In the loft- Caitlin was clearly distraught, but there was nothing Lara could do for her. Not wanting to risk hitting Steve, the two women could only watch as he led the three zombies away to the south. By the time there was enough space between them and Steve to shoot without much risk, they were all enshrouded by darkness.
And then another zombie came out of the darkness from the direction of the farmhouse. It shuffled towards the barn.
Caitlin Bell,[b]Caitlin[/b] gaped in terror as more zombies came out of the night. There had to be dozens of them, scores of them! They were all converging on the barn.
[spoiler][b]Caitlin[/b], you have gone indefinitely insane as a result of losing 20% of your Sanity, but your indefinite insanity will not kick in until your temporary insanity ends. I'll let you know what it is at the time. In the meantime, you may act freely.[/spoiler]
OOC,[b]Lara[/b], it is Psychoanalysis that can suppress temporary insanity, not Psychology. The base skill is only 1%. Needless to say, you failed and cannot try again. You also cannot both try that and climb down the ladder. It's a good thing too, because if you had climbed down there, the zombies would have been able to attack you. The same thing can happen if you climb down now.
[b]Lara[/b] and [b]Caitlin[/b], you may both fire two shots this round. You may target a zombie's head, with a -5 penalty to hit, but if you do this both of your shots must target the same zombie. If you kill your target with one shot, you don't get a second one this round. If you fire at the zombies chasing [b]Steve[/b], your Handgun skill will be reduced to 1/5 its regular level due to the darkness. Aiming at the head will bring a -5 penalty on top of that. You will not risk hitting [b]Steve[/b] unless perhaps you critically miss. Shooting at a zombie outside the barn doesn't have the darkness penalty, just the -5 for targeting the head.
Outside the barn- Steve hurried away to the south, the three zombies trailing after him. He was able to widen his lead on them a little, but they were still less than five yards away. He was approaching a cornfield, one of several on his farm.
OOC,[b]Steve[/b], you are still too close to fire at a zombie without risk, though you are now out of point blank range. You may reload your shotgun while running, by the way.
Seeing even MORE emerge from the shadows, Caitlin brings the gun to bear and squeezes off some rounds at the oncoming foes, too frazzled to aim for anything in particular. This, of course, does not help her success in hitting the brutes.
The aging farmer sees the cornfield ahead and begins to swing to the left in an attempt to run a wide circle that would get him heading back towards the barn. Steve digs through one pocket full of shotgun shells as he reloads his gun. The sound of gunshots spurs him on even faster.
In the loft-
The zombie continued on to the barn unimpeded. It bumped into the ladder, causing it to topple over and clatter to the ground, leaving the women stuck in the loft. The zombie than entered into the barn and was gone from sight, but another one emerged from the blackness to take its place. It too slowly approached the barn. Steve and the zombies following him rounded the corner of the barn and were no longer visible.
Caitlin Bell,More and more of the infected came out of the night and swarmed towards the barn. Those that had already arrived began to filter inside. They were everywhere!
OOC,If you wish to unjam the pistol, you will need to roll Handgun or Mechanical Repair, whichever is higher. The base skill for both is 20%, so it doesn't matter if [b]Caitlin[/b] were to try, but [b]Lara[/b] would use Handgun (again with the -5 penalty for exhaustion). If you succeed, roll 1d6 to see how many rounds (including this one) it takes to clear the jam. If you fail, you just waste the current round. If you critically fail, you break the weapon.
[b]Caitlin[/b], you may fire two shots again if you wish. If you give the gun to [b]Lara[/b], she may only fire one shot this round, as she did not start with it ready.
Behind the barn- Steve ran around the side of the barn and reached the rear, managing to enlarge his lead on the three zombies behind him a little more. They were still close enough to pose a danger, however. Beyond the barn, to the east, stood the stables. He would also be able to reach the front of the barn again by running around the north side.
OOC,The zombies are still close enough to reach and attack you if you shoot at one of them now. One more round of running will give you enough of a lead to fire safely once.
OOC,What's in the stables, as far as Steve knows? Any horses? Also, the kind of stable I'm imagining is the type that is a covered building with large doors on either end and individual stalls for the animals. Correct?
Larafumbles awkwardly with the 9mm trying to get it unjammed. While doing so she realizes she has 12 rounds left. They have to count, not get wasted. "Sestra, don´t shoot at them, we have no bullets." She stares down at the barn filling with zombies and curses that the ladder fell down. Then she sees that if she had had climbed down she would have been in the midst of the crowd.
"We are safe up here, sestra. They not come up. Do you have eat up here or only in car?"
While talking, Lara looks around for something alike to a fishing rod or hooked pitch fork and some rope or hemp. Is there a block and tackle in the opening up here? She tries to come up with a way to get some of the gear from the pick up´s bed.
"Got keys to the truck?"
The infected were close behind yet, but he was gaining ground. He tore through the doors of the stable, and spins to slam them shut behind him, presuming nothing horrible is lurking immediately within.
Caitlin, having lost sight of the enemy for a time, lets her arms fall of their own weight and pants heavily. Panic still creeped around the edges of her eyes as she spoke in a shaky voice. "They're inside. My dad's outside. We have no way out. What are we going to do?"
In the loft-
The newly arrived zombie also trudged into the barn.
Lara Vornova,Two zombies had entered the barn, and no more were visible outside.
Caitlin Bell,Over a dozen of the infected were in the barn now, and many more were outside. The place was crawling with them!
OOC,[b]Lara[/b] and [b]Caitlin[/b], you may roll Spot Hidden to search for something to use. The base skill is 25%. You may also both roll Idea.
Outside the stables- Steve ran for the stables and was now close to the entrance. The infected on his trail dropped a little further back, giving him some - but not much - breathing room.
OOC,You couldn't both reach the stables and get inside in one round. You may do so this round if you wish without having to roll anything. The zombies are now almost ten yards behind you. If you fire at one of them, you'll only have a 10% chance to hit due to the 1/5 darkness penalty (or 5% if you aim at the head). You may fire both barrels together (one Shotgun roll for both) or one and then the other (two separate Shotgun rolls) in the same round if you wish. If you fire, the zombies won't be able to attack you this round. However, you'd be hard pressed to get inside and bar the door the following round if you did. You may do it now with no problem.
Realizing that they might be better off if they stay still she stops and reflects on their dilemma. Could they maybe shout at Caitlin´s dad to get him lure them over to his location? That could work if they were to remain completely quiet... That is at least one of the ideas running though the model´s mind. She pulls Caitlin to herself and hushes.
"shhh..sestra... c o m e ..."
OOC,[b]Lara[/b] is an archaeology student, not a model. You might have mixed her up with [b]Katarina[/b]. The Spot Hidden roll actually had a 20% chance because of the fatigue penalty, but it failed either way. The Idea roll should be INT x 4 instead of INT x 5 due to fatigue, but you still succeed - barely.
The keys to the truck are in the ignition, and it's all ready to go. There is no food in the loft, unless you want to eat hay. ;)
In the loft-
Neither Lara nor Caitlin could see anything of use up here but numerous bales of hay. It was just too dark to search thoroughly.
Lara Voronova,[b]Lara[/b] realized that the two of them were safe up in the loft for now. They couldn't stay up there indefinitely without food or water, however, and getting down could be dangerous and painful. Perhaps if the hay bales were pushed off the edge, they could cushion the landing of someone dropping down, and she could then replace the ladder. However, doing that while the two zombies were in the barn would be extremely dangerous. The best chance they had was to be ready for when [b]Steve[/b] is able to draw them out after him.
While she's up here, it would be a good idea to get some medical treatment. [b]Caitlin[/b] had mentioned that she's a medical student, and she had a first aid kit.
[spoiler][b]Lara[/b] can also try First Aid on herself again at this point, but again there's a -5 penalty.[/spoiler]
In the stables- Steve rushed inside and dropped the bar to keep the door shut behind him. Outside, he could hear the three infected moaning. Inside, he could see the two horses in their stalls. They whinnied and were obviously agitated, though they did seem glad to see him. A lantern also hung on a hook near the entrance. At the back of the stables, another identical door led out.
Caitlin collapses in Lara's arms, sobbing. "There are keys in the truck," she says when her sobs subside. "You asked about the keys. They're in the truck."
"Good, then we can drive." Lara hugs Caitlin back. Feeling her arms and legs ache she helps herself to the medical bag Caitlin has. "I may? It hurts bad."She manages to patch up some of the bruising.And feels a little better. "When we´ve rested a bit and those tings have left the barn. We push the hay down and jump. Then drive and fetch your dad. Now can you look at my back? I think I´m wounded there. Fell down stairs before." She puts the medical bag aside and lets the blanket fall off her back.
OOC,[b]Caitlin[/b], you may try a Medicine roll to further treat [b]Lara[/b]'s injury. If you succeed, roll 1d3 to see how many additional HP she recovers.
Steve Bell,[b]Steve[/b] could tell that it was the presence of the infected that agitated the horses. He had seen them display this behavior earlier in the day too. He didn't know how, but somehow they were able to sense them - something which could prove very useful. Horses had enough sense to be disturbed by the infected and avoid them, and they often seemed to him to be more sensible than humans. The infected had ignored the horses during their earlier attacks on the farm, however. They only went after people.
[spoiler]If you ride a horse, you will not need to make Ride rolls under normal circumstances - only if you are trying a fancy maneuever or attempting to ride through zombies, or something similar.[/spoiler]