Play@YSDC

You wake the following morning under a clear sky, the sun starting to rise above the horizon, painting the austere camp in cheerful shades of red and orange. It's 6 AM, and around you the soldiers are already awake and starting their day. You dress up and get ready for the important day ahead.

Andre,You had nightmares tonight. You can't recall them well, but there was darkness, and a lot of running. You wake up tired, muscles aching as if you really had been running all night.

A soldier is waiting for you outside the dormitory you were allowed to use yesterday. He salutes Jacques as he sees him, and says: "Colonel, General Gallieni has requested to speak with you at the Army HQ as soon as you return to Paris". He salutes again after having delivered the message and leaves.

While eating breakfast with the troops, you make your plans for the day.

OOC:   Verchanne is about 15 kilometers from here. You can ask the camp commander to provide you transport, including a driver. Or you could ask directly for a car to be provided and left at your complete disposal (1 Credit Rating spend from Jacques). You could also try to get a taxi up here, although there might be some delay. Any other idea, I'm here to listen

Jacques speaks with the camp commander and, after calling on his rank's privileges, manages to arrange a car ready for you, no questions asked.

It's a sunny day and the trip to Verchanne, while short, it's pleasant. Here, at least, you can almost forget there's a brutal war going on... if only for a few minutes. Then, after a turn of the road, a military checkpoint come into view... and you're thrown back into the usual, harsh reality.



A soldier blocks your way, holding a dog that seems only too eager to dash towards your car. You are a little puzzled, as both the man and the dog wear a gas mask. Not only this is the first time you see a dog wearing a gas mask, it's also strange for a soldier to wear a mask if there's no attack with chemical weapons going on... and if there was one, you'd already be dead by now, or at least severely damaged. These masks are very uncomfortable, after all, and wearing one at all times would be very stressful, almost maddening. A few meters behind the soldier blocking the road, three more soldiers stand, pointing their weapons at you, all wearing a mask.

The man with the dog speaks, his voice muffled by the mask: "Stop and turn back. Nobody can access this area". The menace in his voice is clear, even in Jacques's presence.

"It's all right, soldier," says Jacques, producing the passes he had acquired at headquarters. "We have authorization to come this way."

The soldier controls the passes, then signals the men behind him. One of them grabs a handful of gas masks and runs up to you, passing one of them to each of you. "Take these. You might find them useful", the soldier with the dog says, "Be careful", he adds lastly. The coldness of his voice strikes you, and he makes no sign of saluting Jacques, as his rank should demand.

"Thank you," says Jacques, accepting the gas mask and turning to the others in the car. "Put them on now, gentlemen, and keep them on until we've left this area." He dons his own gas mask, certain that the soldiers are taking this precaution for good reason.

"Do they really work?" says Jean-Luc with a worry in his eyes.

Andre woodenly dons his mask, ensuring the ties are tight.

"From the reports I've read, they do," says Jacques.

Francois pulls what amounts to little more than a canvas sack with goggles over his head it smells strongly of its last owner and something slightly chemical which makes his nose itch and his eyes water slightly. He determines that as soon as they are out of sight of the checkpoint he will remove the mask.

You wear the masks and the the the soldier moves out of the way, allowing you to continue towards Verchanne. The masks are extremely uncomfortable, restricting your field of view and making it difficult to breathe. In a few minutes, you start feeling claustrophobic. This makes driving hard, and the remaining couple of kilometers to the city takes you several minutes. Francois takes the mask off after the first turn of the road, feeling the wind on his face with relief. For the others, though, the discomfort is almost unbearable.



You first see the defenses. The Germans had the place fortified, with barbed wire, and trenches, and defensive positions that would have been equipped with machine guns. The weapons had been removed, but the rest is still there - the Germans wanted to hold this position, that much is clear.

Francois,As you get closer to the village, you start smelling a strong stench of death and putrefaction. You quickly realize why.

Then you enter the village itself. There has been some fighting here, in the past, but you can tell most of the houses and buildings are intact. The streets are obviously empty, since the place has been declared off-limits. The air is still, but somewhat... filled with tension. It's not the quiet calmness of a summer evening, it rather seems the silence of a wake. The empty sound of mourning.

You see the first one on a doorstep, half inside a house. Then a second one sprawled across a side street. A third one, sitting against a wall. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Left to rot in the open, and by now, almost reduced to skeletons. Your horror grows until you reach the central square of the village, with an old church, an empty fountain, and the town hall, heavily fortified and probably turned by the enemy into the local command center. Here, the bodies are more than two dozens, sprawled all over the place. Watching you with empty sockets, scraps of flesh and muscles still clinging to the bones. Now you understand why Proulx called this place Death's sanctuary. You would not be able to find a more fitting name.

[dice]0[/dice]

François looks around he is quite used to death, but the scale here is quite repellant. He slaps the gas mask against his leg in aggravation "What an absolute waste of human life even if they are Boche, someone should sting the Kaiser and his lackies up"

OOC:   Rolled 1d6 = 4

Jean-Luc doesn't take off his mask even though the view makes him sick. He tries to say "Is this what we've become?"

I'll spend a point I think, due to the appaling visions before me, reminding me of my late brother, who could quite easily have been left discarded like this when he died.

[dice]0[/dice]

(bugger)

"The Kaiser didn't do this," says Jacques, his face drained of color. "We did. Another victory like this and we'll be ruined. This must have been that secret weapon. Francois, put your gas mask back on. There could still be residual gas in the area."

OOC,Stability roll (no points spent) for seeing Verchanne: [dice]0[/dice]

Francois shrugs. "I do not remember the people of France inviting the Kaisers troops to visit" Francois twirling the mask in his hand "I know my chemistry my friend, out here in the open there is little risk or I would already be affected, if we go inside, or into low-lying ground it will certainly stand ready to put my mask back on but while we are here looking for clues it is better to be able to see what we are doing. Do not worry I will keep it always at hand"

The village is silent, and looks empty. For those of you not wearing a mask, the stench is terrible, coming at you at waves, making you feel sick. There are bodies scattered around the main square, sometimes sprawled one on top of another. Four buildings overlook the square. One is completely in ruins, and unrecognizable. Another one is a small church, doors open, the interior shrouded in darkness. Then there is the town hall, now heavily fortified. And finally what was once a cafè, still standing but barely recognizable, as tables and chairs lay half-destroyed, bottles were emptied and then shattered, or left on the ground.

Andre

I am feeling hemmed in and the gas-mask, although not put on tightly, feels as though it is getting tighter by the moment. My breath starts to come in ragged pants and the cold salty sweat of fear runs down into my eyes. I take one step back then another. I almost shout our loud when I find myself backed up against the remains of a wall. Looking down at the uneven ground I realise in terror that I am actually standing upon the arm of a rotting corpse. My head shakes from side to side and I am getting increasingly claustrophobic being all tied up in this mask that is preventing me taking a breath of fresh air - yes that's all I need, to get away from this corpse and take off the damned mask.

I step to the side and whisk off the mask, casting it down. I take a deep breath and go to rub my face with my hands. Are they worms, no - just my fingers? Surely just a flashback to my 'Sapna episode.'

"Get a grip mon Dieu!" I mutter to myself