[WOTD] Season 2, Session #2 -- Dallas/Ft. Worth
War of the Dead Season 2, Session #2 -- Loosely Based on WOTD Chapter 2, Week 11, Act 2
Overview: Our heroes travel to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to meet up with an escort force sent out by the survivor community in the town of Sanctuary, Texas. There, our heroes' eccentricities get them into trouble in what could have otherwise been a fairly straightforward transfer -- but in the process, they discover a few things at the airport they might have otherwise overlooked.
The Cast:
* Ashley J. Williams (JZ): S-Mart sports-goods salesman and all-around handyman, armed with a "boomstick," a modified chainsaw, and a big mouth.
* Sabrina Ford (HZ): 14-year-old high-school athlete, survivor of the SS Pinnacle, with a horribly disfigured right arm that she keeps hidden to avoid uncomfortable questions.
* Gary (SV): A huge mountain of a man and Renaissance-fair enthusiast who fancies himself a knight, insulated from the horror of the Apocalypse by his unshakeably naive and child-like outlook.
* Fletch (R): An able and stealthy bowhunter who hunts game and zombies with equal ease.
Not present this session, but part of the campaign:
* Father O'Shaughnessy (Digital_Rampage): Roman Catholic priest with experience in animal handling and medicine; he believes he has received visions warning of incursions by the undead.
* Daniel "DJ" McCoy (CH): Mountain man, trapper, and hunter, acting as a scout and anti-zombie sniper for the group.
Winter Hardship:
After establishing a foothold in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the "Jacksonville Remnant" has transformed itself into three closely-packed settlements at Camp Santa, Camp Wolfetown, and Camp Holiday. With the onset of winter freezing temperatures, the survivors find that the Shamblers and Sprinters grow slower and slower, until at times they can be found frozen en masse and easily dispatched before any of them can manage even the faintest of moans. Still, supplies are in scarce supply, and the bulk of the Jacksonville survivors are people helpless without the support of civilization; the good of the many rests upon the shoulders of a few skilled and over-burdened few. Without the constant need to keep on the road, always on the run, and with hunger gnawing at their stomachs, many of the survivors push back against the redistributionist tendencies of their benefactors and self-appointed authorities. While there are plans to save many of the animals from the Santa's Land zoo, in the hopes of breeding farm stock, at one point a man breaks in and steals a couple of sheep and slaughters them for food (very messily and wastefully); when caught, he defiantly claims that the sheep belong to no one, and he has as much a right as anybody to them -- in fact more so, since he has two "starving children who need meat in their diet, not just burnt bread and canned veggies." This doesn't sit well with the caretakers who'd lost their own children in the outbreak. Violence nearly breaks out, but Ashley and Gary prove capable, in their own ways, at dissuading the would-be combatants.
While there is enough food to get through the winter, the rationing is very unpopular, and morale runs low. The winter is long and hard -- harder than expected, apparently due to a "nuclear winter" effect from all of the fires raging unchecked around the world with the collapse of civilization, the bombing of cities in last-ditch attempts to contain the hordes, and without organized firefighters to put them out.
GM Note: In Chapter 2 as written, the heroes would start off Fatigued to reflect the hardship they've been through. In my experience, however, Fatigue levels are a real pain to deal with; as an alternative, I've been using the Sanity rules from the Horror Companion, and using this to reflect both Sanity and Morale. I called for Spirit or Vigor rolls (player choice) to determine how much Sanity/Morale was lost in the process. The efforts the heroes went through to help supplement food supplies gave a bonus, but even a simple Success still meant -1 Sanity.
Hope of Sanctuary:
Although the radiation levels have gone down, as the "solar max" event subsides, communication with the outside world is limited at best. Satellite networks appear to be disabled, cell phone systems are down, and even radio is unreliable as an unforeseen consequence of major changes to the weather system. (Ash's explanation: "It's probably due to that 'El Ninja' thing in the Gulf.") Still, someone has gotten a HAM radio operational, and contact is occasionally made with other operators -- thanks to the signal bounce, in surprisingly far quarters at times. It's a hopeful sign to learn that at least somewhere out there, there are others hanging onto life. Among these survivor settlements is one situated in Sanctuary, Texas, west of Fort Worth. This is home to the US headquarters of UniMed Pharma, a multi-national corporation, and researchers there have been diligently working on the development of a vaccine against the infection, studying cases of people who have natural resistance or even immunity to the virus.
Father O'Shaughnessy, upon hearing of this, volunteers that his blood has been tested and found to be resistant to the "Living Dead" virus, and that he also has recovered a laptop with research files related to the virus. He volunteers to journey to Sanctuary in order to deliver the files himself, and to offer himself up for testing.
Plans are made for a trip to be made by air rather than over land, securing an airplane at a nearby secluded air strip. Ash volunteers to fly the airplane, but after some testing of his ability, it soon becomes quite clear that he really doesn't know a thing about it, and it's just a matter of his overconfidence that he can do anything if he puts his mind to it.
"It's just like driving a car," insists Ash, "but with wings!"
"And a chance of exploding if you try to pull it over the wrong way," says Sabrina. "It's not that I don't trust you, but I just want to be sure we won't fly into a rock."
"Iraq?" responds Ash. "There's fat chance of that, missy! It's way over in the Middle East, next to Afghanistan! We're flying to TEXAS!"
Fortunately, they recruit "Old Pete," a veteran aviator, to serve as the pilot ("Eh, I'm probably going to drop dead anyway one of these days. Might as well go along with you crazy kids on your suicide mission!"), and a team of volunteers accompanying Father O'Shaughnessy on his journey. The airport at Dallas/Ft. Worth is picked as the best destination, as it's within range for the aircraft, and scouts from Sanctuary believe it's possible to clear it for a safe landing.
Volunteers for the flight are given weapons and travel-friendly rations for the trip, though there's a weight limit on just how much they can take along. Alas, this means that Father O'Shaughnessy's humvee and ambulance and his large stocks of weaponry and miscellaneous equipment will be left behind. As it so happens, once they get word that the Sanctuary escort team has reached Dallas-Ft. Worth, and has begun securing the site, and the weather looks clear enough to fly, it's Monday, April 1st.
DFW -- April Fool's Day
On the flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth, the team keeps in radio contact with the escort force sent out from Sanctuary to clear the tarmac at the airport. They occasionally catch snippets of gunfire over the radio, as the guardsmen and militiamen unload with a .50 cal gun -- and run out of ammunition. ("Bets on how many of them are still alive when we get there?" Ash offers.) However, when they make the fly-over, it's clear that their escort team is still alive, and has done a fine job of taking out some fifty or so "roamers" (as the Sanctuary-ites call them) and moving them off the tarmac. There are actually multiple strips to choose from, and the aircraft puts down without incident -- but due to the strong winds and the pilot's unfamiliarity with the field, he chooses to fly into the wind rather than with it, which means that when he puts down, he's at the far opposite end of the field from the escort force and their two transport trucks.
"Dallas," Ash comments. "It sure looked a lot better on TV."
Old Pete opts to keep the airplane out in the open, engines still running, and well away from any structures, so he can just let the two trucks come up to him. However, as he explains his actions to the others, Ash (who has been exchanging barbs with him for the whole trip) eggs him on, suggesting that they ought to pull closer to the terminal to get a good look inside -- and implying that Old Pete isn't doing that because he's "chicken." "Come on, you only live once!" claims Ash. ("Not here," Gary says. "That's the problem!")
Old Pete, unfortunately, has a short fuse, and so, in order to show Ash up, he opens up the throttle and taxis the airplane over to Terminal B. "See? Want to get a good scenic view of all the spatter and gore? Fine! See what good it does ya!"
Of course, there are a bunch of zombies over nearer to the terminals that now stir out of their spring-time torpor to greet the airplane. Before Old Pete can get the craft turned around to pull away, Ash, with unbridled bravado, pops open a hatch to taunt the zombies. However, he neglects to realize that this particular hatch doesn't have hinges, and he loses his balance and falls out ... fortunately, right into a pile of luggage to break his fall, but -- not so fortunately -- not far from a couple of "Deadite" stewardesses.
GM Note: Critical Fail on Taunt -- and somehow by this point Ash was out of Bennies.
Clearing the Tarmac
With Ash overboard, there is little for the others to do but to join the fray. Gary leaps down into the luggage beside Ash, wielding his replica claymore and beheading a couple of undead stewardesses. Sabrina and Fletch provide ranged support from the door of the aircraft -- though Sabrina is at a marked disadvantage, as she's trying to use an M-16 left-handed, with her right arm heavily bandaged up so as to hide it. In frustration, Sabrina disembarks and charges a zombie that had fallen over prone (while trying to clamber through the pile of luggage to get at Ash), bayoneting it in the spine. Her dog (which she'd brought along on the journey) joins her, going for the throat.
The soldiers finally catch up, disembarking, taking up positions, calling their targets, aiming and carefully dispatching zombies with three-round bursts to the head, focusing on the further-out zombies so as to avoid any chance of friendly fire. Meanwhile, they're suitably impressed at the gouts of zombie gore sent flying as Ash finally regains his feet and wades into the fray, chainsaw buzzing, alternating with Gary as they cut their way through. Wave after wave of "shamblers" continue to pour in, but at last they dispatch the last of those responding to the noise of the airplane.
Signs of Life (and Death)
After defeating the zombies, our heroes take the opportunity to loot through all the luggage that everyone was tripping over (mostly the zombies, though). Sabrina discovers several "valet bags" and other containers that have, of all things, costumes. She searches until she finds a "cat-girl" costume in it with large oversized "cat paw gloves" -- and she commandeers one to cover up her arm in the hopes that she can actually USE it without people noticing the deformities in its shape. (If someone wonders at why she's wandering around with a single oversized "cat paw" costume element, she reasons that she can just claim it's a makeshift bracer for fending off zombie bites.) The soldiers, with their superior survival training, prioritize things and find some water and shelf-stable food items (nuts, crackers, chips, etc.) from supplies intended for restocking the planes.
Gary notices a glare of light aimed at his eye, and it belatedly occurs to him that the reflected light is blinking. He also notices a body that has been crudely crucified nearby, with a spray-painted message of "TRATOR" (misspelled) beneath it. (One might reason that if you add an "I" you'd get "Traitor." Gary reasons that it's missing a "C" and it says "TRACTOR," even though that makes no sense. That's just Gary.) Gary roughly sums up his discoveries, pointing to the crucified body and declaring, "Dead body," then pointing at the terminal building and declaring, "Shiny thing. I'll go find it." Without giving anyone any further explanation, he rushes off toward the terminal.
Ash, in a moment of sobriety, as everyone's rushing after Gary with no plan at all, informs the soldiers that they're investigating the terminal as part of their "mission," and that they should stay with the trucks to guard them, and to see that the airplane can take off safely. (Despite Ash's off-beat way of communicating this -- e.g., "All right, GI Joe! We need you to wait here and watch for Cobra!" -- he's demonstrated his competence at dispatching zombies ... and they didn't witness his unceremonious fall out of the airplane while they were driving over.) The soldiers remain to unload the gear and supplies from the airplane over to the waiting trucks, and to help Old Pete top off the tanks from a fuel truck, so he can make the return flight to North Carolina. Sabrina investigates the crucified body, and finds that it has been mounted on a makeshift "cross" made from scrap, at such a height that its lower half has been largely eaten away by what zombies could reach it, while its head and eyes show signs of being picked at by birds (a very rare sight anymore, as even crows have the sense to avoid dead humans these days). There's no evidence of a head wound, but the face shows signs of deformities, such as extra, pointed teeth growing in and displacing the original teeth. Father O'Shaughnessy is able to observe that some of these features are similar to what he observed in a few of the sprinters that attacked Jacksonville, and reminiscent of the mutations in the "demon babies." By all appearances, this person died by some means other than a head wound, and did not reanimate upon death.
GM Note: This particular phenomenon deviates from the "War of the Dead" model, but is inspired by the developments in the "Food For Thought" One-Sheet adventure for WOTD.
GM Note: Also, I indicated that Father O'Shaughnessy and "DJ" McCoy would be staying out with the soldiers, narrative-wise. Presumably they'd be helping to move the equipment, and to keep the tarmac free of "roamers."
Showdown on Concourse B
Gary finds an alternative entrance at ground level that leads to a stairwell, which in turn leads up to the main level of Concourse B. There, he and the others stumble upon ... lots and lots of Shamblers. It seems that when the outbreak first manifested back in June of 2012, that happened to coincide with the end of the last A-Kon in Dallas -- and it just so happens that there are several zombified costumed con-goers in the terminal. Several zombie children "play" at the Aquafina Junior Flyers' Club play area (just beyond security), while two uniformed customer service representatives are dormant, having wandered back to their posts after reanimating. Of special concern is that there are a few of what the group has come to term "bloaters" -- shamblers that managed to consume a lot of flesh after turning, to the point where they're nearly bursting, since they don't actually metabolize what they consume. (Ash dubs one of them "Sailor Moon-Pie," as it is dressed in the ill-fitting remains of some sort of "anime character" costume. The sight of this one alone prompts Guts checks all around.)
Despite Ash's and Gary's attempt to sneak over to an airport service cart (or, actually, because of it), the Shamblers soon rise from their torpor, and the air fills with the sounds of "The Moan." Ash somehow gets the motorized cart started, and tries to run down zombies with it, with Gary riding on back, but the thing is so slow (and beeps warningly as it goes) that it comes to a halt right after it knocks down its first zombie and runs into a pile of abandoned luggage -- Ash is dragged off the cart by a horde of the things, as Gary races to chop off zombie heads. Fletch climbs up to a high point atop an arrivals/departures display, and snipes "bloaters" before they can get close enough to be a real threat.
Sabrina and her dog attack nearby zombies, but higher-pitched moans herald the arrival of "sprinters" -- and she takes a desperate gambit to taunt and lure the faster zombies over toward the gate, in the hopes that she can bottleneck them and then get the soldiers outside to concentrate their fire on any that pursue her outside. Fortunately, this "bottleneck" maneuver takes several of the sprinters right past Fletch's position, where he drops a couple of "chemical cocktails" he brought with him from Camp Holiday, catching the sprinters in a dense pack, and decimating their numbers. Just as Gary and Ash manage to extract themselves from the first wave of Shamblers (and see that even more are on the way -- accompanied by the high-pitched cry of at least one "Demon Baby"), they spy the opening created by Fletch and Sabrina. Rather than continuing down the concourse and searching for Gary's "shiny thing," they opt to make a strategic retreat. The group retraces its steps back down the stairs, barricading the door on the way out with a luggage cart.
Regrouping:
They check on the soldiers (Ash acts surprised that they're still alive), and rather than abandoning the search, they opt to take another route into the terminal before the frenzied zombies disperse and resume their roaming. ("Gary, we're going to play the quiet game this time. The first person to make a noise loses, okay?" Ash says. "When is it over?" Gary asks. "When we tell you," Ash replies. Gary seems happy with this, because if they tell him it's over ... obviously that means they lose and he wins!) They sneak through a lower-level luggage-handling area, avoiding about thirty zombies, but then, when going up a set of stairs, Ash stumbles into a trip-wire just as Fletch notices it. The fast-acting archer grabs Ash and yanks him backward, just as an improvised explosive device goes off, nearly deafening everyone, and showering them with fragments. ("You lose!" Gary declares.) They recover, and rush up the stairs (despite the fear of further such traps) so they can get past a door to secure behind them, lest the zombies they just avoided come up from behind. They find other signs of post-outbreak habitation and traps, slay some feral dogs that attack them, and make their way into a barricaded mini-food-court where they find a dozen terrified survivors.
The de-facto leader of the survivors, who introduces himself as Kyle Elliot, is grateful at the intervention of the outsiders, but warns them that they must all leave, and quickly -- "They" have been emboldened by the latest disruptions, and are sure to attack again soon. Before there's much time to explain, an improvised explosive device is tossed over the barricade -- but Gary, displaying remarkably fast reflexes, instinctively catches the device. "TOSS IT BACK!" Fletch shouts, so Gary does so. They hear an expletive shouted out on the other side -- then an explosion. Another device comes over, and Gary somehow repeats the feat, laughing and thinking of this as some sort of game.
After a while, a mocking voice calls out a "chicken call" ("Brock! Brock!") and then taunts the survivors. "Think you're so clever there, do you? But you're only delaying the inevitable!" The unseen speaker goes on a rant, blathering some sort of nonsense about how nature is taking its course, with a few bits about survival of the fittest, the next stage in humanity's evolution, and such -- and the idea is pretty quickly conveyed that these aggressors are cannibals who have started preying upon their fellow survivors in the airport. The rescuers use the delay during the monologue as an opportunity to move the airport survivors over to one side, while Kyle helps roll aside a cart that serves as the "gate" into the barricaded area, and Gary charges through. The fight is intense but brief; although the crazed cannibals have more of a sense of self-preservation than a zombie would, and they're better armed, they're still no match for the battle-hardened survivors from Camp Holiday.
At last, the way is clear, and the remaining airport survivors are led back outside. It takes the remainder of their daylight to get a couple of vehicles operational, but soon they have a small convoy heading out of the airport, making their way westward toward Sanctuary. But first -- the soldiers insist that they find somewhere safe to hole up for the night, away from the airport. Returning to Sanctuary at night is just not an option, the soldiers indicate, as there are THINGS out there, worse than run-of-the-mill "roamers," that only come out at night.