Oddestsey III

[majinb]

Maurice did some extra research in the air... the copper or silver trail that seems to have taken the MMM from the Mechanist finds its origin in many many smaller trails, also, above the crash side, the trail of the MMM moves vividly, indicating a struggle, lastly, above the crash site the MMM dropped a little bit, before being picked up by the silver or copper trail

Maurice took the coffee flask found in the warehouse to the weremanatee who happens to be a forensics expert, and he has told me that the coffee was drank around the same time the Mechanist was being killed (slightly later) an that it was drunk by a mage

the man looked at the chalked symbols, and recognized it as a teleportation spell by a mage of either level 1, 2 or 3 (1 being the highest) and that there are no level 1 mages alive now, only a handful of level 2's, of which Atoom and Monsieur Butterfly live in Melded, and a few hundreds of level 3's, of which 30 or so live in Melded... after discovering this I went offline, and Alex decided to contact Joey about who of those could have been behind this, Joey's memory wasnt too well though so I leave it to Alex or Joey to get these details in :P

[alex_holt]

Previously on the Oddestsey!
In a strange time bubble that has yet to pop, Patricia talks to Obsidian, the former Machine-boy - sidekick to the Mechanist and Maurice asks his card an unknown question with an unknown answer!
Crows and Ravens congregate the city, and while Maurice Francois talks to the forensics expert he receives a call from Fernando - a writhing column of crows is forming above the island and he can€™t get in contact with Panginoon and needs you to find out what is going on over there€¦

And now on the Oddestsey!

Blotter and Phil have been assigned to Rift Phaser guarding duty, there is not much going on though, and all they can hear in the sentient abacus security guard in the next room snoring while a €œbest of Elton John (clone 72)€ cassette plays. Clone 72 is distinctly an acquired taste.

********************

Meanwhile, Taranis, Patricia and Maurice cross the bridge to the island running as black birds pelt through the air about them, almost like walking through a blizzard of angry black feathers and beaks. They find no sign of life on the other side - neither Monty nor Atoom are in evidence but equally there is no sign of a struggle. The three run forward up the slopes to the main castle dodging birds as they go.

Blackness whirls through the air about them, as they press up the last stretch of drive towards the grand hall where the column seems to be centring around. The air is filled by a cacophony of croaking and cawing and it becomes hand to see€¦ Taranis created an electrified bubble around them to both light their way and prevent the crows getting too close, although the birds simply fly around it. They enter the front door and pass through a lobby. Still no sign of Atoom or Monty or anyone.

************
At the rift phaser the lights suddenly flick out and Phil and Blotter find themselves in darkness. Phil waves his new sonic screwdriver at the lights but nothing happens, something is seriously wrong. The two exit the storage room and get into the room of the Rift Phaser itself. Phil lights up the screwdriver as a makeshift torch and scans it around the room, someone is in here with them, but he can€™t see them€¦ Blotter raises his club€¦

***********
The three burst through into the grand hall, a hugely decadent building€¦. A huge painted dome is overhead, and the architecture is very impressive gothic. They notice that this appears to be the eye of the storm for the crows, and the birds aren€™t directly outside the stained glass windows. They head further into the room cautiously, but don€™t see anything. Then the crows start to get louder€¦ shrieking and squawking and then above that, an odd humming sort of like thunder in miniature€¦ and it seems to be getting closer.

*************
In the darkened room the two stand back to back, which if anyone could see anything would be an odd sight indeed, they eye the room warily but with no particularly great light source that is a hard thing to do. Suddenly the pair of them are hit by some kind of energy pulse from a particularly dark corner of the room and see nothing but blackness, they hear shouting and fighting for a brief moment and then drift into unconsciousness€¦
***********

The three leap backwards sharply as something crashes through the ceiling above them, not like a thunderbolt at all but more like a sycamore seed spinning wildly out of control at an odd tilt, but a lot faster. It collides into the floor with an impact that seems to shake the world. When they stop feeling dizzy they look up to see what seems to be a plain wooden staff with metal rings around it, lodged firmly into the ground as if the ground were butter. Maurice approaches it and prods it with the end of his baguette€¦ it does nothing so he touches it, though it seems immovable as a huge tree. Patricia slowly approaches it to inspect it, but unlike Maurice her presence has an effect: suddenly it changes€¦ it hums and then instead of wood it is a piece of utter blackness€¦. A hole in the universe shaped like a staff lodged into the floor of this mansion. The crows and rooks outside suddenly shriek as if in anticipation but rise up away from ground level€¦ The staff starts to hum further and the three back away slowly.

It isn€™t a good noise. Suddenly it starts launching random crackles of energy across the room€¦ Patricia quickly raises her energy shield and Taranis fortifies his electricity shield. The bolts wreak havok on the room, destroying anything it touches. A bolt touches Taranis shield and knocks him back several feet and the shield starts to flicker. Taranis moves in behind Patricia€™s shield to double up, but a particularly large bolt breaks both shields with a huge noise like shattered glass echoing throughout the cavernous room. They turn to run but even as they do a figure appears infront of them - he wears a single large gauntlet and holds it up and the world goes white.
*****************8

The five wake up, oddly in the same place. A small medical facility of some sort. Athorna is lounging on a settee opposite.
€œI€™m glad you are all awake and seemingly ok - it was a pain to get you out of there. I have bad news. Panginoon is moving ahead with his plan and from what it looks like he will be able to finish any time now. He managed to take the rift phaser and tried to kill off you three (he gestures to Taranis, Patricia and Maurice) to keep you from interfering. I rescued you, but it took a great deal of power. I also believe that he is now very close to owning all three items - he now has the phaser and the MMM. He just needs to construct his own quantum turbine and he can control the world. What€™s worse is he€™s summoned Doomforall€™s staff and with that machine would have the means to use it.

We have to stop him!€

[alex_holt]

Quick fill in on earlier information:

Upon measuring magic on the coffee jug found at the warehouse where the MMM was taken before being teleported out, and cross referenced against the complexity of the spell, three names have all popped up, all partners as wizards for hire.

Mr Graphite: a sentient golem made of graphite
Beryl Thornton: unknown species, woman in her mid 30s with goshawk like eyes and goat ears
Samtiporanto: A 5 foot tall woman with 8 thin arms and skin the colour of red cabbage

They are strictly legal and always work within the law. No negative marks on their records. They all share an approximate school of magic.

[alex_holt]

After a tentative agreement to allow Athorna to come along, the party heads back to AK to investigate. The building is quiet and there are signs of intense combat littering the abandoned building. A massive hole melted in a metal wall, a laser weapon (with arm still attached) upturned desks and blood stains on the floor suggest whatever happened here, it was very violent.

The group search the offices and after a while Athorna locates a document which gives the required information to look for readings in the Magnometer. Maurice tunes in the machine and they set off. They follow it through the streets heading towards the city centre but keeping to back alleys, the trail looks like it€™s been chosen to minimise being observed. Eventually, they locate a small abandoned looking warehouse where the trail seems to lead. On the count of three, they crash through the front door.

Three beings are inside - one, a golem made of graphite is in the middle of setting up a complicated spell, but even mid sentence Athorna raises his gauntlet and activates it somehow. A bolt of energy leaps from his palm and shatters the creations left arm into powder. The golem shrieks in pain and collapses to the floor clutching it€™s stump. The other two are decidedly different, one is a being that looks part lemur and part squirrel the size of a collie, it is wielding a high tech looking spear. The second is Obsidian. The latter is holding the Ultimate Rift Phaser. Athorna seems surprised momentarily and then lunges into combat.

The two prove to be far the most formidable opponents so far even outnumbers three to one. The squirrel tosses a crystal at Phil which explodes into an orb of intense sound that drowns out all musical effects coming from him and causes him to clutch his head and scream. Obsidian catches a downward swipe from Maurice€™ sword with his own gauntleted hands and snaps the blade clean off before propelling Maurice across across the room, albeit for him to land in a dramatic bow. He catches Blotters thrown club in one hand and redirects it to damage Patricia€™s shield generation gauntlet.

Patricia shakes her hand to try and get the device working but tries casting a newly learnt spell of binding on the squirrel which twists a section of its staff and causes a selection of metal edges to flip out and reflect the spell back at the dinosaur, trapping her.

Athorna seems now mainly engaged in fighting Obsidian, and neither gains an edge on the other, their fighting technique actually intriguingly similar. Blows are traded but nothing lands. Meanwhile Taranis manages to catch a powerful shock on the squirrel and a mighty kick from Maurice knocks it down for the count.

No one notices however that suddenly the Golem has managed to move€¦ the fingers on its remaining hand twist and suddenly a portal opens amidst the chalk markings on the floor. It makes an unintelligible sound which means something to Obsidian, and he jumps through the portal with a slight flash of light.

With just enough time to shout €œAfter him!€ and free Phil and Patricia with a wave of his hand before plunging through the portal. The party follows. They are blind for a second, but as their vision comes back, they find themselves back in the throne room of the castle. Even before they understand what is happening, Athorna raises his gauntlet towards the fleeing Obsidian and fires several automatic rounds into his back. The crimefighter drops to the ground bleeding profusely and the Ultimate Rift Phaser bounces across the tiled floor.

Athorna picks it up and holds it next to his gauntlet. It is absorbed inwards in moments. Athorna laughs.

€œFinally, and you even bought me here too. How thoughtful of you, now let me see€¦€He clicks a button on the gauntlet and mutters a spell under his breath - the five of you are frozen in place, unable to move. €œNow, with my non-decoy Mass Manipulation Matrix and my improvements to the design of the quantum turbine - the quantum turbine disc, lets see, that means my gauntlet now contains my completed MDU device. Which means I, Athorna King, have won!€

He spins on spot and with his outstretched gauntlet, grabs the staff. It sizzles for a moment, and then inky black energy seeps from it. Over the gauntlet and around his body. Within seconds the distinctive shape of the Mechanists armour has formed around him.

A figure steps out of the shadows in the corner. He is human and looks vaguely south-east asian and getting on in years. He seems very weary.

€œAh Panginoon, so good of you to join us€
Panginoon€™s eyes darken.
€œAh, so it was you all along. I should have thought your death was too easy.€
€œWell now, I couldn€™t actually go dying to give myself an alibi could I€
€œApparently not. But enough of this, if this is to happen, let it happen€
Even as they raise their hands a huge shape crashes through the roof, a huge raven€¦
€œYou as well? You are too later€
Despite his claims, there is a slight note of uncertainty at this. A voice which sounds both like a young woman and the deep cawing of thousands of ravens speaks in return.
€œYou will be stopped King€

Energy erupts around all three figures, and the group can see nothing except whirling powers in wild shapes and forms. Power crackles through the room, making everyone€™s hair stand on end. Waves of power shatterAfter a while though, the Raven is thrown out of the vortex and swoops down besides them. We must retreat, we cannot win this fight, and if we do not we shall lose any hope of any victory.

A vortex opens, and the five and the raven fall through it tumbling down, but even as the vision of where they came from fades, the figure of Panginoon is thrown down before the dark armoured figure. His neck broken. Then laughing, and then the view zooms out and the island rises from the river€¦ Then everything is dark.

END OF DAY 6 AND PART 1 of the ODDESTSEY

Epilogue to Part 1:

The group arises in a room they€™ve seen before - the insides of Phil€™s airship. They are in bed resting and in the room are Atoom and a woman they haven€™t seen before - with pale skin and black eyes and hair.
Atoom turns to them. €œAh you are awake, welcome to the resistance€