THE LIVING DEAD

CAMPAIGN
Hide and Seek
Series Arc 2x07
by Atomic Ninja Studios

of
d Campaign is the third in a series
This Series Arc for The Living Dea advent ure
vive until the end of the
four. Any player characters that sur k
k from Seasoned to Veteran Ran
gain another Advance on their tre
apocalypse.
during the first year of the zombie

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Dead End, artwork, logos, and the Atomic Ninja logo are © 2022 Atomic Ninja. Dead
End, all associated characters, logos, and artwork are Copyrights of Atomic Ninja.
All rights reserved.

This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle
Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos
and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with
permission. Pinnacle Entertainment group makes no representation or warranty as
to the quality, viability, or suitability for the purpose of this product.
 DEAD END: The LIVING DEAD CAMPAIGN

Logline: Led by Cyrus, the survivors are drawn into a fever-pitched race against time to rescue a young
boy allegedly trapped in a crashed vehicle.

Characters
Cyrus Whitlock: Bullish strong build, bald. A capable woodsman and avid hunter.

Locations
Honey Rise Lodge
Suggested Infestation Level: 0
Cyrus’ rustic hunting lodge is a sportsman’s fortress of solitude, complete with slews that meander
through hundreds of acres of lush pine and hardwood forest. Apart from a variety of offerings from
deer and duck hunting to fly fishing, its bed and breakfast-style amenities make Honey Rise Lodge the
ideal getaway for families and small groups.

Starlite Drive-In
Suggested Infestation Level: 0
The drive-in movie theater, with its sizable three-story screen and sprawling dirt parking lot, is home
to twenty or so survivors. It’s quickly growing into a legitimate community with areas for farming and
a field hospital. Its chain link fence perimeter, covered in rusting corrugated panels, boasts row upon
row of wood spike barricades to keep out the dead.

Water Tower
Suggested Infestation Level: 2
The rusting water tank towers ten stories over the demolished warehouse at the epicenter of an
abandoned industrial park. Thick lattices of neglected, overgrown vines and weeds braided through
the chain link fences obscure any views of the outside world beyond.

Synopsis
Eager to mount a rescue mission to find the young boy, Cyrus suggests retrieving the ham radio
equipment from his hunting lodge and installing a linear amplifier atop a nearby water tower to boost
the signal between the projection booth’s FM transmitter over the Starlite’s concession stand — and
ideally, triangulate the source of the signal.

Act One
CB radio conversation
sto ry pic ks up wh ere Ep iso dic Arc S2x06 ends, moments after the
Th e
self Eddie abruptly cuts out.
with the young boy who calls him

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 Hide and Seek: Series Arc 2x07

Read aloud or paraphrase the following:

Desperate to reestablish communication with the young boy, Cyrus scans the frequencies on his CB radio.
Nothing. He turns, cursing and kicking his front tire. Then, an unexpected smile crosses his face as he points
to the dipole FM antenna mounted on the roof over the concession stand, and shouts, “Of course. The Starlite
is a drive-in movie theater!”
Muttering to himself about FM transmitters, Cyrus yanks the CB radio from the dashboard and races
toward the concession stand stairs leading to the film projection booth above.
THE PROJECTION BOOTH is a time capsule to the bygone pre-digital era of film. Stashed behind the
Simplex E-7 35mm projector are a few dusty reels, including The Wizard of Oz, Superman: The Movie,
and Jurassic Park.
CYRUS takes a moment to inspect the projector and its rack-mount FM transmitter before excusing
himself and exiting the room. He re-enters a few moments later carrying a spare car battery. After a
moment spent tinkering and a couple of false starts, the CB radio and FM transmitter light up like a
Christmas tree!
Read aloud or paraphrase the following:
Cyrus scans through channel after channel of hissing static. Then, finds Eddie’s signal! It is weak,
intermittent. Through the clipped stuttering static you hear the young boy’s screams and the all-too-familiar
guttural moan of the dead. Apparently, Eddie’s father has turned. Before he can utter a word, the signal cuts
out again!
Cyrus shares his plan to retrieve ham radio equipment from his hunting lodge en route to the nearest
water tower. He insists placing a linear amplifier at that height should be more than sufficient to boost the
signal — and triangulate the source of the transmission. There is one problem. The water tower is located in
the same area Cyrus and the survivors just diverted the zombie herd towards.

Act Two
Any survivors who choose to aid Cyrus in his madcap rescue mission, arrive at his hunting lodge
without incident. After staging supplies and ham radio equipment by the front door and parking a
refueled Jeep Wrangler (Size 4, Handling 0, Top Speed 120, Toughness 9 (2), Crew 1+4, Four-Wheel
Drive) by his pickup, their host declares they should rest until dawn.
This is an ideal opportunity to run an Interlude (see Interludes in Savage Worlds), allowing the player
characters and their new ally to learn something about each other.

racters
If one or more of the player cha
dcap
decide not to join Cyrus on his ma
nds
rescue mission, int ersperse rou
end of
from the Dramatic Task at the
scenes
this series arc with the remaining
g at dawn
of this adventure startin
the next day…

3
 DEAD END: The LIVING DEAD CAMPAIGN

from the lodge

line d, fee l fre e to int err up t eve ryone’s rest or impede their exit ),
If you are so inc
En cou nte r Tab le (se e En cou nte rs under Travel in Savage Worlds
at dawn with a draw on the
ignoring any enemy results.

It is up to the players to decide who will lug the car battery and amplifier to the top of the water tower.
No special skill is required to set up the amplifier. Cyrus talks them through it over the walkie-talkies.
Though no roll is required to climb the scant ladder 36” (72 yards) to the top, the battery and amplifier
weigh roughly 30 lbs each. This means Encumbrance (see Savage Worlds) is in effect, and characters must
make a Vigor roll to avoid Fatigue upon reaching the top.
Read aloud or paraphrase the following:
The view from the top of the water tower is breathtaking… in more ways than one. As you finish setting up
and testing the amplifier you look down to spot a zombie herd shambling toward the base of the water tower.
You do the math, and realize that even if you manage to hastily scramble down the ladder it is only going to
buy you a few minutes of breathing room before the herd swarms the area!
Survivors descending from the water tower make an Athletics roll at a −2 penalty. Failure means they
lose their grip or footing and fall 3” (6 yards) for 3d6+3 damage.

Evading the encroaching herd is a

Quick Encounter (see Savage Worlds)
to secure Cyrus’ ham radio equipment
and drive away. With success, the
character emerges with Bumps &
Bruises, or completely unscathed on a
raise. Characters that fail their roll take
a Wound (or d4 Wounds with a Critical
Failure). If they are also the driver of a
vehicle, that vehicle takes a Wound (or
d4 with a Critical Failure) and triggers
a roll on the Vehicle Critical Hits Table.
Assuming they manage not to Wreck
their vehicle, the group escapes the
herd. Otherwise, run another Quick
Encounter to redirect, evade, or escape
on foot without sacrificing the ham
radio equipment or supplies. Support
rolls don’t count as successes. If there
are at least as many successes (one per
success and raise) as there are player
characters, their efforts succeed.

4
 Hide and Seek: Series Arc 2x07

Act Three
CYRUS and the group arrive at the source of the transmission by mid-day. Instead of an overturned
vehicle in a ditch, they find a wrecked red pickup wrapped around a tree off a dirt road. The windshield
is shattered. The driver’s door is swung open, revealing the CB microphone wrapped in a rubber band
to keep the transmit switch depressed.

Two sets of tracks lead from the crash site into the woods beyond. One obviously belongs to a child
and the other to an adult. Success on a Survival roll reveals both tracks are fresh. With a raise, the adult
tracks seem to be made by someone randomly dragging their feet.
Following the tracks, the group comes upon an open field littered with over one hundred abandoned
vehicles. Some have cracked windshields. Others have no hoods. Most are missing at least one door.
On a successful Notice check at a –2, the survivors catch fleeting glimpses of movement among the
cars. With a raise, they realize the forms are smaller than the average adult.
The survivors are surrounded by a group of six children, all between the ages of 8 and 13. They have
lived in hiding in this vehicular graveyard for months, surviving against the odds.
More than enough unwitting adults have fallen prey to their trap, allowing the children to collect up to
five living dead per player character. They are strategically spread throughout the field, chained to cars.
Worse, the children have become exceptionally adept at striking from ambush with slings and bows.
THE CHILDREN remain behind cover, watching Cyrus and the survivors until they are in range.
Then, attack from ambush using slings and bows. Any character who failed their Notice roll gets no
Action Card and can’t act in the first round of the coming combat. Those who made it, however, are
dealt into the turn order as usual.
The children’s attack is an Athletics (or Shooting) Test meant to intimidate, not harm. The first
volley of shots all land uncomfortably close and triggers an opposed Agility roll against the
highest roll made by the children. If failed, the targets become Distracted and Shaken on a raise.
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 DEAD END: The LIVING DEAD CAMPAIGN

Then, the pack leader shouts, “Drop your stuff and leave. That’s how you get to live!”
How the player characters deal with the children and the living dead is entirely up to them.
Convincing them to join the group and return to the Starlite community with them requires at least
two raises on a Persuasion roll at a –4 penalty opposed by the pack leader’s Spirit with a Persuasion
roll from each child in Support of their leader (maximum +4).
If the player characters resort to violence or attempt to pursue them, the children perceive them as
a threat and react accordingly — leading them on a wild goose chase through the maze of cars and
into the waiting arms of the dead! The children are exceptionally nimble and able to dart past the dead
unscathed, leaving the character to deal with the situation.
The pact tactic is to dart around the field, popping in and out of cover from the vehicles between
attacks. Once the pact leader (or more than two children) becomes Incapacitated, the rest immediately
rout and vanish into the woods.

Dramatic Task usly and the player characters are call

ed upon to aid
ate s go into lab or sim ulta neo t
The pregnant inm
wit h the del ive ry. The pla yer s cho ose the skill they will use to Suppor
the Starlite’s new physician an Allied Extra built using the Health
care Provider
nd. Wh eth er the phy sici an is nds
the task each rou he mu st col lect six Task Tokens over five rou
or a pla yer cha rac ter,
archetype (see Dead End)
ng the Healing skill.
lasting roughly two hours each usi . Thi s elim inates the typical −2 penalty. The
−2
al ten t is we ll-s toc ked
Fortunately, the medic s’ rolls to Support, as well as an add
ed −2 if their
lies to Co mp lica tion s and pla yer roll
penalty still app pla yer cha rac ters’ part subtracts from the lead’s
tica l Fai lur e on the
Action Card is a Club. Cri
fail.
but doesn’t cause the entire task to fail , but do res ult in 1d4-2 (minimum of 1) expecta
nt
’t cau se the task to
Failed Complications don racters that chose
ths and the ir rea nim atio n at the start of the next round. Player cha nd.
mothers’ dea ing Mo ve may not Support the task that rou
ed dea d wit h a Fin ish
to dispatch the resurrect
6