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IMPORTANT OOC NOTE: I'll carry out this turn's actions as normal, but for future turns, I'd like each player's actions to be capped at three per turn, plus one covert action sent to me via PM, should you choose to use it. Letters, as before, are free and unlimited.)
Week 4, Month 1News:Confusion and embarrassment reign in southern Larenza tonight, as a spike in what has been described by some as 'homosexual scouting' has created something of a stir. Many locals claim to have been coercively canvassed about their preferences by oddly-dressed strangers, and community leaders report fearing for the moral integrity of their families as a bizarre wave of tactless sexual questioning washes over them. In all, however, it makes for much less dire reporting than the news from earlier in the month.
State of Larenza:LAF funds and materiel: Adequate [3/5]
LAF Morale: Average [3/5]
LAF Alertness: Guarded [2/5]LAF International Relations- Military Alliance
- Friendly Intervention
- Military Training & Indirect Assistance
- Arms Trading
- Public Support Statement
- Neutrality ◄ Concordat
- Public Criticism ◄ Federation, ◄ Union
- Trade Sanctions
- Full Embargo & Covert Ops
- Hostile Intervention
- Invasion
The commanders of the
LAF elected this week to dispense with some of the generous funds they've been sitting on, courtesy of the state. Significant amounts of money have been directed towards activating a reserve unit of
LRNZA-Pattern B-72m Main Battle Tanks, potent weapons of both warfare and intimidation that
LAF top brass intend to assign to countryside patrols as a show of force.
[1] Armoured warfare, however, has never been the
LAF's strong suit. Days spent restoring obsolete systems, searching for armoured units that had simply disappeared off the records and scrambling to train up crewmen have culminated in the over-budget project being shelved indefinitely, with the funds allocated to it having dissolved into too many pockets to track. It's rumoured that one of the missing tanks has found its way onto the black market, making it a real prize for anyone with the connections to obtain it - not to mention the grossly-inflated price tag.
[-1 LAF funds and materiel]Rebel Activity:Bribe Lieutenant Garcez and make sure he doesn't say anything.
Add 2 recruits to the Lardens and send them on a little mission to find any sort of transportation in Old Portios.
3 Recruits will form the "Gunthers" they are going to look through more warehouses and buildings for our Employer and anything of use to us.
The Krangs will go inland and find anymore Mobs willing to make negotiations.
I will check the remaining Recruits for any with a talent that may come in handy and check on how the Recruiting Network is faring.
[1] You don't hear back from the agent you sent to conduct the liason with the lieutenant - or the briefcase full of notes you supplied her with - for the rest of the week. Worse yet, the local
LAF contingent doesn't seem any less eager to chase your troops out of Old Portios whenever they find them. There's a good chance the corrupt CO has simply taken your bribe with no intention of returning your kindness, and quietly disposed of your envoy, to boot.
[6] The band of guerillas you designated as the 'Lardens' display some questionable judgement when they run upon the scene of an
LAF roadside check. Quietly bypassing the small team of
LAF thugs harassing a pair of motorists, your troops pile into the
LAF patrol SUV that the soldiers left unattended and tear off in it before the former owners can react. Although you now own a reliable and rugged vehicle, with cargo space and a few spare magazines and sidearms to boot, you won't be able to use it without putting some work into disguising it.
[5] Your newly-formed group of 'Gunthers' are experienced scroungers and scavengers in their own right. It takes them no time at all to locate their favourite hunting spots across the cities your faction operates in, and by the end of the week, your men have mapped out several stockpiles of cheap consumer goods and abandoned boxes of who-knows-what. Transport still remains an issue, but you won't run out of places to loot for a long time yet.
[6] The 'Krangs', now experienced negotiators accustomed to the quirks and dealings of Larenza's underworld, bring you news of a powerful organisation willing to talk to you. Calling themselves the 'Ratmasters', this well-embedded gang of thugs, gangsters and goons do little in the way of smuggling or intrigue, but their numbers are significant, and they're better-armed than many of your rival guerilla factions. They stipulate, however, that they never make alliances, and that if you ever want their assistance, it'll be a one-time deal - after which they'll cut their ties with you. They don't come cheap, either, so you'll have to pick your moment carefully if you ever need a cadre of armed criminals to help you out.
[2] Though they fill their role as well as urban peasants could be expected to, your newbies don't stand out in any particular way that could be applied in a useful manner. Your embedded recruiters, too, seem to be having just as much trouble getting support as they were last week. Things seem to be somewhat stagnant in general on the personnel front.
Apologise profusely upon my return to the villagers. Explain in private to the village elder what my plans are, and that I have allies in Farago now. Tell him he can have the money once exchanged for drugs in a more central city.
Have one squad continue with the grain operation, if the farmers are willing to risk any more.
Have half a squad (or just three or four men), with one or two arms and goods hidden under a cart of vegetables, on a market day, go into San Sarunal. Have them find a drug dealer/buyer for our goods. What is the San Sarunal drug market like?
Have the other half of the squad go to ground with the farmer population, helping them with the harvest or something, or discreetly punishing local ruffians or scapegoats, to raise goodwill with the villagers.
[2] The locals aren't particularly happy to see your face again, and it's only with your quick tongue and grandiose speech that you manage to avert a total loss of public faith. The elder just about trusts you enough not to desert your plan - even if only because he's still waiting on payment for that grain he entrusted you with - but he does insist on a larger cut of the profits than you originally agreed on in order to maintain your relations. You get the feeling you're working on borrowed time and patience here.
[6] You expected to have little luck trading with the unhappy villagers, but the grain you need ends up coming from somewhere entirely unexpected. While a pair of your guerillas attempt to haggle a fair price with an unco-operative local for his bumper harvest of wheat, an
LAF N67B1 Corsair MRAP comes screaming down the formerly-quiet country road, far faster than you'd expect a vehicle like it to be able to move. Your envoys barely manage to dive out of the marauding patroller's way, but as the dust plume settles and the roaring engine fades away, it becomes clear that the farmer wasn't so lucky. Either way, he won't be needing that grain any more, right? You've got enough here to secure additional shipments of the real goods for a while now.
[2] Though it's far from a fortress, San Sarunal is tightly patrolled by the
LAF, and every major road into the capital is choked with roadblocks and secured by a ring of observation posts. Your soldiers do manage to convince a nervous villager to haul them into the city, but they barely even get within a hundred meters of the first
LAF checkpoint before their driver panics and refuses to drive them further, forcing them to bregrudgingly return home.
[2] Your honeyed speeches might have won their hearts at first, but all of a sudden, the people of northern Larenza seem jaded to your movement and its ideals. The only friendly faces your soldiers find amongst the people are each other's, and though the civilians reluctantly accept your guerillas' aid in their day-to-day procedure, it has a negligible effect on the general atmosphere of resentment floating around the place. Your best bet at this point would be to deliver on the promises of cash that you made to the village elder.
Give the poor sod who died a proper burial, unless their family want the remains returned to them. Carelessness will find no clemency in this place.
After Grave matters are dealt with, find some way to fix the saw, and get the quota back up to speed. Income is important here.
Finally, continue the search for the terrorists, LAF help or not..
[3] Nobody seems to know where the ill-fated rookie came from, or who else might care to be informed of his unpleasant passing. The funeral itself is a quick and somber affair, and although nothing momentous comes of it, your faction's morale seems less spirited than it once was. This, after all, is their first brush with the loss of a comrade - if anything, they're more upset that he went out doing something mundane and not heroic.
[3] Your men manage to scrounge up a dull, rusted old blade that was probably destined for the scrap pile before the sawmill's owners vacated the place. It works about as well as you expect it to, but it cranks out just enough rough lumber to maybe convince your business partner that you're not defaulting on him. He does comment on the variable quality of your product when he comes to pick it up, but it only ends up costing you a small amount out of your originally-agreed fee. All in all, the Bralisian entrepeneur is happy enough with your work that he agrees to come by again in two weeks.
[3] Back on the vigilante front, your irregulars are just about ready to give up and go back to being full-time guerillas. Fortunately, on the sixth day of the week, a local delivery driver seeks out the chief of your vigilantes and relates a vague, meandering story about how he might've passed by a couple of haggard, hooded fellows with far too many guns on his way back from a delivery to one of the new mining residential cities under construction in the south of the country. As far as leads go, it's as vague as they come, but it's all you've got to work with.
Send our best operatives to research various military commanders in the area: sniff out any hint of alternate sexuality, through any means they deem fit. Find evidence. If you can't, make it up. And try to be convincing.
When we've built up a case at the end of the week, we send a dossier on every single commander's deviant history to the newspapers, even to the ones that rejected our letters; if this works they'll have to publish it, unless the government issues a crackdown. I doubt they will if this is news to them.
If this works, we end up with a witch hunt within the army, cracks forming between factions supporting commanders and condemning them. Damage control is initiated by the government, which only fans the flames, perhaps a few assassinations... then we press the advantage.
[1] You get more than a small number of weird looks when you explain your plan to your troops in the briefing room, but nevertheless, they do their best to carry out your will. Unfortunately for them, they have absolutely no luck in their efforts. Their comically un-subtle methods of gathering intel on the matter earn them a few new bruises from offended
LAF troopers and bar patrons alike, and by the week's end, tall tales of 'secretive mountain-dwelling gays coming down to ensnare the menfolk' are shared mirthfully between the locals. You've managed to get people wondering if
your men are the deviant ones, not the
LAF's.
[1] Nevertheless, your soldiers doggedly dig their hole deeper by forging ridiculous fear-mongering fairy tales that come across as offensive almost to the point of parody, even by the era's standards. Your envoys are laughed out of every publishing office they visit, and one newsletter editor - between sobs of laughter after glancing through a draft piece entitled 'The 100 Ways Sodomy Could Kill You' - suggests that your men try visiting a local church instead of a serious publication outlet.
[3] Yet, somehow, despite blunder after comical blunder, your terribly-manufactured 'pink scare' actually seems to take a tenuous hold amongst the more superstitious and traditional elements of the
LAF's lower command. If there are indeed any gay lieutenants or captains serving in your area, they're almost certainly covering their tracks and working out their allegiances after some strongly-worded letters get in the pages of a couple of state-run publications, courtesy of the less tolerant
LAF COs you somehow managed to rile up. All in all, though, it's little more than hot air. No great schism arises, or will arise, as a result of this rather shameful venture, and the troops who took part are now begging you never to put them up to anything like this again - if they weren't already living out in a derelict mine away from their families, that's probably where they would have ended up by now if they were still city folk.
Author
Topic: Lords of Larenza (a guerilla warfare RTD) (Read 3235 times)