HalfLife2.net Zombie Con - Chapter One "Hotel Corinthian"

[Sloth]

Let the Games Begin!

The other Two GMs will be Jintor and Smoke, if you have any problems just send any of us a PM or get in contact with us through the SC or any other means if you know us well enough. Each GM will have a group that they are in charge of for atleast the start of the Chapter - people may shift around as players move around the building or do other actions.


Nice and Quick How To:


Example: Sloth’s Actions


Grabbing the ledge Sloth swings himself onto the next platform – landing with a slight thud, he scans the area around him for Zeds and slowly stand up.

OOC: Can Be more extensive than this…


GM’s Reply


Sloth attempts to grab the next ledge, however his hands slip on the blood that now cakes them – screaming as he falls with a loud thud onto the pavement below. The hordes soon devour his weak human flesh.

If two players talk to each other – and only talk, no really massive actions, a GM reply is not needed – but one should still type it out all nice and pretty like. Do Not Talk About the RPG out of the RPG none of you have telekinetic abilities in this game…



Ok Here Goes

Sloth’s Group: Koola Mena, Bob Marley, Mikael Grizzly, Insano, Atomic Piggy, Zephos, Sinkoman, Ktimekiller, Joule.

The soft jingle of the elevator tune is soft to the ears – you look around the rest of the elevator and other HL2.netters shift their luggage in their hands. Talking to these guys is somewhat thrilling, meeting many of the guys that you’ve typed to for the past few years in some cases. All ready to dump their luggage in their bed and head down to the main lobby. Anxious, waiting to meet so many people that they partly know.

Sloth and Bob Marley have entered a discussion about the relevance of Kane in the Command and Conquer series, sometimes raising their voice in the excitement. Other of the eight guys in the elevator are talking about god knows what. The lights inside the small box flicker as it reaches the 3rd floor – or so you think. The doors begin to open but fail. You’re stuck half way to the next floor as the emergency lighting casts eerie shadows onto the metallic Hotel Corinthian logo. Closest to the ‘phone’ Sloth reaches for it quickly, holding it to his ear he begins to develop a frown.

“Just a dial tone… Nothing…”

Curently the only Item that you all share is the map of the first floor of the hotel. (http://sloth.dee.googlepages.com/Floorplan-Ground.jpg)

OOC: So we’re half in half out of an elevator what shall we do? At the moment we have no idea that it’s a Zombie outbreak… Do not assume we’re out of the elevator until I’ve posted a reply. Good Luck.

Jintor and Smoke will have their sections up ASAP...

[Koola Mena]

Koola Mena scans the group, noticing different features of the many that surround him in the eerie light. Overcome by the sudden change in his situation Koola Mena notices himself memorising the faces of the determined souls that he stand beside; whilst he quickly pat down the pockets in his jacket and jeans looking for what he had bought with him. Koola Mena finds a pocket knife, a lighter, a packet of smokes, a wallet (with paper and plastic), a V3 cell phone, and a silver chain that he usually have wrapped around my neck.

Koola Mena looks about his group and sighs quietly to himself, glad to be around the members of his favorite online community

[Sloth]

Koola Mena:
Koola's hands move to his neck, his hand grips the silver chain around. His hands quickly flutter from pocket to pocket and he calms down and lets out a small sigh.

OOC: Basically Approved 100%

[Jintor]

Danimal. Numbers. Ennui. Tollbooth. Deathmaster. Anzer. AJ Rimmer. Riomhaire.

The noise is deafening in the main lobby of the Corinthian as music thumps over the heads of the many, many members of HalfLife2.net that have gathered here. Some ply their trade and demonstrate their capabilities in massive games of Battlefield, Counterstrike and (of course) Team Fortress 2 in Exhibit Hall "C". Others duke it out in the combined Exhibit Hall "A" and "B"; a ring of supporters have gathered around Nemisis and CptStern as, meeting for the first time in person, they finally engage in mortal combat. Around the southern side of Exhibit Hall "B" is this specific group of members, clustered around the small stage where Pi demonstrates the great achievements of Dirigible Games.

An asian kid, his nametag reading 'Jintor' is sitting nearby, sketching something on his pad, occasionally looking up to observe the crowd around him and to watch Pi gesture animatedly at the screen. Around him the crowd gazes at the projection on the wall, marvelling at the simplicity of the design, the elegant illusions created, the-

The warm yellow lights flicker, and go out. Immediately screams of outrage are heard from Exhibit Hall "C" as the whine of backup generators becomes appreciably noticeable and dim, whitish-blue lights slowly flicker on. The sound system crackles back into life, the unnaturally calm voice of a pre-recorded emergency tape blaring down upon all.

"Please remain calm in this situation. Do not use the elevators. Please file outside the main lobby in an orderly manner and wait for the emergency services to deal with the situation. Please remain calm in this situation..."

A few members near the exit of exhibit hall "B" jog outside to find out what's going on, some craning to see the fire - but almost immediately they rush back inside the hall, shrieking and swearing. Jintor's the closest to the group, besides the crowd around Stern and Nemesis, and asks one what's going on. He approaches Danimal and the rest, and drops a single word.

"Zombies."

----------------------
GM Notes: Ok dudes, we can assume the crowd acts startled. How are you monkeys going to contain it? Get it to work for you? Rumble with me here. We've got Zombies to ice.

[Danimal]

During the initial cutting out of the main power, Danimal's previously laughed smile cuts to the look of surprise, his eyes dart around the dim light amongst the crowd, incase anything has happened indoors, he talks aimlessly into the silhouettes around him.

"What the ****? What's going on, tell me!"

The crowd doesn't respond. Danimal quickly pats his hand across his front jean pockets, just to make sure nothing is missing in the dim lighting.

Phone... Wallet... Ticket... Thank God.

His mind, quickly, moves onto the current situation.

OK, fire? Break-in? No, no break-in...

He shoves his hands into the front pocket of his sleeveless jumper, they then tremble and shake as he quickly runs his hands through his hair in nervousness - But then stuffs them back in the previous pocket - Obviously distraught. His eyes darting around as the pale yellow lights dance around with his erratic eye movements. His fists clench in anticipation as his eyes catch the fast movement of Jintor approaching, as if he was preparing for an attack.

His ears perk a little as Jintor's voice, with the signs of an asian accent, that are heard above the mumbling and panicked shrieking of the others in the convention room.

Zombies?! Danimal thought, he suddenly lets out an awkward, light chuckle to Jintor.

"Zombies?" He blurts, "There's no such ****ing thing."

Danimal revels in his slight sense of realization, but he glances around the room once more, and it is quickly lost.

((EDIT:

Sorry, Jintor! <3))

[Jintor]

GM Note: I have an Australian accent, thank you very much. But it's slight.

Danimal

Jintor shrugs over his shoulder at the small group of people clustered around the doorway. "Tell them" he says, gesturing. One of them looks up at the sound and looks sheepishly at you - you can't see his nametag, but the look in his eye is... unnerving.

"No such thing? Take a damn look outside if you will, mate. The ****ing walking dead are bloody lurching around outside..." he shudders again. "Shit, man, what the **** are we going to do?"

[Mikael Grizzly]

Mike listened to the Kane conversation during the ride with interest, occassionally smirking at certain... revelations the talkers had. Being a C&C ubergeek did paid off... the worn messenger bag he had on him contained various bits and pieces - a sketchpad, a notebook, book on civil law various pens, a can of Mountain Dew and his MP3 player. The ID and Sony Ericsson K750i were in his belt pouch.

When the elevator stopped...

"Great beginning for a con. Die in an elevator crash."

Upon seeing how Sloth took the phone and said that there's only a dial tone, he begun to feel uneasy... and reaching out to the elevator buttons mashed the "Open Door" button a few times.

[Danimal]

@ Jintor's response.

Danimal places a nervous, shaking hand on Jintor's shoulder, an ironic attempt to calm him.

"It can't be zombies, man, it could be anything! Rioters! Maybe a blood-covered butcher is, like, running a rampage?!"

He tries to let out another chuckle, but his voice is shaking terribly - He turns his head over at the group over at the doorway, his eyes meeting with the untagged member, a bead of sweat running down Danimal's forehead. He turns his body around slowly to meet the position of his head, he dusts himself off unnecessarily in his immense nervousness. He wades through a few people between his first spot and the group at the doorway. The odd looking member hasn't blinked at all during this moment, Danimal clears his throat.

"I heard some, uh... C-Crazy rumours of zombies outside." He lets out another small, awkward, false laugh, the bead of sweat on his forehead has escalated to a layer over his face. The odd member simply tips his head, Danimal stops his laugh, and taking in a deep breath, his eyes taking another dart-around.

"Yeah... They're just rumours." He says, trying to reinforce his first impression on the odd member.

(( I need sleep, see you all later. <3 ))

[Koola Mena]

Koola Mena tenses slightly and places a hand on Mikael Grizzly's shoulder, squeezing gently.

"She's right mate, the emergency backup should kick in soon."

He releases his hand from Grizzly's shoulder and steps back into his place, a look of concern for his elevator partner creasing his caucasian face.

[Rapstah]

(( Just a quick question: why don't I exist?

EDIT: Oh wait, I'm in Smokes group, right?))

[Mikael Grizzly]

Koola:

He looks back, his face (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y209/Grizzly0/MahFace.jpg) bearing a kind of a bewildered expression.

"I guess you're right... so, anyone mind dying in a crash today, eh?"

Yes.

His sense of humour is awkward.

[Bob_Marley]

Slightly annoyed at the sudden interruption to his rather enjoyable conversation, Bob mutters under his breath “What now? Humph.”
With the strap digging in he shifts his rucksack onto his other shoulder. He checked his pockets, finding what he knows to be there, his wallet (with paper, plastic and his swiss card), some change, an ageing mobile, the keys to his car parked at Stansted airport (though still retaining a handy bottle opener on the fob) and a USB stick.

Thinking that staying in a lift when the power’s out he steps foreward to the doors and gives them a testing nudge with his shoulder.

[Ennui]

(responding to Jintor and Danimal)

Ennui coalesces into form, stepping out of the shadows where he had been quietly conversing with a few Halflife2.netters to speak with Jintor and Danimal.

"****ing zombies? Is this a joke, or what?"

He pauses and looks at the other two, then behind him at the silent assembled group standing there. No one says anything. Ennui considers this, then surveys the mass confusion ensuing in the conference rooms and main hall ahead of him, with confused gamers milling about speaking animatedly.

"Well, something weird is going on. Let's see if we can call everyone here together, and figure out what's happening. Anyone seen Pi?"

[AJ Rimmer]

(responding to Ennui)

Rimmer deviates from the rest of the mass of people slowly moving towards the lobby, craning their necks to get a good look at the situation and heads for the small group of people where he saw Jintor earlier. He glances behind him as distinct shouts and noises emerge from the rabble of the exhibit halls. He steps up to the three HL2.netters who've gathered.

"Is it true what they're saying? Does anyone know?"

He nervously surveys the area as if he imagines he could spot a single zombie amidst the hundreds of people there. Ironically he spots Zombieturtle in full Zombie and Headcrab gear and the faint light of false hope appears in him.

"Are we sure this isn't a joke? Some publicity stunt?"

As someone from the lobby screams wildly, that option loses some credibility.

[Evo]

Evo's Actions

Glances round taking in the faces of people he has known in one way or other for what seems like years. Noticing the C&C talk he thinks of what Kane would do in this situation...and realising that Kane is not real fumbles in his pockets. He finds his mobile phone, wallet (containging cards and cash) house keys and a Swiss Army Knife he bought on the way to the hotel. Noticing Bob's efforts with the elevator doors, he taps him on the shoulder and passes him the Army Knife

[Mikael Grizzly]

Smirks at the pocket knife notion.

"Psh-yeah, like it'll do any good... BM should be able to slide the doors open, I think, by himself."

He then looks around in the dim emergenct light. He manages to hear a faint trace of the PA system, too little to make out the words.

"Somebody's on the PA... what, the metrocops arrived?"

[riomhaire]

Riomhaire is very confused about what's going on so he steps up from his computer (Where he was playing as a squad medic in BF2 and an engineer in TF2) and looks around for a familar face. He spots Jintor and goes up to him and ask what's going on.

[TollBooth Willie]

Will looks around wondering "What the Hell is going on?" as he zips his pants up and steps away from the computer. He spots Rim-Job and Jintor and joins them.

[sinkoman]

Sinkoman reaches into his pocket for his keys, and hands full of sweat, desperately fumbles with the ring as he takes the miniature Swiss Army Knife off of them.

He places the knife in his left hand, and quickly shoves the keys back into his right pocket, then places the knife back into his right hand.

His fingernails are gone from biting them in nervousness, so he asks the entire room...

"Can somebody pull the knife out on this for me?"

[Smoke]

Smoke's Group - Rapstah, The Monkey, Dekstar, Ravioli, Seagull, TheAntipop, Darkside , Qonfused.

Even on the 4th floor the sound from the lobby is brain shattering, a thumping bass loop that threatens to shake the foundations.
People are milling about in the hallways. Rapstah and Dekstar are playing a violent game of chicken with pots on their heads, looted from the kitchens.

Darkside can be seen talking to Qonfused who is listening to Nine Inch Nails on his mp3 player, half dilusional in his lucid state and not really paying attention. Turning his head occasionally to feign interest and blurt out phrases along the lines of "lulz" and "sechs".

Other members are seen running between rooms chasing each other with fire extinguishers and assorted desert treats.

TheAntipop and Seagul just finish kicking Evo into the packed elevator for a laugh when the lights suddenly black out.

Silence.

The screaming starts, nobody has a clue what is going on and people begin to panic. The emergency backup generator kicks in and a faint blue glow seeps from the ceiling. Something is happening, nobody knows what until a faint but shrill cry is heard from outside, below.

Everyone rushes to the windows facing the main entrance, dozens of people are on the ground with more surrounding them.

"Probably just a protest, you know how those guys can get." Somebody suggests.

"Are you kidding me? They are ****ing eating each other man! Look at them!" Darkside replies.

The group turns and looks at Darkside, who mutters a single word with a mixture of astonishment and fear.

"Zombies"

(Assume this takes place shortly before the elevator incident, so Evo, you carry on from where you are. Just wanted to set the scene.)

______________________________________________________________________

Ok guys, you are together on the 4th floor, and you have just realised what is happening, You need to think of a plan of action, and fast.

[Evo]

*scratches head* thought i saw myself in Sloth's group o.O

[Smoke]

Nope, The info Sloth gave us says you are with me. I worked it in though. But if you want you should probably ask Sloth if you could switch to him for the elevator thing, or try to regroup with the 4th floor party.

(Oh and sorry I was somewhat late, people)

[Evo]

Nah just thought i read it as me being in Sloth's :O

Will re-think what to do :D

[Insano]

Insano's Actions

Wonders why he had to drink so much the previous night. His headache is killing him. But this isn't the time, he needs to think clearly. When he sees Evo passing Bob his Swiss Army Knife, he steps forward, takes out his own knife and tries helping Bob open the elevator doors.

Insano soon realises that this probably isn't the way to get out. The last time he got stuck in an elevator in Turkey, he manually restarted the elevator engine from inside the cabin. He looks around for a control panel and spots it next to the elevator buttons. Soon he's trying to figure out if he can do it this way.

[Bob_Marley]

Wondering exactly why the Welshman has given his swiss army knife to him, Bob takes it none the less.

Deciding that its worth a go, Bob puts down his rucksack and begins to put more pressure on the doors in the hope they'll give. Noticing that insano is taking what is probobly a rather more sensible approach to getting out of the lift, he decides to continue with his current course of action, but notes he'll end up looking like an arse if it doesn't pay off soon.

[TheAntipop]

In response to Smoke.

Palms pressed against the cold window, Antipop peers down into the mass of heaving bodies floors below, his eyes darting between the figures, trying to make out the source of commotion. On first glance all seems fine, but it soon becomes apparant that there is most certainly something wrong within the crowd. Just metres from the doorway he had entered through not an hour ago, the slim outline of a teenage girl lays sprawled across the floor, surrounded by several others on their knees, frantically digging into her frail body with bloodied hands...

[Sloth]

OOC: Evo's now in my group, still waiting on a few replies before i'll get you out...

[Evo]

:O

Ok Sloth!

Evo's Actions

Whispers in Bob's ears to try using the Army Knife to do open the control panel and mess around in there

[Darkside55]

Fourth floor. Why did they book him on the fourth floor? He'd said staff should be reserved on the lowest level in order to get to the hall fastest. With all the planning and events and panels that were scheduled for the weekend, it made the most sense. But someone put him on the fourth floor. At least the din of the first floor was lessened up here. It never failed to amaze him how noisy conventions could get.

Darkside stood in the hallway with a roller-suitcase at his side, making amiable smalltalk with Smoke, while simultaneously fighting off the embarassment at watching the pot-wearing Dekstar and Rapstah smash into each other like rams. Every time the two collided it let out a tinny clang that echoed down the hallway, making Darkside cringe. Watching some of the other antics going on--running, shouting, a definite misappropriation of fire extinguishers, and a decidedly shocked-looking Evo just getting Sparta-kicked into an elevator--embarassment seemed like it'd be a common feeling this weekend. Fun times on the fourth floor, he mused.

Even above all the noise, Darkside became aware of an increased buzzing overhead. The recessed lighting set into the ceiling was starting to sound like a hive of angry bees when they suddenly clicked off. It isn't dark; it's still daylight and there's a window at the end of the hall. The blackout's more of a curiosity than an inconvenience. A minute ticks by and backup lights kick in, blue and low. Not surprising, he thinks, given all the energy the PCs and electronic devices plugged in downstairs must be using.

Silenced by the sudden loss of main power, everyone on the fourth floor stands around, looking for an explanation, or at least an excuse to go back to their shenanigans. And now in the quiet, another sound cuts through the air: the sound of screaming. Screaming from outside.

Everyone rushes to the windows. The scene below them is a cacophony of motion: bodies surging up the street in waves, meeting with others, seeming to swallow them up. Darkside reaches into the inside pocket of his beat up leather jacket and pulls out his glasses to get a better look.

"Probably just a protest," suggests someone to his left. But Darkside can see clearer now, and it isn't a protest. It's not even a riot; he's seen riots, and riots aren't this bloody. He steels his stomach as he watches people getting grappled, tackled to the ground. Watches as two people grab another by the arms and tug hard in opposite directions. Watches as someone takes a bite. And then he knows, but doesn't want to believe.

"A protest? Are you kidding me? Look." He points to a cluster of bodies as they descend upon their living meal. "They're f*cking eating each other. Zombies." He exhales the word as if trying to breath out something foul.

His arms shake. His mind's racing through scenarios, trying to figure out the logical next step and at the same time being bombarded with daydreams of survival and disaster, and his body's kicking adrenaline through his system to prepare to either fight or flee. His arms are shaking, and he has to will them to stop. Has to will his body to breathe slower.

"Never thought I'd actually see..." he trails off, to no one in particular. He glances down the hallway, notices the elevator lights are off, but he doesn't process what that means outside of elevators: useless. He takes a quick headcount, not really counting but rather making a note of everyone else on the floor; some still watching the scene outside, some looking around nervously, some looking at him.

"Stuff. Rooms. Now," he manages to splurt out. "Put your shit away and grab only what you need right now, then we'll meet back in the hall. Don't close any doors while you're in the room!" he ammends, shouting.

Dashing over to his own room, he slips the keycard through the slot, pushes open the door, and wheels his luggage in. What did I bring in case of a zombie invasion? The thought almost makes him laugh. I can't fight zombies with a toothbrush. He stows his keycard and glasses back into his inner jacket pocket, checks his cellphone--charged, thank God--in one pants pocket, checks the other (money, keys and small, metal box keychain with nothing inside), and steps back out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. The autolock on the door chimes.

Going to have to barricade the area. Going to have to get down to con-level and make sure the building itself hasn't been compromised. Zombies were still on the street, weren't around the building yet. Don't know what I'll do if--he cuts himself off, not wanting to think about it.

Fourth f*cking floor.

[Danimal]

((@ Ennui))

Danimal shudders slightly as Ennui starts speaking behind him, he turns around quickly - Eying Ennui up and down, incase he knew who he was.

He hadn't the faintest clue.

"Maybe we should get to the doors, see what is really going on outside? Maybe we should ask the people who already have?"

Once again, he runs his hands through his hair, taking a deep breath, before shoving them back in his pockets.

[Atomic_Piggy]

Bieng claustrophobic, David immediatly began to panic as soon as the lift stopped. He turns to Sloth "oh why did you convince me to go on this thing" he mutters in a strong british accent, much to the anmusement of his companions. . He settles in a corner and begins to sweat, desperatly trying to keep his panic down, he wanders what the other members are doing.

[Jintor]

GM Notes: Christ, maybe we should have seperated the threads for each group. This is getting dizzy.

Tollbooth, Riomhaire, type what you're saying, type what you're thinking. As though it was a story. If you need examples, Darkseid's is obviously the most standout so far, but Danimal's and most other people's are pretty good too. So look around at those.

You're all wearning name tags though, identifying you via both Username and Real Name. Don't forget that.

All of you aim for Darkseid's quality btw. :D

To All.

A massive amount of shrieking suddenly erupts from the lobby, along with the thuds of something hitting the glass walls. Jintor swears, and rushes out into the Lobby. A small group (including Riomhaire, Ennui, Danimal, Tollbooth, Azner, Numbers, Deathmaster and Rimmer) follows wearily, only to stand amazed in the semi-darkness.

The lights here obviously haven't been wired properly, and only patches of the cold blue-white light remain. Enough for the new entrants into the lobby to see the small group of people who had apparently been clustered around the entrance running, no longer shrieking. One rushes past Jintor, who watches the guy's face as he dashes off - a mask of terror. More scratches and thuds ring out from the darkness as Jintor fumbles in his pocket and produces a pen.

"What're you going to do with that?" someone asks. He stays silent, and twists the cap. Bright light floods from the tip of the pen as he points it towards the walls.

The light reveals the furniture; couches, chairs and bins scattered tastefully across the lobby. It also reveals the crowd of zombies outside, pawing at the sprawled body of a teenage girl. There's nearly two dozen of them, but none have noticed the crowd of people inside the hotel yet.

Ok, one of them has noticed the crowd of people inside the hotel. The Zombie has ceased to hammer fruitlessly at the solid glass wall, and begins to lurch in the direction of the entrance.

[Danimal]

Danimal picks up the pace of his breathing as the penlight reveals the zombies, his face twisting from confusion to a mixture of shock and anger. Before shouting a torrent of profanity, he finds it best to stay quiet. He bites his tounge. His arms begin to shake from the nervousness produced, he places a leg forward and leans in behind Jintor, his voice quivering.

"W-W-What do we do...?"

He scurries back, behind Jintor once again, in fear that he may have caught attention of the Zombies.

[TheAntipop]

In response to Darkside.

Stumbling forward into the dim, box like room, Rory (my name, btw, as saying Antipop is looking quite weird.) hurled the small wheelie bag onto the nearest single person bed and slung his backpack around on it's strap so it was in front of him. Unzipping the two individual compartments, he began frantically pulling out items; a Discworld book landed on the floor with a thud, an MP3 with several batteries rolled across the soft carpet; a CD storage container was thrown aside, sending an assortment of multicoloured music and gaming CD's everywhere. He ran his eyes across the contents of the bag - two bottles of water, a multipack of tissues, a packet of aspirin and a phone.

Reminded of the essential piece of everyday technology, Rory checked his pack pockets to make sure his wallet was still with him. Better to be safe then sorry, he thought as he headed for the door, cramming his phone into his shirts top pocket as he left the room.

[Insano]

Insano's actions

Insano is still trying to figure out what the hell to do with all those cables, and is in need of a second hand to help him. He looks over his shoulder while his eyes scream out for help. The British guy is a big nono.

[Ennui]

Ennui's actions

A wave of paralytic, primal terror sweeps across Ennui, starting at the base of his spine and charging upwards. He stands frozen for a moment, staring dumbfoundedly at the zombies - ZOMBIES - before coming to his senses. ****ing christ, he mutters to himself. What a ridiculous place and time for a zombie apocalypse to happen.

Jintor's penlight illuminates the furniture strewn about the lobby, and Ennui runs to the closest object, a medium-sized side table. "****'s sake, guys," he says, addressing the huddled mass of terrified HL2netters with him, "We've got to get this door barricaded, right the hell now." He begins pushing furniture in the direction of the door, waving at the others to help him.

[Zephos]

Zephos (Assuming we're still in the elevator):

Mindlessly fumbling at the back of the elevator whilst the others work at the door, Zephos found himself trying to keep his mind off what could become of the current situation, being marginally afraid of heights and death. Having just consumed a large amount of fibre rich food stuffs, Zephos' bowel movements allowed him to concentrate on something less life threatening.

"If anyone wonders later, it was me" he proudly announces to the rest of his trapped comrades.

Being in a cramped, now humid space and hearing what sounds like screaming and shouting in the lower floors, the frustration gets to Zephos and he leaps into action. Not possessing a swiss army knife, he pulls out of his (unfortunately) largely vacant trench coat a screwdriver (for his computer tower) and a packet of mentos, which he shares to the rest of the group.

"What can I do to help!?" he inquires.

(I know I changed from past tense to current)

[Sloth]

OOC: Tell our group in character what name you want to go by ok? To All Players - pu what group you're in in bold just to make it easier for Smoke, Jintor and me...

To All of Sloth's Group:

Insano quickly grabs the screwdriver from the hands of Zephos behind him - wedging it in some inner reaching socket. A large clunk is heard as the locking system on the door gives way - Bob and Evo push the doors part of the way free, a thin shaft of light mixing with the blue lights of the lift.

Sloth quickly picks up hopes, looking eager to get out - Zephos is seen grinning with the him.

"Now all we have to do is get out half way to the next floor eh?" Sloth's random comment tried at some humor but failed. Outside the dull PA can be heard broadcasting on loop:

"Please remain calm in this situation. Do not use the elevators. Please file outside the main lobby in an orderly manner and wait for the emergency services to deal with the situation. Please remain calm in this situation..."

Inside the box the humor of Sloth quickly wore off - turning to Evo he said two word
"Beffing Hell!"

[AJ Rimmer]

Jintor's group
To Ennui:

Rimmer keeps following Jintor's penlight as it wanders across the lobby and stares in disbelief at the whole scene. Ennui keeps shoving furniture towards the door and some of the others are helping and he finally joins in.

"How long do you think it will take for them to notice us?" Rimmer ask someone as they help push a sofa up against the doors.

[Danimal]

((Jintor's Group, @ Ennui))

Snapping into the realisation that Ennui was right, Danimal calms his breathing, quickly searches for a piece of furniture, and grasps the front legs of a wooden chair, raising it chest-level. He simply nods to Ennui in acknowledgment of his idea, but shortly after, he attempts a series of complicated hand gestures while trying to be as silent as possible, suggesting they attack the zombies with aforementioned pieces of furniture.

[Mikael Grizzly]

Mike looks around the elevator. He's eager to get out, but Dave sits there helplessly and it just wouldn't be... humane to live him a blabbering, British mess like that.

"Check the upper doors if they can open. Better use the top ones. Always."

Suddenly, he hears the PA in full... now this is unsettling.

"Uh-oh. Let's get the hell out of here, now. Sloth, slide those doors open, *please*."

His voice bears a slight trace of nervousness.

[Jintor]

GM Note: Zombies are not actually inside the building at this moment. Only one zombie has noticed anyone inside the hotel at present. The nearly two-dozen zombies outside, apart from that single zombie, are too busy with their... snack.

[Koola Mena]

SLOTH'S GROUP
-TO SLOTH

Koola Mena slowly crosses the elevator, careful to avoid shaking the lift and causing the group to plummet to their deaths.

Without much haste he joins his leader, Sloth, in his crusade with the screwdriver and pivots his arms in the gap in the upper outside elevator doors; being careful to use his body mechanics to create a bar in case the doors suddenly snap shut on them both.

Koola Mena feels he can hold the doors open with a long time, but with a vein throbbing in his temple*, he turns red-faced to the group and says:

"Come on guys, give us a hand here!"


*=(apparantly i have one whenever i exert myself, had it since i was 19 :()

[Smoke]

Smoke's group.

To all.

The group, spirred to action by Darkside's commanding tone run to their rooms. Suddenly above the foul screams below another sound drones up the stairs, scrambling feet and panicked shouting.

As one the group nervously peers from their respective rooms, fearing the worst, a horde of undead on the 4th floor.

"We're ****ed" Ravioli whispers to himself.

"Quiet, it could just be people" Dekstar breathes back to him.

The Monkey quickly rushes towards the stairwell door and flips the lock.


"It's wood, won't hold long!" He yells over the din.


Qonfused and The Antipop quickly rush to his aid, pushing against the door with all their strength, but the press of bodies from behind it is overwhelming.

Rapstah starts to suggest something, but is cut off as the stairwell door bursts open and a stream of hysterical people erupts forth, spilling into the hall.

The frantically moving mass of bodies pours into the darkened passage until it becomes clear that they are simply fleeing in terror, probably thinking that being higher in the building will prove safer.

The hall quickly becomes packed, if these people don't stop panicking like startled sheep then somebody is going to get trampled in the fray.

[Rapstah]

Rapstah's actions
Rapstah lets out a frightened sound and grabs a pipe in the ceiling in a atttempt to not be run over.

[Smoke]

To Rapstah

The surge of people quickly rushes under him as he grips the ceiling pipe in desperation.

He hears something, he doesn't know what until he glances upward and spots the cracks appearing near the pipe supports.

"Fu-" He manages to blurt before falling into the surge of bodies.

GM Note - Think about where you are, guys. There are no random pipes sticking from the ceiling in hotels. Maintenence passages and water storage, places like that have pipes. I worked it in this time but just take a moment to think.

[Jintor]

Also To Rapstah:

The pain is agonising.

[Darkside55]

Smoke's group

He was thinking. Thinking and pacing, back and forth in front of his door. The movement helped distract his body while his mind worked.

The rest of the fourth floor occupants are finishing up; Antipop* and Smoke were out fastest, followed by Qonfused. Ravioli, Rapstah, Dekstar and Monkey are still in their rooms.

Darkside doesn't look up, doesn't nod or acknowledge anyone else in the hall. He is still pacing, still thinking. He needs to plan, to prepare mentally before acting. In a situation like this, he doesn't want to leave anything out, so he goes over the details in his head again and again. No sense talking until the rest of the group is out anyway.

His focus is jarred by a sudden clamor. A bang: the slamming of a door. Then shouting, and the pounding of feet, just behind the wall of the hallway. Coming closer. Coming up.

Heads whip around as a single unit. Those in their rooms lean out, while those in the hallway stand fixed to the spot, and all eyes are on the stairwell door.

Ravioli and Dekstar are talking. Darkside doesn't hear the words. It can't be zombies, he silently prays. They were too far away to be this close; they're moving to fast to be this close. It can't be the zombies. Not yet. A strange mix of fear and anger grips him as he repeats those words to himself. Not yet. Not yet. It can't be them yet.

A second passes and the sound grows louder. Darkside steadies himself once again and is about to bark out an order to retreat to the rooms at the end of the hall when Monkey suddenly darts out from his room, rushes to the door, and flips the simple lock. It's quick thinking that Darkside only has a moment to admire before the heavy sound of footsteps becomes the sound of wood being pounded on by fists and feet and shoulders. The crowd in the hall, zombies or elsewise, were trying to break in. Break into the fourth floor? Darkside was incredulous. There's higher floors than this! What are they trying to do?!

"It's wood, it won't hold long!" Monkey braces his body against the door, trying to get some leverage against the mob. Qonfused and Antipop dash forward and put their own bodies into it, propping up the door with backs and shoulders, feet digging into tacky hotel carpet.

It all happens in the space of a single breath: the door gives, the trio is thrown against the opposite wall, and a mass of people surge into the hallway like a river bursting through a dam. People, not zombies. It's a minor relief.

He doesn't think it'll work. It's spur of the moment, and he knows his spur of the moment plans don't always work out how they should. But it's all he can do.

"ZOMBIES! THERE ARE ZOMBIES ON THIS FLOOR!" He screams at the top of his lungs, filling them with as much panic and terror as he can feign. "GET HIGHER, GET HIGHER!" Grabbing the discarded pots Rapstah and Dekstar were wearing off the floor, he bangs them together frantically, remembering how the sound carries over the hall. He hopes it will reach people behind those on the fourth floor, those still on the stairs. Hopes that the noise will cut through their screaming and panic, so he can induce some of his own.

"GET HIGHER!"




*OOC: Antipop, if you want me to call you Rory instead, let me know in-character. Until then I'm gonna call you "Anti" when I speak to you. Same goes for anyone else. You can ask me for my name too, or call me Andre if you read it off my tag.

[TheAntipop]

(Alright then, I'll wait for the right time.)

In response to Darkside/Smoke's group

Antipop collided side on with the wall, stumbling to his knees at the sudden pain in his shoulder. He straightens up just moments before the first wave of people bustle past, punching and kicking in their desperate attempt for an exit beyond the cramped confines of the stairway.

''ZOMBIES! THERE ARE ZOMBIES ON THIS FLOOR!'' he hears someone crying out from behind the surge of people. His next few words are drowned out by the hysterical screams of a woman stopping as she hears the same shouted announcement, and then turning back into the stairway, pushing herself against the crowd streaming into the hallway. As she moves, she gibbers helplessly at the oncoming surge, until more people are turning with her, echoing her words.

''Get higher!'', they scream and shout as the crowd begins to retreat back to the stairway.

[dekstar]

Smoke's Group
Dekstar, who was peering out the door to his room, was about to go help, when he saw the door give way to a crowd of people. Quickly deciding he didn't want to get trampled, he lunged back into his doorway, leaving the door wide open for signs of the stampede slowing down. He quickly gets to his knees and crawls to his backpack sitting on his bed, so he can find some items that might help him. Unfortunately, he hadn't thought of a mass zombie attack, so he didn't bring any weapons.

Dekstar could hear Darkside smashing the pots together in the hallway, trying to make some semblance of calm in the noise, but he knows it won't work.

At the first sign of a gap in the rush, Dekstar runs out into the hallway to look for his friends. He sees TheAntipop propped up against a wall, clutching his shoulder.
"That's going to leave a bruise" noted Dekstar, lightly prying theAntipop away from the dent he made in the thin plasterboard wall. Dekstar says he is going to look for helpful items, and goes back to the room.
In there, he sees a mini-bar. Thinking the hotel might be more concerned with the zombies than his hotel bill, he opens the door and takes out a couple of bottles of whatever alcohol he can find. He takes it back to TheAntipop.

"Here, Theantipop, I got a few drinks. Drink one to numb the pain, and the rest can be held against your shoulder to help the bruising." He says, handing his fallen comrade the bottles.

[Smoke]

Smoke's Group

Darkside's quick thinking pays off. The stampede promptly halts and turns around, heading for the higher floors under the belief that the 4th is no longer safe. Indeed, many in the crowd panic anew upon hearing the fatal word.

Zombies.

Some lose footing climbing the stairs, and more are simply shoved aside in the press. One unfortunate security guard is pushed over the railing and frantically tries to reach for the bar - to no avail. He plummets with a scream and lands 4 floors down, atop a group just starting the climb up the stairs.

As the last of the mob acends the stairs, the rooms lining the 4th floor fall quiet.

"Thanks" TheAntipop manages to pant, after being crushed into the wall when the lock gave way.

"Don't mention it" Dekstar replies.

Qonfused and Rapstah can be seen groping the wall for support, climbing to their feet after similarly being crushed against the wall.

Seagull, The Monkey , Ravioli and Darkside help the others rise and look at each other expectantly. As if waiting for a plan.

[Rapstah]

Rapstahs actions
Rapstah looks at a nearby vending machine and touches the spare change in his pocket. Is there time for a snack?

(( And you called me Raptsah. ))

[Smoke]

Smoke's Group

Rapstah shuffles his feet over to the vending machine. He looks for a second before depositing his change and punching in the numbers 036 for a twix.

The machine does nothing. Cursing, he comes to his senses and realises that the power is out. He gives the machine a vicious kick before walking away.

As he walks back to the others he hears a click, then a clump.

Turning, he spots a twix lying in the collection tray.

"I'll be damned" he mutters, before walking back to the group, who are still looking eagerly for a plan of action.

GM Notes - There wasn't actually a vending machine there, but I can work it in as it fits nicley. For simplicities sake I think we should not assume things like vending machines and other large items are there unless they actually would be or are specified by the GM's. But having said that, I know quite a few hotels have vending machines in the halls. But you get my point. Right? I'm not trying to bash on you Rapstah, I hope you have fun playing this, just keep within reason.

[Ennui]

Jintor's Group

In response to Danimal

Ennui nods back solemnly at Danimal, who is helping barricade the front door - luckily no zombies got through before it was reinforced with a steadily-growing pile of heavy, ornate furniture. Danimal makes some kind of complicated hand gesture that Ennui doesn't quite understand, but assumes to be related to bashing zombies as Danimal is holding a hefty chair leg fragment in his hand.

"That's the idea, I think, Danimal. If they get through, we're going to have to do whatever we can to repel them."

He trots back over to the loosely assembled group in the lobby. "Alright, guys. I think we've got the front door pretty well barricaded for now. Did anyone notice any other doors on the ground level? Also, we need to get as many people together as we can and figure things out. If one of those things gets in here, we're f*cked."

[Atomic_Piggy]

Sloths group:

David, knowing he is no use just sitting around, gets up. However, he is not careful (fear and that shit) and his steps are so hard the elevator shakes and groans as everyone falls to their feet. Nobody moves. Who knows how thin the cable is. The slightest move could kill everyone.

[dekstar]

Smoke's Group:
Dekstar's Actions
Trying to fill the void of silence that occurred after the horde of hotel guests had left for the 5th floor, Dekstar suggests the group barricade themselves into their bedroom, blocking the door as best they could with beds and other objects.
"That vending machine would be good, but I think it's screwed to the floor. We could just use things in the room. I saw loads of small snacks in the mini-fridge, which we could survive on for a while. But I bagsy not paying the bill!"

[The Monkey]

Smoke's Group

The Monkey is surprised over his own quick thought at the door incident. When he saw the zombies for the first time just a couple of minutes ago, his heart failed. Here he was, in a city far away from his home, and with people that he in most cases didn't even know the real name of before coming here. The decision to go on this trip had been a hard one, and at that very instant he thought he would collapse right beside the window due to terror and shock.

But then something kicking in in his head, some form of basic instinct. He knew that he needed to get his shit together and start thinking straight if he was, and others, were to survive. He followed the man who was known as Darkside's example and went to his room.

He had barely begun to think out what to do when a loud noise grows stronger from the hallway. To his own surprise, he rushes out of the room and locks the door to the hallway. He realizes that this won't hold out whoever is on the other side out for long, so he throws himself at the door. Qonfused and Antipop come to his assistance. They don't manage to hold on for long though, and the mass of people swarm in. He barely manages to avoid getting crushed by jumping away from the entrance in the last moment. The people, whom The Monkey soon realizes aren't zombies, consist mostly of staff members and non-hl2.net members (although he believes he saw Lemonking for a brief moment in the scared crows). After the smart move by Darkside, the crowd slowly empties the floor under chaotic forms, and silence is again present among the handful of hl2.net members.

@ dekstar
"I believe we should find a larger room, perhaps a conference room to barricade", The Monkey says. "We also need to find more people. The eight of us won't hold off the zombies for long. An idea would be to find where they transmit that emergency signal from and change the message. That way we can organize everyone in this hotel. We also need to find weapons; perhaps the security staff's storage room?"

[riomhaire]

Jintor’s Group - [suggestion: Perhaps the groups should be colour-coded for so that you can find the posts about your group very quickly?]

*after helping barricade*

"Alright, guys. I think we've got the front door pretty well barricaded for now. Did anyone notice any other doors on the ground level? Also, we need to get as many people together as we can and figure things out. If one of those things gets in here, we're f*cked."

*thinks for a moment*

"Yeah. We need to make sure there’s no way for those things to get in. But we need an escape route too. Maybe we can climb out a window from one of the upper floors and find a way to get down, or to another building, without getting in the middle of those things.

"We could bring all the furniture from a few floors up out into the hallway so we can quickly barricade the stairs, if we need to retreat up there. I recommend leaving a good bit of supplies up there too, in case of such an emergency.

"Does this place have fire axes? They could be useful. Also, we’re all going to need towels. Who wants to help me find a supply closet for some?

"Hey. I just realised: ****ING ZOMBIES! JESUS CHRIST!"


[also, Jin. I did basicly type what I was asking, I just didn't put it in an exact quote, which I should have. I sowwy]

[TheAntipop]

In response to dekstar and The Monkey/Smoke's group.

Stashing the small bottle of foul smelling liquid into the side pouch of his shoulder bag, Antipop peered around the doorway that lead to the stairwell. Making his way over to the rail and looking down, he could see the crumpled figure of the security guards broken body sprawled across the floor, a pool of blood slowly forming around his lifeless face.

As a few stragglers make there way up from the ground floor, something else catches Antipop's eye - there, several flights down, discarded upon a step close to the railing further down from the 4th floor, was the unmistakable outline of a small, hand held radio. The guard must of dropped it during his fall... Antipop thought, gripping the railing tight as he leaned over further to cast a better sight of the object...

Snapping out of his thoughts, he turns back to the corridor, listening in on Monkey's and Dekstar's conversation.

"I believe we should find a larger room, perhaps a conference room to barricade. We also need to find more people. The eight of us won't hold off the zombies for long. An idea would be to find where they transmit that emergency signal from and change the message. That way we can organize everyone in this hotel. We also need to find weapons; perhaps the security staff's storage room?"

''I agree,'' Antipop said, nodding to the both of them, ''but I dunno about you guys, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind knowing what the feth is going on downstairs before we start limiting ourself to the fourth floor - our exits are pretty limited up here.''

[Sloth]

GM Note: My group bold and red things ok?


In reply to Atomic Piggy:
David is given some inner push, the hope of escape from this metal prison hanging by metallic cabling. His quick actions begin to move the box - the door locking now being unstable. The rest of the group try to remain still - Insano and Bob start to put their strength into the mix, helping those at the door to pry it open a little bit more.

It gives a little jerk and the door slides open almost to its full. The opening lies at about chest height and is just enough for the people inside to squeeze out.

[dekstar]

Smoke's group:
In response to TheAntipop
"If only we had some sort of shield we could use to make our way down the stairs. If there is a threat, then the shield might give us some crucial time to retreat. Let's assume it is zombies we're dealing with. If they're slow, we could hold something like a door to make a blockade between us and the zombies. Anyone got a screwdriver so we can unhinge a door?"

[Qonfused]

Qonfused: "I grabbed one earlier... I thought it would be useful."

[TollBooth Willie]

Jintor's Group

In response to Rim-Job:

"I'll help you look for some fire axes, but I think I left a towel by one of the comouters somewhere. Someone else will have to bring the furniture down in the meantime."

[Smoke]

Gm Note: Anyone in my group, Navy blue.

Also, guys. If you are "given" an item or pick an item up, assume you have that item until you discard it/put it down/lose it in one way or another. So if you pick up a screwdriver, I am going to assume you are either holding it or storing it on you somewhere. mmk?

Smoke's Group:

As Qonfused and Dekstar unscrew the hinges on the door, the others wait anxiously. Many of them eager to get downstairs and see what is going on, but not too eager to do so before the makeshift shield is prepared.

The sounds of muffled screams and shouting can still be heard echoing up and down the stairwell, accompanied by the insistent tcheet of the screwdriver against the door frame.

Rapstah munches nervously on a twix.

Qonfused stops working on the door and starts laughing to himself.

"What is it?" The others ask in unison.

"I just thought, this could be an epic prank." Qonfused chuckles.

"I don't think so man, that girl outside sure as hell wasn't laughing" Darkside remarks.

Qonfused sobers at that, and turns back to his work.

Minutes later the door is off it's hinges, Ravioli picks it up in a wide embrace, and shuffles towards the stairwell entrance.

Seagull quickly jogs over to the fallen ceiling pipe Rapstah had held onto during the stampede. He peers up, nothing is coming from the rough pipe ends still in place, must be an old feature still unremoved.

As he scoops it up and heads to towards the others, they are each reminded of their apparent lack of weaponry.

"Better get ready" he states.

It's time to go downstairs.

[Darkside55]

Smoke's group

"That worked? Holy shit, that actually worked?" Darkside couldn't supress a mirthful huff. As he watched the panic-stricken crowd echo his shouts of "Zombies! Get higher," he moved to the doorway to get a better look at the human herd pushing, shoving, and crawling over each other to get to safety. People were being bounced around as if they were caught in rapids. One poor soul, a security guard standing too close to the railing, was jostled by a sudden push of people and toppled over the bar. He let out one piteous scream of surprise before thudding on top of another mass of bodies at the bottom of the stairwell. They began to panic appropriately and scattered in all directions.

Darkside turns his attention away. Antipop is slumped against the wall, nursing his wounds with a bottle of alchohol. Dekstar stands over him; they exchange a few short words of thanks. Qonfused and Rapstah recline nearby, looking shaken and weary but not badly bruised. The rest of the group, Darkside included, offer them a hand to steady themselves.

The commotion starting to fade, everyone takes a moment of respite. Rapstah heads over to a vending machine for a snack; a moment later he's kicking it. Something thunks onto the metal drawer. "I'll be damned."

"We should set up a barricade," suggests Dekstar, breaking the expectant silence. "That vending machine would be good, but I think it's screwed to the floor. We could just use things in the room. I saw loads of small snacks in the mini-fridge, which we could survive on for a while. But I bagsy not paying the bill!"

Darkside considered asking him what "bagsy" meant, but dismissed it.

"I believe we should find a larger room, perhaps a conference room to barricade", The Monkey says. Darkside can't help notice he looks a little more shaken than the rest of the group, but he was well entitled to it after his fast action with the door. Shaken as he was, Darkside thought he glimpsed some pride there.
"We also need to find more people. The eight of us won't hold off the zombies for long. An idea would be to find where they transmit that emergency signal from and change the message. That way we can organize everyone in this hotel. We also need to find weapons; perhaps the security staff's storage room?"

"I agree," Antipop said, nodding to the both of them, "but I dunno about you guys, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind knowing what the feth is going on downstairs before we start limiting ourself to the fourth floor - our exits are pretty limited up here."

"Indeed," concurs Darkside. "That's an excellent idea, Monkey, and as Anti says we need to get off this floor. I have no intentions of boarding myself up in a tiny hallway. We need to get downstairs, we need to secure some more survivors--although I personally don't think we need any more in our group; more people slows you down--and then we need to get on that PA system. The poor bastard who fell earlier will have a security key on him; let's get it."

Dekstar nods in agreement. "If only we had some sort of shield we could use to make our way down the stairs. If there is a threat, then the shield might give us some crucial time to retreat. Let's assume it is zombies we're dealing with. If they're slow, we could hold something like a door to make a blockade between us and the zombies. Anyone got a screwdriver so we can unhinge a door?"

"I grabbed one earlier," Qonfused offers. "I thought it would be useful."

The group stands around as Dekstar and Qonfused go to work on the door. After a moment of work, Qonfused laughs. "I just thought," he says, "this would make an epic prank."

"I don't think so. That girl outside sure as hell wasn't laughing." Darkside's words are heavy. He realizes the mistake at once. "And don't say epic," he says, attempting a smile. "You know how I feel about that on the forums."

He doesn't wait to see whether the mood lifts. He wanted to keep some levity among the group, but there were far more important things happening right now. That needed to happen. Visualizing in his head again, Darkside plots their travel down the stairwell to the first floor. From his jacket's left pocket, he pulls out the folded map everyone was given with their con packages (which included their badges and some Half-Life-themed swag). He smiles internally; if ever there was a need for his ability to commit a map to memory, and to mentally map new areas, it was now. It only covers the ground floor, but he knows from the position of the stairs marked on the map the stairwell here will take them down to the secondary lobby, near Exhibit Hall C. Past reception and administration--where the PA system was likely housed--there was the storage area. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to travel far, and they would not have to cross the main lobby. We can probably get a good view of the situation outside from where we'll be, though.

A light thump brings Darkside out of his reverie. The door's off its hinges; Ravioli moves forward to grab the thing and settle into position in front of the doorway. At the same time, Seagull moves to the wall where an old exposed pipe fixture lay discarded on the floor. He picks it up, hefts it in his hands, and grips it like a baseball bat.

That's a good idea. Searching the floor himself, Darkside spies one of the fire extinguishers people were playing with earlier. It might be out of charge, he muses, but that's somewhat useless anyway. It will, however, make for a good blunt-force weapon. Grabbing the red cylinder by the nozzle, he flips it over, so that the butt is facing up, brandished like a cudgel.

"Better get ready," Seagull states.

Darkside moves closer to the doorway. "Indeed. Let's stay tight, take it slow, and last person out keep your eyes behind. Make sure that damn crowd doesn't decide it'd fare better coming down the stairs." He pauses. "Stay frosty."

There's that attempt at levity again. Always wanted to say something like that.

[Jintor]

GM Notes: Go Indigo, peoples.

Jintor's Group

The few members left in the lobby are too busy piling up the furniture to notice many of the other members stampeding upstairs. By the time the door is completely blocked with ornate sofas and antique desks, the small group is alone in the lobby. The mechanically-calm voice blares out over them, looping over and over and over...

"Hey, I just realised - ****ING ZOMBIES! JESUS CHRIST!" yells Riomhaire, suddenly. The voice rings out through the lobby, producing weird echoes in the half-light. The thud-thud-thud of the zombie trying to get through the barricade suddenly increases in tempo, thud-thud-thud thud-thud-thud thud-thud-thud, and it becomes abvious another zombie has stopped... eating someone... and begun to paw at the barricade instead.

Jintor follows the conversation, and interjects. "Tollboth, this sure as hell is not the time to be worried about towels. Doors on the ground level... doors on the ground level? Wouldn't there be like... fire-escape doors or something?"

Another pair of hands is added to the din on the door, scabbling and scratching. Jintor shivers. "Someone go look for the axes, and check for other doors..."

[Mikael Grizzly]

Slothy-baby's group:

Mike lays his hand on Dave's arm and calmly says:

"Piglet, you're gonna get us all killed. Now slowly walk to the doors and get the **** out, ok? Then help the others get out."

The public announcement is getting more and more unnerving, especially in this situation... Mike tries to remain calm and still, but it's made hard by the perspective of having a one way trip to the basement and the rocking lift.

He looks around, then gives Piggy a nudge.

[Danimal]

((Jintor's Group))

He nods slowly in understanding to Ennui's idea, he places the chair atop the piled barricade, quickly scurrying back to the group - Rather paranoid of zombies breaking in. He folds his arms together in an attempt to calm their shaking.

"We shoudn't stay here, should we? Perhaps we should meet up with the others... If there are others?

[Zephos]

Sloth's Group

Believing the best course of action in an elevator that is perilously close to falling is to exit immediately, Zephos grabs onto the ledge and inchs his way out of the cramped confinement.

Turning around to offer others a hand, an odd feeling comes over him as he contemplates on just how close he was to death. No matter, relived to be out of the death trap, he quietly thinks that that was enough excitement for one day.

[Azner]

Jins Group

As the thudding of the zombies mawing at the barricade get much louder and faster in pace, a tear drops from Azner's eye as he knows he is small and can do nothing to help. He rummages though his bag to find something sharp, "Sh*t, nothing, cmon cmon, he mumbles as he looks harder. He only finds a PSP(with wireless connection), And extra tee and a full bottle of deodorant and decides to follow the last thing jintor said, to find fire axes.

(Yeah i know, cheesy. Btw what country are we in?

[Evo]

Sloth's Group - Evo's Actions

Evo waits for everyone else to climb out of the lift giving Mikael a push to hurry him out, then after checking nobody left anything in the lift, Evo climbs out.

[15357]

Jintor's Group

Numbers stands still, dual Enforcer batons at the ready. He tries to be calm, although his knees are shaking.

"I agree with Danimal. We should look for the others.... any others..... Ah ****. Anybody have a cell phone?"

[Bob_Marley]

Sloth's group - Bob's actions

Having hauled himself out of the lift, Bob checks to see everyone is out and OK then grabs his rucksack and slings it over his left shoulder. He scans the corridor the group now finds themselves in.

"Guess we'd better find the stairs."

With that he pokes evo and sets off down the hall.

[Evo]

Sloth's Group - Evo's Reaction to Bob

Evo pokes Bob back and asks him to return the Army Knife.

[Bob_Marley]

"right, right... here you go."

Bob hands the swiss army knife back to evo.

[TheAntipop]

In response to Smoke's group

Antipop took his place in the formation just behind Darkside. Considering that both he and Seagul had two weapon-like objects, and because there was nothing else in reach that could be used as such, it was for the best that they were up front, right behind the 'shield' in the likely event of anything happening.

The group slowly descended down the first flight of stairs, following closely behind the large, rectangular object that lead them downwards. They moved slowly, giving Ravioli time and space to shift the doorway from step to step, clutching the side with his left hand and the doorknob with his right. As they reached the third floor Antipop tapped Darkside on the shoulder and pointed down through the open space that seperated each flight of stairs towards the radio he had seen earlier.

''Could be useful.''

[Jintor]

GM Notes: You do realise a stampeding herd of members just headed upstairs, right?

[TheAntipop]

(( Please Use OOC tags for such discussion )) ((We need to sort out some sort of time monitor, then, because a few paragraphs back we just got rid of a huge stampeding crowd of people. Unless theres a new batch of people heading upstairs, then we've already sorted it out. But like I said, we should sort out some sort of clock for each group, perhaps?))

[Smoke]

OOC - Yeah Jin, read back a bit. The crowd I threw at them was easily taken care of, keep up me lad!

[Jintor]

GM Notes: I'm talking to my team - they're talking about 'if anyone else is alive' when a whole bunch of dudes just stampeded upstairs. A little silly, imho.

[Darkside55]

Smoke's group

Darkside did not care for being behind the door. It was a combination of things: limited visibility, limited mobility. The damn thing was slowing them down and he knew it would hurt more than help if zombies came. But he kept quiet because for one, he rationalized, there aren't any zombies. For two, it might actually help against a crowd of regular people--although of this he wasn't sure--and three, it's helping to keep everyone calm. Just the thought of some kind of protection.

As the group descends, he feels a tap on his shoulder. Darkside looks back to see Antipop pointing through the railing. A small, solid-looking black rectangle lay discarded on one of the landings below. The security guard's radio.

"Could be useful," Antipop says.

Darkside nods. "Police radio. Should still be tuned in to the hotel's security frequency. Those'll come in real handy; we can key in to the rest of security, and on top of that they'll be useful throughout the hotel if we can get ahold of a few more. They've got a radius of five miles on them." The group continues to move. "I have a friend who was with the local police," he comments, before anyone can ask how he knows about the specifics of a police radio. "He has a few that we use to keep in touch over large areas. Like conventions." Darkside chuckles.

"Let's take a break when we reach it. It'll give Ravioli some time to recupe, and we can monitor the channels to see if there's anything important. I don't want to be moving with that thing on just yet, and I definately don't want to turn it on on the first floor, just in case there are zombies."

[Sloth]

GM Note: Will have a massive one up in the morning, don't go anywhere my guys - you're only out of the lift, time for me to set the scene again.

[Ennui]

Jintor's Group

"Is the downstairs all barricaded for the moment? We should head upstairs and try to organize a little bit with the others. I get the feeling that some of them are panicking, and we stand a much better chance if we're all together."

[The Monkey]

Smoke's group
As the group rested on the third floor, and Darkside was working with the radio, the now far too familiar noise of footsteps reached them from the lower floors. Before anybody had time to react, a large group of people appeared from the stairs. While most of them continued upwards without paying much attention to the small group and the dead guard, one stopped and looked confused.

- Why don't go upwards? he asked.
- We need to find weapons and ways to organize the group. Are there anyone left down there? The Monkey replied.
- Yeah, a bunch of people are trying to block off the entrance, but mark my words, it won't work.
- Yeah OK. There are a bunch of people upstairs already. I don't know on which floor, but seeing as they were in panic, I'd say they won't stop until they've reached the roof. We'll catch up with you when we're done down there.

[[OFF GAME: How mny floors did we say the hotel has?]]

[Smoke]

Gm Note - It may sound silly, but assume you don't know yet. The plan for the hotel is still being made but we have a general idea of how it looks. (Hurry Jintor!) And some of you will be privy to this info, to share with the others.

Also, make it easier for us guys. In some of your posts (Not all, some) players are dictating events outside of their control, such as people running up the stairs or items randomly appearing. This is the Gm's role, you are the player, we are the npc's, the world and everything in it. You of course can influence things to a degree as you rightly should be able to do so. But remember you only have control over yourself.

I don't want to sound like an ass, but the whole point of the Gm is to fufill this role, if you do it yourself, we become obsolete D:

[AJ Rimmer]

Jintor's group @ Ennui

"What if we get trapped up there?"
*thinks for a moment*
"On the other hand, there are beds up there, showers... would make for a better place to hold out. Plus, there's probably some alcohol left in the minibars."

[Ennui]

Jintor's Group
@ Rimmer

"We'll need to head up there anyway, and I'd rather be trapped up there than dead down here. You have a good point with the alcohol bit, too... let's go snag some before it all gets taken."

[The Monkey]

Also, make it easier for us guys. In some of your posts (Not all, some) players are dictating events outside of their control, such as people running up the stairs or items randomly appearing. This is the Gm's role, you are the player, we are the npc's, the world and everything in it. You of course can influence things to a degree as you rightly should be able to do so. But remember you only have control over yourself.

I don't want to sound like an ass, but the whole point of the Gm is to fufill this role, if you do it yourself, we become obsolete D:
OFF-GAME - The people in my post were the ones mentioned by Jintor in post #66. I didn't make them up myself.

[Darkside55]

Smoke's group

The group--which Darkside had internally started referring to as 'Team 4,' after the fourth floor--were catching a breather just outside the third floor. Ravioli propped the door and himself against the wall; most of the team followed his lead. Seagull was still on alert brandishing his pipe. Darkside had set the fire extinguisher down to fiddle with the radio, tuning the dials, trying to tap into one of the main security channels.

The quickening sound of footsteps echoes from below. Team 4 jerks into motion as a unit, trying to defend themselves from whatever new threat is coming, but they're too late--they're immediately set upon by a group of nervous-looking con-goers. As everyone in the stairway breathes a collective sigh of relief, one of the newcomers looks past Team 4. "Why don't we go upward," he asks.

"We need to find weapons and ways to organize the group. Are there anyone left down there?" Monkey counter-asks.

"Yeah, a bunch of people are trying to block off the entrance, but mark my words, it won't work." Darkside's ears perk up at this new development, and he files it away.

"Yeah, okay." Monkey explains the previous encounter to the newcomers, and instructs them to head to the roof.

Darkside pays them no attention as they pass up the stairs. He's already tapped into a main channel, but now comes the task of finding the subchannel frequency--and there are thirty-six of those to browse through.

Provided one is even live.

[Atomic_Piggy]

OOC: Darkside you are ****ing pwnt.

[DEATHMASTER]

Jintor's group
"I think we should head up, maybe make a signal fire on the roof. If we somehow make it to the ground, we need a car..."

[TheAntipop]

Also, make it easier for us guys. In some of your posts (Not all, some) players are dictating events outside of their control, such as people running up the stairs or items randomly appearing. This is the Gm's role, you are the player, we are the npc's, the world and everything in it. You of course can influence things to a degree as you rightly should be able to do so. But remember you only have control over yourself.

I don't want to sound like an ass, but the whole point of the Gm is to fufill this role, if you do it yourself, we become obsolete D:

((OCC: Yeah I kind of got a little sucked into it when I introduced the radio, my bad. I'll reply back to our group later, gotta go))

[riomhaire]

Jinny's Group
"I don't like the idea of completely abandoning the ground floor, guys. This is where all our PCs are! And Jin, in a situation like this, you always need your towel. I'm going to check for more exits, who's coming with?"

*makes for the door behind the reception desk*

"Actually, first I'll see if there are any keys here, besides guest-room keys, that this, they could be useful."

*begins searching the reception desk*

[Smoke]

Smoke's Group:

To all.

The group prepares to move again, Ravioli braces himself against the door and shuffles slowly down the steps. Well aware that he must keep his footing if he is to avoid the same fate as the unfortunate security guard below.

As he starts off, the others follow. Each peering about them for signs of danger during the painstaking slow decent.

Seagull begins to lag behind, his thoughts a mess.

Trust my luck, the one time I go to the states the bloody hotel gets bloody seiged by bloody zombies. He thinks to himself.

Something lands on his shouldler. A hand. He screams and spins around, pipe at the ready, wishing he had been paying attention.

The hand grabs the pipe, and he realises that it's not a zombie, it's Smoke!

"You're gonna put somebodies eye out with that thing." He comments.

Seagull stares at him on confusion and suprise for a split second before bursting into hysterical fits of laughter. He was relieved after all.

The others turn around at the commotion, smiles all around, they had forgotten about Smoke, he had vanished after all.

"I was swept up with the crowd during the panic, I had no choice. It was swim with the current or die on the rocks, things are pretty hectic up there" He states.

After a short welcoming the group, spirits lifted slightly by Smoke's arrival, head down the stairwell.

A few difficult moments later they reach the last step. Ravioli heaves the door aside and everyone gathers around the fallen security gaurd.

"Bet that hurt" Somebody remarks.

"No kidding" replies TheAntipop. Staring at the dark stain surrounding what remains of the guards head.

The group has made it to ground level. Just opposite the broken down lifts. The pale blue emergency lights highlight patches of blood adorning the floor and walls, and shouts can be heard from the main lobby.

[Ennui]

Jintor's Group

Ennui nods. "You've got a point. We might as well try to secure the ground floor for now and see if there's anything useful. Maybe there's a shuttle or bus key in there, or something else important."

He pauses, with an odd expression on his face. "You know what? I'm going to run to the bathroom and grab a towel. It's not just that I'm a hoopy frood, it might come in handy."

He walks off in the direction of the bathroom.

[Smoke]

Smoke's Group:

Qonfused spots Ennui heading in the general direction of the mens room, and waves for him to come closer.

"Tell me this is a prank" He pleads.

Nearby, a loud thump is heard, it has the characterists of meat slapping against plywood.

"Fraid not" Ennui replies grimly, nodding in the direction of the makeshift barricade.

[riomhaire]

Jintor's Group
*Shouts to Ennui as he leaves*
"Get me a towel too, you zarking frood!"

[TollBooth Willie]

Jintor's fabulous group

"Don't forget to bring a towel", Willie adds.

Shaking his hands nervously while fiddling with his spare change, Willie says to Rim-Job "So, about those exits dude?".

[Mikael Grizzly]

GoodSloth's:

Out of the elevator on the safe corridor, Mike looks around, with the unnerving PA voice in the background, getting increasingly annoying. Something doesn't seem right... empty corridors, dreadful silence it seems...

Something is really not right.

[ktimekiller]

OFF GAME: I joined the discussion a little late, whats happening to sloth's group?

[Qonfused]

Smoke's Group

Qonfused: It looks pretty rough, think we should build it up some more?

Qonfused points to some debris lying about which could be used to reinforce the barricade.

[Danimal]

Jintor's Group

Glances around the room briefly, after catching site of Ennui and Riomhaire's shouting.

"Anywhere I need to look? Just standing here near the door is giving me the heeby-jeebies."

Danimal glances to the barricaded door, and shudders accordingly.

"Perhaps I should start looking upstairs?"

[Sloth]

GM Note: Ktimekiller - i'll insert you in soon- will PM you when i have found a plot section to fit you into the group.

To all Sloth's Group

The small group looked to each other, dusting off whatever carpet fluff they gathered when crawling out of the elevator. Koola Mena, started to talk to Insano about how nice the Hotel was, good job that they’ve done with the place. Bob passed the knife back to Evo while Mikael asked Piggy of his real name – knowing that calling him Piglet could get a bit tiresome. Sloth and Zephos, began grumbling about how much this sucked after a long flight from Australia – both of them suffering jetlag then being stuck in a small box. Sinkoman hugged his rucksack to his chest, following the rest of the group as they made their way to what they thought were the stairs.

“Guys” Sloth offered “If it was a fire- why aren’t the sprinklers turned on?” He didn’t notice as Zephos stopped in front – causing his suitcase to drop on his toes. He began to mumble angrily “Why the **** did ya stop mate? That bloody hurt.”

Zephos’ jaw hung limp – they had come to a window on the 3rd Floor. The sight that the small group was presented with was to say the least jaw dropping. Being on the outer part of the city the Corinthian was on one of the hilly sections of New Little Murmansk the 3rd floor window gave a great view of the city. In this case it was a horrific view of the city. What seemed only a few kilometres away the business district was torn and twisted, several buildings were on fire and the beauty of many of the glass sided towers had been broken – the windows had been smashed.

The group’s Piglet walked closer to the glass, one hand pressing against it.
“Did I just see something fall out of that building?” He turned back to the rest of the group – suddenly looking very worried.

Now and then gunshots broke the awesome yet gruesome scene, a few of the group flinched. They were witnessing a form of hell on earth. Sloth began swearing under his breath and could have sworn he heard some Polish from Mikeal that wasn’t too polite. Piggy glanced down to the street level – a single body lay in the middle of the road, cars around it had been overturned or driven into the nearby buildings. That bloodied body had been torn apart limb from limb, a trail of blood leading to the doors of the Hotel in which they now stood, the Southern Englishman looked as if he was about to vomit when Mikeal took him away from the window.

“We’re stuck in an elevator for 20 minutes and the world goes to shit.”

[Azner]

Jintor's Group:

Having nothing to do, and wanting to keep his mind off the thudding at the barricades not too far away – Anzer began to search the area for anything that might be remotely useful. His gaze swept under tables and chairs, hands checking behind the couches and sofa’s in the other parts of the main hall.

(("What it should be" - Sloth))

[Sloth]

Jins Garoupa (fish)

*Looks left & right*

"Hmm"
*prones and looks under the sofas and tables to find anything useful, something shiney catches azner's eye*"GUYS GUYS! I found car key!" he exclaims as he holds up the toyota embed key. Well i guess this should come in handy.
*passes to jintor*

GM Note: In this instance you could say that you searched under the couch - but not that you found the Keys... Let Jintor decide what you find...

[Mikael Grizzly]

The Good, the Evil and the Sloth's:

Apocalypse. Lovely.

Mikael is not of the people who break down easily and cry forever. In this case, he backs up against the wall and slumps on the ground, covering his face and whispering something... unlike the profanity he let out before, this seems to be some kind of a prayer, a mantra, but unlike any you heard... propably something he wrote himself.

He then looks up at the group with a smirk and the gaze of a man distanced to the situation. He stretches out and trying to remain as calm as possible to mask his nervousness, smiles saying:

"Now that we're truly and royally ****ed, we can at the least god down in style..."

Before anyone can interrupt, he continues.

"We need to get the rest of the guys at least on the first floor. Right now they're risking becoming an all you can eat buffet. We also will need something to defend ourselves if need be. Fire axes, extinguishers... this hotel has got to have something."

It's hard to notice, but his voice is a bit trembling.

Then he reaches for his cellphone and mutters a Polish curse upon seeing it's display.

[Jintor]

Jintor's Group

Ennui

After exchanging a few words with Qonfused you head towards the location of the Men's Bathroom, moving quickly and quietly and looking for any other persons as you move.

The bathroom which appeared so warm and friendly when the lights were on now appears clinically sterile, patches of shadow hiding corners of the room. Emergency lighting has failed here, too, forcing you to attempt to find a towel by feel in the dark - something manifestly unwise in a zombie situation. After groping fruitlessly around in the dark for a moment you realise the stupidity of attempting to look for a towel in a public bathroom, and settle instead on a pack of paper towels you grab from a dimly-lit cleaner's cupboard. There's some other stuff in here, too - a couple of miscellaneous bottles, a mop, a cleaner's bucket, some plastic signs. In other words, the usual assortment of things you'd expect in a cleaner's workstation.

Something thuds against the wall, making a terrific noise and startling you into dropping the towels. What's on the other side of that wall? Thinking back to the floorplan, you realise it's the Dive Bar - someone, or something, is in there...

Riomhaire

There's all sorts of keys at the receptionist's desk, although most of them are room keys. A few pamphlets on the wonders of New Little Murmansk's Chinatown district and a few exhortations to visit the local Casino, as well as another pamphlet extolling the virtues of the Corinthian's new status as an environmentally-friendly business, fail to occupy your attention as the whispered mutterings of the others and the occasional thud-thud-thud of the pawings at the barricade serve far more effectively to distract you. Something glints in the corner of a drawer and you reach in to grab it.

Cold, metallic... you withdraw your arm and pull out a loaded 9mm handgun.

Azner

As you search on your hands and knees below the few remaining couches and sofas, you are reminded by the constant thudding of hands on the barricade that you are at best a few meters away from sudden, painful death. And there's nothing much on the floor, anyway - carpet fluff, brouchures, the usual debris of a hotel lobby. You rise and rejoin the rest of the guys.

Everyone else

"No." says Jintor, authoritive and sudden. "We stick together. Riom!" he calls, raising his voice. "Get back here! We need to move as a group, barricade the other entrances. I know for a fact there's another door nearer to the Second Lobby, near Exhibit Hall "C" - we need to close that thing as well. Shit - where did Ennui go?"

A sound makes him look up from the map he is attempting to read by penlight. It's Qonfused and a whole bunch of other forumites, looking slightly lost with the exception of Darkseid, who is determinedly adjusting a radio and apparently hunting frequencies.

A loud thud suddenly comes from the direction of the men's bathroom, and a second afterwards the automated message playing over the sound system whirs and cuts out.

Jintor raises an eyebrow. "...shit."

[15357]

Jintor's Group

Numbers comes up to Jintor and says:

"Ok, should I go and check that out, or should we just get the **** over to.... ah, Exhibit Hall C?"

[Danimal]

((Jintor's Group))

Danimal perks his ears as the thud from the bathroom is made, his knees buckle a little in fear as the emergency recordings quit, however he quickly regains his bearings, wiping the sweat from his forehead on the back of his forearm, he sighs. He walks over from the barricaded entrace to Jintor, who is scouring the map with his penlight, Danimal hangs around the softer glow of the light, looking onto the paper.

"Alright" Danimal asks Jintor, "Are we taking anything from here with us?"

[Jintor]

GM Notes: Smoke, you want to predominately GM your group yah? Danimal, Numbers, try not to rely on the NPC/Player Jintor so much, because I am the GM - I'm supposed to be reacting off you guys, not directing you. Well, except for via acts of God.

Jintor's Group

"No... Ennui's with us, we'll go check him out. You guys, with Smoke and Qonfused - can I get you guys to move out and barricade the Lobby doors by Exhibit Hall "C"?" Jintor said, folding up the map and stowing it away. "That'd be a damn good help, stop any zombies - or whatever the hell those things are - getting in here."

He whispers something to Danimal as they move out. "You guys that are older than me, take some initiative too. I can't do everything around here..."

[The Monkey]

OCC: What happened to the group headed upstairs from the first floor. Should our group have met them when we went down the stairs?

Smoke's group
The Monkey: Yeah, we should get block off all entrances. I think however that maybe we ought to seek help from the outside before locking ourselves in too much. There're 20 million people in this city, they can't have gotten killed all at once. We also need to find some of the staff at this hotel, they will tell us everything we need to know about the place. Are there anyone left at this floor or do some need to get to the roof to get one and bring him or her down here?

[Jintor]

OOC: You already met them on the stairs, twice. The initial rush Darkseid sent upstairs. The second lot you yourself sent on upwards, like 2 pages back.

[The Monkey]

OOC: Yes, but it seems Smoke didn't want that, so he ignored my post. That's at least how I interpreted it.

[Danimal]

((Jintor's Group))

Danimal reacts somewhat in surprise, he knew Jintor had a good point, and hanging around Jintor like his own shadow wouldn't help anything.

"Alright, sorry." Danimal says quickly, looking around quickly.

"I'll go see if Ennui is alright!" He makes a quick pace towards a loose piece of furniture sprawled infront of the barricade, finding no other use for it, he picks it up and keeps said pace down towards the men's bathroom, a tight grip on the furniture's legs as he holds it infront of him warily.

[Bob_Marley]

Slothy's group

Oh man, thought Bob. This is bad, bad ****. We're screwed. And if this is happening here, whats going on back home? Is everyone OK? God I hope this is isolated. Bob pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind so he could concerntrate on the here and now.

Snapping out of the shock of the situation he finds himself in upon hearing MG's words Bob let out a nervous chuckle at the notion of going down in style.

"Kitchens." he said "Mikael, kitchens. Theres kitchens on the ground floor, they'll have some thing. Carving knives, cleavers, hell, a cast iron frying pan could do some serious damage. We need to find the stairwell and head down."

[Evo]

Sloth'ys Mother Fukas

Evo looks out at the destruction in front of him. He turns away and hits the wall hard...

[Mikael Grizzly]

Slothix:

Mike nods.

"Good point. I recall the kitchens being just next to the stairs... Bob, do you have the map? I lost mine."

He searches through his bag, but to no avail. No maps for him.

[Ennui]

Jintor's Group

The bathroom was pretty damn dark. Ennui hadn't thought of that. "Shit," he muttered, groping around in the shadows in vain search of a towel. His fumbling hands discovered a stack of paper towels, which he picked up, shrugging. "I guess these will have to do for --" Suddenly he is interrupted by a loud, dull THUD against the wall of the bathroom. Startled, Ennui drops the paper towels and curses under his breath. What's over there... the dive bar, I think he muses, and, grabbing the mop from the corner, heads out of the bathroom, running into a nervous, sweaty Danimal who is clutching a splintered stick of furniture.

"Come on. It came from the dive bar," Ennui said hurriedly, holding the mop handle like a spear. He turns to yell to Jintor and Riomhaire. "Guys, I know you heard that. Let's go check it out, right the **** now. If it's a zombie we need to take care of it."

Ennui turns to look in the direction of the dark entrance to the Dive bar, and overhears Monkey talking about seeking help outside. He turns to Danimal and says softly, "We can't let anyone leave. Everyone else alive out there is trying as hard as we are to survive, and I'm not optimistic about the military or government being any help, if they're still organized at all. There's no help out there." His mind wanders to thoughts of foraging teams, but he pushes them aside. Not now. First, take care of home.

[Danimal]

((Jintor's Hoes))

Danimal nods, whatever confidence he had in him fading as Ennui tells him of his doubts, he looks down to the stick in his hands, the thoughts rushing through his head of whatever could be at the "Dive Bar"

He nods firmly, standing tall, he taps the sharp end of the splinter on the palm of his left hand, the other holding the stick in a strong grip. "Right, we'll get Riomhaire and Jintor first, then we'll check it out." He turns around and heads back into the barricaded room.

"Yo, Jintor! Riom!" He yells in a booming voice, "Come on! Let's move ass!"

[Bob_Marley]

Sloth's chaps

Bob swung his rucksack round his shoulder so it came to rest on the front of his torso and unzipped the left side pocket, digging through the various toiletries his hand reaching the bottom, finding a crumpled piece of paper. The map of the ground floor. He still couldn't quite work out why they'd just been given a map of the ground floor and none of the others, or a more conventional brocure for the hotel, but it didn't really matter now. He pulled it out and unfolded it. he pointed out the stairwells.

"here we are, two stairwells it seems. One comes down behind the kitchens and the other in the secondary lobby. In that case I imagine we're looking for the staff stairs. And look here, the loading bay. There might be a crowbar or two in there that we can use."

He zipped up the pocket on his pack and set it down. Nothing in there i'm likely to need it the immediate. I'll pick it up later, he thought to himself.

Bob noticed evo smashing his fist into the wall.

"Save it for the zeds man. You hit 'em like that and we'll be back to normal in no time!"

[Sloth]

@Evo - Make bigger posts mate...
@Group - We wait for a few of the others then we go.

[riomhaire]

Jintor's Heroes
While searching the desk riomhaire starts to get very annoyed; the hotel is clearly so unorganised that it's impossible to find anything of use. While groping around one of the drawers he spots something shinning. Not expecting much, riomhaire reaches out and begins to feel the item. He instantly knows what it is, the cold metal and rough grip halt all of his other thoughts. A handgun.

Hearing Jintor's call to come back riomhaire snaps back to reality, jumping in surprise and banging his head off a lamp that was leaning off the edge of the desk. Cursing, he returns to the group, weapon in hand.

A loud thud suddenly comes from the direction of the men's bathroom, and a second afterwards the automated message playing over the sound system whirs and cuts out.

Jintor raises an eyebrow. "...shit."

No one seems to take any notice of riomhaire, or the weapon, as the focus of the group shifts to Jintor. Once it seems to be decided that the group needs to check on Ennui, riomhaire steps forward, flourishing the gun.
"Let's go," he says.

[Evo]

Sloth's Men

Evo rubs his hand knowing he hit the wall a tad too hard, and turning to Bob says

"Back to normal?! Can't you see Bob, there ain't no normal any more! Look out that f'ckin window, just LOOK out of it! Whatever the hell has happened I dunno, but I do know there won't be 'normal' again!"

*Evo shakes his head, a solitary tear runs down his left cheek*

"I've got...if they're still alive that is, family out there, a girlfriend, good friends....****! **** it! No point standing here and getting all emotional"

*Evo wipes his face with his hand, breathes deeply*

"So Bob, you said there were two sets of stairs? One to the lobby, one to the kitchens? I say we take the kitchens, hopefully find some food and something a bit bigger than this poxy Army Knife i've got!"

*Evo looks at the group*

"What say you guys?"

[Smoke]

Gm note - Rimfire did you just randomly find a gun? :|

Edit - My bad, I missed Jinnies post.

[dekstar]

Smoke's sexy group
Dekstar asks the group "Hey maybe we should go find a map of some sort. There might be one in reception, though I hear screams coming from there, so it might not be safe. What do you guys think?"

[Darkside55]

Smoke's Team 4

Darkside is about ten seconds away from smacking the radio. Not a single live channel so far, and he's been at it for nearly ten minutes. It dawns on him that he might not even be on the right main frequency. That irks him. It calls to mind some wise words of wisdom he often spouts when electrical things don't work: My TV was broken once, so I kicked it. And it worked. Maybe it'd work on radios.

The group stirred around him. They were getting restless. He decided it would be better to abandon the endeavor for the moment and get moving again. Switching the radio off, Darkside climbs to his feet and stuffs the black box into his right jacket pocket. He makes eye contact with everyone in the group and nods, signaling that they should start to move again.

They're about halfway down past the second floor landing when Seagull starts screaming bloody murder. Behind us! Darkside spins around and brings the fire extinguisher--which he was gripping in his left hand--up, supporting the end with his other hand, ready to brain whatever was behind them.

"You're gonna put somebody's eye out with that thing," says Smoke, in an offhand, nonchalant manner unsuited to someone whose face was almost the recipient of a lead pipe.

Everybody laughs. It's Smoke! Seagull lets his pipe-arm fall limp to his side, and clutches at his chest with the other as he leans up against the stairwell wall. The well echoes with excited shouts and cheers and questions. "Where were you?" seems to come up about eighteen times.

"I was swept up with the crowd during the panic," Smoke explains. "I had no choice. It was swim with the current or die on the rocks. Things are pretty hectic up there."

After another minute of disbelief, laughter, and a lot of back-slapping, the group heads down again. It was only a few steps to the final landing. Over the railing, the fallen security guard is sprawled out in a sickening pose: one arm buckled under him, as if he tried to brace his impact at the last moment; the other arm bent at an inhuman angle. His legs contorted and broken, and his spine was surely snapped. He landed in a bad way. Blood was seeping from an open gash in the side of his head.

"Bet that hurt."

"No kidding."

Darkside motions to the body. "I'll check him," he ventures. He searches the body for anything of importance; a flashlight, a security keycard (his main objective), a strip of paper with security frequencies and backup channels listed. Anything*.

Ravioli puts the door aside as Darkside concludes his search. The group tentatively peer out the doorway into the main lobby; Wait, thinks Darkside, WHERE are we? He checks the map again. First floor...stairwell. He plots it with his finger. Main lobby. Main lobby; shouldn't we be in the secondary lobby? Are these STAIRS? He looks to his right; sure enough, there's the lift. I thought these arrows meant escalators. They SHOULD mean escalators. Damn it, doesn't anything work right in this hotel? He hated being wrong, especially about maps. Darkside makes a decision from now on to plot his own damn map for this hotel. He'd already started anyway since the fourth floor fiasco.

There's a tiny commotion outside the stairwell. Another group of people are moving around; behind them is a stack of furniture pushed up against the giant glass panes of the main lobby. They seem to be deliberating; no one person is issuing commands. Darkside can't hear them, but from the look of the exchange and the gesticulations people are making, they seem to be trying to decide on their next course of action. One of their group breaks off and heads toward the stairwell.

Qonfused steps out from the doorway and flags him down. His nametag reads, "Ennui." "Tell me this is a prank," he says.

"'Fraid not," Ennui replies, jerking his head toward the furniture blockade. The sound of wet hands pounding against glass, squeaking and smearing, can be heard beyond the barrier. Moaning peals every now-and-then.

"Don't forget to bring a towel," someone from the group yells.

"Get me a towel too, you zarking frood!" another says.

Ennui shrugs, and heads toward the bathrooms nearby.

Team 4 fully emerges from the stairwell. The two groups of people, surprisingly, pay very little attention to each other. Everyone is wrapped up in their own plans; some moving around, some standing around, some searching the area. The bulk of Team 4 is among those standing around, watching the scene in front of them, taking it in.

Zombies. Just on the other side of those panes. It was hard to believe, even this close, even witnessing them with his own eyes. Seeing a zombie on a movie screen, on television, in a video game, in a dream or a daydream is one thing; to be seeing them in person is wholly another. Darkside always imagined how he'd feel if confronted with this situation; he imagined he'd experience shock, fear, anger, perhaps a little excitement. Now, truly faced with it, he felt not even the slightest trepidation. In truth, he felt nothing; it was a calm, like being detached, allowing him to observe from somewhere outside himself. The mass of bloody, dead-eyed bodies slamming themselves against the tall windows played out without sound, without color, played in slow-motion that allowed Darkside to catch every minute detail.

Shouting from the other group intrudes out of the corner of his ear, bringing sound back to the scene. Time speeds forward again, and the black-and-white picture before him fills with the dim blue of overhead lights, and the faint sunlight filtering in through the glass. He feels once again tethered to the ground, but still none of the expected emotions come. He pulls out the radio again and absent-mindedly fiddles with it. In the back corner of his mind his own internal narrator wonders whether it's an action to occupy himself rather than to actually find a working channel.

Something thuds behind them. Dull, loud. Came from the direction of the bathrooms. Someone yells at Team 4. "You guys, with Smoke and Qonfused - can I get you guys to move out and barricade the Lobby doors by Exhibit Hall C?" It was a weird juxtaposition: this Asian kid yelling at them with just a hint of an Australian accent. It'd never occurred to Darkside there were Asians in Australia. Once again in that dim corner of his mind, he marveled at the random thoughts he was having with zombies not more than a few yards away. The guy continued. "That'd be a damn good help, stop any zombies - or whatever the hell those things are - getting in here."

Darkside squinted to read his nametag. "Jintor." Under better circumstances, Darkside probably would've clapped him on the shoulder and got to chatting. He liked Jintor. They probably would've talked about stuff on the forums, he would've made some allusions to Jintor calling him 'Darkseid,' and played some LAN games. Under current circumstances, Darkside simply stood there and listened, fingers still working radio dials.

Monkey was the first to speak. "Yeah, we should get block off all entrances. I think however that maybe we ought to seek help from the outside before locking ourselves in too much. There're 20 million people in this city, they can't have gotten killed all at once. We also need to find some of the staff at this hotel, they will tell us everything we need to know about the place. Are there anyone left at this floor or do some need to get to the roof to get one and bring him or her down here?"

Jintor opens his mouth to answer, but is cut off by a slew of shouts coming from all directions from his fellow teammates. Someone in a black hoodie and torn denim jeans rushes past, heading toward the bathrooms. He's carrying a table leg.

Moments later, he and Ennui emerge from the bathroom, the latter carrying a mop like a spear. He shouts to someone behind the reception desk; the three of them move down the adjacent hallway.

"Hey may