Balth eases into the ship's hold and makes his way gingerly across the slippery, slanted floor. Nothing moves. Close to the door some bales of cargo have split and spilt their contents over the ice - grey, undyed wool. It comes apart in Balth's hands as he brushes against it.
There is a sudden creak, and Balth freezes - but it is only the ship settling slightly. Nothing moves. The ship is silent and dead.
As Balth turns to leave, he notices something fluttering in the corner of his eye. He moves deeper into the cargo hold to investigate. It turns out to be nothing but a flag (bearing the emblem of the famous "Lucky L'irkash" shipping family), caught on a hatch above and fluttering in the wind. Seeing nothing else of interest, Balth turns back to the exit.
A sudden moaning and thrashing breaks the stillness from the deck above! Balth looks up to where the ship's sails, still hanging from the broken mast, are draped over the side of the ship, trailing onto the ice. Something seems to be caught in the sails, and it's thrashing and ripping at them trying to get out. Before he can move, the thing claws its way free and tumbles from the deck onto the ice with a sickening crunch. Unharmed by the fall, it pulls itself jerkily to its feet, and Balth finds himself staring into the face of another dead crewman, directly between him and the exit! Itsjaws gaping horribly and its dead skin is rimed with frost, but cold light burns in its eyes as it stumbles towards him!
Outside, the rest of the party has their attention focused on the dark hole Balth disappeared into, when their attention is suddenly drawn away by the tumult on deck. As they turn to face the disturbance, they realize that a ring of dead men have emerged silently from behind rocks and are silently, grimly, staring at them - they're surrounded!
[sblock="OOC"]
Yes, it's ridiculous that zombies can sneak up on you over an open ice sheet - but that's how it works in horror movies. Rule of Cool.
Balth is at I9 on the map. The interior of the ship is difficult terrain due to the poor footing and the cargo strewn about (but none of the bales are big enough to provide cover). The stairway behind Balth has collapsed, and although the hole in the roof is open, it's 10 feet overhead.
The rest of you, place yourselves where you want to be! You approached from the east, and should be close to the break in the ship (although you could have circled around to look in from the north side if you want). Put yourselves at least 2 squares away from the zombie, though. I'll place the rest of the zombies and roll initiative when I know where you all are standing.
The fallen sails are difficult terrain and provide concealment to creatures on the opposite side of a spar. The large rocks to the south of the ship provide cover. Just off the south end of the map is a large fissure in the ice, which explains why the map doesn't extend farther that way. Yeah, that's the ticket.
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