Z-Day - 4:17 PM Central Time - Brooks High School, Omaha, Nebraska On the north stairs, ground floor- Donald Woodridge pushed his wheelbarrow through the fire door, followed quickly by Alvin Drummond and Murray the dog. Inside the wheelbarrow Donald had left his axe and chainsaw, and he carried a fuel can and his toolkit. Alvin had a bottle and a hatchet in his hands, and a hammer hanging from his belt. Murray followed him faithfully. The stairs led up to the second floor and the roof beyond that, and down to the basement. Once downstairs, the generator could be found through the first door on the right. Everything was dark below, however.
Declan McLeod, the shop teacher, entered from the hallway door with Kyle Rogers in tow. Declan had a toolkit as well. Behind them came Jerry Law, the security guard. From Jerry's walkie-talkie came the voice of Adam Donnelly: "Helene, this is Adam. I've got my toolkit up here. I'll head down to the generator, but I'm not sure exactly where it is. Someone will need to take my lookout post up here. I also wouldn't mind some backup when I go to the basement. Over."
"Rachel Cohen is on her way up to the roof to take your place," replied Dr. Saunders on the radio. "I don't know if anyone else in the lab can help you with the generator, but maybe you'll see someone on the way down. The stairs from the roof go all the way down to the basement, where the generator is. I believe it's the first door on the right. If you see anyone else on your way down, either bring them with if they can help, or send them upstairs if they can't."
OOC,[b]Donald[/b] and [b]Declan[/b] each have a flashlight in their toolkits, and [b]Jerry[/b] has one on his belt as well. You'll need a flashlight to see down there, as there are no windows.
Donald waved a tool kit to the others they were meeting up with. "Dont' you worry too much about that old generator. I've gone more than a few rounds with it in the past. I can show you right where it is." He continues heading down the stairs and says, "Follow me."
Donald nodded, saying "Well, I don't know any quicker way down there. But with as many mechanics as we have on the job, it shouldn't take long to fix it."
Donald thought about it and asked the others behind him, "Did anyone make sure that propped open emergency exit was shut? Someone should probably do that before the gates fail."
He continued on his merry way toward the generator room, picking out the right key to unlock the door.
-I have take care of that. All of the fire exits are closed except for the gym. The door sto the outside are also shut, so we can have some minutes, even after the fance is breack.
In the north stairwell, basement- Donald led the way downstairs, using his flashlight to illuminate the way ahead. Declan also took out his flashlight, and Jerry Law had one too.
"Getting the power on will still be useful even if the fence is breached," said Declan. "Even if they knock holes in it, if they touch the fence at all on their way through, they'll still get zapped. Plus it helps to be able to see." He glanced at Alvin. "You have any experience with electrical work, youngster?" Though Alvin was getting on in years, Declan McLeod was significantly older still. It was a wonder he hadn't retired yet.
As they descended, a new voice spoke on the radio: "Dr. Saunders, Rachel Cohen here, we have a major disaster on the stairwell and I need help. Adam Donnelly has cracked-up and I believe requires specialist attention; what about Dr. Liz Somerville, could she do something to bring Adam to his senses?"
"Yes, that's a good idea," replied Dr. Saunders. "She's on her way. Jerry Law, if you can hear me, I need you to start moving anyone who can't help with the generator upstairs, where it's safer."
The four men, one teenager, and one dog soon reached the bottom of the stairs. Donald opened the door and entered the hall beyond, the others right behind him.
In the basement hall-
The group walked into the hall, the flashlight beams picking out three doors on the right and one on the left. In the distance, the hall rounded a corner to the left. "There," said Declan shining his light on the first door on the right. "That's the generator room. The door will be locked, but you've got the keys, Jerry me lad. Sure and you've got them too, Donald."
"Allow me," Donald said, who was already working on getting the right key on their way down the stairs. He plunged the key into the key hole and threw open the door stepping in and aside as he did, then shined his flashlight about for any obvious signs of trouble. He wasn't sure what he might find, that generator had a wide variety of issues over the years. Donald was hoping it was something he had seen in the past to make short work of it.
{Mr. Handy},Kyle drifts to the back of the group and makes an attempt to [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1908750/]slip away from the group and up the stairwell unnoticed.[/url]
"Sir if it helps you any. I may be able to help here but I do know that I served my country in Vietnam and I can train others to fight so if you want I can go upstairs with the rest and train them there. Would you want that?"
Kyle Rogers,Your Sneak roll prevented you from being heard, but since other characters are now also on their way back upstairs, you'll need to roll Hide to avoid being seen. Even if you fail, they'll still have to roll Spot Hidden in order to see you.
ooc,So what's up? Are we a go to start tinkering with the generator? I threw open the door but we have a big gray area before us. Is there smoke? Sparks? Just a cold engine getting colder? Zombies tearing it apart?
OOC,Sorry, but I need to wait for the other players in Omaha to have a chance to post for their characters before I advance this thread. I need to keep all of the threads in sync, as events in one thread can affect those in others. Also, there's one player in this thread who hasn't posted yet. After the next major update you'll get a look at the generator room and have a chance to start working.
ooc,Yeah, but you already got people starting to take off without even knowing what the generator room beholds. I don't want all our muscle to take off before we find out the room is wall-to-wall zombies.
OOC,Don't worry, there are no threats in the generator room. Right now you can tell that it's dark and deserted, and the generator is powered down, but there's nothing unusual in the room. I'll describe it fully when I do a major update. That'll probably be Monday, regardless of whether or not everyone has posted.
Mr Handy,Can Alvin roll some stuff right now as he goes back upstairs or because of the major update not occuring yet is he still near the Generator room?
Alvin Drummond,He's on his way back up, and he'll get back to the ground floor with the next update. What do you want to roll against? You can roll Spot Hidden and/or Listen if you like, but I'm not sure what else you'd want to roll.
Mr Handy,I was thinking of stopping in the stairway and rolling spot hidden and listen to make sure that nothing came down the stairs or is nearby the stairs before he walks into the hallway once again. Can I do that now?
In the basement hall- Jerry Law opened the generator room up and shined his light inside. The large room was deserted, and the generator, which took up much of the space, did not appear to be physically damaged in any way. Once he was sure it was secure, he and Alvin Drummond headed upstairs. Declan McLeod went inside with Donald Woodridge, while Murray stood guard at the door.
Kyle Rogers,You are moving to the thread linked below as well. I made your Hide roll for you. Continue posting in this thread using spoiler buttons until I tell you to post in that one, but read that thread as well.
Jerry Law and Alvin Drummond,Both of you are moving to the thread linked below:
In the generator room- Declan surveyed the generator and examined the fuel level. "Plenty of fuel left," he said, tapping the tank. "Looks like it was just topped off this mornin'. Maybe it shorted out. All right, lads, let's get to work." He opened up his toolkit.
OOC,[b]Donald Woodridge[/b], roll Electrical Repair to figure out what's wrong with the generator and start working on it.
Donald opened his own tool kit and grabbed a screwdriver and pair of pliers then started looking over the generator's electronics. "If the fuel is all right, then the problem is probably somewhere over here," he commented opening a small panel and peering within.
Declan jerked his head up from the generator."The hell was that whistling." Declan asked. He started glancing around for something hefty he could swing.
Donald shrugged. "If it was whistling, then it probably wasn't one of the infected. They don't seem to hold a tune well," he smiled at his answer and continued working on the generator.
OOC,Yes, [b]Murray[/b] is a dog, as it says on his character sheet.
Repair progress: 1/30
In the generator room- Murray trotted away and back upstairs, leaving Donald Woodridge and Declan McLeod alone in the basement.
OOC,[b]Murray[/b] is moving to the thread linked below. His player should stop reading the current thread at this point, and should not read the posts above the one in the link below on the new thread. Everyone else remains in the current thread.
Declan McLeod,[b]Declan[/b] heard a few pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs from above.
Donald and Declan set to work repairing the generator. It did not take them long to deduce what had happened. A sudden surge of power had shorted out the old generator's inner workings, probably due to the increased demands placed upon it by the electric fence. The power had gone off briefly earlier in the afternoon, but that time it had come back on by itself. It seemed that a large number of ghouls must have hit the fence at the same time, thus causing the surge. Fortunately, they had the tools and parts needed to effect the necessary repairs. Between the two of them, they could have the generator up and running in less than half an hour. If more people arrived to help them, that time could be shortened considerably.
OOC,These repairs are likely to take quite a while. Feel free to talk to each other. I'll let you know when things happen that your characters are aware of, and when you should roll something. You won't need to roll Electrical Repair again, as the rolls you already made cover the whole job.
Donald says to Declan, "This looks like it might take a while. Maybe we should shut and lock the door for safety's sake." He nodded at the damage, "Yeah, as I suspected. The fence is causing surges that the generator can't handle. We should try to cut off all unnecessary power to prevent this from happening again after its fixed."
Declan look over at the door. "Yeap, locking that door would do some good in case those bastards come at us again before we get this fence back up." He peered over towards the stairs. "Do you hear footsteps? Hmm, maybe we'll be getting a few extra pairs of hands to get this monster going. I don't like the idea of us being caught with our heads up our asses an hour from now still trying to fix this damn generator."
Donald shook his head, "Nah, won't take that long. But long enough to worry about perimeter breech." He stood and stretched his back, then headed over to the door and shut it, making sure it was locked. "Do you have a radio? You know... in case you wanted to tell them that we've locked the door just in case?"
Declan was moving his fingers quite quickly despite his old age. "I don't have a radio and they can knock. Hopefully they aren't running from anything when they do however."
In the generator room- Donald locked the door and went back to work with Declan. Soon they could both hear footsteps and voices outside.
In the basement hall- Becky Clarke led the way downstairs, followed by Chuck Lubachek hauling Tiny on his leash and Emilio Montoya. Becky went to the first door on the right and tried it. "Dammit!" she cried. "The stupid door is locked, and I don't have the key!"
Montoya assumes someone else is working on the power, wanting to be undisturbed by the z´s... "Oy! Ya need help in there?!" He waits for a reponse from inside the generator room.
Donald sighed and stood up again, his knees cracking with the effort. "Next time, you're getting the door," he said to Dunclan as he headed over and opened up the door. He waved the people in, looked left and right outside, then shut the door again to make sure it was locked. "Well, what have we here? Come to help perhaps?"
Donald waved the others over to show them the problem, "See here? There has been a surge in the power which this old generator is not rated for so some bits have been burned out. We're working on getting it back to operation, but we need to make sure that no one is using excessive energy within the building. All non-essential power should be shut off."
In the generator room- Becky Clarke waddled in through the door, barely fitting inside the frame. "Right, let's have a look," she said. Chuck Lubachek came in behind her, pulling Tiny on his leash.
OOC,[b]Emilio Montoya[/b], you can get inside this round if you wish, but you can't start working on the generator yet until next round.
In the generator room- Becky listened intently as she examined the generator, shaking her head. "This hunk of junk is older than me," she muttered. "I don't think I'll be of much help. Why don't I stand guard outside?"
"Yeah, good idea," said Chuck as he started to work. "You're so big nothing could get past you."
"Hey, watch it, bub!"
Chuck ignored her and opened up his toolbox, settling down to work. "Yeah, this'll be a piece of cake. Gimme a hand here, Emilio."
More footsteps approached from the hall outside.
OOC,[b]Emilio[/b], roll Electrical Repair to try to help with the generator.
In the basement hall- Lucy made her way down the stairs, shining the beam of her flashlight down the hall and picking out the door of the generator room.
"Yeah...", Emilio gets busy prodding and tweaking the cables and coatings, watching out for scorched elements and fuses. Process.... After the survey he suggests to Chuck how to fix the generator the fastest way - even though only temporary - the speed is more important than the durability, something that he remembers Becky keeps as a guide line when repairing cars.
While the others make good progress with the busted generator, Donald heads over to the fuse panel and starts flipping off switches for rooms that he knows are not in use.
Declan looked up from fiddling with the machine and muttered a welcome. "Good to have more hands for this job. We will get the generator running in no time. Let those bastards come for us again."
In the generator room-
With Emilio's help, the repairmen were able to make excellent progress. "Nice work," said Chuck. "I knew I taught you well, Emilio. We'll have the juice flowing again fast now."
Becky opened the door just as a tough-looking woman approached it on the other side. She carried a toolkit and a steel pipe in her hands, and an M3A1 Grease gun was on a strap hanging from her shoulder.
In the basement hallway- Becky stepped outside and looked the woman up and down as Adam Donnelly entered the basement hall from the stairway, his flashlight lighting his way. "Whaddaya want?" she asked.
"I'm Lucy Armstrong," said the other woman. "I'm here to help fix the generator."
"Becky Clarke. We've already got four people working on it, and I don't think there's room for any more. Shouldn't take them too long, anyway. Why don't you stand guard out here with me?"
Adam reprimands himself: "A little less crying and I'd have been in there, actually making a difference. Way to go, tough guy... Ok. What to do now? They've got this under control and I'm not much of a guard against those zombies. Hmm...If they get the generator up, we'll be needing the EMP soon after. Maybe I should go double-check it then."
"Ok, listen. You two all right guarding down here? If so, I'm heading back up to the roof to do some final checks on the EMP."
In the basement hall-
"Yeah, I think we're good," said Becky.
Lucy nodded. "The EMP generator?" she said. "That's the device Stephanie was talking about. Hopefully you won't have to use it. It looks like they'll have the power on before too much longer."
Donald reads the various rooms that the circuit breakers control before he flips them off. "If any of these sound like they might be in use, be sure to tell me, else it won't have any power once the generator is back online."
In the generator room-
The four mechanics continued their work repairing the generator while Tiny stood near Chuck alertly.
OOC,Everyone, roll Listen.
In the basement hall-
"Make sure the power stays on in whatever lab Stephanie and the other scientists are working in!" Lucy called into the generator room. "They need power to use that communications equipment."
Adam hurried back upstairs.
OOC,[b]Adam Donnelly[/b] is returning to the thread linked below, to the post in that link. Please stop reading the current thread at this point, and do not read the posts in the linked thread between the one in which you left and the one in which you return. Everyone else remains in the current thread and should also roll Listen.
Intent on the task at hand and confident someone else is covering the rear, Montoya is deaf to any noise but the clanking of tools that´s used to fix the generator.
In the basement hall- Lucy cocked an ear and heard it too. "Sounds like a shotgun blast, somewhere upstairs!" she said. Neither woman could tell exactly where it was coming from, but the sound was some distance above and probably not on the ground floor.
OOC,Anyone in the generator room who succeeds at a Listen roll will hear it too.
OOC,No, [b]Becky[/b] is not currently in combat and hasn't actually moved anywhere, nor has she spoken a lot or performed any other time-consuming action. She is free to act on what she has heard.
Becky fights the urge to force her way into the crowded generator room for protection. She reasons that she would be trapped in there anyway. If she could just see what's happening up there, maybe she will know what to do. She pointedly takes a couple of steps toward the stairwell nearby and catches Lucy's eye.
"I assume you know how to use that thing... Should we find out what the hell's going on? I mean... before it finds us?"
In the basement hall-
"Yeah, I'm with you," said Lucy, hurrying with Becky to the stairs. "Dr. Hausmann and Stephanie are up there, and we have to protect them."
Protecting the eggheads wasn't exactly what was on Becky's mind, but she is grateful to have Lucy with her. She follows, worried about her own safety, but also admiring the tough woman's thick, muscular figure on the stairs ahead of her. At least there were other people holed up with the brains. And there is safety in numbers. Immediately short of breath, she labors to waddle up the stairs close behind the stranger.
In the basement stairwell-
"I've never really fired a submachine gun before," admitted Lucy. "Long guns are more my speed. Still, I'm good at smashing things with this pipe." She went upstairs with Becky.
OOC,[b]Lucy Armstrong[/b] and [b]Becky Clarke[/b] are returning to the thread linked below. Please stop reading the current thread at this point, and do not read the posts between the one where you left the previous thread and the one where you return to it (unless you have another character who was there in the interim). Everyone else remains in the current thread.
Emilio checks what Tiny is growling at and he gets the Louisville in a tight grip. At least he found the problem area with the generator. He rises and checks the door.
In the generator room- Emilio couldn't tell what Tiny was growling about, but he often got agitated for no apparent reason. He might have been growling because of the gunshot, or maybe he was just antsy in general. A quick check of the door revealed that the hallway outside was empty.
The door gets locked and bolted. "Is there a sewer hatch here? Or maybe a maintenance crawl-space for air-ducts? Just want to know our options for getting out of here in a worst case scenario..."Emilio looks at the guys working on the generator.
In the generator room- Donald Woodridge knew from years of working here that there was a sewer hatch in this room, in the southwest corner. The cover could easily be removed with a prybar, which he had in his toolkit. The sewers could provide a means of escape in the event that the school was overrun. There were also ventilation ducts running throughout the school, but all of them let out either in the building or on its exterior. They could not be used to get out of the school grounds entirely.
"We should get that drain cleared, just in case...You do it Donald?"Emilio fishes up a Mars® candy bar and breaks it in half. He offers Tiny the treat .
Donald shook his head, "I appreicate your sense of self-preservation, but this generator has to take precidence. Besides... if something comes pounding on our door, it'll take them a bit of time to actually knock it down, which will give us time to get down the sewer." He nodded over to his tool kit and said, "However, you're welcome to help yourself to the pry-bar if you think its that important." He digs both hands into the electrical circuitry as he tries to place a new replacement wire saying, "I would hate to find out that someone died because we didn't get the generator on in time."
In the generator room- Emilio pried off the cover, revealing a narrow tube with a set of rungs descending into darkness. He had no time to investigate further, however, as he needed to get back to work on the generator and get the juice flowing as soon as possible. The four men continued their repair efforts while Tiny stood guard. They were now about halfway done.
"I hope we get this old bucket kickin soon. God knows whats going on upstairs. I'm glad you got that little escape route set up boy. We may end up needing it soon. I can't shake this feeling I'm getting that something bad is going to happen before we know it.
Donald said, "How many of those things do you think were at the gate? I mean... if there were enough of them, as soon as they notice the juice wasn't on, they could probably knock down that fence in minutes. At the very least, they could manage to get a hole in it big enough for them to squeeze through one by one until the power is back on." He shook his head and continued working at their feverish pace. "I won't be surprised if there are a dozen or so to contend with once this is back online. Hopefully the fence isn't damaged enough to be worthless. We couldn't hope to stand up to all of them out there."
After Emilio pointed out the cause of the surge, Donald said, "We should find a way to limit the current drain to the fence to keep this from happening again. A fuse is no good, unless we have someone standing down here to reset it every time it spikes. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Hmm?" Declan looked over "Sounds like a plan. But lets save it till after this bastard thing is working. Lets hope it gets pumping before they come for us like ya said."
In the generator room-
The four men continued to work. Following Emilio's advice, they started to rig up some surge protection to prevent power spikes from shorting out the generator again.
Donald wiped his forehead on his sleeve as he agreed, "Yes, not long now. We should probably radio the others of our progress so they're ready for it."
Finishing modifying the crowbar circuit in the generator, Emilio, puts the Silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) back in the proper slot. "Yeah, call'em and say it´s crunch time! Everybody clear!" He backs away from the generator over to the main electric switchboard.
In the generator room-
"There's just one problem with that," pointed out Chuck. "None of us down here have got a radio. Oh, well, they'll know soon enough once the lights come back on. We're not quite done yet, Emilio. Just another minute or so should do it."
Donald rolled his eyes when the fact that none of those down here had a radio. "Well, I hope no one is touching anything they shouldn't be when we throw the switch. Looks like we just need to button it up and we're good to go."
"Dammit all.. How could no one have brought a damned radio." Declan spit then turned his face back towards the machine. "As you said I hope no one is stupid enough to tough the fence. I guess we'll soon find out." His dexterous fingers were finishing up the final repairs.
Recalling hearing the radio chatter when everyone showed up to the room, Donald pointed out "The two that stayed outside the door had a radio, are they still there?" He was unsure because it had gone rather quiet beyond the door.
In the generator room-
"Don't blame me," said Chuck. "I didn't have a radio to bring down here. Yeah, those two chicks left a while back. I don't think they had a radio either."
The repairs finally complete, Chuck crossed his fingers and flipped the switch. The overhead fluorescent lights came back on, and the generator began to hum smoothly. "All right! Now let's go give the principal our bill."
"Good job, everyone. Thanks for the help. I'm going to take some of my tools and go from room to room shutting off any unnecessary power," Donald said to the others in the room. "Anyone want to accompany me?"
Emilio grabs the Louisville and follows Donald out the door after opening it slowly, bit by bit, keeping his weight on the door to prevent someone from bursting in.
ooc,Heh. I like the way Emilio volunteered me into point position.
Donald looked both ways very carefully. And after verifying that the coast was clear, he went back first to his wheelbarrel to acquire any weapons that might still be there.
In the generator room- Chuck followed Donald and Emilio out of the generator room, pulling Tiny along with him. Only Declan remained behind.
In the basement hall-
The hall was now lit up by overhead fluorescent lights, so flashlights were no longer necessary. There was no light coming from the doors further south that led to the supply and storage rooms, but the pool area across the hall from the generator room was lit up. The group proceeded north into the stairwell.
In the north stairwell, basement- Donald and Emilio reached the base of the stairs. The stairwell was now lit as well. Donald remembered that he had left the wheelbarrow up on the ground floor, just inside the exit door.
Donald looks up the stairs for anything that might be coming down before proceeding up. "Can't wait to get my hands on the comforting handle of an axe or chainsaw."
OOC,You're not up there yet, but you will be at the next major update (which should be tomorrow). Don't assume that the chainsaw and axe are still there, because...well, they're kind of not. By which I mean they're not. :twisted:
ooc,Sorry - edited below. I didn't think it was that far down, like only half a flight or something. How many sub-levels does this school have? Well, I hope they're being put to good use.
OOC,There's only one sub-level, but it's a full flight of stairs down to the basement. I'm sorry, but I won't have time to update Omaha tonight. Tomorrow I'll be pretty busy, so it may have to wait until Wednesday.
