by a German with a leg wound. The group refuses his demands however, and offer him a nearby bicycle in return for letting Hollister go. The man relents, grabs the bike, and peddles out of the area.
  
• The firefight winds down, and the Mad Dogs take both vehicles and leave the area, stopping back at St Mary’s to cool down and drop off the wounded old Polish man. Then both vehicles head back to Kaminski’s compound. The Mad Dogs decide that the theater and sniper ambushes were in fact perpetrated by Hauptmann Schweppenburg and Eikki Termonen.

(Continued)

• The unit needs to rest. JJM holds a meeting, and tells the unit that from Wright, he learned that the US military is evacuating Europe from Bremerhaven. He says that he’d like to stay and continue building Gdansk, and create a free coast all along the Baltic from Gdansk to Riga. He wants to continue making strikes against the Soviets through the winter, and then try to link back up with the 8th ID in the spring. The unit decides to stay, and plans are made. Initial thinking is to bolster the unit’s armor capability - but for that they need money and fuel. They decide to go grab those mortar rounds from near Starogard Gdanski and sell them in order to finance operations. Afterward, they hope to go get Krupp’s diesel. Before any of that though, they need to heal and rest.

Time skip starting September 26th. The wounded are all ready for action again, except for Cooper whose arm is still in a splint. Barnett has been spending more and more time at St Mary’s, and it seems only a matter of time until he decides to stay there. Morale for the unit is about as high as it's ever been, despite all of the wounds incurred recently. Simon DArcy drops off an 81mm mortar and a manpack radio (callsign "slingshot"). The Mad Dogs continue improving the compound. Krupp sets up a lab and moves into the compound, bringing with him a Volkswagen Iltis, an AGS-17, a PTRS-41 anti-armor rifle, an IR NODLR system, and various mines and ammunition.It is now Oct 10th

• The Mad Dogs plan to go grab the mortar rounds near Starogard Gdanski (in the truck at the bottom of the ravine), but first they take a brief shopping trip. As the convoy is getting ready to go, Kaminski introduces his new driver, Artur Szukala. In the convoy will be the armored Humvee, the BMP ambulance, the Iltis, and Kaminski's flatbed truck. The convoy then heads out to Starogard Gdanski.
  
• At the checkpoint near Chelm, a militia commander asks JJM to escort a minibus to Skarszewy. After some negotiating, the Mad Dogs will drive together with the minibus all the way to Godziszewo, where the Humvee will turn west and escort the minibus the last few kilometers. The Humvee will then link back up with the other vehicles in Trzcinsk.
  
• On the road, the unit successfully bypasses an engagement at the crossing of the Radunia River, west of Pruszcz Gdanski. A few minutes north of Godziszewo, they come across an abandoned van and small ambulance, along with corpses. Some of the civilians in the civilian minibus recognize some of the dead, and cry out in anguish. Frank recognizes George Rawlinson as one of the dead as well. They take Rawlinson’s body in the BMP, and keep moving. The Humvee delivers the minibus, and links back up with the main body of the convoy with no difficulty.
  
• The Mad Dogs continue to Starogard Gdanski, and locate both the mortar and Carl Gustav rounds in the truck at the bottom of the ravine under the train tracks, just where they had left them. Everything still seems to be intact. And quiet.
  Engagement at the Rail Bridge west of Starogard Gdanski
  
• The Mad Dogs successfully pull out truck parts, mortar rounds and 8 Carl Gustav rounds. They’re almost done loading when 4 men on horseback are spotted near the train tracks. The team grabs their gear and get ready for a fight. 2 more riders show up, making the enemy count 6. The sound of an engine is also heard somewhere near the riders. Soon, a BMP-2 comes around the bend, with mounted soldiers riding atop it and a foot element trailing behind. The firefight is fast and frantic. The Humvee jets out of there in a flanking attempt, but as they approach the railroad tracks behind the BMP, they see an entire convoy, including a tanker truck, mortar, trucks, UAZ's, an MTLB, and more.
  
• Babicevs tags the BMP with an HEDP grenade from the side. Benucci manages to put some .50 rounds into the tanker truck, setting it alight.
  
• Due to the terrain and Mad Dogs being on different sides of the ravine as the convoy approaches, the group is quickly forced to split up. The Iltis and BMP on one side of the bridge, with the Humvee and Kaminski's flatbed on the other side. JJM and Babicevs get left behind (intentionally) at the railway crossing, and will attempt to link back up later. The Humvee and flatbed decide their only path not currently covered by the opfor goes into Starogard Gdanski and start moving in that direction, following the river. Eventually they reach a bridge back over the river to the north, but it is blocked by all manner of obstacles. The group decides to plant charges to clear the bridge for use. The Iltis and the BMP meanwhile, are also moving east along the train tracks, and work to link up with the Humvee and flatbed near the bridge.
  
• JJM and Babicevs are stealthily leaving the salvage area when they’re attacked by a pack of wild dogs. JJM puts a .45 round into the head of one and the others disperse, but this alerts any nearby Poles remaining to their presence. Then the two Mad Dogs race eastward on foot, hoping to catch the 2 groups of vehicles. On the way deeper into Starogard Gdanski, they hear a vehicle. Meanwhile, the BMP and the Iltis see the opfor BMP about 1500m behind them on the train tracks slowly approaching their position.
  Engagement at Starogard Gdanski
  
• O’Brien, still planting charges on the bridge, narrowly avoids getting shot from someone to the south. A sniper steadily plinks away at the Mad Dogs and vehicles on both the north and south side of the bridge, as the enemy BMP approaches the northern group. JJM and Babicevs see two opfor UAZs with a small squad from where they are hiding.
  
• The Mad Dogs are essentially trying to link up between two prongs of Poles (the ones from the ravine earlier), and a sniper/spotter combo in the high rise. They know that they need to exfiltrate immediately or get bogged down in a fight they won’t be able to win.
  
• While some Mad Dogs engage the sniper, O’Brien scrambles off the bridge and blows his charge. Everyone then manages to clamber aboard the vehicles, and the convoy starts rolling again.
  
• The Mad Dogs cut east through a part of the city, then turn north. Running low on batteries for NVGs, the team decides to camp out in the forest for the night, rather than risk getting separated.
  
• The unit wakes the next morning to Fox alerting them to the sound of vehicles. Rather than investigate, JJM orders them to mount up and get out of there. They do so, and once again they’re heading north.
  
• About 20km outside of Gdansk, the Mad Dogs encounter a man named Dawid the Trader with a truck on the side of the road. Dawid advises them that he’s waiting for a Polish calvary patrol up ahead to pass, and JJM decides to halt the convoy to wait with him. A British soldier, Dawid’s scout, then appears from the woods nearby. The soldier’s name is Alan Little.
  
• The Mad Dogs send a patrol of their own to investigate, which finds what appears to be a bunker at the calvary’s location, along with a couple of horsemen still idling about. Based on the complications from the day before, the Mad Dogs no longer have enough fuel to take the 30km detour that would be needed to bypass the bunker - they decide to force their way through instead.
  Engagement at the crossroads bunker west of Pruszcz Gdanski
  
• The unit forms up into support and assault groups, and makes their way across empty fields toward the bunker, peppering it with .50 caliber fire from the Humvee. Assaulting, Meyer is the first and only one hit - a clean wound to his side. The total engagement goes fairly quickly, with it being discovered that these are largely second line Polish troops. The Mad Dogs overwhelm the Poles in short order and get moving again, with 2 prisoners added to their convoy.
  
• The Mad Dogs return to Gdansk, and drop Meyer off at St. Mary’s, who seems to be in good spirits despite his wound. Alan Little officially joins the unit. Everyone makes it back to the compound, except for Meyer and Roy Barnett.

Later

• The team then goes about splitting up between improving the vehicles, trading for more weapons, ammunition, and food, and improving the compound.
  
• Ortega takes a team to meet with Valeska, and outlines the Mad Dogs' interest in doing business with her. They then go upriver to meet with the Fisherman’s Union to see about trading away their two KPVs. Others from this group go to Ostrow Island to scrounge for metal for use in up-armoring the vehicles.
  
• Back at base, construction and fortification continues. The team was also able to mount the MAG machine gun and the AGS-17 to the Iltis.
  
• That night, Valeska comes by with a menu of items she’s willing to trade to the Mad Dogs.
  
• JJM also outlines his next plan - doing the math, the Mad Dogs won’t have enough to make it through the winter surviving off of loot from the enemy. He wants to visit Tencza’s and offer to buy a 5-ton truck, at least 20 empty barrels, and enough fuel to get to Krupp’s diesel cache.

Back to the Story Recaps
Main