Space, Magic, Zombies and the Wild West – Part 2

The long awaited part two has arrived! Our adventurers find themselves back in town with a quest, whilst Kiva enjoys some fine drink.  There are a few new characters in this tale, as a few new players joined the game, so don’t mind a few inconsistencies if you’re into that sort of thing.

This is part 2 of 3. I’ll publish part 3 when I finish it, which should be the final installment. Anyway. Enjoy!

——————

The sandcrawler slowly came to halt at the far end of the town, its engine flickering, fading and dying to leave only the sound of the driving storm, battering against the buildings. The party slowly and silently undid the doors, dragging themselves out into the cold, rough night.

“I got a bad feelin’ about this.” muttered Vlad, barely audible over the howling of wind and hissing of sand.

A faint moan seemed to echo about the town, though perhaps is was simply the wind throwing itself at buildings afresh. Scotty grunted, slowly rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles, before squinting, hunting the murky shadows with his eyes. Joseph motioned towards the hospital, some thirty metres of so away, nearly invisible through the haze of sand.

“On your toes. And stay quiet. Don’t shoot unless you have to.”
James nodded. “Right. I don’t want to be stuck out in this dark any longer than I have to.”
“I have a bow, not that noisy unless I miss” offered Vlad, gesturing lightly to the strung weapon hanging over his shoulder.
Joseph nodded in agreement. “Good idea Vlad.”
“It is… too bad I only have five arrows in my quiver though.” He gave an unconvincing smirk at this, before rapidly turning back to face the faded town.

Slowly, the men made their way over towards the hospital. It was a tall building of peeling wood, scorched and marked from the driving storms and baking sun. The once-clean windows now lay a reddish brown, barely visible beneath a thick layer of caked on dirt and grime. The door however was pristine steel, carefully maintained and reinforced with long, sturdy bars, locked into an outer frame with heavy mechanical clamps. Beside it sat a small keypad, dusted with sand but giving off a faint, glowing, blue light.

“Okay. Let me use my pass. Cover me.” uttered Joseph as he pulled out a small, digital card from one of his jacket’s pockets. With a swift swipe, the clamps snapped back and the door began to open with a faint, pressurised hissing.
“Welcome Dr. Mainliner.” came a distinctly feminine voice from a previously-hidden speaker.
“I hope nobody got in here. Hi MINA.”
“Hey, nifty introduction” chortled James.
“Well.. Nobody said the job didn’t have at least some perks. She’s a computer. A relic from the war.”
“Negative Dr. Mainliner. There we no attempts to access this facility in your absence.”
A couple more party members broke out in smiles.
“I like it.”
“Yeah. Nifty.”
“Thanks MINA”, continued Joseph, “Seal the door behind us and warn us of contacts.”
The party began to filter through the door. As Vlad entered, the last of the party, the computer recited: “Affirmative. Locking down external airlock and initiating security measures. Welcome back.”
“Right”, exclaimed Joseph, clasping his hands together with a vigorous rubbing. “Let’s get to work!”

——

The starport was mostly deserted. Nothing moved outside of the tall network of metallic buildings, only a few floodlights casting a hazy, intermittent light across the compound.
Kiva struggled, the sand twirling about her ankles and burying itself within her hair, towards the main hatch. Lifting the ID that hung around her neck, she swiped it against the small, flat panel beside the door, which promptly opened with a faint but audible hiss.

She staggered in as the door shut behin her, brushing the sand and dirt from her blouse and skirt, as well as shaking some from her hair. Looking a little more decent, she begins to make her way towards her office. As she passed reception, the receptionist gave a quick, puzzled glance her way, but quickly turned back to the thick magazine that lay open on the console.

Swiping her card against a similar panel, Kiva entered her office. It was a sparsely decorated space; chrome-coated steel chairs, lined with velvet, sat on either side of a spotless, chrome-trimmed wooden desk, populated solely by a gold-leafed nameplate, computer and intercom. A single palm tree stood in each corner of the room, lulling lazily in the artificial heat.

Walking hurridly in, she closed the door with a soft click before collapsing tiredly onto one of the chairs. Reaching down, she opened one of the smaller drawers at the base of the desk, removing a solitary bottle of vintage champagne and a small, handcrafted glass. Without hesitation she removed the cork with a satisfying pop, letting it foam over the chrome of the desk. Placing the bottle with revere on the desk, after having filled her glass, she slowly puts the yellow fizz to her lips and drinks, allowing the intense flavour to grace her tongue.

With a sudden bang, the door flies open and the receptionist bursts in, her face red and flushed, her bosom heaving.
“Ma’am! Have you seen the news? The reports from town?”.
Kiva raises an eyebrow, setting the glass down on the desk.
“Don’t tell me. These.. people… have deemed marriage to a sonic-pick legal?”
“N..No ma’am! There’s reports of assaults. Murders! Riots! I don’t know… they all just seem to be… be.. standing there now. All save a few!”
“Oh, yes, that reminds me. I believe my crawler driver fell asleep on the job, arranging a reprimand is in order.”

“Ahem.. yes ma’am. I will look into it right away.”
The receptionist looks as though she is about to say something, but then quickly looks away, looking a little sheepish. She steps out through the door which quietly closes behind her.
Kiva, taking another slow sip of her drink, flicks on the computer display to check the news. A couple of articles flash up brightly on the screen.
“Massacre on Jutan! Hundreds killed! New medical advances in colonoscopic technology! “Pear” share prices dropping rapidly!”
“Shocking news” Kiva retorted sarcastically to a null audience, taking another sip and calling up the shipping manifest.
“Hrm. That’s odd. Nothings gets by without my approval.” she muttered, staring at a single item on the list marked “Classified”.

Nobody said insanity was noisy

I felt as though I should publish something today… so… here’s a rather hasty poem.

 

Waves crash and

Birds squawk,

Children play and

Girls shriek,

Smack of racket and

Crack of ball,

Birds squawk and

Waves crash.

 

Yet all is still on the shores of my mind.

 

Space, Magic, Zombies and the Wild West

This is a writeup from the first session of an improvised Pen and Paper. Enjoy!

It was a cool, dusty evening on the mining planet. The miners and townsfolk had finished their day’s work and many were returning home to relax after the hard labor and stifling heat of the day. The rest were making their towards the town’s solitary bar, which, as any storyteller will tell you, is where all adventures begin.

It was a normal night so far for all the townsfolk, and Joseph, Kiva, James, Scotty and Aaron were all sat in the crowded bar, well content with their own company. Outside, the driving winds were gradually building into a cacophonous storm, sand and dirt being turned against building and unfortunate soul alike. Even at this early hour, Joseph, the town’s medical practitioner, had driven himself to a drunken stupor, consuming many glasses of the home-brew alcohol that was the only spirit in this backwater town. A faint bang rose above the lashing storm, and a few heads turned towards the door as a middling man, eager to leave the maelstrom of stinging sand, forced his way into the crowded tavern.

The group resumed their drinks, either in solitary silence or chatting quietly among one another. But it wasn’t long before a shriek went up from the back of a crowd. The group turned only to see a younger woman, scarcely above thirty years, spattered with blood and with tears trickling down her dirt-streaked face.

“Please,” she begged, “Please, someone has to help.. my.. my husband.. I…”
One of the group stepped forward, asking her to calm down.
“Please.. I.. he.. he came onto me… he.. he was gripping me tight… he was hurting me. I asked him to stop.. but he kept coming.. and those eyes.. the eyes… I.. didn’t have a choice.”
By now, most of the room was silent, their attention rapt on this traumatized woman.
“..I.. I shot him. He collapsed and.. and.. I came here. Please… I need.. I need a doctor!”
At this, Joseph stepped… nay… Joseph stumbled forward, holding up a hand. “Nurse!”, he slurred, “Get me 40ccs of Thorazine!”
“Please.. please..”, the woman sobbed, “You’ve got to help! He isn’t normally like this! I swear! Just… please.. please help…”.
“NURSE!”

It took a good few minutes for James to convince Joseph that Aaron wasn’t a nurse, and even longer to get his attention dragged back to the matter at hand. At long last, it seemed as though Joseph had regained some element of his focus.

“Right!”, he hiccuped, “TAKE ME TO THE WOUNDED MAN!”.

At this, the woman ran into the night, followed by all save Kiva, who remained within the tavern, comfortable on her own.

The party arrived at a large dormitory building, built from wood and metal on the far edge of town. The woman charged without a thought into the lobby, closely followed by the confused group. In the middle of the floor lay a young man of similar age to the woman, his shirt and face saturated with blood which continued to seep from a solitary hole in his abdomen.

“IT’S ALRIGHT! I’M A DOCTOR!” Bellowed Joseph, as he knelt down to examine the man.
“Hrrm… he seems to be bleeding from a stomach wound… and have hemorrhaging of the lungs…”

The man’s eyes snapped open and, with unnerving speed, he clasped Joseph’s collar and began to haul himself up.

“Oh, righty-o sir! You’re alive!”
The man pauses for a second, his distended pupils gazing into Joseph’s eyes.
“Hrrm. We really need to get this fellow to a hospital!”

The man let out a guttaral moan, and opened his mouth to reveal a bloodied orifice missing several teeth.

“That’s not good sir” stated Joseph. “You need a dentist as well!”
“Move Joseph!!” cried Aaron, as Scotty grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him away.
“Oh goodness! Earthquake! The entire world is moving!”

As Joseph was pulled from the man’s grip, the man dropped to the floor and, ignorant of his wounds, tried to push himself back to his feet.

“Well… that isn’t normal.” muttered Aaron.

After a short discussion, the group rapidly came to the conclusion that the man was affected by some sort of bioweapon. In order to check, Scotty jumped on the man’s back, pinning him to the floor while Joseph began checking his pulse.

The woman, distraught, stumbled backwards into the corner of the room and dropped to her knees, sobbing. After a moment, Joseph suddenly shouted.

“NURSE! Get me my zombaid!”

With a resounding sigh, Aaron stepped over to the woman and took her revolver without resistance. He stepped back over to the man and, leveling the revolver, pulled the trigger. The man’s brain and skull mixed and together spread across the ground at Joseph’s feet. Scotty climbed off of the still corpse, looking with disdain at his clothes.

“Yeah… you might want to burn those.” Aaron muttered.
“Well then you owe me a new set.” came the quick response.

It was at then that another moan echoed about the entryway.

It was then that another moan echoed about the entryway, followed by a hollow thud as a woman stumbled and fell down the stairs. Scotty pivoted and, sprinting, delivered a sharp uppercut to the woman’s jaw as she stagged to her feet. She fell back against the stairs and began to moan as a booted foot rammed her forehead, her neck snapping with sickening *crack*. Turning slowly he and the group headed out into the furious storm.

Kiva, meanwhile, had organised a lift, which was now slowly pulling up in front the Tavern. A large, bulky, orange vehicle, the crawler was vaguely reminisant of an arctic snow-plough, repurposed for use in this harsh terrain. Without a second thought, Kiva entered the vehicle, slamming the door shut on the driving sand and signalling for the driver to move off.

The group, now heading back to the tavern, caught sight of the crawler as it began to pull away. Aaron began to shout, calling for the crawler to stop and pick them. As screams began to become audiable over the sounds of the storm, he lifted the woman’s revolver and loosed a shot towards the vehicle. The round smacked square into the rear plating, but was deflected harmlessly into the ground. As the crawler pulled away, slowly vanishing behind the buildings, the group slowed to a gradual halt and stopped amid the deserted street.

Devoid of transport, they turned and headed for Aaron’s gunstore, aiming to gain some defense against the creatures. This plan went off without a hitch, and the party soon found itself in possesion of a number of rifles and revolvers, as well as more than adequate supplies of ammo. Declining to give Joseph a gun due to his drunken state, but feeling more comfortable among themselves, they decided to head for the starport, some few hundred metres away from the town.

The crawler though was nearly there. But as Kiva sat, her hands rested calmly on the top of her pencil skirt, the crawler lurched, swerved to the side and stalled. A low, crackling groan came from the front of the cab, as two calloused hands reached towards the back from the front seat. Kiva rapidly hammered at the door release button and, with a faint whirr, the door opened, spilling dirt and sand into the transport. Without a second thought, she pushed herself from her seat and fell onto the shifting ground. Gathering herself, she began to force her war through the oncoming storm, heading for the starport.

The group however was not far behind. They saw as the crawler swerved and stopped dead in the sand and altered course to head towards the vehicle. It didn’t take long for them to reach the open door and peer inside, seeing only a dim interior filled with dirt and coarse sand. Slowly and cautiously Aaron climbed in. He barely had time to glance around when two hands reached and grasped from the front seat, accompanied by that low moan. He loosed at shot in the rough direction of the moan before rapidly exiting out of the door. But as the companions began to discuss the possibilities, a *snap* and a *twang* come from the front of the crawler and the seatbeat fell limply out of the door. The man in the front seat suddenly appeared from the front of the cabin, dragging himself with his hands towards the open door. Aaron levelled his revolver again and, taking careful aim, loosed another shot. This shot went wild, either poorly aimed or caught by the storm. It grazed the creature’s cheek as it continued advancing.

Scotty, tired of this charade with the guns, charged at the creature, jumping and kicking out as hit boot neared the creature’s head. The sides of its skull collapsed outwards and, in an instant, the top of the skull crushed the remains of the man’s head. Grabbing the corpse’s arms, he heaveed and pulled and dragged it from the crawler, dumping it unceremoneously in the twirling sand. Wiping his hands and boot on the man’s clothes, Scotty entered the crawler, closely followed by the rest of the group. As James entered the driver’s seat and shut the door, Joseph turned to face him.

“Look.. I’m..feeling more sober now. But I swear I’ve seen this before. Head to the hospital. I think I have a cure.”

James replied with a simple nod and, pushing the pedal to the ground, accelerated the Sandcrawler back towards the town.

In the Beginning.

In the beginning, there was the word. And that word, was that I now have a blog.

In the beginning, people did not know how important this world would be. Could it spread, and become a word known among many? Or would it die, and become but a footnote at the base of the world? Only time would tell.

Now, my friends, we are at the beginning.

Let the insanity begin.