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Twilight 2000 - The Modern Dark Ages : The Abridged Version Chapter 8
GM - Fusilier
Chapter 8 - Gdansk - Free City : August 6, 2000
Summary: The unit settles into their new base of operations. They take a mission to Hel Peninsula to recover supplies from a sunken ammunition ship. The team agrees to a mission from the spook to recover the missing Black Madonna.

Mad Dogs Unit Roster:
John Jameson McCarthy - player
Helmut Meyer - NPC
Varis Babicevs - player
Arthur Fox - NPC
Oskar Friedmann - player
Jonathan Young - NPC
Francis "Frank" Benucci - player
Robert Mitchell - player
Mike Catchings - player
Anna - NPC
Caleb Mulcahy - player
Ferro - player
Luis Ortega - player
Steve (Will) Williamson - player
Billy “Crack” O’Brien - player
Alex Michaels - Now an NPC
Joe Morgan - NPC
Eikki Termonen - player
Aleksandar Mazurek - NPC
Janusz - NPC

PC Assets:
UAZ
Motorcycle
Zil-131 Truck

Relevant Chapter Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ykiIY2xrbt_JhUHA5BRj7sJ3M3A&msa=0&ll=54.34865512671352%2C18.791245150674513&spn=0.194545%2C0.617294&z=13

• The battle for Ladas Compound comes to a close. The opfor’s boat ends up escaping due to the mist, and the friendly IB gunboat was unable to reacquire it.
  
• The wounded, (Mitchell, Ferro, and Janusz) are taken to the basilica for medical treatment. Ferro is released after a shower and some food, and the other two are kept and immediately go into surgery to save their lives.
  
• Back at the salvage yard, the group goes about consolidating their win and scrounging through the compound.
  
• They also interrogate their prisoner, who at first claims to have been contracted from the MU, but the group quickly discerns that he was part of the Opfor group. When confronted, the man stops talking to the group and awaits his fate in silence.
  
• Oskar Friedmann is tasked with taking the motorcycle and finding the 8th. He is to ask General Webb for orders for the Mad Dogs and then return to the unit ASAP. This is all to determine if the Mad Dogs should continue with their plan for Gdansk, or if they should instead continue attempting to re-link up with the division.
  
• The IB shows up and takes the "MU" prisoner and the chemical gas tanks off the unit’s hands.
  
• The Mad Dogs finish securing and digging in to Ladas former salvage yard, and take ownership of a tow truck.
  
• The group inquires about Kaminski, then splits into multiple groups.

Group 1 tasks:
*Tasked with investigating local ruins (recycling plant and a small commercial property next to the river, that turns out to be a fueling station).

• The group clears the recycling plant of danger and salvage and heads to the fueling station. There they meet Valeska, a local ship captain. Valeska offers her boat for hire and offers to trade. Group 1 says they’ll take the offer back and will return if they need her.

Group 2 tasks:
*Find out what happened to Lt. Boswell.
*Learn about a mission offer from Wright (given when Ortega’s team joined up.)
*Find out about a missing ammo ship
*Contact Kaminski

• Group 2 meets with the IB leadership. Learns that the earlier mission to extract Pavel Adamowicz from Nowe Ogrody was an agreement with Gustaw Adamowicz (leader of the Sobieszewo Island). If Pavel and his family could be saved, Gustaw would turn over the location of an ammunition ship.
  
• Mad dogs have a new mission: to return Pavel to the island and expedite recovery operations on the ship’s hold. Mission should commence by aug 28th, with recovery ops starting by aug 31st. They’ll have an IB liaison to deal with specific issues that arise, but unknown as to who the liaison will be.
  
• The mysterious civilian soldiers are seen again at the IB HQ.
  
• Group 1 was not able to locate Boswell, and hasn't yet learned of the new mission from Wright.

(Continued)

• Group 1 then heads to the Bus Station and finds Kaminski, presumably with his woman and a baby, hiding out in the reclusive bus station community. Kaminski goes with the major’s group back to Ladas Compound, picking up Otto on the way. Kaminski ends up taking ownership of the salvage yard.
  
• Mitchell returns to the group as well, bringing with him a British soldier named Thomas Cooper.

Time skip of 3 weeks takes place. In the meantime, the team heals up, they get some cross-training completed, they get Ladas Compound up and running. The team also gets a tow truck and a civilian 5-ton truck working again from Lada's garage. In the city, there’s growing concern over food supplies for the coming winter. There have also been reprisals against those in the city that supported the soviet incursion. The Soviets have pulled out of the city entirely. There are localized outbreaks of cholera, that have largely been dealt with by the Marians.
It is now aug 28th.

• Reina Ibanez arrives to act as liaison for the new mission.
  
• Ibanez helps to outline the mission parameters. The Mad Dogs are to transport Pavel Adamowicz, his wife and child to his brother on Sobieszewo Island. They are then to help expedite the recovery of any munitions from the sunken ammunition ship, and provide assistance wherever possible.
  
• The team goes to pick up Pavel and his family, and once they have them the Mad Dogs start heading east. When they get to the Benzynowa road turnoff, they see a uaz in some buildings to the south and hear sounds of fighting - a diversionary raid to keep the Soviet patrols occupied. They come to a stop. An enemy zsu-23-2 is spotted and starts firing upon the convoy. The group heads back away from what appears to be a Soviet observation post and turns north, hoping to bypass the Soviets entirely. They do so successfully and reach Sobieszewo Island, and Gustav, without further provocation.
  
• Gustav welcomes his brother, sister-in-law and niece, then tells the player of the wreck. It is off the coast of the Hel Peninsula. Gustav then informs the Mad Dogs that they waited too long to come though, as two ships from the Polish Navy (from Gdynia) are now moored in Hel, hoping to salvage the ammunition ship for themselves. The sunken ship was led by one Lt.Cmdr Vicky Gordon and her crew. Gustav explains that he thinks the party should do a landing in Hel and scuttle the Polish ships before attempting the salvage operation.
  
• Everyone is on edge because there has not been adequate scouting done, and Gustav is pushing hard to go on with the mission regardless. Lt. Commander Gorden from the HMS Caliph is present during the deliberations.
  
• The plan is to land on Hel Peninsula. The Mad Dogs are to take out a Communication/OP before proceeding into the harbor itself. Once that’s complete, a platoon from Tarawa Co. and another from Sobieszewo Island will hit the harbor in force. Lt. Commander Gorden’s surviving crew will then board and scuttle the two Polish Navy ships.
  
• Olek, one of Gustav’s men will accompany the party, as he knows the terrain on Hel Peninsula.
  
• Gustav lets McCarthy know that the girl they brought with them last time is safe, but that two of the prisoners escaped (from Cutter’s group, perhaps Cutter himself?).
  
• A meeting takes place with the command elements. Marine platoon is led by a Capt. Sutton. The mysterious civilian dressed guys (4 Scandinavians and two Poles) show up to the meeting led by a man named Erik. The Mad Dogs take possession of two inflatable rafts.
  
• The party makes ready to set sail. Commander Gorden and her crew are coming with the Mad Dogs aboard the Destiny Ascension, the MU's flagship. The ship is captained by Captain Pawlak.
  
• A random patrol boat is spotted along the way to Hel Peninsula, which shouldn’t be in the area. Pawlak radios the other boats to let them know it’s there, but nothing else of note arises from the encounter.
  1st Engagement on Hel Peninsula
  
• The Mad Dogs make it to Hel Peninsula (albeit 2km from the intended landing beach) then split into multiple groups: entry team, assault team, support team, cut off team, and the naval scuttling party (details on page 10). They then spot a horse-mounted patrol of two Polish soldiers further down the beach. The unit sets an ambush and using silenced weapons, the entry team dispatches the riders while others nab the horses to keep them from raising suspicion. The unit then ties the horses to a tree and head towards their OP objective, the lighthouse.
  
• Young and Steinhoff set up a mortar pit down the beach after being dropped off with another mortar team from the IB.
  
• Upon reaching their objective, the group manages to quietly kill two sentries.
  
• The entry team then breaches the ground floor of the lighthouse. They kill a number of hostiles, but one escapes up the stairs after putting a round into Caleb (turns out to have hit one of his smoke grenades). Gunfire then erupts from all over the lighthouse area.
  
• The entry team pursues and kills the runner in the lighthouse with a grenade and secure the radio.
  
• The shooting taking place around the support element was one of Lt. Commander Gorden’s sailors shooting at shadows. The cut off team has found enemies in the main building, who appear to just be shooting outward toward every shadow they see (they are navy men, not professional infantry).
  
• The entry team sabotages the radio and the only truck nearby, and push on to the town of Hel. On the way, Olek gets lost, and Eikki is dispatched to locate and retrieve him.
  
• Between the calvary and a truck at the lighthouse, the PCs realize that their intel was off substantially - this isn’t just a few sailors from the Polish Navy. It’s now clear that there is a significant ground force operating around Hel. This in turn puts the entire operation at risk.
  
• The marine landing is initiated. Sutton calls for aid so his men don’t get caught in a crossfire. The Mad Dogs, now in Hel, outline a new plan briefly, and put it into action. The Mad Dogs will now form multiple teams (Details of groups on page 15). The 3rd fireteam and the Weapons team will be dispatched to put pressure on the Poles hitting Sutton from a nearby power plant. HQ, 1st, 2nd, and Gorden's sailors will head to the two Polish Navy ships.
  
• In an on-the-fly change of plans, all groups descend on the power plant. While fireteams 1 and 2 assault, the rest provide covering fire. They down two enemies, while wounding a third. The wounded Pole manages to throw a grenade however, and one fragment hits Morgan in the arm. The breachers then get a foothold and assault into the power plant proper. Meanwhile, the supporting elements shift focus and begin firing on men attempting to reach the 2 ships. The 2 ships are identified as one gunboat, and one survey/research vessel.
  
• Fireteams 1 and 2 quickly subdue the power plant (and take 6 prisoners). A mortar strike lights the gunboat on fire with a WP round, and it starts drifting on fire, out of action.  Fireteam 3 successfully manages to board and take control of the survey ship, but Alex Michaels is hit in the chest by a lone gunman still occupying the bridge.
  
• The attacking forces' radio net starts getting jammed, and Sutton runs over for quick conference with JJM. It sounds like at least an additional 150 Poles are closing on their position in the Hel Naval Base, and Sutton intends on pulling out.
  
• In danger of being overrun, the Mad Dogs decide to attempt an exfiltration by using the Polish prisoners (now including some of the folks from the power plant as well as some captured on the ship itself) to man the survey ship, effectively leaving the unit’s mortar squad (Young and Steinhoff), Eikki and Olek to fend for themselves. There’s 150 poles closing in quickly, and it’s the only way to save the rest of the unit.
  
• Then the large Polish force arrives and starts shooting at the escaping survey ship, critically wounding Morgan.
  
• The unit makes their escape on the Survey Ship ORP Kopernik. En route, they pick up Eikki and learn that Olek is dead (Eikki seems a little suspicious about it). They then proceed to go around the tip of Hel Peninsula and work their way up the side toward the mortar team’s location, fearing the worst.
  
• The unit sees the mortar pits empty from the boat, and after Gorden suggests leaving the men, JJM instead sends a shore party to try to find them.
  
• Shore party (Ortega, O’Brien, Benucci, Ferro, Babicevs, Mulcahy, Williamson, and Mitchell in 2 zodiacs) investigate and it appears as though the mortar team (Jonathan Young and Felix Steinhoff, Low Blow, and 4 IB men) have been captured by the Poles. JJM orders the shore party to withdraw, and just as they reach the raft, Heinrik (one of the Scandinavians) arrives and let’s them know that the rest of his team (3 of them left) is a half klick down the beach and need a pick up. Ortega agrees and they team starts powering south in the raft. Getting close, one of the zodiacs hits something in the water, and Mulcahy goes overboard. Meanwhile back on the survey ship Mike begins surgery on Michaels.
  
• The shore party successfully extracts the mysterious group, who lose another man during the extraction (Erik, Heinrik, and Kristian remain). The zodiacs return to the ship and they set sail back for the mainland.
  
• The team debarks at sea via raft, and Lt. Commander Gorden will wait til night to take the survey ship to hide in the Wisla shipyard (they don’t want to involve Sobieszewo Island’s community in a conflict with Gdynia if they can possibly help it).
  
• On returning to the island, the team meets Maria Ostrowski, who offers them assistance in the form of a place to stay and a boat (for a price) that can take them back into Gdansk. The team ends up sending Morgan with Michaels to Gdansk to the hospital to get patched up. A pregnant woman goes with them.
  
• Maria raises orphans in her hotel, and is concerned about them not having proper schooling. JJM teaches one of the boys (Stanislaw / Stan [Stan for short]) how to make paper. Other Mad Dogs offer Maria some help with random odd jobs around her hotel.
  
• Mike and Fox set up a temporary medical clinic, and greatly assist the island's residents with medical concerns while the team was billeted here.
  
• O’Brien goes to help disarm an unexploded aerial bomb in a nearby bog. The locals had wanted it moved and used as a remote controlled mine on the main road, but after seeing the 500lb Mk 82 bomb, O’Brien had deemed it too dangerous - the bomb was in poor condition. They instead decide to detonate it in place.
  
• Ortega sees a small boat full of men down at the river returning from Hel. Many are wounded. 6 marines are with them under a SSgt. Coleman. Coleman’s team were acting rearguard for Sutton’s force, and are getting picked up by a different boat the next day. They take the Polish prisoners off the Mad Dogs’s hands.
  
• Gustav returns that night, and is voted out of the town’s leadership based on his pushing the assault on Hel so quickly and without proper intel/scouting having been done. The town is now under the control of a ruling council (which includes Ostrowski).
  
• The team spends the next couple of days in place on Sobieszewo Island, helping the locals, and waiting for Gorden's people to finish up the salvage operation.
  
• Finally, the salvage operation has been completed, and the Mad Dogs are tasked, along with a couple of extra trucks, Coleman’s men, and Cpt. Beale to get the ordinance back to friendly forces in Gdansk.
  
• The Mad Dogs start a night operation to move the convoy into Gdansk. On the way, they find the former PACT Observation post on Route 501 with fresh bodies present. Deciding that they’re heading into an ambush, the party turns south to dictate the coming enemy contact on their own terms, hoping to make use of a Rail Bridge South of Gdansk.
  1st Engagement at the Rail Bridge south of Gdansk
  
• The convoy halts while an advance team crosses stealthily across the bridge. The advance team encounters 3 scouts on the far side of the bridge, and a minor firefight ensues. One of the enemies throws a grenade, sending shrapnel into the legs of both O’Brien and Benucci, who also manage to take a single prisoner while the grenade thrower escapes into the night.
  
• Meanwhile, the convoy hears the noise from the firefight and starts moving toward the bridge. Upon crossing it, they begin taking heavy mortar and machine gun fire from the nearby PACT outpost just south in Przejazdowo. Mortar fire pops two wheels on one of the cargo trucks, and machine gun fire causes the tow truck to crash and roll.
  
• The UAZ stops to pick up the advance team. As the advance team closes toward the UAZ, having to circumnavigate the incoming mortar fire, Mitchell steps on a land mine and disappears in a cloud of smoke. He's wounded very badly, with his legs basically turned to hamburger.
  
• Coleman in his Humvee also stops, and the advance team manages aboard.
  
• The unit then races back to Gdansk, with Beale driving O’Brien, Benucci, and Mitchell to St. Mary’s for medical attention. Mitchell is left overnight, with everyone else ending up back at what was Ladas Compound but is now Kaminskis salvage yard. Kaminski is waiting for them there, with a note for JJM from Vincent Wright.
  
• JJM, Ortega, Babicevs, and Ferro go to meet Wright’s middleman to find out Wright’s location. The middleman turns out to be a young boy in front of the Neptune cinemas. He gives the group a map to Wright, who is currently located in Siedlce Gdanski. The rest of the team goes shopping at the solidarity market.
  
• Around this time, it's also revealed that Ferro has worked with Wright and a group of men surrounding him in the past.
  
• JJM and crew come to a restaurant in Siedlce Gdanski, that clearly has electricity and a security camera, as well as well-armed security personnel in a room just inside the door. Then, after meeting Wright, the spook informs the Major that he needs the Mad Dogs' help with a mission in Częstochowa. The mission: to recover a suitcase nuke that was presumed lost. Wright now has info as to the nuke's whereabouts, but apparently so does the kgb.
  
• The players are to be transported to within a day or two of the target location by helicopter. The return is scheduled to happen via an old plane (Douglas DC-3).
  
• Wright promises more information about how to reconnect with the 8th ID upon the unit's successful return to Gdansk. He also mentions that the Mad Dogs are his B team. His A team was a group of five mercenaries, whom he lost contact with within a couple of days of his A team's entry into the area surrounding Częstochowa.
  
• After JJM inquires, Wright also tell him that Lt. Boswell is alive and had helped him during the PACT siege of Gdansk, but that Boswell was currently being held as a prisoner by the Aniolki militia.
  
• As a sign of good faith, Wright offers to have Mitchell smuggled to Denmark and then England, as his legs are too destroyed for him to ever do additional patrol work.
  
• JJM decides to let go of the somewhat recalcitrant Janusz, probably due to an earlier fistfight Janusz had with Catchings.
  
• Meyer, Michaels, Anna and the Poles will not be coming on this mission.
  
• Eikki Termonen leaves in the middle of the night.
  
• The next morning, the Mad Dogs board a CH-47 Chinook, bound for southern Poland.
  
• Onboard the helo, Wright informs JJM that the mission about a missing nuke was a lie. The real mission he has for the Mad Dogs is to recover the Black Madonna, and that the French now have a special operations team inbound to Częstochowa as well, also attempting to recover the painting. The Madonna is supposedly somewhere under the Jasna Gora Monastery, and supposedly anyone who controls it will have significant influence over all of Poland's people.
  
• A man (Jaromir Wysocki - forger) will also join the unit on this mission to verify the authenticity of the painting.
  
• Robert Mitchell makes it back to England and lives happily ever after, albeit missing a foot, with 2 fingers that don’t work, and shrapnel scars all over his body.

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