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week 2
WEEK TWO
After allowing the party some time to rest at the stadium, it’s time to get a move on again. As per your mysterious benefactor’s (?) recommendation, the party will be splitting up into two groups, with one group traveling west to a hospital, and the other traveling east to a mall.
if you chose hospital...
To get to the hospital, characters will need to venture into more densely populated areas of Los Angeles – and that means they’ll be coming into contact with a higher amount of zombies. The hordes that roam here descend upon any living creature that makes too much noise, so you might witness an unlucky squirrel or cat get hunted down by these roaming threats. The bad news is that they’ll sprint full speed at you if they happen to catch sight – the good news is that they’re not very coordinated at pack hunting, and you may be able to outsmart them by weaving through the streets.
In a stroke of bad luck, Shoko Ieiri attracts the attention of a horde, forcing the party off considerably off course. Temporarily, hopefully. Detour!
Thankfully, there are several methods of getting to the front door of the location – parkouring atop or traversing inside connected buildings, for example. The zombies aren't the only thing that can kill you, though, if you're not careful; while traveling to the hospital, Auch Aubrey slips and falls to his death off a building. Remember Dr. Bei's warning, about not getting too far away from each other? The party will realize if they get too far away from his body (specifically the bracelet), it'll start feeling like their own bracelet is burning them at the wrist. Better go back — and either lug his body around, or lop off the bracelet somehow....
The area this group will travel through has many tourist attractions – antique stores, the Natural History Museum, old-school theaters, for example. For our sword wielders, there are some dated ones among the antique stores and museums; they're dusty, but they'll get the job done. There are other cool artifacts to "borrow" at these places, too, not to mention some history of what the world was like before all this happened.
And at the theaters? There's candy, DVDs, and cardboard cutouts from a variety of movies that were out when the fall of society came. Maybe there are minions there.
Once at the hospital, the party will find that there are a massive amount of zombies that have been trapped inside. Many are former patients or hospital staff, so several are wielding things like scalpels or crutches, and they are just smart enough to attack with them. To get around the facility to find the medical supplies you need, you’ll need to find a way to either distract the zombies, stealthily make your way around, or, you know, eliminate all of them.
As for scavenging, the hospital is surprisingly well stocked, as the high zombie count has made it hard to raid. Characters will be able to find bandages, medicine, surgical tools, and more, if they look close enough.
Of this group, Satoru Gojo and Mark Grayson are infected.
In a stroke of bad luck, Shoko Ieiri attracts the attention of a horde, forcing the party off considerably off course. Temporarily, hopefully. Detour!
Thankfully, there are several methods of getting to the front door of the location – parkouring atop or traversing inside connected buildings, for example. The zombies aren't the only thing that can kill you, though, if you're not careful; while traveling to the hospital, Auch Aubrey slips and falls to his death off a building. Remember Dr. Bei's warning, about not getting too far away from each other? The party will realize if they get too far away from his body (specifically the bracelet), it'll start feeling like their own bracelet is burning them at the wrist. Better go back — and either lug his body around, or lop off the bracelet somehow....
The area this group will travel through has many tourist attractions – antique stores, the Natural History Museum, old-school theaters, for example. For our sword wielders, there are some dated ones among the antique stores and museums; they're dusty, but they'll get the job done. There are other cool artifacts to "borrow" at these places, too, not to mention some history of what the world was like before all this happened.
And at the theaters? There's candy, DVDs, and cardboard cutouts from a variety of movies that were out when the fall of society came. Maybe there are minions there.
Once at the hospital, the party will find that there are a massive amount of zombies that have been trapped inside. Many are former patients or hospital staff, so several are wielding things like scalpels or crutches, and they are just smart enough to attack with them. To get around the facility to find the medical supplies you need, you’ll need to find a way to either distract the zombies, stealthily make your way around, or, you know, eliminate all of them.
As for scavenging, the hospital is surprisingly well stocked, as the high zombie count has made it hard to raid. Characters will be able to find bandages, medicine, surgical tools, and more, if they look close enough.
Of this group, Satoru Gojo and Mark Grayson are infected.
if you chose mall...
To get to the mall, characters will need to travel underground through the subway tunnels. None of the trains are in operation anymore, so they won’t be at risk of getting flattened – but the aged husks of the vehicles are still down here, rotting away. In some tunnels, it will be impossible to go around them, and you know the saying: sometimes the only way forward is through. Inside the trains, some doors that connect the cars are operational, while others are too rusted to move, forcing characters to climb atop the train to progress to the next car. It'll be a taxing trial, made worse by the fact that in these train cars, there are both regular corpses as well as zombified ones. The unpredictable nature of the functioning or non-functioning doors will making escaping the zombies difficult — characters will need to either stand their ground, or climb up to safety if they find themselves at a dead end.
Exiting the subways leaves one last test for this group: the stairs are collapsed! The light of outside shines through what is essentially a giant hole in the ceiling leading to street level. There's about a one story gap between the end point of the subways and the upper ground of the street, so characters will have to get creative with getting everyone up — using train cables? Throwing each other? Human pyramid?
Once at the mall just outside, the party will find that while there doesn’t seem to be a massive horde, there’s another problem: the first floor of the mall, which is below street level, is completely flooded. They’ll have to swim across the distance to the escalators, find a way to get across using debris, or some secret third thing. There are waterlogged zombies floating about in the water as well, who will swim violently towards you once they hear ripples in the water — they’re not subtle about going after you, and will thrash and splash and immediately let you know where they are. They're like people sized piranhas. Scary!
At one point, Sigewinne is pulled underwater by a zombie, and comes close to drowning.
As for scavenging, once they’ve scaled the escalator, they’ll find the second floor of the mall has definitely had its fair share of visitors, but there are still many useful things to find. There are electronic stores that have batteries and walkie talkies, clothing stores (like Hot Topic) that have some extra clothes lying about, and of course, the food court, where you’ll find canned and preserved foods from a variety of different cuisines.
Of this group, Suzuha Amane is infected.
Exiting the subways leaves one last test for this group: the stairs are collapsed! The light of outside shines through what is essentially a giant hole in the ceiling leading to street level. There's about a one story gap between the end point of the subways and the upper ground of the street, so characters will have to get creative with getting everyone up — using train cables? Throwing each other? Human pyramid?
Once at the mall just outside, the party will find that while there doesn’t seem to be a massive horde, there’s another problem: the first floor of the mall, which is below street level, is completely flooded. They’ll have to swim across the distance to the escalators, find a way to get across using debris, or some secret third thing. There are waterlogged zombies floating about in the water as well, who will swim violently towards you once they hear ripples in the water — they’re not subtle about going after you, and will thrash and splash and immediately let you know where they are. They're like people sized piranhas. Scary!
At one point, Sigewinne is pulled underwater by a zombie, and comes close to drowning.
As for scavenging, once they’ve scaled the escalator, they’ll find the second floor of the mall has definitely had its fair share of visitors, but there are still many useful things to find. There are electronic stores that have batteries and walkie talkies, clothing stores (like Hot Topic) that have some extra clothes lying about, and of course, the food court, where you’ll find canned and preserved foods from a variety of different cuisines.
Of this group, Suzuha Amane is infected.
rendezvous
After several days apart, characters will be able to meet back up at a spacious park in the northern part of the city. There are park ranger staff cabins that can be converted into temporary shelters with effort — and the area has a lightly wooded trail, which will make camping outside slightly more safe than if you were plain out in the open.
It’d be a good time to treat the wounded with the new medical supplies, and chow down on the food that’s been collected. Is there someone among the group who’s medical advice can be trusted? Is there someone who might be good at rationing or cooking the food? Everyone’s role in the party should start to become clearer.
There are probably a lot of things to discuss: what will you do with the infected? What's the deal with the bracelets? Reality of how dangerous this mission is will be setting in far too quickly.
Most annoyingly… after all that, some characters will find that moving north has caused their bracelets to inexplicably magnetize together at times, perhaps in response to everything that's happened. Due to this, you might need to help feed each other, or sleep next to a stranger. Hopefully you don't get stuck to someone you totally hate.
It’d be a good time to treat the wounded with the new medical supplies, and chow down on the food that’s been collected. Is there someone among the group who’s medical advice can be trusted? Is there someone who might be good at rationing or cooking the food? Everyone’s role in the party should start to become clearer.
There are probably a lot of things to discuss: what will you do with the infected? What's the deal with the bracelets? Reality of how dangerous this mission is will be setting in far too quickly.
Most annoyingly… after all that, some characters will find that moving north has caused their bracelets to inexplicably magnetize together at times, perhaps in response to everything that's happened. Due to this, you might need to help feed each other, or sleep next to a stranger. Hopefully you don't get stuck to someone you totally hate.
!week two objectives
➤ scavenge for your assigned items!
➤ protect and fight for each other
➤ treat each others wounds
➤ eat tasty canned food
➤ protect and fight for each other
➤ treat each others wounds
➤ eat tasty canned food
no subject
I’m… Well, I’ve been better. [A grimace because, yeah, obvious.] But at least better than before. Dealing with it, y’know.
[It feels a little less insurmountable, now that they’re out of that mall and back together with the whole group again, but… who knows what they’ve got waiting on the horizon for them.]
…It’s more difficult than I thought it’d be, if I’m being honest.
no subject
[ There's a part of her that wonders if that had been the best idea. If maybe there could have been some other option that wouldn't have... put Suzuha through this much agony. Perhaps she'd been too quick to conclude there might not have been any other choice. There's just so much about this particular strain of infection that they don't know about yet.
But in the end, it had been Suzuha's choice, and Haru exhales softly. ]
I think it might not be a bad idea to rest, but if you'd rather focus on something else, perhaps we could do something together?
no subject
Well, I’d been kind of thinking of trying to heat up something to eat. Could use some help with that.
[Particularly now that they’re stuck together for a bit. Some food and some rest, that wouldn’t be so bad. But she hesitates for a moment, brows furrowing.]
But, hey. [She shifts her hand—a little awkwardly, thanks to the positioning of the bracelet—to brush against Haru’s. Before they do anything, she’s gotta know—] Are you doing alright? Everything back there was kind of a lot, and…
[And while Suzuha’s bearing the most extreme consequences of it, she knows it had been a lot to ask of someone. She’s not the only one potentially scarred by the whole experience.]
no subject
Because everything there was a lot. She can remember feeling that, like her heart had dropped from its home in her chest down to her shoes. That despite their best efforts, so many things had gone wrong. Some of their party couldn't swim, Sigewinne had nearly drowned, in the process of saving her, Suzuha had gotten better and it had culminated in... ]
I'll be all right. [ Well, it's not a lie. ]
I just feel as though... well, no, it's more that I wish that we'd had more options available to us. I can't help but wonder if I pushed that alternative too much or if I made you lose your hand for nothing... There's still so much we don't know.
[ She hadn't wished to hurt anyone, but here they are. ]
no subject
I wouldn’t have agreed to it if it didn’t seem like our best bet, given the circumstances. We could only work with what we had, [both knowledge- and supplies-wise], so I’m choosing to believe we made the right call in the moment.
[Even if it was agonizingly hard, even if they don’t know how it will all pan out with whatever they learn in the future. It is what it is.]
Just— It probably saved my life, so don’t let the what-ifs get you down too much. [Kind of a tall ask, since Suzuha’s a little haunted by the possibilities too, but still. Maybe if they repeat it often enough it’ll get easier.]
no subject
I'm certainly glad you're still with us. [ She can say that much. ] But please make sure to let Sigewinne or Shoko-chan know if you feel poorly or the pain worsens. I think we should probably stay communicative so we have a good idea on what symptoms or problems this infection causes, even if the area's been removed.
no subject
[She summons a small smile with that, because she means it. The initial scare might be past them, but Haru’s right; there’s still a lot they’ve got to learn about how this all works. The only way to combat being nervous about it is… just to be careful, be observant.
Suzuha is quiet for a beat, shuffling a little awkwardly as she glances around at their calm and quiet campsite. When she turns back to Haru, her smile’s shifted to something a little more apologetic.]
Heh, sorry. Didn’t mean to drag the mood down, or anything.
[They’ve had this hanging heavy over them through their entire trip to the mall and the subsequent journey to this rendezvous point. They owe themselves a little reprieve from it all by now.]
no subject
[ Otherwise that sort of thing festers and maybe if you don't say what needs to be said... you lose the opportunity to say it at all. Haru is well-aware such a thing could happen, even in a situation that isn't as risky as theirs has been. ]
But I also think we should get you some food. Was anything slightly more appealing than, ah... anything else?
no subject
Well, I’ve never been one to be picky. [Eat what you can, where you can—that’s something she learned early on in life.] Think I remember seeing some cans of soup in our haul… might be nice to wind down with something like that.
no subject
[ It'll probably be like "chicken noodle", "tomato" and one can of "unrecognizable beef and potato stew", but surely one of those will appeal to Suzuha's stomach. ]