After receiving healing, and having their wounds examined, the party sets back out again, determined to make the next town by nightfall.
The trip is (thankfully) uneventful, and the party arrives in the city of Maleska.
Maleska is a sleepy town, one of the smaller on the Great Trade Road. Due to the late hour, you all check in and head straight to bed. Sunny and Meg share a room, and Daven and Ray get another. The rooms are adjacent, and adequate, if a bit sparse.
After most of the night has passed, you are all awakened by the sound of someone screaming in pain. The scream is abruptly silenced, and replaced with the sound of silence.
After most of the night has passed, you are all awakened by the sound of someone screaming in pain. The scream is abruptly silenced, and replaced with the sound of silence.
(O_o)
Suny bounces awake and upright, "Was that?!" Her large blue eyes wide as she looks about in the darkness. Their size and shape making good use of any moon light that might be coming in through the window.
Slipping out of bed she gently prods Meg's arm,
"Here! I think I heard somat." She whispers, even as she pads towards the room's door and listens intently.
Sunny watches Meg hustle out into the hallway of the inn/establishment they're resting in.. Peering cautiously around the door frame and out into the darkness.
Sunny watches Meg rush off, her elven eyes seeing quite well in the dim light. Nothing seems out of place.
Ray and Daven are both awake, and arming themselves.
Meg rushes downstairs, and sees that the inn is as it should be. The main common room is empty, save for a dying fire in the fireplace. The tables are bare, save for one young boy sleeping at the table nearest the fire.The innkeeper is walking into the room, o0bviously still mostly asleep.
"Oh...hello there, ma'am. I thought I heard someone outside, but it must have been you. What can I do for you?"
As he is finished up his sleep-deprived line of questioning, there is another scream. This one is not a scream of pain, but of fear. It is coming from outside. The rest of the group hear this as well, and this time can distinctly tell it is coming from outside.
Sunny spins about and scampers to the window to peer out, then she quickly looks at how to open said window.
Looking outside, Sunny sees a crowd of people shuffling their feet in town. They are moving as a mass, maybe forty to fifty strong. She sees a man open his door, and freeze in panic. When the crowd reaches him, one of the people in the crowd grabs him, and starts biting chunks of the man's throat out.
It has become quickly apparent that this herd is not your average crowd.
(O_o)
Sunny blinks...once... then turns and hurtles out of the room, (Leaps over the balcony if she has to) and races down stairs towards the front door.
If Sunny made it to the door before Daven, she presses her tanned self against the portal and shakes her head,
"Nuh-UH! We's got shamblers outside. A whole mess of 'em!" She glances at those others gathered in the room.
"We's got'a put things over t'other doors an' windows down here. We's got'a barricade stuffs an' make here safes. Then we can be goin' an' dealin' with tha' shamblers." Sunny insists.
"Nuh-UH! Tha' shamblers be whu'ts eatin' peoples! We's got'a shut all'a doors an' windows down here so's we can be gettin' at 'em fom tha' roof, like." Sunny explains to Ray.
"I dun't right know whut t'is peoples be callin' 'em in'a peopls speakin'. They is all... smelly.. an' shambly... an' groanin'... an', y'know, eatin' peoples, like..." Sunny frowns.
"Jus' openin' tha' door in't tha' right clever thing ta' be doin'." She admonishes Daven or any one else who tries to get past her naturally tanned self.
|
"We's got'a put things over t'other doors an' windows down here. We's got'a barricade stuffs an' make here safes. Then we can be goin' an' dealin' with tha' shamblers." Sunny insists.
The walking dead so it is true...alright lets start barricading the easiest points of access the windows and then the doors.
Do you have an access to the roof?
Sunny nods and helps her freinds and staff barricade the doors and windows.
After things have been made more secure she moves over to Daven, "We should be able ta' be gettin' out'a window or such..." She suggests.
"But, if they's got'a hatch on't roof? That'd be okeys t'boot!" (^_^)
Sunny nods and helps her friends and staff barricade the doors and windows.
After things have been made more secure she moves over to Daven, "We should be able ta' be gettin' out'a window or such..." She suggests.
"But, if they's got'a hatch on't roof? That'd be okeys t'boot!" (^_^)
The innkeeper mentions he does in fact have roof access. He offers to take you up, if you desire. He also rouses his wife, and they wake all the guests. There is a total of eleven other people in the common room, all stacking benches and tables against the windows and doors. The innkeeper mentions the backdoor is currently barred, but that it may be a viable exit.
"Should we wait them out, or run for it?" The innkeeper asks. Everyone stops and looks you all for guidance.
Somewhere in the distance, a child is crying.
Sunny shifts from foot to foot nervously and shrugs a bare, tanned shoulder as she looks to her friends.
"I dun't rightly know whut peoples t'is they be doin' when shamblers be comin' a shore. We kin? We's gots all sorts a things ready fer 'em, like." She frowns then points with a tanned arm.
"Put all ye can aginst tha' doors an' stuffs... Then, make a baricade aginst tha' stairs over there. With ye selfs on tha' up side." She nods, hooing her idea has merrit.
"I is gon'a see about that young-un I be hearin'." So saying Sunny scampers up towards her room again while trying to work out how close and where the child might be.
Sunny can determine that the crying child is from the building directly across the street. It is a private residence, and the flicker of candlelight is visible from within.
Gently, quietly Sunny opens her bedroom window and leans out to gauge the distance between 'here' and 'there'...
Looking up and down and side to side to work out the details of the building she's in and how one might go about climbing out... gaining some height or distance and getting across.
(O_o)
"There may be a few horses in the stables next door. As for flammable materials, I have some lantern oil, there are still some hot coals in the fire, and plenty of hay next door in the barn. Have to go outside to get to the barn though, the buildings don't connect."
He looks worried, but willing to help.
Sunny nods to Ray... "But.. they's all'a way over there.." And she points towards the house even as she looks around.
"We need some rope... or somat..." She frowns, though still peering outside.
Meg is able to sneak along the shadows, and by using cover, able to get across the street safely.
Sunny looks to Ray. "Maybe we can be tyin' sheet t'gether some?" She suggests as a way to cover the distance between where they are and where they need to be.
Meg's owl flies around outside, and between the two, Meg is able to determine that there are no other innocents outside. Most of the town has barricaded their homes, and it seems several dozen had fled altogether. You can say with reasonable certainty that everyone is safe (for now), dead, or fled, save for the one crying child across the street.
Sunny nods, "Aye! A distractin' should do wonders." She agrees as she Head back down to the rear door of the building so as to enact this new plan. (^_^)
"We get ta' farthest end of this buildin', in sight of tha' buildin' we wan'a get at then Ray can maybe make his magic beasty appear as faaar away form us as he can fer tha' shamblers ta' chase, hey?" She suggests. As they get to the rear door of the tavern, Sunny giggles,
"We be actin' as a distractin' fer Meg ta' be actin'." (^_^)
Meg all but disappears into the shadows. She is able to easily get across the street, and slips into the house. She searchs the front room, but quickly realizes that the child is in the back. She moves into the back room, and finds a small bedroom with a young human girl, probably around four years of age. The girl doesn't seem to notice Meg, and has mostly stopped crying, apparently due to lack of tears. Her sobbing has not stopped, however.
Sunny nervously watches the surrounding streets and alley-ways for more/where the shamblers are... shambling about
|
"See you later, Lobo Gris." Ray tells his companion as the wolf disappears. Then he walks over to get a view of the zombies and summons a dog near them, it's fur dark and eyes red. "I hope that works. I can't really try and get it to do anything but attack them, and there's no gurantee that will draw them away."
The dog appears in front of a group of the zombies, and while not all notice it, a large group turn and begin to shamble toward the dog. The majority of the horde, realizing that there is a living creature nearby, also begin to turn. The dog is positioned near the entrance to an alleyway, and the horde being to file in. Seizing her opportunity, Meg dashes out. The horde don't notice Meg at all, not a single zombie. She makes it back across the street with ease and grace, and gets back to the group safe and sound.
Sunny helps Meg and the young girl back into the inn/tavern. She nods in agreement with Meg.
"Aye, best goin' after them shamblers when we can see 'em better."
Though the tanned Elf returns to the higher part of the establishment to see how best to move along the roof tops for when they want to try foraying in the morning.
The night passes slowly, punctuated by the occasional groans. Morning comes eventually, and with the new day comes a strange sight. While some of the zombies still meander about, most have stopped moving. Bodies litter the streets, most of them inanimate zombie corpses. A few townsfolk are daring to peek out their windows, and a pair of strong men with pitchforks are systematically eliminating the remaining zombies.