Game Start (Alaric)

Nothing of note happens as you pack up your “tree bed”, and neither you nor Amon notice anything interesting. Or undead.

There is a similar level of excitement as you leave the park, but you can easily hear the noise getting louder as you approach the small building to the south. When you get on the road, you (and Amon) quickly determine the source of the bumping and shuffling: Several zombies are infesting the abandoned store.

It appears they’re trapped, however. You could probably go right by, if you wanted…
The undead to the west don’t appear concerned with you at present, and are in fact slowly travelling to the southwest.
This street appears to have been hit pretty hard, unfortunately, and you can’t see very far to the south. That being said, you hear a faint commotion a fair bit down the road. Probably more zombies, but it was hard to tell, with how quiet (or far away) it sounded...

As you walk by, one of the Zombies notices you and Amon, evidenced by frantically bashing the door. While it causes quite a ruckus, the doors look like one of the only things left intact, in that store. Even the roof is falling apart, but the doors are sturdy as ever.

Continuing on (it would be stupid to stay in one place, especially with the zombie making so much noise…), you can no longer hear the noise from before. Probably because it’s being drowned out. You do, however, notice how much larger Morlochta Central looks, as you approach. It’s still quite far, but you can see it looming over everything, directly to the south.
Far to the west, you can see another large building (by normal standards), across a vast expanse of boring, beat up highway. It would be hard to find more open terrain than that, at least?
To your east is a store called “Tier One Pokeballs”, but it appears to be in about the same state as the previous store. Which is to say, abandoned and probably empty of valuable things.
A quick glance to the west shows that the zombie has not escaped confinement, and now that you’ve passed out of eyesight, it seems to have lost interest in chasing you.

Setting out across the highway, there isn’t much to do but keep an eye out for danger. Even though the road is undrivable, it doesn’t really impair walking. It might have been a problem if you had to run away, but just plodding along as you are poses no risk at all.
Boringly enough, there aren’t even any undead along the path. You do spy a few on the way, but without exception they either didn’t notice you because of the distance, or couldn’t pursue you even if they had.
In one of the (many, many) potholes you passed by, you did find an intact can of… something. The label is destroyed, but that’s only surface damage; the food inside should still be edible. The only other material you saw was rubble, and the occasional abandoned and obviously broken car.

While it took longer than expected, you eventually made your way to the structure, claiming itself the “Morlochta City Department Store”. You and Amon are currently standing at the eastern entrance to the spacious parking lot. Many cars, in varying states of disrepair can be seen within, possibly obscuring your view of any… unfortunate surprises, but your immediate area looks clear.
With the Department Store directly northwest, you also see a much smaller (and more ruined) building to the southwest, but you cannot make out any more identifying features from this distance.

Paying an inordinate amount of attention to Amon’s finger-like… Things… you both make your way into the parking lot. There are, admittedly, a lot of cars, but the parking lot itself is enormous. So it all balances out to “a lot of empty space, but with the occasional car blocking your sight”.

You can see a lot of what are probably zombies toward the northeast, and Amon confirms that trouble that way lies. Zombie-trouble, as far as he can tell. The Department Store looks even more imposing than it did at the edge of the parking lot, but neither you nor Amon can really make out many features beyond “It’s big” and “It’s dark” and “I don't want to go there”... Although that last one is more of a gut feeling. It feels dangerous. You can also see that what looked like another part of the department store was, in fact, a separate building; the Subway. You get much the same vibe as before, although perhaps that's just the claustrophobia talking?
Now to the south is that much smaller store, still. You cannot tell much about it, beyond that it looks long-since abandoned, no matter how successful it might have once been.
Continuing west across the parking lot would put you (eventually) back onto a highway, and soon after, out of Morlochta. You aren't sure what you might find out there, but you can clearly remember the last transmissions from neighboring cities, where the outbreaks were just as bad… or worse.

Standing in what seems to be the center of the parking lot, or thereabouts, you can really appreciate just how run-down everything looks. Everywhere you turn, car windows are smashed in, rust is growing, there's debris and detritus littering everything, and it all looks so dead.

Trying to make out the details of the store, you can see that it looks large on it’s own, larger than the stores you were around when you woke up. Just that it was absolutely dwarfed by the store behind you... You can also tell that it is still in better shape than the others, even though that isn’t saying much. Amon confirmed these observations, and adds that even some of the more aesthetic details, like the glass door and windows are all intact. Maybe that meant it had escaped from all the pillaging that had gone on at the start of the outbreak? Maybe there would be useful gear inside!

Preoccupied with observing the distant store, you don’t see a dirty grey backpack lying on the ground until you trip over it. The backpack appears to blend very nicely into the surrounding rubble, and you can tell it’s been lying there for a while, if only because of the cloud of dust you kicked up off it. You can detect a surprisingly strong smell coming from within, vaguely fruity!

Expertly extracting the contents of the bag (and noting that there were, in fact, no traps) you and Amon discover a large number of berries stowed in the bag! Unfortunately, they appear to have been very poorly preserved, so many are quite clearly beyond salvation. Maybe some could still be planted, but it turns your stomach to think of eating them at this stage.

Among them, however, are a few that look edible, so it isn't a total loss!


The berries sorted through, you almost jump at a loud crash to the south. Looking to the source, you can see two things of note; one is that there isn't anything stupid enough to cause such a loud noise (or be attracted by it) in the immediate vicinity, unless maybe there’s a zombie behind a car somewhere. The second is that you can see a person, or else a very animated zombie far off to the south, looking into the building!

If you walked there, you estimate the journey would take a good couple of minutes. With the car cover, you could probably avoid his notice, too; he’s rather intently focused on something inside. Or you could charge toward him, of course. You’d get there faster, and why wouldn't a Survivor be friendly?

You can’t identify the berries at all, but… they all look edible. That’s enough, right? Besides, maybe that person over there might be a botanist, or something! Stowing the berries away, you proceed.

Taking the safe approach, or at least the stealthy one, you carefully make your way to the store, and the person therein. Keeping a watchful eye on your target, you see him raise his arms as though to communicate peaceful intentions, and then walk into the building. You see a small, pinkish Pokemon follow him in, but they’re soon lost in the gloom of the interior. At least zombies probably wouldn’t act like that. Come to think of it, can zombies even raise their arms that high?

Considerably closer now, you can once again make out the figure in the gloom. It looks like they’re… talking with someone, inside? Closer to the door, is the pinkish Pokemon again, watching for anything outside. It doesn’t appear to have seen you, just yet.

No zombies appear to have snuck up on you, nor have they been lying in wait. That’s always good, but a tad suspicious in lieu of that loud crash from before, perhaps? You’re at the point, currently, where you could very easily get their attention. By your estimate, Amon could probably read the person’s mind, too, if only just barely.

Amon spends a few minutes in silence, not elaborating as to why a simple scan might take so long. Ultimately, you hear a sudden burst of static in your mind, before he explains that no matter how hard he tries, it appears the person you can see doesn’t, in fact, exist. Or he’s immune to mind-reading, but what simple meatbag would be able to resist such an advanced being?

However, he seems all too eager to report that there is another person inside. Who is apparently shifting rapidly between being confused, angry (in an abstract sense) and being happy.

While Amon was so completely focused on the mind reading, you saw the mysterious figure turn around, seemingly looking straight at you… and then turning back again.

Amon ends his report saying that they were apparently planning on exploring the store, and very soon by the sound of it.

Amon continues to monitor the people (or at least the one he can monitor) inside, and after a tense twenty-some minutes he reports that they should be heading deeper soon.

In that time, nothing especially exciting happens… there was one zombie that looked interested in the area, but even it passed by after a minute. You should be safe for a little while yet, at least.