(Art pulled from Pinterest)
The Humboldt Creek Bed and Breakfast, located in Junction City, Kansas, home to Marie Duqette, a Corporal in the Army Reserve, was expecting two guests, Steve Squiggles, a traveling salesman looking to make some sales in a new place, and Estelle Skinner II, a scholar, traveling to learn about a lead from Alice Hall, a journalist for the JC Post. Once settled in, Steve and another guest indulged in some games of pool, while Stella (Estelle) and Marie went to the residence of Alice. They were greeted by a telepathic message from inside the house, saying the door was unlocked. Guided to Alice’s research room, where she also performs psychic readings as a side business, she would offer Marie and Stella her research about the ghosts appearing in town, citing that people who have died recently were spotted walking the streets. After Alice shows them points and persons of interest that might have some connection to the recent happenings, they decided to return to the B&B for the night.
As the two women returned to Stella’s car, they noted an elderly woman who seemed to be stiffly shambling aimlessly by them, not noticing the two, the scholar, Stella called out to the woman, who turned to face them, her eyes devoid of life and began to shamble toward her. Stella produced her Colt Peacemaker and fired, hitting the woman square in the head, but it merely staggered her, then continued its advance. Marie put herself between Stella and the shambling woman, while the latter got into cover. Alice, having heard the commotion produced her snub nose S&W and finished off the shambling woman, whom she identified as Mrs. Sanders, a woman who had passed away only a few days prior. After learning of this, Alice told them that she would take care of the body, Marie and Stella returned to the B&B.
With their list of leads, Marie decided to head to Saint Mary’s Cathedral the next morning, while Stella did research on necromancy and planned to meet Alice in the morning for breakfast. Steve had retired for the evening, as had Marie, while Stella stayed up late into the night, trying to find anything about the Cat’s Eye Coven, a group of witches here in town. The other guest who was staying at the B&B, had left early the next morning for his conference in town.
Marie had gotten up bright and early to make breakfast before heading out to Saint Mary’s, where she saw Father Sandoval and a well dressed man, Doctor Clark were engaged in conversation. Shortly after arriving, Doctor Clark left to return to work, Father Sandoval would lead Marie to the confessional booth. There Marie would explain the incident with the shambling Mrs. Sanders, to which Father Sandoval would be shocked, knowing he procided over the funeral and subsequent interment. He had read in the paper that people have seen what he thought were ghosts, were actually the walking dead. He also noted Morgana Broderick and Dr. Clark being at the funeral, which gave her two leads. Marie left the church to purse Dr. Clark, from the tire tracks, she knew she was heading to Stormont Vail Community Hospital, a point of interest marked by Alice. There she discovered a patient who had been holding his arm, she could make out the man was hurt, looked more pale than a man should, but he was guarded. Seeing she could do nothing more, she left her number with a request for a consultation with Dr. Clark at the reception desk, before a nurse brought the injured man back to triage. As the door opens, moans and groans could be heard which unnerved Alice, speeding back home.
Stella had awoke late, her research yielded her, not only a possible lead on what could have raised up the zombie that she and Marie encountered, but also, a number to a pizzeria that Morgana had worked at. Moments later, her, Steve and Marie met with Morgana, a short, raven haired woman with dark eyes and a nose ring, delivering their pizza. Intriguied by what Stella know, she arranged for a meeting at the Olive Grove Diner later that evening. With a hefty tip, the arrangement was made, though mention of the diner, made Stella think of Alice. She called, but there was no answer, texts, no answer, soon she became worried, Steve and Marie joining her in heading to Alice’s residence.
When they arrived, they found police had taped off the area and were wheeling a body out of the house. Stella identified it as Alice. Steve had attempted to make contact with the officers of JCPD, but was brushed off, that’s when Stella stepped in, flashed her FBI badge, presenting herself as Agent Singer. While gathering information on Alice’s death, she would learn that the cause was blunt force trauma to the head and also she had several bite marks on her arms and legs, Steve and Marie slipped inside, where the former would discover the murder weapon, a meat tenderizer. Marie would comfort a frightened Dina, Alice’s ginger tabby cat and discovered that all of Alice’s research was destroyed, yet nothing else in the room had been disturbed. From this, Marie surmised that this attack was deliberate and that whatever killed Alice was under the control of someone. Outside, meanwhile, Stella, got additional information from Officer Kennedy, who gave as much information as he could, also, if she came down to the station, he said that he could probably get her case files of the recent murders in Junction City. Not before getting a call that there was a situation at Highland Cemetery, the other officers left to investigate, while Stella and Officer Kennedy (whose name is Leonial) entered the crime scene. Noting that Steve and Marie were still inside, Stella would distract the officer, allowing them to slip out the back door, a frightened Dina in tow. Discovering a discarded notebook on the floor near the research room, Stella would find a drawing of an amulet, a message in greek and the initials S C, it seemed even in death, Alice tried to leave at least some clue as to the culprit. Officer Kennedy would head off to the cemetery before getting a call of another incident down the road. The others meanwhile, headed to Highland Cemetery.
The group arrived to people dressed in funeral garb fleeing through the cemetery gates and to their cars, while Marie and Stella sped toward the southern part of the grounds, finding not only more zombies, but Father Sandoval, who seemed terrified of the walking dead shambling toward him. Marie grabbed Father Sandoval whom, as the walking dead were almost upon them, raised his rosary and caused them to flee. The priest told Marie of a few people trapped in the funeral home, the group raced over to a large building at the north end of the grounds. Steve, unlocked the doors and they each raced to rescue the people. Marie and Steve saving a teenage couple from a couple of zombies, while Stella rescued the elderly receptionist. Getting the survivors out of the funeral home and to the safety of Stella’s car, Marie wanted to make a stand and make sure no more zombies made it out of the grounds and into the city. The group would encounter the zombies they had seen before, but their numbers had grown, funeral guests, even officers from the JCPD. Stella would make short work of a few, Steve incapacited one by taking out its knee, which Marie finished off. The group would take out the rest of the zombies that remained before returning to the B&B. Once there, Marie would set up their newly rescued guests in their own rooms to keep them safe, while Father Sandoval would request to return to the church to retrieve a sword from his office, to better help him protect the people they saved. Stella would head to her meeting with Morgana, bringing Steve with her.
Before heading to Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Marie would be presented a key to not just the church, but to Father Sandoval’s office. There she would discover not only the sword hanging on the wall, which had been well cared for, even kept polished, a powerful aura coming from it, but she would also find Father Sandoval’s journal. Hoping to learn more about the priest, she opened the journal, only to find that pages were written in a mixture of spanish, french, german, slavic among others, with different dates going back to the early 1500s. She would send pictures of the pages to Stella through her smartphone before heading to Olive Grove Diner to meet the rest of the group.
At Olive Grove Diner, Stella and Steve would not only meet Morgana, but also her mother: Cassandra Broderick, witches of the Cat’s Eye Coven. They would discuss what was happening, Morgana reveals she had been visiting funerals to speak with the dead to find out who was animating them, every time, speaking the name Clark. They had their culprit, Dr. Clark, who they believe to be using some form of necromancy to create the zombies that they had encountered. With their culprit identified, the group began making plans to take the fight to him, thanking the Brodericks, they parted ways and returned to the B&B.
Once there, they confronted Father Sandoval about his journal, realizing that the kindly priest was something more human than human. But, he was not like the zombies and he explained that he had seen this type of magic before, a foul form of necromancy used to raise and control undead, fearing his old adversary near, he explained that he hid upon Holy Ground, where he and other people like him were forbidden to engage in combat. Sensing that the group was about to enter a desperate fight, Father Sandoval lends his sword to Marie, who he felt would know how to use it. Unsheathing the blade gave off a holy aura, the sword, from many years of use, was blessed and therefore would be a valuable tool for what was to come. Stella, made arrangements to meet with Officer Kennedy who would provide them with some weapons, would find him outside of Stormont Vail Community Hospital.
Before departing, Marie leads Father Sandoval downstairs to her private arsenal, where she lends the priest some weapons to protect from himself and the parishioners inside. With their home base prepared and a plan to infiltrate in place, the group makes their way to the hospital, finding Officer Kennedy waiting for them, opening up his trunk and supplying the party with Glock .22s and a W870 Remington Shotgun and enough ammo to get them through the facility. They make their way through the front door which Steve unlocked, only to be stopped by a zombified nurse who calls some zombified security guards, who opened fire, incapacitating Stella, but Steve and Marie came in clutch, the former, mowing two zombies down with a shotgun, the latter, putting the sword she borrowed to use. The rest would be dispatched quickly and Stella would bring herself back from the brink, only to be treated by Marie and carefully removing the bullet in her chest before patching her up. The group would find an access card to the medical wings on the nurse and proceed deeper into the hospital. Zombies filled just about every room, the group rescued civilians and took out a security guard zombie guarding the entrance to the lab. Steve spotted a case beneath the zombie’s chair, military equipment, but why was it here? Inside, was an M32A1 Rotary Grenade Launcher, which Marie gladly took. Proceeding through the door and down the stairs into an underground lab, came the moans of more of the undead, one of them which being Alice, who had been reanimated by the necromancer.
The proceeded into the heart of the lab which was remade into an altar, adorned with arcane symbols and a large circle on the ground, laid upon the altar was a woman who had recently been zombified and Dr. Silas Clark who appeared behind it. The doctor released the zombies in the containment rooms and the fight began, with zombie security guards catching Stella off guard and being laid out once more. While Steve kept zombies to their left occupied, one security guard had their gun explode, after being jammed. Marie, knowing that they were caught in desperate odds, took aim with the grenade launcher, the first shot knocking Silas off balance and the second shot not only killing him, but destroying the necromantic amulet he carried, this consequently causing the remaining zombies to die as well. With the cause of the walking dead taken care of, Officer Kennedy found the party and got them medical treatment outside of the hospital, Ambulances tended to the civilians and the party as well, the party surrendered the weapons they had borrowed from the JCPD and returned home, secure in the knowledge that no more undead would be showing up on the streets for now.
One thing however, left them disturbed, the black cloud that formed behind the body of Dr. Clark, the skeletal hand that drained his soul and the warning not to interfere again, left them with more questions than answers.
Stella would return to Boston, to research what exactly it was that they encountered.
Marie, with her new cat Dina, continued to run her business as usual, keeping an eye on the local news and remaining vigilant. She would also, have regular visits with Father Sandoval at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Steve, after making sales on water filtration, returned to Rhode Island to make the arrangements, having been well paid for the work by Stella.
The group remained in contact, knowing that this was only the beginning.