The Last Oddetsey

[majinb]

Aurelia instead lowers the spaceship to see if Marisa wants to enter.

[NFX]

Twitch thought he understood what all the buttons in front of him did, when the spaceship began lowering to the ground. His initial thought was "Oh no, the engines have failed", but he then remembered there were two other pilots alongside him, one of which was giving the commands for the craft to drop slightly. That was perhaps going to be a little unusual if three of them all had a steering wheel. But then maybe his controls weren't to do with steering the ship.

They seemed to be waiting for another to board, so Twitch was content to stand there on his perch for the moment, looking around the ship. It looked in reasonable nick, though why there were vending machines he wasn't sure. Perhaps that was what they used their currency for, he still had all of his inside the bag of holding alongside his control panel. It was then he noticed something just underneath the many buttons, toggles and dials on his control panel - a small slot that looked like it had a flap just inside it.

The size of the slot seemed familiar to him, and he dipped his head back into the bag to see if it was still there...it was! Twitch pulled out that cassette he had been carrying around, and - with a couple of tries - inserted it into the slot. Maybe now he'd find out what the Abba Gold person sounded like.

[majinb]

Aurelia sees Playzooki and Marisa already boarded and stops lowering the ship and confusing the bird :P

[alex_holt]

TWITCH

Finally manages to put the cassette on and the sound of "Super Trouper" boom throughout the entire ship. It appears that the ship has copied all the music to its permanent memory banks.

AURELIA

Reading through her book of Metapenguin Philosophy she comes across a brief section which mentions Doomforall

"Truely Perry was a Paragon of the metapenguin people, almost as if he was the exact mould in which our entire species was cast from. In the second great rift crisis, he was at all times the epitomy of a metapenguin, even when confronted with threats such as shadow swarms and Lord Doomforall"

AURELIA, MARISA, TWITCH, PLAYZOOKI and EPSILON

The ship is now ready to go up and approach Doomforall. The adaptive interface brings up communication buttons to talk to Vengeance in his nearby flying castle.

CLEO, EUDIAL and LELAND

The Sucker turns its attention to the party.

"I know not - they are clouded in shadow, a wielder of the rift energy. Whoever they are, they have given in to the power in a way that Doomforall never did, though the fact he is the one that is being used to breach this world suggests that this other is newly come to the power, and has not yet become so infused to it as to be vulnerable.

Their mind was clouded from me, but their infiltration to here suggests money, and large amounts of it. Even with my power I cannot sense those responsible, but I cannot sense into the walls of PTT Enterprises. Something in there is greatly amiss."

[steven_mcg]

George quickly locates all of the others, and gains teleporter locks - including the ability to teleport the newly aquirred spaceship directly into the hangar built into the side of the mountain. As an option, he also has a communication lock with the ship too if he merely wanted to co-ordinate rather than kidnap.

Hmm, I did leave rather unexpectedly, George. Kidnapping might not put me back in their good books right away. Lower communications barrier.

Ahem.

TESTING! TESTING! ONE! TWO! ONE! TWO! NO! NO, QUIETER, GEORGE! QUIEter. Ah, that's better.

Vengeance to weirdoes, Vengeance to weirdoes. Come in, weirdoes.

I have only three questions for you all:

Number one: where is my hat?
Number two: do you want to pop aboard the flying castle of that guy we all hate right now?
Number three: WHAT - is your favourite colour?

OK, OK, but honestly, how could I resist?

Over. KZZT.

[kodster]

Of course. The creatures were drunk with power. "Pitiful fools," said Eudial aloud. "Well I suppose they are the real source of all this mayhem. And what's this about some place called the PTT Enterprises... ?"

But before any word could be spoken, Vengance's voice suddenly boomed into all their heads.

TESTING! TESTING! ONE! TWO! ONE! TWO! NO! NO, QUIETER, GEORGE! QUIEter. Ah, that's better.

Eudial screamed in frustration. Now HE was psychic?! She couldn't escape them no matter where she went! "AAAARGH!!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" she screamed, half-crying.

Vengeance to weirdoes, Vengeance to weirdoes. Come in, weirdoes.

"Nnnngh!! I'm NOT a weirdo!"

I have only three questions for you all:

"Anything to get you out of my head!!"

Number one: where is my hat?

Grimacing, Eudial plucked out the hat, fighting the mad desire to rip it into shreds again. "I have it here, you lunatic!"

Number two: do you want to pop aboard the flying castle of that guy we all hate right now?

Eudial froze. A castle? A FLYING castle?! What in blazes was going on?! How did he get a castle?! So THAT'S what he was doing during his long escapade?!? Acquiring more goods for himself and indulging in them?! That... th-that...!!! Eudial was so full of rage she was shaking. But she did want to have a few words with him... and maybe pull off a few of his limbs and roast them over a skillet while she was at it.

Number three: WHAT - is your favourite colour?

OK, OK, but honestly, how could I resist?

Over. KZZT.

"God damn it, FINE! I'll go to your castle, just leave my head alone already!!!" yelled the woman. But there was nothing more. Eudial, breathing harshly, turned and looked at the others. They were all staring at her. Great, now I look like more of a nutcase than before... That damn Professor...

[NWOWWE]

"I know not - they are clouded in shadow, a wielder of the rift energy. Whoever they are, they have given in to the power in a way that Doomforall never did, though the fact he is the one that is being used to breach this world suggests that this other is newly come to the power, and has not yet become so infused to it as to be vulnerable.

Their mind was clouded from me, but their infiltration to here suggests money, and large amounts of it. Even with my power I cannot sense those responsible, but I cannot sense into the walls of PTT Enterprises. Something in there is greatly amiss."

Gaunt sighed. PTT Enterprises? Money? He wasn't sure he liked the direction this was going. He was ready to get the other's opinion on what to do when a voice cut through his head once again.

TESTING! TESTING! ONE! TWO! ONE! TWO! NO! NO, QUIETER, GEORGE! QUIEter. Ah, that's better.

Vengeance to weirdoes, Vengeance to weirdoes. Come in, weirdoes.

Gaunt growled irritably. This has got to stop.

I have only three questions for you all:

Number one: where is my hat?

Well that was obvious enough. As a matter of fact Eudial had instantly produced it and was going through another one of her mood swings. Gaunt rolled his eyes as the voice of the Professor boomed on.

Number two: do you want to pop aboard the flying castle of that guy we all hate right now?

Flying castle? What was this absurdity? Then again not much else made sense here anyway. It was kind of funny in a way. Hadn't he himself just been talking about needing to reconnect with the others? And here was a perfect opportunity.

Number three: WHAT - is your favourite colour?

OK, OK, but honestly, how could I resist?

Over. KZZT.

Gaunt wanted to laugh, Vengeance really was an idiot he thought, but Eudial was starting to shout again and Gaunt gritted his teeth instead. These severe mood swings were going to be a severe determinant going forward. He wasn't exactly a fan of Vengeance himself, but she seemed ready to throttle the Professor the moment she saw his face again. Hell he was barely able to keep her from wanting to roast HIM most of the time anymore. He stared at her and blinked.

"Hey! Are you going to be able to keep it together? Because as amusing as seeing you flash-fry that clown the minute we meet up again would be, it's not going to help us much."

Gaunt then gave a twisted smile.

"We're not very good people are we? You... me... Vengeance... and who knows about some of the others. But there's a group of people out there who are trying to ruing things for the rest of us, and we can't have that can we?"

[kodster]

"Well we've been busting our asses off and he's been off having a pleasure cruise!!!" Eudial snarled at Gaunt, through gritted teeth. "Maybe if he wasn't GOOFING OFF in his little playplace, then maybe he would've helped us out, and we'd be getting somewhere!"

[NWOWWE]

"Yes... he's a rather lazy slug isn't he?" Gaunt said thoughtfully. "But think though, he hasn't had to escape from a psychic stronghold, or deal with giant mutant leeches has he? No, not at all. I'd hardly say we've gotten nowhere. He may have commandeered some flying castle, but I'd say we've been far more productive than him so far. He doesn't need to be the one calling all the shots."

[kodster]

For all her anger at Gaunt previously, he was definitely right about that. As indignant as she was at the Professor achieving diddly, Eudial knew that at least that they had discovered something for their efforts. And what had Vengeance done? Fly around in whatever pie-in-the-sky he commandeered.

Eudial went quiet, but continued to fidget. She wanted to know what would happen next. She didn't like being in the dark about things like this. She also didn't like being thought of as psychotic, and she had done a great deal of convincing of them previously. That wasn't her intention, but this world was turning her mind into a mess. And most of all...

"I hate being part of a team," said Eudial. "I hate it. I've been used to working on my own, with no trouble. When I'm along with the other Witches, however, we always get deterred... no matter what I do. It's sickening. I'm good at what I do, and I'm proud of it. But being part of a team has always brought me down. So, unstable as I seem to have portrayed myself, I hope you can understand my disdain for it.

"I'm not sure which world I hate more now; this one, or the one I came from. But at the very least you seem more competent than my previous accomplices, even if you are a little... unusual. That said, this Professor has made a fool of us all and I quite demand an explanation for all this. Otherwise, well..." Eudial glanced down at the hat with an airy expression.

She wasn't going to tell Gaunt, or any of the others, about the Witches 5, or her mission, in any capacity. She didn't quite trust anyone yet, and most certainly not that megalomaniacal slacker.