Arkansas caught it pretty good when Raven crossed the Mighty Mississippi.  He lead most of the undead hordes through Missouri and into Kansas.  But, the madman dragged a tidal wave of undead into motion from Back East and scattered large swarms of walkers into what was left of the states along Old Muddy.  The survivors in the state have had their lives turned over again.  Once safe settlements have been wiped out or scattered.  Still others held firm and find themselves with new hands to work...and mouths to feed.  Alliances and politics within the region have shifted in a big way.  Opportunity for scavengers, wanderers, and rovers...

In fact, the Templars have seen fit to send one of their own to survey the state of things.  Where she goes, lately anyway, goes a large heavily armored relic of the Last War.  The pair find themselves walking east along a stretch of old Confed Route 82 in southern Arkansas headed for the survivor burg of Smackover.  An oil town and settlement on the rise in the region.  Still many miles off though.  At the moment, just a lonely stretch of highway.  Rusting, stripped hulks of cars have been shoved off to the shoulders to make way for trucks.....or road gangs.

A rumble in the distance gnaws at the attention.  Engines?  No...  Thunder...  Black roiling stormclouds moving in from the East.  Rain would be bad enough, but in the wastelands a storm is rarely just rain.  Shelter is usually the best course.  Not that this lonely forgotten highway through empty, scrub forests offered much of any kind of shelter of course.  It looked like there might be something up the road a ways; maybe an old gas station marquee?

---

Another wanderer found themselves trudging through the dark piney woods south of Route 82.  Martin had been trying to stick to the old paved ways as he picked his way north, but a slow-moving, aimless herd of walking dead had forced him well out of his way and into the woods.  Not the best place to be, but sometimes the world just doesn't give you much of a choice.  Unless you /wanted/ to choose to be eaten.  That choice was almost always on the table.

He too heard the distant, ominous rumbling, but didn't get the clear view of the stormclouds due to the trees.  But, he knew the sound.  He knew the darkening of the sky and just how fast the weather around here could turn on you.  What he did not know was exactly how long he had, where exactly along Route 82 he might be, and if he could make it to shelter in time.

---

A fourth lost soul was coming in from a northern route, along an old rural road that she hoped would link up with something more major.  Maggie had been trying to get down into the swampy remains of Louisiana for a long while now, but kept finding routes blocked by undead hordes or road gangs or just roads so decayed they were barely navigable at all. She had to fall back to survivor settlements she had passed.  Most turned her away; suspicious of her and and her snake.  Some gave directions.  Some sold supplies.  Not much, but enough to keep moving.

She kept daring the forbidding forests and highways of southern Arkansas to find the route through.  She was currently trying for Smackdown; having heard a trade convoy south might be found there.  Not that she was anywhere close to Smackover yet.  She hadn't even found Route 82 yet.

Then there was the thunder.  The roiling angry knell that echoed through the skies.  A storm was coming.  How quickly?  Far up ahead she could see what looked like an intersection.  82 Perhaps?
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:38, Sun 02 Sept 2018.

  There wasn't a lot of light in the treeline but there had been enough to keep from turning an ankle or falling into an old culvert or avoid attracting the attention of any of the hungry dead.  With an incoming storm what little light there was would be fading fast so Martin turned back North toward the roadway, hoping he'd left the hungry horde behind by skirting around them.
  Without landmarks, or even a horizon, in sight he didn't have much of an idea where he was.  There certainly wasn't any shelter readily available in the forest but he hoped there'd at least be a rusting relic pushed off the side of the highway he could climb into if nothing else was available.  His mind made up, he turned north and made the best time he could in the direction of the road.

Maggie headed for the intersection as quickly as she could. It might just be a storm but then again it could be something else.

The last storm she was in stripped the flesh of people and she didn't want to be out in the open when this one hit.

Once at the intersection she looked for a sign to indicate what route she was on. She looked both up and down the road to see if there were any living souls on the move but also to we if any of the rusted vehicles would lend her any shelter.

As she stood there a large pythons head came up from over her shoulder and rested gently under her chin

 "Yes I heard it slarana  don't worry we will find shelter before it hits" she said scratching the large snakes head gently
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 09:22, Sun 02 Sept 2018.

The meta-behaviors of the post-apocalypse were interesting.

At first, during the early days, everyone smashed out the windows of abandoned cars because one in fifty might still contain something useful.

Then after a little time had passed, a few people had organized crews to go siphon out any fuel, take the batteries, any hoses, belts, spark plugs, filters that weren't too far gone, light bulbs, tires, etc.

Then came the real desperate sorts, who would take the chairs, seats, belts and upholstery, and a few cottage industrialists who made a bit of a trade re-purposing bumpers and springs into tools or weapons.

Finally no one bothered checking the old cars any more because they'd been picked over so many times already and everyone knew it.

So people began caching things in them and using them as occasional improvised shelters, which in turn led to the likes of Kelly checking them for supplies again.  Granted, it was perhaps one in a thousand rather than one in fifty nowadays, but whatever you could find was also a thousand times more precious so it still paid to look.

But she didn't put a whole lot of effort into this, it was far more conducive to survival to get where you were going faster.  She put less effort into it now.

MacLeod wandered the old roads indiscreetly.  She didn't go so far as to wear the tabard, but she walked with the hilt of her sword at the ready over her shoulder and rifle in hand.

"I don't like the look of that."  She commented if only to her mechanized companion.  Well, he wasn't a Companion companion, but she was barely a Templar templar.

"If that's what I think it is, we're going to need actual shelter and not just an old junker.  Or at least I will."  She corrected herself.  Harry didn't seem to "need" much of anything, at least relative to her.  Without further commentary she pointed her rifle toward the sign down the way.

"Ain't much these days one would much like the look of." The mechanized man in the poncho and wide-brimmed hat said. He looked at the line of rusted hulks. "Don't look like I'd fit well into any of these things anyhow."

He wasn't kidding. He topped seven feet with all the enhancements, and even the cars that had been stripped of seats would be a tight squeeze. And weather...weather and he did not get along. Could be rain, which he'd rather avoid -- the name "Rusty Harry" was supposed to be a joke, not a description, and he didn't fancy having to be oiled like the Tin Man just to keep his already slow pace up. But some of the things that rained these days, well, they'd corrode him even faster.

"You think we both can make it before the storm hits?" he asks. "If not, go on ahead. I'll be along."

Maggie May

Maggie jogged up to the intersection as another boom of thunder rolled ponderously across the skies.  At which point, she noticed a few things.  The sky was definitely getting darker; the leading wispy vanguard of the towering thunderclouds reaching out overhead.  The second thing she noted, to the east, was an old gas station marquee.  An old Gas n' Go mart; part of a chain of such gas stations throughout the old Confederacy.  Someone had taken the time to rearrange the letters on the sign to read:

"Under New Management - Smackover Co-op"

A wall of rusting car and truck hulks had been laboriously pulled around the perimeter of the old station, its parking lot, and a larger, newer looking garage of reclaimed sheet metal.  There seemed to be some sort of gate area just off this main road near the marquee.

But, she also heard something very heavy clanking its way up the road from the West.  A quick look let her see the seven-foot tall, poncho-wearing, cowboy-of-doom striding his slow way towards her like.  Depending on her feelings about being in the path of such a fearsome sight, Maggie may or may not notice the smaller frame of the woman walking along side it.

---

MacLeod and Harry

Its a little unnerving to be walking /towards/ the angry black stormclouds.  Some little part of the old lizard brain keeps wanting to break and run away.  To head anywhere but into the teeth of that storm.  But the rational brain wins out....for now.  Their steady pace is bringing them closer, just beginning to make out the outline of the hulks that make up the wall.

While deciding whether to split or stay together, they notice the other storm-driven vagabond jog into the intersection between themselves and the station.  She seemed to take note of them, just as they could take note of her...

---

Martin

Martin began to see sings of human-made things through the trees up ahead.  It wasn't too much longer before the woods suddenly thinned out.  It looked as though someone had hastily, but thoroughly cleared back the trees and scrub back to some distance.  Maybe to make a clear field of fire from the wall of junked hulks that seemed to be surrounding some old pre-war structures.  At a glance he'd guess one of those gassing stations that fed the cars of the Old World.

From the edge of the woods to the wall was a stubble field of small stumps and hand-shorn grasses.  Nothing moved there.  Nothing moved along the wall either, for all the work they put into clearing this place.  In fact, the only movement of particular note was the scudding of the thunderheads creeping ever closer... ever closer... Boom...roll...  He could feel the weight of those clouds...

Maggie stroked the snakes head "looks like we have company" she muttered as she dropped the hand to a pouch at her belt bringing out a small handful of dried leaves.

At the same time in her mind she was flipping through the pages of the cook book that was stored securely in the inner pocket of her jacket.

In the book her mind found the thing she needed and called forth the Redditch power she controlled.

She kept it under control and moved as quickly towards the gas station as she could at the time she couldn't make up her mind to use it on the two people coming towards her or the rusted metal wall in front of the station. Until she'd made her mind up she moved towards the only shelter in the area before the storm hit

  Martin stopped short at the clearing, avoiding going into the open area but clearly visible in the treeline. WooHoo! he let out a short yelp of elation.  Might not get my face burned off today after all...

  The boy scanned the top of the wall of wrecked cars for lookouts or any signs of life.  He knew what the clearing was...a kill zone.  Almost every settlement had one.  Sometimes it was for a clear field of fire from watchtowers or walls, sometimes it was boobytrapped, or toxic...sometimes it was all three.  He wasn't sure which this might be so he called out hoping to attract the attention of anyone inside and hopefully nothing outside.
  Hey!  Looking for shelter out here! Safe to approach?. Martin waited for an answer but not for long given the oppressively ominous clouds building overhead.  He circled around the clearing at the treeline to find an entrance or signs of anyone alive behind the walls.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:59, Sun 02 Sept 2018.

"Nah, we can see it, we're close enough that's not a problem."  Kelly observed, though she shifted her pack to hide the hilt of the sword.  It was still obvious she had something long and weapony strapped to it, but it helped to not call such explicit attention to it.  Her rifle wouldn't call much attention, it was just an old levergun.  It worked, but that's all it did.  Better than throwing rocks that's for sure.

But then she thought about their predicament.  "Unless you want me to serve as Your Royal Herald."  She was being sarcastic, but warning people Harry was coming might be... prudent.

"Huh... yeah we're not the only ones with this idea.  To be expected though."

"I ain't a royal nothin', just your friendly neighborhood Ironclad demon-powered meat-puppet." Harry shrugs, and revs his chainsaw for effect. "Though a warning to that effect might make everyone stay friendly." He cocks his head, hearing the sound of some fool shouting at the station. "Though maybe we'll see how friendly everyone is by how they treat that idiot. That sounds to be informational...reckon we'll learn real quick how twitchy their trigger fingers are."

At The Gates - Maggie

Maggie, ignoring the approach of others for now, made it to what she hoped was a gate in the wall.  A wall is generally designed to keep people out.  A defensive measure.  The successful idea going back millennia.  But, everyone agrees that it works best when you keep the gate closed.  This junk-wall's gate was a steel plated panel of thick wood designed to be pulled to the side on tracks along either side of the wall.  And it was open.  Just enough to let any wanderer trying to escape wasteland hell-weather...

Lucky.

Beyond the gate, she could see the old station itself and the newer, reclaimed sheet metal garage thrown up next to it.  The station structure itself was original Gas 'n Go convenience store, with the windows replaced by wood panel shutters (currently closed and latched).  A major effort was made to clean up the lot and the exterior of the building to make it almost inviting.  The kind of place a person might /want/ to stop at.

She had heard the shouting from beyond the wall; someone else looking for shelter?  The clanking giant and his companion were still drawing closer as well.  Lightning crashed through the sky now, followed all too quickly by the roll of thunder.  This time you might swear you could hear gleeful howls within the thunderous crashing.

East Corner - Martin

Martin had not been shot.  Which should be a welcome surprise.  Or perhaps not, as there was no real response at all.  Who goes to the trouble of clearing a killing field and building a wall, only to leave it undefended?  Still, the lack of being shot encouraged his quick circle to the front in looking for the gate.

Coming around the corner, he saw what might seem to be a gate...and a strange woman carrying a very large serpent standing in front of that gate.  Beyond her, a giant cowboy strode implacably and noisily along the asphalt of Route 82 towards the gate as well.  Another figure was with the giant, but much less fearsome and noticeable.

Harry and MacLeod

The strange snake-woman had made it to the gate.  There didn't seem to be much response from within.  No yells greeted the previous shouting either.  No warning shots.  Nothing at all from beyond the wall.

Lightning crashed and thunder rolled.  Those maybe-howls tickled at the back of the mind.  And not in a good way.  Worse, MacLeod would swear she saw a face contorted into a scream ripple across the surface of the nearest thundercloud.

Rain was starting to fall down the road east.  Black.

She was about to say something else when she noticed it was closing in fast.

"Come on let's get a move on, as fast as you'll go anyhow.  That's not anything I want to be outside in.  We'll deal with it."  Kelly encouraged.

Still, it bothered her a great deal no one had challenged or responded to the man's cries.

Maggie stepped in and to the left she felt her snakes muscles tighten slightly indicating it's nervousness but Maggie cood to her and brought up a now glowing hand of eldritch fire, it danced blue and hypnotic around her fingers.

Moving forward she headed for the newer construction as it seemed the best building to give her protection. She was all too aware of the mechanical giant and it's companion were just a few yards behind her and she wanted to at least be able to use the building as cover before they themselves stepped through the gate just in case their intentions were less than honourable
This message was last edited by the player at 16:01, Mon 03 Sept 2018.

"Right." Harry said. He trundled forward. Still, he felt uneasy. No response at all to that kid's hails? Not even a "who goes there"? That smelled all manner of foul to him.

  Martin scooted around the corner, happy to see an opened gate, but Drew up short at the sight of the big snake and the lady with the fire licking from her hands.  Woah.  Uh, hey.  This your place? He noted the oncoming pair, Or is it theirs?

In the Lot - Maggie
Maggie slipped away from the gate without answering the question.  Probably all the thunder...or the others following her.  Maybe just impolite.  She moved quickly across the lot, noting a tanker truck trailer in one corner of the lot (just shy of wall height).  The tank was blazoned with SMACKOVER CO-OP in runny red paint.  Otherwise, the lot itself is fairly empty.  The old pumps are still in place, but don't look refurbished to use; now more of a vintage decoration.

On approaching the "newer" sheet metal garage, she quickly spotted that its main doors were chained through a hole in each door and locked with a heavy combination lock.

At the Gate - Martin, Harry, and MacLeod

The three were all in easy sight of each other now just near the open gate; but at a respectful, wary distance.  A quick glance in would show the somewhat refurbished and shuttered convenience store, the sheet metal garage, and the strange snake-charmer with power glittering in her hand.

Lightning crashed again, flaring brightly all around.  The boom of the thunderclap followed almost instantaneously, rattling down into the bones.  Everyone can hear the eerie mad laughing howl rolling away with the echo...

Notice rolls for everyone!  Also, we are breaking this down into Rounds now.   3 Rounds till the Rain.

Ooc

19:03, Today: Maggie May rolled 12,4 using D8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+4)12,4.  Notice roll.

  Soooo, I'll take that as 'ok and come right on in'. There really wasn't time to mince words anyway and followed the snake and the lady into the yard of the co-op, noting the tanker, the old building and the newer garage...along with the absence of anything alive.

  Martin looked the place over for other entrances to the buildings as he hung back by the gate waiting on the other two to pass inside the perimeter.  His 'jimmies' a bit rustled by the seemingly abandoned structure, he kept his hand on the hilt of his sword slung under his backpack until the others came thru the gate.


12:59, Today: Martin Fine rolled 11 using 1d4+1d4, rerolling max with rolls of (4+4+1)9,2.  Notice.