Searching Junction
Dustan, Andres and RomansAccording to what is on the map, there is a small pond or lake to the north. He can get some water from there, and boil it. He will have to hope there are living creatures around for food though, as rotten, cursed flesh is rarely edible.
"Bah, What a mess this is. I am going to try and find a metal pot, so we can boil some water."
With that said, He would start rummaging around in the closest building. He would keep his axe in hand, however.
"I'll come with ya, Hache. I've got a feeling they're still around here and in that lake's the only place they can hide."
Accompany Dustan Hache, keeping watch on the lake for any movement.
Stick together and use the buddy system if one of us goes down, the rest of us should be able to find out quickly. Where there was once people there will be dead be careful, and be quiet.
I'll go and cover Dustin Hache and watch the other buildings for movement.
Having found nothing of value in the first building, Dustan leaves to inspect one of the other two while Andres and Romans draw their weapons and keep watch. Stepping inside through the double-wide opening, you find the shattered remains of what once was a pair of double doors several feet inside, having apparently been destroyed via forced entry. The entry room is large and wide, with mangled tables and chairs throughout. Further inside you find an empty bar and what looks like it was once a kitchen. So far as you can tell, while the first building you inspected upon your arrival was a store, building #2 looks to have once been some sort fo restaurant or bar, possibly a tavern. Searching the kitchen for pots, or anything at all of value, you find little besides shredded wood. Even the cupboard doors have been torn from their hinges and lay discarded on the floor along with the shattered remains of barrels much like those found in the store, while all the shelves are bare of anything more substantial than a few shards of shattered glass.
Not zombies, you suspect, but rather the starving refugees must have ransacked everything of value as they came through over the past few weeks, down to the last cup and fork taken.
Retreating back to the main room, you cautiously ascend the stairs where you find several bedrooms, similarly bare of everything but wooden frames that look to have once held bedding. All bare, without so much as a strip of pillowcase remaining. Romans on guard duty notes with distaste that if it did come to combat, it would be difficult to effectively maneuver his spear in such a tight space.
However, the wooden structure itself, some broken furniture, a few bent nails, shattered glass and the remains of several shattered wooden barrels is all you find, even the metal band of the barrels having been taken.
At the end of the hallway you find a small balcony. Stepping outside gives you a view of the lake a short distance to the north, large enough that it is difficult to make out the northern shore. As for the lake itself, it appears still, and quiet.
DigitalDemon and PencilDemon approaches one of the houses, and proceeds to look for either food, or loot of some kind. Even a corpse would be a good find.
Pencil goes to cover Demon, while looking for food in the same general area.
Seeing Dustan, Andres and Roman searching one of the other buildings, DigitalDemon and Pencil explore the third. Like the others, the entrance is open to the outside, with the single door having been torn from its hinges. The inside reveals a small storage closet to the left and a room perhaps 20x15 feet to the right, casually strewn with bits of broken furniture. An overturned table, and rocking chair smashed to pieces among them. On the far end lives a cobblestone fireplace that has long since gone cold, though with a few pre-cut log laying nearby. Further inspection reveals the remains of a kitchen, stripped bare, as well several bedrooms. On one end of the kitchen you find a small staircase leading down into darkness. Most likely a wine cellar or meat closet. Given the thoroughness of the looting, it seems unlikely that this would be skipped. But with no source of light, you're very hesitant to go down to check. In one of the bedrooms you find a couple handfuls worth of loose straw, and in the largest you find a a curious spread of goose down feathers spread all about. Apart from those two exceptions, the bedrooms appear devoid of anything besides wooden bedframes and partially destroyed wooden furniture.
Pencil attempts to 'gather food' in the ruined remains of the house, but unsurprisingly fails to find any wild berry bushes or edible plants inside. Feeling a bit parched, he raises his waterskin to his lips only to find it empty.
CrazyabeI might as well try and make myself useful...
I Start looking for edible herbs we can eat.
Confidant that the others have the situation well in hand, Crazyabe treks off a short distance into the brush looking for herbs.
(Target 10, roll: 12 near success)With little difficulty he finds the remains of a tilled field surrounded by the smashed remains of a wooden fence. Upon closer inspection it appears that the field was once home to a variety of late Autumn crops. In particular from the withered greens you gather that at the very least, carrots and radishes were once planted here. However, they appear to have all been dug up. Peculiar, as while radishes grow quickly and can be picked often, an autumn carrot crop would typically be harvested much closer to winter. Your best guess is that the crops were picked early. And from the withered greenery spread all around, you're guessing they were devoured unripe on the spot.
HawkCheck around for tracks (I'm assuming having hunting as a skill will help with that). See if there are any that a zombie would leave. And if there are any that a live person would leave. Keep my bow at the ready.
The general area is heavily packed dirt that has long since been cleared of vegetation. Which should come as no surprise, as it is essentially a small settlement, perhaps years old. Straying a short distance from the buildings, you easily find the main road, which has clearly seen a great deal of traffic. Also no surprise, as it is the primary entrance to the entire region, trod on by travelers, horses and wagons, and most recently by a fleeing horde of refugees. Needless to say, picking out individual tracks is impractical.
It also occurs to you that, having never seen a zombie before, you're unsure how to to go about distinguishing living human footprints from dead human footprints.