Mattiverse Next - Session 2

L4D&D 2: THE DUKES OF INNSMOUTH

SCENE 1

EXT. EASTWATCH VILLAGE (ARCHIVE) - HIGH NOON

A quaint village at the pass of a mountain range, looking down into a valley. The villagers hurry away from something.

SUPERIMPOSE CAPTION: EASTWATCH VILLAGE - 1401 FI

NARRATOR: When the Green Plague came to town, doom was already in the air.

A zombie appears, chasing the fleeing villagers.

PAN RIGHT, ZOOM OUT AND PEDESTAL UP

The rest of the village is shown. Violence is everywhere.

NARRATOR: They could hardly know that facing and killing their own shambling family members would be the least of the terrors they would experience.

The mountain pass is now visible. Blocking it are ranks upon ranks of knights clad in Flannerian raiment. They are flanked by archers, and siege engines with burning projectiles are faintly visible to their rear. HADRIARCH CEDA leads them. He raises his sword.

SEDA: We will burn out this contagion! Siege engines, fire!

CUT TO SIEGE ENGINES

The siege engines are in profile. Artillerists loose their triggers.

CUT TO VILLAGE STREETS

Villagers scream as fiery pitch rains upon them and their houses. The violence intensifies. Buildings catch fire.

CUT TO SEDA AND LIEUTENANT

The SEDA stares forward, his face set and grim. The noises of death are faintly audible. He surveys for a while, then turns to his Lieutenant.

SEDA: None escape. You understand?

The Lieutenant nods and signals behind him. Archers loose their arrows.

CUT TO CLOSE-UP ON VILLAGER

A villager runs, but an arrow strikes his leg. He screams in agony and falls, continuing forward. More arrows rain down. One finally catches the side of his head. Screaming stops.

NARRATOR: And so, the plague's spread was halted. Seda had saved Flanneri, and possibly the world. But it was cold comfort for such grim industry.

The villager's body decays as years pass. Dolly out to take in the rest of the village, mountains in the background. Zombies shamble in time lapse as village becomes reclaimed by nature. Time slows to normal. BELDON on the dog PEPPER walk into view, then BOBWHITE, FOUR and BANNER follow with a cart drawn by dogs HUGO and DORA.

BELDON: Oh man, this place is a ghost town

SUPERIMPOSE CAPTION:

EASTWATCH VILLAGE - PRESENT DAY.

FOUR grunts. BELDON turns to face the rest.

BELDON: Ok, let's do this! We'll just...

FOUR: Shh.

He holds a finger to his mouth. The rest look expectant. There is no noise.

FOUR: Hear it?

The rest look at each other. FOUR looks impatient.

FOUR: No birds. No animals. Nature has left.

Realization dawns on the party. They peer more carefully into the village. A zombie shambles around a corner, its head jerking.

BANNER: We're sure there's no other way?

BOBWHITE: Afraid not. All the maps we had suggested this pass was the only way through for a hundred miles.

BELDON: We gotta go through, we go through! Look at them old boys shamblin' around, they don't look so bad

BOBWHITE and BANNER look hesitant. FOUR is impassive.

BELDON: I know the stories, zombies are slow, right? No problem. When they go slow, we go fast! Get a good head of steam. Stick with the cart. Pick off any that get too close. We'll break through and be out before mid-afternoon second lunch!

BOBWHITE: I dunno, it sounds risky. We don't know what we're walking into.

BELDON: It's zombies, bro! What you gotta know? You got a better plan, squirt?

BOBWHITE stays silent. FOUR spits to one side and looses his whip.

BANNER: Sounds okay to me. What could go wrong?

BELDON clicks his teeth and PEPPER starts into a canter. The cart and the rest follow.

BELDON: YA!

EXT. EASTWATCH VILLAGE STREETS

Camera begins in an alleyway. The halflings are faintly audible to left, as are sounds of combat. A zombie moans and runs into view from the right, impossibly fast, but is cut down with an arrow and falls. A pause.

DOLLY IN AND PAN LEFT

More zombies run from the right. Camera exits the alleyway and pans over the street to follow them. They are running toward the halflings, who are moving with haste. More zombies chase them from behind.

BANNER: I thought you said zombies were slow!

BANNER whips around and a blast of eldritch power shoots from his fingertips, catching a zombie in the chest right as it tries to jump into the cart from behind. It falls.

BELDON: Shit, bro! How was I to know them's some weird super-zombies!

BOBWHITE pops out from under a blanket and shoots another zombie. It remains standing and begins to close on FOUR, whose whip splits its face in two. This continues as the cart rolls forward.

PAN RIGHT AS CART PASSES UNDER CAMERA

Combat continues.

BANNER: Look out!

The cart strikes a large stone and stumbles. It slows.

CUT TO FRONT OF CART

BELDON: YA!

BELDON and PEPPER rush forward. He pierces zombies with his rapier, but more are coming. Eldritch light zooms in all directions from BANNER. FOUR slices the head off another with a scimitar and roars.

BELDON: HA! That all you got!?!

CUT TO BEHIND CART

BANNER and BOBWHITE move forward and back, shooting out of the cart. Buildings move in background. A large, bulbous zombie comes from behind a building and vomits, covering the dogs, BANNER, BOBWHITE and FOUR. The dogs and cart slow, and the fat zombie disappears behind a building.

BOBWHITE: Ah! Shit shit shit! Grossss!

CUT TO CART SIDE

Smoke suddenly pours from an alleyway and a zombie appears. It opens its mouth and an unnaturally long tongue shoots out to wrap around BANNER.

CUT TO STREET

BANNER is pulled from the cart and dragged along the ground. He is pulled before he can catch hold of a cobblestone. A pivot, and he wriggles out of the tongue's grasp. The zombie rounds a corner and disappear, its tongue quickly snaking to follow.

BANNER: What the fuck was that?

CUT TO CART

The camera pans to follow BOBWHITE as he shoots an arrow, swings his bow over his shoulder, then somersaults onto the yoke holding the dogs. He remains there just a moment before leaping off, scimitar in hand, to finish off one of many zombies around FOUR and BELDON. Corpses of other zombies litter the ground.

CUT TO BEHIND CART

The cart finally slows to a stop. HUGO and DORA are panicking.

CUT TO BELDON

BELDON: Easy! Easy now! We got this!

He holds out a hand and PEPPER to reassure. Another zombie rounds a corner and slams BELDON from PEPPER'S back to the ground. He hits his head on a rock and goes unconscious. Four roars and tears off a limb with the whip, then steps forward to finish the job.

BANNER: Beldon!

CUT TO BOBWHITE

BOBWHITE stabs a zombie from behind, then looks around.

BOBWHITE: Hey guys! This building's in pretty good shape! I think we can get in.

CUT TO FOUR

FOUR is by the door. He kicks a zombie away and tries to open.

FOUR: Locked!

The kicked zombie stumbles back and he whips it in the face. It falls backward and goes still. PEPPER yelps off-camera.

DOLLY BACK AND PEDESTAL UP, TILT TO STAY ON FOUR

Brief silence, then a quiet piercing scream from above suddenly becomes a deafening one. A clawed zombie with razor teeth lands on FOUR and claws at him. FOUR screams in bloody rage and hacks.

CUT TO BOBWHITE

BOBWHITE dances forward, hesitates a bit, then plunges the scimitar into the zombie's side. It hisses and turns. An eldritch blast slams it in the face. Another hiss, cut off as a whip wraps itself around its head and pulls it off. The mutant zombie falls and reveals FOUR.

CUT TO BELDON

BANNER: Yeah! Go team!

The tongue appears around BANNER and pulls him back.

CUT TO BOBWHITE AND FOUR

FOUR hacks at two more zombies. BOBWHITE runs toward camera

PAN LEFT

BOBWHITE leaps forward and slices the tongue in half. BANNER shakes it off and both run back to the building.

CUT TO BUILDING FRONT

BOBWHITE: Hold them back!

PAN LEFT

BOBWHITE sheaths his sword and pulls out lock tools. He works on the door.

FOUR whips one more zombie, then runs forward and grabs a prone PEPPER. BANNER grabs BELDON by the shoulders and drags him back. HUGO and DORA bark like crazy in their harness.

CUT TO BOBWHITE

A click, and the door opens. BOBWHITE runs in. FOUR follows. BANNER is last, dragging BELDON. He takes one last look at the other two dogs. The howls of more zombies can be heard.

BOBWHITE: Hurry!

BANNER: Sorry, guys.

BANNER pulls BELDON in. BOBWHITE slams the door behind him.

CUT INT. TO STONE BUILDING

The dogs and sounds of fighting are audible. Two yelps, and the grunts of zombies, followed by crunching and tearing noises. BANNER and BOBWHITE look sick. FOUR's eyes start to look less wild.

BOBWHITE: Now what?

SCENE 2

INT. STONE BUILDING

BELDON is sitting up, holding his head with a bottle in one hand. He is conversing with FOUR and BANNER.

BELDON: Shit boys, we're up the creek here. Whose idea was this, anyway?

FOUR and BANNER glare. BELDON holds up his hands.

BELDON: What?!?

BELDON grunts and stands. He paces.

BELDON: Man, HUGO and DORA? Those were good dogs. I hope the cart's okay, man, that wasn't cheap. Zombies don't eat people food, right? Right?

The three look worried for a moment. Commotion off-camera.

BANNER: We've got to get out there.

BELDON: Ok, we gotta come at this another way. And we gotta get that cart! That's a good cart! Ok, here's what we--

Commotion off-camera, louder this time.

BELDON: Bobwhite! What the hell?!?

PAN RIGHT

BOBWHITE is surrounded by turned-over scroll cases and papers. He has pulled a table and a chair out from the wall, using the latter to stand on the former. He's concentrating intently and muttering under his breath.

DOLLY BACK

BELDON, FOUR and BANNER come from off-camera.

BELDON: Bobwhite, what--

BELDON is cut off as the surface above the table begins to shimmer. Light moves from its place and coalesces into shape: A candle that was not there before. Bobwhite looks satisfied, then faces the rest.

ZOOM TO CLOSE-UP

BOBWHITE: I think I know what to do.

SCENE 3 - EXT STONE BUILDING IN EASTWATCH VILLAGE

The door to the safe house is center frame. Zombies jerkily shamble about. Opening solo from Rolling Stones Paint It Black fades in. There is a slight shimmer around the door frame, but it does not appear to change. A click, the creak of hinges--but still no change. Solo finishes, then drums: an arrow shoots out from the door and immediately downs the zombie.

♪ I see a red door and I want it painted black ♪ ♪ No colors anymore, I want them to turn black ♪

FOUR, BELDON, BOBWHITE and BANNER burst through the illusory copy of the door. Blasts burn, a whip cracks, and arrows fly as they cut an efficient path across the street.

♪ I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes ♪ ♪ I have to turn my head until my darkness goes ♪

All zombies nearby are dead.

PAN LEFT AND DOLLY BACK.

BELDON whistles and PEPPER comes out of the door as the illusion falls. The cart comes into view. BOBWHITE and BANNER take place inside while BELDON, grimacing, pulls the hitches off the (barely unrecognizable) remains of HUGO and DORA and places them on PEPPER. FOUR takes point, BOBWHITE begins to concentrate and mutter. Camera stops pan just as the cart lurches forward.

♪ I see a line of cars and they're all painted black ♪

DOLLY WITH CART

Tracking the cart from behind, a crude decoy of BOBWHITE appears next to him. He takes watchful position. BELDON maintains position in front of the cart, alternating between firing his bow and expertly slicing with his rapier. FOUR whips a limb off one zombie and slams it into another, knocking it off balance.

♪ With flowers and my love, both never to come back ♪

PAN LEFT, TRUCKING RIGHT

Smoking zombie comes into view. BOBWHITE and BANNER track and it is simultaneously knocked in the chest with eldritch power and an arrow. Its tongue, aimed at BANNER, misses by a hair and falls as it leaves the camera view.

PAN RIGHT, DOLLY TO TRACK

♪ I see people turn their heads and quickly look away ♪ The large zombie comes into view around a corner. It is inhaling. BELDON'S shot catches it in the throat. It swells and pops like a pimple, the ichor spreading in a circle around it. Zombies charge through the remaining mist and are swiftly cut down.

♪ Like a newborn baby, it just happens every day ♪

PAN RIGHT, TILT UP

♪ I look inside myself and see my heart is black ♪ ♪ I see my red door, I must have it painted black ♪

A clawed zombie leaps from a building roof and slams into the copy of BOBWHITE, camera tracks. DOLLY BACK as it claws in frustration at nothing. BANNER and BOBWHITE, now in frame, are in sync: BOBWHITE slices to catch its attention and BANNER slams it off the cart into a tree. Miraculously, it flips around in mid-air and catches the tree long enough to leap back to BANNER, but FOUR's whip comes from off-frame to throw off its momentum

PAN RIGHT

♪ No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue ♪

FOUR comes to view as camera tracks clawed zombie stumbling to the ground next to him. It appears about to catch its balance, then is hit with a blast and two arrows. FOUR swings his scimitar and cuts off its head. He jogs off frame.

PAN LEFT AND DOLLY BACK

♪ I could not foresee this thing happening to you ♪

Once more behind the cart. The pass is visible ahead, across a creek in the distance. Faint sobbing can be heard.

DOLLY FORWARD

♪ If I look hard enough into the setting sun ♪ Camera follows BELDON as he jogs ahead to see who is in danger.

PAN RIGHT

♪ My love will laugh with me before the morning comes ♪ From over BELDON'S shoulder is a pale woman weeping over something she clutches. As she centers in view, she looks up with a screech. BELDON freezes.

DOLLY BACK

She runs to BELDON and her fingers extend into razor-sharp claws. BELDON does not move, but before she can rip into him, an arrow flies in from off-camera. She turns to face its source

♪ Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts ♪ ♪ It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black ♪

PAN RIGHT, DOLLY BACK

The cart with the halflings are visible. FOUR cracks his whip and BOBWHITE and BANNER loose their ranged weapons. The screaming zombie falls. Dolly finishes with the creek just visible. The party looks satisfied.

♪ I see a red door and I want it painted black ♪

A loud thud. The creek ripples, the halflings start and turn left.

♪ No colours anymore, I want them to turn black ♪

PAN LEFT, TRUCK RIGHT

Just rounding a corner as it comes into frame is a massive, grotesque human?, all knotted muscle. Every step shakes the earth. Smaller zombies flood around it on both sides.

♪ I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes ♪ ♪ I have to turn my head until my darkness goes ♪

DOLLY BACK

♪ Hmm-mm-mm... ♪

The cart has turned and is coming toward the camera. FOUR takes position at the cart's back and is swarmed.

♪ Hmm-mm-mm... ♪

♪ I wanna see it painted, painted black ♪

BANNER stands up and shouts a word, pointing first at the heavens, and then forward. A POW, and the smaller zombies stumble.

ZOOM FORWARD

The giant zombie slams a fist into the ground, squashing a zombie as it misses FOUR. Another POW--smaller zombies are scattered, the tank turns its head to pay attention.

♪ Black as night, black as coal ♪

Two arrows from off-frame hit it in the chest and neck. It seems to make no difference as it roars and attempts to squash BANNER. BANNER yells a word and shimmering force congeals the air. The fist stops inches from his face.

♪ I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky ♪ ♪ I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪

ZOOM BACK

Another arrow, a chant from BELDON, and the tank stumbles back. FOUR takes his chance and his whip cracks.

♪ Hmm-mm-mm... ♪

The giant zombie's throat is ripped out. Blood spews forth, black and glistening with rot. It tries one last swing, but it has lost too much blood. It falls forward on its face. Camera finishes zoom to wide view of a badly damaged cart, four disheveled halflings, one terrified dog.

♪ Hmm-mm-mm... ♪

CUT TO BLACK

Awards

• Reaching the first safe room: 75 xp
• A bunch of fast zombies: 363 xp
• All the zombie specials (tank, witch, boomer, 2 hunters, smoker): 300 xp
• Keeping the cart intact (RIP Hugo and Dora): 50 xp
• L4D&D 2: 200 xp

Something Neat

• The wand Good Luck