Zombie Apocalypse: The Sign-up

[Overcast]

I've been waiting up for Mauve.

[mauve]

Thanks! I'll try and get something written up this evening-- the power went out yesterday so I couldn't get online for a while.

[Geminex]

Do you not understand that Gem? Is it so hard to get that through your head?

Oh, oh I see! No, see, I was disagreeing with you because I'm an idiot. I didn't have, like, valid tactical arguments or anything. Thanks for that, man. Thanks.

...

In other words, look. We're gonna be discussing things a lot. I'm staying neutral and not being insulting (at least I don't think I am). I'd welcome it if you did the same and did not tempt me to respond in kind. And yeah, implying that I'm an idiot for disagreeing with you? Pretty high on the 'insulting shit to say' ladder. Seriously, why the agression?

Anyway...
Firstly, yeah. You're right. The room isn't very defensible. But we'de be even more vulnerable to attack if we were left it. We're not gonna be able to deal with a larger group of zombies anyway. And if we get attacked by a few stragglers, I think that we have a way better chance of surviving in the room, than somewhere in the con center. Because I think it's pretty much a guarantee that we're gonna get spotted and attacked if we leave the room now. Zombies are thick around us, and it's gonna remain that way for a while to come. This isn't so much about defending ourselves. This is about avoiding combat altogether. If we leave now? I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to fight. If we wait until darkness? We'd have a much better chance of leaving without getting attacked. And like I said, I don't think that there's such a huge liklihood of us getting found while we're waiting. The first impression is that these zombies aren't very intelligent (though mind you, that's what I'd like to find out). There's not many in the hallways in the first place, and I think that those that are rampaging through the second floor are gonna go the path of least resistance. Meaning if we close and barricade the doors, I doubt they're gonna start tearing them down for no reason.

I don't think that they can communicate telepathically with one another, quite simply because if that were the case, we'd be dead already. I also don't think that they're gonna react to the TV crashing through the window. When it happened, almost everyone would have just turned. The noise and chaos would have been incredible, I don't think one TV's gonna make a difference.

There's just no reason to leave just yet. Sure, we aren't armed for combat, but we don't wanna run. We wanna hide. And this is a pretty good hiding place. Why leave it now? We can wait until it's safe to do so.

And as for the experiments...

Well, the plan was to break Zombienarker's joints and cut his sinews. Not a lot you can do when your bones don't connect very well to each other and your muscles aren't connected to your bones.

I'm not entirely certain how to test intelligence. But hell, the senses are easy. Stab out his eyes, check how he reacts to smells and sounds.
Yes, all of that is absolutely horrible. But it'd be effective, I'd imagine.

Look, I'm not saying we'll gain some sort of slew of knowlege. But we'll gain some basic, important, stuff. And sure, maybe we could gain that by observing them. But see... I want to experiment to learn about them, and use that knowlege to prepare for our next encounter. If we encounter them before we have that knowlege? We've missed the point of intel gathering. Probably fatally. Add to that the fact that, well... I'm not really sure how you intend to learn as much about them by observing them from afar as Impact could, given a few minutes and that box cutter.

After survival, info-gathering has to be our highest priority. We know nothing of these foes. Without knowing about them, we can't survive repeated encounters with them. We need to know about them as soon as possible. We have that opportunity now. Let's take it.

We are on the second floor. So barring ourselves in if they can detect us sans sight would put us in a bad way if they decided to just crowd around the doorways until we are almost entirely doomed.

Moving out into the open would doom us just as easily. It's everything the room is, minus chokepoints and protection from vision. It's way more dangerous. If the zombies have super-hearing or super-smell, then we're already got a problem no matter what we do. I mean, they're superhuman. We're human. We aren't gonna outfight them. We'd be dead as soon as they (or at least an appreciable number of 'they') find us, and they'd find us pretty soon is they have superhuman hearing and smell.
If they don't, then we're going to be putting ourselves at risk by leaving, because we'd be exposed to their primary sense, vision.

Doing experiments on Mern is incredibly bad for group morale(as if killing him alone wasn't already a major hit to it) and almost certain to cause some major split for anyone that took the loyal to friends trait.

He's not Mernarker anymore, though. And while I agree that group morale is important, Impact really doesn't. At least not now. That's not idiodicy, though, but a logical conclusion of his character flaw.

We also have not checked on the con, we don't know how it has affected them yet. What we do know is the gas is here, so that means there are zombies. We can stereotype them as being entirely useless, or we can assume they are as bad as us. I mean come on I'm the guy in cosplay and I'm in pretty damn good shape.

Eh. Gas isn't localized. If we got a whiff of it, so did the rest of the building, unless it was hermetically sealed or something.

We need to at least survey, if we do not we are taking our chance on assumed information. Never a proper strategy.

True enough. But the strategies you guys are proposing don't really rely on less assumptions than mine, so what's the point?

[Bard The 5th LW]

I'm not reading that.

My piece: Its the zombie apocalypse. We can't study a zombie. It would be too long/complicated. Best way is to learn by experience.

It was a pointless idea. And it really ain't winning points on personality.

[Geminex]

Well, the entire point is that it's a split personality. One side has certain aspects, the other side has others. Neither's gonna be perfect.

How is it a pointless idea, though? How can't you study a zombie? And how on earth is it better to learn about an enemy skill when they start using it against you, rather than learn about it beforehand?

I'm not trying to rebuff you, or anything. I'm really just interested in why you guys think this way.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Most of all? Its boring.

No one wants to RP a zombie apocalypse where we spend a few days worth of post testing a busted up zombie's reactions. We want to get into the action and test it there.

[Geminex]

Fair enough. But that's less a reason why it's a bad idea IC and more why it's less fun than the alternatives. And I mean come on, there's ways to do this. I can write up the experiment within half an hour, Choco can tell us what we learn. We write up our characters' reactions. Doesn't really take long.

What's taking long is the discussion about tactics, but that'll get better soon enough. I would hope.

[krogothwolf]

Also, if your character keeps acting like that, you may be used as bait for the zombies so we can get away.

Nah I kid, I kid...or do I?

*shifty eyes*

Your tactical arguments aren't overly valid is what I'm getting at. There is no great advantage, or even overly slim advantage doing what you wish to do to a zombie right now, there isn't. You don't know if anything you do will work in slowing it down anyways, sinews, break bones. It might still keep coming, we don't know and we don't have time to waste on "what if we do this" to the zombie. Time is important, zombie studying isn't right now.

Here is what we know.

The gas affects the body plus the brain. We know that from seeing what happeend to Menarker and getting headaches from it ourselves.
The Zombies will not attack anyone who has been changed by the gas, but will attack anything that hasn't living or dead, which is what the TV lady said.
Menarker seemed a lot stronger as a zombie then a human, case in point when he tossed the TV at him.
Menarker went for a beeline for Rick, even though there seemed to be others close by.
Menarker was stopped when his brain was smashed it.

We know more then enough right now to survive getting through, any further experimentation is a what if guessing game and time consuming.

Will cutting the sinews and breaking bones work? Did it harden the bones? Will it keep coming at us regardless of what we do as if it is in a berserk fury? Does it have some intelligence. Since the gas affects both mind and body, does it give them a hive mind mentality and what causes them to attack(which is more then possible since the obviously recognize another zombie, meaning if they have no higher brain functions something is dictating what a person is to them. It could be sent for all we know. It's doubtful it's solely vision. It could just be vision but it might not be.)?

Figuring out all that stuff isn't snap your fingers it's done. And if they do respond as if controlled by a hive mind, having a zombie with us really slims down our survival chances.

Right now, your tactics aren't overly bright because of all the "what ifs" surrounding the situation. Not only that Bard is right in it would be one hell of a boring Zombie RP experimenting on one.

Edit: Also it's to late to do anything now since it's toast now and hopefully, ain't coming back.

[Menarker]

Hehe, you better hope so. After all, the GM himself never actually got the chance to declare he was dead. You guys did that on your own. :3

Anyhow, since you guys are looting my corpse...

Backpack, wallet with about $80 in cash. House keys with no address, 2 spare hearing aid batteries, Password protected laptop with power cables. No keys since he doesn't drive. Large umbrella. I'm assuming you don't want to loot clothing from a recently zombie.

You know what my worst fear would have been for a zombie apocalypse? If the disease could be spread by blood contact. I mean, mosquitos biting a zombie and then biting another person would be TERRIBLE. You guys better raid the closest convenience store for some RAID and bug spray!

[TDK]

That's assuming zombies still have a functioning circulatory system. Its no less anatomically impossible than anything else about zombies for the circulatory system to be inactive. And if blood doesn't circulate, it congeals. Plus, misquitoes don't bite dead things. Blood or not, zombies smell because they are rotting. Any animals are staying far away.