AWKWARD ZOMBIE

The tall, brown-skinned man woke up around 9, the usual time for him to get up, no matter when he went to bed. The note that he fell asleep clutching was on the floor, and he groggily reached over, not getting out of the bed yet, to scoop it up. His vision was blurry in his half-awake state, but he knew what it read.
Meet at Whisperwind Cave, 1 pm.
A simple enough statement, scribbled down hastily and torn off a larger piece of paper. Jade tended to be forgetful, so he'd have extra scraps of paper and notes written down for as long as he could remember. There were a few small caves scattered outside the city, a few were sealed off, but Whisperwind was a sort of landmark, and distinctive, given its name, and the constant wind that blew through it.
A half hour of getting ready and packing away a few necessary possessions in a bag later, the man left his small apartment studio and the building, walking about the city. He still had quite some time before he was to go out.

Hel admired The Grand Clockwork from afar. She had heard much about Mekanos, the golden city of mechanical and magical means. It had taken her a year to get here due to the fact that no carriage would take her weight. Perhaps it could finally release her of her prison, the optimistic side of her thought; in her experience however, things were rarely that easy.

At that moment, there was a very curious sound. A sort of ziiiiip, then a thump. Being the curious sort, Hel walked in the direction of this curious sound. She found a woman completely unconscious, with no reason as to why.

"Pardon me, sir, is there a problem?" Spearman Allen Tanner of the third Mekanosian army asked as he approached the man who had been glaring at him for some time, "I'm going to have to ask you to get about your business. I have an important transaction to deal with." Tanner noticed the man's robotic arm, he knew this man's father, he was jailed for the "greater good of the city" as many called the unjust imprisonment. This was why Tanner joined up, to stop this corruption.

Eris departed from the inn, cane in hand. It was situated at the outer edges of Mekanos, in the rich part of town. Nobility tended to use the inn for dealings, knowing it to be neutral ground in that if either of them tried to pull a fast one then their family name would be blotted from existence. The people employed by the innkeeper were not pushovers, even if he did sometimes send promising trainees against people out of their league. Not that anyone besides Eris knew that the innkeeper himself was the spymaster. Most who knew of his profession just assumed him to be a hand of the shadowy face behind the spies and assassins.

The Grand Clockwork rose like a spire pointing the way to the most busy part of Mekanos. It was in that direction Eris headed. There was a shop in that district owned by someone who had known his family's greatest secret. As the sole heir to the name, it fell to Eris to stamp out any knowledge of that ancient lore. Only then could he rebuild Delacroix without fear of the other noble houses uniting to crush it, like they'd tried thousands of years ago.

The fact that it was broad daylight was to his own calculation. The target's guard would be down, particularly if he'd heard of the entire Delacroix family being found in the burnt ruins of the mansion. Eris had any number of options to get rid of him, some more sane than others. Mekanos was a heavily-military town, evidenced by the soldiers in the other districts, though they tended to keep out of the nobles' area to avoid complaints. They also carried weapons and were not afraid to use them against things they deemed threats. The task was simple. He wouldn't kill the target.

He'd let the target kill himself.

Zephiur squinted at the soldier who had accosted him, and dropped the change into the seat. "Very well, sir." he said with contemptuous emphasis on the last word. He looked at the minstrel apologetically, but then sighed as he stood up and turned away. As he walked down the path, he shook his head, not really caring where his feet took him. After what seemed like seconds, he ended up outside of a casino in an unfamiliar district. Looking up, he noticed it was rather grandly decorated and he quirked a brow before heading inside.

Garrett let out a hearty guffaw as he stopped and turned around. "No thanks, son! This one's for free!" And with that, he began walking again, still strumming his sitar.
[^This part is probably before Allen Tanner notices Zeph]

After Garrett had had too much to drink, he hopped up on the table he was sharing with a dwarf and began to sing. It wasn't the regular off-key singing voice he usually used when trying to earn cheddar at the square. It was pretty nice, actually. The bartender was actually about to sing along, but stopped when he heard Garrett's lyrics.

"I know a land
It's a pretty great land
The size of a giant's hand
And where children frolick in the sand
A land that's grand, it's quite a land
It's Etern-"

Before Garrett could finish the song, he was kicked out of the Rusted Gear. So he did what any drunk man would do. Wander the streets in search of another tavern.

"Now it's time for me to go somewhere that you will never find me! Or should I say, somewhen! NYEH!" the bizarre mastermind exclaimed as he entered a few settings on his device. Captain Forté seized the opportunity and rocketed straight at Eloh Mrow as fast as his jet pack could take him. The gold and green hero managed to hit Mrow dead in the stomach just as he was about to dissapear into time and space...

-Years in the past-

They both emerged from their shared cross-time portal into the centre of a vibrant, gleaming city. Struggling to shake off the shock of the travel, Forté's dome was ever-so-kindly introduced to Mrow's boot. "NYEH!" he shouted in triumph, and took off running down the vibrant streets. Forté quickly recovered and was soon running after him through the crowds of finely-dressed people. Just as he got into range and pulled out his blaster, Mrow grabbed a small boy from the crowd and dragged him down a deserted alleyway. Forté followed, but soon Mrow turned and shouted, "NYEH! Put down your weapon or the boy gets it!" Not wanting anything to happen to the poor child, Forté placed his blaster on the ground. "NYEH! Now for a clean getawaaaaaaaaaaah!" he wailed, his monologue coming to an abrupt end. He fell forward, releasing his grip on the boy. His back had a burn mark on it, almost as though...

"I thank you humbly for my rescue, sir," the boy spoke.

"You are very welcome, young citizen," Forté replied, confused as to what exactly had hit Mrow in the back, "My, what fine language skills for one your age! Might I ask your name?"

"I am Maloch, aged four, sir," the boy answered with a well-bred tounge.

"What I fine age!" Forté responded heartily, "I guess you could say that I'm several million years old myself!" he chuckled.

"Are you... are you immortal, sir?" the boy asked in awe.

"Oh heaven's no! I'm from the distant future, you see. Nobody could possibly live forev-hey!" Forté was cut short as Mrow grabbed his ankle, the device humming again. He barely had time to grab his blaster! He shouted, "Fare well, young Maloch! I hope you have a good futuuuuuuuuuuuuuure!" and was gone.

Jade slowed down once he passed the one casino. sticking his hands in his pockets, he turned around, looking at it. Maybe he could spend a bit of cheddar and time there...after all, he had a bit of extra coin. Good thing he wasn't a cheapskate. He opened the door, bumping into a lanky man around his height. "Whoops--" he stepped back, closing the door behind him. "My bad." It was a bit loud there, he wasn't sure if the other man would hear him.

Galiena shuffled the deck, water-falling the cards between her hands and handing the deck to the player meant to be the dealer this round. The cribbage tournament she was running was winding down after several matches had ended fairly fast--three 'skunks', where a player's game peg was still a large distance away from the end point when the other player won.
She idly watched as people entered and exited the casino with one eye, making sure to pay attention to what each player was doing to make sure they didn't try to cheat. A few weeks ago, she'd kicked out a man at a Poker table who had smuggled cards in his sleeves and had switched out cards in his hand with them.

The woman raised her eyebrow when she noticed a man with a mechanical arm step inside. Prosthetics were not uncommon in Mekanos, but it still drew the occasional stare.

While Galiena had been distracted, there was a sudden commotion from the players. "You missed a pair--I'm claiming your two points for my own."
"What?! Like hell you will--I was going to count them! You cut me off!"
"You were already pegging your points. You forgot to count your pair."
"Bull!"
Galiena grit her teeth. "Both of you, shut up!" she snapped. She hadn't seen the players counting their points, so she didn't know who was telling the truth. "Did anyone see whether this man missed his points or not?"

Zephiur had already made his way over to the cribbage table when the commotion started. "Yeah, he missed 'em." he said, his voice layered with dead-yet-lively tones like you would hear from someone shrugging off anger. He eyed the the table up and down and smitked a bit. "It's been a while since I last played." he said, turning to look at the woman clearly running the game, "Mind if I sit and watch a spell?" he asked, spinning his mechanical hand in its socket arbitrarily.

Jade curiously followed the man with the prosthetic arm--after getting a quick drink at the bar first--to the cribbage table. "Cribbage, huh..." he muttered to himself, afterwards taking a sip from the bottle. Despite the green bottle, it showed once he started drinking that the liquid was green. Probably some kind of very sweet soda. He knew a few card games, but this was mostly unfamiliar. What were the pegs for...? He raised an eyebrow.

"Captain, sir, the payment will be on it's way soon." Tanner said to is superior, as he did every week.

Alright, soldier, we need you to arrest a known terrorist leader, he's right outside that casino *points*.

Where did we find this information, and who am I to arrest

You will not question our sources, boy, you are to arrest that man there *re-point* with the robot arm.

Aye Aye, sir Tanner said through grit teeth.

He made his way through the casino, causing many to believe their luck ran out. OI! I can' jus' let ye waltz through 'ea an' scare away me cust'mers, git out. the casino manager, a mere five feet tall, shouted at Tanner.
My apologies sir, but I'm on orders.
WELL HURRY UP!

"I said, have you seen a blonde woman in a uniform similar to mine?"

"Ah no, boyo! Tis nobody of tat description 'ere! Git out 'o me casino!"

"I think you're lying,"

"An' just 'oo do ye think ye be? Dat uniform? You sume sorta militry-man, boyo?"

"In a way... and it appears to me that you are as much of a liar as you are Irish, my friend."

"Dat's it, boyo! Ye better tell meh 'oo y'are, dis instunt!"

"Very well then, my name is..."

-----

"Captain Forté! I curse your name! NYEH!" Mrow shouted, both of them staggering after the latest warp. They had appeared in what appeared to be a private library of sorts. Everything was made of pristine marble, almost as if it had just been built.

"Give up now, Mrow! You are wounded and there is no hope for you! Tell me where-and-or-when Lieutenant Simmons is and we can return to our time peacefully!" Forté commanded.

"NEVAAAAAAAR! NYEEEEEH!" Mrow grabbed a book off the nearest shelf and threw it at the brave Captain. Forté caught the book, but realized that Mrow was about to warp again! Book in hand, he launched himself at the fiend causing both of them to hit the ground hard.


Years in the future, but not many...


Forté got up, and placed the book back on the shelf. The rest looked... different... older... they had warped through time several years! He turned to Mrow, but he had already ran off! The sneaky devil! Forté ran after him through a small forest towards a rather imposing industrial city.

Galiena shook her head. "I don't mind at all. Plenty of people like to watch." She pointed at the player who had forgotten to count his pair. "Drop the argument. Your unclaimed points go to your opponent."
The man grumbled but sat back, waiting as the other man counted out his hand and pegged his points. The game was nearly over and there was a rather generous gap between the players' pieces on the board.
Galiena idly spun a six-sided die on the table as she watched the men continue to play. "So," she said off-handedly to the man watching. "You interested in playing after this lot?"

Martin returned to Mekanos only a few hours after his discovery, he had been traveling all day yesterday and this place was only a pit stop to him. He didn't like the city mainly because of the military situation and the rumors surrounding the MMA. Another reason he didn't like cities was because it was so easy to get lost in them. Martin only came to cities to buy some supplies for the outdoors. He needed to get some directions for someone who could decipher the strange book. Martin didn't want to ask the guards because he was afraid they would take the book away from him. He sat under the Grand Clockwork thinking where he should go and who he should ask.