Tarein will protect that Anton fellow, I guess.
I have a bad feeling about this. :proud:
(Message edited by kodster on August 19, 2008)
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Tarein will protect that Anton fellow, I guess.
I have a bad feeling about this. :proud:
(Message edited by kodster on August 19, 2008)
Everyone get off the snow, because when they get near Im going to pump a few thousand volts into the snow. Snow is water, water conducts electricity. Anyone standing in it is going to have a very bad time.
After that Ill just get ready to fight in electric form if theres any left.
Perry will hit the air and freeze things from above, most notably opponents
The Baron is really really really tempted to open a little portal to hell itself with that fancy ruby he has acquired.....
Lets spill some blood already!
Chapter 8
The temperature drops a few degrees more€¦ the frost Elves must be nearby€¦. Anton seems to notice the temperature change more than anything and after one more pleading look towards the party, realising that they seem to want to protect him at least€¦ he collapses apart into a column of ants which then proceed to split apart further, half of which take the coat and other human accessories, the other half climb inside a nearby overhanging tree stump.
The eel proceeds to slither inside the walker, and then tries not to move, presumably so that if anything happens, he might not be noticed.
The drums grow louder. The first Winter Elf to be revealed however is not noticed by the party - instead they only realise its presence when it comes crashing from the trees, having taken a spray of poison needles to the face from the iSlayer whose enhanced combat capabilities picked it out far more easily than the party. The dead thing is clearly elven in many ways, general traits resembling Ferri in some ways, but with some major differences - the jaw more jutting, the teeth sharper, the eyes more like those of a goat than those of a human. Then there is an unnaturally fine layer of white hair that can only be seen up close that previously just looked like white skin€¦
Brutus uses his enhanced sight, realising that these creatures rely on stealth and spots a dozen in the trees. His gun whips round peppering the area they where hidden in with thousands upon thousands of bullets in a matter of seconds€¦ As the gun winds down there is a slight pause and then every tree in that direction for forty meters just slowly falls down revealing the snow beneath to be coloured red and coated in horrendous chunks of flesh better left ignored.
But even as Brutus chuckles in satisfaction, a volley of arrows lands around them from behind the walkers, somehow missing every single one of them. There is a moment of hesitation, then suddenly the tips of the arrows explode in brilliant white light, blinding half the party and causing them to stagger backwards...
The Baron€™s glasses protect his eyes, so he is immediately into the fray, as are Dirge and Cerberus, both of whose undead eyesight doesn€™t quite function like those of a normal being€¦ They are joined by the iSlayer who isn€™t effected by light, who immediately unsheathes the wrist blades with a satisfying €˜snikt€™ and leaps into the trees.
The Baron is far quicker to engage a foe, and finds himself blade to blade with one of the elves. The elf seems far quicker, but the Baron manages to keep him from getting in too close with jets of flame at odd intervals causing the creature to leap backwards. Despite its ferocious speed, the Baron guesses this is a relatively inexperienced fighter, and firing a jet of flame to one side, he anticipates its move to the other, fires his grappling cable though its shoulder before retracting it to yank the unfortunate warrior in a vicious movement onto the end of the Baron€™s katana. Unable to get the gun out easily he drops it for the time being and kicks the body off his sword.
Dirge and Cerberus overwhelm another foe between them, their undead strength breaking the neck of another€¦ But they turn around to see the trees filled with enemies with bows taught and ready to fire€¦ At least fifteen of them. One drops the form of the iSlayer from the tree - it is apparently undamaged but looks like it had been drained of all power somehow.
Meanwhile the others have recovered from the flash bangs - one by one, to see the foes above them. One in some kind of modern combat armour raises a gauntleted hand and seems to drain both the walkers dry of power, they both sink to the ground€¦ a smaller spark comes from Hank P€™s kit - presumably the miniature ones are drained too€¦
What now?
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Freeze stuff!!!
Brutus wants to use smart link on minigun (sprays everywhere targeting enemys and avoiding friends) with enhanced vision and wired reflexes for x10 speed. bring it on elvin creatures brutus has been dying to unleash his minigun. i want an aching finger after this is done from squeezing the trigger.
suggests to ferri to climb on brutus shoulders and we march to collect i slayer and see if we can get it back on line quick time.
if frank electrocutes the snow i wouldnt think it would harm brutus thick clad footwear so should be ok.
COME ON ELVIN CREATURES EAT MINIGUN
...Yeah, see my last post for my current plan :proud:
Well seeing as Anton is (sort of) hiding himself, Tarein will put her vigour-inducing pendant on, and go SLIEC SLIEC SLIEC on the enemies with her roflknief - I mean, dagger. :P
Her speed and agility will mean shell be all over the buggers like a rabid wolverine on steroids. :proud:
Retrieve my damn Maghook! Then kill anything that moves!
http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news/mar07/xombiecomic1.jpghttp://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news...mbiecomic1.jpg
Bring it on!
oh wow leo thats just cool. i need to get a pic of brutus now.......
http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=2970http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=2970
a small clip from the game from which i got him.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/072/reviews/929196_20070314_screen001.jpghttp://image.com.com/gamespot/images...0314_screen001. jpg
oh yeah baby
Wish I had artwork of Tarein now. :sad:
Chapter 9
Frank€™s plan is immediately thought better of - the elves are sitting in the treetops while only the party is upon the ground, there isn€™t any point in electrocuting the snow€¦ yet€¦ More elves appear by the minute, skipping across the branches as if they weight no more than a feather€¦ Frank, despite his original plan, isn€™t having any of it€¦ He crackles to life in his electricity form and blasts a thunderous torrent of energy into the armoured leader€¦ The elf absorbs the electricity, but unlike the other power draining his face is contorted in pain as he does it, and Frank shows now sign of it negatively affecting his power levels, although he seems unable to break the link between the two€¦
Brutus whips his gun up to his chest and begins to spray, the elves dart out the way with their uncanny speed but several are shredded and others receive glancing wounds which knock them screaming from the treetops where Cerberus leaps upon them to finish them off.
The Professor lightly grasps the base of his cane, and assumes a fencing pose as two of the elves approach, the male one unsheathes his own rapier and stands forward, cane against sword ready to duel. Vengeance merely winks at the elf as instead of duelling him, he flicks a tiny switch on the sword, sending a bolt of energy right through the head of the sword happy being. The elven woman, who is considerably younger than the male, gives Vengeance an unreadable look and then runs away into the wood.
Meanwhile, Perry freezes the feet of several elves in place while Ferri and Tarein finish them off with their blades. Ferri proceeds to take on two other elves, who gives a moments pause in seeing another elf fighting against them end up quickly dispatched.
Suddenly from beneath the lead Elf who is still in the stalemate with Frank, ants pour from the holes in the tree and engulf him, it would seem that Anton hadn€™t exactly hid after all. He falls screaming from the tree as the ants bite into his flesh, the ants letting go as he falls, the lack of concentration letting Franks torrent get the upper hand, and for lack of a better word, the elven leader explodes.
Suddenly though, the trees are alive with movement€¦ not just twenty, there are infact thousands of elves all staring at them, bows poised, dozens of arrows quickly lodge themselves into the skin of Brutus, to the point where he drops his gun with a start. The Baron, just having retrieved his grappling hook finishes off one of the remaining elves on the ground before a dart hits him in the neck and he falls unconscious. Even Vengeance, after felling a few of the tree bound elves is pinned to the floor by arrows piercing his cape€¦
Then suddenly every single elf in the trees blinks in unison, and as if they weren€™t there, look around, entirely ignoring them and leap away across the leafless canopy.
None of the group know what is happening€¦ when they hear movement from behind€¦
Apologising for the time he took to catch up the Sucker speaks in their thoughts€¦ he reveals that he caused the elves to forget why they where there and about those who were missing. The effect of erasing their friends was temporary as it would be backed up by mutual acquaintances who were not present, but the fight with them specifically should hold.
Meanwhile, a second figure emerges from the trees from the opposite direction causing the party to flip round, their weapons ready. The Professor recognises her as the elf that had run away. Her arms are raised in surrender and she throws her own stiletto daggers to the ground. Even as she begins to speak, the two halves of Anton reform and wrap the huge coat around them once more. He seems no less bewildered than before.
She claims that the elves are forced into being mercenaries upon reaching adult hood, and if chosen for that task will be killed if they refuse. She asks to travel with the party, now that her master is dead, she can start a new life where her family assume she was killed. She also reveals that none of you where in fact the target of this bounty, but rather one called the €˜Fallen Elder€™ - whom there was no sign of within the forest, despite scouts assuring them of his presence.
She sees the Sukcer and gives him a strange look, as if thre is something about him that she doesn€™t quite get. In return, the Sucker glares at her€¦
Possible loot is as follows:
Various armours - mostly damaged but with a bit of work could be rebuilt or combined. They are a mix of modern bullet resistant materials, and various older things.
Thirty assorted knives, varying from tantos, throwing knifes, hunting knives machetes.
Several dozen assorted bows, the biggest of which is about 1000lbs in pull strength and only Brutus could operate in (the arm-ory is strong enough, but you would need two to use it without breaking your arm. The rest are normal pull weight for humanoids, going up to 200lbs.
Over 100 pieces of jewellery, some of which may be magical, but will have to have a professional to see.
As many arrows as you could want.
Various bow sights and counterweight plus two laser sights.
Assorted other swords.
There seems to be a reverse button on the pair of broken power absorbance bracers upon the elf leader, which re-empowers the walkers and gives Frank some energy back. The gauntlets themselves are broken past repair but there are some interesting components in there.
There are also various elven style hunting garments of all sorts including elven shoes which are famously good quality and comfort.
There is also exactly 7234 worth of credits between them all.
What now? You have potentially 3 people for your party - the Sucker returns, plus Anton and the Snow Elf who identifies herself as Snowlark.
Feel free to question any of them (although Joey will od the answering for Sucker)
Side note: The iSlayer is also repowered.
first thing first Brutus will lay a tree of life and suggest anyone stand near its life giving branches that needs it. goes over to the baron and picks him up and takes him to the tree to leave him there for a few minutes to reheal. then picks up his minigun and starts to clean it.
brutus asks slimer where the hell he has been but is glad to see him ok. makes sure ferri is all good and ok too.
brutus isnt really interested in the 1000lb bow yet but will see if he can fit the smart link device to it as to get the perfect shot every time. will have to give up his katana for it tho. if smartlink if fitted to the bow then it could make his favourite weapon the minigun very dangerous.
Brutus plants a few seeds in the ground, and within minutes a small unremarkable shrub has sprouted. It soon buds up and flowers open before withering producing intense mists of tiyn airborn seeds. These get caught in the wounds of all nearby and begin to grow into tiny plants of their own before the immune systems of their bodies kill the plants just leaving a woodlike scar. Seeds that grew on the dead nearby have grown into smalls shrubs of their own, although with the weather as it is, you doubt theyll survive long...
Havign ripped the arrows from himself, Brutus and the rest of the party are fully healed.
Note: you dont have to give up the sword, the limit was only for preventing people starting off with a spammed inventory. Plus even if it was too heavy (which it isnt) you could stick it in the storage bags.
Tarein will pick up some elven garments, a bow, some arrows, and enquire to the Prof. about the jewellery and what magical properties they have; such magics could well empower Tareins spirit further. And after all, the Prof. does have a wealth of such knowledge, Im sure. :proud:
If Ferri is interested in the jewellery as well, try and make a deal with her. :proud:
To be on the safe side, Ill empty the bag of avocados and use it to store the jewellery, that way we can keep it all until we get an expert to look at it.
All right Frankie.
Brutus will take the bow and keep the katana. decided to keep the smartlink on the minigun to be on the safeside.
Dirge will grab some throwing knives.
Ferri will grab a bow, a sight, some arrows, a few peices of armour, and stash away her iSlayer for the time being.
Shell also talk to Snowlark, and see what else she can learn about this Fallen Elder.
(The Sucker wishes to say hi to people, especially Ferri, and state that he has no recollection of the events immediately following the incident, and his earliest memories after that concerned his journey back to the group.)
(He also says he has no great interest in any of the items available, but wants to know if anyone can knock him up some armour out of whats left)
brutus will knock you up some armour. will even knock up a fitting room so you can try it on and if any alterations need doing
Brutus succeeds in creatign some armour for the Sucker - it resembles a rug of assorted kevlar plates which is tied around the fishes back.
While the Prof is an expert in the magics of his own dimension, this stuff is mostly too exotic for him to identify. One thing he does recognise is a corroded bronze ring which gives the wearer complete immunity from fire and heat to the point where a wearer cold dip their hand in lava and be unaffected. The rest however remaisn a mystery.
Talking to Snowlark, Ferri discovers a few more thigns abotu the elf and her people. It seems her people are secondary fallers - they were originally normal elves but groups of their ancestors seem to have fallen down the chain of worlds to across several generations, apparently their high natural magic level made them particularly sucepatable to falling. At some point a small group of them fell to a world where the whole universe was at way - thousands of tiny feudal factions who would genetically engineer their armies from whatever stock they found. The elves, being captured by oen such faction proved to be favourite stock their resilience and speed at which they picked up combat skills was massive - and as such their DNA was spliced with dozens of creatures for different wars. Their particular race had been spliced with some kind of snow ape native to than universe which made them stronger and gave them their white fur coat.
As for Snowlark personally, she implies there is not much to tell - she can perform a few elven hexsongs - ones for closing wounds, inspiring courage, keeping someone alive past the fatal point of an injury, persuading people to trust and so on. She is also adept at the elven flute and had hoped to be a minstrel before she was drafted, along with being a reasonable botanist as far as plants in this part of the world are concerned, although by the very nature of falling there are always new species appearing.
She admits fascination in meeting a non-modified elf.
(The Sucker admits to most of the party that he is slightly suspicious of the newcomers, with the exception of Ferri, and wants to read into their minds with his powers just to reassure himself that theres nothing to worry about)
(He quickly adds that this may well be the reason why he hasnt had any happy long-term relationships :proud:)
(Message edited by joeychevron on August 30, 2008)
Ooh, dibsies on the heat resistant bracelet. In theory, if using a large quantity of electric power ever causes me to overheat, that should stop it or at least cause it to not be a problem for me.
Good to see the Sucker back by the by:)
Helloooooooooooo Sucker! welcome back!
Perry will get himself some dandy jewels, I want magic!
The Sucker begins to look at Snowlark and Antons minds...
Snowlark doent seem to be much more than she claimed, though she realises the intrusion after a while and shouts at the Sucker in some obscure language but the meaning isnt lost due to the pretty infuriated tone.
Anton is something else entirely - hes like a vast democracy of tiny minds and even trying to listen to them gives him a headache.
What now though - Anton wants to be taken to someone of importance, and the Eel still wants to go to Sinsgong and is infact paying you to do so. Singsong is probably not that far off now, and you can get there before morning. Incidentally the shadows are beginning to regroup...
Dirge suggest we bring the Eel to its destination first, a deal is a deal.
I agree with Dirge. By the way, Human Torch style ELECTRIC ON!
yes agreed we have been here long enough its time to do our deed.
I suppose. :proud:
(I go with the majority - Ive learned my lesson :P)
were gonna get ourselves one happy eel!
Chapter 10
The rest of the journey is remarkably quiet, the huge powerful headlights upon the walkers sending the shadows scattering about. The journey is a bit more camped than previously, the walkers two walkers are filled capacity with the addition of Anton, Snow lark and the Sucker so things are slightly more cramped than previously. They eventually cross one last snow capped ridge and see the town of Singsong below.
It is unlike the last town of Shellholme in every way imaginable. While the last was like a medieval town built in a cave, Singsong is wide in the open. It seems to be built around some bizarre techno-organic tree - living metal forming a giant trunk in the centre. The perimeter is kept by what is like a hedge is make my a silversmith, its is elaborate and beautiful, but even as you pass through the main gateway you notice that it seems very much alive. You suspect that and attacked would quickly find themselves shredded apart by the razor sharp silver leaves on the whip like branches. The whole thing has a faint pearlescant glow to it, presumably enough to keep the shadows at bay.
The huge tree forms the hub, and it would seem that the whole town is constructed of the branches and roots trained into forms - it would seem that this creature can be programmed to form different rooms and items. Up in the trees there are some extra living pods resembling huge bluish pearl. The eel asks to be dropped off near one of the buildings on the floor and promptly produces some profuse thank-yous and a reward€¦ you each gain 500 gold pieces. He also gives the group a rolled up piece of parchment that is about 3 meters square, apparently despite appearances it is utterly indestructible, you could literally survive an atom bomb by hiding behind it. After a sharp poke the group try a few progressively more powerful attacks, culminating in Brutus€™ gun firing a few thousand rounds into it, which all just ricochet off. You can€™t judge if the nuke statement is true, but it could certainly be useful.
There is a small shop and a small Inn in the low boughs of the tree, as well as specialist magic shop which seems to be closed.
Suddenly you are approached by a creature, it resembles a chimp with a slightly porcine face and two large tusks, its wiry hair is going grey in various paces and it has a large number of only recently stitched wounds which are still leaking blood slightly. It seems rather old, angry and tired, and it doesn€™t stop for long, it merely says, €˜don€™t listen to him€™ and gestures in the direction of a man approaching the party. When you turn back the creature is gone.
The man doesn€™t seem to have seen the animal, despite the fact that he had looked directly at it when he was approaching. Presumably magic is involved somehow€¦ He is rather a very tall powerfully built man, which a flint in his eyes that says he thinks highly of himself. His eyes grow blood red and as he talks and moves his veins will occasionally glow a similar colour through his skin. Snowlark informs you that this man has very high-end nanotechnology implants as well as some advanced gene splicing. At his side he has too huge combat knives and you suspect he can use them very well.
He talks to you in a big booming voice. He informs you his name is Mr Bede, and he is in the employ of someone who would like to meet the group. He states that his employer has particular use for such a formidable group of fallers, and also that it would be VERY well rewarded.
Anton nudges Perry and asks if you have found him the king/ruler/chief yet? Mr Bede overhears and gives Anton a quick look over. He suggests that the person Anton wants here is the chief Dryad who lives at the top of the tree. The look he gave Anton (and also Snowlark) is interesting - it would appear that he already recognised the rest of you on sight and was somehow able to recognise you, yet Snowlark and Anton were evidently not expected.