Turn 9: The End is Nigh.
The pair trudge through a series of rough tunnels, they encounter a fair number of deactivated Zombies on their journey- all shapes and sizes. All very dead.
Finally they locate the way down- a cramped room half-full of hacked up, and off, body parts- Narzy’s workroom, and within the mess another ladder leading down.
They press on, there’s nowhere else to go.
And descend into another guardroom whose inhabitants scramble into action, a pair of Goblin creatures, both of whom transform quickly into ferocious wererats. One of the creatures sprints for the door, and is gone.
Auntie fumbles for a silver shrapnel shell.
BOOM
Loads one in time, the creatures gone, its brief smile fading as it realises the particles of shot embedded in it are silver, it bleeds to death.
The door is flung open and three more of the wererats rush in.
BOOM BOOM
And two more are gone in an instant, the other dodges back out of the room and runs- screaming.
“INNNVAYDDDDDUUUURRRRSSSS.”
Auntie and The Professor, take in their surroundings, and then share a look.
“Quickly madam.” The Professor states, and shambles off in a half-hop, half-shuffle.
And they’re off.
But slowly, The Professor a little faster than Auntie, but still no match for the rapidly retreating creature.
BOOM BOOM
But much too late, that’s five of the silver shells gone already, fifteen left.
The pair follow as best they can, the sound of the wererat screaming helps them to discern the direction the creature is heading.
They burst into a room, out of breath, the chamber is empty except for a number of sleeping mats on the floor, two exits, wooden doors, one straight ahead, the other to the right, oh and the four large rats that look up from their meal… and attack.
BOOM BOOM
Two down, they’re wasting silver shells on Dire Rats but don’t tell them that.
The Professor fires his pistol but misses by a country mile; the Rat is on him, biting, and drawing blood.
Auntie risks a bite and lunges over and down at the rat biting The Professor, she knocks the creature flying, away from The Professor- the creatures not done for though, it rolls to its feet. Auntie avoids the remaining rats lunge and bite, more through luck than judgement- her force field crackles, it’s a near thing. Up close and personal is not the way to fight it seems.
And then the door ahead opens and rushing into the room come three more wererats.
“Damnation.”
The Professor curses, knowing how ineffectual he is.
“Language.”
Auntie Edie winks, half-smiles then grimaces, gripping tight to her Heckler.
BOOM BOOM
One of the wererats sinks to his knees then slumps forward.
CRACK
The Professor gets the other rat; it flops to the floor- no more.
“AAaaaaarrgghhh.”
The Professor spins round on hearing Auntie;s scream, expecting the worst.
“ My slipper.” Auntie finishes.
The other rat makes off with Auntie’s last slipper and by the looks of the trail of blood, much of one of her toes as well.
BOOM
The rat’s gone but alas her slipper’s shredded.
Two wererats rush to attack, it appears that adventurers are in season.
“AaaFiddlesticks.”
The Professor is bitten, his arm bleeds profusely, and his jacket is ruined. Auntie only just avoids a similar fate, she does however take note of the third wererat, behind the pair they’re fighting, silhouetted, for an instant, in the doorway, the creature grins, and not in a good way, and then runs.
CRACK
The Professor’s bullet crumples on impact with the wererat’s chest, useless, the creature grins then claws The Professor leaving a trail of bloody marks down his cheek, like duelling scars.
The Professor staggers but manages to stay upright- just.
He’s woozy, wants to give up, to embrace the darkness that hedges his thoughts.
“Fight it, Auspicious.”
And he does, grappling the creature, pouring all his strength into keeping the thing at bay.
BOOM
Auntie is more successful; the wererat she’s facing head flies back and off, bowling out through the open door into the corridor beyond.
Beside her The Professor struggles, escaping bites and scratches, until…
BOOM
The shell takes the side of the creatures head off, it slumps to the ground.
Silence reigns.
But for a brief moment.
“AAAaaaaaarrrggggghhhh.”
There’s something coming, another wererat by the sound of things, the sound comes from the open doorway ahead.
Auntie rattles around in her handbag, pulls out her healing potion, ‘Arthur Abernathy’s All Purpose Bolsom and Linctus Mixture’, and throws it to The Professor, who catches it. There’s not much left- one swig.
“It’s been a pleasure knowing you Professor Auspicious Yaffle.”
“You too madam.”
But Auntie’s already gone.
Out of the room, she spins left, at the sound of incoming traffic. A wererat mid-launch fills her vision, then…
BOOM
She steps aside, the creature splats onto the cold stone floor- dead.
And then there’s nothing.
For an instant.
SMASH
The other door in the chamber crashes open and standing in the remains of the frame is a huge Ogre Zombie, it seems that not all of the Undead have been deactivated.
Thump- thump.
And then flopping out of the darkness, behind Auntie comes another, she turns.
BOOM.
The creature stops for a moment.
Pats its smoking chest, and then staggers on towards Auntie.
CLUNK-CLICK.
The grenade launcher.
FWUMP
FWOOOOOOM
The flash of the explosion illuminates the passageway, there is not one, not two, but three Ogre Zombies, and now back to two again, the third, or rather first in the queue, already hollowed slightly by Auntie’s shotgun, comes apart at the seams.
“Save the Silver, Dear Lady, you’ve only got six shots left, save them for the…”
At the last moment The Professor ducks the Ogre Zombie’s ungainly swing, dodges out of the chamber, and in-between the retreating Auntie and another Ogre Zombie.
“Professssssssssooooooorrrrrr.”
FWUMP-crack.
The Professor is caught by the Ogre Zombies fist, his head punches into the stone wall, and he slumps to the floor, still clutching Auntie’s healing potion.
His head leaking.
“Braaaaaaaayyyyynnnnzzzz.”
“Oh no you don’t.”
Auntie raises the muzzle of her Heckler, fires another grenade.
FWUMP-tick
FWOOOOM
The grenade ricochets off of the passageway ceiling, lands behind the creatures, then explodes.
The third creature buckles, twists and falls backwards, dead, there’s one left, now reaching down again to grab The Professor, it’s scorched and battered, on its last legs.
Auntie fires another silver shrapnel shell, there’s no time to hold back now.
BOOM
The creature slumps forward, onto its knees, and then folds over, burying The Professor beneath its bulk.
Auntie dashes forward.
“Brains.”
Another as yet unharmed creature stands in the door way, it lashes out, Auntie ducks, then pokes her gun into the creatures face, or as best she can being a good three feet shorter than it.
BOOOM
Skin peels away to reveal dead flesh and shattered bone, and yet the creature grins, and through the few teeth it has left mutters.
“Bwayns.”
It lashes out again, and this time connects, Auntie’s slammed back into the passage wall, winded.
“Not on your nelly.”
She whispers through gritted teeth, rights herself, and then fires again, a grenade.
[DM interlude, and rolls a “20”]
The grenade lodges in the remains of the Ogre Zombie’s face, an eye socket to be exact, the creature staggers backwards, paws at the foreign object, too late…
BAM
Slightly anti-climactic, at least the explosion, the creature’s head detonates, liberally coating the chamber with gunk and ‘bwayns.’
Auntie staggers, she’s low on fuel, delves into her bag, removes her flask of tea, and with trembling hands pours a cup, she gulps it down.
She responds to the tea-some goodness immediately, works out exactly where she is, what’s going on, and what she has to do.
She hides the flask back away.
Then scrabbles on the floor in search of The Professor.
Fwunk Fwunk
She knows he’s in here, ah there he is, or at least that looks like his cravat.
Fwunk Fwunk
And then she hears the sound- more of them, from behind her.
Auntie stands, almost calm now, reloads the grenade launcher, as the first of the Ogre Zombies hoves into view.
FWOOOOM
And.
FWOOOOM
And.
FWOOOOM
And one more for good measure.
FWOOOM
The corridor is full of flames, from the burning hulks that fill it- all dead again.
Auntie waits a moment, searches again, this time on her hands and knees for The Professor, a moment later, her bottle of ‘Arthur Abernathy’s All Purpose Bolsom and Linctus Mixture’ empty, The Professor is back from the dead.
Together they pull, push, prise, shuffle and squeeze him out from beneath the dead Ogre Zombie.
“Madam, Dear Lady, I owe you my life.”
The Professor gets to his feet.
“How can I ever repay you?”
Auntie squints at him, thinking hard.
“Do you have any biscuits, a creamy one would be nice, or one with lots of chocolate, or frosting, or jam, even a dipper would be good- although I’ve finished my tea.”
The Professor struggles for a smile, pats his pockets.
“I seem to be right out of biscuits, Dear Lady.”
He looks forlorn.
“Well that’s a packet you owe me.”
Auntie Edie strides off, down the corridor the majority of the Ogre Zombies came from.
The Professor looks about him and then shuffles after her.
Auntie calls back.
“Stay alive Professor, I want those biscuits.”
Unseen by The Professor she grins as she trudges off.
They follow a twisting corridor; Auntie unloads and then reloads the four silver shrapnel shells she has left.
Next Turn: Going, going, Gannu.
The pair trudge through a series of rough tunnels, they encounter a fair number of deactivated Zombies on their journey- all shapes and sizes. All very dead.
Finally they locate the way down- a cramped room half-full of hacked up, and off, body parts- Narzy’s workroom, and within the mess another ladder leading down.
They press on, there’s nowhere else to go.
And descend into another guardroom whose inhabitants scramble into action, a pair of Goblin creatures, both of whom transform quickly into ferocious wererats. One of the creatures sprints for the door, and is gone.
Auntie fumbles for a silver shrapnel shell.
BOOM
Loads one in time, the creatures gone, its brief smile fading as it realises the particles of shot embedded in it are silver, it bleeds to death.
The door is flung open and three more of the wererats rush in.
BOOM BOOM
And two more are gone in an instant, the other dodges back out of the room and runs- screaming.
“INNNVAYDDDDDUUUURRRRSSSS.”
Auntie and The Professor, take in their surroundings, and then share a look.
“Quickly madam.” The Professor states, and shambles off in a half-hop, half-shuffle.
And they’re off.
But slowly, The Professor a little faster than Auntie, but still no match for the rapidly retreating creature.
BOOM BOOM
But much too late, that’s five of the silver shells gone already, fifteen left.
The pair follow as best they can, the sound of the wererat screaming helps them to discern the direction the creature is heading.
They burst into a room, out of breath, the chamber is empty except for a number of sleeping mats on the floor, two exits, wooden doors, one straight ahead, the other to the right, oh and the four large rats that look up from their meal… and attack.
BOOM BOOM
Two down, they’re wasting silver shells on Dire Rats but don’t tell them that.
The Professor fires his pistol but misses by a country mile; the Rat is on him, biting, and drawing blood.
Auntie risks a bite and lunges over and down at the rat biting The Professor, she knocks the creature flying, away from The Professor- the creatures not done for though, it rolls to its feet. Auntie avoids the remaining rats lunge and bite, more through luck than judgement- her force field crackles, it’s a near thing. Up close and personal is not the way to fight it seems.
And then the door ahead opens and rushing into the room come three more wererats.
“Damnation.”
The Professor curses, knowing how ineffectual he is.
“Language.”
Auntie Edie winks, half-smiles then grimaces, gripping tight to her Heckler.
BOOM BOOM
One of the wererats sinks to his knees then slumps forward.
CRACK
The Professor gets the other rat; it flops to the floor- no more.
“AAaaaaarrgghhh.”
The Professor spins round on hearing Auntie;s scream, expecting the worst.
“ My slipper.” Auntie finishes.
The other rat makes off with Auntie’s last slipper and by the looks of the trail of blood, much of one of her toes as well.
BOOM
The rat’s gone but alas her slipper’s shredded.
Two wererats rush to attack, it appears that adventurers are in season.
“AaaFiddlesticks.”
The Professor is bitten, his arm bleeds profusely, and his jacket is ruined. Auntie only just avoids a similar fate, she does however take note of the third wererat, behind the pair they’re fighting, silhouetted, for an instant, in the doorway, the creature grins, and not in a good way, and then runs.
CRACK
The Professor’s bullet crumples on impact with the wererat’s chest, useless, the creature grins then claws The Professor leaving a trail of bloody marks down his cheek, like duelling scars.
The Professor staggers but manages to stay upright- just.
He’s woozy, wants to give up, to embrace the darkness that hedges his thoughts.
“Fight it, Auspicious.”
And he does, grappling the creature, pouring all his strength into keeping the thing at bay.
BOOM
Auntie is more successful; the wererat she’s facing head flies back and off, bowling out through the open door into the corridor beyond.
Beside her The Professor struggles, escaping bites and scratches, until…
BOOM
The shell takes the side of the creatures head off, it slumps to the ground.
Silence reigns.
But for a brief moment.
“AAAaaaaaarrrggggghhhh.”
There’s something coming, another wererat by the sound of things, the sound comes from the open doorway ahead.
Auntie rattles around in her handbag, pulls out her healing potion, ‘Arthur Abernathy’s All Purpose Bolsom and Linctus Mixture’, and throws it to The Professor, who catches it. There’s not much left- one swig.
“It’s been a pleasure knowing you Professor Auspicious Yaffle.”
“You too madam.”
But Auntie’s already gone.
Out of the room, she spins left, at the sound of incoming traffic. A wererat mid-launch fills her vision, then…
BOOM
She steps aside, the creature splats onto the cold stone floor- dead.
And then there’s nothing.
For an instant.
SMASH
The other door in the chamber crashes open and standing in the remains of the frame is a huge Ogre Zombie, it seems that not all of the Undead have been deactivated.
Thump- thump.
And then flopping out of the darkness, behind Auntie comes another, she turns.
BOOM.
The creature stops for a moment.
Pats its smoking chest, and then staggers on towards Auntie.
CLUNK-CLICK.
The grenade launcher.
FWUMP
FWOOOOOOM
The flash of the explosion illuminates the passageway, there is not one, not two, but three Ogre Zombies, and now back to two again, the third, or rather first in the queue, already hollowed slightly by Auntie’s shotgun, comes apart at the seams.
“Save the Silver, Dear Lady, you’ve only got six shots left, save them for the…”
At the last moment The Professor ducks the Ogre Zombie’s ungainly swing, dodges out of the chamber, and in-between the retreating Auntie and another Ogre Zombie.
“Professssssssssooooooorrrrrr.”
FWUMP-crack.
The Professor is caught by the Ogre Zombies fist, his head punches into the stone wall, and he slumps to the floor, still clutching Auntie’s healing potion.
His head leaking.
“Braaaaaaaayyyyynnnnzzzz.”
“Oh no you don’t.”
Auntie raises the muzzle of her Heckler, fires another grenade.
FWUMP-tick
FWOOOOM
The grenade ricochets off of the passageway ceiling, lands behind the creatures, then explodes.
The third creature buckles, twists and falls backwards, dead, there’s one left, now reaching down again to grab The Professor, it’s scorched and battered, on its last legs.
Auntie fires another silver shrapnel shell, there’s no time to hold back now.
BOOM
The creature slumps forward, onto its knees, and then folds over, burying The Professor beneath its bulk.
Auntie dashes forward.
“Brains.”
Another as yet unharmed creature stands in the door way, it lashes out, Auntie ducks, then pokes her gun into the creatures face, or as best she can being a good three feet shorter than it.
BOOOM
Skin peels away to reveal dead flesh and shattered bone, and yet the creature grins, and through the few teeth it has left mutters.
“Bwayns.”
It lashes out again, and this time connects, Auntie’s slammed back into the passage wall, winded.
“Not on your nelly.”
She whispers through gritted teeth, rights herself, and then fires again, a grenade.
[DM interlude, and rolls a “20”]
The grenade lodges in the remains of the Ogre Zombie’s face, an eye socket to be exact, the creature staggers backwards, paws at the foreign object, too late…
BAM
Slightly anti-climactic, at least the explosion, the creature’s head detonates, liberally coating the chamber with gunk and ‘bwayns.’
Auntie staggers, she’s low on fuel, delves into her bag, removes her flask of tea, and with trembling hands pours a cup, she gulps it down.
She responds to the tea-some goodness immediately, works out exactly where she is, what’s going on, and what she has to do.
She hides the flask back away.
Then scrabbles on the floor in search of The Professor.
Fwunk Fwunk
She knows he’s in here, ah there he is, or at least that looks like his cravat.
Fwunk Fwunk
And then she hears the sound- more of them, from behind her.
Auntie stands, almost calm now, reloads the grenade launcher, as the first of the Ogre Zombies hoves into view.
FWOOOOM
And.
FWOOOOM
And.
FWOOOOM
And one more for good measure.
FWOOOM
The corridor is full of flames, from the burning hulks that fill it- all dead again.
Auntie waits a moment, searches again, this time on her hands and knees for The Professor, a moment later, her bottle of ‘Arthur Abernathy’s All Purpose Bolsom and Linctus Mixture’ empty, The Professor is back from the dead.
Together they pull, push, prise, shuffle and squeeze him out from beneath the dead Ogre Zombie.
“Madam, Dear Lady, I owe you my life.”
The Professor gets to his feet.
“How can I ever repay you?”
Auntie squints at him, thinking hard.
“Do you have any biscuits, a creamy one would be nice, or one with lots of chocolate, or frosting, or jam, even a dipper would be good- although I’ve finished my tea.”
The Professor struggles for a smile, pats his pockets.
“I seem to be right out of biscuits, Dear Lady.”
He looks forlorn.
“Well that’s a packet you owe me.”
Auntie Edie strides off, down the corridor the majority of the Ogre Zombies came from.
The Professor looks about him and then shuffles after her.
Auntie calls back.
“Stay alive Professor, I want those biscuits.”
Unseen by The Professor she grins as she trudges off.
They follow a twisting corridor; Auntie unloads and then reloads the four silver shrapnel shells she has left.
Next Turn: Going, going, Gannu.
