Krakow: The Raid

18 August 2000. Krakow.

On request from Adam, the party was on the lookout for Lucja, an employee who’d fallen in with the ne’er-do-well American soldier, Sgt Cutler.

After a bit of sleuthing, Lucja was found by the party in her mother’s cousin’s house. She was hiding under a bed, but emerged when she heard voices in English. Lucja looked burned-out from anxiety. She and Cutler were reunited just yesterday. This morning, however, while they were having a breakfast and a coffee at a tiny local coffee shop, men seized Cutler. Lucja had been in the restroom, and emerged just as the group was leading Cutler out the door. She followed them to Józefa Sarego street, where she saw Cutler taken into a building. She couldn’t get any closer, as whoever owned the building seemed to own the street as well. Men stopped her from approaching, but fortunately for Lucja, seemed to be more interested in her as a woman than suspicious.

Lucja appealed to the party as Americans to rescue her beloved American sergeant. Áron, the party bruiser said “Sure.” He was ready for action. William nodded agreement.

Maks, the Colonel, said “Alright, slow down here. They could have a lot of guys in that building. We don’t even know if Cutler is still in there. I’m not seeing the upside to this. Maybe we should just pass this off to the authorities.”

Sensing this was slipping away, Lucja said, “If you rescue my beloved Randolph, I will tell you where the Reset device is.”

Maks fixed her with his gaze. “What is it?”

She held up her hands. “I do not know. But it’s heavy, and in a large backpack.”

The whole city seemed to be looking for Cutler and this Reset device. Now Maks was interested.

They conducted an inconspicuous drive-by, which showed the street was blocked with barricades (& guards) at both ends, and followed up with a recon with William and Wojo. They found that there were guards in front and back of the building, plus sentries on the roof, and the roofs of nearby buildings as well. It was not clear who these people were, but best guess it was run by the Guz, the crime lord.

Their best approach was in the back, where there were at least some trees to cover their approach, and at night.

Wojciech led the raid, assisted by William, Áron, and Pratt. Maks and Doc Schultz were parked a block away with the vehicle if needed.

The back of the building was a loading dock, and there were two sentries on guard. They were chatting quietly.

The raid group made their way quietly in the dark, then rushed the last portion. The guards were taken aback. Áron punched the woman with the AKM, but failed to fully connect. She brought up her AK, but Wojciech wrenched it away. Pratt punched the guard with the M-16, and Wojciech hissed to his men, “Let’s take them pris…” William slashed the M-16 guard’s throat with his saber, leaking blood everywhere in his slow collapse to the ground. The female guard saw the fight was lost and surrendered.

They found a key-operated cargo elevator, a generator room, and a fuel tank for same. It must have been a backup, as it wasn’t running, and the building had light already. Wojciech noted an electrical panel for later, and found some rags. He had Áron drag the body into the generator room, and handed some rags to William and pointed at the blood pooled on the concrete. “Clean up your mess.”

Entering the building proper, they found a stairwell, a storage room with dry food storage, and an office. Almost too late, they heard a man entering the front door of the building, and ducked into nearby rooms out of sight. Áron waited for him to pass, grabbed the guard, drug him back into the office, and throttled him.

So far, not even a shot fired. Áron opened another door, saw a man in a suit sitting at a desk with electrical equipment, and rushed him. William and Pratt followed. Wojciech very tidily closed the door behind them to shut out the sounds of melee.

The suit was frantically drawing a Tokarev, which Áron wrenched from his grip. The man punched Áron to little effect. William and Pratt smacked the guy, who grabbed a phone. Áron not only took the phone from him, but (Outstanding Success) ripped the phone completely off the wall. Pratt smacked him a glancing blow to the head, which was enough to knock out the suited man.

The room had a rudimentary CC TV system, that showed cameras at the front of the building, and down the road. It wasn’t very extensive. There was also some kind of low-tech alarm system with red LED lights. Locked cabinets were on two walls.

They were in the building’s security office.