Part Two - Into the Woods

[CrackheadC.]

October 2nd, 1918. Dusk.


Most of you grabbed your full kit and moved out not knowing how long you'd be moving or if you'd be back it seemed like a good idea, but damn was that kid heavy. You and the rest of the men meet up with 3rd and 4th platoons - more young and scared men - and head for the edge of the valley. On the way, more shells fall with the freezing rain, and men huddle into the smoking craters which are the only decent shelter around. You can see one man who closes his eyes in the crater as if when he opens them the war will have just been a bad dream. Another man in his platoon gives him a kick and drags him to his feet.


The men of 2nd platoon (you) are taking up the rear. As you cross a small creek Corporal Larch trips and turns his ankle on a strange dull black stone jutting out of the ground.

OOC,I'm gonna stop here for reactions and/or you guys to add flavor to your march. Larch will have a penalty roll on his next physical or skill roll that might require his feet. Sorry peterson, you just rolled highest :)

[Mr. Handy]

"You okay, Corporal?" asks Nick, peering at the stone. "Weird-looking thing. Well, look on the bright side. At least it's not a land mine." While he'd help if he could, he's not very good at patching up people. If Larch had been an automobile that punctured a tire, he could have replaced or reinflated it in no time flat, but he was at a loss here. Fortunately, Larch was perfectly capable of dealing with his own injury.

[DrPeterson]

Larch let out a resounding curse as he hit the mud.

"Thanks for the concern, Private. Now if only you were a pretty nurse, I'd let you feel up my ankle. As it is, I'll just give myself a quick seeing to."

Larch feels his leg, trying to ascertain if the bone isn't broken. He grunts as he feels the bruise, but lets out a sigh of relief.

"Bruised, but it shouldn't kill me, not unless you bastards start running if the Hun shows up."

He laughs and looks around to see what he tripped over.

[CrackheadC.]

[Spot Hidden rolls please]

[Supercape]

Birdy unslung his rifle, just in case.

"The Hun wouldn't be crazy enough to march through freezing rain and mud like us. Or maybe they would. There is plenty of crazy to go round" he sighed, keeping an eye out.

OOC:   1d100=46

[DrPeterson]

Spot Hidden 45℅ [dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

Ever alert, Nick notices something.

[CrackheadC.]

The stone is dull black and worn, the angular corner of what seems to be a much larger, buried stone. While not very large itself, it is sufficient enough to catch a distracted soldier.

"I'd check if your gear is still in working condition," Cpl. Grimm suggests.

Pvt Nick Parker,You notice the rock has a faint spiral pattern that has been etched into it - clearly not done naturally.

[Mr. Handy]

"Looks like this is just the tip of the iceberg," says Nick, puzzling over the stone. "This isn't natural. Someone carved a spiral pattern into it. Weird."

[DrPeterson]

"Take it along then if you like it, Private, you might even throw it at the Hun if your gun jams." Freddy quips as he sorts through his pack to see if everything is intact.

[Mr. Handy]

With a shrug, Nick takes out his entrenching tool and begins to dig the stone free.

[CrackheadC.]

The other soldiers in your squad begin to crowd around Nick as Sgt. Maddox takes a quick smoke break. A little more of the rock as become revealed, but it is clearly attached to something much larger and will not be dug up easily.


[Anyone may make an archaeology roll to learn more]

[Supercape]

Birdy, being tall, leaned over to have a look at the curious object.

"Huh. Never theen anything like that. Mutht be some kind of Nazi thing..." he offered, in a kind of vaguely but not actually knowledgeable way. He shouldered his rifle, however, reassured it was not some booby trap linked to an ambush.

[/ooc]1d100=66[/ooc]

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't know what the hell it is," says Nick as he digs. "This would go faster if you guys helped."

OOC,It's 1918. The Nazis don't exist yet.

[DrPeterson]

"How about we kip here for a while, Sarge? My ankle would be grateful and the men seem to have more appetite for digging than for walking."


Larch remains seated, making sure his ankle is properly supported with some bandages, and watches the men dig.

[CrackheadC.]

As the other soldiers in your squad gather around they chime in with their opinions, "It's just a stupid rock", "I don't think that's from around here", "Yeah I haven't seen that type of rock", "Shaddup Parks, you don't know a your ass from a hole in the ground, don't act like you know rocks", "Freddy is just trying to get a break."

Sarge stubs out his cigarette and turns to the squad, "What do you think this is Corporal? A NATURE HIKE!? There's a war on and we ain't gonna win it if we gotta stop every time one of you jackasses gets a boo-boo. We're lagging behind because of your sorry ass, now squad, MOVE OUT!" Sarge yells and pisses and moans about everyone trying to dog it when they haven't even started the search, but you have a sneaking suspicion he let you stop so that he didn't have to hike while he smoked.

Putting a little more hustle in your step, your squad quickly catches up with the rest of 2nd platoon and rejoins 3rd and 4th platoon. The group of fifty-odd soldiers at last come to the edge of the valley where they find a group of three soldiers stringing barbed wire around the perimeter. They stop and salute Lt. Wilhelm, who tells them the group's mission; "Heading into the woods, Major Whittlesey wants us to find B and D company and bring them in out of the cold." The engineers nod and part the wire with poles to allow the unit to crawl under on the cold, sleeted ground. At the very least it wasn't freezing cold mud. As the last of your squad passes you hear one of the engineers murmurs "Poor bastards.... won't wait up for them."


Beyond lies the foreboding depths of the Argonne forest.

[Mr. Handy]

Nick regards the ominous forest as he approaches it with the others. This is it, he thinks, recalling what the engineer had said. That forest is where I'm gonna die. I'm not coming out of it alive.

[DrPeterson]

Larch was happy for the five minute rest, but his ankle still gave him hell. He tried to turn his grimace into a grin as he cheered the men on.

"Out least in the forest, we'll have roots to trip over instead of rocks, men, and when I do, you can drag me on in a stretcher."

[CrackheadC.]

The three platoons move out into the forest, mere feet into the treeline and you're enveloped in near total darkness. The ground rises and falls in jagged slopes, without a path to be seen anywhere. Boulders and tangled undergrowth block the way, and the trees loom silently all around, stretching into the cloud-choked sky. The sleet has turned into a light mist, limiting visibility to the end of your bayonet. The thunder of the explosions recedes into the distance, fading into ghostly thumps and echoes.

The hike is back-breaking, always up and then down hill. More than once, a squad finds itself snared in rusty wire, calling all to a halt until they can be freed. Stragglers and point men simply vanish into the fog, diverting everyone's efforts into looking for them, silently as everyone was scared to make the slightest sound, much less shout. The night grows colder. You can't see the other platoons, but you know they must be there... somewhere in the mist. Faint impressions of movement haunt the corners of your vision. Every boulder becomes a machine gun nest, and every tree stump a German laying in wait.

As the squad moves through the forest, a faint outline of a person leaning against a tree is noticed and this one doesn't disappear when looked at head-on. Is it German hiding? The figure didn't seem to be a soldier from their side - the figure was off to the "path" and the Americans were moving ahead, that is if your squad was still moving in the right direction. Sarge motions and the squad instinctively gets into position, and slowly move in. The person's face is still obscured by the mist when Sarge spoke up in his authoritative command voice: "Identify yourself, now!"

Ritterton,You may now post in character. Artemis has gotten separated from 4th Platoon and decided to rest and keep still while hoping to be found, rather than wander off and find himself among the Germans.

[Ritterton]

"Don't shoot, for God's sake, don't shoot," the figure yells. "American, lost in this lousy forest trying to find my Observation squadron. They left me when we were trying to scout out where we could launch the darn balloons." His voice occasionally hit highs and lows as the fear of being gunned down in the forest became more of a reality than before when he was wandering lost following deer trails and such.
He raised his hands where the other soldiers could see him in the shadows and darks of the forest. "Please don't shoot."