Azana nodded, floating up to get a better shot straight into the skull of anything that came moaning through the door.
As Azana takes to the sky you see there is a boy on the roof of the camper. He has boxes around him and several guns. He looks asleep.
As Titus gets close to the door a charging rush comes out of the door with barks and chattering teeth... not a zombie but a tweeking human, you think. He does his best to bite and claw you.
Azana looks surprised for a moment, and goes, "Oh! I have just the thing!" She pulls something out her pack, checking the label for a moment before swallowing the contents whole. Sweetdream would knock the target out. Azana being Azana, she simply transferred the effect to the target. If he was strung out enough it might not knock him out, but it might calm him down.
The man drops to the ground in a drooling mess. You hear others moving towards the door as well.
Round 2
More of the out of their minds people come out of the house. A total of three of them. They move to Titus but only one of them swings clawing fingers at him.
Azana hovered uncertainly. "Guys, we're human!" Well, she was. Mostly. Kind of. "Look, calm down, we can help you! We have snacks!" She didn't want to use her drug to knock them all out, because she didn't have much more. She really needed to learn how to make more of that one, it was really useful for solving fights non-violently. In her hands, anyway.
Titus steps.forard and gets to work slugging and mauling those before him until all of them lay upon the ground motionless. It only takes him two rounds. "So you want me to deal with this in the other buildings?"
Likely she will agree to it and within minutes all but the barn is clear. He touches the door handle and gets zapped. "You got something for this?"
Titus would make sure to only punch to knock the men out as they seemed alive.
"They seem alive. Out of their minds perhaps but not undead. What do you see up there?"
"The electric barn, mostly. They're on drugs, I think. I've heard of a lot of ones that make people act really stupid and amped up. Never tried them myself - infite paranoia and magic fire don't seem like a good idea, you know? Let's secure them then we can check the barn. I bet someone's hooked the electric up to the door handles as a security thingy, so we just avoid touching the metal..."
At least, Azana hoped it would be that simple. Titus could like as not go through the wall.
"There was a shock but my body is resistant to it now. I could try and pull it open or use rope around the handle and pull it open that way. Let me check..."
"My kit has twine, I didn't bring any rope. How about I just try and kick it in."
With that Titus will attempt to just bash the door in.
With Titus now trying to bash it the current would hit him for 2d6 electricity unless he saves for a Reflex DC 16 for each hit.
"The wall might be less dangerous," Azana suggested cautiously, and started looking around incase there's a window. Windows would be even easier. Even Azana could break a window.
A sound can be heard off to the left. like someone or something is making a poor attempt to hide.
or perhaps observing the group breaking into the barn.
a glance to that direction you can make out a small humanoid silhouette hidden among some rocks.
but there is something off about it. almost mechanical.
The barn seems to have no windows. It is covered in wood.
"I got this no problem."
Saved so no damage all got resisted.
Saved so no damage all got resisted.
With 2 quick punches the door cracks and splinters exploding inward leaving an opening.
"Doors open, Hey Azana. What is that moving over there? Hello, are you alive and well? Or not crazy or whatever these people were."
"We're friends, if you're not all 'rargh, bitey' or 'whooa, space and weird and now I need to punch stuff'" Azana added cheerfully. "We have food, shelter and care if you need it," she added.
don't go in the barn...please the shadow speaks in an almost childlike male voice.
the thing carefully emerges from the shadows. As it comes into view the figure is not human, nor living actually. is does walk and have a general humanoid posture but is completely mechanical, you could say, robotic.
the head is like a single doughboy type helmet with a single lens in the front, probably an eye or some device for vision.
the body is boxy and has thin robotic arms and legs. its hands and claw like but definitely not built for combat.
are any of you infected?
...what?
Azana stared at the newcomer in confusion for a moment, but given how strange some of the things were it probably wasn't that odd.
I mean, I am floating off the ground right now.
"Uh, no. No infection. We're safe." Azana looked at the strange figure. "My name's Azana. Why should we stay out of the barn? You've been keeping all your undead family members in there, have you? I read that in a comic once."
With a simple scan the robot knows you are not infected.
With the door open you can see it looks like a mechanic's barn with all sorts of tools and gadgets.
A red dot appears on Titus's chest.
"What do you mean I already opened the door... What are you?
Titus takes note of the boy. He waves.
"Hello there. We were looking for survivors. We are here to help."
Rex moves to get between the boy and titus. waving to the boy. don't shoot, the are not infected. he yells to the boy on the roof
If the situation is diffused, Rex turns to the newcomer, non-zombies, I am Rex, one of the last surviving members of the Alice initiative. That barn is an access point to the last remnants of a remote outpost for the initiative.
The boy lowers the gun and waits.
"Alice Initiative?" Azana looked at the barn again. "What an Alice Initiative? Are we going to be talking rabbit holes, tea parties and an intrinsic knowledge of advanced maths, or are we talking Mary Sue clones?" Azana would definitely prefer the Alice in Wonderland version, but given the zombies the terrible Resident Evil movies might be the answer.
Rex shows the group into the barn, If you could please try and close whats left of the door?
Once everyone is inside. Alice is short for Advanced Light Infantry Combat Engine. It was a special project started by Doctor Theodore Parsons to combat the zombie plague after all methods of medicines had failed. He felt that a cybernetic soldier that would be immune to the disease could be used and since they were not living they could be considered expendable.
Rex appears to to be moving stuff round as though he is looking for something as he speaks.
however before the initiative could be activated, something happened. the complex became overrun and nearly all the units were destroyed. I helped Dr. Parsons escape with his first special prototype unit. the first to meld three elements of living flesh, technology, and for the first time, magic.
Rex appears to have found what we was looking for, a large trap door in the floor. he motions for some help to get it open.
[ooc]pause here to allow Rex to answer some questions, the rest of the tale for when the party decides to continue in the trap door.
"Close the door... I destroyed it. Are you an android? Elise come look at this thing."
Elise comes close to inspect Rex.
Elise"Is it from space? Numeria? I will study it if it lets me."
She listens astutely to the thing speak of the initiative.
Titus"So those outside were, are they infected? Why did they attack?
REX answers, "They are infected but were part of a caravan. The early stages of infection make humans seem normal until awakened, then they bascially turn feral, rage, and try to eat what woke them up. They don't like loud noises, the bleeding from their ears would theorize they are weak to sonic damage. The boy is the last of the caravan. He doesn't trust me. Do you have other survivors, the next few levels will be very dangerous."
"Wait, so these ones are alive, but infected?" Azana glanced at Titus. "That doesn't sound like the zombies we've been fighting, they are very, very dead. Is this an earlier stage than we've seen before or a new virus entirely? If it's the second then we've got so many problems brewing..." She'd rather assumed that the zombies were magic in nature, but if there was a second variety caused by a disease, things were going to get...whacky.
"We have a freind or two...but why would we want to go down? Shouldn't we just drop the barn on the entrance, seal the whole place up forever?" She paused. "Or is there something down there we need?" Maybe they had a cure, at least for the Rage virus version of whatever the hell was going on.
"This underground area may make a better base than the farm we found. We could move the cattle here. A fortified area to fall back to would do us well. We will have to clear it out first. Elize is very good at mixing chemicals and things together. Perhaps we can figure out what was going on here and see if it can help us in any way. Right now we are a boat floating in the sea with no direction. Undead all around. We need information to hope to stop any of this. Is the boy infected? I can go and talk with him."
Titus will walk outside and get in sight of the boy again.
"Hello, you there boy. The robot said you are the last of a caravan. Why don't you come down, join us and tell us what you know? Or I will come up and we can talk."
Titus begins to approach the boy.
Rex tries to answer the question posed to him by Azana, Alice prototype unit 11 is in stasis down there. I need a non infected biological unit to activate the unit. She is the only alice unit left.
Azana nodded. "Ok, we can rescue unit 00 from the basement, I guess. And check if the place can be used by us." If all these guys were doomed, which seemed likely with no mention of a cure, it wasn't going to be fun putting them down. "So what is this prototype Alice, exactly?" And would she qualify as human? Would Titus? Crud.
"Its not safe." He replies to you and aims his gun again at you.
Titus isn't really sure what the boy is holding so he advances still.
"What is not safe? This world is overrun with undead. The world is not safe. Come let us help you."
"Well, I'm pretty safe," Azana said as she floated. But she didn't say it very loudly - a bullet was still something she needed to worry about. Somewhat. She was pretty sure the shiny stone she'd got would heal her. Probably.
"Look, we have stuff to do!" she called to the young man. "If you like you can move over here, and shoot us if we get infected."
Rex tries to get everyone inside. looking to the roof, you don't need to worry about us. trying to diffuse a possible violent situation.
don't worry about that kid. we need to activate the last Alice Unit.
trying to answer Azana The Alice unit is a prototype of a mix of biological flesh, robotics and magic. she was designed to be a combat support unit. to be deployed with an infiltration platoon of combat mech. units. But since Dr. Parsons wanted to upgrade this unit for more specialized operations, she was moved here.
But that was before the outbreak really expanded. Dr. Parsons was beginning research for a cure before he disappeared.
"Sounds good to me!" He announces and doesn't move.
"If you come back I might go with you." he adds.
Azana nodded. "We should probably go grab Kælen then head down, I guess?" she asked, looking over at Titus.
"Very well."
He nods to the boy turning to head back inside when Azana speaks up.
"I will go let them know. Elise, just stay here a moment. I will be right back."
Frank runs over to let Kaelen and the others know. When he returns he checks to see if everyone is ready.
"So how do we go down. I don't see any stairs."
He awaits someone to point out the elevator and how the contraption works.
An hour later Titus returns with others. I know that Kaelen, Jelissa, and Thorn would follow Titis back.
Now with your full strength with you, the robot leads you into the barn. There he presses a button and the floor drops a few inches dropping most of you prone, He raises the floor again and then disengages a locking mechanism. Then presses the button again and the floor slowly drops about 100 feet. A hallway lays before you with several bodies on the ground. The ground is blood soaked and there are bloody hand prints and smears on the walls.
Nothing moves yet...
As the elevator allows you to see the top of the hallway, she taps her scythe twice on the ground and prays, "Oh dark mistress may you grant me vision to see the undead blight!"
Her eyes begin to glow red. Once the elevator stops she announces, "No Undead within sight for 60 feet."
The hallway is 10 feet wide and there are no doors or windows. Down 50 feet you see a receptionist desk and the hallway goes right and left.
Still in his full heavy armor and tower shield he quickly takes point with Titus. As you begin to walk down the bloody mess and he begins to slip he points out, "Let's clean up a spot, set some traps, then ring the dinner bell. What do you say, we have a great choke point here and if needed we can back up to the elevator."
As he arrives with Titus, and suspiciously eyes the new arrival. "Who's the automaton?"
"His name is REX," Azana said a smile, "And he has a friend down in the basement. Which might be a good base for us, too, given it has a farm on top? We can move our stuff here." She moved to reception desks for things like guest keycards, or to see what was on the computer.
There does not appear to have a computer on the desk though there is a rectangular pad of some kind on it. Looking in the drawers of the desk you find a yellow key card attached to a ring and three keys. There are all sorts of desk materials there as well. You do find a whole bunch of cards in boxes, most of the boxes were sealed.
Around the corner you see a few torn body parts and more blood but luckily no undead. As Jelissa confirms with a whisper.
Thorn stands to the left of the desk ready for something to jump out at him. A longsword in his hand ready to swing at anything that jumps out at him.
"I like Thorn's idea, if any undead or perhaps even worse living, hear us they should come running. It would be better to hold out for what we know." She suggests. She continues to scan the area hoping to get a ping of undead but the walls could be too thick. She cringes each time their is a loud noise made by the group.
Azana pocketed the keys, and pocked the tablet with one finger to see if it lived. Or perhaps it was the thing to make keycards? She'd seen one of those, sort of, at a hotel once. "It'll depend. The ones we saw in the house didn't really respond until we opened the door. And if there are any of the dead kinds of zombies they won't be able to open the doors. We can try it, but I don't think it'll get a lot of them."
"I'd prefer we fought them in the open, but I see the strategical advantage of your plan," Kælen says, nodding to Thorn.