black rock ♔ with my sad bones and my soiled throne

[sternshield]

WHO || Erky, Maxwell, Liam, Thoster
WHAT || The Knights track down a message from a mysterious woman in trouble
WHERE || Black Rock, Utah
WHEN || April 22nd, 2015
HOW || Actionspam

It's after noon when they arrive, a bleak, dreary day, and an ominous blanket of low, gray clouds hangs over the landscape.  A recent rain has left everything damp, giving the scenery an air of decay.  It seems there is no end to the parade of empty fields and derelict farmhouses flanking this stretch of road.   As they drive towards the coordinates of Black Rock, Thoster's phone abruptly rings.

Comments

[beatemup]

Good thinking! That's definitely weird. And why did they lock the door if they left in a hurry? [He looks around as they walk toward the church. (spot 13)]

[ex_boning176]

[Liam didn't really think it through that far. He thinks about it, but ultimately ends up shrugging because he can't think of a good reason that the door would be locked if people were rushing out for whatever reason.

When they get to the little church, he takes a minute to look around again before attempting to peer inside (spot nat 20)]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ before he looks in the church, liam takes notice of something else. the town seems abandoned, but someone else is apparently here. he sees movement between the church and the next building on the street, and gets the creepy feeling of being watched. whatever it was disappeared behind the building before he could identify it. ]

[ex_boning176]

Something just moved over there. [He indicates the direction where he saw the movement coming from between the buildings.

Part of him instinctively wants to chase after it, while the less impulsive part of him is creeped the hell out and kind of hopes Max will lead the way.]

[beatemup]

What!? [Max immediately rushes toward the direction as he doesn't really use his less impulsive part.]

[ex_boning176]

[And Liam takes off after Max to go investigate the movement he just saw between the buildings.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ spot checks as they head behind the church! there are several houses in a row back here, and not a soul in sight on the street... ]

[ex_boning176]

[Liam tears around the corner like spot 21.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ liam sees exactly where it went, the quivering leaves of some bushes pressed against one of the houses giving away the hiding spot of whatever, or whoever, it is ]

[ex_boning176]

[He reaches over to get Max's attention, then nods toward the bushes where whatever they were just chasing has hidden itself.

Before Max can yell, "FOR SPARTA!" and bull rush the thing, Liam starts moving around the other side so that it can't just run off again while at the same time trying to get a better look at what it is (spot 22) .]

[beatemup]

[Yup, though he has some training about military maneuvers to take down hiding enemies, Max is just going to football tackle the mysterious roadrunner because that's how he rolls. Do first think later. Effective enough in most cases. Unless that case is playing chess or attacking a corrosive slime bare-handed. (Str? 18 + 2 from extreme effort?)]

[herebemonsters]

[ it was a nice thought, liam.

the thing that max slams into is more or less human-shaped but that's about where the likeness ends. with mottled, decaying flesh drawn tight across clearly visible bones, eyes burn up at max like hateful hot coals in their sunken sockets. the creature's skin looks hairless - where there is any skin, and it snarls at him with carnivorous teeth, pushing him back with a 21 opposed str check. ]

[ex_boning176]

[Wow that is an ugly ... thing. Whatever it is. Liam has no idea, but his spot checks have been on point so he recognizes ugly when he sees it.

The fact that it seems much less timid now means that it's probably going to put up a fight (to be fair, Max did bum rush it). So he just focuses on transforming into teen wolf form, because he fights better when he has claws and fangs (control shape: 22). I think the DC for a voluntary transformation is 15 but if I got my source wrong let me know.

Once he's all glowing yellow eyes and teeth and pointy ears and shit, he just stares this thing down and growls because I think the transformation counts as a move action (intimidate: 11). Look he tried to be scary but he is a baby wolf ok.]

[beatemup]

[Max slightly moves back his body as he sees the zombie. Zombie apocalypse is cool and fun but only in games. Real life, no thanks. He prefers being alive and able to play games anytime he wants than playing live action survival sim on hard mode. And when Liam turns into big bad wolf....]

The fuck! [Fighting bizarre shadow creatures is a regular thing, but when you combine it with "alongside a big furry meat chomper, that's a whole kind of other thing. He scowls as he draws his battle hammer (move action) and then he bashes the zombie's head. When fighting zombies, always target its head. (Power Atk 18, dmg 13)]

[herebemonsters]

[ it actually looks intimidated by liam, so there's that, which allows max to wail into it. the hammer squishes into its head with a horrible squelching noise, and it slumps to the ground, disabled, barely able to move. with its last effort, it claws out at him (19 atk, 6 dmg and he must make a DC 14 fort save vs paralysis). the effort, however, drops it to unconsciousness.

/init ]

[beatemup]

[Luckily for him, he's been hit with worse thing than paralyzing venom, like sleeping beams or a giant needle to the heart, so somehow he manages to shrug it off (fort 17).]

Shit! Don't tell me I'm turning into one of them! Wait! Technically, I was dead and brought back to life. So that means I'm already a zombie. A zombie can't turn into uglier zombie, right? [He talks while examining his wound... until he realizes he is talking to a werewolf. He turns his head toward Liam and looks him with eyes full of anxiety.] You're not going to eat me, right?

[ex_boning176]

[Well that was a lot easier than Liam had anticipated. He goes from peering at the fallen monstrosity to looking back up at Max, like "what?"

But then shakes his head, because oh yeah he looks like a monster right now whoops. But he hasn't lost control of his mind or anything, so no feating on teammates today.]

What was that thing?

[beatemup]

[Max releases his body tension as a sign of relief. He doesn't really want to be zombie/werewolf/half-orc. Though, that would be interesting.]

I think it's a zombie of some kind. [He pokes the zombie with his hammer to check if it's really knocked out.] There's a chance that this place was biological weapon test target or maybe someone accidentally released some kind of virus that turned the villagers into the like of this. [This is what you get if you mix active imagination with too much zombie-shooter.] We need to warn the others, pronto.

[ex_boning176]

[Liam is actually well-versed in video gaming, so he recognizes the scenario but he looks a little shocked by the assertion that they could actually happen in real life. Then again, he is a werewolf so maybe he shouldn't be all that surprised.

Max was right though, they should probably head back and warn the others. So Liam nods, still wolfed out because there is no telling whether or not more of those zombie things are lurking around (there is never just one ok), and begins to backtrack back toward the front of the church so they can head back to Erky and Thoster.]

[beatemup]

[Actually, there's more practical thing that is called a cellphone, but since it is safer to be in group in case of another zombies attack, he follows Liam back to the church. But since Thoster and Erky have left the church, when he arrives at their dispatch point, he is just gonna phone Thoster. So.... Ring-ring-ring!]

[ex_boning176]

[Oh, right. That would have made more sense but uh ... Liam is only fifteen and I am an idiot. :D

While Max calls up Thoster, Liam stands there listening. He's not sure if he is supposed to be thankful for Max warning the others not to shoot him...]

[beatemup]

[After Thoster abruptly shut down the call, Max turns his attention to Liam who now is probably bigger than him.] They said the zombies attacked them and lured them to one of the house. Sounds very fishy to me. That place is probably our best bet to find out about what's happening with this town. They'll wait for us there. Also, it seems there are more than a handful of those things, we need to be extra careful on our way there. Got it, kiddo? [Yeah, he still calls him a kid even though that kid currently can shred him to pieces.]

[ex_boning176]

[Nah, he's still a little 5' 5" shrimp. The only things that really change appearance-wise are the pointed eats, more canine facial features including some sharp-ass teeth, glowing yellow eyes and ... suddenly facial hair down along his jawline. He basically looks like this. He's also sporting some razor sharp claws at the end of each finger too, but he hasn't learned to shift into anything more intimidating. He's still new at the whole werewolf thing.

Which is probably why he can't shift back when he tries it (or, you know, because he failed his change shape check). This seems to ... irritate him, and he growls back at Max like he might try to get crazy on him before he appears to realize that Max had nothing to do with it and probably wasn't trying to make him feel self-conscious on purpose. Did I mention this kid has anger issues? Surprise, he does.

A second later he nods in response to Max's direction, because he isn't so angry that he can't think straight. Which is a good thing.]

[beatemup]

[Did he just growl at Max? Yeah, Max is just gonna hold his hammer tight and be prepared to pummel the kid's head in case he decides to eat Max. But for now, instead of bashing and hammering, Max starts to walk and lead the way toward the other team's location since rousing the anger of a werewolf is probably not a good thing. Besides, just because the boy has fangs doesn't mean he's gonna use it on him. For all he knows, they're team-mates who protect each other's back. Unexpectedly and mysteriously, no prejudice from Max this time. (will 12)]

[sternshield]

[ and they can find their way over here! ]