The Brock's Rest part 1(?) - ATZ an English Adventure

Peering into the gloomy interior, Bobby edged into the Brock's Rest Tavern with April just behind him, her assault rifle up and tracking left to right. Weak daylight poured through ancient leaded windows, illuminating a bar area that belonged in a different era. Flagstones clad the floor and huge oak beams lined the walls and low ceiling. Wall mounted torches flickered as small gusts took the flames, causing them to dance. Across the massive open room stood an enormous wooden bar, complete with barrels atop the surfaces and more in place of bar stools, with 'old world' style glasses, mugs and tankards scattered across it.  It all had a very cozy feel to it, that was if you could ignore the zombies - oh and the human that was fighting them...

our heroes walk into a fight!

as per my rules for this game, walking into the tavern will reveal 6 cards
at suburban level - 7 x zeds and my special character (not Carolee...)

"Howay, my friends" a cheery voice shouted from behind the bar, his northern drawl marking him as a Geordie. "Have you come to join this little party?" He punctuated his remark by lifting an assault rifle of his own and shooting a zombie in the head and dropping it to the flagstones. "I'm Bryan, by the way" he added with a cheeky grin toward April.

Bryan shoots a zed from behind the bar

April gawked at the man behind the bar, not tall, running to fat and dressed in a T shirt decorated with a veluptuous female vampire, the man did not seem very imposing. The cheeky grin and soft geordie accent completed the picture of what, in different times might have been considered a bit of a geek. However, the competent handling of the firearm and accuracy of the shot, as well as the long katana strapped to his waist hinted at someone to whom the apocalypse had seen them flourish!

"Hi Bryan" she managed after a second or two, returning his grin with her 1000w smile. "I'm April" punctuating he reply with a burst of gunfire of her own, with similar results. "and this is Bobby" indicating the camera man as he followed suit.

The zombies close in on the humans as they 'meet and greet'

unbeknown to them, the gunfire has drawn zeds from upstairs down
into the common room

Pulling his katana, Bryan hurried toward the two infected that were heading toward the bar and in a flurry of strokes cut them down. April stood open mouthed watching the geeky geordie, mesmerised by the almost graceful movements, totally at odds with the portly nature of the man. So distracted by this display was she, that she accidentally discharged her weapon into the ancient stone floor.

Bobby sighed as he picked off an approaching zed, April always did this. Whenever a fat, nerdy guy was about the beautiful red-head became infatuated. It was astonishing and also funny to watch - normally, as a succession of buff, male model types threw themselves at her just to be rebuffed and sent away with a scathing put down. Only to see her fluttering her long lashes at a completely oblivious, Dungeons and Dragons loving super virgin... Even the zeds seemed to pause to watch the burgeoning crush 

meanwhile in the common room more zeds join the growing horde

Bryan scuttled over to join them, oblivious to the long looks coming from the infatuated reporter, shooting from the hip nonchalantly at the zed behind the bar and dropping it, much to April's delight. Not to be outdone, Bobby shot the last D-sub in the bar area and shook his head as his colleague stood dumbstruck.

the bar area is clear

but more zeds gather in the gloom of the common room

10 of the undead monsters stand swaying in the darkened room.

Bryan took a cautious step into the common room, wincing as his foot thumped down on the floor which had changed from stone to oak planking. The low light of the fire he had lit earlier, cast a flickering gloom across the massive open area, revealing the tables and upturned stools that had in better times no doubt been laden with scrumptious pub food and filled with laughing patrons. A low groan coming from all sides of the room, caused him to pause and raise his rifle.

the former residents of the tavern are revealed in the dim light of the fire

and there are lots of them

lots and lots

Bryan stepped backward, his feet shuffling back onto the flagstones and his rifle barking as he triggered a burst at the approaching horde. "Watch out" he managed to gasp as the wave of infected humans fell over the journalists. Bobby fired a long burst of his own, taking down a zed, before smashing the butt of the rifle into the face of another, causing it to fall over. April, overwhelmed by the ferocity of the attack barely had time to raise her weapon before her attacker was on her. She shrieked in pain as filthy nails were dragged across her cheek, laying it down to the bone. Swinging wildly with the rifle and half blinded by blood from her gruesome wound, she missed and dropped to a knee as she overbalanced. The zombie snapped its teeth mere inches from her throat as it's clawed hands drew more ragged wounds down her shoulders and arms. A thumping blow from the zed as they clashed heads stunned her and she fell fully to the floor, the darkness rising up to meet her.

April loses the melee against her opponent

as Bobby takes care of his...

more zeds are drawn in

"NOOOOO!" Bobby screamed as he saw the filthy zombie batter April to the ground. Drawing the combat knife that his colleague had scavenged for him, he slammed the blackened blade into the side of its head hilt deep.   A long burst of machine gun fire nearby indicated that Bryan, the mysterious northerner was still in the fight. 

With his original opponents still trying to get up and April's attacker down, Bobby heaved the bleeding reporter onto his muscular shoulder and retreated towards the oak door. With his free hand he reached for the walkie-talkie that he knew was linked to some new friends of the red-headed reporter and keyed the 'talk' button.

"MEDICS" he roared into the device, mimicking the soldiers he had toured with as a reporter in Afghanistan. "MEDICS" he repeated, as Bryan headed toward him, laying a stream of fire behind them, dropping more zeds as they stumbled towards the fleeing humans.

more and more zeds stream forward

Bryan reached passed him and opened the thick timbered doors to the Tavern and the pair stumbled out of the building into the daylight. Quickly, the stout geordie threw the door shut, and retreated back away as Bobby spat information into the radio. Bryan couldn't quite make out the words but he heard a male voice on the other end of the device replying to the frantic cameraman.

Looking around, the ex-graphic designer turned apocalypse survival expert spotted the eccentric looking building across the courtyard. Pulling on the young man's free shoulder, he dragged him and his unconscious burden toward the house.

With a grunt he pushed through the door and into an open plan ground floor. A tiled floor, once pristine showed some signs of a recent fight, with some bloodstains marking the spot. Bobby eased April onto the floor and stepped back, trying vainly to surpress a sob, and began to beg the voice on the radio for instructions. "What do I do? what do I do?" he repeated as the walkie-talkie burst back into life.

"We're on our way" came a new voice, softer, female, more soothing. "In the meantime you need to find some bits and help April until we get there"

Bobby and Bryan listened in awe at the competent sounding voice on the other end of the line, and let that professionalism calm their jangling nerves. Help was coming, they just needed to do their part and it would all be ok....wouldn't it?

Bryan "Vampifan" Scott

hope you enjoy

dGG

The Brock's Rest (intro) - ATZ an English Adventure

Hi y'all, 

So following on from the last ATZ post which you can find here and for those who haven't read any of the series so far please find the page to the campaign here, the MiB operatives that have been deployed to the stricken Isle of Thanet have been investigating the deaths of two of their men. April Neillson, our roving reporter, managed to beat the two mercs in close combat before fleeing the tiny hamlet in search of her colleague Bobby. The MiBs, not finding anyone in the vicinity have left the area, but not before deploying some surveillance gear to inform them if anyone was to come back.

April meeting up with Bobby, decides to return to the Brock's Rest - a tavern nestled in the tiny hamlet, in order to secure it as a base of operations for them, and possibly Gobbo and his kin. The thick walls and ancient oak doors look sturdy enough to defend and it should be relatively well stocked considering the remoteness of the location.

Since the last game, April has become a Star survivor and is now armed and protected thanks to her ransacking the bodies of the dead mercs. Bobby is similarly kitted out as she carried the heavy equipment with her when she escaped. This is in direct opposition to my English style ATZ campaign rules on restricted firearms but represents her incredible fortune at beating two fully kitted out soldiers in melee. Bobby is still a civilian and a Grunt at that, so will need to stick with April in order to more effective. His "lucky" skill I have invented as it is not in this edition of ATZ and reflects his considerable good fortune. This also explaind why his "Savvy" attribute is higher than one would have thought considering his relatively average intelligence, as he tends to "luck" his way through tech etc.

The initial layout is the same one I used for the last Batrep, with the exception that, once the characters enter the Brock's Rest, I will use the interior model I have built for the tavern. With regard to the tavern there are only two main rooms on the floor plan downstairs and each room will generate 6x risk/reward cards rather just one. Also gunfire will attract zeds as if they were outside, representing zeds being drawn from upstairs.  All activity in the tavern will operate as if in a Suburban setting with regard to zombie generation etc. There is a PEF is sector 2,4 and 6 and the same rules with the swift river apply as per the last batrep which you can read here. April and Bobby will enter from section 9 in the top right of the picture below.

I was going to leave it there for this week, but I'm too excited not to jump in straight away!

"Hurry Bobby for goodness sake" April snapped as her more laid back colleague just ambled on. Seeing the D-Subs around them as she tried to hurry her cameraman forward. Bobby, who had not really seen much of the destruction of Thanet or it's effects on the local populace, shrugged unconcerned and waved at the two figures stumbling toward them. As far as he was concerned, if they weren't black clad mercenaries, then there was nothing to worry about...

As they move onto the board Bobby spots two figure stumbling toward them

and April spots 5 more over the other side of the river

Bobby fails to recognise the figures as zombies, so just waves!

April, seeing Bobby completely fail to react properly to the threat, raised her appropriated assault rifle to her shoulder and let out a quick burst. The bullets crashed into the heads of both of the approaching d-subs, dropping them to the ground in a shower of gore. 

"What the f*ck was that dude?" Bobby screeched as April swung the formidable weapon toward the group of infected she had seen across the river. With a snort of relief she saw the lead zombies fall into the swirling water of the river and get dragged away by the powerful current of the swollen waterway. 

A PEF across the water activates and reveals as nothing

April shoots the two zeds that Bobby had waved at and "kills" them both

and generates another zed behind the tavern

the last of the zeds across the river follow their friends into the river

With the rushing waters of the river at her back, April felt confident enough to face the next d-sub and let it get closer to them, so that Bobby could finally see what they were facing. 

 

only the zed activates

and again, although the PEF also activates and retreats away from the humans

and hides around the side of the building

April waited until the last moment, seeing the realisation hit Bobby - these 'things' were no longer people. Carefully she sighted down her firearm and squeezed the trigger, watching as the round crunched through the face of the infected and dropped it to the ground.

"Do you see now Bobby?" she said softly, "the world has changed - at least this part of it anyways"

Dragging him by the shoulder, she pulled him toward the front of the building.

April takes out the last zed on the board and does not generate anymore

The PEF comes forwards and is revealed to be nothing

"Can you get the door open?" she asked the cameraman. He nodded and stepped forward, lifting the cast iron latch easily. "Sure, no problem" he drawled, some of his confidence coming back as he pushed the heavy, wooden portal opened and stepped lightly inside the gloomy interior.

Further in the woods, the last PEF lurks undiscovered, waiting, watching...

hope you enjoy

dGG

Separate Ways (conclusion) - ATZ an English Adventure

 Hi y'all,

I'm back with the ATZ bug and I feel the need to flesh out this storyline... 

So we left our story with April scurrying out of the small hamlet to make her appointment with her cameraman "Booby" Bobby. 

With a dusty whoomph! the enormous helicopter drove the loose dirt out in a large circle, as it performed a landing not seen outside of a "hotzone" battlefield. Quickly, expertly, the black clad figure exited the aircraft and hurried out of the long reach of the blade-like rotors. In a crouch he ran over to a eccentric looking building that looked like it had been built on stilts and the two 'soldiers' standing to a loose attention. 

The man dressed in a long overcoat pointed at the larger of the two others, both clad in the more paramilitary style favoured by mercenaries - nondescript with no visible insignias or identifiable markings.

"Report Chamberlain, what do you know?" he bellowed in a loud voice in an effort to be heard over the noise of the chopper.

"Not much sir!" the large man shouted back. "We found our two men in the house behind us, dead sir!" 

"Killed by the D-Subs?" the MiB asked, more softly.

"No sir, looks like they were beaten to death sir, well one was. The other looks like he hit his neck and head on a piece of furniture and bled out, but there was definitely a fight of some kind..."

The grim faced operative's piercing stare, made the burly mercenary almost step back before he continued.

"They were stripped of their gear sir, body armour, weapons and ammo, as well as some rations..."

That stare seemed to somehow intensify as it noticed the slight hesitation, as the hulking soldier took a steadying breath. 

"They're also missing a map sir, you know with our deployments on it..." his voice wobbled but he hurried up in an effort to get an explanation out "But they can't possibly understand the significance of the symbols, surely?" more of a question than an explanation. A raised eyebrow from the MiB, forced the massive mercenary to come to a shuddering halt, and look down at his scuffed boots.

"The rest of the buildings?" The operative inquired.  

"Thermal imaging just shows the D-Subs sir, nothing so much as a cat sir" Chamberlain reported, glad to have moved on to something more positive. "We've set up the infra-red trips and surveillance gear sir, we'll know if anyone comes back nosing around."

The MiB nodded and headed back to the helicopter, the two mercs following behind to settle into the massive machine. With a roar of the powerful engines, the aircraft leapt into the sky and raced off toward the Coastline.

more soon, 

hope you enjoy

dGG