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[IronyOwl]

IronyOwl regards the two scouts with a concerned frown. "It's getting late and I doubt we have any business here. Are you certain it's wise to go poking around just now?"

[spümpkin]

IronyOwl regards the two scouts with a concerned frown. "It's getting late and I doubt we have any business here. Are you certain it's wise to go poking around just now?"

"Well, it would be wise to use any time we have to make a plan, and if we see these creatures approaching, we could come back and warn you."

[Pencil_Art]

"Alright. Good luck." Pencil nods and returns to sit by the camp, making some space for himself among the leaves and twigs and trying to make up some sort of leafy blanket over him. He's feeling rather tired now, and his wound demands rest, so he does indeed rest.

[LordBucket]

Scouting out laketown, more combat, +19 points of skill gain, injuries, water is low

Everyone

I suggest pulling back a bit to somewhere further away from town, then camp there. Get our trappers to place traps near the woods

Try to find a good camp site off the main road and corral everyone there. "Good," in this case, meaning far from the road and exposed enough to the sky that a fully night vision-adjusted person could see and fight zombies in or near it. If there's time, try to drag dry leaves, twigs, or other noisy materials into any obvious gaps in a perimeter, so that anything coming at us carelessly will be somewhat audible.

scout nearby and see if we can find a defensible location to camp for the night

Begin preparing my catch. If doing that could bring some unwanted attention, don't.

see if we can find a defensible location to camp for the night[/color]

Not everyone is of like mind on camping arrangements, but the consensus seems to be to retreat back a short distance from the town and camp off the road. Pulling back so that the town is just over the hill, no longer in direct sight, you head off the road looking for a that seems reasonably defensible, and settle for "completely open." The fire doesn't seem to have made it over the hill, but with the trees being both small and sparsely scattered, there simply isn't much to obscure your view,.

Irony owl investigates some of the trees, looking for leaves and twigs, but with as much moisture as there is in the air, what leaves there are to be found aren't particularly crunchy. Twigs are available, but experimenting with placing twigs on the grass and stepping them doesn't lead you to guess it will be a very effective noisemaker.

Eventually you settle for clear field of view, and start a fire.

Dustan, DigitalDemon and Romans leave camp to do some scouting before sundown.

Hawk collects his deer quarters from those carrying them and begins preparing them. Typically, jerky-making is a multi-day process involving both smoke and sunlight, but the first step is to build a fire and let it burn down to coals to produce smoke without actually cooking the meat. Smoking the meat dissuades flies and vermin, but it's the sun that does the actual curing. Cooking is not part of the process. So he simply gathers a few sticks and y-shaped twigs to construct a tripod over the coals to do the smoking later.

While he's doing this, Pencil speaks up to mention that he hasn't eaten all day, because he's run out of food, and that it would probably be good for his injury if he wasn't starving. Surprised by this, Hawk takes one of the four quarters of deer and cooks it over the fire immediately, providing everyone a hearty, if somewhat gamey-tasting dinner.

-1 deer quarter, food not decremented this update, Pencil starvation penalty avoided

Spoiler: Dustan, DigitalDemon and Roman (click to show/hide)

begin scouting around the town, keeping as far away as I can while looking for the best angle of entry (AKA the one with the least chokepoints and zombies.)

She then goes to follow Dustan.

why don't we scout nearby

The three of you carefully approach the town from the south side. Unfortunately the apparent forest fire endured in the region has left precious little cover, and you're left to painstakingly crawl and dart between fallen and burnt trees. From one such bit of cover, you observe the meandering forms and are fairly certain that they're undead. The south end of town has a large cloth tent pavilion that's partially collapsed, but from what you can see of the uncovered side it looks like it was used as a cover to keep rain off of lumbered wood. Several small cottage-like structures also dot the southern end, and there appears to be the remains of what once was a planted field nearby.

Working your way counter-clockwise around you come to the main road into town. From where you are it is simply dirt, but it appears to change to loose cobblestone closer in. It's at this point that you realize that the zombies are not strictly confined to inside the town, as you see two meandering perhaps half the distance between you and the nearest building, easily 50 yards outside the town's edge.

(Dustan Stealth, Target 50: roll 70(-20 armor) Success!)
(DigitalDemon stealth, target 50, roll42+22 success!)
(Romans stealth, target 50, roll 63(-10 sick penalty) success!)

Dustan's rusty armor squeaks loudly, but miraculously the zombie doesn't seem to notice. And as you wait for the creatures to meander past, Romans is taken by a coughing fit. Burying her face in her cloak she successfully manages to muffle the noise, and the zombies continue on their way. Having so narrowly avoided being caught, the three of you briefly consider returning to camp now, but decide to continue on.

On the southeast edge of town past the road, you see several burned-out husks that are little but charred logs sticking vertically from the ground, with walls and roof completely burned away. On the far side is a larger structure that is only half burned down. It looks to have once been two stories, but the top floor is mostly gone. Also, a small, low, circular cobblestone structure with the road circling around it that you suspect is for holding water.

Continuing your way around, you see yet more buildings in various states of destruction, and as the sun just begins to dip below the horizon, you get a view of the back half of one particularly a large building that is clearly a church. From this angle it appears to have been largely untouched by the fire.

Rushing to attempt to finish your scouting trip before losing the last of your light, you see a small collapsed pavilion tent north of the church, and with the benefit of higher elevation on the northern edge of town you're also able to see that there are three piers jutting into the water. The northern-most seem to be largest, and has docking/tiedown areas for boats, though you see none in their places.

With the sun now set and the light quickly diminishing, you turn east to make your way back to camp, and see a zombie coming your way you from that direction. instinctively you dart for cover, but once hidden it becomes clear that the zombie has already seen you and is heading directly towards you. This presents a bit of a problem. First off, there are only three of you. Probably sufficient to deal witha  lone zombie, but you're a little wary of fighting while half of your party is elsewhere. Second, there are a lot of zombies in the town. Do you need to worry about it informing the others? Can they even do that? A living sentry you would expect to scream. This creature is silent. Had you not turned in that direction, you might not have seen it until it was nearly on you. Should you rush it now, so as to keep the sounds of combat as far from town as possible? Should you attempt to lure it back to camp to fight it with greater numerical advantage? Or is leading a zombie back to your camp a terrible idea?

Unsure of the best course of action, but certain that it would be better to decide than allow the decision to be made for you, the three you rush forward.

(Dustan Axe attack target 50, roll49+22 HIT)

BVringing your axe down on it, you cleave the zombie's skull in two. To your dismay, this doesn't seem to affect it very much, and it continues to grasp for you as its rotting brains roll out of its split skull. That's consistent with your previous observations, but still disheartening.

DigitalDemon, deciding not to risk shooting her companions, spends her turn retrieving a knife from her pack.

(Romans spear attack target 50, roll 54+21(-10 sick) Success!)

Romans, having learned from her previous fight that poking holes in the zombies accomplishes little, decides to experiment. Burying the blade of her spear into the zombie's chest, she then crouches to the ground, pulling the base of the spear with her. This applies downward leverage from its ribcage, somewhat hampering its ability to move.

(Zombie attacks Romans, target 50, roll 15(-10 held))

Held firm by Romans' spear, the zombie futilely reaches out at her, but is too far away to do anything.

(Dustan Axe attack target 50, roll6+22 Miss)

(DigitalDemon knife attack, target 50, roll 76 HIT!)

Dustan attacks again but spectacularly misses. Romans, unsure what else to do, simply continues holding the zombie prone with her spear. DigitalDemon, now with his knife in hand, skirts around from behind and jams it between a pair of ribs, with little effect.

(Zombie attacks Romans, target 50, roll 86(-10 held)) HIT)

Assisted by gravity, the zombie simply walks/falls forward on the spear and lands on top of Romans. She yelps as the zombie bites into her chest.

(Romans, get away target 50, roll 76(-10 sick) success)
(Dustan axe attack, target 50, roll 84+22(+10 prone) HIT!)
(DigitalDemon knife attack, target 50, roll 64(+10 prone) HIT!)

Romans shoves the zombie off of her and darts away. With the zombie now face down on the ground it presents an easy target and both Dustan and Digital Demon score hits. Dustan then proceeds to chop its arms and legs off with his axe.

Romans quickly removes her cloak and blouse to inspect the wound. To everyone's great surprise, she's actually a very pretty girl, fit and shapely, with spectacular breasts and proud features. The wound itself is not bad. The zombie's bite didn't puncture her clothing, but the pressure nevertheless half-tore roughly a two inch wide chunk of skin between left collar bone and breast. It stings, and is bleeding, but there seems to be no muscle tearing and nothing particularly vital was hit. However, because of the location of the wound, rather than bandage it immediately she decides to push the remaining flap of skin back into place and apply pressure on it. Putting her clothes back on and holding one hand to her chest, she assures you that she's had much worse, and that this should heal quickly.

Romans, chest skin bite injury: -2% to combat rolls

The three of you return to camp with knowledge of the general layout of town.

Spoiler: Crazyabe, Pencil and Romans (click to show/hide)

Pray over 'Pencil' and 'Romans' Hoping to Weaken their Illness.

"Alright. Good luck." Pencil nods and returns to sit by the camp, making some space for himself among the leaves and twigs and trying to make up some sort of leafy blanket over him. He's feeling rather tired now, and his wound demands rest, so he does indeed rest.

While the others set up camp, you sit down with Pencil and pray over him. After about an hour, Romans returns to camp and joins you, occasionally pressing her hand against the left top of her chest as if it is injured.

(Prayer, target ?? Roll 41)

You don't feel like Ra answers your prayers.

Everyone

About 20 minutes after sundown, Dustan, DigitalDemon and Romans return to camp. It seems that a zombie spotting them on the way back, and Romans was injured, though she assures you that it is a minor flesh wound, not even worth bandaging. She's visibly clutching her chest, but when asked, she insists that it doesn't even hurt, and she's simply keeping pressure on it. Since she's the healer, presumably she'd be the one who knows these things. Nevertheless, her persistent cough and now zombie-bite leave you concerned.

The three of them then proceed to explain the results of their scouting. There are  lots of wooden buildings, most of which have sustained damage and some have completely burned to nothing but sticks in the ground. There are a few pavilion tents, in particular a large one on the south end that appears to have a lumbered logs under it. There is a church that appears to be in good repair. There are three piers, one of which is designed to keep boats docked, but no boats are visible in the water. Zombies roman both the streets of town, as well as the surrounding area.

They draw a rough layout in the dirt by the campfire.



During the discussion, a zombie comes over the hill in a direct line towards you. Fortunately you see it coming from quite some distance, so there's no surprise involved Unfortunately, halfway before it arrives, another comes over the hill. Suspecting that they're probably attracted to the light of your fire made visible by the contrasting darkness, you quickly throw dirt on the fire and stomp on it to put it out. But by the time you've finished this, a third zombie has also crested the hill and the first has arrived.

Spoiler: combat rolls (click to show/hide)

(Dustan axe attack, target 50, roll 4+22 miss)
(Crazyabe mace attack, target 50, roll 93 hit)
(Andres sword attack, target 50, roll 97+13 CRIT)
(Kashyyk sword attack, target 50, roll 66+12 hit)
(Romans spear attack, target 50, roll 39+21(-10 sick)(-2 injured) miss)
(IronyOwl staff attack, target 50, roll 13 miss)

Enough of you score first strike attacks that you're damage the first zombie is enough that it's not an immediate threat by the time the second one arrives.

Spoiler: combat rolls (click to show/hide)

(Dustan axe attack, target 50, roll 48+22  hit)
(Kashyyk sword attack, target 50, roll 75+12 hit)
(Romans spear attack, target 50, roll 56+21(-10 sick)(-2 injured) hit)
(Crazyabe mace attack, target 50, roll 73 hit)
(Andres sword attack, target 50, roll 40+13 hit)
(IronyOwl staff attack, target 50, roll 57 hit)

Again, with first strike advantage, you sufficiently damage the second zombie to render it no longer a threat before it can reach you.

Spoiler: combat rolls (click to show/hide)

(Dustan axe attack, target 50, roll 52+22 hit)
(Kashyyk sword attack, target 50, roll 1+12 FUMBLE)
(Romans spear attack, target 50, roll 96+21(-10 sick)(-2 injured) hit)
(Crazyabe mace attack, target 50, roll 25 miss)
(Andres sword attack, target 50, roll 92+13 hit)
(IronyOwl staff attack, target 50, roll 25 miss)

zombie rolls a 6

Unfortunately, while half of you manage to score hits on the third zombie, Kashyyk fumbles his sword and chops Dustan's arm as he's yanking his axe out of the zombie.

(Fumble roll d100 = 54)

Fortunately, Dustan's chainmail successfully deflects the attack. However, the force of the blow is sufficient that Dustan grunts and drops his axe. The zombie manages one unsuccessful swipe at you before you finish it off.

With the fire now gone, there isn't enough light to thoroughly check Dustan's injury, but casual inspection suggests that it's not bad.

It occurs to you that you were very fortunate to be able to fight them only one at a time. Next time you might not be so lucky.

Unfortunately, while the three zombies have been rendered "not a threat" they nevertheless persist on moving, as have the others before them. Concerned about being murdered in your sleep by zombie parts, you spend some time dragging them away from camp, dig a hole and bury them. It seemed to work reasonably well last time, though some of the parts did manage to claw themselves out. You spend a little extra time digging deeper, and stomp the dirt hard after burying the parts inside. Hopefully at some point you'll figure out a more permanent solution than this.

I'll take one of the watches

Take the third watch.

Take the last watch,

The rest of the night passes uneventfully.

Morning

Come morning, Dustan checks both his arm and his armor. Several rings in his chainmail have been sufficiently scratched that it looks like a shiny, clean streak amidst dull gray, but none are broken or noticeably dented. As for his arm, he has a roughly 4 inch long, 2 inch wide black and red bruise on his bicep, and it hurts to move. Romans looks at the injury, and concludes that it will heal without difficulty, but there is little she can do for it.

Dustan, badly bruise left bicep: -5% to combat rolls

Pencil and Romans both report that while still sick, they do feel a bit better.

Pencil and Romans, -10% sick penalty is now -8%

Several of you are now without water.

Checking the buried zombie parts, it appears that none have escaped, and the ground where you buried them doesn't seem to be moving.

Spoiler: turn summary (click to show/hide)

Skill gains:
 * Dustan, +1 stealth skill, +4 axe skill
 * DigitalDemon +1 stealth skill, +1 knifefighting skill
 * Romans, +1 stealth skill, +3 spear skill., +1 healing skill
 * Crazyabe: +2 mace skill
 * Andres: +2 sword skill
 * Kashyyk: +2 sword skill
 * ironyowl: +1 staff skill


New injuries:
 * Romans, chest wound: -2% to combat rolls
 * Dustan, badly bruised left bicep: -5% to combat rolls

Healing
 * Pencil and Romans, -10% sick penalty is now -8%

Camp:
 * Tripod for smoking meat
 * 3 quarters of a deer, hanging

Food status:
 * DigitalDemon, 1 day food, no water
 * Dustan, 1 day food, no water
 * Hawk, 1 day food, no water
 * Kashyyk, 1 day food, no water
 * Romans, 1 day food, 2 days boiled lakewater
 * Pencil, no food, 1 days boiled lakewater
 * Crazyabe, 1 day food, no water
 * Andres, 1 day food, no water
 * IronyOwl, 2 days food, 1 days water

[crazyabe]

I Spend some time Trying to Pray over the injured members of the group then go Looking for Water, Herbs, and things of that general nature.

[Andres]

"Alright, I guess our first priority is getting some water. We're gonna need some volunteers to go down to the pier and get some from the lake. Anyone want to come with?"

[Romans]

"We don't need to go to the pier that would attract to much attention, we can just go down to the lake grab some then boil it like last time. I am also in favor of checking the church, it might have some clues to whats happening. Although it might be filled with zombies now that I think about it......."

Turning toward Crazyabe, "since we haven't figured out how to kill them yet, try praying over one of the less lethal pieces and see if you can exercise it". That way we don't have to worry about undead arms or legs trying to kill us in the night".

In addtion in combat try stabbing at the legs or arms, since I can't hack them apart really. It's best for me to debilitate them at least make it so they can't walk or grab effectively.

[Dustan Hache]

"I have a plan on how to get most of the zombies out of town, but it is going to suck like hell for me.
Hopefully they can't sprint, so while it'll be hell for me to kill them, I should be able to shake them and round back. Failing that, we're going to be running through the night.
Also, get me a damn pot while you're in town. I won't have any of you drinking water straight from the lakes a second time."
(Question. HOW DID THE ZOMBIE BITE WITH IT's SKULL SPLIT IN HALF?!)

[Andres]

"We don't need to go to the pier that would attract to much attention, we can just go down to the lake grab some then boil it like last time. I am also in favor of checking the church, it might have some clues to whats happening. Although it might be filled with zombies now that I think about it......."

"I guess just going to the lake is a good idea. The church might help, but let's get resource acquisition secured first."

"I have a plan on how to get most of the zombies out of town, but it is going to suck like hell for me.
Hopefully they can't sprint, so while it'll be hell for me to kill them, I should be able to shake them and round back. Failing that, we're going to be running through the night.
Also, get me a damn pot while you're in town. I won't have any of you drinking water straight from the lakes a second time."
(Question. HOW DID THE ZOMBIE BITE WITH IT's SKULL SPLIT IN HALF?!)

"Let's try not to attract attention just yet. As for your pot request, we've found that boiling water in a helmet works pretty well. Shame we found that out only after they drank the bad water."

When in battle, I will mainly focus on block zombies from swiping at party members with my shield. Attack with my sword when the zombie rebounds off the shield.

[Dustan Hache]

"Helmets ain't meant for that sort of use, Andres. It'll break easier, and we'll be down some armor AND some water then."

[Andres]

"Fair enough. At least it makes a good back-up plan. So how should we go about entering the town? There'll be lots of zombies and we can't fight them all at once. Using someone as bait is risky if the volunteer ends up tripping or something."

[Dustan Hache]

"Fair enough. At least it makes a good back-up plan. So how should we go about entering the town? There'll be lots of zombies and we can't fight them all at once. Using someone as bait is risky if the volunteer ends up tripping or something."

"are ya deaf or just stupid? I just volunteered to play bait, if you didn't notice! And it's not like I'll be missed for all my intelligence. Or is it common sense? I can't tell at this point."

[IronyOwl]

"Water is our first priority, but we are also dangerously low on food. Unless we feel the town likely has a great deal to offer us, we're better served striking off into the woods for more game. Even if the town does hold valuable things, I'm not convinced we can afford it; one by one, three of them were sufficient to cause us injury on two separate occasions. I dislike our odds if we continue to engage them without a clear purpose for it.

Following the edge of the lake might take us to less pillaged and zombie-infested areas. Once we've gotten a bit more food and water, we could make for Woodchuck Falls and see if there's anything there for us. If nothing else, the flowing water might be less prone to disease than a lake."

"Fair enough. At least it makes a good back-up plan. So how should we go about entering the town? There'll be lots of zombies and we can't fight them all at once. Using someone as bait is risky if the volunteer ends up tripping or something."

"are ya deaf or just stupid? I just volunteered to play bait, if you didn't notice! And it's not like I'll be missed for all my intelligence. Or is it common sense? I can't tell at this point."

"I like the plan, save for the issue of stamina. Until we know more of how their senses function- and thus, what is required to pass out of their notice- I would recommend against catching their ire and then wagering on being able outrun it."

[spümpkin]

"Why don't we just get some water from the well in the center of town? There'll most likely be a bucket we can cut off and take. Then we have a reliable place to store water. And I don't think anyone playing bait is a good idea. I think we should settle for some good old fashioned distractions, and sneak past."

[Andres]

"Fair enough. At least it makes a good back-up plan. So how should we go about entering the town? There'll be lots of zombies and we can't fight them all at once. Using someone as bait is risky if the volunteer ends up tripping or something."

"are ya deaf or just stupid? I just volunteered to play bait, if you didn't notice! And it's not like I'll be missed for all my intelligence. Or is it common sense? I can't tell at this point."

"I know you volunteered, it's why I specifically spoke against using someone as bait."

"Why don't we just get some water from the well in the center of town? There'll most likely be a bucket we can cut off and take. Then we have a reliable place to store water. And I don't think anyone playing bait is a good idea. I think we should settle for some good old fashioned distractions, and sneak past."

"We don't know if the well water is safe to drink, not to mention all the zombies in town would make getting to the well difficult. Your idea of a distraction is a good one, though."