One thing I am curious about if it is not too much trouble @Azel (and if you have decided on the matter) is what does Max's family situation looks like. Do we have some place in mind where we could find shelter at least in principle, do we have people to get back to?
He is unmarried and still lived with his parents. His father got drafted recently, but his mother is still at home. Getting back to her is his most urgent plan and from there... he will figure something out.
Though that isn't set entirely in stone. If you pick up commitments on your way, it might shake out that you are staying somewhere, for a while at least, and figure out another way to contact his family.
Actually speaking of tanks... I know this thing runs on diesel-punk magic, but generally speaking how much fuel does it use? Basically once we are past the river how many more miles does thing thing have in it?
Actually speaking of tanks... I know this thing runs on diesel-punk magic, but generally speaking how much fuel does it use? Basically once we are past the river how many more miles does thing thing have in it?
It's quite the guzzler, but you got it with a full tank and some spare diesel cannisters in the cargo compartment. You can make about 100km with both the walker and the truck. Maybe 150km if you ditch the truck.
It's quite the guzzler, but you got it with a full tank and some spare diesel cannisters in the cargo compartment. You can make about 100km with both the walker and the truck. Maybe 150km if you ditch the truck.
Arno just started laughing at that and nearly dropped the newspaper you had found.
"What's so funny about that? This is a perfectly fine walker and I don't see why I should give it away just to be allowed to cross a bridge. If Ludendorffs people can steal an entire artillery battery and the communists in Coblenz a whole fortress, then I can have a walker."
"Stole it fair and square, am I right?"
"Exactly," you huffed.
He snorted in response, but had enough control to not start guffawing again. "I was right. I really like you."
For a while it was quiet, or as quiet as the inside of a walker could get, and you concentrated on driving the Spider through the fields and hedges. There had been an alarm, you were hardly subtle in your departure after all, but you were also fast. The communists had not much time to react. You followed the road for a while, being careful to not leave too obvious tracks by keeping tracks by staying on the cobbles, before you had ducked into a small strip of forest to hide in its cover.
Some search parties had gone out, you had seen their lanterns, though most of them went in the direction of Urmitz. If you had tried to deliver the Spider to the soldiers there, they probably would have found you. They did not expect you to veer towards the hills though. You kept a low profile until you were certain that the search parties had gone back to Coblenz and then waited another hour or so to make sure while checking the cargo compartment for other spoils. It did not disappoint.
Panzerläufer 4 "Spider"
- Right Pintle Mount: MG 08 Heavy Machine Gun with 2,500 rounds of ammo
- Left Pintle Mount: Heavy Flamethrower 17 with 80 litres of flame oil
Sawed-off Shotgun with 32 rounds of buckshot.
4 Stick Hand Grenades
2 Smoke Grenades
"As much as I admire your chutzpah for intending to keep this thing," Arno spoke up after a while in a much more sober tone, "don't forget that we had a deal. We need to get over the Rhein to get our money."
"I haven't forgotten about that. There's still the bridge in Remagen and with the amount of fuel we got in the cannisters, we should be able to get as far as Bonn or Köln if we can't cross there either."
He frowned in response. "Let's hope the three won't mind the slight departure from their plan then."
"Remagen isn't all that far. They can walk a bit." At least you were decently certain that they had the ability to walk. The three passengers had done not much except glare at everyone else since you met them. "Any chance you might tell me what is up with them? And why Coblenz?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. I think they are officers who decided to keep their heads down and trade uniforms with a corpse when the soldiers were fed up with following orders. The one of them who actually talked to me once had a haughty accent at least. Doesn't matter though. They are paying and that's what matters right now."
"So, for you it's a matter of greed and nothing more?"
"Man, have you looked around us?" He almost spat the words at you. It was the first time you've heard Arno angry. "Whole country has gone mad. It was bad enough when the Kaiser and the capitalists owned everything and had people point guns at you to keep it that way. Now everyone has a gun and barely more than the clothes on their back."
A sigh escaped him, so loud that you could hear it even over the diesel engine. "Things will get much worse before it gets better again. If it gets better again at all. I'd rather take what I can get without sinking too low myself. Might not have much choice left someday if I don't."
After his outburst, you lapsed back into silence. There was not much to say after this, no matter how much you wanted to gainsay him. You were in the process of stealing a 20 ton war machine and expected to get away with it, all because you thought it might come in handy at some point on your travels. It most likely would.
"I was just thinking what we would do afterwards," you ventured after a while, keen to bury the topic. "After we cross the Rhein I mean. We thought that the truck would run out of fuel and everyone would be on their own way after that, but now we got two vehicles and decent amount of diesel."
It took him a while, but he answered in the end. "If you are looking for a gunner for this, you should stick with Gottlieb. He knows his way around a machine gun at least. The two of them are headed towards Schleswig, I think. You could stick with them until Hannover or so and then go east on your own."
"And you?"
"I have some family in Leipzig. Haven't seen them in a while, but it's a fair bit closer than Brassel. Why do you ask? Uncertain where to go yourself?"
"I was thinking about heading for Siegen next. A lot of industry, but not that big a city, or so I heard. Should be decent odds that I can get some spare parts for the Spider and some more diesel. If we split between it and the truck, we should have just enough fuel to get there with both. We could buy some supplies there before splitting up."
"Sounds like a decent plan. Though we are not over the bridge yet. Let's hope this goes well."
Back at the truck, the brothers and your three passengers were rather nervous when you approached them, even though you had sent Arno ahead to warn them that the incoming walker was friendly. It was nearly dawn and unlike the communists, Heinrich had spotted you approaching just fine. There had been some quiet debate with his brother if they should rather run away, especially since the other three had quietly spoken among each other too.
At least it was a good reminder that it would have been better to leave the area with some hurry, lest the soldiers in Urmitz or the people of Coblenz spot you and decide to take their walker back. With he truck refuelled and Arno driving it, by virtue of him having learned just enough driving from watching you to mostly know what he was doing, you made your way northwards, sticking close to the railway lines.
While you had hoped for an easy crossing, fate had other things in mind. Veering slightly eastwards, creeping along behind the row of hedges at the railway line to be not too obvious, you had just passed the small town of Sinzig when noticing the smoke rising ahead of you, just where Remagen was supposed to be. It was the first sign that something was wrong.
The second greeted you next to the bridge that crossed the small river Ahr. Just as you were about to plow through the hedge to get onto the railway you saw the small group hiding in it. A few women, accompanied by two old men, were cowering in the brambles, staring fearfully at the Spider and the truck that came to a halt behind you. Was this an ambush? The war had a way to make you afraid of anything you did not expect and you had not expected this. But a few tense moments passed and neither side made a move.
Finally, you stood up and opened the hatch, peaking out just far enough to see the people below. "We don't want to hurt you," you called down to them and they gave it as much credence as it was to be expected when someone in a war machine said those words.
None the less, one of the men stood up and dusted off his threadbare suit jacket after he had crawled out of the bush. "We, uhm…" He awkwardly glanced around. "We don't want to hurt you either. Eh, sir."
Unfortunately, you already had a fair idea what the answer would be, though you had to ask none the less. "Why are you hiding in a bush?"
"There has been, uhm… some problems in our village and we wanted to… talk with the mayor in Sinzig. Nothing more… I assure you. Just some good people on the way to their neighbours." He kept tugging on his jacket as he spoke, trying to smooth out wrinkles that weren't there. "You can tell you officers that everything is fine."
Could you trust them? What a silly question. You were sitting in a walker and talking to a few frightened civilians. The paranoia was hardly necessary given how little danger they posed. "We are not with the army. We are all deserters."
A few whispers came out of the bush and the man gasped once before wiping some sweat from his brow. You weren't sure if he felt reassured or alarmed by that proclamation, but he certainly got rather red in the face for some reason. "Tell him," the bush whispered loud enough that you could still understand it just fine on top of the Spider. "Tell him what happened."
The man just gaped a few more times, cycling through a set of facial colours that clashed badly with the suit jacket. Finally, a woman stepped out of the bush and unceremoniously stepped in front of him. "If you are not with the army, you could help us."
"Waldtraud, you can't honestly-," the man tried interject, but the women glared hard enough at him to stop him in his tracks.
"I can and I will," she told him, then turned to you again. "Listen. A group of soldiers has been guarding the bridge next to our village for the last few weeks. They haven't gotten any food delivered in a while, so they started stealing from us to make up for it. But today one of their officers came to us, claimed that we had poisoned some of his men and accused us of hiding food from them."
As she spoke, she became faster and faster and through resolute, you could hear the pain in her voice. "They shot the mayor, claiming he was a traitor or something. And then he went back to the bridge to get all his men. And now they are taking everything and burning the rest. Please. You have this armoured thing. Please. Help us."
She was almost crying by the end, and you could not deny that you felt for her. You had spent the last few days, ever since hearing what had become of Berlin, fearing that your home would be plundered and torched. But a quieter, colder voice was whispering something else. If all the soldiers were away from the bridge, you could cross it without trouble as long as you did not dally unnecessarily.
You looked back to the truck, trying to gauge what the others might be thinking. They were all looking at you as if waiting for an order to be given. For a moment you just started at each other until Arno leaned out of the drivers window and yelled up to you. "We are just a few people with rifles. You are the one with the walker. It's your call."
What was your call?
[] Help the people of Remagen and attack the soldiers. -[] Optional: Write-In attack plan
[] Ignore them and cross the bridge while the soldiers are distracted.
AN: To avoid vote-splitting, all votes to involve yourself will be counted together and if there are specific attack plans, the one with the most votes is picked.
[X] Help the people of Remagen and attack the soldiers.
Yeah I have no idea bout any potential battle plan. There's no map/terrain/enemy info. And besides we have a spider tank, the simplest course of action is just to march over there and start blasting.
Yeah I have no idea bout any potential battle plan. There's no map/terrain/enemy info. And besides we have a spider tank, the simplest course of action is just to march over there and start blasting.
It's a small village. Two streets going parallel to the Rhein and with houses on both sides. The civilians know that the soldiers have no vehicles, but that's about all that they can say.
[X] Ignore them and cross the bridge while the soldiers are distracted.
Makes me feel bad for leaving the villagers to their fate but I think this is the best option. Turning on our former comrades in arms so quickly into this whole mess off of hearsay (Although I don't believe that the villagers are lying) seems like a shortsighted option that could make us enemies and prevent the rest of our group from getting home safely to their families.
[X] Ignore them and cross the bridge while the soldiers are distracted.
We do not know if they are telling the whole truth or if there is any truth. Our character has to get away from all of this alive and without getting executed later. That involves not drawing attention by attacking the army.
There's for's and against's for both options. Running the bridge means more gear, fuel, and time saved, but also a guilty conscience. Running the men, means killing hangry soldiers just trying to have bad fun, and the town's gratitude for the save. But also means, we use/waste gear, ammo, possibly the truck, and fuel. Might not get all the men, and sooner or later someone from whichever army these convicts are from will send more, and do worse to the town... so unless we can convince the survivors to flee... they're dead later anyways. We just would put it out of mind and worry about how much fuel and ammo we used up trying to save them.
I'm leaning toward running the bridge, but it really depends on how bad our conscience would harangue us about abandoning them.
IF we attack. We attack without trying diplomacy. These soldiers have demonstrated the worst sort of Police Brutality Culture mindset. They won't care that they are hurting innocents. And in fact are quite pleased with the result.
Please take your head in the sand pacifism somewhere it won't end up with the quest bad ending. I get that "killing" is bad, and not something to get used to. Unfortunately, as a much hated author once said. "If bad things happen in the world, and it's not you doing them. Then logically it is someone else doing them. So question you should be asking isn't 'Why would I do such a bad thing?' it is, instead, 'Why is someone else doing this bad thing?'"
Part of the reason the author is much hated, is because the author has a tendency to reveal human nature to the reader. In this case the answer nearly 66.66667 percent of the time is "Because {the bad person} finds it fun!" Or some variation therewith.
So, no. There is no reason to diplomacy this specific scenario, unless you're wanting to end the quest. And given that you're just wanting to avoid killing "unnecessarily" I'd like to think you're not intentionally trying to wreck the quest.
