Zombies and Crooks (DM:Mal Malenkirk Judge: Covaithe )

[Mal Malenkirk]

-''Err...''

The young man cringe away from Tor as he tries to come up with an answer that wouldn't infuriate him more. There really wasn't any.

-''Rinch wants to raise enough zombies to... err... remove the competion and take control of the local underworld. And... well... uh, ask for, well, protection money from the shopkeepers. You know, protection from the zombie.'' he says in a small voice.

 

[Stringbean2142]

Mesa snorted at the sheer stupidity in the young man's statement. "Ye were raising zombies, merciless killers as ye can see from the scene around ye, as a means to make money? Tell me, are all criminals this stupid in Daunton, or does this Rinch only accept morons in his crew? What were ye planning to do if ye had to actually use them? Easier to rein in the southern winds than a rampaging zombie."

He glanced at the carnage around them, then back at the others. "Ye know, it wouldn't be hard to make it look like brainless here was a victim of the zombies himself. It only seems fair."

 

[Tomalak]

Seeing that the handler is well guarded by the others, Andrec goes over to investigate the sewer entrance. Crouched down at the edge and peering in, he looks like he was about to go for a closer look, when his head whips around at Mesa's comment.

"Ye know, it wouldn't be hard to make it look like brainless here was a victim of the zombies himself. It only seems fair."

"I don't think that's a good idea. He could be a valuable source of information, and it would probably be best to turn him over to the Authorities."

 

[Velmont]

"I think his idea is not that bad." correct Jarel-karn after Andrec statement. He grabs the cattle prod. "I'll won't ask it twice nicely. Either I get all information by force and turn you into one more victim of the zombie after you have spoken, or you spit all you know by yourself and I'll be merciful, which mean it can go up to giving only a description of you to the authority and give you a head start so you can leave the city and never come back." He then approach the cattle prod near his head. "I want to know who is Rinch, a physical description of him, what he can do, who is surrounding him, the skills of his goons and there physical description. Where they can be found, a description of the place. I want to know everything, even the color of his underwear if you know it. I want to know everything, because if you don't speak, you'll pay for it. If you speak, it will be him who will pay for that and you'll have nothing to fear from him anymore." he pause a moment. "You want to tell something or I make you speak?"

[SBLOCK=OOC]Intimidate herder (1d20+7=20)[/SBLOCK]

 

[Ecce]

"Why don' we jus' get da information from 'im an' den kill 'im? Course, mebbe 'im hearin' dat ain'so beneficial ta gettin' 'im ta talk."

Matlal shrugs apologetically since the zombie herder was indeed right beside him as he said that.

"Or mebbe we don' kill 'im." He tries to give the herder a reassuring smile.

"Wait, I'mma record dis so I don' forget."

It's a crowning moment of weirdness as he reaches into the spicy smelling bag and pulls out the shrunken head of a goblin. The face contorts as some semblance of life comes over it, and it promptly begins to screech all manner of nasty words in a variety of languages. Matlal reaches into the same bag he got the head from and shoves the contents (what looks to be a mixture of salt and ground herbs) into the shrunken head's mouth.

"Shu' up. Remember eva'ry'ting de disheveled man on da ground says."

The PDA (personal decapitated assistant) complies.

[sblock=Haha]
I finally got to break out the PDA.
[/sblock]

 

[Tomalak]

Andrec gets up from his crouch and walks over to the other grate. Over his shoulder he says "That man is a criminal, and should be turned over to the authorities. I didn't realize the sewers were so... roomy."

Dropping down into the tunnel below the street, his voice echoes oddly as he speaks again. "What's your name, kid?"

[sblock=PDA]LMAO[/sblock]
[sblock=Action]Andrec is attempting to see if the two grates are connected by a tunnel, or if they are entrances to different tunnels[/sblock]

 

[EvolutionKB]

Montroya shakes his head. "He is a criminal, and from a sort of organized gang. His fate in the jail would be worse than what any one of us could do. If he was lucky, he'd be drawn and quarted after spending a week tied in the town square."

 

[Ecce]

Montroya shakes his head. "He is a criminal, and from a sort of organized gang. His fate in the jail would be worse than what any one of us could do. If he was lucky, he'd be drawn and quarted after spending a week tied in the town square."

"Das a sick definition of 'lucky' my glowy brudda mon." Matlal guffaws tremendously, faintly tusk-like canines giving his grin a dangerous crown.

[sblock=ooc]I just realized I forgot to update my signature with my race change before my character was approved. Matlal is a half-orc.[/sblock]

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

[sblock=ooc]
PDA... eh.

I was also highly amused by stringbean's Dr Phil even though it couldn't make it in-character.
[/sblock]

The young zombie herder blinks a few time in surprise.

-''Are you out of your mind?! 'Do I speak or do you make me speak?''' the young man says, parroting Jarel. ''That scary beast guy just asked me a question and I answered, didn't I? Do I look like I am clamping down? So why are you throwing pointless threats at me? It's not like anything you can do to me is worse than what Rinch will do to me if he gets the chance. After this fiasco, he will feeds me alive to his zombies and then trap my soul in my own corpse. You think you can do better, huh, tough guys? Killing me might be doing me a favor!''

He takes a few deep breath to calm down, straigthening mechanically his dirty clothes.

-''Look, you want to go after Rinch, be my guest. I am done for anyway if I meet him again. I never bargained for that when I joined. I just didn't want to starve and be able to take care of my brother. It's not like working the docks allows you to take care of a... well it's none of your business. But Rinch has gone crazier of late and now I am knee deep in bloody zombies. Rinch is... well, he died last week, okay. It's like... the third time that this happens, as far as I know. Each time, he comes back worse and crazier! I don't think he can be killed for good and that encourage him to take crazy risks. His blood creates the zombies and they are slave to his command. A lot of the zombies are the corpse of his enemies, you know. That will be you if you are not careful!''

He shudders at the thought. It makes him look even younger. He is probably sixteen at most.

-''I didn't see him since his last death. He changes a bit each time but I guess he is still a tall, thin guy with long pale blond hair. Maybe they are white by now, I dunno. Gets paler every time. Right now, I don't know where he is but I know he is looking for something he calls 'The Heart of Darkness.' I think it has something to do with his zombies. It may help him somehow. He seems really bent on getting it. I have no clue where it is supposed to be, but the way he was speaking, he does.

I guess your best bet would be to ask his lieutenant, a crazy bald old dude name Jarec. He is a mage. I don't know where he lairs, but I know where he should be right about now; directing a heist against Vena's Grace Hospital. They want to steal more bodies from the morgue. There are never enough zombies to satisfy Rinch, you know. But you have to hurry if you want to catch him. When I was left in charge of the pen, close to an hour ago, some of the gang were leaving for Vena's. I guess they intend to use the sewers but I wouldn't recommand going that way without one of the rat people guiding you and we have none on hand. Besides, they might be done any minute now, I guess.''

[sblock=skill challenge]
You can exchange a few more reply, but when the herder says 'right now' he means it (High insight PCs detects now deception).

Right now, the crooks are inside the morgue, through the sewers, and the hospital staff is none the wiser.

The goal is to get there as fast and (in the last stretch) as quietly as possible.

The stake is how favorable the conditions at the beginning of the fight will be; will you fall on the bad guys like a SWAT team or will you bungle your entry and arrive late or noisily?

4 successes before 2 failures.

DC 12 / 17 / 22 (depending on how appropriate the skill used and the quality of the justification).

Which skills? Depends on each step.

First step is getting there fast (2 success, not the same PC twice, obviously).

I'll update after 2 success.
[/sblock]

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

[sblock=YESS!]I connect at last.

By the lack of response in teh thread, I can see I wasn't the only one.

In the interest of speeding things up, I will spell out the best skills (DC 12) to use to get the first two successes;

Streetwise and Athletics

Now get cracking!
[/sblock]