The Mysterious Note: 7 – Exodus

The journey through the sewers, the killing of more undead souls, the flight through the panicked streets of Clockhaven are but still images in my memory, the details of events themselves seemingly wiped by the horror of it all.

I remember clearly being ushered onboard the Clockhaven Queen, this time far from empty. I remember the noise, the screaming and gunshot and moans. I remember the smell of burning that seemed to be everywhere. I remember arguing that as a doctor I should be allowed to stay and help, but the local militia ordering me back saying they had things under control and the wounded on the ship would need my help. I remember the Queen sailing out to sea. I remember looking back and seeing the sky stained red with the fires that burnt all across Babbage.

I had seen the fires before.

I had heard the screams before.

I had tending the dying about a heaving vessel before.

I put all my memories to one side and got on with my job. I was a doctor and I had patients – nothing else mattered. Nothing. Not the zombies. Not Babbage on fire. Not my wife. Not my children. Not my country. Not my lost life. Nothing mattered but this, here and now.

The Queen steamed out to sea and the safety of Steelhead.

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To be continued after a short break…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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The Mysterious Note: 6 – Death in the sewers!

My fear had gripped me tight and by the time the paralysis lifted I had steamed past Slade’s dock and into a narrow section of tunnel that precluded any thought of turning around. I desperately twisted and pulled at various controls on the engine, but in my panic failed to find a reverse gearing system. I moved with grim inexorability towards the moaning and splashing monster somewhere in the dark sewer ahead.

Suddenly there was another splash somewhere further ahead. And another. More moans, guttural animalistic cries of hunger, joined the first. I was facing at least three zombies and found myself armed with nothing more than my satchel and this boat.

The boat! Of course! I had been desperately trying to get the boat to go backwards and away from the terrors that lay ahead when I should have been looking at it as my source of escape and protection through them!

The stench of the sewer, whilst always bad, increased in its foulness as it mixed with the terrible miasma of rotting flesh. The tunnel ahead was dark and heavy with shadows that seemed to peel from the walls and flee ahead of my boat only at the last possible second.

And the seconds in this vile place felt like hours as I crept forward seeing nothing in the gloom until! There! In the sewage before me a creature loomed large, its arms stretched out in front, a shaft of wood trust fully through its body and, most terrible of all, an axe buried in its ruined skull! Its dead eyes fixed on me as its slack jaw released the unmistakable howl of a flesh-hungry zombie!

With a spine of pure ice, I opened the little boat’s steam valve as far as it would go and kept a steady hand on the tiller as I began to speed through the foul water. I aimed squarely at the poor devil and braced for impact – there was a dull thud as his head hit the hull and the boat leapt up in the air, riding over him as if over a ramp! I held on tight, fearing I would be thrown from my craft, or worse still, it would capsize, but the steady vessel came down true and splashed back into the murky waters. Almost immediately the engine began to protest and I turned just in time to see the unfortunate’s head pulled into the gearing and cracked like an egg. Blood, brains and gore erupted behind me and the creature’s body, now finally lifeless and at rest, sank to the bottom. I was safe!

Ahead of me, in the inky blackness, the moaning started again. I set my jaw and spluttered forward…

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To be continued…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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The Mysterious Note: Part 5 – Into The Sewers

As predicted the boat launch was a rather uncomfortable affair with many a bump and jolt as I slid down the helictical trough and into basin that flowed out into the sewers.

The steam engine behind me hissed as the drive gear slowly pushed me forward into the gloom of the brick tunnels. Slime and other unmentionable detritus could be seen all around me and I knew that to fall into the water beneath me would almost certainly be fatal, So with a renewed effort to keep the small steam skiff on an even keel I gingerly coaxed it forwards in what I estimated was the direction of Slade’s. Sure enough, a few tense minutes later I did indeed come to the brick step that acted as small dick to the shop but even here, aside from a small sign indicating I had found Slade’s, I could find no discernable clues.

Maybe I was too late? Maybe the illicit goods had already been delivered and moved on? Maybe, just maybe, I told myself, I was barking down the wrong sewer and on the end of an elaborate practical joke. I was just toying with thought when I heard it.

A loud splash, as though a substantial weight had hit the water, followed by a long, low, near-animal moan that turned my blood to ice. It was a sound I hoped I’d never hear again. It was a sound I hadn’t heard since the fall of the second Lincoln Line back in ‘85. It was the sound of a soul trapped between life and death. It was the sound of one that was no longer human. It was the sound of one of Feg’s own. It was the sound of a Zombie! And it was here in the dark sewers with me!

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To be continued…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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TSMGO – Halloween Special!

Rot up! Rot up! Ghouls and Beasties, I have the distinct terror of announcing a special one night only re-animation of the show everyone is screaming about!

Creep along early to guarentee your plot and come in the scariest costume you can possess to see the undead treat with more than a few nasty tricks… BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

We rise from our graves at 2pm (SLT) on Saturday 31st October 2009 and then come back for a second bite of your brains at 2:50pm. So crawl your foul way to The Lindenburg in Phobos and make sure you don’t miss the show where dying on stage is all part of the fun!

Pssst! Keep up with the latest TSMGO news on our blog and twitter!

 

The Tri-Cities Halloween Parade

Starting at noon (SLT) on Sunday 1st November, the Tri-Cities (Nova Albion, Bay City & Shermville) are holding a HUGE “Day of the Dead” halloween parade and it’s open to all! Find out more over on Osprey’s blog here as well as Holo’s blog and Mariane’s blog. See you there!

 

The Mysterious Note: Part 4 – The Streets of Clockhaven

The shadowed streets of Clockhaven were narrow and echoed with my lonely footsteps. More than once I was certain I heard distant shouting and unclear sounds of some commotion or other. The strange keening sound I had detected as I disembarked the Clockhaven Queen had grown steadily louder and I was sure now it was not just the wind whistling through the alleyways.

The alleys themselves proved infuriatingly disorienting to the point I was convinced I was lost. I fought hard to hold my rising sense of panic down as I turned, sure I was being followed but saw no one.

I hurried on, desperate to reach my goal and found myself nearly overcome with joy as I came upon it. Still, it was as dark and as quiet as everywhere else in this strange ghost town.

I toyed with the idea of leaving now, of forgetting the whole damn foolish endeavour and returning to the relative safety of the slums, but it would be another two hours before the Queen would slip out of harbour again so I was going nowhere. Beside, I chided myself silently, I was letting my fears take hold of me. I pushed my shoulders back and made my way inside to where the boats were launched into the sewers. Looking up at the launch ramp, I had the feeling this was going to be a bumpy ride…

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To be continued…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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The Mysterious Note: Part 3 – New Babbage Clockhaven

As the all-but-deserted Clockhaven Queen pulled in to port, I was struck by how much bigger and, if possible, even more impressive New Babbage seemed these days.

Even though I had only visited once (and then all too briefly) I could recall reading a travel guide by Burro Publications in Steelhead’s library and marvelling at the city’s use of technology. True that given my childhood in what had been Manchester I had (and indeed, have!) plenty of reason to distrust and even hate technology, but as a doctor I know full well that technology is only a tool and any evil, or good for that matter, wrought by technology is in fact created by the man, or creature, utilising the technology.

I was contemplating these philosophical quandaries as I disembarked and walked along the quay. Evening was setting in and the empty streets were growing dark. I was suddenly aware of just how awfully empty the streets were. A chill wind blew between the silent buildings, a strange keening sound only just evident over the noise of the Queen mooring up. I was certain I picked up a familiar scent wafting in from the city too, a sickly sweet smell that I knew all too well. Death was in the air.

The shop was on the waterfront and the note had said to look out for a console or door which would open with a voice command and grant access to the cellar. I searched high and low but could find neither – the front of the shop was simply open and given the shop’s position on the quay any cellar there was likely to be very damp indeed. The only door I could find in the shop was a curious circular affair at the back of the shop, but there was no console nearby and it opened perfectly well with only the slightest of pulls.

But what a strange place to have a door for it opened, by the smell of it, into the sewers of Clockhaven. Was this the cellar door the mysterious note alluded too? If so were the sewers (wide, covered canals which took the waste of the city away into the sea and were an engineering marvel the slums of Shanghai needed desperately if the outbreak of some foul disease was to be avoided) the means of delivery for the Bing Kong? And what were they delivering that was so important? There was only one way to find out: I had to enter the sewers and see where they led and to do that I would need a boat. There was only one place in Clockhaven I knew of that supplied such a vessel and I turned on my heels and headed into the darkening night…

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To be continued…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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The Mysterious Note: Part 2 – Dangerous Assumptions

Although the day had started innocently enough my discovery of a mysterious note on the floor of Steelhead’s town hall coupled with the two assumptions I made (and which proved somewhat embarrassingly to be totally flawed) soon changed this and ensured I was heading into mortal danger!

The first assumption I made was that the note obviously pertained to some illicit activity of the Bing Kong tong, the neighbourhood gang that ran every crooked game and every sorry lost girl in the slums. As I was to find out I could not have been wider of the mark had I tried!

The second, and by far the most near-disastrous assumption I made was that the named clothing store, Slade Outfitters, only had an outlet in New Babbage. As I was to discover later they had opened a brand new store much closer to home, indeed rather close to where I found the note, but at the time New Babbage was the only store I had any knowledge of.

Therefore, with the whiff of mystery in my nostrils and the thrill of daring-do coursing through my veins I set off to New Babbage and Slade Outfitters in Clockhaven!

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To be continued…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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The Mysterious Note: Part 1 – Steelhead Town Hall

It started so innocently. I had left the slums behind and headed over into Steelhead City to pick up vital supplies when I found myself passing the town hall. I had heard rumours of some new building developments and decided to pop in and study the town map. The town hall itself was quiet and empty, and I studied the map in peace for many long minutes before I turned to head back home. It was then that I saw the note lying on the floor…

Feeling a little like a snoop, I bent down and read it…

What on earth could this ‘delivery’ be? Why would it be locked in a cellar with a secret code? Could there be agents of the Bing Kong tong working this far out of the slums? And if so, what evil could they be spreading? I had to find out and my first port of call had to be this Slade Outfitters, of which the only branch I knew was over in New Babbage’s Clockhaven… I’d have to see if I could get a ferry there as soon as possible!

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To be continued…
All the “The Mysterious Note” posts can be read here.

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Far From Home: 3 – Shade

The city I dreamt of was large and sprawling.

Walkways stretched above me, bridges crossing the street I walked along. Waves washed ashore behind the buildings to my left, streets and walkways led to parks and fields behind the ones to my right. It occurred to me I had seen no one.

I called out. My voice seemed small and was quickly lost in the concrete that surrounded me. No one answered.

Shops stood open and empty. Doorways led to rooms that looked as if their owners had just left them. Here and there were signs of life, a steaming drink or a half-eaten pastry, but no one to claim them.

I called out. The concrete and stone swallowed the sound up. No one answered.

I turned and realised I no longer knew which way I had come. I tried not to panic, but fear rose inside me nonetheless. I began to run but the buildings that webbed about me held me fast. I could no longer hear my own footsteps and no matter which way I turned I was heading in the same direction.

And all the while, through the criss-crossing walkways and supports above me, the distant sky-scrapers kept a silent watch on my progress.

The city was large and sprawling but I saw no one.

{Hello Chosen Unit Antfarm}

The voice was everywhere, a metallic lilt that filled the air. Every wall and doorway, every window and billboard resonated with it. It filled my head and moved through me in a wave. I stopped dead and said “Hello?”.

{Welcome to Shade}

“What?” I asked, uncertain of the voice’s meaning. “What is shade? Who are you?”

{Welcome to Shade, Chosen Unit Antfarm. I am Shade}

“I don’t understand,” I said, “Where am I?”

There was pause and a barely perceptible click before the voice washed through me again.

{This is Shade and you are in grave danger, Chosen Unit Antfarm}

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To be continued…
All the “Far From Home” posts can be read here.

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