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
slams in here
It's a different kind of adrenaline that shoots through him, harsh and like lightning strikes through his veins, and tension mingled with fear and the deep instinctual desire to survive. None of that matters, though. His powers might toss aside a few undead bodies, but there are too many, and a couple grab at him with surprising strength. They yank him to the side, and he sees gnashing, rotted teeth in his vision—
And then there's Mark. Suddenly, he's there, and Henry's being lifted, and he can't know that's happening until they're practically wheeling away from the "danger". He opens his eyes, though, and sees... red.]
M-mark?!
[Is that- a bite? No. It can't be. He doesn't-]
no subject
Don't worry, I've got you. [ His own voice doesn't come out as calm and reassuring as he'd thought, but it's just the adrenaline, he's sure of it. It's okay, though. Close calls can get to superheroes too, right? ] Here, let me just...
[ He spots a nearby empty rooftop, not too high off of the ground, not too far away from the others. They can just... stay there for a moment, because something is burning, but it's... probably just the adrenaline. That's why he's starting to feel a little woozy, like he needs to sit for a moment. Because of the adrenaline.
Mark sets Henry down, tries for a smile, ] Are you alright? [ and barely gets the last word out before he's stumbling to sit down. Because he sees the red now too, and it's
... at least not on Henry. ]
no subject
The red. The blood.
He really was bitten.]
No, no, no...
[He couldn't have been. Because of trying to save him? That's-]
Why did you do that?
no subject
Henry. He jerks his gaze back up, chest rising and falling a little too rapidly. He just needs to breathe. Open his eyes again, confirm that Henry came out of this unscathed. It's just him, and that's, ]
Why... Because you were in trouble, and I couldn't let them get you,
[ okay, ]
because I'm supposed to be a superhero, and that's what I'm supposed to do.
no subject
[The word's out of his mouth like the unbelievably cool thing it is, except such admirable novelty is utterly ruined in a situation like this one. Mark is a real-life superhero, which would make sense—him swooping in to save him—but he shouldn't be wasting his effort on him, not like this. Not like this, just look at him, he's already so... so...]
That's all the more reason why you shouldn't get bitten! If you're one of the stronger ones here, then we can't lose you!
[And so early on? Guilt gnaws at him. He swallows hard and steps forward, eyes raking across Mark.]
You don't... You don't look so good, Mark. We need to get you some help.
no subject
Okay. Okay. He's got it under control now, he thinks. His head is still pounding, and that fresh wound is absolutely burning. He'd take a look at it, but whatever his reaction would be would probably just stress Henry out further, so he's gotta tough it out. He might be bleeding, but what else is new?
Mark takes one more deep breath before lifting his head, squaring his shoulders. He's fighting through it, but his eyes are also looking a little glassy. ]
It's okay. I'll heal. [ He forces the agitation from his voice, goes for something reassuring, but it's still strained. ] Besides, what kind of superhero would I be if I let you get bit, huh?
[ Accompanied with a little laugh. A pretty bad one, actually!!
... A beat, like the rest of Henry's words have just set in, and he loses his bravado. Still isn't going to look at the wound, though. ]
But um. Yeah. I might need some help. Jion's a medic, right? He's good at this stuff? Or Shoko...
no subject
Shoko said she can expedite healing, or something. M-maybe both of them can help you. They have to.
[He won't be able to forgive himself if something happened to Mark just because of him.]
Let's... let's find a way down.
no subject
[ While Henry's looking around Mark takes a chance, looks down at his bite wound, and... oh. That's bad. He's been hurt plenty of times before, but it's never been anything acidic, clothes and flesh melted at the source, something burning and painful. At least the blood is coagulating, so that's... good?
Not good enough to stop the hiss through his teeth upon seeing it, though. ]
They'll help me. We can get back to the group soon... It'll be okay.