Re: [HOE] The Great American Mall (a plea for help)

[John Hostetter <jhostett@yahoo.com>]

--- Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org> wrote:
> > > Spoiler space non-marshals (Including you Bob Fletcher!) go
> away
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;;
> > > ;
> > > 
> > > ;
> > > ;;
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;
> > > ;;
> > > ;;
> > > ;;
> > > 
> > 

> 
> Yes very much.
> But I'd also like some "filler" encounters. I'm looking to make
> this
> adventure a multi-session deal and need to expand it with some
> extra
> "stuff" between the zombie-gang and the arcade encounter (which
> would lead
> to the back hallways -> processing plant -> security post ->
> primary
> security center -> saving Sally and escaping/winning).
> 


OK, filler encounters for a Mall, but first, lets remember the set up
for this adventure:  (Reposted from your first email on this
adventure) 

Stu: "I know this is going to sound really bad. But can you help us?
We're
missing almost a third of our group now and can't really afford to
send
anyone else in, but we also can't leave our friends and family behind
without knowing what's happened to them. You bunch look like you can
more
than take care of yourselves, would you be willing to go in? I'll
give you
the same offer Walks the Line got, anything you can carry. We'll also
patch you up afterwards as best we can if you get hurt and give you
some
of our fuel [if they have a vehicle] to help you get on your way..."


OK, so the posse is there to find the toxic shaman, find the lost
muties, and find the best salvage they can carry.  

If you want to force the party to deal with Henry and learn about
Sally, something needs to keep them in the mall other than the above
(After all, whats to stop them from getting in, looting, finding a
couple of bodies and getting out?)

I would use a combination of the following:
1)  The Mall AI thinks its after hours at the mall, so has locked the
doors since the party came in, they can wait till morning, or try to
figure out whats going on....

2)  maintenance robots swarm them if they try to get near the doors,
this might be Sally trying to ask for help, or it might be Henry
trying to prevent "shoplifters" from escaping.

3)  all the mall maps are wrong, and the party gets lost... this
could be agrivated by roll down doors covering some of the
entrances... reasons same as for 2.

Now some random encounters, I'll try to get some ideas out, and
details can be worked out later.  

++the posse stumbles upon an old Orange Julius/Cinnabun/Ice Cream
Store that happens to have some of its refrigerators /ovens still
working - this should lead to some good RPing while the posse gets to
eat ice cream/ sugary snacks for the first time in years...


++they find the still living but heavily wounded toxic shaman, and
have to convince him (he is delerious, and cant see well due to his
injuries) that they dont mean him any harm.  They also have to decide
what to do about a wounded, raving toxic shaman.  Leave him?  Taske
him witht hem when they cant keep him quiet?  If they have magical
healing it helps somewhat, but he is clearly sick, and has probably
taken some brain damage from his wounds, anything short of the
templar grater reward for lay on hands wont completely cure him.  

++ they find the mutants - probably dead (we dont want the wasted
wwest to be a happy place do we? and we dont want the posse to get
too much information too soon).  THey had managed to find a cosmetics
store/beauty parlor, and a couple of them appear to have been killed
while trying to make themselves look more normal with cosmetics...
something didnt approve of shoplifters. (Maybe it wasnt even Henry
that tdid it, it could have been a cosmetic monster of some sort...
Im thinking a creature made of goo: shampoo, lifstick, all that stuff
found in a beaty parlor.  The party has to decide weather to kill it
and save the mutants bodies, or flee into the rest of the mall, where
Henry might be waiting, attracted by the sounds of the commotion. 

++  A home furnishings store looks attractive to the weary
adventurers... real beds after all these years.  Just dont let the
bed bugs bite (THere has got to be something you can use to add
horror to a furniture store, creepy sounds from music boxes, shifting
shadows, the threat of mutant termites and so on....

++ the ever popular cutlery store, there has to be something a posse
want from a shop full of possible weapons.... if only it werent
locked up behind that roll down door.  :)  Remind the posse that
damaging the mall, or setting off an alarm will probably bring henry
to the scene...

How are those, are they what you are looking for?  Need more?

Are you planning on fleshing it all out and posting it? or just
letting the individual marshals who want to use it flesh it out for
themselves?

Marshal John

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