If we didn't have to start over again, I wouldn't mind moving to play@yog-sothoth, though I'd prefer to keep playing here. It's taken us almost four months to get to this point in the story, and I'd much rather keep it moving forward from here. I don't want to lose the progress we've already made, and some of the surprises would be spoiled because we know part of what to expect and several secrets have been revealed. I agree with your assessment of how active we are. I know there were a few players from Y-S who said they wanted to join, but so far they haven't posted here. Also, it's possible we'll get someone from Urban Dead. I added the link to the IC thread to my characters' profiles, and last night one of the other players said he likes the story. I told him (and the other players in the building) that you're looking for players and they can register here and join if they like.
Our best chance in dealing with the skinheads is to have the negotiators try to reason with them and, if possible, get at least some of them to come inside the diner, thus splitting their forces. They can use the idea I had earlier, telling them that Horst was infected and saying they'll take them to him. They can say that Horst can't come outside because he isn't in a condition to move. Even if the skinheads won't come inside, they know that Horst is inside the diner and as far as they know is alive, so they'll have to defend it against the zombies in order to protect him. It would also be nice to at least convince them to let the wounded people and those who came from the motel get back there. In any case, we could use a little more time before we fight them so we can get the guns and get in position.
If hostilities do break out, there are several problems. The pack that Buzz tossed under the chopper likely contains a bomb, which he'll detonate if shooting starts (and presumably threaten to detonate if his demands aren't met quickly), so he'd have to be taken out first. If the chopper is blown up, there's still the State Police chopper, but we can't be certain it will make it back. Buzz may also have a dead man's switch or a timer, which means the bomb could go off even if he's killed. The guy with the M-16 would have to be the second priority, since he has the longest range and he also has a grenade launcher. They all have grenades, but hopefully they won't try to blow up the pumps for fear of harming Horst.
Mr. Foo can attack them from an angle they don't expect, and they don't seem to have noticed him yet, but he's best off holding his fire until someone else starts something (he goes last in any combat round anyway). He doesn't know when the people in the diner will be ready, and if he opens up first he'll bear the full brunt of their attack. While his martial arts skills might be useful, he would have to close with them without being detected in order to use them. This would take quite a bit of time considering how slowly he moves, and he would be toast if they spotted or heard him. Even if he did take one out undetected, they'd notice at that point. I think his best bet is to stay on the balcony and use his MP-5 if a fight breaks out. It outclasses the shotguns, the pistol, and any thrown grenades in terms of range. Only the skinhead with the M-16 could hit him from his current position.
While this is going on, Stephanie will use the communications gear to see if EMPs have any effect on zombies. This is more of a long term thing, but could prove useful. A non-nuclear EMP generator could be built that might take out zombies in a wide radius. Stephanie could come up with a design, and other characters have the skills to actually build such a device, but it would take a while to construct and we can't use it near the comm gear or it will be knocked off the air. Since she only knows English, that limits her options for learning what the EMPs from the nuclear blasts do to the zombies, but my thought is to have her eavesdrop on India, where a number of nukes went off earlier and English is widely spoken. Perhaps someone in India has noticed if zombies beyond the blast radii of the nukes have gone down, and whether or not they stayed down. She can also try other U.S. bases near where nukes have gone off to see if they detected anything. If this doesn't work, Mr. Foo could try listening in on China, but there's not much left there to listen to.
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