Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 12:16 PM Mountain Time - 1 mile south of I-80:

The Rough Riders' convoy cruised north over the flat Nebraska plains. The biker group had gotten together and organized early this morning, before most other people were aware anything was going on. After fueling up their Harley Davidson motorcycles and their pickup trucks during the early stages of the chaos that had struck Sidney, they had headed to Cabela's to pick up guns, ammo, and other useful survival supplies. The building had already been hit by the time they got there, and had still been crawling with the infected. The people in the building had either joined their ranks, fled, or been trapped on the roof - with the exception of Melinda Christie. They had gotten there just in time to save her life, but they couldn't stick around long. They had just enough time to grab some stuff and then get out, using their mobility to their advantage.

A horde had pursued them as they fled from the now burning city. Their ability to go off-road had been key to their escape. Still, their pursuers were tireless and some moved very fast indeed. By moving a good distance away and then taking out the faster ones with their rifles before moving onwards, they managed to keep ahead of them and pick up a few more people on their way south. Once they had left what was left of civlization behind, they picked up their speed as fast as they could. Then they diverted wide to the west to ditch the ghouls hunting them before turning around and heading north. They were now just a mile south of I-80.

Clarence Deeds led the pack, side by side with his older son Bill Black. His first name was really Lawrence, but nobody called him that unless he wanted a split lip or a bloody nose. Instead he went by his middle name of William, or by his nickname Tsuba. Lisa Crow rode on the back of Black's bike, her arms wrapped around him. They rode matching Harleys and, like the rest of their group, wore leather jackets. Behind them, Clarence's younger son Keith Deeds followed in a blue Ford F150 with Melinda in the passenger seat, and on his right Colin Lewis drove a maroon Dodge Ram. In the middle, Clarence's wife Amanda rode beside Colin's friend and comrade Joe Soarez on another pair of Harleys. Behind them, Dr. Dale Owens drove a white SUV, his son Adrian napping in the seat beside him, and Ernest Granger drove a gray pickup truck, this one with a horse trailer attached to the back. Bringing up the rear were Lewie and Sue Newton on two more Harley Davidsons.

Clarence slowed to a halt. The old man raised his arm to signal the others to stop, then turned to Bill, who rode on his right hand. As the sound of the vehicles died down, everyone could make out gunshots in the distance to the north. "We're nearly at the T-Bone," he said. "There will be fuel there, and maybe supplies. They also have a fallout shelter just in case some asshat pushes the button, but I'd rather we keep on the move if we can. Those gunshots are both good and bad. Good since it means there's still someone alive there and not trying to eat people, but bad since there's no guarantee they'll be friendly or willing to share. I know the people who run the place - did some contracting work for them way back when. They're not very nice people, and Earl has got to be the meanest, orneriest skinflint that ever drew breath, but we might be able to trade with them. Of course, there's always the possiblity that they're dead and someone else has taken over the place. In that case, it all depends on who it is. Before we get any closer, we'd better take a gander at what we're dealing with." He indicated the binoculars hanging around Bill's neck. "My eyes are too old to see real far. Tsuba, why don't you give it a go?"

(Bill, roll Spot Hidden if you want to look through the binoculars to the north, then I'll tell you what you see. Failing the roll means you'll still see the obvious things, but some things will be less obvious and won't be seen unless you succeed. Anyone with a scoped rifle may also make a Spot Hidden roll - this means Lewie Newton, Colin Lewis, and Ernest Granger. If you do not have the Spot Hidden skill listed on your character sheet, your base skill level is 25%. Just roll 1d100 against your Spot Hidden score on Invisible Castle and hope you get equal to or less than it. If you don't know what to do, look at the Skills section of the Rules and Guidelines thread. Everyone is also free to talk or do something while the vehicles are stopped.)

Lewie unslings his scoped rifle and puts it to his eye, aimed towards what he figures is the sound of the gunshots.



Spot Hidden (1d100=48)

-God, i'm so tired! I was thinking we would never escape those things!-says Melinda

Ernest draws to a halt along with the rest of the group. Hearing the gunfire in the distance he takes his rifle from the seat next to him and scans the horizon for signs of the disturbance.

(Andrew, I'm still waiting for you to post for Black and make a Spot Hidden roll.)

Keith smiled at Melinda. "You're gonna be okay now, sweetheart," he said. "I won't let anything happen to you. If we stay on the move and avoid the cities, they can't catch up to us."

Lewie Newton and Ernest Granger both pointed their rifles north and looked through the scopes. About a mile to the north they could see the narrow ribbon of asphalt that was Interstate 80, and just north of that they saw two structures. The one on the right was in the process of violently collapsing, a vast cloud of dust rising up and blocking their view of its surroundings. A small part of the structure on the west did remain standing. A dirt road halfway between the two buildings led further north, and a tractor trailer was stopped in the middle of it. The building on the left was two stories high, and there was a huge satellite dish on its roof. They couldn't see any people or movement.

OOC: Spot Hidden 45% (1d100=3) Sorry about the delay, been a real busy last few days, I had even ignored the game I'm running on my site.

Tsuba nodded and indicated to Lisa to move, he then swung his leg over the seat and walked a few paces away and brought the binoculars up to see what was out there. It didn't take him long to spot what the scene was like. While looking he started to whistle, Blue Oyster Cult's, 'The Reaper'.

In many ways this event that had struck the Earth reminded Tsuba of the war, you had those close to rely on but other than that the world outside the base was a hostile one and if you didn't protect the man on your right well... there'd be no one to protect you.

(Don't worry about it, real life comes first as Welsh and I said. Funny you mentioned "Don't Fear the Reaper" - Erica Spears had a CD play the exact same song during the helicopter ride late in Chapter 2.)

Lisa climbed off the bike and followed Tsuba, putting an arm around him as he peered through the binoculars. He was able to see the buildings that Lewie and Ernest did, but he could make out many more details. The building on the right had been the truck stop, and the part that was still standing was the garage. There was a man with a rifle lying on the roof and shooting at something to the east. There was also a small section of the collapsed building that remained intact.

Beyond the stopped truck on the dirt road to the north, he could make out a huge black man with a rifle slung on his back. He had a gaping wound in his stomach and was staggering to the north.

The building on the left was a motel. He could see two men with rifles on the roof in what appeared to be military fatigues. A pair of ladders leaned against the east wall of the motel, one that went all the way up to the roof and a shorter one that only went halfway up, to the balcony. There was also a figure in an orange biohazard suit who began climbing down the taller ladder. On the balcony itself he could make out a black man in a similar uniform limping away from the ladders towards the southeast corner, and there were more people gathered on the southwest corner that were shooting at something on the balcony, but the wall of the motel blocked his view of it.

Finally, off to the northwest, he caught sight of a military helicopter flying low and heading towards the motel. All of a sudden, it entered a steep dive.

(Tsuba, roll Know to identify the type of helicopter.)

OOC: Know 90% (1d100=20)

Tsuba wrapped an arm around Lisa's waist as well as he peered out, as he viewed everything he could, he narrated the scene to Lisa, his father and all that were around.

The helicopter was a Huey. More specifically, it was a UH-1N Iroquois.

Clarence nodded. "You've got good eyes, son," he said. "If that chopper's going down, they're gonna need help. Let's move out!" He revved his engine and began rolling north across the open ground, waving his arm for the rest of the pack to follow. Lisa hurried back to Tsuba's bike and waited for him to join her.

Ernest got back into his pickup and started the engine. He wasn't sure about heading straight into the middle of whatever was going on over there but he certainly wasn't going to hang around in the middle of the desert on his own either.

As the group moves forward Ernest hangs at the back, taking it east so as not to scare the horses in trailer he towed.

Tsuba nodded to his father and hopped back on his fatboy, when Lisa was settled he roared the bike to life and headed on out.

The convoy sped north across the open, flat plains. Before long, I-80 became visible. Two signs stood in the middle of the east-west road, one to the west of the motel and another to the east of the destroyed diner. Each of them had a large biohazard symbol on it, along with lettering that was too small to make out from this distance. At this point everyone could see what Tsuba had described to them earlier, though the wounded black man was now slowly making his way back to the south along the dirt road towards the stopped truck. He had a massive, gaping hole in his belly from which his intestines dangled. The black man in uniform and the orange-suited person moved around the south side of the balcony to the southwest corner. Only the man on the roof of the garage was still shooting.

Just as Clarence and Tsuba were approaching the highway from the south, the Huey crashed into the field of tall grass northwest of the motel at about a 45 degree angle with a tremendous noise of rending metal and shattering glass.

Edgar was furious when he saw the chopper go down, that could have been his ticket out of this nightmare. Still, those people could use his help...

'Shit, who am I kidding' Edgar thought too himself.

He didn't care much for picking up more survivors, especially not military types, but there sure as hell would be salvageable supplies amongst the wreckage.

Edgar pressed down on the accelerator, catching up with the rest of the pack. He honked the horn of his pickup and waved frantically to the convoy, pointing towards the crash sight.

After attracting everyone's attention he turned off the road, heading towards the ruined helicopter, being careful to slow down again so as not to upset the horses on the bumpy ground.

Lewie watches the helicopter go down with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"More dead and dying, just what the world needs right now." He mutters to himself, turning the bike towards the copter following Edgars lead.

Raising his voice slightly so Sue could hear him:

"Come on dear, let's see if we can pick up the pieces."

(The farmhand's name is actually Ernest Granger, not Edgar.)

The entire pack roared off to the northwest, with Clarence and his older son leading the way. Keith and Colin followed close behind in their pickup trucks, with Amanda and Joe Soarez right behind them. Ernest Granger raced forward side by side with Dr. Owens, and the Newtons brought up the rear.

"Hang on tight," Keith said to Melinda as they made a wide turn to the left.

"I'm right beside you, honey!" Sue shouted to Lewie over the noise of the motorcycles.

The lead bikes reached I-80 just west of the motel, not far from the sign. Smoke was starting to rise above the tall grass in the field, about fifty yards northwest of the motel. The grass ended abruptly thirty yards from the motel, at the edge of an asphalt parking lot. One man was climbing down a rope ladder dangling from the motel balcony's southwest corner, and the stairways they could see on the exterior of the motel were all thoroughly barricaded.

(Everyone may roll Spot Hidden if you want to either try to read the writing on the sign as you go by or try to see into the tall grass. You cannot do both this round. In addition, roll Listen. The base skill level for both skills is 25% if you don't have it on your character sheet.)

40 or less Spot Hidden (1d100=79)

Listen 35 or less (1d100=99)

Lewie looks out into the tall grass nervously, but doesn't see anything unusual. He pricks up his ears, but hears only the roar of the vehicles around him.

-Ok-says Melinda to Keith.
"At least i'm still safe, and it's better than being trapped in a building with those creeps who almost let me died"-thinks Melinda
She is scared and look to the grass for any sign of the creatures, and try to listen any sound :

As Keith's truck drove onto I-80 west of the motel, Melinda could see the wreckage of the helicopter through the grass. A man in an Air Force uniform lay facedown and unmoving in the grass a short distance south of the helicopter, and smoke rose from the chopper's engine. It billowed around the entrance, preventing her from seeing inside. She could also hear a woman screaming hysterically inside the helicopter. Over the screams, she just managed to hear a man say "Hang in there, Amy." Another man shouted "No!" just before two pistol shots rang out from inside the ruined helicopter.

(If anyone actually wants to drive into the grass, you'll need to make a Drive roll. If you failed your Spot Hidden roll, this roll is at a -10 penalty. If you're on a motorcycle, roll Drive Motorcycle. If you're driving one of the trucks, roll Drive Auto. If you fail your roll, roll Luck. You can drive up to the far end of the parking area west of the motel, about twenty yards from the crash site, without making a roll. If you're a passenger like Melinda, you don't need to roll anything.)

Lewie heads into the parking lot, parks, and draws his rifle to cover the helicopter.

Not wanting to drive through the long grass with horses in tow, Ernest follows Lewie's lead and follows him into the parking lot. Jumping out of his pickup, rifle slung over his shoulder, Ernest climbs onto the top of his horse box to get a better view of the downed helicopter through his rifles scope.

OOC: Oops, sorry about the name mix-up. I wrote the post pretty late at night.

OOC: Listen 50% and Spot Hidden 45% (1d100=35, 1d100=42) Drive Motorcycle 65% (1d100=52)

Tsuaba looked over his shoulder at Lisa and yelled, "Hang on tight baby girl!" and headed into the tall grass towards the chopper.

The vehicles crossed the parking area west of the motel, and most of them stopped in the northwest corner as the bikers dismounted. Tsuba continued into the grass towards the wreckage while Lisa held on tight, the wind whipping her hair around. He could also hear the woman screaming within the wreckage, a man shouting "No!" and then two shots.

"Be careful, son!" called Amanda.

Tsuba caught sight of a man in an Air Force uniform lying facedown in the grass a short distance south of the helicopter, a single silver bar on each shoulder. He pulled to a halt between the chopper and the lieutenant.

"Ma'am, we need to get out of here now!" he heard a man in the ruined chopper shout, the same one who had called "No!" earlier.

Lisa swung her leg over the bike and rushed to the fallen officer's side to take his pulse. "This one's alive!" she said, sighing with relief as she bound the worst of his wounds and brought him around.

The lieutenant coughed and looked up at the strangers who were helping him. "What happened..." he moaned, rubbing his head. "My men..."

Keith stopped his truck, opened the door, and stepped out. "Stay back," he told Melinda. "This could be dangerous."

Dr. Dale Owens also got out of his truck. "If anyone's hurt I may be able to help," he said. "I'm a veterinarian, but I can help humans too if I need to."

Two black men in Air Force uniforms climbed down a rope ladder at the southeast corner of the motel and began to limp across the parking lot towards the chopper. Both of them appeared to have been wounded previously.

Lewie swings his rifle around to take a better look at the approaching air force men. He looks for any signs of them having turned. If not, he returns to covering the helicopter but still being wary of the air force men

-Ok, but be careful!-Says Melinda anxious.

Tsuba got off the bike but left it running just in case and stepped to the lieutenant. He glanced at Lisa to make sure she was alright and he placed a hand on his weapon before turning and saying to the lieutenant, "What happened? I was hoping you could tell us that but we can do that on the move. Let's get your men that are still alive and get out of here. I have a bad feeling the shits about to hit the fan around here."

Ernest lay on top of the horse box, holding his breath to steady his hands he peered down his rifles scope, trying to make sense of the wreckage in front of him.

From his vantage point Ernest could clearly see something in the distance. The wind however, drowned out anything he might hear.

Ernest could hear screams and shouts coming from within the helicopter, but couldn't make out what anyone was saying. He saw the lieutenant in the grass coming to as Lisa tended to his injuries. He was speaking and rubbing his head. Ernest even caught a glimpse of the inside of the helicopter through the smoke. One man stood just inside the doorway, his back facing outwards. Two others were treating the wounds of two more men lying in the wreckage. In what remained of the cockpit, a man in a flight suit was struggling to help a woman in a similar suit out of the co-pilot's seat. There were also a few dead bodies inside, including the pilot's.

Spot Hidden (40%) (1d100=2)

Listen (35%) (1d100=56)

Lewie was able to see everything that Ernest did. The two uniformed men showed no sign of turning, though they did have wounded, bandaged limbs and looked ill. It was quite possible they had been bitten.

At the helicopter-
"Thanks," said the officer as Lisa helped him to his feet. "I'm Lt. Alan Curtis, U.S. Air Force. One of the men turned and attacked the pilot, and we went down. I'm not sure how I got out here. Must have been thrown during the crash. We've got to save my men." He hobbled after Tsuba towards the remains of the chopper.

"I'll stay with the bike," said Lisa. "Take care of yourself."

Tsuba and the lieutenant raced towards the wreck. As they got closer, they could both clearly see a growing engine fire. More and more black smoke spilled from it and billowed all around.

"Kill 'im! He's turned!" shouted one man from within the helicopter.

"Kill that bastard! Kill him! And anyone help me!" called another.

A third man, barely visible through the smoke, standing in the entrance with his back to the outside world yelled: "Shit...we got company! Hodges is right, everybody out, now! This place is a deathtrap! Kincaid, get Doolittle under control! Remember where we are people, I want everyone ready for a world of shit outside this bird!"

Lt. Curtis drew his sidearm as he followed Tsuba into the helicopter and stood beside the man in the entrance. They met with a horrible sight.

(Tsuba, you may have either your pistol or your rifle ready, your choice.)

The destroyed aircraft was filled with the dead and wounded. A woman wearing a white armband with a red cross on it lay still amid the twisted metal, and a big crewman with sergeant's stripes lay motionless in the cockpit, blood leaking from various wounds. Another man lay dead in the cockpit, having been shot mulitple times. The pilot was also quite dead, and the co-pilot was screaming her head off. Another crewman with a moderate wound was trying to move her, but had little success. There were four other men present: two grievously wounded, and two with lighter wounds who helped them stand up.

"It's okay, guys," said one of the latter men to the other two. "Kincaid took care of him. We've got to get out of here." Then he turned to the cockpit and saw the pilot begin to thrash around. "He's alive!" A second later, the pilot ripped through his straps, lumbered to his feet, and reached for the co-pilot and surviving crewman, his eyes bloodshot. "Look out!" He fired, wounding him slightly in the left leg. The lightly wounded man beside him cried out in terror and fired, blowing the pilot's right leg off. The pilot reached out for his prey as he fell forward. The crewman recoiled, curled up, and began to lick his wounds.

(Tsuba, roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d10. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, you must roll Idea. You want to fail this roll, since you will go temporarily insane if you succeed. If you remain sane, you may get off one shot before the pilot attacks, using whichever weapon you've got ready. The range is point blank, so your skill is doubled, but there's no time to aim for the head and you'll need to roll a random hit location on 1d20. Remember that if you get 1/5 or less of your effective skill after doubling it, this is an impale and you roll double the damage dice - 4d6+2 for the AK-47 or 2d10+4 for the .45 automatic.)

Northwest of the motel-
"Thanks, I'll be careful," said Keith. He blew Melinda a kiss as he ran into the grass to the northwest, soon reaching Lisa. He unslung his AR-15 and carefully followed his brother to the chopper.

The first of the two wounded men from the motel reached the vehicles in the parking lot. The big black man had a white armband with a red cross on his sleeve. He had clearly taken a lot of punishment, both physical and mental, but he was somehow able to keep going. "I'm Airman Steve Phillips," he managed, out of breath. "This is Senior Airman Carlos Duran behind me." He pointed to the man limping across the parking area to catch up. "Keep your distance, this is dangerous."

Clarence nodded to him respectfully. "I'm Clarence Deeds," he said. "U.S. Marine Recon, retired. My boys and I are no strangers to danger, and it looks like you can use our help."

More gunfire erupted from within the helicopter.

Lewie turns his attention fully to the helicopter, weapon at the ready to blow the back out of any infected heads that pop out.

Ernest breifly tipped his hat to the two newcomers, not seeing them as a threat. Judging by the state of the two airmen they needed the bikers help too much to cause trouble just now.

"Was that there your boys rescue party in that downed chopper? Guess we can all kiss goodby to a lift outta this shitstorm now."

Northwest of the motel-
Duran jogged up to join his comrade and nodded to Ernest. "They're reinforcements sent here to help us, sir, not to evacuate us," he said. "Now we've got to help them."

At the helicopter-
Before Tsuba could react, two more men opened fire on the pilot and downed him.

(You still need to roll Sanity, but you are free to take an action other than shooting.)

OOC: Sanity (45%) (1d100=76) Sanity Loss (1d10=9) Idea (80%) (1d100=67)

Suddenly Tsuba's eyes grew wide, as he realized that the damn sand niggers were all around him. He hated this war with a passion, the conditions here were even worse than they had been in Vietnam according to the old veterens. What made Tsuba hate this war wasn't the fact it was war but the fact that it seemed more like murder than fighting a worthy adversary. He looked at the man next to him and said, "Alright lieutenant, let's pick these fuckers off and call it a bitch of a day." At that he raised his rifle and began to shoot whatever moved.

(Ouch, bad luck there! Tsuba is not only temporarily insane, but he just lost 20% of his current Sanity. This will result in indefinite insanity. It won't kick in just yet, as he's still in shock, but once he has a chance to think - if he ever does - he'll pick up a long-term mental illness. I'll let you know what it is when it starts affecting him. There's good news, though. He can now only lose 1 more Sanity point for seeing zombies in this chapter, but he can still lose more Sanity from other things. He also lucked out in the duration - he is mentally paralyzed and cannot move for the minimum duration of 5 rounds, including this one. He can still speak and think, so you can roleplay his madness if you like. I'll let you know when he snaps out of it. Don't worry, though. Keith is coming to back his brother up and won't leave him where he is.)

At the helicopter-
Tsuba stood stock still when he saw the pilot rise up. The man had been dead, he was sure of it, and yet he had gotten back up...It was all too much for his mind to process, and he remained frozen in place, unable to move and terrified beyond anything he had ever experienced in war.

(This coming round is Tsuba's second round out of five of mental paralysis.)

At the helicopter-
Keith Deeds rushed up to the helicopter as Lt. Curtis said "Okay, everyone, let's get out of here!" He arrived just in time to see the dead crewman in the cockpit and the dead female medic start to rise.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!" exclaimed one of the wounded men. He started to aim his rifle at the crewman when he noticed the medic also begin rising. "Amy?" He retained his composure and snapped off a shot at the crewman. It hit him between the eyes and blew his brains out. He fell, never to rise again. "Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"I'm here, bro!" said Keith as he stepped into the chopper alongside Tsuba. His eyes bulged when he saw the dead rising, and he stared in utter shock, but quickly came to his senses.

The lightly wounded man shot the medic, barely hitting and crippling her right arm.

(Tsuba, roll Sanity again. Since you've already lost 9 points from seeing a zombie, this time the loss is only 0/1.)

Northwest of the motel-
"My boys are already helping get the wounded out of the wreckage," said Clarence. "You can count on them. We all have to work together if we're going to get through this."

Phillips jogged off into the grass towards the wreckage. Duran followed him. "Thank you, sir," he called back. "I just hope they watch out for the dead!"

"The dead?" asked Amanda. "You mean those things...are dead?"

OOC: Sanity 36% (1d100=4)

Tsuba stood there unable to move. His mind raced and all he could think about was how big of a pussy he was. He was a war vet, given accomodations and had been the biggest and toughest motherfucker around and now he was practically wetting his pants like some new recruit. He was ashamed of himself and knew that from this day forward he would never be able to look anyone in the eyes again, so great was his dishonor.

In the helicopter-
One of the badly wounded men, this one with Chinese features, shot the medic right between the eyes. She too collapsed instantly.

""Shit... Good shooting boys!" shouted the senior airman standing near Tsuba. He went over to the crewman. "We need to move, now!" He tried to drag the man out by his webbing, but without success. "I need some help over here!"

(All characters move to this thread: Iroquois Down)