A Requiem for Runcible: Order within Chaos version
Chapter 8: A Requiem for Runcible landed on a Friday the 13th in October for me, so I decided to make it a little more creepy. It was an interesting challenge to take some that is light heartedly creepy and make it more serious and horror based.
A few things I took into consideration about Arnon Reed:
- He was a technological genius, engineer and inventor
- He (presumably) experimented with tech and magic
- He (presumably) experimented with the forces of Chaos in order to learn more about the Prophet Dhawan
- He (presumably) experimented with dimensional travel.
These factors leave it wide open to bring in some chaotic Cthulhoid-like creature lurking somewhere. But I wanted more than that. That is too easy, especially for me. I also did not want to lose the aspects that belong to Runcible, but I wanted to make it even more creepy.
Island of Misfits Robot Toys
Runcible is the caretaker of a small army of robot toys he assembled from parts left behind by Reed. They are all assembled to the likeness of his master, Arnon’s son Hobb. He’s been trying to rebuild his friend since they left so long ago. They have all since gone crazy due to degradation of their AI. These child-robots walk around and “haunt” the mansion, performing whatever task they use to do in the most twisted fashion.
These robots were not just built out of loneliness. Runcible built one for company. However, the others were built after the Dimensional Gate accidently let something through.
Something Wicked Breaches the Fabric
The experiments into teleportation/dimensional travel were not left untouched. Decades ago, the automated climate control began to malfunction. Sporadic localized storms began to pop up across the manor. One particular storm caused a massive power surge. A chain reaction followed that ended up temporarily powering up an experimental Dimensional Gate left in the lab. It opened to a dimension of horror and chaos.
This fluke accident partially pulled into our dimension a creature known only as The Nephathon. It is partially wedged in the dimensional doorway and is stuck. It is slowly growing on this side of the gate, feeding off the magic and natural chaos growing here. It is a mass of tendrils, flesh, mouths and other alien appendages.
Corruption Spreading
The locations in the mansion can change slightly based on the spreading corruption of the Nephathon. For instance, lurking in the old Garden are plant creatures of horrible nature. In the Managerie, the creature there are also corrupted by the chaos of Nephathon.