The days have grown shorter, and the dead grow
bolder. In the ashes of a forgotten city, Jay
and his ragtag family cling to survival in the
charred remains of an old church that they now
call home. But safety? It's an illusion. Supplies
are low, tensions are high, and something sinister
watches from beyond the broken, stained glass
windows. Aiden wants to help. Torka smells blood
on the wind, and CC's radio just crackled with
a name that they haven't heard in weeks. This
is Havenwood, and it's about to be tested. Well,
hi, hello everybody. My name is Turk. Welcome
back to the Grouch Couch. And welcome back to
One Guy, One Die. We are finally continuing with
our Walking Dead solo TTRPG series. Today is
episode 8. Now, it's been a few weeks since I've
recorded this here series. So, to pay you guys
back, what I've actually done is I've assembled
all of the main lore and events and things that
have happened here in our campaign thus far and
put it on a Google Doc. And you can find it down
in the description of this video. I'm going to
do my best to continue to update it as we play
each episode. So if you want a little bit of
a recap of what's happened, maybe some inventory
or an NPC or anything else like that, please
do check out that Google Doc because it'll totally
fill you right in on everything. I've been reading
the comments on the last video, and I know a
lot of you guys were worried that Episode 7 was
the end of the series. It wasn't. I was just
taking a little bit of a break because I was
working on a lot of other projects with the Grouch
Couch. And I really just wanted to come back
and do one more Episode 8 episode before we do
take a big break from this series for a little
while. After this, I am going to come back with
more episodes, probably in fall. You know in
October whenever zombies I start feeling it again
But for now this will be the last episode of
this this year's art so this episode might actually
be a little bit longer because there's a lot
of things that I want to try to accomplish in
our story and if it is a little bit Intimidating
remember you could always pause the video and
come back later anything else like that But this
is the beginning of the video so I have no idea
how long it's actually gonna run for but you
know as another update from me My solo series
is now officially called one guy one die and
you can actually listen to this big series on
everywhere you get your podcast spotify and stuff
like that i had some folks who requested an audio
only version so it's up there you can check it
out and here through the summer i'm actually
going to be starting a new solo campaign using
starforged it's going to be an all pen and paper
kind of physical style game that i'm doing and
i'm kind of excited for it so if you want something
to listen to while you're waiting for this series
here to pick back up make sure to check out starforged
you'll be able to check it out on the and of
course it's going to be a solo series with me
telling a story much like this one all right
i'll show you know like share and subscribe all
the other youtube jibber jabber i think that's
enough updates from me so why don't we get into
the story why you're here all right the story
of havenwood let's get back into it So because
it's been about a month since I updated and recorded
last time, I've actually completely updated all
of my notes. And I also have them on my foundry
here, but you can check them out in the Google
Doc. But I think it's a good time for us to go
over our threads a little bit and talk about
where we're at and what I think our characters
need to try to accomplish in this here episode.
So from the top, we don't know what's going on
with Jesse and Aiden's parents. We have no idea.
We still have Leticia out there in the world.
Can she be recruited or can she be? trusted I
was relistening to an episode and I was like
She really wants that type of food that she wanted.
And I was like, I wonder if we bring her some
food, if maybe she'd be down to join us. But
we also have some threads that she's likely the
daughter of Jamie Thornton. And Jamie Thornton
could actually be a prisoner that is tied to
Jay's father because we know that Jay's father
is alive. But we don't know where he is. We do
know he has something to do with prison, though.
We need to learn more about Torka's tribe. And
there was actually a fantastic comment from Homeless
Bacon. Welcome, my friend, to the show. Homeless
Bacon said, we need to see if we can find an
unhinged faction. Criminals and stuff like that.
And they could be a part of Jesse's old gang.
Which could also join Jesse's old gang. Could
have something to do with Jesse's father and
Jamie Thornton. And this could be just a whole
faction. And I'm wondering if we might figure
out more about them if we head to the hardware
store. Which we do have thread here. We have
it in our locations section. The hardware store.
An ex -military man. A tattooed survivor lives
inside. Angela. Bailey told us about it via radio.
And our narrative hook here is that he could
be a potential recruit or an antagonist. And
he could help us with tools or barricade materials
or anything else like that. But if we do remember,
he did also say that he wants to rebuild, not
just survive. And I don't know what that means.
And I don't know if I trust this guy, if I'm
being completely honest. So we're going to roll
some dice on that. But if we do also want to
tie everything together even more, this prisoner
tribe could have something to do with Torka's...
old tribe but we do know that the yaw faction
which i do have here uh the yaw faction um they've
been mentioned multiple times and torka has a
personal grudge against the yaw fact and we don't
know a lot about them but um i definitely want
to delve into something they got going on because
that uh this yaw faction is a threat us here
in this town we know that they're here so we're
going to figure out what the heck they got going
on because i'm worried um i'm going to do it
here on this episode but i'm going to roll right
at the top to see if anything has happened overnight
or to See if anything has happened since we last
played at the Haven itself. Random events kind
of style. And these factions could pop up and
they could start raiding us, attacking us, stuff
like that. So we need to learn more and recruit
more people. It's very important to do that.
So what exactly do we want to accomplish in this
episode? So first of all, it would be great if
we were able to find kind of a new resource location.
Because as we have it right now, we know that
our characters have kind of been surviving on
like blackberries in the surrounding bushes.
and also just like some old pickles and stuff
that they had found in the church whenever they
got there. We currently have a freezer that is
hooked up and it's in the church. They got it
in there and they got it hooked up. And I'm actually
going to roll a dice to not to see if we have
electricity because I'm going to say that we
do because we're still earlier on in the apocalypse.
But I want to roll a dice to see what the quality
of that is. And we'll talk about that in a minute.
Because our second thing that we need to do,
not only find some kind of food resource, but
also to upgrade Havenwood itself. And I think
that we'll be able to salvage. solar panels from
the mall or even maybe from other place around
here so and I also think that Aiden is still
the little brother he's still trying to prove
himself and he wants to you know have his own
arc and his own stuff going on because I think
over time because again I don't know how long
we're gonna do this series for it could be a
long time I think Aiden is gonna kind of become
a real hardcore main character here he's if anything
ever happens to Jay hopefully it doesn't Aiden's
gonna kind of take over and so I want to learn
more about Aiden and his attitude and what he
thinks and kind of what his skills are, you know?
So I think that's going to be very important.
So before we get started on our adventure today
and try to accomplish things and go out on a
run and stuff like that, I want to know how things
have been going here at Havenwood because we
have this freezer, but we're running out of food
and tensions are high and things are kind of
evolving. More zombies are kind of growing. You
know, the apocalypse is worse than every single
day and we need to get set up before things get
too bad. And I want to know how things are going.
But I think the first role I want to make is
I want to know if Havenwood has actual power.
I want to know if it's running on a generator,
or if there's power that leads to Havenwood.
Or if there is power, but it's just kind of sketchy.
It goes in and out. Maybe there's something going
on at the power plant that could be messing things
up. You know, just stuff like that. And to do
this role, I'm actually just going to roll a
D100. And the lower the roll, the better the
power. So our first roll of episode 8, here we
go, that's a 61. So it's kind of middle of the
road here. um over a 50 means yes we do have
power but it's not that great and so i want to
ask a fake question we didn't find a generator
whenever we first originally searched the church
so i'm thinking that we're just on city power
but if it's a 61 that means that it's kind of
in and out and it's not that great city power
there's something going on the city power and
so i want to just ask is that what is that what's
going on we're going to call it a 50 50 yes okay
so we have power but it's just not which means
that securing solar panels for havenwood would
not only help us in the long run but it will
help us kind of where we're at now it kind of
means that the radio tower can only be used sometimes
and now we're also putting a freezer on it which
means we're taking more power to secure our food
and keep things cold so that's kind of that so
before we go out on our next run i'm thinking
it's been about a day or so they've gotten the
freezer hooked up they've got everything barricaded
back up things are chill i think cc is still
on the radio trying to contact people see if
there's anyone out there and i think that aiden
has been gathering up blackberries from all around
the surround area doing a pretty good job doing
that i think that jay has been double checking
his car making sure this car is going to be running
okay for a little while um i don't really know
what torka would be up to um in his downtime
i think kind of just helping everyone out best
that he can because he's that kind of guy but
i'm gonna roll a fake question and i want to
know if any kind of random event has happened
if you know raiders or we've gotten calls or
anything like that has there been some kind of
random and since we haven't had one yet i'm actually
going to call it very likely yes so there is
something that has happened over the past day
or so that we need to talk. What is our random
NPC action? Deceive? Illusion? Okay, so if it's
an NPC action, this means one or two things.
Someone either called in on the radio or someone
has shown up. And I'm going to do a fake question
here. If it's a no, someone has shown up. If
it's a yes, someone called in on the radio. And
I'm going to call it more leaning towards radio
because that's kind of like the new thing that
we have going on here. So did someone call in
on the radio? Yes. And we also got a 77, which
means random event. And the way that I'm currently
playing, just so everyone knows, is I've just
raised my chaos factor all the way up. So if
we ever roll doubles ever, it's going to mean
random. That's more fun for me. Just if we ever
get dubs. I love random events. I feel like it's
the juice of the mythic game. I did a mythic
review and how to play recently. You can check
it out on the. channel and i talk about how much
i love random events so um we got another random
event on top of this which is remote event carelessness
and exterior factor and we were just talking
about the power this is a remote event so something
that happens somewhere else so we don't even
really get to know all the details of this but
this could have something to do with the power
and since it was yes that means that someone
has called in on the radio deceiving us with
illusions they're lying they're calling us and
they're lying about something okay so someone
calls in on the radio and i've updated our NPCs
list, so we can just roll on this. This is a
D7, if it'll let me. We've got Letitia, Angela,
Jamie Thornton, who's still kind of unconfirmed,
but he's out there. We've got Vicky R, which
is Jay's ex from the other town over, if you
remember. We've got hardware store guy. We don't
know nothing really about him. We've got a faction,
so if I roll faction, it's going to be a faction
calling out, and then a new random image I put.
So who calls in on the raid? Before we paint
out Letitia Thornton, what does Letitia Thornton
want? Well, first of all, deceive illusion. I
rolled on the actions discovery meaning. Move
freedom. If we know a little bit about Letitia
Thornton, we know that Letitia Thornton, she's
at that glass factory. So move freedom. She's
calling out to us. Deceiving illusion. Move freedom.
Okay, this took me a bit, but I think I have
an idea. And first I want to paint the scene
as I usually do. So everyone's doing their thing
around Havenwood as normal. And our camera's
going to pan down to Cece. Up top, second floor.
She's messing with the radio. Just calling out
like she normally does every day. Whenever the
powers work. And she says. Calling out to everyone.
This is Sierra Andrews. Calling in from Havenwood.
Just seeing if anyone's out there. Or needs help.
And then she releases the button. And she waits
for a little bit. And she writes down in her
journal. Like you know. Day 7. Still no call
back. She writes down the channel number. And
as she's writing down the channel number. I think
Leticia's voice comes through the radio. And
Cece hasn't ever heard Leticia before. So I think
when the voice comes through the radio. Down
below we see Aiden and his ears perk up. And
he runs up the ladder. to get to Cece to kind
of be involved in this conversation. And as the
voice comes through, I think it sounds scripted,
like almost perfect. Like, hello, I am ready
to join you. Please come and find me at the glass
warehouse. And Cece pushes the button. She's
like, come again? Um, who is this? Aiden like
nudges her and he's like, that's, that's Letitia.
She's my age. And then it comes through again
and it says, hello, I'm ready to move. I'm tired
of being alone and want freedom. And the word
freedom is kind of like. in a different tone,
you know? Please come and find me at the glass
warehouse where we last met. And I think that
it's like big time obvious that this is some
kind of a trap and there's something going on.
But Cece just calls back and she goes, okay,
Leticia, we'll be on our way soon. Just hang
tight in there, sweetie, okay? And then she doesn't
call back. But what I want to do actually now
is I want to pull up Cece's chart here and I
want to see if she really understands what was
said. And I'm going to roll a wits and I just
want to get one success. with C. This is our
first stat roll of episode eight. That's one
success. So she picks up that whenever Letitia
says freedom, it was in a different tone of voice.
And she doesn't really understand what that means,
but she understands that everything else was
weird. And so she had to have been talking in
code. And she writes down everything that she
said and underlines freedom in her journal. And
then her and Aiden go to Jay with his journal,
tell him about what just happened. Oh, and I
was thinking too much. I forgot that there was
another random event that was carelessness. external
factors i think that the reason that latisha
doesn't call back the third time is because the
power goes down again uh something going on with
the power and it kind of frustrates cc a little
bit and she's like gotta figure out this power
thing so i can actually talk to we need more
information she was like mad about it so before
they head down to talk to jay about everything
she gets a little frustrated so as they're heading
down to meet up with jay i think at this point
jay is already up doing something and i think
that he is talking to torka and And Jay's like,
hey, I've been thinking a lot about this hardware
store thing. And I think I want to go check it
out. I want to scope them out. Because we don't
know if this is one guy. If he's got a group.
You know, if they're not cool. And it's a little
ways across town. And I don't really want to
take my car. I was wondering if I could take
your van. Because I could get in your van. And
I know there's a bed in there. And that's kind
of where you have been sleeping. Because there's
no beds or furniture here in Havenwood. Which
we really kind of need to figure something out.
The hardware store could help us out with some
wood to be able to build our own beds and stuff.
But if you'll let me, I would love to take your
van because it's also got a workbench in there
so I could fix things. I want to take your van
so I could sleep in it and take some time to
actually scope out this area on the other side
of town and figure out these people, you know,
so I don't have to rush right back. What do you
think about that? He's like, look, man, you're
going to go by yourself, man. You know, there's
a bunch of us like that's, you know, that's not
really kind of how we operate anymore. You're
not a solo guy anymore. We're a family. Family
survives together. Huh? And he's like, I know,
but there's so many projects that need done here.
And really, I want to leave you guys here to
work on those projects while I go and do things.
So when I get back, God, the Game Master, can
actually roll a dice to see if you guys accomplished
those projects and tasks that really need done
around Havenwood. Because we really need to upgrade
this place, man. And also, I don't want to take
my little brother because he's not ready, you
know? And I don't want to leave him alone here.
So if you three stay and I could go. And Torky's
like, okay, I mean, yeah, I guess we could work.
work that out that that sounds okay you know
you're kind of right we do need to fix things
and as he says that that's when cc and aiden
come down the stairs and across the church to
this back room and cc fills jay in on everything
that just happened on the radio and torka's like
oh man yeah we we met leticia me and aiden on
our run man and um she seemed kind of cool but
she really didn't want to come stay with us so
it's kind of weird that she would say that man
i mean could be a trap or something man jay's
like look if it is a trap that's a little girl
that needs our help she's been alone in the apocalypse
this long i'm sure she can handle her own but
we have to try you know we can't just leave her
there so if we know it's a trap we need to go
in prepared and what kind of trap could this
even be honest and in my head i'm you guys can
let me know in the comments what you think this
kind of trap could be but in my head i think
someone seeing that we talked to leticia and
maybe that's why on the run with aiden it was
so easy just to get there because things had
already been cleared out there was already people
in the area some kind of a faction could even
the yah faction that was stalking and they seem
to have got close to leticia and so they have
gone in there they've captured her and i think
that they have forced her to call back to us
on the radio what does freedom mean i don't really
know right now but i think that's what's going
on and i'm wondering if jay and the team together
could put all that together i think that they
can or at least that's what they think is going
what's really going on i don't know and you guys
can leave ideas in the comments but i want to
do a fake question and i want to call it nearly
certain that they can put all that together when
They put their heads together and talk. Yeah,
that's an 80. So they do. They figure it out.
And I think they're all going to sit on the floor
and they're going to talk about it. And Jay's
like, so we got to be prepared. I mean, we've
got a crossbow and a machete. If we're going
up against the Yaw faction, we'd seen they kill
people, make art out of the faces. And, you know,
I think if Letitia has made it this far on her
own, I think she'll be okay just for a little
bit more time. We can get our resources together
and we can go all of us together. We can take
them down and we can save Letitia. But before
we can do that, I want to go on a run. and I
want to go to the hardware store and I want to
scope it out I want to see what's going on with
this guy and see if maybe he can help us see
I mean if he wants to live and not just survive
I mean maybe maybe something so I was already
talking to Torka and he's gonna let me take his
van and I'm gonna go for a day or two well you
guys stay here and we need more food we don't
have seeds we have these blackberries and Aiden
I don't want you running around all over them
fields back there we need to replant those blackberry
bushes right in our yard so we can start some
kind of a farm here so while I'm gone that's
what you're gonna do we're gonna be replanting
planting as many blackberry bushes in our fences
that we can. Torka, you're going to get out there
and I want you to go around all the fences just
to see if there's any holes. I want you to reinforce
them. I think there's a gate that goes out the
back towards the homes, like the residential
area. And then the front area of the parking
lot doesn't have a, it's just kind of open, but
it leads to the main road. It runs along to the
mall. So we can't do anything about that yet,
but you're going to go in the back and reinforce
that back gate and everything else and get us
a nice form area set up. You're going to work
with Aiden. Don't leave him alone. Also, while
I'm gone, CC, there are room havens. So we have
the large open main hall. This currently our
sleeping space. No bed. We have the light. library
quote -unquote that i mentioned that was vandalized
with fire we have the office um that is kind
of cc's radio workshop now that's where her radio
is it's upstairs we have the storage room that's
full of old music gear we have the youth room
which we found pickles in and we have the grave
site out back um we're gonna keep the grave site
it's gonna be like a grave site and then like
a farming area next to it and so jay's gonna
be like we shouldn't all just be sleeping together
in this big old room you know it's not safe we
need to change up the youth room back there put
up like some temporary sheets some walls, whatever
we can find to be able to give us all our own
little private spaces that we can sleep in in
that youth. And that's what we're going to build
our bed. And I want you to just start cleaning
up. I know you're calling out on the radio every
day. She's like, yeah, but the radio is important.
I need to talk to the people. And he's like,
I know. Do it once per day. No stopping. Other
than that, I want you to clean up that. So then
whenever I get back from this run, I'm actually
going to roll on all of these things to see if
these guys were able to fix things up and stuff.
And I know it's kind of fucked up to we're on
our own home site while Letitia's out there possibly
suffering. But I really feel like if we go right
now against the Yaw faction, who knows how many
of them there are. There's at least, we've seen
10 of them at the fair. So there's at least 10
of them. And they had better equipment than we
did. If we remember, they sniped out a bunch
of zombies. So they have guns. And so if we go
now, it'll be the end of our story. Um, so we
really can't do that. Um, but we can start preparing.
We can know and give her a few days. So now that
all that is said and done, Jay is going to gather
up his supplies and he's going to pack them into
Torka's van. And I actually want to see if anyone
else has anything of use that might be able to
give it all to Jesse. He has stuff that he needs
while he's out on. So I'm going to pull up all
the character sheets. Aiden has his crossbow
and I think Jay's going to ask for it. Because
having something long range like this is going
to help him a lot. Especially since his axe broke
previously. Having this crossbow is going to
be really good for him. And Aiden has the binoculars.
He's going to keep those because he's going to
need them while he's here keeping lookout. CC
is the only one with a gun. CC has a pistol.
that she kind of came with she also has a flashlight
which i think we're gonna give over to jesse
she can keep her basic medical gear to take care
of everyone while he's gone torka has a spear
and a sword and that's kind of it so i mean that's
everything that we've got so now jesse's got
his hammer close range his crossbow for long
range he's got those lock picks which we got
like episode one or something he's still got
those he's got signal flares as well In case
he needs them. We've got our flashlight. We've
got a stash of drugs and medicine. Just from
his olden days. I think that's in his car actually.
So he's not going to have it with him. But it's
going to be in his car. But I'm going to keep
it on there. Just remember that. And I've got
on his character sheet two. rations everyone
just remember that this is like a baggie of frozen
black because we're freezing the blackberries
now to keep them fresh for longer because we
have the freezer so that totally works and i
actually had to check my google doc because i
wrote down how much gas the van had I don't have
it here in Foundry, but I have it over here.
Torka's van has a bedroll, a desk with tools,
electronic straps. It also has the bullet necklace
hanging from the mirror. And it has less than
a quarter of a tank of gas. Because we just delivered
the freezer. Which means that if we go on this
mission now, what I'm going to say is... In my
head, it makes sense that if we drive this car
now, we can get to the hardware store, but we're
going to have to find gas before we can get back.
And so hopefully we don't lose Torka's van, because
I don't think he'll ever forgive us, but we're
going to do our best. And I forgot to give him
experience from the last one, so that actually
puts him at six. And I'm going to see if I can
use anything to level up before we go. I'm just
looking through the book real quick to make sure
I level up right, but gosh, walkie -talkies,
how handy would those be? My goodness, we need
some real walkie -talkies. Oy! I'm also going
to mention how much I hate the way that this
Walking Dead book is organized. It's so annoying
to look through all of these things. It's so
annoying. I'm just going to say, like, I review
a lot of TTRPG books. One thing I didn't mention
in my review of this book is how annoying it
is. Anyways. Bro. Yeah, I looked through the
whole thing and still literally couldn't fucking
find how to level up. So I just Googled it. If
that says anything to y 'all. Anyways, we got...
We got five experience the last session because
we participated. We sacrificed something to achieve
a goal. We lost our axe. We learned something
about the world, the butcher shop. We learned
something about another PC, which was Torca and
his backstory. And also we triggered our key
relationships, drives and anchors by helping
to build up, you know, everything. So we got
five. Now we can actually spend, we could spend
five XP to level up an attribute or a skill.
Or we can learn a new talent. And so I actually
want to look through the talents to see if there's
anything else that makes sense for our backstory
before we go out on the... I think Suppressive
Fire is really cool. You can attack up to three
enemies with the same attack when you use ranged
combat. But they all take one less point of damage
and you can't add damage from extra successes.
That's really cool. But I don't think, thematically,
Jay hasn't trained with the crossbow or with
guns or anything. So that really doesn't make
sense. So that'll be one for someone. I think
Skullcracker does make sense. Gained a plus due
to close combat when you fight walkers. You took
on a group of walkers and came out on top. We
did actually fight walkers whenever we were retrieving
that freezer. So I think he learned a lot. And
so we are going to take Skullcracker. Okay, so
we've spent our experience, all five. And now
my guy's got Skullcracker. All right, so we're
all prepared. And I think they all gather around
the van outside. And Jay turns to everybody.
And, you know, he gives Torka like a firm handshake.
And he's like, hold down the fort while I'm gone.
Look, if I don't make it back, just promise me
that you'll take care of my boy. And you'll keep
things going. Keep things positive, you know.
And Torka's like. I mean, yeah, you know, I'll
do my best, but you're going to be fine, man.
Get out there. Come right back. Everything will
be good. And then he gets on a knee and he gives
his little brother a hug, pats his head a little
bit. And then he looks at CC and he's like, if
I find a way to call you back on the radio. Wait
a minute. Doesn't our main car have a radio?
I mean, it's not like crazy long range like what
CC built, but it should still work, right? Maybe
we could take it with us, and if we find a way,
we could upgrade it to make it even more long
range. So I'm actually going to back up a bit.
I think while he's talking to Torka, I want to
see if Torka used his tech skills, because he
does have that, right? He used his tech skills
to move the CB radio out of Jesse's car and into
the van. Stress dies. But... That was one success.
Yeah. So he turns back and he's like, hey, man,
so I managed to move the radio. So if you get
into any trouble out there or if anything happens
here, you know, we can communicate a little bit.
It's not long range, though, man. Like Cece told
me, it's going to need an upgrade. So if you
go too far and also it might be hard to hear
each other. So but keep it on. He's like, thanks,
Torka. I don't know why I didn't think about
that days ago. Good work. And then I think he
also gives Cece a hug and he's like, you're the
brains around here, you know, so keep things
going. She's like, of course I will. And he's
like, uh, I really, I've enjoyed your company
being here. So I just want to say thanks. And
if I make it back from this whole thing, I know
that we can't really go on like a date in a normal
sense, but I might be able to work something
up, you know? And she's like, Jesse, are you
trying to ask me out on a date in the middle
of the apocalypse? And he's like, yeah, yeah.
Uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah. and is she gonna say yes
to this you know and this kind of gives him like
a drive i'm gonna call it nearly certain but
we'll roll on it exceptional yes cool she looks
at him and she goes i've enjoyed your company
too jesse you get back safe and we'll talk and
i think she kisses him on the cheek and he blushes
a little bit and then he gets in the van he starts
it up and he's off and i actually want to roll
so we're going to start driving through the city
And this is Jesse's hometown, so he knows where
this hardware store is. He knows that it's past
the mall, like around it and on the other side.
So we don't really get to get a good look at
the mall on this run here. But it is still a
big plot point. But we're going to go around
it and I want to roll to see what the weather's
like as we're driving through this thing. Weather,
D6. It is windy. Roll again. Another six means
that it's a storm or extreme heat or cold. what
we got windy twice and it says if you roll six
twice that means extreme heat or cold and it's
a storm so as we're rolling into the city it's
gonna start storming like crazy i picture like
he sees the clouds and as he starts driving into
it he can see there's like lightning and rain
and it's just pouring all over the car and he's
got the windshield wipers on and This is the
apocalypse, so the roads are still full of, like,
old broken cars and dead bodies and, like, probably
some walkers that he needs to navigate. And Jesse's
really good at driving. He actually gets a plus
two when he drives his vehicle. So we're actually
going to roll just to see if he can navigate
all of this stuff. He has a nine. Just needs
to get one success here. He got three successes.
So he is killing it. He's driving through the
storm. He's doing a good job. And I think he's
thinking in his head, he's like, this rain may
suck. But it's going to be good cover for me
to get into the town without no one seeing. All
right, and as we're driving into town, before
we get to this hardware store, I want to see
if any kind of random event thing happens whilst
we're driving to the hardware store. So we're
going to do a 50 -50 on the fate just to see
if there's any kind of... event that happens
or if it goes like normal and actually we could
roll a scene alteration to see if anything happened
five scene was altered okay so something does
happen remote event move enemy oh no something
happens in the remote oh something already popped
into my head on the radio before jesse makes
it to the hardware store cc calls him and she's
like sierra andrews for jesse j and he pushes
it and he's like call back for jesse and she's
like aiden was up on the bell tower He's got
his binoculars. He's doing a good job, you know,
keeping a lookout through the storm. And he's
seen some movement out there. Did he see... Okay,
so this will answer our question. Did he see
the Yaw faction very likely moving through the
storm to the glass warehouse? Exceptional yes.
So she says, and we were right on our theory.
It looks like the Yaw faction is doing something
in the glass warehouse. Aiden's seen some movement
over there and he thinks that it's them. And
he's like, okay, well, just keep an eye out,
you know. I'm only like... I'm going to say this
is like an hour drive away from them. But in
the apocalypse, he has to drive slow because
of the roads and everything. So it's probably
about two hours. And he's like, I'm not too far
away. Keep me posted. And as he keeps driving,
her voice is kind of starting to cut in and out.
And he just hears like, oh, set, over and out.
And he's like, I didn't hear what you said, but
see you soon. Okay, so I start pulling around
this road. I want to know what this. hardware
store looks like is it boarded up does it have
like barbed wire you know what i mean is it does
it have defenses does he see people um i know
he's gonna be driving real slow and he's just
gonna be looking as hard as he can to kind of
see what he can see and i want to do some descriptors
trained active okay and we're gonna roll a scouting
roll no bonuses he's got one success so he can
see it pretty well and we've got trained and
active trained and active so he's there's more
than one guy for sure because it's active unless
active means zombies it's fake question time
50 50 um a no it's other people that are trained
military and if it's a yes it's zombie it's a
yes so it's active with zombies so that means
that our trained descriptor here Means that the
guy or whoever it is inside of the hardware store
is used to this, right? And we know that they're
military trained, right? They're covered in tattoos
and shit like that, like old army tattoos. So
we know this guy's got some training going on.
But trained to me means that he has indeed set
up barbed wire. There's like some serrated metal
underneath the windows. Maybe there's like spotlights
over the front. You can see like the walkers.
Is there an electric fence? I'm going to... call
it likely yes so there's an electric fence and
these walkers are like walking up to it getting
zapped and like falling down and you can see
them in the lights as the rain is like pouring
and it's dark outside but you can see these walkers
and they have lights which means they have better
power than us and they have an electric fence
maybe their electric fence is what keeps ruining
our power the bastard We got three successes
on our mobility check. So Jay's going to pull
this van around. I'm wondering if he can pull
it into a parking lot, camp it there. But in
my original mind, I was thinking there'd be like
a foresty area. Like around this hardware store.
You know like a lot of hardware stores have like
old piles of like wood. And like other kinds
of stuff. Like off around the back you know.
Like extra inventory. And I think there's something
like that going on around the back of this place.
And he's going to pull his van around there all
quietly. He's got his lights off. He's got three
successes on his mobility. This is what he's
good at right. So he's pulling it around. And
he's going to park his van around the side of
this hardware store. This place is active. It's
got zombies. Which means it's got noise. And
so Jay's going to pull out his hammer. He's going
to pull out his crossbow. He's going to call
out to the guys. He's going to say, made it to
the hardware store. Going in now. He's going
to hang up the CB radio. He doesn't know if they
heard him or not. He is out of range. I just
did that on a whim, but maybe he shouldn't have
did that because if hardware store guy has a
radio, he hears them. But whatever. As we get
out. There are like piles of wood and like big
old piles of rocks, you know, like hardware stores
and stuff have. And like old tractors and stuff
like that. They're all just stacked around back
here in this like area. And he's going to start
navigating around it. And he's got to get up
to the hardware store to find this guy to talk
to him, right? Or at least scope him out. Find
if there's a window. That's what we're hoping
for. But let's see if there was any kind of scene
alteration. Scene proceeds normally. Okay. So
he's going to sneak around. We're going to roll.
Stealth, which is an eight. Really good. We do
have lockpicks. We just need a success. That
sucks. So we got a zero. Oh, but what if Jay's
sneaking around the back? Because we already
have an enemy, right? It would be really good
if we could have another ally. in this storm
here because we could figure out who the heck
this guy is um my first initial thought was he's
sneaking through all of this stuff and he gets
close up to the house uh to the hardware store
like the back entrance and a motion activated
light turns on right on him and he's like And
he's just standing there on the concrete like
as he was sneaking across and the light comes
on and then he runs over He's gonna hide behind
some barrels and then I think there's gonna be
like a little you know Most hardware phones like
they can they can talk over the register You
know what I mean like call out to people who
need whatever whatever and so through one of
the speakers. There's a voice and I'm I want
to roll motivations here. Conversations. I'm
going to roll some descriptors just to see how
this guy sounds, kind of what's going on here.
He's found us. He knows that we're here and we're
investigating him. So hopefully this goes better
than we think. Okay, so conversations, loving,
helpless. I kind of want to roll motivations
as well, but... maybe not yet loving helpless
i wonder what this guy sounds like voice descriptors
resourceful and generous so maybe kind yeah everything
about that to me is screaming kind that's weird
that's not what i was expecting at all oh i just
got chills through the speakers we hear a kind
gentle voice stern but kind and he says hello
i see you out there please i'm not looking for
any kind of trouble i've been through a lot i'm
just I'm trying to rebuild here. If you've come
to steal from me, please take whatever you want
from the outside. And I think Jesse hears this
and he pokes his head up from behind the barrels
and he's like, What? Uh, hey, I'm Jesse. And
he takes a step over. He's holding up his crossbow
and his hammer and he's like, I heard someone
was staying here. Someone looking to rebuild,
not just survive. And he's like, Yes, well, you've
heard right. I've been on the radio. Did he hear
us? On the radio. Oh, goodness. When he said
he arrived here, so he was already expecting
us. Maybe the light wasn't even motion -sensored.
Nearly certain. Did he hear us on the radio?
Yes. He goes, I've heard you on the radio when
you arrived. They don't have a long -distance
radio, but I have a close one, and I heard you.
He's like, yeah, I've come to meet you. I was,
I was, can I trust you? Well, if I was going
to kill you, I feel like I would have done it
already. I heard you arrive through the radio.
And I kind of have the jump on you. Yeah, I guess
you got me there. This mission didn't really
go the way that I had planned. All the while,
we need to remember that there is just crazy
zombie noise coming from outside of this back.
Because it's like a back fenced in area. If you've
ever been to a hardware store, there's like just
piles of stuff and probably like a warehouse
or whatever. And so the front gate is just covered
in walkers that are getting electrocuted and
that are falling down, you know. So we can hear
all that happening still. And Jay's like, look,
it's hard to talk to you out here. Can I come
in? Can we talk? And I think, is the guy going
to let us inside? I honestly, I really think
that he is. So let's call it nearly certain he'll
let us in. That's a 15. So yes, he's like, sure.
You can come in, and I don't even mind. With
the exceptional yes, he's like, you can bring
your crossbow, bring your hammer, come on inside.
The code to the door is... Is it actually a good
code? This guy is military, so he probably actually
tells him, like, a real code. I'm gonna roll
a D -100. The code is 8648. He's like, alright.
And he goes up to the door, puts in the code,
it's 48, and he steps inside. Now, what is going
on on the inside of this place? As the door shuts
behind him, like, shhk. Like, he's got power.
I bet he's got air conditioning. He's probably
covering a lot of that awful zombie noise outside.
I wonder how big this hardware store is. Is it
like a big ol' Ace Hardware? Are we talking like
a Lowe's? I don't know. We're gonna do some descriptors.
I got locations. Element meaning locations. Locations.
Reassuring, but cramped. So it's not that big
in here. Or maybe it is big, but it's just full
of stuff. Is it full of stuff? Exceptional yes.
So he's got a... crap ton of stuff in here maybe
even so it's reassuring right to jesse so this
guy was trying to rebuild that's what he wanted
to do and it turns out that he's actually a nice
guy that actually does want to rebuild which
is crazy to me because i thought this dude was
going to be awful but the dice the dice told
us all guys all right so as he steps in since
it's reassuring and it's a crap ton of stuff
there's probably mattresses and like couches
Maybe like old TVs, probably like cupboards,
like furniture, just like packed in here. Maybe
stuff that this dude has just been building with
all of the hardware stuff this whole time for
like a year. It's just him by himself. And he's
just building furniture to be able to rebuild.
He's got nothing better to do with his time,
right? But this is a hardware store. So I'm not
going to say that just like food or anything
else like that, but there could be seeds for
farming. As he's walking by, he's looking at
everything. Jay is seeing all of this stuff.
And is there food for farming? I'm going to call
it likely seeds for farming because hardware
stores, they do sell seeds and soil and stuff
like that. Exceptionally, yes, that's a nine.
So he sees like packets of seeds and like soil
and stuff. And he's like, God sent. So he sees
all this stuff and he comes around the corner
of the shelf. And I picture there's just this
big open area. that has, like, three or four
workbenches. There's, like, sawdust all over
the ground from this dude, like, building this
furniture. You know, there's, like, lights on
everything and just, like, old two -by -fours
and stuff, like a project he's currently working
on. And I bet it smells like sawdust and paint,
which is kind of nice for Jay because Jay's used
to that awful, rotten zombie smell that he's
been smelling for the past year. And so just
to smell this beautiful, fresh, chopped wood
and paint, and he's like, he takes a big ol'
inhale of it. and then we see the guy and I picture
he's got like safety goggles on and he puts them
up on his head and he's probably wearing a vest
from the hardware store. Like dude used to work
here before the world ended. But what does he
look like? Dirty? Casual? Yeah? For sure, that
makes sense to me. He's got paint on his stuff,
you know, a couple rips, like he's been working
in his work clothes, but casual work clothes.
He's got some blue jeans. Mysterious, yet aggressive.
So as he walks up to Jay, you know, he's got
a strange look in his eye. It's probably like
bright, crazy blue eyes. Whatever race he is,
he's got crazy blue eye. And he shakes his hand.
He's got like these calloused up working hand.
And it's the strongest handshake I think that
Jay's had in a while. Because he's been shaking
Torka's hand. And so when he shakes this man's
hand, he's like, you know, well met. Fuck. And
his support is motivation. Support and control.
I don't know what control means. That might be
a little flaw. But support. So this is still
good stuff. But I need to know to be able to
picture this person in my head. Military. adversary
right so we already know that i did identity
i don't think that was right so we're going to
delete that in the chat knowledgeable yet social
we already know that so that's very good that
just kind of continues to further what we already
think here so we're not getting what we want
from those descriptors so maybe let's do this
mechanically healthy okay so i'm getting a picture
in my head and i don't know if you guys are too
but just follow me on this i picture a dark -skinned
man you know like a really nice like buff black
dude with these beautiful crazy blue eyes which
is crazy for jay because you know what i mean
he hasn't ever seen a black guy with beautiful
blue eyes before so he's kind of like what but
you can see like he doesn't have too dark of
skin so he's got a bunch of military tattoos
like eagles and flags and stuff on his arms and
you can kind of see them a little bit even through
the darkness of his skin and he's older i'm picturing
older like salt and pepper kind of hair you know
I think he's still clean shaven because he's
used to that from the military. So he still shaves
his face as close as he can with the razors that
he has. And his hair is still nicely trimmed.
You know, he probably buzzes it every day. And
he's got these crazy calloused like big hands.
And I think he's wearing like a necklace that
has like an eagle on it or something that resembles
something from his time in the military. And
this man, when he got out of the military. He
started working at this hardware store. And this
is kind of just where he's been. And he just
builds stuff. He teaches people how to build
stuff. They come in. Customers ask him questions.
He answers them. He's really kind of kind. But
I think he's very smart, knowledgeable, and stern.
But he's very nice. Older and wise. But very
strong still. Like the guy doesn't work out,
but he's got like a natural health to him from
his mechanical work that he does. And he's got
to have like some Timbs on, like some tan boots.
But like the tops of them, like where the steel
toe part is, because it's probably steel toe
Timbs. It's kind of like rubbing off, you know,
so you can see the metal underneath. His blue
jeans are a little bit ripped up. And I picture
he has a silver tooth. Like one of his teeth
is like silver. You know, like it got knocked
out at some point and he couldn't really afford
to get. you know like the just like a different
price difference so you got like a silver tooth
put in and i think he shakes jesse's hand and
he's like finally i've been waiting for someone
to come and join me in this i want to rebuild
son you look strong you look worn please have
a seat and he points to like i think it's probably
like two nice love seat chairs with a little
table in between but one of them is like pristine
like it ain't never been sat in and the other
one's kind of like worn out like this is where
he sits after his long day to rest and there's
like a couple of glasses and like some scotch
or something that he has there and he's like
we need to talk sit jay's like all right thanks
for letting me in um i was really worried you
know i thought this was like a trap. He sits
and it's nice. And he's been, he's been at the
church for so long with no nice furniture. So
when he sits in it, he's like, oh, and he gets
like that relief off of his feet, you know, from
walking and not being comfortable. And he sits
and he's, he just thinks in his head, he's like,
I could fall asleep in this chair. And the guy
who still doesn't have a name, by the way, I'm
gonna need y 'all in the comments down there
to name our veteran hardware store guy. Um, he
sits as well, pours him some scotch, hands it
to Jay. And he's like, I need to know, I need
to know more about you, my friend, before we
can go out on this endeavor. I think, does he
know that his front gate isn't going to last
forever? I think, what is the quality of his
electric fence out front? The higher the number,
the worse it is. That's a 16. Ah, so it's great.
So they have time. So he sits down and he's like,
the fence will keep us safe. We can talk. I've
reinforced it. With electricity. As you can tell
though. Around the back there are some holes.
Made it in. So we can't talk forever. But I've
been here. I've been building. I've been building
furniture. I don't really have any friends. I
got out of the army. I was alone. I didn't have
a wife for the army. I had some family. But they're
all gone now. And yeah. I've been waiting for
someone to come and join. I've told people. And
no one trusted me. It seems that even you didn't
trust me. I want to help. I want to rebuild.
And I think Jesse's like, all right, man, I've
come to the right place. And he tells him his
full story. He sips on the scotch. He tells him
the whole story and tells him about his family
that he currently has now, tells him about the
church, tells him their situation. And I think
he's like, well, sounds to me that you've got
a wonderful setup, but it's not livable and you
don't have, you know, furniture and things. I
don't have enough room here in my cramped space,
but I have the furniture. Maybe we can combine
forces. And Jay looks at him and... He goes,
yeah, man, I think this is going to be a good
friendship. And they cheers their scotch. And
he's like, but first, what's your name? And then
our camera is going to zoom out from the hardware
store as the zombies are getting zapped. And
as the Yaw faction is running through the forest.
And I think that's going to end episode eight.
This is going to end our first arc of Family
Survives Together. And when we come back in the
fall. You guys, we are going to continue on our
story. In the meantime, throughout the summer,
I'm going to be playing a different TTRPG. Check
that out on the channel. Do leave ideas and things
below. As much as you want and as much as possible.
I'll include everything that I can. And remember...
that you can actually check the Google Doc for
episode notes. By the time this one goes live,
I think it'll still have episode 7 notes on it,
and I'll wait about a week or two before I update
it with episode 8, so you guys don't have any
spoilers about what happened in this here episode.
We need names, we need ideas, and we need things.
And goodness, it feels good to be back telling
this story. I was really hoping to fight this
guy. I know that sounds insane, but I was really
hoping to get in here and fight him, and that's
why I prepared. But the dice, you guys. You never
know what the heck is going to happen whenever
you're doing stuff like this. You can't guess
and hope and prepare, you know? So we have things
to deal with, though. Leticia is in danger, but
we have a new friend, and he might have some
guns. He was ex -military. He might know where
some are. that might be able to help us save
Letitia. So yeah, I have no idea how long this
episode is going to be. I don't know. But do
leave a like on this episode. And hey, if this
episode reaches this one right here, reaches
enough likes, maybe I'll come back sooner. All
right. So share it around with your friends.
And thank you so much for joining me on this
journey. This has been One Guy, One Die. I'm
Turk. Thanks for joining me on the Grouch Couch.
Subscribe to survive. And I'll see you guys next
time. All right.