The German commander was ready, and lifted his flare pistol. The lights from the torches showed armed civilians gathered in the grotto, all facing away from his squads which had infiltrated up to the outside of the crowd, using the low stone walls and grave markers for cover. The flare would be the signal to attack. His finger tightened.

Father Wojosowski made the final gesture and word of the ritual. Next to him, comely Anna shivered slightly, dressed only in her shift. It was time. In front of her there was a humming and a dim light showed the outline of The Gate. The opening darkened, as if a deep pool. The Gate was open once again, after 50 years. "He who is not named" stepped out. Anna bowed to "him." His answering smile showed the tips of his fangs. He held up his hand to take hers.

The crack of a rifle shot sounded from the Old Town. Then a flare went off in the night sky lighting up those in the grotto -- the priests, headstones, gathered townspeople, their children and "Him." Surrounding the Grotto were two squads of Germans, poised to attack. Kostov, on lookout on the roof of one of the buildings, had fired his rifle at the Germans. The ripping noise of machineguns firing and the sound of rifles and other small arms rose up as the Germans and the armed townspeople opened fire on each other. Those not armed ran for cover. Other townspeople looked up at Father Wojosowski. "They must not leave. Kill all of the Germans!" Knives, clubs, and other hidden weapons suddenly appeared in the hands of the men folk. With a loud yell they charged the Germans.

Captain Reiker shouted, "Shoot, shoot." Where was that squad of SS that was supposed to be sealing off the other side of the cemetery? There they were, behind a wall by the railroad track, firing into the nearest partisans with their machinegun and rifles. Captain Reiker pulled out another flare, popped his flare pistol open, and reloaded it.

"He who is not named" took Anna's hand. "We must go now," he said. She nodded. "There must be no witnesses from the outside." Father Wolosowski nodded and made a gesture to one of the other priests. The Father watched as the vampire and Anna stepped through the Gate. The World was safe for another fifty years. The other priest threw some powder into the air and spoke the ancient curse in Latin.

Bunny and her gang had the tomb surrounded. There was a vampire gang in there and they were going to take them. Wendy had a stake in one hand and a cross in the other. Bunny held a loaded crossbow and another cross. Lander and Devon both carried assault rifles with a mixture of lead, silver, and wooden tipped bullets in the 30 round magazines. Cordy, dressed in a mini-skirted red business suit as usual, held an auto-mag pistol in one hand and a briefcase full of clips in the other. "Go!" The gang burst through the entrance, expertly spreading out to cover the interior with their guns. A full dozen vampires looked up from their latest victim. "Ready..." said Bunny when Wendy exclaimed, "Oh, Shit!" and the gang found themselves standing in a darkened village street, next to a fountain, under a full moon, with the flicker of fires and the sounds of gun fire coming from the other side of the buildings. Wendy and Lander both spoke, softly, but almost together, "Nazis" said Wendy. "SS troops" said Lander. Devon and Lander lifted their assault rifles and squeezed the triggers. The third German looked up in surprise but lifted his weapon to fire at the new threat when Bunny reached him. "Blonde Girl" was his last two words.

Captain Reiker's radioman, standing next to him, said "Captain! I think that priest just said something about Ôraise the dead'. My seminary Latin is difficult to remember, but..." Captain Reiker's first thought was "Rubbish." His second was, "We're standing in the middle of a cemetery!" Then a door on a nearby crypt opened and a horse came out, the rider leaning down to clear the low doorway. A horse skeleton with a mounted skeleton rider in armor with sword and lance had appeared. Other skeletons forced their way out of the surrounding graves. "Hold, Hold!" shouted the Captain as other tombs opened to disclose other horrors. Several of the Germans were caught by surprise, their backs to the skeletons as the rusty swords slid in. Other Germans opened fire and with some relief felled several of the skeletons. Others blocked blades with their rifles and grappled with the undead. Others ran, including two of the squad leaders. The Captain ran to keep those squads from following their leaders.

SS Corporal Willie Wilhelm looked to his left as a burst of automatic weapons fire sounded from inside the town. He didn't think there were any villagers in there. He didn't recognize the sound of the automatic weapons. It wasn't the section leader's MP-40. Frantic yells from the squad turned his attention back to the street in front of him. Coming up it were a hoard of townspeople, some armed with guns, some with hand weapons, some were giant green monsters with a club the size of a man. The light machinegun team opened fire, dropping several of the attackers. "What in hell? No, not what in Hell but from Hell. Shoot, shoot!"

Bunny could sense the Vampire. She gestured to her gang and they headed towards the torches. Another SS trooper died a silent death from the Slayer. Wendy ran up with Lander and Cordy. Wendy gasped, "We lost Devon." She pointed to the moon above their heads. "He turned into a werewolf and went the other way down the street." She pointed West. "He went south that way following the street. We also saw some tanks coming up the road from the south. German I think." Lander nodded in agreement. Bunny outlined the plan. She would take out the Germans across the street firing their machinegun up the road, then head towards the Grotto where the Vampire appeared to be. Wendy would raise a protective shield around the group until Bunny came back. "A Plan!" was Lander's answer. Wendy set her cross and stake down and pulled out her bag of tricks. Bunny dashed across the street, spinning and dodging as bullets whizzed by her.

Captain Reiker looked around. Almost all of the skeletons and undead were down as were several big green things. The villagers had called them Larry and Moe, whatever that was. The reinforcements had arrived and would soon be supporting his force. They had stopped to engage something coming down the road at them, the 251/9 commander having blown it off the top of his halftrack with a burst of SMG fire. Almost half of his own two squads were down and the fire from what had to be the SS squad attached to his platoon was still coming from the Western side of town, so they must still be alive, although their machinegun had stopped firing. Something was coming up what looked like a road from the Grotto, but he could see only glimpses of what it was due to the buildings. The cemetery appeared to be German again, though, and he had his troops under control again. He looked at the grotto, using his binoculars. The black door in the rock was gone as was the girl and the man dressing in black and red. The priests were out of sight. It was slightly past midnight. The train with reinforcements and his blocking force north of the town should be here within the hour. He would hold his position until then.

SS Corporal Wilhelm watched as a German-looking blonde ran from behind a stone wall across the street from him, and then jumped three of his troops across the street behind a stone wall. His men next to him fired everything they had at her, but they only had a couple seconds and she looked like she was dodging the fire. Impossible, no one can dodge bullets. His men turned to fire back down the street at the villagers as the girl disappeared from sight. He glanced that way. At least the big green thing was down. Firing and yelling from the location of his machinegun crew drew his attention back there. They must have subdued the girl! Then something came over the wall to land in the middle of the street. It was one of his men. The girl appeared again, on top of the wall and then was across the street and out of sight again.

Bunny was half-way to the Grotto, running in the opposite direction from what must be the local townspeople, who were storming up a cobblestone road back towards the German positions. It was then that the Vampire's presence disappeared. Cut out completely. Then she was standing back in the Crypt with Lander, Cordy, and Wendy and a dozen vampires. Cordy was fastest. Her auto-mag was out and spitting death before Bunny could pull her stake out.

Father Wojosowski waived his hands and yelled for the attack to stop. "Take cover everyone. Those with guns position your selves to defend the Old Town and the Church. I want the Church defenders to pull back when the Germans attack. Pull them into the Old Town." He looked at the Priest with his bag of powder. "I think we have more dead to raise this time, eh?"

Part One of "Partisan Hunt" at Drums Along the Maumee 5 was to be run Friday night, and Part Two on Saturday. However, two really big games -- the Colby's Nemo's Island and the Boxer Rebellion -- sucked up most of the players on Friday. So, I ran Part One on Saturday for a mixture of young kids and older gamers. I still didn't have enough players, but divided the forces out: The Germans, 3 players; The Priest and Undead, 1 player; The townspeople and partisans, 1 player. As GM, I ran Bunny's gang and judged.

The rules used were Arc of Fire. I just added some basic Magic rules and figured out statistics for some of the more unusual characters in the game, like the skeletons and werewolf. Curly, Moe, and Larry are three large trolls. The German player commander congratulated me on finding a good use for the GW trash. The players all had a good time and appeared to feel that undead, skeletons, witches, vampires, super heroines, etc., were just the normal run of the mill stuff the Germans had to fight on the Eastern Front. Maybe they were easier to fight then Russians? Now, how to run Part Two?