(Savage Pulp) #3.4 We Had Made it to Pumzika, When Everything Blew Up....

After a sudden revolt, and a violent crackdown on "unapproved activities," life in the desert town of Sohai went back to normal.

While it was good to see the archaeologists and diggers return to town to work the surrounding ruins, it was a shock to most to see a group of Germans arrive in town.

"Germans archaeologists? That's rich!  They'll be so incompetent out there they'll be forced to hire a Frenchmen to figure it all out!"

Still, no one spoke like that with Colonel Wolfgang von Klockenspiel in the bar.  "The Gazelle" fought with Lettow-Vorbeck in Africa and was famed to be the fastest European on the continent.    Now a wealthy patron supported his efforts to dig up artifacts.  Little did he now that the bullets still flew hot and heavy in Sohai.

Leaving the diggers in their camp, The Gazelle took four of his men and two trucks back into town.  They would drop off their finds, resupply, and return the following morning.

The first sign of civilization heading back into town was a small collection of buildings known as Pumzika.  A bad bar, an overpriced general store, and a small missionary outpost was an oft-visited site for treasure seekers, and the horrible road conditions, were a result of the good business.

The Germans care little for the place and planned on driving straight through, however, the roads were so bad, and the desire not to break an axle out in the desert so strong, that the lead driver never noticed the smoke pouring from buildings off in the distance.

Germans only need to get through town and hang a right and they succeed!

Colonel Wolfgang von Klockenspiel "The Gazelle"

For safety, The Gazelle had a lone man drive the lead truck, while his other three men were in his vehicle.  Maja:  "So two can guard the treasure in the back!"

Maja's deployment, all figures are inside vehicles.

The driver of the second truck had a devil of time keeping it in in the safe ruts the lead truck had taken and had created a gap between the vehicles.   The Colonel yelled at his driver to catch up, but that distance allowed him to finally see the smoke from the rest stop... and the lead vehicle hit with a barrage of machine gun fire!

The lead truck expodes!

The Germans paused for a moment, and disembarked from the truck.  No one had an angle to view the local cultist holding a Thompson, hiding in the building, but then again, the cultists couldn't get a good view of the remaining Germans, so robe-clad individuals could be spied running between buildings.

Quickly, the Gazelle forced his men back into the truck with only one order: get the truck back to Sohai. With that, the driver moved forward.

While they scanned their right side for the attacker, another cultist snuck around the left and shot the Colonel in the shoulder!  The Colonel shrugged off the shot, aimed his revolver, and killed the man with a head shot.

A dead cultist, and the flaming corpse of the lead driver...

As the passed the flaming wreckage of the first truck, another volley of machine gun fire overwhelmed the truck. By the grace of God, only one of the men in the back were hit, but a few rounds wrecked havoc on the engine. Steam, smoke, and hot oil sprayed from the hood, obscuring vision.

The driver had no chance to evade when an odd Toffee truck with a banged up front end pulled out from the far side of one of the buildings.  The two vehicles crashed, causing even more damage, and stopping the truck.

Ka-PLOW!

The German guard popped out the back door and stared down the cultist wielding a Tommy Gun.  The cultist held the gun against his hip and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Trying to take out both trucks had apparently emptied an entire drum of ammunition.  The German's return fire struck wide, and the cultist dashed off into the desert.

The Colonel plugged the cultist driving the toffee truck with two shots, and his subordinate ran around from the the back of the truck to attempt to commandeer that vehicle.

With the sound of grinding steel, the German's truck freed itself and peeled off to the right, only to begin to stall out, right in front of two cultists.

With a completely obscured windshield, and fearful of what else might happen, the Colonel commandeer the wheel and shifter, and the vehicle lurched forward.  One cultist dove out of the way, while the other was caught under the front wheel.

They were down two men, but the three surviving Germans made it off with two vehicles and whatever their great discovery was.

The column of smoke from the German's was still visible at the horizon from the town.  The engine finally gave its last gasp, and Colonel and his two men were frantically moving the cargo into the cultist's truck.

No one could see what was transpiring back in town.  A lone figure, bedecked in ceremonial robes far fancier than the cultists was finishing a ritual.  When it finished, dozens of exotic, gargantuan spiders emerged out of the ruins. 

**Da-Da-Duuuuum**

This scenario was inspired by (but certainly did not result like) a game from Armored Ink.  Of course, having a nine year old command the German team resulted in some advantageous set-up to deal with simply phenomenal rolls by my cultist with the Thompson that were so great, I had to have the truck blow up (it was driving too slow to flip over, A-Team style).

Next: #3.5 Why did the cultists torch Pumzika?  What were the German's transporting in their truck?  And what (if anything) was in the back of the cultist's truck?  We're back to Sohai with "Double Foiled"