Rumble

He fights hard and parties even harder. Rumble stares death in the face and then laughs at it. Rumble is the sort of person who can start a riot when he is on his own in a locked room. His battles with the Lazlo government’s attempts to bring him to justice are part of that nation’s folklore. Yet he is a member of the Lazlo Militia, much to the chagrin of the more serene members of that August organisation.

Rumble is now one of the living legends and a surviving member of the “Gathering of Heroes” who fought the Four Horseman a few years back in Africa. According to Rumble, he single-handedly defeated the Four Horseman. He states he drank War under the table and then wrestled Death to the ground and still had time to be home for tea. Knowing Rumble, you would not put it past him. The Lazlo rulers believe it is better that they harness his immense powers for the betterment of all rather than let him loose on an unsuspecting world.

Rumble is a relatively new Demon Queller and you can’t get a more stereotypical example of that occupation than him. A rhino buffalo with a juicer harness welded to it would be easier to handle than Rumble will ever be.

For Rumble isn’t a human at all but a Reformed Demon. He successfully became a human but recently he has realized that he used to be a demon. His demonic powers have very slowly started to return to him. His memory still very hazy though. Something he does remember is that he was a human in the 21^st century. A champion for humankind and he was mighty and heroic Demon Hunter. It was a career he had a natural knack for. Rumble had been recruited to join a superhuman team.

This team was formed to form a bulwark against the incursions of hostile forces that had insidiously ingratiated themselves on the planet. Forces from Hades and Dyval had brought their conflict to Earth and Dyvalian forces covert actions had nearly brought about the downfall of Earth before the golden age of man had even dawned. In that period Rumble and his team were the greatest of the heroes that defended Earth in that war, if it hadn’t been for the existence of these heroic warriors, Earth may well have fallen.

From that victory onwards this super team would fight a covert war against any and all threats that would ever dare to threaten Earth again. Rumble became a mighty champion for Earth and his team from that moment on became the Earth’s greatest and last defence against any other incursions.

However, this team was formed by and nominal under the control of the United Nations, it was funded by the American government and was based in the most secure covert base in the United States. They had the highest clearance to do whatever they deemed appropriate to protect the world. Rumble believes this base was somewhere in the surrounds of the city of Century Station.

Sometimes in the early 22^nd century he was sent on a secret mission to Japan. Rumble believes this mission was of grave import to the welfare of the world and only someone of his power and stature could handle such a mission. Of course this being Rumble, it could just as easily have been his teams way of getting rid of him for a few hours.

The next thing that Rumble remembers is being thawed out by a Demon Queller on a post Rifts Earth. Fortunately, the Demon Queller and he hit it off instantly. To give him a chance to survive the hostilities of Rifts Earth, the Demon Queller initiated Rumble in the arts of Demon Quelling. A profession Rumble appeared to be born for.

The two got on a like a house on fire, at least they left a few dwellings and monster hidey holes ablaze in their wake as they battled the forces of evil, womanised, threw lavish parties, tried to drink anyone under the sun under the table. Generally did what only Demon Quellers do best. Exactly the sort of thing Rumble enjoyed doing and naturally excelled at

This wonderful period of camaraderie ended abruptly and in tragedy for Rumble. They got ambushed by a demonic horde. The demonic horde appeared to be gunning for Rumble when his friend and mentor fell trying to save him. It seemed Rumble would follow suit when a miracle occurred. Four beings materialised out if nowhere, one of them threw Rumble a sword, while another opened a portal and beckoned the wounded Rumble towards it. The four beings engaged the demonic horde in battle, as a wounded and dying Rumble stumbled through the portal.

When he looked back through the closing portal he saw the four beings finish off the remaining demons. For a heart beat behind them in the distance he saw the morning mists parting and revealing a shimmering millennium tree. While the portal agonisingly closed in front of him, he glimpsed one of the four beings pick up his friend. Then they turned and headed towards the majestic tree.

The portal had opened in the surrounds of Lazlo and after recovering from his wounds, he tried to recover from the grief at the loss of his mentor as only Rumble would. He went to town in Lazlo, and the city didn’t know what hit it. Inevitably this led to conflict between the government of Lazlo and Rumble. Would be heroes went out in the morning to bring to justice the rogue, and in the evening they were found outside the city limits needing emergency medical treatment.

Lazlo’s battle with Rumble resulted in flattened building and an army in traction. Running out of heroes who could still walk, and with a looming housing crisis as a result of the razed buildings, the Lazlo authority decided to invite the one man wrecking crew to join them.

The powers that be in Lazlo had been monitoring Rumble. They had come to realize that he fought injustice in his own imitable way, stood against evil in all its guises, and would give his life without a moment’s hesitation to protect the innocents. The powers that be at Lazlo had seen how he had not killed their lawmen, even when it was plainly clear that he could snap many of them in two, if he so wished.

Talking to him they realized that above all he wanted to be part of a covert strike team again, just as he used to be in the past. Lazlo rulers were happy to oblige him in this, as long as he submitted to their authority. They felt they could at least temper his exuberance and direct it as a precision weapon against the enemies of light.

To an extent they have managed to do is but it isn’t easy. Rumble likes to let his hair down and it‘s a constant battle of wills between Rumble and his superiors to keep him in check. They found the best way to keep him quite is to keep him busy, just give him missions to do that he believes are of great importance for the welfare and protection of all. It is said that once Rumble observed a rat for three days straight because his commander told him it could be a demon infiltrator.

Rumble as always has managed to slip away from his lease many times. These forays into mixing with normal society have inevitably ended with Rumble involved in a drunken brawl, several locals being hospitalised and needing to feed out of a straw for several days, and a large city block going up in smoke. On these outing Rumble tried to leave Lazlo, on of his favourite haunts was Old Bones, where he had many a fun time and run-ins with locals, who aren’t likely to forget him in a hurry, if their scars are anything to go by.

Rumble doesn’t want to go back to being a demon; he thinks it isn’t his cup of tea. It involved too much bureaucracy, pen pushing, repetitiveness, and too many rules, which are never good thing in his book. He’s not good at taking pointless orders especially from weakling commanders who would him to kowtow to their every whim.

He doesn’t want to try and become human again, as far as he can remember that is a long and arduous process, which mainly involves him never doing anything he actually liked doing. He’d rather throw himself in the loving and fatherly embrace of the Yama Kings then go through all that rigmarole. Well maybe not go that far, slashing his own wrists would be more preferable than the tender administrations of the Yama Kings, that they reserve solely for their lost sheep who have returned to the fold.

Rumble much prefers things as they as they are. With the Yama Kings having forgotten they have let one of their own slip through the net. With a whole new world to explore and with his demonic powers returning, who says you can’t have your cake and eat it? Bring it on world! Rumbles ready, and he’s going to party like its 2999.

Rumble can’t remember much about his demonic past. Some of the power he has is returning to him and he remembers his fighting style.

He is a 11^th level Demon Hunter

He is a 7^th level Demon Queller with Gui Long Martial arts. He was specifically thought sword martial art by his demon queller friend/mentor

Powers and Abilities:

His sword appears to be made out of an I Ching mirror. The surface is highly translucent; it appears to have a gently radiant fire burning in its heart. There appear to be an ever changing array of characters of celestial calligraphy emblazoned in and on the sword. Grooves and channels riddle the sword, these all lead to two serpents, which appear to rise out of its heart, wrapping themselves around the two sides of the I Ching mirror to form a handle that can be gripped.

As the sword absorbs the PPE from its target (stealing the same amount of PPE as damage inflicted); when sufficient PPE is consumed it can be used to cast celestial calligraphy spells (any spell from levels 1-7) – once per melee round.

When the sword is used to fight, the serpents’ heads wrap around his fighting arm and it appears to feed on the opponent. Blood appears t o flow into the grooves and channels of the sword. When these channels fill up, the serpents’ rear up and bite Rumble. This causes him to transform into various demons including major supernatural creatures such as Thornhead, Baalrog etc.

The feeding provides the same power as and abilities as bioghost super power.

The sword functions as a version of “the book of infernal demons” that demon hunters have. The sword tells the wielder all about every demon and its strengths and weaknesses. The sword assesses opponents that it faces and finds the ultimate counter and defence against it. Against all demons the sword does double damage and after one minute can deliver a death blow on a roll of 18-20 once per melee round.

The Serpents can elongate to 100ft, and attack enemies. Their barbed scales, means they can function as a demon snare; when they entangle opponents, they can continue to attack with venomous bites that cause 5D6 MDC per strike (two heads with 4 attacks per melee and poison that does 4D6 MDC per melee for one minute – even to supernatural creatures!)

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