NIGHT
KATIA decides to stay home with MARIN and guard the house.
PAVLE and EMILIA decide to go scavenging in OLD TOWN.
GUARD DUTY - NIGHT RAID
KATIA is guarding the house with MARIN, and KATIA is holding the KNIFE.
From a neighbor passing by, you have heard rumors of a CRIME WAVE going on around in the city... and there seems to be some restlessness in the air, more sporadic gunshots and related noise here and there, every now and then.
You hear clatter outside your door... sounds like someone puts down a bag filled with metal tools.
What does he want? is he burglar? does he know you are inside?
Katia will starts talking loudly to Marin, asking him to bring the gun to where she is. Hopefully the intruder will be scared off.
A moment of quiet… then you hear voice from the other side of the door: ““Hello good people, no need for that… I am handyman, I have family to feed, I am not begging, I work with my hands, do you need anything done? I can build or repair anything quickly as long as it is night, could you pay me with anything?”
KATIA opens the door… you make a deal with the handyman, he fixes your SIMPLE HEATER into working condition, and gets paid 1 HERB, 1 CIGARETTE and 1 MOONSHINE. Klon klonk klank as he goes to work and in no time the heater is pumping in the basement.
HOUSE and STORAGE updated.
Handymann thanks you for the opportunity to be of service, collects his tools and goes away.
Night continues…. with sporadic gunfire here and there every now and then, further away in the city…
until…
BUM BUM BUM … someone pounding on your door, tries to get it open but is not successful… it rumbles like the intruder is hitting it with a boulder or something, there are no voices, no calling at all. and then silence…
You try to see outside by peering between planks, you can make out a figure who is either sitting or kneeling by the door, doing something…
KATIA and MARIN try to get some stuff in front of door to barricade it… when
the whole house trembles with large explosion, door blows of the hinges and pushes inside, your thoughts are shrouded in darkness, you see figures running inside your house, hard to make out details in the smoke, hard to breathe and also hard to get up.
Now you have no front door to speak of… cold wind blowing in through the opening.
It will take 3 ACTIONS and 4 WOOD to put planks together for a new door.
( 3 separate actions or 3 ACTIONS together simultaneously by 3 characters )
When dust settles you realize the what it was - lot of your stuff is missing.
ITEMS stolen from your STORAGE: SUGAR, MEDS, ALCOHOL, MECHANICAL PART, ELECTRICAL PART, SHELL, LOCKPICK.
( STORAGE updated.)
Who was closer to the door (who gets lower diceroll?
KATIA or MARIN?
MARIN lucked out, he was closer to the door when it blew inward.
MARIN gets +1 WOUND so total = 
KATIA takes +2 DICE to her WOUND but no actual damage.
SCAVENGING
OK,
PAVLE and EMILIA go out into OLD TOWN area.
Starting with 14 ACTIONS to share between the two of you, they circle around avoiding a group of people, into the first house they encounter - and a closed DOOR… not locked, so you can simply open it.
PAVLE and EMILIA push the door open into the house… it creaks AND there was something behind the door, maybe a broomstick or something, which was pushed over and fell with a CLONK sound of wood hitting wooden floor… RAISE NOISE.
ON YOUR LEFT stairs leading up, and you hear some noise reaction from upstairs,
ON YOUR RIGHT open door to what looks like kitchen,
BEHIND THE STAIRS a safe hiding place which fits both of you, you cannot be seen as long as you stay there,
STRAIGHT AHEAD closed door leading deeper into the house,
ACTIONS 13
NOISE 3
PAVLE and EMILIA rush straight ahead to a closed door, possibly to living room?
RAISE NOISE
The door opens easy enough, just damp darkness greets them, a living room indeed… or at least half of it because the back wall has taken some big hit and partially crumbled and burnt down, the outer wall is almost gone and opens out into a dark backayrd garden which is surrounded by tall hedge wall… empty room, EMILIA and PAVLE get inside just in time to hear steps coming down the stairs… you close the door almost totally, but leave just a slight crack to observe what is going on in the hallway…
ACTIONS 12
NOISE 4
noise of heated argument from the hallway… raspy voice of man “you are not leaving, I will not allow it!” Sturdy man grabs a woman who tried to run out of the front door, holding a suitcase.He forcefully drags her inside again. “It is safer at my mother’s, let me go!” she breaks free and grabs the door handle again, her suitcase only barely closed. “I said you are staying!” angry man catches up with her and rips luggage from her hand. Woman gives up and goes back up stairs witht he man.
House get quiet, you can hear few times some movement above you, floor boards creaking as the pair settles into an upstairs room.
You notice something shiny on the floor in front of the front door, mus thave fallen out of woman’s suitcase.
You go carefully forward to check out what it is…
lost treasure was probably to be used as currency in woman’s hour of need, a wristwatch - has seen better days, no hour or minute dials… you are not sure if you can get even a can of food for it, but perhaps you can repair it?
PAVLE and EMILIA leave the watch where it is, no point in taking it.
You decide to leave, and find yourself outside.
Breathing in the night atmosphere of the Old Town, which in many places lies in ruins.
ACTIONS 10
NOISE 4
You go to socialize with people out tonight around the Old Town square...
The Old Town can appear as one of the few islands of normality in this sea of madness… but the appearance can be deceiving. Up close you see people selling treasured heirlooms, side by side with looters offloading their stolen goods…some of it pure trash. Yet the trade reminds us of prewar days when market square pulsed with lucrative trade.
You approach a group of three people… one of them seems not willing to socialize, he withdraws further away into the shadows. Two of them stand up and greet you. You can notice that one of them is armed with a pistol, the other one with a knife. THey give you a curious and suspicious eye, but do not act hostile and seem willing to socialize.
It is always difficult to trust one another, after all we are just like them, we would do most anything to help our chances of surviving another day… would we not?
“Hi there… it is good to be able to talk to someone… you seem like nice enough people,” they say. “Take a word of warning: there is a crime wave going on around the city tonight, that is why we are armed. There are some groups that have been going around houses during the past week, they have received more participants and have increased their activity. You should really watch out for them… unless you are part of them…” the hand of the man goes to his knife, and the eyes of the woman jump nervously back and forth between you both.
“No we are not… “ you reply, and relate your experiences of last night, how your house was totally cleaned out. For some reason you leave out the little detail of taking in MARIN.
Both man and the woman relax. “Sorry to hear, see what I am talking about… I know we did not have to worry about you… you never know what the groups are up too now, I hope you have someone capable guarding your house tonight.”
Conversation is relaxed, experiences are shared back and forth. The woman says: “Your bags hang pretty empty… I guess you have not been able to find anything worthwhile yet tonight. See that house over there…” she points to a small dark house with boarded up windows and the front door hanging out on one hinge. “We were there earlier but that has been cleaned out totally, no use wasting time. We are going further out tonight, but there is something…” she points to a shop window, “we tried to get in but we have no tools, there are thick bars on the windows and the door is heavy metal and somehow bolted from inside so we could not get in, maybe you have better luck…”
Conversation dies out, you wish each others well and maybe meet again some other night ?
and the night just seemed to get little colder, temperature must be dropping…
You continue forward toward a row of houses. You turn into a little side alley and notice one house with windows without glass, big bomb crater in the front yeard which ahs taken part of the porch… and a flimsy door which is not locked.
No one around… it seems, as you take a few breaths and let your ears get accustomed to the night sounds. You go in, as the door opens easily and with only one creak. A moment of silence in the entrance hall… no reaction.
On your right… waht looks like a kitchen, no furniture, cupboards mostly open and … bare. someone has been here already it seems.Straight ahead an open doorway to another room… and as you go closer you notice a heap of stuff by the wall.
You decide to leave the heap for now and go into the dark room. Quiet. Dusty. Moonlight coming in through few windows, or just the frames really with no glass.
You can see some furniture, and… another doorway, without a door, with stairs leading down into some basement level.
ACTIONS 6
NOISE 4
EMILIA grabs PAVLE by the arm and they start sneaking into the basement, down the steps… quiet as they go… until at the next to last step EMILIA’s foot knocks over some tincan which clatters on the stone floor.
Raise NOISE +3… NOISE = 7… roll 1d10 for NOISE
they are definitely heard, or… EMILIA has PROWESS = 1, so she can reroll:
that was your lucky shot for the night… you move one… hold on, someone coming… you hear footsteps…
Someone indeed comes from around the corner of the basement corridoor, a middle aged man, notices you and stops for a second, then just moves on bypassing you and disappears up the steps.
You move on, round the bend in the corridoor, deeper into the basement area…
The basement tunnel branches left and right, enny-meeny miny moe… you go right. It is always good to go right. maybe 20 paces forward and you come to an open doorway… you go in…
you stop in midstep… someone else in the room, sitting in a broken rocking chair which rocks no more, you can only see outline of his silhouette… he is alive, maybe sleeping… you notice a gleam of weapon on table near him, right next to his hand
YOUR OPTIONS
Leave cautiously the way you came…
Approach him as quietly as possible to take his weapon…
Speak out: “we dont have bad intentions, we just want to talk”...
EMILIA inches forward… roll NOISE 7
oops… EMILIA has already used her PROWESS for tonight so no reroll…
The man opens his eyes, perhaps he was not sleeping at all… you freeze… his eyes stare ahead, then come to rest on you… he is quite advanced in age, and is wearing a uniform, clutching old photo in his hand, he raises his head and starts to speak as if talking to a ghost “...just end it… first you kill my children, then, you kill my grandson… I failed them I let them die… you are doing me a favor, just kill me.
PAVLE starts talking, while EMILIA moves forward to grab the gun. The old man looks at you both and does not make a move to prevent you, instead he says: “ just take it if you want it… maybe you still have someone to protect.” He puts the photo into his pocket and lapses back into silence of his thoughts.
You take the gun with you and leave the room. 1 PISTOL and 3 AMMO added to FINDINGS PILE.
Moving out of the room, you go back to the intersection… then turn the other way and continue forward. Then… a scene emerging out of darkness as you come from the corridor to another room, bigger than the previous one, lowlight bulb hanging from the ceiling and giving some light to the place.
STRAIGHT AHEAD: 3 people standing next to a cracked wall, nearby a closed door with light shing behind it as you can see from the crack and under the door, 2 men stand silently while third one sits smoking cigarrette. Door opens and fourth man comes out rubbing his head with a grin on his face and goes away back the way you came… one of the men waiting disappears inside and closes the door. A queue outside a waiting room? waiting for what?
TO YOUR RIGHT: a dark narrow basement corridor with low roof, judging by the direction it leads under the street to the next townblock.
ACTIONS 8
NOISE 2
FINDINGS PILE:
OPTIONS FOR SCAVENGING
CLOSE AREA - 14 ACTIONS:
OLD TOWN, LARGE area so lots of things to explore. Expect rubble and jammed doors which might take something more than a lockpick to open.
DISTANT AREA - 12 ACTIONS:
SMALL HOTEL with plenty of rooms or whatever is left of them, and potential residents.
FAR AWAY AREA - 10 ACTIONS:
RUINED BLOCK OF FLATS, small location with basement and very likely jammed doors and rubble which require tools to get through.
DAY ACTIONS
Group chooses their OBJECTIVE for next 4 days to “HELP THE SICK & WOUNDED”.
Day 2 starts.
A cold weather front seems to have embraced the city, temperature drops below zero celsius.
In addition to the cold, you hear news on the grapevine that a FAMINE has hit the city.
The value of CANNED FOOD, RAW FOOD and VEGETABLES is raised by +3.
You scope out the area through your window, like you do every morning. You can always spot some changes in landscape. This time you see people familiar to you… but they are jsut tiny figures vanishing into the forest. They are your neighbors. The whole family seems to have gone outside, and they disappear among the trees… and they you as well as you do that th eplace is a minefield. Have they given up and decided to to be done with their ordeal in this city?
15 minutes later… you hear an explosion muffled by the trees.
PAVLE and EMILIA decide to go check neighbor’s house.
KATIA stays in house with MARIN, toasting with ALCOHOL to get rid of their MISERY dice.
To their health - zvas zdorovje ! Happy days are here again.
( STORAGE and CHARATER status updated )
PAVLE and EMILIA find their way to the crack in the fence, and scout the environment… no drama in sight… PAVLE tells EMILIA to go first, be quick…
EMILIA takes off… darts swiftly across the street, nothing happens… she reaches the neighbor’s house and crouches down hugging the wall of the house.
Ok… PAVLE goes next… gets to the middle of the street when a single shot rings out from somewhere higher up in the distant apartment highrise… PAVLE can feel the airpressure of the bullet whizzing by his ear, but no contact… whew… made it, PAVLE is across the street as well.
EMILIA and PAVLE sneak carefully and quietly into the house… the front door is left slightly open… no sounds coming from the inside
MEANWHILE BACK AT THE HOUSE:
MARIN squats in the entry hall (A), muttering to himself in happy stupor and scribbling something in the empty pages that he took from his notebook. Looks like he might be talking to the walls of the house, must be some seventh sense, no doubt unlocked by the alcohol…
MARIN has managed to come up with an idea of what you need to build a REINFORCED DOOR for your house entry. He has added the pages into the BUILDER’s MANUAL.
KATIA goes upstairs and KICKS THE DOOR DOWN …
finally you get to see what is behind there… looks like the toilet… and a HEAP of stuff at the back of it. Also ladder leading up to the ATTICK … except there is huge pile of RUBBLE and junk at the top preventing immediate access… (HOUSE updated)
MARIN scrambles up the stair, quite giddy and happy from the strong shot of alcohol you gave him… he looks at the rubble at the top of the ladder, and tells you he can take care of it if you wish …?
KATIA decides to search through the heap… gets it cleared up and discovers
1 LOCKPIC, 2 COMPONENTS and 5 pieces of WOOD (STORAGE updated).
KATIA also discovers BARS behind the heap and another HEAP visible through the bars… which require a SAWBLADE to cut through.
MARIN uses his second action to go work on the RUBBLE… estimating that clearing it out just by using his hands is an impossbile task, he grabs with him the KNIFE form the kitchen…
and basically all goes well… until the knife slips in his arthritic grip and he cuts himself.
Now MARIN is wounded, meaning he can only perform 2 ACTIONS, no more actions for him.
Some rubble still remains, to clear it up requires 1 ACTION for 1 PERSON, no need for shovel.
KATIA has still 1 ACTION to perform and she uses it to complete clearing the rubble that MARIN started. You gain access to ATTICK, and encounter 2 LOCKED DOORS.
KATIA and MARIN both take 1 FATIGUE DICE for their efforts.
****************************
MEANWHILE… BACK AT NEIGHBORING HOUSE
PAVLE and EMILIA go quietly in… they find the house empty… kitchen is totally bare, not even remnants of any food, waterpipes are not running and looks like someone might have even licked the walls to get at least a taste of something…
in the living room you discover 1 CUPBOARD which you search… in basement you find another cupboard which you also search, in total this is what you find: ELECTRICAL part, MECHANICAL part, empty SHELL casing, 2 BOOKS, and HERB. Easily carried by your combined INVENTORY values.
You also find a goodbye-letter. You can choose to read it, in which case it will affect you all. Or you can choose to leave it unopened where it sits on the kitchen table.
PAVLE and EMILIA decide to wait for darkness before crossing the street again, and read the letter while it is still enough light.
GOODBYE LETTER
I hope you find this letter, I hope you get here. Me and father have decided to go, take our chances and try to get out of this siege. Your brother left already two weeks ago, we refused to leave then because I wanted to be here when you come. He promised to get word to us about where we could meet him but we have heard nothing. We have no food left, not for almost a week now. We were raided few nights ago by several people, father tried to fight them and he got hurt, he is still bleeding. Your little sister is buried in the backyard, she did not get to see her 6th birthday. She missed you terribly.
Your father has been collecting fuel and spareparts from cars abandonded around, he was planning to repair his old Volkswagen to get us out but it is still unfinished, now we have no time. The car and the fuel and the spareparts are hidden in the old carage. Maybe you can do it when you get here. You can drive out to the countryside, to our summerhouse.
I don’t know what we did to deserve this malice, but when people lose their loved ones they stop thinking logically. They forget we are all the same. We have heard no reply from you for two months and we are worried. When this siege is over we never let anything separate us again. I hope we forget one day this war ever happened, like it was a bad dream.
There seem to be three new people have moved into the abandonded house across the street. I hope they make it. It would be nice to meet them, maybe life could be easier with their help but father has decided we must go, his wound is bothering him. We cannot take this anymore. Anything is better than this.
*******************************
PAVLE and EMILIA sneack successfully back to own house after daylight begins to disappear.
Reading the letter affects everyone, MARIN included… your reactions avoid taking BLACK DOT for MISERY, but everyone does get +3 MISERY DICE (CHARACTER SHEET updated).
While you share your impressions and thoughts and feelings around the letter, sun has disappeared beneath the horizon, shadows and darkness once again rule over the city.
At this point, each character should get a drink of water, to avoid getting dehyrdrated.
You only have 1 WATER in storage, so you need to decide who is the lucky one this time..
Each character who does NOT get water, will either bump up their HUNGER or their MISERY, based on a lucky roll of dice…
Also at this point, each character should eat. You only have 1 item for eating: VEGETABLE. Eating the vegetable will allow the character to remain at their current hunger level… might be nice and tasty to crunch a piece of cellery but does not really remove your hunger. (RAW FOOD and CANNED FOOD and food COOKED with stove would do more…)
DRINKING:
EMILIA takes WATER.
Those who did not get water…
PAVLE’s HUNGER gets +1 DICE, now total 4.
KATIA’s HUNGER gets +1 DICE, now total 4.
MARIN’s HUNGER gets +1 DICE, now total 6.
EATING:
MARIN has 6 DICE on HUNGER but with VEGETABLE no need to roll.
His HUNGER stays at 3 white dots… but he has 1 BLACK DOT elsewhere so only 2 day actions
KATIA burns her 4 HUNGER DICE and gets match with fours.
Her HUNGER now has 1 BLACK DOT, she can perform only 2 ACTIONS per daytime.
EMILIA burns her 5 HUNGER DICE and gets match with fives.
Her HUNGER now has 1 BLACK DOT, she can perform only 2 ACTIONS per daytime.
PAVLE burns his 4 HUNGER DICE and … no matches, and his DICE remain at 4.
His HUNGER stays the way it is with 3 white dots.
PAVLE has no black dots in any characteristic, so he can still perform 3 daily actions.
( CHARACTERS updated )
DAWN EVENTS
ILLNESS of characters is to be addressed.
KATIA has no BLACK DOTS or DICE in ILLNESS, no action required.
EMILIA has no BLACK DOTS or DICE in ILLNESS, no action required.
MARIN takes 1 more DICE to ILLNESS. He is max at 6 so next dawn he must roll.
PAVLE has 4 DICE in ILLNESS.
He burns his stress (rolls the 4 dice)
and scores 3 matching numbers of “5”s… with his PROWESS = 1 PAVLE gets to reroll once and has to settle with what comes now…
with result of no matching numbers… no effect then, and his ILLNESS DICE stay at 4.
RESOLVE CHARACTER “SPIRIT A” OPTIONS
Look at SPIRIT A options for all characters.
SPIRIT A has no effect on PAVLE, he has no addicive habits.
EMILIA decides to skip coffee, instead raises her MISERY. She now has 1 BLACK DOT on her MISERY, which means she can perform only 2 actions during the coming day.; and she can take max 5 DICE on her MISERY as well.
KATIA takes 1 COFFEE and feels quite content.
The group decides also to give 1 COFFEE to MARIN who seems glad for it.
He goes sipping his coffee in hall A, at the same time inspecting the entry door frame.
Your last DAWN action: group chooses a card to get the attic door open…
DAWN
Now you return home at the crack of dawn… and discover a surprise.
Since no one was left guarding the house, it was looted during the night.
Your STORAGE was almost totally ransacked: thieves took your knife, raw food, shovel, mechanical part, weapons part, all your components, and most of your wood - only 2 pieces of WOOD remain. They also used the lockpick trying to pry open the closed door - but were unsuccessful apparently because they broke lockpick, the pieces of it were discarded on the floor. They stole the deadfall trap you had planted in the front yeard. They tried to take the simple heater, but apparently had no tools or ran out of time or something, because they did not manage to unscrew all the pipes and instead took out their frustration into the heater and broke it - it will take 3 ACTIONS to REPAIR.
They looted through the FURNITURE you had not yet searched through in room C, whatever they found there, the cupboards now stand empty. They did not manage to get throguh the locked doors or the bars.
Your shelter now looks as it stands in the HOUSE IMAGE.
Your STORAGE is now updated with the items you brought with you.
And…
as if that was not enough…
You discover a scroungy looking character huddling in the KITCHEN FLOOR (room B), clutching your KNIFE in his hand.
PAVLE: stay between door and "visitor", try be friendy but keep sure that visitor don't run (do he? have our staff also on is it diffrent people?)
If there is not coming any problems Pavle could try fix heater.
EMILIA: Try to talk with him and persuade him to give me the knife, maybe a small amount of the alcohol maybe an emollient?
He gets up to sit against the wall as he hears you guys coming into the kitchen.
He looks relieved when he notices it is you...
He is more than willing to talk to you:
" Hi... I guess you were surprised to see me here... yes, here is your knife, I did not mean anything by it..."
He hands the knife over to you.
"I was just trying to make sure I can protect myself..."
He is happy to get a sip of your 100% alcohol, makes him grimace real good.
"wow, good stuff you got there... can I have another sip?"
He gulps another mouthful down his parched throat."
"You know... you being so fair with me, I am going to level with you... I came with the group that raided this house, we have been watching you settle in and waited for a suitable moment... then we saw you all take off and there was 3 of us came in... but I started feeling bad for you, so as I found the knife I chased the others off... they just took with them all the findings, I managed to fend them off so they did not touch this stove you have in the kitchen, but they did take some water contraption you had.... but I did not feel comfortable around them any more, see..."
He keeps eyeng your bottle as he speaks, so you give him one more sip.
"... and also, well... they sort of left me behind because I have a leg injury which makes me limp so I move kinda slow... and I think I am also kind sick..."
Taking a more apprehensive look at his eyes and face you think he probably is sick somehow.
" ...I often feel kinda weak so I cannot carry much either, so I am not much use for them I guess..."
He gets more excited and starts to pull something from the inside pockets of his big jacket.
It is a notebook, leatherbound and handwritten, with scribbled images.
He hands it to you - see link BUILDER’S MANUAL in FITTINGS PAGE.
“see, I used to be quite a good builder before the war and before my getting wounded… there are instructions and what you need to build several things, and also few ideas of improvement… “
“you can have that, I can give it to you, see… if you just let me stay here… I can maybe give you guidance in building but my hands are not so good any more…”
His hands are trembling constantly… they also look like could be question of arthritis.
“But you can have it, you can use it, right? … if you just let me stay here, I don’e eat much or anything… just a few sips every now and then… ?”
The group votes for the stranger to stay.
He introduces himself as Marin, a former garage owner (card updated in CHARACTERS).
