Folks a bit of patience is appreciated as I am running a lot of characters and people are doing a lot of things...Not only are you seeing messages on the public forum, but there are also pms going back and forth.
Ok, a couple of things to note-
(1) your characters know only what they know, think only what they think. They thus have no knowledge of the nature of the meteorites or what has transpired on the North Road until it is reported to them.
Likewise, they have no reason to suspect that there is a horde of angry mutants on the highway unless they have received or heard the reports of Joe Barring.
Mr. Foo and the folks at the hotel have no knowledge of what is going on at the Diner, those in the Diner have no idea what's going on in the Junkyard... until they are notified.
This is a bit tricky, but you can't assume your players are acting in response to information that they have no reason to know. If you suspect that your character can deduce on their own roll for an Idea.
For example, Suaside, I think it's a pretty fair deduction that what happened to Horst is the same thing that is happening across the world and is probably is related to whatever is going on down the highway. But you can't eliminate the possibility that Luke is responding to information that you know as a player but which your character might not otherwise surmise. That said, it's a pretty impressive deducation for Luke who has an idea of only 45% (and thus is not the brightest of bulbs!)- I know you are probably feeling impatient to get more action in, but please be patient and roleplay your character in a way consistent with his stats which are not necessarily yours. I realize this is confusing, but again- we need to keep some realism in the game. Luke is afterall only responding to the stimuli that Luke is privy too.
Other Notes-
The folks on the North Road were driving in a northward direction. Should they wish to drive away, they will be going North and away from the T-Bone and the other characters. To go back to the T-BOne, they will have to make a U-turn and drive back through the weird yellow mist with the nasty giant flying mosquitos from outerspace.
Western Nebraska looks kind of like-
Big empty treeless areas that you can get a clear view of someone coming from quite a distance with the naked eye. This is a significant advantage.
As for the layout of the T-Bone.
The T-Bone itself is a pretty big establishment. On one side in the parking lot is the garage with numerous bays for vehicles.
Place looks like shit.” Said Duke, but he pulled into the exit ramp.
He was right. The off ramp was only available for traffic going west and ended on a dirt road that went off into the northern horizon. Only two businesses were on the ramp, an old and worn out looking Motel 9 and the T-Bone Truck Stop and Café. Behind the truck stop was a huge junkyard of broken down vehicles, many turned red with rust and corrosion. Surprisingly, on one side of the parking lot was a Bell helicopter, parked as if the pilot had suddently gotten a hanker for some hash browns and eggs.
The Truck stop was a single complex that included both a garage, a central area and a restaurant. There were a half dozen garage doors, but only one was open for maintenance on a diesel truck. In the parking lot were a handful of cars, SUVs, and an RV as well as three trucks. A number of motorcycles were parked near the front door. We could see in the window a number of people were in the restaurant, but most seemed to be watching TV. In front was a big black dog that seemed to be asleep in the morning sun. Another dog was prowling around the junkyard, a shepherd by the look of it.
We parked close to the restaurant and went inside. It was a typical run-down and otherwise forgotten truck stop. A bath area, convenience area, telephones, a garage, and a restaurant. A woman was working a cashier’s station near the front and watched us come in, but didn’t seem to have anything else to do.
The T-Bone is on the East side of the dirt road running north, that crosses Route 30 and the Lodgepole, and then continues North. Behind the T-Bone and running along side the North Road on its East Side runs the junkyard- which is pretty big as they lack a trash compactor. Most of the cars are rusty hulks, most are damaged or destroyed wrecks off the interstate, but some are actually in pretty good condition. These vehicles are used for their parts.
Mr. and Mrs. Foo's Motel 9 looks like your typical Motel 8- ugly.
The noticeable differences are (1) that it has a large satellite dish on top, and (2) while a normal Motel 8 you exit your room and enter a corridor that runs through the middle of hotel, at this Hotel 8, exits face out. One exits the first floor out into the world and the parking lot. On the second floor one exits out to a balcony that runs around the building. There is a stairwell on either end of the building. There is a modest sized parking lot surrounding the motel which is a bit elevated to the west of the North road, but otherwise the hotel is surrounded by more big, flat empty spaces.
(Interesting note- just because zombies are coming from the direction of Sydney doesn't mean that they are not coming from the West, from Kimball).
Defensively- the T-Bone is a single floor structure. It does have a large basement area for storage and surrounding the station are underground gas tanks typical of most service stations. There is an exit to the back of the hotel to a dumpster for the kitchen and another rear exit through a heavy metal fire door which runs through the office area.
Public areas- the garage has a half dozen bays for working on cars, only one being currenly opened. The main entrance to the public areas goes through a lobby where Rita maintains the cashier booth. There is a convenience store with a wide stock of supplies for travelers, public bathrooms, some phamplet and tourist info, and the diner. Note that the diner has large windows and curtains. THere are numerous telephones in the tourist area and in the diner- typical of most truckstops.
The building is of wood and concrete construction- functional but not really pleasing to the eye. As a Truck stop it hasn't been used for a long time. Near the truck areas are electrical outlets for the truckers and showers that the truckers can use to refresh.
On the west side is the Mr and Mrs. Foo's Motel 9.
It is fairly easy to spot someone coming down the highway either from the East or the West. To the South is only the highway and then a whole lot of empty Nebraska plains. Keeping going South and you end up in Colorado. Potentially part of the Warren AFB complex in Colorado, over the border is North Sterling. The North east side of the T-Bone is where it is most vulnerable- as it would be easy to move through the maze of junked cars and other vehicles that stretch for about a mile.
Now mindful that you would probably have to hold out against large numbers of Zombies that won't stop coming regardless of the time, given the vulnerability of both hotel and Diner, neither is ideal for defense.
The characters have thus far enjoyed a respite from much of the chaos that happened elsewhere. Based on experiences thus far, I think it fair to say that the ghouls are very dangerous, the flying mosquito monsters are perhaps even worse. Some of the zombies run, others walk- but all will attack the nearest living thing and consume it until it becomes a zombie, then it will move on to the next.
Unlike living creatures- the zombies are single minded eating machines that do not sleep, feel pain, have much understanding, or have reason to exercise restraint. They will keep coming. If they can run, they are faster than humans. They are also stronger than humans. What they usually miss is dexterity- they lack the motor coordination that humans take for granted. They are also guided by their senses of sight, touch, hearing- and their hearing and smell is especially accute, even if their eyesight might be lacking. It is possible that zombies can "sense" the living, thus even a zombie without eyes will be guided towards the characters.
Also zombies have little or no nervous system and they don't bleed. It is actually unclear how they move at all.
So far (and this is based only on what the players have thus far experienced) you have no reason to suspect that zombification affects any living species other than humans.
That said, as players you have experienced slow zombies, fast zombies and flying stingers which look a bit like-
YOu will no doubt experience more weirdness as things continue.
or perhaps
(incidently- this image is borrowed from Call of Cthulhu - the Insects of Shaggai aka Shan. However, for our story, these are not the Shans (which essentially burrow into the brain and take over an individual), but rather nasty mosquito like creatures with a habit for spreading chaos).
