IC-SWORD-In Harm's Way(Lara Voronova/Steve/Caitlin/Sven)

[Dave Syrinx]

Seeing the man hustling for the ladder, Lara abandons her post by the opening. Helping Caitlin with the ladder would benefit them all, shooting could be saved to later. She tugs at the other side of the ladder and Slowly but surely, the ladder slides over the ledge of the loft. More a matter of physics than the girls´combined strength, she guesses.

[Wryce]

Steve slings the shotgun back and rushes up the ladder, all in one motion. This proves to be somewhat difficult. However, he manages to get up there, thanks to the help of the girls.

[Dave Syrinx]

"Great! Now, we kill the intruders..." She steadies her gun hand with her left hand, to gain some stability to her worn muscles, in hope of lowering her odds of hitting the closest zombie in the head. "Standing above the creeps, instead of running away from them is a real good feeling", she muses to herself. Smiling as she squeezes the trigger guard.

[Mr. Handy]

In the loft-
Lara found that she barely needed Caitlin's help, thanks to a rush of adrenalin. The two women hauled up the ladder while Steve was still on it. He made it onto the loft, and not a moment too soon. A loud crash came from below, indicating that the barn doors had finally been knocked down. Caitlin and Lara hurried over to the opening and looked down. Two of the zombies had already entered the barn. Whatever they were doing inside, they were no longer visible from the loft. The third was still within sight. Caitlin kept her flashlight trained on it.

OOC,[b]Lara[/b] and [b]Steve[/b], you may each shoot at the zombie for one combat round. First [b]Lara[/b] gets one shot with a pistol, then [b]Steve[/b] may fire his shotgun - either one or both barrels. Finally, [b]Lara[/b] gets her second shot, and then [b]Steve[/b] may fire his second barrel if he only fired one. The range is normal, and thanks to the flashlight and the closeness of the zombie, there is no penalty for darkness. There is only a -5 penalty due to aiming at the head (and [b]Lara[/b]'s additional -5 penatly for exhaustion). [b]Steve[/b], you can indicate in the Note section in Invisible Castle whether you fire one or two barrels. If two, you only need to make one Shotgun roll. It will take 10 or more damage to the zombie's head to destroy it (or 40 damage overall, if you were to shoot it without aiming at the head and didn't happen to hit it through luck). Once the zombie is destroyed, there is no need for further shots this round.

[Dave Syrinx]

As much as the adrenaline had helped her haul the ladder up, it too makes her hands shake badly, making her aim too wide, missing the target. "Chyort voz'mi !"

[Wryce]

The shotgun is unslung once more, and Steve takes careful aim at the head of the shambling figure. He fires one barrel and blasts the thing square in the face, reducing the beasts head into a bloody smear across the side of the barn wall.

OOC,I fired one barrel, and impaled, even with the -5 that I forgot to put in the notes of the roll. Remember, shop smart. Shop S-mart.

[Dave Syrinx]

Waiting for the others to show, Lara waits at her post.

[Mr. Handy]

In the loft-
The zombie's head was blown into bits too small to see, and the headless corpse collapsed outside. The two inside the barn were still not visible.

Caitlin exhaled in relief. "Well, we're safe," she said, "but we're trapped up here. What do we do now?"

OOC,[b]Lara[/b] and [b]Steve[/b], please roll Listen at full skill and Spot Hidden at 3/5 of your skill (thanks to the flashlights). [b]Lara[/b], you still have the -5 penalty, so your Spot Hidden roll has a 10% chance of succeeding. Getting 10 damage on 8d6 was not guaranteed, so you still needed to roll just to make sure. I rolled for you this time.

[Wryce]

Steve doesn't relax yet. He hears something, but he can't see what it is.

OOC,Sorry, I forgot entirely to post the damage roll I made. I did make it though. Bit less than you rolled, actually, at 26. [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2816715/]One barrel, impaled on a 6 (needed 9 or lower) (8d6=26)[/url]

[Dave Syrinx]

The shotgun blast rings in Lara´s ears and she fails to see anything below, except for the colourful display.

"We have problem." She comments to their situation. "I shoot before and many zombies came. Now we´ve shot again. Many more will come. Have you shot one before, mister?" She gets to her feet after not seeing anything moving. And starts to move over to the opening overlooking the yard. "If we get stuck up here when more are coming and the supplies are still in the car we´re in trouble." She thinks for a second while standing at the opening looking for more attackers.
"What if we use the ladder to exit from here? While someone is covering the doors from here while the others climb down? Then we can get the drop on those monsters from two angles... Otherwise only make them interested in the noise outside?"

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,It is certainly possible to lower the ladder out of the opening so that it leads outside. I forgot that the Spot Hidden rolls should have been at 2/5 skill with flashlights, not 3/5. It didn't matter anyway in this case.

Steve Bell,[b]Steve[/b] could hear two pairs of footsteps slowly approaching the barn from the northwest, in the direction of the highway. One seemed to be at the house, and the second set was further back, at the highway itself.

[Dave Syrinx]

"OK, we get the ladder out. Kill the monsters and drive away before all comes here, yes?" Lara begins to drag the ladder towards the opening. She stops almost right away and offers the spare gun to Caitlin. "Here!"

[Wryce]

Steve leans over and helps Lara with the ladder.

"Sounds like your right, I think I can hear more coming. I'll head down the ladder, you cover me from up here. If something happens to me, get my daughter out of here, you understand?"

[Dave Syrinx]

"OK, get down and I cover ones in here. Get to the car and I´ll shoot ones coming at you. You, watch your dad, sestra." Lara waves Caitlin to the ladder where Steve is preparing to climb. She goes back to the edge of the loft and tries to spot the two dead below-

[Mr. Handy]

In the loft-
Caitlin took the second pistol. She had never fired one before, but it couldn't be that hard. While Steve climbed down the ladder, Lara peered over the edge of the loft on the inside, but she couldn't see the zombies. It soon became apparent why.

Caitlin watched as Steve reached the ground outside the barn. No sooner had he done so than the two remaining zombies emerged from the gaping hole where the barn doors had once stood and came after him. At the same time, another one headed for him from the other direction, coming around the corner from the farmhouse. Caitlin watched in horror as they closed in.

OOC,[b]Caitlin[/b], roll Sanity for seeing the new zombie. Sanity loss is 0/1d10. If you succeed, you lose no Sanity, but if you fail, you lose 1d10. If you lose 5 or more, you must roll Idea. If you fail this roll, then you may act freely, but if you succeed, you will go temporarily insane. If you fire at one of the zombies below, you will not have time to aim at the head before they attack [b]Steve[/b]. The base skill with Handgun is only 20%, and you may fire twice. For each bullet that hits, you would roll 1d20 on the random hit location table in the Rules and Guidelines thread and 1d10 for damage. If your roll to hit was 4 or less (1/5 of your skill), this is an impale and the bullet does 2d10 damage instead. However, for each bullet that misses, you must roll Luck. Failing this roll means you will hit [b]Steve[/b] by accident, as the zombies are very close to him. You may prefer not to shoot at all. [b]Lara[/b], you also have the option to shoot twice as above. However, while you have decent Handgun skill, your Luck is even lower. You do not need to roll Sanity, as you're used to zombies after having recently lost 10 Sanity for encountering them.

Outside the barn-
Steve reached the bottom of the ladder and was shocked to see the infected approaching him from both inside and outside the barn. He did not have much time before they attacked him.

OOC,[b]Steve[/b], first you must roll Sanity for seeing the new zombie. Sanity loss is 0/1d10 as before. but you've already lost 4 Sanity for seeing zombies and can lose a maximum of 6 more. If you roll a loss of more than 6, it counts as only 6. If you lose 5 or more, you must roll Idea as above. If you do not go temporarily insane, you may act freely. You only have one shell left loaded in your shotgun. If you choose to fire it, you are at point blank range, which doubles your effective skill. You'll still need to roll in case of an impale or malfunction. There is no time to aim at the head before they attack you, and all surviving zombies will get to attack you after you fire, which could be the end of you. If you choose to try to get back up the ladder quickly, roll Climb. Failure means that you'll still be low enough for the zombies to attack you. In that case, you should roll Dodge a few times just in case. If you succeed at the Climb roll, you'll reach the loft safely.

[Wryce]

Steve maintains his composure.

OOC,Is it possible for me to make a full-on sprint away from the zombies? I think it'd be difficult for three relatively uncoordinated 'people' to completely surround a man. Also, how fast are these zombies? I recall mention of there being different 'speeds' of zombies. Sorry for all the questions, just exploring my options.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Yes, you can simply run away from them. You have one zombie coming from the west and two from the east (where the barn is), so you could run north or south to get away from both groups. These zombies move slowly, so you could outrun them, but you wouldn't be able to keep running forever.

[Wryce]

"Get the car! I'll draw them off!" he shouts to the women in the loft above.

Steve bolts away from the zombies, to the south.

"Alright, this way you bastards! Come on! Come and get me!"

[SSior.27]

Sanity Roll,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2825530/]82% - Fail[/url]

Sanity Loss,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2825532/]10... really? Well, that's 20% of remaining SAN...[/url]

Idea,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2825533/]62% - Insanity, here I come.[/url]

Seeing another of the infected round the corner and close in on her dad, Caitlin's composure cracks. She screams shrilly "WATCH OUT! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE! DADDY, DON'T LET THEM GET YOU! DADDYYYY!!!"

[Dave Syrinx]

"Shut up, cry baby!" Lara screams at the girl. Whats with this girl. "Get to the CAR!"

Seeing that her effort to calm the girl down has no effect, Lara starts climbing the ladder to get to the car.