((17. Good for you.))
You feel yourself being digested in the dragon's stomach, and struggle to get out. You can see the light through the wall of it's stomach, and are trying to cut your way out.
You realize that you are actually laying in a bed. You just sliced the privacy curtain down, and you see that you are in a hospital. There is no sound other than that you are making.
Your knife is on the floor.
I take a look outside.
You seem to be in a city. The entire place seems dead; not like a massacre. It's absolutely silent outside, with no evidence of life, not even a bird chirping.
Great, now it's time for zombie horror
I pick up my knife and put it on my belt.
I'm going to try to get out of the hospital.
Maybe. Maybe not.
§
There's no one alive in the hospital at all that you can see. No one dead, either.
No evidence of any violence whatsoever.
It's all just... quiet.
You leave the hospital and see much of the same. No sign of life here, a modern day city.
How odd...
I'm looking for a food store.
Does the city look decayed?
Not at all. It seems everyone just left in a big hurry.
You find a food store. It looks well faced and stocked, as if no one was at all interested in taking anything with them when they left.
The time is approximately noon, according to a clock inside the food store.
I eat something that is ready to eat and go look for a gun store.
I'm also looking for newspapers. I want to know what happened here.
There are newspapers in the food store.
You would think that something serious enough to drive everyone from town would be in the newspaper, right?
You read and walk and walk and read.
Apparently, it is the year 2012 in the month of March on the 17th day.
The headline story regards a new place to buy ice cream. They should be opening soon, according to the article, but the exact date is not known.
The name of the city is also listed; it is unfamiliar.
Is there any specific section you wish to check?
You find a gun store. The two inch glass here has been shattered, and much of what was here has been removed.
You find a double-barelled shotgun; the barrels have been sawed off by an amateur, by the look of it. (Lethal, range 3':8':13':18':+10/5') It was under the counter and tucked under a magazine; whoever looted the place must have missed it. It has 2 shells in it, but you don't see any more.
The clock here says it is one o'clock.
Was the refrigerators working in the food store?
What gauge are the shells? What kind of shells are they?(slug? buck shot? something else?)
I'm looking for a library.
Are there any cars?
The refrigerators were not working, no.
Buckshot.
You find a library.
There are not any cars you have seen on the street; having entered a residential area, there are cars parked in driveways.
I look in the library.
I'm searching for information on what happened here.
I'm going to look here for five hours.
Alright. You look through the library; unfortunately, the computers are not working, so you can't access the internet; there doesn't seem to be any information here about whatever happened. The night is growing ever nearer, and the evening shadows have grown long.
You step outside, and see a catholic church across the street. On the sign in front of the church, it reads in all capital letters "THE END IS NEAR."
I'm going into the church to look around. They might have books on the Apocalypse and there might be some people in there.
You walk into the church.
There is dried blood on the wall in front of you. It has a brownish look of being relatively fresh. It looks as if someone lost their balance and nearly fell, but caught themself and slid slightly on the wall before steadying themself more firmly;
the effect of this slide and press forms a shape that looks disturbingly like an arrow pointing to a set of closed double doors that presumably leads to the main hall of the church where the sermons are given.
(This is probably a stupid move but...) I follow the arrow.
Bodies.
Dozens, possibly hundreds of human bodies are on the floor.
Judging by sight and smell, they are all dead and beginning to decay.
There is no movement within.
What killed them?
Are there any more arrows?
No more arrows.
It may have been some kind of disease; none have any wounds that you can see from distance.
You hear a sound from the back of the room and see a movement from the corner of your eye.
I draw my katana and face towards the movement.
You see nothing; a curtain in the far corner is moving, and you hear receding footsteps running.
I chase after the footsteps.
You come to a stairwell leading up.
You reach the top, and a man whirls around. There is blood all over his mouth and chin and the front of his shirt and on his hands.
He starts running towards you.
doublepost
I attack with my katana.
I was hoping for a roll I wouldn't have to crunch... it's 96.
I'll need your SAL with the weapon which is 3@1, as I recall from the top of my head, bod bra and abl.
My BRA is 2@5 strength.
My MSV is 2@5.
Yeah, that's what I meant. 31 25 25 minus target value is neither a hit nor a botch; not being a hit, though, it means no style activation for this round.
You miss him, and he manages to strike you weakly (1 intensity of damage).
Your swing first this minute, you miss again but he hits again, weakly (1 more intensity).
Your swing again, this time finding your groove, and seperate the top half of his head from the bottom half. He goes down gurgling.
Ow... I use my knife to check his teeth.
They look like the teeth of an adult human, though they are covered in blood.
If you wanted more information than that, I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific.
I was checking to see if he had fangs like a vampire.
Nope, regular humanoid teeth.
You hear the sounds of lots of people getting up.
@#%!%#!!! I'M IN A ZOMBIE HORROR WORLD!!!
I rush down the stairs and try to find a window to jump out of before I get to the main hall.
OOC: Cool, zombie horror.
The stairs have got a lot of people on them; one sees you and starts running up the stairs with astounding speed, taking them two, sometimes three at a time.
§
Simple intuition check passed.
§
Some of these people look so terribly emaciated they should definitely be dead, as if something is devouring them from the inside, but it doesn't seem to be stopping them.
I'm guessing you're guessing the stairs are a bad option.
§
Yes, Zombie Horror. And so much more. This world has been simmering for ... 5 years since I ran someone in it?
He didn't last long... more's the pity....
I step back a few steps and attack the one running towards me.
Do I see any windows up here?
No; there is a hallway leading down in the direction which is now behind you, but it rounds a corner and you cannot see beyond that point.
He goes to bite you and misses, and you slice him from shoulder to hip, seperating him diagonally. Both halves hit the ground twitching. More are coming up the stairs, the second jumps right over the body, and you impale him through the face and yank the blade out sideways, dealing him a mortal death as well.
More are coming, but aren't on top of you yet.
I keep moving backwards and attacking them as they come.
Hmm. Ok.
§
Let me step in and put on the kid gloves for a second like a bad referee so that I can see you live through this early encounter; you'll stand a better chance of escaping this if you try to escape.
§
Now that there are several up here, they seem intent on surrounding you; they seem to be working together and do not seem like mindless beings.
Lets find out if I can out run them
I'm running down the hall.
They're running after you, but you're managing to make some distance.
You round the corner, and come to a wide open area with a balcony leading down to the first floor sermon area, which is largely vacated by now. Another person rounds a corner in front of you, pauses as he looks at you in what seems to be a mix of contempt and hunger, then breaks into a run at you with more coming from behind him. They are in an attempt to pincer you; a clear sign of complex problem solving intellect.