Dead in the Water

Jul 14, 2024 3:46 pm

Martin Cater

"Floater!" Martin announces and gets to his feet, breaking the morning quiet! His tone is tired, almost bored; a reminder of how normal this all is these days. Some mornings, you hear a hint of mischief in the cry: like a joke he still finds funny but that had wore a little thin on you a few months back. ‘Floater’…

"Yep! There they are! Looks to be about five or six of ‘em this time!" he says, and points a finger at the latest fleshy clump coming your way downriver.

Emma stands, and instinctively moves off to the side, in case they happen to come close to the boat this morning. Vinh and Tracy stay where they are, not nearly as enamored with floaters as Martin is. Perhaps for different reasons…

Following the watchman’s finger, you see the clump of walkers out on the water. Stuff was always getting washed down the river. A stray walker would get taken up in the current once in a while.

Lately though, it had been a more persistent problem. Lots of them were dead by the time they got to you; their heads bashed against a rock or some such things on the way down. That left you sticking a knife in the ones with enough juice left to lunge at you up out of the wet.

Martin sucks through his teeth, sounding annoyed.

"I know you don’t want to hear me say it again, but I’m going to say it anyway!" he says, getting ready to wind up into a familiar spiel about heading up-river to poke around a little more.

OOC:

Welcome, one and all! Why don’t we introduce our characters as they go about their morning business. What do they do to keep busy in the camp? What have they got planned for the day, if anything?

Jul 15, 2024 5:23 pm

Richard had been doing what he always had done early every morning since this new life was thrust upon him. He took the hopeful spark he had been born with and went through his daily mental checklist as he sat cross-legged on the bow of the boat. The first item always began with thoughts on the good things in his current life, good being relative, and sadly translating into less bad.

His morning reverie and subsequent mumblings were rudely interrupted by Martin. "Then why say it?" he calls out annoyed as he looks for said floaters. Today Richard had been weaving something from two strands of swamp grass he had fished out of the water. His hands were always busy since he had begun his new lifestyle.

"Any idea why there are more of them now?"

Jul 15, 2024 11:53 pm

Owen makes a semi-audible groan, as he hears. Great. Radio Martin is at it again... Why can't teachers just shut the fuck up? School's been well over, since the world went to shit.

He tries to scrub harder the stubborn gore stains from the last attack. The dense ichors coming from the zed's body have been tough to remove. some of it has soaked deep into the deck wood. Physical work keeps his body warm, and his mind focused.

He however glances in the direction Martin is hinting at, in search of signs of floaters. Six zeds can quickly rush you, better keep your eyes peeled.

He then looks across at Richard. It was his idea to get the gore scrubbed, of course. He hated to admit it, but the man often had sound ideas.
He looks for the ladies of their group of desperates. Shayna and BF. Now, where the heck are they?

OOC:

are the zeds swimming/floating like logs -- or are they walking along the riverbed?

Jul 16, 2024 3:16 am

Martin Cater

"I’m thinking that you’ll get tired enough of hearing it, and let me head on up there to take a looksie!" Martin shoots back, a wry smile on his face but his eyes trained on the walkers.

Emma cups her hands to her eyes, so as to get a better look at the floating mass of walkers.

Emma Gauff

"Maybe they’re starting to move out of Atlanta?" she offers weakly. Given where you are, they’d more than likely be wandering out of Commerce or Jefferson, but maybe she had a point. A year on, surely some of them would have made it this way by pure chance…

Tracy snorts, and rolls his eyes.

Tracy Devlin

"Maybe someone’s dumping them in the water…" he says darkly. "Maybe they’re trying to get rid of us!" he says, with a smirk.

Then Martin calls out again, pointing his finger at the threat once again.

"Yeah, we got some movers down there!" he says, and you see two of the floating walkers snarling and snapping as they move slowly down stream. It’s an impotent display, given how they’re caught up in the mess of the other bodies.

OOC:

Let’s say they are floating like some river debris. Two of them still seem to be "alive", but the others are face down and unmoving.

Jul 16, 2024 4:19 am

Shayna spits out the "toothpaste" she's made from wild mint, chalk and charcoal. She stows her brush in her pocket and looks around at what had gotten the attention of the others.

Walking to Martin, spear in hands like a hiking staff, she says in her slight Southern drawl, "Don't fishermen ha' long sticks with hooks? We could snare one if it gets close and then POP, someone else can shove a pick through its brain." She looks out over the water. "A pick on the end of another looonnng stick."

With distaste she looks at the water. "Still, I'm with the others. Upstream. This water is polluted by their filth, by the plague. Someon's going to mess up and drink too much of this water maybe a bit of rotten flesh and we'll wake up getting chewed upon." She reflexively checks her spear isn't stuck to the pontoon boat. "Put a stop to wha'ever is causin' them to fall 'n the water like itty bitty rafts "

Jul 16, 2024 4:54 am

Emma’s eyes go wide and a quick gasp escapes her as Shayna makes her grim prediction. Vinh clears his throat and shifts uncomfortably in his chair all of a sudden. It was as if the Doctor had put something suddenly inevitable out into the world. Something which hadn’t dawned on the anyone until just now.

Jul 16, 2024 6:35 am

Billie-Faye lies up on the canvas top of the one of the pontoon boats, sunnin' herself to drive out the night's chill, chewin' a three year old granola bar for breakfast. The dirty blonde's gray-blue eyes are closed as she feels the warmth of the sun on her face, but it's not near as strong as it was weeks ago. The seasons are changin'. For sure.

Suddenly sitting up, the bikini top-wearing woman pulls her tangled hair into a ponytail with her last elastic as she scans the water, sees the floaters and then responds to Cater without looking at him. "Martin, will you shut the fuck up? We know. We know there's more of them fuckers all the time in the water, and we know we don't know why."

Glancing at Tracy, the soiled southern dove adds, "Excuse my French, sweetie, sometimes I forget there's kids present." Her accent is lighter than Shayna's, but it's there. The two women are otherwise... pretty different sorts.

Beaver's got that cold look in her eyes -- she's clearly seen too much. But she lacks the tattoos, the piercings, the potty mouth that Billie sports, that she seems to take pride in. The hard-livin' woman never minded bein' called a whore, a skank, a junkie, a stripper -- because she was all those things and more in the before times. Now? Brave new world. Level playin' field. Final innings, and who the fuck knew the score would be all tied up?

Adjusting the fit of her top over the tits JD paid for a few years back, snugging up the straps, Cooper pulls on her favorite flannel shirt, which she leaves open so Kant can still sneak a peek here and there, then she drops down to the deck of the boat. Barefoot in her jean shorts, she makes her way over to Shayna, producing her own worn toothbrush -- which she holds out, wordlessly asking to borrow some of the woman's homemade toothpaste. Then, after listening to all the rest of the conversation and spitting out the unpleasant mixture, Billie finally adds, "We can go upstream and see what the fuck's goin' on... or maybe it's time to get the fuck outa Dodge altogether, right? We been here a while. Winter's on the way and this here water palace ain't exactly weather proofed."

OOC:

Sorry for the delay!

Jul 16, 2024 10:32 am

Martin rolls his eyes, after checking that Billie-Faye wasn’t paying attention enough to see him do it. A familiar torrent of abuse from the camp’s dead weigh, as Martin saw it.

Martin Cater

"We could pass the day waiting on you to remind us of all the things you don’t know." he croaks back, thankful that the woman is busy dismounting while he slips the comment in.

Tracy sneers as Billie-Faye excuses herself on his account. He grabs himself in a teenage fashion; adjusting its position, as if to reassure himself that he was a man and not a child.

Vinh

"And go where?" Vinh announces hoarsely, using his voice for the first time today. You’ve had the conversation a million times or more by now.

Jul 16, 2024 1:35 pm

Spitting an extra time into the water, perhaps for the hell of it or perhaps for effect givin' Martin's hurtful words, Billie-Faye stands up straight, looks over at Vinh and shrugs her slim, tanned, ink-heavy shoulders. "I dunno, anywheres? Away from the river? Some place with walls, a bit more privacy and a few less walkers?"

Holding up an empty duffle bag the zipper is long gone on, she adds, "We're needin' a food run whatever else we do. We could take a peek up river, or maybe even check in on them Athenians."

It had been easy to reject the offer to join up with that group before, when times were a little better. Now, with colder weather approaching, food runnin' low and all these floaters...

Jul 17, 2024 12:12 am

Vinh says:

"And go where?" Vinh announces hoarsely, using his voice for the first time today. You’ve had the conversation a million times or more by now.

"Dunno, Vinh. But if it carries on like this, there'll be stacks of damn zeds in these waters. Heck, they'll make moving the pontoons impossible..."

He glances up at the river, "maybe this place isn't so safe anymore." He concludes, giving a short glance in Tracy's direction.

Jul 17, 2024 2:55 am

"This boat has been safe. Walkers don't swim well and that's not an advantage we will find easily. I'm less and less willing to eat the fish from this lake though, or drink the water without boiling it to all to hell an' back. Meaning we're in the middle of a Godforsaken desert."

She looks at Biily-Faye's duffle bag. "Maybe we can find a mess o ready heat meals just out there waitin for us. "

The look on her face tells any who listen that she thinks that's as likely as some black tie silverfox showing up and saying she was winning the Powerball tomorrow.

Jul 18, 2024 6:47 am

He looks at Shayna, considering her words. Then at the waters surrounding them, suddenly appearing polluted and toxic to his mind.
She's right... We're drinking zombie particles every day... The thought makes him queasy.

"No harm in... Following the river upstream to take a look... I guess."

Jul 18, 2024 10:48 am

Vinh grimaces a tired, old grimace, as if he was disgusted by the world entire.

Vinh

"And some bottled water." he adds to Shayna’s wish for meals. But his voice is distant, instead of hoarse now, as if he didn’t really care one way or the other. Resignation maybe!

Martin clears his throat again, and now his hands sit heavy on his hips.

Martin Cater

"Could mosey on up and take a look! If things look bad, well maybe we just keep on going right up to Royston or somewhere else that ain’t here!" he says, with a tone that says he thinks it’s just about the most reasonable suggestion that’s ever been suggested.

Jul 18, 2024 2:57 pm

Richard, who had been quiet up until now, listens and nods along. Some of their group was worth listening to. Some were just there to look at. He made no secret any of this. In their world, you cut to the chase, because you could be dead, or worse tomorrow. No room for politics, flattery or games.

"I'm for moving. I don't necessarily agree with Owen's assessment that there is no harm in moving upriver. There could be a lot of harm but what choice do we have?

Richard had enjoyed Billy-Faye's little performance as she dismounted from the canvas top because you took pleasure where you could. He didn't hide his eyes drifting...

"Yeah, Billy's right. We need food. Shayna's right too. It's been safe here relatively speaking, but it seems like we should move from here now."

Jul 18, 2024 3:24 pm

OOC:

Does anyone have binoculars, and is there any kind of high ground or structure around these parts?

Jul 18, 2024 3:57 pm

"Doesn’t have to be Chef Boy-ar-dee to beat what we got here, Shayna," Cooper says with a grin as the group starts talking about getting off their asses. Billie-Faye’s always been a woman who likes to move around. Doesn’t like wearin’ out welcomes and such. She ignores Martin’s continued attempts to assert himself as the group’s leader, though.

"Maybe a few of us go scoutin’? We got the bike and the car. Leave some here to hold down the fort while a couple-few of us get a better idea on what’s goin’ on?"

Jul 19, 2024 2:19 pm

"I'll come," Richard offers, maybe a little too quickly. "Siting around gabbing isn't getting us fed. Who is coming and who is staying?"

Jul 20, 2024 1:48 am

She looks at the zombies in the water, wondering how that's happening, where they're coming from, and why. What drives them to wander?.

Looking north along the river, she says, "I'll go. There are places up there I haven't checked." Her sister, somewhere out there.

Jul 20, 2024 9:12 am

"Getting off this boat for a while would be good. I'm in."

He stands up from his scrubbing task, adding "We can check the pizza delivery car I found. Should start OK. It's hidden right there." he points at an area on the shore.
"Could get us some of the way. At least until the gas lasts..."

Martin Cater

Jul 21, 2024 2:44 am

Martin Cater

Martin seems to sense the rebuff, and pivots to something else resembling leadership in the moment. Emma, Vinh and the kid being left behind left him running things. And suppose something bad was waiting upriver for the scouting party…

"We’ll hold down the fort. Spike those floaters, and get ourselves packed away for moving on!" he says, with a creased smile at those being left behind.

OOC:

Taking this as a opportunity to form the PC ‘party’. If someone thinks Tracy might try to tag along, we could work with that! He seems to type to try and get himself into trouble to justify being given a gun…

OOC:

Next post will come in a few hours, getting us on the road!

Jul 21, 2024 5:31 am

OOC:

All good with Tracy reminding behind and causing trouble, or coming along and causing trouble. ;)

Jul 21, 2024 10:05 am

You take a little time to gear up for the unknown. In the time since the world went to shit, runs had gone from hours to sometimes days, and it was harder and harder to know what you’d meet on the road.

Travel light and hope for the best, or expect to bunk down somewhere for a few days, as a herd passes through the area?

You can’t help but notice the other four, as they go about trying to spear the floaters while you pack rations and check weapons. The work of one person is performed by three, with one barely-interested onlooker.

One of you offers to make the climb up the old billboard near where you’d stashed the vehicles. That had been Martin’s idea, separating the camp and the getaways, in case one or the other was found by chance. Would-be raiders might be satisfied with their find, giving your group a chance to make for the other!

As your lookout climbs the sign, binoculars hanging around their neck, and the others busy themselves with pulling the vehicles from their hiding place, you can’t help but notice that the dull white of the morning has begun to turn a more threatening grey.

Ting… Ting… Ting… the metal ladder rings out as they make their way up. Gathering themselves at the top, their chest heaving from the climb, the encroaching storm is much more obvious!

OOC:

Three below, and one above! Let’s get a Scout roll from one person to see what you see! The rest will be below, preparing the run.

How do you feel about leaving the others? What do you anticipate on the road ahead?

Jul 21, 2024 6:06 pm

OOC:

Owen is on car duty, leading the others to its hiding spot. He will lend his binoculars to whoever is climbing the billboard

Owen is relieved to find the pizza delivery car he had hidden is still in its place, despite his hiding technique being grossly ineffective. The red paint is visible through the branches he arranged over the car. Anyone could spot that.

Oh well, they didn't, he thinks glancing at his companions to see if anyone remarks on his awkward attempt at concealing the vehicle.

He then starts removing branches and foliage from the car, and produces the car keys from his pocket. He unlocks the doors.

As he works, his mind goes to Vinh and the others, back at the boats. It's the first time in a while their group splits up. Will they be OK? They should be safer than us, on the water, right? Here on dry land, it's not floaters we'll meet. Walkers. Runners. God knows what else...

He shivers at the thought of being so exposed, so easy to reach. The prospect of their little road trip suddenly feels less appealing.

Jul 21, 2024 7:42 pm

Once away from their sanctuary, such as it was, Richard almost regretted his decision to leave. But they needed food. Needed to see what else was out there, or surely, they'd perish. And they had the doc, so that was reassuring. As Richard's mind switched to the image of the grotesque floaters, he grew anxious. Thier increase in numbers was a sure sign of something changing. What though, was anyone's guess.

Nearing the pizza delivery car, Richard frowns at Owen. It was a piss poor attempt at hiding the vehicle, so he tries to counsel him as he would his own son.

"Now Owen. Does that look hidden to you? We have to take more care of these types of things. It could be the difference between life and death. Know what I mean?"

As to the others they left behind, well, one couldn't let attachments of any kind get in the way of staying alive. He'd decided that when they first took up together on the pontoon. Part of his morning routine was a sort of yoga and planning session. One of his mantras was I must not get attached...

Jul 22, 2024 12:33 am

The car did certainly draw the eye. You remember first seeing it on the road; the shock of red standing out against all the grey. The driver door was open, and two molded pies sat in the passenger’s seat. And the menu leaflets all over the floor…

How many times had you poured over that crumbled up bit of paper by now? Something between remembering and imagining the taste of a hot, delicious pizza, as you sat with rumbling stomachs in your creaky pontoon…

Your mind wanders to attachment, and then to the storm; as fat, heavy drops of rain start to patter down around you. If the rain came hard, which it looked like it might, would the river swell again? Would the pontoon hold its place? Would the others be washed down river?

Jul 22, 2024 6:59 am

It takes Billie-Faye some time to say her goodbyes to Tracy. Truth is the little prick frustrates the hell out of her and she'd rather not be saddled with him, but she intends to keep her word and keep him safe best she can. Hopefully the boy won't cause trouble while she's gone... but deep down she knows he will. It's who he is. Takes after this father.

Like the others, she feels it the moment she's on dry ground. The vulnerability. The darkness of the trees and bushes. The shadows. All the places these dead fuckers can emerge from. A shiver twinges the woman's spine briefly as they approach the hiding spot.

She leaves Owen's admonishing to Richard as they approach the badly-concealed car, focusing instead of finding her motorbike. Wheeling it out from behind some dense brambles, she glances up at the sign, shielding her eyes from the sun. "You goin' up this time, or am I?" she says to Shayna.

OOC:

Billie is Wits 2, Scout 1. We must have better than that...

Last edited July 23, 2024 4:18 am

Jul 22, 2024 8:41 am

Richard says:

"Now Owen. Does that look hidden to you? We have to take more care of these types of things. It could be the difference between life and death. Know what I mean?"

he winces. It didn't go unnoticed. "Well, it wasn't like that when I finished hiding it! A lot of branches have fallen since. Wind and stuff..." he says sulkily, just to try saving face.

"Main thing is, it's still here."

OOC:

Wits 3, Scout 2 here

Jul 22, 2024 2:36 pm

Typical kid response.

Richard watches Billie-Faye extract the motorbike. "She gonna start, Billie-Faye?" He sure as hell hoped so.

"Looks like rain, God dammit," he says scanning the sky. "We better hurry. Maybe find a spot to shelter from the rain until it passes." Nervously looking around his fingers drum on his waist. He wants to draw his pistol but doesn't want the weapon to get wet.

OOC:

Richard has Wits 5, Scout 1.

Jul 22, 2024 3:36 pm

OOC:

I think Richard is our billboard lookout, I can see on Qralloq's sheet that Shayna has 3 Wits, 0 Scout

Jul 22, 2024 11:17 pm

Saying good bye to Martin was awkward. He was soft on her and she didn't want to lead him on, but ended up just patting his arm. Couldn't even give him a hug, 'though that's what she meant to do. Truth was he meant a lot to her, but she couldn't really let herself ... Bah, maudlin thoughts.

Shayna looks up at the sign and back at Billie-Faye, and just shakes her head. "No sense sending me up there when Richard or Owen are 'round. They got good eyes."

Jul 23, 2024 4:37 am

Grunting softly as she muscles the beat-up, vintage bike out in to the open, Bille-Faye throws Kant a smile and a shrug. "Dunno, Richie baby, but I'm gonna find out!"

Adjusting her backpack, securing her axe, the dirty blonde throws a leg over the bike and winks at Shanya. "Right after you scamper up there and have a look around, make sure the coast is clear..."

OOC:

I too vote for Richard to go up! Also, I'm picturing the bike kind of...

[ +- ] Yeah Baby!

Jul 23, 2024 1:13 pm

"I don't know about scamper, Billie-Faye, but I will climb up. The exercise will be good for me."

Richard's lithe and limber body would make quick work of the climb. Eyeing the task before him he hesitates and looked back at Billie-Faye.

"Did you just call me Richie baby? Well that's a first. The Richie and the baby." Turning back to the rusty metal framework, he allows a smile, and then begins to climb, testing the "rungs" for stability with each step.

Rolls

Scout - (5d6)

(26132) = 14

Jul 24, 2024 3:15 am

Richard climbs skyward, and with each rung upwards, the sky comes all the stronger down to meet him. The billboard starts to sing a tinny, discordant melody, as the rain drums down all the harder.

Below, the others bunch up under the thinning canopy, and watch the scientist make his climb. Finally, they watch as he drags himself up over the lip and onto the platform above.

Vertigo threatens, as Richard is buffeted by the gathering winds way up high. He hurriedly places the binoculars up to his eyes, before the storm made the downward climb too treacherous.

[ +- ] Eye Spy

Jul 24, 2024 3:36 am

"What do ya see, Richard?" Billie calls to the man, tilting her head back to look up at him. "Coast clear? Can I fire up my baby?"

Jul 24, 2024 1:11 pm

"Shit. Coast is definitely not clear."

Richard tries not to look directly down. It wasn't every day that he climbed up a billboard. He thinks he can see dust or something off in the distance with his naked eyes. Keeping a firm hold on a metal cross member he raises the binoculars with his other hand and takes a look, almost falling back at the magnified image moving quickly toward him. A sense of vertigo threatens to overtake him but he grits his teeth and soldiers on, and the feeling soon passes.

"We have company approaching quickly. Two people on bicycles," he shouts, squinting and adjusting the binocs he continues. "They are being chased! Chased by ... oh hell. They are being chased by some kind of modified jeep with a battering ram and, oh fuck. A machine gun turret. Fuck, fuck, I gotta get down."

Letting the binoculars fall back onto his chest he begins his hurried descent.

Last edited July 25, 2024 12:18 am

Jul 24, 2024 11:19 pm

The dire news send his heart racing. He senses the danger as a living, palpable thing.

"Who is it? Raiders? We can't be found here! What do we do, they'll see the vehicles."

He regrets having uncovered the car before the lookout could scan around. This is bad. Ten minutes on dry land, and already in deep shit...

Jul 25, 2024 2:07 am

Shayna pats her pockets. "I ain't got a rocket launcher, what are we gonna do about a machine gun?"

She thinks about how they might rescue the bicycle people. "Should we attempt to save them? Who's the good guys, Richard?"

Jul 25, 2024 3:09 am

"Could be bad guys chasing bad guys. I don't have the answers to anybody's questions. I think we should run away from all of them. No need for heroics. The people on the bikes could be worse than the guys doing the chasing for all we know."

Richard looks for places to hide while catching his breath.

"We have to move quickly!"

Jul 25, 2024 5:42 am

Richard scurries down the steps, hoping that the chase and the worsening weather conditions keep the attention off of him as he shimmies down.

Suddenly the flash of red sets your heart pumping hard. You hadn’t moved out on to the road yet. Maybe they’d zip right by? Maybe you had time to put things back as they were?

With any hope, neither party would be too keen on stopping to scavenge some abandoned, busted up, old car on the side of the road anyhow…

A moment or two of scurrying about, and you think you hear the sound of a car misfiring in the middle distance.

They would be, and hopefully pass, here any minute now!

OOC:

Let’s have someone roll stealth, if you intend to hide! One person can roll, and each other character can contribute +1 dice to the pool if they describe how they help hide!

If you plan to try intervene, well that’s just dandy too!

Jul 25, 2024 7:16 am

OOC:

Couple quick questions: do we know any bike-riding groups? Or a local group that has a badass vehicle like that?

If the vehicles are left where they are they'll get spotted, right? What about the boats and the people on them? (By the jokers on the road.)

And I see that I missed your post! Got it, the car and bike could be missed. But is that also try of our boat-camp?

Last edited July 25, 2024 7:18 am

Jul 25, 2024 7:22 am

OOC:

I think it’s fair to say that the boat group will be alright! I had said a few posts back that Martin had suggested splitting the vehicles and the camp so only one could be found (hopefully), so I’ll honor that now!

You don’t know any specific groups like that! There’s nothing to say they couldn’t be a part of the Fort, if things are getting desperate, but that would be new to you.

There are unknown factions ready to be introduced too, as part of initial set up.

As for the vehicles, I can roll them into the stealth roll. If someone posts that they quickly make them look abandoned or maybe hidden, rolled into a decline or something, then well cover them with stealth!

Jul 25, 2024 7:43 am

"Fuck," Billie-Faye swears inelegantly. There's not much the woman does do elegantly, but swearing is definitely off the table.

Grabbing her motorcycle, she tries to quickly push it back into its hiding position, while gesturing with her eyes. "Owen! Owen there! Them branches, cover the car!"

OOC:

Rolling Agility/Stealth. Others can Help -- opened the door for Owen at least. (That's +1 per helper if the GM allows it, and I think it might be fun for people to roll their own die.)

Two successes, but people are still welcome to help!

Last edited July 25, 2024 7:44 am

Rolls

Agility (4) + Stealth (2) - (6d6)

(256361) = 23

Jul 25, 2024 8:01 am

His restless eyes move quickly from his companions to the bikes and car. Then he remembers the tarp.
It's in the car trunk, and too small to cover the whole car, so he has not used it when he hid the vehicle.

but maybe it's large enough to cover the side of the car facing the road... he thinks and springs into action.

He fumbles with the lock, then manages to open the trunk. Yes! It's still here. I remembered it green, but grey will work as well. Heck, anything but this red...

"Help me out here. This is too small, but it can cover the exposed side... Better than red, right? "

He spreads the tarp quickly on the side of the car, holding it in place with heavy branches. Not great, but it'll have to do.

Then he crouches down behind the car for cover.

OOC:

rolling, we can add any helpers' dice afterward

Oops cross posted with harrigan

Last edited July 25, 2024 8:04 am

Rolls

AGILITY, Stealth - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (16256) = 20

2D6 : (15) = 6

Jul 25, 2024 1:36 pm

"I'll help, Owen!" Sprinting to help the boy cover the road facing side of the car with the tarp, he says, "They keep going at that speed they will fly right by this and hopefully not see it."

Adding a few branches for good measure too, he waves the others over to join them if they can and crouches behind the car next to Owen.

Rolls

AGILITY - (3D6)

(245) = 11

Stealth - (3D6)

(462) = 12

Jul 25, 2024 4:06 pm

OOC:

Help is just a +1d6 to the main actor / roller, for the record.

KCC, when the bikes tear by Billie will try to get a good look at them, try to understand the situation a bit better based on how they are dressed, what they are carrying, whether they have packs, etc.

Jul 25, 2024 7:10 pm

Shayna ducks down behind cover, and tells everyone, "Get yourselves under cover and don't move, movement attracts the eye even more than our shapes."

Rolls

Helper die - (1d6)

(4) = 4

Jul 26, 2024 1:00 pm

Like mice who have been lucky enough to hear the tell-take tinkle of the house cat’s collar, you scurry for cover. It’s fast work, and your bodies course with adrenaline from the sudden sense of urgency!

You can hear the vehicle backfiring, as it gets closer and closer to your stretch of road. A piece of machinery badly in need of a tune up, by the sounds of it. The longer you wait, the louder a second sound becomes. You hear the frantic grinding of bicycle chains, as the riders push and push the vehicles to their very limit.

Nestled in your hiding space, amidst the brush, or behind the now-tarped car, you hear a huffing, heaving voice cry out:

???

"Fucking… go, Lu!" an exhausted rider forces out, breaking the silence, as the dogged riders come into view. The words are accompanied by a grunt from the woman, suggesting she was digging deep but just about to hit the bottom.

From further back, you hear the sound of what must be someone flooring the pedal, and the car’s engine springing to life. The riders take half a second to look back.

???

A scream erupts from the other rider, as the brutal-looking car dashes into view. The driver means to run the two women down, and your stretch of road provides the perfect place to do so!

On the car comes, its wicked spikes bearing down on the two riders. All three zip by in a moment, and you crane your necks to see what happens next!

The driver comes on all the faster, and it’s all the two riders can do to avoid being skewered on the hood of the car. The two riders separate just as the car whooshes down the middle of the road. The charge is dodged, but the driver quickly corrects, and brings his car to a skidding halt, intent on cutting off the escape of the two young women.

A loud eeerrrrrr… squeals about the trees, as worn rubber tries to brake on the road. You can’t imagine how many walkers must be turning their gait this way in response to the noise.

From your place in the copse of trees, you watch the two riders, now dismounted reunite back on the road. The taller one, older than the other by a few years, fumbles for something in her bag. You watch as the car’s door opens, and then a second later closes, and a large man swaggers his way up the road towards the two fearful looking women.

Jul 27, 2024 9:38 am

Own squints his eyes, tense. He first looks at the man, trying to determine if he carries weapons.

Then he scans the armored car for signs of other occupants, shadows in the windows, movement detectable through the car shaking.
Was he alone, in that monster of a car?

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(151) = 7

Scout - (2D6)

(32) = 5

Jul 27, 2024 10:23 am

Dammit, I can't see a thing...
Not managing to see anything, Owen changes position sticks out his head more to getter a better vantage point.

OOC:

using that fine mechanic of this game, Stress points and pushing rolls! 1 stress point for the push, +1 stress die

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(213) = 6

Scout - (2D6)

(12) = 3

Stress Die - (1d6)

(3) = 3

Jul 27, 2024 6:05 pm

Cooper watches from her hiding spot as well, and glances at Owen as he shifts position for a better look. Her eyes go back to the two trembling women, and her blood boils. She's seen too much of this. Even in the before times.

"Fuck this," she says, rising up, axe in hand. To her crew she adds, "I'm not gonna just watch as these two get dragged to some rape camp," then she's walking out into the open.

"Hey shit-for-brains!" the tattooed, foul-mouthed blonde calls out as she approaches. "You stopping to apologize for almost runnin' them girls over?!"

OOC:

There, so -that's- done.

Jul 27, 2024 8:43 pm

Shayna had common sense which Richard was discovering more and more. Not just a book-smart woman, and to him this was good news. His observation of the doc was cut short when the approaching vehicle backfired. Richard couldn't help but jump reflexively and sparing a moment to glance at Owen, he nodded.

"Yeah, I can't see if that guy is alone either. Kind of relevant but we don't have time and a decision to make."

Scrutinizing the man who had to have bad intentions as he approached the women, Richard was about to hiss to the others whether they should help or not, when Billi-Faye, without assent from the others stepped out into the road, putting herself in peril.

Last edited July 27, 2024 8:44 pm

Jul 27, 2024 11:44 pm

"No! Wait!" he hisses after Billie-Faye, to no avail. Before he knows, she is calling out the aggressor, making her position - and possibly everyone else's - known.

Shit shit shit... there's still a chance the man will back off if he feels outnumbered, he thinks. Or... if someone gets his car. That'd be a handy toy to have, to search upriver...

He readies his machete, and waits for Billie-Faye to focus the man's attention fully. Once he is sure the man is looking at her, he stays low and advances running towards the armored blue car, choosing the most covered approach.
"I'm going for the car," he whispers to the others.

He intends circling behind the car to get to the same door he has seen the man opening and closing (likely to be unlocked), crouching low at all times.

OOC:

when the man got off the car, was that from the driver or from the passenger door? If the latter, Owen will know there is at least another guy (the driver) still inside

Last edited July 27, 2024 11:45 pm

Rolls

Mobility, AGILITY - (2D6, 5D6)

2D6 : (51) = 6

5D6 : (12614) = 14

Jul 27, 2024 11:54 pm

OOC:

oops forgot the stress die for his Stress Level 1

Rolls

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(6) = 6

Jul 28, 2024 12:47 am

Shayna grips her spear, Fool woman and her fool ways, but can't help but feel relieved that she made the call. Relieved but mostly disappointed. She gets ready to charge, their numbers being a source of surprise.

Jul 28, 2024 1:45 am

In rural towns, everyone knew how to handle a gun. That knowledge came in handy now as he drew the pistol from his calf holster. The chamber was full, and he hadn't used it since he found it. Hiding it behind his back he comes out from hiding and waits to see how the stranger reacts, while keeping an eye on Owen's dash for the car.

???

Jul 29, 2024 7:34 am

Owen
Owen scoots, keeping low and moving only when he’s sure that the man is distracted. He travels parallel to the road for a time, until he feels like he’s out of the goon’s peripheral vision. Step by step, he creeps closer to the road, and around the back of the car.

He can finally breathe again as soon as the ugly machine is between himself and the man back on the road; hidden as he is from immediate view.

Then, the young man hears a dull thud from all four doors of the vehicle. And then an almost-opposite sound. Then, the thud and once again that same opposite sound.

Peeking inside, Owen spies a man in the passenger seat of the car; a handgun in one hand. His focus is totally taken up with the scene back the way Owen had just come from. He locks and then unlocks the car repeatedly, clearly agitated; his nerves getting the better of him as he waits for the driver to do whatever it was he was planning to do up there with the two riders.

When the others make themselves known, Owen hears:

???

"What the fuck?!" as the locking and unlocking stops. He’s fumbling at the door then, trying to get himself out and on to the road, to face down the rest of Owen’s squad.

Rolls

Contested. - (5d6)

(34351) = 16

???

Jul 29, 2024 7:57 am

Rescue Team
In the seconds between the man exiting the vehicle and Billie-Faye’s inserting herself into the scene, the man’s voice booms out. He slowly steps up the road, trying to almost seem non-chalant:

???

"Now…" he starts, heaving a sorry sigh, as if what he had to say next was against his will. "… That… That was just to frighten you, ladies. A little scare, that’s all." he says with a shrug, and the two women step back as he steps forward.

"I wouldn’t have hurt you, girls." he laughs. "Can you imagine what they’d do to me if I showed up with you two all bleeding out in the back seat? Ain’t worth the trouble!"

Hey, shit-for-brains!…
The man stops as soon as Billie Faye’s voice rings out, and his eyes scan the trees; judging what was about to descend on him.

He spots the three of you then, and you can feel the large man looking you up and down. He rubs his hands down his front, and smirks. You can tell he doesn’t think much of you.

"H’yup! That’s exactly what I’m doing, Miss." he starts, his voice gathering that same booming confidence that it held a moment before. His eyes land on your weapons as he speaks. A spear and an axe; not something that gave him too much worry.

"Felt so bad, thought I’d give them a ride to wherever it was they were heading to. Isn’t that right, ladies?" he says, and he puts a hand out to beckon the women over to him. His other hand slips behind the man, and out of view; a mirror of Richard’s stance.

Down the street, almost breaking the tension, the passenger seat door of the car opens, and another man looks to be clambering out of the vehicle.

Jul 29, 2024 11:28 am

Owen feels the adrenaline rushing him, as the situation starts escalating and more guns appear on the scene.
This isn't good - we need to even the odds a little...

He rushes forward from his hiding spot to press his surprise advantage, using speed to get to the car door before the man closes it (but when the man is on the ground already) and slam the door violently against the man.

OOC:

He hopes that the man will drop the gun, slamming the door hard against him, for the surprise and the pain of the door slam.
Would an advantage apply for surprise here? (rolling it, but disregard if N/A )

Rolls

STRENGTH, CloseCombat - (3D6, 2D6)

3D6 : (132) = 6

2D6 : (55) = 10

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(5) = 5

surprise advantage?? - (1d6)

(6) = 6

Jul 29, 2024 1:23 pm

In his impulsive move, Owen doesn't take into account just how sweaty his hands are!
What was meant to be a firm grip on the car door translates to a half-hearted attempt.
Gritting his teeth, and realizing he might not get a second chance, he swears out loud and tries a second, stronger slam of the car door on the man!

OOC:

pushing the roll, stress goes to 2!

Last edited July 30, 2024 8:30 am

Rolls

Roll Stress:, STRENGTH, CloseCombat - (2D6, 3D6, 2D6)

2D6 : (61) = 7

3D6 : (345) = 12

2D6 : (12) = 3

Jul 30, 2024 2:07 am

Uh oh. Shit-for-brains gots a gun, behind his back. That's not good.

"You girls know this guy?" Billie calls over to the two young women, checking on them but also stalling a little to see what this guy's play was going to be. Stepping out into the open wasn't the smartest move she ever made.

Jul 30, 2024 10:48 am

???

"Big John…" the wiry, bald man that exits the car calls up the road. The large man dealing with Billie-Faye turns to answer his partner. "… we got a fucking prob…" the first man starts as a question, but quickly lets out a grunt of pain.

The rest of you back up the road watch, as the lanky, mop-top Owen comes racing around the front of the car, and throws himself against the open door.

The rain comes on heavier, and the sound of it almost masks the pained oomph the man lets out. Owen watches as the pistol he had been carrying slips free of his grasp, and skids under the back wheel of the vehicle.

Big John

"Oh, they know who I am. Do they know you assholes, is the question. Ladies, is this a fucking set up?" Big John barks out at the two women. He pulls his hand out from behind his back, and you see that it wasn’t a gun he had. That was a bluff. Still, he holds a nasty looking hatchet in its place instead.

"You draw us out here so Madonna and the fucking Golden Girls could get the jump on us?" he says, getting visibly angry and taking a threatening step towards Billie-Faye.

Down the street, the man looks for his weapon for a second, before giving up on it and turning his attention to Owen instead.

???

"C’mere, boy!" he spits, getting low and ready to spring on Owen. "That’s gonna cost ya! Ain’t nothing free these days! No, sir!" he barbs, before lunging at Owen with a fist.

OOC:

Owen finds himself in a Duel. It’s a roll off, loser takes damage. He’s lost his weapon, but he looks to have a fairly sturdy set of gloves on him.

He’s going into this with 1 Success right away, as the outcome for Owen messing up earlier! He’s also going into it with 1 damage, with me considering the door to be an improvised weapon.

Rolls

Attack - (5d6)

(41245) = 16

Injury - (2d6)

(52) = 7

Jul 30, 2024 11:10 am

Oh. Shit. he thinks, looking at the size of the man standing full height, before his massive fist connects painfully with his face, almost throwing him off his feet. He scrambles for balance. Well, you're in it now... at least he's dropped the gun...

He readies the machete and swings the blade at the man. "Do you accept THIS, for payment?" he taunts, but his voice sounds shakier than he'd want.

Rolls

Roll Stress:, STRENGTH, CloseCombat, Machete - (2D6, 3D6, 2D6, 1D6)

2D6 : (45) = 9

3D6 : (462) = 12

2D6 : (66) = 12

1D6 : (3) = 3

Jul 30, 2024 7:18 pm

He does not in fact have a gun...

Richard heaves a sigh of relief but then struggles with whether he should show the pistol or not. His analytical mind looks at what they do know. These women were fleeing this asshole. This asshole is not nice and a bad liar. This asshole is probably from one of the big gangs and they were holding these girls for ... his mind decided not to go there. There is another asshole in the car and Owen is trying to deal with him.

He decides. Shows the gun and levels it at him. "Go back to your car and get out of here. Leave them alone," he says, waving toward the girls and stepping closer into pistol range. It crosses his mind that the guy can throw that axe but probably isn't too adept with axe flinging.

Big John

Jul 31, 2024 1:59 am

Big John

"Hey, hey! Look at Old Man Romeo!" Big John chuckles, but you notice that he stops moving once the gun is leveled at him. He puts his hands up, but the axe is still held firm.

"You know how to use that thing?" he asks, trying to sound calm, but you hear a tinge of something different in his voice now.

"If he does, ladies… He’ll turn it on you just as soon as he’s done turning it on me!" he says, trying one final manipulation. "He’ll get what he wants from you, believe me!" he says finally, with a raised eyebrow that suggests the women know more than well enough what that might mean.

The two women, one standing and shielding the other, inch ever closer to you. You notice that the taller one has something balled up in her fist and just beneath her sleeve. They inch closer and closer to Shayna and Billie-Faye, as Richard squares off at pistol range.

Jul 31, 2024 12:49 pm

"Now you ladies stay put for the moment." Richard has noticed that the taller one has something hidden up her sleeve, and the other one might have a weapon too. He doesn't know anything about them and doesn't trust them, at least not yet.

"Yep, I can shoot most anything and hit my target. Now lay down that axe, get in your car and drive away. I won't say it again."

The man's attempt to turn the women against their group is feeble and obvious.

Last edited July 31, 2024 1:27 pm

Jul 31, 2024 1:02 pm

Do you accept THIS for payment?…
Owen croaks, as he brings the machete across the man’s middle. The older man scoots, shoving his arse back as fast as he can to try avoid the swipe.

All for nought. The thing slices clean through the man’s clothes, and sinks into his flesh. He goes back and then down, hands immediately clasping at his gut. Not a moment later, and blood is coming fast, pooling into and then over his hands; quickly dropping down onto the road, before being diluted by the morning’s rain.

The man mouths something, but the words don’t come. Only a shocked expression and pained whimpers can be seen or heard by Owen, as the man fumbles about, now on the ground. He sees his pistol then, but his hands are busy holding his insides in. Owen can see something lumpy and bulbous starting to slip through the cut the young man had made: the stranger’s guts.

OOC:

Owen, have you killed before?

Big John

Jul 31, 2024 1:11 pm

Big John grunts, clearly weighing his next move. You aren’t sure if he buys Richard’s threat, but he also doesn’t quite have the luxury of testing it out, neither.

He takes a heavy, purposeful step back, and then looks over his shoulder, back the way his second should be taking care of Owen. His head drops, and he mutters:

Big John

"Fucking God damnit…" before looking back at Richard. He takes another step back, but doesn’t drop his axe.

"Alright! Alright! But you know, ladies… They’re gonna hear about this. And they ain’t going to be happy!" he says, with a shrug. He keeps going back, and back down the road; hands raised but axe still held.

"I’m going! I’m going. Now, call off your boy here!" he says, looking back Owen’s way. He takes a second to look at his heaving, bloodied companion on the street too!

Jul 31, 2024 2:01 pm

Shayna steps out of the bushes, her eyes on the man. "Hold on there Sparky, why don't you sit tight a spell while we ask these ladies what's going on. Maybe we have some business with you after all." By the way she says "business" and waggles her spear, she implies justice.

Her eyes flick over to Billie-Faye, then to Richard, then to Owen. Boy did the hard thing, didn't expect he could

Jul 31, 2024 2:27 pm

Billie-Faye nods at Shayna, then glances at Richard, merely saying, "Cover ‘im," as she moves towards the girls, her axe dangling from one skinny-wristed hand.

"You still never said what’s goin’ on, ladies. Who this fuckwad is, why he was chasing you. And now who ‘they’ are. Help us understand what we just stepped in here, helpin’ you."

Jul 31, 2024 4:49 pm

OOC:

he would have 'killed' only the undead. This would be his first time killing a living person!

The adrenaline that fueled his rushed actions until now turns to shock and disconcert, at the sight of the man dying in front of his eyes.

"No.. No... You can't seriously be... I-I didn't mean to do this... I only wanted to disarm you! " he says, his hands shaking.

His display is likely not doing any favors to how he is perceived in the current predicament, but he cannot restrain himself. He takes a step back from the dying man, looking in shock at the bloodied blade of his machete and shaking his head in horrified disbelief.

Aug 1, 2024 1:46 am

Big John

The man regains some of his bluster the further down the road he goes; now that he’s out of the range where Richard was almost-sure to hit.

"Boy, you folks really have your shit together, don’t ya? I don’t know if I’m coming or going. Mixed messages like that’ll get a fella killed.

I’d love to stay and dosey do with you fine people, but…" he goes on and on, as Richard watches over him, watching as he gets ever closer to Owen.

???

"There’s a camp…" the younger woman starts up out from behind the taller woman, hurried and through a wet nose. Billie-Faye takes a closer look at the duo and notices that the thing balled up inside the woman’s hand and sleeve looks an awful lot like a grenade.

The woman looks Billie-Faye dead in the eye, having seen the woman notice, and says:

???

"For him… or for us." she says, with a stern voice. She shrugs then, as if she had been found out in something terrible.

"We won’t go back!" she says, softer then.

???

"…a camp, and they’ve got a whole lot of people locked up.

They say they’re getting ready for Tomorrow, but all they’re doing is…" the younger woman says, her words cutting off as she begins to cry into the back of her protector.

Big John

"Your boy down here is looking mighty green around the gills. Why don’t you put your weapon down, big hoss, and come get him before he falls down?" Big John calls to Richard, stepping further and further towards his vehicle, like the man with the gun commanded.

Aug 1, 2024 4:21 am

"Richard, shoot that fuck if he takes another step," Billie calls out, loud enough to be heard by everyone present after the two women confirm the tattooed woman's fears. Lower, just to Dick she adds, "Shoot him point blank, don't miss. We can't let this prick go."

Walking towards the two terrified women after putting her axe back on her belt, Cooper puts her hand out as she gets closer. "Wanna give it here? You don't wanna have an accident with that thing. What's your names? I'm Billie-Faye."

Aug 1, 2024 1:55 pm

Richard looks at Billi-Faye for a moment and nods as he continues to stay within range of the man now bearing down on Owen while catching bits of the girls' conversation.

Bastards!

As he gets closer, trying to keep his cool and bottling up his rising rage, he realizes something is very wrong. Owen's victim was down, injured, and the boy looked panicked.

Fuck.

Richard aims and shoots at the man's head before he can threaten Owen.

Rolls

RangedCombat, AGILITY - (1D6, 3D6)

1D6 : (4) = 4

3D6 : (356) = 14

Pistol - (2d6)

(54) = 9

Aug 1, 2024 4:42 pm

Shayna moves over as the gunfire erupts, ready to get between the girls and the big man. Her spear is held at the ready, making the point that she's ready to stab a bastard. "I got all your tomorrows right here, big man!"

Aug 3, 2024 2:56 pm

The woman straightens her arms down her sides, and you notice that there’s a grenade in each hand. You wonder for a moment if she’s going to let them fall to the floor.

Would that be alright?…

Even from here you can see she’s shaking like a leaf. Maybe she’s allowing herself that much, now that others have intervened, and the chase is finally over. Slowly, she raises her hands up to meet Billie-Faye’s. Her eyes are meeting Billie-Faye’s too; checking to see if this woman was on the level.

A moment later, and the two grenades are sitting, cupped in Billie-Faye’s hands.

Eva Cabello

"Eva…" she says, clearing her throat in an attempt to swallow down some of the big emotions surely running through her.

"And this is…"

Selena Cabello

"Selena. Lu is fine, too." she offers. You’d heard that name used out on the road, before you’d jumped from out of your hiding spot.

"Sisters, if you can’t tell." the younger one says, her voice a littler firmer than it was just a moment ago.

"Who are you? I mean… All of you." she asks, and then Richard’s gun barks, sending a jolt through everyone again!

OOC:

More incoming…

Aug 3, 2024 3:08 pm

Richard matches each step Big John takes with one of his own. Steadily, they make their way towards the car, and the bloody mess waiting below.

Richard, with anger in his heart, pulls the trigger, and the bullet crosses the space in the blink of an eye. You’re suddenly conscious of just how loud that must have been way out here.

Would Martin be rallying the others to investigate at this very moment? What about walkers?…

As for Big John, the man goes over to one side, and his hand is up clutching the side of his head in an instant. He grunts, and shouts at once; pain mixing with fear and surprise in an instant.

He looks back at Richard, with blood streaming down the side of his head. The bullet hadn’t killed the man, but it had driven a nasty ridge into the side of the man’s head, that’s for sure. He begins to rub his eye, as blood seeps into it, half-blinding him.

"You fucking…" he growls. Were the gap closer, then maybe anger would beat out self preservation, and Big John would try to twist Richard’s neck. Instead, he turns and runs for the car.

He barrels down the road, and Owen watches as a trail of blood is left dripping behind him. When he reaches his man, Big John simply looks down at the gasping man on the road, and steps over him, fumbling for the car door.

The dying man’s eyes leave Owen’s for a second, and then return. Did he even register that he had been abandoned? Blood leaks from the sides of his mouth, even as his physical efforts to keep his insides in become slower and less intense.

He’d be gone soon…

OOC:

Big John will escape in the next few seconds. Richard can take another, harder shot now if he wants, or I’ll have him exit the scene!

Aug 4, 2024 2:58 am

The shot had rung out loudly. Would another matter? Probably not, and besides, Owen was in danger. Richard pointed the pistol and shouted, to freeze his target.

"Hey motherfucker!" Then he shot at the big man again. It was literally a long shot, but it was worth a shot try.

Rolls

RangedCombat, AGILITY, Pistol - (1D6, 3D6, 1D6)

1D6 : (5) = 5

3D6 : (233) = 8

1D6 : (1) = 1

Aug 4, 2024 12:49 pm

Richard's papa bear instincts kick in. Summoning all his strength and athleticism, he launches himself toward Owen and the big man, closing the distance between them considerably, and then taking his shot.

OOC:

Argh. No dice.

Last edited August 4, 2024 12:50 pm

Rolls

Push-it! - (5d6)

(14234) = 14

Stress Die - (1d6)

(3) = 3

Aug 4, 2024 2:24 pm

Owen cowers down, hands to head, as gunfire erupts loudly, each report making him shake, in his current state.

SHITSHITSHIT I'm so dead...

Aug 4, 2024 4:06 pm

OOC:

Are the pins still in both grenades?

Aug 4, 2024 11:52 pm

OOC:

Yep! Grenades aren’t set to blow or anything! I wouldn’t try get you like that! ;)

Aug 5, 2024 5:33 am

Briefly inspecting the two grenades -- Billie-Faye doesn't know much about weapons like these, but they look like they are safe, like they are not about to go off -- the woman tucks them into her bag and calls out to her friends before moving to better welcome and comfort the two newcomers.

"Get him, Richard! Owen, don't let him get away!"

Lowering her voice, but finding it hard to keep her eyes off the developing scene, Cooper, then adds, "Good to meet you, Selena, Lu. You two look like you been through it. You been on foot since slipping that camp shithead over there is from? You know where it is, how far? And what they call theyselves?"

Aug 5, 2024 7:47 am

Owen hears Billie-Faye calling his name, and sees that the surviving man is going for the car. He is too shocked for a new confrontation, and pauses.

Then he remembers the gun the second man dropped, and tries to retrieve it.
Maybe if I point the gun at him, I won't have to shoot...

OOC:

trying to locate the dropped gun and fetch it, let me know if this needs rolling

Aug 5, 2024 12:05 pm

The sounds of bullets hitting, and then ricocheting off of, the car ring out crystal clear in the woods. Owen and Big John duck out of pure instinct, though it’s luck that saves them more than anything. Richard tries his very best to put another into the man’s back before he can make good his escape, but there’s just too much movement… too much on the line if the man doesn’t shoot straight.

There’s a dull thud then, as Big John is climbing into his car and pulling the door closed behind himself. He touches his wound and then inspects the blood coating his hands. A moment later, and the car is sputtering to a start. Owen sees the gun, just inside the back wheel of the car.

Does he dare stick his hand in the path of the wheel to grab it?…

…futututututututu…
Big John does all he can to get the car up and running. For a moment, you think he might come back down the road; barreling towards the rest of you in a last gasp for revenge.

Perhaps the man is thinking about it himself. Finally, you see the car start to peel off, heading further down the road and away from the group.

Meanwhile, the man Owen sliced open finally ceases his attempts to hold himself together. His eyes go glassy, and his hands flop to the wet tarmac. Some of his guts bubble up and push out of him every so slightly, now that he’s not forcing them back inside.

Dead…

OOC:

I’ll give Owen a chance to get a shot off, but he’ll need two successes to do it. John’s on the road, and this is for realz, for realz the last shot at him!

Aug 5, 2024 12:12 pm

OOC:

I think Owen wouldn't have it in him to fire the gun, in his shaky state...

Owen dives for the gun by hte wheel, grabbing it and withdrawing his hand just before the huge tyre starts skidding in motion, failing to crush his fingers by fractions of a second.

He gasps and steps back, pointing the unfamiliar gun up at the receding car (task made more difficult by his other hand still holding the bloodied macehte...). His hands shake heavily, and he doesn't squeeze the trigger.

Aug 5, 2024 3:25 pm

Shayna has other thoughts, than the man trying to get away. "He knows we have guns, darlings, twould be twice the fool to come back if we don't give him reason none."

She looks at the girls, her southern drawl coming out a little thicker, those she doesn't have it in her to be nice. "Selena, Lu, is it? Now, you ain't been bit or scratched have you? That why that prick was chasing you? I'm a doctor you can tell me these things."

Aug 5, 2024 5:53 pm

Richard, who by now has reached Owen, gently pries the gun from his shaky fingers, placing it between his back and the waistband of his tattered jeans. Putting his own pistol in his pocket, he threads an arm around Owen offering what comfort he can as he turns him away from the gore of the man he had killed.

"Listen, you did good. It was necessary and don't give it another thought. We do what we have to do survive here. Those guys were trouble. Hey, I can teach you how to shoot a pistol sometime when the noise won't attract anyone. Maybe I can rig up some kind of silencer. Wouldn't that be great? A sick feeling hounds his stomach when thoughts surface about who his two shots may have attracted.

"Come on. Let's join the others. See what the two women can tell us."

The irony of offering to teach Owen how to shoot, and missing both of his own shots, failed to register yet.

Last edited August 5, 2024 5:55 pm

Aug 5, 2024 10:58 pm

Owen lets Richard lead him away, trying to stop his hands tremors.

Once in the cover of the trees, he tries as best as he can to wipe off the blade of the machete, rubbing it against a tree trunk, then on some tall grass.
The body... All that blood, he thinks.

He turns to a Richard and the others, speaking for the first time since... since he murdered a man.
"We can't leave that body like that, right? Won't it attract walkers from miles away? Shouldn't we.. I mean, bury it, or something? "

Aug 7, 2024 3:21 am

Eva Cabello

"We stole the bikes on the way out." Eva, the older one, murmurs in answer to Billie-Faye’s question. "We knew they’d come after us. Knew they’d send… someone." she goes on, and her eyes drop a little to look at the now-still man on the floor.

Selena Cabello

"Thats what they’re like…" Lu says, putting a bracing arm to Eva’s, who she spots looking at the dead man. "Take what they can get out of you, and then leave you in the dirt!"

The younger girl’s hand goes to her stomach then. A moment later, and she’s shaking whatever thought she had loose, and clears her throat.

"You can get there on foot, but it’s a hike!" she says. "Why?" she asks, with a sudden edge in her voice.

Eva Cabello

"Not bit. Not scratched!" Eva says, without a hint of defensiveness. That was just how things were these days. If you wanted to survive, you learned to ask. Better than that, you learned to check. The two women had probably already look each of you over as you approached.

"Call themselves ‘The New Haven’." the woman says, making a face that suggests they’re anything but.

"Say they’re building up a community to take back the world." Eva goes on, with a hard voice. "Sounds good, right?"

OOC:

Curious to know what Owen and Richard are doing with the body. It will reanimate. Do they know that? It’s up to you.

Aug 7, 2024 5:54 am

Billie curses silently to herself as the dickhead the dead man had called 'Big John' gets away in that beast of a car that would have been awfully good to acquire. She hopes that's the last they'll ever see of him, but... well, hope doesn't go so far these days.

When Selena asks the skinny blonde why the way she does, it's all Cooper can do to not look annoyed. "To understand how much of a fuckin' head start we have. Steppin' in there, savin' your asses -- you think them boys at your New Haven aren't going to come tearin' back here? We got other folk to look after, and now we're all gonna have to move."

As Owen and Richard linger over the dead man, his guts spilled out all over the road, and as the boy wrings his hands over what he's done, Bille-Faye gestures to the corpse with her axe. She's been around the bend on this particular and nasty topic more than once, and is well aware that killin' someone who looks healthy still produces a motherfuckin' walker.

"You gotta kill him extra dead, or that fucker's just gonna rise up," she calls over to the two men. "You know the drill."

Then, quieter, to Shayna, she adds, "We gotta get the others, get gone. We might have an hour or two before they're back in force..."

Aug 7, 2024 1:24 pm

Eva Cabello

Eva senses the frustration, and steps in front of Selena almost naturally.

"If John gets back to them… Yeah, they’ll probably gear up properly and come looking for us. Not that we plan on waiting around to find out…" she grumbles, that last bit to herself more than anyone.

Selena peeks out again, meeting Billie-Faye’s annoyed look:

Selena Cabello

"Look… Thanks!" she says, sheepish. Then there’s an awkward silence.

But no one fucking asked you to get involved…

Was that what she was thinking?…
"No offense, but we’ve never heard of your group… Or really any group out this way. That’s kind of why we came running this way." she says.

"So… maybe your group will be alright? Are you guys close? Where are you going to?" she asks. Dangerous questions and dangerous answers these days.

Aug 7, 2024 2:09 pm

Dr_B says:

Owen lets Richard lead him away, trying to stop his hands tremors.

Once in the cover of the trees, he tries as best as he can to wipe off the blade of the machete, rubbing it against a tree trunk, then on some tall grass.
The body... All that blood, he thinks.

He turns to a Richard and the others, speaking for the first time since... since he murdered a man.
"We can't leave that body like that, right? Won't it attract walkers from miles away? Shouldn't we.. I mean, bury it, or something? "

"You're right Owen but the gun shots made a lot of noise, and that's probably worse. First things first though. Are you okay? No scratches, cuts or anything? Otherwise, we cut off its head, or crush it and turn its brain to mush. You probably don't need to clean that machete just yet. Here, I'll just cut off its head.

Richard reaches out a hand for the machete and will cleanly cut off the walker's head with it and then head over to the others.

Aug 7, 2024 10:10 pm

Owen winces at Richard's matter-of-fact stance as he efficiently decapitates the corpse.
This new world... really has done horrible things to us, if doing something like that is the new normal... he thinks, before turning his back to the man he killed and regrouping with the others.

When Richard returns his machete, he looks at the weapon with suspicion. It has stopped being a mere tool to hack at weeds. It is now, in his eyes, a sinister death dispenser, capable to slice through living flesh with great ease.

"You're right. Let's get out of here..."

Aug 8, 2024 2:29 am

Shayna doesn't feel guilty. "I told everyone that the water was getting filthy, and would soon be a problem. This is just one more reason for us to get somewhere else faster."

It would be foolish to think the universe acted out of spite, that it personally punished you for your words if you didn't knock on wood or throw salt over your shoulder or spit at the devil.

Except, the universe was spiteful and always threw out back in your face.

"You girls come with us. More is better unless you're a pair of wooden headed ninnies. You know how to survive? Hold your own?"

Aug 8, 2024 3:57 pm

Owen nods his head to the two fugitive women in greeting, not particularly proud of what first impression they might have had of him.

The younger one could be his age. Hard to tell.
What does it matter? Would you befriend a cold-blooded machete-wielding lunatic? he thinks.

Aug 9, 2024 9:40 pm

Watching as Richard performs the grim task, Billie-Faye listens for the girls' answer as she walks over and pats Owen on the shoulder. "It's okay, Owen," she reassures him with a one-armed hug and that charming little crooked smile. "It's a terrible world now, and we all gotta do terrible shit to survive in it. Gets easier once you get a little numb to it. Trust me."

Some of them, of course, had been a little 'numb to it' long before the walkers rose up. But now wasn't the time to talk about that.

To the group, she says, "we gotta fuckin' get gone, and goin' up-river where these two come from don't sound the best idear anymore. Should we head south, down the road? I don't think stayin' put's in the cards however you cut 'em."

Aug 11, 2024 10:33 am

The head slides away, rolling down the ever-so-slight slope into the ditch at the side of the road. Perhaps, in time, someone passing through would have their ankle bitten by the thing. With any luck, one of the men surely set to be here in the next few hours would be the decapitated walkers first victim.

Selena Cabello

"We’ve made it this far." Lu says, with a shrug. That meant something, you supposed. Though, you can’t help but think of the helpless ones, back at camp. They’d made it this far too, hadn’t they?

Eva Cabello

"Its a little less terrible, now that that piece of shit isn’t in it anymore!" Eva says to Owen. "Don’t lose any sleep over him. He’d have done far worse to you, if he’d had the chance!"

OOC:

Will move us on! I’ll generate it, and someone can simply have the final word on up or downriver!

Martin Cater

Aug 11, 2024 11:52 am

Martin Cater

Martin almost jumps out of his skin, as the group breaks back through the trees and into the camp.

"Just what the hell was all that?" he complains, as he hefts a heavy bag off the boat and down onto the bank. A tidy little collection of things is built up there, ready to be moved into the cars upon your return and then taken along with you.

"Damn near had to tie Tracy down, to stop him from running o… And who are these two?" the man says, his pitch reaching hysterical heights.

Aug 11, 2024 4:48 pm

"Change of plans, Martin," Billie-Faye says to Cater. "We didn't even get the wraps off the car and the motorbike before these two came pedaling along on bikes, chased by a couple of fuck-heads in a muscle car. Heard of 'New Haven'? They say its a place north of here, up the river, where they keep girls like them locked up. Do the math on why, Martin. We took one of them down, but the other got away. He'll be coming back this way with friend, no doubt. So -- time for us to get the hell outa Dodge, I think."

Aug 11, 2024 8:21 pm

She's glad to see Martin. He's become a central point her life, a kind of figure that denotes stability when nothing really is. She meets his eyes when she returns. Maybe that's all she can give him for now.

"We need to get gone, sugah. Can the boat make it downstream? Bunch of slavers and rapers upstream the way I understand it. If it can't, either way, we need to not be here in a few hours."

Aug 11, 2024 10:11 pm

"Shit," Richard mutters. He had been mumbling the whole way back and realized his mistake.

"We should have squashed that zombie's brains. Remind me next time." He took a few seconds of solace by glancing at Billie-Faye's lovely profile. As to the two new additions, he decided they were wearing too many clothes, and when had he become such a lech, and did he even care? This was one of those moments when he didn't know himself and realized he had lost his way. He knew he'd come back. At least he thought he would, but this new apathy gave him pause. Would he spiral downward into something like the men they had just encountered?

Aug 11, 2024 11:28 pm

Tucking a curl of blonde hair behind an ear and drawing a purposefully impressive breath for Richard -- Billie is a woman who always knows when a man's eyes are on her -- Cooper wonders about the boats.

"We'd have to lose the car and the bike, right? Unless maybe the river follows the road..."

Last edited August 12, 2024 6:58 am

Aug 12, 2024 1:19 am

Camp comes to a standstill, as the scouting party brings a whole bunch of very bad news back with them. Bad news, and two more mouths to feed…

You watch Vinh crane his neck skyward and grimace. Easy enough to tell what he was thinking…

Would the storm make for a dangerous trip downstream?…

Emma stands, huffing and puffing. Her hands are on her hips, and you see a sheen of sweat on her neck, arms and forehead. She looks to the boats, and then to the pile of stuff they’d spent an hour or two moving off of it.

Emma Gauff

"You’ve… got to be joking!" she says, wheezing and rubbing the back of her hand over her forehead and back into her hair.

Tracy eyes join Richard’s in looking over the new arrivals; like two foxes circling the chicken coop. He stands, letting everyone see him cut a shape; his arms bulging from the heavy pack he held, while deliberations were made.

Tracy Devlin

"Where do you want this?" he asks, more explicitly drawing attention to himself.

Martin’s eyes follow Vihn’s and he makes an equally unpleasant face. And another still at the mention of slavers and rapists.

Martin Cater

"Sla… Jesus!" he says, and stammers a moment before shutting up to allow himself think.

He shrugs, as if deciding between two bad options.

"We could maybe squeeze the bike on." he says, motioning to the boat. "We’d have to toss some of this!" he complains, pointing to the pile Emma and Tracy were tending to!

Aug 12, 2024 1:31 am

"Well we have to decide what to take and do it now, Martin. Sorry."

Richard can see Emma's frustration and for some reason he's glad to see her and that she's okay. "It's alright, Emma. We will manage. We have so far. Only put back what we really need. I know you worked hard gathering all this stuff but plans change. We ran into a bit of trouble."

Aug 12, 2024 2:38 pm

"Happy to leave that red pizza car behind... I knew it would only get us in trouble, sooner or later..." he says, speaking for the first time in a while.
"It's like going round with a target painted on your forehead..."

He approaches Vinh, trying to draw him in conversation.
"What worries you, man? I could do with a little of your wisdom, right now... Things are moving fast, and I'm not sure I like what that is doing to me. I... I just killed a man. Not a walker. A man like you and I."

OOC:

looking to share the burden with his anchor, to get that stress down!

Aug 12, 2024 4:38 pm

Shayna grabs a bundle and says, "Anyone been downriver? If we can't get any further than an hours walk, we might as load this gear in the car and ... How in tarnation do we expect to carry this much stuff to points unknown anyway? Seems like we're packing a load that will keep us mired in mud."

Aug 13, 2024 3:32 am

Billie-Faye shrugs as the debate widens. "Whatevers we decide, it needs to be soon," she posits. "Martin, you got that map still? Bust that fucker out. See if the road leads back towards the river. Maybe me and Rich could do a little scouting while you all pack up if so... but if it don't... yeah, maybe we load the bike onto the boats 'an just GTFO."

Vinh

Aug 13, 2024 6:06 am

Vinh

Vinh motions for Owen to take a load off, pulling up two of the fold out chairs set off to the side of the ‘To Be Brought…’ pile. He climbs down into one, making an awfully world-weary sound as he gives himself to the chair.

He waves off Owen’s concern for him, but can’t help but look skyward as he does so.

"Not the day I’d choose for moving." he mutters, leaning in closer to the young man. "Water could be something fierce if this keeps up!" he says, pointing a finger at the swirling, darkening sky.

He sighs then, and claps a hand on to Owen’s shoulder. He looks Owen in the eye, and then looks to the floor.

"Was he really like you and I?" he says, looking back up and giving the young man a raised eyebrow. "Or was he someone more suited to… all of this?" he asks, throwing his hands up to the world entire. There’s a look of disgust on the man’s face, as he is once again reminded of the world he now inhabits.

Aug 13, 2024 6:12 am

Emma Gauff

"Ask Martin." Emma huffs, with an edge in her voice. There had obviously been discussions about what was worth keeping, and what should be thrown overboard while you were gone. Martin, as he often did, had exerted his will and won out.

Martin looks like he’s about to jump to his own defense, when Billie-Faye asks for the map. A chance to ignore the altercation and feel important, the man busies himself with patting his pockets.

Tracy and Emma share a frustrated glance, and with a heaving sigh, start picking through the gear and carrying the choicest bits back on board.

Martin Cater

"Aha! Right here!" he announces, and then makes a scene of clearing a suitable spot to spread the map out for all to see!

You see Eva and Selena step into the circle, looking over the map. Their eyes wander as they try to place themselves, and maybe their captors.

Aug 13, 2024 7:26 am

He sits next to Vinh grateful for the moment of respite, also looking at the exact patch of ground the man is gazing at.
"Maybe he was... just like I will become. Maybe it is only a matter of time before I turn into somethining like him. "

He broods in silence for a while, feeling comforted by the artist's mere proximity. Something in his demeanour had a calming efect on him, although it was hard to understand why or how.

"I don't like it a bit... but maybe that's just the way it is, out here."
He reflects on his words. You killed a man today... how long until... rape and slavery also become acceptable?...

Vinh

Aug 13, 2024 8:21 am

Vinh

"Maybe." Vinh admits, careful not to dismiss Owen’s feelings about himself.

"But…" he says, sucking in air through his teeth. "… I can’t help but feel that some people were just… I don’t know… waiting for something like this to come along."

He sighs, letting more of his own discontent with his position slip out. He made no secret that this world wasn’t meant for people like him. Painters and the like wouldn’t be needed for years, decades, if ever again at all.

"Some people just needed an excuse to let themselves fall into this way. That… That doesn’t seem like you. Had the tables been turned, and you had fallen…" he takes a moment to pray such a thing doesn’t happen. "Do you think that man would be wondering if he was turning into a monster?"

Aug 13, 2024 9:03 am

Owen nods, deep in thought. Vinh had a way to make you look at things from different perspectives. Maybe it was something to do with the way an artist look on the world sees differently?

"Maybe, maybe... but I'd rather not carry this machete thing for a while..." he says, offering it to Vink, handle first. "Would you mind keeping it? Until... I dunno."

Vinh

Aug 14, 2024 11:17 am

Vinh

The man’s mouth creases into a mannish, stiff smile as he takes the machete. He gives a firm nod, and slips the thing out of view with a quick movement, as if out of sight really did mean out of mind.

"I’ll make sure they don’t leave it behind!" he says, with a snort, and then another clap on the shoulder. He draws Owen’s attention to Emma and Tracy as they pick over the pile, huffing and puffing while the others pour over the map!

Aug 14, 2024 12:36 pm

Martin Cater

Martin makes theatre of ushering you all around the map, and pointing a finger down on Broad River; roundabout where he suspects the group is set up.

The map looks like it was put together by a group of businesses all looking to make a buck off the summer visitors. You see large icons for the stand-out businesses and their logos. Motels, trailer parks, fishing spots, and more.

Martin traces his finger down the river, until he meets a bridge that cuts across. He squints closer at the map, but some of you can already read it.

"Thumbs… Up. Thumbs Up Diner looks to be sitting right on the bridge there. Most likely it’s been picked clean, but it’s sure as hell not here."

Eva puts a finger to the map, and continues course down the map, beyond the diner.

Eva Cabello

"Havoc Hunting." she says, rapping her fingers down onto the map, and the sound drums on the pontoon. "We were hoping to make it that far at least…" she says, with a shrug.

Aug 14, 2024 2:17 pm

OOC:

how much Stress shall Owen remove, after the convo with Vinh?

Aug 14, 2024 3:02 pm

Richard is too weary to get involved with what's irking Emma and simply shrugs, throwing is hands up in a whatever gesture. Maybe he will talk to her about it later, but for now he was interested in the map. He peers over the shoulders of the others not wanting to look too enthusiastic. That would give Martin more of the spotlight that he had already mustered for himself.

"What's Havoc Hunting, Eva?" he asks, letting his eyes drift when she isn't looking at him. "Know anything about the way there? Any obstacles we should be on the lookout for?"

Aug 15, 2024 12:35 am

Eva Cabello

Eva thinks it over, furrowing her brow, and putting a hand up her chin, as if trying to match the details she remembered with the map in front of her.

"By road…" she starts, rubbing fingers into the corner of her eyes. "… we’d heard some of the men saying that this sector was pretty clear."

Selena Cabello

"They said they had some safe houses cleared out in a few places. They use them when they go out on runs…" Selena offers up too. Martin quickly puts a hand up!

Martin Cater

"No good!" Martin interjects, killing a plan before it’s even a plan. "They’ll know about them." He looks about to the others for support.

Eva Cabello

"But by boat…" Eva continues, ignoring Martin’s point but making a face that says yeah, no shit.

"I don’t know… Rocks, maybe? We had hoped there might be something left at the hunting place. The grenade trick only works once…" she says, looking to Billie-Faye, who currently held the woman’s only weapon.

Aug 15, 2024 2:22 am

"This lake is polluted. We need to move. If the pontoons catch on something, we'll have to ditch and find our way from there. Leaving the boat now just means we know it's safe to unload."

She regrets that it's come to this. If only there wasn't so many bodies floating into the lake.

Aug 15, 2024 4:24 am

"We might be able to use one of them houses just to overnight, Martin," Billie-Faye chimes in, nodding at Eva and Selena. "Though it's bad news hearing that group roves and scavenges out that far. She then agrees with Beaver.

"I say we load the car up, and give their plan a shot."

Tracy Devlin

Aug 15, 2024 10:42 am

Tracy Devlin

"Wow! You guys really have your shit together!" Tracy sneers, as he drops what he was carrying back to the boat right into the water!

Martin tuts and cranes his neck to see what Tracy just dropped into the drink! The young man is massaging his arms; rolling them about to ease the tension.

"Damn! Guess my arms were tired!" he says, looking at Eva and Selena then.

"You guys made a great choice joining up!" he says, with a roll of the eyes. "It’s a real crack squad!" he says, with a dismissive snort.

Aug 15, 2024 10:52 am

The teen's carelessness annoys him. "Damn it, man... What are you? Five? Yeah. One way or another, we better hurry, before Tracy drops all our stuff in the river... "

Tracy Devlin

Aug 15, 2024 10:59 am

Tracy Devlin

"Oh yeah, I’m five!" the young man bristles. It looks like he’s deciding whether or not to say something very nasty about Owen’s behavior since getting back to camp. Instead, he shrugs, and mutters:

"It was just some old shit anyway!"

Aug 15, 2024 1:56 pm

Richard is watching the youths argue, becoming more and more agitated.

"Look Tracy. Quit the childish bullshit or get lost. Ok? We don't have the time or the energy for this juvenile nonsense. Now, let's a pick a direction and go already!"

Aug 16, 2024 2:36 am

"Tracy, you little twat, fetch that outa the fuckin' water! We're hemmin' and hawin' here because someone could fuckin' die if we choose wrong! The lake is fucked up and we'll be leaving a workin' car behind if we go by water. Imagine makin' scroungin' runs without the car. Shitty, right?"

Moving closer to the boy, she places what she hopes is a steadying hand on this shoulder. "Now think about our other option. Take the car, hit the road, leave the boat. There's not enough room for everyone, and everything. We'll be slow-movin'. We'll have to find a place to sleep every night. Remember what that was like in the early days after -- after your mom...?"

Smiling slightly at the surly teen, she shakes her head and lowers her voice. "You gotta learn from this shit, Tracy. Get gud, like you used to say when you was playin' your games. This ain't no game, but we gotta be fuckin' good."

Gesturing to the rippling water, then looking at Richard, the dirty blonde says, "Now fish that shit outa there, T. Dick, everyone's gotta opinion -- and a vote. This is still A-fuckin'-merica. I vote road. Everyone else?"

Aug 16, 2024 2:38 pm

"We can all sleep on the boat. It's off the ground, more comfortable and we can find an open spot to ensure that we see any threats coming. Sure, it will be a little tight, but at least we won't get cold," he offers with a hint of a smile.

"I'm not against splitting up. We could try it. If the brush is too thick and you can't stay with us on foot or by car, we can revaluate. Or maybe that's a terrible idea but let's decide in the next two minutes. All I know is the roads are going to be dangerous."

Aug 17, 2024 5:10 am

Speaking of dangerous roads, you hear the sound of an engine roaring in the distance! It’s like a gun going off, and you understand now what the others must have heard when Richard fired his weapon earlier today. The motor barks, and the sound reverberates through the trees, even all the way to camp. You suppose Big John had eventually turned around and is making a show of passing the spot you had met in the most intimidating fashion he can manage right now!

Surely he is speeding his way back to New Haven as you stand on the waterside!

OOC:

Tracy-post incoming…

Aug 17, 2024 10:16 am

"Shit. We need to get going. I am staying on the boats. That group seem well setup for patrolling roads. Hopefully not so much for river transport. Let's get these babies ready to go."

He looks at what operations are needed to get the boats going. Presumably the anchors need to be loosened, and any temp structures removed. He helps in the tasks he has learned to do in his stay in these strange floating homes.

Aug 17, 2024 12:58 pm

"Fuck it," Billie-Faye says, heading for her bike. "Let's load up the boats with everything we got and get gone!"

OOC:

Suggest we try and take the motorbike and the bicycles.

Aug 17, 2024 3:40 pm

Shayna grabs a box and starts hauling ass, reloading the boat. "A couple trees tied together could make a ramp for the motorcycle. Several of us stabilizing it. Could work."

Aug 18, 2024 12:38 am

"Yeah that could work. Any deadfall lying around? A bunch of thick saplings strung together should work. Failing that, a rope. We could get the boat up close to shore. It doesn't need much water. And we should name it. It's bad luck not to name a boat and we need all the luck we can get."

Richard eyes roll over the terrain searching for ramp material when he hears the roar of engines.

"Hurry up. They're coming." Glancing back by the boat he sees Owen eyeing what's next. "Hey Owen. You can leave the shelters up. We won't go fast enough to knock 'em over."

Last edited August 18, 2024 12:38 am

Tracy Devlin

Aug 18, 2024 12:29 pm

Tracy Devlin

Tracy sneers as Billie-Faye utters the words ‘Get Gud’ to the young man. A reminder of the times before, a comment on his childishness and inexperience all rolled into one.

"Yeah, get gud!" he says back, with mock enthusiasm! He turns and begins to wade into the water to fetch the box which is slowly floating down stream. Emma, at the same time, is trying to fish it out with a stick on the shore, to little avail. It’s then that the roar of the car rips through the scene.

Aug 18, 2024 12:35 pm

You throw your lives into the riverboats in a hurry! Eva and Selena grab as much as they can from the waterfront and race it to the boat. Some of the others work on getting the bikes up into the thing; throwing the mountain bikes onboard, but being more careful with Billie-Faye’s ride! The work is silent, and sweaty. Rain comes down, but you don’t trust it to cover the noise of you talking as you work.

What if someone was listening?…

Goodbyes are said, and left unsaid, to random knick knacks you’d have to leave behind you. The pizza car, and its mouthwatering menus, primary among them! You’d done the best you could in the few minutes since you’d heard the car roar by!

You pile on; Martin ushering each of you on like some captain on a Mediterranean cruise ship! Using some of the longer sticks you’d found to try build a ramp, you push off. It’s slow going, as the raft unsticks itself from its place. With a sudden jerk, the vessel pulls itself free and begins to drift downstream.

OOC:

Get that motor going. Someone give me that mobility roll!

And don’t forget to take some XP for yourselves!

Aug 18, 2024 10:24 pm

Owen takes first shift at the helm, manoeuvring the pontoon like the others showed him.

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (56546) = 26

2D6 : (45) = 9

Aug 19, 2024 2:49 am

OOC:

adding missing stress die

As the pontoon starts to move, Owen looks at its wake, lazily breaking the river surface behind them.
He thinks how with each yard the craft takes him further away from the place where they encountered the New Haven men. I wish it could take my mind away from it too...

Finding the moment of respite quite comforting, he lets his mind wander.
I hope you believed me, when I said I didn't want to kill you... I just... Got scared that with your gun you could hurt the others. I acted before thinking, and obviously underestimated that machete, and my... Clumsiness.
I mean, you probably were a dangerous jerk, a raper and a criminal, and I shouldn't even be 'talking' to you... But... Although the world's gone to shit, this is not who I am... Not that you'd care, but I am no cold blooded killer. I don't want to be... This. I can't believe I gutted you like some... Animal.
For what it's worth... I am sorry I did this, jerk-man, even to you. The sight of you dying will haunt me to my final days, whatever this shitty future turns me into. Rest in peace, jerk - man. I know I won't.

Rolls

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(1) = 1

Aug 19, 2024 2:50 am

OOC:

ha! Jinxed!! 🤣

Aug 19, 2024 5:52 am

Later…
"Jesus Christ!" a man calls, pulling his hand up to cover his mouth. He looks as if he might vomit at the sight.

"Jacob! You know we don’t take the Lord’s name in vain!" a woman chides him immediately, as she too surveys the grim discovery. Her face is tight, her hair grey!

"They cut Joe’s fucking head off!" the man says back, by way of explanation for his lapse. The small gathering of men and women on the road grumble! Several ball their fists, while others turn away.

"I told you…" Big John’s voice booms so that all those gathered can here! "… that these people were sick freaks!" he says, spittle flying! A white bandage covers the place where Richard had got him earlier!

"They’d have got me, too! Joe held them off long enough for me to get away…

He… He saved my life!" the man goes on. A ripple of pride goes through the group assembled.

The woman with the grey hair puts a hand to John’s shoulder, nodding her head.

"You did good to get away, John! These people… We are going to find them! And we are going to exact our retribution on them!" she says, louder and trying to rile up the crowd.

It works, as the assembled mob begins to hoot and holler, as they swear revenge on Joe’s killers.

Aug 20, 2024 7:12 am

While the pontoon starts to move, it’s a group effort to guide it safely out of the nook you had landed in for the summer. All hands on deck, and even Eva and Selena call warnings as the craft inches out and into open river water.

Before long, you’re motoring. Every moment you spend on the river, with the map showing it diverge from the road, is a moment further away from the New Haven group you had butted heads with this morning. Owen’s ever-steadying hand is at the wheel, and you watch as the trees pass you by with increasing pace. As the immediate danger passes, you settle in for the long ride down river, to be doubly certain you’ve wriggled free from any pursuit.

Hours pass, and the storm only seems to nip at your heels. Or maybe it’s wasn’t all that bad as it seemed to begin with. Eventually, the afternoon sun starts to hit you.

You pass small groups of walkers, shuffling through the wilderness. After god knows how long roaming the woods, they finally have something to home in on. By the time they drag themselves from the brush, you’re long gone!

Emma Gauff

"Land ahoy!" Emma calls, throwing her hand up against the sun, and pointing out a building a ways down the river. The bridge you had spotted on the map is coming up, as well as what you suppose is…

Martin Cater

"That’ll be the Thumbs-Up Diner we saw on the map!" Martin butts in, also pointing it out.

The others all crane their necks, wondering if the diner might be somewhere worth checking out. All save for Owen, who had let his mind wander back to the scene on the road.

…kkkkkkrrrrrrrriiiiihhhh…
The ear piercing sound of metal scrapping against river rocks screeches out, sending hands to cover ears! The pontoon shudders, and it’s immediately apparent that the thing has bounced off something large on the river bed.

You hear the gurgling snarls of some walkers unseen, responding to the sudden eruption of noise. Then, you hear two distinct splashes, as both Tracy and Eva lose their footing from the impact, and go tumbling over the side of the craft and into the river!

Selena Cabello

"EVA!" the young newcomer shouts, and her call is met with more vicious snarls from the walkers somewhere in the bush! The young woman frantically looks about the hurriedly packed boat!

Aug 20, 2024 1:31 pm

"Shit, shit, shit. Where's the boat hook? Somebody get the boat hook!"

Richard, in a heart pounding panic rushes wide eyed around the boat looking for the hook or anything that can fish the girls out before the walkers get them. There is no way in hell he's sacrificing himself for people he doesn't know.

Aug 20, 2024 7:09 pm

Owen shrieks at the metallic screech. Shit- you drove it into some rocks! Then his attention is caught by the people falling overboard.

He cuts the boat engine, and looks around for a life ring to throw to help Tracy and Eva. If he finds one, he attaches it to a line before throwing it overboard to the swimmers, keeping hold of one end of the rope.

OOC:

how well kitted is the pontoon? are there easily accessible life rings/ropes/lines?

Aug 20, 2024 11:52 pm

Shayna runs to the back of the boat, and joins the others. She's got her spear handy, but it's not the best at rescuing folks.

"Richard, and all you with guns, cover the bank. The rest of us will get the swimmers." She holds the non-poiinty end out towards Tracey who is closer to her. "Grab it!"

Aug 21, 2024 7:18 pm

"Right. Good idea."

Gauging the threats to the girls, gun pointed wherever, a fleeting thought stops to be considered amidst the madness. Did they really want these unknown and troubled mouths to feed?

Aug 22, 2024 3:38 am

With Owen looking for a life preserver or at least a good rope to throw into the water, and with Shayna acting quickly to get her spear extended towards the pair of flailing overboarders, Bille-Faye darts for the helm of the boat. "Tracy! Swim for it!" she shouts as she tries to get the boat stopped and then turned around, keeping Eva and her friend's son clear of the propellers. If she can, she'll smoothly and safely move the watercraft closer to the swimmers...

Aug 22, 2024 8:48 am

OOC:

Incoming…

OOC:

Richard seems to be the only one with a gun on his sheet. I think he pocketed the second one from the goon though! He can pass that off to someone!

The others are occupied though, so it’ll be the distraught sister, if anyone!

Rolls

Tracy - (4d6)

(1612) = 10

Eva - (4d6)

(5251) = 13

Eva Pushing + Stress - (4d6, 1d6)

4d6 : (5635) = 19

1d6 : (5) = 5

Aug 22, 2024 8:53 am

OOC:

Yes I think Owen retrieved the goon gun from near the tyre, then Richard got the gun from his trembling hands!

Aug 22, 2024 9:02 am

OOC:

Notes:

Owen caught Eva, as she just barely gets a hand to the life-preserver. Tracy easily catches Shayna’s spear. They’re both saved from being sent further down river!

@Qralloq,@Dr_B, why don’t you both give me some rolls to pull these two from the moving water! I’ll look at my book in the next 30 mins, if you aren’t sure what to roll for it!

Billie-Faye is dealing with a boat that has no power right now, as Owen cut the juice. I haven’t operated a boat before, but I can imagine there being a little give still! You can maneuver the boat so that it’s between the NPCs and the walkers for another round.

Richard, there’s going to be a few targets coming your way!

In-character post coming later!

Tracy Devlin

Aug 22, 2024 9:09 am

Shayna Dawn Beaver
Tracy can’t speak as water rushes at, on and over him. He flounders, trying to keep himself afloat, and latch on to something… anything. Shayna watches as he grasps blindly for brush or rock or hand! She stretches out over the rail to get the spear to him.

His hand meets the shaft of it and he grips! He grasps it so strongly in his bid to stay alive that he almost wrenches the thing from Shayna’s hand! But she’s got him!

Tracy Devlin

"Pull!" he gargle-screams, now having some purchase with which to keep his head up over the water!

Eva Cabello

Aug 22, 2024 9:15 am

Owen Peterson
Owen tosses the ring, and the thing is almost yanked from his grip with the force of the river moving below him! The thing lands a short way from the splashing newcomer, and the young man then realizes that he has done all he can for her!

The bright orange ring bobs and thrashes, and it’s all Owen can do to keep the thing near enough to the woman to give her a chance! With some effort, the woman in the water lunges for the ring, but misses, as it swoops suddenly a foot downstream. She goes under and you see her going arse over head beneath the surface.

A long, heavy moment lingers between the last time you saw her and the next. Selena begins to cry, as the seconds pass. And then Owen feels weight on the rope! Eva yanks, and then throws herself up on to the orange ring, heaving and spitting up water!

Eva Cabello

Aug 22, 2024 9:26 am

Richard Kant
Richard tries to keep himself steady, as Billie-Faye sets about shunting the ship into a more advantageous position. The others have all but forgotten about his gun, as they race to save those in the water.

Were they to glance up at the man, would they be able to read his thoughts?…

Snarls erupt from the bank, and Richard’s head snaps to attention. He watches, as three walkers break out from the trees and aim straight for the boat. Hearing had been one thing, but seeing was quite another. The walkers break out in a chorus of groans and hungry moans that set Richard’s teeth on edge.

The closest one is a woman, wearing a long, dark dress. She’s waterlogged from the waist down, and the meat on her legs is bulbous and blackened. She slaps into the water, and struggles to keep upright within the current. Still, she gets her hands up on to the side of the craft, desperately clawing at the passengers just above! She’s flanked by two men, in various states of disrepair after more than a year of exposure to the Georgian wilderness!

Aug 22, 2024 9:26 am

Billie-Faye Cooper
Billie-Faye assumes command of the vessel as the others go about fishing their friends out of the drink! She can’t help but look to the bank, as the snarl’s sound and Richard levels his weapon.

Three! For now…

Billie-Faye fights for control of the ship against the current, hoping to massage the ship into a better position to pick up those overboard. She hears a wet slap behind her as another of the three falls into the water.

A tall, lank of a man is battered against the back of the boat, as the current tries to sweep him away. Billie-Faye looks back and down at the thing just out of arm’s reach! It snarls and snaps at her from his place in the river, and the woman winces as the walker runs its teeth along wet, boat metal. Eventually, it gets a long arm up, and tries to swipe at the woman.

OOC:

You can get that boat moving where you want it to be! You can use it as a weapon or a piece of terrain too! Or just kick this dude in the face!

Aug 22, 2024 5:23 pm

Shayna pulls Tracey as hard as she can without yanking it. "Don't you let go, Tracey, you hold on!"

She suddenly sees her sister in the water instead of Tracey. They look little alike, but she's been thinking more and more about her. Was she at New Haven? Would Selena and what's her name, Ava?, know anything about her?

Last edited August 22, 2024 5:32 pm

Rolls

STRENGTH - (3D6)

(462) = 12

Aug 22, 2024 5:41 pm

With so much commotion in the water, Richard suddenly remembers the second pistol as it jabs at his back where it's shoved into the waistband of his jeans. He's loath to pass it to anyone struggling in the water as it's too valuable to lose. Quickly he rushes over to Billie-Faye and offers it up since Owen and Shayna had their hands full.

"Just point it and shoot at the bastard. Steer with one hand, shoot with the other!" Then he rushes to where the walker in the dark dress is trying to climb up the side of the boat. Mumbling under his breath he says, "Fuck off you ugly slut!" and pulls the trigger.

Rolls

AGILITY, RangedCombat, Pistol - (3D6, 1D6, 1D6)

3D6 : (132) = 6

1D6 : (5) = 5

1D6 : (6) = 6

Aug 22, 2024 5:50 pm

As he feels the girl's weight pulling against the life ring he starts pulling the rope towards the pontoon, marvelling at how heavy it feels.
"I got her! Help me pulling her aboard!"

OOC:

trying STR+Force, but not well stocked in that department. Helping hands welcome!

Rolls

STRENGTH, Force - (3D6, 0D6)

3D6 : (165) = 12

0D6 : (0) = 0

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(4) = 4

Sep 6, 2024 3:29 pm

OOC:

Gah, I someone completely missed this last round of posts -- apologies for holding us up!

"Nice job you two!" Billie shouts to Shayna and Owen as she tries to fire up the boat's engine, turning the key or pressing the starter switch. Then, walkers are in the water and right on top of the boat! Before she knows it, Richard is pressing a gun into her hands and calling her attention to the second walker that's trying to clamber aboard.

Taking aim, she fires as she screams: "Get 'em aboard! We gotta get outa here!"

Rolls

Agility (4) + Ranged Combat (1) + Pistol (2) - (7d6)

(1153655) = 26

Sep 8, 2024 10:40 am

Two shots ring out, one after the other. Each sends a walker flailing back and crashing into the water beneath, and offering the group a moment’s respite.

With Herculean strength, both Shayna and Owen manage to pull Eva and Tracy from the fast moving water. Like wet rags, they flop down onto the deck of the pontoon, coughing water and gasping for air.

Only one walker remains; unperturbed by the swift dispatching of its fellow walkers only a moment before! Richard, being the closest to the bank, and drawing attention with his shot into the walker-woman’s head, is the thing’s target.

It’s clambers over the body of the dead-dead walker, and tries to take a chunk out of the man!

OOC:

Sorry for the slowness! Let’s have a single walker attack here to see those mechanics, and then let’s set a new scene so I can find my footing again. Apologies if I missed anything!

Sep 8, 2024 3:35 pm

While Richard might have been ambivalent about the newcomer girls rescue, he was not unsure about what to do to the lone surviving walker that had set its sights on him. Raising the pistol, he squeezed off a shot.

Rolls

AGILITY, RangedCombat, Pistol - (3D6, 1D6, 1D6)

3D6 : (614) = 11

1D6 : (5) = 5

1D6 : (2) = 2

Sep 9, 2024 11:51 pm

He helps the girl on deck, panting to catch his breath. "Damn... you OK?" he asks Eva when his breathing allows.

Sep 10, 2024 3:40 am

"Everyone aboard?!" Billie-Faye shouts over the rush of the river, wincing a little when Kent's gun goes off again. They won't be surprising anyone, that's for certain... and they just might have tipped off the fuck-heads coming after them exactly which way they went...

"We ready to go?!" she yells, preparing to fire up the engine and gun it, hopefully leaving any walkers in the water behind.

Sep 10, 2024 6:10 am

Richard’s gun burps again, and the walker takes one through the dome! It takes its time hitting the dirt; slumping half into the pontoon, before being kicked off the boat by the engine being brought back to life! It slides into the water, and gets stuck between the shore and the boat until one or the other moves!

Snarls break out somewhere in the distance, in response to all the shouting and racket! While you can’t see them, you know that there must be walkers combing through the trees, ready to descend on this location at any moment!

Eva Cabello

"I’m… I’m okay!" Eva pants, her hands reaching for her sister, and checking her over for wounds. The woman slips a little on the puddle forming beneath her on the deck.

Tracy Devlin

"Fucking GO!" Tracy cries, with the ‘go’ coming out as a desperate, wet cough. Emma races over to him, hammering him on the back with one hand, and steadying herself on the pontoon with the other!

OOC:

Further down river, then?

Thumbs Up Diner is a few minutes down river, or you can keep going to the Hunting Goods store?

Sep 10, 2024 12:50 pm

OOC:

downriver sounds good - maybe best to put more miles between us and the potential pursuers: I vote for Hunting Goods

Sep 10, 2024 2:44 pm

OOC:

Yeah, Hunting Goods sounds good.

Sep 11, 2024 12:49 am

OOC:

To the Hunting Grounds!

Sep 11, 2024 1:24 am

Making eye contact with Tracy, Billie gives the boy a nod and throws the throttle forward, being careful to avoid the area where they ran aground before. Downriver they go, heading for the Sporting Goods store...

Sep 11, 2024 1:44 pm

Billie-Faye sends the craft down-river once more, careful to favor one side of the pontoon over the other, so as not to exacerbate the damage to the thing. The thing squeals, as a piece of metal has to be dragged before it finally twists itself free of your haven and falls into the water.

You’re away, and passing under the bridge. Looking back at the momentary crash site, you see seven or eight walkers finally shuffle into view, into the river, and quickly get swept off their feet. Their slow, mindless pursuit would continue along the water; if that’s what you could call their helpless thrashing down the river.

You pass by the Thumbs Up Diner on your right, as you move on. A testament to how well stocked this group is, that you weren’t willing to take the risk and give the place a once over out of sheer hungry desperation.

Billie-Faye guides you down further and further, and the hammering of your heart slows as you settle back in to another long stretch of water. The group hot on your heels would certainly have to go off road to follow your course now, and it eases your mind a little. Still, you knew the road would have to swing back around by the time you reach the hunting supplies store.

Hours later, and the big heat of the day is beginning to taper off. Bellies start to protest their emptiness, and it’s then that you see it. Eva, almost fully dry, calls the place out!

Martin Cater

"Thats it alright!" Martin adds, overseeing the woman’s pointing! He beckons someone for the binoculars.

"Alive… Inside." he reads, squinting down the lenses. The man reads letters painted over the store’s original big white sign! Alive Inside.

"Safe Zone!" he continues.

Selena Cabello

Slelena’s eyes light up, and a smile beams across her face. "It’s safe! We’re here!!" she says, trying to inspire some hope in the rest of you! "It’s safe!!" she says, already slinging her pack up on to her shoulder!

Sep 12, 2024 3:59 am

Cutting the throttle to half-speed, Billie's eyes are searching the shore, looking for a place to put in. A place that will be both easy to tie up, but also not immediately put them at risk of attack from the walkers boiling out from behind buildings and cars and bushes.

"Don't get too ahead of yerselves," she warns Martin and Selena. "I agree it's a good sign, but we'll want to check things a bit before just walkin' on in there."

The underdressed woman's sharp eyes also take the measure of the building, trying to get a sense of whether it's still occupied, buttoned up, was the site of a battle...

Sep 12, 2024 6:39 am

Owen retrieves his binoculars and gets as high as he can on the pontoon.
He points it over and around the store for signs of the living, or of the dead...

Sep 12, 2024 9:38 am

OOC:

I’ll take a Scout roll from one of you! Whoever gets here first! Don’t forget that stress! It’s been a while!

Sep 12, 2024 9:44 am

OOC:

here goes, from Stressed Owen...

OOC:

oh boy

Last edited September 12, 2024 9:45 am

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(151) = 7

Scout - (2D6)

(54) = 9

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(1) = 1

Sep 12, 2024 11:20 am

OOC:

Time for one of those aquatic walkers to spring out of the water like some salmon heading upstream!

Sep 12, 2024 5:01 pm

Glad to leave the snarling walkers, or floaters as the case may be, Richard is glad to see the back of that area. He tries to avert his eyes as the wet girls are yanked on board, but it's not easy. He snatches a side-glance or two when he can get away with it and then chides himself yet again for being a pig.

I was never like this! I was respectable once!

"Careful Owen. I wouldn't recommend falling into the water." He couldn't help looking out for the boy. The kid probably thought he was a nag. He didn't care.

"Hey Billy-Faye is right," he nods, agreeing with the buxom woman. "Nothing is as it seems in this place. Presume the joint is crawling with walkers and then we can be pleasantly surprised when it's not."

Last edited September 13, 2024 2:16 am

Sep 12, 2024 6:02 pm

Shayna is busily fiddling with the piled cargo that they loaded onto the shore and back again. It's not sitting right, at least not perfectly for her tastes, and just be their luck to have all their irreplaceables tumble into the water when Billie-Faye steers them into another rock.

Sep 13, 2024 10:24 am

Billie-Faye creeps her way up the river; inching closer and closer to what would end up being the rear of the building. As she rounds the final bend in the river, she does see a small pier built up on to the shore; presumably for quick access by boat for any fishermen that might want to stop in on-route!

Owen climbs up on one of the railings that runs around the pontoon, trying to get a better vantage point to spy on the hunting supplies store. Richard watches on as the young man wobbles on the slick, wet rail while he looks through the binoculars.

Seeing that Shayna is busying herself with securing the gear, Martin scoots over and tries to take something out of her hands and help. He sets it down with a heavy thud, perhaps in a spot that Shayna herself wouldn’t have picked, and then sighs.

The woman can tell he wants to say something.

Long day…

The building looks sturdy and strong; made of brick rather than the expected and possibly more aesthetically-pleasing wood. It’s dark, but maybe that’s just because the day is beginning to wane, and those inside don’t want to give their presence away. Maybe they’ve spotted you on the water, and even now are watching you from one spot or many. You see a fortified position on top of the building, though it is currently unmanned.

How quickly could that be occupied and made operational?…

Of walkers, you see no sign, and it seems like whoever is or was hiding out here had made an effort to barricade the front access to the building with a ring of abandoned cars. That would keep the walkers at least a few meters away from the front in case of an attack.

All is quiet from what you can see here on the water…

Sep 13, 2024 2:04 pm

"This is too good a place to be abandoned, especially with that handy rooftop lookout," Richard announces. "No, I don't like it. Maybe we can draw them out. Any ideas as to how without making a racket? Maybe one of us climbs over that vehicle barricade and knocks on the door. I'll cover?"

In the meantime, the scientist scans the building and the surrounding area for signs of movement.

"See anything, Owen?"

Sep 13, 2024 2:16 pm

"Not a thing moving. Don't like it either... I mean if you had a neat fortified nest up there, would you leave it unmanned?..."

He scans the abandoned cars. "I think we can risk getting closer, up to those wrecked cars? We might see better from there. Or throw rocks at the building to draw out unwanted things..." he proposes.

Sep 13, 2024 2:49 pm

Billie-Faye makes to put in at the pier, slowing the boat, cruising it right up to the dock so a couple of her companions can hop onto the wharf and help secure the boat, tying it up.

"Maybe," she responds to Owen about the position atop the building. "Though if the place buttons up tight, just danglin’ some fresh meat up there that the walkers can see might just attract more of ‘em. Could be they just man that thing when they need to."

She likes the idea of quietly approaching and perhaps knocking on the front door. "Richard’s got it," she says as she inspects Tracy’s rope work. "Couple move up, quietly, while he covers. Throw a rock or two, see what stirs… knock on the door if nothin’ rears up." Pulling out the pistol the man gave her earlier, she adds, "I can cover too, maybe from the other side. Most everyone else stay on the boat, case we need a quick getaway?"

Sep 13, 2024 5:50 pm

Richard thinks Billi-Faye is very bossy, but he likes that. Makes her more appealing.

"No, I'm coming with you. We can get closer to those cars and then I'll slink around to the other side. Stay in pistol range. You can take cover behind the wrecks. Rocks would make too much noise. Maybe a light tap on the door might do it. The rest of you," he says facing the others, "keep your eyes peeled. Anything stirs, you holler. Or maybe bettter, whistle, like some bird. Might not attract any walkers. Okay?"

Sep 14, 2024 7:43 am

"Okay. If you do the covering, I'll do the knocking," he tells Billie-Faye and Richard.

He gives Vinh his binoculars, "shout if you see something we don't see, OK?"

Then he carefully leaps on the small pier, once the pontoon has been maneuvered close to it. He crouches low as soon as he lands.

Sep 14, 2024 3:03 pm

Shayna is about to sass Martin but swallows it like ashes. Her choices always turn out wrong, why would this one be different.

"What's in your mind Martin? If you're looking for a guessing game, my mind is back north, wondering if that bunch of chowderhounds has got my sister."

She looks over at the two girls they picked up. She can't quite bring herself to ask them. She can't quite muster the courage to face whatever answer they give her.

Sep 14, 2024 8:08 pm

"Aight," Cooper says lightly and nonchalantly to Kant, "we'll go up together, cover from the two sides." The tattooed blonde's voice softens a bit as she adds, "Just make sure y'all don't shoot your load without meanin' to, Dick."

There's a hint of a smile on the woman's face as she hop-steps onto the wharf, jiggling a bit as she pulls out her new pistol and puts it on safe. She waits for Owen and anyone going with him to disembark, then follows along, heading for the cover Richard mentioned.

Sep 15, 2024 8:03 am

OOC:

Looks like Owen, Billie Faye and Richard are dismounting. Shayna is with Martin but he seems the type to tag along and try lead this thing!

The others will keep watch on the river and be ready in case you need to make a quick getaway.

Let’s get a Stealth roll from someone. Everyone has pretty similar stats for that one. First come, first serve!

Martin Cater

Sep 15, 2024 8:16 am

Martin Cater

"I know it is…" the man offers tenderly, as he pays all of his attention to the navy-purple seeping into the sky. Twilight approached, which would make things harder to spot at a distance.

"I can ask, if you want." he says softly too, seeing that the woman was now looking at the two newcomers. Martin was a lot of things, but he was clever enough to put two and two together, and guess at what gnawed at the woman.

Making sure that the pontoon was secure enough to not float away, and yet not secure enough to foil a sudden getaway, you disembark. The sky takes on that inky evening hue, and things aren’t quite as crisp and clear as they were in the midday sun. Shapes move, or at least you think they do, at the periphery of your vision.

You move slow, checking and double checking as you creep up the steps of the pier and towards the back of the hunting supply place. It’s deathly quiet as you approach the building, which is all business. The windows are set over with barricades; sometimes wood or maybe iron bars. Whatever mannequins or goods that had been set in the window, to catch the eye of those passing by, are covered now by fortifications.

You stealthily move your way up the side of the building, which is windowless and made of solid brick. You can’t see in, but at least nothing can see out either! You reach the corner of the building which would bring you out front. The first car in the barricade is right up against the corner you now stand at. The ring of cars extends all the way to the other corner.

Sep 15, 2024 2:22 pm

Dick, narrows his eyes at Billy-Faye's potty mouth remarks, but oh does he love that dirty talk. He couldn't let on though and shook his head in pretend disbelief as he willed his eyes away from the jiggling boobs.

He hunches and creeps as quietly as he can and unlike Billy-Faye his safety is off, the pistol pointed up at the building following his eyes as they rove along the structure, both looking for a way in and searching any threats. For now, he keeps behind the ring of cars and motions for the others to do the same.

Rolls

Stealth - (3D6)

(554) = 14

AGILITY - (3D6)

(422) = 8

Sep 15, 2024 3:47 pm

"Could you? I'm... Where are those ninnies going? Stay here and guard the boat, would you darlin? I'll make sure they don't land two feet into a hole full of rodents."

She pats his arm and then follows the other three, happy to be away from the conversation Martin is about to have

Sep 15, 2024 4:11 pm

OOC:

Harrigan has requested that all present roll, so that you get stressed out and die the game works as intended!

You heard the man!

Sep 15, 2024 4:15 pm

OOC:

In the Discord, KCC has called for Stealth rolls all around, so...

Staying low as they head up to the brick building, Billie quietly forks off the other way, intending to go around the building and provide cover from the other side...

OOC:

Scored two successes, so should have one available to hand to someone else.

Last edited September 15, 2024 4:15 pm

Rolls

AGI + STEALTH - (3d6, 3d6)

3d6 : (135) = 9

3d6 : (664) = 16

Sep 15, 2024 4:18 pm

Shayna sees the others sneaking so she does her best to do likewise. Is there known danger or are they just being cautious?

Rolls

Stealth, AGILITY - (2D6, 3D6)

2D6 : (63) = 9

3D6 : (345) = 12

Sep 15, 2024 4:28 pm

Owen tries his best to keep a low profile, crouching low as he advances to the cover of the nearest car in the barricade.

Rolls

AGILITY, Stealth - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (42463) = 19

2D6 : (34) = 7

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(5) = 5

Sep 15, 2024 4:30 pm

OOC:

Richard can add Agility to Stealth, @Windyridge

Sep 15, 2024 5:11 pm

Dr_B says:

OOC:

Richard can add Agility to Stealth, @Windyridge

OOC:

Yup he edited that roll in. Thanks!

Sep 18, 2024 11:55 am

You creep up to the edge of the barricade, fanning out to approach the thing from both sides. Whoever had put this thing together had done a fine job of it. Even if the walkers could get through the gaps, or over the hoods, they would be slowed immensely by the wall of metal. Slowed long enough that whoever was on overwatch in the nest above could go about their deadly business.

The dark comes on, minute by minute. Navy blue seeps further across the sky and even now those watching on from the river are in the hazy twilight. A cool breeze comes down the road, setting a shiver up some of you.

You wait, straining your ears to catch some kind of sound from within. From your place behind the barricade, you even see messages scrawled across the row of cars, in red paint.

Alive Inside

Survivors Here
In the quickening dark, it’s hard to really gauge how long the paint might have been here. Someone, at some point, had made a safe haven out of this place!

OOC:

Someone is climbing over to knock on the front door, right? While the rest of you are on overwatch?

Sep 18, 2024 1:07 pm

Once he sees Billie-Faye and Richard in position with their handguns, Owen nods at them both and scuttles past the barricade cars, hands held high up facing the building, in case some unseen sniper might have him in his crosshair.
"Don't shoot. I'm alive. A survivor, like you?"

He stops there to ensure his appearance didn't trigger anything, then steps slowly, hands still up, towards the front door.
Easy... one step at a time... don't alarm them... he thinks, heart racing in his chest.

If he arrives at the building he knocks at the door, repeating "I'm alive... Anyone here?"

Sep 18, 2024 2:20 pm

Shayna hunkers down farther back and watches the building for signs of spotters. Her guts roil with the danger Owen puts himself in here and nervously waits.

Sep 18, 2024 2:33 pm

Richard switches hands with the pistol and wipes his sweaty palm on his jeans. He doesn't like this at all. He can barely spot Owen's progress in the half-light and doesn't imagine either he or Billy-Faye will be of much use to Owen if he is threatened when they can't see their target.

He attempts to scratch off some red paint from the car he is hiding behind with a too-long fingernail to see if he can ascertain how old it might be. Then he strains his eyes and listens and waits for a response to Owen's questions.

Sep 18, 2024 5:23 pm

Bille-Faye's senses bristle as well, as she crounches down at one corner of the building, handgun at the ready, held in both hands. More than anything, she is listening -- for the scuff of a foot, the working of a gun's action, a walker's groan, some words that might answer brave Owen's...

Sep 19, 2024 10:34 am

Owen crosses the gap, carefully climbing over the barricade. You hope that the old metal doesn’t groan and warble as the young man makes his way. Luckily, lithe Owen scrambles over without protest from the cars.

As the cool begins to settle on the evening, there’s a feeling that Owen is very much in the lion’s den now. The barricade, while only a car, would be a world away if things went to shit!

The knock sounds around the space, and the glass seems to shake in its place as Owen rattles on it. The door very faintly creeks back and forward under the slight push from the young man. A thin, but all too long squeal comes from the hinges, as you wait for a response from inside.

Nothing…

And then… the sound of sudden shuffling from inside. Owen sees, or thinks he sees, shapes moving about inside, but without a light it’s hard to make out exactly how many or what exactly is beyond the doorway.

Footsteps and shuffling, coming towards the squeaky door. Owen watches as blurred shapes fill the other side of the glass, until one face is pressed up the glass with a sudden slap!

The door that was once only slightly ajar is sudden thrown open, and a walker sprawls to the floor. Thin, raspy snarls break out in the gloom, as a group of walkers burst out of the once-safe house grasping hungrily for Owen!

OOC:

A moment’s reaction before we get into the nitty gritty of mechanics!

Sep 19, 2024 11:41 am

Owen gasps stepping back from the horrific Jack-in-the-Box.
He barely has time to grasp the danger he is in with one walker inches from his legs, that MANY MORE erupt from the damn place, turning a bad predicament into a no-way-out nightmare situation.

"SHITSHITSHITSHIT!!!" he shouts in horror, stumbling back as best as he can.

Sep 19, 2024 6:10 pm

Shayna's heart nearly explodes in her chest, the chilling horror unfolding before her a jolt to get already anxious nerves. She grips her homemade spear and hopes she doesn't have to use it. But she's seen this before, knows the deal.

"Run," she says loud enough her can hear, her voice not giving up her anxiety. "Between a gap, we can choke them off there."

She moves toward such a spot between the cars and waits for death to come for her, spear ready to make a stand

Sep 20, 2024 3:15 am

Several walkers come slinking and slouching out of the darkened space that is the door. Shayna shouts and several jerk their heads in her direction, moving off towards the woman and her spear! They rush for the barricade, arms outstretched!

Owen stumbles back! The action is made all the worse by the fallen walker scrambling desperately for him from her place on the ground! Despite it being trodden on by those that came behind, it claws at Owen, desperate to get its teeth into the lower half of his leg!

OOC:

Away from my book for now! For the time being, let’s have Owen handle a ‘single walker attack!’

Any skill can be used to dispatch the undead. Success, and you are free! Failure, and she gets to nibble on you!

Sep 20, 2024 5:08 am

Don't lose your shit! They're walkers, you're a RUNNER

Owen tries to shake off the shock that took hold of him, and leaps back away from the crawling horror, rushing to put as much distance between him and its clawing stretched hands...

OOC:

edit: if those successes are enough to climb up over the barricade of cars, he will do so!

Last edited September 20, 2024 5:35 am

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (62456) = 23

2D6 : (46) = 10

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(3) = 3

Sep 20, 2024 6:10 pm

The squeaking door might as well have been the crack of gunfire, it sounded that loud to Richard. Then came the shuffling and growling they unfortunately knew so well.

"Shit! We're faster, we can out run 'em. Go!" he shouts to both Owena and Shayna, still loathe to shoot at the walkers in the half-light with them so close to the others.

Sep 20, 2024 11:41 pm

OOC:

Is the car corral such that we could funnel the walkers to one point and kill them hand to hand one at a time (whichever one is in the front) with -relatively- low risk?

Sep 20, 2024 11:51 pm

Billie safes her gun and stuffs it down the back of her butt-hugging shorts. Retrieving the big axe she carries from its loop on her pack, she keeps her voice down after Richard exasperatingly yells out. "It's okay, Owen, they can't get you," she whispers fiercely, "yer too fast, sweetie! Now see if you can lead 'em away!"

OOC:

Two ideas here depending on the answer to the above. If the walkers have to come one at a time out of the corral, or if they are trapped in there, we should surround them and get 'em like fish in a barrel.

If the corral doesn't make fighting them easier, I think Owen should lead them away... we can clean out the building unless it's -packed- with the things, then he can bomb around and we'll let him in if we're done cleaning inside. Or something else!

Sep 21, 2024 10:52 am

Owen is too busy scampering up the car barricade in the grips of panic, to hear Billie-Faye's suggestion. He surprises even himself of how quickly he negotiates the vertical metal barrier, fueled by pure adrenaline.

He lands with a thump on his companions' side of the barricade, and sits with his back at one of the cars, glad to have a wall between him and the horrors beyond.

"Ohmygod... ohmygod...ohmygod..." he wheezes, trying to catch his breath and to calm down.

Sep 21, 2024 12:49 pm

OOC:

+ Updates on Discord +

Rolls

Secret Roll

Sep 22, 2024 1:52 am

Brawl!
Current Range to Walkers: Short.
Current Distance to the Pontoon: 2 Movement Actions.

Everyone gets one action a round, and the round is divided into phases to break up the action!

Phases:
1. Taking Cover.
2. Ranged Combat.
3. Close Combat.
4. Movement.
5. First Aid.
6. Other.

The Walkers will all do the movement action (besides any Single Walker Attacks) this turn, as they are inside the wall of cars. This will get some of the squeezed through for the next round.

You can all carry out your actions first, and then I’ll do the walkers, as any of you movers will go at the same time as them!

+1 Stress Dice each for being attacked by walkers!

Sep 24, 2024 5:55 am

Rasping snarls break out, as the walkers force themselves through the doorway and out into the gloom. Some take off after Owen, as he dives back over the barricade, panting heavily. Before he can catch his breath, dead hands are hammering at the metal, desperate to get a hold of him!

Others are drawn by Shayna and Richard trying to come up with a sudden plan, and begin to fan out in search of a meal!

Sep 24, 2024 6:26 am

Owen is on the brink of panic, and decides he is not made for these hero antics.
He gets up on his feet and tries to get as much distance as possible between him and that leaky barricade...
"Go go go!"

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (13464) = 18

2D6 : (34) = 7

Roll Stress: - (2D6)

(36) = 9

Sep 25, 2024 3:01 am

"Owen get back here!" Billie-Faye calls to the fleeing boy as she comes forward with her fire axe. "We gotta take 'em down! It's gettin' dark and we need a place to hole up!"

That axe comes down, once, twice, felling walkers as they come through the car corral... but there are so many!

OOC:

Trying to "Clear Out the Area," Swarm Size 2 and Threat Level 4 as discussed in Discord. Let's see how BF does!

Last edited September 25, 2024 3:02 am

Rolls

Strength (5) + Close Combat (3) + Fire Axe (2) - (10d6)

(2453524163) = 35

Stress Die - (1d6)

(4) = 4

Extra Die due to car corral... - (1d6)

(6) = 6

Sep 25, 2024 3:04 am

Shayna closes ranks using the cars to funnel the walkers into a stab zone. Her heart races but she knows that keeping her cool will keep them alive. The spear stabs out at the creatures' heads, looking to put them bitches down.

Last edited September 25, 2024 3:09 am

Rolls

Str 3 + Close Combat 2 + Spear 2 + Cars, Stress 1 - (8d6, 1d6)

8d6 : (24643654) = 34

1d6 : (3) = 3

Sep 25, 2024 3:08 am

Richard shoots at one of the walkers that hasn't quite reached them yet.

Rolls

AGILITY, RangedCombat, Pistol, Cars - (3D6, 1D6, 1d6, 1d6)

3D6 : (621) = 9

1D6 : (1) = 1

1d6 : (2) = 2

1d6 : (1) = 1

Stress Die - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Sep 25, 2024 10:05 am

It’s brutal, quiet work! Owen races back to the boat, even as Billie Faye and Shayna lay about the walkers with spear and axe. In the darkening gloom, the two women cut and stab deep, sending the walkers into a pile at their feet!

Richard’s shot sends a jolt through those gathered back on the boat, though the man can’t see it! It sounds somehow much louder in the dark! The final straggler, pulling itself out of the supply store and towards the mass of fallen wedged between the cars, slumps to the floor as the man’s gun barks!

All is quiet, save for hurried and hushed talk back on the pontoon. You can’t hear the moans, nor do you see the shuffling figures of walkers approaching out of the trees. But… you know they are coming! Even now, heads would be turning to the sound of a gun firing, perhaps the sole noise in the night to draw their mindless shuffling!

OOC:

Do you want to be on the other side of this barricade for tonight?

Haul ass and get inside, locking the place up? Wait and comb the place thoroughly in the dark so you’re sure it’s safe? Both somehow?

Sep 25, 2024 6:41 pm

Billie-Faye is breathless when it’s all over. Her axe is covered in red and black gore and she’s got bits and globs of walker nastiness spattered across her tank top, and in her hair. Both need cleaning. Her chest rises and falls dramatically as her pulse comes down, as the adrenaline that was just surging slackens.

"Richard," she says quietly between breaths, "There’s a time to do the dirty work quiet-like… and a time… a time to just fuckin’ open fire and blaze away. Save your rounds… save them for when we really need them. We’ll be lucky if we didn’t just attract another horde."

Poking around the front of the building, where the swarm had come from, the blood-splattered blonde still holds her axe at the ready. "Let’s check the place out… if it’s clear, we overnight here?" Then seeing that Owen has fully retreated, she adds, "Maybe we leave Owen or one of the others out here on watch. Make sure Dickie’s shots aren’t going to pull walkers from all over."

OOC:

Just an idea, but I suggest several of us check and ‘clean’ the building, carefully. Put someone on watch outside, tell those at the boat what we’re doing.

Sep 26, 2024 4:16 am

Seeing Owen standing at the top of the steps that lead down onto the pier, several of the pontoon crew have begun to climb up to investigate the noise! They come on slowly, and in a group, as they watch the shadow of the man pant heavily in the gloom!

Emma Gauff

"O… Owen? What happened?" Emma asks tentatively, not yet risking to reach out and touch the man, for fear he had been bitten.

Vinh stays with Emma as they talk with Owen, while the others scoot by to see what devastation has been wrought.

Martin Cater

"Anyone bit?" Martin calls, a little too loud! Eva and Selena slink forward, too. Each survivor keeps clear of the barricade of meat and metal that had been left by the trio in their battle.

Sep 26, 2024 4:37 am

His account is agitated and definitely not proud in tone. "The store... Was full of walkers. They rushed out at us... Got very close to me - too close, but I... I outrun them. I think the others cleared the place though..."

He holds on to a post of the pier to catch his breath. "No, no bites..."
What a day this is revealing to be...

Sep 26, 2024 1:56 pm

Shayna finishes cappin the dropped walkers, makin damn well sure they ain't gettin back up. After she follows Billie's lead - no time to be arguing over who what and where in the thick of it. "Stay outside, Richard, and we'll check it out inside." It's dark and entering that hole doesn't appeal none to her. She wipes the walker blood in the dirt and then carefully uses a couple leaves to wipe it. Choking up on the spear for tight spaces she moves to the door and carefully peeks inside.

Sep 26, 2024 2:46 pm

Christ, bossy women, Richard thinks, Bilie-Faye and Shayna both.

Not thrilled about being alone in the dark, he nevertheless agrees to stay outside and play lookout.

"Right. You ladies be careful. Go slowly and watch the shadows."

Sep 28, 2024 10:46 am

Owen climbs on board and walks to Vinh.
He is pretty rattled, after killing a man and the close shave with the walkers right now.

"W-we need to help the others... But this is no time to go unarmed. You know that... Machete thing I asked you to keep? I need it back, I think..."

He extends a trembling hand to his artist friend, looking him in the eyes for comfort.

OOC:

full disclosure: desperately seeking to decrease that 2d6 stress! 🤣

Sep 28, 2024 3:47 pm

Shayna steps away from the darkness and quickly takes Richard's flashlight out of his pocket. "A quick sweep, see if there is any canned goods or Tang for the kids."

Side by side with Billie-Faye, she pokes her spear, flashlight, and head into the building.

Last edited September 28, 2024 3:47 pm

Sep 28, 2024 9:21 pm

Not having her own light, but still brandishing her bloody axe, Billie nods at Shayna and in they go, a team. They've done this before, and work well together...

Vinh

Sep 29, 2024 3:07 am

The others mill about outside: their eyes trained on the darkening trees, their ears cocked for the sound of snapping twigs or hungry snarls. Tracy and Eva try to rub some warmth into themselves, as the night time chill begins to bite at their still-damp clothes!

Vinh looks the shaking young man over. The old artist then looks over Owen’s shoulder, and sees the two women ready to sweep the store. Suddenly, he begins to root around, looking earnestly for the machete.

Vinh

"I left it here somewhere. I think it got moved around when we hit the rocks." he says, playing for time so that Owen wouldn’t be able to go in with the team.

"Just give me a minute!" he says, giving Owen a warm smile. When he sees the two women step inside, he suddenly remembers where it is. He grabs it up, and takes a moment to look at it in the twilight!

"They almost got you back there?" he asks, but Owen can tell it’s a concerned observation more than anything else. He holds the machete out for him to take.

Sep 29, 2024 3:22 am

Shayna and Billie-Faye enter the store, and are immediately struck by the stench of dead meat!

How long had that group of walkers been cooped up in here?…

Waiting a moment for any that might not have joined the frenzy outside to approach, they creep further inside! The dark truly closes in around them now, save for the all-too-narrow beam of light they had with them. They watch dust (and worse) flitter about in the beam!

Dungk…

The sound of something rattling against thin wood down the far end of the hallway!

Dungk… Dungk…

The sound comes again, sounding all the more like thrashing the second time around. Shayna turns the beam of the light to shine down the passage, and spots a door at the end.

Dungk…

Once more, and then the sound of something scraping against wood on the other side!

Sep 29, 2024 3:28 am

Richard remains out front with the others; squinting into the gloom and hoping not to see anything shuffling towards him in the night! The moment’s pass slowly, as he waits for the all clear from Billie Faye and Shayna.

Snap!…

Emma and Martin both perk up at the distinctive sound of snapping twigs somewhere just out of view!

"Richard!" Emma whisper-calls urgently to the only man with the gun! She steps back another step, creeping closer towards the building and away from the barricade of cars she had been standing inside!

Sep 29, 2024 9:54 am

Owen clocks what Vinh is trying to do delaying him, and that small, almost paternal gesture seems very thoughtful.
This man cares for me, something I didn't think I'd see, in this world gone crazy...

"Thank you, my friend... I think everything at the moment is telling me to stop playing hero, and to be more cautious... I've done enough reckless things for one day."

He turns around to look at the strange car barricade ashore. A sight you would never have seen before the world turned to shit.

With a sigh he takes the blade from Vinh. " I will be careful. Can't afford any more mistakes, out there... But they need me. They need each one of us."

He pats Vinh on the shoulder and carefully hops back on the pier, machete in hand.

He approaches cautiously the barricade, whispering Richard's name. Last thing he wants is some friendly fire now.
" Richard? I'm back... Where are you.?"

OOC:

I think Vinh's concern has somewhat calmed Owen's nerves a little? Ticking off 1 stress, still 1 stress left - happy to retcon, otherwise

Sep 29, 2024 2:46 pm

"Might be one or two in there..." Cooper whispers to Shayna, her grip on the rough, textured axe-handle tight and sweaty.

"Should we search the rest of the place first, then deal with 'em? We call out now, see if it's a walker and not a person or a cat or somethin', they could bust through them doors." Tilting her head as she thinks, she then adds, "But I don't want to leave 'em on our back-sides, breakin' out if we find others in here and get into it with them..."

OOC:

GM: what's present in this room or hall? Anything like a desk, mop handle, etc., that could be used to barricade those doors closed?

Sep 29, 2024 5:40 pm

"I'm here," Richard whispers loudly back. "Guarding the front door for the girls."

Then the loud crack...

"Shit. here! I'm here, Emma. I heard it." Pistol raised, Richard squints in the low light and tries to determine where the threatening sound is coming from.

Sep 29, 2024 6:28 pm

Owen regroups with Richard and Emma, alarmed that the danger might come from outside that car barricade too.
Every tree could hide a walker, every shadow could start crawling...

"Where did it come from?" he whispers, in a tense tone. He scans the dusk listening out for the possible source of the sound Richard and Emma heard.

Sep 29, 2024 7:33 pm

She agrees. "Smart. Let's check the rest of it then we can see what is inside. One of us can brace it and the other flash the light inside. I think we both know what it is."

She pans the light around, doing a better search of the rest of the space.

Sep 29, 2024 8:18 pm

"Not sure Owen," he says still whispering low. "Hard to tell. Somewhere over that way."

Richard's hands make an approximate arc around the area he believes to be in the vicinity of the sound. "Maybe a squirrel. Are there even any squirrels these days?" He's more asking himself than the others.

Sep 29, 2024 8:38 pm

"There sure are. I ate one, once..." he whispers.

Sep 29, 2024 9:38 pm

"Why only once?" Richard asks the kid, feeling a little nervous giddiness coming on. The waiting ... wondering if his breaths were numbered...it made him a little silly sometimes, like maybe he was going mad.

Sep 30, 2024 2:38 am

Billie nods at Shayna and gives her a thumbs up. They'll continue to quietly search the sporting goods store, then return here to... deal with what's inside the cabinet.

OOC:

How well stocked is this place? Are there tents, bikes, camp stoves, jackets, kayaks, archery supples, guns, the lot? An American sporting goods store, if it's a large one, is PACKED with that shit.

Vinh

Sep 30, 2024 10:19 am

Vinh makes a pained expression at the thought of making mistakes in a world like this. It wasn’t a matter of if, but rather of when.

Vinh

"Just make sure it’s worth it!" he says solemnly, handing over the blade proper. Did he mean the eventual mistake that would get Owen killed? Did he mean the risks that Owen took on behalf of the group?…

He claps Owen on the back, just as the young man pulls away to rejoin with Richard at the supply store! Looking back, Owen sees the lone man gathering some supplies that would be needed to get them through the night inside!

Tracy Devlin

Sep 30, 2024 10:34 am

Richard, Owen and the others wait with bated breath for the sound of another tell-tale crack. Sounds like that, so soon after Richard’s shot, would surely signal a siege by the undead in the dead of night! A long moment of quiet…

Tracy Devlin

"Its noth…"

Snap…

Another snapping of branches and a rustle of leaves nearby quietens the mouthy teen before the words had even left his lips. More quick rustling, coming closer and closer to the ring of cars, around where Richard had signaled!

Emma steps back again, ready to run into the dark house to fetch the two warrior women from inside. All eyes are trained on the suspected area of attack! Even Tracy rises to get a look at what was coming to try take a bite out of him.

More rustling…

And then a small, scruffy head pushes its way out of the underbrush and into the bare-light of the night sky.

Sep 30, 2024 1:25 pm

"Is that ... ? Is that a dog? Oh my God!"

Richard instantly turns to jelly, stooping over, one arm outstretched. "Come here little fella. We won't hurt you," he entreats in a voice an octave higher. While he doesn't go so far as to put his gun away, he does change his grip to a safer one.

Sep 30, 2024 2:15 pm

Shayna and Billie-Faye creep about the supply store. The duo move slow and steady, so as not to raise the ire of whatever it was they had left between themselves and the rest of the group.

This long after the world went to shit, and the supply store is in a sorry state. Shayna’s light illuminates where the survivors must have slept; their stinking and rotten bedrolls lining the floor of a cleared out room. One of the bedrolls was clearly the scene of a feast, as the woman’s flashlight lights up a long dead and devoured corpse. Someone had provided a meal for the rest once they had turned…

Another room is clearly where this group had tried to stockpile their gear and supplies. Old cans, many of them open and stinking, are scattered about. A last supper before disaster struck. A gas can sits by the doorway, waiting to be swished and checked for fuel.

The place had seen better days. More fruitful days… And yet, with so many walkers inside, you’re sure that no one has been here since this place went down. If this group had stuff, then it must still be here!

OOC:

We can do some scavenging now, if that suits you guys! See what you turn up!

Rolls

How many good pieces of gear? - (2d6)

Oct 1, 2024 6:58 am

Owen relaxes a little, seeing the small dog.
He keeps scanning the treeline, in case the animal is not the only newcomer.

OOC:

have they encountered cases of zombie animals, before? Do they know for a fact if the undead plague only affects humans?

Oct 1, 2024 2:15 pm

OOC:

Good question. I am curious about that also.

Oct 1, 2024 11:04 pm

Shayna asks Billie-Faye to watch the walker locker while she looks around for loot.

OOC:

Harrigan said he might be quiet this week so let's do this thing.

Rolls

Scavenging & stress - (4d6, 1d6)

4d6 : (6112) = 10

1d6 : (2) = 2

Magical Result Extractor - (3d6)

(125) = 8

Oct 2, 2024 12:49 pm

Shayna carefully steps about the rest of the building, inspecting each room for things that might prove useful for her own group.

She comes to a door, not unsimilar go the one that Billie-Faye was guarding! Pressing an ear, she can’t hear anything locked inside of this one. Turning the handle, it springs open with some alarming force. A job that should have been taken care by a fella that was all too busy running the shop in the time before…

This was where the now-dead had clearly put their real treasures! Shayna’s light illuminates the small shelf space, and the bounty inside!

Shayna finds:

• A red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks.
• Bucket with unsorted batteries.
• Sleeping Bags.
• Clean Towels.
• Warm Clothes.
• Revolver and ammo.
• Basic Medical Gear. (First Aid Kid)
• Equipment for Amateur Radio Station.

Selena Cabello

Oct 2, 2024 12:59 pm

Emma breathes an audible sigh of relief, and then several heads turn to Richard and his sudden change of demeanor.

Selena Cabello

"Jesus Christ…" Selena barbs, her body presumably ready for fight or flight in that very moment.

The scrawny little dog looks a wreck. Much too thin, and you can only imagine the smell pulsing off of the poor thing! Hearing Richard’s promise, the thing cocks its head, and a raspy, almost-bark begins to gather in its throat.

It steps forward tentatively, its little nose sniffing the air… (for food?)… as it advances…

OOC:

Great question, Owen. I’m not 100% sure! My understanding is that there are no zombie animals, but that zombies do eat animals if they can, and that eating tainted meat is very bad!

Let’s say no to zombie animals!

Oct 2, 2024 2:21 pm

"Aw little guy. Come here. We won't hurt you." The poor little fella was a bright spark in Richard's dreary world.

"He looks like he's starving." Richard digs around in his pocket for a tidbit and comes up with a morsel of something he can't identify other than that its food. He sniffs it for spoilage and deems it ok, holding it out to the dog. All else is forgotten. The tension, their lives under attack, the girls in the building, all of it gone for these few moments.

Selena's utterance finally surfaces in Richard's consciousness. "Have you lost all of your humanity?"

Oct 2, 2024 11:41 pm

Shayna stuffs the revolver in her pants, the ammo in her pockets, the med kit she stuffs under her shirt. "Jackpot, girl," she says to Billie-Faye and leaves the rest for now after showing her.

"Let's get this walker taken care of, sugah." She shows BF the revolver. "Spear and axe? We've made enough noise. Don't know if it works either. Ammo could be duds."

Oct 3, 2024 9:26 pm

"Careful with that mutt," he says to Richard. "It looks scared, you never know how it'll react."

He looks nervously through one of the gaps between the cars forming the barricade, at the open store door behind it where Shayna and Billie-Faye have entered.

Oct 4, 2024 2:05 am

"Hey, I appreciate your concern, Owen, but they called me the dog whisperer in a previous life." He continues to hold out what he hopes is a tasty morsel for the pup with no regard for how he will feed it later.

Oct 5, 2024 7:59 pm

Billie-Faye offers a grin and a thumbs-up at Shayna when they locate the stash, but she leaves everything where it is, not wanting to get loaded down before they go take out what she hopes is the final walker.

"Spear and axe," she agrees quietly.

OOC:

Quick question KCC -- I'll ask in the Discord too, but this cabinet with the noise... it's metal, correct? Two doors or one? Is there a way to wire the handles together if two?

Will one of us roll for the walker take down, helped by the other?

Oct 6, 2024 12:23 am

When they arrive back at the locked door, Billie-Faye and Shayna move an empty shelf into position on its side in front of the cabinet. If a walker's going to burst out of there, hopefully it'll get tangled up in the metal and be an easier target...

OOC:

Rolling STR (5), CC (3), Axe (2), Shayna's Help (1), Barricade (1), and 1 Stress Die

Rolls

STR + Close Combat Attack - (12d6)

(341126426565) = 45

Stress Die - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Oct 7, 2024 6:25 am

"Ma! Ma! Ma, she’s bit!" come the frantic cries of the man, as he breaks through the trees and towards the ring of cars that surround the hunting supply store!

The summer heat beats down, and the man is drenched through, as he carries the small child in his arms. The tiny body is lolling terrible, and the only movement anyone can see comes from the hurried run of the man holding her.

"Oh shit!" a voice calls from the lookout nest on the roof, and a moment later there’s the sound of feet on ladder steps!

The strain of metal, as the man leaps up onto the hood of a car, and the weight of he and the small child is enough to leave an impression in the car!

"Ma! She’s fucking bit!" the words come again, though this time they sound far more mournful and desperate!

Oct 7, 2024 6:35 am

Angry scratching starts up again inside the closet, as the two women go about the business of building a barricade! It wasn’t as sturdy as the cars outside but, with any luck, their opposition wasn’t going to be as plentiful either!

The final wordless communication is had between the women, and the door is thrown open! Billie-Faye readies her blow, and Shayna is there to force the thing back of the biker woman missed her mark!

Richard’s light searches for the thing! It’s only as Billie-Faye is committing to the strike that she redirects her swing to be much lower than anticipated! Dreadfully small and paper thin, the walker meets the barricade and then Billie-Faye’s huge axe puts it in two pieces!

A second swing quietens the child-walkers impotent snarls for good! Quiet falls on the hunting goods store…

Selena Cabello

Oct 7, 2024 6:40 am

Selena Cabello

"What? It scared me, that’s all!" the young woman says defensively. A dog and a moody teenager. It was as if the world had never gone to shit at all!

The food, whatever it may have been, seems to have sealed the deal. The thing scoots forward, and leaps up onto the car with ease. It’s almost soundless, such is the size and weight of the poor looking creature now.

Tentatively, it smells Richard’s pocket meat. Then it smells it again for good measure. Scooting back, so that it might have the option to escape should it be startled, it gently places teeth around the offering! Pulling a piece free, it gets to work on scarfing it down right there on the car!

A moment later, and it loses some of the stiffness that indicates it might scamper away at first opportunity, and enjoys some more of the evening’s meal!

Oct 7, 2024 3:10 pm

Richard didn't remember a time in his recent past when he had smiled so broadly. The dog began to trust him, so he tried to give him a good scratch around the years. His up until now tensed shoulders began to release and for a few minutes he felt normal again. Rummaging around for another tidbit, he planned to give the scrawny thing another snack.

"What a good boy," Richard croons. To the teen girl he asks, "This your dog?"

Last edited October 7, 2024 3:10 pm

Oct 8, 2024 2:21 am

Crouching down near the dead child, the dead thing that used to be a child, Billie-Faye's head hangs, her tangled and dirty blonde hair falling in front of her face. She's quiet for a few long seconds, then she rises wearily, that terrible weapon still in her hands, and she simply says, "Fuck."

A few moments and several steadying breaths later, she's opening the front door. It's clear from the look on her face that something happened inside, but equally clear that now was not the time to ask what.

"It's clear inside," she says to everyone present in her soft drawl. "We can stay here, at least tonight. Place is a wreck and stinks, needs to be cleaned up... but it's four walls and a roof. Door locks, there's a crapper and a bunch of shit left behind by the last crew. Let's get everyone inside before it gets totally dark."

Oct 8, 2024 2:40 am

Shayna touches Billie-Fay's shoulder. "That wasn't what it looked like. Don't let it get to you." Grow jaded and bitter like me.

She grabs the child sized things leg and carefully carries it outside, to toss it out of sight.

Oct 8, 2024 2:50 am

OOC:

Shayna Dawn Beaver, Mother of Cold, Ferocious Bitch Queens!

Oct 8, 2024 7:33 am

"Place is a wreck and stinks... what's not to like..." he mumbles under his breath.

He addresses Richard and Selena. "Better go check what needs to be done in there... Looks like we're staying at the Motor Barricade Hotel tonight..."

He hooks the machete to his belt and goes past the barricade, trying to find the route with the least possible fallen walkers...

He enters the store and winces for the stench. " Holy crap... "
Trying to look sparingly at the various human remains, he busies himself to help remove them from inside their new shelter...

Oct 8, 2024 3:07 pm

"More like motor barracuda if you ask me, which you didn't."

Whatever good mood the dog elicited in the man had instantly dissipated when he entered the hovel.

"Jesus wept, this place fucking stinks. I'd rather be in the fresh air then breathe this toxic soup." Despite his complaint, he begins helping Owen.

Oct 9, 2024 12:55 am

Shayna wipes her hand after tossing the child. "Likely give us all nightmares. Maybe we can air it out before sleep."

Oct 9, 2024 2:18 am

After ushering the others inside, Cooper lends a hand to the initial clean-up as well… ideally starting with some corner of the store that doesn’t reek so bad. As she works, she muses, "There’s the roof access too, that position we saw from outside. We should check that out… might be a way to sleep up there, safe and out of the stank."

Oct 9, 2024 2:42 am

A few of the others share concerned glances as Richard asks if one of them owns the dog, but they shake it off as stress or tiredness weighing the man down!

You’d travelled the river for hours, and the day had been filled with closer calls than you’d usually have to deal with: both human and walker! As you clean out the stink of downstairs, and perhaps investigate the crow’s nest for its suitability as a sleeping spot, you realize just how tired, hungry and frayed at the edges you all are!

The pontoon bobs on the river a ways away, and Vinh had done his best to tie it tight, and leave it bare enough that it wouldn’t be a target for raiders. The cars had been found strong, and secure; as had the front door of the shop, once it was properly closed and locked up.

You realize, as the work of airing out the place continues, that this is the first time in months that you’ve had solid walls between you and the world… between you and the walkers.

OOC:

Let’s get rid of that stress, folks. You can each write a short bit about how you interact with your anchors, and then you’ll be refreshed!

Oh, and it feels like a good time to gain some XP!

One person can also write a ‘Dearly departed…’ if you feel it might apply!

Oct 9, 2024 4:19 am

OOC:

How are we doing Experience again? Looking at BF’s sheet, I see I’ve marked two boxes of XP. Is that right? Are we going to do the whole question-answering thing from p28? I’m happy to do a Dearly Departed if no one else wants to, and I can probably flow it straight into a scene with Richard if he’s up for it…

Oct 9, 2024 4:36 am

OOC:

Yep! Question based XP! It might be a little light this time around, but it’s quite hard to pace in PBP!

Oct 9, 2024 10:51 pm

During the cleanup operations, Owen teams up with Vink.
The duo are soon busy carrying outside refuse of all kinds, that they deposit past the barricade.

It is hard and often unpleasant work, but the calming presence of the artist does good to Owen's spirits.
Keeping busy also helps him to stop thinking for a moment about the awful killing, that very morning.

Oct 9, 2024 11:04 pm

Shayna spends some time cleaning the place, but as the night grows darker and darker, she finds herself over by the cars keeping watch with Martin.

They'll talk lightly, exchanging concerns and ideas for what to do. In some manner they're both leaders of this little band, as much as any one person is, and it's nice to share that burden. Even put it down for a moment.

Oct 11, 2024 3:05 am

Harrigan says:

OOC:

How are we doing Experience again? Looking at BF’s sheet, I see I’ve marked two boxes of XP. Is that right? Are we going to do the whole question-answering thing from p28? I’m happy to do a Dearly Departed if no one else wants to, and I can probably flow it straight into a scene with Richard if he’s up for it…

He sure is..

Oct 12, 2024 1:54 am

Tired, frustrated, confused, angry. Which of these did Richard feel the most? All of them. All of them the most. This was the first roof over his head in how long? He didn't even know. He no longer recognized himself. He started out this nightmare determined to find a cure. He was a brilliant scientist after all. This was still his goal, but he was distracted with the business of surviving. He snapped at Owen, the boy who in his mind was a substitute for his own son. He leered at the women, all of them except Emma.

Feeling relatively safe now, he allowed himself the luxury of meditation. He hadn't had a chance to do that since the pontoon boat. It always grounded him. Made things clearer.

His contribution to the cleaning complete, he found a quiet corner and began his meditation routine. Afterwards, he felt a little calmer but there was still that undercurrent of apprehension snaking its way around his body.

"Ugh," he groaned, rising up on stiff knees. He needed a friend. Emma was a poet. A deep thinker. He would tell her his troubles. He didn't look upon her the same way as the others. She was welcoming. Genuine. He'd tell her his story.

Oct 12, 2024 6:35 am

Dearly Departed

Hell of a day. Supposed to just be a supply run, but after that encounter with the two fuck-heads from what sounds like a *very* fucked-up group of double-Y rapists, well... Owen had blood on his hands, Dick let the other guy get away and then they were on the run. They had all been arguing about whether to leave the pontoon boat or at least the location anyway, so fifty gallons of shit hitting a swampboat fan actually made for a nice reasons to get the ever lovin' fuck outa Dodge.

Then Owen was running them around -- kid was having a hard day -- knocking several survivors into the water. Everyone made it out okay, but then they capped off the whole affair with almost a dozen walkers surging out of the sporting goods store. And there was the kid in the locker. Shayna and Billie-Faye made for an efficient, cold-blooded pair sometimes, but tonight Billie had been shaken by cutting the little girl in half.

So after helping the others clean up and clear the access to the roof, the blonde goes looking for Richard. Sometimes she needs to be looked at, needs to be *wanted*. Tonight was one of them nights, but by the time she gets washed up Kant is talking with Emma. So Cooper instead goes lookin' for the little cunt her best friend charged her with looking after. Tracy was a prick, but he was Christy Devlin's son and so that was that. Billie-Faye was lookin' after him.

She checks in with him, gently, trying to make sure he's okay after the events of the day. Sometimes he reacts okay to that, sometimes it just makes him worse. Bille's hoping it's been a tough enough row that he doesn't have much of his twat father in him tonight...

Martin Cater

Oct 14, 2024 4:43 am

Morning comes all too quick! It’s feels as if you had only just closed your eyes when they’re back open again! The day before had taken its toll on you, and those not on watch had collapsed into sleep just as soon as the cleaning was done!

And good thing it was done, too. The morning sun beats down with a vengeance, despite winter being right around the bend. Flies buzz about the carcasses you’d moved and stacked a ways away from your shelter. They flit about the dead, and it’s a constant battle to keep them from flitting about you - the living.

You’d half wondered if you might wake up to a fresh batch of walkers trying to clamber over the barricades, given Richard’s discharge last night. It seemed like luck had been on the man’s side…

Martin sat with his shirt open at the front revealing his wiry, almost gaunt, frame beneath. He fanned himself with what looks to be a map from the hunting supply place!

Martin Cater

"Motorcade." he starts, meaning to draw in your curiosity first thing in the morning! "Crash site." he goes on, listing off what he sees on the map. "Refugee camp." he says finally, before placing the map down on a cleared out table!

Tracy groans, as Martin starts his shit first thing in the morning. As if remembering himself, he looks about the room, as the others begin to wake up and face another day!

"Morning, folks! Looks like we’ve got some… news." he says, purposely avoiding attributing the words ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to what lay waiting on the map.

The old map, not dissimilar to the one your own group carried, had been altered heavily by the group who had lived and died here! Thick black lines form three circles on the map. Each circle had been crossed through with a great big red X too, the meaning of which you could surely imagine!

Beneath the circles, the group had guessed what they might find, should they go on a run. Mostly, the space is filled with thick, ragged question marks.

Martin stabs a heavy finger down onto the map!

[ +- ] Motorcade

[ +- ] Crash Site

[ +- ] Refugee Camp

Oct 14, 2024 5:56 am

OOC:

Rolling Survival to Scavenge.

That night before bed, Billie-Faye pokes around a bit, seeing if there are some caches or the like hidden in the store... but after not meeting with any success she quickly decides that her companions have already gotten what needs getting.

Last edited October 14, 2024 5:57 am

Rolls

Wits (2) + Survival (0) - (2d6)

(11) = 2

Oct 14, 2024 6:03 am

OOC:

search roll, while he was cleaning the place with Vinh

Last edited October 14, 2024 6:05 am

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(352) = 10

Survival - (2D6)

(61) = 7

Oct 14, 2024 7:39 am

OOC:

and some more bones!

Rolls

Extra roll - (3d6)

(312) = 6

Oct 14, 2024 2:24 pm

OOC:

And even more still...

Rolls

WITS* - (5D6)

(62251) = 16

Survival - (2D6)

(43) = 7

3d6

(443) = 11

Oct 14, 2024 2:43 pm

Shayna wonders why Martin was going to shit right in the middle of him. Nasty man, she thinks, knowing that she maybe dodged a bullet keeping romance with him at arms length.

She keeps and eye out from the roof while the others search the place.

When she sees the map, her eyes immediately go to the school. "Maybe my sister was there. Maybe there is a list of survivors. I want to go there!"

Oct 15, 2024 4:32 am

Billie peers at the map as well, when Shayna comes down to take a look.

OOC:

How far away are the Motorcade and the Crash Site, and are they all in different directions? Curious, are we going to use the 'Going on Runs' rules with sectors and such?

Oct 15, 2024 7:02 am

Owen sees the others gathering around the map and takes a look over their shoulders.

A Helicopter crash site ... he tries to remember when was the last time he heard a helicopter sound. It used to be a common thing to hear. Now it feels as rare as a blue moon.

"Does anyone remember hearing a helicopter flying in the area? How long ago was this crash, I wonder..." he asks the others.

OOC:

thinking that, in the post-apocalypse silence, something like a helicopter engine would have been noticed by him, or by others.

Oct 15, 2024 7:39 am

Scavenging…
As Owen and Vinh go about the stinking work of clearing up a space for sleeping, they come across a small, child-sized back pack shunted into the corner. It had once been pink, but now was stained dark red with dried blood. The unicorn stitched to the front of the bag got the worst of the gore, it seems like.

Zipping it open, the two men find a stash of candy bars and Haribo Gummy Bears!

Richard, in his efforts to take care of the stray dog, roots around some more, only to find a couple of bottles of water! One of the group here had hidden them away in their now-rotten bedroll. While they’d likely never be icy cold, they seemed sealed, and so surely clean to drink!

Rolls

How many months ago did this group personally witness a flyover? - (1d12)

(10) = 10

Oct 15, 2024 8:02 am

Owen scatters the candy bars and Gummy Bears packets he's found over the map.

"We had enough tricks for one day... How about some treats?..."

Oct 16, 2024 1:21 am

Richard's eyes practically glow, not so much at the water, but at the gummies. What a treat.

"You got that right. Small things like this are like ... like heaven really. Let's divvy up the loot, everyone! Try to drink the water slow and easy, savor every drop."

It was telling that he didn't for one moment think about the poor kid that had belonged to the backpack.

Oct 16, 2024 3:52 am

Shayna peers at the candy and of course Richard calls dibs on the Haribo sweets. Just my luck She grabs a Fifth Avenue candy bar which she doesn't remember being very good but a year with nearly no chocolate will improve the taste, she guesses.

"Remarkable. They must have succumbed quickly after getting those cars all setup nice in that line. Or they're the second group to make this a home. Doesn't speak well for it's security, that now does it darlings?"

Oct 16, 2024 6:40 am

Billie is still at the map as the others converse. She's trying to show Tracy how to read it as she replies to Shayna's comment. "Or maybe someone on the inside hid a bite," she says idly, noting on the map that they can hit the helo crash before they go to the refugee camp...

OOC:

Heading off to Gamehole Con!

Oct 16, 2024 11:01 am

Selena Cabello

"The breakfast of champions!" Selena jokes, as she reaches a grubby hand into the pack of jellies, and fishes out a small handful. She throws them back into her mouth in one go, and takes her time chewing them up!

Eva Cabello

"Has… Has anyone checked those cars outside? Looks like we can’t take the boat to any of these places!" Eva says with a sigh.

Martin Cater

"She’s right! We can go south or west on the road… Walking, unless those cars are in working order. North to the crash site…" Martin says, with a hand on his hip and another on his chin.

Tracy Devlin

"Bet they’ve got some cool shit at that crash site! Military hardware! Bazookas and shit!" Tracy guesses, miming the use of an RPG in front of everyone else.

Emma Gauff

"It could have been a news helicopter!" Emma interjects, which elicits a disappointed eye roll from the young man as he drops his hands.

"But some guns would be nice!" she offers sheepishly, when she sees Tracy’s reaction.

Martin Cater

"Shayna wants to head to the school! We could split up!" Martin offers skeptically. He sucks air in between his teeth as he says it, suggesting he doesn’t think it’s the greatest idea.

Oct 17, 2024 11:52 pm

OOC:

just checking - I was under the impression the cars forming the barricade were standing on their sides, to form a wall? have I dreamt that in a fevre dream??

Oct 18, 2024 3:35 pm

Richard huffs. How naive can you be?

"Do you guys really think these places won't be picked over? I mean look at what we got here, and it was only because we got lucky. A little candy, a little water, some gross chocolate bars. Look. I think we got a roof over our heads here. We even made it somewhat habitable. And a barricade of sorts outside. A good lookout spot. Why not hold this place and send out reconnaissance sorties? Bring any loot back. Survive in style?

Was he mad to think like this, he wondered? He figured everyone would disagree anyway. Maybe he just felt like being ornery. On the other hand was it such a terrible idea?

Oct 18, 2024 4:53 pm

Owen rolls his eyes.
"Chill out dad, it's not like we're going anywhere tonight. And I'll have the gross chocolate bar back, if you're so fussy."

Oct 18, 2024 11:25 pm

Shayna nudges Martins shoulder knowing he was just backing her up. "Let's stick together. Could be herds out there, but thanks. We could loop around to that school and the motorcade site on the way back, though."

Oct 19, 2024 2:02 am

For a long second, Richard stared at Owen. He had called him dad. But he was being facetious, and his heart sunk at that thought. His lips curled into a smirk as he tossed Owen a stale bar from the past.

"Yeah, together," he says to Shayna, uninterested in the strategy.

Oct 19, 2024 9:38 pm

"We can think of what to scout first tomorrow, right? For tonight, we should go check that nest on the store roof. Maybe we can take turns to keep watch from up there? What do you think?"

He looks around for a means to reach the ceiling, presumably via some ladder and hatch.

Oct 20, 2024 10:24 am

OOC:

I had kind of skipped over the night! I had it in my mind that it’s the morning after the night before!

Ever the diplomat, Martin raises his hands up to Richard, as if the man was saying something Martin had already thought of.

Martin Cater

"They might be picked over! But not by the people here…" he starts to explain. He motions about the room. "We didn’t find much, like you said. What if they were the only group to know about these places?…" he says, giving Richard an eye that suggests the conclusion is obvious.

Jackpot…

Emma Gauff

"Do we have anything other than binoculars to use up there?" Emma interjects to ask Owen. This far into the end of the world, and the group was sorely lacking any serious firepower! "We see something and then… what?" she asks, not offensively. There’s worry in her voice for whoever might be up there!

Martin Cater

"We don’t have to abandon this place! We can clean it up, and use it as a base…" Martin says, speaking over Emma’s worries.

Tracy Devlin

"Didn’t work out too hot for these guys!" Tracy pipes up, motioning to all the gore that had yet to be cleaned away fully.

"And it’s right in the middle of the road! Not exactly a cabin in the woods." he says, trying to step into some kind of leadership role perhaps.

Oct 23, 2024 6:54 am

"We can at least hole up here 'till we've searched the area. We're gonna need food, and we could use some firepower and ammo if we're run into the shitheads from yesterday again," Bille-Faye argues.

"This place is defensible and we don't got too many options. River's all fucked up -- would be good to find a working car, maybe even a van or something. But we can't afford to sit on our asses and think hard about it -- let's just get it done."

Oct 23, 2024 7:24 am

Where To? Public

The Helicopter Crash

Vote to view results.

The Motorcade & Refugee Camp

Vote to view results.

The Refugee Camp & Motorcade

Vote to view results.

Rolls

Secret Roll

Oct 24, 2024 12:04 am

"That's a pretty big what if," Richard replies to Martin complete with air quotes around the what if.

When did I become so obnoxious?

"Yeah ok maybe it's possible. One can hope. And you're right. We can do both of course. Have it as a base." Turning to Tracy he reiterates what Billie-Faye says. "It's defensible, Tracy. Get it?"

Last edited October 24, 2024 12:04 am

Oct 24, 2024 3:44 am

"Alright, but I really want to go to that school. If we can do that next that would be ideal."

She folds her arms, wondering what her odds are if she went on her own. Not good, she knows.

Oct 24, 2024 4:30 am

"We'll check it," Billie-Faye assures the other woman. "Big place like that... might do to be better equipped and prepared, right?"

Cooper checks her gear before they head out, including the new pistol she has... the one from the man Owen murdered the shit out of. He seemed largely recovered from that experience, at least...

Oct 24, 2024 4:18 pm

"while you oldsters have your powwow, I'm gonna get myself up that ladder to enjoy the view. Later!" he says, heading outside.

He climbs the metal ladder, taller than he thought it would be, and is glad for the round metal guards in place for safety.

Once up on the flat roof, he checks the defensive nest for items (would be nice to find a machine gun, he thinks) , and to assess its placement and defences.

Then he concentrates on the view from that vantage point, doing a slow, full 360.

Rolls

Owen Peterson: WITS - (3D6)

(261) = 9

Owen Peterson: Scout, Owen Peterson: Binoculars - (2D6, 1D6)

2D6 : (64) = 10

1D6 : (4) = 4

Oct 25, 2024 7:36 am

Threat Level: 2

Oct 25, 2024 7:43 am

As the others have opted to head for the copter, Martin sets about getting ready to leave along with everyone else!

Seeing the man prepare, a few of the others look about awkwardly. It’s clear from the look in their eyes, that they are keenly aware that the group lacks much firepower, and that most of that firepower was about to walk out the door and head for the trees!

Selena Cabello

"What are we supposed to do if more walkers show up?" Selena says, breaking the tension that had suddenly settled over the gathering by the map.

Eva steps towards Billie-Faye, as the woman sets about readying her pack! She puts out a hand, and then says:

Eva Cabello

"Maybe I can get those grenades back? Hopefully… we won’t need them. Hopefully neither will you."

She meets Billie-Faye’s eyes, and waits patiently for the woman to turn something over!

OOC:

I believe there was a gun in the haul from last night too! The one Shayna found.

Oct 25, 2024 7:44 am

Up on the roof, Owen gets a pretty decent look at the place they had crept up on last night! The pontoon still rattles against where it had been tied off; the awful hole punched in by the rock looking terrible in the morning light.

The young man roots about the little nest that the last group had made up top. Bricks and sandbags and debris thrown up onto the roof to try and conceal the machine gun… that used to be up there!

Owen does find an old toolbox though. The thing is heavy, and terribly rusted from having been exposed to the elements, but Richard would surely see some good in its contents!

Then he turns his attention to the roads! It was obvious why the old group had chosen this place! Owen could see right down two roads a fair distance, before both twist out of view! An approaching car could be spotted coming for a good long while!

Then he looks towards where he suspects the helicopter crash to be! Across the bridge! It’s wooded country up that way, and the young man has to scan the trees through his binoculars to really get a sense of what waits ahead!

The trees are dense! The effort of giving the place a thorough once-over stings the eyes. Just before Owen pulls the binoculars away, so as to rub some relief into his eyes, he spots movement. He quickly adjusts the binoculars to zone in on the sudden motion.

One…
Two…
Three…

Figures lurch through the trees. Walkers shuffle through the brush in an aimless manner! Their heads jerk this way and that; hoping to pick up on some sight or sound that might mean a fresh meal.

Four…
Five…
Six…

Ten…
Twenty…
More, far more…

Owen watches on for a few moments as a miniature heard forms in the distance! The young man counts as many as fifty aimless walkers wandering through the trees in the far distance.

Rolls

3d6

(412) = 7

Oct 25, 2024 8:08 am

Owen spots a group of walkers across the bridge, not close - but not far either. Close enough to be very careful not to make loud noises.

And the pontoon damage looks pretty dire in daylight.
We need to patch that up, could sink the pontoon...

He rushes downstairs to rejoin the others in the preparations, sharing what he spotted.

"... So whatever we do, let's keep it as quiet as possible, folks. Those walkers across the bridge are just waiting for an excuse to cross it..."

He takes another look at the map. "wonder if there's a way to block that bridge? We should take a look at it at some point."

Last edited October 26, 2024 5:30 am

Oct 25, 2024 3:30 pm

Shayna remembers the gun, and hands it to Martin along with the ammunition. "We could use this out there, but there's only so much going around. Anything comes, you lock those doors and shoot from the roof."

Oct 26, 2024 1:37 am

"Grenades could blow up that bridge I bet," Richard muses out loud. "Ya see, everyone? This is a great hideout. Owen's report proves it. We can get a heads up on any threats with time to react. We should totally use it as our base."

Nodding at Shayna he adds, "What she said."

Oct 26, 2024 3:50 am

Billie-Faye nods as she finishes packing her backpack, and as she pulls a hand grenade from a side-pocket in the bag. Handing it to Eva, she says, "How about we both keep one? You're stayin' here and can use it if y'all get swarmed... but I'm headed out with the others and wouldn't mind havin' a ace in the hole."

A few minutes later, the blonde is thinking about suggesting they go in a different direction with that little horde out there near the chopper, but then Richard postulates that they could blow the bridge with the grenades. Billie-Faye doubts that, but she doesn't know much about explosives or grenades.

"Blockin' it sounds like a better idear to me..."

OOC:

Handing over one grenade.

Oct 27, 2024 7:22 am

Owen gets his things together and joins the scouting party.

"Ready when you are. Let's check what's out there. We need to be quiet, though... Remember, those walkers by the bridge weren't that far."

He turns to the group who are staying. Particularly resting his gaze on Vinh.
"Good luck, back here. We will be back with news. Hopefully good ones..."

Oct 27, 2024 10:42 am

Martin grasps up the pistol, and looks both amazed and overwhelmed by the piece! Then a look of determination comes over him, and he nods.

Martin Cater

"This place will still be here when you get back!" he starts, trying to sound confident!

As Eva gingerly takes one of the grenades, she places it down gently on the table.

Eva Cabello

"We can get started on that while you’re gone! Tracy here can help us push a few of the cars around outside and free some up for the bridge!"

She tries to sound confident, though being familiar with someone she had only just met made it come off as awkward!

Vinh holds Owen’s gaze for a moment, and then his eyes fall to the young man’s machete. If they were alone, the man might remind Owen of their conversation out on the pontoon last night!

Emma Gauff

"Good news! And guns!" Emma chirps! Then she stoops down to pet the odd looking dog that had turned up outside last night!

"I guess he’s staying with us then? He’s been out there for long enough!" she says mostly to Richard, who had grown attached to the dog almost immediately.

Oct 27, 2024 10:48 am

You all finish your preparations, and get ready to say your goodbyes! You scan the surroundings one last time, before truly stepping foot outside of the ring of cars once more! It had taken so much to get in here last night, under cover of darkness. Yet here you were leaving again so soon!

You cross the bridge that would hopefully be barricaded by the time you got back! Below, and to your right, the pontoon bobs in place! The thing had served you well yesterday, and brought you to something even better… hopefully. You had certainly escaped something far worse.

You break off the road soon after crossing to the other side, trying to follow the map you had found in the death trap back there! You move into the trees, and Owen warns you that this was where he had seen the herd moving through only a short time before!

More than once the young man had pleaded for a quiet trek through the trees, to avoid pulling fifty walkers down onto your heads!

OOC:

In the spirit of Owen’s warning, let’s have stealth checks from everyone!

Oct 27, 2024 12:57 pm

OOC:

so, now it's MY fault?! 😁

edit: my extra success is available to anyone that fails! Owen catches them up as they stumble...

Last edited October 27, 2024 12:58 pm

Rolls

AGILITY, Stealth - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (33566) = 23

2D6 : (41) = 5

Oct 28, 2024 3:14 am

OOC:

Kids nowadays..

Rolls

AGILITY, Stealth - (3D6, 3D6)

3D6 : (132) = 6

3D6 : (535) = 13

Oct 28, 2024 3:29 am

Cooper’s second thoughts about passing so close to a horde ring in her head as they try to quietly make their way to the crashed chopper…

OOC:

One success!

Last edited October 28, 2024 3:29 am

Rolls

Agility (4) + Stealth (2) - (6d6)

(444462) = 24

Oct 28, 2024 4:55 pm

Shayna isn't very stealthy. She should look into learning those skills, but what good would it do?

Rolls

Stealth - (2D6)

(25) = 7

AGILITY - (3D6)

(222) = 6

Oct 29, 2024 8:06 am

Martin Cater

"Just gonna go check up top!" Martin announces to the others, with a heaving sigh.

Emma gives him an absent minded salute, as she pokes at some of the rations she’d kept aside for breakfast! Everyone else seemed engrossed in the coming and goings of the day!

"Won’t be long!" he says again, forcing some cheerfulness into his voice! Vinh turns to him at that, and nods.

Vinh

"Shout if you see anything!" Owen’s mentor responds, though he didn’t mean literally. Martin surely knew that by now too!

Martin slips out of the building then, and looks around. Instead of turning left to head to the roof ladder, the man turns right. He clambers up and over the car barricade, and grabs up a pack he had hidden away earlier that morning.

He throws it up onto his back, checks that the coast is clear one final time before starting off with as much of a run as he could manage towards the south-western road: the road that would lead to the refugee center and, with any luck, Shayna’s sister!

He looks back at the building he had slept in last night just in time to see Selena and Eva exit the front and assess the job with the cars before them!

He ducks down to avoid being seen, and then slips off into the trees for good measure!

"I’m going to find her…" he says to himself resolutely, before turning his back on the supply store and making for the refugee center!

Rolls

Secret Roll

Oct 29, 2024 11:06 am

Following Owen’s lead, the group moves through the woods in a direction that he hopes is both away from the small horde and towards the downed helicopter!

Creeping from tree to tree and keeping low, it’s clear that there are still walkers passing through the area. The body of the thing had passed, but the stragglers still required avoiding!

It’s slow, slow work. The four of you take cover from time to time as one or two shuffle a ways ahead. You wait for them to be drawn by whatever instinct it was that caused them to bunch up, before you move on.

More than once, Owen pulls Richard back by the shoulder, just before the man walks right into the path of a small group of walkers.

An hour or more, and you haven’t covered much distance, though you were becoming accustomed to the rhythm of moving through the woods like this.

That is until Shayna puts her foot up onto a fallen trunk, preparing to clamber over it. Rather than solid wood, the woman’s foot meets a rotted log, and her foot breaks right through the bark! The crunch of wood giving way to boot, followed by a strangled cry as bark digs deep into the woman’s leg meat breaks the silence in the woods!

No sooner had the woman loosed her gasp of pain, than you hear a chorus of snarls cry out in response. And then the sound of brush being trampled under undead feet!

You see them then, ones and twos at first… but then more! Drawn to the woman with her leg caught in the stump!

OOC:

Bad news! Failing that check increases the threat by 1. You get seen!

Map on the way, just to give a general idea of where things are!

Threat Level: 3

Walkers are aware of you. All nearby walkers will shamble towards you and you must fight to get out alive! All PCs present take one point of stress!

Swarm Size: 3

Oct 29, 2024 11:35 pm

Crouching behind a rotten fallen tree, getting down on all-fours, Billie-Faye swears under her breath as she realizes how many walkers they are, and when Shayna yelps and hurts herself — attraction attention. Turning to Richard, she’s about to say, Ready? It’s go time… or the like when she see the idiot ogling her.

"Seriously Richard?!" she hisses instead. "Jesus Christ, focus! We’re gonna have to fight our way outa this!"

And with that, axe in hand, the brassy blonde is up and swinging, trying to cut a swath through the horde!

OOC:

Rolling Strength (5), Close Combat (3), the Axe (2) and 1 Stress Die!

Rolls

STR, CC, Axe - (5d6, 3d6, 2d6)

5d6 : (43123) = 13

3d6 : (646) = 16

2d6 : (11) = 2

Stress Die - (1d6)

(3) = 3

Oct 29, 2024 11:41 pm

OOC:

Pushing! So adding one more stress die and leaving the two successes on the table.

Rolls

STR, CC, Axe (-2 successes) - (8d6)

(45616614) = 33

Stress Dice - (2d6)

(26) = 8

Oct 30, 2024 1:57 am

Richard has the good sense to feel foolish. I mean, really? At a time like this and putting the group in danger? No, he's going to try and save the day with that pistol. Be a hero.

He shoots, taking care to aim at a zombie close to Shayna but not too close and also away from Billie.

Rolls

AGILITY, RangedCombat, Pistol - (3D6, 1D6, 1D6)

3D6 : (612) = 9

1D6 : (3) = 3

1D6 : (5) = 5

Stress Die - (1d6)

(5) = 5

Oct 30, 2024 2:28 am

Stuck in the log, Shayna keeps a look out, hissing instructions at the others as they fight the horde. She marvels at skill Billie-Faye exudes, fearless in the overwhelming odds. Her own terror she keeps a lid on - she's seen worse, after all, and lived to tell the tale.

Rolls

EMPATHY, Leadership, stress - (4D6, 0D6, 1d6)

4D6 : (2235) = 12

0D6 : (0) = 0

1d6 : (6) = 6

Oct 30, 2024 5:30 am

So as Shayna directs the group, and as Richard opens fire, Billie screams and has at it with her axe. There are so many of the things there will be no way to beat them back without going full-on fucking crazy. The blonde has it in her, from the coked-up crime sprees of her youth to the vicious bar fights she was getting into just months before it all went to hell... she knows how to handle herself in a violent situation.

She loses track of Owen as her axe chops and slices, as it comes down again and again, felling walkers like cordwood. Chunks of gore and brains spray, limbs fly, blood pools and runs. By the end of it, Bille-Faye is exhausted and just drenched in viscera and blood. The now crimson-skinned devil has cut through the ranks of the walkers and there's now a clear path forward. She staggers in that direction, panting, dragging her fire ax behind her...

OOC:

Leaving room for Owen to do this thing!

Oct 30, 2024 6:56 am

When he sees that the stealth plan has failed, what with Shayna making noises, Billie-Faye going berserk and Richard gunblazing like a damn pistolero, Owen swears and readies the dreaded machete.

Looking at the situation, he feels that the most useful thing he could do is get Shayna unstuck. Maybe a part of him still hesitates attacking and killing...

He rushes to the woman stuck in the log. "Lean back away from the blade, I'll try to get you unstuck!"

He starts hacking at the log, careful to aim away from her leg, to make the bark weaker around the woman's ankle.

Rolls

STRENGTH, CloseCombat - (3D6, 2D6)

3D6 : (251) = 8

2D6 : (64) = 10

Roll Stress:, Machete - (1D6, 1D6)

1D6 : (6) = 6

1D6 : (1) = 1

Eva Cabello

Oct 31, 2024 9:56 am

Thwack, thwack, thwack…

A chorus of carnage breaks out not far from the supply store, with the sound of machete on wood, axe on bone and a pistol firing off through the trees.

A ways off, Eva and Selena look in the direction of Richard’s gunfire and then look at eachother!

Eva Cabello

"Go and get Martin!" the older sister tells the younger, before resuming her useless watch over the trees across the bridge!

…

OOC:

Poor time management on my part! More coming in an hour!

Oct 31, 2024 11:17 am

Three of the four of you stay together, working on freeing Shayna from the log! Richard, becoming all the more familiar with the gun in the last two days, keeps those walkers on the flanks away from Shayna and Owen!

Billie-Faye takes the fight to them, and finds herself in the midst of a snarling, snapping horde. The fire axe sweeps about in great, reaping arcs! If the felling of the small walker last night had given the woman a moment’s pause, there was no such pause today!

Stinking, wet bodies are ruined and the woman finds herself in the middle of a great ring of carnage. Of the fifty walkers that Owen had counted on the roof, most of them had ended up here!

Mounds of dead bodies littered the forest floor, and you have a moment to gather your breath!

OOC:

Want to search for any stuff on these things?

Oct 31, 2024 7:37 pm

As disgusting as the carnage was, Richard had learned to turn a blind eye to all of that. "There might be something, or some things of use on those filthy creatures. We should search the bodies."

Shoving the pistol into his waistband, he starts pushing bodies off the pile, looking for likely candidates that might be harboring some loot. As he claws his way through the mush, he can't help but think how brave some of them were, especially Billie. But Shayna had been brave too. And lucky.

Last edited October 31, 2024 7:39 pm

Nov 1, 2024 4:24 am

When it's done, Billie-Faye stands panting, painted in red. It's in her hair, it's under her fingernails, it's smeared all over her tattoos. It's in her navel and, as she'll later discover, the pockets of her jean shorts. She cuts a striking figure, looking like the winner of a wet t-shirt contest, back when those were a thing, and except with blood instead of water.

She says nothing as her hands tremble; it takes her a moment to get her breathing back under control. Adrenaline is a powerful thing, but after it fades she helps Richard look for whatever they might find of value -- car keys, a cell phone, a weapon, a protein bar, whatever.

"Everyone alright?" she asks the other three as she searches.

OOC:

Is one or more of us rolling Survival?

Nov 1, 2024 10:35 am

OOC:

Good question! One person could roll, with some helping dice from the others.

It’s basically a question of risking that stress dice. Messing up will probably result in one walker being downed but not killed by Billie Faye and getting a bite in unexpectedly!

Small chance of that happening, and you’d get your resist roll too.

Nov 2, 2024 7:17 am

OOC:

Not it! BF's Survival roll is pretty abysmal! She'll help, though.

Nov 2, 2024 7:30 am

OOC:

will give it a try! 6d6 total

Rolls

Survival - (2D6)

(66) = 12

WITS - (3D6)

(625) = 13

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(5) = 5

Nov 3, 2024 1:28 am

OOC:

If extra successes matter, Owen did get at least one more die from Billie…

Nov 4, 2024 9:27 am

OOC:

Incoming…

Rolls

1d6

(4) = 4

Secret Roll

Nov 4, 2024 9:39 am

Quiet descends on the forest, as you take that moment to gather yourself. Most of the walkers, it’s clear to see, are pretty beat up! Lots of these people had been bitten in the opening days of everything. Dried out skin, ragged clothes and broken limbs littered the floor all about the group.

Some… Some were newly turned. Owen takes the risk, and turns over some of the bodies. Owen sees a tell-tale green on one of the walkers. Turning the soldier-walker over, Owen sees that its jaw has been ruined by Billie Faye’s axe! Its helmet bobs loosely on its head! The thing had been dragging an assault rifle behind itself, which hadn’t been immediately spotted during the furious brawl that had broken out.

Was this walker from the crash site? Was this a sign of things to come?…

Another of the walkers lays tangled among the shrubs of the forest. Having been struck by Billie Faye, it fell and then was caught up by the straps of the backpack that it had been carrying in death. It’s heavy, Owen feels, as he tries to tug the thing free. With some pulling, he slips the thing off, and the walker falls to the floor with a thud. Inside, a whole bag full of canned goods.

The last walker that stands out to Owen is a police officer. This one is that terrible orange-brown color that signifies those that were the very first to turn, and then rot out in the hot sun for a year and change. His holster lays empty, but the metal of his handcuffs casts a reflective light on to the trunk of a nearby tree!

OOC:

Assault Rifle.
Four Rations of Canned Food.
Handcuffs.

Nov 4, 2024 11:32 am

Owen covers his mouth and nose pressing his forearm against them, and retrieves the items from the corpses with a wince.
He is quick to step away from the grim remains of the officer.

"Hey folks. Some useful things here..." he calls out, particularly eager to give the rifle to one of the others, still very jittery around deadly weapons.

Nov 4, 2024 3:16 pm

OOC:

Assuming her foot finally got freed...

Shayna nurses her ankle, rolling it a few times to make sure it's not injured. To be safe, she laces her hiking boots tighter for support.

She looks at the handcuffs, and then at Billie-Faye. She can't help but smile waiting for a raunchy comment. "That rifle, that is a find and a half, but the canned food is a treasure by itself. Good eyes, Owen."

Nov 5, 2024 2:35 am

"I'll take the handcuffs. You never know when they might come in handy."

For once, Richards seemingly one-track mind had taken a break. He felt that they might be useful and since the other items were claimed and he already had a weapon, the cuffs seemed like the obvious choice.

"Your ankle gonna be alright, Shayna? That was some scary nastiness. I can wrap it for you for some added support if you want?"

If anyone gives him the side-eye about the cuffs, he'll obliviously reply, "Whaaat?"

Nov 5, 2024 2:39 am

"Touch and go there for a hot minute," Billie says, having finally regained her breath, "but worth it. Shayna’s right — a nice haul, here."

She doesn’t voice it, but is glad to see the rifle. They’re going to need heavy weapons if the shitheads looking for them come hunting. Instead, she swings the cuffs around one finger and smiles at Richard, unknowingly obliging the other woman.

"Look, Dickie. Now whatevah might we do with these, ah wonder?"

OOC:

We have to divide the stuff up, yes? Does it each take a slot? Maybe less for the cuffs? BF will take the cuffs if that’s okay.

Nov 5, 2024 8:04 am

OOC:

Owen would only keep some of the food, share the rest. He particularly wants someone else to get the rifle!

Nov 5, 2024 7:18 pm

"Why Billie-Faye, aren't you the risque one? I thought I might have those for practical purposes, and please don't call me that. I've always been known as Richard but you may call me Rich if you'd like."

What was wrong with him? Here Billie-Faye was getting all flirty and all Richard could do was talk about practicalities and nicknames. Maybe his morality meter was kicking in. In any case, he held out his hand for the cuffs. If she wanted to hold onto them, he wouldn't argue.

Nov 6, 2024 10:00 am

OOC:

Slots:
Strength + 2.
So, Owen would have five slots, for example.

Rations:
Rations take half a slot, but you need to consume one ration a day when you’re outside of the Haven.

So this will cancel out eventually. Provided you’re outside for the majority of the day!

Handcuffs:
I could go either way. Small items don’t take a slot. Those are described as lighters or combs. Knives DO take a slot.

If you’re tight on space, then don’t worry about the slot for that!

Rifle:
2 Damage, +2 Bonus Dice, Long Range, 1 Slot.

Nov 6, 2024 10:21 am

OOC:

Will push us on soon! Eyes have been glued to the telly all day!

Nov 7, 2024 5:20 am

OOC:

My word, look everyone! KCC is enforcing inventory rules! Handing over the cuffs, grabbing the rations.

Billie-Faye rolls her eyes, presses the handcuffs into the man's hands and says, "Okay, Richard, whatever you want," as she grabs the canned food, puts it in her pack and heads off for the crash site.

Nov 7, 2024 11:54 am

The next hours are no where near as eventful as that first one proved to be! Whatever the reason, it seemed like the majority of the walkers in the woods had all bunched up together. Any stragglers you come across are easily dispatched by the four of you quite quickly.

You pass the day beneath those trees! More than once you have to stop and re-orient yourselves, so long have you been looking at the mix of brown and green! At least you avoid most of the day’s heat, as you walk beneath the canopy of the trees.

Inky blue is starting to seep into the sky once more, by the time you pull out the map and feel like you’re round abouts where the crash is marked out. That gloomy, evening haze begins to descend on the forest; the same haze which had your eyes and ears working overtime last night at the supply store.

You break into a clearing before night takes hold, and then you see it! The ruined remains of the crashed helicopter. There’s no dramatic billowing of smoke, or intense fire! Those may have petered out months ago, for all you know. No, this is just the twisted carnage of a downed machine in the distance.

The clearing itself is battered and bruised. The space between you and the helicopter is heavily pockmarked, as if the place had come under serious bombardment at one time or another. Or perhaps some army unit had dug foxholes to brace against the shuffling dead.

Light is fading rapidly…

OOC:

We can only travel one sector a day. Which means this will have to be an overnight stay! Camp now, or haul ass while you still have some light and worry about camp later?

Nov 7, 2024 4:31 pm

Looking at the darkeining sky with concern, Owen starts looking at signs to indicate whether or not this would be a safe place to camp for the night.
He tries to piece together an explanatory picture in his head, examining the copter for signs of gunfire suffered, then the foxholes to determine if they were caused by explosives, or dug out by sheer shovel action.
Was the copter shot down? Was it firing back from the sky, causing the craters? What happened here...

OOC:

is the copter in a state to provide shelter? ie accessible, large enough, flat enough, covered enough?

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(643) = 13

Scout - (2D6)

(44) = 8

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(4) = 4

Nov 7, 2024 5:18 pm

Shayna doesn't really know army tactics, but she has seen when resistors fire on full automatic against a horde. The ground reminds her of that, as if the helicopter was firing at the ground. But why would it crash, walkers don't really do more than swipe up. She imagines the scene. "I bet they were shooting the ground when one of them turned, and killed the others in the cockpit. I like that better than there being heavily armed groups waging war against each other."

Nov 8, 2024 6:23 am

OOC:

Just on the matter of camping:

Oh yeah, great idea!

You could probably cross the clearing and set up camp in the helicopter wreckage. Maybe drag some foliage across, etc, if you’re nervous! You’d have pretty good line of sight on stuff approaching too, when it’s light out at least!

Nov 8, 2024 6:44 am

Bille-Faye surveys the site of the helicopter crash from afar, and doesn't like what she sees. Was it a position, fortified by the military? They did see that one walker soldier.

"Maybe," she says to Shayna. "Hard to know."

The thing could simply have run out of fuel, or even crashed because the pilot didn't know what the fuck they were doing.

"Could be some lyin' in wait in them trenches and holes. Think it's worth tryin' for the chopper now? It's already gettin' dark. No other good cover out here, though. We need some place to bunk down."

OOC:

I did not know, or forgot, that we could only move the one sector in a day. Oi!

Nov 8, 2024 6:11 pm

Harrigan says:

OOC:

My word, look everyone! KCC is enforcing inventory rules! Handing over the cuffs, grabbing the rations.

Billie-Faye rolls her eyes, presses the handcuffs into the man's hands and says, "Okay, Richard, whatever you want," as she grabs the canned food, puts it in her pack and heads off for the crash site.

"Whatever I want, Billie Faye?" I'll bare that in mind," he says all red faced as he stashes them in his pack.

Later near the site...

"I dont like it. I'd prefer more light to fully check it out. Looks like it's been here awhile too so I doubt there's anything in it worth risking our lives over. Why not camp out under some trees that we can see around? Look at the chopper in the morning."

Nov 8, 2024 6:55 pm

OOC:

did Owen's Scout roll give any info @KCC ?

Nov 9, 2024 7:17 am

It’s hard to quite make out in the quickening gloom, but Owen does his best from a distance to try and piece a story together. Those fellas up in Fort Lamar had brought news of squabbles between units when it was a sure thing that everything had gone to shit. Maybe that had been what had happened here?

The foxholes, if that’s what they could be called, don’t seem uniform to Owen’s untrained eye! More explosive, than deliberately dug! Something heavy had pounded this place, leaving some holes that bit deeper and darker than others. Something had really given this place, and whoever was here, hell for a time.

The space between you and the helicopter is clear of walkers, you note, as Owen brings his binoculars up and inspects the twisted ruin of metal in the middle distance. It’s hard to guess at what brought it down. The young man sees what could be nicks and holes from arms fire, but it could be pure chance! The thing had flopped down hard on its belly, though the skeleton of it could provide a place to stay for a while! While not a comfortable nights sleep, it seems safe enough… Save for the body the young man spots trapped in one of the cockpit seats.

Nov 9, 2024 9:34 am

"Hey, there's a body in the cockpit," he says painting pointing and passing the binoculars around.

"I say we go and check. Could even be a walker who is trapped by seatbelts. Anyone with me? I'd rather not go alone... "

Last edited November 10, 2024 9:30 pm

Nov 9, 2024 10:49 pm

"Wait a sec. Let's see if we can make out any movement first." Richard strains his eyes on a fixed point inside the cockpit.

Nov 10, 2024 12:52 am

OOC:

I'm not feeling strongly one way or the other, where we camp -- so whatever everyone decides. There *will* be watches, though...

Last edited November 10, 2024 4:18 am

Nov 10, 2024 11:01 am

Richard doesn’t spot much movement, but he’s been around long enough to know that walkers sometimes lay dormant without a food source or stimuli to grab their attention!

Many a nasty surprise has been waiting in a dark corner on what was supposed to be a quick run for a group of survivors…

OOC:

You could try making some noise, if you wanted to check! Risky! Maybe go up and give him a wave?

Nov 10, 2024 3:02 pm

Richard is not convinced that the "pilot" is dead or that he isn't a walker. Rummaging around on the ground, if he can find a stone, he will fling it as close as he can to the where the "pilot" is located.

Nov 11, 2024 1:15 am

Shayna holds Richard's arm down lightly before she says her piece. "Maybe don't throw that. I'll go with Owen and get close without making much noise. When we are right on top of it, we'll poke it with a stick."

If he wants to throw the stone, she'll not stop him. She waits for his agreement.

Nov 11, 2024 2:39 am

"Yeah, yeah, alright. You two be careful, okay?" Richard stands up stoneless.

Nov 11, 2024 6:55 am

Billie-Faye nods as well, but she pulls out her pistol and seeks a stump or the like to brace it against in case she has to make a long-range shot.

"We'll cover you from here. Watch yourselves, like he says..."

Last edited November 11, 2024 6:56 am

Nov 11, 2024 7:21 am

Owen nods to Shayna and the others and starts heading slowly towards the helicopter with her. He casts a nervous glance at Billie and her gun.

They zigzag around the foxholes to approach the wreck. He readies his machete, blade ready to strike, but hoping he won't have to.

His eyes are on the figure in the seat, trying to catch the least motion.

Nov 11, 2024 11:21 am

Owen and Shayna creep forward, hoping that whatever caused these great holes came from above and not below! The last thing they needed was to be traversing a minefield at close of day.

Zigzagging through the foxholes, Shayna and Owen do notice the field littered with chunks of meat. Not very large pieces, and they had clearly been blown apart quite completely. However, every so often the duo come across a piece more recognizable than the rest: a scattering of fingers or a uniformed chunk of shoulder still decorated with the patch of whatever rank and unit the man had once belonged to.

Approaching the copter, you wince as a sudden moaning takes up. Muted through the broken glass somewhat, the moans come on and you watch as the downed pilot begins to thrash about in his seat! His belts hold him fast, though that does nothing to deter his grasping at you! You see no bites from this distance, and his head seems quite intact. Beneath the belts, you notice his ruined and bloodied torso, however!

Nov 11, 2024 1:54 pm

finally, the dots join in Owen's mind. OH. SHIT.

He stops in his tracks. "Shayna... I think we are walking on a minefield..."
He considers their predicament, glances back at the group back at the treeline. "DOn't follow us, I think the holes were made by mines blowing up! There's bits of bodies everywhere!" he warns them.

When the moans become audible, he reaches for the binoculars at this shortened distance, and looks through it again to observe the thrashing strapped-in pilot.

Nov 11, 2024 3:12 pm

"Shit! Why did he stop?"

Richard Scrambles for his pistol and strains his eyes again to see what he can of the others and the surrounding area and chopper.

Nov 11, 2024 4:41 pm

Cooper swears and jogs to the side of the rough ground after pocketing her gun. Crouching down, giving Kent a great view of the top half of her American Eagle tramp stamp, she looks hard for indications that mines were indeed planted, struggling in the fading sunlight.

Then, wondering if Richard needs to clean his ears out, she says, "Fuckin’ minefield, the kid just said! Goddamn it!"

OOC:

What’s here that looks like it needed protection? There’s no helipad or anything, right, the chopper crashed in a field? Are their structures / buildings nearby?

Nov 11, 2024 5:11 pm

Shayna has her spear. "I'll try and stab his head. I can reach farther than he can in those straps. Keep an eye out."

She'll move forward and try and jump and scramble through the holes, thinking those are already exploded.

Nov 11, 2024 7:25 pm

Harrigan says:

Then, wondering if Richard needs to clean his ears out, she says, "Fuckin’ minefield, the kid just said! Goddamn it!"

"Alright, alright. Keep your shirt on."

Or maybe not.

"You must have great ears to hear them over there. Fuck, though. What do we do now?"

Nov 11, 2024 10:20 pm

"We wait," Billie-Faye says, still looking for the signs of any planted explosives. "And we cross our fingers. Be ready to run if they set somethin’ off, Richard. That’ll draw fuckin’ walkers from all over."

Then, glancing up from her crouch, the dirty blonde sees Shayna approaching the moving pilot with her spear. "Shit! That one is still kickin’…"

Nov 12, 2024 8:15 am

"Wait, I'll come too. In case things go south."
Owen follows Shayna using the same foxholes she hops in.

At the copter, he looks around the wreck for other walkers other than the thrashing pilot. His hand tightens the machete handle until his knuckles go white...

Nov 12, 2024 12:13 pm

OOC:

Let’s get a Close Combat roll to dispatch this walker from Shayna.

1 stress is still on you from that horde! You also get 1 extra dice for Owen’s help!

OOC:

You can’t see any structures from where you are! That’s not to say for sure that there is or isn’t anything here!

Nov 12, 2024 5:17 pm

Shayna swears at herself, Stupid girl, this is stupid, then lunges the last three feet and stabs at the walker's head.

Rolls

STRENGTH, CloseCombat - (3D6, 2D6)

3D6 : (663) = 15

2D6 : (34) = 7

Stress - (1D6)

(4) = 4

Owen's help - (1D6)

(1) = 1

Nov 14, 2024 4:59 am

Constrained by its belt, the fallen pilot gnashes at the two survivors as they walk closer and closer to the downed helicopter. It pulls forward with all of the effort it can muster, and the two watch as the straps of the belt begin to slowly sink into the soggy, wet meat beneath!

By the time Owen and Shayna are pulling open the janky door of the bird, the straps are two inches or so sunken into the pilots abdomen. As it twists to lunge at you, you are flecked with gore! With one final push, it pushes itself through the belt with a wet, gloopy sound and then right onto the tip of Shayna’s waiting spear! It flops down instantly, the top half of the thing coming away from the bottom. Shayna lets the walker’s body slide to the floor, while Owen looks at the abandoned legs, still sitting in their place!

The grassy space is quiet then! Owen listens intently for walkers, but hears nothing!

Nov 14, 2024 5:03 am

Looking around the crash site, Owen and Shayna see ruined and twisted metal all over! Dried blood coats the inside of the vehicle, as if something burst inside violent and suddenly.

Strewn about the immediate area are a half a dozen or more smaller green crates! Some of them are blackened. One or two are destroyed completely but a great many of them seem to have weathered the crash and the seasons reasonably well.

Apart from that, Shayna and Owen notice great grooves cut into the ground. While it’s hard to say in the gloom, they don’t seem to have been made in the crash…

Nov 14, 2024 3:05 pm

After recovering from the horrifying spectacle of the undead pilot, Owen tries to focus on the details of their surroundings.

"What do you think, Shayna?" he asks, pointing at the boxes. "Weapons?... Chemicals?"
Then he turns to the vehicle, considering the blood splattered on the inside. "Hope whatever is inside those boxes didn't cause that mess..."

He kneels by one of the undamaged boxes, looking for any label that could help figure out the contents.

Nov 14, 2024 4:05 pm

She wipes the gore from her outfit. "I definitely think those are weapon cases, but maybe they're chemicals for research." She doesn't say what everyone hopes for, a vaccine against zombification. She knows deep inside that will never happen.

"Anybody in the crew know much about military operations? If not, we best grab these and make our way back."

Nov 14, 2024 4:10 pm

"Shit is right. I'm worried for them both. I don't suppose it's not a walker. Guess we will see."

Richard was gripping the pistol handle so tightly his hand was starting to go numb. He would worry and wait and keep an eye on the surroundings as well.

Nov 14, 2024 4:24 pm

Shayna says:

"Anybody in the crew know much about military operations? If not, we best grab these and make our way back."

"Don't think so... closest we have to a soldier is Billie-Faye..." he jests. "But yeah, let's get some of the boxes back. The minefield all around makes this place too risky to stay the night... shelter or not."

He then thinks of checking one of the destroyed green boxes, to catch a glimpse of what they might have looked like inside.

He also gingerly tries to lift one intact box by its metal handles, to test its weight.

OOC:

any labels? how heavy are they? and do the 'broken' boxes shed any lights on what's inside?

Nov 15, 2024 2:18 am

Shaking her head when she's unable to spot anything that would suggest, no question, mines were planted here, Billie-Faye stands and frets.

"Sure wish we had some radios. We need to find some for shit like this."

Shayna and Owen then go after the walker in the chopper... and Cooper released a held breath when they messily do the bastard in. When the pair discusses the cases they've found, which Billie can't see, she clicks her tongue impatiently.

"You married, Richard?" she asks idly, trying to make out what Shayna and Owen were doing. "You know, before."

Nov 15, 2024 2:55 am

The question startled Richard. Was he? He supposed he still was. Then his heart twisted inside when he thought of his kid.

"Yeah. Met her in college. We have a son, Ray. He would be around Owen's age if ...." He stared at the ground almost in disbelief. A sudden tear welled up in his eye and he was glad for the dim light. He wouldn't let Billie-Faye see him wipe away a tear. No way. He'd blink it away.

"You?"

Nov 15, 2024 4:18 am

"Yup," Billie responds, suddenly wishing she had a drink. Maybe a cigarette. "Four times. Twice to the same shithead."

Turning to look sidelong at Kant, a slight smirk on her face, the dirty blonde continues. "Girl don't learn, it seems. I ain't had the best luck with men, Richard. Turns out the ones good in bed can't keep their pricks in their pants."

If she sees the man's wet eyes, Billie-Faye does not let on. Instead, she just says, "World fuckin' sucks now, don't it?" Her eyes are back on Owen, on the older woman with him as they look at... cases or something. "We need to find comfort where we can, Richard."

Nov 15, 2024 1:22 pm

Owen lifts one of the boxes, and finds the thing quite heavy. He could maybe manage one by himself with some effort, but he doubted if some of the others could do the same. Not after a long day of hiking and fighting anyway…

Looking at the destroyed boxes, it seems that most of the bulk and weight was to make sure whatever was packed inside gets where it’s going in one piece. It had worked… mostly.

Squinting in the gloom, Owen tries to get an idea of what he held inside, without risking opening the thing! Who knows what could have broken open inside, waiting to leak out into the young man’s lungs…

Munitions.
Explosives.
Communications.
Medical.

Labelled in dry, military jargon, the young man gets a pretty good idea that they had stumbled upon a pretty sweet cache of military grade gear!

Wiping the gore from the tip of her spear, Shayna notices that deeper groove in the earth. Not cut from the thing crashing down, the woman sees instead what looks to be tracks. Something big… bigger than the cases Owen was handling maybe… had been dragged, or maybe pushed, from the crash site and away from the helicopter…

Nov 15, 2024 2:33 pm

Shayna carefully examined the copter then the groove, tracks she suspects. She follows them with her eyes. "This look like one of those bulldozers did this, dahling?" she drawls to Owen. "Sho' makes you wonder what sort of prize they took from here and left these cases. "

Hesitating to move because of the possible mines, she asks, "You see what those are? What's inside?"

Nov 15, 2024 4:58 pm

Owen shares with Shayna what he learned about the labels and the weight of the things.
"I think we'll need two people to comfortably carry one... and it would be good to open them to see what's worth carrying. Let's report back to the others, and decide with them..."

Leaving the boxes where they are, he tries to get back to the treeline and the rest of the group, by retracing their steps on the outward journey, using the foxholes, etc.

Once (IF!) he gets back there, he will inform the others of the treasure trove they found.
"It says Medical, Ammo, Comms, Explosives on the labels. They are heavy though, and will require two people to carry one. Shayna found some bulldozer tracks too... but I am not 100% sure the foxholes are not caused by mines... a little nervous around them.
What do you think?"

Nov 16, 2024 12:41 am

"Well I looked," Billie-Faye says, "and I didn't see no sign of mines. Now maybe they're planted good or whatever, but maybe we're safe if we just follow your trail in and out, right? Sound like you found the motherlode!"

Looking at Richard, she motions towards the helo with her head and starts walking. "C'mon. Let's help ourselves to that stuff..."

Nov 16, 2024 3:38 am

Before Owen and Shayna return...

Richard would have whistled at the number of times Billie-Faye had been married but that would have been a silly risk to take. And was he really surprised? She was a bit of a floozy. Maybe that's why he was attracted to her. When she mentioned comfort and finding it where we can, he faced her, took a stuttered breath ...

Then there was Shayna and Owen back among them, and Billie-Faye urging him to go with her and get the loot. "Yep. Watch your step."

Nov 17, 2024 9:14 am

"OK, follow me to the copter. Walk where I walk."

He retraces his steps once again, trying to convince himself spending the night at the copter might be safe. They won't be able to carry that loot anywhere, tonight.

"Hey Shayna, how's the party going - I got more guests here," he says once at the copter, attempting to lighten the mood.

Nov 17, 2024 4:04 pm

After checking the interior of the chopper, she tries to see if the doors work. She doesn't suspect they will, given the extensive damage, but if they did, it would be a pretty amazing hide out for some rest.

She waves at Owen as he returns with the others, grunting as she tries to force the doors.

Nov 17, 2024 11:59 pm

Walking carefully, picking her way forward by literally walking in Owen's tracks, Billie-Faye smiles at Shayna when their eyes meet. The blonde is genuinely happy the other woman didn't get eaten or blown to shit, and after slinging her pack and axe to the ground, immediately starting helping with the doors.

Nov 18, 2024 9:36 am

The doors squeal as Shayna tries to force it further open; open enough to comfortably climb inside. The sound jumps out of the gloom at you, and cuts across the clearing you stand in! Shayna manages to get the thing to budge only an inch at first. A year worth of gunk is suddenly unstucked, and then thing jerks open.

Blood paints the inside, and you can only imagine how brutal the carnage was in that final moment. Bloody bites and boxes being thrown around as the thing hurtled towards the ground.

If the door could be closed back up as it had been, it would surely provide a decent, if less than ideal place to camp out for the night.

As for the tracks: There is no indication of any vehicle having come through the space. No wheel marks! But there are deep grooves pushed into the hill, as if someone was exerting a lot of force to shunt something along!

OOC:

Sounds like maybe we are settling down for the night? Open some presents and cook some rations! Sleep in the helicopter and have a think on whether to follow the tracks or not in the morning?

Nov 18, 2024 5:57 pm

OOC:

How old does the track seem?

Nov 18, 2024 8:40 pm

Richard also followed, and in Billie-Faye's steps as best as he could see them. But man! No privacy if they spend the night in the cramped and filthy chopper. He really needed to be alone even for a few minutes of meditation or another sharing of feelings with Billie-Faye. She had sort of opened up to him a little. He had needed that. Missed that kind of connection that only a woman could provide.

"I got dibbs on a windows seat!" he whisper-shouted comically. Weren't they all window seats?

Nov 18, 2024 10:07 pm

With BF's help, and the door open, Shayna gags. The gore and blood everywhere seems like a sure way to get any number of illnesses, the most pressing of which is Walkeritis. "This isn't a great idea. Anyone bring a gallon of Mr. Clean? Or bleach?"

Nov 18, 2024 10:18 pm

OOC:

sounds like the gunk blocking the doors was a year old? So the gore also, could be old and dried? this seems the scene of ooold violence

Nov 19, 2024 3:23 am

Billie frowns at the scene inside the wrecked helo. "Uhgh. Fuckin’ gross. What are our options, though? We can’t just camp in the open…"

OOC:

Survival roll to find a better campsite, perhaps?

Last edited November 19, 2024 3:25 am

Nov 20, 2024 9:51 am

Harrigan says:

OOC:

How old does the track seem?

OOC:

Great question! All of this stuff seems pretty old! Old enough that some of the foxholes are being reclaimed by growth and the like. Same with the driven path through the dirt!

Definitely didn’t happen yesterday! Months, at least!

Nov 20, 2024 9:52 am

Harrigan says:

Billie frowns at the scene inside the wrecked helo. "Uhgh. Fuckin’ gross. What are our options, though? We can’t just camp in the open…"

OOC:

Survival roll to find a better campsite, perhaps?

OOC:

Yeah! That sounds like an idea! Sure!

Nov 21, 2024 7:25 am

OOC:

Not it. I have a total of 2d in that!

Nov 21, 2024 7:57 am

"Hmm... better find somewhere else, to spend the night..."

He looks up at the towering copter carcass, that reaches quite high even in its crunched, wrecked state. Looking for handholds he climbs up at the top, finds a flat surface to stand safely and starts scanning all around at 360 degrees through his binoculars.

OOC:

6d6 here? but... stressful

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(656) = 17

Scout - (2D6)

(34) = 7

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(4) = 4

Nov 21, 2024 1:12 pm

OOC:

Been struggling to be productive on all fronts! I’ve been sorting schools back home for my kids next year, getting middle names added to their names, interviewing for work here in Korea and trying to get through the days! :D

Post incoming soon!

Nov 21, 2024 1:22 pm

OOC:

take it easy KCC! not a simple thing you are tackling, there... a lot of moving parts

Nov 21, 2024 5:28 pm

OOC:

What he said.

Nov 22, 2024 5:49 am

OOC:

Yep, no hurry, man! Also, I think Owen just found a fully stocked RV in good working order!

Nov 22, 2024 3:41 pm

OOC:

Take care of yourself first, we're patient folks and will jump back in when you've got firm footing.

Nov 23, 2024 2:10 am

While the thing was alive, Owen would have been diced in a second had he ever tried to put a foot to a helicopter’s blade.

Now, he tentatively climbs up the ruined bird! He balances himself where the four blades meet, carefully stepping and stepping again as he scans the area 360 to try and spot a place to bed down for the night! Preferably one that doesn’t stink of burst humans!

The haze is really taking hold now, but Owen squints against the low resolution of the trees. He thinks he sees a cabin a ways off and in the opposite direction of the drag marks the group had spotted by the helicopter. The cabin seems to appear and disappear in the gloom, and the young man has to focus hard to keep the thing in sight!

You set off, keen to be out of the open and secure before nightfall. Owen goes about the hard work of keeping the path straight and the group aimed directly at the small cabin! The boxes, if you chose to carry some, make the last journey of the day an arduous one!

You arrive, and Owen was right! A small cabin, in an almost equally as small clearing! Before you meet the place properly, you’re greeted with a gruesome, bloated and sorry sight. A corpse hangs from a tree on the approach to the cabin. You can’t help but notice that all of the meat on the body’s feet and lower legs has been chewed clean by walkers that must have passed this way at some point. Two bony feet, slick with dark red gore, and eight skeletal digits must be passed to get to the front door of your night’s shelter!

Painted across the front of the place are the words:

Everything is FUCKED!!

Nov 23, 2024 4:58 am

Dropping one of the boxes she’s been helping to lug, Billie-Faye grimaces at the sight of the meat piñata and the scrawled red words on the cabin. "Might not be any better here than inside that chopper," she says to Shayna quietly, but then her axe is out and she’s exploring, checking on the building. Looking for signs of walkers or other survivors, ways in, all that…

Nov 23, 2024 6:00 am

Whoever this man was, he had closed the door fast behind him as he left to go do the grisly business you see before you!

The inside of the cabin is dark, and quiet. You don’t hear anything moving about behind the front door of the wooden structure!

Nov 23, 2024 3:29 pm

OOC:

Wait, what grisly business and what man? The hanging / half-eaten man?

Nov 23, 2024 5:27 pm

OOC:

I think the grisly business is the suicide by hanging. The man closed the door , wrote the painted words, and hung himself

Nov 23, 2024 6:02 pm

None too keen on spending time in the cramped, disgusting confines of the chopper, Richard was glad that the plans had changed and thankful that Owen had good vision. Greeted by the hideous site at the cabin, he reiterated Billy-Faye's reaction.

"Uch! Yeah. Could be just as bad in there." Chuckling at the sentence painted across the cabin, he hisses, "Ya think? We've been fucked from the get-go. What's new. I'm going in, folks. No point guessing what's inside."

Pistol in hand, Richard approaches the door and pries it open slowly with a worn boot. He is almost disappointed when nothing jumps out at him.

"Seems ok," he shouts to the others, "but I can't see. Someone bring a light."

Nov 23, 2024 6:10 pm

Shayna expected that this cabin was not going to be some grand hotel filled with creature comforts or even safety. She goes along with it because giving up is no way to live. The Walker pinata is a gruesome reminder that there is no relief from nightmare. She lowers the case she's been dragging, and wipes sweat from her brow.

"Knock on the door, see if anyone answers. Especially the moaning and scratching kind. "

Shayna watches Richard open the door anyway.

Last edited November 23, 2024 7:11 pm

Nov 23, 2024 8:31 pm

Dr_B says:

OOC:

I think the grisly business is the suicide by hanging. The man closed the door , wrote the painted words, and hung himself

OOC:

Ah, I didn't want to presume the hanging dude was the occupant. Also, I think was tired.

Holding fire on posting until we see if Richard just got eaten or not...

Nov 25, 2024 9:30 am

Richard bravely pulls open the door and the thing groans terribly in the evening quiet. Now wouldn’t be the best time to tangle with some walkers, given the low light, but it wasn’t like it would be much better any later in the day either!

Shining a light into the cabin, you notice disturbed dust flittering on the air. Dust is the only thing that moves inside the wooden structure! No walkers come bursting out like they had last night. No hidden survivors ready to put a blade in your ribs for a can of beans…

The place is small, functional and more than a little stale. Stale air, dust and wood smell billows out of the open door, making Richard’s nose tickle.

Nov 25, 2024 3:52 pm

"Coast is clear guys. Dusty but clear." Richard stifles a sneeze and steps further into the cabin.

Nov 25, 2024 5:42 pm

"Jackpot," Cooper says, smiling for the first time in hours as they find what appears to be a safe place the spend the night. Lugging one of the green cases into the building, she sets it down and goes exploring, making sure the place is as empty as it seems…

OOC:

Seeing if there’s a back door (lock or seal it if so), a basement, closets, etc. Not necessarily trying to scavenge, just some color towards making sure the place is actually secure. If we need to block windows or doors, do that. Then get down to the business of resting, eating, checking out these green cases.

Nov 25, 2024 6:57 pm

Shayna feels the draw of shelter, but keeps her eyes as best she can on the surrounding woods. If those fools are going to crowd around the doorway oohing and ahhing like a bunch of children at Christmas, well at least one of them should keep some sense in her brain.

"I'll keep watch, you all take your time to make sure that's good and empty."

Nov 25, 2024 10:22 pm

he follows the others inside, relieved for a moment of respite. He drops one of the heavy boxes in a corner, and sits on it with his back against the wall.
He exhales, out of breath. "I'm so tired, I'd houseshare with a walker... hey, maybe it's a nice, welcoming one."

Nov 26, 2024 12:25 am

"My God Owen, bite your tongue. You know what they say. Be careful what you wish for."

Richard takes a "seat" next to Owen, sliding his back down the wall rather than sitting down the normal way. He too is exhausted.

"That was probably dumb. I could have gotten a splinter. Heh." He wondered if one of the girls would fish it out if he actually had a piece of wood stuck in his back.

Last edited November 26, 2024 12:26 am

Nov 26, 2024 6:55 am

Satisfied the place is free of walkers and other hostiles, Billie-Faye comes back to the room where Owen and Richard have plunked down. Tired, grimacing, she unshoulders her own pack and drops it to the floor before leaning her axe against the wall and telling Shayna she's confirmed the all-clear. The dirty blonde then sinks down to the floor between the two boys... but her eyes land on one of the heavy green cases before she settles in.

Moving forward onto all fours, Billie's short denim cut-offs and thong give Owen and Richard a bit of a show as she crawls towards the case with the intention of opening it.

OOC:

Let's see what's in this bad boy...

Nov 26, 2024 11:55 am

An artist’s imagining of day-time…

Nov 26, 2024 12:10 pm

Whatever about that nasty business on the river, it was increasingly hard to deny that the group had been having a string of good luck since departing their summer spot on the river bank.

The supply store had been a hard fought thing, but the work of previous survivors had made it a matter of time before the walkers could no longer reach across the barricade.

The map, and the helicopter site had been further boons. The walkers in the forest might have spelt death for another group, but you found yourselves among hardy folk willing to wreak bloody havoc in the woods under a hot sun.

Your minds wander to the supply store now. There could be little doubt that the most capable of the group were here hiding out in this forest cabin. Not to mention the bounty you had carried from the wreckage, and more again ready to be retrieved in the late night or the following morning.

Once again, you reap the benefits of those that came before. The high ceiling’d cabin had been locked up tight by the man on the rope outside. While walkers, should they be so determined, could smash through the wood placed across the windows, they would surely meet stiff resistance.

A cupboard of stinking, stale shirts and jeans fills one corner. A bed fills the other. A small sink, and a place to prepare simple food is also taking up space within the cabin. A few cans of food were left neatly stacked on the table. The man had died from something other than hopelessness over his food situation. There’s a place to light a fire against one wall, and so make a meal of beans and canned meat.

Billie Faye slinks her way across the room, digging her knees into wood, and then a dusty rug that was dusty even before the end of days… She prowls towards the two cases you had been able to carry.

OOC:

What did you think might be important to bring first?

Medical (2), Ammo (2), Comms (1), Explosives (1).

Nov 26, 2024 4:07 pm

OOC:

My vote is for one medical and one comms.

Nov 26, 2024 7:31 pm

OOC:

I'll second BF's choices.

Nov 26, 2024 8:02 pm

OOC:

I'll third.

"Oh my good Lord," Richard whispers, probably louder than he intends as Owen can surely hear him exclaim. Yet he can't take his eyes off the wonderful sight of Billie-Faye's marvelous derriere. Against all odds, he somehow manages to stop himself from outright leering.

Nov 26, 2024 11:20 pm

OOC:

yep, Owen's had enough weapons and explosives (or remains thereof) for one day! Agree on the box choices

Nov 28, 2024 1:57 pm

Having been stuck in the dirt and muck for god-knows-how-long, the first crate takes a little persuading before Billie Faye can finally find some purchase and pry the thing open!

It pops with a satisfying thunk, and whatever is inside tastes fresh air for the first time since it had been packed up in some military base in some far flung corner of the nation.

Did the place remain?… Were there any staff or soldiers still working on clawing back the world from the dead?…

Billie Faye lifts the lid, and unveils the contents of the box marked ‘Communications’. Inside, she finds six, identical but rather plain looking walkie talkies set securely into foam meant to keep them safe in cases such as the one you found them in.

One button is bright orange, and another is bright blue. On the side, theres a red button, but besides from that the things seem simple, dry and in good working order!

Enough to keep this group in contact with each other while out in the field, and also someone back at base! Lifting out the foam protection, you find enough replacement batteries held beneath to keep the things working for a good long while!

Nov 28, 2024 2:01 pm

Having mastered the grip needed when she opened the first box, Billie Faye pops the second one like a pro. It unlatches easily, as the woman applies the correct pressure, and then lifts off the lid.

A gentle tinkle rings out from inside, as the contents are moved about. Glass on glass. Placing the lid on the ground nearby, Billie Faye opens the case up for everyone to peer inside. A whole medley of medical supplies are held within. Bandages, gauze, syringes and a disposal box for sharp objects. Glass vials of… something are packed four high.

It was enough to keep a small army marching for a while at least. Healthy and happy soldiers tended to do better out in the field.

OOC:

Let’s call it Walkie Talkies with batteries. And Basic Medical Gear.

So far…

Nov 29, 2024 4:09 am

Shayna is immediately drawn to the medical trove. "This is a wonderful find. Some of these drugs I haven't seen since ... well, since the last day the world was normal. We'll need a better way to haul this back to the others, maybe one of those Indian sleds that are just two sticks?"

Nov 29, 2024 5:38 am

Once the goods are revealed and Shayna's come forward to better inspect the medical supplies, Bille-Faye grins and sits herself down on her butt so she can pull out one of the hand-helds and look it over.

"Serious find, this shit is gold," she says, mimicking talking into the handset. "Lots of batteries, too."

When the other woman wonders about bringing it all back to base -- to say nothing of the other cases at the helicopter crash -- Cooper purses her lips briefly, squinting one eye as she thinks.

"We can either hide the shit until we have a vehicle we can load it into... or we can huck at least these here two boxes back. Might be good to do that, put these radios to use right away." At the mention of a sled, she nods. "Yeah, like a litter or whatever. One person could probably drag one of these boxes by themselves that way..."

Nov 29, 2024 6:43 pm

Hope lights up Richard's eyes. This was quite the score, and they still had more treasure to open.

"I say we do both, Billie Faye. Use a travois or two to drag what we deem necessary, bury or hide the rest, but first we need to see what the rest actually is."

More good luck ... I wonder when it will end.

"Might be nice to wash the clothes back at the cabin too," Richard adds. "Our clothing doesn't have limitless uses." Turning to Billy Faye, he puts out a hand for a walkie-talkie. "Let's divvy these up now."

Nov 30, 2024 7:10 am

"A travwhat?" Billie says as she adds batteries to each of the handhelds, setting aside one each for Shayna and for Owen. The blonde then then gets up and crosses the floor to where Richard is sitting. Holding out a radio, she smirks when the man talks about washing clothes.

"What's the matter, Richard, don't like bein' dirty?"

OOC:

Angling for Stress relief here eventually... ;)

Nov 30, 2024 4:06 pm

Shayna stares at the device and susses out where the power is. She hears static and knows enough to press to talk from some old tv show. "Breaker Two Four go for rabbit. Over." She then let's go the talk button. "Like football plays, sugah, right?"

Turning it off, she looks at the medical supplies again, sifting through it and cataloging the new ailments she can treat.

Nov 30, 2024 9:38 pm

"Shhh," Richard hisses. "You'll wake the dead!" he says to Shayna deliberately bland faced as he thinks up a lewd response for Billie Faye's comment.

"I like acting dirty. I don't like being dirty, Billie Faye.

Last edited November 30, 2024 9:39 pm

Nov 30, 2024 10:45 pm

"Eugh. Get a room, you two," he tells Richard and BF. He yawns and grabs one of the walkie talkies the woman prepped.

Standing up from where he was sitting, he looks around the place for a spot to get some shut-eye. Preferably on something resembling a mattress or a mat. "Wake me up when the zombie apocalypse is over."

Dec 1, 2024 5:33 am

Billie grins a little at Kant, then a lot at the disgusted teenager. "Now Owen," she begins, "We're just messin' around. It's natural for a man and a woman to do that. Especially when the world's gone to shit, right? Hell, gotta have somethin' to look forward to."

When Peterson goes to search for a place to bunk down, the tattooed blonde sits down next to Richard and says to the other two adults, quieter, "That kid needs to get his rocks off. Loosen him up a little." Then her eyebrows raise as she considers something. "I can try and set him up with one of them new girls, but... he's not gay is he? Kinda keeps to himself on that shit."

Dec 1, 2024 5:10 pm

Shayna is startled at first but then chuckles. It's one of the things she likes best about Billie-Faye, how she's brave enough to just say what she's thinking.

"A girl his age would be best. There's a kind of psychological difficulty if he falls for an older woman. A Mrs. Robinson effect, you know?"

Dec 2, 2024 8:12 am

OOC:

Stress relief makes total sense!

And maybe Selena Cabello, our rescued NPC would be a nice gal for our friend Owen!

Like what I’m reading! Just let me know when you want to bed down for the night!

Dec 3, 2024 6:10 am

Billie nods, then says, "I think the cute one, Selena? I think she's about his age. Would be good for him. Rock his dark little fuckin' world. Make Tracy jealous as shit, too. That little fucker's a long way away from havin' a girl let him climb all over her."

OOC:

Reducing Stress! And actually, it looks like (p70) this 'social interaction' should perhaps lower -all- of our stress by 1. But also that Billie hasn't really spent 'quality time' with her anchor, Richard. They'd probably need a separate scene or the like for her to tag removing a second point of stress. At least that's my read.

And so, sleeping arrangements -- sounds like the cabin is either one big room or just a couple of rooms, is that right? Is there a bed or furniture to bed down on? Or are we all hitting the floor? Are we setting a watch, peeps?

Dec 4, 2024 1:52 am

"Look at us arranging their lives like matchmakers. Next you'll have us throw a cotillion and give them proper coming outs!" She laughs with a deep belly chuckle, imagining trying to introduce young folks to this Walker-era society. "We can string that fellers intestines around the clearing like tinsel."

Dec 4, 2024 7:03 am

Unaware of the matchmaking (and gruesome decorating!) plans happening in the background, Owen succombs to a deep slumber, after a tough day.

He however keeps the machete at the ready next to his improvised bed...

OOC:

would have thought locking us inside should be enough, without watches?

Dec 4, 2024 1:05 pm

OOC:

Quality time could be as simple as slipping out for a chat during the night as you keep watch.

Although, I think you could probably brute force it based on pure time! That could be ranging from when you two were alone before the helicopter too!

Windy might be better suited to talk dimensions. I imagine these places are a kind of an all in one kind of deal. Bed, wardrobe, table, etc all in one space! A musty old bed in the corner maybe after all this time! Not enough for four, and Owen’s already conked out!

Dec 4, 2024 7:24 pm

Getting up, Billie-Faye stretches for Richard’s benefit, then kneels at her backpack and takes out a blanket. "That’s fuckin’ disgustin’," she says to Shayna as she quietly goes to where Owen has bedded down. Covering the already-out-cold boy with the blanket, she returns to Richard’s side and sits back down. Her boots come off next to give her sore feet a break, then the tattooed woman leans against the man for warmth.

"Maybe one of us should keep an eye open tonight," she says quietly after a few minutes, half into the man’s sleeve as her eyes droop. "I’ll take second watch. Wake me when it’s time…"

Dec 4, 2024 9:14 pm

Richard was about to offer a foot massage, but Billie-Faye fell out like a light. Her warm body nestled against his, her head snuggled on his arm, it all felt so nice, and reminiscent of a time sadly gone forever. His fingers twitched with an innocent desire to stroke her hair.

Just this once.

With a quick glance at the others, his hand runs through her blonde hair. Even in its current less than clean state, the tactile experience is pleasing and something every human desires, needs. His knuckles lightly graze her cheek. Then reluctantly he leans back and sighs.

OOC:

One room cabin about 500 square feet maybe? That's what hunting cabins often are. Primitive.

Last edited December 4, 2024 9:15 pm

Dec 5, 2024 12:13 am

Shayna will stay up for first watch, letting Owen have a few hours before she wakes him.

Dec 5, 2024 1:12 am

OOC:

The stroke that was worth -1 Stress, AMIRIGHT?!

Dec 5, 2024 8:47 am

OOC:

😅 and we mustn't underestimate the regenerative power of sleep, on impressionable young minds like Owen's, AMIRIGHT??

Dec 5, 2024 11:41 am

You nestle down for the night, trusting that the remoteness of cabin is your best defense. The supplies at the chopper hadn’t been found this far into things. Surely that luck would hold for one more night…

Remoteness, and Shayna’s keen eyes and ears! Shayna watched over the group as they drifted off to sleep after a taxing day. The group, and the bounty that they had dragged from the fallen bird.

Would you have to march the whole group out here to get the rest? Martin and Vinh could manage one between them. Tracy may insist on carrying one alone, while the two newcomers…

How were they tonight? Were they watching the trees even now? Were they waiting for the group to break back across the bridge?

A wolf howls in the distance, and then several other howls break out in unison to answer the first. Would they draw walkers towards or away from where you were?

Rolls

Secret Roll

Dec 5, 2024 11:44 am

OOC:

How exactly is Shayna keeping watch? Is she milling around outside? Is she sitting by the window and watching? Is she slouched against the wall and fighting sleep while listening out?

Dec 5, 2024 2:57 pm

Nights are the worst. Her twin sister Lena is out there somewhere, and every day the worry gnaws at her like a ... no, don't think of those things. Her active mind is full of images of all kinds of terrors that face her twin. While they never had that finishing-each-others-sentences twin thing, they were inseparable, a dynamic duo with shared passions. They graduated from medical school together and dreamed of their own practice one day. Of course, the world had other plans.

This night, those same worries come back. She leans against the door, listening for awhile then standing and stretching with a kind of pilates that really works better with someone helping you. She tries to make no noise at all, focusing on listening to the night outside.

Rolls

WITS - (3D6)

(332) = 8

Scout - (0D6)

(0) = 0

Dec 5, 2024 6:13 pm

His head droops and eventually finds a berth against Billie Faye's. It's as close to normal as he's been lately, and in that cozy circle of contentment, he falls into a deep sleep, a slight smile creasing his lips.

Dec 7, 2024 1:19 am

Shayna fights exhaustion, and props herself up against the door to keep an ear on the outside. Though physically present, her mind is miles away; on her sister and the refugee camp she hoped to visit tomorrow or soon after. The refugee camp that Martin had slipped away to investigate not long after Shayna’s own group had rushed into the trees and fought the walkers.

Besides the howling of wolves earlier, Shayna doesn’t hear a sound as the hours of her watch slip by.

She doesn’t hear the sounds of someone trodding towards the cabin. She doesn’t hear the sounds of someone circling the cabin in the dead of night. She doesn’t see a grisly and half demented face pressed against the glass, the breath of which fogs up the glass as whoever is without takes the tally of who is within.

She doesn’t hear the dark man outside’s hurried and repeated whispers:

"Give it back! Give it back! Open up! Let us in! Give it back!"
What Shayna’s does hear, a moment too late, is the sound of a shotgun be prepped to fire.

chhk-chhk…
And then the exploding sound of gunshot ripping through the cabin’s door, only a few inches from where Shayna had set her head! A second later - a thunk, and a hiss as something heavy is tossed into the blasted hole.

hissss…
Smoke quickly starts to fill the small cabin as it escapes from the metal canister rolling into the center of the room!

Dec 7, 2024 9:23 am

Owen bolts upright at the shotgun blast! Confused he looks around the cabin, sees the smoke filling the room, and the canister.
Shit shit shit!

He tries to think fast. Whoever threw this is waiting outside the door to shoot us one by one. So that's a no.

I need to delay the smoke filling the room, buy some time

He scampers on all fours and looks around desperately. His frantic gaze stops on the heavy box that contained the walkie talkies, left open in a corner by Billie Faye.

it'll have to do for now! he thinks, then pulls his hoodie up so his mouth and nose are a little covered, and bolts.

He rushes to the smoking canister and grabs it, trying to keep it away at arm's length from him.

OOC:

he will try to get the canister in the box and shut the lid! Trying for speed, before the smoke fills up too large an area. Leaving a Mobility roll

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (43224) = 15

2D6 : (32) = 5

Roll Stress: - (1D6)

(2) = 2

Dec 7, 2024 1:57 pm

Shayna rolls to the side, her hand grasping blindly for her spear. A spear is no answer to a gun!

She thinks about calling to wake the others but instead readies the spear. When the others are mobile she is ready to be opening the door and charging out of the smoke filled cabin.

Dec 7, 2024 3:25 pm

Jolted from his wonderful dream, was it a dream? Richard's mind registers for a millisecond that it was no dream. The blonde was leaning against him. But no time to do anything but bolt upright to his feet, yank Billie Faye by whatever piece of clothing he can grab, while he fumbles for his gun, as he coughs and hacks. Shoving his arm in front of his face as a makeshift mask from the fumes, he assesses the situation.

Dec 8, 2024 12:02 am

Billie-Faye, like many so survivors by now, has learned to sleep lightly. One eye open, hand on her gun or axe, shoes on, bag packed.

But tonight she's let her guard down a little. Having four good walls does that, and it's been too long since she's been with a man. That itch was becoming unbearable, and she did all the subtle, seductive things as she and Richard leaned against one another. Strands of hair hanging fetchingly in front of her face. Legs tangled up with his. A full breast pressed firmly against the man's upper arm, her hand on his thigh, her thumb rubbing--

The blast and then spouting smoke is jarring, shocking -- terrifying. Owen is scrambling across the floor, Shayna, near the front door, is rolling towards her weapon. Someone is right outside! Then Kant is getting up and dragging Billie with him, but she fights him, wanting to remain on the floor. She frantically pulls out her firearm, then aims it at the door, planting her bare feet on the ground and her shoulders against the cabin wall, trying to stabilize her aim and make herself a small target.

"What the fuck!?" she finally manages as she flicks the safety on her weapon off...

Dec 8, 2024 10:59 am

Owen clambers for the thing; hoping to get it into the box, and so cut off the billowing of smoke that was currently filling the small cabin, making it hard to see!

Owen touches the thing, and his hand erupts with hot, hot pain! He drops it no sooner than he had grabbed it, and nurses a nice little burn on his hand for the attempt!

Smoke comes on and on. Your eyes start to sting, and you can’t help but breathe in the stuff! You cough and hack not a moment after the thing had been thrown through the hole blown into the door!

Weapons are drawn, and Shayna is rushing for the door! Opening it does allow for some of the smoke to rush outside, but more is erupting out of the canister every second!

OOC:

One sec!

Dec 8, 2024 11:04 am

Shayna rushes out into the pitch black, spear in hand! A face had been pressed up to the glass a moment before, but now… Shayna couldn’t see whoever it had been.

As she rubs the smoke and sleep out of her eyes, a shot explodes from behind a tree!

OOC:

Shayna got hit for 2 Damage! That could have been much, much worse! Describe how you get hit! This is stressful! Everyone take 1 stress!

Rolls

Close Combat - (4d6)

(5555) = 20

Shotgun - (3d6)

(614) = 11

Dec 8, 2024 3:37 pm

"Goddammit!!" he shouts, letting go of the hot canister. He starts coughing, eyes stinging in proximity of the bellowing smoke.

At the second loud gunshot, he gets up and runs towards the boarded windows on the opposite side from the door (and the shooter), checking to see if he can force it open to escape from there.

OOC:

trying to find a back exit!

Dec 8, 2024 8:49 pm

Shayna feels the bullet smack into her forehead and immediately goes down, rolling to the side in some kind of reflex. I'm alive! she wonders briefly her vision clouded by blood. A graze then. Lucky! She scrambles for the woods and cover.

Dec 9, 2024 3:45 am

Richard can't decide. Shayna has surely run to her death, while Owen is badly burned and looking for another way out. Then he hears the gunshot.

"Shit!" Pistol in hand, Richard charges after Shayna, stopping at the side of the doorway and peaking out through the smoke while continuing to hold his arm across his nose and mouth.

"Fuck, She's down!" Poking his face out, Richard tries to gulp cleaner air as he glances outside, then sees Shayna scurry away into the woods and decides to go after her, darting behind bushes and trees, wherever he can avoid getting slammed by a bullet.

Dec 9, 2024 6:21 am

Perhaps the last to really come to and understand what was happening, Billie has her pistol leveled at the front door as Owen yelps in pain, then Shayna is charging outside. There's a shotgun blast from outside and then Richard is using the door frame for cover, so Billie-Faye lowers her weapon and gets up.

Looking for another way out, she sees that Owen has the same idea. Wordlessly, she joins him, trying to break out the back exit, shove the boards off a window -- whatever it takes.

OOC:

Is this a movement action? Helping Owen. Let us know what to roll.

Dec 9, 2024 9:36 am

OOC:

Shayna taking cover, I think! Everyone else moving, looks like!

My part coming later tonight!

Dec 9, 2024 2:49 pm

OOC:

Richard is doing the same as Shayna, right on her heels, so cover for him too I was thinking.

Dec 9, 2024 10:32 pm

OOC:

Okay! Everyone can roll mobility!

Richard and Shayna: If you succeed, then you’re in cover and much harder to hit.

Owen and Billie-Faye: If you succeed, then you’ll break out the back window and be further away from whoever!

He’ll shoot again after Richard and Shayna but before Owen and BF!

Dec 9, 2024 10:48 pm

OOC:

Here goes...

OOC:

Stress die for some of the win.

Last edited December 9, 2024 11:31 pm

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (3D6, 0D6)

3D6 : (443) = 11

0D6 : (0) = 0

Stress - (1d6)

(5) = 5

Dec 9, 2024 11:44 pm

OOC:

move Owen. MOVE!

OOC:

can't believe this

Last edited December 9, 2024 11:44 pm

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (22444) = 16

2D6 : (25) = 7

Roll Stress: - (2D6)

(25) = 7

Dec 10, 2024 1:20 am

OOC:

Shayna isn't that mobile... what is this MASH?

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (3D6, 0D6)

3D6 : (551) = 11

0D6 : (0) = 0

Stress - (1d6)

(1) = 1

Dec 10, 2024 5:43 am

OOC:

Remember you can take stress and Push, people!

Billie got one success. Did she need two? Yep, two, confirmed in Discord by THE BASTARD.

Also forgot KCC just gave us all one stress for being shot at, so rolling that…

Edit: HAH!

Last edited December 10, 2024 6:46 am

Rolls

Agility 4 + Mobility 2 - (4d6, 2d6)

4d6 : (5162) = 14

2d6 : (44) = 8

Stress Die - (1d6)

(6) = 6

Dec 10, 2024 7:25 am

OOC:

Owen takes 1 stress (his 3rd!) and pushes the roll

OOC:

not quite, and a 1 on stress!

Last edited December 10, 2024 7:27 am

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (41611) = 13

2D6 : (11) = 2

Roll Stress: - (3D6)

(251) = 8

Dec 10, 2024 9:40 am

Owen, desperate to be out of the smoke and away from the shooting, runs to a boarded up window!

It’s dark, and hard to see much of anything inside. His eyes sting, and his hand throbs. He yanks at the boards with his wounded paw! Nothing! He can’t seem to find any purchase on the damned thing!

Frantic, he rips at the wood with abandon, and snags his hand on a nail that had been punched through at a poor angle! In his urgency to get out, he cuts a nasty gash into his palm on the nail, and starts to feel blood drip, drip, drip down his wrist.

1 Damage to Owen!

Billie Faye has much better luck at her window! She manages to slip her axe between the window frame and the board and use it as a crowbar of sorts! It groans, and then springs off the window with some force! It clatters to the ground loudly, but this only drives Billie Faye on to get the rest of the boards off and open the window.

It’s the work of a moment, and then the boards are strewn all over the floor, and Billie Faye is throwing open the windows. She clambers out, taking in great mouthfuls of the night air…

Dec 10, 2024 3:56 pm

OOC:

Richard's PUSHING it!

OOC:

Ugh and he has 3 stress now.

Last edited December 10, 2024 3:56 pm

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (3D6, 0D6)

3D6 : (344) = 11

0D6 : (0) = 0

Stress - (3d6)

(215) = 8

Dec 10, 2024 11:55 pm

OOC:

Shayna can't push due to the 1 (the Walker) on the Stress die.

Dec 11, 2024 10:57 am

Richard races out into the dark, trying to find Shayna in the dirt and see how bad she’s hit! As he rushes out, he thinks he sees movement off to his right, startling him!

His feet go out from underneath as he tumbles over Shayna as she lays in the brush. Her face is painted with blood, and she winces as Richard drives his boot into her on the way down!

Richard hits the ground with a hard whack! His gun goes off in his hand from the impact, and he grazes himself up through the meat of his shoulder! The hot wound stings immediately in the cold night air. He feels, but does not see the blood start to seep from the wound into his clothes!

1 Damage to Richard!

The Man Outside

Dec 11, 2024 11:00 am

The Man Outside

Drawn by the movement out the front door, and the sudden sound of Richard’s gunshot, a voice calls out in the night!

"It’s not personal! One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four!"

The voice is wet, threatening and coming out of the night! It’s followed by the thunder of another shot in Richard and Shayna’s direction!

Rolls

Shooting! - (4d6, 3d6)

4d6 : (4113) = 9

3d6 : (341) = 8

Dec 11, 2024 11:02 am

The shot sends earth and leaves blasting into the sky only a foot or so from where Richard and Shayna are huddled together on the ground. Both survivors ache from their gunshot wounds, but they have a pretty good bead on where this son of a bitch is!

Out of the dark, in response to the gunshots, come the moaning sounds of walkers. It’s impossible to tell how many, nor how far! The sound carries on the air, and you surely wish for nothing than to be back indoors!

Dec 11, 2024 11:15 am

Owen winces in pain among bouts of coughing. Both his hands are now in pain ! Dammit I need to be more careful!

As gunshot resonates at the front, he spots Billie-Faye managing to exit at the corner of his eye and he hobbles to her same window. He jumps out from the gap she created, coughing in the smoke.

Dec 11, 2024 4:11 pm

"Wha ...Gah!" Hot pain ripped through Richard's shoulder as he tripped over Shayna who lay bloodied in the dirt. His legs had slipped out beneath him, kicking Shayna in the gut on the way to the ground causing him to advertently fire his pistol.

"Fuck! I think I shot myself." Then the voice. "Fuck, what's that!" the scientist's pain temporarily forgotten as he hears the dreaded wet voice of a walker. "Are you alright? We need to move. They're coming. Can you walk, roll? Anything? Find some better cover."

Dec 11, 2024 11:27 pm

"Shut up, you idjit! You'll call e'ery one of um up our asses," she hisses quietly at Richard. She feels her legs and tries to quietly get up, getting a tree behind her and the shooter.

Dec 12, 2024 12:02 am

Richard the idjit follows suit, glad to see Shayna is able to walk. Quietly, he apologizes. "Sorry about the kick in the gut. I didn't see you there. Let's get some distance from this motherfucking numbers zombie and circle back later to check on the others."

He didn't add what he was thinking. They may not be human for much longer.

Dec 12, 2024 12:18 am

"Billie Faye?" he whispers, once the fresh air calms down his coughing.

"You think we can sneak up on the shooters? Like... Go round hiding in the trees?"

Dec 13, 2024 5:42 am

"SHH!" Billie-Faye shushes Peterson sharply when he comes out the window behind her. She is already headed for the front edge of the building, which she hopes to use as cover. Holding her revolver in both hands, she moves up and sneaks a peek at what she can see. If she spots the shooter, she'll unload!

OOC:

Not sure of where we are in the Skirmish. Let me know if and when I should roll to... avoid harm, shoot the guy, etc.

Last edited December 14, 2024 3:03 pm

Dec 13, 2024 7:56 am

Owen nods and slowly sneaks towards the opposite corner of the front of the house from where BF is heading, staying low and trying to hide.

being in different spots will make us harder to target...

He checks that his machete is at his belt, in the crude holder he's made for it.

Dec 13, 2024 4:14 pm

Shayna crawls into the brush hoping for cover first before she decides if she (and possibly Richard) might attack.

Dec 14, 2024 1:21 am

OOC:

Sounds like Owen and maybe some others are taking cover! If so - Mobility Roll.

Sounds like Billie Faye is definitely open to attacking him! So that’ll be Close Combat at this range!

If either Richard or Shayna shoot, it’ll be a shoot out and resolved first. Contested roll. Then Billie Faye will get her straight shot!

If you get your two successes, we’ll say you see movement and take your shot!

Dec 14, 2024 4:08 am

Shayna has no firearm, having left the one she found with Martin, so she goes for cover.

Rolls

AGILITY - (3D6)

(253) = 10

Mobility - (0D6)

(0) = 0

Roll Stress: - (2D6)

(12) = 3

Dec 14, 2024 7:58 am

Owen sneaks to the front corner.

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (64644) = 24

2D6 : (64) = 10

Roll Stress: - (3D6)

(212) = 5

Dec 14, 2024 3:12 pm

OOC:

I think for the way TWD works, BF can’t get to cover without making a movement rule — yeah? Just because the building is narratively *right there* and I’ve described her wanting to use the corner as cover… I think I need to roll movement to enjoy the mechanical benefit of shooters needing one more success to hit me. Throwing in a Mobility roll here…

Her heart pounding, her eyes trying to make sense out of the darkness around them, Billie tries to get into a position of cover, using the lodge if possible…

OOC:

Pushing… Success! But she also Messed up!

Last edited December 15, 2024 7:41 am

Rolls

Agility 4 + Mobility 2 - (6d6)

(355445) = 26

Stress 1 - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Pushed Roll - (6d6)

(424114) = 16

Stress 2 - (2d6)

(61) = 7

Dec 14, 2024 6:04 pm

OOC:

I think I should have petitioned the GM that Richard relieved stress when he was feeling all warm and fuzzy with BF. I realize she isn't his anchor but it is a social interaction that should count, I think? I will roll two stress dice now but if you don't agree @KCC, I can roll another stress die.

Richard sees Shayna attempt to scurry behind some brush and decides it's now or never. Do or die. He points in the general direction of the squishy voice and shoots.

OOC:

Oh HELL.

Last edited December 14, 2024 6:05 pm

Rolls

AGILITY, Ranged Combat, Pistol - (3D6, 1D6, 1d6)

3D6 : (211) = 4

1D6 : (3) = 3

1d6 : (4) = 4

Stress dice - (2d6)

(12) = 3

Dec 15, 2024 2:22 am

Shayna
Blinding pain shooting through her, and blood starting to seep more and more into her eyes, Shayna scampers further into the brush. The woman pushes herself on, forcing her way through the bushes that would snag on her clothes and hair.

A wet growl from somewhere above and behind. Black against black, Shayna sees the lurching figure of a walker shambling towards her! Somehow it senses her, and begins to force its own way through the raggedy bushes to get at her!

Shayna’s 1 goes to a Single Walker Attack! Roll a skill! Succeed, or be dooomed!

Dec 15, 2024 2:27 am

Richard
Richard stands defiant, leveling his pistol at a second man in as many days. Big Richard had gotten away with a flesh wound, not unlike the one that was throbbing in Richard’s shoulder right this very minute!

He squeezes the trigger, and the pain of his wound causes him to shoot off into the trees. A chorus of snarls go up all around in response! They sound closer now, more riled up and on the march!

Richard’s 1 increases the Threat Level to 2!

The stranger’s gun sounds off again, as he lines up Richard there among the trees! The shot slams into Richard, sending him sprawling!

Rolls

Contest - (4d6, 3d6)

4d6 : (2634) = 15

3d6 : (654) = 15

Dec 15, 2024 2:35 am

💀😨😬

Rolls

Lethal Injury - say it ain't so - (2d6)

(56) = 11

Dec 15, 2024 2:36 am

Owen and Billie Faye
Both Owen and Billie Faye race for opposing sides of the small cabin, hoping to split the attention of the stranger outside! Snarls go up all about, and you start to see black moving against black all about you!

Owen and Billie Faye both reach cover in time to see the muzzle flash erupt from the trees off to the right, and Richard crumple down into the earth!

1 dice used to increase Threat to 3, and 1 dice used to increase the Swarm Size to 3!

Dec 15, 2024 2:47 am

Richard is slammed onto his back. Even though it's dark outside, it gets darker. Much darker. He sees a pinpoint prick of light ... and then ... nothing.

Dec 15, 2024 5:35 am

Shayna knows that the Walker ahead of her is doom as much as a bullet, and even as she hears Richard get hit, she had seen her share of shit. Now is not the time to lose her head and make things worse by ignoring the biggest threat. She's not heartless, not being able to make sure he's okay right away tears at her inside, but nonetheless she lunges at it with her spear, silently aiming for its head.

Rolls

STRENGTH - (3D6)

(144) = 9

CloseCombat, spear+2 - (2D6, 2d6)

2D6 : (43) = 7

2d6 : (36) = 9

Roll Stress: - (3D6)

(645) = 15

Dec 15, 2024 8:03 am

"Richard!" Billie-Faye screams uncharacteristically when the shotgun booms and her friend drops -- hard. There are growls from all sides... they're all separated, she lost track of Owen after shushing him... she doesn't even see Shayna... this is going to fucking hell in a handbasket in a hot minute!

So, despite what seems like the larger threat of walkers all around, Billie grits her teeth, takes aim at where she saw the shotgun flash -- and fires! And fires, and fires, intent on putting the fucker down!

OOC:

Okay! Shooting! Using her drive of "Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it." She's had enough of his dope!

Edit: Forgot to add +2 for the Pistol!

Last edited December 15, 2024 8:08 am

Rolls

STR 5 + Close Combat 3 - (8d6)

(15136422) = 24

Determination - (2d6)

(25) = 7

Stress - (3d6)

(425) = 11

Pistol - (2d6)

(11) = 2

Dec 15, 2024 8:14 am

OOC:

Heading for bed, so leaving this here.

If BF needs two successes to hit the bozo, I'll push.

Sheesh. If one success needed, hit him for Pistol Damage of 2. If two successes required, MISS!

Last edited December 15, 2024 8:15 am

Rolls

With one success banked, STR 5 and CC 3 - (7d6)

(2312435) = 20

Pistol - (2d6)

(54) = 9

Determination - (2d6)

(15) = 6

Stress - (4d6)

(2335) = 13

Dec 15, 2024 8:19 am

Where we stand…

OOC:

We have moved into Round Three, and Walkers have just joined the mix. You can still choose one action of the six outlined in the Brawl rules. Cover, Shoot, Fight etc etc.

This time, the walkers will also be attacking you! It’s the contested roll we did in the forest! You need enough successes to keep them off you!

You can fight the guy, but the zombies will get an attack on you at the end of the round. It’s… tough.

Billie Faye has already shot at the guy and missed!

Owen and Shayna are up! What’s your action?

Dec 15, 2024 8:22 am

The walker comes on, and it’s all Shayna can do to aim her spear for its head and push! Blood clouds her vision, but in the life or death moment… her aim is perfect! Shayna sends the tip of her spear up through the brain. Momentum and weight send the thing sliding down the first third of Shayna’s spear, before it falls off to the side and into the bush. Dead dead…

The forest is alive with rustling bushes and walker snarls! Owen, Shayna and Billie-Faye all feel them out there! They are seconds away!

Billie-Faye closes her mind to the undead menace for a moment, intent on getting justice for Richard, her… her something. She fires, but with all the noise, she couldn’t say for sure if she hit the bastard that got Richard or not!

OOC:

Owen and Shayna! Give it to us!

Rolls

Does the Stranger stick around? (1-4 Y) (5-6 N) - (1d6)

(4) = 4

Dec 15, 2024 8:38 am

Owen sees that things are going to shit around him, and fast.
think... Think... The shotgun guy attracted the zeds firing at us... But the zeds will want to get at him too.
Hopefully they'll chew on the fucker. We need to stop the zeds first!

With that, he grabs the machete, wincing at his burnt hand but tightening the hilt all the same.
He sees the closest walkers and charges, trying to hack at their heads.

Rolls

STRENGTH, CloseCombat, Machete - (3D6, 2D6, 1D6)

3D6 : (654) = 15

2D6 : (13) = 4

1D6 : (5) = 5

Roll Stress: - (3D6)

(542) = 11

Dec 15, 2024 8:46 am

OOC:

second roll minus 2d6

Rolls

STRENGTH, Machete - (3D6, 1D6)

3D6 : (316) = 10

1D6 : (2) = 2

Roll Stress: - (3D6)

(313) = 7

Dec 15, 2024 8:55 am

OOC:

Owen pushes the first roll, gaining the first 4 Stress of the game, yay!

OOC:

was nice knowing you all!

Last edited December 15, 2024 8:57 am

Rolls

STRENGTH, CloseCombat, Machete - (3D6, 2D6, 1D6)

3D6 : (254) = 11

2D6 : (51) = 6

1D6 : (1) = 1

Roll Stress: - (4D6)

(4123) = 10

The Man Outside

Dec 15, 2024 9:01 am

The shotgun thunders again, but this time the shot is aimed away from the cabin!

The Man Outside

"Agh!!" you hear, full strangled panic, from the trees off to the right! This stranger was clearly fighting a battle of his own right now!

Owen cuts a bloody swathe through the walkers! He swings, and swings, and swings until the burn on his hand is the least of his worries. His arm aches but it isn’t enough! They keep coming!

One walker lunges out of the night, and gets his hands on Owen’s shoulders! The young man has time enough to get his machete up between its jaws and Owen’s face! It’s a deadly fight to survive the night!

Single Walker Attack for Owen! A skill roll to survive! Two 1s means you’ll need two successes on this roll to see it off!

OOC:

Shayna is up! If she fights the walkers, she only needs 1 six to see them off!

Dec 15, 2024 9:14 am

no no no! You let down your guard!

Owen tries to desperately disengage and move away from the foul thing trying to chew on him!

come on! You're faster than this thing!

Rolls

AGILITY, Mobility - (5D6, 2D6)

5D6 : (15562) = 19

2D6 : (63) = 9

Roll Stress: - (4D6)

(3564) = 18

Dec 15, 2024 2:33 pm

Shayna is lost into that quiet moment of desperation where you can only fight or die. Her spear is slick with blood but she pushes on, vaguely aware of the fights going on around her. Kill the next one, and the next, forever, and don't think, every ounce of energy directed to the next swing...

Rolls

STRENGTH, CloseCombat, Spear - (3D6, 2D6, 2D6)

3D6 : (213) = 6

2D6 : (66) = 12

2D6 : (25) = 7

Roll Stress: - (3D6)

(413) = 8

Dec 15, 2024 10:55 pm

OOC:

Doooooom!!

Rolls

1-2 BF 3-4 Sh 5-6 Owen - (1d6, 1d6)

1d6 : (3) = 3

1d6 : (5) = 5

Dec 15, 2024 11:07 pm

Owen pushes the thing off, slipping out from between all the grasping limbs and rushes off around the tree trunk. The thing follows, in its staggering, unsteady way! It had come close to a meal, and wouldn’t be left hungry for long!

Owen rushes on, fixated on the walker giving chase! Too late does he realize that others have closed in around him also! Hands grasping and teeth gnashing from all around, pushing between dark trees to get at the young man and his machete.

Shayna fights and fights and fights! By now, the group is totally fractured! It would be almost impossible to find your way back together over all the noise in the night! Shayna steps back, and back fending the things off with her spear! She catches one of them through the head, but his fall yanks the spear from her hands, and then they are on her!

I need 2d6 from Owen and 2d6 from Shayna! This is a Walker Attack!

Dec 15, 2024 11:12 pm

Shayna feels the end closing in, hands and claws reach from every direction of the night. While she'll fight until she can't, swinging and pushing for freedom, that last moment draws ever closer.

Last edited December 15, 2024 11:12 pm

Rolls

Requested roll - (2d6)

(33) = 6

Critical injury roll - (1d6, 1d6)

1d6 : (1) = 1

1d6 : (5) = 5

Dec 16, 2024 12:37 am

"NO! NO! STAY AWAY FROM. ME!"

Rolls

2d6 of Doom! - (2d6)

(34) = 7

Dec 17, 2024 6:42 am

Shayna swings, and swings, and swings! And the weapon is gone, and all that’s left to her are her limbs… for however long they are left to her! Blind with blood and desperate to live, she strikes out all about her! She hammers at the things! Kicks them back! Pushes them off her and throws them to the forest floor. Blindness now is brought on not by blood but by battle and rage and the will to live.

She hammers at them until she feels something break, or almost break. Panting, she sees bodies strewn about her, and a throbbing pain running up the length of her arm. The pain is too much; blossoming from her head and her limbs. She staggers, and blacks out against a tree trunk!

Shayna is broken. She will come back around in a while, if no one administers first aid. Until then, she’ll be at the mercy of any attacks against her…

Dec 17, 2024 6:46 am

The thing slams into Owen, all hands and claws and teeth! They tussle and then Owen loses his footing! He lands hard on the forest floor and the wind is driven out of him!

His ribs ache, and his hand throbs! The thing has no such air to lose and so keeps up his frenzied attack, trying to bite the young man’s throat out! Somehow… somehow, Owen ruins the things brain as they wrestle on the forest floor! It slumps down onto him, and his ribs blossom with pain again! It’s hard to catch his breath as the thing lays dead on him!

Owen has 2 damage, and 5 stress! The five stress shouldn’t factor into things here, provided Owen doesn’t try to use his drive on a roll!

Dec 17, 2024 6:51 am

OOC:

New Round:
You can’t say for sure what happened to the guy! He could still be a threat. He could be shot dead. He could be gone!

You can act against him on your turn if you so wish! Or you can fight the walkers, or administer first aid to Shayna!

If you act against the walkers, you’ll get 1 success from last round, and the threat has been reduced by 2 due to them attacking you already!

So you’ll only need three successes. Shayna and Richard are down and out right now! Three successes between Billie Faye and Owen, if you choose to fight walkers. One of you will roll twice! The second roll will be at -2!

(One of you could roll three times, and that lets the other try help Shayna! -4 to the third roll!)

Messing up, even if you succeed in beating the walkers, will result in final single walker attacks.

Dec 19, 2024 5:27 am

Richard's down, Shayna's down, Owen is under duress. Walkers are everywhere. The dick with the gun might still be out there. The bottom has fallen out of the whole fucking situation, leaving Billie-Faye with no choice but to fight. She knows she'll run her pistol dry fighting this many walkers, so she stuffs the still-warm weapon into the back of her shorts and readies her axe.

"Fight, Owen! Fight!" she shouts as she swings her fire axe this way and that, trying to chop down as many of the slow-moving bastards as she can. "Come on!"

OOC:

Strength 5, Close Combat 3, the Axe 2, Stress 4

Rolls

Strength + CC + Axe - (10d6)

(6121251431) = 26

Stress - (4d6)

(3232) = 10

Dec 19, 2024 5:31 am

OOC:

Taking a point of stress to reroll everything except that one 6. That takes her to five stress, which I think means she will be Overwhelmed when this is all over.

Edit: Yar, two successes in the end... and she Messed Up.

Correction, as KCC pointed out in the Discord -- three successes!

Last edited December 21, 2024 4:30 am

Rolls

Roll minus one 6 - (9d6)

(141413313) = 21

Stress - (5d6)

(15626) = 20

Dec 19, 2024 1:03 pm

Owen wriggles out from under the gory carcass, spitting out and praying he didn't swallow any of the putrid goo from the walkers!

He pants seeing the carnage around, then his eye catches a glimpse of Shayna on the ground.
"Shit! They got her!" he runs to her to check if she is alive, and to see if he can do anything for her, or if it is too late!

OOC:

alright, trying my best - Medicine is 0, but I got a lot of Stress dice!! PLEASE dont mess up

OOC:

dont think I can push, with 5 Stress! OH I messed up! I definitely cannot!

Last edited December 19, 2024 1:50 pm

Rolls

Roll Stress:, EMPATHY, Medicine - (5D6, 2D6, 0D6)

5D6 : (42313) = 13

2D6 : (41) = 5

0D6 : (0) = 0

Dec 22, 2024 12:27 am

You had heard rumors that the cities were emptying of walkers! Despite their efforts and their numbers, the concrete jungle proved just too difficult for the walkers to pull, and claw and tear down. Some instinct was drawing them out of the city in great herds and setting them on the countryside…

Today, Billie-Faye might just believe that rumor! Twice in a day’s travel, the woman had had to pick up her axe and carve her way through a small swarm! Whatever factory or worker had put the tool together in the before-times had done spectacular work, as the weapon cleaves and crushes beneath the canopy once more!

Her strength beginning to fade, she has to make a determined effort to fell the final walker, which gets its hands up and on to the handle of Billie Faye’s axe just as she raises it to strike the walker down! It’s a struggle in the dark for who can get control of the scuffle!

Billie-Faye has done good work! She just needs to have a dramatic battle with one final bastard! Then the walkers are mostly done!

Dec 22, 2024 12:31 am

Owen roots around in the dark, desperately trying to tell of the woman is still alive! Had she been shot? Bitten? Would she rise from the ground and attack the young man?

A shadowy shape moves up behind Owen, but the man is too frantic to notice. He runs his hands over Shayna, feeling for bites or the wet stickiness of blood. A desperate whine escapes the man’s lips as he just can’t find what is wrong with Shayna! She must be dead…

Owen is pounced on out of the dark! Something grips him strongly on the shoulder, and then he hears the snarling sound of a walkers mouth near his ear and shoulder meat!

Escape, Owen! Fight! Walker Attack and then we are done!

Dec 22, 2024 7:36 am

Blinded with terror, Owen reaches for the machete and swings it at the walker's head!

OOC:

plenty of 6s, but one Mess Up!

Last edited December 22, 2024 7:37 am

Rolls

STRENGTH, Close Combat, Machete - (3D6, 2d6, 1d6)

3D6 : (256) = 13

2d6 : (24) = 6

1d6 : (5) = 5

Roll Stress: - (5D6)

(62166) = 21

Dec 23, 2024 5:43 am

OOC:

Billie's gonna fight! I'll roll -then- narrate, just in case...

Rolls

Strength 5, Close Combat 3, Axe 2 - (5d6, 3d6, 2d6)

5d6 : (31415) = 14

3d6 : (213) = 6

2d6 : (31) = 4

Stress 5 - (5d6)

(34625) = 20

Dec 23, 2024 5:57 am

By the end of all the carnage, Billie-Faye has lost track of where everyone is, and what's happened to them. She's lost track of a lot of things -- where Owen is, what happened to the shooter, who she even is anymore. The woman is soaked head to toe in blood and gore. Her face is covered, her hair is tangled and drenched... only the whites of the woman's eyes break that horrific crimson paint.

Barefoot and with her shirt half-torn off, she looks a proper grindhouse queen, and with her breathes coming in great, sobbing gulps, she fights with one final walker -- a bloated, bare-chested man who outweighs her at least two to one. Cooper is faster and more desperate, though, and she manages to tear the axe from the grasping hands of the gnashing undead man. Two violent strokes after that ends it, then the woman sinks to her knees, a literal wreck.

OOC:

That's one success and no messing up! Woohoo! She's hit five stress though, and that's the Breaking Point. At the end of the 'session' she'll be rolling on the Overwhelmed table.

Dec 26, 2024 9:16 am

OOC:

rolling to Handle Fear

Rolls

handling fear (Wits+Anchor, no Stress) - (3d6+2d6)

(165) + (45) = 21

Dec 26, 2024 2:40 pm

OOC:

Right, Billie has reached her Breaking Point by taking five points of stress -- so she too has to roll to Handle her Fear. If Richard (one of her anchors) dies, she'll have to do this again.

Edit: Failed, so adding 1d6 for the Overwhelmed table.

Last edited December 26, 2024 2:42 pm

Rolls

Wits (2) - (2d6)

(45) = 9

Tracy (if still alive and on Billie's side) - (2d6)

(31) = 4

Richard (if still alive and on Billie's side) - (2d6)

(54) = 9

Overwhelmed - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Dec 26, 2024 2:44 pm

OOC:

Billie loses her drive: Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it!

Neat!

Last edited December 26, 2024 2:47 pm

The Man Outside

Dec 28, 2024 10:00 am

The Man Outside

Billie-Faye fights and fights and fights until her legs give out and her body gives out on her! She falls to her knees, and feels the forest floor hard against her knees. Somewhere nearby, she hears the sound of Owen panting, and a body slumping from his blade and thinking against a tree trunk.

God knows where Richard fell, or if Shayna was alive. The two survivors are sure that more teeth and claws and deathly moans would come out of the dark any second now. The soft fizzle of the gas canister ceases somewhere behind you, as the load is spent and billows out of the cabin. The night is dark and quiet… for a moment…

Owen and Billie-Faye find each other in the dark. It’s hard to see, but Richard had a light on him, didn’t he?

No need…

A soft crunch and approaching footprints, and then a light is blinding you! You wince and turn away, or raise your hands to block the sudden and harsh light.

"One, two, one, two! Half! Half!" comes a voice from behind the light! The flashlight is pulled away from your faces, and you see a chubby face, speckled with gore there in the half-light behind.

Light held in one hand, shotgun in the other, the man outside looms large over you! You have no more fight in you. Even if you wanted to, your body wouldn’t let you get back up and drive an axe into this bastard’s chest. Sometimes, people fuck with you and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it. Richard learned that. Shayna too, maybe. Billie-Faye and Owen were learning that lesson right now, as the odd man whispers and whispers behind his blinding light!

"Give it back! One, two! Half!" he says. He steps through you, and you let him. He stomps into the wooden cabin you had spent half the night in, and then you heard the sound of something heavy being dragged across wood. A moment later, and you only hear the man moving around. His light is off, but you can feel him there… you can hear him whispering.

How the man can see out here; how he could ambush you in the dead of night can only be guessed. Some more scrapping and grunting and the sound begins to recede. One of your boxes is being dragged off into the forest in the dead of night, and two of your own lie dead or dying on the forest floor. You can’t chase him. You won’t… There are more pressing things on your mind…

Dec 28, 2024 10:05 am

Owen and Billie-Faye find Richard near the cabin door. Your hearts are beating too hard, your heads too loud and ringing in your ears to tell of the man is breathing or if it’s some trick of hope!

You stumble to your weak and shaky legs when you hear more rustling a few moments later, worried that more walkers had come to feed! Shayna staggers out of the dark, and for a moment you think she has turned! Billie-Faye clutches her axe, while Owen grabs up his well-used machete to put the woman down.

She raises a hand, while nursing the other one against her chest tenderly. It’s ruined and useless and it’s hurts to just move around what little the woman can manage after the ordeal of the night! But she’s alive!

The three of you drag Richard back inside the cabin, stacking the remainder of your loot from the chopper against the door! Morning would shine a terrible light on what had transpired here tonight, to Richard, and everyone else…

Dec 28, 2024 10:12 am

Had the man from outside attacked because you had looted the helicopter? Was he using it as bait, and then picking off those that came to claim what lay within?…

You didn’t know, but you had to risk it. The next morning and with a steadier heart, Shayna is sure that Richard lives. She’s also sure that you have to revisit the chopper and claim the other medical supplies for yourselves, stranger be damned! Richard would surely slip away forever without what potentially lay inside!

Morning had revealed more than just Richard’s predicament. Some of the fight had gone out of Billie-Faye. She wouldn’t be moved from the man’s side! With great hardship, Owen and Shayna retrace their steps back to the helicopter and drag the second box of medical supplies back to the cabin. Armed with a rifle rather than a long knife, Owen could see no sign of the man from last night, nor the box of radios that he had claimed from your smoking shack.

Martin Cater

Dec 30, 2024 12:45 am