Turn 2a: When Excessive Dice Rolling OccursHoly text-dump Batman! How do I make sense of this turn? You only need to read your character's report and the non-spoilered content in the next post. However, for those who are...
Metagamers: You should snoop through other player files and put two and two together.
Super-dwarvenly: Read only your own file but question other players for information. Bonus: Stay in character.
Your Character Report:Name (# of Points) Final Location
Update: If you find civilians together, you all get points. Since you're working cooperatively (good thing), I don't mind handing out points in "duplicate".
tehstefan (40) on 2nd Floor: CafeteriaName: Roderick Johnson
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Light
Role : Policeman
Notable Items: a box of jelly donuts, a whistle, a baton, pepper spray, and a loaded S&W Model 29 (12 Rounds)
His whistle is effective at attracting civilians in hiding. His whistle is effective at attracting and holding the zombies attention. By using his baton, he can engage the zombies with low risk to his person. By using his pistol, he can engage the zombies with no risk to his person.
Action, Day: You move to the 3rd Floor: Pediatrics with the intent to Search and eradicate. (See Team Report)
Action, Night: You arrive at the 2nd Floor Cafeteria. Hastur is standing guard. Jimi is constructing a barricade here. Feeling safe and content, you find a cozy spot to sleep. As you fall into a stupor, you are unaware of any other going-ons during the night.
Name: Hastur
Legal Sex: Male,
Weight: Heavy
Role: Forest Firefighter
Notable Items:nylon backpack, calculator, bowie knife, combination shovel, gold earring, money, oven mitts.
Aside from shouting, he does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with his flesh, he cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using his bowie knife, he can engage the zombies with medium risk to his person. By using his combination shovel, he can engage the zombies with low risk to his person.
Jimi hands you some pieces of bed linen and a bar from the aluminum bed frame. You construct a primitive torch. You give your bowie knife to Lozz. You didn't manage to find gloves anywhere, but you do manage to find some oven mitts. You fail to extract any drinks (caffeinated or otherwise) from the vending machines, but you do find a tin of instant coffee powder in the kitchen. You lick your fingers and dip them into the container, rubbing the residue over your gums. You don't feel any more energetic, though the excruciatingly bitter taste makes you feel more manly. You look at the wedged doors of the elevator bank in the lobby. You put your weight into it and push the doors all the way open. The elevator shaft is now accessible for exploration. You examine the phone book in the lobby. If you had access to a mobile phone or outgoing phone-line, you could spend 1 AP to call every single number in the phone book.
Action, Day: You think that an expedition to Pediatrics is a great idea - who knows what or who you'll find! You decide to volunteer as the expedition leader, but as you move to speak, your words come out all jumbled: "Who's with the yelling...me...you...the saving...flexible Wolverines...ZZZ" The Cafeteria is too warm and cozy to resist. As you fall into a stupor, you are unaware of any other going-ons during the day.
Action, Night: You stand guard and patrol in the 2nd Floor Cafeteria as Lozz, Desmond, Roderick, and Matthew sleep. Jimi is busy building a barricade. Though the night is quiet and calm, you remain alert.
From your current position, you can see:
West (supermarket): The automatic glass doors to the supermarket are closed and powered down. The supermarket is completely dark. There are several cars parked neatly in the supermarket parking lot: the vehicles appear to deserted. There are no zombies outside of the supermarket.
Your vigil is rewarded as night ends without trouble. Lozz wakes and returns your bowie knife.
Name: Ottofar
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Light
Role: Musician (Piano)
Notable Items: Piano Wire
Aside from shouting, he does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with his flesh, he cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using the piano wire, he can engage the zombies with high risk to his person.
Using an ingenious combination of magazines, cooking oil and other nondescript items, you manage to construct a number of primitive paper torches. Everyone now has access to a light source in their day-to-day actions.
Action, Day: You search the Basement level.
The basement is dark, save for the light from your torch. Approaching the Basement level from the south stairwell, you walk down a corridor to find a computer (off), a desk and a table. The door to the west is shut (and locked). The door to the east is shut (and locked). Moving closer so that your torch can illuminate the room to the east, you spot a solitary zombie through the window of the eastern door. The zombie is originally stationary and silent, but the light elicits quiet groans and shuffles. Moving closer so that your torch can illuminate the room to the west, you spot a HORDE of zombies through the western door. The HORDE is originally stationary and silent, but the light elicits quiet groans and shuffles. Individual zombies seem to respond to the noises and actions of those around them and the HORDE is now noisy and active. Some of the rectangles on the wall in the western room push out, and by the dim torch light, you swear you can see new bodies rising. You decide that it would not be wise to linger any further and cancel the rest of your SEARCH. You may return here in the future to SEARCH carefully as a FREE ACTION once the zombies have been eradicated. You attempt to leave the Basement without attracting further attention (roll : success!)
Action, Night: You search the Sub-Basement level.
The sub-basement is dark, save the light from your torch. The only entrance to the sub-basement is the southern stairwell and you find the doors locked. Try as you might, you can't get the door open. Just as you are about to give up, you suddenly hear the sound of tumbling mechanisms. The door unlocks and a man peers out at you. Judging by his dress, you deduce that he was part of the custodial staff.
He seems relieved and more than happy to see you. You notice nothing unusual about him, though he does seem tired. He allows you entry into the sub-basement, locking and barring the door behind you. Your long and candid conversation reveals much. Your initial assumptions were correct: in the former days, his role at the hospital primarily involved cleaning and fixing little things. Any time a patient couldn't make it to the washroom in time, he was there. If a tray of food was spilled, he was there. Floor needs cleaning, he was there. The job doesn't sound very glamorous to you, but he seems content to reminisce about the good old days. You tell him about the helicopters and looks of incredulity, shock and happiness flash across his face. The conversation leads to more practical topics as you question him about potentially useful items.
He mentions the surplus of cleaning supplies in the sub-basement - though you cut him off before he embarks on a conversation educating you about the effective removal of stains - with the light of your torch, you confirm investigate and confirm the following items: hammer, screwdriver, crow bar, air compressor, wrench, pry bar, nail gun, nails, vice clamps, insulation, flash light, PVC piping, wood (planks & 2x4s), black paint, white paint, blue paint, yellow paint, nuts, bolts, mop, squeegee, buckets, soap, windex, bleach, drain cleaner, and ammonia.
He also mentions the window washer's gear that is stored in the sub-basement. It would take some work, but for 1 AP, the widow washer's platform could be setup outside of the hospital. He reassures you, "It's so easy, anybody could do it; completely safe too, since it has a harness and everything." This will allow safe entry and exit from any floor, provided the windows on the relevant floors are broken or removed.
You ask him about the lack of power, and if the back-up generators are operational. He answers that as far as he knows, all power systems in the hospital were working previously. However, he had shut off all the fuses in order to keep the hospital on a low-profile. You estimate that if TWO players were willing to spend 1 AP on the same turn, you could figure out the system and restore power to the hospital. If someone had relevant electrical or engineering experience, only that individual (with expertise) would have to spend 1 AP.
Your conversation and investigation runs through the whole night. As the night ends, the civilian exits the sub-basement to report to the Cafeteria, leaving you to survey the items.
Name: Matthew McAverage
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Average
Role: Dog Walker
Notable Items: Tom (dog), dog leash, plastic bags, scalpel, running shoes.
With the aid of his dog, Tom, a 10yr-old Alaskan Malamute, he is effective at attracting civilians in hiding. The barking is very effective at attracting and holding the attention of zombies with no danger to himself or his dog. By using his scalpel, he can engage the zombies with high risk to his person.
The floor of the 4th floor ICU is slippery with gore. You decide not to risk it, instead, Jimi safely retrieves a scalpel for you. In return, you attempt to help him force open the locked doors in the Lobby. (roll: success) With a good angle and the weight of your body, the door swings open.
Action, Day: You attract attention on the Helipad.
You move to the Helipad via the northern stairs. Though the day is calm, it is fairly windy on the rooftop. As expected, the rooftop is bare except for the Helipad lights and the small generator powering them. Nevertheless you try to attract attention by coaxing your dog, Tom, into barking. Tom begins a long howl, but the sound is lost to the wind. You notice that there's nothing to prevent you or anything or anyone from falling off or being thrown off the top of the building. You decide to stay away from the edge and focus your attention on the lights instead.
You power on the generator. Using the controls, you turn on the lights. They are very bright. You imagine they may even be bright enough to be visible during the day, at least in the surrounding areas. You worry that the civilians who see the lights might think it a fluke, so you settle for turning them on and off at regular intervals. Then you begin to worry that they might think it was an electrical malfunction, so you change up the pace. On. Off. On Off. You begin to belt out the beats of your favorite song. Your imagination runs wild from boredom and you wonder if any of this would translate into Morse code: Hospital. Safe. Stop. Helicopter. Midnight. Stop. Hammer-time.
From your current location you can see:
West (supermarket). The automatic glass doors to the supermarket are open and powered down. The supermarket is completely dark except for a strange light emanating from within the store. There are several cars parked neatly in the supermarket parking lot: the vehicles appear to deserted. There are no zombies outside of the supermarket. At this height, you can also see a great deal farther than the supermarket: there seems to be some movement in the distance.
East (city park). You can see the vibrant green swathe of trees. The glare from the sunlight makes it hard to make out anything else, and the treetops obscure most of your view. Nevertheless, you can see the top of lamp posts (off) and a bit of the playground. At this height, you can also see a great deal farther than the city park: there seems to be some movement in the distance. There is movement directly to the east.
North (gas station). The lights inside the station are off. However, the neon logo of the gas company is very bright. There are 2 figures standing by the neon logo. There are no vehicles parked at the station. At this height, you can also see great deal farther than the gas station: there seems to be some movement in the distance.
South (apartment complex). The apartment complex is 5 floors in height and looks new but otherwise ordinary. The main entrance to the complex is facing the hospital. You can tell some of the windows are shut based on the reflective glare. You notice that one open window (2nd floor) in particular has a large white bed-sheet hanging out of it, with a crudely painted "Help". Some figures appear to be leaning out of the open windows. One figure is standing outside of the apartment. The human is making a plaintive gesture. At this height, you can also see great deal farther than the gas station: there seems to be some movement in the distance.
Action, Night: You arrive at the 2nd Floor Cafeteria. Hastur is standing guard. Jimi is constructing a barricade here. Feeling safe and content, you find a cozy spot to sleep. As you fall into a stupor, you are unaware of any other going-ons during the night.
You may be curious where your 10 points are from. They were awarded because the lady saw your lights in the apartment complex. Were there others that saw the lights? Possibly. Anyone who arrives as a result of your interaction with the Helipad lights will earn you points. Well done, you've hit one of the major point jackpots (there are others still undiscovered).
Name: Desmond Duane
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Heavy
Role: Chocolatier
Notable Items: Big personal binder of new cutting-edge recipes, rolling pin.
Aside from shouting, he does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with his flesh, he cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using his rolling pin, he can engage the zombies with low risk to his person. By using his big book of recipes, he can engage the zombies with high risk to his person.
You knock the gum out of the surgeon's hands as he moves to eat it the first time. However, when he insists, you can simply frown and tsk in disapproval as he rinses the gum with whiskey and decides to chew it anyway.
Action, Day: You move to the 3rd Floor: Pediatrics with the intent to Search and eradicate. (See Team Report)
Action, Night: You arrive at the 2nd Floor Cafeteria. Hastur is standing guard. Jimi is constructing a barricade here. Feeling safe and content, you find a cozy spot to sleep. As you fall into a stupor, you are unaware of any other going-ons during the night.
Name: Lozz
Legal Sex: Female
Weight: Light
Role: University Student
Notable Items: Backpack (Textbook, Notepad, Pencil case), Mobile phone, Multitool
Aside from shouting, she does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with her flesh, she cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using her heavy textbook, she can engage the zombies with high risk to her person. By using her multi-tool, she can engage the zombies with high risk to her person.
Hastur hands you his bowie knife.
Action Day: You move to the 3rd Floor: Pediatrics with the intent to Search and eradicate. (See Team Report)
Action Night: You arrive at the 2nd Floor Cafeteria. Hastur is standing guard. Jimi is constructing a barricade here. Feeling safe and content, you find a cozy spot to sleep. As you fall into a stupor, you are unaware of any other going-ons during the night.
You return Hastur's bowie knife.
Name: Marcus Aurelius
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Average
Role: Surgeon
Notable Items: Bottle of Whiskey, bone-pick, latex gloves, bubblegum.
Aside from shouting, he does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with his flesh, he cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using his bone-pick, he can engage the zombies with medium risk to his person.
The receptionist's body is too mangled to be of any use. You decide to use the body of one of the granny zombies instead. You begin your autopsy for science! You remove the skull for later examination and work on removing one of the femurs. You luck out and find that this particular human had surgical work done earlier in life - the bone is reinforced with a metal splint! In a rather inspired move, you use tendons from the zombie to secure your scalpel to create a morbid looking weapon: the scalpel-bone pick.
Not satisfied yet with your work, you retrieve the bloodied and trampled bubblegum found on the receptionist's corpse. You remove all of the gum wrappers and gather the pieces in your palm. Just as you are about to chew the gum, Desmond stops you with stern disapproval and concern. You acquiesce to his demands and begin the process of cleaning the bloody gum. You don't have anything food-safe to clean it with, except your bottle of whiskey; you settle for that instead. (Rolling dice)
You rinse the gum thoroughly, but at the last moment, you feel compelled to rinse it again. x4 Satisfied with the cleanliness, you stop rinsing the gum with whiskey.
(Technical: I rolled d6 to determine number of rinses. Each rinse resulted in a coin flip. If any of these flips was "heads", you succeeded in cleaning the gum thoroughly. However, if all 4 were "tails", then I followed the Injury/Infection rule: coin toss + d6 incubation. As per the rule, you won't know the results.)
You put the gum in your mouth. The bubblegum tastes strangely satisfying: it's probably just your love of alcohol. You chew on the gum in order to fashion a sticky grip for your bone pick. After a while, you spit out the gum and attach it to your pick.
...You're all out of bubblegum.
Action, Day: You barricade the entrances to the Lobby.
You face the same problem that Hastur did when he tried to barricade the Lobby the day before: there simply isn't anything on this floor that you can move to use in your construction! There are materials from the Cafeteria level, but most of them are too big and heavy to drag through the stairwells. Luckily for you however, the cheap metal chairs in the Cafeteria are collapsible. You spend all day ferrying them up and down the stairs, setting up a crude and flimsy barricade across the eastern entrance to the lobby. Since the eastern entrance is so wide, you are able to leave a rudimentary "gate" section, allowing friendlies access. You suspect that with additional appropriate materials, you may be able to upgrade this barricade to a decent or strong barricade. The western glass doors are intact, and you can think of no way to improve on the flimsy glass barrier with the metal chairs. Since it would be a conflict of interest to your fellow players returning home that night, you decide not to barricade the stairwells.
Action, Night: You stand guard and patrol the Lobby. Though the night is quiet and calm, you remain alert.
From your current position, you can see:
West (supermarket): The automatic glass doors to the supermarket are closed and powered down. The supermarket is completely dark. There are several cars parked neatly in the supermarket parking lot: the vehicles appear to deserted. There are no zombies outside of the supermarket.
East (city park): The lamp posts are lit. You see the silhouettes of trees. The 8 zombies here appear fixated on your current location. They are approaching. Based on their current speed, you think they will be here soon.
Your vigil is rewarded as night ends without trouble.
Name: Jimi Anderson
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Light
Role: wannabe pro skateboarder.
Notable Items: A skateboard, an oversized black hoodie, a black hat with skull and crossbones on it (worn backwards) and a skating competition trophy.
Aside from shouting, he does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with his flesh, he cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using his skateboard, he can effortlessly disengage and escape from the horde without tiring himself out. By using his skateboard, he can engage zombies with low risk to his person but with a fair chance of ruining his board.
Inside the confines of the building, you feel that your skateboard will not provide the same degree of mobility as it would outdoors.
You disassemble all of the aluminum beds on the 4th Floor: ICU. You retrieve a scalpel and give it to Matthew. You give some strips of linen and a bed-rail to Hastur. You attempt to enter the Lobby, but try as you might you just can't get the door open. Luckily, Matthew returns the favor and pushes open the door for you. Just before you set off, Desmond gives you a worried look. You flash him a grin and a thumbs up.
Action, Day: Searching the Apartment Complex.
You feel much better as soon as you leave the Hospital. The fresh air, the freedom. Man, you feel as if nothing can catch you. Sure your safe get-away is your only weapon, but hey, you're just scouting right? You make your way around the hospital to the south side and approach the Apartment Complex. Even after the wake of the zombie apocalypse, it's easy to tell that this place had style. Certainly, there's the wrecked station wagon embedded into the gut of the building (it's scrap metal now, nothing useful - and it's way too much work to siphon the gasoline when you have a working gas station just around the corner). But the flatness of the vehicle and the relatively undamaged foundation of the building suggests fine construction work. You stop fawning over the luxury apartment - wait, is that a koi pond? - and focus on the more important details.
You observe the impressive facade of the apartment complex. You happily notice that the help sign was not painted in blood. Furthermore, the letters are straight - and you can even make out faint outlines around the letters. Whoever did this certainly had time on their hands. Though you have no reliable method of attracting attention, you decide to go for it anyway. You cast your voice towards the open window. (Roll: failure) You receive no response. Just then, a window on the top floor opens, and a porky woman sticks her head out the window. She's craning her neck upwards and hasn't noticed you.
Cupping your hands around your mouth, you try to get her attention. "Hey-y! You, yeah you lady!" She squints down at you. Disappearing from the window momentarily, she returns with binoculars. She focuses them towards the hospital, then back down at you. Finally, she speaks, "Why are you out here by yourself, kiddie?" Kiddie?! You explain your mission and your reason for investigating the apartments. After you're done talking, she returns to gazing at the hospital through her binoculars. Growing frustrated, you prompt her for an answer. With a pause, she replies, "Is that why those lights are flashing?"
You turn around and look at the hospital. For the first time, you notice the menacing shadow it casts on its surroundings. All of the floors are dark - except for the occasional ray of sunshine shining through the broken window. You notice your handiwork on the 4th Floor with the curtains drawn, it's brightest floor in the whole hospital. At the top of the roof however, you notice a row of lights blinking rapidly. Is that Morse code?
Turning around, you nod in confirmation. She asks, "Are there more of you?" Another confirmation. You ask her if she knows who made the sign. She doesn't. More questions and answers are exchanged. Clearly, she has doubts about the heroism of teen skateboarders. You start growing uneasy about standing out in the open.
You: "Are you going to come down or not?"
Her: "Can you catch me?"
You're pretty sure that she's much too heavy - for anyone to catch. Not wanting to insult her, you start fumbling.
"I'm just messing with you. I made a rope," she laughs. Disappearing again, she emerges, tossing a rope of bedsheets and linens out the window. Her descent is completely devoid of grace. Her awkward shimmying down the rope results in a rather indecent and unsightly scene. You look away, lest you see something you cannot "un-see". Suddenly, you hear a loud ripping noise as the bedsheets begin to tear from the strain of her weight. Your blood runs cold as the ripping continues and the woman continues her descent despite her efforts to remain still. Fortunately, the descent and inevitable fall were gentle and she lands with little more than her bruised dignity. The noise has attracted a lot of attention however and a great murmur rises from the apartment.
Many growls can be heard as fists, fingernails, and hungry mouths slam against the closed windows: the apartment was coming alive. At a rather inopportune time, a horde of 15 zombies emerge from unseen corridors into the apartment lobby. The zombies here are quietly groaning and shuffling about.
Then some windows open and excited civilians poke their heads out. Holy. crap. You do a quick head count, including the woman earlier, there are 9 civilians. Their voices are abuzz with desperation, curiosity, and panic. Apparently, no one had expected anyone else in the building to be alive.
Not possessing the authority to take command of the situation, your only shot was to shout at the civilians, loudly ordering them to get down through the windows and follow you back. The civilians remain disorganized and unconvinced until the first zombie from the horde in the lobby started ambling out of the lobby doors. The rabble's confusion has evidently made the horde noisy and active. The motivation is overwhelming, in an instant, all of the civilians have descended and assembled beside you: except one.
She was in her late teens or early twenties. Her fear of heights greatly overpowered her fear of the undead. She didn't have rope, she had locked herself in the kitchen and couldn't find anything to help her get down. Out of sheer desperation, she asks if she should jump.
FREE DECISION: You may retroactively decide if you'd like her to jump. D6 roll: 1-2: She dies. 3-4: She survives the fall. 5-6: You catch her in a feat of PURE DARING. Extra personal points will be awarded/penalized accordingly; in addition to regular scoring. Alternatively, you may wish to leave her be until you can figure out an alternate solution. But in her current mental state, who knows how long she'll last?
You need to lead the crowd to safety now. As hard as it is, you apologize quickly and turn your back to leave. As you move away from the apartment complex, you can still hear her plea:
ohmigod please. come back. don't leave. please please. don't leave me. come back.
The skateboarder in black fled across the parking lot, and the horde followed.
Action, Night: Constructing barricade on the 2nd Floor Cafeteria: Using aluminum bed parts.
You take the disassembled aluminum bed parts to the Cafeteria. While they are lightweight, their easy assembly and interlocking parts and bars allows for creative use in construction. You spend most of the time ferrying the parts from the 4th floor to the 2nd, while comparatively, the actual construction feels rather effortless. While the aluminum barricade is serviceable, you feel that due to the assembly-nature of the beds, the parts could be better used in the future to supplement a pre-existing barrier. You succeed in constructing a decent barricade: you are even able to fashion a basic gate for the barriers. Friendlies have free access to and from this area and it would take at least 4 zombies to break through the barricade.
(FOUND SURVIVOR)
Name:Joseph Lawson
Legal Sex: Male
Weight: Average
Role: Electrician
Notable Items: multimeter, wirecutters/wire strippers, screwdriver
Aside from shouting, he does not possess any reliable means to attract civilians currently in hiding. Aside from tempting the zombies with his flesh, he cannot reliably hold zombies' attention for long. By using his bare hands, he can engage the zombies with extreme risk to his person.
Why he's in the hospital: He arrived to perform some routine maintenance work on the hospital's backup generators, way in the sub-basement. He was just packing up his equipment when the hospital was locked down due to the appearance of a mysterious contagion. He moved upstairs to the Hub on the 5th floor to investigate the commotion. When he found nothing but chaos and the infected, he fled to the third floor to find a hiding place. When he heard muffled crying from the lockers, he flung the doors open and discovered 2 uninfected children. Taking them under his care, he's been hiding in the East wing since, using the weight of his body to prevent curious zombies from investigating. Were it not for his reassuring presence, it is likely that the child afflicted with asthma would have had an induced attack. Needless to say, the last 48 hours have been rather terrifying. In his possession are a pair of insulated gloves (worn), Overalls (worn), an oil-stained shirt (worn), scuffed work boots (worn), a multimeter, wirecutters/wire strippers, and a screwdriver.
Poll
5 (35.7%)
Author
Topic: A good Samaritan in a time of chaos [On Turn 4/10] (Read 17326 times)