Dead Rising: D&D Edition IC

[Critical]

OOC Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177701)



A huge white-colored building stands in the middle of the road, immensely crowded, and highly powered by magic - floating signs of various color and size everywhere, working day and night, in fact, so many, that a magic user casting detect magic here would probably go blind for some time. But there were two signs that were especially catching the eye: the bloody red "THE SPLATTERHOUSE" written in gooey font, as if it was actual blood, the name of a locally-famous undead slaying show, and, of course, the main sign, enormous compared to others, located on the top of said building, the yellow and diamond-sparkling "MARSAROR MALL" written in an elegant and fancy font. Almost as if it would be a big city on it's own and living it's own life - people of all social layers were there buying, selling, trading, eating, drinking, setting up business deals... Doing almost anything you can imagine, basically! As the saying went - "If you want to find something - go to the Marsaror Mall!". "The Mall", as it was called locally, could be described nigh-endlessly, especially in the night which was slowly covering it now, being like a sole, beautiful star in the darkness, however, lets return to our story, shall we?

Sid

You're sitting alone in the darker corners of the mall, thinking of your plan for the night. The mall seems to be extra-crowded this night and most folks seem to be pretty jazzed up about that "Splatterhouse" zombie show. You figure, that it might be quite profitable going stealing there, because you could easily disperse in the crowd after your job is done. There might be more, but that's the only thing coming into your mind and you're feeling a good deal of need in getting your "stealing fix".


Kaylee

You were walking for several days out of the town to get these potions needed for your boss, and you're finally here! It's night, though, and you're quite tired from the road. There seems to be quite a big crowd for a show called "Splatterhouse". You're not sure what it is, but you definitely can tell it's bloody, at least, judging from the sign.

But you're not here for that, you're here for these potions your boss ordered, and he was known to be a pretty strict one. Now, where was that list? Ow, right, your backpack! It's probably the time to check it out.


Gunnar

You've came into the city with your new mask on - a young, seemingly non-distinctive woman. You finally emerge from the road into the shining with every color mall. Although, the crowd in there seems to be quite pumped up by the upcoming "Splatterhouse", which seems to be a show of undead slaying, you're feeling quite tired now and were already been wondering where could you get some rest from the road, hopefully farther than the zombie show, so you can actually get some sleep.


Durnst

You're on your usual job in your fashion boutique and it's getting quite dark outside, but that's actually good news for you - your shift is finally going to be over and you could finally get some rest! You've got about one hour before your shift's off now and the day has been boring so far, a few occasional customers and that's it. You usually got quite a lot more, must be that "Splatterhouse" thing getting all the attention today. But for now, you need to fill your boredom with something. What will you do?


Brendan

You're sitting in your little store, as big as you could afford for your little resources - small, poor looking, and in the most unpopular mall corners. However, when there was at least someone walking around here, who might've took an interest for your store, today there were none. Must be that "Splatterhouse" thing everyone was excited about. Your gut told you that it won't do any good on your profits and it was true. Bored, you sit there, waiting for a customer, you shouldn't go off the schedule just "because there are no customers", right? A just as bored guard standing by the door, his name was Karl, if you recall correctly, comes close to your store and starts an occasional chatter: "So, no dice with the trade today, eh?"

[Zeofar]

Durnst sighs. Another day with nothing meaningful to do. He didn't even feel like reading the comic he had on him; he'd already read it through twice today, and six times before that (He reminded himself to make absolutely sure that there were no new issues once he got off work). Every nuance and detail was already in his head, and he was feeling like he wanted to do something more... productive, after a day of little production. And - with a sudden spark of inspiration - he just knew what it had to be, what it ways was meant to be.

Looking around himself sheepishly to make sure he was not being observed, he tears a few pages out of a convenient ledger and sets them down on the counter in front of him. He grabs the ink and pen from the pouch hanging on his belt, putting down the bottle next to the papers and looked to the ceiling thoughtfully, settling into brief cogitation.

Durnst and Ror... wait, I can't go first... Rorrik and Durn... No, I need something more original...

Pondering on this subject for a while, he finally settles on "Rorrik and Drolar: Fists of Talhanarroth" and crudely scratches the title out with his pen along with a vague illustration of two figures apparently ready to do battle. That settles that... Now, onto the real stuff!

Starting onto the next page, the two figures stand back-to-back, surrounded by a group of rather imposing characters with long tails. After exchanging a few words of warning and intimidation, the two sides seemingly do either battle or an incredibly elaborate dance, the tailed ones all left lying on the ground after a few pages. "Good work, Drolar" came popping out of the slightly larger figure. Yes, Good work indeed...

It felt exhilarating to be defining Rorrik's great deeds; Durnst had never dared to do it before, unsure of how the result might turn out. It felt almost heretical, but at the same time exciting. And there Durnst - Drolar - was, standing there next to him, his great apprentice. He'd always wanted to be a hero, but he didn't think it'd ever actually happen. Yet, now it had! He put the papers away and sighed deeply, dreaming up what would happen next.

[DragonOfUndeath]

I move closer to the theater working the crowd as I go
Sleight of hand check: [roll0]
Sleight of hand check: [roll1]
Sleight of hand check: [roll2]
Sleight of hand check: [roll3]

[Psilulz]

"It appears that Splatterhouse has attracted a bit too much attention... It's not just my shop that's suffering; many others in this area are having the same problem..."

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee digs through her pack until she finds the small scrap of parchment upon which her master had written the various potions and spell components he needed for his dark rituals. She bites her lip, and looks back up at the looming sign for the "Slaughterhouse". She had overheard that it had something to do with undead, a subject with which she was quite familiar. In addition to the more routine preparing of bodies, she also prepared the bodies that her master was going to animate. He said that it made the zombies better, though she thought that the state of the corpse didn't matter much.

She sifts uncomfortable in her leather armor, which he always made her wear whenever she left on longer trips. It was quite unused, as was the dagger on her hip. She glances at her list, and then the sign.

"Oh well," she mutters to herself, "what will it hurt if I take a look?" She then walks over to the entrance of the Slaughterhouse.

[Bayar]

"Hmm, I better ask a local security guard for directions to an inn or something, they should know the surroundings better." Gunnar will head towards the nearest guard: Excuse me. Do you, by any chance, know where I could get a room for the night ? Preferably somewhere a bit more quiet ?

Gather information check: [roll0]

[Critical]

Durnst
The sudden jolt of inspiration strikes you as you draw your, silly for the first glance, comic. You seem to, actually, get one of the moves displayed in the comic. Amazed by that, you stand up and try to replicate the move, getting quite good at it.


If you still want to walk the Tome of Battle path, you may choose one martial maneuver for yourself now, it still will count for the "Maneuvers Known" in the future, so choose wisely. :smallwink:



Sid
You work the crowd as you go, not being very successful with your robberies, but still not getting noticed, you truly seem to go by the saying "know when to fold your cards". Still, you manage to pick off a sparkling, beautiful ticket for the "Splatterhouse" show. The seats seem to be a bit far from the actual show, though.


Brendan

"Hehe, now that's true, not having too much of a job for myself here, you know..." - he replies, while leaning on the desk of the store slightly. - "Though, I wish I'd pay a visit to the "Splatterhouse" myself, too bad it's my shift and the boss is going to kill me if I leave it, even when no one's around. Don't you wash to see them zombie mess?"


Kaylee

The place is quite packed and you figure, that most tickets are probably sold, however, there are a few people with spare ones selling them out of the crowd and if you'd like to actually bite and visit the show, you'd probably have to do it now.


Gunnar
"Err, sure." - the guard replies in slight confusion. - "There are quite a lot of places to stay here, but if you want a "quieter" one, you should probably visit the "Growling Demon" on the other side of the town. Large demon head over the entrance, can't miss it."


No need for gather info check here, it's kinda in their duties to do this. :smalltongue:


Rolls

Opposed Spot checks for Sid:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Zeofar]

“Double Fist Strike!” Durnst shouted within his mind while practicing the move. “There's no way I'll let you release the Skeleton hordes, Gurnath!” he exclaims while shooting out his fists in front of himself, obviously striking down the great enemy before him. “Hah!” was the only comment which he mustered for this only-to-be-expected result.

Sitting down with yet another sigh, he brings out the comic book from his vest, revitalized in his interest again. Looking into the pages with the hint of a smile, he places hims – Drolar – alongside Rorrick, imagining how the trusty sidekick might have aided him in one scene or another. Together, we'd be unbeatable... He turns the page with a grin, ready for more.

I'll be taking Wolf Fang Strike to start.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Sid:
I approach the theater and wait for it to open, thinking he can steal more effectively when the people to either side are transfixed on the show and have a long time to do things right (take 20)

[RaggedAngel]

She's interested in what kind of undead are used in the show; she has taken many notes on her master's techniques over the years, and is always on the look out for more information. She has never felt called to be a cleric, but the dead and undead still interest her.
Kaylee digs through her bag for some money and then tries to get a ticket from someone in the croud around her. She attempts to be polite, but begins to get frustrated after a lack of success, and starts using more direct bartering tactics.
Trying to get a ticket:

Diplomacy [roll0] +4
Bluff [roll1] +6
Intimidate [roll2] +4

[Bayar]

"Thank you :smallbiggrin:".

"Man, why are these guys so sensationalists ? Splatterhouse, Growling Demon...next thing you'll know they'll tell me about toys of halflings chucking skulls called Merry-o or something :smallconfused:. Walking in the general direction towards the Growling Demon, Gunnar thinks about grabbing something to eat. Might be a long road on foot.

I wonder if there's a place here where I can get some Munchkin Munchies ? heh, silly me, of course there should be a place, this Mall is huge :smallbiggrin:

[Psilulz]

"Hmmmm... well I've thought about seeing, just to know about what all of the excitement is about... Maybe get some advertisement for my shop somewhere in there... I'm sure that's bound to be ridiculously expensive, though..."

[Critical]

Kaylee
You argue for a while about the matter of price, causing the seller to, even, raise the price, but you suddenly stare him down with a such fierce gaze, that he even drops the price quietly to five gold. You take the ticket and head to the entrance. Everything seems to be quite usual for such a grand event, when you're standing in line, you suddenly hear someone near you to your right yell out...
Continued in "Kaylee and Sid" spoiler :smalltongue:

By the way, you can add the pluses in the rolls already, like 2d6+7

Sid

You quite easily get into the pockets of the person on your left, a young, beautiful, but pale and with dark shadows under her eyes, woman which just got to the entrance. Yet another ticket to the fare and some kind of list with alchemical components described on it, probably a shopping list - not much, but hey, that was the entrance for the common folk. As you reach for the purse of the peasant to your right, he notices you and yells out...


Continued in "Kaylee and Sid"

Kaylee and Sid

"THIEF!" - he screams at the young elven boy, getting the attention of a good part of the crowd and attempting to catch him. He succesfully does so, and falls with the boy to the floor, however, the elf boy still managed to break free, he was still on the ground, though.
[roll0] Touch Attack @ Sid



Gunnar

You finally find that tavern with giant demon head, obviously, fake one, but none the less, it looks pretty impressive. You stumble in to find a barman, and it seemed to be, an innkeeper, a stereotypical barman with a "drinking belly". He waves to you and greets you heartily: "Hey there, miss! What can ol' Gob do for ya?"


Brendan

Karl looks your shop over for a second after your comment and replies: "Yeah, probably not something you could afford to do. What's excitement about? Violence and gore at safe distance! People LOVE that!"

[RaggedAngel]

For Critical and Sid:
I step between the man and the young elf on the ground. "Calm down! What makes you think he's a thief?" I hold my hand out to the elf, offering to help him up.

For Critical:
Sense motive on the man: [roll0]
Sense motive on Sid: [roll1]
Diplomacy: [roll2]
Gather Information: [roll3]

[DragonOfUndeath]

Sid's eyes start watering and he begins bawling after the man hit him.

Bluff:
[roll0]

[Psilulz]

"Yeah, that's probably true... I haven't been here too long. Guess I couldn't really consider myself a local if I don't see it... About how much is it to get in there?"

[Critical]

Kaylee and Sid

The tears of the elf are clearly having no effect, as the man stands up and attempts to grab him again, but fails miserably. "I saw it with my own eyes, he was digging through my pockets! Better check yours too, lady! And catch him already!"

Kaylee

It seems to you, that the man is lying and the boy didn't steal anything.



Brendan

"It was a few silver if you bought it early enough, but now when everything's sold out, it's about... five gold? I think." - Karl replies. "Well, you'd better hurry up and good luck to you, I still need to remain on my post." - he says and wanders off.

[Bayar]

"Well, I'd like to rent a room for the night. Just arrived in town today and want to get a good night's rest :smile: By the way, I've noticed a rather large crowd for something called the Splatterhouse. From what I've noticed, it's some kind of undead-slaying show, could you perhaps explain what exactly is it ?"

[Critical]

Gunnar

"Certainly miss, that'll be 5 silver." - he replies, and is then slightly amazed by the second question. "You've said it yourself, miss! Some adventurers beating the hell out of an undead horde, basically. Crazy fun!"

[RaggedAngel]

For Sid and Critical:
I tell the man, "Calm down, already. This is a big crowd, you probably just got bumped. He's just a kid." I turn to the kid and say, "So, were you going to go to the show? Do you have a ticket?"

For Critical:
Another round of
Diplomacy: [roll0]
and Sense Motive: [roll1]

[Critical]

Kaylee and Sid

The man views both the girl and the elven boy with an unpleasant face, checks his pockets to see if anything's missing and says: "Aww, alright, but if I catch you again, there won't be any mercy". With that, the peasant gets out his ticket and hurries towards the entrance to the arena.

[RaggedAngel]

Sid and Critical
I get back into line and head towards the gate. "Are you alright?" I ask the elf as I get out my ticket.

[Critical]

Kaylee

As you search in through your pocket, you notice that your ticket is gone.

[RaggedAngel]

Sid and Critical
Kaylee puts her arm around the boy. Then she take out her dagger. "It would be awfully inconvinient for you if what that man had said happened to be true. Would you happen to have something of mine?"

Critical
Not sure what kind of checks you want me to make, so I'll let you make them if you think they're needed, ie Intimidate or a grapple check.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee:
Sniffing Sid looks up at the woman with a look of terror in his eyes. "No Ma'am I wouldn't take anything from anyone, let alone a woman as pretty as yourself.

Roll: Bluff [roll0]

[RaggedAngel]

Sid and Critical
Sense Motive: [roll0]

Kaylee glares. "I know you're lying to me, elf. Give it back. Now."

[Psilulz]

Soon after the guard leaves, Brendan closes shop and fetches his coin purse. He heads off to see what the excitement is all about.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee:
I pretend to empty out my pockets, carefully not pulling out the ticket.
Sleight of hand check to conceal the ticket: [roll0]

When did I steal this Flaw:
[roll1] nope didn't trigger.
[roll2]

[RaggedAngel]

Sid and Critical:
"Then were did my ticket go? Think about it: I buy the ticket, I put it in my pocket, a man call you a thief and tells me to check my pockets, and guess what? No ticket. Now, start talking or this'll get ugly.

Intimidate: [roll0]

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee:
Sid cowers in fear "I-I-I'll T-tell yo-you wh-what. I'll give you ha-half of what you p-paid for the ticket. Just please don't hurt me."

[RaggedAngel]

Sid and Critical
She sighs. "Look, kid, I've had a long day. I'm sorry that I scared you. I just really wanted to go see the show, and that was pretty much the last ticket..." She looks down, and is clearly upset.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee:
"It's ok. I'll tell you what, I'll try and convince someone here to sell me their ticket and I'll give it to you. I might even be able to get two tickets and we can watch the show together."

Critical:
Take 20 Diplomacy to get another ticket from the crowd. IF that doesn't work Take 10 Sleight Of Hand check to pinch one (I have a +6 and 16 should be enough)

[Critical]

Brendan
You see a large crowd near the entrance to "The Splatterhouse". All tickets are probably sold by now, but you can see a few people around selling them.


Kaylee and Sid
Sid wanders off into the crowd and asks around if anyone has a spare ticket to sell.

Sid
You find an old lady in the crowd who takes pity to you and agrees to sell you her ticket for half the price(2 gold 5 silver, that is).

[DragonOfUndeath]

Critical:
Sid buys the ticket, thanks the lady and returns to Kaylee

Kaylee:
Sid approaches Kaylee and gives her the ticket.

[Psilulz]

He will immediately start asking around about who he can get a ticket from.

[Bayar]

Gunner retrives five silver pieces from one of his coat's pocket's and puts it on the counter in front of Gob. "I imagine it's not as fun as gladiatorial combat, especially since one of the parties involved probably doesn't even feel pain or fear. Of course, I imagine seeing someone getting his arm ripped off and getting a beating with it would be hilarious !"

[RaggedAngel]

Sid and Critical:
"Excellent! Let's go see the show. I'm glad you turned out to be nice, kid. So, what's your name?" She walks with him into the Slaughterhouse.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee:
"My name is Sid, What's yours?"

[Critical]

Brendan

Brendan finds a ticket for 5 gold, though, for not so cheap price. As show is about to start, you hastily buy it and rush through the crowd to the arena entrance.


Brendan, Kaylee and Sid

You all, along with the crowd, rush into the building for the upcoming show. It's pretty dark in there as every viewer takes their place, but in a few minutes, after everyone settled down, some seated, some, including the ones that have bought the ticket at the last moment's notice, standing, the sudden magical light, with a loud click sound, has illuminated the centre of the huge arena, where a large rectangular pit appeared to be. It was shortly revealed, that it was a platform-elevator. With a flash of dazzling magical special effects and the astonishing cheering and applause from the crowd, three persons appeared on it: an elegant, white-haired with little hair on his head, clearly of noble origins, man, wearing a black full plate armor without a helmet, which certainly made him look larger and manlier, along with a red cloak. The man was standing between two pale-skinned, yet pretty, even, you might say, spicy, short-haired ladies, wearing stylish slinky dresses of the same design, but various colors. In fact, looking closely, you see, that they appear to be twins! The man in the armor briefly coughs and, unexpectingly for some but not for the veteran viewers, it echoed through the stadium. He then began his speech in his soft, but none the less with some amount of power in it, voice:

"Welcome, citizens of Marsaror. As you all may know, I am Maximus Bloodgate the Sixth, the emperor of Marsaror, and by an old tradition, I'm here to announce the start of a new season of "The Splatterhouse". Today, we'll be putting five of the best adventurers who made it in here through being tested with the hardest trials. Enjoy. And remember, citizens... a new season is a new beginning."

Finishing his speech, Maximus, accompanied with the gorgeous twins, rose up to a balcony level, on the same platform he used to appear from an underground floor, which was levitating now. "A new beginning? What the hell is he talking about? It's always the same awesome zombie-slicing action!" - one of the particularly loud peasants in the crowd notices, making the people surrounding him laugh out loudly.

Meanwhile, more lights with the same sudden click envelop the arena, making the gladiators appear. As you could see, they were all warriors from head to toe and obviously ready to slice some undead in pieces... Except, perhaps, the one in the middle, a short-haired blond guy in a red suit, who seemed to be crowd's favorite, nicknamed "Slicer". The "Slicer" was looking sick and weak today and was just standing there staring into empty space as the others gloriously accepted the horde's cheering.

"Get ready." - the emperor's voice ringed through the field, as the combatants raised their swords and went into a battle stance, the "Slicer" doing that while barely standing on his feet.

"Begin." - was said shortly after, as the large metallic doors, revealed just now, opened with a loud noise, releasing a flood of zombies and other undead. The rumble has begun.

While the remaining four warriors held off the zombies quite reliably for the start, splitting them in two using their swords with massive amount of blood and gore, which the crowd, simply put, loved, you could easily see why the show was called "The Splatterhouse". However, the infamous Slicer was barely able to make a single swing, obviously overly weakened. "Slicer! What the hell is wrong with you?!" - one of the fighters yelled out, helping him to withstand the charging zombies. They were, virtually, battling with four people instead of five, and that severly weakened their fighting ability overall, especially considering, that the exhausted one was the best of them. Meanwhile, the waves of zombies continued to get stronger and stronger and it wouldn't take a genius that it was beginning to get REALLY tough for the splatterhousers...

And that moment came. There were so many undead, that the stadium was swarming with them and the little group couldn't hold their onslaught any longer. Finally, one of the walking dead has grabbed the sick fighter from behind and started biting on the man's head. He screamed in terror with his eyes wide open as the zombie feasted on his brains, but he couldn't do anything now. With him, shortly the others fell, almost disappearing behind the rotten masses of flesh.

The crowd was already shocked and terrified, but there was more to come. In the same spot and formation as the fighters were standing before, five figures in the same outfits as the players rose up from the sea of the brain-hungry horde, lifting their swords in the air, as if they were being the generals of the undead legion. They slowly lowered their swords, so that they were aimed at the spectators, as if ordering their minions to attack. And they did.

Some via climbing onto each other, some via slowly breaking the gates, but the zombies have finally managed to get out and were after the people. There were many of them. The huge wave was slowly approaching. It goes without saying, that the people were terrified and wanted to get out fast, and so they immediately proceeded to do so, packs of people panically rushing to the exits.

But luckily, you all had cheap tickets and were close to the exits, being on the last row.


For simplicity's sake, lets say that Brendan was near Kaylee and Sid too. :smalltongue:



Gunnar

"Yes, yes it is!" - the barman replies cheerfully.


Durnst
Your shift is about to be over, but suddenly you hear screams from the left side of the mall, the one with the zombie show going on in it.

[Zeofar]

After trying to ignore the screaming for a few moments, Durnst creeps up to the corner of the storefront opposite from where the sounds originate, hoping to see some signs of what is going on, or, rather, hoping that nothing is going on.

Would I be correct in presuming that most of the stores have glass or force fronts?

[Critical]

Durnst

OOC:
Most indeed have glass fronts, the more expensive ones have force ones. You'll have to wait a bit on the IC post to you, though, I'm waiting for others actions first. :smalltongue:

[Bayar]

Gunnar will continue chit-chatting with Gob, while while paying attention to any job opportunities around the area.

Gather Information (if aplicable): 1d20+

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee, Brendan, DM:
Sid sprints out of his seat towards the exit the moment the first undead makes it into the seating area. He waits at the exit and grabs Kaylee dragging her and screaming at her to "RUN! FOR PELOR'S SAKE RUN!!!". He heads towards a weapon store to hide and arm up if the guards cannot defeat the horde
OOC:
He readies an action to draw his dagger if a member of the undead comes at either of them.

[RaggedAngel]

Brenden, Critical, Sid
Kaylee lets herself be led by Sid towards the door. She feels a very strange surge of... power. It feels similar to the kind of power her master utilizes, but somehow different. Ignoring the odd feeling for now, she tries to hurry away from the creatures as best as she can.

[Psilulz]

Kaylee, Sid, DM
Brendan will run with the young elf and the human woman. Sticking together is probably a good idea in a situation like this...

[Critical]

Durnst

You see some people running down the hallway on both second floor(which you're on) and the first floor. They are screaming and terrified. Looking closer, you spot a zombie coming out of the corner on the first floor. "Gwaaaah." - you hear coming off from it, as it slowly approaches, revealing a few more coming from it.

You remember, that there was a sublime way shop somewhere on the second floor in the direction from which the dead were walking from, maybe you could get something to help you out from there. Maybe it's time to make that dream reality in time of this dire need?


Sid, Kaylee and Brendan
You run up the automatic magically-empowered stairs and wind up in "Morty's Sublime Shop", a quite nice and fairly large shop with quite a lot of weapons lying around on walls and shelves, along with some books and small scrolls. The zombies are taking their time in feasting on those people, who got stuck in the exits along with other people trying to get out, with only few lucky ones that made it out ofthe arena. Looks like you've got some time now.


Kaylee
Though, you do feel your inner power tingling, you feel like you need something in order to fully awaken it.

Gunnar
Oddly, the tavern is nigh-empty, however, when you mention the possibility of work, the barman replies cheerfully, that he'll be glad to pay you five gold pieces if you get some advertisments of the inn at the other side of the mall.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Critical:
Is there a shopkeeper?

Kaylee, Brendan, Critical:
We should stay here for the moment, it is easily defended and has plenty of weapons to defend ourselves with. If we need food it isn't that far. We should try and gather survivors and take back this mall from those Zombies!

[RaggedAngel]

Sid, Brenden, Critical:
Kaylee runs over to the weapons. "Okay, zombies. Malias said something about..." She trails off for a moment. "BLADES! That's what it was! Zombies don't care if you stab them or crush them, you have to hit them with blades." She picks up a greataxe. "This'll do nicely. Okay. I, uh... I need to go get something. I have a feeling..." She trails off again, clearly distracted. She goes over to the wall of scrolls, and begins looking for a specific spell.

Critical:
The transition has begun. Tell me if I'm going to quickly, but here's what I'm doing: Dread Necromancers get proficiency with one martial weapon, so I'm picking a battleaxe. I hope that's okay. I intend to slowly 'become' proficient with the axe, if you get what I mean. I'm looking for a scroll of Inflict Light Wounds; Dread Necromancers channel negative energy, which Kaylee has been feeling. She knows enough about clerics to know that the can channel energy with inflict spells. She doesn't know that negative energy cannot harm undead. She just needs a catalyst to begin channeling energy for her Rebuke Undead ability.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Critical:
Any enchanted weapons in the store? I'm gonna begin transitioning to Rogue now as Kaylee seems to have begun as well.

Kaylee, Brendan, Critical:
Sid grabs a shortsword and another dagger, he twirls the shortsword getting the feel for the balance and weight of his new weapon. He is now ready to face the Undead.

[Psilulz]

Critical:
Brendan will grab anything that looks useful, probably anything alchemical, scrolls, and books. Maybe a simple weapon too, if there is time.

[Critical]

Sid, Kaylee and Brendan
Sid grabs a shortsword and a dagger and weighs them in his hands, twirling them around and getting a feel for them. Looks pretty uncomfortable for now, but with some practice, Sid can probably manage it.

After taking their weapons(with Kaylee unable to find the exact thing she wanted and taking a similar weapon instead), obeying her instincts, Kaylee rushes to the magic store across the Sublime Way shop along with Brendan, to whom it's professional. You both hastily skim through various scrolls and potions, however, suddenly you both catch something in the corner of your eyes. As you turn to see what is it, you see a row of various tomes of different colors, which seem to hold a lot of power in them. Kaylee finds a particular interest in a black book with a bulging skull in the middle of the cover, reading "Necronomicon" on the cover, while Brendan notices a beige book with various twirls on the cover, titled "The Ways of Arcana". You grab it and other stuff you deem useful and, while you can probably pillage more, you think you should take some action now.

Meanwhile, Sid notices that the crowd at the arena exits is getting slowly eaten up and it looks like they're going to come soon...

Phat Lewts:

Sid
Masterwork Shortsword and Masterwork Dagger

Kaylee
Masterwork Greataxe
[roll0] - Level 1 Necromancy Scrolls
"Necronomicon"

Brendan
Masterwork Dagger
[roll1] - Level 1 Random Scrolls
1 flask of Alchemist's Fire
"The Ways of Arcana"

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee, Brendan, Critical:
"Guys the Zombies are nearly finished their meal. Should we defend the Magic shop or the Weapons shop? We might not be able to leave the one we pick for a while."

[Bayar]

"That sounds like a good deal, Gob. And if I go now, maybe some spectators at the Splatterhouse will see the advertisments and decide to come here for the night ! That means I should be going :smallbiggrin:" Shaking Gob's hand on the deal and taking the advertisments, Gunnar will go to the otherside of the mall, at a leasurely pace.

[RaggedAngel]

Brenden, Sid, Critical:
Kaylee thinks for a moment, and then turns to the weapon shop. "Well, I don't know about Brenden, but I'm pretty new at magic. And by pretty new, I mean I've watched someone do magic. I think we should stay by the swords and axes; they're going to be more reliable right now. We can come back for magical stuff later, if we aren't eaten first.

She returns to the weapon shop and starts attempting to understand one of the spells in her new book.

Critical:
I'm not sure exactly what to do for the scrolls, but for the one I'm trying to read:
Decipher Script [roll0]
Knowlege (Arcana) [roll1]

[DragonOfUndeath]

Kaylee, Brendan, Critical:
"Hurry I think one of the Zombies spotted us!" Sid pulls them inside and starts barricading the door with the heaviest weapons he could find.

[Psilulz]

Sid, Kaylee, Critical:
Brendan too will skip frantically through the book he had picked up, in search of anything that may be of use at the moment. "I may be an alchemist, but I am only vaguely familiar with spells and magic of other sorts."

[Zeofar]

Durnst pales with fear as he sees the undead menace. Torn between finishing his shift and maintaining his safety, he chooses safety. The boss would understand, I'm sure of it. I deserve it if he doesn't anyway. Must tell him though; I can't take full pay for this kind of shoddy work.

He double checks that he has all his belongings and closes up the shop hurriedly, running toward the sublime way shop as fast as he can, muttering to himself the whole way. "They'll be able to help... somebody needs to do something...!"

Would it be too ridiculous for them to have a brand-new novelty item aimed at children, How Rorrik Fights? :smallbiggrin:

[Critical]

Gunnar

"Exactly! Now get to work, chop chop!"

...

After some time, you're back to the other part of the mall. It's disturbingly quiet in there, but despite that, you continue moving. As you walk by, however, you see a man closing up his shop and running in the direction you're going, and some kind of weapon shop being barricaded by various weapons... Weird.


No zombies noticed yet. :smallwink:



Durnst

You close up your shop and rush to "Morty's Sublime Shop", a nice and big store with various weapons of the Sublime Way, guides and martial scripts in it. You notice three people in it: an elf boy, a beautiful, young, but pale woman and a gnome with fiendish features barricading the door with weapons, still, if you step through it carefully, you think you could step through without taking damage.


Definitely, people usually take up martial classes from somewhere around eight years old anyway. :smallbiggrin:


Everyone but Gunnar
Looks like zombies were finished with their meal at the arena gates on the first floor, and were slowly walking out, some of them noticing the survivors at the shop on second floor and awkwardly stumbling into the automatic stairs to get additional portion of their lunch...


Initiative and Map for everyone
Alright, we're officially in rounds.

Group Init vs Zombie Init: [roll0] ; [roll1]
Edit: Alright, you're up first! Remember, we're using group rules, so you may act in any order you like before the other group's turn. Also, don't forget the variant rules we got(will list 'em in OOC). :smallwink:

Map (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH)

Map Explanation
Light gray is first floor, slightly darker gray is second. There are more shops up there, making a turn there to go to the side across(where the magic shop is).

Even more darker gray is difficult terrain for you and zombies, plus, it deals 1d6 if you're not careful stepping through. :smallwink:

Dark brown are walls, lighter brown are obstacles(cash register, weapon stands, book stands, clothing stands etc.).

Light green is automatic stairs going up.

Z are zombies(obviously), and your characters are indicated by the corresponding letters.

[RaggedAngel]

Everyone but Gunnar :smallfrown:
Kaylee hefts her greataxe. "I'll figure out this negative energy thing later. We need to deal with the threat at hand." She then walks forward about 20 feet to place her off to one side of the staircase. She prepares to attack the first zombie that she can reach.

I'm advancing 4 squares forward and readying an action to attack the first zombie up the stairs.

[Bayar]

Critical

OOC: I am preety sure that I should look at the map, but I won't until I get confirmation.

"What weird way to make advertisments...especially when there are no customers around. Oh well, better continue on my way."

Gunnar will continue walking on his way towards the other side of the mall. As he sees the zombies and the others he will shout, but not too loudly:

Critical, anyone who can see Gunnar

A young, seemingly non-distinctive woman, carrying a handfull of advertisments is walking towards the north side of the mall. "HEY ! How come there are so many people dressed as zombies advertising that "Splatterhall" show in such a large group ?"

...

"Not that I mind or anything, those costumes look life-like !"

[Psilulz]

Sid, Kaylee, Critical
Brendan will shout out, "Help me move this!" as he grabs a nearby display rack or anything heavy to push down the magical stairs the zombies are on.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Brendan, Kaylee, Critical:
Sid grabs the rack and helps Brendan push it down

Critical:
I raise you knocking the 5 Zombies prone and dealing 2D6 damage (the 5 in the straight line in front of the escalator) against me falling after it

[Zeofar]

I'm guessing everyone at this point? Spoiler'd just in case

A young, bewildered-looking man rushes frantically towards the shop shouting and pointing emphatically at the zombies all the while. "Do something! Help! Zombies! Let me in! Help!"

Double move to G5.

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

The gang of a gnome with fiendish features, an elven boy and a beautiful, but unhealthy-looking woman wielding a greataxe, obviously not having much experience in using it, just when a young man wanted to run into the shop for help and an unsuspecting woman which was surprised by the brilliant "costumes".

Meanwhile, the zombies were coming in. Noticing the survivors upstairs, they slowly started making their way to the auto-stairs and even managed to get on it - the magic was so great that even a person with broken legs could step on these stairs and use them without problems. However, now it was actually causing some problems...

As the first zombie slowly rose up from the magical escalator, Kaylee attempted to chop off that zombies head, utterly failing in doing so even closely. However, right before the walker was given a chance to strike back, Brendan and Sid were there to back her up and get a weapon rack dropped down the moving staircase, knocking the nearby zombies down and dealing some significant damage by that. Some of the zombies weren't even paying attention to the survivors as of yet, yet they were nearby, probably getting accustomed to new life and all that, most of the zombies were on the ground by the weight of the rack itself and the weapons in it, however, few zombies were crawling onto the escalator from the sides now...

There were relatively few of the zombies on a large scale, for these were only a few who wandered off from the arena: the feast was still major there.

Your turn now, there might be more than one zombie in a square now, so make sure to check, those who fell in a line recieved the damage and are prone.

Damage Count:
Z1: 8
Z2: 8
Z3 : 12
Z4 : 12
Z5 : 12

Map Updated (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH)

I'm off to sleep now.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Sid draws his shortsword and readies an action to attack every unliving thing that comes into range and move to just in front of the elevator

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee blows her hair out of her face and hefts the axe again, readying it agains the next zombie.

"Okay. Second time's the charm."

[Zeofar]

Durnst tiptoes past the barrier of weapons carefully and watches the brave fighters in their efforts against the zombies. They're doing well! I'll be safe here for sure, then.


Move to 5e.
1d20, just in case: [roll0]

[Bayar]

Draw dagger and move to 9 G

As the woman approaches the main group, she draws a dagger from one of her pockets. "Ok, what is going on here ? Is this part of the show ?"

She seems preety confused and ready to defend herself from any possible threats.

[DragonOfUndeath]

"It was. The Zombies got out of the arena, most of the people watching it are down there" He gestures to the horde of zombies. "Do you know how to use that dagger in your hand?"

[Bayar]

"Erm, yeah, I guess. Didn't have to use it all that much for self defense though. And certainly not against the unliving."

[Psilulz]

"Well at least you know how to use a blade, I've no idea how to use this thing." Brendan waves his dagger around in the air, as he moves towards the shop. "Someone help me barricade the stairway."

[RaggedAngel]

"Erm, I'd help, you see, but this thing is... unwieldly." Kaylee wobbles a bit with her axe. "I'm just going to stand here and re-kill anything that comes up."

[DragonOfUndeath]

"I would but Kaylee needs help to beat back these Undead, together we might be able to hold them off long enough for you to do your thing."

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

Brendan and Durnst get into the shop, Brendan grabbing a big axe to further barricade the entrance, while Durnst prepared to dodge any incoming blows... or, maybe, bites.

While on the outside of the store, the advertisor woman moved closer, drawing her dagger, while Sid and Kaylee readied their weapons against the approaching zombies near the escalator. The knocked- down zombies slowly got up, while the others moved in, a bit faster than usual, due to the special staircase.

As the zombies appeared, while making the usual gnawing, roaring noises, both the elf kid and the woman launched their strikes, Sid's weapon cutting a little nasty gash on one of the zombies, with Kaylee utterly failing to use the greataxe she wasn't used to yet again. Meanwhile, there were more zombies incoming, and the ones that were failed to get struck down moved uncomfortably close to Sid...

Rolls and other stuff
Zombie 6 and 7 enter Sid's square, each provoking attacks of opportunity from him (he only has one though, IIRC).

As you can see, the zombies didn't charge, that's because they recieved both some buffs and nerfs from me. :smallwink:

Damage count:

Z1: 8
Z2: 8
Z3 : 12
Z4 : 12
Z5 : 12
Z6 : 2

Sid's attack: [roll0] ; [roll1] (hooray for proficiency!)
Kaylee's attack: [roll2] ; [roll3]

Edit: Oops, looks like I forgot the map. Updated map (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH), here you go. :smallsmile:

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee shouts in frustration and swings the axe again at one of the zombies harassing Sid.

So, want to start slowly decreasing the negative modifier given for nonproficiency? Because the forum roller is killing me. Possibly literally.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Sid jumps backward and cuts at Zombie6's neck

5-foot step back and attack Zombie6
[roll0] [roll1]
Raising DM insta-kill beheading to falling prone

[Zeofar]

"Uh, good work out there," Durnst says meekly to the little red-haired man, "I'm glad you guys were here, or I'm not sure where I'd be right now!"

[Bayar]

Move to F4, Reflex save from the Difficult terrain [roll0], and start helping Brendan with whatever he needs for the barricade (standard action I guess ?)

Still with the dagger in one hand, but a little less tense, the woman comes towards Brendan, trying her best to avoid getting injured in the debris. Alright, I'll give you a hand with the barricade, just tell me what to do."

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

Kaylee and Sid mercilessly beheaded two of the zombies each, the ones who jumped the elf, sending their heads flying and making their bodies drop on the floor. However, the deaders have already prepared their comeback, stepping up from the staircase and lunging at each of the survivors with their jaws, each taking a solid bite off...

Meanwhile, the shop inhabitants have barricaded the door further, except for the spot in the middle, where the advertisor-woman was standing in the midst of the weapons, quite successfully and without any damage so far.

Rolls and other stuff
Z8 @ Sid: [roll0] ; [roll1]
Z9 @ Kaylee: [roll2] ; [roll3]

Ooh-oh, looks like Kaylee and Sid are in trouble!

Everyone with Knowledge Local, Religion and/or Arcana may roll 'em now.

The shop is nicely barricaded by weapons(moar damage and unpassable safely), except for the spot in the middle.


Damage count:

Z1: 8
Z2: 8
Z3: 12
Z4: 12
Z5: 12
Z6: Destroyed
Z7: Destroyed


Map Updated (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH)

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee shouts to Sid, "We need to get these bites treated within a day, or we're screwed!" Then she swings her axe at a zombie and backs up five feet. With a surge of conviction, she then moves back to the opening in the blockade.

[Bayar]

Gunnar will attempt to look for a reach weapon inside the shop (since I'm guessing there are weapons inside there). Barring that, will look for any ranged weapons. Oh, and move inside the shop.

"Better pull back behind the barrier before you get over your heads !" Glancing around the shop for any other suitable weapons, the woman keeps talking: "If we can get behind the barricade, we could hold them off for a while, at least until help arrives."

[Zeofar]

"'Screwed'? What does she mean 'screwed'? Why are they screwed?" Durnst asks no one in particular as he glances around confusedly.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee winces. "The bites are, ah, infectious. We need to get some medicine, which they should have somewhere in the mall, within 24 hours, or we become like them. However, I have some necromantic scrolls that I need to look at as soon as I get a chance."

[DragonOfUndeath]

Sid lashes out with his sword cutting at Zombie1's head.

[roll0] I don't have much time so I can't track down my Sheet (using different computer) please add whatever bonus I have (I think+2).
If Miss: -2 Conviction to reroll: [roll1]

Damage: [roll2]

[Psilulz]

Brendan nods in affirmation of Durnst's comment, but is a bit more focused on defending their new little sanctuary from its undead attackers. He will ready an action to poke any zombies that come in.

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

Kaylee has almost split one deader in half with her greataxe, starting the wound at the zombie's right shoulder and ending it in the belly area, and hurried to retreat.

Sid, however, remained at the hotseat and carried on fighting, leaving yet another nasty gash on one of the walkers. They were already prepared to strike back, when another zombie pack didn't exactly arrive at the right moment. The undead has already prepared to take a few more bites of young flesh, when their other rotting comrades moved in, quite rapidly for a bunch of deadmen, on the moving staircase, with enough speed to knock themselves and the ones about to feast as well. The ones close to Sid did, however, attempt to chew on his ankles, but their attempts to do so were just too predictable and easy to dodge for the youngster.

Rolls and other stuff
All zombies on and near the stairs are prone. Talk about bad timing!

Prone zombies attacks:
Z1 @ Sid: [roll0] ; [roll1]
Z8 @ Sid: [roll2] ; [roll3]
Z9 @ Sid: [roll4] ; [roll5]


Damage count:

Z1: 10
Z2: 8
Z3: 12
Z4: 12
Z5: 12
Z6: Destroyed
Z7: Destroyed
Z9: 10



Map Uuuuup-dated. (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH)

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee attempts to read another page from the Necronomicon, now that she's relatively safe.

Spellcraft: [roll0]
I'm pretty sure that's the correct check. Correct me I I'm wrong.

[Bayar]

After looking around the shop at the various weapons (and quickly dismissing the spiked chain for being too complicated and/or silly to be used without proper training), the advertiser girl picked up a Longspear and stepped behind the barricade to prepare for any zombies that might get too close. "This should do for now."


"Did you just say, infectious ? And there were a crowd of people when the zombies attacked ? Oh boy, this won't end well..."

I'll pick up a longspear, 5 ft step to E2 and ready an action to poke any zombie that enters my threaten range.

[Zeofar]

After Kaylee answers, Durnst reacts by scrambling further back into the store hastily while saying"Oh, infectious, really, I see what you meant. That could be bad. Right. Of course. Infectious."

As he sees the other girl who just entered the shop taking up arms, he queries her: "Oh, so you're a warrior too? You work here?"


Moving to 7E.

[DragonOfUndeath]

DM: raise you moving without taking AoOs against taking twice as many attacks. The roll is the Attack roll.

Sid once again cuts at the approaching Zombies before pulling back to the barrier.

Attack: [roll0] goddam it
Damage: [roll1]

move back to just short of the barrier

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

While everyone continued to barricade themselves better, Sid carried on fighting before getting back behind the barrier. Sid lunged at the deaders, but missed horribly, despite them being vulnreable to attacks, however, the zombies did no better job in trying to get the elf kid. Now, while everyone was behind the barrier in relative safety, the zombies awkwardly, but none the less, stood up and moved a bit closer to the little refuge...

Kaylee
Skimming through the first page quickly, you find out that the book is about - it's a beginner's guide to necromancy. Later on the page, you skim through the little chapter named "What is Negative Energy?", detailing the term and explaining how to begin using it via channeling to rebuke undead, pretty abstractedly, but you feel like you can manage to do it with some practice.

Rebuke Undead unlocked, with a -4 penalty(same as weapon trying to get proficient with a weapon here)


Rolls and other stuff
Prone Zombies AoO's @ Sid:
Z1 @ Sid: [roll0] ; [roll1]
Z8 @ Sid: [roll2] ; [roll3]
Z9 @ Sid: [roll4] ; [roll5]

All zombies standing now.


Damage count:

Z1: 10
Z2: 8
Z3: 12
Z4: 12
Z5: 12
Z6: Destroyed
Z7: Destroyed
Z9: 10


Map Up (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH)

[RaggedAngel]

After Kaylee reads the page, she rushes to the barracade, and makes sure that she has a decent line of sight to most of the undead. "Showtime." She mutters. She then closes her eyes and... nothing happens. For a moment. Then a pulse of cold, dark energy flows outwards from her outstretched hands.
Rebuking Check: [roll0]
If that's high enough: [roll1]

The energy flows over the undead, and Kaylee's voice takes on a dark reverbation. "Bow. Down. Now."

As the zombies cower, Kaylee again hefts her axe. "Now let's chop these guys up before that wears off."

[Zeofar]

Durnst's jaw drops at the awesome power employed by Kaylee, but he recovers himself after a moment. "Yeah, get the zombies!"

He rummages around a bit in search of a shield and, finding one eventually, straps it on and interposes it before himself and any prospective avenues of zombie approach.


Grabbing and donning a convenient heavy steel shield, if I can.

[Bayar]

"Are you sure they are going to listen ?"

Ready action to hit any zombie entering melee range.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee thinks for a moment. "Um, I don't think I just did the thing that good clerics do; you know, send them running with positive energy. I, uh, did the evil version of that. They aren't going to approach; they'll just cower for a while, then keep attacking. We have to go on the offensive. It's how my master does it."

She prepares to continue attacking the undead, as soon as she is able.

When it's my turn again, I'm going to move up to them and attack. They're cowering, which means that they do not attack back and I get a +2 to attack rolls, unless I'm mistaken.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Sid stands in the center of the doorway just behiond the barricade and gets ready to attack any Zombie in range of his sword

Ready action to attack any Zombie entering my Treat Range (the barricade basically)

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

The survivors have tightened their grip on the weapons even further as the remaining approached. But before they could do that, Kaylee, who was done skimming through the dark book in her hands, seemed to be making good use of it. As the dead approached the barrier and before they had a chance to strike, the girl's body surged with negative energy and pure dark power for the very first time, making two of the nearest ones cower... as if in fear. All but one.

The barricade, made from loads of excellently made weapons, which certainly weren't meant to be used for such a fate, was set up quite nicely, effectively damaged the cowering undead. The survivors should have a plenty of time to make a short work of them now.

Rolls and other stuff
Z2 @ Gunnar: [roll0] ; [roll1]
Z3 @ Brendan: [roll2] ; [roll3]
Z8 @ Sid: [roll4] ; [roll5]
(Z2, Z3 and Z8 provoke AoO's from Gunnar)

Brendan's at 2 HP, Sid's at 1. Ouchie.
Everyone's rebuked, kids. Almost everyone.


Damage count:

Z1: 10
Z2: 8, cowering in awe
Z3: 12, cowering in awe
Z4: Destroyed
Z5: 12, cowering in awe
Z6: Destroyed
Z7: Destroyed
Z8: 6, cowering in awe
Z9: 10, cowering in awe


Map Up (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdG02VUh3dVZBU3R0Y2F1d3dRZV8zQ mc&hl=en&authkey=CIrChasH)

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee narrows her eyes as the zombies advance. She looks down at her hands, and laughs a little bit.

Her voice takes on a dark reverberation, and you feel a strong chill flow through you. "You. Will. Bow."

The power flows out of her, and she directs it with greater force and effect, consuming the undead in front of her in a horrid facsimile of terror, as they cower before you all.

"And now, we can strike back." She says with a devilish grin.

[Zeofar]

Durnst remains at the back of the store while the braver, now scarier, folks fend off the zombies.


Total Defense for now

[Bayar]

Heh, it actually worked ! She will proceed to poke one.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

As soon as Kaylee has stopped most of the nearby zombies with her newly awakened power, things got really simple from there on for the team, which has slaughtered all of them easily, making it a quite nasty view of blood, guts and body parts.

Still, it looked like the problems didn't end here. Though, the zombies were slow and not very observant to avoid them quite easily, there were many of them. And the possible disease made it even worse... So, what will the survivors do now?

Battle Rewards and New Info

Y'all get 400 XP each.
You can try to search through their pockets, but you aren't really sure that's safe. (Knowledge (religion) to find out for sure)

By now, y'all have, pretty much, figured how to avoid the zombies(at least the ones of this kind). A successful tumble or survival check(the more the distance and amount of zombies - the more the DC) made by one member of the group, possibly backed up by aid another's should do to avoid them by knowledge of the terrain and/or some acrobatics and/or pushing them away before they could attack, well, you get the idea.

There's a pharmacy on the other end of the first floor, the exit nearby but near the arena entrance and lots of shops around. Ow, and there are probably more of the deaders coming soon. Actions?

[DragonOfUndeath]

Search their pockets. Sid's a Thief it's what he does.

[Critical]

Near the "Splatterhouse" by "Morty's Sublime Shop"

Searching through their pockets doesn't seem to have any visible effect on Sid for now and he, quickly enough, returns with some loot.

Sid

You gain [roll0] silver coins.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee hefts her new axe up onto her shoulders, and looks at the ragged bunch. "Righto. So, um, I'm not quite sure how to say this, but I know a bit about zombies; my boss is a cleric, and he's not very... picky when it comes to power. So, I happen to know that if you've been bitten, like we all were, you turn into zombies in about a day. However, there is a cure, and it should be in any pharmacy. I'd really appriciate it if you all who weren't bitten would help, but I'm not going to force you to leave our fort here. So... who's with me?"

[Zeofar]

As Sid searches the bodies and Kaylee speaks, Durnst absentmindedly looks through the shop, perhaps trying to console himself in the horrific situation with more typical behavior.


Let's see if he can find How Rorrik Fights without looking for it :smallwink:.

[Critical]

Durnst

You look through the store not finding anything unusual for now, but wait, there it is - in the little "Books 'n' Scrolls" department you see it! The great and almighty...

...

...How Rorrik Fights...

...

That's right, the book, or, rather, a comic book for little future martial adepts. With your favorite cheesy barbarian on the cover. Perhaps it wasn't that you'd expect, but... Maybe it's your way to start your sublime way career from a scratch?..

[Bayar]

"I dont know what is scarier. The fact that we are under assault by zombies, or that apparently it is a common enough occurance to have cures for it at the local pharmacy."

Retrieving a short sword from the shop's stock: We will also need other supplies...food, water, a bedroll or two...until rescue arrives.

"Name's Jill, by the way."

[DragonOfUndeath]

"This city uses Undead for numerous things, it is like having a cure for infections you get from farm animals."

[Zeofar]

As Durnst browses through the store, something catches his eye and he stops dead in his tracks. Casting away his heretofore trusted shield like another piece of rubbish, he grabs a flimsy-looking book off the rack and tears into it with both a look of greed and reverence in his eye while a look of happiness grows over the rest of his face, highlighted by a wide grin. After losing himself in this for a few moments, he looks to the heavens with thankful glee and then turns back to the rest of the group, still clutching his new prize, almost certainly more confident than he was just a minute before.

"So, uh, what now?"

Maybe not.

[RaggedAngel]

"Now, hopefully, we go kill some zombies." Kaylee looks confident. "I think we can handle them. Do you all have a weapon?"

[DragonOfUndeath]

"Of course Kaylee. I just hope we don't have a repeat of what happened. We need a Battle Plan."

[Bayar]

"Keep close to the walls, try not to alert the shamblers, swiftly dispatch any that are too close to us. Would that work ?"

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee nods. "Thats sounds good. If we really get in trouble, I think I have a few more of those blasts in me. But..." She concentrates for a moment. "Yeah, it's definately a limited resources. I can't make them bow all day long. I'll have to save that for when we're really in trouble." She begins to carefully walk toward the end of the mall where the medicine is, axe in hand.

[Zeofar]

As Kaylee ask everyone if they have weapons, Durnst looks around himself and quickly finds himself totally unequipped. "I don't... I guess I'll get some, then..." he mutters sheepishly as he puts away his new manual and goes looking about the store before finding some of the innumerable weapons in the inside. He grabs an unnecessarily great number with a mix of resignation and confusion and stows them about his body haphazardly. Done with his task, he follows after Kaylee.


Getting 2 hand axes, 2 throwing axes, and a kukri.

Make that three hand axes and a kukri; I don't think that throwing axes are a discipline's weapon.

[Critical]

Pharmacy

The mall doesn't seem to be very crowded with zombies for now, so you quite safely make your way to the pharmacy, pushing the oncoming zombies away and dodging them not to waste time.

However, it looks like your troubles for today have only started. You have easily heard a lot of noise coming out of the pharmacy. Mostly, screams of a woman, shouts and something being smashed.

As you walk in, you see three men in leather armor with a blue hood on their heads and a red mask on their faces, armed with clubs. One of them sends another blow to the partially destroyed stands with the medicine, making the female apothecary scream and cower in fear.

"I'll ask one more time, woman, WHERE IS THE SAFE?" - the man who smashed down another stand asked.

"I-I already said, we have no safe!" - the woman responded, cowering even further.

"That does it!" - the man responds, walking over the counter, probably to deliver a blow or two to the woman.

"Wait! Looks like we've got company..." - one of the unattended two calls out to the one coming over the counter.

"Huh?" - he turns to see the group, looking quite amazed. - "Bah, they're bunch of weaklings! And rich weaklings, too! And some are wounded as well! Looks like my dreams finally came true! Get 'em, boys!"

The masked men proceeded to get into a bit clumsy, but a battle stance and readied themselves for battle.

Rolls and stuff

Initiative, survivors vs bandits: [roll0] vs [roll1]

Post your actions, please.

Map up. (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdF80SW1jZzBhZVZpVGNkUm5UTWp5e Gc&hl=en&authkey=CMjolaoN)

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee is a relatively sweet-looking girl. A bit thin, perhaps, but her charm makes up for that. She had a sweet smile and cheerful eyes.

Right now, however, she was tending a festering, necrotic wound, and had just felt a powerful surge of negative energy. Kaylee wasn't feeling terribly cheerful. And, sweet though she may be, she had never put much stock in a human life. Her face sets into a hard expression."Sorry, I don't have time for you thugs." She deftly moves between her comrades, rushing down the isle to strike at the first of the brutes.

Move to B5.

Attack roll: [roll0]

Damage Roll: [roll1]

As she attacks, however, there is a powerful pulse emminating from her arm. Her swing is ruined, and she lets out a sharp cry of pain.

A moment after her swing falls apart, Kaylee's will to live finds a strange partner in the dark echos still suffusing her. She feels her body turning, and with a scream she spins around, using the momentum of her utter miss to deliver a powerful blow to the chest of the bandit in front of her.

[Zeofar]

Durnst imitates Kaylee as she attacks, rushing at the thug straight ahead of him while grabbing one of the hand axes which he brought. He brings the weapon to bear awkwardly, holding its haft with two hands despite its rather small size, and strikes downward at the apparent evildoer.


Charging to 5D, and attacking T2
Using 1 Conviction to make two attack rolls and use the better:
(using +1[Str-Prof+MstQl+Chrg] because I believe that the weapons are supposed to be masterwork; if I think incorrectly, deduct another -1 penalty)
roll]1d20+1
roll]1d20+1
Damage: [roll0]

11 AC this round
Edit: Proper Attack Result: 21(Automatic Hit, Threatens a Critical)
Confirmation Roll:15
Critical Damage, if confirmed and applicable: 8 + 7 + 3 = 18

[Bayar]

"Looters. After an outbreak. Didn't see that one coming..."

After a brief moment thinking... Jill dashes towards the unengaged bandit, taking a swipe at him.

"Leave before you get hurt !"

[roll0]
[roll1]

Edit: damage should be with a +3 from STR and only one handed wielding

[Critical]

Pharmacy

The three survivors moved in, slashing furiously, taking full advantage of acting before any of the looters could react. Kaylee and Jill both take a solid slice at each of their targets, causing them to go numb and fall to the floor in unconsciousness immediately, while their wounds still continued to bleed, leaving a slowly growing red puddle underneath them.

The one attacked by Durnst was less lucky. As the bandit attempted to dodge, he has failed horribly and instead has put his head in the axe's way, resulting into a gory decapitation, which sent his head flyng behind the counter, making the apothecary scream out and cower in fear once again.

After everything has became more silent, the woman behind the counter carefully looked out of it. She was still in a shock though, so she didn't dare to start speaking.

Stuffs

90 XP for y'all, no conviction renewal here, this was supposed to be easy enough. :smallamused:

If you loot the looters(heheh), you find:

3 Clubs
3 Leather Armors
[roll0] gold in gems.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Naturaly Sid would loot the bodies.
"Hey guys, these looters have some great stuff, 290GP minus my cut of 70."

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee resettles her axe deliberately. "Two-seventy, you say? Weird, because it looks a lot like two-ninety to me. But, hey, what would I know, all I can do is count correctly." She sighs. The pain of her bite is making her testy.

She turns to the woman behind the counter. "Um. Hi there. You wouldn't happen to have something for a zombie bite, would you? I mean, I suppose that I could pay for it, but it seems a bit silly. Oh, and where are your healing potions? We'll need some of those. We need to get out of here; you're welcome to come along."

[DragonOfUndeath]

OOC:
Whoops I saw the DM's post wrong. My bad. Not Sid's, mine.

[Critical]

Pharmacy

"Y-you know, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I think I'll have to in such situation. The medicine against turning... Isn't really the medicine. The disease isn't contagious, but once you start taking it, you become hooked. You'll never ever want to miss your every three day dose again."

She stands up and continues as she looks down, with a bit of guilt in her look and voice:

"About the potions... Sorry, but we're not exactly a magical apothecary... I think we have a healing salve or two left over there, but that's pretty much it."

As she finishes speaking, she walks into the employee-only room, retrieves 2 salves and hands them to Kaylee.

"Alright, here you go... Shall we get out of here now? Ow, and my name is Levorne."

Stuffs

Kaylee receives two Healing Salves! It's a non-magical medicine that heals 1d8+2 HP when used.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee groans when she hears the news. "It isn't contagious? Then..." She looks down at her hands. "Then if it wasn't the negative energy of the bite... how can I rebuke them? Am I a cleric now? I didn't think it worked like that..."

She is shaken out of her revery by the salves. "Thank you very much. Now, then, who's hurt the most? We shouldn't use these unless it's pretty bad." She looks at the little rogue. "How are you holding up?"

Heh. I like the revalation about the medicine.

I'm at 4 out of 9 HP.

[DragonOfUndeath]

"I'm good. I've been in worse scraps."

I'm at 6/11 BTW

[Bayar]

...

"Is he... is he dead ? Please tell me he is not dead, please tell me I didn't kill him, he is just resting, right ? He is not actually dead, he is just blacked out, right ? Ohcrapohcrapohcrap..."

Seems Jill doesn't fare too well with killing other sentient beings.

[DragonOfUndeath]

"He was infected. See occasionally Zombies seem like they are still alive but really aren't. This is one of those times."

Bluff check in case I need too [roll0]
Sweet 18. Looks like Jill has her mind put at ease

[Zeofar]

Durnst stands in silence at the rather grisly death of the looter, visibly shaking. He sniffles and looks pleadingly at the rest of his group, but keeps it together, though looking rather distraught.

[Bayar]

"They were infected ? Are you sure ? But they seemed so, so lively...

Sense Motive: [roll0]

[DragonOfUndeath]

"Look at their eyes, no living person has eyes like that. They usually have a spark of sentience behind them. Look, no spark. We saved them, not destroyed them."

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee rolls her eyes a bit, but ignores the banter. "Let's just get a move on, then. If we don't need to worry about direct infection we'll just have to be careful and kill our way out. These basic zombies don't seem to be very dangerous, and I think if we don't attract too much attention we should be fine. I'm just concerned about those champions who were in the arena at the time. It seemed like they turned almost right away, and, well... They seemed sentient. Or at least powerful. I'd hate to get caught near one of them. I mean, they were strong warriors in life, and from what I've seen the undead have even more brute strength and ferocity."

[DragonOfUndeath]

"I agree. I'm not waiting for the Guard to clear the Mall out, they don't take kindly to people like me. No idea why." He smiles innocently, pocketing his share of the loot.

[Critical]

Buck

You are walking home after successfully buying your mop. Looks and works good, but perhaps a bit overpriced, but what the hell - a good mop's always worth it.

However, the day kept something unusual for you in it's stock. The halls were strangely quiet, until you finally saw one person slowly walking towards you. However, his gait was rather strange...

As he came closer, you realised it was a dead man. A dead man walking. He had an unnatural skin color, he was covered in blood, and there was just whiteness in his eyes - there was no mistake to it. Just like the ones in the "Splatterhouse". And he was going to eat you if you didn't do something now. You figure going towards the south entrance'd be a good start, after all, the family might just be over there. You rush to it, carefully avoiding the deader.


Erika

You bought a ticket to the "Splatterhouse" and immediately began trying to find out what has happened to your brother. While everyone was busy watching the scene and listening to the speech, you rushed into the back rooms to further investigate about your brother's disappearance.

However, your search wasn't long. As you were looking through various documents, trying to find at least some info about your brother and not finding anything at all, you heard screams from the arena's side. You came to look out of the door, but quickly shut it down in fear, as you saw... dead men from the arena feasting on human flesh. There were too many of them to simply escape right through. You barricaded the door with the nearest cabinet and began to look around and think. Finding the bars of the ventilation system, you unscrew it and come down the ventilation ducts in hopes of finding a more safe place... After some crawling you decide to pop another bar and get out and see around.


Durnst and Kaylee
You pick up everything necessary and decide it's best to move to south exit. You do so, not forgetting to take the pharmacist under your wing.

Everyone; South exit

A group of five persons, most of them armed, a man with the mop and the covered in dust woman, which was coming out of the vent ducts. That's the ones that were just beside the doors of south exit right now.

You all hurry to the door before starting any talking,h owever, as you do it, it seems that something is blocking it, having it sealed shut, even trying to break it doesn't seem to work.

A door behind you slowly opens and a bald middle-aged man with a grey beard in his late fourties, wearing Marsaror Mall's personnel uniform, carefully looks out of it. Noticing you, he motions you to come closer to him. "Hey, you there! Get in here, quick, we've got a safehouse over here!"

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck starts moving towards the man
"Come on, people, Safehouse first, introductions later."

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee turns and follows the newcomers, hefting her greataxe with newly-found ease. She glances at the bodies on the ground, and the calls out to the man at the door as she runs toward him. "Thank you! What can I call you? I'm Kaylee."

[Starsign]

It was supposed to be simple. Get in, find info, get out. A zombie outbreak was not supposed to be part of the game plan. Still, Erika came to find out about her brother, simple zombies would not be enough for her to back off and go home... not that she could anyway.

Out of the ventilation ducts, she comes upon what would become her group. The opening of the safehouse raises her instinct to run, like she always has. "Don't have time to talk; hurry and run!" She grabbed Kaylee's hand and pulled her to the safehouse.

[Zeofar]

Durnst nods grimly at the older man and hurries over to the door all while keeping his eyes stuck to the ground. He can't help but play the beheading over and over again in his head - and he can't exactly make up his mind whether he's upset, excited, or both.

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck enters the room, leans against a wall and closes his eyes. After a moments contemplation, they snap open again, and a grin spreads across his face.

"It's like Splatterhouse, only with the entire Mart! This is going to be fun!"

Just making sure this aint dead. that would be ironic.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee adjusts her weapon. "Yeah, right. Fun. Look, I don't know who you all are, but you're still breathing, which is nice. I don't think these things are contagious, either; but that means that some outside force is creating them. Either way we need to kill our way out of here, and we'll have to do it sooner or later. I vote sooner."

[Critical]

Note to self: Don't include the word "Dead" into the PbP campaign titles. Unless accompanied by "Rising" or similar active verb.

The Safehouse

The man leads you down the hallway, where you have to get into the hole in the vent ducts. He waits for you all to get in, then comes in last, shutting the bars behind him.

When you're finally out, you're into some sort of safehouse, which, it seems, was specifically designed for a such, or close, situation. There are a few people in there - a few small families, some people by themselves and some sort of a gang hanging around.

"Alright, now we can talk. Name's Galen, I'm a guard over here. Now, the rules here are - if you want to hang around, you got to contribute. I've seen most of y'all in action in the scrying room, and you've already had some battle experience, so I'll be sending some of ya to grab some supplies, also survivors... if you see any. We've got some people who can put up a fight, but they're staying here in case zombies break in, so that's gotta be you. Now, rest up and head out."

Galen leaves, and a woman with long red hair in a brown coat approaches you. "Please excuse Galen, he's a little bit shaken up from what's happening. My name is Lisa, nice to meet you. Let me show you your rooms." She says, and leads you down the stairs. As you walk there, she asks: "Perhaps you've got some questions?"


DC 15 of Knowledge (Local) to identify the gang hanging around.
DC 17 of Spellcraft/Knowledge (Arcana) to find out about "Scrying rooms".

[Starsign]

Erika turns around to Kaylee and lets go of her hand once they reach the safehouse. "Of course sooner," she says, taking a moment to catch her breath. Then turned to the group. "I didn't exactly come here to stop a zombie outbreak. I came here to learn about my brother, he was a contestant on the last competition." She held another pause. "Does anyone know of a map for this mall? The back rooms were of no help for how long I was there." She figured that her sneaking around earlier was insignificant now. "How did this happen anyway? How did they lose control of the zombies?"

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee looks down for a moment, and then responds. "I don't know about a map, but I watched the breakout occur. There were some human champions in the ring, but one of them looked kind of sick. The zombies were too much for them; it seemed like there were way, way too many for the people to kill them all, and they were overrun. As I ran out I think I saw the champions rise up, undead..." She ends with a shudder. "I hope we don't meet them. They seemed powerful in life, and undeath would only empower them further."

[Mr Shadyface]

"Champion zombies as well? Oh this just gets better by the second, this does"

[Critical]

Safehouse

"Yeah, Galen told me about that already. Indeed that seems weird... Just try to avoid these champions for now, alright?.. Hmm, looks like you could use some proper battle training before heading out... Tell you what, old man Leofric was a splendid fighter back in the day, he could teach you how to use a weapon properly. And... I wouldn't really recommend it, but you could ask the local gang to give you some pointers as well. They call themselves "Freedom". They've been friendly so far, but they're kinda suspicious."

As she ends her last sentence, you come to a door, which Lisa opens and shows you around. There's not much around, except a few cheap bedrolls on the floor.

"Well, here you go. Not the best apartments, but pretty decent, considering the situation. Visit me when you're ready to head out, I'll be in the scrying room, that's the room just after the vent duct exit. Take care." She says and goes off to the upper level of the safehouse.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee draws your attention to the serious bites that she's sustained. As she does, you notice that the pale woman is surprisingly strong; a fact hidden by her simple and baggy clothing. "I'm hurt pretty bad, but I don't see this going away overnight. Unless we find someone who can heal I think I'm going to have to tough this out. We did manage to find a couple healing salves, but we should save those for serious situations, not just because I have a little wound." As she speaks the bite mark seeps a bit of blood. She's clearly lying about how much it hurts, but she doesn't seem faint or shakey. "We should get out there sooner rather than later, and see if we can find a more reliable source of healing, like a trained doctor or nurse, or hopefully a cleric."

[Starsign]

Erika walked over to Kaylee to take a closer look at her wounds. "Are... these infectious?" she asked. "If they are, we need to get you aid immediately." She took another look at the wound before taking a look at Kaylee's pale face. "At least try to stop the bleeding! Find something to cover it." Erika took out her backpack and reviewed her contents. The only thing that might help that she had was the rope she used for her grappling hook, but even then it probably wouldn't be of use for the wound.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee shrugs and adjusts her armor, which she's only just getting used to. "The lady back at the medicine shop said that they weren't, so I'm going to trust her on that. However, they definately contain at least a tinge of negative energy, even if it's just residue from the zombies; I seem to have developed some minor powers. You know how clerics can rebuke undead? Well, my master does it all the time, mostly for the feeling of dominance. He's kind of a jerk. Anyway, I've done that twice now. I don't know if I can do it again, but it might get us out of a pinch."

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck raises his mop in a salute.

"Anything you can't turn, I'll hit."

[Starsign]

Erika paused for a moment. "I'm going to these Freedom members. We need all the help we can get."

[Critical]

Safehouse: Party's Room

After a minute or so, a beautiful blond woman in a labcoat wearing glasses came into the room and started, curiously and a bit unsurely at first, inspecting it's inhabitants.

"Um, hello? My name is Sannah, I'm... I guess you could call me a doctor over here. Lisa sent me over to treat any wounds you might have."

She then notices Kaylee's wound and curiously inspects it after fixing her glasses. "Well, you seem the one to be hurt the most, let me fix this..." She says and gently puts her hand over the wound, which seemed to swiftly heal under it.

"It should be fine now." She says, standing up straight and observing everyone in the room. "Anyone else needs to be patched up?"

Kaylee's healed for: [roll0]. You may roll spellcraft to identify the spell she healed you with, if you like.

[Mr Shadyface]

"I ain't had a chance to get lightly mauled yet, so If anyone wants to join me, I'm gonna go and have a chat with them Freedom blokes."

[Zeofar]

Durnst shakes his head at both Sannah and Buck and settles down, lying on his bedroll.

Stuck in the mall, with zombies. At least its safe here... But I hope it doesn't take too long to get out. So many people stuck and so many dead men walking about. We'll probably be here a long time unless someone kills them, I guess. But who'll manage that with all the zombie-killing champions gone and walking about dead? Hrm. Not much to do. As long as I don't miss too many new copies of Rorrik... I guess this isn't so bad.

The thought of Rorrik reminds him of the book he found in the Sublime Way, shop; he decides to give it a more detailed read to take his mind off the situation.

Page 1. "HEY KIDS, IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE A SKULL-CRUSHING, SPINE-BREAKING WARRIOR LIKE ME..."


Mmm. Good Start.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee settles down on the ground with her own book, a tome detailing various applications of negative energy. It is an old, worn volume, and she seems to have taken a liking to it, holding it carefully. "I'm going to stay here and read for a while, if it's alright with you guys. I've been watching my master for a while now, and he can do all kinds of things with zombies. He's a cleric, though, and his magic feels... different from what I did earlier. It's hard to explain, but my rebuking didn't seem to pull power from a god. It was more like I tapped the Plane of Negative Energy directly..."

She begins to trail off, and looks back up. "Anyway, while I definately want to help get you all out of here, this is important to me, and if I learn how to use my power directly it should help cut a path out of here." She begins to carefully peruse the tome.

[Critical]

Safehouse
"Well, if no one else is injured, I'll be going now. You can find me on the upper floor in the little room, right round the corner of the "Scrying room". Sannah says and gracefully leaves the room, leaving everyone free to do their business.

Buck and Erika
You both wander together for a while, quite easily finding the place where the biggest part of the "Freedom" is gathered - it's one of the bigger rooms on the upper floor of the safehouse. You're easily let in, and greeted by a man, sitting in a relaxed way on one of the many big boxes around the place. He has long blond hair, wears an eyepatch over his left eye and is dressed in brown coat and hat. He seems to be the one in charge and is surrounded by a couple of guards, armed with shortswords, which they are keeping sheathed.

"Hello, hello! He greets you with a friendly smile and a wave of the hand. "In case you haven't heard of me yet, my name is Samuel Rossi and I'm the one running "Freedom". How may I, or should I say we, be of assistance?"


Durnst

Page 1. "HEY KIDS, IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE A SKULL-CRUSHING, SPINE-BREAKING WARRIOR LIKE ME...

YOU'VE GOT TO LEARN TO FIGHT WITHOUT A WEAPON FIRST! FIRST OF ALL, GET INTO A PROPER FIGHTING STANCE!

The following image presents two pictures, a side view and the front view of Rorrik standing in the proper unarmed fighting stance, one leg at the back, one at the front and arms at the ready.

ALRIGHT! NOW THAT YOU'RE IN THE PROPER FIGHTING STANCE, PRACTICE SMASHING SOMETHING!* REMEMBER - THE ONE TRAINED MORE HAS BETTER CHANCES OF WINNING!

The next pictures show Rorrik performing a punch on a vase, shattering it into pieces. Well, looks like you've got to practice that.

There's a little line at the bottom of the page in much smaller font than presented in the comic book:

*"Action Industries" doesn't hold any responsibilities for the damage done to any object or an individual by the use of the presented fighting maneuver. Please train using a soft object.


Kaylee

You skim through the first previously almost read first chapter about negative energy, fixing the current image you have on it. Next comes, however, channeling negative energy in a direct way, using it for harm... or healing of the undead creatures. You don't really figure why you would need that, since healing enemies wouldn't really be benefical, but that seems like a vital step in your training.

It seems to you that the thing you did previously to the undead was something similar, however, this one is more concentrated in one point, rather than spread out in an area, so you figure you could probably do that with some training. The task in front of you, probably sounds easier than to do, but now you need to be able to tap the negative energy plane at will, unlike the previous times you invoked it spontaneously...

[Starsign]

Erika meets the gang with a smile. It's not sure though if it's a genuine smile or a cautious one. "Good to meet you," she said to the leader. "I'm here to ask for help. I need to get around this mall for my own reasons, and I find it difficult to do so with all the zombies here. You have any sort of pointers, advice, or training to help me?"

[Zeofar]

Durnst ponders the sage words of wisdom for a few minutes, nodding to himself slowly, before getting up, assuming illustrated stance, and throwing a punch at the nearest convenient wall.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee, absorbed in though, begins to chant quietly. The words don't mean much to her, but they're similar to the words she overheard her master chanting when creating undead. She focuses on the surge of power she had felt before when rebuking the undead. She remembers the intense power she felt in that moment, and the feeling of dominance of the cowering zombies. She focuses on the power and attempts to shift it, swirl it, and force it into a form that she can command. He chanting reaches a peak, and she attempts to unleash a spell.

Let's let a Spellcraft decide if she manages to cast anything or not:
[roll0]

Possible option include Summon Undead I, Detect Magic, Detect Undead, Bane, or possible an Inflict Light Wounds.

The Summon Undead might be fun to see cast in that room, though mildly problematic.

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck listens to the sound of incantations and a rhythmic thumping coming from the next room. He turns to the freedom gang and Erika.

"What is exactly are your reasons for staying here? I would have thought you'd all be trying to escape."

[Critical]

Buck and Erika

Samuel nods to Erika's questions and then turns to Buck with a bit of a raised eyebrow.

"There's no way out, my good man, as you've probably checked for yourself. Besides, we're trying to help the civilians over here, that's what we, "Freedom", do. You probably didn't hear much about us, have ya?.. Anyway, I'm guessing you're over here not just to question our presence here and are going to start training as well? You're not going to let that beauty out there by herself, have you?" Samuel says, giving Erika a brief smile before returning to business. He stands up and picks up a sack with him. "Anyway, if you're interested, follow me."

...

Samuel leads you into one of the nearby rooms and throws the sack on the floor, revealing wooden swords of all kinds.

"Alright... Beauty, you do the hitting and tough guy, you do the dodging. Then switch around. Wait a second there..."

He waits for a second, gets out a cigarette from his pouch and lights it, inhaling the first portion of the smoke.

"You may begin now."


Durnst
Page 2. ALRIGHT! YOU PERFECTED THE PUNCH ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE LIKE A REAL CHAMP? IF NOT, YOU BETTER RETURN TO IT OR THE FIRST OPPONENT WHO DID WILL CRUSH YOUR SKULL WITH ALL OF THE RORRIK'S KNOWLEDGE! IF YES, PLEASE PROCEED FORWARDS ON YOUR WAY TO YOUR MARTIAL GLORY!

The following picture presents Rorrik giving the reader a thumbs up. Probably to stimulate the kids.

ALRIGHT KIDS, YOU'RE READY FOR SOME REAL TRAINING? HERE IT GOES! NOW WE'RE GOING TO LEARN...

MANEUVERS!!!

SEVERAL OF THEM ARE PRESENTED ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES. GOOD LUCK!

The following pages indeed provide descriptions of maneuvers, just like martial scripts, but in a much simpler way. And with awesome pictures. All that was left now is to learn a couple...

OOC

Just RP learning a couple of(or all the rest you're going to get on the first level, if you feel like it) maneuvers next post and we should be ready for some zombie action shortly. :smallwink:


Kaylee
You feel something unnatural, yet already becoming natural for you, flowing through your body, however you're unable to form it in a such a way to form a spell right away. You're definitely having some progress, however, as you seem to be able to summon the energy at will.

Now that you're able to do it, all that's rest are the actual spells, which take up the most of the book. There are a lot of them presented in the book, but you figure you should start with the easiest. Even the easiest arcane syllables look like they indeed need quite a bit of practice. Looks like this is going to take a while...

OOC
Alright, a final post for this and lets go over to the zombie fun, shall we? :smallsmile:

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck picks up a wooden sword and twirls it inexpertly, then sets hit feet apart and gets ready for combat.

"Ok, ready. try to be gentle with me."

[Starsign]

Erika picks up a wooden sword as well. It was quickly obvious that she had absolutely no idea with melee weapons in combat. Her posture and grip were both clunky, and had much trouble keeping her blade still, even with both hands.

"Alright..." She then made a run towards Buck and brought her sword over her head and brought it down as strong as she could. "Haa!"

Attack: [roll0]

EDIT: What? She's a noncombatant after all. :smalltongue:

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee sits quietly, and calmly. She focuses her mind and her thoughts, and breathes deeply. The power feels... tinged, if only a little, with evil. Just a hint, nothing overt or direct. She pauses, for a moment, to comtemplate the ramifications of using that power, of drawing from that vast, cold, cool well of death.

It was unnatural, perhaps. Different. And, she had to admit, a bit malicious. Hungry. Hungry for warmth, for life, for power. The cold, dark, still power wanted to consume everything, and make everything like itself. It wanted to pour itself into her and use her like a puppet, a tool, to purge the world of life and light.

Kaylee smiles, slowly. It was the power of fear that she felt. Death. Disease. Pure negative energy and necrotic power. It was evil, inherently. But it could be bent. Turned. Used against itself. She could take that power of unlife and use it to destroy and dominate the undead around her.

Unless, of course, it destroyed her first.

Kaylee shakes her head of the grim thoughts and glances down at the book in her hand. The spells were difficult, but they were not impossible to learn, to memorized until they were automatic. And so she began her long journey for power over life and death.

[Mr Shadyface]

The wooden sword bounces off Bucks arm and he returns the swing.
[roll0]

Ouch.

[Critical]

Safehouse

Everyone fiercely continues their training until the night time, upon which you all go to rest until morning, to eventually journey back to the zombies again. Hopefully, more prepared this time.

...

Safehouse, the morning of next day

You wake up and eventually find your way into the safehouse's cafeteria, along with the other couple of inhabitants. During the breakfast Galen briefly reminds you of your duties for today, just in case you didn't plan on slacking off it seems, and all of you go to the previously mentioned by Lisa "Scrying Room". All except for Durnst, which seemed to be sick and went to Sannah's cabinet.

The scrying room has a couple of magical screens floating around with Lisa monitoring them. It looks like everything was set up so that almost anyone could operate it easily. She turns around to you in your chair and speaks up:

"Good morning. I hope you slept well, you guys'll need that. I've heard that Durnst isn't feeling really well, so I've got you a replacement... Arand, could you come in, please?"

[Volthawk]

Arand walks in, looking over at the others as he settles against a wall, with his sword in his hand, although relaxed and pointing down towards the ground. Both the blade and the leather armour he wears both look like they had been used a long time beforehand. "So you people are the rest of the group Lisa was talking about?"

[Starsign]

Erika, quiet but optimistic in the scrying room, took her time doing some sort of hand stunts with one of her darts while waiting for Arand. once he came in the young girl appeared from the shadows to give a smile and say, "Good to meet you." She had a look at his equipment; "So you've been rather experienced for awhile now? Your weapons look rather worn."

[Volthawk]

"Eh...not exactly. They've just been in the family for a while."

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee fingers her worn clothing and dented holy symbol. She mutters a bit before addressing Arand. "Tell me about it... Anyway, she said your name is Arand? It's good to meet you. My name is Kaylee, I'm the apprentice to a necromancer from a small town a few hours from here. I'm starting to get the hang of necromancy myself, and..." She hefts the massive greataxe she carries. It looks new and shiny, but has some streaks of blood on the blade.

It looks like it should be too much for her to carry, but at a second glance her baggy clothes conceal a strong form. Kaylee may be pale and of average build, but she's clearly stronger than she looks. "I've gotten decent with this as well, though I think I prefer magic to blades. So, what's our mission?" She speaks with authority and poise; it seems that being the apprentice of a necromancer fills one with adamant resolve.

[Starsign]

Erika turns to Kaylee, her face a combination of surprise, wonder, and terror. She asked her, "You... practice necromancy?" Erika herself had been practicing in her guile and dexterous practice, but nothing magical.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee gives Erika a grin, and she brushes her dark hair off of her face. "Well, I'm trying. I think I've got the hang of some simple spells, but I don't want to use them yet; it would be a waste of energy out of combat. I also think I've found a better use for those little surges of power than just making the undead halt; if I'm right, I can work them into my magic to make it last longer. This is all theory, mind you. But, yeah. Necromancy." She smiles again, and the look on her face puts you at ease. Kaylee may be a bit odd, but she clearly has good intentions.

[Mr Shadyface]

"And I'm Buck. I hit things. With this."
He swings the mop around and it hits the table with a splat, leaving a small puddle of dirty water.

[Starsign]

Erika watches Buck swing around the mop with something that could be described as a lack of confidence. She turns to Arand, "So shall we be heading out now? Or is there a briefing first today?"

[Critical]

Safehouse, Scrying Room

"Alright, looks like you guys are ready now. Take this." Lisa hands you a yellow circular device. "I'll be using it to contact you with your objectives - where to get what stuff and if I spot any survivors - where they are. You can use it to come in contact with the safehouse, too. Now, go. Good luck!"

...

Safehouse exit

As you get out of the safehouse, you easily hear a familiar sound... The sound of undead. And it looked like it was right around the corner and there was quite many of them. It looks like it'd be best not to engage them in a full on offence, though. Well... Looks like it was time to test out your newly gained abilities.


Map (https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=t8tgPS4GkoAZq4rb8i9cizQ&authkey=CO_QpcAB#gid=0)

Place yourself anywhere 5ft near yellow space, that's the vent ducts leading to the safehouse. Brown spaces - doors, grey ones - walls and vent ducts. Light gray ones - stairs, leading up from where you are standing.

ZM = Zombie Mob, if you go out and look there's 8 of them.

I also added a couple of random objects lying around, remember, there's NO PENALTY for using improvised weapons in this game.

You have a surprise round.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee grins and closes her eyes, focusing for a moment. She weaves her arms in a flowing, smooth pattern. She begins speaking strange and ancient words; she is unused to the strange syllables, but her surity and confidence increases with time. After a few moments she is practically shouting the chant, weaving her hands in a faster and faster pattern. Finally, she stops, unleashing a blast of negative energy as her spell completes, imbuing it with longevity and power.

A hulking human corpse appears just around the bend, about thirty feet from the mob. It lurches forwards in a halting charge, and collides with it's fellows with a gurgled shout. Kaylee sighs, and leans back. "Well. That was cool."

I can't edit the map. She is at E13, her zombie appears at H12, adn it charges to H6.

Zombie (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/zombie.htm)

Zombie's Charge Attack: [roll0]
Slam Damage: [roll1]

[Starsign]

Erika comes out just behind Kaylee to see her summoning... another zombie? She asked Kaylee, almost in paranoia,"Are your zombie's hostile to us?" Regardless of Kaylee's answer, Erika saw at the end of the hallway something she could use to her advantage. She made a dash to the nails.

I'll start at D13, move to get the nails at L13 and pick them up. I spend both a move action and standard action for this.

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee looks over, a bit sheepish. "I'm... pretty certain that it's only going to do what I want. I can feel this little connection in my brain, and it's doing exactly what I tell it too. I don't think it really has a mind of its own. We should, probably, be safe from it."

[Mr Shadyface]

"so...they're a bit like puppets? big, smelly, bitey puppets?"

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee shrugs. "I don't really know, to be honest. The book that I learned the spell from is written in a rather odd dialect... infernal, I think..." She trails off, watching her lurching undead summon. "It's mine. It'll do what I say, it'll fight to protect us, and it'll die trying. When it does, I can make another. They aren't infinite, they are indestructible, and they aren't very smart. But they're mine. Of that I am certain."

[Mr Shadyface]

"Well put an air freshener on it or something." said Buck, peeking round a corner. Then his nostrils flared.

"I smell an axe..."

am I supposed to edit the map, or do it for us? whatever, at F13, going for the axe.

[Volthawk]

"Eh, more things for them to attack and to attack them is fine by me. Not like we can be picky in this situation."

Arand sprints to the other side of the hallway, stopping on the corner, his back to the wall.

Starting in D14, then moving to I13.

Sorry about the wait, coulda sworn I posted, but apparently I didn't...

[Critical]

Safehouse Exit

The zombie summoned by Kaylee seems to be more agile than it's mall counterparts and takes a charge at it's kin, letting out a long groan. It lands a solid punch against one of the zombies, knocking it back a little, but still not doing enough damage to down it, while the others get into the position.

Surprisingly, though, the zombies were quite quick to react, as they almost immediately proceeded surrounding their attacker. The summoned undead tried to stop their advance with another blow, however, as he launched it, a loud CRACK sound could be heard. The undead could be fragile at times, and Kaylee's minion's was no exception - the hand it was striking with was broken at the elbow. Luckily, for the deader it meant only a missed attack.

Finally, one of the four zombies launched himself towards Kaylee's minions, taking a minor bite out of it, which it had dropped right away on the floor, instead of eating it.


Group: [roll0]
Zombies: [roll1]

Your turn now, map updated. (https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdDh0Z1BTNEdrb0FacTRyYjhpOWNpe lE&hl=en_US&authkey=CO_QpcAB)

[Starsign]

Erika took a look at the nails on the floor. She took time to pick up as much as she could before trying to get a good view on the zombie horde.

Pick up nails then move to H10

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee hefts the axe that she had lifted from the weapon store with a laugh. "I can't let my summon have all the fun, can I?" She then charges forward, attacking the mob of zombies with a shout of excitement. As Kaylee charges, the young, intelligent girl is transformed; she is infused with the power of death, and death is what she brings. Her zombie, too, slams against the mob again, attempting to aid it's master.

Kaylee's attack: [roll0]
Kaylee's damage: [roll1]

Zombie's attack: [roll2]
Zombies damage: [roll3]

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee's running charge adds great power to her blow, and she cleaves into the zombies with surprising force.

Crit confirm: [roll0]
Additional Critical damage: [roll1]

[Volthawk]

Arands calmly but quickly moves over to the zombies, and slices down from above at the nearest zombie without speaking, focus evident on his face, not laughing and shouting like Kaylee.


Using Stone Bones for my attack, after moving up to the zombies.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]+[roll2](Punishing Stance+Rapid Assault)+2

If I hit, I get DR 5/admantine for a round.

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck gives his new axe an experimental swing, then lumbers round the corner and into the mob, swinging at the enemy.

attack:[roll0]
Damage:[roll0]

[Critical]

Safehouse Exit

Kaylee dashes furiously with her axe at the mob of zombies, cutting two of them in half and cutting an arm off another one in her surprisingly powerful swing. With the help of Aran's brute maneuver, the damaged undead didn't survive long, however, as it was finished with a crude martial maneuver, which pierced it's chest cavity.

There was only four of them left now, and noticing the presence of alive human flesh, they launched themselves at it, ignoring all the danger of doing so, and they paid the price. In dead flesh.

As they advanced, Kaylee's minion tried to stop them, using his broken arm to no success and disappearing shortly due to the weak nature of the spell. It's master and the warblade had more luck, however. With another mighty swing of an axe, Kaylee has ended the leftovers of two zombies life again, easily decapitating them while they were vulnreable. Aran, in turn, has put to peace one deader himself with an elegant vertical slash, however, was unable to stop the remaining one, however, while it was able to successfully land a bite on the warrior, it's rotten teeth only met the stone-thick skin of the warblade.

Map updated (https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuPXT6XUoW0gdDh0Z1BTNEdrb0FacTRyYjhpOWNpe lE&hl=en_US&authkey=CO_QpcAB&pli=1#gid=0)

And damn, you guys lucked out :smallbiggrin:

Total damage done to the mob: 55

[RaggedAngel]

Kaylee sighs as her zombie vanishes; she really needs to get better at summoning, it seems, if they only last a few seconds. She turns to the last threat, raises her axe, and brings it down on the zombie, bracing for a spray of gore. "How do you like this, fleshbag?"

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Starsign]

As Kaylee makes her move on the zombie horde, Erika slips past to get to the other side. Insitntively she throws the nails she picked up like darts as they tear through the zombies' bodies.

Attack roll: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Volthawk]

Dropping the focus he just had, Arand allows himself a little grin as he slices at the zombie in front of him.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage:[roll1]

[Mr Shadyface]

Buck raises his axe and seeks another target. Aside from a few twitching lumps of flesh, there wasn't much of the mob. He takes a speculative swing at a corpse that looks more or less upright.


attack:[roll0]
Damage:[roll1]