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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on Sept 10, 2012 23:03:15 GMT -8
(Thank you Brett!)
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 12, 2012 6:52:15 GMT -8
 It had been an exhausting workday, one of those ones where every last person seems hellbent on delaying your exit from the building. Not just every person, but even yourself. Patti forgot her keys in her hurry to escape, and had to go back to her office where they were sitting, prominently in the center of the desktop as if to cry out 'going anywhere, hmmm?' She rolled her eyes at herself, and picked them up. The noise of the jingling key seemed to attract every last idiot who came stalking towards her like wild dogs. Well, perhaps they just seemed that way in the moment. Her office neighbor poked her head out of the door and said "You're not going to forget to pick up the party favors for the Spring Fling, right?" How could you remember to not forget something? Anyway, Patti wasn't one to procrastinate and had bought the party favors a month ago. Patti fought her way out with her verbal skills, and at last made it to her car. She worked her way through the downtown traffic, which thanks to her late departure, could have been a lot worse. It only took her twenty minutes to get to her apartment. She changed out of her suit and put on her sneakers for a quick trip to the mall. The Rack was having a shoe sale and she wasn't about to miss it. Besides, she could stop at Red Mango on the way.
The Mango was busy, but she was able to get out with her pomegranate-lemonade swirl in just a few minutes, strawberry mochi and all. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, which helped move things along. This might be a good evening after all. She came in on the first floor and passed a rather sour faced looking man on her way. She was just walking past the gloriously colorful facade of a store called 'Daiso' when the sound of squealing brakes gave her pause. She turned to look back towards the large windows of the mall. Pedestrians looked out of sorts, someone must have done some kind of dangerous maneuver with their car, how foolish. She'd nearly turned again to continue, when another car came barreling down the road, too fast for the person in the crosswalk to move. That sour looking man was in front of her, and blocked her view thankfully, but she could guess what had happened by the gasps of shock all around her. How awful! The sound of more cars roaring down the road, careening around corners. Patti reached for her phone, when she was distracted by a phone ringing nearby her. Then another, then another... then her own. The display on her iPhone said 'Louis Greene'. Before she could answer her dad, the call disconnected. All the phones stopped ringing at once. "No service" - her phone read. It was 7:15 PM. |
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 12, 2012 7:06:52 GMT -8
Does Patti have any children? Does she live alone? Does she have any pets? Favorite coworkers? Who might she seek out that is close by when a disaster happens?
Patti never really wanted to have children and avoided it carefully. She lives alone in her apartment. She hasn't had a pet since she was a kid, preferring apartment living to having a pet, though she likes dogs quite a bit. She has a few coworkers that she listens to when they want to gossip and they go out a couple of times a year, but she isn't close to them. She really likes her personal trainer, Colin Emerson, but he lives in Everett and she wouldn't know where to find him at any given moment unless they were together. She has been seeing a guy for a few weeks, but it wasn't serious and she was thinking about how to end the relationship anyway. She is very close to her family, but they are spread all over the country and she only sees them on holidays.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 12, 2012 7:42:42 GMT -8
Random additional details.
Patti is wearing neon pink and yellow Nike running shoes and a matching pair of running shorts, with a 'Racing for the Cure' half marathon t-shirt. Knowing full well how silly it looks with athletic gear, she is still carrying her leather day purse, an enormous Louis Vuitton handbag.
In the purse she has: apartment keys, keys to a ten year old BMW parked at the apartment building, lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, a cosmetic compact, her pocketbook, work ID and proximity cards on a hunter orange 'Browning' lanyard, a four inch folding knife, mace, a 'rape' whistle, a few pens, dental floss, lip gloss, a comb, Coach brand sunglasses, iPhone, sewing kit, Tylenol, cinnamon Trident, and two peanut butter Power Crunch bars.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 17, 2012 9:10:34 GMT -8
I was bored at work so I thought I'd inventory some useful stuff at Patti's apartment, if she ever sees it gain.
Patti is an avid skeet shooter and has two shotguns for that purpose. Both are competition models with very long barrels that would be very awkward in close combat situations.
1) a Browning Citori 725 Sporting - 12 ga, holds one round each in two barrels.
2) a Browning Maxus Sporting GC - 12 ga, holds one round in the barrel and four in the integrated magazine.
Patti also hunts duck, geese, and turkey with her father and brothers every year.
3) a Browning Gold Light 10 gauge - holds one round in the barrel and four in the integrated magazine.
Having been raised in a military family and having once been stalked by a stranger when she lived in Atlanta, she has a couple firearms for home and self defense.
4) a Benelli M4 - 12 ga, holds one round in the barrel and five in the integrated magazine. Pistol grip and adjustable stock.
5) a Beretta PX4 Storm Type F Subcompact .40 cal - semiautomatic, ten round magazine.
6) a Glock 23 Compact .40 cal - semiautomatic, thirteen round magazine. Laser sight on bottom rail.
Ammo-wise, she has 500 rounds each of 12 and 10 ga birdshot. This will be ineffective against zombies except at very close range. She has 25 rounds of 12 ga buckshot for home defense. For the pistols, she has 200 rounds of .40 cal hollow point. She has two magazines for the subcompact and four for the Glock.
The subcompact was intended for purse-carry, but she stopped carrying it when she relocated to Seattle. For the Glock, she has a belt holster with two magazine slots for going to the range.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 30, 2012 13:27:23 GMT -8
Current weapon, a Glock 22, .40 caliber, with three (quickly emptying) 17 round magazines.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Oct 2, 2012 14:14:53 GMT -8
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 20, 2012 22:44:59 GMT -8
Ahem.... WHY DOES PATTI HAVE HOLLOW POINT HANDGUN BULLETS?!!
Aren't those the kinda thing psycho "I wanna make a bigger hole" people get? Maybe I'm out of the loop on gun culture. I know Cypress Hill liked them.
And I wouldn't characterize us as "running out of ammo fast" unless anyone feels like going to the nearest Amazon building and killing every zombie in it with handguns alone.
A quick google search plus calc use suggested to me that Patti's gear from her apartment might be a bit of a weight problem... Kelly and I went through this the rest of the way and calculated the weight of all the gear. We'll let Patti keep the miscellany from her room as a gimme, but the grand total weight of everything was such that I don't think it was reasonable to believe they could have run, fought zombies, and carried it all during the last stretch to 403.
They definitely left all of the food and water in the car, maybe hoping they could come back for it at some point, if they felt guns were super necessary. That leaves it still more heavy than I feel is reasonable, especially given people wanting to move over uneven terrain while shooting zombies.
I don't want to get into specifics, because we could argue that forever, but I say lose 500 rounds of shotgun ammo, however you want to split it. That's being generous enough to assume you had reasonable bags to carry this in - ie., more than one heavy-duty bag that could be worn on a back.
And of course, no food or vitamin water. No big loss, as much of that nature is in the communal supplies at 403.
--
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Oct 21, 2012 8:27:22 GMT -8
Ahem.... WHY DOES PATTI HAVE HOLLOW POINT HANDGUN BULLETS?!! -- Hollow point rounds 1) stop a person trying to kill you faster (people that tend to be concerned about home and self defense usually err on the side of caution... 9mm and even .22 will stop most people not on PCP with as few as one, maybe two rounds) and 2) hollow point rounds don't come out the backside of your target and blow up your $3000 television (this one is accurate). They really are the most popular round for home/self defense, I'm not just making that up. I'd be interested in seeing that math, but I admit I have no idea how much a shotgun round weighs. The guns themselves wouldn't have been too bad, split between two large duffel bags (as I had described it). Also the only other thing they had added to those two duffels was one or two bottles of vitamin water a piece, Hector was carrying the other stuff. But whatever you sez, will be done. As for the handgun rounds, they are going fast, especially when you end up with a large crowd of zombies. I estimated Patti and Tyrone each would have gone through two full magazines when they were luring the zombie horde from the backside of the apartments so they could get in. We started with 200 rounds plus whatever we got off the cops and we now have only... hmm... I neglected to fully account for ammo that was being held by individuals. We still have something over 125 rounds, spread around. Still, it can go quickly, especially since the handguns are easier to use, especially in tight quarters with melee fighters, and significantly quieter than the shotguns. Realistically, the shotguns will be most useful if anyone needs to leave and make a longer journey where they will likely run into larger hordes of zombies. Also good for hunting seagulls and pigeons. |
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Oct 21, 2012 8:33:10 GMT -8
Ahem.... WHY DOES PATTI HAVE HOLLOW POINT HANDGUN BULLETS?!! -- (people that tend to be concerned about home and self defense usually err on the side of caution... 9mm and even .22 will stop most people not on PCP with as few as one, maybe two rounds) Also, in my experience, women gun owners also tend to go with more stopping power, especially when they've had a legitimate reason to have concern (e.g. been the victim or close to the victim of a violent crime or similar event). As I mentioned somewhere (unless I deleted it before I posted it), Patti had been stalked for a time when she was in Atlanta, which is what inspired her to purchase and train with handguns in the first place. |
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Oct 21, 2012 11:37:40 GMT -8
Right-O, I googled the hollowpoint thing later and saw that... It's funny I'm sure her most expensive possessions are the shotguns. Any gun expert looking at them will probably pull a wolf whistle.
I don't even see why she felt she needed 60 rounds of ammo to do out and do some work in an alley that was already blocked off from zombies, but that's Patti in a nutshell. Maybe much later from now we'll get into a story where that's useful, but unless she goes postal, I don't think she's going to spend a single round anytime soon. So ammo- not running out quickly.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Oct 21, 2012 11:50:49 GMT -8
It's funny I'm sure her most expensive possessions are the shotguns. Any gun expert looking at them will probably pull a wolf whistle. Other than her Louis Vuitton bag (which she sadly abandoned at the apartment, though I didn't outright say that), the shotguns are definitely her high dollar items. If she had thought for a minute that someone might ever be breaking into her place in a luxury apartment building with security, she would have certainly had a gun safe of some sort. |
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Nov 4, 2012 20:54:17 GMT -8
FIREARM AND AMMO INVENTORY
1) a Browning Citori 725 Sporting - 12 ga, holds one round each in two barrels. Shell clip on stock holds six rounds.
Eddy and the group that departed the building have this gun and 50 rounds of 12 gauge.
2) a Browning Maxus Sporting GC - 12 ga, holds one round in the barrel and four in the integrated magazine.
Locked in the cabinet in the Community Center.
3) a Browning Gold Light 10 gauge - holds one round in the barrel and four in the integrated magazine.
Ashley is carrying this on a scouting mission, fully loaded, with fifteen rounds stuffed in his jacket pockets.
4) a Benelli M4 - 12 ga, holds one round in the barrel and five in the integrated magazine. Pistol grip and adjustable stock.
Patti is carrying this on a scouting mission, fully loaded, with 12 rounds in the shell pouch.
5) a Beretta PX4 Storm Type F Subcompact .40 cal - semiautomatic, two empty ten round magazines. No holster.
Locked in the cabinet in the Community Center.
6) a Glock 23 Compact .40 cal - semiautomatic, thirteen round magazine. Laser sight on bottom rail. Holster.
Patti is carrying this and all four magazines, fully loaded.
7) a SPD Issue Glock 22, .40 caliber - semiautomatic, seventeen round magazines.
Tyrone is carrying this and two magazines, fully loaded.
8) a SPD Issue Glock 22, .40 caliber - semiautomatic, seventeen round magazines.
Ashley is carrying this and two magazines, fully loaded.
AMMO COUNTS
Does not include any ammo currently "assigned" to an individual.
182 - 12 Gauge Birdshot
230 - 10 Gauge Birdshot
025 - 12 Gauge Buckshot
075 - 40 Caliber Hollow Points
NOTE FOR ANYONE CARRYING A FIREARM:
Chris and Kelly probably don't want to waste time on little details, so we can do a small thing to help me keep track of our ammo. Any time you put up a post in which you use ammo just put a small note at the bottom that looks something like the one below. Thanks.
(6 rounds fired)
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Apr 2, 2013 13:09:54 GMT -8
Day 1:
When I woke this morning, I decided to get out of the clinic and move, keep myself busy. I spoke with as many people as I could, to get a feel for the timeline of the siege.
First contact was on the roof (though the siege was launched almost simultaneously from at least three fronts), where Tyrone and Kaito were confronted and neutralized by the possessed. It's unclear whether it was just the one or if there was more than one; neither of the guys is particularly chatty today, between the broken ribs and the pain-killers.
The barricades at the front of the building were torn down and thrown aside under the guise of some mystical silence. The parking level guards weren't even aware of the siege until zombies started pouring out of the stairwells. The best method for them to handle being outnumbered so egregiously was to get in a vehicle and use it as their primary weapon.
- Consider pre-hotwiring all of the cars so they can be started quickly and used in case of future attack. They can be used as weapons here or as barricades to control ingress.
The clinic was quickly overtaken by zombies and at least one of the possessed ("demons"). During this stage of the attack, Kaya became possessed and had to be restrained by Becky. Dr. Mélange and others took cover in the walk-in, while Seth and Joe headed upstairs to warn others.
- Consider asking Becky to train some people in hand-to-hand combat techniques.
The third point of attack was Kenny’s apartment. A demon entered through his window and possessed him, before departing back out the window to, presumably, cause trouble elsewhere. Bryce and Jackson restrained Kenny until the end of the siege. I’m pleasantly surprised by Bryce’s handling of the situation. Not sure how well he’s going to handle it long term, but four months ago I would have expected a situation like this to paralyze him completely.
The unplanned tactic of gathering people into one or two rooms was surprisingly effective, though this could have been as much about sheer luck as about actually being an effective technique. Details are still sparse, but it appears that Luke, of all people, cast some sort of magic ritual that expelled the dead from the building, for a time at least.
- Nat seems to have some ideas about the functioning of magic and we should try to take a more methodical, team approach towards researching this. If we lost Nat, we would be without so much as a lead (not counting Luke here, there’s no guarantee we’ll ever get anything lucid enough out of him to help).
- Talking to Nat and other witnesses, I have the impression that Luke may have cast his spell directly from the book we recovered from the bus station. That was as fortuitous as it is disturbing. If the spell that saved 403 was, in fact, from this book, it is imperative that Nat gets an opportunity to review it. How much juice would we need to generate to power a desktop printer/copier long enough to copy the whole thing?
- While the less able were protected, there was no concerted effort to re-secure the building and a prolonged siege would have likely overwhelmed them if not for Luke’s lucid moment.
At some point a haunter (I overheard Dr. Mélange speaking with Seth and referring to them as “super ghosts”), or possibly more than one entered the building. One attempted to take Seth in the stairwell, but he managed to escape. Fire was effective in destroying it. The second possible super ghost (though its tactics were different, its methods were similar and it was very conscious about avoiding fire) attacked on the 6th floor through the ceiling and at one point pulled Micah through the ceiling and onto the roof. It was presumably expelled by Luke’s magic. Not sure why one was more aware of the danger of fire and the other less so. Either they are different beasts or they have different levels of power and self-awareness.
The zombies were able to quickly diffuse throughout the building via the stairwells. Some considerations should be made to control this in the future.
- Possible collapsible barricades in the stairwells. Rudimentary example, pile some chairs on a landing and push them over to make the stairs harder to traverse by the mindless undead. This won’t be effective if they have a super ghost or other telekinetic assistance, but would be against just zombies.
- Big con for this idea is that it makes it harder for residents to escape to the streets if we are besieged from above and it provides dangerous weapons to the telekinetic attackers. This might outweigh the benefits.
- I am not clear on whether the telekinetic can move objects that they can’t see. If not, we might consider placing mobile barricades near the doors on each floor. Doesn’t help if the telekinetic can pass through walls (super ghost), but it might delay demons or the possessed.
- Re-address the possibility of building one or more bridges across to the next building?
It is becoming increasingly clear that the key to possession is somehow related to a belief in a “hell”. Alex reported being in some sort of hell while his body was being controlled and the possessed constantly bombarded bystanders with taunts and threats about hell. They also expressed a disdain for atheists, though that could support any kind of faith-based vulnerability theory.
I helped with small tasks around the comm center and in the temporary clinic today, I plan to buckle down tomorrow and help with the corpse removal. We’ll see how my body holds up.
There is some discussion about temporarily moving some folks to a neighboring building during cleanup. I’m going to stick at 403, but will also take guard shifts at the other building as necessary.
Day 3
I’ve been lugging corpses around for what seems like weeks. I spoke with Marie about attending the council meetings. She was hesitant at first, but Seth was interested in some of the suggestions I had, so he said I could attend as a security consultant. This appeased Marie, who is so Lawful Good that she could teach a 16th level Paladin a thing or two.
We actually learned a great deal about our enemy during the siege. Some of the high notes are the presumed vulnerability to possession seems a little more certain than it was before. That haunters or “super ghosts” are killed by fire like any other ghost is a relief. Not sure what would happen if the ghost were killed while someone was trapped “elsewhere”. Hopefully, we never have to find out. Also, at least one super ghost used its ectoplasm to douse flares. This is a disturbing development. We need to find more fire sources. We’ve cleaned out local hardware stores and vehicles of flares and we have enough for a while longer, but if encounters increase, we will run out quickly.
I’m interested in the possibilities for magic as it seems to have great potential in turning the tides of this war. I mentioned that Alex had reported some magic being used at El Corazon and I think the council came to a general consensus that we should reach out to them.
I spoke with Ben for a while about some questions he had regarding religion and how it fit into the whole magic paradigm. I think it would be a good idea to pursue experimentation with religious ceremony as a path to magic. If it could work, it would make it much easier for some people to embrace and contribute on that front in the future.
After the meeting, we moved some more bodies. It is nasty work, but necessary. I agree with the idea that we should stay put, as some of our infrastructure would be hard to replicate, particularly the water collection and our computer lab and generators.
Right now, most people are living in large communal groups, but there is discussion of rearranging roommates and some people moving permanently into the second building. I still don’t know where I stand on this, but I like Lashonda a lot and it makes me feel safer to know she’s my backup in an emergency. I haven’t seen Ash much since the siege, just at meals and in passing. Need to sit down with him soon so he doesn’t think I’m ignoring him on purpose.
I’ve been having half a brownie in the morning for aches and pains and another half at bed time. That way, my perception isn’t altered too much and my coordination seems unhindered. The pain is easily controlled with Tylenol now, so I’m going to cut out the morning dose. Should be able to drag this batch out for a few more weeks. A year ago, there’s no way in hell I’d eat a two week old brownie, but you take what you can get. Thank God for Saran Wrap.
Day 8
With the bodies cleared out and burned, I’ve had more time to socialize with folks. A few days ago Ash, Alex, Joe, and I went to Lake Union and came back with twelve geese. The protein will be important for the healing process for Tyrone and Kaito, who have dozens of bone fractures between the two of them.
Alex is still in some sort of spiritual crisis, though he seems hell-bent on adopting an established belief system and not a pragmatic, practical world view. He’s also very excited about working with Nat and learning magic. I’m only slightly terrified to imagine what he might accidentally do with that kind of power. Hopefully Nat can instill some due respect for the stuff. I look forward to hearing any briefs on the subject at future council meetings.
Ash and I were able to start our morning workouts again once we were done with all the heavy lifting in the cleanup. We’re aiming for more muscle endurance. A lot of high rep box jumps, pull-ups, and the sort. Cardio endurance is a secondary goal, so we’ve added a few extra circuits of the stairs, and we’ll probably add more as we go, but not so much that we can’t recover in under an hour.
I’ve continued my unguided Parkour training, with lots of prolonged hand stands, grip hangs, reverse-grip curls and such. Micah eventually agreed to give me some practical instruction twice a week. I'll try to make the most of it and practice throughout the week.
Lashonda and I are going to stick it out, but relocate to the new building. I haven't had time to search the place for swanky furniture, but hopefully we can put together a nice pad. I'll really miss my sleep number bed if I can't find something similar over there.
Day 14
We’ve just got back from another goose hunt, the third since the siege. It doesn’t take geese long to forget where they’ve been shot at and we’ve had no trouble harvesting as many as sixteen about a week ago. It seems like even casual zombie contact is enough to keep them acclimated to humanoid movement, so they aren’t in the least bit skittish. We can get the first volley off within twenty feet, which is fabulous because you can get two or three with your first shot.
I eventually convinced Becky to teach me some ground moves, more advanced restraint maneuvers, and such. Joe is going to help out, since Becky's arm still needs to be rested.
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