Rumbles - The RPG

[Nik Hasta]

Mcgaffer was about to speak further when the world decided to try and reject reality, something Mcgaffer was actually fairly experienced at but he preferred the drunk version, "Bugger!"

Mcgaffer caught sight momentarily of a dark figure standing behind the woman as a bright light shone in the tunnel. The light and the figure disappeared quickly leaving Mcgaffer gaping into the darkness, "All I want to do, just once, is walk down a dark strange tunnel without something weird happening."

The others started talking to the woman, and pointing weapons (which is actually very good manners for the Knights, it meant they hadn't started shooting and poking with their weapons) giving Mcgaffer an opportunity to slip the hood of his Cloak over his head and search for lifelines in the area he'd seen the dark figure. He also slipped his Shaman's Souls out of a concealed pocket. If the disturbance was magical in nature then one of the Soul's would pick up the energy signature so he could start working out what he was dealing with.

Mcgaffer could sense two lifelines up ahead, one quite a way from them, the other closer but moving steadily away. He could sense the lifelines of the other Knights but he couldn't sense anything from Nancy at all.

Apparently tact isn't Gemini's strongsuit. Sighing, Sub-Zero interjects, "What he means is that we aren't on Earth, but a prison planet. Why don't you tell us what you were running away from or towards and maybe we can help you."

Nancy looked confused. "But... this is earth. I'm just a short walk from the road and... and soon we'll be heading back and I'll, I'll make you some meatloaf and this will all be a bad dream,"

She began to cry more loudly.

Shushing the other Knight's assertions that they weren't on Earth, he stepped closer, directing a look towards Sub Zero and French Gemini to indicate that they should be ready in case anything happened.

"Nancy? My eyesight must be worse than I thought, I can hardly recognize you. You look terrible, how long have you been running?"

"There, there." He was within range of her now. He touched her gently on shoulder with his free hand, taking this opportunity to slide his gauntlet past her, and down the hall. It felt rather like standing on the edge of a precipice, or would have, were he completely human at the moment. Any moment now, one of them might disappear like Mister Beadle did.

"Look, it's going to be alright." his voice was gentle. Reassuring. An advantage of being able to alter your vocal chords at will: Unlimited voice modulation. Yippee. "We'll help you find Rick. But first, you need to tell us exactly what you saw while you were searching for him in the woods and whatever happened after. Please, it's very important."

He considered the range of physical cues that a normal human might give off under stress and tried to figure out how many of them the girl possessed. Not that he expected to be able to tell if she was telling the truth from those alone. It was amazing how running through a long dark tunnel for an extended period of time masked most of the easily observable signs of lying in humans.

Nancy looked up at him, her eyes glimmering in the lamplight with tears. She fixed him with a look that seemed strange.

"It's too late Echo," she said, her voice sounding slightly twisted and quasi-demonic for an instant. Her body warped and shuddered in a manner that was clearly not human, "The bomb has already fallen, we just don't know we're dead yet,"

The walls of the tunnel shattered, hazy cloud sunlight flooding the area and momentarily blinding the Knights as their eyes adjusted to the light. They were in a town, a small town, from the architecture and shapes of the abandoned cars on the road, it looked to be the late 1950s in America. Far in the distance, in the direction the tunnel had been continuing, they could see a vast city.

There was rolling booming thudding sound that echoed around them. From within the city a mushroom cloud began to erupt as an enormous explosion consumed it. With paralysing slowness, they could see a wave of atomic flame and death heading towards them. It was like time had been slowed down around them and they had a chance to try and outrun the pressure wave that would surely devastate this area.

Nancy giggled slightly as her face seemed to rot, oozing burns erupting across her entire body. Her skin sizzled from an unseen heat and melted away to reveal raw muscle which, in turn began to disintegrate and reveal charred and blackened bones. Her hair fell out in huge clumps as her face melted to resemble merely a featureless face dominated by an enormous mouth - she was less than a person than a rapidly disintegrating corpse.

Her mouth split open, seeming to tear her head in half. From the degenerating gullet, a haunting and strongly male voice burst forth in song.

"I don't want to set the woooooorld on fiiiiire..."

[mcgaffer]

Mcgaffer was concentrating on the two lifelines getting further away down the tunnel which was why he didn't notice it at first. Eventually something in his brain added up the number of people behind him and the number of lifelines and started stomping around in his head until he paid attention. He turned to look at Nancy just as everything changed.

The sudden light threw Mcgaffer for an instant, then the surroundings threw him the rest of the way. "Where the ruddy hell?...." Before he could continue, a mushroom cloud began to climb into the air. Mcgaffer's natural survival instincts kicked in, he fished his communicator out of a pocket with lightning speed and immediately transmitted a message back to Khazan Tower, "Sharp, I had absolutely nothing to do with the atom bomb.......or reality deciding not to act like reality.......or the possible timetravel. And I think it was Sub or Mailed or maybe Beadle who stole your lunch before we left."

Mcgaffer finished the transmission and fished an apple out of a pocket and bit into it before turning to the rest of the Knights. He had the intention of discussing what they were going to do about the incredibly slow atom bomb. Instead he ended up watching Nancy slowly decompose, before a strange voice issued from her. "Strange voices emanating from, and possibly animating, dead bodies. Suddenly getting the feeling I should know who this is. Or at the very least find out so I can pass the name along to a certain someone."

[Sol M]

Sol was really beginning to regret not having fired everything he had down the tunnel when he had the chance. Things always got unnecessarily complicated when you were trying to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, a fact that the authorities never seemed to appreciate.

Or maybe that was just him. Any attempts at attacking an invisible enemy might well have amounted to nothing in the long run. And then they would still have ended up in...where was this place anyway? America?

Earth?

"Please tell me I'm hallucinating." He glanced at the others for confirmation. Nope, no such luck. "How the hell did we end up here?"

Clearly (to take a perfectly random assumption), he'd blown it, and the entity who'd been lurking in the tunnel had possessed her. Of course, that wouldn't explain how they got here. Assuming "here" wasn't the tunnel, and they weren't simply hallucinating from psionic illusions. No, there was no chance of that whatsoever. Even though they were heading off to find an extremely potent telepath.

Then again, the approaching blast looked quite real, if a little slow.

The town looked abandoned. Presumably there weren't people anywhere around. If there were...well, he wasn't really going to be able to grab all of them and take them out of the city while still outrunning the pressure wave. He'd have to be able to move well beyond lightspeed to do that. Or have a spaceship with a giant tractor beam handy.

Nancy giggled slightly as her face seemed to rot, oozing burns erupting across her entire body. Her skin sizzled from an unseen heat and melted away to reveal raw muscle which, in turn began to disintegrate and reveal charred and blackened bones. Her hair fell out in huge clumps as her face melted to resemble merely a featureless face dominated by an enormous mouth - she was less than a person than a rapidly disintegrating corpse.

If something was possessing her, her body obviously couldn't handle it.

It occurred to him at this point, that he was really working off a lot of assumptions. What they needed were answers. A lot of them.

But first...they needed a plan to escape their current predicament.

"If we-"

Her mouth split open, seeming to tear her head in half. From the degenerating gullet, a haunting and strongly male voice burst forth in song.

"I don't want to set the woooooorld on fiiiiire..."

"Oh, for the love of...we're trying to form a plan here, if you don't mind?" Waving a gauntlet covered hand in her direction, he unleashed a beam of heat designed to sweep across her decomposing face, hopefully vaporizing her head entirely. It probably didn't matter at this point, unless turning into walking corpses was normal on this version of Earth or breaking into old songs was this things main mode of communication.

"As I was saying, we can-"

"Strange voices emanating from, and possibly animating, dead bodies. Suddenly getting the feeling I should know who this is. Or at the very least find out so I can pass the name along to a certain someone."

Sol paused again.

"You actually...know what this is?" he asked mcgaffer, his voice incredulous.

[mcgaffer]

Mcgaffer glanced at Sol with a concerned look on his face, "No, and I should. Anything to do with the Realm of Death I should know about."

Mcgaffer stepped forward to stare more closely at the remains of Nancy, he continued eating the apple as he mused, "I'm not getting home in time for last orders am I?"

[Sol M]

Mcgaffer glanced at Sol with a concerned look on his face, "No, and I should. Anything to do with the Realm of Death I should know about."

"Then perhaps it has nothing to do with the Realm of Death? Apart from this woman's body disintegrating, that is. But that might also be due to possession."

Mcgaffer stepped forward to stare more closely at the remains of Nancy, he continued eating the apple as he mused, "I'm not getting home in time for last orders am I?"

"...or we might be hallucinating, because we've all have lost our minds." he muttered.

Even the Knights had stopped making any sense to him. For a fraction of a second, he entertained the possibility that rewiring his brain over and over again had led to some glitches in it's functioning, which was causing him to perceive things that shouldn't be. Surely his attempts at being overtly dramatic and slightly concerned recently were clear symptoms of this?

Naw, he was fine.

"Look, as much as I'd like to stand here and have a nice, pleasant discussion to sort this whole matter out, and try and comprehend the madness we now find ourselves surrounded by, this isn't going anywhere. Let's just shift our location to an area that isn't being threatened with nuclear devastation at the moment, and deal with matters of possession and death later."

[Nik Hasta]

((OOC: Will admit, Sol's reaction here made me laugh.))

"Oh, for the love of...we're trying to form a plan here, if you don't mind?" Waving a gauntlet covered hand in her direction, he unleashed a beam of heat designed to sweep across her decomposing face, hopefully vaporizing her head entirely. It probably didn't matter at this point, unless turning into walking corpses was normal on this version of Earth or breaking into old songs was this things main mode of communication.

"As I was saying, we can-"

Sol paused again.

"You actually...know what this is?" he asked mcgaffer, his voice incredulous.

Mcgaffer glanced at Sol with a concerned look on his face, "No, and I should. Anything to do with the Realm of Death I should know about."

Mcgaffer stepped forward to stare more closely at the remains of Nancy, he continued eating the apple as he mused, "I'm not getting home in time for last orders am I?"

The body of Nancy did not fall as her head was reduced to ashes, nor did the singing stop issuing from her body. If anything it intensified, become more pointed, more enthusiastic and more malevolent than before.

Then another body stood up, another Nancy, burned in a different configuration but definitely the same person, stood up and took up the song as well.

And then another.

And another.

And a multitude of them began to stand up and sing, seemingly pulling themselves out of the tarmac of the road like it was a muddy bog than solid rock.

The song swelled and grew in intensity as the Knights realised that they were surrounded on all sides by hundreds of Nancys.

"...I'VE LOST ALL AMBITION FOR WORLDLY ACCLAIM..." they boomed in a deafening haunting chorus.

The explosion crept forward, consuming the world around them with painful slowness.

[mcgaffer]

Mcgaffer revolved on the spot as the dead bodies sprouted up all around him. "Zombies! Thousands of 'em!" Mcgaffer wondered where the posh, cockney accent came from then decided it was the least of his worries.

"Well that's quite good really. I mean the loss of ambition isn't that good but it's a step up for dead people to actually realise this, or realise anything actually. At least on this plane of reality."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

((OOC: Will admit, Sol's reaction here made me laugh.))





The body of Nancy did not fall as her head was reduced to ashes, nor did the singing stop issuing from her body. If anything it intensified, become more pointed, more enthusiastic and more malevolent than before.

Then another body stood up, another Nancy, burned in a different configuration but definitely the same person, stood up and took up the song as well.

And then another.

And another.

And a multitude of them began to stand up and sing, seemingly pulling themselves out of the tarmac of the road like it was a muddy bog than solid rock.

The song swelled and grew in intensity as the Knights realised that they were surrounded on all sides by hundreds of Nancys.

"...I'VE LOST ALL AMBITION FOR WORLDLY ACCLAIM..." they boomed in a deafening haunting chorus.

The explosion crept forward, consuming the world around them with painful slowness.

"Wait...what?" was all Sub-Zero could say as the bodies stood up. "What the fuck is going on?!"

[Sol M]

OOC:

((OOC: Will admit, Sol's reaction here made me laugh.))

You're making him question his sanity! What have you done? oO

Anywho:

The explosion crept forward, consuming the world around them with painful slowness.

When you say this, do you mean that the pressure wave is literally all around us? As in, escape is impossible (well, there's always the aerial route, but you know what I mean)?

[Sol M]

Apparently, having your head turned to dust doesn't stop you from echoing the melodious tunes of the early 1940's, if you're a corpse. It was amazing how he didn't see that coming.

More voices. More singing.

He was quite certain there weren't so many bodies around a moment ago.

Hmm. Singing corpses that seemed to appear out of ground, explosions that didn't seem to follow even basic physics. Yep, this was starting to look more and more like an illusion.

The trouble was, even if the illusion probably couldn't kill him, it could still damage his body and brain to the point where he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to recover.

And if it wasn't an illusion? Well, he could hardly hope to stand there taking a chance on it being an illusion in the first place.

"Yep, I'm going to have to say that changing our location right now might be a good idea."

Ouch. His ears were not taking the news of impending nuclear death very well. Or the singing, for that matter.

Worse, the pressure wave drew even closer.

He dropped to a crouch and stuck his fingers in his ears in a slightly child-like, but extremely thoughtful gesture. It was completely unnecessary of course - he could simply reduce his ear sensitivity - but since Mister Beadle wasn't amongst them, someone had to fill the drama quotient.

Speaking of Mister Beadle, where was he? If he was here, they could all hop into The Carriage and leave the area. As it was, outrunning even a slow nuclear blast could be fairly draining. Unless they got a head start. They should all be getting ready to run.

Of course, his experienced companions surely knew this, drawing the same conclusions using their rational minds, and even now, they must be prepared for a swift departure from-

Mcgaffer revolved on the spot as the dead bodies sprouted up all around him. "Zombies! Thousands of 'em!" Mcgaffer wondered where the posh, cockney accent came from then decided it was the least of his worries.

"Well that's quite good really. I mean the loss of ambition isn't that good but it's a step up for dead people to actually realise this, or realise anything actually. At least on this plane of reality."

"...I don't think-"

Okay, one minute there was a girl who seemed lost and with whom FrenchGemini already lacked tact. Now, they were surrounded by zombies (who sang very badly, by the way). Nothing new for the robot, been there, done that, except the zombies he saw before were robots, and he would be lacking even more tact. French activated his Buster and switched it into flamethrower mode, and began singing himself a capella a song with the voice of Kevin Conroy (why Kevin Conroy? Because f*** you) from a movie he saw long ago, while shooting some flames upwards in the air, to motivate people.

"IF THERE'S SOMETHING STRANGE,
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD,
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?"

"Have you all lost your minds? What's with the singing? Is there perhaps not enough music for you? For that matter, why are you fighting a bunch of corpses instead of...you know what? You probably can't hear me over the sound of a thousand vocalists. Including yourself."

He stood up.

"Hang on. Let me spell this out for you-"

He took in a long, slow breath, supercharching his lungs and throat as he did so. When he spoke, it was carried forth in an explosive roar, not unlike an extended thunderclap. If they'd been underwater, it would probably have knocked the other Knights off their feet from the impact.

"SOMEONE SET OFF A NUCLEAR BOMB IN OUR VICINITY! RUN FOR THE HILLS!"

That should get their attention. Hopefully.

Maybe.

Oh, the things he did in the name of teamwork. And survival.

[Nik Hasta]

When you say this, do you mean that the pressure wave is literally all around us? As in, escape is impossible (well, there's always the aerial route, but you know what I mean)?

OOC: No, the wave is still a good way off but it is moving toward you. But veeeeery slowly.

[FrenchGemini]

Okay, one minute there was a girl who seemed lost and with whom FrenchGemini already lacked tact. Now, they were surrounded by zombies (who sang very badly, by the way). Nothing new for the robot, been there, done that, except the zombies he saw before were robots, and he would be lacking even more tact. French activated his Buster and switched it into flamethrower mode, and began singing himself a capella a song with his best Kevin Conroy impersonation voice (why Kevin Conroy? Because f*** you) from a movie he saw long ago, while shooting some flames upwards in the air, to motivate people.

"IF THERE'S SOMETHING STRANGE,
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD,
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?"

[Nik Hasta]

"Have you all lost your minds? What's with the singing? Is there perhaps not enough music for you? For that matter, why are you fighting a bunch of corpses instead of...you know what? You probably can't hear me over the sound of a thousand vocalists. Including yourself."

He stood up.

"Hang on. Let me spell this out for you-"

He took in a long, slow breath, supercharching his lungs and throat as he did so. When he spoke, it was carried forth in an explosive roar, not unlike an extended thunderclap. If they'd been underwater, it would probably have knocked the other Knights off their feet from the impact.

"SOMEONE SET OFF A NUCLEAR BOMB IN OUR VICINITY! RUN FOR THE HILLS!"

That should get their attention. Hopefully.

Maybe.

Oh, the things he did in the name of teamwork. And survival.

Sol's voice rang out over the singing and this handily coincided with the end of the zombies singing their song.

There was a momentary pause, a slightly awkward moment as the crowd just stood there silently watching the knights. Then it began again; the original Nancy, missing head and all struck up a more jaunty tune, her voice horrifically distorted and croaking.

"Lollipop, lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly..."

Another Nancy took up the tune, producing a kind of twisted parody of harmony. And then another and another, the voices building into another dizzying, cacophonous crescendo.

Then the earth began to shatter all around them, scattered explosions of rubble and masonry sending sending entire houses and crowds of zombies flying into the air with a strangely small amount of accompanying sound. It made a curious sort of whizzing noise, much like something one would hear in an old cartoon when a particularly fat person slipped on a banana peel. The objects that were sent flying had a really strange sense of motion, they shot up incredibly fast and then slowed and seemed to float away like balloons, straight up towards the churning clouds and the impending nuclear fire.

It was clear they didn't have long before the patch of ground they were standing on went the same way.

[FrenchGemini]

"SOMEONE SET OFF A NUCLEAR BOMB IN OUR VICINITY! RUN FOR THE HILLS!"

French suddenly stopped singing and shooting flames.

"What? You couldn't say it before, could you?!!! Oh, well, bugger, guess someone wants to destroy these zombies instead of us doing the job..."

He began running towards the direction opposite to the wave's of destruction.

[Beadle]

OOC:

Speaking of Mister Beadle, where was he? If he was here, they could all hop into The Carriage and leave the area.

Actually, no. You couldn't. The Mysterious Ghostly Carriage of Something-to-do-with-ducks can't materialise inside buildings. It can travel through them, no problems.

But you have to get in it first. And you can only do that outside.

Weaknesses. Whatcha gonna do? It's almost like I intentionally designed that to be a fundamental flaw in how the carriage works. ;)

(Not that the IC Sol knows about this weakness... I don't think.... so, ummm... carry on).

Edit: Oh, wait. I lost track. You guys aren't inside anymore, are you? Scratch all of what I said then.