The Mansion II [on hiatus]

[Raith Kemmler]

I say we freaking torch the place and use the furniture to batter our way out through one of the bricked-up windows.

What's this light we're seeing by? Electric? Fire? With either we can burn the bloody place.

We should burn the corpse room if we're burning anything. Who knows? Leaving the fire going in Mansions of Madness is a great strategy. Might be here to? Maybe?

What could go wrong?

[Raith Kemmler]

If we don't find food soon...

So you can boil a leather boot and eat it. It ain't great, but it's something.

There are leather chairs we've found. We have fire.

Desperate times people.

[Raith Kemmler]

I should be online finally today also for discussion-y stuff.

Also, my voice skill might act as a morale bonus for the group, so I volunteer to take a more dangerous exploratory assignment and sleep later.

[Jarema]

. We have fire.
.

we do??

[Golden1Knight]

I still think that the kitchen should be a priority and that therefore we need a plan to get through the zombies. We can sleep more easily than we can eat.

[Ironside]

Store in what?

Look, aside from Leon, we should focus this turn on exploring the closet, the secret room, and the library (and beyond). We need to move fast and cover as much ground as possible. We need light sources for it. We need makeshift weapons.

The overwatch at the rotunda/stairs don't need the gun; the broom is fine for them. Remember that they have the advantage of barricade and elevation, while the vanguard teams will be much more vulnerable (and mobile).

Fair enough. The gunner stays in the first room beyond the library and supports whatever group in the vanguard needing support in the case they need to split up? I'm not fond of room rushing, but we need to know if there's any food on this floor by this turn to have time to storm the zombie room in case we don't have any food on this floor.

I still think that the kitchen should be a priority and that therefore we need a plan to get through the zombies. We can sleep more easily than we can eat.

BANG, BANG, BANG (noisy is good right?) with the gun? That's the only decent weapon we got. The broom doesn't have proper killing powers without making it into a mace or spear. Thing is, if the house god known as Zain haven't left any food on this floor, he pretty much rigged the game for us to starve to death immediately. You can't expect the gun to be useful until this turn as a GM. Expecting your team to rush a difficult room immediately is not a good game plan.

It'll probably only be enough food for one meal each though.

[Greyblades]

Have we tried looking over the empty books and notes we've found with the red magnifying glass?

[Montmorency]

Have we tried looking over the empty books and notes we've found with the red magnifying glass?

Yes. We don't have the knowledge to decipher them, thought there seems to be trace of invisible ink. Clueless for the symbols note as well.

I still think that the kitchen should be a priority and that therefore we need a plan to get through the zombies. We can sleep more easily than we can eat.

Testing out the entire lower floor at this stage is a bad idea, and at the very least would require the commitment of every able-bodied player to storm through. Remember that in our brief glimpse before the light burned out we spotted around 12 bodies, at least one of which seems to be a zombie. Our characters only have as much skill and gusto as we put into them (i.e. roleplay filtered through the GM's luck-factor), and suddenly you expect one of us to headshot 12 zombies clean, plus any more threats beyond?

We should leave the lower floor for next turn, as a Hail Mary. If we don't find food during our upcoming search, then the smart thing to do would be to lure the zombies in single-file onto the stairs and ping them from the rotunda (pushing them back with the broom to create space when necessary). We have 38 bullets, right? After that, we spread out with light sources and do a pure recon job around the area - any mobile threat triggers a retreat to the main landing, where the gunner stands prepared at all times. If someone finds a kitchen or pantry at any point, bum-rush it and grab what you can, except for the gunner holding down our way out. We might consider making some kind of large sling or bindle out of some bedding so as to carry a large volume without occupying our hands or whatever pockets we may have.

Light sources: we have alcohol and some lighter fluid, but can we create stable torches? We would need a lot of cloth at least (preferably not from clothes and bedding, but from whatever we left in the master bedroom/wardrobe), and the wood we have on hand (besides what we need for improv weapons) is very old and dry. Furthermore, what if our torches are made such that they generate a great deal of smoke? Not a good thing in this bricked-up space.

[Ironside]

Can we rest at the same turn we're eating Zain?

Because if we can't, I think we need to have our guards sleeping this turn to avoid to have a 12 people sleeping move, but I don't have time to number crunch it today. We really need a full exploring team this turn, so it's really annoying if we have to.

[Raith Kemmler]

I still think that the kitchen should be a priority and that therefore we need a plan to get through the zombies. We can sleep more easily than we can eat.

Sounds good.

we do??

Matches, lighter fluid and furniture. Not much of a weapon though.

[Winston Hughes]

Does anybody know how one goes about getting ordained as a priest?

Also, everyone please keep an eye out for any pipes, pumps or hoses.

(Yes, I am indeed meditating on the construction of a Holy Water Cannon.)

Can we rest at the same turn we're eating Zain?

I like your thinking, but we'll need to find him before we can eat him.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I think you need another, higher-ranking priest (a bishop, at least) to be present. Which doesn't really help us out here.

Unless you want to do something besides the Catholic route, but whoever heard of Protestants battling against the supernatural? That's always been Catholic territory, even before The Exorcist came out.

[Winston Hughes]

Hang on, so we've got a Leo and a Leon? I see people are already getting mixed up. Let's make sure we get this right. When it comes to the crunch, it would be wise to know which one is the brainless, slavering creature devoid of reason, and driven only by the basest urges, and which one is the zombie.

[Greyblades]

We need to get our resident medic to the kitchen team asap, he should take some of the matches and the bottle of lighter fluid with him as we might have to cauterize the wound; for all we know the zombie bite has an anticollagulant feature.

Team explore should be fine going into the library without GH; chances are if we've already found zombies we wont find any more for a turn or two. Though to be sure we should take a smell check at the door.

[Winston Hughes]

What's this light we're seeing by?

There's a 'bulb hanging by a wire from the ceiling' in the hallway.

Maybe I should take a look at the electrics and plumbing here.

How do zombies respond to being electrocuted?

[GeneralHankerchief]

We need to get our resident medic to the kitchen team asap, he should take some of the matches and the bottle of lighter fluid with him as we might have to cauterize the wound; for all we know the zombie bite has an anticollagulant feature.

I'm an occupational therapist, not a doctor!

[Greyblades]

Maybe I should take a look at the electrics and plumbing here.

How do zombies respond to being electrocuted?

Depends on the zombie; squishy movie zombies should end up spasming uncontrollably and classic Haitian zombi should just die like a human does.

The problems start if it's a call of cthulhu zombie; they'll just get pissed and eat you.

[Winston Hughes]

squishy movie zombies should end up spasming uncontrollably

Right, so we need a video camera and an internet connection. It may not get us out of here, but our youtube views will be off the scale.

[El Barto]

Store in what?

Good point. Let's find containers.

Wow over 12 hours and no posts..

The evils are getting hungry.

Hush! It's a weekday.

We should burn the corpse room if we're burning anything. Who knows? Leaving the fire going in Mansions of Madness is a great strategy. Might be here to? Maybe?

What could go wrong?

I've already stated that we should burn the place down and take this evil down with us, but you people insist on heroics.

Can we rest at the same turn we're eating Zain?

Because if we can't, I think we need to have our guards sleeping this turn to avoid to have a 12 people sleeping move, but I don't have time to number crunch it today. We really need a full exploring team this turn, so it's really annoying if we have to.

Yeap, let's arrange a sleeping schedule.

Does anybody know how one goes about getting ordained as a priest?

Also, everyone please keep an eye out for any pipes, pumps or hoses.

(Yes, I am indeed meditating on the construction of a Holy Water Cannon.)

You have to be ordained by another, already-invested, non-excommunicated priest.

There's a 'bulb hanging by a wire from the ceiling' in the hallway.

Maybe I should take a look at the electrics and plumbing here.

How do zombies respond to being electrocuted?

If done right it can ‘kill’ them, if they're dry enough we can set them on fire.

[Zain]

Discussion phase has ended, send in your orders!

24 hours.

[Montmorency]

Oh dear, so what's going on?

If half of us are set on going to the kitchen, then we need to support them with everything we have or risk defeat in detail. Can we please just focus on this floor? For all we know, the secret door leads through a secure passage downstairs.

I volunteer to handle the gun and bullets. I know what I'm doing, I squeeze gats til' my clips is spent.

[Zain]

I think it's important to make clear that the "Sleep" order will consume your entire turn. No other action may be taken during a sleep turn.

Also a single turn of sleep will replenish 3 Sleep units.

[Golden1Knight]

Oh dear, so what's going on?

If half of us are set on going to the kitchen, then we need to support them with everything we have or risk defeat in detail. Can we please just focus on this floor? For all we know, the secret door leads through a secure passage downstairs.

I volunteer to handle the gun and bullets. I know what I'm doing, I squeeze gats til' my clips is spent.

If this is true, then I'm ok about leaving the zombies alone. Otherwise, I don't think that we will find any food on this floor, plus, we saw lots of corpses but only a single zombie. An army of zombies at the beginning of the game would be kinda strange, so I think we should try to discover more about that room.

[Greyblades]

I think the explore group should keep doing what we were doing; go into the library in the same formation but taking a smell check before entering, leaving and returning with clubs if we smell rotting flesh. If there's just one zombie we mob it and beat it's skull in, if there's more we block the door off.

[Jarema]

If no one opposes, I would like to go to sleep now

[Montmorency]

I think the explore group should keep doing what we were doing; go into the library in the same formation but taking a smell check before entering, leaving and returning with clubs if we smell rotting flesh. If there's just one zombie we mob it and beat it's skull in, if there's more we block the door off.

We have no specific indication of zombies in or around the library.

Yeah we're screwed. Welp, time to get wacky. Pleasure working with you folks.

[Myrddraal]

@Zain, a couple of questions:
- Would it be possible to get a sketch of the symbols seen?
- Have we read all of the backwards writing, or is there more to read?
- Is the bookshelf completely blocking off the stairs? Would the zombies need to break through it or physically lift it to get past?

Some general thoughts:
- I agree that we should focus on this floor. After all, for all we know we are on the ground floor, and the spiral stairs lead to a basement.
- I also agree about searching rooms fast. The is going to hit the fan soon, and when it does we need to be ready. I think we also need to think about setting our own traps (putting bookcases near doors where they can easily be toppled to form barricades etc.
- Can we work out if there is any order to the the books in the Library? Are they categorised into certain topics? If so, it might give us an indication of the interests of whoever lived here.
- We have a key right? And a keyhole in the secret bathroom. Has to be worth a try.
- There is a lightbulb in the all (presumably an old filament bulb). Perhaps this would generate enough heat to reveal invisible ink? It might be worth trying to press a page against the bulb (with care).

I would like to be part of Team Broom Cupboard, with the following objectives:
- To boldly peel back the wallpaper.
- To seek new secret passages (try to break through plaster, lift floorboards etc if there's nothing obvious)

[Myrddraal]

I've been looking through the books in the study (read: Google) and I can't find references to an Eagle's with a lightning bolt. Eagles and lightning frequently come together, but I can't find that specific combination.

I had a look at some hieroglyphics but couldn't spot any matches either...

[Zain]

@Zain, a couple of questions:
- Would it be possible to get a sketch of the symbols seen?
- Have we read all of the backwards writing, or is there more to read?
- Is the bookshelf completely blocking off the stairs? Would the zombies need to break through it or physically lift it to get past?

1. Yes, give me some time, I'll post it.

2. I'll post the letter as well.

3. Unfortunately I cannot comment on this at this time.

Extra: Don't worry, I won't let everybody die next turn.

[Zain]

- I agree that we should focus on this floor. After all, for all we know we are on the ground floor, and the spiral stairs lead to a basement.

Please refer to the description of the room lit up momentarily before the light bulb burnt out. This should indicate which floor you were on.