Sunday, March 1, 2015

A Nice Neighborhood (Part 2)

Dawn looked between the two office buildings and saw the horde of zombies starting to wander away from the bar.  She waved Larry and Anna ahead, saying "Keep moving!  If that massive group sees us, we'll be done!"

Breathing hard, Dawn sprinted for the nearby building and cover...


Nothing to see here!

Continuing the group exploring their neighborhood, the next turn starts with a random event.  Odd, but whatever I guess...
Never Give Up!  Never Surrender!
The survivors eventually get to go first, and everyone manages to run around the side of the next office building.  One group of zombies is still moving towards where they were last seen, well behind the group.  The horde finishes the feast, and I start randomly moving the zombies.  It doesn't take too long, and I end up with a few groups of zombies instead of one giant mass...
Zombies disperse!
Rounding the building corner, Larry tucked against the shop's wall, covering the street with his pistol as the women ran to catch up.  Trying to control his breathing, Larry heard  voices inside the shop.  It was hard to make out very clearly, but he definitely heard four people talking about holding the shop.  Motioning Dawn and Anna to keep quiet, he waved them over.
"I heard people inside."  He whispered.  "Sounds like four of them.  They talked about killing anyone coming in."
"Looks like one just inside the door, by the window back here."  Anna said nodding towards the rear entrance.  "Do we just leave?"
Dawn looked around the empty parking lot.  The office building looming just to the south didn't have any entrance on their side.  A couple of small buildings were across the street, but easily visible to the zombie horde, just down the street.
"I'll lead the way in.  We have to get off the street, and this is our best option.  We're pretty well armed, maybe we can reach an agreement."  Dawn said, checking her pistol.  "Anna you follow up last, that rifle will be tough in close quarters."
Get to the shop!

The next turn I get another random event.  The team finds out what the last PEF is before triggering it.  It is going to be four gangers (PG+1) inside the cell phone store.  I should avoid them, but I don't want to face the zombies on the streets, so I don't have much choice.  Hopefully Dawn being protected and Hard As Nails will help.
They hear something coming...
Larry ripped the door open as Dawn ran in a crouch into the back room of the store.  "We're just trying to get away from the dead!"  She yelled, pistol at her side.  "We don't want trouble!"
A large white man with arm tats and two very large pistols stood by the door, looking shocked.  "Shit!  They're inside!"  he yelled, bringing his weapons up.
"Kill them!"  A young woman dressed for a biker rally yelled from across the room, aiming her own pistol at Dawn.  "This is our place!"
Entering the back room
The team enters the back, and triggers the Meet and Greet.  Dawn only manages one success, but that is also all the gang manages as well.  Being gangers, they decide it's time to Walk the Walk, and we go to In Sight checks.
Not the best face off
One female ganger goes first, firing at Dawn.  She missed both her shots.  Dawn and the male ganger go at the same time, and exchange shots at point blank range.  The ganger scores three hits, one should kill Dawn outright, the other two knock her down.  Ouch.  Hard as Nails kicks in, so Dawn ignores the kill result, and passes her two knocked down checks, and being protected will carry on.  Her two shots that hit result in a knock down, which turns out to be a kill.
One ganger left in the room
Anna and Larry both fire, but still being outside the building, their shots will have a chance to attract zombies.  Larry fires twice, missing with both shots.  Anna fires her assault rifle, getting two hits, knocking down the last ganger, taking her out of the fight.
Back room clear
To end the turn, Larry and Anna finish their moves, ending up inside the store.
Off the street, for now.
A lone zombie spawns from the five shots fired outside.  Thankfully not too many!
A lone zed
"Sam, Alicia?"  A gruff voice called out from the front room.  "If you bastards killed our friends, you're about be some dead assholes!"  Terrance yelled, racking the action on his shotgun.  "Brandi, let's kill 'em!"
With a scream the pair of gangers charged the back room.

Winning initiative, the gang goes first.  They pass man down checks, and decide to attack.  Straight to In Sight checks.
Unfortunate for the gang
In sight checks do not go well for the gang, both only getting one success.  Larry leads off with three, and tries to pick off both gangers with his BAP.  I was wishing I had switched back to his shotgun before this.  Oh well.  Larry manages to kill Terrance, the ganger with a shotgun.
Only Brandi remains
Dawn fires from the floor, and kills the last gang member.  The group is safe for the moment, although most of the zombies are closing in on the store.

On a side note, a house rule I play with is that shooting inside does not spawn more zombies, but will attract zombies on the table within 24".  Since zombies may be lurking in any structure, I figure it is a fair way to also give the survivors a chance to 'clear out' the zombies.

Finishing their turn, Larry and Dawn barricade the rear door, and Anna begins looting the gang.
That should hold 'em!
Zombies shamble towards the store
"It looks like we have a few minutes to get ready.  We will try and limit how many can get at us through the front."  Dawn looked at the large glass windows.  The gang had partially blocked them with a desk and display.  "We will fight in the front, and fall back through the back door.  One of us should be able to hold them at this interior door."  Dawn looked around at the expensive cellphones littering the floor.  "Let's see if there is anything useful before we leave."

The team has a few turns before the zombies start to arrive, and put it to good use.  They barricade the rear door to DV 3, the window to DV 2, and search the two rooms, as well as the downed gangers.  They get a unit of food, the various gang weapons, and a luxury item.
The team gets ready
Here they come!
With a crash, a zombie slammed into the rear door.  Anna stepped around the crates, aiming at the gap in the door.  The zombie was reaching through the damaged door, trying to grab it's living prey.  A quick shot and it's black brain matter sprayed out behind it's lifeless corpse.
"There's more back here!"  Anna could see a few just coming up the block.  "I'll hold the barricade, it's fine!"

The first zombie to reach the building came to the back door.  Anna easily handles it.  Her first shots were the ringing of the dinner bell though...
Zombie comes to the back door
With a tinkling sounds, the glass door shattered and splintered as the zombies crashed into the front of the shop.  Stumbling over the door frame and the few packages still left from the cell phone business, the undead reached for Dawn and Larry, who stood ready for the dead attack.
"They're coming in up here!"  Dawn yelled over her shoulder.  "Cover our backs Anna!"
Zombies in the front
Things were going too well.  The next turn starts with a random event...
Oh, great.
Randomly rolling, the back door barricade is what fails.  That kinda hurts.  The zombies win initiative, and more come pouring in through the shattered front.
More zombies!
As they charge, Dawn manages to shoot one, and then fights hand to hand, killing one and staying locked in combat with the last one.
Dawn holds the line
 Anna moves to the front room to help out, and to stay away from the now un-barricaded door.
Still plenty of zombies
Over the next few turns, the zombies come into the shop...
Zombies wander the streets
More zeds coming to the shop

Zombies everywhere!
"They're coming through the back!"  Anna yelled, punctuating her panic with a shot.  "We're trapped!"
Larry holstered his pistol, pulling out his shotgun.  The shop seemed to be a single mass of rotten flesh.  "We need to blast a way out!"  Yelling, he started shooting, filling the air with lead.
"Stay calm!  Keep them bottled up as best you can!"  Dawn yelled, struggling with a rotted jogger.  "If we panic, we're lost!"
Anna screamed as a zombie clubbed her, and she hit the floor, unconscious.  "Look out!"  Larry yelled.
The zombies have a good turn
As bad as it looked, it could be worse.  Anna passed 1d, and went Out of the Fight.  She passed her check for infection, so as long as she survives, no zombieism...  Larry passes 2D on the man down check.  Dawn does well in melee, and then the survivors get to go.
This is how you survive!
Larry kills two before running out of ammo, and then finishes off the zombie Dawn had knocked down.  Dawn turned and charged the zombie that had just knocked out Anna.  The zombies aren't through yet.
They just keep coming!
More zombies are wandering the streets towards the shop.
They shamble down the street
Plus around the back
Larry pulled Anna's limp form to the cover of a desk.  She was breathing, but had a nasty bruise on the side of her face.  He was sure she was alive, and a quick check showed no bites.  Larry looked up in the doorway and watched Dawn finish off the last zombie from the back room.  "Anna's out.  Maybe we should try and get back to the offices?"
Dawn looked out the broken back door, and then the shattered front.  "They are still out there.  We'll wait here and finish off what we can, and then try and make it back."  Dawn checked her pistol and wiped off her machete.  "I'd like to check that truck before we head back up."

The zombies get a couple of turns of activation without the survivors activating.  That's okay, I need them to get to the shop to fight them.
The zombies keep wandering over
More enter the shop!

Dawn and Larry clear out the front as another group enters the back.  You can see the back and forth as the zombies keep coming into the shop over the next few turns.
Clear for a moment
More come through the back!

Zombies in the front!
The crackle of gunfire slowly died away, leaving a quiet stillness on the streets.  Dawn and Larry looked out of the ruined storefront.  "Looks like it's clear."  Dawn said.  "Let's check the truck, and maybe that bar and grill.  If we can get some food or something useful, we'll be in better shape for our trip."
The streets are empty
I am still going to try and check the buildings, or find something useful to loot.  The group is so close to a success, so I'd like to get them the win.
The truck comes up empty
There isn't anything useful in the truck (no zombies either, thankfully) so Dawn and Larry try out the bar and grill.  There is a welcoming committee waiting inside.
It's a little crowded in here..
Once inside, they kill one zombie before closing to melee.  Things go pretty well.
Keep 'em down
They finish off the zeds, and search the bar.  Larry finds some food, and everyone is happy to call it a success.
The place is empty
Back to home base
Dawn and Larry carried Anna's unconscious form back into the office building.  Working together they managed to get back upstairs to the office they had been using as a home.  Slowly Anna came around, seeing the concern on the faces of Larry and Dawn.  "What happened?"
"One of them managed to club you pretty well."  Larry said.  "looks like you'll have a nasty headache for a couple of days."
"I hope nothing else is wrong."  Dawn said.  "We'll take it easy for a bit and keep an eye on you."  Taking out bag of pasta she shook it.  "We did find something new for dinner at least."

Thanks to the last mission, there is no need for a keeping it together roll.  Anna doesn't loose any rep from the mission failure for her (going OOF).  Neither Larry nor Dawn advance.  They did get two units of food and a luxury item for their troubles.  They also gained 3 BAP and a shotgun (they left one with the OOF ganger.) 

They still have another office building, and a couple of small buildings they could check out.  I think they will need to start moving out of the city soon.

16 comments:

  1. What a great climax to the scenario, the fight in the shop with the waves of zeds could have gone a lot worse.
    I have a similar rule about "enclosed" gunfire too btw.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it! The fight in the shop was pretty fun, luckily the zeds came in waves and not just one massive horde. I actually found the barricade failure to be a fun development, under the circumstances.

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  2. The action in the cell phone store was a bloody event :)
    happy to see the group made it out of there.

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    1. It was a close thing, and fun to play. Hopefully their luck holds!

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  3. Dude that was epic! Great episode, when Anna went down in the shop I thought the whole group was doomed. Way to gut it out man!
    I love these adventures, it takes me back, like seeing a new issue of a favourite comic on the shelf.
    Awesome job Steve.

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    1. Dude, glad to hear you enjoy them!

      I thought for certain when the barricade failed and Anna went OOF, it was going to be curtains...

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  4. Great action again. Love this adventure.

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    1. Great to hear you are enjoying the campaign!

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  5. Yeach! That looked pretty touch-and-go for a while. And it seems that *nobody* is ever pleased to see Dawn &co :-( !

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    1. The meet and greet checks have not been very kind lately. Just the luck of the draw I guess. It is tough to survive in the big city, maybe they will have better luck when they get to the 'burbs.

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  6. I like your house rules about shooting inside, noted for future use. Glad the team managed a success under such tough circumstances! Yep, must say I too am hooked on your batreps so keep em coming ;)

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    1. I'm happy you are enjoying the campaign, I'll try and keep it coming regularly.

      I admit, the group checking the bar and grill to get the mission success was a bit of a 'game' moment. With one person down, they really should have just run for the safe house. I didn't want to deal with a possible loss though...

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  7. Mayhem in a cellphone store? Looks like a new iphone had been released :)
    I really saw the team gone twice in that game, with the gangers and the zombie swarming the store. They have been lucky.

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    1. I thought they were in real trouble with the zombie swarm. Luckily they were able to get shots at the zeds before hand to hand most of the time. I wish they had another couple of team members, and at least one that was really great in melee.

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  8. Well that was a close one! I was thinking they were all finished when they started pouring into the store from the front and back!

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    1. The fight in the store was quite a bit of fun to play. Things felt touch and go on several turns.

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