Masks of Nyarlathotep

[Orube]

So where exactly is the burning zombie now, and where is the other one?

[Greentitch]

The burning one is near the top of the stairs, on fire and flailing around at you and William. The other one is presumably on the stairs somewhere but it's hard to see past the humanoid torch

[Orube]

Evelyn is going to hide behind William and/or James until the flaming one falls over and the second one is reachable. If the zombie that's on fire doesn't fall over we'll figure something else out.

[Greentitch]

William thrusts again at the figure and hits it in the chest. It topples over backwards and falls down the stairs, thumping into the creature behind it and carrying it down as well. The flames seem to be beaten down by the fall and as they reach the bottom only a few embers are left on the charred figure.

[Commando]

(Back from holiday and ready to carry on burning zombies! However I start my new job on Monday, so I might not be quite as active as usual, depending on my new workload.)

William peers down the stairs, trying to see whether the charred figure is down permanently or getting back up. He stays at the top of the stairs, spear at the ready, waiting for either of them to make their way back up towards him again.

[Greentitch]

At the bottom of the steps the charred figure lies still, but the other stands back up and begins to make it's way back up the stairs.

Meanwhile Evelyn finds that her torch is burning out of control, becoming dangerous to hold. Some patterned fabric that is lying on the shop counter catches fire and begins to quickly burn.

[accalia]

Not wanting to burn the whole shop down, Poppy grabs the burning fabric, preferably by an as yet unlit bit, or failing that with one of the many statues or weapons lying about the shop, basically whatever is closest to hand and even vaguely suitable and tosses it down the stairs, preferably not directed at any of our party.

If she succeeds in that she will then go and grab one of the sturdiest wall hangings and smother any remaining fires in the shop.

[Commando]

Spotting the torch rapidly becoming too dangerous for Evelyn to handle, William holds out the spear he's carrying to her. "Quick, swap with me, we don't want to burn the shop down."

Grabbing the burning torch from Evelyn, he holds it a bit closer to the end of the spear so that he's further from the flames. He points it at the centre of the torso of the figure climbing the stairs and grips the spear tightly. "I hope this works..." he mutters, then keeping the spear aimed at the figure he moves quickly down the stairs, trying to skewer it with the burning point.

(I want to move quickly down the stairs and try and stab the zombie in the chest with the spear. If the spear sticks in firmly I'll try and use it to push the zombie back down the stairs. If I miss completely or it's deflected I'll keep hold and try and move back up the stairs, keeping at spear's-length from the zombie. If it knocks the spear from my hands or manages to grab it from me I'll shout a warning and run back up the stairs to the others again.)

[Greentitch]

Poppy grabs a corner of the burning fabric and tugs it from the counter, causing a few objects to fall onto the floor. She throws it down the stairs, where it lands in front of the figure who is once again climbing the stairs.

William takes the spear and charges down towards the figure. As he moves down the stairs he catches the burning spear against one of the walls and stumbles, loosing his footing. He tumbles down the stairs colliding with the figure who was attempting to climb back up. They both fall down and land heavily in the stone corridor below, sprawled next to the charred corpse. The fallen figure tries to bite and claw at William but only manages to tear his clothing a little.
The burning spear slides down the stairs after them and comes to a halt stuck in the burnt flesh of the first attacker.

[Commando]

Scrambling back up the stairs a little, William gets to his feet and moves away from the figure and the burning end of the spear.

(If I'm able to get to my feet before the zombie has done the same I want to try and grab the end of the spear and tug it free. If it comes free easily enough I'll point it at the figure and move slowly back up the stairs. If it's stuck or the zombie is as quick as me in getting back to its feet then I'll leave it there and move back up the stairs as quickly as I can without tripping over.)

[Greentitch]

William gets to his feet but cannot pull the spear free before his attacker rises. Unfortunately for him, the walking corpse now stands between him and the stairs. It turns to face him, battered from its two trips down the stairs but not defeated.

[Commando]

William turns and runs down to the bottom of the stairs towards the doorway, getting a good distance between him and the figure before turning around to face it again. Peering past it up the stairs he calls out, "Ah, a little help down here would be appreciated, please!"

Glancing around he sees Poppy's bag of tools and his own discarded baseball bat lying on the floor. Grabbing both he moves back through the doorway and positions himself on the edge of the doorway like he did when they first spotted the figures. After heaving the bag a little way towards the centre of the room he gets a good grip on the bat and waits for the figure to approach.

[Septih]

James hurtles down the stairs and uses his momentum to shove the creature in the back, hopefully knocking it down and allowing William to get back on their side.

[Greentitch]

James crashes into the back of creature, which stumbles forward but does not fall to the ground.

[Commando]

"Attack it from both sides, like we did at the farmhouse! And get that burning spear back if you can!" William watches the figure, waiting to see if it keeps moving towards him or decides to turn and attack James.

(If the figure turns to face James, William will step up behind it and hit it in the back of the head with the baseball bat, then quickly move back to his current position on the other side of the doorway again.)