[Nexus Plot] Black Wounds

[Reinholdt]

To the south lies a small, yet great kingdom, renowned for combining magic with technology, Lethargia. It had a most extensive library on a variety of subjects including artifacts. But as of late a shadow has extended across the land. About six weeks ago, a new king came to power, who went by the name of Reinholdt. Shortly thereafter, the populace started becoming soulless zombies, starting with the soldiers and police. Quarantines occurred and citizens were rounded up for "inoculation" only to add to the growing problem. Their souls were being eaten. Now the kingdom has only soulless zombies for citizens. Recently soldiers, led by Reinholdt himself, have began crossing the borders to raid nearby villages for souls.

The kingdom's greatest achievement is a flying castle town. Similar to an airship, but very large with a castle and town on it. It's to here that Anatolij and the other prisoners are being brought by the zombie mecha-soldiers, emblazoned in blue armor with Lethargia's emblem, a wand overlaying a gear. Shortly behind them are AMEN's henchmen in a truck, following.

The flying castle Town has been grounded lately due to the storms, but it's still very high up, so each soldier heads towards one of the many steam powered elevator systems that enable them to reach the town level from ground level.

Is now AMEN's secondary base.

[ThePhantom]

"Okay, we followed them here, now what?"

The driver turns to the rest of the henchmen in the jeep.

"Well, we either report back, and get in trouble for wasting time, or we go and see who's in charge."
"But that means getting out of the jeep."
"We'll be fine, there's ten of us, and an army of them... Okay, maybe we won't be fine. But we might as well follow them, we can this far."

The henchmen get out of the jeep.

[Morty]

Anatolij comes around. Uuuuh...

[Reinholdt]

With a few lever pulls and a burst charge from the suit, the elevators start rising. Anatolij will find himself thrown over a mechasoldier's soldier, on a somewhat rickety elevator that's rising from the ground at a moderate speed, with his hands firmly clamped behind his back.

At least he'll get a nice view.

There's no reaction to the henchmen climbing out of the truck, though there do seem to be guards posted at the elevators, about one per five elevators. There's a large number of elevators to choose from.

[ThePhantom]

"Okay, what's the plan?"
"Pick an elevator, and shoot anyone who tries to stop you." "I like that plan." "On three, we rush for it. One, two, three."

The ten henchmen charge for an elevator, ready to shoot any guards who tried to stop them.

[Morty]

Anatolij is scared out of his mind, but he doesn't struggle; he knows it's no use.

[Reinholdt]

The elevator is about two-thirds the way up then.

The guard nearest the elevator that they're trying to rush onto steps forward to physically stop them, but gets shot rather mightily and one shot is lucky enough to be a head shot, finishing him. Four other guards step forward and fire bolts of lightning at them, set on kill. Their armor protects them from this volley. Need head shots to kill zombie guards anyways and aiming for the head while running is rough at best.

*pew pew pew*

[ThePhantom]

Four henchmen go down, but the remaining six try to get on the elevator, and get out of here.

"Hurry up. Hurry up."

[Morty]

Now that shots are being fired, Anatolij starts to struggle helplessly.

[Reinholdt]

The grip on him is tight and unrelenting. Helplessly isn't helping his case either. On the upside, they've reached town level so the soldiers step off and start heading into town, walking towards the castle in the distance. Anatolij will see plenty of zombies standing around. Most just... stand there, swaying slightly, but a few others actually do things, like carting things toward the castle and guard the elevators on this level.

The six manage to cram on an elevator and the doors slide shut. Now there's three levers, a button, and a need for an electrical burst to get it powered.

In the meantime, the four soldiers are nearing the elevator to pry open the doors and kill the inhabitants. They'll catch up next post.

[ThePhantom]

"Shoot, it doesn't want to work." One of the henchmen tries the buttons, but it doesn't work.

"Then get ready, and aim for the heads."

All six henchmen points their guns at the door.

[Reinholdt]

The prisoners make it to the castle door which is far more guarded than the elevators. They start to open.

Two metal hands thrust through the elevator doors and pry them open with a sickening sound before the guard that opened the door gets shot through the head and falls down. The other three slightly further back fire on the group, before a second one gets taken out too.

((deadtime))

[ThePhantom]

Thanks to the door, only one henchman drops.

"Grab the gun, I think I can use to power this thing."

One henchman takes the gun, while the other three guard the door.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]
Anatolij is carried into the main castle entrance room. There's a lot fewer guards here. In fact, there's only two up the stairs protecting the double doors up there that likely lead to the throne room. But they aren't headed that way. No they veer off to the side to go down a hallway that seems danker than the rest. To the prison cells.

[Ground]
There is no gun other than the ones the henchmen themselves brought. The mecha-soldiers are firing lightning through their suit, aiming with their hands. It's quite feasible to stand on the box and get electrocuted in order to act as a conduit to power the elevator though. Completely and utterly makes sense on every level.

The two remaining ones maneuver to a better firing position and shoot some more electric bolts of doom at the interlopers.

[Morty]

Castle

Anatolij is silent and resigned to his face.

[ThePhantom]

Ground

(My mistake)

Another henchman goes down.

"Sorry Bob."
"Huh?"

And one of the henchman pushs another so he'll get zapped and power the elevator.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle Prisons]

All four prisoners are put in the same, large cell. Anatolij gets heaved in rather unceremoniously without even removing the block that binds his hands and the rest pushed in before the door swings shut with a large squeak and an audible click.

Inside the cell is a bucket of dirty water, a few filthy rags, and a small hole in the corner. The soldiers leave and no one stays to guard this particular cell.

Likely because across from them is another cell. This cell has about 15 guards posted, all watching it. Inside it are a bunch of toys. Like a child's room. Full of blocks and toy cars and even a few coloring books. A chain extends from the wall and snakes around a bunch of doodads only to disappear behind a very large bean bag. A sound of knocked over blocks and a child-like giggle indicates someone over there is having a good time. A crutch is visible next to the bean bag.

[Elevator]
Someone must have gotten the settings right. How lucky for them. The elevator starts rising. The two guards keep firing, but soon enough the angle isn't right and the henchmen seem safe for now.

[ThePhantom]

[Elevator]

The henchmen get ready for trouble when they get to the top.

"Okay, now when we get up there, try to stay out of sight."

[Reinholdt]

[Elevator]

How many we got left, three?

The elevator reaches the top. And the guards up there...
Do nothing.
Their directive is to prevent unauthorized people from leaving, not entering.
Silly soulless zombies.

Ahead of them is essentially a platform for the elevators and exits that lead out into town.

[ThePhantom]

The henchmen jump out of the elevator.

"Ready! And the guards are doing nothing."
"Weird." "Well, let's go."

And the henchmen head into the town.

[Reinholdt]

[Town]

It's your normal castle town. With a big castle in the back and blacksmiths and taverns and libraries and thieves guilds and soulless zombies running everything.

Granted that's literal instead of figurative here. Truth be told most of them just stand there without directive, goal, or motive. Stand and stare. They henchmen are free to move through the town unaccosted. Though they may consider being wary in the event they become soulless zombies themselves through their actions.

[ThePhantom]

Town

Well, being free to wander the town, the henchmen decide, since this place is creepy with all the staring zombies, they head for the castle, wanting to find out who's in charge so they can leave.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle Gates]

The entrance to the castle is guarded by 8 of those soldiers the henchmen faced earlier. They don't look too keen on letting anyone in. But unless the henchmen advance on them in some sort of threatening way or try to force their way in, they will be ignored.

[ThePhantom]

[Castle Gates]

The henchmen stop and make a hundle.

"Okay, can't get through the gate, so let's going in groups of three, and hide in areas with trees, its getting late."
"Gotta."

[Reinholdt]

[Castle Gates]

Well there aren't really that many trees about, what with being an airship and all in reality, but there is a small park they could hide in for the night that would probably be safer than the streets.

[Morty]

[Castle Prisons]

All four prisoners are put in the same, large cell. Anatolij gets heaved in rather unceremoniously without even removing the block that binds his hands and the rest pushed in before the door swings shut with a large squeak and an audible click.

Inside the cell is a bucket of dirty water, a few filthy rags, and a small hole in the corner. The soldiers leave and no one stays to guard this particular cell.

Likely because across from them is another cell. This cell has about 15 guards posted, all watching it. Inside it are a bunch of toys. Like a child's room. Full of blocks and toy cars and even a few coloring books. A chain extends from the wall and snakes around a bunch of doodads only to disappear behind a very large bean bag. A sound of knocked over blocks and a child-like giggle indicates someone over there is having a good time. A crutch is visible next to the bean bag.


Anatolij tries to peek through the bars at the other cell, curiosity overcoming the gut-wrenching terror.

[Reinholdt]

[Park]

Presuming the henchmen retreated here to hide, they're likely to hear a small "Psst! PSSST!!" Someone is clearly trying to get their attention.

Probably that random guy dressed in black over there waving at them.

[Prisons]

The family locked in with Anatolij gather together and cuddle, though the little girl starts wailing. At least restarts. She did it a lot on the way, but Anatolij was kinda out of it for that.

This catches the attention of the person in the play cell, whose head pops up above the bean bag for a short bit, his eyes growing wide, before disappearing again. Anatolij can see a hand reaching for the nearby crutch, grabbing it, and with some struggling, the man standing and approaching towards the bars of his cell to get a better look, a silly grin on his face. The chain connected to the back wall can clearly be traced to his good left leg now, his other leg obviously broken and in a cast as he leans against the crutch. This sort of matches his fading shiner over his right eye. Around his neck, a large silver metal collar is strapped to his neck much like a neckbrace, though there's no apparent way to remove it. In the middle of the collar is a strip of visible green liquid, about three-fourths full.

The many guards obviously get tense when he approaches the bars, but don't react otherwise.

You know, if it weren't for the cast and the chain and the collar and the black eye, the man would be flaming hawt. Cause we need our Marty Stus.

"Hi!" :smallsmile: Reinholdt says gleefully, despite the circumstances.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Um... hi, Anatolij manages to say. W...wh...who are you?

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

"I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire! Though I seem to have lost my map." :smallbiggrin: He giggles at his poor joke.

"Who're you?" :smallsmile:

[ThePhantom]

[Park]

Presuming the henchmen retreated here to hide, they're likely to hear a small "Psst! PSSST!!" Someone is clearly trying to get their attention.

Probably that random guy dressed in black over there waving at them.



The henchmen stop, and walk over to the guy in black.
"What do you want?"

[Morty]

[Prison]

"I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire! Though I seem to have lost my map." :smallbiggrin: He giggles at his poor joke.

"Who're you?" :smallsmile:

Errr... I'm Anatolij. Anatolij Fedorowicz Eljaszeńko. Do you know... why we're here?

[Reinholdt]

[Park]

:smallannoyed: "I WANT to get you somewhere safe before you're discovered and captured, whaddya think? Why on earth are you wandering out in the open like this?! Follow me if you want to live." The man turns and starts slinking away.

[Prison]

"Why we're here or why you're here? We and you are very different things. Like... peanut butter and cars! And cars are different too. They have colors and shapes and all manner of number of wheels. Like a bus! That's a different car. The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round..." :smallsmile:

[ThePhantom]

Park

One of the henchmen shrug his shoulders, and the group starts following.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Anatolij kind of wants to cry now. He's been kidnapped, locked up, will probably be killed and on top of that, he's talking to a madman.
Right, so why am I here?

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

"Why we're here or why you're here? We and you are very different things. Like... peanut butter and cars! And cars are different too. They have colors and shapes and all manner of number of wheels. Like a bus! That's a different car. The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round..." :smallsmile:

((Oh man... my 3 year old nephew would be in heaven with this line of conversation. If there's anything in the world cooler than cars or buses, he hasn't heard of it yet. :smallbiggrin:))

[Reinholdt]

Park

One of the henchmen shrug his shoulders, and the group starts following.
The group is led to a library and the man in black heads in motioning for them to come too.


[Prison]

Anatolij kind of wants to cry now. He's been kidnapped, locked up, will probably be killed and on top of that, he's talking to a madman.
Right, so why am I here?
"Oh right. Sorry about that. You're here to be killed and your soul fed to the black dagger of doooooom. Doom doom doom do-do-doom doom. Hopefully that won't happen." :smallsmile:


((Oh man... my 3 year old nephew would be in heaven with this line of conversation. If there's anything in the world cooler than cars or buses, he hasn't heard of it yet. :smallbiggrin:))
Obviously there isn't. :smalltongue:

[ThePhantom]

Library

The henchmen head inside.

"Ok, care to tell us what's going on?"
"Ya, this be a strange port."
"Why are you talking like a pirate?"
"Ar, I be with the navy group."

[Morty]

"Oh right. Sorry about that. You're here to be killed and your soul fed to the black dagger of doooooom. Doom doom doom do-do-doom doom. Hopefully that won't happen." :smallsmile:


Anatolij whimpers. Why?

[Reinholdt]

[Library]

"You mean you don't know? How did you even get here?" The man leads them through the empty library to a bookcase where he pulls on a book and the case swings open, revealing a secret passage. He motions them to head down it. "About seven weeks ago, a new king came to power, christened by our old one. A short time later, he started rounding up people and turning them into the things you see outside. That's pretty much the entire story."

[Prison]

"You're not very specific are you? Very general. Like a soldier! General Anatolij Fedorowicz Eljaszeńko. I commend your rise through the ranks General. Now, you asked... oh right. Probably cause the dagger is cursed and needs to feed and all that. It controls him, to an extent. An extent of what? Extension, I need an extension on mahhhhh life. Doo doo do doo." :smallsmile:

[Morty]

[Prison]

And what are you doing here? Anatolij asks, since he knows too much about his own fate as it is.

[ThePhantom]

[Library]

"You mean you don't know? How did you even get here?" The man leads them through the empty library to a bookcase where he pulls on a book and the case swings open, revealing a secret passage. He motions them to head down it. "About seven weeks ago, a new king came to power, christened by our old one. A short time later, he started rounding up people and turning them into the things you see outside. That's pretty much the entire story."



The henchmen keep following.

"So, what's the new king's name?"
"Yar, we need more before telling the captain."
"Will you quit doing that?"

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]

"Reinholdt. Don't know how the little bastard managed to convince the king to hand over the throne like that, but if I ever get a chance, I'm going to snap that little pretty boy's neck in two." Following the passage, they eventually get to a room that opens up. It's rather large and mostly full of survivors who all turn to look at the henchmen. They're all rather dirty and downtrodden and most don't seem to be fighters. At the far end on a mat, sits an old woman with white hair, her eyes closed in meditation.

"Welcome to our little safe spot."

[Prisons]

"MEEEEE? I've been locked up and drugged cause he wants me alive." Reinholdt points at his collar with the green liquid. "See, the guy is impersonating me with this nifty little device that works like play-doh except it's icky and claustrophibifying and all around you and very icky. Like slime! For the record, do not taste the slime on the wall. It's icky. Personally I suspect it's only a matter of time before Dagger convinces him to kill me too. Dagger MAN! A supervillain who uses a DAGGER to face DANGER! DAGGER MAN!"

[Morty]

[Prison]

Anatolij breathes deeply, trying to calm himself down. Well, thanks for the info, I guess. He needs to think and act quickly if he wants to escape, but this person doesn't look like he's going to be helpful.

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

The henchmen looks uncomfortable at the sight of the survivors. They're not used to this.

"Well, you might be in some luck. We have order to capture Reinholdt, and bring him back for trial." An AMEN trial.
"Yar, but with a crew this small, it would be like trying to sink a ship with a map."

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]
"He needs no trial. Only death. But if you think you can get to him, we'll be more than happy to help. So long as he's gone. Here." He walks over to the old lady. "This is our leader, Agatha."

[Prison]
"You're welcome! Oh. And I recommend escaping before he comes and kills you. Can't do much after you're dead, you know?" :smallsmile:

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

"Avast, ye lady."
"Shut up. Sorry about him. I can't get to stop."

The leader henchman bows.

"I'm being a bit rude, but, is there any place where Reinholdt can usually be found. A favorite room, a park?"

[Morty]

[Prison]

I... know that, yeah. Anatolij tries to wriggle his hands free of the cuff first. He's pretty dexterous and his hands are thin. He doesn't really expect it to succeed, of course.

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]
Agatha opens her eyes to look at the henchmen. Her gaze in general is already pretty fierce and determined, but it's the fact that one eye is entirely white and glazed over, while the other is normal that is most likely to be unnerving.

"He spends most of his time in the Castle itself, which is heavily guarded, though has been known to leave the town altogether for raids on other towns. Are you really crazy enough to try and capture this beast?"

[Prison]

I suppose with enough wriggling he could get free. Of course there's also that family in there with him.

"Well let me know when you're ready to escape! In the meantime, I have to get Mister Burger through the maze to the fries. So many dead ends." :smallsmile:

Reinholdt turns to hobble back to his drug induced distractions.

[Morty]

[Prison]

When it dawns on him there's a slight chance of freeing his hands, Anatolij doubles his attempts. He plans on taking the family with him, even though he's a bit of a coward, but first he needs to free himself.

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

"Darn, that rules out shooting him that way."
"Arr, we get the rest then."
"That will take time, but it would work. Agatha, we'll going to go out and call for some backup. It will take a while, but there's enough of us to take him out."

The pirate henchmen puts away a rifle.

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]

"And how do you intend to even leave the town to go get the back-up, hmm?" Getting out may be harder than getting in.

[Prison]

Anatolij gets free after some efforts on his part. Skinniness helps.

[Morty]

[Prison]

The Cossack almost cries out in triumph but luckily, he mentally kicks himself in the shin before doing that. He looks through the bars to see how many guards are around.

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

"Well we'll..... Shoot. I hadn't thought of that."
"Arr, what bout the comeback?"
"What? No! I'm not doing that!"
"Too bad matey."

And the pirate henchman shoots the leader henchman in the head.

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]

There are several shouts of alarm and general panic among the survivors.
"Are you mad?!"

[Prison]

15 guards as mentioned before, though they're not paying the least bit of attention to The Cossack. Just because he's drugged, chained, and has a broken leg, doesn't mean Reinholdt hasn't tried to escape before anyways. Actually most of that stuff is a result of previous attempts.

Nonetheless, they don't seem to care what Anatolij is doing.

However, footsteps can be heard down the corridor approaching. This sounds different than the metal stomps of the zombie guards in the mecha-suits. Like actual shoes.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Sweating, Anatolij examines the lock on the door, trying to figure out his chance of opening it. Just because they're not paying attention to him doesn't mean they won't start to, especially if he tries to escape.

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

"No mateys, Pete's not mad."

The pirate henchmen turns to face the room.

"There's a clone waiting for him, back home. He'll get the rest. And then, we raid the castle!"
"And yes, he's telling the truth. Except about being not mad. He's crazy."

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]
This does little to quell the general panic.
"And if the patrols heard your gunshot we may all very well be dead soon. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

[Prison]
Well it's openable if you had a key or something to pick the lock. It's very much like a normal jail cell.

The approaching person rounds the corner. He looks very much like Reinholdt only the skin is kinda droopy, like it's melting off him. Unlike Reinholdt, he's dressed in a purple military uniform, knife strapped to his waist, with a purple hat on top. Puffing on a cigar he looks at Reinholdt before glancing over at Anatolij. Anatolij has a few seconds before this happens to respond however he chooses.

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

"Alright then. Grab him."

And the four sane henchmen grab Pete and start heading back the way they came.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Anatolij backs away, deeper into the cell, pretending he still has the cuff on.

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]
The survivors are more than happy to let them leave the way they came.

[Prison]
The Admiral chews on his cigar a bit, before blowing smoke. "New prisoners. Eh. You'll be dessert for when I get back." He turns and motions at Reinholdt. "I've got a dinner date and I want to be all dressed up for the occasion." The guards set to work on getting Reinholdt who cringes despite the smile. "Not the icky thing again. Like play-doh!" :smallsmile:

He's dragged out and set to walking between a bunch as the Admiral and guards begin to escort him out. He doesn't get very far before tripping on his broken leg and falling to the ground in front of Anatolij's cell. "Ow!"

"Get that klutz up and carry him!" Reinholdt is picked up with a grin on his face as he mouths "Good luck" and the vast majority of the guards leave with him and the Admiral, leaving only a single guard, watching down the hallway.

Anatolij may notice at this point that there's a large ball of play-doh left conveniently near his cell and within reach.

[ThePhantom]

[Secret Passage]

And so, some distance away from the surviors, the henchmen sit, and wait for renforcements.

[Morty]

Anatolij grabs the play-doh and begins messing with it, trying to come up with how to use it to help his escape.

[Reinholdt]

[Secret Passage]

Well the secret passage is long enough they could wait out of sight of the other survivors, but they likely were to be shooed all the way back to the library.

Hopefully no one will come down this way then.

[Prisons]
Well I imagine the lockpicks hidden inside it may be of some help.

[Morty]

[Prisons]

Looks like the seemingly insane person was helping him escape. Anatolij tries to pick the lock. Having been less than law-abiding before, he has some experience with it.

[Reinholdt]

[Prisons]

"Wait, what about us?"
Maybe you should help the family out of their cuffs first.

But otherwise Anatolij will be able to get the door open.

The guard continues to watch down the hallway, seemingly unaware of the lockpicking.

[Morty]

[Prisons]

After picking the lock on the door, Anatolij moves to the family and tries to open their cuffs with the lockpick as well.

[Reinholdt]

[Prisons]

Their locks come off easily enough as well.
They do a tight huggle with each other.
"Thank you. We should leave now before they come back."

[Outside]

A smaller airship, about the size of a bus rises into the air and heads in the direction of Windswept Isle.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Let's go. But there's bound to be more of them on our way out.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

"What do we do about this one though?"
You know, the obvious one that's in between them and the exit.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Let me handle this. Anatolij has done this sort of thing before and while he's not good at it, he's bound to be better than the civilian family. He tries to sneak behind the guard and wallop him over the head with the cuff that used to be on his hands.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

The zombie is walloped and starts to turn around. Anatolij is in trou... oh. No, it fell down. Delayed reaction I suppose. The guard has been incapacitated.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Anatolij gestures the family to follow him while checking the guard for keys and weapons.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

Well the guard is in a mecha-suit which IS his weapon and shield and all that. He also has a key-ring which may come in handy or may just have been for the cells. No point in not taking it, I suppose.

The family hurries to follow Anatolij.

[Morty]

[Prison]

Anatolij takes the keyring and keeps the cuff, figuring an improvised weapon is better than nothing. Alright, we might have a shot at escaping if we're really lucky and really sneaky. Let's move.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

The family follows in sneaky, sniffly, not panicky mode. Though they may very well panic later.

The hall goes down to a door they came through earlier, which is locked, though with that nifty key ring I expect will be used right now, easily comes open.

Further down, it opens back up into the Main Entrance Hall. They would be coming out next to the bottom rear of the staircase. Anatolij should remember there are two guards on the floor above them guarding double doors. The sneaking group is pretty much right under that, though in a blind spot. Various other doors and passages lead off from the Main Room.

[Morty]

[Prison]

There are two guards above us, I remember. Going the straight way will do us no good.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]

"So what do we do?"
Lead them Anatolij!

Above them they can hear the sound of many footsteps. As if a large number of guards were returning with a prisoner but were still upstairs in the next room over.

[Morty]

[Castle]

Quick, we must hide. Anatolij will lead them into one of the side passages.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]

The family follows Anatolij into a side passage just in time as the guard entourage drags Reinholdt back towards the prison. How they'll react when they get there is anyone's guess.

The passage they ducked down seems like it would lead to the servant's quarters. Probably because there's a sign clearly stating as such.

[Morty]

[Castle]

The servants might have their own entrance to the castle and if they do, we can use it to escape. Let's go. The Cossack will lead his companions forward.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]

Following this route, there are various rooms and supply closets and stairways down and stairways up and....
OMG SOULLESS ZOMBIE BUTLER.
Not Butler, but butler.

I expect screaming from the little kid in 3... 2...

[Morty]

[Castle]

Anatolij moves fast, covering the child's mouth with his hand, figuring the parents might not be up to it. He's scared out of his mind too, of course.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]

The kid's mouth is covered. The parents are indeed a bit busy holding each other and trying to look away.

Zombie butler does absolutely nothing but stand there, his suit stained with old blood.

*stare*

[Morty]

[Castle]

Let's move, quick. Anatolij will lead them on if they follow him, and look for a servants' exit.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]

If you're willing to move past the butler, you'll find one that looks exactly like what you're looking for. It's even labeled "To Outer Gardens". Probably the way out.

[Morty]

[Castle]

This is our chance. Quick.

[Reinholdt]

[Castle]

The family hurrily rushes out ahead of Anatolij, right into the gaping maws of doom. outer gardens. It's quite possible to reach town from here if one moved quietly and avoided any wandering zombie patrols.

[Morty]

[Castle]

Anatolij is breathing heavily. We're doing better than I hoped. If we continue to be so lucky, we might escape. Let's move quietly and watch out for patrols. He heads in the direction of the town doing just that.

[Reinholdt]

[Town]

With the proper amount of sneaking and skulking they can make it to town. Of course, they only immediately obvious way to escape from this point would be to get to the elevators, but those were definitely guarded. Otherwise, there is a town to look through. Maybe one of the buildings have something that could help.

[Morty]

[Town]

Right. We can't escape the way we got here because there will be lots of guards at the elevators. We have to go look for something to help us. He's making this up as he goes, of course, and looks around for any indication of the nearby buildings' function.

[Reinholdt]

[Town]

There's a baker, a library, a blacksmith, a magic shop, a candlestick maker, a weapons shop, a clothing store, a bunch of soulless zombies, and a wi-fi cafe. Only there isn't any actual service at the wi-fi cafe. It's very out of place to be honest.

[Morty]

[Town]

Anatolij picks the wi-fi cafe since he has no idea what it is and therefore hopes it'll contain something useful. Not the most logical thought process, when you think about it.

[Reinholdt]

[Cafe]

Inside is a zombie waitress behind the desk, a few zombie patrons with cold coffee and a few zombie patrons still playing Pandemic on their laptops. Well the ones smart enough to bring plugs.

There's one laptop that's wide open and plugged in with no zombie sitting there. He or she or it must have gone to the bathroom or something.

[Morty]

[Cafe]

Anatolij has seen people use laptops in Inside and Taverna Generica, so he quickly plops down on the chair and frantically try to find something useful about ways to leave the town.

[Reinholdt]

[Cafe]

But there's no wi-fi! Not much use that laptop. The newspaper sitting by it is of more use though, what with headlines about the end of Lethargia and people making their own parachutes to jump off the airship with or raiding the magic shop for feather fall spells.

[Morty]

[Streets]

Anatolij reads the newspaper, then leaves the cafe and heads to where the family is hiding. People have escaped from this place before, after the zombies appeared. They either used parachutes or some magic to get to the ground.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

"But we have neither parachute, nor magic."
The article also described a general high casualty rate. Honestly, making your own parachute or using magic without knowing how is kinda asking for it. Though there were some successful landings.

[Morty]

[Streets]

We must find some, then. It's going to be dangerous, but I don't think there's another way.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

"So what? A magic shop or a sporting goods store then?"
Both of which Anatolij has seen and passed.

[Morty]

[Streets]

Let's try the magic shop. Anatolij swallows. He fears magic, but he figures it's not really more dangerous than using a device he's never used before.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

Everyone heads to the magic shop!
It's largely been ransacked and looted, empty scroll tubes and bottles spilled all over the rug on the floor.
But there may be something left in here of use that someone missed.

[Morty]

[Ye Olde Magick Shoppe]

Anatolij rummages through the shop, looking for anything of use.

[Reinholdt]

[New Age Magick Shoppe]

There's one of those computerized search engine thing like in a library that could help you find what you're looking for.
The rug itself moving slightly to get a better look at the people stomping on it may also be of some help. Granted, I don't think rugs have eyes.

[Morty]

[Magic Shop]

Being rather on edge, to put it mildly, Anatolij looks at the rug that, he can swear it, moved. What...

[Reinholdt]

[Magic Shop]

Well it's certainly not moving now. Someone's looking at it.
"What is it?"

[Morty]

[Magic Shop]

Nothing. All this just put me on edge. Anatolij checks the computerized search engine. Good thing he's literate, which wasn't that widespread among the Cossacks in 17th century Ukraine.

[Reinholdt]

[Magic Shop]

Well under flying, there's scrolls, potions, boots, and a magic carpet.
Which may explain why the rug moved again just now to steal a glance.

[Morty]

[Magic Carpet]

Magic carpet... he's head of this kind of thing before. Pagan people in the faraway lands to the east were supposed to have them. He looks for any information about how to use it.

[Reinholdt]

[Magic Carpet]

There's a few sample instruction command words that should allow him to do basic things like fly up and down and turn. A full instruction booklet is available on purchase, likely kept somewhere behind the desk.

[Morty]

[Magic Shop]

We might just manage to get out of here... Anatolij begins to search the desk.

[Reinholdt]

[Magic Shop]

Sadly, pretty much everything behind the desk has been taken. Someone out there has a magic carpet instruction booklet and no magic carpet. At least the computer provided the sample words.

There is pen and paper if you want to write them down so you don't forget.

[Morty]

[Magic Shop]

Anatolij writes them down, sits on the carpet and says: According to the computer, this is a magical flying carpet. He speaks the command word to ascend slightly. It'd be kind of silly to try to escape on a magic carpet that doesn't work.

[Reinholdt]

[Magic Shop]

The carpet ascends slightly. There is much oohing and aahing.
Ok, not really, more like some sighs of relief and an eagerness to leave.

[Morty]

[Magic Shop]

Well, it works. Let's move. Anatolij will try to sneakily get to the edge of the town, leading the family with him.

[Reinholdt]

[Magic Shop]

*sneak sneak*
To the edge of Town they go.
And from there they should be able to get down on the carpet. It can carry two people. There's a Cossack, a mother, a father, a daughter, and a zombie on top of the airship. If the daughter and mother are left alone on a side they'll fight. If a father and a Cossack are alone on a side, they'll fight. If a zombie is alone on a side with anyone it'll eat that person. One person must be on the rug for it to go from top to bottom. How do you get everyone to the bottom safely without any fights?

And from the ground everyone can run far, far away, before either the superweapon hits or the massive AMEN goon attack.

[Morty]

[Ground]

Anatolij runs as fast as he can, not believing his luck. When he's very far away, he shouts: We made it! I can't believe it!

[Reinholdt]

[Ground]

He's just tempting fate, isn't he?
The family thanks him profusely for saving them and offer him hugs that he can't refuse.

[Morty]

[Ground]

Yes, he is.
>.>
<.<
He accepts the hugs and checks what the zombies took from him. Not that he had much with him, just his sabre - his most valuable and prized possession - and some money.

[Reinholdt]

[Ground]

The zombies took nothing from him or with them. The sabre should still be on the floor at the Taverna Generica.

The family runs off to likely become hostage again someday for someone else.

[Morty]

Anatolij heads back to Taverna Genrica then, drunk with happiness.

[ThePhantom]

And, going in from the sky, a large azure scaled dragon, and ten helicopters are heading for the flying castle town.

[EleventhHour]

"Swimming in gold coins? Wouldn't that... not work or something? And probably be dirty?" Well, that's what she said before the helicopter ride. It probably went on for a while and off to other subjects between threads, and she's been leaning on him the entire time. Stupid people and thier flying machines.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Ebon Mirror watches the flying town draw closer through the helicopter windows.

[Reinholdt]

Well, one cannot become a flying magi-tech castle town without having a few defenses against aerial assaults. And certain soulless zombies have standing orders to shoot anything flying that's incoming.

Which explains the various lightening cannons charging up their shots and firing at the helicopters and dragons. We'll say five in all, and fairly big. 4 shots at helicopters and 1 at the dragon. Electrical blasts of doom go!

[Darkcomet]

Another craft, described in this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8175094&postcount=508) post, is now approaching from WATCHTOWER, though it's cloaked and rather quiet, so it's probably undetected. For now.

Should it remain undetected, it may eventually come across the AMEN attack force.

[Lord Iames Osari]

As the 'copter bearing Ebon Mirror swerves in a futile attempt to evade a lightning blast, the deathknight extends a spike from his mechanical arm and stabs it into a control console. Focussing, he treats the machine as an extension of himself and creates a protective forcefield around it. The lightning bolt splashes against the barrier, and the helicopter continues closer.

[Reinholdt]

Another craft, described in this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8175094&postcount=508) post, is now approaching from WATCHTOWER, though it's cloaked and rather quiet, so it's probably undetected. For now.

Should it remain undetected, it may eventually come across the AMEN attack force.

Seeing as how AMEN is just now getting in the thick of things, stealthcraft would spot AMEN long before Lethargia notices stealthcraft and shoots at it, if Lethargia even has the capabilities to find stealthcraft.

[Moff Chumley]

Another AMEN chopper, late to the party, hurls through the air at unreasonable speeds. It appears to be upside down, and The Moff is somehow standing on top. In one hand he's waving a knife, and in the other, a battered old harmonica. He appears to be yelling, but what with the noise, he's impossible to make out. Anyone attempting to target his chopper will find it next to impossible to concentrate on hitting him.

[Murkus]

Jack Empty sits inside the helicopter, strapped into his chair, upside down. "Well, this ought to be interesting, in the least." The hollow man remarks, watching the rest of the AMEN strike force.

[Moff Chumley]

The Moff pokes his head back into the chopper. You're going to want to jump in, lets say, thirty seconds?

[Murkus]

Jack looks up (down?) at him. "Jump? Why's that, my friend?"

[Moff Chumley]

Well, you know how we're going to crash into an flying city in about fifteen seconds?

[happyturtle]

Darcy, who was not wearing her belt and so has been tossed around a bit. "Wait wait wait, don't we want to jump before we crash?" :smalleek:

[Moff Chumley]

That's what I had in mind. Let's go, kids! The Moff withdraws back to the top (bottom) of the chopper and prepares to jump.

[happyturtle]

Darcy hurriedly casts a featherfall spell on herself and crawls across the ceiling of the chopper towards the door.

[Murkus]

Jack laughs. "I'm liking your style more and more, Moff." He turns to Darcy, unbuckling and flipping onto the upside-down roof of the copter. "Ready, set, go!"

Well, hm. We might have to wait for Reinholdt in this little situation.

[Moff Chumley]

((That's what I was thinking.))

[ThePhantom]

Well, one cannot become a flying magi-tech castle town without having a few defenses against aerial assaults. And certain soulless zombies have standing orders to shoot anything flying that's incoming.

Which explains the various lightening cannons charging up their shots and firing at the helicopters and dragons. We'll say five in all, and fairly big. 4 shots at helicopters and 1 at the dragon. Electrical blasts of doom go!

Well, two helicopters dodge, and Ebon Mirror protected one, so the four copter is hit. As for Gordon, the type of dragon he is is immune to electric attacks.

"Excellent."

Gordon flies over, and grabs the falling copter. Seeing as the henchmen on it all jumped already, Gordon tears off the rotor and throws it at the lightening cannons.

[Reinholdt]

Another AMEN chopper, late to the party, hurls through the air at unreasonable speeds. It appears to be upside down, and The Moff is somehow standing on top. In one hand he's waving a knife, and in the other, a battered old harmonica. He appears to be yelling, but what with the noise, he's impossible to make out. Anyone attempting to target his chopper will find it next to impossible to concentrate on hitting him.
Zombies, if anything, are either the most concentrated or least concentrated undead in the world. Either way, I don't think they care much for any mental mojo jojo and fire at the copter anyways. Probably a great time to jump out since you were going to anyways.

Two of the cannons get bowled over by a rotor, metal crunching on metal before a small explosion happens in that general area.

One cannon fires on a random stray helicopter, and the last on the dragon again.
No one said they were very smart.

Anything else not attacked makes it there.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Ebon Mirror's copter lands, and he gets out after withdrawing his arm spike.

On the ground, he looks around, taking in his surroundings.

[happyturtle]

Darcy leaps from the helicopter and lands softly on the ground. Good old Featherfall. She immediately races for the nearest cover that is not currently occupied by a zombie.

[Murkus]

Jack Empty hits the flying city grounds like a sack of bricks, but tucks, rolls, and comes up drawing his blade at superspeed.

After which he'll immediately dash at the nearest group of zombies, swinging the ivory Sword of the White King in an arc as he tries to cleave them asunder.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok removes his safety restraints, and immediately sets about shoving Gordon's henchfolk out the helicopter, attempting to distract his assailants with a crude, involuntary flurry of screaming and terrified suppressive fire.

Bombs away!
Have a nice summer, see you next fall!
Hey, what do you call an arrogant criminal falling out of a helicopter?

Careful attention is made to ensure that each and every henchman plucked out of his seat and tossed at the undead is without a parachute, so as to allow these diabolical projectiles to reach the proper velocity for crushing any zombies that fail to get out of the way.

Condescending! Mwahahahahaha!
And a child musician doing the same would be A-flat minor!
I'm second in command of AMEN and you're just some minion, don't give me that altitude!
What? No, of course I didn't plan for any of this, I'm winging it!
Oh sorry, are these puns a little over your head?

I...oh gods, those puns are painful. I think I would jump out of the plane just to not have to listen to him...Maybe that's the idea, actually.:smallconfused:

In any case, assuming he can maintain this before any of them get uppity and work up the nerve to stop him, Magtok attempts to much more gently take Elly by the hand with one hand. Hopefully he's cleared enough room to make a safe, slow, steady landing, as he attempts to pull the catgirl close and slowly drift down, taking care to sweep out of the way ouf any lightning bolts not presently aimed at other, more dangerous intruders.

[Darkcomet]

Meanwhile, on the invisible and quiet aircraft...

Oh, to hell with this. Time to see what this thing can do!

The craft flies behind AMEN's (presumably, about to land) helicopters, and two bursts of laser turret fire head for two of the helicopters, specifically, two not being shot at, if possible. This disrupts the cloak, causing the parts of the craft around said turrets to become visible briefly.

The turrets are probably capable of punching through a helicopter without reinforced armor. This might prove unpleasant, particularly if the shot (assuming they get hit, which is probable, since Trent's craft wasn't exactly expected) helicopters end up disrupting the others' landing.

This could get ugly.

[Reinholdt]

Immediately beyond the cannons is the edge of town. There's a small wall and open gate, not so much to keep anything in or out, but to block eyesores like magitech cannons from the populace. Diving through the gate and around the wall would provide cover from the going ons. Though incoming helicopters that get shot down and are moving at high speed are likely to crash into the ground and skid into this, cutting a hole in the structure.

Otherwise, it's a somewhat open area with different paths leading to cannons and a few manhole like covers on the ground, likely for some internal defenses or something like that.

Anyways, Jack is cleaving through what zombies remained from the first and second cannon explosions and the zombies that had come out to meet the intruders on the "landing strips" are being pun dropped on and crushed. The few remaining shoot at anyone that makes it to the ground with blasts of electricity, or will attempt to beat up anyone who come in melee range with their mecha-suits. Steam powered suit punches to the face FTW.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Ebon Mirror takes a deep breath.

"Creatures of death, hear my words and obey! I am the Most Secret Ebon Mirror, Midnight Caste! Flock to the banner of your true master, the priest of that force which drives your bodies on even after death has claimed your once-living souls!" he shouts, invisible tendrils of necromantic energy snaking out to seize control of nearby zombie soldiers as his anima banner flares iconic, a jet black sword and set of merchant's scales towering in the sky, visible for miles around.

[EleventhHour]

"If you keep up with that I might have to pun-ish you." Elle comments, then calmly plants her foot on a henchman's back and kicks him out the door. "Flying castle? Clockwork people? This is kinda familiar." She comments, and shoots at the nearest one. Who cares about ridiculous magic, dead things should be dead, so let's try to get them that way, and following old B-Movie logic... You Gotta Shoot 'em In The Head.

[happyturtle]

Darcy is trying to avoid zombies rather than fight them, making her way by stealth in the direction of the castle.

[Moff Chumley]

The Moff, propelled by the helicopter's explosion, breaks his fall with a mech-zombie. He quickly attempts to stabs the mech several times in the head; the kinfe should seem to slice through any armor, magic or otherwise, without any problems. If he takes down the mech successfully, he'll sprint towards the gates. If not, he'll attempt to wriggle away and sprint towards the gates anyway.

[Murkus]

Jack laughs madly as he whips his sword through zombie after zombie, the atom-edged blade shredding them into little undead bits.

Any melee or electric attacks simply impact him and seem to have no effect. Where his skin is pierced, only darkness can be seen. He still seems to feel pain, though, for whatever reason.

The hollow man is distracted long enough for a mech-zombie to walk over and give him a good wack, sending him sprawling a a good ten feet or so before he picks himself up.

He grins around at the enemies, and seeing the others heading for the gate, decides he'll try a different way. In this case, the manholes.

Jack dashes for the nearest manhole, trying to cut down as many foes as possible whilst he does so, and unless something halts him, he'll try to pry the thing open.

With an indestructible weapon and superhuman abilities, this shouldn't be much of a problem.

And, if he gets it open (again, unless something tries to deliberately stop him) he'll jump down, cackling maniacally. Perhaps a little too maniacally.

[Reinholdt]

The group is on this side of the airship.

The castle is on this side.

It'll take a bit of time to get to the castle. On the upside, there aren't really too many soldiers in the midst of town that'll be a problem. Just a couple of patrols, but Darcy sneaking should easily make it by them without them noticing her. Plenty of regular soulless zombies doing nothing and with no combat training standing about though.

I believe there are still some random henchmen inside the town as well.

Moff and Elle and Jack kill even more mecha zombies. Moff before he sprints towards town and Elle before... landing with Magtok if she went with him. Jack gets a manhole open and jumps down. It would have been better described as a hatch, but hindsight and all that. Anyways down below are a few soulless zombie mechanics who are working away at the machinery, completely ignoring Jack. And boy is there machinery. Pipes and buttons and levers and steam. Looks like it stretches in all manner of which way too. Jack landed in a hub where there's obviously controls, though without some training their meaning and purpose would probably be lost on someone.

Most of the zombie soldiers at this point are kinda dead and out for the count. Maybe Ebon mirror should have told his group what he was planning before hand. Anyways, being just soulless people and not real zombies, their true master is the Ebony Dagger of DOOM. But it's not here right now, so they'll listen to the fancy Ebon Mirror instead. There's 18 zombie soldiers under his control, 3 left surviving in the landing strip and 5 per surviving cannon.

[ThePhantom]

Zombies, if anything, are either the most concentrated or least concentrated undead in the world. Either way, I don't think they care much for any mental mojo jojo and fire at the copter anyways. Probably a great time to jump out since you were going to anyways.

Two of the cannons get bowled over by a rotor, metal crunching on metal before a small explosion happens in that general area.

One cannon fires on a random stray helicopter, and the last on the dragon again.
No one said they were very smart.

Anything else not attacked makes it there.


Meanwhile, on the invisible and quiet aircraft...

Oh, to hell with this. Time to see what this thing can do!

The craft flies behind AMEN's (presumably, about to land) helicopters, and two bursts of laser turret fire head for two of the helicopters, specifically, two not being shot at, if possible. This disrupts the cloak, causing the parts of the craft around said turrets to become visible briefly.

The turrets are probably capable of punching through a helicopter without reinforced armor. This might prove unpleasant, particularly if the shot (assuming they get hit, which is probable, since Trent's craft wasn't exactly expected) helicopters end up disrupting the others' landing.

This could get ugly.

Another copter is hit by the lighting cannon, while two helicopters hit by Trent's craft explode, sending nearby helicopters off balance. While the henchmen on the ground try and fight back, Gordon spots the parts that are visible.

"Thinking to play surprise?"

Gordon flies towards Trent's craft.

-----

Secret Passage

With all the fighting going up, its quite likely that the henchmen down here should hear it.

"Arr, me thinks I hear the captain coming."

[happyturtle]

Darcy will look for a way to sneak into the castle and search for any non-zombified peoples. Her player is deadtiming now, so it may take her a while to navigate the not-castle part to get there.

[Murkus]

Machinery Area

Jack flits about amidst the whirring machinery, completely ignoring the zombie engineers. Gordon said he wanted to conquer the town, not wreck everything and send it crashing to the ground.

He looks for a diagram or map of some sort, something that will lead him towards the castle via some of the machine passages.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Ebon Mirror gathers his mecha-zombies and begins marching toward the castle, gathering up more zombies as he encounters them.

[Moff Chumley]

As he sprints, The Moff puffs a few more notes through his harmonica*. As he gets into the middle of the town, he slows and surveys the surroundings.

*For the record, The Moff's harmonica does not opperate on mind-clouding or the like, it relies on luck. No one should be able to see The Moff unless they are incredibly lucky, or he lets them.

[Darkcomet]

Trent's ship vanishes completely again soon after his little surprise attack. The craft is now turning and moving away from Gordon. It's not exactly a supersonic jet or anything like that, but it is still quite a bit faster than, say, a standard helicopter.

Also quite maneuverable, so it's probably not all that inconvenienced by the turn.

Meanwhile, WATCHTOWER's airship is approaching at maximum speed. Let's hope Trent's little diversion at least slows Gordon down long enough...

[Reinholdt]

[Outside Castle]
Darcy got quite the head start on everyone else, so she'll reach the outside of the castle when she returns. There's about twenty visible guards protecting the main entrance. But you know Darcy, I'm willing to bet there's a servant's entrance around over on that side of the castle in the outer gardens that's completely unguarded. Just a guess.

[Battle out Front]
There was going to be some lightening cannon shots at Airship A. Airship, but Ebon Mirror took the zombies manning those. Consider yourselves unmolested.

[Secret Passage]
The sounds of battle can be easily heard, especially since there were explosions earlier. It also explains why the minions can hear some of the survivors heading down the passage to investigate. Time to move.

[Machine Area]
Well there is a "You are here" diagram, though it doesn't really clearly specify where the castle is. Though it does show several up and down levels. Further if one considers that you're on end of the flying castle town and the castle is on the other, it shouldn't be horribly hard to figure out which way to traverse to at least get close to the Castle. Take whichever passage that's the biggest and stretches the longest.

[Town]
Most of the other zombies that Ebon Mirror chooses to take control of are normal zombies with no mecha or combat skills. At least until he runs into one of the two patrols of five mecha-zombies or reach the Castle or makes a detour to the side of the ship where the elevators are. Not that combat skills really helped the mecha-zombies any. If he's going out of his way to gather them up though, it's going to take him a fair while longer to get to the castle. There's quite a few.

The Moff dashes towards the center of town. There he can find an open air marketplace mostly filled with rotting food and random trinkets. Nearby is a magic shop, a sporting goods store, a wi-fi cafe, a bakery, a library (secret passage area), a blacksmith, a candlestick maker, a weapons shop, and a clothing store. Soulless zombies stand about. At least until Ebon Mirror catches up.

[Moff Chumley]

The Moff, upon looking around a bit, decides the best course of action is to find a secret passage into the castle. He will wander around for a few moments, but unneringly find himself drift towards the Library.

[Lord Iames Osari]

[Town]

Ebon Mirror is making as near to a beeline for the castle as he can, trusting in his ability to temporarily buff the abilities of undead once battle is actually joined.

[Murkus]

Machine Area

Jack becomes a blur as he tears off into the halls of whirring technology, taking the largest, longest passage that is in the direction of the castle.

[Morty]

[WATCHTOWER Airship]

Wenomir looks through the window. What a fine mess. Reminds me of the battle at South Kruminney where three armies wandered into the same valley without knowing the others were there until they saw each other.

[happyturtle]

[Castle - around back]

Darcy looks for the servant's entrance, and if she finds it, goes inside if it appears unguarded.

[ThePhantom]

With the copters not getting shot at, the henchmen land the remaining ones, and start heading for the castle, doing their best to deal with any zombies.

As for Gordon himself, seeing how he lost the craft, spots WATCHTOWER's airship.

[B]"More guests? I better make sure that the prize is mine."

Gordon heads for the castle, but first tries to rip a roof out to use as improvested shield against any more surprises.


Secret passage

The henchmen head for the door to the passages, trying to see how to open it from this side.

[Ashen Lilies]

With the copters not getting shot at, the henchmen land the remaining ones, and start heading for the castle, doing their best to deal with any zombies.

As for Gordon himself, seeing how he lost the craft, spots WATCHTOWER's airship.

[B]"More guests? I better make sure that the prize is mine."

Gordon heads for the castle, but first tries to rip a roof out to use as improvested shield against any more surprises.



Yeah, uh... might wanna revise that statement. Because the Airship is firing at them right now! Ah, Disruptors. Vaporizes concrete, wood, plastic, metal, flesh... pretty much anything, really.

The airship moves into position over the Flying Castle Town, opening its bay doors.
"DC, I trust you can give everyone who can't fly a safe landing? I'll handle things up here."

[Reinholdt]

[Servant's Entrance]
Darcy sneaks in the side way. It's at this moment I realize I know next to nothing about Darcy. Regardless, OMG SOULLESS ZOMBIE BUTLER. As in butler. He's still there. Still standing. She can kick him in the shins and knock him over or something if she wants. Otherwise, walking by, she'll come eventually to the Main Entrance room, hidden somewhat from the upper level by being in a corner. There are various signs. Darcy can check out the Kitchen or the Prisons or the Guest Quarters. Anything beyond that and she'll have to go out in the open to get to other areas.

[Battle out Front]
Gordon rips a roof right off the top of generic building number 256!

[Library]
Well pushing on the secret door would be a good start. And works. They stumble out of the passage right as Moff stumbles into the Library. More like walk in, but you get the picture.

[Machine Area]
Watch out for the steam. Otherwise, he should get to the other side fairly soon. Unremarkably it'll look a lot like the side he just left.

[Town]
Ebon Mirror spots Moff entering the library and can either ignore him and continue to the castle or not. Presuming Ebon Mirror can even spot Moff. I don't really know how that'd work out.

[Darkcomet]

DC nods. [B]"Can do. I'll tell the joyriding idiot to pick off what opposition he can, as well."

DC will provide trips to the ground by lowering those headed there down via telekinesis. Whoo.

Meanwhile...

Any henchmen escaping the disruptors might find themselves the subjects of laser fire from Trent's ship, said craft becoming partially visible once again. He seems to be avoiding getting in a dogfight with Gordon.

[happyturtle]

[Castle]

Darcy:
http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1007/d03/0013/55d5394.png (http://tektek.org/avatar/37854167)
Human looking sorceress, member of AMEN, watches the Real Housewives series. :smallyuk:

She :smalleek:'s a bit at the butler, but figures out that it isn't interested in her. After that, she heads for the prisons, looking along the way for anything obviously useful like a guard room with a set of keys.

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Wenomir lands, and immediately draws his sword and activates his blood surge on full power, making him much faster than normal, as well as a bit stronger and tougher. It also makes his eyes glow like laterns and surrounds him with the smell of brimstone and sulfur. He looks around for any zombies or AMEN forces.

[Murkus]

Machine Area

Jack's face is horribly scalded by steam on one side, but he doesn't appear to notice other than a slight 'gah' and somesuch. His suit, too, is burnt on the front. He arrives at the other side in just a moment.

He rubs at the new injury marring his husk for a second, grumbling, before looking around.

Is there another hatch he can leave through? If so, he'll simply take it.

[ThePhantom]

[Battle out Front]

Now henchmen start dying left and right, getting hit with disruptors and lasers. Three helicopters are blasted to bits. Some henchmen run, trying to hide, while other look for a working lighting cannon. A few brave henchmen fire at Wenomir.

Gordon, seeing how much punch the disruptors have, heads up, trying to get above the WATCHTOWER airship to attack it from above.

(It like an zepplin, right?)

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Wenomir activates his belt, causing the henchmen's missles to slow down enough to be dodges as he charges them and proceeds to attempt to slaughter them.

[Moff Chumley]

[Secret Passage]

Finally, some quiet... The Moff wanders along the secret passage in the direction he remembered the castle being in

[ThePhantom]

Library/Secret passage

Moff should see a group of four henchmen. One of them is wearing an eyepac.

"Ahoy there!"
"Finally. We've be down here for days."

[Battle out Front]

And Wenomir should easily start slaughtering henchmen. However, some of them try using swords instead of bullets on him.

[Moff Chumley]

SECRET TUNNEEEEEEEEL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmtD4-WfhMw)

Er, hello, gentlemen. Have you explored this passage yet?

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

The henchmen using swords will find themselves against an expert swordsman with almost unhuman speed and reflex.

[ThePhantom]

Secret Passage

"A little. I don't think it leads to the castle."

The henchman with the eyepac waves a sniper rifle.

"Arr, that's lilylivered thinking."

[Battle out Front]

And so, more henchmen die. Standing out of the way of the disrupters and lasers, one last henchman waits, watching Wenomir, letting the others slow him down.

[Moff Chumley]

Tunnel

Whatever. Let's go. The Moff starts walking, figuring whoever built the secret passage woulda put SOMETHING important on the other side...

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Wenomir fights the henchmen, then. When he finishes off the last one, he'll immediately charge the one who's been watching.

[ThePhantom]

Secret passage

And the henchmen follow Moff, with the pirate one singing 'ten dead men on a dead man chest'.

[Battle out Front]

With the dead of the last henchmen in the area, the watching henchman steps out of the doorway, revealing that he's wearing armor.

"Most annoying."

Rogar turns on his electrostaff, and moves to block Wenomir's strike, which could be bad for Wenomir. After all, electrostaff's pack quite an charge.

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Wenomir performs a pirouette, moving away from Rogar. Finally, he grins, which makes the scar pattern on his face somehow more apparent. A worthy opponent.
He engages Rogar again and performs a cut, but if Rogar moves his staff to block, he'll divert the course of his sword and thrust instead.

[ThePhantom]

[Battle out Front]

Rogar leans back to let Wenomir swing, then strike at his sword, trying to either disarm him or badly shock him.

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Wenomir's sword is struck, but he holds onto it. He's mildly shocked, but definetly not as much as he should be; the artifact sword seems to have diverted most of the electricity. He has to back away and shake it off, though.

[ThePhantom]

Well, Rogar doesn't believe in letting his foes recover, so he continues foward, quickly striking high and low, trying to get past Wenomir's defences.

[Morty]

When Rogar strikes, Wenomir blocks his attack and tries to forcefully push his weapon and himself backwards.

[ThePhantom]

Rogar is pushed back, being weaker than Wenomir.

"Strong, aren't you?"

Rogar uses the push to flip up onto the roof of the building behind him.

[Morty]

Wenomir uses his belt teleport next to him. Yeah. He aims a strong kick to try and push Rogar off the roof.

[ThePhantom]

Rogar is kicked off the roof, but he strikes at Wenomir's leg as he fall.

As he hits the ground, he rolls to soften the impact.

[Lord Iames Osari]

[Town]

Ebon Mirror continues pushing toward the castle with his growing army of zombies, figuring that even being a large, visible, threatening diversion is going to be useful.

[Darkcomet]

DC hovers out of the airship, carrying his usual multi-barrelled, silver-glowing energy assault gun.

Gordon may hear a voice. In his head. Or he might not, if he's shielded in that manner. DC's only sending a message, not actually reading Gordon's mind for any responses. [B]Hello. The calm telepathic greeting is followed by something else entirely, that being a psychic attack aimed at setting off pain receptors in Gordon's head. Suffice to say that it will be an extremely bad headache, if it works. Again, it depends on if Gordon's shielded from that sort of thing or not.

He'll probably be able to guess its source, given that DC is hovering up in his direction, weapon firing endlessly, searing energy bolts flying for Gordon-or his impromptu shield. Either works.

Meanwhile, hopefully while Gordon is preoccupied, Trent's ship stops attacking and heads up, trying to get behind Gordon while his attention is elsewhere.

[Morty]

Wenomir moves his leg so that it's only bruised rather than broken by Rogar's strike. He then looks for any ledges, parapets and such that he can use to get down safely.

[ThePhantom]

Well, good thing for Gordon his mind is protected. It also good that Gordon did grab that roof, as it is blasted by DC.

[B]"Thinking that I'll go down easily? I don't think so."

Gordon throws what's left of the roof at DC, while he tries to tear a hole in WATCHTOWER's airship.

Meanwhile Rogar get to his feet, and looks up at Wenomir.

"Having problems?"

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Yep. I'm stuck here. Wenomir swears and waves his sword in frustration.

[ThePhantom]

[Battle out Front]

"Well then."

Rogar reachs inside his sleeve, and pull out a handgun.

"I hope you surrender now!"

Rogar starts shooting at Wenomir.

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

When Rogar starts shooting, meaning he switches from the staff to a gun, Wenomir teleports behind him and tries to drive him through with his sword. The belt gives him a nasty shock and sets his cloak on fire, but he'll deal with this later.

[ThePhantom]

[Battle out Front]

Rogar's wearing armor, and while its not thick, its enough to keep Wenomir from killing him.

"Gargh!"

Rogar lase his staff at Wenomir, dropping the gun.

[Morty]

[Battle out Front]

Wenomir dodges, but he's still shocked by the belt malfunctioning, so the tip of the staff hits his side. He gnashes his teeth, swears, gets close to Rogar and half-swords (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-sword), aiming at any gap in Rogar's armor he can find.

[ThePhantom]

The arm pit is a gap, and seeing as that is a common weakpoint, Wenomir likely hit it. Rogar collapes from pain, electrostaff rolling away from him.

"Curse you. At least my boss will kill your friends."

[Morty]

We'll see about that. Wenomir attempts to perform a coup de grace on Rogar.

[Darkcomet]

DC aims a powerful kinetic blast at the roof to stop it from smashing into him. He'd try to grab it and hurl it at Gordon, but he's not going to try that, since it's riskier, and he has another thing in mind...

Namely, Trent's ship decloaks in position behind Gordon, power diverted from the cloak to the weapons. The twin laser turrets fire again, aiming at Gordon's wings. They're a bit more powerful now than before.

DC-the-player also imagines that this is when Gordon learns of the airship's shields, though KK's the one controlling the ship, so...yeah. That's just what I think.

[ThePhantom]

Well, Rogar's dead. For now.

Gordon screams as his wings are blasted. And considering he's a big dragon, its going to be LOUD. Yeah, he's not happy. Gordon heads for the ground, seeing has his wings are injuted.

[Morty]

Wenomir leans on his sword, breathing heavily and beginning to feel his wounds.

[Reinholdt]

There's a loud dragon scream that everyone can hear.


[Castle]

Darcy:
http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1007/d03/0013/55d5394.png (http://tektek.org/avatar/37854167)
Human looking sorceress, member of AMEN, watches the Real Housewives series. :smallyuk:

She :smalleek:'s a bit at the butler, but figures out that it isn't interested in her. After that, she heads for the prisons, looking along the way for anything obviously useful like a guard room with a set of keys.
Sadly there is nothing useful of the like. There is a door halfway down the passage that's locked though. No. No it's not. Blame Anatolij for that since he took the keys from the zombie guard that was supposed to have them.

Opening the door, and peering down, Darcy can see 15 zombie guards guarding a cell, though from this angle, not what's in the cell. They either don't notice her or don't care. Given that their only purpose is to keep prisoners out, I think it's the second, but I've been known to be wrong in the past. Darcy can probably hear someone making noise in the cell.
"Come on work. WORK!"


Machine Area

Jack's face is horribly scalded by steam on one side, but he doesn't appear to notice other than a slight 'gah' and somesuch. His suit, too, is burnt on the front. He arrives at the other side in just a moment.

He rubs at the new injury marring his husk for a second, grumbling, before looking around.

Is there another hatch he can leave through? If so, he'll simply take it.
There is indeed another hatch he can leave through. Going up it he ends up at... well it looks like another defensive area like at the front of the airship, except right behind the castle. You don't think they'd be silly enough to not put defenses on multiple sides, did you?

If Jack just pops out, he's liable to get shot at by the mecha-zombies with electric blasts as they close. If he peers out first, he can notice them largely around five operational electric cannons.


[Battle out Front]

Now henchmen start dying left and right, getting hit with disruptors and lasers. Three helicopters are blasted to bits. Some henchmen run, trying to hide, while other look for a working lighting cannon. A few brave henchmen fire at Wenomir.

Gordon, seeing how much punch the disruptors have, heads up, trying to get above the WATCHTOWER airship to attack it from above.

(It like an zepplin, right?)
There are three working lightning cannons still on the front end, but they are unmanned.


Tunnel

Whatever. Let's go. The Moff starts walking, figuring whoever built the secret passage woulda put SOMETHING important on the other side...
Moff and the henchmen soon run into the survivors that were coming to investigate. Like as soon as they start moving.
"What's going on out there? Is there a rescue party?"
They probably act somewhat familiar, since they did kinda meet the henchmen earlier.


[Town]

Ebon Mirror continues pushing toward the castle with his growing army of zombies, figuring that even being a large, visible, threatening diversion is going to be useful.
Ebon Mirror has, for ease of counting, 80 regular zombies and 20 combat zombies when he reaches the castle. There 20 combat zombies stand guard over the front door. If Ebon Mirror tries to take them too, 10 will convert. The other 10 mecha-zombies seem resistant for whatever reason and will open fire and steam powered fist bash whatever tries to approach the front doors.

[Murkus]

Behind the Castle

Jack is about to hop out of the hatch and start hacking at the zombies when he hears Gordon's scream.

AMEN vs. Watchtower

Figuring he can come back later, he teleports back in the midst of the streets, glancing around at the friends and foes.

Well. It looks like lots of people are already heading for the castle, leaving Gordon to deal with Watchtower all by his lonesome.

Jack shall assist!

The hollow man grabs a pair of submachine guns that were dropped by dead henchmen, watching DC for a couple seconds, before raising both the guns and sending a well-aimed spray of automatic fire in the floating telepath's direction.

[ThePhantom]

[Battle out Front]

The henchmen try to man two of the lighting cannon, hoping to shoot down the aircraft shooting at them.

As for Gordon, he sets in the closest area for him, not caring if buildings get wrecked by him.

Secert Passage

"Sort of. But once we're done, Reinholdt will be gone."

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

Darcy approaches the guarded prisoner, looking to see if there are any other prisoners along the way.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

The only prisoner here is flaming hawt Reinholdt, his collar almost devoid of the green liquid that used to be there, though some is still visible. He is waving his hands about in an abnormal fashion. Those who know him would know he's trying to summon something from his hammer space, but failing. Since Darcy doesn't, it just looks silly. Of course as soon as he realizes someone is there, he whirls about, a smile still on his face, but not near as goofy as when Anatolij was here. "Hi there! You with the explosions and the fighting and the loud roaring thing?"

So long as Darcy remains on this side and doesn't give the prisoner anything or try to open the door or attack them, they ignore her.

[Secret Passage]
"Forget Reinholdt, we just want off of this rock. You got up here somehow right? You got a way down?" Various others without text colours nod in agreement. They just want to get out of zombieland.

[Battle out Front]
The lightning cannons are easily manned and work just like turrets.

[Darkcomet]

[Battle]

Trent's ship quickly recloaks after the attack on Gordon, not becoming even partially visible again.

Meanwhile, Jack seems to have decided to shoot at DC. Whee. Seeing as the Gordon issue seems to be temporarily resolved, DC retreats as Jack opens fire.

That is to say, he flies off in the direction of the greatest concentration of AMEN helicopter wreckage, and a red forcefield appears, moving with him and generally getting in the way of the bullets. See, there's a consequence of waiting before attacking. You're more likely to get spotted.

I wonder what he's going to do with destroyed helicopters, though?

Must be interesting if he's not just pointing that oversized gun of his at Jack and calling it a day.

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

"Yup. How come you're not a zombie?" Darcy says.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

"... Good?" Is it a good thing she's with all the things going on outside? Need moar info.

"Me? I'm not one cause Mister Admiral man likes to use my body."










"In that he makes himself look like me and needs me alive to do it." Reinholdt clarifies after thinking about that last statement for a bit. Stupid drugs.

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

"Where is Mr Admiral now?" she asks. "Is that Reinholdt?"

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

"No, I'm Reinholdt. I have no idea where the Admiral is. Haven't seen him in a few days, which is mildly unusual. Probably in his throne room smoking on cigars. Say... wouldn't it be neat if you opened the cage and let me out?" So very neat.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Ebon Mirror has, for ease of counting, 80 regular zombies and 20 combat zombies when he reaches the castle. There 20 combat zombies stand guard over the front door. If Ebon Mirror tries to take them too, 10 will convert. The other 10 mecha-zombies seem resistant for whatever reason and will open fire and steam powered fist bash whatever tries to approach the front doors.

Ebon Mirror does indeed take the opportunity to add 10 more mecha-zombies to his forces, which he immediately directs to begin beating on their compatriots while the rest of his mecha-zombies fire into melee.

[Murkus]

Battle
Jack chases DC, blurring amidst the debris and corpses of zombies/henchmen, snatching up a few more magazines for his submachine guns, along with a couple holster straps, along the way.

He launches a few more potshots at his fleeing target, not expecting them to do anything more than ping off the force field.

If only he was closer to ground level... shields wouldn't do a thing against the Sword of the White King.

[Darkcomet]

Jack will catch up to DC rather quickly. Mostly, because he stops once he reaches the wreckage.

He'll find the psychic smirking, standing amidst the wreckage and the corpses of lasered-down henchmen. Notably, he seems to have lost his gun. Weird. [B]"How easily you are outwitted..." DC raises a hand into the air, and large portions of the wreckage-and even some corpses-are suddenly surrounded by a dark red aura.

The purpose of this soon becomes apparent as the twisted metal, debris, and corpses are quickly whipped up into a telekinetic storm, swirling about in the air.

"Goodbye, AMENite." The psychic's raised hand suddenly lowers, cast toward Jack now, as the storm stops its swirling, now flying towards Jack with deadly speed.

He might want to get out of there.

[Reinholdt]

[Outside Castle]

The guards turn on the other guards who turn on them in turn.
Then they all get shot up anyways whilst fighting amongst each other. All 20 get blown to bits.
What a strange turn of events.
Door's open. Figuratively of course. Heading inside will get Ebon mirror to the main entrance where 2 soldiers wait at the top of the stairs and a bunch of passages branch out on the first floor leading to various places.

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

"Sure would be nifty, but I didn't see any keys," Darcy says. "So what happened here? They made you king because you were the prettiest, you started making them into zombies, and then the Admiral took over?"

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

"No. Nothing like that. The Admiral was already pretending to be king when I got here to do some research on how to destroy the dagger. The Admiral is an old... acquaintance of mine. When he found out he was here, he drugged me and threw me in here. Threw a fake coronation where he made me king, and started impersonating me. Somewhere along the line the idiot found my dagger and didn't listen to me when I said it was dangerous. He used it to make everyone zombies." The chain and the broken leg and stuff says there's some escape attempts in there, but they aren't necessary to the story.

"And you're telling me you made it all the way here completely unscathed and you are unable to open doors without the keys?" Pick the lock, bust it down, turn it into pigeon feathers, just let him out!

[Murkus]

Battle

Telekinetic tornado of debris. Cool move, that.

Jack stares on as the junk and bodies swirls upwards, laughing at the display of sheer psychic power. "You got some talent, man. I'll give you that."

"But we're certainly feeling haughty today, aren't we?"

And Jack does, indeed, get out of there. I mean sure, it would look pretty badass to get crushed and cut by all that junk and then just come swaggering out, but honestly, the hollow man isn't sure his outer shell could take that much damage.

He disappears into thin air, and in the same split second, appears soundlessly a couple feet behind DC, the Sword of the White King in hand, guns in holsters. The Yellow Road is, again, timeless, so he was free to draw a new weapon in the same second he disappeared.

With which he will try to impale the psion's heart at about a kajillion miles an hour.

[Ashen Lilies]

The zeppelin turns its disruptor quad-cannons against the remaining lightning cannons as it closes towards the castle.
Its shields have protected it from most of Gordon's assault, though one of the gas-cells has been punctured by his clawing. Given that such a ship would have a redundancy of gas-cells, and that it's being held up by propellers as well (all modern airships are slightly heavier than air, to negate the need for dropping ballast or venting gas at take-off and landing), this isn't an immediate problem. You'd probably have to rupture half of them before the airship starts to sink.

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

"I made it in unscathed because everyone else was busy doing all the fighting." Darcy says. She steps closer to examine the lock, though ready to leap back if the zombies try to stop her.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

The lock is a very standard prison lock. Not even all that well made either. It wouldn't take too much messing around with it to get unlocked with something like a hairpin.

[happyturtle]

Hairpin. Right. Darcy'll just step back to the 50s where she last saw those.

"Yup. It's a lock all right." she says. Having been yanked onto this mission by Jack and Moff without so much as a 2 minute warning, she's a little light on equipment.

Also, Happy is confused as to why Darcy isn't being zombie attacked.


[Prison]

So long as Darcy remains on this side and doesn't give the prisoner anything or try to open the door or attack them, they ignore her.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

"Thanks Captain Obvious." :smallannoyed:

Well something's gotta be holding that hair up of Darcy's! Clearly it's a hairpin.
Some sorcerer. Can't even open a lock or conjure up a pin.

And near as I can tell, Darcy was just looking at the lock, not interacting with it. Looking at something will not get you smacked around. If she tried to actually pick the lock there'd be issues.

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

It's one of those big claw clips holding it up. She takes it down and snaps off the plastic, releasing the little springy bit inside. After chasing it down from where it went sproinging off merrily, she tries to straighten the spring.

"****!" It's not going very well. "Here, you want to try?" she says, trying to hand it through to him.

[Reinholdt]

[Prison]

Said zombie guards promptly attempt to tackle her, grab her head and bash it repeatedly against the floor until she is very, very dead.

Course, with so many of them, they're more likely to just crush her in a massive dogpile.

((deadtime))

[Lord Iames Osari]

[Outside Castle]

The guards turn on the other guards who turn on them in turn.
Then they all get shot up anyways whilst fighting amongst each other. All 20 get blown to bits.
What a strange turn of events.
Door's open. Figuratively of course. Heading inside will get Ebon mirror to the main entrance where 2 soldiers wait at the top of the stairs and a bunch of passages branch out on the first floor leading to various places.

Ebon Mirror and his army storm the castle, and the mecha zombies level their shooty-things at the two soldiers.

"Take us to your leader," he says.

[Darkcomet]

((As I recall, the quad-cannons were vetoed. They're just single rapid-fire disruptors, I believe...?



Normally, anyone fighting Jack now would probably be dead.

But if nothing else, DC's well-known for seeing things with more than just his eyes.

The instant Jack reappears, the psychic rather quickly hovers to the side and away from the impaling attack.

The debris moves back towards the two, still under the psychic's control. This time, though, it only swirls about DC now. [B]"Do try not to get yourself cut up..."

DC seems intent on forcing this into a stalemate...He's not attacking again, only trying to make it impossible for Jack to attack him.

I wonder why?

Jack may or may not remember that there is another aircraft unaccounted for in this battle.

[happyturtle]

[Prison]

Darcy eeps and manages to cast a grease spell on herself as she's tackled, causing her to slide across the floor and out of the zombies' grasp.

Pro: She's not getting beaten up by zombies.
Con: She's covered with grease and flat on her back on the floor.

[Murkus]

Battle

Jack backpedals rapidly on seeing his attack fail, dodging or slicing asunder any stray debris that comes his way.

The grey-suited black hole grins his freakish grin at DC, sword in one hand, the other reaching towards his backpack.

"Hm. Someone's got a sixth sense, I see. But riddle me this, friend. What's Watchtower doing here in the first place? I'd think you guys would love to see villains fighting zombies. Save you the trouble, eh?" Jack's grin twists to become more mocking and less menacing.

DC might note that one of Jack's hands is now behind his back, fiddling with something for all of a second or two.

[Darkcomet]

[B]"We needed information. We came because you would kill everyone here before we could learn anything. The...source of the problem here isn't as simple as you might think. And I'm rather inclined to say that AMEN in control of a flying castle town would end quite badly for everyone else." DC seems rather calm about explaining this to Jack. "Regardless..."

A torrent of laser turret fire comes from above, aimed toward Jack, the by-now-familiar partial visibility of Trent's ship coming with it.

"...this exchange is over."

[Murkus]

Battle

Jack looks up only just in time to partially watch the lasers impact, and in a massive explosion, a dust cloud envelopes him. Even he isn't faster than light. He did, however, manage to finish that thing he was doing behind his back.

The dust gradually thins and disappates, leaving the kneeling, crumpled form of Jack Empty laying amidst a small, burnt crater.

And he looks up. Multiple holes through his face, burns covering his entire body, his suit literally in tatters, gigantic gaping pits through his torso and even some in his limbs.

And yet he lives.

He gives the Watchtower member a brief, sick half grin. The other half is, ahem, missing. From the lasers and all.

He spits but six words, hand tightening around his completely unscathed ivory sword.

"I'm afraid it's only just begun."

And then the grenade that Jack shoved into the Yellow Road plinks out into normal space. About a foot behind DC. He'll have all of a second or so before it explodes.

[Ashen Lilies]

KR winces as Jack spouts his cliche. I'm afraid it's only just begun. Genius!
Unfortunately, Jack may never see his one-liner committed to paper, as the airship is now in range. Range for what? Why, flamethrower range of course. And with Jack happily confining himself to a small crater, it's almost too easy. So it's at this point Jack may find himself taking two streams of liquid PAIN to the face.

[Darkcomet]

And suddenly, grenades.

DC manages to put up a partial forcefield to shield him from the explosion, but even with the extra protection of the debris storm, it's not quite enough. Several bits of shrapnel end up embedded in DC's legs, particularly-the forcefield was mostly protecting the upper areas. It's not all that hard to understand, given his tendency to float and not walk.

So, bleeding a fair bit, DC, for the first time in this battle, seems genuinely surprised.

It isn't every day that a single man survives a surprise attack from twin laser turrets already shown to pretty easily bust through helicopters.

Hell, they injured a dragon rather badly, and Jack's just ignoring the damage.

[B]"Tell me...Don't you realize that that won't work twice?" DC seems rather confident, still, in spite of his injuries. Jack probably is too, to be fair.

A few of the bits of debris get accelerated towards Jack, specifically the remains of a helicopter blade, and a couple chunks of twisted, charred metal.

Those probably aren't very concerning in the face of the long-range flamethrowers, though.

[Morty]

Wenomir is approaching Jack slowly from behind. He'd run, but he's still sore from his earlier wounds. He doesn't teleport either, because he figures he shouldn't do it after using the belt too soon once already. So he just walks menacingly, intent on trying to dismember Jack as soon as the flamethrowers stop.

[Reinholdt]

Ebon Mirror and his army storm the castle, and the mecha zombies level their shooty-things at the two soldiers.

"Take us to your leader," he says.
Well... err... the soldiers are mecha-zombies too and not known for speaking. Though if Ebon Mirror takes control of them too, they'll turn and open the doors their guarding and head in that direction in order to lead Ebon Mirror to the throne room.

Ebon Mirror should easily also hear the ruckus going on somewhere down the prison corridor as well.


[Prison]

Darcy eeps and manages to cast a grease spell on herself as she's tackled, causing her to slide across the floor and out of the zombies' grasp.

Pro: She's not getting beaten up by zombies.
Con: She's covered with grease and flat on her back on the floor.
Reinholdt scurries about on the floor of his cell searching, hoping Darcy dropped the spring in his cell. That'd be all he needs. Granted, it's slow going with his broken leg. Hard to scurry.

The zombies mildly regret going all at once and only the one on top of the pile manages to extract itself and turn to face Darcy, the rest still jammed in a heap. He moves forward to do a downward punch, but if there's grease all over the floor now, he's likely to overshoot and go flying past Darcy instead.

[Murkus]

Battle

Oh please, DC was just asking for that line.

But no, Jack is not just ignoring the damage. In fact, he's feeling every ounce of pain a conscious person would feel after all their skin was seared and blown away. And by the way he stands up, looks like he's using large portions of his own energy just to hold his husk together.

"Hrrgh." He grunts back.

And then he's gone. I mean, what with all the new attacks and all. He needs to take a breather to regain his strength, which might not be too good for Watchtower. Dang surprise attacks.

The hollow man teleports over to where Gordon is, and promptly taps him on the side of his torso.

"Tag-out. Get back in there, Puff. I gotta take a breather."

And with that, he limps towards the main square, looking for anything resembling an alchemy shop with which he can accelerate the healing of wounds.

[ThePhantom]

The zeppelin turns its disruptor quad-cannons against the remaining lightning cannons as it closes towards the castle.
Its shields have protected it from most of Gordon's assault, though one of the gas-cells has been punctured by his clawing. Given that such a ship would have a redundancy of gas-cells, and that it's being held up by propellers as well (all modern airships are slightly heavier than air, to negate the need for dropping ballast or venting gas at take-off and landing), this isn't an immediate problem. You'd probably have to rupture half of them before the airship starts to sink.


Battle

Oh please, DC was just asking for that line.

But no, Jack is not just ignoring the damage. In fact, he's feeling every ounce of pain a conscious person would feel after all their skin was seared and blown away. And by the way he stands up, looks like he's using large portions of his own energy just to hold his husk together.

"Hrrgh." He grunts back.

And then he's gone. I mean, what with all the new attacks and all. He needs to take a breather to regain his strength, which might not be too good for Watchtower. Dang surprise attacks.

The hollow man teleports over to where Gordon is, and promptly taps him on the side of his torso.

"Tag-out. Get back in there, Puff. I gotta take a breather."

And with that, he limps towards the main square, looking for anything resembling an alchemy shop with which he can accelerate the healing of wounds.

Battle out front

Gordon, who was taking a break to get over getting shot in the wings, grabs a piece of a house and throws it at the zeppelin.

"Ready for another round."

The henchmen, try to use the two lighting turrets on zeppelin before the turrets get blasted.

Secret passage

"Well, I have a feeling it would be a bad idea to head outside right now."
"Arr, sounds like a royal battle out there."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Battle of the Front]

The lightning cannon crews do jack squat against the Airship's energy shielding, and merely get napalm slung at them for their trouble. The house has a slightly more dramatic effect, however. While most of the impact is absorbed by the shield, causing the house piece to break over the armored envelope like arctic ice over a surfacing submarine, it still manages to shear through another gas cell and impact the gondola underneath, momentarily causing KR to stumble. Of course, when she recovers enough to return to the controls, she just goes ahead and sends a volley of green disruptor bolts towards Gordon's face.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Well... err... the soldiers are mecha-zombies too and not known for speaking. Though if Ebon Mirror takes control of them too, they'll turn and open the doors their guarding and head in that direction in order to lead Ebon Mirror to the throne room.

Ebon Mirror should easily also hear the ruckus going on somewhere down the prison corridor as well.

Sure, we'll go with that. Ebon Mirror was just making an ironic comment to himself as he took control of their undead forms. Why would anyone think otherwise?

Ebon Mirror sends some normal zombies to investigate the goings-on in the prison as he enters the throne room with the rest of his zombies.

[Reinholdt]

[Town]

There is an alchemy shop, but it, like the magic shop, has been quite looted, glass shattered everywhere and definitely lacking in healing potions.

[Secret Passage]
The head survivor opens his mouth to say something, thinks better of it, and just nods.
"Yeah, I guess so. Though it may be best to escape in the confusion too."

[Castle]
Ebon Mirror enters the throne room. In front of him, a lavish, yet empty throne. Around the throne are a fair number of soulless women, quite beautiful if one can get past the fact they're dead. Quite naked too. There's little question as to why the Admiral was stealing other peoples' bodies for his own personal use. Near this is a mini-bar, a cigar case set on top. A few personal mecha-zombie guards are around the room.

If the leader was here, the slippery and obviously very clever person left some time ago. Obviously he was much too cunning to fight a losing battle. Regardless he's not there.

There are some keys hanging on the wall to the left of the entrance.

[Prison]
Normal zombies go investigate the fight over here and see Darcy and mecha-zombies and a caged Reinholdt.

[Murkus]

Town

In that case, Jack takes a seat in any chairs left in the Alchemy Shop and rests a few minutes, continually trying to regain some movement in his particularly mangled left arm.

If Watchtower is looking for him, they may wish to speed it up. He's not tired, only injured. And he'll be regaining energy rather quickly.

[Morty]

[Town]

Wenomir is running around town, looking for Jack. He has a general idea about where he went - how general depends on whether Gordon was visible from the Battle up Front.

[Murkus]

Town

Well, Gordon's freaking gigantic, so he was probably at least a little visible.

Jack is just regaining some feeling in his left arm when he spots Wenomir running around nearby.

The hollow man narrows his eyes and quickly retreats into the shadows of the abandoned alchemy store, hoping to avoid being spotted.

[Morty]

[Town]

Wenomir stops. Was that a... he gets a steadier grasp on his sword and begins to walk slowly around the alchemy store, activating his darkvision.

[Murkus]

Town-soon-to-be-Battle

Aw, crap. Jack spins and dodges behind a shelf, swift as a wraith, but Wenomir may still have spotted him.

He rather absentmindedly fingers the massive, horrific hole through one of his cheeks.

[Morty]

[Town]

Wenomir doesn't spot Jack, but he enters the shop.
I know someone's here, Wenomir says, apparently to noone in particular, and given the current occupants of this city, I can guess who. Come out.

[ThePhantom]

[Town]

There is an alchemy shop, but it, like the magic shop, has been quite looted, glass shattered everywhere and definitely lacking in healing potions.

[Secret Passage]
The head survivor opens his mouth to say something, thinks better of it, and just nods.
"Yeah, I guess so. Though it may be best to escape in the confusion too."



[Battle of the Front]

The lightning cannon crews do jack squat against the Airship's energy shielding, and merely get napalm slung at them for their trouble. The house has a slightly more dramatic effect, however. While most of the impact is absorbed by the shield, causing the house piece to break over the armored envelope like arctic ice over a surfacing submarine, it still manages to shear through another gas cell and impact the gondola underneath, momentarily causing KR to stumble. Of course, when she recovers enough to return to the controls, she just goes ahead and sends a volley of green disruptor bolts towards Gordon's face.

Secret Passage

"Well, you can try that, but I doubt you would get far."

The henchmen look a little worried. Sure, their's an AMENite here, but he's hasn't given them any orders.

Battle out Front

Gordon throws more rubble to in order to block the incoming shots. Seeing as this won't work for long, Gordon craws his way towards DC, as the henchmen get fried.

Also, something is heading fast for the castle town from the distance.

[Darkcomet]

[Battle]

Gordon is a very large dragon who rips up houses and throws them at things he doesn't like. DC-the-player also thinks he would be visible, yes.

With Jack gone, DC looks up at the battle, particularly the airship taking damage, scowl deepening.

His tornado of debris disperses, briefly, before rocketing towards Gordon at a deadly velocity.

DC, for his part, is flying up to get aboard the airship again. Wonder why?

[Murkus]

Town

What's left of Jack's grin grows. This guy sounds interesting. Still, rather than take chances with a straight-up fight, the he decides to keep being a cowardly bastard.

Hm. He's been holding a certain ability in reserve, a knowledge, pieces of information about Them fit to shatter sanity.

But he'd been avoiding using it, trying to keep it in reserve so that if he happened to be in a bad spot, he could simply break a few minds.

That might become necessary.

For now, however, Jack slips around the shelves, throwing his voice into random corners around the shop.

"Why should I, friend? Just give me a couple minutes, I'd be happy to heal up and give you a good show."