While the tug crew maintains watch, the shore party hops on to the rather rickety dock and heads towards the hamlet. The settlement appears to have been abandoned some time ago, its dwellings slowly falling apart due to neglect and the unceasing machinations of mother nature. It does not appear to have seen much, if any, in the way of fighting.
The first house is more or less gutted, as is the second. Scavengers have clearly visited this neighborhood before, likely several times. In the third house, the party finds a family of raccoons, like most of the Kommando, an invasive species here in Poland.
At the fourth house, the shore party finds signs of human habitation. There's a stack of firewood against the southern wall and an old icebox against the northern wall; it's locked with a rusty padlock. The ground near the front door has been worn smooth and hard by the passage of many feet (or the same feet many times). Behind the house (on its west side), they find a large stump used as a chopping block. A small pile of logs waiting to be split into faggots sits nearby. Scattered around the chopping block are several large bones, split as if by an axe. Since there are only pieces, its not clear what animal they belong to. Leaving the workspace, the the shore party returns to front of the house and calls out to the occupant; they receive no reply. After five minutes of calling and waiting, Konrad decides to enter the dwelling. The shore party does so cautiously, ready for the worst. Fortunately, no one is currently home. The interior of the small abode is fully but modestly furnished, the hearth still warm. The kitchen table is scared with hundreds of cuts and gashes, much of its surface stained dark with blood; the place reeks of its coppery tang. A meat cleaver is lodged upright in the wooden tabletop. Whoever lives here likely left in a hurry when he or she heard the tug arrive.
Warren, in the sniper's eerie atop the Krolowa's bridge, keeps an eye on the surrounding countryside. He provides overwatch as the shore party enters the dwelling. Looking through the bare branches of the woods west along the road that parallels the Vistula here, Warren spots six riders approaching. They wear brownand grey and a few of the men sport Ushanka hats. All are armed, AK-style rifles slung across their chests. They slow as they approach the hamlet. About 400m from the westernmost structure, they stop. One of the riders leaves the road and angles towards the river. From here, near the muddy bank, he glasses the hamlet, scanning the settlement from a distance. He quickly spots the tug and a brief, animated discussion with his roadbound comrades ensues. Two of the riders break off from the party and gallop north, the way they'd come, while two more riders, one of them removing a white cloth from his saddlebag, begin to ride towards the village at a canter. As they approach, the man slows his mount, raises the white cloth, and waves it vigorously overhead. The two remaining riders stay put where they'd stopped, watching their comrades attempt a parlay. (At the moment, the riders can't be seen from any point on the tug lower than the bridge roof.)
Updated tac-map: https://maps.google.com/maps/m...pn=0.009693,0.033023
OOC: Anneka's dead body is cooling on the cot in sickbay. Brunch is cooling in the galley.
Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:16, Mon 24 Dec 2012.