Part Two - Into the Woods

[Mr. Handy]

Nick lowers his rifle. "All right, just keep your voice down," he says. "If the Germans hear you, they'll shoot all of us."

[Ritterton]

"oh," his voice was still in a near shout and seeing the other man's look of disbelief, he lowered his voice. "Oh, sorry, but I haven't seen any Jerries all darned morning. My name is Artemis Richter, Private Richter, 168th Aerosquadron." He continued to advance with his hands up, but voice lowered. "Any chance you see any of my squad back the way you came?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Private Nick Parker, 308th Infantry Regiment," says Nick. "You're the first one we've seen since we entered these blasted woods. How did you end up here?"

[DrPeterson]

"Richter? That's a bit of an unfortunate name to get lost with this close to the Boshe.", Larch remarks.
"Then again, how could we forget that wonderful home run Bobbie Richter pulled in the 1914 Federal League finals for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops? Are you by any chance related?", Larch deliberately asked the question falsely, every American knew the Tip-Tops only made 4th that year.

[Ritterton]

"I, uh, I went to look down this trail, and after a few minutes walking decided to take care of business," Richter responded in a bit of a hushed tone. "Well, I come back to where I thought the others were, and there was no one there. So, I started to walk back the way I came, and I have been walking about ever since. Pretty much been walking all day."

Richter lowered his arms and rubbed his hands together blowing on them to get the blood flowing. He continued to rub his hands together and then turned towards Larch.

"Not related, and I don't think Brooklyn did that well," Richter said exagerating the words in response to Larch's hanging question. "No, my parents came to the States about twenty five years ago and settled in Germantown, north of Philadelphia. I got into the 168th because I knew some things about aeronautics and could speak German. Uncle Sam seemed to think that it made sense."

He shrugged his shoulders and then crossed his arms and rubbed his shoulders. "So where is here and how did you guys get where ever this is?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Here is behind enemy lines," says Nick, "and we got here because we'd been advancing and now they're outflanking us. We're looking for some lost men, but not from your unit. How does an aeronautics guy get out here anyway? It's not like there are any aerodromes this close to the front."

[CrackheadC.]

"I heard 'bout you Aerosquadron boys. Just transferred down this way and attached to 4th Platoon? Shit, they got you doing forward recon during our search? Ol' Witless is just asking for more lost soldiers or friendly fire - though I guess it's better than our shells raining down on us." Sarge lowers his guard as he looks the scrawny boy up and down, "Don't look like much of a rifleman, but stick with us til we rendezvous with 4th platoon then you can get back to you job. You go back to the lines now and they might try to run you up on dereliction of duty."

[Ritterton]

"We had an automobile and we were sent out to a point to look at a place to launch balloons to get a sense of what the lines looked like. We are actually stationed at Gengault Aerodrome near Toul, the Sergeant was the one driving, so I was just looking about most of the time." Richter shrugged his shoulders and left the thought trail off. "Sargent, I can do the basics with the rifle as they trained me, but I am more of the fix-it guy. All of us in the squadron spent weeks in England learning how to fix aeroplane's engines, other diesel engines, lots of those things. I'll take you up on that offer to join you, at least that should keep me out of a court martial if I am with a Sergeant."

Richter adjusted his pack, made sure his rile was still in the place where it would not continually be hitting behind his knee and started to work his way into the small group's line. His pack was heavy, and he had taken it with him when they left the automobile as they were to be scouting positions for most of the day. Being in the field, behind the enemy lines, and lost all in one day - this was not starting the way Artemis had thought it would.

[CrackheadC.]

OOC,While I give some time for Supercape to react why don't you all let me know if you character has ever killed someone intentionally, in or out of the war.

[Ritterton]

OOC,While I give some time for Supercape to react why don't you all let me know if you character has ever killed someone intentionally, in or out of the war.

OOC:   No, not even close.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Nick[/b] has fired his rifle at German soldiers and seen one fall, but he doesn't know if it was his bullet or someone else's that brought him down.

[DrPeterson]

OOC:,Larch has never killed anyone, though he has administered euthanasia on a few occasions and has seen quite a few people die on his operating table.

[Supercape]

Birdy gave the new guy a deep look.

"Well you sure sound American to me, Pal" he said, giving a nervous twitch.

Ill damn well make sure you march in front of me though...

"I'm Birdy. Well, everybody calls me Birdy, even me. Welcome aboard. Enjoy the boots, mud, sweat, and tears" he said congenially. "And blood" he added, not so congenially.

"Sooner we are all out of this place, the better, in my opinion. Feels like some German Fairy Tale. And let me tell you, German Fairy Tales are not about Princess Sparkle and the handsome Prince Flash" he explained, leaning against a tree. It was partly to catch a breather, partly to feel something solid behind his back.

"We ain't got a snowball's chance in hell in picking up stragglers here. Damn fluke picking up you , Richter. You must have a whole pantheon of Gods looking after your backside..." he said, miserably.

Spoiler:

Firstly sorry for being away past few days combo of work and life and being poorly / run down. Secondly, Victor knows he has killed one German in brutal hand to hand combat as per story, and is pretty sure he has shot a few after that

[Ritterton]

"Pleasure is mine, Birdy." Richter replied. "My parents always told me the real Grimm stories...a distant cousin lived across the street from one of their ancestors. Not many ended with happily ever afters that is for sure. Hey if it would help, I have a few maps of the area, or I think of this area, not sure where my group went to, but I think the maps cover this area."

Richter watched to see if anyone was all that interested. The group seemed determined to be on their way and he realized that he needed to thank his lucky stars that he found someone from his side.

"Sure is a lot different than than the University and Philadelphia, I can tell you that."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thanks, maps would be swell," says Nick, grinning. "Sure beats wandering around lost."

[DrPeterson]

Larch laughs.
"I can"t remember wading knee-deep in muck at University, you're right. The food was a lot worse though. Now, fall in, private, and show us around this lovely neighborhood."

[CrackheadC.]

The squad plus their new addition moves out, following Sgt. Maddox' lead. He complains briefly about the lost time, but stays otherwise silent as he navigates the squad through the increasingly colder woods. While zig-zagging through the trees for what feels like an eternity you think back on the hikes during basic training - they were nothing as exhausting as this even if they were longer.

Maddox halts the squad again, gesturing to something on the ground. The group of tired soldiers crowds in, anxious to see. There, in a patch of mud, are a large group of footprints, heading off to the right. They pass through a tangle of wire, which Maddox points out has been cut. "This must be them." He whispers.

"Wait," says Cpl. Grimm, "I think they're ours."

An argument breaks out between the two officers over the tracks.


[Decided not to keep you guys waiting, I'll do some conversions on the fly and post the NPCs' full sheets only if a new player shows up to take one, or if you guys really wanna see the inner mechanics of the men with you.]

[Mr. Handy]

"You mean we've been walking in circles?" says Nick with a groan. "Let's take another look at those maps."

[CrackheadC.]

[Why don't you all roll either Navigate or Track, your choice. If you have any training in navigate and consult the maps roll a bonus die. (An extra 1d10 and pick the lowest for the 10s)

[Ritterton]

Richter pulls out the maps he had been given when the small squad had left in the automobile. He brushed the dirt off of them, and unfolded the one that he thought would be where they should be. The northeastern corner was torn off and missing with the tear being relatively fresh. Richter quickly folded that back under.

Navigate 10%,[dice]0[/dice]

[failed navigation]



"Here Nick," Richter took a knee and spread the balanced the map on his leg. "Gengault Aerodrome was near Toul, which is here. We started driving south, south-west...but I am not sure where here actually is in this area." Richter's fingers are miles off from where he thought they were driving too.