"More ammo is good. Gods know how many zombies we'll run into, and I'd hate to run out. I'm willing to try the clothesline."
"Yeah more ammo and potentially weapons sounds like a wise choice of action..." throws Booker
Maggie nods as there seems to be a majority if not a full consensus. She heads over to the window and opens it, pointing out the 'clothesline.' It proves to be a loop of thick hemp rope strung between two pulleys that almost look like they belong in the Dogun Hold moving tons of melted metal and not bolted to the sides of two buildings in the middle of the city. Martelle gives a small shrug as she opens the window. "My bedding weighs a ton when wet."
She tosses a few pebbles at the window across from hers and notes some movement behind it. "Anyways it looks like Rickard is home, he can help you get inside when you get over there. Now be careful on the rope, it shifts easily."
"Well, here goes nothing!" Doc draws both her guns, spreads her arms to aid her balance, and begins taking tentative steps along the clothesline.
Soon enough, she gets the hang of it and strides confidently across to the window. Tapping on it, she calls through the glass: "Hello! May we come in? We're stopping off before going out to kill a ton of zombies."
As soon as Doc gets out on the clothesline the window on the other side opens and a tall, balding man with an ample belly and a thick, curling moustache that hasn’t yet succumbed to the encroaching gray already claiming the fringe of hair around his pate stands just in side to try help her into the building. He's most likely the eponymous Rickard of Rickard's Gunnery and Sales. "Well that's good to hear! We weren't entirely sure what to do about them ourselves."
It proves no challenge for the medic to get across and she's soon inside where a woman in a fancy gown stands with tray of glasses and a pitcher of chilled tea. She ushers Doc away from the window and to a chair and pours her a glass. "Here, have a drink. Wasn't expecting visitors, but I won't be known for being an ungracious host!"
Zindarel hops up onto the rope immediately after doc crosses. Unfortunately she sets her gaze forward before she really has her footing... and slips! Just when it seems that she'll plummet to the zombie horde below, she grabs onto the robe and saves herself from falling.
Looking back at the remainder of the group, she sighs audible at the display.
Not my best work. I assure you I will do better from here on out.
Then, hand over hand, she simply moves herself along the rope until she lands on the other side to meet and greet Rickard.
Greetings Rickard. I am Zindarel. We were told you may provide us with assistant in our fight against the undead.
Zindarel has a moment where she very nearly falls, but after a second she catches herself and is able to get over to the window and Rickard. "Greetings to you too, lady elf. I'll certianly see what assistance I can provide."
The elf then finds herself promptly in an overstuffed chair with a class of chilled tea in hand.
Oh, my well! This chair and tea are a good start. Thank you! I'll just watch the others cross from here, for now!
She lounges in the chair and takes on an air of contentment so soon after the near fall on the line.
Booker tries to move to the other side using the strength of his hands. But they are becoming shaky?
Booker gathers the strength and begins to move slowly but surely to the other side.
If I need to burn a hero point, here is the roll
1d20+9 acrobatics
Zakzak starts to slip off the rope.
He catches himself on the rope after a second and swings there for a moment, before pulling himself up and trying again.
After the initial scare he's back up on the rope and scurries across.
Once inside he is placed on a stuffed loveseat next to Booker, both with a cold glass of iced tea in hand.
After his wife serves the last of the guests, Rickard turns to face the group. "I have to admit, it's a surprise to have visitors. However given how you're armed and Martelle is helping you, You lot must be making your way to the theater to see what this nightmare is all about, eh?”
He pauses to ensure that his assumption was correct before plowing ahead. "If you need ammo you've come to the right place. I'm Rickard and this is my wife Maggie, Rosie's down stairs barking at all the 'people' outside. Now, excuse me for a moment while I go grab a few things and see about finally getting Rosie away from that window."
He goes stomping down stairs, calling "Quiet Rosie! You're going to draw them in here!"
After a second, Maggie gives a small shudder at some thought and turns to the party. "Really odd circumstances, here, really. I'm a little glad we were only able to swing tickets for the second showing. I swear I saw Mr. Scothwel stumble out of the building covered in blood, pale as death, and glassy-eyed earlier... While we wait for Rosie and my husband, would you like some biscuits? I have a tin from my cousin in Almas."
"Thanks, Maggie. You sure know how to be hospitable in the midst of a zombie apocalypse." Doc gladly accepts some tea and a biscuit. "Now, we're here to stock up on ammo before heading out to blast those zombies to hell and end whatever or whoever's making them, and it seems like time isn't on our side, so let's make this a brief as possible. I've never been in the theater. Do you happen to know the layout? Have you noticed a pattern to the zombies' emergence?"
Zindarel nods at Docs questions, appreciating getting right to the point. She adds her own: ...and, do you know of alternate ways in besides the front-door? Unless it's the sewers. Eww.
"Also do you have any idea what is happening? Why zombies are coming from the theater? Do you have necromancers here in town? Did such things happen in the past?"
"Thanks, Maggie. You sure know how to be hospitable in the midst of a zombie apocalypse." Doc gladly accepts some tea and a biscuit. "Now, we're here to stock up on ammo before heading out to blast those zombies to hell and end whatever or whoever's making them, and it seems like time isn't on our side, so let's make this a brief as possible. I've never been in the theater. Do you happen to know the layout? Have you noticed a pattern to the zombies' emergence?"
Maggie seems genuinely happy at the comment. "A good host is always ready to have company, even if there's an apocalypse happening. I'm jsut glad we were still getting ready when all this happened... If I had known you were coming though, I'd have made sandwiches! I don't think you'll have the time now, but if you want to come back afterwards, I'd be glad to make some for you."
She looks to the stairs at the mention of ammo. "Ah, right, my husband is grabbing his supply of ammo, but in the meantime I could tell you about the theater house, they might have changed the layout for this play but generally it looks like this." She sketches a rough map of the place.
"As for the emergences, there's three or four new zombies every minute or so, but I think the numbers might be pettering off, but that could just be me."
Zindarel nods at Docs questions, appreciating getting right to the point. She adds her own: ...and, do you know of alternate ways in besides the front-door? Unless it's the sewers. Eww.
Shuddering at the thought of sending people into the sewers Maggie shudders. "I sadly don't know of any other ways."
After a second there's the sound of a dog racing up stairs as a giant golden retriever in a big bow bounds up the steps and rushes to meet the new people. She bounds for Zindarel trying to barrel into the elf and lick all over her face.
Behind the excitable dog, follows Rickard with a large iron box in hand. He sets it on the table and tries to contain Rosie. After a moment to settle the pup, Rickard sits down with a hand on Rosie's lead.
"Also do you have any idea what is happening? Why zombies are coming from the theater? Do you have necromancers here in town? Did such things happen in the past?"
Rickard fields this question with a shake of his head and a frown. “No to all of those sadly... but I think it started at the play premiere somehow. We had tickets to the next showing and were just changing out of our work clothes when the screaming started. We saw the first wave of those undead blighters come pouring out of the theater shortly after the first yell.”
Hey Toots, the goblin looking at Maggie youse gots any whiskey?
Maggie gives the rude goblin a shocked look, "No, I don't!"
Realizing his wife is slightly miffed and that he should change the subject, Rickard picks up the iron box and fishes a matching key from around his neck. Opening it up, the case proves to be packed full of all sorts of assorted ammo. "Right, I can't offer you much in the way of new weapons, most of them are special order or non-functional display pieces, but help yourselves to as much ammo as you need." He offers up the box chocked full of ammo, slipping Zakzak a small flask of some liquid when he passes near the goblin.
"There anything else we can help you with?"
Zindarel swats at the dog lunging at her, gets up and races around the room to get away from it.
Gah! Back! BACK! Yes you can get this mongrel OFF of me!
Doc shakes her head in a combination of exasperation and bemusement. "Well, this is chaos. Zindarel, stop running or you'll make it even more exited. Zakzak, save it for the zombies. Now, let's all grab some ammo and get ready to make a break for it." As she helps herself to the ammo, she nods appreciatively at Rickard and Maggie. "Thank you kindly for your help and hospitality. We'll get to the bottom of this. If you see us dancing in the street you'll know it's safe to come outside. I can't wait to see Zakzak and Zindarel do the two step."
Booker loads his pockets with ammo for his rifle as he looks through the window "So, what is the plan now? Do we want to shoot the zombies from here, with barricaded doors we might just shred them from afar." suggest
Rickard gets a hold of Rosie's lead as soon as she starts to chase the fun elf woman. He makes sure to tie her to a sturdy beam, but it doesn't stop Rosie from beaming at Zindarel.
At Booker's comment he blooms into a smile. "You could always leave from the front door! Anything that gets through will have to deal with my cannon first!”
Maggie rolls her eyes before giving him a sharp look, "Dear NO!"
She turns to address to the rest of the group. "Much as my husband might want a chance to show off his cannon, I’d prefer you didn’t try to go out through our front door. It does take a bit to reload and there’s an awful lot of those shamblers out there. Rosie’s teeth aren’t what they used to be and I hate to think of her getting hurt protecting us. Now, mister and missus Scothwel planned to be at the first showing of the play and I saw him attacking some people a few minutes ago. That probably means there shouldn’t be anyone in their home. If you can shimmy out the window and into their house like you did ours, it’s a short hop across the street to the theater. If you’re quick, quiet, and lucky, you could probably scoot in there without attracting the attention of the undead gathered in the square."
Rickard, slightly deflated, counters, "Or we could load Ol' Boomers, open the door, blast a way through for them, then close and barricade it as soon as they leave. That'd work just fine... But I am kinda curious what happened to that nice new gun I just sold Mr. Scothwel... If you want, I think it'd be okay to take shots at the undead in the square, as well."
Doc chuckles at the interplay between their hosts. "Picking off zombies in the square would be easy, but it wouldn't stop whatever's causing all this. Now Rickard, if you'd like to pick off some of them from one of your second story windows that'd sure be a help. I think slipping over to the Scothwel's house sounds like a good plan. What do you guys think?" She casts an inquiring glance over her compatriots before realizing her callousness. Turning back to Maggie and Rickard, she softens her voice. "I'm sorry about your neighbors."
Zindarel spends a minute lining her pockets with ammo. She likes Booker's suggestion.
Sure they'll keep replenishing, but I imagine if we spend a few minutes "thinning the herd" it would help us in our slinking from the Scothwel home in a minute.
She walks over to the window to see what range of street she has a clear shot on.
Remember: aim for the heads!
Everyone gathers around the window, Maggie and Rickard also pulling out some rifles of their own. It takes a minute and a half but the numbers in the square goes down significantly. Rickard looks at the group. "Ahh, that was exhilarating! Well, if you're going, now is the time before more start pouring out of there. Now how are you getting out of here? The front door or across to the Scothwel's?"
Maggie looks up a smile on her face. "The Scothwel's place probably still has that nice gun you sold them last week... But they've taken to locking their windows so you'll have to unlock that first."
"I'd rather not take the time to unlock it. I say we make a dash for the theater from the front door. What do you say, crew?"
Zindarel nods. Yes, I believe it is time. I also doubt we'll have much time to unlock the special gun, unless we're willing to just break its case. I don't want to dawdle on the time we just bought ourselves.
She seems somewhat more contented at this point, following the attempted mauling by the dog. My aim is fresher after that bout of zombie sniping!
Everyone gathers down stairs, minus Rosie who whimpers some as her new best elven friend heads downstairs. Rickard quickly loads his cannon in case it's needed, and Maggie takes up a spot near the door with a locking pin in her hands. "Right, We'll open this on 3, if there's zombies right there, Rickard will shoot his cannon, and if there's none like we hope, you'll go out and we'll shut the door behind you!"
There's a moment of silence before she starts counting "3... 2... 1... GO!" She swings the door open, there's a moment when everyone looks out, and with no shamblers in sight of the cannon, everyone rushes outside. Maggie shouts, "GOOD LUCK!", and slams and locks the door behind you.
The night is full of sounds of distant screams, gunfire and moaning as the zombies spread out further and further, and encounter citizens and the Shieldmarshals as they start to fight back against the hordes. The square here if filled with dead zombie bodies that you have shot down as well as random garbage and missing bodies parts that either have been blasted off by some gun or gnawed on by a shambler. On the other side of the plaza though are a few zombies that have come back in since you last looked and out of the alley to your right another pops out of the darkness.
Zindarel is ready to fight the zombies, but everyone else is a little blindsided by them.
Zindarel drops her mithral tree down and fires at the zombie nearest to the door.
Into the theatre!
She then begins sprinting at the door.
Zindarel is able to Headshot the closest zombie with one shot, getting one kill. She then sprints into the vestibule of the theater.
The other zombies just shambles closer, being too far away to reach anyone quickly.
Everyone is up!
Booker raises his scattergun and takes a shot at the furthest Zombie. The bullets shred through all of the undead bodies. He runs forwards and pushes the nearest zombie while reloading his gun
"Guys! The entrance is right here--Oh nevermind! Guess we're doing this." Befuddled as to why the team is avoiding the perfectly close by theater door, Doc grumbles in her head as she moves forward with both weapons drawn and loaded. Keep the party together. Taking aim at the zombie in the black jacket with Solution, she fires her shot and then reloads her weapon.
Zindarel reloads her mithril tree, but sets the butt down on her boot, waving her friends on into the theatre so that they might secure the doors.
Booker fires a shot and takes out the grey zombie with no problems, before going ahead and bashing the black one out of the way. Doc follows up with a Solution for the black zombie, taking it down with a nice headshot. And then Zakzak finishes off the last one with a final headshot. Around the square you start to hear the sounds of the moaning of tens if not hundreds of more zombies attracted by the sounds of shots, people running and grunting. They slowly, slowly start to close in on the group.
Taking the time they have to get into the relative safety of the building, the party walks into the theater.
"Okay! Now into the theater! Reload and let's go!" Doc dashes toward the door.
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The fine furnishings of this theater, including velvet seat cushions, polished marble aisles, and expensive silk draperies, are marred by blood and other, fouler liquids. The elevated stage at the far end of the theater features a gloomy tableau of painted wood and canvas designed to resemble a decrepit cemetery. The display is decorated with religious iconography that seems to twist and warp when looked upon for more than a moment. Off to either side of the entrance are two flaming braziers of some alchemical concoction, but both Booker and Zakzak know the chemical and how useful it can be to coat weapons.
In the center of all of the symbols are a pair of odd twisted figures that dance and cavort about acting out scenes from what must have been the play. You swear the one in a gorgoues purple dress and hat looks like the dried out undead version of the portrait for Melsa Aldthistle, the playwright behind this travesty of a play.
All around are another good 20-30 dead bodies that twitch a gurgle slightly seeming to respond to the twisted performance’s ups and downs, as the pair finish an act, 5 of the dead forms rise and start to shamble about. They all look a little different than the ones you’ve fought before, minus the biggest one who looks eerily like a female version of the zombie Zindarel just headshotted outside. Next to her is the smaller body of what looks like a miniature version of her mother.
Of the remaining three, one is covered in disgusting pustules that look like they might burst and cover people in a fetid fluid if they are standing near it. . Another has horrid teeth and jaws that could rip someone terribly if they weren’t careful The final seems to have an aura to it that causes the wounds of nearby bodies to fester and putrify.
The non-zombies on the stage seem to stay unaware of the new people in the room, but all of the newly risen undead swivel and stare directly at the party before starting to shamble in their direction.
++++++++++++++++
Zindarel 30/30
Doc Featherton 32/32
Zombies
Zakzak 39/39
Booker 38/38
++++++++++++++++
Current map
Zindarel sighs as the next batch of undead make themselves known.
Yes, of course. We knew it would be this. Here's hoping the understudies aren't undead. Head's up!
With the curt warning she drops the barrel of her mithral tree along the right side of Doc and fires past her at the zombie straight ahead.
Keeping her eyes trained on it she tips up the weapon just quick enough to drop another bullet in.
"Of course, I'd rather catch the dancers before things get worse." Doc takes her aim, fires twice, and reloads Problem.
(+1 scatter (P) damage: 5 feet)
Zindarel puts a big hole in the guts of the closest zombie reloading, but Doc proves to be a terrible bipod and shifts at the wrong time as she starts aiming her own shots, making her second shot miss into the wall.
Doc has a bit better luck, firing a Problem bullet at the zombie before the Solution pellets solve the problem of it moving.
The zombbos then move. The green pustule covered one advances on Booker and the yellow one giving off some putrefying mist approaches Doc. Both are too slow to be able to take a swing.
Behind them the momma zombie starts trying to move around the tables to the sides, as her daughter also goes for the other side. They don't get too far though.
On the stage the two actors keep acting, unfazed by the fighting going on near them.
++++++++++++++++
Zakzak 39/39
Booker 38/38
~~~~~Round 2~~~~~
Zindarel 30/30
Doc Featherton 32/32
Zombies
Red GRATUITOUS HEADSHOT
++++++++++++++++
Current map