Description: Unfortunately for survivors, the mall was built to let people in instead of keeping people out. There are numerous entrances and exits scattered around the mall, and that doesn’t even include the direct entrances and exits some stores have. Everyone agrees that a lock isn’t enough. Rather than have the worst happen, everyone is encouraged to scavenge and locate what they can from the mall and use it to help barricade and block off entrances. At least one entrance has been barricaded and set up to use as a main entrance and exit. The rest need to be reinforced.
Goal: RP your survivor finding something to help barricade the mall. It can be a table or chairs from one of the many stores, or even one of the stands out in the middle of the mall floor. Have them add it to a barricade. There are barricades that lead directly to the mall, as well as barricades within stores themselves.
First time doing this quest? Please write a minimum of 100 words for 1 Arcade Token.
Repeating? Minimum word count jumps up to 300 in order to claim your 1 Arcade Token.
Feeling wordy? Go above and beyond the bare minimum for additional tokens! You need to meet this word count while doing the quest, so no going back to pad your quest to claim tokens! These token bonuses do not stack, so you can't write 100 words to claim 1 token, then add 300 words to claim 2 more tokens.
500 words = 2 Arcade Tokens. 600 words = 3 Arcade Tokens. 700 words = 4 Arcade Tokens. 800 words = 5 Arcade Tokens.
Stumped? Now’s a great time for your character to reflect on the crazy things that have gone down. Maybe they’re upset and need to calm down by nailing things into the barricade. Maybe they’re feeling creative and think the barricades could use more color and decide to go crazy with some glitter glue. The only requirement (aside from the word count) is that your character is doing something to improve the barricades protecting them and everyone else from the infected.
Whistle While You Work: Doing stuff alone is fine, but you don’t have to solo! Feel free to play along with some friends as you work together. The word count can be spread out throughout your total posts for the day.
OOC
Character's name: Elizabeth "Lissa" Buckly Character's faction: Mall Character's journal link:[Journal] Character's survival stats: [Stats] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MY CHARACTER: Freckly-tan skin, wavy auburn hair, brown eyes, stands at 5' 7" with strong shoulders and a little bit of holdover baby fat on her stomach and thighs. Currently wearing cat ears and doused in more than a little glitter.
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:01 pm
The raid had been...unsettling, to say the least.
Lissa found herself pacing near one of the remote entrances of the mall, scanning the outside world for signs of a second strike. To be attacked the first time was just unfortunate luck in a world full of scavengers and thieves, but to allow themselves to be open again would be inviting disaster into their home. Lissa wouldn't stand for disaster, not when she'd spent most of the previous day making her glitter shack the best blanket fort it could be. She'd gone and made the mistake of investing herself in this little hovel and the stinky people in it, and all feelings of buyer's remorse aside, she was going to stand with them, Kansas and Rudolph and Coverboy and everyone else.
The first few rounds of distant scrutiny weren't enough to find any obvious faults, but the apparent safety did nothing to ease the thoughts running through Lissa's cat-eared head, so she moved in for a closer look. She poked and prodded at tables and chairs, looking for bits that might have been loose, and for the first three tests, everything held strong. But the fourth shove on a set of overturned cabinets sent them crashing forward with a cacophonous thud that echoed in the three floors of empty space.
"Well, s**t," Lissa murmured, looking up at the distant skylights. She hadn't intended to find that big of a weakness. She glanced down the hall, looking to see if someone might have seen her to try and report her accident as sabotage, but it seemed for the moment she was alone. A small relief, she supposed, but little comfort when the vacuous cavern was large enough that the vast silence itself seemed a pressure on her ears. In the distance, Lissa thought she heard scuffling, but then again, she was always hearing scuffling these days, the creaks of a tired building settling down in its ruined state. It bothered her the least when she kept her mind and body busy, and so she leaned over the toppled cabinet, inspecting the potential damage.
Her little failed test hadn't done much to the integrity of the barricade itself, but leaving it as it was could only lead to secondhand regret when the zombies were at their doors. It wasn't as if Lissa's schedule was full of other fun activities; there was nothing to do but to try and set it right. There were supplies to be found if one knew where to look, spare sheets of wood at IKEA and balls of twine at the craft store. Lissa took the box of thumb tacks too, just in case. It took a few trips to gather everything, as well as yet another jaunt through the IKEA storeroom, but this time she was determined not to leave sight of the main door. There had to be witchcraft in the way that store was designed, but she refused to let herself fall under its thrall once again. After all, if she was going to spend any more time in the showrooms, she might as well have lived there.
With all her supplies accumulated and scattered on the ground before her, she started with the cabinet itself, pulling it upright and pushing it far enough into the barricade that it wouldn't risk a second collapse. From there, it was all fortifications, strategically laying piece over piece of the broken IKEA materials to provide maximum blockage. The twine wasn't going to do much as far as holding off an attack, but it did make for a convenient placeholder as Lissa piled more of the cardboard-wood up, holding pieces just so until she could place an appropriate counterweight. As a final measure, Lissa opened the box of thumbtacks and generously threw them into the cracks and crevices of the barricade like the stabby glitter they were always meant to be. It wouldn't deter zombies, but then again, they weren't just fighting zombies anymore.
Lissa stared gravely at her masterpiece, giving the wall a cautionary shove. It held, but for how long? Could it last them the next week? Walls were all well and good, but they were a passive defense, one that could be overrun and destroyed much faster than it had been built. Walls couldn't watch, couldn't warn, couldn't alert them to the terrors of the outside world except to delay them a bit. But Lissa could. The Winchester was no longer a safe place to hang out, and the blanket fort was only as defensible as the outside world. Other members of the Mall Rats had been given guard duty, stronger members than her, but the couldn't possibly see everything that needed to be seen. They needed more eyes where it counted, and that included these smaller passageways where things felt dangerously quiet. Until otherwise given notice, Lissa continued to pace, to watch, to wait. It was for the good of the community, for the Mall Rats, for herself. For seven days, at least.
