[GURPS 4e, IC] The Dying of the Light — Infection

[Inglenook]

ESE & MAXWELL

Your elevators arrive at Deck 01 at almost the exact same time, with Maxwell's arriving maybe a second or two earlier. They open with a ding, revealing the horrifying tableau before you.

You are in a smallish room that serves as an antechamber for the security office and a waiting room for the medical facility. To the left is the door to the security office: it is covered in blood. It's been pushed open from the inside, and you can more blood on the floor, trailing behind the security desk inside.

To the right of the security office is the medical facility. There is a row of chairs here, and several have been knocked over.

Two people are trapped inside the medical facility, both of them wearing doctor's smocks. Through the window where the receptionist would sit, you can see a man with receding grey hair, a mustache and glasses with his back against a door, trying desperately to keep it closed. It vibrates as though it's being beaten at by many hands. On the far side of the door leading into the medical center is a blonde woman, pressing up against the plexiglass of the door with her hands to brace it. "Help us!" she screams.

You can see why she's bracing the door: in the room with you, pounding at the medical facility door, are two of the infected. One is a woman in a sundress, the other a man wearing the black shirt and pants of a security officer. Ese, you notice a pistol and taser in the belt of the security officer.

The two turn at the sound of the ding! and the door opening. As they spot you, they both lunge forward. The security officer leaps into the elevator with Ese and Morten, lunging at Morten's neck. The woman in the sundress lunges into the elevator with Maxwell and the women, clawing at Maxwell's face. Her swing goes wide, though, and her hand slams into the wall. You hear the crunch of breaking fingers.

Spoiler

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I drew a really ugly picture because I'm horrible at describing scenes. Hopefully this helps. The black people-blobs there are supposed to be the infected.

The infected got first attack because of their higher average Basic Speed. Maxwell's elevator has been called down; the doors will close in about 4 seconds, and anyone still in the elevator will be carried down to the Engine Room.

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1
JOHN

You and Speck quietly leave Schultz's room. As you make your way back down the corridor, you notice that the man who was sitting in front of the door to the bridge is now gone … although the thumping and yelling behind the door continues.

Both of the main elevators are in use when you get to them, but after calling one and waiting for a bit, it arrives and takes you down to Deck 07.

"Why are we going this way?" Speck hisses. "We should just take the elevator down to your—"

He's cut off as you turn the corner. The top floor of the Centrum is directly ahead of you, its staircase and glass elevator going down all the way to Deck 03. Just past it is the Bolero Lounge. A starboard-side door to the open-air deck outside bursts suddenly off its hinges, and a man lurches in.

It appears to have once been one of the crewmen, but you instantly recognize it as one of the things that were in Time Square—the bruised face is a dead giveaway.

The thing spots you and screams, running at you. You are currently separated by the Centrum, and the man is 40 yards away. You and Speck have the option to attack first, if you chose to fight it.

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1
STEVE

The digital display of the elevator reads "01". It should be down any moment now. If there's anything you'd like to do before it arrives, now would be the time to do so.

Spoiler

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Sorry, I got behind. You'll be able to act very shortly.

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1
TAL

"You think these people were sick, like the ones who got off the ship?" Pete asks.

"Pete, we don't have time for this!" Danielle cries. "Adam's alone and there could be more—"

Pete put a hand on her shoulder. "If this guy—uh, Tal—is right, we need to make sure we didn't get exposed to whatever they have. It'll only take a minute. Go see if we have some iodine or something in the cabin or something, okay?"

Pete helps you drag the two bodies into the bathroom of 6554. The fat man definitely doesn't appear to be breathing, but the woman glares at you with mad eyes as you close the door on her and return to 6556. Danielle holds out a bottle of hand sanitizer as you enter. "This is all we have. There's no first aid kit or anything in here."

While Danielle thoroughly scrubs her face and hair and Emma washes her hands (although she didn't come in contact with either of the attackers), you douse Pete's legs in hand sanitizer and help him wrap his wounds with torn bedsheets. He winces at the burning but says nothing. Lastly, you all slather your hands and arms in sanitizer.

From next door, the suited woman locked in the bathroom suddenly lets out a loud, almost wolf-like cry. You hear several other voices roar in the distance, as if responding to her.

Emma's eyes go wide. "What are they doing?!"

"Pete, we have to leave now. More of those things are coming," Danielel snaps. She turns to you. "Will you help us? We have to find my son. Emma, you said Adam was going to the arcade on Deck 11, right? I don't know what's happening on this ship, but we need to leave."

You size them up. Danielle is a short, black-haired woman with full lips and an eagle-like nose. She looks like she might be of Italian ancestry. She's wearing a set of ridiculous Snoopy pajamas that are at odds with her proud and stubborn face.

Pete is a tall, lean man with a narrow face and watchful eyes. He and his wife both look to be in their early forties, and his hair (once brown) is almost completely grey. He's wearing nothing but a grey T-shirt and boxers.

Emma is perhaps 9 or 10, with long brown hair. The shape of her face is like her mother's, but otherwise she takes after Pete. She's wearing a winter hat and coat over her pajamas—strange clothing for a Caribbean cruise.

Spoiler

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You may take the mostly-empty bottle of hand sanitizer if you wish. The roars in the distance seem to be growing closer.



If you allow them to, Danielle, Emma and Pete Carver will join your party.