WEEK 1

[biteys]

WEEK ONE

❝Don’t panic. You’re waking up somewhere unfamiliar, but try to relax. You aren’t dead, and I don’t have any intention to harm you. You’ve just been selected for a very special mission. A delivery, I guess. I’d do it myself but… let’s just say I can’t travel in the state I’m in. Take the blue container I’ve left to where I’ve marked on the maps within eight weeks, and you’ll be able to go home happy. More than, really. Any time or place you want to go… I can send you there. It's kinda my thing. Think of it as your payment. Everything else you need to know, I’ll tell you in time. Know that I’m sorry that I had to resort to this, and I’ll pay for my sins in Hell.❞

!

the beginning of the end

That’s what’s playing on repeat on a tape recorder, when the survivors come to.

Characters will find themselves in a humble, American townhouse, which other than being a bit dusty, is still mostly clean. All characters will be sprawled out on the floor and furniture of the living room, in front of what looks to be a giant portal. Characters will also notice they have a seemingly indestructible silver wristband around their wrists, and they have nothing with them but the clothes on their back.

Take a look around, and you'll realize that everyone in the room is likely a stranger. Aside from the tape playing, there's little explanation or proof that what's being said to you is even true. For all you know, one of the people in the room could be responsible for you being suddenly taken here.

Exploring the house's many rooms will reveal that there are small stockpiles food, water, weapons (a few guns, a few bats, a few knives), and maps, along with a large, strange container of blue liquid. The maps all chart a route from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and sport detailed recommended time stamps on them. Strangely, the recommended path occasionally diverges into two separate routes.

Upon searching the house, Haru Okumura finds a set of notes, while Leontuzzo Bellone finds a separate set. They are free to keep these notes to themselves, or share them with the group.

Nothing has anyone's names on it — not the notes, and certainly not the supplies. Everyone will have to compete for the same things. Or maybe all of you can be civilized about this, before anyone goes hoarding weapons and food? Maybe you can even introduce yourselves, while you're at it. For some strange reason, every window and door in this place is locked (and impossible to break), and will be for at least 72 hours, as if someone wanted you all to be cooped up together for a time before heading out.

Most interestingly, in the deepest basement of the house, there's a room with a large, heavy dresser shoved in front of it… and a low moaning and banging emanating from the other side. The door’s slightly ajar, and a closer look reveals a zombie is the source of the sound. Context clues around the basement, like the PhD in interdimensional travel hung up on the wall (for a Dr. Bei), hint that the woman inside is whoever left you this cryptic message - the woman who brought you here, allegedly. But she's long long gone, only this monster left in her wake. It seems she was smart enough to lock herself away to prevent you from being harmed, at least... and it'll give you a preview of the threat that looms outside.

sewer diving

After 72 hours have passed, one and only one door unlocks – in the very same basement that the zombie of Dr. Bei can be found. It leads down to a dark, dingy tunnel that connects to the sewers. Not only is the smell awful, but (non-infected) rats scurry about, keeping to the shadows – but the smell of any of the food you've taken from the house will attract them. Careful!

The party will need to create some light to navigate their way out and keep the rats at bay, or they’ll be bumping around in the dark for quite a while. Now might be a good time to share if you have some matches, or a special talent for being a lantern. Mercifully, there's only one exit that actually opens down in this labyrinth, as if it's a route the Doctor designed to take all the time.

At one point, Puppy falls into the sewage, and loses something they brought from the house.

oh! that's a baseball

Once characters make it out of the sewers, they’ll be a day’s travel to the first mark on the party’s map: “Dodger’s Stadium.” The road they’ll have to hike to get there is winding, curvy, and uphill, which will give the party a good overview of the now dilapidated Los Angeles, along with the many abandoned buildings and cars that litter the place. The stadium itself looks to have been cleared of threats and fashioned into a safe spot a long time ago, as all entrances but one have been completely welded shut. The high walls keep zombies out, and the winding path up here deters most of them from even approaching.

Inside the stadium, there’s some baseball merch (and equipment) to scavenge, not to mention some really old peanuts! Delicious. Maybe there are even some old fireworks laying around this place. Setting up camp here won’t be very comfortable… but at least it’s very safe. A luxury the party won’t have for much longer, if the map is anything to go by. You'll be heading through the city, next, so rest up while you can.

!

week one objectives

➤ make acquaintances with your fellow travelers
➤ decide what to do with the zombie of dr. bei
➤ arm yourself with what you can find
➤ scavenge some portable food from the house and while traveling
➤ make camp at the stadium

code

Comments

[rifare]

[ This isn't the kind of situation he's ever been in before, but talking someone into giving up a means of defense is difficult enough, much less asking them to entrust that future defense to a stranger. That she's willing to listen to his reasoning is good though, and he'll at least subtract one reactive point in his mind from her initial score.

He stays in place as she moves to set the gun down, watching carefully but not making any sudden movements towards it. If she really decided she wanted to shoot him, she wouldn't go through all the motions here, so there's no benefit to hurrying and snatching up the gun now. ]

I'll keep that in mind.

[ Hands to his side, calm and waiting for her to feel safe enough to step away. Wolf features or not, it seems a lot more like Leon is the one being careful and moving slow around a wild animal than the other way around. ]

[bicth]

[ There's an extra beat that she lets hang in the air, before she finally lets her hand come off the gun, stepping back a little so he can take it. She figures if this guy goes back on his word and shoots her.... well, Ninety-Nine will find out in less than thirty seconds. So, it's fine. ]

You just got brought here randomly, right?

[ She asks, rhetorically, because it doesn't seem like any one of them is a staff member. ]

You don't know anything secret about what's going on?

[rifare]

[ Leontuzzo hums his affirmation to the first question as he steps forward, moving slow and carefully as he picks up the gun, muzzle pointed decidedly away from her, checks the safety, and slips it into his belt where a different gun is usually holstered.

The sizing isn't quite right, but it will work for now. ]

I wish I knew more than I did, but I am as in the dark as the rest of you.

[ Presumably. Unless one of their numbers is hiding something big here...

He does technically have the note that he found earlier, but he chooses not to mention it for now. What's written on it isn't particularly helpful to explaining their situation anyway, even if the information may be pertinent in other ways. ]

[bicth]

[ Well. The way he handled the gun does look all official like, similar to the way guards at the bureau do it, so she guesses he was telling the truth after all. She sighs, tilting her head and looking up and away in lingering annoyance at the situation, shrugging her oversized coat back onto her shoulders &mdaSh; it'd slipped down during all the hullabaloo with the gun. ]

I've got a bad feeling about this. They're smart enough to bring in all these uninvolved people, but couldn't move a tube some distance? Either they're stupid, just fucking lazy, or something else is going on.

[ Might as well complain about the situation they're in now that she (tentatively) know they're on the same side. This is pissing her off!! ]

[rifare]

There are a few options that would not be so dishonest.

[ The possibility that only one machine that could pull people from other worlds exists, and it happens to be located in the same place as the cure, with only a single doctor left to do all the work by herself. ]

But I think you're right to be suspicious. Nothing about this situation settles well with me either.

[bicth]

Oh, yeah? Like what options?

[ It's half skeptical, and half... well, sort of curious. She can't actually think of non-suspicious reasons why this would happen, because her default setting is generally to assume the worst in people, unless nudged into thinking otherwise. ]

[rifare]

For example, by the time they wanted to bring us here, there were not enough of them left to move the tube at all. That we may be a resort of desperation by a sole survivor of a research team.

[ Or, as they'll soon be finding out, formerly sole survivor... ]

None of the reasons make it any less dangerous or frustrating for those of us who have been brought here though.

[bicth]

You mean if this "team" ran out of time and all got transformed before they could finish their plan? Guess they weren't as smart as they thought...

[ Listen, she has some baked in animosity towards scientists, particularly those that use others for their projects and experiments. Whether it was a single scientist or a team, her sympathy for whatever happened to them is quite low. Her words are haughty, just riding on the edge of being mean. They're not even here for her to provoke, so her tone loses it's cutting edge, instead being hummed carelessly and insensitively. ]

That would explain why no one seems to be here. And why no one knows what's going on...

[rifare]

[ There's no reason for Leon to feel one way or another about scientists as a whole, but he certainly can feel bitter towards Dr. Bei in particularly, who dragged them all here without them ever agreeing to help her out.

So while Hella's tone is noted, it's not remarked upon by Leontuzzo. ]

It's a theory, though I have no way of knowing for sure. Perhaps they are fine as well, and just do not wish to risk their own lives.

[ Though the discovering of Dr. Bei soon will make him dismiss that theory fast. ]

[bicth]

That'd be more what I expect out of these researcher types. Most of the time, they don't give a shit about their subjects... in fact, this might be fun to them.

[ She muses, no fondness in her tone. ]

We ought to try to find out if this "Dr. Bei" is working with anyone else. Who knows who we'll run into out there.

[rifare]

[ That's a grim thought, but not one he'll completely discount... Some people are more fucked up than others for sure. ]

If we can find the woman and ask her ourselves, I would like to be able to.

[ Finding her won't be hard... asking though.... eeeeehh. ]