Gimme Shelter (Part 2)

Dawn shoved Allen out the door.  "Let's move!"
"Mark will be fine!"  Allen said, but moved through the lot.  "He's pretty bad-ass with that bat."
"He wouldn't leave us, so we won't leave him."  Dawn said back, and led Allen back towards the wrecked SUV.

Dawn is back in action!

Picking up from where we left off, Mark is fighting zombies in the street while Dawn and Allen try to get back to help.  Mark is having a good day, and is down to 2 zombies he is fighting.

Mark faces the last 2 zombies...

He knocks them down.

Mark killed the last two zombies, and not seeing any others, ran through the partially open gate.  He almost ran into Dawn and Allen as they walked towards the gate.  "Hey!  You're up, that's great!"
"Sorry we missed all the fun.  Looks like our ride is trashed."  Dawn said as she looked at the SUV.  "The warehouse is clear, should we check anywhere else?"
"Well, we need a place to stay, and I'd like to know who our neighbors are..."

The gang is back together

It may be against my better judgement, but I intend on clearing the remaining buildings, and seeing if one of the vehicles left on the table can used.  I figure on clearing out the derelict building and area first.

Is anyone here?

Mark tried the front door, and found it unlocked.  "That's a surprise, you'd think it would be locked."
"Be careful, anyone could be in there."  Dawn said in a hushed tone.
"Good call.  Everyone ready?"  Mark said as he pulled his pistol out, holding his bat in one hand Mark pushed open the door with his foot.

Two zombies attack

On the first floor, the group finds 2 zombies.  Dawn shoots one, and Mark chooses to go straight to hand to hand.  Between them, they secure the ground floor.  The group moves up the stairs, wanting to clear the building before searching for anything useful.

One more zed

As they topped the stairs, a lone shuffling form lunged out of the shadows.  Mark fire once from his pistol, and the zombie slumped to the floor.  Looking around the empty room, several newspapers and a makeshift bed were found.  "Looks like someone may have been living here."  Allen said.
"I wonder if they turned into the zombies we have found so far."  Mark offered.
"Could be.  We should check the roof also, there is a ladder over here."  Dawn pointed out.
The group climbed the ladder, opening a small trapdoor to the rooftop area.  The view of the bleak burned townscape stretched away from them.  Suddenly, from behind a for sale sign, a lone man stepped out, brandishing a sub-machine gun.
"Drop yo shit and I let you go!" he ordered.
"No way." Mark raised his pistol.

A lone ganger on the roof

Using the Risks and Rewards deck (which I have been using for each building so far, and will continue) the team encounters 1 ganger (Rep 4, SMG).  The meet and greet goes rather poorly, and the ganger chooses to walk the walk.  He and Mark tie for first action, Mark fires, and so does the ganger.

Mark wins the draw-down

Mark fired his pistol twice, and watched the ganger flop to the ground, dead.  Allen let out a low whistle.  "Damn, I felt the shots cut the air between us.  Glad you got him."
Mark shook his head and lowered his pistol.  "Just once I wish we would run into someone NOT trying to kill us."

The ganger tries for all three members, and misses with three shots.  Mark fires twice, hits once and gets an obviously dead result right off.

Technically I could call it a win, and end the scenario.  However, as one team member died, and another went OOF, Mark may have trouble keeping it together.  I am going to use everyone while I have the chance.  The group searches the building, and finds keys and a unit of food.  There are only two viable vehicles on the table for the keys, so the team is off to see what their new ride is...

I am going to skip all the boring moving around parts - it doesn't add anything but time to the scenario.  I did roll each turn for initiative, in case of random events.

The first building the group checked was the nearby garage.

An empty garage

The garage was empty, searching it also yielded nothing.  Not a surprise, but it would be nice to find something useful.  A nearby shipping container is next.

It's a small container

That is empty

The area is apparently pretty boring - the whole area of the factory is empty now.  That leaves only the nearby Family Dollar discount store to search.

Mark walked towards the pickup truck parked outside the store.  He looked through the drivers window, and saw nobody inside.  "Well, I wonder if the keys will fit this."  He said as Allen and Dawn watched his back.  "We could haul all our stuff with this at least."
"That truck would be a decent ride for us."  Allen said as he rubbed a hand over his head.  "That fire is burning out, but I don't think anything survived we can use."
"Have you ever eaten at the Bell?  The fire may have improved things." Dawn joked.  "Although I was hoping we'd be able to find some nacho cheese or something at least.  I'd love a quesadilla."
With a grumble, the truck started.  Mark quickly shut it off.  "Well, looks like we have a new ride.  Let's check the store."

Mark finds their new ride

Rolling randomly, the pickup truck turns out to be the vehicle for the keys the group found, rolling for fuel, it has 4 units of gas - nearly a full tank!  Useful, and certainly capable of hauling their gear.  After finding out the keys will work in the truck, the group enters the store.

As they enter, two forms shuffle out of the shadows...

Zombies in the store

Sunlight tinted red and blue by the colored ads on the windows dimly lit the interior as Mark scanned the shop.  Two shambling forms stumbled from behind displays.  Dawn fired her SMG, the rattling burst sounding angry in the close quarters of the abandoned store.  Allen fired his pistol, and as the smoke cleared Mark stepped forward with his bat, attacking the lone standing zombie.

You know how this will end.

The group dispatches the zombies easily.  Looting the store gives the group one unit of food.  Apparently this area has been pretty thoroughly looted.  The only thing left to do is move the truck to the factory area, and take inventory from the wrecked SUV.  Allen and Dawn take up position at the entrance, Mark is going to drive the truck alone, just in case something goes wrong.

Allen and Dawn wait at the gate

Mark fired up the pickup truck, the growl of the V8 echoing like thunder in the ruins of the town.  "Better make this quick."  He thought.  "This thing is going to be heard for miles..."  Mark spun the truck out of its parking spot, and sped down the road.
Figures started shambling towards the sound almost immediately.  Emaciated undead figures were searching for their next meal...

pffft, its just one

bah, just one more.

Zombies converge on the gate

Mark skidded to a stop inside the gate, barely getting the truck stopped before sliding across the seat and out the passenger side door.  He grabbed his bat and was ready to face the zombies following the truck. 

Zombies sense the group

The zombies go first, and begin to close on the survivors.  Mark manages to pass 2D on a fast move check, and charges the zombies just outside the gate.

Mark has to be getting tired of this.

Mark ran out of the gate and started bashing zombies.  Allen gave him an encouraging shout, and closed the gate behind Mark.  It would help them keep the zombies out of the commercial lot they were going to stay in.  "Go get 'em Mark!"  Allen raised his pistol and took aim at a zombie in the street.  "Let's clear them out!"

Allen closes the gate

Dawn and Allen help clear the streets

The next turn starts with a random event (more doubles).  It seems the dice are not done with Mark yet.

It could be worse

Mark finished off the zombie he had been fighting, and charged the armed zombie. 

The armed zombie gets charged

Mark takes it down quickly

Allen kills one, the zombies charge Mark

This doesn't seem like a problem

A lone zombie is summoned by Allen's gunfire.  As the scenario is almost done, I figure on finishing off the zombie next to Mark and then killing the last zombie in melee (nice and quiet like).  That will only work if the team actually gets to activate...

A zombie approaches

Mark keeps fighting his 'friend'

Dawn doesn't see the zombie approach

For two turns the team doesn't get to activate, but the zombies do.  Mark is fighting in hand to hand, and only manages to knock down the zombie twice.  Everyone is facing away from the approaching zombie, and can't do anything about it!

The sound of scraping on the low stone wall behind Dawn was the only warning she had.  Turning around, she narrowly avoided the overhand blow from the zombie.  "Gah!  There's one right here!"  She yelled, lashing out with the butt of her SMG.

Zombie surprises Dawn

Dawn is charged from behind, but manages to pass 1d for her check.  As she is surprised, I rule she counts as having an improvised weapon (not the machete she carries) and Dawn manages to get an evenly matched with the zombie on the first turn.  Mark finally kills the zed he is facing when it attacks him.  The next turn, the survivors go, and Dawn kills the zombie she is facing.

All gone

The zombies were all dead, and the group just needed to find what was still useful from the SUV.  I took the inventory list and did a simple roll (Pass- it was still usable, Fail - it was destroyed) for each item.  In the end, the group is still pretty well supplied - in addition to the gear they are carrying, they have:

10 units of fuel (4 were in the pickup truck), 6 units food, 5 units luxury, 1 unit meds, 1 machine pistol, 2 BAP, 2 pistol, 1 machete, 1 shotgun and 1 chainsaw.

On a side note, cargo carrying capacity for vehicles has changed radically from BDTZ.  It had been 12 units per passenger, which gave the SUV 72 cargo units (6*12) in FFO it suggests "twice the number of occupants" (pg 54).  A shopping cart has a capacity of 24 units...so something doesn't quite jive here.  I will assume the cargo capacity is in addition to each passenger, and substituting cargo for passengers at a 12:1 ratio makes sense.  That will be what I play with going forward.  I should have looked at that more closely to begin with, oh well.

Rolling for Keeping it together, Mark is down 2 dice (one dead, one OOF) and is only rolling 3d6.  He gets 2 successes, which is better than I had hoped.  I decide to roll according to the modified rep for Allen and Dawn (it seems fair, as they were not in 'top form' for the scenario).  Allen rolls 2d, Dawn rolls 3d, and each get 1 success.  Everything is good, and everyone stays, plus as an added bonus, I don't have to check for them next time.  Whew.

In case you are wondering, the title for this scenario came from the Rolling Stones song, as it came on the radio I was listening to while I was playing.   It seemed fitting for this game.

The group is going to stay in place for a few days, unless something drives them out sooner...