"Is that right?" Mary asks Rufus dryly. "I figured it was in order to protect their pupils."

She eyes the bloody footprints and frowns. "...then again, maybe teachers had no interest in that."

She looks up at Trisha and shakes her head slightly. "Trisha, I don't think she got in there and then chained the doors shut from the other side."

"Eugh... gross."  Ashley made some effort to avoid stepping in the blood at first, but the state of the hall made that difficult and eventually impossible.  At least it was old enough that it probably wouldn't stick to anything unless she got down on the ground and rolled around in it.  Why, exactly why, was that a thought that ever even crossed my mind?  Gross, Ash.  Double gross.

"Looks like it's time to pull a Scooby-Doo, then."  She met her team with a hopeful look at first, then a sigh and shake of her head.  "You know, split up to cover more ground."  She was rather less interested in the process of deciding who goes where, and decided instead to join Trisha at the no-way-in-Hell chained door.

"Y'know what'd be awesome right about now?"  Despite the gruesome surroundings, Ashley's young mind wandered -- really, she was pretty much accustomed to the blood and gore by now anyway, which in and of itself probably should've been troubling, but she paid it no particular mind.  "A sword.  Not even, like, a good sword, made proper and everything; just any old generic hunk of cast-forged junk, it's not like the deadies need much force to take 'em down."  She held up a hand and one finger demonstratively, counting off as she went.  "Firstly, it'd be awesome.  Second, wouldn't break like wooden tools, this shit would last; even if it was the junkiest junk, it's still metal.  Third, it'd keep a better distance than just... y'know... knives."  She twirled her knife between her fingers demonstratively, whistling a quiet little tune as she did so.  "Bad for safety, knives.  And fourthly... did I mention it'd be awesome?  You'd be like, King Arthur of Apocalypse Camelot with your mighty Brainscalibur."  She held her knife up, gripped in both hands in front of her face and blade pointing upwards, in a pose that was probably supposed to look heroic, but that she really just stole from a cartoon.  She flashed her cheesy grin behind it anyway.

She looks to Mary with a dumbfounded expression as it takes her a second to think it through.
"Oh right." She says quietly, giving Mary a sheepish smile. "Probably not. That was pretty stupid."

Ready to give up on the door, Trisha is once again easily distracted as Ashley approaches and starts talking to her about swords. Though Trisha understands exactly none of the girl's references, her enthusiasm is contagious.
"I don't even know what half that stuff is." She says cheerfully, stepping away from the door with a casual flip of the hand. "But my big brother had one of them big chinese swords and sometimes we'd play with it."
Looking down one of the hallways curiously, Trisha continues to chatter away, not yet ready to venture down the corridor on her own.
"It was sharp though, heavy too." She turns back to face Ashley, returning her childish grin. "You could totally cut a head all the way off with one."

Hallway

Natasha rolls her eyes after Rufus' punchline delivery.

"Maybe she's hiding in one of these classrooms." She says.

As the conversation shifts to swords, Rufus draws his gladius from the sheath and points it straight up to the ceiling.

"Only one true king can pull the Excalibur from the stone, for only he has the necessary arthurization." Rufus lowers the blade, looking to Ashley. "But yes, it would be as you say, 'awesome'."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:46, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

"Metal breaks," Mary says simply, almost reflexively. She's still nursing a grudge for an overpriced machete she bought in Rosedale years ago that bent against its handle a week after she bought it. The store clerk had refused to refund her, too, the bastard. She'd even warned other members of the church community against raiding that store, though she doesn't think they listened.

"Is there really any benefit to splitting up?" she continues. "It's a lot more risk just to save a little time. Do you really think she'd be at this school for all this time, just to leave in the extra minutes we would take to search it safely?"

"She's always fuckin' hiding." She scoffs in response. It's one of the many things about Nicole that annoys her. As much as she doesn't really want to find her, at the very least she needs to be able to say they tried.
"You're right though." Trisha says as she approaches one of the classroom doors. "If she's anywhere, she'll be in one of these, I bet."
Pressing her ear to the door, she bangs against it with a closed fist and listens carefully, waiting for the all clear to enter.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
07:07, Today: Trisha rolled 21 using 2d10+5 ((8,8))-PER roll

---

School Interior

Trisha hears multiple footsteps and groaning from the other side of the door. On the side of the door, there's a placard...

Principal's Office

After banging against the door, Trisha feels the surface of the door trembling, hitting against her face. The ghouls are now restless inside after being disturbed.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Current Map: https://i.imgur.com/64PIc7f.png

---

Ivy glanced uneasily about, ready to make tracks at the first sign of monsters. Being in a place like this was making her paranoid. Best to just look for this missing person quick and be done with it. The young girl approached the room to the right of the entrance and lightly knocked on the door.

Mary tenses up when she hears the sounds from within the principal's office. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like they're going to bust down the door immediately, but she'd rather not spend more time in the area than necessary.

"Well, she's not in there," she says to Trisha. Glancing at Ivy, she momentarily waffles, not sure what to do, but finally moves to the other side of the office and knocks on the first door.

"It's us. Ashley's here, too. If you're in there, you'd better come out."

School - Interior

Mary makes her way down the hall to the adjacent room of the principal's office. From this angle, she can see the full hallway of the west wing of the building. With the lack of a light source, she can barely make out the end of the hallway. There's also a staircase leading up to the second floor of the building around the corner of the wall. Despite what Angie claimed, the hallway in the west wing appears to be vacant of any ghouls.

The placard on the room says...

A1

Its safe to assume this is one of the many classrooms in this building. Mary proceeds to knock on the door. After a few seconds, she did not hear any response. Through the small window view on the door she can look into the insides of the classroom. From this angle, the room looks to be in a good condition. All student's desks are neatly arranged facing the chalk board. She can also spot teen sized jackets and coats hanging on the chairs. Some of them still have backpacks hanging off of the side as well.

Natasha immediately follows the child when she leaves for the classroom door. Ivy knocks against the door to the room...

B1

There were no response.

Unlike the room Mary's inspecting, the window to the classroom is obstructed by a piece of cloth hanging from the inside of the room. It looks like someone left it hanging there to serve as a curtain for some privacy.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Map of the school
https://i.imgur.com/3LIxsza.png

---

Mary's eyes linger for a moment on the schoolbags handing off the chairs, but decides against checking them for supplies. Most likely, none of those teenagers had packed their lucky box of .223 for their last schoolday, and even on the off chance they had something useful, she doesn't have the time to search every bag and cubbyhole in the school.

"Looks empty," she says simply, then moves on to the next door, peeking through its window.

No response. And no way of looking inside. Ivy hesitated a moment before reaching for the doorknob and opening the door.

B1

The door opens without showing any resistance to Ivy. Inside, she spots bedrolls all over the room. There are backpacks, clothes, and other miscellaneous objects all over the place. It is too unorganized for her to discern what is useful from the mess.

At the very least, she can tell that Nicole is not hiding in this room.


A2

Mary peeks through the door with "A2" written on the placard. At first glance, the room is very dark, she could barely make out the musical instruments in the back. This room appears to be empty from her angle.

Right before she takes her eyes off the window, she catches a moving figure somewhere in the back of the room.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Map : https://i.imgur.com/NcdcF62.png

---

No signs of people. But, no signs of monsters either. Just a bunch of abandoned loot.

Loot ripe for the taking.

Ivy stepped into the room and set to work rummaging through the mess for goodies.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:23, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

Ivy

Ivy discover most of the backpacks and the mass amount of junk were mostly... junk. There are some promising cans of canned food, but upon closer inspection they were all empty.

Natasha steps into the room just as Ivy finishes up looting the area. Right before the child gives up the search, she spot a shiny object dangling off of on the back of the chair. Its a key.

Ivy's disappointment at the lack of salvageable goods evaporated as she spotted the key. Normally all you'd find in a janitor's closet was cleaning supplies and one of those weird mini-shower things. But if someone bothered to keep the key in here, maybe they'd stashed something else inside. What treasures could be hidden within? Ivy just had to know!

"I found a key!" she proudly announced to...uh...the lady, and trotted out into the hall to search for the closet in question. It looked like the others were heading further left, so she headed right. As she neared the corner where the hall turned sharply, she took a quick glimpse at the window of the room next to her.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Wed 29 Jan 2020.

Mary raps her knuckles on the window, then speaks clearly through the closed door. "Nicole, if you're in there, it's us. Come out."

Mary figures even that was probably unnecessary. The figure in the room was probably listening to them moving around in the hall anyway. Either way, she doesn't need to spend more time on this room. Keeping a wary eye on the stairway entrance, she moves to the next room  and looks through its window.

"She better not be." Trisha replies, her voice rising in pitch ever so slightly, indicating that she is more concerned than she would like to let on. The anxious energy is quickly pulled under control and repurposed into frustration.
"Y'know, I'm about ready to get sick of this soon." She grumbles to herself. Hearing Ivy announce her discovery, Trisha is instantly intrigued.
"Oh cool! What's it for?" She asks as she watches the girl head down the other end of the hall.

"The janitor's closet," Ivy answered. "Someone might have hidden something inside."

Mary

Mary sees the silhouette in room A2 shambling back towards the door. What comes next was a series of loud door slamming sounds. It shrieks through the door at her. The walking corpse is a male, bald, and it doesn't look like anyone Mary knows.

"He looks friendly." From behind, Rufus comments. It seems like he made his way over to Mary a few moments ago.

Mary hears Ivy announcing her findings across the hallway around the time she inspects the adjacent room. The placard reads... "A3". She sees several bodies lying on the ground inside with hands crossed over their heart. None of them are moving at this moment. There are no signs of a struggle, or any trace of blood in the room. They could all be taking a long nice nap for all she knows.

Ivy & Trisha

Adjacent room placard reads... "B2"

"Nice find, she might be hiding in one of those. That's what she did last time." Natasha comments at the key. When ivy strolls down to the adjacent classroom, Trisha and the girl hears the sound of the dead coming from the hallway. Just around the corner, Ivy catches a glimpse of them. A lot of them.

Most of the ghouls had gathered around a room down the hall. Ivy sees no clear way of reaching that door without running into the undead. At this moment, it should be the least of her concern as two walking corpses are already making their way towards her. Sensing motion from the two walking corpses, the rest will soon to follow if she doesn't act now.


Map :

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
https://i.imgur.com/YTmLNMP.png

---

Ivy's good mood vanished instantly. Ducking back around the corner, she hurried as fast as she could in the opposite direction. "Monsters monsters monsters," she repeated in a low but panicked voice.

"I ain't seen no closets yet." She shrugs as she jogs over to catch up with Ivy. As the girl stops in her tracks, so does Trisha.
Standing up on her toes, she leans over the small child to take a look around the corner and is greeted by the unpleasant sight.

She turns back in time to see Ivy skitter away and quickly follows suit.
"Ok everyone gotta clear out." In a flash, Trisha has already reached the front door, holding it open as she urges the others outside. Her movements are sharp and hurried, but her voice remains completely calm. "We gotta get in some other way."

Elijah trailed behind Ivy and Trisha, keeping a wary eye on each door they passed. When Ivy scuttled away from the corner he cursed under his breath. This detour was already shaping up to be a death trap. Not for them, maybe, but he wasn't feeling all too optimistic about Nicole's chances. Realistically, if she was here she was likely dead or on the way - if she was smart or lucky, she wasn't hanging around this infested building anymore.

He cursed under his breath and moved back to the others. “I say we go and find a window to climb through. Ought to be plenty to choose from.”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:50, Sun 02 Feb 2020.

"Go ahead and introduce yourself," Mary tells Rufus without looking over at him. She steps away from the door and sighs bitterly to herself. This isn't working. She figured they could just take an hour or two to comb the school and, whether they found Nicole or not, move on afterward. She hadn't expected the place to be so infested with ghouls. Searching room to room would be futile, but at the same time, she doesn't expect Trisha to drop this bone unless they can confirm Nicole isn't here.

This school isn't that large, Mary thinks. Maybe...

"All of you, be ready to go," Mary tells the others, stepping towards the entrance. "We're going to find out if Nicole's here, once and for all."

Mary sets her feet securely - as pointless as that is - and cups her hands around her mouth. "NICOLE, WE'RE FROM THE CHURCH! IF YOU'RE HERE, GIVE US A SIGN RIGHT NOW! LAST CHANCE!"

She turns her head this way and that as she speaks, directing her shout down both wings of the school. If she's in the building, Mary thinks, she'll have heard that. Every ghoul, too, but hell, at least they won't surprise us.

School Interior

Almost immediately, everyone head for the exit when Ivy called out the monsters down the hall. The horde advances closer, at a slow, but alarming pace.



As Ivy flees from the wave of monsters, both her and Elijah hear loud sounds bashing against metal from the end of the hallway where the ghouls were.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Map : https://i.imgur.com/KLjlbOX.png

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This message was last edited by the GM at 23:08, Tue 11 Feb 2020.