Wallstormers #10.03 The Breakthrough

 There comes a time, when the heroes cross the threshold, from struggling to survive, to formidable opponents. This happened at last.

The Threshold

While I had hinted at it, and we explored it a little. the characters who found this out, were lost to badly timed spells, and whisked away before being able to report back what they discovered. Today an explored concept took the next phase.

Weeks ago, maybe months, some explorers dropped a silver coin in a pond that had some blood at the bottom of it. the blood retreated. 

It could have been a copper coin, or a nail, but it was silver. So it retreated.

I've had this happen a few times.. copper coin or tin bit, dropped into blood, no effect. heroes shrug their shoulders and nothing happens.. that was 2017. 

This time, 2026, a silver coin, and it set of a chain reaction of events.

Next, players attempted a silver fork, stab it in the ground, and the blood stops creeping at them. Hmm they said.. weeks pass.

Silver dipped arrow, shot into a blood gate. the create is halted, confused.. the blood hasn't penetrated the wood, but its close enough to cause it pause.

Today, 20+ silver dipped arrows.

Why was it that the zombies were holding back.. why were they not nearby?

The team started bringing in some expensive furniture from the town houses, there were no zombies around.. word had it they're all gone to the Ziggurat gate and started to congregate, so nothing was near the North gate. Perfect timing.

House No.1 was cleared, and almost house number 2, but some strange robed fellow out on the far end of the main road stood and watched.

Kane decided to get closer, taunt the thing, see what was up.

Hammond wasn't in for it, he returned to town. Nope.. not gonna risk it.

Kane got the others to provide backup.. they joked.. sure, we'll just back up a bit more.. they stood 100m on the road behind him.

He approached. 200m from the robed man, with a long staff. a knarled staff, Oh.. Oh no.. too late Kane started running as the man raised his staff and struck the base at the ground, small tendrils under the sandy road snaked their way, impossible fast, rippling the soil. Kane ran faster as they snaked towards him, at the last moment he dodged, dived, rolled and then returned to his feet, not stopping for a second. 

His friends were all already panting, running, escaping. This thing was obviously dangerous.

Someone pointed out, they hadn't finished with the house.. they calmed down, watching the robed fellow from now 1000 of metres away. keeping watch, collected Hammond, they went back to the house.. but as they returned, they saw their path blocked by the robed fellow..

Kane, keeping watch the entire time, exclaimed how he'd not taken his eye off the creature, and there. look it still stood there, but was that.. who was this new one? were there two? more? 

confused, they dropped the tallboy right there in the street and ran.

Jorren called out to the group. He had a key to a secret entrance, "follow me" he said.

A few moments later, they were scrambling at the wall, 

Hammond panicked, not realising or looking for an escape route, he ran down an alley to the gate, but the robed being was there, too late, the sand tendril was send on its way, it caught Hammond by the leg, tore at his flesh, scarred and marked he ran back to his friends.. but they were gone. Hammond threw himself at the wall, "Hey, HEY I'm here, let me in", the crack appeared and a door opened, they pulled him in, and shut the door.

Fingers pressed to his lips, they waited.. then slowly began crawling back along a passage.

Emerging into the daylight. They called it a day. BUT, news would get out about the townhouses and the high quality furniture.. they would have days if they were lucky.

They decided to go for the Ziggurat gate, they hadn't heard the news.

The next morning, ready at the gates, the guards warned them to be ready. They opened the gates.

More than 300 metres away the edge of a horde of zombies stood. cold, slow, moving, but unaware in the light fog. The bulk of the zombies were 500 metres back further, so there was a chance.

Greed possibly took over their sense of preservation, so they made their way to a townhouse. Yet at some point the conversation got to prices of healing, and Hammond required more than he had, to buy a potion of cure-all. So they changed track, and went for a tavern.

Recently, Taverns were paying more and more for acquired bottles, as there often seemed to be a mix between magical potions and fancy alcohols. So a Tavern would likely end up with a few more coins. AND were easier to carry.

They made their way to the taverns back gate, slipped their way inside. The backdoor was blocked by a moat of blood, but the back 2 rooms were accessible from their windows.. IF they could make little to no noise.

The team set about, guarding and watching as the knife experts started removing panes from rotting frames.

As the panes were extracted, it was obvious zombies inside the building were being affected by this powerful pull, they were clawing at the door to get out.. obviously facing the wrong way, Hammond and Bob called over Jorren and got him to shoot them. 

Jorren got out his silver arrows.. This is where things get set in motion..

The arrow not only penetrated the back of the skull, but the blood in the head of the zombie tried to violently retreat, tearing the head off the shoulder and splattering all over the walls.

Jorren was already mid shot of the 2nd and third arrow before he noticed what had happed.

This was not normal.

He walked over to the yard and aimed at the pool of blood.

He shot.

It landed in soil, blood pushed back in a circle from the arrow tip.

Silver arrow tip.

He shot again, deeper, and again.. the blood was pushing back, and gravity was spilling it over, and it happened so fast, it began to steam!

Bob yelped as an arm came out of the window, he raised his short sword, chopping off the arm, but recently he'd had the sword coated in silver.

The arm didn't just come off.. the flesh fled the bones, and turned to soup. he bones fell on the ground, nothing holding them together, the zombies shoulder bones protruded from the flesh, and nothing else remained.

Jorren stepped up pegged 6 arrows into the room and took out the lot. He stood for a few seconds and watched as one, pinned to the wall, melted and dribbled down the wall. 

Hammond had just started to climb into the room, 

It was then that Johnathan yelled back to the group "Hey you GUUUYS!"

Johnathan had climbed the wall to keep watch, and noticed zombies closing in on the back gate.

"GUUYS!!!"

Kane and Bob ran back to the Gate, and opened it, to find more than a handful of Zombies had made their way to the gate. Bob started to push back against one gate, block the way, while Kane hacked into the zombies.. beheading them one at a time. In a quick effort and speedy thought, Bob got out his staff, Hammond a spear, and they pushed zombies back, while Kane slashed a path down the street. Jorren jabbed 5 arrows in the ground, creating a barrier.

But the zombies kept pushing.

Jorren looked on in horror and disgust, but also intrigue and understanding.

The Zombies.. being pushed from behind pushed against the barrier, their feet too close, melted. their bodies crumpled into the arrows and melted some more. Bones fell where bodies landed. and a thick ooze flowed onto the road.. absent of blood. that flowed back into the next zombie behind it.

The gang created a machine. Kane hacking the way at the front, Bob and Hammond pushing them out at the sides, creating barriers, while Jorren created blockades with arrows, He called to the group "Use Silver!"

Johnathan dug his hand into his pocket, and pulled out some silvers.. in another life, this was a weeks pay, This could afford rend, food, and a few drinks on Friday, and here he was.. as he loaded one into the sling.. throwing his money away.

He slung it, expecting it to need as much force as possible, the coin didn't edge into the head of his target as expected, it imploded. as did the zombie behind, and the few behind that..

While shocked, they didn't have time to take in what they just saw.

They burst out into the main street, their escape route at last.. but to the right, hundreds of zombies, and in the lead a zombie centaur, with helm and spear!

Jorren shot at it with arrows, Johnathan let loose with a handful of coin, slung at velocity, the blood curdling screams of the zombies or was it merely the escaping of gasses as they melted.

Johnathan, taking a second look at the spear, decide it was worth it and ran for the spear. grabbed it and ran.

The whole gang ran, the zombies were closing in. they were low on silver bullets, as they neared the gate Johnathan could feel the spear rising in power.. something was going to happen, so he willed it to happen.

The blood drained from his body, the flesh from his skin, the muscle from his bones, the marrow from within, he was barely a skeleton, covered in skin, but a 30ft tall skeleton, his clothes burst from his body, tearing at his flesh, he passed out, and returned to normal.

The gates shut, the party saved. They looked at each other as the naked unconscious Johnathan shrank back to his original size, but not his original health.

They rushed him to hospital, some of them slept there and then, others walked wearily home to sleep.  

 

Wall Storming #82 - The Heroes on a Mission

 Way back in #26, some crazy kids decided to make a run for it, this is the continuation of that story.

The Runners

My notes are sketchy and my memory hazy, but here's the basics, Instead of treating the session like a mission, go out, gather info, gather goods, return, the Team thought they could escape. They travelled fast, they hooked and killed a zombie that got in their way, but the kept going at pace, they really gave it a good go, after a full 3 hours walk, they got to the outskirts of the city, nary a zombie in sight, or so they thought.

As the Sun rose in the sky, the nearby zombies warmed up, and sensed movement, so they rose up, crawled out of places, and worse yet, the entire 'field' nearby, was a moss covered swamp. it "looked" like a grassy field. 

Over 100 zombies started to crawl out of the swamp, as the characters sat in a nearby house and ate their provisions.. they exited the house to see a field of movement. 

The players were in shock, the characters too. Should they run for it? but if this is what's here, how many more are out there? what if its worse, what if its better? eventually, the crash of a nearby building, alerted the players to a 2nd mob of zombies coming from behind, and much closer. This cemented their choice to run home.

sadly, they didn't get very far when a 3rd mob emerged from side streets, they were almost surrounded. two of them were scratched, they ran for the gate, banged on the door, and were let in.. they told their story, and were sadly executed before the disease would take them.

The Story was the trigger point.

A leaf.

A green leaf.

They'd seen a green leaf on their travels, maybe a bush, maybe a branch of them, but they swore it was there. some kind of nearby wooden fort, had a tree in it, with some green growing.

This was pondered by the Adventurers guild.

Wallstormers #50

A group of trained warriors were sent out to see the location of the leaf, by correlating the maps, the adventurers guild figured they knew the location. They sent out their best. 

None returned. Yet, the guild had seen an approximate path of where they had travelled. Wall guards tracking them as seen between buildings or along known paths, timed, smoke rising in a position, maybe an indicator as to the fortress. 

Screams of something horrific, moans for days, none returned. 

WallStormers #82

Now we come to the Adventurers guilds next attempt. Rumours amongst the clergy and the noble houses, they insisted on sending their greatest heroes. A priest of the house of klarg, known for his true affiliation, the house of rokboi, God of Retribution and Fire. The high Ranger of the noble guild of Rangers, and the greatest warrior in the last several years, Lion Wrangler himself HRUN. 

They were sent out, together with a local guard (to ensure they can re-enter the walls) via a special gate, known only to a few, to investigate.

As expected, they returned. They found the tree, they watered it, blessed it, and sprinkled holy water on the roots of the tree, claimed it had held back the horde but they too were surrounded, waves of zombies, ones who held weapons, were armoured, fortress of protection, with traps, spiked pits, and a tsunami of baby zombies (accounts may have been exaggerated ) they returned as heroes.

People are ecstatic, life has returned to the outside, joyously, the people have renewed vigour.

Wallstorming #81+

 #81

Gate Exit, team goes out into the street, 'peers' into a few buildings, manages to grab some cool items, but spends too much time outside and the zombies gather, they run, things get dropped, the get to the main gate.

#82

Players sneak out in the early hours, (lost ones) descend down a rope (bed sheets) to the roof of a 3 storey building, south wall section 3?/4? into the house, which was well searched. that said, someone had died in the floor below, sitting on his stash. the team raided the dead, returned to the city, using the raid goods (door hinges) to buy membership into the build of adventurers, and a banded club and gloves

But on return to the wall for a 2nd exit, the guards of the wall wanted THEIR cut of the raid, 

The 'blood' from previous times was crawling up the walls, so they used silver forks to create a 'barrier' after raiding a house, finding some silverware and a candelabra, upon exiting, the guards waited, they complied, handing over a jewelry box and some silverware. returning to the adventurer guild, they upgraded their gear, boots being the primary (so they don't step in blood)

The 3rd exit, they came across a fabulous haul in the ceiling space of a building, someone had stashed their boxes of goods, and cast magical protection on the boxes inner panels. Under normal circumstances, breaking the seals might have simply ceased the spell, but our intrepid adventurer knew how to percieve the veil of magic, and re-read the casting runes.. incorrectly. 

There is now a very faint shimmer in the air around the building. no-one knows what happened. 

Wall Storming #80

 Key Points:

#79

Entered 'trades entrance" checked out the stores, then upstairs, zombie in bed, killed it, pushed bed out onto street. 

#80 Left Via Sewers (same as 79) navigated down some streets, took side alley, found interesting building, Wheat Silo plus attached buildings as part of structure.

Entered office building, blew dooer off hingeds, spotted zombie, found and killed it, but was difficult fight, players all thought this was A LOT harder, zombies done die from brain death or loss of head. 

Entered nearby building next to the main tower, was office like, some shovels and tools. Weird round door. tried to use wax or zombie guts to open it. something on othr side

climbed tower, opened lid (small 2m sized lid) and saw shadows of giant rat, 2 heads 6 arms.

dust? no flour.

flour + flame = boom.

ok.. sheild up.. boom, hero is slamed into ground, others take damage, creature is screaming. 

Bottom door is blown off, arm of creature attempts to skewer player.

They decide enough is enough,. sneak back, 

but army of zombies & smart zombie are on their way, they choose back alley and discover pancake man, they roll him up and take him & the magic pancake stone to the city. 

Survival! group can level up

Wall Storming #78

 The Season is Upon us, The Shamblers have started warming up, the Kids with fire in their bellies want to partake in the battle, so sad as it is, we must give them a chance. 

Open the Tunnels, Let them throw their lives away, so we might live on.

Blood Rayne

[For those catching up, this is the blog of the events of 3 gaming sessions at the Convention AVCON 2023, Set in the BloodRayne Campaign, ongoing for now 11 years.]

The Grand Ceremony Ended, the Young Hopefuls took up their staffs and blades, donned their armors, and started down the corridor towards the final gates. 

Fear, and Yet Excitement, it was their turn to prove themselves, Fight back the hordes of Undead, Claim the Treasures of the Past, Return as Heroes, or Not return at all, and relieve the burden upon their families.

The Youth always seek out faster means, the returned ones from the past had better lives, more wealth to begin, young men returning had their pick of girlfriends, young ladies, sought after by the highest lords both asked to join the adventurers guilds.

The Traeger Brothers

The First Group to Venture out, Three Strapping Lads, The Traeger Brothers, not by blood but by friendship. Exited one of the newly built tunnels, and finding themselves in a back alley, entered the very first door they saw. It creaked in the mild breeze down this alley, so they opened it to discover a small back room to what appeared to be a bar. Old empty barrels stood here. A second door, more secure, proved to needed some force to open, and by doing so alerted 3 residents to rise from their slumber. 

But Standard residents they were not, Scantily clad ladies of the night, dressed in flimsy apparel, they were both horrifying and mildly intriguing to the male eye, unperturbed and or possibly disgusted in themselves, The Leader lept the bar, smashed down the first zombie and plunged his staff through the face. The creature seemed to stop dead, glancing aside, the other two were somehow trapped between tables, unable to navigate between. Walking back to the bar a 2nd door presented itself, clutching the door in hand, he accidentally tore it from the hinges, and so threw it behind, atop the first zombie, which shuddered back to life.

The 2nd brother quickly incapacitated it, hamstringing its feet and removing its hands. The Third brother roared at the excitement, bursting through the door, and screaming his name!

Ignoring the rest the first two entered this room, where they encountered a slimly red liquid pool, covering the floor of this depressed back room, stone floor and lower half of the floor, The 2nd brother crossed the room to a barrel which didn't seem to have been affected by decay, strange, His Brother pulled the barrel from the wall, and inspected the space, a crack in the wall, caused sunlight to break into the room, it fizzled and retreated, awakening and beginning to form a creature.

Quickly The 2nd brother threw the half barrel over the beast as it formed, the first discovered a Trapdoor and opened it, revealing more blood beast. Instead of closing it again, He backed away into the main room once again, and now spotting the other two zombies draw out his weapon, and promptly stepped upon a rotted part of the floor, he fell partway, legs scratched by the old wood, into the ooze, which quickly took over his body.

His Brother, Leroy, instead of asking, just grabbed him by the waist and attempted to haul him out, but his brothers eyes had glazed over, his skin turned white by the creature, he now grabbed his blade and plunged it into his neck. killing him, but now also opening a wound to allow the creature to crawl from his eyes and mouth out, down his arm, and into Leroy.

Leroy was a fighter, from a young age, he liked to call out his name and run into enemies, slamming them into the ground, so as the life left him, leroy attempted to run into the sunlight, sadly his brother was in the way, and the creature had begun to take hold of his mind. He ran at his brother, smashed him through the wall and shards of broken wood stabbed into his shoulders and thighs. The blow was too much, his ribs crushed he called out to his brother, but too late, the creatre had left that hust and now entered his own mind.

The Brothers were no more, sadly now the last zombie and the blood creatures are free to exit the Tavern at this location, endangering any group to venture this way again.