What's Left of the MagCave II: We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

Kuvesh nods and attaches his hammer and shield to what looks like latching hooks on his armor. He then gets up to the switchboard, ready to plug the cables where they need to be plugged. He seems quite strong for his size.

[Shadowcaller]

Rat Assisted Tour

To be fair, Jaahlyn wasn't even in the nexus back when hoods were voted as the hottest fashion trend within the magtok collective.

"If there is time over, bridge jumping will be considered." Jaahlyn bows and backs away. "I'm afraid I can't promise anything however. Our schedule is tight."

[Lord Magtok]

The Museum of Unnatural History

Magtok allows himself a small smirk when he realizes Kathy isn't any better at telling the goblins apart than he is. He doesn't reveal her secret, however, and instead focuses his attention on making sure Kuvesh gets that cord plugged in the right place. It's a few meters above ground level, so there's probably going to be some climbing involved. Fortunately there's all that greenery along the wall, or this could be a lot harder. It's sure to be fairly hard already, though. I mean, climbing up a wall and carrying a cord roughly as big as you are at the same time? None of the other goblins have a spell that could make this easier for him, do they?

"It's eight up, three to the left. Yeah, right over there," Magtok nods, doing his best to help out, even if he's just a useless drone right now, since Kathy could probably give out the same directions with the two of them plugged in like this. "Oh man, as soon as this thing is working, I'll be able to go anywhere! I'll get the old Mechalomania out of storage, loot whatever Riss left lying around in the lime room, figure out where Margret went, set this godsforsaken jungle on fire, ring Wenomir's doorbell and then vanish before he can answer, get the cloning facilities operational, upgrade the synthflesh formu-"

Of course, nothing ever goes exactly as planned. Of course, Magtok is interrupted before he can finish that thought, just as Kuvesh is interrupted before he can plug in the cable. This is the Nexus, and you're adventuring with Magtok, did you really expect everything to go off without a hitch? No, instead a massive chunk of iron is sent hurtling through the air. This iron thing, this ugly hunting tool one could barely justify calling a weapon is lobbed into the wall, burying itself in Magtok's stupid contraption and causing considerable damage to parts of the switchboard (parts that aren't really our concern right now, thankfully). Kuvesh is pretty lucky that gargantuan thing didn't hit him, or there wouldn't be enough left of the goblin for his family to mourn when this is all over.

As shocking as that unexpected projectile might have been, we have bigger problems than just archaic weapons being flung into walls, unfortunately. A boomerangutan saunters arrogantly before our party. This one is older than the two we saw before, its face a mess of scars and its purple-furred body covered in ramshackle armor scavenged together by primitive hands. One of those very same hands, a chrome prosthetic much like Magtok's own if it were ape-sized and hadn't been cleaned or repaired in a thousand years, is lifted above the ape's head, and a glowing light in its palm begins to pulse, before that misshapen throwing knife/axe/whatever-it-is thing shifts and shudders, before flying right back out of the wall and into the boomerangutan's waiting hand. The beast's lips withdraw, revealing a sinister, disturbed grin, as the elder orangutan basks in its moment of glory. The big one is occupied with her wires, the creator is crippled and useless. Only the tiny little creatures with the strange ears are left, and stomping his way through them will be easy. After all, how threatening could a goblin possibly be?

[Halae]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

"Oh hell. We're taking a plasma thrower to this damn place later," Kathy says, withdrawing her connections from the wall and Faketok to climb back into her mech. The problem is that this system isn't well set up for getting in and out of it quickly - it's got security, the harness needs to take off her limbs and slot her in, the mech has to go through the neural syncing routine, and more.

There's no question that Kathy can probably take the big monkey in a straight fight, what with the gauss cannon on her mech's shoulder, the sword she has, and those screamers. The problem is that this big monkey is attacking while she doesn't have that opportunity. The goblins are going to have to earn their pay this time.

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

As a matter of fact, the goblins do have some tricks up their sleeves to help haul the wire. Luuvat casts a spell at it that seems to briefly make it lighter, which lets Kuvesh lift it up using what appear to be rocket-boosters in his boots. The feeling of a job well done is, of course, interrupted by a giant throwing knife embedding itself in the panel right next to him.

The goblins spring to action immediately. With Magtok injured and Kathy having to slot herself back into the mech, it's up to them to keep this giant mechanized primate off them. Zaalmin raises both her pistols in a snap and empties both magazines into the boomerangutan's face, before backing away and swiftly reloading using two of the magazines strapped to her clothes. Kuvesh engages his rocket-boots again to leap in front of his crew and hunker behind his shield. Olvisin and Luuvat look at each other briefly and nods. The sorcerer begins weaving a spell of crackling electricity and red mist, while the engineer loads what looks like a bean-bag round into her shotgun. She fires, and the container bursts open and releases a cloud of metal shavings as it nears the orangutan... at which point Luuvat releases his spell, just at the right time to send a powerful electrical current through the shavings. Which will imminently connect with the ape.

[Lord Magtok]

The Museum of Unnatural History

Oh boy, a dust explosion. That's one way to deal with agitated ancient apes, I suppose. All those little particles ignite all at once, producing a massive plume of fiery death melting fur, armor, and flesh alike. The flash of light alone would've been enough to momentarily blind the giant orangutan; the flames make sure that blindness is permanent. Zaalmin's pistol rounds understandably do a lot less than that, but a few extra shallow wounds in the ape's face means the burns are that much worse a moment later. The boomerangutan roars in pain and fury, tightening its grip on that crude weapon before lunging forward, intent on slamming that massive throwing weapon's blades into the body of the closest goblin. The creator's demise is so close, so nearly complete. No rotten little newborns with evil fire magic can stop the prototype boomerangutan from meting out its vengeance.

"Holy ****, how did you-oh crap, be right back!" Faketok announces in terror, gaping in awe at the goblins' combat prowess one moment, vanishing away the next. That must be the fabled telewarp system in action, then. Raptor Christ, did he seriously just run away and abandon his own team down here? His own daughter? He'd better be right back, that artificial body he's using isn't exactly irreplaceable or anything.

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

Seeing her bullets do little damage previously, Zaalmin picks her next two magazines with care. One of her pistols is loaded with heavy armor-piercing rounds, while the other with volatile acid-laden ones. She takes careful aim and squeezes the trigger twice, sending two anti-armor bullets right under the armpit when the ape raises its arm to swing. Immediately after, another two twitches of her finger deliver the acid rounds where the previous ones hopefully struck.

Kuvesh stands his ground and presents himself as a target for the ape, so that it swings at him rather than his siblings, client or the client's long-lost daughter (apparently). When the massive blade strikes his shield, something inside it shifts, whirs and cracks, before a shockwave erupts from it outwards, possibly throwing the ape off-balance. Kuvesh will try to capitalize on it, jumping upwards with his rocket-boots and swinging his hammer in a wide arc at the beast's wrist.

Olvisin seems occupied with reloading her shotgun or preparing some new trick, while Luuvat seems reluctant or unable to cast again. They're giving their siblings space to act for now.

[Lord Magtok]

The Museum of Unnatural History

Blind.

Burning.

Bleeding.

Pain.

The great beast begins to panic. For the first time in its life since the creator ceded this territory to its clan, the orangutan knows fear. Still, there remains a chance to win this battle. It just needs to swat one or two little creatures, just stomp or slap or tackle the goblins once, and then it'll be able to bounce back from this disastrous opening volley. The throwing weapon is discarded, and it gets down on all fours to try to swat the goblins like flies, blindly smashing its fist into the ground in the hopes that one of these erratic blows chances upon those loathsome little insects. It can't even use its dominant arm for this; one of those wriggling worms did something to its shoulder and the other fractured the wrist on that same arm. Now the bones don't feel right and the strength isn't there and it hurts too much to use it.

The beast roars again, and then something as unexpected as it is bizarre seems to happen. There's a momentary bulge in its abdomen, as if someone just forcefed the animal an entire buffet table all at once. Definitely nothing to worry about, though. Given the limited nature of its diet in this abandoned museum, the boomerangutan has surely had inconvenient stomachaches in the past, and this is obviously no more than just another mild stomachache, of course. There are more pressing issues to deal with and greater pains vying for its attention. The goblins must die.

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

The goblins scatter before the ape, as only goblins can. They scurry, but keep coming back to pester it and draw its attention. Yelling, shooting and - in case of Luuvat - throwing small sparks at it. The ape's wild flailing prevents them from mounting another coordinated attack just yet. Hopefully it will become tired in a while and its injuries will slow it down further.

[Halae]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

It's at this point that Kathy's mech finishes booting up, with her safely ensconced inside the torso once more. Kathy bursts into action, drawing her sword and delivering a low, sweeping cut in the same movement - curved blades are good at that sort of thing, and with the high frequency modulation of the weapon, it'll shear through the ankles and tendons the animal has to stand on to keep moving if it can't somehow ward off her attack. This won't end the fight, of course, as it'll still be able to move its arms easily enough, but literally hamstringing it should give the goblins plenty of breathing room. Not that they seem to need it - they were acquitting themselves quite well throughout that ordeal.

[Lord Magtok]

The Museum of Unnatural History

The orangutan's whole body seems to twitch and writhe, and then collapses at long last. This is a little unusual, seeing as everyone's been focused on attacks that would cripple the beast, rather than anything that might kill the animal outright. Is that it? The fight's already over? Has it simply given up? Magtok's probably going to look pretty stupid when he gets back, huh? I mean, assuming he was being honest when he said he was going to be right back, and wasn't lying and running away like the worthless coward that h-

"TELEFRAG! Ahahahaha, it worked! It ****ing worked! **** you and **** your stupid monkey face! I win!" exclaims Faketok, moments after doing his best xenomorph impersonation by shooting his way out of the ape's chest and lifting its massive, octuple-valved heart over his head in pride. I think it goes without saying, but he's absolutely soaked in blood, gore, and stomach acid after doing this. He doesn't seem to notice any of that yet, however, as he's much too busy celebrating his 'win' over a foe that was clearly going to be felled without resorting to anything so messy and drastic. I suppose this explains the weird bulge in the orangutan's gut earlier, but how did he manage to navigate inside there and cut the heart out like that? Also, more importantly, why? Why, of all the things Magtok could do with his new telewarp abilities, why this?!

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

The goblins were undoubtedly preparing another maneuver, probably to finish the fight after Kathy hamstrung the orangutan... but then Magtok bursts from its chest like a carrion-crawler from a fresh corpse. The goblins stand motionless and silent, as if frozen in the middle of their tactical movement.

"That was... direct."

"It's certainly not getting up after this."

"Ew."

"I wonder if there's anything to salvage in it."

[Halae]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

The sword in Kathy's large, robotic hands droops. Wow, that was... violent. Probably unnecessary too, but one doesn't rain on a parade like that when there's cheering going on. Kathy will sheathe her blade again - without a heart, that thing isn't getting back up, no question of that.

"Well! Good to know the teleportation system works, huh?" she says, her voice still obviously kind of shocked.

[Lord Magtok]

Two Flew Over the Cyborg's Nest

Mercenary Investigations

"Okay! Come on, baby, let's go," says Tina, walking over to pick up Magtok in whatever way is most comfortable and spreading her wings to take off. She'll take him wherever the cyborg directs. No promises she won't bother him some about his digs when they get there.

As soon as Electra is at least a mile behind them, Mag's spinal implant kicks in, and he should feel like he weighs less than nothing at all. He takes this moment to immediately begin doing some repairs on his bruised and battered ego. That whole situation back there was agonizing, and the sooner he can reassert his identity as more than just 'the quirky civilian VIP target MERC has been tasked with protecting like some kind of lost child,' the better.

"Okay, so first of all, I can fly on my own. You can let go and I promise I won't fall out of the sky and plummet to my death," he insists, squirming just enough to let Tina know he wants out, but nowhere near enough to forcibly pry her off of him if she's going to be melodramatic and overprotective like the others. "Secondly, I didn't want to mention that because we're dealing with an evil twin situation. Electra and Dena were already going above and beyond without knowing that Malice can fly. If they had any idea, we wouldn't be here at all. No, instead I'd be crammed in the back of an armored hover-limo with three spectacularly attractive women engaged in harmless playful banter with faint lesbian undertones. Every now and then one of you would acknowledge me long enough to offer a drink or ask about the bad guy who sent the assassin, and then go right back to chatting about your mutual history and who's doing what after dropping me off."

Hell, in other words. It would be a hellish, unbearable nightmare for Magtok, to be so far from the center of attention, to be relegated to the status of a mere object to be shipped from one place to another. He doesn't need the entire world to revolve around him every single second of the day, but to be reduced to a mere puppet, the confused comic relief chirping from the sidelines every now and then? Ugh, no. Never.

The Museum of Unnatural History

"That's one more thing I can cross off the bucket list too," Magtok beams, either oblivious to everyone else's disgust or just too Magtok to care. He vanishes for a moment with the heart, reappears without it, and then sets about dragging himself towards the rest of the party, pulling himself along the ground with just his arms, since his legs are still as stupid and useless as ever.

"Alright, so you guys still haven't gotten any sort of prize for your participation in this quest, no magic item at the end of the dungeon like most dumb wizards and dragons have in their crypts, so here's what we're going to do. Now that I can telewarp all over the place, I can get to nearly anywhere in just a few short moments, so you're each going to give me a single word. It can be anything, as specific or abstract as you want. I'll find something related to that word, the best reward object I can find in arm's reach of the telewarp beacons, and then we'll all warp back to the foyer together and call it a day. Sound fair?"

[Murkus]

[Two Flew Over the Cyborg's Nest]

"Oh, really? You did just get a hell of a lot lighter, so okay. What are you, the human balloon?" She swings her arms back and flings Magtok skywards. "Fly, baby bird, fly!"

She'll wing up to match his chosen height and speed. "The wings thing is still pretty new for me, so I'm honestly glad I didn't have to lug you that whole way. Skinny or not."

"So you expect me to lie to my friends - at least, y'know, by omission - about this Malice guy's whole deal? They were skeptical enough about me flying you home. Pretty bold assumption of you, Mr. Tok. I mean, I totally gotcher back and I won't snitch to the babysitters, but still pretty bold," says Tina.

"More importantly, wow," She snorts. "You're the first straight man I have ever met who could possibly have found a way to complain about that limo ride. That is an incredible talent you have there."

"So, what are you doing after I 'drop you off', babe?" Fettina folds her arms behind her back and spreads her wings as she glides, smiling genuinely at him. Peering with those solar-flare eyes. She can't tell if this guy is lonely or quirky or just needs some attention, or what. She's happy to go her own way if Magtok wants her to, maybe find her way back to Dena, but it's up to the 'borg.

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

The goblins looks at each other, huddle and whisper, then begin speaking:

"Mech."

"Cybernetics."

"Augmentations."

"Interface."

Seems they know exactly what they want.

[Halae]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

When Kathy speaks, her request is a bit odder than the others.

"Identity."

[Lord Magtok]

Two Flew Over the Cyborg's Nest

"Oh no no no. Tina, I expected you to rat me out the first opportunity you get. It won't matter now though, because I'm already home free. We're almost at the MagCave and I haven't died a single time so far. I mean, what's Electra going to do, ground me? Is Dena going to take away my ice cream privileges?" The cyborg cackles at the thought as he comfortable soars through the air. It won't be long now before this agreement with Dipsnig has outgrown its usefulness, and then all those mercenaries and goblins and goblin mercenaries are getting the boot. No more well-meaning bodyguards constantly badgering him, drawing him away from his spectacularly dangerous lab work, or insisting upon an armed escort whenever he goes grocery shopping. No more Jaahlyn hanging around, disrespecting her own immortality and power with that meek, passive attitude keeping her under the thumb of anyone with the power and authority to demand her compliance and servitude.

"And no, I haven't really figured out anything for after this. I have a few projects I could attend to, but nothing important's going to violently explode if I don't deal with it right this minute. Why, did you have a suggestion?" He tilts his head to one side and eyes her suspiciously, trying to determine exactly what her game is. Is this still about convincing him to do more explosions at parties? Is she trying to do the whole 'friends' thing? I think that's what she's going for. I mean, she's obviously not angling for curtains, neither one of them is the other's type, and Magtok's had plenty of time to figure out what kind of people can be swayed by raw charisma alone, and which ones can't get past the whole spooky villain aesthetic. She's almost definitely one of the latter.

Friendship is such an ugly, useless thing, though. Family is there to keep your evil impulses in check, since without them, there'd be no real consequences to taking a giant sledgehammer to the world. Powerful strategic allies and convenient pawns keep our worst enemies from doing anything stupid, keeping us alive. Even those enemies have value too, as their tricks and schemes keep us from falling to indolence and weakness, just as iron sharpens iron. What the hell is a friend good for, though? Tina certainly doesn't act like someone who beheads dragons in her spare time; what could we possibly stand to gain from interacting with a lackadaisical servant of the divine like her? I mean, she might have connections to someone much more useful than herself, but gods that sounds like so much work and aggravation.

The Museum of Unnatural History

Magtok blinks. Those words are going to be a lot harder to go shopping for than he was expecting. I mean, what's he supposed to do for something like 'identity'? Does that one goblin think he has an entire goblin-sized mech just collecting dust in the corner somewhere? I mean, he might, he hasn't checked recently, but still!

"Wow. See, this is how racist stereotypes about greedy goblins get perpetuated. Listen, I'm grateful for all of your help, and I know being able to teleport around again is kind of a big deal, but don't you think you're overselling your contributions a little here? I mean, I had something all lined up for stuff like brains, heart, and courage, but how am I going to-" Just like that, he's gone again. I guess he's figured something out after all, despite his grumbling and complaining? I mean, he's been pretty okay at keeping promises so far, and maybe that's just because his own daughter is in the room, but I'm sure he'll be back soon.

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

The goblins shrug and scurry over to the dead orangutan, then begin to poke and prod the corpse.

"Let's see if this monkey has more tech in it."

"I think it's an ape, not a monkey."

"What's the difference?"

"I'm... not sure. Something about a tail?"

"Well, we can't lift half a ton of dead meat to check for a tail right now, so let's just call it whichever."

Olvisin, however, heads over to talk to Kathy instead, holstering her guns.

"'Identity'? Seems you've stumped your dad a bit."

[Halae]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

Kathy sits down, her mech weighing heavily on the ground. It doesn't put her at eye-level with the goblin, but it greatly reduces the distance he has to crane her neck, "That's because I'm not asking him for something special, once he realizes how broad the request parameters were. I just want something that can print fake IDs and messages of credit and sale," one can hear the grin in her voice, "If he overcomplicates it, that's his own damn fault."

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

Olivisin returns a sharp-toothed grin.

"I feel like overcomplicating is Magtok's natural state of being. He didn't have to teleport into that..." She turns to look at her siblings. "Ape or monkey? Never mind. He didn't have to teleport into its stomach. But maybe he will give you what you want, then congratulate himself on outsmarting you."

[Halae]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

"That's the hope, anyway," Kathy says, "Really, he's easy to manipulate if you understand his general strategy of trying to mess with people. He just also has a tendency of going off your carefully laid rails if you don't use a heavy hand with said manipulation."

[Morty]

[The Museum of Unnatural History]

Olvisin nods.

"That's more or less what our boss told us. He's predictable in how unpredictable he tries to be. And he's got an image he's cultivating."

[Murkus]

[Two Flew over the Cyborg's Nest]

"I dunno, wanna get wasted and watch TV?" Tina says, turning her body as she flies along and propping her head on her fist, making it clear she doesn't need to actually flap her wings or in any way obey the laws of aerodynamics in order to fly.

Yep, that's it. No angling for him to work an event. No attempt at seduction. Might not even be trying to make friends. Could it be just... mooching for free booze?

[Lord Magtok]

The Museum of Unnatural History => MagCave Foyer

The orangutan's most notable piece of tech is that giant prosthetic arm. Combined with some spinal upgrades and musculature enhancements to make sure the beast would have the right kind of physique for throwing things, it's pretty clear that the boomerangutan was built for the sole purpose of throwing things, using its electromagnetic palm to make those things come back, and then throwing them again. One can't help but wonder if the entire party would still be alive if Magtok had sensibly abandoned his stupid wordplay idea, and gave the animal a bunch of javelins to throw instead. Hell, it probably could've made for a decent hero-stomper, if he'd focused on improving its mobility and raw power, to let it simply trample and pummel anything in its path.

Enough about the orangutan, though. We both know that's not what everyone's really waiting for. There's a bright flash of light overhead, a choir of angels (or maybe just a really convincing recording) singing as Magtok, not Faketok, but the real flesh-and-blood cyborg himself with two functioning legs and robes that aren't dripping with giant ape blood, descends from on high.

"Rejoice, for the Lord Magtok is with you," he calls out, drifting slowly to the ground, choosing the face of the fallen beast as the place to set his feet down. The moment he does so, there's another completely unnecessary flash of light, and unless something goes awry with Kathy or one of the goblins that Magtok didn't account for, everyone's safely relocated to the foyer. It's incredibly dark there, much more so than it was when they passed through earlier, and given the obscenely spotlight cast down upon Magtok and his expeditionary team, this is definitely intentional and meant to keep the others from seeing...whatever he's got lurking in the background.

"As promised, I come bearing gifts. To the one who spoke the word Mech, I give you, the Myrmarachne!" he calls out, as the spotlights converge a few feet away from the group, on a spidermech thing with a rather impressive laser cannon, with two small flamethrowers to its left and right, for dealing with any assailant that gets too close to annihilate with the cannon.

"I...didn't get especially creative with this one. Unusual designs tend to have unusual problems, and it wasn't meant for me, so I tried keeping things simple with this mech. When Renee was small, I thought she could use a mobile weapons platform to keep her safe when she's away from home, but she quickly outgrew it, and I don't think her mother much approved of the thing in the first place anyway. Obviously I can't fit in that thing, and it wasn't doing me any favors collecting dust in storage, so it's yours now, Luuvat," he explains, as the top hatch pops open, revealing a small cockpit too small for anyone to fit inside, but plenty big enough for a goblin to sit comfortably, their head poking out to survey the world around them.


"Kuvesh!" he calls out, as if the goblin wasn't here watching every second of this theatrical display. "You asked for Cybernetics. That's a pretty big request, given how jealously I've guarded my own throughout Nexus history. I can't fault that kind of boldness without looking like the world's biggest hypocrite, however, so for being so bold, you get the biggest prize of them all." He snaps his fingers, and the spotlight moves to what looks like a totally vacant circle of nothing on the floor, until the air begins to shimmer and a gigantic cybernetic orangutan arm (sans giant orangutan) appears, gently twitching on the floor. He's certainly right about it being the biggest reward so far, that arm is huge. If Kuvesh could get a team together to dissect that big chrome paw, maybe they could extract and study whatever allowed the beast to manipulate magnetic weapons, and make the boomerangutan's own powers his own. He'll have to do all of that with his own time and resources, however. Magtok's not giving him anything more than this.


"Olvisin, you said Augmentations. There's only so much I can give you without resorting to elective surgery, and I don't know enough about goblin physiology to get the anesthesia dosage right, so you get these augmented reality goggles. See anything and everything. Learn what your own skeleton looks like. Count the number of grains of sand on a beach in less than an hour. Learn someone's search history just by looking at them," Magtok explains, before reaching into his robe, finding the goggles sitting in a pocket, and lobbing them as hard as he can at Olvisin. There's a number of filters, visor settings, the ability to take and save pictures, and a whole bunch of other nonsense that will probably take Olvisin a few days to figure out. Provided, of course, that he catches the goggles, and doesn't get beaned in the head with them.


"Interface. Zaalmin." Magtok sounds like he's getting tired of this. C'mon Mags, it's just one more goblin, and then Kathy's reward, and you're done. You can go back to napping and let Faketok take over as soon as these mercs are paid and happy. "Are you familiar with Shadowrun? Well too bad, I don't care. I was going to do a Shadowrun decker costume for Halloween this year, but someone sent an assassin after me recently, so I guess I'll wear it next year. You can have the fully-functional datajack and cyberdeck I built to go with the outfit, since I've never really met anyone who had stuff I needed to hack." This prize is also pulled out of his robe, instead of hidden by the spotlights. The cyberdeck looks like some elite gamer's purple backlit keyboard and a glam metal band's keytar had a baby. It's absolutely wild, and definitely not ideal for anyone trying to maintain a low profile. Magtok hands it over and sighs with exhaustion. Gods, that sure is a lot of words just for four stupid presents, and he still hasn't even gotten to Identity yet. At least he's almost done now, right?


Two Flew over the Cyborg's Nest

Magtok blinks. That's...hold on, what is she trying to do? There's got to be an angle here, right? More importantly, what is our angle? How are we going to make use of this divine deadbeat? She's not getting her booze for free, that's not how we-oh, there's an idea. Yes, of course. That will do nicely, won't it? Two birds with one stone.

"I mean...sure, I guess? How far does your holy angel aura thing go, though? You're not going to be turning the wine into water or exorcising ghosts just by standing in the same room as them, are you?" He studies her intently, like one of his weird science experiments, minus the clipboard full of notes on her latest and strangest mutation. It's been a while since Magtok's had access to The Alcohallway or The Boozeatorium, mostly because of that nasty poltergeist that keeps throwing wine bottles around. If he had an angel around to help him grab a few bottles, though...

[Halae]

[MagCave Foyer]

Though it's hidden by the machine she's currently ensconced within, Kathy is smiling. She'll lean up against one of the walls, out of the way of the group and their new rewards, and simply watches. She's in no rush; she'll have plenty of time to talk to her father once the goblins have had their rewards, and it'll probably be personal enough not to want to do it in front of them. As a result, she'll just move out of the way for now.

[Morty]

[MagCave Foyer]

The goblins immediately begin to poke and examine their respective rewards, looking suspiciously like kids at Thanksmas.

"Outdoing yourself as always, Your Lordship," Olvisin says, putting on the goggles. "We'll just work on figuring those out... whoa. What's... never mind. We'll let you and Kathy appreciate whatever you've got for her."

"Woo! Praise be to the Spirit in Gears!" Seems Luuvat is positively giddy to be climbing into the spider-mech. Do they really worship some kind of machine-spirit?

"I think I've heard of something like that. Maybe it can be integrated with our tech..." Zaalmin seems to follow her sister's suggestion and get out of the way even as she talks, though. Kuvesh is prodding the giant orangutan arm in silence.

[Lord Magtok]

MagCave Foyer

Our cyborg fakes a smile, trying not to let any of his weariness show. Magtok, you brittle fossil of a villain, you worn-out old has-been, you could've done all five presents in a single post back in the day, he thinks to himself. It's all nonsense, though; all of it is just his own self-doubts and insecurities weighing on him. Physiologically, this MagClone isn't any older than any of the other MagClones have been throughout Nexus history. Hell, there's a talking cat out there who would've died about six years ago if Magtok was truly as old as he feels. He really needs to remind himself that time never makes any sense at all in the Nexus, and the fact that he has several grown adult children does not mean he's going to be walking around with a cane or put in a nursing home in a couple of years.

"Well, the goblins look happy enough," he remarks, a sliver of pride snaking its way into his voice as he turns to Kathy. The spotlights go out and the lighting goes back to normal. All the flash and spectacle in Mag's voice and mannerisms vanish as well, as he positions himself beside her and casually leans against the same wall. "I'm not sure I would've gotten all of their names right without your help, though. Thanks for that, Kath," There's something of a mischievous, conspiratorial look in his eye when he shares that little secret, but isn't there always? Is he ever not up to some sort of trickery or shenanigans? Also, I should probably point out that he takes care to pronounce the 'h' in her name, even though most people probably would've shortened it further to just 'Kat.' I'm not sure if he's even consciously aware he's doing that; his animosity towards that one feline is pretty deep-seated.

"Orangutans are hominids, by the way. Just like chimps, gorillas, and mankind. That makes them apes, not monkeys," he explains, that devilish gleam in his eye spreading across the rest of his face. Oh no, he knows, doesn't he? He heard everything somehow.

[Halae]

[MagCave Foyer]

Kathy remains seated where she is for the moment, though her helmet cracks open to reveal her scarred face bearing a smile, "Oh, I know that, but I didn't really care enough to correct them. And anytime, with the names and stuff; IFF programs like that are easy stuff with what I'm used to dealing with."

She remains seated for a moment, and runs one of her mech suits massive hands through her hair in a classic 'nervous' action that's somehow more incongruous when you're using a giant cybernetically controlled limb to do it, "... You've probably got questions, I guess. Do you want to ask them now, move somewhere else to ask them, or wait until later?"

[Lord Magtok]

MagCave Foyer

"Not as many questions as you'd think," Magtok answers with a shrug. Renee was a little cagey too, and that's alright. Kathy can do the backstory exposition thing whenever she feels comfortable and ready to, no rush. "It sounds like you've got some kind of business going on, which is good. A vaguely illegitimate one, but I mean, given what you've already seen, I'm sure you know I'm not really one for moralizing. As long as you're safe and happy, or at least making decent progress towards safety and happiness, that's all that really matters." Gods know happiness has never quite as easy to achieve as it ought to be, and in a place like the Nexus, safety is only ever temporary, a momentary absence of conflict before the next big war, plot, apocalypse, or city-wide crisis emerges.

"Is there really nothing else you'd like? I can get you a lot more than just a fancy printer, if you'd just give me a few days to get everything organized. Once I get a fuel rod installed in the cloning labs, dust off some of the shapeshifter stem cells, make sure the talking rat is barred from entry..." Oh geez, it'd be pretty awful if Rattok was allowed to start growing his own clones, wouldn't it? He'd be much too overzealous, develop an entire army of rats to try to evict us, and in doing so, overtax the machines and inadvertently destroy the only functioning cloning equipment Magtok has access to. We can't have that, that's exactly the kind of karmic comeuppance story the Nexus loves.