The Last Oddetsey

[alex_holt]

GEORGE:
Attack soon to commence: tactical information at present rate:

CURRENT ENERGY ALOCATION:
Castle Flight: 30%
Shields: 30%
Teleport Jammer: 10%
Iron Golems x 2: 10%
Sentry Turrets x 2: 10%
Phasers x 2: 10%

STATUS: All sides of the Castle are re-enforced using Quantum bonding technology - it is impossible to damage the Mountainous base of the castle. Assault will take place therefore on the Castle itself. Turrets will make direct assault on the castle very difficult for infantry, therefore they will disembark near the edges and cross on foot or other appendage to reach the castle.

Following this route, your defenses are thus:

The OUTER WALLS are made of a vibranium rich stone, and are unlikely to be directly broken soon, but could be in a prolonged battle, it has turrets that can be attacked from, but if the MAIN OUTER GATE (made of Sapient Pearwood, will not willingly admit hostiles) is broken, you will be unable to get back to the main keep on foot and will be on your own. Behind this, there is a DEEP MOAT dug deep into the mountain, with a single bridge to cross, also made of the vibranium rich mineral. The INNER WALLS and INNER GATE are connected to the Castle, so attacking from here would allow retreat, and there are two heavy towers connecting to the bridge.

Beyond that is the INNER COURTYARD - where the Timesplitting Oak is growing, and then, several entrances into the castle itself.

The bridge and inner courtyard are your bottlenecks but should they get past that, you are in trouble.

SCANNERS INDICATE FIRST WAVE OF ENEMIES WILL BE:
50 Skeleton Warriors with shotguns
A phalanx of 20 Goblin gun-spearmen
2 Giant Mechaboars (with rocket firing turrets)
A Necro-engineer who ressurects the skeleton
A Titanic Ghost Tortoise - it's ghostly form works like a force field.

AURELIA
The Spanish Inquisition members instructed to protect the civilians head down to some rooms to fortify them and make ready, while Aurelia goes to select her weapons. After a quick search through the armoury, Aurelia manages to find two more weapons that look decidedly of Trans-Solar Host design, to compliment the sunsword she already has:

TRANS-SOLAR LONGBOW - A mightly bow that is incredible tough, but looks like it is spun from a mesh of delicate golden filigree. It needs no arrows, but when drawn, fires forth a bolt on sunfire that hits like a meteorite of purest solar flame.

TRANS-SOLAR SHIELD - Made of the same golden filgiree as the bow, this shield glows with celestial radiance, blinding any foe who strikes it.
__________________________

TWITCH
After descending downwards to the Courtyard in the Centre of the the building the Old-Worlds Society, he finds the Society Assembled before him: Spodra, the Night Pine, the Botanist and the Catalyst. They destinctly give the impression of having been waiting for him. He also notices another figure who wasn't there previously, a woman whose skin is as black as night and studded with pinpricks of light as if she herself is made of stars...

VENGEANCE
(OOC: This was a pick your own item armoury, so I'll give you two items that are the sort of things that Vengeance might pick, and if you want something different let me know and I'll retcon it :P)

Vengeance quickly peruses the armory and locates:

AN EXQUISITE WAR CANE Made by Luthor and VonDoom's of London, this War Cane is possibly the most expensive villain cane that even Vengeance has ever seen: Star-ebony wood, topped with the ivory of a Heaven-mammoth and the most perfect opal that Vengeance has ever seen. The makers are clearly master craftsmen, every detail hand made. All standard fuctions are just perfect - the helicopter function is perfectly balanced, designed for smooth flight and the sound is more of a pur. The hidden blade is a slender rapier of dragon forged unobtanium which extends with a silky noise and the laser has three discreet inset golden bands that can be rotated to control different settings - one for power ranging from warm your pillows at night to disintegrate, one controls radius from pinprick to meter diamter column and the last controls energy type with settings including the whole spectrum of coloured hot lasers, a cold laser and a sonic blast. It is truely, an obect of beauty.

TOP-HAT-DRONE Also by Luthor and VonDoom, this is an immaculate hat for a proper gentleman villain with some added bonuses. In addition to the standard razor edge for throwing and some secret compartments, it can, in a pinch, be thrown into the air to activate it as a flying support drone - two spindly robotic arms with powerful laser blasters extend out of the hat and follow the wearers basic commands like "FOLLOW", "DEFEND", "KILL", "COVERING FIRE" and "NUDGE INTO SHARK TANK"

After selecting these, Vengeance prepares to travel over to the main ship...

[NFX]

"You guys!" the parrot squawked, swooping down amongst them, both looking and sounding rather more frantic than usual, "We've got a problem! I mean, a really, properly big problem!" Twitch then began to explain the situation to the Old Worlds Society with a great deal of exasperated gestures: capturing Doomforall and putting him in the tree, defeating the Death of VHS, the whole affair with Titanicman and Sally Streater (who was still with the group), his experience after blowing the conch shell, the armada surrounding the castle, along with the fact he couldn't communicate with them, or get back inside.

"We need to do something about all the ships and stuff," the frenzied macaw continued, "Or the castle's gonna get blown out of the sky, and everyone on board's gonna die! Can you help us at all?!"

[Badnik96]

Phantasmic Slammer picks out a spear for his main weapon and a small pistol for his side arm. His reasoning for this is so he can supplement his ramming power with the spear and have a ranged attack with the pistol.

[alex_holt]

OOC: I probably don't actually remember everything that was discussed yesterday online, so I'm going to go with what I do. You are capable of posting your own updates from that stuff :P

AURELIA and the OTHER INHABITANTS OF THE CASTLE

Aurelia tries to negotiate with Other-Vengeance, by standing on the rooftop and address and Koopa with a camera and screen, but Other-Vengeance seems to reject any negotiation. HOWEVER it does seem fairly clear that, he doesn't know who this Last Rift Wielder is.

After this, Aurelia goes round and checks the following characters to see if they are the wielder of the rift.

Anjushree, Phantasmic Slammer, Marisa, Playzooki, Kelpsie, Kelpsie's Mum, all of the Spanish Inquisition, the Demon in the Dungeon, Meander and Sally Streater all answer they are not lying.

Eudial is not lying when she answers it could possibly be her.

Epsilon and Vengeance have yet to be asked, and Katia: Mistress of Kung Shrew is around somewhere but cannot currently be found.

LELAND GAUNT
Acquires through strange means, a Distractingly Adorable Puppy, that is so cute that people just stare at it and become easily suggestable (though within limits, it has to be something that that character might do anyway) and it can also difuse fights if your opponent sees it. It works on blind beings (it makes very cute little squeaks) but not on non-sentient creatures or non organic things.

PHANTASMIC SLAMMER
TWELTH DIMENSIONAL SPEAR - A strange weapon from the twelth dimension - in its own dimension, it works as a normal spear, but here, it exhibits some unusual properties: it can curve round things to hit targets behind them, but without actually physically curving itself (it's reality that curves around the spear) and it can delay a strike in time by a few seconds, so if you stab the air, then someone walks into that space a few seconds later, they while be hit.

CAPSULE PISTOL While it can fire bullets, it comes with selection of special capsule ammunition, which are devices compressed using Pym particles which expand upon being fired. These are: 5 x Net Capsules, 5 x Bolas capsules, 5 x Shrapnel bast Capsules and 10 x Comedy Custard Pie Capsules.

TWITCH
"We suspected you might come here to ask for our help, and we are willing to give it. In theory. Going up against PTT is not something to do on a whim - give us a plan".

[majinb]

"Right! Vengancier is knocking on the door because someone here is wielding rift, and he himself doesn't even know who. Each of you, tell me if as far as you know you are the one who wields rift, my truth dagger will do the rest"

"No."
"No."
"No."
"No."
"No."
"Maybe."
"No."
"No."
...
"No."

... Eudial was the one saying maybe... the dagger isn't detecting any lies... they all genuinely think they are riftless... except for Eudial!

"SLEAZY LOOKING DEMON! You shapeshifting demon you. I will allow you to walk out of this castle, but only if you transform into Eudial... if you can't impersonate the voice let my singing lessons smoothen your throat for the benefit of your impersonation. Walk out of the castle... and admit to the ones waiting for you there that you wield rift!"

[NFX]

"Give you..." Twitch rather froze up at that point. "...but I haven't got a plan!" At this point, Twitch began racking his brains for some ideas, flying around in very small circles, and making some rather distressed-sounding noises. "Right...uhh...just flying in head-on would be daft, so if you guys are able to attack from a distance, that'd probably work...or sneak up on them, then you could just blast 'em......or if you've got a bunch of armour or something that could take a shot from them, you could go in headfirst..." Twitch almost instantly realised he was rambling, and attempted to bring it all together into some kind of coherent plan.

"Okay...i-if you all concentrate on one of them at a time, take them down and move onto the next one, that might be the best way to go..." he suggested, still sounding very uncertain of himself, "But don't clump together, so they can't take you all down in one hit......right, that's not where I wanted to go......uhh......I've tried to get back into the castle, but the teleporters aren't working, so if you could get me in there, that'd be great, but if not, then I'll try zipping around and slashing stuff with these..." The parrot gave a flick of his wings, the leading edges glinting in the setting sun....the parrot paused for a moment, then let out a sigh.

"...look, I'm not the best at fighting, but I have tried!" Twitch began. "I went up against the VHS guy, I did some slashy stuff, but It was Eudial who killed it! I've just got a bunch of stuff in a bag, they'd probably be fine if I..." The macaw stopped his self-loathing for a moment, as he looked down into said bag, almost visibly coming up with an idea the bird believed had merit. "...if I wasn't there..." Reaching into the bag, and after a few moments of rummaging, Twitch (who had become slightly frantic and nervous-sounding once again) pulled out a slightly battered-looking scroll, and - using the bag as a weight to keep one end down - unrolled it along the ground.

"Okay, all of us just wait here a few minutes or so..." he told the Old Worlds Society, as he prepared to begin reading his way through the scriptures, "Let's see if I can do this..."

[alex_holt]

VENGEANCE and SLEAZY LOOKING DEMON

On Aurelia's suggestion (and the opportunity to get out of the Dungeon), the Sleazy looking Demon transforms into Eudial and goes with Vengeance. Upon hailing the main ship and stepping outside the forcefield, a small transport barge arrives, and ferries them to the grandiose battleship that leads the fleet.

Stepping through the archways, the interior of the ship is decked out very much like how Vengeance himself would do it, lots of decadant features. However, close as it may me, it's just slightly off in a way that Vengeance cannot explain. Escorted through the ship by a pair of robots, they are dismissed as they enter the palatial State-room, leaving Vengeance and the Demon alone with a figure who is seated opposite, looking out a huge window in a panoramic view of the Castle and the sprawling city of New Melded going off further than the eye can see.

"I had a suspician that you might be the one to come - only you could have unlocked the castle anyway. I tried you know. But this isn't a Castle for any Professor Reginald Fortescue Vengeance (Esq.). Somehow, of all of the versions of us across the multiverse, only you were able to do it. I'll have to find out why that is at some point."

He smiles unpleasantly.

"Now, to inspect the merchandise"

He walks up to the disguised Demon and peers closely at it from several angles, and then nods genially turns around as if to fetch something from his desk... however he suddenly pivots sharply and the decadant cane he had been leaning on turns inky black as it takes off the Demon's head in a single smooth movement. Eudial's features linger for a second as the body slumps to the floor, and then reverts to it's original Demon form before a fiery implosion leaves nothing but cinders drifting across the room.

"Now, that was not who I was looking for. I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

The first wave of soldiers attacks...

EUDIAL, MARISA, THE SPANISH INQUISITION, AURELIA, PHANTASMIC SLAMMER, TWO IRON GOLEMS and EPSILON

The battle begins in earnest, and even holding the bottleneck of the courtyard, the fighting is brutal. The group start behind a barricade and manage to take down the Goblin-gun spearmen without any major injuries, despite the courtyard being peppered with lead shot. However, the continuous ressurection of Skeleton Warriors and the huge Mechaboars provide a much more difficult challenge.

After intensive fighting, Goldenloins the Dwarf, wielding a golden dagger and gauntlets that combine his strength with Aurelia and Imogen manages to bust through the ranks of the skeletons and break the neck of the Necro-engineer with a massive headbut. All skeletons that had been ressurected during this fight crumbled instantly, breaking their lines and allowing battle to be won while the torrent of magical energy from Marisa and Eudial manages to destroy the Ghost Tortoise. However, the Mechaboars prove much more difficult opponents, and it takes one of the Iron Golems sacrificing itself by bullrushing the pair off the bridge to take them down.

At the end of the battle, all foes lie defeated, but not without loss:

CASUALTIES:
1 Iron Golem Destroyed
The Outer gates are destroyed
Eudial and Marisa are 30% down on magic.
Imogen has a broken arm.
Phantasmic slammer has cosmetic shotgun holes in his armour
Everyone has minor cuts and scrapes

At this point, George announces he has detected the secodn wave assembling:

10,000 Robotic War Beetles (size of actual beetle with hydraulic pinsirs)
50 Weremoles
20 Rhino-mounted Elven Cavalry
2 Buttermancers
4 Hadrons (see the item earlier)
1 Truck filled with butter (for the buttermancers)

TWITCH
Twitch performs the ritual and asks the question of power
"Do you want to be invisible?"
"I do"
"Yes"
"Yes"
"Errr... yess"
*tree branches creaking*

With that, the Old World's Society vanishes from sight, leaving the room seemingly empty.
"Now" the voice of Spodra says from somewhere. "What is the plan now?"

[NFX]

The parrot gave his wings a shake, before looking around at the seemingly empty room, and taking a look down at his claws. The incantation had worked, Twitch - along with the Old World's Society - was now invisible!

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, before leaping into the air and giving a celebratory loop-de-loop...not that anyone could see it. "Right, now that we're invisible," he began, while carefully coiling the scroll up once again and placing it back into his bag of holding, "It's gonna be pretty hard for them to hit us properly, so if we keep ourselves moving, flying all about the place, then we can keep attacking them while they're trying to figure out where we are!"

Grabbing his bag of holding, Twitch flew up into the air slightly, before turning himself back towards the castle. "...it's already started..." he noted, observing the various flashes of magical warfare. "Okay, if we're quick, we can get there in time for the next lot," he told them, beginning to fly back towards the castle as quickly as his slightly metallic wings could take him. "Remember, focus on one of them at a time, don't clump together, and keep moving!"

[NWOWWE]

Gaunt had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do, but he decided to wait until Ms Triblos was less preoccupied so he decided to go out and stroll the area. As he was getting ready to return to the company he received a message from PTT. The gist of it was they were beginning an assault on Vengeance's castle. They were recruiting his assistance in the matter.

Odd, Gaunt thought. No one from the castle had attempted to contact him about this. Maybe they were already cut off. No matter. There could be an opportunity here. He accepted the summons to the conflict.

[alex_holt]

OOC NOTE:

Could anyone currently involved in the defending the Castle do a d20 roll (eg. Eudial, Aurelia, Marisa, Epsilon and Phantasmic Slammer, plus Playzooki if he decided to join in. If I don't get one by the next update I'll do it myself)