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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2009 13:49:01 GMT -5
((Textwall commencing)) Spacefleet ShuttleShe sat in the shuttle, staring out the front window. The ride down to the planet didn't usually take long, but for some reason the minutes felt like hours. Her thoughts began to drift. "Doctor, I need the patient dossiers asap. All of them." She returned to her newly constructed work area in the corner of Sickbay. Well, corner was a wrong term, since the room was a part of one, big sphere, and in three stories. Top section was the research and medical lab. Middle one, with the main entrance was the patient area, for obvious reasons and the lower part was mainly for medical supplies and storage. Leoness had cooped herself up down there with her tools, blueprints, Hoshikira and a good friend and his canine.
After hours of sweating, cursing, bossing Hoshikira around and running between the three stories, Leoness stood back and patted both Ethan's and Hoshikira's shoulders. They had been quite effective and extremely helpful. "We did it!"
Although, it suddenly occurred to her that she had absolutely no idea what she had done. It just -felt- right. But how? And why? The headache was beginning to announce itself again.
They went up to the patient area and she went to one of the occupied beds. A young man was sleeping there. The top of his head was in bandages. Leoness found his dossier.
Sandes, Vescran. Age: Unknown - Estimate, 31 Gender: Male Species: Human Medical condition(s):Concussion Cause: Unknown Treatment(s): Rest and fluids
The medical chart also showed his heart rate fluctuations. They seemed abnormal. He had clearly been in a state of schock (the medical kind).
Leoness opened a newly installed panel in the arched, metal beam that swung itself over and across the patient's bed, and kindof bared a resemblance to the hood of a baby stroller, except this one was a hollow and cubic, about 15" on each side. Inside the panel was a few plugs with different colours and jacks. Above the panel was a 10" monitor with empty diagrams.
For a split second she had no idea what these new installments were for, but then it hit her along with the headache. She grabbed the red cable and plugged it into an input on a sidepanel on the bed. The monitor came to life almost instantly with Mr. Sandes' heart rate and body temperature. She pulled out a more tube-like plug, and inserted it into another inlet. Another output appeared on the monitor; He was now getting constant fluids that had the right dosage depending on his heart rate and temperature.
The monitor was touch sensitive and Leoness noticed quite a few options at the bottom of the screen:
Her mind hesitated, but as if controlled by an instinct her hand flew up and pressed Scn.
The arc started humming, and a red, flashing text appeared on the monitor:
COMMENCING SCAN PROCEDURE STEP BACK
They all stepped back and Leoness noticed the metal panels incrested to the floor. A beam of focused light shot down from the inside top of the arc, and then it began to move. Not slowly like most scanners, but fast and acurrate; the arc moved forward across the panels on the floor by a magnetic force. Stopped at the end of the bed and moved back in place just as fast. The light turned off and the monitor now flashed with green text:
PROCESSING...
After a few seconds, a chart of Mr. Sandes entire body appeared on the screen. Leoness looked at the head area. Again, her hand flew up and pressed the Dgn option on the screen and the computer began working with the data. She noticed that quite a few people had gathered behind her. Some were mumbling others were gasping or just stood there with disbelief in their faces.
The results of the diagnostics were in.
Patient: Sandes, Vescran Age: 30 Gender: Male Species: Human Diagnose: UNKNOWN Time/Date: ERROR! Treatment: UNKNOWN
Leoness looked at the sleeping man in the bed. For a brief moment he appeared as if he was nothing more than a hologram with static. She rubbed her eyes and shrugged it off as a side effect of the headache.
Quickly she turned around. "Hoshikira!", she pulled out a journal that she had been writing during the process. "Please give this to Dr. Cürien and Nurse Friedman. It will have all the instructions on how to work the newly installed system. Ask them to test it out on a healthy person as well, to make sure that the system is fully operational. If it is, then you have green light to install The Arc on every bed in Sickbay. And please," she added. "Please have them contact me me with the results. I'll be on the long range com."
She then nodded to Ethan and threw her coat back on the wall from where she had got it. "Let's go!"
The surface was getting closer now, and she could see Ethan getting ready to enter the atmosphere. Instinctively she buckled up in her seat. She had lost count on the amount of times she'd been flying one of these shuttles herself to go see Commander Strife... in secret.She prepared herself.
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Post by Shadaras on Dec 12, 2009 14:02:33 GMT -5
((Tabloid Town))
“...Bird,” Shade repeated, not quite believing this. “Not even a species name. Just Bird.” She pressed slightly harder against the bird’s chest. Not hard enough to break bones – not yet, at least – but hard enough for it to hurt. “Tell me, Bird, why were you watching us?”
At about that point, Amnei’s voice trailed into her mind. Why's it going that way? There's mostly shops and taverns there. Oh, and the Tabloid Town hospital...can we stop it from getting there? Or should we try to get ahead of it and warn the people at the hospital?"
Shade blinked, reminded that yes, there was more to the world than what was right in front of her. Not letting up any of the pressure on Bird, she looked up at the slender Spacefleet engineer. “I doubt you can stop smoke and mist unless you have some sort of magic that I don’t know about,” she said. “And whether or not you warn the hospital, you should follow that thing and make sure that nobody else gets hurt.” She glanced down at Bird. “I have a few things that I want to do on my own, so you are going to get to go free. For now.”
She stood, hand still around the bird for a moment before she tossed the feathered thing towards a wall. Without looking to see whether or not the bird hit the wall, Shade started walking in the direction of the ambassadorial quarters. Amneiger and Vyt could do whatever they chose; she was going to go and put on armour and ready herself for battle. Against what, she wasn’t quite sure, but she was going to fight something soon. Whether it was another monster-thing or a Guilder didn’t matter overly much right now.
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Post by Amneiger on Dec 12, 2009 14:29:06 GMT -5
((Tabloid Town))
Amneiger looked at the creature, then at Shade, then at the vibroblade. It was clear that if Shade was leaving, then it was left to him and Vyt to make sure that the monster wouldn't hurt the people at the hospital. And if they did follow the monster, they'd need all the weapons they could get, including the vibroblade. On the other hand, he'd made the vibroblade for her, and it seemed wrong to just leave without trying to give it to her.
Then he realized that Shade would probably tell him to keep it with him if he told her that he was following the monster, using the same logic he'd just used.
"I'm going to follow it and try to ahead of it to the hospital. I'll try to find you later." With that Amneiger hurried off after the black dust.
It didn't seem interested in doing anything hostile; it just moved along the streets. It definitely seemed to be heading towards the hospital.
As they went along, Amneiger noticed that it seemed to be getting more and more quiet. There didn't seem to be any people on the streets.
He turned a corner and found what looked like some collapsed buildings. The black dust slithered easily through the rubble. Amneiger clambered over it and looked around. Many of the buildings around here were damaged; the only place that seemed untouched was the hospital.
This looked very bad.
((Going to give Jina and Vyt a chance to react before doing anything else.))
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Post by Fraze on Dec 12, 2009 16:09:49 GMT -5
"I really sincerely hope that you haven't been doing anything that two important guild leaders shouldn't be doing in public." Fraze's immediate thought was to make a quip about teaching Hunty a card game, but realized that there were too many obvious retorts involving assorted variations on Poker.
And anyway, the story Bloody Mary brought back was intriguing. Worrying, yes, but also intriguing.
"Would you rather come with us or go back to the moon? I reckon your guild needs you but there's no telling what you might run into when going through the city. The Underdeep loves places like Tabloid Town, lots of tasty humans all in one place." "Hmm. I should be getting back anyway. Got the usual piles of papers to sign and a board meeting with the medical department in the morning. I always told myself that if I ever became Commander, I would make sure that no meetings were scheduled before 10 AM. Still hasn't worked out." He pulled a small object out from a pocket, about the size and shape of one of those music players that's too minute to have a screen. He held it out to Hunty. "I've been meaning to give this to you. Personal comm, so you can contact Spacefleet if you need. It's an official-gesture-of-good-will gift. But press that button--" he indicated a small circle on the side of the thing "--to contact me directly. It's a secure line, meaning the people monitoring communications will know that someone is contacting me, but know who it is or what's being said. Its an emergency thing, mostly. If you hear anything else about the Underdeep, let me know."
He would have given Hunty a departing kiss then, but decided that it might not be a good idea when a sizable portion of her crew was either there or nearby. As he was leaving, some extremely unhappy-looking critter was being pulled onboard. Never a dull moment with them around, he thought.
He set out back toward the spaceport. It was going to be a bit of a walk, so he called the security drone down next to him and began organizing his schedule for the next day, at the same time waiting for any reports from the satellite guys. By the time he had gotten to the spaceport, it was fully dark out. The screen showing the flight schedule--still just about as dull-looking as the ones found in airports, despite the advancement of technology--showed the usual flights coming in and taking off, and...a small crew shuttle coming in? Interesting, if it was some official 'Fleet operation, he would have been informed of it. Meaning someone must have gotten permission to use it. His curiosity was piqued. He decided to wait to see who was arriving.
--------
Well, this young woman seemed a bit eccentric, thought Merpo.
It has never been said that Merpo possessed a particularly acute sense of irony. He listened vaguely as she babbled--ack, where did that sword come from--and held out his hand to receive the wrench. He began unfastening bolts to remove the plate on the side of the collector. "So, what exactly is it that you're doing in here? I mean, I don't know a whole lot about mechanics, but that's an FF-579 proto-receiver, and you would only need the 579 if you were collecting a lot of juice. And your source-definer isn't augmented properly, see how its wave pattern isn't lining up right?" Parts of Merpo's mind that had lain dormant for decades--the parts dedicated to archiving the makes, models, and specifications of machinery--activated once again, and for a moment neither he nor those parts of his mind realized it had happened. "Actually, it's my own design. Closer to an OB-23a, with modifications included to allow for a different power source. The waveform won't stabilize because of the physical flaws in the design. This entire thing was cobbled together by parts made by hand by a metalsmith, then hand-tooled by me. It's supposed to be a piece of electronics with at least a reasonable amount of precision, but precision isn't worth squat when dealing with human hands. You won't find this kind of technology anywhere in a preindustrial society like this one, and it's taken me years to put it together." It was only then that he realized what he was saying, and that he was saying it at all. Something nagged at the back of his mind, this woman's story didn't quite flow together. But, still... "I--I don't really...know many p-people here. If you're look--searching for...someone, you m-might want to ask the...authorities...b-but I can try to--to help you, for wh-whatever...it's worth."
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Post by Vyt: Down, but Not Out on Dec 12, 2009 17:42:23 GMT -5
((Tabloid Town))
Vyt watched as Shade literally threw Bird against a wall and started heading off towards a certain direction. That was enough for him to lose sight of his prey, which slipped off the blade and escaped through somewhere. He pulled out the dagger and looked at it; the lack of the familiar maroon color of blood told him enough about the creature earlier.
"Argh," gasped Vyt. "I just returned here to find myself in another situation. Seems like a really scheduled battle to me nowadays."
The catboy looked at Amneiger; he was also walking off. "Ehh?!" he screamed. "What am I supposed to do now?!"
A swift gust of wind five kilometers away, east of north-east.
Three kilometers.
One.
"... Hey there. What's up?"
In an instant, a shadowy figure appeared in front of him. The motion blur gave way to clearing out the figure's identity. The traditional black suit that covered the figure's whole body was a dead giveaway.
"Vyt-san, I come from the dojo to tell you something... from the Ninja Superior."
"... The old coot shouldn't be thinking about this. I told him I'd be the one to check this out."
"But he has already assembled the ninjas for this. He has ordered them to spread out, obtain information and possibly end this ordeal-"
"That's the problem. Among the ninjas, it's only I who can end this. Not even my daughter can do anything about it."
The ninja was silent. Vyt looked at her intently.
"I'm sorry, I did not mean that," he patted her by the head. "I just don't want our people to be sacrificing their lives for this. This might be something worse than that last war we had..."
His hands started to shake mildly.
"... I want you to tell PFA that she has done enough for me... Please..."
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Post by Jina on Dec 12, 2009 18:08:18 GMT -5
Tabloid Town Patri looked down over the rubble. "There is nobody around." In response, Sandra took a dive, pulling up at the last minute, and then dropped down to land. She transformed back into a human, and Patri put her feet back on the floor. then, the pair went and hid in the pile of rubble.
Soon after, someone came along. Sandra stood up, and walked over to Amneiger. "You, there! Listen, I need you to help me here. Something's going on in that hospital, I don't know what, but I think some people are in trouble in there. I'm going to go and see if I can help them, but I need you to go find somebody, and get help, as quick as you can."
Without waiting, she ran off into the hospital. Still hiding in the rubble, Patri focused on the main power switches in the hospital. Grapple. She flicked the switches a few times, then switched them fully off. The hospital lights flickered a few times, then went out. On cue, Sandra gave a loud scream.
If that doesn't convince him to go for help, nothing will, thought Sandra. She transformed into a dragonfly, and left the hospital, leaving no bodies behind.
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Post by Celestial on Dec 12, 2009 18:09:08 GMT -5
Spacefleet's Network
She was here. This net was vast and infinite, with so many possibilities and complexities. It swirled beneath her, congregating into one mass accessed by many portals with intricate barriers. A bit like a Death Star but she had to create her own two metre wide exhaust. But she needed to take precautions against all the physical security systems before she dove in. Oh if only Spacefleet had a convenient page which listed all the ranks so she could pick out who to impersonate so that they would not cut off any networks as she began hacking. It would be annoying if something happened in the physical world to deprive her of her fun.
Unfortunately most of the high-ranking people listed on the Guild information page under 'Ranks' were away on the surface. Except Zari, who seemed to have disappeared from this war. And she was Resarch 1st class. Perfect.
She connected to the network without much trouble. A few times she was confronted by guards who asked her for a password but she managed to outwit most of them. There was one who she approached as she arrived at the email was harder to trick and didn't accept her code like the others did. The Author tried again but he didn't fall for it. She had to take a more action-y approach.
By kicking him right in the face and putting her foot on his neck to constrict his breathing, she probably pulled some awesome hacking trick but unfortunately, the writer of this post didn't know which one so the Author had to make up some excuse that this is how she hacks but that doesn't hold water at all. All you kids out there, don't try this at home. The Author is an AI designed to hack into systems. It is likely that even if you get as awesome as her, you'll go to jail. And that was your aesop for today.
She got into the email, putting the guard in the cyberspace version of a cupboard and tied him down so he wouldn't fall out in front of two other security systems like mooks tend to do. From there, she got into Zari's personal email. So far, it hasn't been too bad, a challenge but not too bad. It's likely to only get worse from here on.
For a minute, The Author was tempted to have a look at Zari's personal emails but decided against it; she had bigger things on her mind. Maybe down a few satellites or even get to the central computer. Right now, she was taking care of the mundane things. She selected 'Type New Email' and chose to send it to all staff managing the network.
To all staff,
We shall be running tests on the network to check the security systems. Please ignore all strange activity which looks like a hacker as this is all part of the test. Try to keep all parts of the network online and connected as the simulation would not be thorough enough otherwise.
Zari
There, that should do. The Author sent it to all of the staff, hoping they would take her bait. That takes care of the physical world. Now to dive into the world she was comfortable with.
She put the guard outside back to his post and made it look like he just took a nap on the job. Then, making sure that she had an awesome soundtrack on that only The Author could hear to set the mood, she vanished into the shadows of the 'net while thinking of all the challenges lay ahead, how many more thing she could reference and how to break the fourth wall while she was here. All of them gave her a tingle.
Here it was, the first firewall. And it was, anti-climactically, a great big wall of fire. Walls of fire needed water. Thankfully, being a warper of reality in cyberspace, she could make it. Summoning up a wall, she sent it crashing into the firewall. Lots of steam ensued, so much that Steampunk would tut and think of what a senseless waste it was. But it wasn't real so that was alright.
There were multiple firewalls, one of which fired spikes from it as well as being on fire. The Author only smirked and in a scene that was so very clearly inspired by The Matrix lifted up one hand and stopped them in mid-air, bringing them down and letting them vanish. She took care of this firewall with even more water than the last ones.
"Multiple barriers huh? You guys are so kind" she said with a huge smile. This definitely beat being stuck on one hand drive and drawing emoticons for herself.
((Zari, if at any time you stumble across this post, I apologise for hacking into your email. ^^; ))
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Post by Jason on Dec 12, 2009 19:22:31 GMT -5
Ninja Dojo
"Dunburrow is where the Knights reside," PFA told Kiddo. Turning to Jasor, she added, "We're not sure what caused that earthquake a while ago. There were some messengers from Castle Kestrel asking about it a moment ago, too... and I was under the impression that that was what we were about to go investigate."
Jasor nodded at this. "Well since you're headed there, perhaps I should come along with you," he remarked with a smile. Hold out his amulet, he continued, "I could help you with that, what with my healing scroll and all."
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Post by A Dream on Dec 12, 2009 20:51:21 GMT -5
~A Place Between~
Voices. Dreams. Hopes. Sorrows.
The single words echoed endlessly, quietly in the white mist that clung heavy like fog to the air. Everything ends that way.
----
A figure stepped past the mist on light feet and cast a glance around at the vast nothingness. Her emotionless eyes akin to small pieces of opaque black glass, like two little beads of ebony. Silver hair hung short behind her ears, unadorned save for a single, longer lock intricately braided with a black ribbon.
An old style dress of white was wrapped around her shoulders. The sleeves were short and flared at the end, edged with faded blue cloth in in the shape of feathers. The hem of the skirt was embroidered with the same pattern, and fell to the girl's knees in a delicate, airy way. A small silver anklet set with sapphires offset the tattered clothes.
Long black ribbons the color of a raven's wing wrapped around her pale wrists and bare ankles like bracelets, the ends hanging limp in the windless place. Unwanted.
Taking another step forward, she brushed a piece of hair out of her face to get a better view.
Appearing out of nowhere, a man stepped silently forward and stood facing the girl's back. "Juverna," he said smoothly.
She flinched in surprise and twisted around to face him, taking a small, staggered step back.
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Post by Strife on Dec 12, 2009 21:53:07 GMT -5
((The Underdeep))
It seemed that even death could not stop the nightmares.
Again and again, The Commander suffered the same fate: being burned alive in the chaotic darkness of the Underdeep. It became his own personal void of pain and agony, and just when he thought he had escaped it, the raging flames consumed him once more. It was comparable to waking up from a horrible dream, only to discover that your awakening was just another part of the dream, and the nightmare continued. And it indeed continued like this, for a period of time that he couldn't bear to think about.
So this was the afterlife... There was no other logical explanation, it seemed. The world as he knew it was nonexistent in this place. And so, with this in mind, The Commander resigned himself to his fate in the valley of eternal flames, purging himself of what little fear was left inside of him. Instead of avoiding his fear, he embraced it.
He no longer felt afraid.
Fear...
Just as this single emotion disappeared from his consciousness, The Commander felt a tremendous force rush over him, and then suddenly... everything went blank. No more monsters. No more fires. No more nightmares. Nothing.
The Commander blinked several times and looked around him. He could see nothing except for a few feet of ground in front of him, thanks to the deep purple glow of his eyes and some of the luminescent parts of his armor. What he did see, though, didn't tell him much - the terrain was completely empty no matter where he walked.
What happened? Why did his suffering stop? It was as if the world around him had completely erased itself, leaving only a blank plane of nothingness.
As The Commander walked forward, he slowly felt an invisible force crawl over him. It was a familiar force that he vaguely remembered at this point. It was... air. Fresh air. Lots of it. He let his body take deep, heavy breaths for the first time in what seemed like ages. He felt the wind slide across his face and through his hair, which had grown to shoulder length in the time that he was down here.
He paid so much attention to the air that he failed to sense the sharp cliff in front of him. After slipping off, he felt a violent rush of wind against his body as he fell downwards. Fortunately, he still had enough common sense to activate his jet boots, which he did. The jet flames sputtered a few times before finally reaching full blast, and The Commander rockected upwards.
There was a brief flash of white as he zoomed closer to the source of the air, and suddenly, he was whisked away to a new location.
* * *
((Somewhere between Castle Kestrel and Brassport...))
At first, The Commander's vision was too blurry to see anything but an unnatural purple haze, on account of his eyes. Within a minute or so, he regained his senses, only to find that he was laying flat on a patch of grass. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the cloudy sky before rising to his feet.
After looking around briefly, he recognized this place as not being too far from where Kat encased him in ice. It was shortly after that moment, he remembered, when he was taken to the strange nightmare world.
He wondered, in fact, if the savages of this planet weren't so savage afterall. He wondered if the savages were, in fact, rather intelligent - intelligent enough to play mind games with him. Perhaps the nightmare world was fabricated by his enemies in order to cause him untold amounts of pain and suffering. It was the most logical explanation yet.
If it was true... then he would not let them do it again. He would find out who - or what - did this to him, and he would destroy it, just like it tried to destroy him.
In the few seconds it took him to resolve this, The Commander noticed signs of life in the distance. Realizing that there would be conflict if he was spotted out in the open, The Commander used his teleport-dash to disappear into the trees with the blink of an eye. He may have been trapped in the nightmare world for months, even years, but he didn't forget about the powers he had gained from the mysterious gemstone.
As he walked away from Castle Kestrel, he made sure to keep himself completely hidden by the surrounding trees and shrubbery. As he did this, he devised a quick plan in his head.
First of all, he needed to repair his armor. His personal shielding was inoperational, as was his Leech gun. Communication systems were a no-go. His jet boots worked fine, but they needed a few seconds to warm up before taking off - precious seconds when in the heat of battle.
He also figured he'd need some new equipment, but he'd need to get back to Spacefleet HQ somehow for that. He couldn't call a shuttle, and assuming that Keng had been promoted to acting Commander in his absence, it wouldn't do him any good anyway. As far as his guild was concerned, he was a lost cause. No matter... he prefered to work alone anyway.
Since returning to HQ was impossible at this point, he wondered if there was any place on this blasted planet where he could get suitable repairs, at the very least. He had a feeling that his enemies from the previous conflict hadn't gone away, and if not, there weren't many places for him to take refuge.
Just as he was thinking this over, his eyes caught a glimpse of something in the distance. Something big. Something active. As he walked closer to it, it was almost as if his wishes had been answered by some unforseeable force.
The Commander stood at the entrance to the city of Brassport.
He never remembered this city being here in the past. If it was somehow invisible, Fleet scanners would have picked it up ages ago. In any case, it was perfect. He had no prior confrontations with its people, so he would be free to enter without the concern of being attacked on sight. Still... he couldn't help but feel like he'd stick out in a crowd.
Still taking care to be concealed by foliage, The Commander bent down and carefully removed the upper half of his armor. Using his hands, he forcefully ripped off the long, black cloak from the back side of the armor. Once this was done, he put the armor back on, grabbed the detached cloak, and carefully wrapped it over his shoulders and underneath his arms until it completely concealed the upper half of his body. To the average citizen, he would look like a bulky man in robes with really shiny boots, which was better than looking like a spaceman from beyond the stars. He just hoped shiny boots were part of the norm in this new city.
After his 'disguise' was complete, he proceeded to climb one of the lower segments of the city walls. The walls were primarily stone, but also covered in metals of various shades of bronze, silver, and gold, reflecting the variety of materials that were used in its construction.
Once The Commander scaled the wall, he took a brief look at the taller buildings in the distance. While very crude by his standards, they were still impressively built for people he once considered to be mindless savages. Well... he wouldn't make that mistake again.
Carefully, he slid down the inside section of the wall, and proceeded to disappear among the buildings of the city.
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Post by Nasuella on Dec 12, 2009 22:59:09 GMT -5
Ninja Dojo
Another non-ninja had entered the courtyard, and was speaking to the members of his team. Kovaran paused before what he called the gates, listening to the conversation with interest. So, there was an earthquake... he had just not noticed.
This one's name, the stranger revealed, was Jasor, and he was a mage who wanted to investigate. And he asked if he could come along with them to Dunburrow. Kovaran was still wary, but this mage seemed to be average (...decent, I mean). And if he was a mage, he might be helpful in ways the others could not...
"We should get moving as soon as possible," he called from the "gates". "Dunburrow is a far way to go. And you - mage - you may come with us, so long as you can walk yourself." That was the big lizard's attempt at saying something like, 'pull your own weight', by the way.
It all made sense in Kovaran's head. He did have a mind that worked differently to those of other people, after all.
--
Tabloid Town
The woman who'd pounced on Kwoi was of course suspicious, and wanted to know why "Bird" was watching them. She opened her beak to answer... and then the human man said something about how it (the beast, probably) was going in the direction of a hospital.
So the woman told him to go get that thing destroyed, and then said, "I have a few things that I want to do on my own, so you are going to get to go free. For now."
And then she tossed Kwoi into a wall. The not-bird tried to shift a hard shell onto her body, but already it was too late. First she hit the wall, and then slid onto the ground. She watched, upside-down, as the woman walked off, and as the feline spoke with a ninja about how he was the only one who could stop... something.
Well, this was good (sarcastically). The shapeshifter knew she wasn't the best liar--note to self, get "Lying for Dummies" ASAP--but even then, that was a terrible start. After all--
Padding Padding Pa-dding! Padding Padding Pa-dding!
... Okay, what the hell was that?
With some effort she pushed herself off the ground into a bird's regular standing position. The feline likely wasn't going to trust her, not after her bumbled attempts at lying, but all the same she couldn't just run fly off (even if the woman had told her she could go). That would just make him more suspicious, even if she did get to do something.
No. Remember the mission, she told herself.
Shifting away the partially-formed shell, Kwoi took flight. She was on her way to the hospital - where, unbeknownst to her, another shapeshifter was waiting. And watching two shapeshifters fight can be very interesting.
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Post by Scar on Dec 12, 2009 23:22:59 GMT -5
- Mercenaries, Crashing Osprey -
"STOP GETTING DISTRATCED! WE'RE CRASHING!" Scar screamed in panic and scrambled the last few feet to grab at the frame of the cockpit door. Pulling himself through, he jumped into the co-pilot's seat ...
... And stared blankly at the myriad of blinking buttons and flashing displays. Oh, right. He didn't know how to pilot this either, apart from 'push stick forward and then back and cross your fingers'. Curse the Mercenary Handbook and it's vague instructions! With nothing more to do he did just that.
Thankfully, the Osprey started levelling out and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was then that he realized they were probably flying way too low when the tops of the pine trees started smacking against the chopper's nose and undercarriage. And they were still descending. Crud.
Looking around frantically, he spotted an old dirt road (and a weird flying machi -- FOCUS!) and tugged the control stick hard in the direction. Not knowing which buttons to press to land vertically or even extend the landing gear, the best he could hope for was a decent crash landing with all their limbs attached.
- Brassport -
Oscar, Gentleman Adventurer, grinned sheepishly as he was shoved in front of what seemed to be the mayor of Brassport. He certainly had that authoritarian look about him which to him meant 'Do not annoy me or I will throw you in jail'.
"Ah, well, Oscar Featherstone, Gentleman Adventure," he began, bowing with a flourish. "And what my lovely lady companion here means to say is that we'd be glad to offer our unique services to the city of Brassport . Of course, good sir, being a well travelled Gentleman Adventurer and all I do have extensive experience in flight. If it's sized and shaped like an airship, I'm your man!"
((Will have a longer post next time. To any merc, feel free to say what happens next, whether we crash or land perfectly etc))
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Post by Omni on Dec 13, 2009 0:13:39 GMT -5
Entering the atmosphere
As he grew near to the sky of the planet, Ethan had to make a decision: To land at the spaceport, as it seemed he was expected to do, or to break off and head for Mage Manor, as Leoness had wanted. There were strong reasons to go to both: Leoness' implication of urgency pushed him toward taking off and heading for the Manor. However, he knew that if he did, there was a chance, and not a small one, that members of the 'Fleet would be sent after him to take him down for violating the agreement and seemingly going rogue.
He could find a way to get to the manor once they landed... but the odds of him being able to take the ship there were slim, and going on foot would take precious time. Then again, he wasn't even sure why Leoness wanted to get to the manor, and if she could take the time to work with medical equipment...
This internal debate continued for awhile, but then he noticed something on the screen: Fraze. He detected Fraze at the Tabloid Town spaceport. Fraze probably had a good idea of how the situation was. Talking to him would get Ethan valuable information, comply with why Ethan said he was going down there, and possibly get him the executive authority to just take the ship to the manor anyway. It was a detour... but again, Leoness seemed to think there was time back in the medical bay. Hopefully, this detour wouldn't make a big difference.
"Sorry, Leoness," he said. "I'll head for the manor as soon as I can, but it looks like it will have to wait a few minutes." And with that, he adjusted the steering mechanism, heading for the spaceport.
*****
Mage Manor - near basement
Omni half-listened to the conversation, largely just waiting for a time to speak up. It came about when Celestial stopped speaking about looking for Underdeep holes and headed off.
"Rikku, if you want to come with me then I suggest you get yourself cleaned up now. We'll leave in one hour."
She watched as Celestial walked off, taking this as her cue. "Okay, Rikku, I know you should head off and get ready, but I was thinking the rest of us should talk about what we're going to do. ...Preferably away from this wall-of-vines. I don't like the feel of it." She turned, gesturing to the others. "Come on."
As she walked down the halls of the manor, she silently hoped, and looked for a place where they could talk in private. Actually, she silently asked the Manor for one, and as always, it brought her there. She turned a corner to a familiar door - one which was an another floor than she was just on, and she hadn't taken the stairs. The Manor may not have been able to seal off the Underdeep that was connected to itself, but it seemed its internal-teleportation worked. At least... once away from the basement. She really wasn't sure.
Anyway, the door led to an office - one that Omni recognized and sometimes spent time in when she felt her bedroom wasn't right for the occasion. There were books, a desk, papers, some withering vines... and some scorch marks that she hadn't been able to get rid of. It was well away from the basement, or even the edge of the manor, and didn't seem to be used very much. In fact, she noticed a layer of dust gathering on the furniture.
Looking in, and sensing as well, to be sure no one was around, she walked in, motioning for the others to come in. Once she was sure everyone who wanted to be was in, she closed the door. "Okay..." she said, sighing in a nervous way. "Um... Okay..." She began to pace across the room, as she often did when thinking. "How to say this..."
She felt she had to say something soon, instead of talking to herself like this. But she wasn't sure how to start. She could feel eyes on her, and it wasn't helping. But she knew that if someone didn't speak up, she would have to start somewhere.
((Any mage that wants to follow can.))
*****
Spaceport
Ethan made sure to slow down as he approached the spaceport, lining up the ship and docking. He unbuckled himself, opened the hatch, and ran out of it, not even bothering with the guy who was there to make sure they got out all right.
"Fraze!" he half-shouted, running for the familiar face. "Fraze, I'm in a hurry. What's going on?"
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Post by Kiddo on Dec 13, 2009 0:19:08 GMT -5
"Oh, the knights," Kiddo said absently. "Alright. I remember enough to know the way."
And she started walking after Kovaran. The funny thing was, even with the spear over one shoulder, she stayed in a crouch, walking on all fours and only lifting one hand to occasionally steady the spear when it slipped off-balance.
"Keep up, mage!" she called back, "Healing spells won't be much use if you're by yourself with no one to heal! And ninjas can move FAST."
She laughed, a sharp bark, and then took off in an easy sprint that would eat up the distance between them and Dunburrow.
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Post by Ikkin on Dec 13, 2009 0:24:15 GMT -5
As soon as the chimera-mage had managed to close the door to the Underdeep once more, Ikkin became lost in thought. Everything just seemed so strange, and just didn't make a whole lot of sense. The Underdeep was trying to expand into the Manor... but then, it kept falling back and allowing itself to get sealed in by a little stone.
She knew she should have been paying more attention to what the dragon and the necromancer were saying - they'd actually come back from the Underdeep, and what they said might help her figure out what was actually going on... but she just couldn't concentrate on it all that much. Everything they said just seemed to cause things to make even less sense. The two of them said they wanted to find out what was going on by themselves, so no one else would have to get hurt... but, considering the current state of the NTWF, Ikkin really didn't see how staying behind would be any safer. For all anyone knew, the rift in the basement could still be dangerous, and new rifts could open anywhere - there really wasn't anywhere safe.
Ikkin was finally snapped out of her thoughts when the mage she didn't recognize all that well suggested that everyone get away from the door and get some food. The dragon decided to leave to get ready for her own trip instead, and asked the necromancer to come too.
Maybe she'd follow one of them from a distance, she thought. No one else really seemed to have much of a plan, and Ikkin knew she couldn't fight the Underdeep on her own... and those two seemed to know more than they let on. At the very least, she might be able to get a better idea of what they were up against.
Of course, that required them to actually go somewhere that wasn't part of Mage Manor.
In the meantime, Ikkin took the opportunity to slip away to her own room. She was surprised by just how much it looked like she left it, even though she should have known better - Mage Manor was magical, after all.
She was in the middle of pulling some of her back-up weapons - a couple of daggers that she could hide in her boots and a pouch of some explosive dust - off of the rack where she kept them and switching her one-handed cutlass for her variable-length magical one (which she had decided would be too risky to take into the Underdeep, since it would be all too easy for a stray fear to jam the mechanism that altered its size) when she realized that Sev hadn't followed her.
Ikkin wasn't too worried at first; Sev had been pretty passive recently, and he probably just hadn't bothered to come along when she'd left.
That changed pretty quickly, however, when she realized that Sev's magical signature wasn't in the Manor anymore.
In fact, it didn't seem to be anywhere.
Well, that could be a problem. If Sev had started acting on his own again, she couldn't assume that his intentions were good - but, if she didn't know where he was, there was no way she could find him before something happened if he did have bad intentions.The only place she could think where she wouldn't be able to sense Sev was the Underdeep... but, the only place nearby where she could access it had already been sealed up.
Following the two mages who were going to look for rifts was looking like a better idea every moment.
***
Now, you might think you'll get to see what was going on from Sev's point of view. There'd be a little bit of a problem: Sev didn't really have a point of view anymore, and hadn't really had one for several months.
At some point in his and Ikkin's stay in the Underdeep - at approximately the same time as he stopped talking - the amount of grey magic that had been forced into him from the overflowing Underdeep had increased to the point where it overshadowed Sev's own soul and took control of his body. Sev had, mercifully, slipped into unconsciousness when that happened, suffering nothing worse than some strange dreams.
Sev's body, on the other hand, kept acting generally like Sev would, since Ikkin was the only one around, and she had a strong enough mental conception of him to keep him from changing too much.
Of course, this required Ikkin to be around. When she had left without him, that left the grey magic guiding Sev with nothing to guide it, apart from the vague conception that it should be a phoenix. But, it needed more than that to continue to act - so, it decided to seek out other phoenix-thoughts to take its form from, and it still had enough phoenix left to it to be able to do that instantaneously.
Which meant that, in a single moment, it flashed out of existence in Mage Manor and reappeared in a burst of flames in the air, flying in small circles over Kiddo's head as she took off from the Ninja Dojo at a run.
Ashes.
Flames at dawn.
Rebirth.
Images filled the false Sev's mind and being as it drew close to the phoenix-powered former ninja. But something was wrong. She was far too weak, and looked like she had been putting off her death-rebirth cycle for far too long.
Should fix her, it thought, in somewhat strange grammar since it didn't actually have an "I" to refer to. She needed phoenix fire... and it decided to give it to her.
It swooped down from the sky towards Kiddo with a screech, let out a rather indiscriminate burst of flame in her general direction when it was about ten feet above her head, then pulled back up into the sky to circle around once more.
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