The Socially and Economically Depressed Zone [PLOT]

[Lord Magtok]

Purged. Take that, Destro.

[Rebonack]

Regiji leaps through the portal and lands with a shoulder roll, coming up in a kneeling position with his squid-launcher ready.

"I always wanted to do that, you know."

[Lord Magtok]

You can't use this ancient thread against me now, bahahahaha!

[Destro_Yersul]

Destro appears retroactively. I'm here. My player was having dinner.

[Lord Magtok]

[post scrubbed so nobody will see how bad i was]

[Destro_Yersul]

Why aren't we allowed to take credit? Bloody politicians don't like vigilantes or something? Destro wonders breifly whether or not magic works here. He decides that it doesn't matter, because he's damn well scary enough without magic.

[Rebonack]

"Sounds very cloak and daggery," Regiji comments. "Except with a pretty telling absence of cloaks. Except Destro. Though I doubt he's going to be using any dagger."

Regiji shrugs.

"I've been on diplomatic missions for weeks. This is the first remotely interesting assignment I've had in a while."

[Lord Magtok]

Crap, there's a few more pages ahead. I think I'll just delete the remaining posts. Much faster that way.

[Rebonack]

"Are we talking old robots like the ones with pincers for hands and two big antenna on the sides of their heads?" Regiji asks hopefully. "And make those funny sound effects when they shoot death rays from their eyes?"

[Destro_Yersul]

Certainly sounds easy enough. Where is this cult we have to remove, or are we finding it ourselves. Destro pulls a dagger out from somewhere and balances it on his finger, just so the Cloak and Dagger comment can apply.

[Destro_Yersul]

Hmmm. Back Alley, Bouncers, Neon sign... This could be it! Can I call them Emos? If they already did it on their sign it's ok for me to call them emo too, right?

[Destro_Yersul]

If magic still works here I could always make some. Does magic work here?

[Rebonack]

Regiji takes one look at the sign and proceeds to do a rather admirable job of not laughing out loud.

"I like this Realm already. I'm so coming here to visit next time I get some RnR."

[Destro_Yersul]

Kdokey. Here goes. Several trout appear and fling themselves at the guards. Halfway there they turn into cloves of garlice. Bubble blowing cloves of garlic that look oddly trout shaped, but garlic nonetheless.

[Rebonack]

Regiji watches the end result of Destro's spell.

"Normally I would say something witty about that, but I really have nothing that could do it justice..."

[Rebonack]

"Well, since we're going to be going inside I don't think it would work to well for us to leave, whether we get [bleeped] first or not," he comments and then hurls a pair of oblong fist sized objects at the bouncers. Upon impact they will be incased in a form fitting lattice of force-like energy.

[Rebonack]

"Wow... that must be a killer on your dental plan..." Regiji comments as he walks past the pair close behind Omega.

[Destro_Yersul]

Eh, I like it. Destro leaves the trout shaped garlic to float in circles around the bouncer's heads, blowing garlicky bubbles at them. Not that I've seen much of it. I like my plane better though.

[Rebonack]

"You're plain seems pretty drab to me," Regiji comments. "There seem to be plenty of colorful people here already."

[Destro_Yersul]

Destro points at his cloak. I like drab. It's quite difficult to pull of correctly, but looks really nice if you get it right. He laughs and produces a trout from somewhere. This trout has glowing flashlight-like eyes. It swims along above them, lighting dark corners and shadowy places.

[Destro_Yersul]

Destro spends a moment being glad he doesn't have to breathe. When he sees the SMG's he spends another moment being glad he's not harmed as much as most people by them. Then he addresses the questionable guy. Excuse me, are you an Emo? An what's with the scars? Not much creeps me out, but those come close. He tries to be as cheerful as possible, suspecting it will annoy them.

[Rebonack]

Regiji darts forward with inhuman speed and attempts to disarm the two fellows in Bat Man esc fashion. It involves him leaping forth and catching one weapon with one hand, attempting to clobber the guard in the face with the other, while kicking the other weapon into a spinning arc.

Should the maneuver work properly the end result will be one dazed guard and Regiji catching the loose weapon, there by wielding both.

Very nifty looking.

“No, you aren’t. But I suspect your guards will try,” Regiji says as his Perform (Combat Banter) kicks in. “Nice nose ring by the way. Did your mom pick that one out for you?”

[Rebonack]

Regiji levels the SMG at the EmoVamp to show that they mean business. To show that he really means business he hurls the weapon at the still standing guard. Normally it would just hurt a whole bunch, but do to the fact that the weapon is now traveling at speeds normally reserved for urban traffic it will likely render the man unconscious.

“I’m honestly disappointed by your threats and taunts thus far,” Regiji comments to the ‘leader’. “I would suggest getting yourself a nice thesaurus to start. Use more descriptive phrases like ‘Insolent peon! Truly you are no match for my Herculean underlings!’”

[Rebonack]

Regiji glances over the corpse and, just to be sure, checks his vitals.

“That wasn’t expected at all…”

[Destro_Yersul]

Destro blinks at the holes in his cloak. He shot holes in my cloak. He looks up. That bastard shot holes in my cloak! He reaches up and removes a gold circlet from his head. They want creepy looking? I'll show them creepy looking. His normal appearance melts away. Skin seems to peel back from his face, leaving only the grim countenance of a lich. He tries to animate the leader as a skeleton or something, and turns to face the rest of the room. Hey! Everyone! Whatcha think of this? He points at the now probably skeletal leader.

[Rebonack]

"Fumes? What are you talking about?" Regiji responds. "The walls normally spin with weird colors like that."

He wobbles for a moment, then abrubtly stops.

"Kidding, kidding. Ok, let's get out of here before their 'loser' rubs off on us too much."

[Rebonack]

"Here here!" Regiji responds and begins to make his way toward the door. He does this by walking in mid-air to avoid the drugged throng. This behavior solicits several 'Duuuuude.....'s from the crowd.

[Rebonack]

Regiji shudders slightly at the face melting.

"I take it we're going to have to fight a giant robot now?"

[Destro_Yersul]

Destro, being a helpful sort of guy, had indeed turned a few more cultists into skeletons before they left. They were dead anyways, what did it matter? He sttod beside Omega, unafraid of the black machine. He was incapable of feeling afraid of things like this. Doesn't look so tough. Why don't you tell me why you're so afraid of it? After that we can kill it and be on our way.

[Rebonack]

"I take it that asking it nicely to go away isn't going to work?" Regiji asks.

In all seriousness, though, he begins scanning the machine to ascertain how it functions and, most importantly, how it's powered.

[Destro_Yersul]

Cool. Destro watches as the rubble gets destroyed. This... creature? Object? Construct? Whatever it is, it interests me.

[Rebonack]

((The second Matrix film. I had the feeling you were going to do this as soon as you did the "Surprised to see me?" line))

Regiji blinks as his arm cannon decides that now would be a good time to fold out of his body armor and power itself up.

"I have the uncanny feeling I've heard this conversation before..."

[Destro_Yersul]

Hey, this sounds familiar. Aren't you supposed to say that bit about how being you is great? Anyways, it doesn't matter, because I'm not about to let you kill Omega. If you want to kill him, you can do it over my inanimate body. Destro steps forward. He refrains from saying "dead", because technically he is. Black energy flows up from the ground to surround him, and he extends one hand towards the robot. Bring it.

[Rebonack]

Regiji's weapon pops and snaps and whirs as it rearranges itself into another configuration, a dull purple glow strobbing between fissures in the silver metal.

"I'm going to have to agree with my pal Destro here," he comments as he levels the nifty sci-fi weapon at the automaton.

[Destro_Yersul]

Destro folds his arms across his chest. His mind, oddly, seems to not exist. You know something? A man like me once slew an abomination like you. It happened before, and it can happen again... He considers something and a grin slowly spreads across his face. You can't fight me. You can't fight me, and if you do you won't win... Mr. Smith.

[Destro_Yersul]

You would have to exist a very very long time to outlive me. Past the time when the stars themselves fall from the skies and the sun burns itself out. Past the blind eternity of darkness as the world slowly freezes, bereft of life. Past the end of the universe. Only when existence itself is dead and gone will I leave, and far before that I'll have found a way to Destroy you. You can't win, Mr. Smith. If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. Destro stands, fearless, in front of the android. Bright pinpoints of red light burn within his eye sockets.

[Destro_Yersul]

And I am Necromancy, Master of Death. I command the power of one of the Nine Winds and carry the power to heal and harm. I build and destroy, command and conquer. I answer only to the Cosmic DM, who cannot be denied. Find and kill Magtok if you so wish, but you will receive no help from me. Neither will you find the task of destroying Omega in any way possible, if you even get to it. Destro adds his own emphasis to this. Little tendrils of wispy black energy wind around him, seemingly from nowhere.

[Destro_Yersul]

Because, Destro continues, you missed an important fact. Omega, at one point, saved my life. And I don't forget something like that. You want Omega, you have to go through me.

[Destro_Yersul]

You're right. I can watch forever and then some. And I plan to. Go forth and kill the Android Mongerer, if you wish. But know that I'll always be watching.

[Rebonack]

"Blah blah blah blah," Regiji interjects. "Why don't you just turn the blasted thing into a trout, Destro? I'll bet that would get it to stop being so long winded."

[Rebonack]

Regiji looks at the robot, then back to Omega.

"So... we're just going to leave without recycling Mr. Roboto here into beer cans?"

[Destro_Yersul]

Organic or not, I can still kick your ass. Destro causes a large number of trout to appear above the robot. Gravity comes into effect a second later. That's for suggesting otherwise. Now then: let's got out of here, and let the stupid thing focus on killing off Magtok.

[Rebonack]

Regiji shrugs.

"Well, that was a nice distraction I suppose," he sighs. "Back to negotiating access to resources then..."

[Rebonack]

"The long lost creations of ancient civilizations always tend to be pesky like that," Regiji comments.

[Destro_Yersul]

Tough decision to make... I, personally, would go for the way that ensured my survival. I suspect my moral standards are different than yours though.

[Destro_Yersul]

Like I said, different moral standards. I don't personally know anyone from here except you and Magtok. Needless to say, Magtok can go to hell.

Destro sighs. You'll think of something, and I'll be damned if I don't try to help. Nothing much we can do right now though.

[Destro_Yersul]

Maybe the other parts of the city are better... Destro steps through the portal back and disappears.

[Rebonack]

Regiji follows suit.