Magtok Land

[Lord Magtok]

The place where all those kids got killed on the teacups due to an accident involving giant tea bags from the sky, where the actual Magtok is the Mascot that everyone abuses, the only place with a haunted house ride that is actually haunted by the people who have ridden it. Where the log flume ride ends in an actual saw mill, the Ferris wheel has been known to break from its supports and go for a spin around the park, the space mountain often ends in explosive decompression, and the place known for the fatal yeti incident on the Magerhorn.

Yes, tis' MAGTOK LAND! Or, at least, it was, once. It wasn't long before paladins, police, parents, and some other folk beginning with a "P" found out about his complete disregard for safety procedures in his attempt to make a quick buck. Rides that were already dangerous health hazards became unsupervised when Magtok left the area, rotting away and eventually becoming the home of a few smelly homeless bums and the location of a street gang's meth lab.

But Magtok decided it was time for PLOT! So he kicked all those smelly bums out of his base, and had some Magbots break a few arms until the gangsters ran away with the stinky hobos.

And so, this is the place Good Vespe has come to, where the ticket booths house laser turrets, and the cotton candy is laced with cyanide.

[Vespe Ratavo]

The blue police box appears outside in the parking lot. Vespe steps out and places his hand on a small scanner, which causes it to announce Locked.

Everyone remember where we parked, he remarks to himself.

He heads for the entrance. He pulls out a small black tablet, turns it on, and waves it around. This will tell him if there are any anti-magic fields in the area, and which area of the park they're in. Magtok Land...heh. Good times. Good times.

[Boo]

((Is this a private plot, or open?))

[Vespe Ratavo]

((It's really just between Vespe and Magtok, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you play around or assist one or the other.))

[Lord Magtok]

Past the parking lot is a large crimson red castle, quite obviously a cheap imitation of a certain other park's signature white building, the park with that talking mouse guy. Standing in this empty alcove however, is not some underpaid goon in a mouse costume, but Lord Magtok himself. It would seem he's decided to not waste any time, and stands there, with a polite smile on his face and a closed umbrella pointed downwards in his hands. Apparently there's going to be rain.

Greetings, Ratavo. I see you've come alone. Good. I take comfort in the fact that your friends won't be watching us here. Mine won't either.

All the pain and hurt of your callous betrayal, it was done without so much as a second thought. They say...they say it's a strength for a man to turn the other cheek, to forgive and forget. If so, then I'm a weak man, as I don't think I can ever forgive you for what you did. I've come to expect such behavior from so many people, from Idiotarum to Raistlin, AMEN's newbs and noobs, but even then, your heartless choice still came as a shock.

If you'd please follow me, I've something set up in the park.

[Vespe Ratavo]

I made my choice, I'm happy where I am, and you have the evil me. Why can't you leave me alone? He sighs, and follows Magtok, putting the tablet away.

[Lord Magtok]

Oh, but if I did that, that'd be boring. We don't want to be boring, you certainly don't want your friends treading down the familiar path of HALO, do you? No, of course not...

Eventually the two make their way over to a ride, one quite clearly not from this park, as its outer design, fresh coat of paint, and general prettiness sharply contrasts with the world around it.

...And that's why Saurous and Fanboy have to be like, brothers or from parallel dimensions or something. I mean, they both have katanas, they're both smelly dead or partially dead things, and they both ended up being the first of their groups to get a girl in said group.

I mean...Oh, nevermind, we're here.

Magtok points at the kiddie ride before them with the umbrella, and then stick his other hand with the palm upward, as if to check for rain. He then flips that wrist around to check the time.

You've got...about six minutes. I suggest you get in there and do you heroing and such. I'll be setting up the hall of mirrors, it'll be on your right if you survive.

Magtok holds out a hand, and a rain drop falls into it. He then opens up the aforementioned umbrella, and heads away. He then pauses, and looks back for a moment, unless Vespe is already gone.

Good luck, Ratavo.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Woah, you're totally right, I wonder if-

He looks at the ride. Wait, what? What's going on? Why doesn't anyone tell me anything? Is this ride a death trap? Is it a friendly offer of fun and frolic? Who knows? It's a game!

He sighs (again) and enters the ride.

[Lord Magtok]

This begins to play, as Vespe steps into a large, dark tunnel. In the backround, he might also notice that inside this ride that was totally not stolen right out of Disney Land by the Maggenburg war blimp, there's quite a bit of ticking, and the cries of kittens scattered about, concentrated behind the various decorations around. Upon close inspection, Vespe might find a tabby or two tied to the back of a singing animatronic Dutch boy.

In short, Magtok's rigged It's a Small World with explosives, and placed innocent kittens around the area. Save the kitties, Vespe! Hurry, save the kitties before the place asplodes! Don't let that vile Magtok get away with this!

~~~~

Meanwhile, the area around Magtok begins to pour.

In retrospect, I probably should've held that ride for ransom and gotten a few more bucks out of that frozen cartoonist. Ah well.

Magtok steps into the Hall of Mirrors. Most of the mirrors are either broken, or have some indecipherable thing written on them in graffiti, and the place smells of cheap beer. Perfect.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Oh...boop. Vespe pulls out the same black tablet, and taps the screen. This will tell him how many bombs there are, and where they are.

[Lord Magtok]

There's about a dozen scattered throughout the ride. Some are under seats, beside kittens, and a few are on the walls.

~~~

Ooo, that looks shiny.

Magtok closes his umbrella, not due to superstition, but to fit through the next doorway. Behind, he finds all sorts of control mechanisms and such, and after some quick check-ups, the Hall of Mirrors is just as lethal, if not a little more so, than it was back in its glory days.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Vespe attempts to cast Animate Objects on each one of the bombs, and if successful, will order them to leave the area and attack Magtok. I wish you could animate them without making them attack someone...oh well, he can handle it.

[Lord Magtok]

A small buzzer goes off next to Magtok.

Well...that's a rather unusual solution. Looks like I get to keep Small World and all the Magkitten bots inside-

He presses a button on the ride control console in front of him.

-at the expense of the Ferris Wheel.

The wheel suddenly goes rolling by, taking the explosives with it in a regrettably less-than-awesome manner. Magtok perishing in a building filled with glass would've been funnier, but unfortunately, that will have to happen some other day.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Vespe lets loose a kitty, and examines it to see if it is, in fact, a kitten. Because cyborg kittens would be just typical with Magtok.

[Lord Magtok]

It might be a cyborg kitten, but it's pretty hard to tell. It looks like a normal kitten, its chest rises and falls like a normal kitten, it acts like a normal kitten, and it sounds like a normal kitten. As far as any normal person could tell, it is a normal kitten.

~~~~

A few more switches are pulled, a lever is turned, and a couple of holograms are set up as Magtok awaits the return of Vespe.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Vespe sets to work setting all the kittens free. If successful, he'll try and get them all to the police box.

[Lord Magtok]

He'll succeed quite easily in doing that.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Having saved the kittens, Vespe walks through A Small World, and heads towards the Hall of Mirrors.

[Lord Magtok]

Small World continues to sing its bright and cheery song about equality or whatever, until the song fades away into the distance as Vespe crosses over towards the mirrors. Along the way, the pouring rain should sting a little bit like acid, but not pose any serious threat at the moment.

You thought I forgot all about this thread, didn't you Ratavo? I'll bet you did. But I didn't. I merely got...caught up in a few things.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Unable to really hear Magtok, Vespe pulls out an umbrella and opens it. This umbrella, however, projects a weak force field around him as well, protecting him from the acidic rain and other stuff, as long as it's not too tough.

He heads for the mirrors.

[Lord Magtok]

Each and every mirror in the maze seems to be perfectly blank, and the reflection-less vampire spawn should have a bit of trouble getting around. Magtok's voice seemingly comes from everywhere at once.

Having fun, Mr. Ratavo? I know I am.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Vespe sighs, and punches one of the mirrors. He's immune to glass shattering, due to levels in Dashing Swordsman.

[Lord Magtok]

Err...You're not supposed to do that, Ratavo. It isn't the heroey thing.

On the other side of the mirror, he'll see the various wooden support beams and dirty, unwashed floor. There's also quite a few traps visible there, things that wouldn't be apparent if he went along the normal path.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Vespe walks through the "behind the scenes" part, avoiding the traps and looking for the exit. Maybe it isn't, but I can't exactly be a big damn hero when I'm a vampire in a hall of mirrors.

[Lord Magtok]

I suppose not.

Hey Ratavo, while you're wandering over there, dodging the turrets take from Portal and maneuvering around the spike pits that extend past the mirrors, d'you wanna hear my latest "We're not so Different" speech? Not really applicable to you, seeing as you're a filthy corpse and have less respect from me than Saurous does, though. I took a bit from Joker in The Killing Joke, and then altered some things to make it more relevant to this world, and most of the latter stuff is entirely my own, with a "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become one" sort of closing. I hope to use it someday, when I find a decent superhero in this sick, twisted world we live in.

As Magtok said, a few of the turrets from Portal open fire with a slew a silver bullets, and Vespe might have to grab a greasy edge of some pit to avoid being impaled.

[Vespe Ratavo]

I've learned some new tricks. Vespe turns into a cloud of gas, and continues flying through the area. Yeah, that training I've been doing has actually paid off. Who knew?

[Lord Magtok]

It seems your master's taught you well, but I'm afraid it'll take more than cheap parlor tricks and fancy spells to stop me, Ratavo.

Vespe should see a few holograms dancing about, most of them designed to look like various Gloggers with a variety of crippling injuries.

This is what may become of your friends some day. Not to mine, though. You see, all you have on your side is brute force. But good people tire, Ratavo. Even filthy corpses like yourself have limits. As do the AMENites. But we've got something you don't, Ratavo. We have that cockroach-like determination to live, no matter what needs to be done, the ability to survive nearly any encounter. It might not seem fair or balanced, but that's the way life is. You can either slaughter us all, and replace us, or struggle for eternity, until the army of darkness marches past you, leaving you trampled in the dust.

[Lord Magtok]

All of a sudden, a bunch of smurfs ignore that rule about double-posting, and decide to plant a warning sign in the middle of the thread before running off.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Vespe continues to float past the holograms. I know full well what you'll do to survive, Magtok, but I'm afraid your holograms don't scare me.

[Lord Magtok]

You can still turn around, ditch the Gloggers, and retire in style, y'know. But I know you, I know you won't.

Just what do you intend to do right now, anyways? Your powers are clearly beyond my ability to challenge, so it can't be for the thrill of it. Sadism, maybe? Are you coming to bleed me, Ratavo? No, no, that's not like you. Maybe you're just following along the path because I told you to? A distinct possibility, but I'm sure you've more motive than that. So what is it then, Devlin Ratavo? Why masquerade as your brother, why make an "E Vespe" and think that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference?

...I think you're insane, Devlin. I think you've lost your mind, Ratavo. That being the minor twin brother character, and constantly being ret-conned out of existence did some psychological damage, and I sympathize, Ratavo, but make no mistake, I'm going to have to kill you.