Fifty to Cincy — IC

[Namelessjake]

"Nicely done," Nate agrees. "Yeah let's head for the bridge," he adds, following after Woody.

They better not not let us through because of these walkers... hopefully we can deal with 11 of them if it comes to it.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Yeah," Lane responds, glad that some of the horde had broken off. "Maybe some more will fuck off on the way. Trip over themselves or something."

[ratwizard]

You press on through the final block, the rising arch of the bridge now well in sight ahead. You can see the barricades better from here: improvised, ramshackle, but piled high. Two men stand atop some platform behind a reinforced sheet of plywood. You jog toward them, the undead followers still at a slow but unrelenting pace about a couple shopfronts behind you.

"Hey, what the fuck?" one man calls out, leveling a shotgun ahead. "Benny, go get help. We can't go loud again. Tell them we need that rebar shit again." The other man nods, taking off in a hurry.

The first man turns back toward you. "Lead them up toward me, then climb down that way," he commands, gesturing toward your left, where a small hop down from the beginning rise of the bridge would lead you back down the hill to the dirt path you originally approached from.

[Namelessjake]

"We ditched most of them, good to know you guys have a system though," Nate says as he follows the man’s instructions, making his way up the bridge heading for the left hand side.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Got it," Lane says back, keeping his calm despite the dangerous situation they're finding themselves in. He heads to the left, ready to hop down and make his way to potential safety.

[ratwizard]

You sidle over the edge of the bridge, falling a couple meters to the grassy hill beneath that overlooks the small park from earlier. Trotting through it, you curve back down toward the original dirt path that follows the riverbank. Above you, Carmen leans over, staring down at you from the bridge overpass.

"Real courteous to bring us a pack of them," she calls down. She glances over her shoulder, a place you cannot see, but you can hear the footsteps of a few more people making for the barriers. Carmen shrugs unconcernedly. "It's fine. It took a whole swarm of them to push us back. If we can't take just a dozen, we're hardly deserving of Loveland."

She grimaces as she turns back toward you. "So, Farhan?"

[Fialova]

"He seemed happy where he was, refused to let us in or come out," Woody responds, not wanting to beat around the bush.

[Namelessjake]

"Yeah he's alive - at least for now," Nate adds. "We've got proof too, if you don't believe us."

[ratwizard]

"What the fuck? Happy?" Carmen says, leaning her gun against the railing, her face awash with bewilderment. "Why? What did he say? Why wouldn't he just come back with you? And yeah, show me." She crosses her arms impatiently.

[Scratcherclaw]

"He said he was, uh... he's settled out there and that you don't need to worry about him," Lane responds with a frown, knowing the implications in the man's last words. He pulls out his phone, airdropping the photo back to the woman. At least she'll have something to remember him by.

[ratwizard]

The woman's phone pings and she takes a moment: slipping her gloves off, squinting down at the screen, tapping a few times. Her eyes widen. "Oh. Wow. He looks like trash," Carmen says. "Farhan, you... stupid-ass." She puts a hand to her mouth, shaking her head softly.

She grants you an embarrassed frown, realizing you're still all standing there, watching her. "Oh yeah. You boys are, ah, good then. Hang on," She narrows her eyes at Lane and Tane. "What's with the football pads? The, what is that, umpire shit? I knew I heard alarms earlier. You guys breaking into our stores?" A hand falls to the barrel of her rifle, still laid against the railing.

[Namelessjake]

”Your stores? Right now they’re the horde’s, and they weren’t exactly manning the register," Nate replies.

”The alarm is the reason we only brought eleven back with us."

[Scratcherclaw]

"Yeah, exactly," Lane says after Nate with a nod. "And in times like this, I think a human life is worth more than your merchandise." He crosses his arms, giving Carmen a stern look. Just like those dumbasses who rush back into their burning house for their stuff. You can get new stuff but you can't get a life back.

[ratwizard]

You can see Carmen's jaw clench from here, her lips pulled taut into a tight frown as she listens. "Then consider us even, but only because you did me a solid with Farhan," she eventually says before waving you along in a dismissive and sharp gesture. "Just get moving before the other business owners catch wind of this. They're already dealing with the friendly neighbors you brought our way." She watches you carefully, her hand not leaving the barrel of her rifle at it sits against the railing.

OOC

You're free to pass under the bridge, should you desire!

Checking your watch, the time is now 1:00 PM. Based on your energy level, you feel like you could reasonably keep traveling another few hours today without strain.

Map

[Namelessjake]

"Let's go," Nate says, heading under the bridge to continue South.

"Don't they know it's the end of the world? They're not reopening their stores," he says quietly to the others as they pass under the concrete structure.

[ratwizard]

Leaving behind the horrors of downtown Loveland and its small business owner survivalists, you continue along the riverbank dirt-road. The afternoon sun still lingers high in the cloudless sky, and conditions are good, if frigid. After the first hour the heavily wooded river begins to meander to your right.

Another hour longer, and you begin seeing familiar signs of civilization once more, if sparse and sub-urban. The thick tree cover gives way to a few venues of notice. A gas station long-abandoned before the dead started rising, its pumps rusty. Onsite, there's also a tiny shack that may have once served as a walk-up convenience store. Up ahead, you see an unremarkable concrete bridge that provides car access to each side of the river — no toll-takers that you can see.

Of course, the rough dirt road you've been taking thus far also continues along the river.

OOC

The time is now 3:00 PM. You are feeling weary, but up for another couple hours of walking before you believe you'd need to stop and rest. At current pace and results, that'd be one more hex.

As a heads up, I will be processing your survival needs at end-of-day. That's Food, Water, Shelter, and Fire. (And also Addiction! Wheeee!)

See page 60 for a refresher on each of the needs. I recommend taking a look at what you have or don't have, and using that to help inform your decision.

Hex Map

[Namelessjake]

"We could keep going a while longer, but maybe it's better to stop somewhere here for the night," Nate suggests.

"It seems pretty quiet around here, and either the gas station or underneath the bridge could serve as a decent shelter for the night," he adds.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Only a couple hours til it starts getting dark, so not a bad idea," Lane says toward Nate, his eyes scanning around the area for any sign they might not be alone. Can't imagine a horde wandered all the way over here. But who knows. "That shack looks pretty small, but might be a little warmer overnight, if it's safe to build a fire by it." Dry timber could light up in an instant. Just one spark and we're toast.

[Namelessjake]

"Let's check it out, could be something worth looting even if it's no good for the night" Nate says, starting towards the old gas station.

[Fialova]

"Yeah, I'm good to stop here," Woody agrees with the others, as he begins walking towards the shack in question. "No guarantees we'll find another safe spot before nightfall, and hell if I wanna be dealing with those corpses while tired and looking for a place to close my eyes for the night."

[Chanchabruhh]

Tane looks and nods "Yeah im good with whatever you guys are, and looting real quick sounds solid to me."

[ratwizard]

You approach the gas station kiosk, a dingy and rusted structure whose prefab and sheet-metal has otherwise survived what appears to be a couple decades of the elements. There is a counter that once served walk-up customers. Plexiglass keeps the cut-out closed aside from a small hole that's been busted in. Around the side is a small, metal door that doesn't fully close on its own.

Opening it up, the cramped interior has had most of its shelving units removed, and clearly has been used by vagrants in times past based on the scattered food wrappers, drink cups, and spare needle.

OOC

You think you could narrowly fit the four of you in here for a night's sleep, with a fire as an option if enough ventilation was created by leaving the door ajar and/or opening the counter window. In this location, you would count as Exposed for the sake of encounter possibilities.

For reference, the kiosk looks similar to this:

[Namelessjake]

"Well it’ll be tight but it could work, let’s check out the bridge before we commit though" Nate says, not loving the prospect of spending the night spooning in the tiny shack.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Hm," Lane considers, looking over the potential shelter. "The last thing we want is to be tripping over each other if something were to go wrong." Nevermind the fire risk in an emergency.

He nods to Nate, curious how beneath the bridge might fare.

[ratwizard]

You reach the bridge overpass in a couple minutes. Like before, the riverbank dirt road runs under it and beyond. The concrete underside of the bridge is graffitied and littered with similar refuse and paraphernalia as the gas station kiosk. What it lacks in privacy it makes up for space. You could easily set up camp under here.

[Namelessjake]

"This'll work, though it might get a bit cold if the fire goes out," Nate says.

"I guess one other alternative is to head inland a bit more, see if we can find a house to hole up in for the night. Could find more supplies too," he adds, looking across the strip of wasteland by the river towards the signs of settlement.

[Chanchabruhh]

"Yeah a house would be nice but how much time we got till nightfall cuz I'm good with either option to be honest." Tane says as he looks in the same direction as nate thinking to himself for a moment

[Namelessjake]

"We've got a couple hours still," Nate says, checking his watch once more.

[Scratcherclaw]

"A house would definitely be a lot warmer and safer. Gonna get pretty chilly once the sun goes down," Lane says with a frown, missing the sunshine of his home state. Much nicer to camp out when it's not cold as balls. "This area seems pretty dead, no pun intended, so we might have some luck."

[ratwizard]

Taking note of the area on this side of the river, you see a couple options from your current vantage. Up a small and winding lane, a handful of sizable hilltop houses peek down at you from their veil of manufactured trees and hedges. A different way past the gas station leads toward a small development of cookie-cutter houses, more mundane and densely packed.

[Fialova]

"Those suburban homes are probably a lot better for supplies," Woody says, when the different neighborhoods come into view. "You don't find a lot of rich folk doing their own yardwork and stuff, but I bet a lot of the people that lived over there did," he continues, nodding towards the section of cookie cutter homes. Probably more canned food, too. 

[Namelessjake]

"Could be more zombies too," Nate says with a shrug. "But no risk no reward I guess," he adds, happy to head for the development.