OUT OF CHARACTER |
I recommend listening to Pink Floyd's Time while reading this. I particularly like this version, even though it’s not the whole song… |
Like last time (for everyone except Shareev and Thanis), you wake up feeling uninjured and well rested. This includes those of you who were previously dead!
This time, the sound that wakes you up is not a distant rumbling. Instead, it’s a series of jangling bells. You realize that you are standing up, but completely unable to move. It’s not uncomfortable and you are not restrained, but somehow you are unable to get your muscles to respond.
Opening your eyes reveals a strange scene. You are standing in a misty void with no sky, horizon, or ground. Floating in the distance, you see various hourglasses, sundials, and other odd objects that you somehow know are time-keeping devices. Thanis and Shareev recognize digital clocks floating about. Some of them are the source of the bells that have awakened you.
You are all standing in a semi-circle. All of your allies are there, even those you saw with their brains blown out. They all look perfectly alive and healthy. There are even a few you haven’t seen in a long time: Jiam, Vulan, and the Natch-Ur Prelate, Phatem Rablil!
At the center of the semi-circle stands a tall, slender man, shrouded in a gray, hooded cloak. His arms are crossed and you cannot see his feet. He seems to float several inches above where you would expect the ground to be, if there were a ground in this misty void.
The man speaks, “Pardon the interruption in your respective lives and/or afterlives. I assure you it was quite necessary, given how certain of my so-called coleagues seem to find it necessary to interfere with the time stream.” He glares in the direction of Jiam and the Prelate before continuing.
“I hate to intervene, but I simply couldn’t let you continue any further. Too disruptive to the balance of things, you see. Of course, it’s not really your fault, since you were manipulated by my fellow deities. I hope you understand, though, that I can’t just return you to your proper place in the time and reality continuum. You know far too much about the future or the possible future. It would be just as disruptive to send you back.”
He looks at Shareev and Thanis, “And before you ask, that applies to those of you who weren’t anomalies in the first place. You’ve seen too many things that can’t be properly justified. And sacrifices must be made whenever I step in. I’m afraid you two are it.”
“But, because none of this is really your fault, I’m going to give each of you a choice. I can drop you off into your reality/race/religion-appropriate afterlife, as if you died in the appropriate place and time, just as if your destiny hadn’t been interrupted. Some of you might find that appealing. Or you can help me with another little problem… it will be an intervention, but a much more subtle and elegant one than I just had to undertake. I would be dropping you into a bit of an unfamiliar alternate reality/time stream, but you wouldn’t anomalies, since I’d handle it properly, unlike my less sophisticated peers. Plausible deniability and all that…”
“I suppose I can answer a few questions before you each make your decision. It’s not like I don’t have all the time in the world.” He chuckles, shooing away a particularly annoying alarm clock that has been buzzing around his head. “But I’d prefer you make your questions brief. I really do have business to attend to: a conversation with Natch-Ur and Mycr, you know…”
OUT OF CHARACTER |
Feel free to ask this odd fellow questions, in character, while we work out the ooc details of the new game outside this thread. Feel free to ask questions as any of the NPC/ex-PC characters, too, if you feel bold, especially if you played that character for a while. |