ITQ you will buy and sell goods, find a place to live, basic Jobs, and things to do to live through a zombie apocalypse. Zombies are slow. Plenty of things can maim or kill you. Zombie bites can be treated, but there are side effects, or you may screw it up and die. So let's avoid that, OK?You stand in line among several other people, anonymous faces, you didn't count them. You've not seen them before. Some in shoes, some barefoot, one with a blood stained spear, and all of you dirty and unwashed in the cool of October. You're on the outskirts Northwest of Houston in the shell of what was an old big box store, in the Greens Point area (Guns Point as the locals say). The proprietor has a fan blowing across the line of you, and he has been good enough to put up a pop-up tent outside the entrance to shield everyone from the sunlight, but it's stuffy with all of you crowded together and waiting. On either side of the Line, are cages full of dead eyed ghouls, locked in for now, but watching you.The Merchant calls out Next and you step up with your goods. You walk up to a bullet proof Plexiglass window with a pass through container, and big sign over the glass stating:>The outbreak was started on borrowed money, No Credit.You are yourself, just yourself. Your actions are your own choice, but the outcome is determined by post ID roll.Roll for your saleable goods layout by final digit.Subsequent rerolls to determine simple value, 2nd to last digit = quantity, final digit of simple pass fail 1-5 poor, 6-0 good1-backpack of junk, can be sorted for valuables2-live wild animal, must be examined to determine value3-Clothing, must be checked for damage4-Food, may be packaged or raw5-Contraban: cigarettes, alcohol, pornography, drugs6-Weapons: may be functional, broken parts7-Ammunition: may be boxed or loose, good or bad8-Medicine: may be prescription or over the counter9-Chemicals: wet or dry, labeled packaged or not0-information: he may or may not careDoubles= special itempoor items are worth 1/2 head, good items are worth 1 headYour ID characters, in order, determine the quality of your starting gear>Head>Backpack>Chest>Arms>Pants>Belt>Shoes>WeaponLetter=NothingNumber=common variety, used conditionSymbol=Superior variety and New Condition>IMPORTANT>[Returning Players, please use your old name from the previous game, if you want to keep your progress, and so I'll know it's you. New players, go as big as you like with your character, I write fairly in depth scenes to keep the game interesting. You can die, but I'm not out to get you. I play as the Merchant, and narrate the game. If you want to talk IRL, ask a question, or suggest something, use these square brackets [ ], so I'll know. Welcome]See previous chapters>>6046391>>6087641
>>6128116Wyatt Axel Termelon, reportin' fer duty!
>>6128139[well that was quick. So big question: do you want to pick up where we left off this morning, or fast forward en route about 3 months from the beginning of the trip? In the mildly updated preamble I've updated the premise of the timetable to the IRL present of October, because Halloween is coming up, and I wanted to use theme images. Not that it matters too much, but we can try a different play style, if you like]
>>6128148[Whatever you prefer to write, the fast forward idea seems interesting to me!]
>>6128148[I will also weight in on the side of whatever you would rather write. Also, rolling for those items, I recall your first being a 2 in the relevant last post, QM? Assuming that would still be relevant if we timeskip three months?]
>>6128597[>1 number, no symbols in ID.Man, the board just doesn't want Pete to get stuff, huh? It doesn't even matter for returning players, I think, so I maybe the dice gods are just being petty?]
>>6128139>>6128159>At least the Ambulance didn't get burned.You tell yourself this same hopeful optimistic reassurance 2 to 10 times a day. And have been doing so since, um, a few days. You remembered to turn off the engine and the lights, so the battery should be functional. It even has fuel in the tank. A little bit, maybe a gallon or two, but that should be enough to get half way back to the containment wall. You wonder if the helicopter will come back. They just didn't have room, they couldn't land on the rooftop. That's why they left you. That's it. And the ghouls on the ground they're a bit different, but they still can't climb. And the ladder going to the ground is open to them, but they can't get to you.>There is no way a ghoul will ever figure out how to climb a ladder. You tell yourself this as well. And you try to tell yourself this when you lay down, but it get's harder to believe. And you're not sleeping very well on top of this gas station.Your progress cutting through the roof is less than helpful. The roof is metal and has concrete poured, not very thick, but thick enough, and you haven't got tools.You've got a knife. Ok, there's the hunting knife. You have that m44, with 12 rounds to it, that Andy dropped for you. You've got your deenz and crackers, and all your jams, enough for 2 more days, and you've had a rough time not gulping those down.Finally, you've got your glock with a loaded mag in. 14 rounds left there. And that's the easy bit to count. You've got your food and gear in the ambulance. At least a week's worth of food and water. It's all yours anyway, since the others left. The Ambulance is intact. >They DIDN'T burn the ambulanceAnd all you really have to do is walk 30 feet from the building and get in. The doors will lock behind you and you can go. But for whatever reason, maybe they can smell your leg wound, that crowd of ghouls just won't go away. You tried laying down for two days straight, keeping quiet, and they just stayed there waiting for you. Hundreds of them. And as you look over the edge you see hundreds more in every direction.There's no other buildings or trees close enough to the rooftop to jump to. The nearest building is the pancake house, what was a pancake house a hundred feet away. You figure there just has to be something inside the gas station below you. They locked it up a long time ago, and shuttered all the windows with locking roller doors. Even if the owner locked themselves inside and then died or turned, things can't be much worse inside than on the street.You're trapped, but you do have some advantages. You have High Ground.[High Ground gives you a +3 to kill success]You have, you've counted this, 2 more days of food in your bag, before you begin starving. And it rained a bit yesterday, you got some water from that.You have 4 actions.You can hack at the roof, attack ghouls, focus, investigate roof, or your own idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6129109Heh... Hnh... Dang ghoulies... Hwy won't they leave me alooooone!>Scream primally in utter despair>Investigate roof, look for loot>Investigate roof, look for weak spots, a way inside>Start a smoke signal if possible with my current resources - if not, hack at the roof[Can I get more info/reminisce on my injury and the group's departure? Was going to use actions on it but decided on this current set and I figured they'll be mentioned anyway]
>>6128597You're standing around in just your pants. Not that it's illegal or anything, but due to the strain of physical labour, you're just in your pants, and the sweat you're working up despite the cooling climate is dripping off you. Maybe you ought to put on your shirt and shoes. You think about it, it's neither here nor there really. You've been accumulating mason jars, bags of tablesalt, candles and so on, for months.The farmer wasn't kidding about coming back regularly. This last time he took all the jars and salt you had, and next time, allegedly, there will be salted pork and jars of pickles. Your initial boon of ghoul loot got you>(3) a belt>(4) a can of ravioli>(0) a map of the area to the west>(7) a handful off 22Lr ammunition>(1) a purse with women's sanitary products, a local ID and a set of house keys>(9) a cigarette lighterThe ID, you've referenced it a few times is for a house inside the first containment barrier. You're uncertain that it's worth investigating. It's maybe 3 miles away, and close to the freeway.You've stayed close to the base. Everyone is on edge since the expedition failed to return, and no one wants to go into the outer containment area. [General -1 to calamity]There were reports a few weeks ago of gunfire from inside, but these reports are frequent, as are reports of fires.The Eastern sniper fire has kept anyone from attempting to pass the airport to the south. The Merchant has begun paying a premium on black diesel, and ammunition, always those two. Not that that big rig of his has ever moved an inch since you've been here.You have enough food at base to last you a month, and enough currency to stay on inside the camp until the end of the year. Still, you can hear the movements of quick footsteps in the dark, and you've been finding small fresh half eaten bones in your looting areas. >It's only chicken bonesYou keep assuring yourself. Still, you're not keen to work after sunset. The bones keep turning up in places you looted the day before.The Merchant was unencouraging when you informed him>those are not chicken bones. Be careful.You should have listened. You should have enlisted help from someone else in camp. You've started prepping your loot a block from the base to save yourself the effort of hauling it all by hand. You'd figured to bring it all in a trio of shopping carts you lashed together. You were figuring to bring it back tomorrow, but the fast shuffling sound of feet you've been hearing has been getting closer, as have the low whispers. With the sunset coming on, you decide to bring everything back tonight.[If my 2nd and 1st add to 10 or less the moon will be out, if more it is overcast]>[You need 10 successful move rolls to return. Calamity will begin the battle.]You have 4 actionsYou can put on shoes, put on shirt, grab pack, put on belt, load cart, move the carts, selfguard, or your idea.[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-4p, 5-0f.
>>6129197>Pete has grown much too used to being alone with only ghouls for company, and going on runs alone with nothing to fear but them and his own stupidity and carelessness. Tonight, it's something more. Something that likely shares the ghouls' taste for human flesh.>Great. Let's see...>Most likely guess is cannibals.>Plan? Ambush if possible, preferably with gunfire.>Objective? Overwhelming first strike, then retreat, hoping the creatures will prefer the warm meat of their dead and wounded to seeking revenge. Dependent on intelligence level.>Estimate: Feral but cunning, extra caution must be taken. Clever enough to ambush, but likely not counter-ambush, instincts may easily override intellect.>A small mental checklist goes through Pete's head. Useful to keep a cool head in not so great situations. The last thing he needs is to freeze after all. Decisiveness is survival in this new world, as it was in the old. Sun Tzu remains as applicable as ever. Now, what does he have on hand to handle these nosy neighbors?>Take a general inventory of what he has and what standout items were in this looting run, especially weapons, guns, lightsources, and the like.>Put on shoes>Grab pack>Put on shoes again if the first roll fails. One should not be caught in such a place with no shoes. If he does have them on, put on the shirt if it's possible to do things this way.
>>6129250[So much for having even one extra turn to ambush, it seems...]
>>6129172You scream, dispairing for some reason (2). The sound is mostly lost in the general wailing of the ghouls. The more noise you make the more noise They make. And the more noise they make, the more Noise They Make. It's not deafening, but still, pretty annoying.Hey, at least you have both your hands! How rotten would that be? Can you imagine if you started turning slowly, a bit at a time so that you were at war with yourself?Looking around the roof, you check again if there is anything that could be called loot, and (9) there isn't. You search for an entrance, or weakpoint, while walking around the air conditioner (1). How to make a smoke signal? You fumble with a lighter, but there's nothing to burn. And who would see it? (7). You curse and kick at the AC, but it's made of stronger stuff.You lean on the air conditioner and feel the metal bend a bit.You have no tools, but you have weapons. And a weapon is just a misused tool. Therefore, you reason, a tool can well be a misused weapon![Misusing weapons can give you a boost to success chance, at the risk of breaking the weapon on a calamity roll]You have 4 actionsYou can jump on AC [standard chance], MISUSE M44 to dig around AC [+2 to breaking through], MISUSE knife to pry at AC unit [+1], MISUSE M44 Bayonet to pry at AC unit [+2], fight ghouls, focus [+1 success], pace yourself [+1 calamity], or your idea.[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6129315"Thanks Pete... And sorry, Pa...," a wide-eyed Wyatt mutters, before blunting the point of the hunting knife with naughty metal on metal action>Focus>Misuse knife on AC>Misuse knife on AC>If possible, cautiously make entry. Misuse knife on AC if I still haven't entered. Misuse bayonet if knife is broken.
>>6129250The bad news is, the sky is overcast (9+7). And it will be generally dark.Inside the house you're using to stage the loot convoy, you've set all the loot in the garage. The garage door, you chose this house because it still had a door, has a working lock. Not much, but enough to deter someone for a few minutes. Enough to make a looter go in through a window.You look through your gear, (2) tucked into your pack>hatchet>folding shovel>nighstick>some fishingline>a can of ravioli>a map of the area to the west>a handful off 22Lr ammunition>a purse with women's sanitary products, a local ID and a set of house keys>a cigarette lighter>towel>extra socks>shoes>a shirt>a belt [I'm figuring like a duty belt, or tool belt, something to keep weapons holstered, so you won't drop them on a calamity roll when you do a task or change from one to another.]The rest of your food you keep in your room at the base.You slip on your shoes (9) but forget to tie them, and they come off as you walk over to shoulder your pack (2). You get the ahoes back on, and remember to tie them successfully (5).Not a moment too soon (0) as you hear the sound of several members of the local scientific community creeping around in the gravel outside the house where you've stashed your goods.To ignorant savages, mason jars, salt and candles are junk. The idea of planning ahead or saving food for winter has no meaning for them. They will not understand. They will be cold.They will be hungry.They will make a bonfire of your beautiful oak door.>[If my 4th and 3rd add to 10 or less there will be 5 enemies, if more there will be 10] >[If my 3rd and 2nd add to 10 or less they'll have no flashlights, not attacking for another turn. If more they'll have spotted what room you're in, attacking this turn]>[if my 2nd and 1st add to 10 or less they'll move around alone, can be picked off quietly. If more they'll move in teams]You have 4 actions. You can focus [+1], put on belt [easier weapon change, no drop], load cart, lay a fishing line trip wire [incapacitate], hide (+2 calamity), Ambush [no alert kill], Garrot wire enemy (only works on single enemies), lock doors [delay advance], sneak away, distract enemies [+1 calamity], or your idea.[You still have a +2 to melee killing due to your aggressive near sighted trait.][5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-4p, 6-0f
>>6129427>They don't seem to have lights of their own and with the overcast weather they're hard to make out, but Pete pins their number at ten, maybe a couple more, but no less. They're dithering, but not splitting too much. Best keep hem off the garage maybe funnel them through windows? Does the house have an upstairs?>Focus>Put on belt>Lock doors>Study the enemy: stance, group sizes, apparent leaders, weapons. The more information Pete has, the easier he can find cracks and chip away at them. He could try and run away. Might succeed. But no.>Let's just say Pete has a chip on his shoulder. From way back, just a few days before he showed up at the Merchant's door. He didn't exactly lose all his stuff by tripping and falling, you know? No, he just met the local aerospace engineering graduates, his first human contact in...a while.>They were very nice, and even invited him to participate in one of their cultural landmark events, the Many-To-One Ambush and Beatdown Combo. Lovely people. He simply *has* to repay them for that."Now now, Pete, let's remain calm...for now">He indulges in a little bit of muttering to himself as he silently moves from lock to lock, leaving a couple windows open. It's nice to do it sometimes, especially when there's no one else to talk to. Or worth talking to, like his new friends outside. Though maybe they'll try and negotiate? Who knows, he'll just keep an ear out if they somehow do try.>That whole probably didn't help his latent misanthropy though, part of why he is in his current predicament alone.
>>6129320You focus [+1] you're focused in. It's important to focuswhen you try to use a cutting blade as a prybar (9). Not that the first bit of misuse is enough, it isn't, and leaves you with the feeling of a man left to die on a rooftop. So you come back for seconds. Now this time, it's a lucky time. It's a time where you break through an AC mounting bracket with a hunting knife(3).Remember that time?How could anyone forget that time?This time>your timeYour time?Your TIIIIIIIIMMME(2)!!!You winner of break-in contests you did it. You finally did it. You broke it all up!>what's that rotten smell?You ask this out loud after recovering from falling through the cieling.It certainly could be you. But it isn't. It also is not your hunting knife, which broke in half as you went on an AC compressor ride through the cieling.>wait a dang blasted minute. Hunting knives don't have smells!>You kidding? You kidding me with that suggestion that the smell is an inanimate object when that is clearly a rotten biological smell? Is this one of those stringing along exercises where someone tries to make things seem like more than they are with extranious exposition instead of hard hitting prose and narration?You are heard by no one to ask.>you betOh, and also[If my 3rd and 2nd add to 10 or less the smell is a very old corpse with it's head blown off. If more the poor fellow only wounded himself horrifically before reanimating.][If my 2nd and 1st add to 10 or less you the sunlight creeps inside the convenience store, and you can see. If more it is pitch dark in here.]In either case, you only went up on the roof in the first place because this place was locked up tight as a drum, and so the crowd outside is not currently able to enter.You have 4 actionsYou can >make a loophole in the wall>secure the building interior>loot store shelves>loot behind counter>loot backroom>focus>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6129776>Focus/Adjust to the dark>Let the bayoneted rifle be my guide in the dark, ready to plunge into walking remains and fire off a round point-blank >Loot behind the counter>Make a loophole in the wall
>>6129571You focus in a focused focusy way [+1]. But in you haste to put on your belt, you put off your belt (9). And it drops around your ankles. Undeterred, and unphased and undiscouraged and un-adjectived, you go from door to door, locking what you can (5). And delaying them. [1 more turn]Studying the enemy, them being ouside and in the dark, you learn plenty of useless things (7). Though most of this learning must be deciphered from their impromptu beatboxing. And their rap, like all rap, is gay and lame.Lemme break it down fo ya>ah word. What it is? A means of verbal expression.>we be kangz. Like them three kangs. Sep der be ten uv us.>we be gwine rawb surberdy.>hell yeah?>hell yeah. N we be robbin in duh dawrk n'sheeit>what is we going to use to be seein hims?>dats a misterstory. Call duh detectives>ah keent do it, dey be lookin' fo my ass. I done been robbin fokes since uh cood craaawl>dem doh's be on lock. Why do dey be like that?>issa misterstory issa misterstory>call up scooby doo>who dat who dat>i aint done no>he must be dey police mayun>everbody less split up>split up>split up>get yo sef away from xavier the done say split up>split up>split up>he cain't win if ya split upIf you can make any sense of that, you keep it to yourself. [If my 4th+3rd </=10 they arrived alone. If more they will be followed by ghouls in 3 turns][If my 3rd+2nd <=10, they are armed with clubs, if more they have blades][If my 2nd+1st <=10, they have no backup but will be expected in 8 turns, if more they will be expected back in 5 turns]You have 4 actionsYou can>focus>lay tripwires>put on belt>load cart>hide>lay boobytrap>ambush>sneak away>sneak outside>distract [+1 calamity]>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-4p, 5-0f
>>6129883You let your eyes adjust as much as they can (2), but it isn't enough to see past perimeter of light. The interior is mostly darkness.[If my 4th+3rd <=10, you had the rifle slung over your shoulder when you fell in. If more it is still on the roof]You try to take a guarded approach to exploring the interior (9) but between the dust obacuring your view and the disorientation from the fall, you aren't sure what part of the store you're in.For example, when you try to loot behind the counter (8), you come up empty, and don't find anything that would be kept behind a convenience store counter. It must be the smell of rotting human flesh that's getting to you, distracting you, as if every sheet of paper in the shop has a pair of gnashing human incisors behind it.[Once the ghoul is dead, all searches will be successful, with one in limbo you can still fail.]>[if my 3rd+2nd <=10, the ghoul will give his position away in advance. If more he will get the drop on you]No, you'll have to get to the bottom.of that smell first. Even trying to cut a loophole in the wall is tricky in this darkness. You did start at busting a small hole in a wall (8), but the hole must have opened into another room, and it lets in not a drop of daylight.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, the ghoul will not be aware of your presence. If more he will start attacking now and combat will begin on your turn]Unfortuneatly the darkness has impeded your abilities substantially.[You lose 1 action per turn and suffer -2 to combat rolls until light is restored.][As per >>6129315 , you have a lighter either on you or on the roof]You have 3 actionsYou can>use lighter>find ghoul>fight ghoul>self guard [+2]>focus [+1]>your idea[4th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6130866"Now hwere the HECK are the dang Twinki-OH DEAR GAD NO!?!">Self Guard>Switch from rifle to pistol so I can use the lighter for a light source in the off hand>Fight the gas station fiend
>>6130575>Despite the lack og moonlight, Pete catches metallic glints in the logistic school graduates' hands, and sighs. Knife fights are always so ugly, and he would be those guys are no taking good care of theirs.>Yet another reason to avoid a straight up brawl.>Pete starts placing little tripwires and boobytraps. If properly spooked, these guys may just take themselves out, but he has to ensure they can't easily reinforce each other.>Place boobytrap.>A few lengths of fishing line wrapped around the kitchen door's hinges and a filled trashcan inside. In pitch darkness and a few inches off the ground, a good tripping hazard. With a blade in hand it will be hard to catch themselves. Fortunately, someone stuck knives tips up in an upturned kitchen drawer right in front so they don't faceplant on the ground, how considerate!>Place boobytrap>Wheeled toys, marbles, and other hazards halfway up or down a staircase for maximum neckbreaking chances>Hide>Pick a team that isn't going to run in a boobytrap just now, and hide behind the open door they'll come through in a room with at least two exits. Open the other door and turn a light on if they still work somehow. Sprinkle a few 22lr bullets trailing out of the room. Wait silently.>Ambush.As soon as they are distracted and picking up the bullets, or moving to check out another team getting boobytrapped, Ambush them with the folding shovel, or the truncheon depending on what Pete has on hand.[Let's see how bad this goes. Since I'm still not sure what's in the carts, I'm going off stuff that owuldn't have been looted in a suburban home. I did consider using the can of lasagna in an improvised catapult or heating up a doorknob, but one is a little too involved for a fishing line and anything that heats probably got stolen or ran out of juice.]
>>6130905You guard yourself (+2) and try to switch away from the rifle to the pistol, but adding in the lighter fumbles the whole thing (9). So you hold the rifle in your armpit and strike the flint to see where you are.[If my 4th+3rd <=10, you get the lighter struck, otherwise it only sparks]Guess who else sees where you are? Not really sees so much as sort of smells you. He's blind. It's blind. Because It got bitten when it was a he named leonard and he didn't know what else to do, and got to thinking about the indignity of being "not a human" instead of survival, and so he shot himself in the temple three years ago. Except that instead of pressing the barrel above the ear, he pressed it behind his eye socket and blinded himself in the dark and bled to death, and the minor bite he'd taken to his left pinky slowly spread and rotted his brain. If you'd been there when Leonard did this, you might have talked him out of it, you might have just sanitized his wound properly and let him heal up, or worst case amputated the finger. But you weren't there, and no neither is Leonard. His body is there instead, bumping around in the dark, and, thankfully for his dignity, not conscious of how little he has left. Always a handsy grabber type, Leonard's stiff corpse grabs at you and nabs the stock of your rifle (0) before you can turn to shoot him.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, he just struggles with the rifle. If more he grabs it away]He is more interested in the gun than in eating you for a moment and pulls the stock back towards his mouth (5).[If my 2nd+1st <=10, you hold onto the lighter. If more you drop it in the struggle, lit or not]You have 3 or 4 actions>focus (+1)>self guard (+2)>fight ghoul with rifle (if you have it)>shove rifle stock into ghoul's teeth (stun/counter attack 1-9p)>draw pistol>shoot ghoul with pistol (must be drawn first)>retreat>your idea[4th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6131053The gentle giants move about alone. Teamwork is a tool of colonial oppression, and that to their minds has something to do with not enough fried meat. So instead, as per their cryptic rhyming stategy meeting, they have decided that hunting alone is their strength.Pete puts a tripping hazard in front of upturned knife blades (3).[If my 5th+4th<=10, an NBA star will get a steak knife straight through his modest prefrontel cortex, if more he skewers his hand]You place tripping hazards at the top of stairs, invisible in the dark (1)[If my 4th+3rd <=10, the boy who fall on one of his companions, breaking both their necks. If more he dies alone.]You try hiding, but due to your sneezing in the dust, heavy breathing, or your jittering nerves, you can't sit still (0) or keep quiet and are obvious.[If my 3rd and 2nd <=10, the person who you meet first will freeze. If more he will yell for help]You ready your truncheon to quickly ambush the first person you see, and you are up to it (5). [If my 2nd+1st <=10 one of the group will cut his arm open breaking through a plate glass window. If more they will come in through the doors][The group will be attacking after your next response]You have 4 actions>focus (+1)>self guard (+2)>lay tripwires>put on belt>load cart>hide>lay boobytrap>ambush>sneak away>sneak outside>distract [+1 calamity]>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6131743>Soon the quaint dwelling has turned in a genuine haunted house, with bumps, and crashes, and a scream piercing the night, underscored by pained ebonics screeching from someone who never learned how to properly clear a window in the apocalypse. How sad.>Pete has other worries though. The man in front of him. Despite the low light, what little details are visible seem to jump out, the shaking, the wide eyes in the dark, the blade still catching a bit of light.>The enemy is not a ghoul, but he is armed and dangerous. It must be done. It's him or you, sadly. And Pete has the mental prep, the element of surprise, and the range.>Just go through the motions. Don't overthink. Disable threat, then reposition and repeat.>Attack the man in the room.>Either finish him if he can still fight and has his weapon, or go for whoever else has had time to step into the room.>Sneak away>Guard self[Looks to be three dead, one injured, and one uncertain for now from the ambush. I'm expecting the wounded man's partner to stick with them, so we could be down to as little as four active enemies starting next turn, maybe three if Pete rolls well and gets the surprised guy's teammate. Let's see how it goes!]
>>6132328You hear a window shattering, and some crunching followed by screaming, a full throated scream, like he meant it. For once, a melanin enhanced citizen without exaggeration.[If my 5th+4th <=10, his compatriot will start laughing before gashing their arm open while entering through the very same window. If more the cut man will bandage himself.]The enemy is not ghouls, strange given the season. You seem to have heard several things go bump in the night, but suddenly tonight the ghouls are all gone.[If my 5th+3rd <=10, the ghosts of the dead will plague you after tonight. If more you'll sometimes be crippled with fear that they've risen from the grave to find you]The boy in front of you halts when he sees you from the corner of his eye. He is maybe 13, but he already stands 5 foot 10, and you can hear his heart race, as you rush across the room and swing the club across his temple (3) times. He collapses after the first blow, and you leave his body twitching on the ground in a slowly spreading pool.[If my 4th+3rd <=10, the dead boy will have not told anyone where he was going. If more his older brother will be out looking for him.]You step towards the door to the hallway and hear some footsteps, and bringing your shovel down as hard as you can you split someone's face open along their left eye. When he reaches up to grasp at his wound you slash him across the face with the shovel for a second blow (2).[If my 4th+2nd <=10, he bleeds to death. If more he will regain consciousness and come after you]You crouch as you enter the hallway, stepping lightly (3) and avoid the notice of any of the others.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10 you don't leave a trail. If not you were Cut in the fighting and are dripping blood away from the bodies, causing a -1 Stacking Calamity Debuff per turn until you bleed out or stop the bleeding]You decide to keep your guard up, and protect yourself (+2). Not a minute too soon either, because of the 10 boys that came after you, (8) of them had participated in a ritual beforehand, having eaten a fallen chieftain. They didn't know, was that the cheif had been cut up and prepaired before he could reanimate, having contracted his own infection the day before from a foot wound.[Of the 5 dead, 4 will reanimate on the next turn. The one with the knife in his forehead could not reanimate no matter what][If my 3rd+1st <=10, half the ghouls will attack the gang, if more they will only attack you.]You hear the last 3 break through the back door. [If my 2nd+1st <=10, they will split up. If more they will stay together.]>[Once ghouls enter, ghoul draw replaces calamity mechanic]you have 4 actions>focus (+1 success)>self guard [+2 against calamity]>distract [+1 calamity]>lay tripwire>put on belt>hide>ambush [+1single target]>stop the bleeding (if applicable)>pulp corpse head (single target move. Prevents reanimation)>sneak outside >your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6131193>shove rifle stock into ghoul's teeth>draw pistol>shoot>scramble for lighter on the floor
>>6132399>With a wince, Pete tears off a nearby piece of curtain from the hallway window. Not a great idea to trail blood everywhere. Though he flicks some further down the hallway before stanching the bleeding. It might lead them astray while he circles around to take out more.>He isn't the one with the worst cut it seems, as a slightly different tone of screamin echoes from the same place. He didn't trap anything back there, so did two of those guys hurt themselves on their own or something?>He...definitely isn't the one who's worst off. He never did get a clear look at his attackers before. That kid looked young despite his size...old enough to kill for sure, but some things are never easy to rationalize away. At least he wasn't even younger. Pete likes to think he could do it if he had been six or seven, but it's different from putting down a ghoul. Especially with so few people left.>And of course it's Hallow's Eve, so his ass may get haunted. Because this isn't a regular apocalypse, he's sure of it still. Ah well, things to consider once all hostiles are dead or routed.>Looks like a group just broke through the back, and they're stomping around and staying clumped up. May be time to move outside and circle around. Not without a parting gift, though.>Stop the bleeding>Tripwire in the hallway. Classic bait and switch, slightly after the blood stops. Pull out a chair a little further down the hallway after that, and put the most out of place item he can find in it. Doll, teddy bear, potted plant, old framed family picture. Whatever. Guy comes in looking down at the blood, sees it stop, looks up, is weired out by the chair, approaches carefully while looking at it, falls for the tripwire and falls on the chair, hopefully braking something or cutting themselves. Not the greatest, but cheap and should delay the group. Would make for a nice ambush, but Pete somehow has this feeling he should be out of the house now. Like, right now.>Sneak outside. Towards the noise to see just what happened out there.>If bleeding not stopped, try and redo the dressing to stop it. If not applicable, hide whenever he finds the source of the noise.[Stretching things a bit on that last bit, and on the tripwire for that matter. Pete has too little experience seeing people turn to know what to look for, and it's mostly the paranoia acting up, so he won't go and lose time pulping. But maybe it really is a sort of sixth sense after the event that brought him to the Merchant's. Or maybe it was even before that.]
>>6132513You slam the M44 buttstock into the ghoul's mouth and crack the late Mr Leonard in the teeth (3). It's audible, as the incisors fold and snap off, and he get's a throatful of bicuspid fragments and the slightest trace of cosmoline. The rifle drops to the ground.[If my 5th+4th <=10, the rifle clatters harmlessly to the ground. If more the rifle goes off]The strike to the teeth is a stunning blow, and he staggars back as you draw out your pistol (2) and open fire (5) times, striking him, finally in the face.[If my 5th+3rd <=10, one of the discharged rounds breaks a window, and punches through a shutter letting in some sunlight. If more, it also ruins some bottled water.]Mr Leonard, he didn't have his ID on him, so his last name is unknown to you, he was for all his dispair a sociable man. He even left a note, in the event that someone found his remains.[If my 4th+3rd <=10, Leonard's note details the location of his stash outside the gas station. If more it is just his sappy final regards.]You pick up the still lit zippo lighter (1) and having double checked that the corpse it really a corpse, you look around the interior of the locked up station.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, the gas station has been sitting locked since the outbreak began and is unlooted. If more, it has no snacks, cigarettes, and almost no water.]You look up and down the isles, and check the back rooms, putting together a rough map of the interior.You also find where Leonard was sitting when he shot himself. His revolver, a silly cowbow action 357 magnum, is laying on the ground.[If my 3rd+1st <=10, he had a full cylinder before topping himself off. If more he maimed himself with his last bullet.]You have enough light to make a full inventory. [If my 2nd+1st <=10, Leonard had a searchable pack with him. If more you find 3 corpses which he dispatched before ending himself.]You have 5 actions, all searches will succeed>focus (+1)>sleep>search shelf Color (state the color)>cut loophole in wall>search pack/ corpse (as applicable)>build ladder to roof>climb back onto roof>make inventory of possessions>reload weapons>count ghouls in parkinglot>fight ghouls>eat/drink>signal for help>your idea[5th-1st] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6132930>>6132513As the sun sets, you hear new sounds. Above the growling and howling that normally fills the night>triiiiiick oooor treeaat>trrriiiick ooorrrrrr treeeaatSomething is out seeking candy.You look around you, and it's dark everywhere. You're not sure where you just were, and none of the writing around you is intelligible.You can see slow figures, just their outlines standing around everywhere. Some close to you, others a hundred yards off. The shapes of men and women are clearly there, if a bit fuzzy.Then you see something enourmous and glowing and orange beyond them all.You don't understand at first. It's the season.It's the stress.It's been years and no one, from the most mad to the most brutal has had the bad taste to bring up that holiday.HALLOWEEN.So, hearing the old addage tonight as darkness overwhelms everything, you assume it must be you that's gone mad.But then you see the glow of a Jack-O'-Lantern floating 8 feet off the ground outside, a glowing, glowering visage. At the first you think it must be a joke, then an illusion.Then the Jack-O'-Lantern calls you by name>Hey PETE. Trick Or Treat! I'm waiting Pete.>Wyatt, I want candy. You better not let me down again.This spectre isn't kidding. You'd better hope you have something yummy to give him.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, you find something sweet in your pocket, and like a frieghtened kid summon the courage to give it over to the monster. If more he's going to be hungry for meat too.]You look around you. And curiously, you see eachother. Pete and Wyatt and far off a menacing glowing man in a pumpkin head.And far off, sitting at his desk, improbably, and yet expectedly the Merchant asleep at his desk. He doesn't seem to have heard the threatening ultimatum.You have 5 actions each in this sub-game.>search for sweet candy>search for meat>give treats to Jack>focus>fight Jack>guard self>guard the other>trade with the Merchant>your idea[5th-1st] 1-6p, 7-0f
>>6132975[Damn you, 9 roll in the 3rd slot!]>Drink clean water to parch my thirst. I assume there won't be enough to take with me, so really savor what's left as it drains out of the recently shrapnelized bottles >Search GRAY (Storage) - under the sink(s)>Search GRAY (Storage) - in cabinets>Make an inventory>Count the zombies
>>6133055>search for sour candy>search for sour candy>search for worms>say "Trick or Treat!" swap my stash with Pete's pile>give everything to Jack
>>6132930You manage to bandage the cut with some of the drapes (3). But the smell will still attract ghouls and mosters.You tie more trip wires in the hallway (2), this time in front of a chair. [If my 5th+4th <=10, all the thugs will fall in a group on the tripwire. If more only one will fall]You've dripped Blood around the trap as well, notthat you notice it much, but it serves as the bait of choice for ghoul hunters.[If my 4th+3rd <=10 Ghouls will be drawn to this trap while the thugs are tripping. If more they will arrive later]You try to sneak outside, but you're on the upstairs bedroom (9) and there's nowhere to go. Downstairs you hear the trio of dindus moving up the stairs up towards you, and at the base of the stairs you hear the twitching and hyperventilating of freshly reanimated boys thrashing around.>dafuk?>ah muh gawd!>ggaaaahhhrrA boy's voice. Or, is it a girl? Could you even tell? Someone starts screaming and shrieking.>he bitin', he bitin MAAAAAYYY!>get em. Cut him, cut dat haynYou hear more screaming and slicing sounds. >cut em again. Cut dat again.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, the boy who got bit will be incapacitated. If more he will bleed out and turn on the next turn]Ulbeing upstairs, and unable to get out of the house, you choose to hide (3) inside a bedroom.But as you look for where to hide you spy out the window (10) ghouls approaching slowly in the green moonlight. And among them, slightly behind, a glowing orange pumpin is advancing towards the house. He appear to be on fire.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, the ghouls eyes will all begin glowing, making them easier to see and hit +1, and they will attack in 2 turns. If more they will have regular eyes and attack on your next turn]>[if i have not reitterated it, you still have a +2 to melee kill range ontop of other modifiers]You have 4 actions>focus (+1)>self guard [+2 calamity]>run out of house>suprise attack thugs (kill attack)>cripple thugs (wounded people draw ghouls)>attack ghouls>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Ghoul draw] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6133055>Focus>Search for sweet candy>trade with the Merchant>Sort through pile to make sure the candy is good, and toss whatever isn't>give treats to Jack[Wyatt, please stop trying to trick the fey/hallucination/spirit of Halloween, or we'll never be rid of it!]
>>6133112>Okay. Ghouls in the house, and you're upstairs, Pete. Great. Now, what do things look like outsi-"Oh.">At least this makes them better targets?>Why yes, Pete, the *supernaturally glowing eyes* on the *litteral walking dead* outside accompanied by *a giant floating pumpkin* are a good thing actually. This is great! Everyhting is coming up Milhouse!>Pete takes a few deep breaths as he withdraws from the window and towards the stairs, letting the sounds wash over him, aiding to paint a mental picture as he figures out this mess.>Two prongued idea, then. Fortify the stairs, act as an anvil while the ghouls press from behind as a hammer, forcing the intruders to retreat. Then it's just ghouls in a chokepoint with height advantage. You've done better in worse engagements.>Second part, use the time the barricade buys to pick a window, pick a solid anchor point, and fashion a sheet rope, to be used when the coast is clear or if the position is breached.>Honestly, at this point Pete is all but willing to write off the damned carts and just leave, and maybe torch the house. But part of him is a completionist and wants to wrap up everything, and another part would rather not have to wonder if he burned a wounded opponent alive in there. There are lines one must consider, no matter the circumstances.>Right, nevermind, back to the present. The three stooges downstairs seem to have somehow all fallen for the same trap, and the ghouls going for him ran into them at the same time. That should buy him time, and the guests outside look like they won't be here for a little bit.>Self guard>Fortify top of stairs, drag furniture over, maybe roll some lighter items down the steps to break up any group trying to climb.>Repel any assault on the upstairs>Start getting a mental map of the rooms. Where is the horde coming from, which rooms have windows, which have bedsheets or curtains, any solid looking bedposts, furniture, uncovered structural wodden beams maybe? Whatever might hold his weight and which he could tie a sheet rope around.
>>6133093Ah yes, clean water (3) glasses full. That's what you've got, less the one you just drank and that leaves you with 2 cups of water. It leaves you feeling refreshed.[Refreshment give a +1 for 5 turns]The rest of the store is untouched. Not the hole in the storm shutter, or the busted floor to ceiling glass pane, those parts are touched.>this evening the shutter and window were both deeply affected by the actions of a stranger. Tune in to see how Angela and fixes things that were Touched by a Bullet, 7pm Central on the Hallmark channel.Now who could have said that? >hey buddy.A voice is scratchy, and you can almost smell the turkish smoke wafting over towards you.>hey there, fella. You alright? You got a bit shook up. He looks, for his etherial demeanor exactly like Leonard, except he isn't wearing the same boots, or the flannel shirt. Now he's in a plain shirt, probably grey cotton T-shirt and he's enjoying a cigarrette. >i'd love to offer you one, but i'm not going to.He tells you. More mocking than joking. There isn't a cigarette in the whole building. And if you were a smoker yourself it would bother you more than it does.[If my 5th+4th <=10 you brush it off. If more you start to jones for a smoke. ADDICTION, if unfed can debuff your calamity -1, and will keep you from sleeping -3 to falling asleep]You go into the back and search around under a sink (3), finding an old apron with pockets on the front. [If my 4th+3rd <=10, the apron has some bullets in it. If more the apron is just an apron]You search again, this time in the cabinettes (0), a stack of magazines, among them the Hobby Farms May 2010 issue.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, you also find a seed packet tucked beween the pages, if more the section on water filtration is eaten by silverfish]You decide to make an inventory, but it's (9) time more than you really could list.>hey Termelon, I stole one of your cards. Also, I left a mess in the restroom, but this place is yours now, so YOU'VE got to clean it up. And um, uh, you're going to run out of water in a couple days. So, I hope you like being really thirsty.The spectre of Leon puts his hands to his throat and gurgles and gags in a grotesque manner.[If my 2nd+1st <=10 Leonard is a real ghost, who can help you. If more he will give incessent bad advice and try to get you killed.]You still refuse to acknowledge the thing standing there, following you around the store. Back near the front, you decide to count the ghouls outside (3). There are approximately 279, at a glance. All around the building it could be over a thousand ghouls. You have 5 actions>focus>search by color>read magazines>eat (+1 success for 5 turns)>sleep (+1/5 turns)>drink (+1/5 turns)>cut loop in wall>signal for help>search corpse>fight ghouls>talk to Leon>your idea[5th-1st] 1-6p, 7-0f
>>6134309>Scold/rib Leonard back, tell him to help me find a way to survive, seein' as it's his fault I'm in this mess and whatnot!>Search GREEN>Search GREEN>Search BLUE>Search BLUE
>>6133103You find (3) Sour candies in the shape of Haribo shoes and then (3) more Sour shoes. You search for and find (1) bag of gummy worms. >trick or? WHAT?!? No, Termellon, hands off!Pete starts grabbing back his candy bag, unwilling to let you so much as glance at his haul. You snatch at it anyway, pushing at the boy, and grabbing at his baseball mask, chiding and laughing.But he thumps you away with a plastic bat, knocking your candy basket and so you give up. (0)Grinning and giggling you bring your things over towards Jack and set them down near him, but don't get close enough for him to grab at you. (3)>>6133285You focus (+1), you're not taking chances. You search for Sweet Candy[Don't we all?]And you find (3) bags of candy, the sweetest they make; the sweetest that can be found in the halloween horror world, or 'Jack's Candy Extortion Excursion', or whatever you call it. You can trade (2) items with the merchant.>trade? What?The Merchant picks up his head from slumbering and asks you what you need, what you'd like. >you've got heads? I assume?[You'll have to specify what the trade is, but you have the successful trade option]You try sorting your candy (8) unsuccessfully. The more you pick at it, the more it appears to run about, to flow like water, to shift in color and size and shy away from you, as though it is alive.Finally, you give it over to Jack. All the sweet treats.Jack starts to pick at the candy as greedily as you might expect, and the glowing figures around him glow brighter, twitch and jerk about, as though pulling at something, and you can hear twigs and vines being stretched and torn before 10 (7+3) of these glowing, former villagers begin walking towards you. Looking around, you're hemmed in by a large rockwall, leaving you no escape except through the cornfield, which the intensified glow of these ghouls, who, incidentally, will be attacking you in a moment giving you just enough time to react.There's a scythe and a pitchfork laying nearby.Which do you grab?the Scythe (multi target -1 succes)ORthe Pithfork (single target +2 success)[Im posting these as I can, but I figure whoever responds to this first gets first choice.]You have 4 actions>focus (+1)>guard Pete (+2)>guard self>attack enemy(ies)>talk to merchant>talk to Jack>your idea(s)[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6135209Wyatt wipes his slimy, wormy, sugary, sour hands and gets to rooting and tooting. A whole lot of tooting.>Pick up the Scythe>Guard Pete>Attack enemies>Attack enemies>Ask Jack, "what do you want ferm us?! Why don't you help us? We gave you candy!"
>>6133287You guard yourself (3). These days, you can't be too careful, what with the end of the world and the whole cannibalism thing. This is no time to be frivilous and let strangers nibble your bum. This isn't like the LAST Apocalypse. This one is worse. This one is fo' real.You push that couch down the stairs (3), you throw that potted plant. You never liked that plant. That plant has been talking behind your back. Good thing you were guarding yourself, it might have been worse.You see a figure trying to make it up the stairs, undeterred by the plant. But you knock him back so easily, it looks like he slipped and slid down on his own (2). You try to make a mental map (8), but it's nothing doing. You are a Tee Pee and a Wigwam, that is to say you are:>Two TentsThe thugs downstairs, apart from their screaming and falling to the ground are under the jaws of the other ghouls now. [If my 5th+4th <=10, they kill off half that number of ghouls and will fight on the next turn, being trapped at the base of the stairs. And if more they are torn to pieces]The glowing demons infested monsters and their Provencial European Harvest theme supervisor are unrelenting and unnerving maniacs. True they've not really done anything to you as yet, but it's the holidays, and a weeknight. Perhaps they've got things on their mind. Life is a string of unavoidable distractions for the undead.[If my 4th+3rd <=10, the barricade holds, if not it is climbed over and fighting happens on your next turn]Your carts downstairs are full of noting but empty glass jars, stationary, wax candles, lightbulbs, boxes of nails and of screws. All the things which you've been in the habit of accumulating for John's farm, and which has kept you fed these last months. If you can manage to retrieve these carts and secure them back, you'll have your entire winter taken care of and can rest and read and do minor safe work until springtime. Unless you burn the whole house with these inveterate enemies of yours, alive or dead, in which case you'll have nothing left except some accumulated rest days and food, and again you'll start with nothing.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, the Temptations will fight on for an extra turn even after being bitten. If not they will panic and capitulate, only delaying the ghouls as food]Fortunately you are upstairs, with only a minor bottleneck to defend, and can, in theory fight them off until they all lie in a heap, instead of their present horde of 14, to which, incidentally, the screaming of The Temptations, has just drawn (7) new members.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, the glowing advance outside will be delayed another turn. If not, it will attack your next turn.]You have 4 actions>focus (+1)>self guard (+2)>fight ghouls (you have +2 success range)>reinforce barricade (+2)>guard thugs (gives +2 to keeping them from being eaten)>jump out an upstairs window (-3 to calamity but it is automatic)>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Ghoul draw] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6135209>Pete picks up the Pitchfork as prudently yet precipitously as possible and pokes the prowling poltergeists plenty.>Focus>Guard Wyatt>Attack!>Attack!
>>6135523[Admitedly I'm not sure if the Temptations are the group trapped at the base of the stairs, or the two outside, or the rest of the...basketball bandits let's say.]>At least for now, things are definitely not terrible. Pete very carefully thinks around more postive descriptions, owing to the great universal constant known as Murphy's rule, and fate having a sense of humor.>Still, the intruders and ghouls seem decisively engaged with each other all throughout the house, and the men, to their credit, are fighting and dying like warriors, while the glowing horde is dithering outside>Does Pete feel bad for taking the opportunity to shore up defenses and making murder holes instead of holding the line against the tide of undeath aongside his fellow man? No, not really, they still tried to steal his stuff and likely leave him beaten bloody for the ghouls with little to no remorse. He will do his best to ensure they are put down and either given a Viking funeral or left under a sheet for their kinsmen to come collect them for proper burial, though.>For now the barricade holds, and he has meatshields to spare, so he keeps dragging stuff over, keeping an eye out for anything interesting as he goes with the lull in the action on his end.>Focus>Reinforce the barricade>Again!>Search the rooms for stuff, things to make an escape rope of, and things to tie an escape rope to. You never know![Might as well use my luck to get the numbers on my side!]
>>6134332>so a smoke is out, but how's about some help? This bein' yer fault.>aren't you the blamer? You shot me, remember? It was all of ten minutes ago. What a projection complex. Help you? Yeah ok. (3) things. You're about out of water, so you'd better figure out how to purify some. The coffee pots and other stuff in here is more than enough to boil stagnant water, and if you manage to find any sand, you can create your own water filtration system, and if you get enough fuel you can distill water, and if you find a warehouse you can drink their bottles of water. Another thing is your food situation. You better get your canned goods in order, I'm not sure but that you've only got about 3 or 4 weeks of food, tops, probably less. How do you figure to get out of here anyway?>how you thank I'm a get out?>through the door?>the door? There's hundreds of em out there!>1467 zombies>huh? >well generally. Right at this moment there are, they come and go. That's the third thing. They're able to see smell and hear you, so you'd better keep quiet, keep out of sight and figure out what to do with your toilet, because they can smell tour waste, your sweat, and your blood. Probably not so much in here though, but don't start shitting on the ground Ok? Have some propriety.Realizing the deficating in the middle of the room is not the best idea, you decide to search the office twice, finding (4) a Can of Smeat, and (3) a jacket.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, the jacket has items in its pockets of the categories indicated by the numbers. If more it smells like old beer, but it is warm.]You search two of the 14 Blue automotive shelves, turning up (3) a trucker's hat with Mac written on it, and (2) a dead rat corpse.>There it is!Leonard exclaims, coughing it out a bit. And then he motions to slap his hand to his forehead, but the hand drifts through and comes out the backside like a glitched computer graphic.>i couldn't find that damn thing, I must have chased him around for a year. Rats breed pretty fast you know, provided they're fed.[The numbers on the sections are searchable amounts, so the blue shelf had 14 places to search and you've used 2. The office had 4 and you used 2 etc. The precluded items will be changed if you hit those, cigarettes (5-drugs) will be no-dose or something realistic]You have 5 actions>make loophole>search by color>eat>drink>sleep>fight ghouls>talk to leon>read>search corpse>signal for help>talk to Leon>your idea[5th-1st] 1-6p, 7-0f
>>6135874S>Search GREEN - Office>Search GREEN - Office>Convert the office into my bathroom now that it's been cleaned out. "Please look away, Leonard. I can see your ectoplasm, I know you're still watching.">Search PINK - Drinks"Phil Trayshon? Where?! There's a dang ghoul in here with us? Aww, shucks, quit screwin' with me. All I needs me is a can of Physician Lightning of Mister Pobb." >Search PURPLE - Counter"Gots ta be some nudie mags to lookit when I'm bored... Don't care what that lyin' goodfernuthin' phAntasm sayz," the hillbilly coos to himself.
>>6135248You choose the scythe. You back up yer pardner (+2) and to commence to a slashin' (5) and bringing in the harvest of (2) more. And oh, how those glowing pumpkins fall down. Rather a convenience, that they're simply laying there. Your sticky hands are now sticky with the gooey slime.As your companion finishes his attack, you catch your breath, asking Jack the meaning of his fickle attack.>whatcha want you ol' punkin man?>MORE!And his eyes flash green and orange, small flames of etherial fire.However, you are not unscathed as you are clawed (8) times, and begin Bleeding [-1 stacking]>>6135631Pete takes the pitchfork and focuses (+1), and guards Wyatt (+2) before stabbing a pumpkin headed woman (6) times and a glowing eyed ghoul (3) times before they collapse in a heap. You do so without injury (1).Jack, still munching his candy watches and applaudes the scene, enjoying the spectacle. He salivates over the violence, and his jaws seem to so drip more at every swing of the scythe and every glowing spurt of blood. There is only one ghoul left, and it mawls Wyatt, inflicting his (8) cuts.The Merchant seeing the fight, though far away has trained a rifle on the crowd, and fires.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, the Merchant picks off the ghoul with a rifle, if more he only cripples it]You each have 4 actions>focus (+1)>guard the other (+2)>fight ghoul>stop Wyatt's bleeding>loot bodies >take heads>trade with merchant>give candy to Jack>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6136538>Call out to Pete, "you git the last crawler, I'm gonna put ol' Jack here in a box... Git it? Didjee git it?" [Support +1 to Pete(?)]>Grab a nasty, gunky pumpkin, full of guts and seeds>Run towards Jack, fighting off my injuries"Hyou hwant moOore? I'll give hya more!">Throw the gunky pumpkin (the gumpkin, if you will,) into Jack's greedy mouth
>>6136690>everything failed (except the support)Curse you, Jack
>>6136538>Pete decides finishing the crippled ghoul can wait until he's helped Wyatt patch up...and he's already gone. Great. Well, he can probably handle himself. Right. He made it to adulthood alive at least, so there's some hope. Maybe.>Focus>Finish off ghoul>Loot bodies>Take headsTrust the shopkeep to see a talking, zombie-commanding, pumpking-headed apparition, and still decide to make deals. Honestly, Pete has to respect the man's commitment. At least he's helping out. Though it's likely so he can claim part of the loot. Again, Pete can't fault the hustle as he takes advantage of the Merchan't overwatch to go about claiming loot and heads. Maybe he'll find enough candy to placate Jack, assuming Wyatt doesn't do something very dumb...or he can just hope the merchant is willing to trade for a very big gun. Maybe a cannon?
>>6135643The boys outside, having both slit their arms open on broken glass, have succumbed to their bleeding and lay, one of them in the grass, and the other propped up against the side of the house.[If my 5th-4th <=10, they will be torn to pieces by the approaching horde of ghouls. If more they will reanimate.]You focus yourself (+1), and reinforce the barricade (5) with two loads of furniture (6) which should hold a while. [If my 4th+3rd <=10, the glowing horde will enter the house on your next turn. If more the burning pumpkin man will climb the side of the house.]Ignoring the chaos, you start searching the rooms and closets for anything to use as a rope, before finding a long orange extension power cord, sturdy enough to serve as a rope (4).[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, the thugs will dispatch the rest of the ghouls downstairs. If more they will wrangle the last one of the ghouls and use it like an attack dog]Downstairs, the Twotops, formerly the Fourtops, continue fighting and brutalizing the ghouls.>Xavier, get upYou hear slapping sounds>get yo ass up boy. Wake up! >Royal, you go yo heatr? look dat. Dey double doubles. >haha. Hey, ya hear me up there? trick a treat mufuka we gettin ya ass tunight. You hear mechanical clicking downstairs as the thug loads some of the 22 ammunition you scattered into a pistol.[If my 2nd+1st <=10 the thug will have poor aim, and will not have maintained the pistol, giving you a +1 against being shot. If more he will be a rare breed, a dangerous kid who has practiced and maintained the weapon, giving you a -1 to calamity]You have 4 actions.>tie power cord to something>focus (+1)>self guard (+2)>fight ghouls (you have +2 success range)>reinforce barricade (+2)>guard thugs (gives +2 to keeping them from being eaten)>jump out an upstairs window (-3 to calamity but it is automatic)>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Ghoul Draw] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6137488>Pete barely misses the noises of the pumpkin...whatever it is...clambering up the side of the house as he hears the small horde feast on something outside before moving inside the house."You might want to bail fellas, we're about to have more company!">Pete ducks back to avoid getting shot, he doesn't like the way that Royal guy is handling his gun. Admitedly, not constantly waving it in someone's face is a low bar to clear, but it's enough to make him potentially competent, and Pete doesn't want to take chances against bullets, thank you very much.>Somehow, even as he jovially adresses the thugs, pressed on two sides with a haord and who knows what else on the way, Pete feels fine. Frankly, he's got a big smile on his face as he goes towards whichever window the pumpkin head will come in from, and simply opens it after tying off the extension cord several times between pieces of furniture. The overcast skies mean no moonlight should filter through the window to reveal it."Come on in, my good fellow! And a Happy Halloween to you!">Truly, he feels fine. There's a sort of flow, long term problems forgotten as he moves about, and the dangerously addicting feeling, often leading the unprepared to avoidable doom, of being in control of the situation despite everything.>He waits for the pumpkin head in the middle of the room. The barricade will hold them, at least for a while. With the noise of them breaking it down, the ghouls are sure to pile in, leaving the outside clear enough in a pinch. Now to stay here and grab the strange fellow's attention long enough for it to trip, the it's like crawlers, step well to the side and whack the head. Well, stab at the neck in this case. The pumpkin may help prevent a head wound, but it doesn't have neck protection.>"Should've splurged for a Gorget Gourd, huh?" Pete can't help but snicker to himself as he ever so slightly bobs up and down, limbering up as he pictures different way the engagement will go and how best to go in for the kill on the pumpkin weirdo.>Self guard>Tripwire the window the burning pumpking man is going for using the extension cord.>Bait him into the tripwire, then sidestep him and finish him off.>Extra kill action, mash corpse otherwise.
>>6135886You clean out the drawers in the office desk and find (3) a store logo hat, and (5) a bottle of vodka. However as you prepare to relieve yourself on the floor like some mad homeless person, Leonard stops you (8).>hey hey hey, that may fly where you come from, but here we use toilets. You should try it sometime. There's a men's and a women's restroom. Or didn't you notice the signs on the doors. Drainage is your friend, as is not contracting cholera. You start shitting on the floor in an enclosed building and the zombies won't have to get you. Haven't you ever shat in a trash bag? Some survivor![If my 5th+4th <=10, the men's room has an empty toilet and unclogged drain. If more there is no toilet paper][If my 4th+3rd <=10, the women's room has an empty toilet. If more the drain is back up]You search the drink cooler and recover (8) intact bottles of Mr Pepper, who, due to legal troubles in the years leading up to the zombie outbreak had his medical license revoked, following a brief imprisonment.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10 the Mr. Pepper is consumable. If more it will have spoiled in the Texas heat, and be difficult to drink.]You check the back counter, jonesing for the photographic jew. You were quite the consumer of the oldest trade, at one time. Instead (6), you find a grey handle box cutter and a box of extra razor blades.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, you brush off the urge to look at vagine and booba. If not your addiction to visual stimuli, which you failed to satisfy while at the Merchant's compound, will preoccupy you giving you a stacking -1 calamity for the next week, until you dry out or find something, and give you -3 to sleeping]You have 5 actions>search by color [100%]>read magazines>eat (+1/5 turns)>sleep (+1/5 turns)>drink (+1/5 turns)>cut loop in wall>signal for help>search Leon's corpse>fight ghouls>talk to Leon>your idea[5th-1st] 1-6p, 7-0f
>>6137999>There's a men's and a women's restroom....................................../facepalm >Search TEAL>Search TEAL>Search TEAL >Eat>Cut a loophole in the wall
>>6136690You tell Pete to handle it, and proceed to talk some smack (3), the sort Jack ain't never heard. But the pumpkins on the ground are already rotting (6) they fall apart in your hand as you lift them. You try to move towards Jack, but the soft (ground?) seems to cling at your feet, and the blood loss is not helping either (6).[If my 5th+1st <10, the pumpkins are harmless. If more they are infected]You try throwing rot at Jack, but the rotting chunk breaks into (9) fragments in midair and scatters like water. Then you trip (0) falling into the mud, which gets your wounds dirty.[If my 4th+2nd <=10, you trip through a bush and land safely in a wheelbarrow. If more it twists your ankle, -1 movement, no unassisted escape]Your wounds remain untreated [-2 calamity]Meanwhile . . .>>6136730You focus (+1) and stab the ghoul through it's face (6) despite his outstretched hand, and his face seeming to emplore your to spare him. It was a lewd gesture, now that you think about it.And you don't think too hard on the subject. Instead, you loot bodies, (7) of them, and find >three handfuls of shotgun shells (15)>2 bags of gummy bears>a pint bottle of apple cider>a cigarette lighterYou stuff these things into your pockets before cutting off (3) heads.You're a bit tire, and the ground grabs at you too (0) causing you to trip into the mud. [If my 3rd+1st <=10, you trip over a shotgun. If more it was a branch and you've twisted your ankle, -1 movement, no unassisted escape]The Merchant has reloaded his gun and waves to both of you to come over. He is scribbling on chalkboard, but the rates and script are illegible:>^×@^'jjqjvdlvp377#jehsh>bajw8hf21&$&+>~¡▪>djw999gy030,'koJa``₩£Still you can understand him well enough>hi guys! You alright? Need anything? Got anything to trade? We're in a spot let me tell you. This place is wild.He's acting normally enough and pitches wood into the base of an old cast iron oven which crackles 15 feet from his wares, and smokes up into the sky. Propped nearby are stacks of wood crates and a wooden whiskey barrel filled with a few armloads of long guns sticking up.[If my 2nd+1st <=10, he has a great deal on weapons. If more he has a great deal on stolen European Art]Jack, still eating and ignoring you both retreats along a rock wall which boarders a dirt lane, and in his absence the weeds and cornstalks which had hemmed him in wither and collapse, leaving just the open a path past the Merchant, and along the path anx further on you see, here and there a harmless Jack-O-Lantern lighting a pathway along the side of a corn field towards an old village.You have 5 actions>loot bodies (3 left)>take heads (7 left)>trade with the Merchant (automatic)>heave bodies into wheelbarrow (if found)>load shotgun (if found)>stop Wyatt's bleeding>mend bad ankle>your idea[5th-1st] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6138128>Treat my wounds/stop my own bleeding>Focus>Ask Pete to wheel me to The Merchant>Scoop up some heads on the way over, grabbing for afros and Jerry curls, piling the scalps on my lap in the wheelbarrow >Trade in my scythe and heads for anti-biotics for my infection, a long gun and a plastic bag from a Cheez-Its box full of ammo. If there are heads left over, buy Pete and myself cool Halloween masks
>>6138187"No need to buy a gun, I'm damn near useless with one, you can take this one, just found it. Might want to buy a cleaning kit though, it was just sitting there on the ground for hwo knows how long. Oh, and here's ammo."
>>6138189"Also, damn, we just missed the Europan art deal, it seems. Shame."
>>6138190Shame.>>6138128Since I now have a shotgun, instead of a long gun, let's download the Merchant's mods pack, and buy a heating coil, electro-shock kit, invisibility cloak, double-sided head, extend-a-fork (pictured), or other upgrade for Pete's PowerforkOr idk, buy explosives
>>6138128>Pete loots the rest of the bodies, then sighs as he wheels Wyatt to the merchant."You know your ankle's fine, right?">He passes him the shotgun he's found, alongside the ammo. He keeps the rest, especially the gummy bear, considering Wyatt has already tried to steal his candy once..."Actually, scoot over for a bit.">Pete starts hauling bodies into the wheelbarrow, before letting Wyatt sit on top. The merchant said they count as one head if he recalls, it's just that cutting the head of is almost alwyas the more practical option, but the shopkeep can sort himself out this one time, right?>loot bodies>heave bodies into wheelbarrow>Wheel Wyatt and the bodies to the Merchant.>Load shotgun and pass it to Wyatt, along with the remaining ammo.>Trade for a second, better melee weapon. The pitchfork is a decent enough spear equivalent, but Pete needs something to carve into hordes up close, something mid-sized, blunt, that he could two hand. Longer than a police baton, but not an actual sword, or a full-sized quarterstaff. Also, a gun cleaning kit for the shotgun. If necessary, he's willing to trade the lighter and apple cider he found, but none of his sweets."Do you thing that thing wants us to senpaitachi ghouls for candy to give to it? Sounds strange, but not the strangest thing somehow."
>>6137931You self guard (+2). >you is tough. You is stronk. You has got dis. Dey caynt handle wacha gwine do.No, you don't talk like this. But you can guess who does. And you guess that a person who talks like this and goes about with a gun is not worth the trouble.This underserved gun toating youth, as often happens, is getting confident. As if he weren't already loaded with confidence, and 10 feet tall, and living on impulse. The whole stick, the entire cliché. This kids fits the bill Royally. [If my 5th+4th <=10, Royal shoots through the ceiling after falling off the barricade while trying to reach "yo ass." If more he takes a shot at you before you can dodge -1 to calamity for 1 turn.]Meanwhile, you set a tripwire (7) with the power cord, as if you had advanced warning. You probably saw him coming or intuitted it somehow. Whatever.[If my 4th+3rd<=10, he comes inside alone. If more he is followed up 2 ghouls dressed like scarecrows.]Meanwhile the other member of "gutta gutta fo lyfe" is downstairs in the fight of the ages. Abandoned, by his gun clad compadre, he is alone with his knife. A hunting knife. A dull ill kept knife.If my 3rd+2nd <=10, he will begin stabbing ghouls through the temple, in an unwitnessed, but impressive flurry. If more, he will be overwhelmed by the numbers, and retreat to safety.]No, it isn't easy, especially not tonight. But tonight is different, because tonight it IS easy. You done tripted dat pumpkin Boyeee (9), because you planned ahead, and then you crush his head (3).[If my 2nd+1st <=10, the pumpkin man will not reappear until you've left the house. If not you will see him coming across the lawn, while the man at your feet will beg for mercy][If my 3rd+1st <=10, the wrangled ghoul will remain downstairs. If more he will follow Royal over the barricade, even if Royal falls back down]You have 4 actions>focus (+1)>self guard (+2)>fight thug>fight ghoul>hide from gunfire (if applicable)>stop bleeding (if applicable)>escape down cord>jump out window (gauranteed w/-3 calamity)>loot corpse (digit determines single item)>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-4p, 5-0f
>>6138060Your palm now faced you set about searching the Teal colored meat keeper, and find (3), (8) and (10) pieces of rotten meat, though it is so old and dried out that you're not sure what it is, except for the old labels for hotdogs and whatever else.>ugh, please tell me you aren't going to eat that stuff. It's terrible for you. All those additives and the nitrates, don't get me started. That trash is only fit for the crowd outside. You may as well mix it with your own waste and use it for bait. Pure Ghoul Slop!Lawrence, in graphic description may have a point. The additives in the old meat have preserved something ot its substance, and they still smell faintly. If you wet them with something, or mixed them with waste, they'd give off a strong odor.[If my 4th+3rd <=10, you will find the rotten smell unpleasant. If more it will make you sick enough to vomit, and you will lose your water Refresh bonus]In the meantime, it's YOUR mealtime (6), you eat something of your food, just a ration, but it should tide you over for a while (+1/5).You also remain Refreshed (+1/2) for the time being.You again try cutting a loophole in the wall, and make some progress, but you tire before getting through (0).[If my 3th+2nd <=10 you will find a bottle of water in the back of the Teal cooler. If more you will find an A-frame stepladder][If my 2nd+1st <=10, you will find a copy of popular mechanics. If more you will find a half empty bottle of motor oil in a trashcan.]You have 5 actions>read magazines>eat (+1 success for 5 turns)>sleep (+1/5 turns)>drink (+1/5 turns)>search by color>cut loop in wall>signal for help>search corpse>fight ghouls>climb ladder (if applicable)>talk to Leon>your idea[5th-1st] 1-7p, 8-0f
>>6139764>self guard>kill scarecrow ghouls, and the wrangled ghouls if it gets to the room>use the ghoul corpses as improvised shields and fake targets against the gun-toting Royal. If the ghouls aren't dead, just bat their hands away shove them out the door to the room>fight Royal>Okay, pumpking head dead. His somehow very dextrous ghoul friends, not so much. Fixable problem one.>Two separate crashes over the barricade, one with a curse, one with a snarl. One pistol-wielding thug, one ghoul. Fixable problem number two.>Fix problem one, then use it to fix problem two.>Pete does his best to flow from finishing the tripped pumpkin-head fellow to taking care of his two ghoulish accolytes. Chop chop. Now the thug and the ghoul he and his friend wrangled likely won't be so nice as to tear each other the shreds. With the corpses in the room though, maybe Pete can close the gap, or distract Royal once he gets closer? Human bodies make decent sandbags, and could help throw off his aim, especially if he has time to set up one to look like it's still standing, or just throw a corpse at the guy and follow up with a strike to the gun arm.>Pete can feel his mind running on fumes as the increased tempo slowly builds up to a finale a lot closer than he'd care for. Whatever comes up, he has at least some kind of plan for. And there's little time to figure out what to do if that's not enough.[Boy this has gotten messy. I'm probably missing something obvious, and being a little too attached to sticking to the house, but that comment about pumpking guy coming back the moment I left the house is another good reason not to go for it, on top of the horde outside and the tanked calamity score. Let's see what happens...]
>>6138187You mend your wounds, tying bandages and the bleeding finally stops (3). You focus yourself (+1) and ask Pete to help you over to the Merchant, and he obliges, although he insists that you're really ok (1).>you're fine wyatt. Walk it off. Take a salt tablet.The scalps and jerry curled heads, you grab (8), including a familiar orange one. For the scythe, you get a written offer of >£`o0heuf8ii9$¥hshq`¥●¡&A hell of a deal, actually. But instead, Pete cuts you off and hands you the Shotgun, from the looks of it an old Browning A5. On the table, you see several revolvers and some strange semiautomatics, ancient looking Colts and Mausers. Everything the Merchant is flogging appears to be antiques, but new enough. The scythe and head bring you some medicine, and extra shells, and a pair of masks/costumes for each of you.>hows about a pie? The merchant asks.>a nice hot pumpkin pie, made of fresh hot pumpkins? You brought enough of them.The thought of eating a pie made of these things is almost too revolting a suggestion to bear. The heads are only mildly similar to human ones, but the faces resemble people in different stages of agony, as though the pumpkins grew inside of them.>but you've got to have something sweet. [If my 3rd+1st <=10 you scrounge up enough sweets to finish out the pie. If more all you have is sugar free gum, disgusting, untasty suger free gum.]>>6138190>the art? Yeah, it was pretty nice stuff. A nice German fellow came by for all of it, went on an on about the importance of paintints and Art to the culture of a Volk. You know what? It's not important. Nevermind about HIM.>>6138217>download?!? Ill lay you 10-1 you can't find a single digital item in this whole place. Look at this broomhandle.The merchant holds up an old 7.63 caliber top loading Mauser pistol. It looks almost new.>unless I miss my guess, I think we're in the 1930s. All this stuff is prewar, haven't seen any 1921s yet, but they must be around, because i've got this stick magazine. No Mas 48's but an STA '24. >how about grenades?>erm, a couple, sort of. Do you know how to use stick grenades? I think these are Russian, but look at the script>%qh^7uqjje80>I can't read a damn thing around here, and I keep trying to write but, look at that, it's illegible.>>6138260You loot (3) bodies. Candy in a tin, candy corn on the cobb, and a box of chocolate cigars. You have (8) bodies up into the wheelbarrow. They're practically weightless. In fact, pushing the whole cart, even with Wyatt sitting on top feels easy (2), you don't get tired. You've loaded the shotgun and passed it to him in quick order as the Merchant expounds on the script, the pies, the time (6).>a blunt object? Ive got this railroad sledge hammer, it's got some heft to it. The Merchant lifts and swings the hammer with one hand, and lets it clatter down on the table. It could easily crush a head, pumpkin or otherwise, or smash through a crowd.>[continued]
>>6141164>>6138187>>6138260>[cont]>Jack get's you to fetch his candy? Something like that, probably. It's what everyone else seems to be up to around here.>everybody else?>what're you sayin? Like they's other folks? Ain't seen nobody.>familiar faces. I've been seeing folks coming through here for, well, all along.>how long you been here?>me? I think for . . . UmHe looks around him, at the things on the table, and his cast iron stove. >a year, maybe. As long as I've been here they've been trading and chasing down that road, going after Jack. They just keep coming through this field and heading towards that, whatever it is. Can't really make it out, but a house, or a village.>ain't you been down the road?>I've been busy here. And everything looks different, every time I look around it's all different. And then people keep coming along needing help, so I'm just here.>where are we, Shopkeeper?>somewhere bad. So the same place we've always been. You want to spare some of that candy? I think I might, that is, I could bake up a pumpkin pie. >gross. >well think on it.Choose>Bake pieOR>keep your candyAfterwards you both continue towards the village along an autumn path lit with orange flames of jack-o-lanterns. Armed to the teeth, and healed up you can see the distant glow in the windows of buildings, and hear the chatter and whisper of >trick or treatIn the corn field to your flank, you can see the stalks moving, and the sound of feet moving in the brush. From the village you think you can hear Jack's voice demanding and talking, a few distant gunshots, and some screaming.[If my 5th+1st <=10 you reach the village safely. If more you are followed by an equal number of ghouls from the corn field.]You each have 5 actions, or 4 if ghouls attack.>investigate the village>look for survivors>look for loot>find Jack>fight ghouls (if applicable)>focus (+1 sucess)>guard the other (+2 calamity)>look for vehicles>search homes>search police station>search school>search church>search shop>search mortuary[5th-1st] 1-5p, 6-0f[1st, if applicable calamity/draw] 1-5p, 6-0f
>>6138060[So the gas station setup is going about the way I figured. But i know it's taking a while. Not to cut to the chase if you don't want to but I can expedite it a bit on the searching, and summarize what you find, based on what you practically would find. It's a sort of solo escape/survival puzzle at this point.]You have time to think about your situation. Now that you're out of the sun it gives you time to reflect. And anyway, what else is there to think about besides your desire for dirty pictures? You are currently about 4 miles from where you were a month ago. Or has it been more? It started well, you all drove through the inner gate and the Merchant bid you good luck. You didn't see a thing for a few blocks before the first ghoul incursions. Ray looked through some car trunks, and found them unlooted, though empty. You parked in an office building lobby the first night, and examined the final scene of some terrible survivor camp that went through starvation years before. No ammunition left, no water, just ritual drawings on the walls by whoever must have lived the longest. All the wooden doors and furniture in the whole 8 story complex were removed, and apparently burned at some point, judging from the ash pile.Over the next week you had skirmishes over a ten block stretch with enough ghouls that Andy expended an entire storage box of ammunition, and went down to a machete to save the rest.The Slav was very quiet after the first night, and didn't want to eat much of his rations. He didn't venture far from the Ambulance except to cover Ray while syphoning black diesel. >no animals here. Even this trees, they are dying. The path you travelled wound several blocks in spirals and backtracking, made all the worse as someone had removed all the street signs. Some address numbers were unobscured on building faces, but all the signs were gone. 1276, but which street? There was not much help in the key map. Once disoriented you had to count over, so many blocks from the freeway, and left her and then right, and reconstruct your path to keep your location correct. Not that you'd gone so very far, but the deadends, the exploded streets, the impassable rubble, it was mad. As though the people had tried to barricade every city block, had failed and had retreated only to attempt it again. The city was a mess of streets clogged with burned out oceans of vehicles, and collased buildings.The further you progressed, and as you clocked your map, you realized that you were only moving further south. East a block and then back west, around and around.Yet every few blocks you found Mike's trail markers, though how he figured to bring a large rig through here you were less sure about. And the food situation grew worse.In the meantime you grew sick. Your fever started after leaving the office, and you laid down in the back as Andy drove, and you declined for two days. You couldn't keep anything down, and you could hardly sleep.>[continued]
>>6138060>>6141185You drifted back and forth for days, usually unresponsive, hallucinating. You screamed out in your sleep, and the others grew weary of caring for you. They took to leaving you in the ambulance, tied locked inside, and searching in a trio. Andy and Ray had played the scavenging game for the last three years as a duo. In their way they could be considered rich. It was not lost on anyone the large outlay of ammunition they were willing to invest on every venture, and yet they always wound up with more than they began. The stash of quality arms made it easier for them to switch calibers from one journey to the next. Ray was a fan of semiautomatic rifles, good for human and zomvie alike, these had the reach and stopping power to kill or cripple whatever he found, and didn't require him to spend too much time focusing on hitting the brain.Andy was methodical about shooting, and his choice of a small caliber let him shoot for hours without tiring. He had been a hunter before, and always used small calibers. Light weight, and leaving no room for error, he forced himself to hone precision and consistency, standing sitting laying prone, or walking about in the woods. He also favour the .22lr due to it's cheapness. In the years before the plague, he could find it anywhere, and even during hyperinflation it always trailed the price of centerfire cartridges.The Slav fit in well with these two, and would typically draw away the ghouls in groups and then chop their heads open with a machete. Meanwhile you sweated in the truck, and dreamed of fire and a city with no sunshine, and the time a month into the outbreak when you witnessed a company of soldiers use a quarantine camp for a butchershop. They'd kept the radio broadcast going for a while, and drawn in people to rob and consume, until someone fought back and burned their camp down.Since you got out of that, you'd been leary of anyone offering help. Nothing was free, and anyone offering something free was probably looking at you and your possessions as their communal property. You'd met plenty of communists since this began, though, mercifully, they never lived long without being massacred by the civilian populations they tried to control. The only survivors now were indominable, though not precisely ruthless.You dreamed that men were made of cardboard.You dreamed that the word had been filled with sharks and alligators and that you lived in a hotel on the coast where everyone pretended not to notice the violent animals lingering in the hallways and the lobby, feasting on the other guests. Mostly you dreamed of walking around in the dark, not sure where your family had gone off to. Knowing completely what had happened to the world around you, and not having shoes on your feet. You always dreamed that the streets were slick with rain, but you never dreamed about thunder or lightning.[Continued]
>>6138060>>6144545Ray found a stash of kerosine in a hardware store, and packed the cans atop the truck roof. The interior was growing full already. In fact, it was a problem, the storeage of goods. The men had found plenty of black diesel. They'd found a rolling hydraulic floor jack in tgat self same hardware store, though not the oil extractor pump they'd been looking for, and moved from derelict to derelict for the next few hours draining engine oil until they ran out of recepticals, and filled a drum that had been wedged into the back of the ambulance. >find some coffee filters and magnets and we'll be in business.Half done with the job, but unable and unwilling to use the unfiltered oil, the fuel tank ran down. In the meantime the constant gunfire and the truck had not gone unnoticed. That helicopter had made passes overhead, sometimes fast and high overhead, en route elsewhere, and other times had stopped a few hundred meters up to watch your group. In the last, the others had taken refuge in a mechanic's garage which could be secured, shut and locked the doors. Cleared the interior, and took two days to recoyporate while they set about filtering and prepping the diesel, as well as tooling up the rest of the ambulance. They'd no welder or drills, but managed to remove plenty of excess weight and "useless gadgets", such as the onboard GPS.>no wonder that hump pilot knows where we are. Anyone can track this thing. Look at the size of it. No way it's a proprietary signal.The slav was in the process of removing an old early 2000's GPS box the size of a small microwave from under the passengers seat, but admonished.>do not break it, there may be design flaws. Sometimes this were connected to control modules to prevent oporations without connected locator. Maybe yes, maybe not so. Have you the voltage meter?They went on in this fashion for the afternoon, and ventured outside once, in a trifecta, to pull wires, fuses and several batteries from surrounding derelicts. It cost them, of their remaining ammunition merely 53 rounds, leaving over 1200 in all calibers, of which 1072 were compatable with their present arms. They had no nagant revolvers, nor any 327 magnums, nor any 9mm x21 competition pistols. It went without saying that they had nothing chambered in .50 Browning, and the rounds were less than pristine, but they kept these as well, assuming that there might be a use, or value, in having them later. At the mechanic's shop they also found usable filters, a steel walled building with lifts, though, of course no power anywhere.>without the special sauce the machine dies. Look at this place, so much expense hundreds of thousands of dollars if it's a dime, and at least three continents of manufacturing to put these machines together, and they're nothing but trash now for lack of fermented dinosaur blood.>dinosaurs? Really?>hyperboli, but yeah. There's no substitute for it. >i wonder how much of a man's life this shop represents?
>>6140333[Just noticed your reply, a thousand half hearted apologies]You self guard, (+2) you just can't be too careful. You're also surrounded, as Royal brought his guard ghoul, his ghoul guard, his seeing eye ghoul along over the barricade. You try to dispatch the 2 scarecrows, but dispatch (0). Their heads are bashed easily enough, but they just deform like bags of straw, and the creatures keep bristling and twitching. This situation was already making you angry. [If my 5th+4th <=10, you fly into a Rage. If less you keep your composure]You hear Royal coming, and grab both the scarecrows by the nape of their necks, forcing them to walk ahead of you into the gunfire (3).[If my 4th+3rd <=10, all of Royal's bullets lodge in the scarecrows. If more, one passes through and hits you, causing bleeding and a stacking -1 to calamity]Throwing the corpses towards Royal you attack the mass and bash in a head with (3) blows.[If my 3rd+2nd <=10, you killed Royal, +2 to calamity. If more you've dispatched his attack ghoul]The scarecrows and the rest of the piled melee lay thrashing in a heap. [If my 2nd+1st <=10, the ghouls are feasting on Royal, or the ghoul's, remains making them Sitting Ducks. If more Royal will take another shot at you, or if he is dead, his ghoul will lunge at you]You have 4 actions>focus (+1)>self guard (+2)>fight thug (if applicable)>fight ghoul>hide from gunfire (if applicable)>stop bleeding (if applicable)>escape down cord>jump out window (gauranteed w/-3 calamity)>loot corpse (digit determines single item)>your idea[5th-2nd] 1-5p, 6-0f[Calamity] 1-4p, 5-0f
>>6144941[It's okay, I wanted to wait and get both replies done, and then I figured the [cont'd] meant it was still in the pipeline, and mostly forgot myself! Also, I'm guessing that this line>If my 5th+4th <=10, you fly into a Rage. If less you keep your composureshould read "if more", like the others?Ah wait fuck, it's a 9, but I already wrote everything and I kinda like it as a departure from earlier posts. Oh well, either Pete can fly into a Rage anyway, or you can downplay it. Your call, QM.]>Pete is not having a very good night anymore. The earlier laughing mood's maic edge grow more pronounced as the -fucking- pumpkin little shits refuse to get their SHITTY FUCKING HEADS POPPED THE FUCK OPEN. So Pete just grabs them and heaves them ou the door and at Royal. And then he gets fucking shot. At this point he's running on so little patience and so much adrenaline the shot doesn't hurt, but being pushed back and almost sent sprawling is really, really throwing off whatever groove he had left, and now someone is going to hav to foot the bill for that, he thinks as he pulls his hatchet from the ghoul's wrecked face. But now the pumpkin ghouls are feasting on their fresh brethren, and he's in melee with fucking Royal and his SHITTY FUCKING GROOVE-RUINING GUN, AND...AND..."RAAAAGHH!">KILL!>KILL!!>BASH THEIR FUCKING HEADS IN!>BLOOD FOR THE STRAW GOD!>SKULLS FOR THE PUMPKIN THRONE!>Actions:>1:Kill Royal>2:Kill the ghouls>3:Kill whoever is left, or savage the corpses>...>4: Stop the bleeding, maybe, perhaps? That adrenaline won't last forever.[Welp. Cowabunga it is. Feel free to throw in a "The violnce has escalated" meme in there.]
>>6141175>>Bake pie>Pete contributes some of his candy to the pie. Who knows, maybe weird dream logic comes through and this winds up being helpful later. And if not, well they'll have some nice sugary pumpkin pie to soothe their sorrows.>Focus>Find Jack. First things first. Both because he screams main quest, and because he seems to be the starting point of everything that goes on around here.>Look for survivors. More hands make less work, and more ghoul killing.>Look for loot. Any bags of candy from scared off, or worse, trick and treating kids around, lingering on doorsteps on scattered in the streets?>Search church. At least give it a once over, to see in which category it fits. Those being protected holy place, survivor stronghold, desacrated former holy place/survivor stronghold, root of evil, in order of how good to how bad.
