Session ten: Bait part 2

PCs:
Debbie: A young woman who worked in marketing, from Arizona, accomplished with a knife
Courtney: A wealthy New York business man
Lucy Newton: Little girl with a foul mouth, parents are missing
Tyrone: An IT professional with a startling propensity for violence
Buford: A shotgun toting preacher
Matoo: A ranch worker, a talent with the blade
O'Neal: A ship's engineer, dangerous with a wrench
Peter: A Russian with a lot of tattoos, ghostlike in the forest

NPCs of note:
Naomi: Hugely attractive best friend of Debbie
Henry: An old man, watches over the marina
Eleanor: Henry's wife
Dave Brewer: Leader of motorcycle gang, the Ghost Riders
Ian Mackenzie: An old guy, deadly with a ladder
Tommy Vikarios: A teenager with a bad attitude
One other survivor from the Pinnacle

Debbie, Matool, Courtney, Buford, Tommy, Ian and Henry are all holed up in the sporting goods store. They decide that the bikers cannot be trusted to hold up their end of the bargain and that the group will have to do something to rescue the hostages. Tommy thinks that most of the zombies have been cleared as Brewer demanded. Courtney thinks that any plan they make has to begin with getting out of a building surrounded by zombies. The group make their way up to the roof. They see Brewer and his men entering the town and Matool sees a black BMW approach their building slowly then stop.

The group decide that their best option is to distract the zombies as much as they can and then make a run for it. Using golf balls they manage to set off a couple of car alarms and make some more general breaking noises. They also heave some aluminium cladding off the roof creating more noise. They then leave the shop via the back door. They are confronted by six zombies but manage to dispatch them quickly and silently. Leaving the carpark they are approached by the BMW and discover that it's being driven by Peter and O'Neal. Everyone manages to squeeze into the BMW and the group decides it has to check out the police station - they may find an extra vehicle and any weaponry there is better off in their hands rather than Brewer's. Arriving at the station they find evidence of a firefight. The place has also been thoroughly looted. Searching the place, Debbie turns up half a dozen police batons, Buford finds a few tools and O'Neal finds two sets of spike strips.

On their way out of town O'Neal spots a house that he thinks is a good option for a second vehicle. Tommy picks the lock, Buford is attacked by a zombie and O'Neal finishes it off. The group finds a four wheel drive truck, a small amount of food, some clothes and little else. Buford believes that the army presence they saw must have been involved in systematic looting. The group get back in the cars and Henry guides them out of town.

As the two vehicles approach the location where they believe the gangs bikes are, Buford gets out and approaches on foot. He approaches silently and sets himself up in a good position over-looking the four gang members who are watching the bikes. After half an hour the two vehicles approach the bikes at speed. Debbie, driving the 4WD, considers making a handbrake turn to bring the shooters to bear but instead decides to go right over the bikes and bikers. One biker is immediately killed and the rest scatter. A gunfight ensues and the PCs are victorious. After looting the scene and disabling the bikes the group head to Henry and Eleanor's house to rescue the hostages.

Again stopping a distance away, Peter and Buford sneak towards the house on foot while the others wait for their signal. Peter again displays an uncanny ability to move silently in the woods. Buford, unbeknownst to him, is spotted as he approaches the house. Another firefight erupts with Buford sniping from the tree-line while Peter runs for the house. The rest of the party arrive in the 4WD and beging shooting their way into the house. Peter, inside the house sees one of the gang members throwing petrol around the ground floor and hears screams from upstairs. Peter tries to take him out but misses and the house is set on fire. Everyone but Buford and Courtney run into the burning house. Matool and O'Neal search the inferno for supplies while Peter and Debbie release the hostages. Peter finds Eleanor dead in one of the rooms, seemingly beaten to death. Everyone runs outside. Henry moves the Winnebago away from the burning building, unaware of his wife's death. When he realises she didn't make it he takes his gun and shoots himself in the head.

Session nine: Bait

PCs:

Debbie: A young woman who works in marketing, from Arizona
Courtney: A wealthy New York business man
Lucy Newton: Little girl with a foul mouth, parents are missing
Tyrone: An IT professional with a startling propensity for violence
Buford: A shotgun toting preacher
Ian Mackenzie: An old guy, deadly with a ladder
Tommy Vikarios: A teenager with a bad attitude
Matoo: A ranch worker, a talent with the blade


NPCs of note:
Naomi: Hugely attractive best friend of Debbie
Henry: An old man, watches over the marina
Eleanor: Henry's wife
Dave Brewer: Leader of motorcycle gang, the Ghost Riders
One other survivor from the Pinnacle


Over night the group are divided up into small groups and kept separated. At around midnight a number of people hear Naomi being savagely beaten. Ian and Debbie try to stop it but are slapped around for their efforts. Debbie manages to break free from her room and see's that Naomi is being held by two men but is being beaten by a woman. Tommy manages to steal a packet of cigarettes. He gets three minutes in flavour country before being discovered and beaten. Other than this the night passes uneventfully.

At dawn the PCs are taken downstairs. Brewer explains his plan, that the group wil act as bait and clear half the town so he and his men can safely loot it. Anyone not going in to town is being kept at the house as hostages, if the PCs try to cross Brewer the hostages will be killed. Six bikers remain at the house, everyone else heads for town.

About a mile out of town the bikers stop. Brewers girlfriend, who Debbie recognises as the woman beating up Naomi, remains with the bikes with three other gang members. Everyone else continues towards town through the forest. On the outskirts of town Brewer and the rest of the gang stop, reminding the PCs of the punishment if they don't do as they're told. Brewer tells them the'll be free to go if they help him. Buford is sure he's lying.

The group continues into town. They loot some houses, in search of weapons but find little apart from kitchen knives and sports and garden equipment. On their way to the centre of town they see a military jet and helicopter, as well as a Humvee driving rapidly through town. Tommy finds a seemingly healthy baby. After they get split up the group meets up in Tom's Sporting Supplies. The shop has been fairly throughly looted but a woman just killed by zombies looks like she was preparing to leave town and the group scores her supplies. The group begins to ponder how it can achieve Brewer's demands.


The time is 11am, 28th of January.

Eighth session: Heck Furry

PCs:
Debbie: A young woman who works in marketing, from Arizona
Courtney: A wealthy New York business man
Lucy Newton: Little girl with a foul mouth, parents are missing
O'Neal: A ship's engineer
Tyrone: An IT professional with a startling propensity for violence
Peter: A Russian with a lot of tattoos
Buford: A shotgun toting preacher

NPCs of note:
Naomi: Hugely attractive best friend of Debbie
Henry: An old man, watches over the marina
Eleanor: Henry's wife
Dave Brewer: Leader of motorcycle gang, the Ghost Riders
Four other survivors from the Pinnacle


The group finally make landfall after 16 days at sea. They arrive in the Calm Seas Marina in North Carolina. The group splits up, searching the few remaining boats and the marina offices, all of which appear to have been previously looted. There is no mobile phone reception and no power. O'Neal discovers four zombies in the basement of the office building and quickly dispatches them. The groups gathers to discuss their options when they hear gunfire. Lucy correctly judges the direction on the gunshots and the group heads off to investigate.
About a half a kilometre away, behind some trees the group discovers a house in the middle of a clearing. A number of corpses litter the clearing and the group meets Buford, dressed for hunting and in no mood for chatter. Another shot rings out from the house and a voice asks if Buford is alright. He indicates that he is and tells the group that while he wouldn't advise it the group should probably head for town. At this point an old lady leaves the house, introduces herself as Eleanor and invites everyone inside. On their way across the lawn Peter notices that some of the corpses on the ground probably weren't zombies when they were killed.
Inside the group meets Henry, an old man with a rifle. While Eleanor and Buford cook dinner in the kitchen, Henry fills everyone in one what he knows. 
This boils down to: 
You're in Fairport, North Carolina. 50 miles east of Jacksonville.

* 16 days ago (10th January): Widespread news of SARS/Bird flu-esque outbreaks. Some commotion but no more than the last time something like this happened.
* 15 days ago (11th of January): First day of the cruise. First outbreaks. Mostly reported on the news as "panicked looting" or "urban unrest". People generally advised to stay indoors.
* 14 days ago (12th of January, most of the game so far happened on this day): Rapid societal collapse. Power starts to fluctuate. TV, net and phone access still usually available but calling emergency services got you a waiting message. Shooting and screams regularly heard in the streets. President Obama's speech.
* 13 days ago: First footage shown on CNN showing troops in New York shooting zombies who then rise up again.
* 12 days ago: Nothing on tv other than the Emergency Broadcast System telling everyone to head to their nearest Rescue Station. The main Rescue Station for North Carolina is in northern Raleigh and the nearest rescue station for Fairport is Jacksonville. Occasional radio reports, last one stating that the President and members of Congress, with their families were being flown to a secret secure location.
* 7 days ago: TV, telephone, cable and internet, sporadic at best til now, cease completely.
* 6 days ago: Electricity supply ceases in most parts of North Carolina. Due to the staggering complexity of the American power grid some areas went out earlier and some held out a little longer.

Numerous theories had been put forward as to what was going on with terrorist attack being the most creditable.

One of the last news reports that Henry and Eleanor heard on the radio spoke of the President, Congress and their families being move to a secret, high security location.

Everyone then eats dinner together. Lucy almost immediately falls asleep, Henry shows the group his Winnebago and Buford and O'Neal cart the corpses off the lawn. At this point O'Neal too notices that some of the bodies probably weren't zombies when they were killed. The group then gets some sleep.

Late at night everyone in the house is woken by the sound of numerous motorbike engines. The bikes pass the house and head to the marina. The PC's accompany Henry to the marina to see what the gang is up to. They see a large number of people milling around, checking the office building and boats in much the same way as the PC's had done earlier. When they find nothing the gangs leader instructs his people to check out the house. As the group discuss options Henry runs back to the house, the PCs soon follow.

The group is beaten back to the house by the gang. Henry convinces everyone that they must sneak across to the house, enter it through the basement and try and save those still inside. Aided by the darkness the group makes it to the house without being spotted. Eleanor lets them into the basement through a side window. Eleanor has brought everyone to the basement and they have not yet been found. As the group tries to decide what to do a biker opens the basement door and heads down the stairs. Henry and Buford both open up with shotguns, instantly killing the man. A second man tries the stairs and is also killed. Suddenly bullets rain down on the group as the bikers start shooting through the floor, Henry is wounded and Peter leaves the basement via the window. When they finish the leader of the gang announces that everyone in the basement has 10 seconds to come upstairs unarmed or the gang will set the house on fire. In response Tyrone throws a grenade up the stairs. After the explosion the gang again start shooting through the floor. After the shooting stops Eleanor surrenders and everyone follows her upstairs.

Everyone, apart from O'Neal and Peter, is stripped of their weapons. The gang leader introduces himself as Dave Brewer and informs the group of his intentions for them. They will act as decoys while he and his people loot a nearby town. Anyone not agreeing with his plan will be shot. Despite not agreeing with the plan and some mild encouragement from the PC's  Tyrone somehow ends the session unshot.

Bridge

What happens between the 7th and 8th sessions.

PCs:
Petra: A Russian athlete with a secret
Saul: An old guy who "works for the government"
Derek: An ex-army medic from New Zealand
Debbie: A young woman who works in marketing, from Arizona
Courtney: A wealthy New York business man
Lucy Newton: Little girl with a foul mouth, parents are missing
O'Neal: A ship's engineer
Tyrone: An IT professional with a startling propensity for violence

NPCs of note:
Mr Forthington: Owner of the Pinnacle
Naomi: Hugely attractive best friend of Debbie
Jason Kirkman: Head of security aboard the Pinnacle
Clem: An electrician
Miss Hartten: A religious zealot with a growing congregation
Colonel Brackenridge: A mercenary commander, payed by Forthington to sink the Pinnacle

This is a P-520 Crash Boat:
http://www.p-520crashboat.com/
The mercenary ship that you're now on, except yours is painted black and is much cooler.

Saul and O'Neal manage to fix up the bridge and get the boat pointed in the right direction. The GPS is functional and for the first time in two days you know where you are. You're much further from land than you imagined and your latitude is approximate to that of South Carolina. After a couple of hours O'Neal notices that you're losing fuel and after a bit of searching finds a fuel line damaged by gun fire, he manages to fix it but now believes that there's probably not enough fuel to get you back to the mainland. Courtney and Debbie, however, find that the boat is well stocked with supplies, enough for ten days, longer if you ration it.
Two days later a massive hurricane assaults the ship. It lasts for three days and when it's over your engines and electrics are damaged and you're left floating, dead in the water, once again with no idea where you are.
The day after Saul falls ill. He lasts for six hours before he dies. O'Neal takes care off the body and then, with some small ceremony, dumps him overboard.
Five days after that, Derek falls ill. He lasts a little longer before he too succumbs and is dealt with by O'Neal.
Two days later Petra and O'Neal fall ill. Both fall into a coma. Some hours later Petra dies. O'Neal, however, recovers. Weakened but obviously improving. He is viewed with no small suspicion by the rest of the survivors but it is clear that he isn't a zombie and has survived the sickness.
A day later you see land for the first time in sixteen days.
Date and time beginning session 8: Midday, 27th of January.

Seventh session: Heck in a handbasket

PCs:
Petra: A Russian athlete with a secret
Saul: An old guy who "works for the government"
Derek: An ex-army medic from New Zealand
Debbie: A young woman who works in marketing, from Arizona
Courtney: A wealthy New York business man
Lucy Newton: Little girl with a foul mouth, parents are missing

O'Neal: A ship's engineer
Tyrone: An IT professional with a startling propensity for violence

NPCs of note:
Mr Forthington: Owner of the Pinnacle
Naomi: Hugely attractive best friend of Debbie

Jason Kirkman: Head of security aboard the Pinnacle

Clem: An electrician

Miss Hartten: A religious zealot with a growing congregation

Colonel Brackenridge: A mercenary commander, payed by Forthington to sink the Pinnacle

The group attempt to get some rest in the ballroom along with all those they have helped to rescue. O'Neal notices that a man has died in his sleep and manages to dispatch him before he causes any alarm. Lucy has built a fort that is perilously close to Miss Hartten's growing congregation, there is much talk of sacrifice and blood. Debbie finds a man close to the edge and stays with him to stop him hurting himself. Courtney discovers a female crew member who has been bitten, he attempts to convince her to go to the infirmary but she refuses and when he tries to force her she runs. Courtney follows her into the congregation but Miss Hartten refuses to give her up. Courtney gets backup and tries again. A standoff ensues which is broken only by the arrival of one of Hartten's supporters with Forthington. Forthington confesses to trying to sink the ship and indicates that Brackenridge and his men were the ones paid to do it. Hartten is enraged and demands that Forthington be sacrificed. Kirkman and Brackenridge intercede and the situation swiftly devolves into shooting. Even though Kirkman and the mercenaries are armed they are swarmed by the congregation, beaten, disarmed and tied up. Courtney is caught up in the melee and also tied up. Forthington is taken by the mob and thrown into the corridor where he is soon devoured by zombies.

Courtney is freed by Hartten and he joins the rest of the group. They begin to discuss their options when O'Neal, Debbie and Lucy realize the dangers inherent in the pile of corpses in the middle of the room. Saul runs to try to reason with Hartten but finds her unresponsive. O'Neal and Petra start dealing with the corpses and Derek moves into a position where he can fire safely into the corpses should they rise.

The zombies do rise up and all hell breaks lose. O'Neal, Petra and Derek attempt to fight them, Saul starts trying to free Kirkman and the mercenaries as all the survivors in the room run for exits. Zombies from the rear of the ballroom break out and attack. Hartten and her inner circle break for a side door and are overcome. Once he is freed Kirkman tells Saul that the ballroom is lost and they should run for the bridge. The group gathers and runs up to the mezzanine, gathering a small group of survivors as they go.

When they arrive at the bridge the lookout tells them he has seen a boat approaching. Brackenridge at this point tells the rest of the group that he and his men are going to complete their mission by sinking the boat. They have their own boat en route and are about to leave. Saul tries to convince them to stay to help with the evacuation but Brackenridge refuses. The approaching boat is revealed to be a coast guard vessel on a collision course with the Pinnacle. The two ships collide and the explosives rigged by the mercenaries explode. Both the Pinnacle and the coast guard ship rapidly begin sinking. The group make for the life boats. They find Brackenridge, dying and he tells them that his boat will be aft of the Pinnacle. The group make their way aft and leap down to the mercenary ship with only Derek sustaining any major injuries. One mercenary is found on board but he has been devoured by zombies. The group dispatch the zombies, O'Neal repairs damage done to the controls of the boat and slams in into reverse. The mercenary boat pulls out just as the two larger boats sink.

The group has survived the Pinnacle, along with six other survivors.

The time is 6pm, Thursday 12th of January.

Sixth session: A brief interlude

PCs:
Petra: A Russian athlete with a secret
Saul: An old guy who "works for the government"
Derek: An ex-army medic from New Zealand
Debbie: A young woman who works in marketing, from Arizona
Courtney: A wealthy New York business man

Lucy Newton: Little girl with a foul mouth, parents are missing

O'Neal: A ship's engineer
Tyrone: An IT professional with a startling propensity for violence

NPCs of note:
Mr Forthington: Owner of the Pinnacle
Naomi: Hugely attractive best friend of Debbie

Jason Kirkman: Head of security aboard the Pinnacle

Clem: An electrician

The PCs take advantage of a seeming lull in zombie attacks to try and improve their position. They split up into groups and search for survivors, bringing everyone they find back to the ballroom. Saul, one of the survivors they find, Tyrone and an electrician named Clem spend the rest of the day attempting to repair the bridge. They learn that the secondary bridge was faked up to save money and cannibalize it for parts. Derek and O'Neal spend the day getting one of the generators back online and getting power to the bridge and the ballroom. Debbie and Courtney spend the day in the ballroom, organizing security, food, blankets and taking special care to separate bite victims from the other medical cases.

The time is 5pm, Thursday 12th of January.