For this section of the adventure, it is best to use the "Abandoned Lighthouse" scenario provided in Version 2 Twilight 2000. If you do not have this adventure, do not worry. Simply make a lighthouse on an island about 300 meters off the coast.
The lighthouse is currently in the hands of some marauders who number about 30 strong. The cheifs of the marauders (three of them) are an old fisherman, an ex-soldier, and an accountant. At any time, at least one of them will be on the island. Many times, one or two might go off on one of the boats that the marauders "own" and help with a raid.
The pirates have three vessels available to them. One is a small (15 foot) sailboat that the pirates use as a shore patrol. Only about 8 men can fit onto this boat, and there is a small cabin on it to store supplies and provide some cover in bad weather.
Another boat is a larger, 40 foot long sailboat. It is quite large and capable of holding quite a bit of cargo. It can hold all the marauders if need be. There are no permanent weapons mounted on this boat, put there are a couple of mountings located on the bow and stern that can allow a light machine gun on a single pivot to be mounted.
The third boat is the marauders "terror weapon". It is a 52 foot long tug that mounts a quad ZSU-23 AA gun on the bow. The boat is powered, so the pirates do not use it much, except when they need to make an example of a coastal village that does not "give amply" to them. The pirates do have the problem of being incredibly short on ammunition for the weapon. There is a total of 26 rounds left for it.
The pirates have a decent number of weapons, including a couple of heavy weapons (the ZSU-23 and a pair of RPGs) but they are low on ammunition overall. Each weapon that every man has only has about one clip of ammunition left for it. If they were to scrape up all available ammunition, they could probably provide a firearm for each man in their group, but as it stands right now, only the ones out on patrol and "collection" are given guns. On the island, two guards at the dock have guns, as does on man that mans the walkway at the top of the lighthouse. And each of the chiefs possess a weapon. Everyone else on the island is given melee weapons, or simply does without. Not much effort has gone into making sure everyone is armed, as no one has ever dared to oppose the pirates' will.
Recently, however, the chiefs have noticed the increasing number of Soviets in the area, and they are getting worried that a confrontation may be around the corner. They do not look forward to combatting the Soviets, especially low on ammo, so they have negotiated a deal with a band of pirates further down the coast, about a week away. This other group of pirates has an ample supply of ammunition, and a bad habit of wanting a lot of gold. It just so happens, however, that the group at the lighthouse has a stash of 130 kg of GOLD! They have made a deal to trade the gold for ammunition and assistance against the Soviet forces. The other pirates have agreed and have set sail to assist.
The gold is located in the central shaft of the lighthouse, and sits behind a padlocked door. Only the chiefs have keys to the padlock. The lighthouse is always manned by at least 4 men. In addition, the power has come back on (courtesy of the Soviets) and lights are always kept on in the lighthouse. The main light used for the beacon, however, has long since been damaged beyond operation.
What the chiefs do not know is that one of their newer members is a turncoat. A marauder known as "Smiley" is actually a GRU agent working for Stehnkov. He usually finds a way of getting a message off to Stehnkov about every 2 nights as to the operations of the pirates. He knows of the approaching pirates and ammunition, and has alerted Stehnkov to the possible danger. "Smiley" is very good at his cover, and the only way for anyone to tell that he is actually an agent is to catch him in the act of transferring information.
*Note:* If you have to create the island from scratch, you should attempt to make an island roughly 400 meters long and about 200-300 meters wide. The lighthouse should sit on the highest point of land on the island, and there should be about 6 structures on the island. One should definitely be the lighthouse, while another has to be the caretakers house, which is where the chiefs of the marauders have their meetings and is where most of the pirates sleep. There should be at least one small shack that is used for storage, and down by the water's edge on the coastal side of the island, there should be a dock with a small structure there to house people as they wait for the boat. This structure is mainly used for storage and for a little rest shack for the guards on duty at the dock. Anything else that you add to the island is purely up to you, but the island should remain relatively sparse on vegatation due to the high winds and foul weather that buffet it.
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