Friday, November 21, 2014

Entering Hell, Part 2

"The zombies are right outside the door!"  Mark yelled.  "Allen, Dawn - we'll lead the way out the back here.  Did everyone see the bar up the street?"  Mark asked, and heard everyone agree.  "We'll head for that, let's hope it has a back door."  Mark cleaned his bat off quickly, bloody ichor plopped to the floor.
"What if they get to us?"  Mike asked.
"Just do what you have been doing for the past month."  Kelly said.  "Stay alive and kill the damn thing."
Time to leave the garage
The group is preparing to leave through the side door, move up the alley and seek shelter in a nearby bar and grill.  The zombies win initiative and crash through the first door.
One zombie stumbles into the garage
Dawn shot the lone zombie inside the building, and everyone ran out the side door.  The last person through spent the time to close and try to jam the door closed.  I'm hoping to stay out of sight, and confuse the zombies on where the survivors are.
The survivors try to sneak away from the zombies
Wining initiative, the group moves towards their objective.  Mark moves too far, and the nearby zombies start moving towards the group.
So close to the bar...
Here come the zombies!
Moving through the streets, Nadine hugged a damaged brick wall.  Zombies were wandering between wrecked cars, reaching out with putrid arms, trying to get to the humans.  Involuntarily, she shrunk back against the wall, wanting to get away from the undead.  With a rumble, a portion of the wall fell over, pinning her.  "Ahh!  I'm trapped!" 

The next turn starts with a random event.
Well, that's new.
Random chance gives me Nadine trapped.  At least the zombies are not right on top of her.  Still, it's going to slow everyone down.  The zombies win initiative, thankfully only Mark is close enough to actually be attacked in melee.  It goes well, and Mark kills the zombie that attacks him.
Can the zombies sense Nadine is stuck?
The zombies charge
Mark watched the wretched corpses stumbling forward.  One slid along the side of the trashed sports car Mark was behind, putrid hands reaching, hands twitching in anticipation of grabbing Mark.  In front of the car, more zombies scrambled towards the group.  "No guns!  We don't need any more of these things coming out."  With contempt, Mark shattered the head of the nearby zombie, charging at the next mob.
At least the zombies are outnumbered...
Need to keep things quiet
Mark killed one, and knocked down the other zombie when it was the survivors turn.  Allen charged, killing one more zed.  Dawn moved up to finish off the last zombie, she managed no successes in the unopposed melee, and the zombie survived.

The zombies won initiative, and moved towards the group.
More zombies move up
Staggering, the zombie lurched upright, grabbing Dawn, pinning one arm, and forcing her against the car wreck.  Opening its mouth, Dawn could smell the foul rot from the creature.  Twisting, Dawn let the zombie crash past her, its mouth just inches from her neck.  Swinging her machete, Dawn sliced the zombies head open, killing it.
"More coming!  Let's get them!"  Dawn yelled, sliding over the hood of the truck, attacking the zombies with her machete.

Mark attacks first
Dawn finishes the last zombie
It took a few turns, but Nadine finally got free from whatever was holding her.  With a little luck, I figured the group could make the bar before the remaining zombies got to them.  Starting towards the bar, a random event came up.
The cure?
The random event was a "clue to the cure".  I hadn't planned on this in the campaign, but I figured I might be able to work it in.  The random item found was a medical supply in the garage.  I'll address this a bit later...

Without much trouble, the group approaches the bar.  They find the rear entrance, and Team Mark leads the way in to clear it out.
Quiet Streets
Zombies in the bar!
Mark led the way into the dim bar.  Tipped chairs and tables told the tale of a fight in the recent past.  Allen moved over the bar, scattering some empty bottles, which tinkled loudly in the shadows.  "Looks like we missed a party."  He said to no one in particular.
"Maybe there is still some useful stuff here.  At least we are off the streets..."  Dawn said, looking over a fallen table.  A hand grabbed at her ankle, and suddenly 5 zombies lurched from the shadows...

Investigating the bar, the team finds five zombies.  Dawn fails the surprise roll, but stands her ground and goes straight to melee.  Allen shoots one zombie, and Mark goes right to hand to hand.  Dawn killed her opponent in melee, Mark kills one and knocks the other down.
Mostly clear...
Mike takes action!
I manage to get the civilian Mike to activate and charge the down zombie.  He kills it, and the survivors search the building.  They find a unit food and a luxury item.  The zombies are all more than 6" from the building, and I call the scenario a success.
The streets return to a state of undead calm...
With four new members, I am going to use the normal rules for the civilians to advance.  Each civilian had a zombie kill, and found a useful item.  Each qualifies for an advance, I just wish I could justify moving them to 'survivor' status!  Kelly and Larry both advance, and go to rep 4.  Keeping it together goes pretty well, Mark scores 3 successes, Allen scores 3, Dawn, Kelly and Nadine score 2, and Larry and Mike score only 1 (which means they don't have to check after the next game!)  Allen rolled 5 dice, and will roll 6 after the next game, to represent his urgency to get home...

With the recruits, and a successful mission, the team has a bonus of 8 for the results when they get to Allens home.  I am going to go for one more scenario, and if successful, go for Allens home.

Setting up chairs in the dimly lit bar, Mark gestured everyone to take a seat.  "Let's take a quick break."  Handing out the package of crackers he was carrying, Mark continued.  "I'm glad we found you guys out there, maybe you can let us know what is happening around here?"
Kelly took a drink from a water bottle, followed by a deep breath.  "It's a long story, but I'll try and keep it brief..."

Details to follow...

10 comments:

  1. very good one. For once its was a happy ending and an optimistic story. More companions, a clue. Gosh, I know you will bring interesting twists on these ones

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    1. Thanks! we will see how things come together. I have some ideas for Minneapolis, the next report will help flesh it out a touch.

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  2. A great report again. The story goes well and th e clue give you good scenaristic possibilitys...
    We want more...and more...

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    1. Thanks!

      More is on the way... I am hoping the story continues to be entertaining.

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  3. A very successful "mission", (not that I had any doubt that it wouldn't be - Mark is such a zombie killing machine !).
    Your campaign is now almost writing itself !

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it! The team came out ahead, I'll take a win any way I can get it.

      We'll see where this heads next...

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  4. Great batrep dude! Loads of plot hooks and you got to the bar. Time for a drink?
    Excellent story, can't wait for the next instalment.

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    1. I should make some more buildings. Everyone ends up in the bar... :)

      Glad you liked it!

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  5. Excellent as always. I thought that it was a bad time for Nadine to become trapped (isn't it always, though?), but the team came through it all.
    The end was nicely upbeat as well: advancing REPs, a sense of team solidarity and important medical data as well. So, find the nearest CDC or continue searching for family & friends?

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    1. Thanks!

      Nadine got really lucky with zombies only approaching from the one direction. Having a team good in hand to hand really helps limit the number of zombies to deal with. Hopefully their luck holds out!

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